Raising Rufus by David Fulk Page A

descending over him as his mom let out a sigh and studied his face. Her voice was sympathetic but firm as she said exactly what he didn’t want to hear.
    “Honey, you’ll have to let it go.”
    “Mom—”
    “No, no buts. A rule is a rule.”
    “He can’t survive out there alone. He depends on me.”
    “See? You’re too attached to it already.”
    Martin felt he was older and wiser now, and could handle the emotional trials of having, or even losing, a pet. But he didn’t sound very convincing as he made his case. “Really, I’m not. He’s just a lizard. I know I can take care of him.”
    “Sweetheart, you can’t keep an animal here. Especially a sick one that you found in the woods. He’ll have to go. Period.”
    Martin stood there silently. An empty feeling started just below his rib cage and spread all the way out to his fingers and toes.
    “Right now. Roger that?”
    He managed the tiniest of nods.
    She gave him a little smile and ruffled his hair. “Fifteen minutes, then come up and do your room. I’m thinking there could be a nice surprise at dessert time.”
    She headed out, but stopped in the doorway with a puzzled look on her face. “There are lizards in
Wisconsin
?”
    Martin gave a tiny nod; there were, though he wasn’t too sure about this part of the state.
    Still pondering it, she went out and headed back toward the house.
    He looked down sadly at his beady-eyed little companion, dreading the next—and last—episode in their short acquaintance.
    —
    Martin carried the box a good distance into the woods, to a spot he never visited on his hikes. He knew the odds for the lizard weren’t good out there, and he would just as soon not know how the story ended. A clean break would be best for all concerned.
    He came upon a clearing with a small pond and decided it would be as good a place as any.
    “How about here? You like this?”
    The lizard just stared up at him from inside the box, as though wondering why they were in this strange place. Martin picked it up and put it down in a patch of tall grass.
    “See? There’s water…lots of bugs to eat…places you can hide. It’s a good spot.”
    He expected it to skitter away like most animals do when they’re set free. But it just stood there, calmly sniffing the ground. Martin made a shooing gesture, as though it were a pesky squirrel.
    “Go on. Go.”
    The lizard still didn’t move. Martin lunged at it, hoping to scare it off.
    “Go!”
    But the critter took only a single step back, without breaking its steady gaze at Martin’s face.
    “Okay, then. Don’t go.”
    He turned and walked away. But what he was afraid of was exactly what happened: it followed him.
    “No! Stay.
Stay.
”
    He knew in the back of his mind that a reptile wasn’t likely to understand a dog command, but he hoped for the best as he started off again. Again, the lizard followed.
    Martin broke into a trot, thinking that maybe the little guy wouldn’t bother trying to keep up.
    He was wrong.
    Deciding that strict measures were going to be called for, he scooped up the lizard, carried it to the other side of a big log that stretched across the forest floor, and put it down on the ground.
    “You have to stay here! I’m sorry, but a rule is a rule. Good-
bye.
”
    He turned and marched away, knowing that was the last he would see of his little friend. Right away, a torrent of desperate squeaks and screeches came pouring out from behind that log.
    The sound tore at Martin’s heart, but he forced himself to keep going.
This is not like Orville,
he thought.
I’m older and wiser now. I am not attached to this lizard!
But the farther he got, the heavier his feet became.
It’s just a dumb reptile. Let nature take its course!
He got a good fifty yards from the log, and he could still hear the lizard’s squeals. They seemed to echo all around him, and he started feeling dizzy. He stopped to take a breath.
    He was startled by a faint
whoosh
up above. What was that? A