Creatures

It was reptile day at our library today.  It was a madhouse.  Our small, normally placid library was packed wall to wall with children and their caregivers.  There were three animals to look at--a two and a half foot tortoise, a big light yellow snake (name? we got there late, so we missed most of the informative talk) and a baby alligator.  There was a time when the children were allowed to come touch whichever animals they wanted. 
T communed with the tortoise.  He spent a long time kneeling next to it, feeling its bumpy thick shell and bending over to talk to it as it retreated, tortoise-style, from the commotion.  K liked helping to hold the snake.  Unlike her mother, she showed no squeamishness at all.  I even saw her affectionately brush her cheek lightly against the snake's soft scales.  They were surprisingly soft and smooth.  Yes, I touched them also after she asked me to.