Scorpions and Lizards and Fish - Oh My!

The yellow brick road has nothing on the journey I took last week.
I didn't need my little red shoes, 
just my cellphone and a gentle old lady down the road.

500 miles away at a hot spring deep in the desert,
a friend chose 10 days in isolation (and heat).
Don't ask why. But he was happy.

It sounded Idyllic, the few messages he sent.
Hot springs and vastness all to himself.
I wished I too had braved the elements (aka heat).

Then he sent a photo of a Very. Large. Scorpion.
Made the quarter next to it look like a dime.
Of course, I banged off a text. "Wear your shoes! Shake out the sheets!"

His reply was unphased, maybe amused.
He had a pack of protectors who took on the massive scorpion 
On a scrap of ancient, worn patterned carpet in front of the cabin.