"Let him go," I suggested hopefully, although I knew after our monumental toad chase that freedom wasn't going to be one of the toad's immediate options.
I was correct as my son uttered those eternal words that every mother dreads, "Can I keep him?"
We kept him and my son named him Todd.
My other son was upset over Todd and decided that if I didn't go out and immediately buy him a new, living, breathing hamster, then I better come up with a turtle and fast. I went to the pet store for a turtle and found out they didn't sell them any more.
I came home feeling dejected to discover a box turtle in our back yard. How lucky and timely for me, and I never even realized that my backyard was a reptile breeding ground. We built a giant pen for the turtle now named Edgar and before the week was out we found a second turtle we named Ernest. Edgar and Ernest were quite content to live in our garden and be fed fresh fruits and vegetables. They didn't even notice the flimsy wire fence enclosing them.
Todd on the other hand was another story altogether. We needed a container for him, so my son and I went out and got a terrarium, which we filled with grass and sand and a dish of water. I realized I had no idea what to feed him, but I feared it was live bugs.
Once again I was correct, but alas, we didn't own any live bugs. So I ran back out to the pet store to buy some big, juicy bugs. It was there, under the guidance of a sales clerk who much have been working on commission, that I learned we didn't want big bugs, but rather, we wanted small crickets that were sold by the dozen. The clerk convinced me to buy about half a gross of baby crickets. He then informed me that they would rapidly die if kept in the plastic bag that they came in. So I bought a cricket cage. The ever helpful clerk also shared his vast knowledge of cricket keeping by selling me cricket food and special, jellied, cricket water with
a special tiny jellied water dish so the crickets wouldn't have to drink real water and drown in the process.
My head was spinning by the time I left there and I'd spent a fortune on food for a free toad. We fed Todd about half the crickets and then suddenly my son said, "Todd looks lonely." I knew it meant one of two things and neither one was going to make me happy. "I think we ought to let him go."
I was proud of my son for showing compassion for the little creature and I was relieved that he hadn't suggested getting a second toad to keep Todd company. But as I looked at the terrarium, the crickets, the cricket cage, the cricket food and especially the special jellied cricket water I groaned with pain. "Why didn't you tell me this yesterday?" We let Todd and the remaining crickets go that evening.
My other son, not to be outdone, decided to release the turtle twins. We opened the gate to the turtle pen and after about three days Ernest wandered away. It took Edgar another day or two to discover his freedom.
Once again we were petless but I know it is only a matter of time before something else walks, crawls or slithers into our yard and then I'll once again hear that dreadful words, "Can I keep it?"