By ten in the evening the anoles have had it, especially the young ones, so they climb up into the honeysuckle or the ferns or a densely leafed section of the boxwoods where they are safe from the nocturnal ground hunting predators, and they drift off to meet with Morpheus.

The littlest ones prefer the comfort of the mint patch in the back yard, and by mid summer, when the spring clutches have all hatched and the tiny reptiles have had time to learn a bit of the layout of things, you can find five or six of them stretched or curled like strange fruits at the tops of the tallest plants, eyes closed, dreaming warm dreams of fat insects and sunny tomorrows.