Monster Lake by Edward Lee Read Free Book Online Page B

next week, or maybe even the next month…
    And she didn’t even want to think about
that.
    But there were other things—scary
things—that she had no choice but to think about: the toad she’d
seen last night, the giant salamander, and all those other animals
in the back room of the boathouse—all with long, sharp fangs.
    Sitting on her bed, Terri
pulled out some of her Golden Nature books. She had the whole
series: Flowers, Trees, Rocks and
Minerals, Mammals, Birds, and, the one she
was most interested in now, Reptiles and
Amphibians. These were great books that
were informative and easy to read, plus they had lots of pictures;
her father had given her the entire set of books as a Christmas
present several years ago, because Terri had told him that she
wanted to be a zoologist when she was older, just like him and
Mom.
    Amphibians, the book’s introduction began, are a special kind of animal that include frogs, toads, and
salamanders. Amphibians are cold-blooded, which means that their
body temperature varies with the weather, and they hibernate during
the winter when it’s cold. Amphibians breathe air like most animals
but they are unique because they can live in the water too, because
that is where they lay their eggs, and they need to keep their skin
wet. In fact, that is how amphibians drink water, they absorb it
through their skin. Amphibians eat insects, moths, and
worms…
    Terri already knew this; she quickly turned
through the pages to “Toads.” She wanted to double-check her facts.
Maybe there were some rare kinds of toads that had fangs and ate
animals instead of insects and worms.
    The book also told about how toads laid eggs
in ponds and fresh-water lakes—sometimes they laid as many as
20,000 eggs at a time—and that they slept during the day and only
came out at night to feed. Terri already knew all about this too;
this wasn’t the information she was looking for.
    But then—
    I knew it, she thought.
    The book plainly stated
that toads, however rare, had no teeth; instead, they had big,
sticky tongues which shot out of their mouths to catch insects to
eat. And the book also stated that American toads never grew larger
than six inches long. The toad she’d seen last night was over
a foot long! And
so were the ones she’d seen in the glass tanks when she’d snuck
into the backroom at the boathouse.
    Then she turned to the
“Salamanders” chapter and discovered the same thing.
Salamanders never grew to be more than ten or so inches long, and Terri was sure
the one she and Patricia had seen on the pier was easily three-feet
in length, and the ones she’d seen in the glass tanks were huge
too. And salamanders didn’t have teeth or fangs either. Like toads
and frogs and all other amphibians, salamanders ate insects. In
fact there was a special word for that, Terri noted. According to
the book, toads, frogs, and salamanders were called insectivores , which meant
that they only ate insects and worms.
    But the toad I saw last
night, she felt certain, was trying to eat that baby rabbit. And rabbits
definitely aren’t insects! They’re mammals!
    All these things, all these facts and
details, only mystified Terri more. And she knew now that there was
no way her eyes could have been playing tricks on her. Patricia had
seen the salamander too.
    Terri didn’t know what to do.
    She wished she could call Patricia, but how
could she? Uncle Chuck had confined her to her room all day, and he
was in the house.
    clack!
    Terri glanced up. The sound she’d just heard
was familiar, and after a moment’s thought, she knew what it
was.
    It was the sound of the back sliding door
closing.
    She went quickly to her bedroom window,
which faced the back yard, and she saw—
    What’s he doing? she wondered.
    Her Uncle Chuck was walking across the
yard.
    Maybe he’s going to mow
the grass, Terri considered, but that
couldn’t be, could it? He’d have to go out front to the garage
first, because that’s where they