Last week I met the loveliest toad on my road. He was an elderly toad and walked at a leisurely pace. I helped him cross the road and thought ‘How lovely to have met such a toad.’ I am sorry to say four days after meeting Mr Toad, I found him lying peacefully on the side of the road. He looked like he was sleeping, but he wasn’t. I picked him up and took him to sit by our pond as I thought he might just be exhausted. He was still there in the morning so he is now buried by the pond. I have decided to draw Mr Toad and imagine his life before I met him. He looks sad because of his toad mouth but I think he was just a great thinker.
This was middle aged Mr Toad, thinking of retirement and of exotic ponds.