Tristan Puffenberger

Born to Die

As I neared the edge of the mesa, I saw 2 small puddles. This is a rare sight to see on a 6500ft mesa, but we had been "lucky" enough to get a little rain shower a few days prior. Upon closer inspection, I noticed movement in the water. My eastern mind and fleeting perception immediately assumed it was tadpoles or "wrigglers" (the very, very scientific name I always referred to mosquito larvae with), but then I noticed something odd. They appeared to be more rigid and moved differently than tadpoles despite their similar shape. A hard carapace sporting 3 eyes and a segmented tail reminded me of a fun little science project I had done in grade school: A Smithsonian triops or "sea monkeys" kit. Ancient eggs, lost in the eons of time, awoken by water and rising from the sand for a glorious life of several weeks or until a bigger sibling got a little extra hungry.