One morning Harriet and Mickey woke up early to hear rain on the roof of their house. Their human friends told them that they would not be going down to the beach this morning, as it was too wet outside.

"Gee Harriet, what will we do?" asked Mickey. "I love going down to the beach and talking to Peggy."

"Me too," said Harriet. "I suppose we will just have to stay home today. I'm going to chase my ball around the backyard. Maybe Peggy will come to visit us here."

"I hope so," said Mickey. "I'm going to climb a few trees."

The two adventurers went outside to play and found that it wasn't raining very much now. Harriet found her big yellow ball and pushed it with her nose and then ran after it and pushed it again. Her nose wasn't sore any more from where the crab had nipped her.

Mickey ran fast across the wet grass and raced up a very high tree and out onto a small branch. The water on the leaves fell down all over him and made his fur wet.

"Harriet, I can see the winding bush path from here, and guess who is walking up it?" said Mickey.

"Who?" asked Harriet.

"Our friend Peggy. She is coming to see where we are. Hello Peggy, we are not coming down to beach this morning as there is too much rain for our human friends." said Mickey.

"Of course there is," said Peggy. "How are you two today? I thought I would come up and say g'day."

"Hello Peggy," said Harriet. "We are well. I am playing with my ball and Mickey is climbing trees. It is not as exciting as the beach though."

Just then there was a loud yell from up high.
"What is this?" Yelled Mickey. "Peggy, do you know?"

Peggy leaned back and looked up to where Mickey was. Right beside Mickey was a strange creature, one that Mickey had not seen before. It looked like a lizard, but it was a lot bigger than the small gray ones he chased around the house.

Peggy said, "That is a bearded dragon lizard, and I think his name is Basil."

"There is not enough room on this branch for two," said Mickey, "Basil you had better move."

"Won't," said Basil, and moved closer to Mickey. "This my tree and this is where I live. Won't move."

"Be careful, Mickey," said Peggy, "Basil has been known to bite when he gets upset. And he is getting mad, see how he is changing colour."

Basil was turning from grayish brown to black, and becoming flat, which is what bearded dragon lizards do when something upsets them.

"I'll be alright," said Mickey, "I'm bigger than him."

Mickey put his paw on Basil and tried to push him back further on the branch. That made Basil go even blacker. Peggy and Harriet were getting worried about Mickey now; they were scared he would fall down.

There was a loud meow and Mickey landed on the ground beside Harriet and Peggy.
"He bit me, look!" said Mickey, unhappily.

There was a big lump of Mickey's' fur missing.

Harriet and Peggy were trying not to laugh too much. They looked up into the tree and there was Basil with Mickey's fur hanging out of his mouth.

"Ha ha," laughed Harriet, "I know why Basil is called a bearded dragon lizard, he has a real big beard now."

"Ha ha ha, that's right Harriet," said Peggy. "You two sure get yourselves in trouble. First you with the crab, now Mickey with Basil. Ha ha ha."

Mickey looked up at Basil and started laughing too.

"Bye you two," said Peggy, "I'll see you tomorrow, down on the beach I hope."

"Bye Peggy," said Harriet and Mickey together, as they watched Peggy walk down the winding bush path.

"Let's go and have our breakfast," said Mickey, trying to lick his fur back into place.

"Ok," said Harriet, and had one more look at Basil and laughed, quietly, so as not to upset Mickey.