The other evening I was lying in bed reading a book that I seem not to be able to finish. One of those books that you want to read just to say you have read it, but then as you start reading it becomes more of a challenge to finish it than it does because you enjoy it.
Anyway, I do not have curtains on my window as I never have seen any that look like they belong on a window, so I keep mini blinds up and a bit spartan in appearance. That evening as I was reading, out of the corner of my eye I noticed something dash across the window screen. At first I just thought it was another nocturnal insect my lamp had attracted, but then I saw it again as it dashed back in the direction it had come. I looked out the window and saw a small brown gecko that had been drawn to the window by the insects that were drawn to the light from my lamp. I sat and watched as he stalked his prey and then in a burst of speed ran towards them and capturing them with its sticky tongue. This continued for quite sometime and soon I found myself slipping back to a time when I was much younger and thought of those warm summer late afternoons when the anoles, chameleions and geckos would start to come out to dine and bask in the last rays of the summer day. A time when life seemed so much easier and not wrought with the confussion, chaos and responsibility that defined being an adult. Those care free days when all I had to worry about was what mom would serve for breakfast the next morning. I did not think much past that, as I knew as the day went along it would change as quickly as the minutes faded and a new adventure would present itself. The one thing though that I enjoyed and looked forward to was chasing lizards. Stalking them as stealthly as they stalked their prey, learning to use one hand to distract them and the other to capture them. Lizards had given me many hours of distraction growing up and a chance to learn about something along the way.
I remember once, my younger brother and I were standing on the porch, I was six and he was five at the time, we were watching our older brother chasing after a skink, we called them racing lizards because of the stripes that went the full length of their body. Eventually my older brother triumphed over the lizard as he smiling face had revealed and he walked over to the porch to show us his prize. As he stepped up on the porch he tripped over the middle step and dropped the lizard, this is where the story takes a turn for the worst, well at least for me it did. The lizard froze the moment it landed on the concrete and as my older brother attempted to recapture it the lizard realizing it was free came to its senses and dashed off, the direction in which it ran could have been in any other direction except towards my younger brother who was deathly afraid of them. Well the lizard ran towards my younger brother and upon his foot, paused for a second and decided it would take shelter inside his pants leg, that is when my little brother let out a scream so loud you thought he had lost a limb. My older brother realizing what the lizard had done and the trouble he would be in from my dad decided to vacate his presence and retreat to a quieter spot in the back yard. My dad came diving out the door thinking that my younger brother was seriously injured asking what was wrong. All my younger brother could do was point to his pants and say "Wizard daddy, wizard." Finally my dad realized what he meant and fished the lizard out and threw it across the yard as far as he could and then turned to me and siad "How many times have I told you that you are not supposed to be scaring him?" and as he said this he was slipping off his belt. My younger brother had went into the house and was enjoying a popcicle as I took my older brother's punishment. But I did get my revenge.
A few weeks later I happened upon a garter snake sunning itself on a concrete stepping stone along the front yard garden. I managed to sneak up on it and grab it behind its head and carried it to the garage where I found a large jar that I placed it in and after poking a few air holes in the lid, secured the lid on the jar. That evening as my older brother was taking his bath I took the snake from the jar and placed it under the covers on his bed, slid into my bed across the room and waited. Did you know that even eight year old boys could still wet the bed?
Later...
Stories posted here are the exclusive property of the Smiling Pig. No other use or reproduction of the content contained here is permissible without written prior consent.
No comments:
Post a Comment