Thursday, April 24, 2008

A lizard in the house

This morning I once again added "lizard rescuer" to my list of mom jobs. Ella and Lily came out of their room two days ago shrieking that there was a lizard under their bookcase. I went in to take a look, knowing full well I'd never manage to capture him in the disaster area that is their room. As I expected, the lizard was nowhere to be found.

Yesterday afternoon, while I was dealing with the effects of a migraine that went all the way to 11, Ella came out of her room with the lizard in a cup. She was very proud that she had trapped him, until he climbed out of the cup and up her arm. She shrieked and jumped, and the lizard scampered for cover. I was too dopey from pain and medication to give chase.

This morning, however, the lizard appeared in the kitchen. I stalked/herded him into the kids' bathroom, where I knew he wouldn't have anyplace to hide. I managed to grab him as he tried to scale the tub. I showed the lizard to Campbell, who tried to pet him. I snatched the poor lizard away before Campbell could flatten him with affection.

Then I showed him to Lily, who deemed him "very cute." She I and took the lizard out onto the front porch and set him free in the bushes next to the porch. He seemed very relieved to be back in his natural habitat.

When I told my mom about the lizard, her comment was that it was good I'd grown up in Florida. We had lizards get in the house all the time. There was a whole family of them that lived on our screened-in back porch, and when we opened the sliding doors or kitchen windows, they'd make a break for the house. We'd shoo them back out again without thinking about it. But my aunt, who also lived in Florida, was terrified of them. She was in our kitchen once and saw a lizard on the counter and flipped out. She refused to go back in the kitchen until I got the little guy back outside.

At the school I went to, catching lizards was a popular pass time for the boys. They'd get the lizards to bite their earlobes and wear them as earrings. Most girls were grossed out, but I wasn't. Lizards just don't bother me.

Now frogs, on the other hand . . . especially little green tree frogs that cling to the garage door and drop on your head when you open the door. Those send me over the edge.

3 comments:

Keeffer said...

out of sheer curiousity- because i thought i knew how to use them- wouldn't it be effects, not affects? help me ms. editor.

Anonymous said...

Snakes.

Lizards and mice and spiders and frogs and bugs and all that - no problem.

But I hate snakes. I can barely handle worms, slugs, and the like.

If it doesn't have feet, you'd better rescue me.

Anonymous said...

Yes, if it's a noun you want, it's "effect." If it's a verb you want, it is "affect," unless you mean to say "cause" in which case, it's "effect."
No wonder some people say English is the most difficult language to learn.