a new friend
A few months ago, while I was unlocking my apartment door, I noticed a small sized lizard partially hiding beside the shoe cabinet. When the lizard figured out that I saw him, it quickly fled the place. The lizard has a detached tail … and was brown in colour. I went on my way ignoring him.
Then, on the next day, the same thing happened. I saw the lizard again. I knew it’s the same lizard because I can recognize it’s incomplete tail. And again … he fled. I ignored him and went on my way. Soon, this became a daily drill for both of us (me and the lizard). Everyday, I would see the same lizard loitering around my apartment entrance, and the same process repeats — me see lizard, lizard flee and I ignore him. After about a week, I told Emily about the lizard …. and both of us decided to name the lizard — Skippy; named after my ex-neighbour’s cat. (note: this is also the same name for the white cat that I have vandalized during my schooling years. Pls do not get confused)
One day (that’s about 2 weeks after my first encounter with Skippy), I decided to act friendly and strike a conversation with the lizard. Before he started flee that day, I abruptly stopped him by yelling “Hey lizard !”. He stared back at me with his pair of beady eyes, pausing upside down above the ceiling. I broke the moment of silence by talking out to him ….
“Saw you lurking here for a few weeks already”
“Yeah.” Skippy responded.
“What’s with the fleeing act man ?”
“Look, how do I know if you’re gonna smack me up ? I take no chances”
“Alright, I meant no harm. You don’t have to be scared of me”
“You serious dude ?”
“Cmon.. you would’ve been dead I weren’t serious”
He nodded and came back down and rested himself on the topmost portion of the shoerack - still with a very cautious look.
“Do you normally greet lizards like this everytime you see one ?”
“No .. this is my first time talking to a lizard.”
“I see. Same here. First time talking to a human”
“Whoaa.. no kidding. So, what’s up ?”
“Naahh .. just looking for some bugs to wolf… u know … dinner.”
“Say, do you have a name or something that i can call you ?”
“You called me lizard just now. I guess you may continue calling me that”
“Actually.. my wife and I sort of gave you a name … u know.”
“Uknow ? what a freaking bad name. You gotta learn how to have taste dude..”
“Noooo.. we gave you the name Skippy, after the brown cat that used to live next door”
“Skippy.. hmmm … cool. Never thought I’d have my own name .. kihkihkih, thanks.”
And that chuckle from him signifies the start of our one-of-a-kind friendship. I tried to invite him into my place but, he declined — apparently, he had an appointment with another group of lizards from the nearby neighbourhood … they’re having a bug party or something.
Nevertheless, we bid our farewells and went on our way. From that day onwards, we started to have a short chat everytime I came home from work … and he never fled from me ever since.
*dun worry, nothing makes sense on the month of April.