March 01st, 2019

 Well isn't  this just the cutest stowaway ever?

I needed to do a really quick grocery store run today so inbetween laundry loads (it's important to time those right so that the clothes do not perma-wrinkle in the dryer) I grabbed my keys, my purse and my list, jumped in the car and off I went.

Generally speaking I don't frisk my car before driving anywhere.  It never before occurred to me that I might need to.

As I stopped at the first intersection, I caught a bit of motion in my peripheral vision.  At first I thought it was a leaf. Or a really big bug. Or maybe part of the windshield wiper was torn and needed to be replaced.  As I accelerated past the stop sign, the thing in my peripheral vision became something in my direct vision.  A lizard!

What?  Am I really seeing what I think I'm seeing?  At the next intersection was a red light so I was able to take more notice of this little guy.  While the car was moving, he climbed back into the little recessed area that the windshield wipers rest above and he seemed fine.  In fact, he seemed to be enjoying the ride.  There he sat, facing outward, front legs on the edge of the recessed area, head lifted up into the breeze.  He looked, for all the world, like a dog hanging his head out the window.

I found myself talking to this little guy.  "Hang on tight buddy, I have to turn left".  He hung on tightly.  "No no, don't jump off here!  You'll get run over!",  when he climbed out of his little recessed area and  crept slowly toward the left side of the car hood.  Heeding my warning, he crept slowly back to the middle.

He crouched down low to the car when I accelerated and then stood up and looked around whenever I stopped.  "Adventurous little creature!"  I thought to myself.  Sometimes he stood closer to the windshield, other times he bravely stepped further away.  This was my view of him from inside the car (taken at a full stop at a stop sign by the way. Not while the car was moving!)

It was a little disconcerting dividing my attention between my little hitchhiker and the rest of the traffic on the road.  I'm never comfortable driving anyway and distracted driving is never a good idea. But on the other hand, I really didn't want to watch my little lizard get hurt or worse.

Amazingly, he held on all the way to the grocery store.  I kept up my little encouraging peptalk with him through my open window all the way to the parking space.  "Just a few more minutes guy."  "Once more turn and we are done".  "Almost there"  "Hold on just a few seconds more".

Once the car was parked I jumped out, intending to......actually I have no idea what I intended to do.  Carry him over to an area with grass and trees?  (there were some nearby) Put him in my purse for safety sake?  My pocket? The backseat of the car in a teensy tiny lizard sized safety belt?  

It's moot anyway.  I couldn't reach him.  He managed to sit in the exact middle of the hood starring at me. My arms are not longer enough to reach, and I'm not tall enough to climb up after him.  So I suggested strongly that he just patiently wait for me.  I told him that it was going to be a really quick shop and that if he would just sit tight, I would be back very shortly, and we could take the trip back home together.  He would be returned to his little lizard family and his little lizard home.

But this was a lizard seeking adventure.  A crusader, a bon vivant, an adrenaline junkie of a lizard!  He was destined for bigger and better things.  When I returned to the car, a very brief time later, he was long gone.  I was kind of disappointed.  But it's not for me to say what is the best life choice for him.  Perhaps he is out seeking fame and fortune of a sort that he would never find in our yard.

So I just said, "Fare thee well, little lizard. I hope your dreams and wishes come true" and returned home alone.

​And I bet he'll never write either.