Here's the story on this big fellow. I was standing at my kitchen sink and glanced out the window just in time to see Morelli (my Siamese) grab a big lizard off the block wall. I ran out the back patio door and started chasing Morelli and scolding him to drop the lizard. We ran a couple laps around the yard like that before Morelli finally let him go on the patio. And guess what the lizard did before I could catch my breath? He ran into the house and under the frij! I had left the patio door cracked open barely an inch when I ran outside, and turns out that's all he needed.
Now we had a real predicament. Six cats were standing guard in front of the frij. Plus Phoenix is having a heat wave, and I've got the air conditioner running on high. So I knew that, if the cats didn't get to him before I did, then the cold temperature in the house eventually would.
The next two hours were intense. Somehow the lizard managed to sneak from behind the frij to under the stove, out to the living room and under the sofa, then back to behind the frij. I always knew where he was by watching the cats. But then the cats seemed to wise up and started guarding all three spots at once. Finally, they all ended up focused together on the frij. I knew it was time to try catching him to get him safely back outside before time ran out. I slowly moved the frij out, mostly because I'm not all that strong. He was doing his best to be invisible in the corner.
As I reached for the lizard, sure enough he bolted out. And SpeedBump, one of my six cats, grabbed him and headed for the dog door leading out to the kennel where he surely planned to eat him. Things weren't looking good for the lizard. Luckily, I beat SpeedBump to the dog door, and he dropped the poor lizard who, by now, had to be feeling quite picked on. But again, as I reached for the lizard, he slithered for the living room. I'm not very fast anymore, so lucky for me, the lizard couldn't get much traction on the ceramic tile floor. Sure wish I'd had my camera ready at that moment - it was pretty funny watching him wiggling like a Fisher-Price toy and barely getting anywhere.
So finally I caught him. I checked him over and, to my great surprise, after having been in the mouths of two different cats in one afternoon, there wasn't a mark on him! Thankfully, I was able to release him outside, safe and sound, and watch him scamper happily off into the hot Arizona sunset. At least I think it was happily. Or maybe he was still in shock. Either way, he's living another day to outrun Morelli, who no doubt will be on the lookout. 😁
16 окт 2024
