My first....

No, not that first.  *wink*


My friend Stephen recently gave us a story about his first pet, a rat.  My first thought was, "A rat? What an odd pet."  Then I remembered my first pet, and all of a sudden his rat started looking pretty good.  


When I was about 8 my dad took a friend and me to the state fair.  Somewhere in there amidst all the booths and rides and hucksters we found a vendor selling tiny little chameleons and dad bought us boys both one.  They had a string with a slip-knot on one end tied around the little lizard's neck, and on the other end was a safety pin.  You attached the pin to your collar and let the critter crawl around on your shirt....mine eventually taking up residence on my shoulder.  I can't remember if I ever even gave it a name, I say "it" because I had no idea if it was a male or a female.  Looking back on the whole episode there were two factors that made this possible at all.  One, my mom didn't go with us to the fair that year (no way in hell she would have let be bring a reptile back into her house), and two, this was before PETA.


When we got home my dad told me to take it straight to my room and don't tell mom.  Somehow mom found it anyway, and let us all know in no uncertain terms she was NOT happy.  I promised to take care of it, keep it in my room only, yada yada, and she agreed to let me keep him...er...her...er...  


Until she changed her mind the next day.  That's when I was called to the Principal's office to take an emergency phone call.  Well, at least it was an emergency to my mother.  It seems that my chameleon had slipped its knot and was loose somewhere in her house, and she wanted me home right then to hunt for it.  You would have thought a Bengal tiger had escaped from the circus!  Jeez, could that woman scream.   


Long story short, we found the poor thing several days later sunning him/herself on a window ledge in the den.  Right behind mom's chair.  *ouch*  I last saw it scurrying off into the shrubbery by the back door with my mother in hot pursuit,  swinging a broom.  Adios, amigo.


S