Lucky to be alive Story of an Iguana

I love my writing group. The assignment this week was to create a character and use textures. This one is based on a true story ( I was there). The iguana facts are true too.

  His name was Jose, but he has gone by Lucky Luigi as an iguana. He always had extraordinary luck. For better or worse. He thought in his next life he would become a vulture. Stinky and feathery, and flying so high in the air the land animals would kink their necks to find him. But he woke up as a hatchling. He thought he could work with that. Lizard skin has a fascinating smooth, stippled texture and shiny glazed finish that comes in an enormous variety of colors. But no, he was an iguana with overlapping scales. He never had horny epidermis before, so he supposed he was amused.

  He felt special to have a photosensory organ on the top of his head, a third eye. It was supposed to be a rudimentary retina and lens to help him detect predators stalking from above. He wished it had worked on Wednesday. It was the middle of the week, and his famous luck couldn’t make up its mind. Amazing good, or amazing terrible? He was happy to be alive to look back on it.

  There he was minding his own business. His broad, flat leaf shaped teeth were finely serrated – helping him eat his lunch on the ground. Risky, but he found a real treat. Dark and leafy, the soft cilantro was in a quiet garden. The leaves are variable in shape, broadly lobed at the base of the plant, and slender and feathery higher on the flowering stems. Yummy. Then out of nowhere comes one of those smaller pesky dogs with the long belly and short course fur. It was drooling, sticky looking saliva falling from its mouth. It went flying everywhere when it barked. Fine, Luigi could run. The dog was not much bigger than him, but he was pretty full anyway.

  He ran for the closet tall tree across the path of noisy metal beasts. A thin skinned human with a wrinkly old face came to his rescue. She stopped the pooch, and stopped traffic. He could sense her anxiety on a scent level. Why? She was at the top of the food chain. He wasn’t processing the fact that he ran until he didn’t need to run any more, and so he was stopped in the middle of the road. He was so fortunate the 2 legged non-drooling creature was helping him out.

  Except now the perfumed human was lunging at him. He was not ready to move, why should he move? He had a 2 foot striped tail and he was not afraid to use it, he would whip that woman if she didn’t back off. He thought she was his friend. He would move when he was good and ready, he thought. Then he was airborne. What? He can’t fly, he didn’t have wings. That was 2 lifetimes ago. Reincarnation was a blessing and a curse. He thought that would be the last thing that went through his mind. He was in the air, snatched up by another dog. Cars halted on both sides, 4 people standing around watching the spectacle, and his luck is about to run out from another damn dog. This dog was pretty big, his fuzzy snoot had Luigi across the middle, with his scaly legs dangling more than a foot above the ground. 

  Another human shrieked at the large dog. After all their effort they were not going to see the big, beautiful, wild iguana get eaten by someone’s pet. Luigi’s luck held out, and the dog dropped him. Only his pride was hurt, and he hit the ground running. He was so thankful.  He eyed the closest thing to hide under and made a bee-line. Well, he made an iguana-line; for the first nearby car. The driver was waiting impatiently for everyone to get out of the street. The car had space under it. It was like a big rock with a walk through cave (a very specifically designed and engineered cave). Hyundai or hole in the wall, either way, he was going for it.

  Whew, Luigi was safe. He had more life to live! Until he felt a squish. He had run under the front of the tire. The growling engine of a beast was not forgiving. The driver couldn’t see where the iguana went, just that the road was clear. He started to press down on the gas pedal. He was now inching over the iguana! Why was everyone yelling at him? Thank goodness he was a Tico with no air conditioning. His windows were down and he could hear that the lizard was under his car. Fortune was with Luigi again, the man had quick reflexes.

  Luigi’s skin was smashed, but accomodating. He was alive! Had he just crapped himself? Yes. Yes he had. In his attempt to adjust to the immense pressure he evacuated some slimy white fecal matter. It’s a good thing he was an iguana and didn’t care. He was able to scramble out from under the car to the nearest safe looking bushes. He wished he wasn’t so exceptionally lucky. Maybe he would change his name to Average Arthur from now on. He just had to catch his breath, since he found he was still breathing. The street went back to normal, if only he could.

  Time to evaluate. He was not dead. He was a little sore. He still possessed a wicked looking row of spines along his back and tail – so much for it helping to protect him from predators. His tail was still attached, what a relief. Unlike the summer of 2015. His dewlap was intact, it was his most magnificent feature, swaying loosely under his masculine chin. He was ready to rock and roll. Time to find a tall tree to rest in, while his luck had time to reset.

Here's a picture I took of one when I was in Costa Rica.