I came across a large brown lizard sitting right in the middle of the sidewalk as I walked down the street. I always carry a spare glove and a trash bag in my man purse, just in case I come across any litter that I can't abide. So I reached down and grabbed the glove and bag while keeping my eye on the lizard. It seemed to be slowly inching away from me. I admired its brown scaly skin and couldn't help but think about how happy Kenzo would be if I brought this big brown lizard home for him.
As I was observing this thing, an old lady came by on her old lady bicycle. The lizard started to move, and I hesitated for a moment, allowing it to crawl up the stone wall on the corner, out of my reach. It got to the top and looked down at me. I know it's just a reptile, but it felt as if it was mocking me, saying, "Ha ha, you moron!" In a Spanish accent.
Last weekend, during the neighborhood grass cleanup, I saw the neighbor kid Eito successfully dive and catch a lizard right in the middle of the street. He has a natural knack for catching bugs. He has so many that he gives them away to the neighborhood kids but keeps the good ones for himself, like some kind of reptile gangster. As much as I hate to admit it, I think I need to take a page out of an eight-year-old lizard-catching expert's book and up my game. Since I walk a lot, I know I'll be coming across a lot more this season.
Later on that lunchtime walk I came across a little old lady who had stopped to look at gravestones in the Dounji graveyard. Being who I am, I greeted her with a hello, a smile, and made eye contact. Naturally, we started talking, and it turned out we live very near each other. She made the connection and asked if I was that foreign guy in the neighborhood association. I confirmed that I was indeed the one. She shared how she has many friends buried in this graveyard and how sometimes when she comes across a new grave adorned with fresh flowers, she looks to see if it belongs to someone she knows, examining the information carved into the gravestones. She mentioned that this month she turns 81 years old, and yet there she was, climbing these steep steps from the temple gorge.
I watched her disappear up and out of the wooded old part of the graveyard, and remained to enjoy the quiet for another minute. A fox trotted by.
And then, as if on cue, another lizard crossed my path. I frantically searched for it, but it had vanished, gone without a trace.
0 for 2 on the lizard catching today.
The boys are taking afternoon naps less and less frequently. Today they played and played, inside and outside, like barnyard animals. It was Tuesday and the rain subsided for a bit so Kenzo went to 3-Chome Park with Hidekazu and it was his mom's turn to supervise, so Osamu ran errands with mama.
I love checking on them when they fall asleep. I love it especially when they're so tired that I can stand there and watch them fade out into sleepyland.
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