It was around 7 am and Dukee hopped up onto the desk in his and Auntie’s bedroom. He sat there and watched as Auntie climbed out of bed. Yay, breakfast time, he thought. Dukee patiently waited as Auntie got up and opened up the container to his dehydrated chicken. Auntie carefully broke up the chicken into small pieces and put it in his bowl. Nom nom nom, Dukee thought as he ate the dehydrated chicken.
When he was done eating his breakfast, he met Auntie at the glass sliding door to the back screened porch. Auntie slid open the door and Dukee stepped out. The first thing that he heard was the birds chirping in the trees. Then he saw a large brown lizard on the outside of the screen.
“Larry, is that you?” Dukee trotted over to the screen.
“Well hi there neighbor,” Larry the lizard looked at Dukee. “What’s new with you?”
“Not much since I last spoke to you. How about you?” Dukee sat down.
“Well, let’s see… Did I tell you that my wife and I had six kids?” Larry asked.
“Wow, no you didn’t. I didn’t even know that you had a wife,” Dukee cocked his head.
“Oh, yeah, but we haven’t been together that long so that’s probably why you didn’t know,” Larry repositioned himself on the screen.
“Six kids huh? Are they running around, because I’ve seen a few mini versions of you lately,” Dukee looked at Larry.
“Yeah, they’re big enough now so you might have seen them,” Larry said.
“What is it like to have kids?” Dukee asked.
“Oh, for me it’s pretty easy. Once they hatch they learn things fairly quickly,” Larry moved lower on the screen.
“I know what it’s like to have a little brother around, but I never had any kids of my own,” Dukee scratched his left ear.
“Well, it’s a little different for lizards because we see our family at times but everyone is self-sufficient. We don’t necessarily take care of each other as cats or humans do,” Larry looked down behind him.
“Oh, okay. I think that I understand,” Dukee looked through the screen. “Is someone you know down there?”
“No, I was watching that squirrel over there,” Larry said.
“Oh, I see him… Squirrels don’t eat lizards do they?” Dukee asked.
“Not usually, but I am just making sure,” Larry moved up higher on the screen.
Larry and Dukee watched the squirrel as it ran up the pine tree and jumped to the other tree four feet from it.
“Well, I guess that I’m in the clear… Dukee, it was good chatting with you again. I’m going to head down to the canal now and get something good to eat,” Larry looked at Dukee.
“Okay, talk to you soon Larry,” Dukee said.
“Yep, see you later,” Larry scurried down the screen and down into the grass.
Dukee watched Larry as he scurried across the grass and under the fence. Larry disappeared once he entered the taller weeds on the other side of the fence.
“Wow, six kids… I don’t think that I could handle six kids. One brother was bad enough,” Dukee walked over to the rug on the porch floor and laid down.
Mia ran from her bedroom, through the family room, down the hall, and into the front living room. She scratched on her mom’s recliner and then ran back the same way and into her bedroom. She jumped up onto the bed, ran in a circle and lightly bounced off of Mom’s back, and then hopped back down. Mia already had her breakfast, but she just wanted Mom to get up and play with her. It didn’t work this time Mia, Mom isn’t budging.
Please join me again for more of: Two Cats And A House.