A Writer's Notebook, Day Nine-Hundred-And-Sixty-Three

Early this morning, I was sitting in the kitchen having breakfast and something ran by really fast.  I did not get a good look, but it had seemed, from the corner of my eye, like a small dinosaur.  Of course, living in south Florida, many lizards show up in the yard all the time, but their had been something odd about whatever I had glimpsed.  It was not a real look, though, so I figured it must have been in my mind, but a few minutes later, I again caught a bit of motion.  I got up and looked and saw a small lizard sitting on the ground.  It did not look like any of the species I normally see around here, with a darker set of markings, and a somewhat different body shape.  It was then the lizard jumped up and ran off on its two back legs.  It was a juvenile brown basilisk, the species known as the "Jesus Lizard".  I've never seen one around here before, but I gather that they are making their way north from Mexico.  Melissa is rather upset, as it does eat local vertebrate species, not to mention that it might attack her garden.  I wish I could enjoy it being here without feeling conflicted, or, otherwise, could see it as a clear pest.  It is a being out of place.  It does not belong here, though it is not it's fault it has arrived, but I am still both troubled and fascinated at its appearance outside my home.