House Pest

 HOUSE PEST

There are lizards that leap and lizards that creep. There are some with horns and many more camouflage born. But methinks in all this world there's only one worth any mention at all.

You might say he's an orang bunian , this lizard no larger than the hand. He prowls by day. He stalks by night. But should you sharpen your sight, you just might see he's a tiny creature as colorless as sand and malleable as clay.

You might even say he's an acrobat, a trapeze artist on the crawl. That's if you consider catching insects from ceiling to wall a death-defying act.

For certain he's not the sumpah-sumpah , the princely lizard one wizard turned into a chameleon. But were the legend really known it might well be shown he was the jester of the court the day the spell was evoked,

Oh, he's a jester alright! He's a prankster of the highest rank. Why, were you to hear his knock -- the sort of sound he makes -- you too might think of nothing more than to check the door. But I tell you now, it's just a gimmick, another knack with him to go and mimic the neighbor next door.

I've even heard it said he has the curious of habit of slithering into bed when we, humans, have wrapped ourselves in sheets and fallen off to sleep. So should you be caught unaware of something squirming in your underwear, do not for a moment presume it is a louse or your amorous spouse. It might well be that little fellow, the cosymbote platyurus .

No matter what his name is -- and I might add cicak rumah (house lizard) -- he's still the four-legged menace that roams up and down every Malaysian home. And were it not for that very fact, he might easily be the family pet. But alas, you see, he is but a simple household pest!

© Breyel, Timm. “House Pest.” All rights reserved.