Lizard Story

The plastic lizard must be moving by itself.  Ava sometimes found it facing an entirely different direction on the other side of its ceramic pot.  A few times in recent months, she noticed it on the floor near the white wicker plant stand.  The first time, she’d assumed the dog had knocked it off with his tail, and she put it back, carefully placing it so its nose poked out of the ancient fern.  Today the lizard was on the floor, and this time pretty far away from the plant stand.  And it looked decidedly not-plastic, with smoother, more subtly-colored scales.  It seemed to be cowering — unsuccessfully trying to blend in with the white baseboard. 

Years before, one of her children had stuck the plastic lizard in the dirt under the fern’s foliage.  There it had stayed, an ironic decoration that still made Ava smile — at least on Tuesdays, which were her plant-watering days.  About three weeks ago she found the plastic lizard on the rim of the bathroom sink by itself.  A little warning bell had rung in her head, but she decided, instead, to go with the oddity as a happy reminder of how it had been to have her children’s toys all over the house.  Messy, but also familiar and homey to find a toy in a new place.  Nothing really to worry about.

But now Ava wondered if someone was playing a trick on her —  substituting a real lizard for the toy.  But what would be the point?  It wouldn’t be that difficult for her kids to do if either of them lived in Los Angeles anymore.   As practical jokes went, it was right up their collective alleys.  But if either of them had planned such an elaborate scheme — most probably involving a friend of theirs who still lived here — someone would have called and asked leading questions.  And there was no one else she knew who would even bother to play a trick on her. 

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