Posted: Mar 23, 2008, 4:46 AM CST
Just after dinner one night, my son came up to tell me there was
'something wrong' with one of the two lizards he holds prisoner in
his room.
'He's just lying there looking sick,' he told me. 'I'm serious, Dad.
Can you help?'
I put my best lizard-healer expression on my face and
followed him into his bedroom. One of the little lizards was indeed
lying on his back, looking stressed. I immediately knew what to do.
'Honey,' I called, 'come look at the lizard!'
'Oh, my gosh!' my wife exclaimed. 'She's having babies.'
'What?' my son demanded. 'But their names are Bert and Ernie, Mom!'
I was equally outraged.
'Hey, how can that be? I thought we said we didn't want them to
reproduce,' I said accusingly to my wife.
'Well, what do you want me to do, post a sign in their cage?' she
inquired (I think she actually said this sarcastically!)
'No, but you were supposed to get two boys!' I reminded her, (in my
most loving, calm, sweet voice, while gritting my teeth).
'Yeah, Bert and Ernie!' my son
agreed.
'Well, it's just a little hard to tell on some guys, you know,' she
informed me (Again with the sarcasm!).
By now the rest of the family had gathered to see what was going on.
I shrugged, deciding to make
the best of it.
'Kids, this is going to be a wondrous experience,' I announced.
'We're about to witness the miracle of birth..'
'Oh, gross!' they shrieked
'Well, isn't THAT just great?
What are we going to do with a litter of tiny little lizard babies?'
my wife wanted to know.
We peered at the patient. After much struggling, what looked like a
tiny foot would appear briefly, vanishing a scant second later.
'We don't appear to be making much progress,' I noted.
'It's breech,' my wife whispered, horrified.
'Do something, Dad!' my son urged.
'Okay, okay.' Squeamishly, I reached in and grabbed the foot when it
next appeared, giving it a gentle tug. It disappeared. I tried
several more times with the
same results.
'Should I call 911?' my eldest daughter wanted to know
'Maybe they could talk us
through the trauma.' (You see a pattern here with the females in my house?)
'Let's get Ernie to the vet,' I said grimly. We drove to the vet
with my son holding the cage in his lap.
'Breathe, Ernie, breathe,' he urged.
'I don't think lizards do Lamaze,' his mother noted to him. (Women
can be so cruel to their own young. I mean what she does to me is one
thing, but this boy is of her womb, for G~d's sake.)
The vet took Ernie back to the examining room and peered at the
little animal through a magnifying glass.
'What do you think, Doc, a C-section?' I suggested
scientifically.
'Oh, very interesting,' he murmured. 'Mr. and Mrs.
Cameron, may I speak to you privately for a moment?'
I gulped, nodding for my son to step outside.
'Is Ernie going to be okay?' my wife asked.
'Oh, perfectly,' the vet assured us.' This lizard is not in
labor... In fact, that isn't EVER going to happen. Ernie is a boy.
You see, Ernie is a young male. And occasionally, as they come into
maturity, like most male species, they um . . um . . masturbate.
Just the way he did,
lying on his back.' He blushed,
glancing at my wife.