Reptiles

I live with 2 of my brothers here who happen to be total animal-lovers. My Dad always taught us to respect Mother Nature and give life and substance to living things as opposed to killing them off as the instincts of man would lead (in some cases). Danny caught a baby Spiny Lizard last week with his toddler students during school hours, brought it home, put it in his tank, wondered if it would live (they live wild in Guatemala). Three days before Willy would come home from Wordstock a miracle happened and Spkie started eating flies. (Table flies that bug us all at every meal and snack time--so long, suckers!) The toddlers kept telling Danny "catch those flies, Dan Dan--do it for Spike"--the name of the baby Lizard.
A couple days later, Pablo catches a deadly, poisonous snake in the garage (we live in the mountains.) He decides to ask Danny if little Spike can be fed to his snake before it goes off to the guillotine. ( To Danny's horror.) One week later on my brothers day off, Willy catches an awesome Helmet Headed Iguana (very rare in Guatemala or anywhere for that matter.) He brings it home, makes a sweet home for it out of a laundry basket (the one I was trying to use to hang laundry with--ahem!). Oh, wait. "What about poor Spike", my siblings ponder. "If Pablo hears of this new lizard, he will for sure want to feed Spike to his snake before he's decapitated." So, as planned, Willy brings the snake to the master's courters, knocks on the door and pleads "Pablo, you have to kill your snake now or I will kill it." So Pablo obliged, thinking now must be the time because Willy would have no more of it in his room. Pablo descends upon the snake with a machete not once but twice, making sure his snake's head was successfully severed from it's body while Willy commented "You know, snakes still live for a while longer after execution, their nerves are still alive."
Knowing that their Lizard's enemy has been slain, my brothers rejoice quietly in their room and then search for insect food for their new Lizard. Now Spike rests easy and my brothers feel like the knights that they are, protecting the weak and helpless of the animal world. Long live peace.