Lizard Tales

The Clinic and the Evac Shack are covered in lizards. They've always been there but it seems like within the last week or so they've grouped together to form a more organized attack. They're stupid critters and will let you get really close before running away. Their camouflage actually works (unlike the camouflage I wear) so I end up flushing several tiny lizards out of their hiding places with every step I take.

I think the lizards are adorable. None of them have attempted to sell me car insurance, so I feel a little cheated. Most of them look the same: sand colored and slim.

There is a different kind of lizard who lives in the sandbags around the Evac Shack. He kind of looks like a snake when you see him out of the corner of your eye-- and that's how you always see him because he's faster than Hell and scares the shit out of you every time he makes his mad getaway. Half of his tail is missing, so he's got some street credibility. I imagine him as an evil dictator ruling over the other minion lizards. If he were a pirate, he'd have a peg leg. I don't mess with him.

On my first deployment to Iraq in 2003 we didn't have air conditioning in our aid station for the longest time. So in the afternoon when it was 120 degrees, I'd sit on the side of the building on a slab of cement in the shade and read or take naps. Every afternoon I had a visitor. He was a giant lizard, much bigger than the ones I see now. He'd come crashing through the weeds and grass about the same time every afternoon. I could hear him coming a mile away as he had absolutely no grace what so ever. He'd sit on another slab of cement in the sun and blink his eyes at me. I'd like to think we were friends.

I am not friends with the evil dictator that lives outside the Evac Shack.