Hayes owned Leopard Head for just about a month and a half when his life came to a gruesome and untimely end. We really try to be good lizard owners, but happy, healthy lizards just don't seem to be in the cards for the Geldmachers. Remember Skid's tail incident? Please don't turn us in to whatever animal protection agency out there might find this alarming. We really do try. The boys love the lizards kind of like Tommy Boy loves his sale/roll/pretty new pet. Anyway, Dax, Hayes and a friend were in their room last week when one of them came screaming-I mean really, really screaming down the hall, "we killed Leopard Head! He's DEAD!" I ran to the room to find Dax and the friend sobbing. And yes. A very severely injured Leopard Head. Apparently someone-not sure who- was holding the lizard and he jumped out of the hand to the ground. I also don't know if Dax jumped out of the way, or tripped, or what exactly but he stepped on the lizard. And squished it. With his bare foot. And I don't mean invisible-to-the-naked-eye internal injuries here, either. This was gruesome blood and actual guts stuff. Dax and the friend were seriously traumatized. Sobbing, upset, traumatized. Hayes never cried or really acted upset. And to his credit he never blamed Dax or got mad. I think he could tell Dax felt bad enough already. He just asked me to help dig a hole in the flower bed, which I did, although I too was slightly traumatized at the sight of the guts. Hayes colored a few pictures for Leopard Head and made him a paper headstone. I called Tyler and asked why does this kind of stuff never happen when you're home??? Dax cried some more. He felt very sorry and responsible. Hayes just kept telling Dax that it was ok and accidents happen. The next day Dax came home from school with this:
It's about the size of half of a poster board, so it's not small. I asked Dax when he made it and he told me he just asked Mrs. Moody if he could do this while the rest of the class worked on something else. Okaaayyy...... The guy with the tear on his face just about breaks my heart. You can't tell in the picture, but the drawing of the water bowl says "I will buy you a new lizard." Not sure if that's a good idea. But I do like the use of just a little glitter and there was also a candy glued to it. Awww.
So there you have it. Rest In Peace, Mr. Leopard Head.