Wriggling Tale by Kalai Selvi Arivalagan (room on the broom read aloud .TXT) 📖

The mother lizard slowly climbed the open shelf at the corner of the kitchen searching for a place to lay her eggs. For the past two days it hunted for a safer place where she could keep her eggs.

The top corner of the shelf proved to be a safer place. Some bottles filled in the space and hid the corner of the shelf from the view. It will take at least six weeks for the eggs to hatch. Once baby lizards come out of the eggs, they can move freely in no time.

Six weeks later, more than six baby lizards hatched out of the eggs. All the baby lizards followed their mother outside. The mother lizard led them to the nearby tree and started to teach them how to hunt small insects as their food.

The last one which hatched from the egg did not want to move away from the hiding place in the shelf. The mother went searching for Tiny. The little lizard curled up at the corner of the shelf refused to follow her.

‘I am not coming.’ Tiny replied to her mother.

‘What are you going to do here? You will not get enough food here.’

‘It is so warm and cozy here. I don’t want to come out and freeze in the cold.’ Tiny replied sharply.

‘Freezing cold? Who told you so? Come out and see yourself.’ The mother lizard called Tiny once again.

‘Is it not winter now?’

‘Yes, but it is not so cold. If it is cold we can stay inside the garage. People will chase you away if they find you.’ But, Tiny was not in a position to listen to her mother.

At that moment, Bob, the cat entered the kitchen. His sharp nostrils told the presence of the lizard. Without making a noise, he jumped on to the flat slab near the sink. Standing near the sink, he looked around searching for a way to reach the top of the shelf.

In the mean while, the mother lizard has moved half way on the wall. Sensing danger, she wanted to move fast and escape out of the window. Looking at the cat, she moved her tail fast and let a part of the tail break away.

The piece of tail fell on the floor of the kitchen and it started to wriggle as if struggling for life. Bob jumped down and sat down looking at the wriggling tail.

Tiny was silently watching all these things. Without making any more comments, she silently followed her mother and went out through the kitchen window.

Publication Date: 03-10-2013

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
Little lizards on the walls of our kitchen!