Suzie, the Liz's Christmas Eve

Being quadrupedal, I was moving as quick as a flash to the guestroom’s Moroccan Lantern. My pineal eye detected Arhon who was also moving with a strong side-to-side motion, making his way towards the Moroccan lantern. He, too, was late for the Christmas Carol singing practice. We all had to be our best for the evening.

As soon as Arhon spotted me, he rushed towards me. It was a moment of great laughter for me as I watched the excessive movement of his gaits and the alternating action of his right and left limbs. Yet, he was moving at a dead slow pace. He was an over-sized Green Anole and had come a long way. I remembered once accompanying my dad to Arhon’s family home found in the coconut tree. A respectful abode I should say, with abundant beetles to eat. When Arhon came close to me, I noticed his particular display of pink throat dewlap. Flashing a large smile at me, he uttered the following spine-chilling words, “I dream of you everyday Suzie. You are my sun and my moon. You are my ray of light. Will you please be my wife?”. Flabbergasted, I could not utter a single word. I was stunned by such a revelation and question. Without answering, I left Arhon and with substantial body bending, I rushed to my Carol singing practice. A wave of guilt washed over me. “Did he think I was mad or deaf?”, I though while moving at a tremendous speed.

Arriving near the Moroccan lantern, marvellous clicking and hissing sound filled up my ear openings. My eardrums, located just below the surface of my skin, vibrated with the fantastic songs. Our chorales were a huge part of the midnight masses on Christmas Eve. We had spent days practicing for this evening and today is our last practice. I made my way through the members of the choir and settled next to my bestfriend, Ben. Being a Brown Anole, Ben always had that serious look on his face but that day his white diamond back, seemed to be shining brighter than usual. Forcing the air out of the lungs, I sang my heart out. Although my glottis started hurting after a couple of minutes, I retained a steady rhythm and continued my practice. With the festive day kicking in tomorrow, the atmosphere was full of joyfully gabby geckos and excited squeaks. Even Ben seemed radiant on this twenty-fourth of December. I forced myself not to look towards the beginners’ choir fearing to meet Arhon’s gaze.

As soon as the practice ended, Ben surprisingly directed me towards the bail of the lantern. This had always been a very silent part, where almost no choral practices were held. He presented a fresh and juicy cicada and with an open-mouth gape asked me a simple and direct question, “Suzie, will you accept me as your husband?” This question resonated in my mind and my poor heart skipped a beat. All of my instincts urged me to flee. All of a sudden, I heard mum’s voice. She had come to fetch me from my practice. Relief washed over me like a wave. Without looking at Ben, I crawled as fast as I could on my strong limbs. Shellshocked, I couldn’t dare looking back at Ben. I, soon, joined mum who was waiting for me near the globe and urged her to make our way home, with a twinge of guilt.

That day our journey from the Moroccan lantern to our home, the porch light, was full of obstacles. We had to travel through the shelves of the gallery which was recently decorated with figurines depicting Jesus Christ, Mary, Joseph, angels and shepherds. Some of the figurines had sharp edges, pointy frames and were so cumbersome that we had to crawl all over them, thus draining our energy. We forcefully had to make a stop at uncle Jones’ house. Being a gecko, his house which was found in the crack of the grease kitchen was always packed with small flies, silkworms and other dead insects. Uncle Jones had always been a very good friend of mum but that day he seemed a bit reluctant to invite us in his dwelling. However, realising our lack of energy he guided us into his home. Great was our surprise to notice two hard-shelled eggs, shining brightly between two small wall cracks. We realised that an egg-laying event had recently taken place and it certainly was not an atmosphere appropriate for us. We did not want to act as uninvited guests.

While mum was still making up her mind to leave uncle Jones house without replenishing our energy, I saw one of the twin sons of uncle Jones. I was unable to decide whether he was Nick or Niko. He greeted mum with great respect and invited me to join him in his room located on the front hairline crack while mum indulged in an awkward conversation with Uncle Jones. Still being unable to decide whether he was Nick or Niko, I preferred referring to him as Twin Number One. I soon got lost in his sensitive, mesmerising cyan-coloured eyes. He was talking about the significance of celebrating Christmas Eve and the birthday of Jesus Christ. I barely realised when the conversation topic shifted from Jesus Christ to his wish to have a life partner. Twin Number One wooed me into his talks and highlighted the fact his family will be welcoming two new-borns and his tired mum would need help with them. With a smirk I stated, “Will you be needing a life partner or a full-time nanny?”. With a discomforting smile he asked what I feared the most…

“Dear Suzie, you are the one for me. Will you be my life-partner?”

I had no time to react when Twin Number Two emerged from behind me flashing a large grin. I was lucky that he stymied Twin Number One’s attempts at courting me. Tight-lipped, I watched how Twin Number Two got on top of his brother with a shriek of joy. His slanting black eyes gleamed with subtle mischief. I immediately knew that this action was no sign of affection but of dominance. Twin Number One yelped in pain and became submissive. He was forced into a situation of utmost ridicule and reduced into a nincompoop. I could not help but experience a knot of anxiety for him. After a few minutes, Twin Number Two got down in a wily manner and enthusiastically proposed me to accompany him to visit his room which was next to this one. Disappointment was clear on Twin Number One’s face while a pang of absolute uneased ceased me as I made my way out of the room.

Twin Number Two’s room had an opening to the living room wall. We admired the multicoloured lights and the splendid Christmas tree with its fantastic decorations. The humans had worked diligently with the Christmas lights and the wrappings of gifts. Aunty Jones came to serve me some mouth-watering fruit flies and I gave her a heartfelt congratulation for her much awaited new-borns. Feeling rejuvenated, I decided to join mum. Thanking Twin Number Two for allowing me to experience such an amazing scenery, I was making my way out of his room when suddenly he started a recent form of courtship - he gave me a lizard love bite. I knew that biting was a part of the mating ritual, hence, I was mortified. I quickly freed myself and mustered courage to face him. An awkward silence stretched between us. I was at a lost what to do and where to go. A machiavellian smile appeared on his face and he stared at me without a sign of worry.

“What a loutish behaviour!” I thought.

“Let’s go on a date Suzie. I so want you.”, were the words that came out of his mouth. His words gave me a sudden chill. Shellshocked, I exclaimed, “What do you mean?”.  Panic overtook me.

Lady luck was on my side that day. Once more mum transformed into a saviour and barged into Twin Number Two’s room to fetch me. “It’s time to go back home Suzie.”, said mum. With a disconsolate face, Twin Number Two paid his respects to mum and after thanking the Jones family wholeheartedly, we set off. I was speechless. The late afternoon sun had fallen behind dark clouds. On our way to the porch light we passed in front of the glamorous concave mirror of the dining room. I took a precious and a long amount of time to observe my reflection in the mirror and concluded, “No sign of extreme beauty and no aura of elegance.”

“Is Christamas Eve a magical time where female teen lizards get proposed?”, was the question encrypted in my mind. Shamefaced as well as quizzically shocked about today’s encounters, I did neither utter a single word nor informed mum about the proposals. I knew if I did so she would begin to fire questions at me. My imagination was, however, still running away with me when I recalled the stories I was told by grandma about Christmas magic.

When we reached home, darkness had already fallen like a heavy blanket and this journey had worn me out completely. We had just enough time to rest a bit in our rooms which were found in different parts of the porch light and get ready to attend the midnight mass for Christmas. I still had a worrisome problem- four unanswered proposals.

I crawled to my room which was the canopy of the porch light to get some rest. My eyes were gritty with fatigue. An eerie sound followed by a familiar fragrance welcomed me. “Paul, is that you?”, I whispered. Out of the darkness emerged my charismatic Paul. A twinkle lit his eyes as soon as he saw me and I stared at him in absolute amazement. He was back after a whole month from the shrine which was located among the lush vegetation of the human neighbour’s garden. He had sneaked into my room to surprise me. This was the greatest Christmas gift ever.

With an angelic smile on his face, he came close to me and the following words came out of his mouth, “Thank you Suzie. I know the wait was long, but I promise that I will never leave you again. Will you marry me?” At that very moment the humans made their mind to turn on that complicated black machine from which songs are emitted. To my great surprise, my favourite romantic song was played creating a romantic atmosphere.

I was duly awed. These were the words I always wanted to hear from Paul since I first met him. With my heart pounding with excitement in my chest, shrouded by a romantic atmosphere and surrounded by vibrant Christmas decorations, I let out a loud “yes”. The only thing missing to complete this passionate moment was a mistletoe above our head. It was a moment frozen in time when a huge smile spread over his face. A thousand of emotions washed over me; happy, excitement, relief… This moment would always be etched beautifully in my mind.  

I soon realised that the porch light was wrapped in a profound silence, meaning that my family members were already waiting for me outside the house. I knew I had to hurry up, but Paul and I did not want to part ways. He reluctantly agreed to leave my room after some minutes as he knew that mum would reprimand me if I were late. In fleeting seconds, I tidied myself and crawled to join my family. Ecstatic, I made my way behind the huge Christmas tree in the living room. We always chose this place for our gatherings and midnight masses because humans never come behind their Christmas tree. I excitedly crawled over and between the dark cables snaking across the floor. My thoughts drifted back to the fairy-tale proposal by Paul and I exclaimed, “That’s the real Christmas magic. You were right grandma.”