Glecka following her wish

Some humans know Glecka. Her full name is Glecka Lagart a gecko that was born behind a kitchen cabinet. Shortly after hatching from her egg Glecka distinguished herself by being very independent and curious. Although attentive to her mother's recommendations - especially the warnings about the danger posed by the house cat - Glecka never missed an opportunity to explore the human house. She really wanted to know what the world was like!

Glecka, to her mother's concern, developed a nocturnal lifestyle. She slept during the day and when everyone, humans and minimals alike, retired to rest, she would poke her head out from behind the colorful picture of colors that adorned the living room and which she had adopted as her private quarters.

Just because she was curious and adventurous did not mean that Glecka was careless when she went out to investigate the different parts of the house. She was always very alert to the presence of Casimira the cat, an unfriendly animal with a finicky disposition who boasted of any hunting she did to win the affection of the humans.

"That's the biggest danger!" thought Glecka whenever she decided to go out on her nightly excursions.

But, curious as she was, Glecka had learned that while cats could see six times better than a human, geckos could distinguish shapes and colors three hundred and fifty times better. This filled her with confidence. Her eyes, light green, with their black retractable pupil were, besides her greatest charm, her best tool.

Cowardly in nature, humans are prone to be frightened in the presence of minimal beings. They can undertake great crusades to drive them out of their habitats, using all kinds of resources, mechanical and chemical weapons. However, they are very accommodating to geckos. Once they know that geckos inhabit a part of their home they admit their presence with a form of gentle indifference.

The geckos knew this feeling of humans towards them, so over the centuries they decided to accompany them in their dwellings. Glecka went a step further. She watched the woman of the house carefully, observed the colors of her dresses, her necklaces, listened carefully to her music and noticed the variation that the music produced in her moods.

Thus Glecka began to imitate the life of the woman of the house. Behind her colorful painting she began to organize a very personal space. Her nocturnal explorations were intended to obtain decorative elements.

Geckos have prodigious hands and legs. On each limb they have five fingers with two fantastic nails on each finger. Glecka's are retractable, very useful when she needed to lift small objects from the corners of the house. On her walks she collected many colorful and shiny beads, strands of thread, scraps of fabric, shards of glass, shards of mirrors, whimsical wood shavings, metal fasteners from earrings, beads, sequins, broken crayon tips, and any object that to her artist's eye seemed beautiful, shiny, interesting, whimsical, or useful. On the occasions when some containers were left ajar, Glecka had the opportunity to sniff oils, perfumes, powders and to give in to the temptation to make up her eyes and mouth.

Glecka dragged, carried, pushed, pushed, moved with illusion of her treasures while imagining the flowered dresses she would make for herself, the color combinations to thread the beads, the pearls, the charms. Thinking of the way she would place the flat objects, mirrors, plates, pretty papers and cardboard behind the canvas of the painting where she lived. She was a being with many desires.

One day Glecka wandered into the laundry room of the house. It was a damp, enclosed, heavily perfumed and cluttered space. It was filled with shelves, baskets and various containers.

"This is the perfect place to find treasures." Thought the gecko.

She was not wrong! Under the laundry room furniture, in the inaccessible places of brooms and mops, where, unless everything was cleared away, human hands could not gain access, Glecka found a real treasure. She found gold garments, silver chains, copper coins and many, many, buttons.

Buttons of all sizes and colors appeared before Glecka's astonished eyes. Metal buttons, mother-of-pearl buttons, little wooden buttons, cloth-covered buttons. Very large buttons, medium buttons, very small buttons. As they appeared she took them between her fingers and fiddled with them.

At some point after watching them a lot, Glecka picked up the largest button and placing it on its edge rolled it back on itself. At one point her retractable fingernail slipped on the button giving it an involuntary impulse. The button rolled, as if it had a life of its own, with the grace that only a large button can have when it rolls, its four holes also seemed to move separately, merging at times into one. Glecka, began to chase it without thinking. She had lost track of time. She was excited, chasing her button across the laundry room floor.

That's when he saw the claw. The cat's paw was falling from the sky. Geckos are the only insects with vocal cords, and Glecka's worked like a charm. At the claw, she let out a desperate cry for help.

Gek! GeK! Gek! She screamed in fear, unable to contain herself, as she backed away as nimbly as she could, without taking her big eyes off the cat's eyes.

The cat, who initially only wanted to play with the rolling button, saw in this moment a golden opportunity.

It left the button already stopped on the floor of the laundry room and pounced on the poor lizard, which, in desperation, let out its tail.

Casimira, she was a fat animal, apparently a bit of a dummy.

She stared for a moment at the wagging tail and that gave Glecka the opportunity to retreat to the far corner of the laundry room. She didn't expect to get help, but she was willing to wait there, out of reach of the cat's paw, whatever it took.

Help came. The woman of the house peered into the laundry room and seeing the cat in a hunting position moved it out away from the laundry room door.

"Surely you are hunting a poor gecko, you bad cat! Geckos are my friends. You are forbidden to harm them!" said the woman.

Glecka had not yet deciphered the human language. But it was very clear to her wat was going on. She waited patiently for a while, then began to carry her treasures. She carried them as usual to the back of the colorful painting that adorned the living room of the human house.