What Goes On in The Pumpkin... Stays In The Pumpkin

For the last five or six nights, when the front porch light is on, there have been shadows inside the plastic pumpkin that I have hanging up below the porch light. It's one of those open-topped plastic pumpkins with a handle-- the kind that little kids hold to collect their goodies on Halloween. Being that the plastic on this pumpkin isn't too thick, the pumpkin sort of glows when the porch light is turned on.

And for the past few nights, instead of merely glowing, that pumpkin is sometimes moving and shaking to a beat all its own. When I first saw it moving, I just thought it was dancing around a bit because of the breeze. Not the case last night, since the air was very still. I walked out the front door with Gracie to let her have a late-night walk on the front lawn and as I came back up the walkway towards the house, that pumpkin was dancing. Even Gracie noticed the commotion up there and she started to growl, so I got her into the front door before she could bark and disturb the neighbors. I grabbed the flashlight while I was inside and back out to the porch I went.

So there I was on the porch, round about midnight, flashlight in hand, brave soul that I am. (Total understatement.) The pumpkin was still moving. Not as much as before, but slowly swaying under the porch light. I could see shadows in there, but couldn't figure out what was causing it. I took the flash-light and tapped on the pumpkin. It stopped moving. I think I was standing there holding my breath, just waiting.

The pumpkin moved once again, sort of like a quick knee-jerk, and it bumped up against the house. I could've gone inside and gotten a step-stool so I could get up there and see just what was in there, but I didn't want to be up that close and personal.

I turned the flashlight on and got close enough to shine it right at the side of the pumpkin. I tapped on the pumpkin again. The moving shadows stopped. Then, very slowly, half of the shadow started moving towards the open top of the pumpkin while the other half stayed right where it was on the bottom. I backed up a couple of steps... and kept the flashlight aimed at the pumpkin's opening.

Slowly, slowly, the shadow kept moving up.... and what do I see? The green head of a lizard. His head came straight out of the pumpkin so he was staring at the underside of the porch roof as soon as his head cleared the rim. Then ever so slowly, he twisted his head around and looked at me. I was close enough to see him blinking in the glare of the flashlight. I just stood there and stared at him... and he puffed out his pink throat.

Ah.... a lizard in love. The other half of the shadow still inside the pumpkin must have been his lady. Well, excuse me. I turned off the flashlight. Lover-boy-lizard stopped blinking and his pink pouch deflated into plain old green skin. We just stared at one another for a minute or two before I realized that he wasn't going to return to his lady-lizard until I gave them some privacy.

Now I wonder if I'll have to keep that pumpkin hanging up on the porch light till all the babies are born and weaned and able to face the cul-de-sac on their own?

To paraphrase that popular commerical for Vegas: "What happens in the pumpkin, stays in the pumpkin."