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The day I turned fifteen, against all odds, my mother gave me a pet: An Iguana.
I woke up, at about ten a.m., just in time to hear the family car leave the driveway. I walked through the house, scraping the sleepy stuff from the corners of my eyes; Only to realize it was my birthday, and my entire family was gone. I was fifteen- I went back to bed.
About an hour later someone pushed open my door, and placed a cardboard box on my chest. I opened one eye, and looked on unexcited. I moved the box, rolled out of bed and as I went to open it... something inside scratched to get out! In that instant I wasn't sure I wanted a gift, and especially not one that moved of its own accord!

I named him Iggy and kept him in an old aquarium in my room, it had a screened top with a meager twenty- watt plant bulb above it. She hated him- and he was my best friend.
Day in and day out I searched the school library for information and did research through friends of friends who once knew someone who knew someone else who might have had an iguana, or a tree lizard; At least something with scales.
I remember the conversations about keeping him in my room, never letting him out without the door closed, and how I'd never be able to stay anywhere else overnight because she "wasn't about to feed that thing for me"!
I also remember coming home one day from school when Iggy was nowhere to be found! Not in his cage, not on his towel, nowhere in sight! My mother was instantly next door at my Aunts house, and my Uncle was sent to "help" find my precious three foot long lizard. He was stomping around, asking me where I had put his "belt" and how he was ever gonna get new boots if I didn't keep a better watch on Iggy. After about four instances where I was sure he had crushed my poor innocent best- friend, I sent him on his way.
Hours later, I was crying to my mother. He must've gotten out the door at some point in the day, or gone down into the depths of the central heating vents. She swore she'd have me cleaning out the duct- work at the first smell of decay! As we walked into the house, she held me as I sobbed, and lo and behold, he appeared! He scared her half to death, hanging from the curtains, perched atop the rod, watching us as though we were complete idiots for having searched every other area in the house. It never occured to us that he would be above eye- height; He was only five inches tall!

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