Yours, Mine and Geckos

I’ve come to a major decision – something I’ve been toying with for a while. It’s time for me to write a shapeshifter story. But here’s the catch: it can’t be a bear or a wolf or a cat shifter. Nope – it’s going to have to be a Gecko-shifter.

See, here at our place in Hawaii, we have a 15 watt solar panel and a broken generator. This leaves us with a serious lack of power. When you don’t have much electricity to speak of – no TV, no music, limited computer time -- you find all sorts of ways to entertain yourself. So we’ve been getting to know the geckos darting around the house. I’ve even joked about setting up a gecko-cam because they’re so darn cute.  

 

Racy our favorite Gecko

I love these little guys. They run up and down our clothesline. They cluck at us from the rafters of our bedroom at night. One – we call him Racy – ventures onto the glass-topped table to clean up after us. Here’s a picture of him rolling his adorable little tongue across a tea ring.

Geckos have amazing tongues. After they eat, they clean their mouths with their tongues; they even clean their eyes with them. They’re also incredibly agile. Thanks to millions of microscopic hairs on their feet, they can climb anything, even the smoothest glass wall, vertical, upside down, doesn’t matter. They’re  the only lizards that can make sounds other than hissing – we hear them often at night, chirping and clicking to each other.

And guess what – geckos already are shapeshifters in Hawaiian legends! The mo’o, the great dragon-like, magical lizard, was one of the four most powerful guardian spirits of the Polynesians, along with the owl, the hawk and the shark. Geckos, who are able to change colors and drop their tails when in danger, were considered sacred, living representatives of the great lizard himself. It was assumed that the mo’o could use the little bodies of the geckos as manifestations.

The mo’o, who guards families, places and entire districts, can change shape at will, but isn’t always friendly. Interestingly, mo’o often appears in Hawaiian stories as a beautiful, irresistible woman. She lures husbands away from their wives with the intention of devouring them after their passionate affair is through.

Other facts about geckos: they love sweets, they’re not afraid to wear bright color (just look at that neon green skin and turquoise eye shadow!), and they prefer warm climates.

So I think I have the rough outlines of my story. My gecko-shifter will obviously have to be a gorgeous woman – a bonbon-eating, tropical island-dwelling fashion queen with the ability to disappear up walls, slip through the clutches of the bad guys and do outrageous things with her tongue. 

Another great thing about geckos: they eat cockroaches. Well, my girl obviously has a few surprises in store for the handsome visiting scientist who catches her eye.

So am I crazy here? Would anyone want to read about my gecko-shifter? Whaddaya say? Oh, and Kinsey ... apologies for the title. ;-)