When you're young, to be in motion seems to your natural state. To be still is like a sin and must be avoided as all costs. On this one warm summer day in 1971 an invitation from life was made and accepted by a boy and a girl on a motorcycle. 

The way the world looks, feels, and smells on a motorcycle is quite unique and everyone should experience it at least once in their lifetime. As boyfriend and girlfriend it is the perfect mode of travel as you get to be close and enjoy the world together while your passenger holds you tight and giggles her delight into your ear.

Marcia and I were enforcing youth's rule of constant motion by just wandering around town on my motorcycle. It was mid summer and the leaves on the trees were large mature ones that played with the sunlight as they danced as shadows on the road. The staccato light from the sun that did make its way to the ground added a surreal feel to our passage and the warm summer air embraced us like a hug from the earth itself.

The sign said "Wholesale Animals" and as we passed it we both asked the same thing out loud to each other "What kind of animals?"

I turned around and we made our way into the driveway and then to the front door of a building with the same sign and the business hours posted. 

They were open.

I never in my life saw anything like what was in this warehouse. Yes there were animals there, lots of them and many of them were in boxes, like how you would store potatoes. Boxes of young turtles and so many others that it was just so depressing.

And then we saw him, in the middle of the room on a table in a large wire cage. The largest lizard I had ever seen in person in my entire life. He was all black and speckled with white spots and he was pacing back and forth in the cage. Marcia and I were both stunned by how beautiful he was and we were both really upset that his pacing in the wire cage was causing him to scrape his nose until it was bloody.

We wanted to save him but we thought there was no way we could afford to buy his freedom but we asked how much anyways.

"Seven dollars" the man told us

I have no idea why this lizard was only seven dollars. This lizard was a South American Tegu and he measured 3 ft 8 inches and he was an exotic and besides who sells a lizard like this for only seven dollars?

I dug through my pockets and found that I had seven dollars in bills and coins and we hurriedly paid him before he changed his mind.

The man took him out of his cage and put him in a cardboard box and told us that he eats raw eggs and then handed him to us.

We now owned a lizard!

Now you may remember that we were on my motorcycle so that meant that Marcia had to hold onto me while also holding onto the cardboard box with the lizard but we made it back to my house intact.

This lizard was a delight because he was so mellow and yes he ate raw eggs slurping them up with his tongue.

I made a harness for him out of some suede leather by cutting holes for his font legs to go through and then lacing it up on the back like shoe laces so I could attach a leash so that Marcia and I could take him for walks.

Our first outing was at Winter's Park and the grass hadn't been mowed so it was pretty tall and as we walked him you couldn't see him unless you were right up close.

There were other people in the park but I doubt anyone noticed our lizard because of the grass, so we just leisurely let the him lead the way. He was really enjoying himself, exploring as he was pulling on the leash and going back and forth sensing everything around him with his forked tongue.

I noticed a family that was having a picnic a little ways off and then I noticed that the little girl with them was looking at us. She waved at us and Marcia and I waved back and I guess she took that as an invitation because she started running towards us and calling out loudly "Is that a puppy?" "Can I see the puppy?" 

Marcia and I looked at each other a little puzzled and when we looked back at the girl she was already only a few feet away from us.

Her first words were in a very quiet voice "That's not a puppy" and then something primal clicked in her head and her arms flew up above her head in surrender and she shrieked "THAT'S NOT A PUPPY!" as loud as she could.

Her father came sprinting over yelling "What are you doing to my daughter?" and grabbed her to protect her from whatever horror she was screaming at and then he looked down and saw the lizard and yelled "Oh my god, what is that thing?" and he lifted his daughter up into his arms and hurried off back to his family.

Marcia and I both fell on the ground laughing until we couldn't laugh anymore. But as soon as there was a lull in our delight we would look at each other and one of us would say "It's not a puppy" and we started laughing again until our stomachs hurt so much we couldn't move!

I sometimes think about that girl, and how every so often she tells the tale of when she was a little girl and found out that a puppy is not always a puppy and it makes me smile as I relive a pure joy of youth that I once shared with my friend.