Well… I wish they had taught us how to practically deal with insects and reptiles at school.
Science classes always give scientific information about different creatures, but they don’t teach students how to practically handle any of them in real life.
Schools focus mainly on scientific facts so students can be well informed and prepared for their exam grades. As for the practical part of how to deal with these creatures, schools leave that task for parents to handle at home.
Some parents were raised with good practical experience, enriched by old folk knowledge and techniques.
Others think and behave exactly like school children, lacking any practical experience except the running-away strategy when they come face to face with those crawling creatures.
So… one night on our recent holiday, and after a long day exploring different places, my daughter and I snuggled into bed and grabbed our iPads to scroll for a bit before sleeping.
It was all quiet.
My eldest son had fallen into a deep sleep after finishing his running routine.
Why running in such steamy hot weather and on holiday too? I wanted so much to argue with him, but of course a man in his twenties wouldn’t listen.
My middle son had already left for Thailand for a couple of days. “Well, Mama, it’s cheaper than flying from the UK.”
Again a man in his twenties, once sets his mind on something, nothing will change it.
And my husband was out having dinner with one of his acquaintances.
That was why the night felt so still… until a strange hissing sound broke the quiet nearby.
I paused and looked around, wondering whether it was coming from the AC.
Then it stopped.
I looked back down at my screen and started scrolling again.
A few moments later, I heard the same sound but louder.
This time my daughter heard it too, and we both turned to each other at the exact same moment.
‘Did you hear that?’ We asked together.
‘What could it be?’My daughter whispered.
‘Is it outside or inside?’We whispered to each other, then stood up on the bed, staring around the room in every direction.
Then I remembered I’m the mother here, and I have to find out.
I jumped down, grabbed a slipper, and tiptoed around the room.
I looked down every bed in our big room, under the chairs, and in the bathroom.
Nothing.
So I climbed onto a chair and started hitting the curtains with my slipper weapon.
“It’s a lizard’s sound.” My daughter said, her eyes fixed on the screen she was holding tight.
That was what I had guessed too as the day before we saw a long one crawling out of the bushes in one of the parks.
‘How do you know?’ I asked, still standing on the chair but no longer hitting the curtains.
‘AI,’my daughter replied, ‘he said it’s probably lizard crawling on the outside walls.’
I sighed in relief, grateful for the AI’s generous help.
Then my husband came in.
‘What’s wrong?’ He asked and I climbed down from the chair while my daughter quietly sat back on the bed.
We told him the whole story.
‘Oh yes, they say it’s normal to see things around.’
‘Thank God the windows are always locked.’ I whispered.
The following day, as we were waiting for the taxi to start a new adventure, I told my son the whole story and he couldn’t believe he had missed such an interesting episode.
And just before getting onto the taxi, my daughter and I heard the same sound again.
We turned immediately towards the source, wondering how long the lizard would be this time.
But it wasn’t a lizard.
It was just one of the hotel porters pushing a big luggage trolley into the lift.
Me snd my daughter looked at each other and burst into laugher until tears flooded our faces.
With funny-moments thoughts,
Nahla
Pure and Simple 