Leapin' lizards ain't EVEN fast enough

I love to download free podcasts. My favorites include the Naked Scientists, Radio Derb, The Red Panda and Storynory... but there's another one that I never told you about before because I'm pretty sure that ninety-nine percent of my readers would have absolutely NO interest in it. It's a short-story podcast in the vein of Escape Pod (sci-fi short stories) called Pseudopod, and it's a vehicle for short-story horror.

Now before you recoil in -- wait for it -- horror, these are usually much more like the scary stories you used to sit around the campfire telling your little brother so he'd be awake all night long, quite often with a modern twist or an unusual hook. I do not go to horror movies, but I like the creep-factor involved in Pseudopod. Of course, now that I'm linking to it, the next Pseudopod will probably be some hideously gruesome blood-fest that completely contradicts what I've just told you. Hey, there IS an "Explicit" warning on the podcast. You've been warned. And I don't ever listen to it with the kids in the car, so don't worry about that. Heck, I don't even listen to Escape Pod with the kids in the car; there might be a swear word in a story or something. heh

On Pseudopod, the host (Alasdair Stuart) always prefaces each story with the phrase, "...because I have a story for you. And I promise you... it's true."

My beautiful sister just called me up and said, "I have a story for you." I immediately got a mental Pseudopod flash. "What is it?" I said. The tale that follows just might be straight out of Pseudopod... at least, for a mom.

She had just let the dogs out into the backyard and had raised the window blinds so Baby Ava (who's standing and cruising these days) could watch the dogs from inside the kitchen. Then she went to the sink (which is just a few feet from the window). Ava was quieter than usual, so she looked up and saw that she did not have the toy she'd been left with, but was chewing on something. She ran over to her. "What are you eating, Ava?" she demanded. Ava laughed out loud and promptly displayed the fresh pieces of a gecko she'd apparently just caught.

My sister is understandably horrified and was having occasional retch-fits in the retelling of the tale to me. My brother-in-law, ever practical, wondered what the day-care people are going to think tomorrow when they change her diaper and find the REST of the gecko.

Me? I'm darned impressed. Have you seen how fast those geckos can move? This kid's got superpowers, I tell you.

UPDATE: Okay, they found the other half of the gecko. Apparently when my sister had let the dogs out, it had been in the doorway and had met its unfortunate demise when the door was closed on him. Ava was just checking out the leftovers. The other half was on the other side of the door.

Heh... great comment: "Death of an (Insurance) Salesman" starring Ava... LOL!