Cultural Exchange

When I got home from work yesterday my nanny was sweeping the floor. We greeted each other* and then I went in the next room to set down my bag. When I walked back into the living room I found her slamming the broom on the ground trying to kill something.

"What is that?" I asked, thinking it was a spider who had found his way inside the house.

"Un lezard" she responded as she again lifted her broom for another powerful blow against the small gecko that was writhing on the floor. "I must kill it" she told me, matter-of-factly.

"No! Please don't kill him!" I pleaded with her, grabbing the broom. They eat the insects, I explained. They are good! They can stay!

No, no, you don't understand, she explained to me. They are bad luck. They get into your room and make you sleep bad! They curse you! Everyone knows this! DUH, Kate.

Evil Gecko

"Please, next time, just let me know and I can at least take him outside and let him go!" I pleaded with her. She looked at me, horrified by the suggestion.

Eventually, she consented and we decided to be a non-"lezard" killing household, but during the course of our conversation, the small gecko had slipped away from the crazed, broom-killing nanny and disappeared.

"Now, look!" She yelled, exasperated. "It has disappeared! He will go into your room! Now you will have nightmares until he is dead! And it's not my fault!" With the final sentence she threw her hands up in the air and went into the next room, hunting for the injured gecko and distraught that I had let this happen.

It was a wonderful cultural exchange. Now I know.

*screams and hugs and happiness.