LJ/DW Idol, Week 10: Synthesia Iris the Iguana

[adoptedwriter]

 

Iris the Iguana

 

     Iris was a carefree, curious and cordial iguana. She spent her days joyfully slinking and roaming around the small village, occasionally stopping by the pond to hang out and drink water with her other iguana friends. Iris had dark green stripes across her back, strong legs for crawling and climbing and a long, slender but magnificent tail for swooshing and swirling.

 

     Iris wasn’t like the other iguanas though. She had a special ability for changing colors in a unique way, but none of her friends would believe her. Sure, she could adjust from the usual dull green to brownish when she moved between the grass to a tree trunk, but Iris’ talent went beyond the typical skill-set. Iguanas’ bodies can change color to blend in with nature, but Iris could do much more. For example, while she remained green for most of the summer days, when it rained she became aqua. Once during a heat wave, she became as red as a radish. In the autumn, when the other iguanas began to migrate to warmer parts of the country, Iris generally alternated between shades of orange, gold and brown. She realized that during the winter on snowy days, she turned white! None of her reptile friends seemed to ever be around when Iris turned a new hue because they all wanted to be in more comfortable places, but Iris liked the changing seasons and, being the warm-hearted individual she was, learned how to acclimate.

 

     Not only could Iris change colors to match the climate, she discovered that she could adapt to the sounds of certain forms of music as well. One day in early spring, while her iguana pals were finally returning to their warmer weather home by the pond, she was happily frolicking and batting with her tail at a tennis ball she’d found in the shrubs beside a house. She was scurrying to and fro chasing the ball when she suddenly noticed musical sounds coming from inside the house. Iris felt curious and managed to find a cracked open window where she could peer inside.  She saw a lady jumping, turning and stepping while watching another lady on a big box who was also jumping, turning and stepping while shouting out commands like: “Four steps to the left; now right!”, “now six squats”, “You got this! Now ten jacks!” The music coming from the box was rhythmic and lively. Iris quickly discovered that the stripes on her back were turning neon pink, yellow and blue! She loved that look and quickly dashed off to show off her new image to her iguana buddies lazing down by the water. By the time she made it to the banks of the watering hole, her color had retuned to ho-hum, basic green again. Iris sighed. No one would see proof of her talent.

 

     Another time when Iris was roaming by the amphitheater, she happened upon a band playing called The Evil Emo Eels. Again, Iris was curious and crawled in closer to see the show. The singers seemed to be practically screaming to very loud, almost scary sounding songs about how ugly and miserable their girlfriends and boyfriends were. Iris gasped in terror when she realized that her entire body had turned completely black except for her toenails which were now blood-red. She bolted back to the pond as fast as she could, but, alas, she’d turned back to her usual shade of green, and her fellow iguanas all had a grand laugh when she tried to explain what had happened.

 

     It was Memorial Day which was pretty exciting because a bunch of fire trucks and cars with lights and big horns and people waving flags and wearing funny shirts with stars and stripes all showed up. Iris hid shyly in the bushes, but still, she wondered what was going to happen with all these people and vehicles. Then! The music came! Marching bands rounded the corner playing John Phillips Sousa music. Drummers banged on base drums with large mallets, horn players honked, pipers piped and flautists fluted. The music was very exciting and gave Iris such a happy feeling. She looked down and saw her color transform to red, white and blue.

 

     A couple of weeks later, another parade took place in the vey same area. This time the bands and marchers were loudly and proudly blasting  Y.M.C.A., Born This Way and also Dancing Queen. It made Iris want to jump out from the security of the lush landscaping and dance too! So she did, and from snout to tail she became every color of the rainbow! She spun, she dipped, she skipped, she stomped she leapt through the air. The parade meandered all the way down to the little pond where all the other iguanas were roaming about, sipping water and rooting for snacks. They looked up when they heard the sounds from the procession off in the distance. The marchers drew closer, and there she was in all her glory! Iris the iguana! The beautiful, colorful, elated iguana, was dancing and loving every minute of it. At last her pond pals believed and understood what Iris had been struggling to tell them for years. Instead of laughing at her, this time they joined in the fun and followed the parade. Iris’ outlook improved and her fellow iguana pond mates found a new appreciation for their colorful, joyful neighbor.