When seeing the word Skink, what comes to mind!
For the handyman it could be an “S”bend with a “kink” in it or it could be “Skin” spelt incorrectly after a boy who has copied the word “SKIN” from a Word Building PACE is distracted by a Ferrari which has just screamed up the road on a trip to Knysna from Cape Town. The distracted scholar hears the ssssSSSSS of the tyres on the tar, the KKKKK of the Afrikaans pupil next door trying to say “kyk!” without being caught and then the “INK” sound as the driver slams the Ferrari into “Sport Mode” to get to his destination faster than expected. It may also be the way a person with a “lisp” says “Kink”
My first experience with this “word” happened when I was a young girl of about 14. My dad had ordered this wooden box to build a pigeon loft. The day came when we had to move it off the polished verandah floor, (yes, we did polish our floors in those days) and move it onto the concrete slab he had cast the week before as the floor for the loft. We managed with a few helping hands to lift the box up, and to our amazement this huge lizard came sliding out. When I say sliding, I mean he was sliding. His little feet couldn’t get traction in order for him to run away from us, which made him an easy target to be caught. Of course, as things would happen, I made the attempt to pick him up, and what a shock I got for my efforts. The little critter politely turned around and bit me on my thumb. Did I scream, and when I think of it now, it still gives me what the Afrikaans people would say …. “ ’n Lekker gril”. I flicked that lizard off so quickly, and vowed never to pick one up again.
Now this is where the word “skink” comes in.
The word Skink is a noun and means …Any of numerous smooth shiny lizards of the family Scincidae, having a cylindrical body and small or rudimentary legs and living chiefly in temperate and tropical regions.
Who would have thought that 34 years later a lizard(skink) would make headline news again, and to make it even more interesting, it is right here in Heidelberg, on the grounds of our wonderful school. Lee, our Administrator, has over the past few months been giving a lizard(skink) water to drink by the aloes outside the Admin office. Lizzie or Akkedis, we aren’t sure if it’s a male or female, comes regularly to drink water out of a lid that Lee holds for it. It has become so tame, that Lee is able to touch it while it drinks. Adriaan Fourie, a Grade 5 pupil who is also our local Pet Detective has been threatened with detention if he so much as dares to take it home with him to add to his collection of reptiles at home.
Next time you are at the office, ask Lee to demonstrate to you what this little thing does. Preferrably on a hot day. You will be amazed to see how tame it is.
