I need a hero

he's gotta be fast
and he's gotta be strong
and he's gotta catch geckos at night

Jake found Freckles last night ALIVE!

I discovered gecko scat in the basement bathroom last night, so we knew she had to be down there somewhere.  This was surprising since she escaped upstairs, and a quick google search revealed that leopard geckos cannot climb walls, which means she fell down the stairs.  The google search also mentioned that leos are resilient.  She was gone for two weeks, fell down the stairs, and survived, so I'd say that statement is true.  We can also deduce that our basement has plenty of bugs, which hurts my pride.  I was sure my house was too clean to support a loose gecko for two weeks.  Sigh.  (If you were to see what a mess my house is on a daily basis, you would know I was delusional.  Now I've been un-deluded.)  But enough of that.  On to the find.

The situation was desperate.  Jake decided he must take action.  He touched the scat and immediately knew it had been...uh...put there within the last two hours.  He sniffed it.  The smell told him nothing.  He tasted it.  Aha!  The gecko had been heading northwest--the furnace room!  Now Jake had to think like a gecko.  Where would he hide?  The answer was obvious: that coiled hose next to the furnace: precisely the right levels of privacy and humidity.  Carefully, he lifted the hose, and there was Freckles!  She tried to make a run for it, but Jake instantly switched from gecko mindset to catlike reflexes.  He grabbed her and put her back in the cage, where she happily devoured 7 wax worms and made me feel better--there couldn't be that many bugs in my basement if she was so hungry.  The End.

P.S.  I'm guessing a real Louisiana Flour Trap involves flour spread all over the floor.  I set a trap in the furnace room about four feet from the coiled hose over a week ago, it's still there, and the only tracks in it are from Anne (who was told to stay out of it) and the 4-legged crickets writhing in agony.  Maybe geckos have Celiacs and avoid wheat products.  Or maybe Freckles is an idealist who values liberty over handouts.