Sphincter.
Was the name of my Tokay Gekko.
In the quiet house on a quiet street after midnight came his unworldly bark.
SPHincter. He was a Phantom of the Opera
Even now, We pronounce the name
tentatively
And in a whisper.
Many a traveller has turned white with fear of the unusual sound.
Sphincter was shy and lived behind the refrigerator.
The sad fact was that there were some cockroaches and I had gotten the gecko to eat them It took the creature a week to get rid of the roaches and then I fed him pinkies. I kept the pinkies in the freezer. But finally I couldn't stand any of them.
We set a tender trap for him and I gave him to a friend with a feed store.
The gekko was a lovely creature: pink and green. But churlish. Not like iguanas or pandas.
I don't know whether the cockroaches have returned to the little house. I have not.
—Janice Ambrose