Skink?

After Sini asked again about the chameleons and birds in America, she wanted to know what other Gambian animals are also there.

Sini: Are there palater in America?

Me: Palater, palater… I forget palater.

Sini: You do not know palater?

Me: I forget!

Sini and Fatou Sowe’s Musa (not Baby Musa, who is Fatou Bobo’s Musa) try to describe palater for me:

Musa: …it is in trees…

Me: I know! Lizard.

(I think me suddenly remembering after Musa mentioned "trees" is just coincidence; there is no way trees remind me of lizards)

Sini: Palater is what in English?

Me: Lizard.

Sini: Lizard. It is in America?

Me: Yes. But Gambian lizards and American lizards are not the same.

Sini: The lizards are red?

Me: Yes. And black and this [I point to something blue] and this [I point to something green].

Sini: And lukagede, are they in America

Me: I do not know lukagede.

Sini: It is like a lizard, but it is not a lizard.

Me: It is small?

Sini: Yes.

Me: But it is not a lizard.

Sini: No, it is not a lizard.

Me(thinking, maybe it’s a gecko?): Is it inside houses?

Sini: Yes.

Me: But people do not like it.

Sini: No! If they see it they will hit it. [she does a whacking motion with her hand]

Me: I know! It is a gecko! Fatou Bobo saw it in my house and her shoe [I take off my shoe to demonstrate] she did this [I pantomime whacking a wall with my shoe]

Sini: Yes! In English it is…?

Me: Gecko.

Sini, Musa and Cherno: Gecko.

Me: In Pulaar?

Sini: Lukagede.

"Luka” means “scream,” but I don’t know if the name comes because people scream whenever they see a gecko or because the geckos themselves are vocal reptiles.

Sini: And kordo-mbodi?

Me: I do not know it.

Sini: You do not know kordo-mbodi?

Me: No. The Gambia does not have them?

Sini: No, The Gambia has them.

Me: It is not a lizard?

Sini: No, it is like a snake.You know snake?

Me: Yes, I know snake. But it is not a snake?

Sini: No, it has legs.

Musa: Four legs.

Sini: Two and two.

Me: I think I have never seen it.

Sini: No—it has color, it is red and white.

Now another woman briefly joins our conversation. In English, she says: It is red and white. If you see it you will think it is a snake, until you see the legs.

Me: And it is red and white?

English-speaking woman: Yes.

Musa: It is this and this [he points to a piece of orange and white fabric lying on the ground]

Me: I think I have never seen it.

Sini: It has a snake’s head.

Me: But it is not a snake? And it is not a lizard?

Sini: No, not a snake, not a lizard.

Me: I think I have never seen it.

Sini: You have never seen it?

Me: No.

I consulted with Julia afterward, and she thinks maybe it is a skink, but we have yet to consult her reptile-identification guide. If so, I spoke half-way true. I have never seen a red and white Gambian skink. Only blue and yellow American ones.