Stop me if you've heard this one before. The one about the Jackson Chameleon? With the really long tongue? Oh, you haven't heard it? Well, one day just last week, right outside our classroom door, there was this Jackson Chameleon (we'll call him JC), and he was discovered by the entire third grade class. Cool, thought the curious but not-altogether-bright third grade teacher, a teaching opportunity right outside my door. Let's have an impromptu science lesson and then go on merrily with the day! So she encouraged all students to gather around and examine what he was eating. Something long, pink, and squishy was stretching almost the entire length of his body, and the chameleon was pulling at it with his feet. I didn't know they ate earthworms thought the very-confused-but-well-meaning teacher as she bent down to pick up the chameleon for all students to get a closer look. Cries of "wow!", "cool!" and "can we keep it?!" made their way through the little group, until one slightly more observant child cried, "Eww, his tongue! What is he doing to it?!"
Well, to keep the story short, let's jump right to the end. The thing that looked like an earthworm really was his tongue. Somehow it had been stretched until it was tangled in JC's own feet, and every time he took a step he was literally turning his mouth inside out. Seeing there was nothing much they could do, the class and teacher left him some water in hopes that he might get himself together enough to drink, and went on with their day.
After most of the children had been sent on home, the teacher went out to check on JC. It had been a hot day, and what had once looked like a fat, pink worm now looked like a shriveled, dry twig. JC's tongue had dried out in the sun, and was no longer of any use to him. It was still tangled in his feet, so the teacher, being a humane and decent person, walked back into the classroom, grabbed a pair of scissors, and with great care she snipped off the chameleon's tongue, just like an overgrown fingernail. The chameleon thanked her, and went on his way. Ok, actually, one of the other teachers took him home to be a companion to her one-eyed Jackson Chameleon, and after a couple of days of infamy, the teacher and her class were able to return to normal. Whatever normal is...