Signs That Something Wasn’t Right

As time passed, Safran’s behavior began to change in ways that were easy to overlook at first. She stopped eating. At night, she would slide out of her terrarium and stretch out right alongside her owner’s body—her head near the woman’s shoulder, her tail reaching her ankles. Sometimes she wrapped loosely around her waist and stayed still, as if she were counting the ribs one by one.

During the day, she would rest on the cool floor next to the bed, exactly where the woman often walked barefoot. She could lie there for hours, moving only the very tip of her tail, her eyes fixed on the rise and fall of her owner’s chest.

The Strange “Hugs”