Sooner or later this story will probably find it's way back to my friend, Rhonda, who spent a night at my house not too long ago- and then she will probably NEVER come and see me again! But this is kind of funny, from a certain point of view.Some time ago my husband, who was raised in the wilds of Idaho, was at work when his coworkers (sissy Californians) began to yell and fuss about a HUGE snake by the door of the shop. Being a curious soul, my husband went over to check out the HUGE snake... and then proceeded to make fun of the coworkers regarding their feelings about a 2 ft. gopher snake, curled up in the corner. The coworkers were ready to kill it, but my husband said that he would catch it- and when asked what he planned to DO with it- he replied that he wanted to take it home to his wife. That elicited comments regarding his tender thoughtfulness and gifts for his wife (me)- and then he explained to them that his wife is a biology teacher, and the snake would be useful in the classroom. That satisfied the crowd, somewhat, and they watched him do his best snake wrangling (who knew brooms were so multipurpose?) ... until he caught it and put it in a cardboard box, which he put in his work truck.
When he and I had both arrived home that evening, he brought in a box and told me he had a surprise for me. As a seasoned veteran of such 'surprises' (I still live with him, and we had 4 children, all of whom would have done something like this!)- I did NOT rush to open the box, and instead I began to inquire about it's contents.... eventually we opened the box, and - viola! ???? it was empty! oops, he said- it must still be in my truck! (great, he's been driving around all day with a loose snake in his truck....???!) Anyway- this news should have been my warning, but... alas, no- I did not heed it!
So, he located the snake, brought it in, and we installed it-hissing and striking- into a medium sized glass aquarium- with a screen lid (which we tied securely to shut!) Over the course of the next couple of weeks, my son in law and I made friends with the snake and we could pick him up without him striking at us... although he would still strike at my husband whenever the opportunity presented itself.
When ever we took the snake out to hold him, he always seemed determined to get back into his aquarium, and he seemed to like it there. So one day, after putting him back, the lid was only tied down in 4 places, instead of the usual 6.... and shortly there after my husband came to find me and say there was some bad news.... had I seen the snake?
uh oh.
And since then, we haven't seen the snake... we assumed that he had crawled under the fridge (because that is where we found son and daughter in law's python that had been missing for months!) (in THEIR house, not ours!)- but eventually we cleaned out under the fridge... and- no snake! I suppose he might still be hanging around loose somewhere in my house- and that is an eerie feeling! Especially when I get up in the night to go do something in another room of the house.... yes, this really is the gift that KEEPS ON giving!
I only wish I had taken him to school a little sooner- so I would just have to worry about him popping up unexpectedly in my classroom, instead of my home!! We had just covered emergency drills and proceedures at school about that time- and I had to give the person in charge of writing up those proceedures a bad time about not having included a contingency plan for loose snakes in the classroom. But- basically he told me that I was on my own with that one. I told him I would just call him. What are friends for anyway? Now, Rhonda, aren't you GLAD you didn't KNOW this when you were sleeping at my house??? We debated about telling you, but decided ignorance was bliss! And that you weren't really all that likely to run into the snake anyway- since we hadn't. But of course, you never know..... (yes, it keeps on giving!) Labels: gifts, snakes, thoughtfulness
