Tuesday, August 13, 2013

until that part

There was still a look of horror on my daughter's face. They had been sitting in their van, waiting, when she had spotted it. She had thought at first glance that it was a large piece of black tubing, but it was so thick, and in that moment, she realized that it was a large snake, sunning itself.
A truck pulled up and a man and woman jumped blithely out.
The snake gave a mighty heave, flipping over in mid-air.
It seemed to drain off of the road into the grassy verge.
The couple walked unknowing over the very spot the snoozing snake had been.
They unlocked a gate and as the man returned to drive the truck through, the woman walked slowly along the grassy edge staring intently as though she had lost something.

Now this story would be shocking enough, but there is more.
The woman in the truck was me.

As we drove down the long lane, my eyes were on the van alone.
When we pulled up to a stop, I noticed my son-in-law begin to open his door, his hand held out as though to steady or stop me, but I misinterpreted the meaning.
I thought he was chivalrously offering to open the gate.
I demurred.
Fortunately, the snake didn't.
It just disappeared.
As I peered along the grassy verge, looking for frogs to amaze my grandchildren, my daughter was saying in the van, "Mom CAN'T be looking for the snake."
Had the world tilted off of its axis?

"Oh," I squeaked, as the story was relayed moments later.
"Oh, you were trying to keep me from being frightened by the snake," I gasped gratefully, patting my son-in-law on the shoulder.
"No Mom, he just wanted to see the snake up close. He wasn't thinking of you at all." my daughter added.
And I wasn't thinking of me at all either. At least up until that part.

2 comments:

  1. Just thinking about this gives me the willies! Weren't you lucky!

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  2. I love that expression, the willies! Yes, very lucky. We only have garter snakes slithering about this neck of the woods.

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