Stories From My Past: Snake!

Timeframe - Late Jr. High, early High School.

A friend and I were wandering out by the pond behind my parent's house. It was a pretty small pond. My friends and I would wander out there when we were bored. Sometimes we'd fish, sometime we'd just run around and throw rocks at each other. It wasn't a real exciting pond, but it was there.

My friend DareDevil had a "I'll try anything for a nickel" mentality, but he really didn't require the nickel. All he needed was an idea that he hadn't tried before.

As we walked around the pond one day, we saw a water moccasin sunning itself on some rocks by the side of the pond.

I have a very simple rule regarding snakes. Greater distance = happier Jeff. As far as I was concerned, the outdoor activities were over. I was already 30 paces or more away from the situation when I realized I was walking (OK... galloping) alone. I looked back, and there was DareDevil, picking up a fallen tree branch.

He took the 10-foot branch, and using it like a spear, he thrust it down hard on the snake's head. Only he missed.

If a water moccasin is threatened, it will attack you. Mr. Snake very quickly identified the source of the threat, and it struck without hesitation. The only problem (from the snake's point of view) was that DareDevil's stick had managed to pin his tail down.

I could see the snake strike repeatedly at DareDevil. But every time the snake lashed out toward him, it got within a foot of DareDevil, and then was stopped because its tail was pinned. Then, in a panic, the snake would lash out away from DareDevil, trying to get back into the pond. It would be stopped again by the stick that was pinning its tail. Lather, rinse, repeat. The effect (from a significant distance) was that I was watching a helicopter blade spin around.

DareDevil figured out the pattern and released the stick during one of the snake's round trip attempts at escape. WHEE!!!.... the snake flew off and splashed into the water.

DareDevil came back over to me with a look of shock and wonder on his face. "Wow!", he said, "Let's go find another one!". "Are you crazy?", I replied. DareDevil countered with, "Hey, it's safe. I've still got my stick!"

Greater distance = happier Jeff. I went home.