A Shock in the Yard (StoredStory # 7)

It was a sunny day, but the cool shadow of the house covered me like a damp towel. Mom was working several feet away. I was squatting while running my fingers through blades of grass.

“Little Chuck!”

The cells in my five-year-old  body shook a little at hearing the serious tone in my mom’s voice.

“Stand up, walk into the house and get your daddy.”

There was lawnmower deck propped against a tree near where mom was standing. She had somehow pulled a ligament around her knee while twisting around near the mowing deck to get to me.

I automatically did as told.

 “Tell him to get the hoe.”

Dad was on the couch reading a magazine. He came out side.

“There’s a copper head over there,” mom urged. The snake had been just behind where I was squatting. Later, stories told would go like this: "He almost sat on the snake!"

Dad chopped at the head of the snake. He extracted an oozing white liquid from the snake’s head and explained that was venom.

Mom ended up having surgery, and I’ve always been highly afraid of snakes. I would like to make my peace with serpents, but I find it hard. I respect them, and I don’t believe in killing them. But every time I see one, my cells feel like they’re going to leap from my body in escape.