A Friend in the Window Well

Yesterday my hands were overflowingly full when I was trying to get in the door after school when I happened to catch a glimpse of a fat black garter.  I yelled to the kids to, "Come quick! Come quick!  Drop it! Just drop it!"  Neither dropped anything they were carrying and barely hurried.  Apparently I get excited often and easily and they don't.  Also, apparently, my neighbor likes when I get excited and turned out he did drop everything and stood at his door watching this entire scene unfold.

We got up close to this little snake who was peacefully coiled up in the window well.  Victoria immediately wanted to touch it.  I told her to go ahead.  She triend and it lept up.  She wanted reassurance it wasn't going to bite her.  "No it won't I told her," farely sure this was a fact.  Christian and I stood back thinking, is this girl crazy?  She was so quick I actually didn't see her grab it, she had it in her hand and flung it to the driveway.  Christian and I hopped out of the way (we both yelled a bit).  Somehow, someway that snake got UNDER Christian's foot.  Thank God he insists on wearing his rubber fireman boots often.  I start screaming, "You're standing on it!!  Christian you're standing on it!!"  He's was so flustered he was frozen in fear.  I pick him up as if his life was in immediate danger and wrapped my arms around him like I saved the day.

Then I hear the neighbor laughing hysterically.  Hysterically! 

I can now see the humor in it.  At that moment I was trying to figure out what the hell we were going to do with this half injured snake on the driveway which is now, no longer a Happy Snake. 

That little sucker slithered right back to the window well and stayed there until Mark got home. 

It was quite exciting, exhausting, funny and memorable.

I hugged Victoria (after she washed her hands) and told her, "Man, you have some guts!" 

"Really?  What does that mean?" 

"You're a brave, brave little girl."

"Yeah, I know," is all she said.