Enmity

This is the snake I found today.
This is the snake I found today in our yard.
This is the snake I found today in our yard on a patch of grass I had stepped on not 5 minutes previously.
This is the snake I found today in our yard on a patch of grass I had stepped on not 5 minutes previously--barefoot.

Or how about this?

This is the snake that scared the daylights out of me.
This is the snake that scared the daylights out of me so, like any sensible girl, I started yelling for my mommy.
This is the snake that scared the daylights out of me, so like any sensible girl, I started yelling for my mommy...and she, like any wise woman, suggested we call our Mennonite neighbor.
This is the snake that scared the daylights out of me, so like any sensible girl, I started yelling for my mommy...and she, like any wise woman, suggested we call our Mennonite neighbor...and she, like any good neighbor and brave country woman (which obviously I'm not), KILLED IT.

Let's just say Wilma is my new hero.

I think it could also be deduced from the events of the day that God wasn't kidding in Genesis 3:15 when he told the serpent that there would be enmity between his offspring and the descendants of the woman. Enmity--a feeling or condition of hostility; hatred; ill will; animosity; antagonism (according to Dictionary.com)--yep, I think that about sums it up.

So here's the whole story...

Josiah, David, and I were outside feeding the animals during the middle of the morning today. We had fed the chickens, rabbits, dog, calves, and had used the hose to fill the trough in the pasture with the calves and our dog Molly. The hose was still out, lying on the ground, and I needed to use it to wash out a bird feeder...so I started walking up the slight hill in the backyard between the lilac bush and the forsythia bush when--suddenly--I noticed that something was on the hose that I had not noticed just a few minutes before. Something black. Something skinny. Something slightly curled. Something... OH MY WORD, IT'S A SNAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I kept my head enough to call to Josiah and David to stay back; they got up on the cement by the sandbox so they would be out of danger but still be able to watch. I called for Mother who was working in the garden, planting corn. She didn't hear what the commotion was about at first, but came quickly, of course, once she realized that I needed her. I, meanwhile, was frozen in place, thinking that I HAD to to keep my eyes on that snake so that it didn't vanish into thin air...but for crying out loud, what was I going to DO with it??? Mother was going to the garden shed and came back armed with a hoe and a shovel; but by the time she got to where I was, the snake had slithered out of sight under the (hugely overgrown) forsythia bush.

Rather than rejoicing that the snake was gone, I was horrified by the thought of a snake--alive--on our property...and perplexed by the small matter of making sure it didn't escape. Not that I wanted to kill it, but I certainly did not want it to live another day and reappear when I least expected it. I can't help thinking that the only good snake is a dead one; and although I KNOW that's not true (snakes are actually good for farmers...they eat mice who eat the farmers' grain...blah blah blah), I still can't tolerate the thought of one here, on our land, under our bushes, near my boys' sandbox. That poor snake came into the wrong yard! I think I would actually have reacted a little better (maybe let it live?) if I had seen it out in the woods somewhere...somewhere where it belongs. It does not belong here!

The big question was what next? I had feebly poked around with the hoe under the bush a little to see if I could find the snake, but wasn't about to get any closer to really investigate. I wondered aloud if it would work to use water from the hose to try to flush it out from under the bush. And that is when my wonderful mother came up with the brilliant suggestion to call Wilma who sort of laughed when I called her and said that she and the girls would be right over. And they were. I had just enough time to go in the house, get shoes for myself, make sure Josiah and David put shoes on, and go to the bathroom (since this whole episode was liable to scare the pee right out of me!) before the neighbors arrived. To the rescue!

Wilma courageously--or crazily, depending on how you look at it--proceeded to use her arms to move aside the branches of the bush so she could find the snake. Guess what? She found it! It was just lounging around on some of the branches towards the front of the bush. She wasn't as intent on killing it as I was intent on her killing it. :) After all, it almost certainly wasn't poisonous...and, I might add, IT WASN'T ON HER LAND. But she was willing to do whatever we needed her to do, so...she sent her oldest daughter Rosalie up to her husband's welding shop (behind our pasture) for reinforcements. Wilma knew her husband well enough to know that he would be about as likely to come to her aid as he would be to become an airline pilot (which is to say, NOT A CHANCE), but she did think that Douglas's helper Anthony might come help us. Alas, Rosalie returned alone; she reported that the men just looked at her when she told them what was going on.

Meanwhile, that slithery, slimy, sneaky snake had disappeared again. Wilma said, "Why didn't I just grab it when I had the chance?" Why indeed???

She went around to the side of the bush (the upper side) to resume the hunt...found it...called urgently for a hoe (which I quickly ran up to give to her--my big part in the drama)...and tried to get it. It quickly (man, snakes are fast!) dropped down and started slithering to where Rosalie was (on the lower side). I'm not sure what Rosalie did, but I do remember Wilma saying, "Am I going to have to kill this thing?" Yes, my dear neighbor, you certainly are!

Chop, chop, went the hoe...and Wilma overcame her reluctance at killing a really harmless (but utterly detestable) snake. And I will always be grateful!

You know what they say: what goes around comes around. Jeff was able to help Douglas a couple years ago with a certain predicament involving an armed robber, and Wilma was able to help me with this little pickle of a situation today. I know a snake is not at all like a gunman and I'm not trying to belittle the danger of the circumstances Douglas and Jeff were in...but my point is that I'm grateful for good neighbors who help each other out in a pinch!

As snakes are wont to do, this scary critter squirmed and writhed, even after being beaten and chopped. The mouth even opened; and Wilma (who was letting the teacher in her come out as she got down on her hands and knees and pointed out the snake's hollow tongue, his lack of fangs, his nostrils, and I don't know what else because I was still having too much of an adrenaline rush to pay much attention) let out a little screech when the snake moved to cling to the stick she had put in its mouth.

When I knew the snake was well on its way to being dead, I ran into the house to get the camera to take a picture. I just knew I would want to record this for posterity, right? :) And I also knew that Jeff would want to see the snake so we left it out on the cement cover of our cistern for public display. I'm not sure what kind it is. I tried to do an Internet search for snake images that matched this one, but I discovered that just looking at numerous pictures of snakes was freaking me out too much in my fragile condition! :)

The events of the day reminded me that when I was pregnant with Josiah, I was part of a research study at a university hospital in California to track the effect of light on a woman's depression (or lack thereof) during pregnancy and postpartum months. At the time it was determined that I wasn't depressed, but I qualified to be part of the control group and remained in the study until the researchers ran out of money and called it all off. But before that happened, there were several conversations where I was asked all sorts of questions, one of which being what my greatest fear was. At that point in time, I could only think that snakes were my biggest fear...so we explored that topic in depth during our conversation. This episode today reminded me of how deep my fear of snakes is. It's not logical, I realize, but it is real.

In the 36 years that our family has lived on this property, we can only remember one other snake that was found here. Actually when I say "we", I mean "my mother" who remembers finding--and yes, killing--a black snake outside our garage one day, many years ago. I suppose that 2 snakes in 36 years is a pretty good ratio, but I think 1 snake in 36 years would have been better.

This whole afternoon, I've been on edge, have literally shuddered and shaken as the feelings roll over me, have felt sick to my stomach as I replay the events in my mind. I'm not sure how long it's going to be until those images get deleted from the computer of my mind (or at least moved to the back corners)...or how long until I walk up that hill without fear creeping up my spine...or how long until I stop thinking that every little thing I see is a snake.

I know this really shouldn't be such a big deal, but OH MY WORD, IT WAS A SNAKE!