“What in the world?” As the dust and feathers cleared he looked inside. Peering into the darkness, he detected movement at the opposite end. As his eyes adjusted, he saw it, a BIG Bull snake, and the biggest he’d ever seen!
Oddly, the snake seemed in distress. Studying the situation, Mike saw the problem; the snake had swallowed an egg whole and was attempting to back out the way he’d come in. Unfortunately, with the egg lodged in his neck, escape was impossible. Mike sprang to his feet, turned and scurried to the other end of the henhouse. There he spied the remaining five feet of the snake as it wriggled and wiggled, recoiled and curled, struggling to retreat from the coop. But it couldn’t budge an inch and keep its treasured egg.
“I’ve got to get Grandpa!” Mike thought. He ran toward the farmhouse for help screaming for all he was worth, “Grandpa! Grandpa, come quick! There’s a snake in the henhouse! Hurry!”
Grandpa and Grandma had just finished their breakfast. As they casually sipped their coffee while laying out plans for the day, Mike’s call to arms penetrated the walls of the house. Instinctively, his gangly Grandpa leapt to his feet, fetched his hat, ran to the woodstove, grabbed his axe, and scrambled out the kitchen door.
Spotting Mike flying toward him, he yelled “Where is he?”
“At the first henhouse!” Mike yelled.
As they headed back toward the A-frame, Grandpa asked, “Is he inside?”
Wide-eyed, Mike wasn’t sure how to answer, so, catching his breath, he blurted, “Just come and see! He’s swallowed an egg.”
Arriving at the back of the henhouse, they stopped in their tracks. Quickly appraising the situation, Grandpa drew back and paused. With one hand on his hip, he rested the axe on his foot, cocked his hat back, and began scratching his head in amazement. After a moment, he smiled and exclaimed “Well, I’ll be. That feller is sure stuck. You see thar? That house has sunk down on him a little and is a squeezin’ him.” Then he let out a laugh.
Setting the axe aside, Grandpa motioned to Mike to help him. “Now, you grab that corner thar and lift it up and we’ll see if we can help him out.” Bending over, he grabbed the snake’s body right next to the edge of the wooden base. Then, with the other hand, together, he and Mike lifted the A-frame house up enough to pull the rest of the snake out. Dangling the writhing reptile into the air, he laughed again, then looked the snake in the eye and said, “Big feller, you got yourself in quite a pickle.” Then, turning to Mike, he said, “’Bout scared you to death I reckon!” Looking over to the henhouse, he picked up the axe and, with snake in hand, disappeared into the catalpa grove. The snake was never seen again . . . and neither was the egg.
By Michael Alumbaugh, © November 2017
