By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills
Last week, I was a guest at a book club of a special group of ladies who read my books and encourage me. These ladies are grandmothers and great grandmothers, full of life and dear friends.
If you suffer from Ophidiophobia, read no further.
As a kickoff to the evening, one of the ladies prepared a fabulous dinner. We filled our plates and seated ourselves in the dining and kitchen rooms. That’s when the stories began about snakes . . . not garden snakes but the venomous kind native to Texas. These sweet women are gutsy and more courageous than I’ll ever be. I laughed to keep from being frightened. Although for a while, I pulled up my feet from the floor.
A few of their stories:
- One of the ladies is a retired school librarian. From inside her library, she opened the door to the outside. A snake from above the door fell at her feet. Thank goodness the snake was stunned, and she didn’t have to chase it through the school. The assistant principal found a broom and swept it into a small trash can.
- The book club hostess told an alarming story. Her husband had been busy tending their yard when he was bitten by a coral snake. He called his wife at work to arrange anti-venom to be delivered to a neighboring hospital. He decided to take a shower before driving himself for medical treatment. Dear reader, a coral snake is nothing to mess with.
- Another story came from a woman’s husband who enjoyed the rattlesnake hunt in Sweetwater, Texas. She mentioned her husband had backed up from a poised rattler and landed on a cactus. Ouch!
- Another woman, quite lovely and feminine, spoke about an incident that happened about three months ago. My heart’s still pounding with this story. Outside her back door is a narrow, concave area that a coral snake had stretched out. Her husband fetched a shovel, but wasn’t able to get to the snake due to the shape of its “bed.” The snake couldn’t coil to strike. This woman retrieved a butcher knife from her kitchen and proceeded to cut the snake into pieces and used scissors to sever it’s head! Oh, what can I say about Texas women except we do have our heroic moments.
Other women had stories too, but I think I’ve shaken y’all enough for one day, even without showing pictures!
What’s your top snake story?
DiAnn’s Library Corner
Librarian – Ask your patrons to nominate a local community hero. Celebrate the winner by taking the special person to lunch. Take lots of pics for your bulletin board.
