Mama And The Snake

My Mama didn't like snakes! The only good snake is a dead snake. We were share croppers so we didn't live in the best of houses. We always had the mouse or rat traps set depending on the size of the 'dumplings' they left behind. We hadn't caught any in a while but yet we kept hearing something in the rafters at night. Mama said it had to be a big gopher, WRONG! We didn't have inside plumbing and had a fireplace for heat and a flu in the kitchen for cooking with a wood stove. So this one great morning my sister and I were getting washed up by the stove in the kitchen when a snake came through a hole beside the chimney! Everybody screams! Scares the snake and he tries to make a u-turn. Mama can't stand the thought of him getting away, so she takes my pajamas and grabs him! Tells my sister to go get the hoe, she gets the gun. Mama says I can't hold him much longer GET THE HOE! Sis gets the hoe, mama says, now I'm gonna pull him out and I want you to hit him with the hoe. OKK!!! Snake is chopped in pieces before he ever hits the floor. Somewhere in the mix of this I have gone and got the encyclopedia and told them that it was a rat snake and if it bit them they would be alright. Mama didn't take much comfort in my information. I think I was about 7 and my sister was 13, made for an interesting morning.