Distraught Neighbour
Well I must say, today has been quite the day. It began shortly after 8:am. I thought ahh, I’ll just quench my thirst and embrace some truly good literary
verse. I sat quietly enjoying my read, when suddenly a loud knock on the
door, startled to say the least, who could it possibly be this time of
morning. Much to my surprise, it was one of my neighbours, frantic, upset
just not making any sense at all. My snake, I lost my snake, did you see him,
is he in your house. I replied sna.. wha. Did you say snake, what are you
talking about. The neighbour went on to explain that while visiting fantasy
land weeks prior, he won a large snake and unfortunately it got out of it’s
tank. A terrifying feeling went from the bottom of my feet to the tip of my
head. Oh my gosh, I said, I hope your snake is not in this house, I don’t
like snakes, they terrify me. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say or how to
help you. Call the police I screamed, he said no, can’t do that. I think I’m
suppose to have a license. There’s a big risk factor involved in having a snake you
know, why it might get out and be anywhere, it could hurt someone. I don’t
have time to talk to you anymore, I must find my snake. Please call me if you see him. Sure, I replied in a fearful voice, of course I will and closed the door.
I stood there mesmerized by the thought of possibly having an encounter with a large snake, a snake of any size for that matter. Afraid to move,
somewhat in shock of this horrifying news. I thought to myself, this is
my home, I can’t be terrified in my own home. I laughed, a phantom sort
of laugh. Stop fooling myself I thought, I’m really scared, I just don’t know
what to do.
My thoughts were to calm myself, think of thoughts that would give me joy.
Oh no that’s an impossible task. I started to walk up the stairs, halfway up
I heard a noise, something is behind me, I know something is following me
up these very stairs. Oh no, it’s the snake, I just know that dang snake is
going to attack me. What to do , what to do, I ran up the stairs as fast as
I could and ran into the music room, I should be safe here. The music on
the radio was playing, a powerful beat of old time blues. I turned it off, I
needed to hear what was going on in the hallway, then the door slightly
moved. My heart started to race, I heard a scratching sound, that seemed very close to the ground. I streaked, that snake is outside the door, I know
it. Then an ingenious thought came to mind.
I’ll put some stuff under the door, maybe he’ll eat it and fall asleep.
Then and only then, I’ll open the door and walk over that awful thing, go
down the steps and run like hell. What do I have to feed this thing, I saw
my jewellery box sitting on my dresser and looked inside, the first thing I
saw was and old charm of mine and lots of pearl necklaces. Maybe he’ll
swallow the pearls and go to sleep. I forced all the jewels under the door,
and waited and waited.
Crazy thoughts ran vividly through my head. I hope that snake can’t
infest any of us around here, oh what a dilemma that would be. I waited
then I thought….. slowly open the door. My eyes wide like saucers, the
sweat dripping down my face, I shakily looked to the floor and saw a
bundle of fur, well that can’t be, a snake is like leather. I opened the
door a little more and there it was, whew! That silly old cat of mine was
the culprit scratching at my door, what a relief. Oh oh, that means the snake is still around here somewhere. Afraid to walk down the stairs but knew
I had to . I walked to the front door and went outside, noticed a crowd
standing across the street. My neighbour had his head hanging down. I
walked across and there, laid out on the ground was my neighbour’s
snake. No movement in sight, the snake had been run over by a car.
Well, I had mixed feelings as you can imagine. I felt sorry for my poor
neighbour, yet relieved that the snake was dead. I put on a sad face and
put my arms around my poor grieving neighbour, trying my best to
console him.
Yes, it was a strange day in our small community, anything can happen
here. You can bet I’ll remember this day for the rest of my life.
WRITTEN FOR THE CHALLENGE: 'TEN WORD JOURNAL WEEK'
MODERATOR: RAINSPIRIT
By eboneee
© 2008 eboneee
(All rights reserved)
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