Cute little snakes.

When the bicycle bridge over the highway was built, a den of harmless red bellied snakes was apparently disturbed, causing them to wander all over near the bridge looking for a new home. My son Tommy decided these might make interesting pets, so he brought two of them home and put them in a small fish tank, filled with some plants, a decorative stone, and a glass plate over the top.

Mom was against this but we assured her the cute little snakes could not possibly escape. Lengthy debates ensued, but Tommy's persistence won out for the time being, despite Mom's warning that if these snakes ever escaped, there would be hell to pay.

All was well for awhile, but one day when I came home from work, a white faced Tommy asked me if I did anything with the snakes because one of them was apparently not in the tank. Mom was not home at the time, so we embarked on a futile search to find the elusive serpent.

Tommy openly wondered how the snake could possibly have gotten out, but I noticed in the fish tank the decorative rock was placed vertically in the corner, so the snake apparently used this rock as leverage to push up against the glass plate at the top, and as we all know, if the head gets thru, it is just a matter of time before the rest of the snake gets thru.

Now that we understood how the snake probably escaped, we redoubled our search efforts, but oh oh, I hear the garage door opening, Mom has come home, so Tommy and I dash downstairs into the family room, turn on the TV and act like nothing was happening. Mom entered just as we sat down, so we coolly welcomed her back home, asked how she was doing, and did she need any help carrying things from the car. At first she looked suspicious, since we are not in the habit of such gallantry, but after some curious frowns, she ignored us and headed upstairs.

As Tommy and I wondered what to do next, a bloody scream came from upstairs. Tommy and I looked at each other as if to say I think Mom has found the missing snake. We are doomed.

I tried to come to her rescue by rushing upstairs and acting surprised as I observed the serpentine hula across the floor and lamely saying "Oh my, how did that happen?" Did not work. No point in continuing this story, hello couch.