Bill Leslie of WRAL recently wrote a blog about snakes. He invited others to tell their snake stories. This one is about my dad, who DID NOT know about this incident until he visited Susan and me this week. I hope we will come back! :)
I'll preface my story by saying I was born and raised in Boone, where black snakes are abundant and big! As a young boy I had a shepherd-mix named Prince that used to collect black snakes. He wouldn't kill them, but would instead would drag them in by the tail and show-off his catch to the family. I once kept one of Prince's prizes as a pet for a while. My dad was not amused, as he was very afraid of snakes. Dad In fact he was so afraid he would change the channel rather than watch a TV program that included snakes. (The unconfirmed family story was that he stumbled into a nest of baby black snakes as a child and was traumatized for life by the experience.)
A couple of years ago my dad came down from Boone visiting us at our home in Roxboro. It was in the fall, and because we could not get the Appalachian football game on the TV or radio, my dad was listening to the game in my office on the computer. My office is an add-on room at our house, and on this pleasant fall Saturday evening we had had the doors and windows open. He sat at my desk for two hours listening to the game, and then retired to bed. A few minutes later I went to my desk to do some final preparation for the next day (I Pastor a church here and needed to do do some computer work.)
After a short time I finished, and before leaving the office I reached around by desktop monitor to get a book. It was then I noticed that some practical joker had wrapped a large plastic snake around my computer CPU. Imagine my surprise when I reached for it and quickly came to the realization the snake was not plastic, but very real, very alive, and very comfortable there on my warm cozy desk. We had closed the doors and windows earlier in the day, so I have no idea how long the snake had been there, but I know it was there while my dad sat at that desk and listened to the game. I also know that if dad had discovered the snake it would NOT have been a good! Seriously, I suspect he would have had a heart attack!
My wife and I don't kill blacksnakes, as they make good neighbors for gardeners like us, so instead I called my wife to the office to show her our house guest. We agreed to a plan of action to show our snake friend to the door. I was going to pick it up and take it to the woods. With a gloved hand I reached for our four foot long black friend, and he proceeded to slide off the back of the desk and headed straight for the door to our kitchen! Fortunately my wife was quick closing the door, and our friend took the alternate route out the back door.
I always look now before I reach around for things on my desk. To this day I still have not told my dad of the episode, as I'm sure he would not visit us again. To him EVERY snake is deadly, and we are borderline crazy for not killing any and all that we see. We have a black snake in our backyard we have named Sam. He made his first appearance of the year this morning as my wife was working in the yard. As long as he stays outside we are glad to have him as a neighbor.
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