Death in the Night


He was about 8'/2.5m long and his body was bigger around than my wrist. He turned up right at the steps of our deck and threatened Himself and Jock. Himself locked Jock inside the house, fetched my gun, and then told me to come and see the snake. I demurred, he insisted. This meant the Rattlesnake was left to its own devices for at least 5 minutes!

Now, in Africa, if you make yourself scarce, the snake makes itself scarce, and everyone lives in peace. Not in Texas, it seems. Despite being given a respite, the snake was still in the same spot and very aggressive. It signed it's own death warrant!

Himself wanted to keep the skin and the rattles, but some local critter carried the corpse away in the night, so this is our only record. That, and my memory of the sound. Those rattles sure are scarier in real life than they are on the movies!

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