Saying Yes: The Snake Saga

Monday evening I got a text from my roommate that there was a dead snake in the road near our apartment.

Seeing as we live in the middle of the downtown area, and not out in the country—or at least the suburbs—it sounded pretty weird (which meant I had to check it out).

I shoved on some shoes and went downstairs to look.

The three of us (me, my roommate, and my classmate) walked on the sidewalk toward the location of the snake, but it was gone.

We walked a little farther and I spotted something on the sidewalk to our left. It was the snake, and it wasn’t dead.

The “Now What?” Moment

The snake lay stretched out on the sidewalk—easily four-feet long. It was dark brown with diamond and hexagon-like patterns on its scales. Its body looked thicker in a few areas, so it had probably eaten recently.

It didn’t move as we approached, but seeing as it had just been in the middle of the road, it obviously knew how to move fast.

While staring at the snake that had somehow ended up in the city, the only thing I could think of was, “who do we even call?”

Back at my childhood home, we were used to snakes. We had a couple black rat snakes slither up the trees in our backyard in an attempt to raid bird nests. These snakes were at least eight-feet long and would hiss if you tried to get them down—so we didn’t bother. They would do their thing and eventually disappear.

But this snake was on the corner of main street. People and animals would be walking past. For the safety of the snake and everyone else, it had to go.

End Or Intermission?

Alli, my roommate, tried calling animal control, but couldn’t get a hold of them. We tried walking to the police station to report the snake, but we got lost. Finally, Lindsey, my classmate, called the non-emergency number for the police, and they said they’d send someone to check it out.

Having done what we could, we went back to our apartment. Case closed, story over. 

Right?

Waiting For More

The next day, we were walking to school, and reached the corner where the snake had been the previous evening.

The sidewalk was clear, so it looked like the snake had been dealt with.

But then, something caught my eye. The snake.

It was curled up behind a mess-covered stair railing, and at this point, it looked like the snake was just going to stay there in the city for good.

We named it Bart Ratbone and continued walking to school.

The Crowd & Climax

Later, during lunch, Alli and I were walking back to our apartment when I noticed the snake was on the move behind the meshed railing.

He started slithering down, into the stairwell. A man exited the building that the stairwell belonged to, and informed us that he had called someone to take care of the snake. When he saw the snake was moving, he turned around and walked back into the building.

A moment later, a few people stopped and asked us what we were looking at. We pointed out the snake, and a small crowd formed around the stairwell’s railing.

The man from before walked back out with a cardboard box and lid. He undid the mesh covering the stairwell’s entrance and stepped down the stairs till he was right below the snake.

The Battle Begins

The man tried his best to corral the snake into the box, as the snake struck at him and tried to slither up the wall. As the man stepped back to avoid getting bit, the snake lost its grip on the wall and dropped down to the stairwell’s floor.

The man followed, still trying to coax the snake into the box. A few minutes later, he ascended up the stairs with the closed cardboard box and a smile on his face. He looked up at the crowd and said, “I’m too old for this…”

And so, the snake saga came to a close, and we said goodbye to our friend, Bart Ratbone.

The Adventure Ends

The adventure may have ended, but lot of questions remain unanswered:

How did a snake end up in the city? Was he somebody’s escaped pet? A wild snake?

Why couldn’t we get in touch with animal control?

Why didn’t the police do anything about the snake? Did they even see it?

Who was the old man? He dealt with the snake like a pro, was it his first time? What’s his history with snakes?

What happened to the snake after the old man captured it? Will he return to the wild, or find a good home?

Adventure Is Here

I’ll probably never know the answers to these questions, but how cool is it that I got to have this experience? Not only did I see the snake two days in a row, but I got to see the snake situation get resolved—all because I made the decision to look.

After living in a small city for nearly two years, I’m convinced that adventure is everywhere. You don’t need to travel to some far off country, you don’t need to go to a huge city, or out to the middle of nowhere.

If you want adventure, all you have to do is look around. Stop ignoring it, and start embracing it.

Start saying yes!

Before You Go…

Have you experienced any odd situations or had any adventures lately?

Let me know down in the comments!

Read last week’s blog here!