By Liz Ciancone
TERRE HAUTE — I expect to share the earth with God’s creatures. That doesn’t mean I have to like them all, and I draw the line at snakes.
I was, however, determined not to pass on my “irrational” fears to my sons. I think I oversold.
When Number One son first toddled out to the sandbox and let out a shriek, I rushed to the rescue to discover that he was frightened by a couple of box elder bugs sunning themselves in HIS territory. I picked one up, let it crawl over my hand and talked soothingly about the nice red and black colors and how harmless they were. After that I don’t think he feared any living creature.
He must have been napping the day I won the Illinois State Laundry Toss when I left the house with a basket full of wet laundry and, only at the last minute, spotted a garden snake sunning on the bottom step leading to the back yard. Pity he wasn’t there to pick it up, let it crawl over HIS hand and talk soothingly about the yellow and black stripes and how harmless garden snakes are.
But, we have had goldfish, chameleons, a rooster (which he hatched in a home-made incubator) and a couple of praying mantis. In fact, “Mickey Mantis” went with us on vacation. Number One secured a jar full of live crickets and Mickey munched away as we tooled down the highway. Fortunately, Mickey is a generic name because she laid a nest of eggs behind the dining room drapes. Much to Number One’s disappointment, they didn’t hatch.
And, yes, we have had snakes.
He picked one up on a walk along the Mississippi River when we visited my Aunt Ethel. Auntie did about the same thing I had done with the bugs. She plugged up her bathtub and put the snake in there while we went out to lunch and the tub was too steep and too slick for the snake to climb out.
Of course, Number One wanted to bring it home, so Auntie punched holes in the lid of a coffee can and I got to spend the night with a snake who slept in the can in the shower of the motel. I did without a shower.
Or, there was the snake he picked up in his grandmother’s garden. He failed to mention it and it got loose in the car. We didn’t find it until we were just south of Rockville and I ordered him and his slithery pal out! Number Two said, “He’s really mad, Mom!” and I replied, “Not half as mad as I am.”
Maybe snakes are no worse than box elder bugs, but don’t try to convince me.
Liz Ciancone is a retired
Tribune-Star reporter. Her column has appeared on this page for more than 20 years. Send e-mail to opinion@tribstar.com.
