What the cat dragged in

I wish I had a picture to accompany the retelling of the following events; however, I was far too traumatized at the time to think of such things.

A was taking one of her splendidly long naps and I was enjoying some undivided time to work and play on the computer in our office room.  Before laying her down and retreating to the office, I had opened the sliding glass door in our kitchen to let in the fresh air. Upon opening this door, I was greeted with two pleading kitty faces, wanting to go outside outside. They don't run away and don't require supervision outdoors, so I thought there could be no harm in letting them frolic in the garden. I propped open the door to the screened porch as well.

After two plus hours of napping, I thought it best to check on A. Such nap length is a rare occurrence, and I like to make sure she's still breathing. When I walked out the office door, I was again greeted with two cat faces, sitting directly in front of A's door. They only glanced at me for a second and then returned rapt attention to the floor. Some sort of toy between then had them both preoccupied. I did inventory quickly in my mind of A's toys. No, it didn't look like anything of hers. My sewing stuff was out perhaps something... It moved! It coiled!! It just struck at Maggie!!!

After letting out a scream, experiencing a full body case of the willies and running down the hall, I began to ponder what I was going to do as a responsible mother. There was a snake inches away from my baby's closed door and only feet away from her crib. For one fleeting moment I thought about dealing with the 4- foot, skinny black vermin myself. But considering I couldn't get closer than 15 feet, that was out of the question. OK, I can call D. He'll know what to do. But the snake was lying between me and the phone. Take a running leap over it? Not a chance. He was mad and continued to let Maggie have it.

Finally it dawned on me.  Our retired neighbor, Jose can save me.  He's an avid gardener and I'm sure he's not afraid of snakes.  I backed into the garage, opened the garage door and ran down the sidewalk to his home. His wife answered the door, and I quickly explained my crisis. She said she would send Jose right over. I had to hurry back and make sure the snake hadn't retreated under A's door. I was glad to see he hadn't moved, but there was still a snake in my house!  Jose likes to whistle, always the same tune.  It was so comforting to hear his tune crescendo as he walked over. He came prepared with gloves, asked for a towel and made quick work of de-snaking my house. He was also so kind to carry the snake all the way to the pond at the end of our road so that he wouldn't be immediately back our yard.

I called D with the news after I picked up A, who had begun crying. Although I told him I doubted the snake was poisonous, I had panicked enough to be on edge for hours.  D seemed pleased that he didn't have to come home from work and rescue me, but I assured him that he would have done just as chivalrous a job as Jose.