SNAAAAAKE!

The thing about snakes is that how do you defend yourself against a snake if you don't have a weapon. You can't strangle it.
Morris Chestnut

I came home from dinner with Mom and Dad tonight and casually threw my bag on the parson's bench beside the door. My cat Pearl was staring fixedly at the space above the windows next to the door. I glanced up expecting to see a bug or, at the wildest, a mouse or lizard.

Imagine my surprise when I saw the head and first coils of a snake elegantly draped over the curtain rod. I could barely pull the cell from my pocket and remember how to work it. All I could think was that my cats were all staring at that same general area of the house LAST NIGHT. It was in the house all night.

I called Dad, gibbered something mostly incoherent to the tune of, "Mumble gibber SNAKE. Mumble, stutter, stutter, KITCHEN, SNAKE." Dad came with a pair of odd red metal tongs, grabbed the snake by the head, and pulled it off the curtain rod. It just kept coming. It was about four feet long. He took it outside and disposed of it.

Dad did some research when he got home, and he and Mom called to tell me that it was a kind of rat snake. It probably came in after the field mice and to escape the incredible heat. I'm sorry now that we killed it since it was a harmless rat snake, but it really, really, really shouldn't have done the whole "surprise!" thing hanging off the curtain rod. That was a bit more than I could take cheerfully.

Reckon I'll check the covers before I get in bed tonight?