The Snakes

The Snakes:

The group was in a bar and on a dare started to tell snake stories.

Martin: “ I was one of 4 passengers, on Safari and sitting in the back seat. We were racing through the jungle with the windows open. Branches were sweeping in and out when all of a sudden I felt a snake on  my lap. I threw it in the air, screamed and jumped into the front seat. At my insistence we stopped at the next clearing . We completed unloaded the Landrover, and I mean everything including the mats. My fellow passengers continued to mock me as more and more stuff was unloaded without any sign of reptile. We decided to stop for a while and I attached my hammock to the hitch on the vehicle as it was tightening my hammock line out of the vehicle slithered an 8 foot highly poisonous snake. I caught it on video to silence the naysayers. To this day I have no idea where it was hiding! I am so happy to be alive.”

John: I was playing golf in the Okanagan, and as usual had hit it into the rough. It was a hot summers day and all of a sudden the ground was uneven under my feet. Looking down was the unmistakable coloring of a rattler. I jumped farther back than my award winning high school standing long jump, the snake did the same, coiling, rattling and lifting it’s head into attack mode. Fortunately it takes a few moments for a rattler to mobilize it’s venom, meanwhile I was a distant observer. The snake was easily satisfied that no attack was possible and slithered away. I dropped another ball onto the middle of the fairway and made a one putt triple!”

Peter : You can never believe anything Butler says. Especially when he starts the story with, “this happened to one of my friends”

“ This lady bought a fur coat from the Bay. It was made from beaver fur but had an exotic lining. When she got it home she was startled by a prickly feeling on her neck. She shed the coat quickly and to her shock out slithered a 3 foot snake out of neck lining. Thankfully the bite was not poisonous.

Sharron Commins: “ Two years ago I was kidnapped while doing aid work in Dafur. I was into my fourth month of capativity.”

Collectively jaws dropped around the table, I have not seen so many open mouths since we shared anatomy classes with the dentists!

“ The rebels had me in a compound, it was 50 C and I was lying down on the ground, I had a wash clothe on my face and there was an aluminum basin with water into which I would periodically dip the clothe to keep it moist. Despite being under a tree, the heat was unrelenting.

“I felt a cool sensation moving along my neck. I did not move, I thought it was one of the rebels messing with me. Suddenly there was commotion. The movement across my neck became heavier and heavier. I looked down to see the unmistakable pattern of snake skin, it was big! The rebels got it off me, what a relief. The scariest part came next, they started shooting. Despite their automatic weapons and proximity their bullets came closer to me that the frigging snake that got away! My hopes for escape became buoyed.”