The Snake:
An Everyday Routine Evolves Into Surprising Outcomes
by Delores Delaware (pseud.)
Dr. O’Donnell's English
3040 Literary Nonfiction
About the author:
The author is an undergrad Psychology major at East Tennessee State
University, enjoys candle lit dinners and long walks on the beach. She first
discovered the joys of writing by accident, and has been enamored ever since.
When she is not writing or listening in on random conversations in the computer
lab, she is finishing up her secret antedote to save the world.
* * *
My friend Kim and I met in Girl
Scouts freshmen year in high school. Since joining the troop, Kim has started
to become a little more outdoorsy. Because of this new spirit, Kim and I
started running at the
The
One evening, we chose our usual path; we actually made it all the way to the highway and started back to the parking lot. We ran past the rusty bridge, spiders lingering on their webs, and our feet clunking atop the wooden platform. Looking straight ahead at my destination, I was running, and concentrating on my breathing. For some reason I looked down at the pavement. Coiled up in the grass, inches away from my foot, was a black snake, just like the pictures in National Geographic. But this wasn’t a photograph; it was real, and so were the consequences.
I shrieked and jumped, waving my hands up and down. I freaked out, doing everything I usually make fun of other people for when they see a mouse; except this time, they were the bystanders snickering. “A snake! There’s a snake!” I yelled as I pointed to the ground where I ran before. I jolted down the path in a frenzy, not believing the reptile was real. I spun around to Kim, who was following behind and laughing. I didn’t think the situation was funny. I have been scared of snakes my whole life—a trait passed down from my mother.
I wanted nothing to do with the snake. I knew there were snakes around, but I had never imagined I would actually see one, right there, right near my foot. I could feel my face getting red and the tears swell up in my eyes. I bolted out of there.
Heart pounding, feet colliding with the pavement, pushing away at full force, I ran and ran. I felt like my body wasn’t mine; I could hear loud and heavy breathing, but I wasn’t feeling anything. Kim was chasing me, yelling for me to slow down. She said the snake could have been a fake, but at that time I didn’t care to go back and check (However, I did secretly scorn the person who might have placed a plastic snake in the grass). After a while, I didn’t understand why I kept going so fast; I was at least a mile away from the snake. Something was carrying me back to the parking lot. I didn’t understand it at the time; I just kept running and pumping one foot after the other. I plunged those miles like they were nothing.
I reached the parking lot, slowed down and walked around until Kim caught up. Thanks to my quick feet we finished our run before the sun set. Although a bit tired, I was still charged so we took the path on the other side to cool down. After half a mile or so, we stopped on the side to stretch. The sky was almost a full black by the time we turned around and began our trek to the parking lot. Getting back on the path, we gave way for a biker about to come the other way. As he got closer, the biker suddenly slowed almost to a halt and looked intently at me.
He appeared young, maybe in his mid twenties, athletic, with fairly tan skin. Stubborn pieces of blond hair draped over his gaping eyes. He wrinkled his forehead and looked surprised, all the while his eyes asking me questions I could not answer. As he slowly proceeded past me, he turned his head and stared intently, lingering for more than a few seconds. I was captivated and followed his gaze. His face was deep and reassuring.
‘Why was he looking at me like that?’ I thought.
“Do you know him?” Kim asked.
![Text Box: “This [the snake] wasn’t a photograph; it was real, and so were the consequences.”](./snake_files/image001.gif)
“No” I breathed, but I was unsure of the true
answer. I didn’t know him, I didn’t think. Did he just remind me of someone I
know? Perhaps I had met him before but had no certain recollection. Even as he
slowly rode on farther away and kept looking back, his familiar eyes haunted
me. This stranger’s deep stare was somehow comforting. He stopped again, about
100 feet away and turned around one last time. I was unable to identify his
contemplations, but I was bound to that moment and to his gaze.
His expression told me everything and nothing, and at that point I wanted to know more and less. But why did his eyes feel so strangely reassuring? What was his face asking me?
I found myself searching for the truth, wanting to know more. I wanted so badly to run and catch up, to ask who he was. All I could do was wait.
Suddenly my body felt heavy; I was paralyzed. Unlike the moment when I saw the snake, there was nothing I could do. I just waited for him to look back, maybe even come back. I really wanted him to return; I wanted an answer.
To my dismay the biker turned away and rode on. It seemed like he had given up. It all felt like a movie in slow motion. All I could think was “why?” Why had this happened? Thousands of questions whirred through my head, but I just didn’t understand.
It was dark and eerie when we returned to the parking lot. The faded orange street lights reflected the silent fog suspended above like the questions burning in my head. Before we parted, Kim and I talked a little more. Mostly I was just making time, hoping for him to come back. I couldn’t stop thinking about what happened. I was quiet, but my head was far from still.
In my car, I scavenged for something to write on; I had to reflect. I finally found a brown lunch bag I had left from work. I kept the bag while cleaning my car the week before; I thought I might need it. Kim waited while I wrote a poem. It was hard to see, but I still managed to make it legible.
I couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened. Maybe my thoughts were just too hopeful. He probably wouldn’t come back. I tried to retrieve some dignity and convince myself to just let it go. Later on he probably realized I was someone else, but I still wanted to know. It was hard to forget. I couldn’t just leave the moment hanging.
Why had these events occurred? Why did he look at me like that? Why had he persisted to stare back, but had given up on following through? And how did he do this? To this day I will remember the slow motion feeling and the moment. Maybe I was thinking about it way too much, but I just didn’t understand what happened or why it happened. It was just supposed to be a normal run with Kim, and then a stir of events had occurred. Then it all boiled down to the snake. I was running and looking ahead. Why did I look down at that second? What if I hadn’t and just missed the sight of the snake? Then I wouldn’t have run faster, Kim wouldn’t have chased me, and we definitely would have never taken the other path. I could have still been shaken up by the snake, but I thought about it long after my return home.
It could have been nothing. Everyday you see someone who you think looks familiar. What made this one instance different was the manner in which it happened and the events that lead up to it. I could just be thinking things through too much. Everyone has days that stick out in their mind. He was just someone who thought I looked familiar and vice versa. We could leave it at that.
A few days later Kim and I returned to the lake, just to make sure the snake wasn’t purely my imagination. This time I was definitely feeling the anxiety. Inching closer to that fated spot, my breathing got heavier by the second. The snake was still there, coiled in its own world. Kim threw small rocks at it. As flies hovered above, the snake refused to move. The snake was dead.
The snake was dead. I ran and ran and all for a dead snake. How could such a meager reptile cause so much disorder? Then again, everything was going well for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden until the serpent came along. If I had known the truth of the dead snake, perhaps I wouldn’t be searching for the truth of the biker now. I would have never even encountered him.
Kim and I continued to run at the