Our Story from Start to Beyond the Grave: Did you say snakes? (29)

Five months, it seems like eternity. But the good news is we have made plans for me to come to San Angelo in July. We were talking, so I mentioned that I was feeling kind of blue and that I was thinking I might need a vacation, hummmm where to go? My man said, “Love, why don’t you come to San Angelo and kick back here for a while.” So, It’s a done deal!

I’m so excited, I get to see where Jace*—- lives, his apartment, where he works, and meet his friends. I will be a part of his day to day.

Oh yeah, and then there’s his snakes. My Jace*—- has 2 Boa Constrictors. He had mentioned them numerous times during our conversations. He asked how I felt about snakes when we first started talking. Now, that’s a tricky question. I was like think Cindy. You’re crazy about this guy, so this can’t be a deal braker for either of us. After much thought, I told him that they were ok if they were in a cage that is well secured. I didn’t mind if he handled them but I would not be holding them. I’d touch them, while he held them, but that was as far as I would feel comfortable with them until I became acquainted with and learned more about them. Whew, he took that well. He laughed and told me that snakes were a wonderful form of “birth control” and that they certainly did not constitute being a chick magnet. He had me on the floor laughing about that one. He then went on to describe in what and where he kept his snakes. They each lived in their own aquariums. They measured about 5 feet long, 18 inches wide and 2 feet high. The snakes had very secured lids on them and never escaped. They dwelled in the front room of his apartment on 2 metal shelves. Personally, I was more than happy that I would not have to share the bedroom space with them.  Now, here’s where it really gets entertaining. The names of his 2 snakes were “Little Britches” and “Lieutenant Dan,” yes, yes, you read that right. Did I mention, I love his strange sense of humor and his play on words. The man has an excellent command on the English language. So fittingly, the snake was named after his favorite character Lieutenant Dan whom had lost his legs in the Vietnam war, in one of his favorite movies, “Forest Gump.” Little Britches got his name because Jace*—- got him when he was very, very small. They were both Ball Pythons with “ET” markings. Lieutenant Dan was approximately between 4 and 5 feet long and Little Britches” was only about 2 feet long. So, I was going to have to go into my inner peace and become one with his snakes.

Jace*—- had always had a fascination with snakes from the time he was a young boy. He would catch them and bring them home as pets. Something, needless to say, his Mother did not appreciate. Especially the day she came home from work to hear her youngest son, Jim, crying. She went into the boy’s bedroom to find Jim holding his arm screaming that he had been bitten. Their Mom asked by what, when Jace*—- shows her a rat snake wrapped around the bunkbeds poll. Scared and extremely mad, she started to question him. Yep, guilty as charged, Jace*—- had brought the snake home to study and play with it. His Mom told him in no uncertain words to take that snake back to where he found it. Jace*—- was in big trouble when he came back home, he got a whopping and sent to his room for days. When Jace*—- was sent to his room he would go into his books for his adventures and journeys. Then again, he would also sneak out the window when the coast was clear. His brothers, especially his older one John would cover for him. His Mom and Jace*—- came to an agreement later that he could continue to catch snakes, but they where to be outside in a container, with a lid on it and kept for only a few days at which time they were to be released into the wild. Little did she know that more than a few times there were rattle snakes on her porch in those containers.