I just chased away a beautiful red-necked keelback snake from the waste-paper basket at the bottom of the steps of the bungalow. He seemed to be stuck, and as I tipped it over with a broom his neck flashed a deep red, and he flattened his muscles in imitation of a cobra. He bolted for the bushes at the bottom step, but the thought of stepping on him in the dark was too much, and I harried him out, forcing him to retreat behind the building. I’m sure he was terrified, but his presence, and the serpentine movement of his spine, provoked a primal response in my mammal brain, and my adrenaline glands were still stimulated half an hour later.
Later, after a haircut, I was about to turn on the shower, when a frog jumped off the bathroom wall. Still thinking about the snake, and checking the corners of the room to be sure, I nearly killed the unfortunate amphibian running out of the bathroom…
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