Rattlesnake

by Lyle Hatcher
(Co-author Different Drummers)

Not long ago I was taking an old friend of mine, Mary Lou, fishing at Coffee Pot lake. The lake is out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by scrub, basalt, and sage. We had been out in the canoe most of the morning and the eighty-year old granny needed a shore break. I got out first to lend a hand to her and as she stepped onto shore we heard a distinct rattling sound.

She looked at me and asked, "Lyle is that what I think it is?"

"Don't move," is all I said.

Not a foot away was a five foot-long coiled rattlesnake ready to strike! We stood there for a while and the reptile finally slithered away. Unfazed Mary Lou went about her business, got back in the boat, and promptly caught two fat trout.

From that day on whenever I send her a card in the mail I send it to "Rattlesnake". She on the other hand signs cards to me just "Snake". One day I asked her how she stayed so calm about the poisonous viper.

"Life is an adventure, always full of surprises, and besides," she said, "I had boots on and you were wearing flip-flops!"