True Story Tuesday-Part Deux

It's Tuesday, and time to finish my True Story of the great snake hunt. If you remember from last week, I was alone in my house, searching for Fred, the five-foot long free-roaming boa constrictor. I had looked at, in, behind, on top of, and under just about everything, and there was no snake in sight. I had a dog and several other small pets, and I was afraid that Fred would decide to order from the menu if I didn't find him, and soon. I went back out to the garage (attached 2-car garage, with door leading into kitchen) to look at the box again. You know, that totally unfounded kind of hopeful "maybe, if I look into the box THIS time, he'll just be curled up in the bottom, and it will all have been a bad dream" kind of look. And I noticed something. When I discovered that Fred was missing, I half-way noticed that the top to the mouse cage was askew, and I just put it back on straight and kept up with my "Fred is missing! We have a boa loose in the house!" shriek. But now, I also realized that there were fewer mice in the cage than there had been the night before. A LOT fewer. I made the connection; Fred had escaped from the box and nosed the top off of the mouse cage; he then proceded to enjoy the "all you can eat mouse buffet" until he filled up. And what does a filled up snake want? A place that is quiet, warm, and dark. Hmmm. I looked up, and just a little bit behind the table was the water heater. My eyes traveled downwards just a little, and there, wrapped around the warm tube, was Fred! I found him! I was alone! I couldn't leave him! I didn't want him to disappear, so that meant that I had to capture him! I reached out and grabbed; he constricted around the water heater and wouldn't release. I didn't want to try and force him for fear of hurting him, so I slowly tried to work him off of the heater and around my arm. I would get him a little way off, then he would go back to the warm heater, eyeing me balefully. At some point, it occured to me that if he were to hold on to me as tightly as he was holding on to the heater, I'd be in trouble, especially since I was all by myself. I finally ran and called the ex (no cell phones in those days; all of our phones were leashed to the wall by a cord); he could hear the hysteria in my voice and somehow managed to leave work and come home. Together, we finally got Fred off of the heater and into the box. At one point, he wrapped around my arm so tightly that I think my fingers might have started to turn blue. I might even have used a word or five that aren't appropriate for this blog. But in the end, we finally got a 20 gallon aquarium for Fred, with a nice, LOCKING lid, and he turned out to be as good of a pet as a five-foot long snake can be. Considering the Bug Hunter's penchant for collecting all creatures great and small, I have a feeling that won't be the last time that a snake goes missing in my house. Pray for me.
Oh, and don't forget to head on over to Rachel's for more True Stories... some are side-splitting, some are jaw-dropping, and some will touch your heart. But they're all true, and in this day and age? That truly is a miracle!