Snakes.
I've always feared them.
Especially the ones that swallow whole men.
There's something dark-souled about snakes.
Something black-holed that makes me quake.
A Black Hole—a celestial phenomenon which admittedly pulls you in, swallows and crushes you into nothing.
Evil in its purest form, they say.
Like that Original Snake.
Pulled in the human race,
and has been crushing us into nothing ever since.
My fear of snakes started with that knowledge.
When I myself was attacked by a giant snake this fear elevated.
I was in the Florida Everglades.
What was I doing there?
Trying to escape,
from men who wanted me killed.
The Drug business is a dangerous business,
a black hole within the Back Hole,
so many exist.
I was lucky I wasn't undone by it.
As I hid from one enemy, I was unaware another was silently crawling up behind me.
When a massive constrictor lashes on to you your means of escape aren't many.
I was food.
It was hungry.
It was mating season.
She needed the sustenance for her babies.
Wrong place.
Wrong time.
For me.
You might imagine if this happens to you,
you'd be able to uncoil those coils.
But a snake's skin is slippery.
No grip for you, none for me.
Add to this the pain from those backward curved teeth and there really is no escaping it.
That's what they tell you.
No escape,
no matter how hard you try.
And the more you struggle, the harder it constricts.
The faster you suffocate.
And die.
In the clutches of that which I fear my eyes fell tears—
at the thought of being pulled in, swallowed and crushed into nothing!
I could feel my body compressing.
My bones breaking.
My breath laboring.
And, oh, that loud hissing.
It's a nature sound that death was coming.
It was hungry night for many things.
And opportunity was ripe for anything.
Ripe for any animal that could take on a man and kill him.
A hungry alligator must've heard the sounds.
And made its way toward this killing ground.
These two are natural enemies.
And when she knew he was around she let go of me to stand her ground.
Two titans going head to head for the spoils of me.
But she had already expended so much energy coiling onto me.
Thus for the alligator, an easy victory.
A snake dinner for he.
As he began to consume his meal,
I slowly made my way toward the gun ahead of me.
My broken body moving almost lifelessly.
The noise I made was heard and I was seen.
And this champion of the Everglades rushed me.
I didn't make it to the gun.
I had no more energy.
But my would be killer saved me.
Oh, how she cried when she saw my broken body and the blood running out of me.
How she cried, held and kissed me
and apologized.
That she was late.
That she wasn't there to prevent it.
I was confused.
''You were sent to kill me.
Why have you saved me?"
He spoke.
And it was clear to me this was my hunter's body.
But in his voice was Granny.
This was the first time I met my Grandmother.
And the first time I understood why my parents kept me from her.
Over the years, I've heard them call her witch.
Until that night, I never thought they actually meant it.
