SNAKE IN THE HOUSE

I can't believe it was only today that I learned there had been a snake loose in the other building. How did I miss that?

I was sitting in the pool room eating a bowl of soup when Dale come over to talked to me. I had questions with how I deal with anxiety. The truth is I don't have much since I quit working. I mean it's not completely gone. My daughters birthday is tomorrow and I have been trying to draw a picture of the three grand kids together. It isn't working. Many starts just as many ends. I haven't done portraits for a long time and it takes a little practice to get in the flow. If you get the eyes wrong, the whole picture is wrong. One out of six eyes is always wrong and I end up starting over. Enough about me - back to Dale

I have no idea how much of this is true. He is a very nervous guy and not prone to joking so I guess the story is true. However, he mixed up managers and the time line made no sense. I finally asked about when this ended and he said it's not over, but the last he heard from anyone was two weeks ago. That helped.

He moved in with a snake which he said belonged to his wife and he promised her he would take care of it for her. It is a small, harmless snake. Not poison, about 14 inches long. What confused me is that he previously told me he was gay and had been with his partner 19 years before he died. Male partner - wife? Do gays call their partner wives? If so, the label should have been on him. I'm confused. Letting that unresolved question go and trying to follow the story, he seemed to have permission to keep the snake when he moved in. He has been here almost two years longer than I, and he began talking about the previous managers. Somewhere in the middle he switched over to the new managers and all I can figure is this happened recently. That didn't connect with how the snake got here in the first place. But Here's the gist of the story.

He could not find the snake and after a few days of looking felt he had to report it to the managers. A complex wide search began. Rita is terrified of snakes. A group meeting was held to inform everyone of the escaped snake. By the time the meeting had dismissed it had become a boa constrictor ready to reach out and squeeze you to death, If only! At times it was a rattle snake. At a minimum it was deadly poisoness and you would die within minutes of being struck. It was at least 8 ft. long. Wishful thinking. Here's what bothers me about the story. I never heard the story before. I move in all the right gossip circles. I attend all the group meetings. I ask questions. I have been in his apartment. I never heard of or saw his snake. It is hard to believe that big of a story never reached me. My contacts are failing me. I must find new resources. Maybe I'm being cut out of the information flow. What did I do to be so rejected? My anxiety just went up.

It is possible the meeting was only for that building. Look, I hear about hang nails, ambulance arrivals any time of day, who was planning to do what each day — shopping, visiting grand kids. Mostly about doctors visits. For some, they would have no outside contact if they didn't have six or seven doctors. How did I miss this? But I digress (what I do best). The issued got bumped up stairs to the big girls (no male leaders). It has been two weeks since he last heard anything and he now has deep anxiety about what will happen. He can only imagine two responses. 1) You can stay, but the snake goes. 2) You can leave and take the snake with you. There really is another and maybe more. 3) You and the snake can both stay. He is literately torn up over this. Wouldn't bother me. The snake would have been gone long before this.

As it turned out, the snake had not gotten loose. He had put so many toys for the snake in the bottom of his fish bowl (that's what he called it) that the snake had crawled under some of the stuff, got all tangled up and could not get loose. The way the story was going I figures the snake had gotten loose months ago. No, all of this had happened in the last 16-18 days. Where have I been? I have heard no one running or screaming that a snake crawled into the bed during the night. Real or not. Who knows, but it took over an hour to hear it all. You can see he is physically stressed. He has asked he doctor for more sedatives and wants to double up on them. I've had stress, but never that much. So what would I do? I told him not to ask. I don't care for snakes. I wouldn't mind trying chocolate covered snake though!

I'm glad he didn't ask me what I would do. I wold get rid of it. Besides, my wife would never had asked me to care for a snake. She really hated them.