Big and Ugly

Standing at the kitchen sink, the sun was just making it's way above the Little House. The Little House is the storage building we had built to look like a smaller version of the house  where we live. It's even painted the same colors, a cheery yellow and white  and has Pella windows installed in every wall to make it bright inside. Drywall has been painted a pretty mossy green and a  fan and light is installed in the ceiling which is drywalled and heavily insulated. In the event someone might want to live in it for an outdoor guest bedroom, it will be easy to heat and cool.

This building has a minor role in this story.  I tend to stray off the subject sometimes and there I strayed. Let's get back on track now.

The view out of my kitchen window is the green grass of the lawn and beyond that the  8ft board fence that serves as a privacy barrier to the neighbors on the back side as well as the ones on the right and left. Barely to the right of that kitchen window stands the Little House.

As I stood at the sink and looked out the window at the sun splashing the lawn and the Little House, I heard a thud. I had just glanced down into the sink load of dishes. I looked up quickly to a sight that took me a moment or two to process.

For the past month during the quiet hours of the night and after I had climbed into my bed, a sound from the attic I attributed to squirrels or some other benign animal would rustle through space there and I would imagine it being something small and furry. Even a mouse was an animal I considered benign. I've never been frightened of a mouse. My nemesis is bugs. I will climb on a chair and scream over something creepy crawly.

As soon as my brain accepted what I was seeing, I watched in horror  as the head of that huge snake turned to face the window where I was watching, paralyzed in place. The head looked as big around as a dinner plate with hooded eyes the size of large marbles. The body kept slithering down from the eaves of the house, all 15ft of it. I noted the pattern on it's body and the diameter. It undulated and coiled it's body into itself in loops as more of it moved to the ground. It would move farther out onto the lawn to allow it's body to stretch out from the loops as more body slithered to the ground. As I watched, it moved to the left of my vision and toward the patio. I ran to the door to make sure it was locked all the while wondering what I was thinking by installing an all glass french door on the back of this house. After locking the door, I moved to find my cell phone only to find it ringing. The door to the Little House was opening and a few people ventured out. The meeting they were having was postponed while they planned an escape from the back yard.

Struggling up from the depths of darkness, my hand found the cell phone and flipped it open. Ted said "Are you awake?"   and sliding up on the bed into the pillows at the headboard, I sighed and with relief said "yeah, yeah I am now!"

Grabbing my purse, phone and keys, I picked Ted up and because I promised him yesterday, we got his breakfast from Burger King and then drove to his school where I left him at the front door.

As soon as I got back home, I climbed back into my bed prepared to turn off this laptop.

I listened quietly in this darkened bedroom for the sound of any movement from the attic. I no longer believe in benign furry creatures causing those noises. Is that a slithering sound I hear?