memoir
Snakes (Part Five)
Jesse steps closer and investigates the skin. Tom shows him how its both flexible and brittle at the same time, similar to wax paper that has begun to break down with age. Jesse traces his finger across the black racing stripe that runs vertically on the skin. Tom gestures it in my direction. “Want to touch?” he says. “There’s no... »
Snakes (Part Four)
One of the first things our contractor Heath told me was that he hates clean-up on a job site. Having never worked at a job site, I couldn’t really speak to this preference. It seemed to me at the time that clean-up had to be easier than almost any other job that might need doing, and I readily volunteered to... »
Snakes (Part Three)
When I had called Tom earlier in the day, he had told me he doesn’t often do snake removal, but, he added, he likes it because he gets to see how other people live, to poke around in their space. I can see he’s aching to poke, and I’m happy to let him. I spent the first five and a... »
Snakes (Part Two)
Tom seems disinterested in the bush and its snake. I want him to be very interested in that snake, but it’s unfair to call a man about a snake that lives in the insulation under your living room floor and then expect him to look for a snake that lives outside in a bush. I take a deep breath and... »
Driving out the snakes (Part One)
The first thing the snake guy says to me when he gets out of his minivan is “I’ve got a snake with me. Want to touch it?” There’s something about the way he says it that’s insinuating and just a little dirty. I must give him a look because he says “OK. OK. Too soon right?” “Yeah,” I say. “Too soon.” We’re... »