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| It's okay, I have a forked stick. |
One week I caught a rattlesnake in my travels and kept him in a glass aquarium that I purchased from a friend for the young snake's housing arrangements. I didn't tell my parents that I had a pet rattlesnake because I knew they would have some kind of irrational response to the whole situation steaming from ignorance and fear. I figured a little more ignorance would save them a little more fear.
I thought that the kids at school would love to have a look at a real rattlesnake. I brought the aquarium to school in a wagon covered with a blanket and parked it by the coats for safe keeping. When It came time for the class to shown and told, I wheeled it to the front, whipped off the blanket and told everyone I had brought a rattlesnake to school. I was going to take off the lid and pick the little guy up so everyone could have a closer look. The teacher forbade me to do so, in the most strident tones. I told her it was okay because I brought a forked 'snake stick' for pinning down its head and rendering him harmless to pick up. I explained that if I held him tightly behind the head everything would be just fine. She must not have been trained in simple herpetological techniques because she was not persuaded by my erudite argument.
She told me to leave the lid on and that she was going to call the janitor to take the snake away. I was disappointed but when the janitor took the little dude away in his aquarium. I assumed, I now realize naively, he would be returned at the end of the day for me to take home.
They just took him outside and killed him, just like that, and threw away my aquarium to boot. I felt like crying when my teacher broke the news to me. I was out a snake, an aquarium, and my piece de resistance. I didn't cry for fear of mockery, but I did on my way home with my blanket in my wagon.
