Snake Intruder

Sorry, didn't get a better picture.  Was too 'busy'  :p

It was just another evening.  Putting the children to sleep; tidying up the house; and ironing the clothes.  Nothing seemed unusual. 

Hubby just returned from a church meeting.  He’s tired.  It had been a long day for him.  After washing up, he went to bed.  As for me, I continued with my never-ending household chores.  It's passed midnight.  Finally, the last piece of clothing appeared to be free of wrinkles.  I was proud of my achievement.  I kept the iron and was about to switch on the computer.  Early of the day I promised a friend that I would try to search for a short nativity story online.   It was meant for her to train her pupil for a story-telling performance.

Just then, my dog started to bark.  Feeling annoyed, I wondered what trigger the unpleasant reaction.  This would disturb hubby and the children, I thought to myself.  As the noise came from my side door, I drew the curtain away and tried to peep outside the glass door.  I was taken aback initially as I saw a figure.  haha… that was simply me – my reflection in the glass.  Feeling silly, I turned on the porch light.  Still, I spot nothing.  But I noticed that my dog was looking down at the floor and barking.  It appears to me that it could possibly be a snake or a monitor lizard.  Well, that seems fine with me.  In fact, I think a human intruder is more scary.  Don’t you agree?

With a big sigh, I unlocked the front door and braved myself to check out the cause of my dog’s barking.  I would certainly prefer my husband to do so.  But knowing that normally after the business meeting it would take him awhile to fall sleep.  And it would be my last resort to interrupt him with some petty insect.  Well, I do enjoy the cold air at night as I marched towards the side door. 

Looking from a distance, I saw something long and black.  Even with the light on, I couldn’t see clearly.  It didn’t look like a monitor lizard.  Could it be a snake?  But… a snake with this size?!?  It couldn’t be.  Cowardly, I dared not to move closer for a better view.  I retreated to the house searching for a torch light and my mobile phone.  Perhaps I can get a better picture with the torch light; alternately I could snap a picture and enlarge it to identify what creature is that.

Having done so, I was quite certain that this IS a snake.  A snake with this size… this is no joke.  So, I went back into the house and woke hubby up.  Calmly I told him, “There’s a snake, quite a big one.”  Hubby got up and followed me to the porch.  He was stunned when he saw it with his eyes; even with my warning.  “This is a python”, hubby exclaimed with unbelief.

He took the gardening tools and decided to smack its head.  “Are you sure?”  I questioned him.  And that’s when the drama begins.  The snake was lying still all these while until hubby attacked it.  It reacted and crawled up to the window panel.  And then it launched back to attack hubby but failed.  It then crawled swiftly to the bushes at the backyard and disappeared into the night.

To be honest, our backyard was quite unkempt due to the lack of gardener in church.  There were banana trees, mango tree, guava tree, and some unknown species growing all over.  I have been nagging about this tiny jungle for quite awhile yet my voice was not heard.  Now thanks to this python; after this incident, the leadership of the church acted upon it swiftly and cleared off the entire backyard.  Now the backyard looks so neat and tidy.  Although it’s a pity to cut down the fruit trees, I have been struggling to maintain it. 

Work in progress

Finally, a neat backyard

A little amusement

The care and love from the church family is also evidently shown after this incident.  The next morning, a few church members called up and even offered to buy sulfur for us.  The leadership proposed for us to move elsewhere.  And one of them actually offered us their house to stay.    We sincerely thank each one of them for their concern. 

And not forgetting our dog; it certainly serves us well although there are times I feel so frustrated with the mess it creates.

It was a night to be remembered.  After all, how many people would get a chance to see a wild python this size in their backyard?  



ps: after the entire night's hoo-hah, hubby went back to sleep. And suddenly the thought came to him that he should have called the fire brigade.  Well, guess all the adrenaline didn't help us to think of it.