I recently reread Alas, Babylon, Pat Frank's classic novel. Published in 1960 during the Cold War, and written after a conversation in which Frank was asked about his thoughts of what would happen should World War III occur, it tells the story of a small Florida town immediately prior to WWIII, through the first year following the war.
A day or two before the war begins, Missouri, who works as a housekeeper for several people, informs Randy, one of the main characters whose house she cleans, "I think the McGoverns will move. Mrs. McGovern can't handle snake or bugs, and what's Florida without snake and bugs?" (This is paraphrased.)
Between that quote, and several videos posted recently on Facebook about snakes, reminded me of what I've come to think of as our snake in the attic story.
We had a snake slither out through the attic hatch in our hall about nine years ago. At first, I thought my so J. had put a rubber snake there to freak me out...and then it MOVED!!! It slowly dropped to the floor and ended up slithering through the house. Both of our cats (who were basically still kittens) figured I'd gotten them a new playmate. Cats were locked into a bedroom, and I called 911 to see if they could send a couple of officers out, or get animal control for me - SOMETHING. Then I called the landlord, who sent out their pest control guy to see if there were any more creepy-crawlies in the attic.
Now, before you start screaming about misuse of 911, let me say that I'd just watched the news where several cops were called to help an alligator vacate someone's house...so calling 911 wasn't THAT much of a stretch (though the snake was...).
Sooo...two officers came out. One officer - a big, strapping guy with a Southern accent - got there maybe 5 minutes before the other and asked what the problem was. I told him, and he informed me, "Ma'am, unless you want a 6'5" 250 pound man passed out in your living room, we're gonna wait for my backup." Backup showed, up - guy was maybe 5'10" - and HE came inside, grabbed the snake, and took it to a nearby field.
Meanwhile, pest control guy came out and started climbing a ladder to look into the attic's access panel in the hall. Just as he started pushing the panel, J., who was in the kitchen at the refrigerator (out of sight of the hall) opened a new bottle of soda, which let out a satisfying HIIISSSSSSSHHHHH. The guy couldn't get off the ladder fast enough, while I jumped out of the way. J. then came into view with the bottle of soda and, giving us weird looks, asked what the problem was.
Did you know that if you throw moth balls into your attic, it'll keep snakes out? Found this out from the pest control guy (after his breathing got back to normal; also, there were no more snakes in the attic). And yes, they do work.
And in case you're wondering, the snake was a black racer, a non-venomous critter common in "these here parts". Doesn't mean I've gotta like 'em in my house, dropping from the attic access panel in the hall-way ceiling.
Did I mention the moth balls?
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