I am up to six in the last 4 weeks. I think the serpents are invading the swampland here. They love to torture me and slither around and in our backyard pool. Why? Don't they know I hate them? Whatever do they want from me? They have broken my spirit and now I have no choice but to purchase Snake-Away, or as my friend in Georgia calls it, "Shoo, Shoo Snake". There is no creature more putrid than one that slithers on the ground and looks at me with those disgusting, beady little eyes.
We ran at 4:30, as usual. The air was so heavy, it was like breathing cotton. We were a big group today, each of us blanketed in sweat since there was nowhere for it to evaporate to in "the fabric of our lives". It occurred to me that I have never been here to experience the month of June before.
Our running group was neatly separated into three tidy sectors today. I ran with the boys in the front, desperate for air, certain they might really kill me today. That is when I saw it- coiled up and sleeping in the middle of the dark, warm road- some kind of red, white, and black snake. I did what any unsuspecting runner would do- jump and scream. Dr. Jim on my shoulder said, "Wait for it, wait for it..." A second scream from his wife a few paces behind. Helen nearly stepped on the colorful vicious hose. Why do they have to be out even in our sacred hour of predawn? Don't snakes need the sun to sustain their pathetic lives? Or have they reached their solar limit like I did, so many weeks ago? They, too, have resorted to coming out only in the dark to suffer the heat and humidity, the lack of air movement, but at least avoiding the blinding sun.
Someone most cleverly pointed out the difference between spring and summer here to me. In the spring, it is hot, but at least there is an occasional (much appreciated)breeze. In summer, it is hot, but the air just hangs in a still choke hold. Summer has arrived. I am restless.
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