World Wild Vet by Evan Antin

Author:Evan Antin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Sleep vs. Snake Is a No-Brainer

In a place like Komodo Island, any adventurer might meet something fascinating on a night walk—even just strolling to the kitchen. Before making the very short trek with the plates (after the macaques were done with them), I strapped on a headlamp (the best way to have both light and free hands). From the path, I swung my head back and forth along the ground and up and down in the trees, partly watching to make sure I didn’t have an unexpected face-to-face with a dragon, partly looking for what else might be awake. My light skimmed over the slats of the rangers’ quarters, which I knew might be prime perches for nocturnal animals, including snakes. I caught a glint of something unexpected and swung the light straight back to pinpoint the creature that had caught my eye. Jackpot!

Up on the roof, gazing back toward the light, was a gorgeous seven-foot Timor python. These thin, agile pythons have a stunning brown pattern on their tops and fronts, but not on their bellies or lower halves. They love to climb, and they’re usually tolerant of handling. I knew this snake would be safe to hold, but I was equally confident that the rangers in the hut probably didn’t want it directly above them, navigating the gaps in the roof, while they slept. They heard me muttering to myself as I calculated the angle to the roof and tried to figure out what I could grab to steady myself, and they good-naturedly came out to shine another light so I could capture and relocate the snake.

I tightened my laces and scaled the side of the hut till I was standing on the ledge of the roof’s frame. Balancing on the narrow side of a decades-old two-by-four, I extended my stance to reach for the snake. I was two feet away, then one foot, and finally just inches. I was trying to stretch just a hair farther when SNAP—the board fractured under my boots. It plummeted, with me on it, ten feet to the floor of the hut.

I’d like to say I always land on my feet, but I’d be lying. This night, though, my first thought as I touched down was How the hell am I still standing? I was at the center of a huge pile of debris, and a cloud of fifty-year-old dust was raining down around me. But my body was upright. I tipped my head down to scan for damage by the light of the headlamp. No obvious fractures or puncture wounds. Two feet, two knees, two hands, and everything else seemingly still in its rightful place. I leaned back, craning my neck to see if the python was still there, only of course it had slipped off into the night.

Outside, Tim and the rangers hadn’t been able to tell what was going on. They’d heard the snap, and then a thud. When I opened the door of the hut and walked out, half a dozen pairs of eyes blinked back at me.

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