No friend of Jack

I have this problem with my oldest.

You see, this house we live in is surrounded by wildness. Alligators, foxes, bobcats, coyotes.

And my son loves wildlife. He loves it in a way that is visceral and instinctual.

This weekend my friend S and her dad both smiled and laughed when I vained bewilderment about where he gets it from. They know me and are perfectly educated about my animal exploits.

So yes, I was like him, but he is so….much braver. Much more aggressive and forward with his passion. Maybe the difference between male and female, I don’t know. But some of the stuff he does I would never attempt.

Yes, I have a problem. It looks something like this:

What? You don’t see the problem? Here, take a closer look.

And closer yet.

Hint: “Red on yellow, kill a fellow”

My husband, the genius, came inside this morning saying, for the second time since living here: “Cory, blah blah blah, CORAL SNAKE, blah blah blah” and we all ran outside to VIEW the pretty little snake. View I say.

Only, while I was standing there, wondering how in the hell I was ever going to let my barefoot children step foot in the grass EVER AGAIN, to my horror, my son reached down and plucked it up by its tail.

Yes, that is what I said….HE PICKED UP THE CORAL SNAKE WITH HIS BARE HANDS.

And I died. Right then and there. It was insane. But I didn’t go to the light. Instead, I had flashbacks of kissing his fat baby feet and hands and now I was watching as those same hands held deceptive beauty. Bill said something like “My God son, put that down”. I was calmly hysterical, yelling “Drop it. Drop it”.

See how well he listens.

Yes, I know. You are all agast. How could I let my son pick up a poisonous snake. Well, you tell me what you would have done???? Reach over and yank it out of his hands? Ground him off the Wii? This is so much bigger than that. 2 weeks ago a Copperhead found its way to our fence, and my son had hopped the fence with me and was begging me not to kill it with the shovel. Instead he grabbed a long stick and the shovel and maneuvered it safely away from the house.

I said “Cory, I can’t have that thing near my yard” and he replied “Mom, if you kill that one, there are probably 20 others watching from the grass out there. You can’t kill them all, you know”.

We have told him repeatedly not to pick up snakes in the wild. We have said this until we are blue in the face. We have grounded him. Taken away privileges. We think it sinks in, and then our 10yo will tell us that Cory chased a Cottonmouth at the creek. So we ground him forever from the creek here…..seriously.

I am thinking we must build on this…whatever it is he has…this snake charming, amphibian loving gift.
I will be making some calls etc to people I know in the field……he needs a professional herpatologist to discuss the safety issues with him. He is 13 and we are his ignorant parents.

And beyond a shadow of a doubt, he has surpassed his mom in his animal exploits.