We cleaned up the empty lot—me, Sydney, and Devon. Not that there was much to clean up. Devon’s job was to pick up stones and paper and so forth. Mrs. Addison didn’t have gloves small enough for him, so she made him use a pair of sweat socks, like mittens. She gave him a plastic bag to dump stuff in. He thought he was King of the World. While the King did his job, Sydney and I fought over the lawn mower. It’s a wonder a blade of grass ever got cut. We were almost done when we heard Devon shriek. We ran. He was stiff with terror, pointing at the ground. “Snake!”
I looked. It was a snake all right, but not exactly a python. It was a garter snake like I see all the time in the woods by the creek. I never understood why people, especially girls, are so terrified of snakes. This one was less than a foot long.
I picked it up. Devon gasped. I held it out to Sydney—and a funny thing didn’t happen. She didn’t let out a girly scream and run. She reached out and took the snake from my hand. It squirmed like a worm as she petted its head. Then she lobbed it into the Addisons’ backyard. I stared at her. She gave me a smug grin. We tapped fists. She burped. I back-burped her.
I’m liking this girl more every day.