“You hit one that time, Mom. I felt the bump.”
“I can’t avoid them all, baby. They crawl out on the road and lie there because the asphalt absorbs heat and they like the warmth. I have to admit I’m not very fond of snakes, but I’m not trying to run them over.”
“I know you wouldn’t do it on purpose. There are a lot of good ones, like king snakes, who help farmers by eating rodents that destroy crops.”
“You’ve always loved reptiles, Roy. Maybe when you grow up you’ll be a herpetologist.”
“Is that the big word for reptile handler?”
“Herpetology is the study of snakes, and a herpetologist is a person who studies them.”
“There’s another one! It must be six feet long. You just missed him.”
“They’re easier to see when they’re crawling, otherwise they blend into the highway here.”
“Why is this road dark red? I’ve never seen a red highway before.”
“It must be the earth here, baby, the color of the dirt or clay.”
“If it rained now, I wonder if the snakes would all crawl away.”
“Probably they’d want to get down into their holes,”
“Why were you so mean to that man in the restaurant back in Montgomery?”
“He said something I didn’t care for.”
“Did he say it to you?”
“No, Roy, he said it to everyone who could hear him. He wanted people to hear him.”
“What was it that he said?”
“He was showing off his ignorance.”
“Nobody likes a show-off.”
“Especially not his kind.”
“What was he showing off about?”
“He used some words I don’t like.”
“He called you beautiful. ‘What’s the matter, beautiful?’ he said.”
“That wasn’t what upset me. It was what he said before. Forget about him, honey. God punishes those people.”
“Could God change him into a snake and make him crawl out on the red highway so he’d get run over?”
“Roy, don’t believe you’re better than anybody else because of the way you look or who your parents are, or for any other reason you had nothing to do with directly. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“It sounds simple, but it’s not so easy to do. Treat people the way you’d like them to treat you, and if you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Sorry, baby, I don’t mean to preach, but that man made me angry.”
“Watch out, Mom, there’s another snake!”