At the end of the street and behind a row of homes laid a small creek. Just beyond that, a field of tall grass. When my friends were feeling adventurous, we headed over the creek on a small wooden bridge.
Gardener snakes could be found occasionally around our home. They aren’t poisonous, nor do they have any teeth. I guess for so many people the whole slithering thing is kind of creepy. My mom hated them but we would play with them and then let them go. I didn’t like the baby snakes. They’d snap at you with their toothless mouths. It still made me jump.
One time my siblings and friends ventured over the creek and into the field. It was the best place to catch snakes. We brought them all home and placed them in a sandbox with a lid my dad had made. We counted sixty snakes on that day. Mom locked all the doors. We’d knock on the windows and when she looked out, we’d hold a snake up for her to see. She quickly close the curtains. We thought it was funny and I think she played along with us, since she was safe in the house.
Fortunately, one of my friends lived in the house next to the field. In fact, her home owned the little bridge crossing the creek. She wanted to go into the field one day, I decided to just sit on the bridge. Swinging my legs over the edge, I watched the swollen creek due to the rain we had that year.
I noticed something moving in the water. I watched it come closer. It’s little black nose and beady eyes staring right at me. My eyes widened as it looked like it was heading to the creeks edge. I had never seen a rat this size.
Sure it was going to eat me, I ran to my friend's patio door and yelled, “Giant rat! Giant rat!” Her father looked confused before he began hysterically laughing. Embarrassment wrapped tightly around me, as I realized how ridiculous I must have sounded. It didn’t take me long to realize it must have been a beaver.
Hey, it’s not everyday you see a beaver and in the water, with only their head sticking out, it did look like a giant rat. That was the end of my adventures over the creek and into the tall grassy fields.