Grabbing Some Tail

Back many years ago, when I was around 13 or 14, I had many a close encounter with one of these. I've never been fearful of snakes but I do have a healthy respect for them if even they aren't poisonous. I figured better safe than sorry.

My sister was in the house and my father and I were in the garden doing some weeding. It was summer and as always, all of us were in and out of the house constantly all day. My sister was going back into the house from the garage door into the laundry room. My father and I heard the most blood curdling scream coming from the house. I will never forget it. I thought my sister was being murdered. We threw down our hoes and raced toward the house. I beat my father there but he wasn't terribly far behind. I saw my sister standing in the middle of the laundry room shaking out of fear. She was completely freaked out over something. I asked her what was wrong? She pointed to the corner of the door frame, just in time for me to see about 6 inches of a snakes tail slowly moving behind a chest near the door. She had step on it barefoot when she entered the house. (Well, that would have freaked me out too). By this time my father got there, and I yelled to him to get something to remove the snake from the house. He ran toward the shed to fetch something, meanwhile there was less and less snake to get a hold of. Quickly running through scenarios, I choose to act before it was to late. I reached down and gripped what was left of the snakes tail sticking out from the chest. I yanked as hard as I could, and flung it into the garage. I never will forget how dry the skin felt. I always imagined it being slippery. My father arrived as the snake was trying to slither off. It was huge, about 6 feet long, black, and pissed off. It was a common king snake. My father cut the head off and disposed of it. I felt sorry for the snake. We were concerned that it might return and try it again. If my mother had been there she would have had a heart attack. She is deathly afraid of snakes. So that's my story of grabbing some tail. Ah, the joys of country life.