If youve ever been around a truly evil being there is no denying. This past August while I was visiting my friend Dave in St. Augustine,Florida I became acquainted with such a person. I should have said re-acquainted because I had met him21 years ago in Williamsburg,Va. while on an externship from culinary school. On meeting him again I was unaware for several days that it was the same person. A series of events that occurred while i was in Florida would leave no doubt in my mind. I had noticed that right after arriving at Daves the people who live next to my friend had Virginia tags on their cars. Nothing unusual about that alot of people move to the Sunshine State from other places. Daves house is a sprawling Florida ranch style house with 4 bedrooms with really nobody living there. Hed lived in Argentina for several years and on returning decided to split up his time between the house in Florida and a place he has in Oregon. The house in St. Augustine had belonged to his parents who were both deceased now. My second day down there i was having coffee out by the pool early in the morning. I was beggining to like Florida all over again. I had real tough deciesions to make like when i would swim again or where we would eat breakfast that morning. I was trying to make a call on my cell phone but did not have good service at Daves whose house is at the end of a dead end street surrounded by woods and a State Park. I walked about a quarter of a mile up to where his block intercepts A1A. My phone worked there. It was about 6:30 in the morning on the the way back to his house i noticed a man in a wheel chair getting his mail out of his mailbox. It was the house next to Daves. The man in the wheel chair called out to me,mornin, to me. I said good morning. The man had thinning red hair and his eye glass lenses were very thick. Right away i knew there was something hauntingly familiar about him. I had a second cup of coffee and then swam for an hour. While I was swimming i decided i would let it rest and figured the familiarity of the man next store was purely a coincidence and that i had probably met some one before who reminded me of him. Later that morning I was cutting brush away from a tangelo tree that was starving for sunlight from the overgrowth that had engulfed it. Ive gotta tell you right now I dont like snakes. i bent down and grabbed an armful of brush suddenly revealing a five foot king snake banded with grey and black. It was beautiful I guess if you like snakes. I did an acrobatic leap backwards that Im sure I could never duplicate again. In the brief time i was in the air moving backwards some synapses in my brain fired and reminded me this had happened to me before with a similar kingsnake. It had been 21 years before on the Colonial Pkwy. in Williamsburg, Va. After workig my shift at Kingsmill Resort Id got on my bike an rode out to the parkway a 23 mile stretch of scenic road that goes from Jamestown to Yorktown. The parkway has a mystical charm, history is so thick in the air here you can cut it with a knive. Jamestown itself was Americas first attempt at a real colony in the continental United States. It was semi- successful but eventually famine, disease, harsh winters, and hostile indians would be its downfall. All around on the pkwy. there are redoubts or little manmade bluffs that the union and confederate soldiers sought protection behind while firing on each other some of them were less than 100 ft. apart. When you get to Yorktown your at the place where our Navy was getting their butts whipped by the the British out on the York River when the French came up the river helping us to win the battle. Well like I said i was riding my bike down the pkwy. I was almost to Yorktown when I spotted this little clearing that went down to thew river. I had brought with me a colapsible crab trap and thought Id try my luck down in the brackish water. As I walked through the knee high grass I stepped on something that was softer than the turf Id been on, I felt it move, It scared the hell out of me i lept away as I did today. I hadnt noticed a park ranger was coming down the trail in back of me I must have yelled out when I stepped on the snake cause he said something Id never heard before, Holy St. George, are you all right he said? Holy St. George? That was one big ol King snake he said, I saw it cross the trail after ya stepped on im. He was tall like me, six-one or two, he was dressed in a park rangers uniforn. King snakes are good you know, he said, they kill ratltlers. He had a swagger about him that was not comforting his voice was boisterous. Yeah I know that I said, it shocked the hell out of me when i stepped on it. There was a few seconds when nothing was said, it was a bit uncomfortable. I noticed he had what looked to be a womans blouse in his right hand it was quite muddy but Im sure thats what it was. I remembered his hair was red and his eyes glasses very thick. MORE LATER< I GOTTA TAKE A BREAK NOW>ILL BE BACK
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 12:06:58 +0000
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