pre

We have this cat named Tenchi who is half Siamese, half thug.  The other
day he comes running out of the pines in the backyard with a big old
piece of rope in his mouth.  I stood there with the door open, wondering
what he was doing with a piece of rope, until he ran past me with a live
copperhead in his mouth.  I guess I should get glasses.  

Anyhow, Tenchi ran down the hall with his snake.  And I ran after him,
yelling the kind of things I'd rather my kids wouldn't hear.  But both
Tenchi and the kids heard me screaming.

Tenchi dropped the snake in the living room as the kids came out to see
what I was being such an exciteable potty-mouth about.  Then they saw
the snake too and started yelling. So I yelled for them to get back and
they yelled more stuff I didn't pay attention to until finally it was
all too much for the snake and he had a heart attack.  Or maybe he died
from having cat fangs poked through his skull. It's hard to tell.  

We all stood around poking the dead snake with a broom handle until I
got up the nerve to lift him by the tail and flip him out into the leach
field.  Then I had some coffee and gave the cat some evaporated milk to
apologize for all the screaming.
