Lynn Adele Acheson
Aaron’s Adventure
CHAPTER ONE
"Grandma, I want to see a snake," said Aaron, “a real, live snake.”
He was lying on the floor in Grandma and Grandpa's living room, looking at books with pictures of giant snakes. It was interesting to see the way they coiled themselves up. Now, Aaron thought he would like to see a real snake.
"Where would you like to go--to the zoo?" asked Grandma.
Aaron turned a page in the book. "Anacondas and boa constrictors live in South America--can we go there?"
"Good heavens.” Grandma rolled her eyes and laughed. “You don't want to go that far to see a snake do you?"
"How long do you think it would take to get there?" he asked.
"A lo-o-o-ng time,” said Grandma.
“Pythons live in Africa. Can we go there?”
“That’s far away, too,” she said. “Can you think of any place closer to go?”
"I guess we couldn’t go to Asia, to see a king cobra then, huh?” Aaron let out a sigh and closed the book. “I'd really like to see a snake."
"But there are snakes right here where you live," said Grandma.
"Really? Real live snakes?" Aaron asked.
"Real, live snakes. Not boas or pythons—but we have garter snakes," she said.
"Can we find one?" He didn’t know what a garter snake looked like. But it didn’t matter. He just wanted to see a snake.
“We could try. I bet we could go into the backyard and find a snake right now. Want to?"
"Yeah!" Aaron jumped up and ran to the door.
"First, let's put our boots on," Grandma said. "You aren't going to get scared are you?"
"No, Grandma. I won't get scared." He didn’t want to say he that was just a little scared.
"Promise?"
"I promise. Come on--let's go find a snake."
He got his backpack out. Maybe he could catch the snake. Then he could put it in his backpack and bring it home. He wondered how long it would take to find the snake. He wondered what a garter snake looked like.
CHAPTER TWO
Off Aaron and Grandma went into the backyard. They looked in the garden, but didn't see any snakes. They peeked under some rocks behind the garage. There were no snakes there. They glanced between logs in the woodpile, too, but found no snakes. They looked all over the yard. Still, no snakes.
"Why can't we find any snakes, Grandma?"
"I don't know. Maybe we need to have a magic snake-finding stick," she said. She looked around. Under the oak tree in the corner of the yard, she found a long piece of branch that was almost straight. She broke off the little twigs until it was smooth. "There. A perfect snake-finding stick," she said.
She handed the stick to Aaron.
They walked around the yard again. Aaron poked the stick into the tall grass, looking for a snake. He used the stick to turn over pieces of wood at the edge of the wood pile. But still he found no snake.
Aaron looked out toward the fields and woods beyond their backyard. "Maybe there are some snakes out there."
"Lets go!" said Grandma.
CHAPTER THREE
Aaron and Grandma walked along the edge of a field that had just been plowed. The ground was soft and muddy. Aaron's boot got stuck in the mud. It came off his foot. He took another step and his foot sank into the mud. Mud squished between his toes.
He sat down to put the boot on. When he stood up, his pants were covered in mud. He tried to brush the mud off. Now his hands were muddy, too.
Grandma laughed. “Aaron, the snake is going to think you’ve been slithering around on the ground like him,” she said. “When he sees you he’ll say, ‘Gee, haven’t I seen you somewhere before?’ ”
Aaron wasn’t sure this was funny. He was starting to wonder what the snake would do when he found it.
He held tightly to the snake stick as he walked. He poked in the ground here and there. He swung the stick through the tall grass. But no snakes appeared.
Aaron used the snake-finding stick to lift rocks. He poked into some blackberry bushes. He used the stick to sift through leaves. Still he found no snake.
"When are we going to find a snake?" he asked.
"I don't know, Aaron. There should be a snake around somewhere," said Grandma.
The longer they looked, the less Aaron wanted to find a snake near his backyard. What if he found a snake and it coiled itself around his leg? What if there was more than one snake? What if the snakes were hungry? What if a snake decided to eat him? He decided he wasn’t so brave after all.
Grandma was peeping into some bushes. "I'm afraid we aren't doing a very good job of finding you a snake today, Aaron,"
"Grandma..."
"What Aaron?"
"I don't want to find a snake,” he said.
"Why not?” asked Grandma.
"Maybe I’m afraid of snakes," he said.
Grandma thought about that. "Snakes are afraid of you, too, you know."
"Really?"
"Yes. You are a lot bigger than they are."
They kept walking across the meadow. Soon they were in their own back yard. Aaron began to feel braver. He poked the magic snake-finding stick at some rocks near the garden. To his surprise, a tiny head peeked out at him. The neck arched and a little tongue darted quickly in and out of its mouth.
"Grandma, look," whispered Aaron.
A small brown snake slithered into view. It had yellow stripes down each side of its body. Aaron smiled proudly. "I found a snake."
"Fantastic," Grandma said, grinning back at him. "What kind of snake do you suppose it is?"
Aaron thought for a moment. “It might be a garter snake,” he said.
“That’s right.”
“It’s nice for a backyard snake,” said Aaron, “but I would really like to see a boa constrictor or anaconda.”
"Oh, Aaron! I've had enough adventure for one day," Grandma said, laughing. "Maybe Grandpa can take you to South America."
Aaron laughed, too. “Maybe we can all go to the zoo.”