Stream of Consciousness

 

Have I mentioned the little stream that flows through our little city park? Sometimes I stop there after a walk and sit and listen to the gurgling water and watch the current go around and over rocks. It has been a little oasis of sorts, a place to be still and know. A little paradise. But last week it became Paradise Lost.

I was sitting as usual, just relaxing and taking in Goodness. As I looked upstream I saw a snake. A SNAKE!! I have a strong, irrational fear of snakes. I don’t care how little it is or how non-poisonous it is or how pretty it may be; I am petrified of snakes.So, there, in my Paradise, slithered a snake! Paradise lost. No more can I go there and completely relax. I’ll always be on the lookout for that serpent.

It was too good to be true. We are east of Eden and there is no going back. Life will always have its intruders. Imperfections, inconveniences, and downright tragic events will slither into our lives. We might as well accept the fact that there is no perfect stream, no perfect place, and no perfect person. The Biblical message is profound. Snakes happen.

It was strange too that a few nights before this snake scare I had a dream in which I was walking through a house where people were sitting at a table and just before I left that room to enter another room, I glanced over at the people and saw a large snake on a counter behind them. I walked into the other room with cold chills up and down my spine. Do dreams warn us of things to come? Or is the symbol of ‘snake’ just part of the ongoing mythology of my dreams?

Well, this morning I went out for a walk (83 degrees when I left and 86 degrees when I came home) and stopped by the little stream in the park. I sat down and consciously looked around for any sign of a snake, not relaxed like I used to be at this spot. I sat for about ten minutes and watched the water flow by. Then I stood up and walked along the bank about ten feet, looked out into the stream, and there she was—the same snake—about ten inches long, orange with dark rings (or black with orange rings), sitting still in the middle of the stream as if trying not to be seen. I watched it, it watched me. I found a small twig and tossed it into the stream close to her. (I’ve named it Trudy. I don’t know the sex of the snake [how can you tell?], but since it is the Intruder, I’ve named it Trudy, which makes it female.)

When the twig hit the water, Trudy slipped under a rock. About fifteen seconds passed; then she stuck her head above water as if to say I’m still here. Trudy and I are developing a relationship. We were sort of playful with each other today. The truth is that she is probably as scared of me as I am of her. As long as we are at least fifteen feet apart I’m fine.

##