Waldo’s Tale… As HE Saw It
By Sue Andrews, Inland Empire Branch
We learned one side of this story in the last socalwritersshowcase.com. Sue Andrews told it in her own words and, thanks to her again, now we hear from the snake.
The day I left home I didn’t know I would be the brunt of any joke nor did I know that my family, whom I’d known all my life, wouldn’t be coming with me.
That day I was taken out of my terrarium, put in a cage, and thrown in the back of a noisssy moving machine. When we arrived at the ssstopping place, I was taken into a large building and put back in my terrarium on top of a desk in big room. A sssign of some sort was put on it but since I couldn’t read what F-R-E-E meant I didn’t know what it said. Did it have something to do with all the people who walked by, then stopped and stared at me? Had I been placed in a zssoo? I had heard of such horrible places, and it made me ssshudder.
I began thinking about what had happened. What did I do wrong? Didn’t anyone love me anymore? I didn’t know why my friend, Douglasss, had let this happen to me. We used to sssleep together sometimes. Imagine that? A snake sleeping with a human. But we did. Would I ever sssee him again?
Eight hours went by while I slept on top of my heat rock under my light. People shrieked or ssscreamed when they saw me. Some people laughed at others who did these funny things. I even saw one lady jump! But many just shrugged their shoulders and walked on passst. Most never gave me a sssecond thought or even asked my name. My name is Waldo.
At the end of the day, a different and curiousss man came over to see me. He looked kind and he sssmiled at me, as he lifted me out of my terrarium for a closer look. He talked to me in a loving way and told me he was driving me to my new home. We exited what I later assssumed as the man’s work, we went to a different moving machine, he called it a truck. I smiled when he called me “Buddy.”
When I got to my “new home,” I quickly became bored. I was placed in a corner and ate the same monotonousss meals day in and day out, or should I say week in and out. The man did talk to me, however, and give me fresh water every day.
But hours on end, there I sat in a noisssy room not knowing where I was. I couldn’t figure it out. It wasn’t as quiet as Douglasss’ bedroom during the day. Maybe it was a machine shop? I heard lotsss of machines turning on and off making loud noises for minutes at a time. Finally, at night, it was peaceful. The noises stopped, it was dark, and I could sssleep.
Then one day, I got a sssurprise. A new person – a lady – came into my ssspace and took the leather jacket off my terrarium. My new owner had put it on me as a cover to keep me warm. I think maybe he was hiding me for some reassson. When the lady saw me, she ssscreamed and jumped, just like the lady who did it at the man’s work. She dropped the jacket back on me and I sssaw her fall backwards! She was so hilariousss, she really made me laugh! Who knew two ladies in just a few months would have the same reaction to me?
That incident was the height of my excitement in my new home. I wasn’t there even a year and then I remembered my old tricksss from my old house. I used to play hide and ssseek with Douglasss. Perhaps I could try that again? I remember it was at those times I got the whole family playing “Where’sss Waldo?”
The day finally came when I had my chance. My new massster had left the cover off my terrarium…ssso, I decided to play the hide and ssseek game. But then I became lossst. No one came looking for me like before.
I didn’t know where my new massster lived. I couldn’t find my way back to Douglasss’ house. My new home had many wide-open ssspaces around it. There was a wilderness out there to explore. Although I was sssad I couldn’t find either family and the game of hide and ssseek never happened, my essscape turned out to be good one.
I now know how to catch and eat different kinds of field mice, ratsss, rabbitsss, and all kind of delectable wild creatures. They are much better delicaciesss than the store-bought mice my last massster used to feed me.
I ssso love my new outdoor home.
YourSss, Waldo
“Waldo’s Tale” first appeared in the November 2020
Inland Empire newsletter, Fresh Ink.