The Terror in the Background

It was the hottest summer day when my mother told me that we were going to clean the backyard. I decided to take my sister Phoebe Rose, who was four. I determined that we should take a shovel, pitchfork, the gardening cobra, and an apple.

I started digging and suddenly I heard a shriek! Phoebe Rose was yelling, “Sissi, Sissi! I found a snake!”

I ran over, and it was an earthworm. I said, “Phoebe Rose, this is just an earthworm.” So I went back to digging. We did find a lot more earthworms!

Suddenly Phoebe Rose called, “Look, Sissi, look--a hole full of worms.”

I ran over and saw a hole full of . . . baby snakes. I quickly put a large rock over the hole and said, “Phoebe Rose worms do not clump together. Those are snakes!”

An hour later Phoebe Rose called, “A hole of snakes!”

I looked down and saw caterpillars!

Phoebe Rose was petrified with fear, but I said, “These are just caterpillars.”

Just then I heard a shriek from my mother, who was waving the end of her pitchfork. She had caught a harmless garden snake.

Suddenly, I felt something wiggle under my foot. I looked down and saw that a snake was looking at Phoebe Rose. I grabbed the shovel and brought it down on the snake’s head. I picked it up in triumph!