Well, today I’ve got a story about how one of them came to my rescue.
It was Saturday morning, and I'd decided to take a walk because I’m trying to tone up to look fairly decent in my gown for the Rita awards next month. I slapped on my headphones and set off. Early on, I noticed an unusual number of black crows flying around, scavenging, and then one with a nice hunk of bagel. Since I talk to random animals all the time--but don’t worry about me too much for they don’t respond--I applauded him for his breakfast “score,” as I moved on.
A half-hour later, I'm on a sidewalk two miles away, bopping to my CD (because I a firm believer in walking as if nobody’s looking), when out of nowhere, a black crow dive-bombs the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street ahead of me.
Suddenly a six foot plus rattlesnake jackrabbits up and across the sidewalk, running for HIS life. Where it had been, I guess, sunning. And maybe coiled.
Maybe I should add here that I have a screaming, out-of-my-mind snake phobia. To the extent that back in college, I could not enter a certain classroom building because its first floor corridor was lined with CAGED snakes. And which is why the only snake that appears in this post is cartoon and "almost" cute.
When I regain consciousness (miraculously I am still breathing and somehow across the street), I realize that had that crow not shown up, I would have dance-walked right up to that rattlesnake, most likely startling the thing.
Arg, sputter, gasp.
And because I am a total drama queen, newspaper headlines started screaming in my head:
WOMAN SAVED BY DIVE-BOOMING CROW FROM RATTLESNAKE ATTACK
CROWS COMMUNICATE TO SAVE CRAZY WOMAN
LOCAL AUTHOR SAVED FROM RATTLESNAKE BY CROW (BUT WILL SHE LOOK GOOD IN HER RITA DRESS?)
WOMAN FACES BIGGEST FEAR AND LIVES TO BLOG ABOUT IT
Or...or...
Any other headline ideas? Or have a near-miss yourself in the wild?
Tina
Tina Ferraro
How to Hook a Hottie, 2009 Rita Finalist
The ABC's of Kissing Boys, 2009 YALSA Nominee
Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress
www.tinaferraro.com
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10 comments:
SNAKE ENCOUNTER SURVIVOR, TINA FERRARO, DEDICATES HER NEXT BOOK TO THE CROW WHO SAVED HER LIFE.
And I thank that crow for being there for you.
Had to delete my first post and fix my spelling goofs, there's no edit option (hey, it's early here and I haven't had my coffee yet).
Wow, Tina, I'm still in shock after reading about your near-miss! The Big Guy really did have your back. Makes me think angels DO come in all sorts of disguises. *G*
Imagine the stories the snake is telling his buds, "Whoah, dudes, I was just hangin' on the corner, minding my own. And this trippin' crow dive-bombs outta nowhere and attacks me! Then some chick starts screamin' her head off. I just ran for my life, man!"
WOMEN CONDEMNED BY DR. DOOLITTLE SOCIETY FOR PRETENDING THE ANIMALS DON'T TALK BACK TO HER!
SNAKE "STRIKES" BECAUSE OF DISCRIMINATION.
WOMAN RESISTS TEMPTATION! (a little Garden of Eden theme there).
Sooooo glad you're safe, Tina. I live in an area that had a lot of rattlesnakes when I was a child, before all the housing developments came in. We were always on the outlook for them. Might have come across one once, but my brother and sister and I didn't stick around long enough to find out if it was a rattler. We just turned and left.
Janie, you may be joking about thanking the crow in my next book...but it's already in my notes!
Diana, I loved you telling the story from the snake's POV. There could be a book in that, huh? ;)
Cindy, love your headlines, especially about me resisting temptation. Uh-huh!
That's scary, Tina. I freak if I even see a tiny garter snake.
One day I was walking on a country road and heard the corn rustling pretty good. I was terrified it was a coyote. But out came a mommy deer and her baby. We all just kind of stared at each other for a moment before they bolted back into the corn.
CROW FOWLS SNAKE ATTACK!
RATTLER RATTLED BY AVIAN AVENGER!
AUTHOR SAVED BY A WING AND A PRAYER!
Okay, I'm done. I know you're glad. What a scary story, though. I'm glad the crow was there to rescue you. Reminds me of the dolphin/shark stories. Living in Texas I've had more than my fair share of wildlife run-ins. Most recently we were visited by a raccoon, a possum and three cats almost at the same time on our front porch. Possums have some ginormous teeth!!!
Glad you are safe, Tina!
Jen, your headlines were fantastic...especially the last one! LOL!
Steph, we have the occasional coyote in my neighborhood, too, but only see them at night, and they generally move very fast from people. Still, scary...
Jen, you are brilliant!
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