Comic Relief

Snakes Alive! Gaynor Lawson, one of our readers, submitted this wonderful and amusing story.

My friend has a live-and-let-live approach to all creatures. One night she spotted a harmless Red-lipped Herald snake disappearing into her kitchen cupboard. Not wanting to step on it in the dark, she closed the door, intending to remove it the next day. But then she forgot all about it.

Until the next afternoon at the supermarket, when the packer opened her brought-from-home shopping bag and found - yes, you guessed it - the Red-lipped Herald. Chaos erupted, with the packer, cashier, shoppers, and even the security guard shrieking in terror.

Luckily, my friend had already paid for her purchases, so she grabbed the bag, twisted it closed, and raced, with her shopping, out to her bakkie. She released the snake unharmed into the veld on the way home...