The Broad-Headed Snake
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Lachlan Yelverton, Grade 4
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Short Story
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2018
Crack! Crack! My eight eggs are hatching! I need to feed them frogs or lizards. I leave them in the hollow tree trunk where most of us Broad Headed Snakes live. I find a green, slimey frog sitting on a log. Broad headed snakes love frogs! Swoosh! I pounce from behind and bite its neck and kill it. It lays on my black back and I slither away to my young baby snakes. It’s dawn, around 6.00am when I leave for food. I spot a lizard in the corner of my eye, so I chase it to the road.
“You won’t escape me!” I yell as I pursue him.
“Aaaaand got ya!” I say.
“Noooo! Please don’t eat me! I-I’ll do anything!” he begs.
“Hmmm, there is one thing…”
“W-w-what is it?” the lizard asks.
“GET IN MY BELLY!”
“Really? I thought it would be like-“
“Nope” I interrupt.
I devour the minuscule, jade lizard. “Mmmm delicious!” A red Volkswagen rockets past me just anometres away from my face!
“Wh-what was that! It nearly squished me! PEOPLE NEED TO WATCH WHERE THEY DRIVE!” I bellow furiously. “I need to go somewhere safe from speeding cars.
I go to the bush-rock where we take shelter from feral cats, foxes and birds…But it’s gone!
“Oh no, my hatchlings! They’re still in the tree! I need to go check on them!” I arrive at the tree but it’s cut down! My children are on the floor underneath the pieces of bark and twigs from our tree! We hunt for a new home.
“Aha! A bush rock! We’ll shelter here for the nightfall.” But before we got there a fox blocks our route. We dodge the fox which had sharp claws, orange fur and disgusting breath. We arrive at the bush rock but a feral cat approaches…
“Shhh.” I whisper to the black coloured serpents and their yellow spots are the only thing I can see of them. The cat is gone. We leave and get picked up by some people. They put us in a cage then put the cage in the back of their car and start driving. My young coil up against me and snooze, for it is daylight and we are nocturnal. They take us to a place called Taronga Zoo. We still live there to this day in a safe haven away from all of those birds, feral cats and dogs.
Lots of other broad headed snakes are dying. Please, save us – the Broad headed snakes.