Tale Of A Snake

• Holly Lerch, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2021

I glance up at the school kids who are drumming on the front of my cage. “Why does this tiger snake not move?” one of the school kids shouted.
I can feel the vibration. It is really irritating me. All I wish is for those stupid kids to fade away. I slither deeper into my cage, thinking to myself, When will the day come, the day I can live a happy life? I want that more than anything.

Here comes April my handler. She is the only one in this whole entire world who I will trust. She opens the cage door and reaches carefully into my cage and picks me up. Her hand rubbed against my scaly skin.

The kids stare at me with a look of horror on their faces before running to another enclosure.
“Sorry Sami, no one is interested in you today,” April said sadly.
The zoo manager came over to me and said, “Don’t you think it is time to get rid of the snake? I mean no one is interested in it.” April puts me back, the ferns scraping against my face.
“No, the snake didn't have a good day today. I will leave this zoo if you get rid of this snake,” April says furiously. I stare angrily at the zoo manager. No one in the whole entire world likes the zoo manager.

She thinks she is the boss around here. It is time for me to be in charge. But that is ridiculous. I mean, I am just a snake. Life is a nightmare, the same boring food day after day...rats.

I slither silently to the side of my cage and put the front of my head and push. No luck. There must be a way out of here. I know I don’t want to leave April but it is tough living here. I see that underneath all this moss is a little hole with a lid. I need to get that lid open. I bite at it. I slightly opened it and quickly slide my head in so it does not close. I slide down the pipe. I see light. I push against the end of the pipe and it opens. I am out in the big wide world. Wait, I thought. How am I supposed to get food? What about all these cars and people? I don’t know how to live out here. I slither a bit further. “There you are,” The zoo manager said.
She took me back into my cage.
“No more escaping,” she yells. I have decided that I will have to accept that I am supposed to live here.