Snake Adventure-Family Folklore By Maddie Simon

A long time ago, well kind of long ago, when my father was young, him and his family went to our ranch. Now this wasn’t any ordinary time at the ranch. No! Something very, very different was about to occur and no one knew it.

I guess you could say it was sort of my dad’s fault for getting him and his cousin into this mess, but he won’t admit anything. He is too happy for what they did, but it is kind of a scary thing to think about again.

You’re probably very confused on what my dad got him and Allen, his cousin, into! Well let’s start off with the day it all happened:

My dad woke up to the sun shining on his face through the dusty old window in our cabin. He sat up and stretched, yawning as he opened his eyes. “Today looks like a good day for some adventure!” He said happily. He stood up and ran over to his cousin’s bed. He jumped on top of him and bounced on the bed. “Wake up sleepy head!” He yelled.
“Leave me alone Rick!” Allen exclaimed. Allen got up and went down the long spiral staircase. Rick followed. It seemed to go on and on and on until they were so exhausted they didn’t have the energy to go eat breakfast. When they found out they were having waffles their faces lit up and they ran to the table.
“Can we go adventuring today?” Rick asked his father as he stood cooking over the hot stove.
“I don’t see why not!” Don (Rick’s dad and my grandpa) said. They boys yelled “HOORAY!” Just then my grandma Lu walked in the kitchen. “What is everyone so happy about?” She asked. “Dad said we could go adventuring today!” Rick said.
“Ok but please be careful! Don’t go too far away and be back by dinner-time.” She said.
A few minutes later Rick and Allen were ready to go. They were so excited they bolted out the cabin door and almost broke it off the hinges. They walked for a while and started going up a mountain.
“I wonder what is in this old mine!” Allen asked. “I don’t know! Lets find out!” Rick exclaimed. “We have flashlights, we are totally prepared.” As the two boys made the long climb down the old rickety ladder, they got kind of scared. As soon as they got to the bottom, they found out the flashlight wasn’t working.
“Oh great! Now what are we going to do?” Allen asked. “Just calm down! I brought another one in case this one didn’t work.” Rick said. He opened up his backpack and felt around until he felt something hard and round. “Found it!” Rick said happily.
“Ok good! I can breathe again!” Allen said. They turned on the flashlight and looked around. To their dismay they saw lots of diamonds and cool designs on the walls.
“It looks like Indians or something used to draw it these caves!” Rick exclaimed.
“Miners used to work in these mines smart one!” Allen said emphasizing the MINES. “Otherwise there wouldn’t be an old rickety ladder!” Allen said.
“Well sorry! Then what are all those cool designs and stuff?” Rick asked.
“I don’t know! I dare you to go touch it!” Allen said.
“Fine! I will show you whose it the right one here!” Rick said. He walked a little timidly over to the wall. He slowly lifted his hand and right before he touched the wall, he heard a loud rattle. “What was that?!” Rick exclaimed. He looked over at Allen and they both yelled, RATTLESNAKES!”
They both panicked and shined that flashlight over to where Rick had been standing. They were stunned to find out that everywhere, all along every wall, there were rattlesnakes. Rick shuddered thinking about what could happen if he moved quickly. Allen was too nervous to say anything at all. He just stood there with a blank look.
At first Rick had an idea. “I think we should leave right now!” He said with a scared tone in his voice.
“Oh don’t be such a big baby!” Allen said.
“I am not a baby!” Rick said folding his arms and putting on a grumpy face. They both decided it would probably be best to go back up the ladder very slowly, as not to disturb the already mad rattlesnakes. They both went up the old rickety ladder that went on forever. About halfway up Rick touched something scaly.
“AAAHHH!” He screamed. “Go Allen, Go Allen!” He yelled. They hurried up the rest of the way. He looked back down the hole that they had just come through and saw thousands of rattlesnakes all slithering around. “We probably would have died!” Rick said.
“I wasn’t scared at all!” Allen said proudly.
“Yeah I really believe THAT one!” Rick said irritated. The two boys walked back down the mountain hurriedly. Along the way home, they stared at the ground, watching their feet, looking around being careful not to step on any sticks or things that look like rattlesnakes. They got home before dinner was even cooking and the rest of the day went smoothly. They didn’t tell anyone what had happened and they knew they probably shouldn’t because they were going to get in trouble.
They kept that story in our family for years and every time they tell it, it seems to get a little different. J