Snake With Lightning Bolts On Its Back
July 19, 2009
LAURINBURG – As Daisy Williams stood in front of the crowd at the Scotland County Public Library on Tuesday morning, she seemed a little uncertain.
After all, she was about to hold a live, wriggling snake for the first time.
Daisy, who is 8, was chosen from the audience during the library’s Snakes Alive! program, put on every year by traveling snake and reptile specialist Ron Cromer.
The event is one of six interactive programs held by the library this summer to help children learn about new things and develop new skills, said Leon Gyles, director of the library.
Snakes Alive! usually is the biggest draw, Gyles said. About 150 children attended the event this year, including a group of 26 campers from Scotland County Parks and Recreation’s Adventure Camp.
But crowded as it was, it wasn’t the audience that worried Daisy. It was the prospect of holding a snake.
Sure, it sounded like a good idea at first. Like many others in the room, she had waved her hand frantically when Cromer asked for a volunteer snake-handler.
But the triumph of being picked wore off quickly when Cromer went to choose a snake from a batch of plastic bins.
“What size snake do you want to hold?” he asked. “Small, medium or large?”
Daisy shifted on her feet and shrugged shyly.
So Cromer asked the people in the audience.
“Large!” they shouted.
Daisy’s eyes grew big. Reaching out a small hand to Cromer, she whispered, “I want a small one.”
He went to the bins and pulled out a long black snake named Julius Squeezer. Was this what she wanted to hold?
Quickly, Daisy shook her head, “No.”
But eventually, Daisy relaxed and chose a spotted brown and yellow hog-nosed snake named Mrs. Piggy. It was the mother of three baby snakes, and Daisy seemed to like that idea.
But mother or not, it still was a snake.
Daisy grimaced as she watched it entwine itself around her hands and wrists. Seconds later, she was ready to hand it back.
“You want me to take it?” Cromer asked.
Daisy held out her snake-filled hands and nodded. She was done with reptiles for the day.
The library will continue its summer learning program with storytellers from the Storytelling Arts Center of the Southeast in Laurinburg. Storytelling sessions will be at 11 a.m. Thursday and July 30 at the library at 312 W. Church St. in Laurinburg.
