PLAYING CHICKEN WITH A RATTLE SNAKE

by Larryann Willis

On the Buckeye Ranch we have a lot of rattle snakes and they don't really appreciate our presence. One day about 8 years ago Big Port and I were sitting in lawn chairs in the yard. We were enjoying a warm summer evening and he was telling me one of his many stories when suddenly there was a very loud, angry buzzzzzzzz. I looked over and there was a big, ticked-off rattle snake coiled up about 4 feet from my father-in-law's chair. Now Big Port just HATED to be interrupted when he was in the middle of a good story and he just went right on talking. I was sitting on the other side of him, so I felt relatively safe. But I have to tell you, I was very attentive and alert. I guess Big Port must have thought I was enraptured with his tale because I was so transfixed, so he became more animated. Every time he waved his hand that snake got more and more agitated. I knew my father-in-law was tough as nails and I always tried to keep up with him. It was a matter of pride for me not to show I was afraid if he wasn't. So I sat there, determined to stay put as long as he did. But that snake just wouldn't settle down. In fact, it was getting madder and madder. It reared up in the classic rattle snake pose you see just before it strikes with it's head about a foot of the ground and that was just too much for me. I finally, broke into his story, pointed at the snake and said, "Doesn't that snake bother you just a little bit?"

Big Port looked around and zeroed in on that snake that was all reared up and rattling like crazy. By that time in his life Port Sr. had so much trouble with arthritis he had a lot of trouble getting out of a chair and walking. But, when he laid eyes on that snake he just levitated straight up and out of his chair. He moved as faster than he ever did as a kid and almost knocked me clear over on his way out of the area.

That was the first time I realized his hearing was going. He told me, "Gosh, I looked right at that snake and saw it's tail going like crazy but I never heard a thing!" He was terribly impressed by how calm I had remained and I never told him, I was scared to death and just sat there because I thought he was being brave and I didn't want to disappoint him.