Snakes: Sketches of Los Angeles

Snakes 

by Armando Ortiz

He picked up the Diamondback using two sticks, and kept it at arm's distance while observing its body. The snake was brown gray with delicate yellow striped scales that crisscrossed the top of its long body, making four pointed diamonds. Upon being released it slither back into the dry bushes. Later in the evening the snake that he had picked up in the woods showed up at his home. It had mysteriously separated itself into three pieces and somehow gotten inside his room. Every part of the reptile’s body that had been touched by the branches had detached from the other parts and lay on the hardwood floor. The head, with its eye slits that opened and closed had a tongue that kept sticking out and slightly jittered. The body, which was the biggest and longest piece, had an eerie resemblance to beaded jewelry as if it were a Native American belt from the Northwest. Its tail was cut off a few inches away from the rattler and when the acoustic vibration woke him up he recognized 6 layers of hollow cartilage. For a moment Paul thought it was strange to see a rattlesnake on the floor of his room, but he remained calm. The head was near the bookshelf where most of his books were neatly placed. The body was beside the coffee table, while the rattler was laying by the entrance door directly below the poster of Jimi Hendrix.

He was trying to sleep in his own dreams, but was unable to rest. He kept wondering where the loose snake parts were, especially the triangular head.

“A rattlesnake’s head will bite even after being chopped off from its body,” his grandfather once said.

The day’s long hike had really sapped his energy and a dead snake was not going to move him from his spot. He slept on a brown leather couch that had been salvaged from the street a few months back. Prior to having a couch he’d slept on the mahogany floor. Having a bed inside a small studio took up too much space. It was located on the same wall as the entrance, but on the other corner of the room. From where he was he saw how all the pieces and himself made an imaginary trapezoid.  The fact that there were snake parts scattered inside the bachelor pad was a bit worrisome. Every now and then he’d raise his head and see if there was danger nearby. He had the same sensation that he got when he went to visit his mom, who lived near downtown Los Angeles in one of the more interesting neighborhoods of the city, Pico-Union.

The parts were now in different parts of the room. The head had wandered near the entrance of the kitchenette, and the body was right next to the book shelf directly in front the first row of books, while the tail was directly below the key holder that was next to the entrance and announced "Aqui estan las putas llaves." Every individual piece had a mind of its own as if each part were slowly transforming into a snake.

Paul kept trying to fall asleep attempting to ignore the visitors. All of them were inside the room, alone, with four walls and a ceiling that enclosed everything. The room had good insulation and kept things tidy during the winter. The pieces were scattered, and kept wandering. For a moment it seemed as if Jimi’s eyes were blinking. At first he hadn’t thought much about the snake being in his house because generally snakes are harmless to humans. This was different though, it was inside his room. The snake had become an intruder, an unwelcome interloper. The detached parts seemed to mind their own business like they would out in the wilderness. Nevertheless, fear kept shaking him awake. The head opened its mouth and quickly closed it shut. Fright steadily spread through Paul’s body like an oil spill that just keeps moving and sticking to everything. Western Diamondbacks carry lethal venom. Tired, he turned around to see where the snake parts were, and once he spotted them tried going back to his erratic sleep but the malignant slick kept him awake. The walls seemed to be moving closer from all directions, including the ceiling. There were crawling noises that resembled a vinyl record being played. There was a faint popping and rasp as when the music on a record player is about to start with air pressure vibrations going through the needle converting them into sound. Something was slithering out of the speakers of reality before the actual music had commenced.

Paul kept thinking about the length of each fang. He imagined the fangs being three inches long and that somehow they'd pierce his neck. A sensation of being pierced spread through his body and made him shiver. He finally sat up to see where the snake pieces were. As his upper body lifted itself from the warm cushions his eyes saw the detached head of the diamondback swallow its own tail, which then proceeded to swallow its body. It was the craziest scene that he'd ever dreamed.

The scene startled him awake. The shirt he wore was wet on his back and his face was pale. He really believed there was a snake around where he lay. Convincing himself that nothing was meant by the strange dream, except that it's best not to have poisonous snakes as pets, he quickly sat up.

“If one comes across a dead snake while hiking, dispose of it as soon as possible” he remembered his grandfather telling him once.

"It's best to let snakes deal with snakes," he mumbled to himself.

He put it in the bin that was in the kitchenette, pulled the bag out making a knot, and headed to the backdoor. Turning the brass door knob he felt the cold from the outside. Opening the door brought in a nice cool breeze. Breathing the early morning air gave a soothing sensation to the lungs. He stepped outside, and carrying the bag, he walked to the dumpster that was around the duplex in the alley. His feet felt the cool cement, it was nice to walk on it at this time. The morning was fresh and the stars were still out. It was barely 4a.m. and there was hardly any sound in the streets. There were no bird sounds. They were all snuggled up in their tiny nest and dreaming good dreams. There would be no more snakes in his home or in his dreams ever again.