Wild Things in the Closet

Brenda ran in the door. She was running late, as usual. She raced up the stairs and grabbed her clothes. She jumped in the shower as fast as she could. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a snake.

But how could that be? It was the dead of winter. Snakes wouldn’t be lurking around now. Besides, what would a snake be doing in the house? Brenda wiped her wet hair with a towel. She wanted to get it as dry as she could before she had to go.

Brenda’s mom called from downstairs. It was time to go. Brenda grabbed her tennis shoes and her purse. As she looked down at her hands, she let out a blood-curdling scream. It wasn’t the handle of her purse—it was a snake, a real live snake!

It didn’t take long for Brenda’s brother to capture the reptile and take it outside. Brenda told herself to trust her instincts from now on. She had been right! The snake obviously didn’t know what time of year it was, and it certainly didn’t know whose room it had tried to invade.