There was a shady spot at the far end of the Walgreen’s parking lot. After dropping Trudy off at the door, I drove across the lot and backed into the shade. I turned off the car, rolled down the windows on and turned on the radio.
A man was walking in the sun across the parking lot and turned in my direction when he spotted me. When he got close, he mumbled something. I turned down the radio.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“It’s been a long time,” he said. “I haven’t seen you since I left.”
It was hot, and he was sweating. And he hadn’t shaved in several days. And his clothes were dirty and rumpled. He fiddled with a cigarette lighter in his left hand.
“I didn’t sleep well last night,” he said. He pointed across the street and said something about the woods behind the shopping center.
“By the creek?” I asked. “On the rocks?”
“Yeah. I didn’t sleep much.”
I frowned a bit and said, “Are there snakes back there?”
You see, this time of year in Texas, when the sun is hot and the temperatures stay high at night, anyone knows to be careful in the shade, to be careful walking on rocks and to be careful along the water, because… snakes. Bad snakes. Because they come out at night.
His eyes widened. “Shoot,” he said as he leaned down to pull up one leg of his pants.
“You can’t see it,” he said, “But the scar is still here from when I stepped on a cottonmouth. It didn’t hurt that much — just felt like a scratch, but the snake opened its white mouth and tried to bite me again.”
My eyes widened. “What happened?”
“I ran out of that woods without any clothes on. I mean I was butt naked.” (That’s what he said.) “I ran towards the street and blacked out.”
He looked at me.
“When I came to, I was in an ambulance. They asked me if I captured the snake.” He laughed. “No, I didn’t capture that snake, I told ‘em.”
Then he looked at me and screwed up his face. “Those shots were the most painful thing I’ve ever felt.”
“I bet,” I said.
He turned his head and watched a woman who was walking across the parking lot.
“That’s my wife,” I said. “I’ve got to go.” And I started the car.
“Ok, man,” he said. He flicked his cigarette lighter a couple times and then walked off.