I am with a large group of young girl scouts at a camping event. There has to be 100 little girls running over the fields playing sports like kickball, volleyball, etc. There is a stream running around the complex and girls can tube the river. Along this short stretch of river there are adults supervising in case of an emergency. There are other adults here too, both male and female, that are sitting around watching the girls at play and talking to each other. I walked up to a young man that was there, a friend of mine named Corey. As I am walking up he makes a comment about it being a shame that I wasn’t a Christian. One of my favorite things to do is discuss the differences and similarities between my Pagan beliefs and Christian beliefs with someone that I feel has a somewhat open mind to hearing what I have to say. To open this debate I replied with, “Well, it is never too late”. Ultimately, thinking that it is never too late to change the opinion that it is a shame to be what I am. With a spark of excitement in his eyes, Corey jumped out of his lawn chair and went to his car to get his bible. When he came back to where I was standing, I started walking toward a picnic table that no one was around at the time. He started to sit at the table while I kept walking toward the tree line that was just beyond the table with my hiking stick in hand. He asked where I was going and with a slight grin I told him that I felt more comfortable amongst the forest.
Corey joined me once again at my side and just before we entered the forest, I heard the scream of one of the girls. We stopped dead in our tracks and turned in the direction of the screaming. Immediately I saw that it was a group of about three girls that were screaming and I took off running to them. When I got there one of the girls starting yelling, “Snake! Snake! Snake!” I scanned the ground where she was pointing and saw a long black and gray snake on the ground not moving, but facing us in a straight line. I backed the girls up a safe distance away from the snake, but out of my peripheral vision I saw Corey run past my right side and he stopped so that the snake was only a foot away from him on his left side. The snake, nearly being stepped on, took an S formation with its head facing Corey. I very calmly told him to step back because there was a snake at his feet. My mistake was telling him why he should step away. He looked down at his feet and when he saw the snake he jumped. This only startled the snake and it immediately struck out and bit Corey on his left ankle just above his shoes.
The snake looked like it was about to strike for a second time, so I leaped forward with my hiking stick and pined the snake down with it just behind its head. I asked for Corey to hand me his knife and I then cut its head off. By this time a group of adults had run over to us and someone carried Corey away while another adult dialed 911. I knew that identifying the snake would be important if Corey needed anti-venom, so I picked up the lifeless body of the snake with my stick and carried it with me.
At that point I woke up from the dream and thought I hope Corey is ok.
