She unscrewed the top of the
big pickle jar, took a deep breath and put her hand in slowly. Kermit was curled up in the corner facing her
but as soon as her hand got by him he stuck his tongue out at her and moved
slightly. Prompted by her father, she
reached down and started to pick him up.
As soon as she touched him, though, she jerked her hand right back
out. “Ewww, Dad! He feels weird!”
“No, he just feels like a
snake. You’ve been handling worms your
whole life in the garden and when we go fishing and I think you imagined Kermit
would feel like a worm, didn’t you?” he
asked her.
“Well, sort of, I guess I
did.”
“Now that you know how a
snake feels go ahead and try it again.
You are going to have to be able to put him in the pickle jar when you
clean his aquarium now and then so you have to learn how to handle
him and I must to be able to trust you not to hurt him. You can’t ask your mom or grandma, you know. They will be doing well if they even come in
here to make your bed since you’ve decided you want a pet snake. It will take them time to get used to him,”
he told her.
Madison would rather have gone to
the dentist than to stick her hand back in the pickle jar. She put on her brave face, stuck her chin in
the air and lowered her hand into the jar again. This time Kermit was looking for a way out so
he was stretched out not curled up.
After he stuck his tongue out to smell her for a minute or two she
reached for him and gently took hold. He
kept going and went slithering right out of her hand as though it were a hollow
log. Robert was having a fit
laughing. Madison took her hand back out of
the pickle jar. “Don’t laugh at me,
Dad!” she scolded. She was wearing her
grandfather’s thinking expression so her face was scrunched up to show her dad
she didn’t at all appreciate him laughing at her inability to catch
Kermit. She placed her hands on her hips
and leaned over toward him and said, “I’m trying!” Robert was trying hard to shake off his
laughter. He finally put his hand over
his mouth and apologized then nodded his head in the direction of the big
pickle jar. Madison knew that meant she had to
try again.
In went her hand. Kermit had this catching business figured out
already. He was one smart snake, Madison
thought, because just as soon as her hand got near him this time, he took off
fast around and around the jar. “Gees,
Kermit, don’t you want to go to your nice new home? Slow down!” she told him. Kermit didn’t slow down.
