enter the dragon

This cheeky chappie entered my life back in May when I was cleaning round the pool and he'd fallen into one of the Chinese tubs and couldn't wriggle out.

I did not lift him out. I tilted the barrel and let him slither away.

Last week maman was on the phone and called me over to admire the cute little fellah hibernating on OTE's modem. Her dangling left toe kept wanting to give him a fond nudge.

"Darling, just get a tissue and lift him out and set him free outside."

Summat told me that my thick garden glove might be better suited.

He made not a move as I reached for him, but the moment I took him behind his neck he turned into a muscular writhing tube of killer reptile.

His fangs went thru the glove like pins into my hand and when I looked him in the face, it was pure venom.

I walked to the kitchen door with him writhing and pumping and even when I hurled him to the undergrowth, he took my glove with him and a chunk of my flesh, leaving a reddening gash that I took straight to the sawbones who drove a needle into me even as my lips started to go numb.