Amen to the end of the snake show ~ July 14, 1988

David Heiller

Wrapping "Baby Tato" in it's blanket
 (a napkin), rocking it to sleep.

Children go through streaks where they have favorite things, at least mine do. For awhile, Malika had her Baby ‘Tato", a huge spud that she carried around and even slept with until it started getting a little gamey. Now she has a pink elephant pajama bag that was given to Noah before she was born. We dug it out of the closet a month ago, brand new, but instead of stuffing it with pajamas and hanging it by her bedside, she brings it to bed with her.

Noah has his tiger, a fancy molded piece of hard rubber, painted fiercely, with sharp teeth. It says “Made in Hong Kong on the stomach. He brings the tiger with him on car trips, to the beach, to the day care, and to bed. It is his security blanket.

They also have a favorite television show, which we made the mistake of taping for them. VCRs are a great investment. I hope ours works for the All Star game. But they can have their bad points too. Taping the snake show was VCR abuse, although Noah would argue.

The snake show is narrated by Leonard Nimoy, and it has the same Mr. Spock eeriness that he brought to Star Trek. The show has some of the most fabulous snake photography ever recorded, but it’s all geared to a five-year-old.

One of Noah's vast menagerie, a pterodactyl.

Snakes lead a violent life, and the show pounds that point home. There are snakes eating mice, snakes eating eggs, snakes eating other snakes, even a boa constrictor eating an alligator. There are owls eating snakes, and monitors eating snakes, and people having rattlesnake festivals, rounding them up and beheading them in a frenzy that makes Willow River Days look like an ice cream social. There are dozens of close-ups of rattlesnake fangs and spitting cobras and many other poisonous varieties we will never see in real life, hopefully.

Noah likes the snake show, and he has hooked Malika on it too. They want to watch the snake show every night. Noah lives for the scene when a giant monitor lizard stalks onto the screen and battles with a spitting cobra. The monitor wins a violent, shaking battle, and now the monitor is Noah’s second favorite animal, surpassing the grizzly bear, and second only to the tiger.

Noah even prays about snakes. On Monday night, he offered the following bedtime blessing :

Malika and Noah dreaming of snakes

Dear God:

Thank you for making people and mammals and reptiles. And thank you for making Santa Claus and Jesus. I love everything. And especially I like tigers and the monitors that fight the spitting cobras. Thank you for that.

Bless Daddy, bless Mama, bless Mollie, bless Sandy.

Amen.

One of these days the snake show will accidentally be erased. Maybe by the All Star game? I will add an amen to that.