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Again Cyrus backed away. But this time the crazy snake came after him, slipping and sliding in a series of drunken esses as it fought for traction on the slippery rock. |
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Now, Cyrus never claimed to be Marlin Perkins, but he couldn't remember ever hearing about a snake getting mad enough to chase after a full-grown man. He glanced to his left and saw the grass moving when there wasn't enough wind to blow out a match. Then he looked right and saw the blunt snout of a sidewinder worming its way out from under a boulder. |
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Kyna was still in the pool, only now she was singing at the top of her lungs: "This is serious business; sex and violence and rock and roll," while she continued to use the waterfall as a shower massage. And all the while, snakes of every race, creed and color were literally coming out of the woodwork. Brown ones, black ones, thin ones, fat oneseven a couple of babies no thicker than strands of spaghetti. Yet every one of them seemed to have gotten thirsty at the same instant. |
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"Uh, Kyna. I think you better come out now." |
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"Not just yet, oh mother of all mother hens." |
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In their hurry to get to the pool, the reptiles were treading all over each other and expressing their irritation at their neighbors by shaking their tails and hissing. |
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"Do you have an alarm on your watch?" Kyna called. |
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She pushed the hair out of her eyes and stared at him. "What? I'm not" Then she spotted the squirming mass of iridescent scales and her eyes grew huge. "What the hell are those things?" |
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Cyrus had backed up so far that his heels were getting wet and he no longer needed to shout. "I believe those are called snakes. And if I were you, I'd haul my ass out of there before they jump in and start doing the backstroke." |
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She had a little trouble running over the algae-covered rocks, but once she managed to extract herself from the pool, she slipped first her T-shirt and then the necklace over her head. |
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