Mrs. Pot’s Magical, Mystical Tickle Emporium

Well, today we went over to ol’ Mrs. Pot’s pit to get hissed; though the pit was a field and the little hissers were … well …not “little” hissers at all!

“Mrs. Pot, is this the pit?” said me.

“Why yes it is, a pit to hiss,” said she.

“The boy, Mrs. Pot …,” said me.

“His name?” said she.

“Gryphon,” said me.

“Has he been hissed in the pit before?” said she.

“No hissing around,” said me.

“Sixty dollars,” said she.

“Uggg,” said me.

“Gryphon’s collar,” said she.

“I’m wearing THAT?!” said he.

“’twill but tickle,” said she.

“In the pit?” said me.

“In the pit and be hissed,” said she.

“The hissers?” said me

“Are three,” said she.

“The grass, the box and the bush,” said she.

“What that?” said he.

“A hisser,” said me.

“WHAT”S THAT?!?!?” said he.

“A tickle,” said she.

“DAMN!” said he.

“It worked,” said she.

“To the bush!” said she.

“Ok,” said he.

“Rattle hissssss,” said Three.

“NO WAY!” said he.

“Bravo!” said she.

“He passed?” said me.

“Grade A,” said she.

“I’m outtie,” said he.

“In the truck,” said me.

“A COOKIE!” said he.

So we left ol’ Mrs. Pot’s pit and her hissers three and went home to where we don’t have a Mrs. Pot or a pit to hiss in. Perhaps we never will. Should a hisser stop to hiss, without a pit, Gryphon now knows to “let it be, let it be, if there is a hisser, let it be!” (sorry John)

Note: snake awareness training is serious business in parts of the country (like ours) where hissers are about. The old adage of “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” sure applies here. Although I was loathe taking him to this training, it was certainly not as bad as I anticipated. I will have to admit that it was weird wandering around in the grass field where there was 1 Diamondback Rattler loose (rattling, agressive and sometimes within just a few feet), 1 rattler underneath a dead cedar bough (and rattling) and a Copperhead in a box. The vipers were all missing the venom glands but were fully functioning and healthy otherwise. Frankly I think the exposure in the viper emporium was as helpful to the bipeds as the canines – recognizing potential danger by sight and sound and also by observing the viper’s behavior. There were 20 dogs, more people, 3 vipers, lots of stories (both good and bad) that support the activity and I came away with a companion that KNOWS not to stick his nose where it doesn’t belong.