Fred

We were at our friends' house for dinner last week, chatting in front of the fire (yes, wood burning in AUGUST...and who was complaining about the heat a couple weeks ago???) while the kids were playing all over the house.

Suddenly, we hear J, the 5 yr-old boy, yell, "I FOUND FRED!!!!!"

OK, Fred was their beloved pet snake, who escaped the confines of his terrarium, like, 2 MONTHS ago. Well, despite their most valiant efforts to find him, the assumption after all this time was that he had escaped into the vents, possibly outside and was never to be seen again.

Not so.

Here is Fred, thoroughly dessicated, yet looking oddly alive in this action pose. J pulled him out from behind his desk, where he had lived the last moments of his life, probably wondering why he had left the safety and comfort of his cage where food and water were delivered by human servants.