With all the construction in the neighborhood the mice and rats were coming into the house. Freddie decided to do something about it. He wanted to get a ferret but they were all out. So, he got a snake. He called him Satan.

The snake did a good job on the mice and rats. Also, the cat and the dog. The former cat and dog.

Freddie took the snake for a walk. Not a walk but more of a slither. They were going down the street when Old Lady Parsons came up to Freddie. She was walking her dog, Snookums. As they talked Old Lady Parsons felt a tug on the leash.

"Wait a minute, Snookums."

Then she felt the leash go slack. She looked down and Snookums was gone.

"He got away!! Freddie, help me find my precious Snookums."

Freddie looked down too. It was apparent to him where Snookums was. That was the lump in the middle of the snake. Snookums wasn't ever coming back. Old Lady Parsons was never going to find him.

The snake would follow along okay but he was slow. Freddie bought a skateboard to put him on. Defeated the whole purpose of exercising the snake but the snake didn't care. Freddie would carry on a conversation with Satan just like people do with their dogs and cats. Thing of it was, snakes are deaf. The snake didn't know Freddie was talking to him.

Dogs and cats had a tendency to disappear quickly in the neighborhood. So did anything smaller than a child. Freddie worried about the neighborhood kids. He shouldn't have.

There was knock at the door one evening. When Freddie answered it he found the kid next door standing there.

"Mister, did this used to be your snake?", the kid asked.

Used to be? Freddie looked at what the kid was holding. It looked a lot like a snake.

"What happened to him?", Freddie asked.

"He tried to eat my dog. I beat him with a shovel".

"You killed my snake? You beat him with your shovel?"

"No, your shovel. It's a mess too."