Lies! We’re not fine! Ok, ok, we are. Just a little traumatized. Amelia’s fear of snakes does not go to the depths of her mom’s, but it is nevertheless intense and spine-tingling. Upon arriving at site, she asked everyone if snakes were common in this area. The response was always that they are not often seen, and if seen, it will usually only be during the rainy season. We have learned this to be true. In December, Marc was surprised one night by a baby snake in the pit latrine. He allowed it to slither harmlessly away. Later in the month, Amelia went to feed the chickens one morning and found another baby snake sleeping in the doorway of their coop. Ajasi was nearby assisting with fence repair, and quickly ran over to chop off it’s head. Much like weather reporting, Malawians are no help when it comes to snake identification. To them, all snakes are either black mambas or puff adders, two of the deadliest snakes in the world. We’re fairly confident that neither of the babies was venomous. These encounters were not pleasant, but they were outside, where one expects to find such creatures.

Then . . . calamity struck. On January 20th, two dreadful events took place. You know about one already, so here’s the tale of the other. After having spent a good day out and about, we sat on the couch to eat dinner and watch a TV show. When Amelia finished her meal, she reached for the Tupperware containing our M&Ms that sits on the trunk beside the couch. And she saw movement. Her first thought was that it was one of the aforementioned geckos, then her fight-or-flight instinct kicked in as her brain registered what was in front of her. She was looking for chocolate, but instead found a two-foot snake. Amelia leapt back, yelling and cursing hysterically. Marc took one look, grabbed the machete that we keep nearby, and chopped off its head. While he waited a considerable time for it to stop moving, so he could inspect it further, Amelia remained frozen in place in the middle of the living room floor, unsure if she would ever move again. Marc took comfort in the fact that it was NOT a venomous black mamba taking up residence in our house. It was more likely a non-venomous house snake (the fact that it is the name of a type of snake, makes Amelia very unhappy.) Amelia considered burning the house to the ground. Two months later, the jury is still out.