What Do You Do when Seeing a Big Snake?

                                                                                                                  

What a Big Snake It Was...! 

My sister and I had been at our paddy field in Sidompak since early morning. We had to leave our home as soon as we could so not to let the birds entering the field and eating the grains. There could be many, like tens or even hundreds of them. It was a must that the field being watched for about 11 hours during the day.

You see, since we live in tropical country, the sun usually starts to rise at around 6:30 in the morning or even earlier during the dry season. As for us in the village, since our neigborhood is next to the feet of Simarjarunjung Mountain, the sun rises right on top of the mountain, high above our village. Once it appears, the day is going to be started busily. Birds are singing, pets such as dogs waking up, and villagers do all kind of chores and morning preps.

It was during the corona pandemic. I was at 9th grade at that year. My sister and I didn't go to school. That day, mom and dad had to attend an Adat-event somewhere else. It was a must for them to be there according to our cultural rule and ethics. Our little brother joined our parents going to the event.

"Both of you", said mom the night before, "do take care our paddy field tomorrow all by yourself". Mom explained that they most likely were going to be home late in the evening. She couldn't tell us how long the event would be. It was not mom and dad who decided so. They simply had to be there, participating according to their cultural-role and obligation.

The next day, early in the morning, I started with lighting a fire in the kitchen. It was freaking cold, as it had always been. I warmed myself next to the fire for a while before cooking. Normally, in the morning, I did cook or washing our dirty clothes. Mom and I taked turn either cooking or washing clothes. If mom washed clothes, that meant, I was the one who cooked. If I washed clothes, that meant, mom was the one who cooked.

My sister and I took care of our lunch that we each put in container. We each had to take our own lunch, together with our water we would need during the day. The reason was to being responsible with our kitchen tools that we used and brought to the farm, making sure that those things were well taken care of. We each had our own bag, putting all kind of stuffs we needed during the day at the farm in it.

Soon, we were off on the road. The grasses and bushes along the road to the farm were still wet at such early hour. We then reached our farm after walking more than half an hour.

We put our bags inside the hut which was next to the rice field. We then checked if there were birds eating the grains. Yes, I noticed some of them were already there, at the corner part of the field. I soon run to that area, taking a handful of soil, compacting it on my hand, then throwing it at the birds.

Well, sure, the birds were startled and flying away, leaving the farm, perching on bushes around. They sure were perching not quite far, hoping that they were able to return at any time.

I am quite familiar with their behavior, they can be quite stubborn. I can quickly notice their present around me at any time simply by hearing their voice. They are that typical. They have such a specific voice, different than other birds.

You see, not all kind of birds eat paddy-grains, only specific ones. In my village, we call this kind of bird as dingis. Some of them have white head, some have black head. We name them, the black head or the white head. The ones with black head are the worst since they are typically like-deaf. You get to chase them away from the rice field by walking next to where they are. Unlike the white head ones, they usually fly away even by only hearing your voice chasing them away. We do cry out loudly chasing birds away, uuuueeeeiiii...uuueeeeiiii...! Repeating it all they long, from morning to evening.

In the middle of the day, the sun was clear. It was hot. Birds preferred to stay away from the rice field, perching on some trees, cooling themselves. At this time, my sister and I could eat our lunch. We did so in the middle of the field, just in case if some of those birds were recklessly entering the field and eating the grain. We got to be watchful.

At around 4:00 pm, the sun was cooler. At this hour, birds usually tried the most they could to get some grains. We had to be more vigilant. I asked my sister to go walked checking the far end of the field. It looked to me that some of those black heads were perching there.

"I don't feel like going there," said my sister. "How about you checked it yourself?"

Well, I quickly just run to that far end. The landscape to that far end was sloppy. Just as I started to get at that sloppy area, I had to suddenly stop. Oh goodness! Oh dear! No way...!

A large snake was on the ground right in front of me. Black. It was about 3 meters long! What a snake! Oh no! Why me? Why we both had to be at that same place at the same time?

For seconds, I stopped breathing. Intuitively, in silence, I turned away, tip toeing so not to make the snake feeling uneasy. I couldn't see the face but its tongue was sticking out. Oh no...! That was awfully scary to me.

Then, after tip toeing for a few meters, I run away from the snake as fast as I could toward my sister. She was startled seeing me coming that way.

"What's happening?" she asked.

"Oh nooo", I said, gasping. "There was a large snake at that end!" I managed to calm myself down for a few minutes.

When running away, I was in fear that the snake was also chasing me from behind. Can you even imagine the scene of me running away, while in my mind, what if that large and long snake was right behind me?

Well, we couldn't just leave the rice field. If we did, those hundred of birds were partying on our grains. We couldn't just go home even though we were more alert with our surrounding since we knew that the large snake was with us around the farm.

We kept ourselves away from that end part where the snake was. We did expect that, dad was coming to pick us up in the evening. He didn't show up.

Once the sun was set at the west, birds were gone. Only by this time, we could go home. We needed to move quicky since it was going to be dark right after the sun was unseen at the west. Also, our farm located at higher landscape compared to our village. The speed of darkness was even quicker in the village.

At home, that night, my sister and I told our mom, dad, Inang and our brother, what was happening at the farm. Dad said, "Well, the snake was there to cool itself. We simply get to be vigilant with our steps around the area. Let them be there, they are part of the ecosystem there, to keep nature in balance."

Yes, that make sense. I am glad that my parents understand how nature has its own balance-system. Snakes also have their rights to be in nature. We get to respect them to being themselves.***