The Snake Queen (1/3)

An older woman who is not plagued by self awareness fails to notice that she had joined a gardening class with an ancient cannibalistic horror. The important question is whether or not she will edge out her rival and inspire filial piety in her two unreliable children.

-“we heard back from those guys, and I think they might invest. If they do-“

“You should just come home,” Coral said, struggling to make the messaging window come back. It still showed the photo of her son and the phone function. “I have plenty of room.”

“I have a place of my own,” Charlie said petulantly. “And it’s too far from my work. Mom, thank you, but I don’t need-“

“No point in spending money you don’t have,” she continued, frowning. She hit the phone screen harder. “You can have the basement room.” His business was never going to pan out. He needed to come to grips with the real world and get a real job. Costco was hiring. She’d told him that a good dozen times and it was like he just didn’t listen to her.

“It’s not enough space. Besides, I’m 27-“

“Why don’t you ever want to come home?” She put the phone to her ear again, still on speaker. “I have boxes of your things, your mess. You should clean it up! Why do I always have to clean up after you?”

“You said I could store it there, remember?” His voice turned sharp. “It’s just one box, Mom.”

“Don’t snap at me,” she warned. “I might just get rid of it. Besides, I could use the help. God only knows your sister isn’t going to come back, busy as she is chasing married men to Maine.”

That reminded Coral: her older child hasn’t contacted her in weeks. At least she didn’t need help all the time, like Charlie did. She was wasting her life with whatever man would take care of her and her kid instead of getting a real job and letting Coral watch the toddler. It was just stupid. Why turn down free childcare?

“I don’t really want to talk about Sharon,” Charlie cut her off. “Mom, don’t get rid of that box. It’s got my diploma in it. I can get it soon. Maybe next week.”

“And then you’ll just be gone again. What did I do to deserve this?” She massaged her chest. It was hurting, but no one cared about her. “How did I wind up with two kids like this? You just don’t give a damn, do you? Don’t care about anyone other than yourself.”

Her son was silent on the other end of the phone. Guilty, or sullen?

She pressed on. “Well, don’t you have anything to say? Would you even care if I died tomorrow?”

“Mom,” Charlie sighed. And then he changed the subject. “I have to go. I have a meeting.”

She scoffed. “A meeting? With who?”

“With Anna,” he countered.

“Your cousin is not someone you need a meeting for,” she scolded. “I can’t believe you’d hang up on me, just because-“

“I really have to go. I love you, bye.” There was a familiar beep and the phone call ended.

She looked at her phone, appalled. It showed her messaging application again. “He cut me off,” she said to herself, tone rising. “Cut me off and hung up.”

The cat on her lap stretched. The movement reminded Coral that it was there. Irritably, she swept it onto the floor with a thump. She extended her legs and thought about getting up.

There was a smell coming from the back room where the litter box was. If one of her children would come over once in a while, they could clean it for her. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. When the cat tried to jump up again she shoved it back down. “Go away,” she barked. “Can’t you go outside like the dog?”

Her dog was currently in the backyard, where she didn’t have to hear it barking all the time. She never seemed to have well-behaved animals.

She knew better than to mention it to her son, of course. When she’d mentioned how awful Winnie was, Charlie had been annoying and preachy. He’d gone on about training it, as if she had the time to waste on training a dog.

She got up, looking for something to fill her time. She had no appetite for any of the bland foods the doctor said she was allowed to eat. She was supposed to limit salt and cook at home. He wanted her to eat crackers and soup like some kind of invalid. She didn’t see the point. She barely had any appetite. Whatever she went out she ate less than everyone else.

The kitchen was a mess. She ignored the dishes and the tin of tea that the cat had knocked over in favor of looking inside the fridge. She found a mostly flat Diet Pepsi and leftovers from a Mexican restaurant. She ate them on the couch, watching the news. She watched the news a lot, because she liked to be well-informed.

It changed to a commercial. She leaned back and thought about calling someone, maybe Cassandra, and then she noticed there was something interesting on the screen.

Community classes. She didn’t quite catch all of the listings, but she definitely saw there was photography and cooking and other artistic classes. There was no point in her taking a photography class, of course. She was sure she had a nicer camera already than whatever they’d be using. But it would be good to have something to do. It wasn’t healthy to sit around all the time, after all. She was only 63.

She indulged in a moment of self pity. Other people had big families, loving families who were around all the time. She felt a bit empty, in the house her children never came back to and other relatives never visited.

“I’ll get out and do something new,” Coral decided.

Two weeks later, she was waiting for the class she picked to start. She has always loved nature and she had a beautiful lawn and garden. So the class about native flora and how to help restore the local ecosystem had been a natural pick for her.

The teacher was already there. Coral had said hello when she came in, but it seemed the teacher was busy with some kind of last-minute preparation because she had cut the conversation short. Gradually, other students trickled in. It was mostly full of women, all but a couple of them were older than her.

“I think that’s everybody,“ said the teacher. “Welcome to this course, I will be your teacher. You can call me Susan. I have been with the University for about 32 years now, and grew up locally. “ She gestured to the woman sitting closest to her. `Let's do some self introductions. Could you begin?“

“Hi, everyone,“ The blonde woman said brightly. “ I am Brenda, it’s nice to meet you all!“

Coral joined the polite chorus of responses, privately thinking that Brenda looked like a store brand trophy wife. She stored away all of the names in her excellent memory, trying to guess which of them would be interesting to talk to.

“For this course, we are going to alternate class work and field work. So today I’d like for you to get a feel for each other as a group, and split off into pairs. Let’s have a discussion from now about what you hope to get out of this course and what opportunity you have to help restore the local ecosystem. For example, where in the area are you? How much space do you have? What type of things are you willing to do? Do you have any special skills, such as woodworking or animal management that might be complementary?”

Brenda ended up splitting off with the only relatively good looking man in the group. Coral found herself partnering with a very quiet woman of indeterminate age. She had dark hair and eyes, which were rather deeply set and spaced a little wide apart. She seemed practical in her black jeans and a long sleeved blue T-shirt.

“Hello, Coral,” the woman said. Her voice was very unusual. It almost sounded like she was whispering. “I’m Lenore.”

“Hello, Lenore,” Coral replied. “You also have a big lawn?”

“Yes, I’m hoping to return a property back to a natural state,” she said. “Back to how it was when I grew up, a long time ago. I remember that it isn’t right now, but the details have been lost to time. I want to reclaim it.”

“That’s nice,” said Coral, who had noticed something interesting. “Do you have a reptile or a snake? I used to work at a nature center and something about your scent is very familiar.”

Lenore went very stiff. “Yes?” She tilted her head. “I… I have a snake.”

“I love snakes,” Coral said. “Never had one. I kept a rat in college, though.”

Her partner smiled, awkwardly showing her teeth. “Sounds delicious.” Her face twitched. “I mean, I see why you didn’t also have a snake.”

“What time should we meet at the field work place?” Coral asked, having barely listened to what Lenore had said.