Rattlers

A continuation of 'Semester's End'

I needed to leave... 

But...

I was so comfortable...

After a couple minutes of analyzing the situation in my head, I let the good spirit win and I headed back to my apartment for a few hours of sleep. Even good people can fall captive to sin and captivity, even if they have good intentions. I had experienced that and I didn't want such things to come between Izac and I. When I arrived at my apartment, I was asleep before my head hit the pillow, I didn't even wash my face or brush my teeth, which have always been part of my bedtime routine. I was straight exhausted. 

The bright sun came shining through my window way to early; I wanted to pull the pillow over my head and sleep for five more hours. Then the thought came to me that Izac was probably up and at it cleaning some more. I quickly changed clothes, got minimally ready, and headed over to his apartment to finish working on the mess. 

Izac's family was going to Yellowstone for a family vacation and he wanted to finish up quickly in order to meet them. Once I got there we kissed... I mean cleaned the rest of the apartment. It took us a few more hours, but at last it was done! He and his family were going to be in Yellowstone for a few days so there would be no seeing him for me. I was somewhat glum, I was going to miss him...

Before he left he pulled me in close and whispered in my ear that that semester had been the best one of his life. He grinned at me, continuing on, stating that I was the one who had made it so great for him. I was beaming as bright as the sun with that comment swirling in every nook and cranny in my brain. I replied that he was responsible for making it the best semester of my life too. I told him of my sadness that it was over. Even though we were still dating, it was going to be harder to commute to see each other and it probably wouldn't happen as often. That thought was somber and I wished that last hug, before he left, could have lasted a lot longer....

Pictures of us at the close up the semester. :)

I went back to my apartment and slowly did my 'chores' for the clean check. I didn't want to leave that apartment... So many memories were made there... That apartment was my favorite out of all the ones that I had lived at in Rexburg and I had live at three or four other places. Izac may or may not have had a lot to do with that... :) None of my roommates had left early to avoid clean checks, they were all lingering also. Even in my leisureliness to get done, I was the first one out of there.     

I drove slowly home. Thinking of memories... and pondering what the future could possibly hold. It brought a smile to my face, knowing, and hoping where I wanted it to go....


Izac was gone on vacation and I wanted to enjoy the time with my family. One of our neighbors had just bought his very first gun (he was in his 30s or 40s or so) and he wanted to learn how to shoot it. He had asked my dad to take him and some of his family shooting to learn how. I had left my apartment that day and that night was the night that my dad was going to show him how to shoot a gun. I loved any chance I got to target practice. With Izac being gone I didn't have to feel embarrassed when I missed. I was truly looking forward to practicing. 

The dirt trail was bumpy riding in the pick-up truck. The dust was floating in the air behind us as we dashed by. It might not have been that bumpy if my dad hadn't like to drive so fast, but it was a memory. It also was beautiful out side. There was a slight breeze and a blue sky; summer was still in the air and I was just wearing Capri's and a shirt. When we arrived at our destination every one started to hop out of the truck. My dad had wandered to the back of the truck and made the 'shhh' sign by bringing his finger to his lips. We didn't know what for, we were the only ones out there in the dessert, but we complied.

I snuck quickly and quietly around as to see what he had. It was a snake. I really am not a big friend of snakes... like I kind of just loath and hate them a lot... I stay clear away out of their way at all costs. My dad had that snake trapped with his water bottle between his legs. I didn't get close enough to check for myself, but I trusted him when he said that it was a rattler. My dad was crazy! Here he was pinning a rattle snake to the ground with his water bottle. Did he not realize they were poisonous...? Did he not know that one bite could kill him...? To say I was nervous for him was an understatement. I was so grateful that he had even seen the snake to trap it. He was so lucky and blessed to not have gotten bit. 

My Dad and his rattler.

I was doing my scared-of-snake-dance and quickly made my way to the back of the pick-up truck where I could get my feet off the ground away from the slithering- serpent. My dad had my mom hand him his knife. He cut the head off of the snake and placed the whole snake on the side of the road. He let us know that he was going to get the rattlers later before we headed home but he wanted to make sure it had plenty of time to be dead. I thought it was cool to keep the rattlers off of a rattle snake, it said something about a person's courage. My dad had been keeping the ones he had found since I was a little girl.   

It took some encouraging to get me out of the back of the truck to go shoot... Why couldn't it have happened at the end of our target shooting, instead of the beginning...? What if there were more rattle snakes...? I wasn't as brave as my dad and would probably get bit trying to escape if I saw one close... I knew that I wanted to get some practice in shooting, so I eventually got out and grabbed a gun to shoot. The target shooting went pretty well, I was happy with how good I did. My dad had showed our neighbor how to use his gun and him and a couple of his kids went through a bunch of rounds getting the hang of it. 

This neighbor was a shorter man. He was a khaki pant wearing business man. He really didn't seem like a gun type of guy to me, but I guess he wanted one for self defense.  A short time into our shooting, this neighbor walked over to the side of the road. He looked pensive and was really thinking and considering something. All the sudden it must had clicked for him because we heard a loud bang. He had clearly shot something but what...? 

'It was still moving...' was his reply to our blank wondering stares. It didn't take long to put two and two together and realize what he had just shot... 

The snake... 

Blown to smithereens. There would be no saving the rattles from that one... We all got a good laugh about it and headed home.