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“What’s wrong?” I asked, and Momma put her hand up for me to stop. I froze and so did Rosa beside me.
“Be very still,” she said to the woman or us. I wasn’t sure.
The lady nodded her head frantically and made a whimpering sound.
“Ezmita, go tell your father his assistance is needed. Bring the gun.”
“The gun?” I asked, not understanding what was going on.
“Go do it.” Momma sounded impatient, so I started to leave when the door to the store opened and Asa walked inside. His eyes went from me to Momma and then to the lady, taking in the situation.
“Whoa,” he said, letting the door close gently behind him as he was now looking at what was on the floor that I still couldn’t see. “Okay, ma’am, be real still. Don’t make a sound. I’m gonna walk around that way and come at it from behind. You don’t move.”
She nodded vigorously again and then I heard the sound. I knew and I stopped breathing. The hiss and rattle of its tail gave me chills.
“What are you going to do?” Momma demanded.
“I’m gonna get the rattler before it gets her,” Asa said.
“No!” I said. “I’m getting Papa. He will shoot it.” I did not want Asa getting near the snake.
“Ain’t got time for that,” he said, keeping his eyes on the snake as he eased around it, giving it a wide berth. When he was behind it, I couldn’t see him anymore. I was afraid to move so I could see it. I wanted to close my eyes. This did not sound like a good idea.
“When I pick it up, open that door. I’m gonna take it outside to break its neck,” he told the woman. She nodded, still covering her mouth.
“Asa, don’t,” I begged him.
He glanced back at me and winked. “I know what I’m doing,” he assured me.
I didn’t care if he’d done this a million times. I did not want him doing it now.
“Does he do this at church?” a voice whispered behind me, making me jump. I glared at Malecon, who was standing just behind my left shoulder. I was blocking the door, so he was watching from behind me.
“Shut up,” I said, moving some so he wasn’t almost touching me.
Asa moved quickly then and he had the snake in his hands, walking toward the door as the woman ran to open it for him. She was whimpering as she did. Asa was outside with it and Momma sighed with relief. Then she looked at the woman, who was still standing at the door. “Free tank of gas,” she told her.
The lady shook her head and laughed lightly then. “No, it’s okay. Lord have mercy,” she breathed.
“Free whatever you want,” Momma told her.
The lady smiled, then walked back to the cooler toward the drinks.
“I’d get a six-pack if I was her. Snakes scare the shit out of me,” Malecon said. I had forgotten he was still there.
“Why are you here?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “I work here.”
“No, why are you standing behind me and not looking for the tape measure?”
“Why are you not filling out college applications like the procrastinator you are?”
“I am not a procrastinator. I applied last year too and I actually got a real scholarship, not a made-up one, but this summer I decided I don’t want to go there, so I am applying to other places for next semester.” None of this was his business, but I hated him implying I was a slacker.
He was smirking again, and I wanted to slap it off his face.
“Must be nice,” was his response.
“What must be nice?” I asked.
“Being able to drop a scholarship because you didn’t want to go,” he said.
I started to open my mouth to defend myself when he nodded his head toward the door. “Boyfriend’s back,” he said.
I turned to see Asa standing inside, looking at me. I hadn’t heard the bell ring when the door opened.
“Better go make sure the snake slayer didn’t get hurt,” Malecon said.
I shot him an annoyed glare. “He’s not my boyfriend,” I said, then walked toward Asa as Momma rushed his way to check on him.
Momma fussed over him, and Asa assured her it wasn’t a big deal. She told him he got free gas until he left for college, and she would send more cinnamon rolls and tamales to him later today.
I waited until she was done thanking him.
“Get him whatever he wants and you work the front. I will go cook,” she told me, then left us there.
“I can’t believe you picked up a rattlesnake,” I told him.
“My uncle taught me when I was younger,” he said. “Good thing that woman didn’t go running. She’d be in the back of an ambulance right now if she had.”
I nodded. “How are you?” I asked him then.
