She stifled a curse and jerked backwards for a moment, balancing on the edge of the drop, eyes locked on the ledge to her left. The snake also flinched, but he didn't loosen his coils on the warm rock as he eyed her from several feet away.
She recovered and scowled at him, irritated that he had frightened her and wishing he would slither away and bother someone else. He glared back, affronted that she had disturbed his sunbathing and hoping she would move on quickly. Neither one was willing to go.
After a few moments, he cautiously relaxed his muscular body, deciding that the girl wasn't a problem yet. She gingerly let the tension flow from her shoulders, allowing that the snake wasn't going to attack her at the moment.
She wanted to sit on the rock above the ledge he was curled on. He wanted to stay in the sun and soak up the last rays of the day. After a long hesitation, she continued to climb and settled on the rock above him. He continued to hug the stone and watched her out of the corner of his eye. Without a word, they agreed to see what would happen.
They stayed like that for a long time, not moving, not speaking, simply watching the day end. He felt like the stone was warmer because she was on it. She felt like the evening was less empty with him below her.
They both liked knowing the other was there.
4 comments:
Oh man, I love this. I think it is brilliant.
Epic.
Thanks guys! I got a picture of this sucker on my phone--scared the heckles out of me. And I was carrying a drink in my hand, and I almost dropped it over the edge. I admit I would have been rather upset if that'd happened. :)
Can we see the picture, then?
WELL, CAN WE?
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