Right in front of the big, white house where I grew up as a child stood three huge trees…they might have been cottonwoods…towering on the south side of the house between the sidewalk and the road. They provided great shade on summer afternoons and between those trees was dirt…no grass…just good old dirt providing a perfect canvas for kids to create.

Santa brought Ed a Fred Flintstone set for Christmas one year, complete with four-to-six-inch Stone-age houses, feet-propelled cars and figures of Barney, Fred and the crew. We spent hours excavating our own Bedrock in the dirt and often left the town standing for days at a time. 

One day, I was strolling my little sister, Tammy, down the sidewalk when I saw a huge snake coiled up between two of the trees. It looked like a prehistoric dinosaur invading Bedrock. I’d been navigating the cracked and heaved sidewalk, so I was pushing the stroller on just the two back wheels. The sight stopped me cold and, in my surprise, I let go of the stroller letting it fall backward with Tam in it. I grabbed her and ran in the house to Mom. 

All the dads in the neighborhood were at work, except for Rayford Benson, the town mortician. Mom called him right away. Now, Rayford wasn’t the type you’d picture fighting snakes, he was a dignified guy who we mostly saw in a suit. But down the street he came with his hoe in hand, and he was not wearing a suit.

By the time Rayford arrived, the snake had slithered into the growth around the center tree, and several moms and kids had congregated a safe distance back. No one knew what kind of snake it was. With the neighborhood watching, Rayford started poking around the center tree and when the snake moved, Rayford responded. He was pretty quick with that hoe.

Rayford turned out to be a real snake hunter. The Bedrock behemoth lost his head, the danger was gone and Life was Good again. The snake turned out to be a large blow snake and Rayford turned out to be a hero!