One hears and reads of paranormal experiences. I do not profess to be a psychic, but a story worth telling occurred recently that has made me wonder if I had underrated myself all along.
My house is situated, amongst others, in a locality away from the bustling highway road. The street in front of my house has its fair share of activity, with vendors, motorists, pedestrians moving about as part of their daily routine. The holiday season sees a crowd of boys playing cricket on this road too, our compound being the recipient of their toned-down sixers.
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A small sized apartment facing our stand-alone home has its residents moving in and out with regular frequency. The backdrop is set and let me move on.
Recently, around 7pm, I noticed a strange silence on this road and mentioned to my husband that the unnatural calm was quite unnerving. He nodded in agreement looking up from his cell phone world. Within minutes we heard a terrible commotion outside and my husband remarked that the road had suddenly got more than its share of activity soon after my observation. Out of curiosity he went outside even as I was heading towards my late evening prayers. He called out excitedly to me, “Look, a snake has been spotted on the road!” Within minutes the snake catcher had been called but the rookie that he was, ran away throwing the snake on a nearby car when it hissed at him. It was a cobra which
chose to settle itself on the windshield wiper. The crowd started growing and by the time a veteran snake catcher had arrived, the snake had slithered through the bonnet into the engine area, seemingly frightened by the crowd. It certainly did not seem to have enjoyed the spotlight. The bonnet was lifted and a strong flashlight was waved to and fro, but in
vain. The snake had concealed itself very well amongst the black coloured parts of the engine. A stick was used to tap here and there but there was no response.
This went on for more than two hours and finally the tired veteran gave up and commented that the snake may very well slither inside our garden at night as the gate was well above the ground level. I cautioned my husband to be wary while taking the daily pot of potable water from the tap fixed between thick bushes, and suggested he fix a long pipe and take
the water from a safe distance. He retorted that the snake may very well have bitten him by then while fixing the hose on to the tap. I asked him to retract his words and declared that the Lord was present in the snake too and He will definitely protect us. The denouement of the story is about to unfold. In little less than five minutes after my talk of reassurance there were loud voices outside and we opened the front door. The snake had
been spotted outside the same car behind one of the rear tyres. The eager snake catcher rushed back and within minutes it was cajoled inside a bottle. The husband looked at me and I smilingly said, “See, I told you so!” A warm prayer to my benign deity followed soon thereafter.
