Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. – Edgar Wallace.
Cobra loose in Florida. Just cannot seem to get my mind around this.
Cobra loose in Florida. No wonder the world seems increasingly hostile.
Notice in today’s paper: the state has stopped the search for the eight-foot-long King Cobra.
“The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission advises that if you come across the snake, do not try to catch it.”
Your tax dollars at work.
Back in the mid-Seventies, I lived in a tiny bungalow, two blocks from Oregon’s Capitol building.
The World’s Slowest Professional Runner, one of my training routes brought me around the state hospital for the criminally insane. Right by the exercise yard where Jack Nicholson tried to teach Chief Bromden how to play basketball.
Every once in a while, I’d see a furtive blank face stare at me from behind wired windows.
And wonder who he was and what he had done.
Frequently, far too frequently it seemed, ’cause you know, living not far away, the Statesman-Journal would report an escape from the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Something like… “Michael Brady, dangerous to himself and others, was found to be missing today. Brady, who killed most of his family, some neighbors and the high school marching band, was last seen headed down State Street towards….”
Maybe a month later.
“Norm Moore, dangerous to himself and others, escaped this morning from the et cetera. Mr. Moore was found unable to stand trial after doing some egregious shit that is too disturbing to report.”
Not long after.
“Joey Billy Bobby Montague, dangerous to himself and others, apparently dug a tunnel halfway to the Capitol building and missed breakfast and his medication this morning. Mr. Montague, a recent Republican candidate for Congress, took voter suppression to an entirely new level. And not all the bodies have been found. Last seen headed toward a tiny bungalow, two blocks from the Capitol building.”
And never, at no time, was there ever a follow-up article about catching these guys.
All I know, they might still be out there.
Like the cobra.
According to National Geographic, king cobras are shy when it comes to humans, but if cornered, they get riled up.
A bite from one can kill an elephant.
Which in Florida rates, for now, as good news.
Have yet to see a report of any elephants running loose.
I’m no expert, but if you should come across an elephant, do not try to catch it.
Or bite it.
10/6/2015