by Faith Draper

Created on: October 05, 2008   Last Updated: February 13, 2010

Childhood memories provide us with laughs, tears, and learning. One of my most memorable childhood memories taught me: always wear shoes when playing in an apple orchard.

Myself and several of my cousins found great joy playing on my aunt and uncle’s farm in Michigan. The farm was small but there was a barn, fields, woods, and an apple orchard. It was one of the days playing in the apple orchard I had an experience I will never forget. My cousins and I were playing hide and seek or maybe collecting apples that had fallen from the trees.

My aunt was always telling us not to play in the orchard without shoes. This particular day though I know I did not have shoes on. I hadn't listened to my aunt but before the experience was over I certainly wished I had.

Hot and tired from running around I leaned against one of the apple trees. As I stood there watching my cousins dodging here and there behind trees I felt something on my barefoot. I didn't think much about it. Thinking it was just a leaf the wind had blown. I was more interested in what the others were doing.

All of a sudden one of my older cousins yelled, "Faith, don't move!" I followed his stare to my own bare feet. There among the leaves was a snake, the biggest snake I had ever seen and it was slithering across my bare feet. I start to cry but I did not move, my cousin was after all 11 years old while I was only 6. He looked around for something and finally pulled a branch from a nearby tree.

By now some of the other cousins had noticed something wrong and came closer to see what was going on. The movement of the others must have alerted the snake because it stopped where it was, stretched across my small bare feet. Someone suggested calling my aunt out of the house while someone else said maybe if they made a lot of noise it would scare the snake off.

The cousin who had first spotted the snake took control of the situation. He informed everyone we couldn't call my aunt because Faith did not have shoes on and would get in trouble. Making noise might work but it might make it mad too plus my uncle was in the barn and if he heard the noise might come out in which case my aunt would hear about the no shoes on in the orchard.

"Everyone just shut up, I'll take care of it" was all he said as he moved closer to me.

I thought to myself he must be an Indian he was so brave and did not making a sound. I could hear the leaves in the trees rustling in the breeze but not the faintest noise as he walked across the dead leaves and branches on the ground of the apple orchard.

All of a sudden he jabbed the stick towards my bare feet. I thought to myself if the snake didn't get me my own cousin was going to stab me with that stick. He didn't though, he missed my feet but somehow managed to in a flash get the stick under the snake and lift it off my feet. In the same instant he swung the stick off to one side sending the snake along with it.

Several of the boys ran in the direction of where the snake had landed with excited screams of "let's catch it" and "why'd you have to throw it so hard". They never found the snake but it was decided by the older boys who were experts on snakes that it was a blue racer and had to have been at least three feet long.

It was a long time before I went into the apple orchard again. When I did finally venture there I wore shoes and watched every step I took. I learned two lessons that day. The first was when adults tell us to do something there is probably a reason why such as don't go in the apple orchard without shoes. The second was we need to watch were we are walking but when we stand still there can still be danger.

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