A Five-Minute Life

Thea calmly watched the snake make its way toward her. With perfect calm, she kneeled on the floor. Her expression blank but almost peaceful. Serene. Resigned. She held out her hand.

The snake’s tongue was a flicking black fork in a mouth that opened to hiss and show its elongated fangs, less than a foot from Thea’s fingers.

I gripped the broom in both hands like a baseball bat, and in three longs strides, I was there. Thea snatched her hand back as I brought the broom handle down on the snake’s head. It made a sickening splat as it connected. Blood and brain matter spurted across the linoleum in a halo beneath its crushed head, but its body still writhed.

Again and again, I brought the broom down, hating the destruction of the animal, hating what Thea had been doing more.

The Massasauga was dead, and I stood, panting, adrenaline coursing through me instead of blood. Rita and the other residents stared. Delia crouched beside her sister, staring up at me with a mixture of fear and shock.

Thea trembled in her arms, locked in a seizure.

Chapter 13

Jim

“Well, Rita?” Delia demanded as the nurse came down the hallway toward the rec room.

“I gave her a mild sedative,” Rita said. “She’s calm and resting.”

Delia sniffed, checked her watch and continued her pacing.

Now Anna Sutton, the head nurse, joined the gathering. It was her only day off, but when Rita couldn’t get Dr. Poole to answer his phone, she begged Anna to come in. She smoothed her skirt and blouse, clearly wishing she were in her uniform.

“Where is Dr. Poole?” Delia asked, arms crossed tight and fingers gripping the sleeves of her blazer. “Or Dr. Stevens? I told you, I want a meeting with both, Monday morning.”

“Dr. Stevens is at a conference in Miami until tomorrow,” Anna said. “Dr. Poole is unavailable. But we’ll arrange—”

“Unreachable, you mean,” Delia said. “Disgraceful.”

“Rita, I want a nurse stationed in Miss Hughes’ room for the next twenty-four hours,” Anna said. “Alonzo, what’s the situation in the rec room?”

“Joaquin’s cleaning up. All other residents are safe.”

The rec room door opened, and Joaquin came out with the mop bucket and a plastic bag, heavy with the bloody coils of the dead snake. I’d offered to do the cleaning, but Delia didn’t want me out of her sight.

“All good, boss,” he said. He gave me a sympathetic glance and rolled the mop bucket down the hall.

“How on earth did a snake make its way into our walls in the first place, Mr. Waters?” Anna asked.

“A hole in the exterior wall that should have been fixed days ago,” Alonzo said. “I take full responsibility.”

I whipped my head toward him. Alonzo had called maintenance a dozen times to fix the hole in the supply closet, and no one showed up. I opened my mouth, but he shot me a hard look and shook his head.

“I see,” Anna said.

“Do you see?” Delia snapped. “A deadly rattlesnake got into this facility and my sister—under your care—tried to kill herself with it.”

I flinched at the words.

Like Cleopatra. She put her hand in the snake’s basket because she’s so fucking alone…

“Given the eyewitness reports,” Anna said slowly, “I’m not sure that’s an accurate assessment of what Miss Hughes was doing.”

“No, she’s just an animal lover,” Delia said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “She was merely trying to pet a deadly snake. And you forget—I was an eyewitness too. I saw what she did.”

“Ms. Hughes—”

“Thea was doing just fine until he showed up.” She jerked her chin in my direction.