...could've been a perfect weekend... Part I

This happened a while ago. It was early in the year. Spring was still a shy little girl. Among frosty nights and rainy gloomy days, suddenly, a true early spring pleasure: a perfect sunny weekend.   That morning, as soon as the last molecule of black coffee aroma disappeared into the air, Natalya and I were on our winter-long neglected yard.

What a joy to work in rhythm! Natalya holds a bunch of over-wintered withered monkey grass; I cut it very short with the huge razor sharp garden shears. Birds were happily chirping at the bird feeder. Occasional joggers greeted us with smiles and waiving hands.

Suddenly, unearthly scream pierced the air. I glanced at Natalya, her face was whiter than Tchaikovsky's swan. The splashes of blood were dripping from a Japanese juniper branch to the grass.  A dreadful thought wedged my mind. My eyes unwillingly looked for cut fingers. What I saw the following moment brought a huge relief, but filled my heart with pity and sadness. Right next to the bunch of monkey grass helplessly looking at us laid a beautiful young snake. Big black eyes were full of pain. I followed her elegantly curved stripes and ... there was no tail to the body...

"She needs some urgent help, but what if she's venomous?"  I rushed back home to grab the camera. When I returned, she didn't even move, so great was her shock from pain. I took the picture and googled "georgia snakes" to compare. Here she was, my beauty, the garter snake, an absolutely harmless creature.