Little Brown's Backyard Adventures

The morning mist and heavy wind banged against the barn like springtime thunder. The structure was not well built, but it did its job of protecting the equipment from the monsoon-like rains. The barn was about a hundred meters away from the house, but enough for the little brown snake to find warmth radiating from the ground. The little brown snake had been thrust into the world to slither alone. With nothing but instinct to find a warm place to lay, he found a small gap of chewed metal, teeth marks denting the aluminium.

As the sun made its daily appearance, voices jumped the snake’s heart. He hid behind a pile of red bricks as the ground shook, hailing the appearance of giants using all their might to pull the large sheet metal door open.

“Let me have it!” A voice wailed behind them.

“You broke yours, fix it!”

“That’s not fair!”

“Be faster next time!” the largest of the giants reached and pulled a two-wheeled machine off the wall and mounted like a professional gymnast.

“Yeah, not our fault your slow!” the next grabbed the middle bike, dinged-up but like the other it had two-wheels. The last kid waddled to the rack lining the wall. Two bikes and three kids did not make for a good time.

“But I don’t have a wheel!” He shouted stamping his foot, making Little Brown twitch. He was right, the last bike was missing a front wheel. “You took it!”

“Finder’s keepers. Ask mum for a new one!” Little Brown could hear tires scoff against gravel, playing a decrescendo till the boys disappeared beyond the hills.

“Mum!” the boy made a tantrum, kicking the hay bundles. Another pair of footsteps approached. Little Brown could smell a strong perfume mixed with the smell of cooked eggs.

“Why can’t I have a new bike!”

“I’m sorry darling, not right now. You’ll just have to borrow your brothers.”

“But they never let me. If I don’t have a bike I can’t join them.”

“Well, maybe you can make your own fun here.”

“That sucks. Everyone at school has a new bike.” The mum rocked on her heels, before turning away and heading back for the house.

“We can’t afford one right now. You’ll just have to make do here.”

“You suck!”

“And be careful of snakes!”

“I am!”

For the next hour little brown was stuck. The kid was pulling down tools, before putting them back, grabbing at sheets of metal trying to twist it into a wheel. He got the idea of using spare wire, braiding it into a circular shape. He was distracted, attempting to fashion the makeshift wheel to the front of the bike. Little Brown could use this precious moment to get away!

He slithered around the crevasse of broken brick, peeking out slowly. The kid was still distracted. Using every muscle in his body Little Brown sprung forwards, but accidently knocked against a sheet of metal balanced against a shovel. The clanging sound demanded the kid’s attention.

“Hello?” his eyes darted around. Little Brown tried to hide but realised too late that his tail was exposed.

“Oh, a tail! Hope it’s a lizard.” What’s he doing!? The kid’s curiosity drew him closer to the snake’s hiding spot. He had to think fast. Little brown did not want to hurt the kid, but the closer and closer the large form approach, the more his instincts kicked it, curling his body like a compressed spring. ‘Please, don’t come any closer.’

“Oh no!” the kid jumped back, and little brown could finally see the kids face. Red splotches on each cheek, freckles and bright blue eyes blinked at him. Little brown reared up bearing a gummy jaw. If he were older this kid would be in trouble, but power was in the hands of a kid who could not tell the difference between a tire and a piece of metal. Little Brown knew he should just slither-it and escape. But instead of running, the kid just stared, hypnotised with curiosity.

“What are you doing here?” the kid asked. ‘What do you mean? I live here’. Little Brown hissed back, and the kid leaned back and laughed. Did he understand him?

“You don’t live here, this is my house…we’ll my mum and dad’s farm. But one day it’ll be mine…or maybe my brothers.” The kid brought his knees to his chest drawing patterns on his skin.

“I’m never allowed to do anything. Just sit around and draw in my room…when I’m not in dumb school. Our mum makes us do homework and it sucks!...”

What’s he doing? Little brown thought to himself. Maybe the kid was just talking to himself to fill the space between them. Filling the lonely space between him and his brothers. Little brown had never known his siblings, he had slithered away from them as soon as possible in fear of being eaten by a particularly big family member. He knew how it felt. Little Brown slowly lowered his body and lay against the ground, waiting for something to happen.

BOOM!

The thunder driving up the driveway sent the snake into a twitching frenzy looking for the nearest hole in the wall to dive through.

“Come back!” the kid cried out.

“Ryan come help your dad!”

The next time they saw each other Little Brown was not so little anymore. The mice were plentiful and shelter abundant. It was summer with the red ground becoming an oven, the horizon having a perpetual shimmer of waves against the light. It was harder to find his way back into the barn now, but not impossible. As much as the family tried to patch up the holes there were always new ones to be found.

Ryan was sitting on the trunk of an old Ute watching his dad repair a radio.

“We should just buy another one.”

“Never purchase what you can fix, that’s lesson number one.”

“But every lesson is lesson number one.”

“That’s cause you never learn it. Get me the screwdriver.” Ryan plopped off and got the tool off the walls. Ryan spotted little brown in the corner and gave him a squeaky smile. The two had a certain agreement, don’t annoy him and he wouldn’t bite him back.

The man at the workbench stared off blankly into the broken machine.

“Dad?”

“…Oh? Right! Thanks.”

“Dad why can’t we buy new things like the other kids?” The man remained silent.

“Dad!”

“We can’t right now.” The man sighed and turned around to his son. “We’ve talked about this, we haven’t had rain in a while. Money’s a little tight.”

“Can’t you just make more?”

“Sure champ, sure.” Suddenly the man slammed his hands down on the bench. The two stood still for a moment before Ryan’s dad got up and left the barn without another word.

“Something’s going on Little Brown, I’ll get to the bottom of it.”

Little Brown knew that Ryan’s parents were fighting when Ryan would suddenly appear in the barn, staying for hours. The kid would mimic his dad, taking small appliances apart and failing to put them back together. Each time he got slightly better at it.

“Dad’s angry right now.” Little Brown knew Ryan was talking to him. The snake had never really mastered the art of hiding all his wiry body. The boy pulled something out of his pocket and threw it to the corner. Little Brown’s tong flickered in surprise, a dead mouse.

“Found it dead in the pantry rat traps, you can have it. Dad would just scream again if we found another mouse in the pantry.”

From then on Ryan made Little Brown his best friend. Just like Ryan, his brothers used every opportunity to get away from their parents, taking the car and driving off. Even from outside the house Little Brown could hear the two yelling. Words like ‘drought’ and ‘can’t help it’ and ‘divorce’ came up again and again. The snake thought that he was lucky he only needed a good supply of scurrying fluff balls and a nice patch of sun to survive.

The summer reached its peak, burning the landscape and forcing every creature to shelter in the shadows. The humans were constantly covered in sweat and flies, funny smelling sunscreen smeared over their faces. The yelling died down, but so did the dad. He looked like an ice block repealing the heat with pale, withdrawn skin. Little Brown could tell Ryan was worried but tried not to show it. Instead, he would just sit anxiously on the car hood watching over his dad tinkering with metal machines. There was a different one every day. Little Brown wanted to give Ryan comfort, but he knew if the parents saw him around their kid, he would be taken away. He had seen the man with the cream bag take other snakes of his kind away. Instead, he opened his slitted earholes and listened to each word the kid told him. Eventually the dad left without another word. It would be another one of those days.

“Why won’t he talk to me, did I do something wrong?” Little Brown could answer that. ‘It’s not your fault’.

“I promise I won’t ask for a bike anymore.”

‘I know you won’t.’

“I’ll get a job, help out with money!”

‘Your only 10. In snake years I’m twice your age.’ Little Brown could tell that his words were not getting across. He had the same selective listening as his father.

The next morning Ryan was waddling down the dirt pathway. He was dragging a stick in his palm, drawing squiggles in the dirt. Ryan had a lot to tell Little Brown. His parents had suddenly had a bad fight last night and it was all his dad’s fault. His brothers did not want to hear him complain, it was unmanly to worry. But the feelings were condensing like a dying star, needing an outlet. It was the school holidays, so Ryan had not seen his friends in weeks. He wanted nothing more then to talk to his brown tailed friends, feed him a mouse and let him recline in the small gaps of sunlight that shone threw the roof. But today was strange. Coiled in front of the doorway was Little Brown, eyes and tong darting like they were looking for him. He never purposefully came out of his hiding spot. Ryan took a step closer but suddenly the brown snake reared his head up. Looking like a slinky, tensed and spitting. What was going on. It was like the snake was barring his entry, a bouncer in front of a city club.

‘Don’t come in here!’ The snake hissed and Ryan took a step back. The innate fear shooting adrenaline to his arms and legs.

“Ryan!” His mum ran up and pulled him back towards the house.

“But Little Brown!” and like that the snake speed off, disappearing into the long, bristling-yellow grass surrounding the backside of the barn.

“What have we told you about snakes!”

“Sorry.” Ryan’s mum stepped towards the barn, watching the ground for anymore signs of slithering movements. She opened the door halfway…then suddenly froze.

“Ryan, go back to the house.” Her voice was strangely deep, like a punch to the gut.

“What…?”

“GO!”

The ambulance finally arrives. Ryan and his brothers were not allowed to leave the house. They heard the sirens speed away. It was not until dark that their mum sat them down and told them that their dad had passed away. Ryan did not know what to think, refusing dinner and stumbling to his room. He spent the rest of the night staring into the glittering abyss outside his window. He tried to ignore the sounds of his brothers whispering and his mum crying from the living room. The blinking lights connected themselves to make the shape of Little Brown watching over him.