In all the time I have lived here, I have had very few confrontations with snakes. To hear Darzee describe it, you'd think I killed twenty snakes a day with my eyes shut. I personally was more concerned when I heard there was another mongoose in the garden.

"Oh, valiant Rikki!" Darzee exclaimed one day. "Last night I saw your most beauteous sister!"

Of course I wouldn't mind sharing my garden with any family members or friends. Some species of mongoose do tend to be social creatures, and I got enough food from the humans that I was certain the garden would be able to provide enough small creatures in the dirt for another mongoose to eat her fill. Surely there was enough space in the garden to allow us both to live in peace, especially since I often stayed in the humans' home. There was no need for confrontation; however, there was still just one minor problem: I don't have a sister.

After giving the matter considerable thought, I slipped out to the garden that evening to see if she was still there. I found her foraging under a fruit tree. I had decided to start with neutral conversation rather than demanding an explanation.

"Good evening," I greeted.

She didn't bother looking up. "Good evening."

"I heard there was another mongoose in the garden, and I thought she might be my sister."

"Well, I'm not!" She caught and ate a scorpion. "Listen well! I know you must be the house mongoose that lives here. This is your territory. I respect that. However, I know you rarely come to the garden at night, and it's a great place to forage. That being, I give you the garden by day, but by night, when you aren't using the place anyway, I see no reason why I shouldn't have the right to search for food. If this compromise isn't good enough for you, then you'll have to propose an idea you consider reasonable or fight me to challenge my right to your garden."

"Search the garden for food night or day," I answered. "Why should I fight you for beetles when I eat delicacies from the humans' table? However, in exchange for allowing you to share my garden, I trust you would also share the responsibility of keeping it safe from snakes when necessary."

"You mean like that one I killed yesterday?"

I nodded.

The compromise works out nicely. We rarely even see each other. Sometimes when one of us is bored or needs advice, we'll actually hold conversation, but we're still more like casual acquaintances than true friends, but I have digressed greatly.

I had just been discussing how I feel as I gradual succumb to the venom of the viper that has been plaguing the garden lately. He's clever. He knows how to dodge until a mongoose is too tired to fight, seizing the opportunity to flee for his life. So far, I've fought him seven different times, all of which have ended in a draw. However, I can't risk having a viper around the garden. If Teddy accidentally gets too close, the viper could bite him.

When I challenged the viper this afternoon, I was the one bitten. I spent the day growing weaker from the symptoms of the venom. Now I have crawled out to the garden as my breathing begins to cease.

Here is the sound of snake scales slithering closer. My enemy is close. No doubt he has come to gloat.

"So he is dead!" the viper hisses. "Paralyzed by my venom! I like that!"

He moves closer.

Big mistake! In an instant, I leap to my feet, seizing him by the back of the head. I can hardly believe it as the body ceases to wriggle. He's dead. I've finally won.

"You're an idiot!"

I turn to see the female mongoose, who is glaring at me in disapproval.

"One, with the exception of this viper, no snake is stupid enough to believe that a mongoose died of envenomation," she sighs. "Everyone knows that although we're not completely immune to snake venom, it takes twenty times more venom to kill us than it does to kill other creatures our size. We also have thick fur that helps protect us from fangs. Usually when a mongoose is bitten, the worst that happens is feeling a bit ill for a few hours, but it rarely gets that bad."

"Thank you for pointing out my mistake," I answer, beginning to eat the viper. "I didn't hear you come up with anything."

She sighs again. "Second, paralysis is a symptom of cobra bites. There are different kinds of snake venom. A cobra's bite attacks the brain, and the victim dies of a stroke or suffocation when the lungs cease to function. A viper's bite attacks the system of blood within the body. If that viper had stopped and thought a moment, he'd realize your little death scene couldn't possibly have been from his venom. Your symptoms were wrong."

I swallow another mouthful. "Are you going to help me eat this or stand there and criticize all night?"

"I have to do something." She comes over and bites into the dead viper. "Darzee praises you too much. You could use a little criticism to keep it from going to your head. I bet you can't even tell a proper story."

"You're right." I shrug. "I can't. I start to tell about something, but then I have too many sidesteps and doubling back."

She laughs. "Naturally! That's how a mongoose fights, so it's how we speak!"

The more I think about it, the more I realize her conclusion makes no sense at all. Fighting has nothing to do with speaking. However, it seems better to hold my tongue than to argue with a woman.

It's actually more dangerous than arguing with a cobra.