Jane was playing by the side door when she heard the familiar sound of her father pulling his bicycle into the driveway. "Daddy's home," she yelled.
Her mother turned to the door, and she smiled.
Jane looked in at the python, at the small local zoo, and at the eggs. "Are you going to be a mommy, Mrs. Snake?" she asked.
The python turned her head and stared at Jane, and then nodded.
Jane was surprised. The other animals didn't answer back, but this snake did. "The snake can hear me!" she exclaimed.
"Yes," the snake hissed.
Her father laughed. "Sure it did, Sweetie," he replied, clearly not believing her. "You didn't even say anything yet."
Meanwhile, her mother was staring at her, shocked and confused.
"A lot of children try to talk to me," the python hissed, "but you're the only one I can understand."
Jane smiled, feeling special.
"That's it," her mother said. "We're moving on."
Jane frowned. "Bye-bye Mrs. Snake."
"Goodbye," hissed Mrs. Snake.
While Jane was lying in bed the next night, she heard her parents talking. She knew something was wrong, but she wasn't sure what.
"Why does she sound silent to you, and like a hissing maniac to me?"
"I don't know," her father said. "Maybe you're just delusional."
Jane put her earplugs in.
"Anything special you want to do this weekend Jane?" her mother asked.
"I wanna go to the zoo and see Mrs. Snake."
"I don't like you talking to that snake, Jane. It creeps me out."
Jane looked down, sadly.
"Okay fine," her mother agreed, "but it might just be you and Daddy going."
Jane smiled, although she didn't know what made her mother change her mind.
A few weeks later, Jane and her Mommy went to spend a week at Grandma and Grandpa's house. One of the things they did that week was take her to the big zoo, near their home.
They went into the reptile house. "Hello! What kind of snake are you?" Jane asked the first snake she saw.
"You weren't kidding," her grandfather told her mother, while the snake hesitated.
The snake looked at her. "I don't know, and I don't care. How are you able to talk to me?"
"I don't know," Jane said.
Jane went around to all the snakes. They all answered back.
That night, Jane was put to bed in the guestroom, where her grandparent's family trees were printed on the wall. As she lay in bed, she heard her mother and grandparents through the door.
"So both of you hear Jane hissing to the snakes," her grandmother said.
"Yes," her mother said, "and she claims to hear the snakes talk back. What is happening?"
In the children's room, at the library, Jane picked out a non-fiction picture book on snakes.
Her mother signed. "I guess that's alright." She looked toward Jane's father. "She's not developing an obsessive interest in snakes, is she?"
"She probably is, and I can see why."
A few months later, Jane skipped up to the snake encloser, at the local zoo. "Mrs. Snake!" she exclaimed, "where did all your baby snakes go?"
"The zookeeper came and took them away."
"What, why," she asked.
"So he can make some money selling them to other zoos."
Jane started to scream.
Jane's father picked her up and moved her away from other people. He held her hands while she screamed repeatedly, unable to get any words out.
Eventually, she managed to quiet down.
"Mrs. Snakes' babies have grown up and moved away," her father explained. "That's just what happens. One day, she'll have new babies to love, and the same thing will happen."
Jane and her father went back to Mrs. Snake. "My Daddy says you'll have new babies to love one day," Jane said, her fingers touching the glass.
"Yes, I will," Mrs. Snake said, sadly, "but that will be a while."
Suddenly, the glass went away.
"I used to be a wild python," Mrs. Snake said, "and people used to get upset just by seeing me. The zoo may not be perfect, but it's a good home."
"Sweetie, how did you do that," Jane's father asked?
"I don't know," Jane said.
"Then we're out of here," her father said, grabbing her arm.
Minutes later, her father was buckling her up in the bike trailer. "Now, try not to tell Mommy about what happened today, with the glass."
"Okay Daddy."