When I was 8 or 9, I was with Dad one day and we were working on the fence by the Stud Barn. I was not really helping Dad with the fencing but I was with him. I crawled on the poles to cross Miller Creek. I was playing on the creek bank when I saw a water snake!
I started screaming and hollering for Dad. He came running and chased the snake away.
He then told me the following story about Uncle Jake (Dad's older brother).
When Uncle Jake was a boy, he was with Grandpa Clint on the hill above the house. Grandpa was fixing the fence. Uncle Jake wandered off and was playing on the rocks along the edge of the hill. Suddenly, he started running across the pasture and hollering "Snakes are chasing me... snakes are chasing me..."
Grandpa caught him and helped him settle down. Then he realized that the laces of his work boots had come untied. The "snakes" were really just his shoelaces trailing along in the grass behind him!
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