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Overheard

By Alfred Fournier

Illustration by Albert Nikhla

“I’ve got a car full of snakes,”

I would have sworn I heard the dad say

to his probably-third-grade kid

as I walked through the school lobby

to pick up my own. I hadn’t been listening,

lost in thought, until his words played back

in my mind and I turned to watch

as they slipped out the door to the parking lot.

I tried to recall the boy’s response.

If he’d been begging for a pair

of pet pythons, I should have heard

his joyous shriek, but the playback

was blank. Perhaps a shrug of acceptance.

Maybe dad was a herpetologist,

bringing weekend work home from the lab.

Or maybe the boy had shuddered in silence.

A punishment, perhaps. Or emersion therapy

for a child who needed to face his fears.

A slithering dose of nature writhing

in the backseat as the kid timidly

buckles in. Dad backing out, telling him,

“We’ve got to stop for rats on the way home.”


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Posted On: April 9, 2024
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