Serpent subdued
Today: Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún, Nigerian writer, linguist, co-editor of Best Literary Translations, founder of Olongo Africa, and writer and producer of the documentary, Ebrohimie Road.
Issue No. 595
Mowing the Snake
Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún
Mowing the Snake
by Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún
The garter snake is non-venomous. I know that now, but I hadn’t, before I drove a lawn mower over one.
Winter in Minnesota moves into summer too briskly for Spring, or the gardens, to notice. One moment, the dreary bore of dead, withered leaves is giving way to signs of life again, and in the next, the sun is up, and the lawns are full of dandelions, creeping charlie, and broadleaf plantains. My front lawn didn’t get enough notice that the seasons were changing again this year, and before I knew it I was already dealing with a growing field of intrusive weeds.
Ours is a new home. Not all our neighbours knew that the house was now occupied, and only one, a kindly lady across the road, had come to welcome us with a bowl of baked goods for the kids. But the changing colours of the front lawn had grown sufficiently noticeable for my darling wife to nudge me—at first subtly, and later more boldly—into taking care of it. Yes, we had no HOA here, and could get away with ignoring it for a bit longer, but did I not see what the other lawns looked like? Why did we want to be the odd ones out on the street, especially being the newcomers to this leafy suburb?
I needed some convincing. The books in the moving boxes hadn’t yet settled into their shelves. I was already weary from the move, and had a lot more on my mind than trying to impress the as-yet-faceless neighbours, whom we would meet in good time. But a happy marriage depended on eventual acquiescence to spousal concerns, so I went out and bought a Skil 40V self-propelled cordless lawn mower.
Keep us breathing fire!
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