Eli Kimmel Ms. Lehmann English 1-1A March 12, 2019
The Rattlesnake It was a hot, mid-August day. Magpies cackled in the distance on top of the big, baby blue shop where the four-wheelers and equipment are held when they are not in use. We were getting ready to go mend the duck blinds for the youth duck hunt the next week. All summer, we grew corn and vegetables for food in the fall and some plants that can be put on duck blinds, like corn and pumpkin vines and leaves. We plant maybe ten or fifteen rows of corn, about twenty yards long each. We chopped the corn stalks at the base and loaded them onto the lime green 4wheeler that I had brought out of the shop.
“Get the shovel,” my grandpa said. “Okay,” I answered, as I ran and grabbed the shovel. “How much do we need?” I asked. “Fifteen to twenty stalks. The duck blind isn’t too damaged, so we only need to touch it up with some corn and sagebrush,” said Grandpa.
We got to work, and it only took ten or fifteen minutes to get all 20 corn stalks. We loaded all of the cornstalks onto the lime green four wheeler and our pickup, and left for the duck blind. We put our insulated duck waders on and started hauling the corn stalks to the blind, which was on an island in the middle of a canal. We waded through knee-deep water and mud. I was already sweating because of the hot mid-August afternoon heat. We brought my grandpa’s dog, Roxy, with us in the truck. She came out to the duck blind with us and swam happily, looking for raccoons, mice or whatever animals she could find.
“Go to the pickup and get more corn,” said Grandpa. “We got to get done with this so we can go to town!” “Okay, do you want your drink from the truck?” I asked. “Nah, I’m fine, now go get more corn,” said Grandpa.
I went to the truck to get more corn, and Roxy followed me back onto the canal bank. I grabbed five or six corn stalks and took them back to my grandpa.
“Thanks, bud,” he said.
We start putting the corn stalks on the duck blind. We admired our work before we were totally done, to see if there were any more spots that we needed to “fill up” on the blind. Then, suddenly, we heard a sound like a baby rattle that had been put into a car tire and spun around fast. Roxy started barking at a thicket of thistles. I had heard a rattlesnake’s rattle before, but only on YouTube or Instagram.
I said, “Grandpa! Roxy found a rattlesnake up on the canal bank!” He said, “Put the dog in the truck and go find a long, strong stick! HURRY!!!”
I put the dog in the truck, and then I went and found a huge log that had been rotted on one end, so it was light. I brought it to him.
“Is this ok?” I said. “Yeah, sure... go grab the knife out of my truck,” he said.
I went and grabbed the knife out of the truck and brought it back to him.
“This one?” I asked. He replied, “Yep.”
He whacked at the thicket of thistles, and eventually put the stick under the snake and brought it onto the canal bank.
“I am going to put the end of this log on top of his head and hold him down... I want you to take the knife and cut its head off,” he said. I replied, “Heck no!... I've never killed a rattlesnake before!” He replied, “Okay, I’ll kill the snake... give me the knife and you hold the stick on its head.” “Ok,” I said.
He took the knife from me, and he gave me the stick. I pushed the end of the stick on its head, and grandpa bent down to cut its head off. Chwack. Chwack. Chwack. The body writhed on the ground and suddenly became motionless. The head was still under the stick. I lifted the stick off of its head and I examined it. The copper colored eyes fascinated me.
“Don’t touch the head. It's still alive” grandpa said. “Whack it into the canal” “Okay.” I picked up the stick “Fore!” I exclaimed. I whacked the head into the canal like it was a golf ball.
When I put the dead, decapitated rattlesnake into the truck, it suddenly had a muscle twitch and one end came up and moved toward my hand. I will admit that I said a few curse-words, but I will not list them. We went back to my grandpa’s house, and skinned the rattlesnake. There were 12 ½ rattles on the tail. I still have the skin in my room.
Narrative Reflection Questions Answer all questions with complete, grammatically correct sentences. Be specific and thoroughly address each question.
List one thing you've learned from writing this paper that you can apply to other writing assignments. What will that look like? I learned that when I am telling about a story as a narrative genre, that I should use past tense phrasing.
Identify a specific revision you were asked to make and explain why (this can be at any stage of the writing process). How did you revise? What did you learn? I was asked to revise several parts where I used present tense phrasing instead of past tense phrasing.
What are the conventions of a narrative and how did you meet those in this assignment?The conventions of a narrative are to tell what happened, what people said, and to crate a "feel" for the reader and set the scene.
Given more time to work on this assignment, how would you improve it? I probably would have told a little bit more detail or said more about the canal or the summer day or how it felt altogether.
What is one thing you're proud of in this paper? I am proud that I could remember everything that I typed in this paper because as soon as I started typing, I started remembering everything that happened a little bit better as I went along.