When I was a kid I was appealed by those movies with John Wayne, the Indians were most of the time the bad guys, the cavalry was always there 5 to 10 minutes before the end of the movie, the bad guy would always be punished in the due process of an expedite but satisfying law, and the guns were capable of shooting about a thousand rounds no matter what, well at least for the good guys because the Indian’s guns were always jammed or replaced by the old bow and arrow… So childhood games were centered on John Wayne’s movies and the most famous game at recess was “Cowboy and Indians” where the group was divided depending on the quality and quantity of related outfit such as: plastic gun, plastic gun with black powder, plastic handcuffs, plastic Sherriff badge, cowboy’s hat, holster and belt with plastic ammunitions, gunslinger full-length coat, spurs, string tie… Or an Indian dagger with suede sheath, a bow and an arrow. The kids were then divided according to the quantity and quality, hence the owner of a full set was definitely a hero or a bank robber and the kids with less ended up as the Sherriff or the Indian…
There too we could shoot at each other almost indefinitely shouting “PANG, PANG YOU’RE DEAD!” at each other for the full duration of the recess.
30 years later, I am in South East Asia, far away from the Wild West, from cowboys and Indians and from recess. I was working in a remote island about 800km away from the city of Manila. Communication was done through VHF radio and Satellite phones. My boss requested fro me to call him to discuss some matters, so I headed toward my house close by the forest and went to take my phone when I noticed the gardener standing in the veranda, white as a sheet (and that is saying a lot since my gardener is a Cebuano who spent his life under the sun…), he was pointing toward the kitchen and just said “snake”…
Unimpressed I went to the kitchen and looked for what I knew would be either a red tail racer or even a tree snake… I looked everywhere and couldn’t see anything; the snake must be really small, “How big is it Chiqui?” “…HUGE…” that is when I noticed at the back of a cabinet a mass coiled, the snake was as thick as my wrist and of a creamy blackish color, it’s head laid peacefully on the top and the markings on the head gave me a jolt “a king cobra!”
I went up to the room and told Chiqui to keep watch until I would come down. I took the 38 special that we kept, loaded it and went back to the kitchen. I moved slowly the cabinet and the snake raised its head about 6 feet above the ground and looked at me, I aimed and squeezed slowly the trigger, BANG! A big white cloud of smoke and the bullet felt on the ground 1 meter away from me… “PUTAIN DE MERDE!” the snake moved to the other side of the cabinet, raised it’s head a second time; I aimed, squeezed and BANG! Big white smoke and the bullet landed once more about a meter away from me “OH COME ON!” I threw the gun in the sink and the snake passed beside me and headed for the dining… Chiqui ran away screaming and there I was following that huge snake in the dining and in the living, looking for something to catch the snake with. I found a fishing rod, a nice long fishing rod that belonged to the previous manager, I used it to immobilize the snake… well I tried a few times but the carbon fiber rod is everything but rigid! That thing is so flexible that no matter what pressure I applied the snake would just dislodge his head as easy as that. Now the snake was I am sure no longer amused by my show, twice I tried to shoot it to smithereens and now I was annoying him beyond measure with that ridiculous “PIECE OF CRAP!”
I eventually got grip, just long enough for me to reach out, get its neck in my hand and slowly take the snake outside the house.
I took the satellite phone, made my call and talked with my boss while holding that 3 meter long king cobra by the neck… I took a short video and went to release the snake far away from the house. I didn’t kill it; my reaction in the house was purely based on instinct and I though about my 3 years old daughter.
I never used again the 38 special neither, no more than the carbon fiber fishing rod…
