Free Minor in Possession by J. A. Jance Page B

hands in towels, I opened the window and managed to punch out the three tiers of glass. Then, amazed that I was able to do it, I pried the window frame loose from its moorings. I tried yelling for help through the open window, but as I had expected, it was useless. By then every last straggler had gone to the dining room. The Rojas mobile home was much closer at hand than the ranch house, but yelling for Shorty wouldn't work either. The roaring of the bloated river blanked out every other sound.
    Standing there with my escape hatch open, I realized suddenly that I had another serious problem—I was buck naked. All my clothes were in the other room along with the snake.
    Public opinion and shards of broken glass were nothing compared to my dread of the snake, which I imagined was lying in wait, lurking there just outside the bathroom door.
    Casting my fate to the winds, I gathered one more towel, tossed it out the window in front of me in hopes it would protect my bare feet from the broken glass. Then, standing on tiptoe on the edge of the tub, I clambered up the wall and wiggled my bare butt out the window.
    Thank God I didn't get stuck.
     

CHAPTER
    7

    S horty Rojas seemed a little surprised when I turned up on his doorstep wearing nothing but a towel and an off-the-shoulder smile. Unperturbed by my tale of the snake, he gave me a bathrobe and a pair of rubber thongs. The robe, a shocking pink chenille, evidently belonged to Dolores and came close to wrapping around me twice. The thongs, blue rubber dime store jobs, were definitely Shorty's. They were wide enough for my feet, but my heels hung off the back end by a good inch and a half.
    I wanted him to exhibit some visible reaction when I told him about the snake. I wanted him to act like it was something out of the ordinary, for him to be more upset, but Shorty Rojas wasn't the excitable type.
    "Happens every time we have a flood," he said with a shrug. "Them snakes hole up in the bank along the river. When high water gets to 'em, they go looking for someplace warm and dry. What'd you do, leave your door open? Hang on a minute. I'll go get my snake stick and a burlap bag."
    He pulled a much-used Stetson down from a hook on the wall near the door and shoved it on his head.
    "You mean this kind of thing happens often?" I asked.
    Shorty didn't answer. When he returned to the door, instead of packing a gun, which was what I wanted and expected, he was carrying a gunnysack and a stick the size of a cane with a leather noose hanging off the bottom end.
    "What the hell are you going to do with that thing?" I demanded.
    Shorty looked down at the stick. A leather thong ran up one side of the stick. He slipped it up and down, tightening and loosening the noose. "I'm gonna catch me a snake," he said impassively. "Take it back outside where it belongs and let it loose."
    "You mean you're not going to kill it?"
    "No, I'm not going to kill it." He sounded offended, not only by the question but by the implied stupidity behind it. "If every snake in this danged world disappeared off the face of the earth tomorrow, we'd all be overrun with varmints in two shakes of a lamb's tail."
    With a derisive snort and a shake of his head, Shorty Rojas headed up the trail. Chastened, I followed meekly behind.
    "Where is it?" he asked over his shoulder as we trudged along.
    "I never turned on the lights so I didn't actually see it," I admitted, "but it's somewhere right near the door. At least that's what it sounded like when I left."
    "If the snake's by the door, how'd you get out without getting bit?"
    "I climbed out the bathroom window."
    He stopped in the glow of a yard light and looked up at me, consternation written on his face. "Out the window, no shit? Musta been a tight fit."
    "I broke out the glass."
    "I see," he said, and continued on.
    Feeling like a cowardly jackass, I stayed outside, hovering nervously on the rim of the porch while Shorty cracked open the door, switched on the light,