The King and I
This is a story where “school” becomes a part of “creepy bedtime stories.” It was a unique, one-of-a-kind situation, so students should not take this story to be common happening. It happened once, and it’s highly unlikely to happen again, unless you live in a place like ours.
Out of need, we started a school. English education would give students a good future, so, we began. I headed up the school and taught with some of our older girls. Our daughter, Kirti, entered kindergarten and Asher entered Nursery class. We had one staff couple with their two children and a few young boys living with us who were in KG and Nursery Class. The rest of the students included a dozen village children, totalling about 10 – 15students in each class.
The school was located a kilometre from where we were living. We were still in the endless process of moving rocks off our land, but the house was up and we were in it. After school, I’d walk home with the children on a well-trodden path across the fields. We’d all follow each other in a straight line, for the path was narrow. And, on that momentous school day, one little boy exclaimed, “Snake!”
I responded in alarm, “Where?”
“There.” Said he, in a factual way while he pointed to the ground about two feet away.
I looked down! Sure enough! There was a snake, a real monster snake! It was shooting alongside all of us but moving faster than us, with its head ahead us and its tail behind us ALL of us! It was much longer than all of us in that straight line; I suppose it was about fourteen feet long and quite big around!
We stood stock-still in awe and shock. Relieved it didn’t stop and didn’t seem at all interested in us, it sped its way past us in a hurry to get somewhere. Perhaps it was trying to get away from us? It was a King Cobra and had been spotted a few times in the area. Once it was in a row of hedges on our property. We tried to burn it out, but failed. Its size made it too hard to kill it without being ready for such an occasion. The good thing was that the King was the King, though he did, eventually, lose his kingdom. Over the upcoming years he vanished from sight and we and other villagers never saw him again. I guess he moved on to less populated hunting grounds. I think the children and I had the best, the scariest and most perilous sighting of the King. I hope he is happy with his queen.