No. 196

Roland Envers was sitting under the grass roof of the holiday beach shack, listening to the rain hammer down, trying to enjoy the last few hours of his vacation. He sipped his coconut-with-an-umbrella-on-it and sighed.

He lay back in the deck chair and reached down to retrieve the well-worn paper-back novel he’d been reading. His hand was trailing through the sand towards the book when it hit something else.

“Hey, watch it!” came the angry shout from under the chair.

Roland scrambled to his feet and peered below the plastic slats of the seat.

“Hi! Bet you’re surprised to see me,” said the creature.

Roland fell back, ending up sprawled on the ground facing the rather large snake whose beady eyes were fixed on him.

A pink, forked tongue flashed in and out. Roland managed a strangled sound, rather like a squeak.

“I’m Shawn,” said the snake.

Roland made the squeaking noise again. “What are you?” he managed to put together.

“I’m a snake,” said Shawn.

“Yes. I see. I meant something else. I meant, what are you doing here?” said Roland.

“I’m your thunder buddy,” said Shawn.

“My thunder buddy?” said Roland.

“Now you’re getting it,” said the snake, with an expression Roland interpreted as a smile.

Roland crawled back to the chair and examined his coconut. He sniffed the contents.

“Don’t worry,” said Shawn.  He slithered closer to Roland. “There’s an old tradition around here that if you buy your thunder buddy a present, then the rain will stop and you’ll have beautiful weather for the rest of your trip.”

“Ah,” said Roland, now ignoring the fact that he was talking to a snake. “You’re trying to shake me down.”