Slither and Scale

They often walked in the garden, though

The garden was such a mess,

It was overgrown with Ivy, and

Choked up with watercress,

The pond was overflowing its banks

At the wet time of the year,

But no-one tended the garden then

It was much too hard to clear.

 

The house was old and the walls were damp

It had been a fine estate,

Built up from scratch by the pioneers

Then left to my schoolboy mate,

And now he was nearing twenty-five

And he had Germaine in tow,

I’d thought I could win her heart from him

But I had no place to go.

 

We lived, we three, in the house where we

Could each survive on our own,

While keeping the others company

Though not quite living alone,

So Paul lived up on the West Wing floor,

Germaine set up in the East,

While I had a couple of rooms downstairs,

In truth, I counted the least.

 

I stayed away from the garden when

I saw a snake in the pond,

More of a giant serpent that was

Six foot long, and beyond,

I didn’t caution the other two

For some strange quirk of my own,

For Paul would walk on the pondward side

While she would wander alone.

 

I heard her scream as the serpent came

Slithering up from the pool,

My blood ran cold as it struck at Paul,

He was much too close, the fool.

It bit, he said, on the hand and leg

It struck so fast, and had flown,

Then he called out in a chilling shout,

‘Its fangs went through to the bone!’

 

We carried him up in a faint that day

The venom was coursing his veins,

I must admit I was glad of it

For I only thought of Germaine.

She saw me stare at her auburn hair

And she must have known, before,

I’d been so very obsessed with her

But she only thought of Paul.

 

He lay in a fever there for days,

I thought that he might just die,

But felt ashamed of the thoughts that came,

My friendship caught in a lie,

If only she could have come to me

I could truly call him friend,

But she was true, and it seemed I knew

She would nurse him to the end.

 

One day she came, he was not the same,

She said, in a tortured tone,

‘His skin is starting to scale,’ she said,

‘He wants to be left alone.

His eyes have turned into tiny slits

And he seems to slither in bed,

His fangs are longer and sharper now

Than ever I’ve seen,’ she said.

 

I had to go, to see for myself,

I noticed his skin was grey,

His eyes were shifty, flickered about,

I didn’t know what to say,

He licked his lips but his tongue was forked

As if he’d split it in two,

His lips drew back and his fangs slid out,

‘What do I want with you?’

 

‘I’ve never seen such a change,’ I said,

‘How much of what’s left is Paul?’

He reared up in the bed at that

And flattened against the wall,

I felt that he was about to strike

So I left the room in a rush,

And told Germaine, ‘We had better leave,

Or it might mean the end of us.’

 

She stuck with Paul to the very end

I think that I knew she would,

They found her lying beside the pond

With her face suffused with blood.

Her skin looked just like a dragon’s scales

Her eyes pinpoints, if at all,

They killed two snakes in the garden pond,

There was nobody there called Paul.

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[E G TEN]

Hello Mr. Paget, "There was nobody there called Paul" Such
An ending worth slithering for. Besides your top-notch
State of the art Storytelling what captivates me
The next about your narrative wonders
Is your characters selections.
They even sometimes
Takes over the
Story itself
Way cool
Thanks.

[TPK Stories]

A delightful twist yet tragic. Great work David.

[softlyfall]

A twist that will make Poe grin.
Delicious

[andrew mitchell]

hahaha no one called Paul lol another great yarn, liked the imagery which matched old homes of that time!

[Celie Rose]

Enjoyed reading your poem."They killed two snakes in the garden pond, There was nobody there called Paul." This part threw me...turned out to be a no win situation regarding love. It was well written. Keep writing.

[Avinash]

Well your plans did not work out this time. In jealousy we underestimate love which is capable of failing any plan. But this story has all twists and turns like a serpents body.

[Valentine]

Whew, a slimy tale to read just before hitting the bed. I probably will be seeing snakes and forked tongues in my sleep. I do like her sticking with him until the end...not many do nowadays. Valentine

[Coyote Poetry]

A amazing tale my friend. I like the way you led me to the very good ending.
"She stuck with Paul to the very end
I think that I knew she would,"
Thank you for sharing the excellent poem.
Coyote

[David Scott]

A delightfully haunting tale. You capture peoples fears here. Is there no escape from fate?
So many questions arise and this is the sign of a good story. You have room to tell another, and another...

[ReedWrite]

I love the rhythm and the rhyme, yet the story unfolds ever bold, recounting an eerie, haunting time, leaving the reader haunted and cold. I enjoyed this very much, David.