room in the first place, and seemed smaller because of the dim light from a bare bulb in the center of the ceiling. The paint might have been off white once, but now it was all yellowed and peeling in some places to reveal splotches of gray.
Six four-drawer file cabinets were spaced erratically around the walls and a rickety table, accompanied by two wobbly, wooden folding chairs, was propped against a far corner. There were no labels on the file cabinets, but if the stacks of files sprawled randomly across every available surface were any indication, the filing system was in dire need of reorganization.
Once she’d removed the deteriorating coffee cups and wads of paper collecting dust on the table, she gathered the loose files and stacked them there. It was a miracle Mike was able to find anything in here. After looking through the individual folders, it seemed to her that they were grouped haphazardly by species. Rummaging through the overstuffed file drawers, she finally came up with a list of all the species maintained within the colony and painstakingly reproduced it in pencil on an available legal pad:
Colubridae
Checkered garter snakes (Thamnophis marcianus)*
Brown house snakes (Lamprophis fuliginosis)*
Trinket snakes (Elaphe helena)*
Chinese corn snakes (Elaphe rufodorsata)*
Radiated snakes (Elaphe radiata)*
Egyptian diadem snakes (Spalerosophis diadema)*
Madagascar Cat-eyed snake (Madagascarophis colubrina)*
Madagascar Giant Hognose snake (Leioheterodon madagascarensis)
Northern pine snake (Pituophis melanoleucus)*
Pythonidae
Brazilian rainbow boas (Epicrates cenchria)*
Spotted pythons (Anterisia maculosis)*
Mexican new world python (Loxocemus bicolor)
Calabar burrowing python (Calabaria reinhardtii)
Sunbeam snake (Xenopeltis concolor)
Viperidae
Southern copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix)*
Those were further separated into the species that were actively breeding and those that were not. When she heard the exit door slam again, she glanced at her watch and was startled to find that it was almost seven. Time flies when you’re having fun. Hoping that what she’d started would still be waiting for her when she returned on Monday, she left things where they were, gathered her books and took off. She still had to pick up some dog food from the store before she went home.
Chapter Nine
Noah was waiting for her on the porch when she pulled in, with Bandit happily romping in the yard.
“Sorry I’m so late,” she called as soon as she got out of the car. “Have you been here long?”
“Nah,” he shrugged, bounding down the steps to take her books.
She fumbled a minute and nearly stumbled in the door when Bandit rushed past her legs and made a beeline for his water bowl in the kitchen, slurping noisily.
“How was your day?” she asked, dropping her purse on the table and retrieving her books from him.
“Long,” he said. “I’m glad it’s over.”
“You and me, both,” she said with a sigh, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I missed you, you know.”
He smiled at that. “Yeah.”
“If you’ll give me a minute, I want to change before we go,” she said.
“Sure,” he plopped down on the couch as she headed for the stairs.
One good thing about Noah, she thought, scrounging for jeans in the closet, she never felt underdressed around him. Usually, when they went out for dinner on Fridays, it was for something casual like pizza or burgers, or his beloved Mexican food.
Dani heard him calling something up the stairs but she couldn’t quite make out what he said.
“Huh?” she yelled, moving nearer the door.
“I asked, did Bandit get away again this morning?”
“No, why?” she answered, zipping her jeans and pulling a sweater over her head, obstructing her hearing again. “What?”
Dropping to her knees, she pulled back the comforter that had slipped off the edge of the bed, searching for her other tennis shoe. Making the bed in the morning
Six four-drawer file cabinets were spaced erratically around the walls and a rickety table, accompanied by two wobbly, wooden folding chairs, was propped against a far corner. There were no labels on the file cabinets, but if the stacks of files sprawled randomly across every available surface were any indication, the filing system was in dire need of reorganization.
Once she’d removed the deteriorating coffee cups and wads of paper collecting dust on the table, she gathered the loose files and stacked them there. It was a miracle Mike was able to find anything in here. After looking through the individual folders, it seemed to her that they were grouped haphazardly by species. Rummaging through the overstuffed file drawers, she finally came up with a list of all the species maintained within the colony and painstakingly reproduced it in pencil on an available legal pad:
Colubridae
Checkered garter snakes (Thamnophis marcianus)*
Brown house snakes (Lamprophis fuliginosis)*
Trinket snakes (Elaphe helena)*
Chinese corn snakes (Elaphe rufodorsata)*
Radiated snakes (Elaphe radiata)*
Egyptian diadem snakes (Spalerosophis diadema)*
Madagascar Cat-eyed snake (Madagascarophis colubrina)*
Madagascar Giant Hognose snake (Leioheterodon madagascarensis)
Northern pine snake (Pituophis melanoleucus)*
Pythonidae
Brazilian rainbow boas (Epicrates cenchria)*
Spotted pythons (Anterisia maculosis)*
Mexican new world python (Loxocemus bicolor)
Calabar burrowing python (Calabaria reinhardtii)
Sunbeam snake (Xenopeltis concolor)
Viperidae
Southern copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix)*
Those were further separated into the species that were actively breeding and those that were not. When she heard the exit door slam again, she glanced at her watch and was startled to find that it was almost seven. Time flies when you’re having fun. Hoping that what she’d started would still be waiting for her when she returned on Monday, she left things where they were, gathered her books and took off. She still had to pick up some dog food from the store before she went home.
Chapter Nine
Noah was waiting for her on the porch when she pulled in, with Bandit happily romping in the yard.
“Sorry I’m so late,” she called as soon as she got out of the car. “Have you been here long?”
“Nah,” he shrugged, bounding down the steps to take her books.
She fumbled a minute and nearly stumbled in the door when Bandit rushed past her legs and made a beeline for his water bowl in the kitchen, slurping noisily.
“How was your day?” she asked, dropping her purse on the table and retrieving her books from him.
“Long,” he said. “I’m glad it’s over.”
“You and me, both,” she said with a sigh, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “I missed you, you know.”
He smiled at that. “Yeah.”
“If you’ll give me a minute, I want to change before we go,” she said.
“Sure,” he plopped down on the couch as she headed for the stairs.
One good thing about Noah, she thought, scrounging for jeans in the closet, she never felt underdressed around him. Usually, when they went out for dinner on Fridays, it was for something casual like pizza or burgers, or his beloved Mexican food.
Dani heard him calling something up the stairs but she couldn’t quite make out what he said.
“Huh?” she yelled, moving nearer the door.
“I asked, did Bandit get away again this morning?”
“No, why?” she answered, zipping her jeans and pulling a sweater over her head, obstructing her hearing again. “What?”
Dropping to her knees, she pulled back the comforter that had slipped off the edge of the bed, searching for her other tennis shoe. Making the bed in the morning
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