Dear Diary,

So, my brother, Alex, had baseball practice, and my mom, my other brother, Noah, and I had to go pick up Alex’s schedule from the recreational building in Central Park. While my mom and Noah waited in a very long line to pick up Alex’s schedule in one of the many rooms, I waited alone outside on one of the red benches.

As I sat in the hallway, I examined the area around me. Lots of the rooms in the hall were occupied, and the one in front of me had a window next to it. When I looked in the window, I saw a bunch of ladies doing yoga.

I looked down to call my friend, and when I happened to look up, there was a snake.

A dangerous, live, coiling, scaly, baby snake. And not just any snake, a copperhead. In case you do not know this, a baby copperhead is more dangerous than a full grown one because it can not control its venom. Yep, you heard me right, it has uncontrollable venom.

My eyes practically bulged out of my head and I looked around in hope that there would be someone else in the hallway to tell somebody. There was not. The snake edged itself closer to the door that led to the room that the yoga ladies were practicing in.

Well, in my head I was debating whether or not I should tell somebody. My voice of reason told me that I should, but the other part of me wanted to wait for somebody else to see it and deal with it.

Even though a room full of screaming yoga ladies would entertain me, I decided that I should go tell some one.

As I left the hallway and made my way into the lobby, there were a couple of grown men sitting in chairs and a park employee at the desk.  When I walked in, they all looked up at me.

I walked up to the guy at the desk and said “Ummm, there’s a snake in the hallway.”

Everyone’s jaws dropped open and I took the apparently excited group of grown men, toward the snake’s location. As I’m leading them down the hallway, I’m half praying that the snake did not leave and I didn’t look like someone trying to cause a ruckus.

When we arrived, thankfully, the snake was still there. After a second, one of the guys announced that it was a copperhead and then they all started talking excitedly in excitement to each other.

Then the park employee leaves to get park staff, and the other guys are crowded around the snake. They stopped it from entering the yoga room and then they took out their phones and started taking pictures of it.

Idiots.

Then they started scaring it. Yes, scaring it. A venomous snake.

I repeat: idiots.

After a few moments of that, they start whacking it towards the door with a magazine. Yeah, like that would protect anyone. A wad full of paper. Seriously?

Just then, the employee comes back with a member of the park staff with a tool to pick the snake up and took it outside. They left it alive! What if it decides to come seek revenge as an adult or something? What are they going to do hit it with a magazine?

-Noelle Walker, Fearless Snake Hunter