Snake Jake was crawling around, looking for his friend, Snake Joe.

“Hey Joe, where are you?,” asked Snake Jake.

“Up here,” said Joe. Looking up, Jake saw that Joe was laying on the high rail of a fence.

“What? What are you doing up there?” asked Jake.

“I like it up here. The sun is nice and warm on my back. I think this is a great place to take a nap,” said Joe.

“What? That rail is too narrow for you. You can hardly fit on it,” said Jake.

Joe was not happy with Jake’s comment. “Are you saying that I am fat?”

“No,” replied Jake. “I’m just saying that the rail is too narrow. You’d better take your nap down here. You might fall from up there,” said Jake.

“Aw, rat fuzz. No such thing is going to happen,” said Joe.

“Well, I hope you are right. I’m staying down here. See you later,” said Jake.

“Hasta la vista,” said Joe. Joe watched as Jake crawled away.

“Huh! Does he think I’m stupid or something? I’ll be ok up here. Come to think of it, this reminds me of the time I had a really good nap in an oak tree,” mumbled Joe.

Then he started thinking about that tree. As he closed his eyes he remembered how he had crawled up the tree and onto a big branch. Joe was getting very sleepy, the sun felt so good on his back, and he kept thinking about that tree he had been in. His thinking turned into a dream.

In his dream he was resting in the tree as the wind was so gently blowing. Then, just above his head, he heard a squirrel chatter. So he crawled to the center of the tree, crawled upward, and crawled onto the next branch.

In his dream, he wanted to sneak up on the squirrel so he very slowly crawled out on the limb. Again there was a breeze but this time it was a little stronger, making the limb go back and forth, back and forth. Then, all of the sudden . . .

. . .AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Joe hit the ground. He had actually fallen off of the fence rail while dreaming he was in the tree.

Jake heard Joe holler and slithered as fast as he could back to the fence. Sure enough, just like he said it might happen, Joe had fallen on the ground.

“Joe, are you ok?”

“Ow. Oh! Ow! Uh, maybe you’d better call an ambulance,” said Joe.

“Ok. What’s the number for 9 – 1 – 1?” asked Jake.

“I think it’s 9 – 1 – 1,” said Joe.

Jake slithered as fast as he could to make the call. The ambulance from the Ponderings Pond Rescue Squad soon arrived.

One of the volunteers is Delilah Duck and, if you remember from a previous story, Delilah is also a waitress at Snake Joe’s restaurant.

“Joe, are you ok?” asked Delilah.

“I hurt almost all over,” said Joe.

“Can you wiggle your toes?” she asked.

“I have no toes! I’m a snake,” Joe said.

“I know. That was just a test to see if you had a brain injury,” she said. After a few more checks, Joe was placed in an ambulance and was sent to the hospital.

After a few X-rays, the doctors saw he had no broken bones and sent him home to rest up.

That night, Delilah visited him, bringing him one of his favorite sandwiches from his restaurant, a Vishti (veesh-tee) mook salad sandwich. Vishti mook salad was invented by some snakes in Amish country. In Dutch, Vishti means “bad,” as in pestering. Mook means “fly.” Flies are next to impossible for most snakes to catch, so the fly salad is a rare delicacy to snakes like Joe and Jake.

“Thank you,” said Joe when he saw the sandwich.

“Are you feeling any better?” asked Delilah.

“Yes, and maybe a little wiser,” said Joe.

“Wiser? In what way?” Delilah asked.

“It was a hard lesson to learn, but from now on, I am going to try to remember not to get sleepy in high places,” said Joe.

And, after Delilah left, he fell asleep safely in his bed.