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a little salamander, probably the last of his kind.
i debated on taking him. you know, provide a nice warm terrarium with crickets or whatever it is the hell he eats.
but i left him. right under this cinder block.
i pick things up. just like a kid.
always have. rocks. cinder blocks. bricks. shit like that. always hoping to find something.
usually i don't. not a damn thing but some ants and rollie pollies.
once...no, twice, i found rattlesnakes up @ the ranch, near hemet.
remember i picked up a piece of corrugated steel, and low and behold, life stirred.
under trash. this kid, this rattler, waited.
a pacific rattlesnake. they are black. and speckled white. and eyes...eyes angry.
beautiful in a way...
and all of a sudden he started shaking. rattling. like holy shit, animals really exist.
los angeles proper has yet to exterminate.
so i got a stick and placed it against his head.
tight.
scales bending, buckling.
reached down...seemed like hours, really.
well maybe several minutes.
and-
WHAM!
grabbed his neck.
his head rolled near my thumb. very surreal.
but he didn't get me. this pacific rattler.
nope.
kept holding.
squeezed.
and he relented.
submitted, like one of Gracie's opponents.
-hope i didn't hurt him much.
but i kept the rattler.
feed fat w/lab rats and pigeons; once a week.
"bitey," we called him.
but he would yawn, and those fangs; opaque hypodermic needles, would fluctuate like little arms waving hello.
sometimes i'd watch the effect his vemon would have on prey...it wasn't pretty.
in fact, it got very ugly.
VERY.
spasms. gasps for breath. seizures.
just ugly.
we released him several months later.
"bitey."
started to get nervous - his enclosure wasn't too secure .
but goddamn, what power that little creature had. this little piece of gristle and flesh, scales and a brain too small.
anyways, i found a salamander in los angeles.
i left him under the cinder block.
figured he survived thus far, why steal his thunder?
the last of his kind.
a little salamander in LA.
