Rattlesnakes

Jimmy Saget said he could catch a rattlesnake with his bare hands.

Jimmy Saget was a tough kid. He was an older boy who broke into cars and smoked hand-rolled cigarettes. Rumor was he caught a rattlesnake with his bare hands and kissed it on the back of the head. No one witnessed the event but it took on legendary status in our neighborhood. In the summer of 1973 when I was ten, Jimmy said he’d repeat the feat for a mere twenty dollars a person. Word spread as if Evel Knievel were coming to town.