This excerpt from our fourth anthology, Hilton Head Island: Time and Tide, is from the short story, “Cool,” by Sansing McPherson, who has this to say about the story’s inspiration:

Snakes and sweaty heat are at the center of this tale. In the 25 years I lived in rural New Jersey, despite all the camping, hiking, and yard work I did there, I never saw a poisonous snake. Then I moved to South Carolina, home of all four poisonous snakes native to North America. I am now obsessed with them. My story idea came from watching the hardworking Mexican family that does our landscape service. I was especially impressed by how diligent and professional the teenaged son was, despite the heat and humidity. I was also concerned that they might encounter snakes. In seven years they have found only one. But the heat and sweat are constant. My character Tomas yearns to follow the career path that my landscaper’s teen son did when he graduated from high school. Tomas wants to be cool! Read the whole story to find out how they achieve it. (Note: No humans or animals were harmed in the creation of this story.)

Excerpt from ‘Cool’

At the first customer’s house his father gave him ear protectors and pointed out what needed blowing. Tomas started at the street, but his father stopped him when a shiny black Lexus came by.

“If you are working by the street, always watch for cars. You cannot hear them, so you have to stay alert. Cut the blower and point it away when a car or a person comes by. People do not want dust on their car or debris scratching it. It is also a polite thing to do.”
“Cool,” said Tomas.
“Cool?” his father challenged.
“That is good advice,” Tomas replied
Papa smiled. “One more important thing. You will be working around windows. Never, NEVER look inside a house. Always keep your eyes on your work.”
That was good advice too. Nobody wanted a Peeping Tomas outside the window.
The day grew hot. Tomas wiped his brow on his tee shirt sleeve constantly. He was in back of a house blowing leaves around a bay window. Without thinking he looked through the glass and saw a round table with a pretty flowered cloth sitting in the bay. There were fern baskets hanging at the side windows, and an overhead fan turned slowly above. He wished he were under that fan. Then he remembered what his father had said and riveted his eyes on the leaves between the shrubs and house. He revved the blower. Leaves kicked up at the inside corner where the bay met the house and blew back into his face. He raised his left arm to wipe the sweat and dust when out of the slits of his stinging eyes he saw the pretzel-twisted body of a snake lifted into the air by the blower’s blast.
“Shit!” he yelled. He dropped the blower nozzle and tried to run, but he tripped over it and stumbled to the tabby patio, his eyes still stinging. He tried to get up, but the blower pack pulled him backwards.
He was living a nightmare. The snake was coming— a copperhead— he knew it. Any second now the fangs would sink in like fire.

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This story was first published in Hilton Head Island: Time and Tide.