Page 34 of Sheltering Instinct

Gwen clutched at her chest as she raced forward to check on the problem. “Cripes, Tess, you scared the shit out of me. Did you hurt your ankle?”

“Oh my gosh. Oh shit. It’s a snake.”

With the video recorder still taping, Gwen swung her lens toward the ground around Tess. “Did you just see it and get startled?” Standing on the flat surface of the platform, Gwen swept her camera slowly over the area. “Did you feel a bite?” Gwen’s voice was calm. She always was steady in a crisis, and Tess appreciated that in her friend.

“Yeah. Sharp. Did you see the snake?” Tess’s body did what Tess’s body always did when she felt endangered—she trembled to disperse the gathering adrenaline storm. “We need that image.” Sheknewintellectually what was happening; she just couldn’t connect with it as reality.

“No. Where’d it go?” Gwen jumped off the platform to get a different angle.

With her foot stuck between the rocks, Tess could only point as the length of the snake slithered out of sight.

“Okay, good. I caught part of it on video.” Gwen stopped, turned off her camera, and slid her phone into the thigh pocket of her hiking shorts. “It looks like it’s gone now.”

“My foot’s stuck.” As Gwen moved her way, Tess held up a hand to stop Gwen from coming toward her. “Don’t come over here. I don’t think it’s safe. Don’t snakes have nests?”

Gwen stopped and blinked, “Okay. Stay absolutely still.” She picked up a rock and started banging on the boulders around Tess to vibrate the area and get the snakes moving.

That was something Abraham had done in Ghana with his walking stick, but Tess had forgotten about it until this very minute. “What kind of snake was it, Gwen?”

“Let’s do that next. First, we need to get your foot freed up. I think we need to avoid any tugging or jostling. I’m going to untie your boot and loosen the laces. Then, I want you to hang on to me while you slide your foot out slow and steady. We’ll deal with getting the boot in a minute.”

With her hand gripping Gwen’s shoulder, Tess began to process the implications of what just happened. People the Ya family knew had died of snake bites in Ghana during their years-long flight. With some venomous snake bites, there was nothing to do but say goodbye and wait.

Tess wasn’t ready for that. She didn’t want to say goodbye. And her step-sons were still in college. She had to see them graduate and settle into their adult lives, fulfilling her promises to Abraham.

Gwen squatted beside her, touching Tess’s calf with gentle fingers. “Oh yeah, you’ve got puncture marks.” Gwen twisted and looked up to catch Tess’s gaze. “How does it feel?”

“I don’t know. The adrenaline flowing through me could light a small city. So whatever I’m feeling is masked. Puncture marks, it was venomous.”

“Slow and steady,” Gwen modulated her voice to sound solid and bulky, something that Tess could lean on. Tess always liked Gwen’s crisis voice. The “we’ve got this” quality lowered stress levels.

Right now, Tess felt the very opposite. She was the quivering smoke that rose from a candle flame. There was absolutely nothing dependable or solid about her.

“The only move you’re going to make is to slide your foot out once I have this loosened and then a couple of steps to the platform to lie down on your back. That way, people have a place to work when they come to rescue you.”

“I have to walk down, Gwen,” Tess said through chattering teeth. “Who’s going to come to rescue me?”

“Your app, right? You call them, and they know what to do.” Gwen didn’t let go of her, moving slowly to help Tess keep her balance when Tess’s whole world seemed to tilt on its axis. “We’re right by Etosha,” Gwen said. “They’ve got to have people to help there.”

Tess still clutched her phone in her hand from when she’d retrieved it. She swiped it open and tapped the snake app, but her hands were too shaky to read. Tess handed her phone off to Gwen, then sank to the platform and laid herself long as Gwen had instructed.

With her focus on the app, Gwen said, “The first thing that needs to happen—Tess, listen to me, this is very important—you need to stay very still. The sun is on your face. Why don’t you throw an arm over your eyes? Good, that’s good.” Her voice turned sing-songy. “Breathe. Work on your breathing. Calm your system. Sink into meditation. Focus within and bring down your anxiety. The more you can relax, the slower your blood flow, and that’s what you want. Nice and slow. Good job. Keep it up. Nice and slow.”

With her arm covering her eyes, it was more comfortable than squinting into the descending sun. But it left Tess disoriented. “What are you doing now?”

“I’m looking at the video I took of the snake. According to the app, different snakes have venom that affects the body in different ways. I’m quoting here, ‘you must be careful what kind of first aid you render.’”

“Just tap the button and talk to them,” Tess muttered. She was doing her job, breathing in for four counts and out for eight, but her lips still buzzed.

Nerves or venom?

“Sweetheart,” Gwen said softly, “that app needs connectivity to work. And neither of our phones has any bars.”

“Shit.”

“We’ve been in bad spots before. We’ve figured it out. We’ll figure this out, too. Okay? One step, then another. The first step is to identify the snake. I can’t access their library. But I can see their list of the most dangerously venomous ones. And the snake in my picture isn’t on this list. Small wins. We’ll take that.”

“But you don’t know what it is off the top of your head? Things you’ve learned from being here all the time?”

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