To Remember A Smile

I as a child had rattle snakes that I sold To the ice cream man at two dollars a foot. He in turn would sell them at ross island In Miami to make anti serum. I caught owls and hawks I raised from chicks At twenty five dollars apiece. A boa constrictor could for twenty dollars Be purchased from Montgomery Wards. At seven feet long roaming free in the house It ate one of my mothers tea cup poodles. I was ten years old and lied to my mother And said that someone stopped in front of our home And took it. She did not notice the large buldge in the snake And still feel bad to this day, mom's been gone a year This coming October. My best friends mother would answer the door in her Panties, Of which thinking back I paid no attention too. Off we would go to catch what ever we could in the woods Which in the sixties were deep and dark where we'd eat What ever grew in some person's yard. Coming back with a small alligator sometimes or with A huge soft shell turtle that we would sell to the garbage men For five dollars apiece. Life for a prepubescent young boy was to remember a smile From then.