I had thought it was going to be a fairly uneventful day, but then I went into the basement.
After a baking summer, the last few wet, rainy days had left the air humid and the ground saturated, so I decided to head down into the basement to dump the water in the dehumidifier.
The bulb had burned out, but there was enough light coming in through the window that I could see well enough, though long shadows cast quite a bit of darkness near the floor.
As I expected, the light on the dehumidifier was on, indicating the water reservoir was full and needed to be emptied.
Some spiders had used the sides of the tank as anchor points for their webs, and they scurried out of the way when I unlatched the tank and carried it to the large sink in the corner by the washing machine.
As I listened to the water gurgle into the drain, my Spidey-sense flared, and unconsciously I turned around. Of course, nothing was there, but it had really felt like something or someone was in the basement with me.
We’ve got an English basement, where part of the basement has a cement floor but the rest of the basement is crawlspace with a dirt floor.
Perfect spot for a vampire to lurk, back in that crawlspace, as far as vampire spots go. And as far as real vampires go, not the sparkly ones.
I’ve only found spiders so far in that crawlspace, but I admit I don’t often go back there, because the space is narrow and dark.
Maybe it was because of the types of stories I like to write, but I couldn’t quite shake that creepy feeling that had caused me to look around. I chuckled to myself when I imagined how funny it would be to have a snake drop down out of the rafters onto my head as I bent over the sink.
Like, ha ha, no it wouldn’t be funny and isn’t it time to head back upstairs now?
Turning to go, that’s when I saw it.
Yes, I actually found a snake in the basement.
It had glided out of the crawlspace and was crawling down the concrete wall.
Yes, he actually climbed down the wall by wedging himself in the corner where the two walls met. By the time I grabbed my camera, he was most of the way down, but you can see his tail running up the wall.
There was a pause as we sized each other up. Then, after a brief round of negotiations, we came to an amicable agreement–he let me carry him out of the house in exchange for me carrying him out of the house.
In the end, he went slip slidin’ away.
Me too.
