Python Eggs
The drunkard makes his start with
just a sip, but that sip is the python egg.
Here's a story I heard told by a girl
in Wayne Stake. The story took hold of me:
A boy goes to a party. They offer him
a cocktail. It wasn't a fruit cocktail. He refuses - the gang is determined,
but so is he. He is called "panty-waist", "mama's boy' - but he
stands his ground. They tell him he must drink with the crowd and smell like a
man. The gang is determined to have him come across. Finally, with jaws set,
they tell him if he won't be game they will throw him on the floor and pour the
liquor through his teeth. The boy on the spot rises to the occasion; like a
warrior he faces his foes. He has a secret weapon they didn't dream of - here
it is - when he gets through with them, they sizzle. "Wait a minute,"
he says, "Let's see if you'll put it through my teeth. I want to tell you
a story."
"Some years ago a
boy was out, as I am tonight, they offered him a drink - he refused. They urged
- he weakened and took that night just a tthimble full. Next week he took it
more readily. After that it had only to be offered him. Boys, he became a
drunkard. He fell in love with a beautiful girl. Of course he straightened out
for a while, while he was courting her. He knew she and her family were opposed
to drink. They were married. A year later a baby came to town, but by this time
the man had gone back to drink. He began to come home drunk. On one of these
nights he was challenged by his good wife. She had stood about all she could.
In desperation she thundered "Bill, you come home again like this, and
I'll take the baby and go home to mother!" Well the demon within him broke
loose. He grabbed her arm. It was as if it were held in a vise. He threw her
out into the
Defiantly our hero faced
the gang. "Now boys, if you are ready to put that stuff through my teeth,
I am ready for you! I AM THAT BABY !!!"