I have always been both fascinated and repelled by snakes, and so when I read this story* several years ago when teaching literature to eighth graders, it was unforgettable. The story is true.
Grace Wiley chose to became a zoologist who specialized in the reptilian world. She was a tiny woman, Barely five feet tall and did not weigh 100 pounds. After an early, disastrous marriage, she had decided snakes were easier to cope with than were husbands. And so snakes had been her main companions for over 40 years.
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