Late Night Friends

I mostly love the Dark Alone of 5am when I’ve had enough sleep (read: 5-6 hours) and I can tiptoe downstairs to brew my coffee and stir together some words in the silence. But there are those mornings when a writer needs company, and that, my fellow insomniacs, is what a corn snake is for.

Meet Whitey Bulgie who received his name eight years ago, long before the infamous Boston crime boss Whitey Bulger had been discovered to be living the life of an unassuming senior citizen (albeit one with a stash of guns and crazy amounts of cash hidden in the walls of his Santa Monica apartment) and it seemed that he could be just about anywhere.

My son who was obsessed with South Boston crimes at the time gave our snake his/her (we have no idea what sex it is because that would require exploratory surgery) name based on the fact that 1. It’s white 2. It gets a huge bulge in its belly when it swallows one of the mice-icles we feed it. 3. Whitey Bulgie is a cool name for a snake.

In spite of the fact that this is our family pet, I’m really the only one who cares about it. But ask any human mother to a reptile pet. Reptiles don’t greatly intrigue and aren’t particularly interesting, until you’re hanging out together in a dark room and 5am. That’s when it gets fun to release your four-foot albino corn snake and play. See how cuddly Whitey can be.

Now here’s the other thing about snakes, they are a powerful spiritual symbol, a multi-faceted metaphor for rebirth. Think shedding of old skin and renewal. Serpent is also a symbol of that kundalini energy coiled at the base of your spine until it is beckoned upwards through the chakras, opening you to consciousness.

But we’re not going to put that pressure on Whitey Bulgie this morning. Right now my gender neutral snake and I are just hanging out, having fun.