The Snake in the Garden

Okay, I can handle the bobcats. Even the occasional mountain lion that comes down from the hills. The hawks, being one of my spirit guides, definitely don’t bother me. Even the field mice don’t bother me; they’re rather cute, actually. Most bugs don’t bother me, except for spiders, and I leave them alone unless they’re in the house.
But snakes? Snakes definitely bother me. I do NOT like snakes. In two years, I have never, ever, had a snake in my garden or yard. Until this morning. The alarm went off at six, as usual. I stumbled out of bed and into clothes and took the dogs out. It was next to the corn bed, lying on the ground near a hole in a tree root, half in and half out of said root.
I didn’t see it at first. I was looking in the corn bed, counting the sprouts, when my dog jumped over the fence and approached it, sniffing curiously as she always does. I looked over to see what she was so interested in. Somehow it pierced my sleep fogged brain that this shouldn’t be there and wait a minute –SNAKE! I yelled “Princess –NO!” At the top of my lungs. Maybe it was the tone of my voice, or some instinct, but she stopped with her nose just a few inches from the snake. The snake didn’t move. It lay perfectly still in the warm rays of the just risen sun. Princess backed up and skirted it with a wary eye. (Who knew that dog could be wary?)
By this time I was seriously freaking out. I herded both dogs into the house then went back out. The snake was in the same position. I took a tennis ball and bounced it off the ground beside the snake. It didn’t move. I took a (very) long stick and poked it near its tail end. No movement. Was it dead? I didn’t want to take the chance.
Then I heard a car pulling up outside. My brother, coming home from the night shift at the factory. In steel-toed boots. Who didn’t mind snakes. I went out and grabbed him. When I told him what was wrong, he looked at me like, are you crazy? Chop the head off and be done with it. But he came out back. He saw the snake and whistled. This thing is at least 4 feet long, and all of it wasn’t out of the hole. Solid black. Black snakes are almost always poisonous. He grabbed the rake and tried to lift the snake with it. It moved. Hissed. Bit the rake handle. I screeched like a little girl and jumped behind him. Robbie said I could either kill it or let it finish sunning, and then it would go away. But he was going to bed. And he did.
There might be more coming out of the woods with this drought.
Now I need to decide what to do with my unwelcome visitor….