were limb, and her small black feet kicked slowly in the air.

“I do see, but . . .” He got no further as Buttons immediately regained her feet and stood on her hind legs, the right forepaw bracing against her new friend, while the left leg hung limply.

“Gee, you even longer than Shadrack, the water moccasin. Do you know Shadrack?”

Her sinuous friend began to open his mouth, when Buttons continued and interrupted, “Hey, you know, you’re not the same all over. Pretty colors, too. I’m only black, well, really, shiny and black. My hair goes with my nose, you know. Color-coordinated, that’s what my boy calls it. What’s your name?”

“Ssssserek, the mag . . .”

“Sssssso nicccce.” Buttons giggled at her own joke as she launched herself over Sssereck’s broad back. Four legs hung momentarily in the air as her round belly rested on the top of Ssserek’s back. Then, with a whoosh of air, she slid to the ground on the opposite side.

Peering down the long, smooth flank, she exclaimed, “Wow, I bet it’s a day’s journey around you.”

“That’s nicely put, young lady.” He muttered in a low tone,”Must be getting old,I’m repeating my self.”

“Well, it’s only the truth, you know,” Buttons responded as she marched forward to place herself squarely before Ssserek. Ssserek’s head swayed to and fro a foot above her. “Hey, can’t you lower your head? I can’t see you very well.” Buttons sat up as Ssserek’s nose began to approach her, then slowly rolled onto her side. “My sit-up still slides to the side, you see.”

Ssserek’s soft, sibilant hiss made her scramble to her feet more quickly than normal. “Hey, I’m not making fun of you, really. Besides, you’re really very nice to look at.”

Ssserek’s head was by now swaying just above Button’s head. The broad snout pointed side to side as his slender, red tongue darted back and forth as he maneuvered to better view Buttons.

His eyes began to whirl as he measured the small four-legged creature before him. “Hum, humm, hummm. Bigger than a mouse, but appears harder than the bunnies. Hummmm.” His eyes whirled more rapidly and red flecks appeared in them.

“You have pretty brown eyes, just like me, you know. Please stop moving so much.” Buttons again tried to sit up, and when that failed, she stood for a second so that she might get a better view.

“What kind of animal are you?” Ssserek’s head was by now only inches from Buttons’s nose. “I stick my tongue out to pant, you know. But yours goes all the time, doesn’t it?”

Ssserek’s quick answer came before Buttons could continue. “I am of the great snake clan, and I do not pant. My tongue tells me much about the world around me, and it tells me you are a very fine . . .”

He hesitated, sighed, then continued as Buttons interposed a “Well.”

“A very nice young lady,” he sighed again as his thoughts were brought back to the young dog before him. “Oh, well.”

Buttons looked at him expectantly. “Gee whiz, your eyes aren’t going around and around anymore. That was very pretty, too, you know.”

“Yes, I know, but then . . .”

“Will you be my friend?” Buttons was lying on her back, twisting to and fro as she stretched and scratched her back. Flipping upright, she continued unabashedly, “You’re really nice to look at, so tall and short, as it were. You know, there’s something moving back there.”

She was gazing intently toward Ssserek’s furthest component. “What happened to your legs? You know you didn’t say, and it certainly is, well not odd, but definitely different. You see what I mean?”

“I will be your friend. I am glad you appreciate my appearance. Many don’t. And yes, I am both tall and short.” Ssserek reared up to his greatest height, and gazed serenely down on the small creature before him.

“It is a very old tale,” Ssserek smiled for his own pun before continuing, “that is told within the snake clan of a time, a very long time ago. We had legs then, but . . .”

Ssserek dropped so that his left eye focused closely on Buttons’s right. “But—it is told by those who have no love for us—they say we lost our legs because of something a great, great ancestor, many times removed, did to people. I dismiss such cavil comments as mere hearsay, and you must pay no attention to it. We, the many clans of snakes, prefer the truth. We move with stealth and silence;