Principal Sends Fifth Graders to Kill Copperhead

This really happened. I'm not exaggerating and whatever quotes I make are exactly as I remember them.

A dry Arkansas summer hadn't yet given up the ghost as my fifth-grade year of school headed into late September. My class and I, along with the two classes below us, were enjoying recess without enough testosterone in our bodies to make us think twice about the sweat that caused our tee shirts to stick to our skin.

My friend Matt and I were headed over toward one of the trees on the playground. I don't remember what we were doing but it probably had something to do with a fort made of sticks and briers or hunting some sort of reptile. He and I had a reputation for not fearing the creepy crawlies so when we heard a girl's scream followed by, "Snake!" we ran over to get a look.