Rattle It

This weekend the boys and I made the pilgrimage to Magum, Oklahoma to participate in the bizarre glory of the annual Rattlesnake Derby. It's grown a bit since I was a kid; there are more vendors of inflatable plastic children's characters, more funnel cake and corn dog eateries, and accordingly more fat lower middle class people than you could shake a stick (or a snake) at. My boys wanted one of everything. Rattlesnake head suspended in formaldehyde in a Mason Jar ($8 ea.)? A ride on the (dilapidated) kiddie roller coaster ($2 ea.)? A bite of deep fried snake with a sip of Coke ($4 ea.)? Check, check, check.
The first stop was the Snake Pit. After traversing the ambulatory of flea market goods, we dived right into the Pit, a large makeshift tent. Inside two cowboys equipped with microphones walked around an enclosed oval filled with roughly 1000 snakes (it's hard to estimate snakes-they are fond of the dog pile). As they walked they would pull random snakes up with their "snake sticks" to explain how one may determine the animal's age, sex, etc. Rattlers struck their leather boots indeterminately as they lectured. The boys, quickly bored, were ready for the midway.
Emerging again into the sunshine, we made our way to the Snake boxes. Like the Pit these boxes contained an ungodly amount of venomous reptiles. These pressed board boxes were free and open to the public however, and one was separated from the snakes by two layers of chicken wire spaced two inches apart. Still this was tiresome. We needed oily food, big and sugary quaffs of soda, and rides on spinning strawberries.
After the midway funds were depleted and substances were consumed, we made our last stop into the Butchers' Shop ($1 for adults- kid's free). This has been, and remains, my personal favorite. It is a small space; 1/2 of it is bare concrete covered by elderly bleachers. The other half, separated from bleachers by a press board divider, is where bad rattlers go to meet their maker. The butcher, a middle aged man who told the audience he'd kept company with the Captain all day, was assisted by a high school aged boy with yet another snake stick. A snake was extracted from the pit by the boy with the stick, the body was laid across a tree stump and with some fanfare it's head was removed with an ax. The butcher then took the body and strung it by a wire over plastic shower, skinned and disemboweled it as it still writhed. As he did so, this man cut out the still beating heart and ate it. Amazing!
The day was over after that. We retired to the ranch for some four wheeler fun and spaghetti. My boys were delighted, dirty, and full of strange food. What a story for their classmates tomorrow.