“So, ye never telt us… whit’s yer name?”
That should have been the simplest of questions, requiring one word for an answer. Easy, right?
Not for this rattler…
As he sat there on the leather sofa in the front room of the Hamilton household, he looked deep into Rusty’s icy blue eyes, and searched his mind for the answer.
The rattlesnake opened his mouth, and the word was half-formed in his mouth...
Suddenly, from the darkest depths of his mind, he heard, as though the source of the noise was in the room with him, his father's voice. It hissed in the vilest fashion, calling his name in the way it had done for 15 years.
“Do not run away from me, freak. I brought you into thisss world, and I ssshall purge you from it assss well. Ssssituliiiiliiiii, I will FIND YOU…”
As the voice echoed throughout the snake's mind before fading, he was hit by a revelation: he never wanted to hear that name again.
"Um, you alright, mate?" came Rusty's voice from light years away. The serpent came out of his reverie and focused his eyes. Realising that he had been staring at the fox the whole time, the rattler re-engaged his brain.
"I..." Tears slowly pooled in his eyes as he tried to say the word that he had feared, hated for the whole of his life.
"Bad memories, eh?" Rusty said.
The snake nodded, biting his lip to prevent himself from crying out loud. Uncalled for, yet irresistible, another, more recent memory swam before his eyes:
-------
"Who are they?" The snake asked, staring in wonder at the cover of the CD that Rusty held in his hand.
"That's Poison, mate!" the fox replied.
On the cover were what appeared to be the faces of four women in make-up.
"And these ladies are your favourite band?"
Rusty snorted.
"Ladies!" The muscular fox chortled. "These are LADS, lad!"
The reptile's red eyes widened. Men? Dressed as women? What was that all about?
"Really?"
"Aye, really! Look..." Rusty began to point to the different band members, naming them.
"This one's Bret Michaels, the singer; CC Seville's the guitarist; Bobby Dall's on bass and the drummer's called..."
--------
"Ricky."
"Hmm?" Said Rusty, looking enquiringly at him. "Whassat?"
"Ricky," the serpent said firmly, looking the long-haired fox dead in the eye. "Call me Ricky."
