He drove back to the hotel. There, finding the bag open and the snake gone, he didn’t stay long either. The maid hadn’t been in to make his bed yet, so he could only think it was the police who had searched his room and let the snake out. He didn’t even bother to hunt for him. He had been thinking of retiring from business anyway, and this seemed like the right time. He got in his car and drove out of the story. After Samuel left, Freddy had a talk with the snake. He seemed sincere in his desire to have a real home and live a normal snake’s life. But it is very hard to tell when a snake is sincere. Freddy could size up animals and people pretty well, but he admitted that snakes were beyond him. He said they always looked as if they were lying, even when they were telling the truth, because even in repose their faces always had a kind of sly smile. So Freddy untied him and gave him some grasshoppers and then put him in the old rattrap. “I’ve got to think about it awhile before I let you go,”
