Suffolk News-Herald

Employees of the Suffolk Red Cross had a visitor Tuesday morning who almost caused a panic in the Clay Street offices. Over lunch at the Dining Room, the hot topic was not the steaming chicken and dumplings, but the unwanted guest instead.

It seems that a small snake found his way underneath the office storm door. Even though he was only in search of relief from the hot concrete that surrounds the site, the reptile was quickly booted right back out the door.

&uot;Well, it was a snake!&uot; exclaimed Donna Perry, financial development coordinator for the agency. &uot;I almost passed out and I ran into my office and slammed the door!&uot;

Perry wasn’t the only one to run into hiding. She was quickly joined by a co-worker, Lisa Harrell, who just barely missed stepping on that slippery snake.

&uot;Lisa didn’t see him at first and when she did see him slithering across the floor, she jumped about three feet high to get over him,&uot; said Perry. &uot;She ran to my office, opened the door, rushed in and slammed the door. We were both ready to spend the day in there!&uot;

Saving the day, however, was Judy Hayes, a secretary at the Red Cross, who jumped up and grabbed a broom to quickly dispatch the snake back to the flower garden from which it probably came.

&uot;Judy brushed him out the door and said he was a garden snake that wouldn’t hurt anyone, but that didn’t cut any ice with me…&uot; said Perry. &uot;Any way you stretched that critter out, he was still a snake and I think it was a copperhead at that. I wanted him out of there.&uot;

After ridding the office of that sneaky snake, Perry began pulling out drawers, checking in every possible crevice for that critter’s siblings. She still swears that where there is one small snake, there must be more.

&uot;That’s alright,&uot; she said. &uot;I’ll be watching for others and they’d better not get in front of me!&uot;