Big Snake at Khe Sahn

Yesterday I won the First Prize in the Idaho Writers League annual writing contest, short humor category, for this short story about Vietnam: THE SNAKE The recon Marines patrolling the jungle out of Khe Sahn, Viet Nam, in the summer of 1966, encountered a large snake of the boa constrictor variety. They decided it would make a great pet, so they brought it back to base for a mascot. They cleaned out a fox hole, covered it with wire mesh to keep the snake in, and placed sandbags around the hole on the wire to keep the snake contained. They put up a small sign: "Beware of the Snake!" After a few days, they realized that the snake would have to feed, so they went to the nearby Montaignyard village and bought two ducks to feed to the snake. The marines lifted the wire, threw the ducks in, expecting to see the snake immediately pounce upon one of the ducks and devour it. Apparently the snake was not hungry just yet, so nothing happened right away. Later that night, after all had turned in, there arose a great ruckus from the snake pit. There was lots of quacking, hissing and thrashing about. Everybody assumed that the snake had eaten one or both of the ducks. The next morning, when they went out to see the well-fed snake, it was dead. The ducks had pecked out its eyes and killed it. Later that day there was a new sign: "Beware of the Ducks."