When a new school year begins, Brooke Mills, like millions of other youngsters, can’t wait to take a “first day of school” picture.
On the first day of seventh grade, she and her mother went outdoors to snap a photo.
When Mills and her mom were taking pictures outside beside a tree, a stranger showed up.
Multiple shots had been taken, and everything looked great. Finally, Mills’ mom got to meet her son.
“It blended so well I looked harder and realized what was there,” Joy Mills, the girl’s mother, said.
A snake lazily resting on the tree trunk gave the preening seventh grader the cold shoulder.
The idea that Mills’ mother might want to come see her seemed strange at first. Because her mother didn’t want to frighten Mills, she didn’t find out about the snake photobombing until she was well out of the tree.
She didn’t realize she was bonding with an improbable ally through her joy.
“When she looked back, she couldn’t even utter a sound,” Mills added. “When we looked at the pictures on my phone, we couldn’t believe how close he was and we hadn’t even noticed.”
Because he was envious of all the attention Mills was getting, the snake decided he needed some care of his own.
Mills now has the finest back-to-school photos (and the best narrative) in her class all because of a friendly snake.
