How do you know? 300 Word Short Story

It was early in the afternoon, and two young brothers sat at the edge of a creek. Each of them held a stick as they looked down at the small red and yellow snake laying there. After a few minutes the older boy poked at the snake with his stick.

“Are you sure you should do that?” The younger brother asked, afraid to poke the snake.

“Sure, why not?” The older brother asked rolling his eyes.

“We don’t know if it’s poisonous.”

“It’s not.” The older boy said, slightly irritated by his brothers answer. He was pretty sure it was not a poisonous snake, and he felt his brother should have just trusted him.

“But how do you KNOW? I mean, we don’t even know if its really dead.”

“Stop acting like an idiot! Of course its dead!” The older brother said, as he poked at the snake again, “Don’t you think it would move when I poke it?”

“I don’t know? What if it’s pretending?”

“You’re nuts, its dead, look it doesn’t even try to move when I poke it. It wouldn’t just stay there and get jabbed at if it were alive.” The older brother poked again.

“It moved!” The younger brother shouted, as he jumped back a little.

“No it didn’t. You’re just trying to scare me.”

“No, it moved! I swear!”

“No it didn’t, look,” The brother began as he knelt over to pick up the snake. He had barely gotten the snake off the ground before it began twist toward him hissing. The older brother screamed so loud it shocked his brother. In one swift movement the older brother dropped the snake and took off running.
The younger brother followed behind him yelling between laughs, “Wait where are you going?! Its ok remember, its dead!”