Part 2

But in the blink of an eye, everything changed!

Barnaby was still holding his chin up high, soaking in what he believed to be pure, unadulterated admiration from the human crowd.

He shifted his body weight slightly to the right, popping his broad chest out even further to give the photographers a better angle of his pectoral muscles.

He internally rehearsed his speech for Most Photogenic Primate of the Year.

“I’d like to thank the rainforest,” he imagined saying to the admiring crowd. “And of course, my personal stylist, Mother Nature.”

Meanwhile, the massive snake was slowly lowering its scaly body down from the mossy branch directly above Samson’s head.

The serpent had mistaken Barnaby’s fashionable bamboo accessory for a soft, convenient branch to land on.

It flicked its dark tongue out, tasting the warm humid air, creeping closer and closer to Barnaby’s left ear.

The camera crew fifty yards away froze in dead silence.

One photographer slowly lowered his heavy lens, his eyes wide as saucers, his mouth completely open in utter panic.

Barnaby saw the photographer’s shocked expression from the corner of his eye and misread it completely.

“Ah, yes,” Barnaby thought with a satisfied smirk. “My beauty is truly breath-taking. The poor human is practically weeping from sheer awe.”

He tilted his head back another five degrees, closing his eyes slightly to achieve maximum dramatic effect.

He was completely oblivious to the fact that the head of an eight-foot reptile was now dangling precisely three inches above his left shoulder blade.

The snake opened its jaw slightly, ready to land squarely upon the lush plant wrapped around Barnaby’s neck.

Behind the scenes, Samson paused his lunch.

Samson’s small, dark eyes narrowed into tiny, laser-focused slits.

Now, Samson didn’t care much for Barnaby’s constant vanity or his endless posing in front of tourists.

He found Barnaby’s dramatic chin-tilts incredibly silly.

He was thoroughly tired of listening to Barnaby brag to the local squirrels about his imaginary leadership skills and majestic aura.

But Samson was still an older brother.

And in the unwritten rules of the jungle, nobody messed with Barnaby except him.

Without making a single sound, Samson shifted his massive weight forward through the thick bush.

His giant, shadowy frame blocked out the sunlight behind Barnaby, casting a deep, ominous shadow over the entire grassy patch.

Barnaby felt the sudden drop in temperature and assumed it was just a dramatic cloud arriving right on cue to enhance his photoshoot.

“Perfect,” Barnaby thought, keeping his chin locked in position. “Moody shadow lighting. Very dramatic. Very cinematic.”

At that exact microsecond, the serpent lunged downward toward Barnaby’s neck!

Before the snake’s scales could even touch Barnaby’s black fur, a giant, leathery hand shot out from the dark bushes behind him.

Samson caught the thrashing snake mid-air right behind its head with the casual precision of a man catching a falling banana.