Edgar: Is that... is that something moving under the sheets?!
Chloe: Don't touch the blanket, Edgar! Step back right now!
Edgar: What is going on here?! Mom, why is there something crawling on my bed?!
Evelyn: It's... it's nothing, Edgar! It must have crawled in through the window from the garden!
Chloe: From the garden[cite: 1]? In a sealed, fifth-floor master suite[cite: 1]?
Evelyn: Yes! The window was cracked open earlier! It's just a garden snake!
Chloe: A garden snake doesn't come in a black heavy canvas bag, Evelyn[cite: 1]. And it certainly doesn't require yellow rubber gloves to handle[cite: 1].
Edgar: What canvas bag?! What are you talking about, Chloe?!
Chloe: Ten minutes ago, I stood right outside that door crack[cite: 1]. I watched your mother pull a deadly venomous snake out of a black bag and tuck it right under your satin sheets[cite: 1].
Evelyn: She's lying, Edgar! She's crazy! She's making all of this up to turn you against me!
Edgar: Mom... is there a venomous snake in my bed?!
Evelyn: No! Of course not! I would never put something dangerous in your room!
Chloe: She didn't mean to put it in your room for you, Edgar[cite: 1]. She meant it for me[cite: 1].
Edgar: What?!
Chloe: She changed the sheets and told me to go lie down because I looked pale[cite: 1]. She wanted me to climb under that blanket in the dark[cite: 1].
Evelyn: That's a complete lie! She's trying to frame me because she wants my family's money!
Chloe: Your family's money[cite: 1]? You mean the twenty-five million dollar inheritance left in Edgar's trust fund[cite: 1]?
Edgar stood completely frozen, his eyes darting between his wife's calm, sharp face and his mother's sweating, frantic expression[cite: 1]. Under the white sheets, the dangerous shape slithered faster, a terrifying, sharp hiss echoing through the silent bedroom[cite: 1].
Edgar: Mom... answer me right now. Did you put that in this room?
Evelyn: Edgar, listen to me, my sweet boy! I did everything for you! Everything!
Edgar: Oh my God... you actually did it.
Evelyn: She is leeching off your estate! She doesn't love you! She came from nothing, Edgar!
Edgar: She's my wife, Mom!
Evelyn: She was going to take half of your trust fund in a divorce! I heard her on the phone last week talking to a lawyer!
Chloe: I was talking to a real estate lawyer about buying us a vacation house in Florida, you insane woman!
Evelyn: Liar! You're a liar!
Edgar: Stop screaming, Mom! Just stop!
Edgar slowly reached for a heavy wooden golf club leaning against the nightstand near the door, his hands trembling with rage and terror[cite: 1]. He kept his eyes locked on the moving bulge under the satin sheets[cite: 1].
Edgar: If that thing bites anyone in this house, you are going to prison for the rest of your life.
Evelyn: Edgar, don't touch the blanket! It's an Asian pit viper! It can kill a person in twenty minutes!
The entire hallway went dead silent[cite: 1]. Edgar stopped mid-step, the golf club shaking in his grip as he turned his head slowly toward his mother[cite: 1].
Edgar: An Asian pit viper... How do you know the exact species of the snake if it just crawled in from the garden, Mom?
Evelyn clapped her hands over her mouth, her face turning instantly ghost-white as she realized what she had just blurted out[cite: 1].
Chloe: Oops[cite: 1]. Looks like you slipped up, Evelyn[cite: 1].