The pressure was immense — and just when they thought it couldn’t get any worse, something enormous quite literally crossed their path.
One hot afternoon, while clearing a stretch of jungle to pour concrete for a sidewalk, a worker screamed and stumbled backward. The others rushed over — and froze in place.
Slithering slowly through the underbrush was an anaconda.
But not just any anaconda.
It was the biggest snake any of them had ever seen — easily over 20 feet long, its scales glistening in the filtered sunlight. The ground seemed to tremble slightly beneath its weight as it moved across the clearing.
The workers stayed back, hoping it would continue on its way. But instead of disappearing into the jungle, the snake stopped — and settled directly on the path they needed to work on.
They were stuck, both literally and figuratively. What now?
As they watched from a safe distance, one worker noticed something strange. The massive reptile wasn’t moving like a predator on the prowl. It was sluggish, barely dragging its body forward.
Then someone gasped and pointed: the snake had an enormous bulge stretching across its midsection. Whatever it had eaten wasn’t small — and it definitely wasn’t digested.
The workers had seen many things in the rainforest, but nothing like this. Whatever the snake had consumed was huge. And something about the way it was moving suggested it was in serious trouble.
They knew they had to call for help — before it was too late.
With the enormous snake now completely blocking the construction path, the workers knew they couldn’t ignore it any longer. Something had to be done. But while urgency pressed on them, so did fear. No one wanted to be the first to get too close.
Then, to everyone’s shock, one of the workers took a cautious step toward the snake.
“NO!” several others shouted in unison, panic rising in their voices. They warned him to stay back. The snake was clearly not in good condition and might lash out defensively if it felt cornered or threatened. They couldn’t risk provoking it. They needed a safer plan.