Part One: Pages 52-76 Summary

Joe Lon awakens the following morning to nearly a thousand people gathering for the snake hunt. Many bring their own pet snakes, and still more are vendors, attempting to sell their sketches, paintings, and crafts made from and focused on snakes. Sheriff Matlow buys two rubbers with snake patterns, and many look on as an older woman weaves snake rattles into mosaic artwork. Joe Lon remembers the drunken night before, when he got drunk enough to confuse reality with fantasy, and had fallen into bed savagely with who he thought was Berenice. Elfie, his wife, awoke to a savage drunk having sex with her. She tried to fend him off, but he proceeded to do to her all the things he used to do to Berenice, and called her by Berenice's name several times. He awakens to...