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T U E S D A Y

The first time we met was early last summer, in the garden. He was a 5-foot-long, mean-looking fellow who slithered away calmly while my dog and I ran for our lives. Later in the summer, he crawled through a drainpipe into the house and basked silently on a window ledge. I nearly died when I saw him. If I’d been to tonight’s presentation at the Walney Amphitheater, however, I would have known I had nothing to fear but fear itself. Provided you don’t accept an apple from them, the “Snakes of Fairfax” are generally harmless, dimwitted, and actually cute. Now I almost miss the guy. At 7 p.m. at Ellanor C. Lawrence Park, 5040 Walney Rd., Centreville. FREE. (703) 631-0013. (Patrick Symmes)