Adventure with a Black Snake

Rhett and I were out in the yard yesterday and when we walked back to the house, I started up the back steps (with just my flip flops for shoes) and when I was part way up the steps, I saw this good-sized black snake on the step in front of me. I pushed back against the rough stucco wall, shouted Whoa and then leaned way back. Rhett thought I was falling backwards, so he pushed me forward, drilling my hand into the stucco, removing four chunks of skin, down to a bleeding mass and putting me nearly face to face with the snake. Joyce was all the way around on the front porch and she heard my shout. Meanwhile the snake dropped down to the patio and slithered away at a rapid pace under the deck.