I suddenly realized that the parenthetical in my first reply is ambiguous; her gift to me, I meant to say. Now I just feel embarrassed for sharing the story in the first place.

Just the usual, I think . . .

Your usual makes for a rich mix, for sure.

a giant ex-zombie snake

Which phrase had my late-night riffing brain wondering whether ex-zombie because dead or a priori ex-zombie, as if whoever or whatever dispatched the snake brought it to its senses first. Something pleasantly tzu-jan za-zen about that.