Before the incident, Jeremy Sutcliffe had actually liked snakes. He’d found them beautiful, even. Besides, the 40-year-old wasn’t someone who kept away from wild creatures.

Jeremy was an adventurous outdoors man who took every chance he could to camp and fish. That love of nature was part of the reason Jeremy and his wife, Jennifer Sutcliffe, 43, had recently moved to South Texas from Kansas.

On a steamy Sunday morning in May 2018, the couple were tidying their yard in preparation for an evening cookout with their daughter.

At around 10: 30 a.m., Jeremy began mowing the lawn while Jennifer worked on the garden. She had just reached down to grab a weed when she saw it: a snake, right next to her hand.

Jennifer leaped up as the snake, a yard long, rose into striking position, its dusty triangular head tensed and its tail making scary sounds. "Snake! "yelled Jennifer as she backed away. "Snake! "

When he heard his wife’s cry, Jeremy figured she had run into the snake that often showed up on the property. He grabbed a shovel（铁铲） to frighten the creature away and jogged around the house to the garden.

That was when he heard the sounds. His wife was cornered between some bushes and the house, the snake directly in her path.

On a flight from Atlanta to Seattle, Alaska Airlines flight worker Amber May came across an unexpected and unusual request that saw her go above and beyond her normal duties.

With ten years of flying experience, Amber has me t with many special situations, but non e of them were more unique than the task waiting for her on that flight.

Six of Zoo Atlanta’s valuable Chilean flamingo (火烈鸟) eggs were on their way to Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo on the plane, where a zoo official placed them in a moveable warm box.

However, unfortunately, during the flight to Seattle, the zoo official found that the warm box stopped working without knowing what the reason was. As a result, the temperature inside the container was dropping fast. If the temperature continued to drop, this would put the eggs at risk. If the problem was not solved, these valuable eggs would never turn into young birds.

The zoo official was so worried that he first tried to repair the warm box by himself, but he was not a repairman after all. No matter how hard he tried, the warm box just wouldn’t work. He had also wanted to contact his colleagues at the zoo to ask for a solution, but he was on the plane and he couldn’t make a call. He realized that he was indeed in trouble.

And all of a sudden, he had a brainstorm. He thought of the workers on the plane, and immediately pressed the call button. He asked Amber May if she could find a way to help keep the eggs warm.

In response to this request, Amber May broadcast (广播) to find someone who can provide help. And after that, Amber May worked positively with the zoo official to think of other solutions. By filling rubber gloves with warm water, Amber created a place to keep the eggs comfortable and protected them from the coldness on the plane.

The unexpected call of duty also caused interest and kindness from other passengers.

Months later, the zoo called Amber May, inviting her to visit the young birds.

I’m a talker—I have a habit of talking to every person I see—but that afternoon in March 2015, I sat beside my husband Andy on the 45-minute drive home from the Marcus Autism Center without saying a word. My two-and-a-half-year-old son Wesley had just been diagnosed(诊断) with autism spectrum disorder (自闭症谱系障碍).

I’d been given instructions and suggestions and told to sign up for classes, but I knew we could never afford any. Out of everything the specialists had said, the only word I could remember was socialization-key for Wesley to develop social skills. In the car, I tried hard to come up with ways to make his world more social. Then the strangest idea came to mind, so strange that I blurted (脱口而出) it out. “We need a dog!”

Andy looked at me as if I were crazy. “What are you talking about, Rachel? You don’t ever really like dogs.” That was true. I had had bad experiences with dogs growing up. “And how are we going to afford a dog right now?” Yes, another big question. But somehow I couldn’t shake the idea.

A couple of weeks later, I was outside playing with Wesley, when a new neighbor walked over with a black curly-coated dog. When we were chatting, her medium-sized dog ran and jumped playfully between the boys. He was so gentle; he didn’t jump on people the way I’d seen a lot of dogs do. I watched, amazed. It was as if he knew exactly how careful to be with each of them.

“What breed (品种) is he?” I asked. “He’s an Aussiedoodle (贵宾澳牧),” She said proudly. Then she continued, “He was bred (培育) by a woman called Mary, who has three autistic (自闭症的) sons. She found that Aussiedoodles work perfectly as service dogs. I can give you her phone number if you want one.”

“Was this for real? We need an Aussiedoodle!” I said.

Then Andy and I drove to Mary’s home, and picked a dog called Berry.