“I bought us a couples pass for the spa resort at that mountaintop hotel that Anna and Dave went to last month. It’s for this weekend and it will be so romantic,” Debra said.

“A spa?” Theo said. “No way I’m going to soak in some hot tub in the mountains when there are snakes around. That would be a huge faux pas as far as I’m concerned.”

“Theo, what in the world are you talking about?” Debra asked. “Dammit, I told you not to watch that stupid Snakes on a Plane movie, didn’t I?”

“I didn’t watch that,” Theo said, “but I saw a documentary on Cleopatra and how she killed herself with an asp, which is like a cobra, that she held to her breast when she was in her tub.”

“Don’t be a sap, Theo. That’s just a myth,” Debra said. “Here, let me Google it and you’ll see that it’s a legend.” Debra took out her iPhone and Googled, “Was Ceopatra killed by an asp?” Then she handed her iPhone to Theo. “Read this,” she insisted.

According to the most widely repeated theory of Cleopatra’s death, she died from a venomous snake bite, inflicted either by an asp or an Egyptian cobra. But there are several problems with this theory, according to modern Egyptologists. For one thing, cobras were typically at least five feet long, and could grow up to eight feet; much too large to smuggle into Cleopatra’s mausoleum in a basket of figs, as the story goes. In addition, not all snake bites are deadly, and those that are kill their victims slowly and painfully, making it hard to believe a snake was able to kill Cleopatra and her two maids in the short time it took for Octavian to receive her note and send his guards. Most Egyptologists believe she committed suicide by drinking poison.

“So she wasn’t bitten by an asp in a hot tub?” Theo asked.

“No, she apparently wasn’t,” Debra said, “although that legend sure sounds sexy, doesn’t it?”

“Well, I think that show I watched should have a public service announcement before they broadcast it saying that it’s just a legend.”

“Good idea, Theo,” Debra said. “Why don’t you start drafting up a PSA to that effect and I’ll call and confirm our reservations.”

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Written for Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, where the words are sap, spa, asp, pas, and PSA.