Gator Boy Read online

  GATOR BOY

  All Rights Reserved © 2001 by Vince Giaco

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the author.

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  ISBN:1-931297-70-3

  INTRODUCTION

  Sometimes, through an unimaginable chain of events, life takes a course that could never have been predicted. As nature deals out its often-cruel hand to mankind, at times there is no recourse but to sit back and play it out.

  Just when he thought he was in control, he suddenly realized he was not. Guided by only the best of intentions, the worst had happened. The hunter had suddenly become the hunted. Looking up at the stars, a tear rolled down his deformed face. The sky had not changed. It was the same sky he had been looking up at for as long as he could remember. The smell of the earth as he laid his head back on the bank of the bayou was still the same. But the events of the last several hours had begun twisting his essence into something very different. All he could do was to start at the beginning and, hopefully, he might discover how or why.

  Ode to Gator Boy

  There’s been no tail of man or beast,

  The past has yet revealed to you,

  As the tragic tail of Gator Boy,

  The terror of the green bayou.

  Nature’s freak; evil’s seed,

  The hand of God did not assist,

  Creation of this horrid beast,

  Could only be the Devil’s trick.

  A beast whose gift is violent death,

  To those who it embraces,

  It craves the blood; the human flesh,

  Death’s horror on the faces.

  One thing the past has shown as true,

  Is heroes do emerge,

  To rid the world of evil’s coo,

  To stamp out Satan’s scourge.

  V.J. Giaco 2000

  CHAPTER 1

  The green water of the bayou was as still as a millpond as Jed’s flat bottom fishing boat, Gator Boy, silently skimmed over its mirrored surface. Jed Gadon was a Cajun fisherman who, like his father before him, made his living fishing these bayous. His primary income was from the sale of the catfish that he caught daily. Jed was twenty-five years old and had always lived with his family on the banks of a bayou in a wooded area some miles out of Lafayette, Louisiana. He stayed with his mother and sister, supporting them since the death of his father a year hence.

  His father, Marcus, had gone out on Gator Boy as he had every day for thirty years, but that day he did not return. The boat was found drifting in the bayou but no sign of his father was ever found. That was really not an unheard of occurrence in these waters with the alligators and all. Through the years many a man had disappeared without a trace. Who knows, maybe while pulling in his nets a gator could have shot up from out of the dark water and swallowed him whole. That did not make the pill of loosing his dad any easier to swallow.

  Five days a week Jed took his catch up the bayou toward the city and sold it to Luke Gio. Luke made his living buying the catches from Coon Asses like Jed, cleaning the fish, packing them in ice, and selling them to local merchants. That’s where Jed was heading this morning.

  Now there’s an interesting term: Coon Ass. Coon Ass is an affectionate term that Cajuns call each other to this day all through South Louisiana. If you are a friend you may throw the term around liberally. But if not, it is sometimes not well accepted. But most Cajun people are proud to be Coon Asses and are generally good hearted about it.

  “Hey Luke. What you say, boy?” hollered Jed as he pulled up to the dock.

  “A laba, Coon Ass. What you know good today?” answered Luke.

  A laba means “hey over there” in Cajun French.

  “Well I caught the biggest cat fish I ever saw but I threw him back in ‘cause he had an ugly face just like you, Luke,” said Jed jokingly.

  “Ha ha,” replied Luke. “What you got for me today, comedian?” continued Luke.

  “Ah, slim pickins again today, Luke. All I got is fifty pounds of blue channel cat.”

  “Fifty, is dat all?”

  “Ya know, I been noticing the catches lately sho ain’t what day used to be.” said Jed.

  “Yeah well, let’s see fifty pounds at seventy five cents a pound comes to thirty five bucks. Here ya go.”

  “Tanks, Luke. See ya tomorrow.”

  “Not if I see you first.”

  As Jed pulled away he couldn’t help but wonder why lately all the catches seemed to be getting smaller. Were the bayous all fished out? No way, he thought to himself. Why, less than a year ago the blue channel cat were so plentiful in these waters they almost jumped in the boat. But here lately if he pulled in fifty or sixty pounds a day he was doing good. Each day he would have to go deeper and deeper into the bayous to get that. Something was wrong. This was what got him to start his own personal investigation trying to find out why all the fish seemed to have left the area. As he pulled up to the gas pier Jed hollered out, “Hey Tebeau, come here let me ax you something.”

  Tebeau was a wiry nineteen-year-old kid whose father owned the gas pier where all the local fishermen bought their gas and tackle.

  “Hey what’s up, Jed?”

  “Hey man, you heard anybody talking about the fishing around here going to hell in a basket?”

  “Well, I tell you what, Jed, I ain’t been able to catch my ass wit both hands. Me an’ Labeau were talking about dat yesterday. It’s almost like all the fish high tailed it out a here. Long as I remember dare was always enough fish in dese waters for us and the alligators. My daddy said dat when he was a boy the gator population got out a hand and dey were eating up all the fish. Dey hunted um so thin dey nipped dat in the bud. But I ain’t been seeing dat many gators. I’ll tell you what, I’m hearing some of the boys sayin’ if the fishing don’t pick up soon dey gonna have to take a job in the city.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean, man. Well thanks, Tebeau. I’ll let you know if I come up wit anything.”

  “OK, see ya, Jed. Hey Jed, tell Judy I’m gonna pick her up about six o’clock. We was gonna go catch dat new horror movie at the drive in over in Lafayette.”

  “OK, Tebeau, I’ll tell her.”

  Jed headed toward home for the day. They lived in an old wood frame house right on Bayou Cocodre. The backside of the house rested atop the natural levy that the bayou had created by simply flowing by as it had done for hundreds of years. Toward the front of the house the bank of the bayou was much lower as the levy sloped downward to the waters edge. The front section of the house was built on stilts and the porch extended out over the water. All the houses along the bayou were built on stilts in case of high water.

  Jed docked Gator Boy at a small dock just below the front porch. There were stairs that lead up from the end of the dock to the porch that ran along the bayou side of the house.

  “Hey Sweet Judy Blue eyes.” A name he called his sister Judy.

  “Hey Jed,” answered a pretty little gal leaning over the porch railing.

  Judy was eighteen years old and a real Cajun beauty. She and Tebeau had been dating since high school.

  “I ran into Tebeau over at the gas pier. He said he’ll be out to get you at six o’clock. Dare’s a new horror movie at the drive in.”

  “Tanks Jed. Hey, why don’t you call Lena and maybe we can double date.”

  Lena was a girl who lived up the bayou
who Jed dated now and again. It was semi-serious.

  “No, not tonight, I’m tired. You go on have a good time.”

  “OK party pooper,” she answered.

  Jed walked up the stairs and saw his mother boiling some crayfish at the stove. She hadn’t seen him come up. He snuck up behind her and untied her apron.

  “Oh Sher, you scared me.”

  “Momma, dose crayfish smell good.”

  “Well pull up a chair, Sher, dey ready.”

  Jed sat and ate crayfish hush puppies and new potatoes till he was about to bust.

  “Momma, dat was the best crayfish you ever made, the best!”

  “Aw my Sher, some day you gonna marry wit dat little gal up the bayou and you gonna tell her the same ting.” She laughed as they walked out.

  In the cool of the evening after dinner they would often move out to the front porch to talk and enjoy the serenity of the bayou. Just as they were sitting down they heard the familiar hum from the motor of Tebeau’s Boat.

  “Six o’clock sharp,” said Jed as Tebeau pulled his boat up the dock.

  Right on cue, Judy came running out to the rail.

  “Hey Ronny, I’ll be right down.”

  “Just jump, I’ll catch you,” said Tebeau.

  “Yeah, and you and her gonna go right through the bottom of dat hunk a junk,” said Jed jokingly.

  Everybody knew that Tebeau’s boat was one of the finest on the bayou.

  “Hey Ronny, you wanna come up for some boiled crayfish?”

  “No thanks, Momma. If we don’t get a move on we gonna miss the first feature.”

  Momma was always trying to feed everybody that came up the bayou. About that time Judy came running down and jumped in the boat.

  “Well, folks, we’ll see y’all later,” said Tebeau as he started the motor.

  “Bye Momma, bye Jed,” hollered Judy.

  “Bye bye, baby. Y’all have a nice time,” hollered back Momma.

  They watched on as the boat disappeared down the bayou. Jed flopped down in the chair and said, “Momma, I had another sorry day. I talked to Tebeau at the gas pier and he says everybody been having the same problem. The fish are getting scarce. “

  “Well son, what are we gonna do?”

  “Well Tebeau says all the boys been talking about looking for work in the city. If I have to, I’ll see if I can deckhand a shrimp boat, or maybe go work off shore. But I’m gonna try to find out what’s causing it before I just give up. I just wish pop was still around. He’d know what to do. But I’ll tell you what. This is our life. When I find out what’s threatening it, I’m gonna be the one dat stops it.”

  As Jed and his mother spoke to one another, a slimy head slowly rose up out of the still water in the shadow of Gator Boy, as it did many nights. Looking up at the porch above, it listened to their conversation. Tears rolled down from its gator like eyes as it quietly moaned to itself.

  Not long afterward they heard a strange call come from down the bayou. It almost sounded like a bobcat but deeper like a bear.

  “Well what do ya reckon dat was, Jed?” asked Momma, startled.

  “It almost sounded like a bear, Momma. But dare hadn’t been any bears in dease parts in fifty years or more. Oh well. Dare’s always strange noises to be heard along dease bayous.”

  So they dismissed it. They talked for a while longer. When the mosquitoes started swarming they went in for the evening.

  Having to get up at three AM to be out on the water when the fish were biting, Jed went to bed just a little after dark. He pulled back the mosquito net covering his bed and climbed in. As he lay there looking up at the ceiling wondering how mush deeper into the bayou he’d have to go tomorrow to make a good catch, Jed drifted off to sleep. The nights were peaceful on the bayou.

  Later that night the sound of Tebeau’s boat drifting up and bumping the dock momentarily awakened him. Tebeau would cut off the motor and coast in so as not to wake Momma and Jed. The same sound of the small ripples echoing onto the shore around the dock that had awakened Jed quickly soothed him back into slumber.

  “Bye, Ronny,” said Judy.

  “I had a real nice time.”

  “You know, baby, I want you to marry me so we can stay together all the time.”

  “Oh Ronny, you know I love you. But I got plans to get off dis bayou some day. You’ll never leave here unless they carry you out.”

  “What you gonna find out dare you ain’t got right here, girl?”

  “I don’t know but I got to see. But until I do get my ticket outa here, I’m all yours,” she said as she opened her arms.

  “What am I gonna do wit you?” asked Ronny.

  “See ya later,” he said as he hugged her.

  “See ya, Ronny,” said Judy and they kissed goodbye.

  Using the paddle from his boat, Ronny pushed away from the dock. The current caught him and pulled him away down the bayou. Judy stood on the dock watching as he drifted away. She waved as he started his motor and slowly disappeared into the darkness. Judy looked up at the sky and sighed, then went up to bed.

  The next morning, Momma clanging around in the kitchen wakened Jed, as she did every morning. She was up, as they say, with the chickens to cook him a breakfast and make his lunch every day with out fail.

  “Momma, why don’t you sleep in? You ain’t gotta do dis every day,” said Jed

  “Aw son, what else an ole lady like me got to do?” answered Momma.

  “I did it for your daddy for thirty years, and I guess it’s just an ole habit,” she continued.

  They had this same conversation at least a couple of times a week.

  After eating his fill of eggs and homemade biscuits Jed brought his plate to the sink, grabbed his lunch and said, “Well Momma, wish me luck.”

  “You got all the luck I got, Sher,” said Momma.

  He gave her a hug and went down to the dock. He pushed away from the dock and started Gator Boy. Then with a push of the throttle he was off.

  The average man would get lost up in those bayous and never come out. But Jed knew all the turns and bends just like city streets. When he reached one of his luckiest fishing spots he dropped his net into the dark water where the catfish usually were but came up with nothing. He moved a little deeper down the channel and tried again. And once again, he came up with nothing.

  Shining his spotlight around, he caught sight of a channel branching off from the main bayou that was overgrown and hidden by the overhanging trees. He pulled Gator Boy over to it. Opening his toolbox he pulled out his pruning saw. He carried it with him just for jobs like this. In the bayous you might have to cut low hanging branches to get to where you need to drop your net. He cut an opening just big enough for the boat to scrape through. Deeper and deeper down the channel he went dragging his net. He pulled it up every few minutes until finally, catfish started appearing in his net. Fishing was good in that new-found channel. Although Jed had to go into waters he had not fished before, he was actually having better luck than he had in quite a while. This was his first catch of over a hundred pounds in a long time. Excitedly, he emptied his net onto the deck of Gator Boy. Realizing that he must have hit a school of catfish feeding, he quickly lowered his net again for another sweep. As he slowly trolled forward he felt the boat jerk to a stop as if he had hit a cypress knee or something, and he quickly killed the motor. Using his spotlight, he shined it all around the boat but could not see anything that he might have hit. He figured that it might be something down under the water that he could not see in the dark using just the spotlight. After all, he had not fished here before and had no idea what could be down there. He thought to himself, ‘oh well,’ as he started pulling his net in. There were a few more fish in the net, but there was a huge hole ripped out of it. Jed realized that he must have snagged something deep in the water that had ripped his net open. But why wasn’t his net still hung up? Well, at any rate, the fishing was over for the day.

  The sun was coming up as
Jed made his way out of the bayou. In the daylight he had another look at his net. What ever it was severed his net like razor. The hole was cut, not ripped. He scratched his head as he headed over to sell his catch to Luke.

  “Hey Luke,” Jed hollered out as he approached.

  “Boys and gentlemen, look at the catch my boy Jed done brought me today,” said Luke, seeing the pile of catfish on the deck of Jed’s boat.

  “Yeah, Luke, but I messed up my best net. Look at dis,” said Jed, holding up the net.

  “Damn, boy, what’d you do?” asked Luke.

  “Man, I was fishing way down in a channel I never seen before because it was so over grown, and every ting was going great till I hooked up on something that tore my net all to hell.”

  “Dat net’s been sliced open clean. I don’t know what coulda done dat,” said Luke

  “Yeah, dat’s the same ting I thought,” answered Jed.

  “Well, I’m gonna go back dare to check it out. The fishing is too good. Maybe if I drag the bottom I can find out what’s down dare.”

  They quickly took care of business. Jed had a hundred and thirty-five pound catch. He was taking home over a hundred bucks that day. Now that’s more like it, he thought to himself.

  Jed high-tailed it back out to where he had made that catch. He stopped the boat over the spot where he was certain that his net had gotten snagged. He tied off two large hooks and slowly lowered them into the water till they hit bottom. Then he started dragging the bottom for whatever caught his net. Up and down the channel he went, turning up nothing but swamp grass for his trouble. But there had to be something down there, thought Jed to himself. After two hours of dragging the bottom Jed was certain that nothing was down there. More puzzled than ever, he pulled up the two draglines and headed for the gas pier. He would need to refuel for tomorrow’s run.

  “Hey Tebeau, fill her up, boy,” Jed shouted.

  “You don’t usually fill up dis often. How’d you use up all dat gas, man?” asked Tebeau.