Gator Boy Read online

  “Yes sir. Dis is Jed Gadon. I’m calling from the Tebeau’s Gas Pier out off a the ole Marks Ville road out a Lafayette. I want to report dat Louis Labeau has been found dead. Well all dat’s left is his arm hanging on a trought line. Well I can tell it’s him by the tattoo on his arm. From the looks of it, it was a big gator. It happened in a channel out offa Bayou Cocodre. Dat’s why I came in to the gas pier. Y’all’d never find it. Yes sir, I’ll stay here ‘til y’all get here.” Jed hung up the phone.

  Perry and Ronny just stood there with their mouths opened.

  “Hey Perry. How about another shot a dat Jack?” asked Jed.

  Perry poured the shot. Jed went to reach in his pocket and Perry said, “You drink on the house today, Jed.”

  “Thanks, Perry. I need it. If you saw what I saw you’d know what I mean.”

  “Where’d it happen, Jed?” asked Ronny.

  “Down at the south end of the bayou up dis little channel. I was with Lena an…”

  “Damn, you mean Lena done seen dat?” interrupted Perry.

  “Yeah, man, we was together. She come and got me when Louis didn’t show up. I just thought he might a tied one on. You know he was a drinker.”

  “Ah boy. Poor Louis,” said Perry.

  Just about that time the police came in.

  “We’re looking for a Jed Gadon,” said the police officer.

  “Dats me, officer.”

  “You made a report that a Louis Labeau was killed?” asked the cop.

  “Yes, sir. It looked like a gator got ole Louis. Ain’t nothin left but his arm,” answered Jed, starting to feel those shots.

  One of the cops, noticing that Jed was a little tipsy, asked, “Do you think you can take us to him, Mr. Gadon?”

  “Yes, sir, I can take you. I ain’t drunk,” answered Jed.

  Jingling his keys, Perry said, “I’ll drive Jed if you just show the way. Ronny, you watch the store,” said Perry.

  “Officer, if it’s all the same to y’all, could I lead the way in my boat, and y’all follow in Perry’s boat? Louis’s daughter was wit me when we found him an’ she’s all alone at my place. I need to get back to her.”

  “Well, as long as you’re available for questioning later,” answered one of the cops.

  “No problem, officer,” replied Jed.

  So Jed led the way out to the gruesome scene. When they had pulled up alongside of Louis’s boat, Jed just pointed over to the trout line and said, “It’s hanging on a hook on dat line. If you don’t mind I really don’t wanna see it again,” said Jed.

  So they got out and pulled in the line. When the arm surfaced still hanging on the hook, Perry put his hand up to his mouth and turned away. The young cop lost his breakfast. The older, more seasoned cop squinted his face as he cut the line holding the arm. Opening the black bag that he was carrying, he pulled out a plastic bag. Lifting the arm by the line, he lowered it into the plastic bag.

  “Is this all you saw when you found him, Mr. Gadon?” asked the older cop.

  “Yes, sir, dat’s it,” responded Jed.

  “I’ll call out a crew to drag this area for the body. Till then I don’t want any other motor driven boats up this channel,” said the cop.

  “I’ll put the word out,” said Perry.

  “I see just about everybody at the pier,” he continued.

  “Hey Perry, when y’all get back can you call Doc and send him out to my place?” Jed asked.

  He was referring to Doc Juneau. Doc makes house calls up and down the bayous. He drank a little but he was a kind and generous man.

  “You got it Jed,” answered Perry.

  “Well officer, if dat’s it, I’m gonna get back to Lena. I’ll see y’all,” said Jed.

  “If you need to talk to me again you can find me through Perry,” he continued as he started the motor and slowly pulled away.

  Jed hurried back to his place. When he got there Lena was sitting on the edge of the dock with her feet dangling in the water. She was humming a little song and looked sort of child like.

  “Hey Sher, what you doing out here?” asked Jed.

  Lena looked up and asked, “Did y’all find Daddy? Is he all right? I need to go to him.” She rambled on.

  “No baby. I took the cops out to where we found his… where we found him,” answered Jed.

  “Come on, let’s go up to the house. I’ll fix us something to eat,” he continued.

  Jed was worried. Lena was losing it. He put his arm around her shoulders and walked her back up stairs. He helped her sit down then opened the refrigerator and said, “Well let’s see what we got. Looks like Momma left us some fried chicken and corn bread wit some a her potato salad. Let’s eat.” Jed fixed Lena and himself a plate and brought them to the table where she was sitting. She just kind of stared at the plate in a daze, twirling her hair around her finger.

  “Baby, ya gotta eat something,” he told her.

  “Its OK. I’ll eat when Daddy gets here,” said Lena

  Just about that time a boat came up to the dock.

  “Daddy, is that you, Daddy?” said Lena.

  Jed went out to the porch. It was Doc Juneau. Jed turned to Lena and said, “Baby, I’ll be right back, OK? Let me go get Doc an we’ll be right back.”

  Jed ran down to where Doc was tying his boat.

  “Doc! Man, I’m glad you’re here. She saw the whole thing. She saw the arm and everything. But now she’s acting like she don’t know dat Louis is dead. She’s talking about when he comes home.”

  “Well, that’s not all that unusual, Jed. The girl’s in denial. I’ll give her a sedative and she’ll sleep,” said Doc as they walked up the stairs.

  “Well, hi there, Miss Lena,” said Doc as they entered the kitchen.

  “Hey Doc, watcha doing here?” asked Lena

  “Well, darlin’, I’m going to give you a little sedative to help you get some rest.”

  “Is Daddy with you, Doc?” asked Lena.

  Doc took her hand and said, “Darlin’, your Daddy is dead. He was killed, remember?”

  “Oh no! Daddy, Daddy! Where is he, Doc, where is he?” screamed Lena as Doc gave her a shot in the arm.

  “Come on, Jed, you better help me get her in the bed. This shot will take effect quickly,” said Doc.

  By the time they got her in the bed she was out.

  “I didn’t know what to do, Doc. You sure it’s OK to just tell her like ya did?” asked Jed.

  “Yes, my boy, I’m certain. The poor child was in denial. She has to know the reality or she’ll never deal with it. She’ll sleep through the night. Now listen closely, Jed. When she wakes up if she’s still asking for her father you have to tell her that he’s gone and not coming back. If she gets hysterical give her one of these.” He put a bottle of pills in Jed’s hand.

  “These are mild sedatives that will calm her down. That’s all you can do,” Doc continued as he picked up his bag and started down to his boat.

  “Good luck and call me if you need me,” he said, as he climbed into the boat.

  “Thanks Doc, send me the bill,” hollered out Jed.

  Doc just waved as he pulled away.

  At that same time at the place where Louis’s arm was found the police had two paddleboats out on the bayou dragging the area where Louis was killed. They never used motorboats at times like this so as not to stir up or destroy evidence.

  “Hey, I got something,” hollered one of the cops in the boat.

  He started pulling it up.

  “Oh my God,” said the cop.

  For what he had pulled up was the bottom half of Louis’s body. It had been chewed off at the waist. They left it in the water, pulling it behind the boat as they paddled toward the shore. All at once a huge head reminiscent of something straight from hell emerged from the water to reclaim the other half of its kill. Taking the lower torso in its mouth it disappeared back under the water. The rope tied to a cleat on the back of the boat tightened like a piano wire. T
he cop in the back of the boat, seeing what had just happened, stood up in the boat. As the rope was pulled it snapped with a jerk and the cop fell in the water. He thrashed around for a moment, then started frantically swimming toward the boat.

  “Help me!” he screamed.

  “There’s a man-eater in here,” he hollered.

  As he was screaming for help, he was lifted up out of the water with one whole leg swallowed by the deformed gator-like monster holding the other leg in one of its huge hands. It had human-like arms and shoulders, but the hands were much larger with sharp claws. Just as quickly as it had surfaced the creature disappeared under the water. Everyone on the bank stood there frozen in the moment. The cop in the boat sat motionless in shock. As the screams of horror stopped all that could be heard was the bubbling and rippling of the water.

  Everyone on the bayou had seen big alligators before. But this creature was a grotesque, ghastly, metamorphic revolution, neither man nor beast but something else, that no one among these witnesses could have ever imagined.

  Making a beeline toward the police boat the man in charge said, “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  About that time the cop in the paddleboat frantically paddling made it to bank and jumped out of the small boat.

  “I’m with you,” he said, jumping into the bigger boat.

  There was no safe place from a creature like that. Only distance could give the illusion of safety and they didn’t waste any time putting plenty of that between themselves and that thing in the bayou. None of those cops would be returning to the bayou any time soon.

  CHAPTER 3

  Ronny and Perry came hurrying out as they saw the police boat approaching the ramp.

  “Y’all find anything?” asked Perry.

  The head cop worked frantically as he answered, “There’s a man eater down there. The son of a bitch got one of my men. Tell everybody to stay clear of that part of the bayou till I can make a full report. We’ll be back for, whatever it is, as soon as we get a game plan.”

  Perry stood there, confused and speechless, as the police quickly tailored their boat, piled into the van, and sped away.

  “Ronny, we better put word out, boy. We got a killa gator on the loose out dare and he’s tasted human blood. We gotta put together a hunting party and kill that sucka. I know Jed’s gonna wanna be in on dis,” said Perry.

  Untying his boat, Ronny said, “I’m gonna go tell Jed what happened. I’ll be back”.

  “Be damn careful, boy,” hollered out Perry as Ronny sped away.

  Perry had seen times on the bayou that alligators had caused problems before. But two killings in a twenty-four-hour period was unheard of. With Jed and Ronny putting the word out, everybody along the bayou had the news in no time. They set up a meeting at the gas pier for eight o’clock in the morning.

  Back at Jed’s place he and Ronny talked out on the porch.

  “You know, Tebeau, dat damn ting is the reason the fish around here been so scarce,” said Jed.

  “You tink so, Jed?” asked Tebeau.

  “Yeah man. Even a catfish has enough brains not to stay in the water wit a monster like dat. We gotta find dat sucka and kill it. Once they done tasted human blood they come back looking for it. He ain’t no regula gator no more. He’s a man eater,” continued Jed.

  Listening to all they said from the shadows under the porch the miserable beast could neither bless nor curse the force that caused it to do the things it had done. There was no reasoning in this nightmare from which it could not awaken. Oblivious to any wrong doing, the feelings of its animal nature knew no sense of right or wrong. The only feeling it was able to experience was an empty, longing, yearning fear of losing the identity of its human nature, which was depleting with every passing day. Hearing tell of the things it had done, the monster turned away in disgust. Slowly disappearing into the swamp, it wished that somehow it could just be consumed into the nature around it and cease to exist.

  “Well, Jed, it’s getting late. I’m gonna go. I’ll see you in the morning,” said Tebeau.

  “Yeah man. Let me see what time Momma gets home and how Lena is doing in the morning. If I can’t get dare early I’ll catch up with y’all soon as I can,” replied Jed.

  As Tebeau cruised off down the bayou he had no way of knowing that his boat passed only inches from the killer beast.

  The next morning at seven o’clock sharp Jed was awakened by the sound of pots rattling in the kitchen. A smile came to his face as he realized that Momma was home. He climbed out of Judy’s bed where he had slept the night, and went to greet Momma.

  “Momma, I didn’t expect to see you back here dis early,” said Jed as he gave Momma a hug.

  “Well, Helen and Diamond got up at daylight to go to six o’clock mass and I thought that was as good a time as any to hit the road. Judy and Deadra are leaving for New Orleans later today,” answered Momma.

  “I noticed Lena in yo’ bed. Y’all drink too much last night?” Momma asked.

  “Dat’s right, you don’t know,” said Jed pushing his hair back with one hand.

  “Know what?” asked Momma.

  “Louis was killed yesterday, Momma,” said Jed. “Lena saw the whole thing.”

  “Louis? Lord have mercy,” said Momma.

  “Yeah, well dat ain’t the worse part. All dat was left of poor Louis was his arm hanging by a hook on a trout line.”

  The news of Louis’s death resurrected memories of Marcus’s disappearance. Momma’s eyes watered up as she sat down and wiped her eyes with her apron.

  “Since then, Momma, a cop has been killed too when dey was draggin’ the area for parts of ole Louis. It’s a killa gator. We all supposed to go meet over at the gas pier at eight o’clock today. All the men on the bayou is supposed to be there,” Jed informed her.

  “Well you better get a move on, son. You’ll be late,” said Momma.

  Jed hurriedly got ready to go to the meeting. Coming out of the back he handed Momma the pills that Doc had left for Lena and told Momma all of Doc’s instructions.

  “Jus’ leave it to me, son. Lena’s gonna be alright. I’ll see to dat. You jus go to dat meeting an y’all get dat bastard gator,” said Momma.

  “OK, Momma, I’ll be back as soon as I can,” said Jed as he walked out.

  When Jed arrived at the gas pier some of the boys were already there.

  “Hey, Jed,” they said.

  “What you tink about alla dis?” they asked.

  “Well, boys, I seen it wit my own eyes. Whatever did dat to Louis was big, an’ he’s a killa. An’ you know what they say. Once they done tasted human blood dat’s all they want.”

  The boys shook their heads in agreement. About that time the door flew open with a jerk.

  Louis had been seeing a gal who had only lived on the bayou for about a year. She was from the swamps down around Pointe Al La Hatch, Louisiana, and none of the boys really knew much about her except that she bought her gas at the pier and never spoke a word to anyone. Her name was Nonette. Well, they were fixing to meet her because there she stood in all her glory. She looked like she was ready for a war, wearing two bullet belts, one around her waist and another across her chest. She carried a thirty thirty rifle under one arm, a pistol at one side, and a knife at the other. Dressed all in buckskins and suede, she looked like what one might expect one of the original pioneers that settled the swamplands to have looked. Her imposing persona had everyone dumfounded.

  “Is dis where the meeting is about dat gator what done killt my Louis?” she asked.

  “Cause if you boys plan to kill dat son of a bitch, I want me some a dat,” she walked in and introduced herself. “I’m Nonette Jocko. Me an Louis was in love,” she said, squinting her face as tears came to her eyes. She got a hold of her emotions quickly and her face once again went stone cold.

  “Dat damn gator done ended dat for me now. An I aim to end his ass, too,” she said, walking in and helping herself to a seat at the bar.<
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  Perry leaned on the bar and said, “Look, Miss Nonette, dat gator is the worst ever heard of around dese parts. An’ I ain’t sho’ a lady oughtta be involved in dis. It’s gonna be dangerous.”

  Nonette, easing a twelve-inch hunting knife out of the scabbard, acted as though she was cleaning her nails with it.

  “You gonna try an’ stop me, mista stow keepa?” she asked, turning her head and looking Perry right in the eye.

  “Well, no ma’am. Take it easy now. I just meant it ain’t gonna be no picnic. If you tink you can handle it…”

  “Oh, I can handle it,” she broke in. “From here on in just count me as one of the boys, you got dat? An’ dat goes for any damn other one a you good ole boys who tinks Nonette ain’t got no place here,” she said, looking in all of their eyes.

  All the boys, thinking to themselves ‘holy shit’, shrugged and shook their heads in agreement that there was no problem at all.

  Trying to keep it light, Perry said, “Well, it’s eight-thirty. I guess every body’s here who’s gonna be. Well everybody knows why we’re here. Our good friend Louis was attacked and killed by a killa gator still on the loose out dare. Dat killa’s gotta be stopped before it kills again. And I tink we can all agree dat’s probably what’s killed the fishing around here, too. So our whole way a life depends on finding an’ killing dat damn gator. At dis point it probably ain’t safe to fish around here. Dat ting can be anywhere out dare and can attack at any time.”

  As the meeting continued, a pick up truck was pulling down under a bridge off the main highway that crossed the bayou not too far from there. Two teen-age boys from the next town up had come to do some pole fishing. They had not heard the news about the gator. They pulled a small aluminum boat out of the back of the truck and slid it into the water. They loaded up their tackle box and poles in the boat and climbed in. Taking the paddles, they paddled out to the middle of the bayou right under the bridge. Their favorite spot was close to the concrete pillar that supported the bridge. They had good luck there many times before. Paddling into position, they dropped the makeshift anchor -- a couple of bricks on the end of a rope.