Gator Boy Read online

  From below, a pair of eyes were watching the boat. As one of the boys leaned over the edge to drop the anchor, those eyes saw him, too.

  “I hope we catch some big ones today, Brad,” said one of the boys.

  “Me, too, man. Ain’t nothing like a fish fry,” answered his brother, Jaime.

  The beast had an intellect that went beyond mere animal instinct. It could reason. It knew that when it had pulled on the rope tied to the boat yesterday, it caused a man to fall in the water.

  It knew that if it worked once, it should work again. So, swimming beneath the boat, it took the rope in its mouth, giving it a jerk.

  “What the heck was that?” asked the Jaime.

  “I don’t know, man,” Brad answered.

  When the monster saw that nothing happened, it became angered and took off at a high speed, still pulling the rope in its mouth. Both boys dropped their poles and held on for dear life as the boat was pulled down the bayou at a tremendous rate of speed.

  “We gotta jump, man.”

  “No man, something’s down there.”

  Looking up ahead, Jaime saw a low hanging tree limb coming up.

  “Look, here’s our chance. We have to jump for it,” he hollered.

  “Let’s go for it,” agreed Brad.

  As the limb came up fast the boy up front stood up, misjudging the speed. The sharp end of a broken branch jabbed right through his chest and out of his back, impaling him on the branch. Seeing that, the other boy could only duck as the boat passed under the limb. As he looked back at his dead brother in horror, another limb came up, bashing him in the back of his skull and knocking him out of the boat. He was dead before he hit the water. Hearing the splash, the monster turned and closed in at full speed. Grabbing the boy in the water by the head, it pulled him under. As most gators will do when they make a fresh kill, the monster took the boy down and rolled over and over in the water. Once certain that the kill was dead, the killer took the boy down to the bottom of the bayou and stuffed him under a huge rock.

  Then looking up through the sunlight in the water, the beast saw the blood dripping from the other boy’s body hanging on the limb. Swimming up just below the surface, the monster began taking bites of the young boy pinned to the tree. Time after time the horrible mutated head rose up out of the water for another bite while the radio from the truck could be heard playing a golden oldie.

  The fishing boat still being held by the anchor floated hidden among the low hanging limbs. Only the blood in the boat from the gruesome killings gave any hint to the fate of the two young boys

  Back at the gas pier the meeting was still going on.

  “I make a suggestion that only the biggest boats should be involved,” said Perry.

  “If you guys with the smaller boats want y’all’s boats involved you can, but from what I’ve heard dat gator’s at least a twenty footer and y’all don’t want to end up in the water wit it,” Perry continued.

  The boys agreed. It only made good sense not to be in too small of a boat with a killer alligator on the loose. Perry continued, “Well y’all might want to stay in groups. But any boats dat go it alone need to have three or more on board. When my daddy went on a hunt like dis years ago, they baited big hooks and pulled um about fifteen or twenty feet behind the boats. Any a y’all dat use chain nets might net him, but be sho’ ya got enough boat to handle him if you do. He’ll just slice a cloth net to ribbons so don’t waste yo’ time. If any body snags him call for help. Don’t try to handle him wit’out back up. So if there ain’t no questions, le’s go get us a gator.”

  Jed walked over to Nonette and said, “Miss Nonette, I’m Jed Gadon. Me an’ Lena found Louis. Lena’s at my place resting right now. I’d be mighty proud to have you on my boat Gator Boy. How bout it?” Jed asked.

  “Oh me, yeah, dat works fo’ me,” answered Nonette.

  “You know, Jed I heard Louis talk about ya many times. I don’t know if he ever told ya dis, but he had always hoped dat you and Lena, well dat y’all’d get hitched. He only had good tings to say about ya.”

  “Thanks for telling me dat, Miss Nonette. Dat sho’ means a lot to me. You know I been thinking a lot about me an’ Lena. Now wit Louis gone I want her wit me. She’s sho’ taking all a dis hard,” Jed replied.

  “Lena’s a tough hide, an every bit her Daddy’s daughter. Don’t ya worry none about her. She’ll be alright.”

  “Well we gotta go by my place first. I’m in Lena’s boat. Come on, we’ll get us some breakfast before we go out. I know my Momma would love to meet ya, too,” Jed told Nonette.

  “OK. I’ll folla ya in my boat,” said Nonette.

  CHAPTER 4

  On the way to his place Jed thought to himself that he was glad to have Nonette on his boat. She had more guts than most of the men he knew on the bayou.

  They pulled up to Jed’s dock and tied off their boats.

  “Right up dis way, Miss Nonette,” said Jed.

  “Jed, is dat you?” asked Momma, looking over the porch rail.

  “Yeah Momma, it’s me. An’ I got somebody here for you to meet,” answered Jed.

  As they stepped on to the porch Jed said, “Momma, dis is Miss Nonette Jocko. Miss Nonette an’ Louis were seeing each other.”

  “Miss Gadon, I’m very pleased ta meet ya. How’s Lena doing?” asked Nonette as she extended her hand out to Momma.

  “Well she got up a little bit ago. She’s right inside…” answered Momma, offering her hand as Lena interrupted.

  “Nonette, I’m glad you’re here,” said Lena.

  “Oh, baby, I went by yo’ place on the way to dat meeting. I was worried about ya. But Jed here filled me in. I’m so sorry about yo’ Daddy, baby. We all loved him. But me an’ Jed here gonna kill dat son of a bitch gator what got yo’ Daddy. Dat’s a promise from Nonette,” she said, hugging Lena.

  “Come on in here, Miss Nonette, and sit yo’self down. Let me cook y’all some breakfast,” said Momma.

  “Aw, Miss Gadon, you ain’t got ta…”

  “Oh me, you call me Ivy,” said Momma.

  “Well in dat case, Ivy, you call me Nette,” replied Miss Nonette.

  Momma cooked bacon and eggs and warmed up the homemade biscuits while she and Nette talked and got better acquainted. Jed Took Lena out on the dock where they could be alone.

  “Lena, ya know I love ya, baby,” he told her. “And I know dis is a bad time. But I want ya to think about coming an’ staying out here all the time.”

  “You mean as a roommate?” asked Lena, looking out of the corner of her eye.

  “No baby. I mean as my wife. I’m asking ya to marry me.”

  “Oh, Jed. Yes, of course I’ll marry ya,” answered Lena.

  Even in the midst of this tragedy Jed’s proposal made Lena happy.

  “Yaeee!” hollered Jed.

  “What’s all the commotion down there?” asked Momma as she and Nette looked down over the rail.

  “Momma, as soon as me and Miss Nonette get dat Gator, me an Lena is getting married,” replied Jed.

  “Well dat’s the bess news we had around here in a long time,” said Momma.

  “I just wish my Daddy was here to see it,” said Lena in a tearful voice, blotting her eyes with a hankie.

  “Oh bae he sees it alright,” said Nette.

  “Well baby, you better come on up an’ rest a little,” said Jed to Lena.

  “No Sher, I slept like a log last night. I don’t need no mo’ rest. Besides, Momma said she’d come wit me to my place to get a few tings. I’m gonna stay wit y’all for a little while,” answered Lena.

  “You and Nette get dis boat ready an go kill dat damn gator. Me an’ Momma gonna be alright,” continued Lena.

  “OK baby, if you tink ya up to it,” answered Jed.

  Jed climbed aboard Gator Boy and started removing his fishing net. He planned to put hooks in the end of the cables so they could bait them. Then he planed to pick a spot and just start trolling. C
atching a gator like this was going to be strictly a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

  After having coffee with Momma and getting acquainted, Nette came down to the dock and asked, “Need any help Jed?”

  “No, Miss Nonette, I just about got it. What we need is some real bloody meat though, to bait these hooks. And not no little pieces either, I mean big chunks,” Jed answered.

  “Well, look here Jed, I got a whole coop full a chickens down at my place. All we gotta do is cut the heads off an put dose on dem hooks. They’ll bleed all day,” said Nette.

  “Now dat’s a good idea, Miss Nonette,” said Jed.

  “Dose chickens drippin’ a trail a blood behind us gonna be more than any gator can resist,” he continued.

  Turning up to the house Nette hollered out, “We gonna see y’all in a little bit, Ivy,” as she stepped on to the boat.

  So off went the two hunters on their way to Nette’s house to get those chickens.

  Back at the bridge where the two boys were killed something was stirring. A police car slowly pulled under the bridge.

  “Dispatch, this is unit 36, do you copy? I’m checking out a vehicle illegally parked here under the bayou Cocodre Bridge on High way 28. I’ve got a Louisiana license plate number here 329E43J.

  “Could you run that and get back with me?”

  “10-4, running 329E43J. Stand by 36.”

  “10-4. Standing by.”

  Within fifteen minutes the dispatch operator came back on the radio.

  “Unit 36, this is dispatch, do you copy?”

  “10-4 dispatch, this is 36, go ahead.”

  “36, that vehicle 329E43J is registered under the names of a David and Melissa Ford. The registration is current and no outstanding warrants.”

  “10-4 dispatch. Could we attempt to contact the vehicle owners just to make sure this truck hasn’t been stolen? It’s just kind of strange that the keys are still in the vehicle and the radio’s playing. I’ve been here for approximately twenty minutes with a clear view both ways up and down the bayou and there’s no sign of anyone around.”

  “10-4 unit 36. Stand by and we will attempt to contact vehicle owner.”

  “10-4 unit 36 standing by.”

  While waiting for the word from the dispatch officer, the cop walked around the truck, checking it out.

  “Unit 36, this is dispatch, do you copy?”

  Walking back over to the police car the officer took the radio in hand and said, “This is 36, go ahead.”

  “Yes 36, we were able to contact that vehicle owner. They were beginning to get worried. Their two sons went fishing this morning and were supposed to have been back by now. The vehicle owners are in route to search for the two boys. Their ETA estimated in approximately 30 minutes.”

  “10-4 dispatch. I’ll stay in the area and wait for the vehicle owners.”

  “10-4 unit 36. Over and out.”

  “36 out,” said the cop, dropping the radio mike on the car seat.

  Perhaps if the officer had been aware of the monster that lay in wait under the water only a few yards away he may have stayed in the car, or even run in terror. But as he walked over to the bayou’s edge he was already being watched from below. Reaching down and picking up a few stones the cop skipped one on the water. He skipped another.

  “Five, that was a good one,” said the young cop.

  Just about the time that he skipped the third stone the huge monster shot up out of the water with lightning fast speed. The cop’s arm was still extended, having just made his throw. The ravenous beast bit his arm off at the shoulder then disappeared into the water. The blood shot out from the main arteries at the shoulder as the cop fell and then struggled to drag himself back to the car. In shock and a state of panic, he pulled himself up to the opened car door and grabbed the radio off the car seat.

  “This is 36. I’ve been attacked! Need ambulance,” screamed the cop in horror.

  Then he passed out.

  “36, this is dispatch, over. 36, do you copy?” came from the radio.

  But 36 was out cold, hanging out of the police car. He bled to death in a matter of minutes.

  The scene was so bizarre, as the only thing that broke the silence was the sound of “Your Cheating Heart” playing on the radio and the clicking noise from the lights still spinning around on the top of the police car.

  Nature goes on, blind to the horror it encompasses. There were birds singing and a nice breeze blowing. Just like any other pretty day. Except for three more gruesome killings to the monster’s credit.

  As Jed and Nonette pulled up to the dock by Nonette’s house, his bottom jaw fell open. There was a wide array of alligator heads, gator parts, and gator skins all hung up on racks to cure. Nonette, seeing the astonishment on Jed’s face said,

  “What’s a matta, Sher? Dis is how Nonette makes her living. Dat’s what I do. Dares a lotta money in dose gator parts. Dat’s how I pay fo’ all dis,” she said, laughing out loud, standing there with her arms open as if showing off her place. The place was clean and in order, and obviously Nonette had a legitimate business going for herself.

  “Maybe you got no stomach for dis kind a work, young gentleman,” she said, raising an eyebrow.

  “No ma’am, it’s not dat. You just don’t expect to see, well I mean, you know, a woman doin dis work all alone.”

  “Oh, baby, my daddy taught me everyting there is to know about hunting gator. You in good company wit Ole Nonette. It ain’t gonna be easy to kill dat big son of a bitch out dare. Nonette gonna skin his ass, hang his head out to dry, and use his backbone fo’ a coat rack fo’ killin’ my Louis,” she continued with a serious look on her face.

  Jed smiled and scratched his head and said, “Well Miss Nonette, I’m damn glad you ridin’ wit me. Just wake me up when it’s over,” Jed said, jokingly insinuating that she wouldn’t be needing his help.

  He followed her to the chicken coup off to the side of the house. Nonette opened a lid on the hen house and reached inside. Looking over at Jed she said, “Oh no, Sher. Don’t overestimate Miss Nonette, or underestimate dat gator. Dis ones as bad as I ever seen. We gonna have to keep our senses sharp so we don’t get ate up by dis one,” she said as she came up holding two chickens by the feet. Walking over to a table, she picked up a machete. Swinging the two chickens around and slapping them down on the table, she chopped off both of their heads with one whack. They started flapping around. She just held her arm out till they stopped.

  “Das why I keep me a coup full a dese,” she said, holding up the two freshly killed chickens.

  “Gators love um.”

  Back at the site of the three bloody deaths only minutes had passed and the activity was starting to increase. The Fords were just arriving under the bridge to search for their two boys. The police car was parked at an angle so the dead cop could not be seen from where they parked. The wife was the first out.

  “Well the cops are here. That’s good,” she said.

  Then the husband stepped out.

  “Bradley, Jaime,” he hollered at the top of his lungs.

  “I wonder where the cop got off to?” asked Mr. Ford.

  “Aw he’s probably out looking for those two,” said the wife, sounding annoyed at the two boys.

  A pretty little red head stuck her head out of the car and asked, “Uncle David, can me and Puppo get out and run around?”

  That was Katie, their favorite little twelve-year-old niece. She and Puppo, her dog, were over visiting the Fords.

  “Yeah, I guess it’s OK, Katie B,” said her Uncle David.

  “Oh cool! Come on, Puppo,” said Katie as she jumped out of the car.

  Katie and the little dog ran up the bank of the bayou.

  “Get the ball, Puppo,” said Katie, throwing his favorite toy.

  The ball rolled down the bank and into the water before he could get to it. But it didn’t stop that dog. He just plunged right in after the ball. So Katie, seeing how fun
ny that was for Puppo to swim for the ball, threw it further and further out each time as she ran up the bayou. She came running up on that clump of trees hanging over the water and caught sight of her Uncle David’s boat.

  The dog came back with the ball and Katie said, “Not now, Puppo.” As she took the ball and put it in her pocket she hollered out, “Hey, Uncle David. Here’s your boat over here in these trees.”

  David and his wife came running up.

  “Yep, that’s my boat alright,” said David, as he looked over at it, puzzled.

  Seeing the anchor down he said, “Why in the heck would those two anchor the boat in these trees like this?”

  Melissa noticed a ripped piece of Jaime’s shirt still hanging on the tree. It was obviously covered with blood and there was blood smeared all over the tree limb.

  “Oh my God, that’s Jaime’s shirt, and look at the blood. Jaime!” she screamed frantically.

  David waded out to the boat and noticed it was splattered with blood, too.

  “Bradley, Jaime!” he hollered.

  “Let’s go find that damn cop,” said David, very worried as he waded out of the water.

  Katie had already run up the bank, still throwing the ball to Puppo.

  David and Melissa ran over to the police unit.

  “Shit, if that damn cop ain’t here I’ll use his radio and call for…oh Lord,” said David, stopping dead in his tracks.

  He caught sight of the dead cop hanging out of the car. Melissa, right behind him, saw the cop and turned away screaming, “Oh God, Bradley, Jaime!”

  They turned and looked over at Katie just in time to see the monster coming up out of the water and slowly moving toward her. Katie had her back turned to it looking at the dog, who was running up with the ball. Only this time Puppo dropped the ball and ran past Katie, jumping up onto the monster head attacking to protect his master. Thinking that her little dog was in danger, Katie screamed at the top of her voice and ran right up to the creature, fearlessly snatching the dog right off of its head.

  This selfless display of valor stopped the beast dead in its tracks. Who could have ever imagined the immeasurable courage of this little dog and this little girl? Beyond that who would have ever believed that seeing this love could have touched something deep inside that killer’s heart? Maybe it rekindled the last little spark of human kindness left deep within the soul of the beast. For at that moment the monster stopped the attack, then just turned and slithered back into the water.