Gator on the Loose! Read Free

time.”
    “Do you have to pay extra for those or do they come with the standard model?” Razi was now staring up at the cement-block wall. He had the same look of concentration he got when Daddy took him down to Bishara’s Friendly New and Used Auto Emporium.
    “It used to be extra, but it’s standard-issue on all new models,” Keisha said, circling her fingers around Razi’s wrist. “What’s even better …” She waited until Razi got to his feet and started to follow her. He had that faraway look in his eyes, like he was imagining what it would be like to have swimming goggles on all the time.
    “What’s even better is that they can close off their throats, too, and be airtight. An alligator can stayunderwater for twenty minutes, no problem, but”—Keisha made one more dramatic pause to get Razi out into the sunshine—“if it’s colder and its body slows down, an alligator can stay underwater for up to eight hours, Razi.”
    “I want to see the standard-issue swimming goggles!” Razi broke free of Keisha and rushed for the fence that enclosed the pool. Grabbing on to it with both fists, he set up a playground-sized clatter. It was enough to scare the fiberglass alligator, let alone the little one underneath. Keisha thought she saw something move. Was that the alligator? Even outside the fence that surrounded the pool area, they were still too far away to see well.
    Grandma was scanning the water from the other side of the pool. She stood on the pool deck near the entrance by the lifeguard station. That was the only way to get into the pool—besides coming from Mr. Ramsey’s office—so the lifeguard could see if you hadn’t showered or could blow his whistle if you were so excited to get into the nice cool water that you ran on the deck.
    Nice cool water, nice cool water. Ooh!
That gave Keisha an idea. She waved her arms at Daddy as he emerged from the pool office in his big waders and the heavy canvas gloves he used for the raptors. He was dragging the canvas tarp with one hand and holding the fishing rod with the noose attached to the end with the other.

    Daddy always swaggered a little when he put his waders or his big gloves on.
    “Daddy,” Keisha said when he got close enough. “What does the pool water feel like?”
    Daddy removed a glove and leaned over. “Cool,” he said. “Ahhh … cool. You think the little guy is going to stay put?”
    “Who is going to stay put? Why?” Razi wanted to know. He was tugging on Keisha’s arm. “When can I see the goggles?”
    “Alligators are poikilothermic, Razi,” Daddy told him. “That means cold-blooded. You are warm-blooded and can stay warm even when it’s cold by putting on sweaters and mittens. Cold-blooded animals like alligators and snakes get as cold as it is outside their bodies, and then they just—”
    “They freeze up,” Keisha interrupted. Razi didn’t care about the science as much as she did. “Daddy, if you go slow, maybe you can put the noose around his snout. If his mouth is closed and we can catch him, then we can roll him in the tarp.”
    “That sounds like a plan. As I recall, alligators havelots of muscles for clamping down, but not opening up. Their mouths are easy to hold shut.”
    “If he’s frozen, how come he’s running away from Grandma?” Razi asked, turning everyone’s attention back to the pool.
    Later, Keisha would think that the sight of her grandma rushing toward that poor little alligator and waving her arms like she did when she was rooting for the Langston Hughes Elementary School girls’ basketball team—from an alligator’s-eye view—would have been enough to make his blood run cold even if the pool water had warmed up.
    Grandma was shouting, “Get ready, Fred. I’m sending him your way!”
    It seemed like a good idea, but it didn’t quite work the way Grandma thought it would. Instead of running away from Grandma and across the pool deck, the alligator scuttled deeper into the water.