Gator on the Loose! Read Free Page B

fence, with the spine board. Mr. Ramsey couldn’t stop looking over his shoulder for the alligator.
    “Where are you going?” Razi asked, and took off after them. “Can I come? Can I ride on that?”
    The fence by the deep end was only about fifteen feet from the pool. Justin and Mr. Ramsey stopped there. It looked like they were waiting for Daddy’s signal. Keisha watched as Daddy walked slowly back to the fiberglass alligator in the shallow end. As soon as he took his place, he waved at Justin and Mr. Ramsey. They began heaving and ho-ing, and that’s when Keisha knew what had been decided at the CFC. On the count of three, the spine board sailed through the air. Nothing makes a small alligator get out of the water faster than what he thinks is a big one, because it is a little-known fact that alligators eat each other! If you didn’t know any better and you were a small, scared alligator, you might think the spine board was a very big alligator.
    When it landed on the pool surface, that little alligator dove down so fast it was hard to keep track of him.
    “Where is the little bugger?” Grandma had put on her sun visor and was scanning the surface of the pool.
    Keisha had better eyes. She saw him scuttle out of the water and dive under the folds of the canvas tarp.Daddy did, too. Quick as a flash, he was there, stepping on the open end with his big waders.
    Mr. Ramsey called out, “Need any help over there?”
    Grandma was power-walking over to where Daddy was busy making sure there were no avenues for escape.
    “I think we’ve got it covered,” she said.
    “There
is
something you can do,” Daddy called back to Mr. Ramsey. “Will you get the dog crate from the back of the truck and maybe a hamburger patty from the snack bar?”
    “Sure, but it’s frozen.”
    “Never mind, then. This little guy is cold enough as it is.”
    Grandma stood over the tarp with her hands on her hips. “I was hoping this wouldn’t take all day. I don’t know about you-all, but I’ve got work to do.”
    “On Saturday?”
    “I’m designing my own jeans. Mid-rise, boot cut … generous, kind to the silhouette. I’m thinking YSL.”
    “Yves Saint Laurent?” Keisha had been around Grandma long enough to know some of the fashion designers she liked.
    “No, no. Mid-rise, boot cut … it all adds up to Youthful Senior Legs.”

Chapter Three

    Mrs. Carter grew up on a ranch in Nigeria. Nigeria is on the western coast of Africa right near the equator. Half the year, it is dusty and hot. Half the year, it is rainy and hot. In Nigeria, there are tropical rain forests and deserts and almost everything in between. Mama grew up near the Jos Plateau, in a vast grassy area called a savanna.
    During the dusty times, Mama often had to sweep twice a day. She had always liked things tidy, even now in Michigan, where half the year the dust was frozen! Mama also liked to keep the animals out of the house. She knew that there were times when you had to bring the animals in, such as when they were babies or very sick. But she reminded her children many, many times that the goats and sheep they raised in Nigeria were kept in pens on the other side of the courtyard from the house.
    For all these reasons—lots of animals, enough dirt already—Mama was not interested in any CFPs. “CFP”stood for “Carter family pet.” The only person in the Carter family who used this abbreviation was Keisha. It used to be when she went to her friends’ houses and saw their puppies(!), their kittens(!), their gerbils(!) she would ask Mama if she would think about changing her no-pets rule. But Mama knew what Mama knew, and Keisha’s mama did not want one more animal in the house.
    That was why when Mama carried baby Paulo into the house, all the other Carters sat quietly in the kitchen, picking at their peanut butter and banana sandwiches. No one knew how to tell Mama about the alligator upstairs in the bathtub, with Grandma outside the bathroom door