“Yeah, those are different circumstances. But it’s the same in theory. In a small town where everyone knows everyone, an outlier takes on significance. You suddenly show up in the Bayou and we start wondering if you’re there to feed your dead wife to the gators.”
“That’s horrible. Does that really happen?”
“Could be. I know that Creed and Rou joined a group of search and rescue personnel who went to a pig farm to sift through the dirt in the hope of finding teeth. The police suspected the guy there of being a serial killer, and he’d strip thebodies naked and feed them to his pigs, then burn the clothes. They found a zipper in their fire pit.”
“Gross.”
“But a gator could do the same kind of damage. A few years back, we were down home for my cousin’s wedding, and everybody was all stirred up. This five-hundred-pound, twelve-foot alligator attacked a Louisiana elder. A man.”
“That one’s as big as the one that gave Gator his name?”
“Same size. And while Gator’s name makes it sound like it was kind of fun, it wasn’t. They clamp on and put you in a death roll. You’re not fighting your way out of that. No way. The only reason my brother survived was that he had had a suspicion that he would need my daddy’s hunting knife, so he strapped it to his side in a thigh holster that thankfully had a release latch, so it didn’t just fall out as they were fighting in the water. Still, it was a close thing.”
“No shit,” Doli said. “And the elder?”
“Yeah, not so lucky. His best friend watched it happen, too. He tried to help. Got him out of the water and up on the porch. But the elder was bleeding out, and there were no phones in that stretch. So he jumped onto his hydrofoil and took off, which must have been terrifying. I mean the size of the beast that was in the water somewhere.”
“Can you imagine?” Doli asked.
“The best friend got to the volunteer fire department, and they went out with lights and sirens. But by the time they get there, the elder is gone,” Auralia said.
“Dead, huh? That’s a shame.”
“Nope,” Auralia said. “Just gone.”
“Is this one of your ghost stories?”
“No, you can look it up on the web. There was a big old alligator hunt by the folks in that area. It was just too dangerous, what with the family pets and children playing by the water.”
“And grown men,” Doli added.
“Exactly. So, they find the alligator and cut it open. Sure enough, they find human remains in its stomach.”
“How do families cope with that kind of danger?” Doli asked.
“Alligators don’t usually eat humans. They hunt something, then they stash it under logs and what have you until they rot, then take them out and eat their kill. That guy was attacked after a hurricane, so the alligator’s caches were probably all empty, and he was extra hungry. The same thing happened to Gator. Besides his natural woo-woo, Gator probably had his antennae up because even though he’d warned his commander, the cake eaters decided to continue with their scheduled evolution. Gator was grabbed when he dove into the water in service to a fellow Marine with marginal swimming skills and no idea how to act in a swamp.”
“Brave man, your brother.”
“Still married.”
“Yeah. Yeah.”
Behind their car, the locusts were swarming; people headed both left and right out of the designated parking space. While they popped a little extra gas as they hit the pavement, they quickly slowed along with the traffic.
Horns bleated as people realized they were trapped on the slope.
The rain was coming down now with enough force that Auralia adjusted her windshield wipers to the intermediate setting to see clearly. “We beat the clay pit.”
Doli lifted her camera with its long-range lens still attached, and she spun around in the seat to look out the back window. “Not by much. This is the outer band, but the sky looks fierce. I’d be blaring my horn, too. This guy is about to touch your bumper. And I’d say he was being an obnoxiousasshole, but it looks like he’s getting pushed from behind. People are stomping on the gas.” She turned back around and let her camera dangle from its strap. “Yeah, people coming out of the bowl are freaking out and pushing everyone forward.”
“If they were smart, they’d keep their foot off the gas and give themselves some cushion. I say that once we get over the bridge, we find a good shoulder, pull to the side, and let them roar on by. You can get some footage.”
“We’ll lose Morrison,” Doli pointed out. “We don’t know why he’s driving away from his house.”
“True. Okay, scratch that idea.” Auralia sat a little taller in her seat, not liking that she was in a pack of panicked drivers. The next stretch, there was silence in the car until the bridge rumbled under her tires.
Doli craned her neck, looking out the passenger’s side window. “The river’s running fast and high. I wonder if it might just flood the dell after all.”
