#ThrowBackThursday: Thanksgiving Edition!

Copied and pasted directly from my LiveJournal from Thanksgiving 2005. Happy Thanksgiving! :-)

Turkey for Me!

Turkey for You!

Gobble, Gobble, Ghee!

Gobble, Gobble, Goo!

#ThrowBackThursday: Lobotomy

I was going through a lot in high school . . . and I never said this poetry was any good. That's why it's #TBT. I just think it's interesting to look at what I used to write about. Apparently, I used to want to be lobotomized to get over a boy. Not an altogether bad idea, really. 

Lobotomy

I need a lobotomy

My anatomy

Is dealing with these issues

And I miss you

I’ve been analyzed

And now I realize

Lobotomy

Is the only solution for me

Forget shocks

Forget rocks

Of knockout drugs

All that’s been tried or thought of

Lobotomy

The only way I’ll ever be

Rid of the issues and

The tissues and you.

He him her

Shure

After all its all just words

And everything is quite absurd.

God. Look how straight my teeth were.

#ThrowBackThursday: Following Whirlwind Heat

Until fairly recently, this was one of the only things that I'd ever had published and sadly I don't have a copy of it. If anyone has a copy of the White Stripes Poetry Project or knows how or where to get one, I would love to have one. 

Following Whirlwind Heat

Standing in the dark

Watching old cartoons

Barely enough room to even move

Then the lights go up then down

And all is perfect black

He walks onto the stage

Guitar slung across his back

She walks out soon after

Drumsticks in her hand

Like a pixie so gracefully

She lights behind the stand

1 2 3 4

We’re moving on the floor

His guitar is wailing

Her drumsticks are flailing

I think my ears are bleeding

I know my heart is beating

In the mic his voice is moaning

I start to feel my brain zoning

Out of reality

Into the moment

Into the world

Created by a guitar string

When he started to sing

I am made of nothing now

Save feedback and vibrations

Throw Down Tuesday: NaNoWriMo Edition #2

Day 4

As Leland and Rhodes led Buckley around Cypress Estates they couldn’t help but wonder at both the size and the youth of their guest. They were half tempted to call down south and check out his story but there seemed no reason for him to lie about his credentials. What sort of halfcocked thrill seeker comes with that sort of equipment and anyway?

Rhodes was more interested in engaging the young man than was Leland who was more embarrassed at the possibility of being shown up by a kid. “So, how’s your daddy?”

“Oh, he’s fine. Been stayin’ out of trouble.”

Rhodes laughed. “Yeah he was something of a hell raiser in his day, wasn’t he?”

“That he was, sir. As I understand it, he even got himself into a little trouble not too far from here. I believe it was your father who helped him out of that tight spot.”

“Oh?”

“Yes.”
Rhodes scratched his head, perplexed. He had no idea what the boy could be talking about.

“I believe the town is called Micanopy?”

The light went on in Rhodes’ head.
“Oh my goodness. It was your daddy that my daddy bailed out of jail in Micanopy?

Buckley hung his head a little, but still he smiled a downright charming smile. “Yes sir, that was him.”

Leland became interested in the story at this point. “What happened, Rhodes?”

“Buckley, you mind if I tell him?” Rhodes asked.

Smiling, Buckley nodded his approval.

“See, Hansford and Daddy was out in Micanopy at the same time getting some shoes put on some horses and the furrier put a shoe on one of Daddy’s horses wrong. Hansford called the furrier out on it and one thing led to another until punches were thrown. Of course, bein’ that Hansford was an Indian from down south, they hauled him to jail. It wasn’t an hour later that Daddy’s horse threw the shoe and the furrier looked like a right ass. So of course Daddy had to do the right thing and bail him out and apologize. The damn furrier never did drop the charges, but somehow Daddy made it all go away. Never went back to Micanopy neither.

Leland looked impressed. “Rhodes’ daddy was a hell of a man. Did you ever meet him, Buckley?”

“No. I can’t say as I did. I heard a whole lot about him growing up though. My daddy said he owed him a lot. He seemed to think that if Mr. Shield hadn’t bailed him out when he did that he wouldn’t have left that jail cell.”

“I’d like to think that’s not true,” Rhodes said, “but times were different back then, and some folks were more than a little unwelcoming to people who weren’t their kind.”

“I don’t know how much that’s changed.” Buckley said eyeing Leland.

This did not go unnoticed by Leland, but he chose to ignore it. By this time the three men had walked nearly to the old farm house. Buckley began to check all around the perimeter of the house for evidence of the gator’s presence. Buckley had been hunting gators with his daddy since he could hold a gun as was his want. As was the need of the tribe. He knew how tell if a gator had been there or not.

“No gator has been to this place. Why don’t you just stay here tonight? I will stay at the place where the gator comes. And when if comes, I will kill it.”

Leland couldn’t help but laugh. “You sound very sure of yourself.”

“I am sure. I will kill it,” Buckley said with a perfectly straight face.

Rhodes was standing by, staring at his mother’s house, slack jawed. “You mean that thing hasn’t been up here at all?"

Leland looked at his agog. “Why does that matter?”

“Then why is it laying siege to Herlin Hall!” Rhodes cried. “What’s the difference?”

Leland laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Herlin Hall is closer to the water for one thing. Maybe it doesn’t like all the light and the noise so close to its den. I don’t know.”

“I’ve started to feel like the thing is waging war on me personally. It’s attacking my house. Killing my friends. There are hundreds of people who have houses along this river. Why me?”

Day 5

As the sun set on the St. Johns River it cast evil shadows of the cypress trees over the whole of Herlin Hall. The Spanish moss that hung from their branches swayed in the light breeze that blew in from the river as Buckley walked out onto the dock and looked to the north. He knew that he was in for a long night. The gator would come soon. He waited on the dock for the last rays of light to disappear into the water before he went into the house and turned on all the lights.

When he had been touring the property with Rhodes and Leland this afternoon he had been less interested in what they were viewing and more interested in what they said and how they acted. He wanted to know what kind of men they were. It didn’t take him long to realize that they were loud, proud, boastful men and he had a feeling that they were the cause of their own undoing with the gator.

Once all the lights were on, he walked over to the record player and selected a well worn album from its sleeve: Alabama. He placed the disk on the turntable and as it began to spin put the needle on it. The first song began to blast through the speakers.

Oh play me some mountain music, like grandma and grandpa used to play . . .

Then he sat on the stairs and waited. The door to the Florida room was still damaged from the previous night so if the gator was so inclined, it would have not problem getting into the house once again.

It wasn’t long before the guest of honor arrived.

Pushing the broken door open with its snout, the gator padded into the room like he owned the place. Buckley watched it from the stairs as it surveyed the room. Suddenly, the two made eye contact and the game was on. Buckley leapt to his feet and the gator opened its mouth and let out a hiss. With only a hook and a buck knife, Buckley crouched as though he were going to pounce on the beast. The creature whipped its tail in displeasure as Buckley made his way close and closer to it. Then, in one deft move, Buckley straddled the beast’s back, snapped a rubber band around its powerful jaws and stabbed it in the throat with the buck knife. It was a lucky break for Buckley that the gator’s mouth was closed at that moment, for if they had been open he might not have walked away from the fight.

The gator began to bleed out of the floor of Herlin Hall and as it did, Buckley said a prayer of it’s dying body, that it might die swiftly and painlessly. He hadn’t wanted to kill it, but it was a man killer and there was no other choice. Killing it in this way was the best way to preserve the meat and the skin for food and other uses.

When Buckley was certain that the gator was dead, he called Rhodes and Leland to come up to Herlin Hall and look at the body.

“How’d did you manage it?” Rhodes asked.

“I just lured him in the same way y’all did, with light and noise. I figured that he wasn’t too happy about the house being so close to the water and he was coming up here causing trouble in protest of  y’all disturbing his peace.”

“Huh. How’d you figure that out?”

“Well, there was no evidence of a gator up at your mama’s and if he was looking for food he would have gone up there as well. And you said that he made all of his appearances when the house was full of people. I figured he was riled by the parties.”

Leland kicked the gator’s corpse. “Well, now what? How are we going to get this thing out of here?”

“Oh, I was going to dress it.” Buckley said. And with that he began to drag the body of the gator toward the deck. The gator, mind you, must have weighed 800 pounds. “Do you have a wench?” he asked.

“There’s one down at the farm.” Leland responded. “I reckon I’ll go get it.”

“Thanks.”

With Leland gone, Buckley and Rhodes were left alone together in the dark with the body of the gator. The night was cold and dark and there was nothing much to talk about so naturally, Rhodes asked Buckley about his father.

“So what does your daddy do nowadays?”

“He died a while ago.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. I don’t think about it that much.”

“How’s your mama?”

“You knew my mama?”

“No, but it seemed like a nice thing to ask.”

Buckley laughed. “I see. Well, she’s alright. She gets by. She’s made a hobby of going to estate sales. I worry about her sometimes though. I don’t know where she’s going to put all the stuff she brings home.”

“A pack rat?”

“Something like that.”

By this time Leland was back with the wench and they were able to string up and dress the gator before all the meat went bad.

            Once the gator had been killed and the meat had been tended to they thought all that was left was to put Buckley up for the night, pay him for his services and send him on his merry way. They had no idea how wrong they were.

Day 7

            The men had considered telling the sheriff that they had killed the gator, but it seemed a pointless venture. The charges had been dropped in the Harley Quitman case and Jerry had testified that a gator had attacked him. He was going to be lucky to keep his leg, but he would live. Leland and Rhodes went to see him at the hospital the morning after Buckley dispatched the gator while Buckley slept in one of the many guest rooms at Herlin Hall.

By late afternoon Buckley finally roused himself from his slumber and realized that Rhodes and Leland had still not returned from town. He assumed that they had stayed up at the hospital to celebrate the demise of the gator with Leland’s brother. Having neither a truck nor a license to drive one he walked down to the dock, got into the air boat and took off on the river. He’d been on this man’s land for too long it felt like. He needed to get out for a little while.

Buckley piloted the boat down the St. Johns River towards Dunn’s Creek and then into Crescent Lake where he finally docked at the Tangerine Cove Motel and Restaurant. He hadn’t wanted to eat any of Rhodes’ food and it didn’t seem like a stretch for him to boat 30 miles downriver to get a catfish dinner.

He ordered his food and a cherry coke. The waitress, a pretty young blonde who wasn’t sure whether or not to flirt with him or to be terrified of him, brought his food him a hesitant smile and left him to eat as he stared out over the lake at trees that made up Bunnell and Flagler County on the other side. Buckley, didn’t know what he was looking at, of course. He had know way of knowing just how close to the beach he was, other than the fact that he could faintly smell the salt air and the unusual amount of seagulls that congregated on the dock.

The only reason he’d come this far upstate via the rivers and estuaries was because he’d heard about the gator on the Res from a deputy who had been traveling through Putnam county the day before. He thought that the work would be worthwhile and it would be a welcome vacation from the troubles he’d been having with his mama.
            When Rhodes had asked about his mama, Buckley hadn’t really known what to say. To say she was a pack rat might have been insulting to pack rats. But he didn’t want to blame her and he didn’t feel like it was her fault. It was hard for her, having grown up in the depression, she was terrified that she was going to have to once again do without. She’d be damned if she ever had to go through that again. So, she’d manufactured a new kind of hell in her manufactured home that was over flowing with the discarded remnants of other people’s lives.

He had been telling the truth when he’d said she went to estate sales, but these estates weren’t the kind you think of when you think of estate sales. These were the last things of people who didn’t have a lot worth owning to begin with, and his mother took the last of everything that no one else wanted.

She had a pallet of size B batteries. She had 47 different unworn left shoes from the estate of a man who only had one leg. She had enough laundry detergent to last her until the next millennium. She had sausage gravy lined up in her hallway that went on for days. She had a collection of little porcelain dolls that were all named “Cynthia”. She didn’t know anyone named Cynthia. She had little silver spoons from every tourist attraction you could think of: Silver Springs, Busch Gardens, Cypress Gardens, Wild Waters, Disney World, Universal Studios, - and all the smaller ones too, like Ripley’s, Marineland, and Gatorworld. There were more than 100 of these spoons in a jar on the mantle of her trailer.

Try though he might, he could not convince her that these things did not belong to her and that she did not need them. At this point they were cluttering up her life to the point where he was worried about her health and her well being, but the woman would not listen to reason. Sometimes he just had to get away. And he knew that no gator was  a match for him. He was impermeable to nature. It was man that concerned him.

He didn’t care for being around Rhodes and Leland very much. They made him uncomfortable. They were too loud – too much. He wanted to help them but he didn’t feel like he could trust them. He certainly wasn’t going to tell them about his troubles with his mama. That was his own cross to bear. Still, he wished that he had someone he could talk to about it.

He thought of Stella from school and how she always seemed to know what to say to make him feel better. How her touch always seemed to calm him. It seemed so long since he’d seen Stella. She’d left and gone off to school almost four years ago now. He smiled, thinking of her studying to be a teacher. Maybe she’d come back and be a teacher on the Res.

Stella was not a Seminole although she looked it with her big brown eyes and long, wavy brown hair and that had always been part of the problem. His mother had liked her but she was never one of them. She was always just a little different. Underneath her dandy clothes she was just a shade too white*. Not that that ever bothered Buckley. He liked the way her hand felt in his. Her hand was so tiny and delicate and his was so big and hulking and yet they fit together perfectly. Unlike most other people, she was never afraid of him because of his size. She took the time to get to know him and to listen to him when he spoke. She saw him, and he had loved her for that.

He had thought at one point that she may have even loved him, but he realized when she left him for college that he’d been mistaken. He told her that he would move to where she was going, that the end of high school didn’t have to be the end, but through tear stained eyes she said that she had to move on with her life and that this had to be goodbye.

He had gone rigid and then limp. He kissed her forehead and then walked away and never spoke to her again, but how he wished he had handled it differently now. Not that he thought he could have handled it any differently, but he wished he had a friend to discuss his problems with his mother with. Stella would know what to do. She was so much smarter about these things.

$$$

Rhodes and Leland were having a good time with Jerry in the hospital. Being that he was on an epic cocktail of pain medications he was in excellent spirits.

Day 8

Stella was at this time in another part of the state thinking not of her studies and not  of gators, but of Buckley. Their time apart had not erased him from her memory one bit and as her senior year of college came to a close she was no closer to getting over him than she was the day she broke his heart.

Sitting in a study room in the University of West Florida library, she looked out the window over the canon green and sighed. She didn’t give a damn about the pedagogical theory she was studying and if she was being honest, she thought her whole major was Mickey Mouse bullshit. Education she had come to find was a joke. The system was broken and flawed. The final straw had been when she had been forced to endure a module on “how to treat impoverished students and their families with dignity.” As though that were something that needed to be taught in a college. As though that were not something that were basic human decency. Stella was disgusted. She wanted nothing more than to be done with the whole field, but unfortunately she had figured this out too late in the game to pick a new major. Her plan at the moment was to go back home, start teaching, hope for the best, and figure out a new plan from there.

She wondered if Buckley were still around. She’d heard from some of her friends that he’d stayed in the area to help his mama. She had hoped that he would have gotten out of that little town and made something of himself, but what could she make of hearsay from her friends? They were never fond of him anyway. What did they know? Now that she thought about it, they weren’t exactly friends, were they. They were people she knew. Buckley was her friend. And she broke his heart.

For what?

She didn’t have much time to go down the painful road of her breakup with Buckley though, for just as she started to relive those painful memories there was a knock at the door and in popped the head of her friend, Paige.
            “Hey, girl! Are you up for a coffee break?”

“Sure.” Stella said. “I’ve been in this room for hours poring over this pedagogy stuff.”

“Oh, what fun. I think you deserve a break. Come on. I’ll buy. What are you having?”

            “A medium latte, I think.”

            As the two girls walked down to the café on the ground floor of the library, they ran into their friend Lottie.

            “Hey, did y’all hear about the gator that’s been raisin’ hell in Putnam County?”

            Paige and Stella looked at one another then said in unison, “No.”

            “Well, there’s been one. Apparently, they’ve already killed it, but I was thinking of going down there over spring break and interviewing some of the people involved. Y’all wanna go with?”

            “Where are we gonna stay?” Paige asked.

            “With my mama, of course.” Lottie replied. “I’m from there, you know. It’ll be fun. A trip to the old stompin’ grounds.”

            Stella smiled. It would be better than going home and hoping to run into Buckley again. “Sure. You can count me in.”

            “Me too,” said Paige.

           

            When Buckley finished his catfish dinner, he paid his bill, got back into his boat, and went back to Herlin Hall. When he arrived he had a sense that something was wrong. Rhodes and Leland were still out with Jerry at the hospital and the property was still and quiet, but Buckley had the uncanny sense that he was being watched. He certainly did not care for being on the first floor, so he went up to the guest room where he’d slept earlier and tried to put himself at ease.  Failing that, he found a book on the bookshelf and tried to read. Well after dark Rhodes finally arrived back to Herlin Hall alone. Leland had decided to remain at the hospital with his brother for the night.

            Buckley decided to come down and have a word with Rhodes – to be polite. When he descended the stairs, he saw the master of the house was on the couch with a woman. He turned to ascend the stairs once again, but the woman saw him and rose to greet him.

            “So you must be Buckley!” she cried, extending a hand as she ran to greet him.

            Buckley stood rigid, not quite knowing how to respond to this blonde woman.

            “Yes, ma’am. Yes, I am.”

            “Rhodes here has told me all about how you’ve dispatched that nasty old gator. I am just amazed at your prowess, especially as young as you are. However do you do it?”

            “Practice?”

            “You are a riot, Buckley! Won’t you come and have a drink with us?” and before he could refuse, she had grabbed his hand and led him into the bar in the Florida room and was pouring him a drink.

            “Um, thank you, ma’am.”

            “Oh, would you stop with that “ma’am” stuff? I’m too young for that!”

            “Yes ma’am.”

            “Leave the boy alone,” Rhodes interceded, “he’s got manners. That’s a rarity nowadays. So, what are your plans now, Buckley? Going back down south or are you going to hang out up her for a spell?”

            This was the first time he’d given the matter any real thought. “I don’t know, sir.”

            “Well, would you like a job?”

            Buckley nearly spit out his drink. “Excuse me?”

            “Well Leland and I were talking and I think it might be good to have someone like you on the payroll to take care of any animal related issues that might arise in the future.”

            “You think there will be more?

            “The gators do tend to get into the drainage ditches. This is just the first time one’s gotten into my house.”

            “I see.”
            “I was thinking you could help to relocate the gators on the farm. Make sure they aren’t harmed. I figured you’d like that.”

            “I would.”

            “So you’ll come work for me?”

            “There’s one problem.
            “Your mama?”

            “Yes.”

            “Bring her on.”

            “I don’t think she’d come.”

            “Well, you ain’t gotta make a decision today. Think about it. Let me when you decide. Meanwhile, stay here a spell. Get to know the area.”

            “Thank you for the offer.”

            “Thank you for killing that gator.”

            Selena smiled at Buckley after this exchange. “So, Buckley, what do you think you might like about Putnam County so far?”

            “I think your river is very beautiful. But then again, I have always had a fondness for the water.”

            Selena would never admit it to anyone, but she had rather enjoyed spending the evening with the young half breed from down south. He was everything Rhodes was not and although she loved Rhodes having someone so completely unlike him around was delightfully refreshing. Buckley was quiet and reserved and shy whereas Rhodes was always trying to prove himself to someone. Buckley’s actions spoke far louder than his words. Of course there was no sexual attraction there. She was far too old for the boy – and they were just not at all compatible.

            But there was this electricity that he brought out in her. She couldn’t wait for him to go to bed so that she could release it all on Rhodes. He wouldn’t know what had hit him.

            Only, when the time came, it wasn’t nearly what she thought it would be. It was not what she’d expected. She began to wonder if it was Buckley she had been attracted to after all and if her lust had been misplaced. The sex had been a disappointment. As she lay in bed with Rhodes she began to think about Buckley’s massive frame and he petite one moving together in unison and she started to feel her body tingling with desire. She could feel his hands reaching between her legs and touching the wetness that was beginning to gather there and she began to breathe faster and faster. Yes. She could deny it no longer. She wanted Buckley and that was a very bad thing. A very dangerous game, indeed.

            The next day when she woke up, she had forgotten the lust she had felt the night before. She rolled over and kissed Rhodes on the shoulder. He leaned into her kiss and said “Mornin’ baby.” There was nothing out of the ordinary about the morning at all. There were no thoughts of Buckley. There were no thoughts of anything other that this moment.
            Then she went into the kitchen to get their coffee and saw Buckley, all 6’6”, of him, with his long black hair down to his waist, in nothing but boxer shorts standing at the stove frying an egg.

            “Oh, my. I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize you were still here.” He said.

            She wanted to be as embarrassed as he clearly was but her baser instincts took over and she couldn’t do anything other than smile and enjoy her good fortune.

            “It’s alright, Buckley. You don’t worry about me. I’m just going to go make us some coffee.”

            Buckley looked sheepish. “If you don’t mind watching my egg, I think I’d feel better if I put a pair of pants on.”

Selena smiled at him. “Whatever makes you happy, darling.”
He handed her his spatula and very quickly walked to the stairs.

Selena was amused, but disappointed. The view had been superb. She kept an eye on his egg while starting the coffee, all the while wondering what Rhodes would have thought if he’d come down with her. Rhodes . . .

Buckley was beyond mortified. As he ran up the stairs in his underwear, he thought how stupid he had been to go out of his room dressed that way. He’d gotten too comfortable around there too quickly. But he hadn’t expected Selena to be there this morning. She was a new addition to the equation. He hadn’t even known she had existed until last night. Rhodes hadn’t even mentioned her. Funny, since she was the one taking care of his mama.
            He got up to his room and put on his pants and a t-shirt before heading back down stairs while praying that she wouldn’t mention this little infraction to Rhodes. While he wasn’t sure that he was going to take the job he was offered, he’d still like for it to be on the table. He just had to figure out what he was going to do with his mama. Maybe he’d just have to leave her down south to fend for herself. That didn’t seem fair though. Why did he have to be an only child?

He had begun to wonder if there would be a way to entice her to move up here? If she could bring all of her treasures?  Maybe he could even figure out a way to set things up for her to have a store or something? He would check things out in town and see. He wondered if Rhodes would loan him a truck to do so. The boat wouldn’t be much use in this case.

            When he got back down stairs Rhodes and Selena were having coffee together in the kitchen and his egg was on a plate with a piece of toast.

            “Thank you,” he said to Selena.

            “Don’t mention it.” She replied.

            Rhodes looked up from his newspaper. “So, what’s on you’re agenda today, Buckley.”

            “Well, sir, I was thinking about your offer from last night and I was wondering if I might borrow a truck so I can check out the town?”

            “I don’t see why not. I’ll get Leland to bring one down here for you. Anything you’re really itchin’ to see?”

            “I was thinking about going to a few real estate offices. Looking at some properties. That sort of thing. I gotta see what I can find to entice mama, you know?”

            “Yeah, I hear you. Well, I wish you luck Hope you find what you’re looking for.”

            “Thank you sir. I wish I knew what I was looking for.”

            Buckley was grateful to Rhodes for his kindness, the problem was that he had no idea what it was he was looking for, but he knew he would know it when he found it. It might be a store, it might be a house, it might be both, but whatever it turned out to be, it would have “mama” written all over it. He knew this for a fact. This was the only thing he could be absolutely sure of.

Sunday News: Eighth Edition

Brings the dawning . . .

I'm getting published! I'm getting published! I'm getting published!

I'm getting published in Post Road Magazine  in the spring!

This is all.

#ThrowBackThursday: Bettie Page

Bettie Page

In Florida

            It’s so hot

                        Problems should

                                    Just melt away.

In Florida

            I wish I’d

                        Melt until

                                    I look like

                                                Bettie Page.

Melt away all the pounds

Melt away all the scars

Melt away all the pain, and

Let is all drip to the ground.

Drip

            Drip

                        Dripping

Like wax from a candle

Like rain from the sky

Like the tears from my eyes

I wonder if when I cry, I cry like Bettie Page . . . 

Poem and photo, circa 2003.

Throw Down Tuesday - NaNoWriMo2015 Edition #1

For the month of November, I'm doing Throw Down Tuesday a little different. I'm sharing what I've written for NaNoWriMo every Tuesday in the month of November. So, here's what I have so far!

Day 1

In 1856 Sharp Shield was found on the side of the road in Putnam County, Florida by the now defunct Holy Trinity Sisters of Mercy. He was a scrawny thing of about 7, but in about 10 years or so he grew into the most eligible bachelor that the county had ever seen. The sisters put him to work in the cabbage fields and he saved every penny that came into his hands. He was big and strong with coal black hair and penetrating green eyes. At 17 he had saved enough to buy a small cottage and some land in the cabbage fields in East Palatka over by the river. On his 18^th birthday he kissed the sisters goodbye, moved to his own little farm, and set to looking for a wife.

He would find a partner in Niecy Granger, a poor but good girl from the south end of the county. She was strong and well suited for life on a cabbage farm. Before long the two of them were raising a son, Beau who would later inherit the farm when Sharp finally breathed his last. Although Beau favored his mama with auburn hair and blue eyes, he was a big and well-built man like his father who enjoyed tending the earth. It was Beau who named the farm Cypress Estates after the great trees that lines the river’s edge.

Where Sharp had made a farm, Beau would turn Cypress Estates into an Empire. He bought out several of the smaller cabbage farmers and one or two of the potato farmers as well until he owned a majority of the land on his side of the river. Most of the river people were in his employ, but he was a kind a fair employer who paid good wages so no one complained.

Beau’s son Hadley maintained the business throughout his reign, but it was his son, Rhodes Shield who had the great vision of building a mansion at Cypress Estates. Prior to the building of the mansion house the family had all lived in the small farm house that Sharp Shield bought on the property in the beginning and no one much complained. There was far too much work to be done. Rhodes wasn’t like the rest of his kin though. He had little interest in farming. He liked entertaining. By the time he took over the farm it was 1984.

Construction on the Mansion, which Rhodes planned to call Herlin Hall, after his mother’s maiden name, took the better part of four years and only because the family insisted did he leave the original farm house standing. He might have liked to have razed the thing in the name of progress, but his mama said she and the ladies historical preservation society had a vested interest in keeping the home intact and he couldn’t very well say no to his mama so he honored her request. The house was on the other side of the property anyway and couldn’t be seen from Herlin Hall no matter which window you looked from.

A massive construction, Herlin Hall’s most striking feature were the bank of massive windows that overlooked the river in the Florida Room. They were easily twelve feet high and ran the entire length of the room. The view was breathtaking, especially at sunset, when the vermillion broke the sky to pieces. It was in this room that Rhodes threw his lavish parties and it was here that all the trouble began.

On April 1, 1988 Rhodes had been living at Herlin Hall for less than six months. At around 10 pm he and his friends were carousing in the Florida Room after having come from a party at the south end of the county. The next day was the annual Catfish Festival and traditionally the night before was an evening filled with alcohol and debauchery. Rhodes had killed a six-pack of Budweiser on the drive from Crescent City and he was now hitting the Jack Daniels hard. But everyone was having a good time and they were all excited about going to the parade in Crescent City in the morning.

            In the morning, when the party was getting ready to make the trip back to Crescent City, Harley Quitman, Rhodes’ best friend since grade school was nowhere to be found.

            “I wonder where he got off to,” Rhodes’ asked his girlfriend, Selena, who was sitting on the edge of the couch in the Florida Room brushing her long blonde hair.

            “I dunno, Rhodes. I ain’t seen him since last night. Maybe he decided he needed to go home to sleep it off.”

            “Maybe. You recken we ought to call him?”

            “Nah.”

            “You’re right, we’ll catch up with him this afternoon.”

            Selena, Rhodes, and her friend Crystal grabbed another six pack of Bud and headed to the car. Selena saw it first. She let out a stifled scream and ran back in the house.

            “Woman what is wrong with you?” Rhodes said, but then he saw what provoked such a reaction from her. Standing between them and Rhodes’ Mustang was a 12 foot alligator. As they began to retreat back into the house it started to make it’s way toward them – not exactly charging, but not walking at a leisurely pace either.

            Rhodes and Crystal turned and ran as fast as they could back into the house and slammed the door shut behind them.

            “Did you lock it?” Selena shrieked from the stairs.

            “What do you mean? He ain’t gonna-“ but before Rhodes could finish his thought they heard the alligator scratching at the door.
            “Lock it!” Crystal screamed.

            Rhodes gingerly approached the door and turned the deadbolt. Then he turned back to the girls. “Let’s go upstairs and get the gun. Hopefully it’ll go away.”

            The three of them headed upstairs to the front bedroom that overlooked the front door. Gun in hand, Rhodes leaned out the window. “Be careful!” Selena implored.
            “Hush woman! I’m fine.”

            He looked down to find that the gator was still at the door, pawing at the threshold.
            “I wonder why it wants in so bad.” He mused aloud.

            Rhodes aimed the pistol downward. “I’m gonna shoot at it and see if I can kill it.”

            “What if you miss?” Selena asked.

            “I ain’t gonna miss.”

            Rhodes pointed the gun. Sweat broke out on his brow. He did not want to be held prisoner in his own home, especially not by some overgrown lizard. This gator had to go. He fired. The gator roared and began to run off in the direction of the water. Rhodes sat in the window looking dumbfounded.

            “What happened?” Selena asked. “Did you get it?”

            “I don’t understand.” He replied. “I hit it. It ran off. But I hit it.”

            “Do you think it’s safe to go out and get in the car?” Crystal asked.

            “I don’t know.” Rhodes replied. I’m gonna call Jerry and Leland. They got better hunting gear’n I do. I think we’s goin’ gator huntin’.

            When Jerry and Leland arrived they were armed to the hilt and raring to go. While it wasn’t gator hunting season it was perfectly acceptable to hunt an aggressive gator out of season. So long as the game warden didn’t catch wind. And some gator tail fingerlings would taste mighty good on the grill tonight.

            Meanwhile, no one had been able to get a hold of Harley Quitman and they had begun to fear the worst: That the gator had gotten him. There was no evidence of this, but there was no evidence that he was at home sleeping it off either. What’s more, his car was still in the yard and his keys were still on the counter. If that gator had killed Harley it just had to go.

            Rhodes was livid about this development. How could this be happening at Cypress Estates? At Herlin Hall? He’d never even seen a gator on the property before. Although, to be fair, he’d never spent a whole lot of time out on the property in the first place. He’d always been more of a homebody. For all he knew there were gators all over the place and he’d just never bothered to notice. Maybe that was the problem. They were offended and they were going to make him notice their presence once way or another.

            To be honest, he wasn’t even all that much of a good ol’ boy though he faked it remarkably well. A disappointment to his father, he had no interest in hunting, the outdoors, cabbages, potatoes, farming in general, or any of the other trapping of the provincial life afforded him. He had really wanted to go to business school and do something else with his life, but as the only son of the only son of the only son of the only son that wasn’t really an option. He envied and despised his sister with her fancy education and all her options. She was living in New York. Herlin Hall was the consolation he bought himself.

            He was interested in money. Stocks and bonds. Trading. He especially liked futures trading. His portfolio had paid for more of Herlin Hall than family money had although most people thought he’d drained the Shield family coffers to build it. That was one thing he had in his favor. He was not draining the family. He made his money work for him. He was like his great great granddaddy in that way. He kept his pennies to himself and made them work for him. The parties he threw weren’t lavish, they were just frequent. With as much money as he had floating about, what was a little alcohol amongst friends and lovers? It felt like the least he could do?

            But now this gator had come along and it was a problem he couldn’t reason away or buy off. He would have to man up and get rid of it the old fashioned way. He just hoped that the friends he had when things were good would be there for him when things got tough.

Day 2

It should be noted that while Rhodes was not particularly fond of farming, he was not altogether bad at it. Rhodes was a good employer and like those who came before him, he took care of his employees as well as he took care of his own family. Herlin Hall was not meant to be a thing of conspicuous consumption – he had planned in the fullness of time to have employee luncheons and conferences in the long, open Florida Room as well. It would be a meeting place for all the people who were of the most importance in his life to gather in comfort. Before the family had to rent out space at the agricultural center if they needed to have employee meetings or training and there was just no sense in that. Not with the magnitude of their operations.

Rhodes hoped that he could find a worthwhile successor from one of the local agricultural colleges. It would break his mama’s heart to let the farm go like that, but he would stay on in a managerial capacity. He was 24 years old and wanted to go to college himself. The farm became his when his father, Hadley, had died three years ago. With nothing more than a few classes at the local community college under his belt, Rhodes took over every aspect of running the farm. The plan had been for him to continue his education at the University of Florida, but he would have been expected to major in Agricultural Science rather than Business like his sister. Maybe it was better that he hadn’t been able to finish.

The employees of Shield Farms had no idea how their employer felt about his station and they all loved him. Most of them had been around since Rhodes had been a little boy while some of the newer workers had gone to school with him. He did his best to remain down to earth and humble and as a result everyone liked him despite the socioeconomic disparity that existed between him and the people who worked for him. It didn’t hurt that he continued the holiday traditions of providing a free turkey to every employee at Thanksgiving, and a $100 bonus at Christmas – a practice started by Beau Shield.

Rhodes’ mother, Emery Herlin Shield knew nothing of her son’s distaste for farm life and she could not figure out for the life of her why the boy didn’t hurry up and get married. She was not fond of Selena, mostly because she had a Yankee’s way about her. Any woman who would spend the night with a man without a ring on her finger was nothing but trash in Emery’s mind. But Rhodes was still young and maybe he was sowing his wild oats as the old timers used to say. She hoped within the next year or so a good woman would come along and make an honest man out of him. She wanted grandbabies after all and time was a wastin’. Although she couldn’t imagine raising grandbabies in that huge new house the boy had built. Maybe he’d come to his senses once he got married and move back into the farm house. That was the real reason she’d protested its destruction. That, and the fact that she couldn’t see moving after having lived there for close to forty years. A body does get used to a place.

            As Rhodes tramped through the swampy riverbank with Jerry and Leland Comber keeping his mother in the dark about the gator was in the forefront of his mind. She had warned him about building the house so close to the river, although her concern had been erosion. The last thing he wanted was to hear an “I told you so,” lecture from his mother on this point. He wondered why he hadn’t already heard from her concerning the pistol shot that rang out across the property when he’d shot at the beast earlier that morning. He thought for a moment.

            “Jerry, you don’t think that thing could’ve made it up to my mama’s house, do you?”

            Jerry looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “I don’t know why it would want to.”

            “Me neither. It was just a thought.’

            They continued on their way. Soon they came upon what was left of Harley Quitman. The gator had torn him limb from limb and mauled him, but it looked as though he was mostly intact.

            Rhodes couldn’t help but throw up in the bushes when looking at the remains of his friend in such a fate.

            “That gator ain’t hungry,” Leland said. “It didn’t eat not none of him.”
            “Maybe it didn’t like the taste.” Jerry replied dryly.

            Rhodes looked up from his retching long enough to shout, “What the hell is wrong with y’all? Can’t you see he’s dead? That gator had done killed him? I don’t think this is very funny.”

            “You’re right.” Jerry apologized. “I think we better head back before we end up the same way though. We got a body on our hands now, we’re gonna have to call the law.”

            The three of them trudged back to the house with heavy hearts. Rhodes had hoped that Harley would turn up safe and sound and that this gator business would be resolved quickly.

            When he walked through the door, Selena threw her arms around his neck.
            “Oh, Rhodes! You look like hell! What happened? Did you get him?”

            “No, baby.”

            She dropped her arms to her sides. “Oh no.”

            Leland and Jerry collapsed onto the couch as Crystal walked into the room. Everyone looked at her, but no one said anything.

            “Crystal,” Rhodes began.

            She forced a smile. “He was out there, wasn’t he?”

            “Yeah.”

            “The gator?”

            “Yeah.”

            She forced another weak smile before turning on her heel and leaving the room. Selena ran out behind her and the men could hear her cried echoing throughout the house.

            Rhodes looked at Leland and Jerry.

            “So, who do we call, the police or fish and wildlife?”

            “I reckon you oughtta call the Sherriff’s office,” Leland said.

            It wasn’t twenty minutes before Cypress Estates was awash in blue flashing lights. Both the sherriff’s office and fish and wildlife showed up. There was no hiding this from his mother at this point and she was positively scandalized by the news. Everyone was blaming Rhodes for something. He was being questioned about Harley’s death like he was responsible and the game warden wanted to know why he’d shot at the gator.

            “Bacause the damn gator was tryin’ to get into my house is why!”

            “Now Mr. Shield, there’s no need to yell,” said the game warden. “Can you tell me one more time what happened? I find it extremely hard to believe that the animal was trying to breach the threshold of the premises. They aren’t typically that aggressive.”

            “I’m telling you it was. You can ask either Crystal or Selena. They saw it too.”

            While Selena confirmed what Rhodes said, Crystal was beside herself with grief over Harley’s death and therefore useless.

Eventually, the coroner took what was left of Harley away and all the law enforcement left the property leaving Rhodes, Jerry, Leland, and the girls in the same exact situation they were in before. No one believed them about the gator and no one seemed remotely concerned about their safety.

“I don’t want to stay here tonight.” Selena said.

“I’m not staying here tonight,” Crystal said as she started gathering up her things.

Rhodes thought for a moment. “Crystal, let Selena stay with you tonight. You shouldn’t be alone. Jerry, Leland, and I will stay here tonight and see if the gator comes back.”

“Are you sure?” Selena asked.

“Yes. And while you’re at it, take mama with you. Just in case.”

“Are you insane? Your mama ain’t gonna go nowhere with me.”

“Fine, call up to the spa in St. Augustine and see if they have any rooms. I don’t want her staying here until this mess is sorted out.”

After some prodding, Emery was convinced that a few days at the spa was just what she needed and she willingly went with Selena and Crystal. Once they were gone, the men set to work. Jerry and Leland went home and came back with bear traps, shotguns, and most importantly, and video camera to film the creature trying to breach the threshold so that their killing it would be a justifiable homicide. The set out the traps just before sundown and then they went into the house to wait.

While they waited, they began to drink and listen to some records. Rhodes was quite fond of music and his pride and joy was a tube amp stereo he inherited from his father. Music was the thing that they had most bonded over. He loved to play Hank Williams Jr. records on it, but that was as close to good ol’ boy as he ever really got. As the night wore on the Budweiser flowed and the music blared. The three men were having such a good time that they had nearly forgotten about their gator problem altogether except for when they toasted “To Harley!” and raised their beer cans high.

From time to time Jerry, the only smoker of the group, would go out on to the long porch that overlooked the river for a smoke. It must have been on one of these smoke breaks that it happened, for at some point the door was left open. This would not have mattered if the only menace were mosquitos, yellow jackets, or horseflies. These things are annoying but in no way inherently deadly. But on this night, these men had set out to defeat a foe much greater. Their senses and vigilance dulled by way of too much drink and revelry while the carelessness of one smoker let the door stay open - and that is how the gator got into the house.

Day 3

Rhodes saw the thing first and let out a scream that was inaudible over the din of country music. It was the look on his face that alerted Jerry and Leland that something was amiss. When he saw that he had their attention he pointed toward the doors of the Florida Room and that was when they saw the gator, it’s mouth agape as though it were trying to cool itself.

Jerry and Leland scrambled for their shotguns which were woefully out of reach at that moment. The gator who’s senses were not dulled by fatigue and alcohol was faster than the men and scrambled to block the path between them and their firearms. It was mocking them, preventing them from their only means of dispatching it.

Rhodes could not believe what he was seeing. He wondered how the beast had made it’s way up to the house without getting caught in one of the bear traps they’d set out. It was like the thing was smarter than a normal gator. Maybe it was smarter than they were.

“What are we going to do?” he asked, he voice rising in panic.

“We gotta get to them gun.” Jerry said.

“You got any ideas how the hell we’re gonna do that?” Rhodes asked, looking at the gator.

“Somebody’s gonna have to make a break for the shotguns.” Jerry replied.

“Great. A suicide mission.” Rhodes said. “What are we gonna do? Draw straws?”

“I’ll do it.” Leland said, walking forward. “I’m the fastest.”

Jerry grabbed his arm. “Lee, you ain’t gotta do this.”

“Sure I do. We gotta get this thing outta Rhodes’ house. I owe him one.”

Jerry raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“That’s between me and Rhodes. Don’t you worry about that.”

Rhodes couldn’t believe that Leland hadn’t even told his twin brother about their secret. He was glad, but still surprised.

Leland crouched down and eyed the table where the shotguns lay. If he could sprint over to them, he could hop up onto the table and them leap back over to the relative safety of the other side of the room. The reality of the situation however was that no part of the room was really safe because the gator could choose to make a break for them at any moment.

He took a deep breath and sprinted for the guns. The gators turned his head, but didn’t seem very interested in what Leland was doing. Leland grabbed the guns and then in one deft motion jumped up on the table and lept back across the room. At the same time, the gator decided that it was bored with the room and sauntered out the door.

The men were flabbergasted.

“What the hell do you think it did that for?” Leland asked as he tried to catch his breath.

“I have no idea. You think we ought to try and go after it?” Rhodes asked.

“No.” Jerry replied. “Go lock the door. Turn on the porch light. Then I think we best go to bed and look at the video in the morning. At least then we can take that to the game warden and plead our case.”

But they wouldn’t be getting any sleep that night, for as soon as they turned on the porch light they found the gator, all twelve feet of it, lounging on the porch, as though it owned the place.

“What is it doing?”

“I don’t know.”

“Have you ever seen anything like this?”

“Never.”

It was at this moment that the gator decided that it wanted to be back inside the house really badly as it began ramming the glass doors. The men, being wise, had enough sense to exit the Florida Room and lock themselves in an upstairs bathroom. It wasn’t long before they heard glass shattering and the gator was once again in the house.

Rhodes looked at Leland.

“You don’t think it can climb the stairs, do you?”

“It might be too slick.”

Jerry looked at the other two men. “We have guns. Why are we huddled here like cowards. Why don’t we try to shoot it again?

Leland looked at Jerry. “At this point I’m a little afraid of riling it any more. We haven’t done anything to it yet and it’s already broken the door down. What’s it going to do if we start shooting at it?”

“Still, hadn’t we ought to try to kill it?”

“Alright, let’s go. But Rhodes, you stay here. Ain’t no sense in all of us getting ate by some gator. And how’d your mama take it?”

Rhodes stayed in the bedroom while Jerry and Leland went to the top of the stairs to confront the gator. He felt like a coward doing it, but he knew that Jerry and Leland were much better equipped to take on the creature than he was. He’d been hunting a few times with his daddy, but if his previous encounter with the gator had taught him anything it was that he wasn’t a particularly good shot. Of course it could have been that this gator was just particularly hard to kill.

Jerry and Leland were gone for minutes that seemed to drag on like days when Rhodes finally heard some commotion from the bottom of the stairs. There were two shotgun blasts and a scream. Before he could decide what to do, he heard Leland calling for him.

“Rhodes! Call an ambulance! The gator’s got Jerry!”

Rhodes mind began to race.

He didn’t know whether or not to run down stairs and so he grabbed the bedside phone and called 9-1-1, all the while wondering how in the hell the gator managed to get ahold of one of them.

By the time the law and the paramedics arrived at Herlin Hall, Jerry had lost a lot of blood and everyone was wondering if he was going to make it or not. He was probably going to lose his leg in any case. When he and Leland had descended the stairs the gator had been lying in wait for them just out of view and poor Jerry’s foot was the first to hit the ground. It had waited for them. Leland got off two rounds at it before it slunked out the way it came, but not before it laid waste to Jerry’s leg.

Now they were officially at war with the beast.

Two days later Buckley Wolf arrived uninvited and unannounced at the dock of Herlin Hall in an air boat. He brought with him a change of clothes, a shotgun, and various harpoons and hooks on heavy lines. He was a massive man with broad shoulders, dark skin, and waist length black hair. When he got off the boat it was easy to see that he stood at least six and a half feet tall. He wore great black work boots that laced halfway up his powerful calves, jeans, and faded blue checkered flannel shirt. His chestnut colored eyes were bright as bright as his smile. It was apparent that he was some sort of Indian.

“Seminole” he confirmed, when Rhodes questioned him about his origins. “I come from the Res down south. Heard about your gator problem and thought I could lend a hand.”

“You heard about my gator problem on the Res?”
            “Word travels fast. That and my daddy sent me. He used to do business with your daddy.” He smiled.

Rhodes ears perked up at this. “Who’s your daddy, son?”

“Hansford Wolf, sir.”

“Well, I’ll be. He was a good man.”

Leland looked him up and down. “Just how old are you son? We aren’t lookin’ for any thrill seekers. This is serious business. One man’s been killed and my brother’s on his way to dyin. What are your qualifications?”

“Well, sir, I’m 21 years old. I’m not a thrill seeker. I’ve been hunting and trapping in South Florida with my Daddy since I was about 12 years old. Just last winter I was helped bring down a gator that was causing quite a disturbance in Collier County. You can call down there and ask the Sherriff for a reference if you’d like. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to vouch for my qualifications. The Sherriff’s Offices of Hendry, Lee, and Glades Counties will vouch for me as well, if you'”

Leland sucked his teeth. “Right. But you said helped. Where’s the rest of your team?”

Buckley smiled. “I tend to work with the locals. I reckon y’all are my team if you’re who’re going after the gator.”

“Right,” said Leland. He looked at Rhodes. “Could you give me a moment to confer with Mr. Shield?”

“No problem.”

Leland led Rhodes out of Buckley’s earshot and quietly asked, “What d’ya think?”

“I don’t think we’ve got much of a choice. He seems like he’s on the level. Anyway, there ain’t nobody else offerin’ to help – that’s for damn sure. The police are too damn scared.”

Leland sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Ain’t nothing worse can happen than what’s done happened, I reckon, right? And that gator’s gotta go so’s your mama can come home. You talk to your mama?”

“Yeah, she’s fit to be tied, although I do think she’s enjoying her little vacation. And don’t even get me started on Selena. She’s fit to be tied.”

Rhodes motioned for Buckley to come over to where he and Leland were standing. “Alright son, we’re much obliged that you’re offering your services. What do we need to do?”

“Well, Mr. Shield, I’m going to need to see the house and the property and then we’re going to rest until night fall. That’s when the creature is most active isn’t it? Night?”

“Yes. I’ve never seen it during the day.”

“Good, we should have no problems then. Let’s get started shall we. I’d like to get in a good nap this afternoon. I have a feeling that we are in for a hell of a long night, gentlemen.”