Feeding Gators

The beast sat on top of a long wooden cabinet. It sat in the middle of the large central room of the welcome center. In a way, this is what we were here for. It was 15 feet long or so. Huge. It had dark green armor, like I imagined a dinosaur would have, it's head was lifted slightly, with it's jaws parted. Justin and I looked at the rows of teeth until Mom and Dad were ready to go.

We walked out of the air conditioned center and into the heat of the day. Instantly oppressive. As we walked back to the car, we learned that there would be a wait before we could take the boat ride, down one if the many waterways through Okefenokee swamp. Som it was decided we would find some place to go have lunch.

After we piled back into the overstuffed car, we drove just long enough to let the hot air inside turn cool, then we pulled up to an area with a couple picnic tables. We were the only family there. We ate the sandwiches out of sandwich bags and drank our juice boxes. This was a treat for the five or six year old, I was. While, we finished off our lunch, Cheez-it's, my brother and I wondered.

Beside the area we ate lunch in there was a hill sloped down, surrounded by bushes and things. Its long graded slope rolled down to the green, muddy water. In the water, peering at the two of us, was a gator.

Now, this gator was no were near as big as the monster in the visitor center, but it was very much alive. It blinked slowly, and pulled its body a little more out of the water. Fascinating. We watched for just a moment, then decided to feed it.

I through a little orange cracker through the air, in the direction of the alligator, but it dropped to the grass half way down the hill. Justin followed suit, his not going quite as far. We took a few steps forward and tried again. It watched us, but had become vary still. I tried to land a cracker on its nose, but I would need to be closer.

A few steps forward. Throw and a miss. A few steps forward. Little by little we approached the alligator. It was fun. Probably not as scary as it should have been.

I landed a cracker right in front of the alligator, but it didn't move. I guess gators don't eat cheesy crackers. It was moments later, telling came from behind us. Apparently, Mom had been looking for us and was really unhappy to find us feed large reptilian wildlife with only our poor sense of danger to protect us. We were not aloud to leave the table for the rest of lunch.