Chapter 11

Chapter 11 The next morning, Jack picked up the kids after breakfast. Ruth Rose was wearing pink from headband to sneakers. "You look like a sunrise," Jack told her. "Thanks, Jack," Ruth Rose said. "Was your baby born yet?" "Yes!" the proud father said. "It's a beautiful little girl. Theresa and her mom are sleeping, so now's our chance to get a peek at the alligator nest." A half hour later, they were all hunkered down in some bushes near the water. Jack had brought

binoculars, and they were taking turns peering at a mother alligator. She was lying half in the water with her long snout pointed toward her nest. The gator's scaly hide was blackish green, ridged and bumpy like a truck tire. "I don't see any babies," whispered Josh. "They haven't hatched yet," Jack said, pointing to a small hill of vegetation. "That mound is her nest. The eggs are buried in that stuff." "Why isn't she sitting on the nest?" Ruth Rose asked. "Won't the eggs get cold?" "The rotting vegetation keeps the eggs warm," Jack explained. "Mama gator is watching the water in case a meal swims by." The large mother alligator lay as still as a log. Her mouth was partly open, and every now and then her eyes would blink. "You kids did a good job figuring out who robbed those graves," Jack said. "The villagers reburied the coffins and had a nice ceremony. The cops took the two developers in for some serious questions. They won't be trying to scam any more people."

"Do you think the people in the village were really going to sell their land?" Dink asked. "They would have eventually," Jack said. "My guess is that if the robbed graves didn't convince them, the scammers would have tried something else next time. They were greedy guys who wanted to build high-rise apartments there." "If Byron hadn't been out with his owl, he never would have seen those men," Josh said. "Or found that wallet." Jack smiled. "Byron told Myrna that he's been on his own since his parents abandoned him when he was eight years old. Never went to school, just lived in these woods. Myrna and the villagers are building him a new hut near hers. He's going to live with them now." "And Byron gave my grandmother one of his paintings," Ruth Rose said. "She showed it to a man who owns an art gallery. He said Byron is going to make a ton of money!" Jack put his finger to his lips. "Listen," he whispered. They all heard high, croaky noises coming from the nest. "Now watch," Jack said.

The mother alligator began moving toward the mound. When she got there, she scraped away the top layer of the vegetation. Twenty or thirty tiny green-and-yellow alligators were crawling out of their eggs. As they freed themselves, they wriggled toward their mother. "Now check this out," Jack said quietly. The mama alligator flattened herself on the ground with her jaws opened. The babies scrambled over her bottom jaw, right into her mouth!

"Is she going to eat them?" Josh asked. Jack laughed. "No, that's how mama alligators and crocodiles protect their babies," he said. "They're safe inside her mouth." "Protect them from what?" asked Ruth Rose, taking her turn with the binoculars. "There are a lot of critters who would love to snack on a baby alligator," Jack said. "Raccoons, possums, herons, you name it. When Mama thinks it's safe, she'll open her mouth and her babies will crawl out."

The four backed quietly away and headed for the trail. "Speaking of lunch," Josh said as they hiked, "I'm hungry!" "Josh, no one was talking about lunch," Dink said. Josh grinned. "Now we are!" he said. THE END