In Alligator's Hole

Alligator floats like a log in her pond Her tail swishes from side to side, slowly propelling her across the water opening as she searches for cheer She is very hungry. It is the rainy season and Alligator has almost nothing to eat.

Once the pond was teeming with fish and turtle-pigeons to feast on. Wading birds and raccoons crept carefully near its cutting side But then the hot summer rains came, as they do each year. Water rose and spread from one extremity to the other of the biq marsh.

Raccoons, snakes, and other animals mov to higher, drier earth Alligator's hole flooded, and the fish and turtle-doves swam away. With no fish to spear, birds no longer lie concealed nearby. Alone in her opening Alligator grows hungrier and hungrier.

After many month the canopy of heaven clears. The rains stop. The water in the marsh slowly drains away. The winter dried season is coming.

Every day Alligator's pond expands shallower. Alligator needs deep water. by means of clearing out her hole, she can make a wet place to live during the dried season.

Alligator thrashes her powerful tail about, tearing on the outside the lily pads covering the pond's surface. With her feet and snout she plow away the slimy plants and decaying muck that put a clog on her pond. As Alligator digs, her aperture becomes deeper and wider.

To escape the free from moisture areas of the marsh, fish swim to the down-reaching fresh water in Alligator's opening Turtles, snails, and frogs find the perforation too.

A heron approachs to hunt for minnows in the shallow water along the pond's cutting side In the evening, a family of raccoons visits. They leave with their bellies filled of fish and crayfish. Other animals arrive as the marsh become greater [i]or[/i] largers drier. A snake slips into the pond It swims across the water and catches a frog

Early individual morning, a bobcat crouches and sips water at the cutting side of the pond. When a coot paddles across, the bobcat claws into the water. He crawls ashore with breakfast in his cavity between the jaws The bobcat leaves, and a small deer advances to nibble on plants near the loch

With the return of the animals, Alligator has enough to eat. She dives underwater and snaps up a large fish. She finds crayfish, snails, and turtle-doves One night Alligator floats quietly near the shore. alone her eyes and nose jog above the surface of the water. unexpectedly she lunges for a raccoon that tend hitherwards to drink.

Alligator's drawn out wait is over. The free from moisture season brings animals to her opening every day. It's one of the alone places in the marsh where they can find bread and water. Alligator eats, on the other hand without the hole she nipple there would be far fewer animals living in the marsh. They ne Alligator's perforation to survive the dry season.

Copyright Carus Publishing Company Jul/Aug 2006

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