#18: Where is Bruce the Alligator

Louisiana Bound (2008) Part 18 of 40 - Where is Bruce the Alligator After searching for Bruce a few seconds in a small cove, Captain said, "Bruce is not home." Then he pointed to the area where that alligator is usually spotted. And he was right, Bruce was not where the captain usually finds him. I was surprised to notice that Captain didn't spend much time or energy looking for Bruce. He may have been pressed for time. We started a major turn. When completed, it would take us about 270 degrees or three-quarters of a full circle. I had one thing on my mind when we arrived in Bruce's territory. You guessed right! That was finding an alligator! Let the rafters fall on us, let the leaners get hooked! All passengers were on their own. I was looking for Bruce! About 90 degrees into the turn I spotted a dark object in the water. Our boat slowed down while circling right, but Captain was going to keep turning. He would be moving on. Looking at that odd shape in the water, I reasoned, "It could be a log, or maybe, just maybe, it could be a gator." Yeah, wishful thinking, I know. And the object was dark, like a rotting, water-saturated, lumpy log. My first thought was rejected. It would have taken too long to get my camera out and zoom in. So I continued to watch that object, hoping that something would happen before Captain completed his turn and moved from the area. Yet chances of the object moving within 30 seconds or so were slim. I have observed some gators in my days. When they are comfortable, they quietly rest for long periods. I wanted to throw something in its direction, you know, stir up the water, maybe get a reaction, get it moving, but that was not an option I could act on. The short window of time was closing. In ten seconds I would lose sight of that thing in the swamp. From the time that I spotted it, my mind was in high gear formulating a theory while building on a hypothesis. You know how that works. Everything has to support the theory until it is proved or until the negative information causes the theory to collapse. So I piled flashes of support on my theory that I was looking at an alligator. The front part of the object was dark, almost black, shaped like the letter "V", I would say. The back was black also, higher and shaped like the letter "m". So there was reason for excitement. It really could be an alligator. Draw the letter "V" and put the letter "m" on top of it. What does it look like? I thought so too! I was viewing an outline of that black shape. Each second that passed pushed my theory into an unsolved mystery. Let's suppose that the snout is under water. The front part is the top jaw of the gater while the back part is the high top of the head. Yeah, a dark "m on V" outline. Yet it didn't move! Captain continued talking about the bridge and stuff, I think. My eyes were glued to that dark object in the water near the edge of some land. Time was running out. Yet there was a reason I had seen that object. I understand those things like serendipity and stuff. I did not know what Bruce looked like. Using hind sight, it would have been nice to have asked Captain how we could recognize Bruce. What!! That dark object disappeared! It disappeared under the water! My eyeglasses were clear, that creature kind of dove under the water. The nearest part seemed to glide forward. An alligator, yeah! Maybe even Bruce! Why should I be surprised? Serendipity and stuff happens to me all the time. Sometimes the wonders catch me by surprise. Oh, me of little faith! My hopes were dashed when I realized that alligators are green. What I saw was very dark in color and probably black. Oh well, it was time to concentrate on the rest of the boat ride in the swamp. Upon informing the Captain of the object, he suggested that it probably was an alligator, but said no more about it so that he could continue to entertain us with more stories as we toured the swamp. I failed to mention to Captain that the creature was black. Maybe I didn't want my theory crushed. The mystery would go unsolved. How would I ever know what that creature was? Written by Harvey A. Bond

 

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