Exercise is Good for You - the conclusion

The next morning was equally wonderful another perfect day! A variety of birds were beginning to awaken. I watched them take off from their nesting areas soaring gracefully into the morning sky, the start of another languid and sultry Florida day.

I carried the scull down to the water’s edge. The scull at 22 and a half feet long was a bit awkward to maneuver but not heavy, only about 35 pounds. I managed it, not with the ease of an athlete but fairly competently. I straddled the seat, adjusted the oars and off I glided on to the quiet lake heading again for the community center. I will do an additional lap of the lake this morning I thought to myself. After two laps of the lake I stopped to savior the start of the day. Sitting in the middle of the lake I scanned the horizon. What did I see? It was my fellow sculler!

I rowed closer to him. Hi” I said. “Hi”, he said back. “Ja see the other alligator?” he asked. “Other alligator?”, I replied. “Right there” he said again raising the same tanned arm and pointing to the waters edge. “Oh, is that an alligator?” I said. “”Yup, right there in the reeds” he said. “Oh. Wow”, I said “Well, I must be going”, beating a hasty retreat. I saw nothing but maybe a lumpy area near the bank of the lake. Huh, I thought, another alligator, well I’ll be damned.

I had to row by that exact spot of the alleged alligator. As I passed the spot I turned my head to look. A log like thing slid out vertically from the bank at a 90 degree angle. I stared. We made eye contact. It did not like me. It was observing me. The eyes were like golf balls but the snout considerably smaller than the one yesterday, only eight or nine feet. A little alligator, I thought. I turned again; it was still there. It was watching me. It wanted to know where I was going. I started processing the information somewhat faster than yesterday. Jesus Christ, that’s a female alligator protecting its nest and here I am on Pamela. It probably thinks Pamela wants to eat her babies. If I stop at my house it will know where I live. It will come and get me. It will wait for me. It can’t know where I live! I rowed by my house not even hesitating. I keep going until I couldn’t see it anymore. I then turned around, rowed back, stopped nervously at my house, got gingerly out of the scull and scrambled up the embankment. I tethered the scull to a tree leaving it in the water until I had a cup of coffee. Three days later it was still there. I finally got up the nerve to get the scull out of the water. It would be a frosty fourth before I ever ventured out on that lake. Once is a warning, twice is a gift, three times and your out.

I called a local agency to complain about the alligators in Lake Wellington. They were very, very patient with me. They tried to explain that where there was water in Florida alligators would come. Complaining about alligators in Florida is like complaining about bears in the woods in Maine. It's just plain dumb. They must have put me on some sort of alligator interest list because every year I get a letter thanking me for my interest in alligator conservation. They also send me refrigerator magnets.

Pamela was sold to a sculling center in St. Louis. She is very happy.