CH 26

In the morning, Cameron got a call right after breakfast

"Hello?"

"Cameron Conner?"

"Who's this?"

"Jake Tanner. I need to speak with you."

"About?"

"About a few things. Can you meet me on the road just past my driveway? Alone?"

His request rang a couple alarm bells in Cameron's head. "Sure, I'll be done cleaning up after breakfast in another fifteen minutes. Make it on the west road past your driveway." Cameron then hung up.

Going over to the monitoring station, Cameron asked Sonya, "Could you monitor for a while longer? Jake Tanner wants to see me. I think it's important."

"Go ahead, I don't have anything planned."

"Thank you, Sonya."

Cameron was happy about the 'cowboy' boots. They were taller than combat boots, it was easier to slip a good knife in a holder down inside them. Besides the knife, she put her belt on that held her glock holsters, and strapped the ends to her thighs. The wide brim hat partially obscured her vision, so she didn't bring it. This private meeting could well be a trap. She knew Jake Tanner did like Joan very much and since Joan's stunt of showing up in their boat, There was a good chance this was not going to be a very friendly meeting.

She thought about taking something else besides her purple jeep. She didn't want to see it damaged. If the Excursion got damaged, Sonya wouldn't be pleased. She knew Delilah would have a fit if she let Christine get damaged. She decided to take the EV-2.

Rumbling along, Cameron watched ahead and to the sides closely. Not far past Sarah and Martin's drive, she slowed down and scrutinized what was ahead and to the sides. Only a few hundred yards from the Tanner driveway, she saw their sedan coming towards her. Jake was alone in the car. Upon seeing her, he pulled over and stopped. She pulled over and stopped fifty feet in front of him. She watched him shake his head, then he got out.

Cameron got out to stand on the driver's side track, watching him. She jumped to the ground. He stopped in front of his car.

"Are you going to shoot me?" he asked.

Cameron tipped her head slightly. "Did you do something to cause me to shoot you?"

"I know you're a murderer!" he said firmly.

Cameron strolled slowly towards him. "You mean that I kill people. Yes, I've killed many people. None who didn't deserve it, one way or the other," she stated. "What did you want?"

"Many? like ten or twenty?" he asked.

"You have no idea," Cameron stated. "I haven't killed ten, or twenty or fifty. I've killed hundreds. Every one was a threat to our civilization, or my family. Now, why did you ask me to come here?"

"You ... you're a killing machine!" he said gaping a her.

"I am. That's what I was built for, and I'm good at it. Now, besides discussing my body count, what is it you wanted to see me for?" Cameron asked.

Jake swallowed. "Our house here, how did you know we were moving here?"

"I set it up so you would move here," she stated.

"But... How? How could you possibly know?" he asked.

Cameron cast him a smirk. "I watch out for my family, Jake. When our kids go to school, I search for information about the school and the teachers. Not just who they are, I look for criminal records, who they interact with, where they live. Everything I can find out. When Joan started seeing more of Bob, and they began to get closer, I checked him and his family out. Everything. Do you know Carol gave up going to college to marry you? Honestly, I can't see why. Besides going out for fun and not even thinking of taking her along, you have fun with other women. That's not being a very good husband, is it?"

"You spied on me?" he asked in shock

"I spy, as you call it, on anyone who has anything to do with my family," Cameron stated. "We've had too many people trying to harm us to do otherwise. I probably know more about Bob than you do. What games he played, who he played with and hung out with. What he does when Joan's around him, and not around him. Very little escapes my attention."

"So you knew where we were going, and moved here too?" he asked.

"No. Camtex, the Real Estate agency out of Austin you dealt with? I own it. The bank you dealt with to get your loan? I own it. This land you got for a good price, I owned all 2500 acres around this lake. Your house was already being build even before you signed the contacts."

"You manipulated me," he said in a heavy tone.

"If you want to call it that," Cameron said flatly. "Let me ask you this. After your down payment of ten thousand, have you received a single mortgage bill? Have you ever received an electric bill? I want to hear how badly I've been treating you."

Jake started at her. After a moment, he said, "You want my Bob to be with Joan ... that badly?"

"What I want is irrelevant except for keeping my family safe," Cameron stated. "It's what Joan and Bob want. I've studied them when they are together, and when they can't be together. Face it, Jake, they are in love with each other and nothing you or I can do will change that. Unless you want them running off together, missing school and putting themselves in danger, the only thing we can do is support them as best we can."

"But, Joan jumped up into our boat half naked!" he cried.

Cameron smirked again. "I never said they won't do dumb things or make mistakes. Kids do that. It's part of learning. Joan swims in the lake nearly every day, whether Bob is out on your boat or not. Yes, sometimes she swims with very little on when she's not expecting to run into anyone. It is a decent sized lake and there's only four houses here. My guess? She saw the boat and forgot she wasn't properly dressed to go visiting. She embarrassed herself. I'm sure she's learned her lesson."

"But to let her do that ..." Jake said weakly.

"What, swim the lake?" Cameron asked. "Joan knows well how to swim and if she wanted to swim by herself totally naked, that's her choice. There's little danger in this lake. No speedboats to run her over, she knows to stay clear of the banks and shallows where the alligators hang out. No planes or anything fly overhead that try to land.

"There are alligators in this lake?" he asked.

"There are six we know of. Two of them are large, longer than 12 feet. Joan scared one away from our dock the other day. He wasn't very big, only a four footer. When Joan did her oops of exposing herself to you, she later said one was hanging out near your boat under the water and almost got one of the fish you reeled in. She estimated that one about six, seven feet long."

"We never saw it."

"Alligators are predators, they don't want you to see them until after they strike."

Jake looked at her for a moment, then said, "I don't appreciate being manipulated."

"I don't appreciate your attitude towards Joan. Joan has never done anything truly bad, but you insist she is evil somehow."

"You're a machine that kills people!"

"You're a racist and you cheat on your wife."

"What about your husband?" Jake asked. "Two wives? That's not only immoral, it's illegal!"

"Not that it's any of your business, but since neither myself or Delilah is human, that law doesn't apply to us. What we do is open and honest, not sneak around behind each other's backs. We don't cause hurt feelings or risk VD like someone else here does."

Jake tightened his fists. "I really feel like teaching you a lesson, but you'd kill me on the spot."

Blank faced, Cameron told him, "No, I would beat you bad enough that you'd miss a few days of work. You wouldn't be happy, but you'd survive."

"You're full of yourself, aren't you!" he accused.

Cameron tipped her head slightly. "Yes, I have no one else in me."

Jake chuckled a sarcastic laugh. In a grating tone, he said, "So you're the metal bitch that controls everyone around you."

"Not control. Watch and guide," she replied.

"You wouldn't be so tough without those guns" he stated in a growl.

Cameron turned and went back to the EV-2. She took off her gun belt and laid it on a track, then pulled her knife from her boot and laid that on. She walked back to him. "I am unarmed now. How about you?"

Jake shifted in place, fists balled. "If I beat you, I'll get arrested."

"Good excuse to do nothing violent, isn't it?" Cameron asked. She then added, "Most cowards think it's very effective."

Quaking in anger, Jake pointed a finger at her. "Keep your mutant daughter away from our son, or I will get a gun and shoot her!"

Cameron quickly stepped forward, grabbed him by the front of his shirt, picked him off the ground then slammed him down on flat his back. Glaring at him showing her red eyes, she stated in a hard tune, "You hurt any of my family, I will kill you after I hurt you, and keep hurting you for a long time. You will scream in pain until you can't scream any longer. You will die very slowly and painfully! You run, and I will hunt you down day and night until you are dead. You hurt any of my family and you will never escape me."

Jake's face shifted into a terrified look. He scrambled backwards away from her, clambered into his car, backed up and raced away.

Cameron watched him go. "Glad we got that straight," she said in a musing tone, then went back to the EV-2, put her weapons back on, then got in and went home.

.

Joan sat on the dock, watching the alligator in the water that appeared to be looking up at her. He looked calm. Just off the bank, he floated with only his eyes and nostrils poking above the surface. Only twenty feet from the dock, the seven footer was motionless. Almost like he was ready to take a nap.

She knew differently. He was hunting, waiting for something to come close enough to snap his jaws down on them and drag them into the water. Joan was motionless too, watching him and the area on land he was at.

"Whatcha doin?" Louise asked as she came down to the dock.

"Watching that alligator," Joan replied. "Don't go near the bank on this side of the dock."

Louise looked in the direction Joan was. "I don't see ... Oh there it is! It's big too!"

"He's hunting. I think he's waiting for me to do something dumb, like walk towards him or jump in the water," Joan told her.

"They're dangerous," Louise said. "We should go back to the house."

Joan grinned. "I got an idea." she got up.

They went back to the house, Joan went into the kitchen. Curious, Louise followed her. Looking in the refrigerator, Joan frowned a bit then pulled out a package of chicken. She got another out of the freezer and put that in the refrigerator.

Going back to the dock, Joan found the alligator hadn't moved. She unwrapped the chicken.

"What are you doing?" Louise asked.

Joan giggled. "Watch." The package was chicken thighs. She threw one out just above the alligator's head. In a fast motion, the head rose up, jaws open, and snapped the chicken out of the air. Joan giggled.

"Want to try?" Joan asked Louise.

Grinning herself, Louise took a piece of chicken and threw it at the alligator. He again snapped it out of the air in a fast motion.

The girls laughed.

"He's quick!" Louise said.

"Yes, they look big and slow but they can move really fast," Joan agreed. She threw another piece of chicken out over his head faster. Again the alligator snapped it out of the air.

Piece by piece, they took turns flinging chicken at the alligator who caught every piece. The package empty, they took it back in the house to throw it away.

Jackie came out the front door and stopped. "Ah, Joan, Louise, why is that alligator following you?"

They turned to see the alligator was behind them. It stopped moving when they turned.

"Ahh Joan? Maybe we shouldn't have done that," Louise said quietly.

"oops," Joan replied quietly. "Ahh, Jackie, open the door please, and step inside."

Jackie did. Joan looked to see the door was open, then said, "Louise... run!"

They ran inside, Louise squeaking out in fear. Jackie quickly shut the door. They all looked outside. The alligator climbed the few steps and watched them from the porch.

"What do we do?" Louise asked in a whisper.

"Let's just go do something, maybe he'll go away," Joan offered.

"OK."

They put the empty package in the kitchen trash, then heard Cameron call out, "Feeding the alligators, are we?"

Joan blushed. Going in the monitor room where Cameron was sitting, Joan shrugged and said, "I didn't think he was going to follow us."

"Animals hunt for food," Cameron said firmly. "You gave him food. He wants more. What do you plan to do about that?"

Tapping her fingers together, Joan offered, "Stay inside until he goes away?"

"And if he doesn't?"

"I dunno. Tell everyone to use the back door?"

"Unacceptable, Joan," Cameron stated. "Right now, the first person to walk out the front door could be lunch. You know that, right?"

Meekly Joan said, "Sorry, Mom."

JJ then yelled out, "MOM! there's an alligator in the house!"

Cameron shot up and ran out. Joan followed. Running out to the foyer, Cameron saw the door wide open, JJ hiding behind it. The alligator was inside. It turned to look at Joan.

"Joan, this one gets you grounded, you too, Louise," Cameron stated heavily.

Cameron went and got a towel. Walking closer beside the alligator, she flung the towel over it's head. The alligator snapped at it, Cameron jumped on it's back and forced it's mouth shut as the alligator thrashed and tried to get free.

"Joan, grab his tail!" Cameron barked. Joan ran over and did.

After a moment, the alligator settled down. One hand holding his mouth shut, the other around his head, Cameron had Joan get up with her. They walked the alligator back down to the dock and tossed him in the water. Cameron managed to grab the towel. With a thrash and a splash, the alligator swam away.

Cameron glowered down on Joan. "No swimming, no going anywhere outside the yard, no Bob, for two weeks."

Joan whined a bit. She did know she screwed up.

.

Cameron called Carol to tell he of Joan and Jackie's punishment. Carol shook her head in amazement at what Joan and her sister did. Carol found Bob looking over his tackle box and told him, "Joan's grounded for two weeks. She fed an alligator, and it followed her into the house. She can't see you, and has to stay at home."

"She was feeding an alligator?" he asked. "What is she, nuts?"

"You should know that better than me," Carol said with a grin. "Thankfully, Cameron got the alligator out and back into the lake and no one got hurt."

Bob winced. "Mom, I do love Joan. She's really great, but sometimes..."

"She gets herself in trouble," Carol finished.

"Yeah! I mean, it's like she needs a babysitter or something!"

Carol laughed. "You may be right. I can only guess who she wants her babysitter to be," she said with a smirk.

Going back to finish folding clothes, Carol distributed the freshly laundered clothes. Going to her and Jake's bedroom, she went to put Jake's clean clothes away. Opening the to drawer, she saw it was empty. The second drawer was also empty, The third drawer had very little in it. Going over to the closet, she saw his suits were gone, as were his shoes.

What was going on? Jake had left for work as normal this morning, or so she thought. She wandered around trying hard not to think about what this meant. She called his work to ask him what was going on.

"Johnson's lumber, how kin I help you?

"Yes, this is Carol Tanner, can I speak to Jake please?"

"Hang on a minute," shortly the man said, "He didn't come in this morning."

"But, he left for work as usual," Carol replied.

"He did, huh? OK, Mrs, Tanner, I'm gong to call the Sheriff and ask him to look into it. If Jake got into an accident or something, the Sheriff will find out and he'll let you know. Maybe his car broke down or something. Don't worry, I'm sure the Sheriff will let you know the moment he does."

"Thank you," she said meekly and hung the phone up. The more she wondered if Jake was all right, the more she thought about all his missing clothes.

.

Bob saw his mother siting at the table, staring at nothing. he looked distressed. "Mom? You OK?" he asked, settling down across from her.

Carol weakly said, "Your father went to work this morning ... but never got there."

"What? did he have an accident or something?" Bob asked.

"The Sheriff is looking for him. The odd thing is, why would he take all his clothes to work with him?" she asked vacantly.

"He took his clothes?" Bob asked.

Carol nodded. "I ... don't want to think this," Carol whispered. A tear dripped down her cheek.

Bob got it. His mother thought Dad had left them. He felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach. "Why would he do that?"

Carol shook her head.

"There has to be an explanation," Bob said firmly. "There's lots of open land around ... maybe he is going to make a cabin ? Like a getaway place so we can vacation there?"

Carol let out a dry chuckle. "Bobby, when have we taken a vacation since you were six? Jake saved his vacation, so we could have a bit more money to pay for expenses," she said bitterly. "His ... going out to look for this second job that never came to be. Coming home drunk because he was trying to work deals that never came to be."

Bob knew his father hadn't spend much time at home. He'd never thought about why. "Mom", he said weakly.

Carol's fists tightened. "I didn't want to believe he was just out carousing. I don't want to believe his just up and left us, but that's the way it's looking. I wonder if that FUCK got a call from a girlfriend."

Bob sat shocked. He never heard his mother use language like that before. He watched her for a moment, not knowing what to do or say.

In a hollow tone, Carol said, "I'm sorry, Bobby, I ... we don't know anything yet. I shouldn't have said that."

"That's OK," Bob replied quickly. "I can see you're stressed out. Can I, umm, get you something?"

That made a tiny smile appear on his mother's face. "Thanks, but no. There is something you can do for me."

"Name it," Bob replied.

Lifting her head up to Look at him, she said, "Never forget what Joan does for you and never treat her badly. Always be as kind and understanding as you are now. Don't let anything turn you into an asshole."

Bob had to grin at that last part. Firmly, he said, "Mom, I promise to be good to Joan. She's wonderful to me, and really? if it wasn't for her, I'd probably be still in my room playing video games and hanging out with Charlie. I would do anything for Joan. Even if she does need a babysitter." He smirked at that last part.

His mother giggled. Happy to see something of a smile on her face, he chuckled with her.

"Want some lunch?" she asked, "I'm a bit hungry."

"Sure, let me help," Bob offered.

.

Early in the afternoon, there was a knock on the door. Carol answered the door to find the Sheriff in the other side.

He took his hat off and said, "Afternoon, Mrs. Tanner, may I come in for a moment?"

"Yes, please do," she replied and moved aside for him.

He stepped in and said, "I'm afraid I don't have good news for you," he offered. "We looked on all the roads around and asked everyone if they'd seen Jake Tanner. We couldn't find him anywhere. Mrs. Dempsy was out in her front yard and saw him drive by early this morning. She said his car was packed, Was he taking a trip?" he asked.

"Apparently," Carol said in a hard tone. "After he left this morning, I found most of his clothes are gone. The cash box is missing too. He left us."

Shaking his head, the Sheriff said, "Real sorry to hear that. Ma'am, if I were you, I'd give him a week to reconsider. Give it a couple days then call him if you can. Running out on a family is called abandonment, he can be prosecuted for it. As least here in Texas, that's highly frowned upon. After a week goes by, you should get yourself a lawyer. If you need anything, feel free to call the office, we'll get you whatever help you need."

"Thank you, Sheriff, I really appreciate that."

The Sheriff nodded. he went to leave then stopped and said, "If you need meat, Lewis told he he can wrap up a few pounds of pork chops and a good sized ham for you. He'll even deliver it, if you want."

Carol forced a smile. "Please, thank Lewis for me. We're fine for the moment."

He nodded again and stepped out.

.

Joan sat in the yard, hugging her knees. She was helping her mothers, doing everything she could to get back on their good side. Gramma Sarah had come, her and Dad had driven the EV-2 out into the countryside to do something. She wished she could have gone with them. Mommy Two had taken a ride into town, Jackie, JJ had gone with her. Louise had gone up to her room. Sonya had gone to the Young's house to help Daniel with something.

Being grounded sucked! Staring out at the lake she yearned to go dive into, she heard something in the brush off to the side. Looking for the source of the noise, she saw an alligator head poking out of the brush. It was looking at her. Joan got up and glared at it.

"I'm grounded because of YOU!" she yelled. "Why'd you have to follow me back to the house, huh? I can't go for rides, ride my bike, swim or see Bob all because of you! Why can't you just stay in the water where you belong!"

The alligator silently watched her tirade.

"I don't like you! Just go away, OK?" Joan yelled.

The alligator wasn't impressed. It blinked.

Joan stomped back to the house, turning back once to point her finger and yell, "And don't you DARE follow me!"

Slowly the Alligator came out to lay in a sunny spot in the yard and closed it's eyes.

.

In town, Delilah found out about Jake leaving his family. The cashier at the grocery store told her all about Jake up and leaving, taking the only car they had. After discussing what a shame that was, Delilah and the kids drove back to the house to unload groceries at the kitchen door.

"Ahh, Mom?" Jackie said, "The alligator's back."

Delilah went around front. Lying in the lower part of the front yard, there was an alligator sunning itself. "Just stay away from him, he's only getting some sun, but let everyone know he's there."

Cameron wasn't happy, but agreed that just sunning itself in the yard wasn't a threat. She did keep an eye on it and made sure the kids stayed away from it.

Delilah drove down to the Tanner house. Hearing a car pull in, Bob and Carol both went to the door.

"Mom, that's Christine!" Bob said.

Delilah parked and got out.

"It looks like Delilah Connor," Carol said.

"Not her Mom, the car is Christine." They went out to meet Delilah.

"Hi Carol, Bob," Delilah greeted with a smile.

"Greetings, Delilah," Carol offered, "How are you today?"

"I'm fine. Got a bit of a problem though," Delilah said with a slight frown.

"Sorry to hear that, what's up?" Carol asked.

"Well besides the alligator coming back for seconds, have you met Travis downtown?" Delilah asked.

"Isn't he the car dealer?"

"He is," Delilah agreed. "He's in a bit of a jam. You see, he's way behind on his bills, no one's been buying anything and well, it would be a shame if the only dealer in town went belly up. Since you could use a car, I was thinking maybe he has something you'd like?"

"We don't have any money," Carol explained.

"That's fine, I do!" Delilah said happily and pulled out a credit card.

Carol grinned and said, "I can't let you by me a car."

"I was going to buy one anyway, but since you need one, I figured you could use it. At least until your get your own." Delilah explained.

"Come on, Mom," Bob coaxed.

"Bobby, I can't consciously let let anyone pay for such an expensive item for us!" Carol said firmly.

"Then, we can make it a loan," Delilah offered. "Say, until you get stabilized, Bob can do work for us to help pay it off?"

"I can do that," Bob agreed. He looked at his mother.

Carol ginned. Bob working for the Connors, Joan somewhere close by. Yeah, she could see why he was eager to work. Delilah was looking at her expectantly. She relented. "All right, but nothing extravagant."

"Great! Let's go," Delilah chimed.

Bob was nervous getting in. This was Christine after all. He sat in the back. His mother sat in front with Delilah.

As they left, his mother said, "You keep this car in great shape, but it is rather old. Don't you want something newer?"

Delilah laughed. "Oh no! Christine might be old, but she's really something special. Besides, I like her looks, and she rides and drives really nice too. I really don't care about all that modern electronic stuff. We got in an accident not long before we moved, I had the Toyota then. A foolish kid ran a red light, I tried to get stopped and turn, but he hit the driver's side. The door was mangled and it nearly threw me out. Our car was knocked off the road and trashed. When shopping for another car, I saw Christine here, and it was love at first sight! Expensive, yes, but there is nothing like Christine made today. I think she's beautiful."

"Old cars do have a lot more character to them," Carol agreed.

Pulling into the used car lot, Delilah noted many were pickup trucks. Delilah stopped and two salesmen came out.

Walking over as Delilah and Carol got out, one eyed Christine in a daze. "Please, tell me that's trade-in," he said all but salivating.

"No way," Delilah announced. "Carol here needs a vehicle. Something good and sturdy."

The other one who was also looking at Christine with stars in his eyes said, "Whatever the price, we'll buy it. That's a '57 Plymouth, isn't it?"

"Not for sale. Carol does need a vehicle," Delilah told them.

"I am so jealous," he said, gazing at Christine.

"Pine away, Carol needs a ride," Delilah replied in a firm tone.

They both looked at Delilah as if seeing her for the first time.

"Ahh, yes! I'm Travis," he said extending his hand. "You need another car? I imagine you keep this one garaged?"

Bob chuckled at them.

"Carol, here beside me needs transportation," Delilah said firmly.

"Yes, right!" Travis said and turned to Carol. "Is there anything in particular you're looking for?"

"Just something to get me in town and back. Noting expensive," Carol explained.

Trying to sound eager as he kept glancing at Christine, he said, "Well we don't have anything expensive. You just want basic transportation?"

"Yes, please."

Travis looked around and said, "OK, over here we have a Hyundai, 67,000 miles on it, the interior's good and we do oil changes and safety checks as soon as we get every car in," he bragged.

Bob looked down and asked, "Is that why there's oil under it?"

"What's your warranty?" Delilah asked.

"Standard 30 days."

Carol looked at Delilah. Delilah shook her head.

Looking around, Travis pointed out a little Ford. Carol hard a hard time getting onto it. Bob got in, they sat shoulder to shoulder. Next.

Carol finally liked the Jeep Wrangler they had. It was small, the interior and dash was simple but in good shape. There was no top to it but it was cheap. Delilah and Carol took it out for a ride, Bob had to stay back, there was no back seat.

Coming back, Delilah had Carol pull over to the side. "So, what do you think?"

Carol frowned. "It's fun to drive, something underneath is making noise, and there's no roof. It does have 89,000 miles on it. I suppose it could last a few months."

"Car parts like roofs, door covers, seats and stuff like that we can get on the internet," Delilah told her. "The question is, do you like it?"

Carol paused then said, "Yes, I do."

"Good!" Delilah beamed. "I'll look for stuff you'll need on the internet. Until we got a top for it, keep it in the garage."

Going back to the dealership, Delilah pulled Travis to the side and after explaining the 'horrible' noise underneath, she got him to have Joe's garage fix it and charge him for the bill. She watched Travis set up the appointment, paid for the jeep, then followed Carol and Bob home.

.

Once Carol made her appointment to get her jeep fixed, Joe got a call. He talked to Delilah and agreed. Once he fixed the bad U-joints in the drive shaft, he ordered the correct door covers, hard top roof and new tires for it.

.

The alligator wasn't going away. There were times he wasn't around, but much of the time he was seen in the water close by, lying on the front lawn, and one time, he was in the swimming pool. It wasn't a direct threat, but it was making all the adults and Louise nervous. Joan just yelled at it.

John was sure he had the solution. They got their share of the pig hunt. 82 pounds of meat for each person that was there. First they gave some to Carol Tanner and Bob. Sarah and Martin didn't want any, they also had a 160 pounds. Neither did Daniel and Claire. they had 'more pork and ham than they would ever eat'. John bought a long, big steel live trap and faced it near the water where the alligator usually came out. To bait it into the trap, John put a 12 pound ham inside.

The trap worked. That same day, the alligator went right into the trap for the meat. Hoisting the trap and alligator up into the back of the EV-2, John and Cameron drove down the lake, nearly to the Young's house. They got the gator and trap out, carried it near the lake, then John opened the trap and ran back by Cameron. The alligator hurried out and headed for the water.

Proud they'd gotten rid of the problem, they took a short ride down to the Young's place and warned Claire they had release the alligator a ways up the north shore. They stayed a while, Alison was curious when Joan's grounding was up. She was happy there were only four more days to go.

They drove home and parked in front. "What?" John asked in disbelief.

The alligator was there, sunning himself in the front yard.