Grandchildren are fearless of alligators

“Tell me what you see,” my daughter, Beth, asked her middle child, Jacob, who was leaning over a pier.

“It’s an alligator, what did you think it was?” he replied. Accompanying this disconcerting conversation is a video of my darling grandson and an alligator that is much too close for my comfort.

Jacob went on to explain that crocodiles have long and pointed, V-shaped snouts while alligators have rounded, U-shaped snouts. This one clearly has a U-shaped snout. Also they are different colors. Crocodiles are brownish green while alligators are more brownish gray. This one is obviously brownish gray. The alligator didn’t move during this entire narrative. Perhaps it was posing or listening to make sure the information was accurate?

I am assuming that this is the same alligator that was stealing their bait earlier in the day while my two grandsons, one or two cousins and a stray child they had gathered, were all dangling their tasty toes over that same pier. Luckily, the alligator preferred fish to toes.

The family was at Huntsville State Park in Texas. They were hosted by Beth’s in-laws, who are obviously less afraid of people-eating creatures than I am.

That was not to be the end of the scary stories. They had borrowed a couple of kayaks from a friend. My brother and his wife have kayaks and love them. Then again, they don’t get in the water with prehistoric beasts. The only real danger they face is toxic algae or the possibility of drowning.

Beth is not entirely comfortable with the kayak. It sits too low in the water and is too unstable for her tastes. Nevertheless, her husband, Duston, and the aforementioned Jacob, took off in one while Beth and Nicholas were in the other.

You may remember Nicholas from earlier columns. He is the youngest and turned six a couple of months ago. He is also the one who claimed to have turned his teacher into a frog with the aid of a magic necklace, among his other antics.

Being the stronger and braver of the two parents, Duston paddled ahead. They stopped when they saw an alligator. Jacob pointed out that the beast was making itself bigger by filling up with air. Jacob said this meant that the alligator was saying, “I am bigger than you are! This is my territory. Leave now!”

By this time Beth also saw the gator and quickly turned around and raced for shore. All the while Nicholas was telling her she was going the wrong way. She should turn around. He wanted to see the alligator. It isn’t fair that Jacob can get closer. Great heaving sobs erupted at the tragedy of it all.

He told Beth that he was going to trade her in on a mommy who wasn’t afraid of alligators. They were almost to shore when he began rocking the kayak in an effort to get her to turn around. Beth was concerned with protecting her child, whom she was not at all happy with at the moment.

Everyone made it back to safety and Beth didn’t get traded in for a braver model. Subsequent pictures were of the usual fish, frogs and turtles. Nicholas and crew discovered they didn’t need fishing poles, just a line, a hook and a worm to catch small perch.

Later pictures showed them playing in a much safer environment - a hotel pool. Their grandfather was in the water with Jacob and Nicholas standing unsteadily on his shoulders. I much prefer these kinds of pictures.

Scary stories and pictures show that different people have different ideas of fun. I would never have willingly been that close to danger. Then again, that would mean that I would also not be privileged to hear Jacob tell about the difference between an alligator and a crocodile.