Now what the fuck could that have been? Richard wondered. It must be pretty big, and how did it get here?
Richard climbed to the top of the small cliff from which Jim, Hal and less-often their friends, were accustomed to dive; it gave a good view over the Pool. It looked peaceful, but something malevolent was evidently lurking under the calm surface. As Richard watched, a Mallard duck came quacking over the treetops and landed with a splash on the Pool. Richard froze, waiting to see if anything happened. It did: the duck suddenly became frantic; beat its wings; tried to rise; could not because it was being held down by something. Finally the other animal broke the surface. Wide jaws opened, shut and the duck was no more. A crested reptilian tail broke the surface as the creature dived again.
Fuck me five times! That was an alligator. Better let the boys know!
Back at Little Kansas, Jim, Hal and Toby Bloodgood were at first sceptical and laughed at the suggestion that a reptilian monster was at large. However Richard looked quite genuinely shocked, serious and not joking, and he had the perch’s severed head to prove what he said. It bore unfamiliar, large tooth-marks. Presently they sobered up and discussed it seriously.
“Look, an alligator couldn’t have got there by itself. Someone has to have put it there. Someone who does not have your interests at heart!” said Richard. “It all points to Edmund. It’s the kind of thing he would find funny.”
“Could it have been here for long?” Jim asked. “I mean, could we have been swimming with this monster all the time, without knowing it?”
“Nope. An alligator would be unlikely to survive an English winter., although it would be happy enough in this warm weather. In the Autumn it would try to hibernate but would not make it through to the Spring. North Carolina is about as far north as they get in America. No; this creature is a recent addition to your pool, definitely after the start of Spring; probably much more recently than that. It is about six or seven feet long, which is not big for an alligator, but big enough to do you a lot of damage.”
“I thought that the fish were getting a bit scarce over the last week or so…” mused Jim. “That pool is normally seething with carp, bream etc.”
“First thing we must do,” continued Richard, “is to check the fencing. There has to be a weak spot near the Pool, where Edmund, or whoever, got it onto the premises. A very large predatory fish – A Giant Catfish, for example – might equally well have served his purposes, but it would have been far more difficult to get it here intact; onto your land and into the Pool, alive and without detection. On the other hand, you just need to shove an alligator under the fence; it will locate the nearest water by telepathy, or something similar; that is an established fact; it will then walk there and make itself at home.”
They duly found a weak point in the fencing. The original American constructors had sunk the chain-link perimeter fence deep into a concrete base, so that the chances of slipping under it were non-existent. But that was then; the 1940s or 1950s. Since the Americans had left, however, some of the lower links had rusted and there was indeed a recent hole where someone had prised them apart. The electric wires had been short-circuited. There were vehicle tracks nearby. Jim made a mental note to call his security firm.
“That’s where it got in – or rather was got in,” said Richard.
At Richard’s suggestion they went back to the Pool after dark and flashed a torch over the surface. Sure enough, a pair of glittering red eyes caught the light. It was floating on the surface, looking for prey.
What to do? Obviously, the alligator could not be permitted to remain there. In any case it was sure to die when the winter frosts eventually began. As Richard remarked, while an alligator could survive short periods of time at below-freezing temperatures, prolonged exposure to these cold conditions must cause its death.
“And in the meantime it could cause death to us” said Jim. How big do those buggers grow anyway?”
An encyclopaedia revealed that the largest reported individual size was a male alligator killed in 1890 in Louisiana, which reportedly measured just over nineteen feet. “So the one in your Pool is quite young.” Toby observed laconically.
Meanwhile the Pool was out of bounds, for swimming, fishing and anything else. Damn, damn, damn!
“I don’t give a damn about its age. How do we get rid of it?” Jim shouted. “As soon as possible, I mean!”
“We could call the RSPCA, although I doubt that they’d have much relevant experience. A zoo might want it. We could harpoon it or catch it with a hook baited with meat. Or just shoot it. Shooting’s maybe the best option.” was Richard’s suggestion.
Toby added: “Any 4-8 rifle can work like the classic muzzle-loader; or the 7mm, which is 4-9, would do the job. When I get home, I’ll see what’s in my late father’s armoury. He shot crocodiles in Africa, so he would have had some artillery suitable for alligators. Also, one of his safari chums is still alive. I'll consult him."
The full extent of the problem of stalking and shooting an alligator became clear after Toby contacted a friend of his father’s with relevant crocodilian hunting experience. Alligators were, to put it mildly, challenging to hunt. It was critical to place the first shot correctly and to “use enough gun”, i.e. to use a hunting rifle with the correct calibre, muzzle velocity, bullet grain (weight), and bullet type, to maximise the penetration and killing power for the animal you were hunting. Alligators had extremely good eyesight, hearing, sense of smell and could detect the vibrations of footsteps at quite a distance. The skull was extremely hard bone and the brain was tiny; the size of a golf ball. A frontal shot had to be placed between the eyes, in line with the spine. The side brain shot needed to be placed between the eye and the ear ridge, above the bend of the smile. Toby’s father’s friend recommended a .416 calibre rifle with a muzzle velocity of 2,270 fps and a 430 grain expanding Barnes TSX bullet…
“Crikey!” said Toby. I’d have a job identifying one of those among Dad’s armoury, although he must have had something along those lines for the crocodiles.”
“I can help with that!” said Richard, cheerfully.
“Meanwhile,” said Jim, “I was really looking forward to a swim but that’s clearly not on, now. It’s, a bloody, heavy, humid evening. I wish there’d be a thunderstorm to clear the air.”
“So what shall we do? Play bridge? Canasta? Poker?” laughed Richard. “Any takers?” He smiled challengingly.
Parlour games seemed a poor alternative to a naked swim. Eventually they agreed on poker. Jim produced cards, drinks and canapés. Hal murmured that he didn’t like – could not afford – to play for high stakes.
“Okay!” said Richard. “Let’s play strip poker!” As it was a very warm evening, the others laughed and raised no objection.
Richard was normally a successful, even ruthless, gambler. But, goddammit! This evening he seemed to have lost his touch. It was not long before, to the others’ amusement, he was stripped down to his small, black speedo-style briefs.
Richard was six-foot two and about seventeen stone of solid muscle. He was clean-shaven and short-haired. He didn’t tan; his skin was fair; pale as alabaster. A few extremely small, pale patches of scar tissue disrupted his skin’s marmoreal smoothness. He kept his skin regularly waxed, bare and smooth, which made his muscles stand out more. Only at his crotch did he allow the dense dark curls to flourish above his heavy sex. Some of the curls showed above the waistband of his briefs; understatedly erotic.
Most of Richard’s close friends knew about – even if they had not directly experienced or witnessed it – Richard’s skill as a wrestler; his parallel career as ‘Dick Rock’ in rough East End pub wrestling bouts sponsored by NHB Wrestling plc; his great physical strength. He had once flattened Jim, who was a good wrestler and almost young enough to be his son, in a ‘friendly’ match.
Hal, who was pretty strong himself, was impressed. “Fucking beautiful,” he whispered, not realising that he was speaking aloud. Richard overhead and smiled at him. Hal threw his cards on the table. “Richard I claim my forfeit. Your skants come off, now!”
Richard smiled, stood up and shucked his briefs, which he tossed onto the pile of his other clothes. He was now fully naked, which never embarrassed him because he knew that he looked good. Anyway, he was in all-male company.
The game continued; the others, in various stages of undress, found it harder than ever to concentrate. Richard seemed cool and untroubled. He seemed to be amused by some private joke; a smile flitted across his features from time to time.
The tension might have become unbearable except that the weather suddenly broke. Lightning flashed; the lights went out; thunder crashed, and the rain came siling down.
“Come on! Let’s get outside! Rainwater’s healthy, good for your skin!” Richard, being already as naked as Adam, led the way.
Minutes later, the four men were larking around in the downpour, or just standing there, facing heavenward, while the rain poured over them. It was now very dark. As they walked back to Jim’s house, Richard touched Hal’s ass, quite gently. No-one else saw.
Once the rain had eased, Richard and Toby took their leave, promising to come back the next day with ‘some artillery’ to deal with the alligator.
That proved easier said than done. In the morning the reptile was nowhere to be seen. Toby and Jim spent a boring time waiting for it to reappear. It might have found a hiding place above or below the water. Richard and Hal, the two military men, agreed to take the afternoon watch. For a long time nothing happened. Suddenly Hal whispered “Look!”
Sure enough, the alligator’s evil little eyes had appeared above the surface. Ditto the tip of its snout.
Richard reached for his gun, a .416 calibre rifle, but the alligator spotted his movement and sank again. Damn! Next time...
The creature’s curiosity had been piqued; it now resurfaced closer to the two men. Slowly Richard raised his rifle again. This time Hal did the same.
“Now!” breathed Richard. The two guns spoke. The alligator reared out of the water and began to thrash around on the surface.
“I think we both hit him! I got him in the eye!” Richard crowed happily.
Certainly there was blood in the water. The alligator thrashed around for a few more moments, then it sank. Blood continued to seep to the surface.
They lit cigarettes and waited for something to happen. It didn’t. The birds, whom the noise had frightened into silence, began chirruping again.
Richard started to strip off his clothes.
“What the fuck are you doing?” asked Hal.
“Gotta retrieve my trophy!” chuckled Richard.
“You’re mad; he could still be alive!”
“Not with my bullet in his brain. But I tell you what; I’ll take a knife just in case!”
Richard unsheathed a Bowie knife that he had brought with him, gripped it between his teeth and slipped naked into the pool. (He's just showing off. Fat lot of use that knife will be if the alligator is still alive, Hal thought.) Then Richard surface-dived. Minutes passed and Hall became more and more agitated. Finally Richard surfaced, knife still between his teeth, grinning from ear to ear.
“He’s dead all right. I’ll bring him in!”
Then he dived again. Finally, knife in teeth, he emerged, pulling the corpse behind him by the tail. Hal got some good photos. Richard needed Hal’s help to get it onto the land. Hal was now naked, too.
“Look, his brain is smashed! We both hit him. Yee-ha!” He hugged and kissed Hal ecstatically, then executed a war-dance.
“Steady on!” laughed Hall.
“I won’t ‘steady on’, as you call it. This is a victory! Where’s my hip-flask?”
“Here. I’m jolly grateful you dealt with that monster. We can swim here again!”
“Always assuming that was the only one, of course. I think that’s likely. They cost hundreds of pounds and require a dangerous animals license if you buy them legally, which I assume Edmund did not. He might have paid a thousand or more! Hah!” Richard had evidently done some homework. “The question is: do we make this into a news item or keep quiet about it?”
“Keep quiet, I think.” Hal thought that alligator hunting might not be legal and the Army might have views on the subject. Potting a few game-birds on Salisbury Plain was one thing; shooting a – possibly endangered? – reptile might be viewed in a wholly different light.
“On the other hand, think how sick it would make Edmund! And (here Richard seemed to read Hal’s mind), alligators have been off the endangered list for ages. In fact they’re a real nuisance in Florida, for instance!”
“I don’t think Jim will want that sort of publicity. And do we need to rub it into Edmund that his cunning plan has failed? Leave it alone!”
“What’d you do in return for my keeping quiet about today?”
“Oh I dunno…”
“Well, I do. I want to fuck with you. Now!” Richard was now staring mesmerically at Hal. His eyes were sparkling and his grin wider than ever. His cock was erect. “Come on. I saw the way you looked at me last night. Why d’you think I suggested strip poker?”
“I kinda guessed…”
“Shuddup and come here. No time like the present, is there?”
