Read Online Gator on the Loose! by Sue Stauffacher - Free Book Online

there.”
    Keisha knew that if she didn’t rescue Razi from this situation, he would have not only the sting of dirt in his eyes but also a lecture that included several wise Nigerian sayings like “He who digs a pit for others is just as likely to fall into it himself.”
    She rushed back to Wen and Aaliyah, who had figured out a way they could both see through the keyhole at the same time by pressing their heads together.
    “He doesn’t look good,” Wen said. “Maybe he’s hungry.”
    “Mama and Daddy are out buying food,” Keisha told them. “But I’ve got another emergency. Will you two make sure this door stays closed?”
    Wen and Aaliyah locked arms. “We will,” Aaliyah said.
    When Keisha got outside, water was gushing from the hose—oooh, that would make Mama angry, too!—and Razi was still crying over the dirt in his eyes. Hewasn’t making it any better, either, by rubbing his face with his dirty hands.
    “Razi. Hold still. I can’t help you if I can’t look at what is hurting.”
    Razi stopped for a moment and covered his eyes with the palms of his hands. Then he started in again. Keisha rolled up her pants and kneeled down next to Razi. She reached out for his hand.
    “You’re still rubbing it in.”
    “I know!” Razi said, pulling away from her and crying some more.
    Keisha sat back. Every older sister had her limits. Wrestling with her brother in a muddy gator hole was not something Keisha Carter was willing to do.
    She’d have to figure out another way. Keisha stood up and ran over to the shed, where they kept the gardening tools. She rooted around in a pile of seed-starting trays and tulip-bulb food because she knew it was over here somewhere. Yes! The spray nozzle.
    Razi loved the spray nozzle. Mama didn’t let him play with water too much, but when she watered the vegetable patch, she let Razi stand with one foot on either side of the okra row holding an umbrella. That way, he could pretend it was raining and her plants still got watered.
    Keisha turned off the water, ran back to her brother and waved the spray nozzle. “Look what I’ve got!” She attached it to the end of the hose and turned the water back on, all to the tune of unhappy Razi’s crying.
    But when she pressed the handle and a fountain of soft rain began to fall on Razi’s head, he stopped rubbing his eyes and put his hand out to catch the rain.
    “Instead of being an alligator, you can be Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile,” Keisha said. “This is your first shower.”
    “I go in the shower with Daddy,” Razi said, tipping his head up to taste the rain. “When I’m six, I can go in by myself.”
    “When you’re six and you can hold the soap without dropping it … and when you can take all your clothes off by yourself.” She moved the nozzle so it was aimed at the back of Razi’s shirt.
    “I can take my clothes off by myself!”
    “Not when they’re wet you can’t.”
    “Can.”
    “Prove it. I dare you.”
    A dare was one of the few situations where Razi could focus his whole self, from his fingers to his toes. Razi loved to win a dare. Before you could say “Ollie Ollie Oxen Free,” he was down to his underwear and struggling to unlace his sneakers.
    Wen called out from the open window, “The baby’s crying. Should I get him up?”
    “Yes, but make Aaliyah promise to stay by the bathroom door.”
    “Okay. No Grandma sightings yet.”
    Keisha rinsed out Razi’s muddy clothes while her brother danced like a prizefighter around the horse chestnut tree. “He did it, ladies and gentlemen.” Razi thumped his chest. “He won the double dare!”
    Wasn’t a double dare
, Keisha almost said out loud.
    Wen appeared on the back steps, with Paulo in her arms, just as Mama and Daddy pulled into the garage.
    “We have frogsicles,” Daddy said, holding up a bag of frozen frog parts.
    “And chicken.” Mama climbed out and took in the mess around her: her son twirling around the tree in his underwear, the muddy