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

patch beneath their feet, the running water and Wen struggling down the steps with baby Paulo. Mama took the sleepy baby and cradled him in her arms.
    “Just don’t tell me that Grandma is watching that alligator,” she said in her calm Mama voice.
    “No, Mama. Aaliyah is watching the alligator, and Grandma is upstairs lying down with a wet washcloth over her eyes.”
    Mama cupped Keisha’s chin in her free hand. “Keisha, my girl, I know there is a good story—”
    “I’m Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile and I just had my first shower. Keisha double-dared me to take my clothes off and I won!” Razi raced around the tree again, waving his fists in the air.
    Keisha looked up at her mama. What could she add to that?

Chapter Nine
    The next morning, a CFC was held at the kitchen table. Grandma was in her new bathrobe made of organic hemp. She had two of Keisha’s plastic butterfly barrettes on the lapel and was wearing the pink headband that made her eyes look more lifted, though Keisha still wasn’t sure how that worked. Razi was underneath the table in his superhero pajamas, eating graham crackers spread over a napkin. Daddy had given him a set of old lug nuts, and he was picking them up with a super-sized magnet.
    “I’m concerned about this alligator,” Daddy said, putting peanut butter on a cracker and handing it to the baby. “The little guy seems listless.”
    “What’s ‘listless’?” Keisha wanted to know.
    “He’s got no get-up-and-go,” Grandma said.
    “Isn’t that good?” Razi asked from under the table. “He had some of that yesterday, and it made a lot of crisis for everybody.”
    “Well, I think he needs a checkup.”
    “It’s Memorial Day, Mom. Nobody’s open. I’ve got a call in to Dan Malone at the zoo, but we’ll have to wait until Tuesday.”

    Mama was at the stove finishing the corn porridge. “I looked in on the little one this morning, Fred. You’re right. It seems too quiet.”
    “We need a house call.” Grandma took the bowl Mama handed her. “Keisha, be Grandma’s best girl and get me the sweet milk.”
    Keisha got the can of sweetened evaporated milk from the fridge.
    “Mom,” Daddy said, spooning porridge into his mouth, “how do you get a house call when the offices are closed?”
    Grandma reached into the pocket of her fluffy bathrobe and pulled out her cell phone. “I have Dan’s cell phone in my directory. I put him on speed dial after I had that run-in with the box turtle.”
    Grandma didn’t ask the other Carters if they thought it was a good idea to bother Dan Malone on a holiday weekend. She simply put on her reading glasses and punched in the number.
    “Dan? Is that you? I didn’t wake you up, did I? You’re where? At the cemetery? Well, I guess that makes sense. They don’t call it Memorial Day for nothing. The problem is, Dan, we’ve got an alligator emergency on our hands….”
    Grandma didn’t mess around. As it turned out,Dan’s grandfather, a World War II veteran whose grave Dan was decorating for the holiday, was in a cemetery not far from the Carters’ house. Dan Malone would make a house call.
    “Ask and ye shall receive.” Grandma flipped her phone shut. “He’ll be here in fifteen minutes.” She patted her robe. “Heavens to Betsey Johnson!” Grandma exclaimed. “I better get dressed.”
    She took one last bite of her porridge. “Here, Keisha, finish mine. You can use some meat on those bones.”
    “Well, that’s a new development,” Daddy said as Grandma hurried past. “So much for a CFC.”
    “I’m glad,” Mama said. “That little one is not right.”
    “Maybe you should give him some graham crackers,” Razi said. “You can mix them with sweet milk and make them mushy like you do for Paulo.”
    “Maybe …” Mama dished out another bowl for Daddy, handed Keisha a spoon and passed her Grandma’s bowl. “Maybe Dan will want some porridge.”
    There was a knock at the back door. “We had breakfast,” Zack said,