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

pushing the door open before anyone could answer it. “But we still haven’t seen the alligator up close.”
    “Me either!” Razi ran up to Zeke and did thehigh-five-low-five-slide handshake the boys had taught him. “Only Keisha and Daddy have.”

    “Is it a girl alligator or a boy alligator?” Zack asked.
    “How can you tell?” Zeke wondered.
    Keisha wasn’t sure how to tell, but she didn’t want Zeke and Zack to know that. “I couldn’t really see with the alligator in the laundry basket.” She reached for the honey. “What difference does it make?”
    “How can you name an alligator unless you know if it’s a boy or a girl?” Zack intercepted the honey and squirted some on his finger.
    “Pumpkin,” Razi said, hopping up and down, nearly upsetting Mama’s bowl. “That’s his name! I vote for Pumpkin.” Razi waved his hand wildly. “Who votes for Pumpkin?”
    “Too much energy in my kitchen,” Mama said. “We’ll wait for Mr. Malone. Razi, you can take the boys up to look through the keyhole. But be quiet. That little gator is frightened enough already.”
    “Will you give me a piggyback ride?” Razi askedZeke. Razi always asked Zeke first because he hardly ever said no. “Please?”
    Almost as soon as they were gone, Mr. Malone came to the back door.
    “It’s the alligator doctor,” Daddy said, “here to charge us double overtime for making a house call on a holiday.”
    “Got my doctor’s kit and everything,” Mr. Malone said, holding up a little suitcase. “Never know what I’ll come across at the side of the road.”
    “We appreciate it, Dan.” Mama was already up and headed toward the pot on the stove. “Can I get you some—”
    “No, you sit, Fayola. I always take Mom to breakfast after church on Memorial Day weekend. I’m stuffed. How big did you say this alligator was?”
    Daddy looked at Keisha.
    “Three bread boxes and a tail,” she told him. “Or one rescue tube.”
    Mr. Malone looked thoughtful. “I’ll probably need two assistants to help me examine it,” he said, glancing at Daddy. “Might be best to have one big one and one little one.”
    “I could be the little one,” Keisha offered. She pulled Daddy’s hand onto the table and put hers next to it.
    “You want
Keisha
to work on this gator?” Mama asked.
    “I could take the mouth, Fred the tail, and Keisha here could hold down the middle in case it tries to roll.”
    “I’m strong enough to hold it, Mama. See?” Keisha picked up the kitchen stool and pumped it over her head a few times.
    Mama didn’t have time to decide if pumping the stool up and down was proof enough that Keisha could hold down alligators because Grandma came bursting into the room, dressed in her purple Chinese-collared silk shirt.
    “There’s been a breach of security,” she said. “I can’t be expected to watch over the alligator
and
get ready for the day when—”
    “Did the alligator get out?” Mama dropped her spoon.
    “Don’t get your knickers in a knot, Fay. I just caught the boys—” Grandma saw Mr. Malone. “Oh, hi there, Dan. Seen any vicious box turtles lately?”
    “None as vicious as the one that got its teeth into you, Alice. That was the mother of all box turtles.”
    The boys came rushing in. “It was his fault!” Zeke said, pointing at Zack. “He almost took my head off slamming the door shut.”
    “You pushed me in there first.”
    “That was Razi.”
    “You dared me!” Razi screamed.
    “Boys, boys! Take this outside.” Daddy stood up and shooed the boys toward the door. “There must be some wholesome activity you can find to do while we conduct some business here.”
    “What’s ‘wholesome’?” Razi asked.
    “Filled with holes,” Zack said.
    “Is not,” Zeke said.
    “Is so,” Zack said back. It continued like that until they were outside.
    “Shall we visit an alligator?” Mr. Malone asked.
    “We shall.” Daddy led the way upstairs. He held the bathroom door open for Mr.