They named the gator Midget for obvious reasons. The reference to its size pointed to the requirement for the most difficult ingredient- one baby alligator. When they arrived at the darkened address of the thrown together house, the critter went PLOP! Besides the unfortunate reptile, the flaming pot was filled with other local, late-night finds: bittergrass, tung powder, deer moss, raw clay, rice, and some seasonings. The three of them watched for what seemed like a long time, in the dim light of old Aint Ayola’s back yard, until the mixture was finally finished. Then the demure, aging grandmother-figure spooned out the thickened stuff into a small plastic bowl with a lid. Caroline and Jason thanked their conspirator, paid her what she wanted, promised to return the container, and got on their beat-up bicycles. The mission was serious, and just might cost them their freedom- for the rest of their lives. The tung powder was the thing, but was it really deadly toxic? Finally, after much pedaling, the guilty two came to the abandoned building. Their nerves were on edge and their hearts nearly in their throats. It was probably around 11:30 by now. “Shhhh, I think I hear him,” whispered Jason nervously. Sure enough there he was, the intended recipient, Jason’s arch enemy- Earl Bannerman. Aint Ayola promised that alligator poultices would remove hair, but Earl was told it cured head lice if rubbed in, on a waning moon. It didn’t do either. Ayola never got her bowl back.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 22:01:34 +0000