Don’t Antagonize Angry, Awful Alvin Alligator

My father’s Mississippi Delta farm was so remote that a step in any direction was closer to civilization. Drainage canals crisscrossing the area provided ideal habitat for creatures that would have been right at home in the Jurassic Era: bullfrogs, catfish, moccasins, beavers, loggerhead turtles, fish eels, and alligators. My boyhood best friend and mentor Jaybird told terrifying tales about the canals, hoping to make us avoid them. The old black man knew that if we got in trouble, we’d be too far away to call for help. His stories about the canals’ alligators were the most frightening of all.