And So It Goes

again with the dreams.

I had gone to my grandparents' house, only to find that they were no longer there, and the house had been converted into a day care center. It was owned by a woman and a man whom I'll refer to as John Doe and Jane Doe. (Actually, I know these people in real life, but don't want to reveal their identities.) About the time I got there, all the kids began arriving for the day. I played with them in what used to be the living room all morning. After a while it came time for the three year olds to go out into the fenced in back yard and play. John was going to take them outside, and I decided to go with them.

The children got outside and instead of running and playing, they all just stood staring. I walked up behind them to see what they were looking at.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Look," replied one of the children.

I looked, and there in the corner of the yard was an alligator. Not a small one as in the last dream. This one was fully grown--and in the 10 foot long range. Big monster. Big. Fully capable of killing an adult, and certainly capable of killing a child. John, who had been standing behind the children turned and headed for the door.

"Go back inside, kids," I said. "Now." The children began backing slowly towards the steps that lead up to the open door, beside which John was already standing. At that point, the alligator charged.

"Come on, kids! Hurry!" called John, not moving from his spot by the door. But I, I jumped in between the alligator and the children and thrust my foot into its mouth, to draw its attention away from the kids. It grabbed me by the leg and began shaking me violently. I think the only thing that saved my life was that there was no water nearby. If he could have gotten me into the water, well, that is his world. As it was, on dry land with no access to water, the alligator, though strong, was awkward and clumsy.

Once all the children were safely inside, John also went inside and closed the door, leaving me outside with the alligator. Somehow, I managed to escape and when I got back inside the house, John and Jane were in the kitchen. Jane was sitting at the kitchen table, wringing her hands and saying, "What are we going to do?" They both looked at me, and Jane again said, "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know what you're going to do," I said, "but I know what I'm going to do." I picked up my cell phone and dialed 911. When the operator answered, I explained the situation to her, that I was at someone's home day care and a large alligator had gotten into the fenced yard and we had kids there and someone needed to come get this alligator out of the yard.

"Well, we don't really handle that sort of thing," the operator answered. "What you need to do is..."

At that moment, John chose to begin bragging in a very loud voice about how he had saved the children that were being attacked by the alligator, so I didn't hear what the operator was saying. Giving John a dirty look, I pressed the phone closer to my ear and stuck my finger in my free ear, to block out the sound of his bragging.

"What was that? I didn't hear you," I told the operator, but there was silence on the other end of the line. She'd hung up. The 911 operator had hung up on me. Disgusted, I closed the phone and tossed it onto the table.

"What did she say?" asked Jane.

"I don't know," I said. "All I heard was..." and I repeated what John had said.

Jane began wringing her hands again. "What are we going to do?" she asked again, looking at me. I understood then that what she really meant was, "What are you going to do?"

Both John and Jane made it perfectly clear that they certainly didn't intend to do anything. They both looked at me expectantly. Resolutely, I walked to the back door, bruised and bleeding though I was from the previous attack, yet knowing that somebody had to do something. I hitched up my britches and headed out into the yard to face this alligator that was threatening the children.

Alone.

I almost wish I hadn't woken up at that point. I will always wonder what it was I did.

.