Sammy the Alligator

I want to tell you about the adventures of Sammy the Alligator.  Sammy, when he was born, he was born very, very small. But he was an alligator.  And his mommy and daddy left him because he was too small.  And they left him on this farm, where they figured he would just be eaten up by some of the animals.

He was just too small to go in the river with them. They thought that Sammy would not be able to swim like they did.  

So on the farm was a little boy named Billy.  He was 7 years old.  And he would walk the farm and look on the ground.  He just loved to look on the ground to look for animals.  He saw the little alligator.  And he said, "Oh my goodness, what a little alligator."  And he put the small alligator, it was so small, he put it in the palm of his hand.  And he said, "Oh I love this little alligator.  I'm going to take care of it.  I'm going to feed it.  And I'm going to name him Sammy."  

So that's how Sammy got his name.  By Billy.  Billy, who was 7 years old, fed the little alligator.  He would give him milk.  And then he would give him leaves.  And he gave him even little bugs.  And the alligator every day got bigger and bigger.   And so did Billy.  So when Billy turned to be 8, the alligator was getting pretty, pretty big.  And the mother and father of Billy said, "What are you doing with this alligator?  We can't have this alligator.  We're worried about him.  The alligator is so big."  

And Billy got upset and said.  "But his name is Sammy and he's my pet.  He's my friend. And He won't hurt anybody.  He won't.  I promise. I promise."

So the mother and father let Billy take care of the alligator.  And Billy became 9.  And the alligator got biiiigger and bigger and looooonger and longer.

And there was a communication between Billy and Sammy that none of the parents or anybody around the farm could understand.  But they would talk to each other.  The alligator would talk to Billy and Billy would talk to the alligator.  And they understood each other.

So one day, Billy came running to the alligator and said "Guess what Sammy!  My mom and dad are going to give me a birthday party.  I'm going to be 10 years old Sunday, and they're gonna invite a bunch of children, and we're gonna have a lot of fun!"  

Sammy said, "Oh that sounds so great!  So you're gonna be 10 years old."  And he said, "so I guess I'm gonna be 10."  

But Sammy was a lot bigger than Billy.  He was looong, and he had a big mouth and a long tail and big eyes. 

The mother and father of Billy were afraid to go near the alligator.  But every time they threatened to get rid of the alligator, Billy would cry and say, "No no, he's my pet.  He won't hurt anybody.  He won't eat the animals...nothing!  Nothing!"

So Sunday came and a bunch of children came.  Girls and boys 10 years old.  "Happy Birthday Billy. Happy Birthday Billy."  

But they knew that Billy had the pet alligator.  And they wouldn't go near the pet alligator, but they loved Billy.

Everybody loved Billy.  He was such a good boy.  And he had so many friends. But they would sidestep Sammy the alligator because they were afraid of him.

So they had cake and ice cream and sang Happy Birthday.

It was so much fun.  

And then one of the children said, "Oh let's play hide and seek.  Let's play hide and seek."  So they did.  

They said, "We're gonna hide.  We're gonna hide.  Billy you have to come and find us."  

So Billy counted to 10 and everybody hid.  And after 10 Billy went to go look for his friends.

And he looked and he looked and he couldn't find them.

And there was the alligator coming out of the bushes.

And Billy said, "Sammy did you see any of the children?"  

And the alligator said, "Uh...uh...no..."  

Billy said, "I can't find anybody.  I can't find anybody."

 

And he starts to get really really worried because the alligator came out of the bushes but nobody else did.  

And then he looked at Sammy, and he said, "Sammy, did you do what my mom and dad said you might do?  Did you eat my friends?  I think you ate my friends!  I think you ate my friends!"

And Sammy said, "I...I...I..."

And then all the sudden the kids came out of hiding. "Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!" And Billy was so happy.  He jumped around.  He danced.  And he said,

"You really hid, I couldn't find you."  And they said, "Oh it's so much fun to hide.  We hid in the barn and the stable.  It was so much fun watching you try to find us."

 

And then the party ended and everybody went home.

And Billy was there with the alligator, Sammy.  And Billy said to Sammy, "Sammy I want to tell you...I...I'm sorry that I thought..."  

And Sammy said to Billy, "I'm sorry. I can't stay here because you don't trust me anymore.  Trust is so important."  

And he wiggled away.  Away.  And he never never came back.

Sammy leaves his home and the Boy

Sammy wiggles away from the little boy, Billy.
Billy cried out to him, "Sammy, Sammy!  Come back. Come back!"

But Sammy was too hurt.  He felt destroyed.  He wiggled away quickly.  Miles and miles came between him and the boy. Until he got tired.  Sammy got tired.

But, as Sammy wiggled away from the home that he knew tears filled his eyes.  He knew he couldn't go back to the boy that he knew for such a long time.    

Sammy's thoughts were that he should go South.  He felt the feeling to go there because he knew that when he reaches south he'll meet the Florida Everglades and that's where he knows he has family.  

So he went south and he walked and walked and he was getting hot and tired and all of a sudden he sees this great big lake. And he says, "Oh i need to cool off."  So he jumps into the lake and he starts swimming around and it felt so good.  

And then he felt something pulling at his tail. And he said out loud, "Who is that pulling at my tail?"  And he heard a lot of laughter and there was a school of fish coming around toward his face.  And they said, "Hi, Gee, you're a big fish!  My goodness you're so big!"  And Sammy said, "I'm not a fish."  They said, "Oh yes you are.  We have only fishes here.  But you're a BIG fish!  My goodness you're a big fish.  And on top of that you're so rough.  You have such rough skin. And your mouth is so big. What kind of fish are you?"  

Sammy said, "I'm not a fish.  And my name is Sammy.  And I'm a little alligator."  And they said, "Alligator?  We don't know what alligators are. Why don't you play with us?" And he said, "I love to play!  But what are you playing?"  They said, "We're playing Tag and you're IT."  "What?  How do you play that?"  "Well, Tag you're It, meaning, if you're It, you gotta go and tag somebody and not be It anymore.  It's not being good It."  

He said, "Oh ok." So as Sammy was swimming around all the little fish were laughing. "Hee hee hee hee."  Sammy's hands were so small, he couldn't tag anybody.  So he thought maybe if I tag  them with my tail, that will work out better.  So he starts moving his tail up and down and all of a sudden you hear, "Owwww!...Owwww!" And he says, "What's wrong?  What's wrong"  "Owwww!" and the little fish say, "You hit George.  You hit Georgie and he's hurt.  And you tagged him with your tail and you hurt him."  

Sammy said crying, "Oh I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry." And all the fishes were "You have to leave. Get outta here!"  And so Sammy got out of the big lake.  He had tears in his eyes. Again he was hurt and thrown out by people he thought were his friends.  And he said, "South...South.  I've got to go South.  I know family is waiting there for me.  They will love me.  They will be my friend.  South....South...."

Journey South

Even though Sammy had walked and walked, he was still in the state of Michigan. But he was determined to make it south.

And so his journey began.

Sammy started by swimming as far south as he could in Lake Michigan. He approached land and finds he's in Indiana. He walks and walks and comes to Lake Monroe at the south of Indiana and rests there for a bit. The lake has small tributaries going in all directions. but he continues to swim south.
The waterway, sometimes murky, snaked its way down to Kentucky. He tried to stay as close to water as possible. Not knowing his way he sometimes had to walk through dry and then swampy areas to find the next waterway, always being pulled south.
He was chased through the J Percy Priest Reservoir in Tennessee, not knowing it was the source of drinking water for the people. Not exactly knowing why, he swam and walked his way East, finding himself in Georgia. He rested for a bit in Blue Ridge Lake.
He then walked for a long long time until he came to water. But this wasn't water he'd seen before. It smelled salty. Sammy had made his way to the Atlantic coast off Georgia. The waves were too much for him to swim through and the salt made him too thirsty.
Still he was pulled south. so he swam as far as he could in the atlantic ocean, staying close to shore. He found a large waterway back onto land and swam in that direction.
He immediately felt so much more comfortable as the water became less salty and the waves disappeared.
He floated and swam south feeling much more peaceful. The signs from the waterway read "Fruit Cove" and then "Green Cove Springs".  He was now in Florida. Still being pulled south, he swam through several lakes including Lake George, Lake Monroe and East Lake Tohopekaliga.

But what seemed to him to be the biggest lake of all was Lake Okeechobee.  He laughed each time he said it to himself "O-kee-cho-bee". He left Lake Okeechobee and found small tributaries to take him south. not always finding a waterway route, he would walk for what seemed a long time by land. he missed Lake Okeechobee.
Not knowing why, he was slowly pulled in the western direction.  The land became swampy. the smell in the air was bringing back memories he couldn't quite recall.  Feeling more and more like he had returned to a place he had been, he stopped in the murky, swampy water.
He was home.  He had reached the Everglades of Florida.

Adventures in the Everglades

Sammy the alligator walks around in his new habitat, the Everglades.  He wants to be with his family but doesn't know exactly where they are.  But he feels they are close by since he seems to remember what is around him, a sense of deja-vu as an alligator might say. 

He swims in the murky water around him.  Occasionally he goes on land to sun himself and walk a bit.  He sees little animals playing back and forth.  It looks so fun!  He laughs as they laugh. 

And strangely he meets this little bunny rabbit.  The bunny is running around and running around.  And Sammy says to the bunny rabbit, "Hi, what are you doing?"  

The bunny says "Oh hi! Hi.  I'm playing Hide and Seek with my friends."  

And Sammy says, "How do you play Hide and Seek?"  

She says, "Well you hide and then they have to go and find you.  And I have to find a place to hide."  And Sammy says, "Well, could I help you?"  

And the little bunny rabbit says, "Well do you have a place, a place to hide?   Hey, what's this big thing here?  

"Oh, oh! That's my mouth", said Sammy.

"You're mouth?!  But it looks so big!"

 

And Sammy opened it wide and said, "Yes, it is big, but that's my mouth."  

 

And then he closed it. And the bunny rabbit says, "You know I can hide in there.  They'll never find me in there!"  

And Sammy says, "Well, are you sure?  If they can't find you, what happens?"  

 

"Oh, then I win.  Then I win.!"  said the rabbit.

 

"What do you win?"  said Sammy.

 

"Well, I don't know, but I win!"  said rabbit.

So Sammy opens up his mouth.  He says, "OK, you can come in, and I'll close it as soon as you're comfortable."  

So the little bunny rabbit crawls in.  And she gets in the middle of Sammy's tongue and she says, "Ok, I'm ready." 

 

So Sammy closes his mouth.  And all the other bunnies are running around him.  "Where's Daisy the little rabbit?  We can't find Daisy.  We found everybody, but not Daisy."  
 

Daisy's mother hears the shouting and hops over.  

She says, "What do you mean you can't find Daisy?"

 

And they say, "We looked all over for her but we just can't find her. She wins but we can't even find her to tell her that she wins!"

  

And the mother rabbit sees this great big alligator sitting there quietly, and she says "Wait a minute!"  And she goes over to the alligator.  "Do you know where my little baby Daisy is?"

 

Sammy didn't say anything.

 

And she says, "Daisy are you in there?" 

And Daisy says, "Yeah, Mommy I'm in here.  I'm in here.  Did I win? Did I win?"

 

She says, "You sure did, but you better come out!"

 

"I can't come out right now, he's got to open his mouth."

 

So the mommy rabbit thumps on the Sammy's mouth "You open up here! You open up here!"

 

And she gets her foot and  thumps thumps thumps on the alligator's mouth.  And she thumps harder and harder and everyone is cheering her on. "Come on alligator, open up your mouth! Open up your mouth!"  

She thumped so hard that the fur from little Daisy got unstuck to the roof of Sammy's mouth. Sammy finally opened up his mouth and says, "I wanted to open up, but the fur was stuck in my throat. I don't eat rabbit!" 

"Oh thank you Mommy.  I won! I won! I won!"  says Daisy.

 

And the mother says to Sammy, "Shame on you!  Shame on you!  You scared me, and you almost ate my baby."

And everybody cheers Daisy the rabbit.  "She won! She won!"

And Sammy walks away.  Turned down again.  Depressed and unhappy.  And he walks and walks, and he says, "I'm going to look for my family.  They must be somewhere." 

  

As he walked, he got really tired.  All of a sudden he stops, and he waited.  

 

Then he saw a man coming toward him with a white stick.  Tapping his stick along the ground trying to figure out where he was.  Then he sits on Sammy.  

Blump.  

 

The man says "Oh this feels good.  This is a nice rock to sit on.  This is a nice rock."  

And Sammy felt tied down to the ground.

Sammy Causes a Stir

But let's back up a little bit.

The last we left Sammy he had wandered off after playing hide and seek with the bunnies.  Daisy's mother wasn't too happy that Daisy chose to hide in Sammy's big alligator mouth even though she won the game since no one could find her.

Sammy was shooshed away from the bunny group.  He was sad, tired and suddenly very hungry.  He had to sit awhile to rest and munch on whatever was around him. 

As he was sitting there shaded from the sun, he saw a man coming forward.  He had a white stick and was hitting it on the ground...tapping, tapping, tapping. And he knew from experience having been around a number of people when he lived with the little boy that the man was blind.  So he sat very still because he didn't want to scare the man with movement or chomping while he was eating.  He didn't even chomp, and he waited quietly.  And the man was tapping, tapping closer, closer to Sammy.

And Sammy waited patiently.

And then, the stick hit his back.  The cane that the man had was tapping, tapping all around Sammy's back, and he heard the man say, "Ah, what a nice place to rest.  I will rest here for a while. I'm so tired of walking."
 

So he sat on top of Sammy.

And Sammy felt uncomfortable.  He was worried.  He didn't want to frighten the man.  But he was tired and he wanted to go and swim in the water and go to the far end of the Everglades to meet his family. But he sat there patiently so he wouldn't frighten the man.  And the man says, "Oh this feels so good. So comfortable. I think I could sit here all day."
 

And Sammy thought to himself, "I can't stay here all day!  I have to get to my family."  And the sun was getting hotter and hotter and the man stayed and stayed and Sammy said to himself, "I just have to get to the water. My skin is dry. And I want to see my family.  I'll take the man to the other side of the water and maybe there he'll get off and continue walking."

So Sammy went into the water and he floated around, swimming, swimming. And the man says, "Ah! What a cool breeze."  And then the people on the shore saw the man sitting on top of the water.  They yelled, "Look at the man sitting on top of the water!  Look at him!"

So all the people on the shore were running, running. And one man says, "Look he's sitting on top of the water.  It's a miracle! It's a miracle! How can he do that?" 
 

And people were cheering and yelling and following him on the road.  And then some of the people got their motorboats and were going to go out to see the man floating on the water. 

First one motorboat, then two and now three headed into the water.  Sammy heard the motorboats and thought "Oh my goodness!  They're gonna kill me with their motorboats! I've got to get out of here!" So he swam faster and faster, and the boats came faster and faster, and people were yelling, "It's a miracle!  The man is sitting on top of the water! He's able to travel faster than our boats!"

So Sammy gets to the shore and he pops the man off of his back and starts walking quickly, quickly into the Everglades where the trees will hide him and he couldn't be seen.  
 

And they were saying to the blind man, "How did you do that?  You must be a special person with special powers!  You can sit on the water!"  
 

And Sammy hid behind some trees.  He said, "I am so glad he's saved, but he sure caused me a lot of suffering."  And poor Sammy was all scratched up from the trees and he didn't know where he was going when all of a sudden he hears, "Hi!  How are you?"  

 

Sammy whispered with some fright, "Who's there?"  

Sammy and Sally

"Hi. So who are you?" said Sally.  She was also an alligator and happened to see Sammy hiding in the bushes.

 

"Oh, my name is Sammy and I've come here from Michigan. And I'm looking for my family."

 

"Oh really?  Here in the Everglades?  You went all that distance?" said Sally.

 
"Oh Yes!  It was so horrible!  I went through a lot of places I didn't even know but I kept on because I had such a horrible time in Michigan that I had to come here.  What happened was they took me when I was a very small child and they transported me to Michigan and they mistreated me something terrible.  And I knew I wanted to come back to the Everglades because my family is here. But I don't know where they're at."

 

"Oh, oh, oh I see," said Sally "but why are you hiding in the bushes?  Anyway, doesn't matter. I could help you find your family."

"Well, who are you?" asked Sammy.
 

"I'm Sally."
 

"Sally?...hi Sally.  How do you know about the Everglades?"

"Oh I've lived here all my life and I have so much fun here.  Wait a minute...watch yourself!  Here comes one of those chairs," as Sally pointed her snout a little ways upstream. 
 

Badoomp badoomp badoomp.....a group of chairs went floating by with four people in it, and they were looking down in the water, and they yelled out, "oh look at these small alligators!  Aren't they cute?  Oh yes, throw them some food!  Oh!"

"Come on Sammy, let's go.  These people in the chairs just want to distract us from doing what we should be doing" said Sally determinedly.

 

"Who are those people in the chairs?" asked Sammy.
 

"Oh they're people who like to look around the Everglades and tell others, 'oh, i saw an alligator!'.  And they're just people, and sometimes they don't even think.  They're the same who took you when you were very small to Michigan.  So you have to be careful about them."
 

"Oh, ok. Thanks. I'll be careful" Sammy whispered, as he was a little frightened.
 

"Hey Sally!  Who's that with you?" an alligator yelled out to Sally.
 

"Who's that?" Sammy asked.
 

"Oh that's Frankie.  She's from around here too. We've been friends for the longest time." said Sally as she waved to Frankie with her snout. 
 

"That's nice you have a friend like Frankie.  I had a friend too when I was in Michigan but we don't talk much anymore", Sammy said sadly as he remembered the little boy and the farm that now seemed so far away and so long ago.

"Watch it! Watch it Sammy!  There's a bunch of grass there.  You have to be careful about the grass and the weeds here Sammy.  They can really get you.  Be careful!"  Sally said.
 

"Oh Sally what would I do without you?"
 

"Well thank you Sammy.  That's the nicest thing any alligator has ever said to me.  Oh, thank you.  Let's go and try to find your family.  Do you know anything about them?" asked Sally. 
 

"I just know that they're good alligators that work hard.  But I don't think they'd even recognize me."

"Oh sure they will Sammy.  I know everybody.  I've been living here for 15 years and I know everybody around here."
 

"Oh Sally I'm so glad I met you..."
 

"Hey Sally!" another alligator yelled out to her.  "Sally, who's that with you?"
 

"Oh quiet George! I'm busy right now!" Sally yelled at him.

"Gosh, Sally, you know an awful lot of alligators!"
 

"Well, like I said, I've been here for 15 years and we all are family."

"Oh really?  Do you think I have a good chance of meeting my family?" asked Sammy hopefully.
 

"Oh I do.  I do.  We'll go from place to place.  First, I want you to meet this alligator.  He's the oldest one here" as Sally swam up to a large, older looking alligator.
 

"Hello" said the alligator in a deep gruff voice. "Who are you?"

"Oh Tom, this is Sammy.  He comes from Michigan," Sally said.  "Do you recognize him?  Do you know where his family is?"

"I'm not sure. Turn him around and upside down and on his tail and head and then I can tell you." said the alligator with the gruff voice.

"Sammy do you think you could turn around, upside down and on your head and all around?" asked Sally.
 

"Well," said Sammy "I sure will try if that'll help me look for my family.  I'll do anything."
 

So Sammy turned around, went upside down.  Turned around and around and around.  Then he stopped and he looked into the old alligator's eyes and said, "Do you know who my family is?"
 

The old alligator said, "Yes!  I know who your family is.  They've been waiting and waiting. Oh my loving, loving little alligator!"

 

"Who?....you??!" whispered Sammy with his eyes wide in bewilderment. 
 

"Yes!....Me!  I'm you're family!"