Chapter Six — Part Two

Matchmaking Season Has Officially Begun

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Pearl Has Someone to Impress

Far out in the middle of Blue Shoe Lake…

…one lonely bubble rose to the surface.

Blurp.

Gator swallowed.

“I reckon…”

“…Chapter Six ain’t over yet.”

​

The three of them sat frozen.

Nobody moved.

Nobody spoke.

The lake remained perfectly still.

Then another bubble surfaced.

Blurp.

Gator stood up so fast his rocking chair nearly tipped over.

“There!”

Mark squinted.

“I don’t see nothin’.”

“You ain’t lookin’ hard enough.”

Ellie leaned forward.

Something pale moved beneath the water.

A white shape.

Rising.

Closer.

Closer.

Then—

KASPLAAASH!

​

Pearl erupted from the lake like she’d been fired from a cannon.

Water flew twenty feet into the air.

She landed with a tremendous splash.

Then immediately rolled onto her side and floated proudly.

Like she expected applause.

Mark blinked.

Ellie blinked.

Gator blinked.

Pearl slapped the water with her tail.

WHAP!

Then she looked toward the reeds.

Everyone followed her gaze.

A huge old bull gator slowly emerged from the shadows.

The fellow was enormous.

Broad-headed.

Scarred.

Built like an old pickup truck that had survived three tornadoes.

​

Pearl immediately puffed herself up.

As much as an alligator can puff.

Then she slapped the water again.

WHAP!

The old bull nodded.

Once.

Very slowly.

Pearl practically glowed.

She rolled.

Splashed.

Spun.

Tail-whapped the lake.

The old bull continued watching.

​

Mark scratched his chin.

“Gator…”

“What?”

“I don’t think she’s celebratin’.”

Ellie smiled.

“She’s showing off.”

The realization slowly spread across Gator’s face.

Then across Mark’s.

Then both of them looked back toward Pearl.

Who immediately launched into another spectacular splash.

“Well I’ll be,” Gator muttered.

Mark nodded.

“Turns out love makes fools outta everybody.”

​

Miss Ellie took the whole thing in and quietly scribbled a few notes into the little notebook she had retrieved from her backpack.

She glanced up over the top of her glasses.

“Yep.”

She pointed her pencil toward the shoreline.

“That old bull gator over there looks mighty interested in Pearl.”

Pearl slapped the water again.

WHAP!

The old bull nodded.

Miss Ellie smiled.

​

“I’m sorry, Gator, if you had other ideas, but I think you’re either gonna have to let her go…”

She paused.

“…or get your gator boxing gloves on.”

Gator nearly choked on his coffee.

“My WHAT?”

Mark leaned forward in his rocking chair.

“Boy, I don’t know how close y’all are, but it done come down to the nut-cuttin’.”

Gator looked horrified.

“The what?”

“The decision-makin’ portion of the program.”

Mark pointed toward the bull gator.

“I personally think you can take him.”

Gator’s eyes got huge.

“What?”

Mark nodded seriously.

“Yep.”

“You got reach.”

“I ain’t got reach.”

“You got determination.”

“I ain’t got determination.”

“You got personality.”

​

The old bull gator chose that moment to crawl a little farther onto shore.

The fellow looked like he had been built from old truck tires and bad intentions.

Gator stared.

A long silence followed.

Then he looked back at Mark.

“Do I look like I got personality?”

Mark studied him.

“No.”

“Thank you.”

“But you’ve got persistence.”

“That’s just a nicer word for stubborn.”

Pearl suddenly launched herself halfway out of the water.

SPLASH!

The old bull watched.

Pearl rolled again.

And somehow managed to look proud of herself the entire time.

Gator finally smiled.

“You know…”

“What?” asked Mark.

“I reckon she’s earned herself a boyfriend.”

The old bull finally slid into the water.

Pearl immediately swam toward him.

The two alligators disappeared slowly into the reeds.

Everyone watched until they were gone.

A long silence settled over Blue Shoe Lake.

Then Mark looked over at Gator.

“You okay?”

Gator nodded.

“Yep.”

Another pause.

“Besides…”

“What?”

Gator grinned.

“I got a feelin’ Miss Ellie likes fellas that wear overalls.”

Miss Ellie nearly dropped her notebook.

Mark slapped his knee so hard he almost fell out of his chair.

Mark leaned way back in his rocker.

He rubbed the stubble on his chin.

​

Then he looked over and winked at Miss Ellie.

“Miss Ellie…”

He pointed his thumb toward Gator.

“If Gator here is from that labor…”

He paused.

“Labor…”

Another pause.

“Laboraterium…”

“Laboratory,” Ellie corrected.

“That’s exactly what I said.”

“No it wasn’t.”

“Close enough.”

Mark waved the correction away.

​

“My point is, if Gator here come from some fancy laboratory, he oughta be able to outsmart a normal everyday dumb gator.”

He pointed toward the reeds.

“We’ll call him Spartacus.”

Gator frowned.

“Why Spartacus?”

“I don’t know.”

“He just looks like a Spartacus.”

Miss Ellie laughed.

“I don’t think that’s how names work.”

Mark ignored her.

“Reckon?”

Gator crossed his arms.

“Mark, I don’t appreciate you implyin’ that all my advantages are intellectual.”

Mark raised an eyebrow.

“You got physical advantages?”

“No.”

“You got emotional advantages?”

“No.”

“You got financial advantages?”

“No.”

Mark nodded.

“Then I reckon we’re back to intellectual.”

​

Miss Ellie nearly spit out her coffee.

Gator sighed.

“I really feel like everybody’s bein’ unusually factual tonight.”

A splash echoed from the reeds.

Pearl appeared briefly.

Swimming beside Spartacus.

The old bull looked enormous.

Pearl looked delighted.

Then both disappeared again.

Mark smiled.

“Well…”

“What?” asked Gator.

“I reckon old Spartacus has got himself a girlfriend.”

Gator sighed.

“Looks that way.”

​

Mark rocked quietly for a moment.

Then he grinned.

“Course…”

Gator narrowed his eyes.

“Course what?”

Mark looked toward Miss Ellie.

Then back to Gator.

Then toward Miss Ellie again.

Miss Ellie’s eyes narrowed.

“Oh no.”

Mark’s grin widened.

“I was just thinkin’…”

“Don’t.”

“…Blue Shoe Lake might be seein’ two love stories unfold.”

​

Miss Ellie buried her face in her hands.

Gator nearly fell backward out of his chair.

And somewhere out in the reeds…

Pearl splashed approvingly.

Mark sat forward in his rocker until all four legs hit the porch floor.

“Well, Miss Ellie…”

He nodded thoughtfully.

“It done got later in the day than I expected watchin’ all this rigmarole.”

The evening sky had started turning orange and purple.

The frogs were warming up for their nightly concert.

“I think you need to join us for dinner.”

Miss Ellie smiled.

“Oh?”

“Yep.”

“We need to come up with a great big ole intellectual plan for my big whapagator friend here to finally win the heart of his damsel.”

Gator nearly inhaled his coffee.

“My WHAT?”

Mark ignored him.

“We got us an extra cot.”

Gator pointed at himself.

“Why am I suddenly involved in this conversation?”

“Because you’re the project.”

“I’m not a project.”

“You absolutely are.”

Miss Ellie laughed.

“And you sho don’t need to be boatin’ back to the city in the dark.”

He pointed toward the trees.

“Shoot, your eyeballs would be full of skeeters before you got halfway home.”

Miss Ellie raised an eyebrow.

“That seems medically unlikely.”

“Maybe.”

Mark shrugged.

“But is it worth the risk?”

Gator nodded seriously.

“It is not.”

​

Miss Ellie looked from Mark…

…to Gator…

…and back to Mark.

“What exactly would this intellectual plan involve?”

Mark’s face lit up.

“Oh, now we’re makin’ progress.”

He stood up and began pacing the porch.

“First we’d need charts.”

Gator groaned.

“There ain’t gonna be charts.”

“There absolutely needs to be charts.”

“Why?”

“Because all successful courtships involve charts.”

​

Miss Ellie laughed so hard she nearly dropped her notebook.

Mark continued.

“Then we’d need strategy.”

“Strategy?”

“Yep.”

Gator sighed.

“Mark, you cannot strategize romance.”

“Says who?”

“Says everybody.”

Mark pointed triumphantly.

“See? That’s exactly why everybody keeps gettin’ divorced.”

Miss Ellie covered her face.

Mark wasn’t finished.

“We’ll need pie.”

“Pie?”

“Every successful operation requires pie.”

“That’s not true.”

“It is at Blue Shoe Lake.”

Miss Ellie shook her head.

“I have to admit…”

Mark stopped.

“You’ll stay?”

She smiled.

“I have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen next.”

Gator muttered,

“Neither do we.”

“And frankly…”

She glanced toward the cabin.

“…I think I’d like to see how this intellectual plan develops.”

Mark slapped his knee.

“I knew it!”

Gator groaned.

Miss Ellie smiled.

And somewhere deep in the reeds…

Pearl gave another happy splash.

Almost as if she knew matchmaking season had officially begun at Blue Shoe Lake.