Wrestling The World Serpent

When I was around eight years old, I had an Uncle, Dolon, who my parents rarely spoke about. When they did, he seemed like a huge, larger than life-figure like Paul Bunyan. He scared me, but being the eight year old boy I was, I would never admit it even to myself.

So of course, I jumped at the chance to finally meet him. Both my parents were called in to work, and so they decided to ask him, supervised by my older cousin Tyler, to take me for a few days at his home in the Everglades.

Tyler picked me up from the airport. He was in his twenties. tall and lanky, with a mullet to put a Bay City Roller to shame.

Just as my parents, waving goodbye, passed out of sight,Tyler asked, "Mind if I smoke?'

I minded very much; I hated the smell of smoking sections in restaurants. But I was away from Mom and Dad for the first time, and wanted to be brave and strong, so I said no.

Tyler must have noticed my reaction, because he rolled the windows down. I tried not to cough.

After what seemed like hours but was in fact probably only about twenty minutes. we turned off onto a small, straight dirt road leading up a mile or so to Uncle Dolon's mobile home.

It was smaller than I expected. Low, old, and near-decrepit. But standing outside, tending the grill, was the largest man I'd ever seen.

He was old, way older than my parents. and gnarled and withered like a giant oak tree. His beard was grey and bushy, reaching to his waist. He reminded me of the tree man from a cartoon I saw a few months ago.

"Donar!" he boomed as I stepped out of the car. "Ah, how you've grown! Haven't seen you since you were in diapers." He picked me up in a bug. He was solid muscle and bone under the beard, not at all what I expected.

"D- donnie." I said. "My name's Donnie."

"Donnie,then", he said, still just as loud; just as big. He set me down and led me inside, as Tyler took over the grill.

The inside of the trailer smelled faintly of vinegar. It was cluttered, barely a square foot of open floor. Dirty dishes stacked in the sink, laundry on the sofa which Uncle Dolon cleared that off to make a bed for me.

"Tyler can finish up dinner, should be ready soon. low like steak?' I'd never had steak but said yes anyway. I liked burgers after all, and they came from the same animal.

Over dinner (a steak so rare I thought it was raw, and of which I ate only a third), Tyler and Dolon took turns telling me about life in the Everglades, and asked me about my life with Mom and Dad.

"Gotta say, we were surprised they asked us to watch you, Donnie", Uncle Dolon said, "Given our business, and their business. But we're real happy you're here, aren't we Ty?"

Tyler smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, I figure tomorrow we might go fishing, what do you think of that, lad?"

"I'd love to! Out in the Glades?" I asked, excited.

"Yep! We can gather bait after dinner."

So later, Dolon and Tyler took me out near the water's edge to look for worms.

"This one'll get you a carp!" said Tyler, holding up the biggest earthworm I'd ever seen.

"A carp?" I asked.

"Imagine a goldfish, but bigger." Said Dolon, holding his hands out to demonstrate. It looked big.

Not big enough, I thought.

We returned with a stash of bait and Uncle Dolon stored them in the freezer.

Before I knew it, it was time for bed. I slept well, but woke a couple of times in the night to Dolon and Tyler talking on the phone. Dolon was upset, something about a delivery, and it was late.

As I drifted off again, the last words I heard were, "Fine! Ty will bring it tomorrow," and the slam of the phone on the book.The next morning, Dolon told me Tyler had been called in to work, so it would just be the two of us. He asked me to grab the bait while he got the poles and boat ready.

I opened up the freezer and grabbed the little container, but paused as something caught my eye: my unfinished steak from dinner. I thought if I used that for bait, I'd be sure to catch something bigger than a carp, so I slipped it into my bag.

The Everglades were beautiful. Endless waterways through an endless forest that Dolon Called "Mangrove". Even today, overcast and dreary. I thought it was the best thing I'd ever seen. I leaned out from the edge of the boat, looking along the shore to see the wildlife. I pointed as I spotted different animals: a python, a flock of beautiful blue birds("Great Blue Herons!", Dolon declared them), even a panther! Dolon said that was a rare sight, they usually only come out at night, but it meant we'd have good luck fishing.

I'd nearly forgotten we were here for fish until Dolon offered me the line, with a fresh worm on it. He showed me how to cast, throwing his own on the opposite side of the boat. I was determined to match his, but I fell short by about twenty feet.

Still, it was only a few seconds before I felt a tug, and excitedly started reeling in. Whatever had bitten felt strong, but I was managing. And I wondered what was on the other end; it must be big, like a gar or a pike, even. I pulled the hook up, and found on the end a respectably sized Bass fish.

"Hey, that's a great catch! We can even cook it up for lunch later." said Dolon. I struggled a bit getting it off the hook, but eventually managed and placed it in the cooler we'd brought along. Dolon himself hadn't caught anything yet, but I was pretty sure he wasn't trying, preferring to give me the confidence boost that came with catching more than my uncle.

"Is there anything bigger out here?" I asked.

"Oh yeah," said Dolon, "But not anything we'd want to hook. Manatees sometimes make it this far inland, but they're not for eating. Too friendly, and protected besides. Get some pretty big snakes, too, we saw one of them earlier. You can eat those, but they're tough to wrangle. Outside that, we get gators here. You better hope we don't hook one of them. Mean sons of bitches. Taste good, though." I flinched at the word 'bitch', but he didn't seem to notice.

That was when I made up my mind. I waited until Dolon's line caught and he was occupied reeling in his own catch, and cut my small hook off. I replaced it with the biggest one I could find in the little tackle box, and clumsily tied it on. Then I grabbed the now thawed out steak from my bag and jammed it on firmly. I couldn't cast with a full steak, so I threw it out by hand, as far as I could. Which turned out to not be all that far.

Far enough, though.

"Oh, big splash! Maybe a gar!" said Dolon, trying to be an encouraging presence. His own fish had been a letdown, a small thing I don't even know the name of. He threw it back. I waited, tense with anticipation. It started to rain.

And still I waited. Nothing bit.

"Looks like it might get real bad. Should head in soon." said Dolon.

"No!" I said. "One more bite!"

Dolon laughed nervously at that, but agreed.

"Yeah, alright, Donnie. But if it starts thundering, we're leaving."

I waited a few minutes more, but then came the first rumblings, and a flash of lightning in the clouds, and my heart sank. Dolon fired up the motor and turned us around, and I started reeling in my line.

Which caught. I felt a sharp tug, stronger than anything I'd caught so far. I grinned.

"Wait! I got one!" I cried. I struggled, but slowly I managed to drag the line closer to the side. I couldn't see what I'd caught at first, just a vague, murky outline. But as it came closer, it resolved into what looked like a log.

"Man..." I said. But Dolon did not share my disappointment.

"Donar. Hand me the rod." he said, quiet and calm as the grave.

"What? But it's just a tree, I don't-"

"Now." his tone would brook no argument. As I handed my rod over, I realized that the log was floating toward us. Upstream. It was... it was huge. Bigger even then Dolon was. Dark brown or green, with three legs and a stump, a long rounded snout, and eyes that seemed to burn with indignation.

That was what had grabbed my steak, and I couldn't be happier. I'd caught an alligator! I mean, I hadn't really caught it, because it was still in the water, but still.

As Dolon fumbled for his knife to cut the line, it bumped into the hull of the boat, and floated away slightly. I watched, mesmerized. I'd never seen one this close up before. It was like a dinosaur, almost. I looked down on it, meeting its eyes.

"Donar, no!" shouted Dolon, and there was a great splash, the boat tipping, and the gator was up over the side. Its bulk knocked me to the floor, and I scrambled back as far as I could. My blood felt like ice, and the rain had built up in the boat, so I found myself soaking wet. The monster faced me, mouth open, hissing, and time slowed down.

I looked death in the eye. And I was terrified. I didn't want to die. I couldn't die, I was only eight! I'd made a stupid mistake, fishing for a monster, and I shouldn't suffer for it.

Time stood still and I slowly sat up, and raised my fists. I was terrified, but there was no way I'd go down without a fight. I readied myself for a fight.

And Uncle Dolon was there, kicking the gator in the head and neck, shoving it, screaming like a madman. He intercepted the monster as it advanced, and forced it back over the side. He picked up his own fishing rod and kept swatting at it until finally it broke and swam away.

I swayed a little, and fell back down, but my uncle caught me.

"Are you okay, Donnie? Donnie! Answer me!" he held me gently, far moreso than I thought he was capable of. The adrenaline wore off and I started to cry.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Dolon, I just wanted to catch something really big, I wanted to prove I was strong like you, I'm so sorry I'll never do it again never never ever-"

He cut me off.

"It's alright, lad, it's alright. You'll be plenty strong when you're grown, I promise. Come on now, let's go home. You're safe, you're okay." And he piloted us back to his trailer.

When we got there, he taught me how to bone and prepare fish, and walked me through cooking them. Tyler got home a little later, with a bandage over his eye that he refused to tell me about. We ate the fish I'd caught and told him the story of how I had 'singlehandedly' wrestled an alligator off the boat. I didn't correct Dolon.

He did make me promise not to tell my parents, though.