The rotting flesh in the bucket drew alligators for miles. Cooter Lafuente pulled out a big, glistening, fatty piece. While tearing in half, the tendon snapped and a piece flung onto his cheek. "Argh! Here you go, you big ugly gator!" When he threw the piece of meat into the water, the alligators came right up to the dock where he sat, between all the flotsam left over from the floods.

Cooter had no fear, ducking into the shack if he felt they were too close. Parrain's big yellow eyes took it all in. Parrain was the largest alligator in the swamp. Draining a whiskey bottle, Cooter welcomed the burn as it went down, wiping his mouth, he felt Parrain watching.

"Yeh, I'm gonna get you, yeah, you think you are the biggest, smartest around here." He watched Parrain's head peek up a little from the murky green water. "You don't better forget who been running this swamp, Parrain, and feeding you all. Ha, I saw that, you are listening, and you better listen good." Tossing the empty bottle at Parrain, the bottle hit the water in front of Parrain, and he submerged under water. "I can't give you all of them," he yelled! "I'll share. I will."

He walked into the brush, lifted up a large cement lid, he reached into a hole and felt around. "Where the hell did you get to you little varmints," as he grabbed hold of an arm, pulling out a screaming boy.

"No! No! No! Let me go!"

"Shut up!" Cooter smacked his greasy hand across the boy's head. Stunned, the boy stopped yelling. As Cooter used his foot to push the lid back over the hole, also kicking a deflated bunch of balloons out of the way that the boy had been clutching in his hand.