Chapter 21: Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Background

Charlie McRoy has traveled a long way to end up on the back of an alligator, whose name is Norville Trueblood.What a strange way to learn,” You can have anything you want when you no longer want it."

"Okay, glad to meet you, too." the alligator joined Charlie's enthusiasm.

"Where exactly are you from, alligator?"

"Florida, southern Florida, a little place called Mordasin, southern tip, close to Alabama. Ever heard of it?"

"No." Charlie responded, "But, I do know that Alabama is a hell of a sight closer to Kentucky than wherever I am now." He screeched like a trained seal, spinning and dancing.

The alligator pumped up Charlie's excitement with added information. "I've been planning on looking up my song writing cousins, Jed Arthur and Mary Maxine in Mobile, Alabama. Then, I planned on stopping off to see Bobby Jack and his wife Nettie Lou near Nashville, Tenn. Would you be interested in tagging along?" Norville had every intention of swallowing Charlie in the first most convenient available opportunity.

Charlie almost died right there on the spot with overcome joy. Incredible, absolutely mind-blowing! Just in the nick of time, (Charlie was ready to throw in the towel) an alligator had appeared heading in the same desperately desired direction of his longed-for home.

"Look," Charlie bargained, "can we make a deal?"

"Deal?" The alligator gurgled.

"Yeah, deal. That's when one person does something for another in exchange for something else."

"Any money involved?" The alligator asked.

"OH! NO," Charlie answered.

"Then, the matter of ownership won't come up?"

"Nope. A deal's an honest and fair exchange of services or goods."

The alligator was more than ready to deal in exchange for Charlie, as his mouth-watering lunch. He had nothing to lose and every bit of Charlie to gain. He readily agreed.

"HEY, wait a minute! How do I know that you won't try to eat me?" Charlie wanted to know.

"I will. That's not hard to figure out."

"Then we can't work out a deal." Charlie's bubble quickly burst.

"Why not?"

"Because that's not how it works. I need you to agree to transport me through the water or land if you prefer, back in the direction of Kentucky without you consuming me. Can you do that?"

"Why would I agree to anything so stupid? What's in it for me?" The alligator grinned mischievously. He didn't really give a mighty chomp whether his Alabama relatives had made it big or not, or he ever saw them, again. He wanted to make it big with Charlie; one huge mouthful.

"Nothing, really, except for companionship. It's the only thing I can offer."

"Don't interest me. I'm a loner."

Charlie calculated his options. "I'm standing on an unfathomable beach, making a deal with a talking alligator to transport me back home. There's definitely a huge risk involved. Is it worth it? You damn right, it is!" Before he spoke aloud, Charlie got the feeling the calliope was waiting for him to resolve the matter with the alligator before returning to wherever it had come from.

"Just a minute, my red flame," he shouted, "give me five more minutes."

The alligator stared at Charlie incredulously.

"Who are you talking to?"

Charlie briefly explained to the alligator, that although the flying machine looked like a musical calliope, it was in fact, his best friend, responsible for the next leg of his fated journey.

"I'm not impressed. Everybody's got a story, so what." The alligator replied.

"Listen, if we form a partnership, I am certain you will gain something. I'm not exactly sure what that would be, but we wouldn't have met if you were not going to benefit, as much as me, from the trip."

"I'm still not convinced." The alligator acted as if he wasn't interested in the one-sided partnership.

"You can't be thinking in terms of devouring your partner, understand?"

The alligator shook his head, but silently agreed to nothing, except, he would slurp Charlie up passionately, in one big gulp, as soon as possible.

"Do we have a binding agreement?"

"Yep," his tail crossed deceitfully behind his back.

"Will you make short work of it and head to Alabama?" Charlie needed to be sure.

"Yeah, I want to see them all." The alligator lied.

"Like I said, I've got a small matter to clear up before we leave."

Charlie headed up the sand-dune to say good-bye to the transformed calliope. He crawled over the metal edge and sat down inside.

"I know we don't officially know one another but somehow I have always known you without knowing how I do. I realize, you've been with me from the very beginning, watching, taking care of me and guiding my footsteps. On this bizarre journey, we've developed a close relationship based on the music I remembered when I was five years old. I also know you brought me to this specific beach because you knew the alligator would be here and he would take me, home. Events really are connected. I never knew that, before. I do appreciate the mystery of your grace and love." Charlie realized he was saying things that were beyond his comprehension but they resonated with him completely.

The big red machine started purring.

Charlie climbed out and stood on the beach.

The last bit of music produced the sound from out of which roaring jet propellers swirled above pulling it away from the beach. It circled high into the clouds, like a helicopter, and disappeared. Charlie wiped tears from his eyes as he waved good-by.

"I'm back. Are you ready to go?"

"I need to know something right up front. Are you some kind of preacher? I hate preachers. No way am I traveling with a converting preacher. I'm nonconvertible. Religion is emotional. I have no emotions. You understand me? We alligators live by our own religion. The law of the jungle; you got that?"

Charlie busted out laughing. "Preacher, are you kidding? Mr. Alligator, preaching's not my bag."

"To be so young, you say the weirdest things. Have you always been like that?"

"I'm unfolding each minute."

"I wouldn't touch those words with a 20 foot pole, partner. Which way do we head? How will I know where to go?"

"Don't ask silly questions. It'll all come back to you. It's your nature to know."

"If you say so."

Charlie realized, the simple act of removing his shoes seemed so insignificant at the time, but now it turned out to be of perfect significance. He couldn't very well travel through the water on an alligator's back with shoes on, now could he?

"Oh. By the way, alligator, do you have a name?"

"Norville Trueblood." The boastful alligator belted out.

"Norville?" Charlie didn't argue or dispute. "My name is Charlie Braxton McRoy. My friends just call me, Charlie."

Norville would call him GONE, if he would ever turn his back long enough.

"Glad to meet you, Charlie."

"Okay, Norville," Charlie pushed, "Alabama or bust!" All he really needed was to get close enough to Kentucky to call his parents to pick him up.

"Hop on, Charlie, ready when you are." Norville determined to make it the best trip Charlie ever took. It's the least he could do before he ate him. Charlie carefully boarded Norville's back. The sensation of the thick rubbery scaly lumpy-bumpy back made Charlie feel a little bit uneasy.

"I've been in worse places than this," he assured himself. "Anyway, I'm on my way home. I can withstand anything just so I can get home." Charlie snubbed off discouraging thoughts one after another.

"How's the water?" Charlie asked.

Norville slid deeper into the magnificent beach.

Charlie was ecstatic. What would his friends think of him riding on the back of a real live alligator though 'what may be' the Atlantic ocean.

"Am I leading or are you directing, Captain?" Norville asked respectfully.

"You do the driving. I'll do the navigating," Charlie giggled. To the left, mate, to the far, far left."

"As you wish, Captain, as you wish."

Charlie felt like a magnificent blue dolphin. "The ride's fabulous, Norville!"

"Glad you like it sir."

Charlie, for one second, didn't care if he ever returned home.

"NO! Stop it, Charlie Braxton McRoy," he quickly reprimanded himself."YOU ARE ON YOUR WAY HOME. That's all. Don't get caught up in the fun. Keep your mind on the journey home. If you enjoy yourself too much, you might not make it."

Repeating the disciplined words did not prevent him from experiencing the best fun he could ever remember having. Charlie had always thought of alligators as slow traveling animals, but not Norville. He jacked up the speed traveling at least a 50 miles an hour. Charlie could hardly catch his breath, even if he had wanted to.

Talking was difficult under these conditions, however. Norville slowed down a speck so Charlie could understand what he said.

"Would you like to stand up?"

"Stand Up?" How in the world could Charlie possibly stand up on the back of alligator traveling at speeds of 50 miles an hour?

"Why not?" Charlie stood up effortlessly. "I'm the surfing king! Nothing can touch me,now. This has got to be better than the genuine Red and White Sandblaster."

"Didn't understand what you said." Norville replied.

"It don't matter. Nothing matters, really. Where do you think we are?"

"If my geographical memory serves me right, I think we must be in the South Seas somewhere."

"No, not the South Seas, that's not anywhere, near Alabama." Charlie fell down upon Norville's back.

"Of course, not. Didn't I tell you, it's going to be a long, long journey? I've been gone for years." Norville added.

"Years? You couldn't have been gone for years."

"Okay. I've only been gone for 10 minutes."

"Stop your stupid ass kidding. It's not funny. I need to rest for awhile. I'm so tired of all this unsettled mess. Taking 30 minutes or so won't make any difference."

Norville's one intent was to physically and emotionally exhaust Charlie so that he would fall asleep. He curved his long body in the direction of the shoreline, headed straightway onto the land.

Charlie was heartbroken once more.

"I should have known it was too good to be true. When will I ever learn to give up hope? It does nothing but bring me down."

Norville didn't say anything as Charlie climbed off his back while he continued to talk. "I'm never going to make it home. I'm probably further away from my goal than when I began. What do I do now?"

Norville suggested that after Charlie napped, he would feel much better. He planned to consume Charlie as soon as he drifted off to sleep.

"Don't you need to sleep, too?"

Charlie asked with concern, "Since you are the one who is doing all of the work and there's no telling how long we'll have to travel?"

"OH! NO! Alligators never sleep. Didn't you know that?"

"Never heard of such a thing, I thought everybody needed to sleep. How do you rest, then?"

"I stop moving but I never shut my eyes."

"Well, I'm safe with you guarding me.

"You never know what kinds of ferocious beasts that maybe lurking."

Little did Charlie know, but his most dangerous beast stood not two feet away.

Norville encouraged Charlie, "Don't be concerned little fellow, I'll be right here to look after you. Nobody, and I do mean nobody, will be able to get past me to get to you." Norville certainly meant what he said.

Charlie felt comforted. He laid down, stretched out his long lanky legs.

Norville waited patiently. He licked his choppers in quiet anticipation. It would only be a few more minutes and the end of Charlie McRoy would be recorded inside his belly.

"Nothing personal." The alligator remarked silently. "I'm just doing what comes naturally to me. It's all part of the deal. I exchanged a fun ride for Charlie while Charlie exchanges a fun meal for me. No money. No ownership. Fair deal."

Norville carefully studied Charlie's movements or the lack thereof, to make certain he was asleep. He didn't want Charlie to awaken and catch him in the act. "It's better he never knows what hit him."

Finally, Charlie was sound asleep.

Norville excitedly prepared for the tasty MCROY feast. With his jowls extended as wide as they had ever been stretched, he moved longingly toward his unsuspecting victim.

"You really are a traitor, you know."

Norville thought Charlie awakened, but he simply repositioned his skinny body.

He backed up, quickly resuming the regent position.

"I don't see how you can live with yourself."

By this time, Norville realized that it was not Charlie's voice at all. He looked around to see who was offering the accusing talk.

"He thought of you as his friend. He trusted you. Don't you know anything about loyalty?

Norville, not able to see where the words were coming from, turned completely around in a three hundred and sixty degree circle. No one was to be seen.

"I'm certain Charlie is the one and only friend you have ever encountered. With someone as uncaring as you, friends would not be something you'd have a surplus."

Norville grew agitated. "Who are you?" Where are you? My business is not your business."

"That's where you're wrong, Norville."

"Norville?" How did the voice know his name?

"Anytime you commit any willful act to hurt someone else, it affects the balance in the entire universe."

Norville did not know about any balance in the universe. He was hungry. Charlie was provided; it was that simple.

"Nothing is ever as simple as it looks."

The unnerving voice had apparently read Norville's angry mind.

"How did you know what I was thinking?"

"Thoughts are as easily read as words in a book."

Norville knew perfectly well that mindreading was all a matter of hocus-pocus nonsense. He had some distant relatives down in Louisiana who claimed to be fortune-telling gypsies but he KNEW, for a fact, they were nothing but money-grabbing phonies.

"You are quick to condemn, aren't you Norville?"

What invisible force read his mind? Norville spun at such a rate trying to locate the origin of the little voice; he looked rather comical.

"Why didn't you tell Charlie your intentions up front, instead of beguiling him? Authenticity and spontaneity never upset the natural order of things?"

"I DID TELL HIM!" Norville screamed into thin tropical air.

"Technically, you did. But, after you informed him of your true intent, you reneged. You formed an open, trusting agreement allowing him to think he was in no harm. You broke your agreement."

"Yeah, so what? I made the agreement but I didn't allow him to think anything but his own thoughts."

"Norville, Norville, Norville, tut tut tut, we are splitting hairs, aren't we? An agreement is an agreement. One MUST keep his agreements if his life is going to work."

Norville hated the operatic melodic voice. He demanded to see where it came from.

"What an insistent demand, from a guy who has a shark's heart is there a redeemable reason why I should oblige?"

"Forget you. I've got a meal to consume."

"What immediate threats, the frightened alligator delivers!" The bird-like voice regurgitated.

"This is no threat. I could care less about what you say. It don't touch me."

"NO? I ascertained, as much, dear Norville. You would have to possess impeccable character, elevated caliber, and unimpeachable dignity to be affected by anything I would say. Not a savage, sewage-seeking, uncouth beast, like you. Go ahead. Enjoy yourself. Swallow him. He'll never know what destroyed, him. Of course, you won't, either."

Norville didn't like the sound of the last affirmation. The voice could be bluffing, but on the other hand, she could not be, too. How can you fight what you can't possibly see?

"Are you threatening me?"

"No threats intended; karmic retribution. Whatever you do, comes back around; so as not to upset the balance of things, remember?"

"Get off my back!" Norville screamed, "Nobody asked you to butt in. We were having so much fun until you showed up."

"Your order of fun was tainted."

"Get out of here. Go back to where you came from. We don't need you."

"I didn't just show up, Norville; I've been here the whole time. I've always been with you. It simply took Charlie to activate me. Haven't you ever heard of conscience?"

"NO!"

"That's me. I'm the one who steers you along the path of the straight and narrow."

Norville thought the little voice sounded more ridiculous all the time. What need did he have of being steered down the straight and narrow? He was an alligator. He had no use for such idiotic things.

"Think not, do you? Who do you suppose has soulfully guided and protected you ever since you lost your way?"

"Nobody! Nothing! Just me!" Norville snapped. "Are you trying to tell me you are some kind of divine voice who lives way down in the recesses of my soul? Alligators don't have souls. That's plain ridiculous."

"Inside, outside what's the difference? I'm anywhere. I'm everywhere. Just look around you'll see me in everything."

Norville did not find the invisible voice the least bit humorous or interesting. In other words, he was not moved to conviction.

"Look, this philosophical insight is all well and good for humans but an alligator's gotta do what an alligator gotta do."

"Point, well taken. You are extremely hard headed and must suffer the consequences of your own actions. I hope the price is well worth what you will have to pay for a moment's worth of pleasure; which, incidentally may result in the most profuse case of insufferable heartburn and unbearable indigestion you will ever know, possibly resulting in a major heart attack. When we do things in full consciousness, the results of our actions are immediately harbingering.

But be on with your quest. Don't let it be said that the voice of perilous truth stopped you."

Author's Notes:  "Thank you so much, helvi2 for the use of the wonderful picture of the alligator. It's simply perfect for chapter 21 of my book The Subject of Desire.