It should be noted that while Rhodes was
not particularly fond of farming, he was not altogether bad at it. Rhodes was a
good employer and like those who came before him, he took care of his employees
as well as he took care of his own family. Herlin Hall was not meant to be a
thing of conspicuous consumption – he had planned in the fullness of time to
have employee luncheons and conferences in the long, open Florida Room as well.
It would be a meeting place for all the people who were of the most importance
in his life to gather in comfort. Before the family had to rent out space at
the agricultural center if they needed to have employee meetings or training
and there was just no sense in that. Not with the magnitude of their
operations.
Rhodes hoped that he could find a
worthwhile successor from one of the local agricultural colleges. It would break
his mama’s heart to let the farm go like that, but he would stay on in a managerial
capacity. He was 24 years old and wanted to go to college himself. The farm
became his when his father, Hadley, had died three years ago. With nothing more
than a few classes at the local community college under his belt, Rhodes took
over every aspect of running the farm. The plan had been for him to continue
his education at the University of Florida, but he would have been expected to
major in Agricultural Science rather than Business like his sister. Maybe it
was better that he hadn’t been able to finish.
The employees of Shield Farms had no idea
how their employer felt about his station and they all loved him. Most of them
had been around since Rhodes had been a little boy while some of the newer
workers had gone to school with him. He did his best to remain down to earth
and humble and as a result everyone liked him despite the socioeconomic disparity
that existed between him and the people who worked for him. It didn’t hurt that
he continued the holiday traditions of providing a free turkey to every
employee at Thanksgiving, and a $100 bonus at Christmas – a practice started by
Beau Shield.
Rhodes’ mother, Emery Herlin Shield knew
nothing of her son’s distaste for farm life and she could not figure out for
the life of her why the boy didn’t hurry up and get married. She was not fond
of Selena, mostly because she had a Yankee’s way about her. Any woman who would
spend the night with a man without a ring on her finger was nothing but trash
in Emery’s mind. But Rhodes was still young and maybe he was sowing his wild
oats as the old timers used to say. She hoped within the next year or so a good
woman would come along and make an honest man out of him. She wanted
grandbabies after all and time was a wastin’. Although she couldn’t imagine
raising grandbabies in that huge new house the boy had built. Maybe he’d come
to his senses once he got married and move back into the farm house. That was
the real reason she’d protested its destruction. That, and the fact that she
couldn’t see moving after having lived there for close to forty years. A body
does get used to a place.
As Rhodes tramped through the swampy
riverbank with Jerry and Leland Comber keeping his mother in the dark about the
gator was in the forefront of his mind. She had warned him about building the
house so close to the river, although her concern had been erosion. The last
thing he wanted was to hear an “I told you so,” lecture from his mother on this
point. He wondered why he hadn’t already heard from her concerning the pistol
shot that rang out across the property when he’d shot at the beast earlier that
morning. He thought for a moment.
“Jerry, you don’t think that thing
could’ve made it up to my mama’s house, do you?”
Jerry looked at him with a raised
eyebrow. “I don’t know why it would want to.”
“Me neither. It was just a thought.’
They continued on their way. Soon
they came upon what was left of Harley Quitman. The gator had torn him limb
from limb and mauled him, but it looked as though he was mostly intact.
Rhodes couldn’t help but throw up in
the bushes when looking at the remains of his friend in such a fate.
“That gator ain’t hungry,” Leland
said. “It didn’t eat not none of him.”
“Oh, Rhodes! You look like hell! What happened? Did you get him?”
Rhodes looked up from his retching
long enough to shout, “What the hell is wrong with y’all? Can’t you see he’s
dead? That gator had done killed him? I don’t think this is very funny.”
“You’re right.” Jerry apologized. “I
think we better head back before we end up the same way though. We got a body
on our hands now, we’re gonna have to call the law.”
The three of them trudged back to
the house with heavy hearts. Rhodes had hoped that Harley would turn up safe
and sound and that this gator business would be resolved quickly.
When he walked through the door,
Selena threw her arms around his neck.
“No, baby.”
She dropped her arms to her sides. “Oh
no.”
Leland and Jerry collapsed onto the
couch as Crystal walked into the room. Everyone looked at her, but no one said
anything.
“Crystal,” Rhodes began.
She forced a smile. “He was out
there, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah.”
“The gator?”
“Yeah.”
She forced another weak smile before
turning on her heel and leaving the room. Selena ran out behind her and the men
could hear her cried echoing throughout the house.
Rhodes looked at Leland and Jerry.
“So, who do we call, the police or
fish and wildlife?”
“I reckon you oughtta call the
Sherriff’s office,” Leland said.
It wasn’t twenty minutes before
Cypress Estates was awash in blue flashing lights. Both the sherriff’s office
and fish and wildlife showed up. There was no hiding this from his mother at
this point and she was positively scandalized by the news. Everyone was blaming
Rhodes for something. He was being questioned about Harley’s death like he was
responsible and the game warden wanted to know why he’d shot at the gator.
“Bacause the damn gator was tryin’
to get into my house is why!”
“Now Mr. Shield, there’s no need to
yell,” said the game warden. “Can you tell me one more time what happened? I
find it extremely hard to believe that the animal was trying to breach the
threshold of the premises. They aren’t typically that aggressive.”
“I’m telling you it was. You can ask
either Crystal or Selena. They saw it too.”
While Selena confirmed what Rhodes
said, Crystal was beside herself with grief over Harley’s death and therefore
useless.
Eventually, the coroner took what was left
of Harley away and all the law enforcement left the property leaving Rhodes,
Jerry, Leland, and the girls in the same exact situation they were in before.
No one believed them about the gator and no one seemed remotely concerned about
their safety.
“I don’t want to stay here tonight.”
Selena said.
“I’m not staying here tonight,” Crystal
said as she started gathering up her things.
Rhodes thought for a moment. “Crystal, let
Selena stay with you tonight. You shouldn’t be alone. Jerry, Leland, and I will
stay here tonight and see if the gator comes back.”
“Are you sure?” Selena asked.
“Yes. And while you’re at it, take mama
with you. Just in case.”
“Are you insane? Your mama ain’t gonna go
nowhere with me.”
“Fine, call up to the spa in St. Augustine
and see if they have any rooms. I don’t want her staying here until this mess
is sorted out.”
After some prodding, Emery was convinced
that a few days at the spa was just what she needed and she willingly went with
Selena and Crystal. Once they were gone, the men set to work. Jerry and Leland
went home and came back with bear traps, shotguns, and most importantly, and
video camera to film the creature trying to breach the threshold so that their
killing it would be a justifiable homicide. The set out the traps just before
sundown and then they went into the house to wait.
While they waited, they began to drink and
listen to some records. Rhodes was quite fond of music and his pride and joy
was a tube amp stereo he inherited from his father. Music was the thing that
they had most bonded over. He loved to play Hank Williams Jr. records on it,
but that was as close to good ol’ boy as he ever really got. As the night wore
on the Budweiser flowed and the music blared. The three men were having such a
good time that they had nearly forgotten about their gator problem altogether except
for when they toasted “To Harley!” and raised their beer cans high.
From time to time Jerry, the only smoker
of the group, would go out on to the long porch that overlooked the river for a
smoke. It must have been on one of these smoke breaks that it happened, for at
some point the door was left open. This would not have mattered if the only
menace were mosquitos, yellow jackets, or horseflies. These things are annoying
but in no way inherently deadly. But on this night, these men had set out to defeat
a foe much greater. Their senses and vigilance dulled by way of too much drink
and revelry while the carelessness of one smoker let the door stay open - and
that is how the gator got into the house.
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