NaNaWriMo: Day 1

In 1856 Sharp Shield was found on the side of the road in Putnam County, Florida by the now defunct Holy Trinity Sisters of Mercy. He was a scrawny thing of about 7, but in about 10 years or so he grew into the most eligible bachelor that the county had ever seen. The sisters put him to work in the cabbage fields and he saved every penny that came into his hands. He was big and strong with coal black hair and penetrating green eyes. At 17 he had saved enough to buy a small cottage and some land in the cabbage fields in East Palatka over by the river. On his 18^th birthday he kissed the sisters goodbye, moved to his own little farm, and set to looking for a wife.

He would find a partner in Niecy Granger, a poor but good girl from the south end of the county. She was strong and well suited for life on a cabbage farm. Before long the two of them were raising a son, Beau who would later inherit the farm when Sharp finally breathed his last. Although Beau favored his mama with auburn hair and blue eyes, he was a big and well-built man like his father who enjoyed tending the earth. It was Beau who named the farm Cypress Estates after the great trees that lines the river’s edge.

Where Sharp had made a farm, Beau would turn Cypress Estates into an Empire. He bought out several of the smaller cabbage farmers and one or two of the potato farmers as well until he owned a majority of the land on his side of the river. Most of the river people were in his employ, but he was a kind a fair employer who paid good wages so no one complained.

Beau’s son Hadley maintained the business throughout his reign, but it was his son, Rhodes Shield who had the great vision of building a mansion at Cypress Estates. Prior to the building of the mansion house the family had all lived in the small farm house that Sharp Shield bought on the property in the beginning and no one much complained. There was far too much work to be done. Rhodes wasn’t like the rest of his kin though. He had little interest in farming. He liked entertaining. By the time he took over the farm it was 1984.

Construction on the Mansion, which Rhodes planned to call Herlin Hall, after his mother’s maiden name, took the better part of four years and only because the family insisted did he leave the original farm house standing. He might have liked to have razed the thing in the name of progress, but his mama said she and the ladies historical preservation society had a vested interest in keeping the home intact and he couldn’t very well say no to his mama so he honored her request. The house was on the other side of the property anyway and couldn’t be seen from Herlin Hall no matter which window you looked from.

A massive construction, Herlin Hall’s most striking feature were the bank of massive windows that overlooked the river in the Florida Room. They were easily twelve feet high and ran the entire length of the room. The view was breathtaking, especially at sunset, when the vermillion broke the sky to pieces. It was in this room that Rhodes threw his lavish parties and it was here that all the trouble began.

On April 1, 1988 Rhodes had been living at Herlin Hall for less than six months. At around 10 pm he and his friends were carousing in the Florida Room after having come from a party at the south end of the county. The next day was the annual Catfish Festival and traditionally the night before was an evening filled with alcohol and debauchery. Rhodes had killed a six-pack of Budweiser on the drive from Crescent City and he was now hitting the Jack Daniels hard. But everyone was having a good time and they were all excited about going to the parade in Crescent City in the morning.

            In the morning, when the party was getting ready to make the trip back to Crescent City, Harley Quitman, Rhodes’ best friend since grade school was nowhere to be found.

            “I wonder where he got off to,” Rhodes’ asked his girlfriend, Selena, who was sitting on the edge of the couch in the Florida Room brushing her long blonde hair.

            “I dunno, Rhodes. I ain’t seen him since last night. Maybe he decided he needed to go home to sleep it off.”

            “Maybe. You recken we ought to call him?”

            “Nah.”

            “You’re right, we’ll catch up with him this afternoon.”

            Selena, Rhodes, and her friend Crystal grabbed another six pack of Bud and headed to the car. Selena saw it first. She let out a stifled scream and ran back in the house.

            “Woman what is wrong with you?” Rhodes said, but then he saw what provoked such a reaction from her. Standing between them and Rhodes’ Mustang was a 12 foot alligator. As they began to retreat back into the house it started to make it’s way toward them – not exactly charging, but not walking at a leisurely pace either.

            Rhodes and Crystal turned and ran as fast as they could back into the house and slammed the door shut behind them.

            “Did you lock it?” Selena shrieked from the stairs.

            “What do you mean? He ain’t gonna-“ but before Rhodes could finish his thought they heard the alligator scratching at the door. 

            “Lock it!” Crystal screamed.

            Rhodes gingerly approached the door and turned the deadbolt. Then he turned back to the girls. “Let’s go upstairs and get the gun. Hopefully it’ll go away.”

            The three of them headed upstairs to the front bedroom that overlooked the front door. Gun in hand, Rhodes leaned out the window. “Be careful!” Selena implored. 

            “Hush woman! I’m fine.”

            He looked down to find that the gator was still at the door, pawing at the threshold. 

            “I wonder why it wants in so bad.” He mused aloud.

            Rhodes aimed the pistol downward. “I’m gonna shoot at it and see if I can kill it.”

            “What if you miss?” Selena asked.

            “I ain’t gonna miss.”

            Rhodes pointed the gun. Sweat broke out on his brow. He did not want to be held prisoner in his own home, especially not by some overgrown lizard. This gator had to go. He fired. The gator roared and began to run off in the direction of the water. Rhodes sat in the window looking dumbfounded.

            “What happened?” Selena asked. “Did you get it?”

            “I don’t understand.” He replied. “I hit it. It ran off. But I hit it.”

            “Do you think it’s safe to go out and get in the car?” Crystal asked.

            “I don’t know.” Rhodes replied. I’m gonna call Jerry and Leland. They got better hunting gear’n I do. I think we’s goin’ gator huntin’.

            When Jerry and Leland arrived they were armed to the hilt and raring to go. While it wasn’t gator hunting season it was perfectly acceptable to hunt an aggressive gator out of season. So long as the game warden didn’t catch wind. And some gator tail fingerlings would taste mighty good on the grill tonight.

            Meanwhile, no one had been able to get a hold of Harley Quitman and they had begun to fear the worst: That the gator had gotten him. There was no evidence of this, but there was no evidence that he was at home sleeping it off either. What’s more, his car was still in the yard and his keys were still on the counter. If that gator had killed Harley it just had to go.

          Rhodes was livid about this development. How could this be happening at Cypress Estates? At Herlin Hall? He’d never even seen a gator on the property before. Although, to be fair, he’d never spent a whole lot of time out on the property in the first place. He’d always been more of a homebody. For all he knew there were gators all over the place and he’d just never bothered to notice. Maybe that was the problem. They were offended and they were going to make him notice their presence once way or another.

            To be honest, he wasn’t even all that much of a good ol’ boy though he faked it remarkably well. A disappointment to his father, he had no interest in hunting, the outdoors, cabbages, potatoes, farming in general, or any of the other trapping of the provincial life afforded him. He had really wanted to go to business school and do something else with his life, but as the only son of the only son of the only son of the only son that wasn’t really an option. He envied and despised his sister with her fancy education and all her options. She was living in New York. Herlin Hall was the consolation he bought himself.

            He was interested in money. Stocks and bonds. Trading. He especially liked futures trading. His portfolio had paid for more of Herlin Hall than family money had although most people thought he’d drained the Shield family coffers to build it. That was one thing he had in his favor. He was not draining the family. He made his money work for him. He was like his great great granddaddy in that way. He kept his pennies to himself and made them work for him. The parties he threw weren’t lavish, they were just frequent. With as much money as he had floating about, what was a little alcohol amongst friends and lovers? It felt like the least he could do?

            But now this gator had come along and it was a problem he couldn’t reason away or buy off. He would have to man up and get rid of it the old fashioned way. He just hoped that the friends he had when things were good would be there for him when things got tough.