Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning by Danette Haworth Page A

it.”
    Melissa shakes her head. “How could alligators live here? There’s houses around here.”
    â€œWell, they don’t live in houses,” I say.
    Eddie shoots me a grin. I snicker too, ’cause that was pretty funny.

    We scratch the dirt with sticks, looking for shells. I’ve found two white ones, but I could find those anywhere. I throw them into the river, hear them plunk. I’m hoping to find something different.
    Melissa’s looking for shells like the rest of us, but she’s careful not to get her fingers or her clothes dirty. How she expects to find anything scratching so dainty-like is beyond me. Straightening up, she walks over to Lottie. Her eye makeup has sweated into the corners of her eyes.
    â€œDo like this,” Lottie says, making a motion with her fingers. It’s official, then; they’re really friends now. But I remind myself that Lottie dragged Melissa all the way to my house, passing these very woods just to come get me. That has to mean something.
    Melissa digs the black goop from the inside corners of her eyes. “Are you sure there are shells here?” she asks. “We’re not even by the ocean.”
    â€œThere’s shells everywhere,” I say. “Even mounds built out of shells.”
    Melissa just looks at me. “Well, if this river flows down to the ocean, I don’t see how shells could be here.”
    â€œShows how much you know,” I say. I scoop a little brown shell from the dirt and hold it up for her inspection. “Besides,” I say, “this river doesn’t flow south—it flows north.”
    Melissa puts her hands on her hips. “All rivers flow south.”
    Lottie waves her stick. “Actually, this one does flow north. We learned it in school.”
    Melissa looks like she doesn’t believe her. She starts to lean against a tree, thinks better of it, and just stands there. She drops her stick. “We’re not going to find anything.”
    â€œWho’s crossing this bridge with me?” Eddie calls out. He’s halfway there.
    Melissa almost pops off the ground. “I’ll do it!”
    He looks at her, then over to me. “Violet? You coming?”
    I look down to my shell digging. “Can’t,” I yell back. “I think I found a tiny shell mound.”
    â€œI’ll still go,” Melissa says.
    Eddie looks at her and shakes his head. “I guess we came for shells anyway.” He trudges back, passes her, and crouches next to me.
    The dead branches of a tree near the river’s edge look like they might work better than the stick I already have. I walk over and snap one off, and something catches my eye, something floating in the water that wasn’t there before.
    My breath comes out in puffs. My legs are paralyzed. A forehead floats through the river, two yellow eyes that pretend not to see me. Floating close so gently, he don’t even make a ripple. Then his ridgy back breaks through the surface. I scream and stumble back.
    Everyone scrambles to me. They don’t see him right away. “What? What?” they’re all yelling. I raise my hand and point to the alligator gliding silently toward us.
    My face drains.
    â€œIt’s him!” Eddie shouts. “It’s Alfred!”
    Alligators run up to thirty-five miles per hour. They got eighty teeth. If they catch you, they drag you into the water and hurl you into the death roll.
    Lottie grabs my arm. “Let’s go!”
    I can’t move. She shakes me, but I can’t move.
    â€œLet’s go!” She shakes me harder.
    I snap out of it and turn, running behind her. Melissa’s already running down the path in front of us.
    â€œWhere you going?” Eddie yells from the riverbank. “It might be another year before we see him again!”
    I don’t answer. I’m too busy escaping. Another year would be okay with me.

20
    Lord Almighty,