Part 1: The boy who cried alligator

My Name is Conrad Lender, I live in Taylor Reach. A quiet little community in King County Washington, between Renton and Maple Valley. Where Taylor Creek empties into the Cedar River. It’s cold here, much too cold for any giant, cold blooded reptile. Or, that’s what everyone said. Everyday I walk my dog Olympus, a three foot tall, one hundred and forty pound Great Dane. We walked along the cedar trail. A miles long, non-motor trail on an old railroad, named after the cedar river. Usually we cut through and walk the river bank to get home. I was never afraid of being attacked or eaten by some wild animal. The scariest animal there is around here is the grizzly bear, and in my whole life living here I have never seen one. But one day that would change. Who would’ve thought my first bear sighting would be of it being dragged away by a much scarier, much larger, much more aggressive animal. One that shouldn’t be able to survive here, The cold blooded, prehistoric, ALLIGATOR.

    It was a friday evening, cloudy yet sunny, in between spring and summer. Olympus and I were walking as we do everyday on the cedar trail. As usual we cut off through the river bank and walk along it to get home. This time though I heard a loud, piercing hiss, I stopped immediately and tugged Olympus back. I looked closely And noticed a large brown and red body of fur. Thinking Grizzly, hearing that hiss again, and this time seeing a scaly, green, short legged, long bodied reptile pulling the reddish brown fur corpse into the river. I was petrified by fear. Screaming in my mind “OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! Did I just see a bear being killed by an alligator, OH MY GOD! IN THE CEDAR RIVER! OH MY GOD”.

    After what felt like multiple minutes, I began walking quickly. I cut through the trail that led to my flat. I lived in a studio apartment behind a barn at Riverside Resort, an RV park, with a bed and breakfast, bait shop and even a fish taco stand. I worked at the resort as a groundskeeper. When I got to my flat I put my dog inside and went to find my dad, Everest, a former fisherman, and now owner of this resort that we both call home. When I found him I told him what I had seen. He laughed, I said “I’m not kidding” to which he responded “ Alligators don’t live around here it’s much too cold”. And I was like “you don’t think I know that” to which he responded with another laugh “call your brother, he wrote his thesis on the cedar river ecosystems you know”. So I went to call my brother, Zeke. He was a Marine Biologist, studying engineering at the University of Washington. Who did indeed write his thesis on ecosystems and biodiversity in the Cedar River. I asked if what I saw was even remotely possible, he told me it was not, “Even in the spring and summer seasons the cedar river is much too cold for any cold blooded animal of that size” he said “It may have been a Northern Alligator Lizard, those lizards are sometimes confused with alligators and known to be around the cedar river” I asked “are they known for eating bears?” He laughed and said “No, though if hungry enough a bear might eat them”. 

Next couple of days I didn't walk Olympus, too scared. Though I started to doubt what I had seen. After all, alligators in the cedar river, I mean just think about how ridiculous that sounds. Anyway I finally told myself I was trippin, and decided to walk my dog again. This time though, after we cut off the trail to the river bank, there was no mistaking it. The bank was covered in them. More than I could count sunbathing, swimming, and walking back and forth. I stood still with Olympus, both of us petrified in fear. I didn’t know what to do, how to get out of this, and at that moment thought I was going to die for sure. Luckily the ultra aggressive reptiles were not bothered by me, and I slowly nudged toward the road, taking an alternate route home. I began to book it once on the road. When I got home I immediately called the King County Fish and Wildlife services and reported what I had seen. I was laughed at, but insisted this was not a prank. Apparently it was checked out. I got a call much later on and was told no one found any evidence of alligators. This time I wasn't doubting myself though, I knew what I had seen and went to online forums, and called hotlines of all sorts. I was laughed at, unintentionally gaslit, and told more about the Alligator Lizard than I thought was known.

The next day our local paper, Taylor’s Neighborhood Newsletter, ran a headline story entitled “THE BOY WHO CRIED ALLIGATOR” I had the thought and spoke to myself “wow we get no news around here”. It was an article talking about my claims and how ridiculous they were, mentioned how cold it was around here and once again talked about the Northern Alligator Lizard. But below that article was a shorter, probably less viewed article entitled “Dwindling wildlife around the Cedar River” It talked about how around this time of year we usually see more bears and other types of wildlife than we are this year. I thought to myself “Does no one see how this could be related?”.

Over the next couple of weeks I stopped walking around the river, and was made fun of for it. Alligators in the cedar river, laughable and ridiculous. But I swear I had seen them, countless numbers. But where were they hiding? Why did they only come out when I was around? Or could have other people seen them but bought into the gaslighting and just not have said anything? After all who would wanna be known as the boy who cried alligator.

Penny Parker, a tall and beautiful young brunette in a skimpy summer dress from outside of town checked in at the Riverside Resort. It was Monday about 2 pm. It was drizzling, which caused her already bright face to begin to glisten. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I smiled at her nervously, and she smiled back, making me blush like a school boy. Later in the evening I was weeding the garden, as Penny approached. She smiled at me and said “hello” I smiled back, asking “how’s it going?” She said “fine, and yourself?” I replied “Doin alright” then after a moment I introduced myself “My name's Conrad, I’m the groundskeeper here” Penny smiled and said “hi Conrad I’m penny” before nervously asking “are you the boy that cried alligator?” Embarrassed I said “yes, I know what I saw, and it was NOT the northern alligator lizard, I looked em up those things get like 6 inches long tops, what i saw was well over 6 foot” Penny laughed, waved both hands in front of her self while saying “okay okay, i believe you”. She didn't, but she would soon enough. Unfortunately they all would.

Walking my dog to the Taylor Trade Post, the local store. A smoldering Tuesday called for shorts and a tank top, I ran into Penny rollerblading on the cedar trail. She said “Hello” and I responded “hey, sorry if I sounded angry or rude the other day, It was not my intention, I just got a bit defensive. Everyone thinks I’m either delusional, dishonest or both, and frankly I wish I was”. She said “it’s fine” before asking “where you headed?” I told her “I’m going to the trade post”, and asked “would you like to come?” I don’t know where I got the confidence to ask, I just kinda did, and she said yes with an adorable smile.

The tarde post was a long skinny old brick building right off the trail on the border of Taylor Reach. Inside were rows of small shelves of nick nacks and toys. Behind that was a long bar counter where you could buy and sell goods, order food, drinks and even pick up prescriptions. To the left of the bar was a larger area with some more small shelves of groceries and some refrigerators on the back wall. An old school trading post and one stop shop. My sister was workling the counter that day. Penny and I sat down at the bar. I said to my sister “hey LAL could we get a couple root beer floats”, my sister Lilly Annabell Lender, who we call LAL for short, said “coming right up Conrad” with a smile. She scooped up some vanilla bean ice cream, in two cups that she filled with root beer from the tap. As she set them down next to us I said “thanks” and introduced her and Penny.

Penny and I talked for a while. I asked what she did and where she is from, she said “I’m from Los Angeles, studying history at UCLA, but decided to take a semester off to travel around the US, see and learn about small outta the way towns. I said “like Taylor Reach, what do you think?” she said “like Taylor Reach, it’s very nice here”. She then asked me if I was from here, “born and raised” I said “my dad owns the riverside resort, my brother is a marine biologist studying engineering in seattle at U-Dub, my mom’s a vet who runs the Equine Rescue down the street, and you just met my sister.”

We talked for hours, and on the way home it began to get dark but not cold. When we arrived at the Riverside Resort she said good night and gave me a kiss, a slightly romantic peck on the lips. I blushed, told her “thanks and good night”. She smiled, blushed and waved as we headed in opposite directions. It was getting darker, but still quite a scorcher, certainly hot enough for a dip in the river, and I guess Penny had the idea.

On the river bank Penny removed a thin robe and began wading into the river. A late night swim to cool down from a hot day. She swam around a bit, dunked her head and swam some more. Until she kicked something hard and bumpy, didn't know what it was, thought maybe a rock, and decided to exit the water. As she sat on the bank, drying off, stubby legs crawled up, claws stabbed the sand, Then a long head with flat eyes and nostrils rose out from the water. Penny pushed back with her feet and pulled with her hands, while screaming “HELP ME, HELP ME, AHHHH” as the monster started to approach her. The shape of a joker-esque smile formed over its face as it opened its wide hell mouth and slid to penny’s knees, bit down, cracking the bones as she grabbed a root in the ground and screamed one last time, the reptile pulled back into the water and rolled, separating the flesh from the bone. As it disappeared deeper into the dark water, a trail of blood followed...