Part 3: Alligators in fact in the Cedar River

  

Honor Grey was asleep at home when the phone rang waking her up. It was her wife Carla calling to alert her of the tragic news. It was the hardest call Carla ever had to make, but not nearly as hard as it was for Honor to hear. Her 8 year old daughter was dead, just two years after her husband was killed in a car accident. Honor was in shock, before denial set in. “No, NO, NOOO” she screamed while trying to hold back tears that she could not for too long, she began to cry and scream “NOOOOOO” as if  only she could scream and reject it loud enough she could make it not real. Carla wanted to say something to comfort her, but what could be said, nothing could make this tragedy better. Carla began to cry while softly speaking “I know, I know, I’m on my way home and will be there soon.” She was driving home from the Equine Rescue where she worked to Renton, where she lived. Her son Nick had told her, immediately after it happened. Carla debated whether to call Honor, or wait and tell her in person. She ultimately decided to call, as she thought Honor would want to know right away.

    The death was caught on video, but the body would not be found, as it was gone. All of Taylor Reach was in shock and mourning. No one actually saw this coming, Even I could not have predicted this egregious tragedy. Taylor's neighborhood newsletter published an article entitled “ALLIGATORS IN FACT IN THE CEDAR RIVER'' I saw it outside the Taylor Tradepost in an old school newspaper vending machine. I put a qatar in to buy one. They did not make any apologies for their earlier rejection of my claims, but that is understandable, it would have been in poor taste, even more than I thought the article already was. I was talking to my sister LAL and told her “A part of me wants to say I told you so, but another part feels bad for wanting to say that”. She replied “I get that, at least everybody knows what’s going on now, and maybe we can finally do something practical”. I nodded in agreement. 

My brother Zeke was a good start. With his expertise in marine biology and the cedar rivers biodiversity specifically. He came home from Seattle to help, but was unsure what he could do, as the presence of alligators in this environment made no sense, especially to a Marine Biologist. He was the only one to approach the river, most people stayed away. Zeke took water and rock samples to try and figure out what was going on and maybe find some DNA. He had reached out to his ex-girlfriend Gabriela Kristoferson who was an alligator trainer in Florida. But despite her heterodox beliefs about hypothetical undiscovered species of alligators, she was highly skeptical of this claim. Believing the video to be a hoax, she demanded more hard evidence before coming to Washington. Although alligators have been occasionally seen surprisingly far north, essentially sleeping in ice, Gabriela told my brother this was a state called brumation, though it had never been seen this far north and these alligators were far from asleep. Maybe the water was different, special, somehow, or maybe this was just a summer thing and it would be over in the fall or winter. A lot of people thought that, but still others thought it was just wishful thinking. I hoped the summer thing hypothesis was correct, but still tended to agree that that was wishful thinking. I suppose we will figure out which camp is correct relatively soon but not soon enough, as summer is just beginning.

Hunts would continue as soon as people got more prepared. I saw my dad reinforcing his boat, and testing nets. He waved at me and said “Hey Conrad, guess you were right” “unfortunately” I replied, “what’s going on?” He said “getting ready for another hunt, now that we know what we are after, it should be easier” “ya, but scarier” I said. My dad nodded in agreement. He was clearly frightened but trying to put on a brave face. Smiles and laughter was how he coped with fear and sadness. He was an experienced fisherman, but alligators are not fish and so it was clear he was way outside of his wheelhouse.

Everything around town was closing early. Including the equine rescue owned and operated by my mother, Maryanne Warden, a modern woman if there ever was one. She always kept her name even when she and my dad were married. She was a short, wide yet skinny woman who worked very hard her whole life, taking care of horses throughout her high school career and graduating with honors from the UDub veterinarian program. She was a deeply compassionate and polite person, that is why she gave Carla time off to be with her family Honor and Nick. She told me this when she called to ask my help putting the animals away. As we worked we talked. I told her I felt bad about not calling Nick to give my condolences. I said “I just don’t know what to say other than sorry for your loss, but that just feels mediocre, cliche and not enough, you know?” She said “I understand that, but it would still probably be nice for him to hear and just know you’re there” “ya that’s true, you’re right” I said, as we finished up. I told her to let me know if she needs any more help, said good night and went home to call Nick as I should have sooner.

Nick answered the phone with a soft and sad tone and said “hello” I matched his tone and responded “hey Nick, how are you?” He said “ahh you know” “ya dumb question” I said “and I know everyone is saying this but I am very sorry for your loss, Sam was a great kid and if you need anything I’m here, just lemme know” he replied “thanks”. We talked and reminisced for a few hours. It was the longest we’d talked on the phone since we were kids.

That night I went with my dad and Shane on another hunt. This Time my brother came with us as well. I locked Olympus in my flat. He was likely tired of that We had not gone for a walk in a long time. At this point I was terrified to have him outside anywhere for even a little while. I let him out to go potty while I had a cigarette a few times a day, but other than that he was inside exclusively. Riverside was not doing well either. Many guests had left, more were canceling reservations and no one was checking in since the story got out. Understandable for sure, but my dad was eager to figure this out and he was not the only businessman in Taylor Reach that was. Everyone was scared and because of that local business was not doing well. I had to admit Jim Maxwell was right when he said we needed to figure this out before one of our kids is next. An eight year old girl being eaten by alligators was not great for tourism or morale.

My dads boat was an 8 foot long, 8 foot wide wooden fishing boat called Queen Glaucus, after the Greek god of fisherman. It had a 4 by 4 compartment in the middle with steering controls, a mini fridge on a shelf, a chest freezer below that, and ladders on each side. The right one went down to a bathroom compartment, and the left, to a sleeping compartment with two bunk beds. It was old but in very good condition. Especially after it was fixed up by him and Shane. This time my brother joined us. It was late, we were out for a couple of hours when we all felt the boat shake. The first was just a slight tremor, the severity of which increased with each following one. I pointed a spotlight on the water as my brother looked through his binoculars, and my dad and Shane picked up their harpoons and pointed them at the water, where the light was shining and my brother was looking. Suddenly a shadow in the water rushed by, Shane yelled “there” aimed his harpoon and shot. It seemed like it hit something, but probably just pissed it off. We heard a roar moments before experiencing the most intense tremor yet. The boat almost flipped, and I fell into the water. Cold and scared for my life I noticed shadows swimming around me and began to panic, almost certain I was going to die…