crikey!!

So get this. My mom and Michael went to my new apartment today to get the keys and check it out. She called me from inside the apartment, reminding me of all the reasons I loved it: the modern kitchen lighting fixtures, the brand new appliances, the new cabinets in the bathrooms, the huge windows, the bright sunlight, the gentle breeze on the front porch. It was all as I remembered it.

Then they took a walk outside. They checked out the pool, overlooked the tennis courts, and started to walk around the pond. My mom was in the middle of telling me about the huge box turtles when I heard Michael in the background say "That's no turtle! That's a gatah!"

"A WHAT?!" I screamed into my mother's good ear. "A GATOR? ALLIGATOR? IN MY POND?!?!"

I listened to them debate whether it was a turtle or a gator that they saw, until finally my mother agreed that they were in the presence of a "baby gator" that was "no more than a couple of feet long." Somehow, that doesn't make me feel a lot better. But Mikey assured me that as soon as it tries to eat someone's dog, it'll be removed from the premises. Comforting.