I remember growing up on Bull Run Road and hearing folks tell a story about a small boy who lived way out in the country with his grandparents. I couldn’t imagine anyone being further out than we were, but I took their word for it when they said that those poor backwoods people didn’t even have running water. All they had was a little spring running along the back of their property.
One hot summer day, the little boy’s granny asked him to go fetch some drinking water so she could start supper. “Come on back now,” she told him. “And don’t go swimming.” The little boy went obediently down to the spring, but once there, the water looked so inviting he rolled up his britches legs and waded in up to his knees, reasoning that he wasn’t swimming, exactly. He hadn’t splashed around long, however, before he remembered his errand. Reaching up on the bank for his pail, the boy was just about to dip it in the water when he saw a mean looking pair of beady eyes rise up out of the spring and stare at him. Frightened half to death, the child dropped the pail, climbed out of the water, and ran all the way back to the house, skidding to a halt at his granny’s feet at the clothesline. His granny eyed his wet clothes and empty hands.
“Where’s my water, son? Better yet, where’s the bucket?”
“I couldn’t get you no water,” the child said, huffing and puffing and trying to catch his breath. “There’s a big ol’ alligator in that spring.”
His granny snorted. “Aw, son, that old alligator has been living down there as long as I’ve been up here. He’s probably just as scared of you as you are of him.”
After briefly considered that idea the young boy said, “Granny, if he’s as scared of me as I am of him that water ain’t fit to drink anyway!”
~Shellie
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