Florida Gators are everywhere you look.  They are plastered over the town.  When it comes to an actual Gator then you have to go looking for them.  That’s what I was told by almost everyone.  Oh don’t worry they would say.  “I’ve lived in Florida all my life and never seen a Gator.”  I like a fool believed this.  I thought there’s no way we would be the exception to the rule.  HA!  I was wrong.  We moved into the new house over the last weekend of May.  Then the following weekend came and DP was at work and I was in the shower, when someone started knocking on the door.  Its Saturday morning I thought who the hell is at my door?  No one knows where we live at yet.  It must be Jehovah Witnesses and I am not getting out of the shower to look.  I was about done and the dog kept going on and on at the door the whole time.  I knew the person hadn’t given up so being done I got my towel, a robe and headed to the door.  This was one determined person and who it could be was making me curious.  It was my neighbor with a big stick in his hand.  Confused, I opened the door and he proceeded to tell me that there was a Gator under my car and to stay in the house and not let the kids or the dog out!  What the hell?!  I asked if he had called anyone yet.  He hadn’t and just wanted to make sure we stayed inside first.  I said okay and thank you and went to get the phone.  I was pissed and frantic and looking for the number to the police department thinking I can’t call 911 because it’s in the driveway under my car and we are in the house so it’s not a real emergency.  I was getting frustrated by the minute looking for the number to the sheriff’s office.  I tried 411 and thanks to automated BS I couldn’t get to an operator because it kept giving me a number to somewhere else.  I was pissed so I called DP and started cussing him out; asking if he wanted to know what was going on at home while he was working.  After he got me to calm down and tell him he said to call the operator and ask for the police department.  Okay that made sense so I hung up and called.  Oh that didn’t work because once again it was automated and after a few minutes of listening to BS again I hung up and went back to the phone book and found the number to the police station in the next town over.  I called them and they were closed!  What how can they be closed I thought as I listened to the recording and then it says if you stay on the line you will be connected to my town’s station.  Okay stay on the line and I will get through.  Wow!  I couldn’t believe it was so hard to find the damn number.  I was starting to think I might just have to call 911.  Well the dispatcher answered the phone and I told her what was going on and she wanted to know how big the Gator was.  What I don’t know I haven’t seen it and I am not going out to look at it.  I told her I didn’t know he was under my car and my neighbors told me he was there and that’s all I knew.  A few minutes later I had 3 Police Officers at the house.  They told me I had to call a trapper myself and gave me the number and said he was probably about 8 feet.  The trapper was another dispatch office and said the trapper would call back in a minute.  A few minutes later the trapper called back and said he was 2 hours away!  What how is that?  Wait was all we could do and my husband wanted pictures but my camera was in my car.  How was I going to get it?  One of the cops offered to go in from the hatch and get the camera but couldn’t find it.  Well if he can climb in and nothing happened then so can I.  I left WC in the house and Giggles was in his bed napping.  When it all started I put Giggles to bed since it was about that time and it was the safest place for him.  WC was on the couch eating and watching toons and out the door I went.  I climbed in got the camera and then moved my car out of the driveway.  Now he is out in the open for all to see.  Oh and I had a crowd now!  All the neighbors were outside my house with camera’s and videotaping it all.  I am thinking I have been here a week and now this!  What a great way to meet my neighbors.  Well the cops didn’t want to wait 2 hours for a trapper and decided to try to move the Gator to a swap like area across from my house.  Oh yeah that went so well!  The Gator ended up on my door step.  Now, I am thinking my kids are inside and if they open that door.  I ran around to the back of the house and WC and I sat in the front window watching it all.  Well part of my front door is glass and the cops stopped poking at the Gator afraid he would break it and get in the house.  NICE!  I called my home phone from my cell since I had left it outside and told the cops if he broke the glass and came in I was going to shot him.  Worried about the glass I took everything off the sofa table and put it on its side in front of the glass.  I then locked WC in my room with toons and told him not to come out unless I came to get him.  I was surprised he was actually scared of the Gator though he won’t admit that.  He stayed in my room lying on my bed with his food and drink watching toons the whole time.  The trapper finally showed up and then told us that anything over 4 feet in Florida has to be killed.  I went in the house to make sure WC was okay and tell him to stay in again since they were going to catch the Gator now.  Then I went back out and they had already pulled him from my door and had him in the middle of the front yard where they shot him with a bang stick.  It was sad but understood.  I didn’t cry nor was I all animal rights fussing.  I just said okay.  It was a fact of life and I didn’t want to take the chance of him coming back.  The trapper checked him and said it was actually a male Gator and took his body away for me.  Relief set in that it was all over but at the same time I was still worried that another one might come.  It’s been almost a month now and I still find myself looking but I have also left and not thought about it.  It will take time to get the security back but I am not sure I want it back.  A Gator can do so much damage to a life in no time and that is not something I want to go through.  I think it may be good to have a little fear in us still, just enough to remind us of what happened and to keep us on our toes even if it is a once in a life time thing.  I am going to pray it is a once in a lifetime thing and the next time someone knocks on the door on a Saturday morning it will really be a Jehovah’s Witness.