The picture we are using this week is taken by avid reader, Lisa Philpott. I asked Lisa to tell us a little about this photo which she submitted to our Opening Lines photo contest last year.
Lisa said: I love taking pictures and that is one of my favorites! The picture was taken about 5 years ago when I was biking through the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. The specific spot wasn’t even a big tourist destination and I just kind of happened upon the scene when bike riding that day. It was very clear that this girl and alligator were very comfortable with each other – but it made me nervous for sure!!! It’s important to note, no children or gators were harmed in the taking of this photo!
Thanks, Lisa! Readers: Write an opening line for the photograph below: 
Edith: They call the kid the Alligator Whisperer. I wonder if she can tame icy-eyed psychopaths as well as she does large-jawed beasts. Because we could use her.
Jessie: Mom, can we keep him? Please!
Barb: What big teeth you have, Grandma.
Liz: Can he sleep in bed with me like the dogs do?
Julie: Who knew they liked peanut butter and jelly?
Sherry: In the land of Oogachucka alligators protected the weak and small children never lived in fear.
Readers: Add yours!
My family is weird. When I was a little girl, we had a pet alligator. Not a little one that lived in a fish tank. A full grown bull alligator. Every morning, before school, I would run down to the swamp where he lived and talk to him. Daddy used to go hunting for rabbits and deer and feed them to him. Mama used to give him the leftovers from our dinners. His roaring at night was my lullaby. Did I say that my family is weird?
I’ll say. And he wasn’t on a leash or anything?
Portia was positive this was where she had left the body.
I like it.
Simple but highly effective!
It was not fear of the open-mouthed alligator near Oleander that shone in the eyes of her parents, but the terrifying realization that they could no longer deny her “gifts”.
Ooh!
You’d think the alligator would be the scariest thing she saw that day. But the gun shot was the harbinger of much danger to come.
(And now for the crazy connection moment of the day. Near the end of last year, I read Don’t Look Back by Gregg Herwitz, a thriller set in the Oogachucka region of Mexico. An alligator plays a part in the book. And I reviewed the book yesterday.)
Now there is a coincidence…or not….hmmm.
Sherry! Had you read that book??
Well that’s interesting! When my daughter was little she had an imaginary land called Oogachucka and a language to go with it. So I was stunned to read there was such a region! It’s spelled a little differently but not much!
Maybe she has heard Blue Swede’s version of “Hooked on a Feeling”.
I always liked that song but she was to young at the time.
Even at this early age, Demetria had started to think about how to dispose of their bodies . . .
Oooohhh! Very interesting.
Okay so, I would love to post an opening line, but Liz could not have said it better. And sad to say, i would be the little girl asking my mother if I could keep the giant croc in my room. Of course, I am also the big girl who would try to figure out how to keep one as a pet, LOL.
Ha!