Alligator Attack!

Loretta Keith was camping in Florida with her five-year-old son, Michael, her friend Susie, and Susie’s two young daughters. They decided to take a canoe trip. On this kind of trip, people relax as they paddle their canoes slowly down the river. At the end of the trip, the park people pick them up. Everyone told them it was very safe.

It was a beautiful, hot day. Everyone was having fun. They were looking at the plants and fish in the water. Suddenly, they heard a noise. Susie said, “Don’t worry, it’s only a big fish. Then they heard a louder sound: Splash! Loretta knew what it was. It was an alligator!

All of a sudden, the canoe began to rise out of the water. Then they saw the alligator. It was huge! It was swimming under the canoe. Loretta screamed, “Don’t anybody move!” The alligator was as big as the canoe. It scratched Loretta’s hand with its claws when it turned over in the water. Then another alligator came out. Everyone was afraid to move or speak.

Loretta grabbed the paddle and rowed back to shore as fast as she could. When they got to shore, everyone was shaking, but the park people smiled. They said, “It wasn’t dangerous. Alligators don’t hurt you if you don’t hurt them.” Loretta answered, “I hit it on the head with the paddle. I think I hurt it.” Everyone laughed, and Loretta said, “We’ll never forget how scared we were when we saw the alligators under our canoe!”