Moonlight Encounter

This story is by theodore duquette and was part of our 2021 Spring Writing Contest. You can find all the writing contest stories here.

• MOONLIGHT ENCOUNTER
• By Theo Duquette
• My legs had been throbbing since he got in bed at about eleven.
• It had been a long day of running around taking care of chores all day and dinner
• with friends at night which always seemed to sap energy out of both he and his wife
• by the end of the day. It was now 3am and he still couldn’t fall asleep. He began to
• think that what his twitchy legs needed was a little exercise. A quick walk around
• the loop he regularly walked from the main entrance of Tower II around the parking
• lot to the other side of the condo complex, down the service road for a hundred feet,
• then back in the other parking lot entrance and back to the main entrance and
• elevator. It just might just might stretch his muscles enough to get them to relax.
• He had contacted Lyme disease for their dogs almost ten years ago now and his legs
• were so weak he needed a cane to walk at all times. It was a warm night in
• Southwest Florida with at least a half moon offering a little light.  So he pulled on his
• Bermudas, polo shirt and sneakers and quietly made his way out of their fourth
• floor condo overlooking the
• lovely Marina to the elevator. Then down to the first floor and out across the
• parking lot to the entrance of their small service road. About halfway through the
• loop, his left foot  caught  the edge of the pavement, twisted, slid on the sand,  as he
• lost his balance, dropped his cane and fell on the cool grass. He knew he had a
• problem. He couldn’t possibly get up without something to grab on to or somebody
• to help him up and lay there knowing it was a mistake to ever leave the condo
• without taking his cel phone along. why he didn’t bring his cell phone. There wasn’t
• a single person to be seen and the only sound was coming from a huge waste
• management truck emptying trash barrels somewhere. After several more
• strenuous but unsuccessful efforts to on his knees and falling back down he just
• lay there on the grass trying to figure out what to do. Looking
• down the road hoping to see an approaching vehicle he saw in the moonlight a dark
• shape low to the ground moving slowly across the road about a hundred feet away.
• As he watched it the shape changed direction and start moving toward him.
• The massive Alligator was well over fifteen feet long and changed not just its
• direction but picked up the pace to a trot as it again caught the sound of Paul
• struggling in the grass to get up.