Johnny Gator by Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy Read Free Book Online

cher ?”
    “Can
you control it?”
    “If
you mean becomin ’ a gator, I can sometimes,” he said.
“I couldn’t at first.   It would just
happen, so I became some kind of hermit.   It’s been about five years now, though, and mostly I can control it.   I can hang on if I feel it comin ’ on me, until I’m alone.   If I get upset or mad I’m more likely to
change, and it happens more when the moon’s full than any other time.”
    “So
when you left that day and I asked if you were all right, your body was trying
to shift? ”
    “That’s
right.   I held it back until I got out of
sight.”
    “And
it happened because I upset you by talking about the gator? And it was you?”
    “ Oui . ”
    Nola
drew in a deep breath, then exhaled hard and fast.
“Okay, if you want me to believe this, then you’ll have to show me.”
    His brown face changed, mouth open wide and eyes huge.
“You want me to become a gator while you watch me? I never
done that before.   Nobody but old Delphina ever saw it happen.”
    “It’s
the only way I’ll believe it’s true. Will you?”
    Johnny
gazed at her and nodded. “I will, for you, cher ,
because I love you, woman.   I don’t know
how soon I can change back, though.   That’s harder.”
    “I’ll
wait.”
    “All
right,” he said. He stripped off his jeans, his shirt, shoes, and socks as she
watched. “Here goes nothin ’.”
    He
walked out into the yard, closer to the lake, and shut his eyes.   In the first moments, Nola feared nothing
would happen and that it would mean he was nuts after all.   But after a full minute passed, his body began
to twitch, arms and legs first, then the rest.   Johnny bowed over as if he suffered a pain in his gut, then dropped down to all fours.   He rocked back and forth, groaning and
grunting.   His mouth twisted into a hard
line and as she settled into the rocker to watch, his features began to
elongate, to shift from face to snout.
    With
a clear line of sight, Nola saw him lift his ass higher into the air as it grew
and lengthened into a tail.   A patch of
rough, hard hide appeared in the center of Johnny’s back and she observed how
it spread across his skin. The hide soon covered his entire body, and by that time   the transformation was almost complete.   The
creature shuddered, then opened its wide mouth to
display a double row of teeth.   Something
about the grin, though, retained something of Johnny’s spirit, she
thought.   Then it bellowed before
waddling to the lake and entering the water.   The last she saw, it swam out into Caddo and vanished.
    She
sat on the porch and wept, shaken to her core with what she had witnessed, and
uncertain just how in the hell they would—or could—proceed from here.

Chapter Five
     
    Nola
cried until her nose clogged and her throat ached.   She didn’t need to look into a mirror to see
that her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen.   So it was true—the man she loved could turn into an alligator.   And, he had transformed as she watched.   Any lingering denial died as she sorrowed for
all Jean Batiste had lost.   He wasn’t a
natural man anymore but what was he? She wondered.   Shape-shifter? Monster? Spellbound? Whatever she might decide to call it,
he’d never live an ordinary life.   Nola
longed to share it with him but she wasn’t sure if she could handle the reality
of it.
    She
had promised to wait and she would.   By
noon, the steady heat from the overhead sun drove her into the house.   Hands shaking, nerves shattered, Nola
scrubbed the tearstains from her face and poured a glass of iced tea from the
fridge.   Then she settled onto the rump-sprung
old couch near the window and stared toward the lake, watching for him.   Later, when it became cooler, she’d return to
the porch.
    Near
dusk when the evening breezes rippled across the water and stirred the Spanish
moss, Nola saw the big gator moving toward shore.   Although she found it hard to see in the