Mango Glades

by Bill H Myers

  More whispering from inside then footsteps.

  A moment later, the door opened just enough for Kenny to stick his head out. He said, “I'm kind of busy in here. Can't this wait until the morning?”

  Lori shook her head. “No, it can't. We need the tracking records for FP224. And we need them now.”

  Kenny shook his head. “You can get them in the morning. I'm done for the day.”

  Without waiting for a response, he stepped back inside and closed the door. We heard him set the lock.

  Lori wasn't bothered. She seemed to expect this. Rather than retreat, she stepped up to the door and knocked again. Bam, bam, bam, bam.

  “Kenny, we're not going away. We need those records tonight. It'll only take you a few minutes to get them, and then we'll leave you alone.”

  From inside, more whispering then footsteps followed by the sound of an interior door being closed. Finally, Kenny opened the front door again. This time he stepped out. With arms crossed, he said, “This better be important.”

  Lori tried to disarm him with a smile. “Kenny, the panther has kittens, and we need to find her nest. That's why we need the records.”

  Kenny didn't say anything; he just shook his head. He thought for a moment then opened his trailer door and said to the unknown person inside, “I'll be back in a few minutes.”

  He reached inside and grabbed a large flashlight and a key ring. He pointed the flashlight down the runway toward the main office building and said, “I'll meet you there.”

  Without waiting for us to join him, he took off. Walking fast, leaving us behind. Apparently, he wasn't in the mood for company. At least not ours. It looked like he planned to go to the office, get the records and get back to his date as soon as possible.

  I couldn't fault him for that.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Lori watched as Kenny disappeared down the runway. She turned to me and said, “That went well. Not nearly as much trouble as it could have been. Let's not try to catch up with him. Give him enough time to get into the office, find the records and make copies. If we time it right, he'll be finishing up just as we get there.”

  She took my hand and led me back out onto the dark runway. We walked at a leisurely pace with Lori again manning the flashlight.

  When we finally reached the two-story building that housed the station's main offices, Lori went around to the back and tried the door marked “Employees only.” It was unlocked.

  She opened it and we went in. A narrow hallway led to the part of the building that was open to the public during the day. Color photos of gators and birds on the walls. Off to one side, a gift shop and theater. The place looked interesting. If I got a chance, I'd come back for a closer look when it was open.

  Lori said Kenny would be on the second floor where they kept the tracking records. Even though it was dark in the building, she knew the way. She led me up a flight of stairs that opened onto a long hallway one floor up. Small offices lined both sides. All the offices were dark except one.

  That's the one we headed to.

  As we got closer, we could hear Kenny talking on the phone. He was using the land-line—the only phones that worked at Oasis. Lori held up her hand, signaling that we were staying out in the hallway until the call was over.

  We could hear Kenny's side of the conversation. “She wants the tracking records for FP224. I told her to wait until the morning, but you know how she is. We can deal with that later. I've made copies. That's right, FP 224.”

  When he ended the call, Lori stepped into his office. “Who were you talking to?”

  “A friend at FWC. I let them know I was giving you the tracking data.”

  She nodded. “So where is it?”

  Kenny pointed to three sheets of paper on the desk in front of him. “Right there. The last three months for FP224.”

  Lori picked up the pages and scanned them. She showed me one. It had three columns of data labeled “Collar number,” “Date/time,” and “Location.”

  The collar number was correct. FP224. The dates went back three months. Beside each date was a set of GPS coordinates. The last entry was two days earlier.

  I nodded, showing I understood what I was looking at. The collar number and dates looked right.

  Lori folded the three sheets and put them in her shirt pocket. She turned to Kenny and said, “I really appreciate this.”

  He didn't reply. Instead, he walked over to the office door, switched off the lights, and pointed down the hallway. It was time for us to leave.

  We headed down the stairs and went out the same door we had come in. Kenny was a few steps behind us. Not saying anything.

  Outside, he locked the door, and, without a word, he headed back to his trailer and his date.

  Lori whispered to me, “I wonder who she is. There aren't that many women around here.”

  I didn't respond. I didn't know Kenny but was happy he wasn't bothered I was with Lori. He had his own date that night, and my job as pretend boyfriend had become a lot less important.

  We were still standing outside the two-story building when Lori took my hand. “Come with me, I want to show you something.”

  Instead of heading back to the motorhome, she led me to the front of the building. She still had the flashlight but hadn't bothered to turn it on. We were walking in the dark. I could tell from the feel of the ground that we were on a sidewalk.

  The sidewalk turned away from the building, and after ten steps Lori stopped. She whispered, “There are two steps in front of you. Be careful.”

  Still holding my hand, she led me up the steps and onto a wooden surface. I was pretty sure we were now on the boardwalk I had seen when we first arrived at Oasis. It stretched from the edge of the public parking area, across the front of the Oasis grounds and ended where the wilds of the Everglades began.

  From what I could remember, it was some sort of viewing platform, fenced on the street side with a handrail on top giving tourists a place to put their cameras while they took photos.

  Lori led me to the handrail, and we stood side by side in the darkness. She whispered, “Just stand against the rail, don't say anything.”

  As we stood, I could hear the sound of water moving below us with the occasional splash of what I presumed to be fish. I was wondering why she had brought me out on the viewing deck. I started to ask, but as I was thinking about what to say, she whispered, “Look down.”

  She flicked on the flashlight and just a few feet below us, separated only by a thin metal fence, was the largest alligator I had ever seen. It was looking up at us, mouth wide open. A chill raced up my spine.

  She swept the light across the water we were standing over, revealing the watchful eyes of at least twenty gators. She whispered, “In the Everglades, you are never alone.”

  She switched off the light, and we stood as before, in the darkness, not seeing anything, just listening to the sounds of the Glades. I could hear the gators thrashing below us. They had been docile before Lori flashed them with the light. Now they were moving, aware we were nearby.

  After a few minutes, Lori squeezed my hand and said, “We need to get back to the motorhome. You ready?”

  I was ready.

  She switched on the light and led the way back. This time she didn't have to tell me to stay close.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  It took less than five minutes to get back. We encountered no wildlife on the way. I was happy about that.

  Once we were safely inside the motorhome, Lori sat at the kitchen table and started looking at the three pages of tracking data she had gotten from Kenny.

  I stood across from her, leaning against the kitchen counter, my arms crossed. I waited until she looked up then asked, “What was the point of taking me to the gator pit? You trying to scare me?”

  She shook her head. “No, I just wanted to show you there are some pretty big gators out here. If you're out at night, you have to be careful.”

  I nodded. “I
plan to be careful. Especially around my pretend girlfriend when she takes me for walks in the dark.”

  I pointed to the pages on the table. “Is that going to help you find the nest?”

  She nodded. “Yes. All we need is Google Earth. Any chance you have a computer in here?”

  I nodded. “Got a laptop. It's in the back. Got a printer and scanner and lots of other stuff too. What do you need?”

  She looked up from the tracking data. “Just the computer.”

  I went to the back bedroom to get my laptop out of the closet. Bob was on the bed, eyes closed, sleeping. He heard me open the closet door and said, “Murrph?”

  He was probably wondering why we were in this strange place with a strange woman who kind of smelled like a big cat. I wondered that too.

  I grabbed the laptop and went back up front. Lori had gotten up and poured two glasses of wine. She handed me one and raised hers in a toast. “Here's to finding the nest and rescuing the kittens.”

  We clinked our glasses then sat at the table and started working with the tracking data. While Lori scanned the column of GPS coordinates, I powered up my laptop and started Google Earth.

  “Okay,” I said. “Give me some coordinates.”

  Lori was looking at the last page of the tracking data. “It looks like our girl moved around quite a bit up until three weeks ago. Then she stopped moving around and stayed in the same location.

  “The most recent GPS track shows 25 52 53.51 North, by 81 05 46.98 West.”

  I entered the coordinates into Google Earth, and it quickly zoomed into a location on the map. “Got it. It's just north of Monument Lake. You know where that is?”

  She nodded. “It's close. About eight miles from here. Let me see the map.”

  I spun my laptop around so she could see the display. It had a satellite view of the general area with a yellow pushpin marking the GPS coordinates I'd entered.

  She smiled. “This is good. Real good. Come over here, sit by me. I'll show you what I mean.”

  I sat down beside her, and she pointed at the screen. “This is where our girl bedded down for the past three weeks. Over here is where we are. If we zoom out, you can see that Monument Lake is just off the road, and beyond that, a hiking trail goes north.

  “If we follow that trail for about a mile it splits off, with one trail going east and the other west. About three hundred yards on the west side of the trail is where the nest should be.

  “We can drive to Monument Lake and park at the trail head. There's a campground there, and they have a ranger on duty. If the ranger asks, I can show my FWC identification, and they'll leave us alone.”

  She tapped the screen again. “This area is pine lowlands. Mostly dry ground with scrub pines and heavy undergrowth. She did a good job choosing this location.”

  Lori finished her glass of wine. “We'll go out there at daybreak. I'm going to go see if Denise wants to go with us.”

  She stood and headed for the door.

  “Wait. Aren't you going to ask if I want to go with you in the morning? Maybe I don't want to.”

  She smiled. “Walker, I don't need to ask if you're going. I know you are.”

  “What makes you so sure?”

  “Because there's no way you'd miss the chance of being with me when I find those panther kittens.

  “Am I right?”

  She was.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Before going to see Denise, I hooked up my printer and printed out two copies of the Google Earth map. We could use these to show her where we would be going in the morning.

  With maps in hand, we headed to her office in the hangar. Lori wasn't sure she'd still be there. Denise had said each veterinary student would be pulling four-hour shifts. It had been almost four hours since we'd first talked to her. Her shift might be over.

  When we got to the office, Denise was still there and happy to see us. She wanted to know what had happened with Kenny. Lori told her we'd gotten the tracking data and there had been no problems.

  Denise stepped close to me and asked, “You could take Kenny, couldn't you? I mean if it came down to it, Kenny wouldn't have a chance against you, would he?”

  She reached up and squeezed my arm.

  I was surprised by the question and her boldness. I stepped back, and Lori came to my rescue. She said, “Denise, look at this.”

  She showed her the Google Earth map. “We think the nest is somewhere around here. We plan to go out and look for it in the morning. You want to go with us?”

  Denise brightened. “Yes, I want to go. Will Walker be going?”

  “Yes Denise, he'll be going. We'll go in his motorhome.”

  Denise smiled. “Count me in. What time do I need to be ready?”

  “Daybreak. We'll meet here.”

  ***

  Lori was in a good mood when we headed back to the motorhome. The injured panther was doing well, and we had a pretty good idea where her nest and kittens were.

  If things went well, we'd recover the kittens the next morning and be able to reunite them with their mother.

  Back at the motorhome, Bob was at the door waiting for us. He was in a talkative mood. We'd left him alone most of the evening, and now he wanted some attention. As soon as I stepped in, he trotted up to me and starting meowing.

  He followed me as I walked over to the couch, staying close to my every step. He continued to talk and seemed to be asking, “Why'd you leave me? Where have you been? And who's that with you?”

  Lori sat down on the couch beside me. Bob was at our feet, still talking. He paused to sniff her shoe then remembered who she was and rubbed against her ankle. She quickly scooped him up and began stroking his back.

  Rather than struggle to get away, as he usually does when he's picked up, Bob seemed to enjoy the attention. After being neglected most of the evening, he liked being held by Lori.

  While she petted Bob, I went to the fridge and pulled out the half empty bottle of wine we had started on earlier. I held it up to Lori, and she nodded, indicating she was going to join me for a nightcap.

  After pouring wine, I sat down beside her and handed her a glass. She took a sip and said, “It's been a long day.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, it has. I still owe you for that alligator scare back on the boardwalk.”

  She laughed. “I wasn't trying to scare you. I just wanted you to get a feel of the Everglades at night.”

  “Yeah, that's what you keep telling me. You weren't trying to scare me by having me stand over a gator pit. Nothing scary about that, right?”

  Still thinking about gators, I asked, “What about tomorrow? While we're looking for the nest, will we have problems with gators?”

  She shook her head. “No, we shouldn't. We may see some, but they won't bother us. We'll mostly be in the dry. The gators tend to stay in the wetlands. We should be safe.

  “Most of the time, it won't be the gators that cause problems. It'll be the bugs, heat, and humidity. But we're lucky; it's still the dry season, so it won't be so bad out there.

  “You'll want to wear boots, long pants, and a long sleeve shirt if you have them. We'll be crawling through the underbrush, and it can be pretty nasty.”

  I nodded. “I've got jeans and boots in my closet in the back. But what about you? I bet you didn't pack any long pants in that little travel bag of yours.”

  She made a sad face. “I was hoping I could borrow pants from you. Might have to roll up the cuffs a bit, but if you've got a pair to spare and maybe a belt, I can make do.”

  I smiled. “I think I might have something that'll work. You're welcome to take a look.”

  She looked over her shoulder toward the back bedroom. “So I get to go through your closet? That should be fun. Anything you need to hide before I look?”

  “Nope. I have nothing to hide.”

  That was true. There wasn't anything in the closet I was worried about her seeing. The things that needed to be hidden were in the storage co
mpartment under the bed. My gun, my personal papers and a roll of my 'just in case' gold coins.

  Lori had finished her glass of wine and moved to put it on the table beside the couch. This disturbed Bob who had been sitting in her lap. He showed his displeasure by gently extending his claws into her thigh. Not enough to hurt her, but enough to get her attention.

  She said, “Bob, don't do that. It hurts.”

  He retracted his claws, stood and jumped down onto the floor. After he stretched, he trotted to the back bedroom.

  Watching as he walked away, I said, “Looks like Bob is going to turn in for the night. How about you? You ready to get some sleep?”

  She nodded. “Yeah, but where?”

  I patted the couch. “Right here on the couch. It folds out into a bed. Sheets and pillows are in the overhead compartment.”

  She frowned. “How come I have to sleep on the couch? Isn't the bed more comfortable?”

  I nodded. “It is. And that's where I'm going to be sleeping tonight. On the bed. You're going to be up here, on the couch.”

  She made a sad face again. “I can't believe you're going to make me sleep on the couch. I'm your guest.”

  I smiled. “Don't worry; Bob'll sleep with you. He loves the couch, especially when we have guests sleeping over.”

  Lori cocked her head. “You mean I'm not the first? Other people have slept on this couch?”

  I nodded. “Yes, other people have slept on the couch. Would you like a list of their names?”

  She shook her head. “Are the sheets clean?”

  I pointed to the overhead compartment. “They're right up there, check for yourself.”

  Lori stood and checked the sheets. They were clean and met her approval. I helped her fold the couch out into a bed and fit the sheets. When we were done, she tested it by lying down and rolling onto her side. After a moment, she sat up and smiled. “This will do. But I'd still rather sleep on the bed.”

  I smiled. “Maybe next time, but not tonight.”

  With our sleeping arrangements sorted out, we took turns in the bathroom. Lori went first. When she was done, it was my turn. I took care of business, checked Bob's food and water bowls, and went up front to lock the doors.