Random Alligators of Kindness

[alexxkay]

The other day, kestrell and I were on the way home on the T. Across from us was a small girl, around 10, accompanied by an older woman, possibly mom or elder sister. The girl was playing with a small stuffed alligator.

I mentioned this to Kes, and speculated (quietly) about the possibility that the young girl was a witch. Since, after all, everyone knows that stuffed alligators are one of the de rigeur props of the proper witch. We then chatted for a while about where this custom might have originated.

[Digression: I have since searched online. Surprisingly, Wikipedia failed me. Google Books did turn up a reference in _The Fatal Gift_, by F. Frankfort Moore, 1898, but it seems to be a well-established trope already by then.]

At any rate, Kes started talking about how, despite her large collection of gothy and/or fearsome stuffed animals, she as yet had no stuffed alligator, and should probably remedy this.

The little girl, meanwhile, was wandering up and down the aisle with her toy. We were no longer speaking particularly quietly, and I guess the girl's mom/sister(?) overheard us. When the little girl next came by, the older woman whispered in her ear for a bit. Then the girl stepped across to us, holding out the alligator to Kestrell.

I said, in some wonderment, "Kes, you are being offered a stuffed alligator!" There followed some confusion and miscommunication, as Kes wanted to pay for it, and the girl wanted to give it away as a gift. Eventually Kes was convinced to accept the alligator.

Kes spent the rest of the ride playing with it, opening and closing its (spring-loaded) jaws. She said she felt a little guilty, but I said, "You're smiling, I'm smiling, and the little girl across the aisle is smiling to see us smile. I think we're good here."

So now my sweetie has a stuffed alligator. Anyone have any ideas what it ought to be named?

Comments

[herooftheage.livejournal.com]

Mr. Grin, though that is properly a crocodile.

Of course it was a 'gator made you grin...

[wickedgoodgrrrl.livejournal.com]

...because "never smile at a crocodile".


WGG