Fairfield Woods - Johnny and the “Not a Crocodile”

Johnny and the “Not a Crocodile”  

“Jonathan! Don’t make me call you again!” His mother calls from the kitchen.  

“Okay! He calls back, mumbling to himself. He’s trying to get the bike chain back on his BMX. It’s his pride and joy. His father would wait till he asked for help. Johnny wishes he offered it sometimes at least.  

“Now!” His mother Alice yells." Come say goodbye” to your aunt and uncle. Johnny bounds in through the front door to the living room. It’s hot in Tampa this time of year. It’s hot all year Johnny always says. Gross." Give me a hug my darling” his aunt Londa calls with arms wide.  Johnny loves hugs at 9 yrs. old, he hasn’t reached his antisocial years yet.  

“See you later Aunt Londa” he hushly says as she squeezes him tight. His uncle Frank is next. He gives Johnny a one-armed hug. They both smell like old people.  

“Bye”, he calls as he darts for the door before anyone can stop him. It’s late October but you wouldn’t’ guess from the leaves that never change or drop. Feels weird. He hops on the BMX and rides across the lawn for the safety of the neighborhood. It’s Saturday! All the kids are out but he hasn’t found many friends in this weird new town. His backpack is loaded up w/ Fritos, a few Italian cookies from his aunt and a juice box. All he needs for the rest of the day if he can help it. He likes to be in-charge of what he eats, even though he eats like a horse. He’s new here, just arrived a few weeks ago from Long Island NY. Middle of the school year. One day his parents sat him and his sisters down and broke the news." We’re moving to Florida!” just like that, the rest was noise in his head for what seemed like an eternity. He had visited once before, and he didn’t like it. Smelled funny, like old mud.  

Riding his bike at full speed he passes the neighbors with the large golden retriever and rounds the corner with the husky that likes to run alongside the other kids. Doesn’t look like he’s outside at the moment. He’s heading for the sanctuary of the woods, or swamp rather. Bug spray ready to go. The mosquitoes around here are ridiculous. He hits the curb with a little hop and rides up onto the grass feeling proud. He’s been practicing that little maneuver. The grass sprays up from beneath his tires as he tears across the open space. He must aim it perfectly if he wants to miss the trees and slide onto the path. A few extra pedals and he’s there!  

Narrowly missing the trees, he jumps his bike into the woods and lands onto the path. The woods are too dark and wet, swamps all around. But soon the pine flat woods take over with sand and dry land. He passes through the dark section following the muddy path through the saw palmetto and the tall pine trees. He can imagine riding like lightning escaping the velociraptors and T-Rex’s back a million or so years ago. For a second he swears he is being chased and howls to the treetops." Ow ow Owooooo”! 

DRAWING: Johnny ON HIS BIKE HEAD UP, STANDING STRAIGHT, CLOTHES FLAPPING IN THE WIND.  

Legs straight standing on his pedals yes closed his bike bounces and soars through the trail. For a few moments he is floating, out of his body, the wind is cool, and he imagines himself free riding on a mountain ridge in the middle of nowhere.  

“Wham” 

His front tire hits something and he flies over the handlebars.  

“Ooof” he hits the ground and tumbles, his Fritos in his backpack take most of the impact. He rolls to a stop, “Ow”. He looks around still laying on his stomach. He chuckles a little.  

Freezing “My Hat!” he says to himself. Frantic for a second, he finds it off the trail in some sago palm. It’s blue with the NASA logo, his pride and joy from the local gas station. Brushing himself off, Johnny looks for what he hit. It’s a giant turtle. Picking up his bag and his bike he walks over to the turtle now tucked into its shell. He is huge, as big as a beachball, at least as wide.  

“I think?” he says out loud.  

Digging through is bad he pulls out the pamphlet from the native American preserve he visited with his school class the other day. Flipping through it, “There you are! A gopher tortoise."  He talks to the tortoise who is now poking his head out as well as his arms and legs.  

“Oh boy, you are missing an eye."  He says to the tortoise, ‘No wonder you didn’t move you couldn’t see me coming.  

“You were going too fast anyway."  Says the tortoise in a raspy tired voice to Johnny’s surprise.  

Johnny is stunned, he sits back and crosses his legs as the tortoise stretches his neck out.  

“You can talk?” Johnny innocently asks.  

“Why yes” says the tortoise quizzically, “So can you."  

Johnny laughs at this, “well, of course I can, I’m a boy."   

“So you are” the tortoise replies with a smile. His neck is long and slender with a little handkerchief of red and blue around it. Johnny laughs at this, how absurd, a tortoise with a handkerchief round his neck. 

The tortoise blinks and yawns." Now, what are you up to today little one?” 

“I don’t know, I’m off on an adventure” Johnny states as a matter of fact.  

“Well, you can’t adventure here, too many adults for that."  The tortoise says.  

Johnny smiles, “you go that right."  His despair is heavy on is shoulders as he slumps, remembering his home." I hate this place”. 

 “Oh?” The tortoise listens.  

Johnny tells him stories of how he came here, and the turtle listens intently. He takes out his snacks and shares his cookies with the tortoise. The tortoise makes all kinds of different faces as he tastes the cookies, some sweet, some tart or savory.  

“I’ve got it!” the tortoise interrupts, spitting cookie all over Johnny. Who steps cold and listens intently with cookie crumbs on his face, baseball cap kicked back on his head.  

“You have to go see the crocodile that thinks he is an alligator."   

Johnny looks quizzically wiping the crumbs but nods his head in agreement. 

The crocodile was lying in the sun on the bank of a small lake, east, about a 10 min ride. He was glorious with his grey color and spotted tail. Johnny approached cautiously but now found himself kneeling in front of his snout, so close he can touch it.  

“Hello” he says. But the crocodile didn’t answer." Hellooooh” he waits but no reply.  

Finally finding this all silly he taps the crocodile on the snout with his finger. They open their eyes, and then their mouth just as wide as you could imagine. Then closes it slowly. Suddenly shaking like a dog all his crocodile skin flaps and wrinkles.  

“Why hellooo” the crocodile says.  

“Hello Mx. Crocodile…” I was visiting with the tortoise with the handkerchief, well, after I hit him with my bike”. 

“Oh my” the crocodile sighs.  

“Oh, he’s just fine” Johnny says.  

“Well that’s good."  The crocodile answers.  

“and well, he said I should come see you so here I am."   

The crocodile puts up their finger gesturing Johnny to wait.  

“There is just one problem” the crocodile states with their chin in the air.  

“I am not a crocodile, I am an alligator. Thank you very much."  

Johnny was quite puzzled by this, he has the pointy snout of a crocodile, the big teach on the outside with a toothy smile, and he’s the wrong color!  

“ but your nose Is pointy”. Johnny questions.  

“I have high cheek bones!” the crocodile declares pointing his snout up and to the right.  

“and boy that is a mighty toothy smile” johnny says.  

“Thin lips run in my family” the crocodile says.  

And finally, “you are much too grey” johnny rebukes.  

“I get my pale skin from my granny” the crocodile announces very proudly.  

Alright, okay, Johnny decides, they have the right to decide who and what they are.   

“Okay Mr. Alligator, who am I to argue.” john says “I’m in search of adventure."   

That’s marvelous the alligator declares as he sits up on his hind legs and flops down onto his belly. Rolling over onto his back." I love adventure”  

Johnny puts his hand up in the air and then jumps up and tickles the alligator on the belly. A roaring laugh comes from the alligator and they roll out of johnny’s reach when he can’t take it anymore. Now smiling happily the alligator opens their eyes wide in excitement.  

“I know! You can crawl in my mouth!” That will lead you on a grand adventure into a mysterious place.  

“Are you trying to eat me!” Johnny yells.  

“No, don’t be silly! I don’t eat little boys… anymore.”  

Johnny laughs at this deciding the fun must continue." Okay let’s do it!” he declares!  

And the alligator lays flat and opens their large slender snout. Johnny stares down his throat as the center begins to stretch into a tunnel. Johnny cannot believe what he is seeing, but all the way down the tunnel is darkness with a little tiny light swaying gently. He is mesmerized by the sight and can’t help but think of cartoons where fun and adventure awaits. He blows the loose hair out of his face.  

Leaving his bike and taking his backpack off he crawls on his hands and knees over the sharp teeth, careful not to scrape on them down into the tunnel. His backpack in tow. The alligator stretches and widens the tunnel as Johnny’s toes are now the last things showing. He crawls forward into a dark passage. He can hear the alligator laughing as they close their mouth.  

Standing in the dark looking around, his backpack hanging from one hand and his hat kicked too high on his forehead, he realizes he is now in a large area with mist and a small light many feet away. He walks towards the light revealing a small lantern made of a flower. Pedals hang above and below the light magically encasing it. On a stake next to it is a small sign. THIS WAY. 

He picks up the lantern and follows the sign. It leads him through a thicket of wood. The trees are thin and there are burned dusty sago palms dimly lit by an unknown light. John is breathing heavily creating fog with his breath. A sudden movement and johnny can barely make it out.  

“Hello?” he calls, something is hiding behind a bush. A little white owlette pokes it’s head out." where did you come from?” 

Johnny kneels down and puts out his cupped hands.  

“hey little one”  

“SCREECH” says the owlette.  

“Come along” says johnny, and he puts his backpack on and puts the owlette inside leaving the top unzipped so he can peek out.  

“Let’s look around” johnny says.  

The foggy cold forest crumbles under his feet, ash billows periodically out of leaves and branches. The owl hops up onto his shoulder." cheep cheep, SCREECH” his little feathery eyes with little horns looking around quizzically as he investigates their path.  

The light is slightly stronger from one side so johnny chooses the patch well lit. The trees lean into the path causing a tunnel to form. Johnny is a little scared to see the dozens of banana spiders int eh trees. One particularly large one moving slowly around his web stops and watches johnny and the owlette as they approach.  

“Hey, ugh, whatcha do-in wit dat owl?” the spider asks. His face is oddly un spidery, he has many eyes but his mouth isn’t scary fingers like most spiders it’s a regular mouth but with small black teeth like the small spines on his legs.  

Johnny pauses, “He looked lost so he’s tagging along for now."   

“SCREECH!” 

Surprised, the spider slurps up a mouthful of bug." Ehh, okey dokey artichokey” where y’all headed? 

Johnny shrugs 

The spider slurps up another mouthful.  

“Ya’ll know, There’s a treehouse up the road a little way nobody’s been there in years."   

Johnny looks down the path." How far?” 

“not far” the spider mumbles through another mouthful of goop.  

“Johnny looks at the owlette peaking from his backpack.  

“What do you think?” He asks.  

“SCREECH!” 

“Ha Ha Ha” Johnny laughs, “Okay! let’s go for it!”.  

“SCREECH!”  

They walk down the path for some time, Johnny begins to kick rocks and watch the ash and dust billow off of the ground. He is starting to feel a bit bored and sad. “Maybe this adventure isn’t going to work out after all”?  

“SCREECH!” 

Johnny looks up and is shocked to see a huge tree bigger than all the rest with a large treehouse in it. It has 5 levels, each one patched together with junk wood and a rope ladder connecting them. It’s off the trail a ways in the middle of a clearing.  

Standing at it’s base he can’t really see a way up. The rope ladder leading to the ground is torn off like something chewed it off. It lays on the ground in tatters. Not one to be discouraged that easily he looks around for more supplies. Pulling a large branch out of the base of a bunch of sago palms he brushes off the daddy long legs and bugs and leans it up against the treehouse.  

“This should work!”  he declares to himself.  

“SCREECH!” the owlette encourages.  

He begins to climb up, being careful to test the branches on the broken limb to make sure they won’t crumble under his weight. He climbs, slowly making it about two times his height up the tree trunk until he can just barely reach the open hatch in the floor to climb in. Once he grabs the floorboard the owlette hops out up his arm and into the treehouse, poking his head back out to see how his friend is doing.  

“SCREECH!” 

Johnny laughs and finishes his climb into the first floor of the treehouse. He freezes, it’s eerily similar to the one him and his friends built back home in Lakeland Park. Deep in the woods, they hunted for the best tree, all 5 of them, none of them over the age of 8, hammers and nails ready to go.  

Looking around he sees his stack of drawings and writings in a milk crate that reads Dellwood on the side. This puts a pit in his stomach, how could that be? His uncle owned that dairy in New York that recently closed. How did it get here? 

The dusty rug in the center, his friends names on the walls, empty; candy wrappers, coke cans, and juice boxes litter the dusty room.  

He looks up and sees a hatch on the roof, climbing up he finds it opens easily, with dust falling, he climbs up through it. Grabbing the rope ladder he climbs to the second of 5 levels.  

This time it’s a new place, almost, he recognizes his old wooden desk in the corner, pictures on the wall of kids from his school he just left. He’s puzzled, the owlette flutters around the room. He looks around slowly, confused and uncomfortable, he feels cold. On the wall a polaroid catches his attention. It’s a memory he will never forget; a blond-haired cowgirl walking way in blue and white. It’s a memory from Halloween day at school, 2nd grade, last year. He walks over to it and tears it off the wall and puts it in his pocket. With a sickening creeping sound it grows back. He is puzzled, he pulls the photo from his pocket, still there.  

Up to the 3rd floor he goes, the owlette fluttering before him. Climbing into the third floor he’s met with surprise by a little boy sitting in the corner drawing on papers. The little boy sits with one knee bent to his chin and the other folder underneath him. He’s not quite there, a bit transparent and blue." Hello” Johnny calls.  

The little boy stops coloring and looks up at him with milky white eyes." Hello Johnny” the little boy says with a voice that seems to come from everywhere. Johnny steps back almost into the open hatch. The walls are covered in scrawled drawings. Cars, animals, people, mountains, trees, bugs, spiders, flowers.  

“Who are you?” he asks the little boy.  

“I’m you” 

“What do you mean?” Johnny asks with his heart pounding.  

“You’ll see one day."   The little semi-transparent boy returns to his coloring.  

Johnny looks out the small window in the wall, he’s dizzied by the height of the 3rd floor, he can barely see the ground due to the fog. Turning around the boy is still there, feverishly coloring, his crayon a stub of red. Johnny puts a hand on the child’s shoulder. He stops.  

“How long have you been here?”  

“I’m always here, just behind your eyes."  He says as he taps johnny on the forehead just between his eyes. “Are you scared?” 

Johnny purses his lips and grips his hands, “no”.  

“Good, you can’t go through life carrying your fear around like that hat of yours."   

Johnny thinks he understands but not really.  

“Don’t worry, they will forgive you."  The little boy says through his sad eyes.  

“Forgive me for what?” 

The little boy says nothing and goes back to his drawing. Johnny shakes his shoulder but the boy refuses to talk more.  

“whatever” johnny says as he prepares to go to the next level.  

Climbing into the 4th level the owlette is fluttering around the outside of the treehouse free and excited. Johnny lifts himself up through the hatch and breathes a breath of relief when no one is there.  

He relaxes and begins to look around, the room looks like it’s been a place for teenagers to hang out. A few empty beer cans, some nude magazines, cigarettes both smoked and crushed and scattered around with the leaves that have blown in through the double windows on opposing sides. He kicks an empty cassette tape holder into the wall. On the wall scrawled between the song lyrics he doesn’t recognize is a quote. The red words stand out from the others, he walks over to it and touches it. Dried Lipstick he thinks as his finger tip sticks to it just a little." life is a dark room, one big dark room – Davey Havok”. This gives him the chills but he doesn’t really understand it.  

Across the room the same desk sits against the wall that sits in his room this moment. He walks over to it and sits down. Sliding out the first side drawer he is shocked to see his own handwriting but without recognizing the initials. A heart with an arrow through it says J / A.  

“Who’s A” he asks out loud, maybe a future that hasn’t come yet? He has a feeling he will find out eventually. Somehow he knows he will meet her soon. Rummaging through the books shelf he eventually sees something he recognizes, Fables for Children. He opens it and all the pages are blank. Throwing it down he grabs another random book; blank, the next book; blank. He does this 3 or 4 more times before he loses interest. "Whatever” Pulling the last cookie out of his pocket he brushes off the lint and eats it. The owlette flies in from the window.  

“SCREECH!”  

“Fine!” Johnny says, giving the owlette the last piece. He checks his pocket, the picture is still there.  

“Okay little guy! Let’s get to the top."   He says to the Owlette.  

“SCREECH!” “SCREECH!” 

The final floor is bare, no drawings, no kids, no quotes, nothing. Not even a rug to lay down on. He stands in the middle disappointed beyond belief. He was hoping for some kind of treasure or something. A yawn hits him without warning, the owlette follows with a yawn of his own. Johnny is tired, it’s been a long adventure.  

He drops his backpack on the floor and lays down for a rest. Laying on his back he flips through the random things in his pockets. The cowgirl picture, some candy, a broken red crayon, a mini pencil and some lint.  

He dozes off.  

A rumble in the room wakes him. He wipes his eyes and stretches. Another rumble, this time he heard something outside, like wings. The owlette is tucked into his backpack peeking out quietly. Johnny stands up and brushes the leaves off of him. He isn’t sure how long he’s been sleeping but he feels like it was a good nap. Walking to the window he can see the treetops and canopy outside just a bit above him. The dense fog still covers the forest floor. The dull light coming in looks like moonlight.  

A flash and a large bird wizzes by the window. Johnny takes a step back, it’s huge mass is scary. Then a massive thump on the roof shakes the entire tree, he crouches down grabbing his stuff. The bird is walking on the roof pecking at the makeshift wooden slats that cover the top.  

Scared he looks around for an exit, the hatch is still open but there’s no way he’s going to pass that little boy again. He gave Johnny the creeps and once is enough for today. A bundle of rope he swears wasn’t there just a minute ago surprises him. He grabs it and throws it out the window. It trails all the way down into the fog. He grabs his backpack with the Owlette inside.  

“Let’s go buddy!” he calls out.  

“SCREECH!” 

They climb out the window onto the rope, looking up Johnny is almost scared into letting go when he sees a massive Owl on the roof, the white eyes peering down at him.  

He climbs as fast as he can but the rope is rough and he overestimated his strength. With a rumble of the tree the owl takes off with massive black wings. It soars overhead and swoops down. Grabbing the backpack with it’s sharp talons it tears Johnny away from the rope.  

“Snap” “Snap” the straps give way.  

Johnny tumbles down, falling with his back to the floor he watches the owl begin to fly away into the dark canopy. He falls, and falls, passing into the mist.  

The wind swirls past his face, the warm breeze cooling him with his sweat. He has his eyes closed, gripping the handle-bars. His feet steady on the peddles. He opens his eyes and skids to a stop.  

The forest is hot and sticky, the banana spiders spin their webs and wrap their prey. The sago palms make shadows on the sand floor where the fire ants hunt for their prey. A mosquito lands on Johnny’s cheek, he winces as it pokes and sucks his blood, wiping his cheek the streak of blood from the smashed mosquito marks him.  

Standing there for a moment he remembers the Owlette, he swings his backpack around and opens it, nothing, just his stuff. His heart pounds, the log across the trail just past where he came from wasn’t there before. He’s confused. The picture. He stuffs his hand in his pocket and feels the sharp polaroid paper. Pulling it out his head spins as the little blonde cowgirl walks away from him leaving him feeling cold.  

The end 

Written By: Vincent Paolillo, Jr.