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Highlands Today

The Guest Of Honor

Noreen Cullen/Highlands Today

Florida wilderness creeks are beautiful destinations for picnics and fishing adventures.

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Noreen Cullen

Published: September 2, 2007

It was just before sunrise when the folks from the woodland town of Palmhaven began arriving at Clearwater Creek for a weekend of country fun.

The annual Palmhaven Creekside Holiday was finally under way as the campground area under the oak trees and cabbage palms was filling up with tents of every size and shape.

Some lean-to's were being constructed while campers and old Airstreams were rolled into place and everyone busied themselves with setting up and settling in for an extended stay. With no hurricanes approaching and the early summer swarms of mosquitoes subsided, Mayor Ormond Hoosegow declared this weekend the official start of the town's jubilee and no one was left out or behind.

The campground kitchen was set up in the middle of the night and Carolina Jesse and Zeb already had pots of strong coffee brewing, biscuits baking and thick slices of bacon frying over the glowing coals.

Ripley Wills arrived, dressed in his dapper 3-piece suit and polished boots, and he mingled amongst the groups of men that had gathered in the cooking area.

"Today's my big day", Ripley blurted out for everyone to hear. "You giving up gambling or something' ?" Lester Schootz inquired while checking his fishing gear. "Yeah Wills, where's your poker table you usually set up by now?" Sheriff "Sneaky Pete" Skinner called out. "I'm too nervous to play cards this morning guys. Today I'm asking Suzi Sibley to marry me and we'll celebrate after y'all git back from fishing."

Ripley Wills had made his intentions clear to Suzi for well over a year and this weekend gathering seemed the right time to announce their engagement.

The old bachelor was finally ready to get married.

While the women were busy setting up chairs, tables and hammocks under the oaks in the campsite clearing, most of the men launched their boats into the creek for some early morning fishing.

No one noticed the large wild visitor until the sunlight brightened the pale blue sky and shone down through the big oak trees.

Opal Whitmore almost dropped her crock of backwoods beans when she walked upon the beast.

She let out a loud gasp and called out for Nana Wilkes who came running when she saw the huge alligator laying near the tables.

"Ladies, we have a gator in camp" yelled Nana as she poked its side with her boot. "It's not moving at the moment but somebody get the sheriff."

Honey Belle Taylor, Zeb's granddaughter, volunteered to run down to the creek to find Sheriff Skinner while a crowd of women and children pulled up chairs and sat around the reptile.

Betsey Buckworth sat with her shotgun across her lap well aware of how fast alligators can move. Ruth Willowby brought her baskets of strawberry tarts along with little bottles of her homemade peach brandy and passed them around to the ladies-in-waiting.

The women sat around the big lizard and contemplated its length, its gender and if it was sick or just too full to move. Little Ben Greenly, safely tucked in his mother's arms, declared, "It looks like a dragon, Mommy."

Ben's sister, Peaches, stood on a table and studied the scaled skin and knobby ridges down its back.

The gator's amber-colored eyes blinked and stared straight ahead, with not even a twitch of its tail or massive feet to indicate that it was moving on.

The voices of men could be heard in the distance as Honey Belle ran back letting everyone know the sheriff was on his way.

Just then Stoney Jones and his musical entourage pulled up in an old pickup truck and began unloading equipment and instruments.

Sheriff Skinner and Mayor Ormond came running into the clearing followed by Zeb, Cal Greenly and Ripley Wills.

The men were shocked to see such a big gator in camp and even more surprised to see most of the women sitting comfortably around the creature.

"It's a sick one", Ruth declared when the Sheriff looked over its body and stopped at its head. "It's sick alright, this gator's been shot in the head and is dying. Probably the work of poachers we may have scared off last night. WelI if y'all keep your distance we'll let it be and die in peace."

Upon hearing the news, Stoney Jones began playing his fiddle slowly to the song his bandmates had been quietly strumming, "Amazing Grace".

The cicadas in the oak trees started their loud buzzing chorus. Lively conversations about the gator and the fishing excursion along with the children's laughter filled the air. Another sweet summer day was unfolding along the banks of a creekside celebration of life somewhere in the Florida wilderness.

Noreen Cullen is a Florida wilderness artist and photographer and can be reached at ncullenfws@yahoo.com.

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