Jill happily looked out from the back window to the sort of nature preserve that Beauregard had created as part of his private efforts to preserve and protect both America's wetlands and above all the American Alligator, Louisiana's State reptile. She'd found it quite admirable that a man who'd had some success in the real estate business would commit as much time as he did to protecting wildlife, and the fact that he'd been personally attracted to her wasn't a bad thing either. Adapting to Louisiana was a bit different from her time in Lyre. The accent was different and while the area where Beauregard's home was wasn't flooded, it was wetter than normal.
"So what will you do now that summer is here, dear?" Jill looked out at the platform that had been built for people to view out at the bayou area that was behind Beauregard's home.
Jill wasn't able to fully get in to the specific niche she'd had in Lyre. Beauregard lived far enough away from the local towns and areas that even by Louisiana's population was rural enough that while there were a handful of small used bookstores in the general region, they were small and all fully staffed. She was able to use her experience in Lyre to get a part time job working with one of the larger book sellers, and that had work ranging from stocking shelves, running the cashier, and occasionally reading selected books to children on school field trips or as part of specialized reading programs that the store provided as a means to encourage literacy. Jill was fine with that, and the commute wasn't too harsh.
And because it was part time, there had also been some means for her to help with Beauregard's personal project, protecting Louisiana's wetlands. On days off during the past school year, particularly during the spring season, some of the local schools near the home that she and Beauregard shared had scheduled field trips that either she or Beauregard would meet with and take them to the viewing platform where they could look out over natural wetlands and see how that sort of territory existed naturally, before man and the draining of many parts of the state to make things better for human activity. It had its fair share of questions, but it was educational and the schools seemed to think it was a great idea for low cost science projects and presentations.
"We could always enjoy some swimming," Beauregard offered, "the water is warmer now... but it would be nice to cool down in."
"Assuming someone hasn't driven an armored car into it?" Jill asked, thinking to an incident that happened earlier in the spring...
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"This is legal?" Jill asked as she watched Beauregard push a decent sized fan boat into the water.
It had a narrow draft, but seemed large enough to fit both Alligator Animalians and a few passengers. This was beneficial as Clara Shucks had come to visit for a day or two, and with her children, Bart, Claire, Mary-Todd, and Ulysses coming along as well, and all of them seemed interested in a tour of the bayou that was behind Beauregard's home.
"Yeah, I own the land," Beauregard gave a smile, "which means that touring is possible."
"But not swimming," Bart lamented.
"There are some mundane gators in there, Bart," Beauregard told his nephew, "and while they're a mite little by gator standards, they're still strong and they can hold their breath longer than you."
"But you and Miss Jill would protect, us, right?" Ulysses wondered.
"Of course, but we're not going to drive natural wildlife out... including not just gators but Snapping Turtles to make sure its safe to swim and splash about," Beauregard answered.
"Not to mention that in the murky water... while we can see better than what a Human could manage, thanks to our nictitating membranes," Jill added, "it's not like swimming in a pool where you can see all the way to the bottom. "We actually rely a lot more on our pressure sensors to actually feel movement in the water."
There were a few sighs, but things were soon forgotten as spring was in the air at the time and there was some degree of excitement about it. True, Louisiana wasn't necessarily the coldest of states, that didn't mean that spring was a bad thing. And comforted by that, Jill climbed on board. The ride itself was fairly comfortable as Beauregard piloted the boat through some of the trees that overhung bits of the swampland from areas where ground peaked out above the water. Along one edge, these this soon began to lead into a shallower and narrower channel as the pond began to narrow into a creek that the water drained out of. Beauregard had steered the craft fairly well, but they'd still need to slow down either turn or at least avoid crashing. He then reached down to the gear shift to slow down. He was greeted only by a rusty "urrrrrk" as things moved slowly and didn't respond quickly.
"Come on," Beauregard grunted and tried again as Jill turned to him.
"What is it?" Jill asked.
"The gear-shift is rusted," Beauregard answered, "It won't shift down..."
This of course set off panicked cries from his nieces and nephews, and even Clara was a bit nervous. For while Beauregard and Jill might survive a crash fairly well, she and her children might not. In the midst of the panic while Beauregard wrestled with the rusted gear shift, Bart found the boat's anchor and tossed it overboard. It sank to the bottom and did catch something that allowed the boat to come to a swift stop. Everyone, even Jill and Beauregard where caught in the rapid stop, but no one was hurt. Free from having to divide attention between dodging trees and things, Beauregard was able to focus more attention on the gearshift and finally muscled it off of the latch that had it in top gear and the engine powered down.
"Is everyone okay?" Jill asked, and was pleased to see that the answer was yes and then looked back to Beauregard who was looking at the gearshift, "can you fix it?"
"The shift still works... it's just that the rust has made shifting the gears tough," Beauregard sighed, "we'll have to get it back and get to a shop to see if it's something that can be fixed... if not... we'll need a replacement..."
"Can we get back home?" Mary-Todd asked nervously and looking between her mother and her uncle.
"Yes," Beauregard assured her, "though I think it best to stay in first gear. Won't go so fast to risk losin' control or damaging the boat."
That earned some nods. He then moved to then pull up the anchor chain, glad to see that Bart's quick thinking worked and relieved that the boat's prior momentum didn't rip the anchor hook from the boat. He gave one pull on the chain, expecting it to slide out of the mud or marsh that it had likely been drug into. To his surprise it came up an inch or two before it hit something hard and then sank down. This puzzled Beauregard and he tried again, this time with more force, and again it met the same result. He gave a growling grunt at that.
"What is it?" Clara asked as Beauregard sat back in the pilot chair and began working on his shoe laces.
"The anchor's caught on something," Beauregard answered.
"A rock?" Jill wondered.
"No, the ground around here is too soft and we're too low for any real solid rock that would hold the boat still," Beauregard answered, "the ground here is marshy. It's why it's good habitat for Alligators, Turtles, Muskrat, birds... even Cottonmouth. Soft ground they can burrow into if need be. In pure theory, we should have drug the anchor along for a ways before it sank deeply enough to actually stop us."
"We stopped mighty quick, Beau," Clara Shucks warned her brother, "and I don't think your wife would want you bit by somethin'."
"I'll be fine," Beauregard commented and set his shoes down and then hopped over the side and dove down into the water.
He quickly found the anchor chain and began to follow it down to the bottom. The part of the pond and marsh area they were in was a bit deeper than other areas, mostly the result of the road's construction nearby. Before the road the marsh had been bigger and flatter, whoever when the road was put in place, some time back in the 50s so far as Beauregard knew, a lot of extra ground was brought in to raise the roadway. It had even involved some major drainage work that lowered the water enough that workmen could move earth from where the boat presently was to where the nearby road was. Once that was done, they'd actually dug something a bit of a trench in that area, that when the marsh was allowed to refill with water, the area where the boat was actually had enough depth that one might have associated the marsh with a modestly deep lake, given how much anchor chain disappeared into the water.
The water was murky with sediment and reeds moving in front of him, and even with his nictitating membrane, he couldn't see too far in front of him. He could make out the outline of fish swimming in his peripheral vision, but he paid it no mind and followed the anchor chain down. As he got down to the bottom, a shape soon came into view, and one that wasn't quite natural. It was about five feet longer than the boat and looked almost perfectly rectangular and largely seemed to be covered in silt, though not completely. As he followed the anchor chain down, he found it hooked inside a half circular wheel well with a smaller metal wheel pointing out at him on what looked like a smaller square that pushed forward from the rest of the craft. However the wheel well told Beauregard what it was, it was some kind of vehicle, and not one designed for water, and that surprised him. With that discovery he managed to twist the anchor in a way that it lost the grip on the wheel well and then swam back to the surface.
"What is it?" Bart asked as Beauregard surfaced and lifted the anchor back into the boat.
"It's a truck of some kind," Beauregard answered.
"An UPS truck got stuck in here?" Jill said slowly, "Wouldn't we see it? The ground can't be that deep..."
"In this particular spot... it actually can be," Beauregard answered, "largely due to some of the digging and drainage used to put the road in. They got some drainage holes in places to let the water move safely down river... but the road way here pretty much functions like a bit of a dam and some of the digging that was done also lowered the trench near the road to out to where some of the reeds are thicker... and even with the vehicles size, the ground is soft enough and water has moved through the area that over time soil from the base of the road way... and from "upstream" has come down during the flooding season, essentially burying it in silt."
"How long you figure it's been down there?" Clara Shucks asked.
"Well more than a year," Beauregard answered, "I'm no geologist... but I'd wager since the seventies... maybe sixties. There is a lot of silt down there... Jill, darling... do you have you phone?"
Jill patted herself down for a moment and then shook her head, "I think I left it back at home."
"I have mine," Clara offered and pulled it out of her purse, "who do you want first?"
"I think it best to get a tow truck," Beauregard answered, "as strong as I am as a male Gator... I can't lift a truck. I don't even think that Jill and I could lift it together. We need to get it out of the water... hopefully before any oil leaks... if there is any still in it."
The call went out as Clara found a tow service that was close enough. That then lead to a bit of an adventure as when the tow truck arrived, it did so with two police cars following. Apparently the towing company knew all about Beauregard and Jill and then called the cops to investigate it to make sure thinks were on the "up and up" as it were. Jill couldn't quite tell if it was resentment over Beauregard's passion for conservation or the fact that she and Beauregard were Animalians. Though in the end, what was ultimately found and pulled out of the water proved to be necessary for the police to be there. As it turned out to be an armored bank van, which not only had Texas plates but had apparently been listed as "lost" since the 1960s, predating not only Animalia but Beauregard's buying up of the land in the area for his preserve.
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"I still can't believe someone actually drove a bank's armored car and crashed it into the marsh," Beauregard answered, "or that the men who stole it would be dumb enough to return to it in what would have to be an obvious sting."
"Maybe... but it was funny to see them run straight to the cops after you bellowed in the reeds," Jill laughed.
"Which was more of a mating call," Beauregard commented, "non threatening."
"Still worked," Jill smiled. "Though with what you said to Bart... I'm not sure I'd want to risk losing a toe or something... or have some Alligator other than you have interest in me."
"Non uplifted males wouldn't have much interest," Beauregard commented, "we're past the spring breading season."
"Still... you're the only male I want interested in me," Jill answered, "nor am I wanting you hurt in a fight."
Beauregard nodded, "well... you've mentioned this IAC... It'll be on Animalia's web show, right?"
"Animalia Ambassadoria's shown the tour of Dino City," Jill answered, "with it being so new and put together right now... most of the IAC events will be in Lyre/Animalia... Though I think some of the sporting events may get some live coverage."