Avenging Home by Angery American Page A

start at the beginning.”
    “Whoa whoa whoa,” Sarge said. He looked at me and asked. “You ever skinned a gator?”
    “No.” I replied. Then I looked around. “What is that banging?” I’d heard it when we first arrived. It seemed to have some sort of rhythm, starting and stopping.
    Danny looked around too. “I was wondering the same thing.”
    “Then keep yer dick skinners off it ‘till I tell you what to do.” He asked Danny for a razor knife. Danny grabbed one from a tool box in the shed and brought it back out. Sarge took the tool and looked at us. “The hide on one of these is the most valuable part.”
    “Can we eat it?” I asked with a grin.
    Sarge pursed his lips and shook his head. “Just shut up and pay attention.” He took the razor and traced a line on the gator’s back. “You skin these from the top down. You don’t split the belly open like on most critters.” Using the razor knife, he made a cut just outside the large bumps on the gator’s back, starting just behind the head. As he worked, he continued to explain what he was doing.
    “These knots are called scoots. We’re going to make another cut on the other side as well until they meet at the tail.” After the second cut on the opposite side, he began to peel the hide back, running the blade of his knife along the meat. “Here, Danny. Pull back on this so I can cut it,” Sarge said. Danny did as instructed.
    As they worked on that section, Thad walked up. Seeing the gator, he stopped short. “Oh, hell no!”
    Chuckling, I said, “Come on Thad. It ain’t a snake.”
    Keeping his distance from the gator, Thad walked around the scene. “No it ain’t no snake. It’s a damn crocodile! A snake will bite you, but a crocodile will eat your ass!” Danny and I both laughed at him.
    Sarge snorted. “Yeah? Well, we’re going to eat this crocodile! Actually, it’s an alligator. There aren’t any crocs in this part of the world.” As Sarge said that, Danny lifted the back section of hide from the gator.
    “That thing’s a damn monster,” Thad said.
    Sarge smiled broadly. “Yeah, but it so goooood!”
    Thad eyed him. “What’s it taste like?”
    Sarge straightened up. “Gator, of course! That whole it tastes like chicken is chicken shit! If you wanted something that taste like chicken, then eat chicken!” Sarge looked at me. “Alright, Morgan. Pay attention.” Sarge made another cut on the top of one of the gator’s legs from just above the foot up to where the hide was missing. “I want you and Danny to start skinning these legs back.”
    After he made the cut, I used my knife to start peeling back the skin. It had an interesting feel, reminded me of vinyl.
    I looked at Thad. “Danny said you guys took care of Tyler and Brandy.”
    “Wasn’t much to take care of. But we did what we could.”
    “We’re going to make it right, Thad,” Sarge said.
    “Ain’t going to make any difference to them,” Thad said.
    “Maybe not,” I said. “But it will to us if we don’t have to dig any more graves.”
    Thad nodded. “That will make a difference.
    Sarge looked up at Thad. “You know there’s four legs. Get your ass over here and start working on that other’n there.” Thad’s brow furrowed as he stared at the animal. Sarge cackled. “Quit being a pussy and get over here. It’s dead for fuck sake!” He was trying to bring Thad out of the dark hole he was on the edge of. The guy’s seen some horrible crap, and no doubt this was wearing on him.
    Thad removed the gun scabbard from his back and stepped up to the table. Drawing his knife, he poked at the gator, as if he expected it to jump off the table. It made all of us laugh. Thad hesitantly touched the gator with one finger. After a moment, he was running his hands over the gator’s skin.
    “I ain’t never touched one before. Feels kind of like plastic,” Thad said.
    Finally, past his apprehension, Thad got to work. With a skilled hand, he made short work