Neighborhood Adventure

I just headed out to walk to the library and Genesis, the girl next door, asked me if she could come along. I said sure if it's okay with your mom and dad. So I waited on the sidewalk with Lily while she ran up to ask her parents. She told me her dad used to take English classes at the tall building we passed, but he had to quit when he got a job. Now she is teaching her father English. I said do you make him have a conversation, to teach him? She laughed. We walked on the green paths and I tied up Lily to the lamp post in front of the library and we went in to get my stack of books at the circulation desk. Genesis looked to use the computer in the children's room but they were all occupied. So we sat on the grass next to Lily and looked at my books together. Then we headed home. When we got back to Rathbun Street there was a guy walking by with a creature in his hands. I asked him if it was an iguana. He said no, it's a baby alligator. He'll grow to be 15 feet, he said! It was small enough to fit in his hand! What's his name I asked? Danger, he said. Do you keep him in a tank? Can he breathe without water Genesis asked? Then Genesis asked the young man if he spoke Spanish. He said yes and they spoke a few words. I said What did you say? She said I asked him if the alligator has bitten him and he said Not yet! And we all laughed. I noticed the alligator was smiling. Then Genesis wanted to cross the street to pick up all the pretty colored leaves that had fallen on the ground next to the health center. She said she wanted to press them between wax paper and then she picked a pink rose from the bush next to the empty apartment house. When we got to my house I ran in to get her a few sheets of wax paper and I gave her the peach I had promised her and a Cortland apple from the orchard.