Page 37 of Must Love Alligators

“Alligator teeth aren’t sharp?”Murphy asked dubiously.

“No,” Bailey said.“But they’re very effective.And if one breaks off or falls out, a new one grows back in to replace it.They go through two to threethousandteeth in a lifetime.”Her eyes were bright, talking about one of her favorite topics.

Chase sat back in his chair, settling in for the impromptu lesson on alligators.This could take a while.Murphy had no idea.He thought he was punishing them for leaving their bags unattended?Yeah, well, Chase hoped Murphy didn’t have anywhere he needed to be.

“They bite with a force of over two thousandpoundsper square inch,” Bailey said, sitting forward on her chair.“A human’s bite is only one hundred and fifty pounds per square inch.”

“Wait,” Murphy said.“A human can bite with a hundred and fifty pounds per square inch?”

Bailey nodded.“Crazy, right?”

“That really is,” Murphy agreed.Which was probably the worst thing he could have said—if he wanted to get out of this office any time soon.

Bailey’s face lit up at the obvious new—and interested—audience she suddenly had.

For the next twenty minutes, Bailey regaled Murphy and his friend with more alligator facts and even crazier stories of her work on the bayou.

Finally, they were free to go and as she was packing up, Bailey held up an alligator bottle opener.The bottle cap fit in the alligator’s mouth, of course.“This is for you,” she said.

Murphy looked like she’d just givenhimthe diamond ring from Chase’s pocket.“Really?You don’t have to give me that.”

“I want to.I have a ton of alligator stuff and I love that you’re so into everything I told you,” she said, handing it over.

Murphy took it.“This was actually fun.”

She grinned.“You should come down to Autre, Louisiana, and take a swamp boat tour.Boys of the Bayou.They’ll show you real gators.Andyou can win the trivia contest now with everything I taught you.”

“Wow,” Murphy said.“You mustreallylove alligators.”

Chase laughed and gave Bailey a big hug.

Hedidn’tlovealligators, but he sure loved the nerdy, alligator-obsessed, bayou scientist.And that was kind of the same thing.

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