Senior year, thirty days till graduation. Spring break 45 hours away, and counting. Matt and Clint were packing for their trip down to New Orleans. Their best friend Josh had invited them down for the week. Alli, Matt and Clint's little sister walked into Matt's room.

"Please, Matt, I wanna come too!" Alli whined to Matt.

"Nope, we are gonna have a good time, no little sisters, just us guys. Oh, and we're gonna go Gata hunting! You wouldn't wanna come anyways," Matt persuaded Alli.

Slightly frustrated that her favorite brother wouldn't let her tag along she moped over to Clinton's room. "Hey Clint, can I come with yall to see Joshie?" Alli asked hopefully.

"Sure, why not? We'll have a great time," Clinton remarked.

Alli, ran down the hall way and jumped onto Matthew's bed. Slightly overexcited about the trip, not knowing all that was entailed with what Matt had tried to protect his baby sister about; alligator hunting.

Friday afternoon came faster than expected. Alli hurried out to the car to get the front seat. Clinton got in to the driver's seat after putting all of the luggage in the trunk. Matt finally came out to the car, seeing Alli in his seat, gently picked her up and placed her in to the back seat, smiled, like big brothers tend to do, and got in the front.

Eight long hours later of sibling rivalry, and Clint yelling at Matt to be nice to Alli, they pulled up Josh's driveway. No parents, no rules, three guys and their little sister, and a bayou full of gators, for a week in the deep south of Houma Louisiana.

It was amazing how fast the next Saturday had arrived. The week zipped by and surpassingly enough, everyone was having a great time. Alli was convinced she was having the best time, and Clint was now her new favorite brother.

Josh decided to take Matt, Clint, and Alli out in his boat to see the alligators. Alli, feeling big and tough like her big brothers, agreed to go along with them. Despite Matt's hesitations about Alli coming with them, he helps her into the boat. Josh, realizing that there isn't any possibility of getting Alli to stay on shore, pulls her next to him, away from the sides of the boat.

The four of them were just talking, joking around about all the tricks Joshie plays on everyone when they come to visit. The one morning that he hid Matt's contacts and glasses and watched him stumble around in the early morning darkness, through the lens of his camcorder. Joshie was like another brother to Alli; he'd tease her, joke around with her, watch out for her, and baby her just like Matt and occasionally Clint did. Josh was always the one to ask her if she would like a glass of water (Matt usually just followed him around with the ice), or if she needed another pillow.

All of a sudden, a huge alligator poped out of nowhere up and hit the boat with its snout. Alli jumped into Matt's arms while Josh shot at it repeatedly. Clinton just sat there a little tense, wondering why Matt ever told Alli that she could come with them to Houma.

Six bullets and a few screams later, the gator swam off, more like floated away with the current. However, that was more than enough to get Alli pleading to be brought back to the shore. Just for the fun of it, Joshie broke out his alligator stories, not bothering to think about how scared Alli, Matt and Clinton, were. Clinton's swaying tone and threats to push Josh over board into the alligator infested bayou somehow managed to shut Josh up.

Josh was just beginning to have a good time. So, he paddled over to the bank and they dropped Alli off, leaving her with Joshie's dog, Sox. It was a beautiful spring day; Alli and Sox were just prancing around on the muddy banks of the stream. Except for the occasional up roar of laughs from the boat, the only noises were the refreshing flow of the warm, murky water, rushing down bayou and the whispery breeze blowing through the budding trees. Alli looked over to see Sox whining and backing away from an oncoming gator. Sox shot off toward the house, the alligator close behind him. Alli left just screaming for Joshie. They quickly rowed over to the shore and Clinton called out Alli's name just as the gator got Sox. Although she didn't see anything, Alli knew from the howls of pain and fright that the pup she loved to play with when she came down wouldn't be there with her anymore.

Clint, Matt, Josh, and Alli all went inside for lunch and to pack up. While Josh and Alli made pasta for lunch, Clint and Matt went to pack all of their things up and load them into the car.

An hour or two later Alli, Clint, and Matt said their good-byes to Josh. As they were walking out to the car Joshie stopped dead in his tracks. "Hold up one sec. I forgot something in the house," Josh informed everyone.

Alli hopped into the front seat and buckled up. Clint buckling up for the drive home, Matt just gave Alli a smile that let her know she would regret having chosen to sit shotgun when they returned home, and got into the back. Josh quickly returned with what he had run back into to get. He opened Alli's door and handed her a bag of Hersey's kisses.

"I'll see ya later Tater Tot," Joshie winked at Alli as he closed her door.

Not even an hour into the trip Clinton dug through his things to find his cell phone. Close to a half-hour later, he dialed his girlfriend who was up in Illinois for Spring Break.

"Hello," the voice on the receiving end said.

"Hey Sarah, how are you?" Clint asked, enthusiastically after missing his girl for a week.

"I'm great! We are having a great time in Chicago," Sarah replied.

"That's great to hear," Clint answered with a smile. Sarah returned the question, "So, how was the week down in Louisiana with Josh?"

"We all had a great time!" Clinton informed her, "Hey Sarah?"

"Yeah."

"Wanna hear some gator stories?"