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“Take a look at that.”

My head swung around, lowering the golf club. Trying to see where my friend was pointing, I set the club down and fully turned to face the fairway. He saw me having trouble spotting it, so held my head and turned it to face what he saw.

On the fairway stood a titanic alligator. It leisurely strode across the course, dark scales catching the light every time it extended its legs. The gator seemed unbothered by us, possibly not even noticing our presence. I didn’t dare move, and neither did my friend. We both feared what might happen if we moved suddenly. The animal certainly looked capable of taking us both out, reaching lengths of probably 10 feet at the least.

As I speculated about this huge beast’s dimensions, my friend jabbed my arm.

“Look over there,” he whispered, pointing somewhere. Following him this time, I saw a family of deer. They stood opposite us, just as shocked to see the gator. Said gator seemed to turn around, facing the deer. It snapped its jaws, a low hiss rumbling in its throat. The deer picked up on the threatening gesture, as the larger two moved in front of the smaller one.

I had to make a decision. Do I play God and save the deer, or just let nature be nature? Maybe it wouldn’t even try to attack; maybe this was just it trying to scare them off. I leaned over to grab the golf club, ready to toss it at a moment’s notice. The alligator broke into a sprint, running at the deer. I almost threw the club, until I realized what was happening.

The gator ran right past the deer family, gripping a smaller gator in its jaws. I hadn’t even noticed that it’d been there. My friend and I staggered back in shock when the larger, aggressor gator violently shook the smaller one like a ragdoll. The deer family broke apart, running in different directions at the chaos. The two of us almost did the same, but we instead stood still in a paralytic daze of sheer wonder.

Eventually, the struggle died down, with the smaller alligator fleeing for its life towards a pond. The larger gator waited before it pursued, charging into the same pond. The gators were gone, the deer had fled, and my friend and I stood there, two very confused golfers. I looked over, thinking I’d see him, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“Foooooooore!” I whipped around, and he hit the ball all the way to the green.