In the middle of Sunday night, I woke myself up kicking an alligator.
This particular gator was a feisty one, large, with snapping jaws and a bad attitude.
I was kicking him in the head so he would turn toward my partner, who would shoot him and pull him up a boat ramp.
In the background, a narrator intoned: “He might lose a leg if he’s not careful.”
I am not sure why I - a fifth generation Okie from the blackjacks of Pontotoc County - would dream I was a Cajun hunting alligators, but hey. It was a vivid dream.
It was so real, I not only woke myself, but also Monroe, who was asleep on the floor by the bed.
Monroe has many times roused me by yipping and free-wheeling her legs in pursuit of a dream rabbit, so I considered it turn-about.
My only wide-awake experience with alligators came one Labor Day at Fort Polk, La.
My company was assigned to odds-and-ends duty around the base to help ensure the holiday was safe and happy for all.
A fellow private and I drew a good gig - driving a boat around a small lake to pick up logs and debris and to help out any paddleboaters who found themselves in distress.
The lake had a lot of logs, but, oddly, most of them would lose buoyancy and sink when the boat neared.
This happened maybe a dozen times before we noticed that one of the logs had eyes.
It was then that we realized they were alligators.
My first thought was: I don’t believe I’d want to go noodling in this lake.
My second thought was: I wonder if the paddle-boaters know about the alligators.
No pets or people were eaten that day, for which I and my associate gave great thanks, and I haven’t seen another alligator since.
Until Sunday night.
I truly have no clue about the origins of that dream, but it was invigorating.
Going a couple of rounds with an alligator, if only a dream one, struck some kind of deep primal chord.
When I finally woke up for good, I got out of bed with a little more of what passes these days for a spring in my step.
And I felt a little extra energy.
So, if there is a moral to this story, it is: when things starts to stagnate, find whatever passes for an alligator in your life and give it a few good kicks.
Just don’t lose a leg.