{"id":36850,"date":"2012-08-09T12:43:40","date_gmt":"2012-08-09T16:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=36850"},"modified":"2015-03-11T21:24:48","modified_gmt":"2015-03-12T01:24:48","slug":"the-alligator-lady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/09\/the-alligator-lady\/","title":{"rendered":"The Alligator Lady"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/SOSsyd0212-Paris-Review-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-36854\" title=\"SOSsyd021\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/SOSsyd0212-Paris-Review-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"692\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It was one of our first tours back in the summer of 1999. We had been on the road for a month when we pulled into Lawrence, Kansas. The show at the Replay Lounge was sparsely attended, and we spent most of the night dumping quarters into tired, malfunctioning versions of Pole Position, Joust, Tempest, and Dig Dug. At the bar, we heard a rumor about a woman in Kansas City who raised alligators in her home.<\/p>\n<p>The next morning we drove into Kansas City to eat Gates BBQ and look for the house. We were pointed in a general direction, but no one in town could verify this place actually existed. We found ourselves in a lonely part of town right at the edge of the city\u2019s border. After two blocks of knocking on doors, we were ready to call it quits, and then an elderly woman in her seventies opened the door. We introduced ourselves as alligator enthusiasts and asked if she knew anything about the legend of Alligator Woman. \u201cKnow her? I am her.\u201d She had a bright smile like a former actor. Her teeth were perfect. No stains, gaps, or cracks in those real teeth. She pushed aside a pile of chicken wire and welcomed us into the dark rooms. I can\u2019t even tell you how good it was.<\/p>\n<p><em>Excerpted from<\/em> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Who-Farted-Wrong-Illustrated-Weight\/dp\/1935904205\" target=\"_blank\">Who Farted Wrong? Illustrated Weight Loss for the Mind<\/a>, <em>by permission of Write Bloody Publishing.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was one of our first tours back in the summer of 1999. We had been on the road for a month when we pulled into Lawrence, Kansas. The show at the Replay Lounge was sparsely attended, and we spent most of the night dumping quarters into tired, malfunctioning versions of Pole Position, Joust, Tempest, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":391,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[419],"tags":[8381,35,17,2588],"class_list":["post-36850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-culture","tag-alligators","tag-art","tag-books","tag-cartoon"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Alligator Lady by Syd Butler<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"August 9, 2012 \u2013 It was one of our first tours back in the summer of 1999. We had been on the road for a month when we pulled into Lawrence, Kansas. 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