It wore a red leather collar with a silver, engraved name tag: Theodore II.

Its seven feet  took up substantial real estate in our spacious den for forty-three years.

Its tail curled in an innocuous U,  as its beady, marble eyes searched the room.

Its mouth remained  ferociously open with serrated teeth.

Theodore II was a stuffed alligator, who had accompanied my mother home from her extended stay in Argentina long ago.