CHAPTER 1 STRANDED Josh Athens moved the size small alligator T-shirt to the front of the rack He made sure the medium large and extra-large sizes were all lined up behind it in order You know that’s going to get messed up pretty much an hour or so from now right Carter Josh’s coworker leaned over the gift shop counter shaking his head at him He held his smart phone in his hand as if the straightening of the T-shirts had interrupted something much more important that was happening on his phone What else are we supposed to do Josh asked He didn’t have a smartphone of his own and was saving his money for something else Relax overachiever Carter said I know you’re the new guy here but you’re going to make me look bad That shouldn’t be hard Josh thought and turned to hide his smirk It was Josh’s third day on the job at Bayou Boat Tours a touristy spot outside of New Orleans Louisiana
that took curious customers on a tour of the Manchac Swamp He’d wanted to find a job that didn’t require getting greasy while working in a fast food restaurant At fifteen years old there weren’t many better options None of Josh’s friends from school bothered to apply to Bayou Boat Tours Some of them thought the swamp was haunted while others didn’t want to go anywhere anywhere near a place with that many alligators swimming around Since Josh didn’t believe in supernatural stuff and knew alligators weren’t looking to eat people he applied and landed the job the next day He just hoped working there wasn’t going to end up making for a boring summer So what should I do instead Josh asked Just sit and wait man Carter said turning his attention attention back to his phone Watch TV until the tour gets back Or I don’t know eat some chips or something Josh walked around the small gift shop looking once again at all of the stuff Bayou Boat Tours had for sale There were racks of T-shirts with the company logo on the breast pocket but more than a few of the shirts had alligators or frogs them instead There were stuffed gator toys for kids pint glasses and keychains HAUNTED STATES OF AMERICA
