Signs Save Lives

One year fed up with winter, my wife and I decided to head to Walt Disney World for a little R&R and golf. We didn’t stay at the Magic Kingdom, but at one of the resorts. The day after we arrived, I had a tee time very early in the morning so my wife decided to sleep in.

A cold front moved through the resort during the night, the thermometer plunged and a light frost covered the fairways and greens. The starter said we had to wait until the temperature rose to above freezing which would only take an hour or so.

When our foursome finally teed off, it was around 40 degrees, sub-zero weather for Floridians. As we came by the ponds on the course, I noticed golf balls in the shallows within easy reach of my ball retriever. When you play golf like I do, you carry a retriever in your bag. I thought that the course must play host to a lot of rich people. Those balls are pricey and looked brand new. We played 18 holes and while waiting my turn to shoot, I picked a couple dozen balls out of the water.

When my round was over, I told the pro about my easy pickings. “Were the gators out?” he asked. Gators? What gators? “They sun themselves on the bank, but when it gets cold like today, they hang around the bottom of the pond.” Gators. There were no signs anywhere warning of alligators. I suppose on a warm day when they’re visibly hanging out on the shore and in the shallows, signs aren’t needed, but had there been signs, I would’ve left those balls where I found them.