The Alligator River

*I'll take a break from anime for a while...

Here’s a story for ‘ya...

Gregory and Abigail are in love with each other but with every love, there’s a catch. You see the two’s houses are separated by an alligator infested river. They were just about to profess their love to each other but the night before, a storm struck and demolished the only bridge that connected their sides of the river. Without the bridge, they weren’t able to be with each other.

Now there was another way to get across the river—a boat. Only Sinbad, the boat’s owner and captain, when approached by Abigail asking him to get her across the river, asked for a little something in return for his services. Well... being a lonesome, weary, tired guy that he is... he demanded sex in exchange for the boat ride. Of course Abigail rejected the idea of sleeping with another man so she approached a friend of hers—Ivan.

Ivan, being a colossal and swell friend that he is, refused to take part in such a melodramatic love story of Abigail’s and gave no help at all. Finding no other solution, Abigail reluctantly accepted Sinbad’s offer and then found herself at the other side of the river the next day. She didn’t spend the night before at her place of course...

Feeling all gleeful and jovial, Abigail rushed to Gregory’s side. Now Abigail was honest and confessed what had cost her to get to that side of the river. Upon hearing this, Gregory casted her aside and demanded that she leave and never see him again. Abigail burst into tears and told Gregory on Slug, another one of her friends. This friend, fitting his name, was all about fists. Immediately after hearing Abigail’s account, he barged in on Gregory and beat him up good. The last scene is Abigail laughing at Gregory’s body beaten to a pulp.

Okay… well… this was a story shared by our guidance counselor. We were made to rank all the characters (Abigail, Gregory, Sinbad, Ivan, Slug) according to who we saw as the most terrible. Well terrible wasn’t really the word but it’s close. Anyway, my classmates and I ranked away. After about five minutes, we were split into groups to discuss our rankings of the characters. Most of us agreed that Ivan was the most terrible and worthless of all because he did absolutely nothing to help. Some friend right? I mean, the only reason he gave was he didn’t want to get involved. He should have at least given some piece of advice. Now where we didn’t get along was who was the least terrible. Most of my classmates answered Slug, Gregory, or Abigail. I answered Sinbad. I actually think I was the only one who answered Sinbad.

WTF?! Why the hell would I pick Sinbad as the least most terrible guy, right? After all, why the fuck would he ask for sex in exchange for a fucking boat ride unless he was some sort of blackmailing rapist bastard that deserves to go to hell, right? SEX from someone who already loves someone! That just means you LIKE seeing others suffer. He could’ve just asking for some cash or something! Yeah well… that’s what most of my classmates thought.

Now here’s what I think: YEAH! Sinbad is probably some sicko but he’s way better than Ivan who did nothing; way better than Gregory who disowned his love just because she had sex with someone else; way better than Slug who just punches someone just because his friend told him to (I think he would punch a fucking tank if Abigail told him the tank was making fun of her XD); and way better than Abigail who made a friend beat up the one she loved just because he was out of his mind for a second and shouted at her when he discovered that she slept with another man (What great love you have Abigail! It only lasted when the guy loved you back? Oh wow… I think you should look back at your mom and remember how she nursed you to health when you got sick even when you sneaked out of the house behind her back just to get to a party where everyone just gets drunk XD).

Sinbad was offering a trade: my boat for your body. Nothing illegal about that. Abigail could’ve simply denied. She could’ve made her own boat. Hell, why was Abigail the only one looking for a way to cross the river? What was Gregory doing? Sinbad made an offer and it was accepted. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. For all we know, maybe he was testing how much Abigail loved Gregory. “Do she love him enough?” could have been the test he had in mind. All love stories have a scene where the love team finds a big problem between them… a test some may say. If their love can’t withstand their test, then they are simply not meant to be.

In my opinion, the real problem is with Gregory. Apparently a woman is only as good as her virginity in his universe. **warning… I’m gonna get pretty vulgar here… I’ll even throw in a bit of blasphemy so skip the bold part if you don’t like those things. I have a really annoying time when I see scenes where the guy finds his lover got raped and because of that he doesn’t love her anymore. I mean… WHAT THE HELL?! DO YOU FUCKING THINK LOVE = SEX? Grow up kid! If love was about sex, Jesus would’ve died having sex with all the people in the world. Damn idiot XD. If Gregory did love Abigail, he would’ve seen that Abigail let herself go just to be with him. That took more love and courage than anything else he could’ve cooked up. IMAGINE! A girl willing to have sex with a complete stranger just because she loves you and is willing to do anything to be with you.

Sinbad is the hero here. He saw through the phony love and split it apart before it hurt anyone else.