Behold, the awesome power of dance!

Taking a cue from Bankerman, Shelly attempts to thwart the alligator's attack with dance, but since dancing couldn't stop a demon dog, I find it highly unlikely that it will stop an alligator.  (An alligator that seems to have increased in size and switched its direction of attack since the last time we saw it.  I'm beginning to think that there are two of them.).  What makes things worse is that unlike Bankerman, Shelly just doesn't have the aptitude for jazz hands and can only seem to clumsily do the Twist (and without musical accompaniment, it's doubtful that she'll be able to keep the beat for long).

Mark, meanwhile, has turned around and finally headed in the right direction.  (Of course, you could take the position that Mark was looking for that lost ball and just happened to be turned in the right direction when he finally found it.  I'm sure there will be much rejoicing on the playground later.)  To further indicate the danger and need for assistance, the word "HELP!" even gets its own action lines, so you know that someone really needs help and it isn't going to be as easy as rescuing a kitten from a tree.

Now, Mark's actual encounter with the alligator brings to light several indications that the danger wasn't really as great as Shelly would have liked us to believe.  The first of which is that the alligator may or many not be stuffed since it appears to be in pretty much the same pose in panel three as it is in panel one.  (I tell you, that water shortage is taking its toll on all levels of the food chain.)  But suppose for a moment that our friend the gator is alive and kicking.  If this is indeed the case, then that third panel sheds some light on to why it approached Shelly.  If Mark's recent camping trip taught us anything (the little we saw of it anyway), it's that dental hygiene is important.  I suggest then, that this alligator was not angry, it was in pain.  It had obviously gotten something stuck in its teeth and had been roaming the swamp for who knows how many days looking for someone to ask for help.  Unfortunately, that someone turned out to be Shelly, who inevitably overreacted and only thought of herself.  Thank goodness Mark was in the area and quickly made the right assumption, grabbing the nearest tree to give the alligator some much needed relief.

With the alligator taken care of, Mark and Shelly are about to embark on what will no doubt be a meeting of enlightenment for our developer as she learns of the damage she has inflicted on the environment.  Still, I believe that we should be more concerned about that opossum (at least, I think that it's an opossum) moving about freely during the daytime.  Should we now be worried about the nocturnals taking their shot at Shelly?  (I mean, the dwellers of the daytime couldn't take care of Kelly, so perhaps their night dwelling brethren have decided to take matters into their own paws after they immediately saw through the flimsy disguise of Kelly, or whatever pod person has assumed her form.)