Herschel Du Chomp

As if I am not weird enough, I recently decided to take an alligator with me everywhere I go.

Herschel Du Chomp (the alligator in question) is a stuffed animal sent to a friend of mine from Florida. Having lived in both Florida and Louisiana I felt a partial connection to Herschel (enough so that I named him instantly...the genius of the last name came from a friend...thank you Alexandra!). Despite Herschel being a gift for someone else entirely, I still feel like he and I bonded. Herschel was gifted to a friend, who then donated him to our mutual friend, David. As I've mentioned in a previous post about him, I helped take care of David and part of how I eased the awkwardness (for me, David could've cared less) was to name his stuffed animals and give them surprisingly intricate backstories.

Herschel enjoying an iced coffee in the park

Herschel Du Chomp is the eldest son of the Du Chomps, an aristocratic alligator family living in the Everglades. Defying his father's wishes to stay in the swamp and take over the family business of eating things (probably). Herschel decided to follow his passion and enroll in journalism school to fulfill his lifelong dream of being a crime reporter for the Miami Herald. He left the swamp and never looked back, regretfully eschewing his family for life in the big city. Years of immersion in the seedy underbelly of Miami made Herschel rather adventurous, cynical and a tad surly. He ended his career at the Herald after three successful decades of reporting and retired to the keys, where he began writing novels.

See, I put WAY too much thought into this...to make matters worse, David had like 30 other stuffed animals and they all have equally detailed histories. However, Herschel remained the only survivor after a recent garage sale and I have taken him as my writing partner and life coach.

PS. I am helping Herschel write a self-help book, but most of his methods involve eating people, so it could turn out to be a very short book. I'll keep you posted.

"Be more productive or I'll bite your face off"  (motivational, no?)