Alligatory

female with alligator in her chignon. “You will perceive at once, from this sketch, that one of two things must be admitted—either that the wearer imparted the alligatory character to the parasites in the chignon, or acquired it from them.

A dark square leans against one runner. I pick it up and feel the alligatory surface of Dad’s briefcase before I read through the light reflected across its cellophane: Junior Doctor’s Kit.

He passed over retractors and took a pair of Metzenbaum scissors, the kind with the alligatory teeth on the blades.

“Li’l man, li’l man,” he chanted in a kind of singsong, motioning me to him for what purpose I did not know, flipping the smoking Frisbee in his hand, grinning a big alligatory grin.