Outback Hero (2 page)

"I'm Alyson," she said. "It's spelt with a y
instead of an i."

Alyson - same name, same spelling as the
bossiest girl in my class.

"I'm Charlie." He pointed at me. "And this
is Max."

She gave him a sickly sweet smile and didn't
even look at me. "These are my younger brothers, Tyson and
Harrison."

Tyson had spiky blond hair and was wearing a
black T-shirt with a skull and crossbones. Harrison looked about
six.

Tyson and Harrison, I said to myself as I
smiled at Harrison. They had to have whacko parents. What sort of
parents give their kids names that all end in "son"? I looked
around the boat. There was a man wearing long socks with sandals.
His shorts looked one hundred years old and the waist was real
high. The woman next to him looked normal. A couple of times she
looked over at Alyson and her brothers as if she were checking on
them.

The boat began to move. I sucked in my
breath. The man in uniform told us he was the captain and
apologized for being required to give a safety talk. He joked,
"Waste of time, really. If the boat sinks, we'll all be eaten
before any of us can get to shore." Then he laughed like a
madman.

Yeah, very funny. Everyone else laughed, so
I pretended to laugh too.

The captain said, "Each person has a
fluorescent life jacket under their seat. Personally, I won't be
wearing mine because crocs are attracted to bright colors."

What?! Everyone laughed again. Were they
stupid?

"Don't worry, folks, we haven't lost anyone
- not yet, anyway."

Great. I felt my fingernails dig into my
palms.

The captain pointed out a croc on the
riverbank. "That's Cyclops; he's only got one eye."

They named the crocs like they were pets.
The captain's assistant tried to tempt Cyclops by waving round an
enormous pork chop hanging from a long piece of bamboo. Cyclops
didn't move. I reckoned they must've fed that croc too much.

But the captain said it was because crocs
didn't like getting in the water until they were warm enough.

Whatever ... I hoped they wouldn't get warm
enough until the cruise was over. Then I could get off this boat
and safely into the LandCruiser with the doors locked without
getting near a croc.

The boat kept going along the river, so the
captain could find a hungry croc that didn't mind cold water. Tyson
must've got bored because he grabbed Harrison's toy Batman.
Harrison ignored him like he didn't care about his Batman. I knew
what it was like to have an annoying brother. Poor Harry.

"Harry, can I check out your Batman?" I
asked. "I haven't got that one."

Alyson said to me, "His name is Harrison.
Mom doesn't like people calling him Harry."

"I like Harry," he said to me. He grabbed
the Batman from his older brother and gave it to me. "At school,
everyone calls me Harry."

I smiled at him. Poor kid, having such an
annoying sister and brother. I checked out his toy Batman, like I
was a Batman expert. "Wow, he's fantastic. I love his cape."

"I got it for my birthday. I'm seven."

Tyson gave me a dirty look and began kicking
Harry under the bench. Harry tried to move his legs, but he
couldn't get them far enough away.

Alyson saw what he was doing. Under her
breath, she whispered, "Leave him alone."

That made Tyson kick harder. Harry's face
screwed up. I could hardly bear it. Even Charlie was fidgeting,
which meant it was bothering him too and he only ever cared about
himself. I saw the evil smirk on Tyson's face and I jumped up.
"Alyson, do you want to swap seats so I can sit with Harry?"

Faster than the speed of light, she was
sitting next to Charlie.

I sat myself in between Harry and Tyson the
Terrible. Harry grinned and Tyson huffed - I'd spoilt his fun.
Talking to little kids was always easy; I just asked them lots of
questions. Soon I found out all about every superhero toy he owned.
At the same time, I listened to Charlie and Alyson trying to
impress each other. Charlie was so full of himself; he was listing
all the sports he played like he was the sportiest guy in the
world.

Anyway, it was all good for me because I was
so busy talking to Harry I didn't have to look at the river and see
all those man-eating crocs. The captain was busy talking about
every croc in the river - all of which he knew by name. There was
Princess Mary, because the captain thought she was beautiful like
Mary. He needed glasses. Then there was Hannibal the Cannibal
because he ate other crocs. Revolting. But better another croc than
me.

The crocs must've sunned themselves enough,
because the captain's assistant was now getting crocs to jump way
up in the air to get their chunk of raw pork. I tried not to look,
but it was hard when everyone else was gasping like it was the most
amazing thing ever. When I did peek, the sight of the monster's
gigantic body and gigantic jaws made my whole body shiver.

The boat stopped again and the captain
announced they were going to draw the winning ticket. Everyone got
out their tickets, even me.

"The winner can feed Agro," he said. "She's
named Agro because she gets aggressive if she misses the meat." He
laughed like a madman again.

I shoved my ticket back in my pocket.

He asked a passenger to draw out a number. I
watched her plunge her hand into a red cap and take out a ticket.
"Eighty-eight," announced the captain.

No one claimed the prize and I didn't blame
them. Who'd want to get that close to a man-eating monster? Just
say the croc decided your head looked tastier than the raw
pork?

Charlie said to me, "What's your number?
Mine's eighty-seven and you got on after me."

Something in my chest began to thump. Having
a logical brother was the biggest pain in the butt. I pulled out my
ticket as though the idea of having the winning number wouldn't
bother me at all. Except my hands were already sweaty. Of course,
my ticket said 88. He was right, as usual. I held it out to him and
said real casual, "You have it. I owe you ... remember?"

I prayed he wouldn't say,
No, you have it
. I prayed he'd just take the
ticket. I prayed he wouldn't be a smarty-pants and tell the others
his little brother was a scaredy-cat and that I didn't owe him at
all.

F
or a second he
hesitated.

My heart stopped.

Then he took the ticket and said, "Yeah,
we're even now."

My heartbeat slowed down again. I even took
a breath. Okay, I admit he can be a pretty good brother sometimes.
I watched him swagger over to the side of the boat where the
captain's assistant was tying a chunk of raw pork to the bamboo.
She made a fuss of him. Charlie loved the attention - I could tell
by his stupid smile.

I didn't want to watch, but my eyes darted
from the raw meat to Agro (who had just slid into the water) to
Charlie (who was still smiling). If Agro decided that Charlie's
head looked tastier than the pork, it'd be my fault.

I crossed my fingers, sat on my hands and
stared. Charlie waved the bamboo, so the pork dangled out in front
of Agro. She glided closer and closer, not taking her bulgy yellow
eyes off the meat. And then she jumped up high, but Charlie lifted
the pork even higher. Agro went ballistic. She thrashed about,
letting everyone know she wasn't happy. People laughed. I glared at
them. Agro settled down and glided up and down along the side of
the boat. Charlie waved the pork over her head but she ignored
it.

Suddenly I had a real bad feeling. The same
way I felt before I took off the handbrake of Dad's car the other
day. Something terrible was going to happen; I just felt it. But
what could I do?

I tried to watch the pork, Agro and Charlie
all at the same time. Then she leapt way up in the air. But for
some reason, Charlie pulled the bamboo in and the croc lunged
toward him. Cameras clicked and people screamed, including me. Agro
missed Charlie and the pork. My heart raced.

Charlie hadn't moved. He just stood there
real calm. The captain made a joke about Charlie being a daredevil.
I didn't laugh. Charlie smiled like it was nothing. Then he waved
the meat over Agro's head again and this time she soared up and got
it. Everyone clapped.

Charlie came back to his seat with that
stupid grin on his face. Alyson carried on like he was a hero.

Harry jumped off his seat and said, "You're
so brave."

Seemed more stupid than brave to me.

Charlie still couldn't stop grinning. Alyson
and Harry fired questions at him as though he'd only just escaped
death.

Weren't you
scared?

Did Agro look you in the
eye?

Could you see down Agro's
throat?

Tyson's arms were folded and I could tell he
didn't like all the attention on Charlie.

I didn't care. Well ... I sort of did. I
wished I wasn't a scaredy-cat. I wished I were brave.

Finally, the boat ride ended. As we walked
back to the LandCruiser, Dad pulled out his digital camera and
showed Charlie the photos he'd taken of Charlie feeding Agro. I
didn't care. I got into the car, lay across my back seat and closed
my eyes.

I heard Dad start the car and say, "It's a
fair way to Jabiru."

Sleeping would make the time go faster, I
decided.

***

"Max, we're here. Wake up," Mom said softly as she
shook my shoulder.

Slowly, I got up and looked out the car
window. "Where are we? And what's that?"

"That's our hotel. You slept the whole
way."

"Why does it look like a humungous
monster?"

Charlie laughed.

I turned round and gave him an evil
stare.

Mom replied as she stuffed things into her
handbag, "The hotel is in the shape of a crocodile. There's a pool
in the middle."

"What? We'll be sleeping inside a croc?"

Mom huffed. "Come on. There's Dad with the
key."

While Dad got the bags out of the back I
said real casual, "So, if there's a fire, then we'll all be trapped
inside a croc."

Charlie looked at me and rolled his eyes,
while Mom said, "At least we'll all die together."

I replied, "I don't mind being an orphan,
you know."

"MAAX!" said Dad in that voice. "There'll be
fire alarms and sprinklers and you'll be safer in there than at
home." He picked up a bag and marched off toward a staircase - a
staircase that had a roof in the shape of a croc's foot.

Charlie and me had our own room, which meant
we could stay up all night and watch cable TV. He jumped on the bed
closest to the TV and grabbed the remote. Typical - he was so
immature. I opened up every drawer and cupboard, in case someone
was hiding.

No one was.

We went downstairs for a swim and even
though it was as hot as, Charlie and me were the only ones in the
pool. We played water polo and, as usual, Charlie was thrashing me
(even though I was jumping off the bottom of the pool when I went
to shoot a goal).

Mom called out to us just as Charlie got his
twentieth goal, "Time to get out; we're going for a walk."

"Walk?" I leant over the side of the pool
near where Mom sat. "Where?"

"On a walking trail," she said.

I whispered, so Charlie wouldn't hear, "Out
in the bush? Are there fences?"

Mom didn't lower her voice. "Why would you
want fences?"

Charlie laughed from behind me. "Oh, Max,
you're not scared of going for a walk? You can't be serious."

"Am not." I jumped out of the pool and
grabbed a towel.
I'm going to be
brave
, I said to myself. But then I realized the crocs
would've sunbathed all morning and would be ready to eat. Although
they'd probably go for Charlie, because he was bigger and they'd
get more meat.

I wrapped the towel around my waist and
said, "Hurry up, Charlie. Let's go."

I
t took thirty minutes to
drive to the walking trail. I didn't care. I stared out the window
as though I was interested in a bunch of boring trees stuck on red
dirt and memorized the names of the fifty states of the United
States of America. Yes, I'm clever, I know. But I had a way to help
me remember. There are four states that begin with A, three states
that begin with C and so on. The hard one is M, because there are
eight. I remember them in alphabetical order because it makes it
easier. Once I knew them all off by heart, I'd challenge Charlie to
a competition. He thinks he's so good at geography, but I'd show
him.

Trying to remember the fifty states didn't
stop me thinking about crocs. Mom had showed me the walking trail
on a map and some of it was close to a river. That meant one thing
- crocs.

Just as I was remembering Agro with her jaws
wide open, Charlie piped up from the back seat, "You know, in the
Second World War, nine hundred and eighty Japanese soldiers were
killed by saltwater crocs in Burma."

"Really?" I couldn't help sounding amazed.
Charlie always came up with these incredible facts. Sometimes I
thought he spent his nights looking up facts and figures while we
slept. But the really weird thing was that he remembered
everything. I wanted to ask all sorts of questions, like was it a
mass attack? How many crocs to every soldier? Did anyone survive?
But what I really wanted was to be able to know stuff, like he did.
He was so good at remembering stuff and Mom and Dad and me weren't
good at it at all. Now and again I still wondered if Charlie might
be an alien.

Dad pulled into the parking lot. There were
only four cars. Two of them were white LandCruisers, probably hired
like ours. One of them was covered in red dust. Dad stared at it. I
knew what he was thinking; he wanted our four-wheel drive to look
like that because when you were in the bush your four-wheel drive
should be covered in red dust.