Toad Heaven (14 page)

He led them down a slope to the edge of the river.

They sat on the cool mud.

“What are we going to do now?” asked Charm.

Limpy didn't have a clue.

“I'm sorry,” whispered Goliath tearfully. “It's all my fault.”

Limpy put his arm round Goliath and struggled to speak over the sick feeling of defeat that was curdling his guts.

“It's not your fault,” he said to Goliath. “The national park was my idea, and I got it totally, utterly, completely wrong. It's my fault.”

“Thanks,” said Goliath.

Charm looked at them both sadly. “It's no one's fault,” she said, giving them both a squeeze. “We tried our best.”

They sat staring at the wide flat river, which was turning pink in the sunset.

Limpy found himself wondering where Mum and Dad and the others were now, and whether Malcolm had done a better job of finding them a safe place to live.

“I hope Malcolm's had better luck than us,” he said.

He meant it.

Goliath and Charm nodded thoughtfully.

“His national park might be different,” said Goliath.

Limpy stared at him.

“What do you mean?”

“Malcolm's national park might be a bit more welcoming,” said Goliath. “To cane toads.”

Limpy grabbed Goliath.“Malcolm's national park?” he said. “What do you mean, Malcolm's national park?”

“The national park,” said Charm, “that Malcolm is taking Mum and Dad and the others to. The one way out west. What's it called? Um …”

“Kickapoo,” said Goliath.

“Kakadu,” said Charm.

Limpy gaped at them, trying to take this in.

“A national park?” he croaked. “Malcolm?”

“Some galahs from out west told him about it,” said Charm. “He wasn't interested at first.”

“Then he stole the idea from you,” said Goliath. “Typical.”

“You knew that,” said Charm. “Didn't you?”

Limpy staggered to his feet. “No” just didn't express all the feelings that were bursting out of him.

“If Malcolm was taking you and the others to a national park,” he said,“why didn't you stay with him? Why did you go to all this trouble to come to a national park with me?”

“Because we wanted to be with you,” said Goliath.

“Because we wanted to look after you,” said Charm.

“Plus Mr. Real Estate's plans were making us puke,” said Goliath. He glanced at Charm. “Well, some of us.”

Limpy looked at their dear concerned faces.

I'm the luckiest cane toad in the whole universe, he thought miserably. Even though I'm also the unluckiest.

“We've got to go back and warn Mum and Dad,” he said. “Kakadu could be like the park we've just been to. If they wander in thinking it's toad heaven, they won't stand a chance against the rangers’ four-wheel drives. Come on, or we'll be too late.”

“They won't be there yet,” said Charm. “According to the map Malcolm nicked from the scientist, Kakadu is way out west.”

“Good,” said Limpy. “That'll give us a chance to catch up with them. Let's go.”

Limpy stopped.

A horrible thought had just hit him.

A thought that made him want to weep with despair and squirt poison pus into every human scientist's lunch.

“The virus germs,” he croaked. “We can't go back, or we might give them to Mum and Dad and the others.”

There was a long silence.

Charm and Goliath looked at each other.

“Limpy,” said Charm quietly. “They might … they could …” She seemed to be having difficulty getting the words out. “Mum and Dad might already have the virus germs.”

Limpy slumped at the thought.

“I know,” he said. “The scientist's dog said they were going to try and spread them to all cane toads.”

“I don't mean that,” said Charm. “I mean … I mean they might already have caught them from Malcolm.”

Limpy staggered and sat down. His legs didn't feel as though they could hold him anymore.

“Malcolm?” he croaked. “How?”

“When Malcolm got back from pinching the map from the scientist,” said Charm, “he had a scabby lump on his back a bit like yours.”

“Only his was bigger,” said Goliath. “And better-looking.”

Limpy slowly digested this. The scientist must have injected Malcolm too. So Malcolm could pass the virus germs on to all the others. This was terrible. This was awful. This was the worst news of all.

Mum and Dad with virus germs.

The thought was so painful Limpy couldn't bear it.

He realized dimly that his crook leg and his back
lump were both throbbing. But not as much as his head.

He looked at Charm and Goliath.

“Why didn't you tell me?” he croaked.

Charm and Goliath looked at each other again.

Limpy could see how miserable they were.

“When we saw your back and heard about the virus germs,” said Charm, “we weren't totally sure Malcolm's lump was the same.”

“We thought it might just have been an infected pimple,” said Goliath. “Or an ingrown wart.”

Charm gave a big sigh.

“The truth is,” she said, “it was too painful and scary to think about. And we didn't want to upset you. There wasn't anything you could have done. Sometimes, Limpy, there isn't anything you can do.”

Limpy dragged himself to his feet.

“Yes there is!” he yelled. “It might not be too late. Mum and Dad might not have caught the germs yet. We can go back and find them and keep our distance and stick Goliath's mouth shut with sticky sap and warn them with flying beetles.”

Limpy looked around wildly and saw a big log floating sluggishly past on the river.

“Come on!” he shouted. “This river comes from the west. We can paddle ourselves back on it.”

He flung himself off the bank and onto the log.

“No!” yelled Goliath.

“Limpy!” yelled Charm. “Don't!”

This is incredible, thought Limpy furiously. They've kept quiet about the danger Mum and Dad are in, and now they don't even want to go and help.

The log gave a lurch.

Limpy struggled to keep his balance.

He was starting to see why Charm and Goliath were so concerned.

Then, with a jolt of fear, he saw exactly why they were.

The log had two big eyes.

T
he eyes were staring straight at Limpy.

The log didn't look at all happy.

Perhaps, thought Limpy hopefully, they're just big knotholes that look like eyes.

The knotholes narrowed and looked even angrier.

Perhaps not, thought Limpy weakly.

The log snorted at him.

Limpy realized the horrible truth. He was standing on a crocodile.

“Jump!” screamed Charm on the riverbank behind him.

“Say you're sorry!” shouted Goliath.

Before Limpy could jump, his legs turned to jelly.

Before he could say anything, his throat sac turned to jelly too.

The crocodile raised its head out of the water. Limpy saw he was on the crocodile's snout. He nearly
fainted. He fell forward and clung onto the crocodile's skin bumps with both hands and his good leg, trying not to look at the huge teeth crowding out of the sides of the crocodile's mouth.

“Sorry,” he managed to croak. “I thought you were a …”

Limpy hesitated. “Log” didn't sound very flattering. Limpy remembered how Ancient Eric used to call Goliath a log in insect math class when Goliath didn't know his bee times-table.

“… turbo-powered river vessel,” croaked Limpy.

The big eyes blinked.

And the mouth started to open.

Limpy fought to control his bladder. He wasn't thinking clearly, but he was pretty sure doing a wee up a crocodile's nose wouldn't be a good idea.

The crocodile's mouth opened more.

Limpy was dimly aware of voices behind him on the riverbank.

“No!” screamed Charm.

“He's got poison pus!” yelled Goliath. “If you eat him, you'll get a bellyache!”

“And he's been injected with germs!” shouted Charm. “That bump on his back is full of them! So he's in no way a health food.”

Limpy felt himself moving backward at speed. Then the snout flipped and he somersaulted through
the air and landed facedown in the mud of the riverbank.

I don't believe it, thought Limpy, frozen with terror and relief. The croc's thrown me back.

“Thank you,” he croaked, too weak to turn round.

He waited for Charm and Goliath to come and help him up.

After a bit, he realized they weren't coming. They were standing well back, clutching each other and screaming things like “Look out!” and “Behind you!” and “Hop for it!”

Limpy looked over his shoulder.

And nearly fainted again.

The crocodile was half out of the water, and its massive wide-open jaws were moving closer, filling the blood-red sky.

“Stop,” said Limpy. “You don't have to do this. I know you're not really a vicious coldhearted scavenger. That's just the way humans see you. I know that inside you're warm and kind.”

The jaws didn't slow or waver.

They kept coming down until Limpy was swallowed up in their darkness.

The darkness slid from Limpy's eyes.

Limpy realized it wasn't darkness, it was mud.

He sat up.

“Ow.”

His back hurt a lot.

Charm and Goliath were bending over him. Charm was doing something to his back.

“Ouch,” said Limpy. “Don't.”

“I'm trying to stop the bleeding,” said Charm.

Limpy didn't understand. He'd just been bitten by a crocodile. By rights, all Charm should be able to do at this point was try and fit him into a hamburger bun.

“Stack me,” said Goliath. “This is weird.”

Limpy was about to agree when he saw that Goliath was holding a small square of black plastic.

“This was in your back,” said Goliath. “The croc bit your lump and it popped out.”

Limpy still didn't understand. Why would the croc only bite his back lump when there was a whole back and a head and two arms and one and a half legs to chew on?

“Tracking device,” said a deep rumbling voice behind Limpy.

Limpy nearly jumped out of his skin.

He squirmed painfully around.

The crocodile was sprawled half out of the water, massive jaws resting on the bank, looking at the piece of plastic Goliath was holding.

“I knew that lump on your back wasn't virus germs,” said the crocodile. “My brother-in-law had
one, only bigger and uglier. Tracking device. Human scientists put them in so they can keep track of us. Sends out signals they can pick up miles away.”

Limpy stared at the crocodile, then took the square of plastic and stared at it.

“A tracking device?” he said to the crocodile.

The crocodile looked at Charm and Goliath. “Not very quick, is he?”

“He's in shock,” said Charm. “We all are.”

“So was my brother-in-law,” said the crocodile. “Went with his missus on a second honeymoon up north. Next thing he knew a chopper full of humans appeared out of nowhere and took them both off to a farm.”

“A farm?” said Limpy nervously. “What sort of farm?”

“A crocodile farm,” said the crocodile very slowly, rolling its eyes at Charm and Goliath.

“I knew that,” said Goliath.

The crocodile leaned forward and took the tracking device out of Limpy's hand with its front teeth and crunched it into pieces.

“Does this mean,” said Charm to the crocodile, her voice wavering,“that Limpy doesn't have virus germs?”

“When did the scientist jab you?” said the crocodile to Limpy. “If that's not too hard a question.”

Limpy thought hard. “Four days ago,” he said.

“If you had virus germs,” said the crocodile, “you'd have been dead two days ago.” The crocodile gave a wistful snort. “Number of rabbits I had to spit out a few years ago.”

Limpy turned to Charm and Goliath. He could tell from their faces that they had the same joy and relief exploding inside them as he did.

“I haven't got germs!” he yelled.

“You haven't got germs!” they yelled.

“None of us have!” yelled Limpy.

After he'd hugged them both several times, he turned tearfully to the crocodile.

“Thank you,” said Limpy. “Thank you.”

“That's okay,” said the crocodile. “I'm not really a coldhearted scavenger. That's just the way humans see me. Inside, I'm warm and kind.”

Limpy flung his arms round the crocodile's jaws and kissed it on the snout.

“Don't push it,” said the crocodile.

Limpy turned back to Charm and Goliath for more relieved hugs with them.

A wonderful thought hit him.

“Malcolm hasn't got germs either,” said Limpy. “Which means Mum and Dad haven't.”

Then Limpy sat down.

Another thought had just paralyzed him quicker than his first sight of the croc's molars.

Malcolm's back bump. The scientist must have put a tracking device in Malcolm too. Which means, thought Limpy miserably, that the humans probably know where Malcolm and Mum and Dad and the others are. They could swoop down on them and wipe them out at any time.

“Oh no,” groaned Limpy.

“What's the matter?” asked Charm.

Limpy explained what the matter was. Then he slumped back onto the mud. Suddenly it was all too much. The thought of a chopper coming out of nowhere and doing terrible things to Mum and Dad was more than he could bear, and he didn't even know what a chopper was.