Outback Hero

by Sally Gould

  Outback Hero

  Max conquers outback Australia

  Sally Gould

  Copyright © 2014 Sally Gould

  All rights reserved.

  Published by Orbis Media

  Editing by Brooke Clark, Spring Agency

  Cover design by www.ebooklaunch.com

  I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.

  Nelson Mandela.

  Table of Contents

  Nothing to Fear

  1. CROCS

  2. JUMPING CROCS

  3. PET CROCS

  4. AGRO THE CROC

  5. CROC ON LAND

  6. ANOTHER CROC CRUISE

  7. CROC MEAT

  8. HUMUNGOUS CROCS

  Outback Hero

  1. THE GOOD DIE YOUNG

  2. THE COMPETITION

  3. SAVED AGAIN

  4. TROUBLE

  5. ULURU

  6. BEATING TYSON

  7. THE CLIMB

  8. THE HERO

  Other books by Sally Gould

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Nothing to Fear

  1. CROCS

  "Crocodiles!" I jumped off the couch and dropped the remote. "I hate crocodiles. They eat people and they're ugly."

  Mom held her forehead and sighed. She thought I was being a pain in the butt. She always did that when she thought I was being a pain in the butt. She did it a lot.

  Charlie, who was doing his math homework at the dining table, laughed out loud. I knew he was thinking, Max, go ahead, be a pain in the butt because that always makes me look good.

  Mom pulled dead flowers out of the vase as though she was angry with them. "Maaax, we've been planning this holiday for ages. We're going and you'll have a wonderful time."

  "I'd rather go to Nanna's," I said. 'She likes me helping her."

  "Nanna is going to the Gold Coast—"

  "Great ... I'll go to the Gold Coast."

  Charlie looked up. I bet he'd rather go to the Gold Coast too.

  "You can't," replied Mom. "She's going with her friends. You'd spoil her fun."

  I flopped down on the couch. I hated that. I hated being a kid. Always being told what to do and never getting to decide where we'd go for holidays. When I have kids, I'll let them choose where we go for holidays every year. If my kids wanted go to Disneyland ten years in a row, I'd take them.

  Mom put the dead flowers in the bin, then came over and sat next to me. She squeezed my hand and whispered, "We'll only see the crocodiles from the safety of a boat. People only die from crocodile attacks because they swim where they shouldn't. They ignore the No Swimming signs."

  Could all moms read their kids' minds? My mom just knows when I'm scared of something. I wondered what else she knew. Did she know that I listened to music at night when I was meant to be asleep?

  "So it's safe?" I whispered to her.

  Charlie called out, "Max, you've got more chance of being killed by lightning than being killed by a crocodile. In Australia last year, ten people died because they were struck by lightning and only one died of a crocodile attack. And if you lived in Africa, you're much more likely to be killed by a lion."

  Typical. He was always trying to impress Mom with facts and figures. I told him, "I'd rather be killed by lightning."

  "Yeah, being zapped would be electrifying." He stood up and shook like a bolt of electricity had shot through his body.

  "Get lost," I said.

  "I hope you don't come," he said as he went back to tapping numbers on a calculator and writing down figures. "I'll have the whole back seat of the car to myself. I won't have to share a room. I can watch whatever I want on TV."

  I hated the way he could talk and do math as though it was as easy as walking and breathing at the same time.

  "That won't happen," said Mom. "Max is coming."

  I folded my arms. "You can't force me."

  She shook her head as if I were a hopeless case. "You know there's nothing to fear but fear itself."

  That was one of her favorite sayings. She said it to me a thousand times a year. She used to say it when I was afraid of the dark, afraid of the invisible monster hiding in my wardrobe and afraid of strange noises at night.

  Without looking up, Charlie said, "We should see Kakadu before global warming wrecks it."

  Typical. Charlie and Dad reckon we have to see everything before global warming wrecks it. I bet we'll never again have a normal holiday at the beach. Now we have to see stuff. We would've had to gawk at icebergs in Antarctica last summer, but luckily that was too expensive. "I wouldn't want to see Kak-my-du even if it didn't have crocs."

  "It's called Kakadu National Park," said Mom. "Thousands of people visit it every year. And I bet most of those people are terrified of crocodiles. But they still want to see them in the wild. And there are lots of walks, swimming holes and waterfalls. The landscape is stunning and there are Aboriginal rock paintings too." She gave me one of her pleading looks. "Max, when you were little, you were so brave."

  "WERE BRAVE," Charlie repeated, without looking up.

  I yelled, "I'm still brave!"

  Mom smiled at me and messed up my hair as if I were five years old.

  "Okay, I'll go," I said. I'd show her how brave I was. I decided right then that I wouldn't be afraid of crocs. I'd be brave like Charlie. I was only two and a half years younger than him, so I should be brave like him. And from now on I would be. And even if I wasn't, I'd pretend I was.

  2. JUMPING CROCS

  I stared out the car window, unable to believe my eyes. We'd come all the way from one end of Australia to the other to see this? Outside, everything was flat and boring - boring and flat. Very flat and very boring.

  "You said Kak-my-du was stunning," I said to Mom.

  "We won't be there for hours," she replied.

  I slid down in my seat and tried to block out the music. It was already turned down because no one was into it. There was no iPod attachment and we didn't pack any CDs, so in Darwin Dad said we'd better buy a CD. Not one each; he's too tight for that. We had to agree on one CD for our whole trip. I knew straight away that was dumb. Mom likes slow mushy stuff, Charlie likes rap and I like rock. And Dad - no kidding - loves dance music. He might be boring and strict, but when he gets in the car without Mom, he turns up his dance music real loud.

  I stared out the window and wondered what my best friends, Thomo and Chook, were doing right now. Chook was skiing, so he was probably screaming down a mountain having the best time of his whole life. Thomo was at home, probably listening to good music.

  Although maybe going to Kak-my-du was better than staying at home. Darwin had been sort of fun. Except for the croc farm with millions of baby crocs climbing over each other, all looking like baby alien monsters with their bulging yellow eyes. Now we were going into big croc country. The only good thing about that was Dad hired a white LandCruiser and Charlie and me each had our own row of seats. That meant he couldn't annoy me.

  "Did you know there's usually one croc attack on a human every year?" Charlie called out from the back seat. "And so far this year there hasn't been one."

  I turned round to him. "Liar."

  "It's true," he said. "And human meat isn't their favorite, but they aren't that fussy. They eat anything that moves. They can slice us up into small pieces. So they can kill us, but we're not allowed to kill them."

  "What?" I almost shouted. "Why can't we kill them?"

  "They're protected."

  Mom turned round and glared at Charlie. "That's enough." She said to me softly, "Max, when you were four years old, we went to a reptile park and you held a baby croc."

  "Really?" I s
at up straight. "Wasn't I scared?"

  "Its jaws were taped together, so it couldn't bite," she said. "As soon as the woman asked for a volunteer to hold it, your hand shot up, and you pushed to the front and took the baby croc. You were fearless."

  Wow. I was fearless.

  Charlie said, "I read that if a croc does attack you, you'd be better off shoving your head into its jaws and getting the whole thing over and done with. No point dragging out your own death."

  "Oh, Charlie," said Mom with disgust. "I don't want to hear another word about crocodiles."

  I was fearless, I said over and over in my head. What happened between when I was four and now? I didn't know. And it didn't matter. If I was fearless then, I could be fearless now.

  "Here we are," said Dad, pointing to a sign. He slowed the car to turn left.

  The sign read, ADELAIDE RIVER QUEEN JUMPING CROCS. What?! They jump? I could just imagine a bunch of crocs jumping into the boat to get their morning snack. I glanced at Charlie and realized I had to sound calm, because I didn't want him to know I was worried. "I thought crocs could only swim and slide along the ground."

  "These ones can jump way up in the air." Dad sounded excited.

  My heart began to thump and my mouth dried up. I wasn't afraid; I was terrified. But I couldn't let anyone see it. How could I get out of going on the boat? My mind went blank. Before I knew it, Dad was parking the LandCruiser in the parking lot near the river.

  This was serious. I couldn't get on that boat. I was too young to die.

  "I feel a bit sick," I said, holding my stomach. "I'll wait in the car."

  "No way," said Dad. "You're coming with us. I've already bought the tickets." He jumped out and slammed the door.

  Then Charlie climbed over the back seat, jumped out and slammed the door.

  Mom reached over to me and patted my hand. "Max, that trick only worked when you were little." She began to get out of the car. "Come on."

  Far out! I didn't have a choice. I had to get on that boat. I followed Mom from a safe distance - just in case a croc was lurking up ahead.

  "MAX!" Dad yelled. "Hurry up, we're boarding."

  3. PET CROCS

  Dad was annoyed with me. I could tell by the way his mouth was twisted. "Hurry up, we're the last ones to board."

  Only then did I see there were two boats. A nice big safe one and a tiny one that didn't look safe at all. The big one had two levels and the bottom level was enclosed by glass. The other one looked so tiny a croc could chomp off half the boat in one go. "Why aren't we going on the big boat?"

  Dad put his hand on my back and pushed me toward the small boat. "There aren't enough passengers to fill the big boat. The small boat is better; we'll see them up real close."

  I gulped and stepped aboard. A man in a white uniform handed me a ticket. "Keep this," he said. "You might be the lucky winner."

  "Thanks." I walked down the aisle and squeezed in next to Charlie, because he was in the middle of the boat. Mom was on the side, next to the water - closest to the crocs. And she liked telling me to be careful. I sat on my hands in case they were still shaking.

  Three kids sat in front of us. They were sitting the opposite way to everyone else and were facing us. There was no way I was going to let them know that I didn't want to be on this boat. The girl was already asking Charlie questions. She was sort of pretty and her hair was very long. I could tell she liked him by the way she was playing with her ponytail. Girls just liked Charlie. I didn't know why. Maybe girls couldn't tell he was a know-it-all smarty-pants. Or maybe girls like know-it-all smarty-pants boys.

  "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.

  4. AGRO THE CROC

  For 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.