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.