Toad Rage - Morris Gleitzman [34]
It wasn't the girl.
Limpy's insides sank as he saw a clipboard and a red face with hard, shiny eyes.
The bloke in the suit reached into the tank and lifted Limpy out and held him up and stared at him with a thin-lipped expression. Limpy felt pretty sure that whatever was going to happen next wouldn't involve a kiss.
Limpy had never been on a winner's podium at a Games before, and he felt a bit overwhelmed.
It was partly the noise.
A stadium full of humans applauding and cheering was the loudest thing Limpy had ever heard, including some pretty big thunderstorms back home.
Another reason was that he was still in shock.
When the bloke with the clipboard had hurried out of the lab with Limpy in a manila envelope, Limpy had been pretty sure they were heading for somewhere unpleasant. A loading dock perhaps. Or a highway so the bloke could run Limpy over with his car.
So when the bloke hurried into the stadium and handed Limpy to the girl just before she stepped onto the podium and received her gold medal, Limpy had been pretty surprised.
The main reason he was a bit overwhelmed, though, was what was happening to him now.
The girl was holding Limpy over her head and the humans in the stadium were cheering even louder.
At him.
Stack me, thought Limpy, I think they like me.
Phew, thought Limpy as the girl carried him into the boardroom, it's all go being a national hero.
The girl had barely had time for a shower and Limpy had barely had time for a drink of water, and now the bloke with the clipboard was rushing them into a meeting.
Limpy didn't know what the meeting was about, but he hoped it would go on long enough for him to catch his breath.
The girl sat at the head of a long table and put Limpy down in front of her.
Limpy looked round.
There were several humans seated at the table and they were all grinning at him.
Limpy swallowed nervously.
He knew he should like it, but it felt weird.
The bloke with the clipboard took a seat at the other end of the table and started talking.
Limpy couldn't understand what he was saying, but he was obviously very enthusiastic about something. It seemed to be Limpy.
Then one of the other humans held up some sheets of drawing paper and Limpy became very enthusiastic as well.
They were sketches of cane toads.
In display bins.
In shops.
Stack me, thought Limpy delightedly.
Fluffy cane toad toys.
It's happened.
We're saved.
Limpy had a wonderful vision of every vehicle in Australia with a fluffy brushed-polyester cane toad hanging from its rearview mirror. A cute, lovable, fluffy cane toad that would remind the driver to be very careful not to run over any cute, lovable, real cane toads.
Not Charm, not Goliath, not any of them.
Limpy felt like doing cartwheels. He felt like kissing everyone round the table.
Instead he looked up gratefully at the girl. She was grinning happily too.
Then her grin faded.
Limpy turned round and saw why.
At the other end of the table, the bloke with the clipboard was holding up a fluffy cane toad toy for the other humans to examine.
Except, Limpy saw as he stared in horror, it wasn't fluffy.
It wasn't even a toy.
It was the dry stuffed skin of a real cane toad.
Limpy felt sick and dizzy.
He struggled with his breathing while the other humans passed the stuffed corpse among themselves, obviously delighted. The only voice raised in protest, Limpy was dimly aware, was the girl's.
He couldn't see her expression.
He couldn't take his eyes off the bloke with the clipboard, who was standing next to a map of Australia on the wall. He picked up the stuffed corpse and pointed to North Queensland with a smile.
The bloke spoke some words and Limpy, sick with horror and despair, knew exactly what they meant.
“Plenty more where this one came from.”
“Let me get this straight,” said Goliath.
He was speaking loudly so Limpy could hear him over the hubbub of journalists and TV crews on the other side of the curtain.
“We're gunna go onstage at this international press conference,