The Killer Koala by Kenneth Cook Read Free Book Online Page B

thing
flickered its tongue, hissed and waved its head threateningly, were
those of substantial terror.
    Nevertheless
I could not let Vic be strangled in full view of the public, even
though he had recently told that public that pythons didn't strangle
their victims.
    We
got enough of the snake away to enable us to see Vic's face, which
had gone vermillion. Streaked with sweat cutting through the dirt on
his face, he looked like a strawberry recently plucked from a muddy
garden. As soon as he could speak he said, 'It is commonly thought
that snakes, particularly pythons, are very hardy creatures, but this
is Very Wrong.'
    Vic,
totally unabashed, went on talking as he stuffed the snake back into
its bag. The crowd thought it was sheer showmanship and cheered
mightily.
    Perhaps
the unusually loud applause exhilarated Vic. Instead of taking a
slight rest by exhibiting an assortment of some of the less lethal
reptiles, he opened a small, violently squirming bag and pulled out
an overexcited taipan.
    The
taipan is not only a very deadly snake, it looks like a very deadly
snake. Slender as a whip and fast-moving, this brown, metre-long
specimen wound itself around Vic's arms, darted furious glances at
the crowd from its sharp killer's head and flickered its tongue
towards Vic's face.
    'Now
it is commonly thought that the taipan is a very vicious snake which
will attack without provocation,' said Vic. 'This is Very Wrong.' Vic
unwound the snake from his arm and held it up before the audience.
    'You
will note that my method of handling this snake is very slow and
calm. This is to make sure it is not alarmed. Now this snake,
although used to crowds and noise, is very excited today and moving
around rapidly. That means it is at its most dangerous, and unless
handled in the calm professional manner I am using, would undoubtedly
bite.'
    At
this point the taipan sank its fangs into Vic's neck.
    A
taipan is so fast that nothing within striking range could possibly
avoid it. Vic's neck had been barely a handspan from the snake's
fangs. At one instant the taipan was waving from side to side, then
it flashed forwards, bit Vic and withdrew, but so quickly it seemed
it hadn't happened, couldn't have happened. The strike, the bite and
the withdrawal all happened in less time than a mousetrap takes to
snap down.
    Vic
raised his hand to his bitten neck and looked at the snake
reprovingly. 'Now, that was most unusual,' he said calmly. 'That is
the first time I have been bitten by a snake that I was handling.'
    The
crowd was awed and silent, not sure whether it was witnessing a
planned act or whether Vic had genuinely been bitten by a deadly
snake. I knew he had and I was horrified. Horrified and very
reluctant to go and relieve Vic of the taipan, which seemed much
happier and relaxed now.
    But
Vic seemed unperturbed.
    'That
bite would have been very dangerous, probably fatal, if it had
happened to one of you . . .'
    Abruptly
a blob of foam exploded from his mouth, his eyes rolled up in his
head so they were only white bulbs and his body went rigid. A strange
inhuman squawk burst from his chest and fought its way out of his
mouth in a splatter of froth. His hands went straight above his head
in a convulsive gesture. The taipan went flying through the air above
the panicking crowd. Vic fell flat on his back, quite stiff, the only
sign of life the bubbling foam at his mouth.
    The
snake took a long time to fall and when it did, it landed in the lap
of a quadraplegic youth in a wheelchair. This was probably just as
well because if it had to land on somebody, it was best for it to
land on somebody who couldn't move. It slipped off the youth's lap
and wriggled swiftly away into a patch of scrub.
    I
was on the platform by now, screaming for somebody to call an
ambulance and for somebody else to kill the wretched taipan, totally
disregarding Vic's position on preserving native reptiles.
    By
the time we got Vic to hospital he had gone quite black. Every