Toad Away by Morris Gleitzman Read Free Book Online

end up as flat and dead as if she'd stayed at home.
    Unless …
    “She's gunna hit that bus!” screamed Goliath.
    Limpy's bird was swooping low now and Limpy could see Charm tumbling toward a big tourist bus parked next to a building. But she didn't hit the bus, she disappeared behind it. For a brief moment Limpy couldn't see her. Then the swoop carried him up again and there she was, on the other side of the bus, lying facedown on top of a big pile of human tourist bags.
    Arms and legs stuck out straight.
    Not moving.
    “Drop us!” yelled Limpy.
    “Excuse me,” said his bird. “You heard what my colleague said. We don't drop.”
    “That's an airport down there,” said Goliath's bird.“Airports are made of concrete. You're made of squishy stuff. You do the sums.”
    “I don't care,” said Limpy. “Drop us.”
    He saw it was too late. They were already flying past the airport. He twisted round, desperately trying to see a landmark he could use to find his way back to Charm.
    That tower with the windows in the top.
    “My cousin said drop us,” yelled Goliath, “and he meant it!”
    “Read my beak,” said Limpy's bird. “We don't drop.”
    “If you don't drop us now,” roared Goliath, “I'm gunna bite through your ankles!”
    “For you two,” said Goliath's bird, “we'll make an exception.”
    The fall was scary.
    Limpy took his mind off it by thinking about Charm. Her sweet face. Her kind nature. The way she could scare off wild bush pigs just by giving them math problems.
    The landing was fairly soft. And very smelly.
    “Yuck,” said Goliath, spitting and rubbing his eyes.
    “Human poo.”
    It was. Once Limpy's head stopped spinning, he looked around in amazement. He'd never seen so much in one place. Swamp-loads of it.
    “It's a sewage farm,” said a blowfly sunbathing nearby.
    “A farm?” said Goliath, amazed. “You mean humans don't produce enough of this stuff themselves, so they grow more?”
    Limpy remembered they were in the middle of a family tragedy.
    “Goliath,” he said, trembling. “We have to find Charm.”
    Goliath's face fell.
    “I know,” he said sadly. “I was trying not to think about it.” He smacked a big fist into a warty palm. “I hate those mongrel humans with their vicious pies and poo farms. When I get my army together I'm gunna flatten those mongrels for killing Charm.”
    Limpy sighed.
    “We don't have time for this now,” he said. “Charm might not be dead. She might just be hurt.”
    “Yeah, well even if she is just hurt,” said Goliath, “it's still those mongrels’ fault. They're the ones whose truck squashed your leg when you were little. Charm only did this trip 'cause of your crook leg.”
    Limpy stared at Goliath.
    He was right.
    Dad always reckoned it was no use crying over squashed legs, and Limpy usually agreed, but suddenly he didn't anymore.
    Suddenly anger stabbed through him and made his warts burn.
    If he had two good legs, Charm wouldn't have risked her life like this.
    It was the humans’ fault.
    Limpy closed his eyes and imagined a whole suburb of humans guzzling drinks while Goliath stood nearby, his bladder completely drained.
    Then Limpy remembered Charm. He thoughtabout her lying on the bags, in pain, waiting for him and Goliath to come.
    He opened his eyes, blinked away the angry feelings, and grabbed Goliath.
    “Come on,” he said.
    The airport tarmac was very busy.
    Birds and insects from all over Australia and many other parts of the world were landing and taking off continuously.
    The individual in charge seemed to be a weary-looking cockroach. He was waving air traffic in and out with what looked at first to Limpy like a couple of table-tennis bats. When Limpy got closer he saw they were actually moth wings. The moth was standing at the edge of the tarmac looking annoyed.
    “Excuse me,” said Limpy to the cockroach. “Have you got a moment?”
    “Make it snappy,” said the cockroach. “I've got butterflies from