Toad Rage by Morris Gleitzman Read Free Book Online Page B

live in cities. They wouldn't stand a chance.
    “I'm staying here,” said Goliath, stepping farther back under the truck.
    Then Limpy smelled something else.
    Water.
    He pointed to a large round building across a busy road.
    “I think there's water in there,” said Limpy.
    Goliath lunged forward.
    Limpy grabbed on to him and tried to stop him crashing into cars and colliding with humans in his desperation to get across the road.
    But once they'd hopped frantically between the vehicles and scampered into the concrete tunnel that led into the building, the smell of water was so strong that Limpy let himself be dragged along.
    He closed his eyes for a moment and pretended that at the other end of the tunnel was his own swamp, with Mum and Dad and Charm waiting to hug him and tell him that everything was okay because all humans had decided to stop driving and stay in and watch telly forever.
    Limpy knew it wouldn't be and they hadn't, but it felt good just for a moment.
    What actually happened was almost as good.
    He and Goliath burst out of the tunnel into a huge open space. Lights shimmered in the night sky. Grass glistened. The air sparkled.
    “It's raining!” yelled Goliath, and flung himself into the cascade of shimmering droplets.
    Limpy did the same. He felt his fear and stress start to trickle away with the water that ran blissfully over his parched skin.
    Maybe cities aren't so bad, he thought, if all the big buildings have paddocks in them, and rain.
    But even as he drank in the delicious water, he noticed something strange about the rain.
    It wasn't falling from the sky, it was spurting up out of the grass.
    Stack me, thought Limpy, no wonder humans up our way frown when it rains. They must be really confused seeing it dropping out of the sky.
    Limpy didn't care where it came from.
    He drank and drank.
    After a while he was vaguely aware that Goliath had stopped drinking and grunting happily, and was stretching his big muscles and saying something like “back in a sec.”
    Limpy had been deep in thought about how he'd try and learn human language once he was a Games mascot so he could explain to them about rain. He looked up and saw Goliath striding off across the oval.
    “Where are you going?” he called.
    “Revenge,” replied Goliath.
    Limpy leapt up in alarm.
    Which is when he saw, at the far end of the oval, a lone human figure in a sports singlet doing warm-up exercises.
    Limpy peered through the rain.
    There was something familiar about the human. Its dark hair was in a ponytail, and when Limpy squinted, he was sure he could see freckles on its face. But it wasn't till it picked up a very long stick that Limpy recognized her.
    “Wait, Goliath,” he yelled. “Don't hurt her. She's the one who rescued me.”
    Goliath didn't hear. He strode on toward the girl, his shoulders hunched like they always were when he boasted how one day he'd bash up a human.
    Limpy hurried after him.
    Just before Goliath reached the girl, she suddenly held the stick over her head, sprinted for a while, then jammed one end of the stick into the ground and pivoted herself with it high into the air.
    Very high.
    Limpy gaped.
    He'd seen creatures with some pretty spectacular ways of escaping predators, but nothing like this.
    He watched the girl turn gracefully in the air, thenplummet down onto what looked like a very large car-seat cushion. By the time she sat up, Goliath was next to her, grabbing at her stick where it had fallen.
    Spectacular, thought Limpy anxiously, but not that effective with predators who were maniacs.
    “Goliath,” he yelled, hurrying over. “Don't.”
    “I'm gunna whack her one with this,” said Goliath, muscles and eyes bulging as he tried to pick up the stick. It didn't budge.
    The girl looked over and saw Goliath. Her eyes bulged too, in amazement.
    “A cane toad?” she said. “You're a bit far south, aren't you?”
    Goliath glared at her.
    Limpy flung himself forward. Suddenly he didn't know