Read And De Fun Don't Done for Free Online

her face as she tried not to laugh. ‘So what’s your name anyway, sweetheart? You’re certainly friendly enough.’
    â€˜Trudi.’
    â€˜I’m Les.’ The Queenslander held up his drink. ‘Nice to meet you, Trudi.’
    â€˜You too, Les. You don’t seem like a bad bloke yourself … mate.’
    â€˜Good on you, Trudi.’
    Margarita number two went down pretty smartly, so Les ordered another one, then a whiskey sour, as he raceda big wooden clock at the end of the bar that kept ticking towards two. So far Hank hadn’t grunted more than about three words, preferring to smoke cigarettes, act macho and drink the free beers in front of him while Les nattered away with the barmaid.
    It turned out Trudi had moved down to Florida from Baltimore with her husband about two years ago. Baltimore was just below New York. At the mention of New York Les smiled to himself as he looked at Hank’s reflection in the bar mirror and saw his face go about as sour as the whiskey Les was drinking. Even though Florida was terribly hot in summer, continued Trudi, winter was lovely; especially not having to walk around up to your waist in snow at times.
    â€˜So what brings you to the States, Les?’ enquired Trudi, getting a kick out of watching him ripping into his whiskey sour. ‘On vacation are you?’
    â€˜Not really,’ said Norton. ‘It’s more a business trip. Like a working holiday.’
    â€˜Oh?’
    â€˜Yeah. Back in Australia I’m with the NTCRC.’ Trudi looked puzzled, even the skinny drunk at the end of the bar started to earwig. Hank still sat there like a stale bottle of piss. ‘The Northern Territory Crocodile Racing Commission.’
    â€˜Northern Territory?’ Trudi looked puzzled. ‘I think I’ve heard of Sydney and Melbourne. And somewhere called Perth.’
    â€˜It’s up the top end of Australia. Place called Darwin. I’m over here to buy some breeding stock. I’m taking some alligators back with me. We’re gonna cross breed them with the crocodiles and see how they go.’
    â€˜You have crocodile races back in Australia?’ Trudi stared at Les.
    â€˜Bloody oath! It’s a big business back home. The annual Darwin Cup’s worth nearly half a million dollars. We get crocodiles come from all over Australia.’
    â€˜Crocodile racing.’ Trudi shook her head. ‘How do you get those big, mean critters to stay on the track, or whatever?’
    â€˜We use koala bears as jockeys.’
    Trudi’s mouth swung open. ‘Those cute little things with the big ears? My god! How do you get them to ride on those big monsters?’
    â€˜Easy,’ said Norton. ‘They got little saddles and whips. And helmets and goggles. Hey, don’t worry about koalas. They’re tough little bastards, I’m telling you. They hang on to trees alright. Same with crocodiles.’ Norton started making jockey motions like he had a whip in his hand and was holding onto the reins. ‘Only thing we have to watch is the cheating. There’s a bit of that goes on.’
    â€˜Cheating? In a crocodile race?’ Trudi shook her head again.
    â€˜Yeah.’ Norton looked serious. ‘Only last week we had a racing scandal, and a big inquiry. We caught one of the jockeys using a battery. Had it hidden in his whip, the little bastard. But we were on to him; we knew he was cheating.’
    â€˜My God! What happened?’
    â€˜The crocodile won by five lengths. But the koala got electrocuted.’
    â€˜Oh, my God! That’s awful.’
    â€˜Yeah,’ nodded Norton sincerely. ‘If you can’t trust a cute, cuddly little koala bear, who can you trust?’
    The clock hit two. Hank briefly caught Norton’s eye as he got off his stool and headed for the door. Norton drained his last drink and put the glass on the bar, leaving about six dollars next to it in one