Free Selby Santa by Duncan Ball Page A

crowd into the darkened room.
    ‘Dark places give me the creeps,’ he thought, as he stood still waiting for his eyes to get used to the dark. ‘I know it’s silly but it’s true.’
    While Postie talked about the possums, the quolls, the bats and other night animals, Selby pressed his face to the glass front of a case in the corner.
    ‘I can’t see anything,’ he thought. ‘All I can see is a big thick coil of black hose. Postie must be using this case for storage.’
    Suddenly the big thick coil of black hose moved. It seemed to be moving slowly in all directions, part of it going one way and part going another. That was when Selby noticed two cold eyes staring into his.
    ‘Oh no!’ Selby thought. ‘That’s no big thick coil of black hose — it’s a gi-normous snake! And he’s watching me! Oh yuck! I hate snakes! I hate little snakes, I hate medium-sized snakes, and I hate big snakes! This is a
monster
snake!
Sheeeesh!
And double
sheeeesh!
Get me out of here!’
    Selby shuddered a nervous shudder and was about to turn and dash for the door. In his own mind he was already halfway out the door when he realised that his feet weren’t moving. Nothing of him was moving.
    ‘I’m frozen!’ he screamed in his brain. ‘I’m frozen with fear! It’s like when I drank Dr Trifle’s Nice water!Help! This snake has got me hypnotised!’
    Selby still had his eyes glued to the case when Postie and the others gathered round.
    ‘Goodness,’ Postie said, ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dog as fascinated by a snake as Selby is.’
    ‘I’m not
fascinated
,’ Selby thought. ‘I’m
fastened
! To the floor!’
    ‘This is Midnight,’ Postie said. ‘He’s our King Black Python. Like the others in here, he hunts at night. His eyesight isn’t very good but he can sense his prey blinking from twenty metres.’
    ‘He’s about to sense me wet my pants!’ Selby thought. ‘Only I’m not even wearing pants!’
    ‘As soon as the sun hits him,’ Postie went on, ‘he falls fast asleep. He’ll sleep all day in the light, soaking up energy for the next night’s hunting. It’s like charging his batteries. Pythons swallow their prey whole. A python like this can swallow an animal the size of Selby.’
    ‘That’s all I needed to hear,’ Selby thought.
    ‘Is his mouth really big enough to swallow Selby?’ Mrs Trifle asked.
    ‘Absolutely. First he wraps himself around his prey and squeezes it so it can’t get away.’
    ‘Oh great,’ Selby sighed in his brain.
    ‘Then he slowly makes his jaws come apart so his mouth is huge.’
    ‘If he tried to eated me, I’d punch him really hard!’ Billy said.
    ‘Me too!’ said Willy, making a fist. ‘I’d punch him really, really hard!’
    ‘Yes, boys,’ Postie said. ‘Now let’s see some birds, everyone.’
    The crowd filed out of the Nocturnal House, leaving Selby still frozen in front of Midnight’s case. The snake’s body squirmed slowly around, his eyes staring straight at Selby, his red tongue flicking in and out.
    ‘He’s like a giant magnet that won’t let me go! He’s got me in his grip! But that’s silly,’ Selby thought. ‘It’s just my brain that won’t let me move. I’m the one that has to get a grip.’
    Selby turned his head away from the snake’s stare.
    ‘There,’ he muttered,‘I’m a free dog again.’
    ‘You talked!’ a voice behind him said.
    ‘I heard you too, stinky dog!’ another voice said.
    ‘The brats!’ Selby thought. ‘I’ve got to get out of here!’
    Before Selby could race for the door, Willy grabbed him by the collar.
    ‘You have to talk.’
    ‘Yeah,’ Billy said, gripping Selby’s back legs, ‘time to talk.’
    ‘Okay, guys,’ Selby said. ‘I’m talking. Now let me go.’
    ‘You hafta tell people!’ Willy demanded.
    ‘Yeah, you hafta talk to Mummy!’ Billy said.
    ‘Listen, guys, I’m a little busy just at the moment, so if you don’t mind —’
    ‘You shut up!’Willy said. ‘Or