She'd been hiking and it was a hot day. She was fairly deep in the bush but she had a satellite phone, so she was still in contact with the outer world if required.
She had actually run into some signs of civilisation over the past half hour, spotting a few fences and there had even been a couple of signs posted. Coming down the track off a particularly steep hill Suzanne was quite pleased to see the river. She could cool off there.
The path followed the course of the river for a while, not too close to it but near enough that the happy wandered could duck down to it for a bit of fishing if they wanted to. Or swimming, thought Suzanne.
Even better, Suzanne found, was a billabong that had been formed where the river went around a bend. The resulting pool looked cool and inviting. It was also posted, Suzanne found, with a No Swimming notice.
Local governments took too much on themselves in Suzanne's opinion. What the hell did it matter if someone went swimming in a pool in an isolated area? It's not as though she was going to poison the water by having a quick swim.
It was hot, Suzanne was hot and sticky, the water looked cool and inviting and the local council could go to the devil as far as she was concerned. She stripped off and slid into the water.
It was as cool as it looked, clear as crystal, and deep enough to swim in. Suzanne swam, chasing the odd fish and enjoying herself.
Until the voice rang out.
"Oi. Get out of the water. No swimming here. Didn't you read the signs."
Twisting around, Suzanne saw a big burly man standing on the bank next to her clothes.
"I'm not hurting anything," she said defensively. "What's wrong with a swim."
"It's dangerous. You'd better hop out now," came the reply. "Why the hell do you think we'd post a pool way out in the middle of nowhere? For fun?"
"Well I'll come out when I'm ready and I won't be ready while you're standing next to my clothes," snapped Suzanne. "And if it's so dangerous, why doesn't the sign say so?"
"It does, if you read it properly," came the drawled response. "Maybe you just didn't understand what it said. Tell me, what part of Danger, Crocodiles, did you fail to understand?"
Suzanne swallowed a scream. Swine, she thought. It doesn't say that.
"It doesn't say anything at all about crocodiles," she protested. "It just says no swimming."
"That's what that part says," came the reply, with the man indicating the sign Suzanne had glanced at. "The crocodile bit is on this sign," and he indicated a smaller sign halfway down the post.
Suzanne was now feeling slightly nervous. She'd seen the lower sign and had assumed that it was just more council threats. She hadn't bothered to actually look at it. She looked around at the clear water. Crocodiles, my arse, she thought. He just wants me out so he can perve at me.
"Ah, Miss, if you're thinking I'm having you on you should look over there," said her visitor, indicating the far bank.
Turning her back to him, Suzanne rose high enough above the water to check the other bank. Nothing that she could see. Then there was a slight movement and what she thought had been a small tree branch shifted position. Suddenly her focus sharpened, and her startled eyes suddenly spotted half a dozen small crocodiles.
She almost giggled. Scared of those? He had to be kidding. Sinking back down into the water she turned to face the intruder.
"You don't really think those little things are going to be a bother do you?" she scoffed.
"Look again," came the dry reply, "and this time, open your eyes."
An irritated Suzanne turned away and stood up again. Still six small crocodiles sunning themselves. She stared harder. What the hell was he talking about? She was turning her head to ask that question and she spotted it out of the corner of her eye. Her head snapped back around.
"Oh my fucking god," she whispered, backing away, her eyes never leaving the fallen tree she'd seen and dismissed. The damn thing had to be at least twenty feet long and she'd ignored it.
Suzanne had backed fully out of the water and would have kept going but she bumped into the man standing next to her clothes. She pointed at the crocodile, her hand visibly trembling.
"How can people let that thing run around out here?" she asked. "It's a monster."
"That thing, as you call him, has been here for a good eighty years, and may still be around for another twenty or thirty. Why should we bother him? He doesn't bother us as long as we keep out of his way and we do post signs. Some people even read them.
Now while it's very interesting to observe you like this I'm reluctant to do anything about it this close to the old man over there, so why don't we head on down the track a bit and then I'll be prepared to respond to your charms."
With a gasp, Suzanne realised she'd been so busy watching the crocodile it hadn't even registered that she was standing there naked, talking to a stranger. Now it did and she grabbed for her clothes.
"You could at least be a gentleman and turn around while I get dressed," she snapped.
"Could, but I won't," came the reply. "I like the scenery. I intend to get better acquainted with it later but, like I said, not with the old man nearby."
Finally dressed, Suzanne turned towards the track, intending to keep on her way. Parked there was a battered old four-wheel drive, pointing the way she was going.
"I'm Jack, by the way," she was told. "Hop in and I'll drop you off in town, if you call our place a town."
"Thank you. I'm Suzanne. I think I'd sooner walk."
"Oh stop panicking, sweetheart. If I wanted to rape you I had a perfectly good chance right them while you were naked and I didn't even touch one of those lovely boobs of yours. You'll be perfectly safe and I'd feel a lot happier if you weren't walking through someone's hunting ground."
This last was said with a jerk of the head towards the pond and its owner.
The thought of the old man lying by the pool was enough to have Suzanne scrambling into the vehicle. With that thing wandering around she decided that she'd be a lot happier not to be walking.
Jack started the engine and they drove on down the track.
"How far ahead is the rest of your party?" he asked after a few minutes.
"Ah, there is no-one else," Suzanne explained. "I'm hiking by myself.
"That explains it," said Jack.
Suzanne looked at him suspiciously.
"Explains what," she asked.
"I was wondering how you could be silly enough to go swimming with a crocodile," Jack said, smirking. "I now see that you suffer from congenital idiocy."
Suzanne glared at him and said nothing.
A few minutes later Jack spoke again.
"If you look on the back seat you should spot a blanket. You might like to grab it."
