[Sever]

Firstly, this is not a funny story. It may sound funny, but the ghost of skippy's long lost son is going to haunt my dreams for a week. It happened today whilst i was driving tractors for a guy i know. We're out on his farm shifting equipment from one paddock to the next when i park up next to an old tank and see this kangaroo just lying there in the shade. It didn't seem too fussed so i left the tractor there and walked back to get the ute. When i got back, it was still there and was still (seemingly) oblivious to all this noisy junk driving around. I figured it was hurt so i went to check it out.

Sure enough, it had been dragging half its festy foreleg around for probably a week and was emaciated beyond any reasonable measure. This didn't stop it from trying to go me, though. There and then, i acquired a new found respect for this bold, hissing bravado, pathetic as it was, and got my water bottle to give the poor sucker a drink. As soon as it saw the cool, clear water flowing into my sandwitch box, it forgot all about trying to defend his shady grave and sat there still as a mouse. I pushed the container forward and he tentatively began to drink. And drink. When he'd finished, i filled it again and wondered if he'd ever seen or tasted water as cool or clean as this.

I sat down a few feet in front of him and waited. It was like some sort of weird bonding session. He was drinking and looking at me with big black eyes that were no longer afraid but thankful. It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling from head to toe.

That's when the boss rocked up. I couldn't have looked more dumbfounded if i'd been caught with his daughter. He made some quip about the 'crocodile hunter' and then told me to put it down and get back to work. I was now faced with a moral dilemma of sorts. When i first went to check it out, i was almost positive i was going to have to kill it. After i had sat with it and gave it the last of my water, this just seemed so barbaric. After a minute, i asked the boss if i could go back and get the gun. He said he wasn't about to waste the time when i could just as easily smack its brains. He jumped in his harvester and drove off.

Again, i stood there weighing up the choices. I could dissobey the boss and fetch the gun or i could find something to hit it. After a painfully long minute, i went to the ute and found the only tool i considerd heavy enough to do the job; a 12" spanner. (a poxy, freakin 12" shifter. No gympie hammers or 1" drive ratchet handles anywhere!) My warm fuzzy feeling was very quickly turning cold.

I walked up to skippy with the shifter in clear view. It was watching me the whole time and just sat there. Didn't move. It had even stopped panting. It just looked at me with those big black eyes. I don't know if it was content to accept it's fate or if it was trying some strange 'roo hypnosis on me. Either way, i felt rotten, but i brought the spanner down.

That's where it's supposed to end. I did the human (humane?) thing and ended it's suffering. At least, that was the plan. I will spare you the details as i'm sure you can imagine the scene that followed. If i thought roos were brainless before, i'm now totally convinced. Suffice to say, even with a poxy spanner, i had crushed its skull and the poor thing was still kicking and rolling all over the place.

I freaked. I was cold all over and listening to the groaning made it worse. I raised the spanner again but my hand was shaking too much to hit a thrashing target. I thought about stepping on it. I thought about strangling it. In the end, i put my hand on its chest and screamed at it "Please die" over and again until finally, its heart slowed and it died.

Now i felt rotten. Pale and shaking. I threw the spanner back in the ute, climbed in, fumbled around until i had a smoke lit and drove off. I didn't dare look back for fear it would start kicking again. So much for mercy. So much for easing the pain. I was now the embodiment of evil. I befriended and then betrayed skippy, and i'm sure the boss was laughing the whole way through.

It's not a nice story, i know, but i need someone to provide a moral to the story or tell me i did the right thing or something. Anything!