Tick-tock

Tick-Tock

The crocodile took the man on a busy Sunday afternoon in the park. Seconds before it happened the man, who might have been young or close to young, was seen standing close to the edge of the lake with his arms raised. Some people said he had a camera and he was taking a photograph of the ducks on the island. Others said he was looking through a pair of binoculars. One rather pious old lady said he was raising his arms to the sun and reciting the lord's prayer. Although it was a Sunday this seemed unlikely.

Everyone agreed that the shocking event happened so swiftly it might not have happened at all. It wasn't a believable occurrence. It didn't interlock in any way with the reality before or after. The snout and teeth of the crocodile snapped up through ordinary time, there was a thrashing of water, a slap of waves on the bank, then ripples, then nothing. Several onlookers recalled hearing the busker on the bridge singing Goodnight Irene when, as if coming out of a daydream with a shake of the head, they returned to themselves and the calm of a Sunday in the park.

The ice-cream seller parked under the trees in his van remembered the man buying a double-scoop cone with chocolate sprinkles. "He didn't say much, just told me what he wanted and handed over the money. He smiled and said thank you. I think he had blonde hair and a gap in his front teeth."

"He was dirty and his clothes were crumpled. Like he'd slept rough," said one of two girls sunbathing near the bandstand. "He looked at us in a strange way, but he had nice curly hair," said her friend. "Quite a babe really, like one of the locals you see sitting outside bars when you're abroad on holiday."

The man spoke to an old couple twenty minutes before the incident. He sat down next to them on their bench to eat his ice-cream. "A well-spoken boy, educated," said the woman. "Yes, very polite," agreed her husband. "He had a little notebook he jotted things down in. Didn't like to ask why. He said he liked parks. Said they were good for the soul. Something to do with the trees, nature and so forth."

A mother and her small son were feeding the swans a few feet from the man when he disappeared. The mother grabbed the little boy away and covered his face when the crocodile came out of the water. She remembered the yellow of its teeth, that and two cold, intent eyes.

The police discovered the crocodile had escaped from a small private menagerie a mile away from the park. The collection was illegal and its owner was tried in court and fined. In the dock he explained it was "just for fun. I love animals." Apart from the crocodile he'd made pets of a puma, an alligator, a dozen snakes and several poisonous spiders. The crocodile had been free for several days and it must have been very hungry when it attacked. After it was caught it was taken to join the crocodiles at London Zoo, the fact it had tasted man-flesh kept quiet.

The police never identified the man and his body was never found. "This city is full of missing men, they come and they go and no-one's any the wiser," said the inspector in charge of the investigation. "This case is a strange one, of course, but, in the end, as far as the consequences are concerned, it's not unusual at all."