FROGS
March 19th, 2004 Posted in UncategorizedI was wandering out to my car the other night and it was dark. As I got to the garage area, I noticed the next door neighbour with a flashlight waggling the projected light on the ground in front of her.
“Lost something?” I asked, expecting to hear that she had lost a contact lens. “No, it’s for the dog”. And with that the ancient oversized rat beast appeared, waddling across to her in response to the light. “He’s very old now and he can’t see without the light” she added.
As I walked away towards my car, she shone the light in front of me. Thinking she had lost the plot and mistaken me for her excuse for a dog, I was about to tell her that I have perfect eyesight when she said “frogs”. Resisting the urge to laugh impolitely, I stopped and she shone the flashlight on the outline of a small shape camouflaged on the driveway.
There were loads of the little blighters, sitting happily on the gravely driveway, their throats beating rapidly in the cold night. I was quite shocked and asked where they had come from, thinking that another great plague was on the way (there were that many). I regretted this as soon as I had said it, realising that there was a pond in the front garden and that my question was exceedingly daft. She proceeded to tell me that it was mating season and to expect them to be around for a while, but not to worry if I accidentally squish any when I’m in the car.
So now I am constantly looking on the driveway for squashed frogs, kicking at things with the toe of my shoe to see if it is moss or a frog, dead or alive. Not that their deaths would be intentional…..
