|
a new classic by Edward Summer |
his
frog looks familiar, thought Teddy as he looked closely at the frog's
face. But then, I've seen a lot of frogs and they do start to look a little
alike after a while.
The
procession emerged from the woods. Tony and Ginger led the way, Fred with
bear and frog brought up the rear. They marched toward Tony's house.
Tony and his parents lived on the outskirts of a Northwest seacoast suburb that was beginning to build up around the few original homes. The houses were large and far apart and forests led up the shallow foothills into the mountains. Tony liked the woods better than the houses. So did his father, which was why they had moved here. Some of the houses were old and some were new. The nicest ones, like Tony's, were on the edge of the cliffs that overlooked the Pacific Ocean. There was an incredible view of the rocks and the waves smashing against them from Tony's bedroom window if you looked straight down. If you looked straight out toward the horizon, you could see the edge of the world.
Most of the few other children in the neighborhood had gone away to camp or somewhere else for the summer. This, now, was the hot, hollow, empty time between the excitement of being free and the clanging of the bars when school went back into session.
Tony ran up the driveway of the comfortable two-story home. It was built from stone and wood. The stones had been gathered from the fields and mountains nearby, but the wood had been cut farther north. Sometime during the 1920's it had been built to induce a certain executive to work for a certain large corporation. Now both the executive and the corporation were gone, but the house was still there.
Halfway up the hilly driveway, Tony stopped, turned, and ran back down to Fred.
"Gimme!" he said, reaching for the frog.
"No!" said Fred.
"We're going down the coal chute," Tony said, "wanna come?"
"No," said Fred, drawing back. "Teddy can't see well in the dark. He doesn't like the basement either. Besides, we might get dirty."
Tony reached down and scooped up the frog.
"You mean you don't like the dark, "Ginger said, following Tony. "You are all dirty already, so it won't make much difference."
"I might drop Teddy, " Fred said more to himself than to Ginger. He held the bear to his chest. "And give me back my frog!"
"It's not your frog!" said Tony. "It's ours!" He felt very democratic now that he was holding the frog.
Tony unlatched the little wooden door to the coal chute. When they had first moved in, his father had converted the heating system to a combination of solar and oil, but left the coal chute, the coal bin, and a large load of unburned coal for Tony to play in. The chute was just like a playground slide. In the old days, a truck drove up to the house once a month and unloaded a whole dumper full of coal into the bin. Now there was about half a bin of coal left. It was enough to cushion you as you slid off the bottom of the chute.
Sitting on the edge of the chute, Tony held the frog out in front of him and slid down into the shadows of the basement. Ginger followed, leaving Fred and Teddy alone in the driveway.
Coal dust makes me want to sneeze, Teddy thought, and I probably would if my nostrils weren't sewn on! The bear glanced carefully up at Fred. He looks sad, thought Teddy. Fred stared at the door of the coal bin. Just go through the door, Teddy urged silently.
"Let's go in, Teddy," Fred said. He stroked the bear's head as they meandered
toward the back door. Standing on his tiptoes, he grabbed the handle with
his finger-tips. He dangled Teddy upside-down by one leg, banging the bear's
head on the cement step. Teddy had a perfect view of Fred's untied shoelaces
as his head dragged like an pencil eraser across the cement steps. Go in
now, thought Teddy a little desperately.
The screen door swung open. Teddy's head bounced over the edge of the step as Fred lifted him backup into his arms. The door slammed with a bang just missing the bear's arm.
Fred walked slowly through the back hall, past the basement door. He glanced into the basement out of the corner of his eye, but kept walking toward the kitchen.
"Hello, Fred," said Julia Calder, Tony's mother, as Fred passed the kitchen. "Where's Tony and Ginger?"
"In the basement," Fred mumbled.
"Would you like a cookie?"
"Sure!" Fred, with Teddy in tow, walked straight into the kitchen.
The clunking sound of heavy footsteps clattered up the basement stairs.
"Mom, hey Mom!" Tony exploded into the kitchen. "Look what we got, Mom!" He shoved the frog directly into her face. "It's a frog, Mom!"
"I can see that, thank you," said his mother. "You don't have to hold it quite so close. She swept her soft, dark hair back from her face with both hands and sighed.
"Can I keep it, mom, please?"
"Where would you keep it?"
"My terrarium."
"If we bring it back, the monsters in the pond might eat it," Fred said conscientiously.
"The monsters in the basement might eat you, little chicken," Tony said.
"Tony!" said his mother. "Please leave Fred alone." Tony made a face at Fred. Fred stuck out his tongue at Tony. "I don't know about the frog. What does it eat?"
"Grasshoppers. Bugs. Worms."
"It smells like something...." She couldn't find anything else to say.
"Gee, thanks, Mom!" Tony kissed her on the cheek and left the room.
"But," she started, realizing that she had no choice in the matter. "Tony," she called. "Change your clothes! They're filthy. I'm sure you know that, don't you. And wash..." Her voice trailed off since she knew that Tony hadn't heard a word.
Halfway up the stairs, Tony stopped. He took a long, deep sniff of the frog. "I don't know what Mom was talking about," he said to Ginger, "it smells like a frog to me." Tony ran up the stairs, leaping three at a single bound.
Tony's bedroom was filled to the brim with toys. It was like a thick, toy
soup that you had to wade through. Piles of half-opened boxes toppled onto
broken action figures. Rocket ships poked out from mounds of blocks and
interlocking bricks. Plastic soldiers lay among piles of dirty jeans. Tony
flew across it without disturbing a single toy, like a video-game space
soldier on an interplanetary battlefield. Ginger followed behind, picking
her way through the obstacle course.
Against the far wall, nearest the window that over looked the ocean, was Tony's terrarium. It was a cluttered collection of mosses and small plants. Rocks surrounded a pool of water that steamed the glass and ran down the sides in little rivers. Tony placed the frog on top of his dresser while he lifted off the glass lid which dripped with water.
"Here we are," Tony said to the frog which had not moved a muscle. He lifted it gently and placed it on the moss in the terrarium. The frog's spots blended in with the mottled moss. The frog basked silently in the humidity. Its throat ballooned in and out.
"What should we call it?" asked Ginger.
"Frog!" said Fred as he walked into the room. It seemed like a perfect name to him.
"Clever" Tony said.
"Well, what?" Ginger asked again.
"Something.... I don't know." Tony paused. "It's like I think we should wait and see. My Dad says things have their own secret names. They tell you when they they are ready or you discover them, but you can't call them the wrong name even if you want to."
"Frog." Fred said again. "If it's a frog, you should call it Frog cause that's what it is."
"Maybe it's not just a regular frog, maybe it's a something special frog that needs a special name."
"Like what?"
"Like shut up" Tony slid the lid of the terrarium back into place leaving a small space open for air. "Let's play Space Attack."
Tony rummaged through a pile of video boxes and pulled out the appropriate one. As he shoved aside toys, the box in his hand began to quiver. A low rumbling sound rattled the room.
Ginger felt her legs begin to shake. She grabbed the bedposts which were vibrating along with her knees. Fred clutched Teddy and sat down on the floor, knocking aside a cowboy corral that encircled the base of the bunk bed.
The terrarium shook. The glass lid stuttered against the sides. Droplets of water rained down upon the frog, which jumped into the deepest part of the pool.
"Yes! Yes! It's an earthquake!" Tony yelled with joy. "I wished for something exciting to happen!"
"It's scary," said Ginger unenthused.
Fred and Teddy sat very, very still.
The windows rattled as windows do when battered by an autumn wind, but now there was no wind. It was the house itself bending momentarily out of shape.
Then it all stopped. The room was still and quiet.
Except for Tony.
"What a yucky earthquake. A real earthquake would have swallowed the whole town and dumped our house into the ocean! There would have been landslides! The mountains would have toppled over!" Tony paused, thinking of the destruction that might have been.
"I am glad it stopped," Ginger said.
"Why? It is the only exciting thing that's happened around here... since... forever!"
"Is anything broken?" called Tony's father from downstairs. Apparently the earthquake had been enough to get Douglas Calder out of his study. Tony's father was an historian. Tony thought he was about as much fun as a history book. Douglas Calder was always studying. It takes an earthquake to get him out, Tony thought. Maybe if we set off dynamite in the basement, he'd stay out for awhile.
"No, everything's okay," Tony said. "It's awesome." Who cares anyway, he thought as he looked around at the floor of the bedroom which was still a sea of toys.
"That's good," Tony's father said without coming upstairs. "You kids start getting ready for bed."
"Awwww! It's too early!"
"Sun's setting. You can still play in your pajamas."
"But dad! The sun's not even down yet!"
"Tony. Pajamas. Please."
Tony walked to the window and stared out. The sun was huge and crimson in the mist that blanketed the horizon. To the east, the mountains were orange. The soft, warm light reflected back into the bedroom.
Ginger began to rummage through a drawer for her pajamas. Although the drawers had been neat when she and Fred first arrived, their clothing had gradually disarranged itself to match the toys on the floor. I will never like earthquakes, she thought, never. When I grow up, I will move to wherever they can't happen. She pulled out her softest, fuzziest pajamas and started to close the drawer.
Suddenly she jerked it open once more.. She poked around until she found a long gray cotton ear. She tugged on the ear.
From the tangle of socks and panties came the body of a plump, round, stuffed, gray donkey. Ginger hesitated, then glanced over her shoulder at the boys. Tony was still staring out the window. Fred was consoling Teddy. No one was looking.
Keeping her body between the drawer and the boys, she wrapped the donkey in her pajamas and surreptitiously slid over to the big brass bed where she slept. Pulling back the patchwork quilt which covered the pillows, she pushed the donkey underneath where it wouldn't show. She tugged the quilt back into place and went into the bathroom to change.
Then the house began to shake again.
(c) 1981, 1996. 1997, 1998, 1999 Edward Summer, All Rights Reserved under the Berne Convention, Teefr (TM) is a registered trademark as are all character names.
