In a little neighborhood called Pondstown, there live a few creatures
who loved to talk. You might not hear them because you're so much
bigger than them, but if you listen closely, Pondstown is full of
voices. You can hear the bubbling and blabbing of Fish-Eye Johnson.
You can hear the buzzing of Mosquito Moe. You can certainly hear the
caw of Blue Heron Bill. And at night, when everyone's asleep, you can
hear Froggy.
Froggy's croaks help the other creatures of Pondstown sleep, and they
listened for them every night.
But one night the creatures didn't hear Froggy's croaks. Froggy was
gone. And none of them could sleep a wink! Fish-Eye Johnson swam
restlessly about at night. Mosquito Moe buzzed around till his wings
gave way! Blue Heron Bill tossed in his nest. Froggy was missing for
what seemed like a long while, and in their long hours of laying awake
at night, the creatures began to wonder what he was up to
But after a couple of weeks, Froggy's croak came back at night, and
the whole pond slept. It was the best kind of sleep, because they were
all so tired!
The next morning the creatures all rushed to the lilly pad Froggy
lived on. They asked where he had been, and why he had taken his croak
with him. But Froggy wouldn't tell.
And so they all got together and started talking. They did love to
talk. They all made guesses about where Froggy had been and what he
had done there. They were very curious after all. Maybe, they thought,
Froggy would tell them if they guessed right.
Fish-Eye Johnson thought he knew where Froggy had gone to.
"To another pond, perhaps!" he blabbed, "If there really is such a place..."
He wondered what another pond might be like. Would there be the algae
he loved at home? Would there be other Fish? Other mosquitoes and
Herrings? Maybe the pond was bigger than Pondstown, with huge forests
of cattails, and seaweed meadows. Maybe there were more lilly pads.
Fish-Eye Johnson knew Froggy liked those. He had heard of other ponds,
but never thought of leaving his own.
So Fish-Eye Johnson asked Froggy if he had gone to another pond. But
Froggy wouldn't tell.
Mosquito Moe interrupted, buzzing like mad!
"BZZZZ!!!... Maybe Froggy found a nice host! BZZ!!... Someone with
thick blood to suck!"
He imagined a field of skin and hairs. A person's arm, perhaps, where
bugs were free to feed as they wished! Mosquito Moe had never preyed
on human blood before. There weren't too many people around Pondstown.
He wondered what it tasted like. Was it sweet, like the blood of
little mice, or sour, like snake's blood? Froggy must be so lucky, he
thought, to have drank such a thing.
"Maybe he even found a whole family of people! BZZZZ!!!.... Big ones
and little ones, sweet Boyzzzzz and girlzzzzz, plump mommiezzz and big
daddiezzz! With juicy, juicy arms to slurp!"
So Mosquito Moe asked Froggy if he had found human beings. But Froggy
wouldn't tell.
"You've both got it wrong!" cried Blue Heron Bill, "Froggy must have
held onto a bird or a plane, and traveled the world!"
Blue Heron Bill had been outside Pondstown. He had been down the
creek and across the road. He had flown all the way to other ponds and
seen human beings, but he had never seen the ocean.
"Ca-caw!!! I bet Froggy crossed the seas! He could have gone to
Hawaii or Australia! Antarctica or France! Africa or Japan!" He had
heard of these lands from other birds, but had never once seen them.
He imagined huge amounts of water, as far as the eye could see
surrounding Froggy. Huge winds blowing him about and enormous waves
crashing below. He thought of rocks and beaches leading to mysterious
deserts. Caves and cliffs. Jungles and rivers, and other fantastic
places!
And when Blue Heron Bill asked Froggy if he'd crossed the seas, he
expected amazing stories of adventure and travel. But Froggy still
would not tell.
Now by the time Froggy had refused to tell Blue Heron Bill, the
creatures all knew that he was not going to give in. But they talked
and they talked about it, until Fish-Eye Johnson could not blab
anymore. Until Mosquito Moe couldn't buzz anymore. Until Blue Heron
Bill could no longer caw. And when finally no one felt like talking,
it seemed they would never find out where it was that Froggy had been.
But just then Old Thurgood Tortoise came out from his log and hobbled
over to the other creatures.
"If you want to know where Froggy went, you should just look around
you," he said.
But the creatures were confused. What did this old geezer mean by
this? So at first they stayed quiet and ignored Old Thurgood Tortoise.
He was old and confused - he didn't know what he was talking about,
they thought.
But once again he spoke up, "Look around you! Look at your own pond!
This is where Froggy has been! I've watched him the whole time."
And it was true! When the creatures all asked Froggy if he'd even
left at all, he admitted, "I never left. I just stopped croaking for a
while."
They all looked at each other with wonder and asked Froggy why.
"Why didn't you tell us you weren't at another pond?" blabbed Fish-Eye Johnson.
"Why didn't you tell us you hadn't found any humans?" buzzed Mosquito Moe.
"Why didn't you tell us you weren't crossing the ocean?" cried Blue Heron Bill.
"And why didn't you tell them you'd been here the whole time?" asked
Old Thurgood Tortoise.
Froggy responded, "because then I never would have heard all of your
silly stories!"
