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A tongue zipped by Pietro's face, catching a dragonfly. " Nasty," was all he said. Toad glanced at him, " Hey, don't knock it until you try it." " Who's dumb idea was this anyway?" Lance growled, trying to swat away the masquitos. " YOURS!" Pietro replied. And a burp from Toad. Both looked at him, feeling their stomaches churn. " Where's Blob?" Toad asked, keeping an eye on a big bug flying around. Perhaps a beatle. " Changing," Pietro replied casually, pointing behind him, even though no one was there. " Ya think I should try out for Baseball next year?" Toad smiled. " You?!" Lance scauffed, " On a baseball team?!" " Yeah, I can play." " What position?" Pietro joined in, almost afraid of the idiotic answer. " Outfielder, or maybe catcher," came the reply, " I'm good at catching those flies." No one laughed. Seems Toad's jokes never were very well enjoyed. The dock suddenly began to shake. " Don't look at me!" Lance demanded. The sudden scatter came automatically as Blob stomped past them onto the dock and catapolted himself into the lake. Water shot up like a tidal wave. Pietro and Lance, drenched from the wave, glanced at him impatiently. He paid them no mind as he lay on his back and allowed himself to float....like he had a choice. " Yuck, what is this nasty ooze?!" Pietro called out in disgust. He flung the green goop off his arms and swimming trunks. " It's algea, man. Won't hurt anything," from Lance. He winced as Toad's tongue zipped in front of him, catching a moth. He leaped between his co-horts and proceeded leaping along the dock and took a long jump, landing effortlessly on Blob's stomach. " Hey, Tolansky!" Blob protested, " Get off! I'm not your lily pad!" With a sudden roll, Toad was knocked over and pushed under water. He stayed under for a minute before resurfacing for air. He spotted some flies on the other side of the bank and proceeded there. Meanwhile, on shore, Pietro and Lance peered over the edge of the dock. " I'm not going in there," Pietro sighed. " You scared?" Lance accused with a smirk. No reply. Just a dirty look. Lance decided to leave the argument at that. He took a deep breath and dove into the lake. Toad crouched in the mud and picked off flies by the pair. He was ready to launch his tongue again for a fly in front of him...when another tongue zipped past him, stealing his prey. " Huh? Hey!" He peered down to see a huge frog squatting on the bank. He tried scaring it off, but to no avail. It remained, staring at him and croaking. Their staring contest was broken by a huge June bug buzzing by. The frog aimed for it, but this time, Toad got it first. " If you don't slow down," Blob called, " you're going to have nightmares about bugs!" Toad watched him with no answer as he floated by, turned and swam back. The current was pretty strong this particular day. He finally replied to the comment with a burp, which sounded more like a croak. " Don't worry about me. I can handle a stupid dream. Bugs don't bother me." He turned back to the frog and continued the immature staring contest. The warm sun beat down on the swimmers and it was hot. Pietro, still not stepping a foot in that water sat under a willow tree. Blob took a break for lunch and Lance was rubbing sunblock on his arms. Toad, on the other hand, had not moved. His bare back was getting dry and sunburnt from the lack of motion and sunblock. He finally slinked back into the mud, trying to cool himself. His eyes were stinging, dry from lack of blinking and sore from the sunlight. The frog wasn't worth it. For hours neither had taken their eye off the other. Finally Toad felt too sore to stare anymore. He closed his eyes to relieve them. He rubbed them and splashed water on his face. The moisture helped relieve the sting. He finally closed his eyes and dunked his head under water. When he resurfaced, it seemed much later in the day. It was cool and breezy. He looked about and noticed nothing looked the same. Did his friends just leave him there? Did he, perhaps, drift and not realize it? Where was he? " Oh," he whined, " Man. Where is everybody?" He cupped a webbed hand aside his mouth to amplify his voice, " Lance?!....Pietro?!....Blob?! Where are you guys?!" Nothing. no answer at all. Toad crawled further onto the muddy bank and looked around. Nothing. No sign of anything deemed familiar. He became worried and desperately tried to find something he could consider a sign of familiarity. " Oh, man! How could they just leave me? I didn't think I was THAT bad." His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud screach. It sounded like tires skidding on a highway. He felt his heart lift. If he could find the road, he could get an idea where he was and make way for home. But, over an hour of searching in the direction of the noise prooved to be no road. Silence. He sat himself on a rock and rested. He was cold and beginning to get scared. It was getting dark and he wasn't feeling all too confident to camping out in strange woods all by himself. The sounds came again, followed by a thumping. Toad turned, believing that thump was Blob. He was about to call for him, when the figure coming towards him wasn't Blob, but instead, a giant cricket the size of a horse! " What the...?" He was cut off by the screach from the cricket. It looked at him. Screached again. He screamed and bolted, hoping to lose the creature. However one great leap was all the bug needed. It was in front of him in one bound. He screamed again as he skidded to a stop. " Oh, don't eat me, Cricket!" He muttered, knowing he was only kidding himself. It came closer. He squatted down and shielded his neck and head. Right when things were beginning to look bad, the cricket was suddenly slunk backwards and into the mouth of a frog the size of a house! Toad stared at the frog in amazement. His feeling of awe and relief soon faded when he felt those eyes on him. It turned and aimed at him. " No! No, this isn't fair!" He cowared. There was no point in attempting to flee. He knew this better than anyone. From experience he knew that he, or the frog had an advantage over prey smaller than they. And, Toad was now the size of his prey. He'd be caught before he could turn around. " Aw, c'mon!" He pleaded in vain, " If I get out of this, I won't eat another bug! I swear!" The frog gave a loud croak that made the ground vibrate under Toad's feet, and the tongue was released. " No!" *** " Toad!" Pietro called, slapping him across the face. " Wake up! Are you okay?" Toad opened his eyes and bolted up to a sitting position. He found himself on dry land, his trunks covered in mud and algea. His friends kneeled around him, watching him carefully. " What-?" " Geez, Toad, you scared the heck out of us. You just fell face first in the mud over there." Pietro explained. " Luckily we were able to pull you back." " We thought you had a sun stroke or something," Lance chimed in. " You've been out for over an hour." Toad rubbed his head. He was sunburnt from head to toe. His hair was dirty and stained with mud. " So, there's no giant frog? No mutant crickets? I was.....dreaming?" Pietro and Lance gave him a concerned glare. They glanced at each other and then back at him. " I think you had far to much sun today," Lance observed, shaking his head. Toad let out a loud sigh of relief. It was just a nightmare. He had dreamed it all. It was over. He saw Blob to his left. He looked like the Kool-aid man, all red from sunburn. Toad let out a laugh, relieved to see familiar faces again. Had it not been thought to spoil his image, he probably would have cried. " Maybe this will make you feel better," Blob offered, handing him a jar. Inside was a huge dragonfly. He looked at it and swallowed hard. " No, thanks," he replied nervously, unscrewing the lid and setting the dragonfly free, " I sort of lost my appetite. Blob's stomach growled. He put his hands on his middle and chuckled, " Not me. I'm starved!" " Yeah, me too," Lance added, feeling the emptiness inside him too. " Race you guys home!" Pietro challanged. Before anyone was able to protest, he was off. Blob and Lance helped Toad to his feet. " You gonna be okay?" Lance asked. " I'll be fine after a shower and a soak in aloe lotion," he replied, looking at his muddy self. They let out a laugh, for no real reason. And they made their way home. END | ||||
