By: Jenna Hren
Upon a simple walk, fair and true, I happened upon a rather convivial fellow indeed. Just sitting off the side of the wooded path I trot, why I noticed him, a lumped and bumped toad! Myself being a young man, I was quite delighted at the sight, and approached closer with glee. In a breasted evening coat, necktie and cap, t’was clear to me this lad was dressed for a dinner party of sorts!
“Who am I to bother such a finely dressed toad! And on such a nice night, when the humidity is just right! No, not I, I will not chance him for a word. Not tonight.”
Whilst thinking this so clearly within my own mind, I became quite distracted, chuckling at the present situation which I found myself in. A human and toad alone in the forest, and the toad is dressed kinder! Coming closer still, I could admire his monocle and respectable bearded chin.
However, just as I stode past this amphibian fellow, I heard a distinct click! Why, the toad being just to my left side, had pulled out a revolver, and what’s more, had cocked it ready for firing! And what else would be the target but mine own head, with the barrel being angled as such! Well, the ghast in my eyes I am sure must have been apparent, and the intensity in the toad’s was as much as clear to me. He politely croaked for all my pence and I’m afraid I could not help myself from weeping briefly at this ordeal. I handed the toad all that I had, and wished that I had more. The toad ribbetted a genuine thanks, for he was sorry to put me out, but he needed it for certain, no two ways about. I nodded understandably, empathizing with his apparent plight, and thanked him promptly for his lack of shank.
And with that, we both tipped our heads once more, as if to signify a mutual respect for one another’s situation. My new dapper friend then labored away with slow hops down the path, towards the direction from which I had just came. Going the opposite way, onward I strolled through the woods, feeling peaceful and at one with the kind humidity of nature. Absorbing the scent of chamomile and studying the oak about me, I promised aloud this:
“O, I vow that I shall never forget him, the nicest fellow I ever met, this most peculiar, lovely, little toad.”