Short Stories

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Ralph, the purple rainforest frog went up north to visit his cousin Leo, the pond frog. Leo was feeling very insecure. “What can I show to Ralph, his friends are bright and his home is exotic; surely he will think the pond is just a boring, bog green. Too earthy and acidic.

Meanwhile, as Ralph was packing his paintbrushes and palette for the trip, he was thinking. “Wow, I can’t wait to see all those variations of greenish-yellow. I mean, we’ve got all these bright colors, but not as many shades. And those lillie pads. What a luxury to live on the lake among the roses of the pond - lilies. Such a different smell they have, much more subtle, but so much more relaxing. Oh, and those cat tails. They make such wonderful smudging tools. And those cool spots those pond frogs have, like leopards.

So Leo dragged himself to the airport to pick up his fancy cousin. The drove off in awkward silence to Slime Pond. What can they say to each other, they are so different. They did not know how to start. Quickly, Leo took Ralph’s bags and hailed a dragonfly to pull them to Leo’s pad.

Oddly enough, Ralph started yakking up a storm. “Wow, those dragon flies are so cool. Like licorice lace are their wings. And remember what fun music we made as kids when we pressed our lips against those reeds. And you can actually see the royal blue of the sky, free of that constant rainforest mist. And clouds, there are so many different kinds. I wonder if they have names. And how I love how the sun doubles before it dips into the pond and just gives the pond the chills with the brightest peach color I’ve ever seen. Just an explosion of colors around here.”

Ralph looked around his pond. “Yeah, you’re right. We do have lots of color here. I kind of forgot.”

H. Stone 2005

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