wp-plugin-bluehost domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /home4/susangib/public_html/blog3/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6114Word Count: 716<\/p>\n
Toby\u2019s best friend was a frog named Jimmy though he didn\u2019t tell the kids at school that Jimmy was a frog. He told them that Jimmy was two years older and lived next door and went to the Catholic school and that was all good because though they\u2019d never seen him, Jimmy was older and wasn\u2019t black or Puerto Rican or a Jew. They still picked on Toby but not as much as they would have.<\/p>\n
Toby\u2019s mother found the frog one day in the bottom of his closet in a shoebox. She hated things that jumped like certain spiders, grasshoppers and mice and frogs. She took the box outside and dumped Jimmy out on the edge of the back yard. When he headed for the house she smashed him with a shovel.<\/p>\n
Toby thought that Jimmy had escaped. He looked around the bottom of his closet, moved his shoes and toys he no longer played with but couldn\u2019t yet let go. He crawled around the corners of his room, moving chairs and lifting curtains and he looked beneath his bed. His heart sank at the fact of Jimmy missing. For many days he searched. He couldn\u2019t ask his parents and his mother hadn\u2019t mentioned the frog to his father. She didn\u2019t mention it to Toby either since she hoped he\u2019d just think it hopped away.<\/p>\n
At school Toby pretended that Jimmy was still around. He felt the pang of lying though he never felt bad about the stories he\u2019d made up before. He guessed it was the guilt of his not taking good enough care of his little friend that made him sad.<\/p>\n
Toby found Jimmy the last day of summer vacation. He thought he looked a little small and thin and felt bad about that so he caught some bugs and crickets for the frog to eat. He put some leaves into the shoebox, a cup of water for a pond and a rock to sit on. He painted the inside of the box lid blue as if it were the sky.<\/p>\n
By autumn\u2019s end Jimmy had grown fat and full and though he never had before he started croaking low and rumbly late at night. Toby told his mother it was him and learned to mimic Jimmy\u2019s mating calls to prove it.<\/p>\n
A new boy came to the third grade and Toby and he became good friends. Kyle lived only two blocks away and so they sat together on the schoolbus. They both liked the same video games and hated girls. They had a lot in common. They even played together at each other\u2019s house.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere\u2019s your friend Jimmy live?\u201d Kyle asked one day.<\/p>\n
Toby didn\u2019t know what to say. \u201cHe\u2019s gone,\u201d he said, but he wouldn\u2019t look Kyle straight in the eye. \u201cHis dad got transferred and they moved away.\u201d<\/p>\n
That next Saturday, early, before Kyle came over on his bike, Toby took the shoebox out to the backyard. He lifted the lid, a little worried because lately he\u2019d just been throwing in some dead bugs without even looking inside. Jimmy didn\u2019t move. His eyes were closed. There were several dead flies and a legless cricket.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, buddy, you\u2019ll feel better now. You can go wherever you want and you don\u2019t have to stay in that dark old box anymore.\u201d Toby nudged the frog out on the edge of the grass. Jimmy didn\u2019t move. Toby scrunched down and waited. He\u2019d feel just awful if Jimmy was dead or so sick from neglect he couldn\u2019t move. He watched until he was sure that Jimmy was breathing. Then Jimmy\u2019s eyes opened and he resettled his long legs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhew,\u201d said Toby. \u201cglad you\u2019re okay. Take care of yourself.\u201d He stood up and turned to go back inside and wait for Kyle. He\u2019d walked just a few steps when Jimmy caught up with him and leaped ahead, waiting for Toby to catch up.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo!\u201d Toby cried. \u201cYou stay out here! Go!\u201d He tried to outrace the frog to the back door but the frog was taking long leaps ahead of him. It sat just below the back step waiting for Toby to catch up.<\/p>\n
Toby tried to chase Jimmy away but the frog kept circling back until Toby picked up a rock and smashed it flat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Word Count: 716 Toby\u2019s best friend was a frog named Jimmy though he didn\u2019t tell the kids at school that Jimmy was a frog. He told them that Jimmy was two years older and lived next door and went to … Continue reading