The Final Chapter of Ben the Toad

The other day after school, Brother and his neighborhood friends were outside playing with Ben and the 2 nameless frogs.

And went to see what they were doing and I decided right then and there that Ben the Toad and his 2 nameless sidekicks should really be let go. I had compassion on the amphibians and let them go.

They had a moment of freedom and feeling the grass beneath the pads of their feet before Brother and the boys caught them and with tears in Brother's eyes put them back in their blue cooler.

My motherly instinct won over my compassion for the amphibians. I couldn't bare to see Brother cry over Ben.

I told the boys that they had to take better care of Ben and the frogs. You know like actually feed them.

And I told them that it would be nice if they would put some dirt in the bottom of the cooler with a pool of water with some grass, and some more crickets.

They were very excited to have a job and a direction in which to help make Ben happier.



So with shovel in hand they headed to the garden. They really did make a good home for Ben, in spite of the cooler. :) It had a nice layer of dirt, and some good clean water, with a nice clean layer of grass, and a nice amount of crickets.

The next day they went to the cooler to check on Ben and the frogs.

This is where I don't quite understand what happened.

I don't know if Ben jumped out during the night. (You know with the added dirt he probably could have jumped out.)

Or I don't know if the boys were "cleaning" the cooler and put Ben in a sand pail and he jumped out of that.

I like to believe it was the 2nd option. That way it isn't my fault.

But either way, Ben is where he really belongs. He probably hopped far away from our house and is now burrowed somewhere in the warm dirt.