Ben stretches the mouth of the balloon wide as it would go and holds it out for me. Hanging on to my shirt front full of frogs with one hand, I squeeze the smallest, slipperiest one through the opening first, poking it down with my finger until it plunks into the water. As it dawns on me that this may actually work, I can’t help letting out a mischievous Ernie-sounding giggle. I pull the next unlucky victim from my shirt and congratulate Ben on his brilliance, “I think this is your best idea yet!”
We count. "Fifteen...sixteen...seventeen..." The fat ones count as two.
Once all thirty-six frogs have been crammed into the balloon and swim crowdedly in the bit of water Ben suggested, he ties it up and tosses to his other hand to feel the weight. “Now we wait for the girls,” he says and nods towards the roof.
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| Watercolor by Kiljoi |
