My dad joked about his ‘friends’. I knew the friends he had at home, and this had nothing to do with them. Every time he looked at me and smiled about his ‘friends’, my mom rolled her eyes impatiently. I didn’t get it. I had no idea what he was talking about.
I had a tank of frogs then, pet frogs you could say, in the room that served as the guest bedroom. It was probably the only spot I could find to locate the tank. And my parents used to visit regularly, several times a year, and would stay a few days to a week.
I didn’t know this, but apparently, in the middle of the night, the frogs were vocal. Yeah, what you’d imagaine…ribbit, etc. My dad would hear them, and ribbit back. Yes…these were his friends. My dad was amused, my mom not so much. So this was the scene. It was 3 am or so, the room (somewhat familiar and somewhat foreign) pitch dark, and the ribbiting started. My mother wasn’t charmed by the sound. She wasn’t the camping type, and didn’t find the sound of nearby frogs lulled her to sleep. She pictured frogs hopping around the room. That wasn’t bad enough, but then my dad would start ribbiting back to them. So she’d lay in the dark with the sound of frogs nearby, and the imagined visual of frogs hopping around her, and this guy next to her making his own frog sounds.
My dad thought it was funny. I thought it was very funny. My mom did not think it was funny at all. It wasn’t easy, but we found another spot for the frogs.
I can’t honestly say I would appreciate the sound of frogs ribbiting nearby in the middle of the night. The frogs pictured here, fuzzy photos through dewy glass, don’t live in my house, and they don’t ribbit. So it seems, anyhow.
Almost another lifetime…more than 15 years ago. But these are the memories that bring whimsy and a smile to our lives.
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On a warm summer’s evening … simple words … my favorite kind of words … packed with age-old nuance and memories.
Credit: The Gambler, performed by Kenny Rogers (1978), written by Don Schlitz.
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They may not be used elsewhere or reblogged.
Please visit my other blog, Clover & Ivy, https://cloverandivy.wordpress.com.
I post mostly nature photos there.
etikser 