Story: Molly and her Pet Green Tree Frog
22 Jul 2020
Maree Schaefer of Colonel Light Gardens Ladies Probus Club turned her hand to children's storywriting during lockdown, and has submitted one of her wonderful creations to Active Retirees.
The reason was that her six grandchildren live in Germany and were confined to home, as were the parents. Maree was asked to helped occupy the children via Skype, and so began her writing career.
“It turned out to be an interesting tool to help improve the children's English comprehension and reading skills,” Maree says. “It has been a very positive experience for all.”
You can download the PDF of Maree’s work here (complete with illustrations!), or you can read the full story of Molly and her Pet Green Tree Frog below.
MOLLY AND HER PET GREEN TREE FROG
by Maree Schaefer
Once upon a time there was a family who lived on the outskirts of a city near a rainforest where Green Tree Frogs abounded. The family had a little girl called Molly. Molly lived with her father and mother and two brothers. Her older brother was called Joseph and her younger brother was called Jonathon, but they were affectionately known as Joe and John. Joe and John often played together so Molly was left to play by herself. Living near the forest was like living in the biggest playground you could imagine.
Molly often wandered into the forest and found the animals and insects fascinating to watch. Her favourite creature though, was the Green Tree Frog. They were very easy going and unafraid of her. The frogs slept during the day. Her mother told her that they were nocturnal but she thought that word was just too big. Her mother told her it meant that they slept during the day and were active at night.
Early in the evenings Molly often sat on a log in her backyard and watched the Green Tree Frogs hopping around. They loved to climb up trees and hop onto logs. They even climbed up the veranda post of her house and could be seen climbing on the glass windows. “Oh, how can that be?” she wondered. When she asked her mother about it she told her that the frogs have large gripping pads on their fingers and toes. In fact the fingers are about one-third webbed, and the toes nearly three-quarters webbed and that’s why they can grip on almost everything.
One day Molly said to her parents, “I would like a Green Tree Frog for a pet to keep in my room.” Her parents did not think that was a good idea and said there were enough animals and frogs outside for her to play with. Besides, Molly’s mother kept her home very clean and didn’t allow any animals inside. Molly was disappointed so she thought about it over and over and finally decided, if she made a home for a frog in a big old shoe box she could look after it in her room and her parents would never know.
One day Molly found a big empty shoe box on top of the cupboard in the garage. She used the step ladder to reach it and carefully pulled it down. She went outside and filled it with the dry autumn leaves that were scattered on the ground. She then found an old small bowl that she
could use for water and placed it in the corner of the box. All she had to do now was to catch a tree frog and put it in the box. The next evening a green tree frog with an unusual small white dot on his back caught her eye. He looked cute with his large eyes. She used an empty jar to place over it and the frog eventually crawled up the side. She gently turned the jar upright and put the lid on it. At home she tipped the frog into the shoe box and it soon buried itself in the dry leaves. This was her pet. She named it Big Eyes because its eyes seemed to be bigger than other frogs.
Molly knew that tree frogs liked to eat insects, moths, and crickets and even spiders so that would not be a problem as she could catch them with her butterfly net. She would feed her pet every evening before she went to bed. She finally hid the box under her bed; a really good spot for the frog to sleep snuggled up under the leaves during the day.
After her evening meal Molly would go outside with her butterfly net to catchinsects. She found it rather easy as the insects were attracted to the back light of the house so she swung her net round and round and caught all sorts of beetles, moths and other insects. She picked up some crickets that were crawling around the garden too. She put her catch in the jar and smuggled that into the bedroom. It was easy for Big Eyes to catch the prey that Molly emptied into the box as it used its strong jaws and then its hand to force the tasty food down. Because Big Eyes didn’t need to catch its own prey it grew plumper.
Big Eyes could often be heard making the sound like ‘brawk, brawk, brawk’ in Molly’s room but because the frogs outside were making the same noise it wasn’t noticeable. Green Tree Frogs can also scream when they are in danger, but Molly didn’t have to worry about that because the frog was safe in her room.
Molly’s bed time was 8 o’clock and usually she complained that it was too early, but to her parents’ surprise she now happily ran off to her bedroom when the time came. Molly would check all was well with Big Eyes and then fall asleep peacefully.
After the children were all safely in bed Molly’s mother always had a shower before going to bed herself. As usual she turned on the taps and waited for the water to be warm enough before she stepped into the shower. She started to wash her hair. In the meantime Big Eyes could hear the water and thought it was raining and like all frogs it loved the rain. So Big Eyes carefully pushed the lid of the box aside and hopped in the direction of the sound of rain. Big Eyes hopped into the bathroom and, lo and behold, it saw water raining in the shower alcove. It then hopped unnoticed into the shower recess and crawled up the glass wall and went ‘brawk, brawk, brawk’ rather loudly.
Molly’s mother turned around and saw the frog so close to her face. She screamed with fright as the frog happily chirped loudly, ‘brawk, brawk, brawk’ again. She stumbled quickly out of the shower, grabbed a towel and flung it around herself while she jumped up onto the bathroom stool. Somehow she felt safe there.
On hearing the scream Molly’s father came rushing in to see what the matter was. “Look, look,” the mother cried. “There’s a big green tree frog in the shower.” Molly’s father looked and calmly said, “Oh, it’s only a green tree frog. There’s no reason to be frightened.”
Molly and her brothers came running in too. Their mother yelled, “Joseph, Jonathon, (she only used their full name when she was cross) did you bring this frog inside?” They both said, “No mother.” She wasn’t convinced.
Molly however, noticed the tiny white spot on the frog’s back and thought to herself. “Oh, no! It’s Big Eyes.” She bravely said to her father, “Never mind I will catch it and take it outside.”
However, she secretly took the frog back to her room and put it back into the shoe box.
The next evening, after Molly had gone to bed, another scream came from her mother. Again her father ran to the rescue with Molly and her brothers close behind. This time a green frog was hiding under the rim of the toilet.
Her mother again yelled, “Joseph, Jonathon. If I find out that you have bought this horrible green tree frog into the house I will be very cross with you.” They said, “But mother, we didn’t, we didn’t.”
Molly’s father said, with a straight face, “Now calm down everyone. It’s only a green tree frog. There’s no reason to be frightened.”
Again Molly noticed the tiny white spot on the frog’s back and knew immediately that her pet had escaped again. She offered again to remove the tree frog and again took it back to her room. She decided she should tape the box lid shut this time, but didn’t have the heart to do that.
And so time passed by and all seemed to be peaceful with no more appearances of the green tree frog to frighten anyone. However, it escaped from its box every night and hopped happily through the house undetected when everyone was asleep. It played in the kitchen sink. It hopped into the laundry and went splish splosh into a bucket that had some water still in it. It hopped into the front loading washing machine and made the drum rock back and forth like a swing. It would then visit the bathroom and hop with ease into the bath or toilet. It was so much fun when nobody was around. Before dawn each day the frog returned to its box under the bed and nobody was the wiser. Molly continued to catch food for Big Eyes and made sure he was comfortable in his special home.
One evening Molly’s father was studying thecalendar on the wall. You know the ones with a grid around each date where you can pencil in your appointments and things that are important. He was standing there deep inthought in front of the calendar and then saw the item he was looking for. Yes, his appointment for the dentist was on the 17th and he absentmindedly touched the date with his finger. At once there was a piercing scream from a threatened frog that fell towards the floor from behind the calendar and dropped right on his bare feet. Molly’s father got such a fright he gave an unearthly yell, ARRRGH and sprung onto the dinner table in one leap (with the help of the chair of course). Molly’s mother, Molly and her brothers came running as fast as they could into the room only to see their father looking rather sheepish standing on the table.
They all chorused, “Now calm down father. It’s only a green tree frog. There’s no reason to be frightened.” They laughed and laughed together.
Molly knew that it was Big Eyes again so she quietly picked Big Eyes up and took it outside to set it free in the forest where it belonged. From that day on there was never a green tree frog in the house again, but only Molly knew why.
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