“You do it!” Jack said with general disgust. He looked over at her with a look between bewilderment and total distaste. “Why’d you even suggest to do this in the first place?”

“Don’t put the blame on me! You’re the one that said it first.” Diane said this knowing at this time point in time there was no arguing with him. So, ignoring all those voices in her head that told her that this was stupid and totally disgusting, Diane reached down and quickly grabbed the large toad that was sitting down in front of the two children.

Her mind instantly screamed out in anguish as if by touching this grotesque and slimy thing that she would melt into a puddle that would spawn more of them. Diane made sure she had a good grip on the toad and shoved it into Jack’s face. “Here!” She yelled out as if he would actually attempt to grab it. Although the reaction was the exact opposite that her voice insisted would happen. Jack, with lightening speed, jumped back and shrieked, it was a high girlish shriek that would later shame him.

“Get that away from me!” Jack screeched tears forming in his eyes. Diane only laughed and stood up awkwardly trying to touch the toad as little as possible. As soon as she stood up though the toad obviously saw its chance and suddenly surged kicking it way out of Diane’s hand and onto Jack’s body. Jack could only let out another one of those girlish shrieks.

The toad jumped again this time landing on Jack’s face. Jack fall onto his back and slapped at the toad. Diane, before the toad could jump again, grabbed it off of Jack’s face and clutched it against her body so that it wouldn’t get away. Jack was still laying there on his back, his large hands covering his face, crying shudders raced through his small frame.

Diane stared at him with a look of guilt or something like pity before saying softly, “Come on Jack. Let’s go and finish this before it gets too late.” It was a simple statement that seemed to wake him up. He sniffled a few times and wiped the tears that were running down his pale face.

“Okay.” He said in a flat voice and slowly arose to his feet. “Let’s go.” Jack said this in that same voice. The two children slowly made their way back to the small town in which they lived.

By the time they got back to town Jack’s face was dry and he looked much like himself. Diane had quite a bit of problems with the toad but she managed. “So how are we going to do this? Should we just walk in and drop it in and bolt out of there?” Jack questioned as they walked down the familiar downtown street. Not many people were out and the people who were didn’t pay much attention to the two children that most everyone knew as the two kindest kids in town.

“I think that’s a good idea. I mean we wouldn’t want them to know it was us. So the best choice would be that.” Diane said this still struggling with the toad in her arms. With that said they made there way back to their neighborhood.

Once there they looked around to make sure no one was looking before they slipped into the backyard of their neighbor. Now the reason they chose this neighbor is because they knew she held some kind of super dark secret although they didn’t know what, and she was known to be totally afraid of toads and all other amphibians.

They slowly made their way to the back door of the woman’s house. “Still sure you want to do this? I mean there’s still time to bail out and go home.” It was a mixture of the way he looked and sounded that made her agree with him, they should stop now and just leave it be. But she couldn’t do it and had to go on. So she shushed him and he opened the door.

They both quietly stepped inside of the house and looked around. What they saw actually surprised the two kids. They saw many prescription bottles and lots of vegetables and fruits. “Let’s drop it and go.” Jack said hurriedly in a hushed tone. “I don’t like this place it smells like fresh dirt and baby powder.” Diane looked at him and took a few more steps inside.

“It doesn’t seem like she has any secrets now, besides that she is addicted to pills. Is that illegal?” Diane said in a questioning voice. She slowly took the frog from her arms and sat it down on the floor. After this was done they heard the whining squeak of an old board above them. They both stared at one another for a long second before they heard another one of those squeaks. They knew what to do. They ran and they ran hard and long.

By the time they stopped running they were about three blocks away and even then they could here the shrill scream of that poor woman as she found that toad on her kitchen floor. They looked at one another Jack with a look of regret and Diane with something along the lines of victory.