Friday, January 23, 2026

Croak

One town I lived in our house was on the main street which was a part of the main highway, We were the last house on our side of the street. It was a great place to live.

My favorite place to be was at the very top of a huge tree. It stood at the corner of our driveway. It was quite tall. Years before someone had placed two boards across the very top which made it comfortable to sit there.

I spent a lot of time up there. It was a small town and I could watch the happenings downtown.

I could also watch the comings and goings of the boy next door. He was much older than I was and I knew I had no chance. He sure was pretty to look at.

We lived in a 2-story house. It even had running water in the kitchen. The cursed outhouse sat out back.

We were also on a 2-phone party line. The other phone belonged to the drugstore.

Like most of our neighbors we had a root cellar. It was like the one in The Wizard Of Oz that Dorothy could not follow her family in when the tornado came. People also stored things they had canned and apples and potatoes in there.

I love rainy weather. When we got a good heavy rain there the toads emerged from all the root cellars. There were thousands of them.

The road in front of the house was completely covered with the little critters. Each one was about 2 1/2 inches long. All of them making the highway look like ocean ripples.

Unfortunately it was the highway. Every now and then a car would drive by. All you heard was POP, POP, POP.

All those poor little toads exploded from the pressure of the car tires.

The next morning we went out to see the carnage. There was no evidence of popped toads anywhere.

Got any ideas where they went? I do not.

11 comments:

  1. O I loved your exciting story of you sitting on the tree 🤗👍♥️
    I loved trees and thankfully I was able to climb and sit but for the while.but it was hard for my mum to get me out of the swing though 😅
    You surely had wonderful childhood memories 🥰

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  2. thecontemplativecat here. The things you must have seen from your perch in the tree!

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    Replies
    1. True. It is amazing what people will do if they think no one can see them.

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  3. You lived a totally different childhood. Maybe that is what we call a different kind of Wonderland.
    Where did the toads disappear to? That was a mystery Wonderland never disclosed.

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  4. My considered opinion is that the free-roaming cats in your town came during the night for a nice dinner of frog legs, and what they didn't eat 'al fresco' they carried back to homes and depositedon the front porches as a gift to their owners.

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    Replies
    1. sorry, Anonymous was me.

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    2. An interesting idea. And good possibility.

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  5. What memories you share here, Emma, and all are wonderful to read, except about the carnage of those exploding toads

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    Replies
    1. The whole idea of exploding toads is truly disgusting.

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