The Goldfish, The Frog and the Watersnail

The pond had taken a while to settle, ripples of shock that had ripped through their universe had now subsided to give way to a stillness that was shattered in a heartbeat as the frog plunged from behind the alpine strawberry, who's tiny bright red, ripe fruit reflected in the water,
The frog plunged straight into the dark water, hardly making a ripple.
"Hide, hide" said the goldfish, who was peeking out from behind the piece of old marble fireplace that was used to shade them from the sun, it was a dark, safe place, the one place where all the creatures from the pond would gather if the Heron was about.
After all it was very dark which made all the creatures of the pond feel safe, They all loved the dark.
"Hide hide" she called
"What's't'matter" the frog croaked back,
"The moon's fallen into the pond, quickly hide" she replied.1

The frog laughed to hear such a thing and jumped straight back out of the water, he landed without ceremony upon the piece of slate with the dormouse painted onto it, He could see the moon reflected in the water, yet under the light of the moon in the sky he could also see a large dark sphere in the bottom of the pond, As if to make sure he turned his head skyward and gasped at the sheer majesty of the glowing moon suspended in the dark sky.2

With an acrobatic twist he jumped into the air and dived elegantly into the murky depths of the pond,
"Will you please hide" the goldfish begged as she looked at the frog with frightened eyes.
"Hush now" he replied " The moon is still in the sky, if you come out from under there you will see"
"NO, you were not here, believe me, I saw it with my own eyes" she stammered,
The frog laughed again as he chided her "You silly fish"3

"come out one, come out all have no fear,
the moon's still in the sky, have no fear" sang the frog.4

Slowly the fish that had all bee hiding beneath the shadow of the marble tentatively edged their way forward,
Scoot who was a brave little fish, he was almost completely black apart from the large orange circle around his eye, they called him scoot because he never stayed still he was always scooting here and there and back again.
Scoot swam straight out from the safety of the marble, he was just under the lily-pad staying in the shadows when he shouted "Frog's right"
"the moon's still in the sky"
Quickly now all the other goldfish were swimming out in order to get a better look, the tiny fish sticking very closely to the larger fish.
"it's true, it's true" all the goldfish cried together as if they had one voice.
"But what then is in the pond" one little fish yelled
"If not the moon then what" shouted another,
As quick as the shadow stretched across the pond, everyfish darted for it's life.
"Now what" said one fish upon reaching the safety of the marble, a remark which just made the other fish all look at each other shaking their heads, worried looks that met worried looks.
"it's ok" they heard the frog boom, "just stay away from the net"5

A large white net on a red pole was plunged into the water, one of the baby fish coughed as the silt at the bottom of the pond shifted,
"Thanks dad" they heard one of the shadows shout as they hid in their haven.
"no harm done son, but what have i told you about playing football on  my allotment, especially when it's getting dark, you've probably given those poor goldfish a heart attack, of't ta the field with ya son" the larger shadow replied
"K dad sorry"
"Tsk ya OK kid as i said no harm done"6

A giggle erupted from beneath the marble that woke the poor water snail who had been asleep on the underside of the marble, water-snails are notoriously heavy sleepers and the laziest of all the pond creatures.
The poor water snail thought the vibration from all the communal laughter would shake him from his sleeping place.7

"A football, I do declare" shouted the frog as he leapt once again from the water.
"A football" he laughed as he spotted his evening meal and hopped off to catch it.