“I’m hungry. May I have something to eat?” Tommy asked very quietly. 1
“Of course, I think you’ll like this.” Mr. Frogg said as he handed Tommy a strange piece of brown fruit. 2
“Thank you.” Tommy said as he took the piece of fruit. “Are these the kind that made the roof?” He asked as he looked the strange fruit over. 3
“Those are the ones alright.” Mr. Frogg said with a smile. 4
“It kind of looks like a peach” Tommy said before taking a bite of the brown fruit which was incredibly sweet and juicy. “Mmmm...” he hummed around his first bite. “This taste like a plum, banana and orange all mixed together.” 5
He said after he had eaten a few more bites. “You should call it a plorana.” He said with a grin as he used his arm to wipe away the juice that was trickling down his chin. 6
They traveled in silence while Tommy finished eating the delicious fruit. Before long he was nibbling the last of the sweet fruit off of the extremely strange hard center. When he was finished he threw the hard fruit center as far as he could out into the deep blue grass. Scarf raced out into the field and returned with the hard fruit center. He trotted up to Tommy and dropped the hard center on the ground. 7
“Oh, so you want to play, do you?” Tommy asked with a grin, picking up the hard center. Scarf turned a couple of quick circles and jumped around excitedly. Tommy knew it was his way of saying yes. 8
“Ready, set, go get it!” Tommy screamed as he threw the fruit center back into the field of deep blue grass. Tommy and Scarf played happily as they traveled up the path. When they reached a fork in the path Mr. Frogg went to the right. 9
“I came from that way.” Tommy said, pointing down the left path. "I remember that tree was on my left when I passed it." He added pointing at the large tree in the middle of the path. 10
11
“I’m sure you did, but that one goes down to the lake before it goes to the giant rock you called a mountain.” Mr. Frogg explained truthfully. 12
“But I’ll be lost.” Tommy cried fearfully. “Don’t worry, I know the way, and this path won’t take as long.” Mr. Frogg explained as they went the right. 13
“I’m all in favor of a shortcut.” Tommy said happily. 14
“What’s a shortcut?” Mr. Frogg asked looking at Tommy curiously. 15
“The path that doesn’t take as long is called a shortcut. They call it that because it’s shorter and it cuts the time it takes to get somewhere.” Tommy tried to explain carefully. 16
“I think I get it.” Mr. Frogg said as they rounded a curve in the path. 17
Before long Tommy became tired of throwing the hard fruit center. He hid it in his left hand while pretending to throw it with his right hand. When Scarf took off to get it Tommy smiled and put it into his pocket. He was delighted at how well his trick had worked. As he walked Tommy thought about all of the strange things he had seen in this extremely strange world. 18
“How much farther do we have to go?” Tommy asked as he once again skipped along the path. 19
“Not far at all. Do you see those two trees growing side by side?” Mr. Frogg asked as he pointed up the slope they were climbing. 20
“Yes.” Tommy answered simply with a nod. 21
“There’s a cave right in between them. That is where we are going.” Mr. Frogg explained. 22
“That isn’t the cave I came out of! The one I came out of was much closer to the golden lake!” Tommy protested loudly. 23
“It’s OK; it’s what you call a cut short.” Mr. Frogg explained, trying to use the expression he had only recently learned. 24
“You mean a shortcut?” Tommy asked with a smile. 25
“Yes that’s it.” Mr. Frogg said looking off in the distance at Scarf jumping through the deep grass. 26
“When did you find this cave?” Tommy asked as he followed the direction of Mr. Frogg’s gaze. 27
“A very, very long time ago.” Mr. Frogg said looking once more up the path. 28
“How did you find it?” Tommy asked curiously. 29
“Well I found it while I was out hunting for food one day. It was in the time of the cold white stuff you called...um snow. I had never been this far in this direction before. I was following the tracks of an animal that has a set of horns. If the creature is young it only has a few points but if it is full grown it can have a lot of points on it. The tracks zigzagged back and forth across this field several times. I was concentrating on the tracks so hard that the first couple of times I passed near the cave I didn’t even notice it. Of course back then there was a big pile of rocks in front of the opening. I actually moved them a couple at a time to a place on the other side of the lake. There is a place where some very delicious foods grow but it was very difficult to get them and bring them home since the ground stays very wet and soft all of the time because part of the lake runs off into this place. I used all of the stones that were blocking the entrance to make a solid path. It makes it much easier to get to them.” Mr. Frogg explained as they traveled the short distance to the cave. 30
“How do you know this cave is a shortcut?” Tommy asked as Mr. Frogg opened the door he had built for the entrance to the cave. 31
At first Mr. Frogg didn’t answer. He simply began lighting torches with an extremely strange oil lamp which was already burning when they entered. After he had lit several torches, Mr. Frogg apologized for not answering sooner. He explained that he had been trying to decide where to begin his story. Tommy was surprised to find they were not merely in a cave but rather in a large cavern as the extremely strange bluish silver light from the torches lit everything around the cavern except the farthest edges and the very top which remained as black as night. 32
“I never even considered going into any of these caves until after I discovered how to make these lights.” Mr. Frogg admitted seriously. 33
“How did you learn how to make them?” Tommy asked as he looked intently at one of the strange torches stuck into a wooden holder. 34
“It was quite by accident. I was on the other side of the forest and I decided to make a fire to warm up while I was out hunting. Well there was a small puddle of the extremely strange silver stuff in the ground near where I had built the fire. One of the tiny fires that floated away from my fire landed in it and it began to burn brighter than my fire was burning. I was amazed by this. I dug some dirt loose and put it out and then dipped a stick into it and watched as it burned brightly again when I placed it in my fire. I was very happy about this because I knew where there was a much bigger pool of the strange silver stuff which I could use to make these lights with.” Mr. Frogg explained as he began to unload the supplies from the rack that Riggins had on his back. 35
He then explained that not long after discovering how to make the lights he had decided that this large cave would be very helpful if he could use it for storage. Tommy looked around as Mr. Frogg pointed out and described the various items he had stored in the cave. There were a few large piles of dried, long, blue grass. Large stacks of fire wood filled one area. Several wooden barrels of various sizes were standing next to the fired wood. Some were filled with different types of extremely strange grains. Others contained the extremely strange silver oil which Mr. Frogg used to burn in his lamps and on his torches. There were other items which Tommy did not recognize at all either leaning against the walls or hanging on wooden pegs which had been driven into holes and cracks in the cavern walls. 36
“How did you make these wooden barrels to hold all of this stuff?” Tommy asked as he studied the solid outside of one of the extremely strange blue barrels. 37
“Each one was part of a big tree that was blown over in a screamer,” Mr. Frogg began. 38
“Do you mean a storm?” Tommy asked, looking back at Mr. Frogg. 39
“I mean a screamer. That is when the golden rain comes down so hard that you can’t see any farther than this,” Mr. Frogg said as he held his hand out in front of him. “When it happens there are usually a lot of boomers and sky crackers that light up the sky. It is called a screamer because the wind screams through trees very loudly.” Mr. Frogg explained. 40
“That’s what we call a really bad thunderstorm.” Tommy said with a shrug. “No matter what you call them, they can be dangerous. It is best to stay inside when it happens.” Mr. Frogg said seriously. Tommy nodded his agreement. “So when the screamer blew the big tree over I decided to make these larger holders so that I could store things easier.” Mr. Frogg said as he lifted the empty wooden rack off of Riggins and hung it on a large empty wooden peg that had been driven into a hole in the cavern wall near where he was standing. 41
“Ok, but How did you make the barrels?” Tommy asked again. 42
“Well, the first time I made a holder was when I was digging out my home to make it larger. I used a piece of tree that I had found laying on the edge of my clearing. It was soft on the inside and a lot of the middle came out. I used it when I was bringing some of the hot glowers from my fire by the lake to my home so I would be able to cook there as well. When I got there and dumped out the glowers into the new fire hole I had dug I realized that my holder was burning. I quickly filled it with dirt which made it quit burning but then it was black in the bottom and on the sides. I decided to scrape the black out with a sharp rock which I often used for cutting stuff. When I did I made the holder even bigger inside. I did that when I made these big holders. I would use my chopper to cut the holder off and then I’d stand it up and put glowers on it until it was burning. If it started to burn too far out to the edge I would simply put it out with dirt. Then I would scrap and chop out all the black. I did that over and over again until I had made the holder the size I wanted.” Mr. Frogg explained to Tommy the best could. 43
“What are glowers?” Tommy asked, looking at Mr. Frogg strangely. 44
“Glowers are the pieces of wood that have been burning but don’t have a fire dancing on them anymore. The just glow, but they are very hot. They get even hotter when you blow on them and if you do it right you can make the fire dance on them again.” Mr. Frogg explained with a smile. 45
“That sounds like what we call coals or um, there’s another word too...it’s uh, shucks I can’t remember...wait the other word is embers. We call them coals or embers.” Tommy said, proud that he had remembered both of the words he had learned. “I know what you mean about them being hot though. I touch one by mistake once and it burned my finger. I learned you should never touch hot things like that.” Tommy said soberly as he rubbed his finger and remembered how badly it had hurt. 46
“Are you hungry?” Mr. Frogg asked as he scratched the top of Riggins’ head between his ears. 47
“Yes, I am, my tummy is growling.” Tommy said as Mr. Frogg began to lead his mule across the cavern to a pile of dried grass. 48
“I was asking Riggins.” Mr. Frogg said with a laugh as he dipped some extremely strange feed from one of the barrels. “What is a tummy?” Mr. Frogg asked as he poured the feed out on the edge of the pile of grass. 49
“Oh, sorry,” Tommy said with a grin, “Tummy is another word for belly.” Tommy explained as he rubbed his hand in a circle on his stomach. “My tummy is growling.” Tommy repeated as Mr. Frogg walked over to an extremely strange stone oven. 50
“What’s wrong?” Mr. Frogg asked when he noticed the large frown that was on Tommy’s face. “I just realized that Scarf never came back after I tricked him with the hard fruit middle. I’m afraid he got lost because of me.” Tommy said sadly. 51
“Don’t worry. He isn’t lost. He often wanders off to explore all by himself or to chase some odd creature. He’ll show up soon.” Mr. Frogg said reassuringly as he began to build a fire in the strange stone oven. He worked steadily to make a small even bed of coals to cook on. While he worked he pointed out that he had not only made a door for the entrance to the cavern, but had also made one for the cave at the other of the cavern as well. He explained it was to be sure that nothing came out of the cave into the cavern and got into the things he had stored there. “It also makes me feel safer when I sleep here after I work past dark while putting up supplies for the cold period and other times when I stay here instead of traveling to my home when it is too late in the day to make it before dark.” Mr. Frogg admitted as he removed some extremely strange food from the wooden box with snow in it. 52
Adding your comment:
