In the evening
I carry frogs out of the house.
I strive
to put distance between them
and the front door,
releasing them in the furthest flower beds.
The process is repeated
every night.
Or is it
every other night?
I lose track
of time,
doing it so regularly.
I often wonder
if it’s the same one
constantly returning.
You get to know
the expression
on a face,
the look
in the eyes.
M has suggested
we mark it
with Tippex
to test the theory.
But I’ve heard
from friends and neighbours
having similar experiences.
One even
dropped their frog
about 2 km away
from the house,
on his way
into town.
It got me thinking.
Are we all
putting the same frog
out every other night?
The roaming one,
circulating in the neighbourhood,
returning to
carefully selected homes?
Recently, though,
in the space
of 15 minutes,
I had to carry
two out,
with M following
with a third.
An adjustment
of my theory
is therefore required.
I suspect
the involvement
of stunt doubles.
Stand-ins.
Even for our
special, highly mobile, picky frog,
this has become
too much
to remain
a one-frog enterprise.
Heroes tumble.
Personal attention
is becoming
a rarity.
We each
have to find ways,
working through
our disappointments,
don’t we?
*
The African common toad or guttural toad (Sclerophrys gutturalis) is found in Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Réunion, Somalia, South Africa, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. (Wikipedia)
In Taita Hills, Wundanyi, Kenya, the community frequently come across the guttural toad and this explains it’s Kitaita name ‘Kiwandu’, which means ‘the people’s frog’.
Afrikaans name: Gorrelskurwepadda
(https://www.sanbi.org/animal-of-the-week/guttural-toad/)
George
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