The Best Summer Ever (2 page)

They were quiet together.

“I like the night,” Frog said. “I like the moon and the shadows.”

“I do, too.”

“Most nights I dance,” Frog said. “Dancing makes me happy.”

“I dance, too,” Little Brown Bat said. “I dance with the clouds.”

“We are the same and not the same,” she said.

“We do not have to be the same to be friends,” Frog said. “And that is very good. I have Rabbit, and Raccoon, and Possum, and Chameleon, and Jumping Mouse, and Squirrel. And you. Hippo is also a part-time friend.”

“I am glad we are friends.”

“I am, too.”

Little Brown Bat wafted her wings. Frog felt the lift of wind. She was leaving.

“Now I must fly,” Little Brown Bat said. “But I will be back soon.”

“Goodbye,” Frog said. “Au revoir.”

Sometimes he liked to speak French.

“I am going on a vacation,” Frog told Raccoon.

“Why?” Raccoon asked.

“I think I need a change,” Frog said.

“OK. I will go with you,” Raccoon said. “It may be cold there. You will need me to tie on your scarf.”

“Thank you,” Frog said. “That will be nice.”

He did not tell Raccoon that he wanted to be alone. That he wanted quiet. And thinking time.

“Is it true you are going on vacation?” Squirrel asked Frog.

“Yes. I think I need a change.”

“Where are you going?” Squirrel asked.

“I do not know yet.”

“There is a lovely place I spotted from the top of an elm tree. It has a pond and trees, and berry bushes and grass and reeds.”

“Does it have a napping rock?” Frog asked.

“Yes. A fine, flat one. I will come with you. I can show you.” Squirrel said.

“That will be nice.” Frog began to see that being alone and thinking was not going to happen.

“I like change,” Chameleon said. He ran to a yellow bush and changed from green to yellow. “See? May I come?”

“Certainly. That will be nice,” Frog said.

Possum's babies jumped up and down. “We want to go! We want to go! May we, Frog? May we?”

“Certainly,” Frog said. “That will be nice.”

Little Jumping Mouse said, “I do not want to stay by myself.”

“Then come with us,” Raccoon said. “Will that be all right, Frog?”

Frog did not want to be rude. “That will be nice,” he said.

“We must tell Rabbit goodbye,” Raccoon said. “She will be sad that she cannot come. She cannot leave her new babies.”

Frog sighed. “We do not want her to be sad. She can come. We can bring her babies. We can each carry one. Or two.”

“Yea! Yea!” The little possums clapped their little paws.

They went to Rabbit's rabbit hole and called in.

“I think a vacation will be good for me,” Rabbit said. “My babies will like it, too.”

So Squirrel led the way. They carried the babies. Jumping Mouse could not carry any. The babies were bigger than she was.

They walked and hopped and ran and swung through the trees.

“Here is the place,” Squirrel said.

It was lovely. There was grass to eat, and worms, and spiders and flies, and berries, two kinds. There was something for everyone.

The baby rabbits slept. Everyone wanted to bunny-sit.