Action Annie
Story Nine
"Annie and the Bullfrog"
By
William Forde
Cover Illustration by Dave Bradbury
Copyright February 2012 by William Forde
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
Thank you for downloading this ebook. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
#####
Author’s Foreword
There has always been something that children have found fascinating about creepy crawly, slimy creatures which inhabit our gardens and woodland areas. Whereas many an adult may jump at the sight of a mouse or freeze at the touch of a garden slug, children will happily engage with such creatures with morbid interest and considerable ease. It is as though, in their innocent minds, children know that we are all but creatures of the same universe, even if some of us are bigger, smaller, slippier or slimier than others!
‘Annie and the Bullfrog
’
One sunny June afternoon, Annie was sitting in the garden, practising her violin. She hadn't been playing a violin for very long and she still needed many more lessons before she could play a proper tune on it. The noise she was making wasn't very musical.
On the other side of the garden wall there was a very thirsty frog that was on the lookout for some water. One minute it was hopping along the lane; the next, it had stopped and was listening to the strange noise coming from the other side of the garden wall.
Upon hearing the raspy, croaky sound coming from Annie’s violin, the frog’s eyes nearly popped out of its head because it thought that another frog was over the wall. It knew that if another frog was over there, then there was every possibility that there would be some water nearby.
The frog took a big, deep breath, filling the air sac under its chin and croaked back loudly, "I'm coming over!" Then, with a very strong push from its back legs, it leaped over the wall and landed on the grass near to Annie. Annie had never seen a frog before and this strange, green, jumping creature with shiny skin, big, fat cheeks and golf-eyes startled her.