“THERE, YOU’VE got him! Uh-oh, nooo, not like that! Oh, ai, you’re letting him get away!”
Ketch laughed as Aneze scrambled across the creek after Wiggly Frog. Mud splattered. Then splash ! Aneze landed face-first in the creek.
“Got him!” she cried. “He’s fast! If I can ever get him tied, he’s going to beat your frog for sure!”
Ketch looked at his own frog. It sat in his hand, quite still. He gave it a poke. Still Frog refused to budge. Aneze had a good point.
“Bring him over here. I’ll show you again.” Ketch tucked his frog in his pocket. “Do you have the sewing-thread?” Ketch tied the special knot again. Only this time he slipped it around Aneze’s frog. He tied it snug, but not too tight. It went just behind the short front legs. He put Wiggly Frog on the ground.
“Aaiiee!” Aneze cried. Wiggly Frog was making his escape. This time it was easy for Aneze to catch the end of the sewing-thread.
“I might look for another frog,” Ketch said.
“Oh no, let’s do one race first, Ketch,” Aneze said. “We’re all ready to go.”
“It won’t be any fun,” Ketch argued. “My frog isn’t going anywhere. Of course you will win.”
“Well, let’s just try one time,” Aneze pleaded. “It took us so long to find these two. Just once? One race only, all right? Please?”
Ketch narrowed his eyes. A shadow crossed his face. He pulled Still Frog out of his pocket. “All right, one race,” he sighed. “But it doesn’t count. This one won’t count. It’s just a practice race.”
“Eeee!” Aneze cheered. “Let’s go!”
“Wait. First we have to make a racecourse,” Ketch told her. “Something long and narrow, so they won’t jump in all directions.” He scouted around. “A hollow log. Or a piece of tree-skin, if it’s the right size.”
They scouted for a while. The frogs were tucked safely in their pockets. They came to the place where rock grew out of the ground.
“Maybe we could dig a racecourse back by the creek bed,” Aneze suggested.
Ketch looked at her sideways. He raised one eyebrow. “Maybe you could dig a racecourse. You’re covered in mud already—oh wait!” he cried. “Never mind. Look, Ahwak, it’s perfect!”
In between two great rocks under their feet, a long shallow trench had formed. It was just wide enough for two mud frogs to race side by side.
“This is good! This is perfect for racing.” Ketch’s face shone like a star. He must have forgotten about his frog’s chances of winning.
They both crouched down. They set the frogs at one end of the trench. Aneze had to hold on tight to Wiggly Frog. Still Frog stayed still.
“One, two, three, go!”
Aneze and Ketch let go of their strings. Wiggly Frog leaped and leaped down the trench. Still Frog sat.
“Go! Go!”
“Come on, come on!”
Both of them urged their frogs on. Ketch poked at Still Frog with a stick. “You see, I told you!” He was turning red.
Then Wiggly Frog made a leap to escape up the low wall of the trench. He didn’t make it. He landed on his back. When he flipped over, he turned himself around. Wiggly Frog headed back to the starting point. Leap, leap, leap.
“No! No!” Aneze cried. “Go the other way!”
“Come on, come on!” Ketch started up with the stick again, prodding Still Frog.
“No, stop! Go back!” Aneze was half laughing, half crying. Wiggly Frog was very frustrating.
“What happens if he jumps out the wrong end, Ketch?”
“Well, then my frog wins, doesn’t he?” Ketch laughed.
Then something funny happened. Wiggly Frog was almost hopping past the starting point. He was on his way to a spectacular defeat. Suddenly, Still Frog jumped up onto Wiggly Frog’s back. Wiggly Frog tried to wiggle away, but Still Frog kept pushing himself back on with his strong legs. It was a mess of webby feet and long back legs pushing and slipping all over the place. Wiggly’s head got stomped by Still’s front foot. Aneze laughed to see Wiggly’s eyes bulge out in surprise.
“It’s not a race, it’s a wrestling match!” Ketch cried. “Get him! Pin him to the ground!” Both frogs rolled backward, past the starting point, together. It was a tie for second place.
“Ha! Ha!” Ketch punched the air. Still Frog had done pretty well, considering.
“Again, again!” Aneze shouted. They gathered up their frogs. Only somehow, in the scuffle, Still Frog’s sewing-thread had snapped.
“How about you try to sneak more thread from Mother?” Ketch suggested. “I’ll go look for a real racing frog this time.”
“Good idea,” Aneze said. “Meet you back at the creek.”
ANEZE WAS COMING around the tent, toward the fire pit, when something made her stop. Aunt and Uncle were talking. Somehow she sensed they were talking about her. She crept a little nearer. She kept close to the shadow of the tent.
“Well, you need help with looking after Cub and doing the chores,” Uncle was saying.
“Oh, I can handle my work,” Aunt said. “But it’s true that she needs to learn. Her stitches aren’t so good. She’s not practicing enough.”
“I will tell Ketch to stop playing with her,” Uncle said. “He needs to know that girls have a lot of work to do.”
“It’s just that she’s not normal, Husband. How did she manage to survive all that time alone in the bush? And those odd clothes she was wearing. From ‘Seal,’ she says. What kind of animal is that? I don’t know about you, but for me the whole thing is too strange. It could be bad magic.”
Aneze knew Aunt would never talk so much without working at the same time. Whatever Aunt was doing, her voice got very low. Aneze couldn’t hear what she said next.
“Ahwak is a good girl,” Uncle said. Aneze heard that part clearly. “She’s smart and she wants to please. She especially wants to please you, Wife.”
“I know, I know it. Don’t you think I know it?” Aneze could hear her clearly now. Aunt must have stopped her work for a moment. Was she stoking the fire? Cleaning a skin? It was true. Aneze didn’t help her enough. Whenever she could, she preferred to be with Ketch. Sometimes Uncle even let her go hunting with them.
“If Ahwak was just some orphan, do you think I could open my heart to her? Let her live with my family? But it worries me. She is an orphan, after all. Her whole family—dead! It’s terrible luck. I don’t want her passing that luck on to us. And how is it that she’s even still alive, a girl on her own? More bad magic, maybe? I think it’s eerie.”
“It is unusual that she is still here. But it’s not impossible,” Uncle replied. “Ahwak is strong. She doesn’t look it because she hasn’t filled out yet. But that girl is strong.”
“And she’s kind to Cub,” Aunt relented. “And Ketch is fond of her. But look, they’ve been playing in the bush all afternoon now. Who knows what she’s been up to?”
“You need more help, that’s all.” Uncle slapped his thighs. “Ahwak must stop this playing nonsense and grow up, that’s all.”
“That way I could keep a closer eye on her too.” Aunt’s voice was so low, Aneze almost didn’t catch it. “I don’t think she means any harm. I just hope she doesn’t bring us any.”
Aneze didn’t want to beg for more sewing-thread after all.
She turned back toward the creek. She’d been having such fun, she’d forgotten that she had no people of her own. Aunt was right. She was an orphan—an extra—and bad luck besides. Orphans had to work harder, to prove their worth. Orphans didn’t have parents who loved them. Aneze took a deep breath. The hollow had suddenly given her a cramp. Funny, she had almost forgotten the hollow was there. She was going to tell Ketch she didn’t feel like racing anymore. She was going to let Wiggly Frog go.