The Frog Screamer

It was 7:00 p.m., the perfect time to eavesdrop on the neighborhood spring peepers.  We made our way down to the end of our street and around the corner, heading down the tree-lined hill towards the bike path and its companion creek.  (I noticed along the way that my nose has cleared enough for me to catch a whiff of some amazing flowering tree - maybe a Rose of Sharon? I'll have to find out whether or not those are fragrant. )  As we neared we talked about being quiet enough that maybe, just maybe tonight we would see one of the little guys.  This request does not usually go over very well with our youngest, who usually sighs verrrry loudly and declares, "I dutch neeeed to use my very loud voice right now." (Imagine the middle of the library - not a big deal - or during a concert.) She acquiesced at first, content to lean against me as I peered into the brush next to the creek, skimming the brilliant green cress and the various grasses on the other bank. The older one, who has been brimming with over-the-top energy for the past week (for those who know her, I mean Over The Top, singing, yelling and Irish dancing from the second she shows her bright face in the morning until I wrassle her into bed at night), is the one who is hard to quiet, punctuating the stillness with declarations of how she is to be swung tonight ("I'm ready for an under-duck, Dad! I think you should under-duck me!).  The peepers, for their part, shut their traps as soon as we veered from the path, sensing our stealth in our uncharacteristic "shushes" and tippy toes parting the grass. 

We wait, in our nearly quiet quiet, for long minutes, hoping one will speak up and reveal his whereabouts. Nothing. Not a peep from the peepers.

Ani eventually gives up and starts poking about, venturing a bit further down the creek, when suddenly she comes out with the loudest "RIBBIT" she can manage. We all jump and then realize that there is someone answering her in its loudest voice! She does it again - "RIBBIT! RIBBIT! RIBBIT!" and sure enough, the peepers are answering her back! We are in awe and then hysterics as this pipsqueak gets the peepers to sing their nightly song...