Frog Dream
frog dream
by tara przybille bradley
I had a large tank with small frogs swimming in water. Water plants, seaweed. The tank looked very pondish, good for frogs. Greenish water and lots of lichen type stuff. Then I was at church and found a sandwich bag with frogs in it. I realized I had left them there for quite some time. Days? A week? Longer? There were other things in the bag. Things unrelated to frogs. Small things, like pellet gun pellets? Or buttons? These frogs in the bag were small, about the same size as the ones in the tank. As I was trying to pour them out into the tank I saw that one of them was sort of ‘leaking’ black stuff. Like he was decomposing. I figured that if I put these frogs into the tank, that they would contaminate the rest of the tank. Yet I still continued to do so. After they were dumped into the tank I put my hand in to check things. I grabbed a few frogs. They were large and chunky fat. Two of them I grabbed appeared to be connected, all twisted up together. I thought they were deformed and grown that way. Then they untangled and I saw that they weren’t organically connected. I then scooped up another frog. This one had no back legs. I wondered about the deformed frogs in the tank. What had happened? Why had they grown this way? I was going to take it out and get rid of it, kill it. But I had a thought that it would be just fine without back legs. I put it back in the tank and it swam off using its front legs. I was a little surprised, but not as much as I knew I should have been. I thought, ‘Frogs don’t need their back legs!’
Amphibian flash fiction…you betcha! Appreciated the delivery of this dream…very comfortable and conversational. Kinda like how a letter reads from a dear friend. Flow is compelling, yet in a relaxed way, if that makes sense.
Dreams are wishy washy for me, but this one seems fairly clear for you to relate, even though you have many questions during the dream about what’s going on and why? I felt the perspective, that little pinch of wonder mixed with smidgeon of anxiety. In this case, i’m glad the topic was not so epic, just one part of something simple which makes up a meglamillion whole in life. Funny and illuminating ending. Thanks. Now all I want is to sit nude beachside by raked gravel and frog tank…and strawberry daiquiris.
This has a natural connection to the previous spider prose/poem, about the order (and disorder) of logic.
Dreams can be illogical, yet highly sensory and contemplative upon serious recollection, and both elements are here in this short prose. Upon reading “frog dream”, I was reminded of feeling repulsed and later guilty for dissecting a frog in high school. I remember how gross/appalling the frogs looked then, although later I became aware that our amphibian friends indicate the health of our ecosystem.
Frogs are aberrational survivors – like our dreams and memories.
Sometimes the most enjoyable prose and short fiction has a naturalistic flow and conjures personal memories. This was definitely a worthwhile read. Of course, I’m a biased reader. I look forward to reading more by Tara Przybille Bradley.
À la fin, c’est peut-être l’influence de cuisine française, n’est-ce pas?
My rudimentary French from school (I’m Canadian) tells me you are saying that the ending has an influence of French cuisine (cooking), does it not? Very clever and made me chuckle. Though I’ve never had frog’s legs I hear they are tasty.
I’m going to BabelFish translator now…
…which says, “At isn’t the end, it is perhaps the influence of French kitchen?”
Thanks for the laugh, Jim!