Chapter 2 in which Millie meets a tree frog

“Hello?” Millie called out. “Um, Tad?” she wondered if he could have found the door too. “Taaaaaad?” she yelled as loud as she could, then held her breath, listening for his voice. In the distance she thought she could hear a far off chorus of croaking frogs. Or toads. Or whatever. But she didn’t hear Tad. Well, she was not foolish. If Tad was still missing when she got home, she’d get help. From an adult.

She turned to go back through the door. But behind her there was a forest of trees. Every one of them had a door. Every one of them had a toad symbol where the knocker should have been. Every one of them was identical. She tried pushing on the nearest one. Nothing. She tried the next. Nothing. And the next. Nothing. She started running from tree to tree frantically pushing on every door. Nothing opened. The trees continued as far as she could see. A sob like an ugly ball of yarn jumped up out of Millie’s chest and her eyes glazed over with tears. “Open, one of you. Please open!” Tired and worn out, she squatted with her back to a tree and cried.

“Excuse me, but I believe you are leaking.” Millie lifted her head. She looked around, but no one was there.

“Hello. Hello! I’m going to need you to move. You are creating a river in my front yard and I’ve just spent hours and hours cleaning and really, if I have to deal with one more mess today, I am going to grow ears, my tongue is going to shrivel up, and my toes are going to separate …”

The voice continued, but Millie interrupted. “Um, please, whoever you are, I need help. I need to get home. And I can’t remember which door I came through. Please, whoever you are, please don’t hide, please come out.”

“Are you talking to ME? Because I don’t know who else you could be talking to. Honey, I can’t really get any more right-in-front-of-your-face than this.

It sounded like the tree was talking. Confused, Millie looked more closely at the branch hanging low near her face. There, directly in front of her, was a tiny tree frog.

“Y-you t-t-talk?”

“Something wrong with that?”

“Well, it’s just, you see, um, where I come from, frogs don’t usually talk. At least, not so humans can understand them.”

“And I bet where you come from creatures are generally pink and furless too! Thank you though, for noticing I am a frog. Half of you call me a toad. Lowly as my frogness may be, I am me and I like to be called what I am. And you are…?

“Human?”

“You’re asking me?”

“Oh, no. I mean. Yes, I am a human. A person. You know.”

“And are you the same species as the short-haired and deep-voiced?”

“Short-haired and deep-voiced? Oh, you must have seen a boy! Why, yes, I am the same species. Is there another human here? Can you take me to him? What a relief. Certainly he, whoever he is, will know what to do. Come on. Which way?”

“Which way? Pshah. I’m not even half finished with my cleaning. Here you were creating waterfalls down my porch and now you want me to tromp off to take you Frog-knows-where to find some species you were asking me moments ago if you belonged to? Pshah.”

“Fine, I shall go myself. Thank you for the information.” With these parting words, Millie began to march off.

“Not that way!” Cried the tree frog hopping after her. “That way is…well, let’s just not go that way. Okay okay, come on, I will take you. But it is going to be a journey. We must gather supplies. We will need things. Many things. Too many things. Okay, first things first. One step at a time.

And so Millie started her journey, with a very stressed-out little bundle of hope hopping at her side pulling her forward by the hand.