Poison Dart

Chapter 2

Callie the tree frog hung precariously from a leaf. Normally a much better jumper, she had literally landed in this predicament by thinking of a perfect line for her poem-in-progress just as she sprang from her tree branch perch. She swiveled her striking red eyes to see if anyone had seen her. Seeing no one she then thought to survey her surroundings for the best way out of her position. Luck! She was suspended about half a meter directly above a small pond. Flexing her fingerdiscs that kept her attached to the leaf, she dropped and entered the water with a soft glomp.
As she swam to shore she tried to remember the brilliant line that had led to her unscheduled morning swim. What was it? Something about the sweet taste of bug guts. She couldn't quite recall. And it was such a perfect line, too, one worth falling into a chilly pool for. Provided she could actually remember it afterwards. Why did this always happen to her?
"Okay I can do this," she said. "Think. Maybe if I start from the beginning it might come back to me." For the thousandth time she wished she had a big stretchy vocal sac like male frogs. So much better to sing poetry with. But since she didn't have an audience- what else was new? - it didn't really matter. She cleared her throat and began.

"Ode to the Monarch
On wings of orange and black
You migrate to the moon and back
You fly through the jungle so gracefully
I hunt you down so chasefully . . . is chasefully even a word? Well, no matter, it rhymes. Where was I? Oh yeah.
From tree to tree I climb and climb
Patiently I bide my time
Hanging from a branchy rung
You fly by and I shoot my tongue
Your wings taste silky sweet
And butterfly guts - such a treat!"

Yes! She did it! Another masterpiece from the frog genius Callie.
A tiny blue spotted froglet hopped into view in front of her. "That was great!" he said. Callie screamed in terror.
"Don't touch me! I'm warning you! Get away, or I'll use my, my, I have a very dangerous weapon hidden away somewhere and I'll use it on you! And it's close. Very close. Just don't touch me" Callie was backing away, scanning for overhead branches to leap to.
The froglet looked like he was about to cry. "I'm not going to hurt you! Sheesh, what do you think I am?"
"I know what you are- you're a poison dart frog. One touch from you and it's 'Funeral Dirge for Callie the Tree Frog' time. Run along to your mommy now, little froglet."
"But I don't feel poisonous. I'm just a friendly froglet. And, uh, alone. You're the first person I've met. Ever." The little guy looked so sad and lost that Callie's heart went out to him.
"Your mom didn't meet you when you Landed? Weird. You're probably named Jumper, aren't you?"
Jumper started. "How did you know?"
Callie chuckled. "We're all named Jumper when we Land. And Swimmer before that, and Egg before that. Usually your mom gives you a new name right away to distinguish between your siblings. But apparently you don't have a mom, or any siblings."
"Maybe you're my mom," Jumper said hopefully.
"Um, sorry kid. Tree frogs generally only make tree froglets, not poison dart froglets. Besides, I'm not old enough to be a mother yet, I'm barely a full-grown frog myself. Maybe I can help you find your mom, she's probably not far away. Unless . . . " Callie's voice trailed off.
"Unless what?" Jumper prodded.
"Okay, listen kid, usually your mom teaches you cosmology and all that. Tells you what's what and how things work. But one of the first things all froglets need to learn is that life is harsh. Harsh and . . . " "And?"
"Short. Us frogs gotta make the most of our time, because you never know when some tree crab or tarantula is going to eat you. I'm a tree frog so my only defense is speed and using my green skin as camouflage. And making sure my eyes are closed and that my blue and red and yellow belly is hidden away. Not always so easy."
Jumper mulled this over. Callie continued, "I wrote a poem to explain it to my own froglets some day. Wanna hear it?"
"Yeah!"
"Okay it goes like this:
Little froglet have some fun
Learn to hunt and jump and run
Laugh a lot and sing a lot
Remember all the good times you got
Because sooner or later
You'll be ate by a gator"
Callie beamed. That was one of her first poems and she was mighty proud of it. But the froglet's brilliant blue skin looked sort of pale. "I think I liked the first one better," he said. "What's that got to do with my mom?"
"Uh, nothing kid. Poetry doesn't mean anything, it's just silliness. Come on, I'll help you find your mom. You're freshly Landed so you're probably not poisonous yet. Otherwise I guess I won't need to worry about that gator. Jump aboard."
"Woohoo!" Jumper hopped onto Callie's back, just as if she were his mom. "Let's go!"
With a bright blue froglet piggybacking on a green, red, yellow and blue tree frog, Callie imagined she didn't really have either speed or camouflage on her side. Oh well, it will make a great poem some day. Which reminded her. "Say kid, you don't happen to remember the last line of that first poem I recited, do you?"

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Dedicated to that world-renowned kiwi poet, Harvey Molloy!
And you know the soundtrack to this chapter has to be Poets by The Tragically Hip.
Director's Commentary: Callie is a red-eyed tree frog, Agalychnis callidryas, the beautiful tree-nymph. We saw some today at the Calgary Zoo but they were busy sleeping and weren't reciting any poetry at all! When I first wrote this I spelled it poetree just to be funny but I realized frogs only have an oral tradition and have no written language so they wouldn't spell it any way at all.
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