Poison Dart
Chapter 3

"But first, let's eat," Callie said. "You hungry?"
"I'm always hungry," said Jumper. It was true- ever since he had Landed, as Callie called it, he had been starving. "So what do we eat?"
"Bugs. Some plants. Pretty much anything that will fit into our mouths," Callie answered. "But you have to be careful because we fit into the mouths of lots and lots of other creatures. We can eat all kinds of things-and all kinds of things can eat us. Like in my poem."
"Like your poem. I was almost eaten once when I was Swimmer. And I saw other Swimmers get eaten all the time," said Jumper.
Callie nodded. "Yeah. That's life. But you have a big advantage- you're poisonous. Or at least, you will be when you get a little older. That's why you're bright blue. Poison frogs are always really bright as a warning- birds and things know not to mess with you."
"But what about you? You're really bright too, does that make you poisonous?"
"No. My only defense is speed and camouflage." Callie came to a stop and let Jumper jump down to the ground. "Turn around, I'll show you. No peeking!"
Jumper turned around, tempted despite Callie's instructions to watch what she was doing. But he was able to resist and Callie scampered into the fronds of a nearby fern. When she was ready she flicked her tongue out and swatted Jumper on the shoulder with it. Startled, Jumper spun around, but he saw nothing. Callie had disappeared! Feeling a little scared, he hopped first one way then the other, calling her name.
With a laugh Callie's bright red eyes suddenly appeared right in front of him. She sprang down practically on top of him, shouting "Boo!" and holding her orange hands out in front of her.
"Wow that was amazing!" Jumper said.
"Yup, even with all these bright colors on my underside I can still hide really good. And I can climb trees too. Since I'm a tree frog. And actually you can climb too. See your fingertips- the suction pads on them? They're for climbing. Wanna try?"
Naturally he did. So Callie and the froglet played a game of tree tag, Callie hopping and skipping just ahead of the laughing Jumper. "Now you have to call me Climber!" he shouted.
Callie called a halt to the game when she came across an ant trail. Hundreds of little red ants were marching in an unbroken line up the tree trunk. Each one was carrying a little piece of vegetable matter. "Lunch time," she said. "It doesn't get much easier than this- an ant buffet!" Her tongue flicked out three times, and three ants suddenly disappeared from the line. The rest paid no attention and marched stolidly onwards. "Yum! You try."
Jumper sampled the ants and found them to his liking. Maybe not delicious but for a free meal he couldn't complain. He and Callie leisurely plucked ants from the line, clinging sideways to the tree. "It's like they don't even mind that we're eating them," he said.
"Ants are funny that way- there's so many of them that they never seem to notice when you steal a few hundred. But don't get too comfortable- their warriors will be along shortly to investigate. We don't have to worry about them too much either, but they sting a bit when they bite. And sometimes they can swarm in such huge numbers that they can strip you of flesh in a few minutes. But mostly they leave you alone so long as you don't get greedy and disturb their nest."
Jumper examined the tiny little things and had a hard time imagining them stripping him of his flesh. Then one managed to nip his tongue before making the plunge down his gullet. "Ow!" he yelped. "I think I'm full."
They retired to a higher branch to digest their meal. Clinging contentedly, Callie had a hard time fighting the impulse to nod off. Furthermore, she couldn't think of a good reason why she shouldn't do just that. Her transparent eyelids closed and she dozed. It would have been a good nap if Jumper didn't abruptly break the silence by letting out a tremendous belch.
"Buuuurrrrrrppp!" For a second it was hard to tell who was the more surprised, as Callie awoke with a start and Jumper blinked in amazement that such an odious gas cloud could come from him. Eyes wide he covered his mouth with his fingers in embarrassment, but Callie was laughing.
"You call that a burp? Pitiful. Watch this." She closed her mouth and Jumper was astonished as her entire throat seemed to bulge outwards. Just when he thought it would burst she released the pressure by opening her mouth wide. "Blaaaaaaaaaaaghghghghghgh!"
Before long Callie had taught Jumper the trick of using his throat sac to enhance his gastrological ventings. The Frog Chorus had never sounded so gross. It wasn't long before their giggles and burps attracted the curiosity of other tree-dwellers.
"Shh!" Callie put a finger to her lips. She rotated one brilliant red eye significantly towards the tree trunk. Jumper followed her gaze and saw an enormous brown hairy monster with too many legs and eyes looking right back at them.
Jumper screamed.
"It's okay," Callie whispered. "It's a Bird Eater, a spider. It'll eat us if it gets the chance, but right now it's just sizing us up. It probably knows you wouldn't make good eating but it'll gladly take me if it gets the chance."
Motionless, the three creatures warily regarded each other. A mosquito flying towards them sensed the tension and veered away. Jumper knew that he wasn't yet poisonous, but did the spider know it? Slowly, even though his heart was beating so fast he was shaking, he advanced on the spider.
"Jumper, no!' Callie shouted, but he ignored her. Still slowly, but with more confidence, he crept forward. The spider retreated, rotating its body to keep its huge fangs between it and the frog. But it was plainly confused at such unpreylike behavior. Emboldened, Jumper sped up, then suddenly inflated his throat sac and belched a terrifying warning.
The spider turned and fled, to seek easier and less crazy prey elsewhere.

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This chapter is dedicated to the heroic naturalist Sir David Attenborough, whose newest series Life in Cold Blood will hopefully make its way to DVD on these shores soon!
Soundtrack: Jump Around, House of Pain. Had to have that one one of these times right?
Director's Commentary: The spider is a goliath bird eating spider, a native of South America (as are all species in Poison Dart) and the biggest spider in the world. But plainly no match for a tiny poison dart froglet!
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