The First Kiss

Another July 4^th weekend. It was as hot and sweltering as ever, but at least Trixie had the weekend off. Although her summer internship with the Sleepyside Police Department was fun, she was ready for a break after working seven days straight. The unusual shift of seven days on and seven days off had taken some getting used to, but the holiday weekend extended her time off to ten straight days. She was actually going to get a real summer vacation before returning to work and then heading back to school in the fall.

She dipped a tentative toe into the lake to measure the temperature and looked back up towards the Manor House, wondering what was keeping Honey. Maybe, she thought as she remembered a certain phone call, she should be wondering who was keeping Honey. She glanced over at Diana, who was already working on her tan and did not appear particularly anxious to get wet.

“Say, Diana,” Trixie started a conversation. “Wanna make a bet?”

“About what?” Diana answered without opening her eyes.

“I’ll bet you that Honey will be engaged to my brother by Christmas,” Trixie answered.

Diana snorted and this time she shaded her eyes with her hand and rolled to one side to look at Trixie. “Do I look stupid?” she said and then cried out. “Wait! Don’t answer that!” She rolled back on her back. “There is no way I’m taking that bet. Maybe if you gave me odds on the specific day and time, we could come up with something, but not a straight bet.” She closed her eyes. “Besides, a better bet would be which one of us three will be the first to get engaged, don’t you think?” The wistful smile on Diana’s face told Trixie she was thinking of her boyfriend. Trixie rolled her eyes; Diana and Dan were perfect together, their dark looks complimenting each other and their personalities meshing.

Trixie and her friends always managed to find a way to have fun. Their group was a club they had started the summer Honey moved to Sleepyside – The Bobwhites of the Glen. The three girls started the club, along with Trixie’s older brothers and their friend Dan Mangan. The club had been Honey’s idea and they had unanimously elected Honey and Brian as co-presidents. They’d shared many good times and solved a few mysteries along the way. Things were different now that they were all in college – or in the case of Mart and Dan, recent college graduates. It seemed as if Brian would be in med school forever, which suddenly made her happy that she wasn’t looking at four more years of school herself. However, with her best friends coupled off since the end of high school, Trixie often felt like the fifth wheel in their group. She glanced at Diana, who was once again supine with a smile that told Trixie she was thinking of her boyfriend again.

“Okay, I bet the first one to be engaged is not me!” She kicked at the lake’s surface as she said it, watching the water spray shimmer in the direct sunlight. The droplets looked like diamonds, reminding her exactly why she felt so unsettled. It shouldn’t matter. The ring belonged to Jim and he had given it to her. She had the note to prove it, but that didn’t mean his cruel stepfather, Jonesy, wouldn’t cause trouble if he found out it was in her possession. She’d long since resigned herself that happily ever after was something that only happened in fairy tales.

“No, not you.” Diana readily agreed and gave her friend a strange look, as if she sensed where Trixie’s thoughts were heading. “You’ve told us several times you think Jonesy killed him that night. If you really believe that, then why do you keep looking for him?”

Trixie flushed red and muttered something about not giving up.

Only wanting her friend’s happiness, Diana dropped the subject, but at the same time couldn’t resist a word of advice. “You need to get busy living, Trixie Belden,” she told her friend. “If you keep living that same summer from seven years ago over and over again, then you won’t even give yourself a chance at real happiness. It’s time you put yourself out there.”

“Yeah, problem is … there isn’t anyone out there that’s the least bit interested in me.”

Diana hooted and this time sat up, straightening her towel. “Trixie Belden! You are nuts. Cute, but crazy, that describes you to a tee!”

“Yeah, well name one person who would be interested in me!” Trixie challenged.

“Tad Webster,” Diana started, counting on her fingers.

“No way!” Trixie interrupted. “He’s creepy. He wanted me to sleep with him in high school and made it sound like it could be the entire baseball team if I played my cards right. It was gross.”

“Fine, then what about his older brother, Spider?” Diana challenged. The cop had developed a crush on Trixie that showed no signs of dissipating since she and her brother Mart had concocted a scheme to tape a confession from Di’s phony-uncle years ago.

“Spider’s too old for me. I know you guys all think he’s still crushing on me, but besides the fact that he’s Tad’s brother, we’re just pals now. He’s dating some chick with a thing for collecting cash registers.” Trixie and Spider got along very well, due primarily to their mutual interest in law enforcement, rather than any real feelings of romantic love.

“What about Nick Roberts? He’s dreamy enough, and that brooding artist vibe he has going, that’s pretty sexy.”

Trixie snorted. “Yeah, maybe you should ask Dan if he’d be interested in Nick. He’d have a better shot at him than I would.”

Diana’s jaw dropped. “Trixie Belden, are you telling me that Nick Roberts is gay?”

“Yes, of course he is. I thought you knew.” Trixie shrugged. “Honey knows.”

“Honey knows what?” They were so caught up in their conversation that they failed to notice their friend approaching. Honey Wheeler dropped her towel at the end of the dock and pulled her cover-up over her head. “What do I know?”

“Did you know that Nick Roberts was gay?” Diana demanded, not even taking the time to compliment Honey on her new lime green and turquoise bikini.

“Yep, he told me a couple of years ago. I thought everyone knew.” Honey stretched and then bent to touch her toes. It was an indication that she was ready to swim. She was by far the best swimmer of the group and loved cutting through the water, perfecting her stroke and improving her speed. The opposite of Diana, she preferred to swim first and tan later.

“Guess you two forgot to forward me the memo!” Diana complained narrowing her eyes at her friends.

“For what it’s worth, I didn’t tell Trixie,” Honey offered. “It was Nick’s story to tell, not mine. I never told anyone, except to confirm that I knew when someone else asked me. I promise I never meant to cut you out, Di. It just didn’t seem like the thing to gossip about. Besides, you were never interested in Nick. You’ve been all about Dan, for like what – forever?”

Honey grinned as she teased her friend. Diana and Dan had dated since high school. Her friend had been attracted to the dark-haired bad boy from the first time she saw him step on the school bus when he arrived in Sleepyside. She’d gone out with Trixie’s brother a couple of times to try to make Dan jealous, but it hadn’t worked. Instead, the dates between Mart and Diana had only served to irritate Honey. The love triangle worsened before it got better, when Honey asked Brian out instead. By the time the dust settled and the couples were paired, Dan was as crazy about Diana as Mart was about Honey. If Trixie could have found anyone willing to accept the bet, she’d bet her life savings both couples were paired for life. Imprinted or some such, like characters in those stupid vampire books.

“Are we dishing gossip all morning or do we plan to swim?” Trixie demanded. “Last one to the raft has to tell a secret!” She paused to remove her own t-shirt and made a mad dash for the water.

While Honey and Diana were recognized beauties, neither was any slouch in the realm of athletics, with swimming in particular being a strength of all the Bobwhites. While Trixie had no hopes of beating Honey— neither girl did— the day and any minor advantage would determine who came in second place – her or Diana.

If Diana had preferred tanning to swimming that morning, that only meant she had already removed her cover-up and had a slight jump on Trixie. It was enough, and she beat Trixie to the raft in the middle of the lake by a split second. Ever the good sport, she climbed up first and helped Trixie onto the raft. As the three of them sat there panting to catch their breath, Diana exchanged a sly look with Honey. “Okay, Trix, it’s time for you to dish. Tell us a secret. Maybe you can tell us what’s got you so restless today?”

Trixie sighed. If she couldn’t share her thoughts with her best friends, then whom could she tell? “Seven years,” she said. “It’s going to be seven years.”

The answer may have been cryptic to some people, but not to Honey and Diana. They knew exactly what she meant.

“It’s next week, isn’t it?” Honey asked. “It’ll be seven years next week?”

Trixie nodded. “Then, for all intents and purposes the courts will declare him legally dead.”

Honey leaned back on her arms and contemplated the summer she’d met Trixie. The same day they had met each other, the two girls had met Jim: to be specific, James Winthrop Frayne II, a fifteen-year old red-haired youth only a couple of years older than they were. They had a few adventures over the next week that followed their unorthodox introduction, but a dropped cigarette and a house fire turned everything topsy-turvy overnight. The last time Honey and Trixie had seen Jim he slipped inside the derelict summerhouse at Ten Acres to hide while Jonesy, his stepfather, shouted to anyone who would listen that his stepson was being burned in the fire. The only sign of Jim the next morning was his note and the ring he left for Trixie. Despite making every effort to locate him, including a search by both girls and later by law enforcement authorities, there was never a sign of him. It was if he’d disappeared into thin air.

Matthew Wheeler used his own funds to launch a private search that yielded nothing. When Jim’s stepfather stepped forward to have him legally declared dead a couple of months later and to file a claim for Jim’s estate, Matthew and local law enforcement personnel strongly suspected that Jonesy had killed the boy. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no evidence to substantiate that theory. While they did manage to uncover a blood relative the following summer who could possibly eventually inherit the bulk of Jim’s fortune, the court had ruled that after seven years, both his stepfather and his cousin could petition the court for a resolution of Jim’s fortune. Trixie knew the evil man was counting the days since she and Honey had documented the last known sighting of James Winthrop Frayne II.

“Do you think he’s dead?” Honey finally asked. She’d hoped Jim would be her brother, even going so far as to convince her parents to launch a comprehensive search for the boy and then adopt him.

Trixie shook her head. “No, but I still think Jonesy did something, or caused something to happen after he left that note. The investigator your Dad hired said Jonesy seemed to be flush with funds shortly after Jim disappeared. He could’ve taken the money that Jim found in the mattress.”

“It doesn’t make sense to me that Jonesy would have found Jim and the money, but not the note he left you,” Diana commented. “Does he know about the note?”

“I don’t think so,” Honey answered. “Neither does Daddy. We both think if he knew about the note, he’d have asked the courts to make Trixie return the ring to Jim’s estate. Daddy thinks that could have worked, too, because Jim was a minor at the time he gave it to her. That’s why he doesn’t want the note brought into court, even though the part about Jonesy thinking Jim was dead might help reopen the case against him.”

“Is the ring really that valuable?” Diana asked.

Trixie looked away, her eyes dampening from barely-controlled tears. It was priceless to her, but that wasn’t what Diana wanted to know.

“I mean, we used it as collateral that winter to hold Brian’s car. Mr. Lytell knew it was worth something, right?”

“It’s an antique heirloom engagement ring with an Asscher-Cut stone that by itself would be worth almost $200,000.” Honey spoke quietly. “When Mother saw it that Thanksgiving she recognized the stone and advised the Belden’s to have it appraised. Jonesy would fight hard for it to be returned to the estate.”

“Wow! I can’t believe you used a $200,000 ring as collateral for a fifty-dollar jalopy! Forget buying a horse, you could’ve bought a thoroughbred race horse if you’d sold that ring, Trixie,” Diana exclaimed. “So what happens now? No one ever really said what’s going to happen next. Do you think Jim’s alive?”

“I don’t know if I think he is or if I just want him to be,” Trixie finally answered. She flopped back on the raft and closed her eyes. “I’d give the ring to Jonesy in a heartbeat if he’d tell me where Jim was.”

“What could you have overlooked in your search? From what you’ve told me, you and Honey looked everywhere. Besides, look at all the good you did when you were looking. You helped Daddy when you found the Darnells. You made a friend for life when you met Mrs. Smith and helped her solve the mystery of her crow. You visited every camp around for miles and he hadn’t applied to any of them. If Jonesy got the money from Jim, don’t you think he’d have had to kill him first?” Diana had discussed the situation with Dan more than once and they both arrived at the same conclusion.

“That’s just it, I can’t think of anything. Not even a cattle boat to Europe makes sense. Mr. Wheeler checked out everything, including that, plus trains, planes, automobiles, truck drivers, hitchhikers. Everything we checked was a dead end. It’s like Jim was here, and then he wasn’t.” Trixie sighed. “We missed something. I know we did.”

“He definitely didn’t burn up in the fire. Mr. Rainsford made sure of that,” Honey offered.

“I just wish …” She stopped. There was no point in finishing; they all wished the same thing. After a few moments of silence, she sat up and looked around. “Are we tanning for a while or are we swimming?”

“Tanning!” Diana and Honey chorused together.

“Okay, then you better pull out the sunscreen. I don’t want to spend the rest of my days off work nursing a sunburn.”

Honey reached for the mesh nylon bag hanging off the raft. The girls kept their sunscreen in a watertight plastic bag hanging inside a mesh bag so that it would be on the raft when they needed it. The nifty trick had saved them many a trip back to the boathouse over the years. As she pulled it up, she commented. “Who left the bait bucket out here?”

“I don’t know,” Trixie scrambled to peer over the side of the raft. “Does it have anything in it?” Without waiting for an answer, she lifted it out of the water and flipped open the lid, peering inside.

“It must be Bobby’s bucket. It’s nothing but frogs.”

“Yuck! Keep them away from me,” Diana shuddered. She had an aversion to insects and rodents, and a frog was just a little too close to being a varmint for her peace of mind.

“Come on, Diana, you know the Beldens love frogs,” Honey reminded her. “Besides their benefit of eating spiders, it was a frog that saved Bobby from that horrible man.”

“Tell me again, what happened?” Diana pleaded. “I wasn’t around then, remember? It was right before you started the Bobwhites.”

“It was the summer Honey moved here,” Trixie said. “You were off traipsing around Europe with your mother or something and after our search for Jim we found a diamond in the clubhouse. It was just a gatehouse then, it wasn’t our clubhouse, and we decided we’d solve the mystery of the diamond that summer. We were hot on Dick the Dip’s tail when he brought Bobby into it.”

“Dick was a stupid man,” Honey added. “Not only did he land himself in prison for stealing the diamond in the first place, by using Bobby that way the cops were able to get him on attempted murder.”

“But how did the frog save Bobby?”

Trixie giggled. “It was a kitchen strainer. Dick was showing off to me and gave Bobby some money to buy a kitchen strainer to catch frogs. So of course, Bobby was catching frogs all week in his strainer. He mostly let them go …” She paused and frowned as she looked down in the bucket and wondered why Bobby hadn’t let this bunch go.

Honey picked up the story. “But he was known to keep a couple in his pocket during the day before he’d let them go at night. Dick had Bobby by the arm with his gun pointed right at him. That’s when the frog jumped out of Bobby’s pocket right onto Dick. It scared him so bad he jumped and when he did Mart and Regan got the gun from him. But it was the frog that was the real hero.”

Trixie turned the bucket on its side and let the frogs hop to their freedom. Two of them immediately jumped in the lake, swimming like crazy towards the shoreline, far away from the girls. The third frog made a couple of small hops and stopped. It didn’t seem to mind the human company on the raft. She smiled as she looked at the speckled frog, with its mottled coloring it looked just like the frog that had jumped on Dick the Dip. She scooped it up with her hand and was surprised it didn’t jump out. “It looked just like this one, Di, just a harmless, ordinary frog. I’ll bet Bobby’s caught hundreds of these over the years.” She frowned. “Don’t you think he should’ve outgrown catching frogs by now?”

“Larry and Terry still catch them with him,” Diana pointed out. “At least between the treehouse and catching frogs, they stay occupied in the summer and out of trouble. It’s probably the last summer we’ll be able to say that. They’ll start at the high school this fall and then it will all be about the girls.”

“Girls or football,” Trixie agreed, releasing the frog at the edge of the raft. “Maybe basketball or baseball, who knows what sport or activities will catch their interest at the high school?”

“Keep in mind I have to keep an eye on them this afternoon,” Diana reminded her friends. “Any ideas for something we can all do together?” While her friends worked jobs in their anticipated career field during the summer, Diana was working for her parents by serving as a baby-sitter or, as she preferred to refer to it, a nanny to her younger siblings. When their regular governess resigned before the start of the summer, her parents decided that Diana could spend the summer watching her siblings and they would hire a new sitter when school resumed in the fall. Besides the thirteen-year old boys, Di had two ten-year-old sisters to watch over as well.

“I might have an idea,” Trixie offered. She poked at the spotted frog to see if she could make it jump, but it just sat there. “Why don’t we go give the summerhouse one more really good going over this afternoon? It’s been years since we looked around up at Ten Acres. It could be the younger kids might see something we’ve missed.”

Diana and Honey exchanged looks and finally Diana spoke. “We might as well, Trix. I can’t think of anything better to keep them occupied.”

 

 

The idea of exploring the property at Ten Acres excited the girls’ younger siblings. Shortly after lunch, the group convened at Crabapple Farm to head up to the summerhouse.

“Trixie, I’m just not sure this is a good idea,” her mother protested. “Technically, it’s trespassing.”

“Oh no, Mrs. Belden, it’s fine,” Honey assured her. “I called Mr. Rainsford and got permission for us to look around. If we don’t find something this week, then the court is going to declare Jim dead and let his heirs inherit.”

“Would it really be so bad for Juliana to receive the money?” Mrs. Belden asked, glancing at her daughter.

Trixie smiled as she remembered finding Jim’s cousin. It was Honey’s idea when the local authorities announced the search for the owner of the Blue Heron Marsh to see if they could find any of Jim’s relatives. Trixie had quickly gone along with the suggestion. Neither girl wanted Jonesy to have any claim to the proceeds from the land. After a mysterious mix-up involving identity theft and an inheritance, the discovery of Jim’s cousin from Holland was a pleasant surprise. Trixie and Honey exposed the imposter and uncovered Jim’s only living relative, Juliana Maasden, a charming young woman about seven years older than they were. She visited with them for a while in Sleepyside before her wedding to Hans Vorwald. She delighted them all, from Bobby to Matthew Wheeler to Regan. Like Honey and Trixie, she wanted to find family far more than she wanted an inheritance.

“It wouldn’t be bad at all,” Trixie answered her mother. “We love Juliana, all of us do. But even she would rather we find something that explains what happened to Jim than just to receive the money. Her husband is going to fight to keep Jonesy from receiving anything. He doesn’t have any use for the man after he tried to make a claim for Juliana’s inheritance.”

Hans Vorwald had stepped in to stop Jonesy’s claim to the marsh and any money Juliana received from the sale. Juliana’s parents owned the land, and they both had a will when they died in an unfortunate car accident, there was no legal basis for Jonesy’s claim. Being denied access to Juliana’s inheritance made Jones more determined than ever to access his stepson’s fortune.

“If you have permission then it must be okay, just be careful.” She turned to look at her youngest child, the image of his middle brother at the age of thirteen, complete with crew cut. “Bobby, leave any frogs you find up there alone. There’s no point in bringing them down to our brook.”

“Moms!” he protested. “They like our brook better. You said they were good for the garden because they eat insects.”

“Yes, they are, but we have plenty now, we don’t need any more.” She gave him a look that told him far better than her words that she was serious.

“Okay, I won’t bring any frogs back, but I’m going to have to go get the ones from the lake when we’re done and bring them to the brook.”

“Oh!” Trixie gave him a look and rubbed his crew cut by way of apology. “Sorry, Bobby, we let them go earlier today. They looked like they were pretty miserable in that bait bucket.”

“You let them go! They wanted me to bring them back here!”

“How in the world do you know they wanted you to bring them here?” Trixie asked. “Did they tell you?” she teased.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he muttered. “Come on, let’s go.”

The eight of them trudged up the hill towards Ten Acres, talking, joking, and teasing along the way. Once there, they decided to split up. Trixie took Anna, one of Di’s sisters, and Bobby to the site where the summerhouse had stood. Honey grabbed Larry, Bobby and the other sister and they headed toward the crumbling foundation. Diana suggested that the rest of them explore the barn. It was the only building on the property that George Rainsford had repaired rather than tear down.

They divided the area in sections so that each area was covered by different people. It was hot, but they all had water bottles to help them stay hydrated. After an hour of careful searching, they moved to the trees along the edge of the property and sat down in the shade, each of them taking a drink and discussing the lack of clues.

“Nothing,” Trixie moaned. “Not one single clue to explain what might have happened.”

“The place still looks pretty good anyway,” Di offered. “Someone must be keeping it cleaned up. It’s not the least bit overgrown.”

“Mr. Rainsford takes care of having it looked after,” Honey explained. “He told Daddy that he needed to keep it maintained. It’s part of his duties as the trustee for Jim’s estate. Even the well still works.”

“The well?” Trixie jumped up. “You know, I don’t think we’ve ever looked very closely at the well. Come on!”

She raced toward the well, but the rest of them groaned and stayed exactly where they were. Finally, Bobby let out a deep sigh and slowly stood to follow her.

She was investigating the well when he walked up. “Find anything?” he asked.

Shaking her head, she muttered. “It looks like the hand pump has been winterized so it won’t freeze up in the winter. Dad does the same thing to the one by Moms’ garden. But the bucket system still works. The water looks okay, we’ve had plenty of rain and it’s not dry this year like it was then.”

She turned the handle and soon brought the bucket to the top, full of water. Tipping the bucket, she watched the water spill over the side. “I wouldn’t suggest we drink it since I’m not sure if anyone’s tested it. You never know.”

“The frogs like it,” Bobby said as he peered down into the well.

“There are frogs in the well?” Trixie leaned over to look down herself.

“No, I just mean, I’ll bet the water wouldn’t hurt the frogs.”

“No, it probably wouldn’t. They like murky and dark water. How much longer are you going to catch frogs anyway? I would’ve thought you might have outgrown frog catching by now.”

“How much longer are you going to keep looking for what happened to Mr. Frayne’s nephew?” Bobby countered. “I would’ve thought you might have outgrown that by now.”

Trixie gave him a hard stare and sighed. “It won’t matter after next week. His seven years will be up and then it will be too late. His step-father will get part of his money and no one will ever look for him again.”

“Why seven years?” Bobby asked.

“It’s a legal standard that the courts set a long time ago. If there’s no evidence that someone who is missing is alive, then the person’s family can file a petition with the court and ask a judge to declare them dead. You can do it earlier, but it’s harder, especially if people argue against it. But after the court agrees they must be dead, they settle all their business affairs and stuff. Since Mr. Frayne had a lot of money in trust for his nephew, then nothing can happen with that money until either Jim shows up or seven years are up.”

“And the seven years are up next week?”

“Yep.” Trixie lowered the bucket back to the bottom of the well. “I’m sure Mr. Rainsford had the well checked out. There’s no way that Jim could have fallen into the well anyway. It’s too narrow; even when you were six you couldn’t have fit down this well.”

The width of the well allowed for the bucket and only a small margin to clear the sides. Trixie had seen both narrower and wider wells in her time, but there was nothing unusual about this one. They’d used the water from it all those years ago when they tried to put out the fire.

“So if your friend doesn’t show up by next week it won’t matter?”

Trixie nodded as she answered. “That’s right. I was just hoping …” She frowned and looked at Bobby. “You never saw him, did you?”

He shook his head slowly. “Not exactly,” he hedged.

Trixie shifted her head to one side and gave him a curious look. “What do you mean, not exactly? You and Moms had already left for your vacation when the Mansion burned. Did you see him before the snake bit you?”

“No, not that I remember, anyway. You said he had red hair though.”

“Yes, he does. The same color as Mr. Wheeler’s hair.”

“Kingsley has red hair,” Bobby replied. “It’s rather unusual.”

“Who is Kingsley?” Trixie was certain that she’d never heard of any of Bobby’s friends named Kingsley.

“A frog.”

Trixie laughed. “Bobby, frogs don’t have hair. Haven’t you ever heard the expression as worthless as hair on a frog?”

“Kingsley does,” he insisted. “It’s very, very fine but he has red hair and …” he stopped and gave his sister a strange look. “He’s the frog you let go at the lake yesterday.”

“Robert Belden, since when did you start naming frogs?”

“Since Kingsley,” he replied. “Kingsley is the frog that jumped on Dick.”

“Frogs don’t live that long,” Trixie replied. “Besides, Kingsley was just a common frog, right?”

“Some frogs live seven to nine years,” Bobby insisted. “Don’t tell me I’m wrong, Trixie! I know my frogs, okay? But Kingsley is only going to live seven years, he told me so.”

The look Trixie gave Bobby was full of concern. “You talk to frogs?”

“Just Kingsley,” he insisted, with an apprehensive glance back over his shoulder at his friends. He’d never admitted to anyone before that he could talk to frogs. “The thing is, Trixie. Kingsley told me you need to kiss him.”

“You want me to kiss a frog?” Trixie couldn’t believe her ears. “I think you’ve read too many fairy tales. That stuff is make-believe. It doesn’t really happen that way in real life.”

“If I find him again, will you kiss him?” Bobby asked anxiously.

Trixie’s eyes narrowed. “Is this some kind of joke so you can win a bet with your friends about how you got your sister to kiss a frog?”

“No!” he almost shouted. “Trixie, Kingsley is different. If I find him, and I know I will because he knows where we live, then will you kiss him?”

She sighed. “Probably not, but if you find him, and if you can show me that he really has red hair, then I’ll consider kissing him.”

Bobby sighed in relief. “And you won’t tell anyone about this conversation?”

Trixie had no desire to see her brother dragged off to talk to some mental health professional about talking frogs. There was no way she’d tell anyone about their conversation. “Absolutely not! Come on, we still have to help Moms water the garden. Let’s go.”

Bobby nodded. He knew that Kingsley would be making his way to the brook and their garden, so he might as well head that way now.

 

 

“Will all the Bob-Whites be here for the fourth?”

Trixie turned to look at Moms as she pushed the last plate into place in the cabinet. “Not Diana. Her parents have plans to go see fireworks in the city that night. It’s something her mom has always wanted to see, so her dad arranged it as a surprise for them.”

“Does that mean Dan is going with her?”

Trixie shook her head. “No, Dan is coming here, or so Mart told me.”

“I told you what?” Mart wandered in with perfect timing. There was nothing left of the post-dinner cleanup except to sweep the floor.

“That Dan would be here Monday to celebrate the fourth with us.”

“Yep, that’s the plan. Will Brian make it in?” he asked his mother.

“He should be here, even if it’s just for a few hours,” Moms replied. She scribbled something on a piece of paper. Moms was dead serious about cooking for the holidays. She wanted her family and their friends to enjoy both the food and the company of the holiday. Her plan would not only cover any practical contingency, but it would be as well-executed as any military battle strategy ever hoped to be. From the burgers to the baked beans and the pasta salad to the pies, her kids often joked they expected someone from Food Network to show up at any moment and start recording an episode.

Mart offered to sweep and Trixie’s eyes narrowed as Moms thanked him for his help. She was on to his trick, even if their mother was fooled. Not fooled in the least, Moms kept her own counsel until Bobby burst through the screen door.

“I found him, Trixie!” He thrust the frog towards her. “It’s Kingsley!”

“Robert Belden!” Helen chastised. “What have I told you about bringing frogs into this house? Those animals are good for the garden but we do not need them in the house. You know it will drive Reddy crazy.”

The Belden’s dog had followed Bobby in from the yard perked his head when he heard his name. But other than that, he stood there wagging his tail, waiting for the next thing his best friend, Bobby wanted him to do.

“Reddy doesn’t mind Kingsley, Moms. Honest, he doesn’t. Besides Trixie wanted me to find him. She’s going to …” he stopped as he realized that what had transpired between him and Trixie was a secret. There would be no way in the world that his sister would ever kiss the frog if he pointed it out in front of Mart.

“She’s going to what?” Mart asked as he stopped sweeping and looked at his younger siblings. Trixie and Bobby exchanged anxious glances. Neither was anxious to have a conversation about the frog in the present company.

“I’m going to study him,” Trixie replied loftily. “Bobby told me some frog facts earlier today when we were up at Ten Acres exploring and he said he had trained this particular frog to do a few tricks.”

“Frog tricks?” Mart echoed in disbelief. “You two can’t even get Reddy to sit on command and you expect to train a frog!”

Trixie’s eyes narrowed. “We can so get Reddy to sit, can’t we boy?” She looked at the dog. “Sit, Reddy!” she commanded. At first Reddy just wagged his tail, but then the dog sat, just as if he understood Trixie.

“Lucky,” Mart muttered and resumed sweeping. “That still doesn’t mean the frog will do tricks.”

“I’ll take responsibility for the frog, Moms, if you’ll let him stay inside for a bit. I’ll keep him in my room and then let him go back outside by the brook later.”

“Very well, Trixie, but I do not want to find any frogs in my laundry room, kitchen, or for that matter anywhere in this house. Do not forget.” With that edict, their mother picked up her paper and stood. She would finish her planning in the comfort of the den with her husband’s company.

The three siblings were left alone and Mart finished sweeping. Bobby transferred the frog to Trixie’s care with anxious eyes. She only nodded and with a blatant cold shoulder towards her older brother, she swept up the stairs.

Once in her room she sighed and put the frog on her bed, studying it closely. “You do look like that frog from the lake,” she told him. She leaned closer. “But I don’t see any red hair.” The frog hopped a few times as if to get comfortable and stopped at the edge of the bed.

“It’s a long way down,” Trixie told the creature. “At least for a frog. Now you stay here and I’m going to see what the good old interweb has to say about frogs.”

In short order Trixie had identified the ordinary frog as one indigenous and plentiful in their area. Its markings were more striking that those she found on the internet, but still within the realm of identification. She moved the frog from her bed to her desk so she could easily look back and forth between the computer screen and the actual frog. Finally, she sighed. “I really don’t want to kiss you, you know.” The frog blinked. “Maybe if you have a bath first it won’t be so bad.”

She scooped the frog up and took him with her the bathroom. “I’ve got to get the lake water out of my hair anyway, you might as well enjoy the water with me.”

She sat the frog on the inside edge of the tub, before turning on the water and pulling the stopper to close. “Normally I only get a shower, but since you’ll probably enjoy the water, I’ll wait until I’m done to let it run out.”

She started the shower and climbed in. The tepid water felt good, and as she soaped her hair she sang the only frog ditty she knew.

I have a little frog
His name is Tiny Tim,

She stopped and looked at the frog and laughed and then started over.

I have a little frog,
Kingsley’s what we call him
I put him in the bathtub,
To see if he could swim,
He drank up all the water,
And gobbled up the soap!
And when he tried to talk
He had a BUBBLE in his throat!

Once a bit of water had accumulated in the bottom of the tub, Kingsley the frog jumped from its perch and into the water, swimming around. Trixie laughed as she watched and after finishing her shower, she scooped him up in her hand. “Okay, Kingsley, this is going to be our secret, got it?” She closed her eyes and leaned forward, brushing a kiss on the top of the frog’s head.

The frog gave a soft croak and nothing happened.

Trixie sighed. “I’m going to kill Bobby.” Deciding she’d had enough of frogs for the night, she turned the water off and stepped out of the shower. She left the frog in the tub until she’d toweled off and wrapped her hair in a towel. She watched him swim around a bit longer before she reached in and pulled the plug. “Come on Kingsley, it’s time for you to go outside.”