Aunty Nell and the childfrog
May. 2nd, 2009 08:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
searingedrockAunty Nell was my youngest aunt, she never seemed like an Aunt because she was only eight years older than me (and I was already almost big mih self at 12). On evenings by the porch outside with mosquitoes singing and frogs beginning to croak, and the crapaud (crap oh), little tiny frogs that warbled down by the river, Aunty Nell sat on the porch steps in her faded shorts and cotton blouse she'd made and laughed so hard while talking on the phone. In the summer the evenings always lasted for ages and ages and I felt sometimes when she laughed that it was like the other natural sounds and remained as a breeze even in silence.
Bit by bit she stopped talking on the phone; once she stayed quietly on the phone for almost an hour, not talking. I didn't understand what was happening to her but she seemed sad most times. One day she brought home a frog; a tiny crapaud, delicately green and slightly moist. She kept him in a shallow basin of water with rocks so he could climb to the surface; how she fed him I have no idea. As time passed and I followed her about mournfully, with eyes wide and wondering she seemed to see me suddenly, she stared through and at and past me. 'Jilly you are going to be beautiful.' Even though I was in big school and I already saw boys who looked back at me and even though I was almost an adult now I still ran to her and hugged tight and for all my bigness my head was still level with her shoulders.
Mother told me that Aunty Nell going to be a mother too. I remember the day Aunty Nell had her baby. She was big, skin tanned a ruddy brown but pale around the eyes and mouth. 'Jilly don't forget froggie.' she passed her hand over my head and then was gone.
I was home alone because I was big enough; besides mom would call when everything was finished. Then the frog died. One second I saw it, all shiny and moist and breathing, the next it just stopped, poised upon the rock like a froggie statue. Just then the phone rang; it was mother, and Aunty Nell had had a boy, his name was Sapo. Aunty Nell was ok but very weak.
I stared and stared at the crapaud frozen on the rock.
Bit by bit she stopped talking on the phone; once she stayed quietly on the phone for almost an hour, not talking. I didn't understand what was happening to her but she seemed sad most times. One day she brought home a frog; a tiny crapaud, delicately green and slightly moist. She kept him in a shallow basin of water with rocks so he could climb to the surface; how she fed him I have no idea. As time passed and I followed her about mournfully, with eyes wide and wondering she seemed to see me suddenly, she stared through and at and past me. 'Jilly you are going to be beautiful.' Even though I was in big school and I already saw boys who looked back at me and even though I was almost an adult now I still ran to her and hugged tight and for all my bigness my head was still level with her shoulders.
Mother told me that Aunty Nell going to be a mother too. I remember the day Aunty Nell had her baby. She was big, skin tanned a ruddy brown but pale around the eyes and mouth. 'Jilly don't forget froggie.' she passed her hand over my head and then was gone.
I was home alone because I was big enough; besides mom would call when everything was finished. Then the frog died. One second I saw it, all shiny and moist and breathing, the next it just stopped, poised upon the rock like a froggie statue. Just then the phone rang; it was mother, and Aunty Nell had had a boy, his name was Sapo. Aunty Nell was ok but very weak.
I stared and stared at the crapaud frozen on the rock.
