The summer had set in. The pond in the garden was almost dry. If all the frog family leaped into the water with a splash, there would be no water left. And young Freddie, a real freshie, who had just shed his tadpole tail and was all hind legs was bored. He had tried a leaping contest with his sister Freda and had outsmarted her every time. Grandpa frog was croaking away monotonously. He was full of stories about the dangers faced by little frogs if not careful; about how people in China and Paris considered frogs legs a delicacy, of how frogs were hunted and tortured by human beings making so many of their species extinct.
But Freddie was too full of life to listen to such morbid warnings. He decided to explore his surroundings. Up he leapt while no-one was looking and slowly made his-way-in leaps and bounds towards the lawn and the beautiful house ahead, the very place he was warned against. To his utter amazement he could hear the pitter patter of water falling as if it were raining. The sky was clear, the sun shining. Where could this rain be from? He wondered. Freddie decided to have a closer look and with a mighty leap he hoisted himself on to the window sill, peered inside and was amazed to see a young lad splashing under a patch of falling rain. Hot and humid as Freddie was he decided to join the boy.
For one blissful moment he was enjoying the cool water, jumping up and down in his excitement until he landed on the lad's foot. The boy shell shocked screamed looking down to spot what the cold damp thing was. "Wow a frog" he exclaimed. "Just the thing I need for my science practicals in school." Freddie just froze with terror and was too scared to make an escape. The boy pounced on him, holding on to him even while dressing and carefully carried him into his room where he placed him in an old shoe box with a little hole in it.
It was Freddie's first experience of danger. He remembered too late of all his grandpa's tales about frogs being slit open and their insides examined in laboratories Freddie regretted his adventurous streak. He would give anything to be back at home in the pond. The box was picked up and from what Freddie could make out carried into a noisy , jolting, jerking contraption, probably a bus, he was placed on a table of what seemed like a classroom, considering the din, the noise, the bell and the silence, followed by the drone of a lecture very much like his grandpa"s. He could do nothing but sit still and await his fate. He decided he would leap out of the box and escape. But where could he go in this strange place. The boys would make mince meat out of him if they found him wandering about. The best plan was to conceal himself and stick close to the fellow who brought him here. Then at least he could hope to return at least in the vicinity of his home.
Daydreaming Freddie was brought back to the present when the smell of the laboratory hit him. The box was opened and the boy held the solemn frog and placed him on the dissection table. Inspite of all the squirming and wriggling Freddie couldn't set himself free. But to his good fortune his chance came when the lad holding the dissecting scapel in one hand and the frog in the other was distracted by his companion who was trying to hold a cockroach in place. "How cruel could humans be?" Freddie mused. "Maybe we frogs in our own way were cruel too. Catching all those poor flies." The frog following his instinct to stay as close to his captor as possible took a calculated leap into the pocket of the white laboratory apron of the boy. He sat still scarcely daring to breathe. The boy searched everywhere but couldn't find the frog. He tossed his apron into his bag and was off. After what seemed like eons Freddie in the bag was carried home, the apron flung in a clothes basket full of smelly clothes. At least he was back close to his home. But he dared not venture out for fear of being caught again.
Soon in came the lady of the house and flung the clothes from the basket into a machine which Freddie knew was called a washing machine. The lid closed and as the electricity was switched on it began rotating with a loud whirring sound. It was fun at first being tossed and turned around, just like a merry go round ride with all the water gushing in, ~t was simply heavenly. Then the soapy foam started coming in and poor Freddie had to use every trick in the book to try and refrain from swallowing the soapy water. Churning for about an hour Freddie was exhausted and wanted to do nothing but simply sit quietly near his family. Bored or not that was simply bliss when compared to this. The machine stopped. The clothes were thrown into the basket and the madam was carrying the basket into the garden. Freddie still concealed saw his chance. While the lady lifted the coat apron to hang it out to dry, Freddie jumped out on to the lawn and sensing familiar terrain, ran as fast as his long legs could carry him heading straight for the pond.
Out of breath he paused only when he heard his Mama callout to him. "I was wondering where you were. Leaping about like that crazy frog shown on the television." Freddie was too scared to share his escapades with his mother and too relieved to be safe back home. So when a little girl came by the pond that evening and was thrilled on spotting him snoozing by the pond and said ”Here is a frog just like the crazy frog in the house" and switching on her mobile played the most heavenly croaky song he had ever heard began to dance a froggie dance just like the ones they frogs used to dance Started with a motorbike step, followed by a bee step and finally a bubble shake; Freddii tempted though he was to join in decided he had an overdose of human society for a day and went leaping back to his home.