Pardon My Pen
The great frog race of Henderson Bay
By George M Campbell
One of the greatest sporting events in the history of racing took place one fine summer's day at the Campbell's floating cabin on Henderson Bay, a little piece of paradise situated about eight kilometers up Powell Lake. It started out with Grandpa Campbell trying to keep his grandchildren busy and out of mischief. "Take these ice cream buckets," he said to his two grand daughters, "And go over there by the shore and see if you can catch some frogs."
Off scampered the two little girls to wade among the plant life along the shore of the lake, in search of frogs. In less than an hour they returned triumphant. They had captured two frogs. One was about the length of an adult's hand and must have weighed a quarter of a pound. The other was a tiny thing no bigger than the end of your little finger.
"Well now," said Grandpa C, "These are fine looking specimens. The thing to do now is give them names. After you get them named, we'll have a frog race."
The two girls, along with their grandmother, began to ponder appropriate names for the two potential athletes. In the meantime, Grandpa C spread a piece of mill canvas on the deck and with the aid of a piece of string and chunk of chalk, drew a large circle on it and placed a cross in the center. The racecourse was ready. In the meantime Grandma Campbell and the two little girls had decided to call the big frog Croaker and the little one Squeaker.
"To make the race more interesting," said Grandpa C, "I will donate a purse of two loonies. Whichever frog crosses the finish line first will win the purse and the two dollars will go to whoever owns that frog. So pick your frog, and we'll start the race."
The youngest girl wanted Squeaker and the oldest granddaughter was happy to have Croaker. She was thinking, no doubt, that there was no way a frog as large as Croaker could possibly lose to such a tiny opponent. Grandpa C placed the two frogs gently on the cross in the center of the circle and the race was on. The two girls began cheering for their respective frogs.
For a short while the two frogs just sat there, back-to-back, unblinking and staring, their noses pointed towards the perimeter of the circle. Suddenly, Squeaker made his move. He didn't exactly hop, he just more or less crawled a couple of inches, turning as he did so and ending up slightly in front of Croaker. It turned out to be a bad move.
The big frog blinked once, and then his long tongue snapped out and Squeaker disappeared into the gaping maw of Croaker. Croaker then gave a couple of mighty hops, clearing the circle on his first and ending up in the lake on his second. For the first time in the history of racing one of the participants had eaten his opponent and then gone on to finish the race.
The cheering section was stunned into silence, but only for a moment. Then the two girls began to babble excitedly. "I win, I win!" yelled the oldest granddaughter. "No way!" screamed the younger. "I do, because Croaker is disqualified and Squeaker wins by default."
It was a situation demanding the Wisdom of Solomon and Grandpa C rose to the occasion. He declared the race a tie, because both frogs crossed the finish line at the same time. The purse was divided equally between the two girls and everyone went home happy. Everyone, that is, except Squeaker.
Thus ended the Great Frog Race of Henderson Bay.
