The fall Flash Fiction contest, with the theme “Frogs” was held on Sept. 28. Over the next few weeks, this paper will run the winning entries. Below is a submission that tied for second place, To read all the winners, go to: fremontculturalartscouncil.org.
Some enchanted evening
By Patricia Doyne
I’m King, and my word is law—except to my daughter. When you think “princess,” you think ball gowns, jewels, tiaras, right? But my daughter Lucinda romps around in jeans and sneakers, with her pockets full of beetles. Pond scum under her fingernails. Feeds baby mice to her snakes.
Lucinda says she’s a biologist. Hangs around the moat collecting mayfly, larva, and tadpoles. Next to her four-poster bed, she’s installed an aquarium complete with water plants, snails, and newts. She picks this stuff up with her bare hands! Does this sound like a princess?
Lucinda developed a special fondness for a tiny bullfrog she named Froggy-Boy. When she caught him as a tadpole, she carried him around in a glass jar. As he changed, she kept the jar in a backpack. When full grown, Froggy Boy rode on her shoulder. She trapped flies for him, and sometimes robbed spider webs for delicacies. “Here, have something scrumptious, Froggy-Boy,” she’d say.
Her sisters thought this was hilarious. “Kiss your little green friend,” they teased. “Maybe he’ll turn into a prince.” Lucinda would just laugh, and feed Froggy-Boy another horsefly.
But one morning, one of Lucinda’s sisters spotted a young man peeking out from the curtains of Lucinda’s four-poster bed. As his foot hit the floor, it was clear he wore nothing but his smile. The sister screamed.
“It’s just Froggy-Boy,” said Lucinda. “A prince, actually. He was enchanted, and I reversed the spell.”
I was so proud of Lucinda. Finally she was acting like a real princess—battling sorcery, helping fellow royals, even seeking my opinion now and then. So I didn’t ask too many questions. Froggy-boy was a simple man—good looking, eager to please.
But the Queen and Lucinda’s sisters never did buy her enchanted-frog story.
