Eulogy for a Frog

Confession. I killed my resident frog. All summer, I kept the dog from bothering him, I kept the garden overgrown to shade him, I kept the roll of tree bark I rescued from the loggers at the park perfectly situated to provide him shelter, I kept reminding people as they came up the driveway on foot to watch out for the frog. And then I ran over him. It was dark, it was late, I thought it was a mouse who would clear the car and slip under the garage door by the time I got to the spot where I'd seen him hopping along. But my frog went tharn, apparently, and I ran over him, with audio (the windows were open).

I freaked out. I rolled up the windows and lamented at the top of my lungs that I didn't mean to hit a mouse, I couldn't believe I'd hit a mouse, I'm so sorry I hit a mouse (I do overthink things). I climbed out and there he was, right below the door. I left the dog in the back seat, opened the garage door, got several plastic grocery bags, and bent over to scoop the remains into the bag. That's when I saw it was not a mouse (of which there are obviously too many), but my frog (of which there are no longer enough).

More wailing. Willies, too. I carefully dropped the triple bagged body into the garbage can, turned on the hose, and thoroughly washed the driveway. I am sad that he will not be scampering out of harms way, or sharing the porch with me, or hibernating in my yard. If you don't count countless bugs, I've never killed anything with my car before, though I've hit two deer (well, one jumped onto my car, the other merely sat on the hood because I was able to almost stop), run over a groundhog (when I was just learning to drive a stick; put the clutch in instead of the break, but he wasn't dead), had a red squirrel bonk its head on the undercarriage (and run off), and clipped a dog racing across the road (again, at an almost stop; she was ok).

Sorry, Mr. Frog. I can't decide if I'm glad I took a picture of you just a week or two ago or not. I'm not sure if it makes me feel more guilty or I'm glad I documented our time together. I hope one of your relatives will inhabit my garden next year. I will be more careful (not to mention grateful).