The Frog
The youngest residents of the Ponderosa Ranch, 10 year old Mitch and Pam Cartwright, were playing in the back garden. Suddenly the children heard quacking coming from the bushes.
“Did you hear that too?”, asked Pam.
“Yes”, answered her twin brother.
They went to check it out. Near the bushes the sound became louder. Carefully Mitch pushed some branches aside and they saw the visitor.
“Quack”, said the frog.
The boy got twinkling eyes and said, “We give the animal to miss Miller as thanks for her nice lessons.”
“What are you being mean. But it’s a funny idea”, chuckled Pam.
Mitch grabbed the frog handy and stroke him. The animal didn’t do anything. From the shed Pam fetched a small box where the frog exactly fitted in. She made a few breathing holes in it and the animal got put inside it.
“What will miss Miller be glad”, Mitch said sarcastic.
He put the box on the cupboard near the front door and went after that with his sister again to the back garden.
A bit later on Joe Cartwright came downstairs in a cheerful mood. He would have dinner with his newest girlfriend Cornelia Tucker and her mother for the first time. To be able to give his girl something and he was without money once again Joe looked around if he saw something he could give. Then his eye caught the package which stood on the cupboard.
“Then I just take this present. Whatever it may contain”, he said to himself.
He put it into his inside pocket and went away.
By suppertime the twins came inside. To their big scare they saw that the box was gone.
“Sis, you had put that frog into that little box, hadn’t you?”, Mitch asked carefully.
“Yes, and you had put it onto the cupboard with the gun belts, hadn’t you?”, Pam also asked carefully
Her brother nodded and said, “the box with contents is gone. Someone must have taken it away.”
“Grandpa, daddy and uncle Hoss are at home so then uncle Joe must have done it. Where has he gone to actually?”, asked Pam.
“On audition with his mother-in-law to be once again”, Mitch said light-hearted.
“Is that present for his girlfriend or mother-in-law?”, asked his sister.
“Both of them”, Mitch said laughing.
At the home of Cornelia she got the present from her boyfriend.
“Cornelia, please from the bottom of my heart”, Joe said a bit nervous.
“Thank you Joe. I will unwrap it during dinner so mother can see too what you have given me”, the girl said visible shy.
A bit later on at the dinner table.
“Mother, Joe has given me a little present. I am going to unwrap it now”, said Cornelia.
She unwrapped it and gave a loud scream. Her mother too gave a very loud scream. The frog jumped out of the little box with his mud legs on the white table cloth.
Joe understood right away that he was no longer wanted and said while he ran away, “I am sorry. Goodbye.”
He decided to never come there anymore and went to Virginia City.
At the ranch Adam noticed right away that his twins were behaving strange.
“What have you done now again?”, he asked concerned.
“We found a frog in the bushes at the back garden. Pam put it into a little box with holes in it. We wanted to give it to miss Sara Miller as thanks for her nice lessons. Now the box is gone. We think that uncle Joe has taken it with him for his newest girlfriend”, Mitch said calm.
Hoss, the younger brother of Adam, said, “If that’s so your uncle will be a bachelor quite soon. Cornelia Tucker and her mother are very stately.”
His niece said, “It’s such a dirty green frog with mud legs. When he sees her and her mother he quickly jumps away.”
They laughed. Ranch owner Ben Cartwright knew that his youngest son had worked himself into trouble once again.
He said, “Adam, I hope that your children will never do a stunt like that. I remember that Joe also gave a frog to miss Jones as a Christmas present.”
“Pa, don’t you worry about that because they are raised far to nicely to do so”, reacted Adam.
The rancher knew that too.
“What would uncle Joe get to eat there?”, asked Pam.
“Perhaps cooked frog’s legs”, answered Hoss.
Again everyone laughed.
“Let’s go to the table”, Ben said still laughing a bit.
The rest of the day and the whole night Joe wasn’t showing himself at the Ponderosa. He had resolved himself to be more careful with presents for his girlfriends. But the twins too decided to never give a living animal to someone as a present.