A Frog Amongst Flowers
A little frog meets a new friend.
It started off as a normal day. Get up, get ready for work, ride to work. Get into my wet weather gear, head out into the fields. It was a warm day, still a little wet, and the flowers and leaves were filled with water. I made my way up and down the aisles, cutting the flowers, carrying the flowers, sorting the flowers. Up and down. The team finished up on that block of flowers and moved to the next one. Up and down, cutting, carrying, sorting, up and down. As I walked down an aisle, I spotted a pretty flower, but when I reached forward to cut it off, I spotted something small. Just a little yellow thing amongst the green leaves, brown branches, and bright pink proteas. A small yellow dot. I leant forward to inspect, pulling some leaves out of the way, only to find a little frog.
"Hello, little fella." I said, smiling. It stared straight ahead and didn't move, curled up on it's branch. "How are you today?" I slowly put my secateurs down on the ground, and looked closer, inspecting the little guy. He was pretty, a light yellowish golden colour, dappled with slightly darker golden spots, smooth skin, and large eyes. His tiny little feet held onto the small branch, and he gently moved his head slightly to the side. I reached out a hand, and gently nudged under his head, before lifting him up and held him. He didn't move, didn't seem too bothered, so I carried him out of the aisle to meet my teammates, moving carefully so as to not jostle him.
I reached the end of my aisle, and showed him to my coworker Lily, who poked him gently and grinned.
"He's pretty cute. Where'd you find him?"
"Just in a tree."
"You should show Tamika, she'll love it." I agreed, and took a peek along the next aisle to see where Tamika was. I spotted her, and awkwardly, quietly jogged down to her, holding my other hand gently over my precious little friend so he wouldn't get bounced around.
"Tamika!" I hissed, trying to get her attention. "Hey, Tamika! Come here!" She turned around, and I gestured for her to come closer, while keeping the little guy covered. She cautiously walked over, asking what I had in my hands. I slowly uncovered the little yellow frog, and she let out a squeal.
"Oh my god! It's adorable! Can I hold it?" Tamika bounced closer, leaning down to look at him with a bright smile, before holding out both her hands. I gently placed the frog in her hands, careful not to drop him, and we both watched him sit placidly in her cupped hands for a second, before she handed him back.
"We should show Adam." Once again, I agreed, and we took the little golden gem to meet our final coworker, who was at the bottom of the aisle. He looked confused seeing Tamika and I coming out of the same aisle, especially with our giddy expressions.
"What have you got there?" He asked, with a small frown. I showed him, and he grinned. "We should wet him, there's water in the buckets on the car. Maybe we can take him back to the shed, they may have somewhere we can put him." We took him back over to the ute, and placed him gently in a puddle on the tray.
The little frog shifted to face the buckets, before deciding he didn't really fancy being on the ute anymore. The little golden frog jumped high, sailing through the air, before landing on Tamika's head, who squealed and span around. The little frog, apparently not enjoying the free roller-coaster ride in Tamika's hair, jumped again, this time landing with a thud in the piles of dead bypasses at the bottom of the aisle and disappearing from view. Worried he might have hurt himself, we quickly began sifting through the old leaves and sticks, before I found him standing under a particularly large leaf. I gently picked him up, trying to keep him flat so he wouldn't need to jump again, and breathed a sigh of relief. Our little friend was fine.
"I'm going to put him back in a bush." The other two, nodded, before going back to work. I slowly walked over to the nearest tree, and moved closer to the leaves, but before I could put him down, the little frog jumped once again to the ground. He hopped a few times until he found the place he liked, and stopped, relaxing in the shade of the protea tree.
"Goodbye, cute little fella. Have a good day." I said, before walking away. As I walked back to my aisle, I spotted Lily, who asked what happened to him. I explained that we decided to put him back, and went to find my secateurs, hoping I hadn't lost them again.
Ever since that day with the little golden frog, whenever someone found an animal, we would find and share our new friend with the others.
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