Barney the Frog's Arc

Chapter 2 of 5

By sundown the shed was full. Frogs crowded the dusty floor. A newt shivered against the wall. Two minnows in a jar sat by the door. Barney the Frog counted heads and felt his stomach drop. Everyone was dry, but no one was warm. No one had eaten. The rain drummed the roof, and the drumming was the only sound. Barney tried the sing-along anyway. He hopped onto an overturned crate and started an old marsh tune about summer bugs. Three voices joined. The rest stared at the floor. The newt closed his eyes like he was already giving up. Barney's throat went dry mid-verse. A song was not going to be enough. Not tonight. The door scraped open. A bear ducked under the frame and stepped inside, shaking rain off a red flannel shirt. Billy Bear. Barney had seen him once, hauling deadfall past the swamp flat with a strap over his shoulder. Everyone in the shed went quiet the way small animals do when something large arrives. Billy looked at the crowd, then at Barney on the crate. "Heard there was a warm room," Billy said. "Doesn't feel warm." "There's no fire," Barney said. "And no food." Billy grunted. He set down a canvas sack by his boot. "Firewood outside. I passed a stand of dry pine under the leaning rocks. I can split it." He nudged the sack with his toe. "And I came through the berry bushes on the ridge. Full up. Red ones and dark ones. Enough for this many, if someone helps me pick." Barney hopped off the crate. "I'll go." "You'll slow me down," Billy said, not unkindly. "Send the rabbit if he's here. I need someone with hands." Frank Rabbit was already at the door, pulling his hood up. He gave Barney a short nod and slipped out after the bear. Barney turned back to the room. "Firewood coming. Food coming. Keep singing." He started the summer bug song again, louder. This time more voices joined, because now there was a reason. Billy returned first with an armload of split pine and a coil of birch bark. He built a fire in the ring of stones by the door in the time it took Barney to finish two verses. The flame caught. Heat pushed into the room. The newt opened his eyes. Frank came in behind, satchel bulging, and dumped berries onto a flat board. Small paws and beaks moved in at once. Barney watched the shed change. Wet fur steamed. Someone laughed. The gloom broke. Then Billy leaned close, low enough that only Barney heard. "Ridge is stripped after tonight. And I counted twice as many coming up the path behind me. Word's out." Barney looked at the door. The rain had not stopped. And the shed, warm now, was already too small.