by Taylor Ibanez

Created on: November 22, 2008   Last Updated: January 28, 2009

I was outside in our backyard with some of my fathers tools. It was a sunny day and the maple trees sheltered the spot I chose to play in. Playing alone in the backyard was something my mother use to always be concerned with. I took apart a lot of my toys and lost the parts in the grass once in awhile. I would make friends with grasshoppers, dragonflies and pretty much anything that had a face.

I was dismantling a remote control car that stopped working. I had an empty margarine container to put all the parts in. Along with the bits of electrical components were screws, broken plastic mixed with dirt and grass.

A little toad hopped over into my play area, almost as if it came by to say hello. I picked it up. It seemed as though it was looking at me. I would move my face around its face to see if his eyes would follow. Like a statue, its eyes remained in the same position. I flipped it over to see if it had a penis or whatever girls had. It didn't seem to have anything recognizable. Just a tiny hole.

I would take him in and out of the container and basically, maul the poor thing. It never tried to hop away. It did however pee on me where I punished him by laying him upside down in the grass. He would always flip back over. I would flip him right back again.

I felt it acceptable to begin a conversation with my friend. I don't remember what we were talking about. I'm sure it was something deep and about my father. Even back then the toad was probably thinking, "Sheesh! Enough with your daddy issues already!"

I heard the screen door slam and could see my father quickly walking towards me. He reached down and began to angrily pick up all the tools I had brought out to take apart my toy. He said, "Come here!" He picked me up and dragged me into his work shop where his tools were originally stored. He said, "These are mine! This is where they belong! Don't use my tools again!" He opened the door and shoved me out into the hallway.

I lazily sauntered out the screen door with my head down and back to where I was hoping my faithful, captive friend would still be waiting. Sure enough, there he was, facing away from me and perhaps planning his get away.

I placed him in the margarine container along with the parts from my toy car. My mother called me inside for supper. I didn't have a lid to keep my pet toad from hopping out. I flipped the container upside down to keep him from escaping. The car parts and the toad all mixed together, sitting in the grass. A temporary holding cell

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