Itty and Bitty

The rain began to pelt the grass softly as two tiny toads, no bigger than a thimble, squirmed in the grass.

"Mommmmm!" one whined. "We're not going to go far!"

"We're just going to go to the fence," the second toad whined.

Buttercup the toad, Queen of the Flowerbed, pursed her lips and thought for what seemed like an eternity.

"Ok, but just the fence," she cautioned. "If it starts raining very hard, come straight back. And remember, don't eat the black spiders with the red hourglasses or big brown ones. Those are bad. Stick to gnats and flies."

"We know, Mom," the tiny toads groaned impatiently, bouncing up and down in the damp soil as the rain fell around them. With a great nod, the two toads bounced out of the garden into the vast world of the Front Yard.

"I'm going to the bush," the first toad, Itty, announced. "I found some delicious gnats over there last time." He licked his lips as he spoke.

"Forget food," the second toad, Bitty, said scornfully. "I'm seeing how fast I can get to the fence. I made it in two minutes last time. I want to beat it."

"Suit yourself," Itty said. The two toads hopped in separate directions on their individual quests. As Itty climbed onto the pebbles surrounding the bush, he heard a great rumbling noise.

"That thunder is getting really loud," he said to himself as his tongue lashed against the green leaves, capturing tiny gnats and retracting quickly into his mouth. As he happily lapped up the gnats, he heard a great booming noise behind him. He turned to see a giant nose breathing heavily next to him.

"AHH!" Itty screamed. "It's the Toad King!" He began to hop away as quickly as his tiny feet could. He wasn't sure what the Toad King did, but he was pretty sure he didn't want to know.

"Awwwwww," the voice cooed. "Look, it's a little frog!"

"Let me see!" a shrill voice cried. "Aww, they're sooo CUTEEEE!"

Itty clapped his webbed fingers over his ears. "That is an obnoxious voice!" he cursed to himself.

"Tell me about it," a deep voice said dryly. Itty looked up to see a lizard clinging to the wall.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"Henry the lizard," the lizard replied. "Those are the Giants. They don't do anything. They just bob and weave and shout a lot."

"Oh," Itty said, secretly disappointed it wasn't the Toad King. He waited until the Giants were gone, then hopped quickly back to the garden.

Meanwhile, Bitty was hopping as fast as he could to the fence. Unfortunately, the rain had made the grass so slick he spent more time sliding to the ground than he did hopping. Still, he hopped on, determined to beat his time of two minutes.

Suddenly, Bitty saw a gigantic flesh colored hand sliding toward him in the grass.

"The Toad King!" he cried in terror, quickly hopping to the ground and hiding in the grass. He wasn't entirely sure what the Toad King did, but he didn't want to know. The hand brushed over the grass a few times until it revealed Bitty's spot. Bitty stayed frozen to the ground for a split second, than hopped out of the grass and sprung under a collection of weeds next to the brick of the house.

"See?" a loud voice boomed. "There's the other frog!"

"He's so CUTTTTEEEEE!!" an excruciatingly piercing voice squealed. Bitty covered his ears with his webbed fingers. "That's obnoxious," he scowled.

"Tell me about it," a dry voice said from the brick wall. Bitty turned to see a lizard slowly crawling across the wall.

"Who are you?" he asked suspiciously. The lizard rolled his eyes and sighed. "Henry the lizard. I just told you this. Those are Giants. I'm Henry. You're a frog."

"Toad," Bitty corrected. Secretly, he was disappointed it wasn't the Toad King.

"Whatever," Henry said. Bitty waited until the Giants walked away, then hopped quickly back to the garden where he found Itty and Buttercup waiting for him. He told them of his adventure, and found that Itty had seen the Giants too.

"There's only one thing I don't understand," Bitty said, as he dined on gnats.

"What?" Itty said, munching on a cricket shin.

"Who's Henry the Lizard? And why don't the Giants think he's cute?"