JoeBunker Was A Toad

19. Many people remember the ditty ‘Jeremiah was a bullfrog’.   Few –very few- know that JoeBunker was a toad.  And an extraordinary toad.  For he was a family pet – as dearly loved as our mutt Wimpy.

On hot summer evenings with evening chores and supper done Mommie and Daddy sat on the bench at the corner of  the house while we kids, quite recovered from our ‘too tired to do one more lick of  work’ chased lightening bugs and each other.

The wooden rain barrel elevated off the ground by four well placed rocks was home to JoeBunker- a wonderfully healthy and handsome toad. We could not swear he understood  what we said when we talked to him or just responded to the sounds and sights around him (or in fact that he was a he and not a she).  But he always responded to   “Come on out JoeBunker” or “We got supper for you, JoeBunker”.

Nightly JoeBunker hopped from his home under the rain barrel and took from our hands the lightening bugs we caught for him. In the darkness enveloping us his throat shone with the final flashing of lightening bugs we fed him. Until he had his fill and hopped back under his barrel from which the faint light of his throat grew dimmer and dimmer and finally was no more.