Approximately an hour later Hajin had finished successfully haggling a few merchants as instructed by his father and still had some coin to spare, about 1 and a half bags worth tied to his waist, 2 bags 1 full and 1 half full or half empty depending on whether you're an optimist or a pessimist. Hajin wandered homeward as each step caused the coins in his 2 bags/pouches to sing an almost rhythmic tune; to a poor man it was a satiating melody, but alas Hajin's 7 year old mind was half-adrift, until he spotted a familiar nuisance.
Koro, Meeya, and Nurb were seen huddled; 2 of them were squatting and one of them sat criss-cross apple sauce near a muddy ditch, eyes gleaming with mischief.
whispering to each other as though they were army generals planning battlefield tactics at a roundtable meeting.
"What on Earth are you three doing?" Hajin asked
A few froze as though caught committing tax fraud. Others just stared back, wide-eyed, torn between pride and paranoia
Nurb puffed his chest. "We're catching, taming and training frogs for a contest."
Koro: "Don't tell him, idiot! His parents probably don't even have a single coin to spare him or for him to steal from him!"
Meeya: quickly interjected softly and proudly with a innocent smile "My mum gave me coins after I begged. She said I was smart enough to double it!"
(She wasn't, but her mother couldn't stand seeing her grovel for three coins that meant dinner.)
The "contest" was simple:
Each kid caught a frog, would try to tame it; claimed the amphibious stranger as their pet, and would bet whose frog could eat the most flies in an hour.
the game is: betting on whose pet frog they caught and tamed (barely and some of them their frogs just wouldn't listen at all and one of them ended up pleading with it and promising it some of the rewards despite knowing full well that the frog didn't possess anywhere near enough sentience to even know a single word he's uttering; so he began doing body language in a last ditch pitiful yet futile attempt that almost made you want to stand up and cheer for the poor little eccentric at trying to get it to understand and agree) can hunt and eat the most flies within one hour
Another one of them had a brilliant idea—a stroke of genius as they say—or so he thought.
He had secretly collected some caffeine seeds from the eef-foc tree, ground it down into powder form and fed it to his frog in hopes of trying to make it catch more flies by roiding it up with caffeine 2 minutes prior to the betting game that was about to take place.
However it didn't take long for the poor little bastard to notice his frog bugging beyond belief (#triple'B'baby 'ahem sorry I got a bit carried away there' said the narrator remorsefully as he scraped his table top lightly in a clockwise motion slowly with his index finger and slightly long unclipped nail in an embarrassed manner before clearing his throat and continuing
As I was saying the bug- I mean frog was bugging out beyond belief and his owner frowned and began pulling his own hair while gritting his teeth and muttering explesitives from the frustration caused by the dawn of his realization that his calculation was wrong because his assumption that caffeine would have the same effect on frogs as it does with humans was incorrect, because clearly it didn't have an energetic effect, but rather a hallucinatory effect as he saw his frog had started licking the floor and occassionally caressing (the ground, rubble and dirt the whole shabeel) with only one hand with solemn tenderness; saint like reverence before suddenly slapping it as though with a newfound purpose.
The frog kept repeating the ritual, the one consisting of movements that were too poetic and profound to be described as actions. Such strange yet surprisingly, disturbingly, weirdly fluid motions laced with elegance & seemingly practiced mastery as though it was choreographing enlightenment.
Until only 30 seconds was left before the game was about to start and he saw the frog stop it's questionable yet concerning behaviour as it did a satisfied little frog stretch that was as majestic as it was lackadaisical, and then let out a complex series of sylabbles with quiet gusto in the total duration of exactly 3.45 seconds going something like shblurgle luh-loi la-lie la-lie loh-loi lully mi-gam na-goo and then spazzed out a bit before going to sleep as though it had just finished performing a laborous yet masterful magnum opus of poetry in motion showcasing to the population it's imagination born into creation by the operation of its ambition for the past generation and the new to see that it stood at the peak of its occupation, a true sensation and sense of liberation clearly portrayed by its demonstration that brought both education and salvation, a true revelation before his departure to napping before elevation to a peaceful wonderful destination in his dream where he was in a place worthy of extreme admiration by his frog kin a frog paradise full of bugs and grass and lilly pads, a mouthwatering temptation as his frog dream self twitched with anticipation before jumping after the bugs giving in to his raw inclination, no hesitation only gleeful desperation full of infatuation & the rest is up to a persons consideration and interpretation
Later on the game started and this frog was still in deep sleep dreaming the dreamiest dream a frog could possibly dream, but for its owner it was a regretful nightmare caused by his spectacularly caffeinated fuck up, a stroke of genius that went left and not right and boy did he wish it would go right, that he was right; now he's anything, but alright and is sweating bullets thinking of how he's going to explain to his parents how he stole the budget for their entire weeks worth of food which compared to normal folk was just around 1 to 2 days worth of food budget, in any case he was about to piss his pants in distress and felt light headed knowing that the very near future he could foresee was one with an empty stomach and severe scolding from his parents until he could rectify it by working part time or full time somewhere.
The moment the frog began licking the ground with reverence, Meeya screamed,
"Is it… blessing the battlefield!?"
"It's baptizing the mud," Hajin said, squinting like a nonsensical scholar.
The owner frowned and began pulling his own hair while gritting his teeth and muttering expletives.
Koro poked the frog with a twig.
"Don't! You'll break its concentration!" Nurb hissed.
"It's concentrating on dirt you fucking dumbass," Koro hissed back.
The frog occasionally caressed the rubble with solemn tenderness, saint-like reverence.
Nurb whispered, awe-struck, "It's comforting the earth. It knows…the earth suffers…"
"No it fucking doesn't," Koro countered. "It's just high out of its tiny frog skull."
Then, as though receiving an angry revelation from below, the frog slapped the ground with newfound purpose. The kids collectively flinched.
"That was a message," Meeya said gravely. "The soil talked back."
"The soil is telling him to EAT FLIIIIES!!!!," the owner begged teary-eyed for reality to cooperate.
The ritual repeated. Movements too poetic and profound to be described as actions. Strange yet disturbingly fluid motions laced with elegance & seemingly practiced mastery as though it was choreographing enlightenment.
Hajin took one slow step back. "That frog has seen some shit…"
"It knows the secrets of the universe," Meeya said with calm confidence before closing her eyes briefly & seemingly proudly.
"It knows I'm screwed, I'm totally fucked damnit!!!," the owner screamed feverishly, face pale with the dread of impending starvation.
Time ticked. Only 30 seconds left.
The frog stopped and stretched. Majestic yet lackadaisical. Then it let out a series of complex; potentially sacred syllables with quiet gusto.
"Shblurgle luh-loi la-lie la-lie loh-loi lully mi-gam na-goo."
Every child's jaw dropped.
"…he's speaking in tongues," Nurb gasped.
Hajin held his breath. "If it summons a demon, I'm going home."
"It already summoned debt," croaked the owner dolorously, disconsolately & defeatedly in incredulity.
It lasted precisely 3.45 seconds; then the frog spazzed a bit. Collapsed. Instantly asleep.
As though finishing a laborious yet masterful magnum opus of poetry in motion showcasing to the population its imagination born into creation by the operation of its ambition for generations to come.
A true sensation and a sense of liberation clearly portrayed by its demonstration that brought both education and salvation, a true revelation before its departure to napping before elevation to a dream-realm frog paradise.
A place full of fascinating bugs of different shapes and sizes, vibrant grass and lily pads, a mouthwatering temptation that would give any frog that didn't have ED, a semi at the very least. Its frog dream self twitched with anticipation before jumping after bugs with raw inclination, no hesitation, only gleeful desperation full of infatuation.
"A warrior's exit," Meeya whispered, almost crying.
"A loser's exit," Koro corrected.
"…I hate everything," the owner whimpered in a low monotone voice while he was on his knees staring at some of his hair on the floor laying next to his small empty coin pouch and hands.