endangered species story book
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Magic! In Harrison County Mississippi and other assorted tales of adventure
By Ross Townsend
A cool Mississippi breeze pattered onto young Daphne Lane’s face as she emerged from hey family’s four door sedan. She looked upon the olive green ranch-style home that would double as her nest of complete boredom for the next few years.
“Oh isn’t it beautiful!” Paula Lane, Daphne’s mother (a simple homemaker) was very excited about the families new purchase.
Kenneth Lane, Daphne’s father, a retired executive crept up from behind his wife and put his arm around her. “Well, honey they didn’t pay the big bucks for nothing.” They both shared a playful peck and Kenneth turned back towards the car. “C’mon outta there Hankton, take a look at the new crib.”
8-year old Hankton Lane was Daphne’s kid brother and arch nemesis. He isn’t allowed within 7 feet of Daphne. The relatively small boy jumped out of the backseat, baseball glove in hand, New York Mets cap atop his head as he leapt into his fathers arms. “Oh boy Dad, Harrison County is the best place ever!”
Daphne rolled her eyes. How would you like to be uprooted from your Suburban lifestyle and thrown into the terrible trenches of rural Mississippi. Daphne had to give up everything she had back in Long Island. Captain of the lacrosse team, 4.39 GPA, all-state mathlete of the year, they all meant nothing in Harrison County, Mississippi. She would have to start all over again in a foreign world. She was truly a stranger in a strange land.
“Daphne you better get ready school. It starts in less then 14 minutes”. Mrs. Lane’s concerned look partly expressed sympathy for her daughters awkward situation but was still focused on complete and succinct academic success.
Daphne stomped her feet with relative frustration, “Ugh, I can’t believe this. You pull me out of Long Island, drag me out to the LAME-ville U.S.A. and now you want me to go to a completely new school with less then 2 minutes of preparation.”.
Mr. Lane approached his daughter with that cool wry smile he always wore and knelt down. “Daph, I know its tough, but you are just gonna have to make the best the move. Make some new friends today and invite ‘em over for graham crackers and a couple orange sodas.”
Daphne’s father was always reassuring. It didn’t put her into better mood, but it helped a little bit. She turned her back to her family and walked down the courtway towards her destination: Confederate Heights Middle School.
Daphne walked quickly up the stairs. She was late for her first day of school! The hall was deathly quiet as she was looking for room 21B, her First Period homeroom class. As she gazed at the room numbers something else caught her eye. Assorted signs lined the walls in green. Most likely put up by the leadership classes. Daphne was quite confused. They said things like “Kill The FROGS!” or “Frogs are stupid! Even one read “Frogs? More like food for the tires of my Ford Ranger F150 Deluxe!” What could this mean? As Daphne was pondering this information she stumbled upon Room 21B. She took a deep breath and inched open the door.
“-and that’s how Chancellor Robert E. Lee destroyed England and drove the Northern army back into French-Canada. Oh, ahem, can I help you.” The rather large balding man glanced at the door. All eyes in the class room were focused on Daphne.
“Um, I’m Daphne Lane. I’m the new girl. I just moved her from New York City.
“New York City!” shouts erupted from the back of the classroom.
“Welcome to Harrison County, city dweller, I hope you enjoy your stay!”
“Tell me, do you have good Steaks in New York City or do ya’ll eat strictly vegetables like them Friends do on the picture box!”
The sea of students surrounding Daphne parted and made way for a large boy who seemed to intimidate the rest. Little did young Daphne know this was Blaine Carlton, the king of insults at Confederate Heights. His word stood over all. Boys and Girls alike feared him, but gosh darnit, they respected him. He approached Daphne. She winced as his mouth started to move.
“New York City….is for yuppies.”
The crowd gasped and the teacher sent Blaine back to his desk. Daphne was confused. That really wasn’t that big of an insult. She half-giggled as she sat down at the seat she was assigned. The teacher continued his lecture. “Where was I, ah yes, I was just about to get into how the Russian Space program didn’t really exist and neither did Russia. In fact in 1936-“
Daphne was not listening. She was watching the seconds slowly tick away from her first day in a new environment. Finally in what seemed like 87 hours the clock struck 3 and she left her Period 7 Biology class. She could hear the teacher, Mrs. Cartworth, yell out the homework as she swung open the door. “Alright kids remember to uproot a species from their native habitat in order for our class to just look at them for no reason. This assignment is due tomorrow!
Daphne trounced home upset at her failure of a day. She walked in gloomily. Mrs. Lane was there to attempt to brighten her day, but Daphne walked right past her into the backyard. She didn’t stop at the backyard in fact, she kept walking. Past Mr. Johnson’s neighboring wheat fields and past the rickety old baseball diamond. Daphne stopped next to an rusty sign. Welcome to Glen’s Pond. She looked out over the water.
“Not the most glamorous pond I’ve ever seen”, Daphne put her head in her hands and began to pout. “Oh I am so lonely!”
There was a rustling in the bushes near the shore of the pond. “Yes, and so am I”
Daphne stopped pouting and jumped into the air. “What! Who said that?! Show yourself!”
“Relax…it is only me. A simple Mississippi Gopher Frog.” The bush parted and out came a brownish greenish creature with black speckles covering its back. “Ha, there are under 100 of me on the planet. Actually Glen’s Pond believe it or not is the lone remaining habitat for our kind, and yes I still have few friend….oh whoops, I’m sorry I was rambling. Let me start from scratch, my name is Lawrence. This is my home. And you would be…”
“I’m Daphne Lane. I just moved from New York City. I don’t really know my way around. I’m kinda lost.”
Lawrence gasped, “New York City! Oh how would I love to visit New York City!”
Daphne giggled, “You know of New York City? Ha, I didn’t know frogs knew much about the human world.”
“Well”, Lawrence replied, “I’ve only read about New York at the library and seen pictures on the World Wide Web.”
“I’ll take you there sometimes, we can cruise the streets together!” Daphne exclaimed.
“I would love that very much Daphne, unfortunately I am an endangered species. That makes my welfare very important. I can’t be clowning around in a metropolitan city, I’ve got my species existence on the line!”
Just then a young boy ran up laughing. It was Hankton. “Well hey Daphne! What are you doing way out here in the middle of nowhere?”
Daphne grimaced, “Hankton! How did you know I was here at Glen’s Pond.”
“I followed you here,” Hankton shot back, “I’ve been spying on you and your boyfriend.”
“He’s not my boy friend,” cried poor Daphne.
Just then Lawrence spoke up turning Hankton’s look of pleasure into one of utter despair. “Yes, its actually physically impossible for humans and amphibians like me to reproduce thus nullifying any theory’s that we may be romantically linked.”
There was a brief period of silenced, followed by Hankton running away and screaming, “OH MY GOSH!!! A TALKING FROG!! AHHHHH!”
“Good I’m glad he’s gone”, said Daphne, “Now tell me more about your kind, why you are endangered and what I personally can do to help.”
Lawrence exhaled and began. “Well if you truly must know, A Mississippi gopher frog hasn’t been seen in Alabama since 1968, that’s how rare we are. In fact this pond is our only known breeding ground. There is a big problem Daphne, a big one indeed. They are planning to destroy Mr. Johnson’s wheat field and the old rickety baseball diamond in order to extend your housing development. This will tamper with many necessities for my gopher frog style of life. First off, the hydrological cycles will all be thrown off the area surrounding Glen’s pond is developed. We need a regular cycle of the pond filling and drying out in order for our wetlands breeding process to be a success. The regular cycle will turn may turn irregular if this happens.
Second, natural fires are a must for my people in order to provide open canopy for the habitat. There is little chance that the housing company is going to let a fire just erupt in the middle of your beautiful olive green, ranch-style home.
Lastly if roads and houses are built that lead to the destruction of nearby longleaf pine trees, we will have no place to extend our habitat to and we will be stuck on this tiny pong forever, reducing our chances to survive environmental variability and get through major.
Daphne got up quickly and exclaimed, “I need to make the people aware! I need to bring you to school for my biology homework!”
Before Lawrence could say anything, Daphne scooped him up and took him to school.
22 hours later Daphne sat in Biology class, with Lawrence inside of her bag, eagerly awaiting to present their case to the class. Finally it was Daphne’s turn.
Daphne jaunted up to the podium. “Fellow classmates,” she began, “I give to you, Lawrence, the Mississippi Gopher Frog!” Lawrence jumped up onto the table.
The class stood up in disgust. Some laughed, some frowned, one girl even fainted in despair. The boys started to shout immediately.
“One of them!”
“Let’s get him!”
“Let’s turn him into a mangled goosefeather!”
“Let’s fry his face open.”
The scowling and yelling stopped when Blaine Carlton made his way up to the front of the classroom. The room was silent. Blaine was about to make his insult when Daphne cut him off. Blaine was shocked.
“No! We have to love the Mississippi Gopher Frog! It’s habitat must not be destroyed! It must keep a regular hydrological cycle. Natural fires must remain consistent down at the Glen’s Pond area. We must prevent Mr. Johnson’s wheat fields from being developed. The focus must instead be put on expanding the Mississippi Gopher Frog habitat!”
Blaine was not swayed. His fixed stare did not move during the entirety of Daphne’s plea. “You have angered me, Daphne. No one interrupts Blaine Carlton. As punishment for your insolence, I will eat this frog…no wait, I’m not only going to eat it, I am going to make it into a rich and smooth frog beverage.”
Just as Blaine was about to grab him, Lawrence hopped onto the crowded shelf above him spilling an entire beaker of liquid sulfur tetrachloride all over Blaine!
“The chemical! It burns! It burns!” Blaine continued shouting and ran out of the room. The children cheered in happiness. Blaine’s reign of tyranny was over! Lawrence was the main topic of the days playground chats.
“Did you hear the news? The frog defeated Blaine! We must unite around these Mississippi Gopher Frog’s and ensure their safety!”
So the school children told their parents of Lawrence’s heroics and the parents went to the county board. Ultimately the housing development was cancelled and the boundaries of construction went as far as the Lane household. The population of the frogs began to grow and the habitat extended. One day, about 6 months later, Daphne sat on her bed thinking about Lawrence. “You know all he originally wanted was to break out of his shell and gain friends, maybe I should go down to the pond and help him meet some other frogs” she pondered. As she made her way to the bank of Glen’s Pond, Lawrence emerged with a smile. “Daphne! My old friend! How may I be of service to you.”
“Oh shy little Lawrence, I just wanted to help you introduce yourself to some other frogs, you know, make some friends.”
As she finished up her plan, two female Mississippi Gopher Frogs emerged from where Lawrence came.
“Oh my! Is that really Lawrence! Lawrence I think its so awesome what you did for our kind! Do you want to go see a movie or something? Just me and you?”
The other frog shoved the first one out of the way. “No! Lawrence and I are going to go eat flies down by the dock.”
Lawrence smiled at them both and looked up at Daphne. “Thanks for your proposition, Daphne,” he winked at her and put his tiny frog arms around both of the ladies and looked back at her, “..but I’ve got all the friend I need…”
Magic! In Harrison County Mississippi and other assorted tales of adventure
By Ross Townsend
A cool Mississippi breeze pattered onto young Daphne Lane’s face as she emerged from hey family’s four door sedan. She looked upon the olive green ranch-style home that would double as her nest of complete boredom for the next few years.
“Oh isn’t it beautiful!” Paula Lane, Daphne’s mother (a simple homemaker) was very excited about the families new purchase.
Kenneth Lane, Daphne’s father, a retired executive crept up from behind his wife and put his arm around her. “Well, honey they didn’t pay the big bucks for nothing.” They both shared a playful peck and Kenneth turned back towards the car. “C’mon outta there Hankton, take a look at the new crib.”
8-year old Hankton Lane was Daphne’s kid brother and arch nemesis. He isn’t allowed within 7 feet of Daphne. The relatively small boy jumped out of the backseat, baseball glove in hand, New York Mets cap atop his head as he leapt into his fathers arms. “Oh boy Dad, Harrison County is the best place ever!”
Daphne rolled her eyes. How would you like to be uprooted from your Suburban lifestyle and thrown into the terrible trenches of rural Mississippi. Daphne had to give up everything she had back in Long Island. Captain of the lacrosse team, 4.39 GPA, all-state mathlete of the year, they all meant nothing in Harrison County, Mississippi. She would have to start all over again in a foreign world. She was truly a stranger in a strange land.
“Daphne you better get ready school. It starts in less then 14 minutes”. Mrs. Lane’s concerned look partly expressed sympathy for her daughters awkward situation but was still focused on complete and succinct academic success.
Daphne stomped her feet with relative frustration, “Ugh, I can’t believe this. You pull me out of Long Island, drag me out to the LAME-ville U.S.A. and now you want me to go to a completely new school with less then 2 minutes of preparation.”.
Mr. Lane approached his daughter with that cool wry smile he always wore and knelt down. “Daph, I know its tough, but you are just gonna have to make the best the move. Make some new friends today and invite ‘em over for graham crackers and a couple orange sodas.”
Daphne’s father was always reassuring. It didn’t put her into better mood, but it helped a little bit. She turned her back to her family and walked down the courtway towards her destination: Confederate Heights Middle School.
Daphne walked quickly up the stairs. She was late for her first day of school! The hall was deathly quiet as she was looking for room 21B, her First Period homeroom class. As she gazed at the room numbers something else caught her eye. Assorted signs lined the walls in green. Most likely put up by the leadership classes. Daphne was quite confused. They said things like “Kill The FROGS!” or “Frogs are stupid! Even one read “Frogs? More like food for the tires of my Ford Ranger F150 Deluxe!” What could this mean? As Daphne was pondering this information she stumbled upon Room 21B. She took a deep breath and inched open the door.
“-and that’s how Chancellor Robert E. Lee destroyed England and drove the Northern army back into French-Canada. Oh, ahem, can I help you.” The rather large balding man glanced at the door. All eyes in the class room were focused on Daphne.
“Um, I’m Daphne Lane. I’m the new girl. I just moved her from New York City.
“New York City!” shouts erupted from the back of the classroom.
“Welcome to Harrison County, city dweller, I hope you enjoy your stay!”
“Tell me, do you have good Steaks in New York City or do ya’ll eat strictly vegetables like them Friends do on the picture box!”
The sea of students surrounding Daphne parted and made way for a large boy who seemed to intimidate the rest. Little did young Daphne know this was Blaine Carlton, the king of insults at Confederate Heights. His word stood over all. Boys and Girls alike feared him, but gosh darnit, they respected him. He approached Daphne. She winced as his mouth started to move.
“New York City….is for yuppies.”
The crowd gasped and the teacher sent Blaine back to his desk. Daphne was confused. That really wasn’t that big of an insult. She half-giggled as she sat down at the seat she was assigned. The teacher continued his lecture. “Where was I, ah yes, I was just about to get into how the Russian Space program didn’t really exist and neither did Russia. In fact in 1936-“
Daphne was not listening. She was watching the seconds slowly tick away from her first day in a new environment. Finally in what seemed like 87 hours the clock struck 3 and she left her Period 7 Biology class. She could hear the teacher, Mrs. Cartworth, yell out the homework as she swung open the door. “Alright kids remember to uproot a species from their native habitat in order for our class to just look at them for no reason. This assignment is due tomorrow!
Daphne trounced home upset at her failure of a day. She walked in gloomily. Mrs. Lane was there to attempt to brighten her day, but Daphne walked right past her into the backyard. She didn’t stop at the backyard in fact, she kept walking. Past Mr. Johnson’s neighboring wheat fields and past the rickety old baseball diamond. Daphne stopped next to an rusty sign. Welcome to Glen’s Pond. She looked out over the water.
“Not the most glamorous pond I’ve ever seen”, Daphne put her head in her hands and began to pout. “Oh I am so lonely!”
There was a rustling in the bushes near the shore of the pond. “Yes, and so am I”
Daphne stopped pouting and jumped into the air. “What! Who said that?! Show yourself!”
“Relax…it is only me. A simple Mississippi Gopher Frog.” The bush parted and out came a brownish greenish creature with black speckles covering its back. “Ha, there are under 100 of me on the planet. Actually Glen’s Pond believe it or not is the lone remaining habitat for our kind, and yes I still have few friend….oh whoops, I’m sorry I was rambling. Let me start from scratch, my name is Lawrence. This is my home. And you would be…”
“I’m Daphne Lane. I just moved from New York City. I don’t really know my way around. I’m kinda lost.”
Lawrence gasped, “New York City! Oh how would I love to visit New York City!”
Daphne giggled, “You know of New York City? Ha, I didn’t know frogs knew much about the human world.”
“Well”, Lawrence replied, “I’ve only read about New York at the library and seen pictures on the World Wide Web.”
“I’ll take you there sometimes, we can cruise the streets together!” Daphne exclaimed.
“I would love that very much Daphne, unfortunately I am an endangered species. That makes my welfare very important. I can’t be clowning around in a metropolitan city, I’ve got my species existence on the line!”
Just then a young boy ran up laughing. It was Hankton. “Well hey Daphne! What are you doing way out here in the middle of nowhere?”
Daphne grimaced, “Hankton! How did you know I was here at Glen’s Pond.”
“I followed you here,” Hankton shot back, “I’ve been spying on you and your boyfriend.”
“He’s not my boy friend,” cried poor Daphne.
Just then Lawrence spoke up turning Hankton’s look of pleasure into one of utter despair. “Yes, its actually physically impossible for humans and amphibians like me to reproduce thus nullifying any theory’s that we may be romantically linked.”
There was a brief period of silenced, followed by Hankton running away and screaming, “OH MY GOSH!!! A TALKING FROG!! AHHHHH!”
“Good I’m glad he’s gone”, said Daphne, “Now tell me more about your kind, why you are endangered and what I personally can do to help.”
Lawrence exhaled and began. “Well if you truly must know, A Mississippi gopher frog hasn’t been seen in Alabama since 1968, that’s how rare we are. In fact this pond is our only known breeding ground. There is a big problem Daphne, a big one indeed. They are planning to destroy Mr. Johnson’s wheat field and the old rickety baseball diamond in order to extend your housing development. This will tamper with many necessities for my gopher frog style of life. First off, the hydrological cycles will all be thrown off the area surrounding Glen’s pond is developed. We need a regular cycle of the pond filling and drying out in order for our wetlands breeding process to be a success. The regular cycle will turn may turn irregular if this happens.
Second, natural fires are a must for my people in order to provide open canopy for the habitat. There is little chance that the housing company is going to let a fire just erupt in the middle of your beautiful olive green, ranch-style home.
Lastly if roads and houses are built that lead to the destruction of nearby longleaf pine trees, we will have no place to extend our habitat to and we will be stuck on this tiny pong forever, reducing our chances to survive environmental variability and get through major.
Daphne got up quickly and exclaimed, “I need to make the people aware! I need to bring you to school for my biology homework!”
Before Lawrence could say anything, Daphne scooped him up and took him to school.
22 hours later Daphne sat in Biology class, with Lawrence inside of her bag, eagerly awaiting to present their case to the class. Finally it was Daphne’s turn.
Daphne jaunted up to the podium. “Fellow classmates,” she began, “I give to you, Lawrence, the Mississippi Gopher Frog!” Lawrence jumped up onto the table.
The class stood up in disgust. Some laughed, some frowned, one girl even fainted in despair. The boys started to shout immediately.
“One of them!”
“Let’s get him!”
“Let’s turn him into a mangled goosefeather!”
“Let’s fry his face open.”
The scowling and yelling stopped when Blaine Carlton made his way up to the front of the classroom. The room was silent. Blaine was about to make his insult when Daphne cut him off. Blaine was shocked.
“No! We have to love the Mississippi Gopher Frog! It’s habitat must not be destroyed! It must keep a regular hydrological cycle. Natural fires must remain consistent down at the Glen’s Pond area. We must prevent Mr. Johnson’s wheat fields from being developed. The focus must instead be put on expanding the Mississippi Gopher Frog habitat!”
Blaine was not swayed. His fixed stare did not move during the entirety of Daphne’s plea. “You have angered me, Daphne. No one interrupts Blaine Carlton. As punishment for your insolence, I will eat this frog…no wait, I’m not only going to eat it, I am going to make it into a rich and smooth frog beverage.”
Just as Blaine was about to grab him, Lawrence hopped onto the crowded shelf above him spilling an entire beaker of liquid sulfur tetrachloride all over Blaine!
“The chemical! It burns! It burns!” Blaine continued shouting and ran out of the room. The children cheered in happiness. Blaine’s reign of tyranny was over! Lawrence was the main topic of the days playground chats.
“Did you hear the news? The frog defeated Blaine! We must unite around these Mississippi Gopher Frog’s and ensure their safety!”
So the school children told their parents of Lawrence’s heroics and the parents went to the county board. Ultimately the housing development was cancelled and the boundaries of construction went as far as the Lane household. The population of the frogs began to grow and the habitat extended. One day, about 6 months later, Daphne sat on her bed thinking about Lawrence. “You know all he originally wanted was to break out of his shell and gain friends, maybe I should go down to the pond and help him meet some other frogs” she pondered. As she made her way to the bank of Glen’s Pond, Lawrence emerged with a smile. “Daphne! My old friend! How may I be of service to you.”
“Oh shy little Lawrence, I just wanted to help you introduce yourself to some other frogs, you know, make some friends.”
As she finished up her plan, two female Mississippi Gopher Frogs emerged from where Lawrence came.
“Oh my! Is that really Lawrence! Lawrence I think its so awesome what you did for our kind! Do you want to go see a movie or something? Just me and you?”
The other frog shoved the first one out of the way. “No! Lawrence and I are going to go eat flies down by the dock.”
Lawrence smiled at them both and looked up at Daphne. “Thanks for your proposition, Daphne,” he winked at her and put his tiny frog arms around both of the ladies and looked back at her, “..but I’ve got all the friend I need…”