Friedrich Goltz's Frog

This is a story I have been struggling with for about a month now. I am having a hard time with making my point come home and still keeping the story interesting...Any ideas?

Friedrich Goltz’s Frog

I glanced at my watch as I hopped in my truck and involuntarily sighed.  Already it was eight in the morning, what ever happened to my getting done work at the hospital before six? I rubbed my eyes and mentally shrugged my shoulders. Oh well, that was the way the big guys wanted it so who was I to tell them they were wrong?

As I turned onto the rush hour highway I felt my eyelids getting dangerously heavy and reached over to flip on the radio. My favorite song came on and I began to loudly warble with it---

Jesus took my burdens all away!

Now I am happy all the day!

Oh, joy!

Hip, hooray

About him I will always say,

Jesus took my burdens all away!

 Pulling into my tidy driveway I turned off the engine and leaned back in my seat. I was so tired; I just wanted to rest my head a bit before I went into the house. Blackness began to swirl around me.

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Dipping my toes into the cool pond water I tried hard not to giggle. The water tickled my feet but Grandpa said that if I wanted to catch any fish I would have to be as quite as a mouse so I held back the surfacing laughter. Today was a big day for me--I was going fishing for the first time in my life because Grandpa had finally said I was old enough. I could feel him now sitting next to me and baiting his hook. He motioned that I should do the same but I hooked my finger twice and let three worms fall into the pond. With a slight twinkle in his eyes he put his big ruff hands around mine and helped to poke the wriggling worm then he turned back to his fishing pole and with an expert sweep tossed his bait far out into the deep water. I mimicked him as best I could but the hook somehow grew wings and flew behind me. Grandpa’s hands closed over mine again and to my great delight I saw my line land many feet in front of me. We sat in silence for what seemed like hours, Grandpa and I, and then gently kissing me on the forehead he quietly stood up and left. I understood, he had told me before we went that he had an appointment and would have to leave early. I was going to keep fishing by myself.

The minutes slipped by but no fish came to bite my hook so I closed my eyes and began to day dream.

Something thin and rubbery passed around my waist and startled I jumped a little and looked down. There was an orange band around my small hips and pulling lightly on it with one finger I found it stretched like a rubber band. Curiously I hoped to me feet and looked around to see where it had come from but there was nothing in sight but water, waving grass and the empty road behind me. I tried to break off the rubber band but when I found out it wouldn’t come over my shoulders easily, I left it be. Daddy could cut it off with a knife when I got home. Right now it wasn’t really doing any harm.

I glanced out at my fishing line again. It will still not advertising any caught fish and slowly I began to day dream again. Minutes passed and I felt a strange sense of timelessness a bug crawl across my knee looking down to knock it off I noticed that my hands looked slimmer. The rest of my body seemed to have lost the childish chubbiness as well and curiously I peeked into the pond.  To my surprise my reflection stretched out much longer than it should have and with a thrill I realized that I had finally grown! Wriggling delightedly I thought how that Jessie Benton would get a nasty surprise for herself when I looked down at her Monday morning!

With a contented smile I readjusted my sitting posture and as I did I noticed another flexible band, this time it was around my ankles. I experimentally tried moving my feet and found that though I didn’t have the movement I would have without the band, I was still not uncomfortable so losing interest I left it there.

I didn’t notice the one that soon passed around my wrists or even the string that slowly restricted my shoulders until I saw my line bob. Then, reaching forward to pick up the pole I had carefully stuck in the ground, I found that my I could hardly move my arms. With a jerk of impatience I tried to snap these annoying things but they quickly changed into a strong rope which dug painfully into my skin. Well, that was inconvenient but I didn’t especially want to tear my wrists up right now so I simply ignored my dancing fishing pole and lay back in the warm grass. As I did so I became aware I had to lean back father than I normally did and a strange thought raced through my mind that I had grown again. I turned my head and saw well toned muscles running down the length of my arm. Obviously I was strong now, probably strong enough to break the band around my wrist but the moment I thought this I banished it from my mind. It hurt too much to even try. It wasn’t really worth sore wrists just to have my hands free.

I closed my eyes and let the sun shine on my face.

I barely opened my eyes to sigh as I felt a strong rope curl around my thighs penning them tightly together. But when another even stronger rope was around my neck I came fully awake and trying to sit up found I couldn’t move. Afraid now I began fighting the ropes and as I did so I noticed my hands, thin, and crisscrossed with blue vanes--they were those of an old woman!

Two faces covered with black cloth appeared above me and I could hear a hoarse cackling.

 “Slow but steady the turtle wins the race, eh?”

Though I couldn’t see anything more than black clothed heads they did not feel friendly  and I struggled frantically to free myself. Who were these men? What were they going to do to me? Had they put these bands on me? My arms were weak and with a horrified realization I now understood that I should have removed the bands while I had the strength, even though it would have hurt. The only thing left to me now was my voice.

“Help me, someone!” My voice sounded old and raspy. How had I aged so quickly? “Grandpa! Where are you?”

“Quick! No one must hear her!” the taller figure grunted to the other. “Hurry up and put the gag in!”

I felt a handkerchief stuffed into my mouth and then I was picked up.

“Ready? Toss her in on the count of three.”

With a shock I realized they were going to hurl me into the pond. I struggled frantically, spitting out the gag, the ropes cutting into my arms and legs until I nearly fainted with the pain.

“One.”

I struggled to keep a hold of my mind. Maybe it would be better to just painlessly drown than to—

“Two.”

No, life was always better, even if it was painful at first; I could always heal.

I threw all my strength into the fight and screamed as the ropes passed through my skin and began cutting deeper.

“Three!”

My hands burst free and I felt the rest of my bonds falling off but a moment later water surged over my head.  Kicking my torn legs and striking in terror with my arms I struggled to the surface gasping for air, my aged strength already nearly spent. The water washed in my rope cuts and burned like fire. I froze in pain and went under again. It almost hurt too much to swim but my will told me I hadn’t gotten this far to die. Exerting all my power I surfaced again and with painful slowness began steadily stroking towards shore. My hand touched the bank and I hauled myself safely up onto the gently sloping grass. What had I just survived--a crazy kidnapping? Had I really lived my whole life sitting on the edge of the pond slowly being tied up and simply ignoring it all? My mind began to swirl again. What was this, some terrifying nightmare?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I jerked awake and looked bewilderedly at my surroundings. I felt my seat belt cutting into my neck and I then with a rush my real life all came back to me. So that was all a dream?

My phone rung and flipping it open I saw it was the doctor calling me.

“Hey girl. The big guys up top said for you to come back in.”

I sighed and thought of the warm cup of tea, soft bed and good sleep I had been planning. Oh well, that’s what the big guys said to do.

“Alright Doc. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Backing carefully out of the driveway my dream came back to me. It was so strange! I wondered where in the world it had come from. Oh well, sometimes you just have dreams like that. They seem so much like they are trying to tell you something but you just can’t make it out. Shrugging I reached over and turned my radio back on.

“Yeah, the big guys up top just announced that all vehicles bought in the next year must be blue with graduating red circles on the hood. This is to help official cars stand more obviously apart from the others.”

Just one more thing, when would all the new rules stop? Oh well, it didn’t matter.  I was sure the big guys up top knew what they were doing.