The Last Croak

A frog hopped out of the pond one evening. The frog's behavior was neither unique nor special; frogs jump out of ponds all the time. Most frogs return to the water after a short time; others remain in the general vicinity of their birth pond. This particular frog paused for a minute or two, as if considering its options, then made some frog noises and began a journey that would take it far from home. Again, nothing unusual in this occurrence; a small percentage of frogs stray from their birth pond to venture out in random directions. They're programmed to do so; its coded in their genes to give their species an evolutionary advantage by disbursing their species' genes across a broader area to improve survivability. Although most die in their journey from the elements or predators, enough survive to pass on this instinctual trait. The first stars appeared in the early evening sky as the sun sunk below the horizon. The frog had begun its journey.

Nobody cared for this frog or even knew of its existence. It wouldn't have mattered anyway, because it was only a frog, and frogs don't get sad if no one cares for them. Sadness, being a human emotion, requires specific brain structures to generate such a feeling. Those structures are absent in a frog's brain. This frog was young and had a mother, a father, and many siblings. It was part of a broader community of hundreds. The frog's parents, however, were uncaring. They didn't know their son nor did the frog know of its parents. There was no family love shared among them. More stars speckled the night sky as the darkness intensified. The frog hopped along.

This frog was young, perhaps a month or two old, and had an awareness of sorts. The young frog was aware of its environment, the darkness of the night, the sounds of crickets, and the croaks of other frogs, but it didn't ponder such things. Unthinking instincts controlled most of the frog's actions, forged by millions of years of evolution. It couldn't plan what to do the next day, or with whom it might play. Of course, frogs don't play. They only hop around and eat bugs and make a big splash when they jump into the water. A full constellation of stars glittered the clear night sky, unmolested by a new moon. The young frog continued to hop along.

A couple of hours had passed when this young frog reached a dark road. It didn't understand the road because it was a frog, and frogs don't understand such things. The frog stopped momentarily because it sensed something different about this patch of land. Of course, the road had no grass, so that was different. The road also radiated the heat it had collected during the day from the sun. The frog felt the heat rise from the road. This frog had never been to a road before so didn't know what to think about it. It was only hopping along in a direction that, coincidentally, led it to a strange land that radiated heat and had no grass. That wasn't its intention; instead, it was how the frog's path and the road happened to intersect. A meteor scratched the night sky but was unseen by the frog as it continued hopping on its journey.

The frog noticed another oddity as it squatted in the middle of the road. A dim glow hovering on the horizon began to approach the frog and grow brighter. When the light neared it split, becoming two separate orbs of light. They continued to brighten as they neared the frog. When they passed they did so at a terrifying speed, accompanied by a loud noise and a blast of wind. The young frog enjoyed the gust of wind because the wind made it blink its tiny frog eyes. This experience was so new and different that it caused the frog to pause in the middle of the road. At first, it couldn't process what had happened. Perhaps it was the rudiments of confusion, a waking of wonder, or maybe a touch of anticipation. In any case, something had sparked inside this young frog's brain, and the most amazing event happened. This frog made a mental connection between the lights passing and the wind blowing its face. It recognized a pattern in a way that was beyond instinctual urges.

This frog was special after all. Because of a random genetic mutation during gestation, an external event had triggered a latent ability within this frog. Possibly for the first time ever for a frog, this frog, unlike all other frogs, wondered about something. Curiosity had never before manifested in the frog species. This frog wondered about those terrifying but beautiful lights. Why did they get bigger and why did the wind blow each time the lights passed? He experienced a flicker of something special, almost divine. Curiosity was present, but a tinge of another quality presented itself. Could it be an incipient joy, inchoate happiness, or perhaps growing excitement? This frog didn't know or understand the feeling manifesting inside him, but yet he felt the need to express itself somehow. The urge overwhelmed him, and so he made a decision; the first real, consciously willed decision ever made by a frog and represented a potential evolutionary bifurcation and genesis of a newer, better frog species.

Another glow appeared in the distance. The time had come to make real his decision. The frog knew the pattern. As the next pair of lights grew in size, the young frog opened his mouth to take a giant gulp of air, maybe the biggest gulp of air in his whole life. The glow separated into the two orbs and grew brighter. The sound became louder. If he timed this right, he could make the most beautiful frog croak ever, right as the wind gusted. The frog opened his mouth and, right as the lights flashed by, released his...

Right at that moment, the wheels of a large gas truck rolled over the frog, and the frog died in an instant, never to be heard from again. No one missed the frog, or even cared, because no one realized he had left — not the frog's parents, or his siblings, or his pond community. The truck driver, however, unlike the other drivers did notice the frog on the highway that night. When he spotted the small critter in the middle of the road, he turned his steering wheel of his gas tanker ever so slightly, but just enough to ensure the wheels of his truck and the croaking frog met on that fateful day.