When You Are Brothers . . . and Best Friends

When You Are Brothers and Best Friends

by

Granny Baadsgaard

Happy 4^th birthday Rylan.

I love you sweetheart.

You told me you wanted a story with frogs - so here it is.

Once upon a time there was a lonely green frog named Rylan. When Rylan woke up in the morning he looked at the empty side of his lily pad and sighed. He thought about what it would be like if he had a brother. He wished and wished; but no brother came.

“If I had a brother,” Rylan said to his mother one day. “We would hop from one lily pad to another all day and splash in the water. We would have so much fun.”

“Daddy and I are working on it,” his mother answered.

Sometimes Rylan imagined he had a brother. One day Rylan looked into the pond and saw another frog looking back at him.

“Oh, there you are,” Rylan said. “Hop out of the pond and we’ll play hide and seek in the cattails.”

But Rylan’s brother in the pond didn’t come out. He stayed in the water. Rylan noticed that his brother copied everything he did. If Rylan raised his right arm, his brother raised his right arm. If Rylan hopped up and down three times, his brother hopped up and down three times. 

“I have a new brother,” Rylan told his mother one day. He lives in the pond and he always copies me.

“Oh that is just your reflection,” his mother said.

Rylan didn’t know what reflection meant but he decided to make his brother come out of the pond so he could show his mother.

The next day Rylan went to the pond and reached inside the water to pull his brother out. It didn’t work. All he touched was water. His brother disappeared in the splashes he made.

“Where are you?” Rylan called. “Please come out and play with me.”

When the splashes stopped and the water returned to a calm smooth pond, Rylan saw his brother again staring at him like he always did.

“Well, you are a good listener,” Rylan said. “But I wish you’d come out of there and play with me sometimes.”

When Rylan was three years old he heard his father calling his name. Then he saw his mother and father hopping toward him with big smiles on their faces.

“We have something exciting to tell you,” his father said. “Your mother is going to have a new baby. Before long you are going to have a new sister or brother.”

“Please let the baby be a brother so we can be best friends,” Rylan said in his prayers every night.

On the day his brother was born, Rylan was so excited he couldn’t stop hopping up and down and jumping from lily pad to lily pad.

“This is the best day of my life,” said yelled to the sky.

“How about we name him Griffen?” his mother said. “Would you like that?”

“Griffen is a great name,” Rylan answered. “Now when can he play?”

“Griffen just wants to eat and sleep. He is too little for hopping. Be patient Rylan.”

Rylan tried so hard to be patient but it was very hard. Soon his brother grew big enough to hop. Every day Rylan taught his brother something new. He showed him how to croak and how to hop from lily pad to lily pad. He taught him how to catch dragon flies with his tongue.”

“Griffen and I are best friends,” Rylan said to his mother.

But some days were hard. Griffen knocked over all of Rylan carefully built bridges between the lily pads. Sometimes he croaked so loud at night it kept Rylan awake at night.

“Brothers are like that,” his father said when he heard Rylan complain. “Sometimes they do things that make us feel tired or mad. But when you’re brothers we stay best friends any way.”

One day Rylan took Griffen to see his still brother in the pond. Rylan saw two still brothers in the water. One looked just like Rylan and one looked just like Griffen. The one who looked like Rylan copied everything Rylan did. The one who looked like Griffen copied everything Griffen did.

“This brother is very still and quiet,” Rylan said to Griffen. “But all he ever does is copy us and he won’t ever come out and play. “You are much better. You’re my best friend. Sometimes you make me feel tired or mad, but when we’re brothers, we stay best friends any way.”

Then Griffen splashed pond water on Rylan. Rylan gasped and pulled Griffen into the pond with him. Then they both croaked so loud they scared all the dragon flies away.