Chapter 10: The Statue

Down the steep slope went Errol and Rotten Rory, weaving amongst the trees at great speed.

Meanwhile, Herring Gull Harry and Teacup saw that there were no more skis planted outside the wooden cabin.

“What are we to do now?” asked Herring Gull Harry. “We can’t leave them alone. Who knows what Errol and Rotten Rory will do to each other should they meet face-to-face!”

“They really don’t like each other, do they?” said Teacup in a matter-of-fact voice.

“That must be the understatement of the year,” said a high pitched voice behind them. Startled, they both turned around and there was Slimy Sam.

Teacup looked at him and said, “aren’t you his friend?”

“Yeah, kind off,” replied Slimy Sam vaguely, “although I often think of myself as more his dogs body!”

Teacup persisted. “Why do you let him treat you the way he does then?”

“Dunno,” he replied shrugging his shoulders. “Rotten Rory’s not too bad – sometimes.”

“Look everyone,” shouted Herring Gull Harry. While the other two had been talking, he decided to explore the log cabin and to the right of the front door, he had discovered a shed with the door slightly open. Herring Gull Harry looked inside and saw what looked like a snowmobile hidden under a cover. He opened the door, flung off the cover, hopped onto the seat and turned the key to start the engine. The engine roared into life and he drove the snowmobile outside and motioned to Teacup and Slimy Sam to hop on.

“This is so much more to my liking that that bag thing,” thought Slimy Sam as the snowmobile made its way down the slope. Teacup sat perched in the middle between Herring Gull Harry and Slimy Sam as Herring Gull Harry steered them down the main path through the trees.

Further on down the slope, Errol was weaving his way on his skis through the trees and soon he came to the village. He halted briefly behind a tree and looked back up the slope but there was no sign of Rotten Rory so he continued ski-ing into the village and stopped in the main square where some workmen were working at the top of a long ladder taking down the Christmas tree which was next to a statue in honour of the most famous of all frogs, Admiral Snapfish.

Just then, the sound of the jet ski could be heard and Herring Gull Harry appeared and pulled up in front of Errol with a wave.

Herring Gull Harry looked around, it was suspiciously quiet. “Where’s Rotten Rory?”

“Don’t know, somewhere up the slope still, I think,” said Errol.

“What are you doing now, Errol?”

Errol looked around himself and then his eyes alighted on the snowmobile. He had just had an idea.

“No, Errol, no,” said Herring Gull Harry recognising the look in Errol’s eyes. “This madness ends here. We have all had enough excitment for one day.”

“OK then,” said Errol undaunted. He hopped over to the wormen’s ladder and climbed up it with Herring Gull Harry, Teacup and Slimy Sam watching from the ground below. Errol stopped just short of the top of the ladder and hung one of Rotten Rory’s ice skates on either side of Admiral Snapfish’s hat so it looked as though, from the ground, the Admiral was wearing ear-rings.

As Errol made his way back down the ladder, the others laughed at what Errol had done and then they decided to have a pumpkin juice at a nearby café. The workmen finished their work for the day, removed their ladder and drove off in the van.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Rotten Rory appeared and stopped ski-ing when he saw the others at the café. He was covered in snow.

“Just isn’t your day, is it, Rotten Rory,” said Errol looking at him.

Rotten Rory looked at them all sitting at the café. “What sort of friend are you?” he said looking at Slimy Sam.

“Well, you did leave me half-way up a mountain,” squeaked Slimy Sam. “I got a lift down with these guys down the mountain in style.”

“Where are they?” demanded Rotten Rory.

“Where is what?” queried Errol, an innocent look on his face.

“You know, my ice skates which you stole.”

“Oh, those, I don’t know,” said Errol shrugging his shoulders.

“Ribbit, bet you do,” said Rotten Rory.

“OK, look around you,” said Errol smiling.

Rotten Rory did as he was told but there was no sign of his ice skates so he hopped around the square searching for them and there was still no sign.

“Ribbit, give me a clue.”

“Try looking up at the sky,” Errol suggested.

Rotten Rory did so and then he saw them dangling off Admiral Snapfish’s hat. He spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure a way of getting them down while Errol, Herring Gull Harry, Teacup and Slimy Sam watched. Much amusement was had by all.

And then it started to snow, covering the village (and Rotten Rory’s ice skates) in a fresh blanket of snow which glistened in the moonlight.

And this is where we leave Errol and his friends, froglettes, enjoying their pumpkin juice and watching the snow falling around them.

All that remains for me to do is to wish you a happy New Year.

The End

Chapter 9: The Chase

Errol and his companions had indeed collided with a tree and fallen off the toboggan into the snow. Errol was up again quickly though fed up now with always falling in the snow.

He looked around him and saw that Rotten Rory and Slimy Sam had ended up on the middle of the lake. Just as he thought he had won the chase, Rotten Rory suddenly seemed to find his feet and was carefully hopping his way back to the edge of the frozen lake. Errol found his ice skates which had fallen in the snow and put them back around his neck. “Right, come on you two, let’s go,” said Errol.

“Don’t you think this chase has gone on long enough?” asked Herring Gull Harry.

‘No, look he’s coming over, there is no time to lose,” and with that Errol was off hopping through the trees. He had spied a wooden building so he went over to have a closer look.

He peered through the windows but could see no sign of life. However, as he came around the last corner, he saw the front door and beside the front door there were some skis.

“Brilliant,” thought Errol and before you could blink an eye, he had disappeared off on the skis.

“We’d better follow him,” said Herring Gull Harry sighing while watching Errol vanishing on the skis.

“I know, what if he falls into another snowdrift. He just cannot seem to stay out of mischief!” said Teacup agreeing.

So, they hopped over to the wooden building only they were overtaken by Rotten Rory who got to the skis first, took them and went off after Errol.

There were no skis left for either Herring Gull Harry or Teacup.

Chapter 8: Slimy Sam

The sack went hurtling after Errol and his companions. Rotten Rory shouted, “weeeeeee, this is so much more exciting than going down on a boring toboggan”.

“More like out of control,” thought Slimy Sam holding on to the sack at the back for dear life. He was absolutely petrified of crashing into one of the trees they were going through and so had his eyes very firmly closed shut.

“Oh look, Slimy Sam,” continued Rotten Rory, “I can see Errol’s little party and it looks like they’ve hit a tree!” This made Rotten Rory laugh and laugh and laugh.

A few moments later, they felt a sudden bumpy motion and it felt as though they were flying through the air on the bag before landing with a sharp thud on a very hard, cold surface. In fact, not only did his bottom feel very bruised bit Slimy Sam could feel it getting gradually colder and colder.

“This is very strange snow,” he thought. He still had his eyes very firmly shut but now his bottom felt so cold that that he was imagining it would fall off and disappear! Oh, what a conundrum, froglettes, to have your bottom fall off.

So, with that thought in his mind, he slowly opened one eye and the other eye opened up quickly in complete shock. For, you see froglettes, Slimy Sam discovered that he was not sitting on snow as he had thought but freezing cold ice. No wonder his bottom was so numb with cold.

He looked around him and saw the ice everywhere. You see, froglettes, these two frogs were sitting in the middle of a very icy lake.

Chapter 7: A Stroke of Luck

Rotten Rory got up and started hopping off around the lake searching for Errol and Herring Gull Harry. He had completely forgotten about Teacup.

Weaving quickly in and out of the other skaters, she made her way across to the other side of the lake in no time at all, Errol and Herring Gull Harry catching her up as she slowed up at the edge of the lake.

Errol just happened to glance to his left and saw Rotten Rory and Slimy Sam hopping as quickly as they could through the snow.

“Quick,” he said to Herring Gull Harry and Teacup, “follow me.”

As luck would have it, he had spotted a toboggan at the side of the lake and motioned to the other two to hop on it behind him. He sat at the front and with a loud whoosh, they were off down the hill, the toboggan picking up speed as it went down the slope. The three frogs held firmly onto the sides of the toboggan.

All Rotten Rory could do was watch them disappearing off with his ice skates wrapped around Errol’s neck.

He looked around him but there was no equipment that he could borrow to chase Errol and his gang who were getting smaller and smaller by the second.

Then he saw that someone had left their bag lying on the ground in the snow. Quick as a flash, he emptied the contents of the bag onto the snow and barked at Slimy Sam, “right, you get on this now”.

“What, that thing?” said Slimy Sam incrediously looking at the bag. He wasn’t the brightest of frogs.

“Yes, ribbit, this,” said Rotten Rory impatiently. “Now.”

It was just as well that Rotten Rory was tall as Slimy Sam was rather plump and therefore he took up rather a lot of the space on the bag.

“Oi, what you doing? Get off my bag,” came a shout from the lake. “Oi, you, come back here with my bag,” said a frog skating furiously over to the side of the lake and shaking his fist in the air as Rotten Rory picked up speed and Slimy Sam held on for dear life as they headed off down the slope after Errol.

Chapter 6: Errol’s Revenge

Dear reader, I before I continue with this story, perhaps I should tell you a little more about who Rotten Rory and Slimy Sam are.

Once upon a time, Rotten Rory was Errol’s neighbour until, one day, they had a terrible argument and ever since that day they have hated each other. Slimy Sam is Rotten Rory’s loyal friend and he is short and plump. He hadn’t heard about Errol until he was best friends with Rotten Rory.

Now, to continue with the story of the ice skates….

Teacup set off as fast as her little legs would carry her after Rotten Rory and Slimy Sam followed by a furious Errol and Herring Gull Harry.

Rotten Rory and Slimy Sam skated one more circuit of the arena and thinking that the coast was clear, Rotten Rory signaled to Slimy Sam to skate over to the edge of the arena where they took off their skates.

“Ribbit, that was a good afternoon’s entertainment,” said Rotten Rory to Slimy Sam.

“I enjoyed watching the way that Herring Gull Harry fell down on the ice’” said Slimy Sam in between peals of laughter.

Rotten Rory looked sideways at Slimy Sam. There were times when he could not believe how silly and gullible Slimy Sam was – and this was one of them.

Just as he went to pick up his ice skates, whoosh – Teacup sped by fast as an arrow and took his skates. Another whoosh and before Slimy Sam had time to blink, his skates had gone too courtesy of Errol.

Before Rotten Rory had time to re-act, their ice skates had gone. Vanished into thin air.

“Right,” ordered Rotten Rory, “we have to get our ice skates back”.

“Yes, boss,” replied Slimy Sam, getting ready to follow Rotten Rory.

Chapter 5: Teacup

“Oh, Errol, here let me help you,” said a high-pitched voice.

Errol looked up and there was Teacup offering him her arm. He took it saying, “every year I forget just how hard these things really are to balance on.”

With Teacup’s help he was soon standing upright and skated out to the middle of the lake followed by Herring Gull Harry who had recovered from his earlier mishap on the ice.

As for the tall frog, Rotten Rory, and his friend, Slimy Sam, they were disappointed as they watched the objects of their amusement disappearing amongst the other skaters.

“This won’t do,” said Rotten Rory. “I am going to see if I can knock him over on the ice. You coming?”

“Yes, boss,” said Slimy Sam.

And together they skated over to where Errol and Herring Gull Harry had disappeared hoping to see them but they didn’t. On and on they skated in large circles amongst the other skaters and until, finally, they saw Errol twirling Teacup around and laughing. Herring Gull Harry was standing watching them and singing a tune while waving his arms in the air like a conductor.

As Rotten Rory approached them, Herring Gull Harry stopped singing, Errol stopped twirling Teacup around and bowed to her …. and Rotten Rory sped passed him at great speed and managed to tug at his scarf as he went passed. As Errol fell down on the ice again, Slimy Sam pushed Herring Gull Harry from the back so that he fell on his tummy.

Teacup watched all this happening and as the two frogs sped away, she shook her fist at them and yelled, “you rotters, just you wait, you ain’t heard the last of this.”

Chapter 4: A Slip-Up (Or Two)

Errol and Herring Gull Harry searched their homes for their ice skates.   After what seemed like forever and just when he was beginning to think that he had lost them forever, Errol found his ice skates hiding under a pile of old comics.

“Oh, thank goodness for that,” he thought as he hopped his way back down to the lake to practise his ice skating skills with Herring Gull Harry.

There seemed to be more frogs on the ice now so Errol and Herring Gull Harry looked for a less crowded area, put their skates on and, whoops, one step onto the ice and Herring Gull Harry fell over onto his bottom.  Errol watched him and burst into laughter as he fell over.

“Just you wait ‘til you get on the ice,” Herring Gull Harry said as he turned around and looked at Errol before getting up again.  “Then it will be me laughing at you.”

“No chance,’ declared Errol confidently hopping up and completely forgetting that he was now wearing ice skates. As he tried to stand up he wobbled, and then he wobbled some more and as he put his arms out to try and balance himself, he fell flat on his face on the ice.

Not only did Herring Gull Harry laugh at Errol’s performance, but so too did two other frogs.

“Ribbit, those two clowns can’t skate for toffee,” said the taller frog to his friend who, on hearing this, laughed all the more only it was not a friendly laugh, but a nasty, evil one.

Chapter 3: The Frozen Lake

On hearing Errol’s knock, Herring Gull Harry hopped quickly to the front door, flinging on his woolly hat and scarf as he went.

“Hello, Errol,” he said as he opened the door. Surprised to see a very wet and bedraggled Errol, he added, “what happened to you, you look as though you swam here underwater!”

“I might as well have,” mumbled Errol. “I slipped on some ice and ended up in a very large snowdrift.”

“Poor you,” Herring Gull Harry said sympathetically. “Fancy going down to the lake? I hear there are some ice competitions going on there”.

So the two friends hopped their way down to the lake which glistened and sparkled in the winter sunshine.

In the middle of the lake an arena had been set up where some frogs were busy ice-skating and to one side there was another, smaller arena where two teams were playing a furious game ice hockey.

The two friends watched the ice hockey for a few minutes and then Herring Gull Harry turned to Errol saying, “I don’t think that that is for me.”

“Nor me,” agreed Errol.

They hopped over to watch the ice skating and saw that someone had painted on the ice that there would be an ice skating competition taking place on New Year’s Eve – all competitors welcome.

The two frogs read this and then looked at one another and saw that they were thinking the same thought.

“Shall we?” said Errol.

“Why not,” said Herring Gull Harry. “It will be frogtastic and I like the idea of winning a year’s supply of fly and mosquito cookies.”

So, the two friends made their way home to find their ice skates.

Chapter 2: In A Pickle!

One minute Errol was hopping down the street and the next – well, he’d slipped on some black ice and went flying through the air and was now lying splat surrounded by a high wall of snow.  He got his breath back and sat up.  He was cold and wet and his scarf lay limply around his throat making him feel even colder.  From where he was sitting, the sky seemed to be a slightly different colour of white from the snow.

He stood up gingerly and tried to hop out of the snow drift but the wall of snow was too high.  As he was lying half out of the snow drift with his legs still in it, he decided to slowly heave himself out of the snow drift.

He was now very, very wet and cold too so, to warm himself up again, he decided to hop as quickly as he could to Herring Gull Harry’s house and knocked on his front door.

Chapter 1: The Snowdrift

It was that time of year again, froglettes.  The days were shorter and the nights were even longer than usual.  In the small town of Marblefish it had been snowing all day every day for the last week without stopping and now the snow lay like a thick carpet over the countryside. All the rivers and ponds too had disappeared too under a thick blanket of ice.

Today it was Boxing Day and it had finally stopped snowing.  Having been house-bound for a week, the doors gradually started to open and animals appeared in the streets again, glad to finally get out and about.

Errol was no exception. He wrapped his red scarf around his neck and opened his front door full of excitement. He shivered as he hopped out into the cold air that greeted him, closed his front door and just as he was about to make his way over to Herring Gull Harry’s house, he somehow managed to hop straight into a snowdrift that was just lying there, waiting for him in the str