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It was a beautiful fall day and they had finally managed to break through the fence. Tod figured they had at least one whole day of running around in the woods before Coppers owner would realize he was missing.
They ended up playing in the leaves first, snapping at them and rolling around until they were completely covered. After that they made their way deeper into the woods chasing each other and hiding in the underbrush of the thick forest. They were so lost in their game that they didn’t even notice a small Toad until Copper nearly stepped on him.
“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” Much to the fox and hounds amusement he was wearing a coat and pants. None of the animals they had seen wore clothes unless they were being forced too. This Toad however had clearly chosen to wear them.
“Sorry.” Copper leaned in closer trying to smell the strange animal. (He smelled like any other Toad). The Toad in response stuck his head up and sighed, clearly grumpy.
“Tell you what I’ll forgive you if you help me look for my best friend Frog, he went missing yesterday. I’ve spent hours searching, but there’s only so far that I can go on these short legs without getting tired.”
Tod and Copper shared a look, it was supposed to be their day to just play in the woods but the idea of trying to find a Frog was exciting especially for Copper who was just starting to get better at tracking.
“Okay Mr. Toad we’ll help you.” Tod said brightly.
“Do you have anything that smells like him?” Copper asked, he would be able to find a Frog much faster if he knew what he smelled like.
“What kind of question is that? Why would I carry something that smells like Frog around with me?”
“It would just help me track him, that’s all.” Copper felt like he was being perfectly reasonable. “Maybe we could go back to his house and then I might be able to pick up his trail.”
“We’re not going to walk all the way back to Frog’s house, that will take hours. Why don’t you just smell me and then use that to track him. We spend so much time together that we probably smell the same.”
“All right.” Copper leaned forward smelling the Toad again. He just smelled like a Toad at first and then he started to pick up the trace of a Frog.
“I think I have it! Follow me!” Copper took off running forgetting that the much smaller Toad would never be able to keep up. At least Tod remembered, letting him ride his back before chasing after Copper.
“Your moving too fast.” The Toad shouted before starting to scream. Tod ignored him too excited to pay him any attention.
They ran for what felt like minutes for the fox and hound and hours to the toad. Finally Copper stopped and stuck his nose in the dirt.
“That’s where the scent ends.”
“But I don’t see a Frog.” Said Tod, the Toad on his back was still trying to regain his breath.
“Your both ridiculous of course Frog isn’t here. He would never go to the other side of the pound without me.” Toad huffed.
“Well where do you think he would go then?” Tod was genuinely curious he didn’t know all that much about Frogs.
“I don’t know, we never spend that much time apart. What if something dreadful has happened to him?”
“Like what?” Tod knew he probably shouldn’t ask but he couldn’t help himself.
“He could have drowned!”
“But can’t Frogs swim.”
“He could have fallen into a giant pit!”
“But can’t Frog’s jump really high.”
“He could have been eaten by a wild beast!” Neither of them knew what to say to that, it was very possible that he was eaten by something.
“Why don’t we take you back home and see if he’s waiting for you.” The Toad grumbled clearly not expecting him to be there.
“Fine, but you should go slower this time, I ate a lot of cookies for breakfast and I don’t want to be sick. That would be a waste of cookies.” Copper and Tod had stolen cookies before and knew how good they were so they both agreed to go slower. Maybe the Toad still had some cookies left over.
While they walked they chatted about the best cookies, Tod and Copper had only tried chocolate chip as that was the only kind they had been successful at stealing. Mrs. Tweed was very good at keeping them out of reach. Toad reassured them by saying that the chocolate ones were best anyway. Copper still planned on trying more flavours in order to decide for himself.
By the time they reached the Toad’s house the sun was sitting lower in the sky . He must have walked for a long time to get so far away.
“Here we are.” Toad happily got off Tod’s back and headed for his front door. The fox and the hound exchanged a confused look. Not only did this Toad wear clothes but he had a house too. There was even a garden and porch just like the ones their owners had.
Toad pulled a tiny key out of his pocket and unlocked the front door before pushing it in.
“Frog are you here!” He shouted. It was quiet for a minute before he let out a horrified screech..
After a couple minutes the Toad reemerged looking sad.
“All my cookies are gone.” He announced.
“Okay, but was Frog there?”
“No, but he left a note on the door that I didn’t notice before.”
“What did it say?”
“That he was going to the pond and wanted me to join him.”
“Well that’s good news isn’t it? Now we can go to the pond and find him.” Tod was starting to get anxious, just wanting the search to be over. The day was almost over and they didn’t have any time left for games, they would have to head home soon or be caught out. Being caught out was the worst, it meant you got yelled at and kept inside until you could behave.
“I suppose, let me just get my bathing suit.” He disappeared back inside much to the shock of both Copper and Tod.
“Did he say bathing suit, I thought only humans wore bathing suits.”
“Well he wears coats and pants sooo.”
Once Toad was ready he got back on Tod's back and they made their way to the pond. Toad knew exactly where it was so it didn’t take long.
After all the build up the pond was decidedly unexciting. First of all it was tiny with only a couple lily pads and second of all there where so many weird things swimming in the water that neither fox nor hound wanted to get too close.
Frog hopped over when he spotted them.
“I was wondering what took you so long.”
“Oh Frog, I didn’t see your note until I went back to my house. These two creatures helped me look for you.” Tod and Copper smiled at the Frog when he looked their way.
“Nice to meet you.” Frog smiled at them extending a hand to shake neither of them took it. Shaking hands was only something humans did. These two were very weird.
“Anyway I would like you to meet my nieces and nephews.” He put a hand on Toad’s back and led him closer to the pond. Tod and Copper followed still apprehensive about the whole thing. Toad however seemed ecstatic at the site of the strange things swimming in the pond. Even pointing out certain ones and claiming they looked just like Frog.
“What are we looking at?” Copper finally asked after a couple of minutes of staring blankly into the water.
“These are tadpoles, aren't they adorable.” Frog and Toad shared a look admiring the strange ‘tadpoles.’
“Well I think we should be on our way, our owners will be expecting us back home.” Copper explained before the two of them took off into the woods. They had learned a lot today, like that Toads and Frogs were weird and liked to pretend that they were humans even though humans were no fun at all. Also apparently when Frogs were small they were called tadpoles. Made no sense. They both silently agreed to never get too close to strange ponds again.
When they finally got home it was completely dark out and their owners were outside shouting at each other. At least when they got closer the two humans stopped, Copper got yelled at and sent to his room without dinner. Tod got scolded and was given dinner and even allowed to sleep in front of the fire; though he did manage to sneak some of his own food to Copper after his owner had fallen asleep.
“Let’s go somewhere else next time we sneak out, I don’t want to run into either of them again.”
“I agree they were weird, how about next time we run to the creek down the road.”
That is exactly what they did the following week and there were no strange amphibians in clothes, much to their relief.