Page 103 - November 2020

103
Litterateur
November 2020

An Army of Frogs

Mark Blickley is a widely published author of
fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama. Blickley
is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild
and PEN American Center whose most recent
book is a text-based art collaboration with
fine arts photographer Amy Bassin, Dream
Streams. (Clare Songbirds Publishing House).

“I don’t want to go to school today, Ma. I don’t feel well.”

“You felt well enough to stay over Lamont’s house two hours past your
curfew,playing video games. Now get up and get ready for school. And I mean now,
Gregory John Burton!”

The boy jumped out of bed. He knew that when his mother called him by his full
name instead of the familiar Greg, she could not be argued with and was primed for
the yelling that would most certainly alert his father and bring him into the conflict.

As he scuffed his way towards the bathroom he thought about explaining to his
mother why he had distracted himself to the point of disobedience at Lamont’s last
night. They were both trying to erase the fear and anxiety of what was sure to be the
most horrible day of their seven-year education the next morning.

His father flung open the bathroom door, his waist wrapped in a purple towel as he
delicately dragged a large comb through his thinning brown hair. “It’s all yours.
How’s it going, Sport?”

“Terrible,” answered Greg. “This morning we’re going to cut up a frog. Yuck.”

His father paused his grooming to put a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Don’t worry,
Greg. I remember not being too thrilled by the dissection my science teacher forced

us to do, but he reminded us that we don’t kill the frogs, that they were already dead.
And if we didn’t learn from their sacrifice, then their deaths were wasted. He also told
us to pretend that we were surgeons cutting into a patient. It turned out to be quite
interesting.”