Day 184: Frog and Butterfly

Frog and Butterfly
by
Matt Zurbo

 

It all started with something small going wrong at a wedding.
Someone threw too much glitter, and….
(Happy bride and groom running from pond gazebo wedding to car, everybody throwing confetti and glitter. Small frog on lily pad just to left.)

“Hey, I’m colourful!” said the little frog.
“I like this,” it said.
(Frog standing on lily to admire the glittering colours.)

Frogs love colour. They were always bragging; “I’m the most colourful!!” “No, I am!”
“Well!” the little frog thought. “Who’s going to beat this!?”
(Frog strutting, all the other frogs sitting, or in water, watching.)

Meanwhile, next door, a little girl was painting with glue and tinsel.
She knocked over her tinsel jar, and…

“Hmm…” said the little butterfly. “I was already colourful, but now…!”
(Butterfly with nice patterns now covered in brilliant silver and gold patterns, bits of tinsel in air as it flaps its wings.)

Butterflies loved colour. They were always bragging; “I’m the most colourful!!” “No, I am!”
“Well!” the little butterfly thought. “Who’s going to beat this!?”

But all the other frogs didn’t react the way the little frog expected.
“You’re too colourful!” they protested. “You have to be like us!”
“Aren’t you glad for me?” the frog asked.
“Nope.”

Meanwhile, all the other butterflies didn’t react as expected.
“You’re too colourful!” they protested. “You have to be like us!”
“Aren’t you glad for me?” the little butterfly asked.
“No way!”

All that glitter made the little frog easy to spot. It was in constant danger from birds, cats, snakes, and even bigger frogs.
(Frog, covered in colourful glitter spots in the dark, everyone trying to eat it.)

All that tinsel made the butterfly too easy to spot. It was in constant danger from birds, snakes, frogs and lizards.
(Butterfly, tinsel giving off colours, flying in crooked line, just missing been eaten by snapping creatures.)

The little frog tried scrubbing the glitter off, but it was too deep under his skin. It had to cover its glitter with mud, and pretend to fit in.

The butterfly covered the tinsel in its wings with dust.

It was lonely for the frog and the butterfly, pretending to be something they were not.
(Covered in mud and dust, unaware of/back to each other, other frogs and butterflies in the background.)

Then, when it rained…
(Mud and dust washing away.)

“You’re just like me!” they both gasped.

“We don’t want to be like you!” the other frogs and butterflies said.
“So? Don’t be,” said the frog and the butterfly.
It sounded so simple, yet all the other butterflies and frogs gathered to push them out of town! It was a MOB!

But before the mob could act…
“Oh, no! It’s Old Tommy Cat!”
“He’ll eat us all!”
“What shall we do!?”

The butterfly and frog flew and hopped with everyone else. All looked lost…. Then the moon came out!
(Cat leaping through dusk, moon above it, butterflies and frogs under it, fleeing.)

(Dozens of lasers of light bouncing off little frog and little Butterfly, piercing unbalanced cat.)

(Cat, surrounded by streaks of rainbow light, is landing on its chin in the dust. Butterflies and frogs everywhere.)

“Wow, we’re like mirror balls!” the little frog smiled.
(Frog and butterfly admiring themselves, cat in background, running away.)

“Let’s dance!” said the butterfly.

And everybody in the pond joined in!
(Frog and Butterfly in middle of pond, moon light coming off them everywhere. Everybody dancing or flying.)

To disco, of course…!

 

The End