Cheryl Navickis:  

I thought I had gotten used to such creatures and was pretty much unaffected by their presence on our windows...even when I was outside. One rainy afternoon however, my blase' attitude changed! My mom asked me to go out to the laundry-room attached to our carport, to get something for her. Of course, being fifteen I was grumbling and muttering under my breath as I went. I was very "put out" because the rain meant that I had to kind of scooch and shimmy my way between the fishing boat my dad had pulled into our carport as far as he could, and the wall just under the kitchen window to get to the laundry room.. Just as I was 'mid-scooch' under that window I looked up too late to notice, guess what...there was one lonely little Tree Toad suctioned to the kitchen window. I will never forget the look on my mom's face, as I simultaneously saw the tiny critter on the window and he turned from his study of what was IN the house, looked at ME and suddenly launched into the air! I met my mother's eyes just before the inevitable even happened, and you could tell from the look on her face that she knew JUST what was about to unfold. I was so wedged into the little area between the boat and the house, I couldn't do anything to react. It seemed to take forever.....but that little tiny unassuming Tree Toad flew through the air....and landed....... right on my upper chest just below my throat!!!! He suctioned onto my skin, just like plate glass. Now, don't you KNOW I was by this time screaming at the top of my lungs and thrashing around like crazy trying to get out of the tight area I was in under the window... stuck between the boat and the wall. Well, you know how that goes... The harder I tried the less I could get out of there!! I could even feel that tiny toad "ribbiting" on my skin, or whatever noise it is they make as they happily sit on the windows during the rain!! (It sort of gives me the creeps to describe this in such detail, even now...!!!) Oh, it was AWFUL!!! I couldn't get out of that spot fast enough. After much thrashing around, I finally DID get myself maneuvered out of the tight spot and into an open area of the car port near the kitchen door. At the same time, my mom came running out of the house with a broom grasped in her hands to save me. What was she going to do with a BROOM, I wondered at the time....hit ME???!! Of course after raising 3 teenagers myself, I would say that might have been a viable option on her mind!!! The moment she saw me screaming and dancing around with that tiny green critter stuck to my skin.....she had the audacity to burst into hysterical laughter which rendered her totally useless to do anything to "SAVE" me from my predicament!! Can you IMAGINE!!??? Naturally I'm smiling NOW remembering how that scene must have looked to her, and how hard it would be for ME to keep a straight face under the same circumstances. Well, I guess it's obvious that I lived through my "Tree Toad Ordeal", though just BARELY! At least I was convinced of that fact THEN. My mother and the rest of my family thought it was SOOOO funny, they frequently pulled "The Tree Toad" story out for the enjoyment of friends, family, and neighbors. At that age I was MORTIFIED beyond belief to have to hear this bit of family history told again and again!! For a while I didn't know what was worse, the experience....or the frequent recounting of the experience and the embarrassment that I felt upon hearing once again, how hysterical I got over a tiny, harmless Tree Toad!! :~)