Mondays Soldiers And Moons

In Baw Baw National Park, it is now even darker.

Rain falls on the snow gums.

The sphagnum moss bogs become even more boggy.

Gaius has found a clearing.

Here will do, says Gaius. This is our campsite.

Great, says Sweezus.

No it ISN'T, says Terence.

Oh yes, says the Elegant Parrot. No amenities. That's natural. Let me tell you a story.

What story? asks Terence.

Once there was a little boy, says the Elegant Parrot, and he fell down a drop toilet.

YUCK! says Terence. What's a drop toilet?

Just a hole, says Sweezus.

With poo in the bottom, says the Elegant Parrot.

Ha ha, laughs Terence. Poo in the bottom!

What's the parrot saying? asks Gaius.

She's telling Terence a story, says Arthur. He doesn't like our camp site. She's cheering him up.

Nonsense, says Gaius. There's nothing wrong with our camp site a toilet won't fix. Did you bring a spade?

No, says Arthur. But the point of the story was that we don't need a toilet, because a little boy might fall down it.

Oh I see, says Gaius. But a spade would have been handy.

The rain is getting heavier. It splatters off ferns and trickles down granite rocks in wide runnels.

Oh woe, says the Green Grocer Cicada. I should have stayed in the Melbourne Museum.

No! This is where you come into your own, says the Elegant Parrot.

Is it? says the Green Grocer Cicada.

Soft ground, says the Elegant Parrot. You should probably start digging. And we should probably start listening.

To me? says the Green Grocer Cicada.

If you like, says the Elegant Parrot. But I meant, for frog noises.

I want to listen to YOU, says Terence.

All right, says the Green Grocer Cicada. I have a story. It's about my hero, Walter William Froggett.

Are there frogs in it? asks Terence.

Cicadas, says the Green Grocer Cicada. Walter William Froggatt was an entomologist. He was the man who identified the different types of Green Grocer Cicada.

No kidding? says Sweezus. Aren't you the only type?

Only one type, says the Green Grocer Cicada. Walter William Froggatt identified others. I'm a Green Monday, but there are also Yellow Mondays, Chocolate Soldiers and Blue Moons. The Blue Moons are the rarest. I sometime wish I was one. They are turquoise.

So... but.... says Terence.

I know what you're thinking, says the Elegant Parrot. How can they be Green Grocer Cicadas, if they're not green? Is that what you're thinking?

No, says Terence.

I was, says Sweezus.

So was I, says Arthur.

Good, says the Elegant Parrot. Well done, Green Grocer Cicada.

Is it morning yet? asks Terence, looking up through the black dripping branches.

Not yet, says Sweezus. Might as well try and get comfortable.

Better get digging, says the Elegant Parrot.

Listening first, says the Green Grocer Cicada.

They listen for frog noises.

What do Baw Baw frogs sound like? asks Arthur.

Aaaark kruk kruk kruk! says Gaius.

.......

Deep under the earth, below them, a Baw Baw frog dreams she hears a Baw Baw frog, calling.

Aaaark kruk kruk kruk!

But it's winter, and she is inactive.

She stays where she is.