They've Come For The Crapauds

They arrive at the address in Neuilly.

It looks not like a hospital, but a house.

On the front door is a cardboard sign, suspended by string, looped around a brass tack.

The sign reads: "Hopital pour animaux sauvages blessés".

This must be it, says Katherine.

This IS it, says Roo-kai.

Vello knocks on the door. A child opens.

Bonjour, says the child. Mais ce n'est pas the temps pour une visite.

Hello, says Sirene. We have come a long way for our froggies. Please don't send us away.

Froggies? says the child.

Crapauds, says Vello.

O, says the child, those rude crapauds. Will you take them away?

If they are better, says Katherine.

They are perfectly well, says the child. Come in and get them.

They follow her into a small room, set up like a ward.

There are rows of small cardboard box beds, with tissue paper covers.

In two of the boxes, side by side, lie Team Romeo-Knowlesi.

At last! cries Quiet-tartus.  

I've brought you a present, says Terence.

Are they your crapauds? asks the girl.

Yes, says Terence. They are my cycling team. They had a crash in the Tour de France. Didn't they tell you?

I did not believe them, says the girl. 

Terence pulls four little green wheels from his pockets.

Is that our present? asks the knowlesi.

No, says Terence. This is.

He opens the paper bag.

Will they recognise toadstones?

Haroo! cries Quiet-tartus. Toadstones!

What are they? asks the knowlesi.

They are magical stones, says Sirene. They are jewels, found inside the heads of toads.

Tosh! says Vello. They are undoubtedly fossils.

I knew that, says Quiet-tartus.

Which? asks the knowlesi.

Quiet-tartus has no time to answer.

A woman has come in.

Etoile! says the mother, who are these people?

They've come for the crapauds, says Etoile.

Bien, says the mother. Bonjour, nos visiteurs, but it is not time for a visit.

We are sorry, says Katherine. We'll take the frogs now, if they're better.

Alors, says the mother. Etoile take them out of their beds.

Yay! says Terence. 

It is only now that it becomes apparent the frogs are strapped in.