Naively pushing on, the little girl waded through the big pool of mud she had stumbled into while looking for frogs and tadpoles in the grassy ditch. Her mother had warned her. ‘Don’t go too far into that ditch. You never know what might be hiding in there.There could be snakes or even old tin cans!’ But Mellisa was a brave little girl. She had her shiny new, bright yellow rubber boots on her chubby little feet. She knew nothing could hurt her. And she might have been right. Pushing her dumb glasses up on her face, Mellisa pushed through the mud. There it was. A little green, speckled frog sat on the big rock at the end of the ditch. She stopped. Stood ab-so-lute-ly still. Hardly breathing at all. She could feel her glasses slipping. But she didn’t move. Mellisa wiggled her toes. She slid forward just a teeny tiny bit. Cold mud oozed down into her boots. Her mom would be so mad. But she really needed to get that frog. She was close enough now. Mellisa leaned forward really fast. But the frog! It jumped faster. Mellisa fell flat on her face. In the mud. The frog landed on top of her curly black hair. Mellisa grabbed it with both hands! She had a real frog!! And Mellisa was covered in mud. It dripped from her hair. Her new play time jacket was wrecked. Her brand new yellow boots were filled with mud. Her blue jeans were soaked and dirty. Mellisa almost started to cry. But then the frog wiggled and squirmed. She stuffed it in her biggest pocket, struggled out of the ditch and put her prize in the big jar she brought for it. Then, slowly and a bit scared, but still brave, Mellisa went into the house.
“Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness,
heart, talent, guts. That’s what little girls are made of;
the heck with sugar and spice.”
~ Bethany Hamilton
Author's note: Edited April 21, 2024
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