Frog Prints

By Ashley Todd and Tracy McCauley

The island of Key West was beautiful, tropical, and filled with a magic all it's own. But not for Archie, the tree frog, or as he was formally titled, Prince Archibald the Third. He did not want to grow up and be a king. He wanted to have fun and explore, and be "normal" like other teen-agers, without being lectured by his tutors, or followed by his bodyguards.

So,one night, Archie ran away from home. On a mission to find out his role in life, and to seek adventure, he finds a new home atop a sponge-keepers cart in Bahama Village, located in the heart of Key West. It is there that he meets Jake, a colorful gecko, whom he rescues from being chased by angry chickens. The two boys soon become the best of friends.
Together, they share many adventures, from avoiding battle with Archie's sworn enemy, One eyed Jack, the meanest cat on the island, to taking manatee rides at night , and eventually, becoming stow-aways on an old sailing ship. The two save a beautiful white Dove, named Sarah,from being the captains dinner one night, and the three soon find a safe harbor in their friendship.

Throughout their journey, the boys ,and Sarah, learn some big lessons, about life, and friendship and family, and the three of them grow up a little, along the way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 14, 2013
• ISBN: 9781479769773

Ashley Todd

Tracy McCauley was born in Cleveland Ohio. After growing up in the country, she , and her family moved to the Florida Keys, where they lived on a small island 30 miles north of Key West Living in the tropics ignited her creative energy, allowing her to pursue her love of writing , painting and music. Bahama Village is located in the heart of Key West, and it was there that the story, Frog Prints, was born. After living in the Keys for twelve years, she now resides at their country home, located in north Alabama, with her husband and biggest supporter, Doug. There, at "Rusty Armadillo Farm", she still enjoys painting, writing, music, gardening, and all things creative

Book preview

Copyright © 2013 by Tracy McCauley. 126061-MCCA

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013900593

ISBN:

Softcover: 978-1-4797-6976-6

Ebook: 978-1-4797-6977-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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Contents

chapter ONE

chapter TWO

chapter THREE

chapter FOUR

chapter FIVE

chapter SIX

chapter SEVEN

chapter EIGHT

chapter NINE

chapter TEN

chapter ELEVEN

chapter TWELVE

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CHAPTER

ONE

Jake looked over at Archibald and yawned. He could see that far away look in his eyes and knew that he was day-dreaming again. They were sitting on the pier, watching the sail boats glide by with their cargo full of happy tourist. It was always fun to end their day like this, drinking coconut milk and watching the sun set. But today was different for some reason. Jake had felt it since this morning when they had woke up and jumped off the sponge-keepers cart.

Usually, Archie was thinking of new ways to tease those six-toed Hemmingway cats, or those crazy chickens in Bahama Village. The cats could run faster, but Archie and Jake had more places to hide, and the chickens, well, they were just too funny. They weren’t very smart and could get confused pretty easily. One time Jake had jumped off the cart in front of one and scared it so badly that it ran in circles until it got dizzy and fell over, making Jake and Archie laugh so hard that their belly’s hurt.

In fact, that is how they met. Jake was being chased by a chicken through the Village and under the vender’s carts when he heard, Hey lizard! Hop up here. Looking up, he saw this little tree frog, about the same size as himself, sticking to the side of the sponge-keepers cart. Not having much of a choice, he scurried up the side of the cart and jumped on top of one of the sea sponges. Getting a little angry, he puffed himself up, trying to look as big and mean as possible and glared into the frog’s big, red eyes.

I’m not a lizard, he said loudly. I’m a gecko! And I don’t hop! He tried really hard to look stern, but he was so relieved to be safe that he couldn’t help a tiny grin while he said it, which kinda ruined his plan to look tough in front of the silly frog. He got even angrier when the frog just started laughing. Well, you sure look like a lizard to me. he said in between squeaky croaks, because he was laughing so hard. And when you were being chased by that cackley old grandma hen, you were hopping around all over the place. The frog was laughing and croaking so much, he almost fell off the sponge cart. If he didn’t have those sticky feet to hold him there, then he would be the one running from the chickens.

Jake couldn’t help himself. His grin got a little wider. Besides, the frog had saved him. He bowed his head and said, just a little stiffly, because he was still embarrassed. Well, I am a gecko. My name is Jake. And I usually don’t hop at all. I run. Lizards don’t look like me. Just look at all my colors. He did a little twirl, showing off his green and blue body, with little orange and red spots on each of his toes. ‘’Lizard’s have boring colors and mine are very handsome. You should have known the difference."

The frog looked at him with a big smile, his eyes still