Frogtastrophe

Noah's buddy went on vacation and asked Noah to take care of his frogs for two weeks.  Before the kid left, I explained to him the rather spotty record we have with non-mammalian species in our house.  We took our last frog outside in his plastic cage to let him enjoy the nice weather.  We forgot about him, and the sun bloated him up like a marshmallow in a microwave.  Many, many fish, two crabs, and other creatures have perished on our watch from natural causes or otherwise.  But the kid said he understood the risks and entrusted us with his babies anyway.  He said the only way to kill them would be to give them the wrong water (they only take special spring water), and there was no danger of that, because he had just cleaned the tank and refilled their water.

Things went well for awhile.  Noah faithfully fed the frogs every morning, and they seemed happy and healthy.  His pal is going to be home in three days, and I was starting to relax.  But then, in the wee hours of this morning, something went splash in the night.

Noah woke me out of a deep sleep (I was in the middle of a dream that I was exploring a cave with the Duggars) and said, "Marty knocked the frog tank over!"  I stumbled into his room and found Marty pawing at the up-ended tank, next to a huge puddle of stinky frog water soaking into the carpet.  The frogs were scrabbling along at the bottom (which was now the side) of the tank.  Having no access to fresh spring water, Noah got purified water from the fridge.  The water was very cold, and I was afraid it was going to shock the frogs into a heart attack, so we put them in the bathroom with a space heater.   Noah somehow managed to lock the bathroom door before he shut it, so we were locked out.  And Marty was locked in.  Noah was chanting softly, "Please live, please live, please live".  This was more than I could handle, so I said, "Go get your dad."  Mike got the door unlocked; we got Marty out of the bathroom and shut the frogs in; and everyone went back to bed. 

Of course I never went back to sleep, so I got up after awhile to see if the frogs were still alive and turn off the heater before they got too hot.  It's been twelve hours since the incident now, and the frogs are still alive, and I'm very tired.