On a white hot September day in 1965 I discovered how it feels to be threatened and anxious. Fifteen seconds later my tormentor learned the meaning of bewilderment. Under the sedative of the slow-paced climate of Denham Springs, Louisiana life's lessons could sneak up on you quickly.

I was bound by the structure of Southside Elementary School during the day but my afternoons and weekends were free to live as I pleased. My pleasure was spending time in the saddle of my metallic blue banana seat bike. This was not just a bike. This was a set of wheels that could take me anywhere I wanted to go and in style and comfort. The tall handlebars came up to meet my hands without me stretching and the 6 inches of chrome behind the seat served as a backrest. I could pedal standing and achieve an approximate speed of 20 mph then recline and coast with my feet on the handle bars for a quarter of a mile. My best friend and confident, Bucky was always there on his red and black road weary boys bike. We could ride around the block without using our hands and were quite proud of that talent. The two of us logged hundreds of miles in the two block radius our parents allowed us to venture from home.

The sun was a molten dollop hanging low in the sky this particular afternoon. We had already been around the block a dozen times. In the hot humid air we had little energy left and had stopped under the trees to talk about all the adventures we were going to have when we grew up. Becoming a 'grownup'� was the ultimate goal of our young lives and we enjoyed dreaming aloud of it.

Ronald and his family lived at the end of our dead end street. He was a year older than Bucky and me. Ronald's family stayed to themselves. We only saw him on the school bus so it was unexpected when Ronald road in on his bike. He hopped off the bike before the wheels stopped turning and ran up to us.

'Hey, y'all wanna see sumpin'? he asked us.

'Sure'� I replied.

Ronald already had pulled a large toad frog out of his pocket without waiting for a reply. Bucky sat on his bike and I on mine. I'm not sure why but boys have a propensity for intimidating girls with frogs and snakes and insects. Maybe it is learned maybe it is innate but somehow they all come to believe it is funny to put the snake, bug, frog, etc. on the girl's arm or leg. Ronald totally ignored Bucky and came straight for me. He thought it was appropriate to cram the frog in my face. I was not afraid of the frog, I knew with certainty that frogs didn't attack and kill little girls, however I did not want the frog in my mouth and in my haste to back away I fell with my bike falling on top of me. In the time it took me to blink my eyes I was pinned to the ground by my groovy bicycle and Ronald hovering over me with the frantic frog's legs pumping the air against my eyelashes.

With no where to go but up through the frog and Ronald I shoved the bike into them both. I was off the ground in an instant. My wind milling arms must have looked like a lethal whirlybird to Ronald. I was raging at him to get off me and leave me alone. With a blanched and cowed look on his face Ronald dropped the frog who managed to make it to the safety of the drainage ditch next to the street with Bucky hot on his trail. Ronald hopped back on his bike and was half way down the road when my mom came out to see if everyone was ok.

Remembering this episode I have to wonder why it was that Ronald was so puzzled by my reaction. Did he expect me to just lay there and scream or did he think I would kiss the frog and thank him? Over 40 years later I still have no clue what he thought but I do know my raving lunatic personae got my message across, the very clear message that not only was a frog in my face not entertaining but it was totally unacceptable.

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