The Catchers

I still remember the day I was promoted to a wader, it was great. All the Catchers were present at the ceremony, from Grant, the youngest Spotter, to Anna, the Elder Wader and President of the Catchers.

The Catchers were a club of sorts, and every kid who lived on our lake was a member. We were a club with a purpose, and every time we met we scoured the shoreline for our quarry, the frogs. Method was key to how the Catchers operated; Spotters, the lowliest rank, simply walked ahead in order to scare up the frogs for the Chasers or the Waders. The Chasers could catch the frogs if they remained on dry land, a privilege not allowed the Spotters. Waders could perform the more dangerous catches, in water, and there were only two, until I was promoted.

The way a promotion was earned was performance above and beyond the call of duty, such as me. I was one of the better Chasers and one day the Spotters spooked a little brown frog for me. He was a quick one and timed his hops just right, making him difficult to catch. Suddenly he cut right and plopped into the lake. I dove of my belly and plunged my arm in up to the elbow and caught the little guy a foot under. After he was imaginatively named Sub and safely moved into his new five gallon bucket home in our secret frog abode in the woods, Anna presented me with the dried leaf that symbolized I was now a Wader.

The next day my leaf crumbled, but I didn’t mind, there were plenty more around.

Soon after that our members began moving away. The new kids who moved to our lake weren’t interested in the Catchers and our numbers started shrinking. When Anna moved I was appointed President but there were only three of us left by then. I was twelve when the last two left and the Catchers crumbled, just like my leaf.

I still live on the same lake and there is a new generation of kids. The frogs have dwindled since the Catchers dissolved and are hardly ever seen anymore, but I did see a little girl catch a frog once. She was so excited she had her mom take a picture of it and she showed everybody, something that a Catcher would never have done. We never even showed our parents the frog abode. But the excitement was there, something about frogs just needs to be caught, named, put in a house bucket, and then released with heartfelt farewells in a day or two.

I think the frogs left on purpose, they knew that they were not wanted anymore and moved to the next lake over. But time is coming when they will return. When the kids of the lake want them they will come back, and someday the Catchers will be reborn.