SPRING PEEPER SOLO

I'd been standing on our back deck for a few minutes before I came back inside. “Well, this sure stinks.” I said as I closed the door and looked at my son Alex, who was standing in front of the open refrigerator.

“What's wrong?” he asked as he moved things around on the shelf.

“Every night, for the past few weeks, I've popped outside to listen to our spring peepers.” I loved the chirping of the tiny little frogs chorus, as they called out for a mate.

“There was one night they got so loud I thought I'd left a window open.” I leaned against the counter. “I spent ten minutes wandering around the house, looking for the window that needed to be closed, only to find out everything was shut tight.”

“Ahum.” Alex stood back and once again scanned inside the refrigerator.

“That's how loud the peepers were that night!” I said, knowing he really wasn't paying attention to what I was saying.

“Wow.” he closed the refrigerator and walked over to the cabinet.

“What are you looking for?” I finally asked.

“Something to eat.” he began pulling out the drawers of the pantry.

“We literally just finished dinner five minutes ago!” I cried.

Alex shrugged his shoulders as he closed the pantry door. He went over to the cookie jar, lifted the lid, peeked inside before reaching in and pulling out a granola bar. “This will have to do.” he opened the wrapper and took a bite. “So, spring peepers huh?”

“Not anymore!” I cried.

“What do you mean?” He took another bite.

“That's what I was trying to tell you. I just went out tonight and I could only hear one tiny peeper calling out!” I sighed. “How sad is that?”

Alex shook his head. “Still not getting you?”

“He's all alone! No one's answering him!” I couldn't believe he wasn't understanding me. “It's like he showed up to the party late and everybody already left!”

“Wait,” Alex looked confused. “Weren't you the one who told me it's only the male that calls out?”

Now I was a little confused. “Yeah?”

“So maybe there's a dozen girls headed his way right now?” Alex smiled as he threw his wrapper in the trash. “Maybe that one lone guy out there is really the smartest one of them all.” Alex patted me on the arm as he left the kitchen.

I thought about that for a minute before I reached over the sink and opened the window. I listened to the peeper singing solo from his choir. I couldn't help but smile. “Maybe you are the smartest one.”