MAGICIAN’S PET • by Michelle Hoeckel-Neal

As a tadpole, I spent my days lounging atop the spongey remains of yesterday’s dinner or soaking in the gurgling, acrid pool I called home. I whipped my tongue at falling bits of meat and beans. When bored, I practiced leaping from the blue sticky mound to the pink pliable one across the small pond. My legs sprouted early, and I used them often. I kicked against the fleshy walls, which constricted and lurched, sending me splashing into the hot, sour liquid. 

But mostly, I waited. Waited to be grown. Waited for my moment.

When it arrived, I was ready. I lodged myself in the tunnel, anticipating the beam of light that would signal my next move. I croaked — rrrrribbit! — and the sound travelled up and away. A fresh stream of water lifted me, and I kicked until my snout bumped against a wall of white, coarse stones. I settled myself beneath the strange wriggling creature that lived there. Its slimy warmth pressed against my body, which flattened as I exhaled. The water sloshed and swirled. The pink animal, undulating like a wave, scooped and cradled me. 

Then out I slid, into a clear, bright, raucous world. A crowd of humans squealed and clapped. The sound was gleeful, and I watched the cave from which I’d emerged display its pearly gates. A fly’s shadow eclipsed the hot lights above. I unfurled my elastic tongue, capturing it. The fly buzzed as it travelled through me. The audience roared. I knew I’d done well.

When it was time to go home, I slipped down the tunnel and landed in the pool with a splash. Twelve familiar eyes met my own, but their expressions did not reflect the same glee I’d seen above. They blinked at me, disinterested. “Magician’s pet,” one frog said. “Bug off,” said another. They knew exactly how to hurt me.


Michelle Hoeckel-Neal recently earned her master’s degree from the University of Maine, where she studied English with a concentration in creative writing. She is a writer of short things, strange things, and things that aren’t all-the-way true. Her words have appeared in JAKE Magazine, Bright Flash Literary Review, The Cairn, and Wayward Literature.

“Magician’s Pet” was inspired by American illusionist, David Blaine, who really does swallow and regurgitate live frogs.


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