Frogs – Episode 2
Al in a commanding tone: “Eddy, where are you?” Eddy replies devotedly, “Right on your wing, Boss.” Larry listlessly: “Hey guys, it’s getting late. Why don’t we fly back now? How long are we going to keep circling here?” Al: “Before we do, we’ll grab a couple of juicy frog legs.” Eddy, with a dripping tooth. “Frog legs.”
Gerry sits in the Frogguard-Headquarters and yawningly has his eyes on the youngsters. A small frog drifts out onto the lake from the frog kindergarten. Gerry screams: “Dad! Steve!” No one answers. “Help! Dad!” Gerry dutifully grabs his buoy, takes a deep breath, and whispers Henry’s words: “You’re already a good frogguard.” He raises his head and storms to the lake.
Cordula and Bernhard, two chatty trouts, hang around the shore. “Tell me, Bernhard, my dear. Have you heard?” Bernhard looks at her attentively, as Gerry jumps on his back like on a jet ski. “Cough, ouch.” Cordula grumbles: “Not like that young man. Always these frogs. What are they thinking?” Gerry pushes: “Come on Bernie. Let’s go!” Bernard restrains him: “Just a moment, little man. Henry always says: ‘A rescue frog never swims out alone’.” Gerry jumps into the water and swims. Bernhard is speechless: “Those frogs, no, no, no.” Cordula joins in: “Outrageous.”
Eddy, in the sky, opens his eyes and alerts Al: “Frog legs and baby frog delicacy at 3 o’clock, boss.” Al gives the order to attack: “Get them!” Henry and Steve are back. Henry screams: “Gerry! No!” And he hits the red button that makes the stork alert sirens sound all over the village. Al looks down, irritated at Larry, and yells, “What are you waiting for? That is a direct order. Attack!” Larry fakes an attack. Chaotic croaking. The tadpoles crowd together. Albert, the weatherman, screws himself into his glass. The inhabitants throw themselves on the floor or disappear under parasols. Steve sprints to the lake with a buoy and Henry on the roof to the catapult. “Fire!” The spiky chestnut rustles through the air, but Eddy dodges easily. Henry reloads, pulls on the catapult, but doesn’t manage to pull it tight. He remembers Gerry as a baby, playing with a butterfly in a water lily and singing crookedly. Henry struggles. Charged. “Fire!” The spiky projectile flies. “Take that!” The little drifting frog looks helplessly into the sky at the plummeting Eddy. The water turns yellow. The chestnut hammers Eddy out of his flight path at the last moment and gets stuck in his beak. “Boss, I’m hit. Mayday, mayday. I’m going down.” He staggers through the air and catches himself just above the water. Larry breathes a sigh of relief and rises to Al. Eddy follows him. Steve jumps on Bernhard’s back. ” Ugh!” “Come on. Quickly over to Gerry!” Bernhard replies conscientiously: “But Henry always says…” Steve kicks him in the side like a horse, and they shoot to Gerry like lightning. Cordula: “But you can say that in a nicer way.” Steve pulls the two frogs towards him.
The storks gather at a safe height. Al plans the next attack. “Second attack on my command.” Eddy remarks: “Boss. I have limited visibility.” Al beats the chestnut from Eddy’s beak. “Birdbrain.” Larry cautiously replies, “Hey, guys, wouldn’t we rather fly home?” Al ponders, “Okay, men, I can’t stand the sight of you anymore anyway.” Larry takes a deep breath. “We still got some canned fish,” Eddy throws in. Al nods: “But tomorrow, we’ll get those little croaking bastards.” Al and Eddy scream triumphantly: “We are frog eaters!” Larry moans: “Yes, exactly. Frog eaters. Copy that, Boss.” Al gives the order to fly back to base. The storks fly away. The spectators gather on the beach and take selfies with their new heroes. Steve gives Gerry a high-five. “Good job, buddy.” Gerry enjoys the attention but searches the crowd for his father; unsuccessfully.
End of work at the frogguard headquarters. Gerry and Steve are expected by Henry in his executive chair, with folded arms. Steve wants to soften the situation a bit: “That was really brave.” Henry: “That was just reckless. And we’ll talk another time.” Steve sneaks away. “Dad!” Gerry replies incomprehensibly. Henry explains to him that he has to follow the rules of a frogguard under all circumstances. Gerry quotes praying mantra-like: “A frogguard never swims out alone!” Henry gets pictures from the drawer and slams them on the table. “Look, Herbert also believed that he could swim out by himself.” He shows him a photo with an empty water surface. “Oskar.” A photo of a stork with a couple of frog legs dangling from its beak. “Or Grandpa Toni, from whom I took over the office.” Gerry hooks in: “But Grandpa Toni didn’t come back from vacation, did he?” Henry pulls out a black-and-white photo, showing Toni with long swimming trunks, thumb outstretched, and cocktail. A perch with its mouth open jumps out of the water in the background. Henry warns: “What if this stork had caught you? With that attitude, you’ll never be a real frogguard.” Gerry gets up, leaves, and throws at his father: “And what if I don’t want to become a frogguard?” He slams the door. Henry whispers with a tear in his eye, “What if that stork had caught you.”
In the evening, Gerry sits on his bed and enjoys the posts about himself on his cellphone. A TV spot about Animal Stars, a new casting show, immediately draws him under its spell.