Frogs – Episode 4

Larry looks at the skyline of Manhattan in exhaustion. Gerry continues to navigate with his cell phone without looking up. The battery symbol flashes. Gerry: “Damn, but New York must be there somewhere.” Larry joyfully says, “Look up, my friend.” Gerry throws his phone into the scarf and grins. They fly a lap of honor around the Statue of Liberty. Larry stumbles the approach between the street canyon and lands exhausted at the NYPD station on Time Square. The neon sign shows advertisements of “Animal Stars.” Larry breathes heavily and covers his ears. Everywhere is filled up with police sirens, cars, and tourists. Artists in disguise pose with Gerry, pretending to be his friends, but in the end, they only want money. Larry pushes him on. Gerry wants to explore the city, and Larry can hardly follow him in the scramble. A wolf in a suit with a headset and a coffee cup comes around the corner. Larry jumps behind a garbage can to hide, but he gets the cup thrown at his head. The coffee leftovers run down his cheeks. He sticks his tongue out and shakes himself so heavily that he bumps into a kitten. The poor little one is so frightened that her ice cream ball falls out of the waffle. Gerry is there, catches it, and wants to give it back to her. But her texting mommy carelessly pulls the crying kitten on. Gerry bites into the ice-cream. Brain freeze and blue frog head. Larry catches the rest and gets a blue beak. They go to a shop window with noble fashion. The tuxedo of a mannequin merges with Gerry’s reflection, and he poses stately in front of the window. Larry’s reflection merges with the avant-garde dress next to it, and he too feels royal. The two have endless fun. They cross the street and walk along the impressive Rockefeller Center, and finally, they arrive at their destination, the Radio City Music Hall, where tomorrow will be Gerry’s big day. Gerry sees a poster of the “Radio City Frogettes” and falls in love at first sight with Venice, the lead dancer.

It is getting dark in Central Park and the kings of the night are getting tired. Emma, a small, excited skunk, greets the two in ambush style: “Hey guys, where are you from? Where are you going?” A barely noticeable, nervous wind escapes her. She continues frantically: “What are you doing? May I join in? You’re an odd couple. Friends? Best friends? In love? Engaged? Married?“ Larry’s beak is wide open, and Emma is unstoppable: “Or simply relatives?” Emma lets one out. “I’m Emma.” She spells: “E-M-M-A,” and keeps talking: “Will you be my friends? Will you? Come on! Come on!” Larry’s face turns green. Gerry answers quite openly: “Sure, I’m Gerry and this is Larry, and we are…” Emma interrupts him and lets one out: “Tourists? Larry and Gerry? No, I got it. Gerry and Larry. Never mind.” She yells, “You’re my friends.” Gerry explains, “I want to win Animal Stars.” Emma forgets herself and waves her tail wildly: “Wohoooo!” Larry chokes discreetly: “Unfortunately, we have to go now.” Emma invites: “Why don’t you sleep at my place? Right over there. We can stay up all night, tell each other stories, and do all the things friends do.” Larry cuts her off: “Appointments!” Emma understandingly say, “Sure, Animal Stars. How silly of me. I’ll see you on TV.” Larry pulls Gerry away and Emma whispers, “If I only knew what friends do.”

Larry builds a nest of twigs, straws, and plastic waste. Gerry sits in the grass and admires the New York animals that do not behave like animals. They are styled, make selfies, have no predators, but eat packaged stuff and drink Coffee To Go. He discovers a duck swimming lonely on the lake and runs to it. That was close! Gerry almost collided with a jogging squirrel with big headphones. “Sorry!” But she doesn’t care about his apology and continues to run unwaveringly. At the lake, Gerry realizes that it’s just a plastic duck floating in the water along with other trash. He misses home and thinks of Frogtown, Mummy, and Daddy. He pulls out his cell phone, but only the battery symbol is flashing.

Rana is lying in her room, looking at Gerry’s profile picture. He is doing the crown move, but he is offline. Rana sighs: “Oh Gerry.”

It is bedtime in the straw nest, and Larry yawns: “Sleep well Gerry.” Gerry exhausted: “Tomorrow will be my big day.” He falls asleep. Larry takes off his scarf, covers Gerry, keeps him warm, and has only a newspaper for a blanket.

Larry is trapped in his worst nightmare. A dark, ominous tower in a desolate place, with holes all around like a dovecote, from which storks fly with babies in slings. It is the “delivery center for babies of all kinds and sizes.” A UFO hovers over the inner ring, and with the help of a tractor beam, it lowers babies onto pallets. The babies crawl wildly around. The colonel storks with their berets can no longer cope with the many deliveries. Hectically, they try with forklifts to move the pallets into the outer ring, where the vegetarian transport storks have to live. There they wait under constant surveillance for their next delivery. As soon as a stork is loaded and ready to leave, a gate opens and he begins the delivery. The colonel stork shakes violently at Larry’s bunk bed: “Get up Veggie. Line up!” Larry’s delivery is ready. Lovingly, he puts the baby chameleon into the sling, but suddenly, she disappears. Larry is frightened. Blink. Blink. Two big eyes blink at him with long lashes. Larry wakes up, rubs his eyes, and goes back to sleep. There is a yelling, “Get up, Larry.” A baby alien with a glowing finger and a return label with the words “Mars” is standing next to him, and with a jetpack. Just a dream! Larry tries to sleep. “Get up!” This time, a dragon with hiccups is waiting. Hiccup! Breathing heavily, Larry falls asleep again. “Get up,” Larry looks with burnt beak at a pallet with a baby elephant.