8Hullo! I apologize in advance for this story. It's one of those things that I've been thinking about for forever but couldn't get the wording exactly right. I've seen some people do this so, uh, disclaimer I don't own Over the Garden Wall. I did create Andrew and Jessica, although I guess maybe I didn't since Wirt and Greg had to have parents, but, uh…I'm rambling! Well, enjoy my story! Or don't.
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The DeMayo house was the quietest and cleanest it had ever been, but Jessica felt the worst she had ever felt. The pure silence that she used to dream of was now a horrible torture, and the only way to escape it was to clean. The rumble of the vacuum sometimes was loud enough to quiet her disturbing thoughts, and the intense smell of vinegar forced her to think only about holding her breath. The best distraction came at night, when her husband came home from work. It was always so relieving, when she heard the click of the door being unlocked and seeing her amazing husband peek through the door with a small smile on his face. Today was different, though. This time, Andrew came in swiftly, motioning for her to join him on the couch. When she sat comfortably next to him, he pulled the mail out of his satchel, and flipped through until he found the letter coming from the hospital. Jessica gasped.
"Is it news?" She said excitedly, leaning in closer as he tore the seal of the envelope. Andrew looked at her. "I think so." Andrew tugged the folded paper from the envelope and started to read it aloud.
Jessica and Andrew DeMayo
We are pleased to inform you that your two sons, Walter James Edwards and Gregory David DeMayo, will be ready to go home on November 6, 1983. Walter awoke from his coma on the 3rd, and Gregory has succeeded in holding the appropriate body temperature required for leaving. The frog, identified by Gregory as Jason Funderburker, is ready to go home as well, and is currently living in the home of an amphibian enthusiast. We have no idea what kind of frog Jason is, but we do know that he is some type of intelligent bullfrog.
Walter has a broken elbow, so you will need to get him a physical therapist as soon as possible. Gregory is fine physically but has been telling our staff some strange stories about forests and talking bluebirds. This is most likely some strange dream he had while he was in the lake.
Thank you and have a nice day!
The Aberdale Arizona Children's Hospital
Jessica grinned at her husband, who grinned right back at her.
"They're coming home! They're finally coming home! Oh, I can't wait to hug my boys and show them all the gifts the neighbors brought them! I'll need to clean their rooms and-"Suddenly, Jessica noticed Andrew's confused face as he scanned the letter again.
"What is it Andrew?" She asked, leaning to look over at the letter.
"Since when does Greg have a frog?" Andrew asked. "How are we going to care for a frog? Also, it never gave us the address of the amphibian enthusiast the frog is staying with." Jessica's joyful smile returned to her face.
"That's all? Oh Andrew, it will all be fine. We can just ask the amphibian enthusiast he- Jason is staying with. All that matters is that Greg and Wirt are coming home!" Jessica raced to the kitchen and started to make a list of everything she needed to do before they came home. Andrew sunk deeper into the couch. Finally, everything could go back to normal.
The next day was what Jessica called 'Preparation Day.' She cleaned Greg and Wirt's bedrooms, (Greg's was particularly messy) bought groceries, got her car cleaned and repaired, called the amphibian enthusiast (apparently, there was a phone number at the bottom of the letter) and scheduled a time to pick up Jason, got a physical therapist for Wirt (the office was only five minutes away. Woo!) and got the stew cooking in the crockpot. Everything was ready for Greg and Wirt to come home. When Andrew came home, they drove off to the amphibian enthusiast to pick up Jason. As they drove, Jessica listed off things they would probably need for the new member of the family.
When they finally arrived at the house, Andrew started unloading everything that was in the trunk into the backseat of the car, so that there would be room for the frog's living quarters. When it was finally done, Andrew and Jessica went up to the door and knocked. A very nice-looking young woman answered the door.
"Ah! You must be the DeMayos! Come inside! I'll show you where your frog is." The two DeMayos followed the woman up some carpeted stairs and into a large, warm room covered top to bottom with tanks full of amphibians. The woman led them to a large tank, half filled with crystal clear water. It was a very nice set up, but Jessica could see no large frog in sight.
"Where is he?" Jessica asked reluctantly. The woman laughed. "Oh, no worries! He is in my frog pond in the backyard! I will take you to see him in just a little bit, I am just going to explain a few requirements of care for Jason." Jessica listened intently as the woman explained the day night light rotation, cleaning the tank, raising dubia roaches, and keeping the humidity high.
"Jason is a very unusual frog. I've been caring for him as I would an American Bullfrog, but he is much larger and more intelligent. I have discovered that, while my other bullfrogs do not like physical contact, Jason loves it, almost needs it. I will take you out to see him now, if you'd like."
On the way to the frog pond, the woman explained how they would need to build a frog pond for Jason, as he was much to big to spend all his time in the tank.
When they arrived at the backyard, all Jessica could see was a bullfrog paradise. There was a fence around the pond, so that the bullfrogs could not escape. The pond was crystal clear and even had a few fish in it. Small greyish rocks surrounded the outer rim, but larger rocks were scattered outside the pond, for the frogs to bask. The bullfrogs were everywhere, basking on the rocks, hopping in the grass, and swimming in the pond. There weren't many in the pond, as it was November and was getting a little cold to swim in the water, but one giant frog paddled gleefully through the water, splashing other frogs that were a little too close to the pond. The woman laughed.
"There's Jason! Com'ere buddy! Yeah that's right!" Jason hopped out of the pond and made his way to the gate entrance. The woman reached in and lifted him gently into her arms.
"I've been discovering that he acts more like a puppy than a frog." The woman chuckled and transferred the frog into the hesitant Andrew's arms. As Jason snuggled in, Andrew raised his eyebrows.
"Wow. I really expected him to be slimier. Where did Greg find this frog anyway?" The woman's smile shrunk a little. "The doctors brought him to me and told me he was drowning with your boys. They said he wouldn't leave your younger boy's side, so they thought maybe he was his pet? I got to speak with the younger boy…. Greg…... about Jason. He told me some weird stories, but I got the gist. Take care of Jason. Nurse him back into health." Jessica smiled.
"He always did have such a huge imagination." Andrew laughed.
As they headed inside, the DeMayos discussed buying supplies from Jason. The woman happily obliged and gathered everything they could ever possibly need for Jason. After paying her a very large amount, they headed out to the car, dragging a toy wagon full of frog stuff behind them. It took three trips to get it all out there. Andrew stared sorrowfully at the pile.
"How are we going to fit this all in the car? I don't think even the tank would fit." After much messing around, they finally got it all in. The 80-gallon tank sliced through the middle of the car, so Jessica rode in the back, leaning as far forwards as she could. Jason was riding happily in Andrew's lap.
"Rorop!" Jason croaked happily, wiggling around in Andrew's lap to get as cozy as he could. Jessica looked at Jason in surprise.
"I didn't know he could croak!" She exclaimed, and Andrew laughed. "All frogs croak! Although that croak was truly unique, and deep."
By the time they arrived home, Jessica had a back cramp, and Jason had decided he wanted to explore and had made his way underneath Andrew's seat. Jessica sighed in relief as she awkwardly made her way out of the car.
"Well, looks like we have a lot more work than we expected." She said happily, and Andrew looked at her in bewilderment. "You're happy about this?" Jessica laughed.
"We're doing this for Greg, remember? We have one day to set this all up and build a frog pond. It will be fine. You will just need to take off work tomorrow. Might as well since you already will be for the 6th." Andrew smacked his forehead. "Of course! I knew I forgot something! I'll call the office in a minute and take um…... how about four days off. The 5th through the 8th. That way I can have 3 days with Wirt and Greg."
Andrew and Jessica began the long process of setting up Jason's home in Greg's room. After bringing it all upstairs, Jessica looked around happily,
"I am SO glad I cleaned his room earlier! We wouldn't have been able to set this up if it had been a mess!" Andrew grinned at her. "I will say, it's never looked this good."
One hour later the tank was set up nicely with a content Jason paddling through his small pool. Jessica sighed in relief.
"Finally! Oh wow, it's seven already! Um, I guess we're having leftovers for dinner." Jessica gave Andrew a small smile as he groaned.
The next day was what they called "manual labor for Greg" day. For seven hours they dug, filled, and set up a pond for Jason. It was 4:00 pm when they finished. Jessica and Andrew stood nearby the pond, admiring their work. It was a quite beautiful pond, to tell the truth. Andrew looked at Jessica wearily.
"I'm gonna take a shower, you can shower in Wirt's bathroom if you'd like." Jessica groaned.
"I just cleaned it, though! I can't have it covered in mud and grass when he gets home! I'll just wait for you to finish. You'd better be quick."
An hour later, Andrew and Jessica sat at a table eating leftovers, yet again. Andrew ate slowly, wearily nodding his head as he tried to stay awake. Jessica was quite the opposite though, really. She was filled with the excitement for having a full house again. Sure, there'd be a lot more messes and drama, but at least it would feel like home. Andrew scooted out of his chair and began rinsing his plate and the other dinner dishes.
"Once we get dinner cleaned, I'm heading to bed. I recommend you join me." Jessica agreed silently. Soon, Andrew had finished the dishes, and Jessica had wiped the table, and they were lying in bed. Andrew was out, but Jessica had never been more awake. She mentally checked off her list of things that she had needed to do before the next day. Why was she so stressed? Eventually, she fell into the deep chasm of sleep, not even remembering falling in.
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Wirt hated the hospital. The plain white walls, the weird clothes, and most especially the nurses that checked on him constantly, acting as though he might collapse any second. That was ONE time, guys. Yeesh. The only spot of happiness in this place was Greg. Greg was somehow able to find something positive about everything in the hospital. He had to take a nap? Oh, well rest is great for the body and soul, so sure, why not?
Wirt was currently sitting up in bed, listening to Greg ramble about how excited he was to go home in a few hours.
"Aren't you excited, Wirt? We get to see Mommy and Daddy and sleep in our own beds and wear our own pants- not that I have anything against these stripy Pjs- and see Jason Funderburker! I hope he is at home now and not with that lady. GASP. WIRT! What if mommy and daddy let us eat ice cream?! Oh oh oh oh oh you know I bet they would! I can't wait to play with my toys and- " Suddenly a nurse popped in, holding a clipboard and pen.
"Oh! You two shouldn't be up yet! It's only 6:30! Did you have trouble sleeping?" She asked them, scribbling notes onto her clipboard. Greg grinned happily up at her.
"YES we had trouble sleeping! We get to go home today! The excitement is so tingly in my very bones and it kept my awake ALL night!" The nurse looked at them worriedly and scribbled on her clipboard furiously. Wirt quickly piped in.
"We haven't actually been up all night- we just woke up a few minutes ago! We, uh, we'll just go back to sleep now. GOODNIGHT!" He gently pushed Greg towards his bed and burrowed into his own covers, blushing furiously. The nurse went to a little whiteboard hanging in their room and began writing things onto it. Eventually, she left, giving them suspicious glances on her way out.
Somehow, Greg actually fell back asleep (it's a miracle) and Wirt was able to get another hour and a half of sleep in.
After breakfast, Greg and Wirt packed all of their things up and got dressed in some clothes their parents had brought them. It felt nice to be in normal clothes again. While Wirt sat on his bed writing poems about how much he hated the hospital, Greg scanned every square inch of the room for any toy he might have missed.
"I promise you, Greg." Wirt sighed. "We got all of your toys. There's nothing to worry about." Greg looked at him worriedly.
"But if I DID leave one behind, it would be all sad that it got left behind and didn't ever get to leave the hospital. I CAN'T let that happen!" Greg continued searching under Wirt's bed.
Finally, it was 6:45, the time to go home. Wirt and Greg sat in their rooms impatiently, waiting for their parents or a nurse or anybody to burst through the door and tell them it was time to go home. At 6:50 pm, Andrew and Jessica suddenly burst into the hospital room, huge grins on their faces.
"Who's ready to go home?"
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Ha-ha. Well that sucked. I've always been horrible at starting books. Or really anything that I write. If you enjoyed it, well, thanks for enjoying it! I will gladly take any constructive criticism to make my writing better. So, uh, thanks for reading. (Also, random side note, I know way more than I ever intended to on American Bullfrog care. The more I researched, the more I knew Jason was NOT an American Bullfrog.) This is my very first fanfiction. I have many other ideas, but, as any author knows, it takes a lot to get an idea from the brain to the paper. Or I guess, the laptop.
