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After a few weeks living with the Plantars on the outskirts of Wartwood, Anne had grown accustomed to the town's slow rhythm, so different from the usual L.A. buzz and yet so similar to the quiet Sunday mornings when she was small. Who would’ve thought she’d eventually get used to this place? Sure, she still missed her family and her lifestyle back on Earth, but being in Wartwood now began to feel more like a strange never-ending dream rather than being lost in another planet. And, she figured, she could’ve been in a worst situation, with no frog family to offer her food or to crash on their basement. Sometimes she wondered if Marcy and Sasha had encountered worse faiths, and hoped that it wasn’t the case.
She idly scrolled through her phone gallery, looking at photos of Domino, her friends, random pictures of food, and so many memories of what her ‘normal’ life was like until recently, when a familiar voice startled her.
“Hey, Anne! How's it going?”
Anne jumped at the intrusion, sighing in relief when realising it was just Sprig, curious as always.
“Hey, dude! I’m just looking through my phone.”
“Oh”, Sprig said, “The memory box thing? Can I see?”
“I don’t see why not”, Anne replied. “Here, I can show you more Domino pics!”
“What's that one?” Sprig asked, pointing at the picture on the phone.
“That's her sleeping on the sofa…”, Anne said while scrolling, “and that's when dad took her to the vet and came back all groggy…that’s a drawing Marcy made of a manga character, and that's a math assignment, and…”, Anne stopped talking, surprised at the date of the photos. June 2018.
She must’ve scrolled too far.
“So…what's with the colorful humans?” asked the pink frog.
“Oh! These are from last year's pride parade back at home”, Anne replied. “The floats pass through the restaurant, so me and my parents sometimes give out samples, it’s very fun!”
“A…pride parade?”
“Yeah! You know, people waving rainbow flags, message of acceptance and tolerance, being proud of being your true self…all of it!”
“Oh! Definitely, yeah, I get it”, Sprig said, not knowing what Anne was talking about.
“I was kinda looking forward to go this year, you know? But then this whole ‘trapped in a frog world’ happened…”, Anne continued, “Not that I don’t like it here or anything! But… I do miss my home, and my parents, and all the city noise… But hey, no big deal, right? There's always next year…” she said, a bit disappointed.
“Right, so…I just remembered I had to do…things”, Sprig said, with now a brilliant idea in mind, “See you later, Anne!”
“Okay, don't get in any trouble!”
“Can't promise that!”
“So…”, Sprig addressed the dozen frogs currently sitting in the Plantar's living room, “You’re probably wondering why you’re here.”
“I know”, Polly said, “Because you forced us to.”
“Not the point, Polly”, Sprig replied. “No, what we’re facing here is a crisis of identity, a longing for pride… For acceptance! For love!”
“I…am not sure I follow.”
“This is about Anne!” Sprig continued, “She has this thing back on Earth that she really wanted to be a part of, and she’s sad because she’s here instead and she can’t go, and we need to do something about it!”
“And by something you mean…”
“Throwing a parade! A parade to make her feel proud!”
“Sprig, proud of…what?”, Hop Pop asked
“I…am actually not really sure”, Sprig admitted, “But I do know that it's very important and will make her feel a lot better! Now, we will need a float, lots of rainbow-colored party supplies, and maybe some banners ready for the weekend.”
“Now, hold on a second, boy.” Hop Pop said, “Not only are you not sure what this parade is supposed to be about, but you also want to do this in four days?! You have gone insane if you think a handful of farm frogs can pull it off. We barely manage to host the town’s elections without something burning down!”
“Actually”, Felicia intervened, “it does sound similar to the Newtopian Flower Festival”.
“And we did manage to host this year’s election without setting anything on fire”, added Wally through the window.
“Please, don’t encourage him”, Polly muttered.
“Then it’s settled!” Sprig announced, “We’ll make the best first proud parade this town has ever seen!”
“Yeah!”
“It’s fine by me.”
“Do you think we could borrow your snail for the float?”
“You know what? Fine”, Hop Pop finally sighed. “But if anything unusual happens, you’re cleaning Bessie’s barn for the rest of harvest season.”
“Come on, what’s the worst that could happen?”
“...do you really have to ask?”
Turns out, four days is not a great amount of time to plan a parade, but Sprig did what he could, and couldn’t be prouder of the results as he looked at the sight of a festive Wartwood on an early Saturday morning. The town square was lined up with colorful ribbons and flower wreaths, along with glowing, color-changing mushrooms and banners from some of the windows. With the frogs in town dressed in their brightest attire, using swamp leaves as flags and a couple of repurposed rakes as batons, it looked almost identical to the pictures from the memory box, at least from Sprig’s perspective.
He couldn’t wait for Anne to see it. She would feel as if she were back on Earth for the day.
“The day is upon us, people”, Sprig said in front of his impromptu committee, “We’ve spent four days without sleep, without raising suspicions, and with less paint than we planned for, but we made it! And now it’s time for Anne to come out and enjoy her day!”
“You are aware that this isn’t solely about Anne, right?”
“Don’t be silly, Polly. Of course it is! She’s going to love the float!”, Sprig replied, “Speaking of which, it’s almost time, let’s go get her!”
“ You go get her”, Polly complained, “this was your ide-Hey! Put me down!” She yelled as Sprig carried her and ran back to the farm. Wasting no time, he entered the house and started knocking at the basement entrance. “Anne! Are you awake?” he called, without getting a reply.
“Wake up, girl! We’re gonna be late!” Polly yelled, knocking more aggressively.
“I am awake!” said a half-asleep Anne, “Geez, what’s the rush?”
“You know…just Sprig getting into trouble. Again. ”
“No, I’m not!” Sprig said back, “Hey, Anne, would you mind putting on this blindfold for absolutely no suspicious reasons?”
“You know what? I don’t see why not”, Anne said, “What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Why does everyone keep saying that!?”
“Are you sure we’re close?” Asked a still tired Anne “We’ve been walking for a while.”
“We’re almost there! The town’s square isn’t that far”, Sprig replied.
“And you’re still not going to tell me what this mysterious thing is about?”
“It’s a surprise!”
“Alright then…Polly?”
“Don’t drag me into this.”
“Fair enough”, Anne said dismissively, “Hey, as long as it’s not the town’s annual sacrifice, right?” she added with a chuckle.
“Don’t worry, Anne, that won’t happen until next month.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“And we’re here! You can take that off now.”
Anne was met with the sight of the town square decorated in vivid colors, along with Bessie’s rainbow-themed shell and saddle. Near there, the town’s marching band, or rather, an improvised jug band, was practicing a tune and lining up in front of the purple snail.
“Wait, is this…?”
“Surprise! The town came together to make a proud parade, like the one in your box!”
“Sprig…I don’t know what to say…”, Anne muttered, still in awe.
“It was my idea! You seemed so excited to go, so we brought it right here!”
“Wow…that’s…that’s amazing!” Anne said. “This must’ve taken you weeks.”
“Or rather three sleepless nights”, Hop Pop murmured.
“So… we’re ready whenever you are, Anne.” Sprig said.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re the grand marshal! Just give the sign and we’ll begin the first annual Anne Boonchuy’s Proud Parade of Wartwood!”
Anne had no time to process what he’d just said, suddenly being carried away by some frogs and put on the top of the purple snail, along with a dyed cape and a mud crown. It wasn’t until then that she spotted what she assumed was the frog’s rendition of a pride flag with her face drawn over it. The crowd, if you could call the twenty frogs on the sidewalk of the parade a crowd, was cheering at the event, holding various signs with slogans from “Go Anne. Be Yourself” to “I’m proud of my gay local cryptid”.
“Sprig, what did you do?” Anne flatly said as the band and Bessie started moving.
“What do you mean? It's a parade like on Earth! Showing you off to the town so everyone knows we're proud of you!”
“That’s…not exactly how it works”.
“It's not?”
“Yeah, there's a lot of things involved on a parade other than just one gay person on a float… Speaking of which, you just outed me to the entire town!”
“No, I didn't! We were all already outside!”
“I’m pretty sure you know what I mean”.
“Well, if it makes you feel better”, Polly intervened, “no one actually cares if you're gay or not”.
“She's right”.
“We don't care”.
“Wow…very supportive, guys”. Anne rolled her eyes.
“Not like that!”, Hop Pop said, “What we mean is, it's not that big of a deal here in Amphibia. Some frogs change gender with temperature shifts”.
“Lots of polliwogs are raised by two or more father figures nowadays”.
“I think the general of the Newtopian Army is a lesbian”.
“I just felt so bad about you missing out on human stuff that I thought it would cheer you up to participate in something similar”, Sprig said, “And since you're the only gay person we know…it sorta turned out to be kind of you-centric. But it's okay if you don't feel comfortable with it! We can just call it a day and go home if you want…”
“Wait, go back. Am I really the only openly gay person in all of Wartwood?”
“Trust me, we were surprised too”.
“Actually, you know what?” Anne said, “You could join the parade if you want”.
“Really?”
“Why not? It’d be less awkward with more than one person on the float…Plus, you’ve been understanding and caring, and you did make everything you could to make someone else accepted, so I think you make great allies!”
The crowd began murmuring in agreement, while the Mayor spoke up. “Well, what are we waiting for, then? Everyone, make a line! We have a parade to finish!”
And so, the town formed two lines along the Plantar’s snail, waving their leaves and wreaths along with the music and cheering. Sprig approached Anne, now alongside the rest of the frogs, and handed her a leaf as well.
“Hey…uh, sorry for humiliating you in front of the town and all that”.
“Don’t worry, buddy”, Anne said, “I think it’s nice, all of you going through all this trouble for the only gay person in town, you know? Maybe you’re not as slow to accept as you guys claim.”
“Maybe”, he shrugged.
“And, hey”, Anne continued, “If a small valley town can accept a complete stranger like me, maybe it won’t be so hard to talk to Marcy and Sasha about it.”
“Wait, your friends don’t know?”
“It’s…complicated”, Anne explained, “Sure, Marcy talks a lot about her favorite anime gay ships, and Sasha had that 'I want a girlfriend' song in repeat for weeks last spring, and neither of them judge people on who they're dating, at least not in that way… but at the same time I can't help but ask myself, would they be okay with their best friend liking girls?”
“Well, I don’t really know them, but from the way you talk about them, you seem to be pretty close, and close friends are supposed to support each other through it all! And hey, we’ll always be here if anything happens. You know that, right?”
“Thanks, dude”, Anne replied, “That’s actually really comforting”.
“So…will you tell them when you see them again?”
“Maybe I will”. Anne said, now with more confidence. “But for now, let’s just focus on enjoying the rest of the day. Got anything else planned after this?”
“So many things! Come on, I’ll tell you on the way…”