Frog knocked on Toad’s door. It was quiet inside.
“Toad, let’s go for a walk!” Frog said. “The sun is shining.”
“The sun,” said Toad, “is a lie. We traverse a land of lies.”
“I am not lying to you, Toad,” said Frog. He knocked once more. “Can’t you see the light through your window?”
“I have seen terrible things,” Toad intoned. “Things beyond our dimension. I have experienced free will and regretted it deeply. I bemoan the loss of my happier days. Life was simple before, Frog. Truly, I once found meaning in the sun as you do. But you know nothing of the world beyond.”
Frog knocked again. The door remained closed. “It is almost October. Soon the cold will be too strong. We must enjoy the warmth while it lasts!”
“Have you ever looked in a mirror, Frog? Have you wrestled with your own consciousness as I have? We are nothing more than beasts. I wear corduroy slacks, Frog. I am shackled to the image of my creator, whom I have never even seen. I do not know if I wish to meet them. I’m not sure that my mind could handle it. I would be erased from this paltry existence—and it would not matter, Frog, because in the grand scope of the cosmos, there is nothing of me worth saving.”
Frog tried the door. It was locked. He looked through the window. The curtains were drawn.
“I will be sad if I go on my walk alone,” he called. “So I will sit on your porch if you don’t mind.”
Toad was quiet for some time.
Frog sat on Toad’s porch.
A squirrel passed by with an acorn. “Winter is coming,” Frog said to himself. “The squirrel prepares as usual.”
A sparrow flew overhead. “She senses the cold,” Frog murmured. “She begins her journey.”
He thought for a minute. “The daylight wanes,” he said, “and I am with my friend. It seems the world tells different stories to us all.”
The door opened behind Frog. Toad sat down beside him.
“Toad!” Frog cried. “You made it!”
“You were not lying,” said Toad.
They watched the sun set together.
