SANDY DENIM

A woman in a canoe emerges from the reeds. "Ms. Denim?" you call, and she comes paddling over.

"Ms. Denim," you say, "I'm –" But she cuts you off.

"I know who you are," she says. "Get in." You climb into the canoe and pick up a paddle, and the two of you head out for the middle of Slow Water Pond.

"Frogs," she says. "Okay, here's what I know. I can verify that our frog population is way lower

than it was last year. We're not finding bodies, frogs are simply disappearing - young frogs in particular.

"We're concerned about it, for two reasons: one, frogs – and amphibians in general – are an important part of the ecosystem; and two, frog deaths might be an early warning that something's wrong with our city environment. Maybe humans are in danger too – who knows?

"Historically there are many many things that can harm frog populations. We are focusing on three that are the park's responsibility:

habitat preservation, poaching, and predators.

"For habitat preservation we are looking at the numbers of people who use the park. If necessary we'll cut that back. To check out poaching, we're working with the people from Wildlife, Fish & Game. If someone is taking the frogs, we're pretty sure it's happening at night. As for natural predators, we've only come up with one possibility: bats. There, have you got enough for your story?"

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