Latent Larry | Teen Ink

Latent Larry

October 11, 2010
By Dragonscribe BRONZE, West Lafayette, Indiana
Dragonscribe BRONZE, West Lafayette, Indiana
4 articles 0 photos 303 comments

Favorite Quote:
"A Person's a Person no Matter how Small"
and
"A Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet"
and
"God helps those who help themselves"


His momma called him Latent Larry. Latent Larry was a small green frog with no particular talents at all. This was why Momma Frog referred to him as latent, in the hopes he had some latent ability just waiting to burgeon.

Latent Larry was daft when it came to mathematics, useless when it came to science, and clumsy when it came to art. Momma Frog couldn’t get him to read a single tome, render one painting, or even stop to ratiocinate a bit. Her life’s dream was to see him become the paragon of frogs, but nothing he did was meritorious, and the only thing Latent Larry was deft at was talking.

Latent Larry was verbose in all conversation. He was horribly loquacious, and for him a synopsis was an endless tale with way too many details. All the other frogs his age ostracized him like a pariah because they couldn’t stand his meaningless chatter. With only nagging Momma Frog to keep him company, Latent Larry had never felt so lonely. He talked even more because of this. The talking filled up the loneliness.

He talked about sports and the weather. He talked about the tadpoles in the pond and the mud after a rain. He talked about animals, and people, and frogs, and bugs. Latent Larry had never been more talkative.

Then one day while Latent Larry was trying to understand geometry, he noticed a very shifty looking frog talking to two other very suspicious toads. Latent Larry snuck up behind them to listen. Listening was hard for Latent Larry, but he tried his best.

“Today at sunset we will bring in the dogs,” the frog croaked. “They will destroy Frogsville and all the inhabitants. Then we will rebuild and rule!” The frog grinned sneakily. “Mwa-ha-ha-ha!”

Oh no, Latent Larry thought. I must warn everyone! Latent Larry hopped as fast as he could to the center of Frogsville. He took a deep breath, and did what he did best. He talked. Very loudly.

“EVERYONE TAKE COVER!” he bellowed. “AT SUNSET THIS CREEPY FROG GUY AND SOME TOADS ARE GOING TO BRING DOGS TO FROGSVILLE AND DESTROY THE TOWN! SAVE YOURSELVES!”

The frogs stared at him. No one was willing to believe someone as impossibly annoying and stupid as Latent Larry. He was probably just trying to get attention.

Off in the distance a dog howled. Chaos ensued. All the frogs scrambled into their holes frantically. Latent Larry dug his own hole and waited under the ground fearfully.

The dogs came and went, confused. Where had the frogs gone? They even forgot to destroy the town. When it was safe to come out of their hiding spots, all the frogs praised Latent Larry.

Latent Larry was never called Latent Larry again. Larry took up a job in elocution, the art of public speaking. And he talked, to the many frogs who would listen, all day long.


The author's comments:
Yeah, this piece is a little stupid. But I wrote it for my English because I had to incorporate a bunch of vocabulary words, and I just thought it was king of funny. It's definitely the weirdest thing I've ever written.

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This article has 8 comments.


on Mar. 5 2011 at 3:31 pm
graciemurr BRONZE, West Lafayette, Indiana
2 articles 0 photos 5 comments

Favorite Quote:
Life is not about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself.

That's really good Jackie!! And you use a lot of really good words...big words...ha. Keep writing, Jackie! You are amazing at it!

~Olivia


on Jan. 15 2011 at 11:09 am
Dragonscribe BRONZE, West Lafayette, Indiana
4 articles 0 photos 303 comments

Favorite Quote:
"A Person's a Person no Matter how Small"
and
"A Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet"
and
"God helps those who help themselves"

Haha, yeah...I hate those, too, gosh! This is just something random to post when I first was a member.

on Dec. 25 2010 at 4:10 pm
DiamondsIntheGrass GOLD, Martinsville, New Jersey
14 articles 1 photo 278 comments

Favorite Quote:
Worry is simply a misuse of the imagination.

... i was so glad when i read the authors comment and its said that it was just for an english assignment.  goodness, the plot sounds like one of thsoe "everyone is special in their own little way" stories... plus massive words.

on Dec. 10 2010 at 11:24 pm
Silvertext BRONZE, West Lafayette, Indiana
3 articles 0 photos 16 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Imagination has rules, but we can only guess what they are." ~Mason Cooley

Will do!

~Silvertext


on Dec. 10 2010 at 10:45 pm
Dragonscribe BRONZE, West Lafayette, Indiana
4 articles 0 photos 303 comments

Favorite Quote:
"A Person's a Person no Matter how Small"
and
"A Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet"
and
"God helps those who help themselves"

Yes!!! And we need to talk about this in real life, like you know in school. On Monday. That would definitely be fun.

on Dec. 10 2010 at 7:38 pm
Silvertext BRONZE, West Lafayette, Indiana
3 articles 0 photos 16 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Imagination has rules, but we can only guess what they are." ~Mason Cooley

Hey Jackie! I think we need to try writing a story together! You know, You write a chapter, I write one, repeat. I think it'd be fun! Thoughts?

~Silvertext


on Oct. 23 2010 at 9:40 pm
Dragonscribe BRONZE, West Lafayette, Indiana
4 articles 0 photos 303 comments

Favorite Quote:
"A Person's a Person no Matter how Small"
and
"A Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet"
and
"God helps those who help themselves"

Thanks! Yeah, I know it's not great, I just thought it was amusing.

on Oct. 22 2010 at 4:05 pm
softballchick2014 BRONZE, Cedarhill, Tennessee
1 article 0 photos 10 comments

Favorite Quote:
reese's are the best thing, right next to saterday and sunday. "Only two things are infinite, theuniverse and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Alber Einstein "cowardly dogs bark louest." - John Webster, The White Devil 1612

your right that was funny. lol. and it was weird. keep wrighting :-)