The Tattletale Frog/Transcript

Introduction

Arthur and Buster sit on the couch in the Reads’ living room and watch Bionic Bunny on TV.

Arthur: My sister D.W. is perfect. She never does anything wrong.

Something crashes offscreen.

D.W.: It wasn't me!

Flashback: Mr. Read looks into the refrigerator while his wife sits at the kitchen table.

Mr. Read: What happened to the chocolate eclairs?

D.W.: Pal ate them.

Mr.+Mrs. Read: (giggle)

D.W. has chocolate on her face.

D.W.: What? What's so funny?

The flashback ends.

Arthur: If George Washington were like D.W., history would have been a lot different.

A fantasy shows D.W. as young George Washington standing next to a felled tree and holding an axe.

D.W. Washington: I cannot tell a lie. The tree chopped itself down. Bad tree! Bad!

The fantasy ends.

Arthur: D.W. never gets blamed for anything. Well, except for this one time...

Something crashes offscreen again.

Arthur: Arthur did it!

Arthur looks annoyed.

Title Card: D.W. carries the broken frog down the stairs

Kate sits in her high chair in Mr. Read’s workshop and plays with her rattle. Her dad talks on the phone which he is holding between chin and shoulder while preparing food.

Kate: (laughs)

Mr. Read: How many more guests? Well, I think we can cover that. The phone falls down. Bye!

D.W. and Bud stand in the door.

D.W.: Dad!

Mr. Read: What is it, honey?

D.W.: Bud and me are bored.

Mr. Read: I'm a little busy, D.W. Why don't you guys go and play a game?

D.W.: Okay.

Kate: (laughs)

***

D.W. and Bud sit on D.W.’s bed and play a board game.

Bud: Three, four, five. Hey! I win! (laughs)

D.W.: Let's try again.

They play the game again.

Bud: Seven, eight, nine. Well, how about that? I win again!

D.W. looks annoyed.

D.W.: Let's play Tower of Cows.

D.W. builds a tower of cows. It collapses.

D.W.: (gasps)

Bud: Oh. I thought you had it. You were so close.

Bud: Weasel Rally!

D.W. and Bud play Weasel Rally. Bud reaches the finish line.

Game: "The Winner!"

Bud: (laughs)

D.W. and Bud play rock, paper, scissors.

Bud+D.W.: Rock! Paper! Scissors! Shoot!

D.W. has scissors, Bud has rock.

Bud: Rock. I win!

They play again with the same result.

Bud: Rock! I win!

This time D.W. has rock and Bud has paper.

Bud: Paper. Me again. How about that? Must be my lucky day. Feel like I could fall into a barrel of skunks and come up smelling like roses.

D.W.: I think we should play... Throw the Hat!

She snatches Bud’s hat off his head.

Bud: How's that go?

D.W.: Like this!

She throws Bud’s hat across the room.

D.W.: I win!

Bud: That's a new one on me. Is it my turn now?

D.W.: I guess.

Bud: I'll try to throw it farther. Here goes!

He throws the hat like a boomerang out of one window and back in through another. It sails past the kids and into the hallway.

Bud: Oo-ee! Look at that!

D.W.: You did it wrong.

They walk up to the hat.

D.W.: Here, watch!

She throws the hat so that it flies into her parents’ bedroom and knocks a mechanical frog off a shelf.

Frog: “Frogtown froggies sing this song. Croak, croak, cro-o-o-o-oak."

An eye pops out and the frog goes silent.

D.W.: Look what you made me do!

D.W. tries to reattach the frog’s arm, but it is no use.

D.W.: It's broken. It doesn't sing right. Its singer's busted!

She presses a button, but nothing happens.

Bud: I'm awful sorry. We better tell your pa.

A thought bubble appears showing Mr. Read holding the frog.

Mr. Read (in bubble): D.W., you're in trouble.

The bubble disappears.

D.W.: No! We shouldn't tell! I don't want to get you in trouble. Maybe he won't notice it's gone. Wait here. I'll be right back.

***

D.W. sneaks down the stairs with the frog. Nadine appears.

Nadine: What are you doing, D.W.?

D.W.: Getting rid of the evidence. If Dad doesn't see it, he'll never know it got broke.

D.W. looks out of the window to see that the coast is clear. She walks out of the door, looks around and then walks over to the trashcan by the garage.

Mr. Read: D.W.!

D.W.: (gasps) I didn't do it!

She hides the frog behind her back while her dad brings a stack of trays to the van.

Mr. Read: I was going to ask where Bud is.

Bud: Bud? Bud who?

Mr. Read’s cellphone rings. He puts the trays in the van and takes the phone out of his pants pocket.

Mr. Read: Oh, drat. Hello? Oh, hi. Yes. Uh-huh...

While he talks, D.W. runs away and back into the house. She slams the door behind her.

D.W.: (gasps for breath)

Frog: (distorted singing)

D.W.: Shsh!

The frog closes its mouth over D.W.’s fingers.

D.W.: Ow!

She drops the frog.

***

D.W. opens the trash compartment under the sink and takes out some of the trash.

D.W.: Eww!

She puts the frog inside and puts trash on top of it.

D.W.: (sighs)

***

D.W. returns to her room. The games are all back in their boxes.

D.W.: (gasps) What happened in here?

Bud: I cleaned up.

D.W.: Oh.

Bud: I’ve been thinking that maybe we should tell your pa what happened.

D.W.: Bud. You need to go home now.

Bud: Oh. All right. Only… well… you see, there's just one thing.

***

D.W. and Bud stand in the door to the parents’ room. Bud’s hat is lying on the shelf were the frog stood.

Bud: My hat. I think my ma would skin me alive if I came home with it lost. Maybe we could ask your pa to reach it down?

A thought bubble appears in which Mr. Read looks at the shelf.

Mr. Read (in bubble): Froggy! Where's Froggy?

The thought bubble disappears.

D.W.: He's too busy. I'll get it.

***

D.W. stands on the bed and throws shoes at the shelf. The first knocks down a trophy cup.

D.W.: (grunts)

Bud: Missed!

D.W.: It's okay. (grunts)

The next shoe knocks over a photograph of D.W. and Arthur.

D.W.: (grunts)

The shoe flies out of the window.

D.W.: (grunts)

She throws and falls down.

D.W.: Ouch! It's okay, I'm okay! (grunts)

The shoe knocks a cactus pot off the window sill.

Bud: Whoa...

He dives and catches the pot just in time.

Bud: Oof! Phew!

D.W.: We need more shoes.

***

A while later, the shelf is full of shoes, but the hat is still where it was, next to a concertina. D.W. tries to get it down with a golf club.

D.W.: Uhm... Uhm... Uhm...! I got it! Um!

She pulls the concertina down.

Bud: Incoming!

He pushes D.W. aside before the concertina falls on her.

Bud: Your pa is not going to be a fan of me!

D.W.: That's it!

***

D.W. puts a fan on the ground and turns it on. None of the items on the shelf budges.

D.W.: It's not strong enough. Let's move it closer.

D.W. has put the fan on the window sills. The hat’s ear flaps move in the breeze.

D.W.: Come on. Come on!

The fan falls out of the window.

D.W.: What happened?

Bud: Um...

He points outside.

Bud: Maybe we should get a ladder and...

D.W.: That's it!

***

D.W. and Bud stand next to a big ladder in the garage.

Bud: I meant we should ask your pa to help.

D.W.: He's too busy. Come on. Grab that end and be quiet.

Mr. Read is on the phone in the workshop.

Mr. Read: How soon? Well… sure. That's possible...

Kate sees D.W. and Bud run by with a ladder outside the window.

Kate: (laughs)

Mr. Read: What is it? Is it your diaper? No! No, no. Not you, Mrs. Fallon.

***

D.W. and Bud try to get the ladder into the house.

D.W.: We need something to hold the door open.

They go inside.

Bud: How about this?

He points to a vase. A thought bubble shows Mrs. Read holding the vase.

Mrs. Read (in bubble): It was a gift from my great-grandfather to my great-grandmother. It's been in the family for over one hundred years.

The thought bubble disappears.

D.W.: Yeah! That old thing's perfect!

They use the vase as a doorstopper and carry in the ladder. Behind them, the door closes and smashes the vase. Mr. Read hears the noise.

Mr. Read: D.W.?

He walks to the house and trips over the fan.

Mr. Read: Oof! Huh?

He picks up the fan and the shoe. The golf club falls out of the window and almost hits him. He walks into the house.

Mr. Read: D.W.? What on earth...?

He sees the smashed vase.

Meanwhile, D.W. and Bud stand at the bottom of the staircase with the ladder.

Bud: I don't see how we'll ever get it up.

Mr. Read: What is going on here?

He holds the smashed vase.

D.W.: (gasps)

Bud: Er... Just a game of Throw the Hat, sir.

***

Mr. Read takes the ladder back into the garage.

Mr. Read: I thought you two were going to play a quiet game.

Bud: I guess I better get home before I cause more trouble. (whispers to D.W.:) I'll get my hat later on.

He leaves.

Mr. Read: Now, young lady, suppose you tell me...

His cellphone beeps. He looks at it.

Mr. Read: Oh, no! I'm late!

He runs off.

D.W.: Phew!

She sees her mom come home.

D.W.: (gasps)

A thought bubble shows Mrs. Read entering the bedroom.

Mrs. Read: What on earth happened here?!

The thought bubble disappears.

D.W.: Ah!

She runs after her mom.

***

Mrs. Read is just going up the stairs.

D.W.: Mom...!

Mrs. Read: What's up, D.W.?

D.W.: Why don't you stay down here? There's nothing to see upstairs.

Mrs. Read: What did you do?

***

Mrs. Read stands in the bedroom just as she did in the though bubble.

Mrs. Read: What on earth...? D.W., do you have something you want to tell me?

D.W.: Mmm... not really.

Mrs. Read: (sighs)

***

Mrs. Read has tidied up the room. Bud’s hat is still on the shelf.

Mrs. Read: Oh, I can't believe one kid could cause so much destruction.

D.W.: It wasn't on purpose!

Mrs. Read: There's something missing.

D.W.: Missing? Nothing's missing. What could be missing?

Mrs. Read: Hang on... Is this Bud's hat?

D.W.: Uh... uh, yes. I mean, Bud didn't mean to do anything bad.

Mr. Read calls from the driveway, waving his car keys and holding Kate.

Mr. Read: Honey, I'm taking off.

Mrs. Read: I'll get Kate! I'm definitely calling his mother about this.

***

A while later, D.W. lies on her bed and stares at the ceiling. Nadine appears beside her.

Nadine: Poor Bud. He's in trouble now. He must feel scareder than a balloon at a porcupine party.

D.W.: You're my friend, Nadine. You're supposed to be on my side. And quit talking like him!

Nadine: (sighs) (Louisiana accent:) It's a cryin' shame.

***

Mrs. Read does the dishes in the kitchen. Kate and D.W. sit at the table. D.W. stares listlessly at her sandwich.

Mrs. Read: I can't understand how that nice little boy could be so destructive.

She drops an apple core in the trash.

Frog: (distorted singing)

Mrs. Read: What was that?

D.W.: I didn't hear a frog. Or... anything like that.

Mrs. Read: It came from down here.

She opens the trash again.

Frog: (distorted singing)

D.W.: Quiet!

Mrs. Read: What?

The phone rings. The display says “Compson”.

Mrs. Read: Bud's mother. Perfect. Hi, Cisely, I'm glad you called. I wanted to speak to you about Bud.

D.W.: (cries)

Mrs. Read: D.W.? Hang on, Cisely. What's the matter, honey?

D.W.: It just...happened, I didn't mean for him to be like a balloon at a porcupine party... (cries)

Mrs. Read: Honey, slow down. Tell me what's the matter. What happened?

D.W.: It was me! I did it! I killed Daddy's frog! (cries)

***

Later that day, D.W. sits on her bed and talks to Bud on the phone.

Bud (on phone): It surely is a piece of luck your pa didn't mind about that old frog.

D.W.: Yeah. But they're still making me stay home all week. And I'm not allowed to have anyone come over!

The screen splits showing both kids.

Bud: Well, at least you told the truth. I think that's awful brave of you.

D.W.: I'm sorry I said it was your fault.

Bud: That's no never mind. And hey, we can still play this way, right?

Both kids hold up fists.

Bud: Ready?

Bud+D.W.: Rock! Paper! Scissors! Shoot!

D.W. has paper, Bud has rock.

D.W.: What did you get?

Bud: Rock.

D.W.: I got paper. I win again.

Bud: Man, oh, man. This is surely your lucky day.