A small green stranger showed up unannounced on Sita Hood’s front door one evening last year. The guest was a toad, and she made herself at home without any hesitation.
Hood might have expelled that brazen amphibian. Instead, she presented a shoe.
The toad evidently enjoyed that first night so much, she decided to stay. Each day from there, after sunset, she’d snack on bugs on and around Hood’s porch.
She became such a fixture there, Hood even named her — Jabba the Toad.
“I started leaving the light on to attract bugs for Jabba,” Hood told The Dodo
When Jabba wasn’t hungry, or just needed a rest, she would always return to her favorite spot — one of Hood’s running shoes left out on the porch.
Hood obviously couldn’t wear her sneaker since a toad was inside of it. Hood didn’t care, though.
She remarked, “Giving my shoe was no great thing. “Why not if it provided her with comfort or protection?”
Hood’s kindness was undoubtedly appreciated by Jabba, and she was well aware of it.
One day, near the end of summer, Hood watched as Jabba hopped away from the shoe, off the porch, and into the woods surrounding her home, presumably to hibernate through the colder months.
Hood’s shoe was free for her foot for the first time in months — but it wouldn’t be toadless forever.
The next spring, Jabba returned.
“One morning, there she was in my shoe,” Hood said.
In many ways, Jabba’s second summer at home in Hood’s shoes was similar to the first. However, there was a little incident.
Evidently, not everyone was aware of the agreement between Jabba and Hood.
Hood claimed, “A kind buddy took up my shoes and dropped Jabba in the flower bed. I tucked my shoes away, but Jabba returned later that evening, unfazed.
Hood even posted a notice over the shoes to ensure that there wouldn’t be any more unwarranted evictions.
Like the first, Jabba’s second summer in the shoe eventually came to an end. One day, she just up and left.
Hood isn’t sure if she’ll be back next year, but either way, her memories of Jabba will always remain.
Even though Hood likely never imagined that she’d play host to a toad, going above and beyond in the process, Jabba was more than just a toad living in her shoe.
“I was grateful and delighted to have a friendship with Jabba,” Hood said. “We are all part of the web of life, and on good days, [are] all here for each other.”
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