What are friends for

Brnggggg...... Brnggggg...... "not again," thought Frogman. "I thought I had it this time." But he knew, as the bell was sounding off, that he had not been able to trick the system this time. Before he could even think about hopping away, in flew Spaceman. Escaping from Spaceman's sight, Frogman breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close, '' he said under his breath. "I need to access the system and see what they have updated. I don't want to mess up again. Especially if Spaceman is going to show up every time." Frogman begins to shiver at the thought of him showing back up.

After he returned to his apartment, he took out his computer. Opening the top, he pushed in the special code. 331379. This code allowed his computer to access anything he wanted to in the world of technology. He could rent movies for free, watch any T.V. channel, or check the bank's computer systems. He only used it to check the computer system's at the bank, though. Typing in the special code had become a habit, so much so that he did not even look anymore.  This time though something was wrong. "I know I typed the right numbers, 331379, why isn't it working?" he asked himself out loud. He double checked  himself again. After trying several more times he became frustrated. As soon as he began to type the numbers again, there was a knock on his door. "Fredrick, Are you home?"

Fredrick was his birth name, Fredrick Hopple. Only two people knew him as Frogman. Burt Matthews who was his long time best friend and Reginald Diaz, a carpenter from next door. Reginald and Fredrick had become quick friends. They kept running into each other in their apartment building's laundry room. After the fifth time, they decided to get together and play games while they waited. After several times waiting together, Fredrick decided to trust Reginald with his secret.

"I am Reginald, and it's open, come on it." replied Fredrick/Frogman. "Hey man, was that you, Spaceman was after today? Were you able to get away? Did the system fail you?" Reginald always had a million questions and he seemed to ask them all in one breath. "Whoa, slow down." laughed Fredrick, "Yes, it was me and yes the system failed me. I thought I had all the precautions in place, but something went wrong. I was trying to log into the security side of my computer when you knocked. Something is wrong, though, it won't take my code. I have tried several times. I don't have any idea what could be wrong!" "Let me try," Reginald suggested. Fredrick handed the computer to Reginald. "Go ahead," he said, "but I doubt you have any more luck than I did."

Reginald took the computer and typed in the code 3313794. Bling, bling, bling, the computer rang, and he was in. "Wow, how did you do that?" asked Fredrick. "You forgot a number," replied Reginald. "Ah, so I did, so I did. I don't know how I did it, I have typed that number a million times." laughed Fredrick

Taking the computer back from Reginald, Fredrick was able to access the network. "THEY CHANGED THE ALERT TIME TO THE P.D.!! No wonder I wasn't able to get in and out today. This is ridiculous!" Fredrick was angry. Why hadn't he realized this yesterday when he was checking the system? Why wasn't there a notification of the change? He would have noticed it, wouldn't he? He wondered these things to himself, but out loud he said, "Man, I sure appreciate you getting me logged in. But Reginald, how did you know the password?" Reginald stammered around for a minute, before he spoke with clarity. "Umm, you umm, you showed it to me, remember? Last week while we were washing clothes??" Fredrick thought back but he couldn't remember showing it to him. "I guess so," Fredrick said with caution. Had Reginald turned on him? Was telling him his secret going to end up hurting him? He hoped not, but he wasn't so sure.

The next morning, it was time for Frogman to try again. He put on his costume and hopped over to the bank. All he had to do was go through the vault wall, grab the money, turn invisible, walk out the inside vault wall, and escape. Nothing to it, right? So off he went.

As he hopped around the corner of the bank, he noticed a familiar person standing outside of the bank. It was none other than Reginald Diaz. He was in a black suit, with black sunshades on, and he was pacing. In his left hand was a device that Frogman didn't recognize and in his right was his cell phone. Frogman was able to catch the tail end of the conversation. "He will try today, I guarantee it!" Reginald said into the phone, looking around to make sure no one heard him. Frogman hopped back to the alley. "Could he be talking about me?" he thought to himself. "I thought we were friends. But he does know my secret...??" Not sure of what was going on, Frogman decided to go back home. He wanted to check the system, but he didn't want to get caught. He wasn't trying to be brave or famous. He wanted only to keep the bank safe. That was his job after all.

There were so many thoughts running through his head, but he decided to be brave instead. "Today is the day that I choose to defend myself! I know the bank needs defending, but not if my so-called friend is going to try and stop me. I will have to be careful what secrets I tell from now on. I'm glad I heard him talking, now I know exactly what to do." Back at home, Fredrick decided that he would not try to work the bank's problems out anymore. He decided that as of today he was going to protect people from others who betrayed them, like Reginald had him.