Flippersteps in the Sand

[Pianodog]

(Hesitantly goes into nagging mode): Well, a little more story would be nice, come to think of it ...

Pianodog.

 

[TogetherAgain]

Oh, NEVER hesitate to nag! Especially if you're nagging me. Goodness knows I can be just BRUTAL with other writers when it comes to nagging, and I deserve some of my own medicine! ...Sometimes. <Innocent little grin>

And speaking of more story! I'm halfway (down the stairs? No-) through the next chapter, and I fully intend to finish it tonight, and then hopefully type it tonight, and then of course post it tonight. Once I get the ball rolling on this scene, it should come relatively easily, although you never can tell. However, I will guarantee that at the very least I will have this next chapter posted before I leave. My goal is to get into 1975 before I leave, but I am not guaranteeing that. (Well, actually the goal is to leave you guys with a cliffhanger, but how exactly do you create suspense with history? I mean, I might figure out a way at some points, but I don't see any suspense on the horizon. Then again, if you had asked me a few months ago, I wouldn't have had any idea about how to wrench hearts by having a character dusting... But you now have that to look forward to in part two.)

I will be leaving on June 18, 2006, and returning on July 31, 2006. Thus, I will not be posting any story between those two dates.

But it's not between those two dates yet, now, is it? Let's see if I can't knock out this chapter.

 

[Pianodog]

Yes, writing should always be done in a state of stressful agony! That's how the best work comes out . June 18, hmm, that should give you plenty of time to write and post, say, six more chapters?

Moving right along!

Pianodog.

 

[TogetherAgain]

Okay, let me say something, as clearly as I can, before everyone gets confused. As you have probably figured out by now, this story does not exactly follow The Muppet Movie. On the other hand, there will be some scenes that are very similar to The Muppet Movie. On the other hand, they will have their differences from The Muppet Movie. On the other hand, some scenes will be almost word-for-word from The Muppet Movie. The point is, I know the differences, I realize the differences, but some things simply had to change for continuity's sake.

Also, there will be some things- er, at least there is one thing, in this chapter- that will seem not to fit in at all, but trust me, it will work in eventually.

Now then.

 

[TogetherAgain]

Chapter Twenty-Six

“Oh, okay,” Kermit said. “Well I’m Kermit the Frog.”

“And I’m Rowlf the Dog.”

“Hey you guys rhyme!” the gold-toothed man observed. “Did you do that on purpose?”

“What?” Kermit said. “Uh, no.”

“IN-TRO-DUC-TIONS!” the crazed red creature shouted. “NAMES! NAMES!” He panted.

“Oh yeah, we gotta introduce ourselves!” the male guitarist said. “Well, he’s Dr. Teeth.” He looked at the gold-toothed man.

“Golden teeth and golden tones. Welcome to my presence,” Dr. Teeth said. He laughed.

“I’m Floyd, I blow bass,” the male guitarist said.

“And I’m… I’m… the saxophone player looked unsure.

“ZOOT!” the drummer shouted.

“Yeah,” Zoot said. He lifted his instrument slightly. “Sax.”

“And I’m Janice, I play lead guitar,” the female guitarist said.

The drummer gave a small roar.

“Oh, and that’s Animal!” Floyd said. “Show ‘em what you do, Animal!”

To say the drummer looked excited would have been an understatement. “I want to- EAT DRUMS!” He clamped his jaw around his cymbal and fiercely tried to bite it.

“No, no. Beat drums, beat drums!” Dr. Teeth said.

Animal hesitated, released the cymbal, and sat up. “BEAT DRUMS! BEAT DRUMS!” He ignored his sticks and threw himself against the drums.

Floyd shouted at him. “Down Animal!”

“DOWN!”

“Back!”

“BACK!”

“Sit!”

“SIT!”

Animal’s obedience had driven him down behind the drums, so that they couldn’t see him. He stood right back up.

“Hey, what’s going on out here?”

They turned to see a purple-ish man in dreadlocks.

“We got an audience, man!” Floyd said.

“This is Clifford,” Dr. Teeth explained. “He owns this joint. Clifford, this is Kermit the Frog and Rowlf the Dog. They rhyme!”

“Intentionally?” Clifford asked.

“No,” Kermit said.

“I didn’t think so,” he said. “Nice to meet you guys.”

“Mind if I ask you a question?” Rowlf said.

“You just did, man,” Clifford said. “But shoot.”

“How did you come to own a church?” Rowlf asked.

“Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies,” Clifford said.

“We’re pretty sure that means he doesn’t know,” Floyd said.

“Naw, I know,” Clifford said. “I guess I can tell.” He grinned at Kermit and Rowlf. “I guess I don’t look like someone who’d own a church, do I?”

Kermit shook his head. “Not really.”

“Well,” Clifford said, “Apparently, I inherited it from my dad. I guess he was the preacher here before it shut down.”

“Apparently?” Rowlf said.

“You guess?” Kermit said.

“Well, that’s what the folks at the orphanage told me,” Clifford said.

“Oh,” Kermit said. He realized that he had never thought of what it would be like to grow up without your own parents.

“But I’m not really the church type,” Clifford said.

“So we’re turning this place into a coffeehouse,” Floyd said.

“With good music, and organic refreshments,” Janice said.

“It’ll be so fine and laid back and mellow and profitable,” Dr. Teeth drawled.

“Yeah, but it’s takin’ more work than we thought,” Floyd said.

“So far, we’ve got coffee,” Clifford said. “But we don’t have a coffee maker yet.”

“Haven’t even set up the keyboard yet,” Dr. Teeth said.

“You want some help?” Rowlf approached the keyboard and lifted it. As he did, he realized it was snapped perfectly in half.

Dr. Teeth chuckled. “Yeah, Animal did that. We’re thinking about just keeping the organ.”

“Sah-ree,” Animal said.

Rowlf shrugged and put the keyboard down.

“You guys should come back when we open this place,” Clifford said. “We might have free tea for the grand opening, whenever that is.”

“Well I’ll see if I can come,” Kermit said.

“I’ll see if I’m in town,” Rowlf said.

“Are you on the road a lot?” Janice asked.

“Only when I’m driving,” Rowlf said.

Animal pounded out a rim shot. Then he aimed his lazy eyes at Rowlf. “BAD JOKE!” he shouted.

Rowlf nodded. “You can say that again.”

“BAD JOKE!” Animal shouted.

Kermit turned to Clifford. “So, just out of curiosity,” he said, “What kind of church was this?”

Clifford answered, “Presbyterian.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~​

“You sure you don’t mind me staying with you?” Rowlf asked as they entered Kermit’s house.

“Of course not!” Kermit said. “You’re always welcome here, Rowlf. But I can’t believe that hotel wouldn’t allow dogs.”

“It’s typical…” Rowlf shrugged it off. They sat on the sofa. “You know I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” Rowlf said.

“Oh?” Kermit shifted to face him better.

There was no one in the house, but Rowlf lowered his voice. “The Muppets Valentine Show,” he said. “It’s a pilot, isn’t it?”

Kermit nodded. “Jim wants to do a prime-time show,” he said.

“Do you?” Rowlf asked.

“Well- I dunno,” Kermit said casually. “I don’t have anything against it…”

“But?”

Kermit shrugged. “But I’m not really pushing for it, either. I kind of like the idea of keeping it small, you know?” he said. “But if Jim wants to grow, that’s fine with me, too.”

Rowlf set his chin in his paw. “Hm.”

“What about you?” Kermit asked. “What do you think about it?”

“I don’t know yet,” Rowlf said. “I think… we’ll see how the pilot goes. Would Wally still host if this turns into a real show?”

Kermit shrugged. “I kind of get that impression,” he said.

“Hm.”

“Why?”

“Well,” Rowlf said, “I guess it’s not who I would’ve expected to host.”

“Who would you have expected?” Kermit asked.

Rowlf pointed at him.

“Me? No,” Kermit said. “I’m not really leadership material.”

“Oh I’d beg to differ,” Rowlf said. “After all, you are the top choice for narrator. You just narrated that special last year. What was it called?”

“The Muppet Musicians of Bremen,” Kermit said. “But that’s different, that’s just telling a story. It’s not like I’m in charge of anything.”

“You’re in charge of telling the story,” Rowlf pointed out.

Kermit shook his head. “That’s not the same,” he said.

Rowlf shrugged. “If you say so.”

They fell silent for a while.

“You know Kermit, you were right,” Rowlf said. “This is a really quiet house.”

Kermit smiled. “I’ll grab my banjo.” They stood up and headed for the stairs.

“You oughta get a cuckoo clock or something,” Rowlf said.

“Yeah, but the quiet’s kind of nice sometimes,” Kermit said.

“If you’re used to it, I guess,” Rowlf said. “It’s a little unnerving.” He stopped at the wall of pictures and straightened the swamp photograph. “Crooked,” he explained.

Kermit nodded. “I’ll have to have that re-taken again when I go home for Christmas,” he said. “My brother Dennis had tadpoles a couple months ago.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.” Kermit smiled. “Robin’s not the youngest anymore.” He ducked into his room and came out with his banjo.

“So you’re going back to the swamp for Christmas?” Rowlf asked as they headed back down the stairs.

“Yup,” Kermit said. “I haven’t for a few years, and I kinda miss it, so…” They sat on the sofa and Kermit picked a tune on his banjo.

“Where have you been for Christmas?” Rowlf asked quietly.

“Here,” Kermit said. He looked up at his friend, and his face darkened. “There,” he confessed. “With them.” He looked at his banjo again. “But I’m going home this year. I like Christmas in the swamp.”

Rowlf nodded. “It’s good to get away sometimes,” he said. He quietly listened as Kermit played a few Christmas carols.

Kermit thoughtfully stared at his banjo strings between songs. “Hey Rowlf?” He looked at his friend. “What’s your dream?”

Rowlf was quiet at first. “To tell the truth,” he said softly, “I don’t really know. But I know it’s not what I’m doing.”

“Well then, why do you keep doing it?” Kermit asked.

“I don’t know what else to do,” Rowlf said. “And I can’t hold still anymore. There’s nothing tying me down- no leash. So, I just go where my nose takes me.”

“Mm,” Kermit nodded.

“What’s yours?”

“Well, see that’s the thing, I don’t know either,” Kermit said. “Have I ever told you about my star?”

“Yeah, your mom’s lullaby,” Rowlf said. “Do you feel like you’re not following it?”

“No, I feel like I’m following it,” Kermit said. “I just feel like I should be chasing it. Like there’s something else I should be looking for that’ll sort of bind together everything I want. Like a- a connection of some sort, that brings everything together.” He stood up, walked over to the window, and stared out into the night. “But I don’t know what.”

Soon Rowlf was at his side. “Well,” he said, “Maybe someday we’ll find it.”

Kermit nodded. “I hope so,” he said. “I hope so.”

Rowlf pressed his face against the glass and cupped his paws around his eyes. “It’s snowing,” he said.

“It is?” Kermit pressed his face against the glass. “Oh, yeah. Look at that. It’s the first snowfall of the year.”

They looked at each other, smiled, and went outside for a brief snowball fight.

 

[The Count]

Thank you... These three little ones with mittens were getting starved for more of this story.
First off... Knew it was Muppet Musicians of Bremen you were referring to before getting to the line where you said it out loud.
The conversation with Kermit and Rowlf... Good that he'll be spending Christmas with his family in the swamp. And good to see they're having fun in the snow... But the talk where they'll find a connection, *hugs.
But the best part was seeing the EM's introductions. Had me laughing when you got to Animal's reaction to Rowlf's comments of where he stays when on the road. And I'm like rully glad Clifford's there... But a little bummed Lips isn't.
Then again, he did come in during the fifth season of the show, though since you've got Clifford there... Anyway, great chapter and we hunger for more.
Hey, what do you want? Nagging is fair play.

 

[Java]

Oh, wow. Thanks for my welcome in my abbreviations thread! You are an incredible writer.

I'm not going to requote what everyone else has already said but I will say this - with how you wrench emotions out of me - I'm not looking forward to May 1990. But I'll shut up seeing as we're in the '70s right now.

Thank you for sharing this.

~Java

 

[Pianodog]

Oh, wow. Thanks for my welcome in my abbreviations thread! You are an incredible writer.

I'm not going to requote what everyone else has already said but I will say this - with how you wrench emotions out of me - I'm not looking forward to May 1990. But I'll shut up seeing as we're in the '70s right now.

Thank you for sharing this.

~Java

Java does have a point that I hadn't really thought of: May 1990 will be an unpleasant part of the tale. Impossible to disregard, though, of course.

Very nice chapter, first some comedy and then some melancholy philosophy; a good blend. I half expected, when Kermit and Rowlf were discussing their dreams, that one of them would say that he "hopes that something better comes along" . Any possibility of one more chapter before you go?

All the best from
Pianodog.

 

[redBoobergurl]

Ahhh, I'm late! I didn't realize there was an update! Great chapter and REALLY great stuff with Kermit and Rowlf. I love their conversations so much, it shows the depth of their friendship (which I have always thought is very deep and it bugs me so much that Rowlf is now non-existant). Anyway, I loved the whole chapter, everything with the EM is great and I can't wait to see what happens next!

 

[TogetherAgain]

Yeah, neither can I...

Kidding, I know what's next. Er, roughly, at least. I know we go here, and then we go there, and then there's that, and then we go into all of these, which of course are followed by that, and then...

Anyway, not much time today for writing, and certainly none for posting. Family dinner at Grandma's house tonight, so I have no idea what time I'll be home, but I doubt I can get a chapter's worth written today. Maybe tomorrow, although I'm supposed to "pre-pack" everything I'll be needing for my big trip. (Six days left! SQUA!) So, depending what the next few days hold, I should have time for one more chapter, maybe two, and there might even be an incredibly slim chance for three. But no promises.

In the mean time, glad everyone's enjoying, and I'll see how much I can write!