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AlittleMayhem's Muppet Drabbles

AlittleMayhem

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Thanks and I apologize for obvious grammar mistake/s. I was in a hurry to catch a bus. :/
 

AlittleMayhem

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The next drabble was inspired by one of my favourite songs!​
 

AlittleMayhem

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Just like ol’ Satchmo!

The backstage was a mess, which was no surprise considering that it was always a mess. Lips carefully stepped over Baa the Sheep as he grazed on some hay, passed Kermit and Scooter at the desk and headed up the steps. He paused briefly to leaf over a pile of papers lying on the ground.

Nigel had planned a series of new pieces for the orchestra band to preform within the next few weeks and handed out music sheets for each of them. Only Lips’ copies just went walk-a-bouts. He searched the theatre thoroughly but with no luck.

The trumpet guru furrowed his eyebrows. They weren’t in here either. He continued on-wards to his dressing room, thinking to where he saw them last. Maybe he just misplaced them back home. Lips could just picture the sheets resting on the coffee table, visibly taunting his forgetfulness. Or perhaps, he thought with a shudder, Animal ate them. He sincerely hoped not. He didn’t want a repeat of when the drummer ate his mouthpiece and Floyd had to personally force his hand down his throat to retrieve it. He hadn't used it since.

Lips entered the dressing room he shared with a couple of violinists and scanned through the piles of papers on the tables. He made a metal note to have a word with his roommates about tidiness. Still, it was far superior compared to the bus, which he regularly slept in.

Downstairs, he could hear Kermit and Scooter’s voices and the radio buzzing out the local radio program, thankfully not Big Tiny Tall Saddle and his awful WHOG station. Lips rustled through a waste paper basket, just as the radio presenter announced a song which he described as ‘a little classic’. He wasn’t paying much attention until a familiar string section and guitar opening reached his ears.

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom, for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

Lips started a little. He knew that song! Well, everyone knew that song, but he especially knew it. No, he loved it! He used to perform it for his grandmother all the time, back when she was still around. It kick-started his interest in performing and introduced him to his inspiration and hero.

Something inside him relaxed and he was suddenly at peace. It had been a long time since he heard that song. He had forgotten how utterly brilliant it was. The lyrics, the slow, calm music! And the singing! Oh, the singing! Lips couldn’t resist and began to softly sing along.

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

His voice was raspier since the last time he spoke. But he was totally lost to notice, singing more confidently with each line and swaying in time to the music. He was even oblivious to the brief interaction between frog and gofer.

“Scooter, could you turn the radio down a little?”

“But, boss! This is a great song!”

“I know it is. That’s why I can’t concentrate.”

“Okay.”

The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by

Almost feeling like he was on a glitzy stage to a sold-out audience, Lips belted out the next lines, arms spread out wide.

I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They're really saying I love you.

“Scooter, I thought I told you to turn that down.”

“I did!”

“Then how- wait a minute?”

Lips spotted out of the corner of his eye the song sheets he had been looking for, clearly lay neatly on the dressing table. He was too much at ease to be mad at himself.

I hear babies crying, I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll never know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world

He picked them up and shuffled through the pages, smiling as he sang the last line.

Yes, I think to myself what a wonderful world. Oh, yeah.

“WHOA!”

Lips jumped in fright, seeing Kermit and Scooter at the doorway, mouths hanging open. His previous calmness vanished and he could feel his face growing hot.

“Lips! That was amazing!” Kermit cried, grinning broadly. “I forgot you could sing so fantastically! Say, would you like a spot on this week’s show? Honestly, it’s like Louis Armstrong came back from the dead!”

The trumpet player did not say anything. A spot on the show was a rare opportunity for the orchestra members. However, Lips shook his head, feeling deeply mortified.
 

AlittleMayhem

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The Regular
Guest-starring Muppet OC, Kathy!
The bell rang, announcing the arrival of another customer. She looked up from her paper and smiled when she saw whom it was. It vanished when she realized he was holding his head and groaning in pain.

She folded her paper and greeted him. “Good evening. The usual?”

The Muppet Newsman just managed to haul himself up on a stool. “Please, Kathy. And some ice would be great too.”

Kathy, a female monster with blue-grey fur, collected a mug and a tea bag from below the counter. She switched on a kettle and left for the kitchen, returning with an ice pack that she gave to the Newsman.

The Newsman rested the pack on the bump and the pain eased away. He let out a relieved sigh. “Ahh, that’s so much better!” he said.

The kettle whistled and Kathy made his tea (an African bush tea he was fond of) handing it to him on a saucer with a small piece of shortbread. He thanked her and took a grateful sip.

“So what was it tonight?” Kathy asked, leaning on the counter. “A ton weight? Cows? The set? Sledgehammer? An explosion?”

The Newsman swallowed a gulp of tea and shook his head, cringing when that didn’t help with his throbbing head.

“Ouch! No. The wire came up with a report about some archaeologists digging up an old ship that sunk during the seventeen-hundreds.”

Kathy raised her eyebrows in surprise. “A ship fell on you?”

“Goodness, no! I would’ve be squashed to the ground. Turns out the ship had been broken into several pieces and they were still trying to find the anchor, the mast, the stern, the nettings, the guns and…well, you can guess what happened next.”

“Dear me! Where do these things keep coming from?”

The Newsman shrugged. “Search me. I gave up on trying finding that out years ago. So what happened to you?”

Kathy fidgeted. “Erm, what are you talking about? Nothing’s happened to me.”

“So there’s no reason why you’re covered in bandages?” he asked sceptically, nodding to the ones wrapped around her head, arms and stomach underneath her apron. Kathy looked down and acted as if she hadn’t noticed until now.

“Oh, those!” she exclaimed, laughing nervously. “Yeah, that’s a funny story. I was making tablet in the kichen-”

“Making what?!”

“Tablet! It’s a really sugary fudge from Scotland. It’s very nice! Anyway, I went to take the garbage out and severe a few customers as it was simmering. Next thing I know, the smoke alarm went off and I ran back to the kitchen and, well, it sorta burned.”

The Newsman looked around the charcoal-black diner, some places still smoking. “Sorta burned?”

“Okay, it really burned! Whole kitchen was up in flames! Everyone was running around screaming while I tried to put out the fire! And, yeah, that’s all there is to it.”

She looked at the floor, and then perked up. “On the bright side, the kitchen still works and my lucky tail didn’t even get a starch!” Said tail popped up from behind the counter and waved at the Newsman happily

The Newsman finished his tea. “Kathy, how is it you still own this place if you keep destroying it every day?”

Kathy crossed her arms. “I dunno. How is it that you haven’t quit your job after forty years of things falling on you?”

They sternly stared each other down for a while. Then burst out laughing, cut short as they winced in pain at their respective wounds. They spend the rest of the evening in this almost empty, sorta burned diner, sharing stories about their past accidents and their current lives, as they did every evening for many years now.

At exactly eleven, they stood outside the front doors as Kathy locked up for the night. A light breeze blew through her untidy hair on her bandaged head.

“So, same time tomorrow?” the monster asked with a knowing smile.

The Newsman returned the smile, his head free of ache. “As always.”
 

newsmanfan

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Rooibos? See, I always took Newsie for a black-coffee kinda guy. But this was a sweet little piece. Nice to see I'm not the only one who wants him to have a happy ending! :news:

I LOVED your bit with the Doctor and Bunsen. Absolutely brilliant! But what, no fez? Fezzes are cool. :wink: I could totally see the good doctor -- er, that is, our favorite mad scientist -- trying to "fix" things for that poor absentminded fellow... My only nitpick: There are almost no elms left in the US, due to Dutch Elm disease decades ago. Sam's reaction to it all was perfect!

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