Chapter Eighteen
One Month and Three Days Later
May 10, 1971
Robin sat carefully perched on the handlebars of Kermit’s bicycle, holding on tight, looking around as fast as he could to take everything in. The train had been exciting, but it stayed the same, except for the window. Now everything was changing constantly. This was a town, and it wasn’t Leland. It was all new.
“What’s that, Uncle Kermit? What’s that?” Robin pointed.
“Don’t let go of the bike!” Kermit said quickly. He looked where Robin had pointed. “That’s a theater,” he explained.
“What’s a theater?”
“Um- well it’s a place where uh, there’s a stage, and people perform on the stage, and other people come and watch.”
“Why do they watch?” Robin asked.
“Well- because it’s fun to watch,” Kermit said.
“Neat!” Robin said. “What’s that?”
“That’s a hot dog stand.”
“I don’t see any dogs.”
“Well, uh-“
“What’s that?”
“It’s a record store.”
“What’s a record?”
“Uh-“
“What’s that?”
“A clothing store.”
“What’s a clothing?”
“Oh boy…”
“What’s a boy?”
“Robin!”
The little frog laughed. He knew what a boy was. But it was fun to ask questions.
“See that brick building up ahead?” Kermit said as he slowed down to let a woman cross the street.
“The red one?” Robin asked.
“Yup. That’s where I live,” Kermit explained.
Robin tried to turn around and look at his uncle, amazed. “You own that whole building?” he asked.
“Face forward,” Kermit reminded him, “I don’t want you to fall.” Robin grudgingly obeyed. “To answer your question though, no I don’t own the whole building,” Kermit went on. “I just rent part of it to live in. It’s called an apartment.”
“Ohhh,” Robin said.
“We’ll be there soon,” Kermit said. “And it’s a good thing, too, because my legs are getting tired.”
Robin tried to turn again. “Am I too heavy?”
“Face forward,” Kermit said. He felt like he had said that a lot since they had left the train station. “No, you’re not too heavy.”
They entered the apartment building just moments later, and Robin stared in awe. He tugged on Kermit’s hand. “Uncle Kermit?” he asked, raising his hand and pointing. “What’s that?”
Kermit led Robin towards where he was pointing. “Those are called stairs, Robin.”
“Stairs,” Robin said slowly. “What do they do?”
“Well-“ Kermit crouched down to his nephew’s level. The stairs did look impressive from here. “They don’t really do anything… You just walk on them.”
Robin stared. “How?” he asked. “Why?”
Kermit frowned, not sure what to answer. “To go up,” he said.
“Like climbing a tree?” Robin asked
“Sort of,” Kermit said. “Haven’t you ever seen stairs before?”
Robin shook his head.
“Oh,” Kermit said. “Well, stairs go from one level of a building to another.”
Robin gave him a perplexed stare. “Huh?”
“Maybe I should just show you,” Kermit suggested. “See, right now we’re on the first floor, or the ground floor. Which means that even though we’re standing on a man-made floor-“ he tapped the tile for emphasis- “We’re not any higher than the ground outside. Does that make sense?”
Robin hesitated. “I think so…”
“Good. Now-“ Kermit picked his nephew up and quickly walked up the stairs, explaining as he did. “When we go up the stairs, we get higher. So we’re higher than the ground outside. And when we get to the top-“ He set Robin down at the top of the stairs- “Then we’re on the second floor.”
Robin looked around, confused. “But it looks the same,” he said.
Kermit smiled and carried his nephew to the window. “Does it look the same here?”
Robin looked out the window. “Wow!” he said, “It’s like we’re in a tree!” He hesitated, frowned, and looked at his uncle. “How do we get down?”
“Oh that’s easy,” Kermit said. “We just go down the stairs!” And he carried his nephew back to the first floor.
Robin immediately hopped out of Kermit’s arms, ran over to the window, and hopped up to look. “We’re back where we were!” he said excitedly.
“Yup,” Kermit said.
Robin ran back. “Can I try it?” he asked.
“Of course!” Kermit said.
“Okay. Here I go!” Robin carefully hopped onto the first step, and then the next, and the next, and the next. Each step was a small triumph for a frog his size. When he reached the top and turned around, his smile was bigger than he was. “I did it!” he said. “I’m at the top now, right, Uncle Kermit?”
“That’s right,” Kermit smiled up at him.
“I’m gonna come back down now!”
“Okay.”
Robin hopped down each step with less caution than he had gone up with. He reached the bottom, turned around, and looked back up. “Stairs,” he said.
Kermit nodded. “Yup. Stairs.”
Robin looked at him. “Now we’re at the bottom of the stairs, right?”
“That’s right,” Kermit said.
“Where do we go now?” Robin asked.
“Now we go upstairs,” Kermit said.
“Upstairs?” Robin repeated.
“Yup,” Kermit said. “My apartment is-“ he pointed- “Upstairs.”
Robin looked at the stairs. “Oh, neat!” he said, and he started hopping back up the stairs.
Kermit smiled as he slowly followed Robin. How many late nights had he wished these stairs were shorter, or even non-existent? Yet Robin relished every step. He decided that, at least while Robin was here, he would try to see his life- and maybe the world- through a younger frog’s eyes.
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