Chapter Five
After dinner, someone decided they should have a dance. Kermit settled in on a log with his banjo across his lap, and smiled at Melinda as she sat next to him. “Having fun?” he said quietly as he played a lively tune for the swamp to dance to.
Melinda hesitated as she looked around. “You know,” she said softly, “…I kind of am.”
His smile grew. “I uh,” he cleared his throat. “I- don’t suppose you’d- be interested in dancing with me?”
She looked down, shifting her weight. “Umm…”
He scrunched his face up. “I guess that’s a ‘no,’ huh?” he said.
“Well-“ She glanced at him and looked away.
He frowned. “I- I’m a pretty good dancer, you know…”
She looked at him. “Don’t take it personal, Kermit,” she said.
He scrunched his face up again. “Yeah,” he said, looking away. “Sure.”
“Kermit…” She scooted closer and poked her head over his shoulder. “It’s not you,” she whispered. She put her hand on the back of his neck.
He looked at her. “Pardon?”
“The fact that it’s you asking has nothing to do with why I’m saying no,” she said.
“Oh,” he said. “Well, is it the music? Because I can change that-“
“No, it’s not the music,” she straightened up with half a smile on her face.
He lowered his voice. “Is it the swamp?”
“No,” she chuckled.
“Well then, what is it?” Kermit asked.
Melinda shrugged, smiling. “I just don’t like dancing.”
He stared at her. “Oh.” He looked away, shrugged, and turned back to her. “Why didn’t you just say so?”
“Because you were too busy guessing,” Melinda said.
Maggie poked her head between them from behind. “I hate to interrupt you two,” she said with a devious twinkle in her eyes, “But uh, Meli-“ she jerked her head towards a small group of lady frogs at the edge of the clearing. “Girl talk,” she said.
“Okay,” Melinda said as she stood up. She tossed a smile to Kermit over her shoulder as she followed Maggie to the other lady frogs.
Kermit watched them go and shrugged, still playing his banjo.
“Don’t you hate it when they have girl talk?” Croaker said as he sat down next to Kermit. “They just leave us instantly.”
Kermit looked at Croaker, who was gazing longingly at Maggie. “Well,” Kermit said. “It has its advantages.”
Maggie put a hand on Melinda’s shoulder as they walked. “You know how I said I hated to interrupt you two?” she said. “It’s not true at all. Mit’s always messing with my love life, so I jump at every chance I get to mess with his.”
Melinda laughed. By now they were with the other girls. “Speaking of your love life-“
“Oh hey wait just a minute,” another girl interrupted. “You’re new here, Melinda, you tell first.”
“Yes, Melinda, tell us,” the girl next to her said. “All we know is that you’ve been dating Kermit for… What is it now, almost a year, right?”
“A little under ten months,” Melinda said.
Maggie folded her arms and smiled. “And?”
“And what?” Melinda said.
“And, how serious are you?” Maggie asked.
The girl next to her leaned forward eagerly. “Are you gonna get married?”
Maggie elbowed her hard in the side, scrunching her face.
Across the clearing, a few of the male frogs had gathered around Kermit.
“Me?” one of them said, shifting his weight. He was a dark shade of green. “No one,” he said.
Croaker looked up at the sky. “He’s ly-ing,” he said.
“No I’m not!” the frog said.
“Oh, you are,” Croaker said. “He’s lying, Kermit.”
“Croaker, I know when my own brother is lying,” Kermit said.
“Thank you,” the other frog said.
“Take right now for example,” Kermit continued.
“Hey!”
The others laughed. “Come on, Jimmy,” one of them said. “Out with it!”
“I’m not saying,” the frog in question said.
Kermit smiled. “You don’t have to, it’s already obvious,” he said.
Jimmy stared at him, horrified. “It is?”
“It is,” Kermit said.
“It is?” Croaker repeated, confused.
“It is to me, anyway,” Kermit said.
Jimmy sighed. “And let me guess, you’ve got advice.”
“Just ask her to dance, Jimmy, she likes dancing,” Kermit said.
“She loves dancing,” Jimmy said.
“Yeah, and so do you,” Kermit said. “So go ask her!”
“Yeah, go ask her,” Croaker chimed in.
“But-“ Jimmy glanced at the group of girls. “But they’re having girl talk!”
“Just go,” Kermit said.
Jimmy nervously stood up and walked towards the girls. He stopped when he heard Melinda’s voice.
“Come on, Leaper,” she was saying, “Even I’ve seen how you look at Jimmy, and I haven’t even been here a whole day yet! Just fess up already.”
Jimmy held his breath and listened intently.
“Well, he- he’s… cute…”
“And?” Maggie said.
“Okay, okay, I like him!”
“Like him?” Maggie said. “You love him, you’re desperately in love with him!” She turned to Melinda. “And you’re desperately in love with Mit!”
“And you’re desperately in love with Croaker!” Melinda rebutted.
Maggie froze. Her mouth hung open for a moment. “…I… I- didn’t- say that.”
Melinda threw her head back and laughed.
“THEY’RE HATCHING!”
Everyone suddenly ran to the edge of the pond. Everyone, except Melinda. She stood where she was, confused. Kermit ran over and grabbed her hand. “The tadpoles!” he said excitedly.
“Oh!”
He quickly led her to the pond’s edge. She marveled at how the sea of frogs seemed to part for him. He crouched by the water and stared intently into it. Melinda looked around. Everyone was watching the water. She looked, too.
Then she saw.
There were thousands of eggs. She could see at least ten that were all hatching at once. Then there was a tiny sliver of green, and a tadpole was born. And there was another tadpole, and a third, and now there were four, and look, more over there! She smiled a slow, quiet smile and leaned forward to get a better look. A gentle wind blew her hair back out of her eyes as she watched the eggs hatch, and the tadpoles swim and explore… Her eyes danced, and her smile grew. She slid her hand into Kermit’s. He didn’t look at her- he kept his eyes on his newborn nieces and nephews. But he squeezed her hand. Her smile grew, and she watched the tadpoles swim.
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