Half of the Stairs are Missing

Muppetfan44

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Great Update!

Please post soon on all of your wonderful stories!
 

Katzi428

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I got the Livelong & Prosper part Prawnie.:wink: I should have commented last night. VERY clever Lisa! Can't wait to see more of the story!
 

TogetherAgain

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Oh, I can't take full credit for Docs Livelong and Prosper. I came up with Livelong, and Prawnie recommended that I give Dr. Livelong a Nurse Prosper... and then I realized I needed to name the surgeon, and Prosper got promoted. Thus, Dr. Livelong and Dr. Prosper. And then... nobody said anything, which of course doesn't mean that no one noticed, but it means that I don't know if anyone noticed, and therefore must presume that no one has noticed, and that I must proceed to beat it over everyone's head a little more. ...Or... leave it be and move on... but that's entirely beside the point. ...Wait... I have a point? ...OH YEAH! I was giving credit where credit is due. <tips hat to the Half>
 

redBoobergurl

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I just wanted to say - I noticed Livelong and Prosper too - but thought it was such an obvious play on those that I just didn't comment for that reason. Sorry guys!
 

Beauregard

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I want to say that I...did not notice Livelong and Prosper. I didn't get it at all! I assumed they were too words related to the Medical profession, which were used. Much like I have characters Dr Heelson and Nurse Stitch...

I am very impressed :stick_out_tongue:
 

TogetherAgain

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Chapter Ten

Leaper quietly stared into Robin’s bedroom, standing in the doorway.

There was a small bed, with a small wooden headboard and footboard, tucked into the far corner of the room. It was neatly made, with the dark blue blanket tucked in along the entire side of the mattress. The pillowcase was white, with dark blue stripes. There was a nightstand beside the bed, with a small lamp and a well-worn book. A toy box stood at the foot of the bed, stuffed so full that the lid rested half an inch open. There was a small bookcase full of slim, colorful children’s books, topped with a football and a teddy bear that apparently didn’t fit in the toy box, with a shiny harmonica carefully placed between them. Dark blue drapes hung open in front of the window. The closet door was closed. The only light in the room trickled in from the hallway through the open door, casting a long, slim box of light around Leaper’s shadow and across the carpet.

She didn’t know how long she had been standing in the doorway when she finally went into the room.

She placed her flippers on the carpet, one in front of the other. She lightly touched her fingertips to the harmonica she had never heard her son play, let her palm rest on the football she had never seen him throw—or had he ever thrown it? It was bigger than he was. Had he ever even caught this ball? Did it knock him down when it reached him? Whoever threw it to him would have to throw very, very gently.

The Muppets were not known for being gentle.

Her eyes slid over the colorful books in the bookcase, and her flippers led her to the nightstand. She quietly turned on the lamp, and then immediately turned away, shielding her eyes from the sudden light. When her vision adjusted, she silently looked at the book. Her fingers brushed over the cover and lightly traced the edges, her fingertips seeking and finding the edges of the pages. This book was well-loved, but she had never read it to her son—or any of the other books that were in the bookcase.

She very lightly slid her fingertips down the bed, careful not to disturb the very neatly tucked blanket. Did Robin make his own bed this neatly every day? Did Kermit, or maybe someone else, help achieve that precision, or maybe do it for him?

Her eyes drifted between the drapes to the window as she silently wondered how many little details she didn’t know about Robin.

“Leaper?”

She gave a startled hop and whirled around to see Rowlf there, his paw on the doorjamb, watching her. She defensively drew her arms around her. “What?” she said quietly.

The dog’s sunny-side-up eyes were soft and sympathetic—and his kindness stung. He gestured into the room with his paw. “Mind if I come in?” he asked quietly.

She shifted her weight and nervously glanced around the room, lightly rubbing her arms. She shrugged. “Sure,” she said quietly.

Rowlf nodded and unobtrusively slipped into the quiet, dimly-lit room.

Leaper shifted uneasily, her eyes settling on the empty, neatly-made bed.

“Just like the Frog Scouts taught ‘im,” Rowlf said quietly as he slid up beside her.

Leaper looked at him sharply. “What?”

“The bed,” he said, gesturing to the blanket so tightly wrapped around the mattress. “That’s how they make ‘em at the Frog Scout camp. Some days, he spends half an hour getting it just right.”

Leaper absorbed this and numbly stared down at the dark blue blanket. “…None of his brothers have to spend so much time making a bed,” she said, her voice cold and dull. “We don’t sleep in beds, in the swamp.”

Rowlf shrugged. “He seems to like it.”

She rubbed her arm and walked away from the bed, looking instead at the over-filled toy box.

Rowlf stepped forward and put a paw on her shoulder.

She froze for a long moment, staring at the carpet, seeing nothing. Then she squirmed and pushed his paw away, firmly walking to the small closet and opening the door, just for the sake of putting distance between herself and the dog and… everything.

Rowlf silently watched her for a long moment. …It was a lot for her to process. She’d never even been here before. Maybe what she really needed was, not to talk and confront it all, but to quietly immerse herself in her son’s world… alone. “…Do you want to sleep in here tonight?”

“No,” she said quickly with a visible flinch. She closed the closet door. “No,” she said again, hastily walking out into the hallway.

Rowlf sighed heavily and shook his head. “That could’ve gone better,” he muttered under his breath. He scratched his ear and looked around at the quiet room. He opened the closet door and looked inside at the neatly-pressed Frog Scout uniform, the suit that he occasionally wore on the show, a few other coats and weather-related outerwear… But there were also photo albums, and precious shoeboxes of pictures and collections, tiny souvenirs from all sorts of places…

Shoeboxes, photo albums, and souvenirs were all neatly stored in a small bookcase inside the closet. On top of the bookcase, greeting Robin every time he opened the closet door, stood three framed pictures; one of all the Muppets, one of everyone in the swamp, and one of just Robin and his dear Uncle Kermit.

There was no specific picture for Robin’s parents.

Rowlf closed the closet door with a deep, heavy sigh. Some things just had to work themselves out.
 

The Count

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*Spots teddy bear, Lisa, check.
*Finds harmonica, The Gift, natch.
*Examines pictures in his closet, only the one from SST is absent, or are those only Kermit's photos, or does he share a copy of each with his nephew?

Heavy schtuff... Well-written and well-wraught. Post more please.
 

theprawncracker

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One question...

HOW, with a chapter this short, do you STILL manage to wrench the hearts of your readers as much as, if not more, than one of my ENTIRE fan-fics? It's amazing and I will never be able to fathom it--nor even come CLOSE to the brilliance your writing exudes at every word, dear half.

The subtle nuance of having Leaper flinch when looking in the closet, then Rowlf noticing no picture of exlusively she and Jimmy... I think heart-breaking perfection are the only words that fit.

MORE PLEASE! ! !
 
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