Chapter 11: Methinks the pig doth protest too much
“Let me get this straight,” Howard said. “You want me to come to Vegas to help with the show. At Christmastime. So, instead of spending a quiet Christmas at home, you want me to come to Vegas where it’s loud and bright and noisy and crowded? Are you kidding?” He leaned forward—suddenly and unexpectedly—and kissed Kermit noisily on both cheeks. “I wouldn’t miss it!”
“Oh good,” Kermit said, a little rattled at being so enthusiastically smooched by the choreographer. Others lined up after the meeting to say they could come, or couldn’t, or hoped to and would let him know asap. Kermit sent them on to Scooter, who was charting people, props, transportation and accommodations. Later, Kermit sat down with Scooter to go over the list, and was not unhappy with what he saw.
“We have enough to do a really good show,” Kermit said, “and the folks that want to go home for Christmas can still do that. We’ll round everybody up after New Years and get back to filming.” He looked the list over a couple of times—flipping pages back and forth, then a frown settled over his features.
“Scooter, there’s one name on here I was hoping to see that I don’t.”
“Who’s that, Boss?”
Kermit looked up. “You, Scooter.”
“Sir?” The young man seemed surprised, then looked away.
“I was hoping you’d come, sing a song in the show, have Christmas with Piggy and me and the gang.” Kermit knew that Scooter had no parents to go home to, and was surprised not to see his name on the list for Vegas.
Scooter looked uncomfortable for a moment, his cheeks flushed pink. If Piggy had been there, she would have known, would have seen, would have scolded Kermit for his lack of insight. Since she wasn’t, Scooter had to pierce the veil on his own. “Um, I, uh, sortof, um had plans for Christmas. Sortof,” he mumbled.
“Oh.” The light eventually dawned for Kermit, and he cleared his throat noisily while he tried to figure out what to say. “Well that’s great, Scooter,” he said at last. “I didn’t think—I mean, um, I didn’t realize that you, um, that is….” He trailed off uncomfortably. “I hope you have a great time with, uh, with—“
“Sara,” Scooter whispered.
“With Sara,” Kermit said. “I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with Sara.”
“And her parents,” Scooter said quickly. “We’re supposed to spend Christmas at her parents’ place.”
Kermit smiled. He’d gotten so used to Scooter being eternally entangled with studio business that he’d forgotten what it was like to be young and single, trying to balance a social life. “Well, nobody deserves a vacation more than you do, Scooter.”
Scooter looked up, blushing again, but this time from pleasure at the unexpected compliment. “Thanks, Boss,” he said gratefully. “I hope you don’t—I mean, will you be okay without me in Vegas? I’ve made all the arrangements and everything. I just hadn’t gotten up the nerve to, um, I mean I hadn’t gotten around to telling you that I had made other plans. I didn’t know we were going to have anything going, so—“
Kermit reached out and patted Scooter on the arm. “I’ll be fine,” Kermit said firmly. “We’ll miss you, but we’ll manage. I’m glad you’re taking some time off.” He was rewarded when Scooter heaved a sigh of obvious relief and stood, heading for the door. “So,” Kermit began, “is Sara that cute little redhead I’ve seen you around with?”
Scooter nodded, not trusting himself to speak, and fled out into the hall.
“You hadn’t noticed?” Piggy said later that evening as they were cozied up on the loveseat in the den looking over the list of cast-members who planned to attend.
“No—I guess not,” Kermit said. “I mean, I knew he had a girl-friend—at least, I think I knew that.”
“Cute redhead—named Sara,” Piggy supplied and was rewarded with a surprised look from Kermit. Sheesh, she thought, don’t men notice anything?
“That’s right,” Kermit said, mystified.
“And they’re going to spend Christmas with her family?”
“Yes—Scooter said they were going to spend it with her parents.”
“Good. Scooter needs to get out more—I’m glad he’s going to spend some time away with, um, family.” She gave him a thoughtful look. “We won’t see your family at Thanksgiving or Christmas this year—that okay with you?”
Kermit shrugged. “Winter does not show the swamp at it’s best,” he said matter-of-factly, and Piggy began to giggle.
“What? What’s funny?” Kermit demanded.
“I don’t know,” Piggy said truthfully, trying to stem her mirth. “You are. Nothing. Everything.” She put her hand over her mouth, attempting to hide her smile, but was unsuccessful. Kermit’s confusion only added fuel to the fire, and she clapped both hands over her mouth and fell back onto the couch. “I’m sorry,” she began, as tears began to leak out of her eyes, “but it just seemed so—oh!”
Of a sudden, Kermit joined her, stretching out beside her on the comfy couch, his arms slipping around her familiarly. He pressed a kiss against the curve of her jaw, snuggling against her. Piggy stopped giggling long enough to let out a soft sigh, then turned and caught his next kiss on her lips.
“Nice,” she said softly.
“Yeah,” Kermit agreed lazily.
“So—you okay about not seeing your family?”
“It’s fine,” Kermit said. “Sure, I miss everybody—especially Robin—but it’s a little overwhelming to be home during the holidays.” He pulled back and regarded her slyly. “Why?” he asked. “You hankering for the swamp this year.”
“No,” Piggy said carefully. “It’s just….“
“I miss Robin,” Kermit said suddenly. “I like it when he stays with us.”
“Me, too. Why don’t we ask your brother if he can come?”
“For Thanksgiving?”
“Sure—or Christmas. Or both.”
“Really? Both?” Kermit regarded her suspiciously. “That’s a long time.”
“So—let’s ask them.”
“Now?” Kermit protested, cuddling a little closer.
“Hey,” Piggy protested. “I’m just trying to be accommodating.”
Kermit gave her a openly speculative look that started her giggling again, but made her heart go pitter-pat as well. “That’s not what I meant,” she protested.
But not too much.
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