Chapter Eleven:
“Excuse me, but how do you know I’m a Fraggle?” asked Gobo.
“Because there was a Fraggle here yesterday!” exclaimed Lisa as if it was an everyday occurrence for Fraggles to hang out at the swamp.
“There was?” asked Gobo jumping down off the log.
“Yeah! She had pretty red hair!” said Lisa.
“Red! Red’s alive! Where is she now? Oh my gosh!” chattered Gobo. It was uncharacteristic of him to get so giddy and excited, but he was so relieved to hear Red was alive and possibly near where he was.
“You know what, we’ll take you to our Aunt Maggie, she’ll tell you all about it,” said Ed.
“Great! This is great. Hey, aren’t you guys frogs?” said Gobo finally recognizing the strange creatures at last.
“Yes we are. You Fraggles are weird,” said Ed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Red played tag and hide and seek and every other imaginable game with Robin and found she was actually getting worn out. She hadn’t played like that in a long time.
Kermit smiled as he came upon them playing hopscotch behind the theatre.
“Hey Robin, mind if I steal our friend back for a little while?” asked Kermit.
“Sure Uncle Kermit! Thanks for playing with me Red,” said Robin and hopped away.
“Red, why don’t we go inside and talk,” suggested Kermit.
Red followed him into the theatre. They sat down at Kermit’s desk.
“Now tell me Red, why are you here? What did you run away from?” asked Kermit.
At that moment Red did something completely out of the ordinary for her. Instead of opening her mouth and beginning to speak, she burst into tears.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Aunt Maggie! Guess what?” exclaimed Ed as he and Lisa led Gobo to her. Maggie was deeply involved in a game of chess with her brother Jimmy.
“What now guys? I’m kind of busy,” she said not even looking up.
“We found another Fraggle!” exclaimed Lisa.
“What?” asked Maggie and then looked up to see Gobo standing with the young frogs.
“Yeah, uh, hi, my name is Gobo. These guys said you’d know something about my friend Red?” said Gobo.
“Oh boy. Yeah, let’s talk,” said Maggie and then led Gobo away from the young frogs.
“Ah man, we miss everything,” said Ed.
“Come on, let’s listen in!” said Lisa as they hid behind a bush.
Maggie told Gobo about how they had found Red and that they discovered she had run away from Fraggle Rock. She told him about her brother Kermit and how he knew about Fraggles.
“Hey! I remember him!” exclaimed Gobo.
Then Gobo started telling Maggie about what had happened back in Fraggle Rock and how he was desperately trying to find Red to make things right.
The young frogs listening in overheard Gobo say that he had told Red he never wanted to see her again.
“Hey Ed, you liked Red right?” whispered Lisa.
“Yeah, why?” asked Ed.
“We should call Uncle Kermit and tell him that Gobo is here and he never wants to see Red again!” said Lisa.
“Why should we do that?” asked Ed.
“Because, then Red won’t try to go home and be unhappy! We want her to be happy right?” asked Lisa.
“Of course we do,” said Ed. So the two frogs hurried off to town to call the theatre and do what they thought was a favor for Red without hearing the rest of Gobo’s story.
Gobo finished his story and noticed Maggie smiling broadly.
“What? Are you amused by my misery?” asked Gobo.
“No, not at all. It’s just; I overheard Red sitting out under the stars last night. She didn’t know I was watching her, but she was talking to herself about you. She likes you Gobo. She’s just afraid she messed everything up so she didn’t want to go home,” said Maggie.
“Really? I have to see her then!” said Gobo.
“She’s with my brother in Hensonville. It’s just a train ride away. It’s late though, so you’d have to do what she did and spend the night and then go first thing tomorrow,” said Maggie.
“What’s a train?” asked Gobo.
Maggie just laughed. “Come on, we’ll go to town and get some pizza and I’ll tell you all about it,” said Maggie knowing she’d have to explain what pizza was as well.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Kermit let Red cry for a couple of minutes and then handed her a tissue.
“I’m sorry. I never do this,” Red apologized.
“It’s ok, I’m used to female emotions,” said Kermit, “You want to tell me what’s wrong?”
Red told him the whole story starting from the beginning about how her friends were changing and that she didn’t like it. She told him all about what happens when Fraggles come of age and everything Uncle Matt talked about.
“This whole time I didn’t want to see that I had changed too,” said Red.
“You know Red; change is not a bad thing. Neither is love,” said Kermit.
“I’m slowly beginning to see that. Your sister was walking with this other frog last night the way my friends were starting to do with other Fraggles,” said Red.
“Maggie and Croaker again? I’ll kill him,” said Kermit.
Red gave him a puzzled look.
“Sorry, your story, keep going,” said Kermit.
“Anyway, I finally pictured myself that way with Gobo. Until now I didn’t really know what he was to me, he was always more than my friend. Now I really know. But I messed everything up,” said Red.
“Well, love can never be easy, believe me, I know,” Kermit said as Piggy walked by glaring at him talking to another woman.
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” said Red.
“You’ll never get along 100 % of the time,” said Kermit.
“Well, how do you make it work?” asked Red.
“There are many obstacles that can be overcome. Rowlf almost had to deal with a long distance relationship with Wanda, the cat he met in his hometown and then he invited her to come here. They’ve made it work,” said Kermit.
“Well, that’s not exactly my problem. I said some pretty mean things to Gobo,” said Red.
“Ah, I know all about that. Piggy and I have said some pretty mean things to each other too, but we usually take some time apart and then we say we’re sorry to each other. I think that’s how everyone I know handles that. It works for Floyd and Janice; it works for Gonzo and Camilla. Trust me, you’ve spent a little time apart and now if you go back and tell Gobo you’re sorry and how you really feel, I’m sure he’ll forgive you,” said Kermit.
“Wow, you’re really smart. You might be smarter than the Trash Heap!” exclaimed Red and gave Kermit a hug.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” said Kermit sounding confused.
Just then the phone rang.
“Muppet Theatre,” answered Kermit, “Oh hi Lisa! Does your dad know you’re on the phone? Yeah, she’s here. What? Are you sure?”
Red listened to Kermit’s end of the conversation and watched as his face sort of fell.
“All right Lisa, well thanks for calling,” said Kermit and hung up the phone.
“What was that all about?” asked Red.
“Red, it seems Gobo is at the swamp,” said Kermit
“He came looking for me?” asked Red as her heart soared.
“Well, um, it sounds like he might have been looking for you, but he said he never wants to see you again,” said Kermit slowly.
“What? Why would he go all that way just to do that?” asked Red.
“Maybe he’s just making sure you’re safe so your other friends don’t worry,” said Kermit.
They were both quiet as Kermit didn’t know what else to say and Red was stunned.
“I was just really hoping he didn’t mean it when he said it to me. At least I know now,” said Red breaking the silence.
“I’m sorry Red. You’re welcome to stay with us,” said Kermit.
“Thanks. I’m going to go for a walk,” said Red quietly. She got up and stepped outside. She felt more alone than she had ever felt before.
Author's note: Lisa and Ed, I hope you're not too mad about what your characters did in this chapter. Just know I did it for the sake of the plot!
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