Chapter 9
Scooter came trotting back to Aunt Marge and Robin carrying two oddly colored ice cream cones. "Here you are Aunt Marge, Robin, two dragonfly ripple cones," Scooter said.
"Good," Aunt Marge snapped, snatching her cone from Scooter’s hand. "Now go get me a coffee."
Scooter handed Robin his ice cream and ran off. "Yes, Aunt Marge," Scooter said quickly.
"Low cream!" she shouted after the go-fer.
"Of course, Aunt Marge!"
"And no sugar!"
"Heavens no, Aunt Marge!"
Robin shook his head. "Why are you so mean to everybody who’s not a frog, Aunt Marge?" Robin asked his great aunt.
"Heh, a better question would be why aren’t you?" Aunt Marge said.
Robin looked down at his ice cream cone. "Well, they’re my friends."
"Robin," Aunt Marge said. "I’ve been around long enough to know that the only things in this world worth spendin’ time with is frogs."
"But that’s not very much fun," Robin said. "What about pigs, and dogs, and bears, and chickens, and stuff?"
"Tell me, Robin," Aunt Marge said. "Can a chicken catch a fly with its tongue?"
"Well, no, I don’t think so- but I don’t think chickens even have tongues, Aunt Marge!" Robin said.
"Yeah? Well can a pig do that funny thing where they make their chin swell up?" Aunt Marge asked.
"Um... I heard Uncle Kermit talking about some things Miss Piggy could do with her neck... but I don’t think that was one of them," Robin said.
Aunt Marge looked awkwardly at the young frog. "Just another reason you should be living with frogs."
"But Aunt Marge!" Robin whined. "I like all of my friends here."
"Robin, think about this, honey," Aunt Marge said. "You live with a mentally-unstable Scandinavian chef who tries to cook you on a day-to-day basis, a frog-chopping pig, and a bear with jokes that kill!"
"Oh, it’s not that bad," Robin said. "The Swedish Chef hasn’t tried to cook me since I taught him how to make trail mix without using an actual dirt trail, and Miss Piggy’s really great, once you get past the... karate chopping, and Fozzie’s just... not very funny is all."
Aunt Marge shook her head. "Robie-poo-" Robin grimaced at the pet name. "-you don’t even have any friends who are frogs!"
"No... but my best friend, Sweetums, gets me to school faster than the school bus can," Robin said, licking at his ice cream cone.
"Does he have seat belts?" Aunt Marge asked.
"No, but neither does the school bus," Robin said with a smile.
Scooter came panting back to the park bench that Robin and Aunt Marge were sitting on, carrying Aunt Marge’s coffee. "Here it is, Aunt Marge." Scooter panted. "A coffee with low sugar and no cream."
"I said no sugar and low cream!" Aunt Marge shouted. "Go get me another!"
Scooter sighed. "Right away, Aunt Marge," he said, leaving again.
Robin looked up at Aunt Marge. "I don’t think Uncle Kermit pays Scooter enough to do this job."
"He shouldn’t pay ‘im at all," Aunt Marge said. "Work builds character, boy like that needs as much character as he can get."
Robin licked the last bit of his ice cream cone. "Whatever you say, Aunt Marge."
<~><~><~><~><~>
Clifford rapped his fingers on Kermit's desk as the cell phone rang. "It'll never work," Rizzo said from beside him.
"Just you- Hi Paula!" Clifford said into the phone.
"Here we go." Rizzo scoffed.
"Watch it, Rat," Clifford scolded Rizzo. "Oh, no, not you Paula."
"Heh, d'is really will be interesting," Rizzo said leaning against the desk.
"-Yeah, just so happens I'm free... forever, and I was hopin' that you'd like to go have some fun with a cool cat like me," Clifford said into the cell phone.
Kermit walked in through the theater's back door. "Hey, what's going on?" Kermit asked.
"Clifford's tryin' to get wit' Paula Abdul now d'at Skeeter left him for Johnny Fiama," Rizzo said.
"So help me, I'll give ya to the Swedish Chef if ya don't- No, Paula, baby, not you. We've just got a little pest problem here," Clifford said, glaring at Rizzo through his sunglasses.
Kermit smirked. "Well, this’ll be interesting," he said.
"D’at’s what I said," Rizzo replied.
"Skeeter?" Clifford asked the phone. "Naw, I’m over her. ...What happened? Well, that ain’t important. So when can we- ...you wanna know what happened?"
"Really interesting," Kermit and Rizzo said together, both anxiously smirking at Clifford.
"I, uh, well, we just had a mis-communication," Clifford lied. "What sort? Well, uh, I sorta said that she was wrong..." Kermit and Rizzo waited. "...All the time."
"Go on." Rizzo egged Clifford on.
"Actually, I said that... well, Gonzo and Floyd were there too, they uh, well, we sorta said that... all women were wrong." Clifford gulped. "All... the time."
"T’ree, two, one," Rizzo counted off.
"She hung up," Clifford sighed.
"What’d ya expect?" Rizzo asked. "So did all d’e ot’er women guest stars from ‘Muppet’s Tonight!’"
Clifford shoved his cell phone into his pocket. "Ya know who wouldn’t say no?" Clifford asked Rizzo.
"Your mot’er?" Rizzo laughed.
"No," Clifford said. "The exterminator!"
"Uh, I t’ink I hear my tea pot boilin’," Rizzo said, scooting off.
Kermit shook his head. He straightened up some papers on his desk, then turned to Clifford. "The whole jealousy approach isn’t going well, I see," he said.
"Heh, you can say that again," Clifford said.
"I would, but we try not to be too corny with our jokes," Kermit said.
"Please," Clifford said. "Corny jokes are music to my ears."
"Like that one?" Kermit smirked.
"If anyone actually gets that joke, sure," Clifford said.
Kermit shook his head. "Anyway... I’m sorry that you and Skeeter are having this little spat. Seems all of the couples around here are."
"Yeah," Clifford said. "How’s it goin’ with you and Piggy?"
The theater door burst open again, and Miss Piggy entered to a fanfare of unseen trumpets in sunglasses and her "shopping" clothes. "Hello little people," she said sweetly. "Moi, has a arrived."
She whipped around. "Alright, meat, let’s move it. I’ve got so many things to try on!" She began climbing the stairs to her dressing room.
Link hobbled in from the door, carrying at least a dozen shopping bags towering over him in his left arm, and holding a trumpet in his right. "Don’t I know it," he grunted.
Kermit scrunched up his face as he and Clifford watched Link drag himself, and the shopping bags up the stairs. "This would be much easier if she didn’t need a fanfare everywhere she went."
"C’mon, pork rind! Moi doesn’t have all day, ya know!" Piggy growled.
"Unh, yes ma’am," Link groaned.
The door slammed behind the two pigs as they adjourned to Piggy’s dressing room.
Kermit turned to Clifford, who was chuckling menacingly. "That is how it’s going with me and Piggy."
"Heh, heh. Do I sense some jealousy?" Clifford asked.
"I certainly hope so," Kermit said. "But I hope Piggy doesn’t sense it. If she does, she’ll know her stupid plan is working on me." Kermit sighed.
"Heh, perk up, polliwog," Clifford said.
Kermit smirked. "I’m about as far away from a polliwog as you can get."
"How so?" Clifford asked.
"Well, first of all, these emotions I’m having are way too complicated and mature for a young polliwog," Kermit said with a suave accent. "That, and I have legs."
"Kermit! Kermit!" Fozzie called, running in from the stage.
"Yes, Fozzie?" Kermit asked.
"How are you?" Fozzie asked blankly.
Kermit tilted his head. "I’m... I’m fine Fozzie..."
"Aren’t you going to ask how I am?" Fozzie asked.
Kermit looked to Clifford, Clifford shrugged. "Um, how are you Fozzie?" Kermit asked.
"I’m fine and dandelion," Fozzie said. "Ahh! Wocka! Wocka!"
"...Fozzie, what does that have to do with anything?" Kermit asked.
"I figured you needed a laugh," Fozzie said. He looked from side to side. "You see," he said. "I just heard about you and Piggy," he whispered.
If Kermit could blink, he would have. "You... just now heard about it?" Fozzie nodded. "Fozzie," Kermit said. "It happened almost a week ago."
Fozzie shrugged. "I don’t watch the news. It’s just not funny enough."
"It’s not s’pposed to be funny," Clifford said.
"Oh." Fozzie scratched his head. "Maybe that’s why I don’t watch it."
Kermit turned to Clifford. "This was on the news?" he asked warily.
"Ask Gonzo," Clifford said.
Kermit sighed. "Figures," he said. "Where is he?"
"Bombs away!" The weirdo fell from the ceiling, landing in between Kermit and Fozzie. "Hi, Kermit!" Gonzo grinned.
Kermit frowned. "Gonzo, did you tell the news station about me and Piggy?" he asked.
"Sure did!" Gonzo said. "Did you see it?"
"Gonzo!" Kermit shouted. "Why?"
"Because the doctor’s said if I didn’t my nose would grow into my belly button. I thought it would be cool, but Camilla wouldn’t go for it," Gonzo said. Everyone stared at the whatever. "...Wouldn't you go for it?" he asked.
Kermit groaned loudly. "Why did you put us on the news?" Kermit shouted.
"You said you wanted publicity!" Gonzo shouted.
"I also said I wanted The Swedish Chef to cater Aunt Marge’s birthday party this weekend!" Kermit said angrily.
"You did? Cool!" Gonzo said.
"Gonzo!" Kermit scolded. "I’m not being serious all the time!"
"Well, were you being serious when you said you wanted publicity?" Gonzo asked.
Kermit sighed angrily. "Yes!"
"Then what’s the problem?"
"Not that kind of publicity!"
"Well what kind of publicity do you want?" Gonzo asked. "Because I can get you on radio talk shows."
"I want publicity for the show! Not me and Piggy!" Kermit shouted.
"Piggy sure seems to want publicity for her and Link, though," Clifford said.
"Yeah, there was a picture of them next to the funny pages," Fozzie said.
"So you read the newspaper, but you don’t watch the news?" Clifford asked.
"The newspaper has comedy. I mean, the news could," Fozzie said. "Maybe that Larry King fella could try a clown nose and a rubber chicken."
"Don’t say chicken!" Gonzo shouted. "It reminds me of Camilla..."
"Gonzo?" Kermit asked, finally calming down some.
"Yes?" Gonzo asked cheerfully.
"No more publicity, okay?" Kermit asked. "That goes for all of you," Kermit said.
"What about your spot on ‘Max’ next week?" Fozzie asked.
Kermit peered at his calendar. "I’ll be there." Kermit smiled.
"Great!" Fozzie said. "I’ll start writing you a script!"
Kermit nodded reluctantly. "Alright," Kermit said. "But Fozzie?"
"Yes, Kermit?" Fozzie asked innocently.
"No pig jokes."