The ever calm, cool and collected Braden tried his best to keep his cool as he used all of his strength and stamina to get the trunk of his car to close, as it was simply stuffed with- well- girly things. Things his wife adored, and he abhorred-but, one thing he learned; marriage is all about sacrifice. Or was that compromise? After throwing all of his body weight (and then some) into it, he finally was able to close the defiant drunk; though it is worth mentioning that after the fact, his hip hurt like no one’s business, though he’d never let on that it did. Feeling simply exhausted and on the tip of famished, he climbed into the driver’s seat, where his lovely queen and her best friend were waiting. He couldn’t help but allow himself to let out a little smile, because he could see that the girls were trying ever so hard not to laugh. How cute, he thought to himself. Though, instead of them laughing at him, he actually ended up laughing at himself.
‘’You know, you ladies put a killing on me, you know that? I think I almost broke something out there.’’ Oh, yes, there it was. The final threshold. The comment that did it all. The women looked at each other, and erupted into laughter. They had secretly been watching him from the rear view mirror, though they were pretending to be gossiping and talking girl talk (well, sort of pretending). The whole time they were watching, one conclusion stuck in their brains: He looked absolutely ridiculous out there trying to close the trunk; and by himself, no less. He had refused Samantha’s help when she had offered it- he told her that she just needed to ‘’relax.’’ Sadly, the truth of the matter was, he didn’t want his wife to see what she had actually ended up seeing anyway. Oh well. Funny the way things work themselves out sometimes, isn’t it? Though, after about a solid minute of laughing, and what Braden swore was a snort from Piggy, the ever patient and gentle Samantha stopped the taunting.
‘’Oh, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, sweetie, that’s not funny at all,’’ she choked out, though right after she said it, she let a fire cracker of another laugh out.
‘’No,no, no, it’s fine,’’ he said- and he actually meant it. He liked to see them laughing and having a good time. However, it was only when they kept on laughing after several failed attempts to stop that he got slightly annoyed.
‘’Ok, are you two finished, now?’’ he groaned.
‘’Yes. I mean no! I mean..’’ Piggy guffawed a nice, good, healthy one, one that made Braden’s tolerance level go down, down, down.
‘’Ok, that was that last one. Piggy, stop it, now. We’re hurting his feelings.’’
‘’Oh, sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry,’’ she apologized. Now, though, she had to tuck in her lips to keep her from getting started again- which, she was sure, judging from the somewhat annoyed look on Braden’s face, was going to drive him off the edge.
‘’Yes. See? She stopped, it’s not funny anymore,’’ Samantha assured her husband. ‘’That was the last one…except for this!’’ And again, both of the women launched into laughter.
With a forced smile on his face, Braden buckled his seat belt, and started the car. Without a moment’s hesitance, they were off and out of the parking lot, on to their way to the Frog residence.
‘’Just for future reference, ladies,’’ Braden softly growled. ‘’Next time you girls go shopping, you are walking home!’’
……………………………………………………………………………………………....
Kermit watched with pride at the party that was now well underway. He just couldn’t wait to see the surprised and excited look on everyone’s faces when he told them his surprise…they would love it! At least, he really hoped so. Quietly, he excused himself from the room, and made his way to his office for a moment. As he swiftly entered the room, he couldn’t help but just-beam the whole time. For the first time in a long time, he felt good, completely good. He felt like he had achieved something, something that he knew would make many others happy, and that in turn, made him happy. No sir. There was nothing in the world that made Kermit happier than making other people happy-especially those he loved. And tonight, he felt that he was going to achieve that goal very well.
He crept to his desk, and pulled out a large black binder- the one nobody, absolutely nobody, had seen but him. It was a bit of a secret binder, one might say, but his goal was not to make it a secret, it was just, something that he had never shown anyone. This binder contained all sorts of things, documents, letters to and from home, priceless drawings of Robin’s from when he was young, and of course, the photographs. Lots and lots of photographs. Especially of Robin. Actually, if you looked at all the photographs Kermit had in there of his young nephew, you could pretty much document his whole life. Of course, there were others in there, too, like ones and him and Braden when they were roomies in college, a few of Samantha and other old college friends, the friends that they shared now, of course, and one last one. One very, very special one. This was perhaps, the most secret part of this binder, this one, one last picture. Nobody knew he had it, but it was one that was very near and dear to his heart. Through the years, this picture has served as somewhat of a catharsis for him, as it would always put him in a good mood, no matter what he was feeling. He only really took the time to look at it when he was lonely or feeling upset, or felt like he needed a breath of fresh air-so to speak. And that’s exactly what this picture was to him: a breath of fresh air.
In front off all that, though, were his profiles. Well, not his profiles, they were everybody’s profiles. Resumes, pretty much, is what they were. Everyone had to make one up describing their talents and specialties for the stage-it was a requirement to prove that Kermit’s company was a troupe of competent, talented thespians, so that they might have their performance space. How the gang had pulled that off was still a mystery to Kermit, as the talented part was there….but the competent? …..Not so much. But he loved them all the same.
With that same streak of zeal and energy that he had, he flipped through each and every profile, acknowledging and giggling and what everyone wrote on it:
‘’Is good at eating.’’
‘’Loves to play with electricity.’’
‘’Is a man of science, who can prove that red and blue, in fact, make green.’’
‘’Can rock your socks off with my bass.’’
‘’Can drive a motor scooter over a tight-rope with holding dancing bricks in each hand, and simultaneously balancing Siegfreud and Roy on my head (while they’re holding peanut butter and anchovy sandwiches!)
That last one just couldn’t stop Kermit from laughing… ‘’That weirdo.’’ Each profile had a Polaroid photograph to go with, and Gonzo’s showed him blasting out of a cannon, and unfortunately, rendering Roy unconscious by landing on him and accidentally kicking him in the head.
Then, of course, he came to the more tender ones, the ones that never failed to make him smile.
Can tell jokes-not sure how well. Another smile escaped him. ‘Oh, Fozzie.’ His picture showed him practically eating his hat, from fear of the particularly harsh words of the hecklers that night. Next.
Can sing, dance, and play guitar. Also, I’m learning how to run the sound booth.
‘Now there’s my boy.’ Robin’s picture wasn’t exactly current; it was taken when he was about 12 or so, but the picture still made Kermit happy every single time he saw it. It was a picture of a shy Robin sitting in a chair three times his size and playing Stairwell to Heaven on the guitar. The thing that made Kermit smile this time, though, was the fact that looking back on it after all these years, the guitar looked like it was three times his size, too! He giggled a little, putting the photograph neatly back in place.
A light knock on the door followed. ‘’Kermit? Are you in here? You’re not sick or anything are you?’’ a concerned Gonzo asked.
Reluctantly, Kermit placed the picture down. ‘’No, Gonzo, I’m fine, I’ll uh, I’ll be down in a second, ok? I’m just getting some stuff together.’’
‘’Ok, but hurry up! I only have so many flaming cacti left to juggle!’’
‘’Ok,’’ mumbled a smiling Kermit. ‘’I just have one more to see, though.’’
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