Chapter thirty
The waiting room looked up as the old frog entered with his son and a strange parade of creatures following him. He sat down in his spot on the couch, and Kermit sat next to him. Fozzie sat next to Kermit, Miss Piggy next to Fozzie, and Rowlf next to Miss Piggy. Gonzo sat on the armrest, and Scooter and Clifford perched themselves on the backrest. Sweetums settled himself in on the floor, completely surrounded and somewhat covered by every young frog in the room, looking like a strange pied piper.
Pepe noticed that Maggie was sitting alone on the window sill, and hurried to sit next to her. “Jou don’t have to worry, hokay,” he said as he put one of his arms around her. “Pepe is here to comfort jou.”
He got a hard kick in his side. “You stay away from her, shrimp!” Croaker said. He sat down where Pepe had been and handed Maggie the cup of water he was holding.
Pepe glared at him. “I am not a shrimp, hokay!” he said as he walked away. “I am a king prawn!” He went over to where Kermit was sitting. “Hey Kermin,” he said, “Did jou see dat, hokay? I was just trying to talk to her, jou know, let her cry on my shoulder... and dat other frog just kicked me!”
Kermit smiled a very tiny smile. “Oh, good,” he whispered.
Pepe shook his head. “Dios mio...” he sat down on the floor next to Rowlf’s feet.
Kermit watched Sweetums and the younger frogs with a vague fascination. Robin was still sitting very comfortably in the monster’s hand. Some of his brothers had climbed onto Sweetums’ head. Sweetums was trying to hold very still, not wanting them to fall. They fell anyway, and laughed.
But the room fell silent as the door opened and the doctor stepped inside.
He was a tall man, with dark brown hair, mustache, and beard, and brown eyes. He knew the family well, as he had treated Mrs. the Frog since she had been diagnosed with cancer, ten years ago. He looked around the room, then focused on the old frog.
“The operation went very well,” he said softly. “As Nurse Eldridge told you, we were concerned about the anesthetic. But it turned out okay. She’s waking up now. She’s a little groggy, but she’ll be fine.” He nodded. “One visitor at a time for now.”
The old frog stood up and hobbled over to the door, leaning heavily on his cane. He shook the doctor’s hand and looked him straight in the eye. “Thank you, Dr. Henson,” he said. Then he followed the doctor out of the room.
Kermit smiled as he turned towards his brothers and sisters. “She’s waking up,” he said.
“Do you think it worked?” Croaker asked.
Jimmy stood up and shook his legs out. “I hope so,” he said.
“Of course it worked,” Maggie said as she stretched. “It’s Mom. She’ll be fine.”
They laughed, and someone started to sing.
“Are you tough or a hero, gotta know which.”
Most of the frogs started to sing along. “When you feel the need, gotta scratch the itch.”
All of the frogs sang, “But nothing goes off without a hitch, no way...”
Then everyone in the room sang, “You’ve gotta follow...follow your star... Yeah you follow...no matter how far...”
As the song went on, a young frog ran around the back of the couch and hopped up next to Kermit. He smiled down at her. “Hi Rachel,” he said. She waved for him to lean down to her. He did, and she whispered something to him. He smiled. “Well go on,” he said. She whispered something urgently, and he shook his head. “It’ll be fine,” he said, “Trust me.”
Rachel nervously got off the couch and stood at Miss Piggy’s feet, where she patiently waited to be noticed.
Luckily for her, Miss Piggy had been looking for a distraction from singing this song that she didn’t know. She looked at the young frog. “What?” she said.
Rachel squirmed. “Miss Piggy?” she said.
“Yes?” Miss Piggy said.
Rachel glanced at her feet and squirmed a little more. “Well um,” she said, “I’m... a really big fan of yours...”
Miss Piggy smiled. “Well, naturally!” she said as she sat a little straighter.
Fozzie suddenly felt something land on his hat. It then hopped down into his lap and said, “Hi! You’re Fozzie!”
Fozzie looked down at the little frog in his lap, surprised. “Yeah, I am,” he said.
“You’re really funny,” the little frog said.
“REALLY?” Fozzie said. He took his hat off. “You really think so?”
“Yeah!” the little frog said.
Fozzie smiled. “Hey what’s your name?” he asked.
“I’m Joey!” the little frog said energetically.
Kermit looked around the room and realized that all of his brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews were suddenly crowding around his friends. He smiled.
“Uncle Kermit?”
Kermit knelt down. “Yes Robin?”
Robin tugged at his hand and led him to a door marked “stairs.” Kermit pushed the door open. Together, they walked halfway down the stairs and sat down.
“What is it, Robin?” Kermit asked as he put a hand on his nephew’s back.
“Uncle Kermit,” Robin said, “Which home?”
Kermit frowned slightly. “Pardon?”
“You know, at the end of Follow Your Star. The last line is about home.”
Kermit nodded. “Oh, you mean uh, We’ll never find a place... like home... That?”
“Yeah, that,” Robin said. “Well which home? The swamp or the theater?”
Kermit sighed. “You know Robin,” he said, “I’m not actually sure. But if you figure it out, could you let me know?”
Robin scrunched his face up. It wasn’t the kind of answer he had been hoping for.
Kermit shook his head. “I’ll tell you what I think, Robin,” he said. “Home is where the heart is. So if a heart can be in two places at once, then I guess a frog can have two homes.”
Robin thought about it. “But how can one heart be in two places?” he asked. “Does that mean you have two hearts?”
“Well, not exactly,” Kermit said. “It just means your heart can multi-task. Or that it has a clone. I’m not exactly sure.”
“That sounds kinda funny,” Robin said.
“Yeah, it does, doesn’t it,” Kermit nodded. “Like I said, I’m not exactly sure.”
“Well,” Robin said, “...How do you figure it out?”
Kermit shrugged. “Well, I guess a good place to start would be to follow your star,” he said. “Maybe that’s the point of the song.”
They thought it over for a minute.
“Hey Robin,” Kermit said, “Could you do me a favor?”
Robin looked up at him. “Sure, Uncle Kermit!” he said. “What is it?”
“Next time, ask me something I know the answer to.”
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