Masks, Part 16:
Face-Off, Part 2
by Kim McFarland
*****
The Muppets reached the boarding house in high spirits despite that night's snafus and improvisations. In fact, those complications was at least in part responsible for their cheer. Clever acts that went off like clockwork were fine, but there was something about a narrowly averted disaster that made a Muppet feel really alive.
When they returned, Gonzo was in the living room, playing with his daughter Billie. Fozzie Bear said, "You missed a really great show, Gonzo. One of the acts blew up—"
"The penguins and the machines? Again?" Gonzo asked.
"No, the Swedish Chef. Then they took him to Veterinarian's Hospital."
"Cool! I gotta see that," Gonzo said.
"No problem. I'd be out a job if I didn't save that footage," Janken said. Scooter had asked the Fraggle to come by the boarding house instead of going straight home after the show. Puzzled, Janken had agreed, and stowed his bicycle in the back of the bus. Skeeter had invited herself along as well.
The Muppets were settling into the living room. Camilla nestled up beside Gonzo. He put an arm around her and said, "I guess you're wondering about what I said at the TMI show. Yeah, that was for real."
Rowlf said, "Wait, what was this?"
Kermit was surprised at how calmly Gonzo said, "I knew Cathy Monster because she was my case worker years and years ago. I used to live on the streets. I ran away from family issues and stuff." He shrugged. "I spent about six years homeless before someone referred me to the TMI, and they helped me out of that. I never told any of you about it, because, well, it's not exactly a past to be proud of, is it?"
"But with Fleet Scribbler right there..." Fozzie said.
Again Gonzo shrugged. "I don't know, at the moment I just didn't care. It was the right time to come clean. I'd have to be a real jerk not to own up to what they'd done for me. It's because of them, Cathy especially, that I'm not still sleeping on park benches. And if Fleet writes about it... well, nothing he writes could hurt me any worse than I've been hurting myself by being ashamed instead of just dealing with it."
Quietly Scooter said, "Wow."
Gonzo said, "I stayed out of trouble back then. I don't have a police record. There's no dirt for Fleet to dig up on me. I'm not looking forward to what he'll write, but I guess that even if he makes up a lot of stuff, nobody'll believe it for more than a minute. Anyway... sorry I kept it from you all. Now you know."
There was a few seconds of silence. Then Floyd said, "Hey, we're hip."
"We practically lived outta our bus before we got this gig," Dr. Teeth said. "We've all had our rough times."
Rizzo added, "Hey, I know all about dumpster diving. There's good eatin' in there!"
Amused, Gonzo replied, "You would know."
The rat continued, "But, Gonzo, first you're a chicken-lover, then you're an alien, now this. Is there anything else ya wanna tell us about, buddy?"
Gonzo laughed. "No, that's it. I promise."
"Good. Don't worry about it, anyway. No matter what, we couldn't think any worse of ya." Rizzo punched Gonzo's arm.
Scooter said, "No matter what, you'll always be weird ol' Gonzo to us." The others agreed.
"Thanks," Gonzo said sincerely.
Camilla clucked, and Gonzo said, "I know, babe." He told the others, "Camilla said she knew you'd all understand."
"Um, while we're all here, there's something I'd like to get off my chest," Scooter began hesitantly.
Janken, sitting beside him, was surprised, and dismayed when he saw how worried Scooter looked.
"What is it, Scooter?" Miss Piggy asked.
"Well... I've been seeing someone for a while now. I've been hiding it, and I feel kind of bad about that."
Skeeter exclaimed, "You kidding? My little nerd brother's finally growing up! Who'd've thought?"
Scooter shot her a look. Fozzie asked, "So who is she? Anyone we know?"
Janken was looking at him, his expression carefully neutral. Scooter said, "Yeah," and, holding Janken's gaze, turned his hand palm up. After a pause Janken smiled and clasped hands with him. Scooter smiled back. He owed this to Janken.
"Whoa, I didn't see that coming," Gonzo said.
"That's a big secret to keep, Scooter," Kermit said.
They sounded surprised, but not upset, Scooter noted with relief. "I know," Scooter replied. "I've been feeling kind of crummy about it-"
Skeeter swatted him on the back of his head. He grabbed for his glasses before they could come off. "Hey! What's that for?"
"You ought to feel crummy! You jerk, I can't believe you've been lying to everyone all this time!"
He protested, "What? I didn't
lie about it, I just didn't tell anyone-"
"You didn't tell
me! I'm your sister, for crying out loud! What did you think I'd do, have you stripped of your Boy Scout merit badges? What about those double dates we used to go on, all that time you were pretending! How is
that not lying, huh?"
Scooter glanced around. If only Skeeter wasn't here; he didn't want to hash everything out in front of everyone. But what else could he do? He said, "Skeeter, I wasn't pretending. I didn't know. Really."
She folded her arms and glared at him. "How can you not know something like
that?"
He shook his head, and felt Janken squeeze his hand supportively. "I only started dating when I went to college. Before that, well, I really didn't give it a lot of thought. And—well, you know, we went out a lot, and it was fun, but nothing really happened. I met a lot of nice girls, and made plenty of friends, but that was all. It always ended up as 'just friends.' I didn't realize why until I met Janken."
Skeeter's tone softened. "Okay. So you weren't lying, you were just clueless. But, how can you
not know you like guys instead of girls, for crying out loud?"
He closed his eyes and gathered his nerve. When he spoke, it was in a low, careful tone. "Skeeter, people look down on anyone who's...gay. Not everyone does, but it happens all the time. All the name-calling, and worse. Even 'gay' is an insult now. Oh, lots of people will tolerate 'those people,' if they keep it quiet and hide what they are. But when people act like it's a dirty subject, like there's something wrong with you and they have to protect their kids from you, and organizations go to court to make sure they can keep people like you out because you're not good enough, and
win—with all that, who
wants to see that in themselves?"
Softly Skeeter asked, "Has anyone been giving you a bad time about it?"
"Besides you? No, we've been keeping quiet." Scooter answered wryly. "But every time I hear something, even though it's not aimed at me... I can't help thinking that if anyone knew, it
would be."
Skeeter put an arm around her brother's shoulders. "Um, sorry I popped you a moment ago. But, Scooter... come on, I'm your
sister. Did you really think I couldn't handle it? And all these guys," she gestured around the room at the other Muppets, "did you think they're such jerks they'd kick you to the curb? C'mon."
He admitted, "Yeah, you're right, sis. I just had a hard time getting used to it. Admitting something like that, even to yourself, is tough." He looked around the room. "Sorry, guys. But the one I owe an apology to most is Janken." He looked at the Fraggle. "Sorry I've been treating us like a secret, not being honest about you. You don't deserve that."
Janken pressed Scooter's hand between his own and said, "You were always honest
with me. That's what counts."
"Um..." Scooter glanced around, then told the other Muppets, "One thing. I didn't ask Kermit to hire Janken for the cameras because of how I feel about him. Okay, maybe I thought of him 'cause of that, but I suggested him because he's
good."
"That's why I hired him," Kermit answered calmly.
Gonzo realized that this must have been what Scooter had on his mind when they had spoken in the backyard weeks ago. If Gonzo hadn't been so preoccupied with his own problems he might have noticed something. Maybe Scooter could have used a friendly ear then. He said, "If you love each other and you make each other happy, then I say you win." Camilla clucked emphatic agreement.
"Words of wisdom from an unexpected source," Dr. Teeth remarked.
Janice said, "Like, so your squeeze is a guy, so what? You make a rilly cute couple."
Pepe added, "And all the more womens for the rest of us, hah hah!"
Skeeter said, "Besides, Scoot, it's one more thing we have in common."
Startled, he turned to her. "Skeeter?"
"We both date guys."
Scooter rolled his eyes and groaned, but he was grinning. Bad jokes were a good sign. Things were going back to normal.
Kermit told him, "Scooter, I'm I guess I'm supposed to say it doesn't matter to us, but it does. It matters to us because it matters to
you. I can't say I know just how you feel—maybe nobody here does—but we've all been through tough times one way or another. We get through by sticking together. You're one of us, and we're here for ya. That's what's important. And there is nothing wrong with you." The other Muppets nodded and voiced their agreement.
"Thanks, boss," Scooter said sincerely.
"No problem. I don't want to have to break in a new stage manager."
Some of the Muppets laughed. That was the truth; Scooter was a likable guy, but a stage manager good enough to handle the chaos that was their show was a treasure indeed.
Janken said softly to Scooter, "See, it's easier now, isn't it?"
"Yeah. Like Gonzo said, I guess the worst part was what I was doing to myself by keeping it in." He looked around the room. "Thanks, everyone."
"Hey, no problem," Fozzie said.
Miss Piggy said, "Scooter, nobody here thinks any less of you. After all, you've practically grown up with us. We're family, and if you can't trust your family, who can you trust?"
Janken looked at her. Her tone was gentle and not at all sweet or stagey. He was not used to hearing her sounding so sincere. But then, he realized, he had hardly ever seen her outside the theater. This was the first evidence he'd seen of the face behind her mask.
**
After that, the conversation lightened up, and they chattered about various things. When they finally broke up for the night Skeeter said to Janken, "I can give you a lift back. If you're going back, that is."
Janken glanced at Scooter, then said, "I'd better go home too. I need to study tomorrow for a test next week. But I have my bike. Thanks, though."
"Okay." She looked at Scooter. "Don't be a stranger, okay?" she said seriously.
"Okay. I promise," he replied.
Janken squeezed Scooter's hand and said, "See you tomorrow."
"Yeah."
"And thanks."
They looked at each other for a moment, unable to think of anything else to say. Janken would have liked to kiss Scooter goodbye, but that would have been pushing things. He grinned and turned, and just before he went out the door he raised a hand and wiggled his fingers cheerfully over his shoulder.
**
After that Miss Piggy excused herself so she could get her beauty sleep. As she dressed for bed she thought that it had been quite a day for revelations. First Gonzo's past, then Scooter and Janken. And yet those revelations didn't really change anything, did they? Gonzo and Scooter were still the same people they had always been.
She took off her arm-length satin gloves. Normally she changed gloves without looking at her hands, except when her...nails need trimming. Now she looked at them. Her fingers were, in her opinion, dainty and feminine. They would have been beautiful if not for those black trotters. She could cut them down and shape them like fingernails, but nothing short of opaque gloves could hide the evidence of her farmhouse origin.
She put on a pair of cotton bed gloves, thinking that people like Gonzo and Scooter were fortunate. They did not have to work hard to maintain their images. Nobody expected perfection of them.
*****
All characters except Janken are copyright © The Muppets Studio, LLC. All copyrighted properties are used without permission but with much respect and affection. Janken and the overall story are copyright © Kim McFarland (negaduck9@aol.com). Permission is given by the author to copy it for personal use only.
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Can't wait for the next installment!
So emotional! You executed this revelation so beautifully, slackbot. When Scooter poured out his heart and his fears to everyone --- fears that are, sadly, not unfounded --- I just wanted to put my arms around him so bad. It was so genuine.
