Piggy was trying to sleep… had been, off and on, since she’d arrived at the boarding house, hadn’t, since the drug-induced lullaby the hospital had forced on their hysterical patient. She’d surprised herself with her own relief at being back amongst the madness, though being cloistered away in her room wasn’t exactly the same as being among them, she could hear the everyday brouhaha all around her, and it made her feel better.
When they left for the theatre, at first in a slow trickle and finally en masse, they took the life of the place with them, leaving her alone, and pretending not to feel it. She snuggled deeper into her blankets and squeezed her eyes shut. Frustrated, Piggy began counting her slow breaths in order to distract herself from the knowledge that the show was going on without her.
It didn’t work.
Unwilling to surrender just yet, she turned and tossed and eventually turned on some music to drown out the silence of the empty rooms around her.
It didn’t work... very well.
With a sigh, she leaned over and pulled open the bottom drawer of her end table. Inside lay a sizable pink photo album, ornately decorated with ribbons and pearls and a lacy fringe around the sides. It was, in short, the girliest album she could find, and well suited to driving away any which one of the boys who might be tempted to violate her privacy. Having the book decorated so elaborately was kindness in itself anyway, acting in much the same way as the bright colours on a poisonous insect. If Piggy ever caught anyone going through her things without her express, and highly unlikely to be given consent, said adventurer would find themselves facing a painful lesson.
Absurdly elegant gold script announced it was “The Happy Memory Book” to the whole world in the same manner someone would announce the Queen of England. Piggy ran fingers lightly over the cover and enjoyed the softness of it. She’d started it after a particularly nasty argument on the set of The Great Muppet Caper and it had taken on a life of its own. The album was something of a project of hers, something to keep her hopes up, and something to distract her while she waited impatiently for her frog to realize he was her frog.
Miss Piggy opened the book and began lovingly leafing through the pages, each one of which had little notes, mementos and photos taking up every inch of space. It focused largely on Kermit, but there were items from the others as well. Here, for instance, was a photo of Robin playing a harmonica; he’d been so delighted with that gift. Beside it was a picture of the Frog Scouts, taken shortly after they’d finally managed to get him back after a terrifying run in with Doc Hopper. Kermit was in the picture too, standing in the background, beaming proudly, but with relief and anxiety warring in his expression; he refused to let Robin out of sight for a long time after that.
On another page, there was a tiny little plastic bag filled with sand. Tears, like those little droplets of tears that stop before they can escape, welled up instantly in her vibrant eyes at the sight of it. A souvenir of another intense argument she and Kermit had had, when she’d let him down by letting difficult circumstances get to her in a desert. She smiled tearfully touching the bag, feeling the little grains through the thin plastic.
“I should have been taking care of you that day,” she whispered sorrowfully, unheard.
Beside the sand was a picture of the two of them together, happy and relaxed, which Gonzo had snapped out of the blue. He’d retained a little bit of interest in cameras from their stint on a movie and occasionally liked to surprise people. It was one of the few pictures Piggy had of them together that wasn’t a publicity shot, and she was very grateful to Gonzo for silently handing it to her on a bad day. She’d put them together, as a reminder of their friendship, and his forgiveness. When things were rough, this page of her book always strengthened her resolve to be his backrest, and to be his staunch defender always in a world that was darker than she felt he understood.
