Brothers and Sisters
Part 6: Thwack
by Kim McFarland

"And this is my tug-o-tails trophy!"

Skeeter, her clothes dripping wet from her recent dip in the pond, looked at the trophy that Red was so proud of. When she had first seen it she hadn't been able to figure out what the two entwined curves were supposed to be. However, she hadn't remained in the dark for long. Red had wasted no time before showing off her favorite possessions. To Skeeter's eye Red didn't look particularly athletic. She was basically a ball of fur with arms, legs, googly eyes, and hair like a cheerleader's pompoms. After seeing her "pump granite," even lifting weights with her tail, however, Skeeter revised her opinion.

Red said, "Wanna give it a try?" indicating the weights.

Skeeter looked at the two barbells. She was sure she could manage the smaller one without any problem, but that was the one that Red lifted with her tail. So, despite her misgivings, she tried the large barbell.

Red leaned against the wall and watched as Skeeter grasped the bar, worked her hands to get a comfortable grip, set her feet, and tried to lift. The Silly Creature's technique was good; she was pushing up with her legs rather than bending forward and trying to straighten up, which was a good way to hurt your back. There was a stone-on-stone scraping noise as the barbell moved a little.

Skeeter let go. She could strain all day, but she'd never be able to lift it more than an inch, and she would only embarrass herself trying. "That's too heavy for me," she admitted.

"Don't worry about it. Nobody else can lift it like I can, not even Gobo."

"This is more my speed," Skeeter said, picking up the smaller barbell. It, too, was heavier than she expected. And Red lifted this with her tail? Where did she put the muscle to do that? Skeeter raised it over her head, then set it down again. "Remind me never to arm-wrestle you."

Red grinned, pleased at the recognition of her skills. Poncle, who had been uncharacteristically quiet for the past three and a half minutes, declared, "I can lift it!" She grabbed the smaller barbell with both hands and strained as hard as she could.

Red chuckled and, taking the barbell by the weights, picked it up. "With a little help."

"See?" Poncle said proudly.

"Wow," Skeeter said, amused.

The Fraggles put the barbell down again. Then Poncle said "Thwack me!"

"All right, get in."

The little Fraggle scrambled up into Red's low-slung hammock and sat facing a hole in the wall. Red pulled the hammock far back, then released it, slingshotting Poncle out of the room. Skeeter, alarmed, rushed to the window just in time to see Poncle splash into the pond in the Great Hall.

"Wanna go next?" Red offered.

Poncle surfaced, none the worse for wear. Whew. Skeeter said, "No thanks. Maybe later."

"Okay," Red said with a shrug. "Say, you said you do rock climbing. Tomorrow's Fraggleathelon event will be scaling Schist Cliff. Winner gets the rock-climbing trophy. I was planning to win it back from Gobo, since he's not competing this time. Wanna give it a try too?"

"You sure I can? I'm not a Fraggle."

Skeeter meant it as a joke, but Red replied in a serious tone, "Sure. Our games used to be Fraggles only, but that was before we really thought about inviting anyone else. It just never occurred to us. These days contests and events are open to anyone who wants to join in. Well, if they're able. A Doozer can sing, but they're no good at rock climbing. Too stubby. Still, if one actually wanted to try nobody'd say no."

"Well... I doubt I have much of a chance against you, but sure, I'll give it a try. What supplies or things do I need?"

"Nothing," Red assured her. "It's nice and rough, lots of handholds. And there's a pond at its base, so if you fall you'll just get wet."

"Oh? Cool. And speaking of which... do you have a towel?" Skeeter asked.

"A what?"

"A towel. Something to dry off with? My clothes are all wet, and I'm getting cold."

Wet clothes were a problem for Silly Creatures? Boy, Red thought, she was glad to be a Fraggle. "Is that like a clothesline?"

Fraggles didn't know what towels were? Oh brother. She might have anticipated that, knowing how Janken never minded walking around soaking wet, but she hadn't. She said, "Um, in that case, is there someplace I can change?"

"Change what?"

Oh boy. "My clothes. I have something dry in my backpack."

"Oh. Sure, you can change right here."

"Er... would you mind turning around? I'd rather you didn't look. We 'silly creatures' are funny that way."

"Okay, if you say so," Red said, and turned toward the window. She thought it was dumb to worry about someone seeing you change, but decided it was easiest to humor her.

Quickly Skeeter stripped off her wet clothes and started getting into her one-piece bathing suit. Scooter had worn his under his pants; now she wished that she'd had that much foresight. She had almost gotten the suit on when Mokey appeared in the cave entrance. Skeeter yeeped and covered herself. Mokey paused, mildly surprised to see Red's guest, then continued to her side of the room. Hastily pulling the upper part of the suit into place, Skeeter said, "Sorry! I was getting cold in those wet clothes, and I had to change. I didn't think anyone would see."

"Who're you talking to?" Red asked.

"Me," Mokey answered. To Skeeter she said," No wonder you're cold, with no fur to keep you warm. Here, wear this until your clothes dry out." She took off her robelike sweater and offered it to Skeeter.

"Wow, thanks," Skeeter said. She put it on. It was soft and warm and not as heavy as it looked. "I really appreciate it."

"What're friends for?" Mokey said.

Red said, "You want my advice, take your clothes to Boober. Ask him to wash 'em."

"They're not really dirty, just wet."

"Yeah, but Boober loves doing laundry. He's never seen clothes like yours. They'll make his day."

Janken led Scooter through the Great Hall, saying, "There's one Fraggle I really want you to meet. The Storyteller. She doesn't come up here often, so we'll go to her place."

"What's her name?" Scooter asked.

"Y'know, I don't know if she has one. Everyone just calls her The Storyteller. She's been almost an aunt to me—more like a great-aunt, actually, because she's crackers over Great-Uncle Matt—and her stories... well, they tell a lot about us, and they're fun to listen to."

As they crossed the Great Hall Sage called from the pond, "Jan! Come swim with me."

"Sorry, not right now. We're gonna go see The Storyteller."

"Wait." She swam to the side and pulled herself out of the water. Dripping wet, she said, "Pick me up and throw me in."

Janken smiled wistfully. "Sorry, Sage, but you're getting too big for me to lift. I'm not Red."

"I'm not that big! C'mon!"

"I'll try later, okay, sis?"

She looked at him for a moment, then turned her back on them both and jumped into the water.

Janken led Scooter through the caves. He didn't take the direct path; there were some interesting sights to see in this area, starting with the Spiral Cavern. As they walked down the helical passage Janken watched Scooter for any sign of the claustrophobia that surface dwellers were prone to. Thus far he was doing all right. Wary, but in an unfamiliar cave who wouldn't be?

After passing through the Spiral Caverns, the Squeaky Cavern, and Wax Falls—so named for the flowstone patterns that resembled giant, multicolored, dribbly candles—they arrived at a cave that was incongruously disguised as a house front, complete with door. It was the only door Scooter had seen in these caves; even Boober only had a curtain at the entrance to his cave. Janken pressed on a star shape. A chime sounded.

Moments later an older female Fraggle opened the door enough to look out. Surprised, she lifted her glasses and peered at Janken and Scooter, then said, "Well, I didn't expect this! Welcome back, Janken! Have you brought your friend to me for a story?"

Janken said, "I brought Scooter here to meet you, Storyteller. But if you want to tell us a story, we'd like to hear it."

"Always the sweet-talker," she said, and opened the door all the way. "Come in, come in."

They went in. The area just beyond the door was a chamber with lots of throw cushions on the floor and a stool on one side. Janken sat on a cushion and patted the one next to himself. Scooter sat by him, and The Storyteller perched on the stool. She said, "Why don't one of you tell me a story?"

Scooter and Janken glanced at each other. Janken said, "I'll start."

They spent the afternoon exchanging stories. Janken recounted events—some funny, some more serious—that had happened among the Muppets, and told one shaggy-dog story that The Storyteller didn't recognize as a joke until the punchline. She told them about some of the events that had happened in Fraggle Rock, and some that were either historical events or folklore. Scooter was impressed; every tale she told sounded like an epic, and she wove songs into the stories—or perhaps wove stories into songs—in a way that drew the listener in. Janken had told him how all Fraggles but him had the talent to improvise songs. He wasn't kidding. At both Janken's and The Storyteller's encouragement he told them about some of the things that had happened to him and the other Muppets over the years. They weren't much as stories, but The Storyteller seemed very interested.

When they left hours later, promising to return before they left for the surface, they both had slightly sore throats. Janken led them back to the main colony by a different route, one which included small, moss-bordered pool. Janken told Scooter, "Here, drink this."

The water was colored pink. "Er, are you sure?"

"You think I don't know what's good to drink? This is sweetwater. Taste it." Janken knelt and bent far enough forward to slurp directly from the pond's surface.

It still didn't look like natural, clean water to Scooter, but he trusted Janken. He knelt and scooped some of the water up in his hands, then sipped that. It did taste good.

Janken watched, amused, as Scooter drank several double handfuls of the water. It seemed silly to raise the water in your hands rather than simply drinking right from the pond, but it was harmless and it worked for Scooter, so who was he to criticize it? He said, "What do you think of The Storyteller?"

"I like her. She can really tell a story. I don't know if what I told her was what she was looking for, though."

Janken explained, "For us, stories aren't just stories. They're history, events, parables, myths...they're culture. She's one of the keepers of our culture, really. She wants to know about the outside world. Not about the things you find out there, but about what people are like. I've brought her a few things, like a book of Aesop's Fables."

"That sounds better than bringing her a newspaper," Scooter remarked, then drank another double handful of sweetwater.

"I'd never do that to her. I like her," Janken replied in mock horror, then said in a more serious tone, "And, of course, I've told her about you, and I knew she'd want to meet you. And, to answer the next question, yes, she knows."

Scooter said, "Actually, I wasn't thinking about that."

"You weren't?"

"Nope. It slipped my mind. Heh."

Janken put an arm around Scooter's waist. "You're gettin' it! Now lemme show you something really great. You haven't seen Fraggle Rock until you've seen Belching Boulder."

Sage was half-in, half-out of the pond, resting her chin on her hands on the mossy boulders while her legs kicked slowly to keep her in place. She had been here so long that her hair and the fur on her back had dried. She heard Scooter and Janken's voices, and turned toward them.

They crossed the Great Hall, laughing about something or other, without noticing her. She had waited all this time, and they just walked by and didn't even look at her! Her fingers tightened angrily in the moss.

There was a boing and a yelp, then a big splash. A moment later Skeeter surfaced, sputtering.

Scooter and Skeeter are copyright © The Muppets Studio, LLC. All Fraggles except Janken, Sage, and Poncle are © The Jim Henson Company, LLC. All copyrighted characters are used without permission but with much respect and affection. Janken, Sage, and Poncle Fraggle and the overall story are copyright © Kim McFarland (negaduck9 at aol dot com). Permission is given by the author to copy it for personal use only.