A Wandering Heart
Part 14: Oblique Angle
by Kim McFarland

It was a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon, the first one Janken and Scooter had had free in months. The university's most recent theatrical production had finally ended its run, so Scooter wasn't needed as a stage manager and Janken didn't have any lights and cameras to wrangle, and Janken didn't work at the library on Saturdays. Now they were in a park with nothing more complex to do than skim a Frisbee back and forth through the air. Janken thought it was like skipping stones. He'd send a Frisbee back home, but he didn't think the caverns were big enough for a good game.

The two had been working together for the past year. Scooter had enough pull to get Janken for his projects. Janken was good on cameras, plus he could think quickly, so ad-libs and unexpected happenings didn't throw him. Janken wasn't sure why Scooter thought that was so important, as such events were not terribly common in university productions, but he wasn't going to say no. He enjoyed working with him. He was a good stage manager, and had taken Janken under his wing and taught him all sorts of things about the live stage that he wouldn't have learned in a class. Plus, he was a nice guy, and cute as heck. Janken was glad that his first impression of him—an egotistic twerp—had been wrong.

Janken caught the disc between two hands and slung it back. He aimed slightly to the side, but put a bit of spin on it so it would curve back toward Scooter. As he did, he smiled at himself. He had long ago admitted to himself that he was attracted to this Silly Creature. Now that Janken had finally gotten past adolescence his hormones weren't trying to boss him around anymore, so he had a bit more perspective. If he was attracted to someone and the feeling wasn't mutual, that was all right; he could still enjoy their friendship. Although he wasn't quite sure that there was no hope... but, never mind, if something happened it would, and if it didn't it didn't. Heh, that sounded like something Cantus would say, didn't it? "What is, is."

The two played until early afternoon. Then Scooter caught the Frisbee and walked over to Janken. "Hey, why don't we get some lunch?"

"Sure. I like food," Janken agreed.

The produce stand was open today, and it was right by some hot dog and other carts. Janken had once tried a hot dog, and his body had informed him immediately and in no uncertain terms that Fraggles were meant to be vegetarians. Scooter said, "I know a place you'll like."

"I don't have much on me," Janken said uncomfortably.

Scooter waved dismissively. "I'll get it."

They got on their bicycles, and Scooter led Janken to a restaurant in an outside mall. Janken didn't usually go to restaurants; they were more expensive than he liked, and the idea of telling someone you didn't know to prepare food for you felt cold and impersonal. But when in Outer Space, act like a Silly Creature.

Janken followed Scooter in. Scooter went up to the counter and ordered two salad bars. After taking payment the cashier waved him through. At the end of the line were some trays with large plates. Scooter took one, and Janken took another. He led Janken to the salad bar and said, "Load up and let's get a table."

Janken stared at the salad bar. He was expecting lettuce, tomatoes, maybe a few other light vegetables, and a bunch of heavy dressings. Spread before him were an array of all sorts of vegetables, some of which he didn't recognize, plus eggs, pasta, french bread, nuts, fruit, and other things. He stepped up and eagerly began loading a little of everything onto his plate. He didn't want to miss anything. Amused, Scooter followed behind. He certainly wasn't going to go in front of Janken and risk getting between him and something he wanted. He did point out the bacon bits so Janken wouldn't have an unpleasant surprise.

They claimed a table, and for a while ate without talking. Janken was giving all his attention to the food, first eating one of each item separately, then trying combinations. Scooter had never seen anyone devote such attention to garden food.

When half of his food was gone Janken looked up. "This is good," he understated.

"I thought you'd get a kick out of it."

"You're not kidding. There are things there I've never tasted before! Restaurants usually aren't my thing, but I'll make an exception for this. Thanks!"

"Glad you like it," Scooter said.

"Mm-hm," Janken said.

After a while Janken went back for a small plate of seconds. While he was grazing Scooter got some ice cream from the machine in the back. He remarked, "I've never seen someone get so excited over a salad."

Janken looked up. "This is how we eat where I come from! Except we don't have this many different kinds of food at one time. Things grow at different times." He examined a forkful of bean sprouts. "I wonder if we could grow this."

"I don't know. I never tried gardening."

"I'll look it up. Convenient that I work in the library, huh?"

"Yeah."

"So, what're you doing tonight?" Janken asked.

Scooter sighed, "I'll be going out with my sister."

Janken looked up. "You don't sound too happy about that."

"Oh, I like my sister fine, but it's a double date."

"Double date?" Janken asked, puzzled.

Janken had odd gaps in his knowledge. By now Scooter was used to them. "She's got this idea that I need to get out and meet people more, so she sets it up so we go out on dates together. She has someone, and picks one of her girl friends for me." He shook his head. "I guess it's fun, but it never goes anywhere."

"Why not?" Janked asked.

"I don't know. Nothing happens, that's all. I've made a few friends that way, but, well, it always ends up as 'just friends'. Skeeter means well, but I'm getting tired of it." And too many people recognized him and treated him funny. That was something that Janken had never done. Scooter was glad for that particular gap in Janken's knowledge. To change the topic, he lowered his voice and asked, "Are you seeing anyone?"

"Dating? Nope," Janken replied. "I never saw the point in it."

"What do you mean?"

Janken explained, "I don't like the premise. It's like you're auditioning someone for a part in your life. If you don't know a person well enough to know if you even like each other, why even think about that? I'm old-fashioned, I guess. I want to make friends, and if something happens to develop from there..." He smiled at Scooter.

Scooter nodded understanding. "Yeah."

"But I did try it once..." Janken admitted.

"Didn't go well?" Scooter guessed.

"Nope. A girl I really liked and I decided we were going to be a couple. We'd been really close friends for a long time, and I thought it'd be perfect, but...no good. The problem was, she was a girl and I'm gay, and neither of those were going to change. We just made each other unhappy. After we figured that out we stopped trying to force it and went back to being good friends. I never tried that again." He smiled sheepishly at Scooter. "Kind of a dumb story, huh?"

"It doesn't sound dumb to me," Scooter said.

"Thanks. I guess everyone makes silly mistakes when they're trying to figure themselves out. Right after that I got a crush on someone, who... well, long story short, I was pretty sure he wasn't interested, so I never said a thing. Mostly I think that was the right thing to do, but sometimes I wonder if it was really honest." He realized that he had been pushing his food around on his plate while he had been talking, and stuffed a forkful of raw cauliflower into his mouth. He was hoping that Scooter would be kind enough to change the topic, but he just looked sympathetic and waited for Janken to continue. Janken swallowed and said, "It's been a while since I've had an evening all to myself. I'll go see a movie at the library."

"They show movies there?"

"Sort of. You know you can check out DVDs and videotapes, right? They have an AV room in the back with monitors and headphones in little cubbies. You choose something, ask 'em to play it, then put on the headphones and watch. I've seen lots of movies that way."

"Huh, I didn't know about that."

"Not many people do, I guess. I don't see a lot of other people there."

"What kind of movies do you watch?"

"I've been trying a little of this and a little of that. I guess I gravitate to musicals, though. What a surprise, huh?"

"Yeah," Scooter said, grinning.

"I keep coming back to The Wizard of Oz, though. They must be getting sick of playing it for me."

"Ever seen it in a theater?"

"No. Do they show movies that old?"

"Not often." Scooter thought a bit. There were some movies that you really should see in a theater at least once. "It's really something on a big screen."

"If they ever show it in a theater around here I'll go, then. Maybe someone'll be showing it around Christmas."

"Probably," Scooter said.

That evening, when Scooter met up with Skeeter, he told her, "Sis—don't set up any more of these, all right?"

Surprised, she asked, "What's the matter?"

"I've made other plans, that's all."

"What, hanging around with those Muppets? Come on, you need to get out more, little bro."

He did not rise to the bait. "I've just made my own plans, that's all."

Grinning, she said, "Is it with anyone I know?"

"No, it's not."

Her grin widened. "Aha! Well, good for you. But you're not flaking out on tonight, are you?"

"No, I wouldn't do that."

"Good. Well, c'mon."

The next afternoon Scooter was already in the theater when Janken came in. Janken thought he'd get there a bit early and tweak some of the lights to focus the stage illumination a bit more tightly while nobody was there, but it looked as if Scooter had been there a while already. He was messing around with the scenery and props, marking down things that needed to be repaired or touched up for future productions. Janken walked over and said, "Need any help?"

"Yeah. Mind marking things down while I check them out?"

"Sure."

Scooter gave Janken the clipboard. He went over to a section of building and looked it over. "This was wobbling when they slid it onstage the last few times. Some nails pulled loose from the support strut. Needs to be fixed."

"Yeah," Janken said, marking it down.

Scooter slid another piece back and forth. It squeaked and pulled to the right. Scooter crouched down and looked at a wheel. "Needs WD-40. There'll be some around here," Scooter said.

"Got it."

"What'd you watch last night?"

"Cabaret. Strange film."

Scooter glanced over. From the tone of Janken's voice, he found it a little disturbing as well. Scooter guessed that he didn't understand the era the film was set in. "Not exactly feel-good."

"Nope. The songs were good, though—

"What good is sitting alone in your room?
Come hear the music play."

Scooter joined in the next line,

"Come to the cabaret, old chum,
Come to the cabaret."

They both laughed. Scooter asked, "Want to go see a movie with me next Saturday?"

"Sure. What's playing?"

"We'll see."

Janken looked up. Scooter was grinning. Janken felt his heart give a little flutter, and grinned back. "All right."

Fraggle Rock and all characters except Janken and Scooter are copyright © The Jim Henson Company. Scooter is copyright © The Muppets Studio, LLC. Cabaret is copyright © . All copyrighted properties are used without permission but with much respect and affection. Janken 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.