In the story?

  Yes, the people did come back.  Despite changes to we the people per economy and military and politics the people came back and we had a meaningful visit.  The man and his wife, both good listeners and maintain their values even when hearing all.  My Dad had a boxful of MAGA stuff though which he revelled in handing out as soon as they left.  Me and my Dad always agree to disagree.  One of the last words of wisdom Sherry (my mom, his wife) left us with--Love Is All That Matters.

  The muppets?  That was real.  A whole trunk full.  21st century muppets!  Why they were in that trunk we never knew.  But even they were called to meetings like sensitivity training and narrative scripting and late night visioning.  Very helpful.

  Part of why the muppets were so helpful was because they generally didn't just confront people.  Sometimes they planned interventions, but they did these creatively.  They had a muppet-power that empowered them to make us think of how people were acting without making realistic movies of ourselves acting all bunged up and having feelings that can be all over the place.

  Before people got underway, down to business back in those days we had some gatherings where the muppets just weren't around until later.  One example was people just amassing in an empty space.  We'd already re-split into couples, camps, and groups to stick with.  But stuff like "end-times" and "war" on the hearts often leads to talking, talking to: 

  That was when some musicians stepped up to "humor" us.  Less talking if...

  Before the muppets could get there from visiting some Church folk along I-40 we'd turned the empty space into a kind of mead hall.  And there was some decision-making going on.  It was good because after being over-analyzed and censored we were in for building up our self-confidences in different ways.

  Some of the parents and guardians were really more confused than they were pissed off.  And some, from Out West were like, Oh, I get it; I get it, even when they didn't or they'd "rather skip the details on that." One Dad took to asking, "If my daughter was a 21st Century muppet, what would she be doing right now?!" 

  "Um.  Probably motorcycle riding with you know who." 

  Without really being "informed" he was able to keep showing up and thwarting all of the stuff that kids do that make the parents look bad.