Evermore, Nevermore Forget Me Not

No More Stumpy

*down by the Bay: by Raffi, original song & lyrics from 1976*

Setting: mid September 2020; Cemetery in Austin Texas, Bailey is now seven months pregnant...

"I still can't believe he's gone," Mary sobs as she stands in front of the new grave, next to her mother Connie

"It should've been me," Connie mutters as she stares at the headstone

"Don't say that," Mary snaps lightly at her

"At least I still 'ave you and the kids," Connie sighs out

"And yer great grandkids," Mary adds in

Barry and Bailey had finally moved from their apartment in Pasadena California to their new home in Galveston Texas a few weeks ago, they were still in the midst of unpacking when her mother called with the news of Uncle Stumpy's passing. It honestly came as a shock to Bailey, as she had thought her uncle had been in perfect health, and ended up crying over it for hours. Everybody loved Uncle Ed, especially her and Georgie; Georgie looked up to their Uncle Ed so much, that he tried to be almost exactly like, straight down to the mullet hair style-minus putting his hands through a wood chipper. His death was sudden and unexpected to everyone in the family, and his dying wish was to buried next to his younger brother Carl. He did have much to leave in a Will for anyone; but the little he did have, he left mainly for Bailey and Georgie.

His favorite gun that he wasn't able to use anymore after losing his hands, he left for Georgie in hopes he'd get plenty of use out of it; he left Bailey an old coat that he almost never took off when she was younger and would constantly beg him to let her wear it, and it would literally be so big on her small body, that it would engulf her as if it was a giant downy blanket. Her arms wouldn't fit completely through the sleeves, it would hang just off the ground, around her ankles, and she'd have someone button it all the way up on her so it wouldn't fall off, then have them tight arms together in the front like a straight jacket and go running around the house like a crazy person with a big old smile on her face. Uncle Stumpy even a little fortune for Hyla and Carl: a hundred dollars each, which was all he had left to his name by the time his time finally came. Thankfully, his end came peacefully in his sleep and wasn't long, agonizing, full of pain and drawn out. But sadly, now the only Tuckers' left of their family, are Mary and Connie; to everyone else, it was just a natural part of life, but to Bailey and her overwhelming pregnancy hormones, it felt as if life was screwing her over, giving her the finger by picking off the people she cared for one, by one...

"It ain't fair," Bailey sniffles out as she leans into Barry, "life ain't fair..."

"I know," he tells her quietly with a sigh

"I hate bein' pregnant," she adds in a whisper, "makes me overly sensitive and emotional-"

"Won't be wong now," he tells her quietly as he kisses her temple while the tears run down her cheeks, "onwy two months to go..."

"Yea," she sighs out

"It's Time ta get goin," Georgie says quietly coming over to them both

"What's goin on now?" Bailey asks him quietly as Elvira comes over by them

"Now we go give Sheldon a kick in the pants fur refusin ta come," Elvira tells her with a chuckle

"Oh don't be too hard on 'im," Bailey sniffles, chuckles, and sighs out, "the youngins' are too young ta be 'ere, someone had ya watch 'em all, and 'e just ain't ready ta accept that uncle Ed's gone..."

"Yea sure," Elvira says sarcastically with a dull look on her face as she continues walking away with her arms folded over her chest

"What's up 'er ass?" Bailey asks her brother as she watches her best friend continues walking a head of them to the cars