It's Been Thirty Years

Chapter 4: The other Pine

Piedmont, California

July 12th, 2043

At the end of a quiet road in a beautiful suburban neighbourhood lay a house. It was like all the other houses. The front yard was well mowed and the lawn had a few flowers blooming on it. The mailbox though gave away the residents.

PINES

"For the last time, its my turn!"

"You're such a push over Daron! I've been wanting to read that book for ages"

"Yeah, well I want to finish reading it Mike!"

Daron and Mike were both arguing over a book. A good book at that.

"You know what, I'm done. MOM, DARON WON'T SHARE!" yelled Mike.

"Mama's boy," said Daron.

At that moment their mom walked into the living.

"What's going on in here?" she said.

"Daron is not sharing the book with me," Mike replied

"I am mom," said Daron, "Mike just won't let me finish it. I'm on the last chapter I swear!"

Their mom started to laugh, "You kids just don't get along, do you?" she said, "Well, it's my fault for making you come down here. You were better off upstairs playing video games."

"I guess. But do we really never get along?" Mike asked.

"Well, you two are not like me and my brother were at your age, let's put it that way" she replied.

"Oh, Mom, do have anymore stories about your summer with him? I love that one about the giant robot monster" Daron said.

Their mother, Mabel, smiled, "Well sit down and I'll see if I have anything."

The twins both sat down in an instant as they patiently waited for their mom's story.

"Oh, here's a good one. This one time at the start of the summer, I started dating this cute looking boy."

"Was he dad?" Daron said.

"Oh no," said Mabel, "His name was Norman. I thought he might be a vampire but your uncle Dipper thought he was a zombie. He ended up being a bunch of gnomes stackedon top of each other. They kidnapped me to become their gnome queen."

The two kids looked on in awe.

Mabel laughed. "Yeah, it was one heck of an ordeal. Dipper showed up in the golf cart and we both escaped. The gnomes almost got us again but we discovered their weakness...

LEAFBLOWERS!"

"What? Leaf blowers? Really?" Mike said.

"Yeah," said Mabel, "We blew them away with it back into the forest. Dipper saved me and then I saved both of us. But really if it was not for him coming to save me, I think I would still be gnome queen of Gravity Falls."

"And we'd be part gnomes?" said Daron.

The kids both started to laugh.

"Wow, that was some story," said Daron, "Did Dipper really do all of that?"

Mabel nodded. "Yeah, my brother sure was something. He did so much for me and for everyone around him. And he never asked anyone to repay the favor. He did it all out of the goodness of his heart. He was a blessing."

"You miss him still, don't you mom?" asked Mike.

"Mike! Don't say that!" Daron yelled.

"No, don't worry sweetie, it's alright. Yes, I do miss him a lot. He was my brother after all. You both would have loved him. I'm sure he would love both of you very much too" Mabel said.