The Memories Live On
By: Vanessa Sgroi
The Winchester brothers reclined side-by-side on one of the two motel room beds, leaving the comatose, but recovering, angel sprawled, arms and legs akimbo, on the other. They were both exhausted and out of sorts from their time travel trip to the past, but too keyed up to sleep. The television was on but neither was truly watching.
"So—Mom sang to you, huh? You're so lucky to have had that." Sam's voice was wistful. But it also contained the slightest edge of envy.
Dean glanced at his younger brother, noticed the quicksilver flash of absolute longing on his face. It made his gut twist. "You know, she sang to you too."
"She did?" A luminescent glow flickered in Sam's eyes, heating the changeable hazel to a warm cognac.
"Yep."
"What'd she sing? 'Hey, Jude' like she did with you?"
"Nah. 'Pop! Goes the Weasel'."
"Pop! Goes the…seriously?"
"Yeah. And she'd tickle you—make you laugh. You know—duh dum duh dum duh dum de dum dum, duh dum duh dum duh dum dum, etc., etc." Dean made a circular motion with his hand as he mouthed the tune. "And when she'd get to the pop goes the weasel part, when she sang POP she would tickle your belly. Dude, she'd get you giggling and squealing so hard." Dean smiled and dropped his gaze. "It was like contagious too. She'd laugh then I'd laugh…" The older Winchester turned his head and peeked at Sam. His brother's eyes were moist and his bottom lip was quivering ever so slightly. "She read to both of us too."
"Both of us?"
"Uh huh. I'd climb in bed first and she'd kinda put you in my lap…"
"What did she read?"
"Anything I wanted. But mostly, Dr. Seuss."
"You liked Dr. Seuss?"
"Yeah, that was pretty cool stuff, ya know. But I mostly made her read my favorite one, Green Eggs and Ham."
"Why Green Eggs and Ham?"
"'Cause it had your name in it. I would not like them here or there. I would not like them anywhere. I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them Sam-I-am." Dean felt his cheeks flush, and he shrugged. "I thought it was cool. Of course, I wanted to know why there was no Dean book—Mom just said it just hadn't been written yet."
"I wish I'd been old enough to remember some of this."
"I do too." Dean sighed. "It was nice to see her, wasn't it? I mean, even though it was…hard."
"Yeah. Yeah, it was. Despite everything, it was nice to see Mom and Dad." Sam rubbed at his eyes with the palms of his hands. "Man, am I freakin' tired."
"Don't look at me—I'm not singing 'Pop! Goes the Weasel' OR tickling your belly. But I might be willing to recite Green Eggs and Ham."
Sam actually laughed and muttered "shut up" before reaching for the remote.
Fin