Author's notes: Here our adventure begins. So many feelings in this chapter. I never dealt well with death, I hope I didn't make it over dramatic.
Thanks a lot for receiving this story so well, I can't express how great it was to read your reviews!
I own nothing.
Chapter 2: Remnants
It was a chilly early evening. The tiny drizzle drops spotted the windows, creating a blurry image of the landscape. But Amy decided not to sit by the window. She didn't want to say goodbye to her land, to the ones she was leaving in California, to Sheldon. She'd preferred the aisle seat, and as the plane started to move, she watched the safety instructions on the small screen in front of her until the Norwegian version began. Her 10-hour journey to Oslo was just starting. She sighed, knowing she would suffer terribly from jet lag and she needed to sleep as early as she could so it wouldn't impact on her work too much. As the plane took off the lights were dimmed and she closed her eyes. She would never admit to herself being afraid of flying, but that moment was the worst part. She took a quick look around, checking if everything was ok. The woman sitting next to her was lazily flipping the pages of a magazine, taking glimpses of the outside from time to time. A group of guys to the left was chatting about work, and lots of people were getting ready to sleep. She looked at her fingers, the small burn marks reminding her of Sheldon. Of how he kindly took care of her. She wondered if he would have accepted to travel with her. She didn't even bother to ask him. Was she wrong in assuming he would dismiss the idea completely? She wished he were there with her, holding her burnt hand, telling her she would do a great job.
As the plane reached the proper flight altitude, the lights were turned on again and soon the flight attendants started to move around. The speaker announced dinner would be served shortly. Amy was working on her laptop, rereading her lecture for the third time that day. She had already read it while she was waiting for boarding. "With that, it was possible to assume that the collected data of the stimuli experiment represented the increase of shedding substance in the endocrine system among the starfish specimen." It was hard to read about pleasure stimulation when she was feeling so down. She put away the laptop as they started to serve dinner, and as she ate her chicken with pasta, she thought about the spaghetti with hot dogs she shared with Sheldon the night before. They had a lovely date night, she just wished she had been bold enough to ask him beforehand to spend the night, giving him a 24-hour notice. It was not that hard, she just needed to click send and the email with the invitation would arrive in his inbox. But she decided it was too early for inviting him to spend the night again with her. Three weeks ago they had spent the night together for the first time in the fort. It was a magical evening. They had played games, and it was so beautifully decorated with the little lights, and Sheldon got them extra blankets just in case they felt cold at night. She woke up feeling sore, but as she saw the smile on his sleepy face she knew he liked the experience, and it was all she needed to reassure herself. But he never mentioned it again, and then a sudden invitation without a previous discussion was out of question. Shame. It could have been an even better night.
After finishing eating and having the containers collected, she turned around on her seat, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep. It was definitely not working. She decided she would just sit straight and close her eyes, hoping that sleep would find her. She still had eight long hours of flight ahead.
Sheldon watched the safety instructions on the small screen in front of his seat. His 3-hour trip to Houston seemed endless, and it hadn't even started yet. He closed his eyes tightly, trying to recite Pi to a hundred places. But not even the easier of the constants was helping him to concentrate. He couldn't stop thinking about Meemaw. He remembered the last time he saw her, it was when his nephew was born and that Christmas he had promised her he would bring Amy to Galveston to meet her. But now it would not be possible anymore. She would have loved to meet Amy, though. On their last conversation over the phone, she told him how lovely Amy was to call her asking for her cookies. He thanked her for trusting Amy with her secret recipe, and bragged about how delicious they tasted, much similar to hers. "Moonpie, it's time someone will continue with the cookies tradition. You know your mother is not very fond of cookies, all she wants to do is pecan pie." Her words replayed in his mind as if she was just by sitting his side. He would never forget her lovely brown eyes, who always seemed to be smiling. He wished he could be as happy with Amy as she had been with his Pop-Pop.
He couldn't believe the odds of receiving the news of the death of his beloved Meemaw while Amy was in the airplane. How he wished she were there with him. He stared at their prom picture on his phone. He finally told her he loved her that day. It was not as hard as it seemed.
In less than 2 months they would celebrate their 5-year anniversary. Sheldon knew he wanted to propose to her, and he was hoping to have Meemaw's ring. Missy didn't want it, her husband offered her his family's ring, and she was pretty happy about it. Junior was a lost case, and with his first marriage ending quickly in a divorce, he would probably not need it as well. His cousin Wallace was happily living with his boyfriend, and his sister Rhonda, who was a ballet dancer, was living in New York and soon would move abroad with her Ballet company, according to Missy's monthly gossip journal, so she was definitely not going to need it. Amy would certainly appreciate receiving her ring. He sighed. Why hadn't he asked Meemaw for the ring before? Why hadn't he taken Amy to visit her when he still could have? There never seemed to be the right time. But when was the right time anyway? Now that she was dead he would never have an opportunity again.
He turned around on his seat, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep. It was definitely not working. He decided he would just sit straight and close his eyes, hoping that sleep would find him. He still had two long hours of flight ahead.
It was past midnight when Sheldon arrived in Houston. Friday night was a busy time in the airport, so the plane landed and stopped in the apron area, so all the passengers had to walk down the ladder and wait for the bus shuttle. He looked up the sky and unlike the other times when he arrived there at night he saw no stars. It was a cloudy night, and a thin rain was falling over the city. The weather was a bit chilly, and Sheldon scolded himself for not having an umbrella with him. A gentle old lady next to him was kind enough to offer him to share hers with him. He thanked her with a quick smile and stood beside her as far as possible.
After leaving the gate, he spotted Junior among the crowd, who was waving at him. His short brother didn't have his goofy smile on his face. Instead he looked as sad as Sheldon. They greeted each other with a man hug, Junior holding his little brother tight before letting him go.
"Hey, Shelly, you must be exhausted, let me carry this heavy bag for ya."
"Thank you. How's mom?"
"She won't eat. Missy's there with her, it was a shock to everybody."
"What happened exactly? I didn't even give Missy a chance to tell me what happened."
"Nobody told you yet? Dear Lord. Let's get to the car, I tell you what happened in the way."
Junior's SUV was not far from the exit, so he quickly threw Sheldon's bag in the trunk and they entered inside. After the car was moving and they were in the road to Galveston, Junior started speaking.
"Well, Shelly, that's not easy to say. I didn't get over it yet."
"Just tell me."
"Alright." He took a deep breath and started speaking. "She was at the supermarket early this morning shopping for groceries. You know how independent she was, always going everywhere by herself." Junior paused, gulping, before he continued again. "Some people who witnessed it said that she had apparently forgotten something and returned to the supermarket after placing the groceries in the trunk of her car."
Sheldon's eyes widened. He had no idea yet of what had happened to Meemaw, and when he heard Junior describing the scene, his heart broke into pieces thinking of what could have caused her death.
Junior took a glance of his little brother, who was staring at him with watery eyes.
"Are you ok?"
"Yes, please, just go on and finish."
Junior sighed. It was even hard for him to formulate the sentences to explain to his little brother what happened. It didn't seem real, it was like he was watching a movie. He still couldn't believe that Meemaw was chatting happily with them the other day and yesterday she was dead. He nodded, starting over.
"As she was walking in the parking lot, she was hit by a large old pickup truck reversing. They called an ambulance but by the time she arrived at the hospital..." He tried to contain his tears, but he couldn't. "She was already dead."
Sheldon heard his older brother describing the scene, and before he finished his lower lip was already trembling, and as Junior's tears started to fall, his own decided to join and both brothers couldn't stop crying for a while.
"And was that it? A stupid truck took her away from us?"
"Yeah. A sad fatality."
The only sound inside the car until they arrived home were the sniffing and sighing from the two men.
When Sheldon opened the door to his mother's bedroom, he had knocked three times quietly without a reply. The room was dark and she was lying on her back, staring at the ceiling.
"Mom? Can I come in?"
She didn't reply, so he just let himself in and closed the door behind him. He sat beside her on the bed, before she turned her face to look at her son.
"Oh, Shelly!" And she started crying again. He didn't know what to do, he didn't remember ever seeing his mother that hopeless. He slowly lay beside her, giving her a kiss on her wet cheek, while his hand reached hers. She held his hand tightly, and turned around, hugging him, as tears fell, crying herself to sleep.
He woke up hours later beside her, her face still displaying the pain she felt with the death of her mother. He stood up slowly, trying not to wake her, and found his siblings downstairs having breakfast.
"Hey, Shelly, is mom feeling better?" Missy asked. She apparently was the strongest one in the house. Junior was unwillingly eating a piece of cake, while her baby was in a high chair being fed, oblivious to the situation.
"Not really, she just cried and cried. She's still asleep."
"Well, I guess someone needs to stay here with her while I go to the coroner. Her body will be released in a few hours, I already called them early this morning."
"What about the funeral?"
"I took care of the church and the funeral last night, so you don't have to worry about it. Just take care of mom."
"Ok. Thank you Missy. What about little Michael?"
"My husband is coming with me to the coroner, and we'll drop him at his sister's house, she'll be taking care of him the rest of the day. I'll meet you later at the church."
After eating something, Sheldon sat outside in the porch, watching the rain. It was like the day was weeping for his Meemaw. He looked at his watch and remembered that Amy had probably arrived in Oslo, and he entered the house again to retrieve his phone from his windbreaker pocket. She had left him a message.
Hi, Sheldon. I arrived safely in Oslo, I'll sleep for a few hours and I'll contact you again later. I didn't want to wake you up.
ILY
AFF
He decided to check on his mother before calling Amy, so he climbed the stairs just to find his mother in the hall ready to leave.
"Where are you going?"
"To her house. Are you coming with me?"
"Why are you going there?"
"I need to save a few things before Stumpy enters there and starts to make a mess."
Sheldon followed Mary down the stairs.
"But Mom, it's not a good idea for you to drive in this condition."
"I'm perfectly fine, Shelly."
"No, you're not. You're just pretending to be fine. Give me the keys, I'll drive."
"Sweet Jesus, are you out of your mind? You can't drive."
"You're wrong. I couldn't drive. Now I can. Amy taught me."
He grabbed the keys from his mother's hand and walked towards the garage. "Well, are you coming or not?"
Mary followed him and waited until he proceeded to adjust everything he needed before starting the car.
"So, why didn't you bring Amy with you?"
"She's traveling. When Missy called me yesterday she was already in the plane to Oslo."
"Oslo? Is that in Canada?"
"No, mother, it's the capital of Norway, in the north of Europe."
"Oh, so she's really far."
"Yes. I still have to call her, I couldn't tell her about what happened yet as she was in the plane."
They arrived at Meemaw's house, and Mary grabbed a key from her bag and unlocked the front door. Her house was still pretty much like he remembered. The characteristic smell reminded him of his childhood. She still kept the swinging chair which she used to read to him while he sat on her lap when he was a little boy.
"Shelly, I'll have a look around, organize a few things, why don't you take this time to call your lady?"
"I'll do that."
Mary entered the kitchen, and soon he heard the noise of water running and dishes being cleaned. Sheldon took this time to find a reserved place where he could call Amy, so he opened the front door and left.
Amy woke up feeling a little dizzy. Her head was aching and she couldn't believe how cold it still felt even though the heater was on. She checked her phone, it was 5 pm and she was still tired from the long trip. She felt her stomach growling, and as she hadn't eaten anything since she arrived, she decided to order food. She reached the phone beside the hotel bed and managed to call the reception and order a meal. It was almost dinner time, but she was in need of breakfast.
She finally stood up and decided to take a shower before the food arrived. She still needed to call Sheldon, and it was already an appropriate time to do that. Even though he told her to call as soon as she arrived, she decided to just text him and call the next day. She didn't want to disrupt his sleep, and with that she collected her toiletries from her bag and headed to the shower. After she got dressed, she heard a knock on the door, and she happily received the tray with a mixture of breakfast and dinner.
While she was eating her soup she heard her phone ringing.
"Hi Sheldon! I was about to call you."
"Hello Amy. It's so good to hear your voice again." She heard him reply, a tad of melancholy in his tone.
"Is everything ok?"
He sighed. There was no easy way to say it, so he would just tell her. "No."
"What happened?"
"Amy, I'm in Texas."
"What? Is everything ok with your mother?"
"Yes, my mother's fine. Amy... I came last night after Missy called me. Meemaw is dead."
Amy let her fork with a piece of pancake in it fall from her hand, making a hard noise when it hit the plate.
"Oh, Sheldon! I'm so sorry! I... I can't believe it, was she sick?"
"No, it was a fatality, she was hit by a car in a parking lot."
Amy was in shock, she couldn't believe that sweet woman died in such a silly manner. Hit by a car! She didn't even know what to tell him.
"Sheldon... I don't know what to say, how are you coping with it?"
"I was shocked yesterday. I took the first flight to Houston as soon as I heard about it. Leonard took me back to the airport a few hours after we left you."
"Do you want me to go back to the US? I can check the next flight back and-"
"No, Amy, that's really not necessary. I'm... I'm fine, there's nothing I can do about it now. The funeral will be in a couple of hours, and Missy somehow took care of everything, I don't even know what I can do to help. I'm with my mother at her house right now, she's looking for I don't know what."
"Oh, well, if you want me I can still go, I don't want to leave you alone in this moment."
"I know. Under different circumstances I'd love to have you here with me, but you're there working, there's really no need for you to rush back here."
"Ok... But I'll try to come back sooner. How long are you going to stay there?"
"Maybe a couple of days, until everything is solved. I still don't know what needs to be done, Meemaw didn't have much, you know, just the house, it will probably be shared between my mother and my uncle."
"Well, Sheldon, you can call me anytime you need, alright? I'm sorry I didn't call you when I arrived, I didn't want to disturb you, so I sent a message."
"You could have called me, I wouldn't mind. I'll see what my mother needs here and I'll drive her back home before we go to the church."
"Oh, are you driving?"
"Yes, I guess she was proud of me."
"So am I."
"Well, Amy, I'll call you back later, ok? I assume you're just working tomorrow, is that correct?"
"Yes, I'll just rest today and check my notes again. I'll be at the university tomorrow."
"Good. So take care."
"You too. I love you."
"I love you too. Bye."
Sheldon entered the house again, finding his mother upstairs in Meemaw's bedroom.
"Mom?"
"Hey Shelly, look at what I've found."
She showed him Meemaw's ring.
"Oh."
"I think you should keep it. You know, when you feel the time comes you could give it to Amy."
"Meemaw told me about it some months ago."
"I know, she told me as well. Here, keep it, no one needs to know. If anybody asks I'll just say she gave it to you some time ago."
"Ok, thank you." He grabbed the tiny box and put it in his pocket.
As Mary continued to go through her mother's old things, Sheldon walked in the office next door. It was Pop-Pop's old office, that Meemaw kept just the way he left it before he died. She still used the table to do the taxes and stuff like that. There was a bookshelf beside a big wooden table, and he decided to look at the books in there. He rarely entered that room, as Meemaw usually had the door locked. It was kind of a private place, he thought, so he never insisted in entering there.
The shelf had an old encyclopedia on the top, a few books by Jules Verne, which he used to read to Sheldon before he died, and a few accountancy books and notebooks. He took one by chance and saw the beautiful handwriting of his grandfather. It was essentially an accountant book, with notes of his old car workshop.
He kept looking around, and he found other notebooks with notes about car mechanics. His Pop-Pop loved his job, and he was always studying new techniques to fix the modern cars. He found a book about American cars from the 1960's and the 1970's, and he collected a few items and took to the large table to have a look at his grandpa's interests.
He carefully handled the old books with yellowed pages, a few of them had pictures in it. He found another book on engines, filled with notes and quick schemes his Pop-Pop probably made while studying it.
There was a notebook with lots of drawings, and inside it he found an old picture of him and Meemaw. They were in some sort of a party or festival, and they were posing beside an old Chevy. 'Meemaw had lived among cars all her life and ended up hit by one in the end of her life. Isn't life ironic?' He thought, sighing. He took the last notebook from the pile, when he noticed it had a little locket on the side.
Sheldon was curious about it, but the notebook was closed, and he didn't want to damage it.
"Where could the key be?" He started to open the drawers under the large table. They were filled with office material, like pens, a stapler, a magnifier, a couple of car parts. After opening a few more doors to the cabinet on the wall, he found nothing. He kept looking around, when he wondered if behind the picture of a landscape on the wall there was something else. He slowly removed the large frame from the hook, and found that it covered a safe.
"Cool! Just like in the movies."
He was about to think of a combination, when he noticed it was open already. Inside he found a few documents, and a little box. When he opened, there was a pair of golden earrings and a necklace, that probably belonged to Meemaw. He placed it back and called his mother.
"Mom, I found this little box inside of a safe. Did you know there was one behind this picture?"
"Oh, yes, it's an old thing. What is it?"
"Just a golden pair of earrings and a necklace."
"Oh, let me see it." She picked up the box and opened it. "Oh, I've never seen this before. It looks like they have never been worn. Look, it still has the tag from the store in it."
"Oh, do you think it was a present?"
"Maybe."
"Mom, have you ever seen this before?" Sheldon picked up the notebook with the locket in it.
"Oh, this was my dad's diary. He never let anyone read it. But I had once."
"Really?"
"Yeah, everybody knew he placed the key behind this picture. Look." She skewed the frame that was supported by the wall, and picked the small key from the inside of the frame.
"Stumpy, Carl and I were really curious in our childhood. There was no secret we wouldn't figure out." She handed the key to Sheldon. You might enjoy it, I didn't when I was a kid because I didn't want to read about my parent's life. You may have a chance to see how his life was."
Sheldon took the little key and opened the lock. It was a thick notebook, he calculated around three hundred pages, and he started to flip around the pages while his mother returned to the other room.
He carefully placed the frame back on the wall, leaving the safe semi-closed, and sat back by the table to have a look at his Pop-Pop's diary. He just had a quick look at it. His grandpa did have a beautiful handwriting. He noticed all entries were dated, and the first one was one day before his wedding.
Tulsa, May 19th, 1950
Tomorrow is probably going to be the best day of my entire life. It will be the day I get married to the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.
Sheldon smiled after reading the first line of the first entry of his diary. He had always loved to see how kind his Pop-Pop was to Meemaw. And he had seen pictures of Meemaw when she was young, and she definitely had the good looks. He quickly turned the pages to find his last entry. It was written in shaky handwriting. He gasped when he saw the date.
Galveston, December 15th, 1985
I feel my hands are not responding anymore the way they used to. I can feel the end is coming, and this may probably be the last time I'm writing. Soon I will be submitted to surgery, but the doctors told me there was little chance of surviving. But as there was still a chance, I decided to face it. If I could spend a few more years with my family I will be blessed.
Sheldon quickly closed the diary, as tears fell from his face. This little piece of leather with paper in it had essentially all of his grandfather's history. He wrote it until a day before he died. Sheldon still remembered visiting him at the hospital, how he waved at him through the window, in the ICU, before his surgery. He was just told that he died a few days later. It was the saddest Christmas in his life. By that time he wrote a letter for Santa Claus to ask for his Pop-Pop to come back. It hadn't worked, he cursed the old man and never celebrated Christmas again.
He locked the diary again and held it against his chest. He had already lost so many people he loved. First his Pop-Pop, then his father. He even lost Professor Proton less than a year before. Now Meemaw left him. He gently caressed the leather cover, remembering how it was to be with his grandparents when he was a little boy. How his grandfather had always encouraged him to pursue science, so different from his father, who wanted him to be a normal boy.
He was lost in his thoughts when his mother came from the other room, startling him.
"Shelly, I think it's time we go back home. Your sister called and said that we have to be at church in 2 hours."
He nodded, putting the books away in the bookshelf. When he was about to place the diary back, he held it for a while and decided to take it with him.
A/N: Thanks a lot for reading this chapter! I didn't realize it was that long until I posted it here. Next chapter will have Meemaw's funeral and Sheldon will start reading the diary. Are you enjoying this story so far? I'd love to see your opinion. Leave a review if you like. Thanks a lot in advance!
