A Pines Family Thanksgiving
(November 26-30, 2014)
2. We Gather Together
The Pines family, Mom and Dad still a little awed by their first-ever flight in a first-class cabin, headed into the jetway, Mabel bounding along ahead of everyone else. Dipper trundled her carry-on bag as well as his—she usually stuck him with the chore—but hurried as fast as he could.
She had finally paused just inside the terminal and was looking around. "Where are they?"
"They will be at Baggage Return," Dipper said patiently, enunciating each word, "exactly as they told us. They can't come to the gate—Security, remember?"
The plane had disembarked the passengers at Gate C23, about as far as possible from Baggage Return. If left to her own devices, Mabel would have run full-tilt down the long turquoise-carpeted concourse (taking advantage of the moving walkways for the sake of added speed) to find their Grunkle Stan.
Mom, however, cautioned: "You don't want to get there and be grounded, young lady!"
"Poop, heck, darn," Mabel muttered at that level of audibility that every fifteen-year-old knows—just barely under the parental radar. But she slowed down.
In honor of the occasion, she was wearing a new version of her classic shooting-star sweater—knitted larger to make up for her growth (both in height and bust). Though she'd taken to wearing braids in school, she had gone back to her old hairstyle, too, just a tiny bit shorter than it had been, with a shocking pink headband that matched her sweater.
Dipper was wearing a trapper's hat—which earned him a few amused glances—plus a long-sleeved bronze-red corduroy shirt (one guess as to why he had picked it out in the store), a cargo vest over that, a small backpack, jeans, and black sneakers. As they tramped along, everyone except Mabel dragging a rolling bag (or two), their mom said, "Now, before we go out, I want you to each take a warm jacket from the suitcase we checked! It's a lot colder here than at home!"
"Mo-om," Mabel said, giving it the two-syllable approach, "we've been here when there's been two feet of snow on the ground, remember?"
"It's still cold," her mother told her. "The pilot said the air temperature is only forty-two degrees!"
They finally made the whole length of the concourse, then went down two levels to Baggage Return.
And Dipper's heart took off faster than a jet leaving the runway. "There's Wendy!"
The tall redhead was smiling and waving. Mabel said, "Wah-wah-wow! She's all dressed up!"
Which she was—a green sweater (Dipper saw it was the one Mabel had knitted in a plaid-flannel pattern), skinny black jeans, and new-looking brown suede boots with a probably-faux dark-brown fur collar. And her gorgeous red hair had been carefully tended, though she didn't wear braids, as she had before when meeting the twins' parents—it gleamed and billowed.
The Pines family crowded toward her. "Hello, Mrs. Pines!" Wendy said, giving her a hug. "You look so good! Mr. Pines, how are you, sir?"
Dad chuckled. "You don't have to call me 'sir!' Alex will do just fine. How's that car of yours?"
"Tip-top shape!" Wendy said enthusiastically. "Just finished the last of the bodywork last month, got a new paint job—still forest-green, though—and replaced the headlights because the old lenses were so oxidized! I'll let you drive it when we get to the Falls."
"Oh," Mr. Pine said, sounding disappointed. "You're not driving us?"
"No, I just came along for the ride," Wendy said. "Stanley will be doing the driving honors. Hey, Mabel! Hi, Dipper! You guys have grown some more on me since last September!"
They both hugged her at the same time. Wendy put the palm of her left hand against Dipper's neck during the hug and their contact telepathy kicked in: Is this still workin', Dip?
—Yeah, it is! Loud and clear, Magic Girl!
Great! I can sit beside you and we'll talk this way on the drive out!
"Dear!" Mrs. Pines said, "There's our bag on the carousel! Quick!"
Wendy broke the hug and said, "Which one?"
"The big brown leather—wow!" Dad said as Wendy dashed over and easily swung it off the conveyor. "Better let me, that's got winter coats and things and it's heavy."
"I've got it," Wendy said cheerfully. "My dad's a lumberjack, remember? I'm used to carrying great big trunks of trees! This the only checked bag?"
"That's it!" Mr. Pines told her.
She led them out of the terminal and across to the parking lot. Dipper was looking around for the Stanleymobile—but there stood Stan, looking somehow different and nattily dressed in a three-piece suit—Didn't even know he owned one!—and grinning beside a—white limousine?
"I'm your chauffeur for today," Stan announced, shaking hands with the twins' dad. "Hey, you and the Mrs. look terrific! Wendy, I'll get that. Let me pop the trunk."
"Grunkle Stan!" Mabel had been standing with her mouth open. "You—you look so—you're so, uh, fit!"
"Been taking care of myself," he said. "Hiya, Pumpkin! Dipper, you still keeping up with the track?"
"JV team captain," Dipper said.
"Attaboy!"
Stan swung all the bags into the car trunk—"No need to dig out the coats," he said, short-stopping Mrs. Pines from unlatching the big suitcase. "This baby has a fantastic air-handling system!" He opened the back door. The limo had facing seats, two forward, two back. "So, who wants to ride up front with me?" he asked.
"Me! Me-me-me!" Mabel yelled, causing her mother to shake her head.
"That's OK," Dipper said. "Wendy and I will ride back here with Mom and Dad."
"Pile in," Stan said. He checked his watch. "If we get out of here in the next six minutes, we save three bucks!"
They all climbed in, Stan rolled down the privacy panel and asked, "Everyone's belts on? Good! Next stop, Gravity Falls! Wanda, have you ever been to Oregon before?"'
"No, this is my first trip," Dipper's mom said, still looking a little dazed by the whole thing. "Is this your car?"
"Just rented it for the occasion," Stan said as he made the turn for the exit. "We'd be a little crowded in the Stanleymobile. That's what I call my El Diablo."
Dipper's dad practically bounced in his seat. "You've got an El Diablo? What year?"
"Sixty-five convertible! First car I ever owned—and I still have it!"
"It's in great shape, too," Wendy volunteered. "Like Stan!"
"Hah! Thank you, Wendy! OK, let me pay the parking—here ya go, thanks—and now we're on the way. Ladies and gentlemen, sit back and relax and I'll describe some of the scenic wonders as we pass them. There's a tree. There's another one. That's a guy walking, I dunno, some kind of dog or marsupial or something. There's an office building . . .."
They reached the Interstate, gradually went beyond the Portland environs, and as the highlands spread out ahead—it was a brilliantly clear day—they could see a little streaky snow showing on the mountains near the peaks. "The biggest one, with the most snow, that's Mount Hood. Others don't have so much yet. Snow won't really set in until December," Stanley told them. "No skiing this trip, but come back when it's really winter if you like to zoom down slopes and maybe hit some trees."
Before long, both of Dipper's parents were looking out the windows—"Everything's still so green!" Mom said, though to Dipper, who was used to the summers, it looked more autumn-drab.
And Wendy and Dipper very subtly sat so the back of her hand touched the back of his.
Dude, I got a whole bag of peppermints ready!
—Can't wait! Wendy, I've been missing you so much!
Same here, Dip. Did I text you about Devlin?
—The guy you were pretending to date? No, what happened?
He was feeling guilty 'cause we were fooling his parents, along with everybody else. So last week we broke up in public, but not in an argument, just at lunchtime in school. We're still friends, only we pretended to decide to go our separate ways, 'cause I got a part-time job and keep busy and so on and so forth. The gossip about you and me finally died down—we'll have to be careful not to start it up again on this trip!
—No public displays of affection?
Different when it's private, Dip! You'll see!
—Wendy, what happened to Grunkle Stan? He looks so much fitter and his hair is even darker. What's going on?
I'll let him tell you the whole story. Long story short, think Fountain of Youth.
—That's REAL?
He and Ford say it is, and I can't argue with the results. How's everything going with you and Mabel?
—Good. Mabel was sort of down for the first couple or three weeks of school—sad about Russ and all. But she and Teek have been Skyping like every day, and she's really up for seeing him again. How about you?
Crazy busy, but doin' great in school. Guess it's time to tell you—I'm taking college classes!
—What?
No lie, man! Joint-enrollment with high school. I want to be on par with you when we start REAL college, so I'm drivin' over to the Community College two evenings a week and taking math and English. Guess what? I got an A average in both of them. Classes end two weeks from Thursday, and If I don't blow the final exams, I'll be an Honor Roll part-time student!
Dipper wanted so badly to kiss her. But he smiled at her and slyly squeezed her hand.
—Welcome to the world of dorks! One of us! One of us!
Wendy giggled a little at that. Mrs. Pines smiled. "What?"
"Nothing, Mrs. Pines," the redhead said. "I was just noticing how much Dipper's starting to resemble his dad and great-uncle."
"Oy!" Stan exclaimed from the driver's seat. "There's bad news!"
"I knew you'd say that!" Wendy called over her shoulder.
"Yeah, but he's right, though," Mabel replied. "Fortunately, I have the beauty gene in the family!"
"Are we staying in a hotel?" Mrs. Pines asked, as if ready to change the subject, or shut Mabel up, one or the other.
"Nah!" Stan said. "You're staying with us. Our friend Dr. McGucket has a huge house—mansion, practically—and Stanford and I are sort of subleasing half of it. We've got a third-floor bedroom picked out for you with a terrific view of the town, river, and mountains. The kids will have adjoining rooms down one floor from you—they stay there with us lots of times."
"Aw," Mabel said, "I wanted to stay in the Shack!"
"The what?" Mrs. Pines asked, sounding apprehensive.
"The Mystery Shack," Dipper said hastily. "It's a tourist attraction that Grunkle Stan created. We've told you—that's where we stay in the summers, with our friends the Ramirez family."
"People really enjoy it," Wendy said. "I work there in the summers as Assistant Manager. There's a Museum of Oddities—of course everyone knows they're not real, but they look great, they're funny, and people love them—and a gift shop and snack bar and all. You'll be my guests, and I'll personally give you the grand tour!"
"Sounds like fun!" Dad said.
His wife glanced at him. "Yes," she said, a little uncertainly.
On they drove for two hours, with Stan hyping the scenic wonders, Wendy and Dipper catching up in silent conversation, Mabel chattering about what great times they had in the summers, and Mom and Dad gradually falling under the patented Stanley charm.
Finally they turned off on a secondary highway, driving past a house that Dipper remembered from the time he, Wendy, and Mabel had been hurled into an alternate-dimension Comic Con. "A retired admiral lives there," he said.
Dad looked. "He built a private military museum! Look, he's got a tank! I've always wondered what it's like to drive one!"
Wendy beamed. "I know, right?"
And then they were in the Valley, and a few minutes later, Stan pulled the limo around in the curved drive in front of the McGucket mansion. Fiddleford and Mayellen came out to greet them, and Ford hurried out behind them.
Staring at his twin uncles, Alex Pines said, "I can't get over how great you two are looking! Must be something in the air!"
"Or maybe the water," Stan said mischievously.
Mabel, Dipper, and Wendy hung back a little as Stan, Mr. Pines, and a servoid robomajig (Fiddleford names these things, I don't) gathered up the luggage. Mabel whispered, "How come our Grunkles look so not-old? What's up with that?"
"They got up to something earlier this fall," Wendy said. "Maybe they'll tell you the whole story. Then you can tell me!"
"Can we go over to the Shack now?" Mabel asked. She was shivering a little-the breeze was cold.
"If you grab jackets and if your mom and dad say it's OK."
"Aw, come on!" Mabel complained. "We're fifteen! You used to sneak off all the time when you were fifteen!"
"Yeah," Wendy said. "You got a point. OK, my Dodge Dart's over there, and I guess it's not cold enough to insist you wear jackets. Let's make a break for it!"
And ten seconds later, they peeled out for the Shack.
