- CHAPTER 25 - "Rejoining the gang"
After telling Hugh all his story through the past 6 years, Jimmy decided to go to Judy's grave. Hugh tried to stop him. The rain was furious. The lightning was worse. But Jimmy didn't listen to his dad. He took off Goddard from his Hypercube and went to the door.
"Be careful, son" Hugh said.
"Don't worry, I will, dad" Jimmy said. "C'mon, Goddard".
He put on his coat and went with Goddard to the graveyard. When they got there, the place was locked. But Jimmy didn't care at all. He climbed the wall with the help of his mechanical canine and, once in the ground, he turned on a flashlight and started walking to find his mother's grave. When he found it, he saw it for some seconds and then, he fall down from his knees. He took of the hood of the coat.
"I'm sorry, mom" Jimmy said, as the tears went down from his face.
The rain was getting worse. But Jimmy was only concentrated on saying a farewell to his mother. Goddard only wimpered. Jimmy placed a rose he grabbed from his garden on the grave.
"I'm really sorry".
And with that, he left. He put his hood on. He put Goddard back on his Hypercube to protect him from the rain.
"I got to find a place to hide from the storm" Jimmy said to himself.
He climbed out the wall of the graveyard and spotted a light. It was the Candy Bar. He didn't doubt for a second and run there. Still covered with the soaking coat, he opened the doors of the Candy Bar and walked in. All the people around the place turned to him, but thought he was just a monk, so they returned to their own business. Jimmy spotted Sam and went to the bar.
"Howdy, stranger! Yeah... What can I do for ya?" Sam asked.
"Milk shake, shaken, not stirred" Jimmy, the 'stranger', said.
"Hey, wait a minute! I know that order from somewhere..." someone said.
"Yeah, me too..." someone said.
"Do you think he's...?" someone said.
"There ya go, yeah..." Sam said, as he gave the 'stranger' his milk shake. "That'll be 1.75" he said.
"2 dollars, keep the change" 'the stranger' said.
"JIMMY?!?" three people asked in unison.
All the people from the place suddenly turned quiet. 'The stranger' wasn't listening, so he started to drink his milk shake.
"Go on, Sheen, ask him" someone said.
"Ok, ok, I'll go..." Sheen said. He looked at the stranger and turned around, shaking. "Perhaps another day..."
"NOW!" someone shouted.
"Here goes nothing" Sheen said. He went to the stranger. "E-Excuse me, sir..." he said, stuttering.
"Yeah?" Jimmy, the 'stranger' said, with a creepy voice, so he couldn't be recognized.
"Well... you see... my friends and I were asking... ya know..." Sheen said, but he instantly losed his temper. "LOOK! ARE YOU JIMMY OR NOT?!?"
"Mmmmh... let me see..." the 'stranger' said. "Do you mean a guy with long, brown hair, and wears a red shirt with a yellow atom in the middle and he's a show-offy genius and makes inventions that always fail and stuff?" he asked.
"Yeah! That's it! Do you know him?" Sheen asked, excited, with his eyes wide open.
"Nope, I never saw that guy... sorry..." the 'stranger' replied.
"Ohh..." Sheen said, as his face expresion went down.
He turned and walked to the table where Carl and Libby were.
"Well?" Libby asked.
"No... he's not Jimmy..." Sheen said, as he sighed.
"You didn't change a bit, huh?" a recognizable voice said.
Sheen's jaw dropped. He turned and the 'stranger' removed his hood.
"J-J-Jimmy?" Sheen asked, stuttering. "JIMMY!!!" he said, as he tackled Jimmy in a huge hug.
Carl and Libby joined the hug.
"I missed you guys" Jimmy said. "And looks like you did too!".