Chapter six: Coffee

The Diner door creaked open as its hinges worked open. As Dipper stepped inside he caught a glance at a small group of people in the corner of the restaurant before a frantic waving man stole his gaze.

"Hey, hey, Dipper! Over here!", Bill called over to him loudly grinning widely. Dipper motioned him to wait a moment as he walked over to the booth he was sitting at.

"Um, hey. So why did you want to meet me here? And what's up with you looking through my phone and junk? Ever heard of privacy before?", Dipper asked as he sat across from him at the small table.

"Like I said before, that I'm making sure that I'm not dorming with a criminal.", he flashed a grin as the waitress approached them. Dipper recognized the nerdy girl instantly, Candy, his co-worker and his sister's best friend.

Dipper smiled up at her and waved, "Oh hey Candy. I see that you're stuck in this hell-hole today. Has it at least been remotely nice to you today?"

The girl smiled, "Greetings Dipper.", she pushed up her falling glasses to the bridge of her nose as she continued, "Yeah, today has been quiet so far. Manly Dan managed to break the Manliness Test again. So, the usual." She motioned over to the broken machine near the doorway.

Candy looked over at Bill, "Who is this Dipper? I haven't seen him around before.", she smiled warmly as she directed her attention to the mysterious man. "How are you today?"

"Oh, this is Bill. I only just met him a week ago at the college. He dorms with me." Dipper briefly explained.

"Why, hello ma'am. I'm doing very well today, thank you for asking. How are you doing on this fine day, miss?" Bill responded politely, smiling back at Candy. Candy said blushing faintly from his gentle tone, "I'm doing fine, thank you. Now, may I get you anything?", she asked as she took a notepad and pen from a pocket on an apron she was wearing.

Dipper picked up the menu although he already knew what he wants. He had memorized the menu since he would come here often with his great uncle during the summertime when he was a kid. "Um, I'll have a cup of black coffee to drink and a meal of scrambled eggs and hash browns, please."

"And I will have the same." he punctuated his sentence with a sharp nod towards Dipper. Dipper glanced over to him to see him grinning widely. He couldn't help but to smile too at how childish he looked. Candy nodded in acknowledgement, "Yes, yes. Candy will bring it right out to you two.", she backed away into the kitchen area.

Bill placed his chin into his palm and leaned over onto the table, "You know, I don't know much about you. That's part of the reason why I wanted to meet you here. To learn more about you. You seem interesting."

"Interesting? Hahah, that's funny. I'm just an average joe. Average family, average friends, average life. Nothing special really. . .", he chuckled softly and looked down with his hands in his lap as he dug out dirt from under his nails.

"And is that okay with you?"

Dipper paused in thought for a few moments. "Honestly, no. It's not okay with me. I don't want to be another forgotten name." Neither of them spoke.

Dipper laughed awkwardly after a while to ease up the tension, "But, hey, maybe I'll end up famous by creating the first humanoid robot."

Suddenly a cup of coffee was set in front of Dipper. He glanced up at Candy, who was smiling at him as she set down the other cup for Bill. "There you go. Your food should be done soon.", and with that she returned back into the kitchen.

"Maybe you will; maybe you won't. Time can only tell", Bill took a sip of the steaming coffee after adding a packet of sugar that Candy had left on the table. "But I can tell you right now that you're a brilliant young man and I have no doubt that you'll make some change in the world."

"Yeah, thanks for the encouragement, Dad." He smiled as he drank his coffee.

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After meeting with Bill, Dipper decided that he'll pay a visit to an old man he knew. As he drove through the narrow streets of the quiet little town he passed by familiar people that he had met when he had visit before. He saw Robbie and his girlfriend, Tambrie, holding hands from across the table in front of small restaurant, he saw the mailman that Dipper recalled that Soos, the local handyman, suspected him of being a werewolf due to his abundance of body hair. He saw Manly Dan harassing a biker near what it looked like a motorcycle crashed into a fire hydrant. Dipper guessed that the biker crashed and blamed Manly Dan for some reason. Scattered trees soon filled his vision until it was the only thing he could see around the narrow road.

Dipper felt his phone buzz from inside his pocket. He reluctantly took out his phone as he drove down the road. He flipped open his phone to see a message from Wirt. Dipper opened the message when he heard frantic honking from an oncoming car. Dipper quickly looked up from his phone and jerked the wheel to swerve around the car back into his lane. As a result, the oncoming car crashed into the back side of him which made world spin around as the wheels squealed in terror as Dipper tried to regain control of the car.

The next thing he knew he was flying off the hillside into the mass of green trees and was rolling down the steep ditch. The station wagon flipped upside down as it was pulled down the hill, shattering the windshield into hundreds of tiny fragments, down-pouring onto Dipper. The airbag deployed causing Dipper to be forcibly pushed back into the back of his seat and blinding him of the scene that played before him. The station wagon then suddenly was stopped by the trunk of huge oak tree hitting into the passenger side of the car, the door frame near inches away from Dipper's side.

Dipper felt dizzy as he regains alertness. His vision was hazy and his body ached. The sounds of sirens rang throughout the woods. Dipper sighed with relief as he felt his eyes get heavier and heavier. He felt blood gush out of a wound on his cheek along with tinier cuts along his arms, chest and face. All he wanted to do was sleep. But he found the strength to unbuckle himself with shaky hands and push onto the door. It wouldn't budge.

He felt a flood of panic wash over him. Dipper frankly tried to open the door, but the airbag was in his way from being able to push open the door with his shoulder. Not to mention that he could barely apply pressure into his arm without with it shooting pain through him. Luckily the airbag deflated after a few minutes of uselessly pushing on the door. But Dipper by then had grew extremely tired and was panting from the pain and fatigue. His eyes only became even more heavy before he couldn't keep them open any longer. His vision became blurrier as he heard faint yelling and the rustling of the fallen leaves on the ground.

Then it faded into darkness and he passed out.

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Although it was currently four thirty in the afternoon Wirt had stayed in the clinic waiting for Dipper to wake up. After two long hours of surgery Wirt had watch the lead surgeon approach who Wirt guessed was Dipper's grandfather, who was the only family member there. Wirt was out of earshot as he watched the emotions change on the old man's face. At first he looked relieved, but then faded into concern, and finally into a pained frown. But he managed to stay calm and quietly walk back into the waiting area.

Wirt had stood up and placed his hand on his shoulder. The old man turned around to face him. "Hey, are you here for Dipper Pines? I'm his friend, is he going to be alright?", Wirt asked with a concerned expression.

The man sighed, "For the most part, yes. But the doctor said that he's temporarily blind and he might become permanently blind."

"Blind? H-how did he become blind? Debris or whatever?", Wirt asked quickly, voice full of shock.

The man shook his head, "No, not exactly. Here, let's sit down first. It'll take a while." He walked back into the waiting area and sat down in one of the cheap plastic chairs. "Anyways, I'm Stanford or Ford. I'm Dipper's Great Uncle.", Stanford said as Wirt sat next to him and listened with full attention.

"Uh, nice to meet you. Some way to meet a family member, huh? I'm Wirt.", he held his hand out and shook Stanford's hand.

"Yeah, at least you'll remember this encounter, right? But, back to the subject of the matter; when the airbag deployed Dipper hit the back of his head on a plastic part of the seat. And the area where he hit his head is very sensitive - the area in which he hit it controls sight. In addition, debris had landed into his eyes as well. The doctors say that it can take him from a few days to a few months if he ever regains the ability to see again at all." Ford explained to him.

"We can only hope for the best. Otherwise is he going to be alright?" Wirt sighed.

"Yes, he might have some scars and he fractured his arm, but he should make a full recovery other than maybe his sight.", Ford's attention was drawn to a man asking of his nephew to the receptionist behind the counter.

"Is Dipper Pines available for visitors?" the blonde man asked.

"Um, no. He's not available until tomorrow afternoon if his condition gets better", the female behind the counter replied as she looked up Dipper's status on the computer in front of her.

"What do you mean 'until tomorrow afternoon'?!", the man gritted through his teeth.

Wirt recognized the voice of the angry man and called out to him. "Hey, Bill.", he motioned him to come sit down with them.

Bill turned and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his brick pattern jacket as he joined the two men in the waiting area. "What the hell happened to him? I saw his car on the news; unfortunately, they didn't give any useful information whatsoever. Is he alright?"

Ford had left shortly after Bill arrived, he said that he had to continue his work back at home before leaving. Wirt found that to be rude for leaving his blinded great nephew at the hospital to continue work. He also found it rude that no one else came to check on Dipper.

Deciding that it was best to not think much about it, Wirt explained to Bill what happened to Dipper in the easiest way possible.

"Wait, he's blind? How is he going to do his school work? How is he going to become a famous robotic engineer?" Bill asked with concern.

"I don't know, Bill. He will have to learn how to read braille in the meantime or have someone read and write for him." Wirt sighed and ran his fingers through his hair in thought. "And they might not want him wandering round when he's blind, so they might put him in bed rest while he gains his vision back, if at all. And that might take a few months at the most."

It was silent as they both thought over the situation. It was a lot to take in.

Bill sighed and mumbled to himself lowly, "How is he going to react to all of this?"

((AN: Ooh the chapters are getting longer and I'm so happy! Well, besides the fact that my baby is blind now (ಥ﹏ಥ). Well, the next chapter will be out soon enough! Get ready for some rivalry!))