Chapter 5

"Dipper, maybe you shouldn't. I mean, it may…be…too hard on her. Until this came up I have never seen her so sad, and …well, she just hasn't been herself. This might push her over the edge, ya know?"

Dipper looked up from the town map.

"What? My sister actually telling me to NOT do something?"

Mabel looked down and shuffled her feet, then turned to the side and picked up Waddles, who gave a soft, contended squeal, and sniffed his friend's nose with affection. She smiled, then set him down and faced her brother again, now with determination.

"Hey, you can go there yourself you know, without even bringing it up to her. Just you and me go, Mystery Twins!"

Dipper smiled. Maybe she is right about Wendy's feelings. I don't want to make her any sadder than I have to, to find her mom.

"Hmmmm OK. You got a point. Let's go." He stood up and then folded the map and stuffed it into his back pocket.

Having descended downstairs, the siblings saw Wendy behind the counter.

"Hey dorks."

"Heeeeeey Wendy. We're…uhhhhh..."

Dipper cut her off quickly.

"We're just going…to…Greasey's diner, to… meet Grenda and Candy." He pushed Mabel towards the door. "Don't work too hard."

"Uh…OK." Wendy looked puzzled.

Once outside, the twins began a dead run down the road away from The Shack.

…

The bright sunlight almost made the cemetery seem like a park, with green, green grass, blue skies and green forest as the backdrop for the single large mausoleum and many tombstones. The twins each took a row of graves and began walking down between them, reading the names. When they got to the end of the row, they would step further up the hill to the next two rows and walk between them back in the opposite direction. This way they could cover two rows of tombstones and headstones at a time.

Mabel started off brave as she looked for the name of Corduroy, but as she came across old, old graves from the 1800's, and saw how short people's lives were back then, she began to feel sorry for them.

Oh my gaw…six months old? One year old? Two? The poor babies!

Dipper heard his sister start sniffing and watched her rubbing her eyes.

"Mabel? You OK?"

"Oh yeah, fine brobro. You just make sure you don't miss her."

He resumed his search as she did too.

There wasn't a single Corduroy grave.

…

As they walked back towards The Shack Dipper took off his pine tree hat and scratched his head.

"We're gonna have to ask her Mabel. Maybe her mom was cremated?"

"Oh you're right Dippington. I'll make sure there's a box of tissues on the counter."

Dipper took a deep breath and put his hat back on, and exhaled with resignation.

…

The twins approached Wendy at the counter. Dipper spoke first.

"Wendy…uh just wanted to give you an update, you know, about…your mom."

"Really? An update?" The redhead sat up with wide eyes. She even smiled.

"Well uh, kind of. But it leads to a question." Mabel nodded after every one of her brother's sentence.

"OK, shoot!"

The twins looked at each other then back at her.

"Mabel and I, we thought…maybe we should check out the cemetery. So…we did."

Wendy sat down with a plop and looked down. Then it seemed like realization came over her expression.

"Yeaaaahhhh. Yeah!" She looked back up at the twins. "Did you…" now her confidence faded again. "Did you find her?"

"No. Wendy, we didn't even find her grave."

The redhead looked confused again. "Really? Any Corduroy grave at all?"

Mabel now had confidence to join the conversation, now that she saw her older friend wasn't going to …lose it. She shook her head. "None."

Wendy looked down again. "But…oh. Maybe she was cremated." She looked up.

Mabel turned to Dipper.

"How can we find out?"

But Wendy answered. "The Valentino Funeral Home!" She pulled out her cell phone.

…

"Hey Mrs. Valentino. How are you?"

"Oh hi Wendy! And please, call me Janice. You know, Robbie still talks about you all the time!"

Wendy rolled her eyes. "Really, that is uh…nice. Uh Janice, listen, I have a favor to ask. "

"Sure sweetie, what is it?"

"Well…do you happen to know the history, or at least how I can look up the history of…my…moms…death? Was she cremated?"

"Oh sweetheart, I knew you would want to know more someday, but death? Didn't your father tell you anything?"

"Uh…no. We never wanted to ask him because it made him…upset."

"Well of course, I understand sweetheart. But your mother isn't dead."

"She ISN'T?" Wendy nearly dropped the phone. Mabel and Dipper both squeezed in next to Wendy's ear to listen in, so Wendy put the call on speaker.

"Why no dearie. She is at the convalescent home. She's been in a coma all these years."

Wendy fainted.