It was nearing the end of March, the trees were in full bloom and it was the perfect temperature for everyone to be out at Springfield Park and enjoy the first warm spell in a long time. But the perfect spring day was not the only reason for people to be out, something new had just been finished in a new section of the park and families were making their way over to celebrate the success.
The new area was named The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant Memorial, dedicated to those who lost their lives after that one fateful day three years ago. It was Waylon Smithers idea; he felt that the ones who had lost their lives deserved to be remembered for what had gone on. Even though it was a small explosion it still had a big impact on many lives.
With several of the workers families, including Marge Simpson, they planned, commissioned, and designed the perfect memorial, one that was worth setting up and working hard for. At the moment, Mr. Burns had been expelled from the plant, his home had been condemned and he was living in a smaller apartment in the rich side of town. Everyone knew he would not be there for long though, he was already forced to pay a large sum of money for breaking many codes within the plant after an inspection came through and found more problems that were even more dangerous than a small explosion from a generator. He was now on trial for it, which would hopefully be finished in a few months, and by then everyone would know whether or not Burns would be in jail for a long time or for only a short time. Some of that money went to Waylon Smithers who then distributed it to the families of those who had passed on, and used it to start the memorial.
Bart led his sisters through the gauntlet of people who were mostly chatting with friends and waiting for the ceremony to begin. Both Bart and Lisa knew it would be soon but it was Maggie who was showing no interest and just wanted to go back and play on the swings.
"Why are there so many people? I want to go back to the swings and play with the other kids," Maggie whined.
"You will later, for now we need to honor Dad," said Lisa.
"Did this many people know him?" asked Maggie.
"No, we are also honoring others," said Lisa.
"And how are we going to find Mommy among all these people?" asked Maggie with a heavy sigh.
"Oh we will find her, she is actually up front, she's going to speak," said Bart as he pushed his way through the people so his sisters could get by as well. In three years, Bart had gotten a nice growth spurt so he was now quite tall and could easily move around crowds.
Maggie did not say anything after that but let her brother and sister move her through the crowd toward the podium where Marge and several other people sat including Smithers and Mayor Quimby. It wasn't long though before Maggie spotted a familiar face nearest the podium and let go of Lisa's hand to run toward him.
"Mr. Flanders!" Maggie called out excitedly.
"Well hi-diddly-ho, Maggerino!" Ned said as Maggie ran into his arms and let him pick her up.
"You came too?" asked Maggie.
"Of course, I would not miss this for the world, your Daddy was a good man," said Ned as he let Maggie sit on his shoulders. Standing next to Ned was a woman Bart, Lisa, Maggie and Marge had not met yet, her name was Reba and she had been dating Ned for the past two weeks. Ned liked her at first but now he was getting mixed feelings about her. She questioned a lot of things and voiced her opinion in a way that Ned did not care for.
"Oh she is just as cute as you described her Ned," said Reba as she smiled at Maggie. Maggie only ignored her and looked around for her mother. Reba only shrugged and tried to converse with Bart and Lisa but they were quickly distracted by Maggie.
"I see Mommy," said Maggie as she pointed to the podium and waved at Marge. Marge saw her and gave a quick wave before leaning over to talk with a lady sitting next to her. Not only had Marge helped with the set up of the new memorial, but she had also decided to go to school and become a nurse. She had already taken a year of it and was not ready to stop, she wanted a good job to support her family and she knew that being a nurse was a wonderful idea. Some of the things she saw while Homer was sick made her very curious and want to learn more.
It wasn't long before Mayor Quimby arrived at the podium and waited for the crowd to slowly stop talking so he could begin the ceremony. Of course no one seemed to notice and Mayor Quimby quickly quieted them down by speaking as loud as he could about the idea of banning alcohol within city limits. Everyone suddenly stopped talking and stared at him in shock.
"Don't worry; I love my booze as much as the next man. What's more important is that we need to start the er….uh…ceremony. Now where are my cards," Quimby said as he patted his pockets searching for any signs of what he wanted to say. He quickly found them and began to speak. "Welcome one and all to the new Springfield Nuclear Power Plant Memorial. I am very happy to dedicate this place to the many brave souls who did not survive the explosion. I know their families have grieved enough and they need to be shown that we all care for them in some way. But I will let the family members speak to us about this, so please give a nice warm welcome to my first speaker, Marge Simpson,"
As soon as Marge stood up, everyone clapped and cheered for her. She had done speeches before, but this one made her a bit nervous. She had practiced a few times and was brought to tears at the end. She hoped this would not happen to her. She then cleared her throat and began to speak.
"When Waylon Smithers approached me with this idea I did not hesitate to say yes. There was always something going wrong at that plant, and I knew that someday something would happen. But what had happened was something I never expected and it was one of the worst experiences in my life. Watching my husband die and my inability to do anything to save him made me both sad and angry. Sad because he would not live to grow old with me and to see our children graduate, get married and have children of their own."
Marge suddenly went silent; Lisa and Bart could tell that she was trying to keep herself from crying. Luckily Maggie fixed that.
"Do you need a finger to point to the spot you are reading?" Maggie called out.
The crowd let out a small laugh, Marge laughed herself before finally wiping a tear from her eye and continuing.
"I was angry too because it was Montgomery Burns who had changed our lives, he was giving us money for hospital bills but not because he wanted to but because he was forced to. He even acted like what had happened was not his fault and he showed no sympathy to any of us when we showed him how our lives had been shattered. I am glad we all did something about it. This new memorial is not only meant for those who died for doing what they did, but for also family members and friends who had to say goodbye too soon. It was not an easy thing to do, I will say that and we all need to remember these loved ones in a special way. Some of them were husbands, like mine, one was a wife, we lost brothers and friends, we all lost someone close to us. They were all important to us and even though they are gone, our love for them is still strong and that is something that will never die. Before we unveil the memorial I will let others say a few words. I will now let Jeremy Parker come to the stand."
Marge moved aside to let a young man named Jeremy come through. He had lost one of his best friends to the disaster and wanted to say a few words and once he was done he let another person come up to talk. In all there were six people who talked about what they thought about the new memorial including a young twelve year old who lost his father only a month after the disaster. He was so brave and even hugged Marge when he finished with his speech, mainly because Marge helped him come up with the right words. Once they all finished, Marge introduced Waylon Smithers who quickly made his way to the podium to deliver the final message.
Smithers did not hesitate when he reached the podium and quickly began to speak. "I knew that one day something terrible would happen at the plant, and when Montgomery Burns failed to do anything to the generator that exploded I knew that something would happen any day. For one thing I am glad it did not turn into a Chernobyl style disaster but I am saddened that the problem could have been prevented and that the one hundred and twenty-three who have passed on because of it would still be alive. Besides feeling that something else should have been done to fix the plant, I just wanted to tell everyone that I am very happy that I decided to quit working for Mr. Burns. He was insensitive, angry and most of all greedy. He did not care about anyone but himself, I am sorry I ever associated with him; I felt that this memorial would be a way to show that I do care. I hope you all are glad with the design we put up with the money he handed over to us."
Everyone watched as Smithers moved toward an area that was blocked off nearby. This was the memorial for those who lost their lives and only a handful had actually seen it. Now it was time for everyone to see what Mr. Burns' money was spent on.
Bart, Lisa, Rod and Todd both stood together staring back at what was to be unveiled with their mouths agape. They all knew they would be surprised no matter what they saw. Slowly Smithers and Mayor Quimby lifted up the curtain and once it was in full view of the public, everyone gasped in amazement before finally clapping.
There before them stood what looked like a square box and on top of it was large fountain in the shape of a red ribbon. The water fell from the very top of the ribbon and came down on both ends that then fell into a pool, and then flowed down the wall where the names of those who had passed on were listed. The water then fell into a small trough below.
"It's like a weeping wall!" Lisa said with her mouth agape.
"It's pretty!" Maggie said. Both Bart and Lisa knew that she wanted to go over and touch the wall of water.
"You want to find your Daddy Maggie?" Ned asked as he handed Maggie to Bart.
"We're going to the cemetery now? But I wanted to go on the swings!" Maggie said in annoyed voice.
"No sweetheart, we are going to find his name on the wall," Marge said as she made her way to her family.
"Oh, then can we go on the swings?" asked Maggie.
"Yes your brother and sister can take you, I still have to stay here for a while," said Marge.
As Marge and the kids made their way over, Ned quickly introduced Reba to Marge.
"Marge this is Reba, the lady I met at the church picnic two weeks ago," Ned said.
Marge stopped and looked Reba over; she was a pretty lady, had long hair and was of medium size. Marge then shook her hand.
"Nice to meet you," Marge said.
"And you too, I am really sorry about what happened to your husband, if I was you I would have never let him work for that place. Those places are so dangerous any way," Reba said quickly voicing her opinion.
"I know but it was the only job Homer could find when we married," Marge said.
I see, but didn't you ever worry about his safety?" asked Reba.
"Of course, I just didn't think such a thing would happen," said Marge.
"But it was a nuclear plant!" Reba said now sounding a bit annoyed with Marge saying these things.
"Yes it was, but many of them are safe and not controlled by someone like Mr. Burns," said Marge.
"Yet you still trusted him," Reba said in a way that sounded very sarcastic. Marge stared at her angrily and Ned quickly noticed this, he was about to intervene when he was saved by Maggie.
"Mommy! We found it!" she said happily.
Maggie quickly grabbed Marge's hand and led her toward the wall where Bart, Lisa, Rod, Todd, Lenny, Carl and Moe were standing admiring the lovely work.
"Nice job Marge!" Carl smiled when Marge appeared.
"Yeah, you planned this well, I'm glad he will be remembered this way," said Moe who wiped a tear out of his eye. For being such a tough guy, Moe could really be a sucker for sentimental things without even trying.
Homer's inscription was right there in the middle and underneath the name was an inscription with gold lettering that Marge had added personally:
Homer Simpson
Loving husband and father,
You will always be in our hearts.
Lisa stared at the lovely inscription and wiped a tear from her eye while Marge put her arm around her. They knew that Homer deserved to be remembered this way, everyone did. Lisa continued to stare at the lovely inscription until a tiny hand appeared and leaned against the wall. Lisa looked up to see Bart hanging onto Maggie while she touched the water that flowed down it.
"Oooh it's cold!" Maggie said excitedly.
Lisa only smiled while Bart tried to pull her away, touching it for a few moments was enough for right now, Maggie didn't need to splash everyone. Of course Maggie quickly retaliated and tried to push Bart forward.
"Why don't we take you back to the swings," Bart said as he started to back away.
"Swings!" Maggie said excitedly now forgetting that the water was even there.
"It's alright if we go back to the park now, right Mom?" Lisa asked making sure that they disappeared before Marge got upset about them leaving too soon.
"That's fine kids, I'll be here until it ends so you'll know where to find me," Marge said as she glared back at Reba who looked like she wanted to start a new conversation.
Bart and Lisa then lead Maggie through the crowd while Rod and Todd watched them go, the playground sounded like fun and they wondered if they had enough time to join the Simpson kids.
"We can go too right Dad?" asked Rod as he shook Ned's arm.
"Absolutely! If you need me I am here," Ned said without even looking down at them, he was watching Reba, she didn't seem to get the hint that she was acting like herself. Now he felt that he had to babysit his new girlfriend. Marge of course was trying to avoid her entirely by talking to Lenny and Carl and a few others who knew Homer personally.
Rod and Todd ran off, hoping that their father would sort out his new girlfriend. It was interesting seeing their father meet new people and they did wonder how long the relationship would last. Rod predicted a month, Todd was still thinking about that.
For now though, all they wanted to do was spend some time with the Simpson kids. It was the perfect day to do so.
Important A/N: Okay first off, I apologize for that ending, I had the worst time coming up with a good one and that was the best I could do. Second of all this was originally going to be the penultimate (as bdlywrttn called it) chapter: AKA second to last chapter. But this thing became so unexpectedly long that I felt that I needed to split it, especially since the second half was a little different than with what had gone on. I know how some people like to have chapters that are not too long, I know I do, my eyes get strained easily so I made it easy on you guys. This means I have two more chapters to go yet again and this time I hopefully mean it. Now due to the fact that I have split this into two chapters, the next chapter is finished but I will not put it up for a few days, I'm only doing that because I want to let you all catch up and read this one and not have to read two chapters at once. The next one will probably be up by Monday or Tuesday and then the final by next weekend I hope.
If this chapter was not as good as the others, I am sorry; it seemed like a good idea at the time, thought that one of them needed to have a quick date after three years but this will lead to something in the next chapter. Also I am a little moody right now so please don't complain when you review or I will give you such a pinch.
