2 hours later, Ford Pines heard his niece call his from upstairs while he was downstairs doing important work in the basement.
"Grunkle Ford! Come up here! Me and Dipper have a surprise for you!" Mabel had said gleefully.
"Mabel can this please wait till later?" Ford asked. "I'm really busy right now with this experiment!"
"No you need to come right now, Grunkle Ford! The surprise can't wait!" Mabel shouted to him.
Ford sighed. There was no use in fighting back with his niece. She was just going to keep pressuring and bothering him until he agreed to come up. "Alright. I'll be up there in a minute, sweetie."
When Ford got back he was met with a huge surprise. His mouth dropped open and his eyes widened in shock when he saw a short old man with a long white beard wearing hillbilly clothes standing right next to his great niece and nephew.
"Dipper? Mabel? Who the heck is this?" Ford asked in surprise.
"It's your old college pal, McGucket," Mabel told him.
"McGucket?" Ford took a close look into his face. "Is that really you?...Wow, you really have changed since I last saw you." His old college pal looked nothing like the person he had seen in pictures. His heart dropped for he knew it has been his fault he became like this.
McGucket nodded. "Yup, I sure have alright, Ford." He looked up at his old friend and smiled. "On the other hand though, you liked almost the same you had been 30 years ago."
Ford managed a smile smile but soon frowned again. "Wait…. Kids, why the heck did you bring McGucket here?" Ford asked, looking confused.
"So that you can tie things up him," Dipper informed him.
"Yup, that's right. The kids told me you have something big to tell me, Fordzie," McGucket said. He looked at Ford expectedly. "Well, here I am! Now what is it?"
Wait… no it couldn't be! Have the kids meant that he was going to apologise to him right here? Right now? Ford broke into nervous sweats. There was just no way he could do this. If he even mentioned the disaster from the past and that he was the one who caused McGucket to go insane, McGucket might angrily stomp away. Ford knew in his mind that McGucket would never forgive him for turning him into a crazy hillbilly guy. And Ford just couldn't handle that.
"Uh…. you know what, McGucket," Ford laughed nervously. "How about you just leave right now and come back some other time? I have much work I need to get back to and…."
"Grunkle Ford!" Mabel gasped. She gave her Grunkle a stern look as she took his hand.
She then turned and gave McGucket a fake smile. "Excuse us for just one second, McGucket."
She pulled Ford into the kitchen with Dipper following behind them. She gave Ford an angry glare. "Grunkle Ford, what are you doing? Now is your big chance! McGucket is here and you can finally say I'm sorry to him about the incident that occurred many years ago."
Ford sighed. "Mabel, I can't do that. If I even mention that incident, McGucket might get super angry," Ford explained. "Now is probably not the best time to do it…..maybe never."
"But Grunkle Ford! You're holding a bunch of weight on your shoulders!" Mabel informed him. "Trust me, you'll feel so much better if you tell him that you're sorry. Dipper knows. When he told Wendy that he loved her, he felt so much better, right Dipper?"
"Yes," Dipper said, though he looked upset and blushed a bit bright red, a bit embarrassed that Mabel talked about that in front of another person.
"See?" Mabel grinned. "So what are you waiting for? Just tell him already!"
"No, I just can't! Mabel, please just drop the subject and forget about all this!" Ford shouted at her. "Now I'm going tell McGucket nicely to get out of here. Again, just forget about all this and play with your pig or something."
Mabel frowned. She didn't like her attitude from her Grunkle. Here she was, trying to help him feel better, but he refuses. Well, she wasn't going to accept that! She was going to make Ford feel better whether he liked it or not!
She ran up to her Grunkle Ford, took his arm and gave him a small smile. "Grunkle Ford, I just wanted to let you know… this is for your own good."
Before Ford could ask Mabel what she even meant, she pushed him into a large closet along with McGucket and locked the door.
"What the? MABEL! MABEL!" Ford shouted as he banged on the door hardly. "Mabel open the door this instant!"
"Oh, I will Grunkle Ford, until you tell McGucket that thing you've been wanting to tell him for 30 years!" Mabel shot back.
"Mabel why are you doing this?" Dipper asked.
"So that Ford can finally lift the weight off his shoulders and say I'm sorry!" Mabel said.
"Yeah, but…. Isn't this a bit….. well, extreme?" Dipper questioned. "I mean, locking them inside just for Ford to say he's sorry?"
"Hey, I know what I'm doing bro-bro!" Mabel smiled. "Trust me, it almost worked for you, but I'm sure this will bound to get Ford to say he's sorry to McGucket! Just you wait and see!"
"Okay, if you say so," Dipper sighed.
Inside the closet, Ford will still pounding at the door. "Mabel! Please! Open up!" Ford growled.
"Just tell him already and I will!" Mabel barked.
"Tell me what?" McGucket asked. "Stanford, can you please tell me what you wanted to tell me cause I have a feeling she trapped us in here and won't be letting us out till you say it!"
"I uh, uh," Ford broke into nervous sweats. What was he going to do now? If he didn't say it, he and McGucket would be stuck here for god knows how long. But if he did say it, he would risk McGucket not forgiving him and being angry with him all over again.
What to do?