Wendip Week 2023
7-Pines News: New Pines!
Don't you hate cliffhangers?
All right, let's haul these guys to safety. An anxious Ford had Wendy lie back on the sofa and he scanned her head to toe—but concentrated on her midsection—again and again with every detector he could muster. "Is she OK?" Dipper asked anxiously.
"All clear," Ford said. "The babies, too. Wendy, are you timing your contractions?"
"Not having any," Wendy said. "Something happened, though."
Lorena sat on a chair beside the couch and took Wendy's hand. "Did you feel like their weight lightened all at once?"
"Yeah," Wendy said.
"Oh, great heavens!" Ford said, some of the color coming back into his face. "Is that all that happened?"
"What?" Dipper asked. He was on the phone to the hospital already, waiting to speak to the duty nurse in the obstetrics ward.
"The twins dropped," Ford said. "It usually happens about this point in a pregnancy or a little later. They're not coming yet, just getting ready!"
"Really?" Dipper asked.
Wendy smiled. "Yeah, we heard about that in our class, Dip, remember?"
"Obstetrics ward, Cass Fenton speaking," said a voice on the phone.
"Oh, hello, wife, I'm calling about the nurse. I mean—other way around," Dipper said. "I'm nervous. Listen, Dr. Greenberg's patient Wendy Corduroy Pines, uh, something happened."
He listened for a moment and then said, "Uh, wait." To Wendy he added, "Nurse Fenton. She has some questions—"
"Here, I'll talk to her." Wendy took the phone from Dipper and held a short conversation, ending as Wendy said, "Yes, exactly like that. Uh, well, little bit. I mean, I wasn't chopping down a tree or anything, but I'd been active just before. Oh, I see. Don't worry, I'll keep you and Dr. Greenberg informed."
The short and the long was, as Wendy told them, "OK, probably nothing's gonna happen right away. I'm supposed to take it easy and when everything starts, we head straight to the hospital."
"It'll take thirty or forty minutes by car," Ford said. "I'll have Amy Hazard stand by with the company helicopter. The hospital has a helipad, and if Amy stays with us, she can have you there in less than a quarter of an hour."
They talked it over. Wendy said she'd rather stay home than go to Ford's house—Lorena did invite her—and finally Dipper said, "If I can drive her to the Shack, the helicopter has lots of room to land on the big lawn. How about that?"
They finally all agreed.
But, as they say, the best-laid plans of men and mice gang oft agley.
In other words, when you make a plan, don't count on it.
Mabel came over every day to fuss over Mabel and order Dipper around. April blossomed into May, a dry month in Gravity Falls, with cool, clear morning skies and warm noons and afternoons. To distract himself, Dipper began writing the next book in his series, though his usual rate of composition, about ten pages a day, fell off to six or eight. It was hard to concentrate.
Wendy wouldn't stay in bed, but she did consent to spend most of the time in an easy chair with her feet propped on a hassock. Mabel threw herself into the role of nursemaid the same way she had thrown herself into Liza Doolittle when she acted in My Fair Lady in high school and into Kate Monster when she was in Avenue Q as a college freshman.
"You really don't have to do all this, Mabes," Wendy said one day as Mabel brought her a tray with her lunch on it.
"Yes, I do!" Mabel said. "I want to be the best aunt in town. Now, the salad has the oil and vinegar that you like, the risotto is low-sodium, and the chicken noodle soup should be easy on your tummy. Wait a sec and I'll bring you a nice mug of peppermint tea."
Dipper had wandered in from the small office where his computer lived and said, "She's getting to be a really good cook."
"Mm," Wendy agreed, tasting the soup. "I think Teek's been giving her lessons."
Mabel, setting down the mug of tea within easy reach of Wendy, said, "Yuppers! I can even make a burger as good as his, and I didn't think that would ever be possible. Soup's on, Dip! I'll stay here with Wendy while you eat."
"When will you—"
Mabel burped. "Not a problem."
Stan and Sheila dropped by every afternoon, and Ford at least checked in with them twice a day. On the tenth of May, Ford told them, "Amy has moved into our guest room until it's time. The helicopter is just up the hill. Soos is charging the younger tourists fifty cents to go up and inspect it."
Wendy laughed. "Whoa! Stan suggested it, I suppose."
"No, my brother suggested twenty dollars apiece, but Soos thought that was a little too much."
Day followed night, and then, at two AM, Wendy shook Dipper awake. "Dip," she said, "My water broke a minute ago. We'd better get started."
Dipper jumped up and said, "I'll get dressed! Where'd we put the bag? I'll call Ford!"
"Bag's in my closet, man, and—" Wendy grimaced. "Uh-oh! The contractions are starting. Check the time!"
"Um, um, two-twelve. Uh, where's the bag?"
"Closet, man! Up on the shelf! Maybe I better drive!"
Dipper dragged the overnight case off the shelf and then hastily pulled on shirt, cargo jeans, socks, and shoes. He brought Wendy the labor gown that Mabel had given her at the shower as one of many gifts. "Underwear and bra, too," Wendy said. "Top drawer, left corner."
He helped her get dressed and when she suddenly took a deep breath, he looked at the time on his phone. "Another one?"
"Yeah. Hang on, hang on."
"Twelve minutes since the last one," Dipper said. "Are they supposed to be that close together?"
"I think these kids are comin' fast," she said. "Take the bag out to the Land Runner and then come and help me out."
Dipper hurried, then rushed back to the bedroom. "Here," Wendy said. "Take these." She handed him a plastic tote bag with the Mystery Shack logo.
"What?"
"For you, man. Socks, underwear, pants, two shirts, toiletries. Mabes put it together for you. Let me kinda lean on you and go slow."
He got her into the passenger seat, started the engine, did a tight three-point turnaround, pulled out onto Gopher Road, and said, "I forgot to call Ford!"
Dipper parked, badly, in the lot. They saw the helicopter, a five-person FL-45 model, painted yellow. Ford had all the Agency choppers done in bright colors, because "Everybody expects black ones."
Despite the fact that Ford lived closer to the Shack than Dipper and Wendy, he and Lorena had not arrived. "You wait until they get here," Dipper said, standing beside the open passenger door. "They'll be here any minute—"
"Dip!" Wendy yelped. "I don't think we're gonna have time for a chopper ride!"
"Oh, God!"
Best-laid plans, dude.
Melody helped Wendy into the guest room, Soos went to the kitchen to boil lots of water, and before Wendy was comfortably in bed, Ford and Amy Hazard came in. "Is there a complication?" Ford asked.
"I think the twins are on their way now!" Wendy said. Dipper sat beside her, clasping her hand.
"Breathe!" he said. "Deep breaths."
Wendy panted the way they had learned in the class.
Ford said, "Well, I didn't make a study of obstetrics, but I did earn an M.D. Director Hazard, please call the town clinic—"
"I'll do that," Melody said.
"Tell Dr. la Fievre we need him as soon as he can get here. We'll need plenty of towels. What's the interval between contractions?"
"Down to about five minutes," Dipper said.
"And they're getting harder," Wendy added.
Dr. la Fievre showed up with a nurse, and then Stan and Sheila appeared, explaining they had noticed all the activity and the lights in the Shack. "Everybody but Dipper out," the doctor said. "Oh, and Wendy may stay. Let's get this delivery room prepared."
"It's gonna be twins," Wendy gasped.
"I've heard," the young doctor said.
Mabel popped in, wearing a nurse's cap. "OMG, already?"
"Mabes, call my dad," Wendy said.
"And Dad and Mom," Dipper added.
The nurse and Ford arranged things. Then they all went to the dining room.
"Anybody want tea, dawgs?" Soos asked brightly. "Water's boiling!"
Sometimes a minute can seem like an hour. Sometimes a day passes almost without your noticing. Stan and Ford paced the floor, occasionally bumping into each other. Manly Dan and Ruby showed up, but by then the doctor firmly refused letting anyone else pop in to have a word with Wendy.
Abuelita looked into the dining room. "We have two cribs," she said. "The ones Melody's babies used. I have put fresh sheets into two of them."
"What's takin' so long?" Dan rumbled.
"It takes as long as it takes," Stan said. "Don't be nervous." He tried to pour himself a cup of coffee, not noticing that he was holding the cup upside-down.
Mabel was sitting on the floor in the hallway, her back against the wall next to the guest-room door. Then she jumped up and hurtled into the dining room. "One of 'em's crying! First one's here!"
A second later they all heard it—the bawling of a newborn.
No, another second and there were two baby voices.
"They're here!" Mabel said, doing a happy happy dance. "EEEEEE! I'm an aunt!"
Ford checked the time. "For the record," he said, "the births occurred at 4:19 AM, May twenty-first. We'll need that information for the birth certificates."
It was another hour before the doctor let them have visitors. The nurse had cleaned up Wendy and had bundled up what seemed to Dipper like dozens of towels. Wendy lay propped in bed, smiling wearily.
"D'aww!" Mabel took photos of both babies, who looked identical. Of course, they looked identical to millions of other newborns, but—"Smile!" Aunty Mabel said.
Ruby has holding Manly Dan, who, true to form, was sobbing. "Aw, baby girl!" he managed to choke out, "You did good!"
Ford surreptitiously scanned both babies before, with a look of utter relief, he said, "Mason, they're perfect!"
The doctor talked about post-natal care and suggested that Wendy and the twins could check into the clinic if she and Dipper wished. "However," he said, "mother and children are healthy, so if they want to return home—"
"I'd be happier at home," Wendy said.
"Dawgs, you and them stay here for a while!" Soos exclaimed. "I love kids!"
"Then I'll have a nurse check in for the next few days," the doctor said. "I'd say as a professional opinion that they'll be fine."
Later that morning, after everyone had reluctantly left them in peace, and after Mr. and Mrs. Pines had some face-time to ooh and ahh, after Aunt Sallie and every friend that Wendy and Dipper had in town had made plans to come over in a few days to meet the new Pines twins, Dipper sat in the guest room. Wendy lay in bed, a twin wrapped in a pink blanket cradled in one arm, one wrapped in a blue blanket in the other.
"Are you feeling all right?" Dipper asked.
She chuckled. "Stop asking me, man! I feel great."
"Sorry we didn't make it to the hospital."
"Don't sweat it." Wendy gave a happy sigh. "When they're old enough, we'll tell them they were born in the Mystery Shack. And I think that's just the way it should be. Sh, sh, sh."
Their daughter was crying, not loudly, but just as if she thought that was the kind of thing a baby should do. Dipper reached over and rubbed her cheek, and she frowned a little and fell asleep.
"She got the birthmark," Dipper murmured.
"Not the Big Dipper, though," Wendy said, kissing their daughter on top of her head. She had a small blotch and a red arc high on her back, at the base of her neck, where it wouldn't show very much. "More like a shooting star!"
The little boy had balled both of his hands into fists and held them beneath his chin. The little girl yawned.
"They'll wake up again soon," Dipper said.
"And they'll be hungry. I'll tell you when you need to lock the door."
"OK, and—" Dipper suddenly slapped his forehead. "I'm an idiot!"
Wandy raised her eyebrows. "What?"
"It's your birthday!"
"Theirs, too, Dip."
God, she looked so sweet, there with a baby in each arm, looking at him with love and amusement.
"I forgot!" Dipper blurted. "I didn't get you anything!"
"Oh, Dipper!" Wendy said. "You gave me the best thing ever!"
Things went well, and the next day the happy couple were ready to receive guests and to reveal their children's names.
Man, don't you hate cliffhangers?
The End