tell me about the long dark path home
It isn't until they are about halfway home that Mabel, still flying high on their adventure and non-stop chatting with Grunkle Stan, begins to feel like she's forgotten something. And it isn't until they turn onto their street that she suddenly remembers what that is.
"Uh-oh," she says, heart sinking.
Grunkle Stan glances at her. "What?"
"Oh, poop, my parents!" she gasps. "They could be back by now!" She hops on her knees and seizes Grunkle Stan's shoulder. "Grunkle Stan, you gotta con our way out of this!"
"Whoa!" Grunkle Stan pushes her back into her seat. "Yeesh, relax. I'm your grunkle; it's not a crime for me to take you out for an afternoon of safe and family-friendly fun."
"Yeah, okay," Mabel quickly agrees, latching onto the excuse. She's not a fan of lying, but this is an emergency. "We went to the zoo and saw animals and the Space & Science Center and saw planets and ate ice cream shaped like animals and planets!"
"First rule of any lie: keep it simple. We drove around Piedmont because me and Ford wanted to see the town. End of story," Grunkle Stan advises.
Mabel's eyes widen. "Grunkle Ford…"
Grunkle Stan shrugs fatalistically. "He wants to see your mom and dad anyway."
Far be it from Mabel to keep her grunkle from reuniting with his family, but she can't quite suppress a selfish urge deep inside her that twinges whenever her summer vacations in Gravity Falls may be at risk. "Is he going to tell them about Bill?" she says, worried for her summers, yes, but also worried about her parents.
Grunkle Stan's right eye twitches slightly at the mention of the evil geometry that had once come so close to destroying him. "Nobody is going to talk about that thing," he says with a note of warning, and Mabel immediately nods in agreement. Stan relaxes a bit. "Besides, you know my brother's all annoying and secretive."
"He does love his science-y secrets," Mabel concurs.
"That's government work for ya."
The house comes into view. There's no sign of her parents' cars in the driveway, but they could be in the garage (or at least one of them could be; half of it is packed with junk). Grunkle Stan parks across the street. Mabel jumps out of the cab as soon as the truck comes to a stop and runs to the keypad for the garage door. Her tension ratchets as it slowly grinds its way open, but she needn't have worried. It's empty.
"They aren't home yet!" Mabel shouts to Grunkle Stan as she passes the cab on the way to the back of the truck. It's opening just as she reaches it, Dipper stepping down from the interior. "Mom and Dad aren't back yet," she tells him.
He looks relieved. "Then we might have enough time to clean up."
"Finally!" Pacifica says, hurrying for the house. "I get the shower first."
"Okay, Mabel you can use the one in the master bedroom and I'll get ready for my turn," Dipper says, checking his watch. "I don't know how much time we have. I'll see if Grunkle Stan and Great-Uncle Ford brought some clothes with them."
Mabel shoots up the stairs and tears through her closet, grabbing whatever is closest at hand rather than trying to put together an outfit. There's a timer ticking down and she has no idea how long it'll be before Mom and Dad come back. They're already overdue, going by their usual weekend schedule. She jumps into the shower in the master bedroom and tries to wash her hair, scrub the gunk out of her nails, and wipe the smudges of grease from her legs all at the same time and ends up nearly slipping.
She exits the shower and trots down the hall, toweling her hair. She finds Grunkle Stan in front of her collage of the Shack.
"You know, I kinda miss the place," he muses. "It was home for thirty years. I guess that's gotta count for something."
"I bet Soos kept it just the way you left it," Mabel assures him.
"Of course he has. He loves that old dump even more than I do." He steps away from the collage and Mabel notes that he's changed clothes and made himself somewhat presentable. It's a reminder of what he's here for, and it makes her nervous again.
"Do you think my parents will be mad?" she blurts out.
"Probably. I sometimes have that effect on people."
"But you didn't do anything!"
"Mabel, as much as I appreciate that, it ain't the truth." Stan shakes his head. "'Sides, it's the nothing I did that's part of the problem."
Mabel wilts a little. Sure, Grunkle Stan messed up. But that was like a bajillion years ago, and he totally made up for it! He saved everyone. Doesn't that matter?
Well, not if they can't know about it…
He must be interpreting the look on her face because he sighs and places a hand on her shoulder. "I know there's a lot of stuff we can't talk about, and I don't want to get you kids in hot water. So let's keep our mouths shut and let Ford do the talking, alright?"
Mabel would rather let Grunkle Ford hide them all behind his semi-official, government-type science secrets than lie directly. Of course, she'd rather they just all be honest. But a part of coming to terms with last summer is realizing that no one who wasn't there can really understand. Someday, when Grunkle Ford is famous for his theories and Old Man McGucket's inventions are commonplace, there won't be any more hiding. They won't have to.
But that day isn't now. And who knows when it'll be.
"Being more grown up really stinks sometimes," she tells Grunkle Stan.
"Hey, you're telling me. Just wait 'til you get old—it's the worst!"
Still, she feels a little better with his steady presence as a reminder that she's not alone in this. The future can be scary, but she doesn't have to feel scared. They're all together.
Then the floor starts buzzing beneath her feet and she realizes the garage door is opening.
"What? Why is your room humming?" Grunkle Stan says, looking at his feet in confusion.
On a different occasion she would have jumped at the chance to make fun of him for not recognizing the feel of a garage door motor, since he's a weird old man; however, now is not the time.
"They're here!" She rounds on him. "Okay, Grunkle Stan, this is it! You gotta save our summer vacation or I'll be texting you pictures of this all year," she tells him, making her eyes all big and dewy and sticking her lower lip out in a pout.
He recoils slightly. "Yikes. Turn it down a notch. Some people prefer subtlety, you know."
"What people?"
"Beats me. Come on, let's go watch Ford lie to your parents."
"Grunkle Staaaaan, don't say it like that…" Mabel groans.
"Fine. Let's watch him sort of tell some of the 'truth,'" Grunkle Stan says, complete with air quotes.
Not much better, but with him she'll take what she can get.
Pacifica was still in the shower last time Mabel passed the bathroom; she knew better than to try and hurry the other girl along because it's always pointless. Pacifica's grooming rituals are a long and complicated collective process and she never compromises, no matter how worried Mabel is that they'll miss all the awesome movie trailers.
When Mabel steps out into the hall again she finds Pacifica fully dressed and perfectly styled, as if she'd never been to a dirty warehouse at all. The blonde girl stands at the top of the stairs, looking hesitant. The fact she's out of the shower at all speaks volumes; it must really be anxious around here if even Pacifica is rushing things.
Pacifica glances over her shoulder when she hears Mabel. "Your parents are back," she says.
"Okay, Pacifica: put on your game face," Mabel says, waving her hands in front of her own face and feeling serious. "We gotta talk our way into our vacation! Let's go earn a magical summer!"
Pacifica seems dubious. "Um, right."
"Not this time, kiddo," Grunkle Stan says as he moves to block the stairs. "This is an old problem made by a couple 'a old men. You need to let the grownups talk."
"What? But, Grunkle Stan—" Mabel begins.
"No buts except yours outta the line of fire. This has been a long time coming, and it's something me and my brother need to do."
"But you said we should let Grunkle Ford do the talking!"
"Yeah, and he will anyway, because it's Ford," Grunkle Stan says with a slight roll of his eyes. "Look, Mabel… I know you did a lot of growing up last summer, but you're still a kid. So go be a kid and weasel out of this while that's still a working excuse."
"We lied too…" Mabel almost whispers, fingers twisting a lock of her hair in agitation.
"Keep it up for another thirty years and maybe we'll be even," Grunkle Stan grunts. "I'm not sayin' you shouldn't jump in at some point… You know, cry a little or something; pretend you love me, take some of the heat off with your sad little faces."
Mabel jumps forward and wraps her arms around his middle. "I'm not pretending!"
"I know," Grunkle Stan says fondly, patting her head. "Just hang back for now, okay?"
Mabel sniffs and reluctantly releases him. "Okay… But if you get into trouble, I'm totally crying."
"That's my girl."
Mabel camps out on the landing, her hands wrapped around the wooden bars of the railing that overlooks the living room. What's going to happen? Are Mom and Dad really going to be that angry? (Assuming no one tells them about the whole nearly dying, world-almost-ending dealie.) They are getting a new uncle, after all. An awesome uncle with science! That's worth a lot in Mabel's book.
Pacifica sits down next to Mabel. "This will be okay, right?" she says. She sounds a little worried, which makes sense because this is also her home now.
"Oh, yeah, it's… pfft, it's fine," Mabel says with an unconvincing gesture of dismissal. "My grunkles have got this under control."
"So it's going to be a disaster," Pacifica observes.
"Probably."
Even as Mabel says that she knows she has faith in her parents to be reasonable people. They won't like being lied to, but once it's all explained, won't they understand? Grunkle Stan hadn't been trying to hurt them. Grunkle Ford had disappeared when they were just kids (which is so weird to realize, that her parents had been her age once) and Stan had been lying for so long because he had to, because he was trying to get his brother back, because no one could help him or even believe him.
Mabel believed him, when it had mattered most. She just wants everyone else to give him that same chance.