Starfall

Chapter 13 - Progeny

Mabel stepped out of the hidden vending machine entrance to the lab and looked for Ford. The sun had set while they were down in the lab and the moon and stars had risen. She wondered where Ford had gone to. Mabel looked out across the living room and saw the silhouette of Ford by the window as he sat on the bench under the awning of the front porch.

Mabel sighed in relief. She had found him. She quietly walked over to the door and opened it quietly as she stepped out into the cool night. After being in the warm stuffy house it felt cool and crisp out here. It smelled sagely of pine although someone had barbequed nearby and the tantalizing scents of charcoal briquets and burgers reached her nose. The sounds of insects reached her ears and she could see fireflies lazily dancing in the woods beyond the yard.

Mabel watched Great Uncle Ford as she entered the porch. And though he had heard her, she was pretty sure, he stayed silent looking up at the stars as they reflected off of his spectacles in a mirror of the night sky. Mabel sat down as the crickets serenaded them. Tonight their chorus sounded somber to Mabel.

She sat there for a long time unsure of what to say or if she should say anything at all. In the end, it was Ford who spoke first to Mabel's surprise. Ford sighed heavily. Without looking away from the stars he whispered, "The sins of the father..." Mabel said, "What?" She had no idea what he meant. Ford continued to watch the night sky. "It's Euripides, the sins of the father are visited upon the children...What kind of monster leaves his children to such a fate?"

Mabel could hear the depth and intensity with which Ford was rattled. Mabel wondered what had shaken him so badly. Mabel asked, "Was it something the bounty hunter said?"

Ford folded his glasses and hung his head. Mabel reached out and placed her hand on his. Her hand was so small as it sat on the back of Ford's hand. "What shook you so bad?"

Ford was quiet for so long Mabel wondered if he had decided against telling her. Maybe she should have given him his space. Perhaps he just needed more time to- "It was many years ago," Ford said speaking up. He smiled but it was tainted by regret, longing, and bittersweet memories.

Ford leaned back in the chair relaxing just slightly. "I built a house very similar to this one, only far nicer." It overlooked a woodland of sorts...and the mountains." A light of joy entered his eyes. He closed them, no doubt visualizing them. "There were spanning mountain ranges that the property overlooked. When the sun hit the horizon and the light struck the mountain ranges they looked like amethyst and Lapiz-Lazuli as the ridges spanned high into the sky."

Ford whispered, "There was a time when I never wanted to leave that place." Mabel watched him closely. Something had clearly moved him deeply. Mabel's eyes darted from one eye to the other rapidly as she watched Ford, with empathy and concern.

Ford looked up at the stars again, "I lost them, Mabel. I lost them all those years ago..." Ford looked at Mabel with warm eyes filled with sadness. "You and Dipper would not have even been born at that point." His eyes returned to the night sky for a long silent span of time. Mabel waited quietly, even if she wasn't very good at doing that usually.

"I had a wife there Mabel." Mabel gasped as her eyes grew wide. She had a million questions. What happened to her? Where was she? Did Grunkle Stan know?!? She kept them all to herself for now.

Ford continued, "She...she developed Jhon's Hodgkin's lymphoma. By the time the doctors found out they gave her six months to live." Mabel's eyes grew bigger. Ford balled up his hands in fists as his eyes waxed strong with resolve. "She fought it for four years." Ford continued, "She was never able to conceive children, even when she was healthy. Despite that, I was a research scientist and had devised an alternative plan. We decided to conceive in vitro. We would find a surrogate mother. Someone we trusted. Not that there were many people on that list," he chuckled.