It's Been Thirty Years

Chapter 3: Thirty Years Without You

Soos showed Dipper a calendar. He was not lying. The date was July 12th, 2043. Thirty years in the future. He had been asleep for 30 years! Melody had showed up too. She came down after hearing Soos talk in a loud and excited tone. She too was shocked too see Dipper was alive and still a kid.

Now that they had all calmed down from what they had experience, the 3 were in the kitchen as Soos cooked up some breakfast.

"I hope you're hungry Dipper," he said, "Melody always goes on and on about my omelettes."

"Only because they're the best in the whole country" she said.

"Oh, please," said Dipper, "After being asleep for thirty years, of course I'm gonna be hungry."

They all started laughing.

"Oh, Soos, these are amazing!"

"Thanks dude," he replied, "Stan taught me how to make them. I improved a bit on the recipe. Added a little Soos twist to it."

"Speaking of him, where are Grunkle Stan and Ford?" asked Dipper.

Soos and Melody both looked at him with an expression filled with sadness. Dipper knew what it meant.

"Oh."

"Ford seven years ago and Stan a few years before him" Soos said, fighting back tears himself.

Dipper looked around the kitchen for a second. Everything seemed different to him now. "What about everyone else?" he said.

"Wendy used to work at the local lumber mill. Then she joined the armed forces. Something about always wanting to drive a tank," Soos said.

Dipper smiled a bit, "Yeah, I know where that crazy fantasy of hers came from," he said.

"Pacifica still works at Greasy's Diner."

"Wow. Must be an improvement for her I'm guessing" Dipper said laughing. "What about old Gideon?"

Soos laughed. "Last I heard he moved to Washington DC to peruse a political career. Thankfully he's never been elected into any office as far as I know."

"Oh phew, last thing we need is Gideon as president," Dipper said jokingly.

"So, what about you Soos? I'm guessing you and Melody married?"

"We did," said Melody, "Stanley and Stanford both left the shack to Soos in their wills and we both decided we had to keep the Mystery Shack going."

"I will say Mr. Pine's suit has gotten a lot tighter over the years" Soos said.

The three all laughed. But Dipper wasn't done asking questions. He had asked about the fate of every person he knew but one. The most important one to him at that. He looked up to Soos.

"What about Mabel? Where is she?"

Soos looked back at Dipper a bit nervous, "Mabel...well, what do I say," he replied with a sigh.

"What happened to her?!" yelled Dipper, "Is she okay?!"

"Well, I mean after you disappeared, she wasn't," Soos said, "She was a disaster. We all worried about her a lot in later years."

"She never fully got over losing you," said Melody, "We all thought you were dead Dipper. You know that, right?"

"Now I know," replied Dipper, "I can't even begin to imagine what all of you have gone through but what I need to know right now is...is if Mabel's okay?"

"She still lives in in your hometown in California," said Soos, "Your parents rarely let her come back here since that summer we lost you. She's 43 now, an art college graduate, owns her own studio and art school and she even has a family of her own."

"Wait, Mabel's married" Dipper said surprised.

"Yeah," said Melody, "He's a great guy. We met him once when we visited her. They both have two kids."

"Wow," said Dipper, "Time really has flown by. You...you think I could maybe...well, you know-"

"Talk to your twin sister who thinks you've been dead for 30 years and prove you're still alive but also still the same age you were when you went missing?" Soos said, interrupting Dipper's sentence.

"Uh, yes?" he replied.

Soos laughed. "I'll give her a call. Hopefully she picks up. I think we last spoke on New Years. She's real busy these days," he said, getting up to get the phone.