Tuck Everlasting. Epilogue redone (COMPLETE)

Version 2

      The sign said WELCOME TO TREEGAP, but it was hard to believe that this was really Treegap. The main street hasn't changed a lot, but there were many other streets now, crossing the main street.it almost looked like a tree,so many paths to choose from, all saying choose me i'll give you a new life.The road itself was blacktopped. There was a strange yellow line painted down its center,which sparked an old memory.

     Mae and Angus Tuck rumbled down the road in their dusty wagon. The sky was a brilliant blue and dotted with cottony clouds as they pulled their horses to a stop in a town.

     Motorbikes and cars roared down the town roads where there used to be only carriages. The store fronts had been re-painted in bright colors with shining plastic poster boards plastered over the windows. Mae raised an eyebrow as a young girl in shorts raced by, followed by a young man... both laughing giddily.

     "Well, guess I'll ask." Angus decided, and he walked into what once was the general store. "Don't suppose you folks have a cemetery here?" he asked bluntly of the startled manager behind the desk. The older man took a long glance at Angus' faded, old clothing.

     "Well?" Angus prompted, shifting his feet uneasily. He hoped no questions would be asked of them, as this could lead to answers were hard to come by, and even harder to explain. The man jumped again, and stuttered out,"Y....Yes, sir. J...just over the... the hill 'yon thataway..."

     "Thank-you. Searching' for a friend s'all." Angus said simply. He purposefully strode out of the store, his ancient leather boots thumping dully against the dark wood. He hopped back onto the wagon silently, but Mae knew his determined look.

     "Do ya think..." she began, but trailed off. She didn't know if she really wanted her wishes to come true, or, in fact, what her wishes were.

     The wagon again halted in front of the sheltered cemetery. Most of the stones would be cracked from old age. Angus slid off the seat of the wagon and opened the rusty wooden gate. A thinning grove of trees sheltered some of the stones, and he began reading names there. Finally, he heard Mae call him from the other side of the tombstones. He strolled over, stepping around waist-high overgrowths of wild flowers.

     "Find her?" he asked, his voice suddenly quiet. Mae simply nodded her head and motioned for him to come closer. He sighed and walked to her side. Mae pointed wordlessly to a young girl who was kneeling by a cluster of grey slabs.

     "Well, that means nothing'. Could be any girl. We're looking for a stone, Mae, not a livin' child." Angus stated, and began to approach the girl, calling as he went,

"Hello? Young miss, we were just looking for someone, hoped you could help us."

     The girl raised her head, and Angus Tuck thought his heart would stop though he knew there was not a chance of that happening.

     The girl stood slowly, and brushed the folds out of her skirt. She pulled a strand of her brown hair shyly for a moment, looking very much like the young girl Angus Tuck had met all those decades ago; except now she appeared to be a late teenager, more beautiful than she had been when she was 12.

Mae was the first to speak, though her voice did not carry far enough for the girl to hear,

     "Winnie." she whispered, in a tone of stricken grief and awe. The girl was, indeed Winifred Foster. Mae took a step, uncertain, and then stumbled forward to clasp the girl in a motherly embrace.

"You haven't changed hardly a bit!" Mae exclaimed. "How old are you now?"

Winnie bit her lip and choked out,