When Life Gives You Lemons

Chapter 32- There's No Place Like Home

A few days after Mater and Fudge's knighting ceremony, everyone had gathered near the River Thames, just enjoying the way the lights of the city glowed on the water. They'd spent the last couple of days being shown around the city of London, Finn's hometown. They saw so many amazing sights- Westminster Abbey, to Hyde Park, to London Zoo and the view of the city from the top of the London Eye. For once, it felt like the relaxing, enjoyable trip that they'd all been expecting. After everything that had happened, it felt wonderful.

Most of the time by the river, they were in companionable silence, but Finn and Sammy took a moment to talk to Fudge.

"The cold botherin' you, desert dweller?" Sammy teased, noticing Fudge wrap her jacket tighter around herself.

"Actually, the desert gets pretty cold at night", Fudge corrected her.

"So, you're heading back to America tomorrow", Finn stated the obvious.

"Yep", Fudge confirmed.

"Well, I hope you enjoyed at least part of your time in England."

The eleven-year-old smiled and nodded. "I did. Very much. Thank you."

"Did you remember to pack Doc?" Sammy teased.

Fudge made a face, but she was grinning. "Yeah..." Her smile disappeared.

"You miss him", Sammy stated simply.

Fudge nodded with a heavy sigh. "I imagined he was there when Mater and I were being knighted", she confided, feeling weird for talking about this with people outside her family. "I do that a lot... Is that stupid?"

"No way!" Sammy shook her head adamantly. "It's the opposite of stupid! Sometimes, I picture my mom bein' there with me."

Finn nodded in agreement. "I've done the same thing with Leland on this mission." He had told the others about his friend, Leland Turbo's fate.

"Whenever I picture Uncle Doc", Fudge continued, "I picture how he looked right before he got sick. He had his racing decals; he'd race with Lightning and me and he was smiling." She turned to Sammy. "How does your mom look when you picture her?"

Sammy managed a sad smile. "If I close my eyes, I picture her doin' the things that made her happy- like singin' at the Cotter Pin; reading on the porch in bare feet; going on picnics with me and my brothers. If I want to see her face, though, I don't have to look very far." She pulled the gold chain to reveal a locket. She opened it up and showed Fudge the two photos inside: one was obviously Sammy as a young child while the other was another beautiful Japanese-American woman.

"You look just like your mom!" Fudge remarked.

Sammy grinned. "Yeah, I know. Everybody says that."

"Well, it's nice that you have that locket." Fudge turned to Finn. "And how do you picture Leland?" she wanted to know.

Finn smiled sadly too. "I picture him giving me the smile he gave me as we started our first mission. He was so confident, so ready..."

After a pause, Sammy informed Fudge, "I don't know if this means anythin' to you, but I'm sure Doc would be proud of you."

Fudge frowned. "Why wouldn't it mean anything?"

Sammy shrugged. "I guess I was just thinkin' of when my mom died. People told me stuff like that- she loved me, she was proud of me, whatever- and it didn't help. It doesn't make it easier for me."

"It doesn't", Fudge acknowledged, "but I still wanna make Uncle Doc proud. So, I guess it does mean something."

Sammy smiled. "Good point."