As the two siblings entered their shared dorm room, Penelope broke down in tears. She collapsed onto one of the twin beds inside, curled into a ball, and hyperventilated. Pioneer sat next to her, and tenderly patted the woman's back.
"I told you I had this. Why the long face?"
She shivered a moment, before responding,
"What if this time, you don't got it? You shouldn't be dying before even getting your own place."
"Ha! Is this about the rent? You joker..."
He stopped himself from speaking further, as Penelope's tears had not stopped rolling down those porcelain cheeks..
"I'm serious," she retorted in irritation.
"Look, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. This is all a bonus stage, as far as I am concerned."
Knowing the implication of his statement, she cringed.
"Don't joke about that!"
"I'm serious! You remember the state I was in, after the accident..."
He looked tearfully into the middle distance as the statement left his lips. She soon joined him in looking, preceding their flashback with a timely "How could I forget..."
6 YEARS AGO...
Amidst the sea of cypress tress, north-east of Houston, Penelope returned to a home she thought she'd left behind. In this tiny town of Hotsprings, her parents' two story home finally came into view.
She parked the car, and inspected the front of it in horror.
"Freaking lovebugs! Ugh, my poor windshield!"
A nasally voice loudly interrupted her, originating from the open front door.
"Penelope, is that you?"
"Yes ma! I'm here!"
"Perfect! We were just about to leave. Thank you so much for coming back, this weekend."
"Why do I need to babysit Oscar anyway? He just became an adult, right?"
"Don't even get me started! Your father is convinced he needs supervision."
"Damn right, he does!"
With this, her other parent came into view.
"Harold, please!"
"What? It was the night of his graduation! The guy can't wait to get paralyzed until he's out from under our roof!?!"
Looking to do anything but hear this argument, Penelope hurriedly found an excuse to give.
"Uh, aren't you all going to be late? I thought ma said you had a pretty packed itinerary, this anniversary."
"She's right, Harold. You know how cranky you get, if we have to drive at night."
"Fine! But no parties!"
"I'm in the middle of nowhere, dad! Where am I going to find college boys out here!?! No, never mind; have fun you two!"
She gave them a big hug, and escorted them to their car. Seeing them drive off down the dusty dirt road, Penelope almost breathed a sigh of relief. But the reason for her being here prevented such a mood from lasting long.
"Oscar; how are you doing, brother?"
She was careful to ask in a gentle tone, entering the living room on tip toes. Oscar sat in his wheelchair, by the window, staring at the wrecked motorcycle in their backyard.
"Pops says he's going to get rid of it..."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"WHY!?! Because I'll never ride one again!?!"
"... Even when you get better, you can't ride that one anymore. It's a wreck."
"Ha! Don't patronize me, sister. I'm sure mom has gossiped all about what the doctors said."
"So what! Doctors can be wrong too, sometimes... Let's stop talking about this. I'm sure you didn't want to spend a weekend away from pops yelling at somebody else, right?"
He sank back into silence, so she hastily drew the curtains closed to keep his attention.
"... What did you have in mind?"
"Well being cooped up here all day can't help! Why don't you give me the town tour? I've been away at college for over a year now."
"And you think things have changed? Fine, if you don't mind having to push the tour guide."
She wheeled him out of the front door, only to encounter their first setback.
"I thought pops put a ramp in?"
"It's on the backdoor."
"Ugh! So we gotta all the way through the grass to get back to the street? I just bought these shoes!"
"We still have some of those big sandwich bags in the kitchen."
"No, it's fine. This is your day, anyway. Let's go!"
10 minutes later, the duo stood at the center of a confusingly designed pedestrian crossing.
"The one stop light looks nice... Is that a new cross?"
"Yeah, remember it snowed last year?"
"Oh, right! That was a whole 2 inches!"
"I know, practically everything shut down!"
10 minutes after that, they found themselves in front of what could best be described as a fetid swamp.
"The springs are looking nasty, as always."
"They were actually clean, for about 2 weeks after the cicadas died off."
"You should come to Houston, you know? They have actual pools there."
"Well, my athletic scholarship is out of the question now..."
"Forget I said anything! Only happy thoughts today."
30 minutes after that, they arrived at a hill overlooking the town. A crooked tree provided shade for them, while the setting sun painted a beautiful vista for their eyes.
"The hanging tree really looks nice this time of day... You know, if you forget the history behind it."
"Huff... Huff... I don't know if a sunset makes pushing you uphill worth it."
"Aw, but I brought the telescope," Oscar said while reaching in his wheelchair pocket.
"Oh! Are you interested in the weird comet, too?"
"Not really, but I enjoyed getting out. I thought we could end the tour doing something you like."
"Aw, you're a great little brother."
Not even waiting for the sun to finish setting, Penelope scanned the skies above them. Little did she know, at the time, how horrendous the consequences of this sweet gesture would be...