The handgun Ron used to wipe out his family can be traced back to a woman who, throughout this story, remained nameless: Moira’s mom (Mm), his grandma. It was given to her by her husband the morning before he’d bailed.
Mm: I don’t like this at all.
Philip: You don’t have to like it, but you need it.
Mm: You’re here, so I don’t need to worry about being safe.
Philip: Yes, but if something happens to me tomorrow I might not get a chance to give it to you.
Mm: Nothing is going to happen to you.
Philip: You don’t know that.
Mm: There are some things I know more than you and…
Philip: You were lied to, ______.
Mm: ??
Philip: Everything you think you know about the future, and how it will change the way our history is told…it’s all a lie.
Mm: I don’t believe you.
He didn’t try and convince her otherwise. But she kept the handgun because she love Philip more than anything in the world and didn’t want him unhappy. That was the last conversation of any substance, if you will, between them.
After Moira returned from Flame Village in 1977, Mm realized Sena was never coming back. She took that as a confirmation that Philip, as well, was never coming. Two nights later, she took out the handgun to use it on herself.
But when she went to give baby Ron a kiss goodbye she changed her mind. She tucked the piece away, only to be discovered by her son-in-law after her death. Brent thought it fitting to put it in the ‘mystery box.‘
Mystery, also, to Brent, the whereabout of the missing bullet in the chamber.
