Well, here it is! The sequel to TSR! -trumpet music-
Because of the tremendous postive feedback in my author's note, I'm going ahead and posting this now! I'll do another Christmas fic when December actually GETS here...only five more months to wait! X-)
Man, that plot bunny bit me, and he bit me hard! I just keep getting more and more ideas for this story! And because this is the sequel to TSR (Remember, I cried) I'll definitely be focusing a lot on this one for the time being...
Anywho, enjoy, and don't forget to review! I'll sic Frankie on you if you don't.
-Robin
The Year Without A Wilbur
Summary: Christmas around the Robinson home has always been big and fun, but this year, Wilbur is bound and determined to make it the best ever, not only for his family in the future, but also for Lewis in the past as well. But when a winter storm strands him in the past on Christmas Eve, Christmas as he knows it is threatened to be ruined! Sequel to "The School Report."
Chapter One/ The Best Ever
December 23rd, 2037
"Wilbur!"
The sound of his name being called made Wilbur jump.
"Wilbur!" His mother called again.
"Yeah, Mom?" He called back.
"I need you to come help me for a minute!"
Wilbur sighed and turned from the boxes of Christmas decorations in the basement and clomped up the stairs.
"Yeah, Mom?" Wilbur asked, tracing his mother's voice to the dining room. Carl was standing near the table in the center of the room, his legs extended so he could reach the big chandler in the middle of the ceiling.
"Would you do me a big favor?" Franny asked. Wilbur shrugged.
"Sure, Mom. What do you need?" He asked.
"Would you please go down to the basement and bring up the box of tinsel?" She asked. Wilbur's mouth dropped.
"Mom, I was just down there! Couldn't you have told me to do it then?" He asked. Franny gave him a stern look.
"Don't sass me, boy. Now march." She said. Wilbur crossed his arms and scowled, but he did as he was told and walked back towards the basement.
"Let's see…" He said, reading the labels on the sides of the boxes. "Ornaments, wreaths, annoying singing tree that scares the crap out of people when they walk by it…"
Wilbur began to dig, finally finding the tinsel at the bottom of a box of the many wreaths Franny liked to decorate each doorway in the house with. He gathered all of it up in a ball and climbed the stairs, walking back to the dining room.
"Here you go, Mom." Wilbur said, dumping the huge pile of tinsel onto the table. Small gold, silver, green, red, and purple bits of the shiny plastic clung to his trademark Captain Time Travel t-shirt and to the dark navy blue sleeves of the long sleeved t-shirt he wore under it.
"Thank you." Franny said, gently untangling the tinsel, handing a long strand of it to Carl. "Would you go find your father and tell him we need the tree un-shrunk, please?"
Wilbur sighed again. "Sure, Mom." He said, brushing the bits of tinsel from his shirt.
"Oh, and be sure to knock. Dr. Robinson locked it so no one can see what he's up to in there!" Carl said.
"Thanks, Carl." Wilbur said.
Wilbur walked down the hall and turned left, walking under the two staircases that led up to Lefty's room and past the garage door. Wilbur couldn't help but grin slyly as he passed the garage door.
Wilbur was determined to make this Christmas the best ever. Christmas around the Robinson house had always been fun and awesome, but this year was going to be the best, Wilbur could feel it.
But it wasn't the thought of the best Christmas ever that brought the sly smile to his face. It was the plan he had for tomorrow.
Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and Wilbur had plans to take the time machine and go back to Christmas Eve 2007 to visit Lewis in the past. That's why he had been in the basement. He had been looking for the family Christmas albums. He wanted to show Lewis what his future Christmases were going to be like, and he had plans to take his camera with him to get pictures to add.
Wilbur knew he would most likely get into big trouble for taking the time machine again, but at that moment, he didn't care. He had, after all, gotten off the hook when he had been stranded in 2007 a little over six months ago (for him, in 2037; seven months for Lewis's time) after the school bully Nash had stolen the time machine, used it to come to the future and meet his future self, Nasher, and steal the green time machine and use it to get revenge on Lewis.
Wilbur knocked on the lab door. He heard his dad scuffle around in the lab as if to hide something. "Who is it?" Cornelius called.
"Dad, it's me." Wilbur said. "Mom needs the tree un-shrunk."
"Alright, I'll be down in a minute." Cornelius said. "Could you get Carl for me?"
"Yep." Wilbur said. "Just hurry up, okay? You know how Mom gets about the tree!"
Wilbur walked back to the dining room, where Carl was still draping tinsel on the chandler.
"Carl, Dad needs you in the lab." Wilbur said.
"What, now?" Carl asked, looking down at Wilbur, who nodded.
Carl sighed and shortened his legs.
"Sorry, Mrs. Robinson, I'd better go see what he wants." Carl said.
"That's alright, Carl. Wilbur can help me."
Carl nodded and walked out of the dining room, whistling Jingle Bells as he did.
"Uh, Mom," Wilbur said. "How am I supposed to help you if I can't reach the chandler?"
"You use the Lev-Stairs." Franny said, handing him the box of Lev-Stairs. Wilbur sighed for at least the fiftieth time that day and took the box, taking one of the levitation steps from the box and activating it, placing it near the floor. He climbed on top of the step, then activated another one, placing it above the first one. He continued to do so until he reached the chandler. He walked back down with the remaining Lev-Stairs still in the box.
Franny handed him a strand of green tinsel. Wilbur took it and climbed the suspended stairs again.
"Okay, now, a little to the left." Franny conducted once Wilbur had reached the chandler again. Wilbur started to drape the tinsel over the crystals, making the room light up as thought there was an old-fashioned disco ball in the center of the ceiling instead of a tinsely chandler. "Alright, a little more." Franny said.
Wilbur stood on his tiptoes, reaching as far as he could to the left.
"Almost there." Franny said. She saw that her son was having to stand on his tiptoes to reach the spot where she wanted the tinsel. "Careful, now!" She said.
Her warning came too late. Wilbur lost his footing and slipped from the Lev-Step. He grabbed the chandler and held on for dear life.
"Hold on, Wilbur!" Franny said. "Cornelius! Carl! Come quick!" She screamed.
Cornelius and Carl came running into the dining room.
"Franny, what is it?" Cornelius asked.
"Dad, a little help here!" Wilbur said as a response. Cornelius looked up.
"Wilbur!" He said.
"Don't just stand there; help me!" Wilbur said. He could feel his fingers slipping.
"Hold on, little buddy." Carl said, extending his legs up to the thirteen year old. "I've got you."
Wilbur let go of the chandler and fell onto Carl's shoulders, breathing a sigh of relief as he did.
"Phew, that was close!" He said, looking back at the chandler, which swayed back in forth after being relieved of Wilbur's weight, the crystals tinking together. Wilbur hopped from Carl's shoulders as soon as the robot was near the floor again.
"That was close!" Franny said. "But thank goodness it wasn't as bad as it could have been!"
"Are you alright, son?" Cornelius asked. Wilbur nodded.
"Yeah, I'm okay." He said.
"Good." Cornelius said. "Carl, you stay here and help Franny. Me and Wilbur'll go get the tree and un-shrink it."
"Aye, aye, chief." Carl said. Cornelius motioned for Wilbur to follow him. The two walked out of the dining room.
"Now I know why you had Carl have extendable legs!" Wilbur said. "To help Mom with the Christmas decorations!"
Cornelius laughed. "Pretty much." He agreed.
The two descended down the stairs to the basement. Open boxes of Christmas decorations were scattered in a horseshoe like shape on the floor in the far right corner at the back of the basement. Wilbur had been looking for the family albums since morning, and he still had yet to find them, having at least ten more boxes to go through.
Cornelius walked over to the box that had "Tree Ornaments" printed in bold letters on the side. He dug around in it for a minute, finally pulling out a smaller box.
"Ah, here it is." He said.
The Shrinkable Christmas Tree was just another one of Cornelius's brilliant inventions. He had invented it for the people who used a fake tree every Christmas and didn't like having to put up the tree according to color code. It was pre-assembled and pre-lit. All one had to do was add a drop of water, and bam! Instant Christmas tree!
"Say, Dad," Wilbur said as he and his father climbed the stairs back to the living room. "What have you been working on no one's allowed to see?"
Cornelius laughed and ruffled his son's hair, something Wilbur hated. "If you think I'm going to tell you, you're crazy." He said.
"Aw, c'mon, Dad, just a hint?" Wilbur begged.
"Nope." Cornelius said. He had never been easily swayed by his son's constant begging.
"Please?" Wilbur said. "At least tell me who it's for!"
"Not telling you that, either. You'll find out on Christmas Morning. But I can guarantee you this," Cornelius said. "Whoever this thing is for, they'll love it, I promise you."
Wilbur huffed out a breath. Dang. He thought.
Cornelius sat the tree down on the floor in front of the garage door, it's traditional place. He took an eyedropper from the box and dropped a small drop of water onto the top of the tree. Within seconds, the tree grew to the top of the staircases that led to Lefty's room, the tip just a bit taller.
"Now we just have to decorate it." Wilbur said. "You know, you really should have installed instant ornaments in that thing!"
Cornelius shrugged. "I tried, believe me." He said, shaking his head. "But it just didn't work out. It grew everything from starfish to cups of blue cheese, but no matter what I did, I could never get it to grow ornaments." He grinned. "Besides, your mother and grandmother really enjoy decorating it."
Wilbur grinned back. "That's for sure!" He agreed. Cornelius ruffled his son's hair again.
"Come on," He said. "We might as well go on and get the box of ornaments."
►▲▼◄
"Cornelius, are you sure this is a good idea?" Franny asked much later that night after the rest of the Robinson family had gone to bed. Cornelius finished tightening a bolt on whatever it was he was working on and stood up, brushing himself off.
"I'm sure it'll be fine, Franny." He assured her. "Don't you trust me?"
"Of course I trust you!" Franny said. "It's just that something about this screams "bad idea" to me."
Cornelius smiled and kissed his wife's forehead. "I'm sure it'll be fine." He said. "Now come on, it's getting late. And tomorrow's a big day. It is Christmas Eve, after all."
Franny smiled and nodded.
"You're right." She said. Cornelius flipped off the lights to the lab and he and Franny walked down the stairs just as a light snow began to fall outside.
'Kay, guys, what do you think the mystery invention Franny's skeptical about is? Any ideas? All will be reveiled later ;-)
-Robi
