Sorry for the wait, ya'll!

See, I kinda had a small run in with writer's block. But it's gone now, and I'm going to see MTR again on Saturday at our local (and by local, I mean 30 - 45 minutes away) dollar theater with my friend Mandy, so more inpiration is bound to come from that!

Anywho, I've also been busy with my new LiveJournal community, robinsonws. It's a webstory community, which means a group of people come together to write a fanfic together. My friends Sophie and Nisan and I have done that before...anyway, our story is called DORIS RETURNS, and you can read it here on FFN too! Check it out!

Review, please!

-Robin


Chapter Seven/ The Orange Christmas Tree

December 24th, 2037

9:02 AM

"Cornelius!"

Cornelius jumped at the sound of Franny calling to him, panic relevant in her voice. He instantly dropped the weather scans for 2007 he had been doing and ran for the living room.

"Franny, what is it?" Cornelius asked. Franny was standing in the middle of the room, right in front of where the Christmas tree used to be.

Wait, used to be?!

"What happened?" Cornelius asked. Franny shook her head.

"I don't know! I walked past it and all of sudden it's gone!" She said. "Do you think something's not right with the timestream?"

Cornelius thought for a minute, then nodded.

"I think so." He said.

"Well, what's wrong?" Franny asked.

"Because Mom and Dad were stuck at Doodle's, they weren't able to make it to the tree stand. I think it was because Wilbur showed up, and they most likely talked a minute or two with them, and when it comes to this storm, timing is the key."

"So you're saying that because Wilbur showed up and Bud and Lucille were a few minutes late in leaving, they never got the Christmas tree?" Franny said. Cornelius nodded.

"Precisely." He said.

Franny sighed. "What are we going to do, Cornelius?" She asked. Cornelius patted her back soothingly.

"Don't worry. Everything's going to be fine, I promise."

"I hope you're right, Cornelius. I really hope you're right."

►▲▼◄

"Because your parents never got a Christmas tree, history's been rewritten…again!" Wilbur said, hands on his head. He groaned and buried his face in his hands. "Why does this always happen to me?"

Lewis didn't seem to hear him. He already had a thoughtful look on his face, the one he always got when he had a brilliant idea for an invention in the future.

"What if…we substitute something else for the Christmas tree?" He asked.

Wilbur considered this for a minute. Even a substituteChristmas tree was better than no tree at all!

"Alright, let's try it." He said. He glanced around the room. "But what are we going to use?"

"Well, Mom has all kinds of plants around the house we could use…" Lewis said.

"Uh, Lewis," Wilbur said. "It's called a Christmas tree, not a Christmas plant!"

Lewis sighed. Wilbur was right about that. Suddenly, Lewis brightened, and Wilbur could have sworn he saw a lightbulb hover above his dad's head.

"I know!" Lewis said, "Mom and Dad have this potted orange tree in their room! We can use that!"

Wilbur just nodded and followed Lewis through the cold hallways of the house to Lucille and Bud's room. They opened the door and spotted the little orange tree in the corner, walking over to it.

They were both taller than it was, and the oranges on it were about the size of golf balls, but it would make the perfect substitute Christmas tree. After all, desperate times called for desperate measures!

"It might look light, but trust me, it isn't." Lewis said and he bent down to pick up the pot. "You grab one side and I'll grab the other."

Wilbur nodded again and bent down, picking up the other side. He and Lewis struggled with it down the hall and back into the living room, where they placed it in a corner.

"There." Lewis said as he and Wilbur stepped back, rubbing their sore fingers.

"Quick, check the album!" Wilbur said as he and Lewis hurried over to it, opening it to the first page. The picture remained unchanged.

"Maybe we need to decorate it…" Lewis suggested. Wilbur's face brightened.

"Right!" He said as he ran for the front door. He grabbed the box with "Christmas Tree Ornaments" printed on the side. He glanced out the window for a minute and shuddered. That storm wasn't about to give up any time soon.

Wilbur quickly sat the box down on the floor and dragged out some Mardi gras beads. He draped them over the small branches of the orange tree, glancing at Lewis, telling him to do the same. Lewis shrugged and walked over to join him.

After about an hour, the two stepped back to admire their work. It actually didn't look too bad – for an orange tree Christmas tree, that is.

"Good idea, Wilbur!" Lewis said. He turned around and grabbed the family album. A huge grin made its way across his face as he saw that the picture was back to normal…only with an decorated orange tree in the background instead of a pine tree.

"Phew!" Wilbur said as he sat down on the couch. "Thank goodness the timestream is back in order!"

Lewis just nodded and looked around the room, then sighed. "C'mon, we might as well see what we can find to eat."

Wilbur grinned and followed Lewis into the kitchen, which was by far the coldest of the rooms yet. Lewis opened the refrigerator, glanced inside for a minute, then closed it.

"We're going to need something we can cook over the fire." He said. "Otherwise, we're having peanut butter and jelly."

"Whatever." Wilbur said, shrugging. His stomach growled rather loudly, and he silently prayed Lewis found something soon.

Lewis opened the pantry and pulled out what looked like a peanut jar.

"Well, here are popcorn kernels." He said. "If we put them in bowl near the fire, they should pop."

"Alright, then." Wilbur said, shrugging. He honestly could have cared less what they ate as long as they ate something.

Lewis shrugged and grabbed the biggest bowl he could find, carrying the bottle of kernels with him.

Lewis sat the bowl down hear the corner of the fire so that the fire wouldn't melt the plastic bowl and opened the bottle of kernels, pouring them into the bowl.

"The heat from the fire should heat the bowl enough to where they'll pop." He said.

"How long until they're done? I'm starving!" Wilbur asked.

Lewis shrugged. "I don't know. I've never popped popcorn over the fire before."

Lewis glanced outside. "We might want to go up to my lab and get my battery powered radio. It might help us know a little more about this storm."

"Good idea." Wilbur agreed. He glanced at the popcorn bowl. "Think it's a good idea to leave it here?"

"It'll be fine." Lewis said, nodding.

"Are you sure? I mean, maybe we should put a lid on it or something…" Wilbur said.

"It'll be fine. The worst thing it can do is explode." Lewis assured him. "Now c'mon, the faster we get the radio the faster we know how long this storm is going to last!"

Wilbur sighed in defeat and followed Lewis up the stairs to his lab. The lab had to be the coldest room in the house, and both boys were wishing they had brought their coats and/or blankets with them.

"It should be somewhere in my closet." Lewis said, walking over to the closet across the room. He reached up and grabbed the radio from the top shelf.

"Here it is." He said, making sure the batteries were fully charged. "It should run for about forty-eight hours on a full battery." He switched it on and a newscast started to play.

"The newly developed snowstorm doesn't look like it's going to die down soon, and on top of that, many are without power this afternoon. The storm has made temperatures plummet to below zero in some places, knocking out power, and stranding many on their way home for the holidays. One thing's for sure, folks, it's going to be a white Christmas tomorrow, if there even is a Christmas!" The radio newsman said. "We'll keep you posted. Now, here are some of everybody's favorite Christmas carols to help those stranded feel a little bit better!"

"Hm." Wilbur grunted to himself. "Small chance."

"Keep moving forward, Wilbur." Lewis said. "There's nothing we can do right now."

Wilbur just mumbled something under his breath again. Then he stopped and listened intently for a minute. "Hey, what's that sound?"

Lewis listened for a minute, trying hard to hear what it was above the roar of the wind howling above the observatory.

Popopopopopopopopopopop!

Both Lewis and Wilbur's eyes widened as they realized what it was.

"The popcorn!" They said together as they ran from the lab, back into the living room.

The bowl was over flooded with popcorn, and even more was spilling out all over the floor.

"Quick! Grab the bowl!" Lewis yelled and Wilbur grabbed the bowl, popcorn still spilling from it as he did. Popcorn still popped in the bottom of the bowl, but the popping stopped after about a minute. Wilbur sat the bowl down away from the fire and looked around the popcorn-ed room.

"Maybe a lid would have been a good idea after all, huh?" He asked, giving Lewis his 'I-was-right-and-you-should-have-listened-to-me-this-time look.'

Lewis just sighed in frustration and glared at Wilbur. "Alright, alright, you win!" He said, admitting defeat. "Just help me clean this mess up! After all, this is our dinner…"