Summary: A collection of short stories from the childhood of Kurt and Markie Wylde. Mostly fluff, but really fun to write. Please enjoy, and feel free to review!
Disclaimer: I do not own any Hot Wheels/Mattel characters or ideas.
Author's Note: I regret to say it, but this is the last installment I currently have planned for Born to be Wylde. Other ideas may present themselves in the future, but if so, it'll still probably be a while. I hope these short stories about our favorite brothers have brought some smiles to your faces and maybe even brightened up your day. Thanks everyone for the reviews, they truly are appreciated! Enjoy!
Chapter 5: Snowed-In
"Now, you boys be good while we're away," Mrs. Wylde sternly told her two sons.
"Don't worry, Mom, we will," Kurt answered for both himself and his brother.
"Good," their father added. "Just as long as the house looks the same when we get back as it does now, we won't even ask what happened."
"Really?" Markie exclaimed. "Cool!"
"Honey, don't encourage them," Mrs. Wylde gently scolded her husband.
"Don't worry," he assured her. "They're old enough to take care of themselves now. But you and I had better hurry if we're going to make it to the airport on time."
"Alright, dear, just a moment." Mrs. Wylde turned and gave her sons one last hug good-bye. "I love you both! And, please don't get yourselves into too much trouble."
With that, she and her husband got into their black Jaguar sedan and drove off. When they were out of sight, Markie turned to his brother.
"What's she so worried about?" he asked. "I mean, you're eighteen, and I'm thirteen; it's not like we're little kids anymore."
"Mothers always worry like that. She's just uneasy about leaving her two teenage boys home alone for so long. After all, who knows what we might do."
"Yeah, that reminds me," Markie broke in, "what are we gonna do, anyway?"
Kurt grinned mischievously. "You mean, 'what aren't we going to do?' Think about it, Markie: our parents are going on a cruise in the Bahamas for a whole week, we have the house all to ourselves, and we have plenty of free time since we're still on Christmas break. The possibilities here are limitless!"
"I know that," Markie retorted impatiently. "But where do we start?"
"Well, first of all, I'm gonna call Dan Dresden and see if he wants to come over for a while, maybe even a couple of days. Hang on a second, I'll try to get a hold of him right now." Kurt stepped out of the room to make the call and returned shortly, grinning broadly. "Good news! He'll be over in about an hour and plans on staying for three or four days."
"Great!" Markie exclaimed. "This'll be fun! Hey, Kurt, can I invite a friend over, too?"
"No," Kurt replied flatly.
Markie looked taken aback. "Why not?" he asked indignantly.
"Because none of your friends can drive, and I don't want to go pick any of them up."
"Fine, be that way. But you know that means I'm gonna have to hang out with you and Dan all week."
"When aren't you hanging around me and Dan? We tolerate you because we can't get rid of you, and believe me, we've tried. You're probably the worst tag-along I've ever seen! But that's okay this time; it'll be fun with just the three of us."
"Okay," Markie conceded, though he still looked a bit skeptical.
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Sure enough, Dan Dresden arrived within the hour, and the next four days went along splendidly, with the exception of a few slight cooking mishaps. Of course, they spent most of their time during the day engaged in activities involving cars, and at night they would watch movies and play poker. Kurt and Dan had taught Markie how to play a couple months earlier, but he still lacked much experience with the game and rarely won any hands.
After numerous rounds of Texas Hold 'Em the final night of Dan's visit, the three boys camped out in the living room and fell asleep watching "The Fast and the Furious" some time after two in the morning. None of them noticed that it had begun to snow.
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Markie awoke early the next morning, and after a brief stretch, he curled back up in the big armchair where he had slept, intending to go right back to sleep. But as he rolled over to face the window, something caught his attention just as his eyes were closing, and they immediately snapped back open. The world outside was white. Everything was covered with at least two feet of snow, and even more still fell from the sky, tossed about wildly by gusts of icy wind.
Suddenly alert, Markie scrambled out of the chair and knelt down on the floor next to the beanbag chair where Kurt had fallen asleep.
"Kurt!" Markie called excitedly, shaking him roughly by the shoulder. "Kurt, wake up! It's snowing like crazy!"
"Markie," Kurt groaned as he woke up, "you remember it was almost three a.m. when we went to bed last night? Well, now…" He squinted down at his watch. "…it's not even seven o'clock yet. Go back to sleep!"
"But, Kurt, it's snowing!"
"So what? We haven't gotten more than a couple inches at a time all year. It's no big deal, now go back to sleep! Or, if you really want to stay up, at least leave me alone!" With that, he rolled over with his back towards his brother and was silent.
Markie scowled at him and shook his head in frustration before moving over to where Dan slept on the couch.
"Dan," he whispered urgently, gingerly poking his brother's friend in the arm. "Dan, you've gotta wake up!"
"Huh? What's goin' on?" Dan yawned as he woke and rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"Dan, weren't you planning on going home today?" Markie inquired.
"Well, yeah," Dan replied groggily, "but it's still really early, Markie. I didn't know you wanted to get rid of me that badly."
"No, it's not like that," Markie hurriedly explained. "It snowed a lot last night, and it's still coming down now! It's really windy, too. I don't know if you'll be able to make it home unless you leave right now."
"Don't worry about it, Dresden," Kurt murmured sleepily from the other side of the room. "He's probably exaggerating things, like always. Even if there is a lot of snow, we'll just dig your car out, and you'll be fine."
"But, Kurt," Markie insisted, "the snow's already up past his car's bumper, and our street hasn't been plowed yet! There's no way he'll make it outta here."
"Let me see," Dan finally interjected as he rose and walked over to the window. "Oh, man," he breathed softly. "Markie's right, Kurt. This is really bad, and it looks like it might get worse. I don't think I'll be going anywhere for a while."
"You mean you're not even gonna try?" Markie asked him.
Dan shook his head. "Why bother? It's already too late to try now, so it really doesn't even matter how much more snow we get. I'll just call home later and tell my parents I'm still here." He yawned again. "But now, I'm going back to sleep."
"Good idea," Kurt muttered. He still hadn't moved from his place on the floor.
Dan lay back down on the couch, and soon he and Kurt were both sound asleep once more.
Markie simply looked on and sighed. Sometimes he just didn't understand those two! But he had to admit, he was still very tired as well. He grabbed a warm blanket and curled up again in the armchair, letting the swirling snow outside the window lull him back to a restful sleep.
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Markie awoke several hours later, and though the snow had stopped, there was at least another six inches on the ground, and wind was howling. Dan and Kurt were already awake.
"Power's out," Kurt told him, leaning against his brother's chair.
"Ah, so that's why it's so cold in here," Markie said as he pulled the blanket tighter around himself.
"Yeah," Dan laughed. "You'd better get used to it."
"How long until they can get the power fixed?" Markie asked him.
Dan shrugged. "Hopefully not much more than a day or two, but it could easily take longer than that."
"Great," Markie muttered, "and Mom and Dad aren't even here to help us with anything."
"Don't worry, Markie," Kurt told him. "We'll just get a fire started in the fireplace, light some candles, and wear our coats inside if we have to. No big deal."
"Man, I wish I had your confidence," Markie retorted. He shivered. "When are you gonna get that fire started?"
"I'll do it now, just let me go get some wood from outside," Kurt replied as he put on his coat and boots and left them.
"I'll get the matches," Markie volunteered, getting up and heading after his brother. He passed the back door and saw that it was wide open, even though Kurt was just then returning with the firewood.
"Kurt!" Markie exclaimed angrily, "are you crazy? You didn't leave the door open the whole time you were out, did you? It's already freezing in here!"
"Sorry, I thought I closed it," Kurt apologized. "Maybe it just didn't shut all the way, and then the wind blew it open. But, oh well, if it's already as cold in here as you say, having the door open for a minute isn't going to kill us."
"I guess," Markie admitted reluctantly, grabbing a box of matches and following his brother back into the living room.
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A short while later, they had a warm, pleasant fire going, and Markie was comfortably settled with a blanket on the beanbag chair.
"You wanna play Monopoly with us?" Kurt asked as he and Dan set up the board in front of the fireplace. "It's a nice long game, and there really isn't much else to do."
Markie shook his head. "No thanks, I'll just watch."
"Okay, suit yourself," Kurt replied with as shrug.
Markie looked away and sighed, soon allowing himself to be mesmerized by the dancing firelight that cast long, flickering shadows across the floor. Suddenly, he froze.
"Kurt!" he cried out, urgently tapping his startled brother on the shoulder. "Kurt, something just went under the couch!"
"Don't be ridiculous, Markie," Kurt told him impatiently. "You're just imagining things, that's all."
But Markie pressed on. "No, Kurt, I'm serious! I saw something run under there just now!"
"You saw something 'run' under there?" Dan questioned, his eyebrows rising slightly. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I swear!"
"Well, I suppose something could possibly have come in while the back door was open," Kurt slowly admitted. "Something small that wanted to get out of the cold."
"Let's take a look," Dan suggested. "Kurt, you and I will lift up the couch; and then, Markie, get one of those flashlights we found earlier and shine it under there."
Kurt and Markie agreed to the plan, and the three of them assumed their proper positions.
"Ready?" Dan called. "On three – one, two, three!"
The couch was easily tilted back, but poor Markie never even had the chance to shine the light under it before a small, dark shape came dashing out. Dan and Kurt both cried out in surprise and dropped the couch with a 'thud,' while Markie shrieked in fright and jumped up on the armchair. After a brief moment of silence in which their heart rates resumed a normal pace, Dan finally spoke up.
"Okay," he said, "no problem. We can do this! After all, it's the three of us against that one…whatever it was."
"A mouse," Markie added from his place on the chair. "It was definitely a mouse – I saw it."
"Alright, then, it's three of us versus one mouse," Dan finished.
"Good," Kurt said, "a mouse isn't too bad."
"Yes, it is!" Markie exclaimed, his voice cracking a bit. "It's terrible!"
"Come on, Markie, it's just one mouse," Dan told him. "How much harm could it do?"
"I don't like mice," Markie insisted, "or anything else small and furry, for that matter."
"Oh, yeah," Kurt interjected suddenly, a smile spreading across his face. "You never did like my hamster, did you?"
"That thing was mean," Markie shot back. "It hated me!"
"Well, that's because you were, what, four or five years old at the time? What small animal with half a brain wouldn't be afraid of you?"
"It bit me!"
"You asked for it! You woke him up when he was sleeping – you provoked him!"
"Okay, guys," Dan broke in, stepping between the two brothers. "This isn't getting us anywhere. Enough about Kurt's long-dead hamster! The poor thing probably died from listening to you two arguing all the time. Now, Markie, did you see where it went?"
"What, Kurt's hamster?"
"No, you crazy kid, the mouse!"
"Oh, the mouse! Yeah, I think it ran into the coat closet, or somewhere around there."
"Good. Let's move in."
"Wait," Kurt quickly broke in, "we need weapons first."
"Weapons?" Dan repeated bewilderedly, but Kurt had already left the room.
"You mean we're actually gonna kill it?" Markie asked nervously.
Dan looked back at Markie and threw up his hands. "I don't know! I have no idea what's going through your brother's thick head."
At that moment, Kurt returned with their "weapons." He had a baseball bat for himself, a tennis racket for Dan, and a flyswatter for his brother.
"A flyswatter!" Markie complained. "What am I supposed to do with this?"
"I don't know. Stun it, I guess," was Kurt's impatient reply.
Dan got them focused again, saying, "Come on, you guys. Let's go!"
The three of them surrounded the coat closet, and Kurt slowly stepped forward, gingerly moving things around on the floor in an attempt to scare out the unwelcome rodent. When the mouse finally did scurry out, though, it was too quick. The boys managed to get off a few blows, mostly striking each others' toes or shins in the process, and they nearly tripped all over each other as they chased after the mouse, which darted into the kitchen and under the refrigerator.
"We're getting nowhere," Dan exclaimed, ruefully rubbing his freshly bruised shin. "This will never work. We need to approach the whole situation from a new angle."
"Hey, why don't we just try to catch it, instead of killing it?" Kurt suggested.
"Good idea," Dan concurred enthusiastically. "But how?"
"Well, I'm sorry to bring up that old hamster again, Dresden, but he actually escaped from his cage a couple times, and I'm pretty sure I remember how we caught him."
"How you caught it, you mean," Markie interrupted him with a scowl. "Because I sure didn't help you look for it. I would've been glad to see that mean old thing get lost and never come back!"
"Oh, be quiet, Markie!" Kurt snapped at him before turning back to Dan. "I think what the hamster books said to do, and what we did, was to put some food in a bucket with a ramp leading up to the top. And after a while, the hamster, or mouse in our case, smells the food, goes up the ramp to look for it, and ends up falling into the bucket where it is then trapped."
Dan nodded. "Alright, we'll try it. I just hope those things can't jump too high. What should we use for bait?"
"Cheese," Markie stated matter-of-factly.
"And I know they say to use peanut butter if you're trying to catch rats," Kurt added.
"Okay, then," Dan concluded. "If we use cheese covered in peanut butter, we can't miss."
They quickly set up the trap in front of the refrigerator and then stood back, waiting in utter silence.
"I think it knows we're here," Kurt finally whispered into the stillness. "Maybe we should go back into the living room for a while. We can always come back later."
Dan and Markie both nodded their agreement, and the three of them slipped away quietly into the living room. They sat in silence for nearly ten minutes before Markie impatiently spoke up.
"Can't we go check now?" he asked, chewing nervously on his thumbnail.
"Sure," Dan answered with a glance at his watch. "I think it's been long enough. Let's go see what we've got, if anything at all."
When they returned to the kitchen, Kurt was the first one to look inside the trap.
"Yes, we got it!" he exclaimed, high-fiving Dan in congratulations.
But Markie still stood several feet behind them. "Are you sure?" he asked uncertainly.
"Yeah, Markie, it's right here," Kurt told him, pointing down into the bucket. "And you were right, it is a mouse."
Markie slowly crept forward until he could just barely see inside the makeshift trap. The mouse looked innocently up at him and squeaked, causing Markie to jump back in surprise. Kurt and Dan both couldn't help but laugh out loud at the sight, and Markie's face reddened.
"Don't worry, Markie," Kurt consoled him. "It's only a mouse, he's not gonna hurt anything. Just look at him – he's helpless."
Markie vehemently shook his head. "No thanks, I'd rather not. Why don't you guys just kill it, or get rid of it – whatever it was you were gonna do."
"You don't actually want to kill it, do you?" Dan asked his friend.
Kurt shook his head. "No. Like I said before, he's helpless. And besides, he's actually kinda cute."
Dan grinned at that, but Markie burst out, "Cute! Are you crazy? Just look at that long tail – he's bound to be vicious!"
"Oh, knock it off, Markie," Kurt scolded him. "He's not vicious. And he is pretty cute with those beady eyes and huge whiskers."
"Well, why don't you just go ahead and keep it, then," Markie angrily shot back. "I'm sure it would make a great pet!"
"You know, I probably should keep it, just to spite you," Kurt retorted. "I could put it in your bed when you're asleep, and then you'd wake up to a mouse crawling all over you."
Markie froze, and his eyes widened in horror as he considered this new threat.
"But he won't," Dan hastily interrupted. "Man, you guys are terrible sometimes! But enough arguing. Let's just go put it outside somewhere, and hopefully it won't come back."
"Right," Kurt agreed. "We'll let it go under the shed in the backyard. At least there's some shelter there."
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Mere minutes later, the mouse was free, and the boys were back inside the house, safely alone, but still shivering from the cold.
"Oh, when'll they get the power fixed?" Markie moaned. He now wore two sweatshirts and was once again curled up tightly with a heavy blanket in the beanbag chair next to the fireplace.
"I don't know, but I hope it's soon," Kurt said. He and Dan were both wearing their winter coats and lighting candles around the living room as daylight began to fade.
"But now what?" Markie went on. "It's only seven o'clock, and it's already dark. What are we supposed to do for the rest of the night with no power?"
"What?" Kurt exclaimed. "You mean you aren't exhausted after that whole mouse business?"
"No!" Markie replied sharply.
"Hey," Dan broke in, "we never did finish that game of Monopoly. Why don't we do that?"
"Alright. Good idea, Dresden," Kurt agreed as they sat down on the floor.
"Can I play this time?" Markie asked hopefully.
"Sure, Markie," Dan told him. "We'll just start a whole new game."
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Six hours later, it was after one in the morning, and the epic struggle raged on. Markie had gone bankrupt nearly two hours ago, and now it was all he could do to keep his eyes open.
"Somebody win, already," he murmured sleepily, leaning back heavily against his brother.
Kurt, too, must have been very tired, because he didn't even bother trying to push Markie away. "Rent," he called drowsily as Dan landed on one of his railroads.
Dan handed him a fifty. "Here ya go."
"Why don't you just call it a tie?" Markie suggested. "This is getting ridiculous!"
Dan and Kurt exchanged glances and simultaneously shook their heads.
"No way!" Kurt exclaimed as he rolled the dice with renewed intensity.
"Yeah, we're both too competitive," Dan added. "Aha, rent! That's the third time in a row you've landed on my Park Place with three houses. You outta cash yet?"
Kurt grimaced as he surveyed his financial situation. "I mortgaged most of my property the last time I landed there. And since you haven't been kind enough to land on anything I own, I've got nothin' left." He threw up his hands. "I surrender, Dresden. You win."
"Good, it's about time," Dan said, yawning widely. "There, Markie, it's finally over. Markie?"
"He's asleep," Kurt said in disbelief as he looked down over his shoulder at his sibling.
"I guess that mouse really did wear him out," Dan remarked, an amused twinkle in his eye.
Kurt looked back at his friend and laughed. "I think you're right. But I'm tired, too. What do you say we call it a night?"
Dan nodded "I agree." He added more wood to the dwindling fire, retrieved a couple of blankets (they had earlier raided every room in the house for blankets), and stretched out on the couch with his head pointed toward the warmth of the fire.
"You know, that fire'll be out I a couple of hours," he told Kurt.
"Yeah, I know," Kurt replied. "If it dies, whoever wakes up from the cold first can start it up again."
"Fair enough," Dan said wearily. "'Night, then."
"See ya in the morning," Kurt called back. He settled himself into the nearby beanbag chair and sighed. Markie was still resting against him, fast asleep, though he looked like he was in a rather uncomfortable position. Kurt shook his head and rolled his eyes impatiently, but he was just too tired to get up and move Markie somewhere else. He therefore gave in and wrapped another blanket around his brother before grabbing one for himself. He curled up and fell asleep almost immediately.
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Dan was the first one up the following morning, and by then, the fire was completely dead. Remembering the agreement he and Kurt had made the night before, he sighed tiredly and rolled off the couch, still only half awake, and made his way over toward the fireplace. A glance at his watch told him it was almost nine o'clock.
If the fire's been out for so long, why doesn't it feel colder in here? he wondered vaguely. Just then, a flashing light caught his attention. It was the clock on the television.
"Hey, power's back!" he called out with sudden energy.
Kurt's eyes blinked open. "Huh? What was that, Dresden?"
"I said, 'the power's back'!"
"Good." Kurt brushed a hand wearily across his face and attempted to squirm out from under his brother who still lay sleeping across his legs. "Markie, wake up! Come on, Markie, move!"
Markie grunted softly in protest as Kurt moved out from under him, but nevertheless, he woke up and moved away from his brother.
Kurt winced as a sat up and painfully rubbed his legs. "Dang it, Markie, you've put both my legs to sleep. This kills!"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to," Markie apologized.
"That's alright, just remember this the next time I ask you for a favor."
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Dan went home later that day since most of the roads had been cleared, and the Wylde brothers were left with two days in which to clean up the damage of the past week, a feat they performed to the best of their ability. When Mr. and Mrs. Wylde finally returned home, bearing tans and flowered shirts beneath their winter coats, their children were more than ready for their arrival.
"Kurt can't cook to save his life," Markie told his mother. "I'm glad you're home."
"Oh, thanks, sweetie," she replied, planting a kiss on top of his head.
"Hey, I tried! And you weren't exactly much help in the cooking department, either," Kurt said in his own defense.
"But, you survived, just like we knew you would," their father interjected, patting his eldest son firmly on the back. "And the house still looks as nice as the day we left, so as agreed, we won't demand that you give us a detailed report on everything that happened. But even so, with the blizzard and everything, surely there must be some exciting stories that you want to tell us."
Markie quickly exchanged nervous glances with Kurt, who was fighting hard to suppress a grin, then looked back at his parents and shrugged innocently. "No, sorry. I'm afraid there's really not much to tell."