For disclaimer on Meet the Robinsons, please refer to chapter one.

Currently looking Cover Art commissions.

Chapter Three: Recalling Morning's Events

Franny shuffled through a pile of folded laundry in the basket she carried, as she walked through her son's bedroom. Noticing the slumbering child, she quietly walked over to his dresser and placed he clean clothing on top of the polished wooden counter. Hearing a soft sigh escape from the young teen's lips, Franny wistfully looked over at the boy sleeping peacefully in bed.

She tiptoed to the bedside, and gently pressed her fingertips to his soft, pallid face. His fever was completely gone, but he was definitely still ill. Another day home from school, Franny groaned. She hated to have Wilbur miss school.

The forty-year-old woman tenderly pushed a few strands of hair away from his clammy forehead as he muttered an incoherent phrase under his breath. Smiling, Franny was pleased that her son looked so blissful in his sleep. She had worried herself earlier, seeing his face twisted in pain as he tossed and turned on his sweat-soaked mattress.

"Wilbur," she had said to him that morning, shaking him on the shoulder. "Wilbur, wake up." It was no use. He was deeply asleep, and there seemed to be no way to wake him in time for school.

She put a hand on the side of his neck, feeling the radiating heat of his skin. Concerned, the dark-haired woman rushed out of the room, nearly having a head-on collision with her husband.

"Fran!" the blonde man exclaimed, holding her sensitively by her upper arms. "You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"Oh, it's nothing," she responded, her features laced with distress. "It's just that Wilbur will probably have to stay home from school today. He's really burning up."

"WHAT? AGAIN?" Cornelius shouted a little too loudly, in shock. He tried to look over his wife's shoulder, peering into the boy's bedroom.

"What do you mean 'again'?" Franny asked with an eyebrow raised. "Has this happened before?"

"Once, at least, a month ago. He's been having these…"

"Night terrors?" Franny suggested.

"Exactly. Then he gets all feverish!"

"What's wrong with Wilbur?" Billie asked, overhearing most of the couple's conversation as she came down the hall. "You're quite loud, by the way, Cornelius."

"Sorry, Billie."

"Wilbur is sick with a fever, Billie," Franny told the train enthusiast. "I better go call the office and tell them that he won't make it to school today," she pondered, pulling away from the man's grasp and walked down the hall. An idea sparked underneath the other woman's turquoise cap.

"I will go make him soup!" she said excitedly, running towards the direction of the kitchen's location.

Franny shook her head, bringing her out of her memory. Wilbur muttered another incoherent phrase in his sleep. Tilting her head, she leaned close to him, hoping to figure out what he was saying. She straightened up, smiling, sure that he had said something along the lines of "never thought… dad could be… best friend…"

Picking up the laundry basket, Franny made her way out of the room. Walking out the door, she nearly ran into another figure plodding past.

"Gaston!" the younger sibling called, startled.

"Oh, sorry, sis," her older brother apologized.

Franny looked intensely at him, studying his facial features. He had an uneasy look in his eyes, and the corners of his mouth were turned into a grimace. It was the same expression he had when she had asked him to live with her and the Robinsons.

"Gaston," she said suspiciously. "What's the matter?"

"Oh, nothing," he answered, continuing to trudge down the hall. Franny followed his movements, still wondering about his strange behavior. Exhaling, the woman walked off in the other direction. Hopefully she can get him to talk about it later.

End of Chapter Three

16 September 2007