It was bright and early in the morning, but Mort and his children were already out walking in the caravan park. It wasn't long until the three boys raced them by, Bandit and Stripe so focused on the race that they forgot about Brandy and Chilli.
"So I'm thinking that the bandit looking one is the Bandit you were talking to yesterday?" Chilli playfully pushed her sister. "He's not bad, I guess."
"You barely saw him, Chilli," Brandy rolled her eyes. "He was riding that bike so fast he was a blur! Just wait until you actually get time to see him.."
"I saw enough to declare that you have a strange taste in guys," Chilli teased. "So what, are you gonna meet him later today? I'm going to build sandcastles with Stripe later, so I was thinking we could play together?"
"Actually, I'd prefer to be alone with him. I know you a little too well," Brandy leaned into her sister's face, almost pinching her index and thumb together. "You'd make us play Mums and Dads or Marriage.."
"Fine," Chilli huffed. "I would do that."
"Actually, girls," Mort cleared his throat. "I was thinking we could go to the carnival today. There's supposed to be two different ones! Sounds quite exciting to me."
"Stripe said his family was going to go to a carnival," Chilli mentioned. "Although he didn't say which one...Why is there two?"
"One's a food carnival. Ya get the gist...eat up till ya drop? The other one's full of games for you two. I even heard there's a costume contest."
"Costume contest?" Chilli's attention was grabbed. "Could I wear my She-Ra costume and try the contest out?"
"Oh Chilli, you'd lose in the first round," Brandy grew annoyed again. "That costume of yours makes you look more like a block than you already do.."
"Brandy Ivy Cattle!" Mort raised his voice, a sad Chilli's ears drooping behind her head.
"Oh no, full name," Brandy whispered to herself. "Chilli, of course you should enter! I was just pulling your tail a little!"
"Save it, I don't want to hear it," Chilli sniffled. "You can't say things like that seriously and then say it's a joke!"
"I know, I know," Brandy said, turning away from her. "I'm sorry for hurting your feelings."
Chilli didn't reply; she more so acted absent. It was like Brandy wasn't even there.
"I said I'm sorry!" Brandy spoke again, louder this time. Still, Chilli walked next to their father, as quiet as a mouse and a new death glare on her face.
"I'M SORRY!" Brandy shouted at the top of her lungs, embarrassing Mort and getting heads to turn.
"Brandy, sweetheart," Mort kneeled down to his eldest's level. "Sometimes people need to be left alone to process their feelings. You can't force them to speed up the process or to even forgive you- that's all up to them."
"Do you think she will forgive me, Dad?" Brandy started to feel legitimately bad now. What if Chilli never forgave her? As much as Chilli got on her nerves, Brandy still loved her and considered her sister to be a close friend.
"Just give her some time and I'm sure she will be ready to accept your apology. Chilli's getting older- which means she won't be tolerating much of your so-called jokes much longer. You need to start treating her like an equal, you understand?"
"Of course, Dad," Brandy nodded.
"Good," he smiled as he got up. "Let's go check out the food carnival."
When they got there, Chilli's head started to turn, looking for a stripy blue heeler. Unfortunately, she didn't find him at all and it seemed like Brandy was looking for Bandit as well.
"Chilli, didn't you say Stripe's family would be at the carnival?" Brandy nudged. Chilli didn't answer as usual, still staring into space. Brandy sighed, but continued to look for her friend, ignoring the powerful aroma of various foods being cooked and served. Her mouth watered at the smell, but she wasn't really hungry.
"Oh, the smell of lamington is driving my stomach crazy," Mort said, trying to get the attention of his daughters from whatever force was making them look in different directions so much. "I'll go get us a plate...?"
"Yeah, yeah, Dad," Brandy shooed him away with her hand. He rolled his eyes, but went over to the stand anyway, which was a good walk for someone Mort's age. "Oh crap, Bandit said that his family was going to the fair carnival first and then the food park!"
"Oh, so that's where Stripe must be!" Chilli's tail started to wag.
"Oh, so now you're talking to me?" Brandy growled. Chilli, reminded of her grudge, kept her distance once again. Her tail stopped wagging quickly enough, annoying Brandy even more. "Doggone it, tell Dad I will be back!"
She took off to the other side of the park, Chilli rolling her eyes. Weirdo.
In a matter of minutes, Brandy ended up running into the boys...not at the fair carnival, but at the beach. She glared, angry that Bandit would lie to her. When Stripe waved at her with a friendly grin, she waved back, then pounced on him.
"Ahhh!" Stripe screamed, flailing with his arms. "Brandy, what are you doing?!"
"I'm not going to eat you, squirt," Brandy got up, lending him a paw. "I'm just curious...by any chance, weren't you and Bandit supposed to go to the carnival?!"
"Shh!" Stripe covered her mouth. "He got jinxed."
"Okay, and?Answer the question!" Brandy was dead set on an explanation.
"Okay, okay! I'll tell you, but you're not allowed to say his name! He got jinxed, and I want him to stay like that forever!"
"He doesn't deserve that," Brandy groaned. "But fine, I'll keep my mouth shut for like a day if you tell me what happened!"
"...Two, or no deal," Stripe put his hands on his hips, a smirk on his face. "Why do you care about where we are so much? Do you...like him?"
"Okay, two days! And that is none of your business," Brandy towered over him, flashing her teeth in a growl.
"Well we were gonna go, Miss Brandy who doesn't have a crush on my middle brother," Stripe teased her, only stopping when he saw her claws above her in a menacing stance. "But our parents punished us for fighting again, so we aren't allowed to go anymore."
"Oh," Brandy pulled her arms down, looking much calmer. "Well, can I at least talk to him?"
"Sure," Stripe shrugged. "I'm not sure why you'd wanna talk to someone who isn't allowed to speak, but go on ahead, if you want."
"Thanks," Brandy walked in his direction, spotting a lonely blue heeler sitting against a palm tree. "You...have a good day. I'll tell Chilli what happened, she was sad she didn't see you."
"She was?" Stripe's tail began to wag lightly, his cheeks turning red. "What'd she say?"
"Nothing much, she's mad at me," Brandy said. "But she accidentally forgot and when I mentioned what Ban-"
"Ban-dink," Stripe corrected her quickly before Bandit could have a chance of hearing his name being said.
"...I'm very sure 'Ban-dink' is not paying attention to us. Does he even know I'm here? Anyway, when I mentioned what he had told me, she exclaimed that the fair would be where you were and got all excited and stuff," Brandy said. "She got sad once I left."
"Ah, thanks for that," Stripe beamed. "Tell her I will be here tomorrow on the dot, ready to build the biggest sandcastle in the history of dog-kind!"
"Yeah, sure," Brandy said, her eyes half open in an annoyed glance. "Now for real, have a good day Stripe."
"You too," Stripe danced on the sand, humming a happy song to himself.
Brandy inched closer to the heeler, careful to make any loud noises in fear of startling him and making him make a noise- she knew the rumors all too well. If someone spoke while they were jinxed...bad things happen. Very bad things.
"Hey," she said quietly as she took a seat next to him. He lifted his paw and waved it slightly, as a means of saying hey back, but his ears remained behind his head, refusing to spring back up. "Stripe told me you got jinxed."
He nodded, some hope in his eyes that maybe Brandy could break the curse, but she couldn't handle stringing him along. He pointed at Brandy's mouth than pointed at himself, indicating that he wanted her to say his name.. "I can't say your name; I made a deal with him. But I promise- after two days, I will run over here and shout your name as loud as I can."
His hope disappeared as quickly as it had come and he was again burying his snout in his legs.
"Hey, if you don't mind me asking," she rubbed the back of her head, eyes looking down on the sand. "How did you get jinxed, exactly?"
He shot her an annoyed look, motioning his hand towards his mouth, pulling the air around it like if it was a zipper.
"I know you can't talk, but there's sand and you've got fingers! Nowhere in the rules does it say you can't draw," Brandy huffed, smiling at him after he scratched his head in thought. She put her paw on his, then set them on the sand. She made his paw draw a mini figure, which barely resembled Bandit much, but he knew it was him once Brandy told him so. "That's you, by the way."
He nodded at her, drawing two other figures and added bikes to the trio.
"You and your brothers were racing? Lemme guess, it was this morning when you zipped right past Chilli and I?"
He nodded, giving her a thumbs up.
Her tail started to wag, watching his fingers draw lines in the sand. He drew an arrow to a new panel of sand, drawing only two figures this time, one being Stripe and the other being himself, both still on their bikes. He drew his index finger pointing at Stripe with a cunning grin while he drew Stripe with sad features.
"You were bullying Stripe again?" Brandy looked at him in a disproving manner when he nodded. "We spoke about this, Ban-I mean...mate? You didn't try my method of breathing deeply and exhaling?"
He drew another Bandit figure with a confused look on his face, raising his arms up in confusion. She sighed lightly, but wasn't hesitant to try and lift his mood.
"Maybe next time, you'll remember?" Brandy asked optimistically. She did a small "hooray" when Bandit nodded. "Alright, continue."
In a matter of a few minutes, Bandit drew the whole story. He went racing with his brothers, teased Stripe, got told to stop by Rad, who then gave him the jinx by guessing his words correctly. He showed how Stripe fell and hurt himself after he'd said something, but Brandy couldn't figure it out, so she gave up. He even drew the gross crumbed fish he was forced to eat thanks to his brothers.
"Yikes, they made you eat that? Look, my dad's at the food carnival, so if you wanna eat things that actually taste good-"
He shook his head no, then pointed to Stripe nearby, who started to dance to his tunes, then at Rad who was just floating on the water on his inflatable popsicle.
"They're...gonna tell your parents you're cheating your way out of your punishment?"
He shook his head.
"Going to tease you?"
He nodded, then began to draw again. A new figure, one that looked like her, was paired up with him. She blushed lightly, but then saw he was drawing his brothers pointing and laughing at him.
"So you're worried they will think we're like going out or something and tease you for it?" Brandy's ears were drooping a little.
He nodded, then drew a picture of another dog with a speech bubble. He drew a heart, then put a line through it. She guessed this was his mum because she was taller than the other figures.
"Your mum doesn't let you date yet, huh?" Brandy's ears perked up again, realizing her error in assuming so quickly.
He nodded, drawing his brothers then telling his mum that he and Brandy were for sure dating. She looked devastated and angry at the same time, although it was clear he exaggerated her features a bit.
"And you're positive they'd get you into further trouble?"
He nodded and side eyed Stripe.
"You're right, he'd take any chance to bully you," Brandy said. "Well, I do have to go, so I'll see you later. Keep your head up! Two days will be gone in a jiffy."
He nodded and waved goodbye as she sprinted back inland, using her sense of smell to direct her to the correct carnival. She smelled chicken nuggets and chips, some chocolate in the air, and a bunch of other fried things.
Man, if I hadn't made that deal with Stripe, he'd be able to talk and maybe would've even tagged along with me to spice up this boring thing. Then again...he should've remembered what I said if Stripe annoyed him enough for him to pull all that...
When Brandy got there, she saw Chilli stuffing her face with some American candy, namely Reese's peanut butter chocolate cups. Brandy cringed, realizing that the server deep fried the cups as if it wasn't already unhealthy enough. "Chilli! What are you doing?"
"Mmm," Chilli savored it. "Brandy, you've gotta try this stuff- it's so good!"
She isn't mad at me anymore! I won't remind her either- she'll probably give me another silent treatment if I do.. Brandy thought a little when the idea of being sassy occurred. She chose to forget about it instead of enlarging an irrelevant problem.
"I'm good, candy isn't exactly good for you, especially the American kind," Brandy quieted down when the clearly American server glared. Oops.
Chilli grabbed some deep fried Reese's and stuffed it into Brandy's mouth.
"Eww! Why is it so sweet?!"
"You gotta get used to that first," Chilli clarified, popping yet another one in her mouth. "It's normal for them."
"Huh, it actually does taste quite nice once you get used to the sweetness," Brandy said, licking her lips afterwards. "But don't give me another, I don't want to become addicted to these things.."
"Yeah, let's just wait for Dad to come back and pay for us," Chilli sat down in front of the stand. "He went off to get my costume for me."
"Oh, when?"
"Few minutes ago," Chilli said. "He doesn't know about you running to find your little crush. Speaking of that, how was it?"
"Well, he wasn't at the carnivals for starters," Brandy blushed hard. "He and his brothers got grounded by their parents plus the poor guy got jinxed by Rad."
"He got jinxed?" Chilli looked at her sister worriedly. "How is he? Why didn't you say his name?!"
"He's sad," Brandy kept it short. She didn't think Chilli needed to know everything. She already didn't like Bandit very much because of what Stripe has revealed, so she kept the extra details to herself. "I made a deal with Stripe for him to tell me what the heck was going on and I can't say his name for two days."
"You should've said it anyway," Chilli narrowed her eyes. "If you like him that much, it's the least you could've done!"
"Look, I don't break deals even for people I like," Brandy stood up straighter, as if showing off her pride for this trait.
"Sometimes you should," Chilli said. "What if someone else breaks his jinx and steals his heart away from you?"
"That won't happen," Brandy said. "What-ifs don't count as a real worry."
Chilli shook her head and sighed, side-eyeing her sister. "I'm positive someone will break it in those 2 days, whether that be his parents or his brothers or some random kid he finds. He'll be eternally grateful to whoever breaks it for him, even if it's his brothers."
"Hey girls, I don't mean to intrude on your conversation," leaned in the server from behind the stand, eyeing specifically Chilli. "I'm just going to get straight to the point, who in tarnation will pay fo' these buttercups? Ya ate 9 in total, which comes to a total of 10 dollars."
"Sorry," Chilli apologized. "Our dad will come in shortly."
"I need the money now, missy," he demanded.
Brandy scowled at him. "I'm not sure if your ears are blocked or something, but she said our dad will be here shortly."
"Last time I checked, ain't no one was talking' to ya," he growled. Brandy growled back, her fangs bared. She was always slightly aggressive, even to much larger dogs that could easily overpower her.
For a red heeler, she sure had a lot of chihuahua in her.
"And last time I checked, you are a whole grown up yelling at two little girls," Brandy snarled. "And I'm just sure you'd love to see my acting skills in public."
"Now what in tarn-" the server flinched as Brandy ran a few meters in front, inhaling deeply.
Brandy started to scream, even startling Chilli in the process. The younger red heeler covered her ears with her paws, but the feeling of a ruptured eardrum came along anyway.
Curse me for having sensitive ears, yeah?
"THAT MAN IS YELLING AT US," Brandy grabbed the attention of all the walkers, tears forming in her eyes. "HE SAID HE WILL BEAT US FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO AFFORD THE CANDY, PLEASE! HELP US!"
"Brandy," Chilli tugged at Brandy, afraid of all the people scowling at the server. "You're going a bit far, don't you think?"
"No," Brandy whispered back to her. "HE IS GOING TO CHEW OUR FACES OFF!"
The first time I hear her talk about chewing faces off without threatening me.. Chilli side eyed her terrific actress of a sister.
"You insolent, horrid man!" shouted a younger woman in the newly formed crowd. "How dare you take advantage of these little girls! I should report you to the police for this-"
"Ma'am, this isn't what it looks like-"
"YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT!"
"Uh-oh," Brandy muttered to herself, still having her crocodile tears streaming from her face. "Chilli, maybe we should get out of here...?"
"Uh, yeah, you think?!" Chilli exaggerated. "Come on, let's sneak away to the cabin!"
The two girls crawled away from beneath the crowd's legs before sprinting back the trail they came from. No less than a minute later, they spotted Dad talking to another person, a cattle dog.
"No wonder he was taking so long," Brandy coughed a little. "Oh, it hurts to talk now..."
"Did you do that to save our bums or to be in the same boat as Bandit?" Chilli nudged her, raising her eyebrows up and down.
"Chilli, it's not the time," she said in her scratchy voice. "I was clearly worried about not just myself, but also you! If it was just me back there, I would chewed his face off."
"Fine, I'll stop," Chilli said, wrapping her arm around Brandy. "Thank you for that- I really was afraid of what he would do for a second there."
"Don't mention it," Brandy coughed. "Really."
"Yeah, I'll do the talking here," Chilli offered, Brandy nodding. "Dad?"
"Oh, hey sweetheart, I got your costume for you," he smiled, handing a handbag to Chilli. Her costume was inside, in spotless condition as expected, Chilli knowing very well how gentle and organized her father was.
"Wow! Perfect condition! Thank you, Dad," Chilli beamed, her tail wagging.
"Anytime, Chilli," his tail began to wag in rhythm with that of his younger daughter's. "I was talking to one of the guests here, Mr. Heeler. Say hello, girls!"
Brandy had that fake smile she did when she was forced to do anything she hated in public. Chilli felt bad, but there wasn't much she could do about it, so she held her sister's hand as she had another coughing fit.
"H-hello, mister," Brandy spat out.
"Are you okay, honey?" Mort raised an eyebrow.
She nodded, turning a light shade of red.
"Hello Mr. Heeler," Chilli grinned, waving bashfully.
"What nice girls you have," complimented Mr. Heeler. "I've got three sons myself, but they are nowhere near as calm and well-behaved as your daughters are."
"Really? How old? Brandy and Chilli are 12 and 10."
"Well the oldest one, his name's Radley but we call him Rad for short, he's 14. Bandit, the middle child, is 10, and Stripe, the youngest, is 8," Mr. Heeler scratched his fur, drinking some unknown liquid in a clear glass. A sliced lime was inserted within the glass's rim. "Of course, it's probably because they are boys that they have a hard time acting like people rather than animals."
Brandy and Chilli's eyes widened simultaneously, Brandy coughing again even harder from surprise.
"Oh for sure! My brother was the rowdiest boy I knew, my parents could never handle him. He'd pull all sorts of tricks and never stopped yapping," Mort explained.
"Boys will be boys," Mr. Heeler said before both men started laughing. "Hey, my wife and I will have a cookout tomorrow. You should stop by and have a little drink with us, let the kids play together."
"Luckily, our schedule's clear tomorrow," Mort agreed. "Your cabin's the one in front of ours, is that right?"
"Yup," Mr. Heeler nodded, beginning to walk ahead slightly. "Well, I'll see ya tomorrow, I'm heading to the gift shop to buy souvenirs for some family."
"I'll see you tomorrow then," Mort waved goodbye. "Girls, you wanna head back up to the food carnival?"
"NO!" Chilli screamed. "I mean, no thanks. There's a riot going on!"
"That explains the racket then," Mort raised an eyebrow. "But why?"
"Long story," Chilli said quickly. "We left as soon as it started. Um, can we go to the other carnival instead? I already have my costume here anyway.."
"Uh, alright then," Mort started walking down the trail instead. "Brandy, why is your tail wagging so furiously?"
Brandy had the biggest blush on her face, her tail wagging about a mile per second. She flinched at her dad's question.
"Um," Brandy coughed again. "I'm...just excited to go to the other carnival.."
Chilli stared with half opened eyes at her sister. Clearly she was excited about tomorrow and wasn't willing to admit it to anyone, even herself. Brandy was right that Chilli hadn't seen Bandit too well to understand where she was coming from, but he couldn't possibly be that cute and also coincidentally get along perfectly with her!
After a couple of fun games of "pin the tail on the dog", "pass the parcel", "musical statues", and more, Chilli decided to try out the costume contest after all. She had a bit of stage fright as she would have to act out her character, but Brandy and her father were surprisingly really helpful with that.
"Been there, done that," Brandy said, dusting off Chilli's red cape. "The deep breathing method combined with a crazy imagination is what makes up most good performances. You gotta imagine yourself in the world of She-Ra, specifically She-Ra herself."
"Sweetie, as long as you try your very best, I'm sure the crowd will love you," Mort assured. "After all, Brandy and I are your biggest fans!"
"Thanks guys," Chilli smiled bashfully, adjusting her tiara slightly. "It really helps having you two around."
A few other kids entered, one dressed as Snow White, one as Mario, another as a cat named Tom, and a very questionable twin duo of a squirrel and a hedgehog. While Chilli didn't understand the twins' costumes, a lot of the viewers watching looked at each other with concerned faces, some even appearing offended.
"Looks like you got this one covered," Brandy whispered, slowly getting off the stage with her father. "Most look crummy and the twins are getting not-so-good reactions."
A batch of offended kids rolled their eyes at her remark to which Brandy responded: "what? You want me to lie for your sake?"
"Brandy," Mort gave her an annoyed look.
"Fine," she said.
Bandit stood amongst the crowd, wearing a gag gift mask on his face to protect his identity from his parents and brothers. He hadn't talked at all- his mother gave him a lecture about bullying Stripe and his father couldn't even remember his name...or maybe he did and just pretended not to because that is something Bob would do. He was walking around the area when he saw the costume contest finishing up with its contestants. He figured why not take a little look around?
"The winner is Mario!" the dog with the loud announcer voice boomed. "For such a creative performance and a convincing costume, I present to you a coupon for a 25% discount on any costume of your choice at any Costumes Galore location!"
So this was just a giant ad, wasn't it?
Bandit rolled his eyes and was about to leave when a red heeler caught his eye.
Brandy's here?
He was about to wave at her when she turned around, quickly revealing herself to be her younger sister in a She-Ra costume. While she didn't notice him, she was all he could notice.
She's so pretty.
He continued to stare, seeing Brandy and Mort cheer her up after Mario had beaten her.
"What convincing costume," Chilli grumbled slightly. "He brought his straight out of Costumes Galore! No wonder he won, he was just a giant advertisement!"
"These things happen, sweetheart," Mort comforted her. "The important thing is you tried and I had no idea I was raising a little actress under my roof! You were incredible!"
"I agree with Dad here," spoke Brandy. "Even I was blown away, you really are a perfect fit for She-Ra!"
"Thanks guys," Chilli lightened up. "That Snow White kid was fun to talk to on stage, could I play with her tomorrow again?"
"Of course," Mort nodded. "We don't have much going on tomorrow anyway."
"Yay!" Chilli's tail began to wag happily.
Why didn't Brandy ever introduce me to her?
Bandit blushed underneath the mask, finding it harder to stay calm.
...I should leave, she's Stripe's girl anyway. He probably made me sound like a monster..
Bandit balled his paw into a fist, struggling to leave or to try and talk to her.
Stripe was not lying, this is just like the Beauty and the Beast..
He decided to leave although it was for a double reason then just solely the obvious. Bandit left for Stripe's sake, but also for his own as he was clearly too chicken to approach her even without Stripe's competition..
The sun was at slowly rising to its highest point in the day, Chilli playing with her new friend she had made yesterday at the costume contest. She was a heeler with a gray coat and some spots on her body, but they couldn't really be seen with her Snow White costume. She had told Chilli that her name was Trixie and she was slightly younger than the red heeler was, her ninth birthday approaching next month.
"Oh no!" Trixie placed her arm over her forehead, pretending to swoon. "I ate the apple...oh who, oh who...will break my curse?"
Trixie pretended to faint on the ground, before Chilli sprang into action as the super heroine She-Ra! "I will break your curse, Snow White!"
"Not so fast, mighty She-Ra," a gray coated father spoke. "Snow White will have to remain cursed for now, Trixie, her mum, and I have to start packing. We leave in two days, so come by tomorrow, if you'd like."
"Oh um, yeah Mr. Miller," Chilli nodded. "Bye Trix!"
"Bye Chilli!" Trixie's smiled at her nickname. "Tomorrow at this hour?"
"Of course!" Chilli nodded. She started to slowly walk home once Trixie and her father walked inside their cabin.
Trixie is really cool!
-End-