Size Matters - Chapter Four

Willy fought with the zipper for about ten minutes before giving up, in the end the zipper didn’t move an inch. He figured he would need some help but also knew he could hold his bladder at least a few more hours and could go to his hotel room with Dylan. There was no way he was going to ask Jack or even worse the other ski school kids for help.

Willy stepped out of the washroom to a waiting Jack who was holding on to his vest. “Took you a while dino-boy.” He told him.

“My name is William.” Willy told him.

“Well Willy, we have some free time so go have some fun.” He instructed and helped him put the vest back on. “Look, your brother is over there on the bunny hill.”

Willy clipped his skis back on and skied over to the hill watching his snow covered brother take what looked like his latest in a series of falls into the snow. The look of anxiety and disappointment were clear to him but everyone else seemed to be encouraging enough. He waited at the bottom for Dylan to crash a final time at his feet.

“How is snowboarding going?” Willy asked with only a slight mocking tone.

“I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve fallen.” Dylan complained. “Going downhill is easier, it’s stopping that’s impossible.”

Willy laughed at him but that only made the pressure on his bladder more noticeable. “See, it’s not so bad.” He told him.

“It’s a little fun, the others are so much better though.” Dylan lamented.

“How long until your course is done?” Willy asked knowing he wanted his brother’s help with his snowsuit.

“Probably another hour.” Dylan guessed. “It looks like you have your own class to get back to.”

“Not by choice!” Willy huffed. “They think I’m some little kid.”

“Probably easier to let them think what they want.” Dylan shrugged. “Don’t you do that to get a cheap ticket to the movies?”

“That is completely different!” Willy tried to defend himself, but he knew his brother was right. "Fine I'll meet you here in an hour, I need your help with something."

The two of them went back to their respective classes, Dylan looked like he fit right in with all the older kids. Willy skied toward the pink vested ski school kids who had decided to spend their free time having a snowball fight.

"Shouldn't you kids be practising?" Willy asked the group which was a mistake since he was now the main target of their icy projectiles. "No! Stop!" He sputtered and quickly unclipped his boots from the skis.

Willy gathered up some snow from the ground and whipped it back at the kids, if they wanted a snowball fight he wasn't going to hold back. The kids heard a whistle blow just as Willy managed to wallop Harry in the back of the head with a snowball, much to Willy's giggling delight.

"Okay kids, free time is over, let's practice going down the bunny hill." Jack announced to the group.

Willy just accepted his fate as one of the ski school kids, how could he even try denying it now. He spent the next hour slowly going up and down the slopes with the other kids, on multiple occasions he stopped and helped Harry who seemed to be struggling with his skis.

"Willy, I need help again." Harry called from the ground. Willy held out his hand and pulled him up. "Thanks."

"That's okay, and I've told you before, William." Willy reminded him, he wasn't going to let the much younger Harry call him his kiddy name.

Jack skied up behind them and expertly stopped. "Willy, thank you for helping Harry again. You're so good I'm surprised you took the course, happy to have you though." Jack praised Willy.

"I told you!" Willy shouted he felt at least a little bit vindicated about hearing it from an adult.

Jack laughed at Willy. "It's almost over, then you and your brother can go off on your own." He pointed to Dylan who had finally gotten the hang off stopping without getting a face full of snow. Dylan's jacket was flapping in the wind as he unzipped it at some point like the other snowboarders.

Willy finally finished his last run with the ski school kids and sat down on the ground a little tired from the morning. Jack was waiting for everyone to get to the bottom of the hill to end the class. The students slowly wobbled in and sat down next to Willy, Harry sitting right beside him.

"Great job today kids, you all did awesome!" Jack praised the group. "I have a special badge to award you to prove you completed ski school, this will let you on the tougher hills without supervision!" Jack went around and looped a metal ring around the zipper tab of their jackets, Willy was close to asking him for help right there in front of everyone but decided against it.

"I also wanted to present an award today to our favourite dino-boy Willy" the kids started their muffled gloved hand clapping for him as Jack gave him a badge that read 'bestest friend' with a smiling face on it. "Thank you for helping Harry all morning." The two abashed kids looked at each other for a moment but Willy turned away blushing profusely.

Kids started to get picked up by their family and pretty soon it was just Willy and Harry sitting in the snow. Willy was getting restless now and wanted to go to the bathroom, he knew he still needed a hand with the zipper though. He looked at the badge Jack had given him, without pockets he was left holding it. “Do you want this?” Willy said to Harry, holding out the badge to the kid.

Harry’s eyes went wide as he looked at the ‘bestest friend’ badge. “Yeah, okay.” He said with glee and took his prize. “Thanks, I guess that makes us best friends now.”

“Sure, Harry.” Willy agreed, trying to sound much older than he looked. “Have a great vacation.”

Eventually a snow covered Dylan with his coat unzipped and his snowboard hanging underneath his arm walked up to him with a second older looking boy from his class. Jack reached in behind Willy and Harry, grabbed the handles of their vests and pulled them to their feet. The pressure of the straps against Willy startled him and he had to focus on holding his bladder.

“Hey, a little warning!” Willy cried as he adjusted to standing up. Jack took a moment to free Willy and Harry of the pink vests.

“Have fun on the slopes boys.” Jack told them and took his equipment away with him.

“Hey Will, you should meet Spencer. He's been snowboarding for a while and just took the class to meet people.” Dylan excitedly explained to Willy.

“Hey, nice to meet you.” Willy told Spencer.

Spencer looked between Willy and Harry. “Hey kid, I see you met my little brother at ski school?” He asked.

“Yes! Willy and I are best friends now, see” Harry told his brother and showed him the badge.

Willy felt uncomfortable and shifted awkwardly, he wanted this conversation to end. "Yeah, sure we are friends. Dilly, I need your help with something." Willy spoke quickly.

Spencer spat and then started laughing. "Dilly! Aww that's such a cute name!" Spencer then punched him in the arm. "You're little brother is too cute, look at his adorable dinosaur outfit."

Dylan and Willy shot each other knowing looks. "Actually Will and I are twins." Dylan told Spencer.

"No you aren't, he's the same size as my brother." Spencer declared.

"We are! in fact Will is the older one" Dylan explained as he always liked to.

"You expect me to believe the little dino kid and you are twins." Spencer smirked. "Harry and I are five years apart, there's no way."

"It's true." Willy confirmed. "I'm just short and he's tall."

"My best friend is an older kid!" Harry said gleefully. "My other friends are going to be jealous."

"Whatever, can we go? I need your help!" Willy pleaded with his brother.

"Okay." Dylan agreed. "Spencer I'll meet up with you later and the four of us can hang out."

Willy leads Dylan away from Harry and Spencer who looks at them with concerned faces. “Will, what's going on?” Dylan asked.

“I need to go to the bathroom.” Willy whispered to his brother. “And this zipper is stuck.” Willy’s face turned red in an instant, embarrassed about having to ask his brother for help.

“Is that all?” Dylan told him. “You couldn’t just hold it until later?”

“This is later!” Willy was getting louder in frustration and picked up speed to the washroom. “I’ve been holding it all morning.”

“Why didn't you just ask your new best friend for help?” Dylan teased him.

“Oh my god Dylan! He’s a little kid, I would die from embarrassment.” Willy told him. He finally made it to the bathroom door and pushed it open, Willy noticed all the stalls were either occupied or out of order.

“Can you wait any longer?” Dylan asked, getting a little worried for his brother.

“Not really, I need to go.” Willy told him, doing all sorts of fidgeting. “I’ll just use a urinal, can you just unzip this stupid dinosaur already?”

The washroom door opened again to reveal Spencer and Harry also joining them in the washroom. They also noticed all the stalls were occupied, Harry just waved at Willy when he saw him.

Dylan grabbed the zipper and tugged hard to pull it down, just like Willy’s attempts nothing budged. Dylan used both hands roughly pulling at the green material and the zipper. “It’s stuck!” Dylan told him.

Willy’s heartbeat picked up pace. “Dylan I need to go to the bathroom, hurry up.” He pleaded.

Spencer and Harry had noticed the two of them fumbling and had gotten curious. “Hey Dylan, need help?” Spencer asked Dylan.

Willy’s heartbeat started racing, he did not want an audience at the moment. He suddenly felt a chill up his spine but he knew he was sweating. Dylan looked at Willy’s fidgeting and was getting concerned. “Actually Spencer I can’t get Will’s zipper undone, can you try?” Dylan asked.

Spencer now tried to undo Willy’s zipper, much to his humiliation as his face turned red and he started to take short breaths. Spencer pulled hard on the zipper, Willy could feel the snowsuit strain at his back as he tugged the unmoving mechanism. Spencer grunted and then suddenly his hand flew away. “Oh crap!” Spencer told them. “I think I just broke it.”

Sure enough in Spencer’s hand was the zipper tab complete with his ski school badge still attached. Willy couldn’t hold it anymore, with the three boys staring at the trapped boy, he started peeing. Since the snowsuit material is so thick there was no way to tell except for Willy’s beat red face and tears just starting to form.

Willy looked back and forth to Dylan, Spencer and Harry. Fear was clawing at him, he grabbed the suit and tried to pull it away from him. He took short fast breaths trying to breath, he felt like there was no air in the washroom at that moment. Sweat was now beading down his face and his heart was racing. Willy looked at his brother and was about to ask for help again but couldn’t get the words out.

Dylan knelt down to his level so that they were eye to eye, he leaned into his ear so that only Willy could hear. “Did you have an accident?” He whispered.

Willy was still breathing in short gasps trying to answer his question, but he felt like he was going to throw up. Willy looked at the stalls, one had finally opened up, he tried to take a single step towards it but his heavy ski boots seemed to have him planted in place, he felt weak.

Dylan looked at him with concern, his brother was struggling to breath, sweating profusely and wouldn’t answer him. He placed a hand on his shoulder and could feel that Willy was trembling in fear. “Will, are you okay?” He asked him.

Willy couldn’t answer his brother, fear gripped him and his heart was pounding. Willy had never felt his heart pound so hard, it was starting to hurt his chest and he let out a groan. Willy was now gasping for air. “Dilly.” He croaked out.

“Is your brother okay?” Spencer asked with genuine concern in his voice. “Should we get help?”

Dylan wasn’t sure what to tell them, he knew Willy wouldn’t want a huge audience if he had an accident but his brother was freaking out. “I’m not sure.” He finally told them.

“I’m going to find someone, come on Harry.” Spencer grabbed his little brother’s hand and led them away from the washroom with urgency. Harry looked at Willy with tears in his eyes as he was pulled along by his older brother.

Dylan was getting worried, it was usually Willy who took care of him in these situations. Willy placed his hands on Dylan’s shoulders trying to stay upright, he felt dizzy and weak and was still gasping for air. “Outside.” He croaked out again. Willy felt like there was no air in the washroom and something terrible was happening, he wanted fresh air. He tried to move his feet but it was no use; he could barely stand up straight.

Dylan leaned in and gave Willy a hug for lack of knowing what to do. Somehow Willy felt slightly better by the hug and he pulled Dylan in closer, it felt like with Dylan being there he wasn’t going to die. Dylan rubbed his back, his brother was still trembling in fear.

Willy was now letting his brother support his weight, he felt less nauseous that way. He took in a deep breath through his nose, finally able to breath in more than a short gasp, his nose was filled with the scent of his brother’s childish cherry berry scented soap. For a moment Willy was distracted by the smell and was able to take in a second deep breath.

Dylan reached down and moved Willy into position, his brother would never let him do this under normal circumstances but he needed to get Willy away from the crowd forming in the washroom. He braced himself and with his legs pushed himself to a standing position lifting his brother up with him. Instinctively Willy put his arms around his brother and let him carry him without protest, this was the first time he had ever been picked up like this by his brother.

Dylan carried Willy out of the washroom and into the fresh air, he could feel his brother’s rapid heartbeat pounding softly against his own chest. Willy was now taking more consistent deeper breaths but he was still trembling and sweat was beading down his face. “Will, I’m going to take you back to our room.” Dylan declared and marched toward the chalet, abandoning their ski gear in the rack by the washroom.

Willy just took deep breaths and allowed his brother to carry him, normally he would have been embarrassed to be carried by his younger brother. “Dilly, I’m sorry.” Willy told him in between breaths.

Dylan just held him tighter as he walked past skiers getting closer to the chalet. Dylan was feeling relieved that Willy was catching his breath. He noticed their Mom and Dad coming out of the chalet and ran over to them. “Mom, Dad, Something is wrong with Will.” Dylan desperately pleaded with them.

“Did he fall while skiing?” Their Mom asked while taking a look at Willy.

“No Mom.” Dylan looked around and softly whispered. “He had an accident and-”

“An accident, like he peed himself?” His Dad demanded, there was an inflection of anger in his voice.

Willy gripped tighter to his brother and his breath became more laboured, he let out a small groan.

“That’s not the issue, he-” Dylan tried to explain, but got cut off.

“Not the issue!” His father boomed. “Having accidents at your age!” His father yelled at Willy who seemed to be taking increasingly shorter breaths again. “Your brother is carrying you around the mountain like some baby!”

Willy was embarrassed he felt like his father’s speech was only reserved for Dylan when he wouldn’t give up some childish toy. “I’m sorry.” Willy rasped. His breathing is getting increasingly shorter.

“Dad! You're upsetting him!” Dylan shouted with a crack in his voice. Dylan had never yelled at his parents before which caused them to be silent for a moment. He then marched past them and into the chalet.

He saw Spencer and Harry at the front desk and they rushed over. “You just carried him?” Spencer asked, impressed at Dylan.

“Yeah, were you able to get help?” Dylan asked.

“They said they would send someone to the washroom, but I guess you left.” Spencer explained.

“I’m going to take Dylan to our room.” He told them and stepped into the elevator, the two other boys followed their friends.

Dylan handed Spencer his key who unlocked the door and the four of them hurried inside. Dylan placed Willy on the edge of the bed and once the door of the room closed Willy started catching up to his breath. The whole ordeal felt like it had lasted hours but it had only been a few minutes. Willy’s breathing became normal and he stopped sweating so much, he just couldn’t stop his heart from racing and he still felt like he might die.

“I’m going to get that snowsuit off him, I don’t care how.” Dylan declared. Willy looked at him with curiosity, he had never seen his brother so calm and determined during any other situation.

Spencer unzipped a pocket inside his coat jacket and pulled out a red pocket knife. “Will this help?” He offered it to Dylan.

Dylan took off his jacket and picked up the knife, unfolded it and sat down beside Willy. “I’ll be careful.” He told him reassuringly. He then tugged at the material at the collar and sliced the suit down the seam of the zipper. Willy just closed his eyes during the process and put his trust in his brother.

Dylan only needed to cut a small amount to allow his brother to work his shoulders free. Once his arms were free Willy’s heart slowly stopped pounding. “Dilly.” He paused, able to get his words out, surprising him. “I don’t know what to say.”

Willy looked at his brother’s face and saw it clearly for the first time, tears rolling down his cheeks with red puffy eyes, had Dylan had been crying the whole time? Willy brought his brother into a hug and Dylan started sobbing. “I was so scared!” Dylan cried. “I didn’t know what to do!”

The intense fear and racing heart seemed to go away as fast as they came. Willy rubbed his brother’s back and eventually they both calmed down and felt exhausted from all the emotions.

Willy looked down at the bottom half of his snowsuit, his face was still red but it seemed like a trivial problem to deal with now. After his ordeal he didn’t even mind that Spencer and Harry were there, he was almost happy to have people worried about him. “I’m going to have a quick shower to clean up and Dylan and I will meet you at the washroom where we left the skis.” He told the two of them who just looked relieved and left, giving them some privacy.

Dylan and Willy stared at each other, questions lingered on their minds. “What happened?” Dylan asked him. “That was more than just upset, you looked sick.”

“I don’t know.” Willy told him, he felt tears welling behind his eyes but he was trying to keep them down. “Something felt wrong, like really wrong. I couldn’t breathe, everything was blurry.” He looked at his brother. “I’m glad you were there.”

“Mom and Dad were useless.” Dylan grumbled. “They wouldn’t even listen!”

Willy was shocked at his brother, first yelling at his Dad and now actively complaining about their parents. It was usually Willy who whined about their parents and Dylan defended them, he just smiled at his brother. “Who needs them anyway.” He told him, which caused his brother to smile back.

Willy went into the bathroom and closed the door, his first moment of privacy since the morning. He looked at himself in the mirror, his face was red and his eyes were bloodshot. His thermals had been soaked through with sweat and clung to him uncomfortably. He took off his boots and set them aside, he then finally completely wriggled out of the snow suit. He started tearing up as he saw the dark red patch of his thermal, he refused to let himself cry again and kicked the snowsuit away. He peeled the soaked thermals off of him and threw them into his growing pile of soiled clothes.

While taking a shower Willy paused at the two soap bottles sitting on the shelf, his was labelled ‘electric blue’ and had a lightning bolt across the front, Dylan’s was bright pink and labelled ‘cherry berry’. He opened his brother's soap and took in a deep whiff, somehow the scent he scoffed at before was now oddly calming. Willy shrugged and decided to use the pink soap today instead of his own, he knew his brother wouldn’t care.

Willy finally felt like his normal self after the shower and he felt clean, he snatched a towel from the rack, wrapped it around him and moved into the main room. He looked at Dylan who was lying on the bed staring off into space. “Feeling better?” He asked.

“Yeah, thanks.” Will said and trodded over to the suitcase. He looked through his various options and nothing was actually appealing to him. “Mom should have packed more things.” He complained, although on the two day trip he didn’t expect to soil so many clothes. “I’m going to borrow some of your things.”

“I don’t think what I have will fit you.” Dylan told him then snickered at what his brother was holding up. “You’re going to look silly.”

“Yeah, but hopefully no one will see me this time.” Willy said although he had a lingering worry that he might freeze up again. Willy started with a pair of Dylan’s boxers, he pulled them up and they fell past his knees like a pair of shorts. He then took a pair of his own long socks and pulled them up as high as they would go, leaving only a small gap in his legs. The last item was one of Dylan’s T-Shirts, it was a white shirt with a silhouette of a T-Rex on it. Willy slipped it on and it fell down covering the boxers.

“You look goofy.” Dylan told him. “Those don’t fit at all.”

“It’s just for something under the snowsuit, it’ll keep me plenty warm.” Willy said and with a gulp reached into the garment bag and pulled out the second red dinosaur snowsuit. “This one was yours.”

“It’s yours now since we just destroyed the other one.” Dylan said regretting it immediately. “We don’t need to go skiing, we could go back to the pool or that arcade.”

Willy took a deep breath. “No, we are going skiing.” He declared and unzipped the suit, he then zipped it back up and down a few times, testing the zipper. “See, this suit’s zipper is fine!” He then started pulling it up his legs.

Willy got the rest of his gear on and the two of them headed out of the chalet, everything felt a little different. Willy didn’t feel as ridiculous in the red dinosaur suit and he noticed his brother was keeping an eye on him more often than usual. Willy and Dylan met up with Spencer and Harry, finally able to collect their gear. The four of them headed over to the blue diamond hill and spent the rest of the day on the slopes together.