Size Matters - Chapter Three

As the sun crept through the slats in the window Willy started to wake up, he tried to roll over and look at the light but something was pinning him in place. Willy opened his eyes to see that his brother had pulled him up to his chest while he was asleep and moved his leg over his. Willy started trying to wiggle out of his grip but between the pajamas, blanket and his brother holding on to him it was no use.

“Hey! Dilly!” Willy called to his brother who just grunted back at him, he pushed against his chest trying to shove him awake. “Wake up and let go of me!”

Dylan started to release his brother as he rubbed his eyes awake, Willy now free tried to get out of the bed and fell to the floor on the other side with a shriek. “Are you okay?” Dylan asked him.

“You’re lying on the stupid tail.” He called from the ground, Dylan sat up and he heard Willy’s leg flop onto the ground completely.

“Sorry about that.” Dylan apologised to his brother.

Not wanting to start the day completely ticked off Willy stood up now appreciating that he was finally free of the bed. “What’s with all the hugging while you sleep?” He asked him, being more curious than annoyed at his brother. He was surprisingly in a good mood this morning, most likely due to the upcoming skiing.

Dylan’s face flushed red. “I don’t know…” He trailed off. “I usually sleep with my stuffed animals at home.”

Willy snickered at his brother. “You really couldn’t handle one night without cuddling some stuffed dinosaur?” He asked mockingly, knowing he had a collection of stuffed dinosaurs on his bed at home.

“Well they don’t usually fight back in the morning.” Dylan mumbled.

Willy’s face was now turning red as it dawned on him that he had replaced his brother’s stuffed toys. “Whatever!” He dismissed him and went to change. “Hug a pillow or something tonight.”

Willy shifted through the suitcase looking for his winter underwear and skiing outfit, usually he just wore his pajamas under his snowsuit but figured his mom must have packed him something else since she packed the dinosaur footies. When he finally found what he was looking for he had forgotten about how old and worn his winter thermal underwear were, torn in some places and had seen many wears after years of hockey practice.

“You're going to wear that all day?” Dylan asked him, looking at the worn out underwear.

“Yeah, it’s not like anyone will notice in that stupid old snowsuit anyway.” Willy reminded his brother whose face lit up at the mention of the outfit.

“I love those snowsuits!” He smiled at his brother. “It’s too bad mine didn’t fit this year and I had to get snow pants and a jacket.”

Even Willy had to admit it would be a waste to try and insist to buy him a new skiing outfit when they owned two snowsuits that still fit him. “Well I can’t wait till I get a new one, those snowsuits are really stupid.”

Willy started to unbutton his dinosaur footies and tossed them on the bed for the evening, he then pulled up a worn set of long red thermal underwear and pulled on the matching long shirt. “These will be fine, super warm and no one but you will see them.” Willy told his brother.

“There is a hole in the butt!” Dylan snickers at him.

“Doesn’t matter, no one will see.” Willy told him defiantly. He then pulls out the garment bag where his snow suit is and starts to unzip it. He pulls out not one but two one piece snowsuits, one bright green and the other bright red. “Why did Dad pack both of them?”

“I think he just took all the bags and we used to keep ours together.” Dylan explained as he was preparing his own skiing gear which consisted of black snow pants and a red jacket.

The snowsuits were the same except for the color scheme. Like everything else on the trip they were made to look like dinosaurs, the windbreaker material gave the outfits a shiny sheen. Spikes ran up the back of the snowsuit, green and yellow on one and red and black on the other, the suits had attached mittens to look like dinosaur claws and a small tail sticking out the back which wasn’t large enough to get in the way. Like the pajamas he had just taken off, the hood was made to look like the mouth of the dinosaur and was lined with decorative teeth.

Willy picked the green one since it’s the one he usually wore when the two of them both wore them. He pulled on the old zipper and hoisted the warm snowsuit up his legs and pushed his arms through the sleeves which ended in mittens with three fingers made to look like the claw of a cartoon dinosaur. He grabbed the zipper pulled tab and yanked hard to pull up the old zipper. “Ready to go?” Willy asked his brother.

Dylan had finished putting on his own gear and had started packing his pockets with a couple granola bars and the room key. “Hey Dilly.” Willy squeaked. “I forgot my lanyard and I don’t have any pockets. Could you bring a few extra for me?”

Dylan smiled down at Willy. “Sure, no problem.” He agreed as he stuffed more snacks into his coat’s many pockets.

The two went to their parents room and knocked on the door, their Dad opened it to reveal him in a similar skiing outfit as Dylan. Their mom was wearing a white snow outfit which she has worn many times over the years. “Are you two ready to go already?” Their Dad asks them. “Why don’t you head down to the ski rentals and pick up your equipment, we will meet you on the slopes.” Their Dad then hands Dylan some ski lift tickets to pick out their things.

Dylan and Willy head for the elevators and once again are shown their reflections standing beside each other, Willy scoffing at his fun looking snowsuit in the mirror. “Are you going to complain about all your outfits on this trip?” Dylan asked his shorter brother.

“I didn’t say anything.” Willy whined still looking at how different they looked.

“These outfits are supposed to look dumb, they all do.” Dylan tried to cheer him up.

“Not yours!” Willy grunted. “Yours is cool!”

Dylan blushed at the compliment from his older brother. “Yeah, I suppose it's nice.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway, it’s not like I can change it now.” Willy accepted. “Do you remember our promise from last year?”

Dylan’s eyes went wide and started to look a little worried, he remembered the promise but had hoped Willy had forgotten. “The one about snowboarding?”

“Yes!” Willy shouted as the elevator opened to the ground floor and the two headed toward the ski rentals. “You agreed that this year we will try out snowboarding instead of skiing, it’s going to be awesome!”

“We don’t know how though.” Dylan tried to reason with him.

“We will take those lessons.” Willy told him. “How hard could it be?”

“Fine, let’s do it then.” Dylan agreed as they got in line to pick up equipment.

“We are going to look so cool snowboarding no one is going to think I’m a little kid.” Willy said, smiling as the two shuffled through the line.

The two got to the front of the line and were greeted by a bored looking teenager. “Tickets.” The teenager grunted at them.

Dylan handed them the rental tickets. “We wanted snowboards this year.” Dylan paused briefly. “With helmets and classes!”

The teenager looked between them and finally stepped back and bought some boots and helmets for them, Dylan handed Willy the smaller set of equipment. She then gave Dylan a bright red snowboard that perfectly matched his jacket. “We don’t have snowboards small enough for your little brother so here are some skis.” The teen told the boys who just looked at each other. “Classes start soon, just talk to Jack outside.” The teen motioned for the boys to move along.

“If Willy can’t snowboard I don’t want to either.” Dylan told the attendant.

“It’s all signed out now, you need to take it to the return desk and come with a new ticket.” They told Dylan.

Dylan and Willy were stunned as the teenager started helping the next ski resort guest and they made their way to the benches to put their boots on. “It’s too bad they don’t have a snowboard for you.” Dylan told him.

“Yeah, I was really excited.” Willy frowned, shoving his foot into the heavy boot. “At least you can still learn.”

“It won’t be the same.” Dylan complained as he put on his own boots.

“I’ll wait for you.” Willy casually offered. “Then we can go down the slopes together.”

The two of them finish getting ready with their boots and make their way outside and walk slowly in their heavy boots to the ‘Ski School’. There are already many youngsters wearing ‘Ski School’ bright pink vests and waiting for the class to begin. Dylan and Willy head towards the adult instructor who is wearing a ski resort jacket with a large nametag on the front that reads ‘Jack’.

“Hi, Jack!” Dylan awkwardly squawks.

“Hello, are you here to drop off your little brother?” Jack happily asks him while grabbing an extra pink vest.

“What? No.” Willy informs Jack. “It’s Dylan that doesn’t know how to snowboard, he needs the lessons.”

“No problem, kids of all ages are welcome to learn how to snowboard.” Jack informs him. “Sandra here will lead the snowboarders and I will lead the skiers.” He takes Dylan over to Sandra who is waiting with a couple of other older kids for the lesson to start.

Willy starts to set up his skis and figures he would at least practice while he waited for Dylan to finish his lessons. A shadow creeps over him from behind, he spins around to see Jack holding the pink vest over him and he hooks one of his dinosaur clad arms into the vest.

“I’m not taking the lessons.” Willy insisted.

“Your brother dropped you off here while he is taking his own lessons, we can’t just have you wandering around on your own.” Jack told him as he guided Willy’s second arm through the other vest sleeve.

“He didn’t drop me off! We came here together.” Willy tried to explain to the instructor.

“Either way I’m responsible for you until your brother or parents pick you up, so you may as well participate in the lessons.” He sternly informed him, clearly not taking no for an answer. As Willy tried to think of something to say he heard him clip up the vest from behind. “Do you need help with those skis?”

“It’s okay, I know how.” Willy said frustrated and felt like he was being dressed like a preschooler.

“Sounds like you’re joining us then.” Jack confirmed and picked up his skis. “Then let’s show the others how to put on their stuff.”

Willy had no choice but to follow him, still not quite sure how he had been corralled into the ski school meant for little kids. Jack planted Willy’s skis in a snowbank and started collecting all the kids. Willy looked around and there were various kids wearing jackets and ski boots, all of them also had pink vests clipped on that read ‘Ski School Student’ on it. Willy looked at his classmates, they were about the same height as him, maybe a little shorter and all looked inexperienced and nervous.

Jack blew a plastic whistle and everyone looked at him. “Alright kids, we are going to have a lot of fun today so let’s start with some rules. First if you get lost there is a little whistle attached to your vest, everyone give it a little blow to test it out.” The kids all started blowing while Jack clapped for them, he then gave Willy a look. “Aren’t you going to blow the whistle?”

Willy’s cheeks flushed red that he was being reminded to perform such a simple task. He picked up the whistle and blew a note to please the instructor who immediately clapped for him. “The second rule is to have fun!” Jack said in a sing-song-like voice which made the smallest kids giggle.

“We are going to go over how to put on skis, I’m going to have our green dinosaur here to help demonstrate.” Jack said and motioned for Willy to stand beside him. Willy cautiously trodden over to Jack and looked up at him as he picked up his skis and placed them on the ground. Jack spent the next few minutes lifting Willy’s feet up and carefully showing the others how to put on the skis. Willy felt increasingly humiliated as he was used as a teaching doll for the other kids, his only saving grace was when Jack thanked him for helping demonstrate since he already knew how to.

Jack spent the next thirty minutes explaining how to ski by making different shapes with the skis and had all the kids mimic him, including WIlly. Willy felt immensely bored at the whole activity since he wanted to just find an opportunity to show Jack he knew already but they went painfully slowly through the lessons as the younger kids tried to keep up.

Jack asked Willy who at this point was staring at the other skiers to demonstrate what they had learned so far. Willy took a moment to race through the lesson quickly but Jack wasn’t satisfied. “You need to pay a little closer attention.” Jack told him and corrected what Willy felt was an unimportant part of his stance. “There you go.” He smiled at him.

Willy rolled his eyes, he knew he didn’t need to be here but everytime he tried to tell Jack he seemed to be busy helping one of the other kids. Jack took everyone over to the bunny hill where they would practise using the ski lifts, finally Willy felt like he could escape a little. Willy followed the class to the little conveyor belt that took him up the hill, his classmates looked scared but he confidently skied over to it.

“I know how to do it.” He proudly told Jack.

“Okay, why don’t you show the class then.” Jack asked him, finally giving him the opportunity to show his skills. Willy gracefully stepped onto the conveyor belt and grabbed the handle for support, he slowly started heading up the hill. “Great job! Everyone, that’s exactly how to do it.” He gave him a pat on the back as he went past and the other kids clapped and cheered for him.

Willy felt a little embarrassed about receiving so much praise for such a simple task, something he had done hundreds of times in the past. His cheeks turned a rosey pink and not from the cold. Soon the rest of the students were ascending behind him. A couple of kids fell as they made it to the top which Jack quickly righted them using a handle on the pink vest to pick them up. Willy figured they were heading down the bunny hill a few times but Jack led them to a small opening in the trees, above him was a sign that read ‘Bunny Hill Adventure Trail’.

“Okay kids, we are going to head down this trail, you will have every opportunity to practice your new skills and if anyone falls we will stop.” Jack told them and led the class through the trees.

The group had to stop frequently to allow kids to pick themselves up as they tumbled to the ground. Willy was even more bored as all the trail was just a windy path through the woods, it was barely even a little steep.

“I like your snowsuit.” a young boy told him.

“Thanks.” Willy grumbled, he had almost forgotten about the dinosaur themed ski attire.

“I love dinosaurs!” The boy went on.

Willy just breathed heavily. “Oh yeah?” He spoke in a bored tone.

“They are so big and cool!” The youngster went on. “I wanted a snowsuit like yours but my mom said it would be too challenging to go to the washroom.”

“That’s too bad.” Willy grumbled, why was this kid talking to him about washrooms?

“Is it harder to go to the washroom?” He asked.

“It’s fine.” Willy finally told him. “Look, I'm going to focus on this turn now.”

“Oh, okay!” The boy said and held back. “I’m Harry by the way.”

“William.” Willy shot back and skied away. Willy had no intentions of making friends with the ski school kids, once Dylan finished his class they would be hitting the slopes together.

After slowly gliding down the hill Jack had taken them right outside a restroom. “Okay kids, let’s take a break here then you will get some free time on the bunny hill!” Jack told the group as he began unclipping the ski school vest off of them.

Willy figured he may as well go to the washroom and after getting unclipped followed the other boys into the large washroom with many stalls. He closed the stall door behind him and grasped the zipper pull of the snowsuit with the three fingered claw-like mittens. Willy tried to pull the zipper down but it seemed to be jammed right at the collar of the suit and he couldn’t get it to budge at all.

Illustration by @dani-drawz