PnF: Stuck Like Brothers Chp 9 of 13

Chapter 9

Phineas sat lightly on the white plastic table as Ferb swiped the side of it with a paper towel.  The park sidewalks were considerably emptier than a few hours before, but several stragglers still wandered about the site.  Ferb had organized all the empty ketchup and mustard containers along the side, as well as sorted the full ones.

"You're sure you're completely fine?" Phineas asked him, as Ferb tossed his towel into the nearby garbage bag.

"Not completely.  I mean, there's still a huge gap between leaving the house this morning, and then suddenly realizing I'm behind a hot dog stand," Ferb replied as he grabbed another paper from the roll.  But when he looked up to Phineas sitting on the table, he noticed the dismay that had crossed his brother's face.

"Don't worry about it, Phin," he reassured softly.  "It's not like I've caught amnesia.  I'm still myself, and I still have all my memories."

Phineas was watching Ferb scrub the surface of the table.  "Not all of them…"

"Okay," Ferb agreed reluctantly.  "So I lost a few hours.  I'm sure nothing interesting happened."

When Ferb reached Phineas' spot on the table, he jumped down so that Ferb could continue swiping.  "The ride over was pretty interesting," he commented.

Ferb stopped his washing and looked over into Phineas' eyes.  "Phineas, I want you to know that it's not your fault.  You're trying your hardest to avoid it, and I don't ask any more than that."

When Phineas gave a hint of a smile under his dipped nose, Ferb promised, "You can tell me all about how interesting our ride was, later.  I'm curious to hear about it."

Taking a paper towel from the roll that was in their hand, Phineas straightened up and started to wipe down the next table.  "Sure!  That sounds like fun," he replied, cheerfulness returning to him.

A few minutes later, they had all three of their hands cleaned, and Phineas had two of them stuck in his moneybox as he counted the bills.  Then, a man walked up to their booth and peered over it.

"Are you still open?" he asked in investigation.

Glancing to the table behind him, Phineas spotted a few of the still-fresh hot dogs that they had left over.  "Sure.  We can still sell you one."

Ferb reached back to grab one of them, then handed it to the man while he paid Phineas.  From Ferb's stretched movement, the man caught sight of the oddity near their elbows.

"Ahhh, so you're the twins I've been hearing so much about," he awed as he took a bite of his food.  "You're the talk of the park."

"Hehe, we tend to be the center of attention all the time for some reason," Phineas remarked.  "But mostly it's from the stuff we do."

"You know, I have a twin brother," the man started behind his full mouth.  "Course, we're not attached, like you two.  Don't know what I would do about that."

Phineas just nodded politely as he organized the new money in his box.

"He lives up in Montana, now.  I see him on holidays," the man kept talking.  "They have ice fishing up there, not a big fan of it, myself.  You ever tried ice fishing?"

With a glance up from his stack, Phineas replied, "No, I've never tried ice fishing.  But there's not too many places you can do it here, I always thought it would be fun."

Picking at his fingers with his mouth, the man finished the last bits of his bun and announced, "Well, I'm heading out.  Thanks for staying open for me!"

"No problem!" Phineas said with a wave as the man left around the corner.  Now all who was left in the immediate area were the event organizer and a couple of the other booth volunteers.

"He was nice," Phineas mentioned to Ferb as he bundled a handful of twenties.  But Phineas stopped when he saw that Ferb was merely staring at him with open, widened eyes.  Phineas could see several emotions behind his gaze, one of the most prominent of which, was fear.

"Ferb?" Phineas asked, with a hint concern.  "Why do you look so confused?"

Ferb barely even moved slightly.  He just kept staring down at Phineas.

"Oh no…" Phineas thought out.  "Ice fishing!  Seriously!?  That is the most randomest cue ever!"

Phineas took one hand onto Ferb's upper arm, and rested theirs on his other shoulder.  With a tone of panic, he hollered out to anyone who would listen, "S-s-someone watch my money!  There's something wrong with my brother!"

Gently, Phineas led Ferb around the back to stand in the grass.  Ferb tripped over his feet as he leaned on Phineas' guiding grip.

"Okay, Ferb… what did it do to you?" Phineas asked frantically as he checked all over him, looking for both anything and nothing.  "Are you frozen?  Can you not move?"

Lifting a finger, Phineas held it in front of Ferb's face.  Slowly, he ran it back and forth horizontally.  Ferb's eyes were fixed upon it and followed intently on its every motion.  Then, Phineas drug it around his ear, and Ferb tilted his head so that he could keep it in view.

"You can move…" Phineas said deductively.  But Ferb's mouth was lowered in a kind of neutral frown that made it appear that he might have followed any moving object.

"Are you muted?  Ferb, can you not talk?"  Phineas kept his hand on Ferb's arm as he fought to keep his own gaping frown unseen and squinting eyes hidden.  "Ferb!  If you can't talk, just mouth something!"

Ferb's surprised-eyed and fearful expression just stayed, unchanging, on his face.  Phineas gave him a whimper.

"You don't even have to try talking, if you don't want to.  But please, Ferb, just give me a nod, or anything."  Phineas shut his eyes as he turned away for a second.  Returning, he cried, "I know you can move!  All I want is something that tells me you can hear me!"

Cupping a hand, Phineas pointed to his own ear.  "Can you not hear me, Ferb?" He pointed at it again, and then shook his head in an up-and-down motion to pantomime what he was requesting.

Ferb stayed standing perfectly still, with a slight slouch in his shoulders.  He had watched Phineas' actions, but made no sign of interpreting them.

What are you doing in there, Ferb??

There was no reply.  But it was not as though Phineas had lost his connection to Ferb's mind; in fact, Phineas was able to read it just fine.  When Phineas got in, however, he found it empty.  Ferb was thinking about absolutely nothing.

"Feeerrbb," Phineas whined, pressing his cheek up against Ferb's chest.  He tried to hug him, but only managed to do so with one hand.  Ferb did not hug back, but left his hand resting at his side, as if he had forgotten what to do with it.

"I erased your brain… or deleted it… or hit your reset button."  Phineas tried not to let his eyes water as he wiped them on Ferb's shirt.

"I'm sorry, Ferb," Phineas whispered almost inaudibly.  "I never wanted anything like this to happen…."

Then Ferb stepped back for a second, and raised both hands up to his eyes.  As he rubbed them, he let out nothing but a long, low moan.

"That… was…" he tried to turn his moan into a mumble, with another vigorous rub to his temples and forehead.  He brushed back his hair.  "…the…strangest…"

Phineas had already followed Ferb's step so that he could stand closer to him.  Phineas kept looking up at him as Ferb wrinkled his nose in discomfort, so that Phineas could see his teeth.

"…two… minutes… ever."

"Are you okay, Ferb??" Phineas asked as soon as he was finished making out Ferb's groans.  "Is your brain fixed??"

"I think… so," Ferb responded one word at a time.  Then he took his hands off his face and blinked.  "But it was really weird…"

"What happened to you?"

"I don't know…" Ferb tried to put it together.  "Nothing that I heard or saw made any sense anymore.  And you were speaking total gibberish."

Phineas refused to let him go.  But this time, Ferb did rest his arm on Phineas' back.

"Let's go home," Phineas requested resolutely.  "I don't want to reset your brain anymore."

* * *