Perry sat in the middle of the trampoline, looking as mindless as possible. Phineas, Ferb and Isabella were bouncing him.
"Maybe we can all count to three and jump at the same time." Ferb said. "Then Perry would go REALLY high."
"But what if he goes so high that he flies off the edge of the trampoline?" Phineas asked.
Isabella giggled, but Perry didn't know why. The idea of falling from a great height onto the ground did not amuse him.
"Okay, stop jumping." Phineas said. They all stopped. "One… two… THREE!"
They jumped. Perry was bounced to about a foot in the air.
"I wish we had a trampoline in our backyard." Phineas said. "Mom says maybe Ferb will get one on his birthday."
"Until then, you can always come over." Isabella said, jumping extra high. "Does Perry like to play fetch?"
"Yeah, we used to play it all the time when he was a baby." Phineas said. "But lately he just sits around. Maybe he'll play."
"Maybe he won't." Perry chattered.
Phineas gave him a pleading look. Perry sighed and stood up. He jumped down from the trampoline.
"Okay." Isabella picked up a pink tennis ball. "I'll throw first. Fetch, Perry!"
She threw the ball a little too close to a tree. Perry ran off in the direction she threw it in. He skidded to a stop when he didn't see the ball appear in front of him.
He turned and looked back at her. The tennis ball had hit the tree trunk and bounced back to Isabella.
"Sorry, Perry." She tried again.
This time the tennis ball landed on Isabella's dog's head. Pinky jolted awake and growled at the ball.
"Sorry, Pinky!"
Perry lay down in the grass. He started to eat a little bit of it.
"I'll try again. Fetch!" Isabella threw the ball. Perry watched it as it rolled off into the distance. He resumed eating grass.
"I guess he doesn't want to fetch." Isabella picked up the ball. "Oh well. Want to come inside? My mom made sandwiches."
"Sure. One sec." Phineas approached Perry. Once Isabella was inside, he said, "Why wouldn't you go get the ball?"
"I'm not feeling well."
"You seem fine. You're eating grass."
"That's because I'm not feeling well. My stomach hurts, and I need to throw up. Grass makes me throw up."
"A lovely cycle." Ferb said.
"Really?" Phineas looked concerned. "When did it start hurting?"
"Yesterday. And it went away. But now it's back."
"Maybe we should take you home."
Perry shook his head. "It's boring there without you."
Isabella peeked out from her back door. "Guys? You coming?"
"I think we have to go home." Phineas picked Perry up. "Perry's sick."
"How can you tell?" Isabella asked.
"He's not acting like himself. And he ate grass. Animals only do that when they need to throw up."
"Oh. Well, tell him to get well soon."
"We will. Thanks, Isabella. We'll see you tomorrow."
"Feel better!" Pinky yapped as they left.
"Weekend, weekend, hey everybody it's the weekend!"
Perry covered his head with his pillow. The latest Kendrine Adems song had come out, and it was REALLY annoying.
"Come on, Perry. Cheer up!" Phineas said. "I know, the song's kind of weird. But the lyrics are awesome!"
"Besides, we can't make Candace turn it off. So you may as well try to enjoy it." Ferb said.
"Weekend, weekend, hey everybody it's the weekend!" Kendrine's voice blared from Candace's room.
Perry rolled over on his side. His stomach felt like someone was squeezing it from the inside.
"Are you okay?" Phineas asked. "Your stomach's been hurting for over an hour now. Do you want to call the vet?"
"Mmm…"
"Maybe he's just overly hungry." Ferb said.
"What does it feel like?" Phineas asked.
"Like someone's trying to rip my stomach out of my stomach."
Phineas rubbed his belly. Perry cringed slightly.
"Mom?" Phineas called. "I think something's wrong with Perry."
"What's he doing?"
"He's laying around a lot."
"He always does that, sweetie."
"Can we take him to the vet?"
"I'm sure he's fine, Phineas. Dinner's almost ready. Would you mind setting the table?"
Phineas carefully patted Perry on the head and left the room.
"CANDACE!" Linda called. "DINNER! AND TURN THAT MUSIC DOWN!"
Kendrine Adems's voice started to fade. "Weekend, weekend…"
Perry crawled down from the couch and followed Ferb into the dining room. His food had already been set down near the refrigerator.
Perry walked over to his bowl and started eating. He hadn't realized he was so hungry.
Phineas picked at his food. Perry wished Phineas wouldn't worry about him all the time.
"Guess what?" Candace said. "Jeremy just invited me to his party! It's this Saturday!"
"Cool." Phineas muttered, poking at his spaghetti.
"But guess who else is going to be there? Stacy! And she says that if I hang out with Jeremy ALL night and pay no attention to her, she'll be really upset. Not that I would ever do that or anything. I mean, who does she think I am?"
Perry felt his stomach cramping up. He was still hungry, but it hurt to eat. He lay down on the floor.
"Mom, I really think Perry's sick." Phineas said.
"Phineas, don't interrupt me! I'm talking about something SUPER important here! Should I wear my red dress or my blue one?" Candace asked.
"Mom, look at him. He never lies down on the floor like that."
Perry slowly stood up. He had a feeling he needed to get to the living room rug pretty quickly.
Unfortunately he only made it to Linda's shoe before he threw up.
"Perry!" Linda shouted in disgust. "That's it, you're going outside tonight."
"Mom." Phineas was close to tears now. "He's not feeling well. Please trust me on this."
Linda picked Perry up. "It's not like this is anything different, Phineas. Perry always eats too quickly and throws up. And he needs to learn to eat slower."
"Just look at him. He's not happy."
Linda held Perry up to her face. Then she set him back on the ground. "I'll leave him inside if you're so insistent, but he looks the same as he always has. I'm going to go clean off my shoe."
Perry rolled onto his side and moaned.
Linda stopped. "Did HE make that noise?"
"I'm telling you!" Phineas said. "He's not feeling good!"
"All right. Get him in his carrier and wait for me in the car."
"Mostly he's been lying down. But he threw up right after he ate his dinner." Linda handed Perry to Monogram, who was disguised as the vet.
"Poor thing. I'll check him out and have him back to you." Monogram took Perry's carrier into an examination room.
Once the door was closed, he opened the carrier and took him out. "What's the matter, Agent P?"
Perry pointed at his stomach. It REALLY didn't feel any better after the car ride.
"Hm. Did you eat anything inedible recently?"
Perry blushed, but he shook his head.
Monogram checked him over. When he was finished, he didn't look very cheerful.
"I know what the problem is." He said. "Get in the carrier."
"I don't want to." Perry chirped. "It smells like a wet dog."
Monogram put him inside the pet carrier and closed its door. "Goodness… that carrier smells like a wet dog."
"Told you."
Monogram took Perry back out to his family and handed the carrier to Phineas. Phineas turned the carrier so that Perry faced him.
"What happened?" Linda asked.
"He has a kind of sore in his stomach." Monogram said. "It's causing him some pain, and when he eats, his stomach rejects the food. That's why he's been… erm… losing his lunch so much. I'll give you something to help keep the sore at bay so he can eat, but in two days you'll have to take him in. We'll keep him for about a week. That'll give him enough time to recover from the surgery."
Phineas looked horrified. "He has to…"
"This kind of sore has to be removed. If the operation works, he'll be feeling like himself in no time."
"IF it works?" Phineas asked, his voice shaking.
"Ah. It's not a very simple procedure. But we don't really have a choice. Platypuses don't normally have stomachs. I'm assuming that's why Perry is having a problem with his. We need to fix it so he can eat again."
Phineas's eyes watered.
"Don't worry." Perry said. "I'll be fine. I've had worse. Remember the time I ate that bowling ball?"
Phineas didn't answer. He just hung his head. Ferb put his arm around his stepbrother.
"Dumb evolved stomach." Perry said. "Either be there and work or don't be there."