The Great Outdoors
Part 1
Thirty- year- old Isabella came down with the laundry basket. A capybara went up to her, and pawed at her leg. She looked down at the animal.
"What is it?" She asked. "Did Leo feed you?" She put down the laundry to follow the capybara. She followed the animal to the kitchen where she saw the empty food and water bowls. "Oh, you poor thing." She grew angry, and went to find her son. "LEO!"
She found Leo in his room. She grew angrier.
"Leonardo Channing Flynn!" She went over, and grabbed the VR device on his head, and pulled it down from his face.
"Mom!" The boy complained. "I was wining!"
"You were supposed to feed Captain."
"Sorry, Mom. I lost track of time."
"You lost track of time because you were playing video games. You need to be outdoors more, you and your sister. I'm tired of this. It's summer, and it's nice outside. Why when your father and I were kids, we…" Leo was irritated about this.
"I know, Mom! This isn't 2007-2015 anymore. This is 2035. Times are changing. We almost can go to Mars."
"I know. It just pains me to see what today kids are doing compared to past kids."
"Well, get used to it, Mom! You can't turn back time." He put the VR back on. Isabella sighed. She then heard a buzz. She took out her phone from her pocket, and answered it.
When she was done, she pulled Leo's VR back down. Leo wasn't amused.
"What?!" Isabella got angry with him again.
"Leo; I'm your mother. Be nice towards me." She then got calm "That was your father. His airplane just landed. "Now, do you want to go to the airport with me to pick him up?"
"Can I bring the VR?"
"Or I was thinking maybe we can play a game in the car? Twenty questions, or the alphabet game?" Leo glowered.
"No, thanks!" Isabella sighed
"I'll see what your sister wants." Isabella went off. Leo resumed the VR.
"Ally, do you want to go to pick up your father with me from the airport?" Isabella asked. She found her daughter, Leo's twin sister, wearing her video game goggles in her room. She sighed.
"Ally!" She yelled. "Ally!" Ally took off her goggles.
"What is it, Mom?" She wanted to know. Isabella repeated the question. Ally grinned from ear to ear. "Dad's home? Sure, I'd love to come!" She saved her game, and took off her goggles. "Is Leo coming?"
"Unfortunately, no. I guess I have to boot up Rita."
"Oh. That'll be too bad." Isabella sighed.
"Yes, yes it is."
Isabella went up to a pink robot, and started her up. The robot opened up her eyes, and looked at her.
"Rita, I need you to look after Leo. He's being difficult. Make sure he feeds Captain, and by the time I get home, I want him outside." The robot saluted.
"Affirmative, Mrs. Flynn!" The robot then left. Rita could also do other stuff to make the family's life easier, but Isabella didn't want to have to depend on the robot and other technolgies too much. Isabella looked at Ally.
"Come on, Ally, let's go." And so, mother and daughter were off.
"Do you want to play the alphabet game?" Isabella asked her daughter as soon as they got inside their self-driving car. She pressed the screen to get the car started.
"Sure, Mom!" Ally replied. "And afterwards, can we play 20 questions?" Isabella smiled. She was happy one of her kids wasn't sucked up with the mid-thirties technologies.
"I love to, sweetie. I love too very much."
As soon as they saw Phineas enter the airport from the gate, Ally ran up to hug her father.
"Dad!" She cried. Phineas felt overjoyed.
"Ally!" He cried back. The two embraced in a hug. Isabella stood near them. "How are you, kiddo?"
"Wonderful, Dad!"
"That's wonderful!" Isabella cleared her throat to get her husband's attention. Phineas noticed this, and stood up to hug his wife.
"And how are you, Isabella?" He asked after a kiss.
"Good." Isabella answered. "How was London?"
"London was great!"
"How was Uncle Ferb?" Ally wanted to know.
"Uncle Ferb was great too." He then looked around. "Where is your brother?" Ally sighed.
"At home. He rather play video games then meet you."
"Oh, again? I see. It's a good thing we live in a time with babysitter robots."
"Yes, yes it is." Isabella said. She then frowned. Phineas noticed this.
"What is it?"
"Oh, it's nothing. Just that I'm worried about him sometimes."
"Yeah. Darn today's technology, right?" Isabella smiled.
"Right."
Leo was about to go back to his room after using the bathroom when he saw the sliding door to the outside world. He remembered his mom nagging him to go outside and play, only he didn't feel like it, and would much rather continue his VR game playing. He knew he could possibly be grounded, and he didn't want that. He came up with the perfect solution. He'll bring his VR outside! Surely, his mother couldn't ground him for that. After all he would be playing outside, and she didn't tell him what to play. He was sure this was a foolproof plan of his. He was proud of it. He was about to go when he saw Captain. The capybara never got outside today. Her mom wouldn't be happy. He'll kill two birds with one stone!
"Hey, Captain!" He said. The hairy animal looked at him. "Would you like to go outside, get some fresh air?" The capybara got excited, and had an expression as if to say 'really? You got tired of wearing and playing your awful headgear? Are we going right now?' Leo smiled. He went over to pet him.
"I have to go get my VR first." The boy took off. The capybara was disappointed. Knew it was too good to be true!
Leo came back with his VR in his hand.
"Okay, let's go." He opened the door, and he and the capybara were off. He closed the door after them.
He sat down under the shade of the backyard tree. He put on the VR, and resumed playing. Captain was upset. He hated that Leo wasn't paying any attention to him. He should be playing with him, not with his stupid VR. He took the young boy's control stick in his mouth.
"What?" Asked a confused Leo. He lifted off the headgear, and the VR went back into reality. "Captain! That's mine; I'm playing!" He reached out for it, but the capybara ran off with it. "Captain; this isn't a game, well, it is, but still, give it back!" He and the capybara chased circles around the tree "Captain; quit it; I'm getting tired of running!"
Captain got tired himself of running after a while, and stopped. Leo snatched the VR system away from him.
"Ha!" He laughed. But, Captain didn't care. He just wanted to rest. He collapsed onto the grass in exhaustion. Leo sat down, and resumed playing. "Now, stop bugging me! I'm almost to the boss."
Captain thought of walking all over Leo's lap when he thought better of it. He was also too tired too. Maybe he'll do it later, even though he knew what the consequence would be. Still, he had to try. First, he wanted to rest of course.
"Hello!" A little voce shouted in a Spanish accent. The capybara opened his eyes, and saw a girl beyond their fence. "Hello?" The girl got confused. "Are you even there? Hello?" She was about to give up and go off on her scooter, when Captain crawled all over his owner's lap to get his attention. Leo got tired off this, and took of his VR.
"Captain!" Leo scolded. "You are a very bad boy today. Don't make me bring…."
"Hello!" The girl said again. Leo saw her, and suddenly got butterflies in his stomach.
"H-hello."
"I'm Francisca. We just moved here. I'm right next door to you. What's your name?" But, Leo couldn't answer. Francisca got irritated. "Well, aren't you going to tell me your name?" Leo snapped back to realty when Captain made his noise at him.
"Oh, yes! My name's Leo."
"Leo?" Leo nodded.
"My full name's Leonardo, after a famous inventor. My dad picked it. He and my uncle built insane stuff when they were my age. My middle name is Channing because…" He realized something. "Oh, you didn't ask that." Francisca giggled.
"Oh, cool that your dad and uncle did that when they were young; maybe you can tell me later."
"Okay. Why is your name Francisca?"
"My mom just liked that name. My dad just went with it."
"Oh."
They talked and talked. Captain was happy. His owner found someone to talk to, and he was thinking his owner really liked her! It was cute!
Phineas, Ally, and Isabella returned home. After they said hello to Rita, they were about to go to Leo's room when Rita told them he was outside in the backyard. This made Isabella smile.
"Good." She said. "So, is he playing with his friends outside? Oh, I'm just so happy that he's outdoors not playing VR."
"Oh, but he is." Rita answered with a frown. "I am sorry, but he refused to go outside without it." Isabella frowned, and sighed.
"Should have known that it was all too good to be true." She changed the subject. "Did he at least feed Captain?" Rita frowned again.
"No. I had to feed him." Isabella sighed again.
"Right."
"And speaking of Captain," Phineas started. "Where is he?"
"Out in the backyard with Leo." Rita answered.
"Okay, thanks, Rita." Isabella thanked her. "I'll come and shut you off. We'll take it from here."
"I'm glad I could be of service, even though I wasn't much help in getting your son more physically active."
"No, no, Rita. You did all that you could, and we'll always be grateful of that." Rita smiled.
"In the meantime," Phineas began. "I'll go greet Captain, and try to greet Leo."
"I'll go with you, Dad." Ally offered. And so, they all went off in both directions.
As soon as Captain saw Phineas, the excited capybara bounded up to him like an excited puppy. Phineas bent down, and petted him.
"It's so good to meet you, buddy." Phineas said. "I missed you so much. Uncle Ferb sends you his love."
"Uh, Dad?" Ally spoke, looking off in the near distance. "You aren't going to believe this." Phineas looked, and couldn't believe it either. He smiled. For he saw his son, not on the VR, but talking to someone his own age, but not any someone, a girl!
A few minutes later, they were done talking, and the girl left on her bright pink hover scooter. Phineas went over to his son, so did Ally.
"Wow, son!" Phineas stated. "She must have been something for someone to take you away from your video game." Leo looked up at his dad.
"Who, Francisca?" He questioned. "Oh, she's nothing. Just an ordinary annoying girl. She wouldn't shut up." But, Phineas and Ally didn't buy it one bit. They knew what was going on.
"You love her!" Ally said, matter of factly. "Admit it; I know you do." Leo grew bitter.
"I do not, now shut up! I was just about to face a really hard boss when she interrupted." He resumed his VR playing. Phineas, Captain, and Ally went inside.
As they were eating dinner that night, Ally couldn't hold it in any longer. She had to tell her mom!
"Leo has a crush on a girl!" She blurted out. Leo shot a look at her.
"Aw!" Isabella marveled. "That's so cute and romantic. You know I had a crush on your father when I was your age."
"And I didn't realize it until college." Phineas added. "I wish I knew sooner, but better late then never, right?"
"I don't have a crush on her." Leo defended. "She's just a stupid girl."
"Leo!" Her mother scolded. "What an awful thing to say!" Leo sighed.
"Sorry. Can we talk about something else or something?" Isabella smiled.
"Sure thing, honey."
"Phineas?" Isabella asked him as he was doing the dishes after dinner. "Can I talk to you alone?"
"Sure!" Phineas told her. "Just let me finish the dishes, and I'll be right up." Isabella went up.
Phineas met Isabella in the master bedroom where he saw Isabella sitting on the edge of the bed.
"What do you want to talk about?" He asked. Isabella turned to him, and allowed him to sit by her. Phineas sat by her.
"Ever since the start of summer break two weeks ago," She began. "the children have constantly been on their devices, especially Leo. I'm really worried about them. I don't want them to spend their summers indoors all the time. I want them out in the fresh air, having outdoor fun, and using their imaginations like we did when we were kids."
"I hear you, Isabella. I want that too. It seems all of these technology that's coming out is killing off our kids' imaginations. But, that doesn't have to be."
"What will we do, Phineas."
"We'll find something to do. Since I'm home now, let's do something. You, me, and the kids."
"What?" Phineas thought of something, and then came up with an idea.
"Remember when you invited me to go camping with your Fireside Girls troop, then we did it with our friends and family?"
"Yeah, that was fun, espcially when you and I went to watch fireflies by ourselves." She sighed in content, thinking back on it. "It was so magical!"
"It sure was. So, what do you say? Do you want to go camping?"
"Sure! Let's go tell the kids."
"You can go tell Ally, and I'll tell Leo."
"Deal." They both got off of the beds, and went to their childrens' bedrooms.
"Camping?" Leo questioned when Phineas told him. "Outside?" Phineas nodded.
"Sounds boring. Can I at least bring my VR?"
"That's why we're going in the first place. Your mother and I think you kids spend too much time with the devices such as the VR, and that ruins your imagination. 'Imagination is more important then knowledge', Albert Einstein said that, and he was a very smart man. So, no. No, you can't bring the VR. No electronics." Leo groaned.
"Then count me out. Kids are supposed to have fun in the summers, not to not have fun."
"Camping can be fun."
"No thanks Dad."
"But…" Leo turned to him, angry.
"I said no thanks. What do you not understand about that? You, Mom, and Ally can go while Rita can babysit me." Phineas sighed.
"If that's what you want, son. I guess I can't force you. I just want to spend time as a family that's all, before you know, we can't." He then left. Leo then thought of something. He went after his father.
"Dad?" Phineas turned to him.
"Yeah, son?"
"C-can Francisca come, because I'll come if Francisca comes." Phineas smiled.
"I thought you said she was nothing but a stupid girl."
"Oh, I guess I did say that. But, I don't know her that well yet. Maybe if I, you know spend some time together, I…you know what? It's stupid. Forget it."
"No, no. It's not stupid. If you want to invite her, go ahead."
"Really?!" Phineas nodded. Leo then frowned. "What about Mom?"
"I'm sure Mom won't mind. Leo, I made a mistake by not seeing your mother's crush on me until before college. I don't want you to make that same mistake."
"Okay, but if she says no, I don't want to go."
"Okay. You don't have to. But if you change your mind, even if she says no, tell us before we go so we know."
"I will."
"Love you, son." But his son put on the VR instead of responding. Phineas went out of the room.
Phineas told his wife the news about Leo in the master bedroom later that night as they got ready for bed.
"Well, I really wanted to go as a family," Isabella responded. "But, if it means getting Leo to lay off the VR, then that's success."
"That's right, sweetie. One step at a time." They got in bed, and kissed. "Love you, Isabella."
"Love you. Phineas." They shut off the lights, and went to sleep.
"Okay, Leo," Phineas told his son the next morning. They were in front of Francisca's house. Leo was going to ask Francisca out camping, but he was nervous. "You got this, dude. I know you do."
"I can't do this." Leo headed back towards their house. Phineas stopped him.
"Whoa, you can't chicken out."
"Sorry, but what if she says no? What if she laughs in my face? What if the earth explodes? What if…"
"You can't think those. You have to have confidence."
"What if they do happen?"
"I doubt that the third thing is going to happen."
"Dad, I'm scared." Phineas knelt down.
"You have to face your fear, no matter how scary it might be. You'll feel better after you face it, trust me."
"Okay, Dad. I will." Phineas smiled.
"That's my boy! You won't know unless you try." Leo went towards his crush's house. He looked back, and saw his father urging him to go. He then heard squeaking. He looked, and saw Captain.
"Captain's urging you on, son." Phineas said.
"I know, and I'm glad. Thanks Captain, you're the best pet ever." Captain squeaked in response. Leo took a deep breath. "Okay, here I go." He went towards the door.
Phineas smiled when he saw Leo pumping his fist in the air, cheering to himself after Francisca closed the door. He ran towards his father. Phineas turned to Captain with a smile.
"I think it went well, Cap." He said to the capybara The capybara agreed.
"She said yes, Dad!" Leo cried. "She said yes!"
"I'm happy for you. See? Doesn't it feel good to finally get that off your chest?" Leo nodded.
"Yes, yes it does. First, she has to ask her parents though. I hope they say yes otherwise my excitement right now will be awkward, and kind of a waste."
"If she said yes, that means she could be into you."
"I'm so excited; I'm going to tell Mom!" He ran off. Phineas watched his son go, and wiped away a happy tear.
"This is one of the moments that makes a parent proud, Captain. Makes me regret how I didn't do that to Isabella back then when she was so into me." And with that, he and the furry animal went inside.
"Since Leo is inviting his GF," Ally said to her mom.
"She's not my girlfriend." Leo said, passing by. Ally ignored him as he went off "can I invite my friends?"
"I suppose that's fair." Isabella responded. "You have my permission. Ask your father." Ally hugged her.
"Thanks, Mom!" She went off. Isabella sighed.
"There goes this being a family trip."
The next morning, Phineas, Isabella, and the kids were getting ready to go camping. Ally's friends were there as well.
"Are you ready, Leo?" Phineas asked him.
"Sure, Dad." Leo responded. "When will we go?" Phineas laughed.
"You can hardly wait to go camping, can't you?"
"No, the sooner we go, the sooner I get to hang out with Francisca." Both Phineas and Isabella smiled.
"Almost, son." Phineas answered. "We're almost done packing."
Captain went into the bushes. The animal looked all around, checking to see if anyone was watching. When no one was looking his way, he tapped on his wristwatch. A holographic keypad appeared, and he typed a message to his boss.
'Gone camping this weekend with fam' he wrote. 'can't work. Have to get someone else.' When done, he pushed the send button. Unknown to his family, he was Super Capybara fighting crime and rescuing people and animals. He started last September, and he liked his job. He liked saving people and animals, and doing good in a world that is in pain and suffering. He considered to be an agent at first like Perry the Platypus, or Agent P, but chose being a superhero instead, despite not having any superpowers. He received a message.
'sad you can't do job.' His boss wrote back. 'but, glad you're relaxing. You deserve it. Will let someone else replace you while you are absent.' Captain smiled, and shut off his watch. He strolled back into his kennel, and locked it. Phineas picked up the kennel.
"Are you ready to go, boy?" He asked the pet. Captain squeaked. "Glad. This is going to be a great weekend!"
Once they all got in the car, they drove away. They picked up Francisca, and Ally's friends, Iman, Baljeet's daughter, and Jade, Buford's daughter, they drove on to their destination.