Leap Day
Part 1
"Now tomorrow is February 29th." Mr. Mash told Phineas's science class. Snow fell from outside. "A date that comes mostly every four years. Can anyone tell me why?" Hands rose from around the room. Mr. Mash scanned the room and called on Phineas.
"It's because of how the Earth revolves around the sun." The boy answered.
"And can someone tell me why we add a day every four years?" Mr. Mash picked Baljeet.
"It takes Earth approximately 365.25 days to go around the sun. The extra day in February is there to keep the calendar consistent."
"Is every four years a leap year?"
"No. Years that are evenly divisible by 100 do not consist a leap day unless it is evenly divisible by 400, so 1900 wasn't a leap year where the year 2000 was. The next end-of-century leap year won't be until 2400. Now, in the Hindu calendar, this would be called 'adhika maasa' or 'extra month.' It is the month when the sun is…"
"Sorry Baljeet. Maybe we'll save your 'Leap Year in India' speech for the last five minutes of class. I don't mean to be mean but we got stuff to do." Buford elbowed Baljeet.
"Ha, ha!" He laughed. "Burned by the teacher!"
"Anyways, what if someone had a birthday on that day?" He called on Isabella.
'They would celebrate on February 28th or March 1st, depending where they live."
"Correct. Now, on to today's activity. Get your textbooks and turn to…" The PA system came on then with Mrs. Shelby's voice.
"Attention students!" She said. "You're going to be happy with this set of news. Due to the snow, the district's superintendent announced an early release." The kids stopped and listened more. "Buses are coming to the school as we speak. If you're walking home, be sure to dress for the cold. All activities are cancelled tonight. Also, there will be no school tomorrow and no activities. Go to our website for updates. Have a good snow day."
Kids' face brightened and they all cheered loudly, dropping books.
"SNOW DAY!" They cheered.
"Careful with the books!" Mr. Mash warned. "Pick them up and put them back on the cart. We'll pick this up the next day we have class. Have a good time off!" The kids obeyed and put the scattered books back on the cart.
Kids raced to their lockers, got their stuff and raced to the buses.
"Well, that was a lucky break." Baljeet explained on the bus ride home. Ferb sat by him. Phineas and Isabella sat behind them. Buford sat with Irving across the isle. "Snow day on a day that comes once every four years."
"Yeah!" Phineas agreed, and then snapped his fingers when an idea struck him. "Hey Ferb, I know what we are going to do today!"
"Whatcha thinkin'? Isabella asked.
"I have a hunch." Buford said. "I bet Dinnerbell is going to think of plans for tomorrow since it comes every three years."
"Four." Baljeet corrected.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
"Buford said it!" Phineas put in. "Since tomorrow is February 29th, we are going to come up plans for it."
"See?"
"I mean, since February 29th only comes every four years, and we have…"
"Mostly every four years." Baljeet interrupted.
"Right, and since it is a snow day, we shouldn't treat it as an ordinary day. We should make it as a day to remember. Know what I mean?"
"Yeah!" The gang all said except Buford.
"Can you guys come over so we can all plan?" Everyone nodded, even Buford.
"Got nothing better to do." Buford said.
"Can I come too?" Irving wanted to know. "A day with my biggest heroes will make it extra special!"
"Sure!" Phineas said.
"Yes!" Irving cheered. "A day with my heroes, all right!" Buford looked at him.
"Chillax fan boy." He told them. "You didn't get a ticket to see a candy factory."
"Sorry, but I'm just so excited." Buford sighed.
"Of course you are, it's every kids' dream to spend the day with Dinnerbell and his stepbrother who doesn't talk much."
"Okay dweebs." Candace told them as soon as they got home, disposing their winter gear. "I'm in charge until Mom and Dad gets home. No crazy projects because I'll know and you know what I must do then, okay?"
"Candace, you don't have school tomorrow, do you?" Phineas asked his sister.
"No." Candace answered. "No, I don't. But since Mom and Dad got to work and since Jeremy got called in to work at Slushy Dawg, I get to spend all of my snow day babysitting you two."
"Perfect! You can join in on what we got planned for tomorrow."
"Oh no! I'm not being part of your weirdo scheme whatsoever!"
"Do you know what tomorrow is?"
"Yeah, it's a snow day that I don't get to spend with Jeremy!"
"Not just any snow day! Tomorrow's February 29th!"
"Oh yeah, doesn't tomorrow only come every three years?"
"Four." Ferb corrected.
"And mostly." Baljeet added.
"Yeah, yeah, four. Now hurry and eat your lunch before it gets cold!" Phineas and Ferb raced to their seats, eating their vegetable soup.
"Oh and Candace, we're going to invite our friends after lunch and our homework is done so they can help us plan, okay?"
"Whatever. Just don't do anything bustworthy." Phineas then noticed that his pet wasn't at his food bowl.
"Hmmm, I haven't seen Perry yet. Maybe he's not back yet from wherever he wanders off to every day."
After lunch and when they were done with their homework, they invited the gang over.
"Okay!" Phineas told his friends when they got there. They were all sitting by the computer. Ferb had a pencil and a notepad. "Give me your ideas and Ferb will write them down."
"Uh, Phineas?" Isabella piped up.
"Yes Isabella?"
"Does tomorrow even have a name? Or is it just known as Leap Year Day?"
"Good question. Let's check the Internet." Ferb put his pencil down and booted up the computer.
When Ferb found the answer, he tapped Phineas on the shoulder. Phineas looked at the computer along with his friends.
"Well, would you look at that? It's called Leap Day; that seems simple enough."
"Is that Infomationpedia?" Baljeet wanted to know.
"Yes!" Buford said before Phineas could answer. "You got a problem with that, Jeet?"
"Well, it's just that Infomationpedia is unreliable. People edit incorrectly." Buford just looked at him.
"It's like you ask me to pummel you."
"I'm just saying. Anyway, the Internet might give us ideas too."
"Okay, let's check. Ferb?" Ferb nodded and went to check on other sites.
"As Ferb checks, let's come up with some ideas. Now I got an idea." He looked at Isabella.
"Isabella, remember I mentioned a snowball fight of the century at that winter lodge?"
"Oh yeah, I remember!"
"Well, let's turn that into reality."
"Okay, and maybe we can also make the world's biggest snowman you mentioned about. Maybe we can build the snowman in a jumbo-sized snow globe!"
"Good ideas! Ferb, write those down!"
Ferb was juggling between finding a website with good ideas and writing ideas suggested by his friends. When he found a suitable website, he tapped his brother on the shoulder.
"What do you have, Ferb?" He looked at to where his stepbrother was looking at.
"Wear crazy hats and your shirts backwards or inside out." He read out loud.
"Sounds crazy!" Baljeet commented. Phineas smiled.
"Sounds great! We can even dress up Perry! If we were in school, they might not have allowed it!"
"Ooh!" Irving piped up. "Maybe since the word 'leap' makes you think of frogs, maybe we can do something frog related, like frog hop races or make frog crafts."
"We're not going to do those little kids' activities, fan boy!" Buford put in. "We're big kids!"
"Sounds fun!" Phineas said. Buford sighed.
"Whatever, I'm not doing them."
"We can also make a Frog Leaper ride; you know like when we were younger, except this one will be faster and we can go higher!"
"Ooh, I like our ideas Phineas!" Isabella said.
"Why thanks Isabella."
Just then, Perry came in from the doggie door. He just foiled his nemesis from hitting Roger with giant snowballs from his Snowball-Cannon-inator. Phineas and friends turned to him.
"Oh, there you are, Perry." Phineas said. The platypus chattered.
"Well, I better get home for dinner." Isabella told the boys.
"Us too." Baljeet, Buford and Irving chorused.
"Okay!" Phineas responded. "See you tomorrow! Remember what you can wear tomorrow!"
"See ya!" They all said. Baljeet, Buford and Irving went to get their winter gear on and leave. Isabella was about to go to when Phineas spoke to her.
"Oh, Isabella?" Isabella turned around.
"Yes Phineas?" She wanted to know.
"The Fireside Girls might want to come."
"I'm sure they would be delighted to come. I'll call them at home."
"Great! See you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow Phineas." And with that, she left.
Phineas turned to his stepbrother.
"Well Ferb, we better get to bed like it was a school night. We have a big day ahead of us." Ferb nodded. He shut down the computer and the boys waited for their parents to come home to fix them supper.
"Guess what today is?" Phineas asked his mom the next morning at breakfast. The boys had on their shirts on backwards. Ferb wore yellow pants and a purple shirt. Perry had a bowler hat on.
"It's your day off from school?" Linda guessed
"Not just any day off from school. It's Leap Day!" Linda looked puzzled.
"Leap Day? Whatever do you mean?"
"Well, today is February 29th, right?"
"Yeah."
"Oh I get it!" Lawrence joined in. ""Doesn't today only comes once every four years?"
"You got it, Dad!" Phineas said.
"The new century also has to be evenly divisible by 400." Ferb put in.
"So are you going to do something special with your friends?" Their mom wanted to know. She drank her coffee.
"You bet! We're going to go sledding, have a snowball fight, build a giant snowman and loads more!"
"Wow, sounds very fun and bust-worthy!"
"Yep, we're going to have one heck of crazy day?"
"Is that why both of you have your shirts on backwards?" Lawrence asked. "And why Perry is wearing a bowler hat?" Perry looked at him and chattered.
"Yup! We were going to let him wear a sombrero but that's a little big for him."
"I see. Well, we'd love to stay but your father and I have to go to work." She got up and put her plate in the sink. Lawrence did the same. "Unfortunately, we don't get a snow day, even on Leap Day." She walked to Candace. "Candace, make sure you watch them."
"Oh, I can't wait!" Candace moaned.
"Well, bye kids!"
"Bye Mom, bye Dad! Love you!" They waved to them as they left. Phineas looked at her stepbrother.
"Okay, Ferb! Let's begin! "Let's start building the Snow globe and the Frog Leaper ride, but first, where's Perry?"
Perry went into the backyard. He was about to go in the tree entrance when he heard a whisper on the other side of the fence.
"Psst! Agent P!" The voice whispered. Perry went over to the peephole. It was Monogram and Carl. Both were wearing frog shirts.
"Happy Leap Day, Agent P!" Monogram said to the agent platypus. "We know we have our meetings in your lair, but since it's Leap Day, we decided to mix things up."
"Nice bowler hat by the way, Agent P!" Carl commented. "But if you had a sombrero that'll be cool!" Monogram eyed him.
"Carl, a sombrero might be too big for him."
"They might have sombreros his size, sir."
"Carl, shut it as I tell him the mission."
"Yes sir." Monogram looked back at Perry.
"Anyways Agent P, Doofenshmirtz has just made a laser machine. Go see what he's up to." The agent saluted and then was off. Monogram walked off with Carl.
"You know Carl." Monogram told him. "A sombrero would be cool."
"Friends!" Phineas told them once they were all in the backyard. "And Irving," Everybody had their shirts, mittens, scarves, and hats on backwards. Isabella had a blue bow instead of pink. Everybody had their coats on. Phineas took out his construction hat and put it on, and Ferb did the same. "Let's build that snow globe and Frog Leaper." Everybody agreed and went to work.
When everything was built and they were all in the snow globe, Phineas turned to his friends.
"Let's seize the day until we have to wait four more years until the next Leap Day." Everyone agreed with a cheer. "This is going to be the best Leap Day ever!"