"Collins, come into my office please." My editor shouting my name over the whole floor, this should be good. And with that I mean I was probably in trouble, as usual. I let out a sigh and looked for a supporting look in my co-workers eye. "You'll be fine Jane." She said. She would always say the nice thing, but the brave comment didn't reach her eyes. "Thank Mel." I mumbled and walked into the office.
"You wanted to see me m'am?" I asked as politely as I could. Mrs. George was not one to hand out compliments to everyone, to put it very nicely. "That last piece, about the High school teacher. It was horrible, completely unbelievable. He said he designed a portal to Mars when he was what, eleven? His friends traveled through time and they build at least three gigantic slides. I'm not buying it, anyone with a decent brain wouldn't. If the man was that boring, don't write the article. Don't make me print utter nonsense. This is the third interview you have given me that is garbage material. I even got you into the Mayor's office! And everytime you give me stories like this." I tried to cut through her words, defend my writing. They all told me that themselves. And that hag didn't get me into the Mayor's office, I did. They did everything to keep Mrs. George and her reporters out. I was just lucky enough to know Mayor Isabella Shapiro-Garcia. "I'm sorry, but we're letting you go. You are obviously to fantastical to write objective stories." Before I could even say anything, I was fired. I'm sorry, yeah right.
I was walking back to my appartment, it wasn't that far away from the office. Handeling my box while fumbling with the lock and pushing the door open with my back, proved quite a challenge. I felt two hands taking my box from me and opening the door so I could walk in with at least a bit of my dignity left. "Hey, my… Oh Ferb. Thanks." A twenty-something year old boy with green hair was holding my box under one arm and the door with the other. I took my box back and walked in. "Come in, do you want some tea? The box, yeah I was fired. That editor had it out for me from the beginning. She didn't believe my interviews with Isabella and Baljeet. She said I must have made those up to make my story interesting, like I would need giant robots to write something interesting. No offence to your robots. But I could make growing grass interesting to read." Ferb just let me vent while I made us some tea. He never talked much anyway. My rant had reached a pause and it was al just sinking in. I had no job anymore, I needed to find new work. How was I going to pay for the appartment, what if I had to move out. I loved this building. I had great friends here. Phineas, Ferb and Isabella all lived in the penthouse above my place, If I had to move I would lose the best neighbours I ever had. I had been gripping the counter when I felt Ferb's hand on my back. "You'll be fine Jane." He always the right thing to say, as if he was phsycic or something. I just turned around and gave him a big hug, which he returned. "I need to find a new job soon if I want to be able to pay my rent." I sighed when I let Ferb go. The tea was now done and we sat down on the couch. Ferb's phone rang, the display showed Phineas on the other end in his labcoat. "Hey bro, are you almost done at home? We're about to fire this baby up." The boys had made their own videophones from scratch so Phineas was now pointing at a huge rocket engine behind him. "Weren't you working on submarine thing?" I asked. "Oh, you're with Jane, Hi Jane, what are you doing home so soon?" Phineas asked, knowing his brother wouldn't say much. Hence the VIDEOphones. "Hi Phineas, I'm fired. Ferb helped me with my box and door. I made tea, want some?" The boys laboratory was down the street. There they worked on their inventions, sometimes even for big institutions like NASA or the army. They never builded weapons, but vehicles and transmission devices were no problem. "Oh that's too bad about your job. But you never liked that boss anyway right? Hey come over I have an idea." Phineas had closed his end of the line, only to pop it back on instantly. "And bring that tea, you make an even better brew that Ferb. And that's saying something." And the screen was black again. I just looked at Ferb, he already had a thermoscan ready and was pouring in his tea. I guess I was going to the lab. "For the record." I started when Ferb handed me my coat. "I love your tea." That earned me a lovely smile from the young Brit.
"Okay Phineas, what is it this time. Because I'm not trusting you in a space ship again." I said when me and Ferb entered the lab. "Are you ever going to let me live that swamp planet down?" Phineas joked while sliding from a ladder. "Oh good you brought the tea. And no, we're not going to space today. Ferb is determined to show you at least one planet you like though." Phineas nudged at his step-brother, Ferb just rolled his eyes. "What I wanted to show you is right here. If Ferb is okay with it of course." Phineas was leading us to a high tech office space in the front corner of the lab. "What are you saying Phineas?" I had an idea, but I needed to be sure. "Ferb?" Phineas looked at his brother who just nodded exitedly. "We want you to come work for us. We need someone to keep track of all of our inventions and adventures. We have read your writing, you're amazing with words. We could think of no-one better to chronicle it all." Phineas aid with a big gesture to the paper and computer. "You'd be doing some secretary stuff too, but mostly writing. What do you think?" I was slightly flabbergasted. "Phin.. Ferb.. This is… It's… Off course I'm in. This is the opportunity of a life time for a writer. To be this close to the action, and working with you guys." I was rambling and decided that my opinion was best shown in a hug. So I hugged Phineas. "Easy now, I'm a married man." He joked. I let go with a chuckle and went to give Ferb another hug. It was always nice to hug Ferb, he was a good hugger. Always holding me just a bit tighter that another might do. "Thank you, both of you."
And that's how I started my career as Phineas and Ferb's personal writer.