Disclaimer: This work of fiction is based on characters and situations owned by the Walt Disney Company. No copyright infringement is intended, and no profit is being made from this. The followingis purely for entertainment.
The Tell-Tale Caveman
By Jeune Ecrivain
Rating: PG (just to be safe)
Summary: Phil and Keely are now high school sophomores, and Curtis has by this time acquired enough English to recount what Keely tried to tell Phil at the party during the Curtis-Phil body switch episode. What happens when Curtis tells Phil about "the 'j' word"?
Part I
"What this?"
Phil Diffy turned to find who could best be described as his pet caveman gripping his Wizard curiously. He rushed over and plucked it from the Cro-Magnon's hand. "This is a Wizard, Curtis!" he said. "Don't touch it. It's dangerous."
"Curtis know," said Curtis, speaking in the stilted, pidgin English he had managed to acquire by the time Phil was in his sophomore year of high school. "Curtis find in grass, and then Curtis at party. Many people."
Phil knew all to well what Curtis was referring to. How could he forget how his date with Alice had quickly gone south when he and Curtis had accidentally switched bodies two or three times throughout the fancy ball that he had escorted her to. He remembered having to explain himself twice to Alice and once to his best friend Keely Teslow after the whole affair was over. It was naturally easier to explain it to Keely, because he could tell her the truth, which involved 22nd-century-devices that he had to keep a secret from everyone else. Keely was relieved when he told her, because it explained why he had, among other things, sported a flag pole like a spear and threatened a stuffed grizzly bear.
Ultimately, the incident didn't do any real harm. His relationship with Alice was doomed from the start with or without the brain switch because of the fact that he had lied to her to impress her. Still, Phil was in no hurry to have a similar experience again.
"Yes, Curtis. You remember it too, huh? That's why you shouldn't mess with this."
"Curtis want bread, but man not give it," Curtis recounted, referring to the moment when the brain switch had occurred a second time just as Phil was passing the bread to the mayor.
Phil pocketed the Wizard. "Yeah, I know, Curtis," he said with a role of his eyes.
"Curtis see Keely too," Curtis added.
"Yeah, I know. Keely told me," Phil answered, starting to get bored.
Curtis then looked at Phil curiously. "What word 'jealous' mean?"
"Jealous. It's when…uh…someone else has something that you want," Phil answered, wondering where Curtis had heard the word.
"Keely say 'jealous,'" Curtis reported.
"Why would Keely be jealous?"
"When Curtis at party, Keely say she jealous. She say having Phil here with other girl awkward for her. She little jealous."
Phil blinked, not believing at first that he had translated Curtis' broken speech into proper English correctly. He tried a number of possible interpretations, but they either said the same thing as what he first thought or didn't make sense. "Wait a minute. Keely said having me there with Alice was awkward for her? It made her…jealous?"
"Yeah. Keely jealous. Keely want something other girl have."
But that means…Keely wanted me, Phil thought. Dare he believe…that Keely liked him as more than a friend?