Chapter 10
Agent P couldn't remember the last time he knocked on someone's door. He was used to kicking it down, in the case of Doofenshmirtz, or scratching to be let in, as when at home. On his way to Donald Fergusson's home, he looked through the phone's pictures and recent text messages to get an idea of the man's family life. He saw pictures of two women, probably his wife and daughter. The texts all seemed to come from the daughter, who was apparently attending her first year of college and had moved out a few weeks ago. Now as he knocked on the door, he wondered if anybody were even home to answer it, or if they had joined the rest of the city on the boys' float.
After a couple seconds, he heard movement inside, then the plump woman he recognized as Mrs. Fergusson answered the door. "Hello, what may I do for you?" She asked kindly.
Agent P held up a picture of Donald Fergusson on the phone.
"Oh, you want to see my husband? He's not here right now, he's at work. Can I take a message?"
Agent P quickly typed some words into the phone's memo pad, and handed it to the woman to read.
"You want to know where to find him? I'm sorry, but I can't recall him telling me where he was going before he left. You'll have to come by some other time. He's very busy with work this time of year."
Agent P snatched the phone and entered another script, then delivered it back to her hand.
"You know, now that I think about it, he was acting strangely," she replied. "He got home unusually late last night from his walk after dinner, then I saw him wearing a white lab coat earlier today. And in his sleep, he kept muttering, 'obey Doofenshmirtz' over and over. I just thought perhaps he'd had too much caffeine before bed. But it's probably nothing, dear."
Agent P tipped his hat respectfully and walked away. Mrs. Fergusson closed the door and said, "What a nice young lad that was. Oh, why he left his phone here! Poor thing, doesn't seem to be able to talk without it. I'll just leave it by the door in case he comes back. Well, it's getting dark outside. I think I'll go take a short little nap."
The shade from the sky-park had completely enveloped the city. Agent P was grateful that it kept it cooler, but he wished he could throw some light on his case. He was out of clues again, except that the man he sought was probably wearing a lab coat. Now, why on earth did that sound so familiar?
Completely stumped, Agent P looked at his scooter, trying to think of a way to find Donald Fergusson. He knew that returning to Doofenshmirtz Evil Incorporated would be a waste of time, but he couldn't imagine what else he could do at this point. Resigning himself to that plan, he was putting on his helmet when his wrist communicator went off. Monogram needed to speak to him.
Agent P pushed a button and the watch-like device displayed Major Monogram's face. "Oh, there you are Agent P, we've just received news that the Mayor, Roger Doofenshmirtz, is holding a press conference soon. You might want to check it out—you know, Dr. Doofenshmirtz always seems to show up at those. By the way, what's the status on your current mission?"
The look Agent P gave told Monogram exactly what he thought of his mission.
"That bad, huh? Well, keep working on it; I gotta get back to my karaoke machine. I wanna sing!" Monogram awkwardly sang the last three words. "Oh, sorry you had to see that, Agent P; I, uh, thought I'd turned this thing off—I'm just gonna go now." And the communicator clicked dark.
Despite Monogram's strange behaviors, Agent P thought the Major had a good idea. Remembering back, he thought of what Doofenshmirtz had said earlier: "It's going to be on TV soon, you could stay and watch the fireworks!" Wondering what Doofenshmirtz was planning now, he turned the ignition on and put his scooter into gear.
Hot, tired, and flustered, Candace stared unenthusiastically at the map in front of her. "Oh, this is useless. It's just too big! Mom, why did you have to pick this day of all days to make busting impossible?" she murmured. "All you would've had to do is look up at the sky and see it!" Taking stock, she realized she needed a better plan than just running about willy-nilly. But it was hard to think right now.
Ever since she had arrived, her busting urge had been going overboard. She had tried calling her mother again, but the result was the same as always. Still, her urge was sapping her concentration. The baking sun wasn't helping either. Frustrated, she pushed the urge aside and said, "What I need right now is a cool place where I can sit and rest while I keep searching the ship."
In the ironic luck Danville always seems to provide those in need, she suddenly heard a voice call out, "All aboard! Ride the Fun Train and you'll see everything Phineas and Ferb's 'Make Summer Last Forever' has to offer! Air conditioned cars are now available!"
Candace twisted around to find the source, but her eyes gravitated to something completely unexpected. There's Jeremy! He was holding his little sister Suzy's hand, helping her into a car a third of the way down the train. Immediately Candace called out his name and sprinted to catch him.
"Jeremy! Jeremy, wait!"
The cool blonde-headed boy turned when he heard his name, and said, "Oh, hey Candace! What's up?"
"Can I ride the train with you and Suzy?" she asked.
"Certainly, I'm sure Suzy won't mind, will you?" he directed to his sister.
Candace looked up to see an evil grin flash across the young girl's face, as if she had just learned her birthday had come early. Then it was sweet and innocent again, as she said, "Yes, Candace! Please ride the train with us! It will be very fun!" Jeremy didn't seem to catch the camouflaged emphasis she put on very.
"Alright, hop in." Jeremy held out his hand for Candace to steady herself as she stepped in. Once they were all settled in cushioned seats, he asked, "So, what have you been up to today? Some party your brothers decided to throw, eh?"
"Oh, yeah, well, you know how they are, always making crazy stuff," Candace said nervously. She had just realized she was sweating from being outside, so she had chosen to sit across from Jeremy instead of next to him like she normally would have preferred. She wondered if he had noticed when he held her hand to help her in. Automatically wiping it against her skirt, she tried to keep him talking. "What about you? Been up here long?"
"Yeah. I was supposed to work today, but when your brothers made that announcement over the city this morning, I think everybody packed up and closed to come here. My boss said I could take the day off. You gotta admit, this thing is pretty cool." Jeremy watched her to see if she would show any signs of busting today.
"Yep, it sure is." Candace said, laughing to hide her insecurities. Jeremy seemed to relax, so she thought it worked. "I'm actually looking for my brothers right now," she continued. "You haven't seen them by chance?"
"Nope, Suzy and I have been driving bumper cars and getting snow cones together; but I think your brothers seek a higher road than the one Suzy's old enough for."
"Bubble!" Suzy squeaked, causing her and Jeremy to giggle as if it was their special joke.
After a moment's pause, Jeremy looked inquisitively at Candace and asked, "Is everything okay, Candace? You look like you're worried about something."
"Yeah, Candace, what's the matter?" Suzy asked sweetly. A little too sweetly, Candace thought.
Was Candace worried? For sure. Every school in the Tri-State Area had gone missing. Did she want to tell Jeremy? Yes, eventually. But she absolutely didn't want to show weakness in front of Suzy. "It's—nothing. Just been a long day, that's all. You know, with school starting tomorrow, and everything." Candace tried to muster up some cheerfulness to make it sound convincing. "Can't wait to see what classes we have together, right Jeremy?" she smiled.
"Right. It should be interesting," he smiled back.
Suddenly Suzy looked upset. "Jeremy, what's going to happen after you finish high school? Once you've graduated, what are you going to do then?" she asked.
"Well, I don't really know yet, Suzy. I'm thinking about going to college to study music, but I haven't really made up my mind. I'm just gonna take it easy and try not to rush things."
"Okay. When do you graduate, Candace?" the precocious toddler asked.
"I don't graduate until another year after Jeremy does."
"What if he goes to college, and you don't see him for a whole year? Will you still be his girlfriend? I wouldn't want you to split up over the difficulties long-distance relationships create," she said, receiving an, 'aww, that's sweet' from Jeremy. Candace instead shot her a glare, knowing full well what she was implying. Suzy returned a wicked smile to the redhead across from her, knowing she had struck gold.
At that moment, the train started moving, and the driver introduced himself over an intercom and informed the riders he would be their tour guide.
"About time," Candace said, turning to see the motion through the window. "Can you guys help me watch? I'm gonna try to see if I can find my brothers."