June 5 – The Fast and the Phineas

7:20

Ferb Fletcher

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It was an overcast day in London – again – but the plane rose above the rain.

"It's always bright up here," Phineas grinned, looking down at the fluffy tops of the clouds.

Our tickets said he was in the middle seat, and I was by the window, we immediately traded.

I have enough experience flying with Phineas to know that letting him watch the sky and the ground below is extremely entertaining. He tells you fantastic stories without realizing it. They're childish stories, but I loved to listen. "Hey, look," he'd say, pointing down at something I couldn't see. "I betcha that's not really what it looks like. What does it look like? Well, it looks like a lake. But it's really a big puddle of 7up. It's the local soda reservoir. Sure, it used to be a lake, but –" and so on.

Of course, London, his sickness, and his despair had taken a toll on his lively behaviour. His voice was slightly hollow, and his eyes lacked their usual fascinated glow.

And during one particularly interesting story about a pharmacist, pop-up ads, and a wombat, he trailed off so many times I wondered what was wrong.

He caught the look on my face, and laid his head on the folding tray in front of him. He was still for several long minutes, and then he held out his arms.

I knew what he wanted, and handed him Perry, who chattered and snuggled against his chest.

"What did mom say when I ran away?"

"She doesn't know. She thinks she went to live with your dad."

"And Isabella? Does she know? What about Candace?"

I sighed. "Everyone else knows."

"What am I going to say? Who would want to be my friend anymore, after that?"

"I still want to be your brother," I pointed out.

"Yeah, but you're different. Seriously, if Isabella left the neighbourhood, became famous, and totally abandoned all the stuff we were planning on doing, I'd be pretty mad!"

"But if she came back, when it looked like she was never going to? Would that make you angry?"

He stroked Perry, deep in thought, looking out at the clouds as if they held the answers to all the secrets of the world.

Just like I had done, on the ride into London.

Epiphany time, I thought with a smile.

The sun was going down by the time we arrived in Danville. The shadows lay stretched out, sprawled on the ground among the flowers and the gently waving grasses as we walked, side by side, up Maple Drive. There was no pause, no glance between us when we reached our house. We simply walked up the pathway that spanned our yard and knocked on the door.

It was like we had just been out for the day, except for the fact that there were heavy suitcases behind us, and both of us wore backpacks.

There was no answer.

I rang the doorbell.

Still, no answer.

I tried the handle – it was, after all, still my house.

It turned, and we went inside, dumping our luggage on the floor of the living room.

"I wonder where everyone is," Phineas said with a shudder.

I put a hand on his shoulder. Do you really think anything bad happened? The only person who might seek revenge is on his way to prison. We've got nothing to fear.

He got the gist, I think, because he breathed out and looked around.

"Let's check the backyard."

We walked to the back door, and caught voices.

"They're in the backyard!" Phineas exclaimed, and jumped to open the door. I pulled him back – I had a strange urge to hear what they were saying. Were they talking about us? Wouldn't that be serendipitous? If we walked in when they were mourning us? Like in Tom Sawyer?

I pushed my ear against the wood.

There was a babble of conversation, and then my father's voice broke through the murmur.

"We thank you all for your help over the last little while. It was so generous of you to give us so much of your time and energy –"

Huh. Not talking about us after all. But it sounded like they weren't alone, like they had some company.

Oh, well. Company added dramatic effect.

I opened the door.

.

I was right. They weren't alone. The backyard was stuffed with people. It looked like everyone from Maple Drive was here, along with some others. My heart skipped a beat when I noticed Vanessa Doofenshmirtz in the crowd. What was she doing here?

She seemed to sense my gaze, because her eyes flicked in my direction.

Then they widened. A cry died on her lips as she covered her mouth with her hands.

"It's Ferb!"

There was complete silence for a second, and then, one by one, everyone turned to look at Phineas, Perry, and I, standing in the backdoor.

"Um," said Phineas, and his eyes were wet. "I – I'm sorry, everyone. This was all my fault. I was –"

A sound like a tidal wave striking land smothered his speech as everyone in the crowd stood up, crying out and exclaiming and rushing toward us.

The first to reach us were mom and dad, who gathered all three of us up in their arms and held us tight. They were crying and laughing, and everything was confused, everything was a huge jumble of running bodies and shouting neighbours.

But in the midst of the storm, I looked over at Phineas, and he met my gaze. He was smiling. Smiling the biggest smile I'd ever seen on his face.

I had been right. This wasn't an angry crowd, of course not. This was an overjoyed crowd. Because the lost son had come home.

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