"Fireside Diaries"
Story Written by Freedom Fighter
This is the final entry of 'Fireside Fantasy Month' sitting in front of you! Yes, it's been fun, but after this, we're moving on to bigger and better things!
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: The characters of 'Phineas and Ferb' belong to Disney.
Inside the Fireside Girls' lodge...
"You all did a nice job and all," Holly proclaimed, "but it's time you let 'The Master' do her thing!"
Isabella giggled. "'The Master,' huh? Well, have at it!"
Isabella got up, relinquishing the chair to Holly. Once she was sitting down in front of the computer, Holly went right to work, typing furiously. Isabella and Gretchen looked on, curious as to what tale Holly would tell...
...a few seconds later, Holly stopped typing. But this was not the same Holly from before. This Holly... was 16 years old! Even stranger, everything around her was in black and white, from the clothes she was wearing to the large tree which could be seen from a nearby window.
Entry #418 - Written by Holly
It started like an ordinary after school day. Only there was no color, as everything was in black and white. The only songs that could be heard coming from the radio were of the jazz variety, played only by saxophones. I'm wearing a floral print dress from the '30s... and TOTALLY rockin' it, by the way! And yet, here I am typing in front of a computer while eating orapple slices from a bowl. Yes, orapple. An orange inside an apple.
The world will be full of confusing anachronisms in five years, for sure.
But none of that matters. What does matter is that I'm a junior at Danville High, and I'm the star reporter for the school newspaper. Seriously! Newspapers WILL still be around! My editor told me she needed a hard-hitting piece for this week's paper. For some reason, she shot down my idea to investigate why we're all suddenly five years older than in the last episode and will mysteriously regress back to our actual ages next week. But, hey, her loss.
Problem is, I haven't been able to come up with anything else.
A quick look at Holly's screen showed that all she had typed was 'I need a story idea right now or else I'm going to scream.'
Suddenly, it hit me like a ton of bricks!
Holly ducked underneath the table, just avoiding being hit by flying bricks, which all hit the computer monitor, destroying it instantaneously.
Well, it hit the computer...
"Not my fault!" Holly shouted out loud, as she came back out.
Holly ignored the mess and went over to the bulletin board. Normally, it was to be used only by those on the newspaper staff. But occasionally another student would manage to staple a flyer or something on it without the staff's knowledge, and it would usually stay up there until the end of the week.
I saw a flyer put up here yesterday that didn't belong, and was hoping that it was still here. Luckily, the editor hadn't seen it yet, so it was!
Holly read the flyer aloud.
"'When there's a mystery to be solved, get in touch with us, the Gumshoe Gals! Interested in joining or have a case to be solved? We meet every Wednesday after school! For emergencies, call 555-GUMSHOE.'"
I've heard about these Gumshoe Gals. In the last two weeks alone, they found out who let the frogs out of the science wing, who bent the Math Club's prized protractor and straightened it into a plain ruler, and what meat is actually in the school's mystery meat.
Spoiler alert: none. Completely vegetarian.
But there are many more mysteries in high school to be solved! And they're just the team to do it! Problem is, no one's going to give them jobs if they don't know who they are. And no one knows who they are because they're never there at the end. They leave a calling card and a summary report detailing everything. Even the people they've busted don't know who they are.
That's where I come in!
Holly pulled out her cell phone and dialed the number on the flyer.
-
Entry #418 [FSD312] - The Gumshoe Gals (02.18.03)
-
20 minutes later, I found myself biting into another orapple as I sat at a dining room table inside the house of the leader of the Gumshoe Gals.
Holly then heard the detectives walk into the room behind her. Holly spun around so that she was now facing backwards in the chair. And, more importantly, was now looking at the team she was going to profile.
"How come you never told me you guys were detectives? Isabella, I thought we were friends!"
"Sorry," Isabella apologized, "but I didn't think it was important. Besides, you're busy with the paper and all."
Meet the Gumshoe Gals! First, there's Isabella, the leader. She's great at keeping the team organized, and her main job is to make the busting plan! It was also her idea for them to keep their secret identities at first.
The second member of the team stepped forward, to Isabella's right.
"Gretchen," Isabella said to her, "you have the prepared primer so Holly can get up to speed on our current case?"
"Yes!" she replied, meekly.
Second is Gretchen, the brains. Although Isabella's pretty smart in her own right, it's Gretchen that usually puts all the pieces together and compiles the evidence.
"Thanks," Holly said, taking the document.
On Isabella's left entered the third person on the squad. And she had a digital camera in hand, which she gave to Holly.
"If you're taking pictures for the article, I want to use this! It's the only camera in the world good enough to capture me in the best light!"
And this is Katie, the pretty one. Yeah... that's all she has going for her. And last, but not least...
The final member of the team sprinted into the dining room, passing underneath Isabella, and then leaping up onto Holly's lap. He then started licking her face, to which Holly responded with childish giggles.
...Pinky. The mascot, the bait, the clue-finder, and the one who always gets the last word.
"Okay, Pinky, quit it!" Holly laughed as she pulled Pinky from her face. "I missed seeing you too, okay?"
She then handed Pinky to Isabella, who gave her dog a gentle stroke on the head.
Now that the whole team's been introduced, I guess I can talk about the case that they're currently working on.
Holly glanced down at the primer Gretchen had handed her for the first time, and the first thing she noticed on it was a photo of Adyson.
That's Adyson Sweetwater. We all know her really well. We're all friends with her, after all. But I've noticed that she's being acting strange as of late... and apparently her 'rents have noticed too, since they're the clients.
It all seemed to start last week, when she started acting out of character. Even for her. She had become distant. She didn't want to hang out with us when we wanted to go out. She even stopped sitting with us at lunch! But even after all that, we all just found those to be minor quibbles. At the time, Isabella said she was stressed out about something, and we should wait a few days to see if Adyson could work it out on her.
That was not to be the case.
Three days ago, on Monday, Adyson spontaneously quit Student Council, the Mock Trial Team, and the Fashion Club, all within a matter of minutes! Then, in the most shocking twist of all, she turned in her softball uniform and quit the varsity team, the day BEFORE the start of the season! She was going to be only the third junior in school history to be the starting pitcher on opening day! She had been dreaming of that moment ever since she helped lead the JV team to a state title last year! There's no way she would've given that up! Something had to be wrong!
To make matters worse, her parents told us that Adyson didn't even come home last night. And when they called her, all she told them was that "she was at a friend's place, and that she was fine." But, naturally, when they learned from all of us that Adyson was lying about that, they decided that something had to be done before the worst could happen.
"And that's basically what they hired us for," said Isabella, who had been telling the story Holly had just paraphrased in narration, only in more detail. "We need to find Adyson and figure out what's going on with her. Suggestions?"
Katie raised her hand.
"I think she's into the d-word!"
Everyone in the room gasped. Katie reached into her purse and pulled out her proof. A clear plastic bag, filled a quarter of the way up, with a white, powdery substance.
"See?"
Without warning, Gretchen had opened the bag, had picked up a pinch of the substance, and had put it in her mouth. Katie gave her a 'are you crazy' look, but Gretchen quickly explained herself.
"Katie. This is sugar."
"Oh."
Again, in case you forgot... Katie's the pretty one.
Suddenly, the phone on the wall rang. Because, even five years into the future, Isabella still had a landline... that her family was actively using.
"Hello?" she asked upon answering.
After a short conversation that ended in Isabella giggling, she hung up.
"That was you-know-who... he said he got a tip that someone saw Adyson at that new burger place in the southern suburbs."
"Yet's yoll, yadies!" exclaimed Pinky, in human speak.
Did I forget to mention that Pinky can TALK? How Hanna-Barbera!
"It's a work-in-progress. Anyway, let's get down to that place before Adyson leaves."
"Okay," Isabella said to Holly as the group walked in through the front door, "stay back. Who knows how she'll react."
Holly nodded, then remained by the door as the Gumshoe Girls walked up to the counter.
Just as we expected, there was Adyson behind the counter, passing a dine-in order to a waiting family of three.
"Here's your order, sir! Have a nice day!"
"Thank you!" said the father, in gratitude.
They headed for an open table, with the mother picking up and carrying their five-year old son all the way there. Adyson had a smile on her face, pleased to have made another patron's day.
She seems rather happy for someone who hasn't been at school since Monday. Something doesn't feel right.
Adyson faced forward once more to greet the next customer...
"Welcome to Patty Queen! What is thy order?"
...only to be surprised to see Isabella and the others walking up. Adyson had only one response to that.
Picking up a bunch of super-sized drink cups and chucking them at Isabella.
"HEY!" cried Isabella, as she and the others were pelted.
Adyson then took off, running towards the back. Isabella rolled her eyes.
"UGH! Why do perps always run?"
With that, the group got behind the counter and started chasing after Adyson. In turn, Holly followed them, intending to report everything.
"STOP!" shouted Isabella.
Adyson ran past a co-worker and the fryer she was standing next to. At her associate's feet was an empty box, which she kicked into her pursuers' path. Isabella managed to leap over it, but Gretchen was not as lucky, tripping over her own two feet and falling face-first into the cardboard container. It temporarily held up Katie and Holly, but Pinky was able to jump on Gretchen's back and continue on, unimpeded.
Adyson managed to make it out the back door, and she proceeded to sprint across the shopping center parking lot, in the direction of a nearby supermarket. Isabella was a few strides behind, followed by Pinky, who did not take long to overtake his master. Adyson knew that, despite her athletic ability, if left unimpeded, Pinky would catch her before she got into the grocery store.
So the brunette grabbed a grocery cart from a woman by a minivan who had just finished unloading it, and pushed it Pinky's direction. The chihuahua avoided injury by jumping into the cart's undercarriage, which was usually reserved for bigger items. But in turn, not only was his momentum stopped, but he was now headed in the wrong direction. His detour was hastily halted by Isabella, who put her hands out in front of her to stop the cart before it could drift into traffic.
By the time Isabella got Pinky out, Adyson was just five feet away from the supermarket's doors. Thankfully, Gretchen and Katie were now out of the restaurant and had picked up the lead in the chase.
Once inside the grocery store, the two girls split up. Gretchen headed for the bakery, while Katie went for the meat section. Just as the latter reached the swinging double doors into the butcher's area, she was stopped by one of its workers, holding a plastic-wrapped piece of New York strip steak that had been sliced into quarter-inch-thick pieces.
"Here you go!" 'he' said, handing it to Katie.
"Thanks!" said Katie happily.
The 'guy' then started slowly walking towards the seafood counter, instead of back to where he had come from. Katie, strangely, thought nothing odd of it.
That was until she noticed that a fake mustache - the one that had been on the guy's face when he had first come out - was now resting atop her meat.
"WAIT!"
The 'guy' spun around, and without her mustache on, Katie clearly could see that the butcher was actually Adyson in disguise!
"GRETCHEN! ADYSON'S OVER HERE!"
Adyson started running again, and it did not take long for her to leap over the seafood counter and disappear in the back. She eventually made it out to the alley behind the supermarket. She closed the door she had exited from behind her, and then ran for the near side of the building.
"They'll never catch me now!" Adyson thought aloud.
She turned the corner, and was promptly knocked on her back thanks to a flying tackle from Isabella, who happened to be waiting for her.
"It's over, Adyson! Give up!"
Out of options, Adyson had no choice but to surrender.
Five minutes later, the entire group was now sitting on the curb in front of the store. Adyson was holding up a small plastic bag full of ice up to the back of her head with her left hand, nursing the bump she had received as the result of Isabella's tackle.
The Gumshoe Girls were gathered around her. Isabella was interrogating Adyson as Holly took notes for her story.
"The reason I haven't been at school and quit everything," Adyson explained, "was that my life changed recently. I'm currently in a financial crisis. See, I volunteered to be a partner in a startup business. Problem is, between the two of us, we don't have quite enough upfront to cover start-up expenses. So we came to a decision. He finds a way to get all the materials; I get a job to help pay for them. Being restricted to a max of 15 hours a week won't amount to much, but it's all that's allowed. I had to quit the softball team and all those clubs 'cause I don't have time for them."
"But you do realize that staying in school is a requirement of having a permit, right? Adyson, you could get it revoked just for skipping one day, much less three!"
"I know, I know! I was planning to go back tomorrow, but I was still trying to figure out how to cover up my unexcused absences! I'm... I'm not proud of what I'm doing."
Isabella put a comforting hand on Adyson's shoulder.
"You could've come to us for help. We're all your friends."
"Yeah, but... I'm just so ashamed of myself for what I've done!"
"It's okay! Sometimes, we're forced to do things we're not proud of. But now it's time to go in a different direction. We're here to help, Adyson! Let us help you!"
Adyson tried to fight back a tear, but she was unsuccessful.
"Alright."
Isabella, Gretchen, Katie, and Holly all got around Adyson and hugged her all at once. After staying that way for a few seconds, they all backed away.
"We need to get you back in school," Isabella told Adyson, "so the first thing we need to do is get you out of this business deal."
"That's... gonna be tough..."
20 minutes later, the group was standing inside a closed-down donut shop. The counter and the display cases had been left behind, albeit now dusty and somewhat in need of repair, but otherwise, the place was empty.
"You were planning to open a cupcake shop?" asked Isabella.
"Yeah! They're all the rage!"
"Yeah, like, five years ago. Adyson, what were you thinking? Even for you, this is beyond farfetched! How did you agree to this without thinking it through?"
Adyson shrugged her shoulders. "My partner's very... convincing?"
"Well, I for one think he's snookered you! We've got to find a way to get you out of this mess. Where is he?"
"He's right there!"
Adyson was pointing at the door, which was being opened at that very moment. Everyone gasped upon seeing the teenager walking in, with a nearly-full brown paper bag cradled in his arms.
So who's the guy who's led Adyson down this path of truancy and un-achievable dreams? Why, it's the boyfriend.
It's ALWAYS the boyfriend.
"What are you skirts doing in my shop? We're not open yet!"
Isabella's eyes narrowed as she walked over to have a talk with Adyson's boyfriend.
"Buford Van Stomm! I knew you were a bad influence on Adyson from the day you two first start dating! And now I have proof!"
Buford, though, did not seem worried.
"You don't know what you're talking about!"
Isabella reached into Buford's bag and pulled something out of it before he could stop her. The others, particularly Adyson, were shocked when they saw what Isabella was now holding in her hands.
A plastic bag of partially-thawed duck meat.
"I dunno how that got in there!" Buford exclaimed.
Pinky jumped up and ripped a hole in the side of the paper. One by one, more plastic bags slid out of the bag and fell to the floor, landing at Buford's feet. When all was said and done, the amount of duck meat easily totaled around eight pounds.
"Adyson's dream was to open up a cupcake shop. But that wasn't Buford's. He wanted to open up a small restaurant that served a menagerie of items. The main ingredient in all of them? DUCK!"
Buford gasped. "That's plop, and you know it!"
"Oh, do I?"
The evidence was displayed before all of them. Gretchen had pulled a cart from the back that had a three-pound bag of bread crumbs and two one-gallon jugs of fryer oil on it. Katie was holding a binder that had potential cupcake ideas on the first few pages and sketches of duck-laden items, including what appeared to be the shop's signature item, duck nuggets, in the back. Finally, Holly pulled Baljeet from the kitchen. He was dressed as a chef, complete with dry sweat, grease, and certain red-colored stains on his apron.
"I am enslaved!" cried Baljeet.
Buford was attempting to explain it all away, but by now Adyson had heard enough, and she was going to put her foot down.
"I thought we had agreed that the only way this was going to work was if we did my cupcake shop! But to come here and learn that you intended to go ahead with your duck-themed restaurant scheme anyway... that, that hurts, Buford!"
"But..."
"Three-quarters of the money we've put into this shop was from my savings! It was MY money! MY MONEY! Buford, I was saving that for college!"
"You won't need college after you see how much money we make off of duck nuggets!"
Adyson sighed.
"Buford. The reason I didn't want to do your duck idea is... that it's illegal."
Buford was stunned. "Wha?"
Isabella nodded. "Congress passed the law three months ago. You can go to the jail for being in possession of any amount of deceased fowl meat for consumption by yourself or others."
"Oh. That explains all this then."
Buford was referring to the cop car that was now parked in front of the shop. And the two police officers that were now standing on either side of him. Or, most importantly, that he was now in handcuffs.
With that, the Gumshoe Gals' latest case was closed! Isabella and the others found out what had happened to Adyson, they got her wishy-washy boyfriend busted for illegal possession, and now not only will everyone at school finally know who they are, but so will the rest of Danville.
Something tells me that the Gumshoe Gals are going to be swamped with new cases for weeks to come.
And they'll have me, the school's intrepid new star reporter, to thank!
At the Fireside Girls' lodge, and finally back in color...
"And... SEND!"
Holly clicked the 'send' button with the mouse, which posted all four fantasy entries, including her own, to the troop's online blog.
"That was pretty good," Isabella admitted. "Just one thing..."
"Yeah?"
"How is that fantasy?"
"You're kidding, right? Seeing Buford date any of us, particularly Adyson, is TOTAL fantasy."
Isabella thought about it for a second.
"Huh. Can't argue with that logic. I guess I've got no choice but to award with the Fantasy Storyteller Patch!"
"Second!" agreed Gretchen, without hesitation.
"Cool! Thanks!"
Holly got up from her seat, and the trio headed for the storage bin where all of the rarer patches were held.
"Let's just hope Adyson doesn't find out about this," Isabella said aloud.
"She's too busy to worry about a little tall tale," Holly replied.
Holly knew that for sure, but probably not for the reason Isabella was thinking at that moment. It did not matter anyway.
The truth would come out soon enough.
End Entry
Author's Notes:
And 'Fireside Fantasy Month' ends with a tribute to old-school detectives, with the noir-like setting, a detective team with a mascot that can somewhat speak human, and an over-the-top chase scene (inspired by an underrated Disney 'toon called "Fillmore" - perhaps you've heard of it?). Along with that themed month's conclusion, though, comes the last few sentences of this chapter, which redirects us back to this season's main storyline.
In next week's episode, rumors start spreading on the Internet that get Ginger's undivided attention. But the biggest rumors being spread actually involve Katie, and those might end up putting a fellow classmate's life in jeopardy... and she might not even realize it!