Disclaimer: AOL – the original sign of the devil.
Danny woke up the next morning to the sound of the parrot squawking its head off and the smell of home-cooked waffles. That's odd, Danny thought to himself. Mom almost never has time to make breakfast. Better enjoy it while I can, she's probably going to a ghost-hunter's convention or something later on. He quickly dressed and ran downstairs saying, "Hi, mom, hi, dad." "Think fast," his dad said, tossing him a plate. Danny grabbed it as if it were a Frisbee, and then began to pile sausage, waffles, and hash browns onto it. He then grabbed a bottle of maple syrup and drizzled it over the entire plate before pouring a glass of orange juice and sitting down at the table.
Jaz had already sat down and was cutting her waffle into perfect little squares filled with butter. Danny speared a sausage link with his fork and dunked it into a puddle of maple syrup on his plate before biting into it. "Danny, that's sick!" Jaz complained. "Mo-om, Danny's dipping his sausage in his maple syrup and eating it!" "Now, Jazmine," Mrs. Fenton lectured. "If Danny wants to eat his sausage covered in maple syrup, that's fine. He's just expressing his tastes." "Yeah, well I think he's expressing his tastes a little too much," Jaz muttered to herself as Danny put a handful of chocolate chips onto his waffle and then smeared tons of ketchup all over his hash browns. He promptly ate a bite of each and stuck his tongue out at Jaz, still covered in chocolate stains. Jaz made a cross-eyed face at him and turned back to her food. "You know," Danny said with a smirk, "If you cross your eyes like that, your face might just freeze that way." "Mo-om, Danny's being a pest!" Jaz whined. "Danny, stop teasing your sister," Mrs. Fenton replied. Danny gave Jaz a dirty look and then continued to eat his maple syrup-covered sausage.
The doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Danny and Jaz answered at the same time. They started a mad dash to the door, tripping each other to slow themselves down. Danny reached the door first and stuck his tongue out at Jaz before answering. It was Sam and Tucker. "Hey, can you have anyone over right now?" Tucker asked. "Sure," Danny replied. "I just have to clean up from breakfast and then I've got something really, really important to tell you." He glanced at the cut on his hand and then ran into the kitchen to clean up. Sam turned to Tucker. "Does something seem a little off to you around here?" she asked. "You mean besides the fact that the parrot is actually quiet for the first time in its life?" Tucker responded. Sam gave him a dirty look as Danny returned and they went upstairs to his room.
"Whoa, Danny," Sam remarked. "This has got to be the cleanest I've seen your room ever! Are you sure we aren't in your sister's room?" Tucker glanced around at the space posters that decorated the walls and said "Yup. This is Danny's room all right, except it's so clean it puts your sister's room to shame." He strode over to the birdcage in the comer and said, "You know, this bird's actually quiet for once!" Sam shot him another dirty look and strode over to the bird that was now preening its beautiful green feathers. Danny opened the cage and said, "Hey, I taught him a trick. Want to see it?" The other two eagerly nodded. Danny walked over to the center of the room and said, "Here, Mr. Squawkers, here boy!" The bird perked up and turned its head to look at Danny before flying onto his arm. "Mr. Squawkers, what football team in Wisconsin?" Danny asked. "Packers," the bird responded. "What is Vlad?" Danny asked. "Cheesehead," Mr. Squawkers answered. "Good boy," Danny said. "Go home." Mr. Squawkers flew into the birdcage and landed on the perch. Danny bowed as Sam and Tucker applauded him. "Mr. Squawkers, can you sing 'Old McDonald'?" he asked the bird. It began to sing. "Ol' McDonald 'ad a-farm, eh-eye, eh-eye oh! With a squawk-squawk here, squawk-squawk, ev'rywhere a squawk-squawk! 01' McDonald 'ad a-farm, eh-eye, eh-eye oh!"
Sam and Tucker applauded yet again as Danny bowed yet again. "How did you get him to do that?" Tucker asked, dumbfounded. "I used treats and patience, like every good bird trainer would do," Danny responded. "But guys, that's not the important part. What is important is what happened last night. I think the bird got out somehow and got zapped by the Fenton Portal. I think this bird is some king of ghost-parrot hybrid now." "Oh, great," Tucker said, "Now Dash is totally gonna kill you!" "I know," Danny said. "And look what he did to my hand last night!" He showed them the now scabbed-over cut on his hand. "Ouch," Sam and Tucker said in unison. Danny turned to Mr. Squawkers and said "Mr. Squawkers, ghost Squawkers." The bird squawked and switched into its ghost mode. "Good boy," Danny said, allowing the bird to land on his arm again. Danny switched into his ghost mode as well and shouted "Come on!" Sam and Tucker followed him into the lab where they found that the portal had been opened. The box ghost peeked out, saw Danny and the bird and quickly left back into the ghost zone. Before Danny could do anything else, Mr. Squawkers flew after into the portal as it automatically closed, sealing the gap between Danny's house and the ghost dimension.
NOOOOOOO! Come back birdie, come back!