my ponderings
Since the Diffys most often use food references for inappropriate interjections, and Mandy Teslow calls her daughter "pumpkin buns," "love muffin," and the like, did you ever wonder if the Diffys think that Mrs. Teslow is swearing at Keely day in and day out? Me, too.
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Why'd Pickford pick H.G. Wells to dedicate their Jr./Sr. High School to?
After all, Herbert lost his university scholarship because he couldn't do the work, moved in to his uncle's house while teaching part-time at unc's school for girls and part-time tutoring his students. Next Herbie married his cousin living in his uncle's house, four years later he left his wife-cousin for one of the students that he tutored, has some children, later has two kids out of wedlock by two different women while still married to his second spouse.
Wells doesn't sound like the kind of role model that the Pickford school board would hire as a teacher, let alone approve dedicating a school after, does he?
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Do you think that Phil of the Future was really canceled because Aly had a growth spurt and the suits upstairs didn't think we could handle her four inches taller than Ricki? Me, too!
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Didya' ever wonder if the people who canceled Phil of the Future even work at Disney anymore, or if they, too, were canceled after their monumental blunder? Me, too.
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Do you wonder why I don't own Phil of the Future?
Me neither.
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The F-Word – Chapter Four -- "The Truth Is What We Say It Is"
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HELP
Darkness
co-co-cold w-wha-water
can't feel the bottom
can't swim forever
there's something alive moving in the water ...
... guess I won't have to swim forever
Touching Me!
Mommy!
in the blackness I hear a voice:
"Such a nice man. What could be taking her so long?"
"Grr-Rwaw-aw-awk!" "Grrwawkk!" "Rrarrorrh!"
What's around me? Is it hungry? It didn't sound full. It didn't sound alone, either!
Mommy!
SLAM! Light from above. It scares them. No, I only wish that it scares them. Teeth -- Lots of Teeth!
Is someone else falling down? I just see a couple of dangling legs.
Darkness again.
Did someone say, "NO-o-O!" when the light came back on?
I think that I"m in a bad place. Maybe THE Bad Place.
mommy.
More light. This time with a blue beam.
The water's getting colder fast -- it's, it's frozen. The Teeth are frozen in mid-chomp.
I'm saved!
"I'm Sav--quawk"
"There, that oughta do it. One outta two ain't bad," Pim comforted herself in catching at least Hackett in a trap. She made sure that the Omnimatic Grabifier on her left hand was secure before activating it to retrieve the pygmy penguin from the cavity in the ice that Neil Hackett had occupied just a moment before. "Come here, ya little Neilguin, you. Mama says, 'Today, PengGooIns can fly.'"
Up the shaft rose the Hackguin, "Squack? Squawk! Squawk!" the astonished penguin protested as Pim kept him levitated in mid-air even as he cleared the trapdoor's frame.
"Squack!" the Hackguin still protests as Pim keeps him levitated between the floor and her other partially-gloved hand. Grabbing the Neilguin's neck, out the door Pim took her charge without the tell-tale blue shimmering of the graviton energy field generated by the 22nd Century hand-ware. Down the stairs, concentrating on keeping her grip on the vice-principal's feathery neck, Pim neglected to notice the outstretched lovers lying on the lawn – too late! "Peep?" The surprise pseudo-penguin found himself free, if almost squished by Pim's fallen frame. "Squack! Squack, squack, squack, squack SQUACK! He made a beeline, er, penguindart to his territory next door, behind him Pim cursing every item on a dessert menu.
"Hey Sis, finally got your date to dress for the formal?" quipped Phil in a stealthy attempt to catch his breath, forgetting how quickly Pim could change her focus to his own demise, or that of his Keely. Fortunately for Phil, there was no time for small talk, as Pim had to catch the small, but swift flightless waterfowl.
Fortunately for her, Pim's quarry was headed back to his own territory, his backyard. The 'guin cut through the wrought-iron gate and tried to get in through the back door. Pim was on his, uh, tail; she wizrded the gate's lock open and found the tiny penguin too short to reach the doorknob. The bird saw her and dove into the only water around, the prized semi-precious koi pond. "Dinner and a show?" quipped Pim, pulling up a white resin lawn chair for a better view.
Back on Diffys' front lawn, Keely had made a discovery that night, "Phil, we have an audience." Following the direction of her gaze Phil found his parents looking overly pleased with the sight of the children on their lawn. The youngsters smiled and waved and their counterparts inside the house did the same and with more enthusiasm. Much more. This made one of the couples start to feel self-conscious. Together, the pair made their way to the south side of the house. "Phil, where are we going?"
"The backyard will be a little more private."
"From the rest of the world, yes, but you saw your parents. What makes you think that they won't just follow us and watch us from the back?" As usual, Keely was right and just as predictably, Phil had a solution. Wizrd time. Instantly, the garbage can with "182" spray painted on one side was transformed into a pair of ladders going up each side of the chimney.
"Meet you at the top of the world." While they climbed they could hear Lloyd and Barbara rushing around inside the house from room to room searching for glimpse of their missing entertainment for the night; Lloyd calling out for the location of his camera. Each grabbing a hold of the iron retaining poles steadying the home's chimney, they swung underneath the poles, braced their feet against the chimney and settled in for their sought after privacy.
"Make a wish."
"Can't. I've everything I want."
"Everything?"
"In total."
It's not as hard as one might think to make out on a rooftop. It's a little cold, but if you're properly distracted, the chill is hardly noticeable.
"Philly – sorry."
"Huh, what? Why?"
"You know, I almost said ... why don't you like that ... never mind, you don't have to ..."
Phil nuzzled into the crook of Keely's neck. "You mean that you never knew? We have no secrets from each other, Keels. Not now or ever. I'll tell you anything." Phil sat up. "Marla Beauregard and the coco-nana smoothie stain? She constantly called me Philly-Willy, so when you call me that right after Marla was gone, it brought up that unwelcomed experience. Now though, I only flash on your smile when you say it."
It all made sense now to Keely. "Never again. I never realized. From now on ..."
"I'm fine with it now. Now that we're a couple it feels different and sounds special coming from you. I'm YOUR Philly-Willy, or Philster, or whatever you call me; just call me. Hey, look. What's Pim doing in Mr. Hackett's backyard?"
"Looks like she's watching a pig in a penguin suit. Look at that bird chow down on Hackett's koi! Gee, so Phil ... what would you like to change about me?
"You're perfect." Keely gave him a disconcerting frown. "What? I mean it."
"Phil, everyone has something. What do I do that drives you crazy? What would you change if you could? What would you ..."
Waving his finger at her, "One does not mess with the Mona Lisa, change Tchaikovsky, or remake Casablanca. One did not desecrate a masterpiece. I'm not going to say this again: 'Do not touch the Teslow!' I love her just as she is." Phil issued Keely a stern smile before putting away his finger. No words, just a thank-you-hug from Keely that Phil enthusiastically threw himself into.
Roving fingers managed to travel all over Keely's back during the hug. She noticed. Weird. Not intrusive, not icky, of course, but she had been noticing that Phil had become fascinated with her back. Weird. Boys are always commenting on girls' breasts, legs, hair, but Phil liked her back. He was mapping it with his every touch. When they were "just friends," he barely hugged back, hardly touching her. Now, his hands were everywhere at once. Well, not everywhere; he wasn't an octopus, but he was an explorer.
Like any teenager, there were things about her body that she didn't like. A blemish here, her nose, the scar on her back. The backward J-shaped scar had occupied the small of her back since that branch scribed it on her when she was four and falling. Right in the small of her back. The first time Phil put his hand there, he didn't react. For her entire teenage life she worried and cringed thinking about boys being repulsed by it. Phil accepted it as a part of her, like an extra rib or her bony elbows. Like his eight toes. How she played with his tootsies, in his room, through his socks in the broadcast room when they were tired, alone and had both kicked off their hot footwear, on the Diffy couch on movie nights while trying to fit four of his long toes in between the spaces of five of her own. Those eight toes weren't ugly and she wouldn't want Phil to Wizrd his feet to a standard compliment of ten for anything. The small of her back, that scar, must have been the same for Phil; his fingers usually started and ended their journeys there. Around Phil, that etching no longer was an imperfection; funny thing was, under his attentions all her features didn't seem like imperfections any longer. They were strangely comforting. He found beauty in all of her and she had learned long ago that Phil's feelings were sincere. They were the perfect couple, or close enough for them. Now that his family was back they would have time to grow up and grow old together. Their future would be the kind that "happily ever after" is all about. They would stand side by side and never be separated.
She squeezed him tighter, feeling his 5 o'clock shadow scratch across the side of her chin, giving her a flash of a long idle memory of her father, a pleasant one. "Whisker-burns," he had called them. Keely looked into her fiancé's eyes yet again, ready to tell him, "Phil – why's your medallion glowing?"
"What?! NO! Not Now! PIM!" He had pulled off his Omkar and was swinging it about to get his sister's attention in the next yard.
Pim was slow to respond; it was just her brother, after all, but when she saw that blue Disney-like glow arcing back and forth on the roof of her house, she checked her own pendant, also glowing. Almost imperceivably two words escaped her mouth, "Smart dust." They were coming. They wouldn't be stopped and not even Pim the First could defeat them.
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The Finish of Keely and Phil?
Finito?
Or just a cliffhanger?
Only the penguin knows for sure.
Yeah, right.
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Thanks again to WhiteRose6136 for having this story continue, getting the credit or blame, as always.
Additionally, I'd like to extend warm greetings to the return of some legendary PotF writers:
Samantha J. Mulder,
sureaLpink, and
Sultan Peppershaker.
It's great to have you back! Check their stories out and send them a wave.