Chapter 4
(on I-55, near Batesville, 7:30am)
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"No!"
"Are we there yet?"
"For the last time, Candace, no! Just be patient! We're only 68 miles away from our family outing!" Linda glared, momentarily glancing at the rear mirror before concentrating back on driving on the interstate. "We still have to meet up with the other moms over in Batesville for breakfast."
"Fine, Mom..." Candace muttered as she leaned her head against the window. Row after row of trees were passing her by as if life were moving too fast for the almost-sixteen year old.
"Ugh...so boring..." she complained. Candace took out her cell phone and noticed that she only had one bar of signal strength.
Great…now I won't be able to reach Jeremy for a couple of hours… Candace griped, and then turned to her two brothers. And I have to deal with my brothers who are driving me to my wits end! But once I bust them for…whatever idea they come up with…, my elusive goal will be achieved! She smirked and grinned at both of them. However, Phineas wasn't even paying attention to his sister at all. He and Ferb were still captivated by some of the works of Mark Twain.
"Wow! This is exciting, Ferb! Can you imagine what life can be like on the Mississippi River? Just feeling the breeze through our straw hats, catching catfish as big as a car!" Phineas exclaimed over the attributes of the Great Father of Rivers.
That's it, Phineas… Candace thought to herself. Say what I think you're going to do…wait…that's not how it goes! Okay, let's do it over again. Say what I believe you always say…. Ugh…messed it up again!
"Still, I don't know what we're going to do today yet, Ferb!" Phineas said to his brother. "I know that it's early in the morning, but we do need to come up with an idea soon! Right, Perry and Ferb?"
Ferb nodded his head in agreement. Perry chattered in his frog costume.
_The SUV then went past the sign that said "Welcome to Batesville, Mississippi: Home of the SP Tigers!"
"Well…looks like we're here, kids!" Linda said as they pulled into the Batesville exit. "Now can you help me look for the Pancake Hut? We're all supposed to meet over there for certain scenes for a play version of 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'."
Phineas looked to the right side of the highway while Candace looked on the left. Meanwhile, Stacy was asleep for the entire trip.
"Stacy…" Candace said, touching her on the shoulders. "Wake up!"
"Huh?! Candace?!" Stacy muttered.
"Duh, it's me, Stace! Who else do ya think?!" Candace scoffed, "Now help me find the Pancake Hut!"
"Fine…I'll look…" Stacy sighed. She turned her head to the left side of the highway and spotted the restaurant.
"There it is!" she exclaimed.
The SUV pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant.
_
(7:45am, Flynn-Fletcher House)
"Uhh…what a night…" Kim groaned, scratching her back. Monique was downstairs, making coffee.
"Hey girl, got a good night's sleep?" she asked, closing the coffeemaker.
"Unfortunately, no, Monique…" Kim uttered, rubbing the dark circles underneath her eyes.
"What's been eatin' at you lately?" Monique wondered as she took a seat.
"It's about what happened at Chez Couteaux last night." Kim said as she went to the refrigerator to get herself a cup of yogurt and a spoon from the drawer.
She threw away the wrapper and began eating the yogurt and replied in between bites.
"It's going to at least a couple of weeks for Mr. Couteaux to be back in business."
"But who would want to cause all that damage to the swankiest restaurant in all of Middleton?" Monique questioned, taking a sip of the coffee.
"That's what I've been trying to wrap my head around! I gave Wade the evidence, so he should complete his findings sometime this afternoon." Kim explained, finishing up the yogurt and throwing the cup in the garbage.
"Anyways, I'll check to see how Ron's doing up in the attic."
Back at the Pancake Hut, Linda was awaiting the other moms involved in the Tom Sawyer re-enactment for the Mark Twain festival.
"So, when are they going to be here?" Candace mumbled.
"They'll be here in a few minutes, Candace, and…" Linda said before three other vehicles pulled up into the parking lot, "Here they are!"
Mrs. Vivian Garcia-Shapiro was the first to get out of her car. She opened the back door so that Isabella can get out.
Isabella stood before Phineas with her usual black hair dyed blonde and wore a baby blue dress with petticoats underneath along with lace frocks underneath. The only thing that she kept was her pink bow. In other words, she looks almost exactly like Becky Thatcher of Tom Sawyer.
"Hey, Linda!" Vivian said with a smile. "You like Isa's costume?"
"Of course, Viv!" Linda grinned. "She's perfect as Becky!"
Isabella replied eagerly, taking a generous bow "Why thank you, Mrs. Flynn-Fletcher!"
"You're welcome, dear! Now, let's see what Buford and Baljeet look like." Linda replied, looking at the two other vehicles.
Ms. Van Stomm and Mrs. Tjinder came out from their respective cars and opened the doors for their sons.
Baljeet was wearing a nice pair of clean-pressed dress shorts and a shirt and tie. Buford emerged with a straw hat, a blue dress shirt, and trousers being attached by suspenders. They were taking on the roles of Alfred Temple and Joe Harper, respectively. Baljeet was also holding a picture book as well.
Buford snickered. "Hah, you chose the dweebiest character in the book!"
"This is no fair!" Baljeet complained, "I wanted to play as either Joe Rogers or Huck Finn! But nooo! I had to get the person who has to fight Tom Sawyer for the love of Becky!"
"Too bad that suit's going to get dirtied up!" Buford chuckled.
"And speaking of dirtied up, you don't want to get syrup on those costumes." Linda told them.
"Don't worry, Mom! These costumes will be clean before the end of the day!" Phineas said to his mom, tipping his straw hat.
"It's a good think I'm not partaking in that play and wearing one of those dorky costumes!" Candace scoffed with a wave of her hand, "Because I am practicing 'mah Southern accent' for Jeremy!"
"Oh, and speaking of which, Candace!" Linda interrupted, "I have the perfect costume just for you!"
Candace stopped in shock.
"What…?"
"Yep, I read the book and saw that Tom's brother, Sid Sawyer, always tattled on the title character all the time! So I think it's a perfect fit for your personality, Candace!" Linda said, popping open the trunk. "And I reserved a costume just for you after your Southern Accent class! But I want you to try it on right now and…see how it fits!"
Candace gasped at the costume in fear.
"Oh no! Oh, please no!"
The redhead emerged in a sailor suit over her usual outfit. In addition, she had a giant lollipop in her right hand.
"Oh great!" she lamented, "Now I look like the dork! Well, at least no one's taking pictures of me in this goofy costume!"
Then, Linda repeatedly took photos of her poor daughter.
"Why does karma always get me?" she complained.
"Aww…you look so cute in that sailor suit! I'm going to send it to the Annual Cute Costume Photos of Teens calendar to the moms of Danville, or ACCEPT for short!"
Candace's jaw dropped when her mom said this.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Back at the Flynn-Fletchers', Kim went upstairs to the attic.
"Hey, Ron!"
"Oh, hey, KP! Got any breakfast cookin' downstairs?" Ron asked, rubbing that stomach of his.
"Monique and I are making some breakfast! Wanna chow down?" Kim offered.
"Tempting….tempting….." Ron pondered. Rufus was contemplating as well on his shoulder.
"We're making sausage and bacon tacos with extra nachos and Diablo sauce just for you and Rufus!" Kim replied in a sweet voice, sweetening the deal for Ron.
"Count me in, KP!" Ron replied without any hesitation.
He, Kim and Rufus headed downstairs for a delicious breakfast.
(Middleton Institute of Science and Technology)
Within the hallowed grounds of MIST, James Possible's alma mater, Dr. Lawn Green, the cousin of Dr. Sylvan Green, was experimenting with a rare type of grass that can help lawnmowers in the suburbs mow more evenly.
"Almost got it…" Dr. Green said before a shadow crept up from behind him.
"Huh?...Who are you?...No…NOOOOO!"