Secret of his Silence

Happy Birthday

For two weeks after Erin got out of the hospital I didn't see her. Ferb went over her house a couple of times but he got shooed away by her parents who said she needed to rest. We were sitting outside underneth the tree relaxing and doing nothing like we had been for the last coule of days. It wasn't the same when we built things withour Erin.

Speak of the devil, I thought when I heard the squeel of the gate and Erin walked in the yard. She looked good, a bright purple cast contrasting with her pale skin. Ferb rushed over to help her with her toolbox and a large brown box that had a red bow on it. She put the box down gently and looked over the two of us. "What have you boys been up to." She asked us.

"Not much really." I told her.

"Are you okay?" Ferb asked staring at her cast.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. But what do you mean 'nothing much' you're supposede to be doing something great everyday. You're waisting time."

"Nah, we were just waiting for you to show up." I told her, then glancing at the box, "what's that for?"

"Glad you asked. I know I'm a few days late but..." Then she motioned to Ferb and the two of them sang the wierdist rendition of 'Happy Birthday' I've ever herd. "For you Phineas."

I went over to the box and carefully opened it up. Inside was a strange teal colored animal with a beaver-tail and a bill. "Is this a platypus?"

"Yep. A unique pet for a unique person. What do you think." She said smiling.

"It's great." I said picking up the animal. He made a weird rolling sound, which I took as meaning that he liked me. "Where did you get him?"

"That's the strange thing. I was going to get you a movie but this old guy with a mustache and unibrow said he would give me this little guy for free." She said petting the creature.

"So what are you going to name him?" Ferb asked looking at the animal. "Spot?"

"How about Fluffy?" I said petting the animal.

"Rover" Ferb said.

"Bartholomew?" I countered.

Erin stared at us an took the platypus from me. "What!" She exclaimed. "Fluffy? Bartholomew? That must be some form of animal cruelity."

"Well whatdo you suggest." Ferb said with a slight attitude.

She looked over the animal for a minute then said "Perry."

"Perry? Perry the Platypus? is that any better then our names?" Ferb retorted.

Sensing the rising tension I knew it would be bestto change the subject, even if it was mostly just kiding around. "So Erin, what do you want to do today?"

She put down the animal and looked at me with a glint in her eye. "I've got an idea."

After an hour or so we had finished up on the plans for the fighting robots we were going to make and were just starting to search the garage for the parts we were going to need when Candace walked over.

"Erin, I didn't know you were here. How are you?" She questioned.

"Oh I'm fine. Just needed to get out and do something you know." Erin said only glaning up from the box of junk she was looking through.

"Do something? What do you... Hey! You guys aren't planning on building something, are you?" She looked worried.

"Well that's kind of what we do." Ferb said motioning to the blueprints on the desk.

Candace looked them over, then looked at Erin, then at all of us. "You can't." She said. "You know what happened last time. What if it happened again. You could get hurt."

"We'll be fine, Candace." Erin said, meaning really I'll be fine. "You can help if you want. It'll be fun."

"Fun? Help? No, you can't do this I won't let you get hurt." She looked around the garage her eyes resting on the newest addition to our family. "Is that a platypus?" We started to answer but she cut us off. "You know what, it really doesn't matter. I hate to do this but if you won't stop I'm going to have to bust you to mom."

"You really don't have to. It'll be fine." Ferb said placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"No." Candace muttered shaking her head. She left to go find mom at the mall.

We continued building and, besides on small cut I got from a nail, there were no injuries. In the two weeks that Erin had be away I had forgotten how much fun it was to build things. The three of us spent the afternoon playing with the robots then Erin took them back to her house to store them. By the time Candace came dragging mom back we were all resting in the shade.

"Is that platypus what you wanted me to see?" Mom asked Candace. After I told her that the animal was a birthday gift from Erin we all went inside for some pie.

"I will bust you." Candace told us.

Ferb and I looked at eachother aqnd shrugged. We were just happy to have Erin back.

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i hope you liked it. please tell me what you think, the good, the bad, and the ugly. on the side is the birthday song they sang.