Ben agrees and willingly slides his nose into Phineas's shoe while rubbing his socked feet.
At once, a warm and damp and musty sensation hit Ben right in his nose. It smells like the heat of the whole summer was concentrated in his shoe, as if Phineas never took off his shoes through all the adventures he had.
"Hey Ben," said Phineas, "Do you know what the tip of a shoelace is called?"
"Nope." Ben was so engrossed - yet not grossed out - by the scent of the shoe that he didn't really care for fun facts.
"An aglet!" exclaimed Phineas.
"A what let?"
"A-G-L-E-T. Aglet! Don't forget it!" sang Phineas.
Ben couldn't believe it. This kid was actually singing! And singing about... the tip of his shoelace? Although Ben thought it was strange at first, the effects of the ray soon made him lose whatever fear and uncertainty he may have had. Actually, hearing the voice of Phineas singing was comforting to Ben, and almost hypnotic. And of course, now that Ben learned about the aglet, he didn't have to be a-frayed.
"I'll never forget it now," said Ben, "since that song is going to be stuck in my head!"
"That's great! Hey, why don't you pull on my aglet so that you can loosen my shoelaces? That way you can open up the tongue of my shoe better!"
Phineas's shoes were blue with white laces and high tops. His shoelaces definitely needed some loosening to widen up the opening of his shoe.
Ben started to remove his hands from Phineas's sweaty socked feet in an attempt to grasp the aglet, but was soon interrupted.
"Whoa, buddy, I didn't say you could stop rubbing my feet!"
"B-but- you said you wanted me to loosen your shoelaces?" stammered Ben, quickly restoring his hands to their rightful position at Phineas's feet.
"You know, when I'm faced with a problem, I like to think of creative ways to solve it," said Phineas proudly. "People are always surprised at how young I am when they see my inventions."
"Yeah, aren't you a little young to invent a ray that gets rid of people's fears?" questioned Ben.
"Yes. Yes I am," said Phineas with a smile. "But you're not too young to figure out an innovative way to loosen my shoelaces while massaging my feet!"
"Hmm..." Ben thought out loud, "I think I have an idea, but I'll have to chew it over for a while."
And with that, Ben bit into the little piece of plastic at the end of the shoelace. He pulled the laces loose with a flourish, and smiled with the aglet through his teeth.
"Now that's showing innovation!" said Phineas. "Wish I could give you something in recognition for your genius. I know! Why don't you get a nice big whiff of my shoe now that my laces are loosened up for you?"
"That would be the best prize ever," said Ben. He eagerly dug his face into the wide-open tongue of the shoe, now releasing even more of the sweaty summery scent that was previously confined by the laces. The essence of all the past escapades experienced by Phineas permeated the lining of his shoe, and was now filling Ben's lungs. It was almost as if Ben, the new kid on the block, was living vicariously through Phineas every time he inhaled his shoe. Ben sniffed the shoe and massaged the feet of Phineas for about 23 minutes, with no breaks. Phineas enjoyed every minute of it.
Finally, Phineas said, "You know, Ben, whether I'm building something or doing researching for a plan, I like to have good sources. My observations show that you've lost your fear of smelling my shoe. Now you should go straight to smelling the source!"
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author
