THE POWER OF PURPLE AND BLUE
Freddy and Howie got back to the lab, and with the help of the Fries they were able to attach the device Mildred had given them to the time machine.
“There,” said Freddy with a final turn of the wrench.
Theodore was looking at the plans. “Well, we have everything in place. The only problem is we have no way to power up the time machine.”
“I know,” said Freddy miserably.
While no one was looking, Wally had slipped behind some junk they hadn’t used and took a bottle from a hiding place. It was the liquid blue stuff he’d found in Finklebean’s lab.
“Okay, Freddy said I shouldn’t do this, so I’m not,” he said to himself. “No matter how much I want to or how good it tastes or how thirsty little, skinny Wally is, I’m not going to drink it, because that would be bad — very, very bad.”
He took the top off the bottle and sniffed.
“Right — no matter how good it smells, no matter how much fun it is to drink this blue stuff, Wally is not gonna do it, because I promised my special friend and buddy, Freddy, that I wouldn’t — and friends always keep their promises.”
Wally tipped the bottle up to his mouth.
“And another thing,” he continued, whispering to himself, “A friend who can’t keep a promise to another friend is just no stinking good. I mean, how can a friend do that to another friend? A promise is a promise and Wally never, ever breaks a promise.”
Wally tipped the bottle all the way up and took a long chug, wiped his mouth, and put the top back on. “Whew, that was close. But like I said, a promise is a prom—YEOW!” Wally flew up into the air and crashed into the ceiling of the lab. Then he shot down, hit the floor, and zoomed forward.
Freddy and the rest of the gang threw themselves in all directions as the big purple Fry whizzed around the room like a ball in a pinball machine, knocking over shelves, smashing equipment, and punching holes in walls. For twenty minutes they all watched as the purple blob whizzed around the room faster and faster.
Finally, Wally came crashing down. The lab lay in ruin. Everyone stood and gathered angrily around him.
He started muttering, “Wally is a good Fry. Wally kept his promise. No blue stuff.” He opened his eyes and looked up at them. “Hey, guys, is it lunchtime yet?”
Ziggy scolded, “Wally, you drank the blue stuff and destroyed Freddy’s lab.”
“What do you have to say for yourself?” added Theodore severely.
Wally sat up, looking confused. “Now wait just a minute. Are you sure it was me? There are other Fries in the room too, you know.”
“Enormous and purple narrows it down considerably,” said Theodore.
“And,” squeaked Ziggy, “there’s the blue bottle right there in your hand.”
Wally held up the bottle. “I’ve never seen this before.” His eyes got really big. “It must have been planted on me. Oh, my gosh, there’s a conspiracy going on. People are out to get me.”
“Why would anyone want to get you, Wally?” said Howie.
Wally threw up his big hands. “Don’t you see, Howie? They’re jealous. I mean, look at me: Tall, handsome, smart, and PURPLE. But I want whoever did it to know this!” He paused, put a hand over his heart, and said in a high-pitched, choked voice, “I forgive you.” He wiped a tear away.
Theodore looked over at Freddy. “Well, Freddy, you haven’t said anything. What do you think his punishment should be? Freddy?”
Freddy was staring off into space. He obviously hadn’t been listening to any of their conversation.
“Uh, Freddy,” said Theodore gently.
“EUREKA!” shouted Freddy and he jumped straight up in the air. Then he gave Wally a big hug. “You big, beautiful purple Fry you. You’re brilliant!”
He grabbed the blue bottle from Wally and raced to his work area.
Wally looked at the other Fries. “Well, I’m glad to see at least someone here recognizes genius.” He walked away with his head held high, tripped, and landed upside down inside an old tractor tire.
The other Fries hustled over to where Freddy was working frantically.
“Freddy,” said Theodore, “Why are you so excited?”
Freddy held up the blue bottle. “This, Theodore, this.”
“The blue stuff?” said Si. “Okay, it’s blue and it’s wet, but even for a happy Fry like me, it’s not all that exciting, Freddio.”
“Oh, it’s very exciting,” said Freddy. “It’s the most exciting thing to happen to me since I invented all of you.”
“What do you mean?” asked Theodore. “How can that blue liquid be so important?”
“Because this is what’s going to power our time travel machine.”
