Dr. Ray Stantz and Dr. Peter Venkman were silently sitting next to one another on the couch in the recreation room of the firehouse in front of the television. An old black and white movie featuring a poorly made and aesthetically unpleasant giant monster was destroying a city and the dialogue by the fellow actors was atrocious at best. Without a call to answer the firehouse was boringly quiet. Without Dr. Egon Spengler tinkering away in his lab or Winston Zeddemore working on Ecto-1 the firehouse was unusually still. All was calm. All was mundane.
Relaxing in their normal clothes as opposed to their iconic jumpsuits: Peter, wearing beige khaki pants and a white t-shirt under a forest green button down shirt, and Ray wearing blue jeans with a gray t-shirt and a red and black flannel shirt, seemed more casual than professional.
Peter sighed as he leaned his head against his hand and leaned his elbow against the armrest of the couch. "This movie sucks."
"Yeah." Ray agreed as he stretched he legs out and propped his feet up on the small table between the couch and the TV set. "But there's nothing else to do."
"When's Spengz coming back?" Peter moaned pathetically.
"Sometime tomorrow morning."
"Why'd he agree to speak with some stuffy professor at some stuffy college? Aren't we good enough?"
"Peter, that 'stuffy professor' is the Dean and the 'stuffy college' is Harvard! It's a great honor for Egon. Not to mention all of the positive publicity for the company that will be generated by recognition from Harvard."
"Yeah, but it's boring for us! Why'd he have to go the same weekend Winston went to Philly? What's so great about Philadelphia anyway? Besides the food."
"Uh... Winston's family?" Ray knew that Peter wasn't actually angry, just irritated by the slow, uneventful night. Peter and boredom don't play well together, which in turn made Ray's own thoughts a little crazy. "Don't you miss your family?"
"No." Peter crossed his arms bitterly across his chest and sunk down in his couch. "I don't need a family."
"Oh... Sorry." Ray flinched at Peter's reaction and blushed a little as a result. "Didn't mean drudge up the past."
Peter had always had a strained and painful relationship with his small, reclusive family. Peter's mom had passed away when Peter was a kid and his father was never around for him. Having no siblings, living grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins, Peter was basically on his own since he was nine years old.
Ray had a similar situation as a kid. When Ray was fourteen his parents were killed in a car accident, his older brother and older sister had always pushed Ray away because of his interests in the paranormal and had disowned him as a family after their parents' funeral. Fortunately Ray had his Aunt Lois to step in and raise him while his siblings focused on college and left Ray behind.
"Whatever." Slowly Peter sat up straighter on the couch and let his arms drop down from his chest as his defensive reaction lessened. "Wanna order a pizza? That should eat up about thirty minutes of doing nothing."
"I'll call you pay?"
"As long as you don't order anchovies, sausage and pineapple again. Never felt so nauseated in all my life."
"It wasn't that bad!"
"Egon took a slice into his lab and analyzed it because he was uncertain of its edibility."
"But Egon loves to analyze things."
"Never food." Peter pointed out firmly. "And Winston, our resident marine, couldn't stomach it!"
"Where's your sense of adventure?" Ray asked he rose from the couch and went to the phone sitting on the table beside the large computer in the corner of the room.
"With my stomach, hiding from what you consider normal toppings." Peter picked up the remote for the TV and began switching through the channels, trying to find something, anything, of interest.
The channels flashed brief images of news reports, bland commercials, silly cartoons and late night movie marathons. Unable to find anything of interest with his quick switches Peter slowed his pace and cycled back through the channels.
"Boring, boring, seen it, boring, infomercial, boring, boring, hey! Wait a minute..." Peter stop changing channels as an attractive young woman caught his eye. "This looks like something I'd enjoy."
Ray finished placing the order and rejoined Peter on the couch. "About thirty minutes for delivery. What did you find?"
"Her." Peter pointed to the blonde woman on the TV screen. "Finally found something worth watching."
"What about Dana?" Ray remarked in a joking manner.
"No harm in looking. Besides, I have a thing for blondes..."
The woman was in her mid-twenties with long blonde hair pulled up into a neat ponytail with a Tye-dye bandanna resting against her forehead beneath her short bangs. She had emerald green eyes and rose red lips against flawless, pale skin. Tall and slim, she was wearing a white t-shirt with a forest brown long sleeved shirt over it. A pair of dark blue bell-bottom jeans covered her long legs and her shoes were simple black and white converse sneakers. A string of multi-colored love beads hung from her neck with a classic 'peace sign' medallion hanging neck the bottom, resting against her chest. A single white daisy was tucked into her hair above her left ear.
Ray took in her appearance and laughed a little. "Looks like she stepped out of a Hendrix concert. I thought the 70s were over."
"Not for me." Peter all but drooled as he admired the woman's appearance. "I love the 70s!"
"And unobtainable women." Ray quipped as he leaned back into the couch. "So what's her deal? Why is she on TV? Is she selling something?"
"Not a clue. She hasn't said a word and I don't care..."
As if waiting for a cue the woman suddenly began speaking, her voice was soft, feminine and melodic as she spoke. "Hello, my name is Sydney. I'm seeking help from anyone who will listen."
"I'm listening..." Peter leaned forward on the couch and stared at her with a perpetually fixated gaze.
"Oh brother..." Ray scoffed as he watched his friend's reactions. "She can't hear you!"
"Shh!" Peter shushed Ray as he watched Sydney with full attention. "You'll ruin the fantasy!"
Sydney continued her plea for help. "When my father passed away last year I was given an old hotel as inheritance. I had decided to turn the old building into a shelter for the homeless and provide free boarding to college students in need of help."
"Gorgeous," Peter began ticking off compliments toward the young woman. "generous and rich... I might be smitten!"
"When my boyfriend and I," Sydney continued much to Peter's dismay. As his shoulders sagged Ray smiled and put a sympathetic hand to his shoulder. "began work on the building strange things began to happen. The police found so sign of intruders and the fire department didn't find anything dangerous. This has been happening for years and we don't know what to do. Please, if anyone can help us out call this phone number," as the number flashed across the screen Peter's eyes lit up. "we'll reward you for your efforts." Swiftly Peter jumped from the couch and scrambled to the phone to dial.
"Oh no!" Ray scolded as the ad on the TV screen faded into blackness. "You're not doing what I think you're doing, are you?"
"Getting us work? Getting paid? Getting us good publicity for helping a young woman in distress?" Peter pressed the phone to ear and waited for an answer.
"Couple, Peter. We'd be helping a young couple. She has a boyfriend."
"Right, boyfriend. Not husband!" Peter gave Ray a cheeky grin. "No guarantees is- Hi! Hello!" He finally heard an answer over the phone and shifted his focus to the voice on the other end of the line. "Yes, my friend and I are interested in helping with your request." Peter covered the speaker of the phone with his mouth and whisper to Ray. "She sounds just as good over the phone as she does on TV!"
Ray just rolled his eyes as he listened in on the bizarre phone call.
"As I was saying we're here to help you, all-" Peter paused as Sydney asked several questions to which Peter was ready to answer. "Yes. Well, our qualifications are rather impressive if I do say so myself. Uh-huh, well, I hold Ph.D's in psychology and parapsychology and my friend holds a degree in engineering... What do we do for a living?" He turned to Ray as he boldly exclaimed into the phone. "We're the Ghostbusters. Uh... yeah. Those guys with the commercials, yes."
Ray did his best to not laugh as Peter's confident tone began to dwindle.
"No, no, no. We don't just eliminate paranormal disturbances, we also investigate and can- You do? Great! If I can have the address-"
At a loss for words Ray just watched as Peter scrambled for the pad of paper and the pen next to the phone and scrawled out the address.
"Oh yeah, we'll be out in an hour, don't worry about thing. Yes, I'm looking forward to meeting you, too. Goodbye." Peter hung up the phone and confidently strode over to the couch and leaned against as he brazenly boasted about his 'smoothing talking' ways. "Hook. Line. And sinker."
"Uh-huh." Ray still wasn't impressed. He stretched back and laid across the couch with one arm under his head and the other over his eyes. "So we have to dig out the old scanners and meters from the storage closet to investigate a possible paranormal call because you saw a pretty face on the TV?"
"Yeah, so what?"
"Remember when you kept giving me and Spengler grief for interviewing everyone in the city who spoke about seeing a ghost or experiencing a psychic phenomena?"
"Yeah, but that was you," Peter explained coyly as he gestured toward Ray with his hands. "and this is me." He finished his statement by pressing both hands against his own chest demonstratively.
"And... What's the difference?"
"Simple. One pretty blonde girl!"
Sighing Ray knew that he had been defeated solely by Peter's stubbornness. "Alright." He lowered his arm from over his eyes and looked up at Peter. "You lead."
"Don't I always?"
"Only when it's convenient. For you."
...to be continued...
