You'll soon be hearing the chime
Close to midnight
If I could turn back the time
I'd make all right
How could it end like this?
Dance Macabre, Ghost
Erin double checked her list again and sighed, it was one thing to have some Pringles for a long nine-hour ride and it was another to modify the cup holder in the new hearse for what looked like Swedish Pringles. The Pringles man looked like a pimp and Erin could only sigh. There was already several bags of new weapons, grenades, PKE meters, and a new containment unit that gleamed in the early morning sun.
"Are you sure we have enough Pringles and why do I, me sit between Abby and ya drawers?" Patty asked as she put her suitcase on the hearse bumper and glared at Holtz.
"I was working on the newest addition of the hearse and voila." Holtz said as she pushed a button under the steering wheel, two cup holders shot up and an electronic charging station in the back seat, "we are now a tactical ghosbusting mobile unit and you can do on the fly research from there. I worked out some kinks with the intrenet and well- ConEd cut me a deal."
Patty just shook her head in disbelief and put her suitcase in the back. She placed Abby's suitcase and looked back at her, "I don't care how many Pringles, Prongles, or Twinkies you eat between here and Michigan, just get me to Battle Creek in one piece, can you do that Holtzmann?" Patty begged as she got in the backseat and Abby could only nod with the sentiment.
Holtzmann swung herself in the driver's seat, "Can do Pattycakes, you know I drove a tank once and only flipped it over once?"
"This is a hearse, not a godamn tank. Ok, Erin get out of the passenger's seat I don't trust her. She may try to make out with you while I'm not looking. You guys are together right?"
Silence. Crickets. A Dead Treeacat.
"Oh. C'mon, ya'll fucked in here?" Patty bellowed and again put her head in her hands.
"In my defense, it was after we saved the world but after you nearly got killed by the Dragon Ghost."
"So, ya'll broke in this one in? Even after that takeout? How-"
"Erin, answer me straight- cause we bought this with city funding-." Abby was interrupted by a loud snort and glared at Holtzmann.
Holtz chuckled loudly and started choking on some Pringles, Abby sighed as she punched Holtzman's back and the errant Pringle was spat up like a cat.
"Ok, ya'll nasty."
"Everyone strapped in? It's a long eleven hours to Battle Creek and I am not stopping until we hit Ohio."
"Holtz has a lifetime ban from Wawa." Abby supplied with a grin as she put her neck pillow up against the glass.
"How?" Erin asked with a shocked tone in her voice, "what the hell did you do to those Quakers?"
"You killed a pilgrim?
"A ghost pilgrim and you didn't answer my question to how you can be banned from a gas station chain?"
"Well, it all started when me and Abby decided to go to Pennhurst State School and investigate if it was really haunted or not."
"And?" Patty asked as she went back to her seat and waited for the story to get underway.
"A legend was born that day. Oh boy, was a legend born." Holtz said as she backed out of the firehouse and slowly inched out of the driveway, smirking.
9 Hours In
"And that is how I was banned from Wawa in the Spring City area"
"No shit, you ate all the hot dogs at the Wawas in one weekend?!" Patty exclaimed and clutched her stomach, "I'm getting phantom pains from that story."
"I'm just glad you learned a lesson."
"Don't smoke pot and go on all-weekend bender against Wawa. I will lose the battle and no amount of coffee, pot, or hot dogs can change that."
"I don't know how but, that was definitely a time killer as we are now near Toledo." Abby replied as she looked up from her map and grinned, "only two hours away now."
"Woo, I managed to get here in under ten hours."
"Don't gloat, you broke nineteen traffic laws and one cop stop in Pittsburgh is not making me happy."
"Would you have gathered a night in a motel in the Midwest and pull in the tactical equivalent of a ghost hunting Humvee?" Holtz retorted as Patty glared at her
"Imma kill you!" Patty yelled as she started to lunge forward but, was stopped by Abby who feared the nuclear capabilities of their vehicle, "this used to haul dead you annoying twat."
"She's annoying, yes, but, she is also driving a hearse with a nuclear reactor. We don't want another Chernobyl. Can we not have another Chernobyl before Dundee?" Abby begged as they continued to drive into the town limits.
"We can stop in Dundee before everyone goes postal in here. Okay?" Erin said and looked back at the two with a smile, "Abby, Hong Kong Tony's is still on Columbia Ave East and I know you always loved those wontons."
"I do, and Patty would love those dumplings. Holtz would too."
"I know, right?" Erin replied with a smile and gave Patty a thumbs-up, things were going to be okay.
"We made it to Michigan without anyone dying! That is a miracle."
"Patty don't be mad but, you two have been sitting behind a portable containment unit."
"How many roentgens? You know, I won't ask anymore." Patty began and just sighed as she lay back in her seat, "there's a lot of 19th century homes and storefronts. There a library by your place Erin?"
"I think so. They may have a genealogy section but, not sure. Jas went on and on about how they hired a genealogist to trace our family roots but, my mom, never sent me the damn CD." Erin replied, and Patty gave a sympathetic smile, it wasn't her fault that her mom disliked her job.
"Hotel or sleepover at Erin's place? We can play DreamPhone, watch horror movies, oh and lots of Cheetos and bond." Holtz replied with a smirk as they drove up to Erin's family home which lay just on the outskirts of Battle Creek.
"I did enough bonding as you drove across five states like a stoned, blind, French woman! No more bonding, just busting. Please." Patty begged as they finally parked in the driveway and Holtz grinned like a maniac as she pulled in the driveway.
"Erin's folks would be okay and Holtzmann can set up shop in the garage. A mini-firehouse."
Holtz tapped the steering wheel as they sat in the driveway and she looked at the house. It was normal. Not like Poltergeist or E.T. those movies had convinced her that there was life out there and not all of it was good or nice.
"You grew up in this house?" Jillian asked as she stared at the marvel of architecture before her that Erin had grown up in.
"Yeah. Complete with a garage, basement, a ghost, plenty of C3P0's, and the dentist bill to pay for all the Kellog's cereal we ate."
"It was always fun to come over to Erin's house, growing up," Abby supplied as she picked up one of the proton packs, "no General Mills products. We even tried the Nintendo System Cereal. It was terrible."
"My Aunt Evelyn would buy me Xena cereal and would only get me the Callisto boxes. Something about me being a fireball of light. You know she stopped a wedding once?" Holtz said with a goofy grin, "good ol' Evelyn"
"How old were you?
"Twelve."
"When did you graduate from MIT again?" Abby asked as she unloaded the last of the proton packs, "I forget."
"I was twenty and in 09' from MIT. I meet you when the world was gonna end" Holtz told Abby with a pat on the back, "if I could turn back time, eh?"
"I had just turned twenty-six and was finishing up my doctorate at Princeton." Erin responded with a semi-grimace, "Jasper was the only one who came to see me graduate. Mom had pnuemonia and Dad couldn't leave the ICU."
"Patty?"Abby asked as she looked fondly at the historian who gives a weak smile.
"I was working for the Port Authority after college. My aunt told me about the job at the MTA and I decided dealing with angry buisnessmen was not for me." Patty supplied as she pulls the last of the luggage out of the hearse, "wanted me out of that line of work. Ya know, working for the Port Authority in the early 2000's was not the safest job."
"You were there when?" Abby stops short and looks back at Patty whose face has become harder to read now.
"I was. I was one of the lucky ones, saved by a slow tourist. Anywaym, I had a buddy who joined the Army and he had his wheelchair the last time I saw him. He works with the MTA. " Patty said with a wistful sigh and thought of her friend, looking at how lucky she was with her new friends.
"Glad to hear it Pattycakes, now I was thinking-." Holtz replied as she rubbed her leg and smiled wider as the lightbulb went off in her head.
"You were? Lord help us!" Patty exclaimed as Holtz gave her an electrifying grin that only Holtz could manage as they started to walk up to the house.
"I'd love to hear some of her ideas." A new voice said from the porch and the group looked up to the porch. The woman cradled her belly as she walked to them, "Amy Baxter-Gilbert. I had Jas write you guys about the 'wee ghosties' that have been haunting the place. Did you guys eat? Erin, did they eat?"
"No, we were thinking Hong Kong Ton-no, did you-did you cook for us?"
"Yes. Lasagna and hot dogs for Paige, I swear she is worse than Jasper."
"Picky eater?"
"Four. Jasper, Erin, Paige, and Julia. Don't argue Erin you ate Eggo waffles with the bottom waffle spread with jelly and the top with peanut butter for twenty years." Amy said with a wagging finger at the brunette.
"In my defense, mother made that for me every time I had a rough day." Erin retorted." As I recall, Paige loves my Eggo PB&J."
"I'm backing her up, college breakfast sucked as she brought her own Jif jar, made the waffles and did the ritual." Abby said with a smirk as she gave her best friend a pat on the back, "it's okay. I have a jar in case you revert."
Something was off and Holtzmann could feel it, it was like she was back on patrol and she couldn't just tell the others. The house felt like a minfield and she shuddered, the last time she had gone in a minefield-bad stop switch.
"You okay?" Patty whispered and looked at Holtz who had a look on her face. It was a scary one and wasn't something that Patty was used to from this ball of energy.
"Fine." She hoarsely whispered as she stared at the house.
"Nice, thanks for being a friend Abby. I mean it." Erin said as she gave Abby a nod and headed in with the rest of the gang as they followed behind Amy.
"Let's get down to dinner and then," Holtzmann paused for dramatic effect, "GHOST TIME!"
Notes: Hey! Me again, alive and barely kicking right now as I am super busy with online class and will finish this bad boy within the next few months before Holtzbert Week. Yeah, comments and kudos make my day/night so if you leave one would be good and if not just hit that kudos button in the face and that lets me know someone likes it. Anyway, off to bed now after a rough afternoon of online class and I hope you enjoy the latest installment of "The Storm".
