A/N: Hello all! No chit chat this time (wow!) so let's get to moving!
I planned on updating this yesterday, but FanFiction was being difficult! So here it is, a couple hours late, but still here! Thanks to my extremely wonderful reviewers! And my patient readers!
Disclaimer: I don't own Apple...I don't even own an iPhone, or any kind of technology that starts with the letter i. And I'm not running for a political office, nor am I a part of the girl scouts (or attempting to advertise for them).
Last Call: Jeremy Manson
A loud, beeping noise filled Jeremy's ears. He yawned, opened his eyes, and turned off his alarm clock. He stretched before he jumped out of bed, ready to make the most of the day ahead of him. After a quick shower, Jeremy kissed good morning to his wife and gleefully walked down the stairs, whistling to himself. Ah...how he loved being a morning person.
He grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table. Continuing in his morning routine, he unfolded the paper and began devouring the news. Though monotonous, Jeremy's life was never boring to him. He rather enjoyed the hum-drum of daily living. He had a wonderful wife, a nice house, a boastful income...
"Why do you insist on making my life HORRIBLE! ?"
Jeremy sighed. And a rebellious teenage daughter to give his life just enough drama to make sure he kept his feet on the ground. Honestly, he couldn't expect every single detail of his life to be perfect.
Jeremy figured his wife would need back-up in the argument, so he left his newspaper and coffee in the kitchen long enough to walk upstairs and assess whatever it was that Sam had done to anger Pamela...this time.
Once upstairs, Jeremy saw that Pamela was standing at the entrance to Samantha's room, which was still dark.
"Sammyikns, don't argue. You know what today is!" Pamela chirped.
Jeremy stepped in at that moment, and he and his wife sang together. "The Annual Who's Who Ball!" Sam rolled her eyes and covered her head with her blanket.
"C'mon, Sam!" Jeremy walked into his daughter's room and pulled back the blinds, letting warm rays of sunshine bathe the floor and walls of the dark, gloomy room. Smiling, Jeremy turned around to see that Pam had already made her way over to Sam's bed. Sam was cringing under the covers, hiding from the penetrating light.
"MOM! That stupid ball isn't even until tonight. Why are you waking me up now? It's gotta be like six o'clock or something." His daughter groaned into her pillow.
Jeremy laughed. "You know we like to sleep in on Saturday's, Sam."
"Your father's right, you know. It's actually seven," Pamela amended.
Finally, Sam threw the covers away from her face so she could give her parents a death glare. "Our ideas of sleeping in are waaaaay different, just saying."
"Sammy, get up, dear. We have tons to do to get ready for the ball tonight!" Pamela stood up and walked to their daughter's closet. She stepped out with a frilly pink and yellow dress, filled with bows and ribbons and sparkles. Jeremy knew what was coming next.
"UGH! No way am I wearing that!"
"Samantha, your mother and I only want you to look presentable at the ball tonight."
Sam glowered at the dress for a long minute, but her eyes brightened and she leaped out of bed. "Sam, what are—"
"Shh!" Sam yelled, diving into her closet. "Hold on." Pamela and Jeremy glanced at each other worriedly. What could Sam be doing now? They got their answer when Sam reappeared, holding two dresses. "Okay, here's the deal. I'm not going to wear that hideous dress you picked out for me mom."
"But—!"
"No, it's not gonna happen," Sam interrupted. She smirked. "I like this one more." Sam held up the dress that was in her right hand. The bodice was blood red and laced up the front, and the sleeves were made of black lace with intricate flower decorations. The skirt was short and black, adorned with black beads and flowers. Pamela gasped, horrified at Sam's selection. Quickly, Sam held up the dress in her left hand. This dress was much simpler; it was a complete black, floor-length, halter-top dress. "But...I like this one more, if you guys will let me bring Danny tonight."
Jeremy glanced at his wife, who had her hand to her mouth, staring at the dresses Sam had chosen. Sam smiled. "It's your choice. I'm not wearing that atrocious pile of garbage you picked out, but I'll let you pick which of these two dresses you want me to wear."
Pamela met Jeremy's look, and they shared a nod. "You can invite the Fenton boy, as long as you wear the more modest dress," Pamela instructed.
Sam smiled and tilted her head to the side. "See, now don't you wish you would have just let me invite him the first place?" Pamela glared darkly at her daughter, but she gathered the frilly dress in her arms and marched toward the door.
"Just please...don't let any ghostly business ruin our evening."
Sam shrugged and studied the dress she would now be wearing to the ball tonight. "No promises." Jeremy put a hand on his wife's shoulders and pushed her the rest of the way out of Samantha's room.
Pamela sighed and put a hand to her forehead. "Jeremy, what are we going to do with her?" Jeremy removed the worried hand from Pamela's forehead and kissed her gently.
"I don't think there's much more we can do, sugar. Let's try and be happy she won't be dressed like the living dead, tonight." Pamela smiled wryly and nodded. She looked down at the dress in her arms.
"I suppose I should take this back. Such a shame...after I got it for such a bargain! Only a couple hundred bucks!" Pamela dashed back into her room, and Jeremy decided to finish his morning routine of coffee and news.
As he was walking down the stairs, he stopped and held a hand to his head. He closed his eyes, and he began seeing familiar images. Suddenly, his dream from the night before came spilling back into his mind.
Jeremy and Pamela Manson walked angrily to the door of the Fenton's household. The two had wanted to attempt to have a civil conversation with the parents of their daughter's boyfriend, but, as was expected, the conversation had turned very sour, very quickly.
"And you're not welcome back into this house without an invitation!" Maddie exclaimed, following the two fuming parents to the door. "And I wouldn't hold my breath for that, by the way." Suddenly, Maddie's face brightened, and she sweetly added, "Or do. I think it'd be rather hilarious to watch!" The woman opened the door and Jeremy grabbed his wife and pushed her out the door before rushing out himself.
He turned around and held a finger in the air. "You haven't heard the last from—" The door slammed in his face.
"Oh, the nerve of that woman!" Pamela exclaimed. "She is such a horrible person, and she dresses terribly!" The angry mother stormed toward the car. Jeremy was still staring at the door, willing it to open itself. It never did, of course, but Jeremy was fed up with the Fentons, and he wanted another chance to yell at them.
"Excuse me." Jeremy turned around to see Danny's older sister—Jasmine was her name. Her looked mirrored that of her mothers, except the harsh glare was slightly milder—but only slightly. "I said excuse me. I really need inside...tons of packing and preparing to do. I'm moving to a different state in a month, so if—"
Jeremy then remembered that this girl was the only sane member of this family. And she was about to move off? On her own? To college, no doubt, but still...Jeremy took compassion on the teenager. He stepped out of the way and watched as she began searching for her key.
"What college are you off to, Jasmine?" he asked, conversationally.
Jasmine stopped fidgeting with her keys and sent the man a side-ways glance. "Yale," she answered quickly.
Jeremy nodded, and Jasmine turned back to the keys in her hand. Having found the right one, she stuck the key in the lock. Jeremy continued talking. "Full-ride, I assume?"
Jasmine turned fully to face the man this time. "Yes, sir." Jeremy could tell the young girl was irritated by the conversation, but Jeremy wanted to push on.
"Well, don't let that make you think that you don't have to fork out any money off your own—"
"Mr. Manson, will all due respect, I think I realize that life is going to cost money. I've been saving since I was a toddler." Jasmine impatiently tapped her foot against the ground.
"Yes, well, I would expect no less from you, the smartest of your family." Jeremy noticed the girl's hard expression soften slightly at that. "But I would like to offer you a piece of advice. Don't over-look the small things, Jasmine. Even pennies add up eventually."
She raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"
Jeremy put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "It's called free money, Jazz. Every time you see a coin lying on the ground, pick it up; don't leave it for someone else to nab. You have just as much right to it as they do. Get a jar and start collecting loose change. Change you collect from the ground, change from your purchases. Don't spend the change, save it. You'll be amazed how quickly it adds up."
Jasmine's face scrunched up—whether in confusion or disdain, Jeremy could not tell. He leaned away from her and started to descend the stairs. "Think about it."
Jeremy shook his head and continued walking down the stairs. He didn't have to guess why he had dreamed about his meeting with Jasmine that day; after all, the girl had just called him last night to thank him for the advice he'd given her.
Sitting back down at the table, Jeremy took a sip of his now luke-warm coffee. He didn't pick the newspaper back up, though. She actually had a good enough heart that she thought she needed to call me to tell me how much she appreciated my advice, Jeremy thought. He sat back in his chair, thoughtfully.
He pursed his lips. Being kind-hearted was a good quality to have, and Jeremy had to wonder sometimes if he were really kind-hearted. How often did he put another person's feelings above his own? He thought about it for a long minute but came up with no answer. Sighing, he accepted his failure and picked his newspaper back up. There wasn't much he could do to change now that he was in his forties. He'd lived half his life already. Why bother to change so late in life?
The news contained an article about a murderer that was set to be executed soon, an ad insisting he buy the latest iPhone, and a cute story about how the Girl Scouts in the area were beginning to sell their cookies in the coming weeks.
Jeremy crumpled up the paper and threw it against the wall. Who was he kidding? He wanted to change, and he wanted to change now. And he knew exactly where he needed to begin.
He was going to call someone, and he was going to tell that someone thanks for something he never thought he'd need. After all, wasn't that what young Jasmine had done for him? She had admitted that, before she put the advice to good use, she had thought it was silly. That was the exact feeling Jeremy had had before he had used what this someone had given him.
And now he needed to set things straight.
"...will bring life to this apparently lifeless glob of ectoplasm and—gnah!" He screamed when the phone interrupted his narration...and just when he was getting to the good part! He shook his head to clear his thoughts and picked up the phone. Usually, he didn't bring the phone downstairs with him, but the rest of the family was gone somewhere, so his wife had instructed him to carry the phone close by him at all times.
"Fenton residence!" he exclaimed. "If...um..." he paused. Maddie had told him the most efficient way to answer the telephone, but he had forgotten. There was just so many words to remember! So, he settled on a much less elegant manner. "Jack Fenton speaking! Would you like to talk about ghosts?"
"Hi, Jack, it's Jeremy Manson."
Jack narrowed his eyes, his full attention now on the telephone. "You. What do you want now ?"
"Look, I realize there's probably no reason for you to listen to me, but I have something important I'd like to tell you." The man paused, leaving Jack to wonder what was up. "Remember giving me those ghost hunting weapons a few months ago...back in May?"
Jack thought back...wow, that was a long time ago. Why would he remember—?
Oh yeah!
Now he remembered. Danny had told Jack and Maddie that one reason he hadn't told them his secret identity was because his ghostly enemies liked to attack his family and friends. He had wanted to keep them in the dark and hopefully, safer as well. Danny told them about how Sam and Tucker were targets of ghost attacks often and that they were more than prepared to take on a ghost—at least long enough for Danny to show up.
So Jack had soon realized that if Sam and Tucker were attacked, then their parents could be easily targeted as well. His solution? Arm their parents with ghost weapons. Never can be too careful, Jack thought.
"Yeah!" Jack answered, grinning happily. "They've come in handy haven't they? Real work of art...made 'um myself, you know." Well, that wasn't completely true—Maddie had worked hard on them as well.
Jeremy sighed. "Well, honestly Jack, when you first gave them to me, I hated them and thought they were useless."
Jack's spirit immediately wilted. How could someone not like ghost weapons? They were the coolest things since...well, since ghosts themselves!
"But," Jeremy began, causing Jack to perk up. "I've come to realize that they are necessary and that you were right. On quite a number of occasions, ghosts have shown up at the house when Samantha wasn't even here. Even though we really don't want her ghost hunting, we aren't idiotic enough to believe that we are, in any way, more apt to fight ghosts than she is, since she's had years more practice than us. So, I would like to thank you, Jack, for thinking of us enough to give us these weapons, and I thought you'd like to know that they've been put to good use a good number of times. I honestly don't know what we would've done without them. And well—uh, well never mind. Just know that we appreciate them."
Working through the long sentences as quickly as he could, Jack finally responded, "No prob! I knew they'd come in handy. Ghost weapons always do."
Jeremy chucked quietly. "I suppose, if you say so. Well, I just wanted to let you know how I felt; after all, you would've never known if I hadn't told you, and I probably wouldn't be able to live with myself if I hadn't had the chance to pass this on to you."
Jack smiled, pleased with himself. "Thanks, man! Hey, I'll send some more over, soon, okay? We're working on some newer designs that are easier to handle."
"Um..." Jeremy sighed, but it quickly turned into a laugh. "Sure, we'll be happy to receive them."
"Groovy! Well, I've got to go. I'm working on something new now! Bye!"
Without waiting for a response, Jack hung up the phone and devoted all his attention back on his experiment.
A/N: So, although I didn't plan it this way, Pamela and Jeremy called Maddie and Jack, respectively. Huh...interesting? I suppose so.
So...thoughts please! You know they excite me!