Sorry for the wait for a new chapter. I am in work stress right now. But now I had time to write. Now the music is out. Let's see how the guys will cope with modern music. Let's hope it works out. But I am confident. I hope you enjoy reading.
Greetings Petit Erik
2.1.2022
Today the house would be a little emptier. Jere and Dominik would leave again today. And because they both had to work again tomorrow, they left a little earlier. There was no breakfast today, but that wasn't a problem for Jere and Dome. They had taken a small snack for their flight, normal food would be served later at home. So the brothers said goodbye to their sister.
"See you soon Kiddo," Jere said with a grin.
"Kiddo?" asked Jenny, confused, "I'm taller and older than you."
"Two minutes," said Jere.
The first point was true, however. Jenny was very tall indeed, had clearly inherited her father's genes and it showed. At 1.96m, she was the tallest of the 3 siblings. Behind them followed Dominik with 1.88m and Jere as the smallest with 1.80m. He had often expressed his displeasure because of his short height. But with Jenny's height, even many of the maestros had to look up to be able to talk to her at all. The only exceptions were Erik and Kerik, who could easily keep up with her height.
"Yeah, relax again," Jenny said to her brother.
And even the gentlemen of the opera said goodbye to the two boys. In the few days the boys were there, they all became pretty good friends and also liked to fool around. One evening, the Phantoms were playing "Activity" with the brothers in the common room on their floor, while Jenny was happily just watching. One didn't even remember how they came up with the idea of a game. One had suggested it and immediately they had wandered into the Merik's room. At that moment Dominik rolled the dice and drew a card. It was the mime card. He showed Jenny what it was supposed to represent. She had to stifle a laugh, barcode reader. "Well, let's go Dome," she said to herself. The latter already stood up and now tried to pantomime this word to the others. But you could clearly see their confusion.
"Huh?" asked Panaro, confused.
Dome had to stifle his laughter and the others were no different. He continued to wave his arms around, trying to explain his word. Then, when time was up and no one could guess, he dropped into the chair.
"So what was that?" asked Gerry.
"Barcode reader," said Dome, completely exhausted.
After he said this, everyone burst out laughing and some had to wipe tears from the corners of their eyes. After pouting at first, Dome then joined in the laughter. When Dome was finished, the Phantoms wanted Jenny to join in too, but she strictly resisted. So she was left out and the round continued with Piterman. So the evening passed in this relaxed atmosphere.
Back in reality, there was just as much laughter. Everyone remembered this beautiful evening.
"I hope we can do this again soon," Crawford said.
The brothers replied, "That would be nice, but we have to get back to work first and then there's Corona."
The others nodded in response. They too were following the news, and they were all sick of it anyway. But despite everything, they couldn't help him and so the opera spirits took their leave. As the brothers left the house, they turned and waved goodbye before leaving for the airport. The others stood at the door and waved to them until they could no longer see them. Then they all went back into the house and made themselves comfortable in the living room. Jenny noticed that some of the very lanky gentlemen had already gained some weight. Erik, in particular, didn't seem as emaciated as before. So it seemed that most of the time they ate 3 times a day.
"Could it be that somehow we don't quite fit our meal times?" asked Edenborn.
Jenny commented, "That could be. There's no point in going ahead with the plan anyway. So it's hereby officially cancelled."
All the phantoms looked relieved. In the last few days, most of them had gotten into a healthy sleeping rhythm that they didn't like to interrupt early for breakfast. And already on the second day Jenny had seen that the early breakfast time did not meet with such favor. And to be honest, she herself was not someone who liked to get up early. Weekends were the time when she could sleep in, unless she had to work on the weekend. But then she had two days off before or after.
"So, what are we going to do until evening," Derik asked.
"Well, it's almost half past ten, so I could make lunch because there was no breakfast. And after that we'll see," said Jenny.
"Okay," said Mackintosh, "do you need any help?"
"Well, if you could help me with the pickles, I'd appreciate it."
Together, the two went into the kitchen to prepare the meal. Jenny took the cucumbers out of the refrigerator, which turned out to be a substantial amount, enough for the 21 people. Grinning, she handed Mackintosh the peeler and the cucumbers. The latter just gave her a puzzled look until he returned the grin and started peeling the cucumbers. While he peeled cucumbers, Jenny peeled potatoes. Shortly after they both finished, Mackintosh asked what he should do next.
"Um, if you could grate the cucumbers some more, that would help me a lot," Jenny told him.
"Sure, I'll do that," he said.
He quickly got the grater out of the cupboard and started grating the cucumbers. Jenny had finished peeling the potatoes and placed them in the pot provided. While the potatoes were boiling in her pot, she scrambled eggs she had beaten earlier with milk in another pot. Then she poured it all into a pan and let it all brown. Mackintosh, meanwhile, was still busy with the cucumbers.
Suddenly Lewis appeared in the kitchen.
"Do you need any help?" he asked pleasantly.
"Thanks," Mackintosh said, "that would be really nice of you."
So he grabbed the extra grater, joined the other Phantom at the table, and began grating the cucumbers together with it. Soon they were both done, and Jenny was also finished with her potatoes and scrambled eggs.
"Let's get the others," Lewis said, and he and Mackintosh went into the living room to get the remaining 18 men. Jenny, meanwhile, drained the potatoes and quickly finished setting the table. Just in time for everyone to arrive, she finished. She put the food on the table and they began to eat. There was very lively conversation about the past few days with Jenny's brothers. Everyone was surprised at how well they had gotten along with the two boys. Even Panaro hadn't cursed or flared his temper on any of those days, which was an accomplishment in itself.
"So, any suggestions for the rest of the day until tomorrow?" asked Jenny.
"I once heard your brothers talking to K about something. Ki-, Ka-, I don't know, something like that," Crawford said.
"Could you mean karaoke?" she asked.
"Yes, exactly."
"Well, that would be a possibility. But before we start, let's get drunk, " she said.
"Why?" asked Erik with a raised eyebrow.
"You're not seriously telling me you're going to do karaoke stone sober? That's not going to work. So, get something in that hollow head of yours first, and then let's go," Jenny said firmly.
With this statement, she went to the kitchen and returned a short time later with several bottles of high-proof liquor. She filled a glass for each of them, then raised hers high and exclaimed: "NO LONG SNACK, HEAD IN NECK!" and drank her liquor in one go. The others did likewise.
"Whew, that's a good one," said Murphy.
"Isn't it?" she asked, "so, round two is open. Indulge yourselves!"
Having said that, the bottles were passed around like hotcakes. Everyone wanted to try something from each drink. By the time it was all over, everyone was at the stage where karaoke was no longer a problem.
"Ssssoooo, who wants to go first?", Jenny asked her question, now not so sober anymore.
"ME!" exclaimed Panaro excitedly like a little boy.
Kari jumped up as well and exclaimed: "Me too!"
With that settled, Jenny went up to the attic, rummaged around a bit, then found a couple of microphones, which worked after a sound check, and then returned downstairs. She pressed two of the four mics into Kari and Panaro's hands and put the other two on the table.
"Well then guys, let's go!"
The two addressed looked at each other, grinned and stood in the middle of the living room on the carpet, as if on a stage and start singing: "So I cry and I pray, and I beg for you to: Love me, love me, Say that you love me, Fool me, fool me, Go on and fool me, Love me, love me, Pretend that you love me, Leave me, leave me, Just say that you need me, Love me, love me, Fool me, fool me, Love me, love me, Fool me, fool me!"
In the end, they both stood with arms around their shoulders, laughing for all they were worth. Meanwhile, the others were already lying on the floor or curled up in their chairs laughing the whole time. The two 'master singers' walked off the 'stage' with a proud grin, gave themselves a high-five and asked the others to do the same.
Everyone else didn't need to be told twice and joined in with great joy. While everyone sang with everyone else, and in the end all 20 Maestros sang together, Jenny filmed each performance and sent it to Sierra, who had to show the videos to the rest of the ladies. Soon after, the message back came, which included a laughing emoji with tears in his eyes. As the 20 gentlemen sang, Jenny also sang along quietly to herself.
"You alone can make our song take flight. Help us make the music of the night."
At the end of the song, Jenny again sent her recording to Sierra but not before recording the other Merik's bowing to Crawford for being the first on stage. The latter acknowledged the bow with a grin. After this was also finished, the last video was also sent off. Then, with a groan, everyone dropped onto the sofas and the chairs.
"I'm pretty beat," Crawford said.
"My favorite thing right now would be the pool in the third basement," Gerry said.
Jenny looked at him in surprise, then grinned and shouted: "You heard him men! Get all your clothes and get down!"
And with that sentence, she was already running upstairs to get her own bathing suits. The opera ghosts did the same and also quickly went to their respective rooms.
A short time later, they were all sitting comfortably in the 3rd basement.
"That feels good," murmured Gerry, who planted himself down quite relaxed.
"Yes, not true," said Jenny, "especially when you have to go back to work tomorrow then, it's a nice way to end."
They all let out a sigh of relief as they slid further into the warm water. Jenny, meanwhile, grabbed her phone, activated the Bluetooth connection to the speakers and quietly played her playlist.
"That doesn't sound so bad," Kerik replied from his usual perch by Lerik, so that when Lerik swam past him, he could again place his hand on the tube the other Phantom needed to breathe underwater. Meanwhile, he considered this his job and no one else was allowed to do it.
"Thank you," Jenny murmured with pleasure and closed her eyes. This is where she could stay forever: with her best but also craziest friends in an underground pool, everyone just talking a bit, the ladies with the offspring coming over now and then, and everything would be top notch.
"Tell me Jenny, what is that thing outside in the garden that is covered all the time?", Erik asked her.
"Oh that, that's the outdoor pool, just as big as this one but you can swim outside for it in the summer," she replied.
Of course, this statement again met with much favor among the gentlemen. Relaxing outside in the summer, wonderful.
"Do you have anything for sun protection too, so we don't burn this?" asked Borchert, pointing to his almost hairless head.
"Sure, it's all there. Would just have to bring it all out and set it up when the time comes. It's the same with the hot tub, by the way."
"Whirlpool?!" asked Panaro, springing up from his lazy posture.
"Uh yeah?" said Jenny.
"Perfect!" he exclaimed, "finally something to relax those tired muscles after a day of composing or other things."
This met with approval from everyone, including Jenny. She also knew how one felt after a stressful day at work.
"And you have to go back to normal work tomorrow, right?" asked Edenborn to Jenny.
"Yep," she replied, "but I enjoy it, that's why I like doing it. But I have to get up early, so I don't think I'll be up too much longer."
She punctuated this statement with a soft yawn, to which the others just smirked. "So, I'd say let's go upstairs now, have something to eat together, and Jenny can relax for tomorrow," Kari said. This was agreed to so Jenny turned off her music, everyone went upstairs together to change or in Jenny's case get ready for the night and then everyone made dinner in the kitchen. After that was over, Jenny said goodbye to the opera ghosts, who were still sitting in the living room for a bit, and went upstairs to her own room. She set her alarm clock and then went to bed. "Karaoke with opera ghosts," she said with a grin, and soon fell asleep.
