Hey ho! I'm sorry that I have not updated for so long. I needed new ideas first. I hope to write some more chapters someday but after this one I'll take a little break. So, have fun with the chapter. I'm always happy about your reviews and we'll read each other.
Greetings Petit Erik
25.3.2022
"JENNY!" roared Erik's voice through the house. In an instant, everyone else was awake and rushed downstairs out of their doors.
"What's the matter?" grumbled Edenborn, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
Erik nearly exploded.
"What's wrong you ask? Look at this!"
With that, he held his alarm clock under the merik's nose. Edenborn's eyes now widened as well.
"Ten o'clock?! And she hasn't woken us up yet?!"
"My point exactly," Erik replied.
By now, everyone else had arrived in the basement as well.
"It's strange that she hasn't woken us up," Warlow said.
Hofmann looked around the room.
"I don't think she's there at all."
"Why?" everyone asked, looking at him.
Before he could say anything back, Kari came running down from upstairs.
"Guys!" he shouted, "I've got something here."
With that statement, he held up a piece of paper. Suddenly, everyone came running to him and looked at the note.
"This is Jenny's handwriting," Schaefer said.
Roxmouth looked at him.
"How do you know?"
"I have my theories," the other merik replied, "and besides, it has her name on it."
He pointed to her signature at the bottom of the note.
Kari held the note in his hand and read it to the others: "Hi guys, I wanted to let you know that I won't be here this morning because I'm going to donate blood. I won't be back until around noon. Please make yourselves breakfast anyway. I don't want you guys to get back into your old routine of 'not eating'. So, make yourselves a nice breakfast, play music loud as hell for my sake, or otherwise pass the time until I get back. Love you guys. I'll see you later. Jenny."
Kari looked at the others and everyone's eyes were moist.
"She loves us?" asked Kerik with a hoarse breath.
"I never would have thought it," whispered Gerry.
"She's the only one who loves us, after all, except for our Christines," Murphy said.
"I guess so," Crawford replied.
Despite the fact that they all had tears in their eyes, they rejoiced at their best friend's words. Truly, she had become their best friend in the time they had all known each other. Even the two Darogas of Erik and Kerik could not compete with that. The Darogas were serious, happy to join in the fun or have one themselves, but still had a distrust of the two of them. Jenny was completely different. She liked to joke with them, to fool around with them and if she suspected that some action might upset Erik or Kerik, because they had never known this, she always explained it to them beforehand. Thus, most sources of contention were eliminated on their own and there was no ultimate danger. Of course, sometimes they were a bit annoyed, but that's the way it is with everyone. No matter whether phantom or not.
When all the tears had dried again and everyone was dressed appropriately because they were still in their pyjamas, everyone made themselves a nice breakfast and sat at the table in a relaxed atmosphere. There was chatting or some lorming back and forth under the table. In the almost four weeks they had practiced it almost without exception every day and by now they had become really good and fast. They decided they needed to lorm once with Jenny. When they were all done, they put their dishes in the dishwasher, turned it on, and then crumbled into the living room.
"So, what now?" asked Borchert.
"I don't know," Piterman said.
Stolle grinned, ran into his room and returned a moment later with what appeared to be a giant plastic blanket.
"What's that?" asked Jones, raising an eyebrow.
"If you'd like to be our game master, I'd be delighted," Stolle said, ignoring Jones completely and thrusting this 'blanket' into Crawford's hand. The latter opened it briefly and then grinned as well.
"With the greatest pleasure."
With that statement, he stood up and spread the blanket. What came to light made everyone's eyes grow wide.
"Oh no! Without me!", Panaro exclaimed and wanted to run out of the room.
But Kari stopped him.
"If I'm in, you can be in, too," he said to his best friend, pushing him back into the room.
"You're not seriously going to join in on this shit, are you? You'll end up breaking your neck!"
"You don't believe that yourself! Break the Phantom of the Opera's neck? HA! That I do not laugh!"
With that, they both walked over to the pitch, which had been set up by now.
"Okay," Crawford said firmly, "I wouldn't do them all at once so we don't run over each other. I'll say half, half. That means twelve people in this round and the other twelve in the other."
"And why not you?" asked Little indignantly.
"I'm the game master. Somebody has to explain the rules," Crawford replied.
In full Phantomaura, he now stood in front of the others and explained the rules to the other Phantoms. Short and to the point, he rattled off everything that was written on the instructions and the others just nodded. When he was done, he put the note away, looked at everyone else with a grin, and said:
"Well then. If everyone's ready, we're good to go."
When Jenny returned about 30 minutes later, she found half of all the phantoms in odd positions on the living room floor, Crawford grinning broadly above them.
"Oh, hi Jenny," he said.
"Hi. What are you guys doing?"
"Oh, just a little game. Stolle kindly donated it."
"Which I've come to regret," the latter growled from the floor up.
"Okay, short break, gentlemen. After that, it's the second group's turn."
Everyone dropped to the floor with a relieved groan. Jenny grinned and went into the kitchen to make tea. Meanwhile, the others got up from the floor and followed her into the kitchen as well.
Soon everyone was then sitting at the table sipping their tea and Panaro insisted that Jenny join them for the next round. But she shook her head.
"I'd love to but," she said, taking off her jacket and showing her arm, around which was wrapped a thick bandage.
The eyes of the others widened.
"What happened?" asked Mackintosh, staring at Jenny's bandaged arm.
"Oh, this," she asked, raising her arm, "wasn't it on the note that I was going to donate blood today?"
"Yes it was but we thought it was just a little band-aid."
"Oh no, you'll get a real big draw there. The bandage has to stay on for four hours now before I can remove it."
"Four hours?" asked Derik.
"Yep. Especially stupid because it's my left arm and I'm left-handed. But don't have to stay on it that long."
After they were all done, they went back into the living room. Jenny lounged contentedly on a sofa, grabbed a blanket, and watched the others play. The first group was laughing now as they saw the others in the strangest positions. The others had laughed at the others at the beginning as well and now they could make fun of them too. Jenny laughed as well and was pleased to see the lightheartedness of the boys. Let them be dumb on the whole but they were still totally nice. Except when you pissed them off. Then all hell could really break loose but luckily that hadn't happened yet. Finally, two people from each group played against each other in the final and whoever could hold on the longest would have won. It was Mauer against Lerik.
Crawford said all possible combinations and it was really very close. But in the end Mauer won for the first group and everyone cheered with him. Jenny also applauded as best she could with her arm. Then the game was cleared to the side and everyone dropped into the chairs and sofas.
"Man, you get exhausted just watching that," said Crawford, who had aced the position of game master.
"I remember playing it back in my elementary school days. I was about 8 or 9 years old then," Jenny said.
"Did you win once, too?" asked Mauer, still a little exhausted.
"Nope, never did. But it was always fun anyway."
"When do you actually get to donate blood next?" asked Murphy.
"Um, again in about 60 days. Don't make me do the math now to figure out when that is. I'm totally bad at math."
He grinned at her and said: "But you got your test in, right?"
"Yeah, got a D. So all good."
He just grinned at her answer. So noon passed in companionable serenity. 2 p.m. then Jenny unrolled her bandage from her arm. It still hurt a bit but it was okay from the pain. Everyone stood around her, curious to know where she had been poked in the arm.
"Did it hurt a lot?" asked Kerik.
"Nope, it was just a little uncomfortable."
With that, she told everyone what it was like to give blood.
"It's a wonderful feeling," she said, "the feeling that you could help someone with it is beautiful. That's why I do it as often as I can."
"What can we actually do now?" asked Erik.
Jenny squinted outside into the garden. An idea occurred to her.
"Didn't you ask me once what the covering outside was?" she asked him.
"Uh, yeah?"
"Would you mind if we dedicated it today?"
Erik jumped up.
"Really?!" he exclaimed, "would you?"
"Sure, why not? I'd get it ready and you can get ready."
With that, she cast a subtle glance at the boys' suits.
"Let's do it!" exclaimed Erik delightedly, running downstairs to his room. Everyone else looked after him, dumbfounded, and then at Jenny. But she just shrugged her shoulders.
A short time later she stood outside in the garden and prepared the pool. She had already considered throwing in several squeaky ducks for fun, but then left it alone. She filled up the water and after she was done, got her own clothes and some towels. Then she put up the parasols so that no one would burn their heads or the rest of the Merik's hair would be on fire. Soon after, when she had finished and changed, the boys appeared in expectant anticipation.
"Lovely," Erik said, and immediately marched off first. Lerik, as usual, had brought his snorkel, which Kerik eyed. He wasn't going to let anyone steal his job, so he immediately planted himself in a good spot in the water.
Jenny lolled along with the other guys.
"I can't get used to girls or women wearing so little in this age," Piterman grumbled, looking down at Jenny's bikini.
"There are places where even less is worn," she said, raising her eyebrows.
His eyes got big at that mention but she just laughed.
"I could teach Jack to swim in this pool," Lewis said thoughtfully.
"At least it's not as deep as the Atlantic."
He shuddered at the memory of his son nearly drowning at Meg's hands, and Murphy felt no differently. After all, his son had almost met the same fate.
"Hey guys, get away from the dark thoughts. I can see what situation is on your minds," Jenny called out to the two. They jerk their heads up and looked into her serious eyes.
"Sorry, Jen," Murphy muttered.
"It's all good," she said, "but don't get used to it. I was actually hoping for as few brooding thoughts as possible in our community."
She looked at everyone, hoping that her wish had seeped through their brains.
After everything was settled, they all lounged, neither relaxed. Lerik snorkeled back and forth in his lanes again and Kerik practiced his 'job' as usual. By now Lerik was used to it, even if it still upset him. Suddenly Jenny took out something yellow and threw it at Brawford. He cried out and sprang under the water. Shortly after, more yellow critters shot over him and they all plunged underwater. Jenny's laughter rang out above the surface. Cautiously, everyone resurfaced. Jenny was still laughing even when everyone was back on top. Then they glanced at the yellow objects. Jenny had indeed thrown a bright yellow squeaker into the water for each of them.
Erik eyed his with questioning eyes. Then he poked it with a long finger, which let out a squeak. His eyes lit up and he took it in his hands and stabbed it again and again with his finger. Soon the others had discovered the joy of it too and soon the air was filled with the squeaking of the toys and 25 phantoms laughing like little boys. Jenny pressed her ears shut, spotted Lerik's snorkel, took in herself and dove under the surface of the water herself. Fortunately, the water muffled the noise a bit and she could breathe through the snorkel just fine. When, after 5 minutes, everyone had finally finished, she resurfaced.
"Finished?" she asked.
Everyone nodded delightedly and Erik looked at the duckling like it was his sanctuary. He stroked it and pressed it to his chest. Then another squeak sounded and he made the same noise with joy. Everyone laughed and he blushed a little. He had rarely been seen so light-hearted. It made the moment all the more precious once he was. Later, everyone was still relaxing or playing with their ducklings. When it got too chilly, they all went back inside. They put on fresh clothes and hung up their towels. Erik wanted to give the ducky back to Jenny but she blocked.
"You can keep it. I gave it to you."
The next thing she knew, she was in a bone-crushing hug.
"Thank you," Erik breathed, smiled at her and went to his room.
Later that evening, the so-called 'plastic blanket' was brought out once again. Now Jenny joined in as well, competing against Crawford with the greatest of glee. Jones was the game leader. It was very close but in the end Jenny won. Crawford pouted a bit but Jenny patted his shoulder reassuringly.
"Come on, old man. I'm sure you'll have better luck next time," she said, grinning.
He, meanwhile, fixed his eyes on her, big as saucers.
"What did you just call me?"
"Uh, nothing?"
He stood up slowly, and immediately the Phantom's aura was felt around him. Jenny, however, remained cool. She was still grinning at him and then she dashed out of the living room with Crawford following her. A short time later, her laughter could be heard echoing throughout the house. It was clear that Crawford was just tickling her out without mercy. The laughter continued for several minutes until a red-faced and panting Jenny and a happy-looking Crawford came back into the living room.
"Revenge accomplished?" asked Wilkinson.
"Of course, monsieur. It couldn't have been better."
Jenny just stuck her tongue out at Crawford, which he acknowledged with a laugh. Afterwards, everyone sat around and Jenny marveled again at what a wonderful family she had.
