Hi, sorry I haven't been around for a bit. Work is keeping me busy. I'm already busy with new things at the moment, which is why I don't always get to write. But I did it, which I am very happy about. I'm happy to present you chapter 16. I'm always happy about reviews and hope you enjoy reading it.
Greetings Petit Erik
4.6.2022
It was Pentecost Saturday and no one had anything special planned. While some played a little piano or organ, some others went about various pursuits. Crawford and Jones played chess in the living room while Mauer played the piano. Soot and Panaro frolicked together on the carpet, Kerik and Ayesha included. Jenny sat on a couch and was reading Homer's 'Odyssey'. Every now and then she glanced at the quartet on the floor and grinned at their shenanigans. Just then Stolle sauntered in and handed Jenny a letter.
"It was on the floor by the door," he said.
She nodded and took the letter from him. Jenny opened the letter and read through it all.
"You've got to be kidding me," she muttered quietly to herself.
When she finished reading, she put a bookmark in her book, got up and walked out of the room. The others looked at each other and just shrugged. They would ask her later what was going on.
Jenny, meanwhile, went down to the basement. What nobody knew, not even Erik, who liked to go on forays in the big house, was that under the first basement floor there was a second one, also with 5 rooms. Jenny was surprised that no one had noticed these yet. These rooms would now also soon be occupied. She never thought that there would be so many boys. At the beginning she thought that it would stay at the number of 20 but obviously this was not the case. If the last ones would still come, she wanted to close the store. Otherwise there would be too many. But fortunately, everything was already in place in the other rooms, so the new ones could move in as soon as they arrived.
In the afternoon, the rest finally arrived. Everyone else was already curious about the new arrivals. Soon they arrived and Jenny opened the door for them.
"Hello," the first one exclaimed delightedly.
"Hi," Jenny replied with a grin.
The other 4 also greeted her delightedly and waved. Once inside, they set their things down and immediately chatted with their colleagues.
"Wow," Jenny said, "that was fast."
Meanwhile, the five new ones chatted animatedly with the other phantoms. They paused only briefly as Jenny showed them to their rooms. Then they all sat back down in the living room and the chatter continued.
"Thirty phantoms," Jenny sighed and plopped down in an armchair.
The last five were finally here. Finally, the massive number of rooms made itself useful. Why did it have to be meriks the most, too? But she wasn't going to complain. The company of the guys was great and each brought their own quirks. Robson, for example, who had just joined with the others, wore very opulent hats. Or Panaro still loved chocolate. But if they weren't all such little goofs, they wouldn't be the way they were. And Jenny loved those little quirks about them.
While everyone was talking, Cudia and Gray sat with the Broadway Phantoms, on the other side Cortes sat with the Love Never Dies Phantoms, and Gant sat with Robson with the West End Phantoms. Jenny looked at her smartphone and saw that she had a message from Sierra.
It read: "Hi Jen, are the other guys with you yet? With us, the 5 ladies have settled in fairly well and get along with everyone splendidly. If you don't mind, we would like to drop by spontaneously tomorrow. Just write if it's okay with you. Love, Sierra."
'Wow,' Jenny thought, '64 people in one house. How is that going to work?'
But she pushed that thought aside and wrote Sierra back.
"Hi, well of course you're welcome to come. We don't have anything planned for the days. I think the guys will be happy to see you again too, even though we just saw each other a few days ago ;) Looking forward to seeing you guys when you come. See you soon, Jenny."
Okay, spontaneous means without telling the guys.
'I can manage that,' Jenny thought.
On time like the bricklayers, the Christines appeared the next day with all the Erik Juniors. By now there were 4 of them, instead of 3 before, but that was no problem. As soon as they were in the hallway, they took off their shoes and ran off towards the living room.
"Daddy!" they could be heard shouting loudly all the way down the hall.
Soon after, 4 delighted phantom fathers could be heard laughing. Jenny just grinned and turned back to the ladies.
"So, you guys are okay?"
"Everything is fine," Clara replied.
"That's very nice. Make yourselves comfortable with the boys. I'll be right there."
The ladies nodded and disappeared toward the living room. Jenny went into the kitchen and returned a short time later with drinks and some fruit. In this warm weather, no one was really in the mood for something warm. Jenny sat down in her armchair and listened to the others chatting. Everyone told each other again what they had experienced on vacation and the newcomers listened excitedly. Charles sat at the coffee table and played chess against his father. He had a grin on his face the whole time, while Kerik's expression was rather the opposite. And anyone who knew anything about chess, which most phantoms did, could easily see that Charles was winning again. And so it came to pass. When Charles won, everyone applauded him happily, while there was only a small consolation applause for Kerik. He had a grumpy face but when his son nudged him in the side, he grinned.
After the two played with each other, the other children played against their fathers. It was a wonderful round. When everyone was finished and the fruit was eaten, they went outside.
"Wow," Dodie said, "you guys even have a pool."
"Yes," Jenny replied, "and we have one underground, too. That's especially handy in the winter."
"I'll take your word for that," Dodie replied.
Erik, meanwhile, had wandered back to the edge of the pool and was eyeing it with his amber eyes. Robson grinned, gestured Jenny to be quiet, and slipped behind Erik. Then he gave him a firm shove in the back.
The only thing heard was a loud screech from Erik before he fell into the water. Everyone else stood on the edge, almost rolling with laughter. Robson knelt at the edge of the pool, grinning, and held out a hand to Erik.
"Come on, sir. I'll even help you out."
Erik swam to him and held onto his hand. Suddenly, he gave it a jerky tug and Robson fell into the water as well. Meanwhile, the others continued to laugh.
"I'll go get my clothes," Jenny said to the Christines.
"Boys! Go get your squeaky ducks!"
Faster than anyone could see, Erik had run out of the water and into the house.
"We'll go get our stuff, too," the Christines said to Jenny.
"Do you guys even have any?"
"Sure," Kaley said, "some of our clothes are here. That's why it's not a problem."
"Okay," Jenny replied and also went to her room to put on her bathing clothes.
A short time later, everyone was sitting comfortably in the large pool. Erik had brought his squeaky ducky again and Christine watched it with interest.
"Can I have it too, angel?" she asked Erik.
He nodded and handed it to her. She took it in her hands and watched it closely. She squeezed it and it made a squeaking sound. Erik also made the same sound. Christine looked at her angel in amazement and the other Christines also looked towards Erik. He blushed and grinned sheepishly.
"I can't help it," he defended himself, "every time it makes that noise, it always comes automatically to me too."
Christine lightly poked him in the side with the ducky and Erik squealed again. She started laughing and slowly followed him. He noticed this, of course, and tried to run away from her, but it was difficult. Soon Erik jumped out of the water to escape his angel but Christine stayed close on his heels. Soon she had reached him and jumped on his back and held on to him. Erik cried out and instinctively held her to him. Then he turned his head toward her.
"Are you all right, angel?" she asked, looking at him.
"Everything is fine," Erik replied and smiled.
Christine smiled back and kissed Erik on the cheek. Erik lifted her off his back again and carried her bridal style back toward the pool. Before Christine registered what was happening, Erik had already jumped back into the water. With her in his arms. Splashing, she resurfaced. Erik, meanwhile, grinned happily to himself. Suddenly, he winced.
"Are you all right?" asked Gant.
"No," he said, "someone's bugging me."
Sure enough, Christine had dived back under the water and was now tickling Erik's feet.
"Luckily, it's just tickling. Ow!"
Christine resurfaced, grinning.
"If you call that tickling, then I don't know what's wrong with you either."
"I'm old, dear. That's where you get it mixed up sometimes"; Erik defended himself.
Christine just rolled her eyes and snuggled against his side as he put an arm around her.
On the other side of the pool, the children were being taught how to swim. While Charles already knew and sat with his father, who was once again teasing Lerik, the other 3 were with their fathers. Of course their mothers were also there and looked after their sons. Jenny was lounging with the others in the middle, talking animatedly with them.
"Speaking of which," she said, "where are Kari and Panaro anyway?"
Everyone looked around briefly until Cudia pointed a finger in one direction.
"There they are!"
Everyone looked in the direction Cudia pointed. Sure enough, Kari and Panaro were lying relaxed in the hot tub, enjoying themselves, while Soot was happily paddling back and forth in the large pool where everyone else was sitting in.
"They look like they're on vacation," Sierra said.
"Although they were first," Trista replied.
"True."
Nobody really wanted to go back in, but when some of them got very hot on the head, they decided to do so. So everyone left the pool and Soot ran to his master and happily licked his face while Panaro laughed. When Soot was done at his normally masked master, he immediately ran to Trista and did the same to her face. She laughed as well and the Labradoodle barked happily. Then he shook out his wet fur right in front of Trista, who tried in vain to protect herself with her hands. His fur puffed up and he happily lay down in the sun to dry. "Well, he's fine," Panaro told Kari as the two emerged from the hot tub.
"Say Jenny, do you have some coffee there after all? I'm afraid I won't last until tonight otherwise," Meghan told her.
"Why is that?" asked Jenny, confused.
"Try spending the whole day with a mini version of Murphy. It'll keep you busy."
Jenny laughed.
"I can imagine that. But yes, coffee I have there."
Then she turned to the others.
"You guys want some coffee, too?"
A few of the Christines and Phantoms spoke up, so after Jenny changed her clothes, she went into the kitchen. The others also went to their rooms to dry off and change. A short time later, when everyone was sitting in the living room, Soot came into the living room from outside. He looked for Panaro, found him, and happily settled down next to the couch. Panaro smiled at his dog and cuddled him between the ears. Although Soot lay there quietly, the thumping of his tail on the carpet could be heard. His master grinned and settled back into the couch.
"Is it back on for you tomorrow?" asked Holly Jenny.
"Nope, not until Tuesday. I can get some more rest tomorrow."
"And when do you have vacation again?"
"Uh, let me think. I've only had some but if I do the math, it should be two weeks in July."
"Do you have a destination yet where you're going?" asked Celia this time, who was sitting at Carpenter's side.
"I'm going to Austria. About near Innsbruck. Really looking forward to it."
"And what are the boys doing?" asked Rachel, who was sitting at Cortes' side.
"Well, they're some smart guys. They can use their clever minds to figure something out. Besides, I'll only be gone a week. The other, I'll be back."
"So we're only alone for a week?" came the question from Hofmann this time.
"Yep. But I hope that afterwards, when I come back, the house will not be a ruin."
"Why?" some of the phantoms asked as they looked back and forth around the room with played innocence, except at Jenny.
"Yeah yeah," Georgina muttered, "we already know exactly what they're talking about."
She grinned and winked at Jenny. Jenny nodded and grinned as well.
Just then Brawford strolled in, having grabbed another cup of coffee from the kitchen. Jake waved at him.
"Hello, Crawdaddy."
Brawford stopped as if rooted to the spot, careful not to spill his coffee.
"What did you just call me?"
"Crawdaddy."
"And why is that?"
"Well, I like Crawdaddy better than Brawford. That's why I'm calling you that now."
"Okay, but then what about Crawford if I'm Crawdaddy?"
Jake thought for a moment. Then his face lit up.
"Grandcraw."
"Wow, that was fast," replied the very same named.
"Yeah, wasn't it?" asked Jake, looking like he was about to burst with pride.
With that, he was the very image of his father. At that moment, Murphy couldn't have been prouder of his son. He looked at him with pure adoration.
"All right," Jenny said, "does that settle the new names?"
"Whoa, slow down!" exclaimed Brawford, "we're welcome to use the names as nicknames but not officially, okay?"
"If that's okay with you?", Jenny asked Jake.
The latter nodded with enthusiasm. So there were two new phantoms that day, which were actually the same. Crawdaddy and Grandcraw.
