Chapter 7 "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" (Mid June 1983)
(Song Suggestion- Leave a Tender Moment Alone by Billy Joel)
Six weeks ago
Dr. Egon Spengler
When our secretary fainted that night, it alarmed me quite a bit. I had thought Janine ( as I granted myself to think of her during this time) as fetching since I had met her, but I would never admit this to my co-workers. However, I had not allowed myself to meditate on that fact until I saw her on the ground when she fainted.
While Venkman revived our Janine by patting her cheeks with his hands that night, I noticed that her shiny auburn hair complimented her round-shaped face. Ms. Melnitz also had high cheekbones that made her youth more noticeable, and her luminous eyes were an enchanting shade of blue.
Based on her features, I estimated that Janine was around twenty-eight or twenty-nine years of age. My heartbeat rose swiftly as I crouched over her after admonishing Peter for spinning her too forcibly, causing her to pass out.
As I glanced down at Janine again, she appeared to me angelic-like, and I felt a sharp pain in my heart that made me concerned for her welfare. I continued my analysis of her, noting that she maintained a very slim figure and had a small bone structure with well-rounded hips that only accentuated her beauty.
Even though I never kept up with the fashion because I thought that was facetious in the grand scheme of things, Janine always dressed professionally in a traditional way. She always wore skirts in solid dark colors such as black, navy, green and dark gray that were short enough to display her very shapely legs tastefully, but never too fast where it was unprofessional. Often, I found myself admiring her sexy legs.
Tonight Janine wore a blue jean skirt with a red short sleeve shirt along with a silver locket around her neck that she always wore. I had realized that I was desirous of her physically, and she, unknowingly, tempted me with her plump, sensual lips when she spoke to me. I could admit that she aroused my body in ways I didn't want to acknowledge within the first few months of her employment.
My thoughts regarding Janine had also undergone a significant metamorphosis. At first, I thought she acted trivially because of her constant laughing and smiling paired with her attempts to flirt with me, but now I perceived those actions as endearing and part of her overall charm.
Ms. Melnitz also carried this friendliness about her that made me feel spellbound by her. When I spoke to Janine, I always thought that I was the most important person because of the way she intently listened. Her smile was warm like the sunshine, and often it gave me shivers down my spine.
Regrettably, Janine had abandoned all attempts at nonwork-related conversations with me after she overheard my insensitive comments from April that she was "silly" and "dumb." Now she usually greeted me or inquired about my day with a bright smile, but it was now scarce when she engaged me in a lengthy discussion.
Weirdly enough, I discerned that I felt lost when Janine ceased flirting with me even though I initially thought I would be pleased. I also missed Janine's gentle touches on my arm occasionally. She broke my reverie when she whispered sweetly, "I think I'm ready to go back to my desk, Dr. Spengler."
Feeling dazed by the adorable Janine Melnitz, I stood up and held my right hand out for her to grasp. She took my outstretched hand with her small one, gratefully, with a pretty half-grin. When our hands touched, I felt an electric shock and gave her a surprised look. Janine seemed to feel the same jolt when I did and glanced in my face, perplexed. Our eyes met for a moment as I pulled her up from the floor, and she lost her balance, falling onto my chest. This disoriented her as she had trouble balancing herself, so I grabbed her waist with both of my hands firmly to steady her.
When I put my hands on Janine's waist, I noticed her taut body and caught a whiff of her sweet perfume coming from her skin. My body started to tingle when she accidentally lost her balance, and I felt waves of excitement that I had not expected as she nestled to my chest.
I scolded Janine very lightly for not taking care of herself after she admitted to skipping lunch. I also requested that she take better care of herself because we needed her to be well. Our secretary thanked me for helping her, and I heard Venkman coming down the stairs from the landing. Grinning, I found myself gazing at her beauty as we had that short conversation.
My efforts to assist her were in the hopes that she would forgive my rude comments about her, and I then realized that I wanted her to think positively of me. With Peter approaching her desk, I felt that I had given her too much attention. At that time, I fled to my office like a scared child who was about to be reprimanded.
In my office, I closed the door and noted my increased pulse rate and rate of breathing. My heart also boomed noisily in my chest after my exchange with Janine, and the combination of her closeness to me and the smell of her perfume stirred up emotions of longing for her. Venkman descended the stairs so I went to my office in order to calm down from being worried about the Brooklynite's health.
"The first law, an object will not change its motion unless a force acts on it. In the second law, the force on an object is equal to its mass times its acceleration. In the third law, when two objects interact, they apply forces to each other of equal magnitude and opposite direction," I repeated to myself, feeling a bit fearful, and noticed that my hands were sweating, too.
A minute later, I grabbed an earlier version of a PKE meter that hadn't quite worked and left my office with it in my hand swiftly. I purposely kept my gaze ahead of me to avoid my enchantress.
I intentionally kept my head down as much as possible and read Tobin's Spirit Guide while we ate. Janine still managed to capture my attention a few times with her plucky responses to Peter's teasing.
After her shift ended, I had reassured her that Peter wasn't going to fire her for being brutally honest with him earlier before she went on her date. (Earlier, I had left my working PKE meter on her desk on purpose, so I would see her before she left for the day.) I later found myself pondering the type of man she dated later on in the landing after Janine left for Coney Island while my colleagues conversed.
"Her dates, the ones that have picked her up at the firehouse, didn't seem very impressive," I thought inwardly.
Suddenly, Venkman questioned, "Egon, are you listening to me?"
Then the balding Ghostbuster searched into my blank face knowing he had caught me thinking about Janine in the guise of working on the PKE.
"No, sorry, I was thinking about a reading on the PKE meter," I lied poorly. Both the unworking meter and the functioning one both sat in front of me on the kitchen table. Nevertheless, I wasn't paying any attention to either, nor were they on. Peter gave me a skeptical look as he sat next to me, drinking another beer.
"You were thinking about Janine, you mean," he corrected, with a visible smirk on his lips.
"My interest in Ms. Melnitz is entirely professional, " I stated, a matter of factly, taking one of the meters in my hands to fiddle with it.
"Why do you have both PKE meters up here? One doesn't work, I thought," Ray inquired suspiciously.
"Uhm, not sure," I answered, trying to play it off, "I am working on it now."
My friend didn't buy it and told me so. Eventually, I gave up posing to fix it and put it back down.
"Wait, didn't I hear you call her Janine earlier? You seemed concerned when she fainted earlier," Peter inquired a minute later, instigating an argument, and he also gave me a wide-eyed look that he knew would provoke me.
"I believe we were both preoccupied with her health earlier," I countered.
Next, I gave him an expressionless glance and arched my right eyebrow at him while emphasizing the word both heavily in my deep voice," you and Raymond call her by her given name. Why is it an issue if I do?"
"Spengler, you seem defensive about your interactions with Janine allothe sudden," Ray chimed in, cheerfully, from the sofa, glancing up from a book that he was reading, but I gave him the cold shoulder about his comment.
"Let me get this straight. If Janine walked through those doors right now, walked up the stairs, and planted the most sensual kiss on you, you would say, 'Sorry, my interest in you is only professional,'" Peter hypothesized, rolling his eyes upwards.
"A very likely scenario," I commented back, in an exceedingly dry, mysterious voice, and reached for the nearby yellow notepad to write an idea.
"Is that what you would do? Even if Janine offered to screw your brains out. You wouldn't kiss her back and carry her off somewhere so she could 'do you,'" Peter dubiously asked, his brown eyes twinkling with a prankish sparkle in them.
Without looking at our company's resident psychologist, I scribbled out part of the idea down on the paper then responded, without a change in my voice, "No."
The first ludicrous scenario was still playing out in my head before he mentioned the more insane second one. My mind wandered to kissing the irresistible fair-skinned woman and caressing her soft skin. That storyline invigorated my body enormously, bringing a rush of blood down below to the most sensitive area in my groin. As I felt a surge of desire roam my body, I contemplated how her luscious lips would feel pressed against mine as they seemed to coax me into reflecting on the idea recently.
"Einstein's Energy-Mass Equivalence. A consequence of Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity and the most famous equation in physics. This equation states that mass (m) and energy (E) is equivalent," I mumbled in my head, attempting to shut down the other thoughts.
"You are a liar," my closest friend argued, with a laugh, scrutinizing my face. Repeating the theories was not helping me feel less exhilarated by our beautiful secretary.
"Excuse me?"
"It's all over your face, Spengler," Ray countered after watching the facade play out from the sofa.
"How is it 'all over my face as you claim'," I inquired belligerently.
"Was my attraction to her that crystal clear?" I thought to myself. Nervously then, I began to sketch out the invention as I envisioned it in my head.
"The way you look at her when Janine isn't paying attention, and your body language when you are talking to her," Ray answered, laughing then sipping his beer.
"Oh, and that time that you and our dear secretary had a conversation right here at the kitchen table about her career goals like we weren't there," Peter added.
"When was that," I asked in the basement suspiciously, gazing at my friend for a second.
"After she proved to me that she knew the categories of the Nobel prize, remember? You were just as shocked that she knew that information as I was," he replied warm-heartedly.
"Yes," I answered, recalling being impressed that Janine chose Alfred Nobel to write a paper for her chemistry class. For a short time, there was silence, and I focused on my task at hand.
Regrettably, my friends weren't done speculating on my interest in Janine as I attempted to retrain my mind.
"Ray, did I tell you that Iggy is catching up on his reading on computer programs such as BASIC," Peter joked, grinning. He stood up from where he was standing and retrieved some of the library books that I had borrowed on computer programming that sat on an end table.
I turned pink and turned away from them to hide my face. Rapidly, I stood from my seat to go into the kitchen.
"Why? I'm sure Janine could put a program on our two computers if we needed her to, even if they are older," Ray wondered, baffled when Peter showed him the titles of the books and then put them down on the end table.
"No, Stantz, you are missing it. Our genius lost his challenge to Brooklyn, remember? Now he is either going to challenge her to a quiz bowl tournament, or he is going to employ this information to flirt with her," Peter explained, noticing that I hid my face by standing up to retrieve a drink, "right, Spengs?"
"I assure you are wrong on both accounts, Peter," I replied coldly, trying to convince myself inwardly that it wasn't a fib, and took a coke from the refrigerator.
"Egon," Ray teased, "come on, you can admit it to us. We are your friends."
" Did you even notice that Janine stopped flirting with you after you called her behavior 'silly,'" Peter questioned, grinning obnoxiously at me and taking a sip of his beer?
"No," I lied with indifference and wondered why my friend brought that up. As my face twisted into a frustrated look, unconsciously, I disregarded my friend's question, sitting back down at the table. Both Venkman and Stantz noticed the scowl on my face.
"Iggy, are you annoyed that I brought up the time Janine overheard you say that she acted dumbly and silly or the fact that she ceased all flirting? Either one is an indication that you are attracted to her, too," my close friend questioned, watching my reaction.
"I know I haven't known you as long as Peter, but Iggy, I have never seen you act the way you do with Janine," Ray argued.
"Did you even know that Janine observed you to see if you were jealous when I mentioned she had a date tonight?" Peter inquired, persisting in seeing if he could get my goad.
"No," I answered, disbelieving him with a shrug of my shoulders and then questioned, "why would she do that?"
"Janine was trying to make you jealous because she likes you. Egon, you are so dense," Ray repeated exasperatedly.
"He cares about her, Stantz. Iggy, that wasn't the only time tonight Brooklyn viewed you with interest," Peter added, lighting up a cigarette then grinned widely at me.
Pleased by the information, I could hide my facial expression behind a book that I had started to read. I had thought Janine had gotten over her crush on me and I still doubted that she was interested in me in the first place.
Why would she find a workaholic anti-social scientist attractive when she was so drop-dead gorgeous looking?
Janine could easily have any man that she wanted, I realized. However, I intensely disliked the thought of her kissing another man.
"Spengler, I have discussed you with several girls throughout the years, all co-ed's, mind you, and asked them about your attractiveness. They all said the same thing--Egon's very handsome but unapproachable because of his one-track mind on science," Peter revealed, taking another beer from the fridge.
Rolling my eyes, I went into the kitchen in search of a snack, finding twinkies in the cupboard.
"Jackpot," I thought but continued my search for something else to eat.
"I am not one of your social experiments, Venkman," I responded crossly, " what is the point of this kind of questioning?"
"Janine shows an interest in your work even though she's not a physicist," Peter interjected, happy to irritate me.
"She's too frightened to show any affection for you after your comments in the lab. You made it more difficult for yourself in the long run, genius."
"I assure you that my interest in Janine is professional only," I reminded them, pausing for a second to find something else to eat while I worked in the lab.
"Is that true," I wondered to myself and left the kitchens Remembering I wanted to test the slime on Venkman's jumpsuit, I asked him about it quietly.
When Peter handed it to me, he attempted to provoke me again by commenting, "Come on, iggy, just admit you are attracted to Brooklyn and ask her out already."
He wasn't going to let this go, so I answered without emotion in my voice as I walked to the lab,
"Since I'm only interested in her professionally, Ms. Melnitz will be waiting for a long time."
"You need to give in to your base desires because they have been buried along with your needs for way too long. Let loose with someone you are interested in, Iggy. Take a chance on Janine, relax and enjoy yourself," Peter yelled before I slammed the door to the lab closed, effectively shutting out all conversations, thoughts, and feelings about her.
As one of my oldest friends, Venkman could easily see when I was bluffing, and tonight he called me upon it.
Everything that I knew about Janine fascinated me, from the fact that she talked to the potted plants in a nurturing way as she watered them downstairs in our offices to the fact that she was interested in computers and almost had earned a degree in the subject. I could easily see myself losing control with Janineboth physically and emotionally, which horrified me.
Until Janine, a woman had never awakened such emotions and desires in such a violent manner in me.
My life was divided into neat little compartments, and that is how I preferred it. Now I feared that by letting Janine into my inner circle that it would be destroyed. Right then, I consciously decided that I had to gain control of my feelings for her at once.
Unfortunately, when I went to bed that night, Peter's last statement about caving to my lusts, desires, and feelings for Janine rang in my head incessantly. My brain unmistakably pronounced that she was the woman with whom I desired to do those actions, to release myself from my self-imposed confines, both emotionally and physically. With that realization, I decided to withdraw from interacting with Janine. As much as possible and work on reprogramming my mind. My work and this business were too significant for me to be disturbed by Janine Melnitz.
Janine Melnitz
On a steamy June afternoon, I was downstairs working on the company's books. The air conditioner wasn't working in the firehouse, and I had a fan blowing directly on me, although I was still sweating heavily. My white sleeveless blouse was dripping with sweat at the armholes, and my legs were sticking to the leather of the chair's seat. New York City in the summer months was torture.
Stepping away from my desk, I chose to go upstairs to get a glass of water as my mouth had become parched like sandpaper. Ray and Peter had gone to the bank to refinance the mortgage rate on the firehouse after lunch. As I climbed the steps slowly in the stale, hot air in the firehouse, I thought about the class I was taking during the summer session as I had homework to complete for tomorrow night.
From the kitchen, I heard one of my favorite Billy Joel songs start, "Leave the Tender Moment Alone," coming from the radio in the lab where my crush worked. I began to sing along with it, twirling around in a circle in the landing as I did.
Then I heard another voice grow closer and closer to me as I sang the chorus but didn't glance up to find its owner until I twirled myself around merrily into him.
"Oh, hi Egon, sorry," I apologized as my face turned redder than it was due to the heat. I felt tingles in my body as I realized it was him.
My crush was caught unaware, as evident by his appalled facial expression and by the fact he was still singing in his sexy baritone voice. He now stood in front of me with his gray slacks and white button-down starched shirt and a maroon tie singing with a preoccupied expression. I felt my pulse quicken immediately when I realized it was him and grinned up at him.
"Hello Janine, excuse me. I wasn't paying attention," he responded, with a slight shrug of his shoulders.
With the corners of his mouth upturned, Egon gazed down at me questioningly.
"Oh, excuse me," I apologized, and I finally moved out of Egon's way. He sang as he walked down the stairs, and goosebumps formed on my arms as I heard his impressive deep voice. Also, I was thrilled to see this side of him enjoying my private concert.
"Wow, you can sing," I complimented when Egon came back upstairs with a tool in his hand after the song finished, causing his face to turn pink, and grumble a "thank you."
His long shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows because of the heat in the firehouse, and I noticed a bit of sweat on his forehead. Egon always dressed so nicely, even when it was the summer.
"Egon is so handsome. Boy, would I love to see him sweat if we were in bed together," I thought, amorously, grinning mischievously?
As a result, I picked up the stack of newspapers from the table and used it to fan my face a little from the heat. He raised his right eyebrow when he saw the sly grin on my lips.
"That song is one of my favorite Billy Joel songs," he informed me, putting the invention and the tool he had retrieved on the kitchen table.
"Mine too," I revealed with a significant smile. Then I went to the kitchen excitedly and retrieved a glass from the cupboard to drink from. After filling the glass with ice from the freezer, I turned on the tap water and filled it up. The water felt very cool down my throat and gave me some relief from the heat as I drank it. Shivering, I felt his eyes on me, and I strolled to the table where he now sat.
" I didn't know that you liked to sing. I thought I was the only one who sang here at the firehouse, " I commented playfully.
"No, you aren't. I grew up singing in the choir for the synagogue my family attended in Cleveland," Egon responded with a slight upturn of his inviting lips.
" A choir boy, too?" I joked, with a slight smile full of my shiny white teeth, and put my hand on my heart for a little added drama, "Be still my little heart. I wouldn't have expected it."
Egon gave me a genuinely pleased grin at my reaction, and his cheeks flushed a pink then he confirmed, "yes."
"Is your family musical," I inquired after a moment.
"Not really, my father was in the choir when he grew up, but that was it," the physicist answered, holding the tool in his hand and twirling it nervously.
"My family isn't either. I was in choirs during my school years because I enjoy singing. However, I didn't want to sing other than as a hobby. The synagogue that we attended had a small choir, but there was another girl my age who had sung alto better than me, " I responded, and he nodded.
"I think that you sing quite well," Dr. Spengler complimented, and then there was a strange silence for a moment. We sat there, and I attempted to think of things to discuss with him.
"Do you attend a synagogue in the City," I inquired, wishing I had thought of something else to say.
Egon shook his head side to side for his answer, then elaborated with, "No, I believe in the principles of the faith, but my training in science leaves me feeling unresolved with other parts. With my parents being Chemists, they share the same concerns. However, they raised my brother and me to participate in the faith as we grew up actively. Do you?"
Shrugging, I answered, "No, not really. On occasion, I will go with my family, but it depends on my schedule. I am not opposed to going more often, but my life doesn't revolve around my faith."
I took a big sip of the cool liquid and wondered about another topic of conversation. Egon had trouble with small talk, and I wanted to make it as painless as possible so he would talk more to me in the future.
To my great surprise, he inquired, "Are you taking a class this summer session?"
"Yes, it is an entry-level one that was added to the prerequisites after I started the program. It's pretty easy- ' a history of computing' class, but I have a paper to write by tomorrow," I answered.
"Sounds interesting. What's your paper about," he inquired, appearing piqued by our discussion.
"Charles Babbage," I responded, waiting to see if Egon knew him.
"The father of computers, a mechanical engineer," my crush replied without blinking. Of course, Dr. Spengler knew as it seemed that he was an encyclopedia of knowledge.
"Yes, not that I understand engineering," I added, "but Babble's work has been engrossing to research."
"I have a Bachelor's degree in engineering. If you have any questions, maybe I can help you," Egon suggested, with a blush on his face.
"Thank you, I may take you up on that," I responded shyly, looking down at my glass of water.
Abruptly, Egon excused himself and grabbed his belongings heading towards the lab.
Dr. Ray Stantz
On Wednesday, Janine's older sister, Doris, emerged in the early afternoon with her two children unexpectedly at the firehouse. She was a couple of inches taller with longer, wavy, darker, but more reddish hair that fell past her shoulders but with the same facial features as her younger sister. Doris had two cute little daughters, one who was probably eight or nine-year-old and looked like a replica of her, and a three or four-year-old who appeared a little more like her Dad, I'd guess. J didn't know that she was coming by but seemed pleased to introduce her to us.
"Doris, these are two of my bosses- Dr. Peter Venkman and Dr. Ray Stantz, and this is my sister, Doris Holowitz, and these are my nieces. The oldest one is Lenora, and this one is Caitlyn," Janine introduced us while we were in our offices where we were hanging out before our next bust since it was cooler downstairs. Egon, who was in the basement conducting tests on the containment unit.
"Nice to meet you, Doris," I answered, and Venkman said something similar with a smile.
"Same," she replied, politely, " we only have fifteen minutes before my dentist appointment down the street, but I thought I would say 'hi' to Aunt Janine."
"But Aunt Janine, Mommy's dentist is Dr. Wallerstein in Brooklyn," the older girl with red hair said, knowingly.
Doris gave her sister a pleading look like Peter, and I watched the two sisters have a conversation silently.
"Please," she mouthed, " They will be reticent."
Janine reluctantly asked Venkman and me if she could watch the girls while her sister went to her appointment.
"Well, Brooklyn was used to babysitting the three of us anyway," Pete replied, laughing.
" No, Dr. V., just you," Janine responded snarkily, "Doris, do you have their coloring books or a book for Lenora?"
She took the backpack off of her youngest niece's back and gave her and the younger one some instructions about her best behavior.
"Aunt Janine is at work, so she can't color with you right now. If she says you were on your best behavior, we will get ice cream. I will be back in a couple of hours at the most. I love you," Doris spoke quietly to her daughters, doting on them.
Then I noticed Janine's sister calmly asked her with a sly smile, "where's Dr. Spengler ?"
"Downstairs working," she answered, quietly, shrugging, "maybe you can meet him afterward."
"I can't wait. I have to see what Egon is like," Doris replied, walking, and Janine stuck her tongue out at her in mock anger.
"Hey Aunt Janine, can we get ice cream, too?" Dr. Venkman inquired, but she gave him an exasperated look.
"Buy your ice cream, Peter Venkman," J said, with a glare that could cut glass, then told her nieces to wave goodbye to their mother.
"Good luck, big sis," she called out with a smile and held her hand up, indicating two fingers crossed. Doris gave her a heartfelt smile and blew kisses at them before leaving.
"Ok, girls. Let's get you some chairs, Lenora. Stand right there, and Caitlyn, sit in my chair until I bring some chairs for you to sit on."
"Here you go," I announced, bringing two rolling chairs over to Janine's desk and putting them on the other side of it.
She grinned and thanked me as the eldest got a book out to read. It was Alice in Wonderland, one of my favorite books, and I told her so. Lenora offered to read it to me at my desk, and I accepted. Happily, she sat at a chair on the other side of my desk and began to read whereas Caitlyn was content, coloring on her aunt's desk.
"Aww, how sweet. Look at Lenora and Dr. Stantz," Janine cooed, watching us with a grin, "Dr. Venkman, would you mind retrieving Ray's camera? This is a kodak moment."
Her sister's appointment went by quickly, and Peter and I listened to Lenora's beautiful reading voice. Janine managed to take a couple of shots of us listening to her read before Doris reappeared in the firehouse, crying.
"Ray and Peter," Janine said, seeing her sister sobbing, "can you watch them for a few minutes?"
The Brooklynite grabbed her sister's arm and walked away from the area so they could speak in confidence after I nodded my consent and Venkman waved his hand dismissively. I saw J hug her and talk to her calmly.
Ten minutes later, they returned, and her sister was still visibly distraught. However, Doris put a brave face on for her daughters as Janine started gathering their stuff. After a while, they were all packed up and ready to go. Egon arrived in the reception area, shocked to see two little girls and Janine's sister. Quickly, she introduced everyone.
"It's nice to meet you, Dr. Spengler finally. I have heard much about you from Janine," Doris replied, with a sassy smile, a replica of her sister's, that caused Egon to turn a shade of red. He fled to his office as a result, but not before Janine's niece informed him about her aunt's crush.
"Aunt Janine likes you," Lenora informed Spengler loudly as he walked to his office. My little sister's face turned a beet red, but the little girl looked pleased that she had helped out her aunt. Venkman and I attempted to hide our laughter as our secretary gave us an angry facial expression. We couldn't help it, though, and the laughter came out anyway.
"I told him, Aunt Janine. I helped you out," Lenora remarked with a satisfied smile.
"Thank you, love, but he already knows," Janine responded with a bright grin and hugged her niece.
"We all know, Lenora. Except him, that is," Venkman remarked from his desk, and Brooklyn gave him a murderous glare when she turned around.
A strange silence settled amongst us until Doris and the girls said goodbye and left.
"You have to be kidding me," Janine responded, giggling, after the door to the firehouse shut firmly, and we all started to laugh loudly.
"Was that as loud as I thought it was? Did he hear that" she inquired after a while.
"Oh yeah," Venkman responded, looking to his right into Iggy's office, with a loud laugh, "don't worry, he isn't leaving his office for a while. However, his face is the same shade of red as yours when Lenora originally said it. What a cute little girl!"
Sighing loudly, Janine shook her head, mumbled, and sat down in her desk chair, "He probably won't talk to me for a week now."
"Is your sister ok," I inquired.
"Oh...I guess...she found out she's pregnant again. Her last one was tough for her, and it was rough on Caitlyn too. Doris's worried about it," Janine answered. Sadly, they want more children, but it may be unsafe for Doris to carry another child. She's had some miscarriages, too. It's complicated. Thank you for allowing me to watch her girls, aren't they sweet? I was the last resort for her if she couldn't find anybody else to babysit them."
Janine Melnitz
Dear Diary,
Where to start? First, the a/c is out in the firehouse, so I am soaked with sweat after my shift. Second, I spoke to Egon and learned a few new pieces of information about him. He was brought up in a Jewish household but doesn't practice now. We chatted a little about Charles Babbage, the father of the computer because he was an engineer. Egon's first degree was in engineering, I found out, too. We had a concise discussion about Babbage, but it was excellent.
Before all of that, I was upstairs when "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" played on the radio as I cleaned, and Egon was in the lab. I sang along with it, dancing around the landing as I do with my favorite songs, and then I heard his deep throaty voice sing along with it. OMG! His voice is fantastic. As I twirled around and sang, I bumped into him as he was preoccupied with something as he walked across the room. Surprisingly, Egon felt didn't perturb that I had run into him, and he seemed almost pleased to see me there. Egon divulged later that the song was one of his favorite Billy Joel songs, the same as me.
