Chapter 18 "Physical" (June 2, 1984)

(Song suggestion "Physical" by Olivia Newton John)

Janine

"How is Joseph," Ray inquired as I entered the firehouse at a snail's pace the following day with a large styrofoam cup of coffee in my hand. He had the hood of Ecto One open and his head underneath it as I strode by, solving the latest problem of the former Hearst. I felt almost too tired to answer him because last night was a blur of panic and worry. Doris went to the Emergency Room as soon as I made it to her house last night so I could babysit my two nieces.

When Joseph was born, he had a tiny heart defect that caused it to beat irregularly. My poor unfortunate sister had gone through some complications with giving birth to her last daughter, Caitlyn, and she had the same ones while delivering my nephew. Joseph had a cold, and the doctors worked throughout the night trying to reduce his fever. High fever for a baby was always a worry for parents and doctors, and I prayed most of the night for his healing and well-being. Therefore, I only slept for about two hours in total.

At five in the morning, Doris called to inform me that the fever had broken and that the doctors were able to give Joseph some medicine. She was relieved and made it home with Joseph an hour later. Our parents would then care of the girls, and I could go home when they arrived at her house

My Dad took me to breakfast at an International House of Pancakes first before returning me to my apartment. I usually enjoyed spending time with him, but I could barely stay awake. It was eight thirty in the morning when I collapsed on the sofa in the living room in my apartment. My eyes didn't open until the phone rang repetitively at eleven, and it was my Mom updating me about Joseph. He was a little fussy but very sleepy. Cory had made it home an hour after Dad took me home and watched Joseph so Doris could sleep. In other words, everything was ok.

That left me with time for a quick shower before commuting to work. At four, a reporter from The Post arrived to interview the guys about their recent success and the rise in their caseload. I knew that they were apprehensive about it, especially with the popularity of their brand rising exponentially in the past month.

"J, is Joseph alright," Ray questioned again, overseeing me as I put my coffee down on my desk and slid the backpack off of my shoulder. His face conveyed worry.

"Oh, sorry, Ray, I was too preoccupied to sleep last night, and I spent most of the time praying," I confessed, yawning, " Yes, Joseph is fine now. He has a cold, but the doctor broke the fever."

"You look sleepy. Why don't you take a nap for an hour, our interview isn't until four, and I can answer the phones. It has been quiet today for a Tuesday," he kindly suggested as I stretched my arms over my head, producing a bigger yawn.

"Do you think Dr. V. will mind?" I asked after using my hand to cover my mouth as I yawned.

"He's too busy getting ready for the interview," the youngest ghostbuster lamented with a wink.

" Don't worry, when you wake up, Peter will have you ask questions so he can practice. He has been driving Egon, and I nuts all day with them," Ray stated.

Simpering, I thanked him and then I went into his office to take a nap on the sofa in his office. It wasn't the most comfortable, but it would have to do.

Ray

"Where the hell is Melnitz," Peter demanded when I returned to the landing as he glanced at his watch, " I need her to ask me some questions for this interview."

"J was up all last night worrying about her nephew, and I let her take a nap for an hour in my office," I answered, matter of factly.

"Is Joseph OK?" Egon's concerned deep voice inquired from the lab table on the other side of the room.

Facing him, I explained everything I knew, and I saw that his body relaxed slightly with the news. Since last night, Iggy had been on edge when I drove Janine to Doris's house in Brooklyn even though he pretended that it wasn't bothering him. I could tell the tension eased in his shoulders after I gave him the latest about Joseph.

"Pete, the interview will be a snap. We are ready; Janine will help us practice more when she wakes up. I guess I could see if Lucy wanted to help; what do you think," I asked.

Egon gave Peter a smug expression, but I ignored it. An hour later, Lucy appeared in knee-length khaki shorts and a white blouse with her long brown hair in a ponytail on top of her head.

Refreshed, our Brooklynite secretary joined us at the kitchen table, ready to feed us some practice questions. We were giving an interview to a major news outlet, and Pete did not want us to make any mistakes. The problem was that Egon hadn't been participating in the questions that Lucy fed us, and he was the one who was the most awkward socially. Venkman let him get away with it for right now until Janine woke up. We both knew she would be the only one who could convince Egon to participate. Broken up or not.

"Dr. Stantz, how does your background in Engineering help you as a Ghostbuster," Janine questioned, reading the card carefully.

"Well, I help design and create the equipment that we used to capture ghosts, like putting together puzzle pieces," I responded thoughtfully.

"Dr. Spengler, what is your role," Lucy asked the quiet Ghostbuster.

The theoretical physicist grumbled as he worked out a problem on his yellow notepad, his head of dark wavy hair bobbing as he wrote. I already knew that he didn't think he had to participate in any interviews.

"Egon, you have to practice," I insisted to my bespectacled friend. The time had come to apply some pressure on him, but he grunted in response.

"What are you a caveman," Lucy sarcastically joked, rolling her brown eyes upward. I gave her a reproachful look and gently kicked her leg under the table.

"Ouch, quit it, Ray," she angrily screeched at me, glaring at me murderously.

Janine fiddled with the cards in her hand, keeping her eyes on the questions, but Iggy ignored the comment. Peter spotted the half-empty pack of cigarettes on the table and nabbed one from it.

"Spengs, you have to do this," Venkman protested, giving me a wink in thanks for the smoke. Grinning, I picked up my lighter, flicked it to light his cigarette, and grabbed a smoke for myself.

"Egon, you need to relax a little. You are too stiff," I agreed, smiling at him.

"Interviewing was not a part of the deal, Peter, " Spengs balked as he wrote on his yellow notepad, "you said you would take care of this part and leave the science to me."

"Yes, I did. What if the reporter asks us a question about the proton packs," Venkman countered in disbelief.

"Ray can answer it since we work closely together on the equipment," Egon simply remarked without removing his attention to his notepad.

"Probably, but they know we have a theoretical physicist on the staff here," Peter argued, turning red in the face as the eldest Ghostbuster seemed to become more serene and focused.

I pleadingly glanced at Janine, who remained silent and bit her lower lip. She knew what was coming and what we would have to ask of her. Simultaneously, Lucy repeated the question to our grave friend and awaited a response. Egon disregarded it until Venkman yelled at him to answer it. A short shouting match occurred between the close friends, and finally, Egon left the area in a huff going to the roof, most likely.

"Holy hell, Egon, it's just an interview; I am not asking you to sing and dance for the reporter. We are practicing for the business," Venkman screamed when we heard the door to the roof shut loudly. Angrily, he rose from his chair and noisily exhaled from his cigarette. Peter began to pace the room, mumbling to himself.

"Janine, we need your help," I pleaded, giving our sassy redhead secretary a grin.

" Why do you have to put me in the middle? It is extraordinarily uncomfortable!" she complained to Lucy as I begged her.

"Egon will listen to you no matter how ridiculous he's being or whether you two are a couple or not," I retorted.

"Pretty please," Venkman beseeched Janine, "I know this is going to be arduous for you, Brooklyn. We need Spengs to participate. You know how significant this is for us."

"I don't know what you are going to do when I quit. You all are screwed," Janine angrily snapped, turning her head to the left to glare at her boss.

Peter began to counter in his usual sarcastic way, but I silenced him with a stern glare as we all knew we needed our plucky secretary's assistance. Instead, he began massaging Janine's shoulders gently.

"You are right, Janine, without you we would be lost," I agreed, trying to keep the peace.

"Keep massaging my shoulders and my neck for five more minutes; then I'll go," she leveraged shrewdly.

"Deal, thank you so much," Dr. V concurred and whispered in my ear," and thank you. You are the best."

"Which questions are for him," Lucy questioned, taking Janine's notecards to sift through them, and I helped her identify them for her.

Janine

Joyfully, I enjoyed the massage without thinking about persuading Dr. Spengler to engage in the interview. I fumbled with my charms for a few minutes, enjoying the beauty of each one.

"How am I going to do this," I thought sadly, "I have been avoiding him as much as I can for the last month."

Shutting my eyes, I meditated for a long moment to gather my courage and strength because my guys needed me. I rose from the chair, still deep in thought to what I would say to my ex, but I strolled upstairs to the roof regardless. There was Dr. Spengler tending to his spores, mold, and fungus collection with his brow furrowed when I opened the door.

"Leave me alone, Venkman; I refuse to participate in the interview," he sternly commented without looking up.

Sighing heavily, I sternly stated, "Well, first, I am not Peter."

Dr. Spengler glanced up when he heard my nasally voice and his eyes drifted over my body. He had been avoiding me as much as I had him in the past month, and I noticed that his cheeks turned crimson. This was going to be awkward.

"Did Peter send you?" the theoretical physicist inquired as he stood from his collection.

"Not exactly," I replied, striding to where he stood.

"Janine, it is not your job to persuade me to do an interview," he quarreled, sticking his chin out stubbornly and making eye contact only for a few seconds.

"I agree, but you won't listen to anyone else, " I correctly pointed out, but Dr. Spengler didn't respond right away.

"Indeed," he finally conceded in his sexy deep voice.

There was an uneasy silence until he inquired about Joseph's health.

"Better, thank you for asking " I responded, grinning, " The medicine is working, and everyone is relieved. "

"I am glad to hear it; I know Doris and your family didn't sleep much last night over their fright for his health," he remarked casually, bending down to fix something. More silence ensued.

"How is your arm," Dr. Spengler questioned, examining the cast on my arm, "does it hurt anymore?"

"No, it hasn't hurt for a long time. I am ready for the cast to be removed in two days," I confessed, noting the apology tears in the physicist's eyes,.

I had seen so much guilt for something that Egon couldn't stop that it angered me immediately. Without saying anything, I sat down and emotionally announced,

"I hate how strange it is between us. Even if we hadn't dated, I feel like I would be up here attempting to persuade you to do the interview, so here it goes."

"You may have been better off if we didn't," Dr. Spengler ruefully interrupted, looking at my left arm. He sat down next to me.

"How could he say that?" I thought to myself with a puzzled expression on my face that he noticed. I became more frustrated at his comment, but I decided to take a deep breath then refocus.

"For the moment, I am going to put everything emotional to the side to encourage you. Egon, because you have the same thing to assist me through finishing my bachelor's," I stated truthfully.

" You are an enormous part of this business and need to be visible in this interview despite your anxiety. It will be extremely beneficial for the business you assisted your close friends, Peter and Ray, in starting."

"I know you are right, Janine," Dr. Spengler remarked after a period of silence then added, "Every time I think about completing this interview, my heart starts thumping in my chest out of control, plus my brain freezes."

"I bet that is scary," I admitted, "The good news is that it isn't a video interview, but you all do have one next week with Channel 9."

The tall, good-looking scientist grumbled something underneath his breath as he rose from the roof, and then paced around the roof with his hands on his head for a few minutes.

"Will you, please, read one of the questions, Janine" Dr. Spengler grunted, standing in front of me.

"Dr. Spengler, tell us about the proton packs," I calmly questioned.

"Take a deep breath first. Imagine you are talking to me, a nonphysicist, about the equipment and simplifying the language."

"Ghosts contain negatively charged ions that can be countered by a stream of positively charged ions of the particle thrower. A proton pack is a case that smashes together positrons," my ex-boyfriend with dark wavy hair explained, first following my suggestions to my pleasure.

"What is a particle thrower," I questioned, and I could tell that he was relaxing some even though he persisted in pacing for a little longer.

"It is a piece of equipment that contains the positively charged ions that paralyze the ghost and allows for its capture," Egon responded, sitting next to me.

"See, how hard was that?"

Dr. Spengler raised his right eyebrow and gave me a tiny smirk, so I persisted onto the next question. Within fifteen minutes, he answered all the questions on the cards a few times, and I threw in a couple of impromptu questions. I rose from my seat and strolled to the door.

"You will do great," I motivated him one more time before I opened the door.

"Will you stay when we do the interview, in the room, I mean," Egon embarrassedly requested before I left the roof.

"Sure, maybe you should meditate for a little while and avoid Peter before the interview," I remarked.

"Thank you, Janine; I couldn't do this without you," Dr. Spengler revealed, treating me to an adorable half-grin on his attractive face. It was the first time he smiled at me in a month, and I felt a warming glow embrace my heart.

When I returned to the kitchen, Lucy, Peter, and Ray sat around the table talking but suddenly ceased when I arrived. Everyone was anxious.

"Done," I stated, with finality, and looked at my watch.

"Bravo, you deserve a raise," Lucy suggested with a wink.

"Don't get too crazy there, Luce," Ray teased, poking his sister's right side of her body.

"You all have thirty minutes until the reporter shows up. If I am not needed, I am going to work on the company's accounting."

"Thanks, Brooklyn, you are the only one who could have done it," Peter acknowledged with a joyous expression on his face, "by the way, don't worry about making up the hour you slept. You are fabulous!"

"You are welcome, Dr. V. If my services are not needed, may I return to my desk to complete the pile of paperwork I have waiting for me," I dramatically asked. Everyone laughed, as I descended the stairs.

"Yes, ma'am," Peter stated, giving her a salute as if she was in the military.

"Too bad I can't watch the interview, I have to go to my other job now," Lucy disappointedly announced, and she promptly off.

The premiere interview with an influential newspaper went off with a hitch. True to my word, I stayed in the landing to provide Dr. Spengler a sense of security. Each Ghostbuster remained charming in their way and answered the questions. Loving the spotlight, Dr. V. hammed it up even though the reporter was a man because that was his m.o. Dr. Stantz remained easy-going and good-natured, as was his way. Finally, Dr. Spengler did better than Peter expected as the former followed my earlier advice. I observed that he seemed much more comfortable than when he did the TV commercial last year. When I see it now, I am stunned at how stiff and impersonal Dr. Spengler seems. Maybe it was because we were close.

"Congratulations," I excitedly remarked, clapping my hands after the reporter left.

"You all did an excellent job on your interview. Wow! Each one of you answered the questions precisely in an entertaining way yet remained completely professional. I am impressed," I eagerly complimented.

"Thank you, thank you," Peter rose from his chair and dramatically bent down to take a bow. With a quick look at his watch, he questioned,

" Is it almost six? Sheesh! Where did the time go today? Time to take a shower to prepare for my date."

"Who are you going out with, " Dr. Spengler asked the Ghostbusters casanova.

"Just some chick," Venkman casually stated and walked into his bedroom, then shut the door.

"Hmmm," the theoretical physicist replied curiously and glared at Ray.

"He's reticent about this mystery woman," the youngest ghostbuster dubiously discerned with a shake of his head.

"Normally, Pete goes out of his way to give us TOO many details about his dates."

"Indeed," Dr. Spengler agreed.

"Maybe he is serious about someone," I hypothesized.

Both Drs. Stantz and Spengler voiced their uncertainty about Peter's seriousness in dating. I descended the stairs and returned to my desk to work on the day's paperwork. Swiftly, I called my Mother in Brooklyn to check on baby Joseph. He was feeling much better.

Wendy and I rented a movie that night, but it wasn't very good. We had a good time making fun of it as we viewed it and ate popcorn. Also, I spoke on the phone to my best childhood friend, Bree, about our vacation to Fire Island in six weeks. It was already turning out to be a frantic summer, and I felt the need for a holiday already.