Chapter 4 "Dreams" (Eaarly April 1983)
(Song Suggestion- "Dream On' by Aerosmith)
Dr. Egon Spengler
Since 1958, I followed the nominees for the peace prize in the subjects of Chemistry and Physics with my Uncle Floyd. It is one of my fondest childhood memories, and he and my parents were instrumental in motivating me to work in science.
Long before I became a Ghostbuster, I dreamt about winning a Nobel peace prize in Physics. This was also a dream of both parents and my Uncle Floyd that they had passed down to me. Although my Uncle, my mother's brother, created the idea for the particle thrower, I had made adjustments over the past several years in theory. He was always interested in ghosts and spirits. Furthermore, my Uncle believed that my great Uncle Egon's soul regularly visited him, the man I was named after.
My great Uncle Egon was heavily influential in my mother and Floyd's development in becoming scientists. He often conducted experiments with them on the weekends when he wasn't working or not in school. Egon eventually encouraged Floyd to study paranormal studies for a second doctorate before he passed away in 1967 at 82. Additionally, he was incredibly proud of my accomplishments, such as graduating with honors with my bachelor's degree in engineering at eighteen was very memorable to both of us. One of my favorite family photographs was one of him and me at my graduation.
During the height of the Cold War, Uncle Floyd had worked for the U.S. government through private contracting on projects that he couldn't even discuss. Although he received some recognition for his governmental work, he didn't even receive the recognition he thought he deserved.
Janine Melnitz
I ceased all flirting and instigation of conversations about topics outside of work with him straight away, but I doubted that he noticed as his extraordinary mind was always engrossed elsewhere. My new idea was to have my love interest view me in a way where I wasn't acting frivolously, but I wasn't sure how to go about it yet.
Recalling our first interaction when Dr. Spengler thought I lied about knowing the computer language BASIC, I realized that my interest in computers might be the only way to pique his interest in me since he also seemed to be knowledgeable about them. But how would I go about using my major in computer systems in my job in a way that would entice him? I had to prove to him that I wasn't a brainless airhead.
On a Tuesday, I ate lunch on my break at the kitchen table upstairs on the landing. I overheard a conversation on career goals and dreams between the Ghostbusters. My own plans for my career were complicated and seemed ever-changing through the years.
I was a decent student in school, but there wasn't any one subject that interested me. My high school counselor suggested finding a "helping" career designed for women, such as nursing, teaching, or flight attendant. None of those paths fascinated me, nor did I feel like I obtained the correct personality for any of them. My mother was old school and wanted me to have a big family and get married but in the reverse order.
After receiving my associate's degree, I applied for a secretarial job outside at King's college in 1977 that required computer skills. I was told that computers would be part of the future. Agreeing to enroll in computer training, I accepted the job and received low tuition rates as a school employee. The first time I used a computer, it was intriguing as I heard it make loud sounds and beeps as it warmed up. When the professor who hired me as a secretary showed me everything I could do with it, I was thoroughly engrossed.
Drs. Stantz and Venkman were sitting with me at the kitchen table upstairs as I ate my lunch of a grilled chicken sandwich, an apple, a small bag of peanuts and a cup of raspberry yogurt.
"These inventions that Spengler and I came up with to capture ghosts and contain them should give us Nobles recognition. It hasn't been done," Dr. Stantz commented thoughtfully.
"What about me," Dr. Venkman asked incredulously, "I'm the one who introduced the two of you. You two would have never met if it wasn't for me."
"Peter, you aren't getting a Nobel for that. The science is 85% Spengler, and his uncle with the remaining 15 % coming from me," Ray quipped back quickly, giving him a very dubious look.
"Who came up with the idea for being the only paranormal eliminators," Peter questioned, pointing the finger at himself, "me."
"No way, man. When Spengler and I are in Stockholm accepting our awards, you will be here, teaching at NYU," Ray countered, shaking his head.
Giggling, I tried not to make too much noise as I heard this exchange.
"What's so funny, Brooklyn," Dr. Venkman agitatedly asked, peering over at me as I read the paper.
"Brooklyn" was his new name because of my accent. He frequently exaggerated his voice to imitate mine, and it was a horrible accent.
"Nothing," I remarked, shrugging it off and winking at Ray, who smiled back at me. Meanwhile, he had greeted my handsome crush, who was once again looking impeccably dressed in a gray suit with a white lab coat on it as he strolled into the kitchen from the lab. For a second, I thought about whether I wanted to be involved in this conversation and put the paper down to face Dr.Venkman. Egon had sat down next to Ray and began talking to him about a problem with the equipment.
"Out with it, Melnitz," Peter growled lowly," In the almost two months that you have worked with us, I know you well enough to know that you will say whatever you are, thinking."
"I'd have to agree with Dr. Stantz on this one. There isn't a category for the Nobel prize for introducing people, and I'm curious. Do you know the name of the categories of the peace prizes," I patiently questioned with a smile, then took a bite of my apple.
"No, do you," Peter countered, giving me a silly face. Ray stopped talking to Dr. Spengler for a second and held up his hand, awaiting my response.
"Chemistry, physics, medicine, economics, and literature," I answered smartly, ignoring Ray and my crush's amazed glances, "not for introducing people."
"Zing!" Dr. Stantz yelled and gave me a high five. Dr. Venkman appeared to be bent out of shape by my answer. Then Ray and Dr. Spengler returned to their conversation, but the latter seemed perplexed by my knowledge.
"Oh God, he does think I am dumb," I sighed inwardly, feeling despair when he seemed so amazed.
"Is that even right," Peter asked Dr. Spengler, who sat down at the table to finish his discussion with Dr. Stantz. He also had the yellow legal pad and a pencil in his hand.
My wavy haired crush nodded curtly once without speaking.
Without staring, I noticed that they all appeared exhausted.
"How do you know that," the balding ghostbuster inquired, narrowing his blue eyes.
"It's basic knowledge, Dr. Venkman," I chided.
"However, I chose to write a research paper in my chemistry class in college about Dr. Nobel and the peace prize awards," I stated, rolling my eyes upwards.
"Ok, Brooklyn, you got me on that one, I guess," Peter remarked, irked.
"Thank you, just to hear you admit that I was right and you were wrong made my day, Dr. Venkman," I responded sarcastically. There was saccharine dripping in my voice, and I focused on eating my lunch.
"Winning a Nobel wasn't my career goal anyway," Dr. V. said to anyone who was listening.
"Some of us have smaller dreams," Dr. Stantz replied, with a tired smile, and asked him, " what is your career goal, Venkie?"
"Be Hugh Hefner," Peter remarked caustically, smirking.
"I wouldn't be too surprised," I lamented.
"This business is my dream," Ray announced, "I have wanted to start a business for paranormal activities for years."
"I think you are a little 'paranormal,' Ray," Dr. Venkman replied, chuckling at his joke with a toothless smile, "ok, Spengs, what about you?"
Egon had been writing on his standard yellow notepad and disregarded the conversation with silence.
"Alright, Ms.Melnitz, you are up. What's your career goal?"
Silently, I contemplated it for a while, chewing with my mouth closed.
"I guess to obtain a job in the computer industry," I remarked off-handedly,"' My goals have changed over the years."
"Do you want to write programs," Dr. Spengler inquired without raising his head, scribbling on his paper.
"No, but I might be interested in assisting in creating software, though. I will be fluent in all operating systems to train people at different companies with this degree. I don't have a desire to earn a Master's degree yet," I explained, happy to receive some positive attention from my crush.
"It would allow you to specialize," Dr. Spengler commented a few seconds later, still not looking up from his notepad.
To the right of me, I heard Drs. V. and Stantz chuckled in disbelief as our conversation progressed. I felt pleased with Dr. Spengler's attention and discussion but argued that it wouldn't help to specialize if I didn't have a career goal.
"At first, I didn't know specifically the path I was going into with my master's in Chemistry. Then I took some required classes, and it aided me in narrowing it down," the tall man stated, finally glancing up at me with his soft brown eyes for under ten seconds and then lowering his head down again to work.
"I guess that is something I will need to consider," I answered, blushing when he gazed at me.
Both Drs. Stantz and Venkman persisted in watching our exchange with bemused interest.
"Ok, can we join the conversation now, or is this a private discussion," Dr. Venkman questioned playfully, giving me a cute half-grin. The physicist did not comment, nor did I. Blushing heavily, I raised my sandwich to my mouth and took a bite of it. I had ten minutes left of my lunch break.
Fortunately, it seemed like I was correct in assuming that he would talk about computers.
"Now, are you willing to answer my question about your career goal, Spengs" Peter questioned his handsome brainiac friend.
"Yes, I didn't respond because I was solving an equation earlier. I would like to win a Nobel prize; it's been a dream since I was ten," he answered, briefly without any emotion in his voice.
"Ten," I thought to myself, "Most boys think about playing sports or being a replica of their Dad."
"Needless to say, Egon was different," Peter reminded everyone with a smile almost like he knew what I was thinking, "but I guess that is what happens when you have parents who are chemistry professors."
Dr. Spengler didn't respond to his friend's comment, but I had just learned a new fact about my love interest- his parents were in academia, too.
The Ghostbusters had been under extreme stress and pressure for the last few weeks. Dr. Spengler and Stantz were concerned about creating an effective ghost trap whereas Dr. Venkman hid everything behind humor and worried about the financial aspects.
"You three seem exhausted lately; what's going on," I inquired, observing their individual sleepy faces with bags underneath their individual eyes.
"Trying to get our business running," Peter stated, seriously for once," as you know, we haven't had any clients. Those two are working on designing a successful ghost trap."
"You still have to sleep," I argued, stirring up my yogurt with a spoon.
"Leonardo Da Vinci slept for twenty minutes every four hours. That is what I have been trying to achieve more during the day," Dr. Spengler inputted, glancing at me until our eyes met when he embarrassedly looked back down.
"True, but Einstein slept ten hours a night," Ray countered his friend, " I agree with Janine; I think it's time to cease the Da Vinci sleep diet, Spengler."
"Nikola Tesla slept a few hours a night only," the theoretical physicist off handedly commented.
A new fact about Dr. Spengler emerged as I did not know he only slept for twenty-minute intervals every four hours, but I knew that was too little.
"Everybody is different, Spengs, but I concur with the other two; you need to sleep more. This trap will not design itself if you are depleted," Dr. Venkman concurred, " how long have you been on the Da Vinci sleep cycle?"
"Almost two weeks," Spengler stated, pushing his glasses up on his nose with his index finger.
"That's it, as your psychiatrist, I'm taking you off of that insanity," Venkman determinedly voiced.
When I read my watch next, my lunch break was over, so I stood up to throw my trash away in the nearest trash can and then walked downstairs to return to my desk happily.
Dr. Peter Venkman
"Hmmmpft," I replied later on when I remembered the earlier debate about the Nobel prizes categories.
"Who knows the fucking Nobel categories except Egon Spengler," I lamented grudgingly to Stantz later in the afternoon while sitting on the sofa in the lab. I noticed that Iggy appeared to be the most mystified by Janine's knowledge, and it countered his preconceived notions of her, but she was delighted with his attention.
"Janine Melnitz. Interesting, huh," Ray commented, laughing at me.
"Don't encourage her," I replied drily.
"You are the one who hired her," he good naturally admitted, watching my face, "I think that you hired a woman who's going to challenge us, and I think it's farcical."
Sighing, I thought that by hiring Ms. Melnitz, maybe I bit off a little more than I could chew.
As I examined our budget and the remaining cash that we had on hand as our new business enterprise lacked income later on in the day, I became depressed. If we had to make cuts, it would be Janine first- "the last one hired, the first one fired" thing.
Maybe hiring a secretary/accountant early was too ambitious, which was my fault for pushing it so hard with the other two, who both warned that we couldn't afford it. Despite my teasing Janine, I did think highly of her and often enjoyed her bold comments.
Ray and Egon were still looking at the schematics for their ideas for the ghost trap and trying to solve a kitchen table problem, and their vexation was written across their faces.
"What's the problem here," I asked, looking at a schematic that didn't mean anything to me. Ray started to explain it to me as Egon made a long-distance call to his Uncle in Cleveland.
"No, it didn't work as expected. There wasn't any suction. No, I don't feel comfortable putting nuclear energy into the trap. We already do not have a patent for particle throwers, which use nuclear energy. No, we haven't had an opportunity to test them out. The ghost in the NYC Library appears to have vanished. Ray wants to speak to you," Egon spoke brusquely into the telephone and handed the receiver to Ray.
Spengler looked knackered as he returned to the table, studying the schematic.
"Egon, as your friend, I am worried about your sleep habits," I elucidated to him in a caring tone, noticing the dark circles around his eyes.
" You need to recharge your batteries, eat better, and dilute your stress levels to a much lower level. This 20-minute sleep schedule that Da Vinci followed was nuts," Ray suggested.
" You two may be right," Spengler replied, agreeing with me, which I didn't expect.
"Honestly, I don't know the first thing about this ghost trap, but I know our best man, you, is out of order. Go lie down or whatever you do to relax," I advised, using a voice like Dr. Sigmund Freud as a joke.
"Peter, I have tried to allow my mind to wander by participating in my hobbies, but it hasn't worked," the eldest Ghostbuster admitted.
"Spores, mold, and fungus not doing it for you? "
Giving me a rare half-smile, Iggy shook his head and ignored the dig at his choice of hobbies.
"Are you against sleeping pills or alcohol," I inquired with a sly smile?
"Yes, to the first, but I might be desperate enough to drink beer," Spengler quipped, with a slight sense of humor, and a small smile.
"I don't have any sleeping pills, but we have beer," I revealed. Stantz waved for Iggy to join him on the phone, and he wandered to the sofa, yawning.
Ray handed the phone back to Egon, put it up to his ear, and persisted in talking for a few more minutes. Stantz returned to the table with some notes on a piece of paper and a stunned look on his face. Later, Spengs was off the phone and motioned that he was going upstairs to the roof, one of his favorite hiding places, when he needed space or to meditate.
Walking to the landing and leaning over the handrails, I yelled downstairs,
"Janine, you can go home. See you tomorrow."
"Ok, Thanks, Dr. Venkman," she called out in her nasal accent as I watched her put her textbook up in her purse, " I have a date to meet in Queens in a little while. Have a good evening."
"'Night Brooklyn. Have fun," I stated in a fake accent, knowing that Janine hated when I called her that.
Waving at me dismissively with her right hand, she pulled a compact and a case of lipstick out of her purse. The sassy Brooklynite woman began to apply cosmetics to her face and lips cautiously. Janine was a pretty woman but too much of an egghead for me. Perfect for Egon. Finally, she walked from her desk with her purse in hand towards the door.
"You have a nice butt, Brooklyn. Are you shaking it on purpose right now for me? Or for a certain unsuspecting physicist who's on the roof right now," I teased her about her crush on Egon before she made it to the door.
"Do the words 'sexual harassment in the workplace' mean anything to you, Dr. V," she demanded, turning around and putting her hands on her hips.
"They never have before, Janine," Ray wisecracked loudly appearing out of nowhere, " why would they now?"
"And for the record, that's how I walk, Dr. Venkman," she replied, looking up at my eyes, her blue ones twinkling while she laughed at Ray's comment. The younger Ghostbuster walked back to the landing.
"Hmmm, I don't think so. You swing your hips more when Spengler is around," I acknowledged craftily.
"Touche, Dr. Venkman. Isn't it a pity for me that he never notices, but you do," Janine sassed me, with a pretty grin on her lips then left the building. I chuckled at her comments.
"What's so funny," Ray questioned, returning to where I was standing.
"Janine's cheekiness and her attempts to gain Iggy's attention. In all seriousness, I think she terminated all of the flirtations with him after she overheard his comments."
"You shouldn't tease her because I think she genuinely finds him attractive, the poor woman. To have a crush on Egon Spengler, a man whose life revolves around science and the pursuit of knowledge, can't be easy."
Ray continued, sounding a little sorry for our cute secretary.
"It will be nearly impossible for her to obtain his attention because he is beyond clueless."
"I think you are wrong, Stantz. Janine has attracted his attention slightly, but not with conspicuous flirting. Do you remember when Iggy found out Janine knew BASIC? She blew Spengs' mind. Then today, did you see how they had a discussion earlier?" I wondered.
"Oh yes, I think," Ray swiftly agreed, "I have never seen him act the way he acts around Janine."
"The problem is that he needs some serious attention from the opposite sex like you. Spengler probably needs it more than you because you have had a girlfriend since the late 1970s, and he hasn't," I elucidated.
"Amen to that, it has been too long, but now I don't even have time to date," Ray protested, groaning.
"That's why I was pushing Janine from the beginning. I have a strange feeling about the two of them- the attraction isn't all on her side," I replied slyly.
"For me? She's like a sister to me; no way," Ray argued adamantly, red faced.
"No, Raymond, Not for you. For Spengler, he needs a woman, like Janine, to assist him in experiencing life," I argued, rolling my eyes.
Egon managed to walk into the middle of the conversation, and I awaited his rebuke. Surprisingly, he tiredly went to the sofa and put his head in his hands. My friend often ignored comments that he disapproved of.
"I can't concentrate," Spengler confessed when we inquired of his mental state.
"I know some beautiful and EASY women at Columbia, and I am calling them up after I drink some beer tonight. Interested," I questioned, smiling.
"Maybe," Ray remarked, honestly, "I am so tired it might not even be worth it."
"Let her do the work, Stantz. Man, how did you make it through so many years of college without knowing the basics," I joked with him, and even Egon chuckled. He seemed to have a fraction of a sense of humor when he was exhausted like now.
Before Ray climbed the stairs to the roof, he questioned if we were coming upstairs with him.
"Yep, even Iggy chuckled at that one, Stantz" I pointed out, and I grabbed the beer.
Sitting on the edge of the building with a case of twelve beers at our feet, we each took a bottle, twisted the cap off, and threw it off the building to the busy streets below.
"To the Ghostbusters, I believe our luck and this business is about to turn around," I toasted with a big grin, holding up my beer. Each of my colleagues repeated "to the Ghostbusters" and then touched their bottles to the others', making a loud noise.
We forgot our troubles temporarily as we drank beer on the roof of the firehouse as the sunset over the city. Even Spengler partook tonight by drinking one beer; however, he rarely drank alcoholic beverages because he hated to be out of control. He wanted to stay sharp and alert..
A night of eating and drinking on the roof forced us to relax, and before eight that night, Spengler was asleep and slept for eighteen hours. Meanwhile, Ray and I called a couple of girlfriends at Columbia to meet up for some dates. I later prayed that this business venture would succeed before I fell asleep that night.
