| Ectozone Home | Ghostbusters Omnibus | Ectozone Fan Fictions | Ectozone Art | Ghostbuster Links |
"Hm...fascinating..." the boy who owned the finger said.
The baby was a tiny, brown-skinned girl of about four months of age, dressed in a pink sleeper with Dora the Explorer on it.
The boy was only days shy of five, but tall for that age, and studied the baby with wide green eyes. He had unruly red hair featuring a squiggly tail in the back ("I can just about swear your hair must just grow that way. It explains a lot about your father's look" his mother had said more than once) and was dressed in shorts and a Power Rangers t-shirt.
"Johnathan!" the other girl in the room admonished him. "If you keep doing that she will start crying and Kylie will be mad at us!!!" She was about the same age as the boy (truth to be told, almost exactly the same age--the difference measureable in a matter of minutes) and regarded the scene with eyes of the deepest blue. Her hair was finer than his, and spun of a rich blonde color. The purple shirt and red jumper she was wearing gave them an oddly matching appearance, which seemed even more appropriate when one looked closely at them: those different colored eyes nevertheless both held an intensity that was unmistakably shared by the other, and by the eyes of the man that fathered them...
"It's just an experiment, Edie..." Johnathan replied, making a dismissive noise. "I wanna see how she responds to stimulus, that's all..." and he poked the baby again.
A shrill, piercing cry was the result.
Both almost-five-year-olds looked up, panicked, as the door to the room was thrown open, allowing the entrance of a twenty-five year-old woman with a slight build and long, dark hair. She was wearing, as she almost always did, makeup that gave her a pale appearance ("Goth" is how they'd heard their Uncle Peter describe it). Right behind her was a three year old girl with the same brown skin as the baby girl, dressed in a frilly pink dress.
Even worse for the two children, right behind them was a woman with the boy's red hair and the girl's nose and jawline.
"Johnathan Chirstopher and Eden Marie Spengler, can I even leave you alone for three minutes?" Janine Melnitz Spengler chastised them, as Kylie Griffin picked up her younger daughter.
"Momma's here, Rose...no need to cry..."
"I was just touching her..." John tried to explain. "it wasn't hard or nothing...I ust wanted to see how many before she, y'know...did anything..."
"He poked her twelve times." Eden chimed in, not so much ratting her brother out (in her mind) as relaying the results of the experiment.
"You two..." Janine shook her head, looking over at Kylie and Rose.
"Rosey okay?" Conchita Rivera asked in a quiet but pleasant voice.
"She's okay, Chita...aren't you?" Kylie replied, holding Rose up. "C'mon...smile for Momma, huh?"
Janine surveyed the scene for a moment, then turned to the Twins. "Okay, everything's fine. Listen, it's almost time for your Uncle Peter to be on TV--why don't you go up there with Jessica and watch?"
"Uncle Peter's gonna be on TV again? He's been doing that a lot lately..." John noted.
"Come with us, Conchita!" Eden said, taking the younger girl's hand.
"Race you!!! Last one there is a doo-doo head accountant lawyer!!!" John shouted, taking off in a run.
"Johnathan!!! You walk now!!!" Janine shouted after him.
After a few minutes, Rose Rivera stopped crying and began to doze back off.
"They're just curious about babies, I guess..." Janine exhaled. "I guess that's totally natural."
"Even if they weren't genetically predisposed to be curious about, well, everything." Kylie nodded with a smirk.
Janine shook her head affectionately. "They come by that honestly after all...and Rose is the first real baby they've been aware of. They were only two when Conchita was born...they were too busy being babies themselves at that point."
"Well, being Spengler babies, which meant nailing down algebra..." Kylie quipped, provoking laughter from both women.
She'd heard stories for years about the "slimy disgusting eating machine" from her father, and when she was about six she finally got to meet it. For Slimer, perhaps not surprisingly considering the source of Jessica's DNA, it was something akin to love at first sight.
For her part, she found Slimer extremely disgusting...but he tried so hard to make her like him she eventually relented and realized she actually liked the creature. Though she would be caught dead before admitting it.
Yes, she was indeed Peter Venkman's daughter.
John bound up, jumped over the couch, and plopped right into the seat next to her, helping himself to a large handful of popcorn without even asking.
"You could at least ask, Johnny..." the eleven year-old said with mock disgust. Like them, she had inherited some tall genes (from her mother, in this case) and a mop of curly dark brown hair. She favored a rather informal, tomboyish style of dress, which contrasted with the subdued Eden and the downright frilly and girlish Conchita.
"Popcorn, Spengs?" Jessica asked Eden, tearing the bowl away from her brother and offering it to her.
"I believe I shall." Eden answered, making a big show of taking some and eating it slowly to tease John. "You want some, Conchita?"
"Si..." she responded simply, taking a few bites which she ate daintily.
A few minutes later Janine, Kylie, and Janine's husband--Professor Egon Spengler--appeared. "I begin to doubt that Eduardo and Garrett will make it..." Egon said with some amusement. Now forty-six years of age, his hair was beginning to turn white from the ears down, but was still assembled in a style that his son's resembled, swirling at the top with a squiggly tail at the back. Still, the second team could swear Egon Spengler actually looked younger than he did when they first met him in 1997. "You watching it there at Fort Arnold?" he asked his cel phone.
"Oh yeah..." the tiny tenor of Ray Stantz came back. "Winston's got it up on the big screen..."
"It's starting! Hush!!!" Jessica said loudly.
The flashy logos of the AllmusicTV network came across the screen, and a forty-something woman dressed in clothing that was just a tad conspicuously trendy appeared.
"Thanks for joining us for this Allmusic TV news special! Twenty years ago this week the movie Ghostbusters was released, which was about the first case of the famous group of Professional Paranormal Investigators and Elimanators (try saying that five times fast). And you may remember how it was me who landed one of the first interviews with the famous leader of the Ghostbusters, Dr. Peter Venkman!!!
Footage came up of the same woman, albeit twenty years younger and wearing stylish Eighties clothes. Next to her was a man with dark hair, green eyes, and a brown and green suit. The screen read Dr. Peter Venkman. February 11, 1984
"Hey, gang, this is Corkie for Allmusic TV! And I'm talking to the original Ghostbuster, Dr. Peter Venkman!"
"I can't believe your Dad was ever that young..." John said.
"I can't believe it either." Jessica agreed.
"I can't believe how far he's gone to still look as young as he does." Janine rolled her eyes, whispering to Egon, provoking a brief chuckle out of her husband.
"Hello, youth of America!!!" Venkman said, flashing his cheshire grin.
"Peter, it's been six months since you guys beat up on Gomer..."
"Gozer"
"Right. So. What's your life like now?"
"Oh, you know, the usual. Just hanging out and saving the world. You know just last week we stopped some creep before he could put everyone in the world nighty-night..."
"Wow"
"It's a tough job, but somebody has to be paid incredibly well to do it. Right now we're working on opening offices in Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tokyo now. Within a year, Ghostbusters will be worldwide."
"Sweet. My friend was at this club in Ibiza and she swears she saw the ghost of Jimi Hendricks high-fiving Elvis."
"Well, they had a lot in common."
"I know! Now...I have to ask you the question on everyone's mind."
"If it's about those Meryl Streep rumors, I really can't comment."
"Hee hee...no, no, it's not that. What's Louis Tully really like?"
There was a solid round of laughter from the room. "He's a doo doo head!!!" the Spengler Twins and Jessica chanted in unison. Janine just buried her face in her hands, an embarrassing memory or two resurfacing.
The scene shifted back to the older-looking version of Corkie. "Well, twenty years later, here I am at the Allmusic TV studios in Los Angeles, here with our very special guest--Dr. Peter Venkman, chairman of Ghostbusters International! I guess the offices in LA and London thing took, huh?"
Venkman was wearing an incredibly similar suit to the older interview, and save the extra lines on his face looked rather much the same (though everyone in the room suspected that the current hair color was artificially enhanced).
"At least he doesn't have to wear a rug like Grandpa Charlie..." Jessica said, downing a bit of popcorn. "You should've seen him at the Enron hearings a while back..."
"Well, Corkie, it sure did. I mean, it took a while--Ghostbusters International didn't take off until after we got back together seven years ago, and somehow the Paris and Tokyo offices never made it. But we got some great Ghostbusting teams in London, here in LA, and all over the United States and Canada."
"And I understand you're married with a couple kids now?"
"Yeah. My son Oscar and daughter Jessica--and I know they're watching right now. I promise you, I never dated Meryl Streep."
Jessica rolled her eyes. She knew her brother (technically half-brother) Oscar Wallance was watching at a friend's house, and was probably having the same reaction.
"Actually, all the Ghostbusters are married now--but let me tell you, that took some doing in one case."
"Doctor Spengler?" Corkie guessed, giggling. "I tell you, my sister and half the girls in her science club had the biiiiggest crush on him"
"Ew, ick..." Eden said, sticking her tongue out.
"Hey, I can't fault the girls for taste..." Janine chimed in loudly. Egon cleared his throat and looked at the ceiling.
"And how is Louis Tully these days, anyway?" Corkie asked with a mischievous grin.
Venkman seemed to grapple with the question for a moment. "Well, after his fifteen minutes ran out he went to law school. Back in '88, when we got back together the first time, we hired him as our accountant and lawyer--he runs GBI's finances how. He's had some setbacks, but he's doing okay."
"I hear he got married a while back and it didn't work out." Corkie asked.
"Oh Adonai..." Janine exhaled.
Venkman's brow narrowed. "All I'm gonna say about that is that it was something that never should've happened in the first place, and the situation is rectified. Let's leave it at that.
Corkie looked confused for a minute, and decided to wisely pursue a different line of questioning. "So I hear your son is in a rock band?"
Just about then, Egon's cel phone rang.
"Egon?" Janine whispered.
Egon looked at the display. "It's from GBI...a message to contact Vincent. Urgent."
"Vincent" meant Dr. Vincent Belmont, former employee of Ghostbusters New York, former leader of the Ghostbusters Manhattan franchise, and current leader of one team of the Ghostbusters UK
None of the others noticed as he left the room.
Egon went to his laboratory, jiggling the mouse to call up his computer's display. "Priority..." he muttered, and activated the unique, security-encrypted instant messaging program he and some of the GBI techs had developed for GBIweb (Venkman liked to call it "AIMless")
Unsurprisingly, he saw that Vincent was online.
You are signed on as ProfESpengler. GBI encryption is ON
Send to: DrVincentBelmont
ProfESpengler: Vincent?
DrVincentBelmont: Professor! Glad I could reach you so quickly.
ProfESpengler: Indeed. What is going on?
DrVincentBelmont: Right to the point...
DrVincentBelmont: Two days ago we found something in the Asylum
DrVincentBelmont: An old book
ProfESpengler: Hm...
DrVincentBelmont: Suspicious enough, but it gets better
DrVincentBelmont: It's blown out Iain's PKE Meter about three times
DrVincentBelmont: And I've finally figured out what language it's written in
ProfESpengler: I take it it's not Latin, then?
DrVincentBelmont: No.
DrVincentBelmont: It's Sumerian
"Sumerian?" Egon said out loud.
DrVincentBelmont: Professor?
ProfESpengler: So no idea as to the content?
DrVincentBelmont: Not really. I could never get the hang of Sumerian.
DrVincentBelmont: I hate asking this, especially so close to the anniversary..
DrVincentBelmont: But could I get you to take a look at it?
DrVincentBelmont: You are one of the world experts in the Sumerian language
ProfESpengler: No need for excessive pleasantries, Vincent
ProfESpengler: Of course I will take a look at it.
DrVincentBelmont: Thank you, Sir.
DrVincentBelmont: Though it will be a trick...
ProfESpengler: How so?
DrVincentBelmont: I wonder if the scanner will work if it's that hot with PKE...
ProfESpengler: Nonsense.
ProfESpengler: It's potentially incredibly hazardous
ProfESpengler: I will come to England to inspect it personally
Egon noted that it took Vincent a full thirty seconds to respond. Perhaps he's informing the others...
DrVincentBelmont: I won't lie to you, sir. That is news of tremendous relief to us.
ProfESpengler: I thought it might be
ProfESpengler: It will take me some time to get things arranged here
ProfESpengler: But I should be leaving in the ECTO-4 by tomorrow
DrVincentBelmont: Thank you, sir.
ProfESpengler: Until I see you in person...
ProfESpengler is now logged off
Egon sighed and laid back in his chair. Sumerian almost always means trouble... he thought to himself. Anshar and Khishor...the Doomsday doorway...and of course Gozer...
Janine had quietly entered the room. "I know that look...how bad is it?"
"In all honesty, I don't know yet. It may be nothing...but I have this feeling..."
She snuggled up to him. "It's still weird to hear you say that. But in a good way..."
"A man who is not constantly learning is stagnant. And learning that there's more to life than logic was something you taught me."
She giggled and kissed him. "Now all I gotta do now is figure out how I'm gonna corral the kids all by myself for a few days..."
He laughed. "That, my Dear, is something I'm still learning myself..."
"Peter, that is a horrendous stereotype." Egon responded, zipping up his familiar blue flight suit.
"Tell that to Robert--he's from Morecambe...he'll back me up on this."
The other two legnedary original members of the Ghostbusters were in the room, as was Janine. Ray Stantz was dressed in a brown jacket with the Ghostbusters logo on it's chest. Winston was wearing a grey plaid shirt that reminded Ray of what he was wearing the very first time they'd met, almost twenty-one years before.
Being only 43, Ray's face was still ruddy and youthful--if not for the beard he'd grown over the last couple years, he was almost indistinguishable from the days he fought Gozer, Samhaine, and the Boogeyman on a weekly basis
Winston, while the oldest Ghostbuster (having just had his 51st birthday earlier in the month), also still looked quite vital. He'd regrown the mustache he'd shaved off not long after the team founded, and his dark hair sported a couple of distinguishing white streaks.
"I'm not sure you should be going alone...what if it is dangerous?" Ray asked.
"You just want to get a look at it, don't you?" Winston quipped, poking Ray on the arm.
"Well...um...yeah..." Ray replied sheepishly. "I'm an occultist, you know..."
"True. But not fluent in Sumerian." Egon replied. "Ray, if it something dangerous, remember there are two teams of Ghostbusters in England more than capable of dealing with it."
"I know..." Ray responded. "And I don't have a ready babysitter for Eric with his Mom visiting Nova Scotia..." He chuckled at the thought. "Her and her little projects..."
"I thought that was why you liked her, Man...' Winston teased.
"I thought it was because of her nice set of..."
Janine cleared her throat loudly in warning.
"Egon's right, Ray." Winston said. "Tommy Simpson's got a good crew, and we know Vince is a force to be reckoned with. I think anything that comes after Egon is gonna think twice if it realizes it has to get through Vincent Belmont to do it..."
"True...and I guess it's not the best omen for all of us to go." Ray said resignedly. "Last time we were there the Prime Minister got kidnapped, and the time before that the place was undergoing a potential disaster of biblical proportion..."
"More like astrological proportion..." Venkman chimed in. "Hey, my publicity tour will be done in about a week...if you really need me I suppose I could come home, just..."
"You still haven't figured out what happened to that guy of yours yet?" Winston asked.
"Nope" Venkman replied. "I know after what happened to John Lipsyte, and Ron leaving he had every right to be upset. But trust me--it just doesn't seem like Jeremy to just up and vanish like that."
"I think it's settled, then." Winston summarized. "Egon goes to England, we continue as normal."
"Normal being a fairly relative term around here..."
Janine, Ray, and Winston followed Egon to the ECTO-4, the custom gyrowing aircraft Egon had built back in 1989. It was equipped with a version of what was probably Egon's masterpiece invention, the transdimensional warp drive, though being expensive to operate, had only been used a handful of times. It wouldn't be needed for this trip.
"You can't fool me, Professor." Janine deadpanned. "Forget all about translating an old book, you're doing this to take a nice, long trip in your hot rod..."
"You know me too well..." Egon retorted, smirking.
"You take care, Homeboy..." Winston said, shaking his hand.
"I shall." Egon replied warmly.
"If you can get hold of any Doctor Who stuff..." Ray joked, hugging his old friend.
"Your favorite is Tom Baker, but you like Sylvester McCoy too..." Egon replied.
Ray and Winston wisely left to give husband and wife one moment more alone together.
After a few tender words and a long kiss, the tall man boarded the aircraft. With a roar, it came to life, and carried him into the skies, bearing east...
She moped along the street of TriBeCa...berating herself for not having the courage to go up there...
There. The former firehouse at 110 North Moore Street, the one with the sign bearing the legendary logo, the cartoony white ghost surrounded by a red circle, with a slash across the creature...
Oh Egon... she thought wistfully.
She'd been so close a year ago...her heart soared when the ad appeared in the LA Times...
Ghostbusters International to Open West Coast Division
"235?" The slutty strawberry blonde woman called. Her skirt is just way too short Mary Sue had thought. She has to be easy...I mean, Geez, "Chelsea Aberdeen"? That sounds like a porn star name or something...
Then she realized..."Me!!! That's me!!!" she shouted, jumping up and down, running to the front of the room
"This way..." the bitch said, leading her to a table where Dr. Peter Venkman (Egon's best friend in the whole world!!!) and some other guy were sitting, both wearing sport coats and ties. The other guy had a paper nametag reading "GBI FRACHISE CEO", while Venkman's was plastic, engraved, and had his name and the title "GBI CEO"
Venkman stood up and introduced himself and the other guy--Dr. Joey Williams, the new franchise's CEO--to her. "Our business operations manager, Miss Aberdeen, tells me you scored quite well on the test. Miss..." he looked down at the paper in front of him.
"Mary Sue Gladstone!" she anwered brightly, before Venkman could read it.
"Miss Gladstone" Joey nodded, clearly impressed...
Mary Sue looked at both of them, then around some...she saw a third man, with a "GBI STAFF" tag, playing Beenimon on his Game Boy Advance but that didn't satisfy her. "Egon isn't here?" she just had to ask.
One of Joey's eyebrows shot up. "Egon?"
"The whole reason I want to be a Ghostbuster is so I can meet Egon! He is like the perfect man, and I want to give him all the love he needs!!!'
Venkman looked sad as he reminded her. "You...do realize that Professor Spengler has been married for the last five years?"
Oh yeah...remind me of that... she seethed inside. I don't see how anyone can think they're compatible...that guy who wrote the movies said so! He thought they were "failed" and "mawkish"--why didn't she just stay with that...oh, that one guy, the accountant or something?
She knew Peter would understand, after all..."Oh, c'mon, Peter, you worked with that bitch, you know how she is--she just wants one thing out of him and that's it." She just wants his rod up her hole!!! "She's just no good for him!!! It's a mismatch made in Hell!!! I have a black belt in karate--I can take her!! Hi-Yah!!!" With that, she threw a roundhouse kick at harmless empty air...
...Or it would've been if some dorky looking guy hadn't walked up just then.
Game Boy Man jumped up and ran over to the now out-cold Dork.
Venkman smiled a warm smile of comprehension and approval as he shook Mary Sue's hand. "I think we've seen all we need to, haven't we Dr. Williams?"
Joey smiled too. "I think we have Sir!"
"We'll send the application to the home office for processing, and contact you shortly! Thanks for your interest!!!" Venkman continued.
"When should I call..."
"We'll call you, Miss Gladstone!!!' Joey said happily.
"I'm gonna be a Ghostbuster!!!" she chanted happily as she walked away. "I'm gonna get to meet Eeeegon!!!"
Only they never did call her back.
She tried to call, but the Whore who answered the phone kept putting her on hold. She went to the office once, but some Jerk who was some kind of Egon rip-off gave her the runaround and lied to her about "Dr. Venkman isn't here" and a bunch of crap.
That redheaded bitch must have found out I was going to be a Ghostbuster... Mary Sue thought angrily. And she sabotaged me. She mind controls Egon, and probably f***s Peter too...she made them turn me away. Because she's afraid.
She hid as she heard the roar of an engine...the ECTO-1 returning to the firehouse. She could vaguely see the outlines of those kid imposters sitting in the car...that Goth Hooker and the Latino guy who thought he was hot stuff. And a guy in a wheelchair? What kind of moron thinks a guy in a wheelchair could be a Ghostbuster?
She ran back to her hotel room, and cried. She'd sold all of her earthly posessions except her snazzy pink Ghostbuster flight suit to get here, and she couldn't take the last step.
There was a knock at the door.
She sniffled, and got up. Too early for the maid...
She opened the door. The person standing their was wearing a dark hood over their face, like Darth Sidius, so she couldn't see their face. "May I help you?"
"I am here to help you." a cold female voice replied.
"Ted has a small carpet-cleaning business in receivership, and that's drawing a salary from a deferred bonus from two years ago. They've got fifteen thousand left on the house at 8%; so they're okay!"
He opened the door to the closet and tossed the Flemmings' coats onto his bed..."So, does anybody want to play Parcheesi?"
Something growled very very loudly. And very very angrily.
"Okay! Who brought the dog?" he asked.
Suddenly, the door to the bedroom exploded, showering wood and plasterboard over the assembled guests. Something large, evil looking, and horrible flew through the air and landed on the buffet table, crushing it. It looked like the horrific offspring of a gargoyle and a Doberman Pinscher, hairless, horned, and walking on four legs
He screamed and ran, opening the apartment door and closing it behind him.
He quickle ran down the corridor, quickening his pace as he heard, and saw the door to his apartment exploding.
He quickly pressed the button to call the elevator to the 22nd floor. Mrs. Blum, his neighbour, opened her door and looked out after hearing the noise. As she saw the Terror Dog she shreiked, the elevator doors opened and he darted in; Mrs. Blum darted back into her apartment, slamming the door.
OhGodit'safterme...
He burst out of the entrance to 550 Central Park West, scaring a female tenant and the doorman.
"Help! There's a bear loose in my apartment! Help, help! Help!" He yelled, running across Central Park West and causing several cars to brake hard. He then tumbled over the wall bordering with the park.
"A bear in his apartment?" The doorman asked in surprise. Suddenly the monster charged through the foyer of the building, knocking over the door man and causing a couple to jump out of the way. As it ran across the street it caused a blue station wagon and a checker cab to break hard and swerve out of the way.
He ran through the darkened park until he saw the lights of Tavern on the Green.
"I'm going to bring this up at the next tenant's meeting. There's not supposed to be any pets in the building." He ran up to one of the large windows, and began to bang on it. He then ran around to a glass door, but found it locked.
"There's gotta be in a way in." He crashed into some metal lawn furniture, then quickly got up and banged on the window, causing all of the people in the restaurant to look at him with some mild distaste.
"Somebody let me in!" He banged wildly.
He then sensed something behind him, and turned...and there it was!
"Nice doggie. Cute little pooch. Maybe I got a Milk-Bone..."
He checked his pockets. Nothing. The monster growled, and he screamed as he slid down the glass...
And twenty-one years later, Louis Bartholomew Tully, CPA, and Chief Financial Officer of Ghostbusters International, awoke screaming at the memory.
"Just...just a dream..." he said faintly, his senses coming back to him. He got up and splashed some cold water on his face...and jumped about a foot as the phone rang.
He checked the caller ID: 555-1013 Venkman, Dr. Peter...the number to Peter's apartment in the city. I thought he was still in Los Angeles... Louis thought, his first thought being that Venkman was bugging him with GBI business in the middle of the night (not for the first time, either). Unless... he thought, and couldn't stop his heart jumping at the thought...
"Hello, Louis Tully, how may I help you?"
"Louis? I'm sorry to be calling so late, but...
It's her... Louis thought excitedly. Dana...
"Oh, no problem, Dana..I..um..wasn't sleeping too well anyway..."
There was a pause at the other end. "You either? Louis...I don't know...I hope you don't think I'm crazy...but it's been years since this happened. And with Peter in LA I didn't know who else to talk too except you, because..."
"I'm here for you Dana. I always will be you know that."
"I had...I dreamed about Zuul tonight."
Louis dropped the phone. He scrambled to pick it up hurredly. "I'm sorry Dana it's just...I had a dream about being chased by the Terror Dogs too..."
"Oh God..." she inhaled. "Maybe it's nothing, but maybe it means something..."
"I don't know...maybe we should talk to Ray and Winston tomorrow..." Louis advised. "I'd say Doctor Spengler would be a better person to talk to but he's in England right now so Ray or Winston or even Doctor Jackson would be our best bet on that..."
"Yeah. I think...I think that would be a good idea. It may be nothing, but...well, what if it isn't?" Dana exhaled hard. "I'm sorry to bother you...but in a lot of ways this is something Peter and the rest will never understand the way you do--because it happened to us, not them."
"I know..."
"I gotta go now, Louis...I need to call Peter in LA...I just need to hear his voice right now." And with that, she hung up.
Peter...it's always Peter... he thought to himself ruefully as he sat back down on his bed.
He had loved Dana Barrett from the moment they'd met. She was graceful, and refined, and intelligent...and of course so achingly beautiful...
But she was not to be his. The man who hunted ghosts...he swept her off her feet. And noone...not the Czekoslavakian models Louis dated in his "fifteen minutes of fame"...could take the edge off of that. Then Peter Venkman made his error. Dana left him. And now, she could fall into the arms...
...Of violinist Andre Wallance.
Louis remembered their wedding with agony...the bittersweet mix of joy for her and sadness for himself when Dana announced her pregnancy...and he genuinely felt sorrow for her when Andre left her shortly afterward. How could a man do that to such a sweet child like Oscar? And he shook his head thinking about Oscar...the "baby" who was now sixteen years old, practically a man. He's a good kid Louis had to admit. Even though his music gives me a headache...
There was another woman who'd been part of his world...but hindsight made it more and more obvious there was no real love there. Certainly not from her. And deep down, he knew he never loved Janine Melnitz, either--there was just the unspoken bond of a common experience: pining away for the higher creature they could never have.
Except Janine won in the end... he reminded himself. She got what she wanted...the happy ending...the marriage to Doctor Spengler...the two kids. And they're absolutely adorable...even if they hate my guts with a passion
And what do I have? Faded memories of a moment of glory...a six-figure stock portfolio.
And a life that screams at me in it's savage emptiness