Monday, February 3, 2020

Epilogue: If There’s Something Strange in Your Neighborhood…


Epilogue: If There’s Something Strange in Your Neighborhood…

Two Months Later…

“She’s dead, Jay!” Jacqueline yelled. “It’s time to face facts and move on.”

“No!” J.G. retorted. “I love her. And I’m not gonna give up.”

“What’s the point, dude?” Natalie asked. “She’s gone forever and never going to come back, no matter how much you try to believe it.”

“I paid $50,000 for this old rust bucket, Venkman!” Stantz pounded his fist on the hood of the still heavily wrecked Ecto-1, which was parked in the repaired garage area of the reconstructed firehouse headquarters. “So don’t tell me she cannot be fixed!”

Natalie and Jacqueline shook their heads over the youth’s naivety as Spengler walked out from the basement with Christina Melnitz, Alex Russo, and the former Ajax Exterminators. “I can’t believe you used the old Ghost Trap tactic I taught you,” Sean told Christina. “I never expected you to actually pay attention to what I was saying about it.”

“Well, of course, Sean. What else did you think I was paying attention to?”

“My epidermis, perhaps?” Sean remarked with a grin.

“Eww!” Alex cried.

“Uh, that’s another name for your skin, Alex,” Mickey alerted her.

A sheepish look appeared on Alex’s face as she realized her blunder. “Oh,” she said before her disgusted expression returned again when she added, “But still…Eww!”

Cody Martin had a bright smile on his face, walking in. “Cody Martin! Reporting for his first day of duty as an honorary Junior Ghostbuster!” The boy stood up straight and performed a salute to the senior members.

“You’re in the Ghostbusters business, dude…not the army,” Alex jested.

Mickey chuckled over Cody’s enthusiasm. “Oh, boy! It sure does feel great being the very first Junior Ghostbusters.”

“Yeah!” Donald gleefully cheered.

“We get to wear purdy uniforms, too.” Goofy added.


That was when the thought of being Ghostbusters (albeit of the “Junior” variety) was a somber reminder for Mickey of another. “Gosh…Genevieve woulda loved being one, too.”

The mentioning of their fallen comrade put a dreary mood over their spirited scene. Christina let out a deep, worried sigh and lamented, “She sacrificed herself to save everyone…to save all of us.”

“She turned out to be more of a legend than any of us,” J.G. solemnly reflected.

Since that night on the Tipton Hotel rooftop, he hadn’t forgotten how Genevieve defended him in front of Ursula. The touching things she said about him…before Vanessa (or the woman Ursula masqueraded as), no woman had ever stuck up for him like that. For that matter, no woman had ever sacrificed her life to save the world.

Genevieve was a rare gem. Losing her was tough on everyone she brought together a couple of months ago, mostly J.G.

The phone from Christina’s desk suddenly rang.

She was thankful for the interruption, which broke them out of their mourning.

“Ghostbusters,” she said into the receiver – a sense of nostalgia coursing through her to answer a call in that manner again. Soon after the conversation was over, she alerted the team, “Typhoid Mary’s been spotted in the soup kitchen of a homeless shelter a few blocks down Fifth.”

The details disgusted the team.

“Urgh!” Natalie dryly hurled, quivering with repulsion. “Better wear two extra pairs of gloves and a facemask for this one!”

Jacqueline giggled, shaking her head. “I love this town.”

The team rushed into J.G.’s parked Volvo outside, serving as temporary transportation until a more suitable company vehicle was found. As he sat in the back of the vehicle, Spengler seemed highly impressed with how much room there was in the Volvo. “You know, Jay,” he said, “There’s enough space in this car to give it a full enhancement for another Ecto model.”


“I still believe the Ecto-1 can be fixed,” Stantz declared.

“O.K. Seriously, dude…let it go,” said an annoyed Natalie.

           The Volvo roared down the street, moving faster than most of the other vehicles traveling down it. However, none of them took notice of the strange activity occurring right in the middle of the street, as a manhole cover started to shift on its own. It suddenly rose up, unleashing the foul septic odor that it contained in the sewers. If there was any clue of how this manhole cover moved on its own, it had to be the skeletal hand that popped out from under it, clawing at the concrete.

The DISNEY GHOSTBUSTERS will return in THE HAUNTED MANSION!

NEXT WEEK!

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Epilogue: If There’s Something Strange in Your Neighborhood…

Epilogue: If There’s Something Strange in Your Neighborhood… Two Months Later… “She’s dead, Jay!” Jacqueline yelled. “It’s time...