Chapter 2
“"get her!"" peter mocked ray.
tara rolled her eyes.
"that was your whole plan?" peter asked ray. "get her?" "it was scientific." he teased.
"i thought it was a good idea." tara voiced.
ray turned to her. "thank you."
she nodded in response.
"tara thinks everything you and egon do is cool." peter reminded him.
"yeah, because they're cool and you're not." tara informed him.
peter pretended to act hurt.
"i-i just got overexcited." ray admitted. "i mean, but-but wasn't it incredible, pete? i mean, we actually touched the etheric plane."
trailing not too far behind was egon, who was busy looking at his PKE meter.
"you know what this could mean to the university?" ray rambled.
tara went and joined with egon. wanting to know what he was working on.
"what is it?" tara asked him.
egon showed her the device, before going over to the boys to share to them what he had shared with tara.
"i wouldn't say the experience was completely wasted." egon noted. "according to these new readings, i think we have an excellent chance of actually catching a ghost and holding it indefinitely." he explained.
peter looked at them in disbelief.
"well, this is great!" ray cried.
egon and ray started walking together, leaving tara and peter behind.
peter quickly caught up to them, with tara following shortly behind.
"spengs, you serious about this catching a ghost?" peter questioned.
"i'm always serious." egon truthfully answered.
"don't question the professionals, dad." tara ordered.
"egon, i'm gonna take back some of the things i've said about you." peter confessed.
tara remembered all of the dumb things peter would say about egon and ray, going from dimwits to very foul words she'd rather not mention. he mostly said those things when he was drunk.
peter pulled out a candy bar, handing it to egon.
egon looked down at it in confusion.
"you've-you've earned it." he told him.
ray chuckled. finding it amusing.
*
"the possibilities are limitless." ray said as they entered the university building.
there was another man in the room, moving around boxes. tara's eyes widened, thinking the absolute worst.
"oh no." she whispered.
"hey, dean yeager." ray greeted the boys' boss.
dean turned around, looking at them with a smile on his face.
it didn't seem genuine to tara.
dean slowly approached them, as a man holding a large tank came exiting through the door they just came through.
"i trust you're moving us to better quarters on campus?" peter hoped.
"no, you're being moved off campus." the dean corrected him.
tara sighed.
"excuse me." tara made herself known to the dean. "but, why?"
"the board of regents has decided to terminate your grant." the dean clarified. "you are to vacate these premises immediately."
tara was in shock. why, the sudden termination? what did they do?
"this is preposterous. i demand an explanation." peter ordered, speaking for the whole group.
"fine." the dean gave in. "this university will no longer continue any funding of any kind for your group's activities." he explained.
"but the kids love us." he argued.
"dr.venkman, we believe that the purpose of science is to serve mankind." he went on.
ray watched sadly as a boy dragged one of his machines out of the room.
tara blocked the rest of what the man was saying out. she had been going to this university with her dad since she was born. this was where she met egon and ray. it was going to be hard to leave this all behind.
"your theories are the worst kind of popular tripe, your methods are sloppy, and your conclusions are highly questionable. you are a poor scientist, dr. venkman." the dean insulted him.
tara dropped her bag, creating a loud 'slam' when it hit the floor.
all eyes were on her.
"are you on drugs or something mr.dean? because my dad AND his friends have done more for this university than you have. YOUR methods are sloppy and what YOU do is highly questionable. so, maybe take a look in the mirror before you go and try to call people out for all the crappy flaws that you have!" tara thundered.
the dean had a look of hurt mixed with anger on his face, while a smile was plastered on ray's face, egon was surprised by tara's sudden outburst and for once in her life her dad actually looked like he was proud of her.
"get out now!" the dean ordered.
*
"this is a major disgrace." was the first thing ray said when they left the university.
tara stood off to the side, still processing over what she had said to the dean. she had a tendency to add herself into a conversation, especially when it had nothing to do with her which got her in trouble. she hated when people were mean to her father. she could be mean to her dad all she wanted, but when it wasn't her doing, she'd make those people regret it.
"forget M.I.T. or standford now. they wouldn't touch us with a 10-meter cattle prod." ray said with a shake of his head.
egon went over to tara, who had her head down and was thumbling with the zipper of her coat.
"are you okay?" egon asked her.
she looked up. "yeah." she lied.
she still couldn't comprehend the fact she wouldn't be going back to the university. she was so used to it. she hated change.
"it's going to be okay." egon assured her.
"thanks. i hope so." she replied.
egon and tara went over to the others.
peter was sat up on the ramp of the stairs. tara stood next to him, leaning up against the ramp.
"you're always so concerned about your reputation. einstein did his best stuff, when he was working as a patent clerk." peter argued.
"do you know how much a patent clerk earns?" ray questioned him.
"no." peter answered honestly.
"personally, i liked the university." ray admitted. "they gave us money and facilities."
"me too." tara said, quietly.
ray gave her a sad look, knowing how much leaving the university had an affect on her her.
he looked back to peter continuing the conversation. "you've never been out of college. you don't know what it's like out there."
peter rolled his eyes.
"i've worked in private sector, they expect results." he added.
"for whatever reasons, ray." peter pushed himself off the ramp. "call it fate, call it luck." he grabbed his bottle of alcohol before walking beside ray. "call it karma. i believe that everything happens for a reason."
tara stayed back. stuck in a world of her own as her dad went on.
he looked back, realizing tara wasn't following.
"tara, are you coming or are you just going to stand there looking like a statue?" he asked her.
tara closed her eyes, heaving out a breath before catching up with the two boys.
"i believe that we were destined to get thrown out of this dump." peter continued.
"for what purpose?" ray inquired.
"to go into business for ourselves." he shared.
he handed the bottle of alcohol over to ray, knowing he needed it.
tara felt like asking if she could get a sip, but she wasn't up for arguing with her dad over it so she decided not to even ask.
ray reluctantly took it, taking a small swig of it.
"this ecto-containment system that spengler and i have in mind is gonna require a load of bread to capitalize." ray set out. "where are we going to get the money?"
peter took the bottle from ray, he took a long swig from it. "i don't know. i don't know." he said before taking another swig from the bottle.
tara sighed. "of course you don't." she mumbled.
*
after a long hour and a half. the boys and tara left the city bank, with a sad looking ray trailing behind.
"you're never going to regret this, ray." was the first thing peter said to him when they walked out of the city bank.
"my parents left me that house, i was born there." ray told him.
"you're not gonna lose the house." peter assured him.
"don't get your hopes up ray, you know how my dad's terrible at keeping promises." tara reminded him.
"i know." ray said. "that's why i'm scared."
"there is no need to be scared! you won't lose the house and tara i am not terrible at keeping promises. you just have high expectations." peter defended himself.
"yeah, well that was when i was a baby. growing up made me realize i have to lower my expectations in order to live with you." tara shot back.
"you haven't done that much growing up, you're twelve." peter corrected her.
"yes, twelve but old enough to know when someone can't keep a promise." she defended herself.
peter sighed. he turned his attention back onto ray and went; "you're not going to lose the house. everybody has three mortgages nowadays."
"but at 19%?" ray inquired. "you didn't even bargain with the guy!"
"ray, for your information, the interest rate alone for the first five years comes to $95,000." egon stepped in.
"will you guys relax?" peter begged. "we are on the threshold of establishing the indispensable defense science of the next decade; professional paranormal investigations and eliminations." he announced.
"told you so." tara butt in.
"told me so what?" peter asked her.
"told you, you wouldn't be a skeptic for very long." she clarified.
"i didn't say i was a skeptic." peter defended himself.
"yes, you did. many times." she clarified.
"well, i'm not anymore. so i hope you're happy." peter said, putting an end to the conversation.
*
a couple more hours went by and the group came across a vacant firehouse for sale. after talking to the realtor, they were able to get a tour of the said firehouse.
"there's office space, sleeping quarters and showers on the next floor and there's a full kitchen on the top left." the realtor listed off.
"i could live here." tara said as she looked around.
"but it just seems a little pricey, for a unique fixer-upper opportunity that's all." peter conveyed. "what do you think, egon?"
"i think this building should be condemned. there's serious metal fatigue in all the load-bearing members. the wiring is sub-standard, it's completely inadequate for our power needs and the neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone." egon voiced.
"it's not that bad." tara shrugged.
"hey!" cried ray.
they all looked to the source of where his voice came from, a pole chipped away of it's paint stood with ray standing on the edge of it's ramp.
"does this pole still work?" he wondered, before sliding down it.
"where is it?" tara asked, excitement lined in her voice.
"up those stairs." he pointed.
tara nodded, running off to go and slide down the said pole.
"tara, come back here! we don't know how safe it is." peter called.
"well, i went down it and i'm still here." ray pointed out.
"yeah, but tara is clumsy." peter reminded him, while looking up just waiting for her to come crashing down.
tara slid down the pole like so, without falling or breaking any bones in the process.
"oh, thank god." peter sighed of relief. "i don't have the money or the time for medical bills."
"this place is great!" ray exclaimed.
"yeah. we should take it." tara agreed.
"when can we move in?" stantz asked. "you gotta try this pole. i'm going to get my stuff." he added, before running off to do so.
"i'm getting my stuff too!" tara cried, going to run in the opposite direction before peter picked her up by the back of her collar.
"hey! we should stay here tonight." ray suggested. "sleep here. you know, to try it out?" he said before going up the stairs.
"yes! we should!" tara exclaimed.
peter turned towards egon.
the lady slowly made her way over to the boys.
tara noticed her father was still holding her.
"can you put me down?" she politely asked.
peter carefully set her back down onto her feet.
"thank you." she mumbled.
peter turned to the smiling lady and went; "i think we'll take it."
"good." the lady replied.
*
tara woke up in the middle of the night with a jolt. sweat rolled down her face, as her breathing was heavy.
she looked around the darkened room, hearing nothing but snores coming from the next room.
she pulled her legs up to her chest, staying that way until she soon fell asleep again.
*
