Extreme Ghostbusters: Teeth

Chapter 1

The Ecto-1 was on its way to an inexpensive, ground-floor two-bedroom apartment one Tuesday morning in September. When it arrived, there was a police car parked outside, and an anxious mother was bouncing on the balls of her feet in the doorway of the apartment block.

'Thank you for coming so fast,' the mother said, as Roland, Garrett, Eduardo and Kylie got out of the car and slammed the doors. 'I can't tell you how – oh, hello!' Her worried expression dissolved into a look of joyful recognition.

'Hi,' said Eduardo. The other three Ghostbusters looked at him expectantly.

'How are you?' the woman asked.

'I'm good,' Eduardo said. 'How are you?'

'Well, I'm a little worried,' said his friend, with a nervous twitter. 'By the way, your brother's here.'

'He is?' Eduardo's polite smile melted away.

'Yes. He didn't have to come himself – it was good of him. How's Kevin?'

'Great.'

'And Beth?'

'Yeah, she's cool.'

'Well, it's nice to see you,' the woman finished the exchange, with a smile that went all the way to her eyes. 'I'd better go and see if the police are done yet. I'll be right back.'

She disappeared into the apartment building. For a moment, no one spoke. Then Roland asked, 'How do you know her?'

Eduardo replied, 'I don't have a clue.'

The other three Ghostbusters burst out laughing, and half a beat later Eduardo joined in. Then, when they had managed to calm themselves, he asked, 'What was her name again?'

'Helen something,' said Kylie.

Eduardo looked, if anything, even more confused.

'She seemed to really like you, Eddie,' said Garrett. 'Looks like you got competition, Ky.'

Kylie didn't seem to have an answer to this, and was saved the trouble of thinking of one when Carl Rivera bustled out of the building and made a beeline for the Ghostbusters. Eduardo stepped forward to meet him like a lioness preparing to defend her cubs from a marauding male.

'I wish you wouldn't do that,' Roland said quietly, bending down to Garrett's level.

'Hey,' Garrett hissed back. 'Is it my fault if they don't have a sense of humour between them?'

Carl, meanwhile, was looking Eduardo over suspiciously as he gave his explanation of why the Ghostbusters were there.

'She called us.'

'What did she call you for?' said Carl. 'Why would a ghost leave twenty dollars under some girl's pillow? That's the craziest thing I ever heard! Well, they are crazy. You know that.'

'How do I know that?' Eduardo asked, trying to stay strong under his brother's withering gaze.

Carl glared at him, clearly thinking that he was being very dense. 'It's that Stephens brat.'

'Who?'

'Zora.'

'Oh, Zora!' At last, the chimes of understanding crept into Eduardo's voice. 'I like Zora.'

'That's because you're an idiot. She probably stole the twenty from Helen's purse.'

Eduardo scowled. 'That's real nice, Carlos.'

'Her mother is obviously very worried,' said Kylie, stepping up beside Eduardo. 'I mean, it'd be easy enough for some pervert to climb in through her window, wouldn't it?'

Carl glared at her, and said, 'This is an ongoing investigation. I can't tell you anything.'

'Can't we go in yet?' said Garrett.

'I guess we can in a second,' said Eduardo, as a female police officer emerged from the apartment building behind Helen. 'Hi, Linda.'

'Hi, Eduardo.' The officer smiled politely at Eduardo, and then turned to Carl. 'I couldn't get her to tell me anything, I'm afraid. If you could keep trying...' She looked at Helen.

'Of course,' Helen said. 'So what happens now?'

'Well,' said Linda, 'I'm afraid we couldn't find anything to go on. Just stay vigilant, and if you see or hear of anything suspicious, don't hesitate to let us know.'

Helen nodded and said, somewhat shakily, 'Okay, thank you.'

The two police officers left, Linda with a smile at Eduardo, and Carl with a frown.

'I just don't know what it is!' Helen said, turning to face the four Ghostbusters. 'Maybe it's nothing to do with you. I don't know – I just want you to check. And then what if it is? You have a better success rate with that kind of thing than the police have with disappearing weirdos, don't you?'

'What kind of thing, ma'am?' asked Roland.

'Well,' said Helen, 'Zora's sure it must have been the tooth fairy. Anyway, you'd better come in.'

'Sounds like a plan,' said Garrett, whipping out his PKE meter. He and Kylie followed closely behind Helen as she led them into the apartment block, and then into her apartment. Roland lagged behind, keeping Eduardo near him with a hand on his shoulder.

'How do you know the kid?' Roland asked.

'She goes to school with Kevin,' said Eduardo. 'I really don't know her that well.'

Helen and the Ghostbusters crowded into a small living room, and at once the PKE meters started to register a weak reading.

'What does that mean?' Helen asked anxiously, staring at the nearest meter, which happened to be Garrett's.

'It means there is or was something ectoplasmic here,' Garrett said.

'Oh!' said Helen. 'So... now what?'

'Now we'll try and figure out what's going on,' said Kylie. 'Can you tell us exactly what happened?'

'Of course,' said Helen. 'Zora lost a tooth yesterday, and she asked me for an envelope to put it in for the tooth fairy. She knows very well where we keep all the stationery, and it's not on a high shelf or anything – I was sure she was just dropping hints. So, last night after she was asleep, I went in to put a dollar under her pillow. And instead of the tooth, I found a twenty dollar bill. I just didn't know what to think!'

'Can we see this twenty dollar bill?' asked Roland.

'Zora has it,' said Helen. 'I know I shouldn't have given in to her, but... well, being a single parent isn't easy.'

'No one's judging you, Helen,' Eduardo said kindly, as though he had known her all his life. 'Can we talk to Zora?'

'Well,' said Helen, with the slightest hint of a smile, 'if anyone can, you can. I'll go and get her. I'd better tell her you need to look in her room as well, hadn't I?'

'Yes please,' said Roland.

Helen left the room, and once again all eyes turned to Eduardo.

'If anyone can, you can?' said Garrett, with raised eyebrows and a laugh threatening to burst out.

'I don't know why she said that,' said Eduardo. 'I really don't know them that well.'

As he spoke, the shrill and angry voice of a child came wafting across the hall, occasionally punctuated by Helen's pleading tones. The four Ghostbusters exchanged looks, each silently wondering how long they would have to stand there, and whether it was worth starting anything else. Moments later, however, the voices stopped and Zora herself appeared in the doorway.

'Hi,' she said, looking warily at Eduardo.

'Hi, Zora,' he said. 'How are you?'

'You can't have my twenty dollars.'

'Well, we just need to see it.'

'No. You don't want me to have it.'

'I don't care if you have it or not,' said Eduardo. 'I just want to see it.'

'I don't believe you.'

Eduardo turned to the others. 'Is anybody going to help me out?'

'They can't make me show you!' Zora said, suddenly sounding furious. 'Who are they, anyway? I don't know them!'

'I'm sorry, Zora,' said Eduardo, turning back to face her. 'I'll introduce you.'

'I don't want to be introduced.'

'I do,' said Roland.

'Great,' said Eduardo. 'Zora, this is Roland. Roland, Zora.'

'Hi, Zora.'

'You can't have my twenty dollars!'

'Will you just answer some questions for us, Zora?' asked Roland.

Zora shrugged and frowned at the space in between Roland and Eduardo. Then she crossed the room to the coffee table, and began picking at a scratch in the surface with her fingernail. Garrett wheeled his chair towards the doorway and beckoned Kylie to follow.

'How do you think the twenty dollars got there, Zora?' asked Roland.

Zora shrugged.

'Your mom says you think it's the tooth fairy.'

'Well,' said Zora, looking up, 'who else would pay twenty dollars for a tooth?'

'Your mom also said the going rate was one dollar,' said Eduardo.

'My mom says a lot of things.'

'She told us what happened with your tooth yesterday,' said Roland. 'Let's see the gap.'

In his experience, children liked this request. Zora was no exception. She approached the two men, stretching out her bottom lip a long way with her forefinger, and said, 'Iss a wong way wack.'

Eduardo and Roland both stooped and peered into the girl's mouth.

'I see it,' said Eduardo. 'How many do you have left?'

'Six,' said Zora, releasing her lip abruptly. 'How many does Kevin have left?'

'Two, I think.'

Zora looked annoyed to hear this.

'Can you tell us about yesterday?' Roland asked. 'Maybe you remember it differently from your mom, or you know something she doesn't.'

'I don't know anything,' said Zora. 'My tooth came out, and I asked Mom for an envelope because I thought she'd give me some money. I never believed in the tooth fairy before, but now I know it's true, because when Mom came in she woke me up and she started freaking out and asking me why there was twenty dollars under my pillow. That's the first time I knew anything about it.'

'How can you be so sure it was the tooth fairy?' asked Eduardo. 'Maybe it was a creep, like the cops think.'

'I'm not stupid, Eduardo! I'd know if someone broke into my room, because you can't open the window from the outside, and I'd know if they bought my tooth for twenty dollars because my head was on it! Anyway, who would do that? Give me money, okay, but take my tooth? Jeez!'

'Don't get mad,' Eduardo said calmly. 'We think it's the tooth fairy too. See this?' He showed her the reading on his PKE meter, and she made an evil face at it. 'That means some kind of ghost or demon or something was here. But if we're going to figure it out, and stop your mom from worrying about it, we need to know everything. Zora, the more you can tell us, the sooner your mom can stop getting people round here to investigate.'

There was a moment of silence. Roland was impressed by Eduardo's little speech, and didn't want to say anything else. Zora, for a second or two, did not look convinced. She glared at Eduardo with a look of deep suspicion, and he held her gaze.

'If I tell you everything I know,' she said, 'what are you going to do?'

'I don't know,' said Eduardo. 'Maybe nothing, if this thing isn't a threat to you.'

'She's going to owe me another hundred and twenty dollars over the next couple of years.'

'Good math,' said Eduardo.

Zora smiled, ever so slightly.

'Please tell us, Zora,' said Roland.

'Oh, all right.' Zora went to an armchair, threw herself into it and gestured for Eduardo and Roland to sit on the couch. 'I heard that some kids across town get two dollars for their teeth, and I thought that proved there was no tooth fairy, or she'd give everybody the same, right? But I left a note anyway... I really didn't think there was any tooth fairy to read it... I was sure my mom would find it and think I was cute for still believing in fairies, and I thought she'd give me at least two dollars. I asked for five. I did not ask for twenty.'

'Do you still have this note?' asked Roland.

'No. It was gone when Mom found the twenty.'

'What did it say?'

'It said... this might not be exactly it, but it's pretty close... "Dear Tooth Fairy, I've heard that some kids from the richer part of town get more money for their teeth than me. That means you are either a snob or you are meaner than other tooth fairies, if there are lots of you. If you are not going to pay me a fair price for my teeth, I would rather keep them. I have decided to charge five dollars a tooth from now on. Yours sincerely, Zora Stephens." '

'That's real good, Zora,' said Eduardo. 'Simple and to the point. And I like how you called her out on her zip code prejudice.'

'And there was nothing else under your pillow apart from the twenty?' asked Roland.

'Well...' Zora looked at her hands.

'What?' asked Roland.

'You can tell us,' said Eduardo. 'It's okay, Zora.'

'Okay, well she... wrote me a reply. It was under the pillow as well, but Mom didn't find it. I found it this morning, after I woke up.'

'Can we see it?' asked Roland.

'Who are you going to show it to?' asked Zora.

'Just our boss,' said Roland.

'What will he do? It's just the tooth fairy. She's going to keep giving me twenty dollars for my teeth – that's all!'

'If that's really all,' said Eduardo, 'I don't see how we can stop her. Please let us see the note, Zora.'

~.~

Garrett and Kylie had met up with Helen, and been shown into a small bedroom that was wallpapered with animal posters and carpeted with animal books and magazines. The bed had been made up with a dolphin pillowcase and quilt cover set, and several stuffed animals were sitting on it, lined up against the wall.

'I can't get over all that crap on the floor,' said Garrett, once Helen had scampered off to another room. 'You'll have to move it.'

Kylie gave him a look, and then began to clear a space on the floor for him.

'This room is brimming with ecto,' she said, examining her PKE meter as Garrett wheeled his way into the room. 'Some kind of supernatural entity put that twenty under her pillow all right.'

'What the hell did that mom think she was doing anyway, letting the kid keep it?' said Garrett.

'Ssh,' said Kylie, 'she might hear you! Anyway, you shouldn't judge people like that. Have you ever been a single parent?'

'No. Have you?'

'No, but I'm not judging her. Anyway, I kind of get it. When Pagan wants to be fed at three thirty in the morning, and he starts knocking everything off my dresser, I've been known to give in.'

'Well, that girl has got to be worse than Pagan. Why does the mom think Eddie can handle her?'

'I don't know.' Kylie was concentrating very hard on her PKE meter.

'Really? All those times you've enticed him back to your lair, and he's never mentioned them?'

'What, never in the three months since he obviously started telling me everything? The answer's no, okay?'

Garrett stared at her. 'You don't have to bite my head off, Ky.'

'Sorry,' said Kylie. 'I'm sorry, Garrett. It's just... I wish you wouldn't. You know?'

'All right,' said Garrett, thinking of Roland's words to him earlier. 'I'm sorry.'

'Okay.' Kylie turned her attention back to Zora's pillow. 'Look, you heard what Eduardo said – he doesn't even know them that well.'

'Yeah?' said Garrett. 'Well, Helen sure seems to know him.'

'You've been moving my stuff! Why do people think they can come in here and move my stuff?'

Kylie and Garrett both turned round to face Zora, who was standing in the doorway, with Roland and Eduardo behind her.

'Sorry, Zora,' said Garrett. 'We thought it'd be better than running it over.'

'No one said my room had wheelchair access. This is not a public building. It's private!'

'Be nice to him, Zora, please,' said Eduardo.

Zora turned and frowned at him. 'What is he, your boyfriend?'

'Never you mind.'

Garrett's jaw dropped, and he began to make a noise like a laying chicken. Roland, thinking that Eduardo's answer was really quite sensible, stopped Garrett's clucking with a hand on his shoulder and said, 'May we see this note now, please?'

Zora stalked across the room, cleared a space in her collection of stuffed animals and produced an okapi with a zip in its back. She unzipped it, and from the okapi's innards she produced a tiny piece of paper. She then stalked back across the room, passing Kylie, Garrett and Roland, and held the paper out to Eduardo.

'Thank you,' he said.

'Say it in Spanish.'

'Gracias, señorita.'

'Say: "Thank you, Zora, and I promise you get to keep your twenty dollars." In Spanish.'

'I can't promise that, querida. So, we done here?'

'I guess so,' said Kylie. 'For now.'

'If we really aren't going to see that twenty dollars today,' Garrett added, looking at Zora.

'Would you swap it for another twenty?' asked Zora. 'Or two tens? Or four fives? I don't want twenty ones. I bet you don't have twenty ones.'

'I don't think that would be a good idea,' said Roland.

'Then I'd like you to leave,' said Zora.

'Whatever you want, Zora,' said Eduardo. 'What about you – are you going to school today?'

'None of your business.'

'You're right.' Eduardo stepped further into the room and shepherded his team-mates towards the door. 'It was nice seeing you, querida. Adios.'

~.~

'You like that kid?' said Garrett, when they were back in the Ecto-1 and on their way to the firehouse. 'Is that true? You actually like her?'

'Yeah,' said Eduardo, with a shrug.

'Seriously?'

'Yes!'

'Why?'

Eduardo shrugged again, and said, 'Somebody should.'

'That's nice, Eduardo,' said Roland, giving Eduardo the warmest of smiles in the rear-view mirror.

'Yeah,' Kylie added, turning in her seat with a smile of her own, and it was closer to hot than warm. Garrett seemed about to say something, then turned it into a cough and looked out of the window.

~.~

When they were back in the firehouse lobby and getting out of the car, Eduardo was still being pummelled with questions about Zora and Helen. Egon and Janine, both looking over some paperwork at Janine's desk, looked up and listened in.

'What happened to her father?' Roland was asking.

'I don't know, man,' said Eduardo. 'I've told you, I hardly know them. I've talked to them, like, twice when I was meeting Kevin from school. I just don't know!'

'Eddie, c'mon, give the guy a break,' said Garrett. 'He was only asking.'

'I'm sorry,' said Eduardo. 'Just don't ask me anything else, okay? You all seem to think I'm keeping something back, but I'm not! I've seen her at school a couple of times, and I try to be nice to her because nobody else is. I guess Helen noticed and she appreciates it.'

'Is this the girl with America's most expensive tooth?' asked Janine.

'Yeah.' Eduardo approached the desk and handed Egon the note from the tooth fairy. 'She left the tooth fairy a note asking for more money – she says she thought her mom would read it – and then she got this with the twenty dollars.'

'The mother doesn't know about the note,' added Roland.

Egon squinted at the tiny writing on the scrap of paper, and read aloud what it said.

Dear Zora,

If you've got the teeth, I've got the cash. I am no snob. Believe me, we can use these, and I'm prepared to pay top whack. There are other tooth fairies. Forget them!

Yours truly,

The Tooth Fairy

'Any idea what we should do with this, Egon?' asked Garrett.

'At the moment,' said Egon, 'none at all. I have dealt with a tooth fairy before; this note is right in that there are several of them. But overpaying for teeth? That is completely unprecedented. Well, as far as I know. Of course, I don't know everything that's ever happened.'

'Sure you do, Egon,' said Kylie. 'You know everything supernatural that's ever been recorded, anyway – and if there's no record, then to all intents and purposes, it's unprecedented.'

'Kylie,' said Egon, 'I am quite sure I don't know everything. Perhaps you'd like to start researching this for me.'

'Sure she would,' Eduardo said stiffly, and he mooched off towards the lockers, shaking his proton pack from his back.

Egon wandered off with the tooth fairy's note, if that was indeed what it was, and Janine returned to her desk. Kylie watched Eduardo's back for a moment, and then followed him across the room.

'What's with them?' Garrett said Roland. 'They're both really touchy today.'

'Nothing to do with us, Gar,' said Roland.

~.~

'If you're being jealous,' said Kylie. Then she stopped.

Eduardo looked at her. 'Yeah?'

'Don't.'

'Okay.' He threw his gloves and elbow pads into his locker, then started to remove the top half of his clothing.

'About that kid,' said Kylie.

'I've told you everything.'

'Yes, I believe you. I just...' She stopped for a moment, distracted by the familiar but ever welcome sight of his naked torso. Then she managed to finish, 'I think it's really sweet that you care.'

'She's just a kid,' Eduardo said, managing to shrug his shoulders and pull on his round-the-house white t-shirt at the same time. 'She don't deserve the shit she gets. But I don't care that much. I mean, I care, but I don't get why Helen thinks I'm so involved.'

'Well,' said Kylie, 'Zora sure seems to like you. I guess I'm not the only girl who likes it when you speak Spanish, huh?'

'Querida,' said Eduardo, snaking his arms around her waist. 'Nobody likes that as much as you.'

~.~

Kylie was a little flushed when she was choosing her books ten minutes later, but other than that she remained professional. So did Eduardo. He went looking for Roland, and found him fiddling around with some equipment. Leaning against his work surface, Eduardo said, 'Y'know, Beth keeps all Kevin's baby teeth in a drawer, in plastic bottles.'

'That's nice,' said Roland.

'What about you? Your parents are the tooth fairy, right?'

'Oh, sure. Even now, I know that for a fact because I did it once, when three of the little ones lost a tooth in the same day.'

'Okay,' said Eduardo, 'so what does that mean? It isn't a fairy? It's some other kind of demon?'

'Well, what about Egon saying the old team dealt with a tooth fairy before? If that's right, why do they leave out my family and Kevin?'

'I don't know, man. Maybe they just do it for kids whose parents don't bother. Or maybe they let the parents pay the money, and if they don't put the teeth some place special like Beth does, they come and get them after. But would a tooth fairy really pay twenty bucks?'

'I don't know. Maybe it's not really after teeth at all. Zora could be in for something much more serious – we'll have to keep an eye on her. But right now we just need to wait and see if Egon or Kylie's research comes up with anything.'

'What if it doesn't?'

'Why wouldn't it?' asked Roland. 'You know, you could try a little reading yourself, if you want to do something.'

'I do want to do something,' said Eduardo. 'And I don't just want to pretend I'm doing something by opening a book. Listen, what if we laid a trap for this thing? Do what Zora did – leave a tooth and write a note?'

'Whose tooth? If you're talking about involving other kids...'

'No, don't be stupid. We could use one of Kevin's. Or some of them.'

'Oh.' At last, Roland seemed interested. 'But wouldn't Beth be sorry to lose them? I'll bet she knows just how many there are, and she could tell if one was missing.'

'Yeah, but we won't let the thing take it. We'll trap it first.'

'Okay, so... how would this work? You'd go to sleep with one of Kevin's teeth under your pillow, and hope this thing knows you have it... and leave a note like Zora did... what if you didn't wake up? Zora didn't. Or what if it didn't come?'

Eduardo shrugged, and said, 'If it don't work, it don't work. It's worth a try, ain't it? Anyway, I wouldn't just go to sleep like normal. We'd have the PKE meters... we could take turns staying awake... here in the firehouse.'

'It might not work,' said Roland. 'Perhaps this thing is smart enough to recognise a trap, or perhaps it's not interested in taking someone else's old teeth from college students. But you're right – it's worth a try. So I guess the first thing we have to do is get at least one of Kevin's teeth, right?'

'Right.'

'That's up to you, then. I'll drive you.'

~.~

Eduardo's eagerness had made Roland keen to be off, but he found himself deflating somewhat when Eduardo said he wanted to let the others know what they were doing, and it turned into a whole conversation between him and Kylie.

'Here?' said Kylie, who was sitting on the couch with a book in her lap. 'Tonight?'

'Yes,' said Eduardo.

'Oh.' She looked put out, and Eduardo thought he knew why.

'We need to get this done,' he said.

'I know,' said Kylie. 'Okay, well, I'll tell the others. And if we're going to do that, babe, will you please run in and feed Pagan on your way back? And make sure he has plenty of water.'

'Why worry about that? He only drinks leftover shower water.'

Kylie laughed, and said, 'Fill his bowl anyway. Then no one can say I let him go thirsty.'

'Okay.'

They kept Roland waiting a little longer by kissing deeply for a good fifteen seconds. Then Eduardo, with some effort, prised himself away and made briskly for the stairs. On his way past Roland, he tapped his arm and said, 'Come on, man, let's go.'

Roland went without a word. Kylie went back to her book, looked through a few more pages and then pushed it to one side. She went downstairs, and found Garrett immersed in a little solo basketball practice, cheered on from the sidelines by Slimer.

'Hi, Kylie,' said Garrett. 'Do you know where Roland and Eddie went off to in such a hurry?'

'Yes,' said Kylie, and she told him the plan for the coming night.

'Spending the night here is such a pain in the butt,' said Garrett, once she had finished. 'I guess it's a good idea, though, if we've got nothing else.'

'I couldn't find anything helpful in those books. Mind you, I wasn't at it very long.'

'Books shmooks – this requires action! Just as long as you and Eddie can control – sorry! Sorry.' He clamped his mouth shut, turned away from her and carried on shooting hoops.

Kylie took a moment to look at the back of his head, not sure whether to frown or smile. Then she made her way over to Janine's desk.

'Hi, Kylie,' said Janine, glancing up only briefly from what was on her computer screen. 'What can I do for you?'

'I need to tell you the plan,' said Kylie. 'We're going to see if we can trap Helen Stephens' demon with one or more of Kevin's milk teeth, which'll mean spending the night here. I'm sure we can do without Egon, though, if you want to take him home.'

'I expect I can do without him for one night,' said Janine. 'Go and ask him what he wants to do, if you like – and you can see if he's found anything useful on his database.'

'Okay,' said Kylie. Then she didn't move.

Janine looked up properly this time, withdrew her hands from her keyboard and gave Kylie an encouraging smile. 'Is there something you want to talk to me about, honey?'

'Well.' Kylie pulled up a chair and flopped onto it. 'I might need some relationship advice.'

'Sure,' said Janine. 'How about, be careful not to set the bed on fire? Your relationship looks pretty good from where I'm standing.'

'You mean it looks pretty physical.'

'Yes. I'm sorry - I know that's not everything. Tell me.'

'Well,' said Kylie, 'when I was in high school, my mother warned me about confusing lust with love. I always thought I could never be so stupid, but I think I understand now. I mean, it's easy enough to feel good about someone who...' She dropped her gaze. 'You know.'

'Yeah, I know,' said Janine, looking back to her computer screen to save Kylie's blushes. 'I did that once, when I was young. Then the guy turned out to be just like the rest of them. Well, most of them. I actually cried over him. What a waste of tears that was.'

Kylie said nothing. When Janine turned back to her, she looked like she'd been slapped in the face.

'Sorry,' said Janine. 'Look, it's a high risk game – you know that. If you get hurt, it sucks, but you get over it and in the end it makes you stronger. But then maybe what you're feeling is exactly what it seems, and if you really want my advice, I think you should give it a chance.'

'I might have known you'd say that. Well, I guess it's good advice.'

'Don't you doubt it, kid. Anyway, listen, I really don't think Eduardo's like the guy I mentioned. For one thing, he seems to care about this girl with the tooth, doesn't he?'

'Yeah, and that's nice,' said Kylie, 'but the scary thing is that it... well, it kind of turns me on. That's not right, is it?'

'Oh, I think that's okay,' said Janine, with an indulgent smile. 'Now don't freak out, Kylie, but maybe – just maybe – you're confusing love with lust.'

At this, Kylie gave a snort, and said, 'I don't see how I can when he never tells me anything.'

Janine raised her eyebrows. 'Never?'

'Well... not never ever. Every three weeks or so. That must make about four things since we hooked up. Let's see. The snow day, the father, the French Monopoly... that's it. Well, I guess he's due another one.'

'That's something to look forward to, then.'

'I hope so,' said Kylie. 'It won't be tonight, though. I'd better go tell Egon about the plan. Thanks for the talk, Janine.'

To be continued...