Obsessed by Mary Migley Jeannie grinned, the sparkles on her face glittering in the pre-dawn light. "Okay, everybody, I've got the whole day figured out. It's going to be perfect. First, we'll eat cheese-and-onion omelets at this 24-hour diner about two blocks that way." She waved her hand behind her. A voice spoke up. "But I don't like onions. Or omelets." Jeannie shot Sarah her most disapproving look. "Well, I think you can suffer for one morning. That is, after all, Sean's very favorite meal." Sarah clamped her mouth shut, looking decently ashamed, and Jeannie continued. "We'll have to be out of there by 45 minutes so we can get back here by 5. Then we'll wait around here until the bus shows up. Got it?" Four heads nodded. Andi shivered. "Damn, it's cold." She tugged at her black skirt, effectively pulling it down a few centimeters closer to mid-thigh, before crossing her arms over her shiny red backless shirt. "Yeah, I'm freezing," Anna Marie agreed, running her hands over her bare arms. "Let's go eat." The group of five girls walked carefully down the street, balancing themselves on their high-heeled shoes. "So anyway, as I was saying," Jeannie started. "If somehow we miss the band's bus- which we won't," she quickly assured her panicked friends, "-we'll then head on over to that building on Cherry Street." "That is so cool that your mom found out the secret location of their interview!" Andi squealed. "We'll be the only ones there!" "And I bet their guards will be more relaxed!" Kim added. "Maybe we could even sneak in!" Jeannie quickly jumped in front of the group and turned to face them. "Girls, we are sooooo lucky! We're going to meet the N'Tune Boys!" She barely finished her exclamation when all five girls began shrieking and shaking their hands wildly. They were still screaming when they walked through the doors of The Diner on Juniper Hill, but they quickly quieted down as they all climbed in a booth. As soon as the waitress had left with five orders of cheese-and-onion omelets and five large orange juices, the girls began discussing their strategy. "Okay, remember, when we meet the guys, you have to keep cool, okay?" Kim told her friends. "Whatever you do, don't scream. We don't want to be like those twelve-year-old sluts." The other four rolled their eyes. "Ugh, no. They make me sick." "Oh, shit!" Andi cried. "I forgot my Scooby Doo keychain! Damnit, I was going to give it to Keith!" Anna Marie snickered. "That won't be the only thing you'd give Keith." Andi slapped her arm but grinned as she adjusted her breasts. "Just everybody stay away from Benny," warned Kim. "He's mine!" "You can have him!" Jeannie replied, dismissing him with her hand. "I want Joshua. I prefer the sensitive type over that clown any day." "Okay, fine, but be prepared to go camping a lot. He's a big outdoors man, you know." At this point, the waitress returned with their breakfast before moving to the next table. "I know," Jeannie replied irritably before donning a faraway smile. "But I would do anything for Joshua. Even camping. I'll just buy one of those cute candles that repel bugs. It'll be so romantic..." "Hey, what happened to Jake?" Anna Marie asked. Jeannie shrugged. "I dumped him. He called the N'Tune Boys fake." All five girls growled. "Idiot." Sarah shook her head. "I don't know how you all could choose any of them over Daniel, though. He's soooo hot!" She took a long, forceful gulp of her orange juice as if to emphasize the finality of that statement. The other girls nodded. "Oh, I know! I certainly wouldn't kick him out of my bed," Andi replied. "Wooo. Hot, hot, hot." Suddenly Anna Marie choked on her omelet. "Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God! You all, look! Look, oh my God, it's him!" Four pairs of eyes followed Anna Marie's line of vision. Andi gave a strangled shriek. "Daniel!" She began fanning her face, her mouth wide open. Sarah immediately began crying. "He's here! He's here, he's here, he's here!" she forced out through her tears. "Oh, my Gawd!" With a startled gasp, Jeannie managed to silence the other girls. "Oh, no. Oh, no. Tell me I'm just seeing things!" Sarah's cries turned into loud bawling. "No way! That's not Tiffany, is it?" Kim cried. Andi's face grew red. "That skanky whore? I thought he had better taste than that! Ugh! She's only famous because of her breasts!" "Hey! He sees us!" Anna Marie began waving frantically. The others soon joined in, using both arms to express their undying devotion to him. "Daniel! Daniel!" Jeannie frowned. "Hey, where's he going?" Sarah called out to him, "Danny, I LOVE YOU!" "He left," Anna Marie remarked dully. "He left." "Damnit, he probably realized how below him this scummy diner is," Andi cursed before turning accusatory eyes to Jeannie. "Why didn't you pick a nicer place, huh? You didn't actually think he'd eat here, did you?" "I didn't think he'd be eating anywhere!" Jeannie defended. "But you knew there was a chance!" Kim shot back, joining in. Anna Marie shoved her arms between the quarreling teenagers. "Looks, guys, we missed this chance, but we have to whole day to run into them again. It's not too late." Sarah wiped her eyes. "Yeah, you're right. It's not over yet." Anna Marie continued. "Hell, no! In fact, we've only just started!" Andi, Kim, and Jeannie began to smile again. "Guys, we're going to meet all of the N'Tune Boys!" All five girls began to shriek. Mary Migley WLP 211C 11/09/00 Babylon Revisited I have mixed feelings about "Babylon Revisited". It's slow moving and it took a while for me to get into the story and pay attention to what was going on. Even though the sentences seem simple enough, I had to re-read several of them to understand. However, the story itself is rather sweet, and I like that. A little bit of sweetness never hurts my opinion about any story. I had a hard time following the first page and a half, probably mostly due to my being distracted by other things, but also partly because all of the names that were mentioned. For some reason I thought that maybe they would play a bigger part in the story, and I was turned off at having to figure out who everybody was. Fortunately, I did not even have to worry about that. Looking back, I'm not even sure why I had so much trouble. As the story progressed, it became more easy to read, and I finally became involved in it. However, it was still a bit drawn out, and it would have been a little better if the story was a few pages shorter û though what could be edited out I haven't a clue. I really sympathized with Charlie, the poor guy. He made some mistakes in the past, but he tried so hard to correct them and start his life over. I really hoped he would get his daughter, but I had a bad feeling he wouldn't, just because stories like this almost always had bad endings. I knew something would happen to prevent Charlie from taking his daughter. As soon as Lorraine and Duncan showed up at the house, I thought I was going to be cheated. The last thing I wanted was to have read through that whole story, felt for the main character, and then find out he loses his daughter because of people from his past, no matter how clean he himself is. Thank God for that hope that was inserted in the ending, or I would have been completely disgusted with the story. The fact that Charlie will refuse to give up until he has his daughter is very reassuring and makes up for the disappointment towards Marion's changed mind. The girl, Honoria, was a little strange in that I couldn't tell how old she was. In some instances she seems pretty young (playing with a doll), while in others she seems older (she claims she does everything for herself now). Is she mature for her age, or is already mature but acts more girlish around her beloved father whom she hardly ever sees? Maybe Fitzgerald didn't want to confine her to any age, or maybe children acted slightly different back then. Some points in the story seemed to be more telling then showing. Like for instance, the paragraph on page 606, which starts, "Marion shuddered suddenly; part of her saw that Charlie's feet were planted on the earth nowàbut she had lived to long with a prejudice-a prejudice founded on a curious disbeliefà" The reader could have been able to pick up that on his or her own. Overall the story was unimpressive and not very memorable. The characters were good, and Charlie's desire to reclaim parentage over his daughter û and the author's ability to capture that desire û is basically the main good point of the story. Otherwise, I'd have no interest in it.