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".. I'm right and you know it." Morton said cooly, his less than stellar bedside manner showing.
"No , I'm right!" Johnny insisted. "This is a xerox, Dr. Morton. And I just didn't press my
pen down hard enough. It's there. I can see the ink furrows plainly."
Kel Brackett finally
decided to get into the fray. "Maybe this isn't a case of who was right you two? Joanne's fine.
The baby's fine. So why are you both squabbling over the details? You both did a fantastic job
both in the field and in the treatment room yesterday." Kel insisted, grumbling stonily. But
his comment fell on two sets of deaf ears.
Johnny and Morton were still glaring at each
other like two caged lions.
Kel smiled as he walked away from the base station, shaking
his head ruefully. He would let his two favorite ex-student proteges, work it out for themselves.
"I did an absolutely spectacular fetal stabilization out there. And you know it. You make me
feel as if I'm being incompetent or something here."
"Maybe I am.." Morton said, not at
Johnny, but inwardly, to himself.
"Why?" Johnny asked sharply, taking that comment's meaning
entirely the wrong way.
"I don't know." Morton shrugged, still thinking to himself and only
half listening.
Johnny was still fuming and defensive. "Then why don't you just haul me
off to court and we'll square this whole issue away once and for all.."
"Huh? Oh, that. I don't
have the money right now to pursue any charges against you, Gage."
"Now Morton, Look..."
Johnny said very hushed, fearing the worst.
"And I wouldn't do such a petty thing anyway
because it wouldn't be justified in the slightest to even attempt it."
Johnny's head immediately
lifted. "What?"
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"I'm not blaming you for my sister's death, Fireman Gage. But I AM still a little jumpy when it
comes to handling rescue calls involving any teen aged girls who are near the age Angie was. Something
me and the counselors haven't been able to figure out yet. That's why I got a little tight with
you earlier, about how you assessed the baby, over the biocom."
"You mean.."
Morton
held up silencing fingers, just as the hospital receptionist summoned his name over the intercom
pager and gave a where-to-report-next location.
Mike refocused on a tense paramedic face.
"That's right, Gage. I never went to a courthouse to file a lawsuit. That would've been stupid.
I finally summoned up enough courage to read Angie's final autopsy report. She never had
a chance at surviving that accident, Johnny. There was nothing humanly possible that you could've
done. Excuse me, I have a lot of work to do right now. Can we talk about all this later?"
Mutely,
Johnny nodded.
Half a second later, Dr. Morton wandered down the hall to the nurses' station
phone to answer his page.
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********************************************** From : "Cassidy Meyers" <killashandrarey@hotmail.com>
Subject :The Final Post.. (No pun intended) Heh...:) Date : Thu, 02 Oct 2003 12:20:17 +0400
Johnny Gage rushed out of the hospital rest room, searching for his bored, wandering
partner. "There you are! Roy! I did something really stupid."
"What? Did you get dressed again
without a spare set of shoelaces handy?" Roy smirked. "Don't tell me, you broke yet another pair."
Roy said sipping his coffee by the entry way doors leading out to the ambulance ramp.
"No,
you gotta listen. I wrote a letter to headquarters and I mailed it without even thinking straight."
Roy tipped his head in a sinking suspicion, but out loud he asked. "What kind of letter?"
"The kind no one ever wants to write.."
"You didn't."
"Yes, I did."
"Why didn't
you tell me you did something so stupid."
"Thought I just told ya, pal."
Roy grimaced,
and looked at his watch. "Oh, Johnny..." he whined. "Which mail box?"
"The one by home.."
"Uh, oh.."
"Uh, oh what?"
"The postal truck picks up all deliveries in your neighborhood
at eight o'clock."
"What time is it now? Maybe I got time to drive down there and--"
"Can
you drive faster than a hundred miles an hour?" DeSoto squinted as he noted what time it read on
his wrist watch.
"Oh, no.."
"Oh, yes. We got twenty minutes to intercept that letter."
Roy's face fell. "Why'd ya do it partner? I thought we were friends."
"Roy, would you cut
that out. I didn't mean it."
"Oh really. Tell that to headquarters when they open up the
envelope." Somberly, he stuck out his hand. "It's been nice knowing ya. By noon, I'm afraid you're
out of a job. You know how McConnike feels about quitters."
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Johnny Gage suddenly snapped his fingers in the midst of a great idea.
"Roy, I think I figured
a way outta this. Bear with me." And he snatched the HT out of his partner's hand.
-------------------------------------------------
Roy sat in the seat of the squad with his driver's door open, looking like the proverbial speak
no evil monkey.
All the medical gear from the stow was conveniently arranged around the
mail box in a neat ring. Johnny even had out the jaws of life.
It had been bad enough roaring
down the freeway with lights and siren on for no good reason at all. Luckily, they had never
run into another called out station while they were doing it.
Johnny tried to look nonchalant
as E 51 pulled up with the rest of the gang Code Three. "What's the problem, Gage? " Hank said
stepping out of the cab before the Ward was even curbside. "Sam was a little light on details for
this one. All we got was 'Unknown Type Rescue" with your squad call sign as the originator.."
"Uhhh.." Roy stuttered.
"Roy, Just shush.. I'll explain it.." Johnny said and he bravely
stepped forward to provide some protection for his partner.
"Well, uh,," Johnny cleared
his throat nervously. "You see, Cap, it's like this. I sorta kinda wrote a stupid letter this
morning before I came to work. One that I kinda regret.."
Hank Stanley caught on immediately
and dropped his head with an irritated grimace that soon, rapidly, became a snarl as comprehension
dawned. "Don't say anything more, Gage. Oh my word...L*rd all mighty in Heaven..!"
He set
his hands on his hips and counted to ten..
"Cap,.. I.."
Hank held up a hand while the
gang gathered around him from the engine's cab for orders. Then they noticed Hank silencing Gage
with his trademark scathing nonverbal captain's gesture.
Slowly, his face turned a bright
scarlet. Hank took in a deep breath and ...then he let loose.."We just wasted tax payers' gasoline
dollars to come all the way out here to high tech rescue a stupid resignation letter?!" Hank
boomed.
"Uh..." Johnny peeped. "Cap, the postman's gonna be here any second." he insisted
lamely.
"I don't believe this! Of all your crazy lame brained schemes.. this one certainly
takes the cake, Gage."
"Yeah, but isn't it noble?" Chet piped up, sudden admiration's stars
in his eyes at Johnny's cack handed way of getting out of a rough spot.
Cap's face just
turned a darker shade of red.
"Breathe, Cap." Marco insisted from somewhere out of range.
DeSoto and Gage just glared at Lopez..
"We're saving my partner's career here." Roy
dropped into the boiling silence between them all.
"Say,,," said Chet, scenting an opportunity
to get even in the years long Gage/Kelly one upmanship game. "Cap,..just think of how many favors
you can glean off him for this."
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Hank's glower faded away into a calculating speculation. "Ahh. That's right. I get to pull some
serious rank AND discipline here. Let's see, well, latrine duty for sixty days, kitchen chow and
dish detail until Christmas.." he said ticking off two fingers on his glove.
"Until Christmas?!"
Gage sputtered, then immediately hushed up sheepishly.
"That's exactly right. Protest further
and I'll double it.."
Gage was a mouse. A mute one.
Then they all heard responding
sirens from an approaching police car.
"Uh oh,'' Cap trickled. "Quick! Pretend
like your arm's stuck, Chet." Johnny shouted out to the back of the engine.
"Do what the
man says Kelly and be quick about it.." Hank re-enforced.
"What, Cap?" Chet said as he huffed
over with the equipment they needed.
"You heard me.." Cap hissed as the squad car squealed
to a halt angled a forty five to the engine to deflect traffic away from it.
"Hurry up,
Chet. We gotta make this look good." Marco quipped.
"We're going to be destroying government
property here, Kelly." Cap clarified, looking around self consciously at the curious passersby
drawn in by the sight of the flashy engine and squad in front of the bank.
"We need an
excuse." Stoker said when Kelly still didn't yet catch on. "Bury an arm now, Chet. "
"And
moan a little.. cause here comes Vince to guard the loose mail that'll result from our steel
splitting surgery.." Roy grinned.
"Oh,,,geez.." and the lightbulb finally clicked on..
"Right, Gage.. " Chet stuck his arm into the box ."Ohh,, I don't feel so good."
John smacked
Kelly subtly on the arm for overreacting a little too much. "Hi Vince..." he greeted brightly.
"What's the problem here, boys..?"
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"Chet's stuck. Thought we had a puppy fallen down a mail box, Vince. Only dork head over here
couldn't wait for the key."
"Is that a fact?" Vince leaned over and planted an ear against
the post box and listened. "I don't hear anything."
"The little bugger got away..." Chet protested
admirably. "He WAS here. Look.." and he pointed down to a convenient pile of doggy doo doo steaming
on a curb near where they were standing. "He crawled right up my arm like a cat getting out. He
even clawed my face.. See?" And he pointed to a lac he got from a shooting cinder the night
before.
"Hmm. Ok, boys.. I'll authorize a sawing.." Vince finally agreed. "Just... try to
keep the public's mail intact while you're doing it, all right?"
The K-12 flower petalled the
mail box in less than twenty seconds under Stoker's extraordinary extrication skills.
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Gage subtly kicked the letter he recognized as his into the sewer sunk into the street.
::Problem
solved..:: he grinned in final relief. ::This nightmare, is over..:: -------------------------------
FIN :)
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We hope you've enjoyed The Promise as much as we've enjoyed producing it for you. Please click
the burning building down below to read the END CREDITS to this eighth ETL Emergency! episode.
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Click the Air Bottle to go to Page Six..
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