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The Story Unfolds... Season One, Episode Three Juxtaposition Debut Launch: 15 Dec 2002. ********************************* From: Fran Catrair <franniecat@voyagerliveaction.com> Date: Sun Dec 15, 2002 11:57 pm Subject: Rainy Days and Mondays It was a dreary, gray day in Southern California, with a hint of rain in the air. It was the kind of day that made the quiet Roy DeSoto even more reserved than normal, and he sighed in melancholy, not touching his breakfast. His partner looked up at the sound and noticed his partner's troubled expression. The engine crew had left earlier on a call, but Cap had just radioed in, saying they would be back at the stationhouse shortly. For the moment, though, they had the place to themselves. "What's wrong, Roy?" Johnny asked his dour partner. ::Like he's going to tell me.:: Johnny thought grimly. It had been like pulling teeth just to find out when Roy's birthday was. He had even asked Cap to pull a few strings at personnel for the information, but Cap had refused, saying if Johnny wanted to know when Roy's birthday was so badly, he should find out for himself. Roy continued skating his fork around his plate, the sausage attached causing a nice track in the maple syrup left on his plate from his now just eaten pancakes. "Nothing, Johnny. Just thinking." Roy responded absently. |
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::Why am I NOT surprised?:: Johnny thought to himself in exasperation. He was about to try another tact when the station alarm klaxon sounded. Both men got up from the table quickly, sparing a moment to look at each other in concern. The longer klaxon meant the situation was not good. ##Squad 51...Engine 51...Batallion 8... overturned schoolbus....715 Dorchester Blvd...seven-one-five Dorchester Blvd... Cross street Hamilton...Time out...0827." Johnny quickly jotted the information down on a piece of paper and reached for the station mic. ##Squad 51...KMG365.## he acknowledged. Johnny immediately sprinted to the awaiting squad. As the garage door opened, both men looked out to see the cloudy morning had turned into a downpour. Grimly, Roy turned on the windshield wipers. As the squad left the dry stationhouse, he sighed again and said, "I hate rainy days... and Mondays!" ----------------------------------------------- |
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********************************* From : "Fran Catrair" <taleaone@hotmail.com> Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Mudslide Date : Thu, 19 Dec 2002 02:06:39 -0600 Johnny wordlessly looked out the window at the rain coming down around him. He glanced at his partner's grim expression and sighed quietly, looking back out the window. He was trying to think what Roy might be thinking. ::Kids okay...fight with Joanne?:: he wondered. Well, nothing he could do about it until after the call. The squad's sirens continued to wail and Roy's face was almost unreadable. Until Cap's voice came out over the Station frequency. ##L.A., This is Engine 51. Is it known how many casualties might be involved?"## "Roy, what's the matter?" "Hmm?" Roy replied, still listening to the exchange between dispatch and their captain going over their radio. The rain came down harder, making the road flood. Roy was forced to slow down and so did the engine behind them. "What is it, Roy?", Johnny asked, more firmly this time. Roy sighed and voiced his long held thoughts. "I've been having a feeling something bad was going to happen today. Just a feeling. My son was going to the Museum of Natural History for a field trip today. They were to leave immediately this morning.", Roy finished, his voice shaky and tapering slightly. Johnny was stunned by the news. "Maybe it's not their bus, Roy. I mean, how many schools must be having field trips today?", he said, trying to take his partner's mind off the worst. "It's them," Roy said, quietly. "It's them." Sam's voice came over the radio. #Engine 51...casualties unknown at this time. CHP is on the scene.# Caps' voice came very fast. ##10-4, L.A. Our ETA is..... four minutes..## Roy skidded a little too fast around a turn and the squad shimmied around a corner and almost fishtailed before he regained control. John said. "Want me to drive? We can radio in to the Engine.. Tell em why.." Roy looked firmly at John and shook his head vehemently. His face screwed up in concentration, as he willed the squad to go on. At last, they could see the scene in the distance. The yellow Blue Bird cab was fully on its side and along the margin. The front end was buried deeply in slag from the rain soaked hillside. "Mudslide!!" Johnny said. "Roy.. can you tell. Is it the same bus?" "I don't know. I don't know...." Roy said. Cap's voice filtered firmly into them as they pulled just behind the rear of the bus, pulling up so the squad was acting as a buffering obstacle between the bus and oncoming traffic. ##Squad 51. Stay right where you are. And enter the scene from there. Stoker pull ahead to the car and those power lines. Looks like they're down. L.A. Cut power to the north side of the freeway overpass at mile marker seventy four!## A fierce bolt of lightning shot down from the dim sky and the rain came down in torrents as Johnny and Roy ran out of the squad's cab for their gear and extrication equipment. They ran for the nearest thing they could see, the back of the bus and the emergency exit there. ##10-4, 51.##, dispatch responded. Johnny and Roy could see the bus was rocking slightly. They knew with the rain coming down and the mud, the bus could be buried deeper, and rapidly. They needed to act fast. |
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"Cap, we're gonna need the K-12.. Looks like the rear hatch is jammed in here real good!" Roy said. He desperately tried to wipe away the mud and steam on the windows, but he could see nothing of the interior. Johnny began shouting. "Can anybody hear me?! Fire department!!" Weak high pitched screams met their ears and a bloody palm impacted the window right by Johnny's face.. ::Oh my G*d.:: Right next to him, Roy flinched. Roy was trying to clear away the debris from the hatch to place the K-12 when he saw it. Number 62. He looked at Johnny. "Number 62. It's his bus.", he said. Finally, Chet and Marco arrived with the K-12. They observed the tenseness of both paramedics. "What's going on?" Chet demanded. "Ohmyg*d, Johnny..".. Roy gasped. "I can't do this.." and he nearly fell to his knees. Gage got on his HT. ##Cap! Stoker. On the double! We need man power now. Roy's kid is here!## Chet opened his mouth and closed it, shocked. He and Marco quickly took the K-12 to the rear hatch. Both men had a look of determination on their faces. This rescue had become personal. Captain Stanley ran, slipped and skidded in the mud until he grabbed the side of the bus to steady himself. "Gage, take over primary care triage. Roy, stay out here. And that's an order!" Right then, the roar of water from a storm drain caved in a part of the road underneath the toppled bus and its side split open like a tin can, spilling a tiny body in a girl's skirt, onto the road and into the drain in a rush..... Gage made a leap for the tiny feet but wasn't fast enough. Cap grabbed him first and said, "No!! Get a life line first! Now.. We don't know how deep it is in there!" DeSoto ran for the squad to get one. Roy sprinted to the right compartment, slipping and trying desperately to stay on his feet. Then he slid back to the back of the bus, wordlessly thrusting the lifelines at Cap and Johnny and tying one onto himself. "Oh no! No!" Roy said, when the feet slipped again just as he grabbed for them. The tiny body disappeared in a rage of flooding brown water and was gone. Johnny grabbed Roy's lifeline and secured it, proceeding back to the bus area. "Roy, there's nothing we can do! Get up! She's dead.." |
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Gage approached the bus. Chet and Marco were beginning to check the victims closest to them. They knew they would need to free them first, but they needed to be sure it would be safe to move them. Chet shouted. "Johnny. I got a probable skull fracture here. I got bleeding in the ears on this one.." he said, looking up, with a hand on the small boy's stomach. Marco was speaking quietly with five others, telling them to hurry out to Cap who was gesturing to them. "Go to the tall man over there. He'll take care of you.." |
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