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| Page Fifteen |
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No one answered til a commercial came on. Then, Chet turned and said, "You had to see it to appreciate it, Gage." "See what?" the impatient P.M. demanded. Kelly completely ignored the question and continued, "I mean, it was really amazing! Right, Cap?" "Hu-uh?..." Stanley stammered, not turning his gaze from the TV's screen. "Oh...yeah... it was amazing...absolutely!" Gage gasped in exasperation and turned to Stoker, "What happened, Mike?" "Dusty Baker hit a grand-slam homerun!" the Engineer obligingly answered. "I can't remember who else did what, but the Dodgers got ten runs in the second inning!" "We missed it!" John lamented, "For a lousy cancelled call! We missed it!" The sportscaster came back on and announced the score. "Twelve to nothin'?! How one-sided can you get?!" the peeved paramedic declared and turned to leave. "Where yah goin'?" his partner pondered. "To work on the Log Book," Gage glumly replied, "It'll be more exciting." His crew mates glanced at one another and grinned. ############################ A-shift filed into the dorm of Station 51 six hours and three calls later. "Lights out in five minutes!" an extremely tired Captain Stanley warned his equally exhausted crew. The men stripped down to their t-shirts and boxers and, after setting up their bunker pants and boots, collapsed--gratefully--into their beds. They were asleep the moment their pillows hit their heads. |
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They stayed right where they laid until just after eleven...when the alarm went off. "Station 51..." Stanley and his crew threw their covers off and began climbing out of their bunks and into the bottom half's of their turn-outs. "Man down...unknown type rescue...213 East Morrow Drive...Ambulance responding... Two-One-Three East Morrow Drive...Time out...23:02" On the way to the garage, the firemen exchanged mystified glances. Then they shrugged their suspenders into place and scrambled up into their trucks, still sliding jackets and helmets on. "Station 51...KMG-365," the Captain acknowledged the dispatcher. Stanley shot his paramedics a rather puzzled look, before crossing the bay and climbing up into the Engine. DeSoto took the copy of the call slip he was handed and passed it on to his partner, "I thought you said Mr. Fajou was in Florida..." "He is!" John adamantly stated, "He's visitin' some old friend a' his from the film studio who's retired in Miami. Won't be back for another two weeks..." Roy's look of confusion quadrupled. "Talk about 'deja` vu'..." Mike Stoker solemnly stated, "The FIRST time we went to 213 East Morrow Drive, the Dodgers and Padres were playing a double-header, too..." Stanley shot his astute Engineer an amused glance and clipped his copy of the call slip to the dash. Moments later, both trucks pulled out onto the street in front of the Station, lights flashing and sirens blaring. ########################### And, so it was that the men of L.A. County Fire Station 51 found themselves--once again --up on the ancient-looking mansion's moonlit front porch...waiting impatiently while their leader rang the eerie 'go-ong' and rapped the big, bronze door-knocker. "The yard looks nice..." Hank commented, just for something to say. "Thanks, Cap. Reggie's got--Mr. Fajou has this really cool riding lawn mower," John enthusiastically announced, "24 horse...with a three blade deck and a 52 inch cut!" "And electric hedge-trimmers!" Marco added, sounding equally excited. There followed several seconds of uncomfortable silence. "This is just TOO weird!" Chet Kelly determined, finally putting what everyone was thinking into words. Stanley considered saying something like: 'Well, we can't stand out here all night.' But then quickly reconsidered it. Instead, he just grabbed a hold of the knob and twisted it. Just like the first time, they found the front door to be unlocked. "Fire Department!" the Captain called into the dimly lit entryway, "Anybody home?!" Just like the first time, he received no reply. "All right!" Hank exclaimed, throwing the door open wide and stepping aside, "You all know the drill..." |
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The paramedics set their equipment down in the entry hall. Roy and Marco immediately headed for the upstairs. John and Chet began making their way into the back kitchen and the basement door, while Mike followed his Captain off to explore the first floor. ############################# John jerked the creaky portal open, "After you..." he invited with a wave of his arm. Upon seeing his companion's mustached mouth opening in protest, he quickly added,"I went first the last time..." "All right," Kelly reluctantly conceded, "But I should probably warn you...You'd better be ready to get the hell out a' my way! Because... if I see even so much as a mouse...I'm gonna go screaming into the night! And I'll be plowing through anything--or anybody--that gets in my path!" Chet shot his chuckling chum an annoyed glare. Then he drew in a deep breath and begrudgingly began descending the stairs. The two men made it down about two steps, and then stopped, hearing their Captain calling for them. "This is just TOO weird!" Kelly repeated as the two of them re-retreated. ############################ "Yeah, Cap?" John inquired as he and his associated slid to a stop in front of Stanley. "Upstairs!" their Captain prompted and passed the pair of new arrivals the paramedic equipment, "First room on the right!" Gage grabbed the cases he was handed and took the stairs, two steps at a time. Kelly latched onto the oxygen tank and the remaining case, and quickly followed. They entered the first doorway on the right. The dimly lit room was a library--judging by all the books it contained. There was an elderly lady lying, motionless, on an ornate, oriental rug --which covered about a third of the room's hardwood floor. John's partner was kneeling beside the nonmoving woman, performing his initial patient survey. "Heart?" Gage wondered, dropping his gear and himself down next to DeSoto. Roy replied with a quick shrug of his shoulders. "She's got a goose-egg the size of my fist," he announced and began opening and emptying equipment cases, "Apparently, she fell and hit the back of her head--probably on the edge of that thing..." he added, motioning to the large oak desk resting on the floor in front of one the room's wall-to-wall bookcases. John tossed his helmet up onto the desk and donned his stethoscope. His partner finished his preliminary exam and began reaching for their bio-phone, "Let's get her patched in and we might be able to determine what caused the fall..." Their Captain poked his head into the room. "Ambulance is here," he announced, "You guys got everything you need from the Squad?" Gage gave him a nod and then frowned, as a sternal rub and a dose of smelling salts produced no results in their patient. "Cap? Can you check the medicine chests and nitestands for any prescription meds? Oh, and try to find her purse, too. There may not be any pills in it, but her wallet might contain some helpful medical information." "You bet! Chet, you get the bedrooms!" their Commander relegated, "Marco, you get the bathrooms! Mike and I will handle the purse detail." As the firemen exited, the ambulance attendants entered, towing a gurney. ########################### Kelly was the first man back. He returned empty-handed. Lopez followed, a couple of minutes later, with his helmet full of pill bottles. Gage dumped two thirds of the helmet's contents into an 'urp' sack, and then placed the paper bag on their patient's stretcher. |
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"According to her driver's license," Stanley stated, as he and Stoker re-entered the room, "she's Mrs. Margaret Bentley. No medical info and no 'scrip's," he added, sounding almost apologetic. "Thanks, Cap!" Roy acknowledged, as he accepted the purse that was passed to him. DeSoto snatched up several cases and followed the attendants as they towed the packaged patient from the room. "I wonder where Mister Bentley is?" Marco queried, and stood there, staring glumly down at the two plastic pill bottles still in his helmet: Mr.Norman Bentley's prescription meds. "Yeah," Chet chimed in, "Someone had to call this in..." "Chet's right, Cap," Mike Stoker concurred, "This is just TOO weird! The rescue doesn't even match the call!" "It's the full moo-oon..." John jokingly determined, trying his level best to sound solemn and sinister. But a broad grin betrayed him. He picked up the remainder of their paramedic gear and went snickering out into the hall. Stanley and his Engine crew exchanged amused glances. "C'mon!" Hank urged, "There's a bed back at the Station, with my name on it!" "Maybe the Bentleys are Reggie's--Mr. Fajou's relatives..." Marco mumbled under his breath and set Mr. Bentley's scrip's down on a lamp stand. "O-or, maybe Reggie--Mr. Fajou had hired himself a couple of house sitters? " Lopez exhaled a resigned sigh and followed his fellow firefighters from the library. ########################### John finished stowing the gear. He closed the side compartments on the Squad and stepped up to the driver's door. "Doggone it!" he exclaimed and slammed his open palm into the side of the truck. Hank Stanley, who was half-way into his seat, heard the paramedic's angry explicative, and winced. "What no-ow?!" "Ah, Cap..." Gage regrettably replied, " I forgot my helmet...again." "That's the third time this month, John!" his irritated Captain realized, "Why can't you just leave it fastened to your head?!" "It gets in the way of the phone and my stethosco--" "Never mind!" his Captain quickly cut in, "Just go get it! We'll wait for you. Kelly, go with him!" "Ahhh, Cap...Do I have to?" Chet whined. "Move it, you two! Or do you WANT to find out what the penalty is for making your Captain lose his sleep?!" Hank added, seeing Kelly dragging his feet. Chet picked up his pace. In fact, the two helmet retrievers went running back up to the mansion's front door, and quickly disappeared inside. Stoker turned to Stanley, looking curious. "What is the penalty?" "I don't know," his Captain confessed, "But I assure you, it wouldn't be pleasant! I can get awfully cranky when I'm sleep-deprived!" Mike and Marco grinned. ########################## Kelly halted in the entrance hall. "I'm waitin' right here! And, hurry it up, will yah! This place gives me the creeps!" "I'm hurryin'! I'm hurryin'!" John assured his creeped out companion, and took the stairs two steps at a time. Gage reached the dimly lit library and glanced around. He spotted his helmet, setting on the desk, and smiled. As he crossed over and reached out to pick it up, he happened to glance down. There, on the floor behind the desk, was a strange, curved scratch mark. The mark had been carved into the polished varnished floor boards by something heavy. 'Something heavy...like a bookshelf!' the paramedic mused, 'I'll bet there's a 'secret passage' behind this thing!' He examined the object carefully...pulling and pounding and probing for some sort of 'secret' lever or button or something! 'Nothing!' he silently surmised and his shoulders slumped. He stooped to examine the funny, curved scratch mark again. Something heavy had been sliding over those floor boards, all right! "It's got to move!" he realized aloud. He straightened stiffly back up, and that's when he noticed that several books had been removed from one of the shelves. He reached for one of the remaining books and found that it wouldn't move. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that it wasn't a 'book', at all, but a solid block of wood with a book's title painted on it! "The Mystery On Dobbin's Moor..." he read aloud and gave the block of wood a jerk. The bookcase moved, startling him. John jumped back and stared in wide-eyed wonder as the entire shelf swung slowly out into the room, revealing a passageway in the wall behind it! "Only in the movies, huh..." he stated rather smugly, "I knew it! I knew it!" He stepped up and poked his head into the passageway. It led to a descending stairway. Gage stiffened suddenly and blinked his wide eyes in the dim light. There, at the bottom of the stairs, he could barely make out the motionless outline of a man. The explorer immediately kicked back into the paramedic mode. "HEY, CHET! GET UP HERE! HURRY!" he turned and shouted. John snatched his helmet up before stepping into the passageway. The opening mechanism reached the end of its guide rail and the bookcase stopped moving--but only for a moment. Because the 'stopper' on the end of the guide rail was broken, the opening mechanism left the track and a powerful spring slammed the bookcase back against the wall with a terrific force! Gage heard the spring 'snap'. Then, something struck him in the back of the head. There was an explosion of light--then...nothing! Everything went _____. He and his retrieved helmet went tumbling down the hidden staircase. |
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######################### Kelly heard Gage calling him...and then, a loud 'BA-ANG!' He hurried up the stairs and into the library. John was nowhere in sight! "Hey, Johnny...c'mon, man! Quit the clowning! Cap' just ain't gonna see the humor in this!" he added angrily. "Johnny?..." Kelly nervously repeated, following a thorough search of the room. "I know you're in here...I've been watching the door, and I would've seen you leave..." his words trailed off and a tingle went up his spine. "GAGE! GET OUT HERE! RIGHT NOW!" His only answer was dead silence. Chet shivered, and not from the cold. "...please?" he tacked on rather pitifully. ########################## John came to at the bottom of the hidden stairway. He groaned and rolled onto his stomach. When he opened his eyes, he couldn't see a thing. It was pitch black. He picked his aching, spinning head up off the floor and shook it, in an attempt to clear some of the cobwebs and put a stop to the loud, high-pitched 'ringing' in his ears. The only thing the shaking accomplished however, was to increase his pain--tenfold! Somehow, he managed to make it up onto his hands and knees. He spotted a thin strip of light and crawled over to it. He reached up, groping in the darkness for a door knob. There wasn't one. So, he leaned against the wall and tried to stand. The 'wall' gave way and the paramedic went sprawling out of the concealed room and onto the polished marble tiles of the mansion's entryway. Gage groaned again and slowly picked himself back up off of the floor. He stood there, dazed, disoriented and very dizzy. He shut his squinting eyes and placed his hands over his ears in another attempt to block out the painfully loud, and incredibly annoying 'ringing'. ######################### Kelly backed out of the library and started quickly down the stairs. He stopped halfway and his mouth dropped open. There, in the middle of the entrance hall, stood his no- longer-missing amigo. "How'd you do that?" he wondered curiously and skipped down the remaining steps to stand face to face with finally found friend. "Will yah quit the clowning, already?!" Chet pleaded, as John completely ignored him. Gage staggered back a few feet and then caught his balance. He opened his eyes, saw Kelly standing there and quietly inquired, "...what's that noise?" Kelly listened carefully. All his straining ears could detect was the steady ticking of the hall clock. He stared at Gage's bare head and empty hands for a few miffed moments and then threw his arms up in complete exasperation. "That does it!" he declared and began heading for the front door, "I'm out a' here! I ain't getting the Cap' mad at ME!" Gage turned and watched in confusion as associate angrily stomped off. "What happened?" he wondered in a whisper. A sudden wave of nausea came over him and he slowly dropped to his knees. "Man, if I were you, I'd find my helmet REAL QUICK!" Chet chastised. He grabbed a hold of the knob and glanced back, "Before Cap' comes bargin'--" he saw something glistening on the back of his now kneeling comrade's hanging head and stopped. "Hey, Johnny! You're not clowning!" he quickly realized and went rushing up to his collapsed companion. "That's REAL bloo-ood!" He grabbed Gage by the arms and slowly straightened him up, "What happened?!" |
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