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FULL MOON BLUES |
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"Boy do we ever.." John said. "Brice might be coming here?"
"Yep. So get cracking.." Cap said,
clapping his hands together and then he disappeared into his office to change shoes. "I want
to squash that possibility before it ever happens Kapesh..?" his voice floated out to them.
"Hey Cap, uh, I thought we were a team. You know, the all together in this kind of thing.." Gage
hollered after him.. "You know. Working through the good and the baddd.." he hinted..
Cap closed
his door soundly.
Roy peeled off a towel Chet threw into his face into one hand and he regarded
Johnny thoughtfully. "You know, Johnny, you'd better ease up venting like that. Cap's a cap. And
what he says, goes.."
"I know that. I know that.. But why does he always have rank and privilege
pull for him whenever he feels like it should? Always seems to happen during the hardest shifts.
Especially full moon ones like today's."
"Experience has its rewards Johnny. And bailing out
at will just happens to be one of them associated with Captain's rank." Roy said with a small shy
smile. "Come on, I'll haul out the gear boxes and O2 to check them and you can get the dressings
and splints taken care of, all right..?"
Gage nodded and dejectedly followed him to the rear
hatches of the trashed squad. Chet ducked when they opened those doors leading to the resuscitative
apparatus, as beer cans poured out in a musical tumble onto the floor.
Bonnie grabbed one
and started growling as she attempted to chew it up.
"Hey, give me that.." Gage said. "You'll
break your teeth little girl.." and he traded slimy beercan for rawhide bone. "Here, take that.."
he said. The toy he gave her was so big, it pulled the tiny dog's head to the floor and she had
to tug with all her might to get to her customary spot under the engine to enjoy gnawing on it.
Roy dug out all the cans he had discovered, chuckling at Chet's overstrung nerves and got
to the O2 equipment and dragged it out. "Well, thank heavens for small mercys. Looks like this
apparatus is ok."
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Johnny flipped open the drug box and found only air. "Not here. Figures.. All the unused syringes
are gone too."
The IV and dressings boxes were untouched, but in the stokes, they found a dummy,
stuffed with trash and wearing a sign saying, "Thanks for being the life of the party fireboys!"
Roy heard Marco coughing as he leaned over to scrub saltwater off the hood of the squad and he
casually said. "Lopez, check out the resuscitator for me will you? Johnny and I need to get a
list together for a reissue of supplies." And he motioned for Gage to follow him into the kitchen
with the drug and IV boxes.
"All right.. " Lopez said, raspily.
From around a corner, Roy
watched Marco check all the psi readings and visualize the tubing connectors and regulators
and then he smiled as Marco did a draw check on the mask over his own face with flowing O2. Lopez
smiled as the oxygen soothed his raw throat and he took a few more thinking no one else was watching
him.
Johnny grinned, poking his partner in the ribs. "You crafty old.. You did that intentionally.."
"Course I did.. Did you think that Marco would have let either one of us get any where near
that throat after the night we've had.."
"No..." Johnny said, shaking his head thoughtfully.
"Well there you go.. That 02 will give him relief and take away some of that inflammation of
his.." Roy said, as he sat at the kitchen table to check out the conditions of all their IV solutions
and setups.
John was considering Roy's angle of attack on Marco."Hey Roy., I think I can
trick Lopez into drinking my mother's honey birch bark tea to coat that throat of his.."
"Not
a chance.." Chet said making his way into the kitchen to dump out smeggy water from his bucket
into the sink. "He's still sucking away out there and loving it, but ah, about him actually
taking real medicine? Uh uh, Gage. Ain't gonna happen. Not in your lifetime."
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"Oh, really." Gage grinned. "We got him on oxygen therapy without him catching onto us fussing
. What makes you think I'll fail with doing more?"
Chet finishing filling his steel pail with
hot water from the tap."Because Roy here is much better on the sly that you are Gage. If you
try anything else, let HIM do it.." and he walked back towards the garage. "Or, if you two are
really concerned about Marco's cough, you can tell Cap about it."
Johnny looked at Kelly as
if the sky had fallen. "And ruin a great friendship?"
"Not to mention the direct tie to a wonderful
pair of burrito chefs.." Roy quipped.
"That too.." Johnny nodded eagerly. "No way.. Chet. We're
not going to resort to that.. Marco's not a baby. We'll just we'll just...uh, "
"Fuss over
him.." Roy completed for his stammering partner.
"Yeah.."
"Ok, have it your way.."
Kelly said. Then his head peeked around the corner and he added, "I'll let you know how long
he uses the demand valve ."
"You do that.." Johnny said with firm concern.
-----------------------------------------
At Rampart, the fiasco with the San Pedro gang, had died down. Dixie, Joe, Mike Morton and
Kel Brackett all sat around the nurses lounge table nursing colorfully etched coffee mugs.
None of them were saying much to each other.
Until Dixie took her hand away from her chin.
"Hey Kel, How did that drowning fare? You know the one who stole the squad from the fire department."
"Didn't make it."
"Oh," she said, suddenly interested in the cream swirling in her mug.
"Sorry.."
Joe piped up. "Two of the five aren't going home in body bags at least, Dix. They'll
be facing trial for grandtheft auto and impeding official rescue service. Not to mention possession
of narcotics."
"Ah." McCall said without much vigor.
Another long stretch of silence reigned.
Until Mike said, "Hey guys. Did you know that it was 51 whose squad was trashed?"
Dix, Kel
and Joe all erupted into reaction.
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"No, I didn't know.." "Oh, my.. Those boys have seen their share of misery this week." "That's
too bad. Anything we can do?" Joe added.
"I can see if I can swing some funds from the
paramedic training program to cover their losses.." Brackett said.
Dixie added, "And I and
the other nurses can plan a party for the whole gang, to cheer them up a little. How about this
weekend? At my place? I've a great little veranda, and a pool."
"What a great idea. It'll take
their minds off work for a while." Joe agreed.
"Then it's settled." Dixie grinned. "As soon
as I get off shift, I'll start making plans..maybe even a surprise party angle will work.."
"Now wait a minute Dix." Kel interjected. "How do we know Roy and Johnny's crew haven't already
made plans for the weekend?"
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Click Rescue Squad to Goto Page Six :)
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