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*************************************************** From: "Derrick" <rescueman1962@yahoo.com> Date: Wed Jan 18, 2006 1:33 am Subject: About Jimmy Harold, who was driving the ambulance, looked in the Emergency entrance lot, wondering where to park so no passers by would be gawking to see who was being brought in. A Schaefer Ambulance EMT saw the Mayfair's situation and she hinted to Harold that she was moving her van ambulance to the side lot so he could get in with Jimmy and Roy. Dr. Early was standing in the doorway with Kel Brackett to greet his patient. The ambulance doors came open as Roy was writing his last note to Jimmy. ~Well Jimmy, here we are at Rampart Hospital, the best in the county. The doctors will take good care of you here. It was nice meeting you. Come see us at the station when you get better.~ he said, pointing to the number on his bench parked helmet. Jimmy said, with a grin. "You can count on that." As Jimmy was unloaded by Harold and Malcolm out of the ambulance, Joe directed them. "Room Two. Is this our explosion victim?" he asked the attendants. "Yes, doc." said Roy, appearing out of the dark interior of the rig. He got out and went into the doors, following his patient. Dr. Brackett curiously followed behind him. "Those face wounds look ugly, but there still is no change in the degree of his tinnitus and deafness. He remained stable and alert throughout transport. I also got something to tell you privately when we get inside." Roy said to both of them. The sextet entered the treatment room that was used for lesser injured trauma patients as a backup to the main trauma room. Rampart was experimenting with a new trauma center concept, an idea whole-heartedly embraced by all three of her main ER doctors. Jimmy was transferred off the ambulance gurney onto a hospital one. Kel looked at Jimmy again, then he turned to Joe and said. "Joe, do you know who this is? It's Jimmy Colorado." "I was about to tell you the same thing, Kel." quoted Joe. Joe went to a drawer and pulled out a ruled style notebook. Reaching into his doc's coat pocket, he pulled out his pen and wrote in capital and small printed letters. ~Mr. Colorado, can you tell me what happened?~ he began, getting an awareness level check in. "I was starting my day job at the pier, when boom, there was an explosion. The next thing I knew, I couldn't hear anything after the paramedics woke me up. My ears were hurting and ringing something terrible when I found I could talk again." Jim said. ~Do they still feel that way?~Joe asked in writing. Jimmy's face wrinkled as he grasped how he was feeling and he said, "The quiet's about the same, but some of the pain has gone away a little bit." Then, a stunned Dixie McCall walked in and gasped when she saw Jimmy Colorado lying on the gurney. Despite of who he was, she asked. "Jimm--? What happened?" Joe Early filled her in. "There was an explosion at the pier. He got blown off his feet and it looks like it injured both of his ears. He can't hear a word we're saying, but he can talk to us. I'm going to take a look at his head, back and neck in detail, even though there are no acute signs of injury there." A concerned Dixie grabbed a stethoscope and a BP cuff and took Jimmy's vitals. "BP's 140/90, pulse's 100 regular,...respirations are twenty and normal." she said afterwards. Roy was busy with the new trauma room's pulse oximeter machine and a thermometer. "O2 sat is still 98%, .. and his temperature's 98.7 degrees F." he said. Kel did a sensory/motor assessment on Jimmy and he ran the list of what he found through his head. ::Good capillary refill, normal limb color and temperature to the extremities, all with purposeful movement.:: The last test he said out loud. "Negative on Babinski's. What next, Joe?" he asked Early, who was in charge of Colorado's case. "I examined his eyes already, Kel. His pupils appear to be equal, round, reactive and conjugate. Skin temperature's still normal and dry to the touch. Let's shift him to our monitor so Roy can have his back. Dix, call Radiology. I want a full skull series CT scan with special attention given to both his middle and inner ears. Also see if they can get me an anterior and lateral view of that knee." |
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Brackett spoke up. "Also, Dix, call the lab to set up a spinal tap, I want to be sure this deafness isn't being caused by a slow subdural or epidural bleed. Draw blood for a full count CBC, platelets, and hemoglobin. Call Dr. Jones and have him set up for an EENT consult please, stat, after he views all his slides and images." Kel ordered. "I got it." Dix replied as she finished marking the tests on Jimmy's chart. Then she busied herself dialing out on the treatment room's phone. "O'Brien's on today for ears, nose and throat." "Do you two have a minute?" Roy asked both doctors. "What is it, Roy?" Dr. Brackett asked, looking up from the dressings he was removing from both of Jimmy's ears. Roy led Dr. Brackett into a corner in the treatment room and said. "Bill Mc Connikee says that there will probably be a media circus very soon, all over this place, wanting to know something about our patient's condition. The chief wants us all to keep a tight lid on it for the sake of privacy because of Jimmy apparently being as big as a star as he is. Can you arrange that?" "Roy, you know you've got my word to keep everything confidential. Did you hear that, Joe?" Kel asked Early, hooking a thumb at Roy. "Absolutely." Joe Early replied. "And I'll hear, see and speak no evil, too." Dix replied as she got off the phone. "I'll be sure to tell Mike Morton about the press and staff gag order which I guess by now has already been forwarded to our ER desk directly from Fire Chief Houts. Mike'll probably let Dr. O'Brien know the same order upstairs as soon as he gets it." Joe said while he hooked Jimmy up to the monitor so a suddenly treatment room door appearing Johnny could retrieve the squad's. "Where have you been? Did the wind take you away like Dorothy to Oz?" Roy chuckled at his partner. Johnny smiled at Roy as the hospital attendants came to transfer Jimmy to the brand new, experimental CT scanner lab down the hallway. Being clever, Gage tapped Jimmy's shoulder in warning with a wink, then he flipped Jimmy's blanket half over his face and the oxygen mask to help better conceal his identity from uninvolved hospital staff and from the public wandering the halls around the ER waiting room. "I, partner, was having a meaningful conversation with a beeeauutiful chick outside who's an EMT with Schaeffer's. She said she likes me. And she told me she'd like to get into the paramedic program one of these days. And....we have a date for next Saturday night!" he said happily. "Oh? What's her name?" Roy asked. "I've memorized it already. Matilda Emily Lynn Volskeld. The nurses call her Mel for short and they say she's a tomboy with a mouth like a sailor." said Johnny. "I think I'm in love...." "You go for that type? I thought you like to go for the brainy, sophisticated, feminine kind of girl. Like that air hostess we met coming home from that paramedic convention or that newspaper journalist writing about firefighters from last year." "Or like Valerie?" Johnny reminded him sourly of their past hit and run victim, the mother of three, that they had responded to when she had been struck by a motorist right in front of their squad's bumper. "Heh. I've broadened my horizons a bit since then." |
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"I remember befriending a young lady like that." replied Dix as she got into the conversation, reflecting on her younger years when she was actively dating. "She used to tell m--" A page went out for Dixie to report to the CT room, and she smiled. "I'm needed to help with Colorado's scans apparently..." As she left the room with Roy and Johnny, she finished her previous line of thought, "Back then, fellas, I was sweet and treated people with the utmost respect and dignity." she said batting her long elegant eyelashes. "But after hanging out with Maude for a while, she showed me the real value of things whenever I needed to get angry to speed things up at work..." She slipped into a mock, but convincing Brackett like roar. "They didn't mess with me then afterwards. And please don't mess with me now!" she said in clear birdline earshot of a curious knot of floor nurses who were tightly whispering about whom they thought they just saw, at the desk outside the CT scanning room. "This place has been an insane asylum all day, DATGUMMIT!" Dixie then slammed her charts on the nurse's station desktop to scatter them. The gossiping nurses broke apart and fled before they learned anything concrete about who the man was in the CT room. |
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Roy and Johnny looked at McCall in amusement and she winked secretly back at them. Then they all sighed at each other, knowing that the day's stresses weren't over yet for her. :: Or for us either.:: thought DeSoto. The two paramedics shifted the weight of the gear in their hands so they could both wave a quick bye for now to her. "Well, let's get outta here, Johnny. Let's head back to the station. The rest of the guys should be back in an hour if all this the wind cooperates." said Roy. "A nap sounds real good. Chet had the right idea about all of us getting some sleep earlier at lunch time." "Yeah, I'm even more tired now." Johnny said, yawning. The bright afternoon daylight made them squint as they neared the ambulance doors. "Whoa! Look at the wind out here." Johnny said as he and Roy walked outside the short distance to the squad. "It must be blowing sixty five miles per hour!" "I guess so. Let's get in here in a hurry." Roy said after horsewhistling to get his weather gaping partner to pay attention to him. He tossed Gage the ignition keys so he'd take the hint to take over driving the squad for him. "My hair's being blown all over my head and it's really bugging me." Roy replied. "Put your helmet back on your head." Johnny teased. "It's too late for that now." DeSoto grumbled. The paramedics hastily put their gear back inside the squad and entered the cab. Johnny, as usual, had picked up the radio mic to report themselves back into service when he noticed that the wind was shifting the squad a little as stiff gusts blew by it. "Man, do you feel that?" he asked Roy as he started the squad up. "Feel what?" asked a freely dozing, hand and elbow face propped Roy. "The wind. It's rocking the squad!" said Johnny. "Big deal. It will take a tsunami to tip this thing over." said Roy. "You're right about that." said Johnny. Gage pressed the button on the mic and said. "L.A., Squad 51's available." ##Squad 51, L.A. clear. KMA 896. ## replied Sam Lanier on the other end of the channel. "So tell me, Romeo. What does this dreamy new date Mel look like?" Roy asked Johnny as they pulled onto the boulevard. "Well, she's about five foot five. She has long shiny brown hair almost down to her waist. Not to skinny, but not too fat. Just how I like 'em. She's been working for Schaffer's only for a year she says and her old man's a captain with the fire department in Daley City." Johnny said, gripping the steering wheel. |
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"They've got a good department up there." Roy said. "Let's see if you'll hit the jackpot with her this time and fare better than you did with single mom Valerie." "As a matter of fact, Jimmy Colorado is supposed to be playing a gig next weekend at the Beer-A-Bye-Bye uptown and I plan on taking her there. I'm buying the tickets as soon as I get home." Gage said. "You and Joanne can come along, too, if you like. We can call it a double date." "You know, Junior. You amaze me. I'm not much into music, but after I got to know Jimmy a little bit on the way to Rampart, he's made me a real fan. He's got something about him that's ..real honest and natural. Know what I mean? And it most likely shows in his songs, too, if the one I heard at the station is any kind of indicator." Roy replied. "But I doubt if he'll heal up in time enough for that bar performance of yours. He may have to cancel that one and schedule it for a later date." Johnny, feeling let down said. "Oh. You're right, pal. It might take a while for his ears to heal up enough for all his hearing to come back by then, if it ever does. But you never know." Gage said with a smile. "Surgery's wonderful these days." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile at Rampart, Jimmy's CT scans came back to Joe Early. He and Dr. Brackett were looking them over with Dr. Nathan Jones and the ear doc, O'Brien, in the CT viewing room. "Well , what do you see, Joe?" Kel asked. "A little deviation to the cochlea here. The left eardrum is perforated all right. But the right ear is appearing just as soft tissue trauma. Oh, and there are no abnormalities in the head and neck area. That knee will just need an Ace bandage and a cortizone shot. He's lucky." Dr. Early. "What do you think, Nate? Steve?" Kel asked. "Well, needing surgery's out of the question. The hole's too clean. But there's still going to be a little bleeding over the next day or two as his ears begin to heal, but it's nothing that I'm concerned about. The tinnitus and deafness are probably just temporary effects from the fluid buildup that came as a response to the explosion's concussion wave." said the specialist, O'Brien. |
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"So,... what I'm going to do is just keep him here until maybe later on tomorrow night. I'll start him right away on antibiotics and pain reducing ear drops. Tobradex'll do. He should start hearing things by tonight after those I.V. diuretics drain more out of his middle ears. My final diagnosis? He'll heal up good as new within the next four to six weeks." Dr. Jones said, too. "Well, let's go tell Jimmy the good news." Joe Early said. "Dixie's with him now managing his crowd control." he quipped. "A crowd? Already? That was fast." Kel remarked. "News travels fast when you're popular I guess." said Early. |
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*************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" <andacory@hotmail.com> Date: Thu Jan 19, 2006 9:01 am Subject: For the Love of Music.. Dixie McCall entered the holding room next to the CT scanning suite. The lights were subdued, but her eyes didn't miss the sight of Station 51's backboard leaning against the wall. ::I'll take that out with me when I leave in a few minutes.:: she decided mentally. Jimmy Colorado, was dozing on a head raised, pillowless gurney in the center of the room. He was no longer wearing oxygen but another I.V. now hung next to the one Johnny Gage had given him. Walking quietly across the fawn carpetting, Dixie checked its flow rate against the notation Dr. O'Brien had marked on his orders page. ::Diuretics. Hmm.:: thought Dixie. ::That probably means that the spinal tap they did in here after all the scans came back negative on blood from a head injury. Well, that's very good news, at least, ...so far.:: She saw that the doctors hadn't yet visited Colorado with their findings on his ER exam or CT tests yet. She was about to leave him to sleep more quietly when she saw a hastily scrawled notation from Johnny Gage on the run sheet to locate someone named Annie, Jimmy's wife, to let her know about his accident. Sighing, Dixie sat down on a stool next to Jim and gently woke him by pulling his blankets, which had tumbled down below his waist, back up to his shoulders. Jim's eyes opened, but the fatigue she had been expecting, wasn't there in the slightest. His face opened up in a bright smile. He said, "I remember you. You came into the room in Emergency when all the doctors were checking me over to see how I was doing. Hi, I'm Jim." and he held out his I.V.less hand. Dixie took his and shook it. Then she wrote on a spare notes page. ~Hi, I'm Dixie, the head nurse around here. How are you feeling now?~ "Oh. I'm a little sore still. But the breathing treatment I received and the ice packs for my knee are helping. The doctors told me they have me propped up so I won't get a headache from that back needle test they did on me a bit ago." ~That was a spinal tap, Mr. Colorado, and it's used to rule in or out internal head injuries and illnesses.~ she wrote to him. |
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"So, how did I do?" Jimmy asked. ~I'd say pretty good. See this?~ she wrote, pointing to the second I.V. hanging piggybacked alongside his first one. Jim nodded. ~That is giving you a medication that'll get rid of all the excess fluid in your circulatory system in about a half an hour. Seeing one of these ordered by your assigned ENT, Dr. O'Brien, is a good sign. He only drains middle ears like this when surgery's not indicated.~ "So, does that mean that I'm going to get my hearing back, Miss...McCall?" he asked, squinting to read her nametag without his glasses. Dixie was honest. ~I can't say for sure, Jimmy. I'm not one of your doctors.~ she scribbled. ~But do give me your wife's telephone number. Then we can call Annie together to let her know what's happening.~ "Right now?" ~Right now, if you'd like.~ "Oh, yes, please. She's probably worried sick if any of this has gotten on the news." he said with an anxious frown, writing down the number for her on a paper towel using the pen she had with her. ~Nothing has, Jim. You and your records are being isolated from everybody except those directly involved in your recovery. You'll see myself, an orderly or two who are guaranteed to not wag their tongues, and only your four doctors from this point on until you're discharged. And that's it. I'm telling you the truth that no reporters, at all, have been knocking on your door.~ she wrote. "How'd you arrange that?" ~Let's just say I learned a few things from a TV soap doctor last year about hiding folks when they desperately need to be hidden for the good of their health.~ Jim laughed. "I appreciate what all you folks are doing for me. I'm not a star. I don't think I care to actually become one to tell you the truth. All I know is that I want to share the music that's inside of me to those who'll listen. And if a record or two will help pay the bills for me, my wife and for my baby daughter, so much the better." Dixie smiled, and picked up the phone. ~Shall we call your family now? I'll be your relay. You just tell me what to say so she knows I'm really legit, o.k.?~ Jimmy nodded. A few minutes later, the phone call was completed and Jim relaxed for the first time since he was injured. Absently, he began humming an unthinking melody while Dixie took another set of vital signs for his progress chart. Dixie began smiling. Then she handed him the writing sheet. ~That's lovely. Is that one of the songs you play regularly?~ Jimmy blushed. "No. I haven't ever sung it out loud to anyone yet. I wrote it thinking about Annie, last week, in about ten minutes, while on a ski lift." he admitted with an amused grin. "I think I can still sing a bit of it in spite of being deafened like this. My pitch's usually pretty good. This is about how it goes, Dixie." he said. And then he softly filled the room with a bright, love filled, very softly sung ballad of incredible beauty..... "You fill up my senses like a night in the forest. Like a mountain in spring-time like a walk in the rain like a storm in the desert like a sleepy blue ocean You fill up my senses, come fill me again. Come let me love you, let me give my life to you Let me drown in your laughter, let me die in your arms. Let me lay down beside you, let me always be with you. Come let me love you, come love me again...... ...There. And that's all of it." he shrugged. "It's so different from anything else that's ever come to me lyrics wise. I honestly don't know how my manager will feel about it when I tell him that I came up with it in just a couple of minutes." Dixie opened her eyes and fiercely started to write. ~Mr. Colorado. If you don't produce that song, you will be losing a very fine chance to teach others about one of the truest lessons in life : how precious it is to love someone else without condition.~ "You really think so?" Jimmy asked, surprised. ~Look at the tears filling my eyes, Mr. Colorado. And you did that without being anywhere near your guitar. Any song worth its salt will move people beyond words without a single solitary note of accompaniment playing along with it. Trust me on that one.~ Jim looked at her face for a long, delving, soul searching moment. Then he handed her a kleenix from the box on his patient table. "Wow. That's sound enough endorsement for me, Miss McCall. So, as soon as I'm better, I promise, I'll set up a recording session and get it down on tape. For the last thing I want to do is disappoint a busy nurse in her own hospital." he grinned. Dixie laughed warmly and dried her eyes just a few seconds before the door opened to admit Joe Early, Kel Brackett and the two specialists coming to deliver their glowing prognoses. |
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************************************************** From : Roxy Dee <laterrapincabesa@yahoo.com> Sent : Friday, January 20, 2006 4:22 PM Subject : On The Cliff Tops~~ It was two days later at the station. The gang was feasting on Marco's spaghetti with gusto and all were freshly showered and in new uniforms following a routine abandoned house fire. Roy and Johnny were talking to themselves, being vague on details. DeSoto raised his eyebrows while he gulped down a large swallow of milk. "Was there any word on him yet from her?" "Yeah." answered Johnny. "Dixie says he's no longer in the hospital. He got out yesterday. But she was tight lipped about any further news on him." "She would have to be. Its those privacy laws, remember?" Roy sighed. "If it were that easy for paramedics to get information about a previous patient, lawyers everywhere would be suing us left, right and center for unlawful practice." Cap immediately knew who it was they were talking about. He framed a silent "shhh" to hush them. "Pass me the Caesar's dressing, please." said Chet, stuffing his mouth full of french bread and butter. "Look at that everybody. Chet's hungry enough to use a full set of manners at the table." quipped Stoker. "Record that for posterity, folks. I can't remember the last time he asked before grabbing." "So says the man who usually doesn't talk much, with his mouth full." Kelly grumbled, wiping his with a napkin. Cap's comment, topped them all, only barely tempered with a smile. "Shut up and eat, you twits, before we get another--" RiinNNNggg! rang the phone. |
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"I'll get it.." said Gage, shoving away his empty plate with a belch. "L.A. County fire department. This is Fireman John Gage." A few seconds later, he nearly dropped the phone. "Oh, uh.. hi there Mr. Colorado. Uh, wow. You're finally talking to me." he immediately bit his lip. "I....didn't exactly mean it the way it sounded. Heh. I meant it the other way meaning that I'm ....very happy you got your full hearing back." Cap spun in his chair with a scrutinizing glare at Johnny and he narrowed his eyes curiously at the name he had heard. Gage said, "Uh huh.." whipping out his notepad from his back pants pocket. Furiously, he began to scribble down some information. "Uh...huh." he punctuated. Roy piped up. "Johnny?" Gage whirled with a hasty silencing gesture and he gripped the phone receiver even tighter against his head while plugging the other ear. "Sure.. I have a couple of my own. Are you sure you won't mind my bringing two, one each for Roy and myself?" There was a pause. Then Johnny smiled hugely. "Sure. Tomorrow morning would be fine. We both get off at nine tonight. Ok, I'm glad you're on your feet and doing so well. Roy and I were worried about ya. Yeah? Ok. Thank you. Thank you.. Bye.." and he clicked the phone down into its wall cradle with a bang. Then he collapsed on the wall in a sag of disbelief and celebration. "Ooo, Roy. Do you know you that was?!" "You kinda told us." Hank snapped. "Should you have told us?" "Yes. He said I could." said Johnny. Then he scrambled over to his partner, waving his paramedic note pad in the air. "So our official gag's lifted as of right now." Cap's serious peg didn't let up. Gage shrugged. "If you don't believe me, run a trace with the phone company and listen to the conversation yourself, Cap. I wouldn't lie about a thing like that. I mean, after all, who do you take me for?" "A total nutcake." Chet chuckled. "Very funny, Chet. And it's too bad you're not invited." "Invited to what?" Marco asked. Hank told them briefly about their pier explosion victim of the other day. "No kidding?" Lopez said. "You met HIM? My mom really likes his music. She cranks him up on the radio stations every chance she gets." Cap's mouth fell into firm lines. "What exactly did he say? If this is about showing gratitude for helping him out, you know where the department stands on that one." Gage's happy smile died away. "Well, Cap. I uh, he didn't exactly use...words to that effect.." he laughed weakly. "All he asked was whether or not I knew anyone who could show him how to ride a horse on the beach." "You didn't..." Roy stared, flabbergasted. "Well,... why not?" Johnny said unapologetically. "Naturally, I said that I could help with that. I do own a few of them." "And what about that part about having one enough for me as well?" Gage fell silent, feeling the weight of Cap's unwavering stare and Roy's ire most acutely. "I was doing you a favor, Roy. Didn't you say you had become an instant fan of his to me? I thought you might enjoy actually talking with him, now that we can." "I'm not a cowboy." Roy said, not looking away. Hank started laughing hugely and broke off his captain's scowl. "Ok, I understand things a little better now. And that's not receiving a gift for services rendered. I'd say that's unofficial professional advisement on another topic. Have fun, Roy, and don't forget to bring a pillow along with your first aid kit for when you fall off." |
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy and Johnny pulled up in the rover that was hauling the double horse trailer containing two of Johnny's most trusted mustangs. Johnny put the truck into park and said, "This must be it. The sign back there said Starwood on Aspen. Now there's nothing to horseback riding at all. All you gotta do is relax a bit in the saddle and let the horse do all the work." "Easier said than done. A horse isn't a bicycle. Which is about all I'm able to handle riding wise. I never said I was a country boy." "Well, Jimmy does on the radio. All the time." "Huh?" "Never mind. Don't be such a cynic. You'll have fun. Just think, if you fall off, you'll have me around to care for you. We got the jump bag in the back, remember? And a CB radio. I also got ropes. Jimmy says he wants to show us an eagle nest he's discovered that he thinks no one else knows about. And Bess will be able to handle you. She takes the city kids' mane tugging real fine and she doesn't even blink at saddle tippy seating." "It's not the horse I'm worried about." Roy sighed. Then he changed the subject. "What a name for a ranch. Sounds like a penthouse party event." said Roy. "Does he own all this?" "Nah, he's just renting a couple of stalls here. He said he leased his horse at this coastal ranch because it and its name reminded him of the mountains back home where he's building a house in Aspen, CO. Here." said Johnny, handing Roy his cream colored five gallon hat that he once wore in Santa Rosa County. "I took the liberty of grabbing that out of your locker when we left the station last night. Shall we unload the horses next? Jimmy said he'll be saddling his appaloosa in the driftwood corral located nearest to the beach." "You lead Bess. She's bound to .... nip at my hair again." "Can you blame her? It IS the color of straw.." Johnny smiled. "She's probably hungry from the trip." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There was no mistaking Jimmy when they found him. He was wearing khaki colored pants with a loose white dress shirt etched with an ivy vine design. His head was bare to the ocean breezes. Roy felt conspicuous in his hat. He didn't feel as comfortable in it as Johnny seemed to be in his black one. But then he relaxed when he saw that Colorado wore boots just like they were wearing to ward off the wet. Johnny tied off both Bess and his horse, Eagle to the tangles of driftwood that made up the rustic fence. "Hello there fellas! Glad you could make it out here today." greeted Jimmy. "I didn't think I'd get lucky enough to find real horsemen smack dab in the middle of Los Angeles. I hope your captain doesn't mind that I'm borrowing you two for this. He might get the wrong idea about my intentions." said Colorado. |
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"No.. no. no.. We straightened him out about that right from the start when you called." Johnny grinned. "It's a real pleasure to actually be able to get through introductions this time. I'm Johnny Gage, and this is Roy DeSoto, that other man you met that day who was on the hospital phone." he kidded. Then they offered Jim each their firm hand shakes in genuine heartfelt welcome. Jimmy sighed. "I'm glad to finally be sociable like a man ought to be. I had a rough day with a headache yesterday but then both my ears decided to come back right at noon, just shortly before I called your work place to ask about where to find some horsemen." said Colorado. "I just couldn't wait to start trying to figure out my little horse problem again." "Oh?" said Johnny. "He seems trained enough and he's real calm here, even with us being on his offside like this." Gage remarked with a practiced eye for the black and white rear spotted appaloosa standing before them. "Oh, I wasn't referring to Stud Spider here. He belongs to James Brolin, a good friend of mine. I meant my problem of being a little apprehensive about getting him to take on moving waves. I keep thinking he'll take a tumble or something and pitch me right off. I tried that with him at the lake back home and that's how I wrenched the heck out of that knee you guys found on me earlier last week at the pier." "How is it now?" Roy asked, pointing to his right leg, in professional curiosity. "I have a brace on it. Just a light one. And an ace wrap. I've been cleared to ride as long as I don't overdo it." admitted Jimmy. "It's a piece of cake, Jimmy. All you have to do is point his head at the water and relax his neck reins a bit. His natural instinct to wanna roll in the water will get him playful and then he should start listening to you real easy." said Gage, stroking the singer's glistening gelding's face. "I sure hope so. Roy, you ride much?" asked Colorado. "I know how to drive a rescue squad. Does that count?" he laughed ruefully. "It sure did for me the other day. Thanks, you two, for then and now." "No problem. Shall we take that spin on the beach? Bess and Eagle are all set to go and I've already checked their hooves out. They're stone free." said Johnny. Jimmy nodded. The three took to their horses. Roy, a little bit more slowly. But he managed. They spent a wonderful half hour, rushing their horses through the sea foam and through the ocean shallows, casting up spray that liberally coated everyone's slacks up to the knees. |
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