Stoker hefted up his scba gear and put it on. He patted Chet on the shoulder for doing the same thing
even though he was encumbered with a hose, as he jogged by. "She's still breathing on her own." he
shouted.
"Ok. Good to hear." said Chet and some of his creases on his forehead eased out of
active worry. "Thanks."
A few minutes later, Chet overheard a terrifying transmission from his
crewmate. "Rampart, we have two Code I and a female victim of a head on frontal automobile accident.
We've no paramedics at the scene except our engine crew. We need a doctor a.s.a.p. for an entrapped
critical, long term."
There was a pause, until Chet heard the statement that thoroughly chilled
his blood.
"...Rampart, the second and third victims ARE our paramedic crew." Stoker swallowed.
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marco looked up at
a muffled poof just as Squad 24 and 99's Crown rolled up. "Fire! Hey Cap! Fellas! We've got fire in
the squad's engine block!" he yelled, shooting out of 51's crumpled cab to snatch up the hose Stoker
had left out and ready for him. He could see the beginnings of flames licking up tentatively around
the hood. Their heat was already melting and curling up the windshield wipers as he began sloshing
a sharp spray of water up and down the squad's front end.
Cap heard him and immediately dashed
over, leaving Dixie warmly covered. He waved at a firefighter climbing off 99's Tillerman's spot to
go attend her.
He forced open Gage's side door with the pry bar and cast it aside. "Johnny, hey.
Listen to me. Is your back or neck hurting you?" Hank shouted, holding both hands on either side of
the Native American paramedic's face to get his attention. "You're going to have to be moved fast
because we're on fire."
"Huh?? Whaa..?" Johnny said groggily. "Us? Didn't...didn't know we were
in a fire.."
"No, the squad. You crashed. It's starting to burn, John. We're getting you out."
"A crash?!" Gage startled. " Uh,.. *ow* I'm...I'm not hurting anywhere important.." he moaned.
"Go ahead and pick me---"
Cap wasted no time laying one of Johnny's arms over his shoulders in
order to get him onto his feet. They began to get out of the squad. "Brice!" Stanley yelled. "Get
DeSoto out! We're showing smoke! Kelly, protect the white car with everything you've got but move
back from us!"
Craig Brice, just pulling on his work gloves, hastened to comply.
A couple
of 99's men got on Marco's hose to help him, and two others, but 51's hood wouldn't open at their
jimmying. "Here.." said Lopez, passing off his nozzle stream to a pair of them. "I've got our jaws
over there. I can pop it open in two seconds. She's already running hot."
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Paramedic Firefighter Craig Brice slid in behind Roy, sliding a supporting arm over his chest to
hold him still. "DeSoto. Can you hear me?"
"Uh..." Roy groaned, flopping his head back limply
against the other paramedic. It was clear he didn't recognize Craig in the slightest.
Brice
pinched him hard on the flesh underneath his upper arm.
"Oww!"
"I know that hurt. Answer
me! Did you hurt yourself past this one wrapped leg I'm seeing?"
Roy startled as awareness
returned, along with a complete memory.. "The other car. Somebody's hurt! Johnny and I hit-- I've
got to get over there.." he gasped.
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Brice didn't mince words. "Fine. You're ready to leave. Come with me now before we fry." he said,
helping Roy get out of the squad as carefully and quickly as he could. DeSoto moved, slinging an arm
over Craig's shoulder. He began limping immediately and soon, another firefighter ran over to help
the two of them make their escape.
They got away painfully slow. Only Cap and Johnny were
slower.
BoooOOOOMmmmm!
Squad 51 annihilated herself in an exploding fireball as a burning
fuel line finally reached the gasoline tank.
The force of the explosion caught the backs of
Hank and Johnny and they were cast to the ground.
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"Cap, are you guys all right?!" Marco shouted, fighting back the spreading fire fiercely while the
other pumper got ready to join him.
"Yeah, I'm ok.. I think Gage is, too." he reassured Lopez.
Cap, protected by his helmet, rolled to his feet, but Johnny was lying face down and turning purple.
He was not moving even though he was still awake.
Cap rolled him over in a spine safe line. "Easy,
pal.. Got the wind knocked out of ya? It's all right. Just try to relax and it'll pass in a minute
or so." he said, looking up to make sure Brice and DeSoto hadn't come to any more harm.
They
were unscathed. Cap could see that Brice had already transferred DeSoto off to another man while
he headed for the white car, loaded with his gear and some of Squad 51's.
Hank looked down
and starting smiling encouragingly as Johnny struggled to breathe again. Hank took the hands that
were lying on top of Gage's stomach into his own. "Can you do it yet? Are the spasms easing up?"
he said, beginning to massage the constricted muscles around Johnny's waist.
Gage just squirmed
on the ground and kept choking silently.
Stanley looked up. "Somebody get an ambu over here on
the fly. My man needs some help on one until he recovers from a kick to the diaphragm." he said,
tipping Johnny's head back to get him more comfortable. "Easy. Easy.. We'll do it for you. Quit fighting
for a sec until we get you going on o2. Here it comes. Johnny, did you hear me?" he said as Chet and
Brice's paramedic partner came rushing in to assist.
It took all three of them to hold the
mask over Johnny's darkening face as he struggled in a panic until Cap held down his arms.
"Was
he obstructed?" the paramedic asked.
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"No.. no. Just winded." Hank grinned. "He's just scared. He should settle down once his lungs get
some air. He's got other problems from the crash but nothing at all here breathing wise except this."
Finally, they got the bag working and Johnny's chest rose. Immediately, Gage calmed and went limp
as dizziness from the squeeze valve's shot of pure O2 began coursing through him. He closed his eyes
in relief and just let it happen as several more came and went.
Hank continued to massage the
cramps rippling Gage's stomach into a tight ball until...Johnny began breathing again in deep, hungry
gasps. "There.." Cap said, letting him go. "See? It's over. Just like I told you it would." he said
watching the others switch out the bag for a positive pressure valve on demand only. "Now stay
down and let Marve here check you out. Roy's fine, too. He's doing a little better than you, in fact.
He's just asked about getting over to the other car. And don't worry about her. She's still alive."
Johnny nodded weakily on the ground and tried to get his eyes to focus on the faces ringing round
him. "Who's...who's fault w--?" he broke off from shortness of breath.
"Nobody's.." said Cap
empathetically. "There are droplets of brake fluid all over the street. It starts in a line trailing
twenty feet away from the impact point. That car had no brakes to stand on when it ran that red light."
"What's her ...what's her condition?" Gage said, pushing the oxygen mask away briefly. He could
feel himself growing stronger already.
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Only now did Cap's light expression begin to falter. Kelly's completely caved in and that tipped
Johnny off. "Who is she? Do we know her?" Gage asked, getting angry even as he caught the same question
in Roy's eyes where he sat on the curb nearby next to a firefighter who was watching him.
DeSoto
was fiddling absently with the cannula resting over his ears while his cut forehead was getting wrapped
up in dressings.
Hank hung his head. "Yes..uh..yeah, we do, pal." he said honestly. "I'm afraid
it's ...it's Miss McCall from the hospital."
Johnny lay stunned, struck speechless even as
Roy was. Only there was a difference. DeSoto was mumbling a single sentence over and over again. "I
saw her, Johnny. I saw her.. And I couldn't get out of the way..." he sobbed. Beginning to shiver,
Roy let the fireman who was monitoring him lay him down before he passed out in shock. Blankets were
tossed open, spread and used amply, but Johnny and Roy no longer were aware of them even though their
eyes continued to blink and their sources of oxygen continued to flow.
A minute later, Johnny
struggled to his feet.
Hank stopped Chet from restraining him. "Let him go. Let him go, pal. We
can't force anything on him that he doesn't want." He said, pointing to 24's medic, who wasn't doing
anything to stop Johnny's movements either. Then Stanley took the still unsteady Gage softly aside
under his arm as he re-covered his shoulders with the fallen blanket. "What do you want to do until
the ambulance gets here? You can do anything you want except go over there."
"The engine,
Cap. I want to sit in the engine. Everybody's looking at me." Johnny said quietly, still thinking
about Dixie.
"Okay. That's all right by us." Stanley accomodated. "We'll get you back on some
O2 while you're sitting up in one of the seats." he said, making eye contact with the other paramedic,
who was nodding his head in agreement. "And then both of you are going to submit to a complete examination,
some vitals signs and maybe an EKG reading or two, okay, pal?"
"Is Roy coming with me?" Johnny
asked, his eyes staring blearily.
"No, I think he's decided to stay right where he is for the
moment." said Cap, seeing that Roy's eyes were closed where he lay on the grass in a vain attempt
to forget the whole experience. "So getting going if you're going. I'll help you over there and
then I'll have Chet here stay behind to keep an eye on you while you're getting checked out and treated."
"Like I have any choice.." said Johnny meekly. "The chief's here." he said, pointing at the Battalion
car that was just pulling up. "And I know HE'LL just back you up on anything you decide about me
to the max."
Hank smiled in amusement. "Remember, those were your words.."
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Stanley hurried on by DeSoto, where he lay on a cot getting loaded up by ambulance attendants and
Brice's partner. He knelt by Craig, who was working feverishly over Dixie's still form. "How is she?"
"She'll do a lot better once we get her out of here. We have a lot of cutting to do before we
free up her legs." said Brice.
"I'm still working on that. Urban rescue is still a half minute
away. Don't worry about catching fire. 99's laid down foam. Anything else I can do for you? Your
partner's about ready to take off with my two men for the hospital."
Craig immediately began
a flow of oxygen through a non rebreather mask at the news of their passed fire danger. He deftly
placed it over Dixie's face. "Yeah, know how to string up intravenous lines?" Brice asked him.
"I learned from the best.." he said about Roy and Johnny. "Gimme." he said, reaching for the boxed
catheter set up and saline bag Craig had set out next to Dixie's head. "Stoker's already told Rampart
the prelim report. All they need now..."
"... are the nitty gritty details." Brice finished
for him. "Which they've just received about Miss McCall." he told Cap. Then his face became haunted.
"They aren't too happy about who it is.."
"You told them?" Hank gaped.
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"Yes, I did. It was the fastest way to get a hold of Dixie's medical chart, which her surgeon is
doubtlessly going to need to see once we've successfully extricated her." Craig said simply.
"Fair
enough. Who's flying out here to attend vigil?" Hank asked.
"Dr. Brackett."
Stanley sighed
in relief. If Dixie had any chance of surviving her lung trouble, Kel was the one to pull her through
it. "Ok, I'll send a man out to go meet him. Where's he landing?"
"I arranged for that used
car lot a hundred feet to the north, Captain. See that orange, round Spirit of 76 rotating sign over
there?" Brice asked without looking away from the ET tube he was attempting to thread down Dixie's
windpipe. It wasn't going well.
"Got it. Need anything else?" said Cap distractedly. He didn't
even notice when Craig gave up on establishing an advanced airway.
"Yes.. a full CPR standby
crew. We stand a good chance of needing them if she's not out of here in an hour." Brice said, switching
McCall back to an oropharyngeal and an active demand valve with which to boost her suddenly very
weak breathing attempts."I'll need one of them in here right now to take over ventilating her. Her
left lung's starting to collapse."
Hank frowned, casting his eyes to the active EKG monitor that
was fluctuating an erratic heartbeat of 140. "She's fading that fast?"
"Not if I can help it."
said Brice empathetically as he tore away the occlusive dressing Cap and Stoker had taped into place.
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I want options and
I want them now, gentlemen." said Kel, slamming his hand down on his desk inside his doctor's office.
"I fly out in five minutes."
Joe Early and Mike Morton refused to be intimidated. They wanted
to get some results in favor of Dixie's continued well being almost as badly as Dr. Brackett did.
Joe picked up the phone and made a fast phone call.
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Dr. Alonzo "Gonzo" Gates kissed his current girlfriend and her kids goodbye as he stumbled, pajamas
and all, into his clothing at the foot of the stairs.
The statuesque model spoke up as she
opened the front door. "Must you go in this late?"
"Honey.. Dixie McCall's a good friend of
mine and any favor Kel Brackett says I might be able to swing for her is almost too little to
ask. I owe that man my very career." Gonzo said empathetically.
"Ok, go. Then hurry back." she
said, kissing him passionately. "Shall I let Trapper know where you're going?"
"He already
knows. He's the second doctor Kel's team is calling in." said Gates. He got into his car and lifted
up the car phone wired there. "Operator, please connect me up to Doctor Trapper John McIntyre of
Mercy General, right away. This is a matter of life and death."
Seconds later, Gonzo Gates
was speeding up the freeway towards Rampart Hospital and the surgical wards there.
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It wasn't ten minutes later when Joe Early and Mike Morton got their counterparts from across town
fully updated on Dixie's deteriorating condition. "Fellas, glad you came. Kel's already at the
crash scene." said Dr. Early. "Here's the absolute latest medical data I have and this is coming directly
from them. Would you mind stepping into the Base Station? You can talk to Kel directly in there
via radio while you're reading all our notes."
"Right this way, gentlemen." said Mike Morton,
indicating the way to walk with a cast out hand. "The fire department says she's almost free of
the wreckage."
"How's she pinned in, doctor?" asked Trapper John, M.D. as he rubbed his bald
pate and salt and pepper beard thoughtfully.
"By both legs, below the knees."
"Are there
any other complications going on right now?" asked Gonzo Gates, the curly haired, brown eyed young
doctor.
"Yes." replied Joe. "A very big one. She's developing a severe tension pneumothorax
on the left side."
"Oh, that's not good." said the mild mannered soft spoken doctor who could
have been Joe Early's twin in temperment. John leaned into the live EKG monitor displaying her circulatory
vital signs. "Is she intubated?"
"Nope. They couldn't establish one." said Morton. "Brice says
he's seeing too much swelling from soft tissue neck bruising to get one in."
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"Is she ventilating ok otherwise?"
"Yeah, they're using an OPA and a demand valve. But she's
still sitting at 86% PaO2 according to pulse oximetry even with a clearly patent airway."
Trapper
frowned. "That's going to cause problems. Positive pressure's not the answer in the long run, it'll
only worsen her perfusion over time due to inadvertant barotrauma or gastric distension."
"I'll
tell Kel to switch it out for a bag valve mask." said Morton, thumbing down the base station's talk
button. "Rampart to Squad 24. Do you read me?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The noise of the working sawzalls and K-12s were deafening as Marco, Stoker and Cap set to work
splitting what was left of the car open above Dr. Brackett and Brice to get to the seat struts that
were still trapping the nurse to the floor.
"Squad 24, go ahead." replied Craig swiftly, plugging
his uncovered ear.
##Our consultants recommend switching out to a gentler delivery on ambu.##
suggested Morton.
Kel was overjoyed to hear his colleagues were at the hospital and beginning
to prepare for Dixie's surgery. "I concur wholeheartedly, Brice." he said. "I was just about
to have you change her over to something different. Get it done while I get this ready." he said,
drawing out a long needle for Dixie's emergency pleural decompression. "What's her latest pressure?"
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"She's....80 systolic with both I.V.s wide open." Brice rechecked by palpation.
"Are you absolutely
sure she's got a tension pneumothorax working?" Kel asked again as he swabbed down her second intercostal
space anteriorly on the same side as the torn hole they had found over her ribs.
"Most definitely.
Yes, she does. She's quit all attempts at breathing on her own. She hyperresonant to percussion, and
now there's this unilateral absence of breath sounds where there used to be distinctly audible rales
on the right." said Craig. "And only now have I seen these signs of tracheal deviation."
"All
right. That's the classic triad. Call someone in here to hold her still for us. I'm going in." ordered
Dr. Brackett.
Craig got on his radio and Marco Lopez was the first one to answer him. He was
soon there, protecting Dixie from adverse movement, while Kel advanced the thoracic needle down to
its open hub. A sharp hiss of escaping air gushed out and then lessened bit by bit as the increased
pressure inside Dixie's chest released out the needle. Kel kept it in for a few seconds more before
he withdrew it.
Then he nodded at Craig to start ventilating her again. "See if you can splint
her internally with the demand valve. I want to see if her lungs have reinflated ok." Brackett said.
Brice hastened to take over for the fireman working the bag at her head while the doctor listened
carefully at several places over Dixie's skin with his stethoscope. He looked up after a few delivered
breaths and finally, he smiled. "Well, that did it. And I see absolutely no evidence here that she's
flailed."
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Brice nodded his head. "I didn't see any paradoxical motion either."
"Most likely her tension
pneumo was brought on by a blunt rupture of a lung surface rather than by any lacerations inside from
broken ribs." Kel looked relieved and actively happy for Brice's benefit. "Good call on that. There
was every chance in H*ll that Dixie could have needed that chest tube. Only an x-ray or a doctor
could have decided which was her best course of treatment. Glad you dragged me out here today. "
"We had to, doc. She's special." said Marco sheepishly.
"That she is. To me and just about
everybody else I hear." he grinned. "Brice, run in more Normal Saline to counteract any internal
chest bleeding I might have set off. Administer another 250 cc fluid bolus and titrate her two I.V.s
accordingly until we get her to level off at a rock solid hemodynamic status level. I don't think
she needs a rapid sequence intubation. She's tolerating the oral adjunct all by itself very well."
Brice called out a finding as he flipped a switch to get a new paper tracing of Dixie's slowing
and now normalizing heart rhythm. "She's back in NSR, doctor. I'm seeing a regular rate of 90."
"Great news. I really didn't want to tangle with adenosine just to handle her wide width PSVT while
we're still stuck in here. The ceiling's too low for cardiac compressions."
"Is she headed
for surgery?" Marco asked, trading out the positive pressure for the bag again when Brackett waved
at him.
"Yes. Her left lung's only partially back to snuff." he said sealing off Dixie's chest
wound completely with a firmly taped moist dressing. "That chest tube's gonna go in to finish evacuating
out the remnants of this pneumothorax. I can't use her existing wound because of the danger of contamination
in the field. I have two very good surgeons standing by at the hospital right now to handle
its placement into a second site."
"Do I know them?" Brice asked.
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"Probably not. But they're both very easy to get to know. I know you'll like them. I've been thinking
about trying to get them to transfer into our territory for months now. They do very good work." Kel
said of the emergency department. "They go by the names of Alonzo "Gonzo" Gates and Trapper John McIntyre."
"I'll remember them." said Brice thoughtfully. Right then, there were shouts of triumph. Dixie
had been sawed completely free and soon all the rescue machinery fell into blissful silence.
"Never doubted that for a second." Kel quipped. Letting go of his doctor mode, Brackett took a few
moments to caress Dixie's hair tenderly and he leaned down to whisper encouragement into her ear.
"You're ok now, love. Wake up just as soon as you can, all right? There's nothing else to be afraid
of. We're all here together with you, and I'd be lying if I didn't say this : We're missing out on
not seeing both your beautiful blue, Irish eyes smiling up at us. Roy and Johnny are a-o-kay,
too, and waiting for you to show up at the hospital."
Dixie offered up her first sigh of recovery
through her deep unconsciousness, in response to his familiar touch, as she began to fight the bag.
"That a girl. Keep it up." grinned Brackett tearfully. Then he looked up fearlessly. "Ok, guys.
Let's get the show on the road. We'll take her out by K.E.D., rapid extrication. Then let's stretcher
her out to the chopper."
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marco
Lopez drove Squad 24 the fastest three miles of his life behind Roy and Johnny's ambulance in order
to get to Rampart. He burned just as bad as the others to be there in the waiting room with the rest
of the crew for word of Dixie's final outcome following emergency surgery.
Kel Brackett wasn't
one of them, to pace the floor with fretting and superficial chatter. He had bullnosed right into
the operating room, to oversee every step of the procedure.
Hank Stanley pushed away the coffee
he hadn't touched. "I sure hope she's gonna be all right. Geez.." he said. "She was still breathing
when I left her with that firefighter." he said, punching the wall absently in worry with a fist.
"Just what the h*ll happened?" he asked, pushing up the sleeves on his turnout jacket.
Johnny
Gage looked up from the ice bag he was applying to his head. "Needle decompression, from what Brice
told me. Now receiving that kind of radical treatment's bound to tire her out a little. She'll be
fine. Her x-rays all came back negative across the board. No fractures, no spinal separations, only
cuts, bruises..." he began, retying his hospital robe on more tightly around himself.
"Along
with that huge hole we found in her chest." Hank countered.
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Roy piped up from the wheelchair he was sitting in so he wouldn't have to walk on his recently stitched
up leg. He, too, was wearing a hospital gown, a condition of his required overnight stay as authorized
by the battalion chief. "She was poked by something sharp. Her ribs weren't broken, Cap. She should
recover fairly quickly. There was no sign of internal injuries cropping up in the pre-op room."
"That remains to be seen post operatively." said Trapper John ominously. "One can never tell at
this stage of the game. Gonzo and I were just in there and she was still intubated and being respiratory
supported."
Gonzo slapped Trapper's arm to shush him. "Trap, don't go scaring them unnecessarily.
Guys, her pressure's up and remains good. Don't listen to an old geezer like him." he said jerking
a thumb at his colleague. "Sometimes, he doesn't even know what he's talking about."
"Hey,"
protested Joe Early. "Watch whom you're calling old." Early glared in a tease. "He's younger than
I am."
The whole room of firefighters burst out laughing.
"Ah, maybe I'm not old on the
calendar by your books. But to me, I'm sore all over. Observing Dixie's two hour exploratory procedure's
got me creaking in every joint." Trapper said, reaching under his white doctor's coat to stretch
out one of them.
Gonzo Gates jumped to his feet. "I can fix that. After all, Nurse Brancusi
says massage therapy's my current specialty."
"Oh, ho!" Trapper celebrated. " I knew you two
love birds were hitting it off on the sly. Nurse Ernestine Schoop said as much."
"We are not."
Gates protested.
"You are, too." said Trapper, right back. "How else would anyone who's not a
patient of yours know about your extraordinary skills as a hands on PT?"
Gonzo glared at him.
"Ok, shut up right now. And lie down so I can work your kinks out." he said, pointing to Brackett's
office desk.
"Anything you say, 'doctor.' " teased Trap of Gonzo's liaison with a nurse who was
far older than he was, as he peeled off his surgeon's scrubs top to lay down on his stomach. "Far
be it from me to tell you how to play doctor."
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Gates parked his butt on the side of the desk and he made sure his first loosening exercises hurt
a bit for good measure. "Doesn't that feel nice? We'll have you fixed up in a jiffy. Now about spreading
my love life all over the county..." he warned, leaning low to one of Trapper's upturned ears.
"Love life? Did I mention anything about your long history of sordid romances here?" McIntyre puzzled.
"You did." said everyone in the room.
"Oh, ok, so I did. Well, I stand.. er.. lay before you..
most humbly corrected." he apologized to his co-colleague as Gonzo continued to lay in hard with his
massage techniques.
Gonzo switched his hands for a pointy, sharply pressed elbow, working deftly.
Right along the spine. "Say you're sorry."
"Sorry for what?" McIntyre quipped. He immediately
gulped it down when Gonzo laid most of his weight down onto the elbow. "Owww..Ahhh! Ok. ok... I'm
sorry. I'm sorry..." he chuckled. "Are you satisfied?"
Gonzo squinted both eyes at him for
long seconds as he stepped back away from Trapper. "Has your back stopped hurting you yet?" he finally
asked.
Trapper continued to laugh loudly in embarrassment as he rolled over. Then he stopped
laughing, turning his attention inward. "Wow, yeah. Pain's gone."
"There you go. Put your shirt
back on. Congratulations. I cured you." said Gonzo with a diffident, still hurt stare.
"You
sure did." said Trapper instantly, still hoping to soothe his friend.
"Too bad I can't cure you
of a serious case of gossiping lip." Gates whispered under his breath as he sipped some Folders.
"Wha? Huh?" said Trapper, still fighting to get his head through his scrubs uniform's neck opening.
"Did you say something to me, Gonz?"
"Nothing. Go sit and enjoy your coffee like the rest of us
are doing. We should be hearing word about Dixie's recovery any moment now. It's nine o'clock p.m."
Gonzo told him, looking carefully at his watch.
"Already?" asked Johnny in surprise. "Boy, was
that a fast four hours."
"It helps that you were sleeping for most of it." said DeSoto, not looking
up from his magazine. He scratched an itch under his head bandage.
"Look who's talking Mr.
Nap Man. Who needed smelling salts to come around in the ER this afternoon?" Johnny snapped at him.
"Gentlemen,..the phone's ringing.." said Chet, pointing to the red one on the wall. He stood up
and answered it briefly before he cupped the receiver into a palm. For some reason, he was keeping
a very straight face. Then he came out with it. "Sounds like it's Dixie, calling from her room already?"
Every male in the room fell over themselves and each other trying to reach the phone. In the end,
it was Joe Early, who held the phone receiver. "How are you doing, hon? Back from recovery so soon?
Uh..huh. Uh..huh. If those pain meds aren't working for you well enough, I've got five doctors in
mind who'll order you more.. Ok.. uh..See you soon. Bye bye."
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Early hung up the phone with a bang. "She wants to see us. Uh, that's in between all the puke pans.
The anesthesia's doing a number on her.."
"She wants us to visit her right now?" asked Gage eagerly,
hardly believing his ears.
"Yep." said Joe.
Everyone stampeded, rushed or hand wheeled
their wheelchairs out the door and to the elevators in seconds.
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Kel Brackett's office door closed soundly behind them.
Joe Early remained leaning where he was
against the wall, smiling hugely. "That's fine. Somebody'll remember to come back in here soon to
ask me exactly what room number and floor she's on. Nobody on the staff knows that yet except
me. I think I'll wait around right here for a couple of minutes until somebody finally pokes their
head back in. Then I'll show them the way." he celebrated.
Joe Early got busy pouring himself
another suddenly very tasty cup of java. "Here's to you, Dixie." he toasted to the air. "Welcome back."
FIN
Episode Forty One, Attrition Emergency Theater Live
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as much as we've enjoyed producing it for you. Please click the banner below to view this forty
first episode's End Credits. :)
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Click Kel Brackett to go to Page Four
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