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| Page Three |
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Gage went pale and he hurried over to the door when a tree branch began thumping loudly on the roof over their heads. He leaned against the door as if their lives depended on it. A growing expression of worry filled his face. Roy eyeballed him, surprised at his reaction. "What's wrong?" "We've got to leave." "What?" Now it was Roy's turn to disbelieve. "Well, why? How come?" "I didn't tell Station 110 that the four of us were up here a night early." Johnny sighed, annoyed at himself. "I forgot to do it. And I told Bonnie to skip that step, too, saying that I'd take care of it before we.. even...came." he trailed off, swallowing dryly. "Oh, Johnny." DeSoto moaned in irritation. 'How could you do something so stupid?" "Geez, Roy. I apologize. I apologize wholeheartedly. So if you want to blame somebody. Go ahead and blame me. It seems I have to apologize to the whole world anyway for not becoming Joy's adopted brother, too, when I said I would." Johnny tried to take back the words he had just spoken, but it was too late. Raw hurt stung him openly and he crumpled into a chair, his elbow knocking over a salt shaker that had been sitting near Bonnie's plate. Neither firefighter even noticed it. Carefully, Gage covered the police woman's meal with the serving pot's lid, to keep it warm. Roy didn't move and even the growing storm fell quiet in those seconds. Suddenly, Gage's eyes filled with unshed tears. "So now you know." he whispered, tortured. "I guess I'm to blame for almost killing her, too." "No, Johnny." DeSoto said instantly. "That's not true." Gage visciously held up a hand. "Just..just hear me out, Roy. Just shut up, and listen. I'm.. at...fault. For ALL of it. If I had just done what I promised to do when I turned eighteen, she never would have tried to find me like she tried to do today." he said, frightened. "What kind of friend just turns their back like that? Huh? I've never done that to anyone else." he cried. "When did I change, Roy? Was it when my parents died together, too, like Joy's did?" and he turned away, thoroughly grieved. His shoulders began to rock with a silent sobbing at the painful remembrance of their passing. "All Joy reminded me of afterwards...was death and loneliness. She's why I left the reservation so young. I had to get away from that." he cried. Roy's stunned look disappeared completely and he went over to his partner and he knelt, gripping Gage's shoulder in soft support, not saying anything at all at first. But then he got practical. "Shhh, it's out. It can't hurt you any more. And in the morning, you can talk to Joy and explain why you left in the same way you've just told me. With honesty. Joy's old enough to understand just about anything. She's almost an adult okay?" Gage studied his hands, still not looking at Roy, but he didn't shrug off his touch either. DeSoto started analyzing their other situation. "We're about seven miles from the fire station, right?" Johnny nodded again, staring at Joy's closed bedroom door. "There abouts." he agreed, wiping his face on a sleeve quickly. "No problem then. We'll get to the lodge and make a quick phone call from the candy and bait counter." The branches thumped again, making Johnny jump as each thud made him remember the sight of Joy's nearly dead face lying in the grass that he kept living and reliving over and over again in his head. Roy made sure he met his eyes. "Hey, it's only a thunderstorm. This cabin's been here for years and storms never hurt it before. I highly doubt that one's gonna hurt us now. Those redwoods out there have been standing for thousands of years." he quipped, eyeballing the sputtering fire in the fireplace that Johnny had started. The walls started shifting violently under the rafters as the wind picked up. Air borne water threatened to get into the cracks around the tiny wooden paned windows. The power suddenly cut off when the generator quickly failed next door in the lodge at another sudden deafening crack of thunder and accompanying lightning. DeSoto spoke. "But I agree with you. I don't like this one at all. That bolt probably just took out the telephone and power poles." he said, reaching into the wood box to pile more wood onto the rug to dry for later fuel use. Bonnie struggled through the door again, her hair wild and dripping. "The whole camp's power's completely gone. And lightning must have shorted out my squad car's power/tran, because it won't even turn over. Same goes for the radio. But I still remember the tour from the last time I was here. There's a CB radio in the bedroom closet." Their potential crisis broke Gage out of his raw state and he got to his feet, starting to check for safety gear. "I used to build those. Count me as the communications man." "Does it work?" Roy asked Clark. "Sure, I tested it then by putting in the nine volt from the lantern that's under the sink." she replied cheekily, still thinking like the police officer she was. "Is there anything else useful around here?" Roy asked her. "In the medicine cabinet in the john there's some wire and electrical tape. The counselors probably use that hooked up to the lightning rod for better reception as an antennae for the TV set. We could do the same thing to boost a radio signal if things get any worse up here." she decided. Gage nodded quickly, keeping an eye on the sky around them. "I'll go get that. Uh, Roy, could you go get that radio? I don't want to disturb Joy at all. Not yet anyway." Johnny said. "Okay." said DeSoto. "I'll be right back. I won't wake her." "It's dark, so let's meet at the kitchen table." Bonnie decided. "Let's plan our getting out over there near the fire." Both firefighters agreed. They split up to make preparations while Bonnie put all of their still uneaten food away into an insulated cooler to keep it fresh. Outside, the trees began to groan under the fury of the storm. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy and Johnny were towelling off the dishes Bonnie was washing and handing to them while they discussed how the C.B. radio could be boosted into a greater range so it could reach L.A.'s repeater tower using the odds and ends laying around the cabin. "And that's all there is to it?" Roy asked Johnny. "Yep. It's as simple as that. I'm all done here." he said, indicating the empty sink and rack. "So I'll get started with it while you finish up." Gage dried his hands. He started whistling a haunting native tune softly while he gathered the tools they needed from the hallway closet. "All right. Bonnie and I are going out to try the squad car's radio again. We'll be right back." said DeSoto. There was a brief howl of wind as the two of them left the cabin in their raincoats, but then it was over. A quiet cough and blanket rustling behind a closed door reassured Johnny on Joy's continued resting state. She wasn't worrying about the elements and so neither would he. All of a sudden, there was a loud sustained cracking sound coming from somewhere outside. The sound was different from the ones Johnny and the others had gotten themselves used to hearing that were being caused by the storm and he looked up reflexively. Gage slowed his rummaging around in closet boxes as he paused and listened to it, only half paying attention to what he was doing. In the kitchen, a sharp movement from the far window caught Johnny's eye. It was something mottled, and roughly reddish brown, moving in the storm's intermittent light. He froze in cold terror when he realized what it must be. One of the tall sequoias immediately next to the cabin had snapped like a toothpick in the gale and was falling directly over the roof. Gage was paralyzed for several agonizing seconds before.. |
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"Joy! Look out in there! A tree's fall-----" CRASSHHH. The roof bowed grotesquely under the massive trunk, swaying as rain and debris broke through a hole tearing open above him. Johnny dimly prayed in those seconds it would somehow hold as he ran for the bedroom door desperately. Showers of roofing tiles and wood splinters spilled through a growing rend in the ceiling as tons of weight bore inexorably down. Dust and rain, blinded him. Then the main support rafters gave way and all he knew, was blackness. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- There were whirling sensations; random flashes of color soon after, then sounds. Johnny stirred. What were those sounds? Cool, liquidy echoes, were filling a small room that he didn't immediately recognize. ::Water?:: Gage thought. He opened his eyes to a semi-lit world. Pain made him shiver. Johnny looked down muzzily at his legs to see a waist sized pine branch lying on top of them. He shifted his weight a trifle, still coming to consciousness. ::No, I'm not trapped too badly.:: some part of him thought. He was sitting, scraped and upright, in about two inches of rain water. Johnny dug the mud away from his knees and freed himself easily. A fire flashed in his head as full recollection returned. ::The others!:: "Joy?! Can you hear me?!" he cried out. ::She's nearby. This is the bedroom, isn't it?:: In the jumble of what was left of the cabin, Johnny couldn't find clear landmarks. There was no reply. In intense pain from a broken leg and wrenched pelvis, Johnny dragged himself through the debris, towards where he could see a bed. "Joy! Answer me!" Loose pine branches and shattered rafters blocked the only way past a collapsed wall between him and twisted blankets. Nausea made him ill right then and he lost a stomach battle. He cried out in frustration and tore through the twigs and boards, ignoring the heightened pain in his leg. He could feel two bone ends grate sickeningly on a simple fracture there, deep inside. Johnny crossed the last of them and saw Joy lying face down in the water, motionless. ::Not again. Please..:: Johnny begged mentally. Dreading the worst, he gently turned her over. A quick check proved she still had a carotid but the breaths being drawn in were very irregular and shallow. Putting an ear to Joy's chest, Gage heard thick rasping, bubbling sounds where there should have been none. ::She must have breathed a lot of water into her lungs after being knocked unconscious.:: he realized. ::Her color's turning.:: Stiffening against pain, he pulled the girl to a sitting position in front of him and wrapped his arms around Joy's waist in a snug bearhug. He applied pressure, gradually increasing the strength of his clearing attempts when her breathing suddenly began to weaken and stop. "Come on." he pleaded, keeping each careful modified heimlich thrust effective. A few seconds later, Joy choked and a flood of frothy rain water welled up out of her nose and mouth. She gasped through her unconsciousness and started sharply drawing in huge lungfuls of air as he laid her head lay back across his shoulder. "That's more like it." he grunted triumphantly. Soon after she had pinked up again, he moved to lay her back down onto the tree boughs, gently supporting her head and neck. Joy continued to breathe strongly. |
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Gage rested his head against the large tree trunk that had destroyed the cabin bedroom and leaned on his elbows, giving in to gratitude as Joy started to cough up more water easily. He gathered strength for a minute or two. Then he turned her onto her side to allow for the rest of the water to drain out. Finding himself suddenly shaking, he blew on his hands to warm them and then he started to search for the medical kit he had seen in the closet before the tree fell. He found it intact a few feet away under some wooden planks. He began calling. "Roy! Bonnie! We're in the bedroom!" he gasped. "Hey! We're in--" he broke off as a spasm from his leg silenced him. The passing storm was still loud. No one would hear shouting at all, Johnny realized. Joy and himself would have to wait for rescue when it finally came. He hoped that his partner and Bonnie had the foresight to take his Rover with them down to the beach to summon help from the firestation. He pulled one of Joy's limp hands into his own. "Okay, we'll get things started on my end, then." he told her and he went to work patching up cuts and lacerations. Joy was clear of any obvious injuries past very minor ones beyond her P.E. and somehow Johnny managed to get her onto a dry surface on top of a tipped over dresser. He got her warmed up with fresh blankets and he splinted his fractured lower leg as best he could. Shock had taken its toll from the both of them. But Joy was in the worst condition. Johnny pulled out the kit's penlight and looked at her eyes. They were sluggish, but equal, due to her clear concussion, but they continued to remain reactive, refuting the hypoxic brain damage he thought she might have suffered from near drowning. A deep cut marked the place of concussion and blood flowly freely. This Johnny wiped away and stopped with some butterfly strips. And he did a makeshift job on taping up the few cracked ribs he could feel on her right side. Gage wasn't worried about those at all. There was no blood in her mouth. He was worried about his own condition. Fever was already setting in and his leg had swelled up like a balloon in spite of his elevating it up high onto the tree trunk. It was a simple, but bad break most likely, that had inflamed a lot of nerves. The pain was intolerable when he moved just inches. But Gage knew that he had to get his radio going as a firm back up to whatever his partner and Bonnie were doing in going for additional help. A half an hour later, he checked on Joy's condition one more time before making a decision. Her breathing and pulse had stabilized enough to be trusted alone so Johnny got painfully to his feet, using a nearby fallen wall. He became woozy and almost passed out before he tightened his stomach muscles to fight it off. A few minutes later, Gage was hobbling around, gathering up the equipment he sought for the CB radio and slowly he got to work using the lantern Bonnie had told him about. He located the grounding rod and found that it was still standing along the chimney it had been bolted to. A few screws turned here and wires twisted there and the task was finally complete. Johnny held his breath and turned the power on. High pitched whistles and active static greeted him, then it suddenly threatened to go dead. Deftly he adjusted the selection dial to Channel Nine and the open signal quieted and steadied itself. He changed the fine tune to maximum and waited before he attempted to key up the microphone. Voices from emergency vehicles and DeSoto's own voice, hailing him from Station 110's rescue squad, made him smile. ::So they got there okay. That's cool. Real cool, man.:: he thought as he exhaled loudly as he stared at the glowing radio, smiling. He had done it. Quickly, he offered them an update on himself, the cabin, and Joy. He was still sitting there at the kitchen table, in a fog, long after Roy said that they were on their way, when the sound of weak coughing issuing from the other room, brought him wide awake. Favoring his leg tremendously, Johnny got into the bedroom as fast as possible. Joy was beginning to come to. Johnny sat on the edge of the dresser's side where she lay under thick blankets and he felt her pulse as her eyes fluttered open. He grinned at her, while he held her muddy face gratefully with his other hand. "Chehuntamo, Lakni-Paci. I'm here, Little Sister. It's me, Kaulope. You're going to be okay." he smiled. "Don't be scared. I promise, I'm not going to run away from you any more." Joy began to cry as her broken heart finally felt the warm healing touch of Johnny's fierce caretaker spirit on her skin, at last. She weakly reached for his monitoring fingers on her wrist and then she didn't let go. "I heard you scream; the storm.." she sobbed. "Both over, it's morning, see?" Johnny pulled the curtain aside that was near them. A brilliant sun rose from behind the tall pine trees. Joy squinted against the glare. Then she noticed the chaos lying all around them. "What's that tree doing in here?" Gage smirked, wincing a little. "It fell on us." Joy attempted to sit up. "You're hurt." she said, but a stab of pain caused her to stop and catch her breath. He caught her and helped her back onto the tree boughs. "Don't move. You've banged a few ribs, among other things." he said, wrapping a BP cuff around Joy's arm. Joy's eyes studied his face in great detail. "I'm no longer in pain." she told him, and she didn't mean the kind afflicting her body. "So you are a healer. Grandmother says you were gifted that way, even when you were a little boy." she said. "I'm a paramedic, not a doctor. At best, I'm a remote control healer, listening to the real one." he grinned sheepishly, jerking a thumb at the murmuring radio still chattering away on the kitchen table within their line of sight. "Is that a radio I'm hearing?" she said, watching the blood pressure cuff puff up as Johnny began his reading. "Yep. Rescue crews are on the way." he replied without looking up from the dial. "They should be here really soon. I just heard from my partner a couple of minutes ago." he said, releasing the pressure in the cuff with a hiss. "How's your head?" "Figuratively or physically?" Gage pegged her with a wry look. "Both." "I'm all better now. Thanks for coming back to me." "I should be saying the same thing. You're one up on me, girlie girl. You've come back to me twice already on the same day." "I wasn't about to die." she said seriously. "We aren't finished yet with each other. Kaulope, do I have a new brother to get to know in the future in you?" Her face broke up into tears. "I really really need one." she sobbed, holding her sore side. Gage quickly wiped her tears away, slowly shushing her into silence as she timidly reached out for his face. Johnny didn't look away, nor did he get nervous this time. "Yes." he told her with conviction ...and love. Joy Yellowbird closed her eyes and fell asleep with a smile on her tired face. She was finally home. Gage left her resting a few minutes later, convinced that her vitals signs were as good as they were going to get without an I.V. and oxygen and he painfully returned to his place at the kitchen table, hovering over the glowing CB radio. |
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A sharp shouting jolted him awake. It was Roy, yelling at him through a crack in the debris pile that was all that remained of the smashed cabin. "Johnny?! I see you over there. Are you hurt?" Gage groaned as he fought his way out of light shock. "Broken leg. Get Joy on some O2. She almost drown on me a while ago." "What are her vitals?" "Normal to low. Cracked ribs, concussion. She aspirated quite a bit but kept on breathing. She should be sleeping now." he gasped, still blinking dizzily. "You guys sure took your sweet time getting back here." "The flash flooding stream got in the way. Where is she?" "In the bedroom, on a dresser above the water. She's dry and warm." "Okay. Captain Raider's got the engine crew cutting in to get her right now along with Squad 110. How are you feeling?" Roy asked ironically. Gage didn't open his eyes. "Happy." "Oh? And why's that?" Roy asked worriedly, seeing the pale shade on his partner's face as he began to grow slack in his expressions as he began to slump at an angle over the radio sitting on the table top. "I've doubled the size of my f-family. Did it at dawn. Figured it was ap- appropriate. She needs me. And I..I think I need her.." Gage mumbled. "Johnny? Don't try to talk. You're going into shock. If you're going to faint, try to do it face down. I can't reach your face to fix your airway from here." "...yeah... I know. I think I'm ...lying down that way. Don't fret. I'm still happy..." he coughed painfully. "Roy?" |
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"What? I'm almost through to you." he yelled over the powerful buzz of a K-12. "Don't tell Chet about this, only Dixie and those three CHiP'ers, or I'll..I'll kill you when.. when I wake..up." Johnny said groggily. DeSoto had to grin when he watched Johnny's head fall forward over the angle of his elbows. "I promise. It'll be our own little secret, just between the six of us. All right?" Johnny didn't answer as his forehead fell right onto an empty plate, as he blacked out in slow motion. His arms were still hugging the CB radio he had fixed. Feeling amused and relieved, Roy jerked a finger at his partner through the hole as another firefighter peeked in with him for a status check. "Dinner anyone?" Roy quipped to reassure the fireman about their first victim's condition and his current safe situation. It was actually quite a peaceful scene with Johnny snoring away under the new dappling sunlight. The other fireman fought back a chortle as he finally hurried on to go help the others with Joy Yellowbird. Somewhere, a bird began to sing. DeSoto's smile got bigger when he recognized it as a female American Goldfinch. ::Yellow bird indeed. Yeah, they're both gonna be just fine here. For now, and in the future..:: he thought. FIN Episode Forty Seven, I.V. Push Emergency Theater Live, Season Six |
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