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Page Four Note: Music soundtrack is high quality and slow loading in some cases. Patience. :) |
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Hank Stanley began to smile as he made his way back to his car in the newly gathering, tender summer night. Something deep inside of him that had been coiled tightly for so long, unraveled. Hank's relief was so profound, that it drew healing tears to his eyes that ran unchecked, down his cheeks. Cap's heart, was now finally, at peace. Hank Stanley drove back to his station to a future that he now knew with absolute certainty as still belonging to him in every sense of the word. Behind, in the darkness, a wrinkle on the hat Cap had repaired, smoothed itself out in the moonlit wind, until it was inspection perfect, as if by an invisible hand from Chief Melton McConnike. As if in agreement, a distant L.A. county siren answering a tones out call, wove through the peacefully sleeping cemetery, like a lullaby. ------------------------------------------------ A warm voice broke Johnny out of his reverie. "Roy? Johnny? What a pleasant surprise!" beamed Hank as he turned from the stove where he was basting garlic bread and stirring a pot of his trademark clam chowder. "Don't tell me. You're here for the minutes." "Fraid so. Sorry we're late." DeSoto said, taking off his white hat. "We ran into a little excitement at Rampart running a mock code in with two trainees." "Oh?" said Cap, scratching his thick white bushy sideburns. "What happened?" "Brackett fell sick, but he's gonna be okay. We were there to bail him out of it in time. Something that's easily treatable." Gage replied, mindful of keeping confidential details. "That's good to hear. How's Dixie these days? I never hear her over the biocom anymore on medical calls." "She's been bumped upstairs. Unit Coordinator." Roy offered. |
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"And not so good ones. I'll never forget the time Henry was caught in that field fire.." Stanley told them. Memory stirred in all three of them instantly... ********************************************************************* From: "patti keiper" <pattik1@hotmail.com> Date: Thu Aug 26, 2004 4:11 pm Subject: Straight from the... (From Episode Thirteen, The White Engine) Chet was peeling his air mask off, carrying Gage's unused medical gear to put it away, when his foot struck a heavy warm body. It was Henry, lying completely still, covered in dark soot. Kelly got on his radio immediately. "Cap, Gage! On the double! I found Henry! He's down! Bottom of the hill along the stokes line." Chet lifted up a leg and felt the dog's stomach for signs of movement and found only a weak rocking as Henry tried to breathe. Reaching down into the dog's mouth, Chet hooked Henry's tongue clear with a gloved finger until he got it hanging out between his teeth. Henry whimpered, choking on mucous. But then he woke up. "Easy, boy. It's ok, I'm right here." Chet whispered, kneeling by Henry's face. "Stay down, boy. Stay still." he said, holding Henry's singed muzzle. Kelly glanced down and saw Stevie's inhaler next to Henry's shivering front paws. "You found this boy? Good dog. I'll be sure Johnny and Roy get it just as soon as you're squared away yourself." Henry tried to wag his tail. Chet took off his coat and covered up the nearly smoke suffocated station mascot. "It's ok. You're gonna be fine, Henry.." Johnny Gage and Cap pounded down the hill along the climbing rope with the O2 apparatus held between them for leverage. Kelly shouted. "Over here!" Johnny knelt quickly, taking Henry's muzzle between his hands in a precautionary move to protect himself from a bite. "Did he fall?" "I don't think so. Man, he went back for those kids," Chet sobbed, "..and this.." he said, holding out the little boy's tooth indented inhaler. Gage ran careful hands over Henry's coat, looking for liquid. "He's not burned at all. I think that smell is just his hair. Cap, you got him?" "Yeah." Hank said gently, taking over the hold on Henry's head. |
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Kelly said. "He wasn't breathing too well when I got here. Tongue was in the way." Cap nodded. "Johnny.... think we can move him?" "Yeah.. I'm not a vet, but he's not tensing up anywhere with me touching him like this. I think he's ok trauma wise. Sounds like his only problem is the smoke he took in. I think you can let go, Cap." Hank did so, exchanging his hands grip for a valve mask on high flow over Henry's muzzle. He looked up. "Kelly, Roy's ready to transport the boy. Go drive him in." "But Cap.. I wanna stay with H--" "That wasn't a request, Chet. Johnny and I'll handle Henry and the little girl. Now, go.." Cap said, tossing Kelly the medicated inhaler Henry had carried. Chet went. Captain Stone came running down the hill with a short board, passing Kelly going the other way. "I heard. Is he ok?" "He will be if we can get some good air in him and warm him up some." Gage admitted with a grin. "We'll take him to the V-E-T-S once we have that done. Thanks for the doggy stretcher.." he smiled, taking the kendrick board from Stone. The three firemen slid Henry onto the board and strapped him in for the trip up the hill. Cap followed keeping the O2 mask nearby for Henry to use while he slowly woke up. At the top, Becky met them, sitting next to Mike Stoker. "There he is! Our superhero dog! Is he ok?" as they set him on the ground, freed him off the board, and wrapped him up in thermal sheets for insulation. "He'll be just fine, little miss. Although right now, I'm afraid he's got the same problem you do." Johnny said. "You both've more smoke than air in your lungs then what's actually good for ya so before we get to see a doctor and the vets, you both are gonna clean some of that bad stuff out of there, ok.?" "Ok.." agreed Becky, brushing the hair away from her face and the nasal cannula she was wearing. Cap held Henry personally in his lap when Captain Stone volunteered to take over the clean up detail on the house. "Stoker, we'll give them five on this O2 and then we'll take them in with the engine. We'll relay the girls vitals via radio patch. Marco, get us set to travel." "Right, Cap." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the trip in, Henry suddenly went limp two minutes away from Rampart. Marco tried to keep the commotion up front in the cab away from Becky's notice as his crewmates hustled to help him. "Are we almost there yet?" she asked Lopez. Marco was watching what Cap and Johnny were doing with Henry so closely, that he almost didn't hear her. "Hmm? Oh. We've a block to go. We'll be pulling up to the ambulance entrance. Can you see that door yet?" he asked the child. Becky plastered her eyes and nose and cannula against the glass, peering out. "Not yet.." Lopez thought. ::Please Henry. Don't be dead. Not yet.:: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy was hanging around Dixie's desk when Lopez and Stoker appeared around the corner with a devastated look on their faces. Chet Kelly ran over to them instantly. "How's Henry?" "He's out cold. Happened a minute ago. It's something past the smoke inhalation. Cap's with him now." "Where's Johnny?" Roy asked quietly. "He's with his patient in room three. You know he can't leave a victim until a doc gets there." "Show me. Maybe I can do something.." DeSoto said. Dixie, at her desk, overheard them. She followed the sooty firemen to the emergency entrance doors and out into the driveway beyond. Her heart just about broke when she saw Captain Stanley trying to ventilate the limp basset hound stretched out on an empty gurney with a mask two sizes too big. |
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She snatched up a pediatric sized resuscitation kit from a crash cart and tossed it to Roy. "Roy! I'll make a few phone calls! The doc at the animal shelter still has a link set up tied to our base station." "Through the HT this time? That'll work." DeSoto nodded and he threw his handy talkie on the bed, tearing open the airway adjunct bag as the doors shut between them. The firemen experimented and a baby ambu with hastily wrapped bandage tape around Henry's muzzle created a good enough seal for them to finally pump in oxygen. Henry's gums began to pink up once more. Roy could still feel a pulse in the artery at the point inside Henry's rear thigh. But it was irregular. "What?" he said aloud. "That can't be." he sighed, as it thudded erratically against his thumb. Cap noticed, looking up from Marco who was bagging Henry carefully. "What's the problem?" Kelly looked scared. "What is it?" Roy swallowed, "I think Henry might be having a heart attack." ***************************************************************************** From : Champagne Scott <chameleonkate@hotmail.com> Sent : Friday, August 27, 2004 7:09 PM Subject : Fast Times at Rampart Base : The Dog Day Afternoon Dixie McCall made the fastest phone call of her life. And then she glared the fiercest that she had ever glared at the back of Kel Brackett's head. He was just completing an in house phone call with the new resident assigned to the paramedic base station. ::Boy, I sure wish Joe could've been here or I wouldn't have found myself in such a ridiculous bind!:: Dr. Brackett finally rubbed the back of his head in sympathetic heebee jeebies. He turned to find the source of his chills. "Oh, no.." he moaned in warning at Dixie who was already batting her eyes diplomatically. "What are you up to now? I've lunch in five minutes." "Nothing much." Dix demurred. "A single phone call. Just take it. Here." she said passing over the phone to Kel without meeting his eyes. Kel took it as if it were a live rattlesnake. "Kel Brackett, Cardiology." he said into the receiver. ##Doctor Kel Brackett! Land sakes! Am I glad it was YOU that sweet young nurse found milling about the place. Now let's get down to business, shall we?## said the voice on the other end of the phone. Kel buried the red phone line on his shoulder. "Dix who the h*ll is this? His voice sounds familiar, but I can't place him." "That's Barney Coolidge. Don't you remember? Bah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-hhhh." she said in a fair imitation of a Pygmy African wild goat. Kel shuddered as the sound sent chills up and down his arms as the memory speared home in recollection. "You didn't.." he warned. "I thought I told you I'd tender a three day suspension on anyone on the staff, including you, who brings the next animal of any kind into my hospital's emergency ward!" Dixie didn't ruffle one iota. "There aren't any animals in here. I didn't break any rules. I followed your stipulations to the letter." "Good." "Henry's not inside, he's outside on a gurney being barely kept alive by ambu." Kel Brackett's face scowled into pure steel and he ground his perfectly white teeth together. Already, the eggs from breakfast decided to sit like stones in his stomach. "Dixie. Now cut it out." She cleared her throat, tapping her foot and calmly indicated the live phone on Kel's neck. Soon, Dr. Brackett's better sense of decorum among peer level colleagues finally won out over letting loose one of his legendary tantrums. "I'll deal with you later.." he promised voicelessly to his conniving head nurse, who hardly fought to keep a smile of triumph off of her face. |
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Kel picked up the chatting phone and said falsely cheerful, "Ah, Doc Coolidge. What can I do for you this fine day?" Dixie smacked him on the arm for interjecting sarcasm. Then she rapidly kicked on the speaker phone to keep Kel at bay with civility as the conversation included any nearby overhearing sets of ears. Dr. Brackett glared again at Dixie but stayed silent verbally when Barney realized that he had the cardiologist's attention back. Coolidge gushed his needs. ##We've got to hurry. Now dogs don't have myocardial infarcts in the same sense that people do. They simply don't live long enough, even with their all meat diets, to build up the necessary plaques to cause one. Besides they all have collateral circulation of the coronary arteries..## he bubbled, ##..which allow the clots to "go around" an occlusion that would cause an MI in a human being. No, most likely this basset hound is suffering something congenital brought out by his sudden exposure to that fire smoke. Now what have you found, doctor, vitals wise?## Kel stabbed down the speaker button until it clicked off back into phone mode and he parked it once more onto a muffling shoulder. "Dix, how much haven't you told him? I'm not going to look at that dog now, later, next week, or even next year! I'm a busy man ! And a hungry one who's over five minutes late for his lunch hour." and he turned to leave, forgetting about the phone. Dixie caught the receiver as it slipped off its precarious perch. "Kel, This isn't just a dog in need. This is Roy and Johnny's stationhouse dog. Their beloved mascot. And he just saved the life of that asthma case you just saw in Treatment Two. Along with three other children's lives. Now he deserves a fighting chance! If you won't treat Henry right this instant, I'll find Stan the new resident intern and ask him to take over." She slammed a hand down on the transfer button which sent the connection from the animal shelter onto the HT frequency monitor board. Then she hefted up a handy talkie reserved for mobile communications meaningfully. Kel Brackett stopped her. "I'm the senior physician here! No one is going to tell one of my residents to do anything." he groused. "I forbid you to do it, Nurse." he threatened. Dixie's eyes flamed. "Ok. Shoo! Go on. Leave now for the cafeteria. I dare you. Bon appetit. I hope your meal sits well after you're done cause later you're gonna hear six full grown firefighters bawl like babies when their favorite mascot dies for want of decent medical care a hundred feet away from one of the best cardiologists this hospital has ever seen!" she hissed. Kel's face twitched and his rage immediately simmered to non existence. He growled and snatched away the live radio from Dixie's hand. "Coolidge. Stand by. I'm going to talk to a paramedic who's been with the dog right now." ##Roger that, we're standing by. Both Laura and I.## Barney beamed through the channel. Brackett sighed like a steam engine and bowled over half a dozen slow staff members as he moodily plowed out the emergency entrance doors as fast as his legs could carry him. Roy DeSoto and the other firefighters stood shell shocked and rigid and there was only the sound of the hissing ambu working for Henry evident after Kel's stormy appearance. They all froze, locked eye to eye, in anticipation of Kel Brackett's wrath. The blond paramedic licked dry lips. "Uh, hi doc. I got this Mayfair all set up. Dix thought of i--- Uh... Let's see... I assume any care will fall around pediatric cardiac standards. I got alligator clips for the EKG monitor since pads won't work,..a-a-and plenty of defib gel so a signal can get through Henry's...thick.....coat hair.." he trailed off as Kel Brackett's face twitched again as he took in the expressions of all of Station 51's men who were partially blocking his ambulance entrance with an obscene white fire engine. "Dix.. " he finally sputtered. "This is absolutely.. the last time I ever-" he began. "It sure is.." McCall peeped. "Thanks a bunch." "Here, doc. I got the paddles ready so you can get a quick look for the doc." Roy said. "He's ventilating well, doc. No aspirating." said Hank. "Starting to twitch in his tail even.." piped up Chet. Brackett's voice rose in a level above the babble. "Everybody just... ShhhHHHHH! " Everybody hushed. Except for Marco, who was being Henry's lungs. He kept counting. "Get him inside here. And close the doors before anybody sees us. Roy, in with me. And get Gage in here, too, from that treatment room. Stat." ordered Kel, embarrassed when gawkers saw the patient wasn't a child needing a fast unload from the parked ambulance. "I'll handle that.." said Dixie, dashing back through the automatic doors. As she sidled past, she landed a wet grateful peck on Brackett's nearest cheek in gratitude. "I love you, Kel. Dinner tonight's on me!" she squealed, slamming the ambulance door in his face after she clambered out of the Mayfair. |
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##Doctor. Speak to me.." commanded Coolidge's voice over the HT. "We haven't much time to play with from what I've heard.## came the disembodied voice from the speaker. "I'm here, Doctor Coolidge. What should I do first?" Kel asked over the radio. Roy stood by with his, as a backup source of information. ##Get me an EKG over the biophone. Now I know it already works, since you got one off little William the goat just fine last year.## said Coolidge. Kel's face twitched again as he remembered his acute embarrassment over the biophone when Johnny Gage had told him who the patient was during that little fiasco. Roy's face flushed crimson. But Doc Coolidge caught none of the theatrics. ##Now from right lateral recumbancy, place the monitor clips on elbows and knees. Put the negative on the right arm, the positive on the left arm and both commons on both legs. Got that?## "Second nature, Coolidge. Same as a small child's." ##Right you are!## Barney said. ##We'll get him squared away yet. Now, send me a strip. I have a few theories as to what's ailing him and I need your help to help me rule em out. Oh, and if he loses that inguinal pulse, have your defibrillator there set to 200 J's at the initial, then go to 300, then 360 stacked if necessary ok? The cardiac meds are the same with lidocaine, epi and atropine. Just use a two year old's dosages in a Ringer's IV.## "Roy, got that?" Kel barked. "Already on it." DeSoto replied. He hefted his talkie. "Doc. Ringer's IV? How much to run in on the onset?" ##Best place for a puncture is the cephalic vein, top of the foreleg halfway up. 200 mls for starters. I don't know if Henry's been pulmonarily challenged.## "His chest is clear." Kel said, listening to the still basset's sooty ribcage. ##Fine. Fine. All the better.##Barney dabbled over the radio. ##Now.. what's your strip showing on your people zapper?## |
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Brackett's eyes rolled up at the reference. But he dutifully applied globs of conductive gel over Henry's shoulder and haunch and set down the paddle rims over his body. "I'm reading some wide or tall P-waves; wide or increased amplitude QRS complexes and a few short-coupled PVC's with frequent ectopics. Hear them?" The monitor gave a fluting bell every time the comatose basset's heart skipped a contraction. ##Umm hm. I'm getting the same thing over here. Doctor Brackett, listen close. I'm trying to narrow down the field of cardiac problem candidates for Henry by being certain there's no chance of these three possibilities: an atrial tumor, that's hemangiosarcoma to you Dr. Brackett, an electrolyte imbalance, such as hypokalemia from breathing so poorly during the fire, or a splenic tumor to get to my original suspicion of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy. That's fairly common in middle aged males such as Henry.## "What's that?" Chet said from the ambulance driver peep window. Coolidge heard. ##It refers to a recurrent or persistent arrhythmia in the setting of a normal left ventricular ejection fraction or an irregularity in how Henry's heart pumps oxygenated blood out to the rest of his body.## "Oh, I get it." Marco said as he checked the flow of oxygen to Henry's ambu tubing from the port in the ambulance's wall. Cap was hunched as small as he could be at the foot of the cot where Henry lay. "Want me to take over, Lopez?" "Sure, my hand's cramping." Marco said. Cap and he traded places at Henry's head. Kel and Coolidge were oblivious to anything else around them. Barney leaned into the radio speaker. ##Doctor, have your paramedic begin treatment with a bit of nitroglycerin paste under the tongue. Works wonders without the risks of Lidocaine. Oh, and have him wear some obstetrical gloves administering it or he'll drop into a faint when the medication bottoms out his blood pressure.## "He knows." Kel said grinning. ##Let me know when it's been done. I wanna look at how Henry's EKG responds.## said Barney the shelter vet. Everyone held their breaths as Roy shoved in some nitro paste around a hole in the tape wrapping Henry's muzzle with a cotton swab. Everybody jumped when the rear doors flew open and Johnny Gage climbed into an already crowded Mayfair patient's cab. "How's he doing?" "Got a pulse." "Not breathing." "Ruling out trauma specific cardiac injury." said Roy, Cap and Brackett respectfully. "Ok. Gimme.." he said to Cap, taking over Henry's airway care. Hank sat back down onto his butt, sliding his helmet off onto his lap and he just watched, biting his lip. Kel continued his conference with the shelter vet. "Want a central line in to get a working blood pressure?" ##Nope. Won't help. There's already been some neurohormonal cytokines activation going on because of Henry's myocardial failure and continued limited cardiac output. The EKG's pointing to that.## "I concur. Just wanted to see if your angle agrees with mine." Brackett agreed. "How about initiating some cardioprotection at this stage of the game while we're waiting for that nitro to kick in." ##Sounds good to me. Get him armored while he's still ticking. I recommend sotalol as a beta blocker to control Henry's tachyarrythmias. 10- 20 mg by mouth every twelve hours...## said Barney. "But he's still unresponsive.." Kel reasoned over the radio. ##That's no obstacle...## Coolidge's voice bubbled. ##We'll use procainamide, in through his IV, in conjunction with that oral. Have someone inject half a mil for now. Slowly. Titrate it gradually after the sotalol's fully dissolved orally. We're doing so non push, because that beta blocker is a negative inotropic. Don't want to cause Henry to go into sudden death, now do we? He's fought so hard today to make it to nap time.## The firemen around Brackett chuckled. ##Don't be shy about giving Henry some taurine, Dr. Brackett. Its lack can sometimes bring on ACM. Especially in dogs of the couch potato variety as these boys say Henry is.## Coolidge chuckled. "I'm on it." Dr. Brackett grinned, injecting the vitamin into Henry's I.V. line. A minute later, all medications were delivered and the alarming bleeps warning of PVC runs faded away. "I think it's working, doc." Roy said, eyeing the monitor. "Henry's beginning to breathe again on his own. Listen." Brackett did, tapping Henry on the eyelid to see if he blinked. He did, slightly. And then he yawned, craving more 02 as his metabolism sped up. Johnny removed the rest of the encircling tape and left the oxygen tube near Henry's nostrils after he disconnected the ambu bag from it. "Atta boy. Come back to us." he said, rubbing Henry's coat and head briskly. His ministrations rewarded him with a moan of anxiety as Henry muzzily came to. He was aware enough to make a face at the bad tasting medication in his mouth. "He's gonna live!!" crowed Chet Kelly. "All right! I'll radio Station Eight's right now and give em the good news. And I'll tell Stoker to move Ivory off your door step, doc." The peek door between them snapped shut again. The rest of the guys and both doctors celebrated. But Barney didn't for long. He grabbed Brackett's ear once more. ##Now for diagnostics, Dr. Brackett. We're going to need thoracic radiographs for his workup...## "Chest Xrays?" Brackett said warily, knowing that no machine existed inside the Mayfair. ##Umm hmm and a packed cell volume test.## "A CBC.." Kel said in affirmation, using his human terms. ##Yep..and we'll have to get good serum biochemistries to rule out congenital heart failure, thromboembolism or hidden complications in Henry's other internal organs. Oh, and an echocardiogram. I'll have to get an accurate fix on measuring Henry's true LV ejection fraction to map out future impact for a quality of life estimate for your fireboys after today's little misadventure. Least I can do for such a valiant mascot.## "Doctor Coolidge..." |
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Henry looked up and whuffled in excitement as he saw the two men moving to fuss over him again and he rolled over for a belly rub, making it hard for Roy to connect the phoneline feed to the transmitter. "Hey you crazy hound.." Gage said, scrubbing Henry's ears. "Back onto your belly. Roy's trying to get you set here." Chet fixed the problem by tossing Gage Henry's favorite huge rawhide bone without looking up from his busy project building. He announced its airborne trajectory with a whistle. Gage barely caught the bone with which to lure Henry's attention. "Thanks." Roy said when Johnny only glared back at Chet for the stunt. The gray phone next to the couch rang. It was Barney, the shelter vet. DeSoto picked it up and set it onto the table while he plugged in the EKG wire from the readout into the module wired to the send only phone. A few minutes later, the transmission of Henry's nightly cardiac record completed and Roy hung up the phone receiver again. "Hope the doc's happy with Henry's progress. I know I am. He's had no PVCs in four days now. I think he was right with that diagnosis of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy on him. His heart's no longer acting like an M.I.'s." Gage disconnected the holster wire from the phone and wrapped it up again into its bundle compartment on the side of Henry's EKG monitor harness. "He's eating fine, drinking even better. Heck he even went after a few of Stoker's ball tosses in the yard this morning, without getting out of breath even once." he said, playing tug of war with Henry and the bone. Cap smiled from where he worked. "Of course he is. He's in the best paramedic firehouse in the whole county. I wouldn't expect any results less than perfect from my men on a medical patient that stable." he joked. That brought up a question from Chet. "Hey Cap, are we getting billed at the station for Henry's Mayfair ride to the Animal Shelter last week?" "Nope. Doc Coolidge found some dog loving sponsors at a local school to cover our costs. All it'll take is letting those kids visit Henry once he's back on a clean bill of health to get the money." Hank mentioned. "Nice. How'd they hear about Henry getting sick?" Marco asked. "One of the nurses walking by the ambulance that day saw us working on resuscitating him out in Rampart's driveway, took up the cause on her own through friends and relatives. And I believe that new medical resident you guys tangled with the day that old woman was burned was very instrumental in bailing our butts out of Henry's treatment bills, too." "He was?" Gage said, surprised. "That's incredible." "Yeah, Dixie McCall said that he felt guilty for being so new to answering calls at the base station that he wanted to make it up to us somehow for making us work her airway needs around him without an order." Captain Stanley related. "Miss McCall called and told me the whole story last night after we got back from that seizure call." "And Brackett ok'd that?" Gage said, incredulously. "Why not?" Roy smiled hugely. "Maybe that resident's on probation for endangering his patient and finding funds for Henry could've been Brackett's version of assigned community service as his unofficial penalty." "Yeah? Well what about the official one?" Gage complained, remembering the risk he took that day acting as a paramedic first with Brice without a doctor. "You know medical residents have immunity against incriminations for their first six months working solo. That old woman suffered no lasting ill effects." Roy reminded his partner. "For that time, maybe." Gage interjected. "But what about the next time we get him on the biophone line?" Roy shrugged. "We'll just have to repeat our findings. Twice if we have to, and...help him out. I've already talked to Brackett about having a senior physician standing by next to him when he does take another of our medical calls. So you can say that yes, I thought of you at the last paramedic's meeting, you know, the one you missed for having to stay here with Henry on his first night back from the animal shelter." "Thanks." Gage said appreciatively. "Brice'll sure be a lot happier with that arrangement." Right then the kitchen side door rang. Chet Kelly left his work table to go answer it. Dixie McCall came into the station. She was dressed in earthtones and her hair was down. All the gang rose to their feet. "Hi Dixie.." Roy said. "What brings you out here?" "Oh, I wanted to see my favorite mascot.. that's why.." she crooned, sitting down next to Henry and smooching his ecstatic freckled face deeply. "How are ya doing, baby?" she asked, holding his head. |
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Henry's tail thumped loudly on the couch cushions as he ate up the attention. Then Dixie looked up at Roy and Johnny. "Got copies of Henry's latest EKG strips handy? Dr. Brackett admitted to me last week that he wanted to see how he's coping on Coolidge's rehabilitation plan." "No kidding.." Hank said. "The way he grumbled last week, I didn't think Dr. Brackett cared a bit about him." "Stand corrected, Captain Stanley. " Dixie demurred. "Kel's just a big softy at heart once he's been proven wrong about a patient. Even if that patient's cute, fuzzy and has big long floppy ears.." she said, smooching Henry's silky head loudly where it nestled on her lap in between her arms. "Oh, he's looking a lot better today." she crooned. She leaned over to look at the table side of the couch. "And you boys have stopped hoarding the spare defibrillator down here. Guess his cardiac readings are checking out?" she guessed. "They sure are." Roy said. "We just sent today's reading in a few minutes ago." "Well, I've got to go get to work. I only had a few minutes to spare." "Here." Johnny said, scooping up the paper bag with Henry's old EKG strips in it. "Give these to Kel when you see him. We'll pick them back up again next rescue call." "I'll do that. Thanks, fellas." Dixie said, leaving back out the side door and waving. "Wow, Dixie came all the way out here from her apartment to see Ol Henry?" Gage said. Chet quipped. "Yeah. Unlike some people I know, Henry's a real popular guy for a dog." "Very funny. "Johnny said, squinting his eyes at Kelly. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Captains Gage, DeSoto and Stanley laughed long and loud after their sharing of Henry's emergency medical call story. "I don't know what got Brackett's goat more, William the African Pygmy kid with the patent ductus or Henry's heart attack." Gage giggled, playing with his white hat resting on the table. "Is that a pun?" Stanley smiled. "Gee, a bonafide witticism. And I can't believe my ears that it actually came from Johnny Gage." he said, pulling off his glasses. He began to chew on the end of them thoughtfully. Gage sputtered. "Well, I..." he said, confused, not getting it. Roy rescued him. "He ages well, Cap. I really know. I've been spending all morning getting my feelers out on what his current personality changes are like. They're all good ones. He's almost mellow now." "Cool." Hank said, "Uh, I mean... cold? Do your mugs need a warm up shot?" he said holding up the coffee pot as he covered quickly. Johnny and Roy both lifted their cups. Gage was neatly fooled. Hank finally turned off the burners on the stove, placed both bread and soup into the warming oven, and sat down into a kitchen chair in reverse Gage style. "Yeah.. we've been through a lot, haven't we?" "Through good times..." Roy reminded him. "And bad.." Gage said, sipping his coffee. |
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Captain Stanley sighed. "Was I really helpful? I mean.. did I really inspire you guys to follow in my tracks like this?" he said, picking up Gage's captain's hat to smooth out a few wrinkles. He began polishing the gold emblem on its front with the corner of his apron. "Yeah. You really did." smiled Roy. "And I still remember the first time I realized what a great friend you were to me. It was the time I had my nervous breakdown.." he said, his voice growing soft as his expression grew thoughtful. ********************************************* From : "Fran Catrair" <taleaone@hotmail.com> Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Mudslide Date : Thu, 19 Dec 2002 02:06:39 -0600 (From Episode Three- Juxtaposition..) Johnny wordlessly looked out the window at the rain coming down around him. He glanced at his partner's grim expression and sighed quietly, looking back out the window. He was trying to think what Roy might be thinking. ::Kids okay...fight with Joanne?:: he wondered. Well, nothing he could do about it until after the call. The squad's sirens continued to wail and Roy's face was almost unreadable. Until Cap's voice came out over the Station frequency. ##L.A., This is Engine 51. Is it known how many casualties might be involved?"## "Roy, what's the matter?" "Hmm?" Roy replied, still listening to the exchange between dispatch and their captain going over their radio. The rain came down harder, making the road flood. Roy was forced to slow down and so did the engine behind them. "What is it, Roy?" Johnny asked, more firmly this time. Roy sighed and voiced his long held thoughts. "I've been having a feeling something bad was going to happen today. Just a feeling. My son was going to the Musuem of Natural History for a field trip today. They were to leave immediately this morning." Roy finished, his voice shaky and tapering slightly. Johnny was stunned by the news. "Maybe it's not their bus, Roy. I mean, how many schools must be having field trips today?", he said, trying to take his partner's mind off the worst. "It's them," Roy said, quietly. "It's them." |
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Sam's voice came over the radio. #Engine 51...casualties unknown at this time. CHP is on the scene.# Caps' voice came very fast. ##10-4, L.A. Our ETA is..... four minutes..## Roy skidded a little too fast around a turn and the squad shimmied around a corner and almost fishtailed before he regained control. John said. "Want me to drive? We can radio in to the Engine.. Tell em why.." Roy looked firmly at John and shook his head vehemently. His face screwed up in concentration, as he willed the squad to go on. At last, they could see the scene in the distance. The yellow Blue Bird cab was fully on its side and along the margin. The front end was buried deeply in slag from the rain soaked hillside. "Mudslide!!" Johnny said. "Roy.. can you tell. Is it the same bus?" "I don't know. I don't know...." Roy said. Cap's voice filtered firmly into them as they pulled just behind the rear of the bus, pulling up so the squad was acting as a buffering obstacle between the bus and oncoming traffic. ##Squad 51. Stay right where you are. And enter the scene from there. Stoker pull ahead to the car and those power lines. Looks like they're down. L.A. Cut power to the north side of the freeway overpass at mile marker seventy four!## A fierce bolt of lightning shot down from the dim sky and the rain came down in torrents as Johnny and Roy ran out of the squad's cab for their gear and extrication equipment. They ran for the nearest thing they could see, the back of the bus and the emergency exit there. ##10-4, 51.##, dispatch responded. Johnny and Roy could see the bus was rocking slightly. They knew with the rain coming down and the mud, the bus could be buried deeper, and rapidly. They needed to act fast. "Cap, we're gonna need the K-12.. Looks like the rear hatch is jammed in here real good!" Roy said. He desperately tried to wipe away the mud and steam on the windows, but he could see nothing of the interior. Johnny began shouting. "Can anybody hear me?! Fire department!!" Weak high pitched screams met their ears and a bloody palm impacted the window right by Johnny's face.. ::Oh my G*d.:: |
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Right next to him, Roy flinched. Roy was trying to clear away the debris from the hatch to place the K-12 when he saw it. Number 62. He looked at Johnny. "Number 62. It's his bus." he said. Finally, Chet and Marco arrived with the K-12. They observed the tenseness of both paramedics. "What's going on?" Chet demanded. "Ohmyg*d, Johnny..".. Roy gasped. "I can't do this.." and he nearly fell to his knees. Gage got on his HT. ##Cap! Stoker. On the double! We need man power now. Roy's kid is here!## Chet opened his mouth and closed it, shocked. He and Marco quickly took the K-12 to the rear hatch. Both men had a look of determination on their faces. This rescue had become personal. Captain Stanley ran, slipped and skidded in the mud until he grabbed the side of the bus to steady himself. "Gage, take over primary care triage. Roy, stay out here. And that's an order!" Right then, the roar of water from a storm drain caved in a part of the road underneath the toppled bus and its side split open like a tin can, spilling a tiny body in a girl's skirt, onto the road and into the drain in a rush..... Gage made a leap for the tiny feet but wasn't fast enough. Cap grabbed him first and said, "No!! Get a life line first! Now.. We don't know how deep it is in there!" DeSoto ran for the squad to get one. Roy sprinted to the right compartment, slipping and trying desperately to stay on his feet. Then he slid back to the back of the bus, wordlessly thrusting the lifelines at Cap and Johnny and tying one onto himself. "Oh no! No!" Roy said, when the feet slipped again just as he grabbed for them. The tiny body disappeared in a rage of flooding brown water and was gone. |
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Johnny grabbed Roy's lifeline and secured it, proceeding back to the bus area. "Roy, there's nothing we can do! Get up! She's dead.." ********************************** From: Katherine Bird <kathbird01@yahoo.co.uk> Date: Wed Jan 15, 2003 12:10 am Subject: The Shell.. It was morning, and the day after the school bus rescue. A-shift slowly made their way into the kitchen for coffee after changing into their work clothes. Cap was the first one to the steaming coffee pot. In his hands were the run sheet forms for the bus's incident. He placed them fanned out in the middle of the table top and placed the pot in their center so anyone reaching for it would have to see the forms before getting a cup filled. Then he retreated to his recliner and the morning newspaper folded neatly there by C shift. He intentionally didn't read the headlines which covered the bus crash and the journalist sensationalism about how many had died in the slide, moving on instead, to the sports pages. ------------------------------------------- Johnny Gage rubbed feigned sleepy eyes and darted through the kitchen door, jostling with Chet in a vie for the coffee pot. Both firemen grabbed its black handle and Cap said, "When the fur stops flying over there, eyeball the papers you're not going to spill that coffee on.. Take a set and fill them out before lunchtime." Johnny and Chet's amicable mood evaporated when they realized it was the bus run's mortality forms. Gage sighed glumly, "Right Cap, uh, we'll get right on these.. uh, do the investigators want to know complete details?" "As best you can, Gage. And I know recalling back to yesterday isn't going to be pleasant. Just stick to positional details and what ya found." Chet sat on the kitchen table and took a sip of his coffee, still lost in the sobering feel in the room, and poured Johnny's cup full after his own. "What's the point of an investigation, Cap? I mean, the guy who hit the bus was DOA." Cap looked up uncomfortably."Its a suit against the city in an action concerning the mudslide.. Negligience on the part of the highway department for not shoring up that canyon wall to withstand flooding." |
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"That craziness, Cap. Most of those..kids wer-" and Johnny's voice broke as a memory of the little girl who was swept away down the storm drain filtered into his mind. Gage fought the emotion out of his voice and continued.. "...most of those poor kids were gone even before the slide happened." Gage insisted. "Besides, that rainfall was abnormally high. Most inches an hour since the 1920's the Chief said. There's no cause for such a class action." "I know that." Cap said. "But these kids's parents are grieving and you know how that goes. Any outlet's a channel for them." Roy had entered the kitchen quietly, and he refused the third coffee mug Johnny offered him. "No thanks. " he said, sitting on the table next to Johnny. "Are we going to have to testify about those fatalities, Cap?" Hank shrugged diffidently in the negative, "The Chief, this morning, just asked about our run sheets so far. No hearings in sight for any of us yet. I'll,...I'll..let you know as soon as I can about that.." "Thanks.." Roy said softly. Marco piped up. "Hey Roy, how's your boy? Is he ok? I didn't get to hear how he was doing after I left yesterday. Dixie refused to fill me in when she wheeled me out the back door." Roy smiled a half hearted smile. "That's probably because she figured you already had a full plate concerning your own recovery. She most likely, didn't want ya to worry about anything else, Lopez." "Since when does asking about something like that constitute being a burden?" Marco complained. Johnny grinned. "Dix was only looking out for your best interests. Besides, I'll bet she called ya a few hours after you got home with the good news, didn't she?" "Yeah." Marco said. "She did.. But mama said I was sleeping.." "Dix did her job then." he grinned. "She made sure she got the news ya wanted." he concluded. "Not soon enough.." Marco scoffed. Roy thought about that remark thoughtfully and mumbled to himself. "It's never soon enough.." But no one else heard him. Stoker pulled out a chair for Roy. "So,.." he said grandly.. "..don't keep us in suspense. Tell us how he is.." The squeal of the chair's legs on the tile floor broke Roy out of his reverie and he blinked a few times. But his face stayed flat and almost emotionless. "Chris's gonna be fine. He came outta surgery with flying colors. His leg's gonna heal cleanly, and he's handling his best friend Carrie's death as well as can be expected..." he paused when the gang grew reflective for his benefit. "Joanne and I are just glad it's all over with.." Roy said, trying to grin, without confidence. "Chris goes home Friday once the drainage shunts are removed." Cap noticed Roy's lack luster mannerisms. "You ok there, Roy?" he said, setting his paper down. "Yeah, Cap.. I- I'm fine.. Just tired I guess." DeSoto replied. |
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