\\\@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@/// January 30th, 2016 From the Founder of Emergency Theater Live.. (Patti Keiper) http://www.voyagerliveaction.com/emergency.html Below lies the Episode Guide for all Emergency! productions being created at Voyagerliveaction.com and the complete archive of our 51 Emergency episode stories, and three episode specials. Six more of movie length are planned at the writing site, the first, second, third of which has been completed and is now part of this text archive. Part of the fourth is still under production and is the last story updated weekly, below. CONTENTS in this file.. ---------------------------------- First, are the short sentence summaries of all ETL stories in one or two sentences in story appearance number order. Second, is the same list of stories, only with longer very complete and detailed summaries of the episodes in story appearance number order. Third, is a main character injury tally by episode list which uses each story's title and appearance order number as references for those readers who like to see scenes of the characters themselves getting sick or hurt. And fourth, the stories themselves in their entirety. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The most current ETL story is still being written... Movie Five- Burning Water ( Episode 58) This story will conclude on Sept. 5th, 2016. Here is the slideshow video trailer about this story from YouTube. https://youtu.be/4sghMY2Ssk0 Youtube Link to Movie Five's video trailer- Closed captioned for the hearing impaired. Included below at the very bottom of this file is this special story at its most recent scene so far. Freeware that is perfect for searching this or any other text archive by key word or exact sentence is the Edit Pad Classic, whose zip you can download right now at ETL's server. This is no longer available on the world wide web at large for free. http://www.voyagerliveaction.com/EditPadClassic.zip EditPad Classic (Text reading, writing, and search utility) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BONUS-- Page where you can download Emergency gifs, cursors and icons. http://www.voyagerliveaction.com/emergencyiconspage.html BONUS-- Page where you can see pictures from the day Engine 51 retired from Yosemite.. ( August 8th, 2008. ) http://www.voyagerliveaction.com/engine51-2.html Contains a new picture of Engine 51 at her final home next to Squad 51 as donated by Joe Wychek, VP of the CLAFMA museum. BONUS-- Document which contains a list of all photos, videos and articles of the once in a lifetime event, 51 In Quarters when Engine 51 was reunited with Squad 51 at Station 51 (127) in Carson, California, on July 9th-10th, 2011. (May require Facebook sign up and group sign up.) https://www.facebook.com/groups/station51club/doc/10150615830151334/ BONUS-- Download all of the music appearing in ETL's readable Emergency stories at the following url by episode in the form of zip files. Zips-- Each contain a text file music index, midis and mp3 music track files. http://www.voyagerliveaction.com/etlmusic.html Emergency Theater Live's Music Library ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ MAIN STORY FILE CONTENT STARTS HERE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ****WARNING**** These are story spoilers and will take away plot surprises if you read them now before viewing any of the screengrab illustrated, music soundtracked originals. Decide now if you want to read what each episode is about before doing so. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. Full Moon Blues- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 1, Season1 The gang of 51 loses sleep over a bizarre string of runs. The situation only worsens when the biggest disaster call of a lifetime pays a visit close to home. Chapters: 2 - Words: 48683 Published: April 2003 2. Father And Son- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep2, Season1 Dr. Brackett gets a headache when his father moves into town. The crew of Station 51 get a surprise on their doorstep and face a creepshow batch of rescues. Chapters: 1 - Words: 38059 Published: May 2003 3. Juxtaposition- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep3, Season1 Roy DeSoto fa dodo ces every father's nightmare when his son is trapped in a mudslide. The gang deals with child loss up close. Chapters: 1 - Words: 21406 Published: June 2003 4. Within Sight- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep4, Season1 A late night visitor to Station 51 starts mayhem when an arson gang takes on the town. As a result, one of the best, may be leaving. Chapters: 1 - Words: 28163 Published: July 2003 5. Integrity Game- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep5, Season1 Johnny inherits a four footed friend and Dr. Brackett gets more than he bargains for on vacation. Chapters: 1 - Words: 17125 Published: August 2003 6. The Golden Horn- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep6, Season1 Captain Stanley comes face to face with a real hero and a brush fire threatens the lives and vehicles of Station 51. Chapters: 1 - Words: 31775 Published: October 2003 7. Crazy Days- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep7, Season1 Think you've had a bad day? Just wait until you find out what happened to the gang of Station 51 and Rampart. Chapters: 1 - Words: 24491 Published: November 2003 8. The Promise- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 8, Season1 What matters most is what everybody wants. Johnny Gage learns the power of a promise to Roy when a water tower collapse traps them both underwater. Chapters: 1 - Words: 22871 - Published: December 2003 9. Green Pen Of Johnny's- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 9, Season1 Find out why Johnny carries his green pens with him everywhere he goes. An airborne disaster stuns the city of Torrance. Chapters: 1 - Words: 39288 - Published: Jan-March 2004 10. From Loaves To Fishes- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 10, Season2 One big mountain, one very, very small crew. The gang misses their state of the art fire station and vehicles dearly when a firestorm surrounds them on a boyscout river kayak trip event. Chapters: 1 - Words: 15732 Published: June-July 2004 11. Shadows Of The Past- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 11, Season2 Santa Rosa county teaches the crew of 51's a valuable lesson on life. Then it tries to take it away again in the worst manner possible. Vacation spells relaxation for everyone, er...to a point. Chapters: 1 - Words: 11345 Published: June 2004 12. Crossing The Red Line- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 12, Season2 Mike Stoker feels the heat when crewmates and the engine get into more than just a little hot water. The city of Carson suffers catastrophe. Chapters: 1 - Words: 10567 Published: July 2004 13. The White Engine-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 13, Season2 The gang tries out a prototype engine and they learn how faithful man's best friend really is at a house fire. Chapters: 1 - Words: 14582 Published: August 2004 14. Twisted- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 14, Season2 A mile long moving disaster incites life or death decisions for both Rampart and Station 51. Chapters: 1 - Words: 27423 Published: September 2004 15. 00:51- EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 15, Season2 Dixie's day off incites a riot of rescuing. A high angle recovery tries Roy and Johnny's penultimate paramedic skills. Chapters: 1 - Words: 30004 Published: October 2004 16. Devil's Due-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 16, Season2 Roy and Johnny inadvertantly meet two Bay City detectives named Starsky and Hutch and get themselves entangled in a web of intrigue when a criminal kidnaps the child of one of their patients. Chapters: 1 - Words: 21012 Published: November 2004 17. That Latin Flair-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep17, Season2 A vision leaves Marco circumspect around the holidays and inspires Roy and Johnny to do charity work for his church group. Chapters: 1 - Words: 17654 Published: Dec/January2005 18. A Fish Out Of Water-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep18,Season3 Station 51 gets wet working with the Baywatch lifeguards of Malibu. A myth almost drowns one of the guards but a miracle, saves him. Chris DeSoto learns Baywatch rescue skills. Chapters: 1 - Words: 29590 Published: February 2005 19. Sacred Ground-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep19,Season3 Johnny has a mishap at the station that makes him seek a tribal elder. A heavy storm spreads ill for the whole fire department county wide. Chapters: 1 - Words: 18350 Published: March 2005 20. Recertification-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep20,Season3 Station 51's gang gets buried in rubble during a robbery on a mall and casino. Can Dr. Brackett save them in time? Chapters: 1 - Words: 12401 Published: April 2005 21. Devil Winds-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep21,Season3 Captain Stanley and the staff of Rampart get stressed with the return of the Santa Ana winds in autumn. Wide spread chaos rules the night and far away from the city streets. Station 51 attempts the impossible. Chapters: 1 - Words: 22905 Published: May 2005 22. In Certain Terms-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep22,Season3 McConnike raises hairs in the gang and the crew of Station 51 faces a loss no firefighter should bear. Chapters: 1 - Words: 23510 Published: June 2005 23. The One That Matters-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep23,Season3 The unexpected arrives from a surprise source and Mike Stoker finds that he's the unwilling target of an adolescent fire buff. Chapters: 1 - Words: 21112 Published: July 2005 24. S.n.a.f.u.-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep24,Season3 Nothing runs normal for anyone working during a weeknight at Rampart Hospital and Station 51 and the gang faces h*llfire and water in an attempt to end a string of horribly bad luck. Chapters: 1 - Words: 25071 Published: August 2005 25. The Overhaul Principle-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep25,Season4 A Gage rival comes to roost at the station. Rampart comes under fire and Dixie inherits the position of head of triage. Chapters: 1 - Words: 29034 Published October 2005 26.The Shallow Light-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep26,Season4 Johnny declares war on a fast food stand. Station 51 answers rescues involving the very young and learns a lesson from them. Chapters: 1 - Words: 31955 Published November 2005 27. HeavyDuty-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep27,Season4 Old flames clash when things heat up a little too much at Rampart Hospital. Station 51 struggles through a heavy day of duty. Chapters: 1 - Words: 42394 Published December 2005 28. SmokeScreen-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep28,Season4 Johnny Gage gets a rap from a pair of detectives on Christmas Eve and an old, rich bum comes back to help out the gang. Chapters: 1 - Words: 60231 Published January 2006 29. WhereTheWindBlows-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep29,Season4 Station 51 meets an icon. The wind causes trouble both in the city and out in the countryside. Chapters: 1 - Words 71222 Published February 2006 30. Eligibility-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep30,Season4 A battle rages between Kelly and Gage for an opening captain's spot at Station 51. The very nature of sleep haunts the gang and their patients. Chapters: 1 - Words 82003 Published March 2006 31. All That Glitters-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep31,Season5 Chet's luck isn't as good as he thinks it is the day Johnny goes money grubbing with the best of them. Chapters: 1 - Words 71114 Published April 2006 32. Water Day Saints-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep32,Season5 Water and air are either allies or enemies for Station 51 amid triage chaos at both Rampart and on the street. Chapters: 1 - Words 91338 Published May 2006 33. California Dreamin'-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep33,Season5 Vacation off the mainland proves work never ends for the gang of 51's. Mike Stoker faces the scare of his life. Chapters: 1 - Words 100204 Published June 2006 34. No Sooner Said... -EmergencyTheaterLive Ep34,Season5 A feud between Chet and Johnny takes on new meaning during an excavation fire. A hero proves his worth with action. Chapters: 1 - Words 17455 Published July 2006 35. Captain's Prerogative-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep35,Season5 A disaster stuns Captain Stanley and an action taken leaves Gage unaccountably bitter. Craig Brice proves an unexpected balm. Chapters: 1 - Words 11232 Published August 2006 36. Tower Drill-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep36,Season5 Station 51 becomes instructors for the day at the fire academy. An old nemesis makes a return play on Gage and DeSoto. Chapters: 1 - Words 19325 Published September 2006 37. Primary Complaint-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep37,Season5 Roy DeSoto faces a life changing event during a rescue. Johnny becomes infatuated with an impossibility. Chapters: 1 - Words 21999 Published October 2006 38. A.M.A.-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep38,Season5 The gang lives vicariously at the circus during a paramedic program promotion gig. A young couple learns a hard lesson about going against medical advice. Chapters: 1 - Words 17003 Published November 2006 39. Burnout-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep39,Season5 Station 51 feels the sting of no sleep and the fury of an oil refinery fire. Will Chet ever learn his lesson? Chapters: 1 - Words 14555 Published December 2006 40. Canine Capers-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep40,Season6 Captain Stanley experiences the innocence of a little girl from the Make A Wish Foundation. Station 51 becomes overrun by dogs on the prowl. :) Chapters: 1 - Words 12003 Published January 2007 41. Attrition-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep41,Season6 Roy and Johnny go nuts while giving a schoolhouse demonstration. The 51 gang's world is turned upside down when the unexpected happens. Chapters: 1 - Words 15888 Published February 2007 42. Pilot Light-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep42,Season6 Gage gets creative making senior paramedic runs a little easier. A warehouse fire proves just how good a firefighter's mettle can be. Chapters: 1 - Words 20333 Published March 2007 43. The Quint Connection-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep43,Season6 Chet Kelly's engineer's test becomes a critical skill during a skiing weekend at Lake Tahoe. Dixie learns she hates the cold. Chapters: 1 - Words 31959 Published April 2007 44. Pump Peculiarities-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep44,Season6 One person effects the lives of everyone at Rampart Hospital and Station 51. Stoker is moved to action when the unthinkable happens. Chapters: 1 - Words 45055 Published May 2007 45. Richter Six-by Michael Donovan©-UniversalStudios/MarkVIIProductions© Ep45,Season6. Roy and Johnny relive a flashback about a county wide earthquake they worked while teaching paramedic class. Joe Early struggles to save a little girl and the gang, Chet Kelly. Script Dialogue and premise by Michael Donovan©. Chapters: 1 Words: 19544. Published June 2007 46. The Long Hours-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep46,Season6 The gang rescues friend and victim at the pier. Waiting becomes especially hard when complications develop post rescue for all. Chapters: 1 Words: 12044 Published July 2007 47. I.V. Push-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep47,Season6 A storm unsettles the gang and a lost girl claims ties with Johnny Gage. CHiPs Ponch and Jon aid a cliffside rescue. Chapters: 1 Words: 11008 Published August 2007 48.Hostage--by Susan Keenan©-UniversalStudios/MarkVIIProductions© Ep48, Season6. Moods are down when friends fall and when a foe comes to pay a call on Squad 51. Will Rampart's think tank save the day in time? Chapters: 1 - Words: 18683 Published: October 2007 49.The Helper's High-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep48, Season6 Bullets fly while Stoker struggles to fill some very large shoes in the wake of a personnel shortage in L.A. County. Chapters: 1 - Words: 23444 Published: November/December 2007 50.The Other Side-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep50, Season6 Station 51 squirms under a lull of no calls as Rampart becomes the eye of the action hurricane. The staff of both struggles to help a crisis with Nurse Sharon Walters. Chapters: 1 - Words: 31444 Published: January/February 2008 51.What's A Dedicated Captain Like You Doing..-ETL Ep51,Season6 Captains Roy and Johnny relive the best and the worst of their lives after leaving Station 51 upon their promotion. SEASON FINALE. Chapters: 1 - Words: 56998 Published: March/April 2008 A. The Face In The Mirror- EmergencyTheaterLive Special 2003 Roy DeSoto makes a mistake in the field and faces the possibility of losing his job. The gang responds to a fogbanked multicar pileup and run into trouble. Chapters: 1 - Words: 23657 Published: September 2003 B. Too Close To Home- EmergencyTheaterLive Special 2004 The gang at Station 51 enjoy Roy's discomforture over his superstition about DeSoto family vacations always getting cancelled. The gang gets sucked into another of Chet Kelly's half hazard schemes by getting talked into buying a racehorse. Chapters: 1 - Words: 16211 Published: August 2004 52. Movie Special One- The Fire Within (Episode 52) -ETL MovieOne, Season7 Station 51 trains with airport firefighters and runs into the unexpected on a deer hunting trip in New York State involving medical park rangers who help them rescue a lost boy with a chopper pilot and a pair of luckless kayakers. An icy disaster involving a jumbo jet and the airport terminal leads to conditions that threaten the lives of Station 51's crew. Chapters: 1 - Words: 124956 Published: June-December 2009 53. C. Fire In The Sky-EmergencyTheaterLive Special 2010 Roy and Johnny meet a pair of strangers from the far future. Can they save Chakotay and Tom Paris before the Borg find them in an echo 1976? Chapters: 1 - Words: 26277 Published: April 2010 54. En Route- Movie Two-EmergencyTheaterLive Ep 54, Season8 Roy and Johnny learn the other side of EMS work when they are ordered to train EMTs at their own ambulance company for an entire summer. Dixie suffers career doubts and begins to reinvent herself. Chapters: 1 - Words 47373 Published: Jan 2011 55. Special D. Sierra- The Urban Rangers Roy and Johnny work with Yosemite Park Rangers in their rescue service. They encounter a pesky bear and woman ranger who proves to be their professional equal when Roy suffers a bad head injury in a fall. Chapters: 1- Words 19765 Published: July 2011 56. Movie Special Three- A Day In The Life-ETL MovieThree, Season8 Dixie gains new status as a mentor in the eyes of her elderly neighbor. Carson heats up along with Station 51 in the face of a prison break and city wide riots. A Los Angeles County medical examiner fights to save a newborn baby. Chapters: 1 - Words: 65,535 - Favs: 2 - Follows: 1 - Published: May 11, 2013 57. Movie Special Four- The Long Hot Summer-ETL MovieFour, Season9 The gang struggles through a difficult summer that complicates their careers and private lives. Dr. Morton crashes his navy jet onto a nuclear ship at a pier. La Brea Tar Pits catch on fire. 58. Movie Special Five- Burning Water-ETL MovieFIve, Season 10 The lives of the gang are shaken up when Captain Stanley moves on and Craig Brice assumes captaincy of Station 51. Karen Overstreet is precepted by Dr. Morton as a resident intern at Rampart. James Rockford is asked to find out the whereabouts of a victim Roy and Johnny treats and learns all is not just a natural normal everyday occurrence. Chapters: 1 - Words: 2,130 - Follows: 1 - Published: Sep 19 (STILL IN PRODUCTION) As of September 21, 2015. 59. Special E. The Gale Force Nightmare EmergencyTheaterLive EpSpecial, Season8 Engine 51's crash in high winds spark the worst in Johnny Gage and spells disaster for the whole gang in the form of a crime of the worst kind committed against Mike Stoker. This is a production that was an interactive story between fans of Emergency. Written by multiple authors from January 2008 to June 2010. (Reposted with permission) Credit was left to whom wrote what scenes. *** Original posting order was.. Nita, Laura, Katy, Erin, Patti, Debbie, Mary Ann and Sherry.*** Chapters: 1 - Words 24,499 CoWritten: January 2008 to June 2010. Published: August 11th, 2012. Special F. Juxtaposed, Episode 60. This is a production collaboration between two authors, from July 2013 to Sept 2016. Guest author Sarah Adams. Roy and Johnny run into a traveling Time Lord and his two companions in their TARDIS. Chapters: 1- Words: Published: (STILL IN PRODUCTION) As of September 11th, 2013. From the ETL Hosts: Emergency Theater Live Episodes- Rescue Logs ------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a more detailed version of the ETL Episode Guide and includes a synopsis of each story's plot events and a rundown of what rescues happened in the episodes. Following these, is a tally of injuries in a by-the-episode running total sustained by each of the main and supporting characters to date. Titles and Episode Order ----------------------------------- 1. Full Moon Blues- 2. Father And Son- 3. Juxtaposition- 4. Within Sight- 5. Integrity Game- 6. The Golden Horn- 7. Crazy Days- 8. The Promise- 9. Green Pen Of Johnny's- 10. From Loaves To Fishes- 11. Shadows Of The Past- 12. Crossing The Red Line- 13. The White Engine- 14. Twisted- 15. 00:51- 16. Devil's Due- 17. That Latin Flair- 18. A Fish Out Of Water- 19. Sacred Ground- 20. Recertification- 21. Devil Winds- 22. In Certain Terms- 23. The One That Matters- 24. S.n.a.f.u.- 25. The Overhaul Principle- 26. The Shallow Light- 27. HeavyDuty- 28. SmokeScreen- 29. WhereTheWindBlows- 30. Eligibility- 31. All That Glitters- 32. Water Day Saints- 33. California Dreamin'- 34. No Sooner Said- 35. Captain's Prerogative- 36. Tower Drill- 37. Primary Complaint- 38. A.M.A.- 39. Burnout- 40. Canine Capers- 41. Attrition- 42. Pilot Light- 43. The Quint Connection- 44. Pump Peculiarities- 45. Richter Six (by Michael Donovan©)- 46.The Long Hours- 47. I.V.Push- 48. Hostage-(by Susan Keenan©)- 49. The Helper's High- 50. The Other Side 51. What's A Dedicated Captain Like You Doing.. Special A. The Face In The Mirror- Special B. Too Close To Home- 52.Movie One- The Fire Within 53. Special C. Fire In The Sky- 54.Movie Two- En Route 55.Special D. Sierra-The Urban Rangers 56.Movie Three-A Day In The Life 57.Movie Four-The Long Hot Summer 58. Movie Five- Burning Water (still in production) as of September 7th, 2015. 59. Special E. The Gale Force Nightmare- 60. Special F. Juxtaposed- (still in production) as of September 1st, 2013. ****WARNING**** The information below is story spoiling and will take away plot surprises if you read them now before viewing any of the screengrab illustrated, music soundtracked originals. Decide now if you want to read what each episode is about before doing so. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. Full Moon Blues- SEASON PREMIERE Johnny is stuck with a floor messing Bonnie in the bunkroom. The gang answers a dumpster fire and the squad gets stolen by drug users. Gage and DeSoto fuss over a sore throated Marco. An earthquake hits the station and collapses it. Cap is knocked out by falling debris, Marco's gassed in the kitchen from broken pipes and Johnny's buried under the hose tower and gets hand stabbed in the yard. The station gang gets quarantined in the middle of the disaster operations with Paramedic Craig Brice when Marco's discovered to have an ebola type retrovirus. Brackett and Squad 51 rescues a firefighter hit by a falling radio tower. A cure is found in the milk of flying fox bats by a team of CDC doctors from Atlanta flown in by the airforce.The gang gets a calm period of rest after the station gets rebuilt. 2. Father And Son- Kel Brackett makes a phone call to his estranged father to reestablish ties with him after many years of silence. Cap finds a puppy basket on the doorstep of the station. The gang answers an unknown type rescue at a movie mansion house looking like it's haunted. They find a kindly, cookie baking asthmatic with sepsis. The station handles an overturned anhydrous ammonia truck leaking a toxic cloud. Chet gets exposed and lung burned and a ruptured spleen during a desperate last second escape from the scene using the squad. The gang rescues an entrapped woman driver from under the truck. Kelly undergoes surgery for trauma sustained from his running fall during the truck rescue escape. Chet sneaks the station's wild resident mouse into Rampart. The squad answers a child skate boarder call. The gang returns to a second call to the movie mansion for a man down, but they find a fallen caretaker woman. Johnny gets trapped in the house's maze and falls down a flight of spring loaded stairs after hitting his head. Brice is called out to respond. Johnny awakens in Rampart and remembers seeing a "body" in the basement so the gang responds back to the house. They find a dummy and the male caretaker trapped in an iron maiden. Station 51 gives the lost puppy to the movie mansion caretakers. Kel Brackett makes amends with his parents. 3. Juxtaposition- Roy has feelings of dread during a rainy day. The station responds to a mudslide school bus accident. They rescue several students and the driver only to find a leg entrapped Chris DeSoto there as well. Marco nearly drowns in mud when the bus gets buried by another slide, entrapping Johnny, Roy, Chet and Marco inside of it. They meet a good luck charmed, miraculous fellow firefighter named Detello. DeSoto suffers a crisis when a child he loses down a storm drain's body is found the next day in the L.A. river bed. Chet takes Roy's place during a diabetic rescue on Johnny's orders. The station responds to a school fire and Roy makes a child rescue count with the assistance of the guardian angel like Detello. 4. Within Sight- Chet accidently breaks his knuckles hitting the station punching bag while working out anger over arsons who indirectly caused Mike Stoker to be blinded by steam. A woman social worker works with Stoker to find a juvenile fire bug at a softball game being played by project kids. Squad 51 rescues an asthmatic child at the game. Stoker teaches Chet how to be the station's fire engineer while healing. A popsicle selling ex-fire captain is trapped in a derelict fire station after it becomes the arson's next target. Stoker's favorite project kid is trapped as well, forcing Mike to use Boot as a guide dog to go rescue them both. In a twist, Stoker regains his sight only after the boy loses his permanently due to fire heat. Boot adopts the blind little boy in the ball park. 5. Integrity Game- Kel Brackett goes on vacation with his parents. Station 51 responds to a racetrack and treats several horse collided jockeys. Johnny adopts one of the injured horses in a surprise promise made to one of the victims. Detective Ron Crockett gets involved in an investigation into the accident. The Bracketts' ferry catches on fire near Catalina Island. Station 51 responds to rescue them. The racehorse insurance fraud violator is caught on the burning ship in a sheer stroke of luck. Station 51 buys the rights of Gage's trainer abused race horse from the track in cooperation with him, in order to give the promising colt to a jockey pair they previously treated at the track. 6. The Golden Horn- A delivery man collapses at the station due to heat stroke and is treated as a still alarm. Captain Stanley learns of Chief McConnikee's death from a building collapse and the gang takes the news hard. The gang responds to a car crash in a regional park during a rainless lightning storm. They treat a woman and her daughter for strange injuries. A brush fire's ignited around them and causes Cap to order an immediate emergency evacuation using the station vehicles. The gang escapes, but Engine 51 is badly damaged. Cap's found to be missing soon after safety is reached. Blood is found at the mouth of an old mine hole along with Cap's helmet and far below, Hank hallucinates about McConnikee while bleeding badly as he hangs, trapped over the mouth of an underground whirlpool. Gage and Roy go down after him. Before a belt can be secured, Johnny and Cap fall and are swept away into an underwater quarry. An apparition of McConnikee seems to aid in their rescue. Hank visits McConnikee's wife to pay his respects for missing the chief's funeral and receives the old hat he once burned behind McConnikee's back as a joke. Hanks repairs the hat and leaves it at McConnikee's gravesite in tribute to his hero. 7. Crazy Days- Dixie goes on the warpath looking for fresh coffee to grind for her empty pot at Rampart. Chet Kelly gets the third degree for gloating over Marco's lost bet penalty of hanging hose in the backyard tower. The gang answers an unknown rescue at the zoo, only to find no visitors, and a crazed drug overdosed employee releasing all the animals from their cages. Chet begins acting normally during lunch at the station, driving Gage batty. Brackett offers to get Dixie some coffee and leaves Rampart. Charlie the fire department mechanic finds out that he's got heart disease and is forced to retire from the vehicle shop. The gang answers a strange call at the La Brea Tar Pits, and Brackett assists them. Vince finds java for Dixie and a museum rewards the gang with fossil bones. Roy learns the horror of a roof fire at his own house. Henry, Boot, and Bonnie, all have a pillow feather fight in the bunk room. 8. The Promise- Johnny discovers Roy hiding a chest cold and treats him around Cap at the station. Roy tries to hide his wife's third pregnancy. The gang answers a truck crash hazardous materials call involving freon and a search for a missing van of teenagers. A water tower falls on Roy and Johnny trapping them underwater. An arrested girl Gage finds and abandons on scene for safety reasons turns out to be Dr. Morton's sister. Roy finds the wife and daughter of Johnny's deceased best friend in the heart of the disaster. Gage and Roy make a pact to watch out for each other in a solemn promise. Johnny learns Morton is pursuing a lawsuit for malpractice over his familial loss. Engine 51 responds to a stabbing only to find Roy's wife in jeopardy. Craig Brice responds to assist medically in his station's squad. Gage writes a resignation letter and the gang goes through heroics to rescue it from the post office network when he changes his mind. 9. Green Pen Of Johnny's Station 51 answers an explosives factory fire where Johnny's injured. Roy goes inside after a report of a little girl on a scaffolding inside the burning warehouse. DeSoto takes refuge in an elevator shaft with several other firefighters when a demolitions crew proves to be the only people left who could save them from the fire. Gage spends the night at Rampart with a little girl from the factory fire and her green markers. Craig Brice shows up at the station to be his replacement. An airliner jet suffers a wing hydraulic problem in mid air and crashes in Rampart's parking lot, severely damaging the hospital. Gage and his child roommate fight for their lives, while escaping the fumes using the back halls of Rampart. Station 51 responds to the disaster scene and begins emergency triage. Dixie's found hurt in the hospital from flying glass. Brice's station crew is discovered missing at the jet crash scene. Johnny tries to climb down the side of Rampart using a fire hose to save himself and the little girl. Boot, the dog, discovers them trapped by located a scent on a green marker pen and summons help and rescue. The little girl visits the gang later at the station and receives a medal for saving Gage's life by giving him atropine. 10. From Loaves To Fishes Chet finds Johnny unloading hay in the station's backyard one morning and asks why. The station responds to a fuel truck crash on a mountain side involving a highway tunnel. Gage and Roy are trapped inside with chlorine gas leaking from storage tanks. They escape the underground fire by using an emergency tunnel leading to a forest ranger's station now on a vigil over the new brush fire ignited by the accident. They meet the Sierra rangers rescue unit and get swept up into searching for some lost children at a riverside campsite before the fire gets there. Chet falls in love with the idea of horses. 11. Shadows Of The Past The gang plans a revisit to the same Santa Rosa County resort town that Roy and Johnny fell in love with a few months earlier. By a lakeshore, Mike Stoker's nearly trapped in a satellite outhouse fire. Attracted to the commotion, is a young college aged resort owner who invites them to breakfast up the mountain. Once there, they learn about a feral dog pack problem plaguing the town from their old friend, Sheriff Bittner and from Dr. Frick, the hippy rural doctor from the local clinic. Roy and Johnny rush off to a neighbor's to deliver a baby. At the inn, dogs attack the rest of the gang. Bittner suffers an angina attack. A flash flood reeks havoc on their the way to the hospital with the new mother and child and a mauled boy the doc found. The gang's separated from each other when they're washed away by a rising river. The inn girl struggles to revive the boy's father when he drowns and is herself bitten by a snake. The gang, Sheriff Bittner, and Doc Frick reunite in a thunderstorm and they launch a search for those still missing from their party. They find the inn girl and the boy's father by a sewage plant on the shoreline. In gratitude the townsfolk give the visiting firefighters the best guided fishing tour of their lives. 12. Crossing The Red Line The gang responds to an unknown type rescue at Carson City Hall. There they find a man with drug like symptoms. Johnny stumbles and breaks his leg on a stairwell while patient moving. Roy finishes and leaves with their victim in a Mayfair. Strangely, at the squad, Gage inexplicably collapses and quits breathing. The gang discovers fumes are to blame and launch an immediate evacuation of the city building. Without a paramedic at hand, Stoker's forced to use new training as an intermediate EMT to intubate Johnny. An actively producing meth lab is discovered in the basement. The station's barely clear using the squad and engine as evacuation vehicles when city hall disintegrates into a fireball bringing down the rest of the block around them. The gang finds refuge from the fire in a city morgue. Roy's ambulance is discovered missing and they launch a search in the disaster zone to recover their first victim and crew. Brackett and Dixie respond to the morgue to assist with triaging victims. Johnny awakens and shows his gratitude to Stoker by giving him the finer points on intubating people. Chet decides to become a paramedic. 13. The White Engine Chet Kelly gets neck deep into a new secret invention. Gage discovers a new fire engine in the backyard. But something's amiss. It's a pure white prototype that's being loaned to them to test out without any need for the accompanying squad and with plenty of space for Henry to ride along with them. They respond to a beach cliff house fire and tend to a burned senior with Craig Brice and his partner. Roy transports the old woman. Henry finds three kids stuck up a tree, trapped by smoke. After their rescue, Chet discovers Henry missing and goes searching. He finds Henry unconscious on a hillside from smoke. Cap orders the new engine to transport the kids to Rampart while Gage and Chet try to treat Henry in the cab. Brackett is Dixie-tricked into working with the vet from the county animal shelter, Barney Coolidge, to care for Henry inside a parked Mayfair ambulance. Chet demos his new invention, calling them shriek boxes. At a library fire, Craig Brice burns his hand on a hot doorknob and Chet's new devices save all of their lives when the ceiling comes down on top of them. 14. Twisted Roy and Johnny visits Craig Brice in the hospital and learn of an Amtrak train derailment. Belatedly, they're called out to triage a section of the train. They treat multiple victims and find out that Dixie and Brackett caught a helicopter ride to the scene and are doing triage nearby. Dixie discovers Brice's paramedic partner, Bob Bellingham, on the train with his newborn daughter. Dixie begins CPR on the night chilled infant. Roy and Johnny rescue a trapped boy and Marco finds a walking wounded. Gage is attracted by Brackett's whistle and responds to Dixie's baby rescue. Meanwhile, Dr. Morton suffers a meningitis exposure scare. Together, Kel and Gage treat the infant and evac her out by chopper. Roy discovers two people impaled on the same rod, a lawyer and the boy's mother, but only one of them can be attempted to save and he bulks deciding which one. Brackett relieves him of their care. The lawyer and mother flip a coin to decide who lives and who dies. Afterwards, Roy and Johnny strike a motorcycler with the squad on the way to a food tent and are taken hostage by the angry hispanic neighborhood bent on retaliation. Gage is found and treated by Cap. Vince Howard, the police officer negotiates for Roy's release after the head of the gang's mother suffers a heart attack. Marco translates for all while he and others care for her in Johnny's stead. Gage receives a hospital visit from Chet, Brice and Roy a few days later in an ironic reversal. 15. 00:51 Dixie is enjoying her day off as best as she can while nursing a cold. While sun bathing, she witnesses and responds to a pool diving accident and begins CPR after getting kids to help her rescue the teenaged boy. Roy and Johnny respond to the call and perform an emergency needle crich to establish an airway. Afterwards, Dixie faints and falls into the pool. She is rescued physically from danger but then refuses all emergency care despite her illness's symptoms. A dispute mounts and a police officer has to enforce a legal peace between everyone, citing Dixie's rights as a fully cognizant citizen. Joe Early, Kelly Brackett and the gang all work together to try and come up with a scheme to get Dixie to come in and get checked out by a doctor. Station 51 responds to a roller coaster accident and tangles with a cloud of bees. Later that night, Dixie makes an emergency phone call to the firehouse but collapses before saying anything. Roy and Stoker get a funny feeling and Roy asks for a silent code response to Dixie's house. Morton takes over the call when Dixie's found on the floor, unconscious. Joe and Brackett operate and repair her inflamed intestines following an appendectomy. 16. Devil's Due The gang gets antsy after forty eight hours and no runs. Roy entertains a coffee OD'd Johnny on a supply run to Rampart and they visit with Adam-12. Nearby, Detectives Dave Starsky and Ken Hutchinson chase a gunman down an alley and find an assault victim battered by him. Squad 51 responds. The detectives learn the injured woman's young son is being held hostage by the criminal somewhere in the neighborhood. Zebra Three runs escort to the woman's Mayfair on the way to Rampart, playing chicken with a train to speed up the transport. A clue to the kidnapper's whereabouts materializes from what Roy and Johnny overhear during the mother's treatment. Starsky and Hutch go check out her residence for more leads. Station 51 is assigned to medical standby during the hostage standoff that results. The two Bay City detectives pose as firefighters with the gang and undercover, they infiltrate the gunman beseiged business tower along with the night suave informant, Huggy Bear. They discover the missing boy in the power cut building, and a bomb. Fleeing, by hand lowering an elevator down its descent shaft, everyone braces for its detonation. It comes and the elevator plummets, carrying them down into a fire sprinkler filled sub-basement. On search, a frantic Stanley and fire crews find the trapped bunch. Chet Kelly revives a nearly drown David Starsky. Later, they all visit the recovering assaulted mom and child pair and return heirlooms the kidnapper stole to finance his sniper and kidnapping incident. 17. That Latin Flair Around the holidays, Station 51 responds to a car roll over near the L.A. River bed. They discover a passenger pinned under power wires and a missing ejected driver. While attempting to free the trapped man, Marco Lopez suffers an electrical shock which accelerates his heart dangerously. Roy and Johnny are forced to cardiovert him to prevent heart arrest. Lopez experiences a life after death vision of his dead father during the cardioversion and it changes him emotionally. The gang finds the second man's body in the riverbed. A week later, the gang helps the healing Marco aid a soup kitchen. Teenagers start a fire there and Roy and Johnny mount multiple rescues of the children and volunteers trapped inside the fast spreading grease fire. Chet's hands are burned getting a victim out. Later, Squad 51 responds to a finger hammered fainted man and bail out a dog pinned treed postman. Dixie offers to cook the gang Christmas dinner at the station and pulls a mistletoe joke on Roy and Johnny. At an L.A. Headquarters New Year's Eve party, Marco talks about his life after death experience with a boy who very nearly suffered the same thing during the soup kitchen fire and finds solace. 18. A Fish Out Of Water A little girl in a daycare center suffers a seizure. Squad 51 responds. Across town, a beach cop, Garner Ellerbee, of Baywatch, begins a patrol. Several Baywatch lifeguards get wrapped up in rescues, reports of an escaped naval dolphin and a burglar stealing stolen artifacts from a museum exhibit about the missing continent of Atlantis. One of the lifeguards thinks he sees a mermaid swimming in the surf on the day Station 51 offers to teach the lifeguard scout children CPR and nearly drowns from heatstroke. Roy and Johnny effect his rescue along with the County Baywatch Lifeguards. The head lifeguard lieutenant Mitch Buchanon's son, Hobie, finds the missing trained dolphin and a mysterious paraplegic woman ex-naval animal trainer who seems to know the skillful mammal. Policeman Vince Howard and a lifeguard named Craig Pomeroy catch the beach crook after a vehicle chase that turns into another surf rescue. Hobie and Roy's son Chris, befriend the little seizure girl from the daycare center who's attending junior lifeguards. They get into trouble on a stony pier when an oil leak from an oceanic drainage pipe catches on fire. Both the Station 51 gang and Baywatch operations crews mount a rescue of the children and the paralyzed woman trainer who is discovered to be the little daycare girl's mother, riding the back of the escaped dolphin. Later, at the zoo, Hobie and Chris muse over missing the navy returned dolphin while Roy and Johnny wonder what it would be like to become Baywatch lifeguards. 19. Sacred Ground Johnny Gage suffers a mishap at the station which causes him to seek out a tribal elder for a purification ceremony. Johnny becomes obssessed with atoning for his previously lost spleen which he failed to do a year earlier. Charlie the mechanic's notified of the dent Johnny's falling face made into one of the squad's door. Gage and Roy attend a tribal prayer session at a curioshop. Johnny learns a frightening premonition from a shaman. Station 51 responds to a child jumper call at the request of two CHiPs officers, Frank Poncherello and John Baker. They all rescue a suicidal young cancer patient in heavy rain from a high riseleadge. Charlie the fire department mechanic coerces Boot the dog into inviting the gang into playing a Twister Game. Station 51 responds to a college house prank of the worst kind. Station 51 is asked to respond to L.A. Headquarters itself for a power outtage check when their radio fails. They discover Sam Lanier, the dispatcher, collapsed on his communications board. Johnny suffers doubts and desecrates his personal prayer sack at Rampart. The next morning, Johnny dreams a dream sent by his shaman and regains his faith when he learns about a friend's death. Johnny, grieving, delivers an eloquent eulogy at the memorial service. 20. Recertification Kel Brackett feels the brunt of writing new paramedic protocols for the county and the agony of change filters down to Johnny and Roy. Station 51 responds to a shopping mall aerial walkway collapse. Roy and Johnny crawl into a buried escalator after some victims. Criminals use the disaster to try and knock off a mall run casino and in the process, Captain Stanley's shot. A further collapse buries the gang and the casino's surveillance and security department pulls out all the stops to aid the firefighters. Brackett responds to assist with triaging Hank's emergency surgery through a hole in the escalator. Dixie has some fun during a paramedic hospital meeting in the end. 21. Devil Winds Hank Stanley suffers from anticipating the start of the Santa Ana winds season. Mike Stoker displays a hobby of predicting brush fire versus wind intensity using maps. Station 51 responds to the first wind related rescue call of the season, a cessna hanging from powerlines. Rampart is swamped with minor category idiot ER phone calls, driving Dixie batty. Roy and Johnny lighten her load. Gage frets about his ranch, when Stoker predicts it to be in a red critical zone for fire risk. Station 51 gets called into the foothills on firestorm standby. Squad 51 treats a fireline firefighter for smoke inhalation and rescue Johnny's aunt from his ranch's burning caretaker's house. A tree torched barn puts Dixie in jeopardy, enticing a rescue using a horse. 22. In Certain Terms Dix and Kel share conmiserations about a busy day at Rampart. Station 51 scrambles to thwart yet another surprise inspection by Fire Chief McConnikee. Station 51 responds to a violent drug overdose call. En route to Rampart, their ambulance is halted by a nearby landslide and fire ants end the rescue abruptly. Attention shifts to a slide victim, a young boy in cardiac difficulty. Rampart worries about 51's cut off radio status. Station 51 responds to a man trapped under his slide toppled house and get basement hole buried in the process. Rescued, they mull over an invention Chet created that'll ease ambulance-in-motion CPR. 23. The One That Matters Gage complains about running out of uniforms one morning at the station. Bonnie is discovered guarding Johnny's ball of socks on his bunk. She's soon found to be in late labor and the father's speculated horribly to be Boot, raising concerns for delivery problems. Les Taylor and Dave Gordon from the L.A. County animal pound of the tiger-in-a-meat-shop fame are called in to emergency assist. Cap calls Rampart as backup and gets an off duty Morton and Dixie to come to the station. Station 51 gets a sports injury call at a high school. Stoker gets a voiceless hang up caller that puzzles all. Later, Dixie learns the mystery caller to the station is a young artist woman committing suicide by plant seed pod ingestion who's got a crush on Stoker. A clue in the form of a singing canary over the phone line provides the last bit of information on the girl's location. They save her from pool drowning at the last possible second. Mike Stoker decides to keep in touch with the depressed minor through her future chaperoned counseling sessions to help her heal faster. He promises her one of Bonnie's newborn pups as a token of friendship. 24. S.N.A.F.U. A fever sick Dr. Brackett crashes his sports car into a tree and Station 51 responds to free and treat him. Joe Early and Dixie McCall organize his surgical teams. The gang decides to BBQ at Stoker's house for some weekend R&R. Unexpected lightning strikes Chet and Roy on the patio from the sky above the golf course. Gage struggles to keep DeSoto viable. At Rampart, Kel saves a fellow patient from a broken off I.V. catheter moving through an arm. Dixie and Kel renew romantic ties. The gang visits those injured at Rampart, bringing a cake. Station 51 handles a massive rescue effort during a burst water dam incident. In the process, grisly evidence of a mass murderer are discovered during their swift water rescue. The staff at Rampart discuss the week's snafu effect with their doctor and paramedic patients after the call is over. 25. The Overhaul Principle Johnny goes to nap in the bunkroom and wakes up hours later to find Brice checking his lifesigns at his neck. Gage learns of Paramedic Craig Brice's transfer to his work shift. He and the gang respond to a gravel works accident involving a conveyer belt and a heatstroked child rock buried in a car. Fatigue afterwards causes Gage to fall asleep in the squad. Marco and Cap both feel trepidations about the bad gravel works call and talk about it privately. Brice and Gage set up a mutual joke for the rest of the station gang to suffer and they bring Kel, Joe and Dixie in on it, too. Nurse Carol and Dr. Early are caught in a hostage situation when a disgruntled patient pulls out a gun at Rampart. Police Officers Jim Reed and Pete Malloy of Adam 12 arrive with Station 51 when a fire alarm at the hospital is pulled. Dixie treats a shot orderly and shows a student nurse how to triage when she becomes head of triage during the Code Dr. Black, lethal weapons used emergency. Joe Early is found head injured and being held hostage by the rampant patient's wife in the man's patient room. Johnny and Brice effect a clever rescue. Later, they spring their joke on the others at the station using a parade route and a box of soda cans. 26. The Shallow Light Johnny Gage declares war against a hotdog stand owner. Squad 51 responds to a child trouble breathing call that turns out to be epiglottitis. The boy's cocaine addicted mother is handled by officer Vince Howard and his partner when she interferes with the rescue, endangering her son. Joe Early helps the druggie mother and her kids out at Rampart with advice. Roy shows up to work grumpy about a visiting mother in law and Chet falls for another water can Phantom joke planted by Gage. Station 51 responds to a highway mudslide with entrapment during a heavy rain and start a rapid triage and recovery operation. Johnny pulls a fast one on the hotdog stand owner and takes advantage of a hyperventilation incident on the man to win food favors. Johnny swears off pulling any more pranks on Chet just to see the solemn promise thoroughly freak Kelly out. Station 51 responds to a fake teenager suicide attempt involving heart pills. Roy and Johnny get their just desserts when the hotdog stand owner discovers the truth about the fake life saving assistance the paramedics carried out on him earlier in the week. 27. Heavy Duty Station 51 begins a high angle rescue of two snotty children stuck up a skyscraper and both paramedics get attacked by a pair of peregrines defending a nest. Rampart Hospital suffers an underground laboratory explosion that entraps Dixie McCall under debris. Dixie's current lover, Dr. Fred Hathaway, a surgeon, pulls out all the stops to try and skip triage to go look for her. Roy and Johnny, at the hospital on a supply run, rush to begin a rescue.They locate McCall but another explosion brings part of the parking lot and a truck down on top of all three of them. A burst water pipe complicates matters when the lab basement room begins to flood with rising water.. Gage tries desperately to dig them out after Roy blacks out from a drugged needle stick and nearly drowns. Dixie performs mouth to mouth on DeSoto while Hathaway helps free Roy's pinned ankle. Hathway sacrifices himself to save the others when it becomes a choice of rope lifting Dixie first when the pinning truck breaks free starts to tumble down on top of them. Kel helps Dixie deal with her lover's death and Roy teases her goodnaturedly in the hospital cafeteria days afterwards to try and cheer her up. 28. Smoke Screen Johnny Gage stops to aid an injured woman in an alley after hearing gunshots and gets arrested by Dragnet's Detectives Joe Friday and Bill Gannon for murder when the woman dies. Friday and Gannon get set for the Christmas holiday by exchanging gifts while casing out a church reporting a stolen statue of Jesus from a nativity scene. They talk to the padre of the church and learn that the shot woman was related to Fireman Marco Lopez. They go to Station 51 to break the bad news. On hearing it, Marco faints and gets treated. Fire Chief Houts get involved in the Dragnet investigation and gets Johnny a fire department lawyer. Houts volunteers Boot the dog to help the detectives locate further clues in the alleyway. The detectives befriend Maximillion J. Lorentz in a religious shop, the bum whose money stuffed mattress so intrigued Station 51 a few months ago. The bum tells them about a retarded church boiler room worker and two altar boys who may have been around the night Lopez's cousin was killed. Dixie and Kel try to help Gage unsuccessfully. Roy and Johnny are called to the murder scene to meet up with the detectives and Boot. Johnny notices his old, past apartment in a building nearby. Lorentz, the bum, steps out of the shadows and says he's the one who put up Gage's bail and he tells them about the children's fingerprints found on the gun, professing his real status as a high level, and wealthy P.I. They are distracted when the Christmas tree in Johnny's old apartment catches fire. Marco, with the squad after his hospital discharge, aids them in rescuing the people trapped up there. The church offers refuge for those fleeing the fire and a carbon monoxide leak is discovered in the church basement, the cause of two altar boys' sudden illnesses. Marco calls for paramedics to care for them when they do not awaken. Marco discovers the boiler room man in jeopardy in the basement and effects his rescue. Lorentz, the boiler man's real life brother, mistakenly tries to do the same thing and is overcome by CO fumes. He is rescued, too, by Boot. The altar boys admit to the detectives about playing with the gun they found in the boiler man's cookie jar and about accidently shooting the Lopez girl. Later, that Christmas night, the padre and detectives find the statue thief in the form of a little boy pulling a red wagon who only wanted to give Jesus a ride on it to thank him for getting the gift. The dragnet detectives apologize to Station 51 for frightening Marco by giving them a fully decorated Christmas tree. Brackett and Dixie give a Christmas gift to the paramedics of their own when Kel writes and ratifies a new paramedic protocol that prohibits any medic from entering a potentially dangerous scene until the police have fully secured it for safety, first. 29. Where The Wind Blows The gang complains about the windy morning. They receive a call to attend a radio antennae collapsed onto a residential house. CHiPs officers Poncherello and Baker get a tour of the hospital base station before they leave to go back to the freeway system. Gage and DeSoto make a pact to figure out a way to calm patients down on tense rescue scenes using psych techniques and decide to use their coworkers as guinea pigs. Chief McConnikee helps himself to Gage's guitar. Station 51 responds to a man down from an explosion at the docks and treat a deafened famous country western singer. Dixie gets to hear a new song the singer has yet to publish a capella and is deeply touched. Days later, the paramedics receive an invite from the singer to do some beach horseback riding. They receive word about a downed hiker nearby who jumped off a cliff to get away from his wind fanned up campfire. A pilot/orthopedic hiking surgeon arrives and performs a needle evacuation on his friend's leg to restore circulation to it. The fire worsens and Roy and Johnny and the doctor are forced to use fire shelters to escape the firestorm. The MD suffers an asthma attack and is treated. In a bar, the gang goes to the country singer's concert and is surprised when Gage is invited up on stage and plays side by side with him, singing an absolutely beautiful new, unreleased song called Windsong.( Brice covers him, playing the bongos. :) ) 30. Eligibility The gang burns off a little stress by playing softball in the pouring rain. They tease Hank for not joining in. Marco tells everybody about Cap studying for the chief's exam and that starts a wager between Chet and Gage about who'll be winning his captain's spot upon his promotion. Joe and Dixie at Rampart start making plans for the annual Fireman's Ball. Station 51's called out to rescue an autistic boy caught in a heating vent grill. Brackett responds to a car fire at the ambulance entrance and treats a father for a heart attack and the daughter for head injuries after he learns she crashed the car into the wall by accident worrying over her dad. The gang suffers a tired Hank's bad mood at the lunch table and pranks die aborning when Cap overhears Chet calling him old. He immediately challenges Chet to a CPR contest on the manikins. A ring at the visitor's doorbell pulls everyone away to a walk-in-to-the-station cardiac call. That night, they discover Hank Stanley has acute sleep apnea symptoms and pull out all the stops to get him to some help for the problem. Gage gets a bad feeling and not long after, Station 51 gets a crib death baby call involving Karen Overstreet, the female paramedic trainee who saved Roy's life once on a fire scene with a defibrillator. The staff at Rampart spend time with Karen and her husband through a grieving process and so does Roy and Johnny. Hank is finally convinced to get sleep evaluated at Rampart. Days later, the gang learns Cap got a nose job to fix his apnea and that the captain's spot is unavailable for Gage's and Kelly's little competition for at least another year. The gang happily remembers Dixie's stunning evening gown worn the night before at the Ball and all of them smile but Cap, who sadly reported that he must have missed seeing it for taking a nap. 31. All That Glitters The gang makes fun of Johnny when he's caught practicing how to pan for gold in a bucket out in the station's back yard. Later, at lunch, Chet kids Johnny for forgetting his gloves all the time while working with hot things when he cuts his own finger on a veggie knife and faints. The gang treats him and discover that he donated blood excessively before work. They give him the third degree and a little paramedic hardball for being stupid. The squad responds to a motorcross injury at a busy track. They encounter a second incident there involving two children colliding on bicycles. Gage stays behind to treat them while Roy transports the first rider. Chet plays right into a vampire themed gag on him. Station 51 gets called to a house fire and help a sister station's firefighter when he falls through a roof. Chet's taken out by a water heater ejected piece of wood and gets treated by another station. Johnny learns the art of gold dredging on his weekend off and rescues a diver from drowning. He shares a success story with the gang at work later on, in the form of a huge blue sapphire, and a hefty stipend, displayed with pride. 32. Water Day Saints Hank polices an annual meeting to find a way to help pay for a new invention of Stoker and Kelly's. They create a new holiday, an expansion on their usual fire station tour, called Water Day. Station 51 is called out to a mass casualty incident involving cars and trucks on the freeway and as first on the scene, they become head of triage operations. Gage heads the initial care on multiple victims and Stoker spots a problem with a man caught inside a cement mixer who becomes the priority first victim. Brackett arrives to assist in his difficult extrication. Water Day commences at Station 51 with a flood of children. A boy gets stuck in one of the station's bathroom toilets and has to be rescued. Rampart fields a busy night of patients gamely. During the quiet night at the station, Gage tries unsuccessfully to find out what invention Chet and Stoker are working on. Station 51 responds to an overturned tanker truck full of...maple syrup. :) The new invention arrives at Rampart for its phase two test via a stokes with a CPR manikin. It's an automated CPR machine that uses a contracting chest band and passes with flying colors even on a day old corpse. Gage learns tremendous truths about the ineffectiveness of modern day CPR from Brackett in a poignant demo using Stoker and Kelly's trial device. An exhausted Dixie and Brackett escape the hospital for some takeout and time in a hot tub. Station 51 responds to a ruptured natural gas line from a construction accident. They begin evacuations of the neighborhood downwind. They find Dixie and Brackett in the doctor's house, unconscious from gas asphyxiation and they treat them. A little girl bystander approaches the firefighters and shares some news about their station now being famous in her school because of a news broadcast that was filmed at the station about Water Day, making the whole gang smile. 33. California Dreamin' The gang suffers under a night of no calls. They mull over the energy crisis and the nitpicking starts in earnest between Chet and Johnny. Johnny hits on the idea of going to Catalina Island. Station 51 responds to a man with an altered level of consciousness at the supermarket. They find a druggie and Stoker soon finds his gun pointed at him in an isolated moment. After the crisis is over, Stoker blacks out and is treated for shock. Detective Ron Crockett shows up at the station to get more details about the weapon drawn incident and ruffles a few feathers. Roy meets his son Chris and his own father Ian on the island, who're there to do some cessna flying. Chet pulls a disappearing cliff diving act as a joke on Stoker. Chris gets a lesson on Catalina aviation from his grandfather, Ian DeSoto. Kelly goes gliding. Marco follows, tandem strapped to his guide, Kip, in his own glider. A wind gust flips Marco and Kip and they crash into a tree. Cap grows alarmed at the lack of radio from Marco and Chet mounts an airborne search. Kelly spots the downed glider and radios camp about it, then he goes in for a landing. Gage launches in another glider after dark to Avalon to round up some emergency help. Chet discovers a snake bite on Marco's leg and treats him in a fire warmed cave. Stanley flies at dawn in a Baywatch helicopter with Roy and Johnny and effect their rescue. They all meet the island's sole, but colorful, nurse and doctor pair at the hospital. A storm approaches and the doc offers the gang his house for shelter. Ian and Chris's plane gets lightning struck and makes an emergency landing at the airport with Avalon's FD on standby on the runway. Ian and Marco remain behind when the others go to the beach. They find and rescue two divers in trouble and take them by Baywatch boat to a decompression chamber. Later, they fully relax at the doc's house. 34. No Sooner Said Roy and Johnny worry about a Chet who was saying nothing untoward for once to anyone. Gage suffers a memory of regret concerning Kelly and enters a *flashback* about... Station 51 responds to a man trapped beneath a caterpillar tractor. Gage worries about the paramedic refresher coming up and bugs a mouth zippered Dixie about them. Station 51 responds to an excavation fire at a coal mining company. Chet Kelly is sent down an empty shaft by rope to check out an underground fire and he makes a disturbing discovery, bad air. The gang realizes the trouble and hauls him to safety, only to find Chet apneic. They resuscitate him and then black out one by one as a creeping gas overcomes them all. Chet, protected by an oxygen mask, reawakens and effects a transmission to summon hazmat help for everybody. Kelly awakens at Rampart to find himself and the rest of the gang being carbon monoxide treated and in isolation wards... for chicken pox that they found on Marco. The gang gets on each other's nerves during the days it takes to run the infection's course. Kelly gets positively conceited about his singled handed rescue of them all and Gage retorts right back at him with a cutting remark ....*end flashback* Roy sighs on the current cancelled rescue, telling Johnny that his sharp comment then must be what's making Chet ignore everyone now. Squad 51 responds to a call to a residence that had a service dog in attendance. On the way Gage and Roy debate about the new 911 phone system trials. They find a house fire in progress and that upsets Johnny even more when he realized the 911 operator failed to gather critical information about the call being a blaze in progress. They hastily summon their engine and others and then effect a rescue on their own and save a dwarfened cripple. The help dog is discovered not to have followed them out, so a search is begun by the gang to find him. Dixie is mesmorized by the gang's report of the research they'd recently done concerning the coal fire that almost killed them a week earlier. Roy wins the bet on who called 911 for the handicapped man and service dog fire. 35. Captain's Prerogative Captain Stanley awakens at Rampart, seriously hurt, and struggles to reconstruct his memory. He suffers a flashback of hanging hose in the tower when lightning struck him, two years earlier. Then he worries about the day's current injury on a scene that he had misjudged badly, causing all of his men to become caught in an explosion and building collapse at the pier. Gage speaks with Joanne DeSoto at Rampart about hope in the waiting area. There they learn about Chet and Roy's incoming helicopter flight and rush outside to meet Brice and the team bringing them in. Johnny learns Roy and Chet are serious but stable and that the others of his station are still missing under the debris field. Dr. Brackett shares possibilities of Roy's problems with Joanne and soon, both Roy and Chet are treated by trauma teams aggressively. Gage rushes back to the scene against orders. Cap, in another room regrets the command decision he made at the accident site. Joanne comforts Johnny in the chapel. Morton delivers good news about Chet, Roy and Cap's conditions. Stoker and Lopez awaken to find themselves injured and buried under a fallen building. They begin a crawling, escaping attempt to free themselves. Dixie and Brackett visit Hank post surgical with a well known fire chaplain. Cap has a precognition about the chaplain's future and is disturbed. He learns Marco and Stoker are alive and is comforted following a prayer. Gage tricks a rookie medic into taking his patient and sneaks over to where Brice is digging out his stationmates. Johnny goes into a hole and treats three others along with his two coworkers. Stoker does his best to calm a man trapped with him. Slowly, they learn the true extent of the disaster. Hank Stanley returns off duty to a station vacant during his usual A-shift, intentionally scheduled as abandoned while he and his men heal, and goes to sit in his darkened office while worrying about his up and coming disciplinarian Skelly hearing. He discovers his men, similarly drawn back to the stationhouse, serving out coffee in the kitchen. They forgive him the order that brought them harm and set up Brice as his arbitrator for his hearing. Craig finds a legal loophole that gives the gang a dismissal advantage. They actively ply to invoke it. Stoker begins his testimony the next day, with confidence. 36. Tower Drill Gage gets frustrated and storms off when the gang try to suggest that he needs a little help handling relationships with the opposite sex. Station 51 answers a person treed by an alligator call. Helpful postal workers and Les and Dave of animal control immobilize the gator while the gang sets up a life net in case the panicking woman fell. She does at a bad time and bounces partially out of the net, and onto the ground, injuring herself badly. Roy and Johnny treats her and uses a KED to protect her spine. They call in the Sierra Rescue rangers to fly her out. Station 51 returns from the call to a surprise visit from Fire Chief James O. Page and an old nemesis, ex-paramedic trainee Ed Marlowe. The chief asks Cap to sponsor Ed as an engineer's trainee in a new consideration. The gang has trepidations about the revisiting fireman and an order calling them to train cadets during the next Tower Drill session. Gage addresses his misgivings loudly in the office and Hank soon worries about his decision to accept the chief's request. Roy discusses the final firemen's test with his class and Ed makes sure to voice his opinion on matters clearly. Marlowe drives a course of cones in an engine while Gage runs a smoke exposure without scba drill. Cap is running a group of cadets through the drill tower when one of the young recruits panics and falls out a window when a sprinkler system fails. Marlowe effects a miraculous rescue using a rope and a ladder truck bucket. Chet pulls a joke by leaving a whoopie cushion under the fire chief's chair. Chet effects a tower recon from the ground in full scba and an infrared camera team. Hank coaches his recruits to safety. The chief gets his joking revenge on Chet by using some handy recruits. Ed Marlowe divulges his bungee leap rope knotting secret to Gage before parting on good terms with the entire gang for his new career as an engineer at 110's. 37. Primary Complaint Gage and Dwyer discuss the bet they have with Roy about Brackett's new love interest. Kelly pegs Gage accurately for having a crush on her, too. The gang discusses mixed reactions about the new 911 system. Roy and Johnny talk about good and bad luck on their way to a call in a nursing home. They treat a rapidly onsetting aortic aneurysm. On the way out, Cap runs into an old firefighter friend and shares good memories with him. The next morning, high spirits incites some impromptu singing by a rainy garage bay door. Squad 51 responds to a man trapped at sea. During the rescue, premature reef building explosives go off, injuring Roy. Gage frets until divers find DeSoto. Roy is found to be deafened during evaluation. Later, Brackett's doctor girlfriend examines Roy with an ENT specialist and Dr. Morton, and decide that Roy's eventual surgical recovery will be good. Johnny almost gives away the feelings he has for Kel's steady before he hastily retreats from the room. Gage returns to the station to share what he knows about Roy when Chet's ribbing about his forbidden woman crush irks him into walking away. Paramedic Gil Dwyer pursues him, learning more. Cap asks Gage up front about whether or not he's going to leave Brackett's close date alone. Gage asks if he's trusted to be honorable and in answer, the gang feeds him to help him get his mind off of her. Station 51 responds to a multiple tanker accident involving a front end loader fallen off a viaduct. A trucker is freed while a poisonous gas cloud threatens nearby neighborhoods. Chet and others work to free a woman from a sports car jammed underneath one of the tankers. Officer Vince tries to get the second uninjured trucker to admit what his cargo is but no one learns it before an explosion occurs involving nitric acid. Station 51 rapidly flees the scene with their victims on the engine's hosebed. Battalion soon orders Station 51 to evacuate a school under the path of the acid cloud's threat but they arrived too late to save a small girl. The remaining students and teachers are bustled into a protected gymnasium. There, Dwyer and Gage treat two burned children with help from Brackett and his girlfriend while Cap, Stoker and Marco carry out hose washing decontamination procedures. Afterwards, Roy and Johnny frankly discuss with Dixie, how she feels about Kel seeing another woman and both are surprised by the answer when a bet made between McCall and DeSoto reveals another secret Johnny Gage is hiding in his heart. 38. A.M.A. Roy and Johnny find themselves promoting the paramedic program at a touring circus show. Station 51 responds to Vince Howard's call for help for rescue from a siege by a tiger. Gage suffers stage fright and the attentions of a friendly elephant. A mock human torch rescue is staged ringside that's unexpectedly enhanced by clownery. A circus performer actively goes against medical advice following a diabetic syncopal episode after being revived by Station 51. Roy's family shows up to see a performance along with the rest of the gang. A trapeze artist from their earlier rescue suffers a traumatic fall and Station 51 tries absolutely everything to save him. Chet uses humor to cheer up Chris DeSoto following the incident. 39. Burnout Roy suffers the chore of reorganizing a new drug box for the squad. The gang feels the full effects of stupid calls and the lack of sleep. Boot tries to be the perfect ambassador. From the driveway of the station, Captain Stanley witnesses an explosion at the Arco refinery across the street. The gang treats two blast injured truck drivers escaping the disaster. Dixie and Brackett are horrified to see the event unfolding on TV. The paramedics climb a distillation tower after a lost plant manager spotted by a fire department helicopter. A gas leak explosion traps Johnny, Chet and Roy inside an Arco saferoom with only a drug box and a few scba air bottles. Smoke inhalation takes its toll on Chet and their Arco victim. Brackett devises emergency antidote treatment to cope with their exposure to poison gasses. The aftermath, days later, is viewed on a news broadcast telling of the fire's effect on the community. Dixie McCall is deeply disturbed by the fact that the tower refuge, used by the three firefighters during the height of the explosions, was completely destroyed shortly after they got out of there. Chet takes that fact hard. 40. Canine Capers Roy receives the wrath of a vengeful mother at the station in the form of a basket full of puppies. Squad 51 answers a shooting only to find themselves face to face with the barrel of a gun. Patrol Officer Vince Howard oversees the rescue and follows up on what becomes a murder investigation. A little girl visits the station as a week long guest ride-along through the Make A Wish Foundation with Charlie the mechanic as her chaperone and Dixie McCall as her attending nurse. Felicia, their station guest, endears herself to the gang through tiny acts of selflessness and open curiosity about their jobs. A car crash into an apartment building exposes a psych patient and helicopters are summoned for trauma. Charlie shows Felicia the world of fire department power tools. Roy and Johnny gives her a tour of a paramedic helicopter and answer delicate questions about mortality. Dixie shares the news of Felicia's death and Charlie tells of the eclipse that occurred the moment she died. Bonnie and Gage come away from the experience particularly effected as they learn about love. 41. Attrition Johnny and Roy try to get through a lunch hour, sniping at each other out of boredom for a lack of runs. They encounter a cold shouldered lifeguard and Bay City detectives while babe watching at the beach with Henry the station dog. Squad 51 gets gratefully lost hosting a fire department/ emergency services demo at a local school but have a problem with drifting embers. An emergency develops in the form of a little girl bleeding to death in a playground equipment accident, which turns into a high angle rescue involving a ladder truck. The child is airlifted out safely but not in time enough for Gage to grab a favorite dessert at Rampart's cafeteria. Dixie McCall works a graceful feminine miracle for the sake of Johnny's sweet tooth. Nitpicking causes Squad 51 to crash with another car that Engine 51 responds to. Dixie McCall is found to be the other driver. Dr. Brackett performs and emergency procedure to save her life during extrication. Cap and the crew are hard pressed to keep everyone safe and breathing. They welcome Craig Brice's aid with open arms. Brackett does a litte recruiting of his own calling in a pair of doctors from another city. All the firemen eagerly await surgical recovery news on Dixie and fall prey to the antics of their guest physicians. 42. Pilot Light Johnny Gage spends the morning fussing about the lack of patient history information the Station always seems to suffer on medical calls. He vows to come up with a solution. Dixie escapes her busy ER desk long enough to take a shower after a long CPR, trapping Joe Early at multiple phone lines. Squad 51 responds to a call at the police station only to find an unconscious Officer Vince Howard on the floor, barely breathing. Dr. Brackett pulls out all the stops diagnosing the patrolman's problem with the help of Roy and Johnny and Howard luckily survives a life threatening hypercalcemic crisis. Johnny re-agonizes over his secret invention that will revolutionize the way paramedics handle medical calls with senior citizens. Station 51 answers a warehouse fire with Station 110 and Squad 51 gets trapped inside a breakroom with two victims in heavy smoke with their air running out. Roy treats a hurt paramedic and Gage learns that his private invention has already been submitted by another. Chet does an amazing humanitarian act by coming up with a new protocol idea of his own and creditting Johnny for thinking of it to the chiefs. 43. The Quint Connection Kelly cringes under the attentions of the smoke eater at shift change when the older captain warns the substituting Stone about Chet's shinanigans. The gang, Dixie and Brackett get excited about an upcoming skiing weekend at Lake Tahoe. The gang attends a house fire and rescue two victims from smoke inhalation. The smoke eater corners Chet in an impromptu verbal oral engineer's examination. Dixie vows to camp next to a ski lodge lobby fireplace for the next two days. The gang and Rampart pair rescue a child from choking at a restaurant and meet up with the resort's local ski patrol. The vacationing bunch splits up in the great wild outdoors just in time to feel the effects of an avalanche. Stoker burns himself on camp coffee. They help out at a buried alive snow slide site, a cliff fall, and a car over the embankment rescue. Johnny wins a date with a beautiful EMT snow patroller and Marco celebrates a baby's survival by making a snow angel. 44. Pump Peculiarities The gang gets stressed out by a new Los Angeles River Flashflood Prevention Project and the problematic risks especially effect Mike Stoker. The staff at Rampart drive each other crazy on a slow day. Station 51 responds to a horse stuck in a mudhole. A little boy is rescued from a city controlled flash flood by a last second brain storming swiftwater technique Stoker creates. A fire chopper calls in a teen drag race gone bad in the riverbed. Roy DeSoto is stunned when an ejected fatality is his son. Mike Stoker collapses with paroxysmal tachycardia and is treated. Deeply moved by Roy's grief, Stoker designs an alcohol awareness program and puts it on for the high school whose students were involved in crash killing Chris DeSoto. As a gift of gratitude, the students send the gang a music video showing what they learned and how they felt about the experience. 45. Richter Six©- by Michael Donovan. Gage and DeSoto are teaching paramedic students about the reality of real life rescue. Roy relates a tale of when a large earthquake strikes the whole county in a flashback. The gang is shaken out of bed at the station to response to a total search and recovery operation at an area hospital collapsed in a quake. Dr. Brackett and Mike Morton deliver a premature baby. A man is discovered in a work room in cardiac arrest and Johnny pulls out all the stops to find a doctor to authorize his medications. One blinded in an acid spill volunteers to help. Station 51 and Joe Early rescue an unconscious surgeon and a little girl from an operating ward. DeSoto frets about the lack of word about his family. Gage tunnels into a fire stairwell, only to find two people dead. A spunky Salvation Army volunteer cheers up Roy and Johnny while dolling out food and coffee. Kel Brackett learns his new mother's husband is the blinded M.D. and gets involved trying to help their emotional crisis. Roy learns the status of his home neighborhood.The last of the earthquake victims are found but at a price, Chet Kelly is buried under debris in an aftershock. He is found with a fractured shoulder and is sent to be treated at Rampart by Dr. Brackett. DeSoto's story to his class concludes when the courageous doctor from the tale walks in to lecture. 46. The Long Hours Station 51 fills in for Station 110's fireboat on the ocean. Gage has a hankering to visit the beach. A light plane crashes off the Santa Monica Pier and both the gang and Baywatch lifeguards are called to assist. Dr. Morton is rescued from near drowning with a back injury and fractured arm. A surgeon's strike at Rampart threatens Morton's life when he is forced to be shipped to another hospital. Three generations are rescued from a burning house and treated for smoke inhalation. Kel is angered at a complication overlooked on his colleague and vows to stay at Morton's bedside through the crisis. Roy and Johnny assists at the intern's code blue seizure. The station responds to a bomb threat at the pier. A police officer is gravely wounded when it detonates. Dixie delivers good news about Morton so Chet, Roy and Johnny go visiting his bedside bearing a surprise homemade gift. 47. I.V. Push The gang suffers a sleepless night at the station under the fury of a cold winter storm. Chet discovers a teen runaway nearly dead from hypothermia in the back yard. CHiPs officers Frank Poncherello and Jon Baker assist Station 51 in saving a driver driven off a cliff. Johnny Gage suffers qualms when the face of the girl they saved from the cold becomes familiar in memory at Rampart. Dixie helps learn the teenager's identity and CHiP Bonnie Clark accompanies the teen to a retreat for runaways in the mountains. A second storm brings a tree down onto their cabin, trapping Gage and Joy Yellowbird inside, injured. Gage confesses a shortcoming to his young friend while a rescue is affected around them and finds peace after a years long broken promise. 48. Hostage©- by Susan Keenan© A house fire leads to a career ending health problem being discovered for a friend of Johnny and Roy. A game of basketball was interupted by another rescue call at a glass shop. Chet goes silent thinking he jinxed the guys. A young couple arrived at Rampart thinking they were going to become parents. Only to find out it wasn't quite time. Roy and Johnny are called called to rescue a child whose hand was stuck in playground equipment. Johnny and Roy are taken hostage on the way back from Rampart. They are forced to care for a heroin addict while his buddy holds them at gun point. Roy must get creative to disclose their location without saying it outright. The boys are eventually found and upon their return to the station greeted with Chet's voice returning, a warm dinner and a round of applause. 49. The Helper's High- Resources are stretched thin as LACO helps in a fire storm. Hank suffers lingering trouble from hitting his head during his days off. The boys have an interesting encounter with a drunk at a palm tree. After a fairly quiet night, Marco goes to take the trash out and gets shot in the hand. Mike has to say a heart breaking good bye to a dear friend from his military days. On the way to a call the engine has a run in with a loose log from a logging truck. Hank suffers a severe closed head injury. Mike is temporairly promoted to Captain in Hank's absence. Hank is welcomed back with a party full of friends and family. Mike and Hank share a candid conversation as they raise the flags on Hank's first day back. 50. The Other Side A day of null action spices up when technology is more attractive to a victim than self preservation when the driver hits the squad. Life is anything but normal when Station 51 responds to a traffic accident only to realize the first responder is dispatcher Sam Lanier. Sam sticks around once another car joins the fray. At Rampart, the fight is on to save Sharon Walter's life in the middle of an unusually quiet day. Then the hospital faces its own crisis when a minor earthquake reeks havoc on vital areas. Doctor Morton takes command when Joe and Kel are caught in the middle of the mess. Guess who saves the day? 51. What's A Dedicated Captain Like You Doing... SEASON FINALE Captains DeSoto and Gage reunite unexpectedly four years after their promotion away from Station 51. They begin sharing flashbacks of their lives during those separated years. Dixie confides confidence in the new head nurse of the E.R., Sharon Walters. Flashback, Dixie's appendicitis attack on her day off. Future Roy and Johnny decide to run in a manikin resuscitation exercise to Rampart to extend their visit with each other. Kel Brackett collapses due to high blood pressure in Hospital Administrator Dixie McCall's office and is treated by a responding Roy, Johnny and paramedic cadets. Feeling their own mortality, Roy and Johnny visit Station 51 and go calling on their old captain, Hank Stanley. They wonder about the real reason Hank burned Chief McConnikee's hat and find out why through Cap's flashback memory over lunch. Roy shares a time of his own when he suffers a nervous breakdown over the loss of a child on a mudslide bus rescue gone bad. They reminisce about Henry, the station basset hound's heart attack rescue. Hank shares the real reason why Captain Dick Hammer left the fire department before his own tenure there. Kel Brackett awakens in ICU, recovering from his near stroke from hypertension, and relives the trials and tribulations he suffered trying to relate to his own father. He plans a fishing trip and they make amends upon his discharge from Rampart. Back at the station, the three captains share the outcome of two games faced, but never completed in the eyes of any of them, a poker game with mafia, and the big USC football game where they originally missed the outcome of the game. They flashback to the week when a Make A Wish child, Felicia comes to shadow their careers before she succumbs to a fatal illness. Captain Gage gets to ply his revenge against snakes. Remembering pain, they recall and relive a rescue in which Chet Kelly reveals a secret life, after death. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Special A. The Face In The Mirror Johnny and Roy have fun teaching a CPR class. The next day the gang finds Roy tired from all the overtime over the breakfast table and Cap gives Gage some smelling salts to use on him as a joke. The station responds to a multiple fog bound pileup on the freeway near the ocean. Gage and Roy begin triaging the first casualties. Two trapped girls are found in an overturned Winnebago. Marco and Chet begin to cut them free using a K-12. Cap worms in to help Roy treat the children. DeSoto begins to worry about his own lack of sleep. A live power line falls on the camper and electrocutes Chet and Marco. Gage immediately begins to handle their rescue and treatment. A new kind of defibrillator is found with some nearby beach lifeguards and it's quickly used to revive Chet. Roy is called out of the camper to sedate Marco's convulsions. Shocked by a powerline and fatigued, DeSoto accidentally gives Lopez too much diazepam, sending Marco into a coma before blacking out. Chet reawakens en route to the hospital, and learns about the overdose. Dixie delivers her own brand of therapy to Roy when he begins to despair about Marco. Morton orders McCall to release Roy to Dr. Brackett's office. Gage remains closeby while Joe Early treats Lopez aggressively, ignoring smoke inhalation injuries of his own. The doctor makes him treat himself with oxygen. Gage flees when a chaplain arrives to deliver last rites and protests when Vince handcuffs Roy and takes him to jail. Cap cares for Gage's racing emotions in the nurse's lounge. Johnny resents his superior's orders when Gil Sheppard steps in to replace Roy in the squad. Roy's treated by an old jail doc. Joanne soon takes Roy home after Gage posts his bail. Johnny fights every inch to contain himself when a FEMA investigator shows up to learn about what contributed to Roy's paramedic mistake. Countering, Cap asks Brackett to be his paramedic adjudicator. A mild earth tremor shakes the station and Rampart. Dixie learns of an improvement in Marco from Dr. Morton. Joanne takes pity on her sleeping husband, restless from the quake. She leaves an open HT on soft playback near his head on a nightstand to calm him. Brackett arrives at the station to effect a few changes and shake up the FEMA investigator. Station 51 responds to a report of a gas leak and go with Kel and the director to seal it off. They find evidence of multiple sinkholes near a forested neighborhood. The investigator almost falls into one and is saved by Gage. Another cave-in topples a teenager in a tree house and Johnny rushes to his aid, calling for more help via radio to Gil. Another earthquake knocks Gage out when a tree branch clobbers him. Brackett and the investigator launch a search of the field when Cap worries about Gage's lack of response. Roy wakes up, overhearing a broken outgoing only transmission from Johnny over the HT, professing that he's injured and with another. DeSoto bolts upright and breaks house arrest by using his dog Shania to track Johnny's whereabouts down. Under broken trees, Johnny works to keep his patient alive. At Rampart, Joe Early and Dixie find Marco recovering and celebrate. They leave to go call Johnny via dispatch about the good news. Brackett and DeSoto find Gage down a hole with the teenager with the help of Shania the dog. The investigator finally relents when the teenager codes and needs immediate paramedic and doctor help after he hears that Marco is awake and talking from Dixie through an HT radio patch. Later, at the hospital, everybody celebrates the teenager's saved life and Roy's aquittal. Everybody bristles when the FEMA investigator makes a reappearance, but the man is bent on apology. In a box, he gives Roy a check for Station 51's charity and DeSoto's returned paramedic's badge and license. Dix and Kel leave the room to let them all heal. Special B. Too Close To Home Roy and Johnny cut loose during a really good handball game. Gage teases Roy about making vacation plans again much to DeSoto's chagrin. Chet Kelly shares a brainstorm about Station 51 collectively buying a race horse and running her on the circuit to earn and split all the winnings. Everybody signs the contract, except Roy. Morton's teased by Kel when he shows up in a treatment room, paramedic treated for a trip and fall following a slip on a banana peel. Brackett orchestrates a nurse's revenge for Morton's earlier horrid bedside manner against her. Station 51 responds to a riot at the sports stadium arena. They meet Vince, in the thick of his element, arresting thugs. They treat a thrown cop, and a handcuffed gang leader, who starts to choke, with a flail chest. Dixie discusses her day with Roy and Johnny over coffee and then surprises them on a tour to go see a current favorite patient of hers, Dr. Morton. Joe Early expresses a frank opinion about the racehorse deal, deflating Johnny's enthusiasm. While leaving Rampart, they hear a disturbance in a hospital room and go investigating a loud noise. They find themselves trapped with a partially conscious Morton, post surgical, following an ankle fracture repair. They are spared Mike's usual scathes when sedation proves its worth moments later. Squad 51 responds to a man down at a ranch and soon realize that it's at Chet's sister's address. Their worries prove well founded when Chet is located, bleeding badly on a shattered chicken coup following a horse toss. They're about to treat him when their newly purchased race horse, crazed from fresh bee stings, charges them. All the medical gear, including the biophone, is trampled when Roy and Johnny choose to log roll Chet safely away from her under the fence. Chet is found in deep shock afterwards. He's oxygen support ventilated by the engine crew until an I.V., and a hemostat can be retrieve tricked from under the horse's hooves with a fire extinguisher. Joe Early and Dixie marvel at Chet's amazing recovery. At the station, shift change paramedics trade what-I've-wrecked-on-my-shift stories and bow their helmets to Roy and Gage's racehorse-gone-mad call for the highest damage total. Roy is teased about vacation planning again over lunch just as the tones go off for a shed fire.. at DeSoto's own house address. Cap lets Roy question the crowd and Vince about his kids as the garden shed starts to be hosed out. A neighbor's child, admitting to a sleepover, confesses that one of Roy's kids had played with matches, in the house. An errant spark ignites the house through the water heater. Roy, panicking, learns that his daughter is in the house from Joanne, his wife who faints soon after arriving home by car. He gets by all firefighters and into the house without his scba tank. Gage mounts a fast search for both daughter and his partner with an air bottle but only finds a dead kitten in the kitchen. He is forced to crawl on his hands and knees while looking for Roy due to thickening smoke. Roy's found unconscious from a blow to the head and is fireman carried out of the house by Johnny. Returning, he finds Jesse, Roy's daughter, in a closet and gets her out by sharing his air mask. A shot of epinephrine revives Roy from a nonbreathing state minutes later, and Gage finds his hands full with a confused combative partner for several seconds until he fully wakes up. The gang laughs when Johnny delivers a funny medical report to Rampart about the good positive change after he suffers a fit of high spirits. Movie One, The Fire Within (Episode 52) Part One A traumatized little boy travels to a park ranger station in coastline New York State with his grandmother to escape the memory of his father's death. An RN and Doctor Park Ranger team gets caught in an avalanche on a routine trail safety run. The Station 51 gang travels to the Appalachian Center National Park to participate in an extended season deer hunt before reporting to an airport fire station on the coast for career cross training. Hidden concerns effect the mountain ranger team's friendships throughout. The airport fire station crew suffers a practical joke war with the airport's control tower personnel and decide to get revenge. ARFF crew bond with a morning run along a runway at dawn. A fire chief gets Dr. Brackett's permission to use Roy and Johnny's paramedic skills. A Park Ranger captain paramedic befriends the sad little boy and decides a career shadow day will ease his grief. Station 51's deer hunt begins with a rocky start when Chet reveals his secret strategy for luring bucks. Chet outclasses Johnny archery wise on a deer target shooting contest. Gage gets the last comeback when Kelly chokes when targetting the real thing. The gang cheers up Kelly about his awkward first hunt over venison steaks. A cougar pays a visit to their deer camp and is taken out by a park ranger's mule and a female sheriff paramedic's bullet. Three sheriff paramedics kabbitz good natured banter at the national park's headquarters. The gang suffers the reality of the onset of sudden winter when their campfire needs a sudden snuffing. The sad little boy receives a tour in the park's rescue helicopter by their ranger pilot. Chet, fetching water for the coffee pot, discovers a river hypothermia victim, a kayaker in the shallows, and summons help. The station 51 crew begins treatment of their patient with warming and oxygen after radioing for assistance from the park lodge. They find a clue that their kayaker wasn't alone and begin a search upstream for a second victim. Bluebird Five, the tour chopper, overflies the gang's kayak rescue. Nurse and doctor park rangers worry over the call. 240 Robert sheriff's paramedics and helicopter pilot respond to the gang's incident. Chet and Roy marvel at a new steaming breathing device and intrabone I.V. which saves their first victim from death by cold. The second kayaker is found with a broken back and skull and is rescued from the water by Gage and Stanley. Johnny suffers deep body chilling. Sierra's paramedic park ranger Ted Cassidy treats Gage. Bluebird Five crashes after being caught in a dust devil. 240 Robert and the gang extricates the second kayaker with difficulty by chopper. Both river victims evacuated, the gang begins a new search and rescue operation for the lost boy and pilot from Bluebird Five. Johnny becomes enamoured of Morgan Wainwright, the 240 Robert unit's pilot. A nurse/park ranger recalls how she met the missing boy before she and the boy's grandmother rush off on horseback in a search operation. Gage has a run in with a cantankerous nurse and his doctor at the ranger lodge's hospital. The sheriff's female pilot shows romantic interest in Johnny. The boy and tour pilot come to on the forest floor below the crashed chopper. The pilot, gravely wounded, helps the child cope with parent loss while the boy struggles to care for the man's injuries. The searchers come up with a hypothesis of where the tour helicopter ditched and press harder on searching. Johnny reconciles with his lady doctor to amend their rocky start as patient and caregiver. The boy desperately tries to breathing revive his pilot friend when a femoral artery bursts and severe shock sets in. A smart mule locates the boy's lost navy cap and searchers soon find the lost chopper pair and begin emergency care. Part Two The park pilot, the crashed Bluebird Five chopper, and the boy are all airlifted to sources of repair and help. The child is reassured of his new pilot friend's eventual recovery by the rangers and park doctor. At dinner, the Station 51 gang tease Chet's still tender hunting impressions. The youngest park ranger girl tries a date attempt with her captain. Johnny wins the sheriff pilot's heart and she gives them all a farewell to remember as they start to travel to the coastal airport for their next trip stop at the airport's fire station. The gang is escorted to their training destination by the airport fire chief. Casual banter over the kitchen table bonds the two fire crews instantly. The L.A. gang is given orientation and training to airport firefighting in great detail. Dixie McCall phones them in New York to say howdy. An airport chopper paramedic arrives to the runway fire station with bad news about a distressed business commuter in the air. A passenger on the jet suffers cardiac arrest and collapses. A military jet is scrambled to assess the jet pilot's incommunicado emergency situation. Both Station 51's men and the ARFF crew pair up and respond in trucks with other fire services, to the runway. All the paramedics team up in ambulances or with first in crews. The jet lands on wheels but catches flame from a blown airlock door. The fire crews move in to rescue pilot and businessmen passengers. One by one, the casualties are moved to an emergency clinic by the airport terminal where the park doctor has rejoined them for triage operations. Roy and Johnny treat the cardiac arrested man along with their airport firefighter paramedic coworkers. All victims are evacuated to the airport clinic hastily being set up for them. In the airport tower, an air controller sees an ominous sight of the incoming lights of an international Concorde flight that declares a sudden ice bound air emergency. The situation goes pear shaped when the aircraft crashes, taking out a radio antennae and killing all on board. The flat lined heart victim is left abandoned on the side of the runway in the face of the new emergency. Damaged are the air control tower, the main airport terminal and three grounded passenger airliners still in docking place. A new massive large scale incident is declared and the airport fire chief hastily reassigns them all to specific rescue tasks. An airport fire engineer is assigned the radio room at the fire station with another firefighter. The 51 gang is split up between search and rescue of the control tower and main terminal, after organizing themselves with the triage doctor from the Appalchia park center. Captain Stanley is given command of a second rescue operation along with Mike Stoker. The fire engineer links up with a bus driver who has a ham radio for emergency communication. The fire station dalmatian is released to assist her crewmates outside. Armed with extra gear, air bottles and hoses, all the firecrews move into the heart of an inferno in a two pronged attack, one into the main terminal and the second into the blacked out and still burning air traffic control tower. Roy and Johnny rescue an air traffic controller from a burning control tower. Cap finds and resuscitates an airport worker on a search and rescue mission. A major aviation fuel leak is discovered in a ruptured pipeline underneath buckled flooring in the main terminal. Roy and Johnny rescue an air traffic controller from the burning control tower. People are found trapped inside a burning stairwell and inside a gated airliner. Only half the victims are extricated when the passenger jet explodes. Dr. Brackett goes to New York to help out in triage. A newborn, a lung burned man, and an ill child are treated in evac. The disaster green zone is relocated to a safer location in a city park near the airport as the fuel fire grows. Airport firefighters struggle to find a pipeline shut off valve to end the fire. A boy is rescued from a luggage conveyer belt but suffers cardiac arrest. A lady doctor in triage is effected when an EMT friend is found injured on the airfield. An airport firefighter is trapped inside a valve room with activated clean agent fire suppression gas. A female firefighter is overcome by heat. Station 51 and most of their airport fire host crew rushes in to rescue their man stuck in the clean room. Doctor Brackett treats and gives a pep talk to the female firefighter. Johnny and Roy begin a high angle rescue to enter the terminal around the roof hole created by the fuel fire. The trapped fireman is found buried under debris. DeSoto and Gage begin to shut off the main fuel valve again that had been started by their victim. Cap and Stoker are trapped on top of a collapsing parking ramp garage while rescuing an old man and little girl. They're forced to jump into a life net when cars begin exploding. Stoker is injured by shrapnel. The trapped fireman is freed and the fuel fire valve is shut off, ending all fire. Post incident, Dr. Brackett, the national park lady doctor, sheriff's lady pilot and all the arff and the Station 51 gang suffer emotional effects of the ordeal in conmiseration at the airport fire station over dinner. The lady firefighter and arff recovered from his clean room exposure muse over their future. The 51 gang is sleeping it off in a dark bunk room. All except Johnny, who's entertaining the lady pilot, on pillows. Special C. Fire In The Sky (Episode Fifty Three) Johnny and Roy go camping in Santa Rosa County. Gage burns his ankle on hot coffee. While on a solo meditation hike, Gage runs into two strange men named Chakotay and Tom Paris. He begins to treat the Native American Chakotay who has suffered air crash related injuries. He radios Roy to rendevous and begins to carry his new patient back to camp. They wait out the night before beginning to hike to a ranger tower to summon a rescue party of park rangers. Roy and Johnny don't like Tom Paris's evasive answers about their identities and reasons for being in their predicament. Chakotay subtlely orders Tom Paris to use his combadge technology to boost Roy's HT. A chopper's called in from Sierra Rescue. Tom Paris beams back to the ruined shuttle craft when Chakotay begins to exhibit dire Borg reaction symptoms and activates a new test version of the EMH for a cure of hypospray nannites. Then he destroys the ship after pocketting the EMH's holo emitter into a pocket. He then cures Gage of a Borg infection secretly by using a water bottle. Chakotay is flown to Rampart for emergency surgery. In an operating observation dome, Paris receives a transmission through his combadge and runs for a bathroom to answer it. He encounters a hologram of Reginald Barclay from Project Pathfinder inside the lens of a security camera. He is told to expect a new visitor as well as the only other surviving members of Starship Voyager's bridge crew. Tom runs into Boothby, working with Chakotay's surgical and ortho teams. Paris learns about being inside of an echo version of 1976 that has Halley's comet appearing years ahead of schedule because of the wormhole that Chakotay and he used to escape the Borg of their own time that caused their shuttle crash and Voyager's demise. Boothby shares that he is a Nexus ribbon duplicate El Aurien, a Listener, like Guinan. He states that the 1976 echo they're in has altered physics, one where any fire started by electrical means, begins an exothermic green plasma fire, one that can never be extinguished once started. And that there is an ancestor of one of the away team trapped with them inside of their echo timeline surrounding Los Angeles. He also reports a new twist happening inside of echo 1976, An aged Roy DeSoto appearing in a current newspaper photo.Tuvok and Janeway arrive to aid Tom Paris in reinitializing the shuttle EMH to cure Chakotay of his post surgical injuries at Rampart. Janeway determines that the background in the photo is the L.A. County fire museum. They all coordinate plans to go investigate the new anomaly there that was currently creating an alternate old Roy DeSoto from the echo 1976 one they already knew, after springing Chakotay from the hospital using Boothby's amnesia aura, they confront Old Roy DeSoto inside the time pocket, which is current day 2010. He is confused by seeing restored Squad 51 and newly arrived Ward Engine 51 sitting inside the museum in front of a mock up of his fire station 51. They treat him for untreated electrical injuries. Old DeSoto gets frightened when they tell him he splintered off of his 1976 echo, when he was shocked with a defibrillator by Karen Overstreet, a trainee paramedic. He leaps into the restored 2010 version of Squad 51 and rushes for the outer boundary of his museum time bubble trap and starts an irreversible green plasma fire. The away team rushes outside to meet him in echo 1976 to stop him from meeting his doppleganger self face to face, which would cause mutual annihilation of both the echo and real universes. They lay phaser fire at the emerging squad pushing through the time barrier, but are interrupted at the arrival of fire stations responding to a fire call about smoke appearing at the fire museum. They hide to escape being discovered as having future technology. Old Roy DeSoto makes it into echo 1976, but 2010 squad 51 does not survive the time barrier and returns back from where it came inflicting grave facial and head injuries to the Old Roy DeSoto. Janeway and her away team discover that Old Roy is wearing the modified time buffer combadge Tuvok created to protect against time paradox and stand back as the 1976 echo Squad 51 team of Roy DeSoto and Johnny Gage treats him. Old Roy DeSoto cardiac arrests. Boothby holds back the away team, knowing that use of a defibrillator would cause another plasma fire outside. Meanwhile, Janeway orders her escape pod into the museum to self destruct to put out that plasma fire in 2010. Boothby soothes her choice that will forever strand the away team to 1976 Earth. Johnny Gage acts instinctively and is drawn into the green fire with old and young Roy DeSoto and Chakotay. Gage is the ancestor they've all been seeking and the time line corrects itself at the activation of the defib Roy used on his older self. Echo 1976 disappears when Old Roy is reunited with his own younger self in real 1976 as he is being defibrillated by Karen Overstreet at a house fire. Watching, Boothby confided to Janeway that the whole crash experience, the Borg, the destruction of Voyager, and both time echoes, were all an elaborate test for Janeway to prove to him that she was ready for becoming admiralty. He zips away back to the Nexus ribbon while the Voyager away team takes their reconstructed escape pod back through the Halley's comet wormhole, home. Boot, the station dog whines farewell as they depart. Special Story, The Gale Force Nightmare TEXT ONLY STORY The gang talks about Gage's weird behavior during a cold and windy day at the station. The whole gang rolls out for a motor vehicle accident call on the freeway. Engine 51 crashes due to high winds en route. Roy and Johnny are plunged into a paramedic's nightmare when they are forced to start a rescue of their own. A truck hits Squad 51 and blows up just after Chet pulls out medical gear and the biophone. Mike Stoker and Cap are found in the wreckage. Additional fire help is summoned by radio. Kelly aids Roy and Johnny in treating and locating Marco, Cap and Stoker but then suffers the aftermath of the crash himself. Gage and Roy take him out of the action and utilizes a second alarm crew to free the rest of the gang from Engine 51's wreckage. At Rampart, all but Roy and Johnny are admitted as patients and treated. Stoker is brought into surgery to fix internal injuries. Roy and Johnny visit Mike after his surgery in his ICU room. Gage reiterates the bad feeling he had before their rescue call and begins to blame himself for Engine 51's crash without revealing the reason why. They go visit Cap who threatens to physically get up to see his engineer himself when Dr. Brackett points out the obvious that he had torn his own stitches by moving. Chief McConnikee visits Roy and Johnny in the hospital nurse's lounge to tell them they are reassigned to another station while replacement vehicles for Engine 51 and Squad 51 are found. Dixie uses her gentle presence to calm Roy DeSoto's worries about the whole incident. She is called away to ICU at a disturbance and finds Mike Stoker agitated. She calls Roy and Johnny to come calm him down. Dr. Brackett entered the room to recheck Mike's medical status and finds just complications from coming out of anesthesia on the engineer. Cap shares with Roy and Johnny that Chet had been admitted due to injuries that he had kept hidden. Hank comes to visit Mike and is lectured by Brackett to slow down and return to his room. In the hallway outside of Stoker's ICU room, Roy confronts Gage once again of his unfounded anxiety but Johnny doesn't fess up. Kel orders them home. Mike Stoker's wife arrives and is filled in about her husband's condition. She reassures Johnny about his doubts on the crash as Roy arranges for Joanne to stay with her. Dixie complains about Hank's stubborn determination to try and visit Stoker again. Roy and Johnny tell her they'll talk to Cap in his hospital room. Hank orders his two paramedics home after he promises them that he'll finally rest. DeSoto and Gage sit in the hallway outside of Cap's room and seriously consider crisis debriefing with a counselor. Johnny falls asleep so DeSoto carries him to a bunk in a nearby residents' cubical closet. They awake to pizza and free I.V.s courtesy of Dixie. Refreshed fluid wise after a few intravenous lines and food, and good news about Mike. They fall asleep again on the cots. They awaken to find clean clothes left by Roy's wife. They go visit Marco and Chet to see how they are doing in their patient room. Vince Howard arrives to drop off Roy and Johnny at Station 51 so they could drive themselves home. But, too tired to do that, DeSoto and Gage settle down into the bunkroom at the empty station to rest. Roy confronts Johnny about his feelings over the accident. Not reassured, Johnny goes to sleep. At Rampart, Dr. Brackett is visiting Mike in a checkup when he notices that the engineer has fallen into cardiac arrest. He begins CPR and calls a Code Blue team to the room. They barely recapture a pulse after discovering that a wrong I.V. had been hung on Stoker's intravenous line causing too much potassium. Brackett raises holy Caine at the nurses' station to discover who made the error. He then goes to visit Hank Stanley to break the news about what had happened at his bedside. He shares the legal issues and the course of the next steps the hospital would take. Chet and Marco find out afterwards by phone about Mike's near death due to a mistake when Cap tells them. Roy awakens in the bunk room to a pale Johnny Gage who shares Mike's arrest scare that he learned from Dixie. They shower and take Roy's pickup truck back to Rampart. At McCall's desk, stress overwhelms Johnny and he faints. Brackett treats him. Roy calls Hank at his home following Stanley's discharge from Rampart to break the news about Johnny's collapse and the possible reason why. Hank returns to the hospital to set his paramedic straight. Johnny tells them about what was bothering him. A date that he thought he saw that was months too old on a can of engine oil in the apparatus bay. Hank takes charge and calls Charlie via Dixie, who was in the waiting room with his family, waiting for his turn to see Mike Stoker. Charlie the mechanic soon sets Gages fears to rest when he had Brice confirm that the year on the oil can was future hence. Cap falls asleep in a chair, watching Gage sleep when he finally relaxed in complete relief at the news. Joe Early and Dr. Brackett confer about the Stoker's I.V. error in his office. Roy DeSoto runs into a Spanish male orderly and is disturbed by the animosity he thought he saw in the man's eyes. Roy makes the rounds of the gang's rooms and tells Marco and Chet in their shared room of Gage's situation. Reassured as best as he could salvage, Roy decides to go see Dr. Brackett about the strange orderly he encountered who had looked so angry. Outside of Chet and Marco's room, he runs into Gage, truant from his hospital bed, Dixie, Maximillion the bum, and Lt. Crockett, the police detective. Max shares that he called Crockett for a good reason. He relates that his grand nephew, jealous of Max's rich inheritance, was possibly targetting the firefighters for being recipients of the bum's generosity in the past. Crockett orders police guards for all the gang of station 51 at their hospital rooms and family homes. Gage collapses and is treated for exhaustion by Dr. Brackett and Dixie. Gage wakes up and realizes the intruder fear he had about Stoker was actually a nightmare. He is reassured that all the gang is okay after the engine crash and only then does he begin to relax, that's until the Santa Ana winds start to blow once more outside his hospital window. Movie Two, En Route, Episode 54 Part One Dixie escapes the bustle of a boring work day by hiding in the paramedic base station, suddenly aware of negative emotions that are preying upon her. Joe Early enters the room and offers sage advice by having her seek out a paramedic appraisal of her nursing career thus far for rebalancing. McCall feels the weight of job boredom and is shocked when she suffers a snappy mood with the other nurses. Roy and Johnny get into an argument about another of Gage's crushes, this time on a female EMT on a Mayfair ambulance. At the station, Cap tries to conduct a monthly meeting but is met with empty donut plates, a sulking Henry, and a grumpy fire crew. He throws a surprise mock scenario still alarm that activates the EMS and fire department grid along with Rampart. The guys pull a prank on Marco using an I.V. line. En route to the hospital, a pair of female EMTs read Gage the riot act about cheapening their mock drill by his joking around. He learns a thing or two about their job perspectives and cooperates on livening up the training run for a new EMT. Things go smoothly, for a fake head bump until it came time for a faked seizure. At the hospital, Dixie is stuck with calming the angry EMT afterwards. At lunch the gang discusses recent events about the female EMTs and suffer bouts of food possession. Chet is ecstatic about a summer without Johnny until he learns who is replacing him when he leaves to go work for Mayfair in an exchange program. McCall escapes into the doctor's lounge for a desperate break. There Joe and Kel offer sympathies about her day and offer a new idea to recharge her unhealthy mood and attitude about her career. Dixie leaps at the chance to serve on a Mayfair ambulance along with Roy and Johnny. Station 51 responds to an unknown call at a marina warehouse, once there Station 8's Captain Stone waves them off when he discovers a failed arson attempt on an already burned building with no trapped victims or fire. Squad 51 receives a call about a woman down and leaves the scene. Traveling to the address, the two paramedics are increasingly nervous as the quality of the neighborhood goes down dramatically. The sound of gunfire prompts them to radio for police escort. They are met up with Vince and a CHiP cruiser. Howard orders them into bullet vests and they head off to go find the squad's patient before the resident gangs retaliate. They find out that their patient isn't a patient or unconscious. They referee a cat fight that breaks out involving alcohol. A boy is discovered suffering from self inflicted vitamin poisoning and Squad 51 begins steps to treat him aggressively. Johnny meets up with his EMT crush on the Mayfair ambulance. Complications arise when the gangs set a park on fire in the neighborhood, trapping police, ambulance and Squad 51 right where they are at the triplex. Copter Ten rescues the EMTs and paramedics by leading them to safety by guiding them along the L.A. Riverbed to a pickup point. A young EMT Gage is infatuated with is taught about emotional detachment on the job. Dixie, Roy and Johnny get fired up over the start of their summer as Mayfair Ambulance management staff on their first morning. They make new Mayfair EMTs at ease with pizza and light banter. Officers Poncherello and Baker from the CHiPs division make themselves known as participants for the summer's orientation. Johnny is stunned by the discovery of advanced paramedic gear on the fleet of Mayfair ambulances in the company garage. Joe Early checks up on Sharon Walters who inherits Dixie's head nurse spot while she's away as ambulance manager. The gang gets acquainted with Craig Brice and Bob Bellingham, battlion transferred paramedic firefighters, who will man Squad 51 in place of Johnny and Roy. Station 51 is first on scene to a truck fire and Cap is made the Incident Commander when it becomes apparent that a tunnel fire has caused a brush fire to start on a nearby hill. Mayfair ambulance is put on triage alert. Dixie sends CHiPs Baker and Poncherello to the incident when her office scanner mentions traffic control help is short handed. Together, CHiP Ponch and Brice and Bellingham find a teenager near a fatal fire in the tunnel. Cap and Marco rescue a trucker from a gas leak. Gage is treated for light fumes exposure. At Mayfair, Roy and Johnny crisis debrief all the EMTs about on scene death. Dixie learns about the loss of the iron poisoning boy so she creates a new tradition about celebrating saves in patients to cheer up the whole ambulance company. Chet is coddled into bed when Brice notices his high fatigue level. Gage asks his crush, EMT Rosalie out and she accepts. Ponch finds out Gage has won the future girl of his dreams and gives her up gracefully. Dixie is comforted by Kel after a hard day at the office. Joe is plagued by a chaotic night in the ER involving dogs. At a morning buffet, Dixie finally gets her answer from Roy and Johnny about her current status as friend and colleague in their eyes. A buffet breakfast at Rampart and a newscast awakens Dixie's and an EMT's instincts about something amiss in the larger scheme of things. Dixie's relieved when all Mayfair EMTs report for duty. Station 110 discovers a sudden ugly reality, receding ocean waters. The whole L.A.Co.F.D is mobilized when a tsunami hits their coastline. Mayfair Ambulance's fleet along with Station 51 reports in to a disaster Staging Area near Rampart in Torrance. Doctors Brackett, Morton and Early report to Triage as rioting breaks out from shocked evacuees in the surrounding neighborhoods. Rampart struggles to take in all critically injured, Mayfair arriving patients. Part Two Engine 51 mounts a search and rescue of a beachside hotel for tidal wave victims while fending off looters. Engine 10 and Captain Stone, assists them. A second large tidal wave strikes, effecting Mayfair Ambulance's patient evacuation route. Brice and his two CHiP officer EMTs find themselves on the shattered remains of a toll bridge. Gage's Mayfair ambulance is discovered missing. Battalion One assigns a USAR Taskforce to mount a rescue operation. Brice struggles to save a spinal injury victim. USAR discovers signs of a Mayfair crashing off a bridge. Gage resuscitates an EMT while trapped under rubble. The two get down to the business of survival without trying to kill one another. A USAR team takes in Roy and Bellingham into direct operations at the site of the bridge collapse. Morton triages Brice, the CHiP officers and their patient. Dixie breaks the news about Gage and the death of an EMT to the rest of the Mayfair Company. Brackett remembers the new biophone all Mayfairs now carry and notifies the Navy to set up a communications buoy to regain lost radio capability in the bay. USAR, Roy and Bob begin operations at the bridge. Communications are re-established out at sea for all the rescuers. Gage prepares to move himself and his EMT patient out of the buried ambulance for fear of a rising lunar tide. They crawl through the wreckage of the bridge to start their escape and discover another injured woman, a military technician who claims a family is trapped in a flooding van behind debris. Johnny treats life threatening symptoms on the woman and then goes after the other victims. He is caught underwater by a piece of falling debris. Roy and Bellingham sneak back to the pile using force. Ponch and Jon are sent back to the bridge by Brice and Dr. Early as eyes and ears when signs of the missing ambulance are discovered. Dixie suffers a flashback and is treated by Craig Brice. Brackett finds out about Dixie being triaged and there's H*ll to pay. A third tidal wave rescues Johnny and a victim from a van. USAR is forced to evacuate the bridge collapse as the new tsunami makes landfall. Sharon Walters deals with a riot at Rampart. Gage's Mayfair is found washed onto the beach and empty and the smashed toll bridge disappears beneath the waves. USAR orders a Coast Guard chopper to map out the sunken bridge and hollow caisson tower bases. Rampart is rescued from the mob by three CHiPs officers and Vince. CHiPs Ponch and Jon summon beach lifeguards to aid in the search. Dixie awakens from her rest break and returns herself back on duty as Mayfair's manager. USAR detects five heat signatures beneath a collapsed caisson in the middle of the bay along with a bloody blanket from the Mayfair ambulance's medical gear. Dixie checks up on Sharon Walters at Rampart. Divers find a way into the caisson. Gage has his hands full with a willful EMT patient. Engine 51 lands on the caisson with help from Baywatch lifeguards. Johnny learns about his new disease from a wise old lady, it's true love. USAR finds a hole leading to signs of survivors after a dive. Gage rehydrates his patients with I.V.s. USAR locates a panicking female child in the rubble and sedate her. Other sounds of victims are discovered. Ponch and Jon reconstruct water forces to pinpoint a probable search area for Gage and Rosalie's trapped location. Bellingham flies out the little girl from the rubble while Desoto and Brice discover three more victims. Dixie takes a Battalion Chief enforced breather and visits Sharon Walters at Rampart. Brice and Roy work fast to stabilize three victims they find but lose an unexpected fourth. The gang returns to station 51 in the engine for an overnight recuperation from rescue operations. Joe, Morton and Kel find comfort in each other's knowledge during a food break. Roy DeSoto's overworked state is discovered. CHiPs officers meet Battalion at their HQ and become a triage site. Vince Howard is found critically ill of an infected cut. Johnny and Rosalie set off exploring their surroundings when one of their patients dies. Dixie orders her Mayfair EMTs to body detail at search and rescue sites. Dixie visits Vince in ICU and works her calming magic. Ponch and Jon get a lightbulb idea to use Henry as a search dog. Roy finds out about the plan. Chet alerts USAR when Henry finds a scent. Johnny Gage heads back to the core chamber for medical gear when Rosalie develops cardiac tamponade. Henry discovers Gage's scent coming out of a crack in the collapsed freeway and USAR pulls out all of the stops to unbury the site. Roy, Brice and Bellingham are assigned there on medical standby. Henry is given an I.V. to rehydrate him. Three victims Johnny treated are found by Roy and Brice. An EMT with Johnny is killed, devastating Gage and making him give up the will to live when a cave-in occurs. Henry finds another hole leading to Johnny. Ponch enters and it's a race to free him before the rising tide fills the chamber. Brackett saves the day when Johnny slips into cardiac arrest due to drowning. Roy and Johnny deal with post traumatic effects due to the bridge collapse but are healed somewhat at the rising of a new one. Special D- Sierra-The Urban Rangers- (Episode Fifty Five) Roy and Johnny arrive at Yosemite and meet the head ranger for their new assignment as paramedic observers in the park. They meet a pair of rangers, including one who loves to spin a tall tale. Written by Michael Donovan (1974) Movie Three, A Day In The Life, (Episode 56) Part One Dixie is awakened late at night by a restless elderly neighbor, who remembers her life as being saved by the nurse following cardiac arrest a month before. She drops a bombshell surprise when she expresses an interest in becoming a nurse like Dixie in gratitude at age 94. Kel and Joe begin to recommend ideas on how to handle the neighbor's infatuation at Rampart when a Condition Orange erupts in town consisting of a prison break and accompanying gang riots city wide in Carson. An early evening buzzer bell at the back door surprises the gang when they find an abandoned newborn baby, forcibly torn from its mother womb outside, left as bait by two escaped life time murderer convicts. A hostage situation begins. Boot is shot and Chet injured following a viscious shove during the initial encounter. The traumatized newborn baby is stabilized by Roy and Johnny. The two prison escapees set up house with the gang and use frequent threats to keep order. Chet is emergency treated for a ruptured lung blister which sends him into shock. A Los Angeles County medical examiner is called into Rampart to handle the riots' dead coming into triage. Morton, Early and Brackett struggle to keep up with the triage operation they set up in Rampart's outdoor cafeteria courtyard. Shoulder shot, Boot the dog knocks over Chet's fallen HT radio left abandoned in the bay and inadvertently activates its push to talk button. Sam Lanier discovers the open channel broadcasting from the vehicle bay. One of the convicts develops an obsessive interest in the newborn baby girl's welfare. At a missed fire response reply back from Station 51, Sam dispatches a communications repair truck to Station 51 to fix the problem. One of the radio repairman goes inside to contact the gang and is taken hostage. Headquarters HQ dispatch is alerted to Station 51's hostage situation through the open mic'd HT radio that Boot had bumped and begins to plan a tactical rescue from their end. The county coroner shanghai'd into service by Dr. Brackett discovers the dead mother's missing baby using forensics during her autopsy and goes investigating the murder scene in the alleyway behind Station 51 with his lab assistant. A blood trail leads him to suspect foul play has taken place inside of Station 51. He warns off the radio repairman's partner from making a foolish decision and sends him to go summon help remotely. The M.E. decides to masquerade as a riot victim in order to get inside the station to find the lost baby and learn more about the sieged fire station gang. The coroner's boss and an L.A.P.D. lieutenant set up shop at L.A. County H.Q. to mount a response to Station 51's hostage crisis using information learned through the open HT radio channel still broadcasting from Station 51. The coroner is let into the station after a feigned victim act. The reality of the convicts' actions weigh heavily on them as discussion of the truth is shared by all. One suffers a mental breakdown and the other surrenders physically. The gang organizes further emergency care and transportation for Chet, the newborn baby, and Boot. The coroner's assistant warns about their boss's future fall out. Roy and Johnny treat Chet and the baby en route to Rampart and realized the ordeal has impacted them more profoundly than first thought. Dixie, Sharon Walters and a police detective meet the gang at Rampart to begin to sort out treatment for the injured and start an investigation. Johnny and Sharon reveal that they are dating to Roy. Part Two Dixie gives Chet a little tough love to begin his emotional recovery at Rampart. The gang has trouble handling the aftermath of the hostage situation at Rampart. They internalize different coping tactics. The Rampart staff and the coroner and his staff plan contingencies for Station 51's probable PSTD effects. Chet is stuck with Dixie's neighbor as a candy striper. Roy and Johnny suffer unexpected effects after going home. Relief from stress alters the behavior of Rampart staff in unexpected ways. The county coroner decides to get involved with the gang's recovery from post traumatic stress disorder. Dixie McCall heads over to the vet hospital to pick up Boot for Station 51, when a thunderstorm strands her there. Marco and Stoker stave off a mild diabetes crisis in Lopez's mother at a brunch get together over at Mike's house. The county coroner's girlfriend RN flirts with Chet to make him feel better. Captain Stanley suffers an emotional fallout crisis at home.Craig Brice ends up on Johnny's ranch house doorstep, injured by a mudslide. Dixie fails to report to work and Brackett asks the county coroner and his assistant to check up on her whereabouts to see if she is weathering out the storm at the vet hospital. Emily arrives at Rampart with a PSTD effected Cap to visit the hostage baby. 905 Wild Animal control officers Les Taylor and Dave Gordon fail to reach Veterinarian Dr. Coolidge by radio at the vet hospital. Officer Vince Howard meets them in a lights and sirens squad to inform them of a mudslide that may be effecting the shopping mall where the vet hospital is located. The three men begin to mount a search and possible rescue from their vehicles. Craig Brice recovers from his hypothermia to tell Gage and Sharon Walters about the county fire department all call concerning mudslides from the storm in five cities. They begin to pack up to respond despite Gage's administrative medical leave status. Chet meets up with Cap and his wife in the abandoned baby's hospital room and they talk their emotions out about the hostage aftermath. Gage, Brice and Sharon Walters head out into the storm to gather up all the Station 51 gang to help with ensuing mudslides. Roy talks to his kids about the hostage crisis he lived through at the station. Gage, Brice and Sharon Walters recruit Roy to response to a landslide buried shopping center near Boot's vet hospital. The L.A. coroner and his assistant meet up with Vince Howard and the two shelter animal control officers and the four begin to mount a rescue operation to find Dixie and their coworkers. Gage assembles the last of the 51 gang not at Rampart and together, they, Brice and Sharon Walters hurry in his rover to the shopping center where Boot is hospitalized. Dr. Brackett confronts Chet about the mudslide effecting the shopping mall where Dixie went to get Boot from the animal shelter hospital. Dr. Morton sees progress in Cap's emotional crisis and in the orphaned newborn that Hank had helped rescue. The coroner and his assistant, Vince, and the two animal control officers discover Boot's vet, his secretary, and Dixie lying injured in mud. They affect immediate emergency medical care. Despite fast treatment, McCall slips into cardiac arrest, forcing the coroner, Boot, and the others to act. Quincy and the others barely manage to save Dixie using a dog sized defibrillator and some ingenuity. The Station 51 gang and Sharon arrive to the disaster scene and meet up with their patients and the M.E. folks. Every one injured is recovering when the mountain surrounding the shopping mall sloughs them and an entire city block onto a giant river of mud. The gang summons help. Dixie awakens without the ability to feel her legs. Quincy figures out that Dixie is suffering from a temporary lightning paralysis. Gage and Brice have a heart to heart about PTSD and their likelihood of surviving. Stoker improvises high angle gear from debris scraps. Cap and Chet rally and abandon Rampart to assist the fire department heads overseeing the mall incident. Brackett sneaks Morton and Cap sneaks Chet out of the hospital to try and get to Dixie. Dixie suffers breathing failure due to her lightning strike and is put on life supporting measures. Sharon Walters and Boot break down emotionally. Cap and company sneak around the mall incident command after information about rescue plans and Dixie's current condition, but are found out by the two animal control officers. The victims under the trapped paramedics' care begin to improve but not before the mudslide underneath the building speeds up, bringing down the roof of the vet hospital on top of them. Chet hears Vince calling for help over the radio. Smoke jumpers are sent in, to start mounting a rescue. A moving aerial belay stokes line is rigged between their floating island and a moving ladder truck. The vet falls to his death when a tree snaps the line. The Station 51 gang is reunited all together under Dr. Morton's watchful eye. Dixie is teased in her hospital bed before being taken out to the coroner's favorite restaurant to toast the late vet. Movie Four, The Long Hot Summer, (Episode 57) Part One The gang awakens in the middle of the night because of extreme heat. Roy and Johnny respond to a young girl's attempted suicide. Joe, Dixie and Kel get wind of a possible major incident over the county scanner. A battle ensues in a Mayfair when the suicide patient's overdose is counteracted. Dixie remains on vigil for the suicidal girl while Roy and Johnny handle their emotions about the call. Station 51 receives a responsefor a mid air naval jet collison and crash at a pier. Rampart goes on disaster alert. At a staging area for the disaster, Gage and DeSoto receive news of a possible radiological catastrophe in the making from a local pair of volunteering doctors. Gage and DeSoto find the pilot in the cockpit of the crashed navy jet which damaged a nuclear naval ship, the source of an unknown radiation leak. Their patient is discovered to be Dr. Morton. Roy and Johnny manage to aid non-breathing Morton and are soon rescued and decontaminated by sailors on the effected Navy ship. Cap hears from Gage and DeSoto about Morton and so does Rampart who begins to outline a critical care plan when the phone line goes dead. Dr. Morton is assessed upon waking. Roy and Johnny worry about swelling around his heart. A new fire risk erupts around the La Brea tar pits. A doctor from family practice updates Rampart on the radiation leaking from the navy ship and shares the information with Squad 51's paramedics. Morton worsens cardiac wise and help is summoned by the ship's medic. A coolant pipe explosion rocks the ship causing Captain Stanley to summon Fireboat 110's divers to respond by sea. Morton and a navy medic are trapped in sickbay. Two Navy rescue fire teams are dispatched to extricate them. A rogue wave tips the ship and accelerates the radiation leak. Kel and Dixie begin to feel the strain of multiple disasters looming at Rampart and commiserate at her apartment. Roy and Johnny join the navy firefighters in locating the pipe breaches. Rising seawater levels and flickering power fuel a fire in the armory. A torpedo auto launches itself right through the hull at Fireboat 110. The navy captain self destructs the weapon before it hits. Captain Stanley fails to prevent the ship's captain from flooding the nuclear core at the expense of his own life. Roy and Johnny perform a pericardial centesis on Dr. Morton. The family doctor breaks the news of the sacrifice to the wounded ship's medic at Rampart. Roy and Johnny attend the ship's captain's memorial and say farewell to the ship's sailors. They check up on Dr. Morton's recovery at Rampart and play a joke on him. A few days later, decontaminated of radiation, Station 51 gets an assignment to assess downtown L.A. for hazards when a fire at the La Brea tar pits fails to go out. Dixie enlists Craig Brice to keep tabs on Roy for Joanne DeSoto. The family practice medical team is set up into the museum at the LaBrea Tar Pits to follow up with the fire department working on violations checks downtown. Marco and Stoker have a run in with a Kmart manager. Cap and DeSoto notice an increase of smoke from the ground fire at LaBrea. Dixie handles a medical emergency in the waiting area at Rampart in a little boy exposed to cleaning supplies. In the field, Chet and Gage, Stoker and Marco make rounds inspecting downtown L.A. for hidden ground gas leaks. One is touched off in the basement of a K-mart and catches Stoker and Lopez in a colossal explosion. Mike and Marco get trapped at an intersection surrounded by subterranean fire. Cap and Roy are ordered to oversee operations at the heart of the downtown fire. Gage and Kelly find themselves on search and rescue inside of a Y.M. C.A. Vince Howard rescues Stoker and Lopez from danger. On the route to Triage, Marco's condition worsens. Kel and Dixie prepare to receive Marco as a patient. Cap and Roy remain at their posts as Command Staff, feeling overwhelmed. Gage and Chet effect an evacuation of the YMCA. Roy's wife wakes up inside of the collapsed Kmart store, trapped with a beam lying across her neck. Marco is treated by the family doctors in Triage and is shipped to Rampart by Brice. Chet and Kelly make it back to Incident Command and leave to rendevous with Roy and Cap at Triage. Marco makes it to Rampart. A monarch butterfly finds both Roy and Joanne and visits both. Brice finds out Joanne never made it back home and assumes Triage so Station 51 can go search for her at ground zero. Squad 51 and special search and rescue teams converge at Kmart while Rampart diverts patients. The family practice staff treat a victim of frostbite despite the hot weather. Joanne's trapped location is found inside the Kmart, but a ceiling collapses. Roy has breakfast with his children and reads an article about a new chemical created because of the downtown gas explosion disaster. He imagines he hears Joanne visit him after her death. A monarch with a broken wing disappears into the sunlight in the DeSoto garden. Movie Five, Burning Water.. (Episode 58) Part One Johnny Gage is totally surprised when Craig Brice shows up in the middle of the day as acting captain when Hank Stanley disappears midshift to take a Battalion Chief's exam. Dr. Morton teams up with Karen Overstreet, Brice's current girlfriend, as a fellow resident intern at Rampart Hospital. An oil tanker fire on top of a viaduct is a challenge for acting captain Brice and Station 51. An old man rescued from the truck makes Mike Stoker promise to care for a team of fire horses for him. Overstreet over-reacts to Dr. Brackett's satisfaction of her job performance as an intern. Morton offers advice. Gage sets into motion finding the truck driver's father about his transport to Rampart. Station 51 clears the tanker fire scene. Sharon Walters and Karen Overstreet talk doctors. Brice rubs Marco and Roy the wrong way following an oil fire. A waitress contacts P.I. Jim Rockford about his father's accident. Squad 51 responds to a heart attack call at a beach restaurant in Malibu. A waitress and Vince Howard, aid Roy and Johnny during a resuscitation call. Johnny vows to track down the waitress and get her name in order to thank her for helping them. Jim Rockford arrives at Rampart and tracks down his father, Rocky. Gage hires the P.I. to give him the name of the waitress who helped them both with their sick and injured. (STILL IN PRODUCTION) as of January 30th, 2016. 60. Special E. Juxtaposed- Roy and Johnny mysteriously crash into the 11th Doctor's TARDIS on a freeway when their time streams intersect. Gage collapses due to an absence of time's flow around his body. The Doctor and Amy Pond medically treat him after bringing both Roy and Squad 51 into the TARDIS, who puts Johnny on life support. The Doctor and Amy briefly try to explain themselves to Roy and Johnny but little gets through their comprehension. The cloister bell begins to sound a causality loop warning. Amy Pond suffers sudden memories of 1976 with Station 51's gang even before ever having been there. DeSoto also collapses after getting acquainted with the time travelers. The Doctor brings the two paramedics and their vehicle back to 1976, in Carson, California a block away from Station 51 and lets them go. The Doctor then expresses an interest in experimenting on Amy to explore her false memories surgically. Amy Pond disagrees to the idea and runs away from the Time Lord. She escapes into the Mayfair ambulance Johnny's using to take Roy to Rampart for treatment of his unexplained unconscious condition. Rory and the Doctor try to chase down Amy's ambulance but are intercepted by Marco, Chet and Mike left behind at Station 51. The Timelord changes tactics by accepting directions to Rampart and some tea. (STILL IN PRODUCTION) as of Jnuary 30, 2016. ============================================================= ============================================================= By Character Injury Tally Johnny 1.Full Moon Blues-Buried by an earthquake toppled hose tower and hand stabbed by a rod. 2.Father And Son- Falls down boobytrapped stairs. Concussion. 6.The Golden Horn-Swept away underwater into a quarry, drowning. 8.The Promise-Nearly asphyxiated by freon gas in a collapse. 9.Green Pen Of Johnny's- Buried in explosives factory roof collapse. Smoke exposure from an airliner crash, inhalation shock. 12.Crossing The Red Line-Broken leg and benzene fumes apnea. 14.Twisted-Concussion from a crash while in Squad 51. 19.Sacred Ground-Slips on a mechanic's slide board at the station, knocked out. 22.In Certain Terms-Landslide buried. 24.S.N.A.F.U.-Lightning ozone exposure. 27.Heavy Duty-Trapped by a fallen truck. 34.No Sooner Said-Mine gas black out. Special A-The Face In The Mirror-Struck by tree limb, broken arm. 41.Attrition-Victim of a garbage fire and car accident. 47.I.V.Push-Concussion and broken leg in a storm/tree collapse. 52.The Fire Within-MovieOne-Hypothermia. 53.Fire In The Sky-Burns ankle on coffee. Almost becomes a Borg. --.The Gale Force Nightmare-Faints from exhaustion following a stressful fire engine crash. 54.En Route, MovieTwo-Fumes from a fuel fire, scraped by sinking debris, cardiac arrest. 57.The Long Hot Summer-Radiation exposure. 59.The Gale Force Nightmare- Engine crash injuries 60. Juxtaposed- Fainting due to suffocation during a separation from his natural timestream. Roy 3.Juxtaposition-Leg trapped in mud inside a school bus. 8.The Promise-Water tower collapse drowning, and gas exposure. 10.From Loaves To Fishes-Fall off a mountain cliff, chlorine gas. 12.Crossing The Red Line-Concussed in an ambulance explosion. 14.Twisted-Beaten up by a neighborhood gang. 22.In Certain Terms-Landslide buried. 24.S.N.A.F.U.-Lightning strike. 27.Heavy Duty-Trapped by a fallen truck, stuck and injected with a drug syringe, near drowning. 34.No Sooner Said-Mine gas black out. 35.Captain's Prerogative-Building collapse trauma. 37.Primary Complaint- Deafened in an explosion at sea. Special A-The Face In The Mirror-Sleep deprivation and electrical shock. Special B. Too Close To Home-Smoke inhalation. 41.Attrition-Receives minor injuries in an MVA. 52.The Fire Within-MovieOne- minor burn in airport fire. 55.Sierra-The Urban Rangers-head injury in a fall. 57.The Long Hot Summer-Radiation exposure. 60. Juxtaposed- Fainting due to suffocation during a separation from his natural timestream. Marco 1.Full Moon Blues-Retrovirus infection and gassed in earthquake 3.Juxtaposition-Buried in mud inside a school bus. 17.That Latin Flair-Electrocuted into unstable tachycardia. 22.In Certain Terms-Landslide buried. 24.S.N.A.F.U.-Lightning ozone exposure. 28.Smoke Screen-Faints due to psychogenic reasons. 33.California Dreamin'-Hang glider crash/snakebite. 34.No Sooner Said-Mine gas black out. 35.Captain's Prerogative-Building collapse trauma. Special A-The Face In The Mirror- Electrical shock and drug overdose. 49.The Helper's High-Shot in the hand. 54.En Route- MovieTwo-Victim of I.V. fluid overdose. :) 57.The Long Hot Summer- MovieFour-Sunburn. Winded by a gas explosion and bad air. 59.The Gale Force Nightmare-Injured in a fire engine crash. Cap 1.Full Moon Blues-Knocked out by falling ceiling debris 2.The Golden Horn-Falls into a mine, hemorrhages. 20.Recertification-Gunshot to the chest. 22.In Certain Terms-Landslide buried. 25.The Overhaul Principle-Stress and chest pain. 34.No Sooner Said-Mine gas black out. 35.Captain's Prerogative-Building collapse trauma. 36.Tower Drill-Minor injuries from ceiling collapse. 49.The Helper's High-Severe closed head injury. 59.The Gale Force Nightmare-Injured in a fire engine crash. Chet 2.Father And Son- Anhydrous ammonia inhalation and ruptured spleen during an escape using the squad. 4.Within Sight-Breaks knuckles on a punching bag. 7.Crazy Days-Falls into the LaBrea tarpits and nearly suffocates. 11.Shadows of the Past-Faints under a river. 17.That Latin Flair-Burns hands in a soup kitchen grease fire. 22.In Certain Terms-Fire ant stings. 24.S.N.A.F.U.-Lightning strike. 31.All That Glitters-Vagal faint from hypovolemia. Nailed on the back of the neck by a flying board. 34.No Sooner Said-Mine gas black out and apnea. 35.Captain's Prerogative-Building collapse trauma. Special A-The Face In The Mirror-Electrical shock cardiac arrest. Special B. Too Close To Home-Leg hemorrhage from a horse toss. 39.Burnout-Smoke inhalation breathing difficulty during an oil refinery fire. 45.RichterSix-Fractures a shoulder in an earthquake. 51.What's A Dedicated Captain Like You Doing..-Dies in a post fire collapse. 54.EnRoute-MovieTwo-Attacked by a head injured man, forehead cut. 56.A Day In The Life-MovieThree-Lung injured after a shove by assailants. 59.The Gale Force Nightmare-Injured in a fire engine crash. Stoker 4.Within Sight-Gets blinded and lung burned by steam. 11.Shadows of the Past-Trapped in an outhouse fire. 22.In Certain Terms-Landslide buried. 34.No Sooner Said-Mine gas black out. 35.Captain's Prerogative-Building collapse trauma. 43.The Quint Connection-Scalded on hot coffee from a camp fire's pot. 44.Pump Peculiarities-Collapses from emotional stress with tachycardia. 52.The Fire Within-MovieOne-Stoker is injured by shrapnel in an airport explosion. 59.The Gale Force Nightmare-Injured in a fire engine crash. Cardiac arrests from an I.V. murder attempt. Dixie 9.Green Pen Of Johnny's-Nailed by flying glass at Rampart. 15.00:51-Faints into a swimming pool. Collapses from appendicitis at home. 27.Heavy Duty-Concussion from an explosion. 32.Water Day Saints-Suffocated in a gas leak. 41.Attrition-Critically injured in an automobile crash. 54.EnRoute-MovieTwo-Experiences a flashback crisis, psych emergency. 56.ADayInTheLife-MovieThree-Mudslide near drowning. Early 25.The Overhaul Principle-Head struck, blunt whipped. 50.The Other Side-Gassed by nitrous oxide during an earthquake. Brackett 2.Father And Son- Punches window in anger. Cut arm and hand. 5.Integrity Game-Smoke inhalation during a ferry fire. 23.S.N.A.F.U.-Car crash, tree branch impalement. 32.Water Day Saints-Suffocated in a gas leak. 50.The Other Side-Gassed by nitrous oxide during an earthquake. 51.What's A Dedicated Captain Like You Doing..-Suffers a hypertensive crisis. Morton Special B. Too Close To Home-Slipped on a banana peel, broken ankle. 46.The Long Hours-Salt water drowning in a plane crash. 57.The Long Hot Summer-Navy jet crash into a pier/radiation exposure. Nurse Carol Evans 25.The Overhaul Principle-Body slammed into a door. Nurse Sharon Walters 50.The Other Side-Rheumatic fever attack. Patrol Officer Vince Howard 42.Pilot Light-Collapses in metabolic electrolyte crisis. 54.EnRoute-MovieTwo-Septicemia from an infected cut. Charlie the mechanic 7.Crazy Days-Learns he has heart disease at Rampart. Sam Lanier, L.A. dispatcher 19.Sacred Ground-Suffers a fatal cerebral hemorrhage at work. Dr. Barney Coolidge, 905 Wild Veterinarian 56. A Day In The Life-MovieThree-Mudslide fatality. Miss Patty Burns, 905 Wild Secretary 56. A Day In The Life-MovieThree-Broken arm. Chief McConnikee- 6.The Golden Horn- Killed by roof collapse onto his battalion chief's car during a fire. Paramedic Craig Brice 13.The White Engine-Burns hand on hot doorknob. 14.Twisted-Smoke inhalation, hospital recovery. 56. A Day In The Life-MovieThree-Mudslide hypothermia. Joanne DeSoto 8.The Promise-Stabbed by a mugger while pregnant. 57. Trapped in an explosion collapsed Kmart. Beam on neck. Killed. Chris DeSoto 3.Juxtaposition-Hurts knee in school bus mudslide. 18.Fish Out Of Water-Smoke inhalation, ocean pier fuel fire. 44.Pump Peculiarities-Dies in an alcohol related drag race. Henry the dog 13.The White Engine-Smoke inhalation and cardiac defect. 54.En Route-Movie Two-Dehydration from search operations. Boot the dog 56.A Day In The Life-Movie Three-Shot by assailants. Bonnie the dog 23.The One That Matters- Delivers a litter of puppies. =========================== The Story Unfolds... Season One, Episode One- Full Moon Blues.. ******************************** From: Jeff Seltun Date: Wed Oct 16, 2002 3:04 am Subject: The Dead of Night... It was 5 : 30 am, the slight scent of smoke lingered still in the station house from the engine and squad only a half hour returned from a fatal fire, and the drone of avenue traffic outside was ceaseless. A single light was flicked on at the writing desk in the bunk room. "Gage! Do you mind!" Hank hollered. Johnnie looked up, mortified, in rumpled t-shirt and run pants, one suspender fallen down over his arm. "*Cough* Sorry, Cap. Uh, just a sec, I gotta...uh. Gotta make a phone call.." "Well hurry it up.." Chet mumbled even more grumpy then Cap was. "Shh!!!" hissed someone who sounded suspiciously like Marco and Mike in tandem. "Arff!!" Bonnie yapped in reply. Roy jumped in his bed from his sound sleep at the noise and nap jerked awake, "HUhhhHH?! Ohmygod..*sniff* ohhhh, it's the d*mned dog. Johnnie would you let her out? I'm too sleepy to...too sleepyyy toooo aaaa" "Yeah, ok. I will, buddy. Right after making a phone call." "Will you starting dialing already?!" Marco snapped, flipping over on his pillow and squinting in the light. He immediately buried his head under his pillow in a vain attempt to block out the idle unwelcome chitchat filling his bedspace. His voice sounded five octaves lower than normal and cracky. "ok, yeah. Just hang on.. I gotta, gotta look up the number here." Johnnie said. "Marco.. You shoulda let me and Roy take a look at ya after that four alarm. You're really losing your voice, man. A little O2 could fix--" "Gage!!" Cap called out from behind another rusty brick partition. "uh, what Cap? I was just helping out." Gage's smile twitched as he balanced the phone onto his ear while he dialed his number in the dim light he was trying to shield in vain.. "I am a paramedic after all. I mean it's my duty to be part of a team. To look out after the guys, 24/7 . Heh." he chuckled. "Well, it's definitely 12/5 for me Gage. Shhh!" Chet groused. "That goes for me, too.." Mike added. "Arff!!" Johnny jilted in his chair when he heard the sound of pissing fill the air. "No! Bonnie no!!" and he dropped the phone on the desk in a dive to reach the Boston Yorky squatting in the middle of the linoleum floor. "Bad girl.. Baddd.." he hissed in a whisper. Chet piped up sleepily, "What? That aimed at your date for refusing you yet again?" Then the scent of a second Bonnie misdeed reached them all. "Ahhggh." "Fah!!" "Gage! Clean it up NOW!" "Johnny,.. you should have hurried.." John was on his hands and knees scrambling for a foot locker under the desktop which held a roll of papertowels. He flipped open the door and hastily snatched for it, all the while stammering apologies and short failed jokes under the guys angry barrage. "Ow.! Ok. All right already.. " he said when a ballistic pillow from Marco nailed him across the butt. "I'm hurrying I'm hurrying. Just let me flush this..." and he hastened to the john with his steaming burden of towels. Bonnie cheerfully followed him the whole way. A brief peace reigned over the bunks except for the desklight and snores punctuated the air. Then Johnny came back into the room, sat down in the wooden wheeling desk chair and picked up the black phone receiver again. "Oh, no you don't.." Chet warned, loudly. "We've already lost the first five minutes of a long four days with no sleep." "Get to BED!!" Cap roared. "Groovy, Cap. Just what I was saying.." Gage knew he'd pushed as far as he could get away with and reluctantly set the phone down again, his whole purpose of non sleeping going unfulfilled. "Gage.. If you aren't under those covers in five seconds, I'm assigning you a month's tower detail!! Five! Four! Three!!" Gage shot out of the chair, slid on the floor in his boots in a dash for his cubicle. "Gage! The light!" Marco rasped. "Two!!" Johnny belly slid across the floor to the light's plug and yanked it. The room was plunged into total darkness. Bonnie began to howl at the rising tension from her human family. "Oh for Pete's sake, Johnny. Give her a snack.." Mike exclaimed. "One!" Cap roared. "Gotonebymybed!" Johnny squeaked as he dove, blind, into the air and landed on his mattress, the bed springs squealed from his impact about two seconds before-- "Zero!" Cap yelled. "Now not another peep outta you for the next hour and a half until dawn." "Sorry C-" "Ahahah..! NOT a single word." Cap seethed. "Ok." came Johnny's soft meek answer. "Gage!" "Allright all right. Sorry. Geez,, I mean all I was trying to do was--" "Hey Cap, should I zap him quiet with the defibrillator?" Roy suggested sleepily.. The gang erupted in giggles. Johnny just snorted as he hushed and petted Bonnie quiet as she pranced on his bed while he stretched out under the sheets, begging him for the treat he held in his hand. Gage felt wet doggy tongue slime his finger and the bite of tiny teeth as she grabbed it from him. "Ow,, hey.hey hey.." he whispered to the darkness. Then a thought occurred to him. "Hey guys? Do you think I just reinforced her little accident by giving her a cookie like this?" "Shut up!!" came five instant replies. Then the klaxon alarm went off and the house lights kicked on automatically. Dispatch issued the call and the gang were on their feet instantly. The call was.... --------------------------- Photo- The station speaker grill Photo- A spectacular night time fire at a warehouse with hoses spraying high. *********************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Wed Oct 16, 2002 4:14 am Subject: Rotten Luck >"Shut up!!" came five instant replies. >Then the klaxon alarm went off and the house >lights kicked on automatically. >Dispatch issued the call and the gang were on >their feet instantly. >The call was.... "Station 51.. Dumpster Fire. 427 Supolveda Ave. Cross/Street Maple. 427 Supolveda Ave. Cross/street Maple. Time out 0540." came LA's run. Chet struggled into his suspenders with a long suffering moan. "Oh, man. Gage. You're gonna pay big time for this.. I could of gotten to REM sleep." "Yeah..?" John said sarcastically. "Well, you should be thanking me. If you hit REM you'd be too groggy to man a hose for our fourth dumpster fire." he said, rushing after the curly haired irishman. Roy and John hit the squad and Cap got the garage door and thumbed the callback mike, "Station 51, KMG 365." "Hey, Cap!" Gage shouted over the loud rumble of the garage opening onto the street and the sounds of Stoker starting up the LaFrance and all the gang slamming their doors as they piled onto the Ward engine. Cap looked over grumpily, flipping up his overcoat collar and tightening his helmet's chin strap. "What? Can't it wait, we're going on a run here..!" "At least this one won't take long! That's only ten minutes away.." Gage said as Roy threw the truck into drive and peeled out of the garage top speed. The lurching almost gave Johnny whiplash. Gage rolled up his passenger window and turned on DeSoto. "Hey, Roy, what are you trying to do? Kill me? I was talking to Cap there.." "You mean my defibrillator comment didn't sink in? I wasn't joking." Roy said, flipping on the sirens and lights. The dark streets filled with the sirens of Station 51 soon after and the boulevard ahead of them emptied of traffic. His face was almost pure iron. Gage set a hand on his chin. "I don't believe you, man. You're really angry, aren't you? I didn't make Bonnie crap all over the station intentionally. I was only trying to-" "I know what you were trying to do, Johnnie.." Roy said, taking his eyes off their speeding route only in brief intervals to stab glares at his dark eyed partner. "It's just that sometimes you just don't think." He gripped the wheel tighter as Johnnie pointed out the next turn. "I don't suppose you get the fact that we've been on runs for four shifts straight. And on none of those nights have we gotten a stretch of sleep longer than an hour. I don't suppose that the term 'sleep deprived' has any meaning for you.." Gage readjusted his helmet on tighter when Roy thunked over railroad tracks a little too fast and it jostled off his head. He fought with it for long seconds until he finally tossed it onto the seat in frustration, going bare headed despite the Code R. Roy just glared at him, not saying much. They arrived, engine and squad onto a seedy city block that was quiet, full of sleeping apartment buildings with black wrought iron fire escapes and one burning dumpster down a dead end alley. Cap dragged himself out of the cab and viewed the sight of such an annoying type of fire with a groan. "Man.. Another one..How many does that make it Lopez? Four tonight?" "Yeah.." Marco croaked in his throat. "One an hour since that four alarm.." he rasped in irritation. Cap sighed "Ok, you and Stoker grab out an inch and a half, we'll have this washed in ten minutes. We gotta make sure that alley of junk hasn't sparked anything beyond that dumpster.." "Right.." Lopez nodded. On his way past Johnny, he couldn't resist a longer than average accusing stare.. Johnny felt ganged up on. "What did I do? All I did was get up to call Lydia. And Marco, I still want to take a look at your throat when we're done here!.." he shouted after the rushing Marco. Chet smiled. "Gage. You're not popular with him this week. Remember he remembers that he lost that bet with B Shift about how many times Bonnie messed on your bed." "Very funny.." John said. "Go make yourself useful and pick those crates up over there and move them out of the way for us.." Roy and Johnny saw Cap stand in the cab and report to LA that the incident was minor and that the station would be wrapping up in about twenty minutes. Mike and Marco approached the blazing dumpster and tried to hook its lid shut with a fire crook to smother it, but the lid had been tied back against the chain link fence. "Oh, man. Had to be hard.." Mike growled. Marco said to Stoker. "Gage put you in a bad mood, too?" he said hoarsely. "What?" Stoker said over the roar of the fanning inch and a half raising noisy steam from the belching dumpster as water began to suppress its flames. Cap took a sniff and asked. "Stoker.. You smelling turpentine?" A huge explosion ripped through the dumpster and it flipped end for end into the air straight up into the night sky and then down again.. "Look out!!" Cap shouted. Marco and Mike abandoned the hose and its high pressure water stream started bucking in the old newspapers and trash in the alley the moment they let go of its nozzle to run. The dumpster narrowly missed pinning their feet from where they threw themselves down onto the ground and its red hot edge landed on the hose, severing it. A hose burst drenched the entire gang in spitting ice cold water. Cap shouted from where he was standing and he barely managed to slam the engine cab door shut before the water got inside. "I don't believe this.. can we have any worse luck?" Stoker got to the pumper and turned off the water so that a new hose could be drawn and filled. A moan filled the silence.. from the ground where the dumpster had been. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute! There's somebody over there..!" Roy shouted. John ran to the squad and flicked on the squad headlights to shine into the piles of junk in the alleyway. As one the whole gang sifted through the garbage until.... ---------------------------------- Photo- Roy and John in turnout in fog. Photo- At night, firefighters battle a stack of burning pallets. ****************************** From: "Clairissa Fox" Date: Wed Oct 16, 2002 12:38 pm Subject: Big Troubles.. >A moan filled the silence.. from the ground where the dumpster had >been. >"Wait a minute. Wait a minute! There's somebody >over there..!" Roy shouted. John ran to the >squad and flicked on the squad headlights >to shine into the piles of junk in the alleyway. >As one the whole gang sifted through the >garbage until.... "Hey I see a foot!" Marco said, thick with laryngitis. "Where?" Mike said, shining his torch where Marco had pointed. He saw Lopez digging in a pile of cardboard, and they all converged on the spot, flinging away water soggy debris when, another moan filled the air, this time, from another direction. Cap was sharp. "Hey gang, fan out." Meanwhile, Marco had located his foot, it was an old boot, rank with stale beer. "Oops, not here.." he said. The fog from the harbor began to spill into the alleyway, mingling with the smoke from the extinguished dumpster. Roy began to call out. "Hey mister! Can you hear me? L.A. County Fire Department. Keep talkin! We're trying to find you...." Another cry, this time legible.. "Over here.. Help me.. I--." Cap gestured to the left this time. "Hang on, I got my men searching for you right now. Keep making noise!" then he confided to Roy, "That's danged odd. How can someone that injured be in three places at the same time?" "Don't know, Cap.." Chet thrashed around with an old board, moving aside boxes, and bottles and half spilled steel trash cans, right down to the pavement when-- "Ahhhh...Stop!" Kelly froze. "Guys, over here. He just reacted to what I was doing! But I can't see anything in this fog!" Johnny, Roy, Mike, Marco, Cap, and Chet all ran to that area of the alley which seemed thick with rot, and refuge under their gloves. The stench was only made worse from the water the broken hose had sprayed all over. The headlights of the squad were uselessly muffled in the mist and Gage moved instinctively near Roy to have a reference point. All their flashlights hit the back wall and the damp brick work there under another fire escape. Gage erupted. "I can't believe we didn't find him!" and he whirled around. Cap said, "All right, everybody. Back the way we came." Just then, came the sound of a very familiar starter, and a motor of a truck roared to life. The ghostly headlights of the squad wavered. Gage noticed it right away. "Hey! Hey!!" Gage yelled, running and leaping over crates and boxes. "Cap!! Someone's making off with the squad!!" "What?!" came Hank's voice. "The squad.. It's just been stolen!!" All heads raised just in time to see the two beams of lights from the squad flip around in a high tailed spin as it made its get away. Cap raised his HT. "L.A. Respond a police unit to our location. A carjacker has just made off with our rescue truck.." ##Ten Four, 51. Advising L.A.P.D to your incident.## "I don't believe this..!" Johnny exclaimed. "Who would do something like that? We're on a victim search here..." Marco suddenly gathered to the others with an old speaker rigged to a battery operated recorder in his hand. "How about a bunch of pranksters?" And his glove hit the play button. Trailing moans, just like the ones they had heard following the dumpster's explosion and the same cry Chet had heard, issued out of it. "Oh, man.. we've been set up by drug addicts. Thought the address seemed familiar.." Gage groaned. "Isn't this the same neighborhood where the San Pedro gang hangs out?" Roy stood leaning against an old hat rack. "Yep.. They must be after the pharmaceutical box." he said with a sigh. "That tears it.." Cap said. "When the police get here, let THEM search for more of these planted recorders. I'm not wasting another minute on this.." he roared. "Why me? Why US!!" he said, marching away back towards the engine. His voice came floating back towards the gang. "John, next time you have the brilliant idea of using the headlamps. Close your door next time huh, pal?" Gage's face fell as he wiped off a trail of water running down his plastered hair left over from the wild hose. "Right.." Chet said, "I wonder if they'll trash the squad.." "Oh, Chet..." John said sarcastically moving over to Stoker to help them put the hoses, the good and the bad one, away. A minute later, Vince and Martins pulled up, reds flashing. The burly officers ran out with their guns drawn into the air until they spied the bedraggled, soaked firefighters all lined up along the running board of the pumper. One glance of the recorder and wires Cap tossed him and the way Gage was rubbing his face in frustration and weariness told him the immediate urgency was over. Vince waved his junior man to holster his weapon and did the same. "Everyone all right?" he asked setting his hands onto his hips. "We're fine. Anyone birdeye the squad yet?" Hank asked. Vince shook his head. "Looks like he or she made a clean getaway. And it'll take a while to locate it too. The seafog's rolled in for the night.." "Maybe we'll get lucky and they'll try to go for a joyride.." Chet said, wringing out his drenched overcoat around the rear hand bars of the pumper. "Not likely.." Gage commented. "Listen, ah, Vince. Can you give us a ride to the station house? It's cold out here.. "Yeah.." "Go on, fellas. " Hank said. "We'll meet you back there. No doubt Vince has a stack of paperwork for us to fill out for the police report.." Roy and Johnny both grabbed blankets out of the engine's stokes cab to use as towels and a way to keep the squad car's seats dry for the trip back. "Looks like a full moon.." Vince said as Roy, Johnny piled in the back of his car. They waited for the engine to back away from the dirty alleyway. It headed off, silent reds turning off, leaving behind two more police cars which had arrived to begin setting up the crime scene. Gage heard over his walkie talkie. "L.A. This is engine 51. Mark Squad 51 out of service until further notice." ##10-4, 51..## Johnny's head banged into the window frame as Vince drove them home, and he said closing his eyes. "Oh, man. If I had known this was going to happen, I'd have never made that phone call earlier, Roy.." "You had no way of knowing.. Just a bad run. That's all." "Chalk up another bad one in about four days of bad. I'm beat.." "We all are.." Roy said scratching his nose. "Just that time of year, I guess." Vince spoke up from where he was driving. "I know what you mean. The PD's been getting odd calls and pranks all week. Must be a conspiracy going on out there or something. But rest assured. The San Pedro gang's got h#ll to pay for this latest stunt of theirs. Grand theft auto is ten to twenty. No bail in this county for any with prior felonies." "It is? Good.." Gage said closing his eyes again, his arms crossed together for warmth. Roy had already taken off his sodden trenchcoat and had laid it on the floor behind the wire partition separating him and Vince. Then he too, nestled back and uncontrollably nodded off. Vince drove a little more gently the rest of the way to the firehouse and Martins turned down their radio's volume a few notches. -------------------------------------------------- Rampart General, was a madhouse. Dixie McCall was in high gear, one trail of hair falling over her face as she delegated a sudden flood of incoming through her ward. "What now?" she said of Station Eight's paramedic team with their burden.. "We've got a drug overdose.. Don't know where he managed to get it, but this guy's got all the ear marks of meperedine toxicity. Brackett's already ordered us to start Narcan. And we couldn't get in an NG tube. He's been convulsing too much." Gil replied. "Oh, great. Treatment two.. Uh, Dr. Morton will be there in a sec right after he deals with another street gang type in with the same problem.." Dixie was about to unwind for a few precious seconds mentally when Station 10 rolled in. They were working a full arrest. "What do you got?" "Police were chasing this guy for stealing an L.A. county rescue squad. He didn't watch where he was running by the harbor, hit his head, and fell into the water. Took us over three minutes to fish him out." "A squad? That explains everything. And from the way he's tattooed, I'll just bet he's related to the other five we've just received in house. Has the whole world gone crazy tonight?" "Must be.." "Treatment Two.. Interrupt Brackett's arm laceration. He's just making a row of stitches neat on another biker type. He can handle your man." Dixie said. She watched her orders being carried out and then got onto the red phone to staffing. "Yeah, This is McCall in Emergency. Could you send down a doctor to finish handling a minor laceration in Two? We've a code in. Thanks.." and she hung up the phone. Dixie looked up and began to wonder when the night would ever end. "I hate full moons." Dr. Early had saundered up to get from Dixie the next patient in from the barrio neighborhood. "Why? I think a full moon is romantic and very beautiful. " he said in his calm soothing way. "Not when it's turning a street gang into a pack of wild maniacs, it's not. A bunch of them just made off with a rescue squad and they had a heyday with the paramedic's drug box." she groused. "I know. I just pronounced one of them.." Early said, rubbing his hand. Both nurse and doctor fell into a somber mood. ------------------------------------------------ Roy and Johnny and the rest of the gang were all nursing steaming cups of old coffee around the kitchen table. Only Martins seemed to have enough energy to play tug of war with Bonnie. "And that should do it boys.." Vince said. "Your accounts here and the fact you finally located a tape recorder should put the last nail in the coffin on this gang's activity. Gage winced. "Let's just hope its not for a real one, Vince. I don't want to find out that anyone died here.. Thanks, buddies.." he said, giving the two officers a small grin as they left the station. Cap leaned back, already showered and in a clean uniform, from his chaise lounge. Bonnie came running over to tug at his shoes in play, but for once, Hank didn't shove her away. "I don't want to even know what Charlie found with the squad when the police called him out to tow it." "Was it spray painted?" Chet asked. "Don't know. Didn't you hear what I just said, Kelly? I don't WANT to know. It's bad enough riding shotgun with another station's squad like we're going to have to do for the rest of the day..." "Sorry, Cap.." Chet said. Marco suddenly set down the phone. "Hey everyone! My mama heard on the news about the squad being jacked and she and Mrs. Bandido have made us some breakfast burritos in sympathy. They're on their way now to drop them off." "Hey hey.." everyone smiled and the kitchen burst into a more happier mood as the sound of a rich meal that was imminent cheered them. Bonnie barked, abandoning Hank's shoestrings and ran around the table until she had her dish in mouth. She sat up, begging. The whole gang laughed. It was fifteen minutes later. The burritos had arrived, were utterly inhaled and the gang was now splayed out on chairs and couchs completely at ease with the world. Then they heard the outer garage doors open and saw Charlie backing the rescue truck into its usual place with his tow truck. Johnny gasped as he saw a peek of it through the kitchen door. The gang left newpapers and chairs to gather round in the pullup garage in a cluster. Roy opened up his mouth in shock and said......... --------------------------------- Photo: Dixie on a red phone. Photo : Cap crashed on a black chair. ***************************** From: "ecrewgroupie" Date: Wed Oct 16, 2002 2:10 pm Subject: "Whew!" >Roy opened up his mouth in shock >and said......... "I can't believe it! Not a ding! Not a dent! Not a mark anywhere!" "Whew!" his equally relieved partner exclaimed, as they finished circling their seemingly unscathed vehicle, "We really lucked out! Man! We gotta be more careful from now on, though. We may not be so lucky next time." "Repeat after me, gentlemen..." Charley coaxed, as he came stomping stiffly up to the reckless pair. "There isn't going to BE a 'next time'!" Squad 51's paramedics cringed and stood there looking like a couple of school boys being taken to task. "I can't hear you..." Charley reminded the men, with a menacing glare. "There isn't going to BE a 'next time'," the pair parroted and continued to avoid any contact with the angry mechanic's narrowed eyes. Seemingly satisfied, the rescue truck's rescuer tossed their Captain the keys and began taking his leave. "Oh" he casually called back over his shoulder, "Before the two of you head off anywhere, you might wanna check out the side compartments..." -------------------------------------------- No attachments. **************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Wed Oct 16, 2002 4:11 pm Subject: Helping Out >Seemingly satisfied, the rescue truck's rescuer tossed their Captain >the keys and began taking his leave. "Oh" he casually called back >over his shoulder, "Before the two of you head off anywhere, you >might wanna check out the side compartments..." Johnny and the others watched Charley depart with a little more fear for his seemingly prophetic comment upon leaving, then they usually had, of him. Cap rubbed his nose, saundered over to a random door of the squad's flanks. And pulled. California kelp oozed out of the rappelling equipment compartment and onto his shoes into a noodled pile. Bonnie started barking at it suspiciously. Cap pursed his lips and said. "Chet, you start on clearing out this litter in here while Roy and John inventory what equipment we still got left.." Hank ordered. "Aww, Cap.." Kelly protested. "Aww, nothing. Tell me you know every single item in the paramedic inventory and I'll let you trade places with Gage and DeSoto. Do you? I'm not hearing anything......" "uh,, not really, Cap.." Chet mumbled. "I rest my case. Now gentlemen. I suggest we get to work. I don't know about you but I'd rather burn some elbow grease getting our squad compartments here back in order than have station 8's here with Brice and company aboard like they're scheduled to be doing starting at 1300 if we can't be absolutely call ready by then. Catch my drift..?" "Boy do we ever.." John said. "Brice might be coming here?" "Yep. So get cracking.." Cap said, clapping his hands together and then he disappeared into his office to change shoes. "I want to squash that possibility before it ever happens. Kapesh..?" his voice floated out to them. "Hey, Cap, uh, I thought we were a team. You know, the all together in this kind of thing.." Gage hollered after him.. "You know. Working through the good and the baddd.." he hinted.. Cap closed his door soundly. Roy peeled off a towel Chet threw into his face into one hand and he regarded Johnny thoughtfully. "You know, Johnny, you'd better ease up venting like that. Cap's a cap. And what he says, goes.." "I know that. I know that.. But why does he always have rank and privilege pull for him whenever he feels like it should? Always seems to happen during the hardest shifts. Especially full moon ones like today's." "Experience has its rewards, Johnny. And bailing out at will just happens to be one of them associated with Captain's rank." Roy said with a small shy smile. "Come on, I'll haul out the gear boxes and O2 to check them and you can get the dressings and splints taken care of, all right..?" Gage nodded and dejectedly followed him to the rear hatches of the trashed squad. Chet ducked when they opened those doors leading to the resuscitative apparatus, as beer cans poured out in a musical tumble onto the floor. Bonnie grabbed one and started growling as she attempted to chew it up. "Hey, give me that.." Gage said. "You'll break your teeth little girl.." and he traded slimy beercan for rawhide bone. "Here, take that.." he said. The toy he gave her was so big, it pulled the tiny dog's head to the floor and she had to tug with all her might to get to her customary spot under the engine to enjoy gnawing on it. Roy dug out all the cans he had discovered, chuckling at Chet's overstrung nerves and got to the O2 equipment and dragged it out. "Well, thank heavens for small mercys. Looks like this apparatus is ok." Johnny flipped open the drug box and found only air. "Not here. Figures.. All the unused syringes are gone too." The I.V. and dressings boxes were untouched, but in the stokes, they found a dummy, stuffed with trash and wearing a sign saying, "Thanks for being the life of the party, fireboys!" Roy heard Marco coughing as he leaned over to scrub saltwater off the hood of the squad and he casually said. "Lopez, check out the resuscitator for me will you? Johnny and I need to get a list together for a reissue of supplies." And he motioned for Gage to follow him into the kitchen with the drug and I.V. boxes. "All right.. " Lopez said, raspily. From around a corner, Roy watched Marco check all the psi readings and visualize the tubing connectors and regulators and then he smiled as Marco did a draw check on the mask over his own face with flowing O2. Lopez smiled as the oxygen soothed his raw throat and he took a few more thinking no one else was watching him. Johnny grinned, poking his partner in the ribs. "You crafty old.. You did that intentionally.." "Course I did.. Did you think that Marco would have let either one of us get any where near that throat after the night we've had.." "No..." Johnny said, shaking his head thoughtfully. "Well there you go.. That 02 will give him relief and take away some of that inflammation of his.." Roy said, as he sat at the kitchen table to check out the conditions of all their I.V. solutions and setups. John was considering Roy's angle of attack on Marco."Hey, Roy, I think I can trick Lopez into drinking my mother's honey birch bark tea to coat that throat of his.." "Not a chance.." Chet said making his way into the kitchen to dump out smeggy water from his bucket into the sink. "He's still sucking away out there and loving it, but ah, about him actually taking real medicine? Uh uh, Gage. Ain't gonna happen. Not in your lifetime." "Oh, really." Gage grinned. "We got him on oxygen therapy without him catching onto us fussing. What makes you think I'll fail with doing more?" Chet finishing filling his steel pail with hot water from the tap."Because Roy here is much better on the sly that you are, Gage. If you try anything else, let HIM do it.." and he walked back towards the garage. "Or, if you two are really concerned about Marco's cough, you can tell Cap about it." Johnny looked at Kelly as if the sky had fallen. "And ruin a great friendship?" "Not to mention the direct tie to a wonderful pair of burrito chefs.." Roy quipped. "That too.." Johnny nodded eagerly. "No way.. Chet. We're not going to resort to that.. Marco's not a baby. We'll just we'll just...uh, " "Fuss over him.." Roy completed for his stammering partner. "Yeah.." "Ok, have it your way.." Kelly said. Then his head peeked around the corner and he added, "I'll let you know how long he uses the demand valve." "You do that.." Johnny said with firm concern. ----------------------------------------- At Rampart, the fiasco with the San Pedro gang, had died down. Dixie, Joe, Mike Morton and Kel Brackett all sat around the nurses' lounge table nursing colorfully etched coffee mugs. None of them were saying much to each other. Until Dixie took her hand away from her chin. "Hey Kel, How did that drowning fare? You know the one who stole the squad from the fire department." "Didn't make it." "Oh," she said, suddenly interested in the cream swirling in her mug. "Sorry.." Joe piped up. "Two of the five aren't going home in body bags at least, Dix. They'll be facing trial for grandtheft auto and impeding official rescue service. Not to mention possession of narcotics." "Ah." McCall said without much vigor. Another long stretch of silence reigned. Until Mike said, "Hey, guys. Did you know that it was 51 whose squad was trashed?" Dix, Kel and Joe all erupted into reaction. "No, I didn't know.." "Oh, my.. Those boys have seen their share of misery this week." "That's too bad. Anything we can do?" Joe added. "I can see if I can swing some funds from the paramedic training program to cover their losses.." Brackett said. Dixie added, "And I and the other nurses can plan a party for the whole gang, to cheer them up a little. How about this weekend? At my place? I've a great little veranda, and a pool." "What a great idea. It'll take their minds off work for a while." Joe agreed. "Then it's settled." Dixie grinned. "As soon as I get off shift, I'll start making plans..maybe even a surprise party angle will work.." "Now wait a minute, Dix." Kel interjected. "How do we know Roy and Johnny's crew haven't already made plans for the weekend?" "Easy to check.." Dix smiled. "We have all the boys emergency phone numbers. We can call their friends, family and spouses to double check. I can do it." "And I'll make the Beef Bourginon." Early piped up. "What are you going to do, Kel?" "Wait a sec, I'm being dragged into this whole thing?" Dixie's look could melt steel. "And why not? You should at least make an appearance as the head of Emergency Services-Rampart ; to show your appreciation for all the hard work your two best paramedics and their stationmates have done for us.. Especially this week. Kel, have you seen their run sheets? They been frought with fatalities..or else, it's those crazy dumpster fires. That's bound to be more than just a little frustrating don't you think?" "Oh, all right. I guess I can bring a bottle of wine or two over for a few hours.." Brackett sighed, giving in to peer pressure. "Well, all right.." Dix said. "Now we have to come up with some entertainment." Mike Morton said, "I can always bring my guitar.." "You sing?" Joe said, almost spitting out his coffee. Brackett tossed him a napkin or two to clean up before the dribble reached his collar and white jacket. "A little.." Morton said defensely crossing his arms. But his smile was mild as he regarded his colleagues. "I do a fair job." "I sing too, doctor. " Dixie grinned. "And I'd be honored if you'd let me sit in on a few songs." "Be my guest.." "Then that's that.." Joe Early said. Everyone took his cue and rose in their seats, eyeing the time running out for their mutual breaks. "I'll let you know what time this Saturday boys.." Dixie said as they dispersed back into the hallway and to their own routines. ------------------------------------------ John looked up when he felt a tapping on his shoulder. "A minute ten. Twenty two breaths, Gage." Chet said, whispering around his newspaper at the table. "What..?" "That's how long and how often Marco connected with the O2 earlier, man. You said you wanted to know.." "Oh, yeah. Right. Thanks, Chet. Seems to have worked. He's speaking more clearly and that cough of his has been less." "One more assist in the bag.." Chet said happily secretive. "His mother will thank us for going through the trouble of fussing like this." "His mother?" "Yeah, she's the one who called Roy asking him to check out Marco yesterday night before we all went to bed." "You actually talked to Rose Marie Lopez?" John said with amusement. "I don't even think I've ever met her.." "Yes, sweet old thing. And we had a nice conversation, too.." Chet said. "Seems Marco's in the market for moving out of the house and into an apartment for the two of them.." "He is?" Roy said, munching on a bagel. "Money problems?" "No, just getting closer to assisted care for his mother. She says she's getting on and would like someone to come in every so often to help her out so Marco can free up more of his time to live his own life.." "She told you that?" Johnny asked, in a whisper. "Yeah, man. Like I said, she's a sweet little old lady who'll talk your ear off just as much as she'll fill your stomach with food you can die for.." Kelly admitted. "Oh. Maybe we should ah, should ..ah, help them out to find ...a place like that, Roy.." John said when Chet retreated back into his funnies section. "What do you think...?" he said uncomfortably rubbing a non existent ache in his neck. "Johnny, don't even go there. You know how private Marco gets with his personal life. If we're having this much trouble getting him cared for following fires, what kind of trouble do you think we'll get into prying into his private affairs?" Roy asked reasonably. "Well, I don't know. I.. I just think we should help him, that's all.." Johnny grinned and frowned with no confidence.. "Uh huh.. Easier said than done buddy boy.." Roy said, and he turned back to his snack, trying not to catch an irresistable snooze that seemed to be creeping up on him in the background. The noon day sun started streaming through the window onto the couch and Bonnie stretched out underneath it luxuriously lengthening her limbs and moaning with a contented whine. Cap quieted her with affectionate scratches on her belly without looking around his incident reports. "Nice job all, on the squad. We're back in business." Marco piped up from the water glass he was sipping gingerly. As yet, Johnny's herbal tea, was untouched. "Anything to keep Brice out of the station.." he quipped. Then he coughed a few times, clearing loosening phlegm from his chest. Johnny and Roy both cocked an ear to hear how those noises had sounded. Then the two paramedics both pursed their lips in grins of success behind their newspaper pages. Things sounded way better for Lopez. The phone rang and Captain Stanley rose to answer it. "L.A. County Fire Department. This is Captain Stanley... uh, huh.. " he said as he listened to his caller. "Uh,.. hang on.." He turned to the other guys and said..... ------------------------------- Photo- The luckless squad with equipment strewn about. Photo- Black and White of the Gang in the Kitchen. **************************** From : Katherine Bird Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Big Brother.. Date : Fri, 18 Oct 2002 21:42:50 +0100 (BST) >The phone rang and Captain Stanley rose to >answer it. "LA County Fire Department. This >is Captain Stanley... uh, huh.. " he said >as he listened to his caller. "Uh,.. hang on.." >He turned to the other guys and said..... "Gage,.. it's a Lydia Montegeaux, calling from San Bernadino, inside our district..." For some reason, Cap was beaming ear to ear. Johnny shot up from his chair quickly to snatch the phone away from Cap to cover the receiver before the entire company erupted into cat calls and hoots and whistles. "WHeeuuueeEEEeeee, way to go, Gage." "Is this that chick you were trying to call last night? Man she must be really hung on you Gage to call back after you didn't." "Another date? Hey fellas, five dollars down he doesn't arrange dinner plans during this phonecall. Put your gatas where your boca is.." Marco rasped. "I'm in.." Mike said, pulling out his wallet and throwing down a crisp five where Marco was pointing on the table top vigorously. Cap just threw up his hands. "You guys are relentless.. Now cut that out.. Give the man some privacy.." They ignored Cap because he was still grinning and even Roy threw down a rumpled bill on top of Chet, Marco and Mike's. John shot acid towards them all , hunching over around the mouthpiece of the phone, turning his back towards the rest of the gang after hissing a few indignant warnings to them all to hush down. Then he completely changed his tone of voice. "Uh, Lydia, Hi sweety. *Smooch* I love you, too. How's your arm today? Yeah? The doctors give you a big cast? Wow, I can just imagine. " he paused and his face beamed into a big smile as he slipped into a bonafide protective mode with his voice. The guys piped down when they realized that Gage was talking to a little girl of all things. All their mouths hung open, then one by one, they all retrieved their betting money back thoughtfully as they more or less politely easedropped. Mike started guessing. "Is this a kid you and Johnny had on a rescue?" Roy shook his head and shrugged. Chet said, "Cap, why didn't you tell us it was a little girl on the phone.." "Because it was none of your business, Kelly, now was it..?" he said from around the sports page. "I tried to warn you all to respect Gage's privacy...." Roy studied his now empty coffee cup and spun it around on its base in deep thought. "Yeah, that you did.." Johnny turned around towards the table again and suddenly finger snapped for a pad of paper and a pen, his green one still on the wordfind he had been working on before the phone call. All the guys hastily shot to their feet, to give the writing pad to him and his trusty pen.. "Give me that..." Johnny said, his voice's bite toned down, when he saw them kowtowing sheepishly to aid him because of their childish behavior a minute ago. He shuffled phone receiver to one shoulder and a chin and said, "OK, I got something to write on, hon. What was that again? 414 Rural route 60, San Bernadino Iduhapi Campground Resort? Yeah, so that was where I was calling into last night . It's that camp you told me about where the counselors take you into the woods and stuff for hikes and then teach Braille. Yes, that's right. You said your grandfather was sending you there this week. Yeah, That's not too far away for me to come visit ya.. I'll be coming.. Don't you worry..After all, I am your "Big Brother".." he grinned, and visibly melted as a very young voice warbled excitedly into his ear. "And I'm sorry about not calling last night like we planned for your cabin's sleepover in the morning in time for sunrise show and tell. I sorta kinda got interrupted..." And he glared at the gang for the treatment he'd received last night trying to contact Lydia. "Huh? No. no.. It's wasn't for a rescue. Just a.. just a tiny garbage fire.. Heh. " and he laughed. "Yeah, there's a lotta garbage in the city, that I'll admit. Yeah, I got it all right here. Your address and everything. You're really close, just a few miles away up in the mountains. I'll write and send ya a care package for you and the other girls all right? Ok. I promise I'll come visit ya on my shift off, yeah, I'll bring my firehat. I promise.. Ok, gotta go. ..Bye bye, Lydia.." And he hung up, smiling to himself hugely as he made his way back over to the kitchen table. The fellas were quiet, absorbing what they had overheard. Then Chet spoke up. "She a niece or something, uh, Gage?" "No..no. I.. I sort of volunteered for the Big Brother Program earlier this spring. Lydia's blind, and I got picked to be her sponsor for the summer. You know.. penpalling, picnics, that sort of thing. You see, Lydia's five and she requested a firefighter for her sponsor. heh. Guess she did that because her own father was one and passed on when she was three in a car accident...And, that's also, how she got blinded..." Johnny said. Then he cleared his throat self consciously. "Well.. now that all your nosy curiosities are satisfied.. I think I'll get back to my puzzles.." he said with a final glare of challenge. He met none, only nods of understanding and warmth. Chet spoke up again. "Wow, Gage, that's that's really something. Being a sponsor and all for her like that. I've heard of the Iduhapi retreat. That's in the heart of the San Bernadino Mountains, isn't it?" "Yep. Halfway between us and Station Ten. Believe it or not, it was Brice who told me about the Big Brother program they had going with the camp. I mean, I couldn't look like a fool and not help out you know what I mean?. He called me about it this spring.." Mike chuckled. "You mean you got suckered into volunteering because Brice was..." Johnny felt pinned when that truth was revealed. He just rolled his eyes and contented himself with tightening his lips. Marco coughed and said, finally sipping Johnny's special tea.. "Amigo, when are the two of you going to stop this one upmanship of yours. I mean. Even your paramedic re-cert scores were the same last month. I can just see it.. Soon, you'll start donating to the same charities in higher and higher amounts just to see who'll top the other.." "Yeah, well I draw the line there.. Brice is Brice is.. not my idea of a fastheld friend but there's station honor to uphold. Our station was the only one who wasn't involved with this Big Brother thing.. Couldn't let that stay that way.." "Appreciate it, Gage.." Cap said. "McConnike called about Station Ten's program and I was very very glad that you were already on the rosters. Only got a grunt of approval from the chief and no inspection dates." he said with relief.. "Glad to have obliged. I wash your back, and you wash m--, oh never mind, Cap. I'm having fun. Lydia's something really special and I'm really glad I can be there for her.." Roy smiled, getting up to fetch the coffee pot. "Want more coffee, Johnny?" he said. "Oh, no thanks." then he noticed Marco drinking his medicinal tea. "Hey, Roy.. He's doing it.." he said, holding up his puzzle page so Marco wouldn't hear him talking about him. "And Kelly here thought I wouldn't be able to get it by Lopez. Hehehe.. shows him a thing or two.." Roy rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, well. As long as Marco's cough goes away I'm happy." "Oh, it will. It will." Johnny said. "Between the two of us, we'll get him squared away." Chet had over heard. "Yeah, that's until the next big fire un-does all that nice preventative work.." "Shhst.." Gage said, knocking on wood. Marco licked his lips, draining the last of his cup and set it down while he read the National Geographic article he was turned to. Gage leaned in to Roy. "Hey, Roy, think I should sneak over there and pour more tea for him?" "Nah, don't over do it.. or he'll catch on.." "You're right." Gage said. "We'll just keep an ear out like we've been doing.." Roy said, "Ummmhmmm." from deep inside his article. Johnny turned back to his puzzle with a good heart, smiling when the next word he found in his paper turned out to be .. 'samaritan.' Bonnie barked when the clock struck one pm and the cuckoo popped out from over the couch, disturbing her nap. All was quiet for the next half hour until.... --------------------------- Photo: Gage smiling like a proud papa. Gif: A District map showing all firehouses in the Emergency show and their locations. Photo: Johnny's fireman's hat. ************************** From : "Cassidy Meyers" Subject : [emergencytheaterlive] Bonnie's Bad Day Date : Mon, 21 Oct 2002 11:36:53 +0400 >Bonnie barked when the clock struck one >pm and the cuckoo popped out from >over the couch, disturbing her nap. >All was quiet for the next half hour until.... Roy noticed something strange. It made him do a double take from his newspaper. ::What th--?:: he thought. Bonnie had left her couch and was cowering under it, trembling. Roy nudged Johnny, who was deep into writing a pen pal letter to Lydia, the blind girl from his phone call, and he pointed Bonnie out without saying anything. Gage immediately frowned. "Chet, did you go and do something stupid like yell at Bonnie over some infraction or anything?" Kelly stopped working out with his hand held barbells on the exercise mat next to the mop cupboard. "What?Huh?" Then he noticed Bonnie laying low, too. "I haven't moved from this mat, buddy, since your phone call. I'm innocent this time. Maybe she's mad at you. It's your bunk she chooses to use as territory marking post on occasion." "Very funny.." Johnny said. He walked over and noticed Cap watching Bonnie, too, from his black recliner. "Cap, what do you make of it?" "I don't know. Maybe she's sick or something. Her food's hardly touched. Why don't you two go check her out? You and Roy are the stationhouse paramedics here.." he said in a no nonsense tone of voice that was also an order and he arched an eyebrow before turning back to his stocks page. Johnny began a protest, "Cap, I..." Hank briskly folded his paper to another page loud enough to drown out Gage's remark. Then he said, "Do I hear a little bird in here? Sounds like it's tweeting too hard or something.. Marco, why don't you go to the shed and open the main doors so it can get on its merry way.." Chet sniggered and so did Marco and Mike. Roy just rolled his eyes at his long time partner and was the first one to get up out of his chair to amble over to where Bonnie was cowering under the couch beneath Marco's legs. DeSoto knelt on his knees and peered into the darkness under the leather cushions. "Come here Bonnie.. Come on, girl. I just want to take a look at you.." he started baby talking when she picked up her muzzle from the floor and dipped her head at him, rising to her feet. "Yes, let me see you..." The tiny Yorkie whined a bit, and timidly wagged her tail but came finally into his hands. Roy picked her up, scratching her head and sat on the couch with her. Johnny sighed heavily and pushed back with a linoleum wood squeal in his kitchen chair and made a production of joining Roy with Bonnie. The dog was just as shy but affectionate with Gage as she was with Roy and that puzzled both men when nothing seemed amiss with her physically. Johnny said, "Now, Cap. I've been down this doggy exam route before. There's nothing wrong with her that we can tell.." "There must be, Gage. Have you ever known Bonnie to cower and hide before?" Cap countered. Chet piped up, "Not even after she's been using Gage's sheets as a latrine..." The guys laughed. Johnny glared at them. "Ok, all right you guys..So you've had good laugh off me. Now be quiet for a sec.."Then he lifted Bonnie's chin and went nose to nose with her. "Bonnie..Hey, I'm not annoyed at all here.. At least, not with you..." and he shot a look at Chet. "So what's your problem you little wriggling ball of fur?" Bonnie whined again and licked his nose bashfully. Gage caught his breath and pulled away, wiping doggy kiss off. "Yeah,.. love you too.." and he got up again. "Listen, Cap, I don't know what her problem i--hey... I know, maybe she's sick of her food. You know, maybe she wants a change.." "Yeah, a change like staying away from you, Gage.." Kelly said, unrelenting. "Why else would she be singling out your bunk and not anyone else's?" Cap threw an "end of fun" look at Kelly and replied. "Worth a shot there, Gage. Why don't you try some of that bacon from the crisper. There's some left over in there from breakfast." Mike said, "You mean, Marco didn't finish it all?" Lopez vigorously shook his head. "My throat's still rawer than anything. I only wanted a few bites.." "Ok. All right.." Johnny said holding up surrendering hands. "I'll bribe her, just like I do with the cookies at night to keep her from howling.." Bonnie watched Johnny go to the frig, listening to his babytalk tempting, right up until the bacon was held under her trembling nose. Her whine cut off and she sneezed with tension, jumped off the couch and retreated underneath it once more. The whole gang heard her whimpering start up all over again.. Johnny threw up his hands in resignation and shrugged. "I tried.." Then he looked at the bacon in his fingers and decided it looked pretty good so he dropped some of it into his mouth and the rest he slid under the couch with his foot. Cap concluded. "Chalk it up to another Bonnie personality quirk. Michelle did say Bonnie would be very like her mother that way." "Spitting image..." Gage grunted. Roy said, still slumped quietly on the couch. "I don't know.. This Bonnie's got more class. When she has a bone, even Steger on B shift can't get it away from her." "Heh. That's true.." Gage chuckled. Then he put his hands on his hips. "Why don't we just wait and see how she does for the rest of the day. If she's still off by shift change, we can just have them call the V-E-T later.." From under the couch, Bonnie's soft, incessant whines shut up. "Smart dog.." Marco said. "The old Bonnie never caught on to us spelling that word out l-.." Right then the doorbell on the side entrance rang.. "Ah, it's the school kids.." Mike said, "They're here with their teacher to get a tour of the firehouse.." "All right everyone.. Neaten up. Gage, tie your shoe.." Cap ordered. Gage lifted a knee and did so, losing his balance in his haste. Then all stood as Mikelead their guests into the kitchen. "Hello. Glad you could make it.. Everyone..this is Miss Cindy Thorne.. and these, running around us in figure eights, are seven students of hers from the Grover Middleland school.. " Stoker introduced. A short pixie like blond in a scarlet red dress came through the door and took off her sunglasses. "Fireman Stoker. Nice to see you again.. I hope it's not too busy a day today for that tour we prearranged." she said, shaking the hand of the man she had only heard on the phone before. "Not too busy.." Stoker grinned, letting go of her palm. "Glad you made it over. Traffic must have been a bear.." And at the same time.. Gage spoke, too. "No, no.. it's ok. In fact, we've done nothing much in the way of runs today.. except a few alley burns and a bunch of thugs who made off with the sq--" Johnny started up, but Roy nudged him subtly in the ribs in a hint. "Ah,..helped us get a lot of cleaning done today..." Cindy stayed focused on Mike, the one fireman she knew and replied to his comment. "The usual. I had the school van take us over instead of using the bus. I parked it in the back lot, is that ok?" "Sure.. that's fine. That's where we park our own cars.." Marco said. "That's right.." Cap brightened eagerly. "We have uh, milk and cookies for the kids if you'd like after the tour... Fireman Lopez's mother brought some over with lunch just two hours ago..." he said thoroughly gentlemanly. All the gang's faces lit up when the kids excited laughter and chatter about being in a real station house brought back childhood memories of their own and they gathered around the happy throng of seven children. "That's ok, captain. I made sure the kids had eaten before bringing them over. Last thing they need is more sugar. They're rowdy enough as it is.." the pretty teacher said as clusters of girls and boys ran in circles in a good natured tag game around them all. "Ok.. uh, would you like to split up the kids and have my men take one or two each to show them around the firehouse?" Hank asked. "That would be wonderful..Might work out better separating them like that. They can be a handful.." she laughed. " The kids were so excited about coming here for their annual field trip.." "No problem.. They know to rejoin you immediately if the call tones go off for us?" "Yes. We've rehearsed that just before coming here." Chet picked two of the older boys and said, "Right, You and you. We get to play with the sirens first..Race ya!!" and the curly haired firemen with his two shadows headed off in a mad dash for the La France.. "Aww, man.." said one boy not picked, watching them go.. Roy picked him up. "We'll all get a turn. Just be patient there. What Fireman Kelly doesn't know is that MY group gets to wear the helmets first.... Who's coming....?" "Me!! Me!!" came a girl's voice, a blond child dressed in blue and red. "Ok, looks like we go with this young lady here all right..?.." he said, setting down the disappointed boy. Roy and his two children trundled off to the garage shed after Chet's group of two. "Marco, why don't you come with me?" his voice floated back. "We'll get out our two helmets from the squad.." "Sure thing pal.." Lopez said, giving the elementary teacher a jaunty wave of departure. And he, too, disappeared through the kitchen door. Johnny took two more girls, twins, to show them the hoses in the back yard so they could play man the hose by the old engine parked out back. His two children eagerly ran up to the antique and climbed on board it. Cap saw where they were through the kitchen window and grinned when they all heard the brass bell go off as the two girls experimented.. Then he looked down at the final child, a very tiny boy with glasses, still holding his teacher's hand. He knelt by his side. "Hey son, why the long face? I'm the only fireman in this whole station house who's the captain.." "Wow.." he said, eyes getting really big.. "Yeah, so it looks like you and me are the only ones left.. That means we get to do the best thing before any of the others.. Mike's gonna stay back and chat with Miss Thorne here while we get to go do the tour.. Have you ever seen a dispatch radio before?" Cindy, Cap and Mike all grinned, thoroughly captivated by the cute awed expression on the boy's face when he slowly shook his head from side to side in hushed anticipation. Cap went on.."Well, I can let you talk to Sam, the man who calls out all the firemen everywhere to respond on rescues if you'd like.." "Wow.. can I really do that?" Cap winked at Cindy.. "It'll be the afternoon station's check.." he said aside. "Right this way.." Cap said, bending over and taking the herostunned boy's tiny hand into his own big one. They disappeared out to the garage, too, to the radio substation alcove by the big LA County map. Stoker was left with Miss Thorne by the table "Well, have a seat. This may take a while. The gang gets pretty entertaining whenever school tours stop on by...." "I can just imagine..." Cindy said.. as sirens and engine hoots and antique pumper bells filled the air punctuated by animated laughter from both children and firemen alike.. Then she heard a subtle whining that she hadn't noticed before because of her student's happy noises..... "Do you have a station dog around here, Mr. Stoker? I think I'm hearing one." "Oh, yes, That's Bonnie. She's having an off day today. She just started carrying on about two minutes before you and the kids arrived. It's nothing. As far as we can tell there's nothing wrong with her. She's right there under the couch." "Poor thing. She doesn't sound too happy right now at all. One would think that she was upset because of the kids.." "oh, no, Miss Thorne. She's usually running around playing tag with them full throt--" Mike broke off his sentence when Bonnie's crying suddenly ceased abruptly. A subtle low rumble rose from the ground and trembled into a great belching roar that slammed into their ears, shaking Station 51 up to the rafters . Laughter turned to screams from the children as the full teeth of a sudden earthquake threw them to the ground whereever they were from truck or hose like paper dolls. Out in the garage, the tremor burst open the main doors and they squealed in metal shrieks as they rose in their tracks until the fierce shuddering split them apart. --------------- In the fire engine..Chet grabbed his two boys and shoved their heads down onto the floor as he himself ducked as the ceiling came down in the garage, lights, rafter, roof and all, on top of the LaFrance, only narrowly missing Roy's side of the rescue squad. ------------------- Roy had his two students under the squad, and all three were choking on dust from the walls and from the stove's ruptured gas line pouring from the darkened kitchen. He hugged the children's helmeted heads tightly to himself and started to pray.. ------------------- Cap shouted but couldn't be heard over the roar of violated earth moving beneath the foundations. He yanked his terrified student deeper into the comm's alcove and pushed him against the wall to cover him up with his own body as the garage roof caved in behind them over the engine and part of the squad. ------------------- Simultaneously, out in the yard, Johnny managed to grab the two girls with him off the old engine and he brought them to the ground into the only open area away from the yard's brickwalls, before they swayed, disintegrated and collapsed around them. In his worry for the girls, Gage, wasn't fast enough to get himself into the clear. --------------------------- Only twenty feet away, the kitchen was remaining intact, shaking and shuddering. Mike Stoker and Cindy crawled under the swaying, shifting table, with Cindy screaming all the while for the children at the top of her voice. --------------------- Dust and tremendous destructive noise filled the air everywhere, for about a minute more, before silence fell over the place where six firemen, seven children and one teacher had been playing so joyfully a short time before. *** *** Cars on the boulevard outside Station 51, skidded out of control and screeched brakes as their equilibrium was thrown off as the earthquake sputtered and writhed around them. Then an awful quiet fell over stopped traffic as people, one by one, staggered from their halted vehicles. One driver looked up and couldn't believe his eyes. The firehouse he normally drove by everyday, had its garage collapsed down on top of its rescue squad and engine until only its outer walls were standing. "Oh my god..!" he said, "The crew must still in there!" and he and others rushed forward, but the earthquake had sent the water from burst hydrant out front, high into the air and smothering clouds of dirt and dust kept them from getting closer to the partially downed firehouse. From inside.. There was no sound coming at all until the tones for the California EBS system began to issue from the place the dazed auto driver knew was the station's radio alcove. A dispatcher's voice took up a new note of urgency when his board showed one base station horribly dark off his channel monitor. ##Station 51. Topological Survey reports a Richter Scale Class ground tremor in your vicinity. What's your comm and station status? ...Station 51, This is L.A. Respond....## Outside, the disbelieving driver didn't know if there was anyone still left alive in the rubble he was seeing to answer the call... ----------------------------- Photo : A very cute Bonnie wearing a red bow. Photo : The Station with both doors open, getting a tour with kids in the yard. Photo : A pile of red tumbled bricks in close up. Photo : A crushed fire engine. Photo : Station 51's block, levelled by an earthquake. Avenue and power lines in front are intact. Gif : The Emergency! title in red. Gif : An Earthquake alert symbol and icon in red and black. Audio : The disaster all call speaker tones, for four alarm call. ************************************* From : "patti keiper" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Aftermath Date : Mon, 21 Oct 2002 19:54:57 +0000 >##Station 51. Topological Survey >reports a Richter Scale Class ground >tremor in your vicinity. What's >your comm and station status? >...Station 51, This is LA. Respond....## In the blackness, the boy with glasses looked up. He could see a yellow light flashing on the radio over his head and could hear the dispatcher speaking. He was crying steadily in small sobs from where he sat up against the brick wall, and he looked out into the daylit ruins of the garage. A steady cloud of water misted from the shattered hydrant by the street into the bay and cleared away some of the worst of the dust. ##Station 51. Transmit HT as an alternative. All bands have been cleared for you. This is L.A.. Respond....## The boy looked down. Next to him on the ground was the fireman who said he was captain for the others. He was lying on his stomach and not moving. Remembering what his mother taught him about helping people, he got up, pushing wood chards and debris off of himself, he quickly snatched the microphone off its spigot and held it to his mouth. He knew about CB radios because his dad had one. "Mister... I'm in the fire house! The roof came down and I can't wake the captain fire chief.... Hurry!.." he sniffed, very frightened. Around him, rising warm wind from the outside and sounds of frightened people on the avenue filtered in to him. Gasping, the boy could see another foot underneath the red vehicle in front of him. It was Susie, his friend's, and it was starting to move as if someone were pulling her. There was a long pause as L.A. checked to be sure things were switched to a one to one frequency. Then..Sam's voice came back on the air.##Son. Understood. I've got help coming. It's on the way. ## Robbie could hear multiple call signs going out on the air behind the man's voice. All he could think about was that it was alot of numbers. 8, 10, 127 ,36, Batallion 14... He started to memorize them in his shock but the dispatcher man's voice dragged back his attention.. ##What's your name?## "R-Robbie.. my teacher's name is Miss Thorne.. We were here on a tour of the firehouse. " ##All right Robbie..There's been an earthquake and that's why things are fallen down. Do you think your fireman Captain Stanley, is still alive? ## Sam asked. "Yes.." Robbie replied. "He's making noises." #Good. How many besides your teacher were with you..?## "Seven, sir.." ##Ok. Now, I want you to get out of there if you can. Can you see the daylight from the main doors. Are they open?## "Y-yeah. But its hard to see... The fire hydrant's on and there's a funny smell in here.." Sam was side keying a dispatch to the gas company to shut off service to that block with one hand. He turned back to his microphone to Robbie, still inside the shattered fire station. Already, he was getting citizen's reports about further damage to the building next to Station 51 and minor reports of some more in nearby warehouses. But none were as bad as those coming in about the station house. #Robbie. Drop the microphone and leave. It's not safe for you to stay. Don't worry about your teacher and other classmates. There are more firemen and police on the way who'll take care of them. Now go.## L.A. heard the line disconnect as the child dropped the radio mike. Sobbing.. Robbie, gave one last look at Cap, who was moaning as he started to awaken, and crawled over him and over brick piles and sections of the ceiling rafters. He made his way through the spraying water from the ruptured water line and safely outside the collapsed garage. Sam switched to Station 51's HT frequency and started hailing. ##Station 51. This is L.A. monitoring on handheld frequencies bands. Your situation is noted and assistance is on the way...Gas company has been notified....Station 51, do you copy?## ========================== Once Robbie was outside, the auto driver who had stopped earlier, snatched him up. "Are you all right, son? Where were you?" He cast his eyes on the still dusting, smoking debris of the main garage. He couldn't see where the boy had come from at all. "I was in there..on a field trip..But I talked to the radio dispatcher man and he has other fire engines coming!" But then the situation proved too much and the tiny boy fainted in the man's arms. The group of people from the avenue gave shouts of dismay as the man lowered the boy to the cracked concrete of the boulevard to make sure he was all right. No one had the presence of mind to go into the firehouse, distracted because of their concern for the pale boy. ======================= Roy coughed and looked over his shoulder just in time to see Robbie safely getting out. His arms were full of two weeping little kids, still in their tour helmets. Marco, was nowhere to be seen. ::He was right here next to us...:: Roy thought, peering around in urgency. Overhead, he could hear the actions L.A. was taking to aid them all. He snatched up a handy talkie from inside the squad's shattered driver's window when the squad door didn't open. "L.A., This is Squad 51.. Still here. Stand by. I gotta get some of these children out..Will advise once I know more." Roy could almost hear the sound of audible relief in Sam's voice. ##10-4, 51. ETA of responding units is four minutes..## Already, Roy could hear PD sirens growing in the distance as they wove around scattered stopped vehicles on the boulevard. Roy wiped away blood from his forehead and he shouted, "Cap!!" "Ughhh..h.." came a moan from his left. Roy turned to the boy and girl, gripping their arms. "Now did you see where that little boy just went? He was getting out to safety.. Now I want you to follow him.." "We don't want to leave you..." one of them cried. "It's ok to be scared. But there are people out there who are going to be able help you better than I can in here. You're going to be fine.. I'll show you exactly where to crawl out.." Roy gasped. He lifted them over sections of the roof and winced as cold hydrant water covered them all. ::At least a fire can't start in here.:: He glanced down where he saw Cap struggling to sit but Cap waved him on even as he held his sore head. "Go, DeSoto.. Finish what you're doing.. I'm ok.." Hank said. "I'm not going to go anywhere until you're with me.." "All right.. Here, Cap.." and Roy tossed him the HT he had retrieved. He started shouting even as he picked up each child and watched them go through the tangle of metal garage door sheeting to the street. "Marco! Chet! Answer me!" A blast of an air horn from the engine under the worst of the debris pile cut through the hiss of spouting water and Roy smiled. ::Chester B, am I glad to hear you. You must've gotten your boys into the cab all right..:: Roy saw drivers intercept his tour kids even as they clustered around the first little boy lying in the street who was already waking up from his faint. DeSoto leaned heavily on the garage frame for only a moment before he went back towards the squad. Only half of it was buried. He touched Cap on the arm, who had staggered to his feet to hang onto the squad's mirror. "You better?" he asked as he pulled the passenger side door open for the paramedic helmets there and got out the two turnout coats from the side compartment he could reach. He handed Johnny's to Cap to wear and put on his own. "Yeah, I think so. I think a board hit me in the head when I pushed the boy out of the way..." he gasped, catching his breath.. "I heard Kelly's blast just now. Any sign of Lopez?" Roy shook his head. "Not yet." Then he thought of something else. "Mike!!" And he yelled to the kitchen which was now dark. A part of the roof outside had fallen over the window, blocking out the sunlight. The smell of gas was very strong when they both got there to where the door was partially jammed open. Looking through the cracked glass window in the door, they saw a pair of legs on the floor... Lopez's... "Marco?!!" Roy started to push on the door, trying to break it out of its jammed frame. "No, you need an air bottle in there. Go!" Cap said, pulling him away. Roy ran back to the squad, shoving and kicking away debris to get to the right store compartment. He got on his tank in record time. He was back at the kitchen entryway when Cap finally got the door open with a crowbar. Hank coughed as a wall of gas boiled out over him. "Get him out first. Then go back for Stoker and the woman.." Cap ordered Roy as DeSoto put on his face mask and reset his helmet over it.. A small form shot out from under their feet, from the darkness, yelping.. It was Bonnie.. She disappeared through a crack leading to the backyard as if on a mission.. Roy sighed in relief.. "Bonnie's alive. Gas can't be too bad in there.." he shouted through his face plexiglass. He got to Marco and grabbed him by the shoulders. Even as Roy did so, he shouted. "Mike!! Miss Thorne!!?" He couldn't see anything at first as his retinas still burned with sun dazzle.. But then he saw that the side door had been chopped down with an axe and opened and he caught a brief glimpse of Stoker carrying out Miss Thorne into the only direction he could, into the backyard.. She seemed out cold and he seemed to be hurrying more than just because of the gas danger. ::She must be worse off than Marco if Stoker left him behind.:: Roy thought. Then Cap's HT crackled as Roy finished dragging Marco out near where outside air was pouring through the children's escape hole washing away the gas fumes. Roy listened to a new incoming voice even as he watched Cap get Marco's airway secure for a listening check. It was Chet.. ##I'm ok, and two twin girls and the boys who were with me. We're out in the yard! I don't see Gage. But I think I know where he is.. Bonnie's digging through a brick pile..## came Kelly's voice. ##The woman's respiratory arrested. Stoker's working on her now.## Roy pulled off his mask and tank and snatched up the HT Cap had left on Marco's stomach. ##We hear you Chet. Hang on. Marco's unconscious, too. Let us get a handle on his situation and we'll be right there! We got the rest of the kids out. L.A.'s on the ball and the gas is getting shut off..## He heard the sirens from the approaching police car arrive and shut down. Very soon, Roy heard someone climbing over the debris in the driveway and a face peered into the place in the torn main doors where the children had gotten out. It was Vince. "You boys ok in there?! Everyone's fine out here by the road!" Roy shouted from his place by Cap and Marco, talkie still in hand and to his ear, listening to Chet's continuing report even while he shouted at Vince. "Go to the yard Vince!.. Johnny's trapped and Stoker and Chet's got an arrest victim.. We'll get out there with the gear soon as we can..Marco needs us right now." He ducked when Vince's body weight and movement jarred tilted rafters and made plaster pieces fall onto the three of them as he hastened to go where directed. Roy glanced back down to Marco, removing his overcoat. "Cap, is he still breathing?" -------------------------- Photo: Cap outside in a closeup. *Animated gif* Flames, burning low. Photo : The Gang in the station garage bay around the squad and engine. Photo : Close up of the Squad's gearboxes in their storage racks. Gif: The word "quick" in melted and burning metal, wafting smoke. Photo : Closeup of Roy outside, wearing a stethoscope. ***************************************** Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 23:37:20 -0700 (PDT) From: "Patti Keiper" Subject: Digging by Daylight.. Hank looked up. "Barely. He's gonna need O2 and I think something else is wrong with him. He feels awfully hot to me." "Yeah well, we gotta get him out of here first. Who knows when the gas company will get L.A's stop order. This earthquake might have given them higher priorities.." Roy said. "Last thing we need is 100 % O2 mixing with all the fumes in here." "Hey..Knock it off, t-that's my line." Cap quipped. Roy grinned, which levelled, as he concentrated on a quick assessment of Marco's condition. He got a grip on Lopez's carotid, and paused as he got an initial breathing rate visually. "Marco's doing well enough for an evac, Cap.. Watch him a sec. I'm going to see if I can free up a stokes for him and the resuscitator. Stoker's gonna need it if that school teacher's down too deep." "I remember hearing about her.." Cap shook his head, trying to clear it. "Yeah. That's right..S-Sounds like a plan.." Roy looked up at Cap. "Hey. You all right to be alone for a bit? You still look groggy." "It's nothing. I'm only a little woozy. Go.." he said, meeting Roy's eyes evenly with his own to show the truth in his words. DeSoto studied Cap for a moment but was finally convinced. He ran. He got to where the squad's rear compartment was and started to lift off rafter beams and ceiling pieces until he got down to the rescue truck's heavy equipment locker doors. Miraculously, he got everything he needed free in half a minute. He set the biophone, drug box, defib, O2, and the I.V. box next to the squad stokes on the brick strewn floor in the only narrow space available. Along the wall map's baseboard. On a whim thought, he grabbed shovel. ::There's not much digging Chet and Vince can do getting to Johnny with their bare hands.:: That done he shouted. "Cap.. How're you doing?!" Hank didn't answer right away. "Cap?!' "Huh? I'm fine. I'm fine.. What do you got over there?" Cap said. Roy moved to check out the split garage doors where Bonnie had run through to get to the back yard. He smiled and just about cried when he saw almost a two meter gap. :: Tipped on its side, the stokes could pass through that rear door fissure easily..:: "Found a way out. I'm coming back!" And he ran back through the dusty mist to the front of the garage, almost leaping over the debris piles. "Cap..did you hear me? We're getting outta here.." He screeched to a halt when he rounded the fender of the squad. Cap was crouched, still squatting on his feet, almost on top of Marco, but he was slumped over with his head sagging down. Roy grabbed his shoulder, his stomach flipping. But Cap immediately lifted his head. Recovering from his fright, Roy spelled it out in no uncertain terms. "Hey, are you going to be able to do this, Cap? If you're feeling hurt worse than you think you are, I can go get Ch--" "No. Roy, let's just get him out now. I'll sit down once we're outta danger.." Cap said, looking at his paramedic. He grabbed onto Marco's feet and picked them up, while Roy got his shoulders. "Come on.. Let's move. Look, his resp rate's already dropping off. Marco won't be able to wait much longer for O2 if you detour. Besides, neither Kelly nor Vince will want to leave trying to get Gage outta trouble without a fight. And that will cause a serious delay my friend.. Don't tell me that it won't." He wasn't happy, but Roy didn't protest further. It took several minutes, with Cap stumbling and sweating over boards and bricks for both of them to get Marco safely enscounced into the stokes and strapped in. They piled all the gear on top of him for a one trip carry, until they got to the split in the rear hanger doors Roy had found. Roy gestured for Cap to head on through first to accept gear in hand-offs. Soon the three of them were free from the shattered ruin of station 51's garage, and into clearer air and sunlight. Cap grunted when he saw the level of destruction around them in the yard. The high tan brick walls ringing the station were completely levelled. "My god, the epicenter must have been right here.." He barely got stumbling to where Mike was when he dropped Marco's stokes the last few inches to the ground. Roy said, "Think you're right, Cap. Now just take it easy over there.You've done all you can do.." he said as Cap sat painfully down next to Marco's head to monitor him. DeSoto grabbed the 02 apparatus and handed it over to Stoker, who was listening to a tentative recaptured air exchange on Miss Thorne. "How's she doing?" he asked Mike. "Got her partially back. She's breathing one out of three." he said, snatching for the demand valve. He began to use it full flow, letting her pull air when she could but assisting and taking over when she lapsed. "I got lucky. She never lost a pulse." Then he tossed a head back behind him. "You'd better get over there, buddy. Chet and Vince are having problems digging Gage out." "Is he conscious?" "Don't know.." Mike answered. "Sort of had my hands full here." "I'm going over there. She'll maintain all right. Here's more info on them." Roy dragged Marco's stokes near enough to the O2 so he could string a mask from the other port for Lopez. "Marco's really out. Breathing shallow. And he's febrile for some reason. Keep an eye on Cap, too. Possible head injury.." he said setting a ten liter flow for Marco through a non rebreather. Mike nodded. "Ok. Got it. Roy, I think the woman's problem is just the gas exposure. Nothing fell on either one of us at all.." "Noted. I'll contact Rampart as soon as we know about Johnny, too.." Roy said. He grabbed the shovel he and Cap brought and ran around the antique engine towards where he could hear Bonnie barking. On the way, he met the four tour students they all had gotten out of the station. "It's all right kids. Your teacher's not dead. We're just helping her on some oxygen. Your friends are safe, too, out in front. Just wait here where it's safe in the open. Don't go anywhere, all right?" Four heads nodded. The kids were shivering where they were clinging together seated on the ground, mousy with emotional shock. But Roy didn't see any critical problems on them so he left them alone in Mike's line of sight. He ran faster until he got to where Bonnie was letting the dirt fly high. Chet and Vince were in high gear too, still trying to dig next to a frantic Bonnie. Vince was beginning to get desperate, using his helmet. Roy dropped down onto the brick pile and laid to with his spade fighting down unbidden fears. "Heard anything?" "Not a peep." Chet said just as anxious. "There's NO way we can get to him, man. There must be half a ton of bricks here. This is where the hose tower was.." "Just keep digging. There's gotta be an airpocket or something under there." Vince said. "We hope.." Chet said. Kelly's shortness made Roy try to ease his doubts even as his own grew worse. "Part of the stack was reinforced concrete and wire. That wouldn't collapse flat." Roy said. ::Johnny. Hang in there.:: For several tense moments, there was just the "chuck" of helmet and shovel and bare hands, biting into soil and rubble. Then Kelly said, "Hold it! Hold it! Look!" Bonnie had moved to a different area of the debris pile and was cocking her head at a sound just beneath her. She began to dig madly and the pitch of her barking changed to one of excited discovery. There was a small cave beneath her and in her eagerness, she dashed inside of it. "Bonnie. No!!" Kelly warned. But the tiny Yorkie's tail reemerged unscathed, and soon, came the rest of her. When her head followed out of the hole, Gage's dusty sock and foot were tightly in her mouth. "Johnny!!?" Chet yelled, and he shoved Bonnie aside to bury his head into the hole up to the shoulders with both hands, reaching deep. "He's alive.. I can see him." came his muffled report. "His arms and shoulders are pinned pretty good in here. I think a small chamb--" There was another cave in and a plume of dust hissed out of the fissure and Kelly let out a startled yell. Vince grabbed onto his belt in a tackle to keep Kelly from slipping under the ground even further. His efforts proved just how unstable the regolith in their area was. Another collapse came, this one bigger and heavier. Suddenly, both Johnny and Chet started to thrash in panic as their airspace suddenly filled up in choking dirt and brick. Vince hauled Kelly out by his pants, with every sinew of strength, until inch by inch, the curly haired fireman was pulled free.. Chet gasped and choked on chalky grit that had blown into his nose and mouth. "Get him out of there!! *cough* The whole roof caved in.*cough. cough*" Roy started to dig underneath where Johnny's leg was writhing as quickly as he dared. It was Bonnie who found Gage's other pinned leg, twisted above the first just before his struggles began to weaken. Vince and Roy abandoned helmet and shovel and quickly each hauled on a leg full weight backwards, sliding awkwardly on the slippery brick pieces. "Come on. Let go.." Vince grunted to the earth. "He can't breathe.." Johnny's limp head dragged clear at last and thunked over a few boulders when all three of them fell on their butts. "Johnny. Can you hear me?" Roy shouted. He crawled to Johnny's head, accidently jarring him in his haste to get an answer.. Gage's mouth gaped open. A rock was inside blocking off his throat. Roy hooked it free with a couple of fingers.. "Johnny? Hey.... It's gone.. Come on spit it out." he said, slapping his partner's face, lightly. The sudden sting to the skin on his rock rubbed raw face, drove Johnny to full wakefulness and he flopped over onto his side, coughing wetly. He threw up a lot of dirt and mucous until he gasped in; the first solid breath of air he had taken since he'd been buried. "*Hack* Whaa? Roy?....*gasp* Oh man... I thought.. I wasn't ever ........gonna make it......out of t-there.. " Roy dropped his head in relief.. "So did we... Just keep breathing regular. You're still blue.." Gage added more as his head cleared. "Thanks for trying to shield me, Chet. Almost worked." and he sagged onto the ground in exhaustion, grateful to be seeing daylight and moving air. Then hypoxia nausea rose up and he got sick again. ::Mud this time. Better from my stomach than from a lung or two..:: "Got it all out?" Roy asked, still hanging onto him when he was through. Johnny nodded, without opening his eyes. "Yeah.. I think so." "Believe it or not, you're completely pink now after all that.." "I feel green.." "Just lie still for a sec. Hurt anywhere else besides your hand?" Roy asked. "My hand?" Johnny said, picking his head up and peering down. A bent rod was embedded through the bones in his left palm and was sticking out the back of it. "Aw Roy, why did you tell him about that? Now he's gonna freak out.." Chet said. "Oh, man.." Gage said, ignoring both of them. He curled around himself as his eyes seemed to reconnect his nerves centers into a core of agony through his impaled hand. "Royyyy?... this just isn't my day...ah, h*ll.." he grimaced. Chet was still coming down from Johnny's close call. "Not everyday a full moon earthquake scores a direct bullseye on Johnny Gage..That's for d*mned sure. " And he laughed. He stopped immediately when Gage caught his breath, around another spasm.."Oooo. Come on. It's time to get up Gage. If we let you think about it too long, you're going to have to be carried out of here." he said gently.. "l'll tape that immobile after we get ya over to the biophone." Gage let the three of them sit him up and then with a groan, he let the burly Vince lift him bodily to a very shaky pair of feet. Bonnie nearly leaped somersaults when she saw her favorite fireman finally standing vertical. She barked happily, frisking in the dust, until she saw the huddle of frightened kids by the old engine. She dashed off to be with them in a cloud of dirt.. Very soon, the kids snapped out of their dazed stares to timidly reach out to pet her dirty back. "Would you look at that.. Bonnie works better than smelling salts." Gage grinned, halting them all. "You owe her a ton of bacon, my friend. She's the one who found you, Johnny.." Kelly commented. "Well I'll be.." "Come on Captain Hook, let's get you cleaned up. If we don't hurry, you just might have to stay this way...." Roy quipped, glancing down at Johnny's speared hand. "Oh ha. Aren't you funny.." Gage replied sarcastically. He shifted his weight as Roy moved his good arm over a shoulder. Then he paled, when he saw what was dripping on his shoes. "What makes you think I wanna work after this?" DeSoto went on with his interrupted sentence.. "We've got three injured patients to attend to, not counting you. Don't worry, I'll let you black out if I have to, just as soon as another squad gets here to relieve you.." Roy nodded for Chet to start applying pressure to Johnny's brachial artery when the wound around the rod started to spurt as Gage's blood pressure rallied with his mental clarity. "You're all heart.." Johnny grinned weakly. As soon as they all got over to the others, Johnny promptly forgot his hand. "Chet, let go of me.. Just put a tourniquet on this. If I have to work, I'll do it verbally, You can at least get vitals sets.. Roy, what do we got? Looks like Miss Thorne's the worst of them.." he said, reaching over with his good hand to get the band Chet needed to stop his hemorrhaging. Gage grabbed it out of one of the gear boxes Mike had flicked open for him, between one of his positive pressure valve ventilations he was delivering to the stilled teacher. Roy said, "Natural gas inhalation. On her and Marco both. He's breathing ok, but she's partially unresponsive. Marco's also got an unexplained elevated temp. Cap found it assessing him. Cap's got a slight concussion I think. He was out for a while. I haven't gotten a look at his pupils yet.." "Chet you go handle that while Roy calls us in." Gage snapped. "Stop fussing with me." "Right. Almost got this secure.." Chet said, giving one last yank on the tourniquet around Johnny's upper arm. "There.." he smiled, biting a lip. "Going numb?" "Not fast enough..." Gage peeped in pain. "Good. You're set. " His eyes flickered downward.. "Give me that.." and he pulled out Johnny's penlight from his pocket to look at Cap. "Walk me through the neural, Johnny. I've only seen you guys do this a few times.." he said seriously, then he beamed, full charm, smiling at Cap as he knelt by him. "Hiya Cap. Great to see you winking those peepers at me. Thought you were dead for a sec in there. .." he leaned in with his light.. "This won't hurt a bit.." Johnny began instructing Chet by rote what things to look for. Soon, he had the info needed to share with Roy when he was ready on his end. DeSoto threw an eye on Miss Thorne to count the actual times she tried to breathe around Stoker's vents and he shivered in utter weariness. The initial adrenaline he always got in a crisis, was leaving him, letting him feel every bump and ache the earthquake had imparted to him. ::But.....It sure feels great knowing no one died. It could have been worse...:: He coughed once to clear out the acrid dust in his throat. Then he started writing in his note pad the findings in prep for a medical base station hail. Trussed up and no longer bleeding like a stuck pig, Johnny checked the psi on the regulator of outgoing 02 on the apparatus feeding Marco and the teacher's masks. ::Plenty of oxygen left here.:: he thought with satisfaction. He even nodded with approval when Chet was simply perfect getting an accurate BP off Marco where he lay in the stokes. ::94/60. Not too shocky..:: Gage thought after Chet had told him what it was. A minute later they all heard a chorus of sirens as the first of the responding stations rolled up to their scene. It looked strange seeing firetrucks actually rolling TO a firehouse, with all their reds flashing. Cap got on his walkie talkie as soon as he bird eyed the number on the pumper's door. "Engine 51 to Station Eight. We've got four victims in the yard. B-- -uh,...Bring three s-stokes.." The fast reply from Eight's Captain Stone made it clear that they knew who at least one of those stokes was for. ##Hank? Hang on. We're coming. Looks clear along your south exposure. Man what a mess. Hope you aren't bad yourself..## "I'm fair.." Cap replied. "Watch it in there. Gas leak in the kitchen. And don't tell me any details about the engine or the squad. I simply don't wanna know..We just pulled one of them back from the brink only this morning..!" he wailed. Nearby, Roy grinned and mentally downgraded Cap's medical status a few notches after overhearing his joking remark.. He brought the black phone receiver to his ear and plugged in the red comm box's aerial antennae. ##Rampart this is Squad 51, How do you read?## --------------------------- Photo : Chet Kelly sneering in jest. Gif : A resuscitator in a green case with the PPV connected up. Photo: A screengrab from Snakebite with Johnny on top of the engine, Chet and Marco nearby. ******************************* From: "Cassidy Meyers" Date: Fri Oct 25, 2002 7:58 pm Subject: Hard Run.. Special acknowledgements to Story Consult-- Justafan1701- on LACoFD Telecommunications and earthquake seismology. Mike looked down as Cindy Thorne started actively coughing under the resuscitator. He lifted it free to make sure she wasn't getting ill. "Easy.." he said as she began to struggle as some consciousness returned. He sighed in relief when he saw that she wasn't sick at all. "Miss Thorne. Keep this over your face. It's just an oxygen mask. You took in some gas in there from the stove but you're going to be fine." "Oh,hhh... Robbie? Rachael?....I can't see any of them.!" she said, gasping, knocking Mike's hands away. Cap near them turned from Marco. "Cindy! No.." he shouted and they both grabbed her head and shoulders when she suddenly sat up. Immediate dizziness almost made her pass out again. "Stoker, she's probably just worried about the kids. Hang on there a sec, pal." Cap took her face into his hands, cradling her cheeks, until he made full eye contact. "Cindy? It's all right. They're all out.. You are, too. Now just lie back down and let us make sure that you're ok. Help's already here from another engine company and we'll be outta here just as soon as we can. But first, you gotta take in some more O2. It'll help clear your head. And it will make you feel a h*ll of a lot better. All right?" Cindy coughed, trying to focus on Mike and Cap blearily, but finally, she let them lower her back down to the ground when their calm reasoning finally registered in her brain. Then she noticed Marco, "Oh, is he ok? He's hurt!..." she gasped, blinking in distress. "He's fine. His story's the same as yours." Mike said to her. "He's just decided to nap a bit longer than you.." Cap shot eyes at Stoker and he nodded in agreement for her benefit. "Now, just keeping breathing this in. " Hank said, setting the O2 back over her face.."That's it.. Nice and easy. Stoker's gonna stay with you for a while here until you get your equilibrium back." "But.." she said weakily, muffled through the mask as she tried to get used to it being there. "Don't worry about your students. There's a police officer here who'll watch the children for you.." he looked up.. "Annddd...right now, it looks like most of them are playing tag with our station dog..They're just fine, really." Cap said matter of factly with a huge grin, brushing hair and debris out of her face. Cindy Thorne closed her eyes when her shock suddenly overtook her mental will. "Oh, ..I've got to..reach their..paren--.." "We'll do that soon. Just rest for a bit. I'm sure tha--" Mike broke off his comment when she blacked out. He moved a hand to her carotid as she went limp. Cap eyed him but he waggled his head. "She's all right. Still moving air on her own. There's resistance here." he said, checking with a test vent on the mask into her lungs. "Got a pulse rate about 100. I'll get an actual draw count for DeSoto when he's set.." Cap sat back down onto his rump, letting his weariness show in his face again. He gingerly felt the back of his head and it came away bloodied. "Good. Keep on her, Stoker.. I'll get back to Lopez." Roy was only half aware of the teacher's brief episode of awakening. He was concentrating on listening close to the biophone. "Rampart this is rescue 5-1. Do you copy?" ** Static ** Roy changed channels on the biophone, to the little used all call band, redirecting his comm transmission to HQ LA. "L.A., this is squad 51, is our channel clear to Rampart? We can't seem to raise them." ** Static ** Johnny looked up from watching Chet immobilize the rod running through his hand, trying not to wince. "Think the repeaters are out?" he asked Roy. "Maybe.." DeSoto said. "L.A. must be scrambling to get an all stations check and haven't found out that our district's radio relay is down." "He got through before.. I heard him when the kids and I were still ducking down in the engine cab." Chet said. "That was landline, Chet." John said. "We were in the stationhouse." "I know. Things can change quickly following an earthquake.." Kelly said. "But, you know how good those guys are about reestablishing a comm net once a problem is detected." "Well, Miss Thorne and Marco can't wait." Roy said. He lifted his HT. "L.A., this is Squad 51." ##Go ahead, 51..## "Our radio telemetry seems to be out on our biophone. Is there anyway you can relay to Rampart General Hospital for us? We've four victims that need a doctor's attention right away.." There was a longer than average pause. Even Cap looked up at the delay. ##Squad 51. All channels have been utilized for emergency broadcast communication only. Disaster protocol is in place. Suggest using a landline to Rampart. If the telephone line to the station house has been effected, payphones are showing as still in service in your area. ## "Payphones?" Gage said incredulously. Cap piped up.. "Yeah. Payphones. They've got underground cabling. The same dirt which knocked out the repeaters alignment must have cushioned the payphone network. Makes sense. DeSoto, free up off the biophone. Let the man work. We'll try his suggestion first.." Roy shrugged, uncertain and embarrassed he even bothered L.A., who was now set in a higher priority moding. "10-4, L.A. We copy. We'll 10-8 to a landline." #Squad 51..# the head dispatch acknowledged. "Cap, why didn't you tell me not to biocall?" "Quite frankly, Roy, I'm not up on earthquake scenarios past the basics. I was in the dark just as much as you were. First time I've ever been in one." Hank shrugged. "First time for me, too.." came the voice of Captain Stone, from very near by. He waved his men over with the requested stokes and they clustered around the group in Station 51's shattered backyard. "So, far, we've all been using HT's. But only between units. I found out from McConnike about the landline trick for our rescue squad." "Who's here?" Gage piped up. "Gil and Brice...They're getting the 02 and their gear. We figured you boys wouldn't have had much equipment left after that.." Stone replied throwing a thumb over his shoulder at the rubble between the bunkhouse and kitchen ends of station 51. "Cap. We've been inside. The gas is off and we're already opening holes to ventilate. All the fumes are gone. And believe it or not. Your kitchen phone is working. Gil's already got Rampart on the line for you. Switch to our station's frequency on your handheld to get him. He's set to relay." Roy spoke up, "Thanks, Captain Stone. But I think I should field that call personally. I've got all our patient info up here.." and he pointed to his head. "One to one, that way, with the doctor would be faster." "Fair enough. I'll send Gil out here to assist Brice on treatment." Stone shrugged. They all turned when some of Engine 8's crew dropped down the rest of the rear door from the mangled garage using a short K-12 application, offering easy access back into the shattered heart of Station 51. "Oh, man.." Cap groaned. "I didn't want to see that.." he said as a falling rafter kicked loose from a wind gust, and smashed into the main dome light on top of the Ward's cab, pulverizing it. Vince piped up to Stone's men. "Ok, let's get these kids out of here. They're students from Grover Middleland school. That's their teacher lying over there. Move out. I've got additional squad cars here so we can evac all of them." Firemen moved to escort the frightened children away from the scene. Roy rose to his feet. "Johnny. Hey. I've got to go back inside. Take it easy now. And try to get along with Brice, huh? He's going to be senior assessor here, even over you, all right?" He jogged, gripping his handy talkie, and ran by Brice, who was coming, helmeted, with gear. "I know that. I'll be a professional!" Johnny shouted after his partner. He winced when the effort shot a bolt of pain through his hand. "That's professional patient, Gage. The moment Squad 8 got on scene, they bumped you out of service, man.." Chet said. "Don't rub it in, Chet." Johnny spat. His anger was tempered when Bonnie, suddenly free of her children charges, came running up. She reared up, planting kisses of worry and affection onto his chin. Johnny smiled in spite of himself. Brice rushed by Roy without even looking fully at him.. "The woman?" Roy said, running in the opposite direction. "Still breathing.. Marco's gas inhalation too!" he shouted after him. Roy wheeled, reluctant to leave the yard, until Cap re-enforced his departure to the kitchen phone with an arched eyebrow.. Captain Stone was on DeSoto's heels to make sure that flashlights were delivered to the dark kitchen for Roy's note dictation via landline. He sent more men arriving from the responding units to the surrounding area to cruise for trouble spots beyond Station 51's scene. As an after thought, he got his engineer to pull up 51's squad and the LaFrance out of the garage once the worst of the roofing debris had been pulled off of them. Stone huffed a breath on his sleeve and polished the door handle of the engine when he saw Hank watching him once the two trucks were free of the garage rubble. Cap chuckled when he saw that little move and lifted his HT. "Needs a lot more than a wax job, Ben.. Appreciate it, though." Stone added, ##I'll have my crew check em out. Neither of them are leaking fuel.. I got a fanning hose wash on them just in case.## "Take good care of my boys and my station.." Cap sighed, and he let Stone's men move him to a stokes for a lie down and soon, he was fitted with an O2 cannula and his turnout was removed. Hank's HT, however, stayed fast in his grip by his head, where he could hear everything, even as he let go physically and mentally. He felt a man move closer to monitor him as he closed his eyes. "Night, Cap.." Gage said, lying in his own stokes. "Don't doze too deep with that headcrack of yours." "I won't. Just don't gore Brice with that hand pike of yours." "Deal." Moments later, Brice finished crossing the yard and he knelt by Cindy Thorne first for a new vitals set. He looked up to see Bonnie still bathing Johnny's chin with kisses and Gage being too out of it to push her away. "Getting mouth to mouth from a dog, Gage? Must be protocol I haven't yet heard about." "Very funny. This dog saved my life, I'm not about to tick her off by complaining.." he said, lifting Bonnie into the stokes where she promptly laid down in between his legs, setting a worried muzzle and front paws onto his stomach, still softly whining with stress. Brice curbed his banter. "What have we got here Gage? Roy didn't tell me much.." "Stoker revived the woman. No trauma. Cap's got a blow to the back of his head. Pupils equal and reactive. Marco's out, febrile after LOC. BP, 94/60, Resp 12, shallow. Pulse 92. Me, I, uh.. Almost choked in a cave-in. Puked out a lot of ingested mud. Chest seems clear. And I got this little little..problem--mm ." he said lifting his stabbed hand. The sight of the rod made Brice pause and he sank his glasses lower on his nose to get a closer look at it from where he was listening to Cindy's breath sounds through a stethoscope. Brice asked Chet, "Blood loss.." he said. snapping his fingers, about Gage. "Oh, uh, Gage lost about 600 CC before I got that tourniquet in plac--" "Get him on a cannula, Kelly. 4-6 liters O2. Use our unit. Elevate his legs. Then position your captain with his head raised. I'll be right with you, Gage. Almost through assessing this woman." Brice said. But Johnny didn't answer. Gil arrived from the rubble and took Brice's pointing hint to check Johnny's consciousness level as Chet followed his medical orders to a T. The two Station 8 medics got to work.. --------------- Inside the dark and silent kitchen, Roy's face was illuminated by flashlight and he took the phone from the Station 8 paramedic waiting for him there. "Thanks Gil. I'm trading places with ya.." "Sure thing. It's Brackett on the line." And Gil ran off to the yard. Roy set his HT on the phone top and nodded to the fireman with the flashlight to go about his business, grabbing the torch from his gloves as he set the kitchen phone receiver to his face. Roy shifted the light under one arm so he could see his notepad. "Rampart, this is Squad 51. How do you read?" As he waited for a return, Roy had his first real, thinking look at the devastation that the quake had brought to his station. He watched as a frightened sparrow arrowed through the airspace where the garage roof had been. ::Will we be able to get over all of this?:: came the thought, unbidden. A familiar voice broke Roy out of his fear. ##This is Rampart. Go ahead, 51. You're reading loud and clear..## Roy sighed and almost sobbed when Kel's steady confident baritone met his ear. "Doctor Brackett. We've uh, four victims at our location. The earthquake has pretty much destroyed the stationhouse here. Trauma is apparent. Three of my victims are... are Code I. Victim one. A female approximate age, twenty two. Found apneic from natural gas inhalation. Now breathing on her own on one hundred percent 02. Victim two. Unconscious. Moderate gas inhalation and etiology of unknown fever on ten liters O2. Victim three. Cave-in. Obstructed airway now relieved. Ingested mud. Foreign body impalement of the left hand. Arterial bleeding is under control. Victim four. Possible head injury with history of blackout, awake and oriented. Pupils equal and reactive." ##10-4, 51.## came Kel's voice. Roy could hear the man's concern seeping through his doctor mode even through his short reply back. #Can you give me full vitals for Victim one?# "R-right. doc.. uh. ..s-she's.." and his voice caught; the sudden realization of what had happened finally sinking in. "Well, she's like I said and..and.. I- I'm sorry doc.. I can't--" At the base station, Dixie and Kel's faces fell out of their professional shells at the sound of pain in his voice. Brackett was stunned, hearing his best medic fall apart on the job. He felt Dix tap him sharply on the arm and looked up to see her give him a do something look. ##Hang in there Roy, I'm with you. Gil tells me that you've got a full response already on scene so you've got plenty of help right there. Roy, you're not alone.. Dix is right here, too. We'll get your friends taken care of as fast as we possibly can here by working together. So don't worry. All you have to do is give me one detail at a time. Focus on that and we'll get through this difficult rescue just like we do all the others.## Dr. Brackett heard only badly concealed muffled sobs on the other end of the line. ##Roy, I guarantee it. It's just always harder when things hit close to home like this.## Roy felt unbidden tears begin to run down his face but he didn't say anything and he sniffled wetly, the weight of the phone call, reporting catastrophe, wearing on him. ##Now go ahead on the woman's vitals..## He heard Kel order. Roy cleared his throat and spoke.... -------------------------- Photo: A crushed fire engine. Photo : Dr. Brackett, looking down on us. Photo: Brice, smiling in a firehouse kitchen. Photo : Roy, wearing a stethoscope outside. Photo : An aerial view over Station 51, showing the block as totally levelled. Collapses everywhere. ******************************* From: "Cory Anda" Date: Sat Oct 26, 2002 2:14 am Subject: Big Time Complication "Hang on, we're HT to the outside here. Relaying direct to station 8's paramedics. Please stand by. Vitals to follow." Roy said. ##Standing by..## ---------------------------- Five minutes later, DeSoto had his initial medical orders relayed to the yard to Gil and Brice over his hand held. Dr. Brackett asked Roy one more question. ##What's your ETA on an ambulance ?## "We don't know that yet, doc. Depends on how badly the roads in our area are damaged." Roy said. ##10-4, 51. Get them here any way you can. When you can. ## "Yep.." Roy said, impatient. "Just wish I could." Kel added. ##I'll be frank with you, Roy. Gage, we can turn around, same with your captain and the school teacher. It's Marco I'm worried about. I don't like the fact that his vitals are sinking like this and the fact we can't figure out his LOC or snap him out of it with epinephrine. Or that sudden onset of fever.. And another thing, that odd bloody patching Gil found in his throat's d*mned pec-- Hang on Roy, Joe's telling me something.## There was a pause and Roy could hear the two doctors confirming a new development. Brackett came back online. ##Roy, we've got word there's a battalion triage station setting up near you. Joe's just heard about it from squad 99. They're treating victims there, just down the block from your 10-20. Perhaps you can move out to their location as an alternate to transporting here if the roads prove to be impassable. Wait a minute, on second thought, I want you to utilize them instead of us here at Rampart, understood? I'm getting orders now from FEMA for some of us to be flown in, over the alert scanner..## Dr. Brackett said. More warbles came that Roy couldn't quite make out. Then an exclamation.. ##Beautiful! That solved our problem, Roy. Just got my own orders to report out to your own area within the next fifteen minutes. I'll rendevous with you myself to see your victims. Count on me muscling in to be their attending MD.## "Appreciate it, doc.. listen, off the record. Just how bad is it out there?" ##My guess is extremely localized for the most part. All the runs coming in that are quake related are in the same one mile square area. No major fires, but my casualty reports are still sketchy.## A ruckus outside the kitchen caught Roy's attention; police clashing with media types. Roy's forehead furrowed as he gripped the phone tighter. "Listen doc. I know you're busy.. Could you do me a favor? Could you have Dixie call our families to let them know we're all right. No doubt they're pretty panicked watching us on their television sets, I see a camera crew out there right now, bumping heads with the PD." ##Will do, Roy. Contact base again if there are further developments. See you soon.## "10-4. Squad 51, out." Roy hung up the phone, and walked the few feet to the plaster powdered kitchen table in weariness. He wiped the sweat off his blood caked face with a dusty towel he found there and slowly began recapturing his wits, leaning against it, until a sensation of heat against his back made him jump off its edge. It was a coffee pot, still warm and steaming from where Johnny had left it before the quake. Roy stared at its unreal normalcy, smelled its perfumey steam curls, delicately wafting in his flashlight's beam, until a shout from the yard caused him to hightail it back outside as fast as he could.. "What do you mean it's my fault he's shocky?! I couldn't have started O2 on him any sooner because both lines were on Marco and the girl, who needed the help more at the time, Brice, so back off ! If Gage were awake, I'm sure he'd be agreeing with me wholeheartedly!" Roy got himself between Kelly and Brice. "Hey hey hey.. Hush down! Just what's the matter with you two? We've got nosy press types already in the driveway. This is no time to let personality clashes come to a boil where they might overhear it.." he said. All the while he spoke, Roy was watching Gil, who was keeping well out of it. He didn't miss Gil speeding up an IV of Ringers Lactate on Marco, nor his slipping in an oral airway on him. Roy's practiced eye also saw that Cindy's atropine, to boost her respirations, had already been administered from the sight of the yellow pop caps on the ground. Mike was now absent. ::Stoker must have gone on to damage patrol. Cindy's only on a light nonrebreather. At least, she's doing better.:: He got an OK gesture from Gil about her, pantomimed. Another part of his mind dealt with putting his two coworkers sharply into line. "Keep it down to a quiet roar if you two have to argue. Or better yet, let's all just do our jobs here, as a team.." he lectured. "We'll take a vote on who was right over a poker game once our butts are safe and sound on solid ground next week, all right..?!" Chet and Brice both studied the ground, then both looked sheepishly around to make sure that neither Stone, nor any of his men had overheard their petty bickering. "That's better.." Roy said, glaring at Brice and Chet, as he began crouching by Marco to look at his pupils. "Now here's the scoop. Brackett's on his way here. It's looking more and more that the roads might be out in our vicinity for there's a helicopter triage station area just down the boulevard. It's already up and running. So let's get our victims out of here and where we'll be able to do them the most good all right?" For two minutes, the four of them mobilized and packed up all of their equipment and supplies. Just then, Captain Stone returned to the yard. He was oblivious to the tension just evaporating. "Ok, everybody.We're moving out. There's a triage-" Roy cut in. "Uh, yes sir. Captain. We got word from Brackett about it. We're set.. We're ready to move when you are. Everyone is stabilized and supported on O2." "Fast work.. All right. Let's do it.." he gestured to his men who ran out of the station house following a very hasty cleanup and damage check. The runaway hydrant had long since been emergency capped. "But there's been a further change. We're opening your bunk house to these triage victims of yours and any others who are waiting turns to be flown out of the disaster area. Only the garage bay was unstable boys, the rest of the station checks out. You may be running a triage base station for this block from right here.." "Understood, Cap.." Brice said. "I'll move our gear into there." Stone looked down at Captain Stanley, who was mumbling to himself in his half sleep, giving random orders based on what he was hearing in his ear through the talkie. "Is he ok? Saw him go out a few minutes ago." "He's on just a precautionary I.V., and his vitals are fine, Cap." Roy said. "He won't be running any operations but that doesn't mean he won't be dreaming about us doing it. He's got quite a grip on that hand held. He's hanging on every word. Even in his sleep." he grinned. "His concussion appears to be minor." Stone didn't move from his hands on hips planted position, so Roy volunteered to him a quick a medical rundown on all the others too. "Ok.." Stone said, satisfied. "I'll let the triage head know what you got.." Stone got teams of men to grab the four stokes to haul them into the sleeping quarters of Station 51 and out of the hot California sun. Already, earthquake dust was making the air hard to breathe. ------------------------------ The bunk room was surprisingly intact. Not even dusty. A quick check showed that they had a viable phone line in there too, at the night writing desk. Only the power and gas service was knocked out. And Engine 51, itself, proved capable of supplying water needed for cleanup and first aid. Bonnie, stuck like glue to Johnny's stokes, sinking down underneath his covering blanket, so she wouldn't be discovered lurking there. Chet almost squished her with Johnny's O2 tank before he remembered. "Oh, sorry Bonnie. Keep watching him." he said to the breathing lump, as he transferred the D tank to the floor. The bunk house outer door was opened to daylight and portable lamps were brought in from the triage station for them to use. IV's were taped suspended to the wood working and blankets abounded. Gear from the two squads sat in a row on the floor the length of the room in the aisle. And more O2 apparatuses from multiple companies were brought in with another set of universal HT's and a makeshift command center board. Roy heard a helicopter land nearby, its wash sending eerie prop echoes through the shattered roof in the bay next room over, and he fervently hoped it was Brackett's. Cap and Johnny's stokes were set off the floor between chairs instead of using valuable bedspace, but Marco had been placed on a long board on a bed in prep for a priority move. He was first on the list to go. DeSoto set a defibrillator next to Marco with nervousness. He was the only one in the room so far who was at risk for one's use. Roy got another vitals set on him and frowned. He waved Brice over.. "He's worse. Rales now, in the lungs. And his fever's up. Help me get a temp on him.." "That fast? I don't understand what the problem might be. Gage said all he did was take in a little gas.." Brice said checking the placement of the mask over Marco's oral airway. "We were in a big fire two days ago, and before that, he had a bad cold. We've been busting our butts fussing over him to see a doctor ever since." "Did he go?" "Do pigs fly?" "Oh. I see. White coat anxiety syndrome." "Actually. No. " Roy grinned. "Marco's just a busy man. He has an aging mother he's been caring for and lately it's been taking up a lot of his time. " "To the point of letting himself be sick for days?" "Guess so. Marco's like that. Always doing for others over himself. He tells me that's why he's a fireman. " he smiled. But that smile faded. "He told us over dinner on Sunday that the two of them just got back from Mexico City, after burying a cousin. A boy I think, who had died suddenly. Help me here.." Soon, Brice and Roy got a temp off Marco internally. Roy held it up to the lamplight. "A hundred three? Brice, this has got to be an infection. I don't like it. And that gas inhalation's just getting Marco into hot water.." "It definitely brought out this illness to the foreground.." Brice agreed. Gil had been nearby, checking on Gage and Cap and the teacher. "Well, we'd better get him into some cold water before his central nervous system crashes out. His breathing response is too level and slow as it is.." Gil said. "Want me to patch him?" "Yes, his systolic is seventy eight and weak." Roy opened Marco's shirt and sheared his T shirt in two out of the way. Brice got out the defib paddles, holding them in the air above the bed. "Wait. Here. This is faster.." and he placed them onto Marco's ribcage and manually scoped him. All three medics looked at the tiny defibrillator screen. It was showing tachycardia, deep. "Look at that.." Brice exclaimed. "It's the fever..and partly the gas.." Roy said. "No PVCs though. He's sure holding well. That rate's just about 140. " "That's the epi Brackett ordered." Brice said. "It quickens but it strengthens too." "I'll get a strip off the portable monitor after I get him patched in.." Gil said. "The doc is going to want to see this.." "No doubt." Brice tossed away the paddles, leaving the unit between Marco's knees. "I'm going to go grab some ice from your frig. You do have some in there?" "Yeah.." Roy said. "Two bags." Brice left to get it. Roy and Gil got cloth sheets wet and stuffed them inside the plastic one they had used to bundle him onto the longboard. Cold water from the station's engine was used and liberally pooled, soaking the bedsheets inside the localized cold pack. Brice's ice was added to the bath around Marco's torso. "He's really out.. I'm not even seeing skin bumps from us chilling him like this.." Roy said, taking another BP. "It's up slightly. Getting a diastolic now with the systolic. 84/36." "His color's better too." Gil said, looking at Marco's gums and nail beds. Next to them, Gage stirred. Roy shifted on his knees and got a grip on his stokes. "Hey there." he smiled openly relieved. "Caught up on your beauty sleep, Johnny? Don't start stretching now. You're suspended on top of a couple of chairs. And you've an I.V. in." "W-Where are we?" "The bunks room. It's now a triage station." "Huh.. Had a weird dream. I dreamed that Lopez went into.." then he noticed the defib case open and saw the paddle cables abandoned on the blankets at Marco's feet. "Wait a minute.. Did you guys just work him?" "No, Gage. Just a scope.." Brice said. "Now a water bath.." "Bath?" Johnny asked groggily. "His fever's up?" "It's one hundred three. And he's showing rales in both lungs." "Whoa.. we got to get him outta here." Gage said. He almost tried to sit but then remembered Roy's warning about where his stokes was. Bonnie under his blanket, barked in warning. He only half paid attention to her being there. "What the h*ll is wrong with him? I don't get it." "Relax Johnny.. Brackett's been called out on scene. That helicopter you're hearing might be his. Or maybe even Marco's already. He's gotta get a doc's move order before he goes anywhere." Roy said. "I know that.. I know that.. Geesh.." Johnny waved his good hand, shooing Roy out of the way. "Gil,, hey, could you just ah.. Hey Gil ! Turn that monitor this way.. I wanna take a look at it.." Gil raised both eyebrows from where he was running a strip off Marco and purposely turned the view away from Johnny's line of sight. "Oh, for crying out loud.. I only wanted to-" "Gage.. You're a patient here. So act like one and just lie back and relax.." Gil said., crossing his arms together from where he sat on a stool. Roy and Brice grinned when Johnny's face pinked up with anger away from his original shocky pale shade. "This is my own stationhouse, my own district, H*ll, Marco's my own crewmate for Pete's sake! And I'm the resident paramedic." DeSoto made a wrong answer game show noise sound effect. "I'm the only official resident one ON duty one.." Roy said. "Yep. You're on the injured list, Gage, by every rule in the book.." Brice interjected. John kept up his quiet litany of complaining. "..I'm supposed to fuss.. It's my job.." "Ours now.." Gil piped up. Gage mumbled, out voted. "Ok ok ok, Got your point. Now Gil, if you don't level with me, I'm going to skewer you!" he said, menacing his injured hand. "Hey.." Chet said, grabbing Johnny's arm and pulling it back down again. "You'll loosen my bandaging there buddy.. I worked hard immobilizing that.." Then he checked his watch and saw that it was once again time to release Gage's tourniquet to let in blood flow. He let go the band. Johnny hissed in pain, glaring at Chet. " Agghh! Why didn't you do that when I was still unconscious?" he grimaced, watching a stream of blood well up inside and soak through his bandages. "I did do that. Five times.." Kelly complained. Then he played heavy eyes on the others. "Man, I don't know how you guys can get through your average workday as paramedics. Do you always get patients who mouth off as bad as Gage here? Talk about taking some heat. And I thought just dealing with an actual fire was bad. Johnny, stop being ungrateful. This is saving your hand. Not to mention saving your life.. And guess who's doing THAT.." He pointed proud thumbs at himself. "You're going to owe me big time.." Gage ignored Kelly. "Don't change the subject, Chet. Gil,...How's Cap?..Are you going to tell me at least that?" "Stable.." "The girl?" "Stable." "Me?" "Grumpy.." "Oh, haha.. And what about Marco?" The light moment in the room, fled. Roy spoke up. "We'll all hear about that once Brackett gets here. I see him coming. He's in the tan jumpsuit and he's brought along the big guns.. A huge, orange diagnostic field pack." He said, ducking low and peering through the open outside door to the boulevard. He could just see Kel making haste in their direction. Gage spoke up, as he too, could see the brown haired doctor coming. "Maybe that pack's for me. You know, surgical stuff. This rod's gotta come out of my hand. The artery's been nicked." "Don't count on it.. I'm seeing Atlanta CDC labels all over it.." Roy said. "What??" Johnny gasped. ---------------------------- Photo : Johnny and Roy looked stunned. Photo: A defibrillator that lies open. *animated gif * A running EKG showing elevated ST segments on a V-Tach. Photo: Chet, at night in the bunkhouse. ************************* From : "patti keiper" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Deeper In.... Date : Sun, 27 Oct 2002 21:12:20 +0000 The shadow got nearer, and Kel came through the door into the bunk room. He paused a bit while his eyes got used to the dim lamps in the space and the first bed he focused on was Marco's. Roy stood from Johnny's stokes, shoving the stethoscope waving around his neck out of the way when it snagged on the edge of Gage's wire bed in his haste to get near Brackett to give him his report, "Doc, glad you're here. He's worse. Much worse. We're trying to cool him down some." "Oh? What was his temp?" "One hundred three, taken R." "Good thing for the ice down.." Dr. Brackett said as he checked what I.V. was strung and the flow of O2 running on his patient. Roy added more, "Marco's BP has become low enough to warrant that EKG, we've had a strip going ever since I got a basement BP, about five minutes ago... Glad you ordered that epinephrine for him earlier. I think that's the only thing keeping him viable here." Brackett was studying the EKG strip Gil had stretched out on a table top and the live one showing on the station's heart monitor. "Ok, I want a twelve lead here from this double one. See that arrythmia in the QRS interval? That's most likely pathological." That hushed up everyone. Until Brice spoke up. "We knew he was sick. That was apparent on initial findings." "Yes, but have you ever seen someone with a cold downgrade so fast?" Kel said. Roy, Gil and Brice all looked at each other in alarm. Roy didn't even have to say anything. Then he eyed the bag Brackett had brought with him. "You know something we don't doctor? I recognize the insignia on that pack of yours.." Brackett made sure there were no civilians in the room near them who would overhear. Then his face fell into serious doctor. "I called the CDC on Marco's symptoms just before I flew out of the heliport. I remembered why Lopez's presentation seemed so familiar to me." "Doc, don't keep us in suspense here." Johnny said from his stokes. He had an elbow propped up behind his dirty head and had Bonnie on top of his stomach, calming her fretting with absent strokes. He had pulled off his nasal cannula so he could get it out of his face. "Did you know that Marco left the country recently?" "Yeah,.." Gil said. "Roy just told us here that he and his mother were attending a funeral for a cousin. A young boy.." "Well that young boy is the center of attention right now in Atlanta. Seems he died of an unknown hemorrhagic syndrome that's already claimed seven in Mexico City.." "Have they identified it?" "No, that's why I'm here. There's every chance that Marco has run into the same bug that's killed the boy.. His etiology so far, is following the same lines as the boy's did before he died." Dr. Brackett said, pulling Roy's stethoscope off and using it around the EKG leads on Marco's chest.. Johnny Gage nearly levitated from where he was lying. Only the straps holding him in the stokes, kept him there. "Are you telling me that Marco's got some kind of fast acting lethal plague?" "That's exactly why I'm here, Gage. To either confirm or rule out just that scenario. Atlanta CDC's already on their way. They should be here by nightfall." Kel said. "But we're in the middle of a disaster zone. We don't have time for a quarantine situation." Johnny protested. "Tell that to the bug, Johnny. It was here days before that earthquake even so much as twitched." Chet blanched. "Wait a minute, wait a minute.. Does that mean the rest of us might get sick from this thing?" Dr. Brackett nodded reluctantly. "It's a possibility, but the course of the disease is still in the guessing stages. Seven cases taking place in another country with a language barrier in the way puts a damper on fast information exchange. We're working on it. Now my job here is to isolate Marco best I can until we GET those answers gentleman. And I'm sorry to say, but this room and station is off limits to anyone on the outside. Anyone who's had direct contact with Lopez, is staying right here." Roy spoke quickly when Kel placed a hand on Marco's chest, pressing down the stethoscope's drum, trying to hear breath sounds over the noise of helicopters landing and taking off just outside the station house. "Shouldn't we just get him out of here to an isolation ward?" "He's not a flight candidate anymore Roy. He's got rales in both lungs and they sound real wet. And the edema I'm hearing is rising, right into his trachea. Get a suctioning device. He's gonna need it. Standing orders you three," Brackett threw an authoritative point towards Gil, Roy and Brice's directions. "If his respiratory rate falls below eight. I want him EOA intubated." "Right doc.." Roy said. And he and Gil hastened to make the changes. "And slow down his drip to TKO. I don't want his circulatory system overloaded. Last thing he needs is to drown in his I.V." At that, Kelly's face screwed up in worry. Chet spoke as Dr. Brackett moved to a steel bucket filled with water, and watched as he reached into his bag and pulled out a pint of powerful disinfectant and poured it over his hands. He used the water to rinse off and a sheet to dry before moving on to examine Cap and Miss Thorne. "Shouldn't we all wear gloves or masks or something?" Chet asked. "Too late.." Gage said. "Remember when I got that virus last year? If this germ's similiar, we've all touched Marco directly or indirectly already. We've all been exposed..." "Yeah, but Brackett hasn't.." Chet said, nervously. "That's his choice.." Brice commented and moved to give Brackett the run down he needed on the others in stokes in the room. Kelly slumped against the bunk wall and leaned over, trying to absorb the bizarre news. "Man, can our day get any worse?" Just then, Bonnie's low moaning turned into an agonized wailing of warning.. Chet leaped to steady Cap and Johnny's stokes on the four chairs when an aftershock seized up out of the ground. It lasted for more than a few seconds before the dead light fixtures overhead started to slow their swaying. The master HT came to life on the desk and it was Stone who was instantly on. ##Everybody all right in there?## Brice picked up the handy talkie and said, "At least, quake wise..." he muttered. ##Squad Eight. Would you 10-9 that?## Brice immediately suppressed his morbid sense of humor, "Uh, 10-4, captain. We're fine. But uh, we're going to have to cancel that copter evac on the sick fireman. The doc says he's too unstable for transport. And .... the rest of us will be staying right here with him for extenuating circumstances...." he said sighing heavily.. "I'm declaring a Condition Bio-Yellow, sir.." ## Excuse me, Did I hear that right? A Biological Hazard alert?## "That's correct, Cap. Atlanta CDC has authorized Brackett in here to declare one if he felt the need. And he has.. At no time do any of you out there enter back inside the station for any reason.." ##Ten four, Squad Eight. Understood, quarantine protocol laying down. I'll mobilize accordingly. Any of my men to report to you?## "That's negative, Cap. Just Gil and myself need to..and we're already here." ##10-4, Let me know details when you can. Station Eight out.## A quiet sobbing from behind them caught their attentions. Dr. Brackett had roused Cindy from her half state with an aromatic capsule and had changed her oxygen mask for a cannula. She was sitting up with her back against the wall in her stokes. Brackett was giving her a glucose injection into her IV, to help her get over some shakes. He had discovered she was a diabetic from her own account. "What about my kids?" she said. "Are they gonna get sick, too?" and her face crinkled in fear. Kel couldn't answer that so he stayed silent. Roy looked up from Marco's pulmonary care and said, "Oh, no. Ma'am. Not at all. You see, we got them all out before we even had contact with Fireman Lopez. They'll be fine.." and he tried to put on a convincing smile. He saw Brackett nodding slowly in agreement as he put away his syringe into the sharps container on the floor. "Feel better?" he asked her. "Much. I haven't eaten since five.. I-It's been a busy day..." Miss Thorne said bravely. Dr. Brackett grinned for show. "That it has. And it looks like it'll be even busier for a while. Try to get some rest. I'll have one of the paramedics stop back in a while to recheck your blood sugar levels." She nodded. "I'm sorry. I just didn't remember to wear my bracelet this morning. It was just ..I was so excited about bringing the kids here That I must have forgotten it...." and her composure broke again despite her best efforts to shore it up. Kel wrapped a wool blanket he had found around her shoulders and snugged her up, brushing hair out of her eyes and away from the cannula. "Why don't you just try to relax.. Get some sleep if you can. If you've family to contact, we'll do that just as soon as the phone lines lighten up a bit.." "A- All right.." she said, gripping his hand. He had to peel off her fingers to leave. "It's all right. "he said, placing a grip of his own over her cool one. "No one is going to be dying. At least, not in here." "Yeah.. " Johnny piped up. "That doctor leaning over ya is the head of Rampart Emergency Services and he's a d*mned good heart surgeon too.. No one dies around Dr. Brackett when he gets ornery, Miss Thorne.. And right now, all of us paramedics are duck and covering, just from the sound of his voice alone.." She laughed despite herself, and slowly her eyes closed as she dozed where she was on the wall. Brackett switched her I.V. to one of blood neutral solution and moved on to Cap's side. "Captain Stanley..?" Dr. Brackett said as he took a chair near his raised stokes. He gave Hank a little shake. "Hmmm? Oh, hi doc.. What are you doing here? Is it bad out there?" he said, suddenly remembering that he was on oxygen. He began fiddling with the cannula when the dryness in his throat from the oxygen just begged him to cough. "Have we backup here yet? The damage out in the yard was bad. There must be tons of people in trouble out there.." "Surprisingly, no.. So I've been sent in here alone to look you guys over." He saw Cap blearily frowning at the ceiling when the familiar surroundings confused him. Dr. Brackett pinned down his deja vu. "You're in your station bunkhouse, captain. And there's a helicopter triage center right outside, for your situation update." "Does that mean we're getting out of here soon?" Dr. Brackett and the others exchanged looks. Stanley didn't miss the exchange. "Hey, fellas, what's the problem here? Why-- why haven't we been moved out?" Johnny turned his head from where he was sitting up next to Cap and sighed. "It's another virus, Cap. And the originator isn't a monkey this time.. It's Marco himself.." "What?!" Cap tried to sit up but Dr. Brackett restrained him. "Hey.. now just lie back. No sudden moves until I check out that head injury in a little more detail." Cap blinked, still trying to gain focus as Kel looked at his eyes.. "Is he all right?" Kel didn't say anything, reluctant to; until someone else did. "He's serious, Cap. Blood pressure's in the basement. And his chest is filling up." Roy said. "But his EKG still looks fair.." he tried to smile for Cap's benefit with that slim good news. Cap swallowed hard lying completely still as harsh reality finally sank home. "How about us? Anyone else sick?" "Not yet. But all are at risk I'm afraid.." Dr. Brackett said. Then he changed the subject. "Hank, are you seeing double or any flashes of light, or anything abnormal? Ringing in the ears, pain or headache? This is a pretty sizable lump I'm feeling on the back of your head." "No, doc. Nothing odd at all. I feel basically fine.." he said. "Listen, doc. Shouldn't you be with Lopez over there? I'm nowhere near the invalid everyone insists I'm to be.. . In fact, I should be getting up to help YOU.." and he tried to rise. Brackett stopped him firmly. "No. Stay. He's been seen, too. You're my second to the last stop. Gage's surgery to repair that carpal artery, is next.." Cap got through the rest of Kel's exam, showing no remarkable deviations, but he had trouble hiding a few sobs of frustration and helplessness as he tried to get through it without making a verbal sound. Dr. Brackett pretended to tune out the emotional weakness playing out on Cap's face. "Think you need the O2 some more?" Kel asked him. "No.. Why don't you save it for somebody else?" he said distractedly. "My head's clear now.." Stanley said very quickly.. Then he lifted his HT. "Station Eight this is Engine 51." "Cap, what are you doing?" Chet said, looking up from his wrapping more dressings around Gage's hand. Cap set his talkie momentarily onto his stomach and he glared at Kelly and said. "Stoker's got a right to know about Lopez and what's happening in here. It would be wrong for us to keep him in the dark about his condition.." Kel raised inquiring eyes to Roy. "Doc, Mike did have close contact with Cindy over there, and I was near him also a lot of the time, while we were treating her. He might be a quarantine candidate.." DeSoto said grimly. Dr. Brackett replied. "Then Hank's right in calling him in here.." "D*mned right I am.. And I'm not liking it that he's part of this whole nastiness either.." Cap snapped. Everyone froze when the HT responded to Captain Stanley's earlier heads up. ##Go ahead, Station 51. You're up, Hank? That's great news! I'll be sure to tell my whole crew all abo-..## "Ben, I know about the quarantine.." Stanley said cutting him off. "So don't try to buffer me with false enthusiasm. Just send my man Stoker in here. He's been pegged as a risk factor.." There was a long pause on Stone's end. Then a click. ##He's on his way in.. He's been on your engine's wash down preventative detail so he's had no direct contact with anyone else except those medical casualties in your group..## "Understood, Stone. Engine, 51. Out." Cap said, and he laid his head back down, clutching the HT as if holding it would somehow get him out of the nightmare he found himself locked inside. Hank sighed as Dr. Brackett finished taking his BP. "Take it easy.. I'll keep you up on the latest developments, captain." "Appreciate it, doc.." Gil was just giving Kel the verbal rundown on Johnny, with Gage adding footnotes, when Mike Stoker appeared in the doorway. His happy face that the earthquake hadn't claimed more than a few buildings was an image no one wanted to shatter. But then someone, finally did........ ----------------------------------- Photo: B & W, Mike Stoker. Gif: A red earthquake alert gif Photo : Station 51 as it was before the earthquake. Photo : Roy prepping a bolus.. ***************************** From: Katherine Bird Date: Mon Oct 28, 2002 2:30 pm Subject: Reaching Out.. "Hey Mike," Chet called out as he carried blood soaked dressings from Gage's hand towards a medical waste bin. "Ever heard of the old adage, 'From out of the frying pan and into the flames?' "Yeah...." "Well, you're gonna wish you had a life net to bail out onto for this one, pal.." and he chucked his sodden bandages into the trash can with an angry overhand. "Kelly!" Cap admonished. "There are a million different ways to break bad news and only you could've picked the worst way possible.." "Cap, what's he talking about?" Stoker said mildly.. "Stone sent me in here, saying that I was to be a triage "go-for.." he said, still clueless. Then he saw Marco's shirt open and the gear for a pulmonary critical lying out on his bed; the suctioning device, the defibrillator, the running EKG monitor and the unopened esophageal airway. "He's going bad? Oh my g*d." And Stoker started over to him, pulling off his fire gloves, thinking he had been called to be a CPR standby for him. "Don't go any nearer to Marco, Stoker. And that's an order.." Dr. Brackett said, stopping him. "I won't allow it." Stoker pushed the doctor's hands away, unthinking, but Kel again held him back. Roy interceded verbally from where he was raising the head of Marco's long board up onto piled blankets to make breathing come easier. The water had long soaked into the sheets and only fast melting ice remained around him. These Roy piled into and under Marco's armpits. "Mike, it's not what you think. Lopez is-- He's not in danger of going out on us here. At least, not yet. What Dr. Brackett means is that if you come nearer, you'll be assuring a better chance of possibly becoming sick. You of all of us, are the least likely to have been exposed so far. You're here because you were in the yard earlier and because you were side by side with me after I got Marco out." Stoker's face fell and his angry look completely blanched into one of shock. "He's ill with something real bad?" he gasped as he tried to digest the horrid news. Dr. Brackett let him go. "I'm afraid so. It seems Marco recently had a small cousin die from a fast acting hemorrhagic fever type infection that's completely unknown to the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. We're guessing your coworker contracted that same illness after attending the boy's funeral last week in Mexico. We find that he's exhibiting a massive systemic deterioration that is following a similar pattern to the one the boy suffered during the course of the disease." "He's going to die?" Mike said. "Not if we can help it." Stoker's haunted eyes flicked from Roy's to Cap's and back to Kel's and he fell speechless. It was Johnny who addressed Stoker's stunned silence. "Mike, Dr. Brackett's fully loaded with equipment. And the CDC's going to be here any hour to help us sort out all this mess. Marco didn't get sick until almost a week had passed following that funeral. So it'll be a while before any of us comes down with it. We have time on our side." He knew he had missed his mark entirely when Stoker erupted in uncharacteristic reaction. "Yeah?! Tell me another story. Marco may not even HAVE that Johnny!" Stoker said. "Why else would you be set up for an imminent crash?" he said throwing a hand out to Marco's equipment thick bed. "I'm not quiet because I'm thinking about myself here.." he snapped. "So spare me your platitudes..!" "Hey.. Now losing our heads isn't going to solve the prob--!..." Cap said, shouting. He immediately cut off for his yell had made his head shoot pain all the way down to his toes and he winced with a strangling gurgle, that was almost a sob. Captain Stanley covered his face with his hands, in a vain attempt to gain control. That made Dr. Brackett narrow his eyes in new concern and he moved over to Hank's wire stretcher to speak quietly with him for a moment about it. Cap's inadvertant cry had cooled his arguing crew's fire better than any withering "Cap" lecture ever could. All of them were cowed and silently they all got to work preparing and setting up everything they would need to preserve the ordered quarantine. -------------------------------------- Dusk had fallen, and all scene responding helicopters had been called off until first light. There was only one still scheduled to come in, to risk a night landing in a few minutes and that was the chopper bearing the Atlanta disease control experts. Dr. Brackett, and those unwounded, chose to sit on the floor, lined up against a wall all on a side, as they found themselves blinking, and still unresting, while they waited for a tell tale "thwop" of helicopter blades to come out of the starry skies. Their eyes similarly studied the tracing blip of activity on Lopez's monitor, hopelessly caught in its desperate amber dance, and the tiny light from it set their faces apart from the surrounding darkness. The only sound in the sleeping room of Station 51 was the wavering rhythm of Marco's irregular EKG as PVC's started marching more and more frequently across the screen. The EOA, still lay packaged and unused, on his abdomen. Dimly, in the background, they heard the shouts of firecrews and rescue workers outside, still sorting through the earthquake neighborhood for casualties. Bonnie, at last, had fallen into a fitful sleep. And the seismology reports finally coming in from Geological Survey, were showing that the ground was doing the same as well. The tiny aftershocks that came, barely jarred them from their frightening private reveries. Then there was a rustle as Roy excused himself verbally. He got up, stepping over pairs of legs and moved to the desk on the far side of the room. There he sat down in the squeaky desk chair turned on a battery lamp, and reached for the phone. The others slipped back into their irresistible snoozing as he began to dial out. Roy's face was now dust free, and the cut on his forehead had been tended to and bandaged, but the care he had received did nothing to ease the pain he was feeling inside from being away from his family. When the last number tumbled into the dialer, he did his d*mndest to keep all trace of it from his voice. "Hi, hon. It's me again. No, the last tremor didn't shake us too badly. Well, only Johnny complained about that one because his Bier block was starting to wear off. No. no. He's fine. Dr. Brackett did some terrific vascular work on his hand and that metal rod came out without problems. Miss Thorne's coming along. She even had some soup earlier. Cap's better, too. Doc finally authorized some MS for him after he was convinced that crack on his head was all superficial swelling with no underlying problems. Heh. He's even started captaining again. Well, unofficially of course. He's driving the other engine companies nuts asking for reports every half hour from his stokes. Yes, I heard. Only fifteen have died. We were very very lucky.." Roy's eyes filled at his next question. "H-How are the kids taking this whole "daddy's stuck away"thing? You didn't tell them everything did you? Good. No point to doing it, really, until you and I both have our answers. No, they're not here yet. And LAX is not taking any calls about any rescue operation's ETA. They're saving themselves for emergency inflight and relief traffic correspondence, only for situations priority marked in the disaster zone. Yeah. I know. Yeah, I-I'm agreeing with you, Joanne. The station's definitely in that area, but this virus thing is only secondary in their priorities." He held the phone away from his ear and actually almost grinned when his last statement brought a tirade of reaction from Joanne about exactly what she thought of the Los Angeles County Fire Department /FEMA protocols.. When she was through, Roy spoke again, answering her next question. "No, he's about the same. We're keeping him comfortable and we've managed to drain some of that fluid in his lungs. I'll be frank because we've agreed to be thoroughly honest with each other..There's been some problems. Blood's beginning to show in his sputum and his temp's going up despite the ice baths. No, he's still breathing on his own on one hundred percent O2. " He broke off actually grinning.. "You're beginning to sound like a paramedic here, with all these questions, you know that... And what did Chris just say, I didn't quite hear him.. Oh. LOL! 'That's because mommy's married to the best one in the whole world huh?....' Thanks for repeating that hon. That was cute." Roy closed his eyes trying to picture his wife and son in his mind sitting at the dining room table, on the phone with him, but the picture wouldn't come. "T-That was very cute.." and his voice cracked. "You don't have to call Rose Marie Lopez on his update Joanne. Vince is already there with Marco's mom. Yeah. He went there himself before the news broadcast the station as being downed in the quake on the TV. Listen hon, I'll call you the moment we know anything more, all right. I've got to go. Time for vital sets all around. And I see a few saggy IV bags above a few stokes, too, that need changing over. "Yeah. You WILL most likely know sooner than I when the CDC arrives. D*mned press. They almost got in here once. If it weren't for Bonnie, we would have been neck deep in plague panicky reporters once they learned the quarantine orders weren't viscious rumors. "On channel five? All right, I'll try to peek out a head at ten and wave when the live broadcast outside starts up. No we've no power. But I've got a watch. I can do this. Might cheer up the kids.. "Those reporters need a scare or two to get off the driveway anyway. Cap's already crawling out of his skin over the damage done to the station vehicles. It'll do him some good if I can get them all to just to clear off. " He grabbed a water bottle and opened it but he didn't drink, at her next words. "I - I love you too, Joanne. H- Hug the kids for me, will ya? Talk to you in the morning...Yeah, I'll let Marco know you're praying for him. Bye." And he set the phone down with a soft snick into the receiver. Roy got back over to the populated end of the bunk room and returned to the others, reluctantly. He had just sat back down to take a sleeping Miss Thorne's BP, when Marco on the bed, suddenly seized into a convulsion. Chet was there instantly, "Dr. Brackett!!" Brice, Gil and Roy jumped to their feet in moments, right behind Kel. They scrambled, reaching for...... ------------------------------------ *animated gif* An English Paramedic Ambulance. Photo : Johnny popping epinephrine shot caps. Photo : A shot of the squad and turnout coat, with full gear boxes. -------------------------------------------- End Part One... ******************************** From: Sam Iam Date: Tue Oct 29, 2002 6:14 pm Subject: Setback Special Website Acknowledgement for Episode Images being provided from... Guest....KMG365 at Tigger's E Stuff Website http://exit3.i-55.com/~ffaller/emergency/ Also special thanks to site EMS Medical Consult : P. Keiper NREMT Minnesota ----------------------------------------------- Marco's longboard and the O2 mask on his face. Johnny, jarred awake by the shouting, knew immediately what was happening at a glance. "Tip him over, guys, tip him over!" he said from his stokes. Brice and Gil each grabbed an edge of the long board and then turned Lopez onto his side, gracelessly. Roy slid Marco's non rebreather mask out of the way and angled Lopez's head back, laying his cheek on an arm. In between Marco's violent spasms, DeSoto pulled out the short oral airway that had been over Marco's tongue and snatched up the suctioning tube lying idle on the bed, he paused as he checked for signs that Lopez had vomited. "He's clear..." he said, throwing the probe aside and replacing the mask down over Lopez's nose and mouth. "Most likely because he hasn't eaten since this morning..." Roy stayed closely by his head, one eye intently watching the motion fluctuating ECG while the others moved into action around him. He sighed, seeing a bite stick wasn't needed when Marco's jaw released at a touch. Dr. Brackett nodded, agreeing about the lack of aspiration as he listened to the seizing fireman's chest with a stethoscope. "He's clear here, too. There's just that prior edema. All right. Let's get him back supine. Easy.. and tighten those straps. He's working them loose." Everyone watching, held their breaths as Marco's breathing came in hard gasps as his convulsions rattled the metal bedframe underneath him. Chet did his best to stay out of the paramedics way while making sure Marco didn't hurt himself. Mike, took a few steps nearer but stayed back, still uncertain and a little frightened about getting so near to Marco's illness. Craig Brice looked up from where he was pulling a backwash of blood from Marco's original IV with an empty syringe. "Serum glucose doc?" "You bet. If it's below 80 mg/dL, inject 25 g dextrose D50 IVP. These seizures might not be just febrilly induced. His blood sugar may have taken a nose dive or skyrocketted." Brice moved to a glucose monitor and quickly got a baseline off of his red top. "It's 62." "Follow up, Brice. That dex and 100mg Thiamine IV. I don't want him to lose a heart rhythm." Dr. Brackett said. "On it." Kel looked up at Gil. "Sheppard, run in a second IV, Normal Saline wide open. We'll risk the fluid overload. We need it for his sedation med. We'll bump it down after we've gotten these convulsions under control. Ughh." he grunted, helping Roy keep Marco's airway open. It took both of them to do it, when a bad series of shudders bucked him more violently, underneath their hands. Chet, meanwhile had gotten the resuscitator near and had set the demand valve mask available on Lopez's pillow. "Thanks," Kel said to Kelly. "But he's doing fine so far, even breathing broken like this." Roy looked up. "Time for diazepam, doc? "Yes, draw up ten milligrams. We'll titrate into his IV until he responds. If that doesn't work, we'll use Ativan, 2 mg IM. He's too shocky for paracetamol." ---- Miss Thorne was covering her eyes to keep herself from looking, and Cap noticed. "It looks scary for Lopez with those convulsions, Cindy. But he's not feeling any pain with them at all. Marco's muscles are just kicked into overdrive because of the low sugar in his blood and because of that fever. They're going to settle him down in just a sec here so he can breathe normally." ---- Roy prepared the syringe of medication Dr. Brackett had ordered as fast as he could. He heard Cap's reassurances to Cindy, but didn't look up. "Doc, want me to do it?" "Give it here.." Kel said to Roy, reaching out for the medication. "Take over watching his airway, Kelly." "Got him.." Chet said, firmly taking Marco's chin and head so he wouldn't obstruct as Dr. Brackett let go. Kel pushed all the air out of his syringe needle until the diazepam geysered high and then parked the newly strung and running NS IV Brice handed him under his arm to hold it while he injected the muscle relaxant slowly into its drip chamber.. They all watched for signs that Marco's convulsions were ending. About twenty seconds later, they did. The EKG monitor bleeped a changed beat alarm when the V-tach settled into a more solid sinus rhythm. The frenzied PVC's died away from the tracing pattern. Dr. Brackett set a hand on Marco's chest to feel for his respiration status. "There. That's better." he said about the ECG. Then he looked up again with a slight frown. "Kelly, hyperventilate him a few times. The diazepam's suppressing his intake a bit." Roy removed the old nonrebreather mask from Marco's face, as Chet took over with the demand valve. Kelly made sure it was sealed well over Lopez's nose and mouth. Then he thumbed the positive pressure trigger on the demand valve, until he had delivered four vents carefully into Marco's lungs. Dr. Brackett had out his stethoscope again. "Ok, hold off.." and he listened to the bubbling breath sounds. "That's all he needed. A boost. He's back.." Everyone gasped in relief and even Johnny let out the breath he was holding. Dr. Brackett smiled, pleased. "At least that was one problem easily solved. Get Marco's head elevated again while you're there, Kelly would you? And Gil, you can TKO that normal saline now." The dark haired doctor moved to turn on a strip from the monitor to take a closer look at how Lopez's heart had handled the incident. Roy had a question. "Doc.." "Hmm?" Dr. Brackett said, not looking up. "We lost all the ice around Marco. Do you want us to replace it?" Kel shook his head. "The diazepam will shut off that fever parasympathetically on its own. We can always get some more if his temp rises again. Get another one for reference for now, all right?" Roy nodded. Soon, he had a reading. "One hundred one." "Down. Despite the convulsions." Brackett remarked, satisfied. "Let's monitor his respirations to be sure they're stable." Gil, was getting a new, dry blanket for Marco when Stoker came up hesitantly. "Need help with that?" Sheppard grinned warmly, knowing the mental obstacle Mike had had to overcome to just be there. "Sure.. Tuck in that side, but keep his chest uncovered. We have to eye his breathing rate for a while." "Yes. I heard.." Mike said. Then he looked down..frowning.. "Hey doc.." he called out. "Look at this.. He's developing a rash or something. It's breaking out on his chest." Dr. Brackett stopped his ECG reading and bent over the bed. He felt Marco's throat and larynx, but found no swelling at all. "Hmm, no signs of anaphalaxis here yet... And his color's good. This looks more like an urticaria or a secondary maculopapular rash to me... but ah, following up on the first angle,.... Roy, Johnny... does Marco have any known allergies to medications?" "No, doc.. He's NKA on just about everything. Well, everything except for an intolerance for putting up with one of Chet Kelly's jokes." Gage quipped. "Oh very funny, Gage. Would that be like ah, say your own marked intolerance for any strikes aimed at you from the Phantom??" Kel grinned. The banter meant the firehouse gang was starting to relax again. "I heard about that whole one upmanship going on, from Dixie, a while ago. Who finally won?" "I did." "I did." said Johnny and Chet simultaneously. They made sharp stares, glaring at each other and then let they both ..let ...loose. "I had the last word!" Chet insisted. "No I did! Remember my very very slick "Are we going to eat off the table?" delivery line? Man, Chet. You fell for that completely, hook line and sinker. And don't deny it. The whole gang were my witnesses.. Isn't that right Marco..?" and he patted Lopez's shoulder despite the fireman still being unconscious. Mike Stoker piped up. "Chet was the last one to "one up" there Johnny, if I recall." "No, I thought he was er, I was.." Gage cocked his jaw, thinking back. He wasn't quite sure about that fact himself and it showed in his eyes. "Sorry, Gage. But the Phantom match, I do believe, went to Kelly." Cap said, with an amused smirk. "I wasn't directly involved or targetted with water bombs in that particular week of shenanigans, but I did follow all the action VERY closely, back then." "You did?" "You did?" John and Chet said as one. They looked at each other once more but this time, in complete and utter surprise. Then Chet asked. "Hey Cap. How did you know?" "Well, usually, all the water in the station is either in the Engine tanks or the sink when I don't have someone stuck on mop detail." he steepled his hands together over his chest as he thought back "Annnddd I .... noticed the dry, hot Santa Ana air that month suddenly got suspicious humid, only inside the station." Kelly and John both flushed red when they realized they had been outfoxed by Cap the observer, despite their efforts to hide the misadventure. "Didn't take long to find out what you two were up to.... at all.." Cap said, pleased as punch. Johnny complained after he picked up his jaw off his chest. "Well why didn't you stop him from doing all that from the beginning?"he pointed at Chet. He winced when that pointing hand was his post surgical one. "I must have spent thirty dollars in laundering bills and re-polishing streetside shoeshines that week." Chet sniggered but immediately stifled it. "Well, Gage.. Let's just say I had money riding on the outcome.." Hank trickled. Chet and Gage's eyes both widened in surprise at their captain. Stoker couldn't wait to elaborate. "He made out like a bandit, boys, while you two were playing Phantom. Called your every mutual moves play by play." "Oh- oh yeah?" Chet said, gaining back a bit of timid bravado in the face of finding out about his superiorly ranking boss's less than honorable conduct. " Just how much did you win off us, Cap? We do have a right to know.. You know, for the loss of face we suffered, the butt we must have been in every other shifts' table jokes as you gave them gritty details behind our backs.." Kelly huffed low in his throat. "Pah.. I'll just bet C shift must have been the ones who ran that betting pool that Cap cleaned up in." Cap grinned evilly around his O2 cannula as he suddenly shook his head slowly in the negative.. "Kelly,.." he tapped his ample nose, twice at the curly haired fireman. "...about the winnings.." he chuckled. "And...hate to break it to ya fellas, but...." and he took in a big satisfied breath, "I was that all secret kingpin.." Johnny and Chet fell utterly speechless. Even Roy's eyes got larger and he blinked, almost sticking himself with Marco's sedative syringe that he was holding onto, to document usage spent, before he caught on to what he was doing, and reset it carefully back onto the table. Captain Stanley smiled at his audience. "You gotta remember, a captain's ALWAYS on top of any situation.." Hank said with aplomp. "At a fire, or.." he said with mystery,...".. just waiting for one.." With that, he turned over in his stokes and went back to sleep. Dr. Brackett chuckled as he snugged up Marco's blankets to his neck when he was convinced the ill fireman had good control over his breathing and airway on his own. "Glad I work in a hospital.." "Oh? You mean, Morton, Dix and Joe, don't get you with zingers like this one every so often doc?" Gage asked, lacing his fingers behind his head. He grunted when he knocked his injured hand against the wall. He had forgotten about it. "No. Doesn't happen. Everyone's always too busy to do that sort of thing being always up to their eyeballs in emergency cases, Johnny." and he grinned. Dr. Brackett got up from Marco's side to make a note on his runsheet about the new rash spreading on Lopez's body. He made it a point to keep it the first thing to mention to the CDC team, when they arrived. And soon, the long awaited for chartered helicopter.. zoomed over the gaping hole in the roof of the shattered fire station to land on the boulevard. ------------------------------- Photo : Chet looking worried as he provides resuscitation to someone. Photo : Someone preparing an IV up close. Photo : Chet and Marco in a lighter mood. ****************************** From : "Roxy Dee" Subject : [emergencytheaterlive]The Grade Four~~ Date : Sat, 02 Nov 2002 08:41:36 +0000 In a wash of dust and debris, the foot rungs touched earth and five people got out, loaded to the hilt with sophisticated supplies and from the back, a mobile pallet of lab equipment from the chopper's cargo hatch. Police got them all through the clamoring press surrounding the station and allowed them to go into the barricaded off back yard. Once there, two of the five member team suited up in biohazard gear for entering the station, while the others stayed back to set up support tents and a rudimentary decontamination station out of the sight of public eyes. Captain Stone looked up from his place in the center of triage command and his thoughts turned once more to his fellow firemen held hostage not by smoke or fire, but by a germ.::Just how the h*ll are we gonna fight this ?:: Troubled deeply, he turned back to his organizational operations and tried not to feel helpless. He mentally hoped Captain Stanley would keep him updated on any news as it happened. The advance team's leader, a smallish, petite woman, picked her way through the fallen rafters and bricks in the garage to the bunk room. She went without preamble, to Dr. Brackett's side hefting a field autopsy kit, and a heavily sealed liquid nitrogenated container labelled extreme biohazard. This she set safely down in the middle of a tabletop. Kel looked up seeing them. "About time you got here, doctors. Marco's symptomology's advanced beyond your projections." "Sorry. Didn't count on breaking through a military line at the airport. The Guard was called out to maintain order because of your recent developing environmental setback." the woman replied, grinning through her plastic face piece. Kel grinned. "Is that what you microbiologists call an earthquake?" The ginger haired, french braided woman looked up, setting the rest of analysis gear onto an empty bed. "It can be, to us in the CDC, that can also mean the fact that this contagion might have succeeded in jumping an international border." Roy and Gil and Craig had looked up with alacrity from their medical monitoring just a minute before and were still stunned at the sight of the fully suited doctor. ::My god. This is more serious than I realized.:: Roy thought, eyeing up the woman's white bio-tunic, clearly air sealed. She had on a SCBA tank but her mask was not in place beneath her transparent hood. Then, the second member of the CDC's First In team joined her, having come from where he had placed microlab instruments in the lamp lit kitchen. "Jamie, the kitchen area looks intact, I'll have our team give it a wash down and have it covered. I've already told them to place our mobile lab in there.." "Understood, Steven.." she replied, her very blue eyes, glancing up at him. Then Roy overheard something else which made him glad Marco was still comatose. The woman scientist eyed up her study subject with the skill of an analyst, noting the rash, the abnormal EKG and the fluids hung over Marco's head, and what percentage O2 he was on while she spoke. "First thing, we're going to confirm or refute the theory of Mr. Lopez truly being our Patient X in the U.S. as the boy was for his country in Mexico City. We've brought pathological tissue samples from the Lopez child to verify any infection commonality in both him and Marco. So far, you'll be pleased to know, Dr. Brackett, that we've learned the disease most likely isn't transmitted by airborne vectors.." she said looking up. "Three of the victims down with the illness have no signs of insect bites." Kel said, "That's a relief, this summer there are insects a plenty. Glad they aren't a factor we're going to have to worry about here." Then he noticed the others watching quietly from where they were. "Oh. Sorry all. " He gave introductions to the rest of the room,.. "Everyone, this is Doctor Jamie MacPherson, head of the Special Pathogens Branch in Atlanta.." Roy and Johnny nodded. And so did everyone else but their uncertain looks remained on their faces, each looking emotionally worn in the dim battery light of the room. Dr. Brackett turned to Jamie's companion, "And this is her assistant head, Dr. Steven Taylor. These two are the people with whom I spoke this afternoon after we concluded your rescue call Roy..." The others didn't have anything to say, reduced to a slightly fearful silence by the frightening advancing reality of the circumstances surrounding them. "Gentlemen and maam.." Jamie said. "I know it's a little startling, having us appear like this, off a hightech, night flying helicopter, suddenly invading the scene in the midst of an already ongoing disaster. Myself and my associate are both geared like this strictly for precautionary measures. I'm happy to say it's been looking more and more that, whatever the contagion is, it infects only by direct body fluid transmission. So some of you who didn't handle Mr. Lopez may eventually prove to be uninfected. This mode of transmission is collaborated by the fact that the seven other Mexican victims have all have been reliably reported as having physically touched Benardo, as they prepared him for burial." Gil spoke up. "H-how do you explain Marco falling sick then? He arrived there much later according to Roy here.." Jamie cast her eyes down. "The boy's mother said he kissed Bernardo on the cheek before the casket was covered.." "Is she one who's sick?" Johnny asked. "I-- I mean, if Marco wakes up, he's gonna wanna know.." he said softly.. "Yes, Mr. Gage." Steven said. His suit crinkled as he sat on a stool at Marco's bedside, to read the chart Doctor Brackett and the paramedics were keeping on Marco. "She was still alive last report, as of a half hour ago." Miss Thorne timidly wrapped herself tighter in her wool blanket. "Is there anything you've found that may... prevent or slow this disease yet?" "Miss Thorne, we can't treat for anything yet beyond standard life supporting measures until we know exactly what it is we're dealing with here." Jamie said. "The wrong medication or antibiotic could alter immunophysiologic responses and actually allow this unknown disease to run its course even faster instead of buying any time." she answered. Gil asked one more question. "Has anyone infected held up in the face of this disease? Any one recovering?" Dr. MacPherson sighed. "No. That's what made us tentatively classify this outbreak as a possible Grade Four." "Grade Four?" Roy asked, "Forgive me for being ignorant but I'm unfamiliar with that terminology." he said, trying to smile without nervousness. "It must be something my partner and I don't deal with in the field working as paramedics.." "So you two are the ones who directly cared for Mr. Lopez? I need to ask you a few more details once Dr. Taylor and I get set up here. But to answer your question..." Jamie looked up from where she was skillfully drawing a blood sample off Marco, even with her suit's gloves on. "That ranking means a germ with a very high virulence and killing factor, Mr. DeSoto. There are only six known illnesses in this category that we know about, that have rapid fever with bleeding with its onset. Machupo Plague, Lassa Fever, Nipah virus, Hendra virus, Junin Plague, and the last, is one newly discovered, the Ebola virus.." "Ebola...." Chet said with rising fright. "I've heard of that. Oh, man.. it wiped out a whole village in West Africa last year.. Is that what Marco's got?" Jamie raised a gloved hand. "No,.." she insisted. "This body rash doesn't come with Ebola. This strain's new or rare. All we know is that it takes effect very very quickly and that it is a hemorrhagic syndrome type virus. Most likely in the Flavivirus family. Also, there's every chance that this bug may be another mutation of Dengue Fever, in its stronger variant , which is only fatal 30% of the time. Of those, there have been seventeen types of DHF discovered in the last ten years." Cap blinked, "Ok,.. Just ah, what can we do here to help you doctors out? I know for myself I want to do more than just lie around waiting for answers." He had been awake ever since the helicopter's motor blade noise woke him up. Jamie bit her lip, tilting her face inside her biohood. "Well for starters, I want to know as much as each of you can tell me about Marco's illness, when he got sick, what his initial symptoms were. What worked in making him feel better. That sort of thing. Details might give us something more to work on.." Roy spoke up. "Well, he had laryngitis real bad last night. It started a few hours after we all had a bad fire. Marco complained of a sore throat..." "And I noticed bloody patches in his nasopharyngeal area when I put in an oral airway this afternoon, doctor.." Gil replied. "Don't forget how O2 made his cough better." Chet added. "And how my mother's medicinal tea helped out too. Honey and herbs." Johnny said quickly. Steven shook his head and held up a glove, and his pen poised over the chart. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. One at a time. Slow down. Let's start from the beginning ok?" And they did. Soon, no one had anything else to add. Jamie read back what she had to everyone to reiterate. "...and then, Dr. Brackett, you said an instigated Glucose IV push, and diazepam along with some forced O2, ended his febrile seizure?" "That's correct. And his temperature went down two degrees from Roy's initial finding." "Got it.. Now, if you'll excuse me, Steven and I are going to compare this blood sample from Marco with those we have of his deceased cousin to begin a baseline analysis.." Jamie told them. Then she looked at Kel, switching to all doctor. "We're planning on using two virus isolation methods here, Dr. Brackett. First, a polymerase chain reaction analysis followed by an antigen capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay." Kel nodded. "I agree that a PCR and ELISA comparison will reveal any marked pleomorphism under the microscope.." Cindy piped up. "Pleo what?" "What the germs are shaped like, Miss Thorne.." Steven replied. "A vital clue which might tell us what we're dealing with.." "Can I help you with anything?" Kel asked. Steven and Jamie looked around the room at everyone in stokes. "Can you leave your patients?" Roy spoke up. "Doctor. He can. Besides me and my partner, Brice and Gil are paramedics, too. We'll be fine." "Ok. Let's get at it then.." she nodded, satisfied. Kel and Jamie and Steven rose from their chairs, leaving with the path kit and the tissue cryo case holding the dead boy's tissue remains. Marco's vials of whole blood also accompanied them to the kitchen, where the newly erected, makeshift biolab awaited. The firemen, paramedics and teacher were left alone with their thoughts. On his bed, Marco startlingly moved, emitting a low moaning noise... Brice, Roy and Gil hurried to his side, to determine Glasgow status. "Marco?!" Gage called out.. Lopez reacted by.... ---------------------------- Photo: Dr. Brackett looking at your pupils with a penlight. Photo : Photo of Miss Thorne, in closeup. Photo: Of a blood filled IV bag. Photo : An awake Marco with a bandaid on his head. Photo: Station 51 at night. *************************** From : "Clairissa Fox" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Darkest Before Dawn.. Date : Sun, 03 Nov 2002 06:11:08 +0000 ...groaning again, but his encrusted eyes, didn't open. "Hey! Somebody help me down from here. I want to be the first one to talk to him. Now." Captain Stanley ordered. His voice held undeniably firm authority. Craig and Chet lifted Cap's stokes off the two chairs it was lying across and set it onto the floor. Hank grabbed their hands as they each also gripped a shoulder to help him sit up, gingerly. . "Wait, Kelly.." Craig said when Chet tightened the grip in one of his hands to give Cap leverage to get to his feet. Brice glanced at Hank. "Don't lie to me when you answer this. I'll be able to tell by your eyes. I don't care if getting you up was an order or not because you're officially sidelined. Morphine still making you dizz--? " "West is that way Brice!.." Cap pointed towards the open exterior door with his HT's antennae. "Now get me up!.." "Right. You're fine.." Brice said two seconds later. "Chet, make sure he doesn't crash into anything." he replied, his resistance crumbling. Stanley instantly pushed to his feet by himself before anyone could help him further. Kelly hastened to get Cap's oxygen tubing trailing behind him properly and snatched up his D tank to follow along as Cap made his way shakily to Marco's longboard on the bed. "What about me?" Gage complained. "I'm not dizzy." "No, but you were shocky post surgical. Get your BP up to normal and you can join him." Brice dismissed Gage's jibe with efficiency. Johnny cut off his rejoiner when DeSoto's quiet vocal urging began. Roy was examining Marco's eyes with a penlight. "Marco.. It's Roy. Can you understand me? If you do, I want you to open your eyes.." Lopez didn't, but he kept stirring restlessly in his fever. DeSoto took a pen out and dug its cap into one of Marco's nail beds, pressing down hard. The pain made Marco grunt and jerk his hand away and he coughed under his oxygen mask but he didn't form legible words. "Should we go get the docs? If Marco wakes up more, he might be able to tell them about how he's feeling." Stoker asked. Roy said. "No. We're gonna let him know what's going on here first. He might not even know that we were even IN an earthquake. That in itself is going to be one h*ll of a shock." Craig reached into the drug box and pulled out an aromatic capsule, holding it up questioningly. "Yes.." Roy nodded, taking it from Brice. He pulled down Marco's O2 mask so that it was sitting by his mouth on his chest. Then he cracked the aromatic in two, waving the capsule under Lopez's nose, following after his nostrils with it when Marco tried to avoid its fumes. Lopez's eyes finally opened with startled coherence. "Marco.. you with us?" Roy asked again. "Whaa?" Lopez coughed wetly, getting rid of the ammonia stench in his nose and finally, his eyes worked to focus on faces. On a thought, Hank pulled off his own O2 cannula, and he hastily hid it in his shirt collar to spare Marco some worry. Cap set a hand on Lopez's shoulder. "Easy there, pal." "*ugh.* C -Cap? " Marco asked blearily.. "W-was I in a fire?" he said. "Hard to breathe." "It's all right, Marco. We're dealing with that. You've got some lung edema but you've got O2 on. It's right here.." Cap said, placing the mask into Marco's sweaty hand. "Use it when you need it." Roy got a blood pressure as he watched Marco recover clarity. Captain Stanley went on, "Not exactly a fire, Lopez. More like a ..well, an earthquake." "What?" Marco whispered, his voice cracking. "It hit the stationhouse, Marco." Chet said taking a stool by his head. "But everyone's all right. Nothing serious injury wise." Marco felt night wind on his face and noticed the stars showing through the roof where the garage rafters had been. "Ohh.." "There's no roof?! H-How are the buildings on the rest of the block?? W-we gotta go help people.." he exclaimed, and tried to rise, but his board's straps prevented that. "Oh, no. no. no.." Gage warned Marco. "We've plenty of help out there, Marco. About eight engine companies worth. Casualties were light. We don't have to go anywhere so relax.." "W--? Johnny. It's dark?.. Why am I still here if I'm hurt or something? Should've been to Rampart already." he gasped. Cap and the others exchanged looks. Then Stanley looked down at his dirty hands and said. "W-we can't do that, Marco. Not yet. You see, there's another problem we're dealing with right now. But we've the best team around to help us out of this one. They came all the way from the other side of the country to--" "Cap. Just level with me. Don't beat around the bush. Last time someone did that to me it was the day I found out my little cousin Bernardo had died." Lopez said. Cap looked sharply pained and fought his emotion to the point of clenching his jaw to keep anything from getting out too fast. "Marco. It's not good news, just like the news was on Bernardo.." "Is it mama? Is she ok??" Marco said with alarm. Roy and Gil held him down. "She's fine. She's fine. The quake didn't reach the Palisades. Vince's already stopped in to check on her.." Roy said quickly. "Then why do all of you look like someone died?" Lopez said. "That's because, there's a very real chance that all of us just might do that, Marco." Cap said to the point and very very raw. "I don't understand.." Lopez said. His EKG picked up a little in stress and he started to gasp until Roy made him take a few breaths off the O2 mask. Captain Stanley continued. "Your cousin didn't go from some fluke fever, Marco. He was ill with something..." he sighed heavily. "..with something no one's ever seen before.." Lopez paled. "And now I got it? And the rest of you?" Cap just nodded. "It's a very real possibility that we've all been exposed. The docs here from Atlanta are working on the problem, even now, right here in the station.." he said, trying to smile. "Shouldn't be too long before they pull a couch or two out of the house fire." "I'm going to die?" Marco asked. Brice immediately replied. "No. It hasn't been confirmed what illness you have. So far, you've just a fever, and some fluid in your chest and a skin rash. Nothing we can't handle.." Marco blinked. "Craig? But you're working for eight. Your station's here?" "Yes, Captain Stone is right outside, running triage operations, with Cap here." he said. "Couldn't resist the call to dig out a couple of fire engines from their own garage, know what I mean? Had to save Cap here some face somehow.." Captain Stanley hefted his HT to encourage Marco that it was true. Lopez didn't say anything, and he just blinked at the ceiling, the nightmare still not yet accepted. Roy spoke up. "We're doing everything we can here, Marco. We're just under a temporary quarantine until we get some answers. And we've turned it into a regular campout.." he grinned. "Look, soup stove and everything." It faded when Marco's eyes filled and he began to sob softly. Roy went on. "I know things sound bad. And Cap and I know how you feel. It feels like everything all around you has..kinda been turned upside down and it's not a pretty picture to be waking up to. But know that we're in this together, Marco. A firecrew never abandons one of their own." "You got that right.." Cap agreed. "There's two very very good doctors here, a Steven Taylor and a Jamie MacPherson. And Dr. Brackett's been telling us that they are simply the best of the best in their field. I wouldn't be surprised if they...wrapped up things here in just a couple of days.." "But what about my family in Mexico? Are they still safe?" Lopez asked, angrily wiping away tears. "Yes. Bernardo's mother is ill but holding her own. But there are seven down there with the same symptoms as Bernardo's.." Roy replied. Then he looked down, fussing with an IV that didn't need attention. "And.. yours.." "So why didn't you bail out when you could, everyone?" Marco said, his frustration and anger building and he pegged them all with a viscious glare. "Marco. Calm down.." Cap said. But Lopez wouldn't listen. "I tried to! Only I wasn't running for the kids when the bricks started falling down all around me.. I just ran for the door.. Yes, that's what I did.." he sobbed. "Some hero, huh.?" Stanley sharply told him. "Lopez. Stop. Getting into self pity isn't going to solve--" "Don't you see, Cap?.. I ran! I'm sure you guys were real puzzled why I was in the kitchen instead of the garage with them." he cried, his eyes blinded by frightened tears. "And I wish to G*d I could be running away from all this right now..." he whispered. "Oh, Bernardo!... Oh, Mama!... I'm sorry.. I'm so.. sorry...Lo ciento por su dolor y herido.." and he started to cry in heaving choking sobs of grief and shock. Cap hugged him, and held him tightly as Marco finally gave in completely to his terror and fear. "Lopez. It's all right. We're here. And we won't be leaving you, pal. Not by a long shot.." "I want to die.. I want to die.. Oh, Bernardo...." Marco's sobs died away. At his silence, Chet moved forward. "He's out again?" Kelly asked with alarm, swallowing.. He helped Cap lower him slowly back down again onto the longboard. Roy looked at the EKG and took a pulse. "No. Just sleeping. " "What was wrong with him? I mean, I- I've never seen Marco act that way, Roy.." DeSoto met Chet's eyes. "Its nothing. He's a little raw partly because of the fever, and the diazepam, and most likely, from some inner feelings he's been suppressing ever since his cousin's funeral. Not the first time someone's buried family and then not reacted to it until weeks later.. He'll be better emotionally after a good nap." Johnny piped up. "Yeah, Chet. He's a human being, so give him some slack.." "I am. I am.. It was just a little frightening seeing him come unraveled like that." "Well you would, too, after surviving a funeral, the complete destruction of your workplace, an earthquake, and then capping it all off by coming down with a potentially lethal plague..Come on, Cap. Let's get you back to bed.." "I'd rather stay here, if that's ok with you.. Gage.." Cap said. "I can recupe just as well from a chair as a stokes.." "Ok. Just have Chet put your O2 back on.." Johnny said, rolling over to get some rest himself. Roy nodded in agreement and soon, Chet and he left Cap studying Marco's sweaty face as he slept fitfully. Cap was almost dozing from the heady effects of the O2 cannula when he realized that Marco and he were no longer alone, on just a feeling. He opened his eyes. Miss Thorne had gotten up and she had moved to the chair Roy had vacated. "He's almost my age.." she said gently. Cindy reached out to Marco's face to brush away a tangle of wet hair with compassion. Cap grabbed her hand, and shook his head, preventing her from touching him. "It's all right.. You firemen aren't the only ones known for self sacrificing oneself. And there are two million teachers out there all across the country who'll agree with me on just that point." Captain Stanley smiled and let her go. Then he afforded her some feigned privacy as she leaned down to admit a secret to his sleeping crewmate. Cindy wiped away Marco's tears with a gauze pad and bathed his face in a cool cloth as she talked. "You know, Marco. You weren't the only one who wanted nothing else but to run today..." she told his sleeping features.."Stoker here had to tackle me to keep me under that kitchen table until the quake had ended. So I think there's a bit of cowardice in all of us. It's not surprising to me that the ground failing beneath our feet brought some of that out in both you and me. But I'll just bet there hasn't been a single fire that you've ever seen where you didn't just go charging right on into it without hesitation. So you're one up on a whole lot of us teachers in the bravery department, Marco Lopez. Those kids knew that coming here today. And so did I... Just sleep...Things will be brighter in the morning. They always become that way, with the dawn.." In reply, Marco's EKG, slowed into deeper rest. --------------------------------- In the station kitchen improvised lab, Dr. Steven Taylor and Dr. Jamie MacPherson made a startling discovery on their specimen slides. They found....... ----------------------------- Photo: Cap at night calling on his HT. Photo : Chet sitting up in alarm on his bed. Photo : Marco looking very serious. Gif : A peaceful California dawn by the ocean. ***************************** From: finiterider@yahoo.com Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2002 14:56:21 -0800 (PST) Subject: [EmergencyTheaterLive ] The Red Devils-- ...bacteriophage. Simple, unknown; completely undifferentiated bacteriophage. "Steve. Come look at this. I pulled it off the fireman's gram negative stain." Jamie gasped through her contamination hood. Dr. Taylor joined her and bent down into the microscope. "Look at that Shepherd's Crook morphology. Could this be an RNA filovirus?" Jamie shuddered. "We've only hypothesized that evolution of phage in theory as a zoonotic model, no known living specimens are known to exist." Steven was thoughtful. " Zoonosis? Mexico has plenty of mammalian carriers. Mice, birds..." "Yes, but those vectors are everywhere. What is unique in Mexico city and nowhere else?" Jamie said. "It's tropical around Marco's family's neighborhood. Monkeys?" Dr. Taylor theorized. "None that are native.. Bacteriophage are weak transferring to foreign or human bred hosts. It would have had to evolve in one genus for decades to mutate to an infectious state strong enough to cross species barriers. Mexico has no native simians." Steve was finetuning the microscope as he dressed his sample with an enzyme catalyst to break down the virus into its separate constituents. He took the slide off and shook it while the solution broke it down. Then he replaced the slide. "Oh my g*d. Jamie,.. they're reassembling despite the protein dissolver.." "Self assembling? Retrovirus! That's a class neither virus nor bacterial, millions of years old." MacPherson said. "Then our contagion's host will have to be at least that old, too.." "Insectoidal?" Jamie guessed. "We ruled that out. No bites on half the victims, remember?" Steven sighed. MacPherson was undaunted. "The Marco house is deeply inside city limits on the edge of the mountains. No animals crawling in from the forest would go unnoticed there." "Birds?" "Too inefficient a metabolism for a retroviral infection. It would never survive in them." Taylor said, "I've tried on computer models." Jamie frowned.. "Their dogs and cats, and pigs and chickens were sacrificed by investigators. Couldn't have been them, they were all clean.." "Those animals are also young species. None older than a few hundred thousand years. Domesticated genetic lines. They can't be our hosts." Dr. Brackett had finished a toxicology series on Marco's blood samples and looked up when Dr. Taylor and Dr. Macpherson showed up in front of his work station. "Any progress..?" he asked. "Retrovirus.. Zoonotically transmitted. Our unknown is showing marked Shepherd's Crook pleomorphism and resistance to enzymatic lipase breakdown.." Dr. Brackett's eyes squinted and he blinked in reaction. "A retrovirus? I thought those were extinct and found only in the fossil record." "Not for some.." Jamie admitted. "The genus is rare, but can still be found in the wild. Just like the Listeria strain of cyanobacteria is still found in Yellowstone's hotsprings. That is living despite it being continually poisoned by our now oxygen rich atmosphere.." "Let me take a look at it.." Kel said. Taylor and MacPherson held out their hands to him to sit at the stool before the microscope. "Be my guest.." Taylor sighed. Then he pulled off his biocontamination hood. "We don't need these anymore.. This one can't reinfect anyone without an animal host.." Jamie concurred, shedding her biosuit too. "Totally true.." "Then the quarantine is unnecessary?" Dr. Brackett said. "Completely, doctor.." Steven told Kel. "Only body fluid precautions are necessary. Like you would do for any hepatitis or meningitis patient in one of your wards. Anyone healthy would be able to easily fight this off." "Marco wasn't healthy and so he got infected." Kel realized. "Most likely because he was burning his candles at both ends helping out his mother and working fires here. Roy did tell us that no one has gotten a lot of sleep for the last four days.." "Most certainly.." Jamie agreed. "And we hadn't been able to see these spirals and hooks until now, because when we got to the boy, he was already dead too long to present them clearly, except in the one splenic blood sample the forensic doctors managed to obtain. Your fireman's blood slide, has just made our problem crystal clear, doctor.." Brackett caught sight of the deadly, yet ancient retrovirus on the slide. He clearly saw the purple staining of the enzyme lipase chemical that Steven had added earlier, but the tiny contagion stubbornly held together in its spiralled stringed, oddly hooked shape. "Frightening. This germ is technically not alive here. But you're telling me that it can still reproduce?" Jamie nodded, agreeing with the hospital doctor. "Ummhmm. Just by latching onto any cellular RNA and telling it to make more retroviral capsules, with its own RNA, instead of normal stem cells." "Then what causes the symptoms and the fever and the bleeding?" Dr. Brackett wanted to know. Jamie said. "I have always hypothesized to my superiors that retroviruses have a piggyback contagion living in symbosis inside the spore capsule. Each, separated from the other, is harmless, but together in combination..." "Deadly and fast.." Dr. Brackett agreed. Dr. Brackett lifted a handy talkie wrapped in plastic on the table. It was linked to both the triage center outside and to the CDC team working in the firehouse backyard. ##This is Kelly Brackett inside Station 51. I'm lifting the quarantine. There's proof positive on further non transmission.## Dr. MacPherson lifted her own. ##Confirming the order Atlanta base. We're in the clear. Bodily fluid protocols restrictions only..## "How long will it take your people to use these slide images to identify the organism?" Kel said. "Only as long as it takes to take a polaroid slide image here and transmit it over TV satellite to the CDC.. Our specialists will peg this within minutes if we've seen it before.." "Then do it.. " Jamie started laughing.. "What's so funny doctor?" he asked. "I just learned the best way to do that doctor and it's even faster than our finest military.." "Oh?" "Use the reporters." she said. "They'll spread those images like wildfire. And the CDC will get them seconds after they air.." "Are you crazy? What about the panic that would cause doctor?" Steven said. "What..." she said dismissively. "You mean the earthquake hasn't already accomplished that? We can just label these pictures X Case Influenza and they'll be none the wiser.." Steven started to snicker, too. "Heh. Clever girl.." "I'm afraid I don't understand.." Kel Brackett said at their amused expressions. "X Case is CDC code for "identify and confirm this". Doctor Brackett. The word Influenza is bogus. Jamie wants to add that to make any viewers think we have just the flu in here to settle them down." Kel smiled, too. "I'll go along with that.." "I'll get right on it.." Jamie said. Soon, she had a polaroid of the slide showing the retroorganism stains and was jogging out the kitchen to head through the garage and the waiting press milling about outside for the ten o'clock news broadcast about to go on the air. A minute later, she was back. Dr. Brackett turned back to Steven Taylor.."Uh, doctor, in your theory, what's the best way to treat retroviral hemorrhagic fevers?" "Aggressive fluid management. I've tested Idouroxidine, an anti-tumor medication, against bacteriophage of this virulence...and I've had good results.." Steven suggested. Jamie immediately countered. "That's against bacteriophage Taylor, not retroviruses. No one's ever seen an active retroviral epidemic before.." Brackett silenced her with a growl. "Not until now.. I'm willing to try anything.. Marco Lopez's too unstable to wait any longer on a solution.. Even if it's just a temporary one.. He and seven others in Mexico are counting on us to help them now. Even if it's just a shot in the dark!" Jamie sighed, but let her colleague continue advising Dr. Brackett. "I'd try 150 mg IV QID for starters. That might arrest the synergistic bacteria in operation with the retrovirus's cellular division.." Steve said. Kel nodded his head, remembering something. "I have some already here. One of my senior paramedics had an unknown Asian Virus last year and I still had some viable doses available. I included them in that field bag you advised me to pack." "You know these injections will be stop gag at best.." Jamie said. Dr. Brackett washed his hands in the kitchen sink and dried them in a sterile towel. "I know.. But until we learn the animal who's the principle carrier from which to isolate an anti-viral serum, slowing down Marco's deterioration that way's the only hope we've got.." Suddenly, Chet's face peered through the kitchen door. His eyes got real big when he saw that the two microbiologist physicians were out of their containment suits. He shoved aside the door and said. "Hey, Dr. Brackett. You'd better get in here.. Marco was conscious for bit and talking.. Roy says he's still that way and only dozing.." "There's our chance to find out more clues about that carrier. Marco must have seen something down there that was new in his house animal wise.." Kel said, grabbing his HT for a reply from the outside. The news story delivering the image of Marco's germ to the whole state began to air. And Roy kept his promise by freaking out the reporters by leaning and waving from the station bunk house doorway so that his family and kids could see him. "Anyone wanna take bets on how quick the CDC will call on our answer?" Dr. Brackett said, gathering his gear and moving back to Marco's side. "No bets.." Steven said.. Chet was only puzzled when he overheard that little exchange. Then he started laughing when the camera man jumped back two feet when Roy pretended a fake sneeze into his direction. --------------------------------------- Dr. Brackett and Drs. Taylor and MacPherson all crowded around Marco's bed. Gil and Brice both backed out of the way. Craig said. "Ah, progress.. The quarantine's been lifted.." Gil looked at him as if he sprung a third eyeball. Brice merely tugged on his own sleeve to show his unbeliever that Jamie and Steven were now out of their biosuits completely. Gil caught on to that fact readily and accepted it eagerly. He knelt by Kel, telling him how long Marco had been conscious and how coherent he had been during those brief moments. Kel noticed Lopez was indeed, sleeping. He gently shook his shoulders. "Marco. Marco Lopez. It's Dr. Brackett. I need to ask you some questions about your family's home in Mexico.. Marco.. Can you hear me?" Cap jolted awake in his chair but then fell to listening when he realized an important discussion was about to take place. Chet joined him, crouching at his side. Marco's face finally animated and screwed up into an immediate liquidy cough that he barely managed to clear away in between breaths under his oxygen mask. His eyes opened fuzzily. "Brack--? Am I out yet??" "Not yet. Marco. Listen. This is very very critical that you hear me and answer as best at you can.." As he spoke, Marco's head sagged again into a half state. "Marco!! Front and center!!" Cap shouted. "Whaa? Inspection day already? Yessir!!" Lopez blurted out in sudden reaction. He started to give a mock salute but he couldn't lift his arm up all the way.. but his eyes snapped into a brighter wakefulness. Cap grinned and added more. "Just listen carefully, Lopez. This is not an inspection but a Q and A test. Reply to the doctors here as best you can." "A-all right. I'll get 100 %. I- I..don't want.. latrine detail agai---.... ohhh.." "Marco. Concentrate.." Kel urged. " t.......ryingggggg.." he sighed. Jamie leaned in close to Marco's ear. "Mr. Lopez.. When you arrived to your family villa in Mexico. Were there any new pets the kids were playing with?.. Anything strange or new?" "Pets? B- Bernado te gusta jovan gatos y..." "En Inglez,.. Marco.." Cap said. "Oh...hhhh uh, Bernardo likes kittens. Always new ones from the vineyards..." Jamie and Steven shook their heads. "Marco. Marco. How about something from the hills.. Something not domesticated. A mammal of some kind.." "Mama senora,.. ella es loco que se manana con el Diablos Rojos en la cielo noche porque ellos come en su flores..!" Marco wailed in his fever, still not very coherent.. "What?" Taylor exclaimed at the apparent spanish gibberish.. Chet said, straining to understand. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute.. I think I understand a bit.. Marco and I have a bet running that I can learn enough spanish to impress his mama by fall to win a complete, homecooked--" "Chet! Now's not the time..!" Cap roared. "Ok, ok, ok... Uh.. I think he said that the Donya Arana or the head woman in his household was going crazy that morning because of "red devils" from the night sky eating in her garden.." "Red devils from the sky?" Jamie frowned. Then Taylor clinched it.. "Bats.. Can't be anything else.. Specifically, Flying foxes!! They are all over Mexico. There's our sentinel anim---" he leaped up for the phone to reach his superiors in triumph.. Jamie leaned in to Marco as her colleague rapidly got into action with their team in Atlanta and those outside the station house. "Tell me more about the Red Devils.." "Que? No comprendo....." Marco sighed as he fever tossed on his pillow. Jamie threw up her hands in frustration. Chet coughed and in very bad Spanish asked, "Hablas mas pero Diablos Rojos. Nosotros tenemos muchas preguntas. Es muy importante Marco.." Cap even knew what that meant. "I'll say we have many important questions.. Lopez.. Stay with us!" Marco began to shout, delirious. "Todos muerte! No vive no mas en la noche. Bernardo traes uno a mi Tija.. Soy Triste.!!! Bernardo!!" Lopez repeated his moaning words. Over and over.. Chet blinked in stress as he translated shakily.. "He keeps saying they're all dead. That they were no longer alive by nightfall. That the boy gave a bat to his Aunt after it had died to show her? Now, he's blaming himself.." Marco's tirades continued until Dr. Brackett finally sedated him and turned him onto his side to rest. Jamie MacPherson started up on the Idouroxidine injection into his IV after Kel had gone on to examine Gage's status. Roy returned from his tormenting the reporters and said. "Man, I wonder who gave them that germ photo? Doctor... did you--?" "Yes, Mr. DeSoto we did.." Jamie said, gesturing for Brice to take another BP on Marco. "It was an end to a means.." "W-wait a minute. Did you find your answers? You're both out of your biocontamination suits. That's great. Must be if the quarantine is lifted.." Roy said happily, folding his arms. "So why didn't you tell the reporters that too?" Chet snapped. "Because it isn't over yet ! Yes, we learned what it is and where its came from.. But the serum that Marco's going to need comes from bats, Flying Foxes, according to one of the docs here. Now tell me how in the world are we going to find the right ones in Mexico from the middle of a city fringe jungle rainforest in time to save him, eh?" Roy's face fell into lines deeper than the San Andreas Fault. "We can always hope, Chet.." Jamie MacPherson looked up with a large degree of doubt locked onto her face. Then the phone rang. Both the one in the kitchen lab and the one on the bunk house desk. Jamie and Brice both leaped for it. She was faster. "Dr. MacPherson.. in LACoF station 51.." Everyone held their breaths when her face proved it was Atlanta on the line. She listened for a while then... "I understand sir.. I- I 'll get right on it.. Yes, mobilize the Mexico City team to collect the vineyard specimens.. Our victim says the dead boy played with some in the garden in the days before he fell ill. As you heard from Dr. Taylor, they are very probably our sentinel animal species. Oh, and chief.. We need one taken alive and sent here. I need to extract a blood serum from it.." She set the phone down shakily and sank into a chair at the desk by the battery operated lantern. Gil came over and set a hand on her arm. "You ok?" "Yes.. I- I just am a little stunned about the finding. We have a name for the contagion in our files.." Steven Taylor came from the station's yard and from briefing the team outside. He saw the look on Jamie's face and Gil crouched near her offering her coffee and he asked. "Jamie.. What is it?" "Steve, it's Grade Four Marburg.. Boss's just confirmed it." "Ohhhh..no. I'm so sorry..We're too late." Dr. Taylor sighed, leaning against the wall in defeat. Dr. Brackett was less than gentle. "Ok. What's Marburg..?" Jamie,s lips worked mechanically. "Marburg.. Theorized RetroViral Infection. Three known live cases recognized world wide in 1975.. Incubation period of 5-10 days, onset of the disease: sudden. Marked by fever, chills, headache, and myalgia. Fifth day after onset of symptoms, a maculopapular rash, most prominent on the trunk may occur. Nausea, vomiting, chest pain, sore throat, abdominal pain, diarrhea then may appear. Symptoms become increasingly severe and may include jaundice, inflammation of the pancreas, severe weight loss, delirium, shock, liver failure, massive hemorrhaging, and multi-organ dysfunction." Her last fact came in a whisper.. "No known cure.. All three reported cases were....100% ....Fatalities...." A stunned silence filled the darkened bunk room. Chet's face twitched in denial.. "No way.. no way, man.. Not Marco. No way in h*ll!!" Cap got to his feet and ripped off his nasal cannula. "Kelly, now getting upset isn't going to help matters any.." Kelly's face was a mask of torture and deep, deep emotional pain. It sullied his fine boned features, making a mockery of them. "I don't care anymore Cap! We ... have taken.....just about all we can here! And so have I. Look at us.. " he said flinging his arms wide. "Just look at us, Cap! Johnny was almost crushed today, so was the engine and squad. Miss Thorne over there was almost gassed to death. You almost bought it, too! And most of us here in one way or another.. Bonnie, too, for Pete's sake." He started pacing and kicked over an empty water jug in his frustration and rage.. "I'm sick of this whole thing! Being stuck here, watching things deteriorate like this. So just take it back, Cap.,, the whole g*dd*mned unlucky deck of cards we've been dealt over the last four days!! Cap, just make it go away. We gotta all return to base, we gotta all get some sleep, we gotta all be ready for a fresh start all together again, by wake up tone time.." Cap started to move forward.. "Chet...." he said softly. ."I would if I could pal.. Y- you know that.." Chet screwed his eyes shut and tears flooded out."Ah, man..... not Marco..pleeaaasseee not him.. It's just not fair.." and he started to cry, sagging down the wall by Marco's head. He reached out and caressed Lopez's hair with a hand, sobbing. His wracking cries panged everyone listening and soon, Cindy rose to speak quietly with Chet where he knelt on the floor. She said..... -------------------------------- Photo : Cap looking very very small. Photo : Marburg Retrovirus slide. Photo: Chet peeking through the kitchen door in fear. ***************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Tue Nov 5, 2002 11:31 pm Subject: Panacea... "Mr. Kelly. Listen to me. Things aren't all lost. Not yet. Marco's still alive. And of everyone here, I've seen none who've hovered more often in concern and caring, than you. Things look dark. But if you've hit bottom, then there's no where else to go but up, is there?" Chet didn't pay any attention to her, his face still buried in Marco's hair. Then quiet, calm Mike Stoker said something very profound. "100% fatalities.." he mumbled. "I just can't believe that at all. They're just words..." "What?" Chet said, looking up at his engineer coworker, wiping his red eyes and face with an arm. "They're just words.. All of them. That complete phone call from Atlanta. That Marburg report. Dry. Dispassionate. Just facts. How can we trust its end-all be-all credibility?" Mike said, thoughtfully. Miss Thorne began to smile. "There was never a thesis or report born that ever escaped revision. Mike Stoker, you're beautiful!" And she kissed him full on the cheek. She went rushing off to find Dr. Taylor and Dr. MacPherson. Chet's eyes immediately dried up into another emotion, one of jealousy. "Hey, how come you get all the chicks kissing you? Stoker, did you tell her it was you who revived her in the yard?" Mike said, "Nope. No one ever told her that she had even quit breathing." Then he rubbed some knuckles on his shirt's badge,"Maybe she just likes the quiet rugged type of fireman.. eh?" "Yeah?" Chet said, more like himself. "Well, how about a fireman who's not afraid to show his emotions openly.." Cap piped up with a grin.. "Well, then, everyone in the room here today would be unbeatable Cassanovas now wouldn't they, Kelly, if that were true. No, Chet, I think it was something Stoker said that gave Cindy Thorne an idea on another matter." "What do you think it was?" Kelly said, fussing with Marco's blankets. "Don't know. Does it look like I have an answer to everything..?" Cap muttered. "Absolutely.." "Yes." "Yes.." "Yep.." Roy, Gil, Brice and Chet all said to him. "Very funny. I think I'll quit my day job and become a mountain guru and charge people for my answers.." "Just don't sit on the wrong mountain. You may just get shaken off by another earthquake.." Roy kidded. "Oh, yes.. Now there's one answer even I wish I had. I wonder what's happening out there?" and Captain Stanley lifted his HT to his mouth. "Station Eight, this is Engine 51. Got an update for us? It's almost daybreak. Your station still light on a few hands..?" Gil, Roy and Chet and Brice all waved in protest and frantic denial, anticipating that Cap was actually going to have them reassigned to outside disaster detail because of the lifted quarantine. They all shook their heads rapidly and made all sorts of negative signs to silently block such a captain's action. ##This is Stone. Hank? We heard. The quarantine's over. Good going. Rooting for ya. Yeah, we're light staffed but upstate companies and crews are on their way to relieve us, even the Pasadena FD's on their way.## "Oh,..uh....just checking to see how you were. Captain Stanley out.." ##10-4, Engine 51.## Captain Stanley parked the HT onto one knee and levelled a look of "this better be good." at his men. Chet voiced their excuse perfectly. "Didn't I hear a particular fire house captain among us say that a firecrew doesn't abandon one of their own?" "Yep.." Roy and Mike said at the same time. Cap just harrumphed and got up to turn off his own oxygen tank sitting by his feet. "Man, I'm hungry.. Did they give us some chow here anywhere?" Three arms pointed to a nondescript crate by the water cooler. "Oh, thanks.. Smelled the soup, Stoker made Cindy earlier. Anything else to go with it..?" Cap said, rubbing his stomach. "Does it look like we had time to even think about food? Some of us haven't even slept yet.." Roy said without sting. "Yeah, well. I was walking wounded there DeSoto. And I'm a glowing testament to your paramedic skills if I got my appetite back. right. Now,..who'd like some soup and whatever else I can scrounge up? Hmmm?" Cap asked. Three sets of hands rose instantly.. "Fine.. I'm assigning myself chow detail for the day since I'm not cleared to captain anything yet. Just called me Cook if you want anything sooner.." he joked. And he moved off to get his men, and everyone else able to eat and drink, some hot meals. -------------------------------- Cindy was talking fast with Dr. MacPherson and Dr. Taylor. She was actually getting on their nerves with questions and nagging for details about Marco's bug. ".....so, your people have seen three cases like his..That's interesting. Hhmm. What I mean is..How truly were those cases like our situation? Were they in Mexico, away from professional help and treatments? I find it hard to believe that a bug like the Marburg would be singularly lumped in with Ebola, and Hanta and other virulent strains on a whim just based on a pathology report.." Jamie MacPherson slammed down her file onto the table and she finally faced the teacher standing before her. "Listen,..Miss Thorne. My colleague and I have been trying to work around your prattling for the last five minutes. Now I draw the line on a civilian who's a little nervous when that same civilian accuses me and my organization of not doing a proper job." "No offense meant, doctor.." Miss Thorne said genuinely.. "I'm just trying to plug for answers on behalf of a firehouse full of frightened firefighters who are sitting on the edge of their wits because an earthquake jarred them out of their normal lives like a bull in the china shop! I'm a teacher, and teachers question everything. Makes me very practical and worldly for my students if I'm absolutely certain of where I stand with any one subject. So I'm not questioning anyone's credibility here nor the CDC's tactics.. I'm only digging for a wider view.. Since when has any paper on a contagion written by someone else, ever stopped YOU from pushing the envelope..?" Steven actually smiled as he continued making test slides of Marco's blood to find an effective dose of Idouroxidine to slow the Marburg's meiosis. "She's got you there, Jamie. Let see, you bucked heads with boss, what... seven times already this year on various subject matters??" he poked. "Ohhh..." she huffed. "Stop ganging up on me, Steven Taylor. All right.. " Jamie said, dropping her work and snatching up Johnny's pot of luke warm coffee from the table. She poured out the plaster dust that was floating on its liquidy surface and grabbed a mug from the cupboard. Changing her mind, she grabbed three of them. And started pouring.. "Ok,..You got my full attention Miss Thorne. And Steven's.. I always claim that I have an open mind across professions, so here's putting the money where my mouth is. So, shoot. What questions do you have about our poor sick fireman and his dead little cousin? I'll answer anything that isn't classified material.." Miss Thorne wasted no time. "The Red Devils.. Were they present for your other three Marburg victims? Did you know about them..?" Jamie's face registered respect and a little surprise that Cindy went right to the heart of the same thought that had been nagging in her own mind ever since Marco's astounding account of them. "What??" she gasped. A sudden fax from a battery generator run machine across the room, bleeped and came to life by the microscope. It got all of their attentions when it lit up with a transmission. Steven walked over to it and waited for the sending to complete. "Wow, the main phone lines are up in the neighborhood. That was fast.. Italy's last quake took a week to reestablish full land line telephone service.." "Like our firemen, " Miss Thorne sighed. "Our phone and power companies are the best in the country. They'd have to be, being under the gun of earthquakes all the time in our state.." Steven snatched up the still warm sending from Atlanta.. "This is from Mexico.. Forensic photos of the vineyard.. " "Let me see.." Jamie said, taking one and moving over to the dawn's rising light by the kitchen window. Natural debris settling in the night had freed up some daylight there. "They're all adult bats.. No juveniles.." Steven looked up from another fresh report from the Mexico CDC team. "No fatalities as yet. Those seven are still holding. These vitals sets seem to be matching Marco's so far.." Cindy walked over to Jamie, and handed her the cup of tepid coffee the doctor had left behind on the table.. "Here.. May I see that?" "Huh.. ?" Jamie said, from a long distance away.. "Yeah. Sure.." and she saw the cup Cindy was handing her.." Thanks.." "No problem.." Miss Thorne delicately took the color photo showing the decaying bats in the vineyard lying on the ground in the Lopez garden, and immediately noticed something.. "Doctor...." "Yeah?" Cindy said, looking at aerial photos of the Lopez villa and the surrounding streets leading up into the mountains surrounding the city.. "Tell me something..I'm no bat expert here. But aren't all of these bats here males? I don't see any sienna furred females with them.. One of my students did a report on Flying Foxes last week and I clearly remember there being color shade distinctions between the sexes..." "What?!" MacPherson shouted. She grabbed the vineyard photo back and peered at it with a hastily snatched magnifying glass. Then she gasped and placed a hand on her mouth. "Steven!! Get over here.." "What is it? " Dr. Taylor shouted, running over to them from the other side of the room, he stripped off his latex gloves and tossed them into a disposal bin near the microscope.. "I'm coming. I'm coming.." "Look.. Miss Thorne's noticed something about the bats. They're all males.." Dr. Taylor blanched. "Sex specific etiology on the Marburg host? Ohmy.." and he ran once more for the phone directly linked with Atlanta.. "Miss Thorne.. I love you.." Jamie said, excited. "Steven and I were so busy wallowing in self pity about that standing report on Marburg that we didn't see new alternatives... Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou..." "What did I just set off? " Cindy said, genuinely puzzled.. "Mammals first milk. Full of antibodies that transmit to their babies in the first twenty four hours following birth.. The female Flying Foxes must have the ability to shake off Marburg to the extent of being able to survive long enough to transmit their immunity to their young. That's why the Marburg plagues of the past didn't make the species extinct! They've had millions of years to adapt to each other.." "You mean, you won't have to wait for one of the Marburg victims to fight off the infection on their own to get a serum?" "No.. For that serum's already been made.. In the female bats of that stricken colony!" -------------------------------------------- Steven was on the phone with his boss. "That's right sir. Find a gravid female near parturition. Isolate her mammarian pre-lactate and I'll just bet Marburg antibodies are there. They have to be. There were only dead adult males on the photos you sent us.." Dr. Taylor had three others on the California team listening in on other phones too so they were being appraised same as Boss was. "Yes sir.. No, don't send your samples to me.. Send us the bat herself.. Or better, yet, send several.. This antibody might need a living metabolism to stay viable.. Make sure they're due to birth their young within the next half day.. Yes sir,.. I'll let LAX and the air force jet unit assigned to us, know. Thank you sir.. What was that? It was a civilian who pointed this out to us. She's a teacher who was caught in the earthquake here in the firehouse. Yes, I'll get her name for you. And sir, make a rush on this.. The fireman's nearly critical.." and Taylor hung up the phone.. He was almost dizzy with happiness about the possible Marburg Achilles heel by the time he rushed back into the bunkroom to tell the waiting firemen and paramedics about their serendipitous discovery through Miss Cindy Thorne. ------------------------------------ Dr. Brackett was all grins as he flew through waking Johnny, out of his shocky sleep. "Hey.. Johnny... Rise and shine. The sun's already getting up. So should you." Gage coughed and he felt Dr. Brackett remove his oxygen as he blearily awoke. "What.. did I miss something important? Marco ok?" "Yes, and not yet.. I'll tell you more while we eat.." Johnny was immediately serious and he let Dr. Brackett sit him up and hand him some soup and jelly sandwiches that Cap had made for them both. Soon, Johnny knew about the rare Marburg epidemic and the new potential cure for it so ironically discovered by Miss Thorne. "Teachers are smart. I'll admit that.." he grinned. Then his face fell. "So, will they manage to isolate some mother flying foxes in time before Marco...uh.." "There's every chance.. Dr. Taylor told me they have air force jets scrambling just for us to get some here.." "Those plague bats are coming here?" Johnny said, chipmunk cheeked. He suddenly lost his appetite and set down his once bitten sandwich. "Something the matter with your sandwich? Shouldn't be with a fire department Captain on the chowline." "No.. just not hungry.. I hate bats.." Arfff!! Gage smiled down at Bonnie. "Seems she agrees with me..." he said absently scratching her head as she lay in his stokes. "Here you go, darling.. Have some.." and he fed her his sandwich, piece by piece. The ravenous Yorky nearly ate his fingers. "Ow.." But he was grinning. "You have to eat, Johnny, Or I'll have Brice start up another D5W IV on you." "I'll eat. I'll eat.. Just.. ..gimme that soup bowl. I'll work on that.." Dr. Brackett gave Gage the piping hot tomato soup thermos from the tray. "All of it or it's Brice over here in five minutes." Johnny glowered, but drank every drop. Then he set down his bowl and leaned in confidentially. "Say listen, doc. The other guys have been keeping me in the dark about Marco's true condition. Don't you think I should have the right to be in on that? I am a paramedic after all." "And I am a doctor, surprise surprise. They aren't telling you on my orders, Johnny. It's a clear cut case of doctor /patient confidentiality. Roy, Brice and Gil are the attending medics, you shouldn't have to have that excess burden of worry.." "It's no burden Dr. Brackett. He's my friend. And ..and ..and .. I just wanna know how he is...that's all.." "He's alive.. The tones on his EKG should be telling you that. And that, is all you need to know.." Kel said, finishing his food and rising to attend his next exam of Marco. "That' great doc. Just great..!" Johnny said sarcastically. But inwardly, he knew Kel was right. Captain Stanley made an announcement following their meal. "Listen all, we're not needed in the disaster station outside, but even though the official quarantine is over, all of us have to stick close to base for an innoculation once one is isolated all right? Miss Thorne, I'm sorry but that means even you'll have to spend another day in the station house." "That's ok. I've already talked to my family and they understand. They saw the news broadcast last night.." "Good deal. The water's running so we'll have hot showers for now or later. I suggest we all get some sleep. Gil, Roy, Brice.. Dr. Brackett has asked for me to get a schedule from you three about sitting up with Marco. Who's first?" Johnny raised his hand but Cap pointedly pretended he was invisible to the role call. Roy got the first two hour watch over Marco. "Wake me the first sign of trouble, Roy.." Dr. Brackett said. He stretched out onto one of the beds near the phone opposite Marco. "And Gil, I want to know if the biophones are working yet to Rampart. I'm out of the loop as far as emergency earthquake cases go, but I'll sleep better if I know Dixie isn't drowning in them over there." "Got it doc.. I'll do a check right now.." he replied. Gil dragged over the biophone and began a test rescue call. "Rampart, this is Squad 8 with frequencies check. How do you read?" While Gil waited for a reply, Brice, Miss Thorne, Cap, Jamie and Steven all found sleeping bags or beds to lie down upon. The five of them were asleep in moments. Gil got his communications check from Dixie herself and he, too, nodded off on a portable cot. Roy watched over them all protectively. Even the sounds of the ongoing recovery and rescue operations outside didn't wake them. All through the morning and into the afternoon, the outside attending firecrews made sure no harm befell those sleeping inside the crumbled Station 51 firehouse and it became something of a jealous superstition to go HT silent within sixty yards of their darkened bunkhouse. ------- Craig Brice spelled Roy three hours later. "How is he?" "About the same. I've only had to suction out his airway once. The EOA went in an hour ago. But he's still breathing. Watch that. He's in no need of atropine anytime soon. His pressure's holding so far.. Eighty systolic. But he's nearly unresponsive to the O2 now." "But he's still fighting this fever.." Craig said, trying to be encouraging. Then he noticed the mast trousers Roy had inflated only around Marco's legs. His jaw dropped open in surprise. "You know that the suit's contraindicated with pulmonary edema.." "I know that. But his internal bleeding's begun already from the virus. Only way I could get his BP to even register.. Had no choice." Brice bit his lip thinking, then he finally agreed with Roy's choice. "Shouldn't harm him much then as long as that abdomen compartment is left uninflated." "Glad you agree with me.." Roy said with some anxiety and a slight hint of anger. His protestation was mild at best. Brice actually smiled ....kindly.. "Get some sleep, DeSoto. I've got him now.. And I won't tell Brackett what you did. I'll take the blame if he finds out.." Roy's face registered amazement. "You don't have to do that.." "Yes I do. This is saving Lopez's life so the least I can do is save you from an inquiry. Brackett knows I'm already a stickler for protocol. Breaking that image he has of me on that for the first time will undoubtedly keep him from having it out with me officially until all this is over. Who knows, even then, he may not even remember the mast suit thing." "Thanks, Brice..." "Anytime,..........Roy.." Roy blinked. It was the first time Brice had used his first name ever. And it actually felt genuine. "See you after Gil's watch.." "See you then.." Roy took his time lying down and for a long time, the rising sun and stress kept him from fully relaxing.. But then, it was Bonnie and Johnny's snores that finally gave him surrease into an exhausted slumber. Hours past. Then........... ----------------------------------- Photo : Brice close in squad. Photo : Cap down, surrounded by gear. Photo : A flying fox bat.. Gif: Biohazard warning symbol. Photo: Dr. Jamie MacPherson working in a biosuit with the Marburg virus. Photo : Electron microscope image of the Marburg Virus. Photo : Roy and Johnny sleeping the sleep of the dead, late at night. ******************************** From : "patti keiper" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Ripples.... Date : Sun, 10 Nov 2002 06:41:44 +0000 There was a creaking. A calculated sound of cotton socked feet hitting tiled floor. Brice heard a hasty shush and a subdued whining from Bonnie behind his back. But he didn't turn around until Johnny Gage had tiptoed almost to the desk to where Marco's chart lay. He imagined the precise moment when Gage's hand connected with the metal of its surface.. Then he snaked out his own hand without looking and let loose. Smack! "Oww... " Johnny hastily whispered, angry. "Whatdidya do that for?" He said rubbing his reddening guilty hand. Craig turned around on his stool and placed his stethoscope around his neck from where he sat next to a feverishly sleeping Marco. "It seems to me that you don't listen very well to your attending physician orders, Gage.." "Whatdiya mean I don't listen?.. I'm one of the best paramedics Brackett's got. And unlike some people I know around here, I've never been written up.." and he pointed two sets of index fingers at the deeply snoring Roy, still lying under the brightening afternoon sun peeking through the holes in the roof. "I was just trying to..you know.. get a better feeling about Marco,.. you know..really put a finger on the pulse so to speak.." He tried to do exactly that and was rewarded with another stinging slap on his good hand for even trying to get near Lopez tactilely. "Hey!!" Johnny sat on the second stool and tucked his hand in between his knees to ease its smarting. "Now cut that out ! Geez.. I'd wonder if your kids aren't deathly afraid of you by now in any discipline situations of yours and your old lady's at your house. You could break some bones doing what you just did to me." He said sucking on his now twice throbbing hand. "We never have discipline problems with our children, Gage.." Brice said, still smiling cooly and very self assured from where he was checking out Marco's breath sounds around the EOA tube. "Unlike you, they respect authority..Everything is precisely orchestrated and everyone knows what is expected of them to do at any given time." "You know, Brice.. Of that I have NO doubts.." Johnny threaded his own IV bag tubing from around his legs and hooked it onto his badge to keep it higher than his cath's entry site. He also loosen his uniform shirt a tad. It still had dirt and blood all over it. He made his way into the darkened locker room and rummaged around until he found a clean one from his own quake opened locker and replaced it, unbuttoning and buttoning it one handed. He was stubborn enough to not ask for help from Craig. Finally, he said. "You know what your problem is, Brice?" "No..but I can count on you enlightening me on the subject.." Brice grinned closed mouth. "You're just too d*mned.......right all the time. I DID have no business sneaking up and reading Marco's status chart. But man, it's been eating me up only knowing part of the story.." he said indignantly throwing a hand at Marco's fluctuating EKG strip. The PVC's were back. "He could be throwing those because of a fluid loss intravascularly. And look, even his I.V. site and blood draw sites are beginning to hemorrhage on their own. He's got to be losing clotting factors by the pound.. " "I noticed that, too, Gage. But Roy's taken steps here with these Military Anti-Shock Trousers." That took Gage back, "He whaa?" "Went around authority again and used them without the attending MD's order.." Brice said, this time without a grin. "And I am going to take responsibility for it when the time comes.." Johnny was thoroughly taken aback. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute.. Roy uses questionable protocol and you're BACKing him UP?" "Of course. The patient was going to perfuse less than optimally without them so I saw no reason to deny him the choice.." Johnny had a hard time believing his ears. "You mean you're going to stick out your neck...for my partner?" "That's what firemen do, Gage.." "But we're not in a fire.." he said, a puzzled look on his face. It was rankling him that Brice was looking more and more altruistic and less and less like a rule tyrant. "That's correct." Brice said. Johnny squinted his eyes in suspicion at Brice and didn't say anything more while he tried to wrap his brain around the concept of Brice actually taking a fall for another. ::It just doesn't compute..:: he thought as he walked over to the food cooler for a sandwich. His appetite had returned, almost as voracious as the pain in his stitched up hand. He grimaced slightly when lowering it below his waist made it throb. Craig didn't miss the symptom. "Dr. Brackett told me to awaken him if there were any problems so I'll.." and he shook Brackett's shoulder before Johnny could stop him. "get him to look at you.." "Brice.. Wait a minute we have to orchestrate the whole mast suit thing fir--- Hi doc, uh,.. Marco's ok. At least I think he is.. You see, Craig here saw me bump my hand and.. uh, It's ...it's nothing really, about me, I mean.." Dr. Brackett was already upright on the cot and he grabbed Johnny's arm and did a capillary refill check on his effected fingers. At the same time, he was studying Johnny's face. "Uh huh..." he said skeptically. "So that's why your pallor's matching the color of your T-shirt eh? You know better than to let shock promoting conditions go untreated. And that hand of yours has got to be putting out some serious pain.." Dr. Brackett said. "Time we medicated you.." "No, doc.." Johnny started up. "That's not necessary.. I'm fine.. I .. I ..I just got up to...." and he hastily stopped himself from saying he got up to visit Marco's medical records. "Because I saw Brice had put him into ma--" Again Gage cut himself off.. "never mind.." he added quickly. Kel didn't look up from the shot he was preparing for Johnny. "See? You're not even able to complete a whole sentence. Johnny, I'd wish you'd show a little bit more good judgement for your own benefit. So far, I've had to protect you from yourself twice. Brice here's cool under fire as usual." Johnny's face fell at the words, "show good judgement" and he almost went apoplectic. "Wait a minute, doc. I've been the perfect angel through this whole earthquake thing. I only get a little devil horned about my patients." "You mean about MY patients.." Kel said crossing his arms no nonsense. "You haven't been on duty since this time yesterday. The second you took a header into that cave-in, you turned from Paramedic to Patient.. and into my demenses with me as your doctor. Now argue the fact and this pain med's gonna be IM instead of IV..." He finished, at a firm grumble. "Ok,.. Ok.. Just.. watch him good huh? Can't sleep a wink worrying about him." Gage said, handing over his D5W bag. "And don't you go slipping a sedative into there or I'm gonna wake up later more ornery than y--" Again Gage bit his tongue. Brackett glared and Gage withered sheepishly. Johnny really tried to be obedient, but then his eyes strayed to the mast suit's dial. "Hey Brice.. It's slipped a few psi in the left leg. Here let me just--" "Ah ah ah!" Dr. Brackett held up an admonishing finger, the meperidine syringe in between his teeth as he cleaned Gage's IV tubing with an alcohol pad. "Not another peep.." Gage moused down, and sat down. Satisfied, Dr. Brackett finished his injection into Johnny's I.V. and then moved on to exam Marco thoroughly. "Brice, I assume the real reason you woke me is this return of the arrythmias." Craig nodded. "That among other things.." he said, shooting a look at Gage as he pushed up his glasses onto his face. Johnny hung his head down in defeat and sighed heavily in annoyance. Already he could feel relief from his hand's stabbing and he fought the med's grogginess rising up. ::If I can't help out, I'm gonna at least watch. I'll sleep next week.:: he decided. His lurid sleepies washed away. Dr. Brackett took a pinch of Marco's skin and noticed the fold he created didn't settle flat again. "He's dehydrated. And I'll just bet his hematocrit's sky high. Brice, D/C the Lactated Ringers for another of Normal Saline. His pulmonary fluid is less marked. I won't have acidosis set in from having an I.V. the wrong chemistry. He's now a circulation poor case.." Dr. Brackett flinched when just touching Marco's eye lids for a pupillary check, brought trails of blood from his tear ducts. He grunted in surprise. "He's bleeding from all the I.V. sites, too. Nothing yet from his GI, and there's been no vomiting indications at all." Craig nodded. "Good. Hang in there, Lopez." Brackett grinned "You're a fighter.." Then Kel asked his next question, glancing over his shoulder. "Gage. What's Marco's blood type? We're gonna need to transfuse him. Dr. MacPherson told me that this illness causes consumptive coagulopathy big time." Johnny blinked.. "It's destroying his blood platelet counts?" "Yes. " "A +. I can get a few units off Roy and Chet. They are his blood type." "Then there's something I'll actually let you do.." Dr. Brackett ordered. "Get on it." Brice was curious. "Why the free flow hemorrhaging here, Dr. Brackett? I've never seen a fever syndrome do this before.." "Dr. Taylor surmises that the Marburg uses blood splattering through its victim's convulsions as a mode of host to host transmission like the common cold uses sneezing.. This surface hemorrhaging is just the first stages." he said. He drew up heparin from his drug box, a loading dose of 2,000 IU. "Craig.. Who thought of using the trousers? Good call." Brice didn't deign to reply and he tactfully let the moment slide. Kel gave the blood stabilizer into the Normal Saline IV. Then started a piggyback IV of more into the bag and secured it with a bright orange heparin label. "I want this heparin loading continued over the next twenty four hours. 10,000 IU's a day. It'll slow the platelet loss until we get the whole blood running into him from the other firemen..And I want him urinary cath'd. I want to know an exact renal output." "Right.." Craig said. Meanwhile.. Johnny was the perfect vampire. He sat quietly by Chet where he was snoring on the bed and pinned down the sleeping man's arm with a long board chin strap to the bed frames. Then he got his vein presenting with a tourniquet and started up a line, running the catheter's flow into a collection bottle. "How much should I draw out, doc?" Chet was so exhausted that he didn't even wake at all at Johnny's ministrations. "To first tolerance point. Say, 750 CC. Kelly's not injured so we'll go high. Get the same from Roy.." Kel suggested. "1500 CC's isn't going to last Marco long." "By then, we'll have our new supply from the triage station outside." he said, looking towards the desk where Craig Brice was quietly ordering some from Captain Stone over his HT so he wouldn't disturb the sleepers in the room. Johnny got his half liter whole blood from Chet and withdrew the catheter. He handed it off to Dr. Brackett who immediately began giving it to Marco. Gage, patted Chet's cheek. "Thanks Kelly.. Sweet dreams.." he sniffed, leaving a bottle of 7up by his head. "You're gonna wake up thirsty but it's for a h*ll of a good cause." Reacting to an evil streak of humor, he scribbled on the bandaid over the cotton wad in Kelly's arm crook. "The Phantom was here.." he whispered and drew a smiley face with fangs with an I.V. marker. Johnny shifted over to his partner and got as far as touching him when DeSoto stirred awake. "Sorry.. I need to get some whole blood from ya for Marco. His platelet count's taking a nosedive. Hold still." he whispered. Roy grunted, still very sleepy. Then he said. "All right." and he held his arm still, blearily watching Johnny raise and stick a vein. "More blood coming on the way?" "Yeah. Chet provided the first bottle. Brice is getting additional supplies from the triage station outside.." Johnny said, taping off the collection tube and mating its business end into the vacuum bottle he had set onto the floor. "You're gonna be a 750." The crimson flow began to fill it up rapidly. "Make it 850. I'm a big boy.." "Our secret.." Gage said without smiling. "Here.. " and he tossed another 7up bottle at Roy and left him to nap while the transfusion bottle filled. Roy was fast asleep before he could set the pop onto the table next to himself. Johnny left him cradling it. ------------------------------ From the stokes Johnny had been using the night before, Bonnie began to moan. "Oh, I don't like the sound of that..." Gage said. He, Brice and Dr. Brackett barely had time to secure Marco and all his I.V.'s when another earthquake aftershock shook the firehouse. Dust cascaded from the ceiling in white powdered trails and everyone was jerked awake by Bonnie's frantic barking as the tremor continued. It wasn't a severe one but it was long lasting and jolting enough to wake absolutely everybody past all hope of a return to napping. Even in the emotionally worn out Chet. All the HTs on the night desk erupted into frantic communications as individual fire companies checked in with damage reports and new developments in the disaster scene outside. The earthquake died away. It was immediately followed with the tones for a four alarm fire emergency through the HT lines. Captain Stanley was on his feet and running for the shattered garage door, hanging onto his I.V. before anyone could intercept him. He pelted outside, but got instantly winded before he even got halfway down the driveway so he skidded to a halt, hanging onto the battered LaFrance's driver mirror and waited as Captain Stone rendevous'ed with him at a dead run. "How bad is it? I heard the alarm tones go off." Hank asked. Then he sucked in his breath when L.A. identified the address of the new alarm call through his radio. "Yep. It's Arco, the refinery across the street. A pipe line has been ruptured. There's no telling when a side fire will set it off. I've got my men and half the assignments here not dealing with casualties, responding." Stone informed him. Cap's eyes shot across the triage tent strewn boulevard and he squinted into the mid afternoon sun. All seemed normal over there. Until he saw a curl of steam rising from a natural gas spire where it shouldn't have been. "Oh, man." he groaned, sitting on the runner board of his battered engine. "If only I had a functional crew, I'd get my men in there.." Stone grinned cockeyed. "Sit back and enjoy the show. And don't even think about leaving the driveway. I told Peters to slap handcuffs on you the moment your feet touch the road." he joked. "Oh really.." Hank said, grinning back. "Well, don't think I'll be going anywhere anytime soon. I've got four mother hens hovering over me constantly. Oh look, there's the worst one coming now.." Brice appeared in the doorway, at a run, making sure that Cap hadn't done anything stupid like dash off with a responding engine company. He stood next to Stone and wiggled gimme fingers at Cap to give him his I.V. arm. "Let me D/C that, Cap.." Hank didn't understand at first what Brice meant until Stone pointed down to the I.V. bag and tubing still in Hank's grip. "oh.. sorry, Brice. Just a little distracted here. There's a hotspot at Arco across the street." "I know. We all heard it on HT frequencies." Craig pulled out Hank's I.V. cath and bandaged the site. "If you're gonna be in public view. Look the part, Cap.." and he tossed Cap his overcoat and helmet. "Leave my sight, and I'll come after you.." he said. "Scout's honor.." Hank said, rubbing the itchy ache where the I.V. had been. "My head's fine for your reference." "Yeah? It may feel fine for the moment. Just wait until your shot wears off." Craig said seriously. Cap's face fell at that prediction and it remained while the two captains watched a worried Brice jog back into the sadly crumpled station 51. "So that's your story.. What about your man Marco?" "It's bad, Ben. It's some kind of bleeding fever called the Marburg Retrovirus. Overheard the CDC docs clutching at straws and ordering their team in Mexico to secure female bats of all things. Seems they might have a natural serum to this thing in their mother's milk." "Air Force in on that?" "I suppose so." Cap said. "I'll keep an eye out for a convoy conveying them here.. Anything else you need?" From seemingly right beside their feet, Brice's voice boomed out. "A + whole blood! Remember, Captain Stone? Step on it..!" Stone and Stanley both looked around in amazement that they were hearing Craig's voice outside when they looked down and saw an HT on the engine's runner behind them, set to two way intercom. Hank grumbled. "That !.." and he stifled his explicative. "...mother hen..." he said between clenched teeth., more softly. "Tenacious isn't he?" Stone grinned. "When he monitors a patient, he doesn't mess around. The guys call him the Tick for a reason. I'll keep you posted Hank.. And Brice.. I've got techs on the way with your blood bags.. They'll be there with you paramedics in five..!" he said, running across the street and to the scene of the Arco Refinery call. Mike Stoker appeared in full gear at the doorway. "Cap.. Can I go?" "D*mn straight you're going..Make yourself useful. And keep me up on a detailed report and I do mean detailed. Get in there.." he ordered, and snatched up Brice's spying HT. "Here.." he said to Mike changing its mode back to normal setting. Stoker grabbed it and took off running after Stone and joined the stream of firefighters and firetrucks, entering the refinery's grounds. Cap was left behind in the bright sunlight, wearing a groove in the driveway in front of his quake dusty engine and squad, as he began to pace with worry. Birds' sweet oblivious songs mingled with the wailing sirens in his ears and both sounded vile to Hank. "Oh, mother of G*d. What next?" -------------------------------------- Photo:: View through station door of the ARCO refinery. *animated gif*: Burning flames.. Photo: Chet lying down on a bed. Photo: A blood I.V. bag. Photo: Captain Stone. Photo: Building collapses and smoke. Photo: Cap at night with HT by laddertruck. Photo: Stoker and Chet in the yard. Photo: Johnny using his HT. ******************************* From : "Cassidy Meyers" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] On a Clear Day.. Date : Mon, 11 Nov 2002 08:52:59 +0400 Offstory- Acknowledgements to the Modena Intergate Emergency! Equipment Manifest Website for the fireman's courier battalion chief car photo. Mike Stoker arrived, and put on his full SCBA gear as he made his way over to the white helmeted batallion chief directing men where he wanted them. He said, "Stoker, Station 51, Engineer." the moment he was in the man's earshot. He was slightly surprised to see the man was Chief McConnike. The chief looked at Mike and saw his company HT. "Take your unit to the west end. Looks like the pipe rupture is underground, luckily not under a storage tank. An earthquake fissure's responsible for the leak indirectly." The chief wasn't wearing an air bottle, but one was set near him so he could suck a breath or two from its mask lying on the hood of his truck when he needed to. Mike Stoker took off his mask when a clearing wind blew the mirage like fumes wafting around them away.. "Sir,.. I'm the only one available from 51. The quake took out our station house." The wizened Batallion chief's eyes narrowed in instant sympathy. "What are you doing here, son? We've got more than enough man power to handle this.." Mike grabbed the chief's arm. "Please, McConnike, don't send me back. Hank Stanley's one of those Code I under triage watch. He sent me here to keep him up on things. It would mean a lot to him and the other guys if I stayed." The chief took in a long breath and sighed. "All right. Let me think. Find a place for you, huh? I know. Station Eight. They're down one man. He's been sent to the airport to collect an animal or something for a bunch of microbiologists in the area working on a bio-yellow alert situation." Mike told him more about that. "That's for us, sir. The animals are bats with a cure for one of my crewmates." "Oh? Hadn't heard much about any situation over on that side of the street..except for someone's HT joke about the fuss that Hank was raising about losing vehicles in the quake. Hookraider's got charge over that side of the block." McConnike said. "Everyone okay over there, son?" Mike's face went even stonier as he hid his fear for Marco. "For the moment.." McConnike missed nothing. He knew the battle waging inside Stoker better than he cared to admit. Finally, he looked up and met Mike's eyes. "All right. I usually don't let lone crew work a scene but if it's for Hank, I'll allow anything. Gotta show him no hard feelings for that hat stunt he did as a probie." "Huh..?" "Never mind, son. Get at it.. Round off Captain Stone's crew and head on in.." "Right.." and Mike put on his SCBA mask again and used his HT to find where Captain Stone's crew was stationed around the leak. "Thank you, Chief.." he waved to the older man. He got a heartfelt sendoff salute in return. Mike got to Stone's side two minutes later, after being pointed in the right direction by crews already on the job assessing the problem. Ben was deep in plans of the refinery with a team of plant engineers. When there was a pause in orders, Mike stepped forward. "Captain. I'm a fill-in. Stoker, engineer, for Station 51." he shouted to him through the breathing mask. "Drop the formalities, Mike. I already know who you are. Everybody on my crew knows each man in your stationhouse intimately. We've been watching over your scene for almost a day now, making sure nothing else went wrong and we were the ones who went over your building to ensure its structural safety." Ben said, shouting loudly to be heard through his own SCBA gear. "Now, I want you to familiarize yourself with what we got.. Two of my men say underneath that natural gas tower spire is where the ground fissure began. It's still settling in areas and that's how a fireman on inspection found it. His truck literally fell into it last tremor.. That is what ruptured the pipeline." Mike Stoker squinted up through his facemask's plexiglass into the sunlight and saw three huge storage tanks full of petroleum ringing them in a triangle and a water cooling facility, networked over their heads, tying the three tanks together into a complicated lattice of ductwork and piping, where the blue sky wasn't showing. Hastily thrown yellow cones had been placed beneath the open area, showing the newly discovered patches of ground instability. From the fissure, rising steam rose into the air and it smelled pungently of natural gas indicator even through his airmask's filter. The earthquake fissure had snaked its way under two large coolant water pipes, just missing the edge of concrete that was the bed for one of the oil storage reservoirs. ::Great, it's surrounded by three giant powder kegs.:: Mike thought gloomily. The place where the trapped battalion firetruck stuck front end down into the ground, was being liberally foamed and washed down to keep all possibility of fire from occurring. Dust was still mingling with the steam from the fissure as earth and debris settled restlessly around the aggressive hose wash playing down into it. Stoker turned to Stone. "Your man got out of that truck, ok? " he shouted over the noise of steam and shouts of firecrews giving and carrying out orders. "Yeah, he leaped out the window the second he smelled gas and luckily managed to fight his way out of the growing sinkhole. He says our problem's a transverse pipe break through the mother line leading from tank two here, clean, but entirely severed through." Stone replied. "It's the pooling gas that I'm primarily concerned about right now. Arco's engineers are already passively diverting all the gas out of this nearest substation in prep for a manual shutdown to this broken pipe. It's gonna take a bit. Even though the master valve at the top of this stack has been shut down, gravity will still cause the rest of the gas from that storage tank to drain out through the break. I'd say it's leaking around 200 gallons a minute into the ground. The capacity of that secondary gas holding tank coming from the larger one, is around 250,000 gallons total. Now the facility designers assure me that none of this gas will leak into the water table because an artificial catch barrier lies underneath this whole refinery complex. It was designed that way for just this kind of scenario." "Is the power off?" Mike said. "Yeah. Been so, since the first quake. All the shutdowns the refinery workers have been doing have been done by hand. Work's taking six times longer than normal to carry out their shutdown procedures.. That detail is the only thing keeping us from getting this scene under control as fast as anticipated." "Where do you want me?" "Take a front inch and a half with Stubbs. Then you'll get a better feel for things for that report to your captain. Keep your air bottle on. The wind's not strong enough to keep down these fumes.." Stone said, readjusting his helmet over his mask. "Yes, sir.." Stoker replied, rechecking the straps on his own bottle to be sure they were securely fastened. He ran over through the fire repellent foam and over to the first hose team playing a covering wash over the downed truck and the downhill side of the fissure. He tapped the trailing man's shoulder and took his place. The departing man gave Mike a thumbs up when he recognized the Station 51 engineer and gave him an affectionate thump on the back of his overcoat. Mike grinned, feeling protected and awed once again at the comaraderie shared between their district stations, drawn closer together, in the face of adversity.::And I don't even know him.:: He and others continued to fan a soup of gas hostile chemicals and water through their fire engine hoses into the fissure. Dimly, through the spray of water, Mike could see refinery workers scrambling like ants all over the piping station over his head, turning off valve after valve, in a desperate attempt to curb the leaking gas below. In between a fire engine chemical trade off to their water line, Mike thumbed his HT and spoke to Cap. "Station 51, This is Engine 51.." Cap was on instantly. ##Go ahead Engine 51.## "Cap. An FD vehicle falling into a ground sink caused the pipe break. It's foamed and being washed. But the danger of at least 250,000 gallons of natural gas getting into the ground still exists because the power outtages are effecting mechanized system shutdowns.. Fumes are moderate and blowing down wind away from the boulevard's triage area and you." he shouted through his faceplate. ##Casualities?## "None so far.. And Cap, on a side note.. A man's been sent to the airport for the bats.." ##That's good news.. Watch your back, Stoker. Thanks for the report.## Mike Stoker got a go ahead gesture from the new engine's engineer to charge the hose once more to continue their task. "Gotta go, Cap. Let me know what happens over there ASAP." ##We will, pal.. Station 51 out.## Cap's eyes were glued to the west and towards the refinery. "Be careful, Stoker. Even fumes are enough for a spark to ignite." he mumbled to himself. ------------------------------------------ Roy and the others in the bunk house were all awake and on their feet. Chet was right there by Marco as usual and he shivered, "Man.." he said, "..am I cold. Anyone got a blanket?" Kel Brackett tossed him one, smiling. Kelly bundled himself up inside of it and crossed his arms together to warm himself when a finger snagged on the cotton wad and bandaid Gage had left secured to his arm. "Hey.. What's this?" He immediately recognized the creator of the sinister smiley face drawn there. "Gage..!" he began. Johnny was showing Miss Thorne where to find shower things and a T shirt and jeans to replace her own dirty dress. "Be right there, Chet.." he shouted back from the locker room. Dr. Brackett added, "Before you go ripping into your crewmate about another Phantom strike. Blame me. I ordered him to take blood from you for Marco." Roy was just smiling where he was draining the last of his 7up bottle dry. "Got me, too, Chet. Didn't even feel it." and he pointed to his own cotton wadded bandaid. Chet's eyes flickered to the wall above Marco's bed and saw the blood bag hanging there. "You mean that's my blood hanging up there going into him?" "Yeah.." Roy said. He wondered if Chet was going to work himself into a faint over it all. He started nearer. But Chet's face widened into an amazing smile and he said, "Far out.. we're blood brothers, man. We're REALLY family now, know what I mean? Real tight like forever." Roy smiled shyly at Kelly's sense of wonder at a simple medical marvel. Johnny stepped into the room, closing the locker room door to give Cindy some privacy to shower and change. "Not forever Chet, only for about two weeks, until Marco's spleen and bone marrow makes more whole blood to replace yours and Roy's." Chet's face soured a bit, but the twinkle didn't go out of his eyes. "I'm not going to let you burst my bubble, pal. What I did, is saving his life, man. That's cool." Johnny was about to say it was he who gathered the blood donation and Brackett who actually completed the transfusion but he hushed down, settling for a secondary Chet tease idea. "Hey Chet, I know you're cold because I drained out all your blood. Bet you're real thirsty too. Here, have a pop.." Chet reached for it, and Johnny jerked it away, holding it over his head, making the shorter curly haired fireman grab for it unsuccessfully. "Come on, Chet. You can do better than that. Can't you?" And he tossed it to Roy without looking for him first, trying to get his partner in on a monkey in the middle game. Roy didn't go along with it and tossed the 7up to Chet anyway. "Johnny. Ease up. Let him bask in the transfusion thing. It IS kinda cool." "Yeah?" Johnny said, helping the teeth chattering Chet open the 7 up bottle. "Well, I don't need to exchange blood with anybody to know who my brothers are. In this station, we are all brothers. Tied just as deep in the blood as we are as a company's crew because of what we do here." He offered Chet half of his jelly sandwich. "Amen to that, Gage.." Chet said. Then he looked up, feeling that someone was missing. "Hey,.. where's Stoker?" Cap entered the bunk room just then with a followup about the Arco call going on across the street. "It's official, a natural gas ground seep. A big one underway. Mike says it was a fire truck inspector's vehicle that landed on the pipeline during the last trembler, which shattered it." "Anyone hurt over there?" Gil asked. "You can send Roy, Brice or me if you'd like. I've slept enough." "No, Stoker says that man got outta there ok.. Sounded like he's been put on a front wash down. He didn't sound overly nervous. Seemed like everything's under control. Oh, and he says the bats are here. A crewman from Eight's has been sent to go get them.." Drs. Taylor and MacPherson both sighed in relief. "That was fast. This is all new territory for us about this female mother bat immunity theory, but even that chance is better than we would have had even with immune plasma transfusions from the victims who've survived Marburg." Miss Thorne came out dressed in the clothes Johnny had provided and her head was wrapped in a towel. "I'm out.. Who's next..?" "Me.." Chet said. "I gotta warm up somehow.." And he shivered, rushing around Cindy in his blanket, clutching his soda in his other hand. On a thought, he ripped off his smiley face bandaid and stuck it onto Johnny's forehead with exaggerated deliberance, with a firm smack. "Here. I believe this fangy guy belongs to you.. I know I don't need him anymore." And he grinned as he disappeared behind the steamed up wooden door. The guys sniggered as Gage was left to pull it off along with a bit of hair. "Oww.." Arff! Johnny knew an amused doggy bark when he heard one. "Quit laughing, Bonnie. No more sandwiches for you girl if you keep that up..." Roy pointed to his arm. "Want mine to?" he said, pointing to his bandaid. "Still needs an artist's signature." "Ha ha.. very funny.." Gage said. Dr. Brackett looked up from Marco's EKG. He had taken a gamble and had pumped up the last chamber on Lopez's mast suit to its top level. The PVC's were gone. He was smiling when he got up to recheck Cap. "Johnny, grab one last vitals set on Captain Stanley here would you? And I don't think you need your I.V. anymore while you're at it, too, Gage. You've finally pinked up." "Thank you doc.." he said, joyfully pulling out his I.V. Roy was right there to put on his bandaid. "Welcome back to duty, Johnny." "You have no idea....." Gage gushed, patting the table for Cap to sit on for a blood pressure check. He exuberantly wrapped it around Cap's arm and pumped it up with style. Cap said. "Hey, am I next to be off medical leave?" "Give it until nightfall, captain.." Dr. Brackett said. "I usually watch black out concussion cases for at least twelve hours after the initial injury." Cap was crestfallen but compliant. He sat still, letting Gage take his BP. "Good enough for me. Maybe that gas leak at Arco will be over by then. One less headache for me to worry about.." and he laughed at his own joke. An HT crackled to life on the desk. ##Station Eight Firewatch to Station 51.."## Cap was still encumbered by a BP cuff, so Brice took up the call. "Go ahead Station Eight FW." ##This is Engineer Manney. I got three squeaking little friends with ASAP shipping orders that I'm to give to you, priority run. I'm almost there. I'm just up the boulevard rounding the refinery. My ETA is one minute.## "That's great to hear. We'll be waiting. The CDC lab docs are eager to get their hands on em." Brice said. "We'll watch for your vehicle." Everyone in the room started cheering at the good news. ------------------------------------- Over by the refinery, Mike Stoker noticed a feeling of something not right. He again glanced up above him and saw nothing amiss. But an unfounded instinct made him look back towards the boulevard in front of his demolished station. Then a movement and a glint caught his eyes through his air mask, near the refinery's entrance next to Station 51. The lighted natural gas chimney antennae tower where the steam had been rising, suddenly groaned in tortured metal and shuddered. Four hundred feet of solid metal and pipes suddenly gave way at the base, like a felled tree, from a hidden structural rend no one had seen. Soon after, the entire antennae spire began to fall towards the boulevard and the triage tents. Mike dropped the hose and went running out of the water's spray and jerked his handy talkie to his mouth. "Everybody heads up!!! Falling antennae tower!!!!" --------------------- Inside the firewatch fire department truck, Engineer Manney was whistling, imitating his bats' animated calls distractedly. Then he began humming the theme to Batman the series in a live ongoing patch to Station 51's desk HTs in an attempt to cheer them further with his imminent arrival. "Not long now, Robin. Just a short trip in the batmobil--" A sudden unexpected shadow over the road ahead of him made him look up. Manney screeched into an evasive turn to avoid the writhing crown of the refinery tower as it crashed down, blocking the entire road immediately in front of him. Massive pipes bounced free from the impact along the tower's crushed flanks and a huge oil cap ten feet in diameter suddenly richochetted off an empty civilian car's hood, rolling in his direction. Manney slammed into reverse, trying to avoid the crushing multi ton disk when the the second spire of the tower landed directly on top of his truck. The fireman had time to scream before more blocks of debris from the collapsing tower finally crushed in his windshield and ripped into his face. ----------------------------- Chet had rejoined his celebrating crewmates, the doctors and Miss Thorne, feeling much better after his hot soaking. He had just cracked his sodden towel at Johnny's butt when Mike's frantic yell reached them. All heads snapped up in the station and everyone's smiles evaporated. "What?!" Cap and everyone ran to the doorway, just in time to feel a great shuddering crunch impact less than a sixth of the way down the block almost immediately to the left of the garage's driveway. They ducked when metal railing shards began to rain down in the garage bay and onto them. Simultaneously.. they heard Manney, the courier firefighter's batman themed whistling break off into a scream. There was another sharp heavy noise over his frequency and the sound of squealing tires.. then nothing but static when the second half of the tower's top hit concrete. Cap snatched up Manney's HT and Mike's. "Stoker! Manney! Sound off!!" His heart was thudding wildly as he ran out into the street with the others into the cloud of dust left behind from the tower's impact onto the road. Cap coughed trying to see signs of any mangled tents or trapped people. There were none of either that he could see. "Roy! Johnny! Gil! Brice! Get in there! Chet, stay with Marco!" Then he started casting about for other signs of danger. Dr. Brackett burst through a cloud of dust and he joined Captain Stanley in searching the area. "Doctor, Stay by my side..No way in h*ll are we safe in this debris field." Cap ordered. "Keep within each other's earshot. Let my men search FOR you..They know what dangers to look out for.." The two rescuers began to be joined by stunned but unharmed triage doctors, nurses and patients answering their shouts. Soon, it became clear that only a few might have been harmed; the two not answering hails. Again Cap lifted his HT. "Stoker! Manney!! Report!!" --------------------------------- Photo : : Johnny takes Cap's BP Photo : The ARCO Refinery showing smoke and damage. Photo: Roy and Johnny wearing mask apparatuses by the engine. Photo: ARCO workers shutting down the gas leak. Photo: A fire engine at the refinery. Photo: A rescue squad spotlighting through dust for survivors. Photo: Manney's borrowed battalion chief's car, lying empty. Photo: A Flying Fox female bat. ***************************** From : "patti keiper" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Breath of Life... Date : Thu, 14 Nov 2002 20:32:54 +0000 Offstory- Acknowledgements to the Nexxie's E Site http://www.nexxie.owns1.com/index.html For Episode Screengrabs Back In Story-- He was met with nothing but silence over his hand held. Cap let out a cry of frustration and he cast about for Roy and Johnny visually, making sweeps under the choking dust and debris. ::Where's the d*mned Santa Anas when you need them? I can't see a thing!..:: Stubborn morning stillness remained. He directed triage personnel to leave the area with their patients all the while getting information in snatches from them as they ran past. It was confirmed. No civilians were hurt. "Roy! Gage!" Captain Stanley called out loudly. "Yeah Cap?" Johnny shouted, appearing as a ghost out of the dusty gloom,running as he pushed aside metal debris and wiring from the remains of the fallen tower. "So far, no one's in trouble. See if you can birdeye Manney's car. I'll get people on Stoker's end. They're not answering hails." Johnny said, "No wait, Cap. Uh, Stone and his men can do that. I really think he's ok. The way he was describing his scene earlier makes me believe they are on the other side of the refinery grounds, Cap." Just then, Mike came over the channel. ##L.A. Station 8 and Engine 51. Still here.## Cap sighed. "Ok...., Gage. Let's move. Manney said he was about a minute away from the station. If he had been coming from the airport, his vehicle would most likely be to the north." Gage, Roy and Cap all looked north. A huge pile of tower and metal debris lay tangled, fifteen feet high across the boulevard, almost concealing the roadway lanes. The dust began to settle. Then Johnny saw red metal. "There he is!" Cap got on his talkie. "L.A. This is station 51. Advise area units we have a man down in front of the stationhouse trapped in an FD vehicle. Send for immediate assistance.." ##10-4, 51.## Cap only dimly heard L.A. find a company to respond to his incident. Johnny, Cap and Roy went running, jumping over poles and pipes and ducking under sheeting until they wormed their way deep inside the fallen skeleton of the refinery antennae tower. Gage quickly ran to the front of the red fire department battalion car. All of its windows were shattered and spiderwebbed and they couldn't see inside. Gage cracked open the clearest passenger side door window with his helmet as a battering ram. "Manney??" A loud squeaking erupted at his call and something brown burst into his face and clambored out the window in a leap in prep to wing away. "Ahhh!!" Gage yelled in surprise. "It's one of the bats! Get her!!" The angry flying fox didn't fly, for one of her wings lay mangled at her side. She hissed until Roy captured her and bundled her up into his overcoat and he set it onto the ground. He weighed down the coat edges with debris to hold her captive. Johnny grimaced as he crawled around the partially crushed aircrate and he saw one more large dead bat lying across the seat. He shoved her to the floor to get to Manney. "Manney.. Can you you hear me?" He said struggling to get further inside the car to the front seat. All the while the remaining flying fox inside the crate chittered loudly in distress. "Cap! I can't get to him." Johnny handed the crate out to Roy. "Make sure this one doesn't get away, Roy, it's not injured!" "How is he?" Roy said, leaning in. "Don't know yet, this roof's jammed down tight!" He grunted as he struggled to get deeper into the car. Finally, he said. "Check him, Cap..." Gage said, still fighting to get closer around crumbled car roof. "I still can't get to him." Outside, Cap climbed his way to the driver's door and he, too, cleared away the shattered glass. He saw that Manney was out, with his head flopped back over the car seat, his helmet off. Cap felt Manney's neck for a pulse. His heart just about leaped and his eyes almost refused to see the blue tinge to the fireman's skin. "Oh man.. Move him! Move him..! No carotid." Somehow, together, Johnny, Roy and Cap got him free and they stretched him out onto the street, moving their victim as easily as they could to protect his spine. Johnny began mouth to mouth. "Get the gear!" Roy shouted to Dr. Brackett, Brice and Gil running their way down the road. "He's asystole!" Roy shouted as he began chest compressions after tearing Manney's shirt open down to skin. "Got it!!" Kel said."Keep working him.." In between breaths, Johnny noticed an ugly spreading bruise over Manney's heart. "Could be out ........because of this blow .........to the chest. Cap, check his pupils!" he said tossing his penlight to him. Cap checked. "They're reactive..Thank g*d." "All right, brownie points..........for us.." Johnny grunted, as he continued to breathe for Manney. "About time something went right.." Roy paused as he repositioned his hands for better CPR. "Doc, I'm not feeling any broken ribs here.." "Better and better.." the doc replied, as he and Gil got the defibrillator charged and ready. "Move, I'm going Epinephrine, IC.." he told DeSoto. Cap got out the resuscitator and began using it to free up Johnny. Roy gel-ed an EOA and at Brackett's affirming nod, inserted it into place, reconnecting Cap's ventilation valve to it. Brackett drew out the six inch syringe and drove it deep, releasing the stimulant into Manney's left cardiac ventricle. "All right. Roy start up again. Gil, get an I.V. going, D5W Wide open. Follow up with one amp sodium bicarb. Gage, give me the paddles.. Brice, get an Isoproterenol Drip set up. If he's truly cardiac trauma-ed, the beat's gonna be slow. He'll need that drip to maintain once he converts." Gage called out the wattage coming off the defibrillator. "Ok, one....two..three... four hundred watt seconds.." "Clear!" Brackett shouted. Manney's body leaped from the energy jolt delivered. Kel quickly replaced the paddles. A rhythm revealed like something out of a dream on the scope. Sinus tach. "Got him back.. Nice work, all.. Captain Stanley, start hyperventilating him. We gotta make up for lost time." Kel ordered. Cap doubled his venting time rate. "Moving to twenty a minute." As Manney's circulation recovered, Roy noticed something. "Doc, look. Manney's neck veins are distending bilaterally.." Dr. Brackett looked up from where he was listening to Manney's irregular heartbeat and breath sounds. "There's our reason for finding him without a pulse." Brice piped up, "Cardiac tamponade.." "Yeah, but his EKG's looking good. It's solid. I don't think it has advanced that far yet." "Gonna evac?" Roy asked. "No, I'm gonna leave well enough alone. If his perfusion drops off I'll consider a heart centesis, but not now." Kel said. Dr. Brackett nodded when Manney began to breathe on his own under his hands. Johnny's attention turned to the bats. The one was still leaping frantically around the crate mesh and the other one, too, under Roy's coat. "We gotta get Manney and them to the stationhouse.." Cap comm'd out. "This is Station 51. We need a stokes and two additional men to move a victim. Our 10-20's at....." he looked up to see which building front lay in the street.. "Stoffer's Warehouse by the newspaper stand.." ##10-4, 51. This is Stone. Got assigned your call. I've rerouted Stoker and some of my men to your scene. I'll be meeting you there myself!## Cap could hear the worry and concern in his co-captain's voice. ::Man, he sounds like me about Marco..:: Soon, Manney was taped and longboarded, I.V. secured and EKG linked, inside the stokes Johnny had secured from his station squad's rear store. He stopped Kel as they all got back to the station in an entourage of crew. "Doc. Should we even bring him in here with that virus going on?" Kel grinned with amusement. "Sure. Why not? We've got Batman's universal antitode now, don't we?" he said, tossing a hand at the two men carrying in the two screeching bats. Jamie and Steven met them on the run. "Good. Hand them to us.." And Jamie took the coat with the wounded bat, gingerly, while her colleague got the crated one. "D*mn, this one's bleeding. She might not be ok for us t--" Something dropped out from under Roy's coat and onto her boots. A newly ejected bat fetus. "There it is then, this one will do us no good anymore. She's just aborted." Then the microbiologist's head snapped around. "Wait a minute, where's the third one.." "It's dead." Johnny replied. "Crushed.." Jamie MacPherson sucked in her breath in stress. "Let's just hope this last bat's intact or there's absolutely no hope for us.." Steven said. The two CDC scientists disappeared into the kitchen lab with the crated bat to start work collecting her milk antibodies. Bonnie noticed the dead young bat right away. She wandered over to it and sniffed it, crying. She wrapped around it protectively as if to warm it. Gage made a disgusted face. "Bonnie..no.." and he knelt to dispose of it into Jamie's pathology cryo container. Bonnie would not be denied. She went rushing off to the kitchen to be with the other, still expectant female bat. Manney was moved next to Marco. Miss Thorne got to her feet. "Oh, is he all right?" she started up. Chet Kelly pointed to the fireman's EKG monitor. "He is now. That's a good rate going there.." Then he looked sheepish when all the medics glanced at him. Johnny was frank. "He's right. Manney's gonna be fine. He's got some heart bruising from hitting the dashboard but Dr. Brackett thinks the injury is minor. We'll know more when he wakes up.." Miss Thorne moved to sit by Manney's side. Gage noticed and leaned into Roy. "Dedicated little thing, isn't she?" "Know any teachers who aren't?" DeSoto rejoined. He left Johnny pondering that as he moved to check up on Marco. Stoker came rushing in the door. "Things are stable at the refinery.. No fire. How are things in here? Got here as fast as I could.." Cap smiled. "Things are ok. Manney was pulseless for a while but the doc says he wasn't apneic long enough to do serious damage. And we still have one viable bat left out of the three. Cross your fingers.." Mike crossed them, both hands, and the toes in his boots. "Anything I can do?" "Not a thing. But, stick around.." Cap ordered. "You...might like to stay a while.." and he tossed his head at the group of four medics clustered over Marco. Cap knew a dire sign when he saw it. Mike blinked. "Uh,, ok..I think I will.." and he sat in a chair to watch and worry along with Stanley. Dr. Brackett eyed his paramedics. "Marco's quit breathing. Someone bag him." "Got it.." Brice said, getting an ambu with a full flow line running to him. Dr. Brackett looked up. "Now it's a race gentlemen. Can we keep Marco going long enough until that serum's ready? How long can we keep up breathing for him like this manually?" "Forever man. We'll spell each other." Chet said with serious conviction. "When that ambu's O2 runs out, we'll positive pressure vent him on Eight's O2, and when that runs out, we'll still be able to take turns with us on a cannula, going mouth to mouth from what's left of our engine's O2." Kel face was serious but he smiled at Chet's self sacrificing mentality. "That last option is a last resort. I'll have no one directly exposing themselves to this Marburg bug unless we absolutely have to. We can always call the triage station for more O2 and maybe they can fly us in a bird ventilator before that happens." There was a shout outside, "Captain Stanley!" It was Stone. Hank said. "I'll be right back.." He met his colleague outside by 51's engine, and started speaking before Stone could fall apart. "Manney's fine. Revived and resting." "And your Marco?" Cap didn't say anything. But Stone said...... -------------------------- Photo: Johnny checking out an out Manney. Photo: Johnny giving mouth to mouth. Photo: Johnny and Captain Stone working a code. Photo : Roy prepping an EOA airway. Photo : Johnny with defib paddles and Roy with a stethoscope. Photo: Firemen with a gear loaded stokes. Photo: Chet looking hopeful. Photo: Captain Stone with his men on Engine 8. *********************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Sat Nov 16, 2002 3:14 am Subject: Full Moon Dues "Don't hide anything from me, Hank. You always clam up when one of your men gets into a tight corner. I'm with you. If there's anything I can do--" Stanley leaned on the engine, suddenly weary beyond what he could bear and he sat down heavily on a hose port. "Ben,..I- I can't fight this. Not any more. The whole past two days have been a h*ll of alot more than I , even as a firehouse captain, can take. I -I.. I.... think I've reached my cracking point." Hank admitted, his face lapsing into a very vulnerable pall. "That bug is worse than they were letting on. I just left my man in there on the receiving end of an ambu bag and there's absolutely not a g*dd*mned thing I can do about it to s--" and his voice choked off. Ben took off his helmet and set it onto the engine's footleadge, and drew Stanley into a tight embrace. "Hank. You haven't been a captain unless you care about your men more than you do yourself. And I've never seen a finer man for the job.." Captain Stone released Hank giving his arms one last squeeze of encouragement. "He'll be just fine. I've worked with the CDC people before, during that Legionaire's crisis of 1970. If Marco's got a pulse, they can save him." Cap tossed his head in disbelief, but Ben went on. "Now hear me out. I watched seventeen people come back to this Jamie MacPherson that one summer, when by all means, they should have been dead. She was right there, at their sides, not sleeping, hardly eating, face glued to the microscope and her spectography gels, until she had it licked. She's like a bulldog with a rag when it comes to these nastier bugs. So have faith in her and her colleagues. I know the methods she uses, works." "Ben, you don't know the half of it. I heard Dr. Taylor mention some lean odds about getting enough serum to turn Lopez around and they weren't in the double digits. Two of the three bats we managed to salvage from Manney's vehicle are dead or nearly so. " Cap caught himself when he caught Ben's calming supportive nod and gaze. "Wait a minute. We should be talking about our jobs here Ben. Not conmiserating in things that we can't change ourselves." Stone smiled. "Exactly right. So why worry?" and his teeth glowed under his dark skin. "Here, put this back on.." and Stone gave Hank's captaining helmet back from where he had recovered it from the driveway. "You left it behind going into that tower collapse, while running to save one of MY men. What were you trying to do? Break our tie of equal numbers of commendation medals? " and he chuckled. "No really, McConnike asked me to reinstate you to active duty. Said something along the lines of it being good medicine for the ranks. All of them." There was a weighed silence as both captains realized just how much the quake had claimed of their energy. And both, just shrugged it off by saying the first thing to come to mind. "I'd better be getting ..." Cap began. "...back to work.." Stone completed. They both laughed, a little more easily after that. Cap raised his HT in salute as Stone made his way across the boulevard back to the triage station and got a returning, "All's clear." gesture back. Stanley took a deep breath and then went back into the station. --------------------------------------- It was quiet in the bunk room for the second night. ::Deja Vu all over again..:: Johnny thought. ::Only this time, Marco's on borrowed time.:: His good hand ached from squeezing Marco's bag valved O2. Everyone's did. But no one complained. Gage looked up at Dr. Brackett only briefly from watching Gil's ventilations on Marco. Johnny was in his usual place of the last few hours, acting as sentry, vigilant for signs of gastric distension. "Doc, any word yet on the chopper with that respirator yet?" Kel shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Johnny. They.....got sidetracked moving out critical patients." he said reluctantly, knowing that his senior medic would react. "Yeah?!" Johnny complained bitterly. "Oh, really? Since when does saving lives come down to a decision based on numbers??" He immediately apologized. "Sorry, Dr. Brackett. I'm always edgy when things get outta hand. Especially when one of those hands, is mine.." "I'm no stranger to red tape either, Johnny. But with that modified airway I've got in place, the problems we've been having with keeping his trachea patent will be much less. If his varices hemorrhaging gets worse, I can always do a tracheotomy around any necrotic swelling." "And what good will that do?" Johnny spat. "Marco's got no way of clotting a surgical incision. He'll just bleed to death afterwards at an even faster rate!!" "Johnny....." Gil admonished. "He can hear you.." he said through clenched lips angrily, casting pointing eyes down on Lopez from where he sat, while still keeping the ambu's rhythm of breaths regular. "I know.." he said shortly. "Sorry." Gage left their sides and headed quickly into the kitchen improvised lab and there he sat into one of the chairs, seething with helplessness. He wanted solitude. But Chet Kelly wasn't about to let his running escape succeed. He gingerly peeked around the skewed door's window and knocked, still outside the lab. Jamie MacPherson and Steve Taylor were oblivious, deep in their work, and neither heard the two men enter in, nor talk. Johnny Gage didn't even look up. "Leave me alone, Kelly. I'm busy.." Chet's face split into an angry frown and he marched right on in, his earlier respectful shyness evaporating. "Busy doing what, Johnny? Feeling sorry for yourself? That rod didn't skewer you anywhere near your head, so stop acting like one has. Man, even you've told me a million times never to talk negative around unconscious victims, so why'd do it in front of Marco?" "Chet, you don't know what you're talking about so why don't you just shut--" Johnny said sarcastically. "Now wait just a doggoned minute here. A lot of people around this station are expecting the core crew to hold it all together man. Haven't you realized what's been going and evolving among us for the past three years? The station can't work without you paramedics being strong in situations, so just what are we supposed to do when you aren't?" Chet didn't wait for Gage to reply. "The answer is, you don't fall into that trap in the first place." Johnny didn't reply to Chet at all. He just continued to play with the toy ball one of the kids had left behind on a dinner plate and tried to ignore Kelly to the best of his abilities. Kelly went on, "Man, don't you know anything?" Gage didn't rise to Kelly's bait. Chet was undaunted. "Ok. All right.. You don't have to say anything but you're gonna listen to me. ..I'm gonna let you in on a little secret Gage, a big one. One that I've never ever told anyone.." Johnny just tilted his head, not liking his lecture at all and he avoided all eye contact with Chester B. "I look up to you paramedics more than you can ever possibly know, Gage." That made Gage glance up in surprise. "It's true..." Chet said insistently. "I've even dreamed of one of these times going into the paramedic program so I can make a difference out there, too, man. Like you and Roy do..." "Come off it, Chet. This is just some dumb speech you're giving me to cheer--" "No, listen. I'm very serious.." Chet said slowly, without blinking, eye to eye with him. Johnny was amazed that Chet's stare didn't waver nor show any hint of untruth, his mouth flopped open. Chet didn't give him time to speak. "I- I've been watching how you guys work for years, and it just sickened me when you folded like a stack of cards just now, with Marco..on professionalism." Chet had been spinning a coffee spoon around aimlessly and it spun off the table top to land on the linoleum with a loud crash.. Bonnie, near a seated place by the two bats' confinement, barked, sounding as if she thought someone was at the side station door. Her mistake made both Johnny and Chet break out of their mutual funks and the ironic humor of Bonnie's innocent reaction, made the two firemen, finally, laugh hard together, each breaking up into paroxyms of uncontrollable mirth. Johnny spoke, when he recovered use of his stomach muscles again. "B-Bet you won't last a week in the paramedic program.." Chet spat on his hand. "Shake on it.. A month's dish detail.." Johnny grinned a cockeyed smile and spat likewise in jest and they sealed their bet. Then Johnny's face turned cat with the canary and he said, "Better count on buying the rubber gloves, Chet. Cause you just lost that bet. Brice is teaching all the principle courses this year, in the signup program and he's known for a heavy work load, hard on study.." "He is??" Chet cried out, complaining. "Aww, man..." "Whaa..." Johnny said, spreading his hands wide. "Afraid of a little obstacle?" "Brice isn't a tiny obstacle Johnny, and you know it.. The whole station does!" "Shhh.." Gage jabbed teasely. "He can hear you..." he said, mocking the very reason Chet came in to dress down Johnny to begin with. Then he sheepishly admitted. "Thanks for yelling at me about Marco. I was outta line talking like that. It's just so,....d*mned frustrating seeing him dying in pieces.." Amazingly, one of the microscope lit backs turned around on a swiveled chair. It was Jamie. "No one's dying around here gentlemen, at least, among the humans anyway..." and her eyes made Chet and Johnny notice the cage holding the wounded bat. Its head was slowing sinking into the clear impossibly limp rictor of lifelessness. And even Bonnie knew it, she whined and scampered away from the cage in fear at the new lack of warm scent rising up. It was then Kelly and Gage noticed that Jamie's face was glinting with wetness in the dim lighting. Both firemen rose to be by her instantly. "What is it?" Johnny asked. "Are you ok, Dr. MacPherson?" Chet asked too. "Don't be upset the bat died. W-We still have the one.. Won't she be enough?" "I'm fine.." Jamie sobbed. "I always cry on occasions like this..." and her tears turned to a small smile of tired triumph and she held up a small pressure syringe of spun lactate proteins. Her grin brightened hopeful, by leaps. "We did it..!! Mr. Gage, Quickly. Go give this to one of the other paramedics for Marco. It'll take two hands to inject the serum into his endotrach tube." Chet and Johnny nearly leaped across the lab table to grab the tiny vile of hope. They both stopped on a dime when their jostling almost upset the grip Jamie had on it. Johnny and Chet both broke into a "no, after you" routine,...until .. Dr. Taylor sighed and flipped a coin into the air.., "Heads for the curly haired fireman, Tails for you.." Heads won. Chet held the tiny syringe cupped in his hands as if it were a fragile egg and he hastened, with care, back out to the others. His body was careful, but his voice was not.. "Hey Marcoo!! Hang in there pal... Guess what we got done cooking here....!!!!" Both firemen's shadows in the gloom, eagerly left the room. Jamie's head sank onto the countertop where she and Steve had been working, and just sobbed. Dr. Steven Taylor smiled and handed her a kleenix from his pocket. "Knew you were going to do that again. D*mnest thing I ever saw. Tears of happiness, heh. Who'd figure..?" ---------------------------------------------- Roy sat over Marco's bed, trembling. In his fingers, lay the precious serum shot. "Don't even breathe..." Kelly said to him. Then he caught himself. "Oh, Marco, I didn't say that about YOU.. so keep trying man.. I wanna see that chest rise on its own half an hour after this cure's in you.." he said close to Lopez's ear. Then he whispered. "Even Johnny's rootin for you. He almost started crying over you in the kitchen... " "Remember to tease him a bit about it when you snap out of it.. Shhhh." he said low enough so no one else heard. Stoker got out of Roy's way by removing the ambu bag after giving Marco an O2 flood's worth of vents. Roy began to titrate the serum's amber liquid into Marco's airway. "Easy.." Dr. Brackett said. "Here," he said. "Follow that I.T. with this saline flush. His lungs will absorb it better osmotically." And he handed DeSoto a 5cc saline syringe. Roy followed up. Mike immediately reconnected the ambu and forced O2 flow deep into Marco's lungs to make sure the serum reached as many spaces as possible inside his pulmonary tree. Then he slowed and lessened, backing off once more into a normal vent rate for a light, but firm ambu maintain. "Now, we wait.." Dr. Brackett said. Somehow, the black night blanketing the shattered firehouse seemed a little less oppressive to everybody surrounding Marco's bed, than it had just minutes before. ----------------------------------------------- Just as the new sun was rising over the refinery, Marco Lopez responded to epinephrine and soon began to gasp actively, fighting his airway. Cap thought. "Anyone's guess whose smile's bigger.. Way to pull it off, Marco..!" he said rubbing his shoulder affectionately. His last sentence was drowned out by everyone's cheers. In the mean time, Dr. Brackett and Brice concentrated on getting Marco extubated. Kel shouted. "Marco!.. on the count of three, I want you to exhale as hard as you can. Don't swallow. I know the tube's uncomfortable, but we had to wait until you were ready to go solo. Ready? One, Two..Three.." Lopez let out a gushing liquidy breath and Brice removed the EOA quickly, by deflating its gastric bulb with a 2 syringe and drawing it out with a fast careful pull to not snag the tender structures in Marco's throat. Roy had a suctioning probe set and soon, he was coughing only sporadically as his weakened muscles decided they could learn how to breathe again. Stoker helped him on the demand valve enough to keep Lopez mostly awake to work out fluid and blood still interfering with good air draw. Marco's hands finally pushed away the resuscitator a few minutes later. His eyes fluttered open, squinting in the bright sunlight through the holes in the station roof. "Hey, gang. Mama here yet? "he whispered. "She'd better have brought breakfast, I think...I think I'm.. getting hungry...Maybe,, maybe even for some b- bacon...Any left?" At his feet, Bonnie barked, and reared up on her haunches with her terra cotta bowl balanced daintily in her mouth. -------------------------- Three hours later, Marco was stable enough to be flown out by air. Johnny leaped out of the helicopter with a dirt eating grin on his face when Marco's mom flooded his face with kisses for saving her son's life, promising a whole year's worth of Monday morning burritos.. "It's the least I can do for the amigos of my Precious Hijo.." Rosa Marie Lopez said. "Hey! I heard that mama.." Marco's voice hollered out before the copter's chopper doors closed him off. "Wait on that regime til I'm back at the stationhouse working..! I don't want the guys to eat them all before I get back there." "Silly boy.." Marco's mom chuckled in a deep warm voice filled with a spanish flavor. "He still thinks Mrs Bandido and I cook on a limited budget. Just wait until I tell him we won de big California lottery, eh? Same day as the quake.." ------------------------------ At Rampart, days later.. Johnny and Roy were telling the rapt Dr. Early and Dixie McCall all about their three day, earthquake survival story. "Yeah.. when I woke up, I had a rod sticking out of my left hand. This long.." he said to Dix, enjoying the willies he was driving out of her. "Johnny. Cut it out.. Don't you know I'm squeamish?" she giggled. "You are?" Roy asked., blinking in surprise. Dr. Early mumbled. "Yep. Why do you think she's at the front desk of Emergency so much? Haven't any of you noticed she only goes into those treatment rooms of people who aren't gushing blood all over the floor?" Dix smacked Joe good on the arm for letting out her very very old secret. "Dixxxxx..." Johnny egged, teasing her. "Shhhh, if Kel ever found out. I'd be mortified.." Dixie said. "Who'd be mortified?" Dr. Brackett said, just leaving an elevator from an upper floor. "uh, nuthin.." Gage said. "She was actually saying.. "Morton confided".. Yeah, that's it. Morton confided that he can only sing in the shower. So that's why he got drunk and sang to us all on the guitar under the sprinkler like he did. He's got a great voice..man." "Soaking wet you mean.." Kel said, ruefully shaking his head. "I almost had to give him some Narcan to sober him up..." he joked. Gage waxed serious.. "Wow, you doctors and nurses really throw a wild party. I even think Cap's wife blushed at a few of those dance moves of yours, Morton. Where'd ya learn em? Maybe I could ..you know.. use a couple of them going out on dates and stuff.. Maybe I can finally snag a nurse who'll take me for who I really am, know what I mean? " Their happy chitchat made the trip up to visit Marco in his hospital room, bright. And Lopez was very very glad to see them all to hear about the huge Rampart to Fire Department wingding he had missed that weekend. ------------------------------ "And so there you have it boys and girls.." Johnny said, "A dozen tons of red steel and chrome with enough hose power to snuff out a whole three story house fire in just under an hour.." he said to his very attentive Groverland Middle school tour children dramatically. He made them jump by hitting the air horn, in its richest full brassy tone."Heheh.." he laughed. And they soon laughed along with him. "Glad to see you all back at the station.. Quite a different place than you last left it a month ago, isn't it?" "Yeahh..." A blond boy with glasses pushed forward. "Can I see the radio mike room again?" Johnny jumped down from top of the engine roof and waved Stoker out of the cab where he had been operating lights and firing off that blast cue for Gage. "Oh, hey Robbie.." Johnny said, kneeling by the child's side. "I've been wanting to see you." "You have?" "Yeah.." Johnny said. "I just wanted to thank you for doing what you did the day of the earthquake. You..probably saved all our lives.." he said, poking the boy in his nose. Robbie giggled. "I know I did. Lydia Montegeaux taught me real good what to do in ah emergency.." he said misquoting an adverb. "So did Sam the dispatch man." That surprised Johnny. "Lydia? I know a Lydia Montegeaux." "She's my best friend.." Robbie said. "She's right outside the station right now. She said her grandpa was here with her." "Is she now?" Chet grinned. "What do you say gang? Should we all go out and meet Johnny's hot date?" Chet and Marco, and Stoker and Cap all nodded eagerly. And Miss Thorne, too, who was a quiet audience. Gage let the others follow him into the yard. There, he knelt before his little blind Big Brother sponsor and grinned. "Lydia.. how come you didn't tell me that Chief McConnike was your grandfather?" "I didn't want to spoil the surprise..." she said timidly on her leg braces. The sun shining down on her face made her blind eyes sparkle the purest azure blue. Cap chuckled, lifting Lydia up onto his lap where he crouched with Bonnie in the crook of his other arm so she could meet and pet her. "That was some surprise girly.. Your grandfather managed to buy us a whole new set of firetrucks." and he winked at McConnike. McConnike laughed loud and deep. "Just wait until you make chief, Hank. Budgeting priority reshuffling's a major chief's rank perk.." Lydia's face was smiling as she hugged Bonnie. "Oh, Bonnie, you're almost as soft as Cinnabon at school." "Who's Cinnabon?" Stoker asked. "I don't remember your classroom having any pets.." "It does now... Jamie from the CDC flew us in a present last week from Atlanta. The kit from the Flying Fox Bat that saved Marco was ready to be weaned and needed a home." "He's here. He's here, Mr. Gage. I know you'll like him. I know you will." Lydia said, tugging Johnny's uniform sleeve. Gage started to fidget just thinking about bats. But he didn't let his reaction translate to Lydia. "Well, I don't know abou-- Say Lydia.. Is he in a cage? I think I could probably.....deal with ...him in a..crate or something..." "Chicken.." Chet hissed teasingly. "No, just particular.." he said firmly. Then he trickled.. "Uh oh......" Robbie came running, happily screeching around the corner with a blanketed moving bundle in his hands. Sticking out of it, was the cutest furry face the firemen had ever seen. Bonnie instantly began to lick the baby bat's face, smothering him in kisses. Johnny's bat phobia instantly evaporated as fast as Bonnie's maternal instinct had risen. "Wow, you know.. I think this little guy'd uh,, this tiny thing'd here, would even look cute under a full moon, don't you think gang?" "Ahhhhh!! Don't say those two words!!" Chet said, dashing off for the safety of the newly rebuilt station garage. "You'll jinx us for sure.." Laughs.. abounded. ------------------------------ That night, at the newly repaired station house, still smelling of new vehicles, the gang prepared themselves for sleep. "Hey, Roy.." "What..." he mumbled, flopped down on the pillow where he had fallen. He didn't even bother to take off his uniform nor his blue over coat. "Think I can sneak over to the phone to call Lydia tonight?" "You can try.. You know Bonnie'll start howling again when you're more than ten feet away from her.." "Oh. I know. I'll carry her over there with me. That way. She won't howl and she won't be able to take a whiz on the floor again.." John waited for Roy to reply but the reply never came. Roy was out like a light. ------------------------------------------- The next morning, Johnny's sheets were tangled up around him and Bonnie both, but Roy hadn't even moved. Gage's feet hit the floor and he wandered over to grab his partner by the wrist. He eyed his watch and then at Bonnie. "Hey Bonnie.. Look..He IS alive.." he said to the wriggling, all attentive Yorky looking eagerly in play invite at him. "He's only acting dead to the world. Gonna sleep a week for sure.." And he dropped Roy's hand onto his own face to judge reaction. Roy didn't move. "Make that two weeks and a day, Bonnie." A huge yawn split his face into two and he thought about it some. "Man,.. Roy's onto something over there. I think I'll just.. do ...a nap. yeah. All the other guys are still out.. Think I'll...just, close my eyes for just a......." Even when the full moon rose later that evening, the fates kept smiling kindly on the crew of Station 51 long after the silver disk sank below the horizon. They got in an unheard of duration of two days on duty with nothing to do but sleep and enjoy yard basketball games.. At long last.. Bonnie, was the only one unhappy about it. She couldn't get to Johnny's bunk unobserved long enough, for one of her famous sheet marking territory sessions... FIN ------------------------------------- Photo: Captains Stone and Stanley by the Engine. Photo: Chet checking in on morose Johnny. Photo: Roy with Marco's cure in his hand, scared. Photo: Dixie getting squeamish. Photo: Johnny and kids by the new vehicles. Photo: Roy with kids on the Engine. Photo: John meeting Lydia Montegeaux. Photo: McConnike by the engines. Photo: The Baby Flying Fox. Photo: Roy and John sleeping the sleep of the dead. **************************************** FIN FULL MOON BLUES Season One, Premiere... FULL MOON BLUES :) This Episode is Dedicated to Debralee Wrycza :) Who is Fighting the Big Fight.. :) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season One, Episode Two.. FATHER AND SON ******************************** From: doc51@att.net Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 00:17:08 -0000 Subject: Fathers & Sons. Kel was in his office. It had been a crazy week. That day was no exception. It was enough to make him miss a rare dinner date with his dad. He picked up the phone and dialed his dad's number and waited for him to answer. --------------------------------------- No attachments. ****************************** From: "Jean Yasick" Date: Sun Nov 17, 2002 8:56 pm Subject: Possible Start The morning tones woke the sleepy men of station 51. Some days, the tones were a welcome sound. It meant the shift was over and the men had days off to relax and catch up on family things. But some days, like today, it was not welcomed. The engine crew had three runs during the night and the squad had five and it was only the first night of an 'experimental' two day shift the department was looking into to try and save money and maximize man power. Captain Stanley grabbed the mike and acknowledged Sam Lanier. Yawning, he walked towards the kitchen to start some coffee. Hank didn't make it to the kitchen, however. He heard a strange noise coming from the front of the apparatus bay. He quickly turned around to see what the noise was and was surprised to see a small basket laying over by the bay doors. He approached cautiously, knowing it hadn't been there the night before and was very concerned that it was there now. It meant that someone, somehow, had been able to get into the station, even though the doors were locked. As he got closer to the basket, the noise repeated itself, causing Hank to jump back. Once again, he approached the basket and carefully lifted the cover. He jumped when he saw what was inside. "Oh Man! This has to be some kind of joke!..... CHET! Get out here! NOW!" The men of station 51 knew their captain quite well. And they knew he did not use that tone of voice very often, but when he did, you better listen! So the men shoved Chet out the dorm door and followed a pace behind. "Yeah, Cap, what do you......." Chet stopped in his tracks when he saw the basket. "What the......?" "That is what I want to know, Kelly!" "Oh, Chet! You have gone too far now!" said Roy as he backed up a pace or two. "Really! But you have to admit, Chester B... it does bear a family resemblance!" teased Johnny as he pushed past Roy and headed into the kitchen to start the much needed coffee. "Funny, Gage!" Chet said as he pushed past Cap to get a closer look at the puppy that was now wakening from its sleep. Pulling the puppy out of the basket, Chet hollered into the kitchen, "She doesn't look like me at all...as a matter of fact, with a nose like that, she kind of resembles your last date!" With that, the black and brown puppy reached up and licked Chet on the tip of his nose. "Where'd he come from, Cap?" Chet asked as he tried to move his head away from the wet tongue assaulting his nose. "I don't know, but there's a note here. Let's see what it says." As Captain Stanley opened the envelope, the little puppy moved from Chet's nose to his chin and ran his tongue over the scratching stubble. Johnny walked back into the bay munching on a donut as Captain Stanley unfolded the letter. "Hmm... it's written in red crayon..... Dear, Fireman. My name is Chris and I am 7 years old. This cute puppy followed me home from the park, but Mom says he is ugly, and I can't keep him. I have seen that your fire station does not have a dog riding on the big red engine when it buzzes by my house, so I am giving him to you so your engine will not be lonely. Please take good care of him. His name is Chester and he likes to drink out of the toilet." As Cap finished the letter, Johnny could not contain himself anymore. He almost spit his donut out when Cap read the dog's name, but the toilet part just got Johnny's funny bone. "Well, Chester B. I see that Chester picked out the right person to bond with!!! Not only do you share a name, but you share an interest in latrines, too!" "Funny Gage! Very funny!." Chet replied, his face turning slightly red. The rest of the crew laughed for a few seconds, then Roy sobered up a bit as he asked the all important question. "So Cap, what are we going to do with her..uhm him..uh..whatever it is?" Roy asked. The rest of the crew looked at their fearless leader as he took the puppy back from Chet. Stanley cautiously turned the puppy over in order to find out for sure what sex it was. When he found out, he turned the puppy back over and looked at his men. They were all standing there like a bunch of five-year-olds asking their dad if they could keep it. He rolled his eyes and started to answer, only to be interrupted by the tones going off. ----------------------------------------- No attachments. *********************************** From : P. Keiper Date : Sun Nov 17, 2002 10:24 pm Subject: Merger It was a run for their sister station, Eight. All the gang let out their collective breaths in anticipation. Cap finally said. "It's a boy! I'll decide, tonight. Now shoo!" And he banished his men inside, cooing to the little beagle pup to calm him. The pup took to a blue laundry basket in Cap's office, filled with clean, storing, stokes ties and long board straps, like a fish to water and soon, went to sleep. Cap closed his door and said, "Shhh. Do, whatever you're gonna do. He'll be fine in here. Kelly. Get a dish of water and some chow for the little guy on the double. We'll leave it by him to find when he wakes up." ------------------------------ No attachments. ************************** From: rosanne iho Date: Sun Nov 17, 2002 8:12 pm Subject: Only In The Movies It was an absolutely beautiful, balmy, summer evening in Southern California. In the rec' room of Los Angeles County Fire Station 51, six firemen sat huddled in front of a TV set, watching the Dodgers and the Padres battling it out in a late-night double-header. The home team had taken the first game. The men cheered, as Dodger's pitcher, Don Sutton, struck out the Padres--one, two, three. The Dodgers came to bat. First baseman, Steve Garvey, hit a single. Outfielder, Dave Lopes, also singled. Sutton walked. With the bases loaded--and no outs--Dodger slugger, Dusty Baker, stepped up to the plate. "There's the wind up...and the pi--!" the announcer began, only to be drowned out by the Station's alarm. There was a group groan. "Station 51..." the dispatcher began. The television was flicked off. The rec' room reluctantly emptied. "Man down...unknown type rescue...213 East Morrow Drive...Ambulance responding... Two-One-Three East Morrow Drive...Time out...23:02." "Station 51...KMG-365," Captain Hank Stanley acknowledged, as his crews climbed into their respective rescue vehicles, tossing turnout coats and helmets on. He handed Squad 51's driver a copy of the call slip and then hurried over to assume his seat in the Engine. Moments later, the rigs exited the parking bay and pulled out onto the dark, deserted street in front of the Fire Station--lights flashing and sirens wailing. ######################## 213 East Morrow Drive turned out to be an enormous mansion with a tiled roof and gables, surrounded by an ancient cottonwood grove. The hedges lining the circular drive were untrimmed, and the large lawns lacked a manicured look, as well. The trucks pulled right up in front of the place. Their drivers cut the sirens, and their occupants piled out. The paramedics grabbed some equipment from the Squad's side compartments and then joined their fellow firefighters at the front door. Their Captain pressed the doorbell. An eerie 'gong' sound filled the air. The men exchanged amused glances and waited patiently on the moonlit porch for someone to appear. When nobody did, Stanley gasped--impatiently--and hit the 'gong' again...which resulted in several snorts of suppressed laughter. Hank gave up on the 'gong' and began banging a big, brass door-knocker. 'C'mon...c'mon...' Paramedic John Gage silently urged, 'These equipment cases ain't getting any lighter...' He finally set his heavy burdens down and took a step or two back, to stare up at the big, ugly abode. "Yah know...I saw a house just like this on the Late-Late Show the other night." "Yeah...Me, too..." Firefighter Chet Kelly quietly confessed, as his feet shifted uncomfortably beneath him, "It was in one of those horror flics." "Right!" John continued, "The butler kept a beautiful blonde heiress chained up in the dungeon! The place was loaded with secret passages and--" "--And that's the only place you're ever going to find a house like that," his partner, Roy DeSoto suddenly interrupted, "In the movies!" Gage stared sadly at DeSoto for a few seconds and then slowly shook his head. "No imagination!" "Kelly! Lopez! Grab some flashlights and check the back of the house!" their Commander bugled, bored with his banging. "Before we go barging in," he told his Engineer, Mike Stoker, "I'd better call dispatch and make sure we've got the right address..." He slipped a HT from his right coat pocket and thumbed the call button. "L.A., this is County 51..." "Go ahead, 51..." "L.A., request address check on our last call, logged at 23:02..." "Standby, 51...51, the call reads: Man down...unknown type rescue... 213 East Morrow Drive." "Roger that, L.A.," the Captain acknowledged, "51 clear." Stanley stared up at the house number--213--for a few seconds and then turned back to Stoker. "Mike, you sure this is East Morrow Drive?" "Well, if it's not," his Engineer began, "someone's been playing games with the street signs." "Man!" Kelly breathlessly exclaimed upon his return, "It's even creepier out back!" His Captain rolled his eyes and questioned the third member of his engine crew, "No answer?" Marco Lopez shook his helmeted head. "Well, we can't stand out here all night!" their Commander finally determined and turned the door knob. Stanley smiled, as the heavy portal swung open. There would be no need for the forceable-entry tools. "Fire Department!" he shouted as he stepped into the dimly-lit entryway, "Anybody home?!" No answer. The paramedics picked their equipment back up and then they, and the others, followed their fearless leader inside. "This is the Fire Department!" Stanley called out again, "Anybody home?!" Still no answer. In fact, except for the loud ticking of a clock in the entrance hall, the whole house was filled with an eerie silence. The paramedics sighed and set their heavy cases down again. Stanley turned to his men. "All right, Roy... You and Marco check upstairs! Mike and I will cover this floor. Gage, Kelly, you two get the basement! Move out!" "What are we looking for?" Kelly nervously inquired of his search partner. "Beats me!" Gage teased, "It's an unknown type rescue..." "How about the basement door--for starters!" their Captain impatiently prodded. The two foot-dragging firefighters fled the entrance hall. They managed to make their way into the kitchen. John jerked a door open--a broom closet. Chet pulled another portal open--a pantry. Gage latched onto a third door's knob and pulled. It's un-oiled hinges creaked, eerily. He smiled, triumphantly and motioned his search-mate over. Kelly flicked his flashlight on and shone it down a very steep set of basement stairs. "If there's a beautiful blonde heiress down there," Gage began, "I get to rescue her!" "That's not a dungeon!" Kelly reminded him. John stared sadly at Chet, and shook his head, "No imagination..." "Oh-oh no," Kelly corrected his colleague, "I've got an imagination, all right! That's why I'm gonna let you go first. That way, if there's a tall dude down there--with a long, black cloak and a wolf's-head cane..." he paused to tap Gage on the chest, "you get to rescue him!" John swallowed hard and started down the stairs. "Thanks!" he muttered, sarcastically. They got about two steps down and then stopped, hearing their Captain calling them. They gladly retreated and went racing back to the entrance hall. "Yeah, Cap?!" the panting pair simultaneously exclaimed, as they came skidding to a stop in front of Hank Stanley. --------------------------------------------- No attachments. **************************** Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 18:54:30 -0800 (PST) From: "Jeff Seltun" Subject: The Stuff of Dreams >Kel was in his office. It had been >a crazy week. That day was no >exception. It was enough to make >him miss a rare dinner date with >his dad. He picked up the phone >and dialed his dad's number and >waited for him to answer. The phone rang two times and the pauses showing his call going unanswered between them only increased his anxiety. ::Why am I feeling like an errant school boy? I'm forty two years old. Dad is just dad to me, isn't he?:: his thoughts rose. ------- ------- ------- "Because he's you're dad." Dixie's voice spoke from his memory of a conversation he had a week ago with his husky throated head ER nurse on just that same subject. "And you still look up to him. After all, you did follow in his footsteps getting into the medical field." she said. "Emergency medicine's a far cry from psychiatry Dix. I didn't follow anyone to get where I am today. Especially not him." Kel said a little defensively when Dix's comment stuck a little too far into the real truth of matters. "Also, I've branched off into cardiology, too, and that's an even more unrelated area than being some office bound, leather chair to couch side shrink." Dix's frosted eyebrows rose in amazement. "Oh? I'd say in that way, you and your father are in an area a little closer together my fine, fretting friend. You both deal with matters of the heart. Only yours deals with just the physical aspects of things. You fix the body whereas he fixes the mind. Quite a complimentary pair to have in one family, in my book. You should team up together, Kel. Even if just to compare professional notes or something. Might be a way for you two to work out differences." she said gently, handing Dr. Brackett a cup of coffee. "We are. I have dinner with him once a month." "Oh, really." Dix said, throwing disbelieving doe eyes at Kel. "There's twelve months in a year, Kel. And I distinctly remember setting up reservations at Mannie's for you and your father only twice total, since this time last year.." Kel's chin twitched. "I've been busy.." "Yeah, well so have I. " Dix countered. "Although in my case, I haven't been too busy to see family I care about, to drift apart from again, due to carelessness." From anyone else, Dixie's remark would earn a scathing sharp reply. But Kel and Dix were the best of friends, been old flames even, at one time. And what she said and felt, was still very very important to him. "You .....really think so?" he said, studying his hands and rubbing absently at their surgical dryness. Dix shoved a jar of hand cream at him across the lounge table. "I know so. I've seen you two cross by my desk everyday. Brent to his office on the ninth floor and you to yours. I can't believe you two even work in the same hospital. He could be in Greece for all the contact I've seen. I can read the whole state of affairs between you two just by the degree of scowling on your faces. You in particular, have a certain cheek twitch that pops up whenever you think of your father.." "I do not.." Dr. Brackett protested. "You do... Ahaa!" she cried out in triumph. "There it is again! That's seven times today already." She leaned forward, finely filed nails clicking on the formica table top. "And for me, that's a critical sign with only one treatment available in my line of thinking.......Go call him, Kel. Arrange one of those well overdue dinner dates. You both are in severe need for quality father/son family time.....Oh,.. Just one thing though.." Kel's face was sheepish as he used the cream Dixie had given him briskly to ease his chapped aching hands. "And what's that, Dix?" "Promise me you'll both leave your white doctor coats at home.." --------- ---------- --------- ---------- The phone rang a third time in his ear. By then Kel's cheek twitch had traveled up to his hairline. He groaned as the anxiety reached deeply under his skin. ::Come on. Pick up already..:: Finally... "Hello. Brent Brackett speaking.." "Dad?" A pause. ."Is...everything all right down there son? I didn't hear a disaster call go out.." Brent asked. "No. no no.. Everything's fine. Quiet night in fact. So far, only one station is out on a run. Station 51's." and he tried to sound natural as he laughed. "I....just wanted to say I'm sorry for missing our last dinner plans in May. I'd ...like to make it up to you.." There was a longer silence and then Kel heard Brent slip into his professional mode like he always did when analyzing the emotional tone of a situation. "That'd be fine son, free on the 18th? I'll have my receptionist book us. That will give us two days each to think of something to talk about, other than the shop talk like we always end up doing." "Thanks dad. I'll see you at our usual table." "Until then. And son..." "What dad?" "Don't work so hard. I can tell by how long your head nurse glares at me how little you've slept.." That comment embarrassed Kel deeper than words. "I'll see you later, pop." A muted grunt was a reply and the phone line clicked with a snick briskly a second later. "It's still a little mid artic but at least, the cracks in the icebergs are widening.." said Dix. "Here's to progress.." and she raised her mug to Dr. Brackett in salute. Kel didn't know whether to smile at his accomplishment or admonish Dix for easedropping on his phonecall. He chose to move on to other matters. He cleared his throat, taking a chart from Dixie's hand. The red light in the base station was still on, but not yet flashing. "51, call in with their rescue yet?" Dix regarded the tiny glass room and the quiet intercom phone still sitting silent by the recorder. "Nope. I just moved their status magnet to Away two minutes ago when I heard the call come in through L.A. dispatch.." she said, pointing with a pen from her desk to the scanner overhead. "Any indication what it is we got?" "None. It's an unknown type rescue so far. Literally.." "Hmm" Dr. Brackett said, handing 51's blank run sheet slate back to Dix. "Keep me posted. I think I'll check in on a patient or two while I'm waiting. Page me when 51 fires up." "Will do." and then she smiled, hugely as if with a private observation. Kel didn't miss it. "What?" "You're relaxed already. And all it took was a single itty bitty 30 second phone call." she chuckled. Kel's face twitched. "I'll recommend you for a Pullitzer." and he disappeared into treatment two, shaking his head ruefully. -------- ---------- ----------- At 213 East Morrow Drive, things weren't quite as rosy, down right creepy at that. >"Oh-oh no," Kelly corrected his colleague, >"I've got an imagination, all right! That's >why I'm gonna let you go first. That way, >if there's a tall dude down there--with a >long, black cloak and a wolf's-head cane..." >he paused to tap Gage on the chest, "you >get to rescue him!" >John swallowed hard and started down >the stairs. "Thanks!" he muttered, >sarcastically. They got about two steps >down and then stopped, hearing their >Captain calling them. They gladly retreated >and went racing back to the entrance hall. >"Yeah, Cap?!" the panting pair simultaneously >exclaimed, as they came skidding to a stop >in front of Hank Stanley. "Do you smell that?" Cap asked and he started to walk around the room, sniffing, suspicious. Chet and the gang started to copy him. Johnny immediately tensed. " Cap, what is it? You smell smoke or something?" Cap shook his head. "No..no.. not smoke.. smells like... like.." "Cinnamon ginger bread.." Chet said. "OoooOOoooo." Marco toned. "Do you suppose the witch from Hansel and Gretel lives here? Maybe we've all been called out to be someone else's dinner.." The gang cracked up. "Very funny guys. Creepy house or not, that's what I'm smelling. Gingerbread." Kelly noticed the dubious looks on all the guys faces..and he clarified defensively. "You know.. the kind grandma always makes. And it smells like it's coming from over..." The whole crew followed Kelly's nose to another dusty cobwebby door and he pushed it open. A brightly lit yellow kitchen with oversized stoves and ovens met their eyes. The station crew's light faces fell away when they found an old man slumped over a table, a phone's receiver still in his hand. Johnny and Roy ran over to him and Gage felt for a pulse. "He's alive.." The cookies, were just starting to burn. Marco pulled open the oven, and yanked out the scorched tray, and dumped it into the old over sized, old fashioned pump water handled sink. It took him a moment to figure out the pump was the only way to get to water. He finally pumped enough out to gurgle over the over hot pan. Mike turned off the gas in the oven. Roy shouted to his patient. "Hey,.. Mister.. Can you hear me? We're L.A. County Firefighter Paramedics. We answered your call.." The man didn't move as Roy checked his breathing, right where he was. Cap lifted his handy talkie to his mouth. "L.A. This is Station 51. We have a confirmed medical rescue. Respond an ambulance.." ##10-4, 51. Timeout 23:16.## Then Hank knelt by Roy and John as they took off their helmets and got to work. "Want him on the floor?" "Not yet. We don't know what we have. He's breathing ok at any rate. But we will need the O2." Chet Kelly came through the kitchen door with it breathless. "Got it here. That and the defibrillator." He handed them off to John who immediately got them set. Mike, got leads on an EKG ready on the blue monitor and waited to hand them to Gage and DeSoto when they were ready. Roy set the unconscious old man on a light flow through a simple mask, leaving him slumped across the table top face down, while John got a BP. "It's 90 over 64. Pulse 110 and thready." Roy said, "His respiration rate's 22 and shallow. Irregular.." He bent over and checked the man's pupils being careful not to move him much. "Equal and reactive." "Cardiac?" Hank asked. "Most likely." Roy answered him. "If this were a stroke, his eyes would've told us that. The scope will tell us more.. Give me those Stoker. I'm ready for them." Mike helped Roy patch the man up. As they did so, the old man began to moan and awaken and he lifted his head. Chet supported him in his chair as Roy and Hank got him oriented as to what was happening. "Easy there. Take it slow. How are ya doing?" Roy said to him. "Know where you are?" Johnny got on the biophone to Rampart, digging out his green pen from the biobox's lid. "Rampart, this is Rescue 51, how do you read?" The reply was.... --------------------------------------- Photo : Dix in a medium shot. Photo: Hank and Gage in helmets at a scene. Close up. Photo: Johnny treating a cardiac victim with O2 and EKG leads. ******************************* From: "Linda Taggatz" Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 23:27:41 -0600 Subject: Re: The Stuff of Dreams >Johnny got on the biophone to Rampart, digging >out his green pen from the biobox's lid. >"Rampart, this is Rescue 51, how do you read?" >The reply was... ..from Dixie. "Rescue 51, I read you loud and clear." --------------------------------------- No attachments. ******************************************* From: "Cassidy Meyers" Date: Thu Nov 21, 2002 2:37 am Subject: The Ginger Cookie Man and the Other Chester B > From Dixie. "Rescue 51, I read you loud and clear." Johnny looked up and saw that their patient was nearly conscious. He amended his notes on his writing pad. "Rampart, ah. We have a male, approximately 60 to 65 years of age. Found comatose and unresponsive. On eight liters of O2, consciousness is returning. Vitals are: BP 90/64, Pulse 110 and thready. Respirations are 22 and shallow. Rampart we do have a strip available. Lead two." "10-4. Relay your telemetry and I'll page Dr. Brackett. Please stand by.." Dixie answered. ##Standing by.# Johnny answered. Dixie got on the red phone and paged the inhouse operator. "Would you please page Dr. Brackett to the base station, stat. Thanks." and she hung up, writing down the information she had received. Roy in the meantime, put on his best paramedic smile. He watched as the old man looked surprised as full awareness returned as he put questioning hands up to his face to the mask flowing oxygen there. "Hi there. I'm Roy DeSoto and this gentleman on the phone is my partner, John Gage. We're paramedics from the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Got your call there." The man gave an intelligible moan and he seemed to be hard of hearing. "Eh? Oh, my dearie. I HAVE caused a ruckus, haven't I?" Then he smelled wet ginger cookies in the kitchen. "Oh, no.. there goes all afternoon's work.." he said. Chet smiled for the man's voice sounded for the world like Mr. Hooper from Seasame Street. Kind and warm. "Yeah, well, rest easy sir. We got the gas turned off for ya." Roy set his hand on the man's stomach to get a new breathing rate. "So, what's your name? Can you tell me that?" "Eh? Oh, oh. It's Fajou.. Reginald Arthur Fajou. Been living in this house since... uh.... I can't remember rightly.. Could have been since the war.. or was that WW One?" he gasped. "I see. Listen, Mr. Fajou.." Gage said. "Do you have a history of any heart problems? Breathing problems? That sort of thing? You seem to be in a little distress here." "Ohh..." Arthur said, thinking.." Martha tells me I got asthma.. and....that's about it...." "Who's Martha?" Roy asked. "Your wife?" "Eh?..Ohnn no.. She's ma landlady. Heh. She's been real nice to me. Letting me bake for the kids working and filming at the movie studio and all." and he started to laugh in memory, weakily, until a wet coughing made him grip Chet's hand tightly. "Oh, my.. Not feeling so good today.. Little weak.." "Well, we'll get ya to the hospital and have a doctor take a look at you, ok?" Roy asked. "All right. If you say I have to go.. I I will. Don't want to get Martha mad at me. She's been so nice to me, don't you see? And,..I had a nice ...*cough* pan of cookies made just for her.. hhmm." "Yes,sir.." Roy said and he began to get a more detailed medical history on Arthur while Johnny got Kel Brackett on line. Gage began to relax as the reading showing on the scope indicated only some elevated ST segments on a sinus rhythm. Nothing dire. He set the phone and its cord over his shoulder while he listened to Arthur's breath sounds. He heard only light bronchial wheezing. "Ohhhh, that's cold sonny.." Arthur said of the metal drum Johnny placed on his skin. "Like ice.." "Sorry.. Easily fixed.." Johnny said with a grin and he warmed it in his palm with a breath before finishing his task. Mentally, he upgraded Arthur's consciousness level to good. Roy bumped down the percentage of O2 on their patient when Johnny gave him a thumbs down gesture. Gage said, "COPD's confirmed." "Ok, then, we'll just keep you sitting, allright Arthur? You can breathe better this way in the chair..?" Roy asked. "Y- Yeah.. That's why I came into the kitchen. Usually I stay by the fire while they bake, you see? But then I *cough* got a little dizzy.. and the room started spinning round and round. I got scared, you know.. So I called for help. Glad you boys are here, because.. I'm not feeling so good today.." Arthur sighed softly. His charm was irresistable to the other firemen hovering nearby and they all broke into grins of amusement. Cap noticed the pictures on the wall. "Say,, Arthur.. I know this movie.. And this looks like your front porch here on the poster.." "Heh.." Arthur grinned around his mask. "It is.. I've been baking cookies for the studios for so long, they.. they come over every once in a while...to make a movie.. know what I mean..?" Chet and Marco both nodded. "Sure do." Kelly piped up eagerly, joining in Cap's enthusiasm."We're great fans of most of them. Attack of the Ghoulies and last year's Grandchild of Frankenstein here. Do you really have an iron maiden in the basement down there? We didn't really quite make it down there before Ca-" Lopez smacked Chet silent before Cap could use the eye on him. "This is Dr. Brackett, go ahead, 51." Johnny continued his report. "Rampart our victim's got a history of chronic occlusive pulmonary disease. He admits to asthma. I've listened to him and he does sound a little wet on the left side. And his breathing's slightly labored. We've amended his liter flow to four a minute." Kel finished reading the report Dix had taken on him and looked up before thumbing the intercom. "Give me his strip 51. Is he coherent enough for you to get a oral temperature on him?" "That's affirmative on both, Rampart. Transmitting EKG." Johnny said, dialing the EKG monitor to send mode. Dr. Brackett eyed the rhythm he received. "51, I'm reading a normal sinus rhythm over here with only slight variations. Is the O2, helping his dyspnea at all?" "That's affirmative. He was slightly cyanotic when we found him on the table top but he's now pinking up albeit a bit clammy and chilled." Roy finished getting a temperature on Arthur. "Hmm.. 97.1" Johnny reported this in. "All right Johnny, start an IV Lactated Ringers, TKO only and transport as soon as possible. Keep him upright and comfortable and continue to maintain O2. That drop in temperature might be the early stages of septicemia or other etiology. I want a new vitals set in five minutes.." "10-4 Rampart. IV LR TKO and O2. New vitals in transit. The ambulance has arrived." Gage said. A few minutes later Arthur was warmly wrapped in wool tan blankets and his IV was in place in Marco's hand. As he was wheeling with the stationhouse crew he said. "You boys are so kind... when I get out ..you come back and I'll bake some nice, hot gingerbread cookies for you.. ok? You boys are so nice.." Gage grinned all the way into the Mayfair. It was he who rode in with Arthur the stage kids' cookie man. -------------------------------------------- The engine was already backed into the garage and abandoned by the time Roy and Johnny had replenished supplies and had made their farewells to the ill Mr. Fajou. The station house was quiet after Johnny and Roy turned off their backing reds, removed their helmets and left the squad. "Hmm. I wonder where the guys are? Are they sleeping?" Roy walked across the bay and peeked into the bunk house, flicking on the light for a sec. "Nope. The bed's are still made up.. All of them.." Johnny flicked a wrist up and checked the time. "Wow, no one's sleeping? It's almost three a.m..." Roy shrugged as they made their way by the large county map and into the kitchen. "Maybe they're watching the rebroadcast of the game...." "At three a.m..? Roy.. no channel airs games at three am in the morning.. Geesh.." he said as his calm demeanored partner preceeded him through the door he held open for Roy. No one was at the table nor at the frig. Johnny and Roy both turned on a dime. Looking towards the black leather couch and the TV chairs. The TV, was dark. And all the gang were on their hands and knees surrounding Henry's old dog house. It was still dusty and weather beaten from sitting in the yard. Chet was hastily scrubbing it clean with a bucket of water and Bon Ami. He looked up. "Heya guys.. About time you showed up. You almost missed the big moment. The little fella's about to go into his new home for the first time.." Johnny's jaw flopped open.. "You mean, uh, you mean Cap said Yes..?" he chortled, trying to keep his voice down. "Yeah, man. Guess the abandoned pup kinda got Cap's thoughts rolling about us losing Henry. It's been two years you know, since Henry's real owners showed up to claim him." he nodded. "Maybe, uh, maybe Cap's a little dogsick." "Maybe we ALL are.." Marco piped up eagerly, still on his hands and knees. The gang was carefully playing with the shy, but active beagle puppy keeping him in a ring before their laps, more than one trying to get the tiny guy to notice the doghouse doorway by tapping it. Roy and Gage joined them all on the floor, abandoning themselves to the moment. "Come on boy. Come on.. Don't you see it? There's a nice big bone in there.." Gage babytalked to the pup. "Eeeoowww" Kelly exclaimed. "Do you think we should really let him have Henry's old bone, Gage. Kinda dirty after two years in an old doghouse out in the yard." "Would you just hush.. I'm trying to bond here." Gage said. The moment Johnny looked up, the pup's attention wandered and he scampered over to the nearest lap he liked. Cap's. The pup stumbled gracelessly into Hank's stomach and then turned circles before settling down with a contented sigh after licking Cap's face once on the chin. "Well whatdiya know.."Roy grinned. "He knows who to thank doesn't he?" "Smart dog.." Hank said, keeping still as the new puppy closed his eyes. "uh oh,, looks like he's going ta sleep on me. Dang.. My leg's are going to, too, if I stay this way.." The gang hastily grabbed Cap by the shoulders and legs and Chet said. "Don't move Cap. You'll wake him. We'll move you to the recliner." "Kelly! Would y--" "ShhhhHHHH!" The rest of the gang said. The beagle whimpered but then started snoring again just as fast. Hank finally tossed his head. "All right. Lift me." he said, feeling ridiculous. Soon, he was settled in the black chair with the pup safely nestled like a sleeping Sphinx in his lap. The gang immediately made for the bunks, abandoning Cap and his puppy in the chair. "Hey, you're not just going to leave me here?" "Aww cap.. Do you really want us to make him cranky? I mean, these early puppy to family bonding days are crucial. You're just gonna haveta spend the night in the arm chair." Kelly reasoned. Cap scowled but stayed quiet. "All right. Just this once. Somebody get me a blanket." he said, adjusting the tiny pup's snoring face until his snores softened into easier sleeping breaths. Marco wasn't past teasing. "You know.. he just might have to sleep every night in your lap, Cap, after this.." "No he won't. Because if he needs to he can spend the night on somebody else's lap instead, like tomorrow night in yours Lopez?" "Aww Cap.. I can't sleep a wink sitting in a chair." "Didn't say it was an order. But.. Lookiethatcuteface. Can you deny him the benefit of a warm body's comfort?" "That's what a hot water bottle in the dog house is supposed to be for.." Marco said. "No dog is ever going to get into Henry's old doghouse." Mike Stoker said. "Chet's logged more hours in there than Henry ever did." The gang laughed. Johnny came back from grabbing a blanket out of a spare closet for Hank . "Here ya go, Cap." and he tossed it up into the air. "Gage, would you be careful?!" he said, barely saving it from burying the tiny dog. "You could've jarred the little guy.." "Sorry..Cap." Kelly was thoughtful. "Say, listen Cap. Now that we're keeping him, we can't just keep calling him Little Guy.. I mean uh, his previous owner says his name is uh,.." and he broke off in embarrassement. "Chester.." Gage said and the gang giggled. Cap said, "No, he's more like a "lapper" " he said patting where the puppy was lying deeply in slumber. "All right. Ok. We can call him Chester." Chet said defensively. "I just don't want to hear anybody and I mean anybody, ever.. call him Chester B.." Gage sniggered, "Why Chet? Does the B stand for something that really gets your blood pumping?" "No.. It's just--" Chet said, hastily avoiding Gage's advance on him in yet another attempt to ring it out of Chet what the answer was to that greatest of all Chet mysteries. Johnny grabbed Chet by the moustache and backed him into the wall. "Ahhh..owww.." Chet said, freezing as Johnny held him hostage with a twist of just one hand. "Hey come on, let go of m--" Johnny wrist lifted higher. "Once more Chet, what does the B stand for?" "NOthing." "What? I can't hear you." "Nothing at all. It's just a nickname....AhhhHH." "I don't beLIEVE you.." Gage singsonged. "It's trueeeEEE! Hey let go.." Cap's voice finally cracked out. "Gage..!" Johnny instantly let go, smoothing out Chet's collar where it had rumpled. "Next time.. You're gonna tell me.." and he walked back over to Cap and knelt by the tiny oblivious pup. "So, what shall we give to stand for little Chester here's second letter of the alphabet's initial eh? And it's just gotta be a "B"..." he smiled lipped fully cocked. And he met everyone's eyes. "Any suggestions?" ------------------------------- Photo : Cap glaring from his recliner. Photo : A very cute brown and white beagle pup looking at you, eager faced. Photo : Chet and Johnny squaring off, Roy looking on shaking his head in disbelief. ******************************** From : "satchie51" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Dinner Reservations Date : Fri, 22 Nov 2002 15:50:32 -0000 Outside Mannie's Restaurant.. Kel reluctantly relinquished his car to the restaurant's valet. He walked toward the entrance with the enthusiasm of a man facing his executioner, not his own father. Summoning his resolve, he approached the maitre d'. "Yes sir. How may I help you?" Taking a deep breath, he replied, "I'm joining Dr. Brent Brackett for dinner." The maitre d' nodded. "Ah, yes. He's been expecting you. Please come this way." Numbly, Kel walked to the familiar table. A distinguished looking gentleman was already seated. He glanced disapproving at his watch. "You're late. I thought perhaps you changed your mind." "I'm sorry. Things got a bit hectic in the ER at the last minute. I didn't think I was going to be able to get away," Kel apologized. The elder Brackett appeared dubious. "I see." "Dad…" "It would have been typical of you not to show up. You've been avoiding me like the plague for ages." Kel guiltily stared at his fingernails. In truth, he had initiated this dinner engagement at Dixie's urging. Over the past two days, however, he must have considered at least a dozen excuses to cancel this evening's plans. Emotional intimacy had never been his forte, especially with his father. He deliberately accepted the responsibility of two additional patients after his shift ended in order to stall for time. That's why he was running twenty minutes behind schedule. Breaking the awkward silence, Kel motioned to the waiter to bring him a drink. Brent raised his eyebrow. "Am I that unpleasant to be around that you need a drink?" "No. No, of course not. It's been a long day, and I'm tired and I'd like a scotch." Noticing the glass clutched in his father's hand, Kel retorted, "I see you're imbibing in your usual poison. Do you need alcohol to feel comfortable around your own son?" "You're being ridiculous." "Then stop interpreting my actions as though there's a hidden psychological meaning behind them. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." "Point taken," Brent conceded. "So how has work been, besides busy?" "Pretty much the same," Kel shrugged. "The new hospital administrator doesn't appreciate the value of the paramedic program to the community, so I've been having some interesting `discussions' lately." "Do you want to talk about it?" "Not really." The other man thoughtfully steepled his fingers. "Why not?" "Dad, I'm not one of your patients, all right?" Kel was developing an excruciating headache. He began to methodically massage his right temple. "Kel, for crying out loud! I'm a psychiatrist, not a witch doctor. It's an honorable profession. Unfortunately, you've always acted like you were ashamed of what I did for a living. I didn't get my degree out of a cereal box. I went to medical school at Harvard, and completed a residency and fellowship at Johns Hopkins, perfectly respectable institutions. Somehow you never seemed to accept my vocation as a `real' job. Sitting in a plush office and keeping a schedule didn't seem to fit your definition of work." "Don't you think this conversation is a little one-sided? As I recall, you weren't exactly supportive of my educational choices either. I wanted to put myself through school so I wouldn't feel pressured to follow in your footsteps. I waited on tables, parked cars and even worked as an evening janitor at the university in order to put myself through school. Granted, I didn't have the same Ivy League education you had, but I earned my way through my own efforts, and I'm proud of that. And I distinctly remember how horrified you were when I announced I wanted to go into emergency medicine. You called it barbaric, and said I'd wash out in a week." Smiling smugly, Kel added, "Well, I'm still here." Shaking his head, Brent argued, "You still don't understand what this is about, do you?" "I presume you're going to enlighten me." The father sighed in frustration. "You've been so blasted determined to escape from what you perceived to be my shadow, you've been running at full throttle most of your life. You thought my occupation was boring, so you chose the most exciting one you could imagine, emergency medicine." Kel pondered this thought while he took a sip of his scotch. "But don't you see?" Brent asked. "You're still acting like this is some bizarre competition between us. It's not, you know." Mercifully, the waiter appeared to take their order. Kel had little appetite, but knew he was expected to follow the ritual. Without looking at the menu, he mechanically recited the desired items. His anxiety was mounting with each passing moment. Concealed by the linen tablecloth, he was clenching and unclenching his fists. "Dad, I simply wanted to be my own man. That's a normal desire." "That's true, if not taken to extremes. But you never know when to draw the line. Everything is all or nothing, black or white," his father chided. When you decided to become a doctor, you couldn't settle for just any specialty. You had to outdo me and prove you were better than your old man. And what could be more dramatically different than a field that deals with life and death issues every minute?" His father's words cut him with the precision of a surgeon's scalpel. An uncomfortable feeling in his stomach was making its presence known. Kel replied, "You've never accepted the fact that we're totally different people with different interests. Maybe sitting around talking to people all day long is your cup of tea, but it isn't mine. I thrive on the excitement of the emergency room." "What is it precisely that you find so appealing? Is it the power you wield of being the head of the department, or saving people's lives?" Kel's famous temper flared. "Saving people's lives, of course!" "And you don't think I help save people's lives?" Brent shot back. "You may have looked down upon my profession and the scheduled hours I kept, but they allowed me the luxury of being able to raise a family and participate in a healthy social life. On the other hand, you'd rather work like a maniac to the exclusion of all else. You're forty-two years old and you have no life to speak of. You're not able to sustain relationships, and your time is essentially confined to the hospital and your apartment." Color began to drain from the younger man's face. He was furious that his father would dare to presume to lecture him, particularly in a public setting. Undeterred, Brent continued. "Even though we rarely get together, we do work in the same hospital. I know you're working yourself into an early grave. Your long hours and avoidance of vacations are legendary. But it's taking its toll on you. You look exhausted. You're pale, you've lost weight and you look like you're not sleeping well." Incredulous, Kel warned, "This is none of your business." "You're my son. That makes it my business." A war waged within Kel. He was angry with his father for pursuing this line of conversation, and with Dixie for insisting he schedule this stupid meeting. Most of all, he was angry with himself for allowing events to unfold as they had. After all these years, he should have known better than to discuss certain topics with his father. It was a foregone conclusion he would always lose these heated debates. The throbbing in his temple worsened. "Dad, you have no right to make judgments about how I choose to live my life." Brent leaned back in the leather-upholstered chair. "Then answer me this question. Did you succeed?" Kel was thoroughly confused. "Succeed in what?" "Did you prove to yourself you're not me?" "I don't understand." "Obviously you thought I was so terrible that you went through extraordinary measures to avoid being like me. In personality, temperament, interests, profession, you've tried to be my opposite in every way. But you're a grown man now. You've established yourself." Brent's tone softened and he gently placed his hand on Kel's forearm. "Son, if you're still running away from something, do you even know where you're running to?" Suddenly Kel felt the room was closing in on him. Overwhelmed by nausea, he bolted from the table and raced to the men's room. Standing over the toilet, he proceeded to lose what little he had eaten earlier in the day. A few minutes later, he splashed his face with cold water to revive himself. He caught his reflection in the mirror. For the first time, he didn't see the cocky, self-assured head of emergency services at Rampart. He saw an insecure little boy wanting to be anyone but his father. -------------------------------- No attachments. ******************************* From : "satchie51" Subject : Shattered Date : Sat, 23 Nov 2002 20:54:00 -0000 Kel sat in his darkened apartment, contemplating the evening's events. Past experience conditioned him not to expect a cordial relationship with his father. The best he could hope to achieve was a peaceful coexistence, and the best way to accomplish that objective was simple avoidance. Yes, dear old Dad managed to undermine that plan. Kel erroneously assumed when he moved to Los Angeles, there would be adequate physical and emotional distance to discourage contact from his father. He planned to make perfunctory phone calls on special occasions, and perhaps travel home to Boston during the Christmas holidays. But his father ruined that brilliant theory. Inexplicably, six years ago he closed his posh private practice and joined the staff at Rampart. Justifiably, Kel was furious when he heard the news from the hospital administrator. His father didn't even have the decency to notify him personally, which he deemed unforgivable. Through hard work and perseverance, Dr. Kelly Brackett had finally attained the level of professional success he sought. He was held in high esteem as the director of emergency services of Rampart General Hospital, and he was supremely confident in his abilities. Unfortunately, his father's arrival signaled the return of his long and imposing shadow. It seemed there was no escape. Since that time, they both performed an exotic dance around the hospital each day. Kel would arrive early in the emergency room and immerse himself in the department's activities, pretending nothing had changed. Brent Brackett would appear later in the morning and wordlessly take the elevator to his ninth floor office. Occasionally the two men would pass each other in the corridors. They would awkwardly acknowledge each other with a nod of the head or a mumbled hello, and then abruptly break off eye contact. As a token of atonement for missed father/son quality time, Kel would arrange dinner at Mannie's once a month, although he frequently found an excuse to miss the appointments. Simply being in the older man's presence was humbling and painful. It was hard to believe there was ever a brief period in his life when he looked up to his father and desperately sought his approval. But over the years, the senior Dr. Brackett couldn't resist the temptation to mold his son into his own image. He became critical of Kel's brooding, intense nature, and began to psychoanalyze his every act. If there was some behavior or shortcoming his son possessed, there had to be a hidden psychological reason behind it. Therefore, it became his mission to eradicate the offending conduct. Brent did not anticipate Kel's reaction. Instead of meekly complying to accommodate his father's grand scheme, his headstrong son rebelled. He was determined to do the exact opposite of what was demanded of him. The relationship rapidly deteriorated, and they never recaptured the emotional intimacy they once shared. Tonight's disastrous attempt at dinner only reinforced Kel's growing sense of anxiety about the situation. How long could he continue this absurd charade? He walked over to the sliding patio door and placed his palm against the cool glass. It was a moonless night. Somehow it seemed appropriate for his increasingly dark mood. The more he thought about his father's words, the angrier he became. In a blind moment of rage, Kel slammed his hand against the door, shattering the glass onto the balcony. Stunned, he stared at the blood dripping from his arm. Several seconds elapsed before the significance of his action sunk in. He was bleeding. The calm, cool-headedness of his profession eluded him. Kel was emotionally dazed by the destructive act he had just committed. He wrapped his arm in a kitchen towel as he fumbled through his medical bag. After superficially cleaning his wounds, he applied some 4x4s as pressure dressings and wrapped his arm with gauze. In disbelief, he sat on his couch and buried his face in his hands. He lost track of how long he lingered there, when a loud knock interrupted his trance. "Police! Is everything okay?" Kel was totally confused. What were the police doing at his apartment? He slowly roused himself and answered the door. "Yes, how can I help you?" The policeman took in the physician's disheveled appearance. "Your neighbor called in a disturbance. She heard the sound of broken glass and thought you were being robbed." Glancing at the bloodstained bandages, the officer inquired, "Were you injured in the attack?" Confusion was quickly replaced by mortification as Kel realized his careless deed had attracted unwanted attention. "No, there was no robbery. It…it was an accident." The seasoned officer was dubious. Noting the location of the bandages, he wondered if this was a self-inflicted injury or perhaps a suicide attempt. "Why don't I take you to a hospital to have that looked at?" "No, that's okay," Kel assured him. "I'm a doctor. I'll take care of it." The blood continued to splatter on the floor as they spoke. "Sir, with all due respect, you look like you could use a little help with that. I'm sure it would only take a few minutes." Reluctantly nodding his consent, he followed the officer to his patrol car. He dreaded the inevitable barrage of questions he would be subjected to at Rampart. * * * * * Now that the initial shock had worn off, Kel was becoming increasingly anxious. His demeanor did not improve when the police officer insisted on accompanying him into the emergency department. Dr. Morton was the first person to notice his boss' presence. "Dr. Brackett! What happened?" he asked as he guided his mentor into a treatment room. "I had a little accident at home. It's nothing, really." The officer surreptitiously motioned to speak to the intern. Mike said, "Okay. Well, have a seat and I'll grab some blank forms from Carol. I'll be right back." Soon Mike returned, paperwork in hand. He efficiently took Kel's vital signs and frowned at his findings. "Hmm. Your blood pressure is really high. Has it been elevated lately?" "No," Kel wearily replied. "Then there has to be a reason for the sudden increase. Is it reasonable to assume it's related to the injury to your hand?" A pronounced silence was his answer. "How exactly did this happen?" Mike probed. After taking a deep breath, Kel barked, "I cut myself. Isn't it obvious?" "On purpose?" "Of course not! Do I look like an idiot? The glass door shattered!" Mike countered, "By itself?" Kel glared at his subordinate. How dare he presume to press this issue and humiliate him further. He had given his account, and that should end these ridiculous questions. Sensing they were at an impasse, Mike began unwrapping the blood soaked bandages. "These cuts look pretty nasty. There doesn't appear to be any vascular damage, but most of them are deep enough to require stitches." "Yeah, I figured as much." "I'll have Carol get everything set up. I'll be back in a moment." Mike made a hasty retreat and headed for the nurses' station. A nagging feeling tickled his brain. Kel's behavior and his description of the "accident" didn't add up. Perhaps there was a more sinister explanation. "Carol, who's on call for psych?" She consulted the schedule. "Uh, that would be Dr. Brent Brackett." The intern sadly shook his head. In the first place, it would be inappropriate to ask a family member to consult on a case. But it was also common knowledge the son and father had a strained relationship. Mike was certain the senior Dr. Brackett was NOT to be contacted in case of an emergency. He needed help in assessing whether Kel needed to be held for psychiatric observation in light of the deep slashes to his arm. Turning to the nurse, Mike said, "Page Dr. Early. I need him here as soon as possible for a consult, and tell him who the patient is." He waved Maggie over to the desk. "I need your assistance in Treatment Room 3." They entered to find an agitated Kelly Brackett awaiting their return. "What took you so long? Let's get this over with so I can go home." Mike removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I had a call I had to take care of." Kel impatiently offered his injured arm to the intern. "Well, get to work." Knowing it would take about fifteen minutes for Joe to reach Rampart, Mike carefully cleaned the wounds and began suturing the deep gashes. Fearful of antagonizing his boss, he kept conversation to an absolute minimum. He was enormously relieved when he heard Joe's gentle voice break the eerie silence of the room. "Hey, Kel. I heard you had a little mishap. How are you doing?" Mike concentrated on the task at hand, well aware of the menacing gaze that was being directed at him. "I'm fine," Kel growled. "Did they call you?" "Yeah. They're a little worried about you," Joe said reassuringly. "Well, they shouldn't be. I only need a few stitches and I'll be on my way." The white-haired physician sat down and folded his arms. "Kel, think about it from our point of view. A police officer brings you in. You're stressed. You have several deep gashes on your arm, and you're less than forthcoming about how they got there. What would normal procedure be?" A light bulb went off in Kel's head. "Cr*p. A psych consult would probably be ordered." "Do you know why this wasn't done?" "Because I'm the head of the department and Mike didn't want to embarrass me?" Joe informed him, "No. It's because your father was on call tonight." "I don't believe this!" Kel shouted. "I can't get away from that man!" He wildly jumped off the table, unexpectedly pushing Mike away as he was still suturing the wounds. "Kel, settle down!" Joe commanded. "You don't understand. I just spent a miserable evening with him. I've spent most of my entire life trying to break away from his grasp. But no matter what I do or where I go, there is he is!" The picture was coming into focus. Joe needed time alone with his friend. "Mike, I'll take care of this. Thanks for everything." After the door closed, Joe began. "Come back and have a seat and we'll talk while I finish sewing you up." With the enthusiasm of a lamb beinglead to the slaughter, Kel lowered his head and made his way to the exam table. "I'm sorry," he muttered. "About?" "Causing so much trouble for everyone. I try to keep my personal life private. But I guess everyone knows my father and I aren't exactly on the best of terms." "What happened this evening that was so upsetting?" Joe asked. "Oh, the usual." Kel tried to sound nonchalant. "We each have our own unique perspective on things." "That never caused you to put your hand through glass before." The dark-haired man's temper quickly flared, and then dissipated. "Well, I think in his own warped way he was trying to extend an olive branch, except it was thinly disguised as a reiteration of my faults since childhood. Suddenly, it all seemed so infuriating." His task complete, Joe began applying a dressing. "You know, you're a lot alike in one respect. You're both stubborn." A small smile crept across Kel's features. "I come by the trait honestly." "Look, this problem isn't going to solve itself. You're here, he's here, you need to get together and work this out." "You sound like Dixie." Joe grinned, "She's a smart cookie." "Don't encourage her!" Kel laughed. "She already thinks she runs the department!" "She doesn't?" Kel's mood sobered. "I suppose I need to tell her about this before she hears it from someone else." He rose to his feet. "I'll give her a call from my office." "I have a better idea. You can call her from my place," Joe proposed. "That's not necessary." His colleague firmly insisted, "I want you to come home with me tonight. After you call Dix, I'll give you something to help you unwind and get a good night's sleep. Take tomorrow off and collect your thoughts. In a week or so when you feel up to it, call your dad and make another dinner appointment. Maybe if you're the one offering the olive branch, you'll find the peace terms more agreeable." "After all these years, I'm afraid to hope," Kel admitted. "But at least you'll be able to find comfort in knowing you tried." Tossing his coat over his shoulder, Kel followed his friend out the door. --------------------------------- No attachments. *********************************** From: "Linda Taggatz" Date: Sat, 23 Nov 2002 21:31:45 -0600 Subject: Re: Shattered Kel and Joe soon arrived at Joe's apartment. It was cozy. In one corner stood a piano. "Nice place Joe." Kel said as he looked around. "Thanks." Joe told Kel to take the coat off and toss it on the chair. Kel complied, then sat down. Kel put his head in his hands. "I don't know anymore Joe. I don't know what to say to him. Maybe if we start talking about mom things will relax. But then, he never wants to talk about her." Joe got curious. "Why is that?" Kel shook his head and said "I wish I knew." -------------------------------- No attachments. *********************** From : "patti keiper" Subject : Breakfast Banter Buffet Style Date : Mon, 25 Nov 2002 15:21:22 +0000 Breakfast Banter Buffet Style >Cap's voice finally cracked out. "Gage..!" >Johnny instantly let go, smoothing out Chet's >collar where it had rumpled. "Next time.. >You're gonna tell me.." and he walked back >over to Cap and knelt by the tiny oblivious >pup. "So, what shall we give to stand for little >Chester here's second letter of the alphabet's >initial eh? And it's just gotta be a "B"..." he smiled >lipped fully cocked. And he met everyone's eyes. >"Any suggestions?" There was a brief pause, for the briefest moment, as Chet walked through the kitchen doors leading to the garage bay and the quiescent fire vehicles parked there. Kelly almost whispered his suggestion, ".....Bartholomew." and he trudged morosely towards the bunkroom. Gage and the others froze into place in their tight ring around Cap. Even Cap's finger paused, from stroking the little beagle's sleeping forehead. "W-W- What did he say?" "Oh my G*d. I don't believe it.." Marco said. "He said Bartholomew.." "Yeah, but was that a suggestion for Chester or was that in reply to Gage putting on a little elbow grease to Chet's moustache?" Stoker asked them all. Cap's eyes bugged out and all his smile lines smoothed out in rapt frankness. "The world may never know.." The gang chuckled in reply, but not Gage. Yipp! barked the sleeping puppy in his dream. The fellas immediately fell to shushing each other and tiptoed out of the kitchen, leaving Cap the honor of spending the first night with the new station mascot. Johnny's self satisfied smirk at a successful Chet tease fizzled into uncertainty as he pondered Stoker's musing. When they all were well out of the range of young canine ears, Gage asked his partner. "Whatdidya think, Roy? Whaa -- uh, which way do you think we should take Chet's answer..?" "Careful, Johnny. Don't get into it too much. Or you just may have a complex about it." Roy answered as he peeled shirt and pants down to boxers and a T shirt and sailed with an amused clunk onto his bunk. "You know how devious Chester B can get when it comes to getting you back for muscling around with him." Johnny's face alternately smiled and fell as he regarded Chet Kelly slumbering for all the world like King Nebenezzer on his bunk with his fingers laced nonchalantly over his chest. Gage turned his back on the sight, not sure about whether or not Chet was smiling or frowning. ::Can't tell behind that d*mned moustache..:: he groaned mentally, shifting irritably onto a shoulder to try and forget about it. Sleep was a long time in coming. ---------------------------------------- Breakfast was spread out like a posse's standard grub with a partial roasting steer the next day. The guys, feeling guilty about tricking Cap into spending first nightwatch over Chester, fed him right where he was, in the armchair. Stoker had even gone out into the yard and had picked Hank a magnolia for a bud vase with the breakfast tray he hand delivered to him. "Guys, you didn't have to do this.." Cap said, rubbing sleep mussed hair and his face as he shifted his weight in the chair gingerly around the still oblivious Chester Bartholomew lying like a tiny sack of potatoes in his lap. "Oh, yes we do, Cap. I mean, what fireman in any firehouse is more self sacrificial than a Cap? Am I right fellas?" Chet asked, shoving buttered toast into his hungry maw. He chewed, puffed cheeked as he added. "Made an example of all of us, for ditchin him and keepin him all last night away from the comfort of Cap's own bed." he said. He took a gulp of his too hot coffee a little too fast and started choking a bit. Roy gave his back a thump or two as he reached for a green apple from the fruit basket in front of the breakfast rib roast Stoker had smoking on the spit all last night. "Easy there Chet. Don't talk, chew." DeSoto said, taking a half moon bite out of his fruit. "Yeah.." Gage agreed, his own cheeks big with bagel. "I wanna get through chow without a still alarm, Kelly, if you don't mind.." "Very funny Gage. Tell me something there, uh, buddy. What uh, what is YOUR middle name if you don't mind me turning the tables on ya. And I'll just ask it since you don't have any facial hair for me to grab onto.." Marco nearly spit out his fresh squeezed pineapple juice chortling. Stoker rescued him with a toss of a folded towel. When the light laughter bubbled away into sounds of contented eating, Lopez said, "Yeah, Gage. You don't have anything on the back of your turnout coat. Just "Gage". " "My secret.. So shush.." Chet didn't give him any further clues to answering Gage's Chet mystery by responding back. Cap looked up from where he was adjusting a china blue bowl filled with steamed water moistened puppy chow on his breakfast tray under a ravenous Chester's face. The little one was eating so fast, he was snorting and almost tipping nose up into the food. "Whoops, slow down there Chester Bartholomew.. or you'll end up as fat as ol Henry used to be.." Chet looked up suddenly from his paper as if he was the one addressed. Just as quickly, Chet shot eyes back down to his plate. Johnny's eyes narrowed suspiciously when he saw that reaction. But for the life of him, he couldn't tell whether or not Kelly had thought Cap was speaking about him or the new puppy. ::I coulda told that a lot better if Kelly grabbed his stomach or something too, then, at Cap's comment. "Man.. I'll never find out my answer.." he grumbled to Roy. The guys laughed. "Yeah well, this too, shall pass. No doubt you and Chet will live to fight another day.." DeSoto said, regarding which piece of his sliced apple to devour next with his milk. Then he chose two at the same time and followed up with a thick bite of BBQ beef rib. He was the only one eating with a fork. The others were eating off the bone, including Chester Bartholomew. "Not if he keeps eating so fast like that he won't." Gage said cheek muffled with a beefy spear, glaring at Kelly. "I got a fine example of how obstructed airways happen, too, Roy, right in my line of sight.." Chet said, in retort back, making runway guide motions right at his current source of verbal torment sitting across the table from him. "Peace you two.." Cap said, finally extricating himself from the recliner, leaving Chester happily diving into what was left on his tray. Captain Stanley saundered over to the bulletin board and snatched down the weekly rounds chart board. He was the only one still in a blue uniform. The gang was still in T-shirts and pullover pants-and-boots. "The weekly fire violation rounds list. Today, only one on the books." "Aww Cap, can't it wait until after breakfast? Turns my stomach learning about folks who like living in a fire hazard zone instead of following codes." Chet complained. "Shutup and chew.." Cap replied. "You're gonna hear this one. In fact, all of you might have an invested interest in this case." "Oh?" Roy grunted. "Yeah." Cap replied. "We have an excessive brush violation at....213 East Morrow Drive..." All jaws stopped chewing when they remembered that the address belonged to one very very nice old man living in a very very creepy looking old house. Gage's mouth crooked open in regret. "Aww, Cap. We can't go handing out a fine to kindly ol Mr. Fajou.. I really like that guy. Wouldn't be nice of us to leave it tacked onto his front door like that to find once he gets outta the hospital.." he added sarcastically. Stanley snapped back defensively light. "You got any better ideas?" "Yeah..I do." Lopez said. "Come guys, we got nothing better to do this weekend, and I know that for a fact because there's no games in town. Why don't we just skip out on our normal routines and go over there to do a little weed control ourselves. It'd be easy for us. We're licensed to do a controlled burn." Both of Cap's eyebrows climbed up into his hairline. "Hey, that's a wonderful idea. We can all trade shifts mutually with Saturday's crew in trade for Friday and get this done for the old guy. I can have Eight's brush truck sent over for Stoker to use." There came a chorus of eager yes's and O.k.'s all around. Even another yip from Chester where he sat in the recliner near the licked clean dish tray. All heads turned. "Wow." Stoker remarked. "Maybe we found ourselves a new dish washer. Just look at Cap's tray. Clean as a whistle.." "Heh... Don't give him any bright ideas.." Cap said. "That's just a first morning privilege." he grumbled. "Wouldn't want him to pick up any really bad habits from us now would we..?" Chet made a show of licking BBQ off his plate by lapping it like a dog. "Very funny Kelly.." Cap said. "For that, you get latrine duty this morning.." "Awww, Cap.." "Aww, nothing. When you make Cap, you can find ways to delegate the more unpleasant firehouse duties in the least painful ways to your crew, too, just like I did.." he chipped up. "You're all heart.." Kelly mumbled. "What's that, Kelly. Didn't quite hear you? My other inferiorly ranked men are all laughing too hard." "I said, uh, you're so smart." Chet said, stirring his grits morosely. Then his eyes shot up in alarm. 'Uh, I don't mean "smart" as in sarcastic, Cap. At least not in, uh,, not in...that case..." he trailed off sheepishly, and escaped into the newspaper to hide from the moment in hot water. "Let's hope not, Kelly. The hoses in the tower need to be reloaded.." Chet was a mouse behind the funnies section. Stoker and Marco's hands raised up. "Give it to us Cap. Only fair.."Mike said. "We got out of it last time due to a timely dumpster fire call." "Good men.. Kelly, did you see that? Lopez and Stoker actually volunteered to do one of the sweaty jobs." Cap said. "Yeah, well I don't see them lining up for the smelly one.." Chet groused. "Quit eating like a horse and maybe the bathrooms would smell a little better in the morning Chet.." Gage retorted. "Yeah, I had to use a half can of Lysol Disinfectant just to breathe earlier.." Marco quipped, joining Gage's bandwagon. "I can't help it.." Chet said. "I was born with an efficient colon. At least I don't let them loose while giggling at erotic dreams in my sleep like Marco over here." "I do not.." Marco protested vehemently. Gage sniggered. "Uh, is that in reply to part A or part B of Chet's previous sentence Marco. Your crewmates would really really like to know." Marco just glared. "You try working in a firehouse with a mama who stuffs YOU full of beans and enchiladas just before your twenty four hours on shifts, I'd say you'd be tooting them too." "I'll stick with the engine's horn thanks.." Mike said. Gage scored a point in the air for Stoker. "Ok, ok, that explains the gassier aspects of your nightly exploits. Now, tell us about your dreams, Marco Lopez.... Is she cute?" "I'm Catholic!" Marco protested. "I don't have to confess to you.." "You might as well.." Gage warned in jest. "I see a greaaattt moustache gripping handle there under your nose..." and he rose in his chair. "Cap!!" Marco squeaked. Johnny was already in his chair and chewing his last bite of food by the time Cap's eyebrow was fully cocked into the firing position. Hank settled out of his warning glare and continued chewing the piece of apple he had stolen from Roy's plate. "What? I see no problem here. Except for maybe a stack or two of too many dishes. Lopez. Dish detail." "Awww, Cap. I thought you were supposed to safeguard your men." Marco said. "I just did. Do you see Gage pinning you against the wall where he had Kelly squirming last night?" "No." "Good, then hop to it. Stoker was the one who cooked today. Gage, you got floor detail, a full wet mop job. DeSoto, vehicle buffing, chrome only. Looks like rain today." "Well what about you, Cap?" Lopez still singing, stung. "I have a new chore. I get to show Chester here where to go..."he grinned. And he hefted up his little charge and wandered out cooly into the yard. The guys all rose from the breakfast table and fell to. Johnny was grinning at Marco's still red face from Chet revealing out a night secret so boldly, but even he wouldn't poke a man when he was down. ::Well, not a fire fighting coworker at any rate, just a victim on a scene to learn a consciousness level. Heh.:: he thought. Then he said, "Say Roy.. Us going out this weekend to help ol' Mr. Fajou is really gonna be fun. I mean, Vince's got the keys to his place, right? Maybe we can even all go in and clean up his kitchen too for him." Roy angled his head skeptically as he helped Lopez grumpily stack plates as he carried each armload to the sink. "I don't know, Johnny. Most gourmet cooks don't like people messing with their kitchens." "Who's to say Mr. Fajou is a gourmet chef? Well, maybe a pastry baking one.." he admitted. "Still wouldn't hurt to do this good deed thing a notch or two better." he grinned cockeyed. Chet piped up. "Yeah, maybe we can learn what's finally in that basement of his and in all those other creepy rooms, man." Johnny waggled his head. "I don't think Mr. Fajou would appreciate us snooping around his house now would you?" he moaned caustic. "Gage, that place's an historic landmark.." "You mean a haunted one.." Stoker quipped from around the newspaper. Kelly went on as if he hadn't heard Mike interrupt him. "...Mr. Fajou probably gives movie tours to the studio kids he bakes for all the time. I mean uh, what's the difference if it's kids or firemen getting thrilled to death in there..?" "A big one, Chet Kelly. The poor guy deserves a little privacy in his own home.." he insisted. Kelly's eyes hit the table and his fidgetting fingers drumming there."Looks more like the old guy needs a friend or two Johnny.." Chet said. "We can always act scared and nervous when he gets back and gives us a tour for doing his yardwork this weekend." Roy grinned, folding his arms over his shoulders. "There's that, Johnny. Come on, give in to a little curiosity..." "Nice sentiment Roy, aren't you Catholic too?" Gage said. "Doing a nice thing for somebody else isn't a sin.." he replied. Marco agreed firmly. "Look it up.." John shot both of them a disgusted look. Then the alarm went off, for a full station call. ##Station 51, Engine 18, Truck 127. Battalion 14. Truck overturn with a chemical spill on the Pacific Coast Highway at Southbound mile marker 513. Multiple vehicular involvement.Truck overturn on the PCH at Southbound mile marker 513. Cross street Dungeness. PD reports approach with caution. Be advised. An unknown gas cloud has prompted start of evacuation action from the CHP. Timeout, 07:10. ## Cap's shoes came pelting by the kitchen door and he received the call as the men moved out. He handed off Chester B to Roy who left the bewildered young pup safely on the recliner. "Be good pal. See you when we get back." DeSoto told the little dog, rushing out. Cap acknowledged the run. "Station 51, 10-4. KMG 365.." The entire company rolled out....... ---------------------------------------- Photo: A very sleepy Beagle pup. Photo: Roy and John getting set for resting on their firehouse bunks. Photo: Chet Kelly sleeping like King Nebenezzer. Photo : Station 51's rescue call speaker. *animated gif* A massive fireball explosion mushroom cloud. Photo: A gas cloud at an accident scene enveloping two running people. ******************************** From : "SM Fortis" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Restaurant Confessional Date : Wed, 27 Nov 2002 09:42:38 -0600 Grateful to be home in his own apartment, Kel stretched out on the couch. Despite Joe's advice he wait awhile before scheduling another reconciliation attempt, Kel promptly contacted his father and made reservations for dinner that evening. Patience never had been his greatest virtue. His colleague was right in one respect. If Kel dictated the terms of the meeting and tried to keep the conversation on message, perhaps he would feel more in control of the situation. He was determined not to feel powerless in the presence of Brent Brackett again. Since his return home, Dixie called twice to make sure he was okay. To combat his growing anxiety, Kel occupied himself by spending most of the afternoon performing errands and browsing at a jazz record store Joe was always raving about. After purchasing a couple of albums, he glanced at his watch and headed back to his apartment. He was pleased to discover the patio door was already replaced. One unpleasant reminder of the previous evening's events was now conveniently eradicated. Unfortunately, the stark white bandages wrapping his right hand and arm were still grim reminders of his angry outburst. Kel cringed at the memory of his senseless act. Placing his package on the table, he headed toward his bedroom and began rummaging through his closet for an appropriate suit. After a quick shower and shave, Kel changed clothes and left ahead of schedule. He thought if he arrived at the restaurant first, he would feel less intimidated by his father. He was resolved not to leave in humiliation again. The maitre d' promptly greeted Kel and ushered him to his table. He briefly closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, trying to prepare himself for the exchange that awaited him. Looking through the windows, Kel saw a spectacular sunset. Somehow the scene comforted and encouraged him. The advice of his friends was at the forefront of his mind right now. The sooner he could establish some common ground with his father, the sooner their fractured relationship could begin to heal. Shortly thereafter, the elder Brackett was escorted to the table. Kel rose not only as a point of etiquette, but also as a token of respect. Brent offered his hand in greeting, and suddenly Kel felt self-conscious about his injury. Pasting an uncomfortable smile on his face, he gingerly shook his father's hand. Brent frowned. "What happened to your arm?" "Oh, I had a little accident at home. I'm fine." Eager to deflect attention from himself, Kel asked, "Did you have any problems finding the restaurant?" "No, not at all. Your directions were quite specific." Appreciatively eyeing the premises, Brent remarked, "This place has a very cozy atmosphere. How did you happen upon this amazing little discovery?" Kel inwardly smiled at the memories of many pleasant evenings he shared with Dixie here. "A friend introduced me to it several years ago. I hoped the change of venue would provide a fresh start for us. There would be no ghosts from the past to haunt us." Signaling the waiter, he ordered a round of drinks for the two of them, preferring club soda for himself. He decided he could not afford to have his thoughts clouded by alcohol, nor his famous temper unleashed by lowered inhibitions. No, tonight Kel needed his complete faculties. His father's brow furrowed. "You're not having your usual?" "I'm taking some medication," Kel lied. "I heard you took a rare day off today. Is everything okay?" That was the problem with a small community like Rampart, news traveled fast. How much did his father know about last night? Kel's answer was evasive. "I had some personal business to attend to." "I have to admit, I was surprised to hear from you this afternoon," Brent said. "I thought our last meeting went rather badly." Taking a sip of his drink, Kel proceeded, "That's why I wanted to see you again so soon. I think we've allowed this situation to go on long enough. Don't you agree?" His father sighed. "So, has the prodigal son experienced some glorious epiphany since we last met?" "Dad, I'm simply tired of this ridiculous state of affairs. We've been at odds since I was a kid. Okay, I'm not a brilliant psychiatrist, so maybe I'm too dense to understand the official psychobabble explanation. But I'm smart enough to know this standoff has come to an end." "You always have been willful." The men were granted a respite when the waiter came to take their order. They sat in silence for several minutes, each studiously avoiding contact. It was painfully obvious neither felt comfortable in the other's presence. Finally, Brent addressed his son. "I understand you were upset with me last night." Kel shot his father a baleful glare. "We're not here to discuss MY problems. We're here to discuss OURS." "Okay, so what's really on your mind?" Attempting to keep his tone of voice devoid of emotion, Kel asked, "Why DID you move to Los Angeles? Of all the places in the country you could have relocated to, why did you have to move here, and why did you choose to practice at Rampart?" Brent stared at the table centerpiece. "Your mother wanted the two of us to make amends. Since it was obvious you weren't going to make the first step, she thought I should swallow my foolish pride and initiate the process." "I don't understand." "When you were a boy, we used to enjoy spending time together, as strange as that seems now. We went almost everywhere together." A small smile escaped Brent's lips. "I used to take you to the hospital with me, and you'd tell anyone who would listen that you were my son, and you were going to be a doctor like me when you grew up." The older man remorsefully shook his head. "But soon your youthful boasts appealed to my vanity. I envisioned you as my own immortality, so I wanted to remold you in my image. Since you were always so willing to please me, I assumed you would be agreeable to this arrangement. I honestly pictured us spending quality time together over the years, and in due time, I foresaw the day when you would take your rightful place as my partner in my clinical practice." "But it didn't quite work out that way," Kel said flatly. "Unfortunately, it didn't. I pushed you away instead. In my arrogance, I refused to recognize you as a unique individual. You always had a sense of your own identity." "I resented you dictating my life," Kel stated. "You never bothered to ask me if I wanted to participate in your grand plans or not. All I knew is one day I was Dad's precious son who could do no wrong, and then the next you found fault with everything I did. No detail was too insignificant to escape your exacting scrutiny. I thought you didn't love me anymore." "But that was the problem," Brent explained. "I loved you too much, but in an unhealthy way. Ironic, isn't it? Here I was, a well-renown psychiatrist, but I wasn't able to see I was sabotaging our relationship. Every time you rebelled and became angrier, I became more critical. Because you failed to conform, I assumed you were stupid and ungrateful. I felt like a failure not only as a father, but also as a psychiatrist. My ego wouldn't allow me to admit I had failed. Until the day you left, I had to keep trying to remake you." Kel rubbed his face. "Why didn't you say anything before? "Saying 'I'm sorry' has never come easily to me. I didn't realize the full implications of what I had done to you until you were gone. By that time, we were barely speaking to each other. Over the years, begging for forgiveness became next to impossible." Conflicting emotions swirled within Kel. He was angry with his father for not mentioning any of this earlier, but he understood how difficult it must have been for him to do so tonight. Kel took after his father in that respect. It was not in his nature to cross emotional barriers without significant effort. If it were not for the encouragement of Dixie and Joe, he would not be here this evening having this conversation. He knew he was hardly in a position to judge his father on this particular point. But he also felt a myriad of other feelings: abandonment, betrayal, resentment, bewilderment and surprisingly, still even love. Kel saw his father with new eyes. Brent didn't look so arrogant and controlling now. Instead, he came across as an aging pathetic figure that once hoped to live forever through his son. For a long period of time, the two men did not speak. They were content to nurse their drinks and stare into oblivion. They were relieved when the waiter served the food. For a few moments they would be spared the necessity of having to engage in conversation. As they began to eat, Brent looked on with genuine concern since Kel seemed to have trouble carving his steak due to his injured hand. "Do you need any help with that?" he offered. "No, that's okay, I have it under control. I'm pretty good with a knife, if I do say so myself," Kel grinned. "I see you haven't lost your sense of modesty over the years." The son shrugged. "It's hard to be humble and great at the same time." "You're a lot like your mother in some ways, very resilient and single-minded. I know you tend to think of it as a sign of weakness, but you're more compassionate like she is." Brent softly said, "After all these years, your mother has never forgiven me for driving you away from us. I'm not sure I've forgiven myself." Kel was confused. He wasn't sure what he expected from this evening's meeting, but his father's uncharacteristic confession certainly wasn't it. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Recent conversations with Dixie and Joe weighed heavily upon his conscience. Years of hurt could not be easily erased with a simple apology. Yet, they needed to begin somewhere. He thought of his mother, and the years of anguish this rift must have caused her. Didn't he at least owe it to her to make an effort? Staring at his nearly full plate, Kel tentatively cleared this throat. "Dad, as you've pointed out before, I've never been good at maintaining relationships. But maybe now is a good time to begin. Don't you think it's time we started behaving like two grown men and put aside our differences, if for no other reason than for Mom's sake?" "I don't even know where to begin," Brent said reluctantly. Cautiously leaning forward, Kel spoke. "Perhaps it's time for you to visit me in my office for a change. You know, see me in my natural habitat? It's possible I subconsciously went into emergency medicine to spite you or to prove something to myself. But somewhere along the way I discovered it was my passion. I really love this field, and I'm good at it. I can't imagine being happier anywhere else but the emergency room of Rampart. What do you say, Dad?" Brent considered his son's proposal. "I don't know. I heard the head of the department can be a real bear and a force to be reckoned with." "No, those are all vicious rumors," Kel chuckled. "He's a real pussycat once you get to know him. At least that's what the head nurse is fond of pointing out." "Speaking of the head nurse, do I have your reassurances she's not going to bite my head off if I set foot in the ER? She must think I give you such grief." "No, Dad. In fact, she's one of the reasons I called you. Dixie has been after me for ages to get me to end this conflict. She's a persistent woman." "Sounds like your mother," Brent joked. The two men laughed. For the first time all evening, they felt genuinely relaxed. "How about meeting me in my office for coffee tomorrow morning?" Kel asked. "I can give you a tour of my department." With a tinge of a little boy's expectation in his voice he added, "Hopefully you'll be proud of what your son has become." ------------------------------------------- Photo: Kel in a gray suit. Photo : A California sunset. Photo: Posh brick rustic restaurant's interior. Photo : Joe Early by the coffee mug shelf. Photo : Dixie looking no nonsense and listening. Photo : Dr. Brackett answering a rescue intercom call. Photo : Kel in the coffee lounge, closeup. ********************************** From : "Cory Anda" Subject : Mad Dash... Date : Thu, 28 Nov 2002 08:20:24 +0000 Offstory: Acknowledgements Firehouse.com HazMatZone http://www.firehouse.com/training/hazmat/studies/2002/03_ammonia.html For information about anhydrous ammonia spills and detailed hazardous material clean up procedures. Acknowledgements to Tom Stafford MD Firefighter/Captain On Foam Truck Hazmat Procedures via email. Acknowledgements to P. Keiper NREMT, for first aid advice treating such exposures for characters in story and finding anhydrous related image jpegs for me. Back In Story: > ##Station 51, Engine 18, Truck 127. Battalion >14. Truck overturn with a chemical spill on the >Pacific Coast Highway at Southbound mile marker >513. Multiple vehicular involvement.Truck overturn >on the PCH at Southbound mile marker 513. Cross >street Dungeness. PD reports approach with caution. >Be advised. An unknown gas cloud has prompted >start of evacuation action from the CHP. Timeout, >07:10. ## >Cap acknowledged the run. "Station 51, 10-4. >KMG 365.." >The entire company rolled out....... ---------------------------------------- Roy sped the squad down the boulevard as Johnny doubled checked the exact location of access to the scene in his head. "The best exit to use for that ramp is the PCH itself, Roy. That part of the freeway wraps around a bend in a canyon. Let's hope whatever the gas is coming from this spill doesn't float too high. There are about sixty homes in the area on the bluffs." Johnny finally said. "Let's hope for the best." DeSoto replied. The communications channel patched between all responding units was in a flurry of activity. They could hear Highway Patrol chattering urgently as they continued their evacuation of the cars in the area, and one merchant's business. Then, came the reassuring voice of Battalion 14, already on scene. ##Battalion 14 to Station 51. Approach from the Southbound direction, downwind of the wreck, two cars and one semitruck are involved. Wear full SCBA turnout and stay out of the area until Hazmat moves in. The truck involved is a NH3 nurse truck with confirmed top tank valve leakage.## John and Roy heard Cap pick up the mike, "Batallion 14, Station 51. Acknowledged. Southbound entry in full respiratory apparatus, understood." "Oh, great.." John moaned. "Anhydrous ammonia. All our turnout jackets might as well be paper suits for all the protection they'll give us once we're in there." Roy glanced at his partner. "Yeah, well, let's just hope the Santa Anas keep the cloud blowing away from us.. Shouldn't be a problem today..." "I wouldn't bet on it. Look." Johnny said. In the sky, rare, heavy rainclouds were blowing in off the ocean to their left as they sped ahead of the Ward LaFrance. "If that rain gets here. That spill's gonna go. You know how reactive anhydrous is to free water.." Soon, the thickening stalled traffic made Roy slow, and two CHP motorcycles joined up with them to show them the twisting curving route to the accident scene in between the stopped, now emptied cars on the roadway. "Wow, they acted fast. There're no bystander victims on the curbs." Johnny said. "Amazing.. That gas cloud's huge.." Through the windshield of the squad, a tenuous white steam-like misting of gas fumes,were pooling against the cliffs around the truck in a long plume, carrying downwind. Then they saw it. The involved truck, it was upright, almost intact. But beneath it lay a sportscar and one woman, fouled and trapped behind her crumpled steering column. Truck 127's men were already on scene with bottles and masks advancing on her with mist fanning hoses into the air to dissolve away any lingering swirls of ammonia from over her location. Roy screeched to a halt two hundred yards from the truck. "Gotta stop here. If that gas cloud doubles back, it'll corrode the vehicles." "Not to mention us, too." Gage said grimly. "She must be alive. They're spraying a defensive pattern over her.." DeSoto and Gage rushed out of the squad cab and met up with Cap and the gang in a hurried group as they all grabbed SCBA and pulled out high volume water hoses. Roy and John had their air bottles and masks on in less than a minute. "Cap...?" Roy asked, ready for instant instructions. Hank Stanley stood, his helmet off in hand, holding his mask to his face and he motioned them all nearer. "I want you all to take a look at where the liquid puddles are now. Remember where they are when you start laying down water. That is where the ammonia lies. It's subliming into gas and it's -28 F. Watch your step or your clothes and shoes will freeze burn to your skin faster than dry ice! If you get any liquid on you, start stripping off all clothing immediately and get under a firm wash.. and don't stop hosing down. Only way to thaw those kinds of burns. Any fumes will dessicate your eyes and mucous membranes on contact. And the only thing that will help it is water. Tons of it. Oh, and I don't think I have to tell any of you guys to avoid other engine companies hose runoff. Anhydrous is caustic ammonium hydroxide when diluted with water until its through absorbing water to satiation. Don't worry about sparks from extrication equipment. This stuff's not flammable out in the open. The gas cloud will turn transparent as it spreads but you'll be able to smell it long before you reach a dangerous area. Remember, your safety comes first. If I tell you to retreat, do it sooner than yesterday. Ok, move out.." The gang circled the truck widely, avoiding the deadly cold shiny spill stain spreading from under the dripping misting valve of the shattered semi and moved onto a narrow strip of dry concrete that Batallion 14 and the other crews were utilizing near the trapped woman's sportscar. Cap lifted his handy talkie to his mouth. He now had a better idea of what they were dealing with. "Foam Truck 127. Move in. The only leaking areas I see are immediately beneath the semi.. Lay a full covering spread. Confirmed pressurized anhydrous ammonia leak. The tank's got the proper labels all over it." Gage watched Roy sprint over to the other car, crumpled and on the side of the road. "Chief?" Johnny yelled through his mask. "How's she doing?" he said to the older white helmeted man directing the water curtain misting team holding fast between the woman and the semi. He could hear the dark skinned woman moaning from where she sat pinned in her seat. "She was talking a while ago, but she's starting to have some trouble breathing. Just get her out before you treat anything beyond the basics. This wind may shift on us with that thunderstorm approaching." the Battalion chief replied. "Careful in there.. And do not use any O2 at all. The moisture from it will only burn your victim's lungs and her eyes if she takes in any concentrated ammonia gas to her face using it while still being this close to the leak. Wait until you're evacuated." Johnny saw a pair of legs lying under the semi where the truck driver had fallen after escaping his cab and he started forward.. The chief grabbed his arm, shaking his head. "He's dead.. we found his face frozen solid to the ground. Looks like a direct stream hit him when he tried to shut off the valve to protect the woman." Johnny swallowed dryly and he nodded, firmly making himself not looking at the man's upper torso after hearing that. Roy and Johnny gingerly made their way over to her, wincing as hose mist dampened their coats and hissed as minute traces of ammonia gas sizzled on the rubber they contained. Their breathing sounded hollow behind their masks, whistling in their ears. Terror made them begin to sweat immediately. Johnny shouted to the woman putting own his best calming smile and soothing voice.. "Hey, how are ya doing? Just relax, we're gonna get you outta here.." He said, moving a quickly ungloved hand to her carotid for an assessment. "You hurt anywhere besides your legs?" he asked. "Anything in your neck or back?" The dashboard hid most of them from him below her knees, but he saw no visible blood anywhere on her pants legs. "No, I'm fine..agh. Get me out of here.. Can't...can't.. b- breathe." and she gasped and her eyes rolled into her head. "Cap!! Step up that misting! The fumes are doubling back!!" Gage shouted, holding the woman's throat and chin tipped up as far as he could. He could feel her chest heave as she began to choke a bit. Gage lifted her larynx up with his fingers and her stridor eased off. "Hey.. You're fine.. Just keep breathing. Nice and slow and very shallowly. Now we're gonna get you out of here real fast. Just relax... You hear me?" he shouted, muffled through his mask. The woman was beyond talking, but her eyes never left Johnny's and her hands tightly gripped his wrist where he was managing her airway for her. Her struggling eased off as blissful clear air returned around them from the displacing water fan's effect. The fireteam near them added another hose to the water curtain swiftly, and found the best angle to utilize the clearing winds until they pushed the wispy edges of the gas cloud away from the paramedics and their victim. Chet and Marco sprinted up with a K-12 and jaws and Roy was right behind them with news about the other car. "The other driver's ok. Just bumps and bruises. The CHP got him out just fine, he's waiting for us. Just has a simple fracture of the right ulna. What do you got here?" "Dyspnea. Moderate laryngeal spasming. And her legs are pinned. She says they don't hurt at all. I didn't see any bleeding. Her C-Spine's clear. Can you tell anything down there? I haven't checked her out very well yet because of this.." he said angling his head to mean the lifting airway hold he was maintaining on her with both hands over her throat at the angle of her jaw. Roy said, "Hang on." And he moved to the other side of the car, crawling in as well as he could over the woman's lap to check. "Just a panel of the dashboard over her left knee. The jaws should be able to handle that well enough.. Nothing seems to be broken.." he said, moving careful hands over her lower limbs. He straightened up, "Kelly there's a good bar right down there to put the chain. String it up would ya?" he said calmly. "Right.." Chet said. Then his eyes fell on the woman's name tag, still on her shoulder. "Daphne, now we're gonna pull this car off your legs, won't hurt at all but it's gonna be real loud for a while. Just some sounds of twisting, popping metal all right?" "O-Ok.. ugh.." her voice rasped hoarsely. Johnny hastily readjusted her head's placement when her eyes suddenly closed. "Hey hey, now Daphne.. Stay with us.." said Johnny. His forearm never left her diaphragm nor lifted away from the breaths he could feel moving there. "She needs O2. Fast. Daphne, don't...black out. We need you to- ah, h*ll..." and he shifted position, taking the full dead weight of her head into his shoulder as Daphne lapsed into limp unconsciousness. There was a loud thudding of hollow liquid and metal from above and they all hunched down, anticipating trouble.. All the firemen looked up to the nurse tank truck's roof when a man from Hazmat suddenly appeared above the leaking valve in a full chemical suit to deal with the source of the spreading cloud. They heard his satisfied grunt when all it took was a flip of the tank's sealing cap and a twist of its pressurized valve to stop all the bad fumes. Everyone sighed in relief. But the Batallion chief said, "We're not out of the woods yet. That cloud will hang around for hours before it dissipates. Only water will carry it into the soil where it will be absorbed. Stay away from it.. And we'd better hope it doesn't start to rain. That will flatten the cloud like a pancake and we'll all be enveloped before we even have a chance to run. Get her free and move her out to the half mile perimeter at the minimum.." "Yes sir.." Roy replied. The Jaws and K-12 came to life under the assisting Truck 127 firemen's gloves, working to free Daphne. The sportscar was foreign made but soon, brute mechanical strength made the front end uncrumple and fall away. Kelly piped up from the front tire spot. "We got it! We got it. Gage, DeSoto, you can pull her out anytime, but hang on just a sec, and let me get a wooden longboard for her. It won't melt down in the ammonia if it gets wet like a metal stokes would." And the stocky masked and helmeted fireman ran for the station's engine. "Bring a C collar too! And a short oral airway! I wanna get one in before she swells up any more." John shouted after him. Three minutes later, Daphne was breathing secured, and almost free when a new smell reached those on the outskirts of the evacuated area. Rain.. on hot concrete. "Rain!! Everybody out of there! Now!!!" Cap shouted into his HT. "Move it! Move it!! That cloud's gonna bloom big time..." All the firemen around the car dropped their hoses and grabbed Daphne's board gracelessly. And Roy, John and they, ran with her, top speed, away from the semi truck.. leaving behind all else. The cloud of anhydrous NH3 above them writhed ominously, expanding with the gift of water, and then hideously, it began to settle, on the way to smothering those running on the ground beneath it. Station 51's vehicles were nearest to the semi. "Move move!! Everybody on.. We're getting outta here!" Stoker ordered.. The firemen hefted up Daphne's long board onto the back of the engine and clung to the side rails as Stoker hastily fired up the engine and rapidly backed away down the freeway in a race to avoid the spreading cloud of gas. Roy and Johnny barely managed to get the squad, festooned with un-chem suited hazmat men hanging on to whatever they could, out of there when a wall of caustic puffing vapor occupied the place where they had just been.. Roy frantically wove in between cars, driving back wards as fast as he could, until he was convinced he was outdistancing the rain spiked gas plume's widening fringe. In Roy's mind, he was intermittently terrified and amused when Stoker maneuvered the LaFrance with all the lurching grace of a drunk rhino, in reverse, along their same torturous route in between the maze of stopped abandoned autos on the highway. Mike almost didn't see a Harley, and he threw the steering wheel full left to avoid it. Chet, his grip insecure, fell off the side from the landing when momentum flung him wide. He impacted the road violently, and rolled with his heavy tank bottle still on his back, in front of the squad. Roy slammed on his brakes when he saw a canvas backed body lurching in his rear mirrors. "ohmyg*d" Gage said, and both Johnny and Roy's eyes slid back the way they had come to the rolled tanker to see a huge angry semi transluscent wall of ammonia boiling down upon them. Then they both glanced back at the stunned Chet, who was just trying for his feet. Johnny said, "Move Roy, move.. We'll pick him up as we pass him by.." Roy didn't speak, he acted. And the squad began to pick up speed once more in reverse. "Get up ! Get up, Chet! Grab onto me!!" Gage shouted, throwing an arm through his open passenger window for Chet to snag onto. "It's almost on us!" Terror made Kelly get up immediately and he started sprinting for Johnny's hand and the squad's landing board like a hobo trying to catch a caboose. Along the way, Kelly shed his breathing apparatus in pieces, clearly running for his life. The bottle fell away finally and Chet stumbled only once before his running finally gained him the ground he needed, he caught up with Roy's continuing high speed reversing. An errant gust of wind caught Chet full in the face and it came with poisonous teeth and rain. Kelly's hands flew to his eyes and he screamed, just as Johnny grabbed his arms and hauled him partially into the squad, belly down. -------------- Others motorists in the safe area saw the engine and squad escaping the spreading cloud only by slim meters as yet unaware of what was happening in the cab. They began to cheer when the two reversing red vehicles regained their lead on it, and began to pull away. Those cheers turned to shouts of horror when they saw Chet's legs and lower half dangling precariously out the window of the high speed backward traveling rescue squad. ------------------------------------ Photo : A nurse tank semi truck with an anhydrous ammonia topper. Photo: Johnny with a choking woman trapped in a car. Photo : A hazmat team member sealing off a top tank ammonia leak in a full chem suit. Photo : Chet Kelly being supported by Cap and Johnny. ******************************* Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2002 00:49:07 -0800 (PST) From: "Sam Iam" Subject: Across the Finish Line.. Gage's arms were about ready to drop off from Chet's dead weight in the window. "Chet! Chet! Did you get any of that in your eyes?" he said, gasping, straining to hang onto Kelly's belt through his faceplate. "Yeah. *cough* Owww.....hurry. Need a hose.. uuhhhGGGg. ahh sh*t!"Johnny could see Chet's eyes suddenly and involuntarily screw shut. John hauled Chet over onto his back where he was on his lap, ignoring the rest of Kelly still half hanging out the squad's window as Roy continued to steer the squad backwards, and he forced Chet's eyes open between firm trembling fingers. Gage's other hand found the two gallon jug of water always kept under the dash by his feet for brush fires and he sloshed it liberally into Kelly's face, "Let's get this wash in. Come on!.. Come on.. Don't fight me. Open your eyes.. Chet stay still.. ." "I'm gonna fall! I'm slipping! AhHH! My eyes!" "You're not gonna fall out of the squad." Johnny threw a leg over Chet's waist to keep him from sliding back out the window. "I got you.." and he gave a strong heave to get more of Chet into the cab. "Chet, hold still. I gotta wash your face and those eyes out good or you'll burn real bad." Roy's hands were struck from the steering wheel by Chet's pitching head, deep in his pain, but he quickly recovered control. Somehow, the men clinging on the outside of the squad were pure barnacle, and no one fell off. "Chet, it's ok.. We're almost clear.." Roy shouted. "Let Johnny get to your eyes! We gotta get that stuff outta them." "Aghh.. I'm on fire! It's so cold! Ahh..HHh." Already Chet's voice was raspy and deep from exposure to the gas. Johnny grunted, pouring more water even faster into Chet's eyes, forcefully. It seemed like years but finally Roy said. "Ok, we made it. We're there.." his voice cracked. Roy could see the gang from the engine already on the far side of the police accident barricade, watching them intently. DeSoto hit his air horn, letting them know Chet was in trouble beyond just his fall off the engine and how he was riding half out of the squad. Half of them came at a run, while another company stayed behind to carry Daphne from 51's Ward's hose bed, back down to the ground. Gage was still irrigating Chet's eyes in his lap desperately, by the time Cap and Marco got to him and hauled Chet bodily out of the squad's windowframe. "Cap, gas caught him in the face, real bad." he said. "How are you doing Chet?" John said rocketting out of the squad and slamming the door shut. He ran to the gear compartment doors and whipped them open, grabbing the 02 apparatus and a 2 liter burn saline bag. Kelly felt Cap keep him from reaching up to his face with his hands and he opened his eyes. "Better.. *cough*.." "Good now just let Cap keep washing your eyes out.." Johnny said, handing the solution IV pack over to Hank. "Let me and Roy get the rest of the equipment out of the squad..That saline won't sting your eyes so much.." "See to the girl first. I can wait.." Chet gasped, still fighting to see around the painful prickling in his eyes. He felt Stoker wrap one of his arms over his broad shoulders to support him as they moved to the staging area near the waiting ambulances. Gage grinned. "Let us be the judge of that. She didn't get thrown out of a vehicle like you did Chester B." "Really I feel fine, guys.. Just a few lumps and these knives plunging into my eyes.." "Yeah?" Hank said, "Well, you're in for a complete bath." Cap said, continuing to pour saline from a pour spout into Kelly's eyes under his grip. "Mike, Lopez, grab him and let's go. Engine 18's got a decontam area already set up over here.." And Mike and Marco attempted to scoop up Chet into a two man carry, which Kelly resisted. "I can walk.. I can walk.. I'm just squinting cause it hurts. Not because I can't see." Kelly complained, throwing off Stoker and Lopez's help. The two grinned, and contented themselves with walking at Chet's side while Cap continued to wash down Chet's face and eyes thoroughly from the oversized IV bag. Cap jibbed in. "Man what a close call, eh Kelly? Despite what happened to you, this rain's a blessing in disguise. It'll soak all that ammonia into the ground for us, where it'll dissolve into the rocks . A twenty minute shower will be enough to do the trick. We'll be able to tow away the wreckage and open the freeway again by nightfall." he grinned. "Lucky us.. Rain on just the day we need it.." Chet commented, trying to be brave, he even ran fingers through his messy curls as he went with Cap and the others for decontamination. Roy and John were already kneeling by Daphne's longboard reassessing her, when Kelly suddenly sagged in his coworker's grips. "Hey..Hey Chet?!" Cap shouted. Marco and Mike caught him, hastily tightening their grips on Chet's underarms and jacket. "Stoker ease him down.. Careful. Careful." Gage shot to his feet. "I was afraid of this, you guys. He might've taken a good shot of gas in the lungs. You heard the way his voice was going. Keep his head and chest angled up with something! I'll be right there." Stoker made a pillow from his coat for Kelly who was still partially awake. Johnny crouched with a penlight checking his nose and throat for burns. "Chet.. Can you hear me, pal? Still breathing ok?" He was, shallowly. Kelly blinked under Johnny's light. But alarmingly, he was no longer coughing. Gage saw that he seemed dazed, and not really focusing on all the guys bending over him. Johnny kept a hand on Kelly's chest and he looked up. "Cap, we still gotta keep irrigating those eyes and the rest of him despite this. We'll worry about warming him afterwards once he's decontam'd. Right now, he needs to get this ammonia off his skin, and a lot of O2 into his system." "That covers him. But I gotta ask. Get any on yourself helping him, Gage?" Hank asked Johnny. "No.." Roy sighed and said, "I did. My arm's tingling. His head hit me when Johnny dragged him into the squad. He must have had some in his hair for a bit before it evaporated." Cap stood, rapidly motioning for a hose team to string him a brush line for Kelly's wash right where he was. "Washdown, gotcha Gage." he said pointing down at Chet. "DeSoto, you're headed for the decontam tent, right now." Hank ordered. "For yours." "But Cap.." Roy started up. "No complaints.. Gage can handle treating the woman and Chet just fine with Squad 18's medics until you're done." "Roy, just go. Kelly's breathing ok for the moment." Johnny told him. He glared until Roy disappeared into the canvas emergency tent. Then Gage bent down to listen to Chet's pulmonary status with a stethoscope as Lopez began to cut away Kelly's clothes for his hose soaking wash. "Chet.."Johnny called out leaning down over the shocky fireman's pale face. "Still here? We're gonna haveta wash ya down now. And it's gonna be cold. Not too fun. Also, I need to shift you onto your side to irrigate those eyes some more to be sure we got it all out. We'll get you on some dry O2, so it won't burn your chest so much and breathing will come easier. Just relax, I'm gonna check you out closer to make sure your little tumble didn't crack anything else besides your backside, ok?" he said, smiling, trying to raise Chet's spirits. But Kelly remained very quiet, his face slack, where he he lay on the ground. He tried to moan but no sound came out of his swelling throat, and he just wheezed instead in a poor attempt to clear his throat. Johnny looked up as Station Eighteen's paramedics joined them. "Mendelson. Get him on straight 100% O2 by demand valve, non humidified. Force it if he obstructs. Peters, you got his vitals set here? Afterwards continue that eye wash. I'm going to go get a new set on the woman and phone us in.." Johnny knelt by Daphne, relieving the fireman watching her O2 mask intake, and got a BP on her. She was cool to the touch following her hose washing, even under her thick blankets on the long board, and was still out. Johnny was pleased to find her breathing well through her oral airway. Gage looked up a minute later with just the vitals information, for Rampart. Nearby, Cap and Stoker had already begun streaming a hand hose's scrubbing spray over Kelly's shivering bare skin, while Mendelson kept the demand valve in place over Kelly's nose and mouth so the lung burned, stricken, fireman could breathe in its soothing oxygen flow. Peter's was working on his eyes, irrigating them. Gage noticed Chet no longer resisted that. ::He's going out. Might be better for him that way in the long run. A lower BP will mean less pulmonary swelling. I hope.:: "Fifteen minutes, Cap!" Johnny shouted towards them. "Keep it up until then. He's sure to go hypothermic but we'll worry about that once we're sure all the ammonia's off of him." "You got it pal.." Cap replied, deftly spraying Chet's contaminated clothing away from him and the medics working on him. Then he returned to the washdown, getting Chet's hair thoroughly scoured as well. Mendelson and Peters ignored the fact they were getting partially wet, their concentration on Kelly's care unwavering. Gage opened the biocom quickly, and snapped the aerial into place. He brought the phone's receiver to his face. "Rampart, this is Squad 51. How do you read?" --------------------- Joe Early had just been by Dixie's desk, working on a chart when he noticed the red rescue light flashing in the receiving alcove. He tapped her shoulder and the two of them entered the tiny glassed off room. Joe thumbed the intercom. "Unit calling in please repeat.. " and he turned on the tape recorder near the radio speaker. ##Rampart, this is Squad 5-1.# "Go ahead 51. I read you loud and clear.." Joe said. "Rampart, we've two victims of anhydrous ammonia gas, secondarily compounded by possible blunt trauma. Victim One, unconscious, a woman aged approximately 27-28 years of age. Victim of an automobile versus semi trailer truck. No apparent gross injuries other than ammonia inhalation. I haven't yet had time to give her a thorough secondary assessment. Vitals, however on her, are stable. Victim Two, a Code I. Fell from a moving firetruck while we were trying to get away from the gas cloud. Expressed marked walking wounded syndrome, now semi comatose with growing moderate respiratory distress. He is on a hundred percent dry O2. Rampart, her hose irrigation is complete. His nearly so." Joe rubbed his nose while hearing Johnny's report. Then he toggled the reply switch. "51. Give me a vitals set on Victim Two." Johnny caught a sailing notepad, full of information, from Peters. "10-4, Rampart. Victim Two. Pulse 120. BP 92 / 60, Respirations, 24 and wheezy, breathing on his own. Breath sounds show moderate upper tracheal wheezing on the left, clear on the right." Johnny's face fell when he read Peter's other medical finding. "Also,....showing marked guarding of his upper left quadrant abdomen with referring pain up into both shoulders. C-spine and all neuro responses intact." "51, Apply mast trousers and inflate only the compartments over the lower extremities. Any rapid boost in his blood pressure may exacerbate his breathing and compromise his lung function due to those probable pulmonary burns.. Inflate the suit's chambers until his BP is on the low side of normal only. Then start two large bore IV's, 51. Both of D5W, wide open. We'll treat for shock now and treat any resulting pulmonary edema later. Right now, it's more important to keep that internal injury at bay. It may be a ruptured spleen. 51, any indication of head trauma?" "Negative, Rampart." Johnny replied. "Good." Joe said. "If he recovers consciousness fully, pain from his seared lungs, may keep him from being able to breathe on his own. Have 2 mg MS IV Push standing ready should he need it. The more he moves air on his own, the better off he'll be in the long run. If positive pressure is needed, use only enough each vent for half inflation of the lungs. I don't want to collapse them from leakage from those aveolial burns." Gage sighed in concentration and repeated back his orders. "10-4, ah. 2 milligrams MS IV push as needed. Two IV D5Ws wide open and mast trouser application to low normal BP. Light vents on the demand valve on any respiratory arrest." Joe said. "Also, guard against shock and begin rewarming measures once his irrigation is complete." "10-4, Treat for shock and hypothermia following the washdown." Joe said, "Give me Victim number One's vitals." Johnny said. "Victim One. Earlier laryngeal spasming. Independently resolved on its own, following a return to clear air. Oral airway is in place. She's on fifteen liters of 02, dry. BP 130/102, Respirations shallow and deep alternating, at 20. Pulse 100. Pupils equal and reactive. No response to verbal. Slight to pain on the consciousness level." "10-4, 51. On Victim One, Keep monitoring for any deterioration in her respiratory status. Stridor, wheezing, ineffective lung draws, and then treat the symptoms when they arrive with 2 mg 1:10,000 epinephrine into an IV, 51, of normal saline, TKO. On both victims, keep them warm at as near normal a body temperature as possible. Make up a burn chart as needed, showing any areas of ammonia exposure, it usually takes a few hours after exposure for an ammonia freezing to show on the skin. Include suspected pulmonary involvement and any burns of mucosal membranes, such as in the nose, surrounding the eyes, and involving the throat. Do not cover any burns found. Keep them open, 51." "10-4, Rampart. Burn charting percentages, and open air for burn protocol." Gage replied. "Rampart ambulance is on scene." "Ok, 51. Notify me of any negative change in their vitals signs and transport as soon as possible." "10- 4, Rampart." Johnny, Mendelson and Peters had just finished starting the three IV's when Roy rushed back over to Johnny's side, his hair wet, with dry night turnout trousers on and a clean T-shirt someone had gotten for him from the engine. "How are they?" he asked. Gage handed his partner his notes from the biocom call and said. "Chet may have a ruptured spleen on top of his other problems." he said unhappily. "I probably didn't help him hauling him by the belt like I did. Doc's got him marked for light vents if he quits breathing on us." "Don't feel bad, jarring an internal injury was better than us just leaving him behind to be melted to slag by a corrosive cloud, don't you think?" "I guess. We broke quite a few patient extrication rules today. On both of them." "We had to." Roy admitted. They both turned at Cap's shout. "Gage, we're through. So's Peters." he said, tossing a head at Chet. Stoker and Hank began to wash the runoff from Chet off the roadway and onto the grassy margins. Roy and Marco helped Johnny bundle the chilled Chet rapidly into the mast suit and then very warmly inside a crush of wool run blankets from head to toe. Mendelson said. "He's still holding fine. Pulling his air adequately here." he said, of the demand valve he was still using on Kelly. "Haven't needed to trigger even once yet." "Good, if you do, go 50% only, all right." Gage told him. "You got it." Roy leaned down to Chet's ear. "Chet.. Can you hear me? " Chet's eyes stayed closed for they were swelling from all the water that had streamed over them from Peters irrigations but his thick eyebrows rose slightly at the sound of his name. Roy smiled. "We're almost on the way to Rampart where they'll take really good care of that belly pain. Just keep breathing regular on the 02 like you are. If you have trouble, we've been authorized MS if the pain gets too great, just let us know." Chet lifted his eyebrows once more before he gave into his involuntary shivering from being water chilled under the hose. "hhhhhmmphhh." he said incoherently. That worried Johnny. But then a touch of Chet cussedness presented itself a few minutes later. Kelly all but broke Roy's hand, hanging on to it, for reassurance. --------------------- John and Mendelson rode with Chet and Daphne in the ambulance while Roy drove behind the Mayfield. Johnny's hands were full keeping them both on their flowing oxygen, double handed, while Mendelson looked them over inch by inch for burns for the charts. Chet had several. The woman, none. Dr. Early met them at the entrance doors. Dixie was there, too. She pointed and said...... -------------------------------------- Photo : Chet down on the ground, hurt. Close up. Photo: Mike Stoker and Captain Stanley with a hand held hose in glove. Photo: Johnny in an ambulance with two victims. Holding two oxygen masks on both. ****************************** From : "Roxy Dee" Subject : Patch Job~~ Date : Tue, 03 Dec 2002 15:25:14 +0000 ....."Treatment Three for the woman. Let's put your coworker in Two, Johnny. Mendelson, stay with her long enough to give Dr. Morton your report, all right? Joe Early's taking your friend here." Gage nodded gratefully to Dix for bending the rules and allowing him to remain by Chet's side. Roy took full advantage of the favor, too, slipping inside the treatment room doors with his walkie talkie on the heels of orderlies arriving with an xray machine. Another set of them came from nowhere with a standby bird respirator. ::That Dr. Early's on the ball. Let's hope Chet doesn't need it.:: Dixie drew the line on the rest of the gang, still in heavy overcoats smelling faintly of ammonia stench, keeping them lined up along the wall outside the treatment room. Gage said, "Cap, I'm all eyes. You'll know faster than Brackett will about what's going on with Kelly." Johnny said, lifting his HT. "You called the squad and engine out of service for a bit?" Cap's grin and smiles from the rest of them lifted Johnny's own anxiety a whole heap, "H*ll yeah. Using the close call to get ourselves all checked out by the docs. We might be burned without even knowing it, don't you know." he winked. "Tell Kelly his family already knows and is on the way if he wakes up." "I will.." Gage said. The Treatment room doors closed in on Cap's face, making him wish for the dozenth time that its wooden surface had a window to see through. He gave the red "do not enter" sign a light smack in frustration. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Dr. Early had a full respiratory therapy team there to assess Kelly's current pulmonary status. "Johnny, did Chet need the MS in route?" he said, taking his otoscope and using it to look for burns inside Chet's nose and mouth. He shifted to his penlight to examine the membranes in Chet's eyes. "Yeah. About five minutes ago, just before we pulled up here. Look doc, he's really out now. His pressure's barely holding low normal with that suit on." Gage said, helping the nurses and techs shift Chet from the portable EKG to the hospital one and to trade his D tanked O2, for the wall port source. "I decided not to monkey with an oral airway with that wheezing going on." "Ok, Johnny, we'll take it from here." Joe said. Then Dr. Early noticed the usually talkative Gage growing as quiet as Roy usually was, and then he saw the matching looks of worry blooming suddenly on their faces at the idea of being driven out of the room. He reconsidered, saying. "Roy, why don't you check his feet for pedal pulses so we can rule out descending aorta involvement..And Johnny, tell me exactly, what burns you found on him and where.." Then he turned to Dix, while Carol took a set of vitals on Chet. "Dixie, page Dr. Brackett for me would you? He's with his father. And call for a surgical team. We're going to have to do an exploratory on Kelly's abdomen to see what's going on. Carol, get a warming blanket will you? Seems his core temp's still a little low." ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Twenty five long minutes later, Johnny and Roy left the treatment room reluctantly, leaving the pre-op team scurrying to prepare Chet for his emergency surgery. Cap and the gang immediately surrounded them. Every one of them had their helmets off and respectfully in their gloves. "How is he?" Hank asked. "Did we get that wash in Kelly's eyes in time?" Johnny said. "His pupillary responses are still reactive, Cap. That's a good sign doc says. That means his eyes aren't burned that badly." Roy added. "Chet's going to be wheeled into surgery any minute now. Dr. Early seems to think his spleen isn't that badly torn. I think his abdominal guarding was going away." "Can we see him?" Marco asked. Right then, Dixie McCall stepped through the doors with a tray full of blood samples for the lab and handed it off to a passing nurse. "Take these to the lab, stat." she said. She sealed the door after herself before the gang could peek through. "Now boys, you know we're doing everything we can for your friend. Just give him and the doctors some space so they can do their work, all right? Chet's vitals are stabilized well enough for his surgery now so relax.." Sighs of relief erupted from all the men towering above her diminutive stature. Then she pegged them all with an appraising stare. "All right, who needs to be seen about ammonia exposure..?" Roy raised his hand. "I do. I took some on the arm." "This way.." Dix said to him. She smiled when the whole station crew followed, crowded behind Roy into treatment four, on the hope of wringing more reassurance out of her about Chet. She patted the bed, "Hop up, Roy. Kel's here and he'll take a look at you while Chet's being readied for surgery." "Dr. Brackett's here?" Roy said, "I thought he had the night off? You know, since...." he broke off, he even paused in pulling off his T- shirt for his coming exam when he realized he might be on confidential ground. "Since Kel acted like a belligerent school kid and drove his fist through a deck door window? Pretty amazing, I know. But what son isn't prone to his father pushing some sensitive buttons, hmm?" she quipped. "Is Dr. Brackett all right?" Johnny asked, concerned for the senior physician. "We were pretty shocked when Mendelson told us what happened on the way in with Chet and the woman." "He's sore, with thirty two stitches, but at least, he's got a reason to smile tonight. Brent Brackett and Kel have decided to mend some fences even after THIS long.. " she said with intense secrecy. "Kel told me the news only an hour ago from the restaurant." she whispered. Then aloud. "Quit cowering, all. You fellas are all family so, of course, I'll tell you everything about this whole silly complex of Kel's. And I'll tell you more too. Just as soon as I understand enough of it to voice into legible words..I'm a woman, remember, and it usually takes me a while to fathom out father/son feuds. Especially when the two involved are good friends of mine." she grunted, partially laughing, while taking a BP on Roy. She finished and wrote it down. "Any dizziness, Roy? Odd things going on with your eyes?" "No. I'm fine. The hosing wash I took in the decontam tent took care of all that." Dix slid over a blood draw tray and tied on a tourniquet to obtain samples from him. "Yeah? Well, Dr. Brackett is still giving you his own once over just to be on the safe side. I'm just the front line of defenses.." "But..." "Don't worry. Kel'll tear right out of here to scrub up the second Chet's fully prepped and anesthetized." They piped down when Kel came through the treatment doors not alone, but accompanied by Brent Brackett, the tyrannical father figure they had heard so much about through Mendelson in the hall. Dix cast significant eyes at Johnny and Roy and the rest of the gang in the room and angled her head to show her statement about their making amends was really quite true. She started heading for the door. Kel called out after her. "Say Dix, did you get Roy's blood samples for the l--?" he broke off when Dix held up the three vials already clasped in her long fingernails without turning around. "oh... ok." Dixie winked at the gang on her way out. Dr. Brackett noticed the unusual presence of Roy's coworkers in the room, trying to blend in with the glass medicine cabinets. "Roy, you've quite an entourage of fans here. Didn't know you were so popular. Thought Gage here was the star in your outfit." "They're worried about Chet, doc." DeSoto said without smiling. "Nothing to worry about." Brent Brackett spoke up instantly. Dr. Brackett stiffened at his father's intrusion into his patient / doctor territory, but the firemen all saw Kel relax a bit when Kel realized Brent was actually bringing his own skills to bear accordingly as was his right as senior attending house psychologist. "We just left him and his chest Xray, young man. Looking good. Both of them." Brent told Roy and the rest of the firemen in the room, hanging on to his white coat's lapels. Johnny's eye rose skeptically, making Kel smirk in mild amusement. "What Dr. Brackett is saying, is true. Chet's chest Xray is showing little edema and a huge reduction in swelling. Looks like the effect of the lungful of ammonia he took in was only temporary, made that way, by your prompt fast action with administering unmoistened O2. And even his abdominal plates look good. I saw only minor shadowing over his spleen. The mast trousers did their job. All bleeding's under control. The surgery I'm doing on him should just be a patch job, gentlemen.." "That's a relief.." Mike Stoker sighed. "It wasn't fun seeing Chet fly off my engine like he did." "Yeah, Chet's no superman.." Gage chuckled. They hushed down when Kel Brackett finished checking Roy out. DeSoto showed him the place where the ammonia had soaked into his arm. Only a little reddening was showing up under the light. "Mild first degree freeze burn. I don't think any had time to get into your blood stream, Roy. Your lab tests will reveal that for sure in a few minutes. Get dressed. We're through. Just be sure to call me on return of symptoms, all right?" "You got it, doc.." he said. Kel hurried out the door to head for surgery. Brent was left in the room with the gang and he handed Roy his T- shirt back. "Is he a good man to work with, Kel Brackett? Afraid to admit, that I've really just started watching him work, only tonight." Roy answered without hesitation, but subconsciously straightening from where he sat on the treatment gurney. "One of the best, sir. He singlehandedly saved the Paramedic Program from being legislated out of operation during its earliest days and he trained not only me, personally, but my partner Johnny here, as well, to function as efficient intermediary caregivers in just about any prehospital setting. To date, in only six years, Dr. Brackett created twenty paramedic teams embedded in just as many firehouses across L. A. County. Entirely due to his own hard work and perserverence." Brent laughed openly and clasped Roy's hand warmly. "My g*d. Do we need an introduction my boy! Seems Dixie's really painted me out to be the worst ogre of a two ogre pair now hasn't she? You're practically foaming at the mouth singing praises about my boy, son. Relax....True, I'm just like Kel in temperment, but I'm mellower by miles.. A trait of all this gray hair, I suppose. Listen..I really appreciate your devotion to my son's work.. Sounds very genuine if I do say so myself. Mr...mr..." "DeSoto.." Roy said, returning the handshake. Johnny's nervous smile fell off into a sideways grin of relief. "DeSoto. A solid French name. And the rest of you?" A round of introductions came after that from Cap right on down to Stoker. ------------------------------------------------- They ended up in the coffee lounge, away from public view, so the firefighting gear wouldn't alarm hospital visitors. Brent Brackett learned a whole lot about his son from Dixie and the Station 51 crew over the next hour while they waited for word about Chet's surgery results. Brent finally couldn't stand their fretting. He rose, abandoning his coffee mug. "All right. I've monopolized your good graces enough folks, digging for dirt or gold concerning my very grown son. Tell you what.. I've got a lot of clout around here as house psych. Think I'll peek in on how Kel's handling your man, captain." he said. Cap looked startled. "You don't have to do that. We know Chet's probably fine, doctor. Just a patch surgery job, Kel said." "Be that as it may. I'll be killing two birds with one stone by making the round. I'll get your answer for you that much sooner and I'll be able to see my son in action at the same time. Fair trade off." "Just stay in the observation room.." Dix chided. "Where would the fun be in that, Miss McCall? I want to see how my son works under pressure.." Dix scowled, but it was tempered with amusement. "Family peer pressure's dirty pool, doctor, and you know it.." "Kel can handle it. After all, he's handled this whole paramedic thing and all these men behind it for six years? How's one more doctor hanging over his shoulder gonna matter?" "Plenty..you'll both be wearing the same fake smile." Dix said without a shred of humility, as Brent made his goodbyes to the stationhouse gang and accepted their profuse thanks for doing what he was about to do. Captain Stanley leaned back, lacing his fingers behind his head and wondered when the sparks were going to ignite into a big fire between the Brackett docs once again. He hope Brent's little appearance in Kel's operating ward wouldn't prove to be a new catalyst for another fiery father son feud. Dixie didn't appear overtly alarmed. She simply reached for the nearly empty coffee pot on the table contentedly and poured herself a cup. That cup went right into Joe Early's hands when the silver haired doctor showed up into the nurses lounge. Gage said, "How's he doing?" Johnny asked Joe immediately before the man had taken even one sip. "Thanks Dix. I need the pick me up. Fine Johnny.. His vitals are still stable. Kel's almost through with the exploratory. We had no problems intubating Chet after he was put under, if that's what you want to know. His air passages were very clear Johnny." Gage nodded, sorry that he was so transparent. "Thanks doc. His earlier wheezing was kinda scary." "That's the funny thing about anhydrous ammonia. It either really really does a number on you, or it let's you off lightly after a really good scare. In Chet's case, he got the all bluff end of the spectrum. There's no retinal damage or even corneal abrasions. No chance of that blinding you guys were all fearing during the rescue.." Mike Stoker said. "Good. Last thing we need is Chet Kelly banging around the station with a sight cane while he cooks fifteen alarm chow for us every night." The whole gang laughed at the image. Joe even chortled. Roy asked about their other victims from the accident. "How about the woman we brought in, Daphne? She doing ok?" "Same story as Chet, minus the internal injuries. She'll stay the night and'll be discharged in the morning if her lungs stay clear. Nice fast action Johnny on ending that laryngeal spasm then." Dr. Early said. "I didn't do anything. The hose team got a good pocket of air around us and she resolved on her own." "Lucky. She could have been that close to triggering a tracheal collapse reflex when her larynx cramped like that." Joe said, holding out miniscule fingers in the air. "I know.. you could have knocked me over with a stick when she started breathing again after I got a good lifting grip on her throat." Gage admitted. "I remembered at the last second that gas inhalation reacted the same way as a liquid water drowning with spasming like that. I almost forgot how effective the technique was." "Who taught you that move?" Cap asked. "That was pretty slick considering there wasn't much else you could do for her, wearing your SCBA mask like that.." "Dr. Brackett." "Dr. Brackett." Roy and John both replied in stereo. Dr. Early grinned. "I take it Brent was in here a while ago." "How'd you know?" Dix said in surprise. "They said their answer too fast, Dix, dead give away." "Oh.." Johnny asked, "Doc, can you tell us about Mr. Fajou?" Joe rubbed his hand, not remembering their patient. "The old man from the creepy mansion who cooked ginger bread cookies for the kids at the studio." Roy added. "Oh, oh, oh, now I know who you're talking about. He did have septicemia, a mild case and we've gotten his asthma outbreak under control. He's resting comfortably on antibiotics and inhalants." "Will he be going home soon? You see, we all wanna help him out some and do some work around the house for him before he gets back." Mike Stoker told him. "Boys... aren't you the sweethearts. What knights in shining armor.." Dix cooed. "Mr. Fajou's gonna love your surprise. I'll be sure to give you a call the moment I find out when he'll get discharged all right?" They all nodded. Roy piped up. "Dix, how's the other car driver? The one I looked at briefly before handling our cases?" "Oh, the driver with the broken arm? Fine. Peters rode in with him in another rig. He didn't take many fumes at all and I heard his arm was easily set and put into a cast. He'll most likely be discharged in a couple of hours, after his cast dries." "That's good." A loud stomach rumble permeated the air. From Marco.. "Lo ciento.. All that running made me hungry." "Time for a pizza run.. My treat.." Joe said. He got on the phone to dietary, shushing them all into silence, before the gang's active protests stopped him. "Consider it part of your followup ammonia gas treatment.." he quipped. "Thanks doc, we owe you one.." Cap grinned. Cap and the others literally inhaled the four pizzas while Dix and Joe merely nibbled. The pizza pans had been tossed onto the dish cart for only about thirty seconds when the wait for news about Chet grew once again intolerable. All eyes started watching the clock and the house phone for word from Dr. Brent Brackett's sticking his nose in where it didn't belong. --------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Chet in a treatment room, unconscious. Photo: Joe checking out Roy in a treatment room. Photo : Dr. Brackett looking at your pupils with a penlight. Photo : Dr. Brent Brackett looking at Chet's chest X-ray. Photo : John, Joe and Dixie in a treatment room. **************************************** From : "patti keiper" Subject :[EmergencyTheaterLive] Of Mice and Men.. Date : Thu, 12 Dec 2002 21:31:07 +0000 Kel Brackett didn't even look up from his surgical field when he felt a presence at his shoulder. He knew right away that it was his father in the blue scrubs near him. "Doctor Brackett." he said simply and as neutrally as he could. Kel could feel his cheek twitching under his mask. But inwardly, he told himself once again in his thoughts.::I did ask dad to see what I do for my living.:: he sighed. ::I just have to get used to him taking advantage of the invite, hook line and sinker.:: Brent Brackett knew how to observe in a sterile ward. His ungloved hands were behind his back and he stayed behind Kel at half an arm's length. "Before you say anything.. I...only stepped in here solely on behalf of the boys who work with this young fellow. They're milking this anhydrous exposure checkup requirement to the max and they're all still here, crowded in the nurse's break lounge. Joe Early had to feed them because they wouldn't even leave the staff paging phone unattended long enough to grab a tray from the cafeteria, fearful they'd miss hearing from you." Dr. Brackett wasn't beneath trying to shock his father. "The resection on the mediastinal aspect of Chet's spleen is a straight forward repair job. See for yourself.." and he intentionally sprayed his running tube of sterile saline wash over the area, not caring that a part of its red tinged spray splashed up, catching his father's mask and his scrub top liberally as it plumed upwards when the older man didn't anticipate stepping back at the sound like all the others around the table did. Brent flinched but then blinked, wondering if the dousing had been a ploy to drive him away, but he was already more than determined to remain. He cleared his throat and said loud enough for all in the room to hear. "Oops. Good thing gore has never bothered me. Please, show me what you've done so far, doctor. I'm all eyes." he said, hiding any trace of negative emotion from his voice. Brent surprised himself when his own temper, didn't flare up at all. Nonetheless, a well informed, Dixie enlightened tech hastily suctioned away the water for Kel from Chet's abdominal cavity almost a little too fast. Kel had to hold Chet's spleen down with his forceps so it wouldn't plug her tube's port as she used it. Kel glanced at her reflexively but the woman's face stayed looking down at what she was doing. For her benefit, Kel said. "Sorry about that, I'll slow down." Dr. Brackett half wondered if there was anyone on the staff who didn't know about the Brackett family friction. And he quickly began feeling like an *ss for what he had done. ::Dixie's thorough on the grapevine, I'll give her that. About as thorough as she is running triage. Everyone around us is walking on egg shells. That's gonna change..:: he vowed. ::Now.:: he said. He was glad for his mask when it hid the rising red of embarrassment in his face. He decided to show the entire room that Dixie's tale about them was now completely baseless. "Dad, look here. This is where Chet's fall impacted against his spleen. See that mark? You can almost make out lettering from the regulator valve he fell on top of. He must have been wearing a SCBA bottle when he fell and that metal piece on the harness was what cut him internally." "Hmm. I see it." Brent mumbled. "Looks sort of like the artifacts that show up on chest x-rays sometimes from drivers impacting their sternums against the steering wheel column?" Brent asked. Then he chuckled. "Saw a Chrysler logo chevron once on one from a patient of mine. That young man now hangs that x-ray on his wall." He sighed accepting a cotton wad from a nurse gratefully so he could mop up his gory face. "He now shows it to all of his dates and tells them it's his secret tattoo that can even be felt, for a kiss." "Yeah? Well Chet won't be left with any such girl magnet. This tissue isn't bone. It will heal cleanly in a few days, leaving no traces. Chet's external skin bruising will stay longer than this laceration." Kel said, snipping off his last internal suture stitch. "There," he said, "Good as new.." Kel dabbed the spleen with gauze until Brent could see his work. "Bowels clear? And the intestines?" Brent asked, peering closer. "Completely. All of Chet's internal bleeding came from this site alone. The spleen's the body's repository for whole blood so it's not surprising this tiny tear hemorrhaged so much. The anti shock trousers did a good job stopping it as you saw on the films." "So I did.." Brent said. "So, what should I tell the fireboys?" "That it was a piece of cake, doctor. Chet's no longer in jeopardy." "Will do." and he nodded and winked to the nervous tech across from them. Then he turned to his surgeon son. "Coffee after you close?" "Wouldn't miss it." Kel said. "Then I'll leave you all to your work.." Brent Brackett leaned down to Chet. He saw the young fireman's eyes had been ointmented and protectively taped shut and he carefully stayed away from where the anesthesiologist was listening to Chet's breathing through the endotrach tube with a stethoscope. He spoke firmly into Kelly's ear. "Looks good son. Almost done. Wake up fast cause your friends are still hanging around to see you. My guess is that it won't be good for them later if your dispatcher has to order them back to the stationhouse. Oh, and Joe Early just told me they've saved some pizza for you." he said, patting Chet's sheet covered shoulder. "So hurry up son, before someone gets hungry again and it disappears." Everyone around the table laughed when Chet's stomach took that moment to start growling. It was very audible as it and the organs around it were still exposed to the air. "That got through my anesthesia?" the man at Chet's head joked. "Usually I have people's plumbing napping soundly during splenectomies." "Yeah well this fireman's appetite is legendary, Dale. Don't feel bad. I hear Johnny complaining about his donut stealing prowess all the time." Kel shook his head ruefully, amused. "Dad, I know of a better way to wake him up if you're interested. Grab Johnny's walkie talkie. I'll have Doctor Riley here on the respirator play him his station's alarm tones after he's extubated." he joked. "Aren't you the creative one.." Brent teased back, just before the surgical bay doors closed between them. "But I think I'll pass on that. Positive reinforcement works so much better than shock tactics.." he replied. Brackett immediately regretted his little stunt with splashing the sterile wash. Internally, Kel accepted Brent's hidden admonishment. ::I deserved that. Now why am I still acting like such a pig? This unspoken feud between us is being addressed. What am I afraid of?:: Inside his head, another voice of conscience spoke up. ::Losing your mother because of it.:: ----------------------------------------------- Brent Brackett was still wet from his shower when he dialed the nurses lounge. The phone rang, making the whole gang jump in their seats as way too much coffee in their systems made them overreact. Then the babble in the room ceased when no one moved to intercept the phone. Marco, Stoker, Johnny and Roy all hushed up in tension, like frightened rabbits when it was the red phone and not the black one that was paging them. Dixie MacCall answered the phone. "Nurse's lounge, Dixie McCall speaking.." Brent greeted her. "Miss McCall? Put Mr. Kelly's captain on. I wanna speak with him directly. And before you ask. All things went well. Both my visit and with Chester's exploratory. His spleen's intact. Didn't need to be removed. So hop to, woman." Dixie hid her smile even from her eyes as she handed over the phone. "Captain Stanley. You're needed here." "Oh, boy. Hope it's not McConnike for playing hooky. He never goes through public HT channels when he's really mad at somebody." Cap said, leaping off the lounge couch and wiping nervous palms on his turnout. Dixie couldn't help herself. She said, "Relax captain. It's not him. Remember, I'm your solid alibi here for all of you staying at Rampart even if the chief does call. I already have my speech planned out." and she broke into a reasoning voice, sugar coated with Dixie no nonsense. "I'll just say, 'Chief, It's a little busy today, and that's why it's taking longer than usual to examine all of your men. ' when the time comes." "Glad somebody's prepared for that call." Hank sighed, and rose, taking the phone from her. "This is Fireman Stanley." with more than just slight apprehension. Brent grinned."Go home, captain. Chet's already being sent to recovery. His spleen was only holed, not grossly ruptured. It was all just minor surgery." Cap excitedly spread the good news to his listeners out of ear shot. Brent heard the cheers and had to take the phone away from his ear for a moment but then he shouted before Hank hung up again. "Captain Stanley, one thing. Hand that to-go box full of pizza to Dixie for her to take to his room or Chet's gonna personally kill ya." "Huh?" "Subliminal suggestion, Captain. Works everytime. I told him it would be waiting." "Gotcha, doc. She heard ya. Thanks Dr. Brackett, for everything. We really appreciate it." "That's why I'm a psychologist, son. Take care." and Brent hung up the phone. ----------------------------------------------------- Marjorie Kelly sat next to Chet's bed as she waited for him to awaken from his latest anesthesia slumber. Chet's eyes were unbandaged and he had already blinked away the antibiotic ointment in them as the scent of his sister's musky perfume woke him the rest of the way to consciousness. A rodent's fuzzy face, and whiskers, met his gaze when focus returned from the middle of his chest. "Ahhh!!!" he shouted in fright and immediately winced when his surgical staples bit back in protest. "OoooooOOOOooo, Marjorie.. Did you have to bring Herbert here? Animals aren't allow in at Rampart.." "Who says? No one saw me. Besides, what better way to make you feel better than to bring you,.. your best bud." Chet watched Herbert crawl further up his chest to land curious paws on his chin as he sniffed his master's morning anesthesia breath. Then he made for an immediate beeline for the open pizza carton lying across Chet's legs. "Oh, no you don't. That's mine." and Chet pinned Herbert's tail long enough to nestle him into a palm to caress the brown mouse's head and kiss his ears. Then he double taked. "Wait a minute. Why did I say that?" Marjorie laughed. "Dixie left this here an hour ago. She said a doctor in surgery told you some would be waiting for you when you awakened. Wah la.." she said, with a flourish at the pizza half. "It's still warm. I just reheated it up again." Chet watched as Herbert pushed out of his hand with a frustrated squeak until he gained his freedom and he beelined once more for the pizza across the sheets. Marjorie intercepted Chet's correcting grab with a grip of her own. "Oh, come off it, Bro. Let him be. You share your cereal with Herbie all the time. I'll just keep an eye out and cut off all the parts he drools on. No problem. I'll defend your half." "Marj we're gonna have problems if they catch you in here with him. And I'm not eating. I can't. I mean whoever heard of someone right out of abdominal surgery being allowed to eat?" "You had a repair, Chester. And that's a whole different ball game. Only difference between getting basic stitches and what you had done, is the fact that yours are on three layers with two rows inside, and those are just on your spleen and along your abdominal lining. Nice stapling job topside. Saw them when Dixie changed your dressing." "That sounds so appetizing Sis. Here, you eat this." he said, plunking pizza carton, Herbie and all on the bed in between them. Herbert went right on gnawing at a pepperoni. Despite his feigned disgust, Chet's stomach growled. Marjorie laughed and handed him a pizza slice with no Herbert pawprints on it and a paper towel. "Uh huh.. tell me another lie big brother and I'll restart our practical joke war despite our vow to never do them whenever one of us is sick or hurt." "Ha ha. Very funny." But Chet began to eat, fussing over his IV. "I wonder why I'm not puking my guts out. I did last time I had surgery. Remember my broken shoulder from that cave in rescue? Needed surgical reduction for that one." "I remember, I was the one who had to listen to you whining for two weeks while ya mended." Marj laughed through her freckles and curly bangs. "You aren't nauseated because Dr. Brackett told you not to be." "Kel Brackett was here?" "No, the other one." "What other one?" Chet said, "Hand me that water pitcher will you. I'm thirsty enough to drink my IV." Marj slid the water jug over and a glass, but not before she poured some into a toothpaste tube cap as a water dish for Herbert the mouse. "Kelly Brackett's dad is a psychologist. The gang wanted to hear how you were faring in surgery so Brent Brackett went in to find out. Then Brent told us all on the phone that he had suggested a few things to you while you were under to make your recovery happen faster. Oh, Chester, did you know you were almost in a coma when they brought you in? You scared the living snot out of Johnny. " "I did?" "Yeah. I'd never seen him so quiet and focused until we got the news your injuries were only appearing to be more than minor. Roy told me Gage wouldn't leave your side at all while you were still having trouble breathing. Even after you were at Rampart with two doctors working on you." "I remember hearing Cap's joke about the rain, and then I remember getting very cold. Dreamed I was drowning." "You weren't drowning Chester. They decontaminated you with a water hose on scene and Mendelson had you firmly on a demand valve so no water got in. Geez Louise, even I know how dangerous liquid ammonia is on the skin. Lucky you didn't get much more than a whiff in your lungs or I'd be leaving my rubber chickens on your coffin instead of in your sh--.. Never mind."she broke off. Chet's eyes narrowed as he played with a now fat, pizza filled, burping Herbert, making jungle gyms out of his fingers for the mouse. He finally spoke with long practice at a conversation he had shared with Marj many many times before in the past. "They gotta be in my shoes, Sis, since I'm not wearing any shorts on account of these lovely staples I've got under my sheets here. Ok, fess up. Which shoes?" Marjorie was pinned, fairly. "Ok, I had the guys take back a set of my top end RC's, you know the ones that spray baby powder out the moment they're moved, to rig into your locker shoes for you to find when you got back, is that such a crime?" "The guys were here?!" Chet said mortified. "Yeah, so? What's the big deal? They were in, they were out. Guess they came so Roy and Johnny could see with their own paramedic eyes that you were truly out of hot water. They even reassured themselves further by taking a vitals set on ya for the nurses chart while you were sleeping." "What's the big deal? What's the big deal?! Sis, tell me they didn't see Herbert here." Marjorie was a mouse. But Herbert squeaked in betrayal. He wasn't a good liar at all. "Marj!!" Chet complained, and Herbert leaped into Marjorie's plaid shirt pocket in fear at Chet's thundering protest. Kelly immediately gripped his sheet covered staples. "Ow...WWWW...www .. G*d D*mn it.. ..Ow.. ..Why me?" "Hush, That's Captain Stanley's line. Or at least, I think it is from what you've told me about him." Marj admonished. "Dix told me if you're gonna cough, shout or sneeze, to hug a pillow before you do so. It'll hurt less." She said, smacking his face with one, before gently setting it on his stomach. "Yeah? It'll hurt more later on when I get better and back to duty and have to face the guys finding out I found Herbert again and kept him as a pet.. I'll never hear the end of it!" "So? We'll just...deflect them with another Phantom Strikes war." "Won't work, they're on to me." Chet complained. "Oh Marj. Why'd ya have ta bring Herbert to see me today of all days?" "He knew something was up." she said defensely as only a younger sister could. "Squeaked something awful in his Habitrail maze about the same time as your accident. That's how I knew to call in and ...when ... I found out that you were really down on the ground out there." and Marjorie sniffled and Chet saw sudden bright full tears fill his sister's amber eyes. "Come here, little Sis.." Chet said, and he hugged Marj with a grin. "Quit it. I must really be fine if I'm not on an EKG and no doctors or nurses are in sight. Does Gramps and my little brother know about all this?" "Yes, Gramps and Brendon send their best, Chester.." she sighed into his hair. "Wouldn't be surprised if a bouquet of flowers wrapped in antique barbed wire gets sent in this afternoon to your room personally." "Why didn't you tell them that they didn't have to go through the trouble?" "Because they're just as stubborn as anyone else in our family Chester when it comes to reaching out. And you and I both know that it's a terribly long distance still keeping us apart. Might as well be light years between California and Wyoming. Just take the flowers when they come with good grace." Chet released her and Marj handed them both tissues from the bed table. Herbert poked his head out of Marj's shirt pocket at the scent of tears and squeaked a question. Chet patted his chest and the mouse happily ran to his chin again to nibble and cuddle in his moustache, like a dog rubbing himself on a couch after a bath. "Thanks Marj. I feel better already. I'm only dreading what the guys will do to me after I get back to work now they know I rescued Herbert from the untamed city wilds. I was chosen to be the station's.." he covered Herbert's ears with two fingers. ".. exterminator." "Oh, poo.. " Marj sighed with a mischievous grin. "Fodder for the fires, my fraternal fellow prankster. It will give us an excuse to come up with more devious jokes to play on your friend Johnny Gage, now wouldn't it?" "Hmmm.." Chet said. He closed his eyes, and started chewing pizza while they planned. It was just a few minutes later.. Outside the room, a nurse was walking by Chet's hospital room. She overheard a single sentence. "And Herbert, if you so much as squeak a word of this prank to anyone, I'll trade Chester Bartholomew the puppy for a cat and move you into the station!" SQuuueeAAakKKKKK! The nurse, thinking she was hearing things, moved on when a woman's laughter covered up the odd animal noise she had thought she heard but finally dismissed as only imagined. ::I gotta cut out on drinking all of that coffee..:: she promised herself. ::Starting tomorrow.:: -------------------------------------- Photo : Chet in a T shirt, sleeping on a bed. Photo : Cap, Johnny and Roy in T- shirts watching Chet sleep. Photo: Chet looking caught. Photo: Herbert the mouse in someone's hands. Photo : Marjorie and Brendon Kelly, Chet's little brother and sister. ***************************** From : "SM Fortis" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Hello? Date : Thu, 12 Dec 2002 23:15:18 -0600 Offstory- Pictures reproduced with permission from: Tigger's Emergency Stuff http://exit3.i-55.com/~ffaller/emergency/ Slide Show Central http://lovegage.topcities.com/slide/ Back In Story- Silently cursing himself as he entered the elevator, Kel punched the button for the ground floor. What was he thinking when he invited his father to spend time with him at work? Did he possess a bizarre need to validate his sense of self- worth? Was he trying to dazzle him with his diagnostic and surgical abilities? After all these years, did Brent Brackett's opinion still matter? Upon reaching his destination, Kel approached his office with grim determination. With greater force than was necessary, he flung the door open. Brent sat in one of the leather-upholstered chairs in front of the imposing desk. Pasting a smile on his face, Kel addressed his father. "Hey, Dad. Are you ready to head to the Doctor's Lounge?" Brent shrugged his shoulders. "In a minute. I thought we could talk first." The younger Brackett nervously laughed. "You sound like a typical shrink. You guys always want to talk." "Spoken like a true surgeon. Always wanting to plunge right into things." "Dad.." "It's okay," Brent said. "Obviously we each have our own talents." An uncomfortable silence ensued. Feeling like a world-class jerk for his behavior earlier, Kel cleared his throat. "Dad, I'm sorry for that little stunt in the OR. It was immature and uncalled for. You just caught me off guard, that's all." "I know. But when you invited me to watch you work, you didn't plan on me ambushing you either." "I did assume it would be under more controlled circumstances," Kel admitted. Leaning back in his chair, Brent said, "I had an opportunity to speak with a couple of your biggest fans this evening." "Oh?" "The paramedics that work with the firefighter you operated on. I believe their names were Roy and Johnny?" Kel smiled broadly. "They were one of the first teams I trained. I wasn't a huge supporter of the program initially. Oh, to be honest, I was vehemently against it. I thought it was dangerous and essentially amounted to practicing medicine without a license. But eventually I came around and became one of the program's staunchest defenders. We cleared some substantial legislative hurdles and funding crises, and now I can't imagine how we managed pre-hospital care without our paramedics." "They were quite effusive in their praise," Brent commented. "You certainly have earned their respect. You're more than a mentor to these men." Suddenly embarrassed, Kel joked, "Well, perhaps they may not feel so charitable when it's time for their annual performance evaluations." "Seriously, Kel. That says a great deal about your character. I would be immensely flattered if someone thought that highly of me." "But Dad, you're well respected in your field." "It's not the same," Brent lamented. "So what if I've published extensively? Other than impressing a handful of snobbish colleagues and adding a few lines to my Curriculum Vitae, I haven't accomplished anything of lasting significance." Kel rubbed his temple. First there was the strange confession in the restaurant, and now there was a melancholy tone to his father's last remark. This was proving to be an interesting evening. Staring at the carefully arranged bookcase, Brent continued. "Based on the hospital grapevine, I expected you to be arrogant and overbearing, and thought your employees would cower in your presence. Instead, I discovered you're merely passionate about your life's calling. In retrospect, I can see your career choice wasn't an act of parental defiance. This is what you were meant to do." "I can't imagine doing anything else, Dad. I feel complete here." "Yes, I can see that now." Resting his elbows on his desk, Kel asked, "Dad? Don't you think we need to forgive ourselves too?" Brent raised a questioning eyebrow. "What?" "Don't get me wrong. Forgiving each other is a significant step in the right direction in putting our relationship back on track, but it isn't going to help if we're consumed with guilt over past offenses." The elder Brackett buried his face in his hands. "That's easier said than done. You don't have a constant reminder of your mistakes." "I don't understand," Kel said. "Your mother isn't the same person anymore. She blames me for tearing her family apart. Scarcely a day goes by that I'm not reminded of my failures as a father. You have no idea what it's like to go home every day, knowing your presence is barely tolerated." "So when you moved to Los Angeles." "I was not only trying to reestablish communi- cation with you, I was trying to save my marriage," Brent finished. "Wow," Kel exclaimed. "I had no idea. Mom always sounds okay when I talk to her." "Of course, she would," Brent snorted. "You're her precious baby, even if you are forty-two years old. She still wants to protect you from all of the unpleasant things in life." "Oh, man. I really messed up, didn't I? I must have broken her heart when I left home." "She was pretty upset with both of us," Brent pointedly added. "You're not entirely at fault." Kel was furious with himself. He was so anxious to escape his domineering father, he never considered the effect his departure would have on this mother. During telephone conversations, she always sounded so cheerful. Now it was apparent because of the power struggle between the two men, his mom had been cruelly deprived of the most cherished relationships in her life. "Do you think she'll ever be able to forgive me?" Kel asked earnestly. "Hah! You're completely blameless as far as she's concerned. I'm the heartless ..well, you get the idea." "That's not fair. It was ultimately my decision. I could have handled the situation better," Kel reasoned. "Hindsight is always crystal clear, son," Brent replied. "At the time, you were so blinded by your contempt for me, I doubt you could have arrived at any other solution. Besides, as much as I hate to admit, I was relieved to see you go. After years of yelling and screaming, I looked forward to having some quiet time with your mother." The younger man attempted a feeble grin. "I assume that was a case of be careful of what you wish for?" "Absolutely. Your mother didn't speak to me for weeks. The situation deteriorated to the point where we separated for a couple of months." "You're kidding!" As Kel looked across his desk, he realized the man sitting opposite him was a stranger. It was difficult to comprehend this was someone he once shared his dreams and aspirations with. Was it his imagination, or did his father age a little bit more each time he shared another humbling personal secret? "So how are you two doing now?" Kel inquired. Running his fingers across his chin, Brent responded, "We're managing. We've settled into a comfortable routine here, and she's made new friends. But hardly a day goes by that she doesn't ask about you. She wants to know if I've seen you, do you look well, how is your career doing that sort of thing. Mainly she wants to know why I haven't marched into your office and thrown myself at your mercy." Mentally evaluating the available floor space, Kel said, "I don't know, Dad. Perhaps there's a spot over here where prostration might be an option." A chuckle was heard from across the room. "I've groveled enough for one evening. We're overdue for a cup of coffee." As Brent rose from his chair, Kel motioned for him to sit down. "Wait a minute, Dad. I want to make a phone call." "Can't it wait until tomorrow? It's late." "That's the problem. I'm hoping it's not too late," Kel explained. Puzzled, Brent sat back down. "Who are you calling?" "I want to call Mom." "At this hour?" Jolted to reality, Kel pushed the phone back to the corner of his desk. "You're right. I don't know what got into me. Besides, I don't even have the number on me." Moved by the haunted expression in his son's eyes, Brent sighed. "Do you have a pen?" "No, she's probably already in bed. I'll call her later." His father seized control of the phone and dialed the familiar number. Thrusting the receiver into Kel's hands, Brent quietly left the room. With each ring, Kel's heart rate accelerated. His mouth felt incredibly dry. Oh, this was ridiculous, he thought. He was a grown man calling his own mother. It wasn't like he was a gawky teenager asking the prom queen out for a date! The ringing stopped and was replaced by a gentle voice. Summoning his courage, Kel tentatively said, "Mom? It's Kel." ------------------------------------------ Photo : Dr. Brackett and Dr. Early in a corridor. Photo : Dr. Brackett being firm about a concern. Photo : Roy telling Dr. Brackett about something over the ER requisitions desk. ********************************* From :rosanne iho Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] It looked like a man.. Date : Sat, 14 Dec 2002 13:39:53 -0800 (PST) It was Chet Kelly's first day back to work. In the rec' room of Los Angeles County Fire Station 51, six firemen sat huddled in front of a TV set, watching the Dodgers and the Padres battling it out in the first game of a double-header. They cheered, as Dodger's pitcher, Don Sutton, struck out the Padres-- one, two, three. The Dodgers came to bat. First baseman, Steve Garvey, hit a single. Outfielder, Dave Lopes, also singled. Sutton walked. With the bases loaded--and no outs --Dodger slugger, Dusty Baker, stepped up to the plate. "There's the wind up...and the pi--!" the announcer began, only to be drowned out by the Station's alarm. There was a group groan. "Squad 51..." the dispatcher declared, and the Station's Engine Crew untensed. Paramedics John Gage and Roy DeSoto groaned again and started heading for the garage. "Child down...Wonder Wheels Park...Three and one half miles east on Dart Lane...Then, two and a quarter miles south on Ridgeway Road...Take the first left on Coolidge...It's the fourth driveway on the right...Caller advises you go in the second gate..." "Got it, L.A...." John acknowledged, when he finished his jotting. "10-4, Squad 51..." a rather relieved relayer came back, "Ambulance responding...Time out...17:03" "Squad 51, KMG-365," the fireman further acknowledged. He replaced the radio, snatched up their copy of the call slip and raced around the rescue squad. "We'll start with east on Dart Lane," he proposed, piling into the passenger's seat and pulling on his helmet. His partner nodded his approval of the plan. ############################## Eight minutes of masterful map-reading later, DeSoto drove through the second gate at Wonder Wheels Park and cut the sirens. "Squad 51...cancel," their radio announced. Squad 51's occupants stared down at the dashboard in disbelief. "We may as well check it out," Roy determined, "After all the trouble we went through to get here." Gage nodded in agreement and grabbed the mic'. "L.A., Squad 51. We are at the scene and intend to follow through with the call." "Roger that, 51..." DeSoto parked the Squad at the edge of an enormous concrete lot. He and his partner exited the cab and started strolling off in the direction of a movie crew, filming skate boarding stunts. They watched--in wide-eyed wonder--as a young skate boarder went flying off the end of a three foot ramp, spun twice around and landed gracefully back onto the lot--still on her skate board! Seeing as how they were being completely ignored, Roy cleared his throat and queried, "Did somebody call the Fire Department?" "I'm okay...Honest!" the girl insisted, as she came rolling up. "It's just a little 'road rash'..." she added, and pointed to her scraped and bleeding knees. "You sure you're not seriously hurt?" Gage grilled her. The little lady rolled her eyes and motioned towards the concrete lot. "Did that look like I was seriously hurt?" "Looks can be deceiving," Roy reminded the girl. "Why don't we check you out real quick...just to be sure." The film's director stepped between the paramedics and his star. "If the kid says she's okay--she's okay! Pam's a Pro!" The thirteen-year-old nodded, defiantly. "You didn't hit your head, did you?" Roy's still-worried partner wondered. Pam gave Gage another roll of her eyes and shook her pretty little head 'no'. John sighed. "Well...since you won't let us examine you...I...uh...guess we'll be getting back to the Station. And, you can get back to..." he glanced down at the skate board, "...that." The girl gave herself a push and went rolling off across the lot. "Shouldn't she be wearing a helmet?" DeSoto, the Dad, wondered aloud. Pamela's Producer completely ignored the pesky paramedic. "All right, Kiddo...How about a backward somersault with a reverse handstand?" The young 'Pro' picked up speed. The two firemen exchanged alarmed looks and then watched, in amazement, as Pam flipped herself back over into a somersault. The little lady landed in a crouched position, threw her feet up into the air and went gliding by--standing on her hands! As she turned her board around and went sailing by for a second time, she flashed the camera a beautiful, upside-down smile. The paramedics released their held breaths and began heading for their rescue squad. "If this is a sample of what people are gonna be doing at Wonder Wheels Park," Gage grumbled, "Something tells me we're gonna be coming here...quite often." "After a week or two," DeSoto glumly concurred, "we'll know the way by heart." They climbed back into their truck's cab. John thumbed the radio mic'. "L.A., Squad 51 available...Returning to quarters." "Roger, 51..." ########################### DeSoto backed the Squad into Station 51's parking bay. The paramedic team piled out and sprinted into the rec' room. "What happened after we left?" Gage asked the guys who were still huddled in front of the television, watching the game. No one answered til a commercial came on. Then, Chet turned and said, "You had to see it to appreciate it, Gage." "See what?" the impatient P.M. demanded. Kelly completely ignored the question and continued, "I mean, it was really amazing! Right, Cap?" "Hu-uh?..." Stanley stammered, not turning his gaze from the TV's screen. "Oh...yeah... it was amazing...absolutely!" Gage gasped in exasperation and turned to Stoker, "What happened, Mike?" "Dusty Baker hit a grand-slam homerun!" the Engineer obligingly answered. "I can't remember who else did what, but the Dodgers got ten runs in the second inning!" "We missed it!" John lamented, "For a lousy cancelled call! We missed it!" The sportscaster came back on and announced the score. "Twelve to nothin'?! How one-sided can you get?!" the peeved paramedic declared and turned to leave. "Where yah goin'?" his partner pondered. "To work on the Log Book," Gage glumly replied, "It'll be more exciting." His crew mates glanced at one another and grinned. ############################ A-shift filed into the dorm of Station 51 six hours and three calls later. "Lights out in five minutes!" an extremely tired Captain Stanley warned his equally exhausted crew. The men stripped down to their t-shirts and boxers and, after setting up their bunker pants and boots, collapsed--gratefully--into their beds. They were asleep the moment their pillows hit their heads. They stayed right where they laid until just after eleven...when the alarm went off. "Station 51..." Stanley and his crew threw their covers off and began climbing out of their bunks and into the bottom half's of their turn-outs. "Man down...unknown type rescue...213 East Morrow Drive...Ambulance responding... Two-One-Three East Morrow Drive...Time out...23:02" On the way to the garage, the firemen exchanged mystified glances. Then they shrugged their suspenders into place and scrambled up into their trucks, still sliding jackets and helmets on. "Station 51...KMG-365," the Captain acknowledged the dispatcher. Stanley shot his paramedics a rather puzzled look, before crossing the bay and climbing up into the Engine. DeSoto took the copy of the call slip he was handed and passed it on to his partner, "I thought you said Mr. Fajou was in Florida..." "He is!" John adamantly stated, "He's visitin' some old friend a' his from the film studio who's retired in Miami. Won't be back for another two weeks..." Roy's look of confusion quadrupled. "Talk about 'deja` vu'..." Mike Stoker solemnly stated, "The FIRST time we went to 213 East Morrow Drive, the Dodgers and Padres were playing a double-header, too..." Stanley shot his astute Engineer an amused glance and clipped his copy of the call slip to the dash. Moments later, both trucks pulled out onto the street in front of the Station, lights flashing and sirens blaring. ########################### And, so it was that the men of L.A. County Fire Station 51 found themselves--once again --up on the ancient-looking mansion's moonlit front porch...waiting impatiently while their leader rang the eerie 'go-ong' and rapped the big, bronze door-knocker. "The yard looks nice..." Hank commented, just for something to say. "Thanks, Cap. Reggie's got--Mr. Fajou has this really cool riding lawn mower," John enthusiastically announced, "24 horse...with a three blade deck and a 52 inch cut!" "And electric hedge-trimmers!" Marco added, sounding equally excited. There followed several seconds of uncomfortable silence. "This is just TOO weird!" Chet Kelly determined, finally putting what everyone was thinking into words. Stanley considered saying something like: 'Well, we can't stand out here all night.' But then quickly reconsidered it. Instead, he just grabbed a hold of the knob and twisted it. Just like the first time, they found the front door to be unlocked. "Fire Department!" the Captain called into the dimly lit entryway, "Anybody home?!" Just like the first time, he received no reply. "All right!" Hank exclaimed, throwing the door open wide and stepping aside, "You all know the drill..." The paramedics set their equipment down in the entry hall. Roy and Marco immediately headed for the upstairs. John and Chet began making their way into the back kitchen and the basement door, while Mike followed his Captain off to explore the first floor. ############################# John jerked the creaky portal open, "After you..." he invited with a wave of his arm. Upon seeing his companion's mustached mouth opening in protest, he quickly added,"I went first the last time..." "All right," Kelly reluctantly conceded, "But I should probably warn you...You'd better be ready to get the hell out a' my way! Because... if I see even so much as a mouse...I'm gonna go screaming into the night! And I'll be plowing through anything--or anybody--that gets in my path!" Chet shot his chuckling chum an annoyed glare. Then he drew in a deep breath and begrudgingly began descending the stairs. The two men made it down about two steps, and then stopped, hearing their Captain calling for them. "This is just TOO weird!" Kelly repeated as the two of them re-retreated. ############################ "Yeah, Cap?" John inquired as he and his associated slid to a stop in front of Stanley. "Upstairs!" their Captain prompted and passed the pair of new arrivals the paramedic equipment, "First room on the right!" Gage grabbed the cases he was handed and took the stairs, two steps at a time. Kelly latched onto the oxygen tank and the remaining case, and quickly followed. They entered the first doorway on the right. The dimly lit room was a library--judging by all the books it contained. There was an elderly lady lying, motionless, on an ornate, oriental rug --which covered about a third of the room's hardwood floor. John's partner was kneeling beside the nonmoving woman, performing his initial patient survey. "Heart?" Gage wondered, dropping his gear and himself down next to DeSoto. Roy replied with a quick shrug of his shoulders. "She's got a goose-egg the size of my fist," he announced and began opening and emptying equipment cases, "Apparently, she fell and hit the back of her head--probably on the edge of that thing..." he added, motioning to the large oak desk resting on the floor in front of one the room's wall-to-wall bookcases. John tossed his helmet up onto the desk and donned his stethoscope. His partner finished his preliminary exam and began reaching for their bio-phone, "Let's get her patched in and we might be able to determine what caused the fall..." Their Captain poked his head into the room. "Ambulance is here," he announced, "You guys got everything you need from the Squad?" Gage gave him a nod and then frowned, as a sternal rub and a dose of smelling salts produced no results in their patient. "Cap? Can you check the medicine chests and nitestands for any prescription meds? Oh, and try to find her purse, too. There may not be any pills in it, but her wallet might contain some helpful medical information." "You bet! Chet, you get the bedrooms!" their Commander relegated, "Marco, you get the bathrooms! Mike and I will handle the purse detail." As the firemen exited, the ambulance attendants entered, towing a gurney. ########################### Kelly was the first man back. He returned empty-handed. Lopez followed, a couple of minutes later, with his helmet full of pill bottles. Gage dumped two thirds of the helmet's contents into an 'urp' sack, and then placed the paper bag on their patient's stretcher. "According to her driver's license," Stanley stated, as he and Stoker re-entered the room, "she's Mrs. Margaret Bentley. No medical info and no 'scrip's," he added, sounding almost apologetic. "Thanks, Cap!" Roy acknowledged, as he accepted the purse that was passed to him. DeSoto snatched up several cases and followed the attendants as they towed the packaged patient from the room. "I wonder where Mister Bentley is?" Marco queried, and stood there, staring glumly down at the two plastic pill bottles still in his helmet: Mr.Norman Bentley's prescription meds. "Yeah," Chet chimed in, "Someone had to call this in..." "Chet's right, Cap," Mike Stoker concurred, "This is just TOO weird! The rescue doesn't even match the call!" "It's the full moo-oon..." John jokingly determined, trying his level best to sound solemn and sinister. But a broad grin betrayed him. He picked up the remainder of their paramedic gear and went snickering out into the hall. Stanley and his Engine crew exchanged amused glances. "C'mon!" Hank urged, "There's a bed back at the Station, with my name on it!" "Maybe the Bentleys are Reggie's--Mr. Fajou's relatives..." Marco mumbled under his breath and set Mr. Bentley's scrip's down on a lamp stand. "O-or, maybe Reggie--Mr. Fajou had hired himself a couple of house sitters? " Lopez exhaled a resigned sigh and followed his fellow firefighters from the library. ########################### John finished stowing the gear. He closed the side compartments on the Squad and stepped up to the driver's door. "Doggone it!" he exclaimed and slammed his open palm into the side of the truck. Hank Stanley, who was half-way into his seat, heard the paramedic's angry explicative, and winced. "What no-ow?!" "Ah, Cap..." Gage regrettably replied, " I forgot my helmet...again." "That's the third time this month, John!" his irritated Captain realized, "Why can't you just leave it fastened to your head?!" "It gets in the way of the phone and my stethosco--" "Never mind!" his Captain quickly cut in, "Just go get it! We'll wait for you. Kelly, go with him!" "Ahhh, Cap...Do I have to?" Chet whined. "Move it, you two! Or do you WANT to find out what the penalty is for making your Captain lose his sleep?!" Hank added, seeing Kelly dragging his feet. Chet picked up his pace. In fact, the two helmet retrievers went running back up to the mansion's front door, and quickly disappeared inside. Stoker turned to Stanley, looking curious. "What is the penalty?" "I don't know," his Captain confessed, "But I assure you, it wouldn't be pleasant! I can get awfully cranky when I'm sleep-deprived!" Mike and Marco grinned. ########################## Kelly halted in the entrance hall. "I'm waitin' right here! And, hurry it up, will yah! This place gives me the creeps!" "I'm hurryin'! I'm hurryin'!" John assured his creeped out companion, and took the stairs two steps at a time. Gage reached the dimly lit library and glanced around. He spotted his helmet, setting on the desk, and smiled. As he crossed over and reached out to pick it up, he happened to glance down. There, on the floor behind the desk, was a strange, curved scratch mark. The mark had been carved into the polished varnished floor boards by something heavy. 'Something heavy...like a bookshelf!' the paramedic mused, 'I'll bet there's a 'secret passage' behind this thing!' He examined the object carefully...pulling and pounding and probing for some sort of 'secret' lever or button or something! 'Nothing!' he silently surmised and his shoulders slumped. He stooped to examine the funny, curved scratch mark again. Something heavy had been sliding over those floor boards, all right! "It's got to move!" he realized aloud. He straightened stiffly back up, and that's when he noticed that several books had been removed from one of the shelves. He reached for one of the remaining books and found that it wouldn't move. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that it wasn't a 'book', at all, but a solid block of wood with a book's title painted on it! "The Mystery On Dobbin's Moor..." he read aloud and gave the block of wood a jerk. The bookcase moved, startling him. John jumped back and stared in wide-eyed wonder as the entire shelf swung slowly out into the room, revealing a passageway in the wall behind it! "Only in the movies, huh..." he stated rather smugly, "I knew it! I knew it!" He stepped up and poked his head into the passageway. Itlead to a descending stairway. Gage stiffened suddenly and blinked his wide eyes in the dim light. There, at the bottom of the stairs, he could barely make out the motionless outline of a man. The explorer immediately kicked back into the paramedic mode. "HEY, CHET! GET UP HERE! HURRY!" he turned and shouted. John snatched his helmet up before stepping into the passageway. The opening mechanism reached the end of its guide rail and the bookcase stopped moving--but only for a moment. Because the 'stopper' on the end of the guide rail was broken, the opening mechanism left the track and a powerful spring slammed the bookcase back against the wall with a terrific force! Gage heard the spring 'snap'. Then, something struck him in the back of the head. There was an explosion of light--then...nothing! Everything went _____. He and his retrieved helmet went tumbling down the hidden staircase. ######################### Kelly heard Gage calling him...and then, a loud 'BA-ANG!' He hurried up the stairs and into the library. John was nowhere in sight! "Hey, Johnny...c'mon, man! Quit the clowning! Cap' just ain't gonna see the humor in this!" he added angrily. "Johnny?..." Kelly nervously repeated, following a thorough search of the room. "I know you're in here...I've been watching the door, and I would've seen you leave..." his words trailed off and a tingle went up his spine. "GAGE! GET OUT HERE! RIGHT NOW!" His only answer was dead silence. Chet shivered, and not from the cold. "...please?" he tacked on rather pitifully. ########################## John came to at the bottom of the hidden stairway. He groaned and rolled onto his stomach. When he opened his eyes, he couldn't see a thing. It was pitch black. He picked his aching, spinning head up off the floor and shook it, in an attempt to clear some of the cobwebs and put a stop to the loud, high-pitched 'ringing' in his ears. The only thing the shaking accomplished however, was to increase his pain--tenfold! Somehow, he managed to make it up onto his hands and knees. He spotted a thin strip of light and crawled over to it. He reached up, groping in the darkness for a door knob. There wasn't one. So, he leaned against the wall and tried to stand. The 'wall' gave way and the paramedic went sprawling out of the concealed room and onto the polished marble tiles of the mansion's entryway. Gage groaned again and slowly picked himself back up off of the floor. He stood there, dazed, disoriented and very dizzy. He shut his squinting eyes and placed his hands over his ears in another attempt to block out the painfully loud, and incredibly annoying 'ringing'. ######################### Kelly backed out of the library and started quickly down the stairs. He stopped halfway and his mouth dropped open. There, in the middle of the entrance hall, stood his no- longer-missing amigo. "How'd you do that?" he wondered curiously and skipped down the remaining steps to stand face to face with finally found friend. "Will yah quit the clowning, already?!" Chet pleaded, as John completely ignored him. Gage staggered back a few feet and then caught his balance. He opened his eyes, saw Kelly standing there and quietly inquired, "...what's that noise?" Kelly listened carefully. All his straining ears could detect was the steady ticking of the hall clock. He stared at Gage's bare head and empty hands for a few miffed moments and then threw his arms up in complete exasperation. "That does it!" he declared and began heading for the front door, "I'm out a' here! I ain't getting the Cap' mad at ME!" Gage turned and watched in confusion as associate angrily stomped off. "What happened?" he wondered in a whisper. A sudden wave of nausea came over him and he slowly dropped to his knees. "Man, if I were you, I'd find my helmet REAL QUICK!" Chet chastised. He grabbed a hold of the knob and glanced back, "Before Cap' comes bargin'--" he saw something glistening on the back of his now kneeling comrade's hanging head and stopped. "Hey, Johnny! You're not clowning!" he quickly realized and went rushing up to his collapsed companion. "That's REAL bloo-ood!" He grabbed Gage by the arms and slowly straightened him up, "What happened?!" John tried blinking his blurred vision into focus. He saw Kelly's lips moving, but couldn't hear a word he was saying... on account of that dang incessant 'ringing'! "Can you stop that noise?" he requested. Another wave of nausea washed over him. He shut his eyes tightly and lowered his throbbing head, "...please...stop that noise," he pleaded rather pitifully. "Man! You must a' really got your bell rung!" Kelly concluded. Gage ignored him and started struggling back up onto his feet. So, Chet draped the dazed paramedic's left arm around his neck, wrapped his own right arm around the whoozey man's waist, and began heading for the exit. ######################## Mike and Marco watched as their very vexed Commander climbed stiffly down from Big Red and began heading for the mansion's front door with long, deliberate strides. The Captain crossed the porch, pushed the not completely closed portal open and shouted, "GAGE! KELLY! OUT HERE! NO-OW!... THAT'S AN ORDER!" "Cap!" an extremely relieved Chet Kelly exclaimed, "Johnny's hurt!" Stanley rushed into the entrance hall to lend Kelly a hand with his burden. "Hurt?! What do yah mean 'hu-urt'?! How does someone get HURT retrieving a helmet?!" "I don't know," came back Kelly's equally perplexed reply. "He hit the back of his head somehow!" "What do yah mean 'somehow'?!" his furious Commander further demanded, "Didn't you SEE what happened?! You were supposed to be WITH him!" They carted their cargo over to the nearest bench and sat him down. Stanley stooped in front of the injured fireman and steadied him. "What happened, John?" No reply. "It's no use, Cap, " Kelly advised, "His ears must still be ringing, or something. I don't think he can hear us." Hank slipped his hand-held from his coat pocket and thumbed it, "HT 51 to Engine 51..." "Engine 51...Go ahead, Cap..." "Mike, Marco, bring me a backboard, a c-collar, the spare O2 and the trauma box!" the Captain requested. "Right away, Cap!" Hank exhaled a weary sigh and handed his HT to Kelly. "Call it in!" he ordered and immediately began making a mental list of everything he had ever learned about treating head injuries. ::Keep movement to a minimum... apply cervical collar...maintain an airway... administer oxygen to minimize brain swelling...monitor circulation...check for cerebrospinal fluid...dress the wound without disturbing the underlying tissue... examine the patient for any other injuries.:: Station 51's Captain exhaled another exasperated sigh. Then he pulled the paramedic's penlite from his assessment pouch and began his initial patient survey. ########################## Roy was standing in the corridor in front of the Nurse's Station at Rampart General's Emergency Receiving, waiting for his partner to pick him up. The door to the Doctor's Lounge flew open and the ambulance attendants he'd just rode in with came hurrying out into the hall. The driver spotted DeSoto and waved him over. "You ain't gonna believe this," he declared as the paramedic came stepping up, "but we just got called back to that creepy house!" "You can't be serious!" Roy exclaimed. The driver nodded, "You wanna ride back with us?" "I'm waiting for my partner," Roy replied, and pointed to his pile of equipment cases. "You'll have a lot shorter wait if you come with us, " the other attendant piped up. "Our patient IS your partner!" DeSoto gulped in disbelief, but then ran over, gathered up his gear and went racing towards the exit. The paramedic beat the attendants to their ambulance. ########################## "Where did you find him?" a flustered Hank Stanley asked, upon finishing administering his first-aid. "He was standing right there," Chet replied and pointed to middle of the entryway. "He must've slipped and fallen down the stairs..." the Captain concluded. "I don't think so, Cap. The last time I saw him, he went into that library...where we found that lady with the big bump on the back of her head...the next time I saw him, he was standing right there...with a big, bloody bump on the back of his head. I heard this real loud 'ba-ang!' " Stanley stared up at the ceiling, "Why?! Why can't two grown men rescue one helmet--without one of them nearly being killed!" No reply followed. He frowned down at the barely conscious fireman on the backboard, "What am I gonna do with you, pal?! If I ever find out that you got hurt goofing off, I-I'll...." he let his threat just hang there in the air. The sound of an approaching siren grew louder and louder and finally stopped. Roy hurried into the entrance hall. Seeing the patient was packaged and ready to transport, the vertical paramedic told the two white-coated men who had accompanied him, "Let's go! I'll call it in on the way!" The attendants nodded. They transferred the horizontal paramedic's backboard from the hall bench to their stretcher, strapped it securely in place and began towing the patient out to their waiting ambulance. Roy watched them wheel his partner away and then turned to his Captain, "What happened?" "That's what I'd like to know!" Stanley smartly replied and passed his questioner his medical notes. "And that's what I intend to find out! Chet take the Squad! Mike, Marco, I want this house turned inside out!" "Aye, aye, Cap!" Kelly acknowledged. He snatched up the trauma box and gladly followed Roy out of the building. "He took a pretty hard blow to the back of the head. He's gonna need some stitches," the Irishman informed the still completely-in-the-dark paramedic. "Says he can't remember what happened. Claims he can't hear anything because there's a loud ringing in his ears..." DeSoto gave his moustached informant a grateful nod and climbed up into the back of the ambulance with the bio- phone and their drug box. Kelly closed the doors, rapped an 'all clear' and then watched the vehicle pull away. He gave the creepy-crawly dwelling a parting glance, before heading for the Squad...with a shudder. He was really relieved to be leaving that 'way weird' 'banging' abode behind him--for good. ::Hopefully... :: ########################### "What are we looking for?" Mike wondered as they began a thorough search of the library. "His helmet," their confused Captain replied as the object of their search was not immediately clearly visible, "It has to be in here somewhere! He didn't have it with him when Chet found him..." Stoker stopped in mid-search and stood there, resting his hands upon his hips, "Cap, everything about this rescue has been really strange." "Yeah, Cap," Lopez agreed, "Maybe we should call the police?" "What? You two think somebody hit him over the back of the head and stole his helmet?" Stanley jokingly inquired. He saw the looks on their faces and realized that was exactly what they thought. "That's ridiculous!" "First, the rescue doesn't match the call..." Marco muttered, "Then, Johnny gets 'mysteriously' hurt..." "I think there's somebody hiding in this house!" Stoker stubbornly insisted. Lopez nodded his support of the Engineer's notion. "C'mon!" their Captain urged, "There's got to be an explanation to all this 'strange' business. When we find the helmet, I'm sure we'll find the explanation-- a reasonable explanation," their still skeptical Commander added, suppressing a smile all the while. ########################### An hour later, the three firemen finished their thorough, and exhausting, search of the house and regrouped in the entrance hall... empty-handed! Stoker sank wearily down onto the bottom step and wondered, "Well, Cap, are you convinced now?" Stanley sighed and tried rubbing some of the stiffness from the muscles in the back of his neck. "I'm convinced we're wasting our time here. C'mon! Let's get back to the Station. I wanna call the hospital." Lopez looked tremendously disappointed, "You're not going to call the police?" "And tell them what?" Hank wondered, "Hello, I'd like to report a missing helmet? I don't think that would go over too big." "Maybe not, " Mike admitted, "But what about attempted murder?" Stanley stared at his Engineer in total disbelief. "And I thought Gage had an overactive imagination! C'mon! Let's go get some sleep! It'll give your imagination a chance to rest, after running wild like that." But Stoker was undeterred. "Aren't you curious?" Their Captain exhaled a sigh of complete exhaustion. "Mike, right now I'm more tired than curious. We can look for answers again in the morning...later this morning," he wearily tacked on, on his way to the exit. ########################## Fifteen minutes later, Station 51's Commander-In-Chief found himself on the phone in the rec' room. "Uh-huh...I see... Uh-huh," he paused to pass DeSoto's report on to his skeleton engine crew, "No fractures. No hemorrhaging. Just a mild concussion, a dozen stitches and a bunch of bruises..." Stoker and Lopez exhaled sighs of relief. "Already did! A replacement should be arriving any minute now. Right! Thanks, Roy!" the Captain concluded his conversation and returned the phone's handset to its cradle. "Thank God!" he exclaimed and began heading for his bunk. "Lights out in two minutes!" he warned. Mike flicked off the lights and then he and Marco followed their leader over to the dorm. ########################### Meanwhile, over in Rampart General's ICU... "Are your ears still ringing?" Dr. Kelly Brackett asked, upon completion of his very thorough examination of the pouting patient in Room 602. The frowning fireman shook his heavily bandaged head 'no'. "Good! You can hear me! How do you feel?" There followed a long silence. Kel' turned to the nurse, standing at his side and said, "Humph! His ears are working...but now he can't talk!" "I was always told if I couldn't say anything nice, I shouldn't say anything at all." Brackett cleared his throat and cracked a smile. "Well, I'm glad to see that little bump on the head hasn't caused you to lose your sense of humor!" "If I only got a 'little bump on the head', then why does my whole body hurt?" Gage complained, sounding every bit as grumpy as he looked. "Your whole body hurts because it's black and blue." "Did somebody beat me up?" "By the location of these bruises, I'd venture to say you fell down some stairs..." Brackett paused, to study his patient's reaction to his little disclosure. At the mentioning of the word 'stairs', a picture of a dark staircase had flashed through Gage's groggy memory banks. Then another fleeting mental image appeared. That of a motionless figure sprawled out on the floor at the foot of those dark steps. "Although Chet swears that's not possible..." the doctor paused again, "What is it Johnny? You remember something?" "I'm not sure. When you said stairs, I suddenly saw--" the paramedic stopped and stiffened. "Doc! Are any of the guys still here?!" "Roy and Chet are right outside. Why?" "I gotta talk to 'em! Hurry! It's important! Life and death important!" "All right. You get one minute," Brackett allowed, and began heading for the door, "But you have to promise to behave yourself!" he called back over his shoulder. John nodded. His doctor disappeared out into the hall. "How is he?" Chet Kelly anxiously inquired. Brackett folded his arms and frowned. "Right now, he's all worked up! Claims he has something important to tell the two of you. Gentlemen, it's essential that he remain as calm and as quiet as possible..." ICU's visitors nodded their understanding. So, Kel' pushed the portal to 602 back open and waved them inside, "One minute!" he allotted and let the door swing shut. Gage spotted his guests and practically shouted, "You guys have got to get back to that house! There's somebody hurt!" "Calm down, Johnny!" his partner pleaded. "Who's hurt?" "I don't know. It was kinda' dark. It looked like a man." DeSoto and Kelly exchanged knowing glances. They decided to humor him. "Okay, Johnny. We'll go back to the house and rescue the man. You just lie still and don't worry...he'll be just fine..." Gage gazed into his friends' faces. He could tell they didn't really believe him. "You don't believe me!" he exclaimed and tried to sit up. "You gotta believe me! He's layin' at the bottom of a SECRET stairs!" The ICU nurse shoved his antsy, all-riled-up partner back down on his bed. "We'd better leave!" DeSoto quickly determined and he and his fellow visitor began beating a hasty retreat. "No! Don't go! I hafta tell yah how to get to the SECRET passage! It's behind the bookcase! Mystery On Dobbin's Moor! Be careful! The bookcase is DEADLY!" John stopped shouting as the door swung shut. He turned to his tough nurse, "Let me go! I've got to make a phone call!" Brackett glanced up from the medical chart he'd been studying and gave Gage's guests an annoyed glare. "That visit went over well!" he sarcastically commented. "What was all the shouting about?" "That bump on the head must've scrambled his brains," Roy replied, "He saw a Late Late show about a month ago, and now he's hallucinating houses with hidden rooms!" The doctor cocked one eyebrow, "What did he tell you?" "Why?" "I don't think he was hallucinating. What exactly did he say?" Gage's guests glanced at each other again. Kelly went first. "Well, he said there was somebody hurt back at that house." "Yeah," DeSoto chimed in, "He said it looked like a 'man'." "Then he said something about a secret stairway and a secret passage," Kelly concluded. "I think you should check it out!" John's doctor advised, speaking in dead earnest. "I examined Johnny just before you went in there. He was completely mentally alert. And," he paused,"he's covered with bruises... like the bruises one would get from falling down a flight of stairs. Now, Chet claims he didn't fall down the stairs he was watching...so...maybe he fell down a hidden stairway?" Roy remained skeptical. But Kelly was beginning to come around. "It would explain a lot of things," he was forced to admit. "What things?" DeSoto wondered. "Well, the call for instance. Remember? It came in MAN down...unknown type rescue. And, Johnny had to get to the first floor somehow...and somebody had to phone the call in...It would also explain why they couldn't find his helmet!" "That call has been bugging me all night!" Roy remarked and started striding off in the direction of a phone. Brackett and Kelly followed along. Roy picked up the receiver and dialed a number from memory. "Los Angeles County Fire Department Central Dispatch," one of the dispatchers answered, "May I help you?" "Yes. This is Squad 51. I need to speak to the person who answered an emergency call at around eleven. The call was to 213 East Morrow Drive." "Standby, 51," the dispatcher acknowledged and placed the call on hold. Two minutes later, a woman came back on the line. "Hello?" "Hi. This is Squad 51. Did you receive the call from 213 East Morrow Drive last night?" "Yes. Why? Did it turn out to be a hoax?" DeSoto stiffened, "Why'd you ask that?" "Some hysterical woman called, screaming something about her husband finding a secret passage in her brother's house. Can you imagine? A secret passage?" Roy slammed the phone down. "Tell Johnny I'm sorry I ever doubted him!" he requested of Brackett, before tearing off down the hospital corridor with Chet hot on his heels. They skidded to a stop in front of the elevators and DeSoto hit the DOWN button. "L.A., Squad 51," he spoke into his HT. "Go ahead, 51..." "L.A., we have a silent alarm at 213 East Morrow Drive. Request an ambulance and Engine 51's assistance." "10-4, Squad 51...213 East Morrow Drive... Two-One-Three East Morrow Drive... Ambulance and Engine 51 responding... Time Out...2:13" Kelly caught the Time Out time and turned to DeSoto, wearing the oddest expression on his moustached face. "2:13? How weird is tha-at?!" The elevator arrived and swallowed them up, before Brackett could catch the paramedic's reply. The physician managed an amused snort and decided to go deliver DeSoto's message. He turned around and ran smack dab into his father. "Don't you ever sleep?" the senior Dr. Brackett queried lightly. "Dad! What on earth are you doing here at this hour?" "Attempted suicide. 604. What about you?" "Concussion. 602. Since when do you get called in for a psyche consult?" "Since I volunteered my services in the--in your E.R.. Since when do you get called in for a concussion at, " Brent paused to glance at his Rolex, " 2 a.m.?" "Since I left standing orders to be notified whenever any of my family members or close, personal friends come through the doors." "Then...you'd be called in...for me?" his father tentatively inquired. "Twice!" Kel assured him, with a wry smile, "You made BOTH lists!" The younger Dr. Brackett's smile broadened into a grin, and he disappeared behind the door to ICU Room 602. Brent Brackett chuckled and then vanished next door, into 604. ---------------------------------------- Photos : No attachments. **************************** From: 'Katherine Bird' Subject : [emergencytheaterlive] For Whom the Tome Tolls. Date : Sunday, December 15th, 2002. 23:22:09 GMT Roy and Chet beat the Engine to 213 Morrow Drive and got out. They shed helmets onto the squad's roof, knowing that they wouldn't be needing them inside. Chet was bouncing with more than just professional urgency. Nervousness was making him babble. "I don't know what you think I can do once we find him in there Roy. I'm not a paramedic." Chet whined, taking drug, IV, and the splint box from the side compartment as they hastened to gather all they would need. Roy afforded him a wry look. "You got two arms and know how to use a resuscitator. That's all you need to know if CPR's needed. I can handle the rest until the Engine gets here. It's been a half hour, no doubt Johnny's replacement has already reported in. He'll be coming with the Ward and the gang, sitting in your spot." "True enough. I wonder who was sent as Johnny's replacement.." DeSoto snatched up the defibrillator, short 02 case, the biophone and two hefty hand held flashlights. He freed one hand long enough to thumb his HT. "L.A., Squad 51. On scene." "10-4, 51." "L.A., what's Engine 51's ETA?" Before L.A. could answer, Cap's sleepy voice piped in over the open frequency, punctuated by background sirens. Roy could hear gears shifting at a rapid rate as the LaFrance wove through the late night traffic. "Squad 51, our ETA is four minutes!"Cap replied immediately. "10-4, Engine 51." Roy said. ::Man, Mike must be breaking all speed records to get here.:: Chet and Roy hurried to the front porch landing with all of their equipment. The full moon had settled over the trees, making the neatly fire station gang weeded stone path, invisible, but Roy and Chet already knew the front garden sidewalk's curves by heart. Kelly asked a question. "Just what did the dispatcher tell you about this potentially injured guy?" he panted, as Roy and he pushed opened the front door with their hips and rushed into the main entrance hall. Chet could still see the wrappers they had left behind from Johnny's nasal cannula tubing Cap had used on him and from Marco's left over bandaging on the oriental rug by the stone bench. Roy immediately got his bearings and started running up the main staircase to the second floor of the vast, dark Victorian mansion. They both returned to the library at the head of the stairs. "Chet, it went like this. Dispatch said Margaret, the lady we found, is Fajou's sister and that it was she who called in last night's run on her husband, Norman. Dispatch thought her nuts when she started yelling about him being lost in a secret passage.." "So that explains the mismatched gender on the call; Man down, when we found a woman. " "Yeah.." Roy said., hurrying even faster. Chet said. "She must've panicked, trying to find him. Don't blame her. These are number one grade A creepy surroundings, man." If she freaked, she could've fallen and hit her head easily." "That's what I'm guessing." Roy said. Fireman and paramedic plunked down all of their gear on the carpetting in the dark library and both immediately went to the rows and rows of ornate bookshelves, seeking out one title that Gage had embedded into their minds so urgently.... Unconsciously, they turned protectively back to back to each other, and turned in place eyeing the wall to wall book shelving all around them with their flashlights. Chet whistled, "Man, where do we start?" "Anywhere.." Roy licked dry lips, but smiled when he heard the sounds of Engine 51 approaching. He lifted his HT. "Squad 51 to Engine 51. We're in the library." "10-4. There in one.." Stoker acknowledged. Roy turned back to a twitchy Kelly. "Johnny said the title of the book that activated the passageway's door read,..The Mystery On Dobbin's Moor.." Chet and Roy fell mute when thousands of books met their sight. And most of them were almost too dusty to read. "And I promised myself I'd never come back here.." Kelly said, "That's what I get for having an overactive curiosity about this house. We'll never find it in time, Roy.. Geez, the guy's been lying alone for hours. He might even be dead already." "Yeah, well. Third time on a run to the same location's always a charm. I prefer to think positively." Roy grunted. "Now, let's start shedding some light here. Literally." DeSoto jogged back to the door they entered and found a long velvet pull cord set into the ceiling. He pulled it and electric lights in Victorian glass lamps brightly illuminated the room. "Let's assume Johnny didn't climb that book ladder to find it, and that he only looked at something at eye level. He was looking for his helmet that he had set down. So it makes sense he wouldn't have been looking anywhere over our heads." he sighed. Then he paused, thinking... "Chet, where exactly did we find Margaret on the floor, I don't remember. I was too focused on making sure she was still breathing to recall." Chet shrugged and paced to the place. "Right about here.." he gestured. "Next to the desk, like this.." and he laid down on the floor to show Roy how she had been positioned. Roy place his feet next to where Chet's shoes lay and turned, looking at the desk. He found hand prints on the mirror and a blood stain where Margaret's head had impacted its edging. "Her lump was on the left occipitally, so she had to be facing this way.." Roy turned to his right, "...when she fell against the desk." Chet got to his feet. "Look!" he shouted, aiming his flashlight's beam. "A larger hand print!" he said pointing it out on a dusty tome immediately next to the mirror. "That's got to be Johnny's. It still looks fresh." Roy "It is..There's the title we've been looking for." Roy's hand was just about to pull it when 51's engine crew and Paramedic Craig Brice rushed into the room loaded with wall cracking equipment. Cap rushed to their sides. "Any luck yet?" "Right here, Cap." Roy said. "We found the triggering mechanism. Johnny said it was disguised as this fake book here." "All right, stand back." Captain Stanley ordered. "If that bookshelf's opening mechanism malfunctioned enough to shove Johnny down a flight of stairs, it'll still be malfunctioning. Be careful. Things like this usually rotate on a counter weight balance." Chet smirked, "Hey Cap, all the sudden you're a haunted house secret passageway expert on top of being a fire department captain?" Stanley shot a look at Kelly. "Not even pretending, Kelly. Just guessing here. I'm remembering the weird hidden revolving stone door we found in that winery basement fire last month. Remember that fire? Well I had a chance to talk with the restaurant designer we rescued about it all while I bandaged up burns he got on his hands trying to save that hundred year old Cabernet Sauvignon wine bottle." "Oh yeah. What a tragedy! A two thousand dollar bottle of bino. Poof. Up in smoke." Marco said. Mike said. "I remember him, a real character. Didn't know whether I was talking to Frank Lloyd Wright or Stephen King." Craig Brice interrupted them. "Ah, gentleman. We can talk about all this fascinating gothic architecture and about the old wine later, hmm? We're here on a rescue call. I suggest we stick to the matters at hand. Our victim is expecting us to save him with all due haste." Chet sniped back, "Yeah? Well Cap flapping his gums, Brice, is to make sure we don't end up dead before we can even get to the guy. Patience. Strange thing with you saying that, Brice, you usually know paramedic protocol better than any of us. Remember rule number one? 'First, secure the scene?' " Craig didn't take offense. "Indeed. Proceed all. I'll get the gear set up." He laid out an EKG monitor onto the rug, quickly followed by the defibrillator case. Cap said, "Ok, Marco, get that crow bar set. Mike get ready to jam your roof axe into the hinge axel that'll expose itself once the bookshelf swings open. That should hold things long enough for us to get Bentley out of there." Roy pulled the pseudobook lever. There was a groan of stone and a loud bang which Chet recognized. "This is the right way.. I remember that sound!" He barely waited for Marco and Stoker to wedge axe and crow bar into the brick wall gears before plunging into the darkness of the stair well. Sure enough, his flashlight beam caught a dim figure at the bottom of the landing. The gang all shoved into the narrow passageway. Roy was quickly down the rock stairway, with all the others close on his heels. "Hey sir..! Can you hear me?" Kelly butted in front of him and reached for the figure's neck. A large spider jumped out from around the man's hairline in a defensive leap, guarding its territory. "Ahhh!!" Chet leaped backwards with a shout, crashing into Roy, Stoker and Cap behind him, and all four fell onto their butts on the stone steps. "Kelly do you mind?" Cap said. "Sorry Cap. I.. guess I'm more than a little jumpy." Roy was already at their victim's side, aiming a flashlight towards his face. "Hey Cap, look at this. It's a wax work figure." All four guys crowded around Roy and looked. "A fake body." Cap sighed. "I should have known. This house IS a working creepshow." Chet had already overcome his fright. "Man, Johnny's gonna be bummed he took a fall over a dummy." and the guys laughed. Then a low moan attracted their attention. Every one of them shot their flashlight beams into the cobwebby room beyond the stair's landing. Shushes abounded as everyone strained to hear more. Cap held up a glove for silence and he shouted. "Norman Bentley! Shout if you can hear us!" They were met with an eerie quiet. "Ok, gang. Spread out. Search pattern. And stay within eyesight at all times. This place is a deathtrap to the uninitiated." "Seems like even the caretakers were under informed." Brice shouted from where he was listening to the gang from where he was waiting in the library with an open comm to Rampart. "Unlucky them." Lopez groaned. At the back of the room, another figure startled them, a huge looming, silver form standing in their light beams. "Well, I'll be d*mned." Kelly whispered. "There IS an iron maiden in the basement." Cap and Roy shot him a dirty look. Another trickling moan met their ears, weaker than the last, followed by an echo which sounded like hollow metal pinging. They all paused in their tracks trying to pin down a place that would cause a moan to sound like that. "Maybe Norman found the Maiden, too." Lopez said fearfully. "It's the only hollow thing down here." Come on!" Kelly agreed. All the firemen hastened to open the heavy wrought iron case. While they shouted for Norman to answer them, the faint, low moaning stopped. It was almost a full two minutes more before the firemen figured out the tricky old device's release latches and freed their victim. Out tumbled an older man bonelessly, comatose and dusky blue. "Mr. Bentley?" Roy said, catching him. They set him on the stone floor and DeSoto quickly grabbed his head and listened carefully over his nose and mouth after tipping his chin back. "Move it guys. He's quit breathing.." Roy said and he firmly began mouth to mouth. Mike Stoker began opening the man's shirt hastily for CPR. Chet rushed to the foot of the stairs and shouted. "Hey Brice! Toss down the resuscitator. On the double!" Craig did so, and Kelly caught the case as deftly as a basketball. He rushed back and together, Mike and Chet got the unit turned on. They both swiftly fitted the tubing and the moulded face piece into place. Roy tilted back Norman's head further on his next breath, until a better airway was secured. Then he set the positive pressure mask Kelly handed him over the suffocated man's face, and sent a set of rapid ventilations of pure O2 deep into Norman's chest with the thumb trigger. Roy's free fingers found a beat just under the man's jawline. He waved Mike off from his hands-on-waiting for-word-to-go CPR position. "Stoker, it's ok. He's still got a pulse.." he told him. "It's weak, but there." All the gang sighed and relaxed just a bit. After only a minute more supported O2, the very lucky Norman roused and began coughing. He weakily shoved the ventilation mask away with a confused mumble. Cap attempted to get the groggy man's attention. "Mr. Bentley? It's ok. We're with the L.A. County Fire Department, we got a call from your wife that you were lost down here. How are you feeling?" Norman's eyes blearily made out Roy and all the gang's faces. "Oh my, never.. shoulda gone exploring..Ohhh.. That d*mned thing trapped me..." he said with a grimace towards the Iron Maiden that had entombed him for a day. "How did you ever get in there?" Cap wanted to know. Kelly helped the man sit against the Maiden to ease his breathing a little more, at Roy's unspoken nod to do so. "Oh, I've got a headache that won't quit.." Norman groaned and gratefully took the mask Roy still held against his nose and mouth. He inhaled in a few more shots of oxygen, then blinked his eyes as clarity came slowly back. It arrived along with a healthy sense of self consciousness the more Norman thought about where he was and what had happened to him. Finally, he sighed, answering the tall fire department captain. "I....wanted to know what it was like being inside one of them. Stupid really. Didn't know there was no handle on the inside." Chet sighed. "No kidding.. Didn't think a torturing device would have one." Marco smacked Chet on the arm to keep him quiet. Cap sighed, rubbing his sleep mussed hair and said, "Well live and learn from this, Norman. Looks like no lasting harm done. But sir, I'm afraid we've got some off news about your wife. She .. well,...panicked a bit when she didn't hear you answer her calling your name and slipped a bit, upstairs." "Is Maggie ok?" Norman gasped. "Is she here? Oh my goodness.." "She's fine, sir. Relax. She's just getting an ice pack for her head at Rampart Emergency, most likely, and a few precautionary X-rays. We'll be bringing you to where she is in a few minutes." Cap said. "Oh, bother.. Glad she's all right. Thank you boys, for looking out for her," he sighed, "and me for that matter.." and took another pull off the mask, saying more. "Margaret doesn't have the same sense of adventure I do about her brother's house. Me, I'm like a kid turned loose in a candy store.." and he started laughing to the point of coughing. "Easy.." Roy said, "Just keep using this oxygen here. I'm afraid you're still as gray as she is...." he quipped, patting the Iron Maiden next to them. That only brought more laughter from Norman and he rapidly improved colorwise soon there after. Chet and Cap had already ruled out the need for a stokes. Roy agreed with them and he finished putting away the positive pressure valve, trading it for a cannula. "Feel well enough to stand, Norman? " Roy asked him. "We've got another paramedic with all of our equipment up the stairs here. If you'd let us, we'd like to check ya out to make sure you didn't come to any permanent harm." Roy asked him. "You're so nice, all of you men. And for coming all the way over here just to get me out of my bind." he said. "Yes. I do believe I can. " and he let himself be raised and supported between Stoker and Marco until he regained shaky feet. "Say fellas, when you were searching for me, did you spot Reggie's wetbar? I'm awful thirsty from being cramped in there all night. A brandy would really hit the spot right about now..." "Amen to that sir." Chet nodded animatedly. Cap glared at Kelly. "Just go get the gear, Kelly. We're going upstairs." Roy quickly diverted Mr. Bentley from the jibbing Captain Stanley to Chet Kelly exchange. "Let's just start with a glass of water from the kitchen, all right? " Roy told him with a grin. "And maybe we'll be asked to get an IV or two going a bit later.." he said thoughtfully. "An IV? What's that? Anything like a V-O?" Mr. Bentley asked with an innocent curiosity. "I know about those, Margaret says Reginald likes to drink them while he bakes things in the kitchen." Roy grinned and then began explaining in detail about what would go on with Norman and his prehospital care and about what the doctor on the other end of the biophone would probably order, as they all slowly made their way up the slate gray stones, step by step. On the way, and last in line, Chet snatched up Gage's helmet after making very sure no new spiders were calling it home. He was still unnerved by the bug he had seen and Norman's close call, but his sense of humor was still completely intact. So was his keen entrepeneurial instinct that always seemed to pop up after a crisis. "Say, Mr. Bentley. Did you know you could probably make a fortune opening up this place to school kids around Halloween time? You three might make even more money then, in one month, than you do right now giving the studios kids THEIR tours, all year. Reggie would still be able to hand out his gingerbread cookies anytime he feels like it. And I'm sure the guys here with me would love to help out this fall in costumes or something, too." Marco and Mike began to shake their heads vehemently out of Norman's eyeshot but stopped immediately when the old man noticed them doing something beyond helping him climb steps. Chet got braver as the gem of his idea, blossomed in the wake of his spider fright. "Yeah, now that I think about it, my Cap would make a GREAT Frankenstein." "Really?" Norman chirped up, fiddling with the cannula that had been set around his face as he let his rescuers sit him into a leather library recliner by a roaring fireplace that had somehow, mysteriously, lit itself. Chet said sotto voce. "Oh yeah, sir. I know because he's a regular holy terror whenever he goes without sleep or when any station wide inspection date rolls around." Kelly never saw the boot Cap connected with his rear, sending him out the library door in an unsubtle hint to tell the ambulance attendants where to rendevous with them all. ----------------------------------------------------- A week later, the gang sat around the kitchen table eating lunch, without much gusto. Even Mike looked quieter than usual. Marco finally piped up, breaking the soft sounds that all their forks were making as they each half heartedly played with their food. "Man, I'm really going to miss the little guy." "Yeah. And we just got the paint to dry on old Henry's dog house too." Mike Stoker agreed. Stoker and Lopez both let out matching sighs. Captain Stanley narrowed his eyes at his men from around his chilidog as he bit into it. He chewed loudly and without apology. "Come off it you two. You saw the way Reggie, Maggie and Norman's eyes lit up when they saw Chester Bartholomew run up to them when they came here to give us all gingerbread cookies to thank us for all we've done. It was like twenty years of loneliness just rolled right off their shoulders. What else could I have done?" Chet groused. "You couldn't've found them another puppy?" "As if I could've right at that moment, Kelly. Hush, and eat your food before it gets cold." Another two minutes of no one chewing, stretched intolerably. Cap cleared his throat and addressed his depressed crew, "Now, Come on gang. We just all have to get used to having a station without a mascot again. Won't be hard. Not at all. I mean we..we..we managed to survive after Henry left. Right?" Everyone grudgingly agreed, until a voice rang out. "Barely. We didn't sleep for a week. Remember?" Chet insisted morosely. "I don't know about you, Cap. But I missed him terribly. All but broke my heart. Sort of like ..." and he lowered his voice.." the way.. I feel...." and he took a bite of biscuit to hide what he was feeling."....right ...now..about Chester." Captain Stanley shifted in his chair uncomfortably. "Yeah, well, Kelly. uh... I know it's tough. It's rough on all of us.. But, consider our giving Chester away a good deed and let's leave it at that." Roy regarded Chet with a calm encouraging grin. "He's right Chet. Just think how happy Chester will be when he can play with all the school kids everyday when they come to visit Mr. Fajou and the Bentleys to get their gingerbread cookies." His grin fell away when Chet's paper didn't stop separating Kelly from the rest of those around the kitchen table. Gage loudly coughed, getting everyone's attention. He wore a very serious face as he said. "I still think you made a horrible mistake Cap. I really think that you must've .." and his face lit up with laughter."...given away the wrong Chester B, You should've given them Kelly here and saved us a whole lotta future grief." Johnny joked. "Very funny Gage." Chet said, finally taking some bait. "I'll remember that the next time you get lost and your buns are roasting in a hot fire and I'm the one sent to look for ya." The gang chuckled, thinking they were finally lifting away the dark cloud hanging over Kelly's head. Even Cap finally got up out of his chair and strode over to Henry's old dog house and he patted its newly restored paint job. "Listen gang...uh, despite what I've decided here, it doesn't mean we can't keep our eye out, you know, from looking for the next stray to come along. Am I right? Heck. We see tons of em every fire. " Gage was still frowning because it had finally sunk in that his attempt at humor had actually failed to get Chet out of his pity pit. "Yeah, Cap. That's... that's a really good idea. We'll uh, just, we'll just go about our business and wait for another dog or something to come to us." "Exactly Gage.. " Cap agreed. "My guess is the next dog to land at Station 51 will do it OUT of a baby basket and without any mysterious note attached around his neck." "Here. here." Johnny piped up in a toast, raising his mug of coffee. "To Chester Bartholomew. Once a puppy lost, now a pup found, and living it up in the coolest house a dog could ever wish for, the Morrow Drive Movie Mansion." The gang all joined in the toast whole heartedly, hooting a few whistles and cheers until Chet finally raised his mug, too. Everyone pretended not to see the water glistening in Chet Kelly's eyes as he looked for the millionth time at a photo of Chester Bartholomew that he had carried in his uniform pocket ever since the first day the tiny beagle pup had arrived on the kitchen doorstep, as they drank in the little dog's honor. As if by magic, a box of tissue suddenly appeared out of nowhere, shoving underneath the funnies Chet was only pretending to read. ------------------------------------------------ Dixie McCall watched the three well dressed diners surrounding her at a Manny's Fine Dining white topped table, and smiled. Her wildest long time wish, had finally come true at last. Kel Brackett sat with his mother and his father, all together, at one table. Dixie grinned even bigger. ::It's been three hours. And the sparks still aren't flying. You know, sometimes I amaze even myself. Maybe I should study to become a doctor AND a psychologist, just to make it official someday:: she considered. Dixie sipped her Amaretto sour and studied her friends' faces as they shared their life stories of the past ten years with other, in full, heartfelt, gritty detail. But Dixie felt she didn't even need to listen. It was enough just to be there. ::Nah..:: she thought about her future career plans once more. ::Why should I even bother? I get to enjoy the rewards of doing that kind of work right now. No muss, ...no fuss. And what I'm witnessing right now is a fine, fine example of the power of human reconciliation at its very best.:: Dixie was absolutely sure that Joe Early next to her was revelling too, in the fact that not once through the entire nine course dinner, had Kel Brackett's anxiety tied face twitch, revealed itself. ::Yeah. Somedays I really love my job.:: Dixie mused once again. :: I couldn't be any happier, I think ever, ...than I am.....right ........now..:: Wordlessly, she clinked her drink with Joe's as they both continued to be inadvertantly ignored by their close companions. Pleased as punch, Dixie McCall and Joe Early both tuned back into the animated dinner conversation going on around them and nurse and doctor both, privately went on celebrating and watching with both eyes as the old Brackett family circle remade itself into something .... finally and truly, everlasting. ----------------------------- Photo : Cap and John wearing helmets looking worried. Photo : Chet in turnout, with an axe. Photo : A creepy house. Photo: Roy with an unconscious man in a dirty setting. Photo : Dixie out of uniform in street clothes. Photo : A tiny beagle pup, running in play. Photo : Station 51, in daylight under blue skies. ************************************ FIN FATHER AND SON :) This Episode is Dedicated to Dee Dee Sullivan :) Who Is Healing from a Lumbar CNS Injury :) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season One, Episode Three.. Juxtaposition ********************************* From: Fran Catrair Date: Sun Dec 15, 2002 11:57 pm Subject: Rainy Days and Mondays It was a dreary, gray day in Southern California, with a hint of rain in the air. It was the kind of day that made the quiet Roy DeSoto even more reserved than normal, and he sighed in melancholy, not touching his breakfast. His partner looked up at the sound and noticed his partner's troubled expression. The engine crew had left earlier on a call, but Cap had just radioed in, saying they would be back at the stationhouse shortly. For the moment, though, they had the place to themselves. "What's wrong, Roy?" Johnny asked his dour partner. ::Like he's going to tell me.:: Johnny thought grimly. It had been like pulling teeth just to find out when Roy's birthday was. He had even asked Cap to pull a few strings at personnel for the information, but Cap had refused, saying if Johnny wanted to know when Roy's birthday was so badly, he should find out for himself. Roy continued skating his fork around his plate, the sausage attached causing a nice track in the maple syrup left on his plate from his now just eaten pancakes. "Nothing, Johnny. Just thinking." Roy responded absently. ::Why am I NOT surprised?:: Johnny thought to himself in exasperation. He was about to try another tact when the station alarm klaxon sounded. Both men got up from the table quickly, sparing a moment to look at each other in concern. The longer klaxon meant the situation was not good. ##Squad 51...Engine 51...Batallion 8... overturned schoolbus....715 Dorchester Blvd...seven-one-five Dorchester Blvd... Cross street Hamilton...Time out...0827." Johnny quickly jotted the information down on a piece of paper and reached for the station mic. ##Squad 51...KMG365.## he acknowledged. Johnny immediately sprinted to the awaiting squad. As the garage door opened, both men looked out to see the cloudy morning had turned into a downpour. Grimly, Roy turned on the windshield wipers. As the squad left the dry stationhouse, he sighed again and said, "I hate rainy days... and Mondays!" ----------------------------------------------- Photo: The Gang hanging around the apparatus bay by the squad. Photo : The Intercom Speaker announcing a rescue. *animated gif * : A flashing rack of red and white vehicle rescue lights. ********************************* From : "Fran Catrair" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Mudslide Date : Thu, 19 Dec 2002 02:06:39 -0600 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." 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.:: 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. 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.." --------- Gage approached the bus. Chet and Marco were beginning to check the victims closest to them. They knew they would need to free them first, but they needed to be sure it would be safe to move them. Chet shouted. "Johnny. I got a probable skull fracture here. I got bleeding in the ears on this one.." he said, looking up, with a hand on the small boy's stomach. Marco was speaking quietly with five others, telling them to hurry out to Cap who was gesturing to them. "Go to the tall man over there. He'll take care of you.." ---------------------------------------- Photo : Cap looking tense in helmet closeup. Photo : Johnny in a storm drain with a child. Photo : Roy and Johnny in full turnout by the engine. ******************************* From : "Cassidy Meyers" Subject : Every Parent's Nightmare... Date : Fri, 27 Dec 2002 21:09:34 +0400 Captain Stanley had one eye on the kids Lopez had directed to him, the other, on Roy. "That's it. Come on out of the bus. Don't worry about fire. It's raining good out here..There's no way things are gonna burn." his voice said gently to them as he took them one by one by the arms and lifted them from the wreckage. When the last walking little girl was taken by a CHP, Cap turned to his HT. ##L.A. This is Engine 51. Respond a full landslide detail to our scene. The freeway's in danger of a mud avalanche.## ##10-4, 51.## and Cap sighed as he heard dispatch call out the run also to Station 10 and 114. He turned his attention to the long board Chet had laid out by his head injury's side and helped Lopez and Kelly secure and free the boy from his place underneath the seats. Gage was already hyper paramedic mode. Only the slightest stress in his tone gave away the fear he felt still having Roy's son, among those not yet found. "Easy, Chet. Keep those sandbags on either side of his head. He's breathing fine. Hold it a sec, Just let me get this peds airway in." Johnny looked up. "Cap!" "Yeah.." Stanley said, peeking through the ripped side of the upside down school bus over the rushing river of muddy water running down the curbside of the road. He didn't look at the sewer grate which had cost the little girl, her life. "This next one's gonna need O2. Have a man hyperventilate him until I can get to him!" Johnny gasped, ducking around metal shards and debris. "You got it pal.." Cap said. He looked up at Roy as two policemen in yellow rain gear took the tiny boy's longboard and got him out of the bus. "Roy.. Take him." he said, shaking the pouring rain off his helmet so he could see where Marco Lopez and Chet Kelly were working better. "Huh?" Roy said, still dazed by his private nightmare. In his head, his own voice was screaming. ::Chris? Where are you??! Ohmyg*d Chris! Be ok. Be ok! Johnny. You find him. Find him fast..:: he thought, but out loud . "Right.." he said. "Have him set over here, I'll take a look at him." DeSoto got out a peds BP cuff and set it around Chet's victim's arm. He got a palpated brachial pulse of sixty. ::Too slow.. D*mn. Brain stem head injury..:: The tiny comatose boy's unequal and fixed and abnormal eyes and his soaring BP confirmed the finding. "Keep tabs on his carotid, Ben." he told the CHP officer who knelt with the resuscitator Cap handed him. "Ventilate him 30 a minute on 100 % O2, ok? Time it to work with his inspirations." "Got it.." the highway patrol officer said, setting the tank's smaller fitted mask over the boy's nose and mouth. He began using the thumb trigger. Roy got on the phone to Rampart. "Rampart, this is squad 51. How do you read?" His heart just about pounded out of his chest when it was Dixie who answered. "Go ahead, 51. I read you loud and clear." ##Rampart. We have a multiple casualty situation. Car versus school bus. Triage is underway. So far, I've six victims. Five minor, one comatose. Victim one, a boy of six or seven. Under supported ventilation on 100 % O2. BP 142/110, pulse 60. Respirations, are in Cheynes Stokes pattern. He is immobilized with sandbags and a long board with an oral airway. There's no apparent trauma beyond a noticable depressed occipital softness at the base of his skull.## Dixie wrote down Roy's vitals set and motioned for Dr. Early to come into the radio room. "Joe, it's 51. Sounds like a real bad one. And something else too, I've never heard Roy so uptight before." "Oh?" Dr. Early toggled the intercom receiver. "51, on victim one, start an IV D5W TKO only. Maintain an airway, elevate his head, and transport as soon as possible." Then he licked his lips and asked, "Roy, just how serious is your situation?" Joe's question took Roy aback when he realized that Dr. Early wasn't only referring to the boy they had stabilized. The doctor was going outside of protocol. ::Because he knows something's up..:: Roy reasoned mentally. Roy replied. "You'll know the moment I do, doc. Wish I could tell you more. All I know is that we don't know a lot of details right now and there's at least one fatality." Roy cringed when Mike Stoker ran up from the car that had caused the accident and the downed power poles. His coat wasn't even unbuttoned as it would have been had he found someone alive and revivable. "DeSoto.." Mike called out. "The victim in the car's a Code F. Looks like because of electrical shock. He's been down too long. Pupils are fixed and dilated and there's already lividity showing in his lower extremities." "Got it, Stoker.." Roy said. Then he turned back to the phone. "Rampart, raise that number to two Code F. Victim one's loading with Squad 10. I estimate their ETA to you around ten minutes. Please stand by for further victims.." ##Standing by.## Joe said. --------------------------------- Roy saw the Mayfair recede into the distance through the noisy rain down the highway and away from the scene of mud and multilated metal. He tried not to imagine the little girl who had drown down the drainage grate. Inside the bus, the going was slow. Johnny felt bloody neck after bloody neck and found no signs of life. He gestured to Kelly. "Get those seats outta there. Forget these six, they're gone." Gage bent down to worm his way along the soaked floor to the next section of broken seats. More bodies and pieces of bodies. Nightmarish.. Then... "Uncle J-Johnny?" Gage's heart skipped a beat. "Chris?! Where are ya? Now don't move around. Just keep talkin to me.. Chet! I found him.. Give me your HT! " Kelly underhand tossed it to Gage like a pro. Gage caught the heavy walkie talkie and thumbed it. "Squad 51 to Engine 51. Got another survivor.. Hey Roy... Listenup..Ok, Chris.. Say something. Daddy's right outside." Gage said, handing the HT to the muddy blond headed boy cradled against his shoulder. "I'm here. I'm ok. Don't worry Daddy. Just get the other kids out. I'm fine. Really.." Outside, DeSoto let out a half sob of relief. "Chris??" Roy said, he ran for the bus. Cap stopped him. "Hey hey hey.. Now listen. It's crowded enough with Kelly, Lopez and Gage in there. You're needed out here for triage. Hang tight, Roy. Things sound good to me.. and now even better in there for them..." Roy stopped fighting Cap's hold and sagged against the bus's shell. Through a foggy window, he could see many many body sheets. "ohmyg*d." "I know.. I know.." Cap said, grasping Roy by the face. "It's bad. That's why I didn't want you in there. Now just stick with your HT and no doubt Johnny will be letting you know how he is, ok? Hang tight and just wait here.." Stanley strode away to intercept 114 coming in, to direct them to deal with the mudslide risky hill that had already claimed part of the school bus. Lopez shouted. "Hey somebody.. I need help. I found the school bus driver!" Roy glanced around and saw Chet's caked shoes deep in the seats and two sets of flashlights but no one else handy. "I gotta do it.." Roy muttered and ducked into the bus. Immediately two from Engine 10 took his place outside the tear in the side of the bus to wait for orders for extrication equipment from those working inside. Roy's breath caught deep in his throat when the smell of blood and things much worse reached his nose from the tiny bodies Chet and Johnny had covered. He began to fervently wish he had obeyed Cap's advice to stay outside. He forced his lips to work. "Marco, whatdiya got?" "He's alive. Eviscerated partially. Looks like a piece of the dash stabbed him and tore out afterwards. Lower right quadrant. Also, this mud's caving in on him. He's having a lot of trouble breathing." Lopez ducked as another gush of mud and branches from the hill slid through the shattered bus windshield and onto the driver's lap. He used his hands to scrape away the stuff from the man's nose and mouth and he bent close down to make sure air still moved effectively there. Roy never got to see the wound Lopez spoke of. It was buried in mud instantly. He shouted over his shoulder and set his HT near his ear on an overturned seat back. "You guys, on the double. Shovels and a scoop stokes. This hill's gonna go!" Roy listened closely to Johnny's heavy gasps and grunts as he and Chet maneuvered nearer to Chris through the tangle of shorn off seats even as his own hands assessed the driver. "We've got to get him out fast..Now. Long board or no long board. Marco..watch his airway!" "I know.. This mud's crushing him.." "Just keep him breathing.. even if he quits.." Roy said, leaning over to try and dig the muck away from the driver's lower half with only his gloved hands. The mud flowed in faster than he could push it away. Marco groaned in frustration and renewed his jaw lift on the unconscious man with one hand and felt his chest with the other. "So far so good. He's still here." Roy continued to free the driver. ------------------------------------------------ Chet Kelly put on his best smile. It didn't fool Chris. Something was filling all of his thoughts beyond getting out to Roy. "Uncle Johnny. I tried.. I tried so hard.. Ahh!" he grimaced, when Gage's questing hands found where his leg was pinned in a knot of seat. "Yeah, Uncle Johnny, right there. My knee I think. But listen to me.. ugh.. I tried so hard, I really tried keeping her awake with stories, but Carrie got quiet on me." "Who's Carrie?" Johnny said, "Easy, lie back down.." "S-She's right over..t.." Chris tried to point but couldn't quite remember where his seatmate was trapped. He started to sob as a frightening memory resurfaced. "I- I couldn't reach her when she stopped breathing, Mr. Kelly.." "Where is she?!" Chet asked urgently. Chris's tear filled eyes were blurred and his panic barely veiled as an odd maturity for a boy his age took over. "Right there.. She stopped making noises just before you got here. She's right under your arm, Mr. Kelly, underneath that cushion.." Kelly heaved a heavy seat cover away from where Chris's shaky hand was pointing. A tiny girl in pink lay twisted underneath it, but her face was blue. Gage startled. "Kelly?" Chet crawled out of Johnny's eyesight to get close to the girl's body. "Got her.." Johnny heard and soon there after, sounds of rescue breathing began. Gage sighed in double sympathy when those sounds were separated with pauses for cardiopulmonary compressions. "Keep working her, Chet.. I'll be right there." Johnny said. "Here.. See if she's reactive..." Johnny said and he rolled his penlight through the narrow space between them. Chet snatched up the light and a few seconds later said. "Good going Chris.. She's got responsive eyes. We might be able to bring ..........her back.." "Heh.. " the DeSoto boy smiled. "Dad taught me a few things about first aid. Like to try and keep a head bumped kid conscious... But why didn't it w-work for..Car- didn't work for..." John noticed Chris's head beginning to sag. "Chris. Where else do you hurt besides that knee.. Chris?.." But Chris went out and went very pale. Gage kept a grip on his partner's son's arm artery. ::Fast heart rate. Now what's causing this blackout?:: Johnny yanked a stubborn seat frame out of the way and found a deep cut in Chris's thigh. He pulled off his pants belt and made a tourniquet out of it, glancing at his watch for the time he began its constricting lack of blood flow. Then he made sure Chris was stable enough to be left alone. He spoke into his walkie talkie. "Cap. We gotta move. We've got a little girl in witnessed cardiac arrest and a leg bleeder." Johnny amended his transmission. "..who's stable.. " he added for Roy's benefit. Then he slid over near Chet to help him try to revive the girl. "You take her head. I got it here.." he said, taking over Kelly's one arm CPR for him. Chet looked up in between delivering breaths. "How is he?" "Fine. Just stressed. His leg's pinned and he's got a deep laceration on the thigh. Venous hemorrhaging only, thank g*d. Whatdidya find on Carrie?" Gage grunted as he worked. "Her pupils constricted right off, both of them. Equally." "Good, a little epi will..." "Here..." came a new voice from over their heads. Roy DeSoto was crawling over the seats with a one CC epinephrine syringe in between his teeth. "Roy! What are ya doing in here? Cap told you t-" "Shut up junior, and let me at one of her arms." Roy said, grinning. "If this doesn't work, Cap's got the defib on eighty watts outside." Gage kept up his CPR wordlessly. Chet didn't stop either with his ventilations. Two seconds after Roy gave Carrie the injection, the girl pinked up and started coughing. Gage flipped her over onto her side, as she spat fluid and blood out of her mouth, murmuring encouragements. Kelly stayed nearby and gratefully snatched the portable O2 another fireman handed him and began holding its mask over the restless girl's face while Gage calmed her down. A herd of elephants couldn't keep Roy away and Johnny grinned when Roy lifted the heavy piece of roofing between him and Chris as if it were so much styrofoam. "He's fine, Roy.. Just shaky. It's just that leg. Constricting band went on two minutes five ago.." Roy watched as Chris's eyes opened at the slightest touch of his fingers on his son's carotid pulse. "Chris?" "Ummm?,....ugh....." then his full awareness returned. "Dad.. How is she?" "How's who? Mom? She doesn't know yet." "No, Carrie." "Oh, the little girl you found. Thanks to your help, we got her back, she's even protesting getting moved a little." Roy said as Carrie made a fuss over being lifted into the scoop stokes for her evac out of the overturned school bus. "How are you doing?" "Fair, I guess. I'm awake, aren't I?" "Yep." Roy said. "You hang tight. " Roy said, covering his son up with a snug blanket. He set a cannula over his face and into place strictly for precautionary measures. "I got this on ya just.." "..Just to prevent shock.. I know.." Chris said. Roy ruffled his hair and kissed his forehead. "Johnny and I will be nearby until we get that seat cut away from your leg. Nothing's broken. Just.." "..cut... I know.. I felt it earlier before I started worrying about Carrie.." "Yeah.." "Dad..." "What..?" "You can leave me now. I'm not bad off. You're suppose to help the ones worse off first." "But.." "Dad.. Go. I'm not a triage priority..." "Better listen to him Roy." Johnny smiled cockeyed as he finished his sweep of the seats around them. "Honorary Paramedic Christopher DeSoto knows what he's talking about.." That cracked a muddy smile onto Chris's face. His father matched it with a smirk of his own. "All right. Chris, hang onto this and HT me if you need anything. I got Uncle Johnny's HT with me.." "Deal.." Chris sighed. He set the heavy firefighter's walkie talkie by his own head and tossed his head at his father to hustle off. "I'll let the other firemen know where ya are." Gage grinned as he helped the other rescue team move Carrie out for further treatment. He had heard every word Roy and Chris said to one another. ::Well, looks like this scary run's got a softer side after all..:: he thought. -------------------------------------------- Outside, the rain resurged and only a minute later the hillside gave up the ghost and fifteen tons of rain slicked slurry bore down on the bus and firemen working frantically to free the children still trapped inside of it. Cap's voice cracked out over Chris's and Roy's HT. "Look out! Mudslide!" -------------------------------------------- Photo : Cap helps Johnny rig an IV. Photo : Johnny getting a stokes out of back of the squad. Photo : .Roy at night, giving an epi shot. Photo : Joe on the run intercom. Photo : A kid trapped in a grill. *********************************** From: Sam Iam Date: Fri Dec 27, 2002 9:23 pm Subject: The Mud Wrestling Angel Johnny and Chet looked up at the dripping windows towards the roaring hill in terror. "Everybody, brace yourselves!" came Cap's shout. The four from Station 51 and the one from station ten flung themselves into the open areas of the bus away from the gaping rend in its side. Chet barely hauled Marco behind a seat when a huge, shuddering force slammed into the bus and shoved it many meters out onto the road as mud and stone cascaded wetly in the rain from the canyon's wall. Cap and those outside the bus were running. "Back! Get back!" He grabbed edges of the two stokes holding Carrie and the bus driver without stopping as police and firemen alike also snatched them up with all the medical gear they could save. Captain Stanley and the two crews of Station Ten and Station One Fourteen gasped as the rest of the hill swallowed up the school bus as if it had never been from where they ducked behind engines and heavy dredging equipment. The mudslide stopped at the freeway divider and quieted and ironically, the rain stopped, leaving pallid warm fog behind. Cap's HT immediately went to his mouth. "Engine 51 to Triage Ten and Squad 51. Do you read me?" There was no reply. He repeated his hail. Still he received only static. "Stoker! Tell Excavation Five to get over here! It'll take at least three bulldozers to get in there. Move!" Cap saw Mike Stoker's helmeted form skid in the muck on the road on his side of the slide towards the construction flatbed semi trucks just pulling up in response to the landslide call which had come in earlier from L.A. headquarters. Cap nodded in satisfaction when he saw those city men hustle faster when Stoker told them a bus with trapped kids and firemen lay beneath the pile of hillside. He again hit his call button. "Engine 51 to Triage Ten and Squad 51. Come in......" --------------------------------------------------- There were sounds of dripping in the blackness. Roy felt a small gush of warmth brush his cheek. ::That's breathing.:: "Chris?!" Roy winced when he found he couldn't move due to mud pinning him up to the waist and his head lay on something hard near Chris's chest. His voice echoed down the hollow, still bus and into pitch inky blackness and total silence. Roy's heard the hiss of the 02 over his son's face and felt his reassuring pulse under his fingers. "Chris.. Can you hear me?" Chris stayed quiet and didn't move. Then Roy remembered where he was, "Johnny? Chet?! Marco? " He heard a movement and a strange fireman's voice came near. "Easy man. I'm looking for your friends. Don't move. You were out for a while and it looks like the whole d*mned hill came down on top of us. I made sure your boy was fine when I realized you were ok." It was so dark, Roy's retinas were flashing unreal afterimages, making him blink. "You're from ten's..?" "Yeah.." came the big man's chuckle. "I'm Detello, seven year engine crew lieutenant. I covered your butt when you went against your captain's orders and climbed in here. I said you were needed to stabilize the driver." "I WAS needed to stabilize him. Marco and I barely got him out of there before the front end was buried." "I know that. Listen, DeSoto. See if that HT is still near your boy's head. They're probably worried sick out there about us." Roy felt as far as he could reach in the dripping ooze while the intense blackness made his eyes bug out uselessly in an attempt to see anything visually. "It's gone.." "Ah, well, I'll just keep crawling around over here where I saw your buddies last..." came the calm quiet voice.. "Say, gimme your penlight from your pocket, Roy.." Roy felt it and handed it out until he felt the other man's glove grope around to intercept it. "Why didn't I think of that?" he said, setting his head down into the mud and back onto the helmet Detello had placed there while he had been out cold. "You're excused, DeSoto, being you're still locked in Dad's nightmare numero uno, first class. If I were in your shoes, I don't think I'd react as well as you are knowing my kid was in here. My hat's off to you.." "I can feel that..Thanks for the pillow." he quipped. Roy winced as he saw a slimy form suddenly appear in a nimbus of light surrounded by shadows which lurched eerily in contrast, against equally slimy walls. Roy saw six inches of mud on the floor and it was slowly rising. He lifted Chris's unconscious head onto his shoulder. "Any sign of em?" "Not yet.." came Detello's calm reply. "We could have been separated from your partner, Lopez and Kelly easily. The cave in has collapsed the "roof" here." Detello rapped a piece of metal on a barrier in front of him. Three taps. Immediately, Roy heard muffled shouts and struggles. "H..u..r..r..y i..t.. u..p,...m....a...n. It's g..e..t..t..i..n..g s..t..u..f..f..y i..n h..e..r..e.." came Gage's voice. "Hang on.. Let me put a shoulder into it.." Detello shouted. Roy saw his penlight go into Detello's mouth and saw it being held switched on with his tongue while the big man muscled the metal to one side. Johnny's muddy face, lacking a helmet, met nose to nose, with Detello. He, too, had a penlight in his mouth that was lit. "Roy? You ok?" Johnny said, glancing over, and gasping. "Yeah. Any sign of Kelly or Lopez?" "Chet's moaning over by my feet. Don't know where Marco is.." Gage said. "Man, it's getting even deeper in here.." he exclaimed, keeping his head and chin out of the rising chilling mud. "I know.." Detello said. "If there's any more kids in here we missed..." He didn't finish his sentence. "Listen, Gage, you trapped too?" "Nah, I'm just wedged in here. I can usually get outta any nook and cranny. Just...uummgghhh..gimme a sec .." and he grunted. "On second thought. Gimme some leverage.." and he let Detello pull him out of the crevice he had taken refuge within. Johnny immediately removed his overcoat in the more open space above Roy and Chris and turned right around and entered head first into the hole he had just left. "Chet! I'm free. Gimme your hands.." "...w....h....a....t..?" came Kelly's muffled reply. "Gimme your hands. I'm getting you outta there! We gotta go find Marco.. And if you see my talkie in there on your way, grab it!" "R...o..y....o.k...? A...n..d.. h...i..s k...i..d..?" "Yeah, they're fine. But they aren't gonna be if we dawdle. We're getting buried in mud out here. Come on.." Johnny said crankily. "These penlight batteries aren't gonna last long." "N..o...p..r.o..b..l..e..m...G..a..g..e. I g..o..t....a... f..l..a..s..h..l..i..g..h..t..." Johnny mumbled to Detello and Roy. "Lucky ain't he? He's got a fl.." and he grunted when Chet grasped his hand and as Detello pulled Johnny by the waist in the opposite direction for Kelly's leverage. Kelly popped out of the slimy hole without his helmet. "Whoo, man.. the air was running out in there." "Yeah well just try and conserve some of it. We're sealed off in here." "Got that covered too. " Kelly said sitting up in a pool of mud, wiping off the flashlight on a dry spot on his pants. He switched it on to search for Marco. And then reached back into the hole and pulled out a second portable O2 he had found in the wreckage. "Thanks for bringing this in with ya, man.." he nodded to Station Ten's man. "It's Detello, Kelly. Glad I could oblige." "Your wreck bud get out ok?" Chet asked. "Johnson? Yeah, he went out with Carrie." Then the big curly haired fireman met Johnny's eyes. "DeSoto's fine Gage. Just blacked out for a while. His kid's still stable. Bleeding's stopped so I loosened that tourniquet completely before I went looking for you." "Smart thinking." Johnny took in a breath of oxygen off the mask from the tank Chet had retrieved. "Now, where does everybody remember Marco being when the hill fell down on top of us?" Kelly's ears strained in the darkness around the dim circle of muddy light the meager flashlight offered from its cracked lens. "Shh.shhh.. I think I hear something.." Wet slurping sounds from the "roof" glopped onto the silent seats around them. The white covered children's bodies could no longer be seen. "Chet, you're hearing things.." "Gage just ..pipe down a minute. You probably still got mud in your ears.. Listen.. What I heard came from behind you, from where the big rip in the side of the bus was.." All four firemen froze, studying the dripping globs of ooze raining down onto them and the hideously sagging ceiling, that was inexorably crushing down onto them by millimeters from the wet tonnage of the hillside on top of it. The deep mud on the floor suddenly moved in a rippling liquid way and a man's foot poked out of it, heel turned up. In horror, Roy realized the flat section he had been staring at was actually a partially submersed fireman's back. "Marco!! He's on his stomach over there. Get to him. Get to him!" he shouted. "Looks like he's pinned under the mud!" Gage and Detello and Chet splashed through the icy mud on their hands and knees and they both felt up Lopez's body to his head. Detello grabbed the mask from the spare O2 Chet had found and pushed it into the muck until he had it around Marco's face and then he pressed it hard around Lopez's struggling nose and mouth. Detello firmly held the back of Marco's head too, to get around the man's unthinking panic while he willed Marco to just blow out the mud in the mask for some much needed breathing room. Gage and Chet found the heavy section of "roof" pinning Marco's head and shoulders under the now foot deep layer of muck in the bus. It was another bus seat. "Did ya get it to him? Is he getting air?" Johnny asked Detello, as he and Chet fought to raise the metal off of Lopez. The thing wouldn't move. "Yeah, I think so.. I can feel him grabbing onto my arm.." Detello grunted. "We gotta hurry. This mask won't hold off the mud for long.. Water from the rain might still get in. And he'll drown." Marco's head was still completely buried in mud and this, Detello tried to claw away, while he shouted. "Easy man. Relax.. I got ya.. Marco. I got ya." Suddenly, Marco stopped kicking underneath their hands and his limbs settled back down into the slime. But Detello still felt his back move with the small breaths the man was buying from the hastily placed O2 mask. He saw Johnny's shocked look when Lopez went limp. "He's ok. He's ok.." Detello said. "He IS breathing. I can still feel him doing it. Just hurry and get that thing off of him." Chet and Gage rushed to get a piece of seat frame to use as a lever bar. In a minute, the heavy debris was off. Gage and Chet grabbed Marco by the hair and hauled his lolling head up into the air. They lifted and supported him into a sitting position against Gage's chest for lack of better room. Kelly wiped away the mud from Marco's nose and mouth. Lopez was barely recognizable. "Hey. Lopez.. You with us man..? Come on.. say something." Lopez stayed silent, limp as a rag doll soaked in chocolate sauce. "Oh man. He's really out.." Kelly groaned. "His mouth clear?" Johnny asked. Detello hastily looked with the flashlight. "Yeah.. He doing anything?" Gage shook his head when he didn't feel Marco's stomach move at all in his bearhug. "D*mn! Wish this mask were a ventilator." Detello said hastily wiping the muck out of the flimsy but cracked oxygen mask in his hands with his shirt tail. "Yeah? Well what ya had probably saved his life Detello. That was fast thinking.." Roy said from where he lay propped on an elbow. He had Chris's head on his arm and a hand on the boy's neck pulse. Kelly started to grasp Marco's nose and chin for a mouth to mouth seal, when Johnny said."Hang on a minute. Hang on a minute, Chet. Just hold off, we still got a minute or two to assess him. He just may be partially obstructed with mud here. He's not even cyanotic yet. Just let me check his airway first. Don't want you to aspirate anything into his lungs in your eagerness to right things." And he firmly gave Marco a couple of abdominal thrusts in a modified heimlich maneuver. Brown muck flooded out of Marco's mouth after the fourth one and the nearly suffocated man began to bubble actively and right afterwards, his arms and legs stirred in new half consciousness. "Tip him over tip him over!" Kelly said, hanging onto Marco's head as he vomited frothy sand and water out his nose and mouth. They placed him prone over an upturned seat to drain out his breathing passages and soon, Detello returned the tattered but flowing oxygen mask to the violently coughing man when he started inhaling in air more than he was spitting up water. He held it in place, until Lopez had the presence of mind to manage holding it himself. "That's it.. Welcome back to the land of the living..Marco." Gage said. "Just keep sucking on that O2 a bit." It was a full two minutes before Lopez sat up on his own. Lopez gasped. "Oh, man. Thought I was drowning. Then I felt someone push an O2 mask over my face. I ate a lot of mud but at least, I found something to breathe. Think my nose is broke though." Marco said, gingerly feeling where his nostrils were bleeding around the muddy trails under them. "Somebody had my face in a vice grip." "Sorry. That was me.." Detello said sheepishly. "The seat wasn't playing fair in your mud wrestling match. That mask was a home play advantage I couldn't resist. Had to do something drastic to even the odds." he said, getting to his feet to search for a crevasse leading to the outside or even for one of their lost walkie talkies. "Yeah? Well keep doing it. Maybe we'll all get out of here in one piece. *cough*." Marco rubbed the grit out of his eyes even as Johnny got a pulse off his other wrist. "I'm fine Gage. Leave me alone. Everyone else ok? *choke* Oh no, I see Chris's out." "I think he's sleeping." Roy said. "Though I'd feel better if he had an IV or two running into him." "Oh, you mean you're looking for this?" Detello said, wandering back to the others with a very familiar mud coated rectangular shape. Through the slime, they could just make out the yellow letters "I V" on the still intact gear box. "Detello.." Roy said plainatively. "You're simply a miracle worker, you know that?" "Yeah.. I know." He said a touch embarrassed. "Had to chew phone books to get my cap to accept me taking my promotion to engineer last year. Had to move on,.. cause the guys on the squad shifts were beginning to call me Angel.. Picture a guy my size with a radio nick like that.." he complained. "I'd get all the missing man details then for sure if word of that spread around and I'd use up all my great karma bailing them all outta their rough spots." "Yeah?, well, you definitely still got that halo in my book." Lopez muttered, rolling his eyes. Gage firmly shoved the shattered O2 mask back onto Lopez's face. "Make it in thought only man. In thought only. If I hear anyone here calling me Angel behind my back, I'm putting your man Lopez here right back into that man versus seat wrestling match, is that clear?" There was no trace of humor in Detello's voice as he glared at Chet, Johnny, and Roy. "As crystal man.." Chet swallowed nervously. "You know, " and he cleared his throat like a pinned frog. "You should seriously consider going for a captain's post next, you sure got that glare down.." "I've been practicing.." Detello muttered noisily slamming seats aside in the areas of the bus not holding dead children and carefully piling others in the areas he remembered being occupied. "I'm going for that test next year I'll have you know." "Captain Angel.. Got a nice ring to it.."Kelly whispered. "Chet.." Marco complained. "Exnay on the Oopitsday.." he said from the corner of his mouth as Johnny checked out his bleeding nose with a penlight. Gage grinned but kept out of the banter. He knew his buddies were acting what every FD man called "nuts in a handbasket", to forget the horror in the scene around them. Gage fully knew how fleeting such a false comfort could be. But he was no one to deny them the attempt. "Ohhhh. Marco.. You worry too much. He can't hear me, He's over there.." Chet grinned toothily confident. Detello said silky smooth from the darkness. "I sure can, Kelly. Better listen to mud wrestler Lopez over there." Both the men from 51 moused down. Detello went on, angling his head. "And I can hear those bulldozers buzzing around outside. Looks like both our caps are shedding bricks over us being incommunicado." And he placed hands like Atlas on the ceiling and gave it a shove. Chet almost swore he saw the ceiling rise a few centimeters. His mouth flopped open. "He's moving mountains man.. " he jabbed Marco's ribs with a slimy elbow. Lopez grimaced when that elbow caught him on a bruise from Gage's earlier heimlich thrusts. Detello pegged Chet with another stare, this time one of brainstorming regard. "Say, you're not hurt, Kelly. Why don't ya haul off that lazy rear of yours and help me birdeye one of the HT's. DeSoto won't be able to start his boy's IVs without permission from Rampart and I know I'm starting to crave my four o'clock cappucino something fierce right about now." "You got it big guy.." "Detello will do.." ----------------------- Photo : A school bus split wide open, shattered, on a road. Photo : A mudsliding hilltop. Photo : Detello from Ten's talking with Brackett in an ambulance. ****************************** From : "Cory Anda" Subject : And Into the Daylight... Date :Sat, 11 Jan 2003 09:58:13 +0000 Chet quieted down and he patted Marco on the shoulder as he crawled by Lopez as the shivering man slowly gained his equilibrium back. Gage half glanced at him in the dimness of the flashlight Kelly had handed him. "Marco... You need to be checked out? That seat hurt you anywhere?" "I'm fine, Johnny. Worry about Chris ok? Not much you can do for me anyway without the gear." and Marco coughed. "Yeah?" Gage replied with a wry weary look. "Well find something to wrap up in, you're getting hypothermic. And keep that O2 mask on while we look for the talkies." Marco nodded, leaning back on a pile of metal supports behind them both and closed his eyes. He didn't even feel Detello cover him with an overcoat. Johnny watched Marco drift with one eye, but the other was on Roy and Chris. "How's he doing?" he asked his partner. "Chris's out. Vitals are good though." Roy coughed, raising out of the mud and leaning on his elbows, being careful not to disturb his son's position on his chest much. "Don't think it's much more than stress taking hold. But I'll feel a lot better when we both get our legs untangled from this debris here." DeSoto felt the cold mud crawling higher alongside his body where he lay and he was glad his own body heat was keeping Chris somewhat warm. Kelly bent immediately to recheck where their legs were trapped. "Doesn't look too bad. Nothing the K-12 can't handle." Detello stood after taking a quick pulse quality check on the sleeping Marco. "That's IF.. we ever get one.." "Pessimism from the "Angel" himself?" Kelly chuckled to raise everyone's spirits. "More like a reality check..." and Detello once again tried his giant strength on the sagging "ceiling" of the buried school bus. This time, the metal above his head actually gave way under his shoulder lift. "I take that back. Those boys with the excavation crew work fast. Most of the hill is already off of us.." Kelly got to his feet and began to shout and pound on the ceiling and yelling. "Hey!! We're in here. Six meters from the back hatch! Hey!!" In Roy's arms, Chris flinched and startled awake with a sharp moan.. "Dad??!" "It's ok, Chris. You're fine. We're just raising a ruckus so the others outside know where to slice into to get us out.. How do you feel?" DeSoto asked. Chris blinked a few times and winced when he tried to test his legs. "My knee feels real big. Tight. And I'm a little sick to my stomach." Kelly rolled his eyes ruefully so the boy could see him in the flashlight. "Aren't we all? Must've eaten a pound of mud crawling around in here." "I ate two pounds.." Marco croaked from where he sat propped up in the darkness. Chris laughed and winced when his father's laugh jostled his jammed knee. Then the sodden boy said. "Hey.. Before the mud slid on top of us, I only remember my left leg being held. Why does my right knee feel heavy?" Kelly aimed the flashlight under the seat beyond Chris muddy jeans and a few seconds later, dragged out the handy talkie. "Will miracles never cease. Detello, you keep right on complaining ,...cause it makes whoever you got looking after ya work that much harder." "I don't like to press my luck." the big man grumbled. "Especially with that.." Gage and Roy both made a grab for the talkie after Chet got most of the mud off of its controls but Detello was faster than both of them. He snatched the HT to his mouth. "Engine 51 this is Triage Ten, over.." The HT came alive in excited voice. ##That you Detello? Hang on, we're calling a cutting crew in right now. Cover your victims against the sparks.## Captain Stanley said. ##We start dismantling in two minutes.## "10-4." Detello grinned. "Standing by. We're all a bit slimy, but ok. Marco took in some mud but he's stable with only minor complications. And get a doctor on the phone. We've just one survivor in need of an IV authorization.." ##Understood. I'll have Stoker raise Rampart. Engine 51, out.## ------------------------------------- Outside the crushed bus, Cap didn't even wait for the bulldozer to leave the area before he waved his men in with the extrication equipment. "Ok, Move it in there.. Easy. That top chassis's bound to be weak from the mudslide, so go slow. Cut three quarters around only, we'll peel it back and get them out through the roof. I'm afraid opening the emergency hatch now will only collapse the rest of the bus on top of them." The men working at Cap's side nodded. Cap shouted. "Ok.. cutting now..!!" he shouted. ------------------------------------------- Inside, all five firemen and Roy's son winced when the bright fountain of tangerine sparks from a roaring K-12 bit through the steel shell of the bus above them. They winced when real sunlight sent shafts of brilliant daylight into their eyes. "Oh, man.. Now I know how miners feel when they've been in a cave in and we dig them out." Kelly complained. Roy covered Chris's face and his own with his own helmet as the firemen outside cut a hole into the bus. "It's a sight better than watching that flashlight die out, don't you think?" Detello flicked the coat over Marco's face and mask and hunched down himself after coating his own shoulders with wet mud to keep his shirt from catching fire. "A whole LOT better." he admonished Kelly. His voice was a little strained from his eagerness to win freedom for his companions. He began fussing with the cutaway section even before the man above was finished excising the flap. He had it accordianed out of the way in seconds. "All right, give me the K-12 on the double. I've a trapped medic and boy down here.." Cap peered into the hole from where he knelt on top of the bus. "They hurt bad?" Roy squinted in the bright swath of sunlight that shafted down onto his face. He peeked around a protective arm as he spoke before Detello did. "Nah, Cap." Roy said from where he lay in the ooze. "We're just leg pinned. Got that authorization from Rampart yet?" Stoker said. "Here.. Morton wants to talk to you.." and he lowered the phone receiver dangling on its cord down to Roy so the biophone antennae would stay in the open air so it wouldn't lose telemetry with the doctor's base station. Morton was succinct and to the point. "DeSoto. Start a large bore normal saline, 500 CC's and run wide open. Give me a vitals set when you can on the child. How's Marco? Stoker couldn't tell me much." Roy glanced over at Marco and Gage, who was hovering over him, and said. "He was submersed underneath the mud for about two minutes. He was out until we got some of the sludge out of his throat and got him on simple masked 02. He's only a little groggy." "And chilled. His shivering's stopped." Gage added. "And mildly hypothermic Rampart.." Roy told Mike. "10-4, 51. Continue both victims on 02 and immobilize the child as a precaution when you get him out of there. That bleeder may indicate fractures we don't know about in that effected leg." Morton told Roy. "Understood. Large bore NS, wide. O2 and treat for shock. Long board immobilization for Chris.." Morton at the base station, frowned. "51, Could you repeat that? Did you say a victim's name at that last part?" Gage took the phone from Roy when DeSoto tried to reach for the IV box. Kelly took the kit quickly out of his hands too. Chet admonished him. "Now Roy, you know Johnny's gotta be the one to directly treat your son. Fire department policy. Just lie back and don't move while Detello makes that last slice by your leg with the saw...." Gage said. "Uh,10-4, Rampart. He did. Chris, the boy, is Roy's son..." ------------------------------------------ Nurse McCall, having just walked into the glass cubicle, gasped at that last admission. "What?!" Dixie exclaimed, She gripped Dr. Morton's shoulder. Morton shushed her with a motion as he listened to what Gage confirmed. He covered the receiver with a palm and sighed. "Oh, boy. How the h*ll did DeSoto get inside that bus anyway. I thought firefighters weren't allowed to treat family members as a standard working policy.." "They're not.." Dixie said. "Maybe their circumstances left them no choice in the matter.." Her curiosity got the better of herself and she asked. "What are his vitals signs? His trauma bad?" Morton answered. "Don't know. They're still extricating both him, Roy and Marco, a fellow engine crew man, who almost drown. It's a school bus in a mudslide.." Dixie winced in sympathy and bit her lip. "Roy must be frantic with worry being with him like that." "Gage won't let him get into any medical hot water and something tells me that their captain won't let him do that either.." Morton said. He lifted his hand off the receiver in a quick motion. "Contact me in route of any consciousness level changes and I want a set of vitals on Marco and Chris the moment they're en route.." "10-4, doc.." Gage said and he waved to Stoker to hand over hand the phone cord back up again out of sight through the hole. "Thanks Stoker.. Hand down the first stokes. We'll get Marco outta here first.." "I don't need a stretcher, Gage, I can--" "...Relax and enjoy the ride, Lopez. And that's an order." Cap interrupted. "You're a victim until Rampart clears you, is that understood?" "Perfectly.." Lopez sighed, then he coughed when some lingering mud from his sinuses tried to trickle back into his throat. He lifted his mask off only long enough to spit the grit aside and out of his mouth. It wasn't long before Gage and Detello had Lopez bundled up in yellow plastic insulating sheets and had him ready to be hoisted out of the bus. Marco's face showed his uneagerness to be stretchered out, but he cooperated. He snuck in a move dettaching his own 02 tubing so Chris wouldn't lose his 02 bottle. Gage did a double take at that, frowning, but he saw Stoker immediately compensate for his respiratory care once they had Marco level with the portable 02 from the engine. Lopez did him one better by strapping the mask to his own face so Mike was freed up to help get Roy and his son out. Cap had the rest of Station Ten carry Marco out of the deep, treacherous mud slide to a wheeled ambulance gurney already waiting for him on the firm highway beyond. He crouched by Marco's side as the Mayfair attendants covered him up snugly in the beige blankets. "'Don't need a lift out', he says." Cap muttered. "You're colder than an ice cube there pal." Marco didn't deign to reply as the head of the stretcher was raised to make him more comfortable. "It's just from the wet, Cap. I'm not injured." "Hmmph.. I'll believe that once Gage gets a look at ya to be sure. Hang tight." And he ruffled Marco's caked hair with a glove. Captain Stanley returned to the bus just as Roy's boy was lifted out, complete with the IV Gage had begun. He could see a red sodden stain through the sheeting on the boy's left thigh and he saw Detello start to take the boy's shoe off to check for a foot pulse. "Ok. I've got a good one here. He's ok to move." Detello said. He watched the boy get lowered onto the next gurney wheeled over to them before he reached down to grab and haul both Kelly and Gage out of the bus with both hands at the same time. Cap's eyebrows lifted in amazement at that. "What a Sampson type." he said softly. Chet hopped down, eyes tearing from the bright sun. "He was Atlas earlier Cap. Kept the roof from caving in on us until you guys manage to shovel the worst of the muck off the bus.." He padded off with his shoes slurping liquidly but he turned, adding. "But really he's a real bonfide Angel.." It was Cap's turn to frown in confusion. Then he shouted after his departing mud covered man. "Were you guys short on air in there or something?" But Chet was already out of earshot as he asked Stoker to hose down his shoes and outer wear "really good". When they were out, Detello subtly shook his head to the other firemen surrounding him, that there were no other children still alive inside. Gage took full advantage of Roy still waiting to be cut free to take a closer look at Chris. He kept expression off his face when he saw the extent of the laceration on the boy's thigh. He knew at least, that it would require plastic surgery to fully mend it after the deep gash was thoroughly cleaned of mud and sand and allowed to drain open for a few days. But he smiled when the boy's BP was only slightly below normal. "There.. That's not too bad." he grinned down at the boy, adjusting the cannula's prongs into the right place inside his nose. "Strong as all get out. You're not even moderately shocky." "Dad made me rest a bit while we were in there. I think I slept once." Chris admitted. "He sure did..." Roy said, jumping down from the bus with the ground crew firemen's help. One of them tossed DeSoto the IV box afterwards. " For about half an hour there." Roy fussed with Chris's blankets until Johnny slapped his hands away. "I got him, I got him, Why don't you go check on Marco in the rig? We'll meet you in there as soon as I relay his vitals to Morton." DeSoto reluctantly retreated. -------------------------------- Cap gave Gage a subtle thumbs up for finding an excuse to separate Roy from Chris. But a further significant glint in Cap's eye made Johnny say, "He's fine Cap. Nothing major's been damaged here." "That's means good news, son.." Cap said, patting Chris on the shoulder. "I know. I could tell because my leg didn't squirt out at all when I first did it, trying to reach Carrie.." At the name, and another exchange of looks from Stoker, Cap learned the little girl hadn't survived the trip to the hospital despite her successful revival, so he had plenty of warning time before Chris's next question. "How's Carrie?"the blond boy asked. Johnny said. "Let's concentrate on getting you squared away first, ok? Does your head hurt at all? No?.... Just that knee.. ok.. now Cap and I are going to immobilize that leg in a splint just to keep it from jostling around.. ok?" Chris nodded. Once that was done, Chris, Johnny, the engine's 02 tank and the gear were all loaded up in the rig waiting with Marco and Roy. Detello, following behind them, glanced up and saw the five children that managed to get out of the wreck unscathed. They looked older than their years. One, almost looked like DeSoto's son from where he stood, numb and confused in a muddy pool by the side of the road. Detello gave him a small smile he hoped would be reassuring and offered the glassy eyed youngster a salute off his crusty helmet's rim. His smile faded when the boy didn't grin back. ::So many have died today. How is this going to effect us?:: he thought. ::I was a medic for three years and I've never seen a run as bad as this. Please.. g*d. Make us forget the details of this one, fast...:: ----------------------------------------------- It took twelve minutes to get to the hospital. Then....... ----------------------------------- Photo : A rumpled bus, cut open. Photo : Roy, mud covered, on the biophone. Photo : A boy, lying in a mud pool, in the sun. Photo : Johnny and others carrying a stokes and gear. *animated gif* : Ambulance with flashing lights at night. Photo : A close up of Cap, looking down, wearing his helmet. ************************* From : "patti keiper" Subject :[EmergencyTheaterLive] The Breaking Point.. Date : Sun, 12 Jan 2003 08:29:28 +0000 Dr. Morton opened the ambulance doors to receive the two gurneys from Roy and Johnny. "We'll take the boy into Treatment One, Gage. DeSoto, how's Lopez?" "Fine, doc. Once we got those wet clothes off he started to warm up. He's fully time and place oriented; never lost it and there's still no signs of pulmonary edema." Roy reported. "Good. Dixie has Treatment Two set up for him with Dr. Early. Stay with him." "But-" " DeSoto. Carry out my orders." he snapped. Then he said more gently. "I won't keep you in the dark about Chris, Roy. Know that as a promise. But you know the regulations.. " Roy grumbled, reciting.."No treatment contact is allowed at all in a hospital setting for anyone who's kin of a victim. I know that doc." he said as they rapidly wheeled their two patients inside Rampart through the emergency doors. Morton angled his dark head."We'll let you see him once we've determined he's truly stable and only after he's been fully treated." "Doc.. I don't want to leave him.." Chet opened the door of the squad he had driven in and jumped out of the seat. The plastic sheet he had used to keep mud off its upholstery had dried to his back and legs and he hastily peeled it off, leaving it on the hood. He hurried past where Morton and Roy where debating. "Roy, just hush and let the man do his job. I'll be your eyes in there FOR you man." Morton looked up from his quick exam of Chris's eyes as they walked inside the hospital. "Why are you planning on following us, Kelly? There's nothing wrong with you..." Morton challenged. "Oh, gee. Didn't Gage tell you? He and I were sandwiched in debris pretty good when the hill came down on us. I might keel over any second, doc." he said factitiously. For once, Johnny backed him up by keeping a straight face to support his fast talking job on Morton. "Is that a fact......" Mike sighed in resignation, knowing he couldn't stop anyone ELSE who wanted in on current news about a coworker's family member's medical status. He surprised himself by not retorting further at Chet as he, Gage, Chris and an ambulance attendant, got the longboarded boy transferred to the large room's exam table. Kelly shouted before the door closed on Roy's face. "I'll be right out and I'll meet you in Marco's room with an update, DeSoto!" "I'l..l.. h..o..l..d.. y..o..u.. t..o.. t..h..a..t, C..h..e..t." came Roy's muffled retort through the door. Kelly gingerly held up defensive hands in appeasement and backed away self consciously from Roy's angry voice to carry out his promise to him. He strode to the foot of Chris's bed and quietly watched his medical care take place. "Chris.. the man who's poking and prodding you is Dr. Morton. He'll take really good care of you.." Johnny introduced quickly. "Hi, Dr. Morton.." "Hello..." Mike answered. "The nurse to my right is Carol Evans." "Hi Ms. Evans." "Hi Chris.." she answered. "Warm enough?" "Uh huh.." Carol Evans smoothly moved Chris's IV to a pole and switched around his O2 supply to a wall port while Gage helped Morton expose Chris's leg laceration. "He still tachycardic?" Morton asked. Gage was about to reply when a voice piped up from tiny form bundled inside the longboard. "Yeah..." Chris said firmly. "I'm 140." Johnny grinned at Morton's surprised look and the dark skinned doctor said. "You won't mind if I confirm your findings on an EKG, son?" "It's what dad would do..." Chris agreed. "Is that so.." Morton said, casting amused eyes at everyone in the room. "Well you're absolutely right young fella. That IS the next thing we'll do." Morton smiled. "You're a very smart young boy.. How'd you come to learn so much?" "Classes. I hang out when dad recertifys or when he's gotta teach the new FD trainees to become paramedics." "You do?" Chet asked surprised. "Uh huh.." Chris told him. "It's fun.. Sometimes they use me to practice their dressings and neck/back immobilizing. Last month, I was a play victim in a fake airjet crash at LAX." Chet Kelly was very thoughtful when he heard what Chris had accomplished and what he had learned. "So, you wanna be a medic when you grow up?" Morton asked, palpating Chris's abdomen for tenderness. "Nah,.. I wanna be an architect like my grandpa. I'll just keep what I learn now handy for when I have my own kids. You know how much trouble we can get into at my age." Chris said wisely. Johnny practically burst with mirth and pride at that little gem coming from his partner's first born. Chris's worldly personality had finally charmed Dr. Morton. "Son, I can't believe you'd EVER get that way." Morton said, leaning close to his head with a confidential smiling whisper. Chris motioned with a crooking finger, and when the young doc had come closer, he whispered into Morton's ear. "I sometimes do. But it's my sister who always starts it." Morton patted Chris on the shoulder. " Yeah? Well she's not here right now to work her mischief, so you can let your guard down. We're going to get some xrays of your leg to confirm non fracture injury to that thigh and knee and if I like your pictures, we'll see about getting you free of those straps and that C-collar." "Fair enough. I'm tired of being strapped up like a mummy. What after that?" Oh,.. let me see.." Morton sighed, tapping a finger on his lips. "Most likely, since you're doing so well, it's up to surgery for a repair job. How does that sound?" "Like I'm not going to enjoy it too much. Don't think I wanna go." "Ice cream after.." Chet promised. "Ok, ok, ok.. I'll go. But make sure the gas man doesn't give me the stuff that makes me sick afterwards." Chris said, watching his Uncle Gage tape EKG patches onto his chest gravely. "I watched my sister puke for an hour after she had her tonsils out.." "I'll work out a deal with him.." Morton said, with a wink and nod. Then he turned on the EKG and studied Chris's rapid heartbeat on the live screen. For a cross reference, he got a paper strip reading, too. "Hmmm. " he said after a minute or so.. "Just simple V tach here, Gage." he mumbled. "That's what we figured, even just listening apically." Johnny admitted. Then more loudly, Morton looked up. "Guess what Chris? Your EKG's telling me .... that you're just ...thirsty..." he concluded to his small patient, setting hands on his hips. "Thirsty?" and a serious puzzlement filled the young boy's face. "I don't think I am.." Chris said with amazement. "I haven't been playing any softball today." "You're forgetting that leg cut of yours. You must have bled some while you were still buried in the mud. Most likely, with all the excitement going on, you weren't even aware of it." "Oh. I WAS scared a lot, doctor. But Detello, Uncle Johnny, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Lopez and dad, found me and then I wasn't afraid any more after that." "Good.." Mike soothed. "You're doing fine here, too. You're very calm." Chris DeSoto's face fell into a serious expression. "So, Dr. Morton...." "Umm hmmmm." Mike replied, looking into the boy's ears for liquids other than mud with an otoscope. "You say I lost some fluid vul...vel...." "Volume.." Morton completed. "A bit.. About as much as three soda cans, I suspect." Mike straightened up on his exam stool and wheeled it around so he could recheck a pedal beat in Chris's effected leg and to test range of motion in the swollen knee. "And that's why my heart's working harder right now?" the child said, carefully thinking. "Yep." Johnny said. "You nailed it, Chris." The tiny boy's muddy face furrowed as he thought about his situation."Then shouldn't those drops be going faster?" Chris said pointing at his IV hanging near his head. Kelly and Gage laughed when Morton sputtered as he told Nurse Evans to increase the flow into the drip chamber. They immediately piped down when Mike glared at them in offense. Chris was oblivious to the innocent commotion he caused, suddenly very interested in the great Xray machine wheeling into his exam room. ---------------------------------------------------- Marco Lopez was raised semi sitting on his gurney beneath a pile of heated blankets. The torn, ripped field oxygen mask had been replaced with an in house cannula on low flow. Doctor Early was carefully listening to Lopez's breath sounds through the front side of his chest. "Take a deep breath. ...... And another one.... Good.." the doctor encouraged. Then he thoughtfully pulled off his stethoscope. "I'm not hearing anything abnormal here, Marco. How do you feel?" "Fine.." the fireman replied. Dr. Early began examining his ribs and abdomen, and Lopez flinched and caught his breath, when Joe found a band of tenderness around his diaphram. "Except there. Just a little sore." "Roy, I thought you said he was uninjured." Joe remarked looking up at DeSoto standing near Lopez's head. "He isn't injured. I think he's just a little tender because Johnny had to clear his throat a bit when we first got him free." Roy said timidly, crossing his arms over his elbows, nervously. "Heimlich?" "Yeah..." Joe felt all over other areas of Marco's abdomen but found nothing else wrong. "Most likely, this is just the typical bruising from that kind of maneuver. Marco, does it hurt when I do this?" Dr. Early asked as he prodded and pressed on his liver and spleen. "Not much.. Hardly at all." "Hmph.." and he put his stethoscope back into his ears. Roy and Chet and Marco all waited in silence. Joe sat back on his seat after listening to Marco's bowel sounds. "Everything sounds normal. So, that's probably what it is. Roy, was his orthostatic BP, when you checked it last, wide spread?" "Not appreciably. It didn't sink into the basement if that's what you're looking for.. Hardly moved ten millibars, systolically or diastolically." Joe's face lost his doctoring look and melted into a casual bent. "Now I'm convinced. " And he sighed in relief.. "You're a lucky man Lopez. Mud inhalation has a tendency to cause a nasty case of pneumonia. And both your lungs are completely clear. But, I'd like to ask you just a few questions to put my own mind at ease." "Ok, doc." Marco nodded. "Do you remember if you blacked out at all?" "I didn't. Not at all. Just got a little tired when I got cold." Roy's agreeing nod confirmed it for Joe. Joe stood up. "Your vital signs are normal. Your temperature is now where it should be, and you have absolutely no indications of internal injury." he took his stethoscope off from around his neck and stuffed it into a copious pocket. "I'm releasing you." "You mean, he's going to be fine?" DeSoto asked. "Healthiest near drowning I've ever seen." Joe chuckled. "But I am prescribing you some antibiotics just as a precaution. There's no telling whether or not that mud you ingested was contaminated with sewage runoff or other substances from the slide." "Oohhwwk." Marco made a face. Joe went on, with a kind smile. "But I wouldn't worry about that. Your body will excrete it naturally and maybe the only thing you'll notice is that you may get slightly constipated later on." "Wonderful.." Lopez said sarcastically. "I can prescribe a laxative if you're worried." Joe added helpfully. "Don't bother. My mother's probably got a recipe somewhere that'll do the trick if things get into a bind." Roy hid a smile. "I think your mother's corn tamales might be just the thing." Marco looked aghast, "Are you saying my mama's cooking..... " Lopez hunted around for delicate terms. "....puts..you off Roy?" "Honestly? At times..it does." Roy admitted, refolding his arms subconsciously. Lopez slumped back onto his pillow. "Oh brother..She's not going like hearing about that.." "Look. Lopez.. I- I- It's no big deal. Really. Listen.. Tell her it's just our intolerance for spicy food." Roy said matter of fact. "That it runs only in my family.." he added drolly. "It does?" "Yeah.." Roy said empathically and he uncrossed his arms to present an image of conviction. "Oh.. Thanks for uh,.. letting me know about that ..uh .. effect. Wouldn't want mom to worry that her food bothered anyone." "Tell her it truly doesn't. " Roy said. " Tell her we DeSotos are atypical gastronomically speaking. And that her reputation as Prima Dona Cocina Senora is unthreatened. Have no fear." Marco studied Roy's face for long moments, weighing his words. Finally, he slowly nodded. His hurt feelings tamed. "That settles it then. Marco's mom cooks Marco some of her famous corn tamales.. and... I give you this.."Joe rose with Marco's chart and ripped out the form from it for Lopez with his written prescription. "A broad spectrum antibiotic." Lopez nodded in tired compliance, grudgingly. Roy turned off Marco's O2 feed, took it off his grumbling co worker, rolled up its tubing, and tossed it into a waste receptacle bin. "Chin up, Marco. You could be me.." Marco glanced up in sudden alarm at Roy's out of character self jab. Right then, the treatment room doors opened and a bustling, cheerfully whistling Chet, entered. He had body showered in the surgical locker room and was wearing a luxuriously clean uniform despite his still heavily mud flecked face. In his arms, he carried two more sets of shoes, shirts and slacks for Marco and Roy. And even two pairs of T-shirts and boxer shorts. Roy recognized those right away. But Marco remarked faster. "Hey, who raided our lockers at the station?" "Detello did. His company was released off scene before Cap and Stoker and he took a few liberties. Conned the Batallion Chief out of his car for an hour to go get us these." "Wow.. what a saint." Joe said, raising his eyebrows. "You have no idea, man. Detello's definitely saint grade material. Or maybe even higher, doc." Chet said, rolling his eyes. "He makes Camelot's Lancelot Du Lacque seem like a two bit wuss." "Really..?" Joe said. "It was uncanny, Dr. Early. Just when we needed equipment or needed a hand getting out of a tight spot, this Detello guy always managed to come up with a miraculous solution. He's the one who kept Marco from drowning with a flimsy 02 mask until we could get him outta trouble." Chet elaborated. "Yeah, only thing is he probably broke my nose.." Marco said. "He broke your nose?" Joe asked. "I thought that red on your face was just mud..." and he drew out his penlight to examine the inside of Marco's nose and he soon put it away to palpate the surrounding face bones carefully. "Canyon mud from Escondido.." Roy blinked. "Yeah, we were near Escondido, off the freeway." ::What a detective..:: he thought. "I'm not feeling any crepitus here. Can you breathe through your nose ok?" Marco nodded. "Yes. It's just a little tender." "Want us to do an x-ray to be sure?" "Would it effect anything? I mean, what will you do if it is broken?" "Nothing. I'm seeing no deformity. "First do no harm." Joe recited. "Better to leave well enough alone since it isn't hurting enough to bother you much." Roy grinned thoughtfully. "A symptom which seems like no symptom IS no symptom." "Exactly what I was thinking. My original prognosis stands Marco. You're free to go." Joe said. "Kel's rubbing off on you Roy. That's Dr. Brackett's mantra." Roy smiled even bigger. "From paramedic training class. I remember.." Then Roy's stress began to poke through and he found himself growing impatient to hold Kelly to his promise. "Chet..." Chet was busy at the sink and cupboard finding a wash bowl and a stand so Marco could rinse off the worst of the mud off himself before he changed into his clothes. "Chet.." Roy repeated. "Hmmm?" Kelly said, after frothing up the antibiotic soap in the bowl with a few fingers. He couldn't resist bending over and rinsing his own face free of mud. "How's Chris?" "Chris..?" Chet said, still preoccupied with the luxury of steaming clear water so near at hand. "My son..? H- How's he doing?" "Your son's here?" Joe asked quickly, looking up from the chart he was recording. "Yeah, he was in the bus with us.." Marco said. "Yeah, Chet. How's he doing?" Chet grimaced and said. "Ahh! Roy couldja hand me a towel? I think I got soap in my eye.." Roy levelled one at his face with force. "Chet!!" "Oww, thanks. Uh," Kelly said using the towel's corner to twist grit out of his ear. "He's one hundred percent Ayee Okay, Roy. Just some surgery to suture him up. No lasting damage.." he said mildly to them all when he looked up. "You're certain..." "Does Morton ever smile?" Chet said deadpan. Roy let down his suspicion about the validity of his news immediately and relaxed. But Lopez was still discontented. "Chet.." Marco prompted. "Huh.." "How am I supposed to wash up with that?" "With what?" Roy and Lopez both pointed down. Kelly's charitable wash bath offering was now dark red with mud and crusty sand. "Oh,, sorry. Here Marco, let me draw you up another one." Joe left the treatment room, chuckling. Roy followed him, admonishing after Marco and Chet as he left, holding the door open with a deep lean. "You guys got fifteen minutes to clean up. We can then all leave in the squad together. If we jam in tight, we can get four in the cab. We've done it before.." "Wait a minute. You're going to leave Chris alone here at Rampart?" Kelly asked. "Yes.. No.. Oh, I don't know.. Never had this happen before, don't know if Cap'll let me remain here." "Of course he will, DeSoto. Are you outta your everloving mind?" Kelly frowned passionately. "Yeah, just a little. The crisis is over and I guess I'm finally reacting.." Roy said numbly. "I'll say." But Roy acted as if he didn't hear Kelly at all as his mind was still racing. "I'll call Joanne, let her know what's happened to Chris, and get cleaned up myself.. Then we can go.." he muttered, already losing recollection of Chet's firm belief Cap would release Roy from active duty because of his son's mishap. "You're gonna do all that in fifteen minutes? Man, Joanne's gonna fall apart for sure. Nothing like the maternal instinct." Kelly commented. "Yeah well that maternal instinct's also been down this route before. Joanne's not some snivelling panicky mother who'll faint at the slightest bad news." "Never said she was going to faint I said she might fall apar--" Chet began. "Kelly..." Roy said irritably. "What..?" "Just go help Marco change." Chet finally saw he was outta line. "Right.." He peeked out further from the Treatment Room. "But then we gotta talk pal.." "About what?" Roy snapped. "About something your son's into, man. Think I might wanna get into it, too, real soon." Chet said mysteriously. "I'm dying with suspense..Can it wait? My life's sorta kinda been turned upside down today if you haven't noticed.." DeSoto said sarcastically. "Yeah, I noticed.. And yeah. It can wait. Better yet, I'll bring up my idea to Johnny. He might be in a better mood to offer an opinion. Man, at least I know GAGE can handle his stress.." "Not this kind.." Roy fired back and he let the door swing shut between them. DeSoto felt like an immediate terd for lashing out at Kelly but a part of him really didn't care at the moment. All he could think about was that phone call to Joanne. All through his shower in the hospital locker room, he rehearsed how he was going to break the news to the family. Then he figured it out. He would let Chris call home himself, before he was prepped for surgery. ::Nothing like hearing news from the source:: DeSoto sighed. ::Maybe I'll have Dixie string in a landline from the wall, to Chris's bed so he can dial out directly from a phone that isn't the red one. Might ease the shock for Joanne and my daughter.:: An overwhelming paternal angst gripped Roy. His separation from his son following his near fatal accident suddenly felt intolerable. Roy couldn't seem to dress fast enough for comfort's sake and all he could see was the memory of Chris's mud covered face blending in with the hillside's guts, pooling in the bus, whenever he closed his eyes. Something very integral inside Roy, ....finally snapped. ----------------------------------- Photo : Morton in scrubs. Photo : Marco smiling at you through the squad's open door window. Photo : Joe Early standing by an IV pole. Photo : Johnny looking sweaty and tense. Photo : Chet making a point in close up. Photo : Roy on a payphone, looking pained. Photo : Roy in a pool of mud, with his unconscious son. ********************************** From: Katherine Bird 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." "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. Captain Stanley's gaze bore right into Roy's until Roy thought he was going to start fidgetting under their scrutiny. But finally, Hank sighed. "Ok, you know the support panel's there if you want to go talk to anyone sooner. I've got us all scheduled with the counselors for disaster debriefing this afternoon. The usual routine." The rest of the gang cleared their throats and mumured uncomfortably. They all knew they needed to talk about the run as soon as they could, before its impact could effect any of them even more. "Ok, Cap.." Then Roy noticed the last remaining Code F report form resting on the table. "Oh. I forgot. I'll get right on this.." he promised. "Take your time.. These aren't due at Headquarters until six.." Hank said. The kitchen fell into quiet as each of the gang filled out the grim details of facts and the actions they each had taken during the bus accident. The tension was so thick, Henry started to whine at their concentrated silence. Marco and Chet got up immediately and took their forms and donuts to the couch. Lopez took Henry into his lap and fed him a treat. Stoker faked stretched, without comment, studying his shoes. "Can't hide anything from Henry, can we?" Johnny said to no one in particular. "Nope. He's a hot dog who's a blood hound. What can we hide from a nose that big?" And everyone laughed. Everyone except Roy. "Say, Gage.." Kelly smacked Gage on the shoulder to get his attention from where he was carefully writing on his incident form. "Oww, Kelly now cut that out. Now I'm going to have to start filling this out all over again." Johnny groused. Then he rubbed his arm. "That's a sore spot from yesterday." "Sorry Gage. But listen.. I almost brought this up to DeSoto but he was too busy being a fidgetty father yesterday to pay me any attention." "Gee. I wonder why? Kelly, just get to the point." Johnny said impatiently. "Yeah, Chet. Get to the meat of it already." Marco said from his kitchen seat. Kelly glanced up and suddenly noticed that everyone, including Cap, was paying close attention to him. He immediately got embarrassed. "Now, listen fellas. I just wanted to bring up a conversation with Johnny that was kinda private here, you know what I mean?" Cap's eyebrows rose. "Fraid we don't. In it for an inch, in it for a mile, we figure. Right gang? Anything you need to say about work, we're entitled to know about, because we're just one big, close knit, happy outfit here, Kelly." Gage and the others all agreed with animated nods and gestures. "Speak for yourself, Cap! uh, I mean sir.." Kelly amended. He whined. "Oh, come on guys. For me..?" He sighed when no one looked away. "Ok, ok. I see I have no choice in the matter while I get an answer for myself. I see. Ok,.. all right. I'll just come right out and say it then.. Johnny, do you think I got the right stuff to make the coursework to become a paramedic?" Johnny had been mentally smiling as vultures zoomed in on the summer of Chet's malcontent, but now, Gage nearly spit out the mouthful of coffee he had been swallowing. "What?! " Babble followed instantly. "A medic, Chet?" Stoker parroted. "That's great, Chet.." Lopez said warmly. Cap's face animated in surprise. "Wow, that's news there, Kelly. What made you suddenly decide this?" Roy even perked up a little."Really?" Chet tried to quell them all with shushes and self conscious hand waves. "Gimme a sec, gimme a second here. Let Johnny answer my question first, eh, guys? All right..? Then I'll let you have at it.." Everyone obeyed instantly, all ears and expectant, as they all looked at Johnny. Including Henry. Gage cleared his throat uncomfortably inside the circle of faces surrounding his. "Uh, well.. Chet. You see, uh.. Wow, Gee. I don't know where to begin.." He started over on a different track. "You seem like a pretty good firefighter and I like working with ya and all. But quite frankly, I haven't actually, ever considered this idea before, you know. I think you'd--" The alarm tones went off. ======================== ##Station 51. Possible drowning. L.A. Riverbed. One half mile north of Vadnais Heights Boulevard. One half mile north of Vadnais Heights Boulevard. Time out, 8: 02.## ======================== In the garage, Cap thumbed the response mike and replied. "This is station 51, 10-4. KMG 365." And he threw on his turnout coat and beat a hasty pace to the LaFrance. ------------------------------------------------ On scene, a lone hiker, muddied despite the clear day, met them on the roadside margin. He seemed highly agitated. "Glad you got here so fast. Hurry. I couldn't get down there any closer. Uh, man.." he gasped. "What do you got?"Cap fired at him as he stepped out of the truck's cab. "Well, I couldn't believe what I was looking at. I couldn't believe my eyes at first." he panted. "I just couldn't believe it was really a--" The biker suddenly turned green and Johnny and Roy had to catch him when he stopped speaking and when his knees started to buckle. "Whoa, whoa.. now take it easy. Hey. You feeling all right?" Johnny said. "Here, set him over against the squad." He and Roy and Cap managed to get the man sitting on the wet ground. Stoker went for the O2. Gage said to Cap. "I got him. Looks like it's a syncopal episode. His pulse's normal." "Cap, I'll go looking around. Maybe I can find out something.." Roy said, readjusting his helmet. "You do that. Marco, Chet, go with him." Cap said. He pulled out his walkie talkie. "L.A. This is Engine 51. Send an ambulance to our location. We've a man down." ##10-4, 51. Time out 8:14.## Marco, Chet and Roy headed into the brush rimming the man made channel of the L.A. river. The bed was partially filled with a fast flow, and it was clogged with many many downed trees and debris from the flooding of the day before. Then they spotted an orange hiker's pack and mountain bike and an abandoned CB radio lying on the ground. "This is where he must have made our rescue call..." Roy said. "Let's assume he spotted something straight down from here." And he waved Chet and Marco along with him down the next decline. They skidded over the slope of the final levee to the top of the drop off leading into the concrete river system and crawled on their bellies until they were able to see beyond down into the waterway. Marco gasped. A horribly mangled little girl lay twisted in the bows of a flooded eucalyptus tree with skin so dusky, that there was no doubt that the life signs in her had fled long ago. One arm was broken hideously over her head and the crushed torso was wearing a very familar set of school colors. "Oh, my g*d. It's her.." Kelly heard from Roy. "What?" Chet asked. "This is who, Roy?" he asked through a scrub bush, separating them. But Roy just stood there, dropping his walkie talkie from limp fingers. Chet and Marco didn't see him falter, still being partially hidden in the overgrown field. "Come on, Marco. Let's get closer.." Kelly said, moments later. Through the brush, Chet called out again as Marco and he struggled to get nearer the area where they saw the little girl's remains."Roy.. we need to know what you know." Kelly said over the roar of water. "There are parents somewhere out there looking for this little girl. If you know something we don't, y--" They heard DeSoto sob a heart rending incomprehensible outburst, quickly followed by sudden violent retching. Kelly and Lopez heard the thud of something with weight, fall onto the dry reeds above the river, seconds later. Kelly and Lopez turned from the water, not understanding for a moment. They both were shocked when they jogged back the way they had come to see Roy curled up into a ball on the ground. He was on his side, getting sick and trying to hide the fact that his stomach battle had been lost in what seemed to Chet, a pitiful way. "Roy, pull yourself together man. It's ok. We'll just get her in a few when you're better and we'll just get the h*ll out of here.." Kelly said. Lopez said. "I don't think this is just a grossing out, Chet. I mean, this is ROY. He never lets things like this bother him. Something's really not right here." "You deal with it. I gotta let Cap know what's going on." Chet said defensively. His face was a mixture of worry, disgust and frustration. Kelly went to find some high ground to report to the engine crew. Marco went to Roy's side and pulled him away from the soiling ground. He helped Roy kneel upright and Lopez held him while he continued to empty his stomach. His heaves were so violent, that his chin strap loosened and DeSoto's helmet flopped forward over his eyes. Marco took off Roy's helmet and threw it some distance up the hill in frustration and anger over the second unexpected horror delivered to them yet again in as many days. He waited until Roy was through gagging, then he said. "Come on, Roy. Let's move away. We're too near the edge." Kelly pulled out his HT. "Cap. We've got a Code F. It's a ... it's a ...kid from the bus rescue. Roy recognized her right away." ##Would you 10-9 that, Kelly. A Code F from yesterday?## Cap queried. "That's affirmative, Cap. And she's retrievable." There was a long silence. ##All right. Listen. This is first. Our hiker informant's a diabetic and the stress of his calling us out here has set off a metabolic crisis. Have Roy come up here.## "Ah, Cap. That won't be possible." ##Kelly? What's the hold up?## "Just get down here, Cap. On the double." Kelly said and he flicked the walkie talkie's speaker off, his face fighting powerful emotions. ------------- Marco had gotten Roy's collar loose. He saw that DeSoto was no longer getting ill in the place Marco had guided him to away from the river's wall. But things were far from improving. Roy lay, pale and in denial, on his side, sobbing uncontrollably. Lopez patted his shattered coworker on the shoulder. "It's ok. Just take it easy.We'll take it from here. Your nausea passing?" He got only a moaning half cry for a reply. Lopez moved Roy's head to his knees to keep the sharp grassy brambles from cutting his face. "I know it. Just let it pass. You don't have to do anything right now." Cap and Stoker came skidding through the undergrowth fully loaded with ropes, a metal grappling hook, and a small folded body bag between them. They halted in shock at the sight of Roy, curled fetal, going to pieces. Kelly and Marco didn't have to explain anything to them at all when Hank saw the little girl they had seen. His own face twisted in pain. Cap crouched by Roy and added his own comforting hand to DeSoto's shoulder. "Easy, pal. You don't have to do this at all. We'll handle it. Marco, stay with him for a moment. " And he rose back onto his feet. Cap swallowed. He motioned to Mike. "Stoker, get her down from there." His eyes never left the dead child's place in the partially submerged tree. "We're not losing her again." and he handed off all his gear to the engineer. "Kelly, go back up the hill and help Johnny any way you can. You're taking over for Roy." "R- Right.." and Chet bounded up the hill. "Roy, you get yourself together, ok.. You hear me.." he said as he disappeared. Chet stumbled once but then got to the highway a few seconds later. After a notification to L.A. for a morgue team and the D.A.'s office, Cap shooed Marco off to help Stoker recover the tiny pitiful body. Hank closed his eyes and made sure Roy didn't see their awkward retrieval using the hook either, by screening out DeSoto's sight of it with his captain's helmet. It could have been ten minutes or ten years later to Stanley when it was finally done. The morning sun was a little bit higher in the brilliant sky, a few minutes later. Hank began to speak quietly to his heart wounded friend, sharing a like story of when his own shell had finally cracked under strain in honor of a dead child's memory. It did little to lessen Roy's grief. He still shook, gasping like a fish, no longer able to voice sounds. Cap sighed compassionately and softly, he whispered. "Roy. We're all here for ya. It's ok. Just let it out." and he drew his senior crewman up into a hug. Stanley let him cry for a long time. Privately, Cap let down a shadow of his past grief . He allowed tears of his own to fill his chocolate eyes. Silently, unchecked, they fell onto his jacket, rolled off its hem, and into the L.A. river below. ---------------------------------------------- Gage looked up impatiently as Chet knelt where the hiker now lay. He was irritatedly biting the IV Dex bag covering off on the solution he had been ordered to give the downed hiker. "Here. Get this set up." he said thrusting the IV into Chet's hands. "Where'd you all go to? Took forever getting him to settle down. Fortunately, he's deep into diabetic crisis now and no longer seizing." Kelly was quiet. Johnny didn't even think to guess the reason why. He asked. "Where's Roy? We gotta get this man NPA intubated yesterday."And he began to take another hasty BP on their victim. "He's not coming." Chet said, stringing the IV tubing and stabbing its port valve lance into the bag he had set between his knees. "What do ya mean he's not coming?" Gage snapped. "We've got a major medical here. He oughta know any body we find's last priority." Johnny said, pulling the stethoscope out of his ears. Chet held Johnny's hand that was holding the IV needle still for a moment, to get his full attention. "Johnny, Roy cracked. Cap's down there now deciding whether or not to stretcher him outta there." "What?! Chet, you must be talking crazy..." "Wish I was, Johnny boy. I hope to g*d I was. Anything,.. but the bad scene I just witnessed down there." Gage fought mentally with himself, warring over his care of the hiker and his own desire to whip out his HT to demand of Cap how Roy was doing. He attempted to console himself with trying to peer over the side of the steep grassy embankment. The next words out of his mouth were barely audible.. "Is he awake?" "What, ....this guy?" Chet asked, looking down, beginning to do a pain stimulus check. Gage gripped his hand and stopped him. "No, I'm talking about Roy.." "Oh. Yeah, he is. But he lost his breakfast,.. and maybe last night's dinner, too. Johnny, he's not even standing." "Gonna get shocky." Gage mumbled to himself, suddenly redirected. "Roy?" "No, our victim here. Chet, pay attention." Gage said angrily. "This next step's gonna be tricky. Now lube this NPA down with the K-Jelly. I've already measured this to be the right size airway. And get that positive pressure handy. His lack of glucose is gonna knock out his respirations something fierce." "Gage I don't know about this.." Chet said. "Maybe you'd better call in another sq-" Johnny grabbed Chet by his jacket lapels and snatched him close until he was only inches away from his face. "You wanted to know if I thought you were medic material? Medic trainees follow orders INSTANTLY from their senior trainers and they never EVER second guess a medical order. I ordered you to prepare that NPA tube. Even told you how to do it. So do it! Now!" and he let his overcoat go. "Geez, all right already. I'm just as worried about Roy as you are. No need to beat me up over it. You'll have ta tell me more on what to do here though. Been rocky ever since I've been ordered to take over to help ya in Roy's place." Gage glared at him and arrowed his spent IV needle into free flight, not caring that the bloody thing whistled by only a centimeter from Chet's ear as it clattered home into the drug box's waste needle catch bin. "You've got thirty seconds.. I'm not repeating myself." "Ah,, Ok.. ok.. which side..?" Chet said, positioning the end of the soft nasopharyngeal airway near the hiker's nasal passages. "Try the right side nare first. Don't force it." Chet nimbly got it into place, doing all the right moves and techniques, sending the airway down flat, along the palate as it should have been done. Johnny smiled, handing Chet the positive pressure mask. "See, you HAVE been watching us. You'll still have to keep his head back for a clear airway and be prepared to yank it out if he vomits." "That much I remember Gage. What now?" Chet said. "He's breathing fine." he said, letting the man pull his own oxygen off the mask. "What's his rate?" Gage said, adjusting the D5W flow into the man's veins. "Ten, and slowing." "You know to ventilate him if he slips below eight a minute?" "Yeah." "What's his color?" he said, drawing a blood vial for a glucose check, for Rampart. Chet peeled away the man's oddly sunburned lips until he saw his gums. "Pink. Look Johnny. I could go back down there now and see how Roy's doing for ya you know. You are in charge of me up here.." It was tempting but Johnny knew his responsibilities. "Nice try. But we're gonna have to trust the other guys' judgement on that. Roy's probably just reacting now because he didn't react yesterday. It's most likely no big deal." "You didn't see him, Gage.." Chet said in the tiniest of voices. It was full of fear. Johnny looked up, his attention full and frightened. ------------------------------------------------------ Cap heard a voice call out. It was Stoker's. "Ready to move, Cap." It must have been some minutes later, for when Hank blinked, he saw the black body bag nestled in a scoop stokes that Marco had retrieved from the engine. The bundle was already tied and rope tethered for a hill climb back up to the roadway. Roy, was now some feet away, dry eyed, sitting and hugging his knees to his chest, with his back to the body, staring out at the brightly sunlit flowing river bed below. "Stoker, you and Lopez go on ahead. Have Johnny go on alone in the ambulance with the hiker if you have to and tell Chet to take in the squad. Roy's coming with us." Hank told Mike. "But, you're giving us two, a minute or so alone. Get me only if Johnny needs another rescue squad to finish the transport, and when you're done picking up after yourselves. Tell the detectives whatever they need to know. I'm out of service for a bit. Understood?" "Right, Cap." and the dry crackle of the grass told Stanley that the grisly trip up had begun. Soon, even that soft rustling faded away. The ambulance came, then went, with the squad behind it. Soon, even those sounds fell into the distance too. Not long after, the mortuary wagon and an unmarked detective car pulled up, to take away the child's body and to learn the information necessary for the bus investigation from Marco and Stoker. Hank's talkie came to life. ##Engine 51, to HT 51. All the gear's stowed. Want us to put the Engine available?"## Hank lifted up his talkie and said. "When we're base bound, Engine 51." ##10-4, HT 51.## came Lopez's reply. And the station frequency fell silent. Rubbing his mouth, Cap could see Mike and Marco watching them from where they sat in the idling engine cab, waiting. He flashed them an okay sign without radioing back. He saw them visibly relax. Cap sat by Roy, not directly looking at him, as he took in the same spectacular view of the valley over the concrete river bed that Roy seemed to be looking at. He took in a deep breath of the canyon's sweet, spicy air. "Hear that, Roy? The birds are still singing..." Roy swung red, swollen eyes towards him. "Hear what, Cap? All I hear are the sounds of all those school kids, screaming, as that hill came down on top of them. I just wanna know why it had to happen. That's all. Is that too much for a guy to ask for?" But Roy didn't cry again. His face remained only dusty and flushed. Cap handed DeSoto back his helmet and slowly put on his own. "Come on, let's go." he said, grabbing a hold of Roy's gloved hand to pull him to his feet. "We'll take the engine home." DeSoto clasped Cap's dirty hand numbly, and then used its strong steady leverage until he stood. Cap watched Roy put on his helmet only after he seemed to contemplate the purpose for which it served, for long, unseeing moments. Then he saw Roy sigh a lengthy quavering breath. Roy's face was now a little less pale but his voice was weaker than a baby's. He murmured. "Yeah. Let's get outta here." Cap, threw a stokes blanket around Roy's shoulders and together, they went up the hill to the road. ----------------------------------------------------- Photo : Marco feeding Henry goodies on the couch. Photo : Roy looking sick, in the sun. Photo : Children covered in mud in a pond. ************************************* Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 10:34:05 -0800 (PST) From: "Patti or Jeff or Cassidy" Subject: Come Uppance... It was four hours after the L.A. river call. Marco Lopez looked up from where he was dishing out chow for Henry. The longish hound was snuffling excitedly as the Rival can of dog food filled his chrome dish. All the guys were watching him get worked up. And some of them even had their fingers crossed for luck while Marco finished. Stoker, ignoring their "sport", was the first to see Cap enter the kitchen. "How's he doing, Cap?" "Roy? Still resting. I did order him to take a nap. And yes, I explained to Joanne what happened and then called the crisis counselor just a few minutes ago. She's coming for a station visit, and she's towing along Roy's wife. They'll one to one with him first and then we'll get our session over dinner as planned." Hank announced. He knelt and petted Henry as the dog licked his lips in anticipation of supper. "That's good. Maybe ..having Joanne around will help Roy get back his equilibrium." Kelly said thoughtfully, arching his balled up snack napkin into a wide shot for the trash bin. It landed perfectly. "I know it will." Cap said empathetically, rubbing some dust out of his nose. The gang fell to the moment as the salty scent of horsemeat filled the air. "Do it Lopez.." Stoker said with anticipation. "This time it's gotta work." Marco carefully set down the dish gingerly, as if jarring it would cause Henry to lose interest. "There you go, Henry. Dive in." The slowish hound looked up, licked Marco's face, jumped down from the leather couch, almost on top of the food bowl, and then he kept right on truckin forward and straight out the kitchen door. "Hey, where are you going ya crazy mutt?!" Kelly said from where he was sipping coffee at the kitchen table. "What a schmo...Geez, that's two cans of grub now, slated for the trash can.." Hank only chuckled. "You forgot Henry's a true station dog there, Kelly." Cap grinned. "Can't you see he's making a house call? It's more important than food to him." "Yeah, Chet. He does it all the time whenever one of us is feeling out of it." Marco said, retucking his shirt in around his belt. He had just come out of the shower. Johnny neatly rose to his feet, abandoning his coffee mug. "That's my cue.. Excuse me guys. I'm right on Henry's angle.." and Gage, too, exited the kitchen for the bunk dorms. On a second thought, he grabbed a couple of donuts on the way out, one for him and a second one for Roy. Gage noticed that Cap had pulled all the shades down around Roy's bunk and had even set a water pitcher on the desk tabletop with a paper already opened to the horse racing section next to it. Gage smiled when he heard Roy stir in his sheets to play with Henry. Respectfully, he knocked on the wooden doorframe first before he entered the room further. "Roy?" "Yeah, Johnny. I'm awake.." his partner said. "Didn't anybody feed Henry yet? He's acting like he wants his bowl now." Gage walked into the room and grabbed the chair from the desk, inverted it, and straddled it to sit. "Now, Roy, you know Henry won't eat for anyone else but you. And we're dumb enough to keep forgetting that. He turned his finicky nose up again at Marco just a minute ago when he opened a can right under his face. You sure got a way with dogs." Roy's face unexpectedly fell at Johnny's comment. and he stopped petting Henry's broad back. "Yeah, well. I wish I had a way with children right about now. Lately my luck's been running kinda dry." Johnny scoffed gently. "Now what's that supposed to mean? You got two wonderful kids who're incredibly proud to call ya dad. You got a beautiful wife. That's more than what I got. What more can a man want?" "To turn back the clock for starters. How about turning it back about..oh,...forty eight hours or so. Then I'd truly be a happy man, Johnny." Roy said, with a groan. He flopped back onto his back and drew his sheets up to his chest as if chilled suddenly in his T shirt and boxers. "Roy, cut it out. You shouldn't be ashamed of your emotions. What happened out there today, happens to all of us. H*ll, Cap's been there. He just told us when and why over coffee a few minutes ago. And I bet if we took a poll, we'd find that there isn't a single guy on the rosters who hasn't been in the same shoes you wore this morning." Johnny said. "I'm not immune either. I've been there. Remember? I lost it only two weeks into the paramedic program.." Roy regarded Gage quietly for long seconds, "Not everyone, Johnny." A slight smile curled his lips, "What about Craig Brice?" "Oh, yeah.." Johnny chuckled. "Brice. Forgot about him. How can a man without sense of humor find something about our line of work that'll make him lose his lunch? Brice sure can't. He's an Iron Man." Johnny grumbled, answering his own question. "Maybe he should team up with Detello at ten's for a while and learn something about compassion." Johnny took a bite from his donut, then belated remembered that he had already bitten into the first one. Lamely, he offered the pastry to Roy. DeSoto took it, and began offering the pieces wearing Johnny's tooth marks to the snuffling Henry who had sprawled his heavy weight across Roy's legs. "Here, buddy. Yeah, that's a good boy.." and he smacked Henry's hide loudly in affection. The rest, he popped into his mouth. "Nausea finally gone?" Johnny asked. Roy looked up, almost as if he had forgotten his partner was there. "Yeah, that anti-emetic you gave me worked." he said chewing slowly. "Who authorized that?" "Joe Early. He knew what you had been up against yesterday. And understood the need for the hypo today." "Does everybody know about ...what happened to me?" Roy asked quietly, caressing Henry's ear as the dog snoozed in his lap. "Only those who care a whip about ya." Gage quipped. Then he leaned forward, lacing his fingers together. "Listen, Roy, so what if it took six years for you to finally crack on a call. Big deal. You're a human being. It means that you care.." "Yeah, maybe I care a little too much." Roy said softly. Johnny rubbed his mouth in frustration and then he got angry."Oh, boy, here we go again. You didn't make that driver hit the bus. You didn't cause that canyon wall to come caving in on us. And unless you're really Moses, I know you didn't cause that rain storm to flood us out like it did. So knock off the pity pit. A paramedic's GOT to have empathy. H*ll. You're the one who taught me that.." he sat back with exasperation. Roy was silent for a time. Then he said. "I'm thinking about leaving the program Johnny. I really think I can't hack it any more." he pointed to the uniform that Cap had folded neatly on the dresser and said. "I really don't know if I can ever get myself to wear that uniform again. Ever. It now hurts too much.." and his lip quavered. Johnny showed no sympathy. "You're just saying that. Now what would I do in a few months if Kelly kept good on his threat and suddenly became my new partner?" Johnny asked drily. Roy finally smiled and laughed. "You two'd probably, most likely kill each other the first week out." "There ya go.." Johnny said. "So don't leave me in that kind of spot. And quit talkin like that. You're just hurting, that's all. You're not disabled. A little time taken with the family will make it all right again." "Now you're sounding like Cap." Roy said. "Good, cause he's right. And that's what he said worked for him when he cracked over his own child call." Roy sat up. "You know something Gage?" "What..?" Gage said, curling Henry's tail and scratching its white furred tip until Henry picked up his head to see who was messing with it. Henry's tail started wagging when he saw who it was. "You're right. M- Maybe that's all I'll need. A little time off. Just enough ta.. get my clear thinking back again and maybe I'll even find that sense of inner balance that I had before.. " he said, grinning. "That's the ticket.." Johnny beamed, taking another bite out of his donut. "No, wait a minute, I can't go on leave." "Why not? You got enough vacation time coming to ya. As long as I've known ya, you've only been on vacation twice. Once to Santa Rosa with me, and the other time when you took Joanne and the kids to the f--" he broke off. "You can say it, Johnny. Farm. I'm not mad at you over that any more. I mean who can control circumstance?" "And that's it right there, Roy. On your coming days off, hold that thought and you think about it, real hard.." With that, Gage disappeared, leaving the rest of his donut abandoned on the bedspread. Roy blinked, amazed that Johnny could move so fast. And that, in itself, made him think all the more about Roy DeSoto. Johnny's cool advice and Henry's warm tongue on his fingers, made him mull over what was really the most important thing going on in his life apart from his family. Sighing, Roy picked up the donut and began doling out the correct pieces to the proper mouths. Then, feeling thirsty, he reached for the water container. And a bit later, after a long tearful talk with the crisis counselor and Joanne,.... ...Roy DeSoto reached for his uniform.. ---------------------------------------------- It was a week later. And the gang on A shift finally felt like they were a whole crew again. Roy DeSoto was back on the job. But Gage sighed and didn't even turn around when he felt Roy sit on the locker room bench next to him and opened his locker. "Mornin.." Roy said cheerily. He broke off into a jaunty whistling tune. One he knew would irritate Johnny. Gage didn't reply. He just changed in silence. "What's the problem, Johnny? An explosion knock out your ears or something? I'm back." "Good for you Roy. I'm proud ya made the right decision." Johnny said finally. "But frankly, I'm really depressed right now if you have to know." "Why? Got a reason to be?" "Yeah. A good one. Guess who replaced you while you and Joanne and the kids were having it up in Florida." "No, ..don't tell me..." "Yeah.. Craig Brice.." Johnny said putting on his work shoes. He was so worked up, that he broke a shoelace. Roy was kind enough not to laugh and wordlessly, he handed his partner a package of new ones that he knew Johnny hadn't had the foresight to buy from the drugstore. "Thanks." Johnny said and he unlaced the old and did up the replacement deftly. "I'll tell you why else I'm depressed. We had a new trainee." "Chet didn't.." Roy interjected, his eyes getting real big. "No, .." Johnny sighed. "Chet didn't. He got an earful of just what kinds of things we paramedics go through from Detello and company and chickened out on taking any ride alongs. That delayed him enough that he blew his chance to train in the field this quarter with a squad. He's gonna have to wait until next year to enroll if he's still interested since the next batch of classes have already begun." Johnny said. "Then why are you so glum? You didn't have your paramedic partner trainee from h*ll." Roy asked. "I had a new .... " and he sighed. "..GIRL trainee. And you'll never guess who it was." "Who?" "Brice's cousin." "Brice has a cousin?" "Yeah, and she's nearly as bossy and analytical as he is. Why, we weren't even ten feet out the door on our first run, when she suddenly started quoting rules and regs at me. Said my helmet was too big." "It is. Didn't you learn your lesson when it fell off your head after that monkey virus got to you on that scaffolding?" Roy said drolly. Johnny blinked. "Would ya look at that. Hey guys.. Would ya look at that?!" he shouted through the kitchen door. "My best bud, my partner to whom I entrust life and limb, agrees with the comments from that annoying probie!!" Naturally, there was no reply from the gang in the kitchen. "You couldn't have been suffering that badly last week, Johnny.." "Oh, really. Pray tell why..." "Henry's not here.." and Roy closed his locker door calmly and left for breakfast. ------------------------------------------------ They had just about finished the pancakes when a station call came out. ##Station 51, Station 10, Truck 127. Battalion 14. ......School fire at Roosevelt Elementary....## Roy's heart skipped a beat. "Oh no.. Not again." Johnny said as he snatched up his jacket. "Roy, now you're gonna do just fine. It's most likely just a false alarm again. Now, come on, let's go.." ##....13000 Technology Drive. 13000 Technology Drive. Cross street, Maple. Time out, 9:57.## "L.A., 10-4. This is Station 51. KMG 365." Stoker replied in communications acknowledgement. They rolled out.. --------------------------------------------------------- Photo: John sitting in a chair with Henry.. Photo: Roy in closeup, asleep. Photo : Roy driving the squad, looking right at you. ***************************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Wed Jan 15, 2003 5:44 pm Subject: The Call of Angels~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Station 51 pushed the envelope to arrive on on scene. As it was, they were the first. A stumbling, smoke stained janitor ran out of the building and was met by a throng of teachers who were trying to control their classrooms of children calmly and collectively. They caught him as he fell and lowered him to the ground. One moustached balding superintendant grabbed him by the arms."Charlie! Now that was plumb stupid. The building's clear. You didn't have to go back in there. No boiler's valuable enough for that." Charlie, silver haired and Asian, just coughed, gripping his chest. "Yes... I ...did...sir. The water heater and the gas line's the next room over.. If they go.. The northside classrooms are still evacuating Aghh.. My chest!!" and he gasped, then gurgled. The superintendant heard sirens and looked up to see a fire department rescue squad screech to a halt on the street a safe distance away from the school. Gage and DeSoto stepped out to the nearest bunch of teachers. Frightened kids milled about everywhere. "What's the situation here?" Johnny asked one of them. The young substitute teacher said. "There's a fire in the basement. Boiler room according to Charlie. There's a lot of chemicals stored in there." Johnny ran along to the cab and shouted to Cap and the gang who had just pulled up the red pumper, spewing long hose. "Cap! Substructure. And chemicals!" "I want everybody in full SCBA! " Cap waved on Vince and two other police cars to begin crowd control. Then he contacted L.A. through his hand held radio. "L.A. We've got smoke showing from a two story brick building. Assign a third alarm assignment." ##10-4, 51. ## And the fire captain heard the dispatcher assign two other stations to the call. Then a teacher ran up to Cap and hung onto his arm. "Listen. They're still people trying to get out on the north side. And we've a man hurt!" she said. "Where?" "He's in the parking lot.." she coughed. "You ok, maam?" Cap said. "I'm fine. Just a little smoke. I gotta get back to my kids.." she shouted and fled his grip. Cap looked around and saw Gage and DeSoto already air bottled and connecting hose to the yellow hydrants on the block. "Gage! DeSoto! There's a victim over there. Check it out!" He saw his men look up and see where he was pointing. Then he called for four ambulances judging from the number of coughing kids he could see crying and sitting on the curbsides. Johnny and Roy abandoned what they were doing to grab their medical gear. Chet and Marco took over their task of charging the hoses. Johnny grabbed the O2 and the biophone while Roy got the drug and IV boxes. "Cap! We're on it.." They soon found the superintendant with Charlie the janitor, who was now unconscious. Johnny reached for the man's neck. "Thready. Might be his heart." The superintendant nodded. "He did say his chest hurt him. I guess he was in the fire too long.." "I'll patch him in.." Roy said, unbuttoning the man's shirt while Johnny set him on some oxygen. He looked up while he fastened the EKG leads to the janitor's chest. "Listen, sir.. Do you know if everybody made it out?" The superintendant, distracted by the melee of panicking children and teachers just mumbled. "I- I don't know. I.. some of the staff seems to think the classrooms on the north side were still trying to make it out." Roy made a decision.. "Johnny. I can't wait. You got things here?" Gage looked up from the BP he was taking on the man. His face filled with doubt about Roy's plans but then he nodded when his ears picked up the sound of Station Ten pulling up into the smoky school yard. "Bring someone with you.." "Cap, I'm going in to help with the evacuation!" DeSoto called out. "Grab a man from 10!" Cap said, waving him on while he filled Battalion Fourteen in on the situation. Roy ran to the open aired engine just pulled up. He waved the station's medics on, "A heart case, near the basketball court..Johnny's with him now. Go. Move.. We have all the gear you'll need." 10's paramedics ran. Then he tapped the nearest fireman's shoulder from the bunch pulling hose from the fire engine. The big man turned around. It was Detello. "Well, if it isn't DeSoto. What's up?, er, besides the obvious.." he said with a fleeting smile. But already he was all business. "Evac.. on the north side, Come on..!" Roy said. Detello took his cue from the men from 51 running around with air bottles and he took his own, with an axe and door markers. On a thought, he grabbed an asbestos blanket. "What's with that?" Roy asked as they ran towards the smoking building. "Just a hunch, Roy. Can't explain it." DeSoto and Detello put on their face masks and entered the building. They arrived just in time to help one last teacher make it to the sunlight. Detello gave her some air through his mask as they helped her to her kids in the clearer air. They set her on the ground. "Just keep breathing a few on this.." Detello told her. "You'll be fine." The young teacher pulled it away. "I'm missing Cindy. Oh my g*d." A stab ran through Roy's stomach and his world dimmed. He looked up at the building from which flames now rose and a chemical stench. ::Ammonia..:: He heard Detello question the woman and soon, they got hasty directions to that classroom. The big firefighter waved over an arriving fire station to take care of the woman and he and DeSoto put back on their masks and helmets and both ran back to the door they had just gone through getting out. Detello still carried the asbestos blanket, like a football. Roy smacked Detello's arm. "Which way?" "Left! Down the hall. First room on the right by the stairwell. Watch the right. It's a door leading to the sub basement. Bound to be hot!" Roy got on his hand radio and told the Batallion station they were searching for a victim and where. They entered a third grade class room which was barely visible in the smoke. "Hey! can anybody hear me!" Detello shouted. Roy and he searched and upturned desks hastily, crouching low enough to the floor so they could see their boots and any body they might find. The heat, was oppressive and they could hear the sizzle in the air from the leaking ammonia creating thicker gases and smoke near the ceiling. The noise of flames and the alarm bells forced Detello and Roy to use hand signals to communicate while they searched both that classroom and the next. Roy paused at each door and closed it, after marking it with a search slash when they were through. "She couldn't have gone far.. The exit's right there.." Roy said in frustration through his mask. Detello's head snapped around at a sound only he heard and he pushed Roy back into the lockers and brought both of them down to the stone tiles in the hallway. There was a huge explosion that ripped through the sub basement and blew out all the classroom windows of the school. Cap looked up, waving on Stoker and Marco, Chet and a man from ten's. "Take two inch and a halfs! Get where Roy and Detello are searching!" Johnny Gage came running up and Cap seemed surprised. Johnny shrugged. "Squad Ten took him in. I'm no longer needed. Where do you want me?" "Go with them!" Stanley gestured, pointing out the hoses writhing on the wet pavement from his men's hose teams. Johnny fled, fastening on his air mask. He knew what was going on and held his radio near his ear. Soon, he heard the staticky tones of a call button being pressed in a series of three tones. "They're all right." he gasped, slapping Chet's back as he and the others got a powerful covering fan into the building to begin to combat the inferno. "They just ran a three on the radio." Chet gave him a thumbs up and together, the group stormed the building. The smoke was thick and the fire belched out of cracks in the neat brown marble floor. The firemen played water onto these fissures and steam rose, obscuring their view. Slowly, they advanced northwards. Detello hauled Roy to his feet and pulled off the asbestos blanket he had thrown over on top of them. The paint on the lockers around them were melted and dripping. "Let's go, irishman." Detello grinned toothily at him. "We won't be needed this anymore." he said and he tossed down the smoking ruin of the blanket which had saved them from the worst of the explosion. "I'm feeling like that's the worst of it." Roy shook his hand and turned where he stood. They resumed their room by room search. Then Roy halted Detello by tapping him on the back. "It's really hot in here. If it was hot, and I was a child, where would I go in a fire?" Detello and Roy both exclaimed. "The restrooms." They doubled back to the third grade class room and the stairwell, which was now fully involved. They met Chet and Marco and took a welcome spray onto their jackets before pressing on with a "We're ok." hand signal. There was door barely concealed underneath the stairwell. Detello pointed to it. "Hit this! Hit this!" Marco and Chet snuffed out the tendrils of flame beginning to threaten that entryway and it died with a hiss. Roy kicked in the door. It was a faculty bathroom. "Hey.. Anybody in here?" Detello never got into the room when the ceiling came down, separating them. The flaming stairwell soon followed, and it trapped Roy away from Chet and Marco and Detello. The three on the outside frantically began to hose down the surging fire blocking the door. "Roy! You ok in there?!" Roy had flattened himself against the smooth tile wall and he felt hot moisture on his face. "That's not from the hose.." he mumbled. and his gloves sank into a dark section of the room. The showers! One of them was on. He dragged out a flashlight and scrambled on his hands and knees towards the sound of the running water. There he found the little girl, lying motionless beneath its stream. He grabbed her by the shoulders and picked her up into his arms and carried her back into the main part of the bathroom where the daylight from the skylight let him see the child he held. He pulled off his helmet and mask and crouched down against the wall with her, checking. "Come on, honey. Just take a breath.." She didn't. Roy began mouth to mouth. He couldn't tell if she had a pulse because she was twisted up so badly in the sweater soaked from the shower. Roy fumbled until he found one. He laid her down on a sink, onto her back, for a moment while he worked to keep her going. In between another set of breaths, Roy got up and grabbed a steel waste can and used it to smash out the tiny thick, textured bathroom window leading to the outside. Shouts of attention from the firecrews manned there reassured him that someone now knew he was trapped right there, with a victim. He returned to the child, taking her into his arms and stretched her out onto the glass sharded floor. He alternatingly took breaths off his own mask to give to her using his own lungpower to keep the ammonia tainted air out of her system. He pulled out his radio. "Kelly, Lopez. Hurry it up! Now would be a good time!" Images flashed through Roy's mind of the bus crash. The wet and the dark. It felt very much like where he was now. And the tiny living weight of the girl he fought to save was so like the feel of the girl from the storm drain as the water tore her away from his grasp. Roy began to cry, shouting. "Come on.. Cindy. Come back. It's ok.. I got you.." he sobbed. He again, breathed for the tiny girl from his air supply. He kept burning shards from landing on her clothes and he curled about her, using the wet on the floor to put out the small blazes burning around them. Then, there was a gasp, small, choking. Cindy began to cough, then to cry.. Roy held her close. "It's ok. I'm a fireman. We're going to get you out of here. Keep breathing from this mask ok?" he told her. "I'll be right back.." The frightened girl nodded. Roy's relief was palpable. He rose from the floor and went to the doorway where he saw Chet and Marco's hose water extinguishing the fire. Soon, there was nothing but sooty insulation and wood beams between them. Detello kicked these away. "Found her?" he asked, pulling off his mask. "Yeah.. She's ok.." Roy said, staggering against the wall. Detello's eyebrows went up. "Smart idea using the showers to keep the fire off." "It was her idea.." Roy grinned. Detello lifted both the air bottle and the girl from the ground and saw Cindy looking up and coughing at him in confusion and fright. Then he looked at Roy. "I believe you have a rescue to complete." he said, grinning through the ash on his face. Gently, he set the tiny girl into Roy's arms for him to guard. Then he stormed back out through the blackened doorway out to Kelly and Marco. "Chet, Lopez! Give us some cover. We're coming out!!" And soon, they did. Roy felt the sunlight on his face and the world narrowed down to just him and his tiny victim, still warm, alive and full of life in his arms. He started laughing as Detello roared his displeasure at the crowds standing between him and where the squad's equipment was parked. Just like that, Roy's nightmare, was over.. "Come on, Cindy. Let's get you checked out. My name's Roy DeSoto and I'm a paramedic with the L. A. County Fire Department. You're gonna be just fine..." Gage met them with fresh O2 and a live biophone and together, Roy and his partner made sure that one tiny life, stayed saved. Roy thought. ::Maybe this is the feeling Detello keeps banking on. This, certainty,.. that everything that's meant to be, will always turn out for the better. I'm no angel, but right now, I certainly feel like I'm in heaven...:: ----------------------------------------- Photos : None. ***************************** Juxtaposition - FIN @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season One, Episode Four.. WITHIN SIGHT ********************************* From : "desertducks " Subject :[EmergencyTheaterLive] Back Home Date : Sun, 19 Jan 2003 07:45:11 -0000 The engine crew made it back to the station by nine o'clock that night. "Might as well ruin one more person's evening." Captain Stanley mumbled, mostly to himself, as he crossed the threshold to his office. He left his door open - it felt wrong to close himself off from the rest of his crew. He dropped into the chair, but shoved it back from the desk, leaned his head against the cool brick wall, and shut his eyes. It sounded like Chet was finally running out of steam. The banging noises coming from the locker room had diminished to a less jarring level. Marco had gone to the kitchen first to start some fresh coffee. Now they wait. No - he still had to call in for a replacement engineer. "Is Mike Stoker here?" The young voice startled Captain Stanley. He scrubbed his hands over his face before focusing on the boy standing in his doorway. It was late for a kid to be out roaming the neighborhood alone. He said the only thing he could. "He's not here right now. I'm Captain Stanley, is there something I can do for you?" His heart was pounding all the way here just to talk to Mike. What was he going to say to the captain? "I think..." Not another sound would squeak out. ::Great, I'm already shaking, figures my voice would crack too.:: He started again. "I think I know who started that fire." --------------------------------- Photos : None. *********************** From : "Cassidy Meyers" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Witness Date : Tue, 21 Jan 2003 00:29:52 +0400 Captain Stanley saw the color on the boy's face pale and saw how worked up he really was. "Here, son, have a seat before your knees rubber and they drop you flat. Relax, I won't bite." he said, rising. He guided the boy to the wooden chair across from the desk and half heartedly peered into the bay in an attempt to locate whoever it was who let the child into the station in the first place. He suspected it had been Marco. ::Just like Lopez to subtly channel things concerning touchy run subjects my way.:: "What's your name kid? Kinda feel like I'm at a disadvantage since I don't know yours." "I'm.....Jeremy Conners." he said quietly. "Would you care to share just how you know my fire station's engineer?" "Mr. Stoker's my coach in the Second Chance Little Leagues. We've been hanging out Saturdays. Been doing so all summer." ::Oh, :: thought Hank. ::That would explain it. Mike's doing that Big Brother program with the juvies through the city's foster care program. This young fella must be one of his latest personal reclamation projects.:: "He said I could come here if I had anything on my mind that was bothering me. And this is." he fidgetted. His scowling eyes never left Cap's. Cap saw that Jeremy was an unusual child. He wasn't rubbernecking his surroundings like any other boy his age would. It was as if he already knew what a fire station was all about. Hank's eyebrows rose but he put his analytical observations to the background for a while. "Ok, you came here to see my man Stoker for a reason concerning which fire? My men and I have seen three today." He cocked his head and gestured to the milk carton he had set near his incident report earlier to settle his roiling stomach. "This is still cold. Thirsty?" Jeremy shook his head despite his nervous dry mouth. He purposely stopped fidgetting. The red headed boy felt the station captain's eyes bore into his own with an intense scrutiny. "Before you make a move on me, I get out at night all the time from the Home so don't even think about calling the fuzz. I know every door outta here." "Fair enough. Let me let you in on a little known fact about firehouses. In this office I'm not the station's captain anymore. I'm just Hank. Anything you say is confidential and won't leave this office unless it deals with someone's safety, property or life and limb." Stanley said. "So, what's eating you? Must be important if it bugged you enough to walk all the way here for what I suspect was about a mile or so." The boy's face fell open in surprise. "How'd you know that?" "Cause that's how far it is to the nearest residential neighborhood past the Arco refinery surrounding us. And, the logo on your jersey was a dead giveway." Cap spread his arms wide in a 'Well, what is it?' gesture. Jeremy crossed his arms in front of his gray baseball sweatshirt and pursed his lips. He glanced away from Hank for the first time since he arrived. "I gotta think about this first." Cap sighed wearily and grabbed his glass of now warmish 2% and downed it. "Make it fast. I'm expecting my men on the rescue squad back with some answers I need any second now. After that, I'm gonna be too busy for off hours visitors. So make up your mind pronto. Who started what fire?" Jeremy countered. "Why isn't Mike Stoker here? That engine's filthy. He'd be the first one at it with a rag to clean it off.." It was Cap's face that betrayed him this time and he went from tough act to vulnerable in a pico. "He's..well, I gotta break it somehow since you say Mike's your friend, Jeremy. Our last fire injured him when the roof caved in and trapped him apart from his hose team. In trying to get out, a steam pipe he didn't see burst in front of him and burned his eyes through his air mask pretty bad. Caught his throat and lungs too." Jeremy held really still. "That's the fire I'm talking about then if the roof came down. Is..is..Mike going to be blind?" he asked in a very small voice. Cap toyed with his empty glass thoughtfully and hid his emotion. "I don't know yet about that. I'm just glad he's still here. It took us a while to get him going again. That other answer, I'm going to get from my two paramedics the moment they get back to base. " "They were the ones who got him out?" "Yeah. Because another man of mine couldn't do it on his own." ".. That was..Kelly, Max said." Jeremy mumbled, barely audible. Cap's eyes narrowed when he heard that inadvertant tidbit. "You know Chet Kelly?" "He comes to our games with Coach every other weekend to try and sell hotdogs to the folks who come to watch us play. He doesn't know me, but I know him. What a weirdo." Cap threw his jaw to the side in half irritation and no humor. "Ok, so you were at the last fire call or heard about it, if you knew that Chet didn't do so well saving the hour tonight because he freaked out a little. So it should be real easy now to tell me who torched that abandoned building then, wouldn't it?" "Not gonna BE easy." "Why not? You're here. And I won't say who told me who. Witness/FireCaptain confidentiality, remember?" "Cause I may die for it, that's why. Listen high and mighty man, forget I ever came.." and Jeremy Conners shot up from the chair and darted out the office door. "Jeremy! Hey! Wait!!" Hank ran after the boy but the child was faster. Jeremy slammed on the garage door release button and he logrolled on through the narrow space that was opening before Hank could grab his torn pair of blue Adidas sneakers to stop him. Cap was left standing in the driveway surrounded by cricket calls and summer moonlight when the shed doors finally snicked fully open. There was no sign of the boy, only the sight and sounds of traffic on the boulevard winking in and out under the blue streetlights. Cap set his hands on his hips in utter frustration and leaned on the flag pole to hide his emotions as they rose to the surface yet again. ::Mike Stoker you hang in there.:: A rising soft night wind made the flags on the chains over him ring on the steel pole and Cap jumped, looking up. It hit home that Mike might not be there anytime soon to man the flag pole each day as he usually did. Slowly, Cap took down the state and department banners into his arms and tied off the chain. He alarmed himself when he found his hands folding the flags into neat perfect memorial triangles. ::He's not dead yet stupid. And there's no way in h*ll this eye thing is going to make Mike retire if he does by some miracle, recover.:: In defiance, Cap rolled the silky flags into a ball and sank down with them in his lap with the pole at his back. He was quite alone when he started weeping. ------------------------------------------------ Chet Kelly sat down at the kitchen table with the engine's small first aid kit and he cracked it open. Lopez set down a coffee mug in front of Kelly with a thunk. He opened his mouth. "Not another word, Lopez." Chet warned, wincing as he examined the bloody knuckles he had on both hands. Kelly fought with kerlix and tape for long moments until he said. "J*sus Chr*st already. I give up. Just what kind of fireman am I turning into? I can't even bandage my own knuckles here." Lopez pulled up a chair next to Kelly and took over the task. "Let me do that. Oo, Chet, these are going to be sore. Whydidya have to go at the punching bag so hard? No one's blaming you about what happened tonight. It was an accident. Old buildings fall down when they're on fire. It's a fact of life." Chet grimaced. "Ahh!. Go easy on that mecurachrome. It's stinging! Tell me something Marco. Is it a fact of life that I panicked in there? It's not like me to lose my head in a crisis, I just..." and he shuddered. "I just...didn't like the mess that pipe made of Mike's face." "You did all the right things Chet. You kept him breathing until we got him outta there. And Johnny and Roy got the perfect EOA in fast enough. Your hesitating those few moments won't amount to anything.. It was chaos in that room you guys were in. I know, I was up there." "How can you know that for a fact Lopez? We couldn't even look at Mike's eyes to see if they were responsive--" and Kelly's voice cracked. Marco didn't say anything and he put his hand on Chet's shoulder in comfort as he got up to go find Cap. "Here, drink this.. It'll make you feel better." He said shoving his untouched coffee mug in front of Chet. "No thanks.. Not by a long shot. I'll puke." "Cap said the same thing.." Marco mumbled numbly, as he went out the kitchen door. "I'm gonna go see if Gage or DeSoto called Cap yet from Rampart." Chet sat morosely in his chair and slowly cradled his bandaged hands and nodded silently. ------ Marco saw that the boy he had let in was gone already and that Cap's office was vacant. The yawning bay doors were open to the night air and Marco could just barely make out Cap's silhouette in the drive under the station's front spot light by the flag pole. Marco was heading in that direction when the squad appeared, honking its horn in greeting. Roy waved, turning on its reds in order to make the backup maneuver necessary through the busy traffic, to park her. Cap rose to his feet when he saw Roy and Johnny returning and he wiped his face quickly before either they or Marco, noticed. Johnny called out. "Hey Cap, such service." he said gesturing to the open doors, he grinned. "Cut the small talk Gage. How is he?" Johnny and Roy both saw how deeply worried Hank was and how quiet Marco seemed, watching him. The false humor Johnny had tried to simulate fell away instantly.. Roy paused the squad in the drive and leaned an elbow in the window. The wash of the spinning reds in the darkness cast harsh lines on his face as he said... ------------------------ Photo : Chet Marco and Cap looking serious. Photo : The station house at night. Photo : A red head freckled boy with a buzz cut in closeup. Photo : Johnny and Roy in the squad at night. Photo : Mike Stoker on the mike near the engine cab. ********************************** From: Katherine Bird Date: Fri Jan 31, 2003 7:49 pm Subject: The Spare Boots "He's alive. He's still breathing ok. They took him up to ICU for a full evaluation." Roy said slowly. "And his blood gases are still good considering the burns he took into his trachea. Amazingly, his chest is clear, Cap. Maybe the airmask helped a little keeping some of that steam from the pipe, out of his lungs. I kinda figured that when the EOA went in slicker than--" Gage said. "And what about his eyes? Did uh, Brackett mention anything about his eyes?" Cap asked a little too quickly, betraying his worry. Then he added, "I was told that roof coming down was no coincidence.." Gage and DeSoto were taken aback by how vulnerable Hank's voice sounded. And by the expression on Marco's face standing in the garage bay entrance, haunted and worn. "Cap.." Johnny asked. "Wh- what's going on? You know something we don't?" he said, getting out of the squad. He tossed his helmet into the seat and vaulted over the hood in a butt skid to get to his side faster. Roy stayed where he was, hands on the steering wheel, engine idling, in the drive. He switched off the reds when Marco waved the outside spotlights a little higher so everyone could see in the darkness and DeSoto,too, took off his helmet, looking scared. Lopez joined Johnny, Roy and Cap's group around the squad when he over heard Cap's matter of fact comment. The warm night wind lifted the slack chain on the empty flag pole and the soft sound itself cut right through Hank and he looked up at it unconsciously. Cap fidgetted. "Roy, just finish backing it in there. Us gawking out here like this looks bad. I'll wait until ya get back out here. " Hank watched as DeSoto parked the squad. Then he shouted. "Kelly, front and center!" yelled into the open garage. Running footsteps told him he had been heard. Chet jogged out of the kitchen, holding a dish towel over his hands and around the metal coffee pot and mug he had been drying. All five firemen stood in a circle by the empty flag pole, tense and worried while Captain Stanley waited for the auto close shed doors to be fully shut over the vehicles. That rumble faded away, leaving behind cricketsong when Cap finally began to speak. "We had a witness tonight.." "A witness?" Gage said. "Oh, so that's who he was..." Lopez said. "Who was who?" Chet asked. "Cap, how'd you find anybody so fast?" Roy asked. "That's what I'd like to know.." Gage said. Cap held up his hands. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Just hold up here.. I'm getting to that. Everybody, just hush.. and that's an order.." The crickets reigned once more. Cap sighed and lowered his head, planting his hands on his hips. "I have it on a good source that our derelict warehouse fire was actually a case of malicious arson.." Hank raised his chin when his men started to talk all at once again so he raised his voice that much louder. "Just wait a sec. If I get any louder, the whole world'll hear." Cap said, eyeing a convertible with curious college kids driving by, rubbernecking at the sight of the usually invisible firemen standing in the drive. Gage noticed the car too, with startlement, and he quieted. He didn't even look up when one of the more attractive students waved a flirting hand at him. "Hey Johnny..." she purred. Her innocent catcall as they passed the station seemed vile to Cap and very soon, they were gone. ::What a time for one of Gage's conquests to make an appearance.:: Cap thought. His office seemed suddenly a more tempting sanctuary. He felt his mouth move. "My information source knows the party who did it and you're not going to like it." "What, Cap? Was the fire gang related?" Johnny asked. "No, a group of minors started it." Chet, Marco and Gage's faces screwed up in discomfort at the news and they all hid it badly. "Just how young, Cap?" Chet asked, wincing when Johnny grabbed the coffee pot and mug out of Kelly's hands looking for a steaming drink. "Nine or ten years old.. from what I was told. Two kids, at least, for sure." Gage said, "Wonderful. Just wait until Mike wakes up and we tell him a bunch of kids KO'd him." He then addressed Chet's earlier irregular reaction. "What's wrong with you...?" he said. "Nothin.." Kelly said. "Uh huh.." Roy grunted and whipped away Chet's towel, revealing Kelly's bandaged hands. Chet, of course tried to hide them behind his back. Cap oggled. "Oh, now Kelly.. don't tell me you just broke your fourth glass. Last thing I wanna do is call up McConnike again for another crew replacement.." Lopez piped up. "Actually, Cap, he--" "Just you hush up, Lopez.." Kelly squeaked. Marco glared at Chet and finished his sentence... "..took his frustrations out on the locker room punching bag. Bare fisted." Hank crooked a finger in irritation. "Kelly.. Go inside.. And you're letting Gage and DeSoto take a look at those hands. Now." Cap said grumpily. For once, Kelly didn't retort back. The gang reconvened in the kitchen to the real pot of full coffee. No one said anything when Roy came into the kitchen with the squad's bandage box. Cap said, "You take a real good look at him. I wanna know if he can work like that.." he said, pointing to Chet's bloody wraps around his knuckles. "Kelly, that was real stupid. Next time, wear the d*mned boxing gloves.. That's what they're there for.." "That's what I told him.." Marco complained. Chet's lips set into a firm line in a glare at Marco, but he kept his peace otherwise. Johnny said. "All right.. Chet. Let's get these off." and he pulled out his hip holster shears and began to cut away Lopez's wrap job. The damp, red dressings fell away. Roy whistled at the hamburgered skin he saw there. "Chet, it looks like you really did a number here.." "No I didn't.." he complained. "It's just surface stuff." Johnny experimented. "I know how hard your upper left cross is.." and he moved three fingers on Chet's right hand up a smidgen. "That hurt?" He immediately stopped when a loud grating from the hand almost made Chet and Johnny leap out of their kitchen chairs. All the gang winced. Then Cap sighed and left for his office to call for another man to replace Kelly for the still out of service engine. Kelly complained, loudly. "Aww, Cap.. You don't have to do that.. I'm fine.." Hank's voice echoed back from the Cap's room. "You aren't going to be able to tell me that when you can't hang onto a 450 psi water hose next fire run tomorrow morning. And Kelly, I'm sure glad I won't be you when you personally tell the chief in the morning that your wounds were self inflicted. Gage, get him seen." said the booming invisible voice. Johnny didn't say anything and he went out to the squad for the biophone. There was no trace of annoyance at all on his face when he set up the antennae and began to hail Rampart. "Oh, geesh, Cap. You've got to be kidding me. I've dislocated knuckles before. They only hurt a few days.. And they usually work themselves back into place on their own with a little use.." Kelly said. Roy had spread out a dressing sheet onto the table and he held out two hand fracture splints. "Not this time. That noise was crepitus Chet. Congratulations! We just found three BROKEN knuckles on that hand. And judging by the swelling and joint dislocations I see now, your left hand may even be worse off. Now don't move either one of them until I'm through." Marco sighed. "I told him they looked bad too." "You did not. You said they looked sore." "Same thing.." Lopez said. "No , it's not.." Kelly snapped. He paled when Roy made a small adjustment to one of his fingers in the splint to get a better pulse into it. "Oh, geesh. They're bad, aren't they..?" "Only without treatment." Roy sighed. Then he saw Kelly's pallor. "Do you need to lie down there Kelly?" "No.. no no.. I'm at least walking outta here on my own two feet if I'm going to the hospital tonight. No way am I going to be stretchered outta here." "Then prevent that by lying down before you faint. Marco, get his arm over you. We're moving him to the couch." "I'm...not...shocky!" Chet protested. "You will be if you don't get flat. Now move it!!" Cap's voice filtered from the garage bay into the kitchen like a wraith's. Kelly let Roy and Marco move him, complaining the whole way. Gage picked up the biophone and followed. "Kelly just.. " ##51, this is Rampart Base. Go ahead.## came Joe Early's voice. Gage's retort moused down into grumbles as he dragged a kitchen chair over to Chet's couch to hold the biophone, near where he was squatting. Roy got out a stethoscope and BP cuff. "Rampart, we've a hand case on a male, aged 28. 155 pounds. Probable knuckle fractures. We've applied immobilizing splints to both hands and all distal metacarpal pulses are intact.." he inferred from Roy's silent nod. "No other injuries. Stand by for vitals." "Gage, this isn't necessary.." Kelly said when Johnny finished his sentence to the doctor on the line. "Bet your BP's in the low 100's right now with all that excruciating pain. Bet you a month's dish detail." "You're on.." Chet took up the challenge. "And it's not excruciating. Only nauseating." Then he realized that Gage got him to admit that he was in pain at the same time as managing to wring out a current patient history account on top of the insult. He glared at Johnny all the harder. Gage winked a "got you" look at Chet and continued when Roy handed him the notepad of vitals. "Rampart, vitals are.. pulse 120. Respirations are normal. BP is.." he held off for effect for Kelly's benefit.. "...100/60." Chet groaned when he realized he lost the bet. Johnny was crafty and held out the phone so Joe could hear Kelly's groan for a moment. "And he's in a fair amount of pain, doc. I suspect that's why we've got the adverse BP. Hemorrhaging is negligible." He waved at Chet to keep moaning. But Kelly refused to aid him. But one overheard groan had been enough and Joe replied. "I concur, 51. Give him 5 mg, MS IM. Continue monitoring vitals and transport as soon as possible. I have an orthopedic M.D. standing by." "10-4, Rampart.. Our ETA is.. twenty minutes.." "10-4, 51." Johnny hung up the phone. "Marco, hand me the drug box.." "A pain shot?! Oh, Gage, you are in sooOOoo much trouble." Chet warned, wincing as Roy finished splinting his hands. "How so? I'm just doing my job, that's all. Preventative care...." he said in an exaggerated voice. "You feel that pain much longer and you'll lose Glasgow points enough to warrant an ambulance trip. How would that go over with the chief then, Chet?" he said sarcastically. Kelly's anger melted away and he regarded his thick bandage encased hands. "I was just mad about Stoker, that's all. Cut me some slack.." "We are man.. That's why were taking ya in using the squad." Gage said, "Now roll over and let me get this MS in. Just don't move the hands." Chet sighed and complied. Johnny pulled up Chet's tucked in shirt and got him in the haunch. "All right. Roll back." And Gage set a pillow on Kelly's chest to hold his now wrapped, and splinted lower arms up high. "Don't fall asleep. We'll get back with ya in a few minutes when the shot's working. We're not leaving until it is." Chet grunted, still pissed. "Listen, Kelly. Johnny could have told the doc that you did these injuries to yourself. He's probably already in hot water for not disclosing mechanism of injury. The doc's gonna know that the minute the dressings come off." Roy insisted. "I appreciate it. I appreciate it! Thanks for not telling them I went crazy." Kelly insisted adamantly. "Now why would we do that, Chet? Every one of us knows that about you already, so notifying the shrink in the ER isn't necessary.." Gage said, "If you'd like, we can call Vince and the Bellview monkeys to haul you off in their rubber cart to Rampart." he teased, ruffling Kelly's hair. Kelly went to swipe his hand away when he remembered he couldn't. His sour scowl faded into a giggle that got out. "Ah ha...." Roy said. "The shot's working." he smiled, taking a BP. "It's up. And guess what? It's normal now, Johnny. 132/94." "That's our ticket outta here. Come on, Chet. Let's go. The faster they set those knuckles the sooner you can cook us breakfast. I'm starving.." Gage burbled. Lopez and Johnny got him sitting and then onto his feet. "Hey, I'm walking wounded here.." Chet giggled. "I'm not gonna go cooking anything.." "Sure you are.. It's your turn to cook. Remember?" "Oh, yeah.. I think.. maybe I can... I can manage to boil water for soup when I get b-- Hey, this shot's dreamy Johnny.." "Now Chet, pay attention. One foot in front of the other. You gotta WALK..." Gage told him. Roy grabbed the biophone, but traded the dressings box for the IV one from the hold to put onto the floor on Johnny's side of the squad cab. "Close your mouth, Kelly. You're drooling on my shoulder.." Marco complained as he and Roy got Chet into the squad and buckled tight and bundled into a third helmet for safety. "Huh??" Kelly mumbled. Roy put his helmet on and got into the driver's seat. "Hey Cap.. This is what we did..." he hollered out. "Johnny and I got orders to--" "I don't wanna know the details. Just go." Cap's voice grumbled from his open office door. "Have the docs fix him up and get him back here, pronto. Chief's got an eye on him for something he's not telling me about and I don't want Kelly's stupid stunt to wreck our chances of finding out just what that is.." "You got it Cap.." Gage said. And then he poked Kelly awake when he started snoring into his ear from where he nestled between Roy and Johnny in the squad. "Kelly, no napping! Remember?" And then he took a pulse check using the artery in Chet's arm, squeezing a little too hard on purpose. "Oww, hey, hey, hey..Your turn soon for the bathroom.. Just a few more minutes okay? Gotta shave my beard off.." Kelly slurred. Gage chuckled. "As if you had a beard. Hey, open those eyes." Kelly did crack his eyes open then, his clowning over.. "I do, too. And it's as red as my moustache.. Here. Feel.." and he caught Gage's hand into his own muffed ones and stroked it over the stubble shadow on his face. Gage whipped his hand away in disgust. "Cut it out.. and don't be moving those hands like that.. Just keep holding them up higher than your heart on the dashboard there." Then he mumbled to himself under his breath. "Huh, don't we all have beards.." "Not you, Gage. You're Native American.." Kelly said. "No hair anywhere except where you'd expect it." "Oh yeah?" Gage said narrowing his eyes, off on another Gage band wagon. "Think of it from my perspective. It's not easy working with hairy gorillas as crewmates. Tell me, Chet. Doesn't all that chest hair make you kinda hot in summer?" Roy, Chet and Cap said "No, it doesn't." simultaneously from where they were. "Oh..." Johnny peeped. "Thanks for telling me that. Always ....wondered.." and he cleared his throat self consciously. Cap came out of the office and saundered out to the alcove mike, thumbing it. "L.A. Station 51. Mark squad 51 out of service to Rampart until 0500. We're dealing with a minor in house medical call." ##10-4, 51. Time out. 03:12.## Roy and Gage were about to leave the garage with silent reds when DeSoto suddenly screeched to a halt. "Would you look at that?" "What?" asked Gage and Kelly at the same time. "That..." Roy said, pointing to the cement floor before their bumper. Boot, the long-time-ago-runaway-mutt, their old station mascot, was sitting there. "Well, I'll be d*mned.." Cap said, setting his hands on his hips. "Come on, boy. Out of the way. The squad's on a rescue call for Kelly here." Boot obediently slid over three feet and let the squad by. Cap saw Roy pick up speed on the boulevard with top red lights on, but no siren, with satisfaction, and then he closed the big bay doors. He and Marco were left face to face with Boot. "Hey, boy. Welcome back.." Lopez said, crouching low to address the mangy medium sized dog. Boot immediately whined and ran to the engine to scratch meaningfully on the door latch until he nosed it open. He leaped up. Curling up on Mike's engine driver's seat, Boot began to whine and glance up at the two mystified firemen staring at him with their mouths flopped open. When he saw the men didn't do anything to explain the situation, he started nosing Stoker's helmet hanging there, crying in worry and distress. "I don't believe what I'm seeing.. How did he find out about Stoker? And where did he come from?" Cap mumbled. "I have no idea, Cap." Marco admitted. ---------------------------- Photo : Cap in a worried closeup in the kitchen. Photo: Roy and Johnny leaving the garage on a run. Cap, handing them the run slip. Photo: Boot standing in the garage. ************************************ From : "Cory Anda" Subject : Motion to Promotion Date :Tue, 04 Feb 2003 14:50:07 +0000 Dixie McCall was on a night shift. She was filling in for Carol Evans, who was on vacation. The automatic doors at the end of the hall around the corner activated and the soft rolling sound made her look up from her patient chart. The last three people she expected through her emergency department's portal was Johnny Gage, Roy DeSoto and Chet Kelly. Her eyebrows rose in a questioning glance but Joe Early stepped out of Kel's office just then and relieved her bubbling curiosity. "Joe? What's up? I must have been on break when their rescue call came in." Joe said, "A code I. Probable broken hands. Enough to warrant a pain med. I got it from here Dix." he said, walking down the hall to meet Gage and Roy who were keeping a very tripped Chet steady on his feet. "Could you tell Rivers that his hand case is here, Dixie? I've already told radiology that he was coming." "Right..." Dix said. "Hi Roy, Johnny." "Hi Dix... Where to?" Gage asked. "Get him into Treatment Two. And this is...." "Chet Kelly." Roy replied. "Chet, this is Dixie. You might remember her from last year when you were blown into those crates from that paint factory explosion." Gage and he shifted Chet's weight between them as they guided him into the exam room. Kelly grinned, feeling the heady effects of the MS. "Nah, don't recall.. How could I forget a beautiful face like that, man? Hi babe." he giggled, lifting his head from the gurney where Gage and Roy had placed him. "Where have you been all my life? I got the distinct feeling that you and I could make really beautiful music together.." "Charmed." Dix replied, recognizing a high when she saw one. She looked up. "Morphine?" Johnny firmly pushed Chet's shoulders back down onto the table, grinning. "How can you tell?" Right then, Dr. Early came into the room and immediately went to examine Chet's eyes. "Did he behave himself on the trip in?" Roy said, "He was fine, doc. We managed to keep him from using those hands too much." "Yeah.." Johnny smiled. "I told him he had to keeping holding the dashboard to keep the squad steering straight." he joked. "Hmmm..." Joe said, leaning in close to get a good check on Kelly's pupils. Chet was now happily groggy and didn't mind at all when Joe and Dix unwrapped his hands onto sterile sheets on his chest for his x-rays through the splints. Kelly started humming absently through the whole exam. Dr. Rivers entered the room. Joe acknowledged him. "Johnny, Roy, Chet, this is Dr. Craig Rivers, head ortho from upstairs. He's going to be handling Kelly's case." "Hi, doc.." Roy, Johnny and Chet echoed. "Hello, everyone. Let's see what we've got.." And Rivers checked out Chet's hands visually, noting the same signs that he had read from the run sheet. "Did he take out some frustrations on a wall or two?" he asked the two paramedics. "These knuckles look like they took that kind of blunt trauma." Roy and Johnny shifted uncomfortably. DeSoto replied. "Close, but no walls per se, it was a punching bag, actually. Chet was a little upset about a coworker of ours getting caught in a roof collapse last night." Johnny dove right in with the opportunity for an update. "Dix, how's Stoker doing?" Dix was helping redirect the exam table light down onto Chet's hands so Rivers could see what he was doing. "About the same. You could go up and visit him if you'd like." "Hey... I wanna come too." Chet said, trying to sit up. Roy, Gage and Dr. Early all held him down onto the gurney. Kelly stared at the ceiling, grinning like an idiot and he added. "Glad my ploy worked and I got here to Rampart so I can see him while still on duty. Thanks, Gage. Thanks, DeSoto, for playing along..." Kelly said, muzzily serious. "Who's playing, Chet? Your hands are really busted.. And Cap took you OFF duty." Roy informed him. "Now keep still."Gage told him firmly. Then he looked up and mouthed to Dix and the docs, "Want us to strap him down?" he said from the corner of his mouth. Joe smiled and shook his head. "He seems cooperative enough. And that MS will be wearing off in a few minutes. I'll change it over to Meperidine so he won't be so tripped out before we get started setting those fractured knuckles." "Think he'll need surgery, doc?" Roy asked Rivers. "No. These breaks I can manually reduce right here. The x-rays will confirm what I'm seeing now when they come through." Craig admitted. "Listen, has Chet ever broken his hands before? That may effect his recovery time; from a few days to perhaps two weeks or so." "Nah, doc. He's been living a charmed life. No fractures, even after eight years with the fire department." Gage told him. Roy concurred. "It's the rest of us who haven't been so lucky." "Really.." Rivers said conversationally polite. He didn't inquire further. Gage looked up at Dix. "And Stoker's number's up for the first time. He's the one Chet was so upset about. Say, Dr. Early. Can we leave to go check up on Stoker? Think you three can handle Chet on your own down here?" "Yeah, sure Johnny. Go right ahead. We'll make sure Kelly behaves himself while we get him squared away and into a pair of hand casts." Joe said. "See you in a bit, Chet.. Now stay put." "Righto, Johnny boy...." Kelly giggled. Dix mumbled to them as they passed. "He's in ICU six, second floor." so Chet wouldn't hear. "Thanks Dix, we'll be back in a few.." Roy said, holding up his walkie talkie. "I've got a fresh coffee pot on by the call station.." Dix added. "Help yourselves." Roy and Johnny left the room. "Hey, bring me some...." Chet piped up. "I'm thirsty!" he shouted belatedly. Dix turned back to the bed. "Sorry, Kelly. You're NPO for a while because of that lovely pain med you took in the rear. " she guessed, seeing no IV hanging by Chet's head. Then she looked up at the docs. "Want a line started for that Meperidine backup?" Joe sighed and nodded. "Looks like we need it if he's feeling dry. Make it a 500 cc Normal Saline Drip, wide open. We'll crank it down when he's better hydrated. He probably lost some fluid volume working that punching bag so hard." "I'll get right on it.." Dixie answered, moving to the Treatment Room drug cabinet to find the proper IV and set up. She took off the stethoscope that she had been using to take a vitals set on him. "BP's steady. 126/68. Pulse 90, Respirations 22." "So he really is thirsty.." Joe concluded from Chet's heart rate. "Looks like it." Rivers said from where he had his head band light down over his eyes while he gently probed how each knuckle displacement situated with each finger on Kelly's hands. Chet started humming tunelessly again, lost in his drugged stupor, while Rivers and Early started to set up the equipment and things they would need to set Chet's hands. X-ray arrived to take pictures after Dix was through starting and stringing Chet's IV on a pole, and everyone vacated the room until the films were finished being exposed. --------------------------------------------- Roy and Johnny felt small went they entered Mike Stoker's critical care room. Despite all their know how and training, the sight of the respirator and all the tubes in place around Mike took them aback. Stoker was still and ghastly white under the dim light of the bed's wall illumination. The soot that had covered him had been washed away and all his face burns were shiny with silvadene. Johnny nodded a silent greeting to the nurse sitting by Mike's bed and stepped forward, being careful not to disturb any of the connections to the machines monitoring him. Gage set a hand on Mike's arm. He was relieved to find Stoker's skin warm and dry, unlike the cold clamminess he remembered from the fire when they had found Kelly's report of Stoker's arrested state to be true. Roy asked the nurse, "Has he tried to fight the airway yet?" She shook her head apologetically and smiled. "Want me to leave you alone for a few minutes?" she asked. Gage didn't say anything but he felt his head nod yes and dimly, he was aware that Roy was nodding, too. Roy and Johnny didn't even notice the intensive care nurse depart, leaving the three of them alone. Johnny felt his eyes lock onto Mike's tightly bandaged ones and he shifted his grip to Mike's hand, squeezing it. Johnny just swallowed, finding himself unable to speak. Roy leaned down close to Mike's ear when he saw Johnny falter, and he asked for him. "Hey Stoker.. It's just us. How are you doing? Looks like the nurses and doctors are taking really good care of you here.." DeSoto smiled. "Your EKG looks good. And it's probably not long before the docs will lift your sedation so you can begin to wake up." Johnny just continued to hang onto Mike's hand, listening to his partner talk, lost in a worried haze as he watched the respirator breathe for his friend in its slow artificial pattern. Gage's uncharacteristic quietness made Roy keep up a running dialogue to quell his own unspoken fears. Roy sighed, and grimaced, patting Mike's blanketed shoulder. "Cap's made some progress on who started that fire. Your instincts were right. That warehouse was a case of arson. Some kids involved so far, and for some reason, Cap's protecting their identities, perhaps to get his witness to give up more information... W- We'll get to the bottom of this." Johnny still didn't say anything. Roy began to fidget in the chair where he sat and he gave Johnny his privacy by not looking at him. "You'll never guess how Johnny and I got to come up here after visiting hours like this. You're not going to believe this. Chet went one on one with the locker room punching bag and lost. Busted six knuckles as far as Johnny and I could tell. We'll get him up here to see you as soon as he's finished getting patched up." DeSoto put on a brave smile, as if the expression would somehow translate into his voice for Mike's benefit. "He was pretty upset he couldn't do more for you after he dug you out. But he did a good job keeping you breathing until Johnny, he and I could get you outta there and to the 02 and all our gear. You left us for a bit then, but we managed to shock you back after only a couple of minutes' work." Roy's eyes were following Mike's EKG and he was heartened that it had picked up a bit while he continued to talk. Johnny didn't miss the responsive signs either and his expression brightened. Finally, Gage found his voice. "Yeah, we were lucky. D*mned lucky. Oh, you might notice when you wake that your eyes are bandaged. That's from that hot water pipe that broke above you when the roof gave way so you just concentrate on getting better and-- and... and thinking positively about that because we really want ya back at the station as soon as possible. Doesn't feel the same without you. " Johnny grinned tightly. "We're not the only ones who feel that way. You'll never guess who showed up just as we were taking Chet to the hospital to get his hands set. I'll give you a hint. He's brown, hairy and has four legs." Roy chuckled. "Yep. It's Boot. Went right to the engine, looking for ya. No doubt he's got plans to keep the seat warm until you get better. So get better, kay?" Mike didn't move. But the EKG didn't slow its reactive rate either. DeSoto and Gage got to their feet and waved the nurse at the ICU desk back into the room, indicating that their visit was over. She left her post and came back into the room. Johnny asked her. "How long has he been listening to people like this?" he asked throwing a hand at the overhead EKG above the bed. The nurse fussed with Stoker's pillows and blankets before settling back into her observation chair at his bed's foot. "Oh, for about an hour now. Looks like his sedation's wearing off early." "That's great. That's great." Johnny said quietly. "Would you give us a call when he's extubated? It would really mean a lot to all of us guys at the station to know he's snapping out of it, know what I mean...? We also want to know about his.. well, whether or not he can.... you know." "See? " the young nurse suggested. "I think I can do that. You two are with 51's right?" "Yeah.." Roy replied. "Dixie's got your number and I can get that easily enough. I'm here until eleven and I will call when it happens." "Thanks. We ah, we really appreciate it.." "No problem.." she said, turning back to watch Stoker's EKG and respirator's venting rate. DeSoto conducted his partner out the door without saying a word, excusing them both from the room. Out in the hall, Johnny asked. "Wow, do you think he was really hearing us in there?" "Johnny, now you know better than to doubt what your eyes are telling you. Of course he heard us. Someone would have to be dead to not hear you." he quipped. "Very funny." Gage frowned, then he smiled. "Hey, Chet's gonna like this news. " then he remembered. "Ooo, but he's probably getting his knuckles set right now. I hate being in the room when fractures are getting reduced. Why don't you and I wait it out in the nurse's lounge?" An amused grin filled Roy's face. "All right. I'll give in to your one squeamish tendency..Know that the coffee's bound to be old in there." Johnny was already halfway to the elevator. "Umm hmm.." he replied. "But it's out of earshot of Chet's treatment room." "Chicken.." "No, just.. selective.. If I was a fan of medieval torturing practices, I'd be there." Gage said, uncomfortably rubbing nervous hands on his shirt's front. "Chet's gonna be given Versed. He'll feel the initial setting of his knuckles the second it happens, but then he'll forget about it right away the moment it's over. That's the beauty of that particular drug." Roy suggested. "I know.. I know.." Johnny twitched with a shiver. "I just have .....never been able to convince myself that it really works that way. Screams are screams." Roy grinned, but he was very merciful for a six year paramedic partner. "Come on junior. Let's go hide out then, until it's over." "Thanks.." Gage said wanly. ----------------------------------------------------- Back at the station house, the gang was all wearing their night pullup trousers and boots despite being out of service for the rest of the early dawn until their called replacements could arrive to fill Chet and Stoker's places on the engine. They were in a circle around the engine's open cab door. "Now that's devotion.." Cap said, not minding Boot's muddy paws resting where the scraggly dog lay, dusty from the many miles he must have travelled to get from ten's to 51's. "Looks like we're going to have to get a prybar to get him outta that driver's seat." Marco plunked Henry's old bowl down full of left over hamburger on the concrete floor and Boot was out of the engine like a cannon shot for the grub. Lopez grinned. "Or a bowl of vittles." Hank closed the engine's door after brushing off the dirt from the seat onto the stone floor with satisfaction. Both men crouched over the dog, caressing his fur affectionately. "Good boy, nice to see you again. Hope you stay a long time." they coo-ed. Then Marco said, "Even Mike's gonna love seeing you ag--" he broke off, fighting a sob. Boot stopped eating immediately and looked up, staring into Marco's face. He whined, setting his paws on Marco's shoulders and he licked his face once before turning back to wolf down his dinner. Lopez laughed and grimaced, wiping dog food and dirt off his cheek. "Gee, can't hide anything from you, Boot." "Guess not." Cap agreed, standing. "Give him a good B-A-T-H when he's through in the locker room tub, all right? I'll get breakfast going.." "You're cooking?" "Yeah.. got a problem with that?" Hank challenged. "No. Just never ever remember you doing that before, Cap." Marco said, sheepishly. "First time for everything. Sort of like Boot here coming back to a firehouse he's already visited.." "I guess.." Lopez said, affectionately patting Boot's sides until he was warned off with a don't-bug-me, I'm-eating growl from Boot. "Ok.. ok. Uncle. Lick that clean when you're done big fella.." he said, standing. Cap made his way into the kitchen and the empty chairs there. Through the window, he could already see the light of dawn peeking through the cracks of the shade pulled down there. Foregoing decorum, Cap pulled up on the shade, letting in the rich rising sun's light into the room until it flooded the kitchen in a tawny glow. Its warmth felt good after a sleepless night and soon, he felt comfortably relaxed despite events. Then Cap turned to the frig to plan out breakfast. It took a force of will to taper down portions on the stove enough for five only instead of the usual six. ::I hope Roy and Johnny make time to run up to Stoker's room to check up on him. I hate not knowing how he's doing.:: Marco and Cap had eaten already and three full plates were sitting in the oven, keeping warm, when they heard the garage doors rumble open with the squad's return. Roy and Johnny wearily entered the kitchen and sat down in the chairs. Boot immediately went for Roy's lap where he sat, sniffing his hands and shirt eagerly. "Yeah, boy, we all saw him. Stoker's doing ok. " he said to both dog and Cap. "He's even listening up when spoken to." "That's good news.." Hank said. "Chow's in the oven.. Where's Kelly?" "Sleeping it off." Gage replied. "I sent him to his bunk. Gonna be another hour before the meds the docs gave him wear off enough for him to feel hungry. Then I'll take him home if there's time, before our replacements arrive." "Who's coming?" Roy asked. Cap said, "Don't rightly know. The Chief didn't say any names. Remind me to have Chet talk to McConnike before he ships outta here. There's that message the Chief wants to give him.." "What message?" Johnny said. " 'Don't forget your gloves again, Kelly' kind of message? I fell for that once from you, remember?" Hank laughed. "No, actually. He wouldn't tell me over the phone. Said it was between him and Kelly." Johnny and Roy's face fell. They suddenly knew what it was. Roy finally said the unthinkable. "The chief's aiming at Kelly taking Stoker's engineering spot, isn't he?" Cap didn't say anything. Then he just nodded. "Most likely, if things don't pan out for the best with Stoker's eyesight." Gage slammed his mug down on the table. "Well, isn't that just lovely. Mike's not even six hours back from near death, and already, McConnike's washing him up..." Cap turned appraising eyes on his fiery paramedic. "Now Gage, you know this is just backup contingency. No one is retiring anybody just yet." "Then why that for Kelly's-ears-only phone call...?" Johnny asked bitterly. To that, Cap had no easy answer. ---------------------------------------- An hour later, Chet arose from his recuperative nap and made his way into the kitchen, "Oh man, I feel like something Boot dragged in. Hiya, Boot." he said. "How are the hands?" Roy asked, pulling up a chair and pouring a mug of coffee out for him. "Thick. But they don't hurt much anymore." "That's the Versed.." Johnny smirked with amusement. "Wait until later when that memory blocker starts to wear off." Roy shot Johnny a disapproving glance. But Johnny got out a pair of hotpads and got out Chet's breakfast from the oven where it still warmed and began cutting it up for Chet industriously with fork and knife. "Need help eating this?" he asked, not unkindly. "I got it. Just cut the steak into smaller pieces." Kelly said, fumbling with his fork in his abundantly wrapped hands. He stubbornly stabbed an egg onto the fork using his chin and both splinted palms. Marco noticed his difficulty and said, "You're not driving home that way.." "Says who?" "Says me.." Cap said with authority. "Gage has already offered to drive you home. Now do you have someone around to help you about the house until you've healed up in a few days?" "I can call my sister. She owes me one. I took care of her when she busted both legs skiing last winter." "Ouch.." Johnny said, swiping some toast over his rapidly emptying plate. "Did she have fun doing it?" "About as much fun as I had busting my knuckles, and thanks for asking." Kelly said. "Hey, how was I to know? Most people ski for enjoyment's sake." Gage complained. "Yeah? Well, my sister skis like I work out when we both get upset about stuff." "And you both get hurt doing it." Roy said quietly. "Not all the time, DeSoto. Just that one time for her, and now this time, for me.." he said, holding up his splinted palms. "Just make sure your brand of therapy follows less aggressive routes next time Kelly, or there will be h*ll to pay." Cap warned. "I had to talk a blue streak to keep the Chief from disciplining you about your little stunt this morning." Kelly was properly abashed. "Thank you." he said very fast. "Call the Chief when breakfast is over. He wants to talk to you." "But, Cap, I thought you said you got me out of hot water...." "This is about something else, Kelly." Cap toned back. "Oh." "Then get back in here and tell us what it was all about. Sounds important." "Right." Soon, Chet had finished manhandling his food into his stomach and made the call to McConnike from Cap's office. Minutes later, he shuffled back into the kitchen, numbly sitting back down into his chair. "Kelly, you ok?" Roy asked. Chet looked up and his face was devoid of humor or pleasure. "Chief says I should start taking a look at the red book from Cap's office pronto like. " "Oh really? Wh-What's the red book?" Gage asked, pretending pretense. Chet didn't say anything. Cap got up and disappeared into the bay. He returned with an unfamiliar fat, red book in his hands. "This book. Chet, The chief probably wants you to know the basics by the time you're back on the duty rosters.. I'm sorry, buddy. I just didn't think the chief would really consider this course of action so soon." Chet read the cover and his face fell with remorse. "Oh, Cap.." he sighed. "I- I can't do this.. It isn't right." Kelly's closed his eyes. "This is the engineer's manual. Seems I've been chosen to be next in line for that position on the engine if Stoker doesn't make it back to the actives list." ------------------------------------------ Photo : Dixie at desk looking surprised. Photo : Johnny with milk carton at night. Photo: Roy in kitchen chair with Boot in his lap. Photo: Chet, looking sad, with Stoker's engineering manual open, in his lap. ********************************* From : "patti keiper" Subject :[EmergencyTheaterLive] The Long Tiny Steps.. Date : Thu, 06 Feb 2003 06:47:31 +0000 Acknowledgements to... Tom Stafford - Firefighter Captain /MD on Chemical Firetruck Training Procedures Acknowledgements to.. Dr. Jeff Seltun for Pulmonary Scalding Lab Test Orders and General Ophthalmology Medicine. Dr. Brackett was paged to Mike Stoker's room around noon. Joe Early was on hand when the call light came on from the observation nurse. Stoker was semi awake and beginning to fight the respirator. Kel leaned over the bed. "Beth, get Dixie in here." Kel ordered. The critical care nurse used the wall phone near Mike's head to summon her. Dr. Brackett leaned close. "Mike. It's ok. You're in the hospital and you've been intubated to counteract the spasming effects of the burns you have in your throat. Try to relax. We'll evaluate you to see if we can let you try to breathe on your own off the respirator." Stoker stopped struggling, but then his hands went to his face. Dixie arrived just in time to help Beth gently restrain him from touching the burned areas on his face around the eye dressings. "He's relaxed about having his eyes covered at least.." she said. Beth piped up, "That's because his station crew mates were up here telling him what to expect when he woke up. Mike, besides Dixie and me, Dr. Brackett and Dr. Early are here." The two nurses quietly spoke to Mike while Kel and Joe consulted after a quick exam of his chest and breath sounds. They stood at the foot of the bed so Mike wouldn't hear them discuss a decision. "What do you think, Kel? Too soon to go off the bird?" Joe asked. "Not necessarily." Dr. Brackett said, rubbing his chin. "The danger of tracheal adhesion is has passed. The initial wheezing we heard when he was admitted has gone away. I think we can go ahead and make him more comfortable. If we run into any problems, we can always bag him until we can re-sedate him for a second intubation." "I agree. Let's go ahead then." "Dix, watch his BP." Joe said and together, the two doctors instructed Mike how to manage himself while the respirator was turned off and the EOA removed. Beth was right there with a hissing suction tube to carry away liquids as the slender airway was taken out. Stoker wanted to cough and he winced from the sting of burns deep inside. He let himself blank out to end the pain. He felt the nurses pull him onto his side to drain out his throat for him and his alarm grew when his diaphram refused to pull any air into his lungs when he felt the suctioning wand leave his mouth. "BP's dropping. 88/46.." Dix reported. Kel reached for the diazepam syringe pack on the crash cart and tossed it onto the bed so it would be nearby. "Mike." Joe called out. "Give it a few seconds. That winded feeling will ease off. Then see if you can try to inhale on your own. Don't worry. If you can't, we'll support you with 02 on an ambu bag until you're ready to do it on your own." Beth held one ready and flowing on standby. Kel stood listening with a stethoscope as Mike's EKG rate rose higher as the firefighter worked through his fright and the natural cramping of his wounded throat in response to the airway's removal. Finally, after half a minute, Stoker's muscles relaxed and he took in a ragged involuntary breath, tentative, but effective. Immediately Dixie slipped a simple clear, non rebreather mask over his face on full flow sending Beth with the ambu bag valve mask away with a nod. "There."she said. "You did it, Mike. Now relax." Everyone in the room sighed in relief. Mike's tracheal blistering hadn't harmed his ability to breathe at all. The EKG settled fitfully into a normal but fast sinus rhythm that slowed increment by increment with each successful breath Mike drew in. After a minute, Dix announced. "His pressure's back up. Settling in at 120/62." she told the doctors. Dr. Brackett put the sedative med back onto the crash cart and hung his head in relief. Beth placed her hands on either side of Stoker's face so he knew she was near. "Having any pain now anywhere else besides your sore throat and face ?" Stoker shook his head and gurgled when he tried to talk. "Don't." Dix told him. "Not yet. Swallow. Again. Now wait a minute or two before you even think about trying to talk." "The rocky part's over Mike. I promise you no more surprises like that." Kel frowned. Dr. Brackett listened to Mike's chest and upper trachea again with a stethoscope while Joe began to unwrap Mike's eyes bit by bit for a cursory ophthalmic exam. He kept them patched until he nodded at Beth to wave the room lights down to complete darkness except for the pinpoint spot from his ophthalmoscope. The saline soaked patches came away. Stoker's raspy voice whispered to them. "I can't see.." Kel's face softened. "That's because we have the room lights turned off to make it easier on you. You also have some swelling of the tissue around your eyes and both of them have swelled shut. Just relax, Mike. We'll know soon enough what's going on after Joe takes a look at you. Does your chest hurt at all?" "No..." he sighed, still whispering. "Good. Your bronchoscopy didn't show any major damage to your pulmonary tissues. Only some localized scalding above your larynx. The collapsed airway you suffered during the fire reopened again nicely once your coworkers got you back outside away from all the heat." "I stopped breathing?" Mike asked. Joe and Kel hesitated. Then Dr. Brackett ventured into a disclosure. "For a while. Enough to lose a viable heart rate. But there was no difficulty in reconverting you. You were down for only a minute or so and Johnny and Roy got you back effectively enough to matter until you got to the hospital and we could stabilize your vital signs. You ran no hypoxia risks at all." "I almost died?" Stoker asked again. "Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, Mike Stoker. And you know it." Dixie said. "Now lie still and let the doctors finish examining your eyes." she said no nonsense. Mike stayed hushed. Joe said. "Mike this may hurt a bit when I shine the scope's light into the back of your eyes. I need to see what's happening to the deeper structures there." Stoker gasped when the light shone down. All was a mass of shadows and shocking white flares which smeared together in sparking chaotic afterimages. His head began to fill with pulsing stabs of agony. Mike's EKG sped up suddenly. Joe immediately quelled the light. "What did you see?" Stoker told him. Kel and Joe glanced at each other. Dr. Brackett said. "There may be some fundus involvement here. Perhaps even with the optic disc itself. But then again, those visual anomalies could just be the transitory results of superficial corneal burns. Try it again Joe." Once more, Joe used his scope to peer around Stoker's red swollen eye lids into the eyes below. This time, Mike's discomfort doubled. His hands shot up and gripped Joe's wrist. "Ahh.. don't...!" His sharp movement made Dr. Early drop his instrument onto the pillow. "All right. I'll stop." Joe said quietly. Kel and he and Dix and Beth all exchanged worried looks. Then Joe gripped Mike's hands in firm comfort and he returned them back under the blankets. "Ok, that's enough from us for now. We'll repatch your eyes with more antibiotic salve and try again in a few days." Mike didn't say anything and his heart rate remained fast and panicked. Kel said. "Don't let this dishearten you at all, Mike. Sometimes it takes days or even weeks for normal retinal responses to return to the eyes following heat exposure like this. But from what we did see here, your eyes are intact. Both your scleras are understandably swollen and red and your pupils are adjusting somewhat irregularly due to the burns there, but globally, at this stage, things are looking about as well as we all expected." Mike let the nurses rebind his head tightly, to keep out any more light before he spoke again. "Doctor Brackett. Just how well is 'As well as expected?' " They didn't say anything. Mike filled the silence. "You know, six years ago, Kip Jenkins from Station 16's took a spark on the eye just standing roof watch. And it cost him his job when it later healed over, leaving him with tunnel vision on that side." He swallowed. "Is that going to happen to me?" Kel kept his hand on Mike's arm. "It's too soon to tell, Mr. Stoker. Only time will show us any final outcome here." "I know.. I know..." Stoker said, folding his hands over his chest, trying to pull shreds of dignity about himself as he would a turnout coat against the blazing heat of a fire. "I just don't like being kept in the dark..." Dixie looked down. "Sorry.." Mike apologized for the black feeling joke. Kel said to him. "Mike, let's see how the rest of you is doing in the meantime. Joe, let's order another set of arterial blood gases to see how well it's working out for Mike being off support like this. Also, I want to get a second chest X-ray to compare it to the one we took last night. Dix, I want the lab to get electrolytes, a urinalysis, a BUN, a creatinine series and I want respiratory therapy to get in here to start some pulmonary function tests on Mike's lung performance." "I'll get right on it.." Dix said, moving to the phone. "I'd just wish I could find out answers a little faster. Not knowing anything's killing me.." Stoker sighed, gasping through the oxygen mask. Brackett chuckled in his throat. "Trying being a doctor and compounding that particular problem in the form of fifteen new patients a day. Now you know why doctors like me grumble so much.." he grinned wryly for the nurses benefit. "One step at a time, Mike. It always comes, one step at a time.. For you, that means that all you have to be is a patient patient and the rest will follow naturally. In your future, there may be the slight chance of corneal transplantation surgery. But your positive contrast vision tells me that even that, might not be necessary in the long run." Mike stayed numbly quiet as he attempted to settle his labored breathing around the burns jabbing in his throat. Kel sighed. "Just leave all the worrying to us. It's what we get paid for. See if you can get some rest, all right?" "I'll try, doctor." ------------------------------------------------------- It was four days later on the exercise grounds at the L.A. County firefighting training facility. Station 51's usual fire inspection duty assignments had been traded away to another sister station so she could report with her crew solely for Chet Kelly's benefit. He had passed the paperwork part of the standby engineer's test and now was entering the practical skills testing. A mockup of a two story apartment tower building with a fuel truck spill at its base was the scenario the chiefs had mapped out for Station 51's chemical truck to handle. And on a signal, the whole facsimile was set ablaze along the tarmack using hidden torches embedded from spigots in the concrete. "Ok, Kelly.." encouraged Charlie Atkins, the replacement engineer assigned to 51 until Mike Stoker's situation fell one way or the other over the fence. "This is an easy one. Think...grease. Now, what mix are ya going to pick for your hoses?" Chet Kelly watched Marco, Cap, Roy and John string lines at the ready, aimed at the fire's heart, and they all looked back towards Chet at the chemical panel on the engine for Chet's signal to let go the charged hoses. To one side, the Batallion Chief was also drilling another company as they broke in a new man on driving a ladder truck around an obstacle course. For the moment, the gray haired supervisor's attention wasn't on 51's exercise. Chet Kelly bit his lip, checking and rechecking the pumper readouts. "Repellent surfactant at ....18% per hundred gallons ppm...with every five hundred hydrant gallons from the ground." "Right. Right.. Gotta do that because fuel's so volatile with our 21% air 02 ratio." Charlie said with a nod around the smoke drifting towards them from the building. "Now what else before you release your mixed reservoir to your crewmates?" Kelly's face fell out of concentration and his initial self assuredness dropped away. "I don't know man. I - I got the right chemicals here.. I know I do.. I've been eating sleeping and dreaming these mathematical formulas for days now." Suddenly a pair of calm hands came between the men and locked off the settings Chet had chosen on the fire retardant soup to the hoses and Mike Stoker's voice said. "You tell your captain to call in the foam truck for a protective covering spread, Chet." His fingers danced over the dials of the engine in a ballet of familiarity. "From what I feel here, you did everything right. Give them the go ahead. This was sort of a trick situation they mapped out for you. It's not in the book. Just remember foam with fuel and fire." Chet's face was a mix of emotions as he lifted his HT to his lips. "Engine 51 to HT 51. Hoses one and two are set and locked. Foam 127. Move in to assist from the...." Chet paused as he rechecked the wind direction with a moistened finger,.."north side of the fire. You are committed.." Charlie, and Mike, who was still eyepatched tightly, both smiled when Kelly said everything according to procedure. Even Cap, on Chet's place at a hose nodded appreciably before he turned back to fight the fire. Mike said, "Turn down your master valve two points. Your left hose sounds kinda hissy.. That one's not getting enough psi because your supply's been split off. Must be because the engine's not quite on level ground. Flows faster on the downhill side always." Kelly squinted into the dials and wiped grime off the dial in question. "Man.. what ears.. You're right. Two points off my percentage setting. I thought we had the lock down legs on the plates planted perfectly man. I thought we were ON a level." "This whole valley's tilted. You had no way of knowing that. I'm just remembering the pitch angle from my head." "Terrif.. Way to burst my bubble, Stoker." Charlie ribbed. "And here we all thought you were a miracle dowser through and through." "Ok, I'm compensating....now.." Kelly said. Chet and Charlie hauled on Mike's arm to get him back against the safety of the truck to prevent him from getting a painful bang on the shins when Johnny's team's firehose bucked at Chet's minor adjustment to it. "Thanks guys.." Mike said, feeling for the cab door. He opened it so he could sit inside to keep the excited Boot company. Atkins had his own advice. "Chet, do this too, whenever you make an adjustment or you'll be black and blue before you know it." Charlie felt around with a foot in the standing runoff water until he had one shoe pinning down the main hose as the men worked to put out the mockup fire in both the semi vehicle and the test building. "Just like this. These hoses are like live animals whenever anyone rounds a corner in there or shuts off a spray or two to move to another hotspot. You won't see any of that. But your legs will sure make a note of it. Directly standing on these puppies will give you plenty of warning about a buck." Mike said, " Yeah, that's a good pointer. Now Kelly, I want you to watch the wind and how all the hoses' fanning water may be getting diverted. I can't tell what it's doing by the sound. If you see the guys' jackets getting dry more than the water's cooling them off, turn up the psi and the chemical mix rate until 90% of the hose charge is getting onto target, that'll buy them more time on their SCBA's since they won't breathe as fast then due to overheating. A trick I learned is to get progress reports from each team, every five minutes about hose patency. Listen to how they're breathing over the HT and that will give you clues too as to how well you're controlling their water supply based on need. They won't tell you if they're in trouble that way since things are steaming in a fire anyway." Kelly's face fell open in surprise as he kept his lightly ace wrapped hands on the master pressure dial valve and watched the effect of the daylight wind over the whole scene before him. "So that's why you keep bugging us when we enter new fire hotspots.." "Yep.." Mike grinned. Charlie even looked abashed. "You know, Stoker. I've been engineer at 110's for five years and that monitoring trick is certainly new to me.." "That one's not in the book either.. I adapted it from watching Johnny and Roy work on people. The higher the breathing rate is on anybody, the more trouble they're in. It's a dead giveaway. Works for working firefighters who aren't in medical trouble too." "You know, Stoker? When you finally get back on the job, I'm trying out your little trick at home on the guys, at the next fire. I've always wondered why our station's SCBA fill rates were so high. Now I know why.. The men were too hot while working!" Charlie groused. Chet and Mike laughed. Mike cocked his wrapped head at the sound of the laying foam finally swallowing up all of the flaming truck mockup. "Ah, ha.. We've turned a curve. The building, next, after that truck, won't be hard to extinguish now that its fuel source is smothered. Hear that, Kelly? The fire's quieting even though the flames probably still look the same. It's dying out now." "I hear it. It was kinda growling and hollow before, now it just sounds like a really big camp fire." "That's the distinction between the growth and death of a fire. Remember those sounds." Stoker told him. Boot seemed to agree and he barked. About ten minutes later, station 51's fuel fire exercise was over and the next scenario was set up for the next station on the rosters to complete. Chet was told to wrap up his hose teams and wash away the foam for the next group to use the test site. Station 51 was released to return to base and their regular duties. -------------------------------------------------- Mike was laughing with the guys in the kitchen when Chet made his way to the engine and his potential new station assignment at the engine chemical panel. Gage had come by to wash his hands before lunch when he noticed Kelly quietly surveying that side of the engine with his hands in his pockets. "Chet, are you actually moping?" he joked, his shoes skidding to a halt from his whistling jog to the locker room sinks. "I don't believe I've ever seen you do that before.. Well," he amended, "maybe only once or twice before." "Oh, hi Gage." Kelly said glumly, sitting on the running bumper of the engine. Boot seemed to notice that Chet was feeling blue because he bolted out of the kitchen, dropping the roll of paper towels he had stolen from Marco, and immediately skittered across the slippery floor to nuzzle a nose under Chet's ace wrap gloved hands. Kelly winced a bit with the move on his still healing hands but he immediately ignored that and petted Boot's long back. "Hi, Boot. Look,... you guys didn't have to come out here. I'll be in for lunch in a sec. I... just got away for a moment to do some ....thinking..." "Oh yeah?" Johnny said, his earlier kidding turning respectful and serious for once. "What about? You're gonna be a richer man come Sunday when you finally pass your finals.. An engineer pays, what? Eighty dollars more a week than a regular hose man? And you know, come to think of it, you're gonna be making fifty dollars more a week than either Roy or I. " Johnny put a shoe on the engine's bumper which Chet promptly pushed off to rub with the white towel that he now carried around with him out of habit. "Hey.. hey... watch the scuffing! I gotta account for the public appearance of Red in spite of how much the rest of you guys like to dirty her up." That surprised John. "Oh really. Now it's you, versus us? Is all this standby engineer promotion stuff going to your head?" Chet looked immediately abashed and suddenly sheepish.. "Well,... " Then he squared his shoulders and only flinched a little under Johnny's angry stare. "...Yes... I guess.." Johnny's face melted from suspiciously malicious to a broad sh*t eating grin. "Well, good. Now you're finally starting to sound like Mike Stoker. I'm proud of ya, Chet.. Come here and stop feeling guilty. After all, this pumper man job thing's only gonna be temporary and we all know it.." And Johnny's arm wrapped around Kelly's shoulder in an affectionate hug which turned into a raiding noogie, and soon the two friends fell into a wrestling match on the floor that Boot happily referee-d and watched over with loud bellowing barks. Of course, the struggle and grunting commotion brought everyone running. Soon, bets of who would pin who first filled the air and even Mike got into it despite his blindfolding bandages. Right then, the station alarm went off ..... ------------------------------------------ Photo : Mike Stoker, looking dashing. Photo : Charlie Atkins from 110's. Photo : Engine 51's chemical dials. Photo : Burning fire in a test building burn. Photo : Boot and Chet, in the same small chair. Photo : Johnny and Chet having a heart to heart talk by the engine. ********************************* From :"Roxy Dee" Subject : Instinct~~ Date : Wed, 19 Feb 2003 01:26:19 +0000 The call came through, ending the wrestling match in short order. ##Squad 51. Child down, at the McGregor baseball field. 9 Greenway Pass. Cross street, Niven Boulevard. 9 Greenway Pass. Cross street, Niven Boulevard. Time out, 13:07## "Cap!" Stoker said, ignoring Boot who was pulling on his leg to get him out of the way of the squad's bumper as Johnny and Roy wrote out their call slip and opened the rescue truck's doors. Mike grabbed onto the edge of the wall map to steady himself from Boot's protective-of-the-one-hurt activity below. Captain Stanley piped up after acknowledging the run on radio frequency. "Yeah, what is it Stoker?" "That's my ball field. Let me go with them." Stanley looked up sharply. "I can't authorize that. Stoker. You're on medical leave. And besides that fact, you're still wrapped up like a m-" "Cap, I know those kids! They're on my Big Brother program. It's gonna bug me not knowing who's in trouble." Boot was still hanging onto Mike's pants leg when Cap finally said. "All right. Get in there. And I'll tell you the real reason why I'm letting you go with them. One of your kids may have been the arsonist who was responsible for your eyes getting burned." "What?!" Mike gasped. His shock and surprise were plain even through the white kerlix concealing most of Mike's face. Cap sighed. "Gage, DeSoto you didn't hear this.. Stoker, the kid you're looking for is Jeremy Conners, he mentioned something about Max, knowing details about the warehouse blaze that injured you. See what you can scrounge up." "Thanks, Cap..I will. " Mike said, turning his bandaged eyes towards the squad, but Boot still stubbornly held him in a firm grip by the ankle. "Boot, let him go.." Cap ordered the hairy mutt "guarding" Stoker. The shaggy dog dropped his hold on Mike's foot immediately and sat next to Cap as the garage doors finished rolling up into their housing. Stoker climbed in fast when Roy stepped out of the squad to make room for him to sit between them. DeSoto guided Mike's head into the cab before he got back behind the wheel. Chet came jogging up and he handed over Stoker's helmet from the engine for him to wear. "You let me know what happens, Mike. They're my kids too.." "I can do you one better Kelly." Roy promised him. "Get on your HT. Listen for our med call on Rampart's base station channel.. It can be done. KMG 365-B, sub two. We'll still be in the ten mile range and open to you. That way, you'll know the minute we do about what's up. Just don't speak up or L.A. will hear you." "Nice tip. I'll do that." Kelly said, and patted the squad roof to let Roy know that all feet, dog and human, were clear of the tires. Roy, John and Mike drove quickly out of the station, turning left onto the street with sirens and lights on full. Chet and Cap in the bay crouched by Boot, and both men absently petted him. "Hey Cap, just how much trouble are we in for letting a blinded fireman go to a rescue scene?" Kelly asked. "Could be plenty. But, I've special leeway when it comes to investigating a fire crime and that's what I'm banking on to bail my butt with the chief. If Stoker stays off the radio, like I know he will, headquarters will never know he's out there with them." Stanley snorted. "Glad you let him go." "Like I had any other choice? I don't think twenty Boots could've stopped Stoker from riding along.." Hank quipped, pointing to their mascot who was playfully tugging on their shoe laces. "Come on, let's put lunch in the oven. We'll eat when they get back. " ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The squad arrived at the park on the north side of the reserve's four fields. Stoker was able to tell them which ball diamond was the McGregor field because of his knowledge of the park's layout. Roy and Johnny screeched to a halt in the parking lot nearest a crowd of kids milling about on top of the rickety graffiti painted, wood tiered bleachers. "Mike, do you know your way around here well enough?" DeSoto asked as he pulled out the biophone, drug box and 02 from the storage compartment of the squad. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I hear Old Ben in the concession stand. I'll let him lead me to the bleachers so I can talk with the kids. Just find out what's wrong. It's killing me not knowing what's happening here." It soon became clear that finding someone to be Mike's eyes to navigate the area wasn't necessary. "Coach! Hey guys, look! It's Coach! He's all right!" said an older boy of twelve in a dingy baseball outfit. Then two baseball teams of kids flooded around Mike Stoker enthusiastically in a cheer and even Old Ben lifted his head to peer myopically from the concession stand. Gage was irritated by the throng, "Hey ...hey ...hey, now we're on a rescue call. Who called the station about a hurt or sick child?" he said lifted his medical boxes high over the children's milling circle around them. One little girl piped up. "Oh, you must mean Susan." she said snidely. "She made us call for help from the park pay phone because she said she was dizzy again." "Does Ben know about this?" Mike asked incredulous. "Nah, he don't know.." said another boy. "You know how deaf he gets sometimes. He told us there's no way he's leaving the popsicle cooler. Guess the older boys have been stealing too much behind his back. Must have thought we were trying to trick him again. Why are your eyes wrapped like that, Coach?" Roy rubbed his nose, looking at the tiny young man. "Look just forget Coach's eyes for a minute. Where's Susan? Least we can do is take a look at her to see if she's really ok." DeSoto turned. "Mike, do you have State authorized consent of guardianship over these kids when you're on the premises? I don't see any adults nearby that look like they belong to any of these kids here. We may have to treat her." "I do... Susan's one in the Big Sister program under my authority. This is All-Clubs week and sounds like all my kids are here today. All I know is that she's a fourth grader at the Home which is only a block away to the north." Stoker said. "There ARE no parents as all these guys are fostered out through the State Home there. Usually Old Ben has his grown daughter psychologist helping to keep an eye on things during Free Day like this. I'm not hearing her voice anywhere. Don't know why she's not here right now. . If she had been, this whole situation might not have happened the way it's happening right now." "Mike, your authorized consent is all we need at the moment. Try to calm down." Johnny said. Then he pointed out a random kid from the noisy bunch. "You! Son! Yeah, you! Take us to where Sue is, pronto like. It might be serious." he said letting his frustration of not finding their patient ooze out of every pore. The strapping flame haired boy protested. "Gee. What a grouch. You sound like my ex-step dad." "Jeremy Conners..!" Stoker admonished recognizing the voice that he had overheard. "S-Sorry, Coach. Bad habit." Gage put on a grin he didn't feel. "I promise we'll be a lot less grumpy after we make sure Susan's not in any kind of medical trouble. So lead the way and we'll be nice as pie through it all." "She's under that gum tree. She crawled over there a few minutes ago. But she's probably faking it again. Like last time." DeSoto did a double take at that news. Then he remembered how tall kids tales could really get and dismissed the remark as exaggerated. Roy and John ran over to the tree with their equipment to the small blond headed tom boy appearing girl lying face down in the shade. They left Stoker and his young fans behind. Gage grabbed for the fourth grade girl's brachial pulse. "She's viable. Around 100." Then he bent down to check the quality of her respirations. "Hey, Susan, can you hear me?" Johnny listened to the back of her chest without moving her. "She's breathing, but I'm hearing substantial wheezing." he reported. "Could be asthma since her upper airway's clear." Gage lifted his head and shook her shoulder. "Susan ! Hey! We're with the L.A. County Fire Department and we're here to help you out. Now, come on and open your eyes." She didn't respond. Gage pinched the loose skin on the child's arm to further fine tune test her awareness. Susan only groaned and didn't try to pull away from the pain or attempt to open her eyes. "She's groggy. About a six on the Glasgow, Roy." and he bent to check her eyes with a penlight. "She's definitely not faking anything here. Slight dialation on both pupils, and she's getting more dyspneic by the moment." Meanwhile, Roy was losing his medical history source. Jeremy Conners was edging away from the scene. "Wait... wait ..wait, where are you going? I need to talk to you.." DeSoto said to him. "The game's going on.. I gotta get back.." the street wise Jeremy said. He started to turn away but Roy grabbed his uniform sleeve as he prepared an oxygen mask for Johnny to give to the downed girl. "Hang on. Just a minute more all right? Tell me about that last time this happened to her. Can you do that?" The red headed boy seemed unnaturally nervous around the paramedics, and he squirmed in Roy's grip. "I don't remember. It was earlier this spring. I.. Uh... She forgot to bring her...onhal.. unhal.." "Her inhaler?" "Yeah, that's it. Now let me go.." The boy said, yanking his arm away and he danced out of range nimbly. He made tracks back to the grandstand across the parking lot and nearly crashed into one of its posts when he made sure Roy and John weren't following him. Johnny Gage had finished his assessment of the girl. "Not a mark on her." Only then did he sit her up against the tree to help ease her increasingly labored breathing. He took the mask from Roy and set the 02's delivery on light before setting it firmly over Susan's nose and mouth. He then began to search her pockets for forms of ID and for the missing inhaler. "We gotta move fast or she'll quit breathing on us." Gage said. Roy's face frowned as he took a BP. "70 systolic. I'm getting on the phone early. A doc can order epinephrine at least." "Here, guys." a voice said and an inhaler plunked down onto the grass between two tree roots at Roy's feet. Johnny and Roy looked up from Susan. Mike Stoker was beinglead over to them by two of the street gang players from his baseball team. "I made the kids check the outfield for anything belonging to her thinking things she had in her pockets could have fallen out during a rough play. They say her name's on it." he informed his coworkers. Gage snatched up the tiny inhaler and read its details. "Albuterol. MDI dosage .15 ml per inhalation." He sniffed its mouthpiece. "Looks like she didn't use this today at all, Roy." "Got it.." and Roy connected a link on the phone with Rampart. "Thanks Mike, but I don't know if having this will do any good. We don't have a positive ID on her yet. She's carrying no identification cards. No med bracelet. No nothing! I wish to G*d that you had your eyesight back right about now so we know for sure that it's her." Gage complained. He started loosening and freeing the girl's clothes from around her waist, chest and neck. He began setting up an EKG. "What's she wearing?" Johnny muttered. "What? Stoker, we don't have time for this.." "Humor me, Gage. I don't need to see to positively identify her. And I'm the only one who can. Most of these kids only know each other by their made up street names." "Well.." Johnny exclaimed in exasperation. He held up the jersey top he had removed from the girl. "It's uh, sort of like a gray and blue baseball uniform. But she's wearing no cap." "What number's on the front?" "Fourteen." "It's her. Guaranteed. These kids are very territorial about letting others wear their team jerseys. Doesn't happen. Susan's got short whitish, blond hair and a star shaped birthmark on her left cheek bone." Mike said. Johnny checked the girl for such a mark. It was there. "Well, I'll be.." he smiled. "Stoker you just earned yourself a day off from dinner detail the instant your butt's back on duty." "I'll take it.... Anything else I can do?" Mike said. Gage watched Roy give his medical report to the hospital and said. "Yeah, kneel down next to me right where you are and help me keep tabs on her resp rate. We may have to switch over to the resuscitator. Here, the apparatus is at your two o'clock. Think you can be a head vent?" "I can do it blind." "I know you can.." Johnny said seriously. "Be right back. I'm going for the defibrillator.." and he rose and ran to the squad full tilt. "Roy! Pulse's 140 and rising.." DeSoto was completing his initial report. "...Vitals signs are showing acute distress. Pulse 140 and bounding. Respirations 26 and shallow. Marked wheezing even in Trendelenberg position. BP is 70 systolic. I can send you a strip on lead two." Dr. Brackett replied and Roy could hear his alarm. ##Do it.## "10-4, Rampart. Transmitting, lead two.." Roy said. ##51, what's her consciousness level? I'd feel better if we had a controlled airway on her. I'm reading a V-tach of 140 with precursor PVCs. Does she have a gag reflex?## Mike lifted up the child's 02 mask and slid a finger into her open mouth and down Susan's tongue, briefly touching the back of it. The little girl's stomach heaved in immediate reflex and he quickly stopped his move so she wouldn't complete the attempt to vomit. "That's affirmative, Rampart." Roy sighed. ::Damn..:: ##Ok, we'll tackle this head on, without one. Prepare to administer one dose of the patient's inhaler. Rig a nebulizer of a second dose to a humidified ambu on standby with 2 ml's diluted respiratory saline. Keep monitoring all vital signs closely. 51, is a defibrillator nearby? Albuterol with shock sometimes brings about acute cardiac dysrhythmias.## Roy saw Johnny hoofing it back with the unit across the parking lot. He had also grabbed a long wooden stretcher board for CPR and transport ease. "10- 4, Rampart. We have it in hand." ##Start an IV first, 51. We'll want an open line if she crashes. Make it of normal saline, a 500 ml bag. And keep it open only. Give me another set of vitals after her initial medication is in. And keep the EKG strip to base running.## "10- 4, ah,..Administer one dose inhaler post IV normal saline, 500, to keep open. Standby nebulizer second dose with 2 cc's respiratory saline in an ambu bag. Preparing for possible counter shock. Vitals to follow post med. Continuing the EKG send. 10-4." DeSoto said. He lowered the phone. "How's she doing Mike?" Roy asked in worry. "Still attempting inhalations. But her rate's up to 36." "Tidal air?" "Building. She's barreling out a bit." "Johnny, let's move. She can't wait." Roy said, taping off the IV. "She's trapping air already." Gage scrambled to Susan's head, dropping the defibrillator paddles he had laid out and he shifted the girl from the tree to Mike's shoulder so she sat against him with her head tipped well back. Together, Roy and Johnny fitted and triggered the inhaler into her mouth so the medicine entered deeply into her lungs. Gage immediately listened to her chest with a stethoscope, holding his breath, while Roy and Mike held her still. Roy replaced the mask back over her face as she began to cough harder and harder. Stoker whispered into her ear, stroking her hair to comfort her. "It's ok, Susan, tastes bad but it'll work good. Give it a second or two to absorb, hon... just wait, then it won't be so hard to breathe. It's all right. Coach's right here." Susan jerked with an involuntary cry, suddenly stiffening, and her gasping stopped. The EKG fluctuated and the two paramedic firemen froze, their eyes glued to the heart monitor, and Mike, as he listened, as it danced irregularly for one second. For two. Gage reached for the ambu bag. But then, Susan sighed quite normally, and all of her respiratory distress ended. Her breathing deepened and eased and soon, the rapid heartbeat on the monitor smoothed out into calmer rhythm. A minute later Susan's eyes cracked open, swollen and red, as she came to fully. Johnny sighed likewise in relief at the positive proof of her now open lungs. "That's my girl. Hi there. It's ok.." he said softly as she began to cry. "The worst is over.. It's ok.. Mike, you can lay her back down again. Mike, you can let go of her. She's fine now." Susan's fright grew as she became more aware of being lowered to the ground and the fact that strange firemen were now hovering over her instead of her playmates. She immediately screwed her eyes shut again. The heart monitor blipped out a faster rate. Gage took her IV free hand into his own. "Susan, Susan. Now listen to me." Johnny soothed as his partner and Stoker wrapped her in a warm blanket. "I know you're scared, and I know that medicine's probably making you sleepy. But you're gonna be all right now. So go ahead and take a nap. I promise, you'll wake up in a nice big, comfortable bed later tonight in a place a whole lot better than this nasty old root knotted lawn here in the ball park, ok?" The siren of the approaching ambulance grew louder, startling his young friend, so Mike added. "A hospital doctor's gonna look at you next, just so we know you're better for good." "Coach?" She sobbed. "I- is that you?" she said, peering up in confusion at Mike's wrapped eyes. "Yeah, you're not dreaming." "But--" "Shh, rest. Don't talk. My answer is, Yeah, I'll watch your mitt for you. Got it right here." and he held it up. "Scout's honor?" "Scout's honor.." "Ok, and watch my jersey, too. *Yawn*" Susan's cheek snuggled up against Stoker's hand where he held her face around the 02 mask and fell asleep instantly. Roy called Rampart, smiling from ear to ear, with a glowing vitals set for Kel Brackett. ##I saw the improvement. Glad the one dose protocol did the trick. Now get her in here ASAP.## he grumbled happily. "10-4, Rampart.." Roy replied, waving a "Come on!" to the attendants hustling it across the parking lot. They arrived and positioned the gurney near the sleeping child. Roy set the empty long board first onto the cot and Gage said, "Ok, let's load and go." he told them. "No need to semi-elevate her. She's a very stable asthmatic recoveree. The board's only an arrest precaution." He said moving the EKG, portable 02, drug box, and the defibrillator to the foot of the cot. "Easy. " Roy said loudly for Stoker's benefit. "This one's special." "Right.." One of the two burly attendants gently gathered Susan up into his arms without waking her, blankets and all. "Is he going in too?" the second attendant asked, gesturing at Mike with his bandaged wrapped head. Stoker was leaning against the tree, reining in his reactions about the nearly soured rescue of the little girl. "Him? No, no no. He's a fireman on medical leave. He's with us. Go ahead. My partner's riding in with you." Roy answered. "Ok, Joe.. Whatever you say.." he shrugged in a New York accent. DeSoto watched the man leave after the girl laden gurney and Gage. Then Roy walked the few yards back to the tree where Mike rested his head. Roy tapped his shoulder. "You coming with, Stoker?" Trembling, Mike lifted his head to face DeSoto. "Oh uhhhh.. " he said thinking hard. "No." Stoker said, still cradling Susan's jersey top and baseball mitt. "I'll take a cab back to the station in a while. I want to hang around to see if I can locate Jeremy and his friends or even Old Ben's daughter. I want to bend their ear a bit about what they've been up to lately since I've been gone." "Suit yourself. If you're not back by dark, we'll send out a search party.." DeSoto quipped. Stoker waved a get outta here gesture at the departing footsteps he heard. "Thanks Roy, for not letting her die." He called out after DeSoto. "I don't know what I could've done if she.." and his voice cracked. "Hey, just relax. She didn't die. Johnny and I make it a point to never lose any kids on any of our runs as that would be a gross violation according to BOTH our personal rule books." "Thanks just the same, Roy." Roy stopped and turned back. "No, thank YOU. Your remote consent to treat, power-of-attorney, over Susan made all the difference in the world today. I'm just glad you decided to ride along with us on your sudden instinct like that." "Yeah.." Stoker said. "So am I." "See ya, later, Mike. I'll keep you posted." Roy said. "See ya." Soon, ambulance and squad left the ball park and their sirens faded into the distance, leaving Mike alone in the parking lot surrounded by wind and seabird calls. Then Mike turned his face into the sun and felt his way back to the grandstand where he sat on the hot planking, pretending to be engrossed in the ongoing game he couldn't see, until..... -------------------------------------------- Photo: Cap squinting in bright sun wearing full gear. Photo : Roy looking down on a victim in a close up. Photo: Johnny Gage reassuring a small crying girl. Photo: Dr. Brackett quickly scanning an EKG strip. Photo: Mike Stoker looking down. ********************************* From : "Cory Anda" Subject : The Tinder Kid Date : Wed, 19 Feb 2003 21:53:18 +0000 "Hey Coach.. What are you doing here?" an adolescent voice said, cutting through the sound of the active baseball game playing on the field. "Last I knew, you were wearing angel wings in a flaming tin can of a factory, squashed flat. Heh." :: Gotcha.. ::Mike thought in triumph. His mind raced. ::So you were at my fire, Max. And you knew about the resulting roof collapse accident. Now how does Jeremy Conners fit into all this? ::But out loud, Stoker said. "Hello, Maximillion." Mike smiled through his bandages. He could just imagine the dark skinned, slightly overweight boy, taking the seats two at a time, to get up to him. "Can't keep a good man down I guess." :: Or a good fire crew.:: his mind amended. "My crew bailed me out, last second, that night. Have a seat and take a load off for a while. I'd love to catch up on what I've been missing around the old dugout." He heard the boy's jaws cluck noisily as he chewed something. Mike fervently hoped it wasn't a tobacco plug again. He couldn't tell for the hot afternoon wind was blowing in the wrong direction. "Not much. Same old same old." Max drawled in heavy L.A. inner city accent. Then his voice changed. "Say..Coach, you feeling ok? You're kinda pale, even more than you honkys usually are." Max said. "Oh, I see. I'm gone for under a week and suddenly I'm demoted to being a honky instead of a hose jockey. Thanks alot." he teased. "What does that make you then, Max, eh?" he said punching his friend's shoulder in jest. "Hmm.. A darkie instead of a delinquent juvie? G*d forbid.." he moaned dramatically. "No, a darkling. Get it right." Max found Stoker's error on city lingo very hilarious and he let out a rich peel of laughter. "Gonna give me a reason why you're looking like a ghost, Coach? Or are ya just gonna be funny and 'burb talk me to death?" Mike's amused grin fell away into seriousness. "Susan just gave us a good scare down there. She's the reason why I came here to the park with Johnny and Roy today before my eyes healed if you're wondering." "Little ol Susan? What's she got to do wid you, man?" "She got a little sick just now because of her asthma. And it almost got dangerously out of hand. Didn't you see me trying to help out? Surprising since your favorite game roost in the scoreboard sign has the best overview of the whole parkland." Max scoffed. "I didn't see nuthin'! That little liar's been trying to wimp outta playing good all summer. Besides, Jeremy told me she was faking it." ::Yeah, so then where were you to miss the sirens and all the excitement of the last hour?:: his conscience fathomed. Again, Mike spoke differently from his mind's track. "Never mind. You had to be there." Stoker sighed. The callousness of the city kids he coached had long ago ceased to surprise him. "Here.. Hold out ya hand.." Max said. "Got somethin' for ya.." Mike lifted a palm, and he felt a slender stick with a weight pressed into it. He smelled a rich, mellow sweetness coming from the frozen treat in his hand. "Ooo, banana! My fav. Thanks for the popsicle." "No problem. Got one for me, too." the boy said proudly and he leaned into Stoker's arm, trying to tip him over in a play wrestle. But as usual, Mike was an unmoving stone on the bench. But that didn't keep Max from testing out his young strength on his favorite program coach. "How'd ya pay for it?" Mike said while Max grunted with a failing effort to budge him off his place on the bench. Max bristled tangibly and Mike felt him stiffen and let go of him."Some gratitude! Here I do for a friend and what do I get? Snoopy questions. What do ya take me for? A criminal?" Mike schooled his lips to stillness so the boy wouldn't catch on. He thought. ::Yeah, the worst kind. One that would burn down old buildings with a total disregard for any possible loss of life. :: But out loud, Mike said. "No. I never pass judgement on anyone without proof. I was just wondering since your uniform doesn't have any pockets to hold loose change and you travel light with nothing but your bike usually, when you come here." Max frowned and rubbed his curly ebony hair where it itched his game sweaty face. "I.....uh,..got coins in my roost, Coach.. Jeremy and I got a whole tuna can full up there from his paper route. " he lied. "Ah, I see." And Stoker let the subject matter drop. It would be easy enough to ask Old Ben later if his popsicle cooler had been raided yet for the day. "So, how's the game going?" he waved a hand absently in front of him. "Going good. Smitty's on first, Tiny's on third and it's Cruz up to bat. I'd say we'll smear da other team next inning up." Max said, slurping noisily on his popsicle as it melted in the hot sun. "We're six to nothin." Mike ate his, too, just as fast. "Go Zephyrs!" he called out. And got an enthusiastic round of cheer whistles from his kids on the field. He grinned despite himself and then parked his licked clean empty popsicle stick in his polo shirt pocket. He held out his hand to Max without saying anything for his, just as the older boy was about to sail it like a spear onto the playing field. "You sure you can't see?" Max said grumbling as he handed it over. "Not yet, but soon they tell me. Close that mouth before you draw flies, Maxie boy. I just know you very well. You should start collecting these from the other kids and save them for me. I collect these sticks for Tiny." "Whatever for?" "He likes to build firetrucks out of them." Stoker said. "I already have one at home from him that looks like the engine from my station. It's on my mantle above the fireplace." Max's voice changed. "Oh, you mean the Ward LaFrance." he said in an admiring tone. "I like dat one, too." Stoker angled in like a blood hound. "So you like Big Red. Didn't know that." "Oh, yeah, Coach." Max sighed. "I's specks there ain't a fire truck around that I don't know the name of...I like the way they look." "Oh, really? So why don't you ever come to the firehouse with me and the other kids for tours?" "Man, stuff like dat's for little kids. And I'm almost twelve." Max declared. "I got other ways of seeing them.." Mike felt a chill. "Oh, yeah. What do you do?" "I go to fires. Lots of em happening in the neighborhood. Then I can get real close. And it's real odd sometimes, cause usually Jeremy's right dere with me even if I hadn't showed him where da burning building was first." Max said. Stoker managed to swallow around his dry throat. "H-how do you know when there's a fire?" "Use your noggin, Coach. Or did that get just as bashed up as your eyes did? From a police scanner, man. There's one in Old Ben's concession stand." That snapped Mike out of his fears. "There is?" "Yeah. He keeps it under the popsicle cooler. And I'm the ONLY kid who knows it's even THERE." He said proudly. "Didn't you know that Old Ben used to be a hose jockey just like you? And just like Jeremy Conner's dad before he got burned up!" Mike shook his head no and didn't say anything for a while for a long stretch of time. Stoker didn't like the new thoughts forming in his head. Feeling disturbed, he tried to focus on the happy sounds of the game entering its final inning. Then he heard Max trickle, "Uh oh.. Gotta go, Coach." "Why? You just got here." "The shrink's comin..Old Ben's daughter." Mike said, "Victoria won't bother you. She doesn't bother me.." "Well dat's just you, Coach. She psycho analyzes us juvies all the time and it's startin to get on my nerves big time. She's not nice like you and I've given her plenty of times to get dat way. Gotta split before she sees me. And if she asks, I wasn't here talking wid ya.." "Deal.." Just like that, Maximillion was gone. A half minute later, Mike heard fresh sneakers climb the bleachers to his level. Out loud, he called, "Hi, Vickie.. Long time no see..." he joked. The woman actually stopped in her tracks in shock. "How did you do that? I could have been anyone from the game.." "I'm clairvoyant. You should know blindness causes the other senses to sharpen." "Not that fast." "Well, guess my case's the exception to the rule." he replied. He waited for Victoria to sit down next to him before he said, "Say, Vic. Where were you about a half an hour ago?" "I went to get Dad some more ice for the popiscle cooler from the supermarket. Why?" That answer got Mike mad. "Don't you know you have to keep an eye on these kids when they're out of the Home? Your father's not physically able to keep tabs on them well enough to matter anymore." "Mike, why are you getting so angry?" "Because just now, I responded to Susan Jordan's rescue call with the squad when she suffered a severe asthma attack." "Susan? What?... Where?!" Mike could almost see the psychologist's face search around for the little girl. "Vic, sit down. Just sit down! Most likely, she's still at Rampart getting treated or at least waiting for the duty counselors to come pick her up to take her back to the Home." Then his anger really went ballistic. "I'm surprised you didn't even notice she was MISSING until I told you she had fallen ill." "Mike Stoker, that's enough!" Victoria flared. "I am a volunteer in this park. Not a paid employee like you and my father are. I only come here to lend an ear, to help these poor kids work out some of their hostile feelings about being abandoned by their families. But only if they come to me. I'm not responsible for them or for what they do outside the Home." "Yeah, well somebody should be! There are problems I could tell you about that crop up out here that you couldn't even dream of.." "Try me, Coach. I'm a licensed expert." Vickie said in a steely voice. Stoker hung his head in shame. "Sorry. I just get a little possessively protective of these kids having none of my own." "I get the same way I'll have you know." she said, a little less defensive. "So, who'd you talk to that got you so up in arms?" "What?" "The popsicle sticks. You've got two in your pocket and I know you only eat one a game so you can stay fit for work." Stoker subconsciously felt where they lay in his shirt pocket with a thumb, and he drew them out, fingering them nervously in a palm. Then he sighed in heavy resignation. From the beginning, Mike Stoker told Victoria all he had learned from the kids and Cap about the fire that had trapped him and about what he newly suspected about his closest and dearest project kid. He only hoped that it would get the ball rolling fast enough to save him. "And just who is this child whom you think is so deeply disturbed about his father's death? We've dozens of pyro potentials in the Home that fit that psychological history profile." "The boy I'm referring to is Jeremy Conners." "Oh my G*d.." and Victoria sucked in her breath. "He's not a pyro risk in my files." "Put two and two together, Vic! That's the only conclusion we can draw here.. oh, man. His night visit to Cap was all a sham. A cry for help. I can see that now. And his finger pointing at Max was just afterthought." Stoker stood, very agitatedly, and Victoria had to grab his arm to help him keep his balance. "Where is he now?" Mike asked urgently. "Do you see him anywhere?" Victoria's heart began to pound when Mike's new found worry began to fill her soul as well. "Uh,.. L-let me look..uhh.. The ballgame's over, Mike." Her voice trembled. "All the kids are going back to the Home from what I can see. Even Dad's closing up shop." "You sure." "Yes, straight back. I'm counting.... ten bikes moving across the field." "We're one short." "I subtracted Susan's bike." "Think, Vickie! The team's got twelve kids on it. Oh, Lord.. And I'll bet when we get to the Home that every bike will be there, but Jeremy's." ---------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Kids surrounding home plate in a Park. Photo: Three inner city kids by a palm tree with a bike. Photo: Mike Stoker looking stern. Photo: Stoker and Victoria the psych, disagreeing. Photo : Kids sitting on a park bench waiting turn at bat. Photo: Jeremy Conners, as catcher, looking up. Photo : Victoria outside, looking worried. **************************************** From : "patti keiper" Subject : The Pecking Order Date : Thu, 20 Feb 2003 06:45:13 +0000 It was shortly after the squad had gone 10-8 to Rampart with their newest patient. "WwwooooHHHOOOOooooooo!" Chet war-whooped in the garage. The resulting echo around the bay brought Cap out of his office on the run. "Kelly just what the heck is going on out here? Why'dya yell like that? Ya scared me half to death!" "She's ok! She's ok!" Chet singsonged, dancing rings around Marco and his captain. He even picked up Boot's front feet and danced a jaunty jig with him. Hank knew immediately what he was talking about. "Oh, the kid call." he said drawly. Then his face picked up. "Glad to hear it turned out all right, pal." and he started back to the mounting paperwork on his desk. He immediately about faced and asked. "Just uh,. one thing... What was wrong with her? I didn't quite get all that paramedic stuff over the HT." "A COPD case, Cap. That little girl had asthma so bad her lungs almost sealed off. Gage and DeSoto managed to locate her inhaler and find out who she was in time to use it on her. And poof! They had an instant cure for a potential killer annnddd,.. It's another kid save in the bag for the magic dream team! That's what? Twenty kid calls in a row, no losses? That run was a thing of beauty!" Chet celebrated. "Huh.. Imagine that." And Cap started walking back once more towards his office. "I'm telling ya, Cap.." Chet called out after him. "You should start taking some of those auxillary courses the chief makes us take for us guys who work with the medics.." He shouted when Cap's back totally disappeared. "You might enjoy learning something!!" he grinned jubilantly. "Uh oh...." Marco trickled to his engine mate. "Now you did it.." Cap suddenly reappeared and glared at Kelly pointing the all mighty, much afeared finger right at his face. Chet cringed, stooped, and instantly picked up Boot as a security shield. "Are you saying that I know nothing about my job, Kelly?" "No, Cap, I.... I..." Kelly stammered. " I...meant about all that medic stuff..heh... I....I.. just thought that you might want to.... educate yourself more on all that medical jargon that goes on over the biophone between the squad and Rampart by taking the same classes that, uh.... we...." he voice tapered off limply. "That's sound advice there, Kelly. But I think you may be just a bit ahead of yourself in the hierarchy. Now, get THIS advice from ME. I know it will behoove you to educate yourSELF on just exactly what the rank of CAPTAIN means." Kelly winced at the word "captain" and thereafter, at every repeating of the word. He shrank smaller and smaller behind Boot's back, whom he held near to his face for dear life. "Especially if that same CAPTAIN holds a vote on whether or not a mere regular time firemen, YOU, will ultimately get Stoker's job on the engine until he returns .." Cap's voice had been rising higher and higher and louder and louder until even the unflappable Boot in Chet's arms started to whine. "Is that clear?!" Cap boomed at the curly haired irishman. "As crystal, Cap..." and Chet tried to chuckle weakily. Hank held Kelly's eye in a scathing glare for almost a full ten seconds. Then he looked away and one hand snaked up from his hips to scratch Boot on the head in apology for scaring him while he dressed down an underling. "And put Boot down pronto." "Yes, sir.. Right away, sir.." Kelly set Boot slowly down on the floor and smoothed out his coat without daring to look away from Cap's disapproving stare. The shaggy dog immediately skittered out of Chet's reach, all four sets of claws scrambling on the cement floor in his haste to get away from the currently Hank hexed fireman. "Next time.. take it like a man, Kelly. Dogless!" "Right, Cap. Thank you, Cap. Anything you say, Cap.." Kelly kept on saying obeisances, withdrawing slowly, until his back impacted the kitchen door. Then he hastily stumbled and bolted through the door for the sheltering illusion of the newspaper and the bodily comfort of the cushy leather couch. Marco had been quietly watching the whole fiasco the entire time. He was nonplussed and relaxed with his arms comfortably folded over each other. "He's right you know." Cap's iron glare shattered into one of weariness and he admitted. "I know that... I just wanted to vent on somebody. And he was the best target. The fire investigation's not going anywhere and it's eating at me, Lopez." "I can tell. You chewed up Chet and spit him out pretty good there." he said, cracking a polishing towel at the engine's side panel loudly to make a point. It was Cap's turn to wince. Hank immediately looked remorseful and bit his lip. "Maybe I should go in there and apologize to him....ya think?" Marco stopped Cap before he got two paces. "Uh,,..I'd... wait a while for the effect to sink in first if I were you." "I'm afraid I don't understand, Marco.." Cap said blankly.. "Well, Cap, it's like this.." Lopez said thinking while he absently polished the same spot on the engine that he had just shined a few moments before. "That was the first time I've ever seen Chet cower sincerely at one of your dressing downs since Johnny became a medic." "Really?" said Hank, straightening with pride. Then he lowered his voice to a confidential whisper, glancing towards the kitchen to make sure Chet didn't overhear. "I've been watching McConnike..Trying to ......imitate him. " he said, gesturing thinking fingers to the air before rubbing his lips thoughtfully. "That, what you just witnessed, was how he used to ream MY rear way back then." "Oh, I see. Displacement of aggression." Lopez quipped as he picked a new spot to polish on the engine chrome. "Turning full circle.. Maybe even... disassociated revenge.. Clever.. Good way to deal with your burning hat/inspection day phobia." Cap narrowed his eyes at Marco. "Lopez, stick to being a fireman. Somehow hearing Freudianisms coming from a man from south of the border just doesn't work for me.." Cap muttered. Then he retreated to the inbox work load that seemed only to have piled higher during the minutes he had procrastinated while blowing up at Kelly. Marco blinked several times, then he self- consciously peered at his reflection in the engine's side view mirror, trying to see what Cap was talking about. He saw Boot regarding him closely. "Hey boy. Do you think my growing a goutee' will help people start to take me more seriously?" he asked the attentive mutt while he pushed out his chin in an experiment. Boot tipped his head to a funny angle and whined a doggy noise of puzzlement. ------------------------------------------- Photo: Cap dressing down Chet Kelly who's cowering behind Boot in his arms. Photo : Cap's chew butt glare in closeup. Photo : Marco, smiling and circumspect through the squad's open window. Photo : Boot, barking into the acknowledging mike. ******************************* Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2003 13:28:08 -0800 (PST) From: "Sam Iam" Subject: Kid Talk --------------------------------------------- "And again......." Mike Morton ordered. Susan Jordan took in an even deeper breath than before as the dark skinned intern listened to her chest with his stethoscope. "How am I doing now, doc?" she said breathlessly afterwards. "Uh..hmph." Morton grunted. "Sounds like they're going to have to be removed right away..." he said. Susan's eyes got as big as saucers in concern where she sat upright on the treatment room gurney, but that change made Roy and Johnny's little blond haired patient seem even cuter than a button. "Doc.."Johnny warned with a grin and with his voice, smacking the young doctor's arm with back of his hand. "Quit teasing her." "hmm? Oh! oh. oh.. I wasn't talking about your lungs, Susan. Sorry... I meant these.." he said tapping her hanging IV and the flowing O2 cannula she still wore in her nose. "Actually, things sound really good now. The bronchospasms seem to have dissipated completely." "Finally..." Susan said as Dixie moved on Morton's nod to free the little girl from her tubes. "I hate it when that happens. I feel like a beached sperm whale the whole time." Morton gave another grunt, then asked. "Do you usually get your asthma attacks when you exert- I mean run around or ride your bike ever?" "No.." Susan said. "Not ever." "Well, what do you think triggered it today?" Roy asked the child from where he leaned near the exam room door still holding his walkie talkie in his hand. "I don't know.." Susan said evasively. "Maybe because I got real mad I guess.." "Mad about what?" Dr. Morton asked gently as he helped her put on her windbreaker that Roy had found in the park before the trip in. Susan zipped her lips shut and dropped her head and watched as Dix secured a bandaid on her hand where the IV had been. Then she shot an uncomfortable glance up at Morton, Johnny and Roy. "It's a secret. A girl's one." she declared with defiance, wrinkling her nose as Dixie took off the cannula from around her face. "Oh, I see." Nurse McCall said, fighting a smile. "Well," she sighed expansively.. "If you gentlemen would excuse us for a moment. Us girls are gonna talk privately together, if you catch my drift.." All three men in the room suddenly caught on and hastened to make themselves scarce. Gage fumbled with gathering up the portable EKG monitor while Roy grabbed the small oxygen tank from the foot of the gurney, handing off Johnny's helmet to him as he struggled through the door with his load. Morton helped the paramedics make their exit by holding the door open for them. The paramedics and doctor all waved at the scowling child as they left. "Take care Susan. Coach Stoker sends his best to ya.. Ahh! Oops. heh." Gage said sheepishly as the door nearly squashed him. Soon, nurse and girl were alone. --------------------------------------------------- Johnny made immediate tracks to the water fountain along the wall, against which he piled the medical gear. Morton followed, looking to learn more from the medics before they had to leave. "Here, hold this.." Gage said to Roy, shoving his helmet into Roy's stomach. Being ticklish, Roy grabbed it without thinking. Then he made a face when he realized that Johnny had outsmarted him in the helmet carrying game. Having no better way to carry the extra item, he parked his own back onto his head with a frown. Gage smirked in triumph and he took a long pull from the icy water stream dancing in front of his nose. "I'm just too fast for ya, Roy. Someday, you'll learn." he chuckled. Mike Morton cleared his throat. "Fun and games over yet?" Roy and Johnny's grins fell away they both slipped into professional mode. "Sure doc." Roy nodded. "Well, uh.. it happened pretty much as Susan said it did. She felt her chest getting tight and she just crawled away from the game and trying to will it away by resting under a shade tree. Only her usual trick didn't work." "Oh? Didn't she have her inhaler with her?" "That's just it, doc." Johnny said wiping his mouth free of water droplets. "We think she doesn't like the notion of needing one. Stoker had to scout around a baseball infield before he located it for us." "Thanks. That'll help me figure out what to tell the case worker when she gets here for post visit instructions. Oh, yeah... How's Engineer Stoker doing? I haven't seen him since the night you fellas brought him in." "Stoker?" Johnny said. "He's doing fine. Though I do wish I knew more details about his eyesight prognosis, doc. He's clamming up about it." "Nice try Gage. But I can't tell ya anything." DeSoto lifted his head. "Please, Doctor Morton. Y- You don't have to give us much. I-it would really mean a lot to Johnny and me and the rest of the guys if we had something substantial to go on." Roy pleaded. "All right, all right!" Morton said holding up his hands in surrender. "I can tell you this much.." he said, beckoning a come closer finger. Roy and Johnny leaned in nearer with side long glances at the people passing in the halls and then confidentially, at each other. Mike Morton whispered. "Nothing he's going to face,.....will be bad news.." And then the young African American doctor was off down the corridor like a shot.. "See ya later, boys!" he called out as he rapidly departed. Gage's mouth flopped open in wide disappointment and he bellowed, "Oh, come on, doc. That's not fair. You could have given us more than that...!!" Morton shrugged hands and shoulders as he rounded the bend, "Can't.." he replied tartly amused and pantomimed a zipper shutting firmly across his lips and made good his escape. Johnny was stuck looking at the place where he had last seen Morton's white tunic-ed back, gaping like a fish. Roy leaned on the wall and crossed his elbows over one another with a mystified grin. "I'd say Morton beat you at your own game, Johnny. He's even faster on the draw than you are." "Would you just shut up.. And carry those two helmets like a man, you look ridiculous wearing one in the hospital like that." And he swiped Roy's headgear off his partner's head, thrusting it at him. Roy suddenly snatched up the gear boxes and rabbit dashed for the supply desk. "Ha! You touched it last.." he teased and got out of range quickly before Gage realized that he'd been had yet again while still holding the "ball." "And that's a tag back. So accept the full consequences.... like a man.." he smiled. "Hey!.. You'd kick a guy when he's down?!" Gage shouted after him. "Sure, why not? You aren't down, you're just a little stung for being so cleverly outsmarted, that's all." Roy said, pouring himself and Johnny some coffee from Dixie's warming pot. It took a full minute for Johnny to figure out how to carry all the equipment, his talkie, AND two helmets. He nearly dropped his run slate. Finally, Gage got a handle on his ungainly load and he let loose a long suffering groan, trudging slowly after him. "Thanks, pal.." he said sarcastically from behind a wall of gear. "No problem, Junior.. And remind me to thank Kelly for the Helmet Game idea when we get back. I think we're really going to have fun with it ." "Speak for yourself.." Johnny grumbled as he set all the gear and hats onto the desk in front of him. "Here.." "What?!" Johnny snapped. He felt a prod and looked down to see a coffee cup nudging his light blue shirt. "You're gonna get thirsty lugging all that." "You're all heart.." Gage said, snatching the cup from Roy gruffly. "It's in my nature." Roy replied, draining his own in two swallows. ---------------------------------------------------- Dixie had finished getting Susan set for discharge from the ER and then she got her into her jeans and shoes to go along with the windbreaker. The blond haired girl had jumped down from the gurney to go wait for her ride in the waiting room, when Dix said. "Hang on a minute there, young lady.. You forgot this.." she said, holding out the Albuterol inhaler Roy and Johnny had said was hers. "Oh, that ol thing.. You can have it. I don't want it.." "Listen, sweety. That "old thing" saved your life this afternoon. Now I think you owe it to your personal counselor to at least be cordial enough to have it on your person for the next time you get into the weeds. Don't you think?" she said, lifting Susan's chin gently by the chin. "I guess.." The girl said glumly, taking it reluctantly from Dixie's hand. "Here. Have a seat back up." Dixie said, patting the gurney and the sheets lying rumpled there. She surprised the unhappy child by hopping up onto the gurney too, taking her into her arms in a mothering hug. Susan relaxed immediately and almost started to cry because it felt so good to be held. Dixie sensed the child's fragile state, but she went on. "Now.. let's have that woman to woman talk before you have to go. I did hold up my part of the bargain by shooing all the men out of the room.." "You did.." she sighed. "Guess I have to tell you then, huh?" "Yep." Dixie said, unwrapping her arms from their hug to straighten a messy curl back to its usual place behind Susan's ear. Susan took a deep breath in, fiddling with the silver inhaler in her lap, before saying, "Jeremy Conners said that he was going to make sure no more buildings, like the one that killed his dad, stayed standing anymore. I got really mad because he said he wasn't sorry for the one that hurt Coach." Dixie blinked a bit at that, frowning. "Just what do you mean by that Susan..?" she whispered, making sure her voice stayed calm even as the rest of her filled with a sudden sick dread. "Don't you get it? Jeremy's proving himself to the Skinheads Gang. He's trying to be picked to be their next firestarter ace. They told him his dad won't rest peacefully until he burns someone else." Dixie gasped in shock, but quickly hid it. Numbly, she felt the next words tumble out. "When, wait..it's Jeremy ...C-- Conners, isn't it?" "Uh huh.." she nodded, fiddling with the rings on Dixie's elegant hands. "When will Jeremy Conners, .....try it again?" "When you can't see the moon anymore." ::Ohmyg*d..:: Dixie quailed mentally. ::That's tonight!:: ----------------------------------------------------- Mike Stoker and Victoria the psychologist were having dinner at the station with the rest of the gang. Cap had insisted she stay to shed some light on the kids in the Home. "Now, Captain. You know I can't discuss details of my case minors with you.." Cap inclined his head. "I'm not asking for their phone numbers, just a little insight or two. Look, it's costing the city thousands of dollars, if not millions, each time a derelict goes up in smoke. Now that translates into budget cuts, and eventually, those hit the fire department, and that effect, gets US where it hurts the most. Right in the pocket book.." "Here, here.." said all the gang with derision. Victoria sent down her fork and knife with a clatter and she looked up from her plate of roast chicken. "Oh, isn't that so noble of you." she said with heat. "Money first, eh? Well, your tactics stink. I'm not the bad guy here." "No one's saying you are, Vic.." Mike Stoker insisted, rubbing an itch around his wrapped eyes. He had been silent through the whole debate but now he found he had to speak up for his crewmates. "Oh, Mike, not you too." she said, surprised. "Not me what? I'm looking out for everybody here. My crewmates, my team kids and you..believe it or not.." "Well you have a strange way of showing it. " Victoria sighed. "...You're abandoning me.." The rest of the firemen around the table hushed and fell silent. By now, no one was eating. Victoria felt the weight of the quiet so she pegged Hank with a hurt stare. "Is this how you work your investigations, Captain Stanley? By first stuffing the witness you want with food and firehouse hospitality?" Confused, Cap was mute. Victoria went on. "I get it.. Then you all start hounding in slyly, hunting for protected information..." Cap snapped out of his shock. "That's preposterous, Miss Vickie. And you know it. My men and--" "Spare me the high and mighty ethics speech. I've heard it hundreds of times before from other firehouse captains." Cap's mouth shut. "Yes,..I've dealt with other pyro cases where a child has visited a favorite fire house in a sudden rush of guilt or daring. So I do know what you and your men are going through. And I do understand, Mike, the stress you must be feeling not knowing who for sure, was responsible for your accident." "Vic.." Victoria rose in her chair and all the other men rose too, in reflex. "If you'll excuse me, gentlemen. I think we'd better conduct this fire investigation separately, Captain. I know we'll work better that way in the long run. And I promise you. I won't withhold any information that may prove a danger to either this crew, or anyone else. Good night. Mike, this was a truly memorable meal.." None of the gang, including Roy and Johnny, knew how to take that remark. Victoria left quickly for the garage bay and the rear door leading out to the back parking lot. "I'm sorry, Cap. I don't know what's gotten into her. Let me at least try to talk some sense-- " he broke off hearing Vic struggle with the complicated deadbolt on the back door. "I'll be right back.." Mike Stoker got up and rushed out after her, using the willing Boot on a lead as a guide dog. "H*ll hath no fury like a woman surrounded." Kelly improvised. That earned him a glare from both Johnny and Roy. No one felt like eating until Victoria was back at ease. Mike's roast chicken and dumplings grew cold, while they waited for sounds of return from the back parking lot. --------------------------------------------------------- Boot found Victoria out in front by the flagpole. He barked, letting Mike know the woman was near. "Victoria, I'm sorry if you got a weird impression from us. It wasn't on purpose. The guys are still upset about me being blinded even though we all know I'm not going to stay this way. Just the fact that it happened irks them. And with firemen, that means turning over every stone until a solution can be found to prevent another accident like mine from ever happening again. Can you forgive me? And us?" he asked. Victoria's face crinkled into a half smile when Mike held out two arms out in front of him like a child looking for reassurance. He was pointed in completely the wrong direction. She spared him embarrassment by sidling into his arms and returning his friendly embrace. "Oh, all right. I just get so frustrated sometimes.." she sighed setting her chin onto his shoulder. "So do I. Frequently." The wind picked up just then, as the sun settled below the horizon, and the flags on their chains cracked suddenly, like a pistol shot. It startled Victoria who ducked out of the hug in reflex. Even Boot scrambled away, pulling on the lead, nearly tipping Mike over in his haste to locate what had startled him. Mike chuckled. "Hey, Boot. Settle down. It's just the flagpole, not an explosion. Come here, you.." Victoria and Mike both crouched while they petted Boot briskly to end his fright. Then Stoker stood, drawing Vic upwards. "Here. This is my job, too, to man the flagpole. Help me untie this chain from around the hooks here and we'll take them down for the night. Then we can head back in. I'll reheat dinner in the oven." he grinned. "You're so cute.." Vic said. "I can see why dad chose your field to run his concession stand in." "What? You didn't chose my field because the kids I work with just happen to be the most troubled kids in the city?" "Well,.. that too." she considered. "What's your reason for coaching them?" "I like to keep all problems where I can see them. That way, I can figure out how to solve or help them eventually." "Sound principle.. I think I like it.." Victoria declared as they fought with the large flags, folding them up in the rising breeze that was rushing in on the heels of the fast approaching dusk. "I, too, like to keep things well managed." Mike grinned and took the folded bundles of silk from her arms. Then he put two fingers in between his lips. "*whistle* Come here, Boot. Come on." The dog stopped his leg lifting "outing" around the red fire hydrant by the boulevard and returned, trailing his lead, to nuzzle Mike's hand. He then sat and dutifully accepted the flags Stoker draped over his back for the short trip he knew was necessary to carry them indoors. Victoria laughed. "What a good helper!" She said, petting him enthusiastically. Boot's tail thumped the flagpole with loud metallic pings in happiness as she scrubbed him behind the ears. "Boot's a real sweetheart. Had him long?" "Nah, Boot's a stray. He was here for a few days two years ago, checking us out. Then.....Marco ...said he came back the night I was hurt, looking for me." Stoker said with some emotion. Victoria took his hand. "Maybe he just likes to keep those down on their luck...... within sight.." "Maybe. Come on." Mike said releasing her hand. " I'm hungry.." Woof! "And so's Boot." Stoker laughed. "Let's go inside. It's getting cold out here. The sooner I have some hot food in me, the better I'll feel." "Maybe by then, Dad'll have found Jeremy.." "Why's Old Ben getting involved? He should be resting." Stoker insisted. "Dad thinks if he spends more time with the kids off duty, that he'll win their trust. He thinks afterwards, that maybe they'll stop stealing his popsicles." "It'll never happen. Not in a million years. Kids are kids." "I know that. And you know that. But Dad's like me, Mike. He's gotta try.." "Let's hope between all of us, that the trying will be worth something." "I'm sure it will be. Dad's almost a good a detective as he was a fireman in his day." Stoker smiled, and let Boot show them the way through the side yard. -------------------------------------------------------- Photo: John and Roy tussling over dinner in a pique. Photo: A close up of a cute blond little girl. Photo : Mike Stoker, manning the flagpole. **************************************** From :"patti keiper" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] One Dark Night.... Date :Fri, 21 Feb 2003 06:13:32 +0000 **Tandom post by Cassidy Meyers and Patti Keiper via Email Tennis.** Maximillion and Jeremy Conners ran to the gap in the fence surrounding the old firehouse on 223rd street. In his hand, the red headed boy held two Coke bottles full of kerosene stuffed with dull cloth wicks. "Are you sure you wanna go through wid this?" Max said. "I don't care what those gang sentries say. You don't have to do this.. It's craziness, man! What have you got to prove?" Jeremy was bigger than his best friend and he took full advantage of it. He grabbed the dark boy's collar and yanked him close. "My dad's soul for one thing. My honor for another." he whimpered. Max was shocked to see his usually quiet buddy suddenly losing it like a baby. "I want to belong somewhere, Max.. " he sobbed."So bad I can taste it.. I had it once. The perfect family.. you know?" he choked. "Then one night, my dad...fell off the pole." His face twisted in anguish and Max could see rivulets of water streaming down Jeremy's freckled face. "What? I don't understand." "It happened right here, Max. Right here.. In this old worn out firehouse!! The earthquake made him slip and the fire after finished him..!" Jeremy shoved Maximillion away and scrambled through the rend he had made years ago in the fence line. "Dad! Dad!!" he screamed in grief and despair.. "I'm coming..!! Just like I promised. On your seventh anniversary..y..y...yy." "Jer, no! Wait!" Max leaped to tackle the red haired boy, but missed, landing in a pile of dust. He coughed, frightened, as he watched Jeremy's striped shirt disappear into the bowels of the derelict station. Maximillion froze when a rumble of motorcycles at the end of the deserted block drew his eyes away from the nightmarish scene he couldn't believe was happening. It was the Skinhead Gang, officiating Jeremy Conners rite of passage. Max wailed.."Jer! Come on!.. We can still get out of here before they find us!! Jer!" But Jeremy Conners was long gone. The boy ran through the familiar ruins with the ease of long practice to the brass pole still in place among the dusty bricks. He leaned up against it, wiping his tears away, and he called. "Benjamin.. Are you here? It's seven o'clock. " he spoke to the dark room and the stillness amid the rubble. "I'm so glad you called me tonight. Now I have someone to play with.." he shouted, smiling through his tears. Conners reached down and found the old gas lantern he had recovered from his dad's collapsed office and he lit it with a match. "I'm over here. By the sliding pole.." A sound of stumbling echoed around the gutted foundation of the old fire garage and all at once, Old Ben was there, leaning on a half buried stone wall for support. "Jeremy Conners..? Is that you, my boy? Heh. I brought a whole box of popsicles we can share together. Won't they go down good?" "They sure will Ben.." Jeremy said, a slight grin showing on his face. "I got something for the both of us.." He held up the two Coke bottles full of lighter fluid. One in both hands. ::Dad, I'm coming...g..g..:: his mind whimpered. "Sodas, eh? How nice of you to think of them. Just let me catch my breath first. Not easy moving around in here. Let me .....rest up a bit.. Then we can have those drinks.." he gasped, then Old Ben sat down on the rickety stairway littered with heavy timber and dead vegetation. Jeremy was going to shift his bottles to his throwing hand when the other one lifted the lantern up so the old man could see to sit. A sudden, unfamiliar pang gripped him and soon after, the memory of his dad's death retreated and floated away.. "Ah, that's better, such a thoughtful young man. Now.. come sit beside me and we'll talk." Old Ben said, brushing off dust and brush from the step next to him. "Especially, about him.." Jeremy's vacant expression...... changed. To one of profound sadness and grief. The bottles in his hand fell out of his grasp, rolling into a hole in the floor and out of sight. All thoughts of suicide in Jeremy evaporated and he seemed to lose years in age. "B-Ben, Is it true you knew m-my dad? Victoria said that you knew him." "Eh? Come closer, Jeremy, so I can see you better. Come sit with me. Don't be afraid. I know it mustn't be easy for you to come here to the place where your dad met his end." Just like that, Jeremy's strength crumbled and set down the heavy lantern, wilting in grief. "Oh, Ben...I miss him so much.." he sobbed. The old man blinked and took the boy's head into his lap and stroked his hair lovingly. "I know you do, my boy. So do I. He was the best captain an old engineer like me, could ever have..." -- -- -- -- -- -- Jeremy forgot time as he lost himself in the old pain again. Dimly, he was aware of Ben relating story after story about his father, each one more exciting and more captivating than the last, and he was aware of the gentle caring voice of the old man sounding very much like the way his dad's had, until full darkness had fallen. A brass bell began to strike richly in the stillness, jolting Jeremy out of his foggy half sleep. "Ben?" "It's all right, my boy.. Sort..of a surprise. I fixed up the old call bell again and rigged it to sound off the hour. It's ok. Rigged it to the city's board, too, just fer kicks... hehe hehe." Jeremy froze when the bell stopped at eight. "Oh my g*d.." he whispered. "They're coming.." "Who's coming, my boy..? I don't understand." said kind Old Ben. "Them..! They've come to see if I have it done." Jeremy whispered in fear. "Have what done?" "This!...Here! Now!" said an angry voice. Older and very mad. Ben and Jeremy turned and saw him at the head of the collapsed stairs. It was the Gang leader. "Well, well well, looks like our little stooge is gonna chicken out. Too bad. I kinda liked you, Red.. But now there's a price to pay for your miserable failure, isn't there, little boy..?" he sneered. And he held up the two very familiar looking bottles. "Where did you find those?" Conners gasped. "Below.." he shrugged diffidently. "I figured, why waste a good thing?" he said evilly. Jeremy ripped out of Old Ben's grasp and stood on shaky feet, not caring that his shoes filled with mud. "Don't you hurt him. Please.. I've changed my mind. He's not the one, please!" "He'll do.." said the leader. And he leaped back up through the hole in the roof he had come through. And the twisted teen began to sing.. "One dark night, when we were all in bed... Missus O'Leary.. lit a lantern in the shed.. The cow kicked it over... She winked her eye and said... They'll be a hot time, in the old town............. " And then he whispered a final word.. "*Tonight....*" "no... NO ! Don't!!" Jeremy cried and in his terror, knocked over the forgotten lantern at his feet. Its tumble smashed against the fallen bricks of the derelict firehouse landing and into the rich mat of dried sage and grass nestled there. Fountains of flame sprouted up through the vegetation and a rising blaze caught and grew with frightening speed around Jeremy and Old Ben. "Awww, looky that? Little Jeremy's a red cow.. No, make that a yellow one.." chuckled the homicidal gang leader. "What's happening?" cried the old man. "We're being trapped! We've got to get out of here! Come on! I'll show you the best way out!" Jeremy said, pushing Ben before him towards the outside door he knew was in his dad's office. Just like that, an explosion of fuel and fire dropped directly in their path from a hole in the ceiling. One of Jeremy's firebombs had been thrown, narrowly missing them. A manic face peeked through it and the gang leader rolled his eyes with the sick pall of fascinated insanity. "Going somewhere? I do believe we have a false alarm...Please.. stay ..and warm yourselves by the fire.." "Torch!!.. Don't do this!! It isn't right.." Jeremy gasped. "You should have thought of that before you joined my little gang of horrors, Red." Jeremy and Ben stumbled, but somehow, they made it around the new patch of twisting fire. Echoey laughter swelled over the sound of the growing flames building higher in the ruin. Coughing, choking, the old man and boy were slowly driven back by the intense heat of the fire eating the dry old bones of the station. They fell back against something smooth, and cool.. "The pole! Ben, we've got to climb up." "I can't.. I'm too....*cough* ...weak.." "Come on, you've got to try..!" "Wait.. Jeremy,.. the bell.." Ben exclaimed, his cataract cloudy eyes getting wider. "What? You're not making any sense, Ben, just climb.. Pleas-se..." the boy sobbed pulling on Old Ben's arm where he lay against the fire pole. "No, listen to me, boy. I know what I'm talking about..*choke* Get on my shoulders.." "What?!" "Just do it. I'm going to lift you up and you are going to ring the bell.. Just pull the string. L.A. will hear us. Remember, I repaired the network.." Jeremy cried out as the old man shoved him up the pole. Inch by inch, the boy's fingers got closer to the satin rope. Then ...they... reached and Jeremy found that he had just enough strength to pull it down . SMASH!! A ball of fire landed against the wall in the pole space above his head, incinerating the bell's rope instantly. "No, you don't! I like to see my burns through to completion if you don't mind." challenged Torch. Screaming, Jeremy patted out the flames in both his and Ben's hair as they both tumbled back down to the stoney floor. Scrambling, Jeremy knelt by his friend's ear. "It's ok, it's ok, Ben, I put it out.. Get up.. Get up!.. I thought of something else.. You've got to make it to my dad's office. Get to the red door..It leads into the yard.. *gasp* Go, Ben, they'll find you...!" "A fireman never leaves his v----" But Old Ben started coughing violently in the heavy smoke. "Just go! Back the way we came. I'll try to draw him off!" Jeremy scrambled away from Ben and then back up the scalding brass pole. Half way up, he swung over to the flaming, disintegrating stairwell and up into the bunkloft at the top without a second glance back. When Ben got his wind back, he opened his eyes. He found that Jeremy was no longer at his side. "Jeremy!" he called out. "Jeremy!" Seconds later, the flames crawled too close for him to continue to look for the boy and Old Ben was forced to drag himself into the office despite what he wished. Once, there, to his horror, he found that Jeremy's plan for quick escape, would never hold any water. Torch had bolted the outer door with chains and padlocks.....from the inside. Hot, breathless and scorched, the exhausted ex-firefighter began to pound frantically on the door but Old Ben soon blacked out onto the floor and his body rolled limply against the metal of the barricaded door. -------------------------------------------- At L.A. headquarters, Sam Lanier saw a light go on that he hadn't seen in seven years. ::What th? It's old station nine.:: He thought. ::That's an in-house emergency signal coming from the mainpole's bell box..: His mind flashed back to the night of the earthquake when a fire captain by the name of Conners had rung the very same bell ....for the last time. By their own volition, his fingers toggled the tone call of the station nearest that area. --------------------------------------------------- ##Station 51. Truck 127, Batallion 14. Automated Fire Call. 2049 East 223rd Street. Cross street, Wilmington Ave. 2049 East 223rd Street. Cross street, Wilmington Ave. Time out : 18:26.## (Get where this is? :) ) "That's d*mned peculiar.." Cap exclaimed, recognizing the location. "Say Lopez, isn't that the firehouse that came down in the quake of--" "Sure is, Cap.." "Let's go.." Victoria rose in her seat. "Oh, no. Not there." "What's wrong, Vic? This is probably just a milk run. Sometimes the wires beneath the old buildings in that neighborhood, get cross connected and the random power surges do some pretty strange things." Stoker told her. "No, no no. You don't understand. That's where Jeremy Conners' father died. Tonight is the seventh anniversary of his death.." Mike Stoker whirled towards Victoria as the guys rolled out top speed in the engine and squad. ------------------------------------------------ Jeremy remembered leaving behind the fire and the heat. He only had focus enough, to find Torch. Rats ran frantically across the floor of the second story bunkhouse and in many places, the floor was rotting and unsafe. But Jeremy knew where the solid timbers were and he leaped across to them nimbly. He didn't speak, knowing that any noise from him could be lethal. Torch's personality always digressed far beyond sanity while he was attending a burn. Soon, Jeremy reached the place he wanted. Bunk Ten, his father's. The mattress was gone, but the coils were still half woven into the bedframe. The boy quietly paced three floor boards at its foot, avoiding the fourth and leaped the rest of the way to the bed. Determined, Jeremy got up on the rusty bed springs and started jumping up and down, cheering at the top of his lungs. Soon, Torch's voice filtered through the dark. "What are you doing jumping for joy, kid? Don't you know that I'm going to finish y--" "Yayyy! He's dead and I did it.." said Jeremy, fiercely, bouncing closer until he was at the foot of the bed nearest Torch. The whole time, Jeremy never ceased jumping. "What?" Torch blinked, shifting a lit fire bottle into his other hand. Jeremy felt his breath rattle thinly in his chest as he made his dry lips move. "That old man. I burned him. Burned him good..." he hissed, dropping to his hands and knees, to laugh openly. That halted Torch, cold. His face fell from murderous intent to one of confusion... Then Torch's toothless face split into a wide grin that came slowly and he said. "Well, all right. Didn't know you had it in you, Red." and he blew out the fire bomb in his grip. Jeremy watched the rebel walk closer across the squeaking fungus ridden boards, nearer and nearer to bed number ten. "Well, this changes everything, Red. Welcome to the gang. You passed my test. Put it there, man..." Torch said, taking another step forward towards Jeremy on the bedsprings. The boy looked up and saw a leather glove approaching, offering a hand shake to him just inches away from his face. SNAP!! The fourth floor board snapped and gave way, dropping Torch into the heart of the blazing inferno roaring through the main garage below. The flames' fury cut off any possible sound he could have made while falling, instantly. Jeremy's face suddenly twisted and his eyes watered with hot tears, completely blinding him. He felt a moan form in his throat, but the boy who was Jeremy Conners no longer cared about communicating. Somewhere deep inside he was deathly afraid that he no longer had the will to try and make it back down to Old Ben in the Cap's office. Heart and mind in pain, Jeremy collapsed on the wired bedframe, begging his memory to offer up the familiar image of his father, Captain Conners, before it was too late. "Dad, " he sighed.. "..get me out of here....." Jeremy shivered and then his head began to sink lower and lower from the dwindling supply of breathable air. The angry fire that had killed Torch, the gang leader, rose through the hole in the floor, rearing up over the bed frame where Jeremy Conners had suddenly fallen very still. ----------------------------------------------- "Marco, Charlie, Roy, John, string two inch and a halfs and cover the west side. And be careful. Looks like another gang related torch job. There's a Harley in front." Cap shouted. Then he lifted his HT.##L.A. we have a fully involved brick and wood two story structure. Advise the power company to kill the electricity to our one block area.## "Really?" Gage said as he hurried by. Cap grinned. "Yeah, saw a spark on the power pole over there. Looks like some half wit's jury rigged a line into the old firehouse itself. Gage spread the word. I want everyone in full SCBA." "Right, Cap." Hank Stanley saw the mess the blaze had already made of the old gallant fire station. Already the main tower was crumbling to pieces in a rain of ash and sparks. Again his HT met his mouth, ##Truck 127, cover the south side. Protect that direct exposure. Battalion Fourteen. Cover the cross street drive and set up your command post there.## Hank heard the hail of 10-4's reply back to his orders. Then he saw a very quiet Chet standing in front of the pumper panel off Old Red. "Well, pal. Here's your chance to shine.. Think you remember everything?" Chet was watching the fire with a fascinated horror. "I sure do. Mike didn't let me sleep last night at all 'cause he was quizzing me so hard. " "All right, then. Have at it. Look sharp for problem spots. Oh, and for look for the arsonist, too. They usually panic and bail out in the worst possible place for it." Chet nodded numbly. Then he turned back to his chemical dials and water guages. "Man, this is humbling.. " he said to himself. "I literally have the lives of the hose team crew in my hands.." "Yeah, well don't let that get to your head, Chet.." Roy grinned, jogging by with the K-12. The blond haired fireman already had on his air bottle. "Believe me, I'll have a healthier respect for Stoker's position from here on out." Roy chuckled. Then he shouted. "Cap!" "Yeah..." "Johnny and I are going in through that red door right there. Looks like the fire hasn't broken through to that room yet.." Cap eyeballed the door Roy was pointing to. "Sounds like a plan.. Good spot to start gutting the building. Have at it." he nodded. Roy waved at Johnny to follow him up with Marco on a covering hose and he put on his mask. "This looks good.." he mumbled as he set the blade into the door about waist high. He cut around the horizontal bar, creating a football sized hole in under a minute. Then he reached inside and tried to lift the door's latch from the interior. It didn't budge. Grunting, he took off his glove and tried again, feeling around for the reason why his cutting didn't work. He shifted around to use his other hand when he was shocked to find a smear of red on his skin.. ::That's blood..:: He pulled off his mask and peered through the window. "Hey, is anybody in there?!" He looked down and saw Old Ben lying on the ground. He had bloodied his hands trying to claw his way to air. "Marco, Johnny! On the double. We've a victim in here!!" Marco dropped the hose and came pelting with the crowbar.. -------------------------------------------- Victoria took full advantage of Mike's status as a firefighter to get under the fire lines nearest the scene. She pulled up her green Matador on a safe part of the street and quicklylead Stoker to his captain's side. Barking, Boot also jumped out of the car's open window and ran with them. Mike Stoker immediately told Victoria to leave Boot with Hank and to wait by the car for news of Jeremy. "But.." "It's too dangerous. You don't know how to keep safe this close to a fire." "Boot can show me h--" "No he can't. He'll be working, watching the guys in case they run into trouble. He's also on alert for any potential victims shouting from the windows. " "But Jeremy's still in there!" she wailed. "Hey, now. We don't know that for a fact." Mike said firmly. Just then, Boot bounded across the burning boards and hissing water puddles left over from Truck 127's water shield, making a beeline for Roy's hacked open door. "They've found someone!!" Victoria shouted. Mike had the good sense to keep his grip tight on her shoulders because soon after, she fought him. "It's my father, Mike! Oh my G*d!" "Stay put, Vic. They'll be bringing him here." Sure enough, Johnny and Roy ran with Old Ben, arm-draped between them, towards the rescue squad. "They're coming!" Vic said. Mike shouted. "Cap!!.. Roy and Johnny got a man out of there.." Cap left his place by the engine and grabbed the medical gear and 02 tank from the squad's hold. Gage looked up as he carefully lowered Old Ben to the ground. "Thanks, Cap. We can take it from here." "Keep me posted.." And Hank disappeared into the darkness. Vic tore away from Mike and hurried to Ben's side. "How is he? Oh, please.." she sobbed, afraid to touch him. "He's gonna be fine. Looks like all he needs is some 02." Roy said. Old Ben started to moan as the fresh air outside revived him. "Get...Jer--" "What?" Johnny asked Ben. "Now just lie still." he ordered. But Ben wouldn't. He still seemed to be struggling to talk. Gage bent close to make out Ben's words. "Just keeping breathing in this oxygen..It'll help ya focus. Now.. what is it that's so important to tell us?" Ben fought Gage's hands, shoving the mask aside with bloody fingers. "Get him out.. Up....pole.." he gasped. "Ok, ok, ok.. Just lie back down and take it easy... Cap!!" Johnny hollered. "We've got another victim in there.. This man says he's on the second floor." "I'm on it.." And Hank waved two from Truck 127's crew to gear up for an exploratory. Just then the whole front of the firehouse came tumbling down towards the row of water spraying firetrucks and Victoria. A loose stone struck her and she went down. "Victoria??" Roy shouted. Johnny and Roy rushed over to check her out as fast as they could. Chet could only watch hopelessly. "What happened?" Mike demanded. "Wall collapse. Victoria took a brick to the side of her head." Roy said. "She ok?" "We don't know yet.." Then there was no more time for words. Both medics lost themselves in the care of their victims and soon, Mike was tuned out altogether. "Oh, Jeremy..." Mike fretted. Then, on a thought, he whistled. Boot came running, instantly. Pulling a lead from his pants pocket, Mike attached it to his collar and he turned his bandaged eyes towards the burning building. "Boot...." he said, taking a tight grip on the leash.. "Seek. Find him. He's in the fire.." Boot dashed forward, pulling Mike effortlessly with him. Stoker counted on the dust and smoke from the fire and the cover of night to conceal his entry into the building fire. His gamble worked. No one saw him go inside. "Boot!" he coughed. "Find him.. Upstairs.." Loud crackles from the burning timbers and their self destruction's rumble guided Mike on where not to step. He relied on the feel of Boot's leash on his arm to point out the safest way. Mike slowly became aware of an intense almost surrealistic bright orange glow. ::The fire. I can see it!:: Stoker began to claw off his eye wraps as Bootlead him deeper into the open garage and to the stairwell. He whined to his left suddenly and immediately turned away. Mike covered his nose. He knew the smell of a charred body when he encountered one. "oh, please, no.." he sighed. But Boot was still pulling him strongly onwards. ::Maybe that corpse back there, was the arsonist.:: Stoker's spirits raised. "I am in so much trouble.." he mumbled. The last of the bandages fell away and the bright stabbing orange light pierced deep into his retinas, making his barely healed eyes, water. "This light..My G*d. It's bright enough for me to see by!" Soon, he was wiping away the tears as perfectly clear, fire illuminated vision returned."Boot, double time.." he ordered. His shoe hit the first stair. By some miracle, the front wall's collapse hadn't crushed the stairwell and its bulk had snuffed out a great deal of the fire in that area. Mike followed Boot into the blackness at the top, where Stoker froze in his tracks. Bright sparklets of light lanced into his field of vision. ::Deprivation. I still don't have my night vision back. I'm gonna have to go back or risk getting trapped up here.:: But Boot's leash went tell-taley slack and Mike heard Boot begin to bark frantically from just ahead of him. Stoker reached out and his hand struck the hard metal coils of a gutted bunk .. and..a leg.. "Jeremy??!" A small boy's moan greeted him. Mike wasted no time and he gathered up the boy into his arms and then slid him head first over a shoulder. Then Mike said, "Boot. Out. Go outside. Go..go.. go.." Stoker's fear lessened when the bright glow of the main fire granted him sight once more. Near the outer door, Mike was met by an angry team of county firefighters. "Hey.. just what the h*ll do you think you're doing??" one of them shouted through his airmask. "Take him.. Sorry. I'm with 51's. I heard him calling for help." he lied. "I'm Mike Stoker." "Yeah, I know who you are.." said the bigger one. "Is he breathing?" "Yeah.." Mike let the firemen take Jeremy and used the same route he had taken before with Boot to return to the fireline. As he walked away from the fire, Mike was amazed to find that his watery vision didn't entirely disappear. In fact, as the chill air cooled him, it got better. The first clear sight he saw, was Chet, sweating over the chem panel on the engine. And then he saw the night stars. Smiling, Stoker reached down and petted Boot's sooty back in sheer joy. "Good dog.. good dog.... What a way to work.. Good boy.." As Mike suspected, no one else knew what he had done. The two men from 127 who had dropped off Jeremy near the squad, had been, luckily, mutually decided to hustle back to their fire detail instead of reporting Stoker to anyone. Mike released Boot from his lead and whispered. "Go to Cap, boy.. Move it.." He watched the valiant dog rejoin Hank at full tilt. Then he knelt down quietly by Johnny, who was working on Victoria, who was just coming to. "Relax, Vic." Mike soothed. "Your bump doesn't ...look... too bad." That made Gage glance up from the BP he was taking on her. Johnny did a double take when he saw that Mike was bandage-less.. and seeing.. "Mike!" he said happily. "You can see.." Then Gage's face flickered between watchfulness over Vic's changing status and curiosity over Mike's. "Hang- hang on there. I'll be right with you." "No rush.. I feel fine." "You sure?" "Yeah.." "No flashes or..spots ..or anything like that?" "Nope..None." "Ok. Good... All right....." Gage forced himself to stop staring at the relieved tears flowing unabashed down Mike's face. "Listen, Mike.. uh, I'm dying of curiosity to see how the boy's doing. Could you go over there and just .. you know check on him for me? It's bugging me 'cause Roy hasn't said much about him yet." Stoker patted Johnny on the shoulder, "Gladly." As Mike crossed the short distance to where Ben and Roy and Jeremy were, he dried his cheeks on a sleeve. Then he couldn't resist. "Nice guage work, Chet.... Looks .....like your psi pressure's perfect..." Mike ambled nonchalantly on past him. Kelly just about did arabian handsprings at the sight of Mike walking, free of Boot, eagle eyeing everything around him. "WahhhHHhooooo Stoker.. All rightt!!!! Man, this is great.. Your eyes are-- Wait a minute, why am I cheering? I'm gonna get demoted now.." "You can live with it.." "Just as long as you can, pal.." Kelly fired back. "I'm beginning to fall in love with this job, Stoker. I may test out with ya in the fall. May the best man win.... WahhhhHHHhhoooo." he howled again. This time half a dozen firefighters rubber necked in their direction and Mike only shrugged, making crazy signs with a finger circling his ear and then a hooking thumb at Kelly, when Chet wasn't looking. Mercifully, Chet never caught on to why the other men were laughing. Mike Stoker entered the place where the triage lights had been set up above Roy and his victims. He approached his coworker, keen on surprising him with his Lazarus back from the blind routine when something about DeSoto's body english stopped him. He set a hand on Roy's shoulder. "Roy, how's Jeremy doing?" Roy looked up and reacted pretty much as Johnny had about his eyes. But Stoker never saw it. His eyes were locked on Jeremy's face. The boy was pink, breathing well under an 02 mask, and his skin was mercifully whole. But two hideous sockets existed where the boy's eyes had once been. They had completely boiled away from the heat of the burning fire. DeSoto heard Stoker's gasp of horror. "Mike, he's not in any pain. I've given him a pain med. But, I'm afraid he'll never s--" and DeSoto's voice broke. " see.. again.." He studied his hands and the spent MS syringe resting there without being aware of it. "Not ever?" Roy slowly shook his head without meeting his eyes. Stoker's face filled with salty wetness and he bent low over his favorite project kid's drugged form, and cried until the ambulance came. Old Ben, seated on the squad's bumper in a cannula and blanket, set a bandaged hand on Mike's shoulder in wordless understanding. ------------------------------------------------------- It was another perfect sunny summer day at the McGregor ballpark and Mike Stoker and Victoria and Susan Jordan and Maxilliam and Old Ben were at their usual places around the diamond. Jeremy Conners was sitting on Mike Stoker's lap getting a verbal play by play of the game, directly from his favorite coach. "Hey Coach.." Jeremy said, sucking on his popsicle and scratching an itch under his eye wraps. "Yeah, Champ?" "Are you sure the guys aren't missing Boot at all? I mean he makes a swell guide dog and stuff, but Boot's a fireman just like d--" his voice trailed away. "Yeah, he is a pretty good one. " Mike studied Jeremy's hanging head. "It's ok. It's all right to be sad about your father and what happened to that old firehouse. But that's the funny thing about living. Life always changes. And there's nothing in the world we can do about it... ..except..." Jeremy's face cracked a smile and he lifted a hand full of slender sticks. "...except throw popsicles sticks at it.. Yyeeahhhhhhhh!" and the red haired boy crowed at the top of his lungs, hurtling his wooden missiles down on the players below. He started to laugh when Tiny and Cruz, standing near the bleachers, complained verbally about the rain of litter landing on them. But, to themselves, the project kids made it a point not to grumble too much. Mike and Victoria, on either side of the happy little boy, smiled broadly at Jeremy, muttering in conspiracy about what they could throw next. And behind his back, the two adults timidly joined affectionate hands. Not missing a beat, Victoria spoke up. "Don't fret about the guys missing Boot, Jer. Because Boot's a free spirit. He wouldn't've stayed at 51's for long anyway. He always gravitates to those who need him the most Mike tells me. And you certainly fit his bill young man.." Jeremy giggled when she tickled his nose. She went on with a small smile. "Nah, I think Boot the wanderer's finally found a home.." "You know what, guys?" Jeremy asked, angling his head up. "What..?" Both Mike Stoker and Victoria asked together. "I think I'm finally home, too. " FIN :) Season One, Episode Four- Within Sight :) This episode is dedicated to all who work in foster care children's programs. May your kids all find warm, kind and loving families, and a place they can finally call.... home.. :) :) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season One, Episode Five.. Integrity Game ***************************** From: "Linda Taggatz" Date: Fri Feb 14, 2003 4:41 pm Subject: A possible start for Ep 5. Kel was going on vacation. Not just any vacation. For the first time in years he was going on a family vacation with both parents. He and his dad were starting to resolve their differences. They both felt that going to Martha's Vineyard like they did when Kel was a kid would help. Joe had volunteered to take them to the airport. They had reserved a rental car to use during their stay. Of course Kel wanted to explore Boston, he hadn't been there in a long time. His mom & dad agreed to that. They knew that this vacation was important to all of them. Unfortunately a huge snowstorm hit that area hard. The airport in Boston had been closed, no flights in or out. ----------------------------------------------- Photos : None. ******************************* From : "patti keiper" Subject : No Sure Bet.. PG-13. Date : Wed, 05 Mar 2003 12:44:23 +0000 Dr. Brackett sat in the hospital cafeteria patio across from his father, Brent, and his mother Anna Rose at a white whicker table fully under the bright noon day California sun. Both men were in a foul mood as they chewed without tasting, the tuna sandwiches on their lunch plates. They wore matching scowls on their faces. "Anna, you find something amusing about all this? Our vacation plans are ruined and here you are...making a spectacle of yourself." Brent told her firmly. Anne Rose broke out into spontaneous laughter covering her mouth with the hand not holding the plane tickets. "I'm sorry." she gasped. "It's just you two are reacting in exactly the same way right now. It's not the end of the world. Just the end of our current gameplan. We don't have to go to Martha's Vineyard to spend time as a family. No. We can do that right here at home where no snowstorm can possibly interfere." Kel looked up sitting straighter, as he shoved the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth. "Easier said than done. Those tickets cost a fortune, mom. What do you expect us to do about it now?" "This.." her warm brown eyes beamed from the frame of auburn hair around her face. And she promptly tore their three unused flight vouchers in half firmly with a flourish. Brent and Kel both stood up from their chairs in dismay. "Anna Rose, why in G*d's name did you do that?!" "Mom! What the h*ll?!!" They both cried in outburst at the same moment. Both father and son eyed each other up when they both realized that had struck exactly the same pose of ire with hands spread indignant over the table top, leaning in to Anna in anger. That only made Mrs. Brackett laugh all the harder to the point of wheezing soundlessly and her light airy voice died away as she lost her ability to breathe. Kel and Brent frowned, and again, father and son took like actions of grabbing up their glasses of water to hand to Anna to drink to gain a quicker recovery from her mirth. Soon, Anna wiped away her amused streaming tears and accepted one of the waters being offered to her. "Oh, that felt good." she chuckled, dabbing her eyes on a napkin delicately while she sipped the ice water. "Getting rid of those tickets meant getting rid of unpleasant distractions. Now, think of it this way." she said patting their rough hands. "We now have a squeaky clean slate to work with now in regards to our family vacation. And do sit down. People are beginning to stare, doctors..." she grinned. Kel and Brent glanced around and did see a few subtle glances their way. They buttoned their dinner jackets over their ties self consciously. The older Brackett cleared his throat. "Don't make it a habit, pet." Brent said, regaining his chair and he honestly started to half smile. "If you want to throw money away to make a point next time, I'll have a pond built in the back yard and I'll hand you the sack of coins myself." "Amen to that.." Kel said empathetically and downed his water glass in a salute to the suggestion. He then began to gather up the two lunch trays that were empty. Anna Rose's eyes twinkled. "Your father's such a kidder, Kel. Don't listen to him." "Have I ever?" Dr. Brackett quipped. Brent nearly spit out the rest of his sandwich he had started eating again as he pegged an intense stare at his only son. "Yes. You have." he said, covering his mouth with his napkin. "When I called you last week about this family vacation plan of ours... You actually listened to what your mother and I had to say and then you actually said, ...yes..to it. " he grinned. "As if I could have refused. I'd have been disowned.." "There is that.." Brent said. Anna Rose slapped her husband on the arm to behave himself. "So, what do we do now that mom's made sure that any ticket refunding's impossible?" Kel asked. Brent shrugged. "Don't know. Ask your mother." he said, mopping up some mayonnaise with the last crust remaining of his food. Kel raised questioning eyebrows. It was Anna Rose's turn to lean over the table to catch their ears in confidence. "We find a third party to make the decision for us." "And who would that be?" Kel grumbled. Personal privacy was still a big thing with the younger Dr. Brackett. ---------------------------------------------- Dixie McCall backed up against the base station glass door, clutching an armful of patient charts against her chest defensively. "Ohh noo... Anna Rose. This isn't fair.." she hissed in a whisper at Mrs. Brackett. Subconsciously, Dix glanced inside the clear glass base station where Kel had dragged his father in to overhear an incoming rescue call he was handling. "I can't take on an important decision like that. It's taken years for me to get those two to even begin to listen to each other.." "And it shows. " she said empathetically. "Now who better to make the next call than a close co-working friend. H*ll. You and Kel dated once. We all trust you." "That's dirty pool and you know it, Mrs. Brackett." Dix said straight faced but unoffended. "Who else can we turn to? Mike Morton's never even had lunch with us. And Joe, ..." she sighed. "Joe Early's too nice to even try to get involved in the Brackett father/son feud reclamation project." "Nice sentiment there. I think I'll follow Joe's angle, too." And Dixie tried to make her escape. Anna Rose got in her way innocently by taking the charts from the head ER nurse's grasp, "Here, let me file these for you, dear. I know where they go.." And Dixie was forced to stay while Mrs. Brackett slowly set the patient charts in their metal holder on Dix's desk, one by one, alphabetically. McCall plastered a forced polite smile on her face as Anna Rose rambled on. "So, what's a great part of town? Long Beach? Heard Crystal Pier's simply lovely this time of year." "I wouldn't know. I never get out." Dixie mumbled. She again tried to ooze away from the desk. But Anna Rose reached for another chart slyly and she had to freeze in place or drop the rest of her stack. Anna Rose said, "Neither do we. That's the problem." she said frankly. "Ok, this one goes under... S.. for Smith.."she said, myopically eyeing the chart's proper slot. "We're not asking you for stock investing advice, just one teeny tiny vacationing spot idea for us to go to. Just pick anywhere, Dixie. Top of your head. Whatever you say won't be locked in stone by any measure, I assure you. We're just...getting a fresh start here." she said, filing another metal chart into its housing. Dixie sighed and fought like mad not to tap her foot on the tiles in nervousness. ::Oh, boy. Fates, I demand you get me out of this one. If I choose anywhere that doesn't turn out for the Bracketts, I'll have to live with the consequences of my actions for the next ten years working with the two doctors locked into yet another feud.:: she bemoaned mentally. Right then, the red light on the call station over her head began to flash.. Miss McCall's face erupted in an eager glee of reprieve. "Hold that thought, Anna Rose. I have to answer that. It's a second run coming in.." And she shoved the charts right back at Mrs. Brackett who barely caught them as Dix fled into the base station's sound isolation room and slammed the door. Dixie's hand darted onto the talk button on the second intercom, just barely beating out Kel's subtly reaching one. "Unit calling in please repeat.." she stated quickly, taking over the run from him hastily. Kel said. "You didn't have to come in just to answer that." he said, looking up from the EKG strip he was looking at. "I sure did.." Dixie gasped. She felt Brent Brackett come stand by her to hear how a registered nurse answered a rescue call. Dixie's caller came into voice. "Rampart, this is Engine 51. We're on scene at the Santa Anita Racetrack. There's been a multiple race horse pileup on the final turn of a stakes race with injuries. Squad 51's en route on the track right now with the grounds crew leading the way. Please stand by." came Captain Stanley's voice over the murmuring roar of a crowd of other people on the frequency. Their horrified dismay was very apparent in the background. To Dix, it sounded like a bad accident. "Standing by, 51." Dixie said. "Kel, do you need Joe on yours?" she asked. Dr. Brackett looked up from his chart. "Hmm? No, this is just a simple case of syncope. It's a scorcher out there today. We're bound to get a few heat related injuries into the ER this afternoon." Dr. Brackett said. "This cardiac strip's precautionary only." Then he leaned down and finished his call. "Squad Ten. Start an IV Normal Saline and run it in at the rate of 30-40 drops a minute. Continue to monitor her vital signs and transport as soon as possible.. Now that she's awake, you can D/C the O2 at your discretion." ##10-4, Rampart. Squad Ten out. Our ETA is ten minutes.## "10-4, Squad 10." Kel ended the transmission. Brent Brackett motioned Kel over while Dixie began filling out the run sheet for 51. She moved the yellow medical status magnet for their station from base bound to on rescue call. "Looks like this might be a bad one, son.." Brent told Kel. "It's at the race track." Kel sighed and his face twitched in sympathy. "Another jockey tangle up?" Dixie looked up from her writing. "Yes, sounds like it. 51's still getting out to that part of the track." "Stick around Dix, we may have more than we can handle here very quickly. And call Joe in here." "Right." Dix said handing off the run chart to Dr. Brackett. "Excuse me, Brent." and she reached over and grabbed the paging phone over the recording monitor above the intercom. " Operator. Please page Dr. Early to the base station, stat...... Yes, thank you." and she hung up. Silence stretched in the tiny room and Brent felt his palms beginning to sweat in anticipation even as Dix and Kel calmly marked notes on their respective charts. Finally, Brent licked his lips. "Is it always this hard waiting around to hear back on a rescue in progress ?" "Yes.." Dix and Kel said simultaneously. "I'm glad I'm a psychiatrist. No rescue calls to speak of.." he mumbled to himself. Overhearing, Dix and Kel smiled at him. ================================ Squinting into the bright sun to the south, Cap could just make out the dust trail of the squad as it followed the grounds crew truck along the track's outer rail to where the chaos was happening. He could see several horses sprawled awkwardly on the ground, some still moving. But the one smaller human body hanging on the rail and the several more in the dirt, were alarmingly still. He could see at least four other racehorses careening wildly around the track without their riders with parade outrider ponies and their unhurt, tossed jockeys, hard up on recapturing them from their mindless dash away from the accident side of the track. Hank hung the biophone receiver over his shoulder and he slapped Chet Kelly on the arm of his overcoat. "Chet, get a couple of hoses strung onto the apron here. Straight through the hydrant. Maybe we can do something for those poor horses out there. Only one seems to have broken a leg. The others that are down could still be alive and only lightly heat stroked. But don't go out there until those loose racers are caught, all right? It's too risky for us to have our hoses running where the others, in their panic, might trip over them." "Right, Cap." And Kelly jogged down through the tunnel to the utility driveway where Stoker was still idling the big engine to tell him Cap's orders. Hank turned to Marco at his side. "Marco. Roy and John may need help communicating with their victims out there. If any of those jockeys are even half out, their english speaking abilities will go out the window if you know what I mean." "Understood, Cap. I'm on it." And Marco went with another crew pickup truck, riding on the back. They maneuvered slowly down track to avoid upsetting the free runners, moving along the outer rail to the scene of mayhem. By the time Chet and Stoker had returned with the strung hoses and had charged them, the uneffected racers and their jockeys had all heeded the red lit hooter on the tote board and had vacated completely off the track to the backside stables or the test barn. Cap could see the remaining loose thoroughbreds were firmly back in reining hands. ##Ladies and Gentlemen. Please hold all tickets.## said the track announcer. ##Officials are dealing with the situation on the track's far turn. Race Five is delayed until further notice. All pool, trifecta, and daily double betting is now frozen at all teller windows. Please stand by for the results of the steward's inquiry.## Hank frowned. ::How cold is that? There are possibly dead horses and people out there and all the track officials are worried about is keeping the gamblers happy?.. No wonder I hate the track..:: he thought. ::Don't get what Roy sees in playing the horses at all.:: ---------- Chet and Stoker stepped out onto the track when the tote board light stopped flashing its loose horse warning. Together they began dragging out the hoses to where they could see Roy and John and Marco moving from fallen rider to fallen rider. "Coming through..." Chet said angrily, as blue grounds crew backs just concentrating on tractoring the starting gate into position for the next race, got in their way. The track horse ambulance team was already leading away a limping foreleg shattered filly to the attending vet awaiting there with a syringe. Kelly felt sick to his stomach. "They're gonna put her down?" he shouted at Stoker over the noise of the tractors. "Yeah, there's nothing they can do after a horse's leg has been broken." Mike replied. "I've seen this before." he said lugging the heavy hose to the nearest downed horse. Gage looked up from the nearly unconscious jockey he was assessing. "Stoker. Not that one. He's the one who caused this pileup. He burst a lung vessel and was dead even before he hit the ground. See the bright blood flowing out of his nostrils there? Go cool down that colt still twitching over by the rail. Hose down just his head. Be sure to loosen that saddle strap and take his bridle out from between his teeth if you can while you're doing it. He may come around from the heat in time.. All the trainers will be out here in a sec to take over the horse care for ya.. Do whatever they ask of you." Then Johnny bent to work over his patient. "But what about these other jockeys?" Chet asked. Johnny met Chet's eyes heavily. "Roy and Marco and I have everything taken care of on our end. There's only these two victims. The other jockeys were killed along with their horses. We found that most have hangman's fractures from their falls and that guy's been trampled to death." he gestured with his head behind him. Kelly saw a lone tiny male jockey lying face down in the dirt not too far away. The back of his chest bore the unmistakable crushed flat look of a fatality. He almost looked like a shattered marionette to Chet. Stoker looked up, too, in shock when he saw Roy only dealing with the american woman jockey still draped over the inner rail. DeSoto was getting the grounds crew men to carefully hold her neck still while he placed her into a cervical collar while he continued talking quietly with her. "UGghhhHHH." she moaned. "How's Little Bit? H-- How's my filly? She got away from me after Charismatic went down. *cough*." "Shh, try not to move, miss. You may have a serious back injury." Roy told her. "Now we're going to immobilize you and slide you onto this long board here. Then we'll get you on some oxygen so you can breathe a little better, all right?" Behind Roy, the sealed horse ambulance shifted with a thud on its tires as a heavy weight inside of it fell to the floor. The woman didn't say anything more and she started weeping uncontrollably, ignoring the men who were easing her off the railing inch by inch. "They euthanized her didn't they..? They killed my Little Bit..Oh, nooooOOOoo." "I'm sorry, ma'am. From what I could see her leg was fractured too badly to splint." Roy said quietly. "At least she's been released from her agony." "nnnooo." The jockey sobbed once more and let go her hold on consciousness as she was strapped onto the long board and immobilized. The woman rider was placed on the ground and Roy hastily placed an O2 mask over her face and started to take a BP on her good arm after making sure she could breathe well enough on her back without the help of an oral airway. He looked up at the grounds crew men who had helped him. "Stick around. There's no way the Mayfair's gonna be able to come out here like we did. This dirt's too deep.We're gonna have to hand carry these people outta here once we get them treated." he told them. The Santa Anita workers nodded. Then Roy yelled after Johnny. "Hey Johnny! What do you got?" "I got four Code F... This guy's got a ton of broken ribs on the left side. I'm finding signs of marked flail chest. And he's having a lot of trouble breathing. The O2's not helping. Gonna have to stabilize this first before we move him out. Man, don't these guys believe in flack vests and helmets?" "Nah, " Roy said tightly. "They don't want to wear them because of the extra weight." "That's gotta change. Oh, man. Look around us. This is a just a senseless massacre..!" Gage swore. "I don't make the rules." Roy replied. "No, you just support the industry by condoning them with bets on the horses instead." Johnny snapped as he carefully had some track crew help him roll the moaning injured jockey onto his bad side once he had been immobilized. Roy tactfully didn't say anything. The motion drove the wounded man awake and he began to swear a stream of words that weren't in understandable english. Marco calmed him in animated Spanish getting a quick history and verbal account of injury from him. Kelly and Stoker were hard at work with the hose. Stoker was holding the horse's head straight out so the heat overwhelmed colt could breathe while Chet played a powerful stream of icy water over his head to cool down his brain pan as rapidly as he could. Soon the horse began snorting in tight gasps and his legs began to kick out as he started snapping out of his unconsciousness. "Look out!" said a few of the starting gate guys and they jumped down from the tractors with ropes to tie around the colts legs so he wouldn't hurt the firemen trying to help him. A gnarled old trainer huffed and puffed his way up to Chet and he patted him in the shoulder. "Easy. Ok, keep it up boys, just like that. The crew's got his legs pinned. Now, play the water over the rest of him. Get his chest first. Then everywhere but the legs, for that will cause the tendons to bow permanently if they're cooled too fast. Don't want him irreversibly lame." "Sir?" said Stoker, startled at the trainer's sudden appearance. "Can we do anything for the other racers down around us? We have an extra hose." "Nah. They've cooked too much in the sun. Ain't nothing gonna wake em now. It's too late. We can only save this young colt here." "But.." Kelly started up. "Just keep working young man.." the wizened trainer told him. He sighed and got up from his crouch and wandered over to the dead stallion in the dirt with the blood filled nose. He stepped on the horse's flank and pressed down with a foot, cocking his head when he heard the telltale gurgle of lungs drowned in an artery burst. "Oh, Dusty Schraeder. Now you've gone too far." Near him, Gage was writing down the vitals he had obtained on his patient. "Don't tell me. Skipped Lasix treatment to cut budget corners with a little insurance money collection on the side?" The older man in the straw hat looked up at the dark eyed paramedic who had spoken to him. "Fraid so. Oldest track scam in the book 'cept for calcium stunting to cause bone failure." the trainer said. "You know about horses, young man.." "I know a bit.." Johnny said. "I have a ranch full of em. Excuse me.." and he started to relay his medical information to Cap via his walkie talkie.. -------------------------------- Photo : Brent Brackett looking at an x-ray. Photo : Anna Rose Brackett looking soft eyed. Photo : Kel Brackett getting smooched by Dixie. Photo : A racetrack starting gate with an ambulance. Photo : Roy DeSoto in helmet looking down. Photo : Johnny Gage looking down at victim by squad. Photo : Jockey wearing C collar surrounded by help, equipment, and his racehorse. Photo : Another jockey holding down a stricken horses's head. Photo : Cap and Chet stand ready with a water hose. Photo : Crew putting ropes around a struggling blindfolded injured horse. ***************************************** From : Sam Iam Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Sticky Situations Date : Sat, 8 Mar 2003 23:16:01 -0800 (PST) Acknowledgements to P. Keiper for providing an EMT scenario allowing for a believable slide downhill for the downed male jockey enough, so my plot twist idea could work. Acknowledgements to Dr. Jeff Seltun on giving me the doctor speak for all the medical want-to-happens I threw at him. --------------- "Squad 51 to Engine 51. Uh, Cap, advise L.A. that we have multiple fatalities here. Numbered four." Johnny Gage lowered his voice so the kindly trainer nearest him standing over the dead, bled out racer, couldn't overhear. "And... ask for a police response. I have reason to believe this pileup wasn't an accident." Then he spoke louder with a heads up glance at Roy for his history.. "Stand by for vitals on two victims, Engine 51." ##10-4, Squad 51. .............L.A. has been notified. Standing by and awaiting vital signs.## Cap replied. Johnny Gage bent over his agitated victim. "Hey.. senor..Can you hear me? Just try to relax. Strapping ya on this board's just a precaution. Now you've got some broken ribs here that we need to take care of. Just try to keep from moving around okay? Having ya on your side like this is gonna help you breathe better. Marco, keep holding him just like that. If you have to, get some of those guys over here to help you." Marco spoke a few short words in spanish and two members of the grounds crew came and knelt by them to help hold the injured man in position. "Como te llama?" Lopez asked the injured jockey. "Jose' Rivero. Aiiyy.." said the man irritatedly. The jockey continued to swear and cuss in spanish but his anger wasn't directed at Gage or Lopez. It was aimed towards a second trainer who was staying well away from the dead thoroughbreds. The man was dispassionately chewing tobacco as he watched track officials taking photographs of the dead horses and riders. The fallen jockey swept off his oxygen mask and spit in insult as he continued to glare at the dark dressed man. "Jefe Schraeder! Hablas usted con tu' ahora. Por que? Mis amigos son muerto! Por nada!!" cried the wounded racehorse rider and he once more tried to lift his head up. "Y mi caballo is infermo sol malo porque de tu!" Gage held him down firmly by the shoulders. "Hey, hey.. Now settle down. That C collar's there for a reason. Stay still. Now tell me what's wrong? Your breathing's a little off... Listen to me.. Hey..Where else are you hurting besides your chest here?" The jockey ignored Gage until Marco grabbed him by the face firmly, motioning for him to look him in the eyes intently. "Eschuchas!..Nosostros son ayudar. Donde es su dolor?!" The jockey tried to pull away from Marco's grasp, and locked up in agony on the long board, ignoring both firemen as he continued to rant at Dusty Schraeder standing just within range of eyesight. Lopez shook his head in frustration and glanced up at Johnny. "I told him to listen to us and that we're trying to help, but he's not answering me about where else he's hurting." Johnny looked at Marco. "What DID ya get from him? He's off in his own little world here. Man, if I didn't know better, I'd say he's out for vengeance." he said drawing out his clothes shears from his hip holster. Gage began to cut away the stained orange and brown silks from the man's torso for a closer survey. "Set that 02 back onto his face again Marco. He's getting a little cyanotic." Marco nodded his head moving the clear plastic mask back over the man's struggling mouth. "His name is Jose' Rivera. He is begging his boss for a reason why his friends died and he's blaming him for his horse being sun sick like he is." "That guy over there?" Johnny pointed to Dusty Schraeder. "Yeah.." Johnny looked up at the black cowboy hatted Texan and felt an immediate dislike for the man. ::But he's something for Vince to worry about when he gets here.:: His eyes then swept to the colt Mike Stoker and Chet Kelly were trying to save with the assistance of the kindly old trainer. The colt was now resting on his belly, quivering like a newborn as he fought the rest of the way to wakefulness under the flowing stream of the fire hose. His soaked coffee bay coat literally steamed in the sun in twisting curls of sour smelling humidity. A thick foam began to spread over his whithers and flanks. Johnny heard the kindly old trainer murmur that they were succeeding in drawing the young horse out of heatstroke. "That's it. Just kidney sweat now.. That's a good sign." "Is he going to make it, Mr. Farley?" Chet asked. The man he had learned was named Walter, didn't reply and the worried look on Kelly's face returned in force. Gage kept his face neutral as thoughts raced through his head. ::No, that will be up to his owners. Heat stroke recovery usually takes three months to half a year. That colt's got good lines. Hope his share holders make the right choice..:: Johnny thought glancing away from his coworkers. Gage looked down and swept agile fingers around Jose's head and down his body, looking for deformities. He found a small oozing gash on his chest that was alternately retracting in and burping out as the angry man respired. The tiny sucking wound was on the side away from the man's main ribcage injury. "Marco.. grab an occlusive dressing and tape it over this wound here. Seal it off only on three sides. Looks like this laceration's penetrated through into his chest. He must have fallen on something sharp when his horse went down." "Got it.." Lopez said. Johnny felt along the jockey's sweating chest thoroughly but found grating, moving bones only on the flailed side. He snatched for his stethoscope out of the drug box and listened to the holed side carefully, then compared the breath sounds he heard there to the ones under the rib fractures. He grunted, making a mental note and took another set of vitals before finishing the rest of his survey on the jockey. He found no further injuries. Johnny returned to the man's throat and felt the cooling skin in the area carefully and over his chest once again. Then he looked at how the rider's larnyx sat in relation to the rest of his neck by sight as he reassessed the man's consciousness level and checked his pupils. Gage nodded at Roy, who had just completed his secondary survey of the unconscious woman rider. DeSoto had his helpers carry the girl closer to Johnny and the drug box until both their victims were side by side, head to head, nearest all the equipment. Roy crouched over the EKG monitor case and he opened it. "She's stable. The 02's keeping her in good color." he said, handing Johnny his pad of notes. "Add one more thing. She's got a open fracture of her left radius and ulna, with sluggish perfusion. I immobilized her arm in the best position I could find and she's still got neural responses and pulses in her hand and fingers but they're degrading. She may have torn an artery or vein internally. I'll get your victim patched in for ya on Lead Two." "Okay.." Johnny relayed to Captain Stanley on his hand held radio once more. "Engine 51. This is HT 51. We're set for a medical relay to Rampart." ##Go ahead, HT 51.## Cap Stanley watched as Vince and a detective car pulled up. He re-established communications on the biophone that he had perched on a track rail post, with apprehension. "Rampart, this is Engine 51. I'll be relaying from Squad 51 in 2. They are still inaccessible on the horse track and out of effective biophone communications range." ##10-4, 51. Standing by.## said Dixie. Once again, Captain Stanley cursed the whole idea of Santa Anita's turf and dirt race tracks being set into a bowl just so two lakes could grace the racing infield's garden grove of Queen's palm trees. ::Stupid design. Even if having that extra water there is a boon for any future fire call. At least Roy's EKG telemetry will get out.:: Johnny spoke into his HT to Cap. "Engine 51, Victim One. Male, age approximately 19 at 105 pounds. Vitals signs are; Pulse 124, respirations are 20 and shallow, BP is 100/62. Pupils are equal and reactive. He's diaphoretic, conscious, and emotionally agitated. He's on fifteen liters O2. I've found paradoxical breathing symptoms with a large flail segment on his left side. He has a sucking chest wound to his upper right chest, now occluded. I'm hearing rales on the left and diminished breath sounds on the right. Subcutaneous emphysema is present about the neck and upper chest. He has been immobilized and positioned flail side down. His EKG is showing sinus tach. Sending you a strip, lead two." Cap relayed the information and soon Joe Early responded. ##10-4, Engine 51. Tell Squad 51 to start a large bore IV Normal Saline with Lactated Ringers. Run in a 500 cc bolus initially until his BP comes back up again, then leave it TKO. Have them watch for signs of further difficulty. I suspect a pneumothorax. EKG is now showing sinus tach at a rate of 130. Splint the flail segment by taping only the effected side until his breathing improves. Prepare to assist his ventilations if his resp rate increases over 24 times a minute. Treat for shock. Tell them I want a new set of vitals every five minutes.## Cap replied. "10-4, Rampart. Stand by." and he shared the orders with his two paramedics still working a quarter of a mile away down on the final turn. He soon got Roy and Johnny's confirmation on the orders, and he immediately, received information about their second victim over his HT. Cap listened, memorizing details. Then he called in his men's second medical data set to Joe Early on the biophone. "Rampart. Victim number two. A female approximately 24 years of age. Weight 102 pounds. Found prone over a rail. Was conscious, now comatose. Vitals signs are, pulse 90, respirations are 14, BP 100/76. Pupils are equal and reactive, but sluggish. She's been fully immobilized and is on fifteen liters 02. My paramedic notes probable neck and back injuries. There's quivering in the upper extremities and bilateral positive Babinski's finding on both legs. He earlier reported a growing lack of sensation on her from lumbar three on down. There appears to be no palpable spinal deformity. Victim has an open fracture of the lower left arm. Circulation and sensation is partially compromised despite splinting in position of alignment." Cap got his followup on the woman for a precautionary IV and a rapid transport order. Inwardly, he hope the girl would get to surgery in time to save her arm and effect repair to stop the creeping paralysis she seemed to be suffering. He finished correspondence between his men and the hospital. Soon, he waved the Mayfair to the road where he was standing as it arrived in full siren. "We're gonna load up right here. The paramedics are bringing in two victims from out there on longboards.." he told the attendants running to his side. "The dirt's too soft for your rig to handle." The two men nodded and intently watched the group of people, bearing the two jockeys in between them all, walking their way. --------- Cap wasn't surprised to see Detective Crockett flanking Vince Howard when he had put the biophone into the awaiting ambulance. "Vince. Detective Crockett. My man Gage thinks our racing accident wasn't accidental. I trust his judgement since he's a pretty good horseman off duty." "We got any witnesses?" Vince asked. Cap replied. "Two. But one is unconscious and the other is in no shape to talk right now. Both jockeys. And I think Johnny was hinting about learning something from one of those trainers milling about, too. Nothing concrete, just a hunch I got from the tone of his voice." The tall quiet African American detective thoughtfully rubbed his chin. "Ok, we'll take it from here, Captain. Thank you. I'll have a talk with your paramedics once they're through with their run. Call me once the squad's back at the station?" he said, heading off the fire captain's worry that the detective would get in the way of his men. "Sure will." Cap said. He took the card the detective handed him and pocketted it. He started off towards Kelly and Mike as they headed back to the grandstand apron. Smiling craftily as Cap disappeared around a bend, Detective Crockett took one look at the deep track dirt and then one more at his shiny black shoes, before he unhesitantly stepped ankle deep into the sandy loam to rendevous with 51's medics on the far turn. ------- Hank Stanley intercepted Chet and Stoker as they returned to the paddock side road dragging their hoses behind them. "I couldn't see what you were doing. Are they gonna make it?" he asked about the horses. "Only one, Cap. Our helping trainer, Walter Farley, said we got there too late for the others. Apparently, racehorses cook to death internally on hot days like this if they take a fall more than halfway through a race. He said it happens because their metabolisms are kicked in overdrive." Kelly said dully. Cap sighed in sympathy. "Oh, I'm sorry. I got some good news at least. Two of the jockeys are still alive.." "That's great, Cap." Stoker said without enthusiasm. Come on, Chet. Let's get these hoses packed." and Hank watched his two disheartened men plod dejectedly back to the Engine with their load. Cap called out after them. "Stoker, would you snag a ride with a track steward cart to go fetch the squad? You're gonna have to follow the ambulance with it. Gage and DeSoto really have their hands full right now." "Right, Cap." Mike replied and he jogged back the way he had come, leaving Chet to do the heavy work. In sympathy, Cap pocketed his HT and helped Kelly out by climbing onto the hose bed of the engine to be primary hauler. -------------------------------------- "Crockett! I don't have time to talk with you now.." Gage said distractedly as he and the grounds crew and paramedic struggled to carry equipment and victims to the far rail and the firm concrete apron beneath the grandstand. "I just want to ask you a few questions." The detective said, lifting his feet high and stumbling a bit in the loam. "Fine..then help me by taking over.." he said, snatching the detective's hand and forcing him to grab the ambu he was using on Jose'. "Bag him when he breathes in and also when he doesn't. Twelve times a minute." he ordered. "But uh, he's still awake." "Yeah. I know. Assisting him like this is helping splint some rib fractures he's got inside. Marco tells me Jose' says it hurts like h*ll but he's grateful for the help." "Ok. I got it." Crockett began squeezing the ambu bag after quickly picking up how Johnny had been managing. He opened his mouth. "I know Spanish, too. Maybe I can kill three birds with one stone by--" Gage got into Crockett's face. "If you ask Jose' any question other than, 'How are you doing?' I'll deck ya.." Crockett closed his mouth. The tall detective nodded dutifully, outmaneuvered, and just squeezed the bag. Johnny moved Jose's IV bag from under the boy's shoulder to his own teeth to hold as he turned up the dial to wide open when he saw the young teen pale another shade of gray. "Let's move faster." Johnny felt a hand weakily clutching his own. Gage leaned down. "Hold it Crockett. Looks like Jose's trying to say something." It was a rare moment of absolute clarity for the young teen. Jose' met Johnny's eyes meaningfully and he gasped as the ambu was lifted away. "Don't let them kill that horse. Save him, senor. I pay you t-" he said in very very broken english. The effort to speak took his breath away as Jose's pain bit down hard. His lungs cramped up yet again. Gage gestured Crockett to help the teen breathe once more on the bag valved 02. Jose' was so agitated, that Gage caught the kind old trainer, Walter Farley's attention. "Hey, Mr. Farley!" "Yeah?" the old man shouted back from where he was helping the colt stand. "I'm that colt's insurance policy. Do everything you can for him, ok?" Johnny said. Walter smiled. "For the kid?" "Yeah.. for the kid.." Gage replied. Walter Farley gave Johnny Gage a thumbs up in encouragement and a slow nod of grateful appreciation. Johnny saw Jose' start to calm immediately. "Gracias, senor." Jose' sighed softly. ---------- In the ambulance, Crockett took full advantage of playing an active part in Jose's care by letting his curiosity get the best of him. "This is fascinating.." Squeeze. "What's that taped to Jose's chest?" Crockett asked from his place at the jockey's head. "Looks like a metal ingot." he shouted over the wail of the sirens as they sped to the hospital. Johnny didn't look up from where he was setting up yet another IV for the teen rider sitting across from where Roy crouched over his own patient lying on the passenger bench. He ducked his head self consciously. "Walter Farley gave me one of the colt's lead saddle weights to use to splint the unstable section of ribs here." Johnny pointed. "Oo, I'd hate to be the groom who has to return that saddle to the winner circle's weight scale." The detective quipped, mentally filed away the name Gage gave him for future reference. Gage didn't laugh. "Why would someone put a weight on anyone with broken ribs like this?" Crockett asked to lighten the feeling of tension in the ambulance. Gage grimaced with impatience as he reached for a BP cuff. "I'd love to talk about flail chest protocol with you all day but I'm rather busy right now, detective.." and he buried his ears in stethoscope to tune him out. Crockett blinked and jerked a free thumb at Gage in a questioning gesture to Roy, offering a little what's-with-him? shrug. Roy looked up from rechecking his patient's breathing and pulse rate. "Johnny gets a little intense about anyone under his care. Especially if they're critical." Crockett's face fell into an immediate frown. "You mean?" he looked down at the increasingly groggy Jose' beneath the ambu's face mask. "Yeah, collapsed lung. And it's getting worse." Roy said. "Try to cut my partner some slack. He's just staying focused." he said, quickly and sharp. Then he softened, raising his eyebrows. "Good bagging. Keep it up just like you're doing it, Crockett. Any ease we can give Jose' now is a point in our favor.." "How's the girl?" Crockett asked DeSoto. "Fair. She's might be trying to wake up here." he said, readjusting her O2 mask so it stayed out of her eyes. "Did you manage to get her name before she blacked out?" Roy said. "Not directly. Her name's Mary Kenner. I got it from the betting tote board using her mount's number. It always lists trainer and jockey." ::And another piece of the puzzle.:: the detective mused. The rushing Mayfair ambulance turned a corner as it left the Santa Anita Track property. Crockett noticed a change in Jose' about the same time Johnny did. "Hey, Gage, he's not taking in the bag breaths too well. I'm getting a weird resistance and he's not even trying to breathe in anymore." "Just keep ventilating him exactly as you are." Johnny straddled Jose's gurney and listened close to both sides of the man's chest in haste. "D*mn." He felt Jose's neck and he looked at Roy. "I got absent breath sounds unilaterally and he's starting to show trachael deviation. I'm seeing jugular vein distension, too. Gotta be a tension pneumo." Roy reached over and ripped off the occlusive patch Marco had placed earlier over the jockey's chest wound. He waited a beat, then replaced it down firmly over the jagged tear. "Did that help any?" Johnny listened again through his stethoscope. "Nah.. not enough to matter." On the EKG, Jose's heart rate jolted up into the low 140's and an alarm began to sound. Roy took a hasty BP. "It's down. 78/52." Johnny shouted. "Jose'..Keep trying to breathe on your own. We're going to help y--" He broke off belatedly. "Sh*t. I wish I'd taken Marco up on his offer to teach me Spanish. Crockett. You talk to him. Keep him calm." and he snatched the phone to Rampart. "Rampart this is Rescue 51, how do you read?" Joe Early was still on the intercom. ##Go ahead, 51. What's the trouble? I note Victim One's increased tachycardia.## Gage told him Jose's new development. Brackett and Joe Early both met eyes in sudden worry. Kel said to Dix. "Have a chest tube set up in his treatment room. Looks like Johnny's gonna do his first needle chest decompression in the field. Joe, go ahead and give him the order. He can handle it." Dixie left to make the arrangements. Joe got back on the line.##51, pull over. You're going to have to relieve the building pressure with a pleural thoracotomy ASAP. Dr. Brackett concurs with me.## "10-4.." Johnny said and he got off Jose's gurney and slapped the driver peek window twice, loudly. They felt the Mayfair grind to a halt at a curb just as Jose' fell into deep unconsciousness. Seconds later, Mike Stoker opened the outer doors, and looked into the ambulance cab. "What's the problem?" he asked, knowing the rig never stopped unless it was for an invasive treatment. "Chest tap for a tension pneumo. It's pretty far along. Stick around." Roy told Stoker. Wordlessly he thought. ::Let's hope we don't need Stoker for some CPR here.:: Crockett cleared his throat. "Oh, boy.." he said when Johnny drew out a long needle and butterfly valve. "You're gonna stick him with that?" he said. Gage said. "Yeah. If you can't handle it, I'll have Stoker take over f--" "Just do what you have to, Gage." Crockett said continuing to bag Jose' steadily. "You're wasting time." Crockett loosened his tie and wiped some sweat off his upper lip. Johnny's face cracked into a slight smile for a moment before Roy swabbed down the proper area over the right side of Jose's chest. Then his expression melted into one of concentration. "Ok,... Roy. I'm going into the second intercostal space anteriorly.. Don't hold your breath..." Gage said, doing just that. "Crockett. Hold off just a sec. Start ventilating him double time as soon as I have this thing out again." Johnny felt his needle punch through into the abnormally gaping pleural space and a loud rush of air hissed out immediately through it. "Bingo. Tension pneumo diagnosis is confirmed." He chuckled withdrawing the needle slowly. "Ok, Crockett. I'm through." he said, throwing the hollow lance into the sharps disposal bin on the wall. "It's out." Crockett opened his eyes and smiled when he felt an immediate change as he began to work the ambu again. More oxygen seemed to be getting into the teen's lungs. "Hey, I think he's better." Gage listened to his handywork. "Yep. He sure is. Breath sounds are back. Just some new minor rales on the right. Might be pulmonary contusion noise cropping up." he sat back and sighed grabbing up the phone as the EKG settled back into a slower, more effective sinus rhythm. "Rampart. Chest decompression was successful." ## 10-4, 51. Is the boy unconscious? ## "That's affirmative, Rampart.." ##What are his vital signs?## Roy had already anticipated that need. "BP 112/86, Respirations unassisted are 8. Pulse is 110 and regular. He was getting pretty tired before his new complication." ##Go ahead and intubate him for more effective ventilations and support for those rib fractures. Have two mg's Diazepam IV set to use to keep him sedated PRN. Return his drip rate to TKO following any usage.## "Two mg's Diazepam PRN and intubate for controlled ventilations. IV to TKO following any sedation med. 10-4, Rampart. Our ETA is six minutes." Roy tapped Johnny on the shoulder and handed him an unwrapped endotrach tube to which Crockett said. "Y-You're going to stick him with that?" Even Mike Stoker cracked a grin. ================================= Photo: Johnny Gage in a confidential pose with Detective Crockett. Photo: A jockey and horse down on the track. Photo : Johnny taking care of two victims O2 in an ambulance. ******************************* From :"Roxy Dee" Subject : Covering Bases~~ Date :Tue, 11 Mar 2003 22:52:16 +0000 Dixie and Joe walked out to the main ER desk and both sighed heavily as Jose' Rivera's rolling gurney left for surgery. Crockett followed them out of the exam room, trailing after Johnny as he headed straight for the call station coffee pot. He was shaking his hands and massaging them to work out some cramps. "I don't know how you paramedics handle that bagging thing without your fingers falling off. I don't think I'll be able to lift a fork by dinner time." Johnny laughed in sympathy. "A typical week sees us breathing for people that way for hours. Especially on all the bad cardiac runs. Guess I never noticed what a work out ambu ventilating is probably because we lug fire hoses around so much." he admitted. Then he eyed Joe. Gage asked. "Hey, doc." he said pouring himself a cupful and then enough for everyone else. "Do you think that rider'll pull through?" he asked. "I know pulmonary contusions that come afterwards with broken ribs that extensive, can get a little tricky sometimes." "He's young and strong." Dr. Early sniffed, rubbing his nose in careful thought. "You saw how much having that chest tube inserted improved him. I think that a lifetime in the racing saddle will be his ticket to a speedy recovery. Jockeys are top notch athletes and they're usually in terrific shape. I've heard it's hard to make them lose their focus about anything as trivial mere broken bones." he joked. "They stay on their game and never lose sight of what's important to them." "I sure got an earful of that.. I think Jose' talked me into an arrangement I just may regret." Johnny groaned. "Oh?" Dixie commented sipping her coffee carefully. Roy had rejoined them from his treatment room where Mary Kenner was getting her fractured arm and torn radial artery emergency repaired by Dr. Brackett and he grinned, leaning on the wall spinning the walkie talkie slung on one wrist absently. "The thoroughbred Jose' was riding got a little too much sun after his little tumble in the jockey pileup. Mr. Rivera wouldn't relax for us until he knew he had someone lined up to step in to accept the horse's care costs in lieu of any move the owners might make to put him down." Dix's face split into a wide grin, which Joe echoed. "You didn't?" Gage cleared his throat uncomfortably and just sipped his coffee. Crockett chuckled, folding his arms across his elbows in amusement. "Now that might be kinda costly Mr. Gage. You just might have entered into a binding verbal agreement which is well on the way to actually acquiring him." "What?! I did?" Johnny said, nearly spitting out his drink. Crockett moved in for the killing tease. Yeah... I've seen handshake deals out there going on all the time. No one bothers with paper work. It's all on the honor system. Heh. I hear that the average race horse costs, what? Five to ten thousand dollars for those who regularly bring in the purses?" "At least." Joe Early said. Gage's mouth fell slack in a stunned "ouch." His mind was still working on the idea of racehorse assumed ownership. Crockett smoothed down his detective jacket's lapels. "I wouldn't worry about it, Johnny. Who knows? Maybe you can get your other fire crewmates to help you cover all of his shares by splitting costs among all the shift assignments." Johnny's eyes boggled out as he kicked into scheme gear. "Say.. that's true! I mean, we all chip in already and share costs for our food." he insisted. " "Oh no.." Roy said blandly, his smile dropping off his face into one of sheer dread. "Johnny, I wouldn't exactly say a racehorse is the same thing as a package of T-bone steaks." "Knock it off, Roy. What's a few bucks up front gonna matter? It's for a worthy cause at least. It's not like we're going to the stock market to gamble it it all away." "That's just what I'm afraid of." Roy said with a frown. "Everything about owning a race horse IS a gamble, Junior, in case you haven't noticed. I sure did. And I only like to bet on 'em." he voiced in dire insistence. But his partner was oblivious. "Listen, Johnny, you can talk to the guys about this later. All I know is that I'M not letting you talk me into this thing, no matter how hard ya try.." and Roy picked up the drug and IV resupply box Dixie had prepared for them and made tracks for the squad where Mike Stoker was waiting. "See ya later, guys." he said to Crockett, Dix and Joe. "Hey.. Roy.. Wait a minute!!" Johnny said, eagerly setting after his departing partner. Then he remembered. "Oh, heh. Sorry, all. Bye Joe, Dix, Crockett. Thanks for everything. I'll be seeing you.. Excuse me here... I gotta go talk some SENSE into my thick headed partner. He's talking crazy..." he insisted with quickly gesturing fingers. All three nodded and rolled their eyes as Johnny quickly darted around people in the busy hospital corridors in hot pursuit of Roy DeSoto's retreating back. "I think you created a monster.." Dixie mumbled to Crockett as she refilled their cups to the brim once more. "Heh, heh, heh. Actually I think it's more along the lines of the fact that I just created a firehouse full of bonafide saints, Miss McCall... " Crockett said, rocking back on his heels. "Have a wonderful afternoon. Give me a call when Miss Kenner's awake, would ya? I'd like to speak with her about the accident today." "Sure thing." Joe said, looking up from Jose's patient chart where he was dictating notes. Crockett left, heading for the police station to read Vince's crime report that he had ordered the officer to gather from the track incident's trainers and uninjured jockeys. ----------------------------------------------- Racehorse trainer, Dusty Schraeder, entered his barn full of green thoroughbreds. He immediately headed for his one lone groom tending to a wheel barrel full of straw and manure that he had just cleared out from the dead stallion's stall. He was halfway down the aisle leading to the rusty dumpster set outside for just such material. "Hey, Manuel! Paramiso, mi amigo. Uno momentito.." Dusty called out, tossing his black five gallon cowboy hat onto the tack tree hook holding racing bridles as he strode into the dark, fan noise filled barn row. The tiny old jockey Mexican native turned at his jefe's voice, "Senor Schraeder?" he coughed as he pulled on his cigarette and he rubbed his ripped and soiled T shirt absently with tobacco stained gnarled fingers clean to offer out a handshake of congratulations. "He died fast, no? It is really a seemple thing to kill a horse.." Dusty immediately backhanded the little man in the face, sending him over the laden wheel barrel onto the shoddily raked earthen floor. "That was sloppy..." Waste soiled straw spilled onto Manuel as he struggled to his feet in fear. "Senor? Que? No Comprendo ! I do it good enough. Did he not go down on the final turn?" his cigarette smoke raspy, south of the border voice cracked. "You imbecile!" Dusty screamed. "I'm not talking about Charismatic! I'm talking about his STALL!.. I'm not smelling any Lasix in here." he said, walking into the decrepid box stall, sniffing the air. "How are we going to prove ourselves innocent of his sudden death if there's no drugs showing up in his p*ss hole?" He angrily drew out a syringe full of the antibleeder from his jacket and bit the needle cover off. He squirted out half in a careless rain into the urine hole at his feet and the rest he injected into the horse's water bucket. "Now I don't wanna have to tell you twice. Don't TOUCH that bucket." "Si, senor, lo ciento.. " Manuel said, immediately recovering his battered L.A. Angels cap from the muck on the floor as he wiped away the blood from the side of his mouth. " The aqua is no toca, si. A-And I not forget the next time about the shots to the dirt like you do now." he said. "Sorry.." Dusty's anger melted away and he tossed the spent Lasix syringe into Manuel's wheel barrel and helped the shaken man pitchfork its tumbled load back inside of it. Then he drew his crooked groom under one arm. "I didn't mean to hit ya, buddy. I....wasn't thinking. I hate it when we have to kill a perfectly good horse just for appearances. Let me make amends?" he said, pulling out a fat wallet full of cash. He started counting out bills one at a time before the small man's cowering face. Manuel's toothless grin erupted almost as big as his eyes and he greedily held out his dirty hands for the payment. Dusty said, "Here. Two hundred for the job. Just like we agreed. And another fifty just for the h*ll of it. You did good my friend. Even your rival Jose's horse, Swale, got hoof clipped into a good fall. Jose was wrecked up bad. He won't be riding for months. Looks like its clear sailing for you AND me. Now go get some ice for your face. And take the night off. I'll finish up here." Manual scrambled away, mumbling gratitudes and he quickly climbed onto his ramshackle seatless bike and pedalled off for the barn dorms. Dusty Schraeder knew that by sundown, his wayward groom would be in no condition to talk to the police and track officials he knew would be stopping off in the barn for the standard post mortem stall tests. ::With 250 greenbacks in hand, I doubt Manuel will be sober enough then to even know his own name..:: the evil trainer thought. Humming contentedly, Dusty made sure his run down operation looked as finely raked and pristine as any other racing barn's on the row. He set his final touch by grabbing some field clover from the patch of weeds under the barn's leaky hose faucet and shoved the yellow blooms into a dusty vase on top of the nearly empty, barely regulation, first aid kit he had hanging next to his barn office door. As an afterthought, he blew the dust off the cock angled giant sized "Warning, extreme fire risk. No smoking." sign that was in bilingual english and spanish anchored on the wall, and straightened it out on its nail. Smiling, Dusty polished it to a high shine with his black twill jacket's sleeve. He went inside to the silty desk to call Swale's owners with a less than glowing report on the horse's condition. What Dusty did not know, was that Jose' had circumvented any further crooked race deception by his desperate plea for help to a certain, very special, horse loving, firefighter paramedic. -------------------------------------------------------- "Nope.." "Oh come on, Cap!" Johnny insisted. "Just look at Swale's pedigree! Walter Farley shoved a racing form into my back pocket while we were loading Jose' up and now I got all his juicy statistics right here.." he said, drawing out a sandy white booklet of the daily races from where he had shoved it in his belt. "Son to Native Dancer, full brother to Citation himself.. Man, when Swale gets his wind back enough to run ten furlongs again, ..we'll all be RICH !" Hank Stanley ignored his paramedic's tirade and instead took offense at the fine track dirt festooning the floor and table top near him. "Gage, I said no. Now go grab a towel and a broom and go clean this up!" he said shoving back in his kitchen chair and away from all reminders of their morning rescue call. Hank's agitated hands continued to pet Henry the hound dog's back harder and harder absently, until a loud moan of protest floated up from the lazy form sprawled across Cap's lap. "Sorry, Henry. My supposedly polished firefighting men are being bonifide twits again. You know how that irritates the snot outta me... Gage, about Swale; that's IF he gets his wind back, not when. To me, that colt looked pretty much three of four hooves boots up into a grave this morning." "Kelly and Stoker reversed that, Cap, with their wash down. He came outta heatstroke just like that.." and Gage snapped his fingers in the air derisively. "I don't care. Once a horse does down like that, that trainer, what's his name again? Ah, yes, Walter Farley, told me it's five times harder to get him back up onto his feet and into racing condition again!" Hank countered with a slap of his hand on the table. "Count me OUT. Beside, I'm NOT a horse racing fan. Didn't you catch onto any of my attitude towards that this morning, pally?" Johnny sputtered ineffectual arguments. Chet smiled and bit his lip in predatory fashion as Johnny Gage clammed up and did what his captain told him to do. But kernels of Johnny's sales pitch had already sprouted under his irish skin and he said. "Cap.. I really think this is an opportunity of a life time. Even for me. And you know how picky I can get about taking on weird deals." "This is not a weird deal.." Johnny glared at him through pursed lips. "Sure it is.." Marco Lopez piped up. "I mean, just how many firehouses do you know of who get themselves reined into buying a broken down racehorse.." "He's not broken down.." Johnny hissed at Lopez. "He's still got four good legs on him." "Yeah? You're forgetting one tiny detail there, Gage." Cap said levelly firm with a finger pointing right at his man's nose. "Add THIS fact to his excellent boneleg status. Swale's got one very, very sun cooked BRAIN!" Cap said, drawing crazy circles around his ear for emphasis. He rose to his feet, shoving away the track racing form. "This is the end of this particular discussion with me! Come on, Henry.. Let's go hide in the recliner to get away from these kookheads.. " Then he took a breath. "You know.. I should order ya ALL to Rampart for a checkup. Looks like Swale's not the only one who got in a little too much sun today." Cap hefted up the ample Henry into his arms and stood above the recliner where Mike Stoker was reading behind a newspaper. Cap cleared his throat and Stoker looked absently looked up to see who it was. He hastily vacated the coveted spot in a pico when he saw Cap's expression. Hank settled in and snatched the section Stoker had been reading for good measure, too. Cap draped Henry onto his lap for maximum comfort and prompted buried himself into the sports page. Mike Stoker thought about getting his paper back but decided that superior rank ruled. He sighed and took up his usual place at the kitchen table. Despite things, ten minutes later, Gage had everyone's signature on the stay of execution papers for Swale, except Roy's and Cap's. ::I'm just going to haveta work on those two. Until then, Swale can stay at my place. Just as soon as the vet clears him for travel.:: Johnny thought to himself with a pleased thrill. --------------------------------------------------- Brent Brackett and his wife Anna Rose found their son, Kel Brackett, lurking in the nurse's coffee lounge. Dixie McCall was with him, and Doctor Morton. And they were going over Mary Kenner's private medical case. The older Bracketts barged in, infected with a healthy case of co-worker etiquette blindness, which abruptly interrupted their confidential conversation. "Oh, there you are, my dear.." Anna Rose said to Dixie, bending down to leave a kiss on the mortified head nurse's cheek. "I hope you haven't forgotten the important role that Brent and I imparted to you.." Dixie's fake smile locked in stone. "How could I, Anna Rose? I assure you, I've been thinking about it every second.." she answered truthfully. "That's good. I'll give you a call you at home tonight for your idea run downs. Kel gave me your number." Dixie's withering look at Kel made the younger Brackett hold up his hands in defense. Brent spoke on another matter, now that his wife's concerns had been voiced first. " Kel, I found your rescue base station out there in the hall simply astounding! I must learn more about your emergency department. That's, uh. If Dixie allows me. I can't believe I've been working here for six years without knowing how it all works." he said incredulously. Kel cracked a smile. "I'm sure that my best intern, Mike Morton, here would be more than happy to take you on clinical tours, dad, today and all through the next week." Morton choked on his donut he had been eating with gusto. Dixie slapped him on the back to get him over it before things got out of hand. "You all right there, Mike?" Kel said. "Yeah, *cough* I'm fine, just.. fine. Thanks, Dix." Mike Morton took the napkin he had used and crumpled it up onto his paper plate. "Look uh, Kel, are you sure that Joe Early wouldn't make a better tour guide for your parents? I mean he's got far more experience than little ol m--" Kel shook his head slowly. "Speaking of experience, this will just be another aspect of medicine for you to learn about by catering to local dignitaries." he quipped to the delight of his mother. It was Mike's turn to wear an expression that didn't match his current emotional status and Dixie felt immediate sympathy for Morton now that he was joining her in misery. She poured him an extra full coffee cup to fortify him. "I'll cover the nursing angles." then she said under her breath so only Mike could hear. "That way it'll all go that much faster.." she said from the corner of her mouth. Mike nodded his gratefulness to both the coffee and the offer. "Great..we'll get started tomor--" "This afternoon..." Kel countered with a smile.. "...this afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Brackett." Morton amended smoothly without missing a beat. To Dixie, Mike cracked the biggest toothiest doctor's professional grin that she had ever seen. ::Oh, boy. He's not happy. But, rank has its privileges. :: she said scratching an itch on her head. She cast a dangerous calculating eye on her best friend. :: You know, I think I'll go to medical school after this, just to become a doctor so Kel won't be able to pull one over on me or my staff anymore.:: To Dixie's chagrin, Kel was obvious to her discomforture. Soon, the elder Bracketts left for a late snack to the cafeteria and talk resumed about Mary Kenner, the woman jockey. Mike said. "Her ABG levels in that hand are simply perfect, Kel. She came through that immediate surgery of yours with flying colors." Kel frowned and shifted in his lounge chair, sighing. "Yeah, but that's just one of her problems solved. I'm concerned about her continued paralysis..." Mike blinked. "Why? Her x-rays are showing clear. There's no fractures anywhere along her spine. She doesn't even have disc misalignment. Seems to me that her paraplegic deficit might be temporary just due to swelling from hyperflexing her back when she landed on top of that track railing. You did tell me Roy found her hanging there." Kel answered. "Mike, you know how these things go. I've seen patients who have whole vertebrae completely shattered in two, three places who eventually get up and walk again. And then there are cases like Mary Kenner's..." and he let his comment hang in the air. A feeling of subtle depression filled the room. A few moments later, Mike's irrepressible optimism on things he knew little about gushed out. "The steroidal treatments will work for her. The anesthesiologist said he saw a few foot twitches when he was extubating her. And I believe what he saw." "Let's hope you're right.." Dixie whispered. ---------------------------------------------- Photo : Dix and Kel Brackett talk over lunch. Photo : Dusty Schraeder with $$$. Photo: Guys reading in kitchen. Photo: Cap's lecture look. Photo : John making a point in the kitchen. *********************************** From: "rampartbase" Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2003 04:12:30 -0000 Subject: [EmergencyTheaterLive] Foiled Again! Dixie finally gave up and suggested Catalina Island. "That sounds like an interesting place." Anna Brackett said. Dix just nodded. "We can leave tomorrow. You're such a dear." Anna hugged Dix. The next day, the trio of Bracketts met at the dock for the 26 mile boat ride. They boarded with the rest of the passengers and the boat left as scheduled. Somewhere out at sea, the boat ran into trouble. One of the engines started smoking. ---------------------------------------- Photo: None. ***************************** From : "JOHN ALLEN" Subject :[EmergencyTheaterLive] Horses, Ferrys and Fire, Oh my! Date :Mon, 17 Mar 2003 08:36:53 +0000 This is a tandem post by John Allen and Patti Keiper via live brainstorming and mutual research on the web. Dusty Schraeder exited his track camper and strode to the nearby parking lot payphone under the row of palm trees over looking his horse barn. ::Man, this sure ain't San Antonio, Texas. Hotter than grits on a griddle today. I hate Californ-I-A. With a passion.:: He dialed a number, as he slapped on expensive aftershave. "Artie? It's done. And it looks like Jose Rivero's on the outlist for three months, too. You owe me more for that." Dusty listened as the mafia man's voice warbled in his ear for a moment. "No, man. I'm through. There's enough police sniffing around my operation as it is..You want another horse killed do it yourself. I've got a boat to catch this afternoon." And he slammed down the phone receiver in irritation. "I hate Italians. They should stick to drinking bad wine and twirling pasta on their spoons!" ------------------------------------------------------ Kel Brackett and Anna Rose stood by the railing of the Windjammer Ferry bound for Catalina Island. "Oh, Kel. Remind me to thank Dixie for this. I don't think we've been to this island all the time you were growing up." Anna Rose sighed, breathing in the rich salt tanged air ruffling her auburn hair. Kel and Brent exchanged a look of confidential tolerance at Mrs. Brackett, intensely glad that a destination for their vacation had finally taken shape. Brent drew both Kel and Anna Rose under both arms in an uncharacteristic show of guarded affection, and said. "I'm glad we can get together for this. Glad that d*mned snowstorm changed our minds.. I could get used to trips like this.." Kel smiled. "Dix has a knack for landing ANYone on their feet." "Even us?" Brent quipped. "Apparently, even us." Anna Rose beamed at Brent and Kel widely and said. "Let's go get some champagne to celebrate. Shall we?" "Celebrate what, mom?" Kel asked wrapping her sky blue sweater more tightly around her to stave off the brisk seabreeze coming from the south. She could just see the wild beach of the graceful desert island less than a quarter mile away from them. "You have to ask? Isn't it obvious?" Anna Rose asked in return peering up at her taller son. Brent chuckled deep in his throat and adjusted his white golfer's hat more firmly onto his head. "Anna Rose, leave off. Kelly's here to unwind. No surgical wards, no Dixie to come calling with medical matters, no Rampart. He's finally on foreign territory for the first time in years. In more ways than one." Kel grunted, but deigned to comment. He sighed grandly and said. "I sure am. But I'm sure glad I'm here. Listen, hang around for a few minutes. I'm going to go get those drinks for us. Be right back.." Anna Rose and Brent Brackett watched him bound up the deck stairway to the upper level and the open air bar above, with a new energy she had never noticed before. Seabirds fluttered down over their heads and glowed in the azure sky, only increasing the Bracketts sense of contentment and peace. But then, Anna Rose's nose crinkled suddenly in distain. "Dearest, do you smell that?" "Smell what?" ----------------------------------------- On the Windjammer's bridge, the captain's internal phone rang. "This is the Bridge.." ##Sir.. we have a problem...## "Specify.." The engineer below decks coughed once and lifted the receiver from his mouth and shouted. "Get more coolant on that port turbine! She's still running too hot!!" then he thought angrily. The ferry engineer saved a few choice mental words for the Santa Anita track trainer and entrepreneur and spit sharply onto the metal grating beneath his feet. :: D*mn Dusty Schraeder for cutting our budget spending on transport servicing. Shoulda hauled her up to dry dock months ago for a complete overhaul. When I get to shore again, I'm gonna...:: BOOM!! The Windjammer shuddered as the sudden engine explosion beneath her passenger crowded decks shifted in massive concussion. The Captain on the bridge shouted. "Mr. Margolin! Get down there and see how badly we've been damaged!" "Aye, sir.." said the ferry's first officer, and he gestured to two fellow officers to follow him down below decks to the engine room. The ferry captain's right hand nestled onto a little used switch on his natical tactical board and he pulled it. The universal mariner's distress call. ------------------------------------ Kel was sent sprawling off his bar stool where he sat waiting for his order of champagne for three. He was thrown with terrific force into the deck plating and the impact made him bite his tongue badly. In wracking pain and bleeding copiously from his mouth, Dr. Brackett lifted his head as he saw smoke billowing from the rear end of the ferry. A careless wind sent a cloud of suffocating bad air into the bar deck, and visibility shrank down to nil in seconds. "Everybody, drop down on the deck! There's clear air down here!" ::Mom, dad. Oh, be safe..:: he thought. Kel helped one shaken young woman, dazed from where her head had impacted a fallen table, to her feet and together, they fled towards the direction of the stairs they could barely see and back into daylight. ::What the h*ll happened down there?:: In the murk he spied a big Texan man, lolling on the deck, semi conscious, with a black cowboy hat covering his face. "Hey, mister! You ok?" Kel asked the fallen man, shoving the crushed hat away. He could see a large bruise on his head. ::Might be a concussion.:: he reasoned. Dusty Schraeder moaned and opened his eyes under Kel's ministrations. "Oww.. *cough* what in tarnation is going on?!" "There's been an explosion below decks. We gotta get outta here. This smoke's getting thicker." Dr. Brackett said. "I'm a doctor and there may be more injured people outside. Can you stand?" "Can a racehorse run?" Dusty said. "Fine. Let's move out." Kel ordered. He hefted the southern man to his feet and pointed him in the direction to where he knew the stairs were. ----------------------------------------------- L.A. Dispatcher Sam Lanier coordinated the data he was receiving from the Coast Guard Communications Network and decided a course of action to handle the bounding casualty estimates streaming through his terminal from the Harbor Master on Duty. Then he toggled out the tones. A long string of call signs and finally the fire disaster LCR's rang out across the county's telecom relay system and into the firehouses linked to it. ## Station 110, Waterboat 245, Battalion 14, Coast Guard 9, Helicopter 8, Station 51, Marina Cutter 27, Lifeguard 16. Ferry fire. One mile off Catalina Island. All fire units respond to LAX heliport. Time out, 11: 45.## Cap sidled out from under Henry and shot to his feet. "Let's go. Move it out.." "Sounds like a bad one.." Chet mumbled as he ran to the rig and hurriedly pulled on his turnout gear. "But why call out the engine, too? Gage and DeSoto usually get the ocean runs." " It's a catastrophic all call, Kelly. Remember those tones. This must be a grade four multiple casualty for us to respond as well." Cap said, climbing aboard the Ward. Stoker and the others filed into place and soon, the station rolled out. On the way, Johnny cut the tension by talking of other matters. "Hey, Roy, guess what?" Roy, deep into watching traffic as they sped towards the airport, barely afforded Gage a glance as he grunted, "Hmm?" "Wanna play altruistic and kill two birds with one stone?" "Whatdiya mean?" Roy said, gripping the steering wheel and speaking loudly over the wailing siren above their heads. Johnny tightened the strap on his helmet and smiled. "Well, first thing. We go ahead and buy Swale. You heard Crockett. I just may have agreed to a verbal shift of ownership with Jose Rivero the jockey.." "What do you mean we?" Roy said frankly. "I wasn't in on that little deal you two struck up, now was I? Washing my hands clean of that so you can just forget it. Joanne would never forgive me if I tapped into what little savings we have." "Roy, just forget about that for a sec, you're forgetting we still have impressive collateral right at our fingertips.." he grinned. "Where?" "In that old engine we have fading in the sun out back. Kind of a shame we never found Mr. Kerner the buyer that day. Here's our opportunity to do a good deed with it." Roy's face started to smile even as the squad rounded into the gateway being opened for their vehicles onto the airport tarmack by LAX security. "What, then? You and Mr. Farley go into the stud business?" "No man, nothing so selfish. I wish you'd just think for once. I'm talking about that young gal we worked on at the track. What was her name?" "Mary Kenner.." "Yeah, her. It just tears me up that her filly had to be destroyed. What would you think about us giving her and Jose Rivero all of Swale's ownership shares?" Gage asked. Roy blinked as he pulled up into the space reserved for fire vehicles along the marine jetty fence line. "Johnny Gage turning into a bonafide do gooder? I can't even begin to imagine that. But.. I have to admit.. I'm really warming up to the idea.." "Then sign.." Gage said, thrusting papers out at Roy that he had folded inside his shirt and shouting into the violent wind coming from the landing pad just in front of their bumper. "We're in the middle of responding to a run here!" Roy said incredulously, squealing to a halt and jamming the squad's transmission into park. "SoOoooo, the faster you sign the faster we can get out of here.." Gage countered over the roar of Helicopter 8's rotor wash as he opened the door and handed out the ownership signup form and his green pen out to his partner. Roy grabbed the sheet, John Hancock-ed it, and shoved it back inside the squad before closing the door. "What about Cap's signature?" "I got his after lunch in the only place where I could think of to corner him on equal ground. In the john.." "You haven't a shred of human decency, pally, you know that?" Roy DeSoto rolled his eyes. "Probably not. But I get results when I want em." They had grabbed all the gear into the squad stokes when another set of hands grabbed one end of the stretcher in their run towards the helicopter and the waiting coast guard pilots. "Detective Crockett.. What are you doing here?" Roy asked, as he almost dropped the stokes and the equipment in surprise. Gage double blinked, too. Detective Crockett said. "Got word you fellas were on a run to the Windjammer. I've an invested interest in that ferry. I've been ordered to come along." "Oh, why?" Gage said as he and Roy slipped into lifevests and headsets in the belly of the coast guard bird. "Do you remember Dusty Shraeder at all? That fine upstanding gentleman your jockey friend from the track was dead set on chewing up and spitting out, despite his injuries?" he quipped sarcastically. "Oh, him.. " Gage said with displeasure, light bulb going off. "So that's his name. I remember now. He was kinda shady and slimy like, if I recall.." "In more ways than one. Not only is he dealing with negligent racehorse fraud, he's dabbling in the ferry business too. His company was cited for five maintenance violations on that boat alone this season." Gage nodded. Then he toggled his headset to the pilots. "Helicopter 8, This is Squad 51. We're aboard. Dave, what do we got?" " Squad 51, We've a 250 passenger boat bound for Catalina. And her captain reports her engine's caught fire. The first responding Coast Guard cutter reports she's already nearly fully involved astern." "Was she at capacity?" Roy interceded into the radio frequency through his own radio set. "No, only to one third according to the Harbor Master." "Understood." DeSoto said. ::More than enough reason for the fire engine crews to come along with us..:: Roy glanced down out the window as the Coast Guard chopper lifted off the landing pad. He could see Cap, and the rest of the gang piling into Waterboat 245 along with Station 110's crack marine fire team. ::No doubt they'll be joining us on that fire boat for the secondary assignment once we've handled the main evacuation.:: --------------------------------------------- Cap lifted his HT. "Engine 51 to Helicopter 8." ##Go ahead, Engine 51.## "Our ETA to site is thirty minutes." ## 10-4, 51. ## Cap grinned and patted each of his men on the back as they boarded the swift hulled coast guard cutter. "Time to get your feet wet, boys. " Chet eyed the big, bobbing red and white boat suspiciously. "Aw, Cap, do I have to? I just got done polishing my shoes." "Get in there.." Cap mock growled, giving Kelly a shove across the short plank leading from shore to the sleek rescue coast guard Crestliner. Marco strapped into the life vest a guardsman handed him and he asked. "Hey, Cap. Just how many oceanic runs have you logged in your day? I take it disaster calls like this aren't common." "You're right. I've only seen three. This is my third. Just consider it a four alarm, gang. The only difference is that any firefighting will be completely on a horizontal plane instead of a vertical one and the hosework will be trickier because the waves will be shifting us up and down on the boat's deck. We're only going to be cover for 110's marine firemen. Remember that. Do whatever they ask of you in full support." "Right, Cap." Soon, Waterboat 245, loaded with 110 and 51's firemen, sped out to sea after the disappearing Chopper 8. ------------------------------------------------------ Kel Brackett helped Dusty Schraeder out to open air and he shouted to the panicking, singed people around him, handing out lifevests from inside the railing benches, when he saw the ferry's employees doing the same. "Everybody, get set to jump overboard! The beach is right there.." Casting his eyes around the milling crowd, Kel fought through them as best he could, spitting out the blood in his mouth while he searched for any sign of either of his parents while he put on a life vest and found three others. "You rest there.. I'll be back for you.." Kel gasped through the smoke at Dusty, whom he parked onto a deck chair reluctantly. Giving the dazed man another glance, Dr. Brackett fought his instincts to stay and help the injured around him and he forced himself to listen to the new ones of panic he felt growing inside of him about his family. "Mom! Dad!! Can you hear me?!" A thick oily curtain of burning haze swept over the deck and felled seven in a suffocating grip. Kel stumbled, choking on the stench in his throat and he crawled over to the nearest body and pulled it to the windward side of the deck by feel alone. On the fourth trip with a victim, his seeking hand found his father, unconscious and face down. "Dad..!!" His fingers found that he had a pulse and that he was still breathing. Immediately Kel's head shot up. ::She would never leave his side like this..:: "Mom!" "Kel?" she gasped from very nearby. "Over here.." he coughed. "Put this on.." he handed Anna Rose one of the three life vests he still had with him and quickly tied one around his father. He dragged Brent over to where he could hear the ferry personnel helping people into the water for the desperate swim to the wave dashed shoreline of Catalina Island. He snapped out an order. "Don't send a swimmer with this man until I get back.." he ordered one lieutenant, pointing down to his father. "I am going to go get a victim with a head injury. Then we'll leave." Kel took a breath of the relatively clean air by the railing on the island side of the burning ferry and turned to go back to Dusty Schraeder whom he had left behind. Anna Rose stopped him. "No, Kel. Don't leave us! You'll never make it out again.." she sobbed. "I'll be fine. He's not that far away." Dr. Brackett said as he looked up and saw the fast approaching outline of a coast guard cutter making a rapid headway from the island's small resort jetty over to their ferry. "Just stay with dad." Kel disappeared, crawling back into the dark smoke of the inner deck. ------------------------------------------------- Roy and Johnny couldn't see the ferry. Just a column of black greasy smoke coming from the wounded boat almost hugging the shoreline. Roy thought, ::The engineer's must have shifted the rudders to allow her to drift towards shore. Smart thinking.:: Then John saw startling colored dots floating in the water. He tapped his partner on the shoulder. "Roy, they're already abandoning ship!" Roy spoke calmly into his radio headset. "Most look ok. I'm just concerned about the ones who are hurt and not able to swim away from that boat.." Gage didn't say anything more and both paramedics and Detective Crockett were silenced by the horrifying drama unfolding like a silent movie, before them. ##Squad 51, we are touching down. You are to disembark with your equipment and report to Cutter 27 docked starboard on the jetty for your rendevous to the Windjammer. ## "10-4, Chopper Eight." The massive Coast Guard helicopter hovered only inches from the rough stoney pier that was already jammed with newly responding fireboats taking in sea water into their bilges to combat the ferry's burgeoning fire. Two minutes later, Roy and Johnny were fast footing it with the gear laden stokes between them down the rocky pier towards the landing set aside for Coast Guard's slips at the very end. Crockett had donned a coastguard jumpsuit, complete with his fire arm, and was running close after them. Johnny could see two vessels were waiting and idling with their prows aimed seaward. Gage immediately turned for the sixty foot fireboat. A shout stopped him. "51. Over here.." came a voice. Roy and Johnny turned. A guardsman on an eighteen foot red painted outboard was gesturing for them to come over to him. Gage's eyes got real big. "Oh, man.. Roy.. We're going on THAT thing?" Roy cracked a grin. "Still don't trust yourself from the last time out at sea?" "Hardly." "Well, you might not get seasick this time, pally. There'll be no masts for us to climb." Ferrys don't have any." Roy said. "Hope you're right.." Johnny groaned. Soon, DeSoto and Gage were heading out in the speedy outboard towards the column of rising soot marking the place of the sea ferry's self consuming fire. ------------------------------------------------ Kelly Brackett found the large Texan coughing on the deck chair. "Mister.. Let's go. I've got a life vest here for you. Easy.." he said as he flung one of the groggy man's arms over his shoulder to help him gain his feet. "This way.." The wind shifted mercifully, showing the doctor that the Windjammer's decks were now empty of people except for a few near the gap in the railing where his father lay. Dr. Brackett and Dusty Schraeder had covered half the distance to the opening in the railing when the Windjammer's fuel tanks compromised. A great force lifted both men up and flung them outwards from the main bulk of the boat as a massive exploding fireball signalled the beginning of the end for the hull breached ferry. The Windjammer listed twenty degrees to her side, towards land, and Dusty and Kel Brackett slid struggling, across the oily deck, each partially stunned by the blast. Rushing towards the ferry, Roy and John and Crockett winced as the Windjammer blew herself apart. On the front of the flying debris, a body was hurtled into the sea. "Move it move it!! To portside. Ten o'clock!! Someone just landed in the water!! " Gage shouted. Cutter 27 knifed through the waves to where the paramedics had last seen the man go down. The boat circled the area once,and the impact rings were fast fading in the ocean's regular toss and turn. "Where is he?!" Roy shouted. "There. There. Right there!" Crockett said, pointing suddenly to the left. Gage and DeSoto jumped feet first into the water from the cutter with the empty stokes. They swam rapidly to the slowly sinking man and hauled his face out of the water. They struggled to pull their victim into the stokes long enough for the rescue boat to come forward for a pickup. Crockett and the guardsmen had only just hauled the sodden man aboard and had rolled him over when the detective exclaimed. "Schraeder!!" Gage, regained his footing on the boat's rear loading platform, was helped on board. "Who?" A low moan came from the cut riddled Texan in the stokes as Roy bent down to check the injured man's mental status. "It's Dusty Schraeder from the horse track. My team and I got enough evidence to arrest this guy this morning on charges of animal cruelty and reckless endangerment." Crockett said. "THIS is the guy our jockey was so keen on taking out?" Gage asked. "Yeah.. Walter Farley tipped us off on his Lasix misusage andlead us to some eyewitnesses who saw exactly what Dusty and a groom named Manuel did to Charismatic, the colt that caused the pileup. A little dumpster diving found the missing unused Lasix syringes they had been throwing away and their barn's ID serial number was labelled all over them." "Means and motive.." Roy sighed. "He's ok, Johnny. A bump on the head and no signs of aspiration." DeSoto said, lifting his stethoscope from the man's chest. "I'll get him on some O2." Right then, Dusty Schraeder groaned and started stirring. He awoke to a grinning Crockett's face. "Whaa? What are you doing here? Didn't you get enough of me investigating my horse barn?" the angry man asked of the detective. "More than enough. You're under arrest, Mr. Schraeder.." and he slapped on handcuffs around Dusty's wrists. "I'll say, your racing days are over.." Dusty Schraeder promptly passed out. Johnny happened to glance up back then to a commotion from the Windjammer. Anna Rose Brackett and a ferry worker was crouched over a soot stained figure lying on the deck. "Johnny ! Roy! Over here.. My husband and son! They're hurt!" The cutter crew swiftly darted the remaining distance to the gutted Windjammer whose fire had blown itself mostly out. Roy and Gage quickly accepted pulling hands to come on board and their gear quickly followed. Roy knelt by Kel Brackett and began to check him out even as Gage did the same thing for the unconscious Brent Brackett. Johnny glanced up at Anna Rose. "You ok, Mrs. Brackett?" "Y- Yes.. The guardsman shoved me down and the explosion went over our heads. H-how are they?" Roy spoke up. "I've got a good carotid." "Same over here." Johnny said, bending down to check Brent's pupils for reaction time. "So far so good." Right then, Brent and Kel both groaned and started to awaken. "Easy, doc.." Gage said. "Docs.." he amended with a grin. "Just lie still, both of ya, and let Roy and I check ya out." Kel Brackett winced and rolled over to spit out the blood pooling in his mouth. "What about the fire..?" Gage turned and glanced over his shoulder. "That last explosion sure did a little number. Blew out the fire and exposed a wanted criminal to the local authorities as well." Johnny quipped. "Huh?" Brent Brackett grunted. "Never mind. It would take too long to explain it to ya." Roy said, getting two cannulas of 02 set for their patients. "But I can tell ya that it's all for the good." "Doc.. you feeling better?" John asked when he realized Dr. Brackett had an actively bleeding tongue. "I will be. Just get me off this smoking hulk. I've had enough of vacations to last me a lifetime.." he sighed. "Just don't swallow any of that." "Don't I know it.." "Do I need to get your permission to treat you an--" "Don't ask. Just do." "Right." Waterboat 245 with the high pressured water cannons, and the rest of Station 51 and Station 110, soon arrived to board Windjammer along with a ferry to take the beach survivors back to the mainland. Cap and Chet strode over to where Roy and Johnny were setting up IVs on Brent, Kel and Dusty in prep for Chopper Eight's multiple airlift maneuver for their transport. The captain of 110's stepped forward and started barking orders. "Let's get these casualties stabilized ASAP. I want everyone off deck in ten minutes! Station 51, go below and check for petroleum leaks. Last thing we need is an ecological catastrophe on top of everything else." Hank Stanley, Chet, Marco, and Mike Stoker all hurried with him to quickly check out the damage left behind from the explosion snuffed fire. ----------------------------------------- Kel Brackett, Brent Brackett Jose Rivero and Mary Kenner were all sharing a room at Rampart because of limited space arrangements that were currently in effect. Only a curtain separated jockeys from doctors. Johnny Gage, Roy DeSoto and Walter Farley were visiting the jockey side. Johnny was beaming ear to ear, as was his quiet partner, when Walter Farley gently took Mary Kenner's hand. "Mary. How are ya doing. You awake? Some friends of mine are here to see you on a matter of business.." "Mr. Farley?" she said, opening her eyes. "You came.. Jose and I didn't think you'd be able to come today because of the stakes races going on." she said. Then she recognized Roy. "Mr. DeSoto. I've some good news for you. The doctors are saying that I will walk again. It's going to take some time and a lot of therapy, they tell me. But I'm more than up for the challenge." "Well, that's good Miss Kenner, because the guys and I have another challenge for you to work on." Roy said to her, smiling. Walter Farley stepped forward and pulled the bundle of leather he had been hiding behind his back. For a moment Mary's face twisted with the memory of her filly going down the day of her accident. But then her eyes fell on the brass name plate on the bridle's cheek strap. "Oh, my g*d. This says Swale? Mr. Farley.. what is this?" Johnny said, "Well, Jose came up with the plan and the rest of us guys at the station house made it possible with ...well, a small donation up front... for this.." and he stepped forward to hand over Swale's signed and delivered ownership papers and pedigree. Again Mary's eyes fell on the short list of names of the colt's sole shareholders. She read them aloud. "Titled owners of Swale. 2 year old. Bay colt are hereby declared as Mary Kenner of Anaheim and Jose Rivero of Independence City in the state of California, United States of--" Her voice cracked when she realized the implications of what she was reading. "You didn't.." "We sure did Miss, Kenner. " Walter Farley grinned along with the two paramedics flanking him. "Swale now belongs to a jockey team of two. Utterly. Including all future stud rights and purse winnings from here on out." Mary's eyes filled with tears and she regarded the sleeping Jose on the bed next to her briefly in thought. " We can't accept him.. I.. well, Jose and I can't afford to keep a racehorse. We don't have the facilities off track." Walter Farley spoke up. "Not necessarily true young lady. You see, The Dusty Schraeder Racing Stables have declared bankruptcy due to extenuating circumstances. Heh. heh heh. The track now has fifteen stalls set aside for me to fill. And Swale.. now has one of them." "Oh, Mr. Farley.." she sobbed. "I'm sure if Jose were awake right now. He'd also thank you from the bottom of his heart. And I thank you firefighters, too, for everything." "Our pleasure ma'am.." Roy said quietly. "Well, we'd better be going. Take care and send us a post card once in a while from the racing circuit." "I will.." she promised. ------------------------------------------------- Anna Rose sat at the foot of Brent Brackett's bed and held his hand. "Brent, now you know you and Kel still have plenty of vacation time accrued. I've been thinking about this alot. Now I've talked with a very nice young man named Morton downstairs and he swears up and down about spending a week in Hawaii..On Maui to be exact. Now, what do you say?" Brent grunted and chuckled, holding a pillow over his aches. "I've seen enough islands to last me until I'm ninety, Anna Rose. And I'm sure our only son agrees with me." "I concur most wholeheartedly, dad. How about another six years of us just working, straight through." "Sounds just peachy.." Brent smiled. Anna Rose's face fell in complete and utter dismay. "Oh, now that's not fair. That solves your needs. What about mine?" "Well, you can always go to school to become a nurse and then come work with us.." Kel quipped. "Oh, you.. Dixie would never agree to that.. and you know it." Right then, Dixie walked in the door with the medications for everyone in the room. "I'd never agree to what, Anna Rose..?" "Oh,.. uh,, nothing.." she said. ----------------------------------------------- In the squad, returning to base, Roy and Johnny Gage had reason to smile. Gage stretched languidly in his seat and said. "I feel really good about what happened to us over the past two weeks, don't you?" "I know what you mean. What we did was a really noble thing I think. Saved : One horse and two careers. Nice totals, Johnny." "Yeah, " Gage smirked. "So, did you learn your lesson about betting on the horses?" "How do you mean?" DeSoto said, turning into the station's drive. The garage door opened to reveal that the engine had gone on a run. "Roy, how can you be so blind?" Gage said in exasperation. "Horse racing is all a matter of integrity, right across the board. It's not a game. Never was." Roy studied the steering wheel and the sunlight dappling there. "I suppose you're right, Johnny. I-I do feel kinda different about it all now." "Good going, I'm proud of ya, Junior." Roy's face split into a gentle grin and he shyly glanced at Gage. "If you say so, pally.. Come on, let's hurry. Maybe Cap and the others left our hamburgers in the oven. I'm starved." "Oh yeah, that reminds me.. Did we remember to get more dog food for Henry?"Johnny asked. "Yeah, and you can count on this fact. It's not horsemeat." FIN :) ----------------------------------------- :) This Episode is dedicated to those who go out of their way to insure the humane treatment of Racehorses who are trained daily, to run for the Thoroughbred Racing Circuit nation wide. May they all retire alive and well. (Horses, dedicated trainers :) and grooms, alike.) :) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season One, Episode Six.. The Golden Horn ***************************** From : Jeff Seltun Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Whirlwind Help~~ Date : Sat, 29 Mar 2003 01:52:50 +0000 Roy and John looked up from where they were drying dishes with Cap. "Huh?" Johnny gasped. Everyone in the kitchen ran for the garage in haste. Gage took one look at the convulsing man and the hard time Mike was having keeping his airway open and he said said. "Cap! We gotta move... Marco! Get the gear.." Johnny and Roy fell onto their knees by Stoker as they both reached for the fallen man. "Stoker?" Roy asked while he felt the man's pulse. He only briefly looked at Mike for what he knew. "What happened here? Let's get him on his side. Easy.." The UPS delivery man's eyes were rolled up into his head and his hitched breathing sounded almost painful as he shook. "He said he was thirsty and very warm. When I got back with his water, I found him passing out just as you see him now. He's been seizing only for half a minute." Mike replied. Stoker kicked a typewriter box out of the way that was a little too near the man's head. Roy looked at Marco, who had first grabbed the resuscitator from the squad's side compartment. Stoker turned on a high flow of 02 through the demand valve's mask and began to use it to create some fuller breaths for the man in order to turn away his mild cyanotic color. John nodded after his primary assessment. "His airway's fine now. Roy, his carotids are much stronger than his radial pulses and he's more than just a little warm. This flush looks like sunburn." "Heat stroke?" Roy guessed as he loosened the man's clothing and belt for more inspiration room. He started to listen to how the man was breathing with a stethoscope. "That'd be my guess." John said frankly. "Mike, see if you can cushion his head, but don't interfere with or restrain him in any way." "Right." "And let's get him stripped down." Chet tossed Stoker a folded burn pack for him to use for a pillow and then he began opening a shock blanket immediately after. Kelly slid the defibrillator and biophone with a foot nearer to Roy and Johnny, while he unfolded the sheet as fast as he could. Cap crouched only briefly over the man to help Marco open the shaking man's shirt where he lay propped on his side, then he rose. "Marco, after you're through patching him in, grab some ice from the yard's soda cooler and hoof it back here with a load, would ya?" Johnny nodded vigorously in agreement from where he was taking a hasty BP on his patient, letting Roy keep the stethoscope, getting a systolic reading by guiding touch alone. "You got it.." Lopez said. He ran through the back door. On a thought, he opened the idling UPS truck's cab and switched off the running ignition and threw on the truck's emergency brake. As he hurried he heard another order from Cap float out of the shed. "And get out a portable smoke fan, we'll use it to start cooling him down. Also punch up both garage doors, the cross wind might help." Marco snatched open the chest cooler that was humming outside against the back of the station nearest the hose tower and soccer kick guided a drying mop bucket close until it was handy to use as a way to transport the ice they so desperately needed for their stricken visitor. --------------------------------- Meanwhile, inside, Johnny drew out the defib paddles and took a quick reading while Roy checked and rechecked the leads connecting from the biophone to the EKG monitor. "He's showing sinus tach, Roy. With considerable physical artifact." The finding made Johnny grip the man's carotid again for quality. "Still viable though." He tossed the paddles aside back into the open case. He swept appraising eyes over their victim, who was now only in briefs. Only then did Cap move over to the radio station to heft up the acknowledgement microphone. "L.A., this is Station 51. We have a still alarm at our location. Respond an immediate ambulance, Code R." ##10-4, 51. Ambulance is responding. Driver reports his ETA as four minutes. Your time out, 8 : 06.## "Station 51, KMG 365, 10-4." and he sighed, returning to hover back over the working team of paramedics and firemen. The sinus tach came on the monitor in front of Cap, but in moments, it seemed, the man's heartbeat grew more coarse and wide peaked into a more chaotic tach. Roy snaked a hand to the man's neck pulse and he kept it there while he phoned out. "Rampart, this is Squad 51. How do you read?" Dixie McCall replied when she heard the response buzzer sound above her head. Seconds later, she was pressing the call out toggle on the base station intercom.## Unit calling in, please repeat.## and she flipped on the wall recorder. "Rampart, this is Rescue 5-1." ##Go ahead, 51. ## Dixie said getting set a chart note pad and pencil. She tapped on the window glass to get Dr. Morton's attention about the run. The young intern returned his reading chart to the holder and entered the room to listen to Roy's report as Dixie documented it in writing. "Rampart, we have a male, aged approximately 60-62 years of age. He is currently down with a witnessed seizure. Duration: Two and a half minutes. Rampart, he also appears grossly febrile and not at all diaphoretic. Cooling measures are in progress as well as assisted ventilations on 100 % O2." DeSoto said to the hospital staffers as he watched his partner show Marco and Chet where to place the chilling ice. Piles soon appeared around the twitching man's axilla area, and thickly around his head and neck, ankles, groin and wrists inside the shock sheet the others had wrapped around him. Roy cupped the phone's receiver onto his shoulder, muffling it. "Stoker, keep tabs on his carotid for me, will ya? I'm letting go. Ignore the monitor even though it's showing a beat. Trust only what you feel. He may go sour on us real fast." Stoker nodded, taking over his hold with a grip of his own. Roy was now free to write down the information he had gathered from his assessment. Dixie asked. ##51, what are the patient's vitals?## Gage was already biting open an IV of normal saline and he smacked a box of intravenous tubing against Chet's knee for him to open as well, in anticipation of its use. He barely waited for a pause in Roy's account when he added. "Roy, pulse is, 134 and weak. Respirations are 30 and shallow. Pupils are slightly dilated and sluggish. BP is... 104 by palpation. Still working on the temp." Roy parroted the vitals signs as he heard them, scratching his nose while he watched Stoker maintain good color on their patient. "30? And shallow?" he doubled checked. "Yeah.." Johnny confirmed. Roy nearly dropped the phone when the man's belly began to heave.. "Mike.. Watch it..! Watch it. He's starting to vomit.." Stoker pulled away the mask and supported the man's head on his arm while some emesis gushed from his lips. Gage tossed him a syringe bulb from the 02 apparatus case and some gauze 4 X 4's. "Here! See if you can clear him first with this before anyone goes running to get the suction. This way's faster." Cap bent to help Stoker hold the man's face firm despite each violent convulsion, while Mike worked to keep him from aspirating anything into his lungs. Chet asked. "Are we cooling him too fast..?" "No. He's not shivering yet." Johnny said tartly. "You and Marco, just keep doing what you're doing." he jogged his head animatedly at Chet and Lopez while they hand shovelled ice into the yellow bundle of plastic sheeting cocooning the man. Roy reported the event once he was convinced they were on top of it. He also told Rampart about the feed he had set up and about relaying his cardiac telemetry through to them on Lead Two. ##10-4, 51.## Morton replied.##Does your victim have a gag reflex?## considering his options on reducing the man's most serious complication. Roy watched the man as he heaved a bit abdominally in response to Mike's evacuation attempts with the oral bulb whenever he reached in to sweep it over the man's tongue. "That's affirmative. But it doesn't look like he's bringing up much beyond the initial amount. It appears to be all liquid." Mike spoke up. "Roy, he did tell me that he drank too much pop." "Soda?" Roy asked. Stoker nodded as he moved faster to clear the man's mouth. "I'll just bet his blood glucose's screwed up, too, on top of his being drier than all get out." Gage mumbled. "Marco check those clothes over there for any sign of medical ID." "Rampart, our witness mentions that our victim spoke about consuming a lot of soft drinks prior to collapse." ##10-4.## Mike Morton sighed and leaned onto the counter meeting Dixie's eyes.##Do what it takes to regain good air exchange, 51. His pulse is accelerating.## he affirmed by looking at the monitor. Cap got a pulse count. "It's up. Rate's 160 now." he told Roy to confirm what Morton had found. Stoker finally got nothing but air into his bulb. "I got him. I got him.." And he quickly sent some vents in, timed with the man's own. The fluttering pulse he felt under his fingertips began to ease subtly and slowly at first, but soon thereafter, by more than twenty beats a minute. Morton spoke over the phone.##Good turn around. Did he aspirate, 51?## DeSoto shook his head as he listened to the man's breath sounds around the ice piled there, with his stethoscope. "That's negative, Rampart." Roy sighed in relief. Cap finished wiping the man's face clear with the dish towel that he remembered he had jammed into his pants pocket, in between Mike's 02 delivered vents. "Looks like we got lucky." Morton went on. ##All right, enough's enough. Let's get a handle on those uncontrolled convulsions. Start an IV, 51. A 500 cc bolus IV of Normal Saline and run it wide open. Administer 10 mg Diazepam IV Push. Monitor him carefully for dysrhythmias, 51, as it goes in. Titrate the diazepam only to seizure resolution level. He's too irritable cardiac wise for any more than that.## "An IV, Normal Saline, wide open. Diazepam IVP until seizure is counteracted. 10-4." "Man, I can't get a vein.. Chet.. kneel on his hand, will you? Hold this arm still as you can.." John grunted, holding his needle well away from Kelly and the convulsing man until he had good room to work. "Pump up that BP cuff again, too, while you're at it.." Chet did as he was told and everyone held their breaths while the blood pressure valve quietly snicked tight. It barely raised a shocky vein. But it was enough. Seconds later...."I got it.." Johnny grinned, when he saw his catheter's flashback. Gage snatched for the flowing end of the hanging IV that Kelly had hung from the squad's side mirror. He quickly connected the two together while he taped up the rest of the IV and swabbed down its medication's port for Roy to use. Roy slowly injected the global sedative until the man went limp and relaxed into a post seizure turpor. His patient's color paled and the sinus tach widened, turning a bit closer, into something else. Roy pulled the med needle out of the IV line. "That did it.." But he didn't smile. The EKG began to show anomalies. "Stoker. How's he doing?" Johnny asked. "Still got a carotid. It's easier to ventilate him now." "It should be.." Gage coughed. "We just knocked out most of his voluntary muscle abililty." he said taking another BP, this time with the stethoscope. Roy did not look away from the monitor. Marco looked up from his search of the man's belongings. "There's no sign of an ID, medical or otherwise. But I know his name's Marty Anders." At everyone's puzzled frowning, he said. "Oh, I read it from a name tag he had pinned to his jacket in the delivery truck. I shut off its engine when I went out to get the ice." Gage held up his thermometer he had taken R. "It's a hundred fo--... Hold it..." he froze, studying a suddenly off rhythm on the EKG screen. "He's in V-Tach!.......Mike?" "I can't feel a pulse anymore." At the same time, the radio burst into life. ## 51, defibrillate. 400 watt seconds.## Morton ordered. "10-4, starting CPR." Roy confirmed. "Marco.." he indicated while the others rolled the man onto his back, whose color had now washed into a bluish ghost of its prior shade. "Right." Lopez nodded and started vigorous chest compressions. Gage gelled the paddles and waited for the charger to build. "One. Two. Three... Four hundred watt seconds.. Clear!" Everyone lifted their hands off the man. Johnny delivered his first shock. The heart monitor indicator leaped but didn't convert, instead it fell into a course V-fib. "No conversion.." he announced. "Recharging.." he said, hitting the power up switch once more. Again, he defibrillated. To no avail. "Nothing..." Roy grunted. Marco and Stoker instantly continued their CPR. Roy picked up the phone. "Rampart, we've no recapture..Request permission to insert an esophageal airway.." he said, his voice tight with stress. ##Go ahead, 51. Then administer 1 mg 1/10,000 epinephrine IV and then defibrillate again.## Cap's head lifted when he heard the arriving ambulance approach on the boulevard through the open garage doors. He saw it pull into the station's driveway. He jogged over to them to show them where their victim was. Roy and Johnny worked for a very long two minutes securing the airway and switching to an oxygen supported ambu bag. The third countershock failed as well. The two ambulance attendants took over Lopez's compressions and Stoker's ventilations. Roy said, "Still nothing, doc.." Morton bit his lip. "Just what the h*ll's going on here? This is just an environmental injury...isn't it?" he mumbled. Dixie, overhearing, shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine." Morton slammed the response button down hard with a palm. ## 51, start a Lidocaine drip of 1.5 mg's and follow up with one amp sodium bicarb. Time we equalize his blood's acidity and give his system a reason to start working again. ## "10-4. One amp bicarb and a 1.5 mg Lidocaine drip." Roy called aloud for Johnny's benefit. The dark haired medic already had out the right things, guessing ahead of time, their need, and he handed Roy the large bicarb syringe after squirting some of it out to alleviate its trapped air. ##Then administer another milligram of epinephrine. IV Push. Continue CPR for two minutes then defibrillate once more.## "An additional mg 1/10,000 epinephrine IV and counter shock in two. 10-4, Rampart.." Roy repeated. Johnny waited for Roy to administer the Lidocaine before he followed suit with his cap popped epinephrine. "Let's just hope the lidocaine does the trick. I really don't think he'll handle any procainamide well." "Let's hope so.." DeSoto grunted as he completed his infusions. CPR continued while they waited for the medication to start working. Then, after the fourth try using the defib paddles, a tentative cardiac rhythm bloomed on the monitor and soon Johnny felt a carotid weakly beating at the man's neck. "We got him back." he announced. Roy lifted the phone. "Rampart, we're showing a sinus rate of about 52 and we've regained a carotid pulse." Johnny fed him a new set of vitals after snatching the stethoscope from around Roy's neck. "BP's 102/58. Respirations are 14." He watched the ambulance attendant switch the ambu attachment for the station's second portable 02 tank that Stoker had wheeled up from the squad's backup. Roy relayed the news. ## I see it. Continue monitoring vitals and watch for signs of overcooling. Continue the 02 and transport as soon as possible. Call me back if his pulse rate doesn't climb back up to normal in transit.## A few minutes later, Johnny and Roy had the man geared up for the gurney and together they loaded the delivery man into the awaiting ambulance. Johnny went with the patient with the gear while Roy remained behind to follow in the squad. He got in the driver's seat and leaned out the window. "This is irony for you.. How many times have I ever went 10-8 to Rampart on a call out of the stationhouse?" "Twice, I think.." Chet said literally. "Once for that girl's father with his sudden MI and then the other time when that crazy family pulled up with the burning trailer with the trapped kid in the driveway." "Oh, yeah. Forgot about those two." DeSoto admitted. Cap sighed, backing away so Roy could pull out. "Let me know how he does. If he wakes up, tell him I'm calling his boss to come pick up the delivery truck." "That's if he wakes up while I'm with him.." Roy grinned. "He's pretty out of it with his meds and overall condition there, Cap." "Yeah, I know. But he just strikes me as the type who'll fuss over his vehicle, know what I mean?" "Yeah." And Roy was gone. Chet, Marco and Stoker looked at the papers and ice and water and plastic sheeting strewning the bay. "Man,.. looks like a tornado struck in here." Kelly quipped. "It did. A force of six. We're always like that on a medical call so don't act like such an amazed twit . Go close both main doors and then you guys clean up over there. I'll go move the typewriter boxes into the kitchen." Cap said. Soon, only a freshly mopped spot marked the place where a man had nearly died fifteen minutes before. ---------------------------------- Photo : Roy with man on 02. Photo: Morton and dix. Photo: Johnny getting the gear out. Photo: Roy in a close up sitting in the squad. ********************************** Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2003 05:10:46 +0100 (BST) From: "Katherine Bird" Subject: One of the Line... It was about forty minutes later. Johnny and Roy returned to base, whistling cheerfully. They had been buoyed by the good news that Marty, the delivery man, had suffered no long term effects from his heatstroke incident and Gage in particular, was practically bouncing on his heels as he and Roy made their way hungrily into the kitchen on a quest for food and coffee. What the two paramedics didn't expect was the mortuary like atmosphere filling the warmly lit room and the sluggish sounds of hunt and peck typing coming from Stoker, Chet and Marco as they struggled to carry out Hank's log commandment from earlier. Next to Kelly, was a pile of crumpled typewriter paper wads mounded up around his place at the kitchen table and the neat organized reams of papers surrounding the others. Johnny and Roy skidded to a halt at the sudden reminder of their new job duty. "Oh, that's right.." John groaned sarcastically. "And here I had almost forgotten about this..." "Wish I had your capacity for forgetting.." Roy quipped dryly as he poured out a cup of java for himself. He ignored Johnny's pro-offered mug that was nonverbally asking for some, and he moved forward to see what Mike was typing for his log form up close, pretending to not even see Johnny's move at all. Gage made a face at his partner and filled his cup with a grimace, on his own, from the pot. Roy threw out a finger. "Hey,... nice neat rows there Stoker." "Thanks.." Stoker grinned, without looking up. He had a correcting pencil perched over one ear that hadn't even been used. Johnny likewise, snuck a peek over Chet's shoulder at his work and started laughing. " You're having trouble spelling your own name?" he asked incredulously. He snatched up a random reject discard and unrolled it. "And this one's got our call sign misspelled. How could ya have screwed up typing "KMG 365", Chet?" Stoker and Lopez chuckled from their seats, but didn't look up from their work of index finger typing. Kelly snatched the wrinkled paper out of John's hands and he immediately began nesting the other rejected paper balls protectively into his arms. "Hey! Quit being nosy, geesh. What do I have to do to get a little privacy around here? Build my own personal office?" John didn't miss a beat. "You don't have to, Chet. Just borrow Henry's doghouse if you wanna do that." That won Gage an even louder mirthful reaction from the guys. "Are you even gonna answer my question?" Johnny went on, relentless and towering over Chet's chair. "What question?" Kelly asked with an irritated edge. Already his attention was bent on ignoring his worst tormentor and concentrating on his newest hated chore. Roy spoke up for Johnny. " The one about getting down "KMG 365" wrong.." "Oh." Chet said unenthusiastically. "I just get all these numbers up here all confused." he said gingerly pointing at that row on his manual typewriter. "They just don't feel right under the fingers, know what I mean?" "Yeah..I know what ya mean." Roy said with a mild empathy and he took another sip of coffee. Gage leaped up and sat butt perched on a kitchen chair's back instead of on the seat where his shoes parked. "So, whatcha gonna pay me to do your reports each week, Chet..?" That made Kelly blink more than twice at Gage. "Believe me, Johnny, there isn't anything you do that's worth me giving up a single solitary dime.." he gushed with absolute conviction. "Suit yourself.." Johnny said and he hopped off the chair to plunk down into the vacant nearby one that still had a brand new plastic wrapped typewriter sitting in front of it. He grandly indicated the neighboring seat and its accompanying unwrapped typewriter to Roy, teasing him into joining in the fun currently ongoing. Roy just rolled his eyes and took up Johnny's offer of a chair. "It's 'Misery loves company' I guess..." he sighed. "I might as well join you all now while I still have the patience. I've been dreading this new log recording assignment business the whole way back here.." "Oh? Why so angsty?" Gage grinned, cock-eyed and bright. "I can't type much.." Roy growled. Johnny cracked his knuckles loudly over his typewriter and he pulled off its cellophane wrap. "Too bad. I feel for ya.." Then he glanced around for the pile of logs in the middle of the table, grabbed one sixth of the stack as his allotted portion, and his eyes fell on the unused ream of typing paper quickly dwindling in front of Chet as he failed yet again to type out the basic information at the top of the form. "**##&@**##!" Chet swore, and he used both hands to angrily rip out the mistyped page from his typewriter. Johnny used that moment to snag a blank sheet for his own use from Kelly's pile. "Hey... go get your own.. I don't have that much here for myself as it is.." Chet complained. "If you'd quit wasting it so fast maybe you'd be able to make it last a little longer.. Here.." And Johnny lifted the erasure pencil from Mike's ear in an easy grab and handed it to Chet in appeasement. "Maybe you oughta learn all about having one of these then.." Mike felt the robbing but disregarded it, eyeing up his own close work of careful hunt and pecking. "What's this?" Kelly asked. "What do you think it is?" "A pencil.." Chet said, with "duh" written all over his tone. "A correction pencil.. It erases typing marks. Watch.." And Johnny inserted his stolen fresh piece of paper into his new typewriter and his fingers flew through his own name on the letter keys, typing. He intentionally typed a "Z" after the "e" in Gage. Then he showed Chet how the pencil worked. "See? Look. There's no sign of ink where the "z" was here anywhere. Problem solved.." Gage concluded, tossing the pencil down on top of the table. Chet froze, blinking again. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. How'd you do that?" "Do what? Use the pencil?" Johnny asked with a smirk. "No, dummy. How'd ya type so fast?" "Who? Me? I wasn't typing fast. I.....I.." he stuttered. "Yes you were. I just watched you.." Chet fluttered a few fingers in Johnny's direction. "You musta got out your name in .....what, Roy, half a second?" "At least..." Roy agreed with a yawn as he pulled off the new wrapping on his typewriter and got it set for his use. Cap sailed into the room, seeking coffee.. His face immediately frowned when he hefted the pot. "What's the matter, Cap?" Gage asked. Cap glared at Kelly and turned the pot upside down to show its empty state.. Chet shot up out of his chair to make a new one lickety split. Cap rubbed his nose as he regarded all his men sitting with the logs and the new machines. He seemed not to see any of them, lost in thought. Then he asked. "How's our UPS man?" "He's gonna make it." Roy grinned. "How's the delivery truck? Were all those packages Stoker said he talked about delivered on time..?" "Have you ever known UPS to be late on any delivery?" Hank countered. All the gang shook their heads ruefully. "I swear they had a new driver here faster than we usually get our ambulances on scene, once I called them about his sudden illness." Cap joked. He watched Chet pour piping java into his empty mug absently. Then he sat down at a typewriterless spot at the kitchen table. This time Marco spoke up. "What's the matter, Cap?" "Hmm? Oh, nothing. Nothing. It's just uh, my looking at all these typewriters is bringing back some memories for me, that's all." "What kind of memories?" Johnny asked, limbering up his fingers for the long task ahead working on the log forms. Hank laced his fingers together around his coffee mug and actually looked sheepish. "The forgettable kind." Chet's moustache twitched in amusement as images of McConnike's burning hat came to mind. But he said. "Wanna talk about them?" "Not much to say, actually." Gage caught on to Chet's angling. "Sure there is.. Don't you know that your junior-under-McConnike days are one of the great mysteries all your shifts have about ya?" "Yeah, I know." He drew out an old insignia pin, a double bugle from his shirt pocket and he studied its worn shape. All the guys grew respectfully quiet and all the typing died away as Cap's face furrowed in a memory that wasn't all that mysterious or happy. In fact.. he looked stunned and very very lost. "Do any of you fellas know what this is?" he said, fiddling nervously with the pin on the table top. "Yeah, Cap. That's your rank pin for captain off your dress uniform." Gage said straight faced and alert. Hank didn't speak for a time, and he just swallowed while considering words. Then he practically whispered. "That's right. I just found out I've got another time scheduled to use this again, starting tomorrow morning. Actually, it's gonna be time for all of us to ....get dressed up.. I ..I.. just got a call.." Roy's face blanched when he got what that meaning meant. "Who is it, Cap?" The others' hearts hit their throats. "Station 8's Captain Stone just got back from assisting at a real bad county fire. He just told me that ..that.." his voice broke as he fought emotions... "Uh,..the first story fell on top of the chief's battalion car as he radioed out orders to the crews. McConnike's just died at Rampart." ------------------------------------------------------- Photo : McConnike's red car.. with its door ajar, empty. Photo : Marco, Cap and Mike looking stunned at the kitchen table. Photo : Roy and John looking lost, leaning against a wall. ***************************************** From : "patti keiper" Subject :[EmergencyTheaterLive] The White Helmet Date :Mon, 31 Mar 2003 02:09:40 +0000 Hank Stanley began to twitch under the following silence coming from his men. He found he couldn't even meet their eyes. ::If only they knew how this effects me.:: The gold double bugle pin seemed to burn his eyes in the morning sunlight glinting off of it from the window. Roy was the first one to speak. "I'm ....very sorry to hear about this, Cap. Is there..is there anything we can do?" That finally broke Stanley's terrible burden of sharing the dark news. Hank felt suddenly released from its heavy weight. "No, no, no..I'm.. still waiting to hear back from the other companies who are still on that fire cleanup as to details. You know how these things go. Stone only knew what his paramedics told him when they called from the hospital. He--he said it happened only a few minutes ago. Something about ah, his heart shutting down because of fluid building up around it..?" Cap guessed helplessly inept at the right elusive medical term. "Sounds like it was cardiac tamponade.." Gage said softly, abandoning his coffee mug. "The docs probably couldn't tap it in time, especially if there were other problems going on with the crushing inj..." Johnny trailed his voice off suddenly thinking better of his choice of words and the subject matter. "ugh,..yeahhhh.." he said lamely to end it. He cleared his throat and studied his shoes to avoid Cap's intense gaze following his answer as to a possible why. Again, all the gang muffled into silence. That simple happening suddenly grew intolerable for Hank. Cap's eyes filled and he swung into immediate motion, standing so fast that the chair behind him loudly impacted against the wall. "Oh, ..uh..nothing they could've done then to save him, huh?" and he sucked in a controlling breath to quell his rising grief. "That's.. that's too bad.. I...I'm really gonna miss..." Cap couldn't complete his sentence. Roy and John didn't dare to say anything. This time, the silence cut like a knife and Cap.....moved. He darted forward, suddenly snagging the stack of logs that was their current headache and picked it up, leafing through to the back section where they had their list of monthly fire inspection addresses.. His finger eagerly traced down the page as he read them quickly. "There.. there's one we can go to...right there.." and he stabbed his finger down on the page at one particular one at the very edge of their jurisdiction. Roy couldn't help but notice that the address was practically next to the fire that had killed McConnike. The slate clattered back onto the table. "Stoker,..note number seven's location.. We're leaving.." All the guys startled at the highly irregular decision. Even Chet ejected. "Cap..we're bringing the engine to do a hazardous property inspection?" "And the squad....." Hank nodded curtly. "Move." Everyone scrambled for the bay. Kelly lingered. "Cap, HQ is gonna think this is weird. Are you sure you wanna d--" Hank whirled on the Irishman. "Are you questioning your captain's judgement?!" "No, Cap, I uh..." "Fine. Go get your coat on and stuff a sock in it." "Yes, sir.." Cap's tight flurry of firm action jolted the men into obeying the odd order even faster and then all piled into their turnouts. Stoker put the big engine into drive and then put both feet on the brake, waiting for Cap to board her as the garage door opened. Hank Stanley moved to the response mic. "L.A. This is Station 51. We're 10-8 to 1457 Addison on a citizen's report about a fire hazard. Going to check it out.." ##10-4, Station 51. Updating your location's status. Time out, 9 : 34.## In the rig, Chet murmured.. "Can he do that?" Marco slapped him on the arm sharply to be quiet. Roy and Johnny fidgetted in the squad for a moment putting on their helmets and peering out at the wall map for the address's cross street until they knew exactly where to go. Then they headed out with their lights darkened. Stoker soon followed in a likewise darkened Ward LaFrance. As they turned left onto the avenue, Roy couldn't hold it in. "You just had to open your big mouth, didn't you? That was probably the worst thing you could have said to him.." Gage's face animated. "I didn't mean to say things the way I did, Roy... It just sort of....slipped out.." "Yeah? And now Cap's probably gonna be flipping out. Are ya happy?" DeSoto countered. "He's probably outta his skull right now imagining things.." Johnny didn't say anything and clammed up. Roy spoke again after a full minute of nothing. "You know what he's up to, don't you?" Gage pulled his face away from his hand and elbow perched out the window. "I...I....well, not exactly.." Roy looked straight ahead, concentrating on the driving. "He's going to the fire scene. Where it happened." Johnny's head whipped around in surprise and his mouth gaped open. ------------------------------------------------------- Benjamin Stone wearily stood on the crumbling brick crackling under his shoes as he finished directing the engine companies to those areas of the hotel that were still stubbornly smoking over his HT now set to command frequency. He was surprised to see Station 51 weaving in between the working units and to his command area that he had assumed when McConnike went down. He barely remembered finishing his radioed order as they pulled up. He didn't have to ask the reason why they were there. One other station company from L.A. County suddenly had invented excuses to be in the barrio neighborhood right then, too. Ben stepped forward as the 51 gang bailed out. He didn't say anything as Hank's eyes suddenly fell on what was left of the dusty red battalion car still partially buried in debris. He briefly turned down his radio volume. Captain Stone saw Hank freeze into place in shock as the whole situation suddenly slammed into ugly reality for him. Benjamin just stood quietly next to his colleague and waited. So did Chet, Marco, Mike, Johnny and Roy. Then Cap spoke without looking at Ben. "You're in command now?" Ben nodded. "You should be wearing the white now. Departmental policy.." Cap said waving an absent hand towards Ben's captain helmeted head. Ben flinched, but again, Ben nodded numbly. "I'll go get it.." Hank mumbled tightly, his voice full of powerful emotion. Gage immediately stepped forward.. "No. Wait.. Cap. Let us go for it.. You don't have to be the one to go over there." Hank shrugged off Gage's gripping glove mutely and ordered. "Stay here." The others watched Cap slowly pick his way to the spot where IV papers and EKG patches and spent syringes marked the place where Station Eight's medics had treated McConnike on the ground. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Privately, Hank was very glad the car's paint job and interior upholstery were both red as he dug bricks and smouldering boards out of the way until he could reach into the nearly flattened car's passenger seat for the white battalion chief's helmet he knew one of the treating medics would have thrown there. He found it under McConnike's unused gloves and situation slate. A sob escaped when Hank finally lifted it out into the light and smoke. There was no red coloring here to hide the copious fresh blood, still staining it. Backing out of the chief's car, Captain Stanley searched for and found a hose puddle nearby to wash it off. He bent down, peeling off his own gloves to do the task. Benjamin Stone immediately hurried over to help him with it. "Hank.. let me help.." Stanley stiffened at first, but then he nodded, meeting Ben's smoke red eyes. He was in the presence of an equal at last so Hank let his pain out into the open, and he began to cry, his face streaming in rich tears. Benjamin Stone made sure his back was hiding Cap's face from the view of the rest of 51's men. "It's ok.. We're here together. And I just heard over the comm that Station 127 is on the way, too." "Good man, Captain Gorman. Glad he found a way to make it over here." Hank sniffed. "Yeah.." Stone sighed, holding both of their HT radios in his lap while they crouched and washed. Soon, the blood stains were gone and the two captains had dried the white chief's helmet off with their sleeves. "Here..." Hank said when they were done. "You take this until we find out who is getting it permanently. Might be you.." Ben met Hank's gaze and set a glove on Cap's shoulder. "Might be you, too, Hank. You've got the most seniority even over me." Stanley's mouth twitched painfully but he didn't make a noise beyond a terse. "Yeah, maybe." "You know HQ won't tell us who's got the chief's job until after the funeral." "Yeah, I know.. But you're still at this fire scene and it's still today. And we both know the highest on scene officer from the initial set of called out stations has to take over. " Now it was Ben's time to lose it and his face twisted. Hank spoke quietly, "Put this on, Ben." he said, polishing the white helmet once more to be sure it was clear of any sign of soiling. "He would have wanted it that way. Procedure, you know?" Captain Stanley sighed, wiping away the tears blinding him before any of the other firemen with the nearby hoses from County could see any of his weakness. "McConnike was all that.." And then Ben smiled as he pulled off his white crested cap's helmet for the white chief's one. He sighed as he tightened the helmet's damp chin strap. "He sure was." Together, the two captains returned to Stone's engine while Ben completed coordinating the fire's final cleanup as temporary battalion chief. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Captain Stone talking with Hank Stanley. Photo: Chief McConnike with County firefighters.. Photo : Stoker and Cap in the Engine going to a fire scene. Photo : Night hotel fire.. ******************************************* From : "Cassidy Meyers" Subject : For Every Action.... Date :Fri, 04 Apr 2003 15:50:47 +0400 The rest of the gang dared not approach Hank and Ben where they were quietly discussing the progress of the containment on the still smouldering hotel fire. "Are you going to go over there?" Marco elbowed Chet. "I'm not going to go over there. It's none of my business." "Oh? really? It WILL be our business if headquarters finds out we're not reporting to the location we said we were going to go to. And it won't just be Cap's butt in a sling, it'll be all of our rears, too." Kelly complained plaintatively. Gage, who was leaning on the squad's hood with his helmeted chin propped on a hand, shot an irritated look at Chet, but thought better about saying anything. ::Deep down inside, I know he's right..:: Gage thought privately. ::But d*mn it. Last thing I need is a formal reprimand on my station record for dereliction of duty.:: It was as if Roy was clairvoyant. He spoke aloud as if answering Johnny's private thoughts. "You know, we might get off the hook here since it was all Cap's idea.." he murmured, matching his partner's nervous, feigned looking-bored pose on the fender. Only difference was that Roy had his own helmet off in respect for the tragedy which he knew was only just beginning to tear Hank apart despite his tall friend outwardly beginning to look calm, cool and collected once more. "Now that's a little callous don't you think?" Gage rounded on Roy. "No, I-I...it's not callous at all. I'm just being practical. That IS how it'll rule one way or another if we're caught being off the beaten track like this." DeSoto said, nonplussed. "Besides, you know I'm right because I know positively about what you're thinking. It's a gift I've picked up after serving with you for half a dozen years." his voice cracked. Johnny's face fell into annoyed denial as Roy's point stung home once more. "Ok, All right. So you know what I'm thinking. So let's just clarify a few points on that then. All right.. This is exactly what I'm thinking.. I can't HELP thinking the worst, Roy, at this point . And I'm sure the rest of the guys are doing it, too." he insisted passionately. "And let me add another thing while you're digging around in my head. It's sheer craziness to think it's only us and Kelly who are noticing that Cap's just a little bit off his rocker." he said waggling his fingers in a so-so gesture in the air. "Just look how those county guys are whispering behind Cap's back like that. It's getting me mad.." Roy sighed and leaned against the squad, hanging his head down in fatigue, "Nothing like a cold impersonal phone call to be the bearer of bad tidings. That must have been difficult for Stone to have even called Cap on this whole messy nightmare so soon." "I know. I know." Johnny insisted. "And I know Stone really well, too. I mean he was MY captain before CAP was my captain and Ben was also my paramedic partner even before you got your claws sunk into me for the duration." Gage snorted. "Ben's handling it real good. And so are we,.." he glared at Chet.." for the most part." he angled at the curly haired fireman taking a drink at a leaky hydrant close to the engine. "Only what do we do about Cap in the meantime?" "What do you mean what do we do in the meantime?" Roy fired back. Chet spit out his water in between Roy and Johnny to shut up their squabbling. "Ok, here it is in a nutshell since your higher educated minds seem to be having trouble grasping what the problem is. Let me reiterate for ya in one sentence!" he shouted. "We can't let Cap keep us on a hotspot after hauling us off like this on a whim. It's bad for business." Chet insisted. "Would you pipe down..?!" Gage hissed. "They'll hear you." "Fine, Johnny. Just as soon as you do. I came over here to tell you exactly the same thing.." Kelly said with finality, and he immediately walked away, with his hands jammed into his pants pockets around his turnout coat and he angrily yanked at his helmet strap until it was dangling loose. Gage caught his breath into an aggravated sigh and ran both sets of fingers through his hair just to have something to do. He shook his head at Kelly's back and retreated from all of them by putting on his helmet and sitting down dejectedly in his seat inside the squad. He punctuated his unhappiness by slamming shut the door on its hinges. Roy glanced up and saw that Hank seemed to be drawing strength from the close presence of Stone and mentally, he began amending his concern about Cap bending protocol to be at a fatality scene. ::Maybe it's a start on his accepting the fact that his old captain's truly gone. I know how I would feel if I had been the one digging out Hank's helmet from that car. I don't even want to imagine what Cap's going through right now..:: he reasoned privately. DeSoto gave a short wave at Mike Stoker to tell him to tell the others that he would be the one to go over where Hank and Ben were, to....gently.. tell him the company consensus about being tardy for the fire hazard call, however bogus it really was. He waited respectfully, his helmet still off, a short distance away from the two higher ranked men, quietly. But then his HT came to life sounding a tones out for another squad. The loud squelching reply of the responding team caught him unawares and he jumped. Soon, DeSoto found himself on the receiving end of two curious glances from Stone and Stanley. "Sorry, Cap... Captain Stone....Uh, I suppose you're wondering why I'm over here against a direct order.. Umm.. so I'll just out with it.. Cap, how are you doing?" Roy asked. Hank had his control back on his emotions, at least the ones Roy could visibly see and any possible reprimand he normally would have dished out, died before aborning. "I'm ok, I guess. We're just.... I... am just.. uh.. Well, you see Ben and his men are still cleaning up." he said lamely, trying to smile. Roy nodded quietly. "Is there anything you fellas want us to do back there while we...hang out?" It was as if Cap suddenly remembered where he was. He seemed to drag himself back as if he had been some great distance away and he started murmuring apologies fluidly. "Oh, oh, oh.. Sorry, Ben. ohmyg*d. Sorry, Roy. I guess I - I wasn't thinking straight when I dragged us all out here. I..." "Don't worry about it, Cap." Roy said, setting a hand on Cap's arm. "You had to come." Hank's face mellowed into a tortured acceptance and then he met Roy's eyes very like a child's for an instant, before his command ability took over once more. "Yeah, well, thanks for letting me stay. In letting US, ....stay.." he corrected, offering Ben an ungloved handshake of profound gratitude. Being in front of one of Hank's regular men, Ben didn't do anything different but grasp that handshake back, with both palms warmly. "No problem. Uh,...I guess I'll see you both at the services tomorrow morning, Hank." and then Ben walked away, still feeling very uncomfortable under the nods of respect coming from all the firefighters from the city for assuming the chief's post as he had done. "Oh, yeah." Captain Stone said, turning back towards Hank. "I forgot to tell you this earlier, Hank. Gail wants to see you before the funeral." Cap's mouth opened but he didn't have to say anything out loud. He just nodded that he understood. "Call me if you need anything, Hank. I know how much the chief meant to you for I...know ...just how terribly much he meant to me, even if.. I'm realizing that ..only now." "That same thought is hitting all of us Ben. I'm just the first to feel it, I guess. And about Gail. I won't forget. Same goes for the phone call offer. In reverse right back at ya.." Hank said striding away at last. Ben gave a short salute that whispered a painful reminder to Hank of McConnike, but then Ben disappeared into the veil of smoke, around the corner of his engine. Roy flanked Cap and he and Stanley started their way across the street back to where the rest of the gang and the vehicles were idling. "So, what next? Going to call in to renege that false citizen's report." "I'm doing nothing of the sort. I'll just tell it like it is.. Look.." and he pointed down the block towards the Addison address that he had so bogusly given dispatch on the way out. Roy started smiling and shook his head. "Truck 127 beat us to it with the same idea, eh?" "Yep. Looks like they're covering for Gorman so he can get in his own time with Ben and this ....awful fire. Can I help it if our two calls got crossed over the airwaves again?" he said throwing his arms up in mock mystification. "Guess not.." Roy grinned, folding his arms in front of himself in relief at Cap's sudden sense of humor. Captain Stanley pulled his HT out of his pocket. "L.A. This is Station 51." ##Go ahead, 51.## "L.A., Truck 127 has doubled our response to the hazard call. We're returning to base." ##10-4, 51.## Spap. Cap guided Roy on ahead of him with an affectionate grip on the shoulder as they started walking again. "So, you drew the short stick to come fetch me?" "More like my having the longer backbone to do it, Cap." "Being practical as always, eh? I've always liked that about you, Roy. It's a strong beginning sign of a good departmental candidate..." and he strode on ahead of him as he gestured to Stoker to put the rig in driving gear for a return trip. Roy stopped in his tracks at Cap's use of the past tense and the hints about a possible other future for himself. ::Now just what in HECK did that mean?:: The sight of Station 127's Captain Gorman, kneeling before McConnike's crushed batallion car in a private prayer, drove away all further thoughts concerning his own well being in DeSoto and the sandy haired paramedic left the depressing street to rejoin Johnny in the squad. Uncharacteristically, Gage was behind the wheel. ::Guess I'm not the only one feeling jumpy about Cap today..:: Roy mused. ---------------------------------------------------------- At Rampart, Dixie kept looking up at the hallway which led to the main Emergency Doors. She had just arrived from home to start her swing shift when she had heard the shocking news of Chief McConnike's passing. She had glanced up for the fifth time when Kel, standing next to her, finally commented about it. "Are you expecting someone?" he asked. Then he quipped, "I mean apart from the emergencies you and I usually see every day.." McCall chuckled with a wry smile. "As a matter of fact, yes, I am. Though I wish I weren't. I hate it when there's a death in the FD. Seems every man on the department finds his way here to be with the deceased's family or with the deceas--." she said, breaking off, not elaborating further. Brackett looked up and stroked her arm in support. "Yeah, they always come. But this particular one's probably just striking the men a little harder and deeper than most. He was a popular man. Maybe even infamous to some. But I do know his sudden death's effecting even me. Chief McConnike was one of the lynchpin lecturers who helped me out in court during the early stages of the paramedic program. I honestly believe that if it hadn't been for him, there'd BE no paramedic program. And Roy would probably be just another engine fireman. And Johnny.." Dixie grinned. "And Johnny would probably still be a juvenile delinquent serving off probationary time as a volunteer pumper man at Eight's." Brackett sighed, tapping the side of his unread chart into his palm. "Well said. And it's all true. We owe alot to what the chief stood for and all that he's done for us.." "But that still doesn't explain why no one's shown up yet, Kel. Nurse Evan's told me that it's already been an hour and a half since he died." "Maybe the initial shock and disbelief has a lot to do with it. I still can't believe it and I was there when Joe pronounced him. It'll take time to really sink in." Dixie set down the coffee cup that suddenly didn't taste good anymore. "Anything I can do for you, Kel? ...You're the only one within my empathy's range so far." Kel's easy smile fell away. "The Chief's still in the treatment room. And the mortician's now ready to do his prelim death certificate exam downstairs. Would you mind taking him down there personally, for me? Joe needs me in treatment five on the case with ketoacidosis now that she's responding to him and I won't have the time t--" "Sure, Kel.. Somehow it's fitting that a friend, and not just some nameless orderly, goes with him, to his last visited place here at the hospital." "Thanks, Dix." And Kel was gone in a flurry of white. -------------------------------------------------------- Dixie McCall took a deep breath before entering the darkened room. She was ready for just about anything regarding the state of McConnike's fatal injuries. What she wasn't prepared for, was that Gail, was still there. By herself. "Oh, my g*d, Gail. You're alone?" "Dixie?" said the older woman, lifting her head from McConnike's still hand. "I-Is that you?" she sobbed. Dixie hurried around the bed and enveloped the petite Irish woman deeply into her arms. "I'm so sorry I wasn't here when he was brought in. I just got on duty about five minutes ago." Then her anger rose. "When I get through talking with my nursing staff about leaving you here like this, why I--" "Dixie, it's not their fault. I asked them to go away and to wait on telling my family. I wanted to do it. Only, I haven't been able to move..." and she fell into yet another string of crippling sobs. Nurse McCall pulled over an exam stool for Mrs. McConnike and sat her down. She then paced over to the medicine cabinet and located some kleenix. Then she knelt by the distraught woman, holding her hand and set the box of them onto her lap. "It's ok, Gail. We'll tell them just as soon as you've hold enough over your emotions to do it. Here, have some more." she said gently. Then she hugged Gail tightly in utter sympathy and Dixie felt her own eyes sting with moisture. "I know. I know.." she soothed as Gail cried even stronger. "Your husband was a great great man, and I'm utterly proud of the fact that I had the wonderful privilege of knowing him." she said, her voice breaking, too.. Gail clung closer to Dixie and only then did the full brunt of her grief finally come rippling out. It was a long time later, when Gail began to relax. She sighed, looking at Dixie, but then she rose from the stool to take McConnike's work gnarled palm once more into her own. "I suppose you came in here, to..." and her breath hitched only slightly. "...to take him away.." Dixie went to her side and gripped her hand, but she nodded. Mrs. McConnike had as level a head as her thirty years husband once did and she said. "Well, I suppose you do need this space for others now. " she sighed quietly. "Can I help you with him?" Gail asked, suddenly seeking Dixie's face for anything, any task at all just to have something to do. Dixie's face calmed then and she smiled slightly. "Of course... There's only a few things we need to do first before I leave with him. We will be moving him to a private suite downstairs until your family comes." "I'd really like that.. please.." Gail's eyes were grief bright but brave, as she beheld her husband's shattered body when Dixie lowered the sheets to disconnect all tubes from the quiescent machines surrounding him. "I'll make the arrangements myself.." "Thanks.." she sighed. "Dixie?" "Yes?" "Do you think..uh, do you think Melton felt anything when the building--" "No, no, Gail. I don't think he did. His paramedics said that he was unconscious immediately afterwards because his helmet couldn't provide enough prot-- uh.." she broke off, mentally kicking herself for talking so frankly medically speaking. "He was knocked out then, Gail. Right away. So I don't think he was even aware of what was happening to him. Some of McGiven's personal notes said as much on his run sheet." Gail just held a hand to her mouth, staying still, then she spoke at last. "You two must be right, for h-he does look very peaceful." "He does.." Dixie instantly agreed. Gail lovingly ran her hand up the quiescent Chief's arm and to his face before she gave him a soft kiss on his bandage wrapped forehead around the cervical collar. "Are-are you going to take that....out?" Gail said, pointing to the EOA still taped to her husband's very pale lips as she smoothed down his gore crusted hair. "I'm afraid we're not allowed to. That will have to stay there. I'm sorry. But you can help me with this if you like?" Dixie said, unfolding a liquid proof satchel from a lower cupboard that was person sized. ::Thank g*d, this looks like a sleeping bag.:: Dix thought. "We ...have to get him off ...this backboard next." she said gauging Gail's reactions to all her information. But McConnike's small wife was very solid even at the height of her despair and her color never wavered into fainting shades. Dixie decided to let her stay in the room for the rest of his post care. "Ok..k" Gail said. "Can we wash him up first, Dixie? I-I don't want him to look unpresentable to--" she said, her voice breaking. "Sure we can.. I'll go grab a basin from over there." Dix said. She knew from the tight bandaging on the chief's wounds that most places she could see on him could be cleaned without unnecessarily horrifying Gail with their post death bleeding. She had already seen the snugly taped off sites where the earlier nursing staff had stopped the chief's running IVs so those punctures wouldn't do just that in front of family members. As they gave McConnike his final bath, Gail began to sing a hymn to him, very softly, and its sweetness made some of Dixie's pain and her own, waft quietly away into the stillness of the treatment room. ------------------------------------------------------------- Lunch was completely untouched, but sleep still tried to sneak up on most of the gang hanging out in the rec room and kitchen. Cap, had secluded himself into his office, and uncharacteristically, his door was shut to his men. Gage had noticed that detail after he had taken his afternoon shower. He looked up at Roy, pouring himself a cup of coffee. He made a face when the first sip entered his mouth, cold. But Johnny hadn't the heart to complain to Stoker to make any new coffee despite it being his task today to cover that chore. Johnny did it himself, without a fuss, only afterwards saying.. "Huh.. not hungry either eh?" he asked Stoker, patting him on the shoulder around where the engineer was hiding behind his newspaper for some privacy. "Not especially. Even Boot's not eating." Stoker replied without taking the paper down between them. "Really?" Gage said in surprise, looking around. "Now, just where did Boot go?" "He's in the office with Cap.." Chet said, looking up from a word find that he really wasn't concentrating on with any enthusiasm. "He kept scratching on the door to be let in until Cap finally did it." "Oh." The fact that Boot was sticking to Hank like glue began to worry Gage big time. Roy had overheard the conversation but decided to be just a mousy listener for the duration. He got out a mop bucket on his own volition and started methodically mopping the undirty floor. Mike dutifully lifted up his feet when Roy got to his side of the table. "Who cooked today?"DeSoto finally asked, seeing the untouched stroganoff pot cooling on its orange potholders on the table. "Cap..did. He got it made and on the table in less than ten minutes while you two were out back helping Marco hang that hose." Kelly replied. Roy tried a little psychology. "Man, sure smells good. It would be a shame to let such a great meal go to waste." he said to the room at large. "I don't see you eating any.." Marco said from his place slumped on the couch, pretending a snooze with a magazine over his eyes. Roy mildly cocked his eyebrows at being outsmarted in his own game. "I might...." he admitted, sliding the pot of pasta with his mop handle to a place more center on the table. Stoker began unnecessarily straightening out a few table place settings as Roy concluded his sentence.."..later..." DeSoto admitted. Johnny finally moved from where he was numbly standing, seeking a seat. He almost sat in Cap's recliner when he changed his mind at the last second, nimbly. "Oh, no.. I'd better stay out of his SPOT.. He might be coming out any second now. " "Wanna bet?" Chet said sarcastically. "Cap's really busted up. Didn't you see his face out there, Johnny? I've never seen him so hurt, not even when he was partially electrocuted from that wire the other year." Johnny's crafty helping grin fell away into one of worry almost as deep as Marco's. Even Roy stopped mopping. "Just what do you think he's doing in there? Sounds quiet. If he wanted to get away to let loose a few tears he could've gone out into the yard. No one would've bugged him until the tones went off." "Who knows, Chet.." Johnny said sharply. "How can any of us say how Cap should be reacting right now? I mean he just lost his best friend.." then he amended himself. "All right, maybe not his completely best friend, but McConnike sure as h*ll was a close fellow colleague and coming to that, now that I think about it, McConnike was Cap's old CAPTAIN, long before any of us even KNEW about firehouses.." Gage concluded. "So of course he's bound to act a little weird. I know I would act a little nuts myself if I had found out that Cap had been the one squashed in that car this morning." No one debated Johnny's theory or voiced an opinion about the tacky way Gage referred to McConnike's grisly end. The silence dragged almost as slowly as the afternoon sun. Until Roy began mopping again. Johnny rubbed his face in fatigue and parked on the couch next to the nonsleeping Marco. "Man, what I wouldn't give for an alley dumpster fire right about now, anything for a little distraction..." ------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : Cap kneeling on the ground by a house. Photo : Dixie and Brackett leaning into the base station receiver with pained looks on their faces while they listen. Photo : Mrs. McConnike singing a hymn in darkness. Photo : Johnny Gage sitting, thoughtful for once to the guys. Photo : Boot, waiting anxiously by his food, not eating. Gif : ETL theater Banner, pink tones, saying, "Watch out for the smoke at Emergency Theater Live. Come get a good lungful.." featuring a hurt Johnny Gage, an injured cannula'd woman, and firemen fighting a hazy fire. ********************************************** From : "Cory Anda" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Sky Heat... Date : Sun, 06 Apr 2003 04:08:03 +0000 It was as if a deity had been listening. The tones went off and they went off long. Johnny flung his eyes upward in a grateful gesture and said, "Thank you.." with all the sincerity he could muster. ##Station 51 with brush assignment Station 36. Automobile accident. Half mile north of Topeka Canyon on Alameda Way. Half mile north of Topeka Canyon on Alameda Way. Engine 36 reports smoke showing off road. Be advised Chopper Nine has been notified. Time out, 14:06.## As one, the gang rushed out but not before grabbing a breadstick or two each from a lunch basket for fortification. Roy was nearest, so he acknowledged the run, "Station 51, 10-4, KMG 365." Running along the wall towards the squad, Johnny saw Cap's office door open as Cap ran out towards the engine. In a brief glimpse, he saw a dusty file open on Cap's desk with official looking papers lying there. And Boot was under the desk, watching Cap go. ::I wonder what in heck those are?:: Johnny wondered. But then the door swung shut on its own, blocking out the sight and then there was no more time for speculation. En route, Cap came over the squad's radio on side channel.##Engine 51 to squad 51. I've just spoken to Captain Carter of 36's. He reports two victims. A mother says her daughter panicked and left the scene; a girl of eleven. His men are trying to locate her but they are being hampered by a grass fire discovered in the area.## "10-4, Engine 51. " and Johnny hung up the mic on its spigot when he heard the frequency close. "Man, that canyon's still gotta be tinder dry. Remember it from our visit with those anthrax sick wool weavers from last month? I sure hope this one doesn't escalate into a wildfire." "Yeah.." Roy commented as they sped towards their destination. "I heard from Dwyer yesterday over lunch that all our water choppers are already busy out at the Murphy Canyon Blaze over in the next county. It's amazing that L.A. managed to find one for our call." ##Let's hope we don't need it. ## Gage said, his eyes already tracing the horizon for telltale smoke over by the mountains to the north. ##Last thing I wanna do sweat to death hiking all over those hills wearing SCBA and then needing a sudden bath in a water drop.## Roy made a face of mutual dislike at the thought and waggled his head in agreement. "Don't speculate too much. I'm not liking the picture you're painting, pally." he teased. "Wow, would you look at that?" Gage said. "Looks like there's a storm sitting over our mountain." "Oh, yeah?"Roy said, not looking away from his driving. "Fat lot of good that'll do. That'll be no relief at all. It's too hot to rain." Fifteen minutes later, 51 arrived at the isolated spot L.A. indicated. The squad pulled a "U"-ie so that it pointed back towards the way out and so did the cumbersome engine. 36 had already strung hoses from the rural parkland hydrant system and Carter and his men's attention were divided between staying with the victim by the shattered car and fighting a brush flare that didn't seemed to have been caused by the car itself. They gang bailed out. Johnny and Roy immediately headed for the woman seated and hysterical on the ground. She was being supported upright by one of Carter's men. She was already wearing a nasal cannula and was being encouraged not to move around where she sat upright against his shoulder. He told them more. "She got a little too much smoke here. Don't think she's injured. Found her walking around when we got here." Roy nodded. He glanced around while Johnny introduce them and who they were to her. DeSoto looked up at Captain Carter before Hank could drag him away for the fire's details. "Where's your paramedics?" he asked him. Steven punched down his HT's antennae after listening to a report from his hose team insinuated inside the smoking tall grass. "On another call. That's why you got one." he said with a shrug. Then he turned his attention to his primary hose line washing down around the car itself to dilute any spilled gasoline. Roy grunted in sympathy and turned his attention back towards his victim. Cap barked out orders. "Marco. Flank around upwind with our brush hose and back up the beta team in there. Take Stoker with you. Chet, start searching for the missing girl. And this last is for all of you. Have your air bottles glued on tight and I mean it." he insisted, knowing the tendency of his firemen to not want to secure any straps snugly down over their thick coats in such hot weather. "Right, Cap." they all replied and they scattered. Hank and Steven locked into further planning immediately. The woman blurted out actively when she overheard the part about Kelly going after her daughter. "Please, find her. Ohmyg*d. Her name's Alex." "Alex?" Cap asked. "Chet, you heard that?" "Yeah, Cap." he shouted, flying into his gear and a search rope tied to the engine in record time. "Are you covering my rope?" "Yes." "I was so stupid.." the woman gasped. "Why didn't I expect a bolt to hit the road.. I.." "A bolt? Bolt of what?" Gage glanced up from where he was carefully examining the mother. "Heat lightning." Captain Stanley said from nearby. "It's what started this fire. Just look at that tree. It's peeling like a piece of rotten fruit." he pointed. "It was s-so.. loud.." the woman sobbed. "I lost control of the car and crashed into the rocks at the edge of the road." "All right. All right.." Roy soothed. "Don't worry about your daughter. We'll find her. Just start concentrating on yourself, ok? Try to calm down. You're breathing a little too fast and you're hyperventilating. Just try to relax." The woman fought to obey, clutching at Roy's jacket. "Do you hurt anywhere? How's your back and neck?" DeSoto asked her while Johnny got a BP off her arm carefully. "Uh,...they're o...uh, ok.. I think." "No pain here?" Roy said palpating around her head and around her neck after he checked out her eyes with a penlight. The woman shook her head. "I'm fine. *cough* Listen, forget about me. I have to go find Alex..!" she tried to rise. All three of them restrained her. "We are. We are.." Roy insisted."We have someone already doing that. Now you're going to have to calm down a bit and let us finish checking you out. Ok?"DeSoto spoke soothingly. "If you try not to panic, you'll feel a lot better." ------------------------------------------------------ Chet felt like he was the only one in the world inside the smoky canyon. He felt the drag of the rope bite into his waist as he yanked it over brush and shrubs as he called out. "Alex?! Can you hear me?" Already, the air mask dangling about his neck weighed a ton as he shoved through gnarling masses of dried canyon rushes and oriented himself downridge. ::If I were running from danger. Where would I go?:: he thought. Then his eyes swept into the shadowy trees. ::Man, I sure hope she didn't go in there, that's a high place. Totally unsafe under these clouds.:: Right then, from the very thick copse of eucalyptus trees he was studying, Chet heard a frightened shout. "Mom!? Where are you?" Chet shouted back. "She's over here by me! Fire Department!" Then Chet saw a glimpse of white come towards him. ::It's her!:: he thought excitedly. "This way honey. This way! Come on!" Just as quickly, a tremendous jolt of lightning from the parched sky shot down into the child's thicket in front of Chet, knocking him to his knees. Chet reflexively threw an arm over his eyes as the bolt's thunder deafened him and rattled through his very bones. It died away immediately and was not repeated. But the angry snarl of new fire crackled into slow life in the canopy above him and flaming sparks rained down on top of him as fresh smoke rose to strangle him with its sharp bite. He hastily put on his mask, crawling forward. "Alex?!" There was no reply. Chet Kelly no longer knew which direction he was heading in. But the image of the girl's figure was still blazed in his mind's eye. Something made Chet redirect to his left and uphill. His gloves hit clothing. "Alex?" She moaned where she sprawled on the ground, half unconscious. Chet could smell burned flesh coming from her arm. ::She's been hit?:: he wondered. Kelly whipped off his air mask and gave it to her, coughing in the growing smoke. "It's all right. I got you. Just hang on. I'm taking you to your mother." He crouched low enough over the child to monitor her while his other hand dug into his pocket for his HT. "HT 51 to Engine 51. I found her. Help me back! And send a hose down my line. There's another hot spot!" ##They're on their way. Do you need a stokes?## Cap's voice acknowledged. "Negative.. Just take up my slack..!" Chet answered back. ##10-4, pal ! I'm taking up your line now.## Chet snatched up the girl into his arms just as he felt his rope tighten and pull him along by the waist, guiding him up the hill. He kept eyes on the girl's chest as she breathed in the clearer air inside the mask as he struggled with her to the top and the road. Once he saw vehicle red, he shrugged off his bottle and her mask and sank down onto a curb by the squad's fender, shouting. "Cap! I'm up! Get Johnny over here! I think the lightning got her real bad!" He lowered the girl to the road just as she went limp. "Sh*t. Sh*t. Sh*t..." Chet murmured, getting a grip around her jawline, feeling for the presence of a carotid and assuring that she had a clear airway. He could feel how cool and diaphoretic she seemed despite the heat. A pulse was there, thudding irregularly. He slipped a hand to her stomach as he listened at her mouth. "Alex... Can you hear me?" She twitched but failed to breathe adequately to Chet's liking. "Come on, Cap! Gage! I'm over here! Get the O2 on the fly!" Alex's lips starting turning blue. Kelly carefully tipped back the girl's head more where they lay and gave her a breath of his own, followed by another. Cap shot out of the smoke, dropping Chet's lifeline and crouched by them. "She got a heartbeat?" he asked when he saw Chet doing mouth to mouth. "Yeah." Together, Cap and Chet moved off the parking lot curb and stretched the girl out flat and Stanley shoved her white shirt up out of the way, baring her chest so they could monitor her ventilations better. He wrapped his hands around her torso, feeling the effect of Chet's efforts. After giving her another two breaths, Chet heard and felt the girl start to cough weakly and he lifted his mouth away as her ribcage began to seesaw slightly. Johnny came running through the murky haze with the clattering oxygen apparatus and the biophone. "Whatcha got?" "I think that last bolt grazed her." Kelly replied. "She quit breathing for a bit. Now, she's dyspneic." "Let me at her.." Gage said. He hastily set a pediatric demand valve over her face and gave her a couple of rich shots into her lungs. After three, he felt her actively resist his aid, against the flow, and he said. "Doing good now. Take this from me. Looks like she's taking draws on her own." Kelly slid to her head position, wiping the sweat off his brow as he took over her airway care. Cap glanced at Johnny. "Need me?" "Nah.. she's stable enough. Don't think she'll crash now." Gage said, yanking his stethoscope from around his neck to his ears so he could listen to her breath sounds. To himself, he was glad the smoke was thick enough to keep the girl's mother from seeing her daughter yet. Cap then rose and.......... ------------------------------------ Photo : Cap holding a woman in comfort. Photo: A scrub brush fire set by lightning. Photo: Gang on a rural gravel road by the vehicles. Photo : Chet with a girl victim on a curb by the squad. Gif: An oxygen resuscitator. Photo: Johnny with the biophone. *********************************** From :Sam Iam Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Oh For A Drop of Rain... Date :Sun, 6 Apr 2003 11:56:34 -0700 (PDT) .....took a good look around him. ::This is just a two point fire from the looks of it. Just here by the car and then down in the grove where the little girl was found.:: John gave him a fast glance briefly, a barest flickering of the eyes as he checked the little girl for signs of lightning strike. Cap offered a token nod. "There's no way I'm gonna let that blaze surround us. Not if I can help it." Hank told him. Johnny and Kelly both grinned while they worked to assess Alex's true condition. Gage replied, Cap, it's more like YOU needing to relax. We trust ya, " he joked. "It's all that desert dry brush out there that's gotta listen to ya now. Like we do everyday.." Cap's returning smile was scant. "How's she doing?" Johnny's smile dropped away in a flash when he got his final blood pressure reading. "Ask me that again in two minutes..all right?" And Gage spoke close to the girl's ear around the oxygen mask. "Alex.. honey, you're doing just fine. Your momma's coming any minute to be with ya. Ok.. so don't worry about that. We got ya here with us now safe and sound." Watching, Hank was touched on a deep level. He didn't know Johnny talked to his unconscious patients like that, on a one to one, being so personal. ::Maybe I just never noticed that before, being always too busy directing a fire scene to see him do it.:: Captain Stanley's thoughts were disrupted when Steven Carter jogged up to them from the direction of both engines. He spoke quietly to just Cap. Hank noticed that both Steven's gloves were wet. "Steve?" he asked. "You took up a hose.. Is everything all right?" "No. The first fire's getting away from our men. We've gotta move out." Hank gripped his HT even tighter in worry. "Our victim can't be moved yet, she's only just been pulled out of respiratory arrest." "Sorry, Hank. Tell that to the fire." In reply, the bright hazy skies spit heavy heat lightning out at them in an angry rumble, very close above them, making both captains duck reflexively. Johnny and Kelly, too, both hunched over the burned little girl protectively, eyeing the sky uncomfortably. Chet voiced one word. "Cap?" "Do it. Immediate evac. The fire's winning. So we're not waiting on the ambulance. You and Gage have five minutes to do what you've got to do. Then I want her packaged up to be taken outta here." Chet nodded, and he relayed Hank's orders to Johnny when he had a pause on the phone verbally. The smoke only got thicker, and there was a subtle change causing the hair at the nape of Cap's neck to suddenly prickle in warning. The smell of pungent burning meadow had turned tarry and Cap's eyes suddenly stung in searing steam as a powerful wind gust swept new ash and embers into his face. ::That's blacktop on fire.:: he thought, even though he couldn't see it. ::Aww, nuts.. We don't even have THAT little time?..:: He gave a shout. "Everybody! Masks on! No exceptions! We've a fireline making its way up. It's hit the road already. I want all hose teams to find that new phalange of burn and snuff it out. If we get trapped in here, there's no hope for us on having any air to breathe. Airway protect those victims!..These fumes are only going to get worse." Steven Carter of 36's lifted his HT. "L.A., this is Engine 36. What's the status of Chopper Nine? Our fire situation is escalating more rapidly than we realized. We've fire on the road. We need an immediately path cleared along the way out of here, a.s.a.p! Respond a full four company brush assignment." ##10-4, 51. ## There was a pause in their HQ transmission. ##Chopper Nine has made a pickup at the reservoir and will rendevous to your location in five minutes.## dispatch answered. "10-4. Engine 36 out." and Steven pocketted his HT. "There you have it, Hank. It's a scoop and run afterwards." "We'll be ready.." Cap replied about his paramedics responsibilities and the extra duty his station had to manage them. The two captains separated to go watch over their own company's activities while they waited for their ace in the hole, Chopper Nine, to come zeroing in. Cap aimed one of the engine mirrors up into the sun as a reflector point to catch the pilot's eye. ::It's not like there's a ton of metal beyond the chrome on our vehicles. He'll spot us just fine..:: he reasoned. Already, the sun was lighting up the speeding, dancing black, gray and white smoke arching over them from the canyon, fanned by the rising storm winds. As Cap approached the engine, Alex's mother shot to her feet, tearing out of the grasp of the fireman sitting with her, monitoring her D tank's O2 delivery. He started after her but Hank waved him still when she rushed over into Cap's arms for reassurance. "Did you find my baby? Is she all right?" she sobbed. "Please tell me.." Hank supported her and grasped her firmly by the shoulders. "She's with my men and we're going over to her right now.." He hefted up the woman's oxygen tubing and the apparatus from 36's man and he lifted it under an arm. "This way.. but first, we're switching you to a mask so this smoke won't bother you so much." He pulled down the mother's cannula around her neck and he detached it. Stanley got her into a nonrebreather mask. "Doing this cause the air's a bit dirty over there." He ripped away the cannula's female end off the regulator port and connected up her new mask's line. "Ok. I've got it. Ready?" The woman fiddled with the oxygen, getting used to it. "What about you? There's only one mask here." "You're forgetting this.." Hank said with a smile, lifting his air mask dangling on its connection from his air bottle. "I've got one right here." And he moved his helmet long enough to put it on. "Ok, I'm set. Let's go." he said through its face piece, and helead the woman over to where he could just barely make out the squad's outline in the smoke. Helead her to where they were going well away from any swirling ember clouds to keep her flowing oxygen from living up to its extreme fire risk tendency. He was more than ready for the woman to try and break out of his grip when they got within eye contact of Kelly's scene. "Alex!!" her mother shouted, almost darting forward. Cap hung onto her. "Hold it.. It's ok. It's ok..Easy there." he encouraged in a stream. "Alex's just out like that because some lightning landed near her." "Lightning?!" Cap fought with keeping his grip on her again firmly.."My men are taking good care of her.." "Ohmyg*d. Isn't that fatal? Is she all right? Alex! Can you hear me honey? What are you doing? She needs to be in a hospital!" "Easy, easy.. Maam?.. Just listen to me..all right? Alex IS getting treated ..RIGHT NOW ..and there's a doctor on the other end of that phone line you see my paramedic holding. It's like already being in an emergency room. There's nothing they can't do now, that's normally done by a doctor, concerning any definitive care your daughter might need. Think of my men as extensions of that same ER, who just happen to be already HERE." Captain Stanley felt the woman in his grasp stop trembling and she quieted into a levelheadedness immediately as his words of reason finally sank in. Roy, next to them, saw that he wasn't needed to help Cap out with her and he crouched down next to his partner to learn about the little girl's status from him. Hank let the woman sink down by Chet where he was crouched inside his own air mask, keeping the positive pressured one over the little girl's face. Kelly was feeling happy with her respiration status so he said. "Here, mama. Wanna help? Just keep this O2 over her face like I'm doing.." and he guided her hands to the proper places on mask and jaw smoothly. "That's right....Set your hands,...just....like..that." Alex's mother began to burble. "But I don't kn--" "You're doing fine, maam. Just watch me. Keep holding this tight over her nose and mouth to keep all this smoke away from your daughter. Johnny will show you how to punch a button on this valve here if she needs a little more help later on, but only when he tells you too, all right? She's getting enough passively for right now by it just sitting here like this. Got it ok?" "Uh, y- yeah.." she muffled through her O2 mask. "Good. What you're doing is absolutely perfect." Chet said tightening the straps on his own mask to cut down the number of times he was coughing from the building smoke. Then he dashed away to get a stokes for the little girl's rush evac. Alex's mother immediately calmed down, as Cap knew she would. Chet usually never missed on guessing what was up whenever Caplead a parent close to the paramedics' work space. Kelly had a gift for alway inventing physical things for them to do that didn't get in the way of a victim's patient care. Johnny delivered his next data set to Dr. Brackett on the phone, shouting so he could be heard through his covering air supply faceplate. "Rampart. She's responding on 15 liters of 02. She's got perforated eardrums and positively ID'd dendrictic burns on the upper aspect of her left shoulder. I am getting that pulse rate I gave ya only apically due to vasospasms." He watched Roy bundle a plastic shock wrap around Alex and tape her arm onto an IV board. ##10-4, 51. Those meds I ordered should calm her down parasympathetically in a few more minutes. Continue the IV and strap her in on a backboard with a cervical collar. That active resuscitation's the best thing for her now, until you get her in here. Monitor her vital signs carefully and check her over again for any sign of fractures. She may have incurred some due to the force of the strike she took, even though it's clear to me through your findings, that it wasn't a direct hit.## "10-4, Rampart." ##And 51, I want you to send me a strip so I can see how her cardiac functi---## "Uh, doc. We can't right now. We're.." and Johnny lowered his voice so the mother didn't overhear him. "..we're in danger of getting pinned down by a brush fire. We gotta evac her out first." ##By chopper, Johnny?## Cap got Johnny's attention about his next plan of action by nonverbally pointing to the squad. "Uh, negative doc. Our chopper's just a water tanker." ##10-4 on that. Uh, what's your ambulance's ETA?## "We don't h--" ##...have one for the same reason.##Brackett sighed in frustration.. ##I see.. Radio in as soon as possible on any LOC alteration en route when you HAVE a route or any other detrimental change in her vitals signs. Rampart base, signing out.## "Squad 51." Gage replied by narrowing his eyes in concentration and he flung down the phone and sealed it up into its box swiftly along with the medical gear he didn't need right away. These he handed off to Cap to stow back into the squad that Marco was now backing up towards them. The little girl's mother looked up. "What's happening? Why is that fireman pulling up that fire truck near us?" Cap spoke with a big smile through his maskplate. "That rescue squad's gonna be yours and Alex's ticket outta here. See that stokes, er.. metal bed that Roy is getting set up? Well we're going to give your daughter a lift on top of there while you ride along with them in that cab, to Rampart Hospital." "Alex is going to ride on the roof?" Kelly chuckled. "Yes, maam, with either Johnny or Roy sitting up there with her. You see, those bars will keep the stokes from sliding around once we get her loaded up. Here, take my radio and you can talk to the paramedic once we're ready. Know how to use a walkie talkie?" "Y-Yes, I do.." "Here you go.." Kelly said acting calm as a camel. Inside his boots, though, his toes were curling tighter than his hair. Johnny's face erupted into a broad smile. ::I could just kiss Chet. That was ingenius! She'll keep calm and cool the whole way now.:: "Ok.. " Gage said brightly, keeping a hidden hand on Alex's chest under her yellow blanket so he could feel her continued breathing and heartbeat without pause. "Roy my partner here's all done getting her into this collar of hers and onto the board. Ready to lift Roy?" "Yeah.." "Ok, Alley Oop." and Gage and Kelly and Cap and Roy lifted the small pediatric backboard and the unconscious child and nestled her into the stokes. Again they picked up Alex as a team with that. Two of 36's firemen followed with the gear boxes and 51's defibrillator. Soon, Alex was safely on board the squad's roof deck. Gage climbed on board and sat with the biophone, butt perched on a yellow air store bottle. He hefted his HT to show the girl's mother that he had his for anything she wanted to say to him in route. Then Cap gave her a spare helmet Marco got from the engine for her to wear and they piled on board. "Kelly, go with Roy and his passenger, all right pal?" "Right, Cap." Chet answered. He knew he was going along in case the girl soured into V-Fib due to the jostling she was going to have to take while in transport. ::At least the squad's going to be a lot less bumpier than the engine would have been for this.:: Kelly sighed mentally. The men, calmly loading the mom and girl, made it a point not to look up the road where the fire was eating the pavement into ruin inch by rapid inch, nearer and nearer, ahead of them. ::Where's our water drop?:: Cap thought. He refrained from asking L.A. for an ETA on it because Alex's mother now had an HT. He contented himself with rounding up their remaining trailing hose for their rapid getaway attempt and affirming Steve Carter's confirmation that he also, was getting his men and engine out of there in a strategic retreat. Cap cut away the lifeline Chet had used, still tied to the engine's bumper, and left it lying in the dust on the pavement. Then he was the last man on an engine. Truck 36 hit its airhorn to inform him that they, too were ready to roll. Hank eyed the wall of fire blocking their escape route and wondered if they really could make it by charging through when Steve came on the line. ##Engine 36 to Engine 51. I've got an idea. I've got my engineer aloft in our water cannon. He's going to provide a water curtain for your rescue squad. Have it roll between, with us two situated at its front and back. My man will keep a nozzle fog on your victim to protect her and your man while we're moving through the firezone.## Cap thumbed his radio mike derisively. "Let's do it.. We can't wait. Are you set?" ##That's affirmative.. Just give the word and warn your medic about what we're up to.## "10-4.." Hank said, using his mirror to watch the bucket on Engine 36's back rise just enough to clear its own cab like a shovel on a snorkle. ::Oh, boy. Gage is going to kill me for this.:: He picked up his HT. "Engine 51 to Squad 51.." he hailed. ##Go ahead, Engine 51.## "Looks like it's going to rain in thirty seconds from the looks of it. Make your victim waterproof. We're breaking out!" Hank yelled. Gage didn't even hit his call back, "What?!" he said immediately getting it and glancing over his shoulder to the looming water bucket now set and locked overhead from engine thirty six. It was hanging only about eight feet above him. He got a salute from the man on board, signing a non verbal countdown from seven.. ::...when his hose's gonna fire. Who thought of that?.. It's absolutely brilliant! And here I was afraid that we were gonna haveta cook a little:: Johnny kept his grip on the little girl's body and wrapped her up around the mask with her sheet. Then he hastily created an umbrella with a row of crow bars, axes and jimmies with a spare tarp over Alex's face and himself. Then he gave the bucket man a thumbs up. Hose water began to rain down on them, adjusting, until it was just a dense coning mist and then Johnny felt a lurch as Roy carefully matched Engine 51's speed and course as they crept down the road towards the raging inferno whose flames were now as high as the tops of wheel wells. Roy gripped his steering wheel, peering around his moving windshield wipers inside the driving artificial rain, as Stoker paused the Ward right at the very edge of the burning road, waiting for Cap's go ahead. He and Chet gave Alex's mother smiles of encouragement around the fear they were really feeling. The woman just blinked and talked on the radio. "H-Hello.. Johnny? How's Alex?" Gage heard the mother from under his improvised umbrella and he lifted his plastic wrapped HT to his lips. "Not a drop on her, maam. The weather's fine." he quipped, trying to keep his sense of humor. In the dark under the tarp, his eyes were on Alex's lit up EKG screen he had going and his stethoscope was in his ears as he monitored her inspiration effectiveness by sound. He slipped in a nasal airway for extra control as he spoke. "We're holed up solid and snug. Don't you worry." ::I'm trying not to.:: a little voice whispered unbidden in his head as he repositioned the demand valve back over her face to keep out the smoke that was still getting in. "Alex and I are ready to rock." Kelly saw mama's eyes fill, in touched gratefulness, at Gage's brave attempt at humor about their situation. Ahead of them, in the cab, Cap bit his lip and looked at Marco and Stoker. He lamely attempted the same gallows humor as Gage. "What do ya say? Think Goodyear tires can stand the temperature of molten asphalt and fresh fire? We all got em on.." Stoker's frowning doubt didn't warm his heart one bit. And the fire before them was growing taller. Cap and everyone in all three vehicles, except Gage, looked up into the spiralling columns of smoke for any sign of Chopper Nine and its precious roadsaving load. Seconds dragged by as they idled, revving up their nerves and engines for what was being forced upon them. Kelly broke the strained pause building in the squad. "Say," he said turning to the girl's mother. "Did I tell you yet how well transporting folks on truck roofs really works? Well there was this one time where Johnny got himself bit by a rattler...and..I just happen to be with him..And we didn't even HAVE a squad.." Roy rolled his eyes at the blooming tale. Sometime in eternity, Cap lifted his microphone and he said..... ------------------------------------------ Photo: John Roy strapping in Alex onto a long board. Photo: Gage with a stokes victim on top of the squad. Photo : A canyon brushfire in daylight. ************************************** Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2003 19:20:15 +0100 (BST) From: "Katherine Bird" Subject: Fire and Water.. Acknowledgments to Donald Lee, Retired LACoFD Captain about Engine trivia on 51's truck abilities via a snail mail sent flyer and for sending a replica of Johnny and Roy's paramedic patch to the theater hosts to give all of us further encouragement to keep on writing in the spirit of Emergency. :) ----------------------------------------------------------- ......"Engine 51, to Engine 36 and Squad 51... Hold your position.. " Cap said, yelling through his air bottle mask. He ignored the heavy weight of his loose air bottle rattling on the metal grate of the floor of the Ward beneath where he sat from the rough idling of the engine due to the thinning air surrounding them. "We're going to give the drop three more minutes to happen." Stoker did what he could to keep the Ward running despite the lean combustion conditions growing under her hood from the proximity of the low fire surrounding them. His bottle was firmly on a hook in the wall of the cab, leaving his feet and hands free to coax the pumper's clutch away from killing the motor and his facemask was hiding his emotions from view as he gripped the large steering wheel in front of him tightly, waiting for the word "go..". ##S- Squad 51, 10-4.## came Roy's nervous voice. ##Affirmative..## came a stronger, more experienced reply from Engine 36 behind Cap's. Carter immediately added more to soothe all listening ears, including L.A.'s Sam Lanier, who was now stuck in the waiting-for-resolution silence mode. ::He's undoubtedly chewing on a few pencil erasers right about now over his inability to direct better air cover to us before we fry.:: Carter realized. He hid his private thoughts with a cheeriness he did not feel. ##No problems here, Hank. My bottled man aloft in the bucket's fine and his nozzle line's fog is still doing its job over your paramedic and victim. Looks like things are still plenty cool enough for them out there## Mike Stoker grumbled. "We've got an eighth of a mile of hose, a thousand gpm pump with a five hundred gallon tank full of water, just sitting here." he said in frustration, "And we can use none of it..?" It wasn't a stab on Cap's decision to try to run and save their rears at all. Hank knew it for what it was. An outburst given inside feelings of utter helplessness, vented in anger. He didn't even glance over at Mike, keeping his eyes on the sky. "You got that right. We're stuck staying mobile, Mike." Marco shrugged nervously. "Can't be mobile if we've hoses strung out behind us. Only the snorkel can move and use water that way with her bucket.." Lopez said trying to sound calm. Stoker didn't have the heart to tell Marco that he knew that fact better than anyone. Marco tried some levity and he spoke over the tandem HT. "Say gang, we could always roll down all our windows and try to spit on the fire from here.." Hank tried to grin, but felt numbness twist on his face instead making him lift his radio. "A minute forty more seconds.... Stand by, gang.. Keep watching the sky..." he said through his handy talkie. -------------- Roy jolted in his seat when a burning tumble weed impacted his closed driver's window. He saw the bucket stream immediately move to drown it out in his side mirror. He took a deep breath through his mask and said, "Chet, the fire's getting too close. Better turn off that O2 on her now. The oxygen's building up too high in the cab for safety. Go to sharing your air. If you run low, we'll use mine between the three of us." "Right.." Chet said. He pulled off his helmet and calmly began to share his mask with his passenger, holding his breath whenever she took any of hers off it, before taking it back for himself to use. "But what about my daughter and your *cough* partner? She's still got pure 02 on!" Alex's mother gasped. Roy smiled reassuringly at her. "He'll discontinue that for manual air. Probably right about now. They'll manage just fine, maam." he saw the mom's skin begin to pale in fear. "Hold that mask completely against your face when you breathe in, all right? Then this heavy smoke won't irritate you at all." Kelly and Roy both saw her nod in frightened obedience. --------------- Up on top, Johnny began to hear the angry crackling of open flames reaching the road near the squad. "Whoa.. That's getting a little too close for comfort.." he mumbled. He quickly shut off the oxygen feed that was leading to Alex's resuscitator and threw its face valve aside. Gage pulled off his helmet and unstrapped his air mask from his face. He sucked in a good lungful from it. He paused only long enough to seal the girl's mouth up with a hand before offering his breath of clear air to her through her nose carefully, timing what he gave her to when she attempted an inhalation. He kept up the pattern, giving her air taken from his mask through his mouth, keeping both his eyes screwed protectively shut against the acrid smoke that was now doing its best to make them water fiercely. Even the unconscious girl's cheeks were wet with tears. In Johnny's lap, the wrapped HT crackled in crisp warning. ##Gage..?## asked Hank.. Johnny looked up from where he was curled around Alex's head and he lifted his HT to his face, shouting from underneath the heavy tarp that was still getting a welcome pounding of water from 36's elevated bucket line. "I know. I know. The fire's near. I've already shut my O2 down! We're still fine..I've figured out a way to keep the smoke from her." then he asked another question changing tact. "How are you doing down there, Mama?" he said, giving Alex yet another following breath of air just as her chest rose with one of its own. "Alex is just napping up here." he said, keeping his eyelids shut to spare himself eye irritation. He used a finger to keep tabs on her carotid while he continued being a clean air source for her. On a sudden idea, Johnny taped the girl's mouth shut with an IV strip to free his other hand to monitor her chest movements. ::I can always tear this off if she gets sick on me.:: ## I'm f-fine, Mr. Gage. You guys work like this often?## the mother quipped, trying for humor. Johnny could hear Chet cue-ing her to take another pull from his mask. "All the time. No sweat. Er,...figuratively speaking." Gage grinned into his radio, wiping the sweat dripping down his face with a sleeve from the fire zone's heat. He gave Alex another smoke free breath through her nose slowly to keep her from getting any of his air into her stomach. ##Mr. Chet just told me about the wild ride you took a few summers ago.## "Oh, you mean when I got snake bit? Yeah, believe me, I got deja vu visiting me something fierce right about now. But listen, only the snake's got bad memories of that day , I assure you. We ARE going to get outta here. It's only a matter of when that will be. No big deal." he chuckled. Alex twitched, making Johnny open his eyes to squint through stinging smoke at the EKG monitor. ::Tachycardia. D*mn. She's getting shocky despite her IV.:: He turned up its flow to wide open. Johnny began to breathe FOR her, as well as with her after that, at an increased rate. He went on laying down a calming transmission despite his change of treatment. "Kinda comfortable up here. Lotsa room.." he quipped. "And the view's.." he broke off, hearing a thrumming vibration ripple the air and felt the same against the tarp lying across his shoulders. "...great! Cap! Heads up.. It's the chopper at last. I hear it!!" Right then 36's bucket man thumbed through on the HT frequency. ##HT 36 to the engines and the squad. The air crew's here, arching in at our ten o'clock. I can just see them above the smoke. They are starting their dumping run.##came the fireman's shout, muffled thickly by radio technology and his bottled air mask. ##10-4, bucket HT.## both Caps and Roy acknowledged. The arriving helicopter's rotor blades buzzed almost vengefully over the firestorm raging its edge over the road in front of the three red fire vehicles. It swept down low over the engines with a brief greeting waggle. ##51 and 36, This is Chopper Nine. Making the drop in ten, nine, eight,....## "Go!. Go! Stoker! Move it!" Cap shouted as he hit the cab's dashboard. "We gotta time it to get exactly where that falls to spare our tires. Anything we get will only hold for a short bit. The cross wind's too strong. More fire will move in instantly after the chopper lifts away!" Hank shouted to his engineer driver. Mike Stoker pushed the pedal to the metal and Engine 51 lurched forward, spinning ash behind it. Cap shouted into his radio. "Roy, go! We're in motion. Gage, hang on!" Gage heard Cap's urgent holler and grabbed onto the squad's roof rail above him and a bottle bracket as he continued to stay positioned over Alex's face to aid her breathing. "Here we go, Alex. We're getting outta here." he coughed before leaning over and imparted to her another shared breath. Time seemed to stand still for all of them. ------------------- The brush fire writhed like a furious beast under the sudden chemical onslaught released by the helicopter sweeping above it. A rain of retardants and lake water bit deep into the block of flames on the road and completed just before Engine 51, the Squad, and Engine 36 sped through the place that had been tricked chemically into turning from raw plasma to just a hissing morass of earth stained ground steam. Walls of flame and rolling alighted tumble weeds shot around them, as Chopper Nine's backwash and dump shoved the inferno away from the vehicles. Then flames, newly pushed by the high storm winds still roaring above the valley, rallied, and suddenly, the three speeding trucks seemed trapped by the raw heart of the wildfire's flames once again. Their bid for the canyon's rim and safety was instantly compromised when their surrounding smoke turned midnight black, forcing the fleeing fire companies to slow in their escape. Mike Stoker suddenly couldn't see the road as a suffocating blanket of ebony ash covered them in a thick pall as the wind stilled. He was forced to hit his brakes and the engine's wheels began to bake on the superheated earth and shattered bones of the fire. ::No, No.. Can't stop. The tires will melt down. But I can't go fast enough either..:: Mike warred with himself silently. ::The smoke's blinding me.:: A blast of dust and sand filled his windscreen right at that moment. ##Engine 51, I am on your fender as a guide. Follow our lifting wire.## Chopper Nine notified them. Just ahead, Mike Stoker could see a wedge cable and bright orange basket buoy dragging along the road right in front of his bumper through the inky murk. It was tantilizingly close. He glued his eyes to it and didn't look away, trusting instinct and the helicopter's pilot to lead them out of the growing fire. ------------------- Engine 36 screeched to a halt when they lost sight of Squad 51's tail. The bucket man barely hung on when his truck skidded to a halt in the ash and soot. He yelled down to his captain. ##You're all right. Keep going towards twelve o'clock! You're fifty feet from them. Nowhere near colliding. Hurry.. Gage's out from under my water.## ------------------ Ahead of engine 51, the chopper buoy on the ground was eaten up by a wall of flame. Stoker gave out a cry of alarm and warning as he flattened the gas to the boards. "Going in!" Engine 51 was consumed by fire.. ----------------------------------------------- The incessant boom and rush of 36's watering mist ceased. Johnny Gage threw the tarp aside inch by analyzing inch as he lifted his masked head cautiously to see why Engine 36 had fallen behind. They were gone. All he could see were flames behind him.. and more black smoke. The sun was practically nonexistent overhead and it dimmed more, ominously, throwing Johnny into a surrealistic world of night and glowing embers. Johnny's mouth went dry when he looked over the squad's hood towards his station's engine. They were charging, full reds on, through a fire wall taller than the engine. "Oh, d*mn..." he whispered and he rewrapped the tarp back tight around himself and Alex, before he knotted into a ball of protection, sealing off her nose with a grip, just before Roy too, drove high speed, into what felt like pure unadulterated living h*ll. Superheated air flooded around Johnny and he could hear some of his hair sizzling where a lock of it stuck through a hole in the old tarp. He slapped out the fire started there with his free hand, pressing his air mask as hard as he could over his nose and mouth to keep out the burning atmosphere. He looked down. Alex's involuntary chest muscles rippled under his arm. She was fighting to breathe around her blocked off air passages. ::Not yet. You're gonna fry your lungs big time if I let go. And I will too if I take this mask off right now.:: John subconsciously started counting the seconds Alex was going without air. That number had reached about fifty five when Gage felt the resumption of 36's cannon hose water against them through their tarp. Johnny threw aside the smoking, partially melted wrap and he let the rain of water drench him and Alex both in a desperate attempt to cool off their skins and the scorching metal that was almost searingly hot to the touch, around them. Johnny opened his eyes. They were in blessedly open air and daylight and the horrible unchecked fire was now faltering behind them along the road, wind carried, away from their direction. Gage coughed and choked, bending over Alex to reassess her status, using his body as an umbrella to keep the pouring water from reaching Alex's ghostly white face as he let go of her nose to let her breathe. Right then, the water cascading around them was shut off and the fireman, manning it, shouted in triumph. ----------------- "Look out!" Roy stopped the squad on a dime when he realized that both the squad's tires had melted in front and that he was riding on their bare rims. The force of his emergency stop threw all three of them into the windshield. "Sorry. We've no tires left.." "It's ok.." Alex's mother and Chet both gasped. Chet, the girl's mother, and Roy all exclaimed in puzzlement, when the dust cleared and they saw Chopper Nine circling in the air just up ahead, but then they saw it hovering above the road. "Why are they landing?" Kelly asked. "I don't know.. Let's go find out." Roy said without looking at either one of them, and his voice began rising in alarm.. "Ma'am wait here. Kelly I think you'd better come with me.." "Right.." Kelly said also, without taking his eyes off where the exiting pilot was just starting to urgently point. The two of them slid out of their seats shedding air bottles and opened the squad doors, getting out in confusion. As they watched, the chopper pilot finally gave up on communicating something to them and he started instead, a sudden, frantic beelining run to his left. Roy finally saw Engine 51 in the thick underbrush slightly off the road. He saw her cab was impacted right up against the hillside and that all of her tires were melted off and shredded. The top row of the hose bed was still subtly smouldering. "Ohmyg*d! Cap! Stoker!?! Marco?" Roy lifted his radio to his lips as Chet and he bailed the squad's cab and together, they ran towards the horrific sight. "Squad 51 to Engine 36. E51's off the road! Notify L.A and all our responding units!" He dropped the HT, pushing Kelly on ahead of him urgently. "Chet go check em out! I'll be right there! I'm going back for Johnny and the girl.." he whispered. Kelly ran towards the engine like a shot with a door pry he had snatched from the squad's side compartment. --------------------- "Johnny!?" DeSoto cried out, hurtling himself up onto the back roof of the squad. "You all right?" He saw Gage ventilating Alex on the demand valve to ease some blistering cyanosis. "We're ok. She didn't take in any superheated air. But her cardiac rhythm's-" "Johnny. Listen to me.." The tone in Roy's voice shut Johnny up immediately. "Stoker crashed. I'm going over there! Stay with her!" he shouted, leaping back down again. "What?!" Gage dropped the demand valve and climbed up on his knees to peer over the squad's chrome top bars and cab's roof. He immediately cursed himself for his reaction and got right back on Alex, snatching up the ventilator again to resume her 02. He snatched up his HT. "Cap! Stoker?! Marco? This is Squad 51. Respond!" Another body climbed up the back of the squad, looming into view. A singed white crested helmet. "Cap?" Johnny queried. But it wasn't him. It was the silvered haired Carter. "Gage!" Steven shouted at him. "We're on it. How are you and the girl?" "Whaa? uh, we're fine. What the h*ll happened to them?" "Same as you. Blown tires..Only it looks like Stoker couldn't stop in time. Stay with your victims!" 36's cap ordered. "I don't know details yet!" "Cap....I--" "Just do it.. I'll let you know about them as soon as I do..!" Carter said, jumping down to the ground. He literally flew to where Johnny could just barely hear Chet Kelly shouting. Gage couldn't make out any words. Johnny felt a weight impact the squad's roof. He whirled around on his knees to see 36's bucket man lightly land the bucket on top of the squad's other roof strut. The man climbed off of it and leaned over just in time to help a hysterical Alex's mom up onto the roof with an assisting hand from where she was reaching up to him. "Alex! Honey? Are you ok?" she sobbed. Johnny could see the little girl's mother had a fresh cut over one cheek that was inexplicable, but it didn't immediately register to Johnny's stunned mind. But he felt himself answer her. "She's all right. The tarp protected us.." He turned to the fireman with him. "Atkins, Alex is breathing, but her rate's a little fast. Only ventilate her if she tires. I had to keep her from pulling in any heat for a minute and she's still recovering from that." "Right." 36's fireman knelt by the silent child and took over Johnny's place on Alex's oxygen. Alex's mom began to sob. "Alex? How is she? And where are the other firemen? I- I thought they were going to get us down from here so we could meet up with that ambulance you said was coming.." That stopped both Johnny and Atkins in a moment. Atkin's silently mouthed, "She's forgotten about what's just happened?" about Engine 51 to Johnny concerning her mental status. Johnny's mouth just gaped like a fish twice before he felt himself click into automatic paramedic mode. He tried to glance over the squad's roof towards where Roy, Kelly and Captain Carter had disappeared as the two of them sat her down on top of the cab. "They've uh,.. they've got something to catch up on." he told her distractedly. "Just uh, relax a bit and let me take a look at that cut of yours, ok? Do you remember where you are? What's your name?" "Andrea.." "Do you know what day this is?" "Uh.hh" the mother sighed, holding her head. "I'm sorry. What did you ask me?" Right then, Alex began to stir and cough and Atkins lifted away the 02 to see the child opening her eyes. Mum? Are you there? Alex's mother didn't seem to hear her. Mum? the girl repeated, growing scared when her mother didn't reply back to her. Whats happening? Why do my clothes stink? Simultaneously, Engine 36, Squad 51 and Engine 51's radioes all started issuing Sam's voice and tones soon followed a frantic report that Captain Carter was giving out to L.A. Headquarters. On what it was, Johnny didn't know. None of what was said had gotten through his shell shock. Gage swallowed back his own thudding worry for his crewmates as he and Atkins efficiently dealt with the new medical situations in both mother and daughter. As Alex's and Andrea's pulse rates began to calm with his reassurances, Johnny's began to rise in stress and alarm. ::Are they ok over there? Roy why aren't you HT hailing me?:: Gage's mind screamed out. "I can see him." Alex said." No!! " The little girl screamed through her simple O2 mask. Johnny looked down. "Easy. Easy.." he told her. "What's wrong honey? Y-you can see who?" Atkins and Gage didn't know what she was talking about. The little girl's eyes had been bandaged shut for burns they had found on her eyelids. "The tall dark haired man in the white and the black hat." she replied, sudden fear filling her voice with a ring of truth that chilled them both to the bone. ::Captain Stanley?:: Gage wondered. ::How can she know what he looks like? She's been unconscious this whole time.:: "Sweety. What--" "No! Kelly, not there.. Somebody! Somebody! Get to him fast. He doesn't want to die!" the little girl wailed. ---------------------------------- Photo : A water chopper buzzing low just in front of a speeding engine 51. Photo : Captain Carter of 36's and Captain Stanley by a burn out. Photo : A raging brush fire on a hilltop. ************************************* From :"patti keiper" Subject : The Little Voice.. Date : Fri, 11 Apr 2003 16:21:26 +0000 Gage rose to his feet, moving to stand directly on top of the squad's cab. He eyed the brush until he located where he heard commotion from the chopper pilot, Roy, Captain Carter and Chet. He made up an excuse to issue a radio transmission. "Squad 51 to HT 51.." he impatiently called out, knowing that by procedure, Roy had to answer anything directed at him. ##HT 51.## came his partner's reply. Johnny filled him in. "Roy, need ya back here. Our adult female patient's showing a Glasgow percentage drop with a new orthostatic BP shift." Gage practically shouted read-between-the-lines in his tone as he gave his update. ::What's going on over there, Roy?..Why the silent line?:: he punctuated fiercely in his thoughts. "I'd really like a second opinion on the mother's mental status for Rampart's next report if you're able." He jumped back down to the squad's bottle store niche. Gage studied Andrea's dozing face once again, keeping a hand on her right radial pulse. He was still considering the odd statements the little girl had screamed just a short time ago. As the minutes stretched by with no more frantic activity through L.A, he began to feel sheepish for becoming alarmed by them. But some inner sense of nervousness remained. Johnny jumped when he felt a tap on the shoulder. "Ahhh!!" he said, startling. He spun about in place, stumbling over his air bottle that he had abandoned at Atkins' feet and came face to face, with Roy. "So how ARE they over there?" Gage demanded of him sharply when his fright had passed. "Nothing like a little radio silence to torment all of us over here." Roy only smiled. "Stoker's got a bruised nose. And Marco will need to sit on an icepack donut for a while.. Other than that.." and he shrugged. Johnny couldn't believe it. "What! That's it?" "Yep. No one was terribly hurt, pally. Mike just took the rig into that sandy embankment to stop her from running away once he felt the tires blow. You know, sort of like how semi truck trailers sometimes use those cedar piles on ramps for brake failures up in the mountains.." DeSoto reasoned. He knelt and took another blood pressure on a groggy Andrea, whom Johnny had arranged supine along the other flat side of the squad's top. Her O2 mask was back in place and her feet were raised up onto a resting sideways air bottle.. "Hi there...uh.. " DeSoto asked the mother. "Andrea.." Johnny prompted instantly. "Andrea.." Roy parroted. "How are you feeling?" Andrea didn't open her eyes until Roy gently set a hand onto her arm. He repeated his question. "Ummm, kinda funny..." she remarked. "She's not the only one.. " Johnny muttered under his breath about how he felt about Alex's bizarre ramblings. He decided to chalk them off as hypoxia residue and turned up the percentage of O2 on child's clear oxygen mask. Gage then bent low to treat and dress the spidery lightning burns on Alex's shoulder. Roy checked the mother's IV and O2 flow. "Ok.. My partner tells me you are a little fuzzy on recent details. Did you feel this funny way before, or after we escaped the wildfire?" Andrea's eyes wandered from Roy's face and she fell to watching the D5W IV dripping into her arm that Dr. Brackett had ordered. "What fire?" she said. "Are there more people hurt besides me?" DeSoto's smile fell away and he drew out his penlight to examine her eyes. For the time being, he didn't answer Andrea's questions nor inform her that Alex was nearby to spare the woman unnecessary stress. Her pupils were fairly equal, only red and irritated from the smoke she had been exposed to. He felt along her neck for telltale signs of stiffening or tenderness. She didn't react adversely to his probing. Nor did Roy find anything but ash when he checked out her head once more for signs of injury. "Still negative here." he said to Johnny. "Yep.. So, what do you think?" Gage agreed. It was only a few seconds before Andrea faded enough to want to close her eyes again. Roy watched her breathing rate. "Don't know yet. The BP's 88 systolic and her resp rate IS shallowing. Just like what you've got written down here." he said. Then he rubbed his chin, thinking about what else he could check for. Then he had an idea. "Johnny, did you take a BP on her other arm for comparison?" Gage looked up from where he was wrapping the child warmly into a dry blanket. Johnny's slight look of dismay said it all. "Oops." he mouthed silently. Then out loud he said. "I was kinda distracted by all the excitement with the engine, Roy." he said. Atkins was still doing his part in keeping the little girl awake and oriented by giving her his helmet to feel while she waited for her ambulance to arrive."I think we all were." Roy turned to get his baseline BP. He nodded as he got the second reading. "It's different, Johnny. 110 over 84." and he slipped into a closer neural exam on Andrea that included a babinski's check and a limb movement equality exam. Her left side presented as weaker despite Alex volunteering that her mother was left handed. Roy noticed that she didn't seem able to grip his fingers with any great strength on that side nor push down with her left foot normally. His mind started churning possibilities. ::Did she get this way from hitting the squad's dash when I stopped?:: he wondered. Then he shook his head immediately dismissing that angle.. ::That facial cut's sitting on the LEFT side and it's minor. It can't possibly be the cause of her deficit now. These mis-reactions are too global and, well.. old. There's some subtle atrophy in her muscles on the effected side. Wait a minute. Maybe her symptoms are tied to a pre-existing condition that the fire exacerbated. That would explain why we didn't find anything grossly wrong with her until now.:: Roy checked the woman's pockets for ID. He found a wallet in her pants and he leafed through its credit card section. ::Bingo.:: The third card he turned over was one outlining a handwritten course of treatment for brain cancer. It had her name on it giving directions to a medical clinic with a familiar date marked down. "Found it." he said to Johnny. "She's got a history of cancer. A tumor on the brain." he whispered, showing Johnny the card. "This is an appointment reminder about a chemo treatment series, scheduled to start today.." he said softly. Johnny looked up in sympathy. "No wonder she was up here in the hills. I know I wouldn't want to face that kind of thing on such a beautiful summer day. Makes perfect sense . Most likely, they were going on a picnic or something just to forget about things for a while when the storm came and caused their accident." Roy picked up the phone receiver and updated Dr. Brackett on what they had discovered. Kel gave them instructions on how to make the mother more comfortable and he asked for the ambulance ETA. "Rampart, L.A. reports its ETA as seven minutes." ##10-4, 51.# Kel replied. DeSoto and Gage both looked up as arriving fire crews rushed on past their scene giving encouraging blasts from their air horns as they sped by to deal with the expanding canyon fire. Johnny grinned when he saw the company that was stopping for their crashed engine call. It happened to be Stone's. Charlie and Gil leaped out of their rescue squad to assist 51's. Gil gave a low whistle at the sorry condition of the squad as he and his partner jogged up with their gear and replacement 02. "You fellas medium rare or well done?" he quipped. "Charred.." Gage said. "These two are stable. Histories and treatments are on the notepad." he said giving it to him from his pocket. "You relieving us?" "Yeah." Charlie said. "Go rest up. We'll get them down from there for ya after we switch over to our equipment and we'll bring em in for ya since your wheels are gone." And he laughed at his own joke. He broke it off when Roy and Johnny didn't smile. He cleared his throat self consciously before changing the subject. "Are you ok, Johnny? You look kinda peaked." "Took some heat and smoke. Nothing major. Somebody had to ride shotgun up top. We had two too many. Oh, and watch the girl. I had to block off her air for the worst of the trip out for about a minute total." "Gotcha." and the two medics efficiently took over for Johnny and Roy's scene. Captain Stone wandered over to them from his rig. His reaction was pretty much like Gil's about the melted tires on the Ward and Dodge, including the sympathetic whistle and unbelieving head shake. "Everyone still in one piece?" DeSoto crossed his arms over themselves. "For the most part. Bumps and bruises on the engine crew." Roy grinned. "Cap's coordinating with Carter on figuring out the best way for the tow bed to reach over there. If you're looking for him, he said he would be hanging by Engine 36 trying to figure out why their tires didn't melt like ours did." Gage's face fell into alertness. "Roy. Wait a minute Wait a minute.. You said Cap left the engine to come back over here?" "Yeah, he left there about a minute before I did." DeSoto grinned, smacking some soot off his pants cuff. Gage's face levelled into a quiet seriousness that sobered Roy. "Well I didn't see him. I only saw you when you scared the snot outta me tapping my shoulder like that." "That's odd." Roy said. "I-I wonder where he could have gone?" "He's probably hiding in the bushes somewhere, embarrassed to come out here to see me about the reason why he decided he had to melt both his vehicles down like waxworks." Ben joked. "He knows I'll tease him about the paperwork." All three men chuckled. Captain Stone lifted his HT. "Engine 8 to Engine 51. Hank, my medics are here and have relieved yours. What's your 10-20?" The light laughter from them died away when nothing but static returned. Something deep inside gripped Johnny and he fidgetted. His odd nervousness returned and he danced on his feet, craning a neck over to where he could see Chet milling about next to the engine. Some of Stone's men were already fully on the scene. They were using 51's own water to cool her steaming tire rims and undercarriage with one of her hoses that hadn't been singed during their frantic breakout. "Hang tight. I'm gonna go check on something.." he told Stone and DeSoto. And he jogged across the field over to where Kelly was putting a bandaid on the bridge of Stoker's bruised nose. Kelly looked up and so did Mike. "Hiya Johnny. Sorry for not answering your hail. Cap said he would take care of it." "Yeah, well guys, answer me this. Where is Cap?" Gage said hurriedly. "He never replied me." "Isn't he with you fellas by the road?" "I thought he was with you.." Gage said with a frustrated pointing gesture. Stoker shook his head, feeling up the patch job Kelly did on his tender nose when he was through. "Hey, Chet, I think you put this on crooked." he complained, peeking in the engine's soot streaked door side mirror. Kelly smirked at Mike. "You look beautiful, Stoker." *Smooch* he kidded. Stoker made a face. "Think I'll go get someone else to fix this then. I know, I'll go get one of Stone's medics to give me an honest opinion on the efficacy of your bandaging job. Roy and Johnny just may have to re-train you on how to do it right, buddy." "And I think you scarred me for life, pal, by crashing into that hillside. Just look at my elbow, Stoker! I freaked pretty bad running over here to get to ya. I don't see you patching ME up..!" he bellowed. "Some gratitude, man.. Geesh.." Kelly said at Mike's departing back as he flicked some dirt out of his very minor abrasion with a few fingernails. "Hey, no sweat about Cap, Johnny. Didya try hailing him on th-" "Yes, Chet.." Johnny cut him off. "I just told you that. And for that matter, Stone just tried to reach him again, too." Marco looked up from where he was checking the underside of the Ward for signs of oil or gas leaks. He was moving slowly to favor his bruised behind. No one laughed at his stiffness. "I saw him." Lopez piped up. " He said he was gonna look over the front end under all that brush to see whether or not Stoker crumpled any chrome." he chuckled. "We got a bet riding on it." "Well how long ago was that?" "Oh, about five, six minutes ago." Lopez said. "Once he knew we were all fine, he grabbed his helmet and headed that way." Marco indicated. All three men turned to peer into the thick rhododendrons covering Engine's 51 steaming front section. "Cap?!" Gage called out. "Got a minute?!" Hank didn't holler back. Puzzled, the firemen started walking towards the hillside. Johnny stopped in his tracks when he saw Cap's HT still laying across the seat of the engine through its open driver's door. His work gloves were still there, folded neatly on top of the transmission live radio. Kelly noticed that too, "That's weird. He didn't take his gloves with him. Kinda odd, cause there's still a lot of superheated metal up there." Johnny hefted them up and he shoved the gloves into his pants belt. Gage nervously shifted the helmet on his head. "Guys, come on. Let's try to find him." "What's the big deal Gage?" Kelly asked. "Maybe he changed his mind about checking up on you and Roy and went to 36's engine for a bit first to check on Carter." Johnny lifted his HT. "Squad 51 to Engine 36." ##Go ahead, 51.## Carter's calm gravelly voice replied. "Cap, ..ah" Gage said. "Is our captain with ya ? We can't seem to pin down his current location." ##Negative. Stone here with me says he still can't raise Hank either.## "That tears it.." Johnny said. A thick dread filling his stomach. He put on Hank's gloves and moved to the equipment compartment of the engine for a safety belt and a coiled figure eight of rock rope. The other guys watched him in surprise. Chet spoke up. "Gage, why are you getting so worked up here? Cap's around. He always is. He's probably just someplace nearby figuring out a way to get the tow guys back in here to-" That annoyed Johnny. "Have you ever known Cap to wander a scene without his HT?" he insisted sharply. "Well,... no..not exactly.." Kelly stammered. "It's never, Chet. Now come on and help me into this.." he said. "Then get yourself geared up too. I'm calling for a scene search." "Johnny, don't you think you're over reac--" Gage hit his HT call out. "Engine 51 to HT 51 and all Engines. Captain Stanley may be missing from the scene. His last known position was with Engine 51. We're beginning a search from our 10-20. We need immediate assistance." ##10-4...## came multiple replies. Stone, Roy Atkins and Carter soon came running from the road to rendevous with Gage and the others. Stone was pacing along side Gage when they began to cut through the underbrush, fighting their way to the front side of the engine and into the narrow arroyo its hood was jammed up against. Once there, he found a hand saw on the ground where Cap had apparently been doing the same thing. "Here, Ben. "Johnny shouted. "Looks like he came this way.." Captain Stone joined Gage and squeezed into the small space that was blocking their way to the open tangle of brushy slope angling in front of the engine. Johnny had just pushed through and was standing up when his feet tottered on the edge of a yawning hole in the grass. He pinwheeled in panic with a shout until Ben pulled him back away from the weakened spot that had creaked woodenly beneath his weight. The others behind them held up when Ben gestured for them to freeze. "Hold it! Hold it! There's a hole here!" he snapped at them. Ben cautiously inched forward to look where Johnny had almost fallen and his face furrowed. "Looks like an old abandoned well. Careful, everyone. The shaft's lip may be bigger than it appears because of all this old overgrowth." They all dropped to their stomachs and crawled forward until they could peer down into its darkness around the rotten boards they found there. Two of the boards were newly cracked and there was a steaming redness streaked across one of them. Ben reached out a hand to touch some and he brought it to his nose. "It's blood." "Cap?!!" Kelly called out urgently. Johnny drew out the flashlight he had snatched along with his gear and aimed it down into the hole. He could just hear the sounds of gurgling water far below and his light's feeble beam caught something shiny hanging on a root. It was Cap's helmet. "I was afraid of something like this." Gage said quietly worried. "Didn't feel right about him." Stone got on the radio. "Engine 8 to L.A. and all units at 51's incident. We've a man down a well beneath a fire engine. Respond a cave specialist team and a heavy excavation equipment detail to our crash scene." ##10-4, Engine 8. Your time out. 16:12.## Tones began to peel out eerily over their talkies as Gage and Kelly continued to shout down the crumbling shaft. "Cap! Can you hear me?" Gage yelled. Kelly's face was tight with tension and he swallowed nervously as the echo of their voices died away and bounced around inside the dripping shaft without a responding reply. He looked up at Ben, Roy, Carter, Johnny, Atkins and Stone. "Sounds like there's an awfully strong current at the bottom. I think the lower half of the shaft's flooded really deep." "Could be a well broken through into a mine shaft." Carter suggested. "This whole park's riddled with old abandoned digs. I personally know of five underground passages which carry water towards the flooded quarry just over that hill. This clearing may be a place where slideouts during fire years occur regularly. See where rain has weakened the hillside here? A boulder may have broken through, creating this fissure into the well, when your engine came barreling against it, out of control." Atkins was only just slipping into rappelling gear. He marvelled at Gage already being so well equipped for a vertical descent. "Did you listen to the little voice we're both thinking of to figure this out?" "Who knows for sure, man. I just want to get down there, Atkins. Now." Kelly and the others rapidly placed a ladder over the hole that they had grabbed from the engine. Roy laid a calming hand on Johnny's back. "Yeah, well we'll be down there quick enough. Stone's tying off our ropes to the engine's front wench as we speak." Gage's heart sank into an icy chill when his flashlight kept finding more and more places along the shaft's jagged walls where bloody smears marked the staining that Cap's body had left behind as it tumbled. He still could see nothing of Hank. Johnny's mouth went dry as he peered into the pitch black of the wet rotten hole. "Tie them off faster, guys! He can't wait. I'm seeing a lot of blood down there." he snapped at the men grunting and squeezing through the undergrowth around the hole to reach the engine's grill and bumper. And the power wench. "Be ok, Cap. Just be ok.." ---------------------------------- Photo : Chet in turnout gear, worried. Photo : Marco, kneeling and looking down. Photo : Johnny and Captain Stone working while looking down. Photo: Roy on a ladder over a cave in with Johnny looking on. Photo: A broken through mining well and boards in the ground. Photo : Cap's helmet, bloodied. ****************************** From : "Cory Anda" Subject : The Inner Life Date : Sat, 12 Apr 2003 02:16:58 +0000 Hank Stanley groaned as he awakened to an eerie greenish darkness. He was upright, hanging on a wall by the back of his collar on a splinter of wood and his helmet was gone. "Whaa?" he said out loud. "What?" he said again as he opened his eyes to a feeble glow coming from below him. There was a roaring in his ears. ::Did I hit my head?:: he wondered and he took in a couple of deep breaths. ::Maybe not, cause I don't feel any pain. ::Then Hank realized what the noise was. ::My legs. That's why they're cold. They're dangling in this rushing water up to my thighs. Am I in some kind of riverbed?:: Then he realized that wasn't the case. Peering about, he realized that he was in an old mining chamber at a junction of a vertical shaft where it met the ceiling of another flooded horizontal passage. Just ahead of him, he could see an ominous gurgling whirlpool rotating at the end of the dead end passage about thirty feet downstream. He tried to shift his head but a warning creak of sagging nails on the shattered wood holding his jacket, halted him. They dropped him a couple of inches in his precarious place. :"Ahh!." And Hank froze, trying to still the motion of his legs dragging in the fast flow beneath him. ::Don't want to fall in. That water sounds deep and I can't tell where all that water's going for sure...:: He spent another minute or so flexing his limbs slowly and Hank decided that he was fairly intact, all things considering. Until he glanced down at his right hand and realized that it was red with actively streaming blood. ::Oh,.. I got an artery..:: he realized, licking his dry lips.::Gotta s- stop that..:: Already, his head was full of fuzz and a nauseating thirst was thickening his tongue. Moaning, Cap reached into his pocket and found the nasal cannula that he had shoved there from the little girl's mother earlier as they loaded her daughter up onto the squad for their desperate escape through the fire. He rigged a half hitch and looped it tight around his upper arm over his coat on his bleeding side and did it again before he tightened it with an adjustable knot with his teeth and other hand. He pulled until he could feel the thudding pulse beating in his lacerated arm, only quitting when he felt his fingers growing tingly and numb. Gasping, he let go of his tourniquet and he drifted in a sea of dizziness. A few minutes later, he looked down and saw that the fast trickle of blood was now reduced to a slow rain of drops that fell into the rapid flow of water beneath him. ::That did it.Ugh.. Hope it doesn't come loose on me. This plastic doesn't make very good rope.:: He looked around and up above him. Very far away, he could see a patch of daylight over his head and he could vaguely hear eerie echoes of..::Those are L.A. dispatches! I'm hearing Sam over an HT!:: "Hey!! " he shouted and immediately winced when that effort shot pain through his circulation stopped arm. "Agh...hh." he moaned and his consciousness began to drift as nausea rose up to sicken him. Hank barely kept his stomach by reaching down and splashing some of the water rushing by onto his face with his good arm. Then he began to regret his actions when a mild shivering set in. ::I'm going into shock. ..I....probably lost a fair bit of my total volume here.:: he thought. Taking a gamble, Hank grabbed a chrome polishing rag he had taken with him to the front of the engine on his trip to seal the bet, from his other pocket. He held it in the water swirling about him until it was fully wet. Gasping and shaking, he wrung it out into his mouth and swallowed the rank liquid slowly. ::Tastes awful. But I gotta....gotta get my fluid level up or I'll pass out..:: Hank drank until his sharpening nausea stopped him. A couple of times, Cap almost lost what he had taken in and it was only a sheer effort of will that saved him from vomiting it all out again. Hank was rewarded a minute later with a clearer head and soon, the chamber he was trapped in stopped spinning around and around in his vision. "CAP ?! ..CAp ?!......Cap ?!...........cap... ?!" came a bouncing echo from above. It was Chet's voice, mingled with Johnny's. But Cap's head began to sag as his BP dropped from his internal chilling and he couldn't respond. He slipped into a half state, eyes staring into the noisy whirlpool filled with green underwater light just ahead. He began to drift and dream.. ---------------------------------------------------------- Captain McConnike walked the line in front of his new firemen cadets and stopped in front of one very very tall, gawky young French looking man, who towered a head over him. He dipped his head to read the man's name tag.. "Henry...Stanley.." he read myopically. "Hank.. uh, Hank. S-sir.. Only my mother calls me Henry. And uh,...my pastor." Hank immediately bit his lip nervously for talking out of turn in the inspection line. He had heard so much about McConnike's reputation on being merciless to any probies assigned to his station who dared break protocol on anything. He froze at attention when his new captain gave him a once over glance from his hours long polished shoes to his starched white dress hat. "Hmm... " the man regarded Hank thoughtfully. Hank could just feel the other probies twitching in sympathy for him as he fell under the gun. Hank felt his upper lip start to bead with sweat. McConnike said gruffly. "Uniform's fair Mr. Stanley. You only missed some polish on that button." "Which button where?" Hank said looking down. McConnike immediately swept up his index finger and caught Hank by the nose, making him lift his head in a Three Stooges move. He began to laugh uproariously and so did Hank's fellow newbies. The humor had just the opposite effect on Hank, who's face flushed nine shades redder than the engine he was standing in front of. McConnike glared at the cadets to shut them up and to spare Hank the humility. But his dogged I'm the superior and you're not grin stayed firmly in place as he thoroughly drank in Hank's discomforture. "Knew that would get ya, Henry. I never miss my mark when I pull that one." and he laughed loud, alone and long. The need to wipe away his tears ended McConnike's enjoyment and he said one last parting shot before moving on to inspect the next cadet to Hank's left. "Never liked my real name either,Henry. So just call me Cap." ------------------------------------------------ Hank started to mumble in his half state.. "Hank, call me Hank! D*mn him..No wonder I set his hat on fire. He never let up the whole time with those stupid slapstick jokes of his for as long as I was his newest man at the station. It wasn't until I became a captain myself that he finally started calling me Hank like he should have.." he chuckled weakly. "CAP?!....CAp?!........Cap?!...........cap?!.... ..We're coming DOWN..DOWn.......DOwn.......Down..........down..So HANG...HANg--HAng...Hang....hang..in there..rrrrr..e.. there rrrr..e...rre...just a little bit longer..rrrr..rrr...rr....r" another voice's ghostly echo floated over the loud rushing waters ringing in Cap's ears. ::Roy?:: Cap's dulled mind ventured. ::Is that you?:: Hank coughed and then just hung limp where he was, too tired to even think anymore. ------------------------------------------------- Johnny Gage was a bit lower than his partner in the cramped well shaft. "Gimme more slack!" he said looking up the shaft. Roy, sweating and climbing down on the boards one by one in his harness, spoke. "Johnny have you noticed how much rope we've been using? I'm at the one hundred foot coil mark already." DeSoto kicked away the extra belt they had for Cap, from around his legs as he eased around a tangle of mining wire.. "I know.." Johnny said, grunting as he tipped his helmeted head down to avoid the water streams from the ground seeps raining down on them in the gloom. He didn't voice the fact that a fall any farther than thirty feet usually ended up in a fatality. "Just keep going.." Around Gage's belt, hung Cap's bloodied helmet. and he kept one superstitious glove on it as they descended even deeper into the murky gloom of the well. He shouted again down the shaft towards their feet but yet again, nothing but the bubbling echoes of his own voice floated upwards along with the sounds of the raging water below. Johnny began to breathe harder as unwelcome negative thoughts about Cap's continued sinking survival chances came more and more frequently with every passing moment. They were still seeing splashes of blood on the walls. Roy became analytical. "All of this is bright red. He must have gotten a cut into an artery.. " "We hope.." Gage said sarcastically. "Grossly displaced open fractures do this kind of thing too, in a fall.." "Yeah, well I prefer to be optimistic, Junior." Roy sighed. "Because I can't bear to think that Cap might actually have d-" and he broke off his line of thinking. "I know what you mean. I'm having those kind of doubts myself right now. Come on, let's keep going." Johnny said."Like you said, we'll get all our answers soon enough." Roy shouted back up the shaft.. "Gimme more slack!" ---------------------------------------------- Hank's breathing was coming with difficulty now and to him, the moist cool air seemed to be growing thinner. He could barely open his eyes and the whirlpool seemed to weave a hypnotic spell over him. "I'm sorry, Chief.. I won't do it again..I promise.. Please.. Just get me out of here....and....you can call me anything you'd like.." Hank lifted his numb arm in front of his face by picking up its sleeve with his other hand and he peered at the skin on his palm there. "Man, looks like the mother of all rug burns.. heh. Will take at least a graft or two to patch that.." ::Will take a month or two to pass that Hank. Only by becoming a captain will you find some peace about him..What ever possessed you to set the chief's hat on fire?:: his mental psyche injected into his mind. "Emily?" he gasped, imagining his wife's soft alto whispering to him next to his ear. Cap's eyes closed as his deepening hypothermia made him think the stony wall was his cotton quilted bed at home and his hallucinations real aspects of his family. Cap finally slipped into a shadowy realm and all trace of the chamber exited on the silent black wings of unconsciousness. Hank's breathing slowed to a crawl. --------------------------------------------- Johnny Gage stopped shouting Cap's name. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute.. I see him..!" "Where?.." Roy asked eagerly, and very tired. "To my right.. straight down beyond that outcropping. Looks like he's mostly out of the water. More slack!!!" his voice sliced up the shaft.. Finally, Johnny lowered another six feet. He strained reaching for the nearest part of Cap to his fingertips. His bloody right hand. Gage grasped that wrist, feeling for a pulse. He didn't find one. "What?" he startled, eyes shooting to Cap's face for a confirming off color. But Cap was still pink. Then Johnny noticed the shiny coils tied around that arm. "It's a cannula, Roy, acting as a tourniquet.." he sighed in relief. "I thought he was dead for a second.." Gage grunted as he angled in a little closer to reach Cap's limp head. Johnny had to swing and grope three times before he landed a solid touch on the side of Hank's neck. "He's still got a carotid. But its thready. And he's real cold. Here. Gimme the safety belt, Roy. I'll put it around him." As Gage struggled nearer, his gloves felt Cap's stomach expand ever so slightly as he worked to place the belt around Hank's waist to secure it to their third lifeline."Breathing's shallow. But he's doing it." Gage couldn't quite reach the fastener on Cap's belt to their free rope and unconsciously, Gage gave a tug, trying to bridge the final inch separating them. Captain Stanley's snag on his collar suddenly snapped and he started sliding down the slope like a stone towards the creek streaming passageway below. "Cap!!" Roy shouted, but he was at the end of his rope and could go no lower. Johnny made a grab for Cap and only got the loose end of the cannula tubing in his grip. It tore loose, untying from Cap's arm before Hank fell the rest of the way to the bottom. He sank rapidly under the water. Johnny didn't have time to think. He acted. "I'm going in!" and he cut his short rope from the main one with his holster bowie knife not even hearing Roy's shout not to. --------------------------------------------------- Johnny Gage was shocked by the utter icyness of the torrent of water. He barely got his head back above its frothy surface before his lungs shuddered into an instinctive involuntary gasp. He wasted no time. "Roy.. lower another rope after I get him up!" and Johnny began a powerful stroke down stream towards the dead end wall. Briefly, Cap's back surfaced as his body floated up in the grip of the leading edge of the eddy. Gage grabbed him, lifting Hank's pale head above the water before he flopped it back onto his shoulder. "I got you Cap..!" he sputtered as he fought the rapid undertow forming beneath them. His face filled with a sudden horror when Johnny realized the danger. Roy saw the underglow lit whirlpool surge and it dragged his struggling partner and their ragdoll captain inside a ferocious swirl as it hungrily sucked both of them under. The submersed shadows that he could see of their clinging bodies, spun wildly beneath the flow's surface for one terrifying second before they disappeared entirely as the whirlpool suddenly folded noisily onto itself and rippled away into stillness. Hot tears blinded DeSoto when he realized the implications of what he had just witnessed. "Johnnyyyyy!!! Caaaappp!!!" Roy screamed and his terror echoed a dozen fold above the underground river. Roy never remembered pulling on his rope for a hasty ascent. ------------------------------------------- Photo: Johnny in a tight ground hole. Photo: Johnny on a rappelling rope. Photo: Roy looking stunned outside. Photo: A flooded under ground cave whirlpool. Photo: Cap's helmet, turnout and boots line up along the wall of the station. ************************************ From : "Roxy Dee" Subject : Washout Date : Tue, 15 Apr 2003 20:27:20 +0000 Hands reached for Roy the moment everyone around the caved in well could see him. "Captain Stone?! They fell.." his voice cracked. "What?!" the station eight captain gasped. Roy let the crew around him pull him out by the arms. "My partner was about to secure Cap to a lifeline when the debris holding him on the wall gave way. Johnny cut his rope and went after him but they're in trouble. The current had an undertow at the end of what I think is a dead end passage and they both were swept under." Captain Carter rubbed his chin, thinking. "A dead end passage did you say?" "Yeah." Roy coughed, catching his wind after the long climb upward. "Is that important?" "Sure is.." Steven nodded. "When these old mines were open, certain tunnels had sloughs specifically designed for discharging excess rainwater into an aqueduct that feeds into the main quarry just over that rise.." he said, pointing. "If your captain and partner are still alive, that's where they'll end up." Stone stepped back from the hole as Chet and Marco helped Roy out of his rappelling belt and ropes. He thumbed his radio and said, "HT Eight to Engine 8 and Brush 4. We've two men washed away in a subterranean current near our location. Send four men with a pair of stokes and mountain rescue gear to the north side of McGregor Quarry. The place we're looking for them to reappear is anywhere along that shoreline. Over." ##10-4, Engine 8. Slope extrication and stokes to the north escarpment of the quarry. We're moving out now.## "10-4." Ben sighed. Roy's face was pale with fright for his crewmates and he found he couldn't think clearly at all. Chet Kelly grasped him on the shoulder and said. "Roy, they're ok man. You heard Captain Carter. That tunnel wash has an outlet that's not very long. You know how Johnny always ends up back on his feet after something like this happens.." he nodded animatedly. "Yeah? But he doesn't ever do that without injury, Chet. Gonna be harder this time because Cap's got more going on besides just shock and hypothermia. His arm was in a tourniquet when we found him for a very significant laceration and that came free when he fell. On top of the drowning danger, Cap may just bleed to death before Johnny can do anything to stop it." DeSoto said. Kelly's face sobered, but immediately, he said. "Roy, quit freaking out. You're snowballing. Just go with the other guys running over there. Marco and I will handle the squad gear and we'll meet you in two minutes! I see Stoker already booking for it." With a heavy heart, Roy took up Chet's advice and jogged after the two fire captains to the edge of the abandoned quarry just beyond Engine 51. -------------------------------------------- Photo : Roy on the squad radio, helmet on. Photo: Chet grabbing a ladder from the squad. Photo : A flooded stone quarry near the ocean. *************************************** From: "Ziggy" Date: Tue Apr 15, 2003 6:36 pm Subject: A Brief Return "Hank." Station 51's captain stirred slightly, but did not awaken fully. "Hank." The voice, vaguely familiar, insisted more insistently. Hank's eyes fluttered, but no other response was forthcoming. *Go 'way! I'm wet, cold and tired. So tired. Just wanna sleep-* "Henry Adams Stanley! Ten-hut!" Hank started awake at that. Old habits faded slowly. He raised his head a few inches off the stony ground and blinked as the blurry form kneeling beside him. The form coalesced itself into-"Chief?" Hank knew it wasn't possible, but the figure at his side appeared to be McConnikee. The chief was dressed in his day uniform, including his turnout coat and white helmet. "But-you're dead. aren't you?" McConnikee smiled somewhat sadly. "I'd like to say the rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated, but I'm afraid I can't. But I'm not allowing the same to happen to you, Hank. You've got to hang in there. Help's on it's way. Just a short while longer." Hank blinked. "I--can't. Too--tired." "You must and you will. The department can't afford to lose another experienced leader. You've got to hold on." The chief's image smiled. "God knows Gail is a strong woman, but I need you to help her get through this." As McConnikee spoke, Hank felt something being tightened around his bleeding arm. In his half-faded state, he barely paid it any mind. "Chief, I-I'm sorry f-for-" "Burning my hat?" McConnikee chuckled. "I admit, I had it coming. Another reason for you to stick around, Hank. You gotta let your men know the reason for that. I forgave you for it a long time ago." The chief looked behind him. "Help's coming now," he stated as he turned to face his rapidly fading captain. "You were one of my best men, Hank. I'm proud to have been your commander." That said, McConnikee rose. Hank thought he saw him pause beside the unconscious form of another blue-uniformed firefighter near-by. His eyes closed briefly and when he managed to crack them open again, McConnikee's image--ghost?--had disappeared. Again, Hank lapsed back into darkness. ----------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Cap lying on his back looking up out of uniform. ******************************************** From : "Patti Keiper" Subject : Recovering the Past.. Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 23:30:14 +0000 They had found them. Amazingly, on the only horizontal margin possible, rimming the flooded icy watered quarry. There had never been a faster descent by rope than the one made by Johnny and Cap's rescue team. --------------- "Got that tourniquet in place, Chet?" Roy asked in a strained voice, crouching to check Johnny's breathing yet again where he lay on his stomach semi prone. "Yeah. It's tight. Thought he was awake for a second here. He just mumbled something." "Just keep that arm elevated with that continued pressure just like you're doing. When that bleeding slows, pack it off with even more pads and then try to ease the band loose enough to get that hand to pink up again. If that bleeding starts up again with any substantial flow, tell me, and I'll come over there with a hemostat. Guys," Roy addressed the Station Eight firemen ringing above them. "Get him into these mast trousers. Cap's negative for cervical and spinal injuries." DeSoto said. "It's a miracle he's not in a million pieces." Marco said. "The walls of that well were very muddy, Marco. Lots of soft clay and moss. No doubt it cushioned him on the way down until those tree roots stopped his fall. Only that arm's been cut by something sharp, most likely on a loose nail or two. How's his breathing?" Roy asked about Cap, feeling along Johnny's still body for signs of misalignments or skin breaks. Roy was still getting over a scare concerning his partner that had occurred when they all had first located them. Captain Stone was at Hank's head with one hundred percent O2 delivering abundantly by demand valve. "Fast. Seems like he's panting a little bit here. His rate's around 34 times a minute. Pulse is up there, too." "It's hypovolemic shock. As soon as I finish detailing Johnny, I'll get on the line to Rampart for Cap's IVs. Help him vent if he loses color more than that lip cyanosis." Roy cut the chin strap of Cap's helmet free that was still twisted around Johnny's belt to get it out of the way for a pelvis fracture check. "Right." Ben nodded. He could see Marco and Stoker scrambling to lay out the anti shock trousers and fit them around Cap's legs and lower abdomen. As soon as Roy was convinced Johnny was in no danger, intact, and truly C spine injury clear, he waved the team of four Carter had mobilized, to wrap him in a plastic blanket right where he lay. There was still water trickling from his mouth. Roy breathed a sigh of relief, finally daring to think back to the first terrifying moments he had experienced after his feet had touched stony ground following his rapid rappel descent down the face of the quarry cliff to the water's edge. Roy fervently began to thank his lucky stars for where he now was, situation wise. ::Gage's laryngospasm released only half a minute ago.:: DeSoto thought.::He's looking a LOT better now. Thank G*d.:: Roy still had both eyes on Gage's chest as he watched Carter place him on a high flow O2 mask. DeSoto was ecstatic that a cricothyrotomy hadn't been needed. Steve's obstructed airway maneuvers initially hadn't had any effect at all during those first few seconds of Roy's nightmarish recollection. DeSoto had just about reached for the 14 guage angiocatheter kit when Charlie's failed Magill forceps relief attempt confirmed that it was a definitely a laryngospasm causing Johnny's apnea. Once I.D.'d, the cramp was forced to pass with gentle manipulating. Soon after, the hasty gastric tube placement that water decompressed Johnny's stomach, did much to ease most of Gage's respiratory difficulties. It wasn't long until they were resolved enough for good ventilating. Johnny had begun to gasp right away on his own, soon after Steve had given him a few firm breaths mouth to mouth. ::He's gonna be uncomfortable if he wakes up with that NG in place, but breathing's better than not breathing at all any day.:: DeSoto grinned. Satisfied that Johnny was well seen to, Roy turned his attention back onto Cap. "How's that hemorrhaging over there?" he asked Kelly. "The band's off. It seems to be easing, though his breathing isn't by a long shot." Chet told him. "I'll fix that in a minute. What Cap needs is a lot of fluid next until he gets to Rampart for a transfusion. Kelly, looks like you'll get to be his donor once we get there." Roy rubbed his chin, considering his next plan of attack. "Looks like I can start his IVs here, the stokes rigging isn't ready yet." Roy said glancing up at the fast working set of firemen getting a pulley system set to scale the towering quarry cliff walls. Soon, Roy had his drug treatment go ahead from Brackett on both his patients. Roy soon inflated all the chambers of the mast suit happily, but Cap's systolic BP remained in the low 60's. DeSoto started two large bore NS bolus drips for Cap wide open to elevate him into compensated shock. Roy looked up at a moan from over his shoulder. Johnny stirred where he lay on his stomach and the red haired station eight paramedic at his head bent over him in a new primary assessment. Gil quickly shifted the oxygen mask away and removed the NG tube as Johnny angled his soggy limbs from his recovery position in a shaking tentative experiment of returning consciousness. "ooooohhhHH." Gage groaned. Then he froze when he realized that he was on oxygen and that Cap was inches away from him snuggly warm wrapped and fussed over by a very welcome bunch of firefighters. "*cough*..Cap? " And he spat out sandy loam from his mouth as he drew the blanket tighter around his chilled body. Gil sucked the rest of the grit away with a portable suction lightly as Gage's water irritated eyes fluttered opened completely. "Relax, Johnny. He's fine. We got to you both in time. How's your chest?" "Ooowww.. My whaa? Oh...yeah, that." Analytically, he decided his own lungs were clear of water. "Uh,,," he said fuzzily. "No edema. But my gut's more than sore. Man, feels like someone been squeezing me like a pack of Charmin." "Welcome to the world of near drowning, Johnny. You were a textbook case of cold water laryngospastic syndrome." Gil quipped. "I'll never crack another joke about pool gulpers ever again. I feel like sh*t." "Better feeling like sh*t than dirt, Gage. Start smiling. Your fool hardy just-being-a-hero stunt paid off so the possibility of your feeling like dirt here's not even an inkling. Man, Gage. We thought you both were goners for sure until Stoker spotted you two in your blue shirts and pants lying on the rocks." Chet commented, placing another dressing pad over the stained one he was leaning his weight on over Cap's cut lower arm. Roy agreed with Kelly wholeheartedly as he monitored Cap's breathing through a stethoscope. "Nice work on getting Cap and yourself to shore. Must have been hard getting your turncoats off so that they wouldn't drag you under. That alone probably made all the difference in the world on your survival." "Waitdaminute. * cough* I did what?" Gage said, batting Gil's hands away when the medic tried to reposition Johnny's mask back over his face. "Roy. I didn't have time to do all that. Last thing I remember, I was rushing along an underwater passage, watching the walls whiz by in a sea of bubbles with no air in my lungs, clinging for dear life with my legs and arms, to Cap. Whatdiya mean I got him to shore? Geesh. I was blacked out even before I saw any daylight.*cough*" Johnny set his own O2 back onto his face and he laid a muddy arm over his face to block out the painful sunlight streaming into his aching eyes and head. He let Gil fuss over him without protest. Marco, Stoker, Chet and Roy and the other men, fell silent. They clearly remembered seeing Cap and Gage, coat stripped and stretched neatly out, both face down on the beach, as if they had been carefully arranged there. It wasn't until fifteen minutes into an airlift that Hank Stanley roused and began to shout. Roy and Chet Kelly had to hold him down in his delirium. He seemed to be speaking about Chief McConnike and a solemn promise to visit his gravestone as soon as he got out of the hospital. Roy and Chet could only shrug as to why Cap focused on that particular goal. ------------------------------------------------------- Hank Stanley adjusted his sling around his loose fitting nautical ivory carnigan and he sighed deeply, ...just before he rang the McConnike household doorbell. The white lacy curtain on the other side of the pane of glass shifted briefly, as the slight form of Gail McConnike checked to see who had come calling so early in the morning. She was still tired from days of crying since the funeral. But Gail instantly changed her outward demeanor when she saw who it was who'd come calling. "Hank.. you've been discharged from the hospital so soon?" Hank Stanley pulled the bundle of white roses with a gold enveloped sympathy card nestled inside of them, from behind his back. "I...sort of made a pest of myself, Gail. You see.. I... had to come here. Sort of knew I....needed to be here, now.. For you and your daughter." Gail accepted the perfumey blooms, taking comfort in their heady, water coaxed aroma. "Thank you, Hank. Won't you come in?" Cap nodded self consciously and he only sat himself down on the flower patterned couch when she insisted that he do so. "So how are you holding up..?" he asked without preamble. "I...sort of feel compelled to ask you that. Stop me if I'm too personal here. I- I--I don't want to overstep my bounds." Gail's freckled face finally beamed inside a frame of silver white and black curls. "Now that's Melton rubbing off on you again. Right to the core, Hank Adams Stanley. And you know it. When you're in this house I expect you to be yourself and yourself only. Is that clear?" she smiled slightly. "Yes, maam.." Cap said, falling into a moment of remembering the Chief's last words spoken to him that day on the shoreline. He wasn't even sure that it really happened. Days later, as he lay healing in his hospital bed, he decided that how he had come to experience them didn't matter. What was important was realizing the profound effect that the Chief was still having on both their lives. Cap tentatively reached out and took Gail's hand in warm, close friendship. "Hard to break a habit engrained in my very fiber. Melton is still very much in my thoughts. There isn't a day that passes when I don't think of him." "Join the club.." Gail said gently. "Would you like a drink? Coffee? Tea?" "No, no thanks. I'm fine. I'm just about ready to stop by the stationhouse and let the guys know how I'm faring. They invited me to breakfast to celebrate my breaking out of Rampart." Gail laughed gently. "No doubt it's Marco's mom's tamales again.." she guessed. "How'd you know..?" "It's Wednesday. Melton always used to bother you men on A shift each month on surprise inspection just so he could have an excuse to eat those wonderful tamales with you." Cap's eyes smiled and he folded his good hand onto his lap. "So how are YOU doing? That broken arm hurt much?" Gail McConnike asked of Cap's sling, misguessing what it was for. "I just had some surgery to repair an artery that's all. I didn't break anything. It doesn't hurt much anymore. Brackett's a wonderful vascular surgeon. I-I...I am healing just fine. " Cap looked down and his eyes fell on the coffee table to the maroon photo album that lay there of Melton McConnike. It was opened, ironically to the days when Cap was a new firefighter under him. On the second page, there was an unexpected shot from the day Cap first became Captain of Station 51. From the first moments in fact, when he had fired off his first surprise dress inspection on his new crew at 51 just to stretch his newly appointed rank's muscle. It surprised Hank that the photo was even there. He hadn't remembered there even being a photographer present on that day. But then again, six years of similar inspections and years of runs made it difficult for recalling any great detail of his first day as "Cap". Hank remembered feeling far too nervous to remember much of anything. Seeing his own men, younger, and very sharp in their dress uniforms, gave Hank courage to return the question back at Gail. "So, how are you healing, Gail? It can't be easy for you to adjust at all. Again, stop me if I'm being too personal, please.." he insisted. Gail noticed the picture that Cap's eyes were focused on and she slowly drew it out of the album so Cap could take a better look at it. "Here.." she said, after a slight hesitation. "Then keep it. It's a gift.." "No, no, no.. I - I couldn't take this. It belonged to the Chief.. I." "Hank. It's yours now. Melton frequently sent photographers out to the stations where his first old crew each promoted into in order to hand those images back out to them during a special occasion, or other moving moment such as.." and her voice broke off.. Hank finished her thought for her. "...such as during a fireman's funeral.." Gail smiled slightly. "Only with your station, Hank, he never ever got a chance to. You were too d*mned good at keeping all your men's rears intact.." she joked. "Melton loved that about you. One of the only captains to never lose a man." "Careful, Gail, you might jinx me.." "Rubbish.. Superstition is for fools..." "And firehouse captains.." Hank quipped, waiting for Gail to gather herself to answer his question. "True.." she admitted. Then her eyes grew bright with a sadness that only hinted the depth of her grief that was still very much a part of her existence." I'm taking it one day at a time." she sighed. "Friends make my days bearable. They bring food, flowers.." she laughed, indicating the vase that Cap had brought to her. "But the nights are the worse. I can...almost.....feel him in bed beside me sometimes. " she confessed. Cap just nodded. But then he leaned forward, taking Gail's hand once more in comfort. "This is going to sound crazy, but I had a chance to ...feel ...him about me, too. I can't explain it, Gail. And I'm not even going to try. All that kept running through my mind while I lay there in deep shock on that shoreline, was how much the Chief loved you and how much he wanted you to be all right with his going..." Gail's eyes filled and she firmly placed her other hand on Hank's and squeezed. "That's a two way street, Hank. You see, a few days before the accident, Melton wanted me to call you about a gift he wanted to bring you in July for the next annual fireman's picnic.." "Oh?" "Wait right here.." And Gail swept out of the sunny Victorian parlor into the den Cap could just barely see. She returned with a box that seemed to be stuffed with shredded white tissue paper. Gail took the picture of Cap's first official inspection from his hand and replaced it with her gift. "What's this?" Gail's face grinned. "Open it and see. This is part two to go along with your debut captain's photo." Hank swallowed and opened the box. The white delicate tissue paper fell away to reveal an old fireman's dress hat. It had a charred brown edged hole crowning where its headpiece frame cloth had been burned away and the metal worked captain's rank front emblem was still holding its shape where the stretched cloth used to be. Captain Stanley gasped when he realized what it was.. "He saved this?" "Of course he did. It was the first time a junior man ever held him accountable for questionable behavior and Melton always said that it was an extremely valuable lesson he learned that day." her voice adopted a McConnike sounding timbre. "Never wound a newbie in an inspection line no matter how tempting a joke might be. Or it'll come back to bite you.." she concluded. "He saved that as a reminder of you. Your revenge taken by burning this had a profound effect on Melton. He never tired of watching your career grow or watching you develop the skills and integrity that a true captain of the line only rarely gains. He was so proud of you, Hank." Cap's eyes filled likewise and he gently touched an ashen edge of the hole in McConnike's old cap's hat. "I never knew.." "And I never knew how dedicated you were to him, until the day you had that courier come to my house with his white helmet for the funeral with a letter from both you and Ben. I was deeply touched to learn that both of you were adamantly refusing the department's move to promote one of you to the Chief's spot, in his honor.." "It's the least we could have done. The way they fill a gap's sometimes heartlessly swift." "Well, that helmet's back in service now. I called Ben Stone myself and asked him to accept the post. He's been training for it all this week while you were still in the hospital. I--I hope I made the right decision in my recommendation to the Department heads. I know how much you would miss your men if I had urged you to take it. You would have done it in a heartbeat out of loyalty to me and Melton, without regard for your own wants and desires." "Gail.. That's not true.." "In a pig's eye, Hank. Look, you're not even meeting ME in the eye so I know you're lying.." she smirked. "I've had the time I needed, Hank. It's ok for someone else to carry on the job Melton loved so much. I'm ready to see the Chief's spot pass on to the next man believe me. I wouldn't have sent the helmet back if I hadn't thought so." "You sure you didn't do that out of some quirky loyalty you might have to all of us captains that Chief McConnike has trained?" "Well, maybe just a little.." Gail admitted at last, smoothing down her paisley china blue apron. Hank smiled, gently putting away the ancient hat back into its box along with the photo Gail had given him. "Then loyalty must be an infection that knows no bounds for we are both afflicted with it most grieviously. And for that matter, so was Melton. For it is because of him that we're both now sitting here talking about the future." "A future that I thought I would never be able to face. Yet, now I am.." Gail said, her face dawning with sudden comprehension. "I'm very glad to hear that. To a degree that you couldn't even possibly imagine." Cap replied softly. He slowly caressed the hat box under his hand, marveling in the soothing feel its surface had on his skin and his soul. ---------------------------------------------------------- The sun was so far set that Mike Stoker had already taken in the station flags. Cap had not moved from his space at the kitchen table. In front of him was a bolt of white cotton cloth, fabric glue and a stretching frame. Roy, Johnny, Chet, Marco and Mike all watched with fascination as Cap completed his restoration of the famous burned McConnike hat. No one was brave enough to ask how Cap had come by it again after so many years. But finally, Chet came out with it. "So why'd ya do it?" The room fell silent, even the sounds of four pairs of lungs suddenly stopping their breathing in shock at Kelly's bold bravado. "Huh?" Hank grunted as he carefully painted gold leafing over the captain's rank crest on the newly restored hat's metal working, distracted. Then the question finally sank in. "Oh,.. uh, well. Let me set this brush down first. Let's see. The reason why.. Hmmmmm." "Cap.." Gage complained. "Oh, ok. ok. This is how it was. Well, you know how you and Kelly got into that game one year with the waterbombs in the whole Phantom fiasco?" "Yeah.." Kelly said, swallowing nervously at finally being on the verge of getting the answer every man in the department wanted to know about Hank Stanley. "Well, the Chief and I got into it in the same way.. Only we used firecrackers instead of water.." Roy started to snicker.. "Y-You planted a firecracker in his hat?" Cap grinned guiltily, blowing softly on his careful painting, so the 24 carat gold guilding would dry with a rich shine. "Yeah, won that oneupmanship AND the running bet that HQ heads had riding on us. Believe me, it was worth every hour I spent cleaning the latrine with a toothbrush." "So that's why you never give yourself that chore to do. You hate it so much because it reminds you of this burned hat.." Kelly said, putting two and two together. "Not anymore. In fact, as soon as I get my arm healed and get back on the duty rosters, I'll pull the can detail first day, like it SHOULD rotate through. There'll be no more of my pulling rank around here inside the station. Things are gonna be fair and square from now on." "Hey hey hey..." John and the guys celebrated. "Does that mean when I pull a prank on Gage in the future, that you won't be threatening me with a hose tower detail?" "That standing order penalty doesn't count, Kelly. The tower's outside the station. I said I'd be fair about what goes on in HERE." "Oh.." said the gang, severely disappointed. Upon hearing that, Chet, Roy and Johnny fell into age old grimaces of frustration, in three familiar poses of see no, hear no, speak no evil. Cap never saw their dismay. He was too busy repairing the symbol that used to be a source of pain that was now his ultimate destiny. ------------------------------------------------- The next day, a tall figure in a dress suit fireman's outfit left his car inside the rural Burbank cemetery whose address a new widow had shared with him. It was approaching sunset. Cap Stanley walked respectfully to a recently groomed grave and his understanding eyes fell on the name carved there on the rosy marble. He traced the name's lettering with a finger from his good hand and briefly rested on the still sun warmed stone, relishing the heat radiating there. "Chief.. I'm sorry I wasn't there when you were laid to rest here that day. But I sure know that you were there for me that afternoon in the quarry. I can never repay the debt I owe you for making me fight to live." He sighed and smiled and then he said. "I hope this makes up for it at least a little bit." Cap brought out the chief's old cap's hat, now appearing like new, untarnished and crisp. ::It's been restored with the love only two firefighters can share.:: Stanley wondered as he held it close. Hank hung it on the flower holder attached to the stone marker and touched it one final time. As an afterthought, Cap left behind another gift for the man still looming so large in his life; his own double bugle dress rank pin of captain. The dimming sun glinted once on the insignia and it sparkled like the purest gold into his eyes as his fingers set it on the top of McConnike's snow white and black dress hat. "Here's to that big alarm call in the sky, Chief. Hope you're there commanding the scene first at every one of them. And if you meet up with any other of the boys who didn't make it, tell them I'm thinking of them, too..... This is Station 51, KMG 365. Over and out." 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. FIN- The Golden Horn Episode Six, Season One April 2003. -------------------------------------- Photo: Johnny with drowning Cap in water. Photo: Roy looking stressed, outside. Photo: The 51 gang in full dress uniform. Photo: Johnny getting after Chet in the bay following another water bomb. Gang watches. Photo: Roy and Johnny and Chet. Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil poses. Photo: Cap rushing to the scene in the Ward cab. Daytime. Photo: McConnike's dress uniform hat. ********************************* FIN :) This episode is dedicated to all firefighters and EMS personnel who are injured or who lose their lives in the line of duty. May their sacrifice be rewarded hereafter and forever in eternity. :) :) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season One, Episode Seven.. Crazy Days ***************************** From: Jeff Seltun Date: Sat Apr 19, 2003 3:43 pm Subject: Here's to Irritability. Dixie McCall headed with a firm purpose for the cool caffeinated sanctuary of the main ER nurse's lounge. Her hair was ratty, her feet ached and she was grumpier than Kelly Brackett, even on his worst day. Joe Early saw her retreating form in the relatively crowded hallway and he called out, raising a few fingers in a hail. "Say, Dix.." McCall only saw red. "What now?!Can't you see I'm going on break here?" and Dixie whirled to face whoever was interrupting her rare hard won personal off time. She about faced sharply and angrily whipped the loose wispys out of her eyes with the only thing not frazzled by the 'Day from H*ll', her elegant fingernails. "Oh, it's just you.." Joe blinked in surprise and actually back peddled a few steps."Whoa.. Is that too much coffee talking or did that experimental resupply inventory nurse screw up the paramedic drug cupboard again?" Dixie sighed immediately in resigned instant apology and buried her head against Joe's shoulder. "Oh,.." she sighed in embarrassed apology. "Rewind the last five seconds, Joe please." And she lifted her head, straightening his lapels which were just as rumpled from the morning as hers was. "I'm snarly because I can't FIND any coffee. What IS going on around here? I swear every nurse and doctor's got a vendetta against me today. I can't find a single pot even partially full anywhere." "Well, how about in there?" Joe said helpfully, pointing to the nurse's lounge that Dixie had already been beelining for. "Thanks so much for the suggestion..." she said wearily. "Let's go and then you can tell me why you're here seeking me out." Joe grinned eagerly and darted ahead to open the door for his work beaten friend with a gallant "no after you" gesture. Dixie barely managed to muster a nod of gratitude. Then she rushed over to the silver pot glistening on the hot pad by the wall of mugs across from the couch, beating out a pretty young student nurse about to reach for it too. The candy striper beat a hasty retreat at Dixie's pounce. Smiling and purring ferally, Dixie grabbed onto the steamy handle. The heft of the coffee service in her hand made Dix double take and immediately she started swearing like a truck driver. "I can't believe it! I am seeing a whole wall of employee coffee mugs stained with today's coffee rings! Everyone's but mine.." and she slammed down the empty chrome pot back onto the counter with a bang. "Oo. Dix. Take it easy. Isn't there a whole can of Folder's in the cabinet above you?" Dixie banged the back of her head without looking into its door and the olive green cupboard swung neatly open behind her to reveal a lone, much bedraggled brand new coffee can, crushed flat like an accordian. "Brice's on duty today and whenever he is, coffee grounds evaporate like fog. Johnny Gage thinks he brews and drinks it all in one ten minute sitting. How else is Craig able to run at the mouth so much? That man's a high speed walking talking," her head bobbed " and coffee drinking, paramedic manual." Joe chuckled. "No, I don't believe that about the disappearing coffee thing. Brice's just got perfect recall and Kel thinks it's just coincidence about the coffee going missing from the rooms he's been in. He thinks that patient visitors are doing it." "Well, that doesn't fix my dilemma here now does it..?" and her lower lip quivered and she started whimpering explicatives, this time tinged with tearful frustrated barely contained rage. Joe winced. "Oo. Dix. Take it easy. Look, I got an idea for you. How about calling downstairs to commissary and ordering a fresh pot of coffee just for you. You could hide it in Kel's office where nobody else would find it.." he dangled, studying the thick gold rings on his fingers mildly."And Kel could run interference using his rank to keep the rest of the staff away from it while bringing that pot directly here." Dixie's tirade immediately broke off. "Now why didn't I think of that?" and her face beamed in discovery at Joe. Her face right away fell. "Oh, nuts..!" she said, leaning on the wall. "What?" "The commissary operator on duty's currently ticked off at me for begging ice off them for the ER all morning." "Why is she mad at you for that?" Joe wanted to know, sipping his newly poured tea. Dixie's mouth thinned with regret. "Each time I called, that girl waved, the you-gotta-have- a-doctor's-order in my ear two seconds after what I wanted was out of my face. I must have called down there twelve times today, Joe, looking for some. For Treatment One's heatstroke. Treatment Three's sprained ankle. Treatment Two's first trimester morning sickness." Dixie shook her head to erase the images in her mind of the madhouse morning so recently played out in her recent memory. "I can't say that I was very charming to her by the tenth or eleventh call on hearing that same you-must-follow-procedure speech." Dix said sheepishly. "I get the picture. And I can see her point." "Huh?" Dixie asked not quite hearing him for the stream of complaints still pouring out of her lips. "Ah, Nothing. Oh, Hey, I got it! I'll call down FOR you and have it delivered ASAP to Kel's office. I'll let him know what's up with your coffee exclusitivity plans. I'm on my way in there now to see him so we can organize both our notes for the all paramedic's meeting this afternoon. Yeah.. He can accept the order, sign for it, then run it down here. How does that sound?" Joe suggested eagerly. "Like a godsen--" The red phone went off next to Dixie's head, making her startle off the wall with a yelp. She caught herself with a groan and blinked in cursing nonverbals and she picked up the receiver. "Nurse's lounge this is Dixie McCall." Joe saw her face sag into new depths of suffering as she heard the messenger on the phone deliver news. Dixie hung up the phone without looking and started banging her head against the wall. "Why why why? Oh, geez.. can it get any worse? OOOghhhh.." "What's up?" Joe asked. "Maintenance called and they're moving room by room to scrub the ventilation ducts in all the treatment rooms. I had forgotten they were going to do that today and I accidently filled every room with a patient." She wilted and began bouncing her head against the wall by the phone. Thunk. Thunk. To Dixie, the action was ....almost soothing. To Joe, it was a thing of worry. "Hey, quit doing that. You'll give yourself a headache." "I already got one from not finding any coffee remember?"" she moaned. But she stopped thudding her forehead against the wall. But I thought I just figured out how to solve that dilemma.." Joe said confused. "No you didn't. My breaktime's over.." Dixie sighed, tapping her wrist watch. "Oh, h*ll.. See ya on the floor.." and she dragged herself back through the lounge door with all the weight of the world falling heavily back onto her shoulders. "Hey Dix..!" he called out after her. "What?!" she snapped. "Kel can always set up that coffee IV push for you, and run your line in brachially." Dix threw go away hands at him feebly for the joke as she paced the distance back to her chart piled desk without looking at him, with all the body english of the classic down trodden, picked on playground kid. Joe chuckled and continued heading down the hall for Kel's office. ----------------------------------------------- "*&%@#! Look out below!" Marco hollered. The Station 51 gang, minus Cap, clustered inside the base of the hose tower where they had been watching Marco struggle with his penalty chore high above, scattered like so many chickens. Sixty feet of soggy heavy hose spaghetti-ed to the asphalt with a wet smack and the brass nozzle coupling end rang with a loud bell ping as it struck the ground before settling still. Chet cupped a hand and grinned as he shouted up to his coworker dangling precariously from his life belt from the haul up apparatus on the tower frame. "Hey Lopez, Cap's gonna flay ya alive if you dent any more of those connectors by bouncing them off the pavement like that." Marco glared right back down again, swinging comically from where he had slipped from the footstand. "Hey Kelly, I'm gonna loop the next one around your neck if you don't start zipping su boca ahora!" Roy was staying out of it, mildly discomforted by the tension between Chet and Marco on what was just payback on a lost bet. "Marco, he didn't mean it. He's trying to gloat a bit to get more effect out of it." "Yeah? Well you're not helping either.. You're all staring. I hate it when people stare at me when I'm doing something new. It makes me clumsy." Chet was about to issue another retort on the wide open comment Marco had just made when Gage smacked a firm hand over Chet's mouth to hush him up. "Chet, enough's enough. Let's all just get go back inside and give the man some dignity on figuring out how to hang those things right up there, ok?" Kelly turned on his heels and regarded Johnny eye to eye. "This coming from the number one gloater at Station 51? Amazing. Gee, Johnny. And I was only imitating you, pal. You've been such an inspiration to me." "I don't follow." Gage said levelly. "Your behavior during our Phantom Strikes war last year. Man, that was without a doubt, the sweetest example of a pro prankster role model. Ya gotta gloat." "Not that much. You've been at him for ten minutes straight." "Well, you're all watching. Doesn't that make you just as guilty of contributing to my supposed delinquency?" "Yeah..it sure does. And I'm no longer going to be an accomplice." Roy said mildly, and he turned on his shoes and left for the kitchen door in a show of instant departure from the yard. "I'll set aside some dry towels for you, Marco, in the locker room!" "Thanks. Appreciate it.." the sweaty tired Lopez hollered back. Then he regained his feet once more on the platform. He restrung the hose's buddy line through the pulley to hand over hand the errant fallen hose back up onto the draining tower hook again. Marco made it a point to ignore those on the ground. Soon, his move worked and even Chet lost his desire to egg Marco while he toughed it out. There were still nine soggy hoses that needed to be hauled up manually by rope and drained from the to do pile. And the conditions of the bet Chet had outlined prevented the loser from getting any help doing the weekly tower chore. But soon, Stoker managed to slyly untangle a loop in the fallen hose with a foot when Chet wasn't looking.. Marco grinned when he saw him from the corner of his eye. ::Stoker. I love you. There was no way I was going to climb all the way back down to do that again..:: he thought in gratitude. ::I owe you one. Maybe even a whole afternoon's chrome polishing. That's if I ever get my arms back..:: One by one the guys left for breakfast and Gage made sure Chet went through the door without another gloating glance back, with a swift boot to his rear. "Come on, Caesar.. the arena's closed for the day." Gage scowled and he shot Marco an I'm sticking up for you look before he too disappeared into the station. ------------------------------------------------------- Cap was reading the paper in the recliner. "Was that another nozzle biting the dust a few minutes ago?" Johnny studdered. "Ah, no Cap. " he lied. "That was, uh.. Me.." he grinned badly. "I was testing out the bell on the old engine. I mean, we...have to make sure it's still in good condition after all winter under that tarp. Right?" "Hmph." Cap grunted from behind the stocks page. Johnny decided the grunt was one of agreement and that his fibbing worked. ::I'll sneak back out there after breakfast and help Marco pound that nozzle round again before Cap discovers it.:: He eased down onto the leather couch and immediately stood up again when he realized that he had almost sat down on their mascot. "Oh, sorry Henry.. Didn't see you there." "How could ya miss him, Gage. He's fatter than a turkey and he fills up that whole side of the couch." Kelly quipped. "I think, Henry needs to go on a diet." "Sounds like someone else I know.." Cap said seriously. "You know, a rep of 200 pushups might not be such a bad idea for you. And that's getting off light for a fireman who's just lied to his captain." His intended target, cleared his throat nervously. "Sorry, Cap. I'm having second thoughts about getting payback on our chili cooking contest bet like this." Gage said suddenly on the hot seat. "Right. " Stoker said sarcastically teasing. "If I ever believe that, H*ll'll freeze over." Stoker quipped. All the gang laughed,except Chet. "Geez, that's the last time I ever take up a betting challenge with you guys. Marco's just being a sore loser that's all. I can't believe you guys bought his I'm so wounded act." Kelly complained. "He wasn't acting." Gage glared. "Chet, there's collecting a bet and then there's cruelty. You standing there watching him was definitely uncool." "Well, I didn't see any one blindfolding your eyes shut, pal. I wasn't alone dodging those hoses Marco dropped now was I?" "That doesn't count. We weren't saying anything." Roy said. "You didn't have to, you heard Marco. He said that being stared was just as bad." "Oh, Chet. You're impossible.." Gage said. "No, I'm just right for once so live with it." Cap finally cleared his throat, more than a few times. "Do I detect a little animosity here? I mean, I know we had a little too many weird and useless runs last night that kept us from getting much sleep, but this is just plain unprofessional behavior I'm hearing now." "Cap.. How can you say that? You're a part of it. You were the one who judged who's chili was best.." "Yeah, well you didn't see me out there staring like an MVA gawker now, did you?" That shut Kelly up and the feeling of tension in the room died away. Only the sounds of eating filled the air during the rest of the meal. Everyone winced when they heard another hose nozzle bite the dust out in the yard. ------------------------------------------------ Photo: Dix and Joe at the ER main desk. Photo: Marco, Chet and Johnny beneath the station's hose tower in the yard. Photo: Roy in the yard, looking accomodating. ************************************ From : "Cory Anda" Subject :[EmergencyTheaterLive] One Thing After Another... Date : Sun, 27 Apr 2003 22:59:02 +0000 Marco Lopez finally had the tower squared away. One hand was still grooming his hair into place with a comb while the other shovelled breakfast into his mouth at a rapid fire rate when the inevitable call went out. "Madre dios! No otra vez.." Lopez cursed. "Always at a meal time." he grumbled throwing both comb and fork onto his plate. The rich tones from the speaker grill continued to sound a multiple tone run. Chet Kelly rose from his seat at the kitchen table, wiping his mouth with a hasty napkin. "I'm surprised you're surprised Marco. It's always once again around here." he said spinning around neatly in a dodge to avoid Stoker's chair as the engineer bailed it. "Let's move out.." Cap hollered, abandoning his paper and apple. "Here ya go, boy. I promise you an ample feeding of a lot more when we get back.." And he sailed a crisp meaty missile of bacon high into the air in the general direction of the station's snoozing basset hound. Henry's slumped body suddenly animated and his head shot up from the depths of the couch to intercept the tasty treat with a tail wag of instant forgiveness. Gage gulped down the rest of his milk and half a banana as he and Roy jogged to the rescue squad after the rest of the gang. He chucked his banana peel out the window neatly into a mop bucket leaning against the map wall. ##Station 51 with Station 10 and Truck 127. Unknown type rescue at the Los Angeles City Zoo. 18 south Ramsfeld Ave. Cross street, Hollywood Blvd. 18 south Ramsfeld Ave. Crosstreet, Hollywood Blvd. Informant on location requests all on response, to enter at the eastern gate. Time out, 9: 04.## -------------------------------------------------- Station 51 arrived first to the scene. Captain Stanley eyed where they were to go from his place, bouncing in the cab seat and he voiced one single solitary question to Mike, as he swung the wide wheel hard to the left to turn onto the zoo property. "Well, I'll be. Stoker. What day is it today?" "Sunday.." he replied. "Right. Then just where the heck are all the people? This parking lot's empty.." he muttered. Chet and Marco rubbernecked out the engine windows from where they were fussing into their trenchcoats. The squad and engine's sirens died away and they all piled out of the vehicles. Only birdsong met their ears. That and the wind. Roy and Johnny ran up with all their med gear and a stokes stretcher. "Cap, we got it all. Roy wants to know if we should pack more rope in with the stokes here just in case w--" He broke off, seeing the engine gang standing mute and puzzled at the wrought iron gate that was ajar, next to the big metal sculpture of mountain gorillas. Roy and John were caught up in the not quite right feel of the location. Stanley pinwheeled around in place, his HT firmly in hand as he located the sign labelling the gate where they idled on the curb. "What the h*ll? This IS the east gate... Where's our informant?" Cap knew he had the right place since he could see the responding fire truck and station called with them just entering the corner of the avenue framing the huge empty parking lot on their way in. "Hey! Fire Department!" Gage called out inside the gate, hefting the weight of the gear inside of the stokes between him and a very quiet and alert Roy. Chet and Marco moved to help them manage their load. There was no reply. Johnny's voice echoed eerily through the fake stony animal exhibit cliffs and ringing eucalyptus trees dotting that side of the city zoo. There wasn't any sign of anyone at all rushing up in a panic to tell them exactly what the problem was. Cap got on the horn. "L.A., This is station 51, We're on scene. Stand by for details." ##10-4, 51.## "Ok. Everyone.. You know the drill. Let's just... get in there and have a look around. If this is just a false alarm, I want to be doubly sure of it before we call it off. Stoker charge a line just in case this is a fire call." "Right, Cap.." they said. Hanklead the way through the entrance gate and into the zoo and his men followed with the gear laden stokes. Inside, all was eerily quiet. Even the overhead skyway ride. Kelly mumbled to the others. "Man. Where is everyone? This is a weekend, shouldn't there be droves of people enjoying themselves right now?" "That's my understanding of it.." Lopez muttered, loosening his helmet strap. Cap and the men eagle eyed everything, alert for anything that might happen. What they didn't expect was a galloping camel running down the neat asphalt path, bellowing in fear. The gang barely got out of the way as the dromedary lumbered by, foaming at the mouth and gasping as it ran in the heat, past them. They had barely registered that fact into their minds when a low peeled threat call came from the direction from which the camel had run. The stunned firemen froze as a snarling black panther, quite uncaged and free, crouched to hiss at them in fear and anger. Cap lifted his HT. "Stoker.. We need that charged two inch with refrigeration now. We've a loose predator on us fifty meters down our path." he said quickly and quietly. Mike Stoker was there in less than fifteen seconds, backing up his crewmates with a fizzing nozzle aimed at the cat. "Easy.. Don't hit him. Just scare him." Cap ordered. The sun glistening ebony panther fled at the sound of the hissing barely contained pressurized water Mike released at a touch on his hose bar. It headed in the direction of the camel, uphill and into thicker cover. "That would explain why there are no people around Cap.." Kelly said, swallowing around a very dry throat. Hank frowned, very very frustrated with the way things were going. "Open cages? No one around? What is this? Some kind of re-enactment of the Day of the Animals going on here?" "I loved that movie, Cap." Kelly chuckled. "But I don't think there's any filming scheduled for today. I should know. My sister lives a few blocks from here. Besides, there's no wrangler running after those two." "Somehow, I'd feel better knowing that this whole thing WAS a movie set, Chet. But things aren't feeling like that situation at all." Cap said, listening to an intuition that was screaming at him. Gage adjusted his helmet. "I know what you mean. Something's not right here." "Duh.." Kelly said, throwing a careless glove in the direction the big cat had bounded. "Didn't you notice our very large friend with all the teeth a few moments ago?" Mike Stoker began to relax and just sealed off the hose to closed again with a grin. The other guys chuckled. Gage said. "I saw him. I saw him. I'm...talking about the lack of people around here. I just wanna know how they vacated the premesis so fast. I mean, even if there's an escaped animal or two, there's bound to be some crazy yokel who'll want to hang around despite things, just to watch. Just like they do all the time at our fire calls. But I don't even see any of them right now." That sobered up everyone. "What's scarier than a four hundred pound very hungry black panther?" Hank asked frankly, still eyeballing where the cat had gone warily. Roy swallowed. "Do we really want to find out?" Hank blinked. "Gee, that's why we were called I suspect. Stoker, stay close with that hose and have it set to tight stream for our security." "It's set.." Stoker replied. Cap got on his HT. "Engine 51 to Station 10 and Truck 127. Hold your position. Notify Animal Control that we have a panther and camel loose on the grounds. There may be others nearby. We've a water line with us for safety." ##10-4. Standing by, Engine 51..## The caps of 10's and Truck 127 replied over the frequency. The gang slowly moved up the path in the direction the two escapees had come, dragging gear and primed ice water hose behind them. Three wild animals later, Station 51 located the problem at a loud clattering sound that made their hearts leap into their throats. A man, fully clothed in jeans and nothing else, was climbing like an ape in an empty seeming exhibit with a row of keys and chains dangling from his pocket up where he darted about the rocks. He spotted the firemen and began to laugh drunkenly. "Bingo.." Kelly quipped. "Try a zoo employee suffering an O.D. of some kind." "Now I've seen it all.." Hank's eyes shot up. "Shh,, or you'll jinx us. The day's not over yet." Marco complained. "Ok... let's have at it." Cap said, and he took off his helmet to appear less threatening to the man. "Everyone, inside. And shut the door behind ya. Believe it or not, we'll be safer in, than out here." No one argued and the stokes, hose and gear quickly piled onto the yellow dirt in the animal exhibit. Mike Stoker tensed as a dust cloud and snorting met them from the left. They all unlocked once more when they saw the animals that called the enclosure the man had invaded, home. "Whew.. Just pigs this time..." Kelly sighed. "They're peccaries.." Gage corrected. "What?" Hank asked. "Wild pigs..I remember similar ones from the reservation.. They won't harm us. They'll run first. Just stay away from the piglets." Roy was ignoring the idle chitchat going on around him. His attention was fully on the man swaying like a monkey on the rocky shelf above their heads. "Hey... are you ok? We came to help you out a bit here." he spoke softly, moving slow. "Fat chance fire boy. You don't wanna help me. You wanna help them..." the sweating manic man gasped. To Roy, he looked violent. Then he saw the fresh oozing track marks on the man's arms and was assured that his first impression was a correct one. "Heroin..or something else." he sighed. Cap's eyes fell to where Roy noticed those signs. "Looks like.. Ok, everyone, stay still and let Johnny and Roy handle him. Mike, make sure the way outta here's blocked." "We're locked in. I just closed the exhibit's gate." Stoker admitted. At those words the young wild haired man in blue jeans began to wail and fret. He started to scramble on the rocks and very nearly slipped on loose stone up where he was. Johnny threw out a hand. "Easy! Now we're not gonna hurt you. Careful.. Or you're gonna fall and hurt yourself.." "Whatda you care?" their victim slurred. "You justwanna come and get me so the fuzz can arrest me..." "Do I look like I'm wearing a pistol and cuffs? I'm not a cop here. Just a paramedic." At that word, the man's attention shifted from suspicion to craving. "Y- you got drugs down there? Really? Uh,.." and he scratched his feverish face, swatting at the dust in his nose. "Can I ..uh,...wanna share?" Gage's eyes flickered only for a moment in hesitation. Then his brainstorming began. He crouched down over the stokes and slowly, cautiously flipped open the drug and IV box. "Yeah man.. Look, I got some nice stuff.. Won't cost ya much.." he grinned in an act. "The first hit's free. Just like the west side. A real deal.." "I don't believe you." said the agitated man. "I don't even know you!" he shouted. "Does it matter..?" Gage shot back, setting his hands on his hips. "Look I haven't got all day. My buyer's gonna wonder where I am with the stuff if I'm not there in...twenty minutes.." Johnny made up. "And you know how that goes. I'll pay for the delay.. in skin.." The drug high man angled his head. "Prove your worth pusher.. I ain't got all day." Gage's face fell for one sec while the gang around him licked nervous lips and all had a full curiosity about what he would do next in his victim negotiation. Roy crossed his arms in amusement. And Cap felt confident enough to put his helmet back on. Johnny snatched up a saline push and unsheathed it, hiding its label so the man wouldn't see its non drug label's color. Then he tied on a tourniquet and fitted a needle onto the syringe. "Ooh, yeah. This is meperidine. Gives me a good rush. Especially on boring days like today. And its clean, Mac. Not cheap home lab sh*t. I think I'm gonna shoot it all for me since I don't like the way you're talking." He fingered a vein and stuck the needle home into his own arm and started depressing the plunger, sending the liquid in with a sigh. "No! Wait man... I was only kidding.. I trust ya.." the man fretted. "Gimme some.." From behind him, a Marco and Stoker he didn't see, on ropes, tackled him from their place on the rocks and drove him to the ground. The man's drug enflamed rush surged into the superhuman and Lopez and Mike were flung off like wet clothes. The man was free again and he attacked the next nearest person he saw. The drug crazed man leaped from where he was on theleadge, right onto Cap. -------------------- Photo: Cap and Marco laughing in the kitchen. Photo: Gage pointing to a med in the drug box. Photo: A zoo exhibit full of wild pigs. Photo: The Engine and Squad pulled next to stately palm trees. Photo: A camel in a rocky pen. Photo: The gang looking down with gear at something in full turnout. ********************************** Date: Thu, 1 May 2003 14:51:02 +0100 (BST) From: "Katherine Bird" Subject: Double Jeopardy, Porker Style.. "Cap!" Roy shouted even as he watched Johnny pulled the needle out of his arm to fling it away from them all to help block the coming impact. Stanley neatly dodged the fullest weight of his attacker but his helmet still jolted off when super strong arms caught him around the throat. Marco and Mike were frantically untangling from their ropes as Chet, John, Roy and Cap all wrestled with the biting, fighting crazed zoo worker in silent desperate gasps. "Watch his head! Watch his head!" Johnny shouted as they all grunted to get a hold on the wildly aggressive man. Stanley's HT clattered to the dirt and went off in a loud squelch, which startled the nervous milling peccaries on the far sunny side of the enclosure. The older boars began to snort and face the humans in nervous expectation, taking a position in front of the smaller sows and piglets in their band and they snorted and pawed the amber dust in a threat display. All this, was unseen by the firemen struggling to restrain their victim who was still locked in a dangerous overdose. Marco and Stoker had just joined the fray when the gasping, screaming young man noodled impossibly out of all their grips and bounded up immediately onto very fast, wobbly feet. He took off running straight for a thickly bushed side of the animal enclosure. The peccaries squealed and got out of his way, creating a thick cloud of yellow dust as they avoided the running human arrowing drunkenly at them. The gang pursued after him, top speed. Roy threw his HT up to his mouth speaking in between painful breaths as he, too, ran full tilt into the direction where the sick man had disappeared. "Station 10 on the double. Follow our hose! We've a fighter OD who's getting away.." ## There in one..## came a loud reply. Roy could see several of 10's firefighters booking down the main zoo tar path using 51's strung hose as a guide. He heard their shoes scuff on the sandy trail as they raced over from the deserted parking lot to help out. "In here! In here!" Cap waved at the other engine crew. He wiped a smear of his blood off his lips as he ordered his own men to circle the not yet spotted zoo worker. "Gang, when you bird eye him, stay AWAY from him. Your safety is first! Just form a ring around this character and cut off his escape. And for G*d's sake, don't agitate him further. I want no one else getting a hunk ripped outta them. Stoker, use the hose if he attacks us again." "Right, Cap." Mike said. Soon, it was apparent that their crazy drugged up junkie, had gotten himself into a good hiding place. Cap issued a tight order. "Ok, everybody. Fan out. We'll give this five minutes. Then we're outta here until the cops come. The danger to us is just too great." "Cap.." Chet said. "That guy really needs us. It hasn't been that bad yet.." "Just look at my face and throat and tell me that again, Kelly. I said no more after five." Chet moused down. "You ok, Cap?" Gage said, keeping his eyes on the brush thicket's edge where they had all skidded to a halt. "Bruised only, Gage. Concentrate on him and not me. He's first." The gang circled around like pursuers in a hide and seek game, separating into pairs under the darkness of the wooded section of the exhibit. They all lost sight of each other and that made Hank Stanley nervous. "Keep within earshot." he shouted. "And keep those helmets on.." Minutes dragged by of stealthy, cautious searching. Johnny Gage and Roy gestured silently to each other at a particularly loud rustle in the thick vegetation right in front of them during their sweep of the forested side of the enclosure. Gage leaned over to peer over the low rhododendron. "Roy! He's right here.. he's--" he hissed. A sharp squeal of rage preceded an angry charging two hundred pound peccary boss as the animal flew at Gage who had inadvertantly located his band's hiding place. "Whoa!!" Gage shouted in alarm, spinning away, barely avoiding the click of pig fangs at his face. "Johnny?!" Mike shouted, raising the hose nozzle from the ground. Stoker fought to drag the heavy hose through the tallish grass with two other of ten's firemen in a desperate attempt to have one cocked and aimed point blank against Johnny's attacking peccary. "We're coming! Turning on the hose in--" "No, don't..! Wait a sec.." Johnny shouted, scrambling away from the animal nimbly until he regained his footing in a patch of sandy dust, like a matador avoiding a bull. Then Gage threw out a hand and kept the squealing hairy animal off of him by ramming a stiff arm and hand against the pig's forehead to keep the gnashing charges the boar was launching at him firmly at bay. "I'm ok.. I got him.. He's not getting to me. Just go get the guy! Don't spray ANY of that charged water on the pigs you hear me?! It'll drive em into a frenzy..You'll bring the juveniles down on us, too. They'll gang up big time to get us just like this boar's doing to me." Gage was surprised by the tenacity of the enraged boar who showed absolutely no fear as he continued furiously trying to get at him. "I'm not bothering your band you stupid thing. Cut it out!" he shouted at him, gasping with his efforts to hold the pissed pig male away from his body. "Get off!" he shouted at the snorting, slobbering peccary mob boss. Roy moved nearer. "Stay back.. Roy!" Johnny tried to push away the boar with a shoving shoe into a shoulder but the pig just rushed right back at him with an even angrier raised tail and got quickly into another pushing match of pig forehead versus fumbling human hands once again. "Johnny! Careful! Shall I rope him?" Marco said, gathering one up from the ground. "No.. It won't work, he'll just dodge it. Guys, look, I'm fine. He'll give up once he sees I got the message here.." Gage panted. "Go help over there. But whatever you do, don't go near the sows or any of those young in there or you'll be trampled and tusk shredded into hamburger." "But.." "Go.. I'm really fine." Gage said, still face to face with the red eyed, furious, one track minded, boar. "He's just driving me off." Johnny had a healthy respect for the five inch long fangs that tried to slash up at his bare arm and he frequently shifted hands to avoid them. "Guys, go. I know how to get out of this..UgggHHHh! " he verbally spat. "The wild pigs charge me all the time at the ranch when I get too close going to get the horses. All ya gotta do is wait em out.. Just give me some distance. He'll think better of this soon and he'll leave." he grunted, still holding the heavy male pig away from himself. Roy muttered, just as torn as Marco on what to do for his partner. Then he decided, motioning to Lopez. "Our OD doesn't have a lotta time left. He's gonna go down." "Exactly.. I'll join up with ya.." Johnny said, not taking his eyes off the grunting, attacking pig still locked nose to hand with him. "I'm ok. Just go! This boar'll give up in a minute or so. I've seen this before. He's gonna fret about being so far away from his sows." Roy and Marco and Mike reluctantly backed away from Johnny still dancing in his bizarre embrace. "What a crazy day.." DeSoto muttered. "Holy cr*p." he shook his head. Then he said, "Come on..let's get out of here like Johnny says." and he motioned to the others to follow him back onto the search. "Our victim's bound to be feeling a downer swing by now. He wrestled with us pretty good there and that most likely elevated his BP into circulating even more of that junk into his brain. He's probably not that far from-" A shout from Cap brought the two of them on the run through sixty feet of stinging, thick brush. Roy, Marco and Mike ran towards the voice as fast as they could. Hank said. "He's over there somewhere!" and he pointed to a stand of trees. "Lord all mighty what's he doing in there?" he asked as Marco and Roy pelted up to his side. He was using a gauze pad from his pocket to hold down the bleeding from his tongue which he had bitten earlier. Roy and Marco and another clump of firemen from ten's all froze. Roy recognized the sounds. "Oh boy. He's tangling with a pig." "How do you know?" Hank asked. "Cause I just left Johnny who's doing the same thing." "What?!" Hank's head whipped around. "What are you talking about? Gage's right here." Roy saw his dusty sweating partner jogging swiftly towards them through the tangle of California jungle. "Never mind, Cap. Just trust me about him over there. It's not gonna be a pretty scene." "Ok, what next?" Stanley said, parking his hands on his jacket hips. "Water. Lots of it.." Gage said. Marco whined. "But I thought you said not to use a hose on them.." "The frenzy's begun Lopez, that's why. It may already be too late for him. Come on!" And he ran in the lead towards the sound of fighting just ahead under the tall sequoia at the corner of the exhibit. The man had tried to take refuge in an open whelping shed that had a keeper's bed in it. Both companies of ten and 51 froze in horror at what they saw. The OD'd young man was down on the ground and the angry female peccaries were taking turns using him as a football and punching bag. Some of the infuriated sows were so strong their bites actually lifted the unconscious man's whole upper torso a foot off the dirt as they tossed their heads to bite him. Mike Stoker let loose a peel of sharply knifed water against those closest to the injured man without a moment to lose. Sows tumbled like nine pins under the force of the water and squealed. Others wheeled around in place to face the new threat in a quickly forming bunched counter attack. "Hit the piglets, Mike! Hit the piglets.. Get em wet!" Johnny shouted. "Their mamas will go running for them at their screaming distress calls." Stoker changed his hose stream to a fountaining fan and aimed it up into the sky. An ice cold drenching soaked the tiny piglets bunched in a protective circle and on cue, the tiny porkers let loose high pitched cries of alarm and clamour. The sows left the zoo worker's trampled body alone, zooming out to herd up their babies and soon the whole dripping bunch was hastily loping away from the humans with tails raised in sheer terror. Stoker dropped the hose. Johnny grimaced as he rolled the bluish man over. "Oh.." he sighed in horror at the sight of fresh peccary slashes covering the man's chest. But he bent an ear close anyway to the man's torn mouth as his dirty stained fingers felt for a neck pulse, too. "He's in that downer for sure. Brady with apnea." "Go get the gear!" Cap shouted to Marco and half a dozen others. Soon, they could hear men coming with the laden stokes they had left in the main clearing by the zoo's pathway fence and moat. Gage started to breathe for the man until Stoker handed him an ambu bag and mask. "Thanks.." Johnny looked up at Roy. "He's got a rate of 40. It's not enough. Start CPR timed with it." "Marco.. You got that?" DeSoto asked. "Yeah.." And Lopez starting working off Johnny's pulse rhythm cues as to when to apply his compressions. He kept his gloves on so his hands wouldn't slip in the blood on the man's skin that was oozing down from the pig bites. "These lacerations don't look that bad. He's lucky.." Gage said. "There's only that one broken arm." "I see it." Roy agreed. "Any sign of vomiting?" "No.. He's out deep." Gage replied. "Chet, turn on the audio on the EKG monitor. It'll help Marco out to time his pacing properly." "Right.." Kelly replied. But he kept looking over his back for any signs of the peccary band, and that irritated Johnny. "Pay attention, Kelly. Just concentrate on patching him in there. We don't have all day.." Cap snapped. "We've haven't got a lot of time left for us to try and actually get a save in the bag for this man." "Sorry, Cap.." Chet apologized, ending his rubber necking. "It's just that they might come barreling back out of nowhere at any s--" Stoker spoke up louder than usual. "Any that come near are going to eat some serious water, Kelly. Don't you worry." he promised. Hank smiled around his fat lip as he unlatched, then kicked open, the squad's defibrillator case with a toe. At a nod from Johnny, he turned on the power up switch to standby. "That's my anchor man. Stoker, you're being wasted on the engine dials. You're an absolute ace on that hose." "The engine's more fun, Cap. Sorry. I'm not planning on a demotion any time soon." "Such a pity.." Hank sighed. "I'll call Rampart." Roy said smiling as the worst of his stress melted away. He was very very glad to have his hands on their victim at last. He concentrated on getting on the biophone as fast as he could. "Rampart Base, this is Squad 51. How do you read?" Chet bit his lip, grinning, too. "Ok, Marco.. it's CPR symphony time. Pow.." he muttered as he turned on the slow weak audio cue on the EKG speaker. "It's show time." Marco began coordinating his compressions when the man's drugged slow heart rate actually beat by listening to the machine's mechanical blipping. After half a minute he asked the swiftly working paramedics. "Should I speed up?" "Not yet. Don't want any more of that stuff or whatever's he's shooting to get to his brain any worse than it already has until we inject some Narcan. He's holding his own ok now with you just helping out like you are. Stay exact with your assisting, on the beat." Roy told him, without looking up. He didn't even smile some encouragement to his crewmate, for already his mind was considering five paramedic problems at once. Again, he hailed Rampart while one of ten's medics tried to get a viable BP off the man's good arm. "Rampart this is rescue 5-1..Do you copy?" his voice angled yet again, only a little more urgently. The heart rate on the monitor continued to weaken and slow. ------------------------------------------ Photo: An angry peccary charging at you with another photo inset of one baring its five inch long tusks. Photo : Johnny with a shirtless near code, looking distressed. Photo: Roy looking fight bedraggled, on the biophone. *********************************** From: "Clairissa Fox" Date: Thu, 1 May 2003 20:14:52 +0100 (BST) Subject: [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Little Eyes The little piglet shook its head and squealed some more until his dam nuzzled his ear. Where was the lady keeper? There were only man things in the wood. And another man thing who smelled funny had become an enemy because he got too close by moving fast and kicking the other dams in the band. The memory of the new creatures in his pen had frightened Piglet badly but the odd acting man thing was no longer attacking him or his dams. He was flat on the ground and smelled like blood now. Piglet thought hard on what just happened. The strange keeper man thing had been easy to fight down. The piglet remembered how the man thing with the zoo keys fell with only one charge from his mother. Now other man things had come who wore canvas skins and black head covers and they had the great water snake with them. Piglet was afraid of that. His coat still ran with water from the liquid that had come from the snakes mouth and down from the sky that didnt smell like rain. But piglet was puzzled now. There was one man thing with curly head fur who seemed like the keeper who cared for them all in the rising light. The other man things had soundings for him that sounded like the same calling Piglets human friend had. Chuck. Only this one was called Chet. It was all very puzzling indeed. Piglet had never before seen so many man things in his home before. Only on the days when the man thing with the biting stingers wearing the white skin coat came to put some of the band to sleep before he pawed them. Piglet forgot his wet hide and he snuck away from his mothers band towards Chet and he sniffed and he sniffed hard on the wind. Piglet checked carefully but the man thing with the water snake didnt see him at all. Piglets caution disappeared instantly. Sugar! Piglet ran up to the human things where they were pawing at the sick human in the dirt. He could still smell the treat in the Chet man things black rear cover and he nuzzled it making the Chet man thing squawk. Piglet dashed a short distance away at the noise but he was hungry. He came at the curly furred man thing again looking for the treat he usually got from the keepers. Hey! The tall white and black head covered man thing pointed a paw at Piglet. Watch it. Theres one of the baby piglets behind you Chet. Piglet didnt smell danger from Chet or the leader man thing so he went right on going after the treat he could smell. ---------------------------------- Photo : A wild pig dam and one of its babies. Photo: Chet and Marco and Cap looking down and surprised at something at their feet. Photo: A close up of an adorable wild piglet baby. *************************** Date: Sat, 3 May 2003 14:22:03 -0700 (PDT) From: "Sam Iam" Subject: The Short Shelf Life.. Chet Kelly was leaving his place by their shocky victim's side, making room for the second paramedic from station ten to step in, when he whirled in alarm at Cap's warning. "What?" he startled as clammy animal nose butted into him again. "Where did he come from?" Kelly watched his feet as he backed away on his knees so he wouldn't crush the miniscule piglet still nuzzling his rear pocket. "Hey,.. watch it buddy! You're just a bite of bacon but you're in the way!" Chet told it indignantly. The piglet just squealed in ambivalent twitchy reply as he warred with his instincts: to run at the sound of Chet's sharp voice or stay for the reward. The baby peccary's stomach ended up making the final decision. He kept on seeking out the source of sugar he had found with a probing snuffle. Beyond Chet, Cap looked up, suddenly hyper-alert. "Uh oh. If he's here, where's mama?" he wondered out loud. Mike Stoker shrugged diffidently, but he primed his hose to its releasing edge again and began to check out the trees and cover nearest to them. Marco spoke up from where he was still doing CPR. "Chet.....better get rid......of that little......guy. There's no ......way his sow's not .....gonna come investigating once......she's learned he's strayed." he said. Chet Kelly quickly panicked, whipping off a glove and fumbled into his pocket for the pack of Juicy Fruit gum the tiny infant pig seemed to be orienting on. Kelly waved the wrinkled pack in front of the piglet's face until he was sure the baby was following it.."You want some? Huh? Let's strike a deal. Eat now, then scram. I'll give you this but you're gonna have to leave for good afterwards. All right?" "Squeeeallll!" the baby snorted in frustration as it fought to climb onto Chet to reach the sugary gum he still held in his hand. "Get down or you'll hurt yourself!" Chet complained. Then he sighed. "Here ya go ya dumb thing.." He said, hastily unpeeling a strip of it under the baby's eager nose. Fast fangy teeth snatched up the offering, making Chet yelp. "Oww. Stop that! Now go get it." and Kelly grenade tossed the rest of his dusty pack as far as he could over the bushes into the open so that it was well away from the firemen working on the nearly dead man on the ground. "Shoo..!" he said waving his hands in the air in flurry of gesturing fingers. The piglet was the perfect porcine, street smart runt. He followed the gum pack's trajectory through the air like a pro frisbee dog and went instantly running for it in an attempt to get there before any of his other unseen siblings could. He motored towards where it had plunked into the dust top speed, but he was already too late. There was a scuffling as three other piglets caught wind of the sweetly scented treat and a fight broke out between Chet's pocket nudger and the others. Chet winced in sympathy when his little "visitor" got knocked down by an older baby. "Ooo. Careful ya dummy." Then in embarrassment at his remark, he added. "That should hold him, Cap." Kelly said, turning back to the scene in front of him. Cap said. "Let's hope so. If the band discovers us anywhere near those guys, there'll be h*ll to pay." Stoker grumbled. "No there won't, Cap. I'll push em all away if they come around again if I have to.." and he hefted the hose nozzle in his gloves a bit higher. "Only as a last resort." Cap said. "Don't want to traumatize the little tykes any more than we have to." He barely contained a grin as the original curious piglet finally won the battle and loped off with the trampled gum pack in his mouth. The losers pursued, hot on his heels. "And don't come back!" Chet told him. "A deal's a deal." he shouted. The light moment had gone unnoticed by the four paramedics struggling to save the life of the overdosed zoo worker. Roy finally got a returning hail from the biophone receiver, ending his doubts about the terrain interfering. ##This is Rampart." Dixie replied. "Go ahead 51.## "Rampart. We've a male down with an apparent OD with clear indications of fresh trackmarks. He's nonbreathing with a pulse of 40. CPR's ongoing. He's got additional injuries due to an animal attack; a left broken radius and ulna and multiple wild pig bites to his neck, face and chest. Negative on C-spine or head injury. Vitals are.. BP...50 systolic. Pupils are pinprick and he's unresponsive to both verbal and pain stimuli. He's got a Glasgow rating of four. All bleeding is now under control." DeSoto said as he saw Johnny make a cut throat gesture and then a point at the pads firmly taped over all the wounds. Kel Brackett arrived into the alcove and took over the response call for his head nurse. "10- 4, 51. Maintain his airway and continue to ventilate him. Continue the CPR and send us a strip. First we've got to determine if his problem really is an overdose and not some other etiology. Draw a red top for glucose. Administer 1 mg glucagon IM if his blood sugar's below 60 mg %. Also follow up with 100 mgs Thiamine and 25 gm dextrose 50% IV if you can get a line into your blood stick site. Use Normal Saline, and draw up .4 milligrams Narcan. We're gonna end his downer right now any way we can. Also, be sure to immobilize that fracture to prevent further injury." "10-4." And Roy repeated his string of orders and if-this-then-that instructions. Almost two minutes went by when Roy turned to Johnny, with a third needle bloodied from yet another failed attempt to find and stick a vein with an IV catheter. His blood drawing had blown the last remaining clear vein and he was reduced to blind probing. "He's got nothing left here." he grunted in irritation. "How about a jugular..?" Johnny suggested. "Good idea." and Roy got out a new cathed needle to try his luck there in the man's neck. Again, Roy's IV stick failed due to the man's very low blood pressure. He shook his head in frustration and abandoned the attempt. "No good." and he tossed away the needle guide. "He's too far down. Is there a place he hasn't used? Kelly, get his shoes off and pants off. Check his feet and legs for other veins. Use a tourniquet to raise any if you can." Kelly reached over and grabbed the shears from Johnny's holster. "On it." The jeans pants legs banana peeled swiftly away, revealing pale, sweaty skin. Mike helped bare the man's feet. Roy picked up the phone. "Rampart. An IV may not be an option. Looks like he's a heavy user." Roy said tersely as he watched Chet and Marco located scar after scar where the druggie had shattered all his reachable veins while baselining his drug of choice. Brackett already had an alternative plan. ## 51, go ahead and insert an endotrach tube. I'm giving you authorization to do one in the field. I'll accept full responsibility.## Kel said to Roy. Roy sighed in stress. "Affirmative Rampart. Stand by.." CPR was halted while Roy, the better airway expert, got out a laryngoscope and inserted one carefully. Ten's medics helped him get the man's head and neck into the right position and then took over Johnny's place on the ambu. Things went slow, but it went. And soon their victim was set. Roy picked up the phone. "Rampart the ET is in." Brackett nodded his head in satisfaction. ##Knew you could pull it off. Now increase your Narcan to two times the IV dosage I originally ordered and fill it with a following bolus of 10 ml Lactated Ringers/Normal Saline. Hyperventilate his lungs thoroughly, stop CPR, then titrate the Narcan directly into his ET tube only to the minimum level necessary for a return of respirations. Ventilate him firmly until you're sure the flush's been fully absorbed. You'll hear when that happens. Watch him closely, 51. When the Narcan starts counteracting his narcotic, if he's on one, he may spontaneously awaken so be prepared to extubate him before he has a chance to vomit.## "10-4, Rampart.. .8 mgs Narcan with 10 ml LR/NS by ET. Please stand by.." ##Standing by..## Soon, Dr. Brackett's orders had been carried out in the tense minutes which followed. Johnny Gage was on the man's arm like a tick and he rapidly got a new BP when Roy indicated that the man's lungs had "dried out" from where he listened with his stethoscope. "There it goes. It's climbing. 80/54. He's breathing. Pulse's increasing, too. Stop CPR." and he set a hand on the man's carotid for several seconds. "Ok, I got a rate of 90. Thready and weak." A ripple of coughs echoed through the ET under the bag valve mask and the man's hands began to flutter with voluntary movements. "Watch him.. watch him! He's snapping out of it." Gage said. Together, the paramedics rapidly removed the endotracheal airway and followed up with suction as the man began to moan more and more angrily. "Get a grip on him. Looks like he's going to fight." Roy said. Several of the firemen moved in to restrain the revived young man as full consciousness returned. "UugghhhhhHHHH. Get OFF me!" the man gasped. "AhhhhHHHHH. $##* @$ !!" Kelly had his hands full kneeling on the drug abuser's shoulder to keep him from flailing the broken, splinted arm on the ground. He bent low over him to get a better grip. The man's slow testing struggles intensified into impossibly agile ones with a surprising pure strength seconds later. He threw off the two firemen laying on his legs with a cry that didn't sound human. "D@mn! He's in withdrawal." Gage swore. "Hold him ! Hold him!" "No,, I gott....a...out of ...WHy do I hURT so bad??! $##**!"Agony from being Narcan yanked out of a high surged far beyond what was normal and the man reacted violently by knocking all of the firm hands on him away as if they hadn't been there at all. He was instantly on his feet and running and the EKG leads ripped away from the connector on the monitor when it thunked into a rock as it dragged where he ran. Eight firemen shot to their feet after him. "Hey!" and Gage's grab for his victim missed. "Sh*t!" Three other firemen's tackles missed too. Their hideously withdrawing patient, with his split jeans legs fluttering in the wind, easily outdistanced them into the thick tree stand of the enclosure. The paramedics heard an impact as his arm splint disintegrated when it smacked into a tree trunk as they chased after him. "Over there!" Cap shouted from a rise. "He's heading back to the exhibit's gate!" Hank could just see him from where he was. He got on the HT. "Engine 51 to Truck 127. Our victim's fleeing to the north. Intercept him immediately. He's a blown Narcan." Cap winced as the man's pinwheeling broken arm drove him into greater speed despite his bare feet pelting awkwardly over the rock strewn ground. The fresh pain robbed the addict of his voice and instantly, his pursuers lost track of him in the desperate silence that followed. Hank saw his men follow where he indicated, but an instinct made himself angle into a new direction as he ran, back towards the main exhibit zoo gate. ::Damn, he's got keys. He better not l--:: Cap arrived just ahead of his men just in time to see the lurching, crazed man slam the heavy iron gate shut behind him. All the firemen were instantly locked inside the pig cage..... with no way out. "No, you're not going to stop me..." he choked. Then he whirled as if at an unseen presence on staggering bleeding feet. "I'm-m coming! Just give me m-- more stuff, please!!! I can pay..." he gasped. " Slick, I can get you wild animals for hunting trophys.. I'm surrounded by them!! Just don't cut me off...Please.. I can't take it any morRRReeeee..!" and his voice cracked in pain and insane giggles. Cap's face fell into sympathy and frustration when the very sick man took off running, not down the asphalt trail winding around the cages, but into the scrubland bordering it. ::The responding engine crew I called from the parking lot will never spot him now.:: he thought. The men of station 10 and 51 all lined up along the bars of the peccary cage and watched the junkie disappear into the distance along a ridge of thick scrub thatlead off the zoo property. Chet was puzzled by all the men's stunned, numb faces and he said. "Hey, don't worry, guys. The cops'll get him. They got bloodhounds that can track him.. Should be easy with all those cuts of his bleeding out." Gage swiped an angry hand over his dripping face and he kicked the solid fence between him and his victim in defeated frustration. Chet somehow knew that Johnny's anger wasn't directed at him. "Why the long face, Johnny?" "You just don't get it, do you?" Gage snapped. "Get what?" Kelly asked distractedly, testing the fence for a weak spot that wasn't there. Roy's pale face sobered all present as he answered Chet's innocent question. "Narcan only works for a few minutes, only long enough to restore an OD's ability to breathe again. The effects of heroin or cocaine can last for hours, Chet." "I still don't get it.." Johnny set his hands on his hips and studied the ground quietly. He spoke up softly. "Our guy's gonna re-overdose when the Narcan wears off and he's gonna go right back into another catastrophic downer long before we can ever hope to relocate him. And no one's gonna be around this time to catch him when he stops breathing again." Chet Kelly's face filled with an exquisite pain of realization and he was rendered mute when he put two and two together. The fact of the fleeing addict, being actually a walking dead man, filled his mouth with rising bile. Kelly threw a hand to his face in sudden reaction and he gasped. Roy set a comforting grip on Kelly's shoulder. "Yeah,.. I know. A tough break. Come on. Maybe there's another way outta here back the way we came. Prepare yourself. We're gonna have to go find him later for recovery to the coroner's office." ------------------------------------ Photo: Johnny looking in between a rock and a hard place in close quarters. Photo: A pack of Narcan. Photo: Chet Kelly looking nauseated and lost. ************************************* From : "Roxy Dee" Subject :Shattered Serenity.. Date :Wed, 07 May 2003 20:32:54 +0000 Johnny Gage was eating his sandwich with exactly zero percent concentration. Roy only remarked about it when his partner's teeth began devouring most of the paper wrapping his Chicago style Italian beef sandwich with each bite. "Hey...Johnny.." Roy nudged with an elbow. "Pay attention.." "What? Can't you see I'm busy here?" the younger chipmunked cheeked paramedic mumbled loudly. His eyes never left their particular subject matter, who was seated like B*ddha on Cap's usually Cap claimed recliner in a serene yoga stance. "I'm trying to figure out just what's gotten into him.." he said waving a few broth dripping fingers towards the meditating Chet he could see in plain sight. "Yeah? Well try to focus on what's landing in your stomach a bit there, too." DeSoto warned. "Didn't know your ancestory included being part termite..." Roy quipped. "Just what do you mean by that?" Johnny said, his chewing halting abruptly as he looked at his senior pal for the first time during the whole conversation. Roy decided to play it out a little more, choosing another direction with which to break news. "Never mind." he said, his quiet smile growing just a little bit bigger as a rare joking opportunity presented itself to his exclusive territory. "Tell me something. Exactly how much each were these sandwiches we got from Louis's stand after we stopped by at Rampart to resupply?" Gage's eyes fell into another focus and he resumed chewing. "I don't know. Didn't memorize it. If you need that for the food budget I think the price tags are still on the wrapp--" and he broke off, finally realizing the whole portent of what Roy was angling into. He made a face when he realized that 3/4's of his consumed sandwich included 3/4's of the paper sheeting that had wrapped it securely inside its own juices. "Oh,,.. why didn't you tell me I was doing this, Roy..?" he complained indignantly. DeSoto's face cracked a grin. "I tried, only you were so focused at staring holes through Kelly over there that I guess you didn't hear me." "That's wonderful.. Now I'm gonna get an "A" number one gut ache on top of my willies, too." Roy's eyebrows rose in amusement and he cupped his mug into his hands thoughtfully. "Somehow, I doubt that very much. My kids have eaten pounds of newspaper, crayon wrappers, caramel apple cups and sausage coats, among other things, to fill a small wagon. They never seemed to have any problems with their digestion afterwards." "Yeah? Well, I'm not a kid.." Johnny said, depositing his oozing onion laden Italian beef sandwich onto a plate where he gingerly began dissecting it with a forceps from his hip holster and a fork from the broth soaked paper that he had been eating unknowingly. He finally gave up when he honestly couldn't tell meat from wrapper. He threw his "surgical" tools down in disgust. "I'll be right back. Thanks alot for not warning me sooner, partner." he said sourly, and he got up to head for the garage. "Where are you going?" Roy asked. "To the squad. I'm gonna get an oral laxative and anti-acid before I cramp up here." he said sarcastically. Roy just shrugged, and let him go. Cap passed Johnny on his way out. He had to turn sideways to avoid a collision with Gage as he came into the room. "What's with him?" he asked Roy, reaching for the platter full of beef sandwiches, still steaming on the potholders in front of the hungrily eating rest of the gang. Roy stretched in his chair and yawned. "He thinks he's gonna die from a little ingested deli wrap. He's gone to the drug box for a few gastronomical aids." Hank smirked as he stripped his own sandwich free of its covering before taking a huge bite of the delectable food. "If I had a dime for each time one of the kids ate wood pulp, I'd be a rich man." he said, shrugging off the incident as trivial. "Pass me the jalapeno peppers, would ya Marco?" Lopez neatly slid the huge jar of them from where he sat forward with a few knuckles, without looking up from his sports section. "Here ya go, Cap. Bon appetite. Oh, avoid the little orange ones or you're gonna be running out to the squad in fear of your life, too, like Gage is doing." "I consider myself warned." Hank grinned, digging eagerly into the chilled jar of peppers with a fork for a few chartreuse ones. "Those red things are habaneroes, aren't they?" "Yep." Lopez grunted, turning a page. Cap carefully built his sandwich and then organized the piles of onions and peppers on top of it with all the skill of someone sculpting a banana split when he spotted Kelly, seated like a guru in the rec room recliner. A glance informed him that Kelly's plate was still virgin clean. His eyebrows matched Roy's amused ones, only his didn't yet see any humor in the situation. "Say, Chet." he called out. "Fooood.." and he waved the sandwich platter with a towel to waft its aroma into the air towards him. "Hmmmmmmm?" Kelly said dreamily from his achingly stiff yoga stance. His palms were delicately upturned at the wrists, both symmetrically draping over his carefully folded knees. He didn't open his eyes. "What?" "Chow's on..." Cap repeated, a little louder. "Thanks, Cap. I can smell it. But a little meditation's on my menu for lunch today. I need to rebalance my karma before I do anything else.." and his head tipped back into a trance pose and he began ohm'ing lowly under his breath, until his moustache vibrated. Henry was disturbed from his snoozing nap on the couch and his ears cocked forward, curiously bugged at the new sound. He struggled off his fat and out of the sinkhole of cushions his weight had made to his haunches and his usually droopy eyes widened in surprise. The rotund basset considered his predicament for about ten seconds. Then he began to doggy howl in masking fashion over Chet's soothing "ohm's" in contrary canine agony. The gang erupted into laughter. Chet just cracked an eye and shot them all an irritated look. He went back to his meditation and fell mute to hush them and their station mascot, up. Cap said. "That's fine with me, Kelly. Only come dinner time, I'm ordering you to eat twice. I'm not gonna have anyone getting surprise hypoglycemia tonight in the middle of a bizarre fire run later on." "What makes you so sure we're gonna have one, Cap?" Stoker piped up. Hank's hands twitched as he tried to find the best angle with which to pick up his messy sandwich. "You mean our last run didn't clue you in? It's freaky Friday today, or haven't you noticed..A fire call's the only thing we haven't gone on yet." Gage came trudging back into the kitchen. He was grimacing and sucking down a dose or two of hospital strength pepto bismo straight from the bottle like a carton of milk. His eyes immediately refell warily on Chet as he fumbled back into his chair to pick once more at his dissected sandwich. He noticed that Roy had already separated the broth stained paper from the meat for him with his tools. "Thanks.." he said as he began to fork in lunch. All the while, the tense edge Johnny was harboring and the unbroken stare he was using to regard Kelly, remained full force. Roy's and Cap's and Henry's eyes shifted back and forth from the oblivious meditating Chet to the very quiet and jumpy Gage. The three of them fell to eyeing them like spectators on a tennis match. Finally, Hank leaned over and asked Roy in a confidential whisper. "What's with him? Did I miss something here?" DeSoto shrugged, taking a bite of his neatly arranged sandwich from its carefully folded down deli wrap. "Your guess is as good as mine, Cap.." Johnny's ears didn't miss a thing and he pegged Roy and Hank with an irritated glare. "I'll tell you what's eating me.." Marco piped up. "No, no, no..You mean what you're eating.." he quipped about Johnny's recent paper meal. "Oh, ha ha.. Very funny." Gage shot at Lopez, shifting his chair closer to his plate so he could pick at his sandwich with a butter knife some more. "I'll tell you what's bugging me.." and his eyes narrowed in fine focus. "Do any of you know what day it is today?" he said, keeping his voice and profile low over his plate. Hank coughed, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and replied. "You mean beyond the freaky runs we've been getting all day today since midnight?" he intoned with a straight face. "Yeah, that's exactly what I mean.." Gage said, throwing a look at Marco, when his newspaper began to shake with his barely suppressed chortle. "I have absolutely no idea.." Cap said calmly lacing his fingers together thoughtfully over his plate. He immediately fell back to inhaling his sandwich. Johnny cleared his throat and took another swig of anti-acid from his bottle. Then he set it down and leaned in confidentially to Roy and Cap. "It's our anniversary today.." he said, throwing a few fingers between Chet and himself, through a cracked side of his mouth.. "Anniversary for what?" Roy asked at a normal volume. Johnny's fingers flew to his lips in animated quick warning and he hissed. "Shssstt.. He'll hear you.." Hank's eyebrows crawled into his hairline in frank surprise at his most junior medic's off behavior. He, chewed more slowly while he waited for Roy to fathom him out. Roy promptly did so. "Oh.." Roy said, throwing down his napkin onto his empty plate. "That anniversary.." he said in immediate sympathy. "Yeah.. That one.." Johnny agreed animatedly, and he pegged alert, wary eyes right back on the B*ddha like countenance on Chet's meditating face. Cap chewed once more and ordered. "Enlighten me, gentlemen, if you wouldn't mind." Gage pantomimed an arching catapulting gesture from about his shoulder level down to the table top. He pretended that whatever had been "flung" landed on his own face in a disgusting liquid form, all without making a sound. "Charades, huh?" Marco asked, finally peering over his paper, just catching on to the gist of what was going on across the table. He thoughtfully chewed on a wonderfully orange habanero pepper. "I get it.. I'm good at this stuff. " Stoker piped up eagerly, before his superior could. "Cap, he must mean it's the anniversary of their Phantom water can war." Gage's face flew open in shock at Stoker verbalizing his worry loud enough for Kelly to hear it and he froze in his seat as he checked Chet out for any sign of reaction. None was forthcoming. Slowly, Gage's face began to regain its color when Chet didn't move a millimeter where he was. Henry didn't move either. He was still rivetted like a pointer, standing upright on the couch, still staring at Kelly's face, waiting for any further repeating of the funny noise from his human companion, that had awakened him earlier. "Oh,, so that's why you're twitchy as a venter inside a gas leaking house." Cap grinned. Gage sighed, and glanced at him in offended sheepishness. Cap looked at Kelly once again where the Irishman was sitting easily in his calming pose and said. "I still don't see any problem here, Johnny. He doesn't seem to be doing anything odd, pal." he said in puzzlement. "That's just it, Cap." Gage said, dropping his voice low into another secret whisper. "That's why I'm so nervous. And all the rest of you should get that way, too. Listen to this next bit closely. Just hear me out.." he insisted animatedly. "Have you ever known Chet to act straight laced and normal longer than two hours before?" "Uhh...." Cap considered. Gage cut him off. "See? You agree with me.." he interrupted hastily, casting watchful eyes back onto the immobile Chet across the room. "I know he's up to something.." Roy got up and scooped up his plate and the one he now knew Johnny wasn't going to eat from anymore. "Maybe he just doesn't feel like joking around with ya right now. I mean, finding that OD's body like we did can throw anybody off their feed." Johnny pegged Roy with a glower. "We see bodies all the time, and in worse shape than that one. Bogus point Roy. Chet's never skipped lunch because of a fatality retrieval, none of us have either, for that matter, now that I think about it. He's doing it because today is TODAY..." he insisted meaningfully. Roy considered for several beats before he shook his head in dismissal as he began to fill the kitchen sink up gingerly with dish water and soap. "Suit yourself if ya want to worry. I can't help you there." "Yes, you can! You can watch my back, Pal." Gage fired back. "Can't, Junior. I already do that. It's in my job description." DeSoto replied, dead pan. The rest of the gang chortled, all except the still composed Chet and the intensely worried, mesmerized Henry. Finally, Henry had had enough and uncharacteristically, he abandoned the couch's folds and trucked, strangely, for the garage. His reaction caught the whispering gang's attention and they stopped what they were doing, to watch him in amazement.. Roy shrugged. "Whatever's bothering you and Chet," he commented to Johnny, "It must be catchy.." he summed up. "Very funny.." Gage mumbled as he picked up a towel to help Roy dry the plates. "Henry's not even acting like Henry. I tell ya, this whole day's gone completely nuts and it's dragging us all down with it." ------------------------------------------------------ Henry was full of purpose. He panted heavily as he slowly jogged across the quiet vehicle bay to the far side wall where the tool locker was situated. He spotted what he was looking for. The cord the gang had strung down for him from the rear garage opener switch so he'd have a means to go outside to the yard to relieve himself whenever they weren't there to do it for him. His teeth yanked on the cord and he wormed his way underneath the door as it noisily climbed up its tracks and he paced determinedly to exactly the middle of the yard. He sat down on his haunches in the dust and he pointed his nose up to the sky and began to howl. In the kitchen, the gang noticed him immediately. They all, minus Chet, crowded around the kitchen window to eye the spot mirror pointed into the back yard to see what Henry was doing. "What the heck?" Cap said. "Henry's acting like a wolf now, howling at the moon. Has the world gone mad? " "Perhaps it's just you guys.." Chet declared in irritation at the noise interrupting his meditation. He unfolded his legs from the recliner's depths and clambered to his feet long enough to pull his lace loosened shoes back on. "I'll be in the bunkroom, continuing where I left off. I don't wanna hear nothing except an arriving tones call in there while I'm busy doing it." he said quietly civil and he barrelled past them all on his way out. Gage spun around a full ninety to avoid turning a vulnerable back towards Kelly as he departed. Only then did Johnny begin to relax.. "See what I mean? He's the height of oddness personified.." No one else got the gist of what had Gage so up in arms. They were too busy concentrating on the strange sight of Henry caterwauling to the heavens out in the yard. The basset hound's loud, anxiety tinged cries were only just heard over the sounds of the afternoon time rush hour traffic from the boulevard but they were loud enough to attract a little attention from the office workers in the building next door. Cap saw a few fingers peeking through the blinds exactly like they were doing. Roy had a thought that came unbidden. ::If I didn't know any better, I'd swear Henry was sending out a message to the neighborhood network like the sheep dog did in One Hundred One Dalmations.:: Sure enough, an answering bark erupted from the Arco refinery watchdog from across the street. Henry fell into an intense listening pose in that direction. So did the rest of the gang. -------------------------------------------------------------- Rampart was a mad house. ::Nothing dire. Mind you. Just a whole slew of irritating, putzy gomer cases littering my emergency department.:: Dixie McCall sighed in deep thought. Her mouth was still dry in sympathic memory of the coffee she still couldn't track down anywhere, hospital wide. She sighed and rubbed her forehead in fatigue until a grip on her shoulder made her shoot to her feet from her desk stool. "Ahh!" she startled. Kel Brackett froze, his left hand still grasping the air where her shoulder had been, his right, loaded with the newest non critical patient chart. "Easy, Dix... Don't hurt yourself. We've enough weird cases as it is today without handling any more from the staff." "That's not very d*mned funny, Kel." Dix said with some genuine heat and no trace of a smile. Kel smiled broadly. "Caffeine withdrawal going full swing? Sorry about not being able to procure any coffee from dietary for you. How was I to know that the supply truck from the city would hit the only pothole in Los Angeles and throw an axle?" Dixie's eyes got back into focus from her fright. "So that's the reason why there isn't any coffee anywhere. It's driving me crazy seeing full cups in everyone else's hands but mine.." she said, plunking wearily back onto her seat and taking Kel's chart to file it away into her priority arranged turnstyle. "How'd you learn that latest tidbit? Can't say that news is making me feel any better." "Sorry, Dix." Brackett grimaced. "The driver of the coffee truck's the man getting lip stitches in Treatment Three. He hit a hydrant after his axle cracked. 36 brought him in an hour ago and he told me so himself who he was." Dixie began to groan, just thinking about it. "I thought I smelled coffee on his clothes taking his vital signs.. I thought I was hallucinating." Dr. Brackett laughed before he could stop himself. "D*mmit! This whole day is torture, Kel..." McCall moaned. "I honestly don't think I can take much more of it.." Dr. Brackett slipped around her chair and gave Dix a hug, setting his chin on her head in a supportive bearhug from behind until a cat call whistle from a passing orderly broke them apart. Dixie sighed at their being caught acting non nurse and doctor. "Thanks for the moral support, Kel." she said without luster. "I wish the rest of my staff would do more of the same for me." "Been getting a little snarly through all this?" he said, indicating the barely controlled chaos of all the minor medical visitors waiting in the waiting room before them. Dixie's long eye lashes blinked in barely suppressed guilt. "Just a little.." "More like a LOT.." Carol the candy striper said as she bustled by with fifty charts Dixie had ordered her to take down to medical records. She staggered by. The heavily laden girl finally was rescued by a thoughtful Joe Early as they both got into the elevator headed to another floor. Dixie winced as the metal elevator doors closed. "I deserved that." "Never in a million years.." Kel denied, his face kind and warm. "Tell you what? I've got Dr. Bender covering for me for a half hour. How about I take a trip to Manny's down the road and order up a take out just for you. I can get the Cappucino Delight. Triple Order. To go." Dixie's eyes lit up for the first time of the day. She was rendered mute in gratitude and her eyes misted. "ooHhhhhh.." Kel gripped her hand and said, "Shh. No crying. You'll ruin your makeup job. I'm on my way now." and he peeled his labcoat off and laid it over the desktop followed by his steel stethoscope. "See you in twenty.." he said, making sure his pager was set to receive. "You're an absolute saint, Kel." "Call me that only when that hot little coffee's in your greedy little hand. Who knows with the luck we're having." Dixie actually laughed. Once. Then her white uniformed back disappeared once more into the depths of a treatment room. Dr. Brackett headed out into the bright daylight outside through the main emergency doors around the flood of bizarre minor emergency cases coming to the department by wheelchair, on foot or gurney. He shook his head in wonderment. ::What a crazy day.:: he thought as he fingered his car keys he had drawn from his pocket. He headed towards his tan Buick in its reserved spot in the auxillary parking lot next to the helicopter landing pad. --------------------------------------------------------- Joe Early was remarkably unphased by the bustling weird day buzzing around him. He was his usual calm quiet self as he headed up to one particular patient room on the fifth floor after he helped a harried Carol to medical records with her tottering chart stack. He eyeballed the correct room down the hall, grabbed the patient's chart from the nurse's desk from its turnstyle and shouldered into the well lit room after hearing a reply to his gentle knock on the door. ----------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Dix and Kel talking over lunch. Photo: Henry peeking over the side of the couch. Photo: Chet in the middle of enjoying a joke in action, taking notes. Photo: Joe Early looking calm and amused in closeup. Photo: Roy and Johnny peeking through the closed kitchen door. Photo: Aerial of Rampart in black and white. Photo: The gang standing outside in the side drive leading to the yard. ************************************* From: "rampartbase" Date: Thu May 8, 2003 10:02 pm Subject: "Slippery When Wet!" There should been a sign by the nurses desk that said "Slippery When Wet." Kel thought as he slipped on a piece of ice that had been dropped by the nurses desk, crashing into it. Luckily, no bones were broken. Somehow, with the nutty day that they'd been having, it had gone unseen. They had a number of strange and unusual cases. They had people come in because they thought they were about to get sick, then did. There was a man who broke his toe after kicking a car tire at a car dealer. It was just a generally weird day all around. ------------------------------------- Photo: None. ************************** From :"Cassidy Meyers" Subject : The Overhaul Incident.. Date :Mon, 12 May 2003 03:35:45 +0400 "Come in..." came a New York accent through the door. Dr. Early went into the room with the chart at his side. "Hello there. I'm Dr. Early. Dr. Brackett asked me to stop on by to review your post angioplasty film that you had done this morning." The dark haired man of sixty sat up a little higher in the bed with an air of making himself presentable. "No, don't sit up. You still have a fresh puncture site to worry about." "Oh, yeah. Right , doc." said the man. Joe extended a hand out to the patient he was sent to consult with in a gesture of welcome. "Glad to make your acquaintance. I'm Charlie. How ya doin?" "Fine. Fine. Downstairs is a little like a madhouse but nothing out of the ordinary." Joe thought a bit about that remark and amended. "No, that's not quite right. Everything today is out of the ordinary but who's complaining?" chuckled Dr. Early. "Not me, doc." said the man. "They've been treatin me real fine. I was nervous there for a while when they told me I wasn't gonna be asleep for that angio...angio picture thing with that balloon thingy in my chest. But it's over. Heh. And I'm feeling real good now. I lived through it." "That was the intent." laughed Joe. "Don't I know it?" said Charlie. Charlie let Joe check over the area where he had had the angio catheter inserted and let the doctor lift up the gauze dressing taped there to check for signs of seepage. Joe's face fell a little bit and he opened the chart one more time to look at the diagnosis that both he and Kel Brackett had agreed was the inevitable one. Charlie's rugged stubbled face took on a hint of dread as he realized that his news may not be the happy ones that he had anticipated. "Say, doc? Uh,.. what's da matter? If ya have ta give it to me straight, I can take it. I haven't been a fire department mechanic working in the busiest district in the state for nothin, you know.. Don't sugar coat it. Just tell me whatever it is." "Charlie. Your initial prognosis is excellent. The two coronary arteries we found that were narrowed have successfully been cleared with the angioplastic procedure. You'll have no more trouble with that angina and we can discontinue your regular course of nitro glycerin. You won't be needing it anymore from this point forward. " "That doesn't sound too scary, doc. So, uh, why the long face here?" Charlie frowned. "Well, your heart's now fixed with those two partially blocked off arteries being fully repaired, but we found that your arteriosclerosis is fairly well advanced in other areas of your body. Your shortness of breath you get while exerting yourself at work is due to narrowing of other arteries in your lungs. That, we can't fix. The underlying structures there don't favor the usual angioplastic routes." A sick dread began to grip Charlie and his post surgical EKG sped up a bit as he fretted. "What?" he joked. "Does that mean I'm gonna die tomorrow?" Joe tried to chuckle lightly with a smile to reassure his worried patient. "No, you can look forward to decades more of good cardiovascular functioning. But I'm afraid you're going to have to come up with a means to reduce your stress levels. Immediately. We barely have your hypertension under control with your usual medications and already they are at the top end of what's safe to utilize." Charlie knew right away what the doctor was angling at. He had figured it out in one mind numbing realization. "Doc.. are you saying that I'm gonna haveta give up the one thing that makes my world complete? That uh, I have to ... retire from the workplace?" Joe looked down and rubbed the rings on his hands thoughtfully in regret and he sighed while he put together the right words to say. "I'm afraid so, Charlie. There isn't a miracle cure for your stage of hypertension. In fact, it may not take much in your future to really raise your chances of having a cerebral vascular accident." "A what?" Charlie asked, rubbing his dry lips. Then he reached over to his cup of ice cubes and took some in to wet his mouth to moisten it. "A CVA. In layman's terms, a stroke." Charlie laughed nervously and loud and he readjusted the blanket back over himself following Joe's cursory exam of his catheter puncture site. "You've got to be kidding. I thought that those blood thinners and that aspirin a day my regular doctor prescribed, solved all that." "They helped. But that course of treatment unfortunately doesn't cure the underlying cause. You're getting older now. And your particular case will only advance. Even though it's very slowly. It's time to start kicking down into lower gear as you mechanics like to say." Charlie sobered and fell still, struggling to fight his emotions over finding out that his life long career was now suddenly, quietly, over. Then he looked up with a vulnerable smile. "What uh, just what can I tell the wife, doc? She's gonna flip over this. It's not like we need the income. It's just that I won't know.. what to do with myself, ya know?" Joe nipped that line of thinking in the bud. "It's not the end of the world. There are a lot of people who've been in your shoes. And I'm not afraid to tell you that I'm one of them." "Really, doc? Not you.. heh. You look as healthy as an ox and you're still workin.." he exclaimed. "Yes, I'm working but my occupation is not the kind of job that exacerbates my history with arteriosclerosis. I can still work. But only in moderation. I gave up my position as head ER doc a few years ago. Kel Brackett took over for me while I was recovering and he's still serving in that position. Your life isn't over, Charlie. Not by a long shot. You're just going to have to make a few adjustments, that all, that will take some getting used to. But you'll work it all out before you know it." Joe encouraged. "Yeah, doc.. But retirin? Sheesh." Charlie scoffed. "That's for old folks. Or really sick ones." he said in a soft sigh. "Charlie, think about it. Your overall condition, if anything, has improved. Greatly. That angioplasty you underwent this morning was a complete success. You have gone a step forward, not backwards." Joe said with a gentle smile. "You should know. Life always changes. And that can be a blessing in disguise sometimes even if we don't realize it right away. And your whole changing situation here is no exception. Your time as an active on duty mechanic may be over, but that doesn't mean that you have to stop hanging around your old haunts like you usually do." "Say, doc.. That's a lightbulb of an idea. I really like that. A lot. You're giving me some dandies already.." Charlie chuckled. "I'm gonna go see EVERYone, first thing, when I get released in an hour. That's ah, only if you allow it with this groin stick and all." Charlie fussed, gesturing to his waist level. "It's ok.." Joe laughed. "You'll be fully recovered from lunch by then. Sorry for that casserole. It usually has some coffee with it that makes it palatable, but we're currently fresh out. Your catheter puncture will be fully clotted in about half an hour." "Good. Cause Charlie the mechanic's got people to see. Places to go. Know what I mean?" "Yeah.. I know what you mean.." Joe said. ---------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Brackett had long abandoned his grid locked car along the margin of the freeway for a phone. "Dix? Yeah, it's Kel." he held the receiver away from his ear when he heard his head nurse start to moan about her coffeeless state and question about his now long overdue ETA. "Sorry, Dix. Traffic jam. Probably another fog pile up by Long Beach. You know how are these traffic snarls can back up around here. I'm gonna haveta take the rest of the night off. Would you inform Doctor Bender that I won't be coming in?" he asked. "Thanks. You're a doll. I promise I'll get some coffee to ya sooner rather than later. Tonight." Kel hung up the payphone at the Shell station and wandered back to his car for the long wait for the jam to clear out. -------------------------------------------------------- Charlie the mechanic knew the best ways to sneak up on firehouses when firemen least expected it. It was a habit he had developed so he could really see the wear and tear the guys inflicted on his beloved vehicles. He let himself in with his master key through the rear door and he stealthily saundered across the garage. First thing, his eye fell on Squad 51's tires, checking for curb scuffs from all the sudden stops she had to make during each run. "There, you go, sweetie." he said, patting Squad 51's hood while another finger swept over her front grill chrome looking for grime. "Looks like my tyrannical temper tantrums are finely having an effect, aren't they? Your wheels are perfect darlin ! Your chrome, too. But there's no way in Hades that I'm ever gonna stop blowing off steam on your behalf at those crazy firemen. You deserve the best and don't you ever forget it. I'll make sure the new guy learns that lesson quick." Charlie said. A voice from the far side of the bay echoed through the high rafters overhead. "Charlie? Is that you? I thought I heard your voice.." said Captain Stanley as he exited his office door. He immediately noticed Charlie, not wearing his department uniform. "It's your day off? I thought you had a double inspection load on Wednesdays." Cap frowned. "Yeah, well. I've got some news there." Charlie said circumspect and suddenly serious. "Looks like I'll have a whole lotta days off from now on.." Cap wasn't surprised, for he had been on the rescue call that went out for Charlie a week ago for heightened chest pain. "So, it's come to that, eh? Your ticker ok?" he said casually inquiring. "Oh, yeah. The docs at Rampart fixed the plumbin real fine. I'm good to go. But I gotta get out of the fast lane they've been telling me." "Retirement?" Cap asked. "Yeah.. Hate that word. Makes me sound like I'm being put out ta pasture.." Charlie said, reaching for a back pocket that no longer held an oily rag. He stopped himself before he was too obvious in his reaction about being out of uniform. "So, I uh, hope ya don't mind me comin over to say goodbye ta the guys like this. Heh. Seeing my beauties I'd done anyway." he said throwing a careless hand at the Ward and Squad behind them. "Had to check up one more time on my babies. I had ta come back.. Know what I mean?" "Yeah, I know what you what mean.." Cap grinned. "How about coming in for a cup of coffee? Stoker brews a mean pot." "Nope. No more coffee. Doc's orders. But I could sure use some of that clam chowder I smell on the stove. Must be yours cause the cream's not overpowering the clams there." Cap ducked his head at the compliment. "Glad someone appreciates my chowder. I thought that Joe Early was my only chowder fan." "Yeah? Well add one more. Me.." Charlie said jerking a thumb at his chest. "Take me to your chowder." he joked. "You know the way.." Hank beamed. ------------------------------------------------------ Men from three firehouses turned up for Charlie's retirement party that his bosses threw at his old workplace only five hours after Charlie was discharged from Rampart. Only Cap, Johnny and Roy and Chet could find replacements for themselves to be able to attend, but Cap felt that his three from Station 51 was a good showing considering the high density of runs that usually came during that part of summer. As for himself, he wouldn't have missed Charlie's final send off for the world. He still remembered the days when HE was cringing during one of Charlie's tune up inspections as a regular fireman. He knew he was going to miss Charlie more than he realized. "And this, is the main repair bay. Where we fix all the damage you boys do to the engines.." Charlie said, his voice rising higher and higher in a familar tirade. He stopped himself before his blood pressure shot too high. "Oops.. gotta watch myself. Well, you know the speech. Ain't gonna preach to the choir here. I'm a free man!" Cheers erupted from the three groups of station firefighters mingling in with station 51's four. Charlie shot them all a suspicious look when he couldn't tell whether the guys were cheering for his newly liberated state, or the fact that they wouldn't be cringing over any of his hundred proof lectures anymore. "Hey! Pipe it down.. There are working joes over there. They can't hear themselves think over that kind of racket." The firefighters quieted down and continued eating their cake and vanilla ice cream. Chet's mouth was still hanging open. His eyes were still bugging out at the long row of cracked open fire engine chassis that were angled up on hoists away from their motor assemblies from the rigs lined up next to them, in the huge space surrounding the party tables. Charlie noticed. "What? Did you think I worked in a three pump mom and pop gas station on the corner? This joint's the size of a small airport!" Charlie said proudly. He proceeded to lecture to his hungrily eating captive audience on how, his long and varied career as an FD mechanic, began. He finished with an historic account of how his plans had been turned into blueprints and then later eventuality with the construction of the half mile long pit stop facility that Los Angeles County now used for all of its vehicle maintenance. Johnny Gage swiped some cake crumbs off of his dress uniform tie and mumbled from the corner of his mouth to Cap. "Say, does this mean we can slack off a little on vehicle detail? " Cap grimaced. "Eeooww. This is awful.." looking down at his paper cup and then just as quick at something over the heads of all the retirement party guests. "The coffee?" Johnny asked. "No, you twit, the squad! I can see the soot on her windshield from here.." Cap said. Roy and Johnny then realized that maybe they wouldn't be getting off scot free so easily with Charlie's departure from active duty. Roy leaned over and said. "Wanna bet Cap'll have us polishing by sundown after we get back to the station?" "No bet.." Johnny sighed. ------------------------------------------------------ Dr. Brackett was just turning onto Curson Avenue near sundown, when his emergency services CB radio, went off. ##Eeeee OOooo EEeeeeeee.. Station 51. Unknown type rescue. 5801 Wilshire Blvd. Cross street Curson. 5801 Wilshire Blvd. Cross street Curson. Time out, 18: 12.## ::That's only a block from here.:: Kel thought. He turned his wheel towards a new construction site he could see to his left. ::Maybe I can help out some..:: -------------------------------------------------------- Photo : Charlie the mechanic and Johnny out in the yard. Photo : A row of crack hooded Crowns at LACoFD repair facility. Photo : Outside the maintenance bays by gas pumps. Photo: Johnny and Roy table sitting. *************************************** From : "patti keiper" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Samaritan Snare.. Date : Tue, 13 May 2003 13:39:17 +0000 Acknowledgements to Lt. Stuart C. Burrows Hazardous Materials Team Coordinator Paramus Fire Dept., NJ for the information about natural kerosene risks.. -------------------------------------- Dr. Brackett made good time down the weaving road. He saw a man, full of black ooze leaning heavily against a parking lot post. He was obviously the one sent out to intercept the responding fire unit to show them where the emergency was. Kel made sure his car was out of the way of any hydrants, against a fence line off the road and he leaped out of his car, rolling up his sleeves. He grabbed a folded blanket he had in the back seat from a basket of clean laundry he had there. "I'm Dr. Brackett. I heard there was trouble out here needing the fire department. Are you hurt?" The gasping, soaked man coughed. "No.. I'm fine." he said, as Kel grasped him around the shoulders. "Sit down here. I'll watch for them." Dr. Brackett said. "Here. This will help warm you up." he said, wrapping his blue blanket around the man. "What happened?" he said trying to find where the trouble was near them by turning in a circle and looking. "It's the pit. Pit number 91. I'm on an excavation crew. *cough* I don't understand it. The construction team told us the supports were strong enough. E..I-I.. the whole wall caved in on Aragorn, the lead archaeologist. She was working on an incredible Bicus Gravus.." "A what?" Dr. Brackett said, watching the exhausted man gather his strength back. He tried not to think what was covering the man. Already, his own clothes were black and sticky. "Just take it easy. Help's on the way. Who's with Aragorn right now? Anyone else involved?" "No.. I.. Half of us left because of the danger but half stayed with her. I don't know for sure.." Dr. Brackett was ready when the man suddenly blacked out. He caught him and carefully lowered his head to the grass. He set his hand on the man's shivering stomach to monitor his ragged breathing. In the distance he could hear the sound of approaching sirens and it wasn't long before Station 51 screeched up to the curb by his side. Chet Kelly bailed out of his seat, opening the side door of the Ward and into a miasma of stench. "What is that smell?!" he said, covering his nose. Marco was equally effected and both Kelly and Lopez's eyes located what appeared to be a small lake at the foot of a white high rise bank on the other side of the partially constructed parking lot. They could just see rising steam coming from it and could hear a loud copious mass bubbling. Before they could wonder further, they spotted their first concern. Two people smeared in black gel like stuff a short distance away. Stoker commented. "Smells like asphalt." Mike theorized, not even slowing down as he hit the anchor feet switches on the engine to ready her for hose work. He kicked a board under each piston as it lowered to the concrete. Captain Stanley shot out of the cab after announcing his company's arrival to the scene to L.A. "Good call Stoker. This might be a chemical spill. String some hose, long enough to reach that partially built building over there. But don't prime it yet. Not until we know exactly what we're dealing with here." He took an experimental sniff, relying on instinct to make a judgement call. "Skip the SCBA for now. This stuff doesn't seem caustic." Then he paused in his tracks. "Dr. Brackett?" he exclaimed when he realized just who was with the only victim in eyeshot. He tersely waved Marco to go get the spare O2 apparatus from the engine's side compartment. "Whatcha got, doc? Johnny! Roy! Man down. Over here. Skip the resuscitator. I had Lopez grab ours." He watched his two paramedics nod and scramble to get their equipment. He noticed them making faces at the stench in the air but they remained all business. The Rampart physician looked up from his unconscious patient and he rubbed his nose with his forearm to avoid getting some dark gunk that was covering his hands, onto his face. "He's fine. Just fainted. His pulse's strong and regular. He said there was a cave-in somewhere nearby.." Kel said. "In a location called Pit 91. Sounded like it was an archaeological dig or something." "Need anything more than this?" Hank asked as Marco plunked down the O2 cylinder and rack and got out a clear flowing O2 mask for the limp man. "Nah.." Kel said, seeing Roy and Johnny rushing over from the squad, heavily laden. "Johnny and Roy have everything I'm gonna need." "Ok." Cap sighed in relief. He cast his head about, looking for a likely spot for a cave in. He then noticed a sign saying,'Page Museum, opening June, 1977. Come see a Woolly Mammoth.' A vague memory tickled the back of his mind and a word came up into recall, unbidden. "La Brea.." he mumbled. "What?" Dr. Brackett said, making sure the O2 was securely over the man's nose and mouth. He gave a few orders for Roy and Johnny to get primary info and to look for some ID for any possible medical history clues. He nodded when Johnny and Roy verbalized the man's vitals to him. Hank swiped off some of the dark smears on Kel's sleeves and lifted it to his nose.. "Tar Pits..." he added to his earlier comment. "Doc, I think I know what the trouble is now. It's all falling into place.." Cap got on his HT, and thumbed it so all his men could hear him. "Just identified the chemical smell, all. It's methane, and kerosene on top of asphalt. This place must be a newly rising museum over the site called the La Brea Tar Pits. Heard about it last year. Under no circumstances are you to run any water on any open flames burning on the stuff. It'll be useless since kerosene floats. When we find the scene, go in dry. But watch for any signs of fire. That lake can burn regardless." ##10-4. ## Cap heard from Marco and Chet and Johnny as they scrambled to get the work done. Cap noticed Dr. Brackett just itching to do more from where he was crouched over the fainted man. "I can watch him, doc, until the ambulance arrives. Go with Johnny and Roy and my other men to see what's up if you'd like. They'll watch your back." "Think I'll do that. He should be waking up any time." the doctor said to Cap as they exchanged places crouching by the man's head."He's starting to move a little." Johnny and Roy took Cap's cue to move on with the main rescue scene assessment as he threw a hand towards the quiet, scaffoulding covered building next to the bubbling lake of tar. Chet was still gagging on the oily stench filling the air. He mumbled under his breath. "Sure you don't want us to have masks on, Cap?" Hank jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Just go.." with a half annoyed, half amused smile. Kelly went."I'm gone.." He was only two steps behind Johnny, Roy and Kel as they hastened with belts and ropes towards the building Cap had indicated. They were running across a sidewalk over looking the tar pit "lake" when they heard a shout. "Down here! Please! Hurry.." Gage said, "Hold it. Hold it.." when he heard the cry. They all leaned over the concrete railing of the bridge above the writhing moat and peered over the edge. Kel Brackett coughed as a wind gust drove more stench into his lungs. "There!" he shouted pointing downwards. They could just see another oil slicked scientist type on the lower level of the museum, through the windows gesturing wildly for their attention. Roy shouted. "All right! We see ya. Just hang on.. We're coming down!" he shouted to the man urgently pounding on the glass to get their attention. The oily figure disappeared back the way he had come into the dark interior of the museum's lower level. Gage looked about for any sign of stairs. There were none. Just a steeply dropping off shoreline at the edges of the tar pit. "We don't have time to look for stairs. Roy, why don't we try rappelling down to the windows and breaking through.." "Sounds like a good plan to me.." Roy said, belting up. He lifted his hand held radio. "HT 51 to Engine 51." ##Go ahead, Ht 51.## "There's someone flagging us down on the lower level of the museum, right next to the tar lake. We need the squad to anchor rappelling gear from a concrete bridge." ##10-4, 51. Lopez is on his way with it. I'm sending Stoker with him.## Dr. Brackett fidgetted as he paced back and forth. "Not much I can do from here." "Oh, yes you can.." Johnny said. "You can help Marco keep the lines from fraying on the concrete here once Roy and I go over.." he said slapping the concrete railing. He peeled off his coat. "Here, doc. Use my coat for that." "Right.." Kel said, understanding the plan immediately. Gage kept talking. "Chet, rig a line for yourself. You're coming along.. It's gonna take three of us to get anyone who's stuck in this goop out of that cave in." Kelly's face widened in surprise when he realized that he would be dangling over the surface of the methane boiling tar pit. "Sounds like fun." he said unenthusiastically. Lopez arrived with the squad, backing her up until her rear bumper was next to the turnout coat draped railing. He quickly helped Johnny, Roy and Chet secure their lifelines to it with pulleys and figure eight knots. "Need the stokes?" Marco asked Roy. "Yeah, and send down just the O2 for now. We still haven't seen where to go yet.." DeSoto replied. "I'll get it set.." Johnny was the first over the edge of the concrete bridge. "Gimme some more slack!" he shouted up as the firemen and Kel on the bridge slowly hand over handed him down over the lake. Gage twisted around until he was able to kick off a bridge piling far enough to grab an exposed plastic pipe over the "beach". He untied his line, hurrying to the window. Roy quickly followed, doing the same thing. And then it was Chet's turn. Kelly wasn't so agile with his rappelling and his gloves slipped on the way down. "Chet! Look out!" Gage shouted in warning. Kelly landed with a splash into the tar pit up to his chest. "Aghhh!! Get me out of here before I sink!" Chet flailed. He rapidly began to sink under the lake's surface, to his chin, to his flaring nostrils. Roy yelled. "Marco. Toss me down his belt line!" Lopez hastily flung the second rope to Johnny and Roy so they could pull Chet out. Gage shouted. "Chet, quit moving or you'll go under.." Chet choked on fumes and ignored him. His curly helmeted head disappeared under the surface. "Chet!" Kel Brackett shouted from above. Marco got on his HT. "Cap! Kelly fell in. He's in trouble!" ## I'll be right there! Calling in another station!## Johnny and Roy gasped as they struggled heavily to pull on the rope to drag Chet to shore. They got a hand on his belt and hauled him up onto the black edged loam and firm ground and log rolled him over. Chet coughed and sputtered. "Gah!! *cough*" Roy and Johnny both ran hasty fingers over Chet's nose and mouth to clear away the thick tar covering his face until he could breathe again. Gage grabbed his head, lifting his upper body up to help him. "Can you breathe ok now?" he said, pulling off Chet's dripping helmet. Chet didn't say anything as he gagged over and over again. Then he sucked in a huge lungful of air and nodded. Roy and Johnny helped him to his feet. "Ok, let's figure out how to best crack this window pane to get inside." The best method turned out to be crude but very effective. Kelly flung a fossil filled shore rock at the twenty foot by fifty foot museum window. A loud musical explosion of glass flooded their sandy beach as the window came apart. Roy, Chet and John wasted no time getting inside. They untied their lifelines and accepted new coiled ones ringed tossed down to them by Marco and they rushed inside the lower level after knocking away any more lingering shards with their helmets. The rope lowered O2 and stokes, quickly followed. They immediately found Pit 91. It was surrounded by orange helmeted scientists fretting over another unconscious woman who was buried neck deep in newly oozing tar. Gage shouted. "How deep is it?" Another gasping exhausted archeologist understood immediately when his other co workers didn't reply right away. "The lowest digging section drops only three feet." Johnny jumped in and helped the panicking scientists encircling her to hold her face out of the ooze. It was slimy, hard work and it took all of them. "Hand me the O2, guys. All this stuff's pressing in on her chest. She's suffocating." Chet Kelly handed down the positive pressure mask and an oral airway pack. Gage immediately began using them while Marco and Roy rigged another rope set up and belt for the woman to a concrete pillar near them for an anchor point. Johnny gasped. "The rest of you get out of here. It's too dangerous for you to stay. That wall may give in more and you're not tied onto a rope." he ordered. "She's gonna be ok. I got her." The tar covered archeologists accepted Chet and Roy's hands to climb out of the fossil excavation pit. Kel Brackett and Cap made a sudden appearance. "Kelly, you ok?" Hank asked when he finally decided who was the right slimy body to ask. "Yeah, Cap. I'm fine. But the woman's not. She's getting crushed by all that tar pouring in. She's gotta be dragged out. Now. Johnny down there can hardly ventilate her." Chet replied. He looked almost comical, being all shiny black except for his eyes and teeth. Bracket had planned ahead. He had helped lug all the medical gear down the front ramp they had found with the guidance of an archeologist witness and he already had laid out advanced suctioning equipment. "Johnny, how's she doing?" Gage spat as a splash of tar hit him in the face. He angled his helmet to deflect the new stream away from himself and the woman. "She's still got a carotid. Although it's stressed. I'm getting air in but I can't tell if it's doing any good. Her color's hidden." "Trust what you feel. I got suction set. We'll do an airway sweep once she's up here. Any C spine injuries?" All nine tarry hard hatted archeologists milling about the rescue team shook their heads. "She didn't fall." one of them said. "That glop only gushed in and pinned her.." "Ok.." Cap said. "Get that belt on, ASAP. We'll haul her out the fastest way possible." he said, leaning over the edge of the excavation site. He blinked when he realized his coat arm was leaning on a sabre tooth tiger skull. He startled and took it off immediately. He tried not to look at what fossilized bones his shoes were standing on. It took ten of them to break the suction of the tar holding the unconscious scientist's legs pinned. She finally pulled free with a hollow slurp and her limp body was carefully guided up the wall, with many hands supporting her O2, head and airway. Kel immediately got out a laryngoscope for a peek after he jerked her oral airway free. Roy helped hold her into the right position for the exam with one hand while the other stayed on her neck to monitor her carotid. It was difficult work, the tile museum floor made the surface under them slippery and they were all forced to stay on their splayed knees for balance. Dr. Brackett said, "She's got some tar in her right bronchial tree. But she's not obstructed that badly." He quickly suctioned out what he could and withdrew the scope. "Roy.." he said unnecessarily as the blond headed paramedic began to ventilate her once again on the O2 to compensate for the lost time they weren't breathing for her. Brackett began snapping out orders for a more secure type of airway and a precautionary IV. "She's gonna need a pulmonary flushing when we get into Rampart." "Is Maureen going to make it?" one concerned tar blackened archeologist asked. Kel's mouthed twitched into a smile. "Yeah, I think so. The only hurdle will be that secondary pneumonia. Doesn't look like she was poisoned too much from any methane. I didn't see any tracheal burns." Then he noticed another skull firmly gripped in the scientist's grasp. "You can relax now, sir. Maureen's perfectly safe." The shell shocked archeologist suddenly blinked and realized what the doctor was looking at. "Oh.. uh, this is a closed mouthed sabre tooth head. Very rare. It was what Maureen was tugging at when the wall gave way. She'll kill me if she wakes up and I don't have it." he remarked. "Let's get her bundled up and out of here." Cap grinned. Soon, it was done. ------------------------------------------------------- Dixie McCall's eyes bugged out in sheer horror when she saw three tar black figures arrive onto her newly waxed ER department floor. "Oh, no.. she sighed. "Treatment Q.." she amended, thinking fast. That was the nearest room to the entryway portal. ::It's also a quarantine room. No doubt we're gonna need that negative air pressure in there to control the stench. Yuck!:: she thought, holding one hand over her nose. "Nice choice of cologne.." she teased Kel out loud as he helped Roy push the gurney inside as Gage bag valved breathed for the woman. She literally jumped when she spotted a slimy skull on the woman's stomach when she attempted to lay eyes on the area to get a respirations count for Kel while they moved her. "Ahhh!" McCall screeched. She rocked back on her heels, controlling her reactions. Kel grinned toothily through his stinky slime. "It's a souvenir, Dix.. Don't you like it?" and he picked up the long fanged skull and clapped its gaping jaws open and shut in her face once or twice. She glared at him. "I'd rather it have been a can of fresh Columbian coffee grounds." she said icily. Then she held an admonishing finger up to the two medics getting a set of vitals using equipment she couldn't distinguish from them because of all the tar. "You boys'd better plan on abandoning all that stuff. Including your clothes. Environmental will flay me alive if I allowed you to carry that ...that that...." "Million year old fossilized tar?" Kel offered helpfully. "Thank you.." Dix sputtered. "..that tar any further into the hospital. I'll requisition a complete new vitals kit for the squad and scrubs for you all right now." She gingerly moved around a puddle of ooze so she wouldn't get any onto her polished white nurse shoes as she took a step towards the ER phone. Right then, Kel's nose finally had had enough of all the fumes and he sneezed powerfully, raining a mist of fine tarry black all across Dixie's back. His face fell open in instant mortification when she hunched up her shoulders and froze the second she realized the stench in the room was somehow, now attached......to her. ---------------------------------------------------------- It was an hour later, a shower reddened doubled scrubbed set of paramedics met Dixie at her desk in the ER each carrying a small bundle wrapped in abdominal dressings. They paused as they all considered the reason why all three were wearing surgical garb. Then Dixie said, "What are those? "she asked cautiously. "If they're fossilized skulls. I don't wanna see them." Gage laughed. "These are just our badges and name tags, Dix. It's gonna take a whole lotta turpentine to clean these up. Cap's stood the whole station down for the rest of the afternoon, while we...detar ourselves and the vehicles." Roy sighed. "Well, there's a bit of a miracle working here. Charlie's not gonna see the mess we made of them." Johnny rolled his eyes in dread. "Oh, but you better believe he'll eventually find out about it through the department grapevine. Then there will be h*ll to pay for sure.." Dixie smiled craftily from her paperwork she was filling out to add a new set of stethoscopes, BP cuffs and laryngoscopes for the squad's vitals kit to go along with the airways and IV's they had used. "Sort of like the h*ll I have to pay for trashing the quarantine treatment room on a hospital inspection day?" Johnny's face fell in instant sympathy. "Oh, tell me that wasn't today.." "It was today.." Dixie parroted in weariness as she massaged her forehead. "Ooo," Johnny sucked through his teeth. "Well, next time the bunch of us falls into the LaBrea Tar Pits, I'll be sure to ask Brackett to reroute us to Mercy General instead of Rampart." "You're all heart.." Dixie said, without looking up. She made a face of disgust when she found tar, under one of her fingernails. "I hate to think what's rotted in this stuff." she said, hastily wiping the ooze away from her nail, not caring if her finger nail polish came away with it. Roy answered. "I think there was a museum display in there above us that said the pits contained millions of animals.. all from the Ice Age.." "Terrific.. and all I want is a can of java from the Modern one.." she grumbled. Johnny and Roy began to smile when they saw Vince, come to watch the very valuable sabre tooth's skull, arrive from down the hall with a laden brown paper bag in one arm. They glanced at each other in satisfaction and didn't say anything as the husky dark skinned officer harrumphed in his throat to get Dixie's attention from her paperwork. When she looked up, she noticed the bag in front of her. "What's this?" "Kelly Brackett asked me to pick this up for the main ER desk. Said something about needing it to control a possible caffeine withdrawal outbreak among the hospital staffers here.." he said straight faced. Dixie's hands shot out and she ripped away the paper.. "Coffee?!! Ohmyg*d.. I'll be right back.." and Dixie danced away from the desk, eagerly heading for the coffee lounge. "I--I.. thank you.. uh, thank Kel.. Uh.. oh, Vince? Don't go..Stay right there and I'll come back with mugs enough for all of you..!" McCall almost shouldered another staffer onto his butt when he kiddingly tried to take the rare covetted can from her grasp as he walked by. ------------------------------------------------------- Roy and Johnny walked into the station washroom where Chet was picking his wet curly hair carefully into shape while looking in the big mirror. Gage made a show of walking up to him and sniffing. "Hmm. Hey Chet, is that Ode de Swamp I'm smelling? It's very becoming.. " "Very funny, Gage.. Can't say that you and your smirking partner here smell any better..We had to scrub out the engine cab almost as much as you guys did the squad's. Cap's already tee'd that it's gonna take two hours for the three of us to get new turnout gear and helmets sent to us from headquarters." he broke off when Johnny pulled out a small slate colored object from his uniform pocket. "What's that?" "A fossilized Dire Wolf tooth. The museum project head coordinator was so grateful we rescued his best scientist from Pit 91, that he sent a box of fossils to the station just now for us to divide amongst ourselves." "Oh, then you won't mind sharing.." and Kelly snatched for the fang. Gage whipped it away before Chet's grab got there. "Ah, ah ah.. Go get your own.. This is for my tribal prayer sack. My aunt always used to say a token earned doing a heroic deed is very powerful medicine...." then he blinked. "Better hurry.. Marco was shovelling up the rest of the wolf teeth when I left the kitchen." "What?! Why didn't ya tell me sooner, pal? Thanks a lot.." and Chet Kelly ran out of the room. Roy chuckled and leaned over to shut off the water Chet had left running in the sink. "You're cruel, you know that Johnny." he grinned. "You could have told him that ALL the fossils were the more common Dire Wolf parts." "Yeah, but where's the fun for us in that? This way we got to watch him rabbit outta here." he said with a sideways grin. "It'll dry his hair a little faster." Roy rolled his eyes. "Come on, Junior. You can point out the skulls and parts you think my kids will like the best." "All right, Pally. I know good totems when I see them. Maybe now, our luck with the crazy day we've been suffering will change for the better." ------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : Engine 51 and squad 51 on a run. Photo : A tar covered victim. Photo : Lake of tar by a white high rise bank. Photo : Tar pit by a concrete pathway bridge. Photo : The inside of an under construction museum. Photo : Chet Kelly in his jacket. Photo : A close up of the slime in the LaBrea Tar Pits. Photo : Pit 91 Excavation and hard hatted diggers. Photo : Firemen struggling to pull a victim out of slime. Photo : Dixie making an embarrassed face. Photo : Two cans of Folgers coffee. *************************************** From: "Fran" TaleaOne@yahoo.com and a little bird. Subject : Three Dogs and a Cat.. Date : May 16th, 2003 20:29:07 CST Cap had picked up three wolves teeth just to look at them in horrified fascination. "You guys are nuts , you know that? I wouldn't want a million years old piece of dental tissue anywhere near me." "Come on, Cap. These are rare glimpses into history, man. They aren't bones. They're mineral deposits that bone left behind..Anybody who's anybody knows that." Kelly said, eyeballing two of the longest fossil fangs he could find out of the museum box. "These will go great with my shark's teeth. The chicks'll really dig em.." Lopez just rolled his eyes. Stoker didn't even look up from the sports page of his newspaper. The two of them left Cap to squirm on Kelly's questionably deep analysis. Hank said. "I know these aren't real. They just have to look real. And for your reference, my squeamishness isn't coming from me. It's my wife rubbing off." "Blame it on the wife. Sure.. We all know your hidden phobias.. Inspection days.. Doctors...Sore hands that are unexplained.." Chet remarked. Cap didn't dignify Kelly's jab with a comment. He just tossed the wolves teeth back into the middle of the table and he got up to wash his hands thoroughly with soap. "Don't you think you're going a little bit over board with the fossil phobia..?" Kelly said, relentlessly pursuing Cap. Hank deflected masterfully. "An hour ago you were eating fossils according to Johnny and Roy. And I can't imagine all that ancient goo tasted very good." he said scrubbing his fingers with some steel wool. "You got that right." Kelly said. "I think I'll be smelling that tar stuff in my moustache for at least a week. But getting back onto the subject. These beauties you're passing up don't stink.." he said, gesturing to the fossils the gang had lined up by size on the table top. Mike Stoker sensed a change in the feel of the station. He immediately pegged it when his glance towards the couch showed that Henry wasn't snoring there. "Hey fellas..Did anyone see Henry come back in from outside yet?" Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto came into the kitchen to see the guys rubbernecking around and searching for Henry. "What's up? Somebody drop one of those things?" he asked pointing to the ancient fossil teeth. "We lost a dog part all right. Henry.." Lopez said. "Oh, yeah?" Johnny said going for the coffee pot. Roy leaned against the counter, sipping the cup his partner handed him without saying anything. Cap wandered over to the kitchen window and cracked a blind. "He's still out there. Same as he was when we got that last call. He's a statue, still waiting for something." Roy rubbed his chin. "I wonder what he's up to?" "Oh, about a foot and a half.." Kelly quipped. Johnny made a face at Chet FOR Roy. "Kelly's too rich for me with all that scientific analysis and one liners. I'm gonna go take a shower. I can still smell tar in my hair. " Roy said and he left for the locker room. "Make it quick.. It's almost dinner time. You know what happens then. " Marco groaned. "Shhh, You'll jinx us.." Stoker hissed. "Gee Stoker. Haven't you noticed? We've been jinxed with the mother of all crazy days. How can things get any worse?" Kelly said. Hank just rubbed his face, knowing that Murphy's law was about to strike again. Five minutes later over saute-ing mushrooms and steak, the tones went off. The gang gulped down their coffee, snatched a roll or two and jogged for the squad and engine while the address came over the speakers. Johnny nearly choked on his when the house and street number were announced. "Cap... I don't believe this. That's Roy's house.." "What?" Hank said. "You've got to kidding.. I thought Joanne and the kids were at her mother's." "They are.." Johnny said, scrambling and slipping on the floor in his haste to take the driver's seat of the squad. Johnny's eyes shot to the locker room doorway where he knew Roy would be dashing through, still dripping. "What should we do?" "Don't tell him.." Cap said as he slammed his engine door shut as he belted in. "But he's gonna know when he sees I'm driving.." Cap snapped. "Then I suggest you break it to him gently.. Let's move.." Hank said as he watched Roy run in front of the engine and squad heading for the driver's door. Roy skidded to a halt when he saw Johnny there already. He didn't understand the look on Gage's face as he piled into the passenger seat. He opened his mouth when Johnny said. "I'll explain it on the way. Just get in the squad.." The garage door began to open in front of them as Johnny peeled rubber out onto the street. He was silent as he headed left onto the avenue. Roy asked. "Johnny? What's going on?" trying to sound unworried and casual. Gage didn't answer and pretended to be concentrating on the road in front of them. Roy's hand snaked out and snatched the piece of paper he knew would be in Johnny's pocket with the address of the call they were responding to. Gage tried to snatch it back and the squad almost swerved out of the lane and slowed to the point of making Mike hit the brakes a bit to avoid plowing into the squad's rear bumper. Cap's voice burst over the private band, truck to truck. ##Front and center up there. Sharpen up. Minds on the job, guys.## he snapped. Gage picked up the squad mic and apologetically replied, "Sorry, Stoker." and he hung it up again. Roy's face was just radiating out of his shock when he realized that their call was to his own house. "A fire?! I don't get it? Nobody's home.." "We'll know everything once we get there, Roy. Just stay calm." Johnny said, completely not that state himself. "I think I should be asking that same question of you. " Roy said agitatedly about Johnny's driving. "I shoulda known something like this was up the second I saw your butt in the driver's seat." "Lash at me all you like.. I don't care. This isn't gonna be fun. For any of us." Johnny whined. He turned the corner thatlead to the side street that crossed Roy's street and soon, they all saw the problem. The gang bailed out of the engine and rescue squad and Cap began to issue hose layout instructions and Stoker took the engine down the road to peel hose off the hose bed while Marco took a length to wrap around a hydrant to secure it for the pull. "I don't believe it..That's a brand new roof." Roy agonized. "Was at any rate." Chet remarked drolly as he began to release the hydrant valve with his wrench to screw on a hose connector. Roy's mouth was still hanging open at the sight of his own house on fire when his eyes fell on the sight of a utilities van parked and open a couple of houses down the street. "Oh, no.. Don't tell me.. The water company's here for a burst pipe." A rippling curse erupted out of Chet when he finally got the hydrant cap off the hydrant and only its metal ping hit the pavement without the sound of gushing water. "Dry hydrant, Cap!" he shouted. "What?!" said Johnny, Roy and Cap in triplicate. "Impossible!" "Look at this and tell me it's impossible.." Chet said defensively. Cap sighed in long suffering and got on his HT to the engine. "Stoker. Loop her back around. We gotta use the engine tanks. No water in the hydrants. Looks like the local utilities has them shut off. I'm also calling for immediate back up. Johnny, go in there with Lopez and start ventilating the second story." "What? You're gonna start ripping out my ceilings? Cap, the fire's not that bad yet.." Roy complained. "New roofing paper and shingles huh? Best kind of tinder.." Cap said. He returned to the engine cab and told L.A. exactly what they had and to turn off the power and the gas service to Roy's side of the street. Roy turned his eyes back onto the sight of his house burning. "Oh, man.. When I find out how this got started.." Vince Howard pulled up in the squad car and dragged out an errant nine year old boy that Roy recognized. DeSoto hissed. "Butch, don't tell me. A tennis ball can launcher and lighter fluid.." "What's that?" Cap asked. "A thing the kids are doing nowdays. Homemade rockets which shoot tennis balls off from their cans like a cannon ball in a cannon." Roy said aiming a glare at the defiant neighborhood boy. Vince nodded his head. "It's all over his clothes and the dispatcher said that it was this little guy who called it in. Probably because he thought it would get him off easy." Roy sighed. "But how are we gonna get off easy? Meanwhile, my roof's burning through to the rest of the house." "Take it easy, Roy. The other tanker station's only two minutes from here." Hank reassured his more than agitated paramedic. "No.." DeSoto said, thinking of something else as he panicked. "Yes.." Cap and Johnny reassured him. As yet, Marco and Johnny hadn't moved from the street. They were too worried about Roy. "Wait!" Roy said, trying to come up with a solution to their burning roof with no water problem. "What?" Cap and Johnny and Vince asked. "There's a pond next door. Can we rig a water pump to it to extend the gallons we got?" Roy asked Cap. "I don't know. Stoker knows what the engine can or can't do that way." "How about a helicopter water drop?" Johnny asked seriously. "In the city?!" Cap and Roy both exclaimed incredulously. "I'm trying to help us out here!" Johnny said in defiance, removing his helmet and running fingers through his hair. Roy said. "I know that.. I'm trying, too, but I'm freaking out so bad I can't think straight." "Why did you think Cap had me drive?" Gage said. "Hey, Gage. You insisted on driving. "Cap interjected. "Point fingers where the blame really is." he said with a half grin, the first since the crazy call went out. Just then, a part of the roof caved in, dragging all of their attentions back to the urgent matter at hand. "Cap..." Roy whined. Cap lifted his HT. "Station 51 to Station 127. What's your ETA? Our fire may be burning through to the second story." Roy quailed. "Oh, no.. The second story? That's all our bedrooms. All those toys! All those antiques we had in the attic! Gone!" Roy said, running fingers through his thinning hair. "Don't worry, Roy.." Lopez said, jogging by with another hose stretched out to run to Truck 127 when she got there. "That's what homeowner's insurance is for." "I don't wanna have to sue the fire department for negligence to cover all this.." Roy panicked again. "You can sue the fire department?" Kelly asked. "No.." Cap said. "Yes." Stoker said. "Wait!" "What?!" said all of them. "My house is still burning here.." Roy said. "We know that.." "Well, let's get cracking.." DeSoto snapped. Roy started to go towards the house to begin the ventilating it when Cap stopped him. "You're sitting this one out. You're in no shape to handle any of this.." "What do you mean I'm not in any shape to handle this?" DeSoto said, pulling free of Cap's grip on his jacket. "It's my house." "Exactly.." Cap said. "Stay here.. Tell Truck 127 what's going on when they get here. Let's go you three. Looks like no SCBA's are needed yet." and he and Johnny and Marco dashed into the house to see what they could do with fire hooks and axes to slow the progress of the growing roof fire to keep it from getting into the walls. Cap trusted Johnny to know the rooms and where the stairwell was to the upper floor. He and Marco followed Gage, taking the stairs two at a time to where the smoke was billowing through the ceiling. It had not yet broken through from the attic to the rooms below. A thick curtain of smoke hung near the floor however and it brought a thought to Johnny's mind. "Oh, no. Cap. What kinda pets does Roy's kids have?" "A cat. I think." Cap said. "A cat?" "Yeah." Marco replied. "I don't know cats very well. What would they do in a fire?" Johnny asked. "They'd hide.." Cap said. "Ours hides during thunderstorms." "Smoke's real thick. Roy's kids'll be real upset if we let this roof fire kill him with smoke." Gage said with a pained expression. "What do you expect me to do?" Cap said. "The house comes first." "Cap, I can look for him.." Marco said. "You and Johnny can stay in here and see what you can pull down to slow the fire up there.." "Sounds like a plan. Keep a lifeline on ya.." Cap said. "What's his name?" Marco shouted over the noise Johnny was making as he pulled down a part of the ceiling that felt hot and ready to catch fire. "What's who's name?" Cap asked. "The cat's." "Calico.." "Calico, like the horse from the kid books?" "Yeah.." Marco set off through the knee deep smoke with his fire hook. "I'll tug if I need ya.." said Lopez, shouting behind him as he hurried down the hall. He left Johnny and Cap where they were and he set off to the first room at the end of the long passageway. It was a girl's room. Marco felt the door there carefully before he opened it. He also swept a foot through the thick smoke hanging on the floor searching for a litter box to give him a hint where the cat might favor as a hiding place. He didn't feel the door was anything other than room temp so Marco opened it. "Calico? Here boy. You in here?" Lopez rushed into the room, tipping over the kid's desk and desk chair, and the kid's bed, looking for the cat. "Calico?" He stumbled over a Barbie's Airplane Stewardess Playset. He kicked it aside. He ripped the curtains down to make more evening sunlight cast into the room. "Hey..Gato. It's time to leave.." On a thought, Marco deemed it safe enough to open wide the bedroom window where he was, to provide a way out should Roy's kid's cat be still in the little girl's room he had found. Marco turned around and went for a second door. Roy's master bedroom. Lopez couldn't help but smile when his attempt to flip the bed in his search revealed that the piece of furniture he held was actually a water bed. ::Joanne's wish no doubt.:: He only blinked once when he ripped the sheets and pillows off of it looking for Calico, when a silky fire engine red teddy drifted down from off his gloves. Marco gulped in ultimate embarrassment and he stuttered. "C-Calico. Come on, kitty.. Get out here. Daddy's outside.." Lopez again cracked a window open safely and left. The last room on the right side was Chris's room. Marco again felt the door frame for heat and opened it carefully, hugging the wall. He entered and immediately heard a rustling that couldn't be explained by anything else other than a burrowing cat. "Where are you?" Lopez said moving towards the sound. The sound stopped and the smoke rose higher up Marco's legs. It wasn't yet hot enough for the smoke to rise to the ceiling. Marco got on his HT. "HT 51 to Engine 51." he hailed, knowing that Cap would answer from down the hall. ##Go ahead.## "Found him. He's in the third room on the right. The boy's room. Somewhere.." ##Johnny'll be right there. He's following your rope.## Marco saw Gage appear almost instantly since the paramedic knew the layout of Roy's house very well. "Where is he? This smoke's getting kinda thick by this carpetting." "Over here somewhere. Thought I heard some rustling.." Both Gage and Lopez dug around the murky layer of smoke hanging above the floor and they tossed aside.. a base ball bat, a jumping ball, a tinker toy tower, and a toy fire engine that blasted its airhorn in their faces when it took to the air. Johnny and Marco smirked at that one, then turned to the business at hand. "Calico?" Their gloves swept the floor beneath where the pile of kid's toys had been and hit a body. "Found him." Gage said, lifting up the limp cat. Marco and Johnny looked up at a knocking on their window. It was a man from Truck 127 on a ladder leading up to them. "And there's Calico's ticket outta this smoke." Lopez said, cradling the unconscious cat in his arms. Johnny opened the bedroom window and handed Calico out to the masked fireman on the ladder. "You two, ok in there? I saw the flying toys. Thought you might need a hand." said the man from County. "We're fine. Take this cat. He belongs to one of our firefighter's kids." "He breathing?" "Don't know." Johnny handed out the limp Calico to the ladder man and briefly saw him set his airmask over Calico's face before the billowing blue curtains shut. Gage and Lopez reversed their direction and got out of the house, knowing that Cap was now coordinating what Engine 51 and Truck 127 could do with their two water supplies to combat the roof fire. Cap decided things looked good. The fire had stayed in the attic. Down on the street, Roy saw a familiar station wagon drive up. "Joanne! " he shouted and he left the curbside to softened the blow for her and the kids of seeing their house smoking and receiving two firehoses worth of water into the attic story. Joanne and Roy's kids met in a tight knot of hugs as they caught up on events and soon his daughter piped up. "Daddy, did Calico get out?" Roy honestly didn't know. And he kicked himself for not thinking of him sooner. Right then, a ladder man from Truck 127 walked up and said, "I believe he belongs to you, little miss.." he said with a grin. "Calico..." Roy's daughter sobbed and she gathered up the smoky, now awake cat into her arms and started crying. Roy's paternal and paramedic instincts both kicked in. "There. Looks like he's all right. Why don't you let daddy check him out. Looks like Uncle Johnny's already got some 02 and a plastic sheet already set out for him.." Roy said to his relieved family to calm them down even more. He helped his daughter carry Calico over to the squad for his smoke inhalation treatment. Cap nodded with satisfaction as he watched Johnny examine and give Calico some 02 to help him recover faster from his near suffocation. He tapped Roy on the shoulder. "Looks good.." "No, it still looks bad.." Roy grinned about the house. Cap grinned, too. "The fire's completely out. We're just moving in some ppv's to clear out the smoke in there. The stuff never got downstairs at all so there's very light smoke damage. And only the attic rafters and the roof burned. We were lucky this time.." "Yeah. I guess so. I had those attic timbers treated last fall with fire retardant." "Good thing.." Cap nodded. "Take your time here. I called us out with Station 127 until the cleanup's complete. And I made sure those hose guys are keeping the water damage to a minimum.." "Appreciate it, Cap." "No problem.. Do you need a place for you, Joanne and the kids to stay tonight? I've heard Johnny's place is a little too small." "Nah, I think I'll take em to a hotel. A Howard Johnson's with a swimming pool. We might as well turn this whole thing into a mini vacation." "Sounds like a plan." Cap said. "Your cat ok?" "Yeah, Johnny's just ventilating him a bit before Joanne takes him to the vet's for a checkup." "ok, pal. Sorry this crazy day had to turn out like this, but if your roof had to catch fire, this is the best outcome. I'll be right back for your scene info on what you know of this Butch kid and his fondness for incendiaries." Roy's face fell into annoyance and anger for only two seconds before the sight of his daughter and Chris hugging Calico wiped it away. --------------------------------------------------------- All the guys, including Roy had just cleaned up in the bathrooms when Chet noticed something drifting in the air behind him while he teased his curly hair into shape with his pick. It was a white feather of all things. "What th-?" he exclaimed. "Hey guys, get in here. Either we got another pigeon in the roof top ventilation fan or somebody here's suddenly moulting flight feathers.." Cap and the gang came, half dressed from the locker room into the bathroom. Chet pointed to yet another feather drifting down into the still night air. All of their jaws slacked open and they all began to follow the trail of fallen feathers slowly. The trail ended up in the bunkroom. "Oh, no..." Kelly exclaimed. "Not again..! Where am I gonna sleep tonight...?" he asked. The gang cracked up when they saw a sleeping exhausted pile of three very familiar dogs amid shredded sheets, blankets and a pillow lying on Chet's bunk, haphazardly. "Bonnie? Boot?" Cap asked. "What are they doing here?" Johnny cracked up. "Well now we know what Ol Henry was up to earlier this afternoon. Looks like he wanted a slumber party or something and all that baying was just invitation.. Our little mystery is solved." The gang tiptoed out to let Henry and his friends nap in peace. They could swear all three were grinning. Roy said, "Come on, Chet. Let's go grab some coffee." "Hang on, hang on. Guys, we still got a little problem here. Where am I gonna sleep tonight?" Gage said. "I dunno. How about you taking over... Henry's place.." The gang cracked up as they left Chet to frown over the three snoozing, liberally feathered dogs. "What a crazy day.." Kelly mumbled, but finally he began to chuckle. "Henry, I know how you feel. I could have been tarred...and feathered today if you had not waited an hour or two. Oh, well. See you guys in the morning.." He quietly shut off the bunkroom main light as he left. Chet Kelly shuffled off to the kitchen, kicking through the fallen layer of soft white feathers like a kid through autumn leaves. ------------------------------------- Photos : None. ****************************** FIN :) This episode is dedicated to Calico the cat, a loyal :) and faithful friend to one. And to Spice, another warm and loving cat who's left this earth for the spirit world. May they both smile reading this episode. :) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season One, Episode Eight.. The Promise **************************************** From : "Roxy Dee" Subject : Working Like a Dog.. Date : Thu, 22 May 2003 23:00:35 +0000 It was nine o'clock. Johnny Gage flew into the locker room whistling up a storm. He was happy. He saw his partner, still carefully unfolding his uniform socks like he usually did each morning. He was sitting on the bench with his back to him and hadn't yet noticed Johnny's arrival. Gage he couldn't resist playing shave and a haircut over Roy's upper back and ribcage with a few well placed finger drums in areas that sounded off musically. On the last two notes of 'six pence,' Roy's chest echoes sounded off pitch sour and they made the blond haired paramedic cough in response. Johnny frowned. "Ooo, Roy. You still got that bad cold? You sound covered in your left lung, lower quadrant." Roy just looked up and rolled his eyes. "It's not pneumonia, just a little smoke inhalation from that fire two days ago. You know as well as I do that I've been cleared for duty. And it's not a bad cold. Bad colds on me always hit me in the sinuses, not my chest. You don't need to paramedic me to death over it. I always know how I'm doing by how I feel. And besides I sound a little bubbly, Dr. Early tells me, because I'm a fireman." he grinned. "Not like this.." Johnny said, thumping over Roy's back once again over the tattle tailing area with more raps. He dropped his hands into a tickling mode, attacking his partner's waist on both sides. That made Roy cough liquidly when he laughed as he shifted ticklishly away to avoid him. It soon set off a jag that got fairly violent. "Uh, huh.. Not sitting in your chest, eh?" Gage said challengingly with his hands angled on his hips. "I'll just bet this is bronchitis setting in. I can almost hear the precursors of rales from here, even bare eared." "So now you're my self appointed doctor, too?" Roy smirked, spitting up some phlegm into a tissue that he produced out of his shirt pocket. He balled it up and threw it away into a waste bucket nearby. "No, I'm not your doctor. Just being a lookout." he said seriously, still thinking about what he had found on his friend. "Yeah, well. I'll do anything to stop you from attacking me with your trademark tickle assessment. You know I hate that. Took forever to get the kids to stop doing it and something tells me you'll be even harder to train to break ya of the habit." He said frankly, tying his shoes neatly. "I can't miss another day of work since I got major bills to pay. Joanne's amniocentesis tests alone were three hundred forty dollars. Tell you what, I'll work some O2 off the resuscitator before breakfast until the congestion eases to where you want it. Will that make you feel better?" he grinned in good natured compliance. John clapped his hands in celebrative success. "Sure would, Pally. Don't wanna have to report ya to Cap trying to sneak to work early, still afflicted with water lung. Just as long as I can follow up afterwards with a stethoscope for a listening or two." he added, putting on a winning smile when Roy rolled his eyes at the added black mail. "We can sneak the apparatus into the bunk room so Cap won't hear you using it. I'll tell him you... " Johnny said hunting for an excuse.. "...cut yourself shaving or something." Roy chuckled. "That explains why I'll be late for breakfast. What's your excuse?" "Me? " Johnny gestured expansively. "Well, you know how I always break my shoelaces. I do believe I broke both of them this morning, one right after the other for trying to dress too fast yet again." he lied. Roy got up from the bench as he threw on his shirt and left through the door to go make his bunk up for the day. "Sounds good." "Don't tuck your uniform in until we're through." Johnny shouted after him. "I'll be right there!" "Yes, mother.." DeSoto teased as he walked past Chet, who was working out with barbells in front of the engine on a mat. Kelly stopped when he overheard Johnny's comment. Then he grinned when he figured it out. "Another smoky chest cover up?" "Must be to Johnny. I feel fine." Roy complained. "So I'll play along. Don't want his sticking like a tick syndrome to last all day." "Yeah, know what you mean. I feel sorry for all the victims you guys treat in the field. They have to put up with Gage for the duration, when they're not feeling too hot to boot." Chet puffed, beginning another set of arm lifts from his stomach to his chin. Roy smirked in quiet amusement at Kelly's unique view of paramedics. "They seem to get better faster if I let him be the primary assessor. Why else do you think I'm always starting the IV's?" Chet just shuddered. "Remind me to never get hurt or sick when Gage's on duty, ok? That scenario's just too unpleasant to even contemplate." he kidded. "Ditto.." Roy said moving into the sleeping room. "It's gonna take me all day to convince him that I'm not infectious here." his voice admitted, wafting out of the doors before they closed off his echoing reply. Gage immediately stopped whistling as he entered the vehicle bay and he tip toed to the squad's side compartment to open it. Then he reached inside after seeing the coast was clear. He noticed Chet working out nearby, breathing heavily with effort under the barbells in a difficult butterfly exercise. "Kelly, you're blind for thirty seconds.." he said without preamble. "As a bat.." Kelly said, straight faced and cooperative. "I'll even deflect Cap if we have to rapid stow it if a call goes out." Gage double glanced in surprise but said "..'kay.." to instantly cover it. ::How the heck did Chet figure that out so fast..:: he thought. Then he shrugged. ::I can live with Kelly being no obstacle for once. Something tells me I'd better take advantage of it.:: "Let me know where they are on cooking, would ya?" "I'll be the cleverest man alive." Chet promised. Johnny gingerly lifted out the O2 and jammed a burn blanket packet or two against the usually clangy oxygen cylinder so he could wheel it into the bunk room for Roy to use. Another hand, cracked open the trauma kit where it sat in the compartment rack, and he reached in and groped around until he found the balled up stethoscope by feel alone. Two seconds later, the squad was resealed up and Gage disappeared into the depths of the bunk room after Roy. Kelly kept one ear on the kitchen door for sounds of activity. He heard Stoker throw a few strips of bacon on the counter top fryer. "My.. that bacon smells good. Gimme six Stoker. I'm really working up an appetite out here.." He shouted to the gang gathered in the kitchen. "So's Johnny and Roy. They'll be right in to butter the toast.." Johnny winced at Chet's lack of subtleness and cringed. ::Thank goodness, Cap doesn't get scheme sharp until he has his coffee and I'm not smelling any of that brewing yet.:: "Here.. Roy.." he hissed in a whisper, parking the O2 where Roy was leaning over making his bed up with neat hospital corners. "Better hurry. Kelly says the bacon's on." Roy turned and surprised his partner when he had a still snoozing Bonnie draped over his forearm. "Maybe we outta use some of that 02 on her." he joked. "Even bacon's not rousing her outta her sleep this morning. Found her snoring away on my pillow." "I'm not surprised. She must've chased after hundreds of Kelly's off target soft ball pitches in the yard yesterday while we practiced." Johnny chuckled, taking the sleeping Yorkie from Roy so he could begin his self treatment off the mask. Roy took a pull off the O2, coughing when he felt the cool oxygen work its way down through the raspy tight spots in his left lung. "About time you guys started in. The tournament's next week." Johnny scoffed and not mildly. "We woulda started sooner if you hadn't changed your mind about joining the team." Roy sucked in another breathful of oxygen and coughed to force it out again. "You know I couldn't be a part of the games this year. Both kids are entering the little leagues. I've got games of my own to go to." John reconsidered as he stroked the sleeping Bonnie's head and straightened the red ribbon tied on a lock there. "I see your point. They come first." he said gently. He adjusted Bonnie's head on his arm so her loud snoring eased off into light sighs and he wandered over to the desk to give her a good brushing over with her wire brush. "I might as well get her cared for, too, while I can still get away with it." he said. Roy laughed. "Smart move, doing it now while she's still dead to the world. Didn't she almost take off your finger at the second knuckle last time you tried to brush her?" Johnny set shushing fingers over his lips as he sat down on Roy's bed to work her over cautiously like a barber with a barely contained powder keg. "Just keep busy over there." Gage whispered. "I'm watching ya closely. Breathe in deeper, you're not getting enough alveolially." he snapped in irritation that was completely faked. DeSoto complied with drawing in lungfuls so big, that his ribs cracked in protest, just to tease Gage. Johnny's mock stern expression likewise shattered into a bubbling look of you-got-me back. Laughing to himself, Roy thought. ::Some day, Junior.. You're going to be an absolutely wonderful father. I'll make sure to give you plenty of contact with the kids so you can hone those skills even more.:: Bonnie remained oblivious to Johnny's ministrations where she lay like a rag doll on her back across the beige bedspread, still snoring softly. ------------------------------------------------------ Mike Stoker barely glanced up from his cooking when another odd breakfast comment from Kelly out in the bay floated in to him. "Man, is he being a little too obvious or what?" he whispered to Marco, who was arranging fruit into a wooden bowl for the table. "Yeah.." Lopez agreed. "I wonder what Gage and DeSoto are up to." They both shot glances at Cap, who remained unaware of anything out of the ordinary as he opened the morning mail while he watched the daily morning show on the television set. He cut his finger on the edge of an envelope and cursed until Stoker whistled aloud to get his attention. Mike tossed the metal envelope opener Hank had left on the table earlier, back over through the air to him. "Thanks, pal. I'll get a bandaid for this later." Captain Stanley continued to pour over the bills while Marco and Stoker kept nervously watching the door for the tardy Roy and Johnny. ----------------------------------------------------------- "Wait a minute. Wait a minute.You're back a day early because of an amniocentesis bill?" Johnny asked belatedly. Roy nodded reluctantly. Shy. "You mean to tell me you two are expecting again and you didn't bother to tell any of us about it?" Roy pulled away the O2 mask sheepishly. "What's to tell? I-I..I mean, a new baby on the way isn't all that important an event to even share here at work. Especially with this being our third." "Whatdiya mean not important, Roy? You're forgetting that we all didn't know ya yet when your other two kids were born. Thanks for excluding us from the news, buddy. Makes us feel real welcome and chummy here." Johnny complained. Roy played with the resuscitator in his hands. "Sorry. Didn't think you, or any of the guys would be interested in family matters." Johnny scoffed as he put away Bonnie's brush and began the long task of untangling her head ribbon and rubber band to replace them with a brand new red one, all without disturbing her rest. "How can we not be interested in your life, Roy? We know about Marco's sweet little enchilada cooking mother. And Chet's prankster sister and Cap's nagging wife..." To each, Roy nodded honestly. But then Gage spoke again. "And and..and you guys even get to hear all about my dates I go on every week." Roy didn't say out loud what he was thinking. ::Yeah, we sure do. Intimate details of all fifteen crash and burns logged to date in Johnny's little black book. :: What he actually said out loud was. "Didn't think you wanted to know about things like that. The pregnancy with new baby thing's kinda boring to anyone who's not married." "So.. What's that got to do with anything? So what if Stoker, Marco, me and Chet are still swinging single. We can still care about our crewmates AND their wives. Geesh. Give us the benefit of a doubt. We're friends, aren't we?" "I get constantly reminded of that." DeSoto quipped, hefting up the flowing O2 mask he still had in his hands. "So tell us all about how Joanne and the baby are doing over breakfast when we're through here." he suggested.. " or I'm gonna break the good news FOR ya." Gage said, putting on his stethoscope. "Now lean over with your elbows on your knees and fold your T shirt up. I'm gonna listen to ya while you're taking that in some more." Roy went through the whole rigmorale, breathing when ordered and holding his breath too, as Johnny got aural information of how his left lung was faring under the cleansing onslaught of the O2 treatment. Another minute went by with an edge of dizzyness setting in from the rich air intake, when Johnny announced. "Ok, you're through. That crackling's gone for now. We'll do this same thing tonight before lights out and maybe post rescue once more if we have to go into a fire today." he said in full medical mode. "If you say so. Bye.." Roy said, tossing down the mask. He scrubbed Bonnie's sleeping head once and made haste for the kitchen and the food that was a becoming a serious siren's call in his nostrils. "Hey! Aren't you gonna help me clean up here?" Johnny protested, indicating Bonnie's hairy brush, abandoned old ribbon and the O2 apparatus. "Nope." --------------------------------------------------------------- Roy was halfway through emptying his plate when Johnny ambled in distractedly for his own morning meal. Marco and Stoker immediately began motions of drawing rings around their necks at Gage and looking urgent. Roy frowned, not immediately catching on and his active chewing slowed. His crewmates broke off their antics immediately when Cap came over from the rec side of the room to sit down in his customary chair by the station wall phone. Johnny was retrieving his eggs eagerly from the pan on the stove, so he missed all the warning hints from the rest of the gang. Roy missed them, too, still intent on smothering the hunger pains in his stomach that had been sharpened by his use of the O2. It was too late when Roy finally noticed what Marco and Stoker and Chet had been frantically hinting about. Cap didn't even blink when his eyes caught it. He glanced down again to fill his empty plate. "Nice stethoscope round your neck there, Johnny. Just be sure to have whoever it is you saw just now, run by Rampart on your next resupply for a doctor's check up to confirm what you ruled in or out." "Uh," Johnny stammered. He hastily pulled off the tattling device and coiled it up onto the table guiltily. "Yessir.." "And next time. I wanna know about it, too. First, before anyone else when you decide to examine someone for signs of trouble." Johnny nodded, rendered mute with instant remorse. Roy admitted. "He was looking at me, Cap. Tamped lung. We've just cleared it out with O2." Johnny and Chet and Marco and Stoker all glared at Roy for blowing their carefully crafted cover. Cap just kept on chewing. "Glad we got one honest fireman here this morning. Gage you got the can detail later for hiding him from me." "Aw, Cap.." Roy immediately protested. "It's not his fault. I just couldn't stay home another day without pay. My sick leave was all used up when I got electrocuted a month ago while that trainee was here. If you punish anyone, punish me. It's my fault for not levelling with ya on the phone last night when ya called on how I was doing." "Ok. You got mop detail. Vehicle AND kitchen floors. And the next time you stifle a physical symptom from me or Gage, you'll get a formal reprimand, is that clear?" Cap said. "Y-Yes sir.." DeSoto nodded, not daring to chew. "Last thing I need is a weakness in the man power chain I don't know about, Roy. I thought you guys knew well enough to tell me ahead of time whenever someone's not feeling one hundred percent ship shape so I can make plans for safety to cover for ya." "Sorry, Cap. I was thinking about my paycheck and not my own well being for a bit there." "Oh... New baby on the way, eh?" Cap said, immediately dropping his disciplinarian air. All the guys around the table just about choked on their eggs. "What? Why did ya keep us in the dark about it?" "Roy, that's terrific.." "Wow.. number three." "What do ya want this time? A boy or girl?" Roy held up defensive hands to those upset by not finding out sooner. "I- I- I just didn't think anyone would be interested, that's all, so pipe down and stop looking like I kept a secret from ya. Cap. How did you know we were pregnant here?" "I did the same hiding symptoms stunt with my captain when I had pregnancy check up bills to pay too. Only I tried to hide a sore shoulder and not a phlegmy chest. How IS he doing, Gage? Give it to me straight." Hank said, glaring at Johnny, piercingly changing the subject. "Just fine, Cap." Johnny mewed. "Now.." he glared at Roy. DeSoto threw up his hands. "Glad we're so chummy. I'm fine. Joanne's fine. Baby number three's fine. So can we get back to eating now that the hard talk and the small talk's over? I'm starving here." Cap's eyebrows rose in amusement. "Don't let me stop ya.." Arff! barked Bonnie as she arrowed into the kitchen after the scent of bacon. Cap noticed her new hairdo. "Ohmyg*d. Gage.. Pigtails? She looks like one of the Dale Singers from Hee Haw.." "Well... I had to make my move while she was still out. I was rushing a little. Had to watch her and Roy, too. You can always try and cut em off while she's eating but I don't think you'll get anything by her now that she's conscious. Heh." "I didn't need watching.." Roy complained. "Yes you did.." Cap and Gage said together. They both eyeballed each other and Johnny cleared his throat uncomfortably, despite of the fact that Cap's and his thoughts about Roy's health status being identical. Right then, full response tones rippled out of the overhead speaker. "Saved by the bell.." Gage mumbled, heading for the door. He was jogging for the garage full tilt when Bonnie barked to remind him to pick up something he had forgotten. Johnny skidded back to his seat long enough to grab an armful of fruit to hand out to the guys and his bundled stethoscope. Cap's authoritative voice rang out. "Roy, if this is a fire call, you're on the engine pumps. Stoker'll take your place until you're needed with any medical emergencies." DeSoto sighed and just nodded. But his humor was intact. "Does this mean I'll get the engineer's rate of pay?" "Funny man.." Hank hollered back from the alcove as he wrote down the response call's address and type. "I'll see what I can swing for you.." The gang fell silent as they geared up into turncoats and piled into the engine and squad for the roll out as Sam outlined details of the current soon to be reality run. ## Station 14, Battalion 9, Station 8, Station 51. Foam Truck 127, Battalion 14. Truck overturn and structure collapse. Pacific Coast Highway and Ventura Freeway. PCH and Ventura Freeway. Mile Marker 16. FD on scene reports freon is involved. Timeout 09:23.## "Oh, great.." Cap groaned sarcastically when he heard what chemical had been spilled. The run would be a major nightmare. "Station 51, KMG 365.." Hank acknowledged on the radio before hanging it up again onto its spigot. "Ok, gang. You heard the man. Let's roll. Get ready to gear up full SCBA and chem suits. No doubt Haz Mat's gonna be meeting us there." He caught one of the oranges Gage threw at him to eat on the way and three more for Chet, Stoker and Lopez. He began peeling Mike's to give to him piece by piece while he drove so none of them would have to go tackle a major rescue while hungry. --------------------------------------------------------- When Station 51 arrived on scene, their jaws literally slacked opened. They couldn't believe what their eyes were telling them. One look explained it all. A huge storage tower, toppled from a roadside construction site had landed on top of the freeway. One of the worst motorist reactions Cap and the gang could see had been from a semi driver, whose rig skidded forty five to the right angle and had impacted the concrete viaduct crossing over the PCH. That bridge was now partially collapsed on top of the tower and truck. Luckily, only three cars were involved, but many many construction personnel were either DOA or only slightly injured. It looked like a triage area was only just starting. Hank spied Batallion 14, set up a safe distance away from the chemical smoking collapse scene. He was uncharacteristically in full SCBA and suit gear carrying a plastic wrapped HT in one hand. He was issuing commands from his car's mic in the other over the loud horn and radio frequency to all the arriving units. ##Station 51. Approach upwind to the north side. Use the right most emergency lane. CHP reports it's been cleared of fatalities. A construction site manager is claiming they have one of their men missing. See if you can locate that victim, then assist Truck 127 in laying down a protective foam over that semitrailer. The driver reports it's carrying liquid freon. We're still determining what other chemicals were stored in the tower. Stay clear of all visible spills and keep your air masks on at all times. Move any effected victims one half mile clear before rendering aid. Think of yourselves first. This is a Hazardous Triage Priority Protocol Scene.## ##Station 51, 10-4, Battalion 14.## Hank replied. Captain Stanley issued secondary commands to his engine crew and squad paramedics. Soon, they were all masked and roped and hose geared, walking cautiously, deep into the frightening grip of a full fledged, highly dangerous disaster scene. Chet's face was devoid of any light hearted mischief and he was all working firefighter in a way that rivalled Stoker's usual quiet professionalism. Roy began to wish he had stayed at home with Joanne's late first trimester nausea. Soon something happened that got Roy and Johnny's and Marco's immediate attention. A man was........ ------------------------------------------------ Photo : Bonnie with a red ribbon. Photo : Roy and Johnny listen by the ER drugcase. Photo : A water tower down in a parking lot. Photo : An overturned semi under a highway bridge. Photo : Johnny and Roy with tanks on. ******************************** From : "Cassidy Meyers" Subject : In Deep Date : Mon, 30 Jun 2003 22:00:43 +0400 Tandem post with Leoseven@msn.com "John Allen" and Killashandrarey@hotmail.com "Cassidy Meyers" via email tennis. Acknowledgements to P. Keiper NREMT for Freon Consult in the Theater Files and Symptomology. .......staggering toward them, from about 50 yards away obviously dazed and confused. Just as Roy and Johnny started jogging over to the injured man, a call came over the HT. ##Engine 51 to HT 51. Marco, this is Cap. I need you with me.."## "10-4 Cap, I'm gum on your shoe." Marco replied. Lopez and the sunlit glow of his yellow bottle disappeared deeper into the tangle of fallen metal struts under the rising debris dust cloud surrounding them. Johnny looked at Roy, shaking his head, and gave him a look as if to say 'where does he get these expressions?' as they jogged over to the disoriented man. Roy and Johnny reached the stricken man just in time to each grab an arm to keep him from falling down backwards, as he blacked out. "Whoa there, we gotcha." Johnny reassured him, shouting through his SCBA and facemask. Roy and Johnny cradled his upper body and head deftly. The two fire fighters exchanged a look in mutual recognition that they had once again been in the right place at just the right time but as quickly, their expressions died away into those of fear. A nearby high pitched hissing made Gage and DeSoto break out into a sweat. "Let's get him outta here." Roy said urgently. Johnny gave a head nod of silent agreement and they began moving with the man to a far safer, upwind location. Other firemen joined them from the road in carrying him to a hastily erected triage location as they hurried out of the immediate area. They neared the squad and the engine and Cap came jogging over to them. "Johnny, Roy. Where'd you find this man?" Cap inquired with concern, shouting through his air mask. "He just appeared about a 150 yards back that way." Roy replied, motioning with his head over to the spot where they had seen him first. "I'll just bet he's our missing construction crewman. Let me know when and if he regains consciousness. He might be able to clear up matters faster than I can." Cap ordered. "Sure thing, Cap." Roy replied as they laid the man down on a tarp that had been placed on the dirt for them by Marco. Roy proceeded to check the limp man's vitals and breathing status while Johnny went to grab the gear. Cap clicked on his HT. "Engine 51 to L.A." ##Go ahead 51.## "On report of a missing construction worker, we have located one male, alive, but unconscious. Please advise construction foreman and get a description so we can verify that we have their man, over." Hank shouted through his SCBA. ## 10-4, Engine 51, we copy your advisement and will transmit description as soon as we have it.## "Copy L.A." Through somewhat squinted eyes, Captain Hank Stanley surveyed the scene and shook his head. Teams of firefighters waited at the edge of the accident scene while Hazmat crews and trucks swarmed over the tangle of twisted tower and truck, searching for other hot spots and freon sources. He saw one hazmat team gesture quickly for a hose team to wash down a pile of seagreen canisters that had tumbled out of the tipped over semi. Almost immediately he saw a curt double hand signal go out about two fatalities they had located by the truck and Hank felt a thrill of horror shoot through him even though he couldn't see anything from where he stood. "What a mess." he expressed with noted dismay and a hint of frustration.. Roy and Johnny were busy assessing the fallen man thought to be their missing worker. "Johnny, Roy? How is our mystery man doing?" Cap asked, looking away from the involved overpass and viaduct and back towards his men. Just then the man on the tarp began to regain consciousness where he lay on his side. "Sir, can you hear me?" Johnny asked as he caught the man's head in his gloves as he groggily rolled over onto his back. The man coughed and gasped for air as he awoke. "Y-" *cough* "Yes." replied the man. "Wh-?" he frowned at the sight of fully masked firemen kneeling over him. Roy spoke up. "Do you remember what happened to you? " "uhh-hg.." their victim moaned. "Sir, we need to know if anyone else was with you. Where were you? We've a site boss looking for a lost employee." Johnny said, leaning over into the man's face, holding his shoulders down so he couldn't rise. "And we have to find him A.S.A.P." DeSoto added. Something of Roy's urgency communicated to the man and he spoke again, but in a slow slur. "I-I was standing over by the water tower, over there." the man said confusedly in his half out state. Johnny grabbed an O2 mask from a resuscitator tank a backup fireman in a hazmat suit had left by them only moments ago. He strung it, and set it around the man's head. "Sir, this oxygen'll help you out a lot. Just try to breathe this in evenly. Not too fast." The distressed man nodded, gripping the mask eagerly in trembling fingers and he struggled to breathe calmly. Gage shook his head and mumbled to himself. "Come on, wake up." Johnny looked up at Roy and tried a different way to get their badly needed information. "Sir, we know you're still groggy but we have to find out more about what happened around you. Others' safety may depend on it. What were you doing when the accident happened?" Still lying on his back, the man pointed wearily toward the place where Johnny and Roy had first seen him appear. But he didn't speak. He began to sag into a stupor. Gage grabbed a fold of skin on the man's neck and pinched firmly. "Hey,...Sir, were there any other people near you when the tower fell?" asked Johnny loudly. The pain roused the man. "No. *Cough* I was alone. By a construction trailer?" he puzzled, his memory proving unclear. Roy set a glove on the man's shoulder. "Ok, just try to relax. We're paramedics with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. We're gonna check you out to make sure you're ok, all right?" The oxygen was doing its job and the man was into better color and mental clarity. This time, the nod of understanding came sooner. Roy began. "Sir, do you still feel light headed or dizzy?" Johnny asked. The bigger, heavily dusted man coughed. "Yeah, a little. It was hard to breathe for a few minutes there. That gas was really strong." "Freon gas?" Johnny asked. The gasping man nodded. "Don't know what it's called. Just, whatever they were hauling on that truck!" he said, getting slightly agitated. "Easy.." Johnny said through his mask. "It's ok, you're away from there. Just take it easy." The man visibly fought being body uncomfortable and with effort, began to quell his chemical induced anger. Soon, he cooperated with his two rescuers even though it remained difficult for him to focus. "Ugghh... smelled like ether. Nasty stuff." replied their victim and he began to shiver. Gage said. "Ok, we'll get you cleaned off and warmed up real soon. Just hang on. I'm gonna get a blood pressure off your arm here, all right?" The restless man nodded and stopped thrashing his limbs. "Fine. Just hurry up, mister. I feel like crap." Roy picked up the biophone and shouted loud enough to be heard through his breathing apparatus. "Rampart, this is Squad 51." ##This is Rampart. Go ahead 51.## replied Kelly Brackett. "Rampart, we have a conscious male, age 35-40. He's recently regained consciousness on his own after heavy exposure to confirmed freon gas. He's experiencing some light headedness and dizziness. ##What are his vitals, 51?## Dr. Brackett asked. A tinge of worry slipped into his voice when he recognized his paramedic speaking through full containment gear. Roy replied as Johnny called them out to him in relay. "Vitals are: BP 98 palpated. Respirations are 22 and shallow. Pulse is 100 and slightly irregular." Back at the base station, Dr. Brackett finished taking the information down into his notes. ##Okay, 51. Put him on 15 liters O2 as near to 100% as you can if you haven't already and remove any contaminated clothing for a thorough washdown. But before he gets wet, send us a strip. I want to be sure that those cardiac arrythmias are from the freon and not from a newly occuring M.I. Get a detailed medical history. Note any preexisting cardiac or pulmonary disease. Positive findings on those will change my treatment plan. Roy, under no circumstances, are you to use epinephrine on him or any other freon exposed victims at your scene no matter what the cardiac situation. Freon's a myocardial irritant and any adrenaline type compound entered into their tissues will have the ability to kill them in short order. If that kind of situation arises, I'll advise other parasympathetics for your use. Start an IV of normal saline, maintain a good airway and continue a close monitoring of his vital signs. Treat for that developing shock. Also, be sure to check him thoroughly for signs of frostbite. Treat any you find later en route, after you've prepared him for transport. ## "10-4 Rampart, 100% O2 with a full chemical washdown. Starting an IV NS. Please stand by for his EKG. " he nodded at Chet, who had replaced Marco to aid Johnny and Roy in their patient care. Kelly began cutting away the man's clothes for leads placement. Soon all was ready and Roy got Chet's all set nod about the monitor. "This will be on lead two, Rampart." Roy shouted. We'll inform you of any pertinent medical history. 10-4, Rampart, on the epinephrine ban, we'll treat for shock and do a frost bite check. Understood that further treatment is en route." Roy parroted. Dr. Brackett sighed. ##51, do you know how many casualties you have at your location?## "Not yet, doc. The area's still in chaos. But our numbers could be substantial. Looks like a filled five story water tower collapsed on an occupied construction site and parking lot as well as on top of part of the northbound freeway system here." Roy replied. Dr. Brackett grimaced and sighed. ##10-4, 51.## Kel finished his studying the down man's EKG strip and he turned off the machine. ##51, I'm reading nominal elevations in his ST segments. Looks like the 02 is easing his abnormal rhythm. I am confirming a lack of medical cardiac involvement. Looks like this is just the gas doing a number on him. Also, from here on out. During this crisis, you have my permission to treat first and ask questions later. This goes for all medical situations. Use the protocol you know for guidelines. I'll take full responsibility for your actions. Our radio communications will most likely get unreliable as operations progress over there..## "10-4. Rampart." Roy answered. Both he and Johnny began to relax as the man's potential coding risk was ruled out as being very unlikely. "Ok, Kelly, start the washdown." Gage shouted to him and the other firemen gathered around him. Chet began playing a brisk hose over the man's body and skin as others in waterproof suits rolled him from side to side to get full coverage. Hank kicked a sandbag back into line as the run off from the man channeled down in a made path to the base of a broad sand pile at the edge of the construction site. ::The freon will soak into this sand and Hazmat'll be able to barrel it and haul it away.:: Gage kept up reassurances to his patient as he guarded the man's airway with a firm hold over his O2 mask and his face. The man had Johnny's gloves in a death's grip. "I know it's cold. Almost through. We've got to get any trace of that gas off your skin. Stick through ten minutes more of this and I promise you a pile of heated blankets once we're in the ambulance." he grinned cockeyed through his airmask. The man tried to laugh but consciousness fled and his eyes rolled up into his head. "Hold it! Hold it.." Gage told Kelly. He made sure the man was still breathing and slipped in an oral airway before switching the 02 mask for a demand valve. He began forcing oxygen into the man's tired lungs. "Ok, keep going, I got him secured." Chet continued the man's hose bath. Soon, the man was placed in a specially plastic lined and rigged Mayfair for his trip to Rampart. Johnny handed off the hanging IV and gave his verbal notes to the pair of paramedics inside who weren't wearing SCBA, being careful not to get the water running off his clothes onto the floor of the ambulance. "Careful, I'm contaminated with freon here." he told them. "Brackett wants to know of any COPD or cardiac history if he wakes up. Also, sweep for frostbite and treat. We found no injuries." Nearby, the air masked Cap spoke to the firefighter paramedics assigned to take over the man's care. "We've a tipped tanker that's burning over there so anticipate phosgene and hydrogen fluoride traces, too, on him." he informed, throwing a head at the unconscious man being carefully assistance ventilated by an ambulance attendant. "And get his name and occupation to me if you can. We've a missing man out here." "Right, captain.." replied the senior paramedic. "We'll broadband when we get in if he comes to." Gage closed the doors of the Mayfair and slapped it twice before backing away. As it departed, two teams of firefighters washed it down with hoses as it drove slowly out of the disaster area and onto the freeway. CHP motorcycles escorted ahead of it showing the traffic cleared route to the hospital through the maze of abandoned vehicles angled everywhere. Lopez jogged over from the Battalion Chief's car over to Hank, pausing first before entering the ambulance landing area to be briefly hosed down by perimeter hazmat firefighter crews. "Cap, I got our orders, just like you asked me to do. Chief wants us to enter ground zero of the water tower to start a victim search. The construction boss just told us a van filled with teens was joyriding in the back of his company lot just before the semi hit the tower. No one has seen any of them or the van since." "What does the van look like?" Hank asked, wiping water spray off his mask with a glove. "We might as well start there." "Uh,..." Lopez hesitated. "Well..?" Cap thundered. Marco peeped. "Have you ever watched Scooby Doo, Cap? The boss says it looks like that. Sort of purply technicolored." "Wonderful.. " Hank said sarcastically. "Gage. DeSoto. You heard him. Pack up your gear again and go. You're first in after the hazmat team checks out that end of the scene." "Right.." Gage said. "Chet, help me pack up this EKG monitor. Run it to us as soon as we're outta there with somebody." "You got it." Cap and Kelly started to turn back to the staging area when Roy stopped Hank. "Cap, when Johnny and I were in there. We heard some leaking gas. Sounded like a portable tank going off." "Where?" Cap said, whirling around to face the heart of the collapsed tower. "By a red pickup and a pile of pallets, Cap. I heard it, too. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the truck was unloading its payload AT the construction site when the water tower fell. The tanks I think I saw were already piled neatly outside the truck. They looked stacked about three or four rows high and nine deep." "Really.." Cap breathed in significance. "Chief'll love hearing this. Five times over the National Federal Standard trucking through the heart of L.A. judging from the number of tanks you're telling me about. Somebody's heads are gonna roll. But not from any resulting explosions from them that's for sure." and he hefted his HT to his faceplate. "This is Engine 51 to all units. A paramedic has reported leaking freon from a tank cache in the immediate vicinity of ground zero next to a red pickup truck. Watch yourselves." Immediately, Hazmat responded. ##HazMat Two to Engine 51.## "Go ahead Hazmat.." Hank answered via radio. ##We've found the point source and more in a box car. We are cooling down with foam and fan spray. Your rescue men are clear to re enter the area.## "That was fast.." Chet remarked, wrapping the EKG leads back into the case rapidly. "They'd better be." Cap said. "There's too great a density of civilians and department personnel to monkey around with. Gage. DeSoto. Get going. Keep on your radios. Marco, Kelly. Go with them. If this van of kids was full we're gonna need a lot of man power. I'll have a team run with your gear soon as you spot anything. Carrying any will just slow you down." "Right, Cap." came everyone's reply. Johnny and Roy felt the hot sun on their backs and the wet coolness of the covering spray being blown on the wind from Hazmat's water curtains and shuddered as they retraced their steps from the victim decontamination area and back into the disaster zone. Gage whistled low under his breath as he spotted car after car that the water tower had levelled as it fell flat. He picked up a wooden board and banged three times on the hollow, still intact massive drum of the water tower. It answered back, still liquidy hollow. "Water's still in there, Roy. If that gives way..." "I know.. Just keep lookin.." DeSoto said through tight teeth. The four firemen rounded a turn after pushing aside metal debris and tangles of construction wire. They found where Hazmat was containing the leak Roy and Johnny had heard getting their first victim out. The foam was thigh deep and the water curtain thick over a box car full of powdered aluminum labels. "Oh, great.." Gage groaned. "Freon only reacts with metals of certain types and what do we get? A whole box car full of em.." "Think positive thoughts, partner.." Roy grinned. "Tryin to." Gage replied. Then there was a shout from Kelly just ahead. A gust of wind rose in a dust cloud making things hard to see. "On the double. Found one..!" Chet shouted. Marco, Johnny and Roy rushed forward to see Kelly kneeling over an asphyxiated girl on the ground whose hands were locked tightly over her own blue throat. Gage snapped his radio receiver over his mask and shouted. "Any available recovery team. We need a resuscitator to our 10-20. Now! Watch for my vertical hose spray!" and he snatched up a standby charged hose and shot a stream up over the debris dust cloud to mark their location. Short moments later. ##We see you. There in less than one.## came a Hazmat reply. Behind them, was the van of teenagers they had been seeking. It was partially buried by tower beams with a crushed roof. Looming overhead was the bulk of the unruptured ten thousand gallon water tower reservoir hanging right over the van and the whole mess was still creaking as its tremendous weight still crushed down closer to the ground. The moans grew louder when the van's flimsy roof gave way another six inches under its burden. Kelly, Marco and Roy knelt helplessly unable to do anything for the apneic girl with their SCBA masks still strapped to their faces. Chet started to take his off to do something active about that but Roy stopped him. "No! Your safety's first. We're downwind of those tanks and the burning truck. Wait. She's still got a carotid. We've got time." Marco ran the rest of the way to his gangmates and slammed to his knees at the top of the girl's head. "Roy?" He didn't like the fact that Roy and Johnny didn't yet have their gear nor the darkening cyanotic color forming over the young teen's features. "She's gotta pulse, Lopez." Roy said calmly tense. "Then she's only just resp arrested." "Looks like." DeSoto said, opening her airway further using a jaw thrust in prep for the airway and O2 that was on its way. Pounding footsteps and clattering O2 metal greeted them from the sunlit gloom. "Over here!" Gage said to a Hazmat man with the medical gear, dropping his hose and shutting it off. In no time, they had their resuscitator. Gage saw Kelly begin to use it around Roy's airway hold and he subconsciously held his breath until he saw the girl's chest rise. Once and again. A few ventilations later and the ominous cyanosis began to retreat. "Chet? She fighting you?" "Not at all." Gage reached into the small jumppack the firefighter had given him for an esophageal airway and a tube of lubricant. ::Thanks, doc, for the pre go ahead. We owe you one.:: As he waited for Kelly to hyperventilate the girl in prep for his airway insertion, John felt a sudden chill of recognition as the resuscitator mask was lifted off her face. A sudden memory flooded his mind's eye of a golden laughing smile and a baby gurgling happily on her mother's lap. "Oh, my g*d. I know this girl." Johnny blurted out to the others waiting for him to move.. "She's..............." ------------------------------------------- Photo: A chemical victim being lowered to a tarp by Hazmat rescuers. Photo: Johnny and Roy by engine in full SCBA gear. Photo: Hazmat using foam and water curtains on a box car. Photo: A downed water tower in a construction parking lot. Photo: Masked firemen surrounding an asphixiated girl. Photo: Johnny and Roy in masks in dusty gloom. ********************************************************* From : "Champagne Scott" Subject : Under the Shadow.. Date : Sun, 07 Sep 2003 20:36:27 -0500 ...Drew's wife...! This is Kelsey...." he whispered in shock. "What?!" Chet shouted through his mask. "You'd better concentrate on finishing up there, pal. Her clock's ticking down. My last vent on her was fifteen seconds ago.. sixteen... seventeen..." "Oh, ...right. ... uh..Roy?" Johnny asked numbly looking to share his horrifying news. But his air masked partner was listening to something being said over the HT by Cap and he didn't hear Johnny speak. Numb with reaction, on autopilot, Gage gel'd up the EOA and threaded it down the unconscious woman's throat. He nodded to Chet to give her a couple of shots then remembered belatedly that he couldn't use a stethoscope to verify his placement of the tube. ::Gonna just haveta watch for distention..:: he thought. ::Ohmyg*d, :: his mind shouted in his head ::This is Kelsey!:: Unbidden, came a memory of Drew, his friend the police officer, lying shattered on the margin of the freeway under his hands, and the crackling hissing ghost of a broken frequency coming from the biophone. Johnny shook his head. ::That was two years ago. Knock it off, man! Gotta concentrate. It's SHE who needs me now.:: The sweaty steam on Johnny's face mask covered his shocked expression and only Chet noticed the slightest hesitation as Gage shakily followed up his intubation by reconnecting the demand valve to the EOA that he was holding stable in his glove from where it jutted from her teeth. Chet's voice sounded as if from a distance through the roaring in Johnny's ears. "Giving her four. Johnny let me know how it feels." Kelly said, thumbing his first breath into the woman's lungs carefully. "Her color's still good." he said peeling back her lips to view her gums. "Ok, ready.." Johnny felt his lips say. Gage placed gloves over her chest and abdomen trying to feel for telltale gurgling under one and chest rise under the other. He counted three more rises under his right one as he monitored her. He found he couldn't find his voice to tell Chet things were fine. Cap's voice came over the HT, echoing eerily around the fallen tower's spidery debris field and the shouts coming from the hazmat team as they struggled to seal off the freon leaks they had located near the area where Johnny, Chet and Roy were working on the girl. ##Engine 116, lay in from the hydrant on mile marker 117 and hit that rising gas vapor in a covering fan from the south. Engine 45, stage from the cleared part of the freeway and hit the box car from the west. Squad 45, do a primary search of the involved automobiles to the west of this location and make sure they've been evacuated. Truck 127. Set up to the east two hundred yards away from the water tower. You're gonna assist my men in attacking car fires in the area.## Hank crammed the HT back into his pocket, barely waiting for any acknowledgments. He looked up, spotting a masked and chem suited Marco waving at him. Hank turned toward his engineer, motioning vigorously. "Charge up a new line over Johnny Roy and Chet, Mike! They're working on a victim! Lopez? What's up?" "Cap, I think I spotted the van that construction boss told us about. It's directly under the water tower's drum about sixty meters from here. Looks like things are already settling around it." "What?! There's no way a flimsy van'll keep its structural integrity under that much weight pressing down onto it. Most of the water's still inside of there.." Hank muttered. His furlative in-command glance turned into one of deep worry through his mask as he eyeballed Chet and the two paramedics working to ventilate the girl. He shouted, realizing that a ton of of help would be needed to emergency evac everyone from the van Lopez had found. "Kelly.. Front and center. Gage can take over for you.. We're gonna need a lot more men to get those kids out of the van." "Right, Cap.." Kelly rose and Gage took his place. "It's all good first time, Johnny. They're going in nice and smooth.." he said of his quickened ventilations he was giving the woman. "Here.. Take this. Cap wants me for somethin.." Chet, in his chem suit and mask, readjusted the heavy weight of his air bottle under it, with a groan. "I'll be right back...." he promised. Johnny barely looked up at Chet as he took over the demand valve. He didn't even see the curly haired fireman leave to join up with the others at Cap's side. Roy just then noticed how quiet his partner had become. "Johnny..?" He reached out a glove, damp from Stoker's nearby spray, and grabbed the arm of Gage's jacket. "What?" Johnny looked up at him. "What's the problem..?" DeSoto shouted through his mask. "Let's get her into the stokes. We can take her with us. She's breathing on her own." he said, rising and leaving the oxygen valve connected to Kelsey's airway. "Bellingham can take over her care for us. I see him by Kelly and the van." Roy turned, from gathering up Kelsey's torso and upper body into his arms craning over his shoulder to see where Johnny was pointing. "Ok,.. I got her shoulders.." Gage grabbed her legs and they set her awkwardly into the metal stokes a passing fireman had left for them. Gasping, the two paramedics lifted their burden and walked, straight as they could, through tangles of steel towards Cap and the new focus of EMS personnel knotting under the shadow of the water tower's looming bulk. He could just make out the sounds of creaking metal as sinking tonnage slowly crushed all the vehicles trapped under the drum. Swiftly, Bellingham and Brice intercepted Johnny and Roy and they were suddenly relieved of their burden. Kelsey was lifted from their hands. "We got her.. Go..." Brice said as he placed a hand on her chest to make sure she was still breathing. Gage spun around in a daze still not recovered from knowing his victim and he watched them start to head for the safety of the yellow zone. "Johnny?" Roy asked, concerned. "Your air running out?" Gage grabbed his valve regulator and checked. "Nah,... I'm fine.. almost eight minutes left. Don't worry about me, I'll tell you about it later.. Let's go.." He picked up a second resuscitator from the ground and curled it under one arm. Gage and DeSoto ducked, moving closer towards the van, trying not to pay any attention to the moaning stressed metal sounds filling their ears. Cap intercepted them. "We've got six victims. All of them are pinned by debris except for the driver. We're gonna haveta do some cutting." Right then, a high shriek of friction torn metal stabbed through Cap's sentence and deep into the bones of their skulls. "Look out! The tower's giving way!" Kelly shouted. Everyone under the shadow began to run for the daylight. Only Cap, Kelly and Lopez, got out. The water tower's huge bulk split like an egg and a tongue of frothy flood water began to gush out as it flattened partially to the ground. Roy, Johnny and one other, were swallowed whole under the water filled dome. Hank scrambled.. barely getting his legs out in time from beneath the folding skin of the tower and he was instantly soaked by frigid water when he was too slow getting out of the way. He hauled Kelly and Lopez to their feet and Hank started a desperate head count including himself. "1, ....2, .....3...." He saw Bellingham and Brice slowly rising and dripping, to their feet twenty feet away.. Their gloved hands were empty. ::Oh, no..:: Cap thought. "Where's the girl in the stokes?" ::4....5...:: Brice shook the stars from his head and almost took off his air mask. His partner stopped him before he could complete the move and grabbed his shoulders, looking at his face through his mask when Craig remained silent and slightly off balance. Bellingham's gasp said it all. "She must be under there, Captain Stanley.. I don't see her.. Brice got hit in the head and we dropped her." Cap motioned Kelly and Marco to get Brice out of the area... "And I don't see two of my men.." he replied grimly. "They're gone, too?" Bellingham blurted out, whirling. Hank refused to acknowledge the fact that Roy and Johnny could have just been killed along with the woman. "I want a team of men with K-12's and axes over here immediately! There's a chance the shell fell AROUND them." "Under all that water?" Chet shouted in alarm. Cap cut him off curtly. "Get Brice to safety. Get him seen.Then hoof it back here with everything you've got.." "Right, Cap.." Chet and Marco swept up Brice into a seat held carry and moved. Cap called out the same priority over his HT to the available companies. "Engine 51 to all units. We've trapped victims and firefighters under the tower. I need a full detail scrambled, wearing full protective gear and air bottles. We're on the south side of the tower's drum..." Men began to run as the massive rescue operation around him shifted shape and form to accomodate. HT activity tripled. To Cap's horror.. the gushing water around his legs lessened and began to die off as the dome sealed itself tightly to the stained ground. ::Not enough.. Not enough..:: his mind screamed. ::There's still too much water in there. They won't stand a chance if they're not awake enough to tread water.:: The last agonizing screeching sounds of collapse trickled away into eerie silence. ------------------------------------------------------ Photo : Cap in an air bottle. Photo: Hazmat patient care. Photo : Drew's wife with girl and Johnny. Photo : John with a dying police officer Drew. Photo : Accident water tower down. Photo : Johnny, Roy on ground fall. Photo: Brice sets watch in squad. Photo : Darkness under water. ******************************************** From :"Roxy Dee" Subject : ~~Red Pool~~ Date : Fri, 26 Sep 2003 19:54:27 +0000 Cap slipped and slid in the newly created ankle deep morass of mud and shards to start a hasty inspection of the water tower dome for any signs of large leaking breaches through which to target a rescue attempt. He didn't hesitate to rain the metal shell with sharp ringing blows.. "Roy! John! Can you hear me?! *gasp* Hang on.. We're gonna get you out of there ASAP!! " His head whipped around, first right then left, but no other fireman was as yet, near. He lifted his HT once again and ordered. "Move it everyone! I'm located on the south side, upwind! I'm twenty yards from the site of the second victim's initial location!" Cap's breaths whistled painfully inside his SCBA mask as he attempted to remain clear headed around a panicking heart which slammed wildly inside of his chest. He tossed the handy talkie aside when he heard multiple reply backs and didn't care that it skittered out of reach and into the muck at his feet. Numbly, his soaked gloves beat out another regular pattern to the taut hollow dome he hastily stretched out upon. He shouted once more to those trapped underneath.."DeSoto!? Gage?! If you're o.k., respond in any way you can..!" Cap first freed, then plastered an ear to the tower's skin after eyeballing the prevailing winds for safety. He no longer cared about any possible contamination with the spilled freon. "My men come first." he sobbed aloud, with roiling raw emotions. The professional side of him countered that irrationality with instant support. ::There was enough of a wash down from the dome's spillover to dilute the stuff nearest here.:: it said. Some small part of Hank Stanley still waited for the telltale burning of sub freezing temperatures to bite into his exposed wrists and neck, as subliming freon searched for a way to call him a liar. But only the hot sun was searing into anything he could still feel that wasn't completely wet. Hank's relief about not burning himself with any coolant exposure never materialized. A larger part of him was rapidly losing objectivity. "Come on you two..Just one sign. Won't take much to grab a piece of scrap to wail an answer back.." he whispered, fogging up his face plate. "Come on.. start tapping!" Cap filled some time checking his air tank's regulator. "I've got nine minutes left.." Hank silenced his own adrenaline twitchy mouth and he held in a ragged breath as he willed his body to stillness as he listened. Seconds stretched into long moments as violated metal talked to itself and its mercilessly settling gravity net. Chink.. Ping.. Creakkkk -kkk --kkk. k k.. *hisssss*.. Soon, waves of water lapped musically soft inside as the tower reached equilibrium at last in its new horizontal position. Cap's eye finally found the surface of the trapping pool through a ragged crack. It was staining with a growing red through the clear depths the sun illuminated. Nothing else clearly identifiable as actively struggling life, gurgled from the pocket of deep water that he could see to reward Cap's vigilance. Drip.. Drip... Drip.... Hank's eyes stung sharply. "No..." ---------------------------------------------------- Photo: Cap feeling a door tensely. Photo: Stoker and Marco frantically hosing down a scene out of view. Photo: *animated* Dripping blood drop. Photo: An underground pool that's clear and reddish. ************************************************* From: "Cory Anda" Subject : Full Circle Date : Sat, 27 Sep 2003 02:30:55 +0000 GAASSPPPPPppp!! *cough!* choked Gage as his head broke the surface of the water inside the van. He had long ago peeled off his air bottle in order to swim up towards what meager light he could see. "Roy!?" he shouted, treading water and whirling in the frigid darkness. His hasty shout echoed in his ears. He could hear faint pounding from somewhere else but that sound was the farthest thing from his mind at that moment. The van suddenly shifted as it began to float, its front end partially buoyant from its sudden unexpected immersion under water. An eerie golden light glowed through the shattered windshield of the van. ::So, there are cracks out there..:: Johnny realized. ::The whole d*mned tower must have come down in around us..:: Gage shook away a lurid bone chilling cold he suddenly felt seeping through his turnout gear. ::How the h*ll did I get in the van?:: His own sense of orientation drifted away. A body floated up. It was wearing bright blue clothes. "Roy?!" Johnny said in fright, remembering suddenly who was still missing. John pushed off the wall of the van to get to the sodden form and he quickly flipped it over to feel for a carotid. He immediately dropped the young african american teenager with a shout of horror. Half of her features were crushed and so was the top of her head. "Gaghhh..." Johnny blurted out, back treading blindly. The young body of the girl sank out of sight, leaving only a trail of red behind. "I'm not gonna make any progress that way." his teeth chattered, and he froze in place just to listen. The dim pounding continued, but it wasn't vibrating through the chassis of the luckless van. "Outside help?" Johnny guessed. "Maybe it's Cap...!" He was just about to take a breath to reach a leg up to kick out the windshield arching above him when he saw a trail of bubbles coming from a shadow near to the left side of him in the front seat. ::The driver's still alive!:: he realized. Gage's groping hands found a football jerseyed young man's neck and head as he brought his mouth and nose to the surface of the water. He was rewarded with sputtering gasps as the teen quarterback blew out liquid in a spray from his throat and lungs. "Easy.. I got you.." Johnny encouraged, keeping the man from sinking underneath the water again as he struggled to breathing wakefulness. "I didn't mean it.. I didn't mean it.. *cough* They made me do it..." the injured kid mumbled. Johnny laid the teen's head against his shoulder and immobilized his neck and forehead as best he could against his chest.. "Hey, take it easy now. No one's blaming you for anything. Especially not for a stupid joyride in the parking lot. An accident's an accident... What's your name?" "B-Bobby..*cough*" "Can you breathe ok the way you are?" "What?" Johnny Gage took that for a yes. "Do you hurt anywhere besides that arm..?" he said looking down. Gage saw a second 'elbow' bending below the young man's real one on his left arm where it floated in the water. "I'm hurt? Oh, my g*d.." and the dazed teenager began to thrash around a bit inside Johnny's firm hold. "Bobby.. Now just calm down!.. I'm feeling nothing seriously wrong with you. Now my name's Johnny Gage and I'm a paramedic with the Los Angeles County Fire Department." "I crashed the van?" Johnny spat some of the boy's hair and muddy water from his mouth. "No.. not exactly.. A semi truck hit a water tower near you and then it fell on us. That's where all this water comes in.." "What?! Aghh.HHH! Where's Angie,.. Mark...?! They were all in here with me... Steve!! Where are you??" Gage's head was banged painfully as the young man panicked as he arched his back and he saw stars. He tightened his grip on the teen to keep him still. Gage knew from the roof sloping into the water that no one else was left alive in the back of the van. "Listen to me! Bobby, we'll worry about them later. Now I'm more concerned with getting you taken care of first. And to do that, we both have to keep calm and cool about all this. We might need to conserve the air in here. Now I want you to slow your breathing rate down a bit. It's probably why you're feeling so short of breath right now." "Ugh.. I'll...t-try..." "That's it.. Nice and easy. Now, does your neck or back hurt anywhere? I'm holding you like this just in case you do." "Uhh,.. no. They're ok.. I'm not feeling any p--Ahhh! What's wrong with my arm?" "I'll be honest with you, Bobby. It's broken. " "Oh, man.. Coach's gonna l-love this. He'll kill me when he finds out I have to miss the rest of the seas-- n" he said slipping into shock. "Bobby? Stay awake. Keep your head up. Let me tie this board here onto your arm. We need to splint this before we go anywhere." Gage used a seatbelt that he cut away from the van's wall using his holster's bowie knife. "I gotta get you into some dry clothes and I also gotta find my partner and another girl who was with us.." "S-Someone else? Who...who is she?" Bobby struggled. "Please.. I gotta know about my friends." Returning pain to his fractured arm silenced the young quarterback and he froze into stillness with a strangled cry. "I feel like I'm gonna puke." "Easy. Moving around will only make you more nauseated. Her name's Kelsey, and she's doing fine." "Where is she? I- I don't see her!!" Bobby said, gasping, falling limp, now only half awake. Johnny felt the change in the boy's posture and heard it in his voice. "Bobby? Stay with me.." At the same time, a flicker of sunlight and shadow made him look up through the windshield of the van into the sparkling underwater light reflecting there. Peering through the raining water trails seeping through the spidered glass, he could just make out Roy's legs and shoes kicking at a second water surface six feet above the van with the comforting shape of Kelsey's metal stokes in his arms. Gage could see the green bottle of the resuscitator still nestled in between her legs. ::He's still got the O2 for her.. Good.:: Johnny sighed in relief. ::I swear, Roy. You got more lives than a cat.:: he grinned. Out loud he said. "Kelsey's really fine, Bobby. She's with my partner. Out there. Right now." He didn't get any reply. ::Bobby?:: Johnny thought to himself. His fingers found the slow thud of a carotid at the big teen's neck and the injured teen's ribcage still rose and fell inside the bearhug Gage had around the young man. "So that's where we're going, too." he said quietly to the unconscious boy. Gage waited for the young man to take in a shallow breath of air before he blocked off the man's nose and mouth for the trip out of the van. Two kicks later, they were free, popping up beside Roy in a flood of bubbles as the rest of the vehicle's trapped air escaped with them. ------------------------------------------------------------ DeSoto didn't even bat an eye.. "Here's Johnny, Cap. Looks like he's got a victim out." "Johnny? You all right, pal?" an overjoyed Hank's voice echoed into the hollow chamber, even through his air mask. "Yeah, Cap. Just hurry it up. Neither of these guys can wait without treatment much longer." Gage coughed as the outside air's freon fumes began to get to him. "Here.. " Roy said, disconnecting the O2 tubing from Kelsey's EOA. "Give him some and then take a breath of your own. We've been sharing.." "She still breathing?" "Yeah, she's just out, that's all. I still can't find any injuries." Gage improvised a seal using the positive pressure valve's mouth port and the teen boy's under a firm grip where he treaded in the water. He delivered two breaths in time with Bobby's inhalations. The teen started to moan as he awoke, partially revived. Johnny took his own turn on the oxygen valve. "Cap, we could use three new air bottles down here!" "We're cutting a hole through to you now. Watch for Stoker's rope. Only expect another demand valve unit to buddy breathe on. It's smaller. This one's got a mask." Cap shouted. "Two minutes more." Right then, the hiss of O2 that Roy tried to deliver to Kelsey's airway secured lungs, faded away. Their critical lifeline, had just run out. Gage quipped. "How long can you hold your breath, Roy?" he asked seriously. "As long as necessary. If we black out in here, we'll all die of drowning. Here, I've cut away the stoke's straps, all but the one holding her shoulders. Use them to tie you and him to those metal struts here. If we do fall unconscious, at least our heads won't go under. I've already rigged hers and mine as well as I can." Roy said, his suggestion breaking off into a paroxysm of choking coughs as freon mist began to invade the flooded tower's air chamber. Right away, Johnny could hear Roy's prior left lung trouble flaring up in complaint liquidly. "Great, poison air for your barely healed water lung." Johnny said sarcastically. "Breathe more shallowly, Roy. You're getting off color already." "*Wheeze* T-That's from the cold.." DeSoto shivered, wedging Kelsey's stokes more firmly onto the angle of sheeting he had found to support her weight against the tower wall. "I- I'm fine.. " DeSoto choked. "Worry about your own complexion instead, ok?" Gage ignored him. "Cap. We need that spare O2 on the double! Roy's getting into trouble here." Gage startled as his partner's head sagged suddenly and Johnny lunged to catch it as DeSoto half passed out, falling lax into his improvised strap harness tied to the tower wall. "Oh no you don't.." Johnny said. "Snap out of it, Roy. You're ok.. Now come on.. It's not that stuffy in here." he said, slapping Roy's damp face lightly to rouse him. "The freon's hardly noticable yet.." *Cough* DeSoto reacted weakly. "I...I..." "What, Roy? You what? Come on. Don't black out on me. I need ya conscious. I can't watch both of these guys on my own." Gage urged tensely. A suffocation jag of gas drifted down, and gave him his own uncomfortable moments of feeling like he was getting no air at all into his lungs. "Cap....!" he shouted hoarsely when he had recovered. "One minute Gage!" Hank promised. "That's a minute too late, guys. Roy's just went out on me here.." Johnny shouted, tipping Roy's head back to make sure his breathing continued unimpaired. "This sh*t's *gasp* awful. We can't breathe it in for much longer." Gage coughed. Bobby began to turn blue when he quit trying to breathe fifteen seconds later. Johnny gave him a breath of air mouth to mouth and a second one before the teen sucked in some of his own again unaided. The world began to swim before Gage's eyes. ---------------------------------------------- "Gage.. Grab it!.. Stoker's lowering the tank on a line to ya and the rest of us are K-twelving a side hatch to drain you guys out with the water.." Cap said urgently. In a stuporous haze, Johnny saw the second resuscitator, tied in a rope hitch, swaying in front of him. But it was as if his arms refused to work. "Johnny. Grab it and use it on yourself first.." Hank's voice shouted through Johnny's ringing ears. "I can't reach you so you gotta do it on your own. Then get to them! Gage! Do you hear me? Take a shot from the O2 now. That's an order!" Some deep instinct made the thousands of Johnny's firefighter and paramedic training hours kick in. He reached for the resuscitator mask dangling in front of him and took one. ChuugghhhhhHHH! Instantly clarity flooded back. Johnny blinked up into the sun. "Cap?" "Get to Bobby. He's cyanotic, Gage." Hank commanded from the sunlit crack above Gage. Gage swam over to the limp boy and worked him on the mask until the teen began to actively cough and moan once more. Kelsey only need a boost, she had never quit breathing. Johnny sucked in two fresh breaths for himself as he swam back the short distance over to Roy and set the dripping mask over his face. "Nap time's over, Pal. Wake up.." And he thumbed several shots of oxygen into Roy's lungs. DeSoto immediately reawakened and shoved the mask away, thrashing his limbs in the water as consciousness rapidly returned to him. Johnny ducked. "Hey, watch what you're doing..! I'm right here. You're fine now. Here.. Do this yourself then.. Cap's gonna let us know when they're gonna blow the hatch real soon.." "T-The victims?" Roy shook his head to clear out fogginess. "They're fine. Keep sharing the wealth. I'm next after Bobby and Kelsey.." Johnny said twitching shivery gimme fingers at his partner and the mask to get him to pass it around fairly. Roy was clear headed enough to realize an odd thing in that second voiced name. "Kelsey? Johnny, how did you find out our female victim's name? She didn't have any ID on her and she's never been awake enough to tell us." "Imagine that.." Johnny deflected. "How's your breathing now?" "Fine if I'm talking to you. Don't evade the issue. Why am I getting chills from the sound of your voice right now? What aren't you telling me?" DeSoto demanded. Johnny took his turn off the spare O2 and fell uncharacteristically silent while he monitored both the girl and the teen's pulses in turn. For two passes of the O2, Gage didn't say anything. Then he asked one simple question. "Do you remember my best friend Drew the highway patrol officer?" Roy's face paled from more than the cold. There wasn't any way he could not remember that man's death and the radio transmission that failed to arrive from Rampart with life saving treatment. DeSoto simply met Johnny's eyes and nodded as his fingers reassessed the placement of the airway resting in Kelsey's throat and felt for the distension growing in her stomach. It wasn't bad enough to effect his ventilations on her. Johnny's face grew old as he unloaded his emotional burden to his partner. Johnny's worry lines only became worse for the telling. "Well, this is Drew's wife, Roy, lying right here. And I don't know where her five year old daughter is. I hope to G*d she isn't in that crushed van down there. Cause if she is, she's dead." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Cap peers into a crack beneath his feet. Photo: Johnny looking down, thoroughly soaked. Photo: Roy and John treading water with a victim in a stokes. Photo: Drew's wife Kelsey and their little girl with Gage kneeling and offering them comfort. Photo: Roy peering into bright light soaked to the skin with water. **************************************************************** From : "rosafleehart" Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Promise.. Date : Mon, 29 Sep 2003 17:23:57 -0000 Roy said. "Why didn't you tell me before when you first knew it was her?" "I thought I could handle it, Roy, ok?" Johnny replied. "Junior, sometimes..... I just wish you would let me in on things more." he said uncharacteristically defensive. Gage countered, without thinking. "Look. I'm sorry, Roy, ok?" Suddenly, Roy started to have a little trouble breathing and then Johnny knew something was wrong. "Hey you ok, Pally?" he asked, grabbing a hold of his jacket sleeve to get his attention. Roy coughed. "I'll be fine. Must have swallowed the water when the tank fell. " he replied. "Right now we've got other things to be concerned with. How's the boy?" Johnny answered. "He's holding his own right now. " Roy tried hiding the fact, from Johnny, that his breathing was starting to get worse. :: I don't want to add a further burden to my partner's already high stress level.:: he thought to himself. So he tried to handle it. ::I know there isn't much that can be done until we're top side anyway.:: He just hoped it would wait before getting any worse. --------------------------------------------------------------- After nearly two hours, the rescuers finally broke through to them. The girl, Kelsey, was handed out first and a second paramedic crew took her over. Then the boy, Bobby, was handed out and another medic team took over his care while the rescuers got Roy and Johnny out of the collapsed tank. Just as Johnny was hoisted up, Roy got real bad. Quickly. ::I can't breathe! Hardly at all now.:: DeSoto panicked. Just as Johnny looked down, Roy lost consciousness and started to sink into the contaminated water. Johnny let go of the rescuers' rope and dove in after his partner. He grabbed him by the shirt collar and pulled him to the surface as quickly as possible. They pulled him out. Then Johnny was, too, right behind him. The other medics were busy so Johnny had to treat his partner on his own. Roy was out cold and not breathing and that made Johnny go into instant paramedic mode. He quickly got in an intubation on 6 liters of 02 which got Roy breathing again. Then he got in an I.V. with Ringers using the open treatment privileges that had been given to them from the beginning by Brackett. He took vitals and saw that Roy was doing better. Johnny contacted base and Brackett took it. "Rescue 51 to base. How do you read?" Kel replied, "I read you loud and clear, 51. Go ahead with your transmission." "We have a 34 year old male. He lost consciousness while trapped in a collapsed water tower. He stopped breathing. He has been intubated and is NOW breathing. We have him on an I.V. with Ringers wide open. He is still unconscious. Vitals are: B.P. 100/85, pulse is thready. Respirations are 30 and his lungs are congested. Also he has had some prior congestion due to water lung. " Gage said over the biophone. "51, keep him intubated. Administer 30 milligrams of Talwin and transport a.s.a.p." Brackett ordered. Johnny answered. "Ten four. Talwin. 30 milligrams and transport as soon as possible. We are ten minutes from your location. Also be advised, we have a hazmat situation in effect. " "Ten four and in transit, get me a new set of vitals." Brackett said. "We'll take precautions here for you and your patient." Gage nodded. "Ten four. 51 out." Gage looked to Cap. "Cap, we need an ambulance in here now. " "You got it, Johnny. " Hank answered and announced over the radio. "Battalion 14, This is HT 51. We need an ambulance by me. We have a code I ready for emergency transport." "Ten four, HT 51. Ambulance is on the way in to you now. " "Ten four." Johnny looked up. "Cap, I'm going in with Roy. " he said, not beating around the bush, challenging. To Gage's relief, Hank didn't bat an eye. "O.K., I'll see that the squad gets to the hospital." "Thanks." Gage replied. They loaded Roy up and Johnny got in with him. Gage was in both partner and medic mode. He got a new set of vitals and relayed them to Rampart using his radio. "Rampart, this is squad 51." "Go ahead, 51. " Kel acknowledged, toggling a switch. Johnny shouted over the roaring sirens. "New vitals are : B.P. is 90/65. His pulse continues to be thready and weak. Breathing's at 26." Kel frowned. "51, what is your ETA?" Johnny answered. "We are three minutes out." Dr. Brackett nodded. "Send me a strip." "Ten four. This will be lead two." Johnny said quickly. At the same moment, both Brackett and Johnny saw the same thing. Johnny reacted as a medic. He told the ambulance to pull over just as Brackett yelled over the radio. "51! We read V-fib. Defibrillate 400 watt seconds now!" "Ten four." Johnny defibrillated Roy the first time. There was no change. On the second, still no change. Johnny said as he went for a third time."Come on, Pally. Don't do this to me. Come on." he gasped. "D*mn it, Roy." Finally Roy converted to sinus rhythm and his heart beat normally again. Johnny reported on the radio. "Converted! Times three. He's in sinus rhythm." he sighed. "Ten four, 51 bring him on in." Kel grinned. "Ten four, " Johnny answered. "OK. Let's go." Gage said to the ambulance driver by smacking the partition between them. ------------ As the ambulance arrived, Brackett and Dixie met it at the doors. They were shocked. They didn't know it was Roy down. The tension was over. But then Johnny hit the floor suddenly in a blackout. "I'll take Johnny..." Joe Early said quickly kneeling beside Gage to check his pulse. "And I'll take Roy..." Brackett replied, grabbing hold of the blond paramedic's gurney with two orderlies. Soon, they were both put into treatment rooms. ------------------------------------------------------------- After a few days, Johnny was released and he went to Roy's bedside. He hadn't regained consciousness yet. ::It's been six days.:: Gage thought morosely. Johnny was worried. He said to Roy."O.K., Roy. It's time to wake up. Now everyone is worried about you, Pally. So come on." he said urgently. "Wake up for old Johnny, huh, Pally?" All through that night, Johnny stayed at Roy's side, refusing to leave. Joanne had gone home to rest at Johnny's insistence. As the day broke, Johnny got up to stretch. He had been holding Roy's hand all night long. ::And I've been doing a lot of praying.:: he thought aloud, for his friend. He turned suddenly when he heard a whisper of a voice say. "You look terrible, Junior." Johnny leaned eagerly over Roy as he rang the room call button. "Hey, Pally. How are you feeling?" Roy grinned slowly. "Weak. Tired." Gage smiled quietly, "Yeah, I'd say so. You gave us a h*ll of a scare there, buddy." Roy studied his sheets. "Sorry." "Welllll....." Johnny teased. "That's ok. Just don't let it happen again, ok?" Roy was checked and it was found that he truly WAS going to be o.k. DeSoto finally talked Johnny into going home and getting some rest. Roy was released three weeks later from the hospital. -------------------------------------------------------------------- A month later, he was cleared to return to duty. Johnny had put a welcome back party together and they were all enjoying it, when the tones went off . As they climbed into the squad, Johnny said. "Nice to have you back, Pally." "It's nice to BE back, Junior." Johnny had missed that nick name over the time Roy had been gone. "Roy, I hope I never see you come that close to being lost again." he insisted. But just as fast, he put on a wry grin. "But then again, I most probably will 'cause that's the job we both have." he added with exasperation. Roy agreed, nodding, as he drove. "We HAVE devoted our lives to saving others as ff/pm's." he said in apology. ------------------------------------------------------------------ No Photos attached. ************************************** From :"patti keiper" Subject : Second Thoughts.. Date : Wed, 01 Oct 2003 12:08:05 +0000 Gage made a face as he peered at the address on the scrap of paper he had gotten from Cap as they had taken off on their run. "Yeah,.. but that doesn't mean I have to like the fact that the people around me are continually at risk all the time.." he said with some real heat. That surprised DeSoto and he glanced at Gage's face to be sure he saw the sharp anger mirroring there that had tinged Johnny voice. Roy bit down the joke that he had rising and stifled a smile. "You know we have a pact not to die in front of one another if we can possibly help it. Last month didn't count. The tower cheated when it gave no warning before dunking us into that chemical bath. Man, that hurt. My p*ss's still glowing at night." he complained. Roy's planned crudeness worked. It was Johnny's turn to glance over and a shadow of a crooked grin toyed with his face, but only for a moment. He didn't feel like explaining his real feelings on the discussion and once again, a vulnerability that was newly born in his eyes, stilled his lips into silence. Roy concentrated half on the road, the rest on Johnny. "Hey,.... We can talk about it you know.." he offered in a quick toothy smile. "If we don't, Cap's bound to throw us all into a session with the CISM counselors. Don't be upset that you can't be there all the time to save the day like you'd rather do." Johnny flared. "I don't need any critical incident stress management lackies crawling around my head! I'd rather have had it not to have happened at ALL." he snarled once again. And the roaring siren over their ears seemed to agree with him pointedly. The ghost of a grin on Roy seeped away and he didn't say much of anything for a full minute, only watching the directions Johnny quietly indicated to him, showing them the way to their current rescue's location. But then DeSoto said. "Look at the bright side. I may be a lot poorer financially now for missing out on so much work but I've gotten in some real quality time with Joanne and the kids. Our third's really coming along. I felt the baby kick real hard last night..." That was the wrong thing to say. Gage nearly levitated out of his seat and he angrily adjusted his loose helmet strap a little more snuggly under his chin. "Good. I'm happy for you.. Your family's safe and sound and everything's looking real nice and rosy for ya.." he said, saluting smartly in sarcasm. Roy's mouth slacked open and he gripped the steering wheel a little tighter even as his jaw slid sideways in puzzlement. "Johnny, what's the matter? Wh- What's going on with you? I don't think I've ever seen you with so many ants in your pants before.." Johnny huffed and thunked an elbow out the squad's windy window to serve as a prop for his scowling face. Roy then figured it out.. "It's Kelsey Richards. Isn't it..?" The name elicted a bright spot of pain that Roy saw lance sharply across Johnny's features. ::Bingo...:: "What about her?" Johnny asked defensively. Roy stuck out a pouting frown. "Well,..how's she doing? I heard she got home from the hospital ahead of me by five d--" "She's fine.." Gage interrupted. "Kelsey's just fine. Somehow, she took no heart or lung damage from the freon like you had happen to you. She's home and everything's good and she calls me every night to help her get over the fact that her kid Amber didn't make it like she d--" his voice broke off, getting uncharacteristically choked up and muffled. Now Roy understood everything plainly. "You're hung up really bad about this, aren't you?" he said softly. "I had almost forgotten about what you told me that day. About the five year old fatality you thought was in the van.. Was she?" Johnny shook his head minutely in the negative. "Kelsey's daughter died outside the tower. Another company found her under the pile of freon tanks. Remember the ones we heard hissing when we first got that dizzy construction worker out?" DeSoto nodded and Johnny rubbed his face. "Then there wasn't anything you could've done to have prevented that now, could you?" Roy doctored. Gage sighed and a tear ran a trail down the side of cheek that Roy couldn't see even as his face ironed up. "It wasn't my best friend's daughter that's been in my every waking thought since I found out that you were gonna make it." he said his tone trembling slightly as his anger evaporated into grief. "There was someone else down there that I should have known on the spot. A victim whom I should have tried a little harder to save.." Roy turned another corner his partner pointed out to him and the tires of the squad squealed. "I don't understand, Johnny. Explain it to me. You told me weeks ago that those teens didn't have a chance except for Bobby the driver because the roof had caved in and pushed them all under the water." Johnny's lips flattened into a thin line.. "I know. I know.. Look, would you stop prying and let me just think a minute here!" he snapped. "I got a lot to tell you so just---" Just like that,..Johnny returned to a horrific memory that had been relayed to him by Stoker the same day he had awakened in the shared hospital room with Roy at Rampart. Johnny still remembered how chilled he felt under the blankets when he heard..... ----------------------------------------------------------- ......"You should have seen him, Johnny. He left the hospital on one of the ambulances to get to the scene the moment his instincts screamed at him. He knew, Johnny.. He knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that she had been there in the van..".. The hospital gowned Gage tried to steady the ice glass and straw that Mike Stoker had been helping him sip without drinking from it. "What the h*ll are you talking about, Mike? Who knew whom in the van? My friend Drew's dead. And there was no one else around who knew Kelsey and her little girl, Amber, enough to worry about them." "It's Doctor Morton, Gage. We found him crying over his sister's stokes after he had found her black tagged in the triage morgue tent along with the other teens who died in the van with her." Johnny dropped his water glass... ------------------------------------------------------------ "Oh my G*d. I'm s- sorry, Johnny.. I- I didn't know.." DeSoto said as he sped the final few blocks towards their destination. "I saw all the blood in the water with us.. But I didn't know you had found someone else in that van besides Bobby who was still salvagable.." Gage made a little noise of pain. " I guessed I freaked out Roy.. She WAS there. Right there in my arms.. And I just dropped her when I saw her facial and cranial injuries without even checking to see if she was still alive..." "You were in shock, Johnny. We both were. A tower had just fallen on you and freon gas was doing its best to suffocate us all, too." "We're talking about not trying harder with Morton's SISTER, Roy..." Johnny insisted in high agony. "I'm negligent! I'm most likely gonna be one of the clear ones to blame for leaving her to die down there..." "You don't know that." Roy said equally loud as he drove. "You know what they tell us whenever we find a victim with obvious gray brain matter showing." "You don't have to tell me.." Johnny said sharply. "Well, I'm going to. In that medical situation, it's to be taken as an obvious sign of death from the classic signs list right along side rigor mortis and dependent lividity.." "Roy, I could have done something MORE. I could have started breathing for her..." "With crushing mouth and nose injuries? How?" Roy challenged. "Well..." "Even if you managed to get air into her lungs. There was no way you EVER could have started c.p.r effectively enough. You were treading water.." "Stop it!" Gage said. "Just shut up Roy. You don't know what you're talking about.." "Oh yes I do. I'm the one who taught you everything you know as a paramedic, remember?" DeSoto insisted, clenching his hands on the wheel he said glaring at his despondent partner. "Look out!!" Gage shouted. Roy barely swerved in time to avoid getting hit by a motorist who hadn't heard their sirens at a four way stop sign. DeSoto thunked over the curb onto grass and their front tire ripped over a support stake at the foot of a corner telephone wire. It immediately blew out and halted the squad cold, throwing both paramedics foward, hard. Roy and Johnny caught themselves on the dashboard as best as they could. "You ok?" DeSoto gasped. "Yeah, I was just about to ask you the same thing.." Johnny admitted, still gripping window frame and roof strut. Both men started to shake with reaction from their near miss and a minute later, it took both of them to steady the radio mic as Roy thumbed it and said, "L.A. This is squad 51." ##Go ahead, 51.## "L.A. We've been disabled mechanically avoiding a vehicular collision. We'll be unable to respond to our current rescue call. We are uninjured." he added quickly to keep Cap and the rest of the gang possibly listening on the office scanner, reassured. ##10 - 4, 51. Do you need roadside assistance?## "Negative. My partner and I can handle it." ##Copy....Squad 51, cancelled. *Beep. beep. beep.* Squad 8, in place of Squad 51. Possible heart attack. 309 Hunter's Place and Jackson Blvd.. 309 Hunter's...## Roy and Johnny tuned out the rest of the radio transmission as they both slid out of the squad to sit on their truck's back landing board to steady their nerves and bodies while they took off their helmets. Johnny was trembling violently. "I can't take any more surprises today, Roy. Even ones as fun as your welcome back party. My nerves are more than shot." "I noticed.." Roy said without smiling. Johnny buried his head into his hands and wiped away the salty wetness streaming there from his eyes and just rested for a few moments. Roy watched his face in steady concern. "Wanna eat something? Your blood sugar's gotta be low. I know mine is after that." "Yeah, I'll eat. But where? I don't know this neighbor beyond what I saw on the wall map to get to where we had to go for this call." Gage admitted. "How about the cafeteria at Rampart..?" Johnny startled and stopped rubbing his face. "Uh.h,...Dixie said Morton's working today and I don't think I wanna run into HIM just yet. I was only lucky that I never saw him all those times Joanne and I came to see you when you were still in your chemically induced coma." "We gotta go there to resupply sometime. Most likely as soon as after our next call." Roy said getting up to check the condition of the squad beyond its shredded tire. "I know.. I know. But I still have a lot of thinking to do.." "Do you?" Roy asked seriously. "I just told you how it was for Morton's sister. And you. Don't you trust my judgement that there wasn't really anything that you could've done for her?" "I trust ya. I trust ya.. I just don't know if I can trust myself anymore." Johnny said gloomily, tossing both his helmet and Roy's into the passenger seat while he broke out the squad's jack, wrench and spare tire from inside the stokes department. "Cause I can't really keep the promises I make. I promised Drew that I'd look after his wife and little girl and I didn't." "That's a lie.. You kept Kelsey alive." "No, YOU did. I had my hands full with Bobby and...." he rubbed his mouth with guilt. "...and with you.." "I was dyspneic due to fumes. Kelsey was already safely airway secured. You had a right to worry about me first. I was your paramedic priority then, only one behind Bobby." "No you weren't. She was unconscious." "So was I ...later on. Quit hashing semantics. Don't deny how things happened because I know how they went .Cap told me everything when he came to visit me at Rampart." That shut Johnny up and Roy saw a wrinkle on Gage's forehead ease. But Johnny's eyes stayed gray and suddenly full with conviction. "I'll let you know this, Roy. I promise that I'm never gonna let you or anyone else I know down ever again if I can help it." "That's the spirit. A promise is good for the soul.." "That's only if a promise can be kept, Roy." Johnny countered. "It's its own double edged sword sometimes." "Like you learned with Kelsey and Amber?" DeSoto said gently. Johnny stopped hauling away on the tire lugs where he knelt in the grass. "Yeah.." he said bitterly. "Like that.." "Well, you made no such promise to Dr. Morton, my friend. So stop blaming yourself for something you couldn't have changed." DeSoto interjected quickly. "It was somebody else who brought that tower down and caused the accident. Not you. You were just a victim that time." "It's never good for a paramedic to be a victim." Johnny said tightly. "Exactly right. So just be a paramedic and everything will turn out right if it's in your power, like it always does." "Like it used to do.." "Like it STILL does, partner.." he firmly glared. "I'll let you know if you ever lose your edge. Remember, Brackett says you're one of the best." he chuckled. "And I'm keen on protecting that reputation because it reflects well on me. Next month's review and raise is depending on that. I'm also doing it because I've a lot of ground to catch up on with my bills and my FAMILY's bills.." he groaned. "So I'm gonna guarantee that fatter paycheck any way I can." Instead of laughing, Gage frowned. "Yeah? Well what about my reputation in the eyes of Dr. Morton? I'd say I'm just about shot as a medic if he decides to blame his sister's death on me in front of the paramedic's review board." DeSoto stayed silent, not knowing what to say. But then, a few minutes later, as the morning warmth dried the sweat off their faces, DeSoto spoke up. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I'm sure that Brice, as head chair, would review any case he overhears fairly in concern with recertifying you if Morton should want an investigation done examining the actions you took that day. Craig is a walking rule book you know." "And I'm a walking jobless man if I get a suit filed against me. How can I keep my personal promises then if I can't be a paramedic anymore?" "Trust in your promises, Johnny. They're all you've got. " he said seriously. Then he laughed, adding. "Then trust your friends to know you better than you do. They'll never tell you any lies about how you really are." Johnny finally harrumphed in his throat with a slight smile which admitted that he gave Roy a point for being right on that. "Come on. This tire's all set. Let's get some food. Dixie says the tuna fish casserole's incredible. I'll vouch for it. I sure ate enough of it during my hospital stay.." ---------------------------------------------------------- Photo : Brackett, Morton and Joe treating a woman in treatment 3. Photo : The squad in a near collision. Photo : Johnny view of squad day drive. Photo : Firefighters, police and a body bag. ************************************************* From : "Katherine Bird" Subject : Indigestion.. Date : Thu, 02 Oct 2003 05:06:55 +0100 Roy had just paid for his lunch of pasta when Johnny crashed into the back of his partner with his own tray full of the same thing. Gage had to go through heroics in order to keep from spilling his milk and keeping his cherry jello from jiggling out of its pudding dish. "Would you just cut that out already.." DeSoto complained. His tray had been uneffected by the impact since he was the bigger man in mass of the two and had absorbed all of it without ill effect. "What?" "Quit slinking around here as if you expect a firing squad to pop outta nowhere." "I'm not slinking around.. I'm ..I'm..just keeping an eye out, that's all." "Don't tell me, you don't want to run into Mike Morton.." he pegged in irritation in a half whisper so the surrounding hospital staff wouldn't overhear. He offered peace by pulling out a chair at a nearby table for Johnny first before grabbing and reversing another one for himself. "I thought we had settled all that." "...Not directly...no. Look, Roy, I mean, he's bound to show up looking for me sometime.." "How do you know? You haven't yet even talked to the man." Gage began to gesture pointedly. "Can't we just ...sit over there?" he pleaded half heartedly. "Where?" Roy said, irritated at the idea of moving again when his stomach was complaining so loudly. Johnny pointed again and Roy looked over his shoulder to the table his partner wanted. Roy frowned. "There's no sun over there. You wouldn't be able to see your plate well enough to eat from it if we ate over there. I'm fine right here. You can move if you like. Today, I'm gonna be part chameleon and soak up the daylight. Let's just say that tower's rubbed off a little too much on me. I suddenly find I really like open spaces." and he began to shovel it in as only a hungry fireman could. "Roy, would you jus--" And Gage broke off when he saw Dixie and Brice headed their way. "Oh, no.. He's bad enough.." But rather than looking like he was retreating, Johnny sat down next to Roy and nervously positioned his arms and posture to look like he wasn't nervous.. He failed miserably and Dixie McCall caught on right away. "Oh, come on, Johnny. It's not that bad." Dixie grinned. "Mike won't bite your head off. I've been working on him these last few weeks sharing with him just what you had to go through during the incident where Angie Morton was killed. I even showed him your medical chart showing how low your PO2 levels were because of those freon fumes." she grinned. "Dixie!" Gage said in mortification at that breach of confidentiality. Johnny made a hushing face, but Brice seemed to be oblivious. Craig just offered Dixie a third chair at Johnny and Roy's table before he took the last one and began arranging his tray and silverware just so on the china blue formica table top. He even passed over the salt to the head ER nurse so she could season her salad. Johnny was beginning to relax about Dixie's meddling admission when Craig Brice spouted off in surprise instant support. "No paramedic could have been expected to keep a clear head dealing with any rapid life or death decision making processes with the marked hypoxia you had during that crisis. I'll stand by what I read.." he said matter of factly. Johnny nearly choked on his tuna. "What is this? Why is my medical chart suddenly everyone's common property around here." he whined, unconvincingly angry. "I thought there were rules to protect my privacy that way.." Dixie held out a hand apologetically to Johnny and set a warm grip on his forearm. "I'm sorry, Johnny. But Dr. Brackett felt that that was the best way to defuse Mike from taking a legal course of action against you by spreading around just what you had to work with. " The color drained from Gage's face. "He's been doing what?" "Nothing official, Gage.." Brice said. "So far, it was just a meeting with Dr. Brackett, Morton and myself concerning competency.." Johnny threw down his fork with a clatter and jumped from his seat. "That's it! I'm going to go talk ta Morton right now. This is really getting insane..." "Wait a minute, Junior, where do you think you're going?" Roy asked. "Gage, hold on a short moment, before you take an action that you'll regret in the future." Brice suggested blandly. "Johnny.. pipe down everyone's gonna stare." Dixie hissed. They all said simultaneously. It took all three of them to pull the distraught young paramedic back into his cafeteria seat. "Shut up and eat." DeSoto said with finality, handing Johnny back his fork and pulling away the HT so Johnny couldn't leave. "Don't think I can. I just lost my appetite." Johnny mumbled. He toyed with the food on his plate, pushing it around while watching the steamy curls from his lunch waft away in the breezy sunlight. "Why don't you trust Dr. Brackett to manage Doctor Morton about all this? You're not to blame for what happened.." Dixie insisted. "That's what I told him.." Roy agreed in exasperation. "Only my half witted partner here doesn't believe me." "Wait a minute. Wait a minute.. Guys. Don't you think all of this should be between just Mike Morton and me?" "And a pair of lawyers, Gage. Can't forget them." Brice piped up, trying to interject a bit of reality to the problem. Johnny's face went even a paler shade of gray. "Oh, Johnny. Knock it off. You did what you could. I heard the whole story from Hank Stanley when he was here to see you two back then. Now, why don't you just sit back and let Kel handle all this? It's his job to go to bat for his paramedics." Dixie moaned. "And mine.." Craig piped up. Somehow, Brice's admission didn't feel all that warm and fuzzy to Johnny Gage like it could have been. He just stuck magnet eyes on Craig and mumbled tongue tied comments of no import while he twisted his brain around the convolutions of his current nightmare conversation. Finally, Gage said something the others could understand. "You mean, Brackett's cool about all this? That he'd know if I could be sued for incompetency over ..over.. Miss Morton's..?" "He should know. He was handling your medical calls that day." Dixie said firmly. "You're just going to have to trust your higher-ups to know what's best for you in the long run to patch things between Morton and the courts before this whole thing blows up out of porportion." "That's what I'm afraid of.." Johnny whispered, taking a bite of his suddenly cold food. "I'm not in control here anymore." he said in a way no one else heard. While the others ate and moved happily onto other subjects, Johnny Gage suddenly felt like the loneliest man in the world. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny was heading out the cafeteria doors to rejoin Roy in the squad, when he overheard the clump of nurses he usually targetted for-asking out-on-a-date practice, speaking in animated voices amongst themselves. ::That's what I can do.. Get a new date to cheer myself up!:: Johnny thought smiling to himself. "Did you hear he's going to do it?" said one pixie like nursing student, to the others. "Who's going to do what?" asked another. Johnny started to head over to them wearing his best Johnny Gage suitor's smile, when the next sentence floating out to him from the entry way doors, made him flatten against a shadowy wall. "Why Morton, silly. He's going after a paramedic who seriously let him down on a run." A third nurse gasped, her breath going wide up in a whistle of shock. "No... I feel sorry for whoever that paramedic is. They're all so cute." "Yeah,.. looks like we'll have one less working here by the end of the week." a third joked. They melted away to their cars, going off shift while Johnny stood stunned in the corner. ::A lawsuit? Oh my G*d.:: He barely remembered getting into the squad with Roy. ------------------------------------------------ Photo: Dix closeup in the cafeteria. Photo: Brice and Roy laughing. Photo: Johnny at Rampart looking bugged. Photo: Johnny surrounded by nurses. Photo: Morton at the station, looking all business. ************************************************** Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2003 00:18:37 -0700 (PDT) From: "Jeff Seltun" Subject: Rated PG for Graphic Content.. The Tiny Miracle *Beep* Beep* Beep*. "Here we go.." Gage said, just to fill the heavy void in his mind and heart. ##Station 51. Woman down. 911766 Lander's Way. 911766 Lander's Way. Cross street, Buena Vista Blvd. Time Out : 10: 46.## "Looks like the engine's going to beat us there, Johnny." Roy said as he pulled into the drive of the hospital and turned right under the walkway to get to the freeway. "Hope it's a medical. Not a trauma. They don't have that much for gear.." They were half way there when the radio crackled, truck to truck. ##Engine 51 to Squad 51. We have a s-stabbing, with arterial bleeding. What's your ETA?## Gage didn't miss the odd tension in his captain's voice. He immediately frowned. "Now why would Cap broadcast a medical update over the radio?" he said aloud. "I don't know." Roy replied. "Let's just get there first. Sounds bad." He rounded a turn and then rubbed his lips in thought. "Lander's Way. Now why does that sound familiar to me?" "Gotta be a business with a street address number that long." Gage concluded. "Turn left here." and Gage thumbed the radio mic and replied. "Engine 51. Our ETA is three minutes." ##10-4. Be advised we have two victims. Repeat two victims..## Again they both heard the odd note in Hank's voice even through the normal tinny din of the open frequency. Then another odd occurance happened. They heard Cap calling out for another squad. "Squad 8? They're farther away than us. What the h*ll?" Johnny wondered as he listened to Brice and Bellingham acknowledge the call. "We'll know when we get there. Maybe it's that new rule of one critical per squad Brackett was talking about during the last meeting coming into effect a month early." Roy guessed. "That's right. I remember that. It was Brackett and Brice's idea." Gage replied. "And I know Cap's good with delegating tasks when he's got his hands full. Even for the medical stuff." "They've got two O2 tanks." Roy agreed. "Those'll last well for them until we get there with ours." Johnny glanced at his watch and scribbled a note in his book. "T-minus two minutes from arrival.." Roy stepped on the accelerator. ---------------------------------------------- Marco was getting sick behind a parked car a short distance away. Chet's complexion was faring little better. Kelly looked up from the dressing he held over the woman's swollen belly and away from the movement he was seeing there. "What should I do, Cap? I don't want to tip her over onto her side to deal with that nausea or this fluid'll gush out and expose it more.." he said softly, with high stress. Cap continued to whisper reassurances to the half conscious woman on the ground. "Easy.. It's ok. Just keep breathing this in. The rescue squad IS on its way here." he said, holding a passive demand valve over her face trying to ease the oxygen debt she was feeling due to her massive hemorrhaging. ::I sure hope it's Brice who gets here first..:: "Chet. Just keep her on her back. I got the suction here if she gets ill, ok, pal? Just keep pressure around that wound without pressing down too much. Just apply dressings enough to slow the bleeding. We have to keep any more contamination from getting inside of her abdomen there." "Where's my husband?" she moaned. "I want to see him... Oh...hHHh." "Don't talk right now. Please, just keep still." Cap soothed, then he looked up with a tight mouth. "Stoker! Any sign of her assailant? There's more blood over here possibly from a second person, by Marco. On second thought, never mind. Go check on Lopez and see how he's doing. We need help here. She's waking up." "The thief's gone, Cap. I just talked to a witness over here who said he ran to the north with her purse. He must have mugged her when she came out of the grocery store." Mike replied. Hank nodded in agreement. "Probably because she was pregnant. Go handle Marco then get back here with more dressings. Also, we can at least set up a burn sheet to get her off the ground. Get a backboard and c-collar while you're at it. We can start immobilizing her, too, after we cut these clothes off. But first, get her covered up. There are too many gawkers gathering here." The sight of the engine and four firefighters was indeed drawing a crowd from the shopping mart and a coffee shop from across the street. There was as yet, no P.D. for crowd control. Hank got on his HT. "Squad Eight, Engine 51. What's your ETA?" ## Four minutes.## "10-4, Squad Eight. Our victim's regaining some consciousness but is developing complications." ##Understood. We're increasing our speed.## came Brice's cool reply. Cap wished he could tell his arriving people more but didn't want to run the risk for safety reasons. ::It's bad enough as it is..:: A choking sound drew Hank's attention downwards. "Maam?!" he shouted. "Can you hear me?" The woman's stomach began to heave as she tried to quell sudden rising bile. It caused some amber amniotic fluid to run from the gaping stab wound Chet was managing. "Easy.. easy!" Kelly urged. "Don't move down here.You'll hurt yourself further.." Hank saw the woman's eyes roll back into her head as shock finally stole away her consciousness. He tipped back her head and looked into her mouth with practiced cross scissor fingers. Quickly, he suction wanded out some welling emesis he found there from the back of her throat until the choking sounds were gone. When he looked up, he saw all four of his men around him over the woman. ::Good going. Now we'll get things done.:: Cap bent low to listen for sounds of respirations. "She's still breathing. Marco, get a resp rate after you're through strapping her onto that long board. Stoker. Get another sheet over her as soon as he's through. Her pulse's weakening. It's 130." he said, keeping one monitoring finger on a deeply sunk in carotid artery. "Cap, I don't know about this." Chet said from where he was kneeling with his hold around the stab wound. "There's a lot of air getting in around the baby. I'm getting real worried here that I'm not doing enough." "Just hang on, pal. As long as she doesn't lose any more amniotic fluid, we're fine. The baby'll share the O2 she's getting, through the umbilical cord." And he stepped up his care, starting to actively ventilate the woman when her breathing grew too shallow for his liking. ::Come on, Johnny, Roy. Get the lead out.:: Chet willed mentally. ::She's one we can't lose..:: Cap looked up to see an arrowing squad flying towards them from the east. It wasn't squad 8. ::Uh oh. Didn't want that to happen.:: "Stoker get set. Watch Roy carefully when he gets here. And keep him away from me. Gage's the only one allowed to handle her." he said, keeping up his vents on Joanne DeSoto. "Regulations?" Marco asked. Cap nodded his head. All three were watching when Roy's horrid cry of recognition exploded from his lips. Mike Stoker intercepted DeSoto's desperate charge to get near his wife and unborn child. "Joanne!" Gage almost dropped the gear boxes and O2 he was carrying. "What?!" He ran by Stoker. "Don't you let go of him.." he ordered. "No matter what he does or says. Brice and Bellingham will be here long before I get in over my head." Mike had brought Roy to his knees to keep him from getting into his crewmates' way. He kept talking to DeSoto, telling him what was wrong and what they had found on her. "Joanne? Stabbed in the abdomen? The baby!!" Roy panicked. "I gotta get over there." "DeSoto. Stay put!" Cap snapped. "Or it's your job, pal. Understood?" he said more softly, in sympathy. Roy nodded reluctantly, but finally he stopped struggling with Stoker. He tried to content himself with trying to see over the sheets to where Johnny, Chet, Marco and Cap were crouched. He could barely make out the slight rise and fall of Joanne's chest in between the breaths Cap was giving her. At a glance from Gage, Hank reported, "She got sick once. And I already listened. Nothing got into her chest. It's clear." Gage sighed in relief. ::One hurdle down. Let's see how far we get with the rest of things.:: Johnny was already sweeping over Joanne's body in a rapid assessment. "Only that one stab wound?" he demanded of Kelly. "Yeah, there's no exit wound. Johnny,...hurry. It's coming out.." Chet said in a tight whisper. "So's all the fluid bath." "What?" Gage leaned in closer, quickly pulling on a pair of sterile latex gloves from an obstetrical trauma kit. He nodded for Marco to lift the sheet a little higher and to place a penlight into his mouth so Johnny could shine it into the dark wound that way. He could see Roy and Joanne's third unborn child floating silently, without independent movement, deep within, with his naked eye. ::Oh, my g*d. Please be alive. Please. Please..:: he begged mentally, and he reached out carefully to a limb he saw just beneath the surface of inner skin surrounding the torn uterus. A tiny hand tightly gripped his finger in reflex to his stroking of its palm instantly. Johnny's eyes teared up in a relieving surge of glad discovery. "The baby's alive, Roy. Looks like the knife didn't get down that far. I'm not seeing any bright arterial blood in here." Roy wilted in a relieved father's release and Stoker let him go. "Th- Thank you." he said glancing up. Bright tears had filled his eyes. "How's she doing, Johnny?" Johnny freed the tiny hand from his index finger and covered it with a damp sterile saline gauze pad carefully. "Chet. This doesn't come off. Got it?" "Clear as anything." Johnny addressed his distraught partner. "She's fine, Roy. I got pulses down to the brachial level on both arms and good bilateral femoral pulses. Looks like the knife didn't hit any major organs either. I'm not smelling any bowel. Just the anterior superior uterus here seems effected in the central umbilical region.This laceration's only about four inches long but it's penetrating clear through to the womb obliquely." He glanced lower and didn't find any bloody show further down. "The birth canal's intact, Roy. Thing's are looking real good." he sighed out loud. "All her trauma seems to be extremely localized." He peeled off his fluid stained gloves and got out a blood pressure cuff. "Ok, Chet. The bleeding's mostly stopped. Your job is to make sure the baby doesn't poke through again, ok? Put on this second pair of gloves and maintain a firm barrier over the wound." "I'm no nurse, Johnny. I don't want to hurt the baby." Kelly frowned. "You won't, the baby'll move back away from you shortly. It's not uncommon for free movement this late along, during a second trimester." Roy was nodding his head in agreement despite his numbing emotional fog. He nodded every step of the way, too, during Johnny's biophone call to Rampart, at every satisfactory aspect of his partner's examination results and vital signs report. "....Rampart, it appears she's lost about 800 cc's of blood to the outside and about......" he added, lifting up the cut away garments forgotten and shoved into a heap behind Chet, to look more closely for a better estimate of volume. "...200 cc's of amniotic fluid from what I'm seeing here." he said. Kel's firm no nonsense voice filled the air. "51, start two I.V.'s Normal Saline and run wide open until her B.P. comes up. Under no circumstances are you to pack the wound. I'd rather it drain freely. We'll handle any major leakage when she arrives and gets sent into surgery. Use no pain medications on the victim, at all. It might further depress the baby's vital signs. What are they, 51?" Gage read his notes. "Fetal pulse is 180 via stethoscope auscultation. Mother's respiratory rate, assisted, is 22 on 16 liters of O2." "Good enough. Watch for fetal protrusions such as free limbs or the umbilical cord in transit. Under no circumstances are you to push any such extrusion back into the uterus. Just maintain space around the area manually to keep good circulation going in the part." "10-4, Rampart. So far, just an arm's been visible, that only submerged, and a hand, briefly." Over the radio, Dr. Morton, who had been walking by, commented. "No doubt that's how Gage found out the baby was still alive. The grasping reflex.." "No doubt.." Kel agreed. Brackett re-thumbed the talk button. "Keep her warm, keep her legs elevated and get her and baby in here a.s.a.p. Tell the ambulance driver to avoid potholes if at all possible. Oh, and don't forget to apply an occlusive dressing over the wound to slow the amniotic fluid loss you're experiencing. That's irreplaceable at this stage of the game." "10-4, Rampart. Treat for shock. and use an air tight dressing." Right then, Squad Eight came tearing around a corner, screeching efficiently to a halt and Brice and Bellingham got out. "Rampart, an additional squad has arrived to help me keep her and her wound stable. Our ETA is approximately fifteen minutes. The Mayfair's here." Gage added when a second set of sirens grew in rising pitch, from the distance. Roy was finally allowed to sit by Joanne's head, slightly to one side so he didn't get in the way of the oxygen being delivered to his still wife and very active baby. Already, the shock he experienced when he first got to the scene, was lifting. "I don't suppose you saw the baby's gender over there." Roy quipped, trying to smile and he gently caressed Joanne's pale face around Cap's jaw gripping glove. Johnny shook his head. "Sorry about that. Your baby decided to not cooperate in that way, Pally. Relax.. They're both in good hands. Mine. I promised you that I'd be here." "And you are.." Brice said, kneeling, as he snatched Johnny's notepad from his hands to read what Gage had written down. His speculative eye cast over Joanne once and his head bobbed in satisfaction over the progress of her course of treatment thus far. Craig waved over the ambulance attendants. "We're ready here. Looks like everything's set and good to go." ------------------------------------------------ Photo: Johnny and Roy headed for the squad through the ER doors. Photo: Joanne DeSoto in close up. Photo: An extra-uterus fetal hand gripping a gloved finger. ********************************************* Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2003 00:52:00 -0700 From: "Sam Iam" Subject: Bull in a China Shop.. "Hey..." Dixie gently woke her two favorite paramedics where they slumped in their seats outside the surgical family waiting room. Roy and Johnny both sat up, rubbing sleepers out of their eyes quickly and they both coughed to get their voices back from the depths of slumber. "It's over. The surgery was a success. Dr. Brackett managed to seal up your wife's womb without losing any more amniotic fluid. Joanne's just been extubated and is resting comfortably. So's the baby on the sonograms, Joe says. And there's a one hundred percent chance she'll be able to carry your baby all the way to full term for a normal delivery." "When can I see her, Dix?" Roy asked. "Oh, in about an hour or so. By then, she'll be awake enough for visits.." McCall grinned. "I gotta go. My shift's up." "See ya Dixie..And, thanks for everything." DeSoto said after her as she padded quietly down the hall towards the elevators in the semi darkness of the nighttime hospital wing. "Say, maybe this's is gonna fix everything." Gage said softly. "What's gonna fix what?" Roy croaked groggily. "This whole rescue and how Morton feels about me being the one who headed it. He can't possibly hold malice towards me now." "Oh, that again?" Roy said rubbing tired eyes as he almost began drifting off to sleep right where he was in his waiting room chair. "Maybe if he sees how well I handled Joanne and the baby on paper.." he paused. "With you, of course.. that he'll have no desire to press charges about how I handled his sister that day. He was there in the room with Brackett for this one. I know. I heard him." "Who knows what that man thinks. I don't think anyone around Rampart can say much about him personally." Roy admitted. "So how can you predict how he'll react with any certainty?" "Yeah, guess you're right.." Gage said, sinking into a depression once again that outshown the joy he felt meeting Roy's unborn son or daughter peeking out of the womb. He thought again about what he had overheard from the student nurses on his way out the ER doors the day before. ::Man.. Maybe I SHOULD bough out while I still have my pride left. I can't take this anymore. Gonna have to do something about that before I'm embarrassed publicly before everyone in a courtroom.:: Somewhere halfway to home, Johnny Gage made his final decision. ------------------------------------ It was the next day after a harrowing fire call, at the resupplying station. "Gage, I wanna talk to you." "About what..?" Johnny said, stiffening up at Morton's approach. ::Here it comes, the ultimatum.:: "About missing critical vital signs on a patient that we both took care of together." "On who?" Johnny blinked in surprise. "Baby DeSoto." "I didn't miss any vitals signs on the baby." he said fading from neutral into a tone which carried a tinge of irritation. "This here says you did. There's a blank space glaring out at me. Caused me and my receptionist a few headaches transcribing my ER report this morning." "Give me that.." Johnny said, snatching up the run sheet xerox from Mike's hands and reading where the young doctor was pointing. "I did take a fetal pulse. Apically.." Gage insisted. "I got a rate of 180." "Where? I don't see any notation about it on Joanne's run sheet. See? It isn't anywhere on here." Johnny just gaped like a fish.. ".. I'm right and you know it." Morton said cooly, his less than stellar bedside manner showing. "No , I'm right!" Johnny insisted. "This is a xerox, Dr. Morton. And I just didn't press my pen down hard enough. It's there. I can see the ink furrows plainly." Kel Brackett finally decided to get into the fray. "Maybe this isn't a case of who was right you two? Joanne's fine. The baby's fine. So why are you both squabbling over the details? You both did a fantastic job both in the field and in the treatment room yesterday." Kel insisted, grumbling stonily. But his comment fell on two sets of deaf ears. Johnny and Morton were still glaring at each other like two caged lions. Kel smiled as he walked away from the base station, shaking his head ruefully. He would let his two favorite ex-student proteges, work it out for themselves. "I did an absolutely spectacular fetal stabilization out there. And you know it. You make me feel as if I'm being incompetent or something here." "Maybe I am.." Morton said, not at Johnny, but inwardly, to himself. "Why?" Johnny asked sharply, taking that comment's meaning entirely the wrong way. "I don't know." Morton shrugged, still thinking to himself and only half listening. Johnny was still fuming and defensive. "Then why don't you just haul me off to court and we'll square this whole issue away once and for all.." "Huh? Oh, that. I don't have the money right now to pursue any charges against you, Gage." "Now Morton, Look..." Johnny said very hushed, fearing the worst. "And I wouldn't do such a petty thing anyway because it wouldn't be justified in the slightest to even attempt it." Johnny's head immediately lifted. "What?" "I'm not blaming you for my sister's death, Fireman Gage. But I AM still a little jumpy when it comes to handling rescue calls involving any teen aged girls who are near the age Angie was. Something me and the counselors haven't been able to figure out yet. That's why I got a little tight with you earlier, about how you assessed the baby, over the biocom." "You mean.." Morton held up silencing fingers, just as the hospital receptionist summoned his name over the intercom pager and gave a where-to-report-next location. Mike refocused on a tense paramedic face. "That's right, Gage. I never went to a courthouse to file a lawsuit. That would've been stupid. I finally summoned up enough courage to read Angie's final autopsy report. She never had a chance at surviving that accident, Johnny. There was nothing humanly possible that you could've done. Excuse me, I have a lot of work to do right now. Can we talk about all this later?" Mutely, Johnny nodded. Half a second later, Dr. Morton wandered down the hall to the nurses' station phone to answer his page. -------------------------------------------------- Photo : Dixie making an appearance for Roy and John in the nurses lounge. Photo: Morton squaring off with a wary Gage. Photo: Roy eyeing something intently in closeup. ********************************************** From : "Cassidy Meyers" Subject :The Final Post.. (No pun intended) Heh...:) Date : Thu, 02 Oct 2003 12:20:17 +0400 Johnny Gage rushed out of the hospital rest room, searching for his bored, wandering partner. "There you are! Roy! I did something really stupid." "What? Did you get dressed again without a spare set of shoelaces handy?" Roy smirked. "Don't tell me, you broke yet another pair." Roy said sipping his coffee by the entry way doors leading out to the ambulance ramp. "No, you gotta listen. I wrote a letter to headquarters and I mailed it without even thinking straight." Roy tipped his head in a sinking suspicion, but out loud he asked. "What kind of letter?" "The kind no one ever wants to write.." "You didn't." "Yes, I did." "Why didn't you tell me you did something so stupid." "Thought I just told ya, pal." Roy grimaced, and looked at his watch. "Oh, Johnny..." he whined. "Which mail box?" "The one by home.." "Uh, oh.." "Uh, oh what?" "The postal truck picks up all deliveries in your neighborhood at eight o'clock." "What time is it now? Maybe I got time to drive down there and--" "Can you drive faster than a hundred miles an hour?" DeSoto squinted as he noted what time it read on his wrist watch. "Oh, no.." "Oh, yes. We got twenty minutes to intercept that letter." Roy's face fell. "Why'd ya do it partner? I thought we were friends." "Roy, would you cut that out. I didn't mean it." "Oh really. Tell that to headquarters when they open up the envelope." Somberly, he stuck out his hand. "It's been nice knowing ya. By noon, I'm afraid you're out of a job. You know how McConnike feels about quitters." Johnny Gage suddenly snapped his fingers in the midst of a great idea. "Roy, I think I figured a way outta this. Bear with me." And he snatched the HT out of his partner's hand. ------------------------------------------------- Roy sat in the seat of the squad with his driver's door open, looking like the proverbial speak no evil monkey. All the medical gear from the stow was conveniently arranged around the mail box in a neat ring. Johnny even had out the jaws of life. It had been bad enough roaring down the freeway with lights and siren on for no good reason at all. Luckily, they had never run into another called out station while they were doing it. Johnny tried to look nonchalant as E 51 pulled up with the rest of the gang Code Three. "What's the problem, Gage? " Hank said stepping out of the cab before the Ward was even curbside. "Sam was a little light on details for this one. All we got was 'Unknown Type Rescue" with your squad call sign as the originator.." "Uhhh.." Roy stuttered. "Roy, Just shush.. I'll explain it.." Johnny said and he bravely stepped forward to provide some protection for his partner. "Well, uh,," Johnny cleared his throat nervously. "You see, Cap, it's like this. I sorta kinda wrote a stupid letter this morning before I came to work. One that I kinda regret.." Hank Stanley caught on immediately and dropped his head with an irritated grimace that soon, rapidly, became a snarl as comprehension dawned. "Don't say anything more, Gage. Oh my word...L*rd all mighty in Heaven..!" He set his hands on his hips and counted to ten.. "Cap,.. I.." Hank held up a hand while the gang gathered around him from the engine's cab for orders. Then they noticed Hank silencing Gage with his trademark scathing nonverbal captain's gesture. Slowly, his face turned a bright scarlet. Hank took in a deep breath and ...then he let loose.."We just wasted tax payers' gasoline dollars to come all the way out here to high tech rescue a stupid resignation letter?!" Hank boomed. "Uh..." Johnny peeped. "Cap, the postman's gonna be here any second." he insisted lamely. "I don't believe this! Of all your crazy lame brained schemes.. this one certainly takes the cake, Gage." "Yeah, but isn't it noble?" Chet piped up, sudden admiration's stars in his eyes at Johnny's cack handed way of getting out of a rough spot. Cap's face just turned a darker shade of red. "Breathe, Cap." Marco insisted from somewhere out of range. DeSoto and Gage just glared at Lopez.. "We're saving my partner's career here." Roy dropped into the boiling silence between them all. "Say,,," said Chet, scenting an opportunity to get even in the years long Gage/Kelly one upmanship game. "Cap,..just think of how many favors you can glean off him for this." Hank's glower faded away into a calculating speculation. "Ahh. That's right. I get to pull some serious rank AND discipline here. Let's see, well, latrine duty for sixty days, kitchen chow and dish detail until Christmas.." he said ticking off two fingers on his glove. "Until Christmas?!" Gage sputtered, then immediately hushed up sheepishly. "That's exactly right. Protest further and I'll double it.." Gage was a mouse. A mute one. Then they all heard responding sirens from an approaching police car. "Uh oh,'' Cap trickled. "Quick! Pretend like your arm's stuck, Chet." Johnny shouted out to the back of the engine. "Do what the man says Kelly and be quick about it.." Hank re-enforced. "What, Cap?" Chet said as he huffed over with the equipment they needed. "You heard me.." Cap hissed as the squad car squealed to a halt angled a forty five to the engine to deflect traffic away from it. "Hurry up, Chet. We gotta make this look good." Marco quipped. "We're going to be destroying government property here, Kelly." Cap clarified, looking around self consciously at the curious passersby drawn in by the sight of the flashy engine and squad in front of the bank. "We need an excuse." Stoker said when Kelly still didn't yet catch on. "Bury an arm now, Chet. " "And moan a little.. cause here comes Vince to guard the loose mail that'll result from our steel splitting surgery.." Roy grinned. "Oh,,,geez.." and the lightbulb finally clicked on.. "Right, Gage.. " Chet stuck his arm into the box ."Ohh,, I don't feel so good." John smacked Kelly subtly on the arm for overreacting a little too much. "Hi Vince..." he greeted brightly. "What's the problem here, boys..?" "Chet's stuck. Thought we had a puppy fallen down a mail box, Vince. Only dork head over here couldn't wait for the key." "Is that a fact?" Vince leaned over and planted an ear against the post box and listened. "I don't hear anything." "The little bugger got away..." Chet protested admirably. "He WAS here. Look.." and he pointed down to a convenient pile of doggy doo doo steaming on a curb near where they were standing. "He crawled right up my arm like a cat getting out. He even clawed my face.. See?" And he pointed to a lac he got from a shooting cinder the night before. "Hmm. Ok, boys.. I'll authorize a sawing.." Vince finally agreed. "Just... try to keep the public's mail intact while you're doing it, all right?" The K-12 flower petalled the mail box in less than twenty seconds under Stoker's extraordinary extrication skills. Gage subtly kicked the letter he recognized as his into the sewer sunk into the street. ::Problem solved..:: he grinned in final relief. ::This nightmare, is over..:: ------------------------------------------- Photo : Roy and John laughing at Rampart. Photo : Cap and Chet highly amused outside. Photo : A very serious Johnny and Vince. Photo: A yellow street corner mail box. Photo : A hand delivering a letter to a mailbox. Photo: A very smug satisfied, smiling Johnny. *********************************************** FIN :) To friends of depressed and down friends :( everywhere. Thanks for being there for them. This episode is dedicated to Officer Benkowski, who took his own life when there wasn't a friend :( near enough to show him that life, was still, good. :( @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season One, Episode Nine.. Green Pen Of Johnny's *************************************************** From: Subject : A Partner's Choice Date: Sun Sep 21, 2003 12:27 pm It was only hours from the end of a bad shift for the guys of 51's. A-shift, as usual. Johnny and Chet where arguing, and the rest of the guys were watching, when the tone went off. It was gonna be a big one. It was a four alarmer, a warehouse. They arrived on scene, met by the day supervisor. "We have three workers missing in there!" "Ok, we'll handle it. What kind of stuff is in there?" "We ship high explosives to all kinds of contractors for demolition work. If that place goes, it will level three city blocks." "Oh my G*d." The captain calls in to dispatch. Then he calls Roy and Johnny over. They all talk. "Dispatch this is 51. You better send me another alarm. We have an explosives factory involved. Also, police, for evacuation of at least four blocks all around our location. " ##Ten four, 51.## "Ok, now. Hey.. Roy, John! Come here. You tell these men where the missing employees were working at last. " "What do we got, Cap? " Roy asked. "High explosives and missing employees times three." "We saw them last in the packing room on the south end of the building over there." "Ok . Thanks. You know get your people back?" The man ran to where his other employees where standing to wait. Meanwhile, he said to both Roy and Johnny as well. "How do you wanna work this?" "We'll go in, I guess. I don't see any other way, Cap." "Ok.... But be careful. I don't want you two getting into anything you can't handle, ok ? Be careful." "Yeah. " They suit up and go in. Just as they reach the area where the missing people were last seen, there is a victim. A woman. Roy grabs her. Johnny tells him to get her out. He would see if he could spot anyone else and be right behind him. Then, just as they are starting to move, there is a large explosion that rocks the building. And Johnny sees danger as he looks up, and pushes Roy to safety along with the victim just as part of the ceiling came down. Johnny couldn't get out of the way in time and is trapped under all the debris. Roy hands the victim off to another team of fire fighters who come over to them just then. He knows there should be another squad outside. He instructs the men to take the victim outside. Then he grabs his radio and says into it. "Engine 51! This is HT 51! We have a code I in here! Fire fighter trapped under a fallen ceiling. We need help. " Then Roy removed as much of the debris as he could to get to Johnny. He got to him finally, but he was unconscious. ----------------------------------------------------------------- No photo attachments. ******************************************************* From : "Cassidy Meyers" Subject : Fireman Down... Date :Thu, 09 Oct 2003 23:30:54 +0400 "Johnny? Can you hear me?!" he shouted over the roaring din of fire around him. Roy's HT crackled and drowned out any possible reply that might have come from him. It was Cap. ##Hang in there, Roy! I've got Lopez, Stoker and Kelly en route to you now with just a long board. It's the fastest way of getting him out of there! ## Roy thumbed his reply, crouching protectively over his partner's face and chest to ward off the remnants of the ceiling that still spit burning embers down around them from the upper story. "10-4. Tell them to follow my rope! I'm about thirty yards from the east entrance near a toppled fork lift!" DeSoto turned all of his attention to finding positive life signs on Johnny. Roy's first move was to pull off one of his hose dampened gloves to slide a couple of fingers inside his partner's air mask to feel for signs of breathing. Immediately, they moistened from the stress related puffs of warm breath whistling rapidly in and out of Johnny's mouth. Roy bent closer and he saw that there was a trickle of blood running profusely from Gage's nose, trailing rivers onto the sweaty cracked face plexiglass covering it. To his dismay, there was no sign of animation, at all, active on Johnny's face. "Gotta drain some of that out now." DeSoto turned Gage as a unit onto his side to lay him against his own knees to await the help soon to arrive. He mumbled, keeping his free fingers on the artery beating weakly in Johnny's neck. "Just hang in there, Junior. You're doing fine." Roy sliced away the straps of the air bottle from Johnny's back using his holster's utility knife to get him set for the spine board in two swift slashes. Then he kicked Gage's half empty yellow air cylinder clear from its usual position until it rested near both their heads. "Roy?! We're here! How is he?" came Kelly's muffled shout. It was followed by the angry hissing of fire as it was beaten dark by an inch and a half's violent water stream. Marco and Stoker came running to grab Gage by the shoulders and legs to help Roy keep a tight alignment as Chet slid the board as close against his back as he could. "He's breathing, you guys. But he's really out. Watch his neck! He's got some fast facial bleeding." DeSoto snapped through his glass. "I'll be careful...! I'm always careful.." Kelly countered first gruff, then calming at DeSoto, as he tried not to let the worry in his eyes show through his mask. Chet knocked away Gage's useless helmet with an elbow while he got a good grip with his gloves on either side of Johnny's head as they rolled him gingerly, to once again supine, and adjusted him in a centering line onto the board. Stoker grabbed the two sand bags they had brought to keep Johnny's head even more stable under the chin and forehead straps, and he handed them off to Roy for him to apply. Lopez quickly dropped the hose that had cleared a cool wet path of black through the flaming warehouse and handily got a good grip on the board. "I got it snuffed. We gotta move now." "Ok.. He's set." Roy gasped. "On, three, we'll lift him. Ready? Three.." he rushed, tossing the air bottle onto his partner's dusty knees carelessly. He made sure that Gage's shattered air mask remained in place. ::It's still doing its job keeping out the smoke.:: Scared for their lives, the four men from Station 51 carried out their fifth as the warehouse rumbled in threat around them with lurid fire while dodging many destabilizing burning crates as the boxes fell from their berths around them. Finally, they cleared out into the night air. Cap met them on the run and paced along side of them as he peeled off Gage's air mask to reopen his airway with a careful jaw thrust move. Another hand buried itself under Gage's slightly smoking jacket. "He's still moving air ok.. I got the 02 and biophone connected and already hooked up, and an ambulance will be here in four minutes. Roy, did you guys see anybody else in there?" Roy blinked in shock when he realized that he had nothing to report on the others beyond his own firefighting crew's well being. "Well, I- I.. " Stoker saved his behind. "Cap, we did a sweep search the whole time we water blasted over to Roy and Johnny's location. We saw no one else trapped. I can guarantee that the ground floor's clear.." "Are you absolutely certain?" "As sure as the fact you're standing in front of me." Mike confirmed, stepping over a yellow burn sheet spread over the ground. "Ok..." Cap sighed, taking Stoker's update seriously. They all helped carry Johnny's long board over to the equipment laid out on the street and soon they were joined by two other county firemen to speed up the process. Cap grimaced when he saw the large amount of blood continuing its flow from Johnny's nostrils. But he had other worries still to deal with. Hank lifted his head to shout aloud towards the avenue, radio-less, because his hands were still full maintaining a clear air passage on Johnny. "I want another scout team in the warehouse immediately to search the second floor. Under no circumstances is any one going back in without a hose backup!" he roared. He saw Engine 10's captain take over his commanding order to take rapid steps to implement it. From the corner of his eye, Hank saw a new team arrow towards the burning building dragging a hose at their tail. ::Good going. If those people are still alive in there, we'll find em.:: Under Hank's hands, Gage gagged just as Kelly, Lopez, Roy, and Stoker lowered his board to the ground. Cap saw Gage's involuntary stomach muscles begin to rock back and forth under his burned blue shirt. "Flip him! He's getting ill.." he warned. They rapidly log rolled Gage onto his side as Johnny began to vomit up the blood that he had taken in from his sinuses. "He's screwing up his airway real bad.." Kelly said un-necessarily, showing his current high fright for his crewmate. "He's fine now, Chet. Just relax, ok? I got it all.." Roy said, applying a last bit of suction inside Johnny's mouth from the unit on the resuscitator apparatus. The smothering liquid gurgling inside the tube gave way to a smooth patent hissing sound of sucking air so he withdrew the wand. "There. We just gotta get him on some O2 now. Marco, you handle that.." DeSoto told him, beginning to calm down somewhat. "Put him on 15Ls and be prepared to breathe for him if he goes over 24 a minute. For now, we'll keep him on his side until he wakes up. Cap, you can let go of him now. I've pushed his tongue clear. Looks like he was biting it." Hank nodded, pulling his blood stained hands away from where Lopez and Roy were settling a demand valve over Johnny's nose and mouth. He rose to his feet to find a hose puddle in which to wash. He didn't have far to go. ::Only to the curb here.:: he sighed and he cleaned up. Then Captain Stanley pulled his HT out of his pocket and set it onto the squad's roof for monitoring while he watched Roy and the others work to assess Gage. Roy wiped his hands off on the grass and snatched up the biophone to speak.. ----------------------------------------------------- Photo : Chet and Marco carrying Johnny on a long board. Photo: The gang scrambling to lay hose at a fire scene from the engine's line bed. Photo: Johnny screaming aloud as a ceiling falls on him inside a fire. Photo: Roy DeSoto on the landline in closeup. Photo: Tight shot of the biophone's dials. ******************************************* From: "Cory Anda" Subject: Volatile Situation.. Date: October 9, 2003. 09:45:08 0007 CST "Rampart, this is Rescue 51. How do you read?" Roy began. Dr. Early turned on the desk reel to reel recorder after he got Dixie's hint that there was an incoming call arriving to the base station. ## Go ahead, 51.## he replied. "Rampart. We have three victims from an incendiary factory fire. Victim three has yet to be located. Victim one, a male approximately sixty years of age. He's suffering from mild smoke inhalation. Victim number two's a Code I. He's unconscious following being pulled out from under a roof collapse. He's been fully immobilized on a long board. A cervical collar has been applied and he's on 15 L's of O2. Vitals are: BP, 100/82, Respirations are 20 and rapid, and his carotid pulse is 120. There's substantial bleeding from his nose that we have draining by placement onto his side. He has no signs of cerebral spinal fluid leakage nor accompanying Coon's eyes or Battle's sign showing. His pupils are equal and reactive." ## 51, On Victim Two. Start an IV of Lactated Ringer's TKO and get a full neural assessment as soon as you can. Keep his head elevated and transport as soon as you've established the IV. On victim number one, keep him on six liters of 02 via nasal cannula and monitor his vital signs carefully throughout the trip in. Let me know when you've reached Victim Three.## "10-4, Rampart." and Roy parroted his medical orders to the letter back to Joe Early to confirm what he had to do next. Right then, Marco spoke up. "Roy, he's coming to.." DeSoto dropped the phone and bent close to Gage's face, tapping Johnny on an eyelid with a finger to see if he blinked or not. "Johnny? You back? Open your eyes.." On the fourth tap, Johnny's face screwed up and he coughed wetly. "Ok, guys.. Let's set him flat again. He's awake enough to manage all this bleeding." Together, the four of them twisted, then tilted back the long board until it rested head up on Johnny's abandoned air bottle while they watched him regain a vestige of consciousness. "Johnny?" Roy said loudly once again, gripping his face firmly between his hands. "Can you hear me?" A soft moan answered him, then.. "I saw a child in..in... listen, *Ugh* ..listen to me...I saw a small kid in there.." Gage mumbled, shoving away the flowing ventilator mask. Marco kept it hovering close on blow by over his nose and mouth as a compromise. Chet looked up at Roy as he was covering Johnny up with a shock blanket. "Is he still half out of it? That last bit didn't make any sense at all." "Probably. And no, that didn't make any sense to me either. Easy, Johnny. We're gonna haul you in to Rampart next for a thorough checkup." Gage began to fidget as clarity crept back to him and he tried to touch his face and struggle free of the long board's restraints, grunting quietly. DeSoto and Stoker both, grabbed his shoulders to immobilize him. Roy bent close to Johnny's bloody ear. "Hey,, hey.. Just lie back a sec. Let Marco finish up on your 02 first. You're still kinda in La La land." Gage seemed to understand then and he remained silent after that, blinking slowly at the starry sky as he rubbed the ashes out of his eyes. A minute later, he focused on Roy starting an IV on one of his arms and something finally clicked mentally. "That Ringers?" "Yeah." "I don't need it. I'm .. I'm..not shocky." he fussed, pushing some new blood and old saliva out of the corner of his mouth in irritation. "No, you're very stable. But you were unconscious for over ten minutes, partner. Humor Early for once and let him play doctor. It'll boost his ego. He's getting real tired of all the firefighters hurting themselves this week." DeSoto smiled down at Gage. "Remember, Rampart's had just as bad a shift as we had today, Junior. " he said. Then he added casually.. "While we're still on the subject, Johnny, do you hurt anywhere else besides your nose there? Don't go fussing with it now. It's not broken. I checked." Gage eyed Roy up for several seconds in full doubt at that assessment, but then he admitted. "Nah..*cough* Just got a smoke headache. I think I'm only nauseated because of the crap I swallowed earlier." he groaned, closing his eyes to rest.. Johnny then allowed Marco to hold the mask over his face once more without protest. "Well, we'll know that for sure once Early sees your skull series. Just keep clearing out that blood like you are." he told him seriously. But then his voice took up an amused warning. "Chet's got a gauze pad handy." Roy smirked. Johnny opened his eyes when he felt new ministrations begin. "Ohh nooo.. gimme that, Kelly." he snapped at Chet who had started wiping Gage's face dry. "I can clean up myself.." he mumbled around the mask, snatching away the 4 X 4 from the curly haired fireman's fingers. "I'm doing fine so quit sweating the small stuff here. I was just getting all the sh*t out of my mouth." And he began to do the task of mopping up, himself. "Uh.. huh.. " Chet agreed with feigned sarcasm. "I saw that. I saw that, believe me." Then he looked up. "Looks like Johnny's brain is basically intact, Roy. He's b*tching at me already." "I came to that conclusion fifteen seconds ago." DeSoto laughed. Stoker, Chet and Marco all grinned. DeSoto leaned close to examine Johnny's face and nose in more detail with his metallic pen light. "Your nasal bleeding's finally slowing." Roy said. Johnny emitted a noise of doubt. "Huh.. Feels like I'm still drowning in it." "Unlikely.." Roy countered. "You're still talking." he quipped slyly. "Amen to that, Roy!" Chet chattered enthusiastically, giggling uproariously. Johnny glared. But only mildly, at his coworkers. A commotion drew all their attentions then. The day supervisor was rushing over to where Cap was standing and he suddenly blurted out. "Say, Mister. I got the demolition experts from the plant coming from downtown. They say they can help coordinate an operation to use explosives to put out the fire near the most critical explosive production rooms." said the manager in tan. "Talk to that man right there." Cap interjected and he pointed a finger at Battalion 14, just setting up shop a short distance away in the safe zone. Cap watched as Station Ten's men ran out of the building with a gasping man supported between their shoulders. ::There's number two..:: he thought, remembering the woman who had been brought out earlier before Johnny's trouble. He started to turn away when he saw that the smoke stained man was fine and conscious. The recovery team was placing their burden onto a waiting hearse ambulance gurney when Cap heard him speak, urgently hoarse around his oxygen mask. "Hey. *cough* My daughter's still in there." Hank motioned for the attendants, who were starting to wheel him away, to halt. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I wanna talk to this man. Mister, can you repeat that? Is your daughter the third victim we've been looking for?" "What? Little Megan? No way.. She's nine years old and cute as a button." That last comment struck a chill down Chet and Roy's spines. "Johnny was right about there being a kid in there somewhere?" Kelly gasped. They both looked up from the IV they were taping down, sharply, and started paying attention to the new victim information Cap was gleaning bit by bit from the agitated man. The injured worker continued his story. "She came to see where I work, on a tour. *cough* She's writing a school paper on what line of work I'm into since she's got the crazy idea that she wants to join a ski patrol in Colorado when she grows up." "Uh huh.. uh huh.." Cap nodded impatiently. "When did you last see her?" "About twenty minutes ago. Heading up the steps above the office block to the rafters lookout level with Howard. He's one of the designers of the warehouse. I think she wanted to see how the crane lifts worked." "What's she look like? Uhh,.. W-What was she wearing today?" Roy butted in, thinking how best to get the information they needed to mount a more comprehensive search. " Megan's outfit? Oh, let me see.. Uhh,,. White. All white. A little girl's T shirt and pants. She's got blond hair.. Real short!" he shouted after Roy who went running to the next team of searchers exchanging out their spent air bottles for new ones. He found them near the south entrance of the burning plant and he quickly told them of the unexpected development. ##Move it, Roy. I'll let you know when Johnny's ready to ship out over the radio.## Cap promised over the HT. Johnny regarded his gurneyed, sooty companion thoughtfully as Marco finally changed out his ventilator mask for a lesser flow nasal cannula. Johnny said to the man. "I hope she's ok, for your sake, mister. I know how it is in there. The roof's real unstable." he said. The plant worker opened his eyes and regarded the dirty paramedic looking at him from the ground. "She's a good kid. She wouldn't do anything stupid like getting caught in a fire.." Chet tried his best not to chortle when Gage made a face overhearing that comment. "Yeah, well that doesn't change the fact that Megan's in a whole lotta danger right now.." Cap said with exasperation. "The whole place might be about to go up." he said standing over them both, eyeing the hustling companies ringing the fire scene. "Doubtful.." said the man instantly. "Howard has always said that nothing short of an atom bomb would set off all the special stuff we got in storage." "What kind of special stuff?" Hank frowned. "Oh, plastique. Timed nitrite incendiaries. and some rocket fuel." "Any TNT or nitroglycerin?" Hank asked. "Nothing so archaic, Cap. What do we look like? ACME Plant Central?" --------------------------------------------- Photo : Night fire crews working a suburban California fire. Photo: Johnny on the ground at night, hurt. Photo: Chet and Cap discussing something in full turnout at night. Photo: Cap by the engine at night. ********************************************** From : "Katherine Bird" Subject : Tightrope Act.. Date : Wed, 15 Oct 2003 22:12:35 +0100 Roy pelted towards the team headed in, refastening his air mask over his face. Already, he was breathing hard. ::A kid? I really hate kid calls.:: he quailed mentally. An equally mental memory surfaced that had Johnny's signature all over it. ::Why did you think Cap let you go inside again anyway? He knows you're no good to him being held back on any kid search at a fire.:: Johnny's voice seem to say. Roy wished that Gage could somehow be with him. ::Right now. We seem to search out a building better working with the both of us, together..:: Jamming his helmet a little further onto his head and flipping up his collar, Roy uptook the back end of the fire hose and went with the L.A. city team, explaining about the little girl to their anchor man and his orders from Cap to find her. "Where was she last seen?" said a burly man in Pasadena yellow at Roy. His mask muffled only a little of the man's dismay. DeSoto pointed up. "Rafters! Around the auto lifts!" "Right.." said the front hose man and together, the four of them fought their way through the roaring fire towards a set of metal stairs along one wall. The bitter smell of soaked cardboard and burned plastics permeated the air and seeped into Roy's mouth and nose as they hosed down the growing fire through the metal grating of the stairway. "This air's hardly breathable, even with a mask on. I hope they're still alive.." he thought. At the top of the landing, they found Howard. He had fallen and Roy knew even before he peeled off a glove for a pulse check that the man was already dead. ::Broken neck.:: He felt the cool blistered skin and confirmed the lack of a pulse in seconds. He hastily pulled his glove back on and shook his head in the negative at the others who were wishfully fanning a wash over him and the body. One of the firemen broke away from the hose to heft up Howard onto his shoulders and he began heading towards the nearest hole in the walls where they could all see fire engine lights wavering in the orange glowing darkness around the smoke. The recovery group pushed higher up along meshed stairs stretching towards the faraway ceiling and the rafter walkways there. Several suspended paths were canted and swaying, full of burning debris. "We can't go this way. Turn around and go back one landing. I think I remember another way up there !" said the front fireman. Soon, they found themselves on a second clear landing with two paths available. One waylead into a wall of heat, far too much for anything still living to endure; the other dipped into unexpected night coolness. ::This must be the open part left behind from the section of roof that fell on Johnny.:: Roy reasoned. He shot ahead, through the advancing hose spray and into that second choice of blackness, pulling off his mask's straps. "Megan! Can you hear me?" DeSoto's voice echoed around the sagging and violated, partially melted beams, over the din of the flames, eerily. There was no reply. Roy turned a one eighty in place, keeping a hand on a fireman's jacket for reference, and shouted again in the direction of the second side of factory ceiling walkways. He took a breath from his mask as he listened tensely for any reply. "Megan!! Shout if you can so we can find you!" He was about to motion the search team to move up to the next level when a treble echo of sound filtered through, bouncing off angles and hollows, barely audible over the snap and crackle of the nearby inferno. "Hold it. Hold it.. Did you hear that?" Roy asked the other firemen. They all nodded that they did, and the lead man started shutting off the hose to listen, too. "Megan?!" Roy shouted again, turning slightly to his left in the choking darkness. Then the cry came again, clearer and more frightened. "Help! Help! I'm over here!" "Keep shouting! We're coming!" Roy said, pulling on his mask again as they all picked up the heavy hose in double time to beat out the flames between them and the little girl. "H-Hurry.. I .. Howard's gone.. He...He slipped and fell away from me. I can't see him anywhere.." came Megan's weak, strained voice. ::She doesn't know that he was killed.:: Roy thought. ::Good.::"Megan.. what's around you?" Roy shouted at her. "We're trying to get nearer to where you are." "A roof crane is hanging down. It's got a burning box on it! I'm.. I'm scared! I want daddy.." All three men whirled, studying the flame rippling ceiling until they spotted the only ceiling lift, still swaying in the heat with a chained payload. It was sixty feet in front of them. "There.. There!" Roy pointed. They could see Megan reaching out to them from where she lay on her stomach, partially hidden in the smoke. Her white clothes stood out under their flashlights. The firemen ran. But the head hose man suddenly whirled, dropping the spraying hose to suddenly press them all back into the fiery stairwell where they had just come from. "Hold it hold it.. The floor's gone! " he shouted, urgently peeling off his steamed air mask. The others all did the same to hear and see him better as the man pointed downwards with a gloved hand. They all had come two steps away from joining Howard in death. A section of the suspended metal mesh walkway was missing, melted clean away by the intensity of the fire's heat, burning far below them. Fifteen feet of yawning space separated them from the groggy little girl. "Now what?" Roy hissed in frustration. "We don't have time to go back for any belts or rope. She isn't gonna last that long." "Let me think.." said the lieutenant who had been leading the hose team. He studied their surroundings carefully, rubbing his chin. Roy felt valuable seconds scrape by like an unwanted snowstorm. As they watched and yelled out encouragements to Megan to hang on just a little longer while they figured out how to reach her, Megan's grasping hand slowly dropped as she passed out from the thickening smoke. "Megan?" Roy shouted out to her. But the little girl's tiny form, stayed still and unmoving. The swaying walkway suddenly shifted as its chains weakened and the unconscious little girl slid along the grating until her head and arms flopped over the edge of the walkway precariously, as she rolled. All the firemen on the other side flung out arms as if to catch her."Oh, no.. Don't you dare!" shouted the lieutenant, looking up. By some miracle, the large buckle on Megan's rainbow colored belt caught on a torn off bolt and halted her forward momentum before her waist, too, could go over the edge, and she jerked to a halt, her sooty blond hair swaying. The firemen let out the breaths they were collectively holding. Roy started to breathe faster in worry. He was already sweating. "Look. Let's cut our lifeline and use that to rig a harness. We can tie it off over that beam up above and swing across." he suggested, taking another breath of air from his mask. The lieutenant's head canted. "Cut our lifeline? It's our only means outta here.." "What other choice do we have?" Roy said angrily. "The next chain that snaps may be the one that dumps her. Besides, she's already out and you know how fast kids go down when they quit breathing. One of us has to get over there to her to prevent that. Now." The lieutenant no longer delayed. He got on his HT. "HT 10 to Battalion 14." ##Go, HT 10.## came the fast reply from the chief. "We've located the third victim and a child. He's the fatality that came out to you a few minutes ago and she's still inaccessible! Chief, we're going to use our buddy line to reach her.." A long pause followed over the open frequency as Battalion 14 weighed the risks. ##All right. Do what you have to do, men. I'm sending in another team to meet you with a new line that you all can follow out. What's your location?## Roy lifted his HT. "About the middle of the main room, at the top of the only metal stairway not collapsed yet. It's right above where Johnny Gage was trapped." ##10 - 4. Watch for the others and be careful. We're talking demolition out here if the fire spreads out much more than it already has. The high risk rooms are now in serious jeopardy. ## came the gruff worried reply. ## You have six minutes. Tops. Then I'm ordering you all out of there.## "Understood.." Roy answered. "We'll radio once we've gotten to her.. HT 51 out.." and he pushed down his radio antennae to shove the talkie back into his jacket. "Six minutes..." he mumbled to himself. "That's no time at all.." ------------------------------------------------------ Photo : Roy in a helmet looking up in a warehouse, worried. Photo: Two masked airbottled firemen with a hose in a closeup inside a building. Photo: Aerial view of firemen in a basket over fire, looking down. Photo : Battalion 14 on an HT closeup. Photo : Firemen rushing with a hose into a smoky building. Photo : A fully involved burning warehouse with melting infrastructure in the foreground. *********************************************** From: "Linda Taggatz" Date: Thu Oct 16, 2003 10:39 pm Subject: Megan's Rescue. Outside another idea was hatched. Stoker suggested using the snorkel to rescue her. "How?' asked Captain Stanley. "By raising it to where she's caught and lowering a line down to Roy and helping him get to her. "Good idea! Let's try it." Captain Stanley got on the H.T. and requested it. The snorkel was moved into place and the line lowered to Roy. He hooked his life belt on to the line then swung across to Megan. He checked her. The pulse was faint but there. He quickly freed her and put his oxygen mask on her. Then he signaled on the H.T. for the snorkel to lift them out of there. --------------------------------------------------------------- Photos : None. ***************************************************** Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2003 06:01:11 -0700 (PDT) From: "Sam Iam" Subject: The Towering Inferno.. ::I owe someone a huge dinner for this idea.:: Roy thought as he adjusted the portable oxygen tank more firmly into the lowered stokes for Megan's emergency lift out. ::Someone was thinking on their toes when they thought of including that lifebelt, too, with the stokes. I was stupid for not bringing one in with me:: Roy sighed in relief as he hugged her against his chest. A paternal pang gripped him unexpectedly. ::She feels just like my daughter.:: came the thought, unbidden and his grip about her tightened protectively as he continued to feel how effectively she was breathing. Just as rapidly, Roy's professional side kicked in. ::Cool it! The clock is still ticking down before the chief orders that complete evac of the building. Don't lose this opportunity for Megan by getting lost in your emotions. Extricate her and move on...:: his practical mind set demanded. ::Mull over it later.:: Gasping, Roy did the work. Then he lifted his head, sighting along the swaying rope as far as he could through the column of smoke disappearing into the midnight sky. "HT 51 to Snorkel One. I've got her strapped down and on the O2!" he shouted through his own air mask over the roar of the distant fire far below. "She's breathing and set to go! Take up the slack!" And he started to hook his belt's fastener onto the stokes line. The reply back from the basket was a very welcome surprise. Mike Stoker answered, immediately easing Roy's rising stress over his still very real and present danger. But that quiet calm voice was tinged with an unmistakable stab of worry..## Affirmative, HT 51. Hold up on tandem rappelling. The snorkel engineer says we're at maximum reach and extension and on the edge for balance. We can only take your victim!## his voice crackled through the heat from the talkie's speaker. DeSoto could just imagine Stoker's masked figure leaning over the edge of the basket trying to peer down through the thick billowing smoke rising up between them. ::I wonder how he fanaggled that company for the ride up? Most likely, Cap pulled some rank because I'm still in here in the hot seat.:: Roy realized. ::They must be real tippy reaching this far over the factory to the hole in the roof. No matter. Megan's first and no one with me will debate that.:: Quickly, Roy connected the four stokes straps without hesitation and he yanked on the guide lines firmly to reinforce what he said open HT. "Understood. She's secured and good for go!" he shouted, tugging three times on her stretcher's rope over his helmet. Then he swung back across the gap using the snorkel's grace line and off the rickety walkway back to his companions in the stairwell. "They'd better move fast. If the rest of that roof goes, the sparking plume and fire resulting from that will catch them." he said to the lieutenant. The lieutenant grinned. "I'm Irish, 51. And I've got fifty saints watching over me that say that roof's gonna park until we clear ourselves completely." Roy grinned as he watched Megan's stokes get hand to hand rope lifted out of the blazing warehouse. "Make that a hundred patron saints, 10. I'm Irish, too. Come on, let's get out of here before we boil." Slowly, the three firefighting men retraced the route down through the inky smoke along the shaky gutted stairs infrastructure until they met up with the second team Battalion 14 sent in to fetch them on a new buddy line. They were six strong and moving on ground level when a hail came out. "Battalion 14 to HT 51 and Snorkel 1. Got your victim clear?" ##Affirmative!## Roy replied at the same time that Stoker's voice echoed the same from the lowering basket outside. Then just as fast, a priority break-in-transmission shot over their HT open frequency with a harsh squeal. ##To all units! Get clear! Get clear! The roof's caving in over the labs! ## An immediate reply from the new firefighters with Roy and his team, anticipated Battalion 14's next hail and beat it coming. "Team Two to Battalion 14. We're ok. We're with Team One.." ##Copy..## said the chief from outside. ##Find a way outta there. The demolition crew's almost completed their setup. They have to blow their charges to snuff out that side of the fire before any of the labs integrity seals are compromised. I give you two minutes..## :: The east exit's blocked off? Oh no..:: Roy quailed in his head.::That was our only known way out.:: The lieutenant and the others pounded down the stairs, abandoning the charged water hose like a spooked puppy with a live snake. Their air bottles and tanks rattled almost as loudly as the fire's flames as they ran for their lives. Roy didn't even think about what kind of h*ll would greet them when they reached the bottom of the stairs.... The lieutenantlead the way to the last landing. He paused, setting a bare hand on the door once more and feeling around on its metal surface for sensations of heat. He grimaced and pulled his hand away before he dragged it twelve inches. "It's hot.. Go back up. We'll try the dolly freight. I remember passing it just before we found this stairwell." The men ran, trusting their superior's memory of the trip in. "There..!" said the irish lieutenant, pulling off his mask and pointing. Only a little debris and a few flaming timbers lay across the door. These the firefighters kicked away and rapidly, they took out their jacket halligans and jimmeyed the double metal doors ajar to lift the cage barrier of the elevator. "In! In! We'll crank her to the ground level and wait it out!" Roy startled.. "Wait what out?" he asked. The faces on the others reflected his dismay. "The explosion.." the lieutenant said grimly. "According to my watch we have less than a minute and a half to clear, and there's no way in h*ll we're gonna do that." DeSoto nodded, biting his lip. "If we close these doors, all this metal will provide some shielding." The Lt. nodded. "Uh huh.. and it won't matter if the shaft cables snap in the concussion because we'll already be at the bottom.. Come on, put some muscle into it!" he roared at the men on top of the car, using their halligans to release the brake enough for the car to slide with a thunk to the ground stops. "Now, in!! Get that ceiling panel shut. Lock it off with a tool. The back pressure may blow it free." Soon, the freights doors were jammed tight with tools and rope and they were flung into total darkness. One of the team switched on a jacket torch and all eyes focused on where ever its beam wandered. The Lt. radioed out. "We're in the elevator shaft under shelter. Good to go." he reported to the Battalion Chief. ## Read you. Glad you thought of the shaft. Stand by.## There was a pause. ## I don't have to tell you men that you may become trapped inside of there by debris landing in front of the doors. Your air bottles may run out before we can cut you free..## "Better carrion than char, Chief.. You'll get us out. New bottles for us can be lowered down the shaft using the snorkel after the debris cloud dissipates." ##Good luck, Lt.## "Same to you. Let's hope those demolition experts really know their stuff.. Team One and Two, out." ##Battalion 14, out. Forty five seconds..## Roy felt the countdown through every fiber of his being. His thoughts turned to Joanne, Johnny and his family. He only dimly heard the lieutenant offering advice. "I've been through one of these once before. The building, if it goes down, will spare collapsing the elevator shaft like they usually do chimneys in these things. Now crouch down, and open your mouths and plug your nose or the pressure wave will shred your eardrums!" One of the younger men looked pale behind his air mask as they all placed their backs against the wall. "Will it hurt much?" he said with a brave smile. "Only if you forget to do what I just instructed." The lieutenant pulled off his mask and took in an experimental breath of air before Roy could stop him. "Air's still good. Try to conserve your bottles afterwards." he said putting his mask back on and hunkering down in his jacket and helmet. ::That's if we're still here..:: Roy's mind added mercilessly. More quiet advice, calmed him and the others. "Cover your face with your arms and huddle down. Bound to be a lot of dust. Tie off with rope if you have to. The lift may jostle more than just a little bit." Roy hooked his gloves on a grip bar above his head and held on. Tick. tick. ...tick.... ::Nineteen. Eighteen. Seventeen..:: thought Roy. He had been counting ever since the chief's numeric cue over the HT. DeSoto jumped when his bottle started sounding off a low air hooter. He shut his off and held his breath. ::I'll buddy breathe with someone else when this is all over.:: The men fell silent, alone with only their own thoughts as sweat fogged up their masks, rendering them blind. Roy opened his mouth...and closed his eyes. ::See you soon, Joanne. It's just another day at the office.:: Three... Two....One......... A horribly deep, gurgling growl of air belched like a demonic beast around them, heralding the arrival of destructive forces unleashed by the demolitions team. The firemen flinched as a gust of non air ripped around them from all four sides inwardly towards them. The pressure kick whitened out their retinas making them gasp in pain when an intense searing stab of yellow light preceded it. A wash of heat cooked the walls in a blast and made the men recoil from their firm surfaces as the elevator bed bounced and jerked from the brunt of the explosion. There were five blast waves, the last of which was the most violent. It left them bruised and battered. Roy opened his eyes and realized that the elevator bed had canted. "The whole shaft's been tilted. Don't touch that panel! It's sparking!" he said when he heard spitting electricity from the direction of the phone box near the floor. He felt an air mask being pressed into his gloves from a neighbor and he took a grateful breath of rushing air. He tried to pass it back but a voice said. "No, keep it. I'll share with Karl here. You need it more than I, being a medic. The situation's changed completely." "Thanks.." Roy slid the new mask back on to see through the choking dust. His hands and legs were shaking so bad with shock that he could barely move. "Sound off!" he ordered, hunting for casualities. He wondered why their team leader was so quiet. The young, scared fireman shouted. "The Lieutenant! He's down!" "Where?" "Here. Follow my voice. I got my hand on his stomach." "Is he breathing?" "Yeah.." The flashlight's circle of light moved to Roy's left, illuminating a yellow Pasadena jacket. DeSoto felt up the man's neck and located a bounding carotid and another sweep of the light revealed a small bloody cut on the man's head. Roy's simple move to open the man's airway made him stir. "Easy. You're fine. You must have hit your head on a wall. It's over..." Roy soothed, he turned his head as if he could see in the thick dust floating in the air around him. "Anyone else hurt?" he asked, taking over charge of the two teams. "Say yes or no.." All "no's" spoke up in the darkness. Roy kneeled, getting closer to the lieutenant and he peeled off the man's air mask gingerly, he accepted the flashlight someone handed him and tried not to tremble. "Lieutenant?" "Please,, call me O'Malley.." he mumbled. "P-Patrick..." he groaned, keeping his eyes closed from the brightness of the torch. "Do you hurt anywhere else besides your head? Here, breathe through this mask by hand. I just had to loosen these straps so I could check you out." "I...I think I'm fine.. Just...just..not all there yet." "You just rest easy. They'll get us out in rapid order.." Roy sighed. "Try not to sleep. You may have a concussion from what I'm seeing here.." "Got it.." the man whispered. "Am I the only one with a few lumps?" Roy nodded. "Yeah.." "Good.. I'll have some battle scars to go with my other ones.. Oooo.." he said, squinching up in sudden pain. "What? Your head?" Roy asked him quickly. "No..*gasp*.. both my shoulders. Right up under my collar bone. Hurts..." ::That's belly involvement..:: DeSoto pegged immediately. Roy moved the flashlight down and several hands unbuckled O'Malley's jacket to bare the area. Roy found some dark stains spreading in the dimness. ::Blood... There's trouble here all right..:: Then his bare hand found why. Patrick had a halligan impaled through his side. "Don't move. You've stabbed yourself.." "What?" O'Malley groaned, breathing shallowly, inside his mask. "A halligan. The one from your jacket. Doesn't look too bad. Upper left quadrant. It's buried only about three inches down." "Take it out!" Patrick quailed. "Not on your life. That may be stopping a lot of internal bleeding and it probably missed everything major. I still have good pulses in your legs and the bleeding's only sluggish." DeSoto said. Patrick lay still. "Well, looks like I'll have to listen to you for the rest of this one." "Looks like. Don't worry. We both have something in common here." Roy smiled large enough for his patient to see through both their masks. "What's that?" "We're both good at not losing people. You physically and me medically.." Patrick smiled and laughed. He immediately grimaced when the halligan moved. "Don't make me laugh.." "I certainly won't make you cry.." DeSoto promised. "I'm counting on it.." Patrick grunted. "You're doing fine.." Roy said, then he looked up as cool night air suddenly filtered down inside the elevator shaft and washed away the suffocating plaster dust they had endured. "We're in the open, that's outside air coming in. We can take off our masks. The rest of you not helping me, see if you can reopen that door." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Twenty five minutes later, all the firefighters were free and a very dusty Roy sat next to his partner in the Mayfair rig en route to Rampart. Johnny Gage opened his eyes and wrinkled his nose at the plastery sour smoke smell coming off Roy's shirt. "Wough.. Somebody needs a shower. Real bad." Roy smiled. "I'll get one. Can't stay smelling like roses when you're waiting for a powder keg to go off under your feet.." Johnny paled. "You were inside when those guys blew the fire around the labs?" he said, his eyes getting wide inside of his long board's wraps and straps. "Yep.." Roy grinned. "Oh, Roy... Joanne's gonna kill you when she finds out." "No she won't. " "Why not?" "Because if she does, I'll tell her the reason why I was in there in the first place." It was Johnny's turn to smile. "You guys found Megan." "Sure did." "Well, all right.." Johnny said, trying to lace his fingers around the back of his head, but his IV line and backboard encumberances prevented him from doing it. He grunted in frustration, giving it up. Then he eyeballed the red stains on Roy's jacket and hands. "Any of that yours?" "Nope. Lt. O'Malleys. And he's gonna be fine after a little patch up surgery." "What happened?" "He argued with the wrong end of a halligan while the explosion was going on. It got him through the spleen most likely.." Johnny gripped his own stomach in sympathy. "Ooo, that's gotta smart getting stuck down there.." "Not according to him. Patrick said he just had some referred pain going up into his shoulders and that's all." "huh.. gotta remember those symptoms.." Gage said honestly. "Speaking of symptoms, how are you doing?" "Fine. How's the little girl you got out?" "You mean whom Stoker got out.." "Stoker?" "Yeah,... he commandeered a snorkel bucket and we stretchered her out before the demo guys blew out the building." "Heheheh. That's thinking on your feet." "Yeah.. I was impressed." Roy admitted. "Megan's gonna be just fine. She was just a little suffocated from all the bad air she took in. She's headed to Rampart with Squad 10." "That's good. Then I'll probably get to meet her in the hallway or something waiting to be seen. I remember how busy the ER was before we got this call. It might still be that way.." "Yeah, well, I don't think you're gonna be waiting too long, partner. You've had a history of vomiting and unconsciousness." Roy chided. "I feel fine.." "I'm not the one who needs convincing. Tell that to the doctors.." "I will, believe me.." "Of that I have no doubt.." Roy said, cleaning up his skin with some saline from a bottle. "Try to get some rest. We're almost there." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A snorkle extending over a burning roof at night. Photo: A midnight flaming warehouse. Photo: Roy DeSoto close up in dusty light. ****************************************************************** From : Katherine Bird Sent : Thursday, December 11, 2003 11:48 PM Subject : Right Moves and Night Moves... Offstory- My gratitude to Audrey, WolfLynneKK@aol.com, the ETL Pediatrics Consultant for her aid in helping me with smoke inhalation lab work and with the temperment and personality of nine year olds in general. Onstory- "Roy,.. how's she doing?" Dr. Brackett asked as he met the rolling gurney holding the unconscious nine year old Megan from the explosives fire in a nest of backboard straps, O2 lines and IV tubing. Roy indicated Dwyer to his left. "Better ask Stan here. He's the one who brought her in. I had Johnny." Kel looked up at the man from Station Ten. "Meagan's doing fine, so far, doc." Dwyer piped up. "She's still pulling air. Glasgow's five though. BP's 84 over 60. Rate off the bag here's ten. Pulse 132. Pupils still sluggish but equal and reactive." the other paramedic replied. "Any head involvement or other trauma?" Kel said, glancing at the child's face and nose around the ambu's mask looking for swelling and redness under the ashy soot he saw there. "None. We all saw her just pass out slowly onto a metal walkway." Roy answered for Dwyer. "What kind of fire was she in, Roy?" the dark haired doctor said, holding the door to Treatment Three open as orderlies maneuvered both Gage and Megan's beds into the same room together. "In a clean flaming one, burning explosives. We found her amid complete incendiaries and others that were unassembled from labs, from what I saw. Doc, I wouldn't doubt those scientists had all the usual chemical building blocks necessary to make an entire military arsenal. A real toxic soup. You should see our hats,doc. That smoke turned our helmet numbers green." DeSoto said cryptically. "Really? Green's a good color.." Gage piped up. "Shh..." Dwyer hissed at Johnny. "Let them work or do I have to come over there with a bite stick." he warned teasingly. Brackett and DeSoto never even heard the humor going on behind them. Roy went on with more information. "She was inside for about twenty minutes, near the ceiling of a warehouse on a catwalk." Kel rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, bound to be a lot of nitrates and cyanide created in that kind of blaze if I picked up any kind of hazmat know how from listening to you fellas all the time." "That's a sure bet." Gage coughed from his gurney. Dr. Brackett regarded his tiny patient steadily as he unbound Megan's cushioning C-collar and listened around her oral airway for breath and lung sounds. "No rhonci or rales yet. But I'm hearing a bit of bronchiospasm on the left side. Roy, Stan, do I have parental consent to treat this child? I didn't see anyone here with you guys in the hallway." "You do." Roy said. "We got it verbally at the fire. The father's on his way in on another ambulance for mild smoke inhalation. Mr. Miller specifically told us to tell you to go ahead with Megan's treatment sight unseen. And Vince witnessed that statement being given first hand." Kelly Brackett smiled crookedly. "Wouldn't it be nice if all future parental care authorizations can go as smoothly as this one has?" he quipped ironically. "Dix, draw blood on her for an ABG, have the lab run a full creatinine series with a BUN. Also electrolytes. Tell them to also check for elevated HbCO and CN levels as well. When you're done, run a nebulizer to that ventilator you're setting up and give her 2.5 mg of .5% solution Albuterol in a 2.5 ml saline push. I want to get her lung perfusion a little higher than what we're achieving manually. I'm not satisfied her capillary refill's being truthful here. Keep the bird's vents on the low end. I don't want atelectasis setting in on top of her other problems." "Right away, Kel." Dixie replied. "And have the pharmacy prepare a peds dose of Sodium Nitrite IV. I want to chase some of that cyanide out of her blood before any rhabdomyolysis gets a foothold. Also schedule a session in our hyperbaric chamber. She'll only blow out all her hemoglobin bound carbon monoxide faster that way I think. Anything to shorten the CO's half life inside her body. But first, let's see how she's managing." Dixie nodded. Dr. Brackett glanced at Dwyer. "Get her patched in, Stan. I wanna see that tachycardia written out now." Stan nodded and efficiently got a two lead EKG connected to the comatose child. Everyone in the room held their breaths while Brackett read the strip that was whistling audible warbles into the bustling silence. "She's got a stable rhythm. I think I like it all things considering. Gage, how are you doing?" Kel asked of his second patient, without looking up. "*Cough!* Nothing that an ice pack for my nosebleed won't fix. You concentrate on that little girl there first." Johnny complained. "My condition's unremarkable." "He was out for a while doc.." Roy said rolling his eyes, refusing to play coverup. Johnny shot Roy a betrayed hurt look laced with a seething anger that Gage immediately broke off when Kel moved over to his bed to begin his examination. "Uh huh".. Brackett said, looking onto Johnny's nose and eyes with a penlight. "Dix. Call X-ray...." he said, placing an ice bag over Johnny's nasal bridge. Roy interrupted,.." ..for a chest film on Megan and a full skull series on Johnny." At Brackett's and Dixie's surprised looks, he blushed and said, "I - I already told them on the way in here.." he gestured at the door. "I had nothing better to do so I anticipated a few things." Brackett scowled, sourly cross. "Crazy paramedics think they can practice medicine without a license behind their training physician's back." His harsh frown fell away into a mischievious wink. "Good call, Roy. Exactly what I would've done. Did you also draw up a syringe of 1 ml succinylcholine in case we have to paralyze Megan here for an endotracheal intubation if she loses any more tidal volume?" Roy held up his left hand from its needle guarded position next to Dixie's shoulder a little higher, complete with alcohol soaked cotton ball folded under a pinkie. Kel chortled and began laughing. "G*d I love the paramedic program. Why did I ever think that it wouldn't work, Miss McCall?" he sighed with amusement. "Because you were stubborn, opinionated and slow to change at the time, Doctor Brackett." Nurse Dixie said evenly. "Took everything I had to bring you around.." Brackett cleared his throat. "Ehem.. well.." getting suddenly uncomfortable. "I didn't think the men could handle what a doctor could do then, Dix. I'll be frank about that. It took that miracle, and you, to convince me to speak in committee to reverse my mindset that night." Gage's mouth flopped open. "Is that true, doc? You voted against us in the beginning?" he said, pushing Kel's hand and penlight away. "I hadn't heard anything about that at all." he said incredulously. "Man, what were you thinking? Roy and I were sticking our legal necks out for you in the field, pulling nurses out from under falling cars,... and defibrillating with experimental equipment in mud raining tunnels,.. and -and you had the gall to think we were out of our scope doing what you sent us out there to do all along?" "Gage! Hush or I'll order an arterial blood gas on you, too." said Brackett sternly in an attempt to be funny. It failed miserably. Johnny quieted down instantly. "Now, where was I?" he demanded of Gage. Johnny just gaped like a fish, cowed, thinking better of even opening his mouth. Roy licked his lips, suffering pangs for Johnny's trapped status. "Secondary assessment, doc." "Oh yeah.. that's right. Does this hurt?" Kel said impishly light in a countering move. He began probing Johnny's ribs firmly with both hands, knowing that it would fiercely tickle the ticklish young paramedic where he couldn't stop him because of the long board's complete arm and leg immobilization ability. "Nope.." Johnny squeaked five octaves higher than normal around his oxygen mask. "Well, how about here, down a little lower?" Kel asked threatening to quadrant check Johnny's belly with air wriggling fingers hovering inches away from their target, his eyes flashing dangerously amused. "ReallyI'mfinedoc.Notraumawhatsoever.Ishouldknow. I thinkmytongue'sgoingnumbtoorightaboutnow." he chipmunked chirped, making a face of unhappy anticipation. Dixie laughed in her throat. "Nothing can torment a patient more than ten fingers fully versed on the human nervous system. Leave off, Kel. The first amendment's still honored in this country or have you forgotten about it in your old age." "I'm not old! But I will admit to be an expert. " Brackett said straightening to move out of the way of the X-ray people. "And experts deserve a little privacy. ...including what I might have thought in the past about a certain brand new county program beginning with a "p" and ending in with a "c" five years ago. Do I make myself clear?" he said to the only one wearing a white skirt in the room. Dixie nodded in grudging agreement. "Ok, you win. ...this time." she added under her breath. "But what happened back then is all moot anyway. Don't be so sore about it. Roy proves his worth every day. So does Johnny. You just celebrated an example of it a few minutes ago." Brackett pretended he didn't hear his head nurse at all and he let his good natured smile fully return. "Gage, I'll be merciful this time." Kel said rapping a knuckle on johnny's chest strap buckle. "I'm gonna take an action that might make those inappropriate verbal comments I'm hearing from the peanut gallery go away. I have a new theory developing right now that spineboard belts interfere with blood flow to the brain in people not needing neck and back immobilization. So I'm gonna have the orderlies spring you from this contraption right now right after the Xray technicians get my chest and head films on both you and the girl.." Johnny sighed in relief... "And, after their one hour lunch break of course.." Gage's eyes widened in immediate dismay. "WhaatT ?!" "I'm just kidding, Johnny. Really. That was a little bedside humor working there. Dixie keeps telling me to practice improving upon it all the time. So I just did. Dwyer. Free him while I finish up here on our favorite hose jockey.." Brackett winked. " And Dix, see what you can do to get these two upstairs. We've a full waiting room outside." McCall nodded. "I think I can pull off another miracle, Kel. Unlike changing the mind of a doctor, that's gonna be an easy one." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ::A little bedside humor..:: Gage thought morosely of his very active companion in the darkened bed next to him. ::There can be too much of a good thing. :: And he gave out a long sigh while he endured another round of chatter from his tiny, now familiar roommate. ::Why did I have to be transferred to pediatrics?:: he thought fervently shifting onto his side, pulling a pillow over his face to shut out Megan's non stop singing and questions. "And those jokes..." Johnny moaned as a crack in the doorway to his room opened, admitting Dixie McCall. "What about those jokes.. I happen to like them.." she purred, walking nearer to their beds with a silver tray that contained a few things. "So be nice, ok?" she addressed Johnny. "I traded a few minutes with Cheryl so I could check up on you two.. Hiya Megan. Feeling a bit better?" "Oh, yes maam.." Megan said brightly. "Daddy just left and look what he left me! More coloring books!" she displayed her stack, thunking them noisely down onto her bedside tray where she began to scribble vigorously on the first of them with a well used green pen. Johnny pulled the blanket down from around his head and said, "Really, coloring books? I don't suppose you'd like to share.." he mumbled. "I'd give anything to do something else around here besides watching the late show." he said dryly. "OK." Megan piped up. "Lady, you can give the fire man that one with the trucks. That's boy's stuff." Dixie raised her eyebrows in an "isn't that something" look of her tiny new friend and she handed over the book to Gage with a tiny bow. Gage glanced over at Megan. "Hey.. Psst.." Megan looked up from the horse she was coloring so carefully with her ink pen. "What?" "Am I supposed to color here with my fingers?" Johnny said crankily. He didn't care that Dixie was asking him non verbally to distract Megan away from another blood sample syringe she was preparing for the child. Megan just sighed and ignored him. Gage sighed a likewise sigh and snaked out a hand and grabbed out the green pen from in between the child's fingers. "Thanks, kid." "Hey!" "Hey what?" "That's MY pen." "So?" Gage guffawed. "I happen to really like green. It's my favorite color. Gotta problem with that?" "Yeah. I had it first." "Yeah, well I'm bigger so live with it." Dixie fired a glare at Johnny for not helping build a feeling of good will in advance with Megan to aid her cause but immediately turned all soft and bubbly when the girl glanced up at her. "Lady, tell the rude fire man it's not nice to grab." Megan frowned. "Mister Gage. " Dixie said. "Our little gal is absolutely in the right." she said pleasantly. "Now give it back.." she said heavily dark while smiling. "Oh, all right.. Here. But I doubt you're gonna wanna hold that once she's through with you." "When who's through with me?" Dixie's looks could have killed Johnny, but he had the sense to not tempt "medusa's" gaze. "Me, I'm afraid, honey. Mister Gage told the truth there. ...If a bit bluntly.." she hissed under her breath at the gowned paramedic. "I have to get a sample for the lab Megan." Megan squealed and ran to Gage's bed and kneeled on his pillow, grabbing his head in a death's grip while she put him between herself and the needle wielding head nurse. Johnny barely grabbed her IV stand to keep it from pulling the Ringer's line out of her arm. "Oh come now, Megan, it's not going to be that bad. I happen to be very good at this. Now which arm do you want your shot in?" "Yours..!" Megan insisted, pointing at Dixie. Gage burst out laughing. "That is a viable option, Dix." "Oh, stop.." Dixie half frowned and grinned. Johnny wrapped his arms around Megan and brushed her blond hair out of her eyes, "No chance of taking a red top out of her IV?" "Nope. We need another ABG." "Ooooo." Gage said softly, pulling Megan around until she sat on the bed next to him. Then he took a breath and said. "Tell you what? You let Dixie get that sample and I'll teach you some jokes that you can tell all of your friends when you get out of here, ok? Do we have a deal?" Megan grunted in protesting dismay only once but then her older personality began to reassert itself. "I guess. Daddy's always said it takes some hurt to feel better about things sometimes." "Good girl." Dixie said. "Now park it over here." The head nurse said, tapping on Megan's blankets. "Mister Gage can hold your hand while I'm doing this if you'd like. He's a paramedic and he sees lab samples drawn by me all the time. He knows how to get little girls through so they don't feel much." "Really?" "Really." "Ok. He can come over.." Megan whispered tearfully, turning her head away so she couldn't see anything while she placed her left arm onto her bed stand tray. Gage drew himself around Megan in a bearhug. "Hi... Guess what Megan?" "What?" she sniffed, breathing in tight sobs. "The snuggle monster's here." "W-What does he do?" "This.." and Gage snatched her wrist up to his lips and farted a noise from his mouth loudly against her skin. Megan laughed in squeaky birdlike mirth, showing a gap tooth in front. "And you know what else?" Megan's face shifted and fell from fear of Dixie's syringe to laughing hide and seek anticipation of Gage's next trick and back again, but nodded, unable to speak. "Why did the chicken cross the road?" Gage asked. Megan rolled her eyes nervously and sniffed. "That one's dumb. To get to the other side." "Oh yeah, are you calling my funnies stupid?" Megan giggled... a little. "Ok, answer me this.." "What? Owww..." "Shhh, Dixie's almost through, hon, then we can play all night.. Why did the chicken cross the basketball court ?" Megan stiffened but Johnny held her arm still so she wouldn't move it dangerously. "Ow. Ow..! It hurts." "Why did the chicken cross the basketball court, Megan?" Johnny said a little more insistently but still playfully bright. "Come on, think about it.." "I don't know. Ow..! Take it out, Dixie. I don't want to give a blood sample. I've changed my mind..!" Gage said,.. "Because he heard the referee calling out fowls.." Megan's cry of panicky pain fell into one of hysterical laughter and she started giggling. "Where did you hear that one?" "From Chet Kelly. He's the bully in my stationhouse. I- I mean, he's a bully but he's also my friend. In a good way. " "owwieee..eee.." "ok,comeonMegan.Youtellmeone, ok?" Gage whispered in encouragement as Dixie found the artery at last. "Okkayy..ouchie! W- Why did the chicken cross the road, roll in the mud and cross the road again ?" "I don't know. Why?" Megan tipped her head back gasping and laughing trying to be brave while Dixie completed her blood tapping. "Because he was a dirty double-crosser!" Dixie chortled at that one. "That's new. Tell us another joke, Megan. The vial's almost full." "Yes, *sniff* yes maam.. aghHH ! *sob*Why didn't t-the chicken skeleton cross the road ?" "We give up, Megan.." Johnny said, holding her arm and head still. "Because he didn't have enough guts!" she yelled. "Is it over yet?" she sobbed. "Almost there.." Dixie said. "One more joke Megan, tell us just one more. Then we can color some, ok?" Johnny said seeing Dixie working fast. "Mister G-Gage." Megan said not looking at her arm nor the needle there. "Yeah, Megan?" "Why did the turtle cross the r-road ?" Megan hiccupped. That stymied both nurse and paramedic. Even long after the cotton was pressed down and a Scooby Doo bandaid was stuck on Megan's arm. Megan sighed a deep sigh and coughed hoarsely, sinking back into her pillow. "Give up you guys?" "Yeah.." Johnny said with frustration, scratching his head. "To get to the Shell station..." Megan said matter of factly, grabbing for her coloring book and the green pen Johnny was too slow to think to claim. Dixie's laughter echoed down the hall as she padded away. "Megan, I promise my next visit will have no needles." Gage still didn't get it. "I got another joke that might be good for you to tell to your friend Chet, Mister Gage." Megan said industriously coloring the grass around her horse. "Oh? ...what's that?" "If H 2 0 is on the inside of a fire hydrant, what is on the outside?" "I give up.." "K 9 P." "Oh, Megan.. That's gross. " Gage said laughing. "But it's true. Dogs like hydrants." Johnny grimaced and got off Megan's bed and clambered into his own, pulling back the covers. "You don't gross out much at icky stuff or that kind of thing do you?" "Mister Gage. I got three brothers at home." Megan said in a no nonsense duhhh tone. "Oh, uh, ok, then I'll tell you one Chet told me the other day." "Ok,.. shoot.. Just make sure it isn't a shot." Megan quipped. "Deal.. Ok, here goes. Last week, firemen rescued a man who was badly injured in a car accident. The entire left half of his body was torn off. He was taken to the hospital and examined.... Ready for the punch line?" Megan's mouth was hanging open and she was grinning ear to ear. She nodded eagerly, thoroughly cute faced. "What happened to the man?" "Oh,.. nothing much, really. The doctors said he was all right and the nurses said there wasn't ..much left." Megan's squeal of delight caused more than a few heads in the hallway to look up from the pediatric ward's desk. ---------------------------------------------------------- Photo : Roy bagging a child with doctors and nurses in a treatment room. Photo : A little girl coloring in a hospital bed. Photo : Gage in a hospital bed. *************************************************** From : Cory Anda Sent : Thursday, December 18, 2003 8:35 PM Subject : Bonds and Brice and Everything Not Nice... Mike Stoker pulled E 51 neatly back into her place in the station vehicle bay and distastfully peeled out of his smoky jacket and helmet. He didn't head for the kitchen and the warming promise of the coffee pot. Instead, he headed for the showers. "Man, I stink. Remind me never to volunteer to coordinate a basket rescue, Cap. I swear the sulfur fumes dyed my hair funny colors." Mike sighed, coughing as he slammed the driver's door shut. He began looking at his head and combing through his mop with fussy fingers using the spot mirror. "I know it did mine. The curl's gone out of it, too, and my mustache feels awfully slimy." Chet moaned. Lopez didn't need any prompting to start washing down all the turnouts and air bottles free of the chemical stains affixed upon them from the warehouse fire. "It was bad." Hank laughed good naturedly as every one else followed Stoker's good idea to get into the showers to clean up. " Mike, your air bottle was stained greenish olive. Didn't you notice it?..." "No." he chuckled. "I guess I was too happy that we got the kid out." Stoker craned a neck around the corner of the hall into the bay to see the bottle Marco was spraying off in the back yard. The Latin American fireman was holding Boot away at leg's length with a shoe to keep him from drinking the chemical filled runoff trailing down the sidewalk to the parking lot drain. "Hey Marco. Let me see it!" Stoker shouted. Lopez looked up from his liberal garden hosing and held up the offending apparatus gingerly, showing it off like a fisherman's trophy. "Nothing like caustic smoke for a change in wardrobe." Then he faked a French fashion designer's accent." My humble audience, let me introduce you to .. the new mossy chartreuse shade of SCBA tank, sure to allow perfect camouflage in all kinds of daytime and nightime brush fires with the least amount of eye clashing distrac--" "Lopez..." shotgunned a voice of authority. "Yeah, Cap?" Lopez sputtered, thrown off his joking tirade. "Can it and let's get presentable. You're to have the chow on before DeSoto gets back. He's gonna hate the fact that Brice is filling in for the rest of Gage's night shift. I want us all defumagated for supper or at least in time before our next rescue call so speed it up a little. You got five minutes to finish the wash. Comprende?" "Perfectly. Listen Cap, is that little girl gonna make it?" "Roy said she was breathing ok, only needing help with a lightly used ambu, when he left in the rig. Gage was doing fine, too, with no real signs of serious concussion cropping up at all, he said." "That's good." "What's for dinner by the way?" Cap said, shooing the giggling others into the locker room with get a move on look. "Chicken burritos." "Sounds delicious. I'm sure Craig will enjoy those too, once he gets here from 10's." Cap's toothy grin disappeared in the darkness. Marco grumbled as he hung the last scrubbed jacket on its hook to drain. "Double chore duty.. It's not fair. I get fire cleanup and KP detail just because Gage gets himself winged enough to be declared unfit for duty. My turn was supposed to rotate in NEXT week for cooking.." he mumbled to Boot who was eyeing the water trickling down the sewer grill in the pavement. The shaggy mutt began tilting his head at the funny echoey noises cascading upwards from far below. Boot whined and sat down in sympathy at Marco's feet. "Yeah, I know how you feel.." Marco sighed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Craig..!" Cap beamed, rising in his chair to greet Johnny's paramedic replacement. Hastily, the gang rose in their seats, too, as Craig Brice walked through the kitchen door, each nodding greetings and handing over a plateful of chow or offering a coffee mug. "Thanks, but no thanks. I've already eaten. Meyers chili is quite sufficient for good nourishment. And I've had plenty.." Brice said drawly and smoothing down his spotless shirt over his non existent paunch. "But I will take you up on your offer of coffee. We've had quite a night." "So have we.." Marco moaned. "An explosives factory fire." Brice nodded. "I heard your run toned out. Then later, I heard Johnny's Code I over the radio..." Craig set down his mug without drinking from it and asked. "I know it's against regulations to divulge information about patient conditions.." Craig broke off, trying another way to express himself and what he wanted to know.."But we got a fire of our own before I heard any news about Gage." Chet couldn't resist. "Brice.. You? Seeking to bend the regulations? Now this is very interesting.." he said rubbing his squeaky clean mustache. "I never would've dreamed that you even cared about Johnny in the slightest.." "Why wouldn't I inquire about a colleague's health? I'm only asking out of professional courtesy.." Brice shrugged, nonplussed. "So I ask again, if I may, Captain. How is Mr. Gage doing?" The others moused down with amused grins when Cap hesitated on his reply. "Maybe I can answer that.." Roy said from the doorway, smiling as he tossed his helmet onto the top of the squad's roof without looking. The gang celebrated his return with congratulations and heart felt warm back slapping. DeSoto took the chair and coffee and steaming supper offered to him graciously. "Johnny asked me to tell you all how he's doing so any special rule no longer applies, Cap. He's got a mild concussion and some smoke inhalation but nothing else to really sweat over. Brackett says he can be released in the morning for light duty. Megan the little girl's gonna be ok, too. She woke up off my support after five minutes under aggressive hyperbaric treatment and now she and Johnny are roommates in Room 405, pediatric floor." Chet guffawed, "The kid's wing? Oh, he's gonna hate that." Roy smiled slightly. "Now I wouldn't say that. I ran into Dixie again just as I was finishing my followup exam and she said Johnny and Megan are getting to be fast friends. She said their laughter's so loud you could hear it all the way out to the nurse's desk." he giggled. The guys fell silent. Chet spoke up to break the quiet. "Now are you sure she's sure what she heard up there? The Johnny I know wouldn't usually come within ten feet of a kid unless they were in dire need of rescuing or something." A chorus of agreement from all the guys, including a nod from Brice, chimed in around Roy making him throw up his hands in defense. "I know what Dixie said and I'm inclined to believe her. There's something special about Megan. I felt it when I was with her, even when she was unconscious. She made my parenting instincts surge big time, e-even more than they usually do for any kid I'm taking care of." "Yeah?" Marco said, taking a last bite of his refried beans. "That's neat." he smiled. Chet was solemn. "Maybe Megan will rub off permanently on Gage and he'll run out and get himself married to some chick just so he can have his OWN kid." "Stranger things have happened.." DeSoto grinned, playing with his marriage band around his finger. "At any rate. I think Johnny's got himself a new lifelong friend. Dixie says they're bonding pretty tight." "This I gotta see." Kelly piped up, reaching for the phone. Cap grabbed him by the elbow as he passed by his chair. "Hold on a minute there Kelly. Didn't you see what time it is? Visiting hours are over. Now let's do the dishes before---" Eeee Oooo EeeeEEEEeeeeeeeeee. ##Station 36. Engine 10. Stations, 51, 112. Foam truck 127. Battalion 14. Stations 8 and 99. LAX reports an airliner in distress en route to Los Angeles from San Diego. Los Angeles Headquarters reports a Condition Orange is now in effect.## "Let's go!" Hank said, hustling his men. "We'll get where they want us on the move.." Roy shivered a deep chill and he and Brice's eyes met in a glance. "A crash is imminent..." "Yeah, but where are they projecting one?" Brice asked as he handed Roy his helmet before sliding into the squad's seat. "Now that's anybody's guess.." DeSoto said flipping on the squad's lights and siren so they cut urgently into the night as they headed down the boulevard towards the direction of the LAX. Unbidden, Boot uncharacteristically jumped inside the engine as Chet was coming aboard her. Stoker had the Ward in motion before Kelly could shoo him off. "All right ya crazy mutt, you're along for the ride. But in you'll stay!" Chet admonished the dog from where he sat, gripping the station mascot's chin as they both bounced as the engine turned streetward. Silently, the station main doors rolled shut in the darkness as both emergency vehicles sped away. -------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Cap, Roy talking with Brice in the kitchen. Photo: Chet and Marco discussing a matter. Photo: The Station at night. Photo: The Engine and Squad rushing down a night street. Photo: An airliner in midflight, too close to the ground. **************************************************** From : Cassidy Meyers Sent : Friday, December 19, 2003 6:58 AM Subject : Wing and a Prayer The fire chief in his speeding car, called the red phone in the main LAX air traffic control tower over his closed frequency CB radio. "Ground Crew Three, this is L.A. County. What do you have? We're en route and deployed in a full radius surrounding the airport." Another fire department captain, manning a communications panel next to the air traffic controllers handling the inbound emergency, spoke. "A Boeing 747, suffering hydraulic malfunction in its right wing elevators. The flight crew reported only partial control of their aircraft. Two minutes ago, the controllers received an automated cabin decompression warning and so far, they've only had a quick spotty transmission back from the pilots specifying the number of souls on board. 135. Apparent damage has made all further communication with the cockpit impossible, the tower says they're receiving, but the pilots are not answering comm anymore." "Sounds like they've got their hands full just flying. Where are they?" "Twenty nine miles out at about 2600 feet and closing on a final approach vector,....oops a change, now turning .....070 degrees NW." he replied from what he saw on the screen. Captain Robert Osby replied to McConnikee. "They're losing altitude more than they're maintaining a level." he said, parroting what his tower aide was telling him in his other ear. "Ok.. worst case scenario applies.." Chief McConnikee. "Let's assume they won't make the airport. Give me impact locations. Best guesses. I have seven stations out." Osby rubbed his lined face and studied the radar, watching where his aide pointed. "Batallion, tower says the Torrence neighborhood. East of the 101 expressway." "10-4. That's where we'll be.." McConnikee said. "Keep me posted. Good luck with your crews if they manage to land." McConnikee relayed his new information to L.A. dispatch and one by one, the responding stations rolling diverted to waiting positions surrounding the affluent suburb. The chief himself placed his unit on an exit ramp in sight of the airport and the main bowl of the city of Torrence. Shortly afterwards, black and white police cars roared up his exit ramp to help open traffic for Station Ten, following just behind them. The chief tipped his white hat when the engineer blew his airhorn twice in a salute as he rushed by in a flurry of red lights. The chief picked up his main mic. "Station Ten. Position yourselves east of Dwight, along Nile Street. Park and wait. You're gonna be spotters until she's down." ##Engine 10, 10-4. ## ## Squad 10 stands ready.## A heavy feeling gripped McConnikee's gut when silence finally fell a minute later when all units reported they were set in place and position. He committed their locations and identities to memory. "It'll be a cold day in h*ll before we're through here." The chief scanned the night sky now emergency cleared of traffic for the out of control incoming airliner. A wavering, unsteady point of light from a lone aircraft's transponder and alarmingly flickering cabin lights caught the chief's attention to his left and he held his breath when his radio crackled. ##We've a visual on 182. Looks like they're nose down.## came Osby's tense report. "1600 , .....1550..." "I see them. They're above Torrence proper over the restaurant district. They've cleared the freeway." McConnikee confirmed, kicking his car into gear as he sped onto a main avenue, following the flight path he could see. Then he lost his line of sight just as he heard the roar of over compensating air brakes through the open window. Several buildings were in the way of the smoky exhaust trail he could see spinning groundwards. The noise of jet engines in desperate compensation began to echo around the structures McConnikee could see. "May G*d have mercy on their souls." he whispered softly as the plane sank lower and lower. ---------------------------------------------------------------- At the intersection of 38th Street and El Cajon Boulevard where Stoker had the engine idling in wait. Chet Kelly climbed out and carried Boot from the back cab to Cap's side of the window. "Guess who came along for the ride..? Hiya, Cap." Kelly said, waving one of Boots paws through the window pane at Hank. "Hey hey..Wonder why he did that?" Cap said, opening the door of the Ward and stepping out to scrub Boot behind the ears. "That's a good dog but you aren't winning any brownie points for coming with us. Yess.." he crooned, forgetting for the moment the disaster to come. His face lit up with the flashes of red from the engine's lights and with a short faint smile. Hank looked up as Brice and DeSoto joined them to lean against the Ward. They still had their helmets on. "Have you heard how long, Cap?" Roy asked quietly. Cap's expression fell into business and he said. "Kelly, put Boot back inside and buckle him and yourself up. Could be anytime, Roy. Chief said he'll broadcast once he has a better idea of where they'll end up. He has a channel open to the tower." Roy rubbed his arms in the night chill and glanced around at the horizon. In the distance lay familiar outlines of buildings he knew well, with their lights glowing brightly in the darkness amid the blue fire of the street lamps. "I hope at least someone manages to make it." he said quietly to the warming wind rising from the engine's chassis. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : Cap on an HT by the engine at night. Photo: A speeding squad 51 and engine in a quiet midnight neighborhood. Photo: A night sky full of stars. *************************************************** From : patti keiper Sent : Friday, December 19, 2003 11:17 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] And Then There Was One... Kel Brackett and Dixie McCall were in the nurses lounge watching a bit of the Tonight Show on their late night break when the EBS radio down the hall in the base station went off in a rare unscheduled dissident whistle tone and repeated in a series of triple bleeps bone chillingly. Both of them slammed down their coffee mugs and cigarettes and ran to overhear the official address issuing forth from the speaker above the main reception desk and so did a crowd of emergency room staff a few seconds later. Noisy babble from people demanding to know what was happening made the radio sound dampened and muted. ## ...advises a confirmed Condition Orange. Nature of emergency is an LAX inbound flight Boeing 747 with 135 passengers.... ## "Shhh.. I have to hear.." Brackett snapped at the milling throng of medical people around him. "Folks.. Just pipe down.. Now!" Dixie was a firm directive with an even louder voice of authority. "This is a Condition Orange Alert and it's real and that's all you staffers need to know. Everybody scatter to your assigned positions and duties. Pronto. " Dixie's face waxed pleading and reluctant. "And try to keep those families and patients here in the ER happy. I don't want there to be more trouble than we already have going on right now." Joe Early, Mike Morton quieted into what qualified as listening while those nurses, interns and residents in lesser departments started scrambling for extra supplies, and set about preparing the still open treatment rooms for double duty. Three student nurses began summoning more staff in on emergency recall from off duty by telephone. Brackett, Morton and Early leaned in once more into the EBS address speaker. ##....evidence of cabin decompression. Potential heavy casualties on the ground are expected. Flight 182 has overshot all sparsely populated regions and has been spotted losing altitude over a municipally classed residential zone. All fire and military emergency response stations have been activated....Repeat...This is a Condition Orange Alert..## Rampart General was kicked into overdrive and ready for anything in the space of just short minutes. Dr. Brackett was equally as coolly efficient."What's our current capacity?" Joe rubbed his hand in deep thought. "Admissions says we're at 91% occupancy. UCLA Harbor is at 95%, L.A.City Hospital is sitting at 97% And Bayside General's the worst of all. They're topped off completely and redirecting all ambulance run traumas and major medicals to other emergency care providers." Dr. Brackett frowned. "Hmmm, Guess we're on our own for the majority of any potential mass casualty admissions. Rampart's at 91%?" "Uh huh.." McCall nodded. Mike's chin wrinkled firmly. "That leaves ......50 beds open for us. How many surgical wards do we have available?" Morton asked. Dixie's answer was swift. "Seven. Room Fourteen's just finished up on a bronchoscopy patient left over from 51's warehouse fire from this afternoon. She's just arrived in recovery." "Get that team ready to receive, too." Kel ordered. "Joe, Mike, those rooms have priority. If those airliner passengers are given opportunities of making it off that wreck with a pulse, I wanna make sure that ours have at least one chance each of surviving the ordeal." "Right." said Morton, Joe and Dixie. They darted in three directions to implement the changes. "Oh, and Dix..." said Brackett. "Yes, Kel?" "Let's keep all new arrivals from the crash site out of the pediatric ward. They've dealt with enough noise for one night.." A smirk played across Dixie's classic features. "Are you referring to a certain young dashing paramedic and his equally rivetting four foot two child accomplice?" Brackett's face contorted. "Yes..! It's good enough they're mostly by themselves in that part of the wing because of all the new construction. There's not many around them tonight to suffer the consequences of being within earshot! Dix, send someone to quiet them down, huh? Send a candy stripper, an orderly,...the pizza man! Or anyone.. for that matter. Just get me some peace and quiet at that nurses station..! Dr. Mendelson from neurology says he heard the entire why did the chicken cross the road one upmanship contest wafting down through the elevator shaft without even trying hard." "Sure. I'll have the new LPN, Cheryl Adams, pay them a goodwill visit.." the head nurse winked, remarking mildly. Then her expression turned mischievious. "Her fifth one so far.." she purred. "What?!" Kel said, already buried in the disaster protocol manual from the drug cabinet. His explicative was distracted and half hearted but still icy with anger. "Just kidding..." Dixie said in humor, and she headed briskly off for the elevators to direct supply carts and newly arriving off scheduled staffers to where they would be most needed. Kel twitched. "I was joking..." Dixie trickled, smoothing out the wrinkles on his shoulder. Brackett's reply was just a long suffering growl. "Go..." "I'm gone.." she puffed. Controlled chaos filled all three doctors' senses as they waited for the fire department paramedic base station in the glass cubicle to light up in sudden urgent multiple summons. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A deep chest rending roar bent the palm trees over Station 51's crew's heads as 182's smoking fuselage of street lit red and silver shot by at 360 knots barely 200 feet above them. The entire aircraft was inverted upside down. "Holy mother of..." Marco gasped. CRASHHH-HHH-HHHHHhhhhh!! *screechHHHh* BOOM!!! A wave of explosive concussion slammed the waiting firemen against the engine and making them fall to the ground in a protective duck and cover, while the ground shifted and shook in a outgoing wave of reaction. Before the ugly yellow and lava colored fireball nimbus had faded, Cap knew where the jet had impacted. The one building outline flared impossibly bright by raw plasma had been unmistakably familiar to him. "Rampart!!" "What?!" gasped Chet Kelly for the stunned others. "Shush a minute and let me talk. " Captain Stanley silenced him.."Do we have any injuries among us?" he said sharply. "Uhhh,..n-no." said Lopez for all of them while they brushed off dirt and freshly shorn palm fronds from their backs, legs and faces. "Then on your feet, gang. Now!..We haven't a moment to lose. To answer your question., *cough* Yes, they went down at Rampart!" Hank sobbed, barely in control. "Are you sure?" Brice said, rising and running for the squad two steps behind Roy. "That explosion could have gone up anywhere. There's dozens of office buildings in that direct--" "I know that silhouette better than my own station's, Brice! I'm more than sure! Now get the lead out and just go!" Hank shouted, sprinting for the Ward La France's side door. "Stoker. Once around the rig to make sure she's intact! Then put the pedal to the metal, pal. Avoid the main drags. Gawkers are bound to snarl those big time. The night life crowd's in full swing. Get us there side streets! My guess is that kind of route's gonna put us two and a half miles out. "I'll get us there in four mics, Cap." "Make it three.." "Done." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny Gage felt the rumble before he heard it. He had slipped into just a pair of jeans to feel more at home when the hairs began to rise on the back of his neck. "What th--?" His face turned unbidden toward the venetian blinds in the window and a patch of fire orange growing there. Megan stirred in her half sleep. "What's the matter, Mr. Gage? Is it 'nother quake like the one we got last week?" In slow motion, Johnny's hand parted the curtains. The outline of a disintegrating flaming jet was cartwheeling vertically towards them as if in a horrific nightmare, crushing cars in Rampart's parking lot into smaller exploding gasoline stains as it came. "Oh Sh*t! !! ..Megan...! Get down!" Johnny Gage had time enough to snatch the little girl and her IV bag with him into a crouch behind a bed when all the glass windows on that side of Rampart imploded inwards in a rain of ballistic metallic debris and raw fire. ------------------------------------------------------------ Photo : Rampart's Emergency Department driveway by day. Photo: An airliner crash explosion near a white building. Photo: Dixie McCall and Kel Brackett watching TV in the nurses lounge. Photo: Joe Early on the EBS red phone with Dixie nearby. Photo: Johnny screaming in closeup, surrounded by fire. ******************************************************************* From : Roxy Dee Sent : Friday, February 6, 2004 11:25 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Aftermath~~ Captain Stanley licked his lips nervously as Stoker sped the Ward around increasingly damaged patches of earth. He saw no other red lights yet in the area. ::Looks like I'll be the highest ranking official in the area for at least a little while. So I'd better have at it.:: From behind him, Cap heard Marco breathe a sigh of relief. "Looks like the hospital's still intact. Only the windows are knocked out. Their power's still on." "Yeah, but is it from the main towers or their backup generators?" asked Hank over the roar of the sirens. "Does it matter?" Chet retorted, straightening his helmet as the engine wove its way closer to the forty foot wall of fire hiding the airliner's impact crater."We'll be able to see what we're doing man.." Cap snatched up his microphone and broadcast wide band. ## L.A. Station 51 is at scene, approaching from the south. Our aircraft has impacted nose down in the parking lot and seems to have effected part of the adjacent neighborhood of ....Dwight Street and Nile. We're seeing multiple jet fuel and magnesium based debris fires and a dozen automobile ignition points in a two block radius. As yet, we have no evidence of survivors from the plane. Beginning initial search for ground victims and laying down immediate water source reconnaissance. I repeat, fire is not evident inside Rampart Hospital. Noting window damage only. ## Hank spigotted the radio mic and heard Chief McConnike start his plan of attack using his reported information. Cap coughed on the stench of kerosene and smelled citrus trees from the nearby yards baking in the fire. But he was relieved to hear his superior begin the stream of relief and rescue to the disaster zone nightmare of scent and sight and noise that was assaulting his senses. He signalled Stoker to lay in regular air blasts from the engine's siren apparatus to encourage survivors and notify other companies as to his station's position despite the choking columns of smoke concealing their lights in the lurid nighttime darkness. Chief McConnike's voice was still clear and calm, not effected by the rising fumes that marked the place where passengers from the plane had perished, when it came over the speakers seconds later. ##All companies approach line of sight encircling the debris field in a full 360 degree radius. Use the black areas away from fires' glow upwind of smoke to find safe places to set up your command posts. Foam Units 127, 36, 118, 95 and 106 move into the main crash site by Station 51. They're near ground zero and blasting their air horn to mark their location. Begin your covering support and knock down any burning automobiles first to make a path for the second wave rescue teams. I'm hereby ordering 51 and Station 8 to sweep first line in for any casualties originating from the ground. Recovery teams, keep from disturbing any found fatalities as much as possible. Mark and cover the remains only. Companies moving in from the perimeter, make no attempt to use water on the magnesium blaze surrounding the Boeing's shell. It'll have no effect. Secondary stand by rescue squads and ambulance teams, coordinate with law enforcement authorities to keep all non essential civilians out of the immediate area. This includes all the press types and military personnel who aren't fire departmentally trained. "Inner response teams: Prevent absolutely everyone from trying to leave the hospital proper. They'll all be much safer inside the structure than outside because of the large quantity of ignited jet fuel present amid all of these still potentially explodable cars sandwiched around the south side of the building. ## Echoes of radio hails and acknowledgements bounced off the city light and fire reflected white hulk of Rampart eerily. From where he stood, McConnikee could see patient faces numbly peering down at him from the shattered ruin of all the windows. Soon, white and blue garbed others came to take those shocked eyes away in evacuation to safer areas across the opposite corridors. ::This is H*ll on Earth folks, I know. But not for long. Just hang tough and soon you'll see the City of Angels fight back for its own..::he thought fervently. ::All 406 of us.:: he calculated counting the flashers of all the engines laid out in a ring around Rampart. ------------------------------------------------------------ Chet Kelly startled when unexpected vertical movement amid expected carnage caught his jumpy eye. His shock quickly turned to anger when that motion spelled out spectator over possible victim. Fury exploded from his lips as he adjusted the hose path he and Mike Stoker were using off the neighborhood corner hydrant at their assigned row of torn houses given to them to search through. "Already they're starting! Man.. I just hate that. What kind of sicko does it take for someone to go out looting in a place like this ?" Kelly spat, kicking up dust around his boots. "The ones who think they can get away with it." Stoker's quiet reply came back, equally sharp as he moved their fanning spray over some violated lawn. "Yeah? Well not while I'm on the job, they're not." Hit 'em Stoker.. " Chet challenged. "Feel free.." Mike jerked and shouted. When his commands to leave immediately were ignored by the looting crowd, he let loose with an untapered knifesteam of icy water at all their full hands and turned backs, scattering their ill gotten booty across the debris field. He made sure that they couldn't retrieve anything again by sending loudly protesting black clothed forms rolling away into the darkness under the naked force of his hose. A shout rose up as one male cry marked the audible but unseen location of a bruising impact. "Oooo.. Easy Mike... What if you hurt them doing that?" Kelly winced. "What if they hurt victims' relatives even more by taking the deceased's wedding rings and other stuff?" Stoker countered, not letting up his barrage on those he could reach. "Oh. Good point. Go ahead and nail it home, buddy. For them." he said, sweeping a glove over the sad remains of the plane passengers lying twisted and bare all around them. Hank Stanley's sharp retort came rapidly.. ##Engine 51, I said no water near the airliner!## crackled Chet and Stoker's HT's. Chet peeled off a soggy glove and thumbed the talk button. "Sorry HT 51, just...we were just, well, cleaning up.." "Cleaning up what? We were told to disturb as little as possible." "Cleaning up pond scum, Cap, the vilest kind." ##Oh....## came a chastened reply when Hank finally got the message.## That's different. Keep it up then, but don't fry your keesters in the process in a magnesium flare.## "We won't." ##Good men. Eerrr.. How's it coming?## Chet fought his way over yet another pile of shattered wood and metal smoulders which he shouldered out of his way. "Think we found one that's a death on the ground. Cap, under a blown in door inside the house designated B west of the main intersection." ##How can you tell?## "Looked like a senior who'd been burned fatally, she's still holding a phone receiver." There came a noise of pain from the other end of the HT that was quickly stifled. ##Mark her location down on your notes and search on you two. Keep reporting the ground and plane DOA's like you are and wave on recovery personnel for live ones. Squad 51's handling the fuselage vicinity on the remote chance anyone aboard survived the impact.## "Yes sir. Marking...House B as ground victim number five. We're now on the move at... Dwight and...Victory Lane.." ## Ok, I've got your current position noted. ......HT 51?## came a further hail. "Go." Stoker said tightly as he watched Chet cover the woman in the house even as he glared at the soaked retreating looters. ##I'm sending Vince and a full support team your way to flush out any more of those rats. Save your water for the spot fires when you can.## "We'll be glad to have them. Looks like we found some more with full sacks just ahead." He grinned when a telltale, unmistakable collection of noises drifted his way on the bitter smelling night wind. "Sounds like the lot of them are getting sick behind the row of smouldering palm tree stumps by House D down the road on your side. Serves them right for even coming in here." ##10-4. Watch for the police from the north, Kelly. ## "Like a hawk." he coughed quietly. ##And keep your everloving rears safe, you two. Shots have been heard on your side of the debris field, west of the air liner's impact crater.## "You're kidding." Mike interjected into his plastic covered walkie talkie, dragging the laden hose further along towards the sound of stunned looters. ##Wish I was, pal.## "Understood." Kelly added firmly. ##HT 51 out.## Mike Stoker and Chet Kelly could almost hear their Cap's nod over the closing company frequency. ------------------------------------------ Roy tried not to look at the fourth floor of Rampart where he could hear shards of glass hanging from their frames tinkling like windchimes amid the fire thermals from the parking lot. ::Johnny.. I wish I'd catch your face sneaking a peek down here from your room. But, knowing you, you got your hands full with protecting little Megan right now.:: Roy's boot was about to take another step forward around a seat cushion when Craig Brice's touch on his back stopped him. He pointed to Roy's left with his torchlight into the darkness. A motionless man in the wreckage, still wearing a plane oxygen mask, presented himself as more or less the sole intact shape amid the separated parts that lay strewn about from most of the other dead passengers. Roy began using his hook to throw aside debris between him and the man when Brice's grip tightened on his air bottle, pulling him back. "DeSoto. A moment." he heard in his ear. Still wearing hope's blinders, DeSoto gasped. "What? He might be one who's made it. We have no time to lose here." he shouted behind his mask. He blinked when a swirl of fuel smoke ruffled his hair. Roy could see Brice swallowing deeply behind his air mask. "Look farther down below his waist. That car's front is lying across his lower half and ...and...the hood's level to our thighs and the pavement. You can see that plainly from here. He's been crushed badly. I'm sorry. He doesn't look it color wise, but he's ..he's ..undeniably dead." Roy checked once again using Brice's analyzing flashlight as a guide, and saw that Craig's observation was the correct one, illuminating fully dilated and blood cloudy pupils. Life had indeed fled for the man almost instantly when gravity and inertia had brought the car tumbling down onto his passenger seat. ::J*sus. Just how many fatality presentations am I gonna see tonight that they don't teach you from a textbook?:: Roy's mind interjected mercilessly. "How about giving me one that we can turn around here." he mumbled at Craig in muted thanks for saving him some useless exertion. "Working on it. Praying for it, too." came Brice's reply. "Give me time. I always find a live one. You know that." "Just don't fail me partner. I need a lift right about now." ---------------------- Kelly moved forward into House C, a neighbor of the phoning victim, and jolted his body and nerves yet again when an 8X10 photo suddenly drifted down from the air, hitting him on the helmet. Reflexively, Chet caught the bit of paper and turned its soggy gloss into his torchlight. It was a picture of four stewardesses that could only have come from the ill fated airliner. Each of them wore pink and orange polyester mini skirts with matching gogo boots and gay, brightly colored navy type hats amid stylish curls. Kelly gasped and froze in horror, until Stoker felt the drag of the hose behind him fall slack when Chet let go of his end of the charged line. "Find something?" Mike asked quietly, knocking his annoying hanging mask yet again away from his knees. Kelly lied.. "No. Let's just get to the next house." he said shoving the photo into a crack almost violently, away from him. Chet knew right then that he had been stabbed in the heart. Those frozen smiling two dimensional faces plunged deep inside his protective mental veneer and he shivered involuntarily as his world suddenly swam at this confrontation of his one weakness as a firefighter. :: No! No more reminders like that, please. :: he whispered to the stars above the smoke like a litany. .::Let them all be faceless... Please. I don't want to recognize anything about these people lying around me. It'll be easier. Please.. No faces.. N-no f--:: It was Kelly's turn to bump into Stoker at their next turn bending into a collapsed garage still filled with a shiny silver parked BMW. "Got someone.." Stoker said gruffly. "Go look while I snuff out this small fire.." Chet worked his way around aircraft metal and roofing beams until he could peer inside the car through a windshield smashed inwards from the outside. Kelly saw pink and orange cloth on just a torso. "Plane..." he said, backing hastily away. "You sure? That was awfully fast." "D*mmit Stoker. Yes, I'm sure. I saw a photo back there in the rubble of the last house of the plane's flight attendants. And they were dressed like... like..." his voice strangled into a sob. Mike Stoker gripped Kelly's shoulder tightly while his other glove handed Chet the trickling hose. "Here. Just hold this and don't watch, Chet. " Kelly closed his eyes in spinning horror as he fought his monstrous inner fear and just willed himself to breathe to prevent himself from passing out. Mike's voice was almost soothing and cut through the roaring in Chet's head like a balm. Kelly anchored onto it like a lifeline. "I'm pulling a tarp over this and someone else now. I got the hose fully drawn up to us. Just go. The fire's out." Mike said gently. "Appreciate it, man.." Chet said making tracks for the rising daylight they could see flickering above the clouds of ash and soot coming from the devastated neighborhood and hospital parking lot. He could barely contain his nausea. "Why is it always the photos which get me?" he asked himself. "I'm a rock with anything else.." ::Because you have photos of friends and family just like they do in your wallet..:: came his own ruthless conscience silently. ::Sorry I asked..:: his mind whispered to itself as Kelly finally found balance in an unscathed flower pot still sitting where it rested next to a dewy copper metal watering can on House D's white porch railing. Water drops from his hose made the shasta daisies inner eyes glow in the dawn sunlight. "Who's the second one, Stoker?" "Pilot." Sighing and shaking, Chet Kelly raised his HT to his lips and reported the finding of two more air plane victims. Then his firefighting cool reestablished itself when his brain began working again. "Stoker..." "Yeah?" "If we found those two, the cockpit can't be far away. Won't officials want to get their hands on the flight recorder as soon as possible?" "They sure would." "What color is one from a Boeing? I can't remember." "Red, I think." "Terrific.. I wonder what the lame brain who thought up that shade was thinking when he designed it." "Don't be morbid." "Kinda hard staying positive just about now. I'd do anything to find someone with a pulse." "Reach over and feel mine then. Anytime. I'm really glad you're here with me, too." he said sarcastically, barely abreast of his own fear and stress. Kelly chuckled and groped for Stoker's carotid. "Just so you check mine, too, periodically. I feel like I'm numb all over." "Numbness is bliss at a disaster scene. Wish for that pure emotional novocaine each time at one, Kelly.. What's my rate at now? Feels like 180 just slamming into my chest." Chet's hand never touched Stoker's skin. "Would you look at them?" Chet said, his grin at Mike's rejoiner falling away once again into deep tortured pain. "Look at who?" Stoker coughed, peeling off his hot helmet to let the hot wind dry his hair. "Them..." Kelly said pointing. A rescue searcher and his dog crouched tightly in an embrace, comforting each other across the street on a block of concrete raised slightly above the level of the dead. As yet, the human had made no sound. But the labrador was trembling. "Come on, let's give them some privacy." Chet said. "Looks like they've already checked that last side of the block ahead of us. Let's try and find that recorder thing like good little fast firemen, hmm?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Roy looked up to see what row of cars they were currently next to in comparison with the hospital's outline looming above. He could just see the fourth floor and Johnny and Megan's patient room window. It was one in the shatter zone. ::Be safe, junior. We're coming. Just whatever you do, don't get the crazy idea in that idiotic head of yours to move around with the girl to free yourselves from what you think is danger. I never versed you on the realities of a large plane crash scenario and about the fires that come from one. Magnesium burns can't be barrelled through, Johnny. They're far far hotter than you can ever hope to expect ..or survive.:: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unseen, behind a preoccupied Cap and Chief McConnikee, Boot wormed his way out of the Ward and went arrowing towards Ground Zero and Rampart as fast as his hairy legs could carry him. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Cap giving an order in closeup. Photo : Tumbled cars by a shattered building in daylight. Photo: Impact crater of an airliner into a residential neighborhood. Photo: Chet looking down, sad and quiet. Photo: A photo of stewardesses in 1970's uniforms, pink and orange. Photo: A rescue worker hugging his rescue dog. Photo: Roy looking up, tense, in an air bottle. Photo: A deceased airplane victim lying on the ground. *************************************************************** From : patti keiper Sent : Wednesday, February 11, 2004 11:55 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] One Step At A Time... Johnny Gage coughed, and pushed a fallen bedstand table off his shoulders. He immediately looked down. "Megan?" The tiny burden in his arms stayed quiet, her eyes half lidded around tinges of blood. Gage bent close over her nose and mouth and he sighed gratefully when he felt slight puffs of warm wetness dampen the stinging cuts on his cheek from her strong even breathing. He eased the nine year old off his knees and onto the floor gingerly, his eyes sweeping her body for the reason why she was unconscious. Apart from places where the window glass had sliced her skin, his hands only found her over full coloring pen pouch bag that she was still wearing around her waist like a fanny pack and no other sign of serious injury. The hallway outside their patient room door was amass with shouts and seniors crying down the hall. Hustling nursing staff around the central desk were trying to regain control of the crowd of patients awakened by the plane crash. An orderly's voice was loudest, and it was coming nearer, checking the one room down the construction scaffolded hallway that he knew was occupied and facing the direction of the crash. "Hey! Anybody still down here?!" boomed an African American voice. "You gotta move to a room across the hall to get away from those broken windows.." Gage wiped a trail of blood out of his eyes and looked up at his room's door, scratched and impaled by the shards of glass that had been driven there from air pressure. The light over Megan's bed sputtered fitfully from debris that had damaged its ballast. It only enhanced the pale color of the little girl's cool skin. "Yeah! In 415. Me and a little girl! Get us out of here! The smoke's coming in." "All right, I'm almost there. Stay put mister!" came the unseen voice of the orderly. "I'm coming in. You two hurt any?" "Megan's out but I've got a good airway on her. She's gonna need some serious O2. She took some glass into her eyes and yes, her IV line's intact." "How about you?" ::Yeah, how about me?:: Johnny thought. He hadn't even considered himself. ::I must look a sight right about now.:: He ran experimental hands over his chest, head and back and they came away bloodied but sharp pain or areas of numbness didn't announce themselves. "Not finding anything at all. Just some leftover dizziness from a sleeping pill I took an hour ago. I'm not shocky in the slightest." "Sounds like you're very certain of that." came the voice and soon came rough aggressive noises that showed the hospital man was pushing aside construction tarps, shelving and paint carts out of his way right by Gage and Megan's room. "I should sound certain. I'm a fireman paramedic. *cough* Hurry, the air's going to turn real bad. We gotta get her out of here." Gage got back down onto the floor and rolled Megan onto a sheet he ripped free from his bed and he started dragging her behind him across the floor towards the door just beneath the oily smoke layer that was pooling into the violated room. "Working on it. Looks like people panicking out here pushed an equipment cart over into scaffoulding and the whole lot's tipped against your door! See if you can crack it open." came the man's exerted voice. "I got most of it gone." Johnny felt once more for the quality of Megan's carotid pulse before he crawled nearer to the wooden door that he could see bouncing in its hinges from the impacts the orderly was making trying to free more space around the door's handle latch. New stabs of pain bit into his blue jeaned knees and his bare palms as debris shards cut them. He moved closer to the orderly's position getting ready to rise.Johnny kept his head down in the clear air pocket near the floor only long enough to snatch a breath of untainted air. He decided to risk standing up into the blinding smoke's gasses to try his luck at speeding the escape from their room. The rush of air that sucked in from the window when Johnny cracked the door slightly open, rapidly caused an awful stench of death to gush inside the room. ::Too close. The plane's too close to us. Aw, man..:: Briefly, Johnny saw the tangling jumble of equipment and the construction rack that still blocked his way as the fetid wind from outside finally picked a direction to flow. It decided to flow inside the hospital, thickly. Gage shouted, not being able to see the orderly at all around the smoke that suddenly came billowing out of 415's open portal that lay between them. "This is gonna take too long, *choke* This door can't stay open, the toxic fumes are flooding in and that's the last thing we need in the hallway with all those sick patients out there, all right? Is there another way out of here for us?" "What?" "Just- Just think on it. We've got a minute or so to get out of here." Gage said calmly. " Yeah.. Yeah, I think so. In the bathroom, straight back. There's an adjoining access door with a lock. Yeah, I know it for sure. Take this to open it." Johnny felt a key ring and chain being pressed into his hands. "After you get through that door, go left along the service hall. It runs behind a surgical store room. The firedoor at the end leads to the glass elevator. You can get out that way. ..uh, wait a minute, no you can't. D*mmit! I just remembered. That whole outside shaft might be damaged and non functional. It's on the crash's side." the invisible orderly quailed. "Good enough for me. I'll take my chances. If not, I'll park us in that store room and we can wait it out safely enough. Now seal us off again so we can save what good air we have left. It's enough to get us out of here." Gage commanded. "Just be careful, man. I'll tell security you'll be showing up anywhere along that route. Oh, and don't try to leave Rampart. We've been ordered by the fire department's city dispatcher to keep everybody inside no matter what." "This is why. The powerlines in the area have to be down just about everywhere. Now, go. We'll be fine. You gotta continue your search for others who may still be trapped. We'll get out fine now that we know how." "But,.." "Don't worry about the little girl, she's stable.. Just go." "Ok." The door thudded shut and Gage slid gratefully back down into the good air around his knees to try and breathe regularly. Already, biting jet fuel was swelling up his throat and lungs. ::I'll worry about that later.:: Johnny said, clenching the key in his teeth. ::Thank G*d I'm used to eating smoke.:: he sighed. "Megan,...we're getting out of here. If you can hear me, just keep breathing real shallow all right?" he said coiling up a corner of her drag sheet around the better of his two lacerated wrists. Then he remembered, his station's gang would be looking for him just as soon as the whole disaster scene had been given a quick once over for survivors. "I know Chet, he'll try ta sneak some of the guys in here at their first rest break to try and look for me for sure. But d*mmit, how can I tell them I got out ok?" Then a brainstorm. Johnny reached and pulled out a handful of Megan's markers and quickly patterned out an arrow with them on a patch of floor he cleared free of black dust with an edge of Megan's sheet. "That'll clue them in.." he grinned. "I remembered my boy scouting days just fine.." Johnny wormed his way into the bathroom with Megan's limp crevat and slammed the door shut behind them, sealing off the choking fumes. As promised, the other door was there. Gage reached up and turned on the wall light. He startled when he saw himself in the mirror. There wasn't an inch of him that wasn't dusty with black and blood. Quickly, he unlocked the service door with the orderly's key and the two of them fell into the still pristine air of the brightly lit hall that lay beyond it. It was utterly quiet in there and everything was eerily devoid of any sign of the ongoing disaster outside. Johnny pocketed the door key into his jeans and bent down to recheck Megan's status. "Megan...sweety.. You with me yet, hon?" He dug a knuckle into her breast bone. Megan didn't stir, but her chest still rose and fell regularly. "That's all right. It's ok that you're unconscious, I'm gonna be happy your heart's still beating, kid. Let's go." Gage gathered her up into his arms, holding her grimy IV bag in between his teeth as he barefooted it on tender, wounded feet down the corridor towards the surgical store room he was told to watch out for. He paused only long enough to make another arrow of markers showing the direction that he and Megan were traveling in. As he looked for the next door, his other hand turned up Megan's IV port to wide open when the carotid pulse beneath his finger skipped a beat. The way along was not hard to find and the next light switch Gage flipped on, revealed a stainless steel and tiled walled anesthesia gas bottle store and a cart full of surgical dressings. "Bingo.. but no phone." Gage coughed. "Oh well, Nothing says we can't take time for a rest stop. We're safe now." Johnny carried Megan over to some crates and dug around a few of them until he found the right bandages to dress her eyes and her bigger still oozing wounds and even some of his own lacerations that refused to clot up. The markings on one of the huge gas bottles surrounding them caught his eye. "Wait a minute.. That one's green. I'll just bet that's oxygen!" It took a search but soon, Johnny located a regulator that fit the giant O2 tank. He snatched an anesthesia mask and tubing from a blue surgical paper wrapped bundle that he recognized from working in ER treatment rooms. And a child's oral airway just the right size for Megan from a plastic covered recharging crash cart. He rapidly set up the apparatus and tested it on himself, breathing deeply from the O2 to make sure it was the right gas and that the gas flowed well. He took a short while longer working on the mask to clear an alarming, rising congestion in his chest. Then he secured Megan's airway with the oral tube and strapped the too large adult black rubber mask as well as he could over her face. Then he tended the child with a more thorough exploratory exam. "Looks like just your eyes, hon..as I thought." he concluded, wrapping both of hers up carefully with kerlix around her head until they cushioned them thickly. "These cuts are nothing." He grabbed a BP cuff from the defib cart and took a quick palpated reading on the child to further ease his paramedic worries. "72. Fair enough for me.." he sighed, coughing as traces of acrid smoke lingered his chest. "A few minutes of this oxygen and I promise we're gonna get you out of here lickety split. We got a date with our coloring books to keep and we sure can't do that in here." Grogginess from an unexpected quarter made Johnny sway and suddenly, there were two Megans lying sheeted swathed on top of the cleaning boxes. "Well maybe after I treat myself too." He set a cannula off the regulator and strung it onto himself, breathing in the rich oxygen it delivered to try and clear his head. He leaned on the crash cart as his head sagged down to his chest. "Maybe I'd better sit down on the floor." And suddenly, he was there, his butt bruised from falling. "Terrific.. a smoke inhalation downer already? D*mn.. W- wonder what my pressure's sittin at..." Groping, he felt his own wrist. "No radial pulse.. that's ..that's...lower than ninety.." he gasped, suddenly air hungry. He felt a little higher up his arm and pressed down under his bicep at the pressure point. "Just a weak brachial.. that puts it.. somewhere near the low 80's ...*cough* systolic. Just...just wonderful. Last thing I need is to black out. And Megan needs to get to a doctor asap." ::And so do I..for that matter..:: his inner voice added. The bright blue tile and steel room swam before his eyes chaotically and Johnny slid the rest of the way down the crash cart, slumping onto his back. On the way down his elbow caught the cart and it tipped over on top of him. He grunted as a drawer of drugs shot out from their housing and hit him in the chin, making him see sudden stars until he rolled over to try and get some blood back into his head. One packaged syringe rolled by his nose and it begged a familiarity to his foggy senses. "What the h*ll is that one? Can I even guess? I'm feeling pretty crappy here..." Johnny drew in another deep breath on his O2 and strained to read the labelling. "A..t...r...o.. *cough*..p...i.. oh, atropine. Point five milligrams. Easy one.." he grinned as his consciousness faded. "I sure could use some of that right about now.." Gage's world went black before his hand obeyed a mental command to try and reach out for the medication. ------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Brackett looked up from the smoky, fire lit emergency doors as neighborhood residents and rescue personnel brought in highway and residential house victims in a steady stream, with annoyance. "Where's Dixie?" he snarled at a rushing candy striper, her hands full of trauma packs. "She picked a h*ll of a time for a coffee break!" The young teenager just shrugged and fled from his rage offering a tidbit from the hospital grapevine. "Dr. Morton said she was headed up to Pediatrics for some reason. Hope that helps you, doctor." And she was gone amid the jumble of screaming patients and calming hospital staff in seconds. "Yeah, I'll say it helps. It helps me raise a little blood pressure..." Dr. Brackett mumbled. He peeled off his pair of bloody gloves from the last hallway patient he briefly examined, who had been tagged triage yellow, and dropped them, without thinking, onto the floor. He spied Mike Morton standing with a puzzled look in front of strangely quiescent silver metal elevator doors. "Aren't these running?" he asked Kel as the senior physician sought him out to find out why. "Nope. Compliments of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. They want no one getting any bright ideas in their heads about heading down to ground floor trying to escape the hospital. A control measure I guess. " "It's a d*mned stupid one if you ask me.." Mike flared. "It's hampering our patient room checks." "I'm on your side, doctor.." Kel said, holding up defending hands. "Ease off a bit." Then he fell to guessing why Morton was still staring at the closed doors. "Why are you here, Mike. Isn't there plenty that you should be doing?" "I just got a call from Security. They say they saw someone in white getting in the elevator before the lockdown, trying to ride it after the prohibition on use announcement. Only now, they report they can't tell on camera whether or not someone's still in there." Morton said. "A panicking patient?" "They don't know." "That's odd." Kel said. "Usually the camera has a pretty good view inside the car, doesn't it?" "Key word, pretty good." "What's the disparity?" Brackett wanted to know. "Anything knee high or lower,. Probably because some crazy designer thought the emergency floor phone was good enough to cover for the oversight." That sent a chill up Kel's spine that he didn't like. "I now see why you're over here." Morton nodded gravely, folding his hands over his arms. "Maintenance is on the way with a service key so I can get in there. Everybody else is busy." "How about trying to get a fire captain? They always carry universal elevator keys." "No one's around, Kel. But someone did report a fire dog running around our floor somewhere.. Is that close enough?" Dr. Brackett made a face, "Hardly.." Kel heard a shout down the corridor from a nurse calling his name. He started off to handle the problem. "Let me know what you find out." "I'll do that.." Morton said, drumming his fingers impatiently on the inoperative buttons in front of him. The phone at the unattended desk across from him started ringing. Morton tried to flag down a nurse to answer it but everyone was too busy with patients or crying visitors to notice. The sound finally grated on him and he jogged over and picked up the receiver. "Emergency. This is Dr. Morton." ##Doctor! We've been trying to reach anybody we could. This is Carol from Pediatrics. Is Dixie all right? We saw her take some glass in the arm when the windows blew out. I wanted to help her but she just wrapped a towel around her arm before I could see anything and said she could handle it on her own. Then she got into the elevator and I lost track of her.## "How long ago? Just now?" Morton demanded. ##No, maybe ...five, six minutes ago..## Carol reported. "What? She never arrived down here!" ##Doctor? I don't understand..## Morton dropped the phone and grabbed the maintenance man he finally saw wandering aimly through the frightening sea of casualties.. "Come on, mister. Move it.. We have a nurse who may be down in here." Mike almost opened the door through sheer super human strength as the chastened worker slowly cranked the doors ajar using his spanner jack as fast as he could get his shaking hands to turn it. Mike jammed his skinny torso inside the growing crack in the doors and both feet almost slipped on the tan carpet that was almost completely soaked in fresh blood. A huddled unmoving female form, just as red, lay in the center of it. "Dixie?!" "Oh my G*d." gasped the maintenance man. Morton dropped to his knees and carefully turned Nurse McCall onto her back as he opened her airway to listen for any sign of breathing. She was doing so, very well. ::Point for us. Now..:: Just as fast, he felt her neck pulse and found it tachycardic. He looked up to the maintenance man and said, "Get in here and hold her head back so she can breathe good enough." "Doc, I-I can't.. There's gore all over. I'll check out." Mike eyed the man's name tag quickly with anger. "Do it, Jenkins ! She's bleeding to death from somewhere and I'm gonna need both my hands to find and handle it!" He did so in seconds, grimacing at the warm sticky wetness soaking his knees. Morton cut away the sleeve on Dixie's left arm and located a glass shard protruding from a gaping laceration. Blood was spurting out of it. "The main artery's been cut." Very pale, but still upright, Jenkins offered Morton his office jacket for a compress. Mike shook his head and just pointed to the knife of glass embedded in Dixie's arm. "Won't work that way, don't wanna push that in anymore." And he lifted up her arm high enough to reach its pressure point and rapidly bore down with both sets of fingers, pressing the vessel beneath tightly against the bone. Then they both began shouting for all they were worth to summon some very fast help. ------------------------------------------------------------- "Mr. Gage..? Mr. Gage? Can you hear me? Stop playing dead and talk to me.. I'm really scared.." "M...Megan?" Johnny's voice was a croak. "Oh thank G*d. I woke up and heard you breathing funny down on the floor. What happened to us and why are my eyes all wrapped up?" "Plane crash in the lot outside.. Glass dust in your eyes. Keep those on..." he said, trying to lift his hand to stop Megan's from pulling them off. "Ok, I will.. What's that tube doing around your face? I felt it checking you out." "Oxygen.. I got us out of a lot of smoke..." Gage said weakily without moving from where he lay. " Do me a favor huh? Do you hear that hissing sound on your right?" "Yeah,, what is it? Gas?" "No, it's the oxygen mask I gave you when you were.....uncon-- uh,...sleeping.. Give it to me for a sec..." Gage saw Megan's groping hand locate it through blurry vision. He took it, foregoing the nasal cannula for its use instead. Johnny curled around the mask, sucking in great breaths from it, waiting for his head to clear enough and his body's resources to push his increasing state of shock away. "Mr. Gage...Mr. Gage.. are you all right? What's wrong with you?" she said, shaking him. "Took in some bad air hon.. I'm...just gonna be a little sick right now for a little w--" His face went slack and Megan felt her fireman friend go limp. "Mr. Gage?.. Wake up...." She started to cry. "Don't scare me like this.. I...I don't know what to do..." But then she picked up the flowing surgical mask and held it over Johnny's nose and mouth when she figured out that he must have done the same for her earlier. "Maybe this'll help him get better." -------------------------------------------------------------------- "Dixie.. Dixie.... Try to wake up." McCall moaned, the sensation of still being alive coming back slowly to her spinning senses. " We've managed to stop all the bleeding in your arm. You're going to be just fine.." Dr. Brackett soothed as Dixie opened her eyes to blink up at him blearily. "W-Where am I? Oh... my head.." "Easy.. Just lie still." Kel suggested, and slowed down the flow rate of her Ringer's IV. Mike Morton grinned, taking a blood pressure reading on his patient. "You're in Treatment Three. Pressure's up to 94 over 70, Kel." Dixie was too muzzy to analyze much of anything. "What happened?" "We found you in the elevator." "How'd you find me in there?" She said through an annoyingly dry mouth from her nasal cannula. "Security spotted you going down on the camera. Err,, rather, they didn't spot you passing out." "What was I doing in there..?" "I guess you were headed here from the fourth floor after you got hurt, judging from readout panel. But then further explosions caused the FD to use the emergency stops to control our supposedly panicky people flow and that unfortunately trapped you inside." "The fourth fl-- Oh my G*d.. 405. Kel, I was up there trying to find John Gage and Megan Miller. Their room's facing the fire. I found their door blocked shut by fallen scaffolding!" Dr. Brackett and Dr. Morton both grabbed her shoulders to keep her from rising. "They got out. An orderly who helped us with you told us so. Most likely they're outside in the lobby somewhere just hanging around, waiting for a check up." "No they aren't.. Because I ..." Just as fast, memory eluded her. Dixie sighed, giving up trying to sit as she sank back onto the bed. "Because I'm certain that we---" "Dixie, just hold on and think about the whole thing for a moment. Do you really have cause to worry about those two? Or is this moderate shock kicking in? The nurses at that desk say everything's 10-2 on that floor. Has been for at least twenty minutes." "Well,, I still can't shake this feeling, not exactly.. It's just that...something's not ...right." she frowned in confusion. "Dix, you just had minor surgery to repair that brachial artery. You lost over 1000cc's of blood. You're bound to feel a little off kilter." Mike Morton said with a grin and more than a little insistence. "Mike, I know what I'm feeling now. Do me a favor. Just go up and check on them, ok? It'll only take a few minutes.." Kel shook his head. "Wish I could spare the time, Dix. But the E.R.'s packed, and we're still deep in triage mode. I'm sure Johnny can take care of things by himself for a while. You know how fireman are. They're really really good at keeping on their feet. Now no protests, Mike and I have to get right back at it a.s.a.p. You were something of a priority case for us and that's the only reason why the both of us are here." "Kel, Mike.. I.." Mike looked up and said, "Are we gonna trust her to stay parked?" "H*ll, no. So let's encourage her strongly, shall we?" And both doctors, to Dixie's chagrin, strapped the bed belts around her legs, waist and shoulders to guarantee compliance. "Guys, you can trust me. How about if I promise to be a good patient and not go any---" "Rest, Dix. And that's an order..." Brackett said, tempered by a smile. "At least until your IV bag finishes up. Then you can start to think about hobbling around to bark orders at the other nurses all you like. We're gonna need your bed space. Until then we're keeping you strapped in until that arm decides it's going to stay clotted up. When the chaos clears up a bit, we'll come back and do a neater job on those artery sutures." The two doctors stripped off their gloves they had donned for Dixie's repair job and hastened from the room into the triage filled bustle of the outer wards. Dixie sighed, eyeing her arm splint and wrap job critically. "That's just great, you two." She took a deep breath from her oxygen and the elusive memory that had haunted her came flooding back. "Oh no.. Guys! Come back! I know what I saw in that back corridor now! Children's drawing pens don't lie around littering the floor for no good reason..!" she shouted. Feeling weak, Dixie whispered to herself in defeat. "How can they when regular patients can't find a way into that restricted part of the hospital without help?" A few minutes later, she set in again for someone to search the fourth floor loudly, but Dixie's words never reached any ears that really wanted to hear her out. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Mr. Gage! Now I know you can hear me. I've been telling you all my best riddles. And I'm getting tired of doing that to a quiet audience.. I--I DARE you to open your eyes and laugh at them. You have to remember them so you can tell Chet your friend when you get home,..ok..? Mr. Gage..? Come on, wake up. My hands are getting tired holding this oxygen mask. It's so heavy and it's too big for you." "Uh....hhhh." Johnny groaned and he coughed once when Megan accidently bumped a painful cut on his cheek with her elbow. "That's it. That's it. I knew you could do it. Tell me. Tell me what I can do to get you better faster. I need you, Mr. Gage. I need you to get us out of here, now.." Megan pleaded, shaking his shoulder with both hands. Gage pushed away the oxygen mask and rolled over onto his side, getting ill all over the floor. Bravely, Megan didn't back away from the sounds. She just held his head on her lap. "It's ok, everybody gets upset stomach now and then. Mommy says that a little 7up always makes it better. I'll get you some when we get out of here." Johnny's breathing rasped, frightening her, when he didn't speak again. "Hey,.. are you ok?" Megan asked. Huge wracking coughs kept Gage from talking right away.. Then he said softly.. "No,.. I... I'm not, Megan. I...must have gotten ....more toxins from the smoke ...than I had.....originally....planned on. Chest's...*choke*..filling up fast.." "What can I do, Mr. Gage? Come on, tell me. There must be something I can do..." the little girl sobbed. "I....I.. can't.....think.." Megan's voice took on a quiet tone and she started talking, keeping the mask tightly over Johnny's face as he tried to pull himself together. "That's ok... I'm nine years old. I'll do the thinking for both of us.. I'm used to taking care of my younger brothers and you're only just a bigger kind of brother to me.... Only,...only.." Megan's face screwed up under her bandages and tears began to soak through, making them damp and pink. "..I don't know what to do now, Mr. Gage. I - I just keep right on hearing that awful low rumbling sound that came before that jetplane fell out of the sky. I'm scared Mr. Gage. I still am.. It sounded so much like something to be afraid of." she sobbed. "D-don't ...be afraid.. I ..I ...*gasp* I...know what to do now. Megan...I...need you to find me a ...uh, a shot, ok.? You know, the kind with medicine in it.." "What?" Megan said, brushing dirty hair out of Johnny's eyes. "I don't understand." But Johnny didn't realize he was confusing the girl. He just blearily kept mumbling. "It's like your dad's coffee, only stronger..." he gasped, pushing the oxygen away... "It's called...a-atropine.... Go get the shot, Megan. Get it now. It's...it's..got to be nearby.. I just ..saw it." "Where? Mr. Gage, I can't do that.. I can't see anymore." her lip trembled. "It's ok, hon. Oh,...I see it right here, just out of reach about six feet to our right. Can you sweep around for it? Wait a minute, d- don't reach so far, you'll pull out your IV. Go slow.. A little farther.. There, feel it? It's like a plastic pack of silverware from the fast food restaurant. Yeah, that's it..." Johnny let his head fall back on Megan's lap and he closed his eyes, exhausted from the effort of picking up his head.. "Take it out of the paper and hand it here. You're gonna have to help me take it.." "No,.. I can't do that.. I..hate shots.. Even watching them.." Megan protested. Johnny gave a little laugh. "Well, we won't have that problem now, will we? Your eyes are wrapped up.." "Oh, yeah. That's right. But I know it's gonna feel gross anyway.." she reasoned. "Not that much for you to gross out with, now is there? You aren't going to be on the receiving end of it.." he coughed, trying to put a laugh into his tone. He failed to hide his weakness. "Oh...h.." Megan quailed. "Now,... I gotta take this in the hip. And I'm too beat to get my jeans loosened. You're gonna have to help me." Johnny said gasping. "I'm not going to undress you!" "Megan, you won't see anything.." he gasped in frustration. "No, but I will know what's going on and that's bad enough.." she yelled right back, more angry than embarrassed. "Ok,...ok...ok.. *choke* Change of plans. Calm down. I won't make you do anything you aren't willing to do. Geesh. Relax a little." Gage snaked out his hand until he grabbed a pair of clothes shears that had fallen from the crash cart when he fell against it. "Just let me... get my breath back ...it'll only take a bit.." After some time taken to use the black O2 mask on high, Johnny spoke again. "Ok, here's the s-scoop. Can you cut away my jeans pocket on this side? Here's a pair of scissors I got...from the cart.." "I don't want to cut you..!" Megan said vehemently. "Megan, these are paramedic's scissors. Feel that? There's no sharp points on these, they're blunted with skin guards. Now.. go ahead. I...gotta....hurry....Getting h-hard to.. breathe now..." And Johnny exaggerated his true condition by breathing noisily to get Megan over her qualms about ruining his jeans. He eased off his acting when he felt cool air over his hip after much tugging and slicing on Megan's part. Soon the job was done. Johnny began to realize that his respiratory distress wasn't all himself faking it. ::Edema? Too soon. Too..:: "M--Megan.. pull off the cover from the needle.. Now..push the plunger until you feel the medicine squirt out the top." "Ooops sorry.." "That's...o..ok.." Gage puffed. "I-I'll dry off soon enough when we get out of here.." Gage said. The room started retreating again. Johnny could feel his chemical burned bronchioles closing off despite of the O2 and suddenly another blackout threatened to swallow him up. ::I need the atropine.. Now.. or I'll quit br--:: "Megan..feel where there's a padded spot on my hip and give me the s-shot where ..*gasp* you feel the skin isn't b-bony.." "I can't do that!" "Megan, I'm gonna faint on you ...right now... I can feeling it ....c-coming on.. Now,. just do it. Come on, there's a good g---" Johnny's laboring lungs suddenly snuffed out his consciousness in mid sentence. Megan felt Gage's hands fall away from hers and she heard the mask tumble off his face to the floor and his breathing suddenly quieted alarmingly. "Mr. Gage? Are you ok?.." she asked in horror. "Don't go to sleep. You gotta show me how to do this..." she whimpered. Then something integral made Megan let go of the "child" way of thinking and a new budding "adult" side of her kicked in. With only slightly shaking hands she stuck the needle firmly home and injected all the atropine in the syringe into Gage's hip muscle. Then she jerked it out and flung it away in absolute disgust. Weeping, Megan Miller hugged Johnny Gage, listening to the rapid and weak wheezing noises coming from under the mask she had quickly returned to his face. "Please don't die..." she whispered. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Johnny in jeans, no shirt and hurt, seated. Photo: Unconscious girl of nine, bleeding and bandaged. Photo: Patients on beds crowding a hospital hallway Photo: Morton treating a hurt Dixie on a gurney. Photo: Airplane crash field, up close. Photo: An animated syringe giving a shot to the air. ************************************************************* Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004 16:43:28 -0800 (PST) From: "Sam Iam" Subject: A Glint In The Light An obnoxious squelch over the open frequency made Chet Kelly startle as he and Stoker climbed over the airplane debris field colorfully marked in fatality sheets. "J*sus H Christ... That's too loud!" he articulated as his hand shot into his turnout pocket to pull out his HT. His face was hot and streaming inside his air mask that he still wore. "Gonna be a scorcher today. Feels like 80 and the sun's just coming up." "Could be because of all the fires, Chet. Relax. Feel like going for another air bottle change out yet?" Stoker asked, wiping a sooty glove over his faceplate so Kelly could see the glint in his eye that was an attempt to lift his spirits. Kelly stared at his radio accusingly as L.A. did its first communications check in with all the rescue and police personnel on scene of the jet crash. ##L.A. Stations: 99, 36, 118, 12, 127, 8, 51, 10, Battalion 14, Ladder 90, Brush 5, One Adam Twelve, One Bravo Three, One Tango Six...#... the list droned on and on... "Man, Stoker. I'd thought I'd never be on a response this big. I mean, how can they ever keep track of everybody? It's hard enough just keeping our own station's chatter on sub band 51." Mike Stoker stopped in his tracks and turned a circle in place just like he'd been doing every twenty steps for the last two hours, looking for magnesium hot spots that might endanger their boot material. He eyed the signs of carnage and rubble alike with a professional dispassionate distance that Chet knew he'd never be able to master. "That's what the Fire Chiefs are for. L.A. can only ferry transmissions, not organize them all." "I know, I know." Kelly said, hooking yet another piece of plane metal away from a tiny fuel blaze as they searched for their current assignment, looking for the flight recorder. "Maybe I'm just on edge because we haven't found a live victim. I really didn't need to see that rescue worker and his dog all busted up like that. It kinda gets a guy down. Know what I mean?" Mike Stoker motioned that their way forward was clear of hazard without saying anything. He started counting out their twenty paces out loud once again as the lead man on the recovery team. His left foot stumbled on some baby clothes and he only hesitated briefly before walking on, using his hook as a support. "Ah, man... I should have been a farmer.." Chet said softly as he regarded his crewmate's hunched over back. "This stuff's for the birds." He hurried to catch up to Mike to give him an affectionate pat on the shoulder. --------------------------------------------------------------- They were on the east side edge of the triage area outside a SafeKo store. Roy DeSoto and Brice patted the back of the Mayfair after sealing off its access doors. "Go, go go!" the weary, ginger haired paramedic urged the driver as he stepped back away from the tires. Then he leaned over, catching his breath with his hands on his knees. Brice whistled, getting Roy's attention. "Need this again?" he asked, lifting a demand valve mask from a coil wrap he had just finished making in their O2 case. DeSoto shook his head, and waved him off with a gesture. "Nah... I'm fine..." and he parked his soiled backside on a spent foam unit casing to rest. He rubbed his face. "It's just... that last one really got to me. I mean, who'd figure a four year old boy going to his first day care center would ever end up on the receiving end of all of this..." he said, throwing up his hands at the chaos around them. A sharp support volunteer quickly darted over from a supply tent and handed both paramedics plastic water bottles, already opened. They were luke warm. Roy and Brice nodded their thanks mutely. Craig rubbed the dirt off his face and made a half hearted attempt at rubbing some more off of his usually pristine uniform. "It doesn't pay to get emotionally involved with a patient while treating them." Roy flared, "Does it look like I'm treating anybody right now, Brice?" he shouted, sharp. "No..." Craig studied his feet and then just knelt and finished putting away the O2 apparatus. A long pause seemed to isolate the two men despite the roar of fire and echoing radio transmissions and hissing hoses and idle-ing engines surrounding them. But then, his face altered and opened up. "Sorry. There I go again, offering stupid advice where it isn't welcome." Roy lifted his head and just shook it, brushing off the apology. "We're tired. We're all tired. And things really seem like they can just.....go on forever.." His eyes wandered over to ground zero where he could just see a crane trying to lift the tail section of the airliner away from an alley full of body parts. "Not your fault lashing out.." he said softly. "I just did it myself.." he said with an unconvincing familiar smile. Brice's back just stayed stiff as he slowly stowed their gear back into the squad side compartments. Roy got up and walked over to recollect his soggy coat from where it lay on the roof of the squad in a futile attempt to dry it off. "Come on, let's go grab some coffee. Dwyer said they have a refreshment tent already set up. Anything's gotta taste better than these things." he said draining the last of the water from his bottle. "We'll keep our talkies with us in case we get any more calls. I don't know about you, but I don't wanna be tied to the squad's radio for that. I wanna move around a little." Craig finally grinned and looked at Roy. "Same here. I thought I was the only one getting ansy." "Not by a long shot.." DeSoto smirked. But then Craig's face fell into another disturbed frown that DeSoto noticed. "What's wrong?" he asked Brice. "I....can't put my finger on it. But have you been listening to all the radio checks? There's not one voice going on the air that I recognize.." he told Roy. Roy tipped his head, thinking a bit. "Well, there are a lot of us here.." "Yeah, perhaps you're right. But I can't shake the willies I've had ever since we both got here." "Body recovery blues?" DeSoto asked. "No..no.." Craig said carefully. "It's different.." "Well, a little sugar might help. We're both a little transparent right now. Not hungry, but hollow. And we still have to do our vitals sets on each other looking for hidden trouble spots because of all the complex smoke around here." "We'll do that after the break." Craig nodded in decision. Roy shrugged back into his damp jacket. "Ok.." he grinned. "Let's go." ------------------------------------------------------ Chet Kelly passed by mountains of steaming rubble, house and plane and nothing he saw was familiar. "We've been all over the place, Stoker. I don't think we're gonna find it. Maybe we should let the Feddies.." "We haven't been on this side yet, Chet. I know, I would have remembered passing that.." he said, pointing down to a charred car that had a severed fire hose lying by it. Kelly leaned in a little closer. "What happened here?" "Hose burst. The crew manning it must have touched a mag fire." "Oooo." Chet winced in sympathy, peering into the windows of the car. "Looks like they got out a live one. There's IV and EKG papers all over the place. And I'm seeing a used suction cylinder in here. " Mike hooted. "Whoo Hooo! There's one LESS for ya, Grim Reaper! " and he celebrated by raising his fire hook in triumph. Chet raised his eyebrows in silence before mumbling, "Always gotta watch out for the quiet types, man.." but he smiled just a few seconds later. Unfamiliarity reigned across the landscape on the ground with nothing recognizable, but all the fire and smoke was all too familiar to them as they resumed search. One section to the west under a rising column of an as yet unbattled fuel fire caught Chet's attention. A shape sticking out of the mess that bothered him. "Hey, Stoker. This way." "Kelly, we'll mess up our pattern.." "Just come on.. I may have spotted something." Mike Stoker followed line of sight along Chet's arm. Then he shrugged. "A firefighter. So.." "Stoker, think a minute.. Do you see a truck around here anywhere. No one leaves the hundred foot perimeter from the engine in an unknown hazard scene." Stoker once again eyed the figure picking its way over the debris field, shimmering in the early morning heat thermals. Its helmet almost seemed to big. "Looter?" "I'll bet fifty bucks on it.." Kelly complained. "Now, I'm really mad...." Stoker frowned. The mild expression on his face hadn't changed. "Good, glad it's unanimous. Shall we do a little city property recovery mission? Not like we're really needed victim scouting and I'm fed up with trying to locate a needle in a haystack with that flight box." Kelly sighed. "I'm in.." ------------------------------------------ Three minutes later, Kelly and Stoker closed in their ambush on the lanky teen who was saundering around the crash zone in stolen fireman's gear. He looked almost comical with his bloody white Adidas shoes sticking out of the tan pants. "Got ya!" Stoker said, using the severed fire hose as a lasso. Chet brandished both fire hooks like medieval lances and he framed the startled young man with them keeping him from running into one of the live powerlines twitching on the ground. "Stupid kid. Start stripping, right now! And be fast about it." "Ok, ok, What's the big deal? I was just having a little fun ya know? My friends couldn't get anywhere near here because they didn't have the right threads.." the teen sputtered, giving up and hastily peeling off the contraband. "Where'd you get it?" Kelly demanded. "I don't know.. Somewhere back there. Near the nose cone. Nobody was watching it. These things were just lying on the ground...." That disturbed both of 51's firefighters into muteness, briefly. Mike Stoker freed the boy from his restraints. "Now listen carefully, your life may depend on it." "Sir?" Kelly threw down one of the hooks until it connected with a hidden power line and livid gold and blue sparks crackled and roared to life around it until the energy kicked the metal end of it away. The teen flinched and paled considerably. "See that? This whole place is littered with live electrical lines and fuel puddles just waiting for some dumb kid to come along and fry himself to death just for stepping in the wrong place at the wrong time. Kapesh?" Stoker snarled. The kid rapidly grew terrified. "Uh, huh..uh h-..uh." he nodded quickly. "I can see that...." he squeaked. "Now get out of here.. Follow along on top of that dead fire hose to the uneffected streets pronto. And don't come back..... And I do mean ON TOP. You just may make it out of here alive..." Mike said softly. The kid fled. "Oo, man... Stoker,.." Chet laughed once the cowed teenager had gone considerable distance away from them. "Remind me to never be reborn as one of your kids, ok? You make the wrath of G*d Moses felt seem t--" But Stoker was no longer listening. He had lifted the jacket from the ground and was wiping the soot over the letters on the back of it, away, with a wet passenger sweater. Simultaneously, the rising sun's light touched the curving mass of a severed chunk of the airplane and glinted off twisted metal of red and silver chrome, something not found on any aircraft. Kelly gaped. "Ohmyg*d.." Stoker's HT flew to his mouth and he thumbed the talk button over the steady radio traffic buzzing from the speaker. "Break! Break! Break! HT 51 to Battalion 14. Unit down. I repeat. Unit down. We've just found a fire engine under the nose cone. ID is Station 10!" -------------------------------------------- Photo : Crash debris field.. Photo : The severed nose of a downed 747. Photo: A mangled fire engine in early dawn. *************************************************** From : Cory Anda Sent : Friday, March 12, 2004 1:29 AM Subject : High Rescue Megan stirred from where she lay across Johnny Gage's chest. His hand had gripped the base of her throat, feeling for the big pulse point that she knew she had there. "Mr. Gage? Are you all right?" she asked lifting her bandaged head and eyes from the fast rise and fall of his breathing. A grunt of pain from a dry throat greeted her ears. "Mr. Gage? Did you hear me?" Finally, she got a croak in response. "*cough* I... was just....about to ask you the same thing, Megan." said his voice, muffled by the black rubber surgical oxygen mask Megan had strapped onto his face. "Are we still safe in here? I ..kinda l-lost track of time." he moaned, sliding the flowing mask off his mouth to his chin so that she could better understand him. "Sure are. I've been crawling to the door every five minutes to check it for hot spots or smoke coming from the bottom of the door." Johnny opened his eyes blearily and blinked away lingering grogginess that still fogged him from his exposure to the chemical smoke from the patient room Megan and he had escaped from. Experimentally, he took in a deep breath. Immediately, bubbling liquid made him choke in reflex but the spasms that had plagued him before the atropine injection didn't rematerialize. "Good job with giving me that shot Megan. I- I think I've turned the corner." Gage saw Megan's hands blindly grope around on his stomach until they located both of his caked palms in a tiny and sweaty grip. "I was so worried Mr. Gage. I- I thought your lungs were going to stop getting enough air for you. It was scary hearing those noises. They were all whistles and squeaks and you got really sweaty and cold, too, for a long time. I tried to cover you up but I couldn't find a blanket." Johnny glanced with irony at the shelves of surgical sheeting that were folded on the linen racks just above Megan's eye wrapped head's height. "That's ok. I... feel better now. You've nursed me through just fine here." and he leaned over to cough and spit some thick mucous out of his mouth. "How'd ya.. how'd ya keep track of when to recheck the door again for fire and smoke with your eyes wrapped up like they are?" he asked, shifting slowly to hands and knees, testing his body's strength and condition to see if he could manage standing. Right then, Gage's watch went off and he startled as its shrill, trebled diving alarm pierced the stillness of the store room. Megan's bandaged face split into a toothy smile. "I recognized your diving watch, Mr. Gage. My dad's got one just like it and I knew which button to hit to set the timer for a five minute low air interval warning." "Oh yeah? Those are mighty big words for a nine year old." Gage scoffed, teasing her. He threw partially focusing eyes downwards to make sure that Megan had indeed pulled out the syringe needle from his hip before he turned off the alarm buzzing on the watch. "Don't know if I believe you." he said with a grin, not being able to help himself. He wanted to make her think of something else other than him to bolster her own confidence, mentally and physically. "Oh yeah? Well I can tell you that I checked that door five times since you decided to nap on me. And yes, I've been told I've got a mighty big brain for school learning, especially when I write and talk about all of daddy's diving trips to the Bahamas." Megan said with indignation. "You better believe me cause it's what happened. You were out for all that time." Gage reached out with come here hands. "Hey..I'm just kidding. I forgot you can't see the smile on my face. Really,.. I'd have you on my engine crew watching over my rear in a house fire any day of the week, Megan. You really saved my bacon a half hour ago and I'm not going to forget it anytime soon. Come here. A grateful guy wants to dish out a hug or two in thanks, all right?" Megan rushed into Johnny's arms as he stood up on shaky legs. "There..." he said. "I'm all right and so are you, hon. No need for tears. Now. Let's get the heck out of here like we both wanna do." he complained. He set her briefly on the stack of boxes as he turned off the oxygen tank they had both used and he checked both their vitals signs to reassure paramedic curiosity about himself and his young charge's status. She was stable and her eye dressings were no longer wet with new oozing plasma under the older dried blood stains covering her eyes. His own B/P was in the hundred range palpated but all the cuts on his bare chest and shoulders and the areas above his jeans and on his face had clotted up well. As an afterthought, Gage grabbed a new D5W bag to replace Megan's limp one along with another atropine syringe package for himself in case his toxic gas pulmonary edema flared into crisis again. "Ready to go, princess?" he asked her when he was through fussing. "And how. People out there are probably wondering where we are." ::I'm counting on it.:: Johnny thought to himself as he hefted Megan's light weight onto his good hip. He grabbed a fire extinguisher from a wall compartment on his way out of the surgical supply room after deciding he'd keep the route ahead hazard free with it as a backup. "What's that for?" Megan asked when she recognized the familiar ching of metal nozzle on metal cylinder. Gage said. "Ever heard of an insurance policy? Well, this is a non paper kind. Hang on to me tight. We're headed out." Johnny felt Megan clench his hair painfully as he moved down the fitfully lit hallway and back into a faint bank of bitter sweet smelling smoke. "You're forgetting the Santa Anas are in full swing. They'll wrap any fire higher than a skyscraper if the wind's strong enough. There may be hot spots around where we're going." An orange glow at the end of the corridor showed Johnny the location of the glass elevator. The doors separating its shaft from the maintenance corridor had been ripped away and the nightmare vision of the burning plane and surrounding neighborhood gaped through like a surrealistic hellish painting that made a lump knot deep in his throat. Gage didn't let the relaxed but mute Megan know that his eyes and heart were already crying. ::All of them, dead?:: he thought in thinly veiled despair and shock. He could tell by the color of the smoke columns that more than metal and wood burned in the magnesium fires that marked a sickening outline where the plane had embedded its length into the parking lot concrete and across the yards of at least six homes that he could see in the distance from his vantage point from the fourth floor of Rampart. The scene was hugely bloated with chaotic ruin that hungrily swallowed all signs of the rescue work that was ongoing, for there wasn't even the slightest sound of radio barks nor the faintest flash of red lights from fire engines carrying up to where Gage and Megan slumped in the passageway. A hot wind whipped a vile stench up the shattered shell of the glass tube that once housed the glass viewing elevator panes. Rungs of metal where the broken sheets of tempered glass were once hung, were completely intact. "Those are still climbable!" Johnny said, looking down, tracing the route his eyes picked out through the darkness and firelight flickers. "We can rappel down." "But we're so high up.." Megan wailed. Gage shouted, seeing hospital figures below running triage in the hastily converted outdoor cafeteria just below him. "Hey! Up here!" But no one looked up towards the upper floors at all and the roar of fire and water covered the sound. Then Johnny spotted a familiar shape sniffing and searching through the rubble and papers littering the grass. "Boot! Hiya boy!.. Up here! We need help!" But the shaggy, weary dog didn't hear him. Desperate, Johnny said, "Megan, gimme more of your coloring pens. Quick." The girl unzipped her fanny pack and gave him the last of them. The green ones. "Here." she sobbed in sudden fear, understanding the tactic at once. One by one, Johnny launched pens into the air, trying to hit the ground near Boot. Several bounced off the torn, tipped over umbrellas out of the dog's sensory range. But the very last green pen finally clattered right underneath Boot's front paws. The stressed dog startled at the impact but immediately afterwards, his nose started working earnestly until he located the thrown missile as it rolled under a canted over cafeteria tree pot. Boot whined when he recognized Johnny's scent mixed with blood on the pen. "Atta boy! It's us.. Good boy.." Gage grinned. "Get a good whiff. Yeah, that's me and yeah, I'm in trouble." Johnny could just barely see Boot begin a tracking circle around the bustling gurneys and moaning patients crowding the triage area in a concerted search for his whereabouts. His pacing was headed away from the ravaged side of the hospital. "No, no.. we're up here, Boot!" and he waved sharply, leaning over the edge of the windy precipice inside of the elevator shaft. "Come on.. Use that mug of yours. And those ears...!" He brought a bloody hand up to his lips and he whistled fiercely. Boot's head jerked at the sound that only he could hear over the crash site's din and his head lifted, trying to pinpoint the source of echo of the familiar call that he knew. Gage whistled again and he saw Boot's black nose twitch in a rush of wind that swept down the side of Rampart's shattered face from where Megan and he huddled against the fire and sun glowing building. Then the two of them connected eyes. Johnny saw but didn't hear Boot begin to bark and fuss in earnest in sudden frantic activity. "Atta boy. Go get help! Yeah, we're up here boy. Gonna need a way down. Go, boy. Go! Get some help. Yeah, I got a victim with me and I know how much you can't stand not being able to reach one." With a last emotionally torn howl, Boot arrowed off to the west, shooting around doctors' legs and oblivious civilian casualties in search of some true fire people from an engine crew who would do more than just kick him away in irritation. "Go.. Boot.. get Cap or.. anybody.. That's the way.." he gasped, sinking down to crouch on the edge of the cold concrete above the elevator track, cradling a mentally shocked Megan against his shoulder. He laid the child on the floor onto her left side and covered her with a stack of plastic bags from an abandoned mop cart to help keep her warm in the smoke breezy hallway. Deftly, he hung her IV on a door jam above her. "Megan, stay put. I gotta rig a line of some kind for us to use." Gage crawled over to the far wall and yanked open the emergency fire hose panel and peeled its long but empty canvas'ed length away from its hanging hooks. Absently, his trembling hands began to fashion a safety harness using the fire hose; a tandem one big enough to hold both Megan and himself. "If they're not here in ten minutes, we're getting down ourselves. Can't wait long for treatment. Neither one of us. That O2 we shared off the tank was just a stop gag measure. This new smoke's gonna effect us being still caught up this high if we don't get underneath the worst of it real soon." When Johnny was through with his constructing, he tied the male end of the hose to the big red water nozzle wheel coming from the stout red painted pipe inside the panel cabinet. He quickly secured a firm hauling hitch. Then, he gently awoke Megan, murmuring reassurances. "Set to go? It's ok. I won't let you fall. I do these kinds of things all the time in all kinds of places and I've never dropped anyone from a high place without a reason." Megan scoffed, making a face. "What's a good reason?" "Uh,... When we had to use a life net." he said through pursed lips. His answer didn't alarm her in the slightest. "Why don't you get one of those now, Mr. Gage?" Johnny's hesitation was a long one. But truth won out. "Because no one knows yet that we're even up here. Except Boot." "Boot who?" Megan coughed weakily. "Our station's dog. He's a sort of mascot who's our pet,.. er.. well, ..he's actually a stray who shows up on occasion right when we need him." "Like now?" Gage felt his young charge begin to shiver as he tied the final hose loop around both himself and her. He eyed the hazardous way down the side of the building inside the shattered, dangerous glass elevator shaft. The car itself was at the bottom, unused, parked and forgotten in a safety measure. "I sure hope so. I gave him strong enough hints about where we were thanks to your bunch of coloring pens. I tossed them down practically on Boot's head." "I'm gonna miss them." Megan sighed, suddenly sleepy. "Especially my green ones. And my brother and my d--" her voice trailed off. Johnny was alarmed, quickly. "Hey,..Megan? Can you hear me? " he asked her, leaning close and feeling the waning strength of the pulse at her carotid. "Now don't go out on me here. I need you to--" he broke off when he felt the girl go limp despite of his shouting and pain rubs. A closer check proved the child still breathed but it was shallow and fast because of the increasingly acrid air swirling around them. Gage half considered retreating back to the surgical store room but changed his mind, thinking suddenly of Boot. ::He's gonna need something to go point onto when he gets back with some half convinced doubting firefighter. It's gonna be a needle in a haystack for him to find someone I know who'll believe him that there's trouble involving me, so I gotta make it as easy for him as possible to prove... by staying visible..:: he thought. Johnny snagged Megan's IV free from the door hook and turned its port wide open, tucking the bag and tubing inside of her fanny pack which still hung above the level of her loosely dangling arm. He tested her consciousness level and found it at an even lower glasgow rating of three. "Oh, no you don't." Gage fished the oral airway he had saved in his back pocket that Megan had needed earlier and reinserted it over her tongue carefully. "You're gonna keep moving air." he sighed. A minute later, he was breathing hard with the effort of easing himself and Megan over the side of the windowleadge and into the shattered frame of the elevator shaft. He scrambled his way down into the clearer air at the third story, and then a bit farther down to the fullest extent and reach of his jury rigged hose and there, they hung unseen by the overtaxed hospital workers milling about underneath their feet. "Boot ... I sure hope you got the message. There's no turning back for us." and he eyed the fourth floor where he had just left as another thick bank of smoke and fuel fumes obscured the doorway they had exited. "I don't think I can get back up there if my life depended on it." To Johnny's dismay, a huge choking smoke cloud swirled down Rampart's flank to meet them and completely covered them up from view from any potential spotters on the ground. Gage felt himself getting fuzzy once again as the hot brightening dawn wind around them suddenly grew too poisoned to breathe. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Johnny caring for an unconscious girl. Photo: A shattered high rise surrounded by overturned cars. Photo: A shirtless Gage next to an outside glass elevator at night in smoke looking down four stories. Photo: Boot barking hysterically. Photo: A wall housed fire hose cabinet setup in closeup. *********************************************************** From: Katherine Bird Date: Sat Mar 13, 2004 8:11 pm Subject: Mascot Mayhem.. Mike Stoker's radio sprang to life with animated voice. ##10-9 last transmission?!## came at least three lieutenants who were supporting shotgun as battalion relay backups. Static and warbles spat from both the 51 firefighters' HT's but nothing else that was legible got through as command voice after command voice walked on each other trying to be the first to deal with Chet and Stoker's emergency. The warbles became an unmistakable tangle. Mike clicked his talk button in a test but nothing happened at all when the wind suddenly changed, shifting the debris and plane parts piled up on top of the fire truck. "D*mn. We're in a blackout area?! Must be because the engine repeater's been damaged.." Stoker guessed. He quickly cased the ground for danger as he picked his way over fallout to reach the crushed Crown where he saw her. Chet pushed his helmet up in frustration on his head and he ripped off his air mask to shout to anyone from the luckless station who might be lying hurt and trapped in the immediate area. "Hey!.. All in ten's! Yell if you can hear me, man.. We see your engine!!" he gasped, accepting Mike's hand to haul him over a section of plane skin in between two small mag fires. Only the sound of fire and scorching wind hissed by their ears. The lack of human voices replying spurred Kelly and Stoker into an even more frantic search for 10's possible fallen. Kelly resealed his SCBA mask over his lips but it didn't conceal the anger on his face while the telecommunications on his HT's band fell apart when just about every firefighter at the crash site crowded onto the channel, demanding more information about the Unit Down call. Finally, L.A. broke through with a tones squelch, silencing the clamouring talkers crowding the line. ##All units, radio silence... All units, radio silence.. Battalion 12, go ahead. Your channel and HT 51's has been put on a signal boosted protected band.. Go..## Numbly, Kelly clutched the fireman's turnout he still had in his hands and he mumbled.. "This is Bob's.." he said, his gloves twitching shakily over the grime and blood on the jacket. Soot smeared Bellingham's name. "That stupid kid got it away from him somehow...." he whispered in shock. "Oh Stoker, I'm afraid this is gonna be the thing that freaks out the walking rule book.. Brice is gonna sh-" "Quiet, Chet. I'm on.." Mike Stoker's voice held no hint of the fear that was sweeping across his face. His baritone stayed firm and controlled as he spoke rapidly. "Battalion 12. Engine Ten is clearly impact crush damaged. We are located at the nose cone end of the airliner. There was a looter with one of ten's turnouts and that's how we found the pumper. Also sir, as yet, there's no sign of the jacket's ...uh,...owner or the other firefighters.." ##Scene safety?## came the deep stonorous voice of the assistant chief who was Battalion 14's right hand. "Minor mag fires, live lines down 18 meters south. There's a lot of fuel fumes over here blowing downwind of the tail section. Air bottles are going to be critical for those moving in." Kelly added. ##Understood. I'm putting your situation on priority. Inform me the second you find anybody. I have Squad 51 and Station 8 responding..## "10-4.." Mike replied, flinging aside the cumbersome HT onto a multilated Samsonite luggage case. He fire hooked tangles of framework away from Engine Ten's back grill, the only part they could see. Kelly shouted.. "Hold it! Hold it Hold it!! Power line!" he warned. Stoker froze, while Kelly threw Bellingham's jacket over the sparking electrical cable Mike had uncovered. "O.K., it can't writhe free now. Go ahead!" Stoker got to the engine and climbed into the first hole he saw, shouting as he went as loud as he could. "Hey! Can anybody hear me?! It's 51's!!" Kelly quickly joined him in the dark space Stoker had jammed himself into. Finally, he reached the cab's back window and he rubbed it clean with a sleeve, crushing his nose against the spidered glass so that he could peer inside.. "She's empty!!" he said joyfully. "They either got out or they weren't here when the plane hit..." he sighed through his sweaty mask.. "My G*d. Battalion 14 must be out of his mind about this, Stoker. No one put two and two together that the jet crashed where he told 10's to station keep!" "Who could have?" Mike grunted as he pushed himself back out the way he had come carefully retracing their route off the roof of the devastated Crown. "There's over twenty County and City units here... It's nobody's fault. Just really sh*tty bad luck.." "I know.. I know.. " Kelly said, accepting Mike's soggy glove for balance as he, too, got down off the engine to resume their victim search. "But my head hurts anyway. And there's a poker jammed through my chest that's nothing physical, about all this." "Me, too...*gasp* Just keep looking.." Mike said. "They gotta be around here somewhere.." "Who says? They're probably scouting the houses like we were doing earlier." Kelly said, finding something to ease his barely contained fear for their fellow station mates. "But how do you explain Bellingham being out of his turnout?" Stoker frowned grimly. "He might be one who's still around here somewhere.." Chet and Stoker finally stumbled to the front of the buried engine, their eyes confirming that no firefighters lay as casualties near the big truck. "Man,.. I wish we could've wrung it out of that kid's neck about where he found the jacket.. Bob would never take it off if he was healthy.." "It could've caught fire..." Stoker theorized. "You know how insidious magnesium burns are. Or he could've used it to cover a live victim to stave off shock but then forgot about it when the stokes recovery teams moved in." "Always nice and positive, Stoker. That's what I like so much, about you. But my instincts are screaming, man. Don't you feel yours? Something's wrong. And it's about one of us..." Kelly insisted, pale and small in his fire gear, as they began once more, their hazard scene search pattern's hunt for anything human in the debris piles. "I just can't shake it either." Mike Stoker didn't say anything. He froze a minute later when he spotted something embedded in the twisted heart of the violated Crown pumper. Chet followed line of sight down Mike's arm.. "I don't believe it.." "Yeah? Well, call it in and don't touch it. The feddies will nail our *sses if we disturb anything near it." Stoker grunted. "F*ck, why do we find this and not Bellingham??" Chet was impressed with Mike's usually hidden trucker mouth as he lifted the HT to his faceplate. "L.A. and Battalion 12. No sign yet but we have located the flight recorder. Looks like Engine Ten's hood was the bullseye." ##Copy that.## Battalion 12 answered. ##Check in at minute intervals.## A sterner, foreign voice took over the line. "HT 51. Touch nothing while you're in there. Our people are intercepting you now for its recovery.." Kelly's eyebrows climbed into his hairline. "You were speaking of the Feds?" Chet said sarcastically. "My, aren't they speedy.." he growled. "I hope they all step on a power l--" "Chet, they're our tax dollars, hard at work.." Stoker teased, trying to lighten the increasing knot of dread that he was experiencing as Chet's non-ignorable bad feeling took root in his stomach. "It behooves us to let them... officiate.." he articulated for lack of a better word. "Why don't they concentrate on developing better airport transportation vehicle protocols or something else that's useful, huh? Hindsight investigation does precious little to help the folks we're seeing smeared all over the county. I'm almost half tempted to hook that power line we just found onto the red box just to fry it so the truth about this crash's human/plane maintenance shortcomings will never hit the media! You heard how those compensators were straining when she flew over our heads. The victims' relatives deserve better than a sterile statement of apology six months from now from the FAA, you know.." Unconsciously, his eyes fell on a very familiar place inside of Engine Ten. Mike Stoker took Kelly's trembling arm andlead him away from the cab seat that was the twin of the one Kelly usually took when on a call on Engine 51. He noticed that it had been shredded by myriads of metal shards the length of his arm, some of which were still impaling the leather sickeningly. ::That could have been us, in E 51..:: he realized. ::Someone's watching out for somebody today, that's for sure.:: he thought and he crossed himself, as Roy would've done. "Come on,.. we'll try and go back to where we intercepted that teenager. Won't be hard to find his footsteps in all this soot and blood to trace a trail back to where the jacket might have come from. If Bob's still in trouble, chances are better that he'll be closer to there than here.. agreed?" Kelly nodded tightly, fighting his emotions as he let Mike lead the way. "Glad at least one of us is thinking clearly.." "Let's go.." Mike said gently. As they passed back by the engine, Stoker paused only long enough to spray paint her side with the bright symbol for no bodies found for the other workers, who were bound to come there anyway they could, just to ease their own minds about her current status and situation. The two of them all but ran back to the depressing open area where they had found the looter. It took them four minutes to find Bob Bellingham's length stretched out in a puddle of fuel face down, eight meters from where they had corralled the teen with the severed hose. Chet and Mike carefully rolled him over onto his back and Chet dug into Bob's shirt for a carotid. "Still got one." he grinned. "Looks like his air mask kept him from drowning in the stuff." Bob groaned when Mike placed his gloves under his head to keep his spine still and straight. "Well, that explains a few things. He's got a goose egg the size of a grapefruit back here." "That lousy fink!" Chet exploded, turning his masked face towards the neighborhood where the rebel teen had long since departed. "What kind of kid would mug a firefighter just to get some gear to put on to go body gawk?" "A thrill seeker from a broken home?" Stoker ventured. Chet made a face. Then he turned his attention back to Bellingham when the man's air-tank-is-empty whistle began to sound. He pulled off Bob's mask and replaced it with his own. "Brilliant Sherlock Holmes.. That's a brownie point for you. This one's his now, Stoker." he said, tapping the face plate he held pressed over Bob's nose and mouth around the jaw thrust he was maintaining on the mostly out paramedic. "Gimme yours so I can buddy breathe in peace and quiet ok? We'll trade off every two breaths like the usual. Do me a favor huh? Keep theorizing this crime scene to yourself. I'm so mad at that kid right now, I just might curse him with that hex Marco's mom once taught me that Lopez says always seems to work for her." he cocked his geared head in another thought. "Or I just might give the other Station Ten guys his description when we find them and let THEM deal out a little justice before the cops come." Smiling and rationing his breath, Stoker lifted his HT to report that a Station Ten man had been found alive. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Brice! ... no.." Roy said firmly, grabbing Craig's arm. They had both just heard Mike Stoker's report on finding Bob Bellingham injured soon after the stunning shock of news announcing Engine Ten's demise. Now, the straight laced, usually bureaucratic eye glassed paramedic was anything but reserved. He almost shook free of DeSoto's hold on him ; the only thing which kept Brice from running off into the debris field to get to Bellingham's side. "Roy, Kelly and Stoker aren't paramedics. They don't know the first thing about secondarily surveying a patient! Getting that right is critical! " "True, but they DO know the primary one. You remember.. the one about the A B C's..?" Roy grinned. "Bob's in good enough hands until Squad 8 gets there. They did say they had breathing, a regular pulse and that Bob was reactive to pain. He'll get through just fine without you going barging in there and taking over.." he said necessarily sharp. "How would you feel if it was YOUR partner lying there as a victim?" Craig said, not caring how he sounded to the civilian volunteers milling about them. "I'm sure if the tables were turned and you were in MY shoes, that you'd try to expedite a rescue as quickly as possible yourself, just like what you're accusing me of doing right now. Listen to your radio DeSoto.. Hear all that chatter? That's the sound of three dozen other firefighters who feel exactly the same way I do right now. " Roylead Craig out of the food tent by the elbow to stand near the squad. "Craig.. Craig.. " he interjected between Brice's long drawn out speech. "Craig.. I- I understand. But this is triage. We go where they tell us and not a moment before. I heard Battalion 12 say he was planning on sending us out. So all we have to do is sit tight and wait for the word go.. all right?" Right then came a harried rookie from the city in dusty yellow with an air bottle strapped on the wrong way. At his feet was Boot, barking loudly. "Hey, 51.." said the young rookie. "This your dog? Listen, you'd better take charge of him cause my captain's had it up to here with him grabbing all our pant legs for no good reason. He's really pissing the guys off. Broderick almost blasted him with the engine cannon to clear him outta our space..." "What?" Roy said, taking charge of Boot's collar. The ragged dog was whining and carrying on. And he was breathing oddly, like he was choking. The rookie just threw up his hands and walked away mumbling. "Just keep him away from us, Truck 226, and you'll have no problems. If he comes back and becomes the main course on the chow line, don't come looking for me..." Craig had already crouched down by Boot's side. "His name's Boot?" he asked Roy, grabbing the dog by the head and pulling his chin up to see the cause of Boot's physical distress. DeSoto nodded. Brice pulled a green ink pen out of Boot's mouth briefly before the dog fiercely retook possession of it, only to resume his whining and pacing before the two paramedics with even more urgency. "I don't know dogs, DeSoto. But he's obviously stressed, maybe because of all the fatalities around here." Roy also stooped and petted Boot's back to calm him but it didn't work. "He's really worked up about something. What was that you got out of his mouth?" Brice suffered a brief tug of war with Boot but finally yanked the ink pen out of the mutt's maw and he held it up before the leaping canine snatched it away again. "Just an ink pen.. how strange.. There's thousands of better kinds of sticks lying around. Why did he choose that to play with?" Craig wondered. Roy got a sudden sinking feeling in his stomach. "He doesn't play, and when he's onto something like this, it's because he's tracking someone." "What?" "Boot's done this before. When he first started hanging around the station, on our first call, he actually found a hiker's backpack along the roadside. Without him, we wouldn't've ever found the victim. He was eighty feet down a beach cliff following a fall..." Roy said absently. Boot suddenly pushed the pen into DeSoto's hand and then began to tug his pants leg in earnest, almost to the point of tipping him over. His whines and frantic barks continued even more loudly. Craig said. "What now? We can't keep him in the squad. It's too hot.." Then he scratched his head. "I know, I'll tie him up to the running board with a tow line.." And he finished carrying out his idea. "Let him go.." Roy said, feeling something dreadful. The pen that he held up into the rising sunlight was full of blood stains. Craig shrugged and then cut the rope in two with his belt pocket knife. Boot took off towards Rampart like a shot, but only along a route that the squad could follow. DeSoto grew certain.. "He's onto someone who's in trouble, someone no one else knows about.. Get in. We'll follow him.." Brice said, "DeSoto, this is highly illog--" DeSoto slammed the driver's door after stepping into the squad and securing his helmet. "Maybe. But we have no reason to go anywhere else until we're formally authorized. Buckle up.." Soon, Roy pulled up in a clear spot alongside the outdoor cafeteria out of the way of the line of ambulances and supply tents and the morgue area. Boot hastily ran into the cafeteria's courtyard. "Oh, boy.." Roy said. "The doctors in there aren't gonna like that.." But Craig and he got out of the squad, complete with their air bottles on anyway, to find out where Boot was headed. Roy hesitantly stopped at the barrier sealed off entrance and waved a sweating doctor over to his side. The M.D. said, "What can I do for you, paramedic....." and he fished for a name, peering at Roy's sooty name plate. "DeSoto.. " Brice supplied when Roy wasn't fast enough. Roy exchanged looks with Craig in gratitude. "Doc, this will only take a second. uh,,, H-Have you seen a dog in here?" The blond haired man tossed his head over his left shoulder. "Oh, you mean that one?" Roy and Craig glanced over to a section of grass along the brick wall that bordered the eatery. A bloody collie lay stretched and silent in death near a garbage can. The doc went on. "She came in here about two hours ago looking for her owner most likely. Died of her injuries before she found anyone.." Roy blinked..."Uh,, this one's living... about two feet high, shaggy brown.." A commotion near the center of the triage section drew all of their eyes. Boot was scrambling on top of a table hastily stacked with emergency supplies and then, impossibly, he leaped up onto an adjacent umbrella, still stretched upright and shading patients lying beneath it. "Hey!!" snapped the doctor. "Get down! Now!" he yelled, fearing that Boot would slip off and land on the stokes victims underneath the umbrella. "Oh my G*d.." DeSoto blurted and he and Craig rushed forward to drag Boot off his precarious perch. As they were reaching, they saw where Boot was staring and barking....up the side of Rampart. "Johnny!!!!??" DeSoto cried out. Brice's HT was in his hand in seconds and he was talking before Roy drew another breath. "L.A. , we have a man trapped outside the fourth floor above the triage area. Also a child. Both are unconscious and in heavy smoke.. Squad 51 is at scene.." Roy and Brice barely heard the Battalion Chiefs' reply nor the unit L.A. was dispatching to aid them. DeSoto started running for the doors of the hospital when he felt a sharp jolt as strong hands stopped him. "Roy,.. what did you just inform me about five minutes ago? I suggest strongly that we stay put." Brice said evenly. DeSoto let out a sigh of exasperation, but finally just joined Boot into staring up skyward, looking for signs of life in the two still forms dangling from a tied off fire hose, above him. The doctor couldn't tell what was louder, Boot's frantic barks or Roy DeSoto's urgent yells to the man that they had discovered in jeopardy. All he knew was that in a few minutes, he'd have two more victims on his roster to worry about. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : A red flight recorder nestled in a niche. Photo : Battalion 12 on a phone. Photo: Brice looking frantic with messy hair. ********************************************************* Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 12:29:43 -0800 (PST) From: "Sam Iam" Subject: Aftermath Brice tapped Roy DeSoto on the shoulder to get around the hindering sound dampening SCBA tank the paramedic had on. "DeSoto.. Gage's line, such that it is, looks secure. Let's go meet the bucket at the entrance and start clearing a path through the gawkers for the truck to get in here." he shouted. Roy, grabbing Boot and praising him ecstatically, nodded his masked head vigorously. "Ok. Sounds like a plan." he said, aiming a powerful flashlight a quick thinking intern had handed him from a supply cart, up into the smoke. "I'm not seeing cyanosis on either one of them. They've got to be breathing." he added. "Let's go." The two fully geared firefighters heard Battalion 12 organizing their new rescue priority around the one Kelly and Stoker were managing, in stereo, from their cranked volume handi talkies. The radio commands echoed eerily up the concrete flank of the hospital and echoed back down to them faintly over the sounds coming from the triage station around them. They were only slightly louder than the moans issuing from the walking wounded lined up by category along the cafeteria wall. Soon, ironically, Truck 226 pulled up and Roy and Brice were met with a familiar sight leaping off the rear bumper. It was the rookie who had "returned" Boot. "Hey, 51.. " the young curly haired man shouted. "Listen.. Sorry about earlier. I- I didn't know what your mutt was up to. I'll do everything I can to get your man down from there as fast as I can. Don't you worry. ." and he began to rapidly place the anchor plates down on the dusty asphalt for the truck's descending stabilizer legs. "Forget it, kid.." Roy grinned as best he could. "I'll be the first to admit that Boot DOES get annoying when he's on full bark and tug mode." Right then, Truck 226's captain jogged up. He noted the air tanks Brice and Roy were using and he frowned. "No one told me jet fumes were blowing downwind into the triage area.." "I think they were too busy to realize that, Cap." DeSoto said, throwing a hand at all the frantic doctors and nurses working on the rows of patients stretched out in between all the tipped over dining tables and umbrellas. "Changing all of that right now.." the gray haired captain promised. He toggled a talk button. "Truck 226 to Battalions 12 and 14. The wind's shifted southwards from the impact site towards the hospital and triage area. I recommend you set up a series of water curtains to divert the worst of the smoke and fumes away from all the patients inside and outside of Rampart. They're in a direct line of risk." ##10-4. Truck 226. ## came a dual reply. Dimly, Roy heard Engine 8 being dispatched to his scene with three other stations as well as his own. ::I'll just bet Bellingham's on his way here right now if they've been freed to respond to us.:: Slowly, 226's engineer lifted the arching white span of the bucket's arm upwards from his place inside of it. He nodded with satisfaction when he saw Brice peel off his gloves to get the two demand valves set up for Johnny and the girl. The rookie firefighter insisted on those going up with them. Soon, both the basket and the three firefighters in it, disappeared into the smoke. Unconsciously, Roy lifted his HT. "Squad 51 to HT 51. Radio check.." Craig immediately replied back and his distant figure suddenly reappeared in a hissing gust and Roy saw him lift an arm in an affirmation wave as he spoke. ##Loud and clear, 51. Stand by for info. We're almost there. I can see them.## There was a long pause, and Boot in Roy's arms sliced it wide open with an impatient frantic whine. "Yeah, I know how you feel, I hate waiting, too, boy." Then..... ##Squad 51. They're alive. Carotids on both..## came Brice's relieved voice. Roy let out the breath he had been holding and he joyfully shoved Boot into the squad before grabbing his gear out of the side compartments. He laid them on a yellow treatment tarp on a section of uncluttered grass. He knew he'd be treating long before the triage doctors even had a space for his two victims. He got on the biophone just as Engine 51 pulled in to begin setting up the water curtain to protect the triage area from the thickening chemical smoke. Roy gave Captain Stanley an indication of who one of the victims was by tapping the number on his helmet. He immediately tempered that with a hasty thumbs up to Cap without speaking. DeSoto saw Hank visibly relax. Brackett replied to Roy's hail. ##Squad 51, Go ahead.## Drumming relieved gloved hands on the squad's hood, Stanley nodded at DeSoto in a thanks for the news and then he scrambled Kelly, Stoker, and Lopez into support operations. Roy did one double take as Bob Bellingham was carried in by Engine 8's crew on a long board. He wasn't even fitted with an airway underneath the oxygen mask. ::That's good.:: DeSoto thought. He saw the still and wounded paramedic placed on the grass in the line of victims classified as red tagged to await his turn for more aggressive treatment and further assessment. One of Station Eight's paramedics parked with him but soon automatically volunteered himself to monitor those victims in his same row without being told to do so by a doctor. Dutifully, the medic dragged Bellingham's gurney into the yellow triage tagged line when the burly man awoke and began to ask him legible questions. Roy sighed and replied to Dr. Brackett. "Rampart, we've a Code I and a little girl of nine from a previous rescue. Right now they're inaccessible but both of them should be freed in a few minutes. Please stand by." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In the Base Station, Kel's face furrowed when he heard about the child. "Is this the girl from the factory fire that Joe Early handled earlier?## he demanded to know without giving out too much information over the very public biocom channel he knew the fire chiefs and L.A. were both monitoring because of the declared disaster level emergency they were all facing. "10-4.." Roy answered. ##I'm getting her chart now..## Brackett affirmed and he turned to tap on the window for Betty, Dixie's stand-in. "Don't bother.." said a voice near his waist. Kel whirled to see an arm slinged Dixie McCall in a wheel chair, sitting next to him. She nonchalantly held Megan's patient slate out to him with her good hand. "I took the liberty of grabbing this on my way in here." "Dixie! Just what the h*ll are you doing out of bed?! Who let you loose?" Brackett boomed. "Kel, do you think I'm stupid enough to even hint at that person's name? Besides, I didn't break your orders. My I.V. finished up just fine and my pressure's holding so here I am. Gimme..." and she wriggled fingers for a note pad and pencil. Kel Brackett figured it out. "You sly little vixen. You turned your Ringers to wide open, to drain it faster, didn't you?" Dixie merely blinked straight faced at him, not admitting anything. Then she said. "Now how could I have done that? You had both my arms strapped down." Kel didn't even blink back. "Someone else did it then.." he started to smoulder. "Ease off, Kel." she pleaded with a half whine of weariness. "That firefighter and little Megan both need us right now so just can it, Kel. Shut up and let's get to work!" she said just as brusk, breathing hard. But then she smiled and the faintest hint of pink flushed rapidly into her cheeks. That convinced Kel as to the progress of her recovery so he gave her what she wanted sheepishly. "Glad you're back, Dix, we've missed you." "Unlikely.. Now, has Roy given you any data yet?" "Nope. Victims are still stuck high up." Kel said, checking the circulation in Dixie's fingers to see how his suturing was faring. "Any seepage?" "Nope.." Dixie said, trying not to wince at the exam. "You did your usual thorough job, Doctor Frankenstein. Very neat rows. Looks like I was stitched up by a sewing machine, instead of by you." Kel grin's split even further. "I aim to please.." he said, gently releasing her arm. "How did you know I'd need this?" he said, hefting the metal chart of Megan's. "Oh, Kel.. I tried to tell you and Morton both about Megan. That's the whole reason why I went up to the fourth floor after the plane hit. Let me fill you in. Johnny's the Code I, so get boned up. That orderly who attended me, with you earlier in the Treatment Room, told me more about how Gage and she were trapped in their room by fallen scaffolding. Only one back hall leads out of their bathroom and that was the one..." "... that leads behind the glass elevator shaft... hmmmm.." Dr. Brackett said thoughtfully. "There's also a supply room in there. Something must have happened to effect Johnny's reasoning ability or he'd still be in there holing up with Megan." Dixie had an answer for that, too. "It did. There's a block long water curtain going up on the crash side of the building. I remember seeing those only used to divert toxic smoke away from people back when I was still training paramedics on ride alongs." Brackett frowned, and toggled the switch. "Rampart to Squad 51." ##Go ahead, Rampart.## "Just learned about the bad air outside. What are your victims' consciousness levels?" ##Both are out, doc. Brice and another fireman's got them on positive pressure ventilations assisting their own inhalations. Both have unimpeded airways, adjunct supported. They say no signs of laryngospasm are evident . Oh, and the little girl's still got her I.V. line. It's intact. Brice said Johnny's signature's on it marking it as a new bag. Uhh,..it's I.V.#2..Timed forty five minutes ago..## "10-4. 51, I'm fore-authorizing you for 1 cc epinephrine, adult's, and .3 cc's peds if that condition develops in either victim. Continue to update me as your rescue progresses and notify me as soon as you have patient access. I'm assuming position as their attending M.D. I'll be faster than those assigned out by you in the triage area. If I'm needed by you and Brice, I'll be out there. Rampart out." He sighed and quickly read Megan's patient information with a practiced flipping of pages. Then he leaned against the counter with the recording machine and switched it off to await Roy's next transmission. He regarded Dixie thoughtfully as she jotted down the last of his orders to Squad 51. "Just how did you know beyond just his and your guessing, that Johnny and Megan had gotten into that hallway? " "The orderly went down to the security office and had them aim a camera onto the floor to look for biosigns on the tiles. They found some blood, and an arrow of coloring pens, pointing in the direction of the elevator shaft." At Brackett's puzzled look, she elaborated. "This afternoon, I sort of...snuck up there to check on Johnny by taking over some of Megan's lab work and saw that they were arguing over custody of a green pen that she had on the table. I just put two and two together.." she said bowing her head fractionally. "I don't know whether to congratulate you or throttle you for leaving the ER twice, unannounced, during a crisis alert." Kel grimaced, waving Joe Early into the room to order him to take over as ER head while he went to rendevous with Roy. "I did pay the price, Kel. I argued with a window losing a battle with a crashing airplane." and she lifted her splinted arm in emphasis. Kel fell silent and brooding without anger. "Pain getting too much?" "Nope.." she trickled instantly. "This one isn't an ankle. I can take an arm over a foot any day of the week. That time bothered me. This time, it doesn't." she said evenly. "Besides, what's my color showing you?" Kel stroked her cheek in a brief show of affection. "That you're hungry. Go eat. I promise I'll call you the moment Roy calls back in. I'm clearing you for some oral intake. If you don't spill anything on my suture job, I'll forget you were ever AWOL." he said marking down his orders on the run sheet he pulled down from the file box next to the EKG monitor. "Deal, I'll be back with some coffee just for you." "Good luck. All the pots are empty..." he grinned without looking up. "As of three hours ago." "No, they're not. I know all the hiding places. I'll do some acting as the poor hurt head nurse and beg some off the student squirrelers." The last part of her sentence was punctuated by the sound of a fast opening door onto the busy ER. Kel thought. ::Oh no she doesn't...:: "Hey!" Kel yelled after Dix, holding the glass door of the base station open so that he could see her retreating back. "You forgot your wheel chair.. And why don't you fess up and tell us doctors about those hiding places..?" "Nurses' autonomy.. Live with it and accept that you're simply SOL, doctor." her voice floated sweetly back to him. "Thanks for lifting my chow restriction, I'm starving!" Kel launched the empty wheel chair out of the little transparent room and narrowly missed hitting Joe Early with it as he breezed in. Joe didn't bat an eye and deflected the wheeling obstacle away from his knees with a foot neatly agile. "Problem, Kel?" he asked picking up the orders Brackett had just finished dictating. "Head nurses and firefighters.. Who can live with them?" Kel said without elaborating further. "Us, Kel. Can't live without 'em. Remember that when you're old and gray like me." Dr. Early smiled mildly. "They're your bread and butter for the whole paramedic program which you created, by the way, doctor." he said cheerfully. "Don't remind me." Kel grumbled. "Better have someone get a forklift to pull Johnny Gage's chart from Records again. He went down while playing Batman on the side of the building." "What's he doing out there?" "He got a kid out of the only patient room endangered by that mess outside. His own. Smoke made him attempt his current idiotic stunt gone bad, and he's now hanging, out cold above triage instead of staying nice and safe in a supply room." "Terrific.. I'll get Respiratory Therapy ready. Want a couple of bronchoscopy trays set up for your jump bag? I assume you are giving me the entire ER's reins while you go play Doctor Do Right out in triage." "You guessed right." Right then, a candy striper trotted into the base station alcove with a mug of steaming coffee. She went right to Kel Brackett with it. "Compliments of Dixie, doctor." and she sailed right back out again. Joe melted. "Oh! That's real coffee! Where'd you manage to materialize that, Kel? I've been licking the dry coffee ring in MY mug for hours." he asked drooling. "Go see, Dix, Joe. She's the head of a secret society of illegal java poolers." "Huh?" Joe blinked. "Never mind. Just look for the sky blue splint and you'll spot her if you want to get some for yourself." "Splint?! She's hurt?" It was Joe's turn to get sharp. "Why didn't anybody inform me?" "There wasn't time. Morton and I handled her surgery ourselves." "Dixie was hurt enough for surgery?!" "MINOR surgery, Joe. So don't get your shorts in a knot. A brachial tear from glass. Easily repaired. Now shoo. Go be my leader. " "But.." "Dixie'll tell you about it all herself no doubt before I'm through with this call. And she'll probably yarn about Johnny here, a bit, too. " he said, tapping the biophone radio receiver and the run sheet he had scribbled the firefighter's name onto. "Oh, and did I tell you that the child he had with him is actually Megan Miller? I know you saw her this morning but I'll be seeing her now out in triage after you take over for me." Dr. Brackett wisely closed base station door on Early's scowling face as Roy's voice sounded in once more on hail, grinning like a banshee at the sight of his colleague absorbing the double whammy news shocks like a trooper. He took a deep breath to fortify himself and flipped the recorder back on. ##Go ahead, 51. I read you loud and clear.## Kel toggled, answering Roy's request for contact. "Rampart, we've extricated both victims. We're getting both on EKGs on simultaneous telemetry. The adult male's via the defib paddles and the girl's through the Tetronix. He's tachycardic and I don't know why. He's got a weird V-Tach with a pulse." ##10-4, .....uh.. 51,....I know the identity of your Code I. Given his past surgical history, I'm ordering you to draw a red top for a cross match for a prelim RBC count. Then start a 500 cc D5W I.V. on him but keep it TKO until we've determined the cause for his arrythmia. I'll be right out there in three minutes after you send me those strips.## "10-4. Transmitting both now on Lead Two.." ##Link established..## Kel confirmed. He was still studying the EKGs when Joe showed up and parked Kel's favorite jump bag into the wheel chair still partially blocking the way into the receiving alcove. Joe paused long enough to look at Megan's strip before he darted off to run the ER department in Kel's stead. Brackett abandoned his post and hurried past the security checkpoint and out into the cafeteria commons. He pushed the wheel chair full of gear along with him and also a spare O2 upright apparatus that he found unclaimed against a wall. It was still full with ample suctioning tubes and a cleverly added tracheotomy kit around its regulator. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy DeSoto didn't even reprimand Brice about where he placed Johnny and Megans' mutual stokes. They were lined up in the red row adjacent to where Bob Bellingham was lying in the yellow one. ::That's bending the rules a bit but if the situations were reversed, I'd be doing exactly the same thing by trying to get close. He's gotta know how his partner's doing.:: he admitted mentally. DeSoto lifted the paddles away from Johnny's ribcage, his strip reading send now complete. Brice had already assessed Megan and found her the more stable of their two patients. Now, Craig was sweeping down Gage from his head on downwards, pausing only long enough to get in a fast pupillary check. Roy decided to speed up finding out what was wrong with his partner by beginning palpation of his abdomen. His gloves were just about pelvis level when Craig shouted. "Freeze, DeSoto. That lump in his pocket may be a drug needle. His pupils are constricted and that with his odd tachycardia might spell atropine. He's smelling like anesthetic similar to a surgery store room." How Brice smelled that over all the acrid chemical smoke leaking off Gage's blue jeans, Roy couldn't even begin to guess at. He just chalked it off as another quirky Brice talent. "Johnny, self treated himself for sure?" Roy asked aloud. Roy checked carefully in the suspicious pocket and he blinked when he indeed, found a .3 mg syringe packet full of atropine. Its needle was lacking a cover. Brice had just saved him from a nasty, unpleasant injection and needle stick. "Yeah.. It's almost guaranteed. His blood pressure trend confirms it. Up there, we got not even orthostatic changes happening while we were securing him for lowering. B.P.'s still unmoving and rock solid at 92/58." he said, taking the stethoscope out of his ears. "That was very smart of Gage to use atropine. There was enough cyanide in that smoke up there to choke a horse. Our jacket indicators changed color right away." Roy didn't miss Brice's quick glance towards his partner lying so close and yet so far away in the next row of victims. He got up and knelt so that he was in between Megan and Gage's stokes. Then DeSoto said, "Go, Brice." "What?" Brice stammered, still adjusting the I.V. on Gage while his other hand stuffed it under his shoulder. "Go visit Bob. I won't tell. I'll just give you a heads up when I eyeball Brackett coming our way." DeSoto offered. "Thanks, DeSoto." Brice said uncomfortable about breaking a rule. But that didn't stop him from scooting over to Bob and donning a new pair of gloves so that he could do a once over on Bellingham himself under the eye of the paramedic attending Bellingham. Roy saw Brice take Bob's hand into his own as he spoke quietly to him, in tearful relief. Right then, Gage twisted his head out from under the demand valve being used on him by an Engine 8 man, and spat out his oral airway, groaning. Roy immediately bent down close to his face. "Johnny.. you're both safe on the ground. You gotta tell me. How much atropine did you use on yourself? Your rhythm's racing and we want to know why." "Megan fir--" Johnny croaked, getting testy with the firefighter hovering above him when he tried to replace the oxygen over his face. He swatted it away. "Megan first.." "She's stable and breathing. No airway problems. Talk to me about it now, Johnny.." Roy said no nonsense. "Ok, ok, ok.. Point Three. Once. Had to. *cough* I had a..*gasp* sh*tload of edema..." "I heard the rales. You got em on both sides." Gage moaned. "Oh nooo" he gushed in disgust. ".. that means aspirant pneumonia in my future for sure.. That means two weeks more time set for me in the hospital, Roy." he said in a high, complaining whine. "I know.. just let the man ventilate you some more. Morgan. Switch to an ambu and help him on the in's. 15 liters." he ordered. Then he smiled mischieviously as he moved over to recheck Megan's progress under her vents with a stethoscope. "Brice thinks your using that med saved your life, Johnny. Way to go, junior. " Johnny shifted his weight on the uncomfortable mesh of the stokes and tried to grin. The smile suddenly wiped from Roy's face. "Johnny, keep still, you're in un-specific V-tach. Brackett's on his way here now to personally check you out himself. It may be a chemical reaction from the smoke with your blood and your atropine shot because you've no splenic backup volume to counteract it." Gage eyeballed the defib paddles in between his feet and shuddered. ::V-tachs can be tricky. And I've never coded. That's in Roy's history. Not mine.:: Johnny forced his brain to think quieter, calmer thoughts. "Is a blood transfusion in the works for me, too?" he whispered. Roy's lips reclaimed his mirth. "No, probably just a course of sodium nitrate to burn the CN out of your system." "Wish Boot were here. He'd make me feel a whole lot better about all this." "He IS here. In the squad parked nearby." Roy gave a nod to the nervous worried rookie from Truck 226 still hanging around. He tossed him the squad keys. "Here, 226. Why don't you go let him out for my partner here." "Right.." said the curly kid eagerly. He took off so fast to do the task that his mask detached from the air bottle and thunked into the dust. Boot scrambled over, retrieved the mask for the rookie, passed it off, and then promptly returned to Johnny's stokes, laying his weary head on his bare stomach with a wavering sigh of relief. "Ok, Roy, quit biting your lip. I'm shutting up right now." Johnny sighed. "Pump away, Morgan. " he said when he saw that the Station Eight firefighter had finished setting up the new oxygen equipment for him. "I'm all yours.." and he submitted to his assisted lung expansion treatment under the bag valve mask with loosely closed his eyes. DeSoto saw Gage relax into a post atropine stupor. "That's right, sleep and you'll wake up on a nice comfortable bed later tonight. I promise." A snore peeled out from under the ventilation mask. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Turning heads alerted Roy to Brackett's vectoring approach. He whistled loudly so that Craig would hear him. Brice slunk back like a combat soldier under fire to rise up at Megan's side in an immediate act of never having left as Kel wheeled his gear and chair next to them. "Status?" he barked at Roy and Brice. Both rattled off sets of vitals and treatment times and the new finding of atropine use prior to rescuing, in Johnny. "Hmm, I'll have to have a talk with him about that later.." Kel said, resetting the paddles on Johnny's blood flaked chest to see how his heart was doing. "Working for now. But we're not moving him until most of these PVC's go away." Roy volunteered information. "He's got receding rales on both sides, doc." he emphasized pointedly. "Those rales used to be loud ones. You know with that level of edema, untreated, he would've been a dead man half an hour ago.." he said brandishing the second unused atropine packet that he had pulled out of Johnny's jeans pocket. "Maybe I won't be talking to him later about that." Brackett suddenly amended, pulling back Johnny's eye lids to see the extent of his smoke inhalation sleepies under a penlight. Roy nodded with satisfaction. Brackett and Roy both turned their attentions to the little girl. Kel nodded to the fireman ventilating her on the demand valve and set his wheeling O2 apparatus next to him. "Switch to an ambu, like Gage's. It'll be easier on her alveoli if they've been burned by the smoke. Here's a peds BVM and mask. Is she still pulling easily?" he asked the man at her head. "Yeah, doc. She hasn't been sick. I'm not smelling anything. Her voluntary rate's about 30 and only a touch shallow. I've been bumping her up to 36, while keeping everything I do light." "Good. That'll drive out the cyanide a little faster and clear that fluid from her bronchial passages. Most of that is probably from the I.V. Johnny wasn't able to turn back down again before he passed out on that wall up there." Roy nodded and absently lifted a sweat loosened EKG pad on Megan's side long enough to dry her skin with her cut away patient gown before replacing it back down more firmly. "I checked for infiltration on that I.V. site, doc. There's none." "Well, seems even half dead, our Johnny's a star paramedic. His rappelling didn't even jostle Megan's I.V. out of that vein?" he asked again while he tried to awaken Megan with a sternal rub. Roy laughed. "Not at all." Brackett afforded the sleeping Johnny a grudging look of respect that he would never have given Gage while he was awake, just for Roy and Brice's benefit. "Roy, get that head wrap off Megan. I wanna see how responsive her pupillary reaction is on that oxygen." Megan's face slowly scrunched up into pain after Dr. Brackett gave her the epinephrine Roy handed him that he had prepared on his earlier orders. He tried another rub on her breast bone and got an arm jerk. He deftly pulled out Megan's airway and the Engine Eight man got a working suction tube ready in case Brackett needed it .The fireman set his BVM in between his knees for a moment when the girl started talking softly. "...Mr. Gage?"... Megan coughed. "Easy, hon. He's ok. And so are you..." Brackett soothed. Boot noticed the change in the child and immediately padded over to lick her face in encouragement. Megan's sooty face broke out into a terrific smile. "Who's this?" she wondered. "That's Boot. " Brice offered. "Mr. Gage's firehouse's mascot. He's the one who made sure we got there to rescue you two off the fourth floor." "Good boy..." she said, reaching up shakily to pet his coat. "Good boy.." she coughed again, liquidly and that made Kel order the girl's assisting O2 to be continued. Right then, the station 51 gang jogged up to sneak in a visit on their coworker like Brice had done with his partner, the Animal. Megan's face burst into a wide smile at the sight of Chet Kelly. "Oh, you're Johnny's friend! Hi! *gasp* Don't worry. He's ok.. I took care of him real good. I gave him the shot and he got better fast." "You did what, hon?" Kel Brackett blinked. Megan's face fell away in sudden worry. "That was ok, wasn't it? He was making funny noises and his lips were turning purple. I just had to do what Mr. Gage asked me to do." Dr. Brackett, Brice and Roy's faces all beamed. But Chet was the one who spoke. "So,.. we've a real hero in our midst." and he crouched down beside the little girl. He uptook one of her damp hands after shoving his helmet a little higher onto his head to loosen its chin strap enough to take it off in tribute to the child. "Anyone who saves my friend is definitely a friend of mine. Nice to meet you little lady.." "I've jokes to tell you, mister. Mr. Gage said to memorize them for you." "Jokes? I collect jokes. All kinds. But I think we oughta do that later until after you're all better. Ok?" Kelly suggested. "These folks here look kind of busy right now." "Sure, mister." and Megan closed her eyes. "We can color later, too, with green pens cause they're Johnny's favorite." she added before drifting off again under the oxygen mask. "Geesh," Marco remarked. "Gage is sure good with all the chicks. Even the little ones." he chuckled. "She's absolutely tickled with Johnny. A real friend for life.." The gang chuckled. Cap gestured and said. "Ok, break time's over. Move it out. We've got a water curtain team to exchange with. Roy, you and Brice can stay put. The prelim search's over scene wide and our smoke control is working well enough just as we are for right now." "Find anyone from the airplane alive?" Hank's face softened in sadness. "Fraid not. But there's good news. Only seven on the ground were killed. And then just these few dozen in here who got hurt." "Thanks for the update, Cap..." Hank started to herd his men away but Roy stopped him.."Uh,, how's Battalion 14 handling the Station Ten thing?" "He's not, emotionally. But the chiefs decided right away that his hands were too full at the time to realize that unit's missing status as a possible casualty. Nothing official will be reprimanding him, except for perhaps, his own conscience. Besides, no harm's done. No one except Bellingham was anywhere near that truck when the jet crashed. And HIS lumps, Stoker tells me, are from a looting mugger." And he turned to leave. Marco took charge of their mascot as they left. "Come, Boot. Good boy. Thanks for finding Johnny and that little girl for us. Come, on.. quit dragging your feet. They're all right. Are ya hungry? Thought so. Let's go get some chow and a long drink." Lopez didn't even have to tug on Boot's collar to get him to follow him. Before Station 51's gang was out of sight, Dr. Brackett had Johnny's heart rhythm stabilized from the assortment of drugs in his bag. Megan and Gage were moved inside by Station Eight's crew while Roy, Brice and Dr. Brackett remained outside to treat those still awaiting care in the cafeteria. Slowly, the rising column of acrid smoke and flames from the impact crater in the parking lot lessened enough to stop threatening them all and those watching from inside the broken windows of Rampart. The sun was almost set when Station 51 was cleared of the disaster area for some well deserved rest and recuperation. They, as one of the original responders, weren't assigned to body recovery detail at any time that night, much to Chet Kelly's relief. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Soon, it was four days later, and the stationhouse was pretty much back into its regular routine of responses. Operations at the crash site and in that neighborhood continued without their having to become involved in them any further. Then,..a commotion came from the vehicle bay.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : A triage scene with ambulances and firetrucks. Photo : Roy in an air bottle leaning over. Photo: A triage tag. *************************************************************** From : patti keiper Sent : Friday, March 26, 2004 8:49 AM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Above and Beyond.. ....that got all the gang's attention. It was Johnny's voice, accented by a lighter, happy treble one. Chet bounced to his feet, abandoning his burger and he said, "Come on, you guys! I've waited days to meet Megan Miller officially, so let's get the lead out.." Kelly scurried out of the kitchen so fast that his shoes screeched on the floor, leaving behind long, trailing black skid marks. Marco hissed through his teeth. "Aww, Chet! Look at what you're doing to my floor! Cap,.. make him clean it up.." "I will, I will, pal." he gestured with two hands diplomatically. "Just, let's go greet our little guest and find out why Gage's not still flat on his back at Rampart." Lopez moped verbally but plodded after his calm, contented captain dutifully. Brice matched Hank in cool as he, too ambled into the garage. Megan was with Johnny Gage over by the side door, and with her was a white shaggy mop of a dog whom Boot immediately started barking suspiciously at from the kitchen doorway. The white dog howled once that made Boot twist his head in puzzlement until the newcomer sank his chest onto the concrete in an invitation to play. Boot was won over and in a flash, the two canines were scrabbling happily, playing tag under the vehicles, in a chase, all the while leaving chicken scratch black marks all over Marco's nice and shiny, washed concrete. "Cappp!" Lopez groaned in long suffering. Hank's charming smile for the little girl fell into one of irritation. "Lopez, just what am I supposed to do here? Lasso them with a rappelling line?" "It's a start.." Marco said, flailing his arms, trying to round up the happy dogs as best he could. "Come on, guys. Help me out here. They'll shred my wax job!" He was ignored. Craig Brice squatted down in front of Megan and offered her a handshake. "Hello, Miss Miller. Are you well?" he said over Marco's howls and the dogs loud gleeful barking. "Oh, yes sir. Daddy came and got me out of the hospital yesterday and Mr. Gage was released on his own.. recom,.. recop.." she broke off, looking to Johnny for some grammar aid. "That's reconnaissance, half pint." "No kidding.." Cap said, his eyes asking volumes. Roy crossed his elbows, smiling just the same, but not understanding Gage's glib comment either. All he knew what that Johnny was still suffering pneumonia and hiding it badly. Johnny saw their questioning looks and elaborated. "Oh, it's gonna be the latest thing Dixie says. Home healing. You see, Dr. Morton asked for some volunteers for patients to go home a little early to recover. You only gotta do a phone check once a day to a doctor so he can see,..er. hear how you're doing. Heh. Anyways, Dix says that I'll just get better faster because I'm in more familiar surroundings.." Craig's eyebrows rose. "In that bachelor heap of yours?" "Brice..." Johnny hissed warningly with a smile to hide his insulted reaction. "It's a new program starting up in the hospital.." "You're a liar, Mr. Gage." Megan said evenly from where she was sitting on the engine bumper and telling Chet all her jokes. "We were kicked out. For being noisy." The gang laughed. "Thanks, Megs. " he said sarcastically, like only one friend could say to another. "But I was kinda trying to..." "..not tell the truth. I know. But that's sooooo wrong." she said sweetly. "Yes,.. uh, ..yeah. I guess it is.." he stammered. Chet suddenly let out a peel of mirth. Slowly, he circled Gage like a sargeant conducting an inspection, eyeing up the changes he was seeing in Johnny's manner. "Man, she's really got you, Gage, you know that? Are you jumping through hoops to try to become a decent human being for the first time in your life?" "No.. I was just... just.." Johnny blushed. "Keeping your friend happy, I know. I saw it. All of us did." he said as he cracked a toothly smile. "Right guys?" Murmurs of agreement bubbled around the bay like a brook over pebbles. Chet's eyes fell lower, eyeing up something new in Johnny's plaid shirt's pocket. "And what's this, might I ask?" And quickly, he snatched up a green pen that was only one of several sticking out of it. Roy said, "Hey, that's the pen that Boot found at Rampart. I can tell by the tooth marks." Cap and Marco and Stoker and Kelly were clueless, so Brice filled them in. "Johnny threw that down from where he and Megan were trapped the day of the crash so Boot would go get help." Megan piped up from a three way tug of war she was in with the two dogs, and a rope scrap. "Yeah,.. I'm slowly teaching Muffin here how to do the same thing. " "Muffin?" Chet eye's goggled at the large white sheepdog bullpenning around the garage. Megan didn't hear him, but continued her conversation. "Those pens are Mr. Gage's lucky rabbit's feet now. He promised me that he would keep them with him for always so he wouldn't ever forget me." Johnny's face blushed even redder. Kelly dove in like a shark. "Aww, how sweet of you, Gage. Didn't know you had it in you." "Yeah, charming." Cap grinned warmly. Brice nodded a tiny bit, still all professional. Roy and Marco just rubbed their lips thoughtfully, saying nothing. Gage cleared his throat under the uncomfortable scrutiny. "Listen, Cap.. I got your phone call.. you know, about..." and he jerked his head over his back a couple of times in a particular direction. "What's the matter, Gage? Sudden palsy?" Chet quipped. "Hey, Roy. I think you'd better check him out. He might be having a relapse of lung poisoning." The gang rippled in giggles. "Very funny, Chet. Now, Cap.." Gage insisted more urgently, adding fingers to his jerking head. "Remember?" Slowly, Hank realized that Johnny meant Megan. It dawned. "Oh, oh oh..." he said, "That's right. My phone call. " and he cleared his throat knowingly. "I'll be right back." he said, smiling amicably, and he hurried off to his office for a moment. "Great, Cap.. just...uh, great.." Gage mumbled. "What's that all about, Gage?" Marco asked. "Shhh.. or she'll catch on.." Megan heard Johnny and just winked at the other guys when Gage wasn't looking. "You know, Johnny. I think she's already caught on. Megan's sure is one bright cookie." Chet guessed. "I learned that the other day." Roy just went into another direction to fetch a certain box from the mop closet that they touched only seldom and he set it down at their feet. "Hey, that's.." Marco interjected. "Shhh." Gage silenced him with a hand over his mouth. Captain Stanley returned, wearing his captain's hat and gestured for everyone else to don their dress hats in kind and to form a line standing at attention. In his hands was a blue velvet hinged box with gold embossing. "Would you join us for a moment, Miss Miller?" he asked the child after they all retrieved their proper sized hats from the box on the ground. Megan looked up from her game. "Oh,.. certainly.." she said, tossing the ropy shred away from her so the dogs chased after it, instead of her. "What's going on?" "Do you see this, young lady?" Hank said grandly and opened the box. "This is a gold cluster, the fireman's medal of valor. It's the highest honor that we can bestow on anyone showing courage above and beyond the call of duty. And the Los Angeles County Fire Department would like you to have it." Megan's breath sucked in and her eyes teared up. "For me?" "For you." Hank said softly. "You saved the life of my paramedic the other day, remember doing that?" "Just because I gave Mr. Gage that yucky shot?" "Yeah, it was a yucky shot." Gage said. "Hurt like hel-- uh heck.. But I'm grateful.. Truly I am. And..this." he pointed to the medal and box in Megan's hand. "Is the only way I can show it good enough to you that's still allowable by the fire department." "Oh, Mr. Gage..." Megan sobbed. "I don't know what to say.." she said, fighting back tears. "I've never won anything so valuable in my life before." "That wasn't won, little miss." said Brice, "That was earned... Congratulations.." and he bent low to shake the little girl's hand. One by one, all the gang took and shook her palm, too, sweeping off their hats in respect as she made her way down the line. "Oh,.. just wait until I show Daddy!" and she rushed off to the back lot yard where the little girl's father was waiting for her in an idling Grand Torino. Muffin took off after his mistress in a cloud of white fur. "Megan, wait!" Gage called out after her. "Don't you want to stay for some cookies and milk?" he asked shouting. The girl was oblivious. "Megan?!" Immediately, Johnny bent over into a spasm of left over chest coughing that didn't ease until the gang helped him into the kitchen with Stoker and Marco helping arm sling support him into Cap's black leather recliner. Marco hastily handed him a glass of water. "Here, Gage. This might help." "Oh, thanks, Marco.." and Gage drank it down in one gulp. Brice asked Roy. "DeSoto. Should I go grab a BP cuff or a stethoscope so we can listen to his chest? That sounds like deterioration." "I can get oxygen.." Stoker volunteered. "Yeah, you go do that.." Cap insisted. "And grab the biophone, too." Roy shook his head and dismissed the question with a short flurry of fingers. "Guys, guys.. He's fine.." "He is?" Marco asked in amazement. "He still sounds like death warmed over to me. And them." Chet wasn't buying Johnny's sick act in the least being firmly in Roy's camp, too. "Come, on. Johnny. Quit faking it. I don't think Megan's coming back so you can give up this broken wing act. I think, for her, it's a case of baubles over buddies, pally." "Who's faking it? I'm a sick man here. Come on, Chet. As-pir-ant pneu-mon-ia. I know you can say it out loud and I know you know what it is. It sucks, big time." and he pitched over in another paroxym of huge wet coughing that made even Roy begin to doubt his first assessment, as Johnny's face began to redden up. Brice's frown began deepening, too. ....until Johnny suddenly got better and straightened up with a mischievious grin. "Got at least some of you that time. Thanks for the chair, Cap. It's real comfortable.." he said, folding relaxed arms up and lacing fingers behind his wavy haired head. "Now I really feel like I'm back home again." He barely ducked in time to avoid the sheer rain of kitchen towels and newspapers that came flying into his face. FIN ------------------------------------------------------- Photo : Megan with a white sheep dog in her arms. Photo : Marco mopping. Photo: Brice looking analytical. Photo: Stoker Johnny and Roy with a green pen. Photo: A gold fire departmental medal of valor. Photo: Boot lying down in the garage. ***************************************************** :( This episode is dedicated to 144 souls who perished :( on September 25th, 1978 when PSA Flight 182 collided with a Cessna airplane. They fell out of the sky into a residential San Diego neighborhood. This was a real life event which took place six months to the day after Emergency!© aired its airliner disaster movie entitled :( Survival on Charter 220, depicting the same scenario. :( @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season Two, Episode Ten.. From Loaves To Fishes ****************************************************** Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2004 18:56:43 -0700 (PDT) From: "Jeff Seltun" Subject: Needle In A Haystack.. Chet Kelly took a firm bite into his donut and ambled into the predawn of the station's backyard. He was still sleepy and rubbed the crusty stones out of his eyes.. Then he rubbed them again. A strange pickup truck was parked in the usual spot where Gage's land rover was usually angled in and Johnny was perched in the load bed, holding... "...A pitchfork?.." Chet gaped, then he began to chuckle, waking up more fully. "Hey guys, come out here and get a load of this.. I swear, you aren't gonna believe this one bit." Johnny just paused in his assigned chore, knee deep in sweet smelling straw, spreading the bed evenly throughout the back of the truck..."..wonderful..." he mumbled sarcastically. "There goes Kelly, always sticking his nose in things. Maybe I should've waited on doing this until later." Kelly was soon joined by coffee wielding firemen fresh out of bed. Henry's snores, could just be heard through the open screened kitchen window. Chet turned around at a scuffle of gravel and glanced back towards the shadowy silhouette of the station. Stoker was running fingers through sleep matted hair and Cap was already foaming his jawline with a cream brush for a straight razored shave, a neatly folded white towel slung over a shoulder. Marco was just plain yawning and Roy was not far behind Lopez, buttoning into a fresh uniform top. "Kelly?" Hank asked. "What's the problem? Did you check the meter yet like I asked you to?" "No, Cap. Check this out first. Just take a good look around, ok? What do ya see?" Chet said expansively, gesturing about the yard with broad spread arms. "Ahhhhh.." Cap said scratching his head. "The rush hour on the freeway? Sounds like it's backed up over an hour longer than normal this morning. Odd. It's not even the weekend. Maybe a crash just occurred. We'll know about it in a few minutes if that's the case." "No, no no.. nothing so obvious, Cap. Now just open your eyes bigger for just a second. Look what one of your paramedics is doing right over there.." Kelly sputtered in frustration. Cap's eye fell on Roy, who was immediately to his left. "..Ok.. uhh, That one of the new uniform shirts, Roy?" Kelly turned purple. "No.. Gawd. Aww come on, do I have to spell it out for you fellas? Cap, you usually aren't this slow. Don't tell me that you're tired." Chet bemoaned. "Chet, at this time of the morning. Yes, I am. You know I haven't gotten a hold of Marco's coffee pot yet. Not until I get myself at least halfway presentable for day shift do I fire off enough brain cells to matter." Marco said, "Yeah, that's right, Chet. He doesn't." "Stubble and java just don't go well together, Chet. And neither will you and a mop if you don't start cutting the chaff! It's cold out here.." Captain Stanley grumbled rubbing the goose bumps erupting out on his bare T shirt exposed arms. Chet was cowed, but only on his face. His voice was still thoroughly annoyed at his crewmates' lack of observational skills. "It's Gage, man. He's up to something fishy, I know it." Hank spun his gaze around, squinting into the darkness towards Johnny, who was still pitchforking apart a bale of straw inside the rental truck. "No, I'd say he's doing only what I asked him to do.." And with that, Cap and the rest of the gang retreated once more back into the oven warmed kitchen, leaving Kelly behind with his mouth hanging open. "Better close that real soon or you'll start drawing flies in.." Johnny quipped, cracking a crooked smile while he worked. Dusting his hands off, Gage gave a satisfied grunt and leaped down out of the truck's bed to the ground. Only then, did Chet see that Gage wasn't in his paramedic's uniform. Johnny ambled slowly towards Chet, swaggering, with his fingers hooked through his jeans belt loops. "So, are you going to ask ME anything here, Chet? You already failed at getting it out of them. It would've been easier doing that instead of harrassing the guys about it in the first place." Chet made a face and rubbed his nose. "Would you have answered me?" Johnny's face fell into serious lines.. Then his lip curled up wickedly in a grin and he headed for the kitchen door. "Nope. Just go ahead and ask now. Won't hurt you any to give in a little to get what you wanna know." Chet paced a full meter behind Johnny for long seconds. Then he almost whispered.. "You working today?" "Nope." came Gage's quick reply. Chet set his hands on his hips.. "Well you answered THAT question just fine. " "That's the only question you've PUT to me so far, Chet. I'm not a mystic, you know." Kelly groaned and rolled his eyes painfully, accepting his current oneupmanship lump with a decent sized shred of grace. Luckily, the lack of sunlight prevented Johnny from seeing the meager defeat writing across Kelly's features. "I'm gonna go shower. Remember, I'll kill ya if you grab that last chocolate donut from the green plate." "No ya won't,.. because you're a paramedic.." "OK, I'll kill ya first, ..THEN... I'll bring ya back.... Slowly..." Chet wasn't too reassured by that subtle change of detail. He decided to keep on a low profile to learn what he needed to learn about the new day's mystery playing out where he couldn't reach it. Kelly slunk back inside into a chair next to Henry and tickled their rotund mascot awake. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hank was completely shaven and he had a stack of papers in front of him, twenty minutes later. "Listen up folks. What you've all been waiting for.. Details on this year's Fireman's Picnic Event.." "Say, Cap." Marco inflected. "Isn't that this weekend?" "It is.." "Where's it gonna be this year?" Roy asked, wiping crumbs off his shirt. "At Bailey's Park in Anaheim." "That's the new amusement park off the 405, isn't it?" Stoker asked. "Yep. And the Fireman's Board has already gotten a hold of two dozen tickets for us and our families as well as enough for our YMCA sponsors, too. Food's already planned, and so's one minor detail. Gage is kindly providing us with a pony from home." Chet looked up eagerly from the newspaper he was pretending to read. ::Pony? So that's what all that straw is for..:: "Not a pony, Cap, uh,, sir. A Falabella." Johnny corrected scholarly and full of meek respect. Lopez reached over and patted Johnny on the back as he sat down. " Yeah, Good going. I couldn't remember that term to tell the rest of the guys. Gracias, Gage. Luis is going to simply love you. He says it's his final Make A Wish request to ride a horse." Kelly's forehead furrowed more deeply as he listened in. ::Gage is still not dressed in his uniform. The Picnic isn't until this weekend... so why isn't he scheduled a shift today?.:: Right then, Johnny spoke around his long ago targetted donut, chewing loudly. "I'm gonna go out to the ranch and pick up Cochise right after breakfast. I'm sure Henry won't mind him taking over his pad for a few days." Chet just about choked on his toast, eliciting a few curious glances of inquiry from Cap and Stoker. :: How the h*ll can a horse fit in a medium sized doghouse?:: "I'm fine. I'm fine.. Henry just bumped me, stretching. I coughed it all out. " and he covered his surprise and puzzlement with a stocks section again before anyone else noticed him in closer scrutiny. "Don't forget his grain, Gage. I've already cleared it with the chief and the city to keep your Falabella on property for the two days we'll have him until then." Hank reminded Johnny. "Provided all shifts keep up with all his uh,... bodily functions." "No problem, Cap. Cochise's a stallion but he's really a pussycat, in all ways that matter, including that one. And he does know how to use a litter box." he said mysteriously. Chet's frowning expression only deepened behind the sports page. "Say, Cap. On second thought, I can have my foreman deliver Cochise for me. It's not too late to send Dwyer back to his station. They've extra crew with that rookie paramedic training this month." Hank looked up from where he was scrubbing Henry's ears affectionately. "You sure? You usually detest overtime." "Not this week. I've a spring hayfield planting to pay for." Johnny groaned. "Ok, go get changed, I'll log it into the books later this afternoon." Dwyer came in from the showers a few minutes later and he saw Johnny with his uniform shirt on, unbuttoned and shoes not yet tied. "Hey. Hey..." he celebrated. "Cap, does this mean I get to go to my son's little league practice after all?" "Sure does. Do you mind?" "Nope. I don't. Any extra time with Andy's a treat. He's growing up so fast, you know?" Cap nodded. "Have fun Dwyer, thanks." Right then, the tones went off.. Long ones. Dwyer said, "I'll do the dishes..." And he jumped to his feet. "I'll feed Henry, too, before I leave while I'm at it." "Good man.." Cap said, trucking out of the door after his men. ##Station 51, Station 36, Brush Truck 114, Engine 110. Fuel truck overturned on the overpass. 1/2 mile south of Turner's Peak. Mile marker 226. 1/2 mile south of Turner's Peak. Mile marker 226. Timeout, 07:14.## Fifteen minutes later, they all could see just what they were heading into.. -------------------------------------------- Photo : Johnny and Roy in street clothes. Photo: Chet looking bugged. Photo: A highway fire with rescue vehicles en route. ******************************************************** From : patti keiper Sent : Friday, April 16, 2004 1:11 AM Subject : Quick Silver.. Captain Stanley saw that he was the first of high-ish rank on scene. He quickly sized up the accident while Mike Stoker took the engine in a wide C around the fire and the dangerous spreading ignited fuel streams spidering from the crash. He could just see the truck, a heavy barrelled tanker, on its flank, jammed against the mountain. It must have just passed underneath on the road, before it lost control. No other cars were evident. Hank thumbed the radio mic, "L.A., Station 51. We're at mile marker 226 at the foothill exit of an interstate bridge by Turner's Pass. We have a lone 7,000 gallon fuel tanker on its side with a fully involved, working fire. We'll need two additional pumper units with brush capability in a second alarm assignment. Tanker cargo is spilling burning unleaded gasoline into the river canyon. I'm reconfirming that air fire support is positively required. Curtail your ladder response, we're in the open against a mountain side." ##10-4, 51. Notifying second alarm with air support. Brush stations 19 and 26, are responding. Helicopters Nine and Twelve are now in route. Air ETA, 15 minutes. All second in ground, in 10. Engine 51, your incident time is 0 plus two. Time : 07:36. ## "Noted.." and Stanley tossed his microphone down onto the engine's seat as Mike found a safe staging area 800 feet away from the flaming maelstrom that was once a metallic silver fuel truck. He plowed out of his seat and ordered everyone into SCBA tanks and gear. "Nobody goes in there without foam first. Gang? Be prepared to abandon at any peep of a code red tone over your HTs, we don't know if the main payload's gone up yet or not." "Cap? Any sign of the driver?" Roy asked donning his faceplate and connecting his inhalation tube to the connector over his mouth. He flipped up his collar when he felt the intense heat of the fire blazing, even from their safe distance. "No.. Don't think he made it out. There's a spot in the cab burning yellower than the rest of it.." Hank replied. "Oh, I smell it now. Think you're right, Cap.." Johnny said grimly. "Looks like zone protection duty for us, Roy. Then rehab backup later after the others get here." he predicted. "I'll delegate rehabilitation setup to 36's. They've been on duty longer than we have. We're less tired." "That's the plan." Hank nodded, then he lifted his head when he caught sight of Brush Truck 114 and Engine 110 closely followed by Station 36, all of them roaring towards them. They were barely visible in the thick rolling, black smoke. Cap cast his eyes around long enough to spot a thin white and red striped pole sticking out of the chaparral off the roadway. "Only one hydrant?" Stoker affirmed. "So far. It'll take a few minutes to locate the rest. Looks like the Highway Department's behind on brush control again this year." Cap sighed. "Kelly, get and install an eductor. Engine 36 will be your booster tank water." Chet nodded. "I'll get out the bins." "Until 110 lays foam and is set for us, Stoker, a single line lay. Lopez, pull Stoker's inch and 3/4's WITH a Gate Valve.. Don't know where the other hydrants are in all this brush and no way in h*ll do we want to tie up 110 one iota." "Right, Cap.." Marco said, hopping into action, with a hydrant wrench clanging against his air bottle. "We're not attacking this?" Johnny asked Hank. "We were first in. I'm Incident Commander until one of the chiefs gets here. Somebody has to direct everybody who's incoming " Stanley said ruefully. "In the meantime, you and Roy, go on a Primary Survey. Case the area on a buddy line. Get no farther than fifty feet from any working hose at all times. We gotta find all the hotspots ..." Johnny started eagerly away but felt Cap's grip on his arm that halted him solidly. ".....and keep your ever loving skins intact, Kapeesh? That goes double for you, Gage. I'm still remembering last month's medical leave figures." "I hear ya.. I hear ya.." Johnny grinned lopsidedly through his air mask. "I got Pally here to drag me out if I do something stupid." he gestured. "Besides, this isn't a building with a saggy roof. It's on concrete. What kind of trouble can we get into on that?" Roy just rolled his eyes. "Grabbing irons.. A lot of the wreck looks like it's off the road." Cap gave both his paramedics a gloved thumbs up, but then turned back to reporting details to the fire watch at L.A. Headquarters. "L.A., Engine 51. Send in a Code K. At least one Code F's at our location in the truck." ##10-4, Engine 51. Investigations has been notified.## "10-4, Standing by." "Stoker get a wyed line to 110 through Chet. They're ready." On cue, 110's engineer and pumper man grabbed Stoker's supply line and laid it into a triple wide, fuel spill specific foam unit. Slowly, the machine hummed to life, flooding the road with its cooling repellent which washed over the boiling flames. "Watch it! Watch it!" shouted 110's captain. A tongue of ignited flowing fuel was coursing along the curb edge of the roadway on the outside turn, narrowly catching the boots of the advancing foam team. The men hastily danced out of the way and smothered the phalange with foam liberally. Cap waved in Marco and Chet on an attack line off 36's engine to start washing the fuel byproduct away a few steps behind the foam crew. Kelly groaned. "Geez, that was close. And we're 900 feet away from the truck. Just how much fuel's outside of the tank? I'm surprised that creeper got out this far." Cap overheard Kelly's complaining shout to Lopez. "Most of it, hopefully. " he grinned through his faceplate. "Roy and Johnny are in there, checking it out." Chet and Lopez turned their eyes to the column of midnight black soot looming eerily into the daylit sky. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Roy got as near to the truck as he dared. ::Not much of the cab left.:: and he jogged along one side of the tanker while Gage checked the other for leakage from the mother valve in the undercarriage of the fuel tank. It was intact. ::Great. A slow leak.:: He lifted his HT to his mouth. "Johnny? How does your side look? I've got a trickling main valve, but that's all.." Gage raised an arm over his head as a flame flare shot out from the passenger side of the cab as a gust of wind swept through it while it burned. ##I can't tell. I can't see anything. All I know is that there's more fuel here than what's accounted for.## "Let's get back together on the tail end. I'm getting a little nervous." DeSoto admitted into his talkie. ##You and me both.## But their plan never happened. The mountain got in the way. A raw face of rock and blistering fire rose up out of the smoke before both firefighters. ##Roy?## "Yeah.." ##You seeing rock?## "Yep. What I can see of it through all the smoke." ##Then why is it so windy over here?## Right then, the column of smoke twisted away revealing a yawning mouth of blackness in the shape of a square, 20 feet high and the width of the road. In the dimness, Gage could just make out a hotspot. And it was heating the unmistakable shape of a chassis. ##Roy hoof it back and follow my route! There's a TUNNEL my side and at least one burning car located about two hundred feet inside of it. ## Roy switched over to the command frequency. "Squad 51, to Engine 51." ##Battalion 14 for Engine 51.## ::Ah, change of personnel. Cap will be relieved to be able to fight this fire instead of directing it.:: "Chief.. we've found more vehicular involvement. Gage and I have just located a tunnel that appears to go through the mountain. Wasn't clear before because the truck and fire were blocking sight of it." ##Survivors?## "Still too soon to tell." Hank Stanley joined in on a side band. ##Get to safe ground and wait for hose support. Air currents in tunnels are too tricky to mess with. Fire could backdraft a lot farther than you'd expect if a gas tank or something else hidden, goes up.## ##Keep me informed, Squad 51. Go in with the recovery team once your safety is secured.## "10-4, Battalion. " Roy acknowledged. Soon, DeSoto had made it over to where he could see Gage climbing up over the mouth of the rocky tunnel and onto a ledge just above it that was clear of fumes and flame. He pulled off his mask after feeling the coolness of safe air against his neck. "What do you think? See anything?" he asked his sweaty partner, who was equally pleased to pull off his SCBA. "At least one car... " he said rubbing grit from his mouth and cheeks." Roy, it's a raging inferno only partway down, that completely fills the tunnel. I doubt if anyone is alive in there. There can't be air to breathe." "Must be something if that fire is burning." Gage squatted down, watching a hasty hose and foam team advance towards them from the staging area and the engines that were preconnected to each other from Stoker's hillside hydrant. On a thought, he raised the antennae on his handytalkie and hailed out. "Squad 51 to Battalion 14." ##Battalion 14... Go ahead.## "Chief.. Do you know how long this particular tunnel is? We're seeing active fire and are wondering about the chance of casualties being on the other side of it." ##Still in the process of I.D.ing the exact specs. The sign bolted to the rock beneath you has been charred beyond recognition.## Surprised, Johnny looked down the shallow cliff over his feet. A wall of heat punished him for looking and he coughed, hastily sucking in a restoring breath from his mask as he fell onto his butt to get away from it. Roy sighed, "You ok? That wasn't very smart, Junior. Heat rises.." "I know that. I know that.." Johnny coughed defensively. "I was just.... I don't know..checking it out.. Like what we were ordered to do.." he said, wiping streaming tears from his face. "Didn't include checking out the sign ..." Johnny didn't dignify his partner with a reply but instead thumbed his radio. "10-4, Battalion 14. Standing by for details. So far, we've got clean smoke. Ok, for teams to proceed." Roy chuckled, parking his butt on a butte right next to Gage. "Gage, the mine hole canary. Say, you could ask Cap for more hazard pay. I think you've just invented a new job duty.." "Oh would you just shut up." Johnny growled. Slowly his coughs subsided as the air from his mask got rid of the fumes he had inhaled. Then the mountain started rumbling.. "Uh oh.. I don't think I like the sound of that.." Johnny peeped. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Burning fuel coursing down a rural road. Photo: Cap and Johnny in brush on talkies. Photo: Engines working in heavy smoke. Photo: Roy and Johnny inside fire in SCBA. Photo: A fire deep inside a tunnel and an involved truck. Photo: Burning yellow orange tongue of fire. ****************************************************************** From : Roxy Dee Sent : Tuesday, May 18, 2004 2:25 AM Subject : Heart of the Beast Their walkie talkies sprang to life in a treble tone all call of an electronic heads up, piercing and sharp. Static spat only half of Captain Stanley's urgent shout over the din of the flames and the hillside's new, sudden deep belching. ## Rockslide! Abandon location! Gage?! DeSoto?! ## Roy didn't mince words. "Move! Johnny, move!" "Where? The d*mned truck fire's flaring over the ledge outta here." Gage angrily said. Fear tinged more of his face than his voice. Johnny slipped as the two firefighters whirled around for an escape route. He hastily righted his balance using Roy's bigger frame by grabbing a quick hold of his shoulders. "Jump straight out!" Roy yelled, ducking as the first wildly bouncing boulders sliced through the brush surrounding them. A pine tree near them severed as a rock the size of a car shredded it into an explosion of dirt , twisted limbs and flying wood splinters. "The tunnel? You must be crazy." Johnny said. But his feet and hands flew in that direction over the trembling ground as his slender body skidded over mesquite and outcroppings. "You'd rather be flattened than burned to death? Johnny, I'm surprised at you.." Roy huffed. Before Gage could think of another rejoinder, the ground before them ran out. Johnny froze, but Roy gave him a firm push fowards into the small of his back. With twin shouts, both men fell over the lip of rock over the tunnel's keystone and down past the licking flames near its roof. They fell heavily onto their air bottles in a graceless back flop onto the highway eight feet below. Missiles of stone smacked onto the pavement in a thick rain, noisily annihilating themselves against the burning road around the fallen firemen. Roy lifted his HT even as Johnny dragged them both through the dust into the very dubious shelter beyond. His free hand grabbed their helmets which had been jolted from their heads when they fell. "Cap! We're going in!" Then the rockslide's quicksilver bulk cut off the outside and daylight as its bite sealed DeSoto and Gage inside the violently burning tunnel. Gage and Roy dropped to their bellies as the new interior fire reached out to grab them. Johnny's stunned gasps whistled under his mask as he fought to regain breath and bearing. "Roy? You ok?" "Yeah.." came a reply, just as shaky and strained. "Did you crack anything? Your regulator? The main valve? Your mask's steaming up already." Gage said as both men clung glove to glove as they maintained contact in the murky superheated black. "My air's still good. Yours?" "It's fine. It's ok.." Gage panted. Both men stayed still until their eyes got used to the saturine fireglow coming from the flaming ceiling. Moments later, a furnace blast of heat boiled against them from the heart of the multi-automobile fire they could both see a hundred twenty meters away. Outside atmosphere was no longer the cooling protection it had been before the mountain caved in. "Ahh!" They both snatched their hands under their armpits as they crawled using knees and elbows, to a tunnel wall. "We gotta find an access door before we cook." Gage said. "There's one every hundred feet if I remember correctly." Gage groaned, "Yeah, but which hundred foot part are we in? Before or after one? We're at a mouth end." Bruises made the paramedic lag behind more and more. Roy grabbed his partner's overcoat collar and pulled him along with him as he scraped his shoulder along the rocky wall as a directional guide. "Don't slow down. We're nearly out of time. It's gotta be near 180 F in here already." "Coming mother.." Gage squeaked, exhausted. Roy risked frying his gloved fingers as he opened them to feel for the recess of the maintenance door's frame from the lumpy wall. Sizzling metal, bit into the material of his glove when he found it. "Aghh, here!" And he pulled out his jacket halligan to break the emergency key from its glass housing box by reaching only an arm up into the boiling heat above them. Gage winced as glass shattered musically onto their helmets and a brighter bounce in front of him showed him where the key was. "I got it." Roy gave out an involuntary yelp and snatched his air burned arm back down to the much cooler ground level. "My turn." Gage said. "The lock may already be warped." DeSoto panted. "I'll get us in.." Johnny said fiercely, psyching himself up for the punishing pain of heat up near the door's handle. Blindly, he groped. When one arm burned, he traded arms, stubbornly alternating them as he tried to insert the tiny key into the lock with his thick gloves. Then, a subtle click came over the rock echoey fire. Gage took a breath and got up onto his knees long enough to snatch the metal door open. ::Don't melt, don't melt.:: he willed to his faceplate's rubber fittings. Johnny hit his chin on the floor when he quickly dropped back down into their safe air afterwards. "Go. You first. Your mask may be damaged." Roy went. Gage kicked the door shut behind them and sealed them off into total darkness. The cooler air inside felt like a balm against their seared jackets and pants legs. "Hah! Not today. " he sneered at the blocked fire. "Today's not a good day to die.." Roy smiled as he rested face masked down against the floor. He could feel sweat turning blessedly cold against his neck. "Is that more of the trademark Gage Indian mysticism?" "Huh? No. I'm not Cherokee. That was 100% genuine Anglo Saxon literal English. I just don't want to die right now. Do you?" Johnny smiled quirkily. "Not if I can help it. Come on, let's find a light switch." "Think the power's still on?" "Yeah. That fire out there hasn't been burning long enough for Rural Station Utilities to deal with it." "No problem. I'll just use my innate Seminole tracking skills to find us a light source." Johnny's voice laughed. Roy was big enough not to laugh when he heard the unmistakable sound of a skull bouncing off a stair railing. "Owww!" Gage said as he clicked the lights on. "What? Don't those innate skills of yours extend a bit of agility into the equation?" Johnny just shot him a dirty look. "Don't worry. I won't hold it against you. Never have in the past. I just keep bailing your butt whenever you can't get it out of somewhere." Roy replied cheekily. It took a full minute before their eyes got used to the bright industrial fluorescent purple light strips hanging over their heads. Gage didn't deign to reply as both men rose to their trembling feet, using the short stairwell's banister for support. Above their heads, was a wide bright silver ventilation shaft curving away into the ceiling. Black smoke was slowly oozing out of the grilling. "Well, " Gage sighed. "You bought us some time at least. Thanks for shoving me over a cliff, Roy." "Anytime." DeSoto suddenly remembered the HT still strapped around his wrist. He reached up to remove his helmet and mask so he could speak into it. Johnny's grip suddenly stopped him. "No, Roy. At our feet. Don't you see that?" Roy looked down. A hazy murk was pooling around their ankles. "Smoke?" "No man. It's yellowish green. Are you color blind or something? That's chlorine gas unless I missed my guess." Roy was silent behind his mask. "You are? Oh, geesh. How did you ever get that by the fire department qualifiers?" "It's not a requirement of the job." Roy shrugged. "Let's just find out where that gas is coming from. If there are people still alive in here, this's gonna be real bad for them." Right then, the hissing of Roy's air bottle, ran out. "You were saying.." Gage said with a frown. "Come on, before you start choking." And he took a deep breath off his own mask before peeling it off to offer it to Roy. "We gotta find those tanks in order to know which direction to go in to get away from them. Maybe we can shut off whatever leak's there." "If we can. The explosion which destroyed those cars out there in the tunnel may have damaged the cooling lines beyond repair." "Ever the raging optimist. Come on. My guess is that we've got six minutes of my tank air left before that runs out." Roy stopped in his tracks. "Wait a minute. This is a rural mountain highway tunnel, isn't it?" "Yeahhh." he said sarcastically flippant. "We've got lots of pine trees, a biggish lump that looks suspiciously like a mountain. Gee, Roy. What--" "Hear me out. We're far from any fire station." Roy said brightly in between their mask sharing. "There's gotta be spare air in here somewhere. It's all in the haz mat manuals." "It is?" "Junior, " Roy said craftily smart. "How did you ever get past the fire department qualifiers without knowing that?" "Oh shush. I just hit my head buddy boy. I'm allowed to forget a few things here." "Uhh.. That one was kinda important.." "That's what YOU'RE there for. You're my PARTNER. Firemen partners remember things for each other." "Not THAT often." Roy mumbled under his breath. "I seem to recall that I do it more for you than you do for-" Boomm... came a sound only a short distance away down the access tunnel. The lights flickered. Both firemen ducked against opposite walls and covered their helmets with their arms. "Where was that?" Gage asked. "Our tunnel or was that the fuel truck outside?" "Don't know. It's too hard to tell in here." Roy said, peering at the ceiling to make sure it didn't come down on top of them. "We gotta know. If it's one, the blast may have reopened the way out, if it's the other, any folks left in here are dead and we've no further reason to go in deeper to check for survivors. That was too big to live through." "Only one way to find out. But we've got our priorities here." DeSoto said practically. "If we find those civilian air bottles. We can investigate that. If we don't, it's in our best interests to fix or block off that chlorine gas. Six minutes, remember?" "How can I forget that, Roy?" "Just checking. Head knock assessment." "Save it for later." Johnny grumbled. "I feel a lump but it's nothing big. Let's move." Linking arms, the two paramedic firefighters moved deeper into the well lit tunnel after their goal. As they went, the greenish heavy gas rose a little higher up their ash dusted legs. A few minutes later, they broke into a cabinet full of ventilation apparatus using brute force and a fire axe. "What's the yield on these?" Roy asked of their new white and blue air bottles slung over their arms. Their yellow ones, they had abandoned behind them. "Says.. twenty five minutes." "How many do we have?" "Ten." Johnny counted carefully. "Sweet. After we deal with the chlorine, let's stock pile them along our route. We may find surv--" "Roy! Look.." Gage pointed. A sooty maintenance man was slumped upright against the wall to their left. Surrounding him was a cluster of chlorine coolant tanks. He didn't look conscious. Gage grabbed a spare air bottle and both ran forward. Johnny peeled off a glove and felt for a carotid. "He's alive." His hand dropped lower. "Breathing." "Let's get him out of here." Roy said. "You do that. I'll stay here to see if I can find that gas leak. We've gotta be close." Gage replied. "I'll meet you by the place we found the air bottles. They may have oxygen in a first aid bag behind the controller's desk." "Try your HT. Maybe that's not so far inside the mountain there. Maybe there's a wall phone." "I'll check it out. Come on, get him up onto me." Roy ordered. He had fitted the air mask of their third tank over their victim's face. Gage helped DeSoto lift the limp man over a shoulder and wedged him in between Roy's back and the new air bottle. He handed Roy the man's air supply. "Be careful. I don't like this separating idea one bit. Cap's not gonna like it." "No other way. He comes first.." DeSoto said, throwing his helmeted head upwards. They parted ways. Gage was swallowed in silence as Roy retreated back the way they had come. "Ok.. first tank. What do we have here?" he said, talking to himself as he bent down to check the pressure guage of the chlorine receptacle. "Full. D*mn. Onto the next.." There were five tanks in the tiny anteroom. None were leaking. "Oh, boy. That leaves a coolant pipe somewhere. Not gonna be easy finding that." Johnny found a flashlight in the utility cabinet and began using it when the next room he wanted to enter, didn't light up when he flipped the light switch. "Bingo.." he celebrated. "Electrical damage. Bet that pipe's in here." Gage entered the room. -------------------------------------------------------------- Roy placed his heavy burden onto the desk itself. "Let's keep you away from floor level." He could see murk drifting around his shoes that he could only assume to be more chlorine gas. He positioned the man onto his back and used a stack of files underneath his shoulders piled high enough so the unconscious man's head flopped back and his airway stayed open. His attempts to awaken the man failed. He pulled his walkie talkie out of his jacket pocket. "Squad 51 to Engine 51. Come in." Static splashed instead of clear radio air after the talk button's bleep. "Squad 51 to Engine 51. We're ok in the south side maintenance tunnel. We have one casualty. Over.." No voices came through. "Too deep." Roy sighed. Right then, the lights went off. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : Chained chlorine tanks. Photo: Animated gif showing a gas tank leak. Photo: Roy near a sitting unconscious man against a wall. Photo: Johnny peering around with a flashlight in daylight. Photo: A rockslide over a tunnel's mouth. ************************************************************* From: "patti keiper" Date: Thu May 20, 2004 12:32 am Subject: Improvisation Gage's retinas burned from lack of stimulus. He couldn't see four feet in front of his toes. "This isn't good.. " mumbled Johnny. "I hope Roy managed to get a hold of a flashlight.." he said, clutching tightly to his own. He cast his light beam downwards, looking for the telltale chartreuse fog of chlorine hugging the floor. He found nothing off color. Moving to a fusebox, Johnny checked the biggest master circuit breaker that he could see. But it wasn't tripped. "Now why did the lights go off?" His eyes glanced down to his wide black strapped watch. "It's been....twenty three minutes since we arrived on the fire scene. Could it be the Rural Station Utility Company ending a risk for our growing disaster call?" In hindsight, the move got Gage angry and he began complaining out loud as he walked. "Don't they know that there could be motorists still inside the uneffected part of this tunnel? We won't be able to see them well for rescue operations in here, except by firelight and I'm d*mned sure that there isn't much of anything else that can burn beyond the gasoline still inside those cars on the highway." he reasoned. "You're forgetting one thing.." said a voice behind Gage that was thick with gruffness and fatigue. "Chlorine's combustible with metals if it's got water. And heat. Especially with the copper piping running through the ceiling of this maintenance tunnel." Johnny nearly levitated and whirled around, aiming his light towards the open door of the store room. "Sir.. are you ok?" he finally said when he saw that the man was wearing the familiar gray coverall of the highway department. "I was just about to ask you the same thing, mister." replied the scba masked worker who seemed near the age sixty to Gage. "You're on the wrong track, sonny. A mountain tunnel is always graded to the south. Any of that leakage you're looking for will flow in that direction instead of pooling where you can see it." "Thanks.." Johnny said appreciatively. "Might I ask what you're still doing in here? My guess is that during any declared emergency, all console operators should be the first ones to bail out of this tunnel for safety reasons at the first sign of trouble." "Nothing was declared. There wasn't enough time. Five of us died when the cars went up. I guess momentum kept the truck that started it all skidding long enough to make it to the tunnel's mouth and past it to the outside." Gage stepped nearer so that they could share illumination as he motioned for the man to follow him back to the controller's booth where Roy had taken refuge with the unconscious worker. "Are you hurt?" "Not physically.." he snorted, wearily rubbing the back of his neck. "Say, listen. Did you come across another guy dressed like me? He's about 5 foot 2. Caucasian, with curly brown hair styled like Mark Spitz?" "We found him unconscious. What's his name?" "Benny. He's one of the new kids. He was the first one I told to get the h*ll outta here on account of his age!" shouted the man angrily. "I guess he just doesn't ever listen too well." Johnny nodded in understanding. "Looks like the chlorine got to him before he could make it out. My partner's with him now. That's where we're going." Johnny said matter of factly. "Hi, I'm Fireman John Gage and I'm with the Los Angeles County Fire Department." "Joe Dawson." And the man held out his gloved hand to Johnny's. Gage grasped the worker's hand in friendship as well as in a test assessing the man's health and strength. Then he pointed back down the hallway he had used in coming as they walked. "We're almost there.." Johnny said. "I know they're this way past these sealed chlorine tanks." ----------------------------------------------------------- The lack of illumination that came was so abrupt that Roy almost felt himself lose his sense of balance. Roy Desoto bent low immediately and took off his gloves. One hand went to the beat in his patient's neck, and the other slipped under his shirt to pause on the rapid rise and fall of respirations he still felt and heard coming from the sooty man. It was inky. Completely. And Roy felt the darkness press in claustrophobically against his face through the scba mask he wore. He strained to hear anything useful coming from down the corridor. Dimly, Desoto heard a peculiar hissing. ::Equalizing pressure?:: he wondered.. ::It's from somewhere above my head.:: Mentally, he ran through all the possible reasons for pipes in the tunnel. ::Steam pipes? Coolant conduits? Are the ventilation air shafts reacting to the fire out there? Are the waste management pipes from the wayside rest up the mountain draining out because of the rockslide we encountered earlier?:: Nothing seemed definite nor did anything else leap out suddenly as the most likely answer. A new sound drew away Roy's attention from waist level. A quiet gurgling from Benny faded into a loud silence. "Mister?!" Roy shouted, not really expecting an answer in the pitch blackness. His left hand still resting on the man's stomach, fell in height and didn't climb upwards again. Roy threw away caution and pulled off his mask once his lungs were full. Immediately, his eyes began to burn and water perfusely. ::So, chlorine's in here after all.:: he decided and Desoto promptly forgot about the gas. Screwing his eyes protectively shut, Roy freed the man from his breathing apparatus and listened by his nose and mouth even as he reconfirmed no movement in the man's chest under his palms. ::Figured as much.:: Jamming his own mask under an arm, Roy gave the man a couple of breaths mouth to mouth before rechecking the fluttering pulse in his throat. Then gasping, Roy took ample good air from his own gear for himself before he did it again. And again. Minutes dragged by and Roy relived some self chastisement; kicking himself mentally for not having any airways or any other useful stuff in his turnout's pockets. On a sudden thought, he drew out his pen light from his shirt and he checked for signs of vomit as an explanation for the bubbling he was hearing on all his inhalations. He found nothing abnormal. ::Pulmonary edema? Let's hope it's just chemically induced.:: Under his anchor hand, the pulse in his victim's neck was growing irregular. : That arrythmia must be from the chlorine. I can't block it all off.:: Another long stretch of seconds passed as Roy considered his options, which were slim to none. Roy's tank ran out and he quickly switched to the man's still lying abandoned in a pile at his feet. ::Now what? I've no epinephrine or atropine..:: A murky spear of wavering light cut through the haze inside Roy's midnight colored room. "Johnny?! Hurry up. He's respiratory arrested!" "On the way!" And Johnny's sharp reply was punctuated with echoing footsteps that were music to Roy's ears. Gage's running sounded like a whole calvary's. Roy finally glanced up in between his breaths as a second shadow slid in next to Johnny's. The lanky paramedic had filed in next to Roy. DeSoto was immediately punished, as a new wave of lances knifed into both of his eyes. "Aghh!" he cried out. "D*mned chlorine gas!" "Want me to take over?" Gage asked evenly. "Just find that first aid pack we theorized about earlier.." Roy mumbled as he got a better grip on his patient's face and nose. Desoto retreated back into the shelter of his air mask, coughing. But immediately, he shared his tidal store in yet another breath for the very pale young man stretched out beneath him. "Joe?" Gage asked as he pivoted in the silver haired man's direction. He didn't like the color change occuring in the older maintenance man's cheeks. "Did you hear that?" "Yeah.. yeah.. uh, one of the ranger boys,.... you know the sierra wilderness types from 110's? ..they left a pretty good one behind for us for just this kind of medical emergency happening in the tunnel.." "Where is it? Are you all right? You look like you're gonna faint." Johnny said, keeping one glove on Roy's back, the other on Joe's elbow. "I-I'm fine. I just know Benny's mother. That's all. If he dies, I'm the only one who's a friend enough to break the news. Know what I mean?" Joe shuddered, absently bumping his fingers against his faceplate, trying to rub his forehead. "The kit, Joe.." John ordered. "We need it." "Oh, uh huh. right. It's right there, John. Under the supe's desk in the corner. But don't we gotta get Benny to a doctor? You two are just firemen. And with him not breathin and all, it's gettin real scary..real fast!" he said, his voice rising higher in panic. "Let's just carry him outta here. Come on, I'll do it. I'm bigger than the both of ya. So just tell your buddy ta move out of the way.." Then Joe actually tried to lift Benny up into an arm carry to remove him from under Roy's hands. Gage snatched him away from the desk quickly. "Joe! What the h*ll do you think you're doing?! Benny's better off right where he is where we can deal effectively with his hypoxia. Just go get the bag." "But..." the balding man sputtered through his mask. "It's ok.." Johnny qualified. "We're paramedic firefighters. We can treat him right here. Enough to stabilize him. Then we can think about figuring out a way to get us all out of here. Until Benny's condition falls one way or another, we're staying put!" Clunk! The big blue bag full of medical supplies landed in Gage's lap. Johnny's pen light found his teeth as he dug through it to the bottom using its meager beam. "This is heavy Roy, I'll just bet that it has--" a clanging sound greeting his ears as his questing fingers found a fair sized oxygen cylinder and a valve wrench tethered on a chain. "..Yep. O2." He snatched it out and set up its demand valve, replete with a hard black rubber face mask. "Here. I got an oral out, too." And Gage gave Roy the two pieces of equipment. "Joe, go get my partner a new air tank. That one's getting too low." Roy gratefully let Joe slide the new scba mask back over his head and face, coughing thickly as the clean air slowly washed away the strongest chlorine fumes he had been suffering eyewise. He shook his head to shake the face plate into place vigorously around his temples. All the while, his hands never missed delivering a breath to Benny using the new positive pressure apparatus they had found. "Roy?" Johnny asked, checking out the breathless man's eyes with his light for their responses. "I've still got a bounding carotid on him." "Thanks for the update. But I was asking about you. How're your eyes? And your chest?" Gage said wrapping a bp cuff over Benny's near arm. "Both'll pass with a push.." Roy said, his voice starting to grow hoarse and cracky. "I don't think I got a whole lotta chlorine." "Once we get Benny going again, you're gonna grab some of that 02." Johnny said firmly no nonsense. "We'll see. So far, he's deserving all of it." Roy rasped. "Step it up then and turn him around, so you guys can share.." Gage quipped half serious. Gage leaned into Joe and whispered to him out of the corner of his mouth so Roy wouldn't hear him. "Joe.. go stand by Roy and light up his face a little. I wanna see his color." Joe rose, smiling, but Johnny stopped him with a tight grip. "Do it subtlely or I'll never hear the end of it.." he hissed. Joe nodded, his earlier panicky reactions finally easing down a little. He moved around the desk to the other side. At Roy's curious glance up at him, Joe remarked, "I wanna see what yer doing.." And he casually aimed the flashlight's rays down on Roy's hands so that its icy white backwash lit up his features. Johnny's eyes flickered up from the breath sounds, to which he was listening, up to Roy's features and back down again in a crafty scan. He feigned being interested in searching for burns on Benny's bare chest as he asked. "Since when did you start hiding the fact that you've got a couple of broken ribs, Roy?" Desoto looked up in surprise, and the sudden motion made him wince. "How'd you know?" "Oh.." Johnny said matter of factly, continuing his secondary survey down Benny's pelvis and legs, "I kinda knew when I threw Benny here onto your back to get him away from the chlorine containers. You were favoring his weight on your good side. I also noticed you were double timing your mouth to mouth to make up for your shortness of breath and now you got a bit of cyanosis starting up on both your lips that's not from any kind of chilling cause it's not cold in here. Far from. " Johnny tilted his head in question. "Which ones did ya crack clear through, Roy?" Roy stopped concealing his hunched over posture. "Floating ribs, left side, bottom three." he sighed painfully. "Did they get into your spleen?" "Don't know yet. My shoulders hurt but I think it's from wearing this scba gear for so long. Doesn't feel like I've got any real kind of belly pain yet." Roy said. Joe frowned. "Say, ah.. how'd uh.. how did he get hurt so bad?" Johnny and Roy both exchanged knowing looks. Gage was the one who broke the news. "Uh, we were forced to retreat inside from a fuel fire at the tunnel entrance when a rock slide took us by surprise.. Here, gimme that Roy, I'll take over breathing for him. Take a break." Joe paled even more and sat down on his rump into a nearby chair. "You mean we're sealed in here with that raging inferno out there threatening to burn the cement wall in right through to us?" Roy gingerly set aside the over coat he had peeled off. His scba tank was nestled in between his knees. He looked almost comical wearing just the face gear in a blue paramedic's shirt that was torn and ripped in a dozen places from the fall he had taken. "That's putting it in a nutshell.." he grimaced, feeling out the painful locations of his own rib breaks. Johnny was quick to optimism,, "Uh, that's if we can't find another way outta here." Gage glared at Roy.. Then he snapped rapidly into a sham of counseling charm. "Joe, there is another way out of here.." he prompted. "Almost has to be. This is one h*lluva big mountain. Right, Benny?!" he added shouting into the young man's ear. An answering stomach belch from his artificial respiration came out in reply. "Good boy.." Johnny said, patting the unresponsive man's face. He had done so to break Mr. Dawson out of his bystander funk as much as to test for any telltale responsiveness in Benny. Joe's eyes stopped glassing over in emotional shock and he actually stifled a smirk over the odd humored joke Johnny shared about his coworker. "Yeah, there's bunches of ways outta here. What does the D.O.T. look like? We're far from being a bunch of numb skulls. We built plenty of bolt holes into this monstrosity.." he said expansively waving his hands up at the tunnel's infrastructure arching all around them. "Which way to the nearest?" Roy buzzed hoarsely, barely loud enough to be heard through his air mask. "Down fifty meters south, right fork, three doors on your right, then up the stairwell to the plateau overlooking the valley. It's the same route we take every month. It leads up to the radio tower." Joe rattled off. Roy smiled. "We could sure use clean line of sight. Our HTs aren't working down here." he said. Joe's eyes got bigger and he sat up straighter in his chair. "Well why didn't you tell me before that your radio jobbies weren't functioning. We gotta phone right here." And he opened up the drawer to the left of Johnny's knee, displaying a red emergency colored hand receiver phone that had been stuffed into it. "We use this to report any newly sparked forest fires while we're working the span. The boss says it connects with a fire chief or someone like that, down in the city." Gage sighed. And so did Benny. Johnny's face popped wide open. "Benny?" he said, lifting the demand valve away. "Can you hear me?" he asked. He slid his hands out of the way just in time to see Benny spit out the oral airway that was gagging him. Roy saw that he didn't need to be tipped over for nausea. "Benny?" The young man groaned at the sting of chlorine fumes he started feeling in his eyes, nose and mouth while Johnny quickly strapped Benny's scba gear back on him with one change; he stuffed a balled nasal cannula line inside the young man's mask, leaving it in a knot under the man's nose, set to a light flow, as a breathing booster. Johnny watched as Benny lapsed into an adequately respiring but unconscious stupor similar to the state that he had been in when they had first found him. Johnny reinserted another oral airway carefully to avoid spasms. Gage fitted the demand valve's working end to a new feeder mask and handed it out instantly to Roy. "Start clearing your chest out, partner. Looks like we've quite a hike coming up real soon." Johnny grinned. He picked up the landline phone to contact L.A. ::I've waited a long time to relay our status in to Rampart and the firecrews still working on the fuel truck. Cap's gonna smile bigger than the whole state of California when he hears from us.:: he smirked. He winked at Joe Dawson and was very happy to see the older man relaxed enough himself to wink back. Unknown to all of them, the hissing from above, grew louder. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo : A tunnel fire and a schematic of its ventilation system. Photo: Roy and Johnny working on a victim. Photo: A man being ventilated mouth to mouth through a pocket mask. Photo: A burning highway bridge in daylight with brown smoke. Photo: Two gray coverall-ed men wearing SCBA in a flaming stairway. ********************************************************* From: "Cassidy Meyers" Subject: Deliverance.. Date: Tue May 25, 2004 8:48 pm - 2048 (PDT) "How's Benny doing, John?" asked Joe Dawson. "He- he-he.. still looks kinda sick ." Johnny Gage rechecked the amount of oxygen left in the ranger's tank by reading the valve by penlight as he said. "Well.. he was awake enough to feel us fussing with his face and fight the airway for a bit. That's a good sign. It'll be up to Rampart Hospital to decide whether or not he'll come down with complications once we get him to our docs there by helicopter. I'll be on the line with one of them in just a minute or so." he nodded. Joe's dirty face beamed. "Outta sight." Roy coughed, splinting his side with an elbow to ease the pain as his ribs protested. He couldn't quite hide the new agony. Gage looked up. "That reminds me. " he said, shouting through his SCBA gear. He held up an incriminating finger at DeSoto. "You're victim number two, pally. Get a vitals set on yourself..." he ordered, peering at Roy's face in analysis. "Or... I can do it if you think you're too laid up to manage." "I'll manage. Just talk.." Roy said hoarsely. "The O2's working." he said, taking in another shot of oxygen from the positive pressure valve. "My head's clearing now and there's no more blue here." he said waving a few fingernails under the torchlight in his lap. "My ribs aren't flailed." Gage squinted, appraising Roy for a long moment and DeSoto was smart enough not to look away. Johnny saw that the vitality in his partner's eyes remained steady and unwavering. "Ok. The job's yours." The native american paramedic turned his pointing arm towards Dawson. "How about you? Any knocks, bumps I should know about that you didn't share earlier?" he asked. The tone in his voice held a partially serious jest at Roy for doing the same sin. Roy rolled his eyes, unamused, and didn't rise to the bait as he began shifting in his chair to get comfortable enough to take a BP reading on himself. "Pick up the phone, Mr. Gage, and call us in. Your casualty number ...is gonna be only two.." Joe said defiantly, holding up that count before Johnny's face and shaking it. "I'll be watching Benny for ya so your partner can rest." The rugged tunnel man sat down in the desk chair by Benny's head to check the young man's mask's seal around Gage's jury rigging and he began staring at the shallow rise and fall of Benny's chest to pointedly ignore Gage, ending the discussion. Gage was satisfied. He picked up the red landline. "This is Squad 51 of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Emergency. I've updated fire information with two people injured in this tunnel's operations base." he shouted loud enough for his voice to carry into the phone through his face plate. The voice on the other end rapidly acknowledged Johnny's call sign and he was immediately patched through to L.A. and onto Rampart Hospital once he had relayed enough information to the fire dispatcher to tell Cap and Battalion 14 of their status. Gage heard the call frequency click into a familiar mode as it rang the red wall phone near Dixie McCall's emergency desk. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The furry voiced RN looked up in surprise from a coffee mug when the rare critical use line began ringing. She padded over and hefted the phone's receiver. "Rampart Emergency." She cocked her head as she listened closely as she recognized Johnny's voice. " Johnny! Are you four in a safe location? Is there anything you need me to tell the chief out there?... Ok. ..ok. Got it. Now, what do you have? I'm set here." she said snatching up a pencil and pad for note taking. As she did so, she flagged down an orderly to go fetch the nearest doctor to report to the call. -------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny bent down to his note pad under penlight and read his data. "Dixie, it's chlorine gas on both victims one and two. Victim One is an unconscious male who's approximately nineteen years of age. He was briefly respiratory arrested but now he's breathing on 6 L's of O2 via SCBA. No trauma. Vitals are : BP 88/64, pulse 120, respirations are 22 and his lungs are wet on both sides. No signs of aspiration. Victim Two. It's Roy, and he's got possible fractures of all the lower left lateral floating ribs, sustained in a fall. He denies lung or abdominal involvement but he's showing a strong positive for crepitus. Dix's he's been oriented times three throughout and he's now on fifteen liters O2. He's dealing with some upper pulmonary tract swelling that also seems to be effecting his throat and larynx. I'd say his exposure was around two minutes despite having tanked air. He had to do some resuscitation. Victim One's duration with the chlorine is unknown. Roy's vitals are : 120/74, pulse 90 and respirations are shallow due to pain. Color is now good on both. Uh,, just a side note, we've only rudimentary gear, a ranger's pack, basic life." ----------------------------------------------------------------- Dixie studied her note pad, writing furiously as Johnny talked into the red receiver cocked on her shoulder. "10-4, Johnny. Hold on, Joe's here." Dr. Early peered over Dixie's back as he took the phone, reading. "Johnny. How bad's the fire? Are you going to be able to extricate yourselves soon? The faster you're all out of that gas, the better I'll feel." he said, chewing on his pencil. ##Soon, doc. A man with us knows a safe way out. We'll carry the young man out on a door if we have to. He and I can manage ok and Roy's ambulatory.## Joe Early nodded, despite of only being tied to the paramedic through a telephone wire. "If you can, get a good look in your medical pack. If it's a standard forest rescue ranger's bag, it should have IVs and a bee sting kit inside. Use that kit's epinephrine on the teenager. Give him 1 mg. IV push of that if it's 1/10,000, into an IV of normal saline, then set it TKO. It may bring him around enough to stabilize him for the trip out." For Roy, if you need to, 5 mg's MS, IM. The bag oughta have that, too. I know the head ranger on that mountain who's a paramedic. Make sure Roy drinks nothing by mouth. Not until he's evaluated. Chlorine turns to hydrochloric acid in the mucosal tissues when exposed to even a slight amount of water so be aware of that and watch for signs of choking. It may develop fast in both your victims. Watch your step around any fire hoses, too. Water fog may be enough to cause further burns in the lungs because of the chlorine sitting in them." Joe rubbed his lips. "Oh, and be sure to take out all of your loose pocket change." he added with a slight grin of embarrassment. Dixie was only puzzled. ---------------------------------------------------------------- "Pocket change?" Roy coughed. He was near enough to be able to hear the voice on the other end of the phone. Gage shushed him as Joe Early elaborated, his quiet calm voice filling the dark smoky circle of space around all four men. The flashlight set on the table between them fizzled fitfully as it struggled to stay lit in the smoke. The paramedics and Joe Dawson hung on Early's every word. ##I've had people before stuck in a chlorine cloud. With a hidden complication. ## the doc went on. ##The chlorine grew concentrated enough on the scene to cause the copper in the pennies in their jeans to spontaneously ignite their clothes. So get rid of your coins or risk getting a hot seat. Literally. Silver change suffers the same effect. Only they go off later on. So get rid of those, too.## Joe Dawson hastily flung his vending machine money away into the darkness. Where they landed on the floor, little fires popped and erupted as their substance burned under the layer of green chlorine hanging over the floor. Hastily, Joe got Benny's pockets cleared, too. And Roy and Johnny rapidly did the same self purging. They all flinched when the coins rolling around them, caught flame and melted in noisy tiny explosions. Gage sighed in relief. "We're ok, doc. That was very good advice. Thanks." ##No problem. Let me know updates at the slightest changes as you go topside when your walkie talkies start working again, ok? ## "10-4, doc." And Gage repeated his medical orders back to Dr. Early quickly. ##Good luck.## Joe said, and the phone in Johnny's hand clicked off. Gage quipped. "That Doctor Early,.. He's a regular 007, you know that.. exploding pocket change.. Geesh." Then on a thought. "Say,.. I could have a little fun for the future knowing that. Next time Chet and I are in a chlorine spill, I think I'm not gonna warn him." He bent with industry to get his IV, laced with epi, going on Benny. Joe Dawson split a gut. Roy found a second bee kit, smiling. "There's more than one of these." "Good. Put your name on it. If you get yourself wet, you're gonna need it." Johnny said seriously. "Man, first I've ever heard. Firemen avoiding water vapor like the plague. I wonder if Cap knows about it." "I'm sure he does.." Roy chuckled, his laryngitis staying thick. He wrapped up the O2 and put it away for later use into the blue medical bag and put back on his air mask. "We're under extenuating circumstances. Normally, we aren't stuck under a chlorine gas cloud for long enough periods to worry about it. And any wash downs conducted are always done under safe air conditions so no dangerous amounts of acid are ever formed enough before they're washed away entirely." "Yeah, but it's still weird. Being temporarily allergic to water.." Gage snorted. "If you can put it that way.." Roy agreed. "The allegory fits. In a sense, Benny and I ARE sensitive for the time being." "Ok.." Joe said suddenly. "Does your sweat count as water? If it does, I'm not waiting around to find out the effects. Benny, let's go." and he picked up the young man into his arms. "I'm moving us out. Now." he said firmly as he grabbed the boy's air tank from the floor as well, and slung it over his shoulder around them both. DeSoto hastily handed the older worker the IV bag Gage had begun on Benny while Johnny snatched up the blue bag quickly to keep the man from ripping the oxygen tubing off the cylinder inside. "Slow down! Don't pull out Benny's oxygen!" Johnny said. "Joe! Roy can't move that fast." "Yes I can.." Roy said, painfully rising from the chair. "Oh. Uh. Ok. Guess that means you can give yourself your own morphine. Here." Johnny said, handing over the capped syringe to his partner with his one free hand. Then he was yanked away by the stretched cannula tubing between Joe, Benny and the ranger bag, into the darkness. DeSoto shook his head, amused even in crisis as he rolled up his turnout sleeve as he walked to inject himself into the meaty part of his forearm. He shuddered when the metal needle from the injection tube evaporated into flame as it hit the floor after he was finished. The four men moved down the dark cracked tunnel, comforted only by the small nimbus of torchlight as it swirled in the chlorine around their ankles. They reached a junction where the ceiling hissing was louder. "Uh oh. That's water I'll bet." Joe said, pointing upwards. "That d*mned chlorine's eating all the pipes!" "Oh, I get it, acid baths for everyone.." Gage said sarcastically. "Those pipes copper?" "Don't ask.." Joe said, gently cradling the comatose Benny a little more protectively in his arms. They walked a little faster past the area. Joe paused in the darkness. "Here. There's a stairwell." "How far up?" Gage wanted to know. "Again... D--" "Don't ask.." Roy parroted simultaneously, smiling grimly. Joe opened the door into the landing and looked up. Right then, the pipes in the ceiling gave way and let loose a flood of water. The older man and Johnny leaped into the safety of the stairwell but Roy was a little slower because of his injury and medication and got water onto his arm as he jumped. The forearm on his turnout began to smoke from newly formed hydrochloric acid. "Ahhh!" and he pulled his arm up out of his sleeve and inside his jacket, while Johnny pulled the acid singed material away from Roy's body with his coat halligan. "Joe! Close the door behind us. Roy, don't move! I got it!" DeSoto froze in place where he lay sprawled on the concrete steps, breathing painfully in high pitched wheezes of panic as he remained still and watched his jacket bubble and steam. Johnny reached into the ranger bag and pulled out some clothes shears. Ruthlessly, he cut off the smoking sleeve and it dropped to the ground. Then he knelt, cupping his hands around Roy's face plate, "You ok? Roy? I got it off. Can you still breathe ok?" For several numbing seconds, Roy couldn't reply. Then his helmeted masked head nodded. "It didn't get to me. And my mask kept out the water vapor." Joe Dawson reported out loud, too. "Benny's still ok. He's breathing the same." Gage, didn't doubt the man, but placed a hand on the teenager's stomach anyway subconsciously in a check. "We were lucky." he panted. "Come on. Let's get to the top. Joe, if you get tired. We'll trade. I may be scrawny, but I'm strong. I can carry Benny.." "You just go right on playing bellhop. I'm doing fine." Joe said, barging past the two paramedics. He started climbing the stairs strongly. "I can carry him all day if I have to. I owe it to him and his ma to do my absolute best." his voice echoed. He turned around and just waited for the other two to catch up to him. Johnny Gage gave Roy DeSoto a hand up from where he curled on the floor. "Wow. With devotion like that, I'm surprised you never joined the fire department, Dawson." he said. "Not enough pay.." spat the older man. "Really?" Gage said, stopping in his tracks. "Yeah.." Roy gasped. Then he staggered. "Roy?" Johnny startled, grabbing him. "I'm ok, it's just the morphine." "You sure about that?" "Yeah. I'm not shocky. Come on, let's go." Roy insisted. "Benny can't be delayed and it's gonna take a while for any help to get to us once we're out on the mountain. It's probably getting dark already." he coughed, and immediately doubled over in pain. Hefting the blue bag and its precious tether of oxygen from Benny a little higher on his shoulder, Johnny pulled Roy's still sleeved arm over his neck. "Easy. Don't drop your head like that, you're gonna make yourself black out. Now take a big breath. That's it. Ready? Ok. Up. First this stair. That's it. Now the next. Roy, pick your right leg up a little higher. Ok, now you're doing it. Good." Slowly, the four men made their way up out of the heart of the burning tunnel and soon, they found themselves underneath the scented canopy of a spectacular boreal forest of slash pines. They all threw off their air masks gratefully and sucked in cool earthy air that was tinged with tannin and a hint of rain. Gage's heart sank. "We gotta go higher. The talkies won't reach anything under here. These trees are huge. And thick. Joe, where's the nearest ridge?" Joe turned around in a circle with his limp burden, Johnny keeping pace, as he caught his bearings. Then he threw his filthy haired head upwards. "Up there. That's Devil's Head Trail. A ranger station's at the top. With any luck, ...Tim Cassidy's still there." "Who? " Roy asked, resting against a spicy tree trunk. "Tim Cassidy.." Joe elaborated. "He's the assistant head ranger. A real short wicked kinda guy at times but he's got a real level head. He'll help us out in a flash. Who knows, maybe Julie Beck's up there. She's working today." "Julie Beck?" Joe filled him in. "Remember the medic the doc said he knew who packed out this medical bag for us? Well she's it." Gage's mouth fell open. "That ranger paramedic's a..a...woman?" "Yep." Joe said distractedly, still holding Benny. "And she's a ranger?" "What's the matter with your ears, John?" Joe asked quizzically. "You going deaf with fatigue? Yeah, a real Sierra Nevada forest ranger. One of the first ever stationed at Devil's Head. You'll like her." "I'll bet.." Johnny said, warming to the idea. "Does that tower have a radio?" Roy asked, still catching his breath. " We may still be out of HT range of Cap and the chief from up there. Our truck crash's on the other side of the mountain where we might not be able to reach them." "It's got one. You see, that station up there is the state's best lightning research base in the entire country.." Joe said proudly. "Lightning?" Gage's smile fell away. "Yeah, happens all the time. Especially this time of year. Something to do with the way the weather patterns fall around these parts." Joe said. "How long will it take for us to reach it?" Roy asked. "Oh, about ten minutes. It's just up that trail that way." "What trail?" Gage said, seeing only massive boulders and lumpy juts of steel colored outcrops with no level surfaces underneath the monster pines. "That one. See the sign?" Joe pointed. "It's right up that way. It's not far at all." Johnny's hope for an easy rescue was dashed. A tiny weathered, tilted wooden side proclaimed the trail's head up the mountain. The way was difficult and gnarled by car sized playdoh ball stepping stones. "I see it, Mr. Dawson." he said unhappy. "But first, set Benny down. I wanna get another set of vitals. On him and Roy both." "Ok.." Joe said cheerfully. And he gently set Benny's quiet length down on a giant mossy log near them. "Better sit down, Roy, while I get yours next." Johnny said, taking the teenager's carotid pulse as he studied his wrist watch. "Looks like we got a long couple of hours ahead of us. Try to catch your breath back." Johnny told him. Roy just hung his head and he let the morphine take over. It swept over his body in a rush and took the edge off his pain. ::Just a little. Only,...just :: he thought wearily. ::I wish I could take a nap like Benny here. Right now, I don't feel like I'm much use to anyone. I hope I can make it to the top of all that.:: -------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : Dixie listening to a red phone. Photo: A firefighter's jacket smoking with acid. Photo: SCBA'd firefighters supporting a man on a spiral stair. Photo: A ranger's tower high on a rocky cliff with stairs. Photo: A steep rocky trail under pine trees. Photo: A height of stairs going up a cliff. Photo : A ranger showing a child a jar of lake water. ***************************************************** From: Jeff Seltun Date: Thu May 27, 2004 8:35 pm Subject: Search and Rescue.. Gage gently shook DeSoto's shoulder, "Hey... Roy.." "Huh?" he replied, bleary eyed from the depths of a deep nap. He looked up to see Johnny wearing a stethoscope and the oxygen was out again at his knees. Roy felt his face to find the bag's mask there on a flow and his shirt was flung open, his chest exposed to the growing chill of the late afternoon forest. "What happened? Was I out?" he wheezed. "Nope. You came around to a rub with me barely touching you. My guess is the pain killer's messing with you a little bit. I only got this on ya to make waking up a little easier. You were sleeping more than soundly." Gage said, repositioning the mask over Roy's nose and mouth absently. "So I took another vitals set a minute ago." "What are they now?" Roy asked, tossing a careless hand towards the stethoscope around Johnny's neck. "Better. BP 124/ 78. Resps normal at 14." Johnny replied. "Your pupils are sluggish though because of the morphine." Roy looked down at himself and started buttoning up his shirt. He glanced up in a question about the rest of the infomation concerning his chest. Gage waved a dismissing hand and turned off the O2 on Roy. "I was only listening to that edema you've still got. Benny's showing the same thing. Only a little worse. He says he's bubbling on the left side but he refused to use any of this." Johnny said, rapping on the O2 tank with grimy knuckles. "You still have no signs of a tension pneumothorax showing up. Start counting your lucky stars, pally." Roy sat up a little higher against the log he was slumped against. His ribs ached only dully and it no longer felt like a vise was wrapping around him. "Benny's awake?" "Umm hmm and hungry." Gage nodded, taking Roy's pulse and scribbling his reading down on his notepad. "Seems all this fresh air out here's all he needed to make a fantastic recovery. He's already asked when we can begin heading up to the ranger's station. I told him just as soon as you felt like walking again." "How long has it been since we stopped?" Roy wondered. He couldn't tell from his muted down aches at all. "Oh, about forty five minutes or so." Roy struggled to his feet, pulling off the mask. "An hour?! My G*d, Johnny. Cap must be outta his skull with worry about us." "No he's not." said Gage coolly. "Remember my conversation with Dixie at all? She said she'd relay our game plan to escape to the engine crew and the chief. I told her that we had a sure fire route out of there with no possibility of any problems cropping up." "You're forgetting the water pipe bursting in on us making all that acid rain out of the air." "That didn't get you. Only your jacket. That wasn't a problem at all." Johnny countered mildly, staying calm. "Close enough!" Roy flared. He immediately regretted his reaction when his ribs reawoke into agony. "Sorry, I'm not myself." "I noticed." Johnny said, the slight smile never leaving his face. He put away the mask and tubing into its pouch and began repacking the portable tank into the blue satchel. "Come on, gimme the arm on your good side and I'll help ya to your feet. You can sleep all you'd like once we get there." "Can't we wrap me up first?" Roy asked hoarsely. "You won't be able to breathe freely enough for all the exercise we'll be doing climbing those rocks on the trail. You'd never make it." "What makes you so sure I'll make it now?" said DeSoto with a foggy head. "Because of the sheer fact that you're arguing with me about it, Roy. Anyone truly off their feed would never do that." Roy's stomach rumbled right then, betraying him. "So that makes four of us who're starving." said Joe, moving nearer to the two paramedics when he finally saw Roy maneuvered to his feet. "Man, I hope the tower's got good chow. I've never been up there." "Wait a minute. Wait a minute." Roy started up again. "If that's true, how do you know this is the right way to get there?" he said tossing a head at the tree log sign declaring the existence of a path in front of them. "Those d*mned stairs tell me so, mister fireman." Joe said with a wink, pointing. Roy's eye finally focused on a precarious flight of maroon stained wooden staircases meandering through tangles of boulders and into a chasm. He could see them all the way to the top of the peak to which they were heading. "Oh." DeSoto muttered weakly. "Didn't see those." "Not surprising with that shot giving you a close run in with the sandman." Dawson retorted. "Benny says he can make it ok without help. How about you? I offer you a shoulder up." Roy shook his head after pushing off the tree he was leaning on. "That trail's single file. I promise I'll sit down if it gets to be too much." "I'll be the one right behind ya." Joe said, grabbing up Roy's tossed aside turnout. Johnny watched Joe speak quietly with Benny, offering the young man Roy's jacket for warmth. Gage leaned in dangerously to DeSoto. "Want mine?" he mumbled. "No. I'm not cold." "Ok.. ok.. just doing those weird first aid things you already know about." he said smirking. "Race ya.." and he dashed off after Benny and Joe with the blue bag and both helmets clattering around the air bottle he had forgotten to take off his back. Roy shook his head ruefully and followed after. About half way up the mountain, it began to rain. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ho.. in the tower!" Gage cried out as they mounted the final stairway in the driving rain. The sun, to the west, was fleeing. "I've injured people!" Tim Cassidy and Julie Beck both, came out of the glass enclosure of the watch tower and out onto the balcony. They saw the four men and immediately recognized all the fire gear despite chlorine staining and water marks. "Coming!" said the red long haired woman. Julie Beck immediately grabbed hold of the teenager and helped him up the final steps into the dry interior of the ranger tower. Tim Cassidy, took over for Johnny and helped Roy out. Tim recognized Joe right away. "Mr. Dawson? That truck crash was in your tunnel?" "Don't you two monitor your radios?" said the maintenance man harshly. "Of course that was my tunnel. The fire department scanner should have told you that right off." "They had to be relocated before they could mobilize the two of us down there." Gage said, "What?" Julie Beck nodded. "Mr. Gage. Captain Stanley told us you were coming. I'm Julie Beck, head rescue ranger and this is Tim Cassidy, my local side kick. I'll answer all your questions just as soon as we've taken care of your injured partner and Joe's tunnel worker first. I wanna get the four of you out of those wet things and into dry clothes." And she opened a locker and pulled out a box full of spare civilian fall clothes in plaids woven with thick, warm wool. Roy's teeth were chattering so loudly that Gage didn't protest. He went right for them as Roy began peeling down. "Just how long is it supposed to rain a-anyway?" DeSoto asked. "Not long. This is just an isolated cloud front. Maybe... another few minutes. Then the real show starts." she replied cheekily. "What real show?" A sharp vivid crack of purple lightning struck very nearby and hit the rod on top of the tower. Thunder jolted and made everyone except the two rangers jump. Tim Cassidy smiled. "That one. Happens every two days or so right around this time after the sun goes down." The rain, as quickly as it had come, departed. But the lightning only grew stronger and happened more often. A machine whirred into life on the ranger desk that reacted similar to a seismograph but it went ignored as the two rangers helped Roy and Benny change and get under blankets. Johnny took the opportunity to get his bearings on just how high up they really were. A spectacular 360 degree angled view of jutting buttes and a broad pine valley filled the look out and the sight took Gage's breath away. To the east, was a dark smudge of purple pink smoke and a tongue of fire a mile wide. "A wild fire?" he gasped. "Is that why rescue operations at the tunnel were halted?" Julie Beck could only nod sadly. "Yes. The truck fire started up a minor brush burn, but then this lightning did the rest. The whole valley's about to go up." "What about us?" Gage asked. "Oh, we'll be safe enough up here. There's nothing but bare rock around us for a quarter of a mile. Only lightning can reach us. And we're far too insulated to be effected by that." Julie said. Cassidy got on the short wave radio to let the distant fire stations know that Gage and DeSoto and their victims had made it to Devil's Head. Roy looked up from his blanket wraps where he sat on the couch. "Johnny, I don't like it. We only had two brush assignments called out. And that bluff over there looks really bad." Beck had abandoned the view Johnny was transfixed by and was digging inside another locker for all of her medical gear and medications. "Captain Stanley thought the same thing. He didn't know the condition of Roy and Benny here so he ordered your crewmates to hike in to meet you here. Lopez and Stoker and Kelly should be arriving in about ten minutes, last radio call." "Can I talk to them?" Gage said, surprised yet again. "They might be in trouble." "They're fine. They're not even in that threatened valley, Mr. Gage. The lightning will knock out their HTs for a while so you're gonna have to trust me as to their ETA. They're here because I've formally asked for help." Ranger Beck said. "What for?" asked Johnny. "Not for us, surely." Tim Cassidy shook his head. "Not you." "There's a kid's camp at Happy Hollow along the Verdigris River and they haven't had time, like you four did, to get out of the way. On the last transmission from the camp counselors, seven kids are still unaccounted for after the camp was evacuated." Julie laid out her paramedic gear and two fresh O2 tanks for Johnny. Then she rose and hefted a laden backpack full of climbing and extrication gear and set it by the door. "You can contact your hospital base station using that short wave radio right there. I've IV's in plenty and I've also most of the narcotics you fellas are used to from your squad drug box. Make use of them and your doctors." she said and she reached for some rain gear. "Wait a minute," Roy said. "Are you and Mr. Cassidy planning on going out there?" "We have to. No one but us knows the mountains as well as we do. If anyone can find those kids, it's us." Gage turned from his inspection of all the medical supplies and he quickly got to his feet. "Hang on a minute here. Don't you think that we'll have a better chance at finding those kids if we wait until our engine crew gets here?" "Perhaps." Tim said thoughtfully, pausing by the door. "Then let's do that. The guys aren't slackers when it comes to rappelling and rural extrication operations." Johnny insisted. "All right, we'll wait.." Julie decided, tossing her auburn shoulder length hair out of her eyes. "Why don't you fill us in as to your injured friends' conditions here and we'll see about getting dinner on the stove, all right?" "Deal.." Johnny replied. -------------------------------------------------------------- Fifteen minutes later, Stoker, Kelly and Lopez, with full brush fire gear, drip torches and portable fire shelters, arrived at the ranger tower from the steep trail's steps. The wind was hot and no longer smelled like rain, only ozone and sky bound electricity. "Man, Gage..what a trip in.." came Kelly's puffing, excited and very welcome voice. "Is DeSoto all right? And the other guy? L.A. didn't tell us much from Dixie's report from Rampart." "Yeah, nothing like worrying to make a guy run faster.." Lopez said, ducking into the ranger's tower and out of the raging summer night wind. "So spill the details." "They're fine guys. Roy's got a few broken ribs and Benny here's over some chlorine gas exposure. Nothing dire." Johnny reported. Stoker didn't say anything at all but went straight for the short wave radio and hefted the microphone. "Station 51 to Base. We're situated. Gage and his victims are all right. The new fire's completely blocked the foot of the trail up leading here so if you send more men, have them come up an alternate route. Over.." ##10-4, Station 51. We read you. Stand by for air support's report on the spread of the ridge fire before you head out with the park rangers on your SAR mission. They offer its ETA in ten minutes.## "Standing by.." Mike replied. Julie was fast at handing out sandwiches and pop cans to everyone in the room as the lightning continued to crackle in a dry rage around them. Soon, they were all eating. Everyone ate but Johnny, who didn't until he reached Rampart with his update and new medical data on Roy and Benny. Dr. Early was still working on the night shift and he was eager to learn the details. Then, he dismissed Gage until rescue parties could reach the camp kids after breaking through the growing fire dipping into the valley below the rangers station. Benny went right to sleep. But Roy, feeling much better, joined in on the plan of attack at getting to the camp before the larger fire got there. Tim seemed confident. "We've been down to this camping ground before. Earlier this spring. When a little girl went missing from her parent's trailer. Julie and I were called to be guides along the river bank." "Did you ever find her?" Tim hung his head. "Yes, she washed over the falls three days later." "I'm sorry." Roy said. "Thanks for the clothes." "No problem. We always keep spares in case a rainfall catches hikers coming up here by surprise." he smiled. "How are you doing? Sounds like the gas really did a number on your voice." "I sound worse than I feel, believe me." "What's Benny's etiology?" Julie asked from as she took Benny's blood pressure from where he slept on the couch under the watch windows. "I placed him back on some light 02 since he was breathing a little fast." "Simple suffocation. He turned around right away with a few minutes of active ventilation. That edema you're hearing, my partner says, isn't aspirant. It's only a chemical fluid reaction from the chlorine. A little albuterol should clear that up." "And we got permission to use that Miss Beck." Johnny piped up from where he and Tim and the other three firefighters were still planning their plan of attack to go hike down into the valley after the missing kids. "Understood." Julie said aloud, then she looked thoughtfully at Roy. "That pain med still working?" Roy decided not to lie. "No. But I'll manage. I may be needed on this hike, too. Having seven potential victims leaves us a little short handed in the paramedic department." "It does." Julie said evenly. "But I could call down and have your captain ground you based on my findings." "Please.. don't. I have kids of my own and the thought of anybody else's lost on this mountain just turns my stomach." "Amen to that, Roy.." Lopez piped up. "He's going.." Kelly said in no short terms to Beck. "We'll watch him for ya and I'll personally make sure he doesn't do anything stupid climbing." Julie Beck smiled. "How can I resist an offense like that. You know you firefighters are really something, you know that?" "I already know that.." Joe Dawson piped up. "They saved Benny when I thought he was a goner for sure." he said from where he was watching Julie care for his young coworker. Mike Stoker motioned Johnny to the radio. "Gage, it's Cap." "Fireman John Gage." Johnny said into the receiver, knowing it was being routed through L.A.'s monitors. ##Gage, here's the latest report. Seven confirmed missing. Last seen kayaking by the north shore of the lake near the river's mouth. Now the counselors think the kids saw the fire coming even as the thunderstorm broke down on them and they believe the children may be trying to head for higher ground, to get away from the flashfloods.## "But the ridge fire's up there." Johnny said despite himself. ##I know that Johnny. And that's gonna be your conundrum. Plan accordingly. The park rangers with you assure me that they can negotiate around this fire and the cliffs enough to reach the areas the kids might be in without excessively putting you all in danger. Now I'm ordering Stoker to remain behind with your injured civilian while the rest of you go on this SAR assignment. Think Roy can handle that?## Gage replied wryly. "I believe he can do whatever he puts his mind to, Cap." ##Good enough. Now Mr. Cassidy says that our radio contact will be sporatic at best during this rescue operation so rely on visual flares ok? I'll be on the west side of the valley working in with a staging team and I want you five with the rangers to work across the east side in a search pattern. I have ample brush fire crews moving in and three water choppers are now available for your sole usage should you need an emergency water drop in a hot spot.## "Cap, I.." ##You five'll do fine. I've all the confidence in the world that you and the rangers can pull this off. Make the department proud and impress the Sierra team. You're all those children've got. Engine 51, out.## Tim Cassidy let the closing line click off the air and he shoved the hand mic out of the way. "I can hardly wait to meet this captain of yours Gage. He sounds like quite a man." "He is. Believe me, he is.." Kelly quipped. "Are we ready to go?" Marco asked. "I've got six bottles of spare air and an O2 tank in each backpack along with your portable medical gear, Miss Beck." "Thank you. And yes, I do feel we're set here. Mr. Gage? DeSoto? Anytime you are." And Julie Beck indicated the door as a wild stab of lightning filled the sky. -------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Tim Cassidy forest ranger walking at you. Photo : Julie Beck, forest ranger in desert. Photo: Purple colored lightning bolt at night. ************************************************** From : Sam Iam Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] And then there were five.. Sent : Saturday, May 29, 2004 2:31 AM Mike Stoker spoke quietly from where he was leaning against the radio transmitter table on the desk. "Benny's on an I.V. Should he be left with me, like this, while having one in?" "We're not going anywhere just yet. " DeSoto said. "And your answer's no. A patient with an intravenous line can't be left unattended by a paramedic. Looks like protocol's rubbing off on you pretty well, Stoker." and he grinned. "I just remembered arguments between you and Johnny a few years ago about how pointless call prioritizing was for a while there in the system." Stoker remembered. "And Roy brought up that point about I.V.s and how it ties up service unit availability." "How can I forget?" Chet snorted. "It was the first time I've ever seen Gage passionate about anything." "Oh ha ha.." Johnny said with a glib expression. "The way we got calls that summer WAS stupid. I still remember that construction worker dying of a heart attack when I was working overtime for Station Eight's just because we didn't have a rescue squad and a defibrillator there on time. I was so angry that 110 was busy with just a simple syncope case who's M.D. ordered a start of a normal saline I.V. They had to escort her into the hospital because of it and our man died." There was a sound of tenor voice from the couch. "Then take it out. I no longer want it.." said Benny, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Don't need this either." and he pulled off the oxygen that Julie had placed on him earlier while he napped. "I appreciate all the care you guys are giving me,.. Joe said that you did a lot to save my life.. but those kids down there need you more than I. Please,.." and the young, dark haired man raised his taped arm up. "Take it out and go. Use the fact I'm refusing treatment if you have to justify not running this change by a doc first. I'll be fine. I feel fine. Really." Gage blinked, torn between his sense of precautionary protocol and the instinct of prioritizing Cap's order to the foreground. Common sense won out. "Ok... this will only take a second." and he knelt down by Benny and discontinued his I.V. "This is nearly gone anyway. But promise me that you'll keep drinking fluids while you're here." "I will." "Good man." and he pulled out the catheter after ending the flow and taped a cotton wad over the site. He folded Benny's arm up in half. "Hold your arm like this for a few minutes until things clot up again." Benny sighed, and hid a cough. Mike?" "Yeah.." "I want you to get Benny down from here the first sign of any more trouble vitals wise on him. Use a helicopter pickup soon as the weather breaks if you have to. We've found a place a chopper can land on the map over there." Mike Stoker nodded assent. Then Johnny rose to his feet, appraising the teen with reluctant ambivalence. "Benny, Mike's real good taking over and keeping people's conditions stable. He's quiet, but he's an all right kinda guy once you get to know him. I trust him with all my patients." "And he's a fabulous cook.." Marco added. "Makes my little old mother from Pasadena jealous. So ask him to make you some more food if you're still hungry." Benny laughed, looking away shyly. "Julie, we're clear to leave. Lead the way.." Roy said, licking his lips. Gage grabbed the backpack Roy was about to lift. "I'll handle that thank you. Unlike Benny, you ARE still under my care. You just make sure you don't jar those ribs. Last thing we need is to stokes you back up here. Walk ahead of me.." Johnny fussed. "Stoker, stay on the communications band. We'll be trying the whole way down. These may not be able to reach the staging area, but they'll sure as h*ll reach the tower." "Check in every ten minutes.." Stoker recommended. "I tested the frequency to the camp. It's still patent." "Good going. See ya. " Gage nodded and opened the door. He left following after Kelly, Cassidy, Beck DeSoto and Lopez, ducking only twice at the lightning zinging around the angry night sky. Thunder drowned out his enthusiastic farewell for Benny, but Mike and Benny saw his wave. ------------------------------------------------------------ Julie paused at the bottom of the long stairs near the trail's foot. She gestured to her left. "This way.. I've a method to my madness. We'll be running a risk taking the main river path due to high water but it'll be an added safety measure should we run into a firestorm in this wind!" she yelled to them all. Roy was panting with their exertions but Gage saw his color never paled. DeSoto asked, "How far do we have to go to reach the camp's headquarters?" "About three miles. The trail's rocky and passes through a narrow gorge, but the lack of rain's in our favor. It won't be muddy." Tim Cassidy replied over the noise of the lightning and the wind from the storm. "Are you doing ok?" Roy nodded and shooed the brown haired ranger onwards. Gage, kept up at the rear. "Plan C.." Julie said to all the firemen, "..is that we all take the horses at daybreak and leave from the lodge stables out on search as soon as the light's good." "Me? Ride a horse?" Chet startled. Then his face broke out into a huge grin. "Far out.." Johnny just moaned sarcastically. "Yeah.. that's if you don't get yourself tossed off or something and break a leg, Kelly." "I'm not worried. I'm surrounded by paramedics." Chet said as he picked his way over the trail with his heavy supply pack. "And with a real pretty one, too." "She's married.." Tim Cassidy grinned, looking back. "Oh, too bad." Gage mourned truly, disappointed. Julie was oblivious to the exchange, intent as she was with checking her compass for their orientation and coordinates. A sudden bolt of heat lightning lit up the way ahead and they could see the glint of water raging over a cascade in a smooth tongue of dark amber water beneath them. "We're at the river. Careful now." Julie said. "Watch your step." They had gone down the trail fifteen yards when Tim suddenly shouted. "There! One of the kids!" Everyone glanced up from their feet to see a sprawled boy on his back on a shallow water sandbar. Tim and Julie both dropped their packs and rushed forward. "Look around, there may be more. The camp teaches a buddy system..." Soon, Gage and Roy found a little girl, just as wet but alive. She awoke easily at a shake but was very, very cold to the touch. "It's hypothermia.." Roy said over the storm. "See how she's drooling?" "Yeah.." Gage drew out a thermal sheet and wrapped the girl tightly inside of it. "I'll carry her.." Roy said, "She's not heavy." he said, murmuring encouragement to the mute and numbed child. Gage shouted out to Tim and Julie. "How's yours?!" "He's alive.. He's got spidering burns on his left leg. Looks like a near strike's effected him. He's got a good carotid and respirations." Julie shouted over the strong wind. "You gonna backboard him?" Gage asked. "Yeah.. We can use a backpack's rack and bandages." she answered. Soon, the boy was on O2 and immobilized. Lopez and Kelly took both ends of his improvised stretcher and Julie followed at his head with a hand on the boy's pulse, monitoring him. "Let's go.. We gotta warm him up just as badly as we need to do her." Beck said. Johnny and Roy started off again in a tight pair around the semi conscious little girl leaning against Roy's chest. "She's not even shivering anymore.." Gage said, feeling inside the blanket for the girl's arm. "I know." DeSoto replied. "Just hurry. I'm watching her consciousness level closely. Go.." Gage reluctantly picked up his packs again and hurried off after the other five ahead of them. Soon, the dark bulk of a well lit main lodge of a log cabin style campground materialized out of the darkness and storm strobing pine trees. It was a relief to get out of the wind and all their ears rang in the silence. Johnny Gage whipped out his HT. "HT 51 to Tower Base. Do you read me?" Stoker's reassuring voice crackled into being. "I read you." "Contact L.A. and the search commander. We've found two of the lost children. Both are alive. Set up a relay to Rampart. They're gonna need treatment right away.." "Hang on,.. I'll be set in a couple of minutes.." Mike replied. ---------------------------------------------------- Photo: River rescuer watching a waterfall pass. Photo: A red haired boy lying in a mud puddle. Photo: A little girl in a purple dress floating in water. **************************************************** From : patti keiper Sent : Tuesday, June 1, 2004 12:46 AM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Let the River Run. DeSoto nodded with satisfaction as Stoker's promise faded away over the speaker. He carried the unconscious boy over to the bed and began cutting off his clothes for a trauma survey while Julie coaxed the fatigue muted little girl out of her wet dress and got her under a thick pile of covers to begin the process of rewarming her. Johnny tossed down his handy talkie onto the desk with a clatter. "That's done. Mike's getting us Brackett most likely.." he said to Beck and DeSoto. They nodded, knowing the senior physician was the top most expert on pediatric medical emergencies. Gage moved to the pale little boy and placed him on a new tank of oxygen and checked his pupillary reaction. His earlier smile at Stoker's efforts waned into a frown of frustration. "Fat lot of good it'll do having the doc on the horn. There's not much we can do about treating these kids without their parent's consent." Johnny bemoaned. A ripping sound attracted all of their attention. It was duct tape being pulled down from a screen mesh. "They knew we were coming.." said Tim Cassidy, marvelling. He hefted up a manilla colored cardboard folder in triumph. "This was taped to the lodge door and it's full of papers.These could be the go ahead we're looking for." Gage said, "Chet, leaf through that.. See if all seven kid's consent forms are in there. Julie, I need you to help me check the boy's reflexes, I have to concentrate on his vital signs, and Roy's cutting corners, getting his I.V. ready." "Babinski's?" Beck guessed. "Yeah. Both feet." Johnny replied. "Brackett's gonna want to know about any keraunoparalysis. I'm seeing bluish tingeing here on his legs." Julie nodded. Then she turned to the little girl. "Ok, honey.. I'll be right back. You just stay snuggled down deep and this nice ranger will be here to keep you company, all right?" Beck said to her patient. The girl was too cold to reply. Or do much beyond blinking a few times when Julie stood up as Tim Cassidy took her place. "I'll make sure she doesn't go to sleep." he said to Beck. Satisfied, Julie went to tend Johnny's request. Marco had finished completing his examination of the large pine wood panelled room. "The staff really knew we were coming. Or at least the fire crews. There's boxes of medical supplies and tarps and extra hose and directions to the water hydrants." he mentioned. "And a backup generator for the radio to go along with the one it's attached to already." "Nice.." Chet said. "Johnny, to answer your question, yeah, there are seven forms here. With a note from the camp counselors wishing us luck and a copy of the order the staff received from Batallion 14 to clear out." he said, waving a transcript in the air. "So the camp's abandoned.." Tim Cassidy said, stroking the hair away from the tiny girl's muddy face. "Yeah.." Marco replied. "Would you stay behind if you had that looming over your heads?" he asked forking a thumb out the window to where the blood red and orange glow of the valley fire glowed despite of its distance away from the camp. Nervously, the others glanced up to see the progress of the thunderstorm fueled blaze. Stories high flames across the valley tangled aggressively with the lightning's dry flashes and row by row, pines were disappearing underneath them, utterly consumed. "Power's been shut off.." Kelly said, checking out the spacious lodge's fuse box. "I'll get a fire going in the fireplace. It's bound to get cold before it gets hot.." No one laughed at his joke. The radio on the table crackled into life again. Tim Cassidy picked up the line. Mike Stoker spoke quietly. He had their direct line to Rampart utilizing the ranger tower's mile eating repeater in a two stage relay. Stoker mentioned next to the paramedics that he would be their message dispatcher to the doctor at Rampart. Soon, the little lightning struck boy had his I.V. started and a successful esophageal airway inserted. The male child was deeply in a coma, but on the EKG monitor, his heart rhythm was steady and stable with no deviations. Julie rubbed his hair motheringly. "You'll be ok, sweety." she sighed in relief. "Keep fighting like you are and try to wake up soon. We're all here." Mike Stoker radioed in with the finishing instructions from Dr. Brackett. ##51, do you have the boy fully immobilized? He's concerned with blunt trauma that hasn't begun to display any signs yet.## "That's affirmative, Stoker." Gage replied into the HT cocked chin tight to his shoulder. His other hand was stringing the Ringer's line to the child's needle port that he had started in the boy's jugular vein. "On a back pack frame. Vasoconstriction seems to be confined to his limbs only. Dendrite burns show the strike entry site was situated on his right shoulder and the exit was through a contact point on his left lateral ankle about three centimeters in diameter. A second exit burn is on his left medial gluteus." Roy put dressings on those, while they waited for Mike to share their update with Brackett. At Rampart, Kel looked up in relief at Dixie. "That explains the great looking EKG we have on him. The lightning didn't bolt through the heart." Kel toggled the talk switch to the ranger tower. "Stoker, tell 51 to elevate the boy's limbs to slow his intimal damage. Last thing we need is deep tissue necrosis setting in from internal hemorrhaging from his extremity muscles.... Also, ..." Stoker suddenly hushed the doctor with news from the valley camp. ".. Doctor, DeSoto's noting a change.. He's seeing nonspecific ST-T wave segment changes and a prolonged QT interval on his monitor.." Dr. Brackett pursed his lips, thinking. "Wish I could see it.." he mumbled to McCall. "I don't like us being in the dark on this one." "Trust the boys," she said with a reassuring nod. "You taught them well on how to interpret cardiac telemetry. Rely on that now, Kel." Brackett studied Dixie's face seriously for a long moment, then he opened the channel back to Mike Stoker. "Ranger Tower, tell them to administer .3 mg's of magnesium sulfate I.V. push until they've reached normal sinus rhythm. Tell them to watch for a loss of his deep tendon reflexes in his arms as a signal to know when to halt the drip in the port. That moment will be the indicator of effectiveness. Do not exceed the dosage delivery beyond that point." ##10-4, Rampart..## Stoker replied. ##Stand by..## A long two minutes dragged by for nurse and doctor. Finally.. #Normal sinus rhythm's been established..## burst from the radio speaker. Dixie celebrated with a beaming smile even as Brackett leaned on the base station counter and dropped his head in relief. "10-4, Ranger Tower. We read you. Tell 51 to keep the patient warm and to keep watching for signs of heme pigments in his urine. I want to know the minute any of those show up." Soon, Mike Stoker finished his relaying information task and the boy was relegated to monitored status while the report on the little girl went out. Julie happily relayed the child's excellent vital signs and findings and normal EKG. She even received an order to begin warming her by mouth with hot beverages. "How would you like some hot cocoa?" she asked the cocooned girl. Slowly, the petite child's eyes beamed in an anticipatory shy smile at Beck's cheek caress with the question. Julie was rewarded with a whispered, "Yes, please.." By the door, monitoring the fire's progress, Chet Kelly was less than calm. "Gage,. Beck, we gotta move, now. The edge's just crested the ridge top. And it looks like it's moving in the canopy." That alarmed all of them. Tree top fire storms were horrible for their reputation, travelling speed and ability to snuff out all the oxygen in the air. "The danger of suffocation if we get caught underneath all that's pretty good, I'm afraid.." Kelly added. Roy said, "I'll stay behind. I'll only slow you down if I was one to go. If things get outta hand with the fire, I'll radio Cap for a rush on his progress getting here." Johnny nodded, rose, and put his helmet back on. Julie accepted the helmet Roy gave her, and his turnout coat. She turned to Cassidy. "You make sure to get the calmest horses. Spook, Molly, Diablo Dot and Flash will be the best ones to go. They didn't go out on trails this afternoon with the kids. I'll start picking out the first likely places for us to search on the wall map." "Give me ten minutes and they'll be set.." and Tim dashed out to saddle the horses. Gage went out with him. "I'll help. I'm an old hand with horses. I own a ranch." Tim's doubt on a fireman's ability with horses registered on his face only briefly before both men began to run for the peach stucco-ed stable. Just a short time later, Kelly, Lopez, Gage and both rangers grabbed ample climbing ropes, medical gear, air bottles and 02 as they went out the door. Roy and Johnny exchanged lingering looks of worry with each other about the remaining five kids and the very rapid progress of the massive forest fire flowing down to the camp's valley floor level as the screen door banged shut between them. Then there was no more time for hesitation. They departed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The wild night was inky despite the wildfire ringing around them. Immense trunks of protesting pine loomed on the dirt trail Julielead the rescuers upon, heading for their first destination to search. The river. And the kayak launching beach where the camp held their lessons. "It's not much farther!" Julie Beck shouted back at the others. "The river eddies into a calmer pool here before the rapids and the waterfall. There's no other building around here that they could've gone to..." Tim Cassidy said. "There's also a cave up there on that scrubleadge just above the boat shed. We'll split up. Kelly, Gage, go with Julie. Lopez, come with me. We'll be faster that way..! Don't worry about the horses, they've been trained to ground tie.." "They'll stay put through this weather?" Chet asked as he slid awkwardly from his mount, Molly, jarring his helmet almost off his head when his air bottle bumped off the mare's side. "Like I said. Ground tied. They work with kids, remember?" "Oh,... yeah..right.." Kelly said, rubbing his chin to dim the bruise pang he received there. Tim went on. "Just keep on your radios. We'll have a range maximum of a mile until the fire's within 800 yards." Lopez launched off Diablo's back with the same agility as Johnny off Spook's. Tim's horse Flash minced his head in nervousness when the stallion didn't feel Tim leave his back as well. "Whoa, boy. You and I are med pack couriers for whoever finds a kid first." he mumbled to the horse. "Easy boy." he clicked his tongue inside his mouth to encourage Flash forward after Marco running already for the cave's cliff. The group rushed off in two directions before their flashlights calling loudly for the names of the missing five children. Julie remained on Dot's back for a high vantage point as she cantered the filly after Lopez and Johnny's swaying flashlights in the darkness. Johnny and Kelly skidded to a halt at a bizarre sight on the river bank. A little boy wearing a green ranger's hat was sitting and fishing the river by the light of the looming fire on the ridge above. Next to him lay an empty plastic bag of Wonder Bread. Gage and Julie both ran to the boy thumping onto their knees by him, while Kelly grabbed a blanket out of a horse's saddle bag. Julie grasped the little boy's face to get his attention over the blowing wind coming from the rushing river below but the boy angrily thrust his chin out of her hands. "Let go.. I gotta get some fish. They'll be better. Our bread's run out. Pete'll be getting hungry. He's already so cold." "What?" Julie said to the little boy. "Kevin, what are you saying?" "He's in shock.." Gage said taking the indian blanket from Chet and wrapping it around the child. "I'll stay with him. Kelly! Go with Julie and scout around.. Pete's gotta be nearby here somewhere.." Gage made no move to take the cane pole away from the boy where he intently stared at the bopper twisting in the river's current. Instead, he wrapped a hand around Kevin's wrist to take a pulse while he spoke softly to him. "Kevin, it's ok.. Now we're here to help you and Pete get out of here. The fire's not going to get you. We've real strong horses who're gonna take us all out of here just as soon as we find Pete. " The staring boy didn't seem to register Gage's presence. "Kevin? Where's Pete? Can you tell me that?" Then, a flicker of recognition when the tiny boy realized that something warm was holding his wrist. His trembling lips spoke so quietly, that Johnny barely heard him. "He's hiding. He got sick after we ate all the bread for lunch." Johnny looked all around them hastily, but saw nothing but wind torn forest. "Which way, Kevin? Tell me ... which way did Pete go after he ate with you?" Kevin unwrapped one of his arms from inside the woven blanket and pointed. Johnny lifted his HT. "The river! Head upstream! Kevin says Pete is there!" ##10-4.## Julie and Chet didn't go very far when the glint of metal flared under their flashlights by the water's edge. "Belt buckle! Over there!" Kelly shouted. Beck drove Dot through the marsh grass to where Kelly was pointing and dismounted the mare, searching and shouting. "Pete! It's Ranger Julie! Shout if you can hear us! We're gonna get you out of here!" There was no reply. Chet and Julie followed the point of sparkle near the ground to the river's beach head. Pete lay head and shoulders under the water, sprawled beneath an overturned kayak. "Oh, no...." Julie moaned and ran. Chet Kelly radioed Gage in a pico. "We found him. Submersed in shallow water, face down. Hang on.." Back at the high bank, Johnny's face didn't change from its gentleness as the bad news reached him as he sat with an arm around the silenced Kevin. He didn't even turn around when the sounds of aggressive suctioning and CPR began in the bulrushes behind him. All his attention was on the small child in his arms. Kevin whimpered. "I gotta catch a fish. Bread's not enough. Pete'll be so hungry come morning. I don't know why he's still sleeping there.." he sobbed weakly. "Kevin.." Johnny said, resting a warm chin on the boy's hat covered head that was sticking out of his warming bearhug. "....a real big one. A brookie.. With shining spots and ..and.. and.. a gold tail... Just like Ranger Tim said we'll find here in the middle of the willow pool. See? I got my bobber out real far. Right to the very center. I'll get one. It's only a matter of sitting real still and keeping quiet and.. and..and waiting it o--" "Kevin.. I gotta share something with you.. It's gonna be some news... I'm afraid, some .... really really bad news... about your friend..." Gage whispered softly. He could feel the boy's shivering grow more slight in fear. He glanced over and saw the trouble Beck was having trouble inserting an endotrach tube because of an odd stiffness in Pete's neck and the lack of pinking in his skin from Chet's more than ample one handed CPR. A wide open oxygen line hissed anew when they saw the lack of effective color, too. Kevin's voice rose in his plans for helping Pete get food enough to eat, louder and louder, trying to drown out what the paramedic holding him was trying to tell him. "...and we'll get a good campfire going. And we'll cook that fat trout up real nice until it's so juicy you can just spit!" Chet and Julie both looked up at Kevin's agitation, but continued to revive the cold, blue little boy beneath their hands. Julie switched to using an ambu bag and a simple oral airway when the better one failed to thread. Johnny saw the long IC epinephrine syringe unsheath, and get used after a short conversation on the radio. Gage held Kevin even tighter and gently hushed him. "Shhhhh.. it's ok. We're not hurting him. We're just being his heart and we're breathing for his lungs because they can't do that right now. Pete's too chilled." Bright tears sprang from Kevin's eyes and he flung the fishing pole away into the water and he whirled to hug Johnny fiercely around the neck, burying his face in the fireman's shoulder. "I didn't want Pete to drown.. I- I..I told him ....*sob* we shouldn't use the kayaks by ourselves. But he..he..he wouldn't listen. He sneaked us away when we were supposed to leave camp after Counselor Sue told us that the fire was coming. I tried to drag him out, but he fell back in." "Chet, stop CPR!" Gage heard Julie shout. "I'm getting a whole lot out of his stomach. Roll him." Panting, the two rescuers turned the boy to drain his nose and mouth. A flashlight bumped and spun around on the ground, casting light onto Pete's bared skin. A dull purplish stain sharply drew itself down the bottoms of Pete's legs, butt and back. What it was was undeniable to both the paramedics working on him. Chet didn't catch it right away. "Ok, Julie, I got his airway clear.. turn him back over." Julie remained frozen where she was huddled on the moss, not really seeing the signs her eyes were looking at. "Come on, Julie!" Kelly said, "I gotta start up again. Let go of his shoulders now.. What's the problem?" "Oh, no. There's pooling." Julie's shocked voice gasped as she ran her fingers over Pete's skin in disbelief. Chet didn't understand. He was deep in caregiver mode. "Beck. Turn him over. I'll take over on the bag. " Julie's words finally made Gage look over his shoulder at them and the signs Julie was examining. Chet didn't hear him, intent as he was. "Beck, start the chest compressions. We've already waited too long here." Gage yelled, knife sharp at his coworker. "Stop! It's lividity, Chet! Open your eyes and get a good look at him. It's over. Can't you see that Pete's really g--." But he broke off. Stunned, Chet's face fell out of urgency to one of profound sadness as the suction tube slipped from the boy's mouth and dropped to the sand from his gloves. He lowered his head... and the curly haired fireman lifted his hands away from the boy. The wind died then, and the forest filled with a smoky brooding silence and a strange blackness. The grownups tensed as the sound of the approaching hungry fire grew, hissing and popping. It made their ears ring with its fiery noise. The only thing louder was the violent, choking sobs of a little boy whose heart was broken. "Kevin.. it's ok to cry..." Johnny said to him, almost reluctant to touch the angry frightened little boy who was shrinking away from him. "Pete's in a better place now.. There's nothing else we can do. He's not cold or hungry any more." "..no..." "Kevin.. we have to go now." Gage said in a firmer voice, rising to his feet, bending over to grab the cocooned Kevin's shoulders. The boy, looking up at the adults with his eyes red and weeping as he tore out of Johnny's grip., snarled. "I'm not leaving Pete! Ranger Tim says that you never, EVER leave a buddy. I'm not going!" He turned to run but the river stopped him. "Kevin.. Look.." came a woman's call. "I brought Dot with me so she can take us home. I know it's very dark but can you see her spots?" "What?" Kevin sobbed. Beck held out her hands and the reins lying there. "Show Dot how to get back to camp. She's lost and..and I don't think she remembers the way. She needs you.....*sniff* .....Here." Again Julie offered Kevin the reins of the horse. Bravely, the tearful boy nodded and he accepted them, mounting quickly in front of Julie on the saddle. Beck turned her horse and galloped towards the direction of Tim and Marco and the cave site. Behind them, Gage and Kelly put Pete's covered body into an uprighted kayak and launched it into the river followed by a hastily made anchor of rock and a long length of rope. Gage nodded at Kelly when they were through. "The fire won't be able to reach him out there. A recovery crew can come back to get him later." The two firemen grabbed their horses and hurried after Julie and Kevin. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cassidy and Lopez found the other three children in a cranny deep inside the shallow granite cave at the top of the cliff. It took very little effort for Gage and the others to climb up, reach them, and harness them down safely to the pine needle carpetted valley floor. They were dirty, and scared, but uninjured. Two fireman each took a child and so did one ranger ranger as front passengers aboard their mounts. The five horses were galloped quickly back to the trail.. But the fire had beaten them first. Tim's horse Flash, reared as a fireball of burning tree crashed to the ground in front of them. But he held on to the little girl in his arms so tightly, that she didn't fall off. The air immediately grew too thin to breathe. "*Cough*! Fire storm! Get back to the river!" Tim yelled. "*Choke* Masks!" Lopez ordered. "Share yours with the kids!" he said, controlling Diablo's head so he wouldn't jar the child sitting in front of his knees. The air bottles immediately provided breathing room for the humans. But the horses began to stumble; to trip in the lack of oxygen as sparks flew down from the fire in the pine tops. Julie gave a shout and smacked a rope so loudly on Dot's haunch that it startled the other horses into a bolt after her. "Go back! *Gasp*! We gotta reach the river and go across. It's the only way we'll find any breathing room for the horses." She whirled Dot the appaloosa around in her tracks. "What!? Away from the camp? That's nuts! We're leaving Roy and those two kids behind!" Kelly shouted, trying to slow his chesnut mare's flight after Dot. "Cap'll get em, Chet! He's on the way with the fire crew and a stokes team remember?!" Gage shouted. Kelly let go of his hold on Molly's bit and started kicking her flanks. "Ok, come on, girl. Move!" Johnny clucked urgently, leaning down to encourage Spook into greater speed. "Easy boy, just a little *cough* farther." he said, giving his mask to the child in front of him. The fire became a live animal and writhed above, boiling the air and stripping the pines into black ember impaled skeletons of char in seconds. But the massive fire column twisting in the sky did not descend to consume the rescuers and children into its fierce dance. A wall of heat began to burn the hides of the laboring horses on their rears. Then..... Sploosh! The water's surface offered its layer of breathable air when the five horses splashed into the river's current and began swimming for the shelter of the opposite side. Looking behind him, Johnny could just see the orange dot of Pete's kayak safely moored by the beach in the center of the willow pool. Then smoke obscured it. Blowing hard and coughing, the camp horses bore their riders onwards, gasping in effort and frothing. Then they were staggering up the far side's knotty boulders and into the peaceful forest whose fire hadn't yet the strength to endanger. The firemen and rangers glanced back only once at the raging inferno they had left behind. Two singed deer stood in the river, looking back at them, frightened of the humans but even more frightened of the fire. The mulies didn't even move at all. Julie and Tim took them all to a very high bare rise of rock where Gage dismounted gladly. He took out a cherry flare from a pocket and ignited it for the distant choppers. Its light burst out into a red star from the wax seal and the wind carried away the steam trail into the sky. As they watched, collapsed, and holding the horses, drop planes and water helicopters cut a hole in the fire line with chemicals and liquid suppressants until the way to the ranger tower was clear of flames. Soon, they were overrun with rescuers and vehicles and brush firemen, who rushed to take the children to the command center down the highway where the ambulances and flight helicopters were waiting. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Gage coughed as he sucked in more oxygen from a mask an aid worker had given him in Fire Relief Receiving. Roy sat on a cot next to him, still covered with dirt but he was still far cleaner than his partner was. DeSoto smiled. "So, how did it feel to be on horseback like that with the rescue gear on and all?" "What do you mean, Roy? I was on horseback yesterday at home when I worked out Eagle." "You know what I mean. I've always wondered about mounted firemen at forest fires... using horses to get around at the fringes of a blaze, then using them to go on rescues..." he hinted. "I- I - I know rangers already have a mounted service. I used to think that was really kinda neat. I was just wondering that maybe I should suggest to someone about the forest fire department maybe starting one up, too...." he said, very reflective. Then he smiled with shy curiosity at Johnny. "So..how did it feel?" "You know Roy, quite frankly, I don't remember much. All I kept thinking about was those children and and..and.. keeping the fire off us long enough to save all our skins." Johnny admitted, cock eye grinned. "But I'll admit that deep down inside, I felt a bit like the Lone Ranger because I had a mask on and everything." he joked. The two paramedic firemen laughed together about that mental image until Julie Beck and Tim Cassidy came into the tent following their medical checkups. Gage smiled. "Hey.. how are the horses? I figured we ran em pretty ragged out there." "They're fine. Dot took a burn on the hock but the vet says it'll heal cleanly." Julie said. "The rest of them just have melted hair damage. No wounds." "That's good." Tim took off his ranger's hat in a gesture of respect that made Johnny and Roy sit up straighter. "Well, we've got to get going. We've piles of reports to fill out about all this back at Devil's Head. Listen.. I appreciate all that you guys tried to do for Pete. It means a whole lot to me and Julie." Cassidy said meaningfully. The hint of sadness about the boy's loss still covered his voice. Both Johnny and Roy got to their feet and accepted the rangers' handshakes of farewell. "It's our job to try, Mr. Cassidy. Next time, we'll beat death. Like we always do ....the majority of the time." Johnny emphasized. "It's been a real pleasure.." Roy said. "Who knows, perhaps we'll work together again in the future." "Count on it." Beck beamed, wiping away her tears with a kleenix through a smile. "Take care.." "You two.." Gage said. "Stay gold." The rangers departed. Sighing, Roy and Johnny vacated the medical tent and stood outside under the stars. Already, the forest fire to the east, was dimming as cool blessed rain fell in abundance to snuff it out as the light of a rising dawn grew brighter. "Hey, would you look at that.." Johnny said in mild surprise. He started smiling ear to ear. "Look at what?" Roy asked, crossing his arms over his dusty uniform shirt. He winced when he bumped his taped up ribs. "Over there, in the camp evacuation block. That's Kevin, one of the little boys we rescued on the mountain. He's in that tent under that pine tree playing with one of the search dogs." "Oh yeah.." Roy smiled in pleasure. "Looks like he's doing fine now. Looks like his parents have found him already." "Yeah..." A clattering of hooves on pavement broke their reverie on the soothing sight of a healing child as Chet Kelly rode by on Molly, the brown camp stable horse. "Hiya fellas!! " he shouted enthusiastically. "What'ya say Johnny.. Think you can hire me out to exercise your barrel horse once in a while? I think I'm really starting to get the hang of all this riding stuff. Yeehhaaaaa!" and he asked Molly to rear in a trick he had discovered that she knew. The mare's stunt startled several passing firefighters on the way to the firelines and caused a water truck to screech to a halt in alarm. "Chester B Kelly. Get down from there!" ordered a booming, couldn't be denied voice. "You're making the whole Los Angeles County Fire Department look like a bunch of cowboys.." growled Captain Stanley from the nearby command tent. "That can be a good thing, Cap..." Johnny murmured secretively, thinking of Roy's earlier views. "Johnny, you just hush.. Kelly, down off her and get that ridiculous ranger hat off your head. I wanna see hooves back to the shelter corral so fast that horseshoe sparks'll still be lit on the asphalt long after you're gone. Or do you like the idea of being assigned drip torch detail on the fire line for the rest of the day before you get breakfast?" Kelly and Molly were ballistic missiles. Cap felt the breeze of their departure ruffle his overcoat as they galloped away. Stanley grinned in satisfaction and entered the chow tent with a happy wave at Johnny and Roy. "That felt wonderful. Always a good thing to let off a little steam after a bad fire.." he quipped. Roy and Johnny moved away from the fire command tent and accepted plates of food from the aid workers as they sat down in front of a bon fire lit by some of the valley camp's staff, for warmth. Roy chewed, after finding a comfortable position, then he asked. "So... are you gonna do it?" Johnny was inhaling his food like a vacuum cleaner. "Do what?" he asked, chipmunk cheeked. He burned his mouth on some coffee that was too hot and Roy had to grab a handful of ice from a water cooler to put out the fire. "Let Chet work out Eagle.." DeSoto continued. "Oh,. Huh. That.." Gage chuckled. "Thanks for the ice. Don't think I scalded myself more than a little bit. Heh. Uh.. I think I'll.....I think I'll let ....Chet handle my horse.." he reflected. "Your prized appaloosa barrel racer?" Roy asked, wide eyed in shock. "No, not him. I think I'll let Chet manage Cochise, the Falabella. He comes about knee high. He's a miniature horse, Roy." Roy burst out laughing to the point of crying out in pain when his splinted ribs shook. "Oww.www.. Ha.! hehe. Ow.. ouch.. I don't think Chet's gonna like that idea very much. I think Chet had in mind that he wanted to ride some more." "Nah uh.. no way. Not on my horses. He can just play amusement pony ride manager for Cochise at the Fireman's Picnic event and be happy." "If you say so. Johnny.. Come on, let's go get cleaned up and hit the hay.. I'm bushed." Roy said standing up and walking away from the campfire to make room for new hungry firefighters. Gage said, scooping up a donut from a box as he hurried after his partner. "Ouch. Roy, I'm speared clear through... That hay pun wasn't very funny at all. " Then.. his voice lifted in an idea. "Sayyyy,, " John's purred in discovery, "If I play my cards right.. maybe I can get Chet to be my new stable boy at the ranch. He'll pitch plenty of hay then for sure if I can convince him that it's worth it." he grinned. "Better be prepared to pay.." "Pay what?" "A wage. I don't think Chet'll do anything with horses for free unless it's strictly riding them." "Who says?" "I do.." DeSoto said frankly, biting into an apple. "Wanna bet?" Roy stopped in his tracks and set both hands as best he could on his hips and regarded Gage through slitted, calculating eyes. "After a full night's sleep I will." he challenged, chewing slowly. Johnny matched his stance, just as scrutinizing, through equally slitted eyes. His finger came up and poked Roy on the chest. "How much?" he asked with a cat that ate the canary smirk. Mike Stoker strode by, in fresh turnout, towelling off his shower fresh, damp hair. "Don't go for it. He'll rob ya." he called out mischieviously. Gage never changed his position. "Don't listen to him. He's just an engineer. How much?" he asked Roy again, without even glancing at the gesture taunting head shaking in the negative Mike rounding the corner away from them. DeSoto studied Mike and then angled his jaw in a final decision. "See you later this evening when our night shift starts." Roy told Johnny and he resumed his slow, rib favoring walk. "Aww Roy, pally. Come on, what's a little bet between friends?" Gage asked, stepping comically as he fluttered around his much larger companion. "A whole lot. Night, Johnny. Go saw some wood." and the tent door flapped shut in Johnny's face as Roy passed through it. "I'd rather burn some...." Gage said, smiling. He turned back around to look towards the civilian tents. "..in a campfire, roasting marshmellows, with a little boy who really really really likes to fish. I'll just bet little Kevin'll love riding Cochise at the Fireman's Picnic Event next month." FIN Episode Ten.. From Loaves To Fishes -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : A boy and dog in an orange kayak, in smoke. Photo : Boy in a green ranger hat, fishing. Photo: A firestorm bearing down on two deer in a river. Photo: A woman crossing water on a spotted white mare. Photo: Chet and Johnny negotiating. Photo: Men relaxing around a night campfire in the woods. Photo: Roy in a cowboy hat, smiling. ***************************************************************** FIN :) This episode is dedicated to Hubert Joerg, a family friend with a thick Norwegian accent who died of an MI while doing yardwork. CPR couldn't save him. :( Please, learn this skill as soon as you can,.. and be ready :) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season Two, Episode Eleven- Shadows of the Past ****************************************************** From : Sent : Wednesday, June 2, 2004 11:19 PM Subject : Re: [EmergencyTheaterLive] Episode Eleven Preproduction begins.. As the sun rose over the city of Carson, CA, the six men assigned to LACoFD Station 51's A-shift, were already awake, eagerly awaiting the end of their shift. The previous night had been busy, with several MVAs and one particularly nasty warehouse fire that had kept the boys hopping until nearly 2AM. But, in spite of the busy night, none of the men were showing signs of exhaustion. Quite the opposite was true. Captain Hank Stanley, Engineer Michael Stoker, Firefighters Marco Lopez and Chet Kelly, and Paramedics Roy DeSoto and John Gage were almost buzzing with energy. Today was the start of a long vacation. Ten whole days, and the guys were pumped up with excitement. They had brainstormed and came up with the idea of a camping and fishing trip to the remote, but beautiful area that Roy, John, and Chet had gone to a few months ago: Santa Rose County. Roy, John, and Chet had visited the area and ended up saving a few lives in addition to some great fishing. Everyone had agreed that it sounded like a wonderful idea, even Cap, who hated fish under the best of circumstances. "Man, I can hardly WAIT to get a lungful of that clean, mountain air!" said dark-haired paramedic John Gage. "Bet it tastes a lot better than the faceful of soot you ate last night, Gage" snickered Chet Kelly, unaffectionately known to his shift-mates as The Phantom. "Chet, ANYTHING would taste better than this sludge you call coffee," sniped Gage. "Children children, enough bickering," interrupted Cap. "Marco, would you please make some drinkable coffee? I'd like to drive up to Santa Rosa County without falling asleep at the wheel." "Sure, Cap," said Marco. "Good thing my culinary skills extend to coffee." "Yeah, Marco," said Roy. "Even Henry could make better coffee than Chet." Henry looked up at the firemen from his perch on the sofa and yawned, causing Mike Stoker, usually the quietest man on the shift to pipe up, "See!! Even Henry agrees." "I don't think regaining consciousness is exactly agreeing, Mike," laughed Johnny. "Whether Henry agrees or not, can we at least have breakfast before we start debating?" said Cap. With that, Cap got up and walked to the refrigerator and opened it, looking inside to see what he could whip up for a meal. Spying a carton of eggs and a slab of bacon, he pulled them out of the refrigerator, only to bump into Chet Kelly, who was standing right behind him. CRASH!! The eggs fell to the floor and broke, spreading out in a slimy puddle of yellow, dotted with shell fragments. "KELLY!!! Watch where you're standing, you twit!!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ******************************************************************* From : Maggie H Sent : Thursday, June 3, 2004 1:15 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Shadows of the Past -- scene 2 "Perfection!" breathed Johnny Gage as he slipped down into the camping chair, a beer in one hand and a sandwich in the other. In front of him, the sun was sinking behind the mountains, and the the pale hues in the sky promised a gorgeous sunset in a matter of minutes. Orange and reddish sunlight rippled across the lake. A short distance from the shore, the silhouette of a boat and its two occupants bobbed up and down. Chet and Marco, who had been eager to get out fishing since they'd set off from Roy's house at 9am that morning. Behind the dark-haired paramedic, laughter echoed from within the long Skyliner camper that the guys had chipped in together to rent for their 10-day excursion. It was parked some 300 feet from the lake shore, and it could provide a fairly comfortable "base camp" for them, as they hiked and explored the area. Heck, it even had a generator that could keep a fresh supply of cool beers on tap for the end of each day. And even six men could comfortably sleep in the huge camper. *Pretty cool,* thought Johnny as he sighed and watched the sky blaze a dark orange and fiery red. The sounds of laughter and voices blossomed as the door to the camper opened, and Roy, Mike, and Hank headed out and down to the lake shore. Plopping their chairs down, they settled in next to Johnny. "Do you think they'll actually catch anything?" mumbled Johnny after a bit. The boat was slowly disappearing into the darkness as the sunset faded into night. A lantern in the boat had illuminated a few minutes previously. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ****************************************************************** From : Cassidy Meyers Sent : Friday, June 4, 2004 2:25 AM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Things That Go Bump In The Night... "I wouldn't hold it past them.." Roy chuckled matter of factly. "You know, Chet's been working hard at reading all those Outdoor Life magazines. Maybe he's picked up a little from them." Hank chuckled as he sipped his icy Pabst beer in its plastic cup."I've never seen anyone strike a beeline for a boat faster than him. You hadn't even shut the motor off on Gage's rover here when Kelly and Lopez's rears were on the boat cushions, roaring off into the sunset. I wonder what they're using for bait though. He forgot these.." and his foot kicked the styrofoam container full of swarming leeches. Johnny grinned, gulping half his beer before he set the rest down in the sand next to his chaise lounge chair. "You're forgetting he's still cringing about ruining breakfast for us this morning by dropping those egg cartons. Chet's never taken the steam that blows out of your ears whenever you're mad very well." "Really?" Cap wondered, his face suddenly vulnerable with reflection."Do- Do I really have that kind of effect on you guys?" Immediately, the other three squirmed in their chairs. Mike Stoker took this as an excuse to clear Johnny's empty plate full of fried chicken bones. "Gotta go wash before this crusts over." and he disappeared into the gathering warm darkness. Gage leaped at the chance, "I'll help." That left Roy in the hot seat, who bore it bravely. Around the corner of the camper, out of eye line, Gage and Stoker leaned in to listen to DeSoto's reply like eager playground kids watching a bully go to work. DeSoto kept sipping his lemon iced tea, considering Cap's question. "It depends..." At Hank's go on nod, Roy plunged into a man to man analysis. "At times, let's say the leaning in heavy is fully justified. Especially when you're dishing out the chorelist and the other guys have antsy feet about it. But then there's this morning..." and DeSoto trailed off, waving his dewy drink in significance. "Roy, I was hungry. We all were. And the stores were all closed because of Memorial Day. Now tell me the honest G*d's truth. Those BLT sandwiches minus the L and the T were disgusting, right?" "Well..." "Thought so. Henry seemed to enjoy what was left well enough. But d*mn it, Roy. Dropping those eggs was ...sheer carelessness." his voice rose in passionate ardor. "If he'd been carrying a hose nozzle and clunked it on the ground at a fire scene, a whole lotta guys would be in serious danger for lack of water because of a dented ring!" "Cap..." Roy informed softly. "What!?" Hank replied, a little red above his T-shirt. "We're on vacation..Can you simmer down? I think you're still putting the fear of the All Mighty into them." and he jerked a thumb over his shoulder meaningfully at the invisible Gage and Stoker lingering nearby. There was a clatter of a tin metal garbage can tipping over noisily as the two with their cover blown made tracks hastily. Gage went inside the camper and Stoker took cover inside the Satellite near the propane gas grill bottles. "Oh, uh. Right." Cap sputtered, taking a huge gulp of his beer to fortify himself. "Guess I should glance down and take a look at what kinda clothes I'm wearing before I spout off like that. Thanks for reminding me." Roy glanced at Hank askance. "You needed reminding when you're surrounded by all of this?" he asked in mild surprise. A sharp piercing call of a Red Tailed Hawk punctuated the air and a wave curled musically up onto the beach from a boat's wake as if on cue after Roy's question. "Well.. yeah.." Hank said meekly. "Do you remember the last time I went on vacation?" Roy turned his head and studied Marco and Chet's nodding profiles in the indigo twilight from where they were anchored sixty yards out on the lake. He could just see Kelly fussing with a fly on the end of his line. "Uh.." "Well, I don't. Emily tells me that I went to Pasadena or something for an expo about the time you showed up at the station..." Cap confided. "Really?" Roy's head jerked around. "That's ...that's a long time ago.." "You're darn shootin, it is.. No wonder I'm a little short in the wick department lately. Now perhaps, I'll get a chance to ..." and he sighed expansively, stretching, "..unwind a little." He sat in his beach chair, trying to look at ease, but failed miserably. "Yeah, well do it soon.." came Gage's voice as he exited the camper in his swim trucks. "We're all tired of hearing you pop your relief valve at every stupid tiny thing that happens." he counseled gently. "Watch me, Roy. I'm going kinda far out. The water's cooler out there." "Ok.." Gage dove neatly into the lake and swam deliberately away from Chet and Marco's fishing boat. "Maybe I should go for a swim.." Cap considered. "I can only watch one of ya at a time.." Roy replied. "Besides, maybe you shouldn't go in just yet. Four beers might cause a few problems." Cap slumped back in his chair, and looked at the finger full left in his glass. It had gone warm in his hand. He poured it out onto the beach in an out of the way spot and asked. "Is that Lipton stuff any good?" Roy's nose wrinkled just then. "Do you smell something, Cap?" Hank's long proboscis lifted and his nostrils flared. "Am I hallucinating? That smells like.." "Heyyy!!" Both men turned out to see Chet and Marco flailing from the boat, and their motor kicked in immediately back towards the shoreline right at them. Roy and Cap didn't understand what Chet and Lopez were pointing at. "Behind you!" Marco shouted over the boat motor's roar. "Geez, turn around you guys! There's trouble!" Kelly yelled in frustration. Roy and Cap finally got the message. They turned around and looked back towards the camper parked underneath the swaying birch trees. The biff was on fire. "Ohmyg*d. Mike's in there..isn't he?" Cap asked. "Stoker!" DeSoto called out, rushing forward. He paused only long enough to grab the fire extinguisher that was clipped to the camper's trailer frame between it and Johnny's rover. "Hey, answer me!" "What are you guys waiting for?!" came Johnny's yell and his water slicked slender body booked high speed for the burning outhouse. He stumbled only once over the rocks where the beach ended and the forest began. "Just tip it over and he can get out that way.." The three firemen were quickly joined by the other two and in a flurry of shouts and hissing fire repellent and brute strength, they broke the satellite's concrete clamps enough to create a gap near the ground large enough for a coughing Mike Stoker to crawl out. Marco and Johnny dragged him away by the pants butt and got him to his feet. "Whew..do you smell... are you ok?" Gage asked him. Mike leaned over and spat stench out of his mouth and coughed. "Yeah, I'm fine.. How did that get started?" Roy stopped spraying the ABC extinguisher on some wires he had found touching the fiberglass shell of the biff. "I believe here's the problem. Some of this insulated wire on this timer valve's been worn bare." "You mean I almost fried with my shorts down because of a faulty propane tank regulator?" Mike said, still worked up a little. "Yep." Roy shrugged. "Why.... I....Oooo..!" Stoker sputtered. "Stoker... Easy, pal.." Cap soothed, taking his engineer by the shoulders briefly before thinking better of it because of his odiferous bouquet. "You gotta learn how to unwind a little.. Here, have my beer." ---------------------------------------------------------- Photo : Stoker making fried chicken. Photo: Cap confiding in Roy. Photo: An outhouse on fire. Photo: A Pabst blue ribbon beer can. ************************************************************* From : Jeff Seltun Sent : Wednesday, June 16, 2004 10:11 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Night Visitors There was a commotion in the darkness. A rustling sound, from the woods. All six firemen turned to face it. It was a woman, her page style hair dishevelled from a panicked run, that came dashing from the deeper shadows into the campfire light. She was dragging behind her a running hose they recognized from the fishhouse. "Oh, my gosh. Oh my gosh.. Are you guys all right?!" The gang's eyes oggled for the young woman was very pretty for her age of twenty or so years. Roy and Cap immediately became politely discreet, for the young gal was in a very short mini skirt and western blouse. Mike Stoker finally jerked his head stupidly, answering their surprise visitor. "I'm fine. Not even singed." The girl didn't stop and kept on rushing past the stunned men. "Good. Here, let me wash down these sparks still smouldering on the grass. Oh, I've got to hurry.. I don't want Beauford, he's the fire spotter across the lake, to see this. Knowing him, he'll raise holy Caine for sure if he sees a glow not inside a fire ring on the beach. He'll call in every fire station in the county for no good reason at all and having the campground crawling with firefighters in the middle of the night is the last thing I need the sheriff finding out about." she blithered. "I'm sick to death of dealing with fire boys. I've seen far too many of them this summer as it is on my resort's land. " The gang from 51's shared looks of irony about the firefighter comment. Then Captain Stanley took a step forward. "Uh,," and he cleared his throat. "..thank you Miss, for the water. Here, let my friend Mike Stoker here finish that hose soaking while you sit down and take a breather. You look like you're about to fall over. My friend Roy's got some iced tea chilling on the table over there. Help yourself. Please. You look like you could really use some. I'm Hank Stanley by the way." The panting woman gave one last worried glance at the smoking outhouse and back once more at the far shore of the quiet lake before she accepted Hank's offer of a lawn chair. "Nicola Sommers. Charmed. Thanks." she sighed, dropping into the chair with a healthy collapse and sprawled into an undisguised state of sweaty exhaustion. She wiped some dirt off her upper lip, while her other hand snatched the ice tea tumbler Cap had offered to her from the picnic table. "Cheers. " And she downed Roy's whole glass of Lipton Lemon Twist as rapidly as she could. The guys watched her every swallow. Especially Chet Kelly. The charming Nicola was oblivious. Then her head whipped around to look back at the hose dousing Stoker was just finishing up. "Look, are you sure he knows what he's doing? Embers under all this meadow grass can smoulder for hours.." Johnny Gage came up aces.. "Stoker's a real pro, Ms. Sommers. You can kinda say that he ..uh....plays with water for a living... In fact, we all do.." Marco smacked Johnny on the arm and he hissed under his breath so only Gage could hear. "Don't spill the beans that we're firemen. We might lose her as some real good company." Chet Kelly covered for Lopez's mumble loudly, covering it up. "Nicola, did you come from the cottage house perched all the way up there on the ridge?" "Yeah. I had to. Luke, my bassett hound, starting carrying on something fierce and that usually means trouble on the beach so I started running when I saw the fire starting up." "Wow, you made it down here to the lake in record time. You sure are in incredible shape.." Kelly continued and his eyes flickered downwards the length of her body, admiring her black leather boots to go along with the rest of her. Gage smacked Kelly discreetly on the back of the head for his indiscretion. "Ow..." Chet complained, glancing back at Gage. "Ow what?" Nicola said, oblivious to the exchange. She looked up from the empty ice tea glass she was returning to the table. "Mosquitoes.." Gage supplied. "Nothing." Chet said simultaneously. They immediately reversed a verbal tumble. "Yeah, d*mned bugs." Kelly burbled. "He's sore from fishing." Gage admitted at the same time. ::Uh oh..:: they both thought. ::We're caught for sure.:: Cap and the other guys froze like spotlighted deer, waiting for a defensive reaction. But the young woman sitting across from them just smiled sweetly and pushed out her bottom lip in acquiesence. "Happens to the best of folks..." Nicola agreed, leaning back and breathing expansively of the pine scented night air to begin cooling herself further. "Especially city folks like yourselves. My guess is that you're all from L.A. or very close there abouts." Gage was surprised. Smart chicks really threatened him, and his question popped out before he could wrest it back inside of his mouth. "How'd you know that we were from Los Angeles?" Ms. Sommers tossed her head at the Rover still hitched to the rental camper. "Only city cars are stained that dark from smog dust. And the only city that's so smoggy this time of year is L.A. I spotted your rover and camper this afternoon when you drove by my house on the way to the lake access road..." Her eyes twinkled as she added more. "I wouldn't speed so fast next time. Sheriff Bittner's new deputy is always on the lookout for new out of towners to ticket." "We'll keep your advice in mind. Had enough?" Hank asked about Nicola's drink. "I'm topped off. Thanks. That was really good." Nicola tilted her dainty chin and high arched cheekbones delicately in challenge. "I'm the caretaker of that resort you can see up there on the ridge. It's got seven cabins and a pine log lodge and a trading post. I sort of inherited it from my step father when he died earlier this past winter. " "I'm sorry to hear about that, Ms. Sommers. " Roy mentioned politely. Nicola rubbed her nose absently. "It's ok. We hardly got along as it was. It was just the two of us for a long time. And it's taking a while to get the hang of running the whole business. Foreign investors keep stopping by saying they'll buy my land and everything on it to save me some grief but the sheriff says that I shouldn't sell. I ..quite frankly, I'm growing to love it up here. Almost as much as the sheriff does... Say,.. what made you guys choose Santa Rosa County Park for a vacation hot spot? Can't say much about attractions around here. Except our sunsets, which are made to absolutely die for." Nicola laughed. Hank laughed. "Sheriff Bittner recommended this campsite. Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto over there .." the two paramedics waved, grinning in the fire glow as they were introduced, "...went fishing with him last year after an adventure or two while working with him and fell in love with the place. Myself and Chet Kelly, Marco Lopez, and the man you already met watering the grass over there, just had to see what was so magical about Santa Rosa County, this year." "Well, glad to make your aquaintance gentlemen." Nicola said, getting up and shaking their hands one by one in greeting. "Thanks for the tea, Mr. DeSoto. Lipton's my all time favorite." She brushed some weeds and burrs out of her skirt. "Well, I think I'll be heading back since everything down here is a. o. k. " and she folded up her lawn chair. The gang immediately rose to their feet. Hank said, "It's almost completely dark now. Are you sure it's safe to wander around the woods at night? We'd- We'd be happy to offer you one of our tents to crash in until morning.. See? Chet Kelly's got one already set up over there.." and he pointed. "Oh, yeah. My sleeping bag's real warm." Kelly nodded. Nicola's askance look at Chet's school boy oggling of her unique attire made her raise her eyebrows and that gave the gang her unspoken answer to the offer. Marco piped up. "Don't worry about Kelly here, Nicola. We were just being neighborly. Helping folks comes naturally to us. Part of our jobs you could say. He didn't mean anything by that." "Yeah, Kelly usually puts his foot in his mouth at least once during the day. Only now, he's on vacation and had to wait until now before he embarrassed us all by doing it again." Gage said, with a glare at Kelly. Nicola was not offended. In fact, in the rising moonlight, she smiled, still at ease. Right then, an unearthly set of howls in the distance made the whole gang start. Chet actually took a few steps closer to the camp fire. "And there you have why the campsite has up the no tents restriction sign this week. Guys, I'm suggesting strongly to you that you all sleep in the camper at night." Nicola said, pointing toward the park's roofed regulations board. "The ranger put up that new notice about two hours before you got here." "Wh--What was that? Wolves?" Chet shivered. "Something like them I suspect." Nicola said. "As long as you stay by the lake and keep a fire up or stick inside your camper when it's dark, you'll stay safe and sound. The sheriff and I have been working on this little unwelcome wildlife problem for three weeks now. It's just a matter of time before we find them all." The gang was too busy getting serious chills over the eerie howling chorus bellowing at the moon to ask Ms. Sommers any more questions. Even Hank Stanley was mute and listening. Nicola was getting her jollies over the city folks cowering at the night woods. "See ya fellas. Have a nice vacation.." And Nicola strode into the night pine forest cheerfully. But, just before she vanished out of the fire's light, she turned and shouted back at them, feeling guilty about getting enjoyment out of their discomforture. "Tell you what? If you're too afraid to cook supper, eat light of sandwiches or something for tonight and then come hike up to my cottage tomorrow morning. I'll put on a hearty breakfast for all of ya.. I'm turning the lodge into a bed and breakfast inn. Sheriff Bittner says it's a concept that's all the latest rage in the North. You fellas can be my first customers to try out my new menu. On the house." The gang nodded warmly and waved, saying that they'd be there by first light. Nicola was hardly gone a minute when the six of them fearfully ran into the camper and slammed the door shut behind themselves. The morning couldn't come fast enough for the gang of 51's. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Say, this is gonna be a real swell inn, Ms. Sommers." said Chet Kelly as he stuffed another poppy seed roll into his mouth. "I mean, you got moose antlers on the walls and everything.." he admired. Then his head nearly split in two with a monstrous yawn that drowned out another compliment. Nicola chuckled. "Somebody didn't sleep well last night. Not used to roughing it, Mr. Kelly?" "I slept just fine.." Chet said with a frown. "That's only after those wild animals finally quit yapping at the moon around four a.m." Nicola whipped off her flour dusted apron and sat down to join the gang eating. "The sheriff and I are going out this afternoon to deal with those creatures. Don't you worry. He's coming right after breakfast and we're going hunting." "Is it the season for that?" Mike Stoker asked, chewing on a ripe strawberry. "It is when two town kids get ambushed walking in to school from the outskirts and can't give a clear description of what kind of animals attacked them." Nicola said. "I'll be glad to see them gone." Johnny Gage took a sip of his black coffee. "Were they hurt bad?" he said, remembering the tiny doctor's office that he and Roy had used for their injured the last time they were passing through Santa Rosa County. "Was the doc in to treat them?" Nicola showed some surprise. "You know the doc?" "Sure do." Roy said, wiping a milk moustache off as he pushed his empty plate away. "We ran into him helping a few climbers, and folks from an auto wreck and then two more from a fishing mishap. We met up with Doc Frick three times in the same day." Nicola set down her fork and stopped chewing. "Oh,.. so you're the fire department boys Bittner keeps on talking about over chili at Rosie's Bar. He's still all hot to trot about that para.. para medical operation he wants to set up between the area ranchers." Johnny lifted a hand, pointing. "You mean he was serious about what we told him last year? Roy and I thought he was just humoring us because we didn't get in any decent time to fish like we had planned on doing." "Sure the sheriff was serious. Dead serious. I was even in the first responder program for a few months. That is, until my step father died. After that, I kinda got too busy to worry about that kind of thing with running the resort and working on this new bed and breakfast business idea." Nicola said. "And I had to forget all about that to concentrate on myself." "Too bad. Santa Rosa could use more than just a few first aid trained people." Johnny said. "I'm sure the doc would love to have all the help he can get." "Nice try recruiting me back into the fold, Mr. Gage. But I have to think about floating my resort and lodge first, my college major second, before I even think about doing anything fancy like volunteering in any spanking brand new rescue program. No matter how good it is for the community. Learning how to stick a few bandaids on people isn't going to pay my bills any or my tuition. " she nodded empathetically. Then she thought better of her distain to her guests and leaned in closer. "Sorry. You know, about last night. You didn't have to hide the fact that all you were in the fire department business, guys. I knew that the moment I laid eyes on your fishing boat moored on the beach." "Uh oh, more detective insights.." Kelly groaned teasingly light. Nicola's eyes sparkled in a laughing smile. "Yep. Locals don't include fire extinguishers and first aid kits as part of their fishing tackle's staple gear." Johnny nearly spit out his orange juice. "Just by that?" Nicola waved an absent hand, smiling. "That and the way your friend Mike Stoker over here snuffed out those embers. He used a fanning spray and not the end of a hose's stream like anyone else might do. Training tells, guys.." "I'm seriously glad for that, Ms. Sommers. Being their captain, I'd be sorely disappointed if it didn't." Hank snorted. Right then, the screen door opened and Sheriff Bittner, the familar personality that Roy DeSoto and Johnny Gage knew so well, entered the sunlit dining hall. Everyone got to their feet to greet him. But the rosy cheeked sheriff wasn't smiling. He opened his mouth and said... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : A page haired woman in western clothes. Photo: Half the gang sitting in chairs. Photo: The other half of the gang sitting in chairs. Photo: Animated howling wolf at the moon. Photo: Sheriff Bittner talking with Johnny and Roy. Photo: A full rural bed and breakfast dinner spread. *************************************************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2004 21:14:31 +0000 Subject: [EmergencyTheaterLive] Frick Frets And What Every Mother Gets.. "Nicola! Let me in to use your phone!" Blaine sputtered, ignoring who was around him and barging past through the cottage's dining hall and into the parlor where he knew an antique phone rested on a table. "What?" Ms. Sommers ejected. "What's wrong, Blaine? Another attack from those--" "Nope. But just as bad little Missy. It's Mrs. Caine. She's hard up in labor at Ender's Pass and I can't raise Doc Frick on the radio. I got his gear from town, he said he'd meet me, but that was a half an hour ago." he said loudly, picking up the phone's brass receiver. He bellowed to the switch board operator to try Dr. Frick's office one more time. ".....and don't dawdle, Mable!" he told her. "You know how fast Mary's kids come when it's their time." All the guys listened with interest, keeping quiet, learning more. Then Hank Stanley spoke up, gripping the chubby law man's shoulder, getting his attention. "Sheriff, can we help at all? My men and I are Los Angeles County Fire Fighters and I believe you already know my paramedics, here. This is Roy DeSoto and Johnny Gage." Blaine Bittner blinked and did a double take, throwing down the chattering panicking operator on the phone when he heard yet again that there was still no answer at Dr. Frick's clinic. "Why land sakes alive, I do believe my prayers have been answered.." the sheriff. "Hiya boys." He said to Roy and Johnny. "It's nice ta see ya again. You've been missed. Can't you tell?" and he held up the now dead phone. "Let's go. I can use all the help I can get." and he bolted out of the door, slamming the cottage's screen door shut in Cap's face in his hurry to get on with his emergency call. "Mary sounded like she was screaming to high heavens. Nearly frightened old Mable half to death when she called." Chet said, "I'll go grab the Rover, Cap. We can all go." Gage grabbed his arm. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Cap, we can't just go rushing off to ..to.. see this woman. We'll have the same problem we had last time and not be certified at all to work in this county as paramedics enough to treat her. " Marco piped up. "You heard the Sheriff, Johnny. Didn't he say that Ol Doc Frick's on his way to this lady's house, too? He said that he had the doc's medical gear in his car.." "Yeah," said Mike Stoker. "And that means, he can be your doctor once he gets there. We can just be first responders and have things set up for him ahead of time." "End of discussion, Gage. Move.." Hank crooked a thumb towards the door. The gang piled out onto the porch only to see a great big cloud of dust the sheriff's car had left behind in his haste to get to Ender's Pass. His speeding vehicle up the interstate was nowhere to be seen. "Uhh,, " Roy said, scratching his chin. "Ms. Sommers," he asked Nicola, "You wouldn't happen to know where Mrs. Caine lives, do you?" "I sure do. I visited her a couple of days after her little boy was attacked in the schoolyard." Nicola said. "I know the way to her place really well." Before anyone could ask. Kelly took off running. "Wait right there. I'll have the rover unhitched and up here faster than you can count to twenty!" The whole gang heard him break branches noisily as he tore down the path back to the lakeside camp ground, cutting corners through the hairpin red dirt turns weaving into the valley. "Easy Chet! Don't break a leg ! Stick to the trail!" Cap hollered after him. "Man, if we haveta haul his butt out of a ditch somewhere, I'm gonna be really mad." he said, huffing out his air in frustration when the commotion in the pines didn't let up as Chet made his way downhill. Roy snapped his fingers. "Say, maybe we can call Mrs. Caine. See how she's doing. I'm assuming there's a telephone in her bedroom, right?" Nicola said. "Of course, that's probably how she called the sheriff in the first place. I don't see her making it to the hobby shed's short wave radio in her condition.." Johnny Gage went all analytical. "So she's close to full term?" "Very.." Nicola said rolling her eyes. "How many children has Mrs. Caine had before now?" Roy asked as they all piled back into the picturesque little country cottage. "Uh,,, two, I think." Ms Sommers said. "She had Jeremy.. the little boy I met last week in the hospital, and I remember her mentioning that she had to go to town to get some new shoes for an older daughter. " Gage sighed, looking at his watch. "That doesn't leave much time left.." Nicola was puzzled. "How do you mean, Mr. Gage?" "A third baby coming to the same mother usually doesn't wait that long before coming out and surprising everybody." Nicola's eyes got real big. "Oh..." she said, the concept dawning."Well, how long do we have?" "Anywhere from a couple of hours.." Roy began.. "To a couple of minutes.." Johnny completed. "Well, why didn't you guys go after Chet to get to your car?" Nicola said, her voice rising. "Calm down. Chet's real speedy. He knows we have to stay here to call Mrs. Caine.. to see how thing's are progressing." Roy said. "Roy?" Cap asked. "Yeah?" "We'll wait for you outside. We gotta glean some directions out of Ms. Sommers here." he said taking the chatting woman's arm as she kept asking questions and giving opinions about how worried she was about the current emergency. He picked up the receiver and dialed out 0 for the operator. He immediately got a still flustered Mable who talked his ear off. "Maam, I don't know yet. Yes, I'm a stranger ....a paramedic from Los Angeles County. The sheriff..."he broke off when the operator's yammering got really loud and frantic. "...maam, yes...I understand the need for urgency. So if you could just..connect me up to Mrs. Caine we can get things going here, all right?" Soon, DeSoto's face fell into one of relief when the phone against his burning ear fell into person to person ringing. Right then a crack of lightning came from the mountains and the sun disappeared. "Wow, storm's brewing.." Lopez said. "Yeah, they come up real fast." Johnny said to him. "Well, a little rain never hurt anybody. And Mrs. Caine's inside a nice warm snug house." he grinned. The guys leaped back for the porch overhang when a strong bank of rain suddenly whipped out of the sky and wet the sandy ground in a torrential sheet. "Good thing I got radials on the rover.." Johnny grinned toothily. "We'll get there in no time." Roy came out of the house. "Well, she says her contractions are about three minutes apart. She says she's not bleeding at all or anything like that. But she says something doesn't feel right inside and she's straining." Gage grew concerned and his voice matched it. "You told her not to push, didn't ya?" "Yeah. I told her. And I told her the sheriff and the doc, and us, are on the way to her." Nicola had calmed down, a good rain soaking having helped with that. "Who's with her?" "Nobody.. That's why she called the emergency operator instead of her midwife or husband. He's in town at the hospital with the older daughter, looking after little Jeremy." DeSoto replied. "Mrs. Caine said that Mr. Caine will be real disappointed if he misses the birth of their third child." "So will we, Roy, if Chet doesn't hurry it up." Gage quipped. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gage insisted on driving his own vehicle after the six of them, plus Nicola, crammed aboard and they roared in a raging downpour to Ender's Pass and up the ranch road leading to Mrs. Caine's house. There was the sheriff's car. But no red station wagon belonging to Doc Frick. "Ok, everyone. Pile out. Let Roy get out first." Johnny said as everyone jumbled arms legs and torsos around to free up the paramedic from the land rover. Johnny got out next, not bothering to set a park brake and hurried over to Bittner's squad car to see if the man had remembered to take in Doc Frick's obstetric gear or not. He had. "Nice.. Guys, let's go. It's all inside." The five dripping firefighters in summer wear piled into the warm ranchhouse after Gage. Roy was already taking a respiration count on Mary and she was set on O2, high flow. "Hi fellas, meet Mrs. Caine. She's having a little trouble breathing but her pulse's good. I haven't done much else yet, Johnny." "Hi..boys.. OhhhhHHHHHH! Make it stop!" said the red haired Mary Caine, sweating and writhing on the bed. "My first boy and girl never hurt this bad.. Mr. DeSoto, tell me, what's wrong with my baby?" she gasped. "We'll know soon. Just try and pant short breaths under that oxygen around the contractions. Don't bear down and we'll get thing's set up to find out, ok.." "S...sure..." she panted. But soon, another rippling screech parted her lips a lot sooner than the original three minutes projected by phone earlier. "Uh,...the three of you can wait outside.." said Cap and he shoo'd the others out of the room, leaving himself to help Johnny and Roy. He spread out the medical gear they looked like they needed. ::Santa Rosa township may have a small town clinic and a hippy for a doctor, but their emergency medical gear's top notch. :: he thought. Gage dragged out the neonate resuscitation gear and gloved up. "Mrs. Caine. I'm gonna haveta check you out, ok.? I'm Roy's partner, Johnny Gage of the Los Angeles County Fire Department." The heavily laboring woman just nodded her head, beyond any shred of modesty, deep in her pain, "I know. I ...don't care. Just help me.. Please.. I'm scared for the baby.." Johnny draped sheeting around Mrs. Caine's knees from the O.B. kit Cap handed him and he lowered the bed's blanket to help get her into a delivery position with himself sitting her up under the arm pits and Roy supporting her knees until she was comfortable. Cap continued to spread sterile sheets from the doctor's kits around the foot of the bed. He helped Roy into a pair of gloves when Roy's hands, damp from stroking Mary's hair, made it hard to do solo. "Johnny, I got a rate of 134 on Mary. Respirations are 26 and short. Contractions are full duration every minute now." Roy said calmly, keeping a tight hold around Mrs. Caine's shoulders. "Cap, take my spot." he said. Hank did so, adding his quiet reassurances. "I'm a father, so I know what to expect from a mother with the baby on the way. Don't worry about breaking my hand squeezing it. I'm immune." Mary laughed, blowing out her air in a wavery attempt to smile. But just as fast. She sucked it up again. "Oh, the baby's coming!" "Don't push.. Don't push...!" ordered Johnny from Mary's knees. "Roy, I can't see the baby's head. Only part of the cord, preceding it." he frowned. "Prolapse?" "Yeah... Definitely that." Roy and Johnny kept the bad discovery from showing on their faces. "Ok. Cap, get those pillows under her hips. We have to raise her pelvis higher than her head." "You got it." And he helped Roy accomplish it. Meanwhile, Johnny was telling Mary what was happening. "Mrs. Caine. Mrs. Caine.Can you hear me? Now, the baby's getting a little over eager right now trying to be born. The cord's been pushed out first. That's probably what you were feeling earlier.." "oh, NnnOooo. How's the baby? Is my baby still alive?" Johnny gently placed a glove on the shimmering purple, white and pink cord showing outside and felt no pulsations. "Mary, I'm gonna see. Now you'll feel a bit of pressure here. I'm just gonna check the baby's pulse a bit." he said loudly, over Mary's moans. Quieter, he added. "Roy get me an O2 line, I'll get an airspace down to the baby's nose and mouth." And he reached inside the birth canal until he felt the curvature of the still baby's nose and mouth between his middle and index fingers. He lifted the baby's head and immediately, the cord draping across his wrist began to pulsate. "Mary,.. Mary,.. listen to me. The baby's fine. I can feel a good pulse. But you can't push and you can't move around any. I'm keeping the cord from being crimped off until the doc gets here. Ok.?" Johnny grunted, sweating. Mary began sobbing and her eyes suddenly drifted shut and her breathing silenced. DeSoto grabbed the base of her throat. "She's ok. Just fainted. Carotid's still around 120." and he tightened the oxygen mask a little more snugly around Mrs. Caine's pale face. "I'll get a new BP on her and a heart rate on the baby.." he said putting a stethoscope into his ears. From somewhere muffled, a telephone in the house rang. And shortly there after, from the phone next to the bed. No one had hands free to answer it. But on the second ring. Someone else in the house did. Second snicked by and Cap swallowed, still clutching the adult ambu bag he had gotten out from the doc's jumpbag when the mother blacked out. Roy smiled. "No problems here. The baby's rate is 148. And her pressure's 110/74. No shock for either one of them yet." All three firefighters sighed and Hank sat back down by Mary's head to test her consciousness. "Mary, can you hear me?" He pinched her arm and got a weak half groan back in response. Roy nodded in thanks for Hank's check as he placed the delivery syringe bulb near Johnny's free hand where he could reach for it if fluid pooled over the baby's face. "Any meconium?" Johnny spoke around the tube in his mouth. "Not a whole lot. Her amnionic fluid's still fairly clear." Gage admitted, straining against Mary's muscles to keep the passage open to the air for the baby. He had the O2 line in his teeth, blowing its oxygen stream towards the opening he had created in Mary's birth canal. "I'm feeling hiccups. I think the baby's trying to breathe in there." "Is that working?" DeSoto asked about Johnny's hold and oxygen. Right then, Mary began to mumble words and feel her painful contractions again. "Yeah. ..Hey Mary, wake up. Your baby's doing the Twist in here. A real dancer.." Gage mumbled. "That's my girl...." Mary smiled groggily,.."Or boy... OwwWWWWW." and her muscles jolted in a tight contraction that she couldn't control. Johnny felt the space between his fingers and the baby, close off. The cord went limp and white. "Mary.. Mary.. Don't! Quit pushing. The cord's blocking off!" But Mary was beyond caring in her faint, lost in her body's reaction. Cap took control of her head as she blacked out again, pulling her chin back so she could keep breathing well. Johnny tried desperately to regain an open path but failed. He withdrew his hand and stood, lifting Mary's hips higher onto the pillows. He began pushing on Mary's lower abdomen gently, firmly around the contraction, until he felt the baby internally slide backwards through Mary's skin. The pulse returned into the loop of birthing cord that he could see. He peeled off his now dirty gloves and put on another sterile pair before he reached in and regained a hasty path to the outside for the baby to breathe in. He no longer felt the tiny hiccups in the baby's neck. "Baby's quieter Roy. No movement. But the cord pulse's back." He nodded getting a new BP on Mary. "It's down. 90/52. Something's changing." "Not from here. There's still no blood." Right then the Sheriff burst through the door with Nicola, peeking his head through. "I was in the kitchen. That was the Doc. He's on his way." He paled when he saw Mary lying so silent with sweat covering her features. "How far away?" Johnny grunted, keeping the tenuous length of space over the cord so it wouldn't be sealed off again. "Stephen's Road." Bittner mumbled, staring in shock. "That's two minutes away.." Nicola added, her sculpted face equally stunned as Blaine's. "Oh, and I forgot to tell you, Mary's a diabetic.." "What?!" Gage said, glancing up at Sommers sharply. Roy and Johnny and Cap saw a pair of hands drag the two speechless Santa Rosa citizens back out of the bedroom and the door quickly closed shut again. ::That's a little medical history a little too late. Good riddance. Last thing we need is another pair of fainters. Thank you Marco, Mike and Chet.:: Gage thought. "Smell anything on her, Cap? Any ketosis?" Hank bent low, lifting the moaning mother's 02 mask and he sniffed lightly. "No.. her breath's not sweet." "Hypoglycemia?" Johnny said looking at Roy. "Most likely."DeSoto said, looking at Mary's eyes under a penlight."She's working pretty hard here." "Yeah, and she's too out to give her any oral glucose paste. Where's the Doc when you need him?" Gage said sarcastically, eyeing up all the IV bags and needles that they presently didn't have the authorization to use. Roy's hand reached for a bag of Ringer's and tubing, and a glucagon syringe. "Roy, don't. We can't.. Not yet.." DeSoto had almost touched them when the bedroom door flew open to reveal Doctor Frick himself, covered in blood. Roy snatched up the bags in a quick report. "Diabetic. Prolapse on the baby. Fetal heartbeat's up to 170. Hers is at 140. Real tachy. Her LOC's dropped 4 Glasgow points and the baby's quit moving.. What happened to you?" he added, eyeing up the doc's soiled sweatshirt. Dr. Frick said."IV Ringer's one arm TKO. 500 ml of an IV D5W on the other at 200 mls an hour and give her all of that glucagon in a push. Another little boy got worked over by the pack of feral dogs Nicola and the Sheriff have been trying to hunt down. He's gonna live. I got him in the living room being watched by your firefighter friends out there on an oxygen tank." "Feral dogs?" Cap asked. "Is that what we were hearing last night?" he asked in horror. "Yes. We've been hearing them every night." Doc Frick said gloving up rapidly and he kneeled next to Johnny. "What do you got?" the long haired hippy like moustached doctor asked Gage. "Prolapse, four minutes old. Lost a pulse in the cord once. Felt the baby attempt respirations but now I can't feel anything. Not one twitch since that happened about two minutes ago." "All right. Getting tired? We can trade off. You can hand me supplies as I need them." said Frick. Johnny unencumbered and stood back, peeling off his body fluid slick gloves and trading them for a third clean pair. "Ok,.. Both IV's and the glucagon is in, doc. I've marked down the time and rate on the bags." Roy said. "She's an insulin dependent diabetic, fellas. Most likely, she skipped lunch for being excited about this being another birthday. That injection and the IV's will bring her around shortly." The doc took his place maintaining the baby's birth canal and cord integrity. Then he reached in more fingers. "Got the baby's chin." and he reached in a tip of a pinky into the baby's mouth. Immediately, he felt sucking. A huge smile erupted from his face. "We got ourselves a fighter! Roy, get a new fetal heart rate for me, would you?" From the bed came.. "A fighter?. " said Mrs. Caine weakily as she recovered from her blackout. "I thought you said my baby was a dancer.." she smiled.. "Yeah well one's just as good as the other.." Johnny smiled right back at her. "Feel like some pushing? The doc's here." "Oh, is he?" Mary asked around Cap's hands cradling her face to help her breathe easier. "Anytime. I wanna surprise Jack when he gets... owwWWW." Roy announced. "Doc, the rate's 220 on the baby." he said urgently. "Here we go.." Doc Frick said, gently pulling as the baby's head advanced, until it had emerged into the open to the neck. Johnny rapidly suctioned out the tiny baby's nose and mouth with the bulb. The doc pulled another loop of cord he discovered from around the baby's neck with a couple of fingers. He frowned when he didn't find it beating. "Roy, there's nothing now." he whispered without sound about a pulse rate. Then aloud he said. "Mary..pant now and don't push anymore.. We have to let the baby's head rotate around for delivery. Won't take long." "....*gasp*...kay.. Just say ......when.." she groaned. A minute went by before another powerful contraction spun Mary's child into the proper position. Frick's eyes jerked over to the resuscitation gear and then at Roy in a subtle hint to get ready for some new trouble. DeSoto rose and got things ready. The baby's face had turned blue. "Ok, Mary. Push.. Push as hard as you can!" Frick urged. Cap let Mrs. Caine use his chest as a support and he held her up as she strained one last time in a supreme effort to finish the job. The baby's shoulders came easily with a lift and shove from side to side by the doctor. The baby's limp body slid out of Mary in a rush of fluid onto the bed. "It's a boy Mary! Nice job.." Johnny said, forcing a smile onto his face. "How is he?" she panted. "Can I see him?" she said through her O2 mask as Cap eased her back down onto her back. Again there was more suctioning. Gage quickly threaded in an infant airway as Roy attached a neonate ambu bag to the end of it. They both clamped off the cord with two clips as the doc checked for a baby's pulse quickly with a stethoscope. "Got one." Frick said at last. "He needs only those vents. Turn the O2 to 100% and hyperventilate him until he pinks up Roy. I think your son only needs a little brisk encouragement, Mrs. Caine. Give us a minute to cut the cord." Frick said."What's your new son's name gonna be, Mary?" "Darren. Darren Joseph Caine." she sighed. "That's a wonderful name. Same first name as my grandfather's." he said, snipping the cord in two between the clamps. "Now, how are you feeling? Your blood sugar got a little low there at the end." "Perfect.." Mary said muzzily, drifting into a happy sleep. "Well so is he..." Hank grinned. "He's got all his fingers and toes so rest easy. We'll stay to watch over you until the ambulance arrives." Tiny puffs of Roy's pure oxygen into Darren's lungs from the ambu finally drove away the deep blue from the baby's face, trunk and limbs. He actively began to thrash his arms and legs, gurgling, entirely flushed a healthy reddish pink. Doc Frick tugged out the airway and drained Darren's lungs of their remaining fluids. Soon, the baby's back was slapped as he hung by the ankles and that brought a thin powerful cry out the gaping mouth. "That's more like it. Apgar 2 to a 10. Welcome to Santa Rosa County, Darren Joseph." And the baby wailed anew when a great peal of thunder crashed just outside the Caine house as he was laid across his mother's breast in a cocoon of warm white blankets. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo : A birth fresh baby, still coated. Photo: A passed out pregnant mother being tended. Photo: Roy and Johnny delivering a child. Photo: New baby on mom's chest. ******************************************************************* From : patti keiper Sent : Saturday, June 26, 2004 2:17 AM Subject : Guess Who's Coming For Dinner? Sheriff Bittner was on the phone again, trying to get an ETA of the ambulance long overdue to arrive at the Caine house. His voice was growing in volume and frustration when he learned from Mable the switch board operator, that the storm warning had elevated to flash flood warning. "I don't care WHAT it takes to get them here, Mable. Just do it. I have a badly injured child now that the doc brought in as well as Mary and soon, her new baby, and they can't be delayed! No sirree. Now get on it and call when you get through to them.".. his pudgy flushed cheek twitched when he got another wail of panic from Mable. Blaine toned down his voice to a quiet calm level and he added."Maybe you can call up one of those new fangled helibirds from the southern counties to make a flight up here when the weather clears. Now I've got to go. The doc and the good fire boys who came with us need me. Do the best you can." and he clicked the phone down onto its receiver. ------------------------------------------- Out in the living room, Chet Kelly, Marco Lopez, Mike Stoker and the resort owner Nicola Sommers were all clustered around the small boy that Dr. Frick had entrusted to their care. He was stretched out on the couch on his back and his arms and neck were liberally wrapped in ace wraps and kerlix. Kelly was making sure that the oxygen he wore still flowed from the small tank at his feet. Marco was busy wrapping the rain soaked boy snuggly in afghans. Stoker was taking a pulse on the boy while he slept with his father seated by his head. The man was upset and talking, twisting the hem of the quilt covering his son in barely contained anger. "I told Aaron not to go to the swimming hole until the Sheriff said those pack dogs were all trapped and killed. He knows better! As soon as the storm breaks, I swear to G*d that I'm going to go out and put a bullet between the eyes of every snarling mongrel I run into. Look what they've done to him!" he cried. Nicola rose from her crouch. She had been making sure that Aaron's pressure dressings were still tight and controlling his bleeding. "Mr. Johnson, calm down. Now I made a promise to this town and to the Sheriff that I'd do everything possible to make these woods safe again for our kids. And I absolutely mean to do that. But a hunt of this size takes time, .." she said empathetically spreading her hands wide, "...resources.." We're going to have to do it Bittner's way or soon there will be more than just our town's children getting maimed out there. Stealth is the answer, Nate, quiet stealth. These are DOGS going wild out there, not wolves or coyotes! They most likely KNOW about people and how to avoid traditional hunters." "Yeah? Well that's not good enough Ms. Sommers.. Just how many little boys have to get shredded like my son here to prove to you and Blaine that this little domestic wildlife problem's a little more than just an isolated incident?!" said the angry father. There came a moan from the couch. "Daddy?.." said Aaron sleepily. "Are ..are they really gone? I'm so scared.." and the boy started crying. "My arms and neck hurt so bad." he sobbed. Nate Johnson leaned down and cradled his eight year old son and kissed his forehead. "Shhh. Easy Aaron. The doc will be right out to give you medicine to make that pain go away. I promise, but right now he's a little busy with...." A slap and then the cry of a baby came through the bedroom door that everyone could hear audibly.. Smack! " Wahhh....*gasp* WahhhHHHHhh!" "Now that's more like it..." celebrated Sheriff Bittner as he returned to the living room. "I tell you the Caines always have fine strong children when they have a mind to.. Hehe." he chuckled. Everyone's faces lit up with joyful smiles. Included Mr. Johnson's. "Do you hear that son? Mary's baby's finally here. Just think. In a few days, we can invite the Caines over for dinner and ..and then you can get start to get to know another future playmate. How does that sound?" But Aaron was beyond consoling. His terror from the feral dog attack was still very fresh in his mind. He didn't open his eyes and he began to tremble. Marco Lopez rose to start a fire in the Caine's wood stove. Nate stroked his son's forehead and didn't care when the rain water from his hair mingled with his tears as he let loose all his emotions quietly. Bittner observed Nate and silently motioned to Nicola to join him at his side. She did, grabbing a sweater and jeans to slide on over her skirt and plaid top that she had grabbed from her hastily snatched backpack on the way into the house earlier. Blaine's face was grave. "The ambulance might be delayed. Now we're gonna haveta figure out a way to get all these folks outta here and into town so the boy can get the surgery the doc says he'll need to repair his injuries." "Sheriff, just how bad is the weather out there?" she asked softly. "Bad enough. The valley lowlands are most likely to be flooded out. Probably already are. Mable mentioned warnings of the type." Nicola threw her head up in frustration after pulling on the thick woolen sweater over her head. "If only we were at my resort. I've plenty of survival gear and a solid Power Wagon." Blaine chuckled. "That's my girl. That's why you make such a good sworn deputy. Always the provider.." "Well, I'm not providing enough. Blaine, the boy's border line shocky according to what we've found. If the doc medicates him, he's not going to be in any shape to go anywhere." she confessed. A new voice spoke up from the living room door. "He'll be ready, Ms. Sommers. " said a newly shirt changed Doc Frick. "I'm going to start an IV on Aaron right now since my first priority's been taken care of.. It's a boy..." he said aloud to the room. Again smiles and celebration filled the air. "How's he doing?" asked Sheriff Bittner with undisguised glee. "Terrific. He's a big strapping example of the solid Caine family line." Frick said proudly." I wouldn't be surprised if he tips the scale at over nine pounds when we finally get a chance to weigh him." "Mary?" Nicola asked. "No complications. At least not birth wise. She became hypoglycemic because of all of her labor but a good hot meal should take care of that." Frick admitted. "Looks like I'll get a chance to fix one, Doc. We may be stranded. The storm's gonna flood the area up to our eyeballs.." Ms. Sommers said dryly. The doctor's face fell into concern. "Really? I thought this was just a little downpour." "Of biblical proportions according to Mable.." Blaine huffed. "Ok.. uh... I'll get started making Aaron more comfortable right now." Frick said, scratching his hippy beard absently. Johnny Gage and Cap quietly crept out of the bedroom and closed the door behind them. "I'll go get dinner on." Nicola said, eyeing up the black iron stove and antique kitchette across the room where they stood. "I'll help." Stoker volunteered. "Doc, his pulse's been in the 120's the last few minutes. But that might be because he's still upset." "Thanks,..uh.." "Stoker. Fireman Mike Stoker. Nice to finally meet you. Gage and DeSoto have told me all about you.." he said secretly, with a wink and he took Doc Frick's hand up in greeting for a second before joining Nicola huddled inside the frig. Doc blinked briefly."Looks like my reputation's preceded myself again I guess. I'll be glad to tell you the REAL stories Mr. Stoker. Later. Just to set the records straight." Gage paced over to the Doc's side. "Do you want me to start Aaron's IV? Roy says Mary's just about delivered the baby's placenta." "Yeah, go ahead. I'll go draw up his Versed for an IV push. It'll be better than MS if we're going to be packing it out of here." "We are?" Johnny startled. "Yeah..Flashflood's due any hour now. The roads might wash out before the ambulance gets here." Frick said, with resignation. "Marvelous.. Now I know why I moved to L.A." Gage admitted. "Why, because of those wonderful ripping Santa Ana winds you guys suffer every summer?" Frick asked wryly. "No, because of the lack of Noah's flood coming every spring like it seems to do up here." Johnny rejoined. Hank Stanley couldn't help but overhear. He frowned. Then he turned and got the other firemen's attentions. "Gang. Go turn the rover around and unload all the camp gear we got in it. That'll be our backup ambulance if they aren't here within the hour." "Right, Cap." Marco said, motioning to Kelly go come with him for a fast dash outside to get the white vehicle set for travel. Then he turned to the doctor. "Will the baby be all right in all this rain?" "He'll be fine. We can offset any further breathing trouble he might have by making an incubator out of a dresser drawer and a dry cleaner's plastic bag with an O2 tank. Roy's keeping tabs on his condition while Mary finishes up with the afterbirth." "Want that too?" Gage piped up. "Yeah, it'll make Mary's ob gyn exam later easier. I want to make sure she's got through delivery as well as I think she did." "ok, I'll take care of it after I get to Aaron." "Good deal." Cap said. Hank waited by the door until a soaking Kelly and Lopez returned from outside. "Man, it's raining torrents now." Chet said, shaking off rivers of water from a raincoat he had thrown on from the rover. "Johnny I brought this coat and your spare for Mary and Aaron if we need em getting out to the truck and we parked it at the head of the driveway." "Thanks, Kelly." Johnny said, hanging up the I.V. he had begun on the dozing boy onto the edge of a lampshade above his head. "Doc, all set for ya." Doc Frick kneeled to give the boy the medication. "Nate. This isn't a sedative. This will simply help Aaron,....not remember his discomfort as soon as he feels it." "Thanks, Doc. I appreciate it." Mr. Johnson said. His eyes were dry and he was calmer now that a plan of action had been formulated. "Gage." Frick said. "Yeah." "Mark down.." and he looked at his watch. ".03 mgs Versed into that D5W at 16:09 hours. After his drip runs in an initial 20cc's bolus, turn it TKO. He only lost around 300 cc's blood from his bites before I bound them up. None had arterial damage. Have a Ringer's on standby piggy back if his pressure drops below 80 systolic. No need for a survey. I already know his history." "Right." Johnny said, using one of his green pens that never left his side. He grinned at the luxury of having a live doctor at hand instead of just a voice on a phone. "You'll be fine, Aaron. Just give that medication a chance to work it's magic." he said to the child. Aaron Johnson sighed in his sleep and rolled over a little deeper into his pile of blankets. Nate began to snore, too, from where his head drooped onto his chest in an armchair. Gage rose and began to pack up all the sheriff's medical gear to take with them. ::I sure hope we don't have to rely on that ambulance. The rover's far far better at roughing it.:: The thunder booming around them began to recede, with a drenching solid rain taking its place. Nothing could be seen outside the windows. Then the sounds of howls and clicking, pacing claws on the wood walkboards outside the house, began. "Oh, no.." Nicola said from where she froze by the stove. A snarling doberman was glaring at her through the window. "Looks like we have company for dinner." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo : Roy, Chet in vacation clothes. Photo : Roy with a neck injured boy. Photo : Nicola in a maroon blouse, whirling in fright. Photo: A small cabin kitchen and window. Photo: A lunging Doberman, raving made, peering over a wooden fence. **************************************************************** Date: Sat, 26 Jun 2004 16:03:54 -0700 (PDT) From: "Sam Iam" Subject: Tooth and Nail "Dag nabbed varmit!" shouted Sheriff Bittner angrily. "I knew I should have shot the blood hound in the pack when I had the chance! " Nate Johnson sat bolt upright in his chair, wrenched from sleep from a dog's impact on the wall behind his head. "Aghh! Aaron?" He was horrified by the snarling dogs milling around outside. The man picked up a fire place poker to stand over his son nervously. Nicola addressed Blaine's comment. "How do you mean? Why didn't you?" "I wasn't sure if he was Elmer Rackett's dog sent out to work out a quail that night or not. I couldn't tell. It was too dark." That disturbed the whole gang. Even Roy came out of the bedroom, pulling the door open from where Mary was nursing her newborn baby. He was immediately drawn by the look of remorseful regret on the sheriff's face. "Blood hounds never lose a scent. They've tracked the boy here." Sheriff Bittner said, drawing out his pistol. Sure enough, the dogs excited barking was punctuated with the baying of a coon hound announcing that he was locked on. "That one must be the alpha male now." Nicola said. "I shot the old alpha, a pitbull, who attacked the first town boy, a few days ago." Her face twisted in anxiety. "I..I..thought our problems were ended after I did that. Feral packs always disband and die off once they lose their leader. They don't have the same survival instincts to save themselves like wolves do." Her eyes fell on Aaron, lying awake now, and terrified under his oxygen mask. "I'm so sorry.." Ms. Sommers whispered, tears filling her eyes. Nate Johnson rose nervously and immediately went to the woman's side. "It's not your fault. No one could have predicted this." and he caressed her arm in forgiveness. Roy hushed Mary with a gesture when she began to ask a question. "Cap. What's going on?" "Remember that lovely chorus of supposed coyotes we were serenaded by last night?" Hank asked wryly. "Yeah. They ruined all of our sleeping." "They weren't harmless coyotes. They're dogs gone wild. Little Aaron here was their latest target. And now they're here to try and finish the job." Cap said low and tense. "Not if I can help it." Bittner said from where he was watching the door. "We've got protection." and he hefted his gun. Nicola scoffed, rubbing chilled arms around herself, through her sweater. "Oh, please.. with six bullets? We don't know how many of them are out there." "Easy way to find out." Chet Kelly piped up. He turned towards the bedroom where Mrs. Caine lay on her bed. "Excuse me, maam?" he asked from where he could see her. He dipped his head. "Uh, congratulations about the baby." he broke off, uncomfortable with bothering the exhausted new mother. Mrs. Caine nodded, encouraging him to go on with his question even as she hugged Darren to herself tighter as her fear grew. "Do you have an attic upstairs?" Chet went on. "Yes." "May we go up there to look around?" he asked. "You don't have to ask me for anything, sir. Do what you must. Keep my baby safe." she sobbed. Kelly turned to Cap, who still hadn't put two and two together yet. "We can open the upper story window and get on the roof to see how many there are. I know there's one over the half roof because I saw it when we got here. Maybe we can even secure the sheriff out there with ropes so he can shoot down a couple. Might scare the rest off." "Bound to be slippery." Cap said. "I'm willin to risk it." Blaine replied instantly. Hank angled his jaw, nodding the more and more he mulled it over. Then the rising din coming from the scratching, digging, hunting pack made up his mind for him. "Lopez help the Doc get Mary and Aaron set to move. Gage, Stoker, Kelly, come with me and we'll get things started in the attic. We don't want them still out there when those ambulance attendants arrive. In fact, we're no longer gonna wait. Bittner can radio town to cancel the call. We'll take them out ourselves. It's too dangerous here now with those animals and all the localized flooding going on." "Right." they answered. The five men ran up the wooden stairs as fast as they could go with the sheriff hastily loading his gun. "Nicola? Would you get the baby into that drawer incubator the doc talked about.." Gage said as he rushed after Cap. "I sure will." she said, untying her apron and turning off the stove. She hurried into the bedroom to join Roy at Mrs. Caine's side. "I know my way around medical gear so maybe I can help out that way, too." she told DeSoto. Roy nodded. "Now, first things first. We have to get both of them in as many warm clothes as possible." Doctor Frick did likewise with his patients in the living room to get ready to flee with Aaron and Mr. Johnson. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Easy now! We got ya.." Gage grunted as he, Cap, Kelly and Stoker hung onto the makeshift line holding the sheriff fast on his feet on the rain streaming roof. The sheriff was soaked and bedraggled but his aiming eye was true. He soon ended the life of the questing blood hound in a second. The gang winced at the yelp that echoed up to them. Bittner's face was grim. "I got five shots left. Let me watch them for a while to figure out who are the aggressive leader types. If I get them, the rest'll run." Hank nodded. "Take your time. We can hold you all day." "I know ya can.." Bittner said with confidence and an undisguised affection for the firefighters. "I've read all about the kind of training you guys do down in the big city." The gang watched, uneasy, as the sheriff started assessing the pack's members. "See that greyhound? She big, but shy. Her tail's down. She's a follower. Now that German Shepard, he's been wild a while, his coat's full of burrs and it's patchy from a fire. Hasn't been one here since last winter. The huskies are new. They're still wearing their collars. They're no threat and just along for the game. Probably joined up with the rest of them this morning. Now there's one. See her boys? That great big black dane's rallying them." He began to squeeze the trigger with the snarling dog in his sites who had locked eyes on him. A mat of shingle moss gave way under Bittner's right foot and he went down, his shot going wild, and he skidded over the edge of the roof. The milling dogs converged into a knot, racing to where he was falling. The gang flattened when the bullet bit a chunk of wood frame inches away from their heads. Kelly yelped, "Don't drop him!" And they strained to get back onto their feet. Lopez and Stoker were the first to stand and get the rope wrapping firmly around their wrists again to arrest Blaine's slide off the roof. Bittner's hat fell off and hit the muddy ground below. It was immediately torn apart by the dogs. Cap called out. "Sheriff, are you all right down there?!" "Yeah.. Get me up. I still got my gun! Ahh!" he said as the Great Dane leaped up and tore one of his pants legs. "And be quick about it! They're reaching my legs!" With concerted effort the four firefighters inched up Bittner's soggy bulk, hand over sweaty hand, until the lawman could throw a leg up over the gutter and crawl back onto his hands and knees onto the rain streaked cedar shingles. Thinking a moment, the sheriff threw his line around the base of the brick chimney for leverage in case he slipped again. "You hurt at all?" Hank hollered. Blaine wiped rain out of his face and ran fingers through his hair to get it out of his eyes. He looked down at his shredded pants leg. "Nah." Then he drew out the gun from his holster again. "I anchored myself round the chimney. You boys got some purchase now. Hold me fast!" And he aimed with great deliberation over a forearm. Bang! Chinggg..... a bullet riccocheted off Doc Frick's red station wagon and impacted dead center into the black dog's ribcage. The Dane leaped up, bit her side and then he fell down into a heap and didn't move again. "Got you you little piece of Cain.." he whispered with a tight grin. "Four left sheriff.." Chet called from the window. Blaine's sense of irony struck him and he glanced back at the curly haired fireman with a wave. "I know. I know young man. Thanks for keeping track.." he joked. An emaciated Doberman looked up from the hat he had just urinated on. He connected with Bittner's eyes and began to growl low in his throat. Blaine didn't break eye contact. "Sorry I gotta do this fella. That kind of behavior's just too rude for me. You're next in line.." And another shot snuffed out the pack member's sad fated life. Yelping, the others broke and ran around the house away from Blaine when the Doberman died but a German Shepard remained behind, standing guard over her mate's carcass. She, too, growled a warning at the man on the roof, her white teeth dripping. Sheriff Bittner took careful aim..... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Roy was just finishing getting the baby into the dresser drawer resting on the bed, fussing with the oxygen tubing under the plastic in with the baby, when Mary suddenly screamed from where she was standing with Marco's help by the foot of the bed. A creamy white body burst through the bedroom window in a shower of glass and water. The growling filthy dog, knocked the new mother to the carpetting, attracted by the scent of blood and body fluid on her skin. Roy snatched up the baby's drawer and tossed it heavily to Marco, who caught it with blind luck and backed slowly out of the room. "Mary, don't move!" DeSoto said, spreading his arms wide to stave off the dog's growing idea to chase after Lopez. Mary trembled but lay still on the rug. She flinched when the growling dog sniffed at her waist and set a paw on her. The whole time, the dog kept his eyes locked on Roy, who was the only real threat in the room. Sniffing, the dog's attention wavered when it smelled the afterbirth inside a white plastic bag set on the floor. There was a sharp recoil of yellow and orange and a puff of gun powder and the white dog flew backwards into the wall, dying. Nicola Sommers stood in the doorway, feet planted apart, with a gun firmly gripped into both of her hands. She didn't stop pointing the gun until a book thrown at the curr failed to rouse it. Then she saw Roy and Mary's frozen looks. "Nice ranch house. Guns in every corner." she remarked. Roy unlocked his muscles and knelt by Mary's side when the woman began to sob uncontrollably from where she lay on the floor. "Mary, are you all right? Did you hit your head? Are you hurt anywhere?" Mrs. Caine didn't answer, lost in a hysterical outburst of relief. Doctor Frick and Marco Lopez peeked through the door. "Did she get it?" "Yeah," Roy said, sitting Mrs. Caine up and hugging her to his chest to calm her down even as he took a pulse at her wrist. "I think she's ok, too. The dog didn't have time to bite her." He checked Mrs. Caine's I.V. It was all right and still running. "Glad I was watching you, Roy. The baby's upset but the Doc found no bumps or bruises." Marco said. "Darren's ok, Mary. Nate's watching him in the living room. He's ok." Mrs. Caine just sobbed weakily, letting her arms hang limply by her sides as Roy picked her up into an arm carry out of the room. "Let's get her out of here. And close that door Marco. The dog might still be alive." "I doubt that.." Nicola quipped, rechecking how many shots she had left in the antique revolver she had found. Four shots from upstairs rang out in regular deliberation faintly. Then it was quiet. Soon the others returned down the stairs, out of breath and sweating. Doc Frick saw Bittner's leg and greeted the sheriff with a warm blanket which he placed around his shoulders. "What in h*ll did you just do, Blaine. I told you no heroics with that angina you got.. Come over here and sit down!" he said angrily. Meekly, the dripping sheriff did so. "Now open your shirt.." Frick ordered, slipping on a stethoscope. "How do you feel?" "Terrific. The worst of them are all dead. And the others won't be coming back." "Shh!!" Frick hissed, listening to Blaine's chest. Chet Kelly's eyes got huge. "You mean we let a man with a bad heart hang from the roof just now?" "Shhh!" Cap shushed. "Let the doc get in his exam." "It was all my idea. You're free and clear young man.." Blaine said as he struggled to slow down his breathing rate. He was smiling but then his face twisted into one of pain as his hand absently gripped his gray maned chest. "Hmm.. thought you could fool me, huh.." Frick said, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a bottle of nitro pills and he dug out one. "Here.. Melt this under your tongue.. Gage, could you get a pressure on him. We'll see if he needs a second once after we get our initial BP." "Sure, Doc. uh... Is he ok?" "Blaine here? Oh, yeah. He's fine. Did his open heart surgery myself. A quadruple bypass. He's unlikely to have another M.I anytime soon. That is, if he ever stops thinking he's some kind of Superman. That was a really stupid stunt you just pulled on these boys mister lawman." "Sue me old bones. Those feral dogs aren't ever gonna seige anyone else ever again." Sheriff smiled closing his eyes as Stoker set him on some oxygen. "All thanks ta me." "And me.." Nicola glared with mock outrage. "What an ego. Geesh.." and she crossed her arms together tapping a leather booted toe on the rug. "Ok. ok.. I'll give Annie Oakley over there some credit, too. She killed the original alpha male, a big rottweiler, when it dragged down a prize steer last autumn at the Fair Grounds. That's how we found out about the whole sorry feral dog mess in the first place." Roy said. "Chalk up one more point for Nicola, Sheriff." "Huh? What for?" "She took out one that came through the window at us in the bedroom." "It was the cream, Blaine. I told you he was brains behind the whole pack. He leaped through the glass and got inside to get at us just like I said he might do." "Ooo. well, ok.. You called me on that particular nasty brand of dog, too. I stand corrected." "And I'm grateful to BOTH of you." Mary said quietly from her arm chair where Marco sat with her. "You get better and recover fast, Blaine. You've got a christening to go to." she scolded. "Thank you, Mary.." the sheriff said instantly, cowed. Gage sat back from where he had taken the sheriff's blood pressure. "That nitroglycerin lowered his pressure a little bit. What is it usually?" "140/98." said doctor and patient simultaneously. "Well it's twenty millimeters mercury lower than that now.." Johnny grinned. "Fine. Blaine, have a second pill. You're still clenching your teeth." Frick fussed. "Come on now, open wide." "Aw, Doc. I hate the taste of those things." "They're better than baby aspirin." Gage quipped. "Those'll be next if your angina doesn't settle down." "Nope. Ain't gonna." Bittner grumbled, shaking his head and fighting the doc's attempts to put the pill into his mouth. Roy smiled. "Say, doc. Got an EKG/Defibrillator in that red station wagon of yours? Maybe we can jolt him into compliance." Frick rolled his eyes. " I don't think we need it. He's just being mule headed. I can wait a little longer." he said parking the pill onto a napkin in his hand so that it wouldn't start effecting him. "His pulse is very regular. And it'll stay that way if he stops carrying on like a crazed maniac at every little crisis cropping up in and out of town." "Doc, I'm the sheriff!" Blaine protested. "Who's got a sworn deputy who's so bored for something to do, that she's redesigning a resort into a bed and breakfast. Come on. You're sixty nine years old. And I've already ordered you medically to start easing off the job responsibilities. Try another little cack handed stunt like ya did on the roof just now and I swear I'll turn a report into the Board tendering a request for your early retirement.." the doctor warned. "You wouldn't dare.." "Just watch me.." Frick said without looking away or lowering his finger. "Hey,, Blaine. Go ahead and do something stupid. I kind of like the sound of my future title. Sheriff Nicola Sommers. It's got a nice ring to it." Blaine stuck a tongue out at Nicola. And Doc Frick immediately tossed in the second nitro pill. "There's a good boy. Now stay quiet for ten minutes. Thanks Nicola. That little schtick works every time." "Nothing like a man with an overblown pride for his profession." the young woman grinned toothily. Blaine's face screwed up at the bitter taste in his mouth. But he obeyed and didn't say anything else as he dissolved it and swallowed. Hank tapped the Doc on the shoulder. "So he's stable.." "As a rock. All of this is just precautionary." said Frick absently of Blaine's oxygen and the nitro pill bottle he had in his hand. "Ok. We'll leave when he's pain free again, splitting up into the three cars. Mr. Johnson's just agreed to help get Aaron into the hospital using his vehicle." "And I got the extra hand held radios we'll use." Sheriff said, raising a finger, in addition. "Sweet." Frick said. "Thanks Nate. So the Porsche'll get a little muddy. So what? It's for a good cause." "Speaking of cars getting messed, there's a new bullet hole in your car, Doctor Frick." Chet said. Mike Stoker slapped him on the arm for his bold line. But the Doctor was unsurprised. "Oh, another one? It's not the first time, boys. The ding'll just add more character. If it got on target bouncing off my fender, all is fine with me. " "It did. The head b*tch went down without a hitch." Blaine nodded. "Hey, did he just swear a curse word?" said little Aaron. "Dad, we should tell ol Mable on him." She'll wash his mouth out with soap for sure." And the tiny boy started laughing hysterically. "That the Versed talking?" Nate asked Roy. "Uh huh.." said DeSoto, burying a chin into his hand. "Don't worry. It'll wear off in a little bit." --------------------------------------------------------------------- Twenty minutes later, the three laden cars slowly made their way onto the highway almost invisible under a flowing sheet of rainwater. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo : A dog snarling over a woman's stomach. Photo: Roy hefting a child to safety. Photo: Dead dog in front of a truck. Photo: A woman with a gun. Photo: Land rover driving through flood waters. Photo: An old man on a nasal cannula. ****************************************************************** From: "Cassidy Meyers" Date: Wed Jun 30, 2004 3:41 pm Subject: Let the River Run.. "Geez," said Chet at one particular deep section of water lying across the road. "I hope they know where they're going up there." he bemoaned to his coworkers in the land rover about the silver porsche in front of their three car convoy. They were last in line, following Frick's eccentric red wagon. Johnny didn't say anything, thoroughly concentrating on the road ahead of them. Already, it was barely visible in the building rain and darkness surrounding them. Marco still clutched the handy talkie that was one of three that linked Nate's silver porsche, Doc Frick's red station wagon and Gage's truck all together. "Johnny, Roy says that the baby, Aaron and Mary are doing just fine. He's already gotten permission from Doc Frick to discontinue the two I.V.'s on the boy and the mother." "Thanks." Gage replied, not moving his eyes from the car in front. Cap sighed, keeping his eye as well on the red fender of the station wagon Frick was driving. The doc had Sheriff Bittner as a passenger so he could keep an eye on his heart pain. "Nate Johnson said that he knew the high places to travel during storms like this. We're just going to have to trust him to know what he's doing men. If you think about it, only a local would know their way around these parts come nightfall." "Doesn't mean I have to be comfortable with it." Kelly grumbled. "You should've sat with them, Cap." "Not my place to. The Sheriff's in charge of this rescue operation. Whether we like it or not, we're just along for the ride." Hank added, rubbing his damp nose. Mike Stoker gripped Cap's seat back and said. "Let's just hope we make town as soon as possible. I don't like the look of the mountainside to our left. Last sign we passed said 'Danger, Rockfall.' " "You're a bundle of comfort, Stoker. That's my side of the car." Kelly quipped, sinking down into his seat a little lower under his rain gear. "Better than my side near the drop off." Mike replied cheekily. Gage said loudly,, "Hang on!" and he swerved the five firefighter's rover around a fallen tree trunk. Chet hit his head. "Owww! Gage. Watch it!" "I AM watchin it. " Johnny panted. "Just shut up and let me drive or maybe you'd like to do this instead?" Gage glared into the rear view mirror. "Cut it out you, two." Cap ordered. "Kelly, he's doing fine so hush. Make yourself busy with reading a map or something if you're bored." "I'm not bored.." Chet parroted. "Lopez, did I say I was bored?" "Not exactly, but you're a little too fidgety for my liking." admitted the spanish fireman. "Thanks alot, amigo, same to you. If you roll down that window one more time checking to see how hard it's still raining I'm gonna--" "Do nothing, Chet. And I mean now..!" Hank snarled. All the men crowded in Johnny's muddy rover piped down. They knew when they had crossed a line when they heard that voice from Hank, on or off duty. "Thanks, Cap. Now maybe I can avoid obstacles a little easier.." Johnny huffed. "Is his head ok?" he asked of Kelly. "Right as it's ever gonna be." Hank admitted, still pinning Chet into vocal silence with his glare. "Ok. Just asking.." Johnny said, missing the joke entirely as he fought road and water. "Just passed a sign giving mileage distances. Looks like we've only got nine left to go before we hit town." -------------------------------------------------------------- Roy continually checked with Mary Caine and her new baby still inside the improvised dresser drawer incubator sitting on Nicola's knees. He had little Aaron in his lap where his body heat could keep the child warm and away from the chilled seat leather of his father's Porsche. "We've only one bridge crossing to go, Mr. DeSoto, then we'll gain some elevation away from all this flash flooding." Mr. Johnson said as he gripped his cow skin wrapped steering wheel. Roy nodded. Nicola drew her wool sweater around her shoulders a little closer about herself as night fell. There wasn't another set of headlights anywhere on the mountain above them that she could see. "Do you think they've already evacuated the valley's highway because of the warning? I'm not seeing anybody out there." "Check with the sheriff. He said Doctor Frick's got a CB radio in his car that can link with the weather station." Roy replied, handing Ms. Sommers the police HT he had used earlier to talk to Lopez and the Doc. Nicola palmed the radio, and hailed. "Sheriff, got your ears on?" ##Yep. As if I'd EVER not have them tuned in, little lady.## he answered back from the red station wagon behind Nate's car. Despite some stress, his voice still sounded cheerful to Nicola over the walkie talkie. "How're the roads on the broadcast radio, Bittner? The way ahead looks deserted to us on the higher grades." she asked. ##They are. Just got word from Mable. No driving is advised. People who were stuck in town are taking shelter at the hospital to wait it out.## "So they know we're coming?" Nicola asked double checking. ##Absolutely. The fire department's waiting on the outskirts, set for an intercept. They'll be the manpower we'll need to switch out our patient transport vehicles. I've ordered both ambulances to report, too.## "Ok, Nicola out." and she released the talk button. She tapped Nate on the shoulder across the driver's seat. He turned his head. "Just us out here. You won't have to worry about people coming down the mountain at us, Nate. Blaine's just confirmed it." "Great. Clear sailing. Did you hear that, son?" he said. "Mmmm.." Aaron mumbled sleepily. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The river between the mountain and the town was an angry morass of brown and froth. It lapped at the foot of the bridge span hungrily as it spun shattered debris and trees against the girders. Nate Johnson slowed his acceleration and flashed his lights so the two cars behind him would know to do the same. "No police barricades yet. Good, we can go across." "Nate, wait. I don't think I've ever seen the river this high before. Something's not right." Nicola said. Roy looked up from where he was holding the sleeping Aaron in concern. He drew up a hand and rubbed out a steamy place on the window to look out. "Do you see cracks on the bridge asphalt?" he asked Sommers. "No.. it's ...call it intuition guys. I don't care. I think the flooding's higher out there than it looks." "Let's take a vote.." Nate said. "Radio the others." Soon, everyone knew about Nicola's misgivings. But then Mary said. "Please, Darren can't wait. He needs rest somewhere warm and safe. This car's no place for a newborn. I say we go on and into town. The sooner the better." ##All right, Mary, if it's what you want." said Sheriff Bittner over the radio. #Nate, you heard the lady. Vamanos.## The three cars travelled cautiously onto the small steel and concrete bridge stretching across the valley. Just beyond, they could see town. The first car got to the other side. There, the banks were already overflowing the wetlands at the bridge's foot. To Johnson, the sheeting water just looked like a thin veneer over the road. He inched forward. Suddenly Nate's car dropped into the swift water over the road. It was far deeper than he realized and the Porsche began to slide sidewise off the highway with the flood water up to the bottom of the car doors. Mary began to scream. "No!" yelled Doc Frick, who floored the gas on the heavier station wagon. His momentum missed connecting with the Porsche in an attempt to push the lighter car to high ground, and he overshot Nate, screeching across the wet exposed road just beyond. The doc and sheriff leaped out of the red car to run to the edge of the water where Nate's car was floating away. "Nate! Roll down your windows. Before you sink!" Johnny gunned his gas pedal, to reach the safety of the far bank like Frick had done. But the country bridge's concrete bed suddenly dropped on its cables, its suspended road way tilting sharply when an unseen submerged house hit it with its full water logged weight. The force jolted Johnny's land rover over the edge and into the river's depths. Soon, the sheriff and the doctor, were alone by the red wagon, perched precariously on the drowning highway partially swallowed by the raging river, screaming the names they knew at the night, listening for a reply. There was none returned except the full throated roar of the flood as it destroyed the river bridge. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : Roy in a car holding an injured boy's bleeding neck. Photo : A rainy bridge from inside a car. Photo : A flooding river. Photo : Johnny's land rover, underwater. Photo : A struggling man under water. ************************************************************* From : Cory Anda Sent : Thursday, July 1, 2004 12:39 AM Subject : Separation Johnny felt the land rover shift under his hands. "We're going over! Watch o--" But then the white truck was plummeting down like a stone underneath the wild night river's surface. Cap gasped when the car landed on its side on the river's bottom. His ears hurt from the water pressure but he could still see lightning reflecting from the sky down to them. "Everyone all right?!" he coughed, feeling in the pitch blackness for movement in the seats around him. "Tell me you're all still conscious.. Hey..sound off!" he shouted over the hiss of water seeping in gushes from the window cracks into the cab of the rover. "Yeah.." "oh my g--" "What happened?" "*sputter choke* Still here." "The bridge gave way and we fell in. " Cap said, spitting mud and water out of his mouth. "Gage? You ok?" "uh,, yeah.. I'm not pinned." "Good cause we're gonna get out of here. Now. Before we get hung up on any debris on the bottom. Stoker. Grab that tire iron. Take a window out. My side's turned up. Feel it?" Hank strained as he cut himself lose from his seatbelt with a pocket knife. "Yeah.." coughed the engineer. "How far's the surface?" "Not too far. I'm seeing a glow from the lightning." Kelly was terrified, "Not....ready..." he cried softly. "I ...can't breathe.." Marco grabbed him by the shoulders and hauled him into his arms. "You're fine. You aren't hurt. I already checked ya. We'll go up together." "No.. please just wait. I ...can't. I don't think I can do this." Chet gasped, hanging on tight to Lopez's arms from where he lay across the car seat. Water rained down on his face, blinding him. "Ok.. ok.." Cap said, floating nearer the top end of the rover's cab as the water grew deeper around them. "We got rope in here?" "Yeah. " Lopez said.. "I'll go get it." and he dove underneath the black water to the back of the rover in the storage area. He shot back to the top with a coiled length. Gage snatched Chet's head and pulled him onto his shoulder, floating both their faces in the remaining air space above them. "Chet. Start to hyperventilate yourself.. You're gonna need to because you're getting yourself worked up." "What? *gasp* Of course I'm getting worked up! We're about to drown in a raging river who knows how deep and--" "No one's gonna drown cause we're gonna tie ourselves together." Cap thundered. "Marco, here. Get him secured and Gage too. I already got myself anchored in a hitch. Set? Ok, Mike, pop it open. On the count of three." "Too soon.. I'm not--!" Chet sputtered, tight in Johnny's grip. "One.." Hank nodded grimly to Stoker. "Cap.. don't .. I--" Chet pleaded. "Two..." "....can't catch my breath. I'll suck down water for sure and die.. I just need a little more t--" Kelly begged. "THREE!" Cap shouted. Stoker swung at the window above them with all of his strength. " AghhhhHHHHHH!" Kelly screamed as the river flooded in. The five hapless firemen were swept out of the under water land rover and carried downstream inside the twisting river's under tow. Swimming blindly, Cap felt a yank on his rope as they were all tugged and tumbled in the current. A hidden tree limb smashed into his ribs and he lost most of his air. Desperation made him kick frantically in the direction that his escaping bubbles were now travelling in the water. Up. Hank's head broke the surface into a storming, fast moving h*ll. The pine forest rushed by as the river carried the firemen swiftly in its grip. Near them, the great bulk of the sunken house that had ruined the bridge, paced them at their same drifting velocity. He moved away from the house, worried about getting himself and his men crushed against it when it finally ground to a halt on a shallow bottom. One by one, the other heads of his men shot to the surface, and he heard them begin to gasp as they struggled to replenish precious air back into their burning lungs. "All here?" Hank asked. Gage shouted. "Cap! Chet's out cold." "Did he get nailed by something on the way up?" Hank said as all of them linked arms, passing the limp Kelly into the center of their floating circle so they could keep his mouth and nose up into the air more easily. "I don't think so, nothing got me." Johnny said. "Maybe he just fainted. He was pretty scared down there." "So were we all. Keep tabs on his breathing. The rest of us'll kick for shore. Gather the rope's ends back up. I don't want us to get dragged back under on a snag." Johnny shook extra water out of his hair. "Ok, Stoker,.. open his shirt. I wanna keep tabs on him by feel. Marco, make sure he isn't bleeding anywhere." "Right." they answered. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nate was horribly frightened. "Freeze. Everybody, don't move!" he panicked as the vibrating lurch of his tires dragging sideways ended. In a blur, he saw the red station wagon and Doctor Frick and the Sheriff recede into the distance as his car was gripped by the flood. "Get the baby out! Aaron?!" Mr. Johnson reached for his son as water spilled violently into the car. Roy hefted the infant over his head, wrapping Darren up in the plastic covering that had been over the drawer. "Mary.. get out the window. I've got him. Nicola?!" The Porsche slammed into a tree trunk and hung there, canted sharply up stream. Roy got out and found the water was to his waist. He held Darren in his arms and Mary waded out, terrified but watching DeSoto holding the baby. A shout from the shore showed Doctor Frick and Sheriff Bittner flinging a rope in their direction. Roy grasped it and handed it to Mary. "Go. I'll hand him off..." he ordered, fighting to stay on his feet in the swift water. Mary went and Roy tossed Darren over his head to land safely in Bittners wide arms. The baby squealed in fright but soon calmed down as he was taken up by his mother's soothing hands. Roy waded back out to the car where he could see a partially submerged Nate shoving his son out the driver's window. Of Nicola, there was no sign. "She still in there?" "I ...I...I don't know.." sputtered Nate Johnson. "I think she got out." Roy made a grab for Aaron's arms and snatched the boy up to the shore. "Take him." DeSoto told Bittner. " I gotta get--" Then the Porsche suddenly rolled out of sight, carrying a screaming Mr. Johnson and an invisible Ms. Sommers with it. "Nate! Nicola!" The power of the current startled him. DeSoto dove back into the swollen river, tying the sheriff's rope around his waist. He ducked under the waves, holding his breath, and felt the car slip over a muddy bar and away from him downstream. At the same time, a shard of bridge material shot by and sliced his safety rope in two with knifelike precision. Roy disappeared. Sheriff Bittner and Doctor Frick ran down the shoreline, tracing where they could see the tumbling silver Porsche log rolling in the rapids, calling out to them frantically. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nicola Sommers coughed and roused. She was on her back, at the very edge of the raging river. She barely remembered pulling Nate Johnson free of the car before it sank into the depths. Dimly, she remembered that she had heard a loud sound on shore after she had dragged a limp Mr. Johnson onto the bank. It had been a dry rasping buzz that made her recoil in fright. Soon after, something unseen in the darkness had struck her left hand sharply. Groggily peering down, Nicola saw only a small smear of blood there. The slight wound she found burned only faintly, but her heart was pounding. ::Where is he?:: Sommers wondered, dizzy, about Nate. She winced, when a lump the size of a grape on her temple, argued with her louder than her throbbing hand. ::And what's that awful smell?:: she thought, shaking her head to come more fully awake. With her eyes, muzzy and unfocused, she realized that she was just below the water treatment plant. It was still completely storm unscathed and the raw sewage stench coming from the reservoir pools swirling at the top of the hill was as strong as ever. Nicola gagged. Sneezing, she flipped over onto her hands and knees to clear her mouth out of foul tasting mud. Her right hand bumped into Nate Johnson's waist. He was lying motionless and blue next to her under a knot of severed electrical wire. "Oh, G*d." she cried and scrambled for his head. "Mr. Johnson?!" He didn't react to a firm chest rub so she leaned down and listened over his cobalt lips, opening his airway carefully. ::Hypothermia?:: No sounds of active breathing rewarded her. "It's worse than that? Nate. Don't do this." she mumbled to herself. Nicola gave him two breaths of air mouth to mouth and then she dug a set of fingers into his neck. She verbally snapped, angry, but also half fearful. "Nate. Cut it out and breathe. You gotta live for your son. No way am I gonna let you stay and almost drown like this." Seconds later, she confirmed that Mr. Johnson's heart had stopped. "Nate! You're out of the water!" she shouted "Come on. Snap out of it." and she began to administer CPR after freeing him from his mud smeared shirt. After the next set of breaths, Nicola shouted for help into the dripping, still functioning HT dangling around her wrist. "Sheriff?! Doc?! Nate's down! No pulse. I'm just south of the bridge junction about... two hundred yards. Right below Pig's Eye Plant. He either drown or a power line got him." ##Any sign of Roy DeSoto?## Nicola shifted around, searching, as she continued her efforts. "No. None... I haven't seen him since the bridge fell." Nicola gasped as she continued to maintain Nate. "Hurry. I don't think I can keep this up much longer. I've hit my head among other things." ##We'll be right there!## the sheriff promised. ##The wagon's intact..## Nicola counted off a minute, two minutes, then five as the world narrowed down into a tight focus until it was just the lifeless man lying underneath her palms. "Nate.. Come back." she gasped. "You picked a stupid place to die in. The air's foul. Dead fish everywhere. This whole beach's a complete sh*thole. Disgusting! Pick it up, d*mmit!" she gagged, still working hard on keeping her compressions effective. Doctor Frick and the Sheriff came running down the hill, skidding and grimacing at the smell of the treatment plant, laden with all the medical gear they could carry. "Down here! He's gonna need an esophageal. He's getting tight with inhalations." Frick and Bittner soon took over for Nicola who gratefully staggered a short distance away, finally allowing herself to get sick onto the flood soft mud as she let her roiling stomach take over. Then she folded into a heap, falling unconscious. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Roy DeSoto sped through the darkness in the river, his strength waning. His outdoor clothes constantly caught on trees and debris floating around him. So he shed all of them down to his bare skin, including his shoes, saving only his orange rain jacket for some protection when he finally got to shore. Ten minutes and many bruises later, a struggling plow horse nearby in the water got his attention and he grabbed its mane, letting the exhausted but placid animal swim him to what appeared to be a boat landing mooring site. Shuddering off its excess water and mud, the big brown horse fled, leaving Roy to stagger on his own out of the water. A renewed roar behind him made Roy run faster away from the flooding river as the bridge and the house that had pulverised it made the flood surge even higher up the mountain slopes. He fled with icy rising water lapping at both of his bare heels. Minutes later, after a period of unthinking panic, DeSoto realized that he was in town, inside a city park. A sign was posted declaring a roadside shelter a few hundred yards away. Groaning, Roy limped slowly in that direction, wondering whether or not his coworkers and the other Santa Rosa folks, had survived. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Doc Frick worked on reviving Nate with his defibrillator while Bittner gathered up Nicola into his arms to figure out what was wrong with her. "Doc, she doesn't look so good." "How so?" Frick said, giving Nate another jolt from the defibrillator. The second time rewarded him with a viable rhythm. "Gotcha." He smiled when Mr. Johnson also began to breathe through his EOA. "Blaine, set her down over here before you strain yourself into another angina attack." Bittner shrugged and set her down, placing her head into his lap. "She's ok vitals wise. Just not awake." he puzzled. "I'll take a look at her as soon as I take a set of vitals on him. Why don't you get on the horn and tell those ambulance boys to meet us here at the plant?" Frick suggested. "Good idea, doc." and Blaine dug the walkie talkie out of his pocket to hail them. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The gang had freed themselves from the flood. They were walking down the rainy highway towards the direction of the bridge crossing they had been swept away from almost fifteen minutes ago. Chet had recovered fully from his misadventure and was gabbing as fast as he usually did to the other four firemen with him. "So the Porsche took a dive, too?" Kelly wanted to know. "Oh man. If they went as deep as we did, they're goners for sure. I didn't see any tire iron in the back of Mr. Johnson's car when we were loading it earlier." The unwelcome speculation grated on Johnny. "Chet. Thank you for bringing up such an unpleasant thought. My partner was in that car." Kelly immediately amended. "Oh, but I have every faith in the world that DeSoto bailed all of them out. He's a big guy, Johnny. One of the biggest. I don't see a flimsy car window standing in the way of--" Marco Lopez interrupted him. "I keep thinking about the baby." That made Chet and the others go silent. Cap filled the pause with a quiet bit of wisdom. "Let's just cross that bridge when we come to it.." "We did.." Chet said furlatively. He wasn't trying to be funny. "And look where it got us? Roy's missing along with Nicola, Mary, Nate, Aaron and the baby. I just hate to think of what might've happened to all of them, not just little Darren." Hank studied the road and just listened to the sound of all their soggy footfalls as their water logged shoes paced the pavement as they walked. "Ok, let's talk about something positive, all right? What's something that we've never talked about before, huh?" "Gee, I don't know, Cap." Gage said quietly, trying to smile for everyone's benefit. "Being together so long, there really isn't anything we haven't covered." "Yeah, Johnny's right." Mike Stoker said. "Ditto." nodded Marco. Hank was firm and insistent and he sighed. "We've got at least ten minutes walking until we get to where we lost the others. And I'd do anything to pass the time more quickly. Don't you? Come on, gang. We can think of something new. I know.. why don't we talk about....." --------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Family in a flashflood with plastic wrapped baby. Photo: Man and boy in a flooded truck. Photo: Girl doing CPR on a man. Photo: A rattler biting in a strike. Photo: The gang laughing. **************************************************** Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 10:25:59 +0100 (BST) From: "Katherine Bird" Subject: Fish Out of Water.. "..the fact that we're gonna find Roy before dawn.." said Chet with sudden finality and conviction. Hank blinked, actually pausing in his tracks. "Oh, ..uh, yeah. That's a positive statement." "And it's new." Marco agreed. Johnny Gage rubbed his nose. "Scared me for a minute, Chet. For a second there, I thought we were going to have to fess up to each other about how we all became firemen." and he grinned a cock eyed grin. "Now why would I do a dumb thing like that Johnny? Knowing why you do what you do for a living is sort of personal, isn't it? I'd never violate that sacred trust." Kelly nodded solemnly. Gage stopped Chet with a finger. "Now wait a minute. You mean all those years of..of..of baiting me with practical jokes as the Phantom and all that other stuff weren't abuses of the trust between friends?" he emphasized throwing fingers back and forth from himself to Chet in a gesture to clarify his point. Kelly mulled it over, wiping mud off an elbow. "No.." he said mildly. "Come on, the big guy's waiting." he said and helead the way ahead of the gang along the road leading back the way they had come. "Every second we delay is a second longer not knowing what's happened to him. Get the lead out!" he boomed over the thunder sizzling around them and he swept an arm forward to rally the rest of them. "This coming from a man who was a snivelling nervous wreck half an hour ago." Mike marvelled. "That's because forty feet of muddy river water isn't flowing over his head right at the particular moment." Gage said wryly to Cap, shrugging. Johnny began to whistle as he nonchalantly followed after Kelly. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Doctor Frick was satisfied with Nate Johnson's progress out of near death. He heard only residual rales in the man's chest. "Most of the water's already absorbed Blaine. I won't need albuterol." "How's his heart? Wasn't he down a long time?" Bittner wanted to know. "We won't know that until we run his lab tests at the hospital when we get there. Now.. let's see how Nicola's doing..." he said, reaching to do a head to toe survey on her. "Ho! Doc! I'm all right." shouted DeSoto, jumping out of a tan police car. He was wearing dry clothes, jeans and a gray button down shirt. "I got a ride back from the highway patrolman coming to barricade off the bridge causeway. Only I told him the causeway was already gone." Roy grinned. Then his smile immediately fell away when he saw Nate intubated and Nicola deeply unconscious. "What's their story?" he said snatching up a pen light to check out Sommers when the Doc pointed to her first. "Nate was nearly drown. Nicola found him in full arrest and kept him going until Blaine and I arrived with the defibrillator. Now, she's just collapsed after getting sick." "Not surprising with that around.." Roy said, throwing a head toss towards the treatment plant. "Gotta love that country air.." he quipped. "Speaking of a hospital. The ambulance crew following us encountered Mary and Darren and Aaron. They're already on their way into town. They'll be back for all of us.." "That's a relief. I haven't checked Nicola over yet beyond the primary." Frick told him. "Could you finish up?" "Sure will." Roy said, grabbing shears out of a bag. The CHiP was speaking to Blaine a short distance away about the ETA of the two ambulances Roy had promised them. "Can I help?" said another voice. It was Johnny. "My are you a sight for sore eyes." Gage sighed in relief when he got close enough to see who clustered on the beach. He crouched right away and began to cut away Nicola's sleeves and pants legs next to Roy. "Two are faster." Roy smiled. "Her story's a mystery. Doc here says she was lively enough to perform some CPR on Nate over there but then blacked out soon afterwards. Doc said that she became extremely nauseated fairly quickly." he told Gage. "Not the air?" he said wrinkling his dirty nose. "Nope. It's something else.." Frick said. "Bad smells don't make people faint." "But bad sights do." Cap said as the rest of them caught up with Johnny from the road. Kelly cleared his throat nervously. "Aww, Cap. Do you have to tell him?" "Fraid I do, Chet. Syncope's nothing to shake a stick at, especially when one was under water doing it." Hank said. "Chet fainted?" Roy frowned. "Yeah." Marco said. "For a whole six or seven minutes. We had to swim him ashore." "Chet, is your chest clear? How's your head?" DeSoto asked rapidly. "Yes and fine. Concentrate on Nicola and Nate buddy boy. I'm far from being a casualty." Kelly said no nonsense, setting some O2 over Sommers face from the doctor's satchel. "Hang on a minute Chet, I have to check something." DeSoto said. He crouched over Nicola and peeled back her lips to find cyanosis and a growing ecchymosis building along her gums inside of her mouth. Johnny saw it, too, holding the young woman's mask. "A toxic exposure of some kind?" "Who knows in that water.." Marco said. "The water treatment plant's perfectly fine, Marco, or it wouldn't still be in operation." Chet told him. "Gotta be something else." "Bingo.. " said Johnny. "Doc, take a look at this." and he shivered. "Thought I smelled one on her." "Smelled what Gage?" Mike Stoker asked, kneeling by Nate's head to monitor him. "Snake. Looks like a bite on her left hand. And it's bleeding freely." "Into a vein.." Frick said, taking a look. "Most likely a rattler. We've got a ton in the river bottoms. The flood must've washed one out from under the bank hollows." Frick noticed Johnny's complexion. "You ok?" "Yeah, I'm fine. I...just have a bad history with snakes. That's all. It was a rattler that nearly kept me from reaching my twenty eighth birthday." Frick nodded. "Constricting band. And lower her arm below her heart. Start an I.V. Ringers on her and run it wide open. Her vital signs are shocky and her rate's well into the V-tach range." Roy said. "Got it here. Want me to lance this and apply suction?" he said, indicating the snake bite on the woman's hand. "Nah, it's too late at this stage of the game. She was exerting herself and anything the venom's gonna do, it's already well on the way to doing it." Frick sighed. "I'll be sure to get ten to twenty vials of antivenin set once we get into the ER." "What kinds of tests do you want?" Johnny said holding Nicola's head back so her harsh breathing came more easily. "I can tell them once we get there to free you up." "Oh, the same as what your city docs usually order. A CBC, PT, a PTT, electrolytes, glucose, and a renal function study series." he said. "Don't forget to mark my skin at the leading edge of the bite with a pen every 15 to 30 to find coagulopathy and progressing edema.." mumbled the woozy girl on the ground. Gage smiled. "Welcome back." he said releasing her head. "Now don't make me have to tell you to keep still or to keep this oxygen on your face." He held her down when she remembered Mr. Johnson. "Nate?!" Nicola shouted, her memory returning. "Nate's fine. He's got a pulse and he's breathing on his own." Nicola fixed Roy and Johnny with a stare. "Now why do I have to keep from moving? I didn't hurt myself." "No, but a certain scaley one did, Ms. Sommers. A snake got your hand." Nicola let her head clunk back onto the ground. "Oh, so that's what it was.. a diamondback." "You certain of that?" Dr. Frick said, drawing a red top from Nicola's arm when he started to hear the sound of sirens growing in the distance. "I'm more than sure. I heard the d*mned rattling before a tree limb landed on my head." she said empathetically. Then she winced when Roy applied a tourniquet to her forearm above the bite. "How's Mary and Darren?" "Safe. Most likely in a warm hospital bed as we speak." Blaine said, turning from the CHiP officer he had been speaking to about everyone's adventure in the flood. "Boy that sounds good." Sommers sighed, falling asleep. "I think I'll doze and make it happen faster." "Roll over on your side, Nicola. In case you get an upset stomach again." Frick told her. Nicola was beyond hearing already, so Gage and Roy gently turned her underneath the blankets that the highway patrol officer had given them. "She goes first. Nate's stable." Frick told the paramedics. Johnny and Roy nodded. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was four days later and it was nearly the end of the gang's luckless vacation week. "Boys, " said Blaine over chili at Rosie's. "Let me make it up to you. There ain't no finer fishing guide here than Ms Sommers." he professed. Nicola cradled her arm in its sling, blushing."Well, what else have I got to do but fish in the summer time. It's not like I'm busy in school or anything then." she admitted. "I'd be happy to take you out on the lake. I know where all the holes are. Like lake trout?" she said leaning into Cap. Hank swallowed dryly. "Uh, maybe that's a question for my men, Ms. Sommers. They're the ones who think they can eat em.." Nicola redirected her eyes at the gang. "Oh, I like them just fine, maam." said Marco. "Sure do.." said Chet. "When I can catch em.'' Johnny chuckled honestly. "Only when my wife fixes em up." Roy admitted. "Or when I do..." Stoker followed up on the cooking comment. "How do you boys prepare them?" asked Doctor Frick. "You haven't lived until you've slathered them in Pabst batter and have them deep fried on a griddle over a camp fire. Maybe we can do that tonight at the campsite." "Sure.. It'll take at least until morning for the rental car company to run another truck out to us to haul the camper back to L.A. on Saturday." Hank accepted for his men. "Great. It can be a beach party." "Just as long as I don't have to get wet or anything like that to attend." Kelly goggled distastefully. "Not unless you want to." Nicola soothed. "Or unless the boat tips over again, dumping us in like it did last time." complained Lopez. "You guys tipped over that night?" Gage said, smiling like a hawk over a rabbit. "Yeah, off the point. Guess we must have been out of eye range." Marco detailed. "Kelly, no wonder you were so cagey when you guys raced up the beach to help us with Stoker's outhouse fire. You had just had another water scare. Explains why you overreacted today in the river." "Not very d*mned funny Gage." Chet said with only half heat. "Ask anyone here. I didn't overreact at all." "Oh yeah? Then why were you the only one who checked out getting free of my rover?" Johnny challenged. "I.......I... had trouble breathing, that's all. Stoker wailed out that window faster than I could get ready for it." Chet said defensively. "You were breathing fine when we all hauled you up to the top.." Stoker chipped in. "You didn't sound like any dyspnea case I've ever heard. He had smooth pipes, Gage. Real smooth. The whole time." "Thanks for sticking up for me, Stoker. I'll remember that the next time you draw chrome detail before a monthly inspection." Chet gestured pointedly. Soon, the gang was debating semantics with each other at the top of their lungs, gleefully and deadly passionate, while a contented Hank watched on. Dr. Frick reached over and shook Cap and Roy's hand. "Looks like you've been thoroughly initiated by Santa Rosa County now. You've been baptized in our waters." "Some more than others.." quipped Nicola, making a face as she remembered the Pig's Eye plant. "Well, be that as it may. I'm sure glad we stopped by." Hank admitted. "You were just what these city fireboys ordered." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : Woman fainted with two above her. Photo: A fat brook trout. Photo: Roy, Blaine and Johnny eating chili. Photo: A fisherman landing a fish in a net. Photo: A row of resort cabins. Photo: Roy in a cowboy hat. Photo: Nicola Sommers with a sheepish look. **************************************************************** FIN Shadows Of The Past :) This episode is dedicated to the EMSLive.com website :) for providing superior online paramedic radio programming :) through out Canada and abroad. :) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season Two, Episode Twelve.. §§ Crossing The Red Line §§ ****************************************************** From : Joan Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] A Test Of Wills Sent : Saturday, July 3, 2004 1:05 AM The day was a typical day at Station 51. It was 2pm and they had had three runs, 2 rescues and 1 fire, none of which were bad, without any Code I's. Even Johnny came away unscathed, so far.. Chet, as usual, had drawn latrine duty, for having sprung a water bomb on the Cap that was intended for Johnny. As he mopped the latrine, he grumbled to himself, "Man, how was I supposed to know the Cap was gonna open the cabinet before Gage? MAN!" Johnny and Roy were checking through their equipment to make sure all their supplies were in order, while Stoker was polishing 'Big Red'. Cap was in his office trying to catch up on some of his never-ending paperwork, while Marco was in the kitchen making his famous chili for dinner. The guys were all able to enjoy their dinner for once. Suddenly the klaxons sounded and it turned out to be a call for the whole station. "Station 51. Unknown rescue at the Carson City Hall. 534 East Carson Street. Cross Street Avalon. Time out 1803." While everyone ran to their assigned duties, Captain Stanley acknowledged, "10-4 Station 51 responding. Carson City Hall 534 East Carson Street. Cross Street Avalon. KMG 365." And he then ran to the engine. The men arrived to find the mayor and his secretary waiting for them,while police and security guards were trying to keep people calm and away from the scene. Captain Stanley went up to the mayor and asked, "Mr. Mayor, I'm Captain Stanley of the fire department. What seems to be the trouble, sir?" "Well, Captain Stanley, the thing is I am not really sure. All I know is I was in my office dictating a memo to Linda, my secretary, here when this young man came running into my office yelling. I thought maybe he was a disgruntled citizen with a complaint of some kind, you know." Captain Stanley nodded and then introduced Roy and John as the paramedics, and said, "Go on with your story Mayor Johnson." "Ok, well, as I said before, I thought that but it turned out he was yelling for help. Seems he was sick or something, cause within a minute or two, he passed right out on my floor and started foaming at the mouth. After a few seconds, he appeared to wake up and yelled at me, "Mayor Johnson, you need to tell everyone there is a wild rabid dog running out right outside this building. I was cleaning the back up and out of nowhere he attacked me!" After he said this, he again passed out, and is now lying in my office and hasn't moved since he said that. I called you guys right away and I hope I'm not too late. I have the animal patrol searching for the dog now. Please go help him, but be careful of that dog. I have no idea where he could be." Roy and John assured the Mayor they would attend to the stricken man immediately and Captain Stanley had his guys assist with the search, telling them all to be very careful. While John and Roy were upstairs, the animal control people had found and corralled the dog and put him down, as he was too far-gone to be helped. Their patient, although stable, had never regained consciousness and Rampart had ordered the dog's body brought in as well; to be sure it was rabies and nothing else. With Roy in front and John in back, they began to transport the victim. While doing this, John's foot became entwined with some loose carpeting in the stairwell and he tripped, losing the stretcher. As it was only three steps to go, Roy was able to safely put the patient down. In the meantime, Johnny stumbled down and landed hard on his left leg, and hearing a SNAP he fell over, saying, "Oh, Man! I think I busted my leg, Roy!" "Ok, Junior, just let me maneuver around you and the stretcher and call for some help ok? Will you be ok for a minute?" "Yeah, yeah. Man, what a dumb thing to do! You know, maybe I should sue city hall." And he laughed. "Glad you are in good spirits there, pal. I'll be right back." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: None offered. *********************************************************** From : Cassidy Meyers Sent : Thursday, July 15, 2004 9:11 PM Subject : The Unknown Factor Johnny watched Roy depart, wheeling the stretcher out into the large lobby of city hall to where he could see the gang milling about outside with the Mayor through the paned glass windows. The ambulance attendants who had been outside cleared a path through the crowd of onlookers and took over the fair haired paramedic's stretcher and the big Mayfair angled on the curb was quickly loaded up. Immediately, Johnny saw Cap nod a few seconds after Roy shouted something to him. At an order, Marco and Chet ran off to grab the splint box out of the squad. He almost blushed in embarrassment when he saw Cap plaster a face against the doors to see how he was doing. Seconds later, he saw Mayor Johnson lead the way to show the firemen the stairway Roy and Gage had used to reach the office and the mysteriously stricken man. Cap was right on their heels. "Gage? You ok?" he boomed no nonsense. "I'm fine. Just my leg. Might be a fib fracture. It didn't sound loud enough to be anything else." "This from the voice of experience.." Kelly nodded. "Oh,.. cut it out. The carpeting here, came up on the stair. See?" Johnny waved a hand at everybody to distract them from looking at how red his face was becoming under their penetrating eyes. The mayor did see. He leaned over and told Linda the secretary to go get an employee with a camera to take pictures of the area. "Don't you worry about a thing, Mr. Gage. I've been at the maintenance department for weeks about how loose that was. I'll have your medical bills covered. I set aside some of my own party's funds to handle all insurance claims filed for accidents occurring inside the building a few weeks ago once I found out how badly I was beating my head against the wall trying to get things done around here fixing city hall's architectural problems, including that stair." Just let my secretary know about your bills when they arrive." and he handed over a business card. "And that includes any lost wages on the job." he said empathetically. "I'll have this carpet nailed down in half an hour or my name isn't William A. Johnson, Jr." He waved over one of the security guards to stand over the spot until environmental services could place a caution sign over the area. "It's just a shame that such a dedicated city servant like you, had to get hurt first to expedite things." Johnny took the card, meekily, in awe that he had such a response so fast from such a high up city official. Kelly nudged his shoulder with an elbow while he and Marco splinted up his left lower leg. "Start moaning. Maybe you'll get more." he whispered, sotto voce. "Roy told us about what you said after it happened while he was loading up the guy." Gage scowled. "Chet, I was only kidding about that. Ow, not so tight! Guys, get my shoe off so I can see how my circulation's doing under that splint." Cap came back after radioing on ahead for a replacement paramedic to take Johnny's place at the station when they all cleared from the call. "I had to let Roy go on ahead to Rampart with the victim. He started right back into another convulsion. Eight's is shadowing him in their squad in case he gets into hot water. They were a minute away just off a cancelled call." He watched with interest while Kelly and Lopez gingerly peeled off sock and shoe from Gage's foot. "Is it an open fracture?" he asked, leaning over to look for blood on the leg. "No, closed and simple." Johnny grimaced, wiggling his toes in a neuro and circulation check around the air splint Lopez and Kelly had applied. "Ok, get me on my feet." he told them. They helped him up, slinging Johnny's shaking arms over both their shoulders. "Cap, I can go in the squad. I'm still fine pain wise." Cap studied him closely. Gage felt a trickle of cold sweat pour down his face, betraying him. "I'm not objected to you calling in another squad to get to some pain meds." "Cap, this is embarrassing enough as it is without the entire fire department finding out yet again about another Gage mishap. It's a stigma I've been trying to erase for years now." "This wasn't your fault." Cap reasoned. "I know that. Neither was just about everything else that's happened to me. But the other stations are still keeping bets on my tally. Somehow, they've already found out about the snake, the monkey virus, my fall off the ladder because of that flashover, my hit and run accident...." Mayor Johnson piped up. "Don't forget to tell my attorney when he calls about your pain and suffering, too. I'll not have that unaccounted for in your compensation figures." he said before he hurried away to harrass the just now gathering maintenance crew. Gage winced when he realized how that must have sounded to the frustrated city mayor. He immediately felt guilty. But the queasy feeling growing in his stomach made being tactful nearly impossible. Johnny tried not to frown as Marco and Chet aided him out the very crowded antehall and back outside to the vicinity of the engine and the squad. Cap followed behind with Johnny's helmet and his sock and shoe. With every hop, Gage's bound leg felt like it was on fire. ::The splint's on right. What's the problem?:: he thought, thinking things through. He made them set him down on the squad's seat with the door open long enough for him to do a self blood pressure check when Cap wasn't looking. It was oddly low, and when he weaved from where he sat, he wasn't surprised when Mike Stoker suddenly ran up with the engine's spare 02 and clattered it open. Gage never felt himself being lowered to the ground. His companions' urgent voices swirled away into a loud hissing that was announcing the arrival of a complete and utterly terrifying blackout. His heart started pounding frantically, rising into his eardrums. Then silence slammed down over his awareness and he knew no more. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "What the--" Cap startled from his place leaning on the Ward's doorframe. He had just finished informing L.A. of their status. He snatched up his HT just as he saw the guys cradle Gage to the sidewalk under the squad's passenger door. "Kelly, what happened?" he said as he watched Stoker set a demand valve over Johnny's nose and mouth and begin to punch the button on its regulator, delivering fully assisted breaths. Chet looked up from Gage as he and Marco got Johnny's shirt open. "Don't know. He took his own pressure, gasped, and then keeled over. Now his heart's racing and Stoker says he's barely breathing." "What was it?" Cap asked of the blood pressure reading his afflicted paramedic had found. "Eighty palpated." said Lopez. Hank thumbed his talk bar on the walkie talkie. "L.A. Engine 51. We have a Code I at our location. Respond an additional squad and ambulance to 534 East Carson Street and Avalon." ##10-4, Engine 51. Time out, 18: 51.## Then Cap looked down and saw a spreading rash quickly appear over Gage's skin and across his chest and neck. "Hold it, hold it." he ordered when he saw Kelly and Marco starting to free their hands up for possible CPR. "Guys, keep your gloves on. That looks like a toxic chemical reaction." In horror, they both looked down. A gust of wind rose, fluttering Gage's opened uniform shirt and cut apart T shirt. Chet suddenly groaned and looked away, grabbing his face. "Oww! My eyes!" Cap shouted to the security guards to pull the crowds back from around the firemen, firetrucks and Johnny. "Get them back! Way back! There's an unknown chemical effecting us! Start clearing out all the areas that victim we treated may have been in contact with. And that includes the stairway! Move out all civilians using other routes! Do that before you do anything else! Mayor Johnson stays on scene. It'll be your ever lovin' rears if he doesn't. He's possibly been exposed to whatver this stuff is the same as we have!" The many city hall guards hastened to follow Cap's orders. Hank grabbed an air bottle off its exterior rack behind E51's cab and slid it on. "Marco, get into your air gear, first. I'll get Mike's. THEN deal with helping Chet wash out his eyes. Whatever this chemical is, it's potent.." "I thought something was fishy about that guy.." Chet coughed, eagerly snatching the reel line Cap dropped by him to start washing his face and eyes clean. "Rabies infection doesn't ever set in that fast.." Air masked donned, Cap got on the radio once again. "Engine 51, L.A. Call in a full Hazmat Response Team immediately and three additional fire stations. Two firemen are down with symptoms of sudden toxicity. Evacuations of the first floor city hall and second floor office suites have been initiated by city security personnel. An immediate Battalion Chief is requested at my scene. We may have an unknown number of casualties inside the building." He dropped to his knees, pulling up his turnout's collar and he bent over Gage to take over his ventilation care while his engineer hastily got into his SCBA gear. ##10-4, 51. Time out, 18:54. Response ETA of the rescue squad is estimated at six minutes to your location. Hazmat and Battalion reports an arrival in ten.## "10-4, L.A. Engine 51 out." Stoker answered for Cap on the abandoned HT near Cap's knees. "How are you feeling?" Mike asked Hank ironically as he shoved on his bottle's air mask. "I'm fine. Calm as peaches, outwardly.." Hank joked. "You?" he said giving Gage another breath with the ventilator when his chest didn't rise high enough on its own for his liking. "Nothing on my end." Stoker said. "I got him.." and he took over for his captain, gripping Johnny's pale, dripping face firmly under his gloves to keep a good open airway. "Just keep all skin exposed areas on yourself, covered up." Hank said, rising, his adrenaline heightened breaths whistling noisily behind his SCBA's face plate. "Marco will stay in case he crashes further." he added when he saw Lopez's thumbs up from the solid wash he was giving Chet's head and hair. Kelly's shirt and coat were abandoned on the sidewalk and he was down to his white T shirt, kneeling over the curb to let the hose outwash flow into the sewer drain. Cap went on, keeping verbal contact with Mike through both their air masks. "If Kelly checks out ok, I'll put him on communications until the other stations get here. Need a relay to Rampart?" "Yeah, Johnny's throat's getting tight. He may need to be intubated before the squad gets here." Stoker said. "Aren't you glad you've been cross training in the experimental intermediate paramedic program of Brackett's? That's been just as innovative this past month as Kelly's cross training as a backup engineer for us behind DeSoto. I guess now's your time to shine." he said without a smile. "I'll grab the spare resp kit from the engine." Cap rose in a hurry and tapped Marco on the shoulder, jerking a gloved thumb over his shoulder at Gage and Stoker. Lopez nodded to Kelly, who was shaking his head like a dog to shed off his contaminated water. "I've got to go. Gage's in the weeds. Stoker's getting a tube out." And he dropped the hose into off before he started running. Kelly slid into his air mask and bottle that Cap had clunked by his feet and blinked water out of his eyes. "You, too, Cap. Go on. I'm ok now.. That strange burning's gone." "You sure?" Cap asked, keeping a safe short distance between himself and Kelly. "Yeah.." Chet voice hissed as he tested his air bottle's regulator. "Ok. Get on the horn and raise Rampart. Stoker's gonna need a doctor for.." "I know.. Marco's just told me." and Chet rushed back to the other firemen. A minute later, Stoker had an HT tucked under one helmeted ear on open talk mode to Kel Brackett when Cap said. "Ch.. r*st All Mighty. I forgot about Roy! He's still with the guy who started all of this." Cap straightened up on his knees and started to call the Mayfair, now half way to Rampart, speeding Code Three. He whipped up his walkie talkie. "L.A. Engine 51. Clear me on Tactical to Squad 51's HT. Emergency!" ##Engine 51. You are on Situation First - Go.## came Lanier's crisp reply. Hank shot to his feet. "Engine 51 to HT 51. Do you read me? Over...." He barely saw Mike Stoker and Marco Lopez being talked through Johnny's endotracheal airway insertion. He didn't envy the difficulty they were facing being stuck inside their work gloves and wearing their steamed up air masks. "Engine 51 to Squad 51. This is Captain Stanley on Priority Override. Do you read?" ------------------------------------------------------- Photo : City Hall types on a carpeted stairwell. Photo: Mayor William A. Johnson, Jr. Photo: Carson City's real City Hall. Photo: Cap calling urgently on the radio, crouched low near the squad. Photo: A speeding Mayfair ambulance rushing down the road. ***************************************************** From: Sam Iam Date: Fri Jul 23, 2004 12:36 pm Subject: Threading the Needle Mike Stoker shouted into the handy talkie perched onto his shoulder. "Rampart this is Engine 51." he yelled through his SCBA mask. "My victim is unresponsive to pain and under full ventilation support. I have access to basic airway equipment as the squad is off scene. Victim is showing a sudden onset rash across his torso and neck with no evidence of hives. Chest rise is nominal. There is no obstruction we can see.." he said as he got an affirming nod from Marco who checked yet again for the effectiveness of the demand valve's seal over Johnny's face. The latin american firefighter was watching closely for signs of movement in Gage's limbs or eyelids and for bad airway trouble in the form of chest noise. The engineer sighed as he watched Cap run fast to coordinate the evacuation of city hall with a hand held megaphone. He could see Hank was torn between learning more about their inadvertent chemical problem and conducting the start of a Level 1 CIS setup. As yet, there were no other engines, nor batallion chiefs within earshot. Stoker and Kelly and Lopez never felt so alone as they did in that moment when Cap disappeared in the crowd. ## 10-4, Engine 51.. uh, is this Mike Stoker ?## came Dr. Brackett's face. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Brackett tilted his head in surprise at Dixie. He lifted his finger from the talk button. "I wonder where Roy is?" he frowned at McCall. Dixie handed him a chart. "Joe handled his call. He's on the way in with an unconscious. A male of about 45. Roy said he was an unknown type seizure with psychotic episode with no known etiology other than possible rabies.. Six minutes out." ##That's affirmative, Rampart.## came Stoker's muffled reply on the radio to Kel's question. Kel lost all doubt in the firefighter's abilities. "Stoker. You know the drill. Have your head man start hyperventilating him. I'll walk you through best I can. I know you've never done one in the field but I have full confidence in you. I should know, I trained you. Now things'll be harder to see on a live person than what you were used to from the program. At no time do you hurry. The soft palate's sensitive in some cases of collapse and the last thing we need is a laryngospasm clamping down and really making things difficult. Let me know when you see the vocal cords, Mike.. You have a minute after Johnny stops getting vented in order to get in a successful route. If you can't get one. Wait. Just hyperventilate again for another two minutes and then try it. Suction is critical if he vomits from his chemical exposure. Be sure to watch out for that." --------------------------------------------------------------------- Stoker's jaw set into a firm line. He didn't even notice a hose dripping Chet insert himself between Marco and his arms to start applying crycoid pressure. "I got this. And a flashlight so you can see what you're doing.." Kelly coughed and he threaded his second gloved arm through Mike's hands to light up Gage's face. Marco had already placed a tire chock under Gage's shoulders to keep his head fallen back. "Are you hurt?" Stoker asked Kelly, without looking up from the blade of the scope he was placing carefully into the right side of Johnny's mouth. "Give me the time." "Twenty eight seconds since the last breath. And no..." Chet said. "Just handle Johnny. L.A. says that 24's four minutes away. Can you see them yet?" he mumbled through his breathing gear as he kept up the hold that now showed Mike the only passageway down. Stoker's forehead began to sweat. "Where are they?" he whispered to himself, moving the strangely foamy palate away with his blade, searching for the pearly white vocal cords. Louder he said, "Marco, hand me a size 7.0 and peel it. D*mn.. Grade 2, I'm not seeing all the cords, he's swelling a bit.." "Take your time, man. Gage's ok, his color's still very good." Lopez said quietly. "Here. I got it near your left hand." Mike slid the MacIntosh blade a little lower and groped for the endotracheal tube. Suddenly, Johnny's throat locked up and clamped shut. His mouth fell open in an astonished "oh.." that translated into the handy talkie. ##What's the problem, 51?## came Brackett's voice. "Spasm.. It happened when I lifted the scope. I can't see anything.." Mike said a little too fast. ##Relax, Stoker. You must've bumped the superior nerve. It'll ease in a bit since he's not chilled. You guys haven't given him his hose bath yet. Just bag him gently on ambu until it loosens. Bound to from hypoxia. Flood him with O2 and try again.## Kel said firmly. ##We've plenty of time..## "Should I let go?" Chet said of his pressure hold. "No..." Mike said. "You're probably keeping him from getting sick. Don't want him aspirating. Keep his esophagus sealed off just like you're doing." Kelly was nervous and took the suction wand up into his free hand nonetheless. Gage's chin twitched. "Is he waking?" "Nah. Doc said it's all reflex in class." Mike gasped as he kept a cross fingers scissor between Johnny's teeth to keep him from injuring himself on the blade's guide. ##Try pulling back a little, 51.## Dr. Brackett said. ##There'll be less stimulus..## Mike eased back just a bit and withdrew the blade up an inch and suddenly, a vocal cord popped into view when Gage's neck muscles stopped cording. "There! I'm threading it." he announced with more confidence than he felt. He tried to keep his hands from trembling. Kelly looked at his watch. "52 seconds." Stoker slowly advanced the tube until it settled onto its mark. "I'm in." he said. "Hand me the ambu.." he said, inflating the airway's internal bottom cuff with a syringe. Marco grabbed for it, making sure the oxygen flow was very high and passed it off to Mike. Stoker snapped the bag's feeder end onto the tube and gasped. "Ok.. Check both sides. Is it all right?" he asked quickly, giving the paramedic rapid, full breaths to get his blood back to normal. Kelly listened with a stethoscope. "He sounds like a seashell to me. Nice and even, too. Left is the same as right." "Stomach?"##Stomach?##" Stoker asked at the same time as Brackett. "Nothing.." Kelly smiled, grinning as he pulled off the earpieces. ##Nice work gentlemen.. Keep an eye on his pulse and then slow your vent rate to 12 a minute in 30 seconds. Tape it off to keep the tube from sliding out when you transport him.## Dr. Brackett smiled verbally. "I got that." Marco volunteered. He looked over his shoulder. "Cap, he's pink and beautiful and both lungs are accepting." he shouted. "There's no problems at all.." Hank visibly relaxed and stopped double taking as he issued orders to the security guards on where to tell people to go. Kelly left the suction tube laying over Gage's chest and rose from knees to his squatting toes. "Radio me if he changes. I'm sure Cap'll want us by him if that happens." he said smacking his own chest and waving a hand at an already distracted Marco Lopez. "Go.. I'm good now.." Stoker said, inwardly smiling at his success. "Piece of cake." he said shakily. Chet had to peel his fingers off Gage's throat crycoid cartilage ring with his free glove. "Just call me a leech. Sorry, Gage." "Worth the bruising. I'm sure Johnny won't mind when he finds out what we all did together." Mike said. "I don't want Gage or DeSoto's job anytime soon, thanks anyways, Stoker." "Yeah, but it's nice to know we're effective backup." Stoker nodded, dropping a glove to Gage's carotid to time its rate. Stoker watched Chet Kelly join Hank as he tried once again to raise Roy's Mayfair, this time, using the ambulance radio frequency and not the HT's. A minute later, Squad 24's sirens grew in the distance and two paramedics swiftly approached where Mike and Gage were in the street. The older paramedic pointed down when he saw that Gage was intubated so neatly. "Who did this?" he demanded through his SCBA faceplate. "I did.." Stoker grinned. "My first." The graying maned man's eyebrows climbed into his hairline but a knowing smile played at his lips as he and his partner busied themselves with getting a full set of vitals. "Ok, genius. Congratulations. Now go play fireman and leave US something to do, ok, Slick?" Mike Stoker floated back to Cap's side. -------------------------------------------------------- Photos : None. *********************************************** From : Cory Anda Sent : Saturday, July 24, 2004 12:58 AM Subject : The Lit Match Effect "Is he doing good?" Captain Stanley asked his two men who joined him to stand in a trio as the flood of people poured out city hall exhibiting a rainbow of emotions. None were tempted to ask the firemen the reason for their sudden eviction from work. "His pulse was regular, and full, Cap. I think so. Won't know until the squad paramedics get done checking him out." Mike Stoker admitted. "Fine, fine. Go string two inch and three quarters with a Y connector. Let's play this like Hazmat's gonna wanna scrub everyone in sight." Hank ordered, clapping a glove over his engineer's shoulder. "Nice job, pal." he said seriously. "Sorry you were thrown into the deep end as paramedic intermediate so soon.." "I'm just glad I was there, Cap." Stoker said, rechecking the dial on his air bottle to make sure his own supply wasn't low because of the heightened stress level he had felt then. "Go.." Hank said, waving Mike off. Kelly started to follow Mike to help when Cap whistled, getting his attention. Chet whirled and then spotted Cap waggling come here fingers with his command HT still pressed tightly over his helmeted ear around his mask straps. "Kelly. Front and center!" Kelly had on a new jacket that he got from the rear compartment of the Ward. He jogged over to Hank and rested, bending over with his hands on his knees as he listened to what he had to say when Cap leaned in close. "I still can't raise Roy. We gotta get em back here pronto. I'm not about to let possibly contaminated people into a hospital setting." "What about that man's care?" Chet said before he could bite his tongue and retract it back again. "We'll call the docs here, into the Rehab Area when it's set up. Keep trying for me.. The other engines are arriving, I have to go tell them and the chiefs what's going on here." Cap shouted. "Ok." and he took out his handy talkie and turned it to the same frequency that Cap showed him. Hank ran to the middle of the street, orchestrating the arriving engine companies parking formation. He sent them to the ends of the block on both sides of his Ward, which was positioned centrally. Then he heard the tones from L.A. to change to the situation commander's frequency for Batallion Ten and did so. Chet Kelly moved to set a foot on the step of the engine near where Stoker and Lopez were tending the hydrant outside city hall and he spoke. "Engine 51 to HT 51 on Mayfair Channel One. Over." On the highway, speeding down the Ventura Expressway, the driver of Roy's ambulance heard. He thumbed the mic on his CB radio. "Mayfair Six with Squad 51." Kelly glommed onto the connection. "Recall back to our scene Mayfair Six, Code Three. Your victim and paramedic may have been exposed to hazardous chemicals. Report for immediate decontamination. Hazmat is arranging a doctor to cover your situation at our location. Over.." "10-4. Recalling for Hazmat decon.." said the white coated driver and he made a controlled U-ie off the next major exit. Naturally, Roy DeSoto opened the patient compartment window between them. "What's the problem?" "It's one of your people, declaring a Hazmat condition on us. I'm heading back right now." the driver told Roy. DeSoto oggled for a second, then nodded and shut the partition to sit back down in the cab seat at the man's head. His patient was quiet now, Dr. Early's diazepam having done wonders for his convulsions. Having been warned, Roy began to rinse his hands from a saline bag before donning protective rubber gloves for himself. Sorely wanting information, he switched his HT to the paramedic scanning frequency to listen in. He was shocked to find Squad 24 talking about a Code I and when Brackett called Johnny by name, Roy almost slipped out of his seat belt. They weren't yet using the biophone channel which didn't surprise him due to the new crisis situation preventing such a luxury. He hung on every word. He began to curse the benefit of the HT private band call, which handily allowed identities to be named over the air. ##.. 24, is Gage showing signs of consciousness yet?## Kel Brackett asked. ##Negative, Rampart, despite the hosedown. ## replied the man Roy recognized as Brice's partner, Bob Belliveau. ## Has he started breathing adequately on his own yet?..## ##Negative, he's still on ET ambu. ## "What?!!" Roy exclaimed aloud. The window into the driver's compartment snapped open. "Nothin.." he snarled when the attendant peered in at him.The driver shrugged and closed the slot again. Roy kept his eyes on the EKG monitor and his ear to the radio when he heard the order given for Narcan and Atropine. "Yeah,..yeah, that'll do it. Even if it's a pesticide or something just as bad." he mumbled. "Johnny you better start breathing again or I'll kill ya." His self reassurance did nothing to make him feel better. He could only will the Mayfair on to a faster speed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kelly shouted loudly to be heard over the crowd moving away from them. "HO!" he yelled, getting Cap's attention. Hank rubbernecked. Chet drew a circling motion in the air and saw Cap give him a thumbs up before he started speaking with the CIS commander again about plans. Soon, the out of service Squad 51 was moved to a side street and Captain Stanley motioned his men into a huddle so they could hear each other. "Thank god for the public's tendency to overreact. Fortune's in our favor, gang. The yokles in city hall security not only cleared out the effected floor but the whole place. You three sweep in and see if you can locate the source of the problem in lifelines." Kelly, Lopez and Stoker started away but Cap snagged their shoulders. "With FRESH air bottles, understood?" Three masked nods greeted him. "This is an internal search until we know more. Do this hoseless. Stringing them'll only eat up too much time. Pull out at the slightest sign of trouble, got that?" More nods and furlative glances swept toward the now empty tan brick building. Cap said, "We're the only station in the middle of the block. The others have squared off on all points north, south, and east of us for the primary attack set up. Only Squad 24 is still with us until Johnny's stabilized. Everyone else is on a block end. Move." Lopez, Stoker and Kelly strung out rappelling ropes from the Engine's store and tied them on. All three entered the building and began a search pattern, starting with the second floor office where they had first encountered the man. Nothing seemed amiss. Then Lopez got everyone's focus with a whistle when he spotted a stairwell door ajar thatlead into a no exit basement, incongruent with the possibility that any evacuees could have used it. "That's open guys. Don't you think that's a little odd?" he yelled over the hissing of his air bottle. The other two agreed. And followed him down the brightly lit stairs whichlead into the sub basement. They searched the boiler room. It was clear. Then the electrical room. It, too, was fine. Then they tried a storage room labelled Spare Mail Store and found it barricaded shut despite the open lock turning door knob. Kelly shouldered it wide open and staggered into a room full of homemade chemical laboratory equipment. Excessive trash including large amounts of antifreeze containers, lantern fuel cans, red chemically stained coffee filters, drain cleaners and duct tape littered the floor and the stench of acetone was almost overwhelming, even through their faceplates. The tables were a collection of chemical bottles, glassware, hoses, and pressurized cylinders, including modified propane tanks, and stolen city hall fire extinguishers. Chet took one look at the blacked out basement windows before he said. "It's a g*d d*mned crank lab in here." "Should we go air it out?" Lopez asked him. Stoker snatched them both back into the doorway. "No! There's cooking going on. Look! I'll just bet that stuff over there's red phosphorus and iodine! Let's get out of here.." and he pointed out the ominous glow of an active open flame bunsen burner. The three firefighters suddenly knew that their lives were in great danger. Kelly almost thumbed his radio to give a report when Marco slammed his arm down. "Don't! A spark from your HT might set it all off! Let's go!" Chet went. The firemen pummelled out of city hall at breakneck speed and down the front steps a minute later shouting the bad news. Their panic spread through the fire station ranks and they looked up at the motion and sudden voices. Cap was charting his slate by the engine. Stoker shouted. "Get back! Get back! Meth lab and it's still cooking!" Hank startled and ducked behind the engine as his men joined him. "What?! " "It's huge, Cap.." Marco gasped, leaning down. "We guess over a half a ton of ingredients and white gas." "We'd better get out of here. Stoker. Drop our hoses from the bed. We'll motor out to the other units on Big Red." Hank said calmly. He whistled through his teeth. "Man, who'd've figured? In the middle of sweet little old downtown city of Carson?" He raised the engine's mic to call out their discovery to the HazMat units yet to come and the fire stations already there. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy began to recognize the neighborhood. He tapped the window door and it opened. "Let's head to the west side. That's where my station was. Most likely they've been picked to be the decontam wash truck, being nearest. Head down that way.." The driver turned down a sidestreet and turned off his siren, finally spotting the familiar side of the stately building. Squad 51 and Squad 24 were still angled at the foot of the city hall steps. And a body was on the ground on a yellow tarp with a cluster of air bottled firemen over him ::Johnny!:: Roy thought. Then he ordered. "Stop here. They're in masks. We don't wanna take in any fumes if there are any.." he cautioned, and the brakes of the Mayfair squeaked metallically as it halted in the center of the road perpendicular to the road the fire trucks were on. Then Roy spotted something strange. Engine 51 was speeding backwards, and away from the squads whose personnel suddenly kicked into high gear in a desperate escape with their firefighter paramedic patient in a stokes, some running with him, the others piling into the two rescue squads. DeSoto was about to turn his radio back over to the main CIS channel to find out why, when city hall suddenly disintegrated into fragments of raw fire and a plume of glowing vapored debris. A tremendous explosion ripped across two whole city blocks, rupturing subterranean gas mains and causing side explosions to crater the street curbs into long flaming fissured trenches deep into the earth. A pregnant fiery orange and black mushroom loomed a hellish head over the Mayfair, Engine 51's vehicles and Squad 24, before Roy's vision was knocked out from a massive concussion wall of displaced atmosphere and heat that roared through the open ambulance door. The kick slammed the rear Mayfair hatch closed and the ambulance jolted, throwing around the two ambulance attendants, Roy and the man on the gurney. Then a heavy blanket of debris, dust and roaring fire snuffed out their view to the outside as it covered them, until they were locked into a tomb that was completely lightless and airless. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : A neighborhood in Carson City, skyline. Photo : A photo of a collapsed building with a crowd in front. Photo : Cap ducking behind the engine in a flinch. Photo : A massive mushrooming explosion. Photo: Roy and two ambulance attendants wounded in a Mayfair. *************************************************************** From : patti keiper Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Cooler.. Sent : Thursday, July 29, 2004 7:49 AM Mike Stoker managed to swing the front end of the Ward away from the concussive wave of the methamphetamine lab explosion that destroyed Carson City Hall. His gloved hands cranked on the wheel hard to the left as the swollen belly of the building sized fire ball swept low over the top of Engine 51. The engineer couldn't help it. He flinched. So did Chet, Marco, and Cap. "Hang on!" Hank's voice cut loudly, as a rock on rock, hollow like sucking roar overtook their immediate vicinity. All he saw was fire out the windows. Then a ball of heat lifted the hair around his helmet and ruffled it and fogged out his air mask as the dew point was met, exceeded, then water dessicated. ::Mother of-- I hope to h*ll the others got under some cover in time.:: Marco Lopez instinctively pulled the four of them around Stoker's driver's seat in a body hugging huddle that protected their exposed faces as the massive blast blossomed, expanded and annihilated itself over them. "Madre Dios! Too close. Too close! We've got to get out of here!" "Working on it.." came Mike's gasping voice through his SCBA. The firetruck's engine was laboring over the thin air, sputtering as the motor dug for atmosphere to burn in. Stoker kicked it into the lowest gear. "The air's a different color over there. Heading over to it!" "Ahh! Keep your masks on!" Kelly said. "An empty water bottle by my feet just blew up!" "Vacuum effect! Open your mouths up as wide as you can!" Hank shouted to his crew, clutching the handy talkie he couldn't see in the lava glow darkness. Captain Stanley no sooner said that when a second explosion rocked the accelerating Ward from the left and pressure stabbed spears of agony through their eardrums. Then the way ahead was clear. A center calm in a ring of fire at an intersection. Mike Stoker took the richer air route and plunged them all into a parking lot, bouncing over a curb with both axles. Equipment inside the cab jostled, and fell from their storage hooks. Others did the same, clanging loudly from inside their rear engine holding compartments. "There! There! A loading dock is open!" Kelly shouted. "Can we clear it?" Hank yelled, gripping the dark red seat back in a fierce hold. "Yeah!" "Then in we go! Watch for Squads 24 and 51. They were riding in our wake." "I see em!" Chet shouted. Two sets of flashing lights cut through the orange cloudy murk before a roof of black shut out the sun. A sign flashed by that was tacked onto the building and Hank gave a nod of satisfaction as they shot inside the loading area. "Of all the dumb luck.." Mike Stoker screeched Engine 51's brakes inside the low ceiling garage and he canted her at a forty five, so that the two squads could get by into the interior. The last bumper no sooner cleared the edge of the door when the retracting door descended in a bang as an emergency cord was pulled on the door's automatic opener. The ebony smoke and deafening noise roiling in behind them was choked off. A new voice and figure in medical blue came running towards them. "Are you guys all right? Oh my G*d. We saw City Hall go through our windows. It was only by chance that I spotted you." said the very fit white haired man before their bumpers. Cap peeled off a sweaty mask as they piled out of the engine, catching their breaths. "Appreciate the shelter, doc. Help us? "We've got a wounded firefighter here..." he said, pointing to the paramedic on the roof of Squad 24, checking over Gage's airway patency and carotid status as he bagged him. Doctor Scribbs hastened to help the Station 51 four unload him to the ground. Chet was peeling off his mask, too, staring dumbly at the mattressless steel gurneys lined up on the wall and the sparkling black hearse parked under the fluorescent lights. "Aw, Cap.. Didja have to pick the morgue for us to hide in?" Hank erupted, "I didn't think of in here! Stoker did.." "Guilty.." said the engineer, coughing lightly. "And a smart thing, too. " Hank grinned. The ME office has its own internal air and ventilation system, at least in the morgue areas. That's where we'll be heading next. In there will be the perfect decontam station for Gage. Scrubbing drains, solid thick walls, a refrigeration unit so we won't cook. We couldn't have found a better haven than this. We'll even have our own power generator. This place needs one to keep the chiller running at all times for obvious reasons." Chet's face fell into a barely veiled blend of disgust and apprehension. But he bit his tongue from issuing any rejoiners. Station 24's Bob Belliveau nodded at Gil Sheppard, his partner. "Did he take any detriment, Gil?" he asked about Gage. "Nah.. it was hot only for a few seconds." said the short stocky paramedic. "His vents never quit although I had to snuff the oxygen off. The two assigned with us from our engine are fine, too." he said, jerking a gloved thumb over his shoulder at the men gathered around Captain Stanley. He yelled over to the tall man from 51's, issuing information into his radio. "That's everyone who was with us, Cap!" he related. Then he stooped to reassess John Gage in a closer survey, reapplying his own air bottle's faceplate before he did so, maintaining a barrier distance. "Nine for a head count and all here.Thanks." Cap proceeded to report out to outer fringe fire stations that had most likely seen them horrifically disappear under the fire ball. "L.A., Engine 51. We're ok. Squad 51 and Squad 24 are with us inside the Medical Examiner's Office Garage. All hands are accounted for. One victim and eight men. We're sitting tight to wait it out. Note we're in a very safe place. Make our break out priority a bit less." ##10-4, Engine 51. The Incident Commander on Foster Ave has been notified. Battalion asks if you are attack capable. ## "Not known at this time. My engineer's doing a walk around. Stand by." ##Standing by, Engine 51. Your frequency is being relayed to the CIC. Transmit at need after the open channel prompt.## "Copy, L.A." Hank said, leaning heavily on his knees as he swept his eyes over the firemen spreading out through the garage bay to make sure the raging fire outside wasn't coming in. Soon, the triple treble of an on air signal sounded from all their HT's. "Sounds like they're linked with us out there. Now let's see how we're doing in here. Stoker? Is she intact?" he asked as he carefully felt the chassis of the Ward for heat and blistering. He kicked a tire. Mike's hands flew over the chrome controls. "Yes, the hoses weren't melted and the panel's showing green on all dials. Neither of our tanks are reading as compromised. Fuel or water." "Then hook her up to the water main over there." he said pointing to the emergency stairwell leading up to second level of the county building. Stoker could just see a fire hose accordianed on hooks in the landing behind glass. "Use their lines for now." Cap ordered. "I'll leave them uncharged until we know what side of the building we're going to attack from." "How about from the roof?" Hank suggested. "That's where the spot fires will be and that's well above the street gas line ruptures. I'll just bet the CIC has a vertical attack already planned out. I'll radio out in a few minutes to see if our building's in the Hot Zone, not counting whatever space Gage will end up in." Five minutes later, the task was done. A long, inch and three quarters soon noodled neatly on the concrete floor. Right then, the garage door sucked out in a convex bow with a loud smack of aluminum as the air inside the coroner's building evacuated violently out to the fire outside. The door groaned at the stresses being applied to it. But it held admirably. "Everybody inside! We're out of time in our current spot.." Cap. "That's probably a backflash encroaching. Grab what you can. We'll come back to fight the fire only when we're able." "What about the spare air bottles, Cap?" Kelly asked. "Grab just the 02 tanks for Gage." he replied. "And anything else that's critical for triage. Later we may become a disaster station. Doc, right now, consider us all contaminated. Gage got into an unknown chemical exposure from a meth lab. It was in the spare mail room in the basement of city hall." Scribbs face opened in shock, then anger. "A crank lab was operating five hundred feet away from here? That's appalling!" "That's what I thought when Lopez and Kelly and Stoker here found it." he smiled sadly. The fire fighters gathered both squads' medical equipment in a rapid assembly line into the stairwell as the two still masked medics carried Gage into the morgue rooms one level up. Chet Kelly wasn't one with Johnny's litter and he needed a strong shove from Marco before he entered the suite, his eyes huge. "T--T-There's bodies in here.." "No kidding, Chet. Out of the way. Or better yet, take this biophone over to where Belliveau and Sheppard are setting up. They're gonna need it." Hank grabbed the medical examiner's arm after he was certain that the doctor was the last one to enter the suite of rooms. "Listen, doc. Is your staff upstairs, safe?" "Oh yes.." said Scribbs. "I shooed them out the front doors the moment it happened. They're all past the perimeter. It's just me my clients left now." and he shot meaningful eyes over to several sheet shrouded forms lying on tables at the far end of the room. Cap worked a miracle keeping his expression from changing. Doc Scribbs chuckled at the curly haired fireman's reactions. "I only lagged behind to make sure the fire didn't get to them. That's why I was about to close the bay door when you and your singed bunch showed up. Welcome to my parlor, boys. Let's get down to business now, shall we?" he said as he swung the morgue's protective heavy metal door shut with an echoey bang. "I've showers for everyone." All the firefighters shuddered. "We can set your young injured fireman here on the main table. We can do him first." said the energetic medical examiner. Kelly peeped. "But, there's somebody already on that table.." "That's all right. " Scribbs trickled. "I'm sure you two strong fellas can manage carrying her back to the cooler. I finished her autopsy this morning. I'll just neaten up after a bit before you transfer your friend out of the stokes. Oh, here. Let me open the cooler door for you." Kelly and Lopez gulped. Cap's face was about as pale as his mens'. "You heard the man. Move.." They went, shifting the grisly burden in their arms, ready to lift her weight. "Doc, we don't have to worry about anything.. uh, any bits tumbling out, do we?" "Oh, no. I sewed her back up again. I used just a lazy S incision for a standard weighing." "Oh,... thanks.." said Lopez in a small voice as they hefted her up and disappeared with her into the dark chiller. "Boys.. " shouted Scribbs after them. "Don't forget to put one of the wooden blocks from the shelf under her head so she'll hard-- uh, present on a pillow in her coffin properly later on." There was no reply to that. The doc began cheerfully whistling at the novelty of having guests who could talk back for once. The paramedics busied themselves with stripping Johnny down when the doc was ready, for a thorough warm, soap and water head to toe scouring. Afterwards, they bundled him up in the only thing available for insulation. They put him inside a clean canvas cloth body bag. Cap excused himself from the proceedings once he felt Gage's medical and hazmat care were well underhand and he drew Stoker aside a few minutes later after hearing about a frightening development. "Mike, go to the window and see if you can spot Roy's ambulance." "What?!" Stoker startled, remember the h*ll they had just escaped. Cap imposed an immediate clamp down. "Now, don't alarm the others. Everyone's jumpy enough as it is with us being cooped up in here for the duration with all the cadavers. Just do a reconnaissance from what you see. If you do spot him. We'll be going out there so prepare yourself. We'll do the engine later. No doubt we'll be testing the limits of the Ward's design specs when and if it comes time for us to go back out there. No one asked how a Ward engine would work from INSIDE a flaming holocaust." Mike nodded and quietly went over to the small port and sat down with a pair of binoculars from the brush fire apparatus case and got right down to an intense search. Belliveau noticed him, for another reason. "How's the view?" he said, looking up from Gage's EKG monitor. Stoker said, "Busy. But it looks like the perimeter's been determined. All the fires I see are roof points only, a few cars involved. The subterranean gas mains are off. I don't see any more explosions from the street curbs. Ah,, there's an aerial now. Looks like they've been assigned to protect us." On cue, the window splattered with a few drops of cool water, hissing as it fell. "And that means, that few bystanders or motorists got nailed when the lab blew." "That's a relief.." Stoker returned a glance at the two paramedics. "How's Gage doing?" "Better. Vitals are improving. His pressure's coming up. Whatever it was that was suppressing them is gone now. Though I'd wish to heck that I knew what it was that we're dealing with." "I'll try to find out." Stoker said, raising his HT. The older medic turned away. Mike went back to fretting about finding the missing Mayfair. A handful of minutes later, he spotted an incongruent patch of white and orange with a broken antennae sticking lopsidedly above it. "Cap.." he motioned, pointing. Hank moved to the engineer's side and took up the binoculars. "That's him. Go shower up and meet us in the stairwell, in full SCBA. You're the last to get one. I'll have the others check out the garage to see if it's still safe down there." Stoker nodded. --------------------------------------------------------------- Dripping and clean, the six non medic firefighters made their way back to street level. There, Hank broke the news of the discovery of Roy's buried ambulance on the street between them and where city hall used to be. "Is he still alive?" Chet asked. "There was no air out there for a while!" he panicked. Cap raised appeasing hands. "We don't know. Stoker saw their radio antennae but it was split." "What about the biophone?" Marco asked, more calmly than Chet. "Out for the same reason." Cap answered. "Now check your air masks. Switch out for fresh ones once we get down there. Stoker, charge the stairwell water hose into the engine as a supply line. We'll take the one you strung earlier with us when we go." "Well, what are you waiting for?!" Kelly said. "Roy and everybody will fry if we move any slower. Come on..." Hank told Battalion the new situation and their plan of action. He was told that the aerial on the other side of the building had no way to move in as backup. They were on their own, working off E-51, solo. A quick survey showed that a down draft between the sky scrapers was creating a clear circle of air that pushed the ring of fire inside the crater where city hall used to be away from the coroner's office parking lot. Mike Stoker shared the good news, "The way's open and workable." he said through the crack of the warp bulged garage door. The fully SCBA'd firefighters set to with tools and axes to knock down the only barrier between them and the debris covered Mayfair under Stoker's cooling hose fan. He made them halt at the opening while he shot a stream into a pile of debris in a test. No hissing or discolored gases reacted to the water raining down on it. "Whatever was in that lab, Cap. It's not volatile to water out this far." "Good. Last thing we need is more outgassing." he said remembering Chet's stinging eyes from before. "Let's advance ten feet and start picking away this debris with pikes. Watch for power lines. Odegard! Take over Mike's lead. I'm having him take out the Engine behind us as we advance!" The way before them wasn't easy. Shards of glass from the explosion damaged windows above them constantly rained down on them and wind blown bits of burning roof material. Foot by foot, they neared the place where Stoker said the Mayfair lay buried. A tumbled burning billboard sign sliced the supply line in two when it impacted the pavement and the stairwell side of the hose started bucking around the garage door frame opening. The half feeding the engine, went limp and useless, tattered and dragging on the ground. "Leave it!" Cap ordered. "We'll pull just off the engine's tank for now. Our recovery push has the priority!" Inside, he wondered. ::Just how long can our 400 gallon water reservoir last in all this heat? Guess we're gonna find out.:: =================================================== Roy DeSoto coughed, shaking himself awake. The first thing he did was give an order to Malcolm, the attendant in the back with him, "Shut off all the oxygen! Do it now!" he said, groping around the spilled medical supplies around him for a flashlight. Roy could see active fire licking the back windows. He flicked on the torch to find them sitting on the side wall of the ambulance, the gurney still latch clamped to the floor with his patient hanging there from his straps. Not surprisingly, the man was awake. "Get me out of here! I'm gonna fall...*cough* " moaned the man. "The main valve's off.." Malcolm told Roy, cradling a broken arm. "You sure?" "Yeah. I just bled the regulator by feel. It's dead." the ambulance attendant assured him. Roy nodded at Malcolm's injury but the rippled haired man waved him off. "Check on Art. I haven't heard him at all yet." Reaching out in the darkness, DeSoto found the yellow air bottle that he had taken with him in his haste to leave for Rampart. It was something he always did in brush fire season. Just to have it between his knees, even riding inside the squad within city limits. Now, it was going to pay him dividends. He slipped into its mask. Roy suppressed his own fear and ignored the cut he felt throbbing on his forehead. "We're gonna be fine." he told them both. Then he pinned a stare at his patient, who was ripping off his EKG pads and wires. " I'll deal with you after I check out our driver, ok, mister....." he dug for information. "..Smith..." said the worker evasively. " John B. Smith. " when he realized by the outside lab smell filtering in to him on just what his current situation was. "Let me outta here now!" "Mr. Smith... Quit thrashing around. Malcolm's gonna free you. Now we're much safer in here than we'll be out there so just relax. Let me get by to the front. You hurt anywhere?" he asked him. The man's head shake answered back. "Good. Now just hang tight for a sec. Art?! You ok up there?" DeSoto said pounding on the narrow peek window of the ambulance. He opened it. A wall of bitter, burning smoke rushed in and all Roy got was a glimpse of spidered glass, twisted metal and blood where the front end of the Mayfair used to be. The cab was completely flattened and so was the roof, right over where Art had once been sitting behind the wheel. A person shaped charcoal colored mass fully on fire lay across the seat now. DeSoto slammed the window shut with a gasp. His look told Malcolm all he needed to know. "What's that new smell?" complained their impatient patient. " I think I'm going to be sick." Roy covered his nose and mouth with a hand to hide his stunned reaction. "Try to breathe slow, Mr. Smith. You're only going to pass out again if you keep hyperventilating. How do you feel?" "How am I supposed to feel? Like sh*t! Now, I-- I-m trapped in what looks like an ambulance that got caught when our crystal meth cookery blew up. And here we are tipped ov--" Mr. Smith broke off when he realized what he was saying. Roy's eyes narrowed as he took a pull off his air mask, handing it to Malcolm so that he could breathe in a clean lungful. " Mr. Smith. Am I hearing you right? Now I believe you better start levelling with me right now. A lot of lives are in danger from that noxious mess that you and your chem cooking buddies created so carelessly. Now, the hazmat team handling this's gonna haveta know what main ingredients you were using and how much!" "Ain't gonna talk without my lawyer." the shifty man said flatly with only a little intelligence. "I'm choking here. Give me some air like you're giving him." "No, you're contaminated with something that I don't know about. I don't wanna increase the risk to Malcolm and I by sharing with you." DeSoto replied quietly. "Just what kind of paramedic are you withholding care from me?! I'll tell my lawyer. Just how would you like a charge of malpractice on your hands Fireman DeSoto.." he glared, reading Roy's dusty name tag. "And I'll charge your friend here, too. He shut off my oxygen." And Mr. Smith reached for the valve that would turn on the flow to the mask hanging around his neck. Roy tackled his arm away. "There's fire out there! Are you sick or something?!" The man nodded animatedly, yanking out his I.V. with a jerk and folding his arm up. "Ummm Hmm and crazy.. Why do you think I staggered into the supe's office and collapsed on the floor? I was feeling lousy. Mac mixed something that wasn't pure." Again the bald headed lanky druggie clamped a hand over his mouth to silence himself. He immediately started coughing when the stench from the forward cab began to leak through the cracked window. "Come on! You guys are already contaminated from touching me because of the way we're all pretzeled together around this gurney. Gimme some air, I--I'm ..*gag* choking on the dead guy.." Roy's mouth pressed into a firm line as he took his turn to suck on his SCBA tank mask. "Not until you give me a list of everything in that lab, starting with the largest quantity medium first." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The six firemen watched the fires raging above them intently. The sky had grown grayer. They first thought it was smoke but soon it proved to be a rare California cloud burst. The rain fell but was evaporated before it hit the ground in front of them and the fire started from the building debris began igniting a cocoon of fire around them and the engine. "Into the cab! Into the cab! Now!" Cap shouted. "Get up onto the hose bed if you have to. Kelly, Lopez ! Knock that down before we burn!" Two of the firemen climbed onto the roof as Stoker advanced Engine 51 ahead. The moment the way was clear and just steaming, they leaped onto the Mayfair patient compartment. Hank was just as fast on HT as he was on his feet. He joined 24's men on pounding on the skin of the ambulance. "Roy! Can you hear me?" he shouted into the HT on Roy's band. Muffled solid pounds answered back to their great relief. Three times, the swirling fire igniting the debris in the parking lot threatened the ambulance while a K-12 split open the shell encasing Roy and the others before Kelly and Lopez's single line pushed it back again. "Benzene, Cap!.. Gage got into benzene!" said, Roy thrusting a rumpled bill of lading through the sizzling gap. "He had this in his pocket. The whole damned * choke* list." "Got it.. Radioing it out." Then Cap was back reaching into the hole for Roy's arm. "You guys ok in there?" said Cap quickly. "We already know about the driver. Any back or neck injuries?" he said while his men worked to fold back the skin. "Malcolm's got a broken arm. Just get us out of here.." Roy said. "How's Johnny?" "He's doing ok. Stoker intubated him." "What?! Any complications? I mean.. d- did it work?" DeSoto said as he was pulled outside. "Course it worked! I'm Brackett's star pupil remember?" Mike grinned enthusiastically from inside the idling Ward. Then the water ran out and his smile faded instantly. "Our welcome's just got jaded pal. Ready to move? Side fires are pressing in, Roy." Hank said. DeSoto crouched down looking back through the hole in the Mayfair as 24's men hoisted an arm splinted Malcolm out. "Yeah. But our crook's not cooperating. He said he wanted to stay in there when you guys showed up." "Oh really..." Cap said glowering. A ladder hook to the shirt collar soon fished the reluctant patient out. Malcolm and Mr. Smith were given SCBAs to wear and everyone climbed onto the Ward's hose bed as the fire mounted around them. "Go! Stoker Go!" Cap said, as he smacked the roof of the engine cab. "Back to the garage. Ram the billboard clutter out of the way if you have to. Just get us back inside in one piece!" Stoker reversed direction after Kelly and Lopez cast off the useless hose. The tires on the engine began to smoulder as she was moved slower and slower due to reduced visibility. Mike Stoker shouted. "I don't think the engine can take much more of this, Captain!" "She's gonna have to!" Hank said, huddling down with the rest of them on top over the injured Malcolm and the blubbering Mr. Smith. "Put the pedal to the metal, Pal, even on rims!" Everybody swatted cinders landing on everybody else for long seconds. Then a current of white frothy liquid from an unexpected source covered them in a drenching cold deluge. A team of fire fighters using alcohol foam from the roof of a nearby house coated Engine 51 and put out her fires. The Ward swept into the morgue garage moments after. Soon, it was back into hiding for all of them while the Carson City fire raged on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos : The Hazmat placard for benzene. Photo : Cap and another cap near engine. Photo : Cap, Roy and Johnny lowering stokes. Photo : A building fire being attacked by foam hoses. Photo : Roy, livid with a face cut. Photo : Blood on a shattered windshield. Photo : A picture of an empty morgue room. Photo : A picture of a morgue cooler. Photo : Chet looking apprehensive in an exam mirror. *********************************************************** Date: Thu, 5 Aug 2004 10:37:09 -0700 (PDT) From: "Patti or Jeff or Cassidy" Subject: The Subtle Differences Doctor Scribbs immediately looked up as the engine crew returned with Roy, Malcolm, and Mr. Smith. "In there." he said pointing to a second autopsy room that had a shower ring already placed and running over the exam table. "I've got things set up for their decontamination. Gentlemen, I suggest you all take another round of scouring yourselves. I've fresh scrubs for you all to change into." the medical examiner said no nonsense. "Like these.." he said pulling on his own top. "Thanks. " Roy said, immediately recognizing his benefactor. "Hiya, doc. Thanks for putting up with us." "Gladly, Roy. You and your patients all right?" said Dr. Scribbs. "Belliveau and Sheppard have Gage well under control." he said crisply. "He's showing signs of waking according to them, but his pupils are still a bit dilated and sluggish and he has decreased deep tendon reflexes." "Benzene'll do that. Any arrythmias showing up on the monitor, Sheppard?" DeSoto asked the Station 24 medic. "No. He's one lucky b*st*rd. No pulmonary edema either." said the tan haired man sitting by Gage's head. "He's breathing now. Began to happen almost as soon as we got the stuff off of him. Starting to react to pain." Roy nodded, glancing at Belliveau who had already started Malcolm's decontamination after a quick vitals set and a switch to a new clean arm splint. Marco and Chet helped Malcolm steady himself where he was seated under the shower ring. "He never lost consciousness, Bob. Did real good the whole time." he reported. "Thanks.." Belliveau said. "And you?" he said, motioning to the cut on Roy's forehead. "I'm ok. I had a brief blackout but I'm not the least bit nauseated. You can fuss over me once we get these two taken care of." Then DeSoto excused himself and took the fastest scrub of his life. While the gang decontaminated once again, Dr. Scribbs filled in Hank Stanley. "The Support area's been established outside. A doc and a head nurse are coming here to handle our situation. Coming in by bird. Some hot shot named..uh..." "Brackett.." Cap guessed."Good. He handled Gage previously with Stoker on the HT band. Although I don't know how they're going to get in here. Your front entrance may be in the Hot Zone from the meth explosion." Cap admitted. "We're not. The chief says all LEL sensors are showing zero on our block. There's a bunch of firemen upstairs and a Batallion Chief setting up a base in my office right now. They've cleared us." Scribbs affirmed. "Terrific.. You don't know how good that sounds. I'll be right back." said the sweaty fire captain. "I'm joining them after washing up. Keep this radio handy. I'm putting you in charge of keeping me updated on all of my men." Scribbs noticed and appreciated the trust 51's captain was imparting to him. "You got it." said the no nonsense M.E. "You'll know faster than they will of any status changes. I'm a keen observer.." the doc added, jerking a thumb over at the paramedics tending Malcolm and Gage. "I have no doubt about that." Hank grinned. "And keep an eye on that turkey over there. He's a criminal of the worst kind. He's one of the ones responsible for the disaster outside." "Oh, really.." said Scribbs darkly. "Looks like there'll be no pot of coffee open for him. Nothing P.O. for any injured patient, right?" he asked sarcastically. "I think I'll doubly enforce that right now.." he said, moving off to verbally let loose his two cents opinion in a furious tirade to the blanket wrapped man about the meth lab in city hall. Stanley cringed. "Ooo. I'd hate to be on the receiving end of that. Scribbs'll dissect him, piece by piece, for sure!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy sat down on a stool by Johnny Gage's side and immediately set his hands on his chest to feel his breathing while he checked out the shifting movements of his partner's eyes beneath their eyelids. He felt Mike Stoker's presence behind him and the engineer's worry practically rolled off of him like a scent. "Stoker, you made all the difference in the world. Relax. Johnny's almost the way back to fighting his airway now. The perfect one you established, I'll remind you." Caught lingering, Mike almost whispered. "Could he have hurt his throat after that spasm? I mean, I had that scope down past his soft palate when it happened." Mike asked. "Nah. His muscles would've pushed it out before any injury. I've had that happen a million times. Not your fault he cramped up. Benzene makes things a little sensitive to bronchospasms and throat lockups." Roy said, listening to Gage's chest. "He's still clear here. No edema.." he smiled. The quiet engineer visibly relaxed and took a place on Johnny's free side just to be near him. Roy didn't fail to see the grip Stoker made to check for a beat in Johnny's wrist. "I thought I screwed up majorly." Mike sighed as he reassured himself that Johnny's BP was indeed on the rise. Roy shook his head. "Here. Have a listen to where your tube is." he offered, passing the stethoscope over to Mike to use. "You got it just above the bronchial split and there's no gastric bubbling at all behind it, so the endotrach's straight and not bowing against the esophagus through his trachea like what sometimes happens when a size too big is used. You guessed Johnny's need for a seven french like a pro. Like I said, he's got an absolutely perfect airway all thanks to you." Mike watched his crewmates across the room get cleaned and changed. "You know. I don't know how you and Johnny handle all the pressure. I mean, I handle that myself, but it's pressure of the water kind, not a gush of emotion like I felt when Johnny went down." He set the stethoscope down unused. "That's normal." DeSoto said. "I'd start to worry if you hadn't felt that. The intensity of it diminishes with practice and in time you... ....learn to deal with it. ....and push it aside. Your training will get you through every time. You'll be so busy thinking ...what next? that you'll hardly have time for self doubt. Stoker, you're just new. And what I've seen today.. Your instincts are right on for a paramedic intermediate rookie in this stage of the game. You didn't freeze up nor buckle under one h*ll of a snap decision. I think Kel Brackett knew you better than you know yourself. You can handle it. And you did." he chuckled, pointing to where Gage was bundled up inside the warm body bag. Roy frowned. "Although I don't think Johnny's gonna like the choice of bedclothes here when he wakes up. Could ya find me some blankets or something? Maybe we can disguise the cadaver table here a bit so he won't notice." "Sure.." Mike said. "Thanks for the pep talk.." he said, leaning over so Sheppard didn't hear him. "Anytime. Thanks for saving my partner's life. I owe you one." "Who's keeping score?" Stoker shrugged, and went off searching the morgue's cabinets, whistling aimlessly, his hands in his scrubs pockets. Roy smiled and rechecked Johnny's liter of normal saline drip flow rate for the millionth time unnecessarily. DeSoto lifted his head when he heard the sound of helicopter blades slicing the air as it landed on the medical examiner's building. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Brackett and Dixie McCall swept into the morgue with full jump bags. "Ok, what do we got?" Kel ordered. "Johnny's breathing and starting to fuss." Sheppard announced. "Tidal volume without support?" "Full and clear." "Ok. extubate him. Gently. Benzene'll make him extra sensitive to vagal stimulation and may cause another spasm. If he goes into ventricular tachyrhythmias, avoid epinephrine completely. Use a beta blocker. His pressure above 90?" "Yeah, I got a wrist pulse.." Stoker volunteered to Dr. Brackett. "Nice work earlier on the endotrach, Stoker. Ok, Sheppard, turn down that I.V. to an infusion rate of 150 to 200 mL/hour. Have Diazepam, a 5 to 10 mg i.v. dose handy in case he seizes. Repeat that every 10 to 15 minutes as needed when and if he does. Use a light metaproterenol inhaler for any bronchospasms. Benzene has an anesthetic action on the central nervous system in high enough doses. That's most likely why he collapsed and quit breathing on you so fast. Now that he's washed, he'll come around fairly rapidly." "Right.." acknowledged Sheppard with a nod. Dr. Brackett frowned. "I just wish I could run a few tests here.." he mumbled. Dr. Scribbs overheard. "You can, doctor. This may be an L.A. County autopsy lab, but Sam and I have state of the art analysis equipment that's the rival of anything you have at the hospital. Including an electron microscope. What do you need?" Kel blinked, watching Dixie get vitals on Roy and Mr. Smith. "Oh...Uh. ..ok.. Think you and your assistant can handle all of these? A CBC with differential, Hct, Hgb, serum erythrocyte count. Erythrocyte indices, three of them, an MCV, MCH, and MCHC along with a platelet count? We're gonna have to check for developing pancytopenia." "Easily.." Scribbs punctuated. "Ok, how about a BUN, blood calcium, creatinine series. Liver function tests of these two types,.. looking for hepatic aminotransferase levels.. ..AST, ALT. A search for elevated bilirubin, and a prothrombin time. Also a urinanalysis check for phenol. That's a byproduct of benzene as it decomposes in the renal system. " Dr. Brackett rattled off. "Percutaneous absorption can contribute to total body burden." "I'm aware of that metabolite and fact, Dr. Brackett." "Oh. You are? Sorry. Oh, .. and I'd like to pin down signs of paroxysmal hemoglobinuria." "No problem." Scribbs fired off. "How about checking for intravascular hemolysis? We'll have to give him 50 to 100 mEq of sodium bicarbonate intravenously to his I.V. to initiate urinary alkalinization to stop it." Kel asked, still deep in concern and concentration. Scribbs laughed out loud noisily to get the Rampart M.D.'s attention. "Doctor, there isn't one test we can't do here. Just because we deal with deceased persons, doesn't mean that we're limited medically speaking in the slightest way." "Whoops. I never said you were." Kel said automatically. Dixie McCall shot back. "How about having the ability to make a decent cup of coffee? It's something the hospital stinks at." Kel made a face at Dix in conmiseration. Scribbs rolled his eyes self consciously. "Now that's one procedure my assistant and I haven't been able to master." "Too bad.." McCall grinned, getting the needed blood and urine samples from Gage efficiently. "These boys look like they could use a bit of something to warm up a bit." "I'll turn up the thermostat." and Scribbs rushed off to show Kel Brackett where the testing equipment was located. "Uh, that's if someone would be so kind as to shut that storage cooler door up first. Right this way, Mr. Brackett. The lab stairway's right through here." "Wait a minute." Brackett stopped Scribbs. "I'd like to hear about my other two patients first if you don't mind." "Oh, right. Sorry. I'm so used to one "patient" at a time. This triage concept's a little foreign to me." he admitted. "Nothing to it. Belliveau? How's your three?" "Mr. Smith's vitals are a bit elevated but he has no traumatic injuries. Roy here on the other hand, suffered a black out when the ambulance overturned." "Roy's vitals are normal. Pupils are equal and reactive." Dixie supplied to end Kel's frown about hearing that. Kel nodded. "And Malcolm here?" "A simple radial ulnar break I think. Circulation, sensation and motor ability in the hand is intact." Bob answered. "No loss of consciousness in his history at all." "Great news." and Dr. Brackett looked up. "We'll save the rest of our I.V.s for walk in casualties. " Then he fell to rubbing his chin, "Say I wonder if we can get that fracture x--" Scribbs was quick. "We can.. I'll get Roy's full skull series going, too. If you two gentlemen will follow me." he gestured to the ambulance attendant and head bandaged paramedic respectively. "Malcolm, you stay right there in that wheel chair with that arm splint propped up. No one that needy ever walks in my office." "Of that I have no doubt.." rejoined Chet Kelly. Marco Lopez and Mike Stoker laughed at his joke. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upstairs, Captain Stanley was only half heartened by the solid rain falling from the clouds. "That'll end the roof fires, chief." he addressed Batallion. "But what about any chemicals reactant to water?" "We're letting the heart of the Hot Zone burn. That'll decompose most of what this bill of lading has listed. The perimeter units, Foam 127 and 110 are covering the spread of that. The only risk factor I see is the benzene, with its outgassing ability and the fact that it's heavier than air. It may flow into the street craters where the gaslines blew and reignite isolated pockets of liquid gas on lingering sparks." the chief said. "Fill the trenches with foam. We've plenty. I just heard L.A. City's here." "Might work." Batallion admitted. "I know it will." said the surgical scrubbed garbed captain. He absently adjusted the helmet that still perched on his head. The chief had a chuckle at Hank's clothes. "You know, you look like a doc from a television soap opera wearing those." Hank looked down at himself subconsciously and whirled to see if any other of the bustling firefighters going in and out of the building were staring. But none were. "Sorry, chief. It was all they had." "The hat's enough for your rank identification. Tell me. How are those two Code I's of yours?" "Fine,.. well, one is fine. Roy DeSoto took a knock on the head but it's minor. My other paramedic is.." and he shrugged when his voice choked off. The chief patted Hank's shoulder as Stanley busied himself with not reading the city map festooned with the red fire point stick pins, spread out on the communications desk before them. "I overheard your engineer on the radio. Tell me, does he always play paramedic for your station?" Cap immediately blushed. "Uh, Chief. Stoker's been fully authorized by the head of the paramedic program, Kel Brackett. I--I'm surprised you didn't get the memo.." "I haven't had time. With the San Bernadino brush fire season in full swing. I'm behind doing a lot of things." the wizened chief's eyes alighted on a tray of packaged sandwiches being carted past by a relief worker. "Including finding some grub. Hungry Hank?" Stanley was not slow. He intercepted the tray of food that surprised the young tunic'd woman for a few seconds when the weight left her hands. She saluted and did an about face to head outside for more sandwiches. "Thanks, maam. Could you run a tray to the morgue? I've several downstairs with patients." "How many?" "Just under a dozen.." "I'll be there.." flashed the young woman's smile in the smoky lobby. "Give me four minutes." "Appreciate it." Hank waved, munching on a ham and cheese. Batallion was equally engaged with a roast beef on rye. "Umm, nothing like deli on a busy work day." "Even inside a morgue?" Cap asked. "Even in a morgue, Hank. Location's never stopped my appetite before. Never has, never will." The chief hefted up his sandwich in a mock toast. "Here's to light civilian casualties and a rapidly dying fire." "Here, here." Hank celebrated. And the whole room of firefighters concurred from whereever they were. The chief bellowed. "Get back to work all of you slackers! We still got a full week's hazard cleanup to do.." he yelled with an unserious grin. "Now where was I?" he asked Hank over the map. "Hot Zone center cleanup." "Oh yeah.. Right. Now the best angle of attack I can see for clean up is to continue the EMS personnel's evacuation of stragglers for full decontamination in the Green Zone. I'm convinced we won't need Level A barrier isolation for either the Decontamination nor the Rehabilitation Stations. Gloves and aprons will be enough." the chief reiterated. "We'll just keep using polybags for the evacuees' leather clothing articles. Benzene will stay concentrated in those." Hank nodded. "And I have the third alarm units gathering names and addresses and the businesses on all of them so we can get our headcounts and check for any other potential missing people." "Good. Good." the chief nodded. "I've already had L.A. call a clinical facility to handle all the hazardous waste we'll create with our soaking sandpiles and demolishing operations." "And I've instructed L.A. City Fire Departments Nine and 112's to continue to check for airborne contaminants down wind." "Their findings?" "Mostly carbon monoxide and some tetrahydrocarbons. Nothing in the OSHA risk ranges yet. I'm most happy with the fact that the benzene is dissipating. The foam units are doing the trick. Only one backflash outside the back alley has been reported." Captain Stanley said. "Hmm, the one that you boys drove through getting back here. Is your engine bad off?" Captain Stanley was silent. "Don't worry about E-51. I'll handle her repair paperwork personally. I'm sure Charlie the mechanic and his lackies will make her a priority. He loves your station's vehicles you know." "I know he does.." Cap complained. "The way he jumps all over my men on every visit proves that. " and he broke off into an imitation of Charlie's gruff New York taxi driver accent. "You boys're gonna stop jamming the squad tires up against the curbs on rescue calls or I'm gonna come jam your skulls along side of the backyard walls the first chance I get!" Hank parroted. "Ooo, " grimaced Batallion in sympathy. "He's that obssessed with the Ward and Dodge?" "Yep. Almost as much as I hate getting surprise insp--" he broke off, suddenly pale with embarrassment. The chief cleared his throat, pretending that he didn't hear Hank's slipped comment. "I'll curb Charlie, too during the repair job. Your whole station crew today has done the department proud. I'll be issuing commendations for each and every one of you as soon as my staff can get to it." "Thank you, Chief." Hank said, lowering his head in humility. "I'm sure my men will be thrilled see those during the next monthly meeting." "Keep them a surprise." Batallion ordered. "Yes sir." Right then, Hank's HT, connected to the one in the morgue, came to life. It was Dr. Scribbs with news. ##Mr. Stanley. Your paramedic's awake and talking. The M.D. you got here's a real efficient man. Knows his stuff better than I know mine. Just thought you should know. You're busy so I'll sign off now.## Click. Batallion started grinning. "Hank..." "Huh..?" "Get down there before you burn holes in this map of ours. Your body's home but your brain isn't. Go see your man. You'll be no good to me until you've reassured yourself that he's out of hot water." the chief chuckled. "You have three minutes.. Go....I'll assume your command assignment until you get back." Hank went. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny Gage was still vocally protesting where he was. "Oh, ughhhHHh. I'm on a cadaver table?! Get me off of here. A stokes suspended between two chairs'll be just fine.." Marco and Kelly hastened to move him but Kel Brackett halted them. "Ah, ah ah.. Not so fast. You're still suffering some myocardial sensitivity Johnny. Any unnecessary motion might send you into V-fib." Kel warned. "I'm willing to take the risk. You've got a defibrillator right there. I'll just slide over into the basket here and--" "You just freeze right there, Johnny Gage..." Dixie glared, pushing both her hands down onto his chest so he couldn't rise up onto his elbows. Mike Stoker whined. "Aw, Gage. Don't make me live through a second endotrach on you again. The first time was scary enough.." Gage blinked, shifting his blankets around over his bare body. "You..did ..did what? Where was Roy?" "Elsewhere." DeSoto grinned. "Oh yeah?" Gage asked, frowning at Mike. Then he slid a tongue over his front teeth. "I think you screwed up a bit Stoker. I feel a chip here." Mike Stoker's face started to fade into a look of horror when Gage smiled, letting him off the hook. Dr. Brackett crossed his arms in a no business attitude. "Leave him alone, Gage. Or I'll sedate you myself and let him take another run at you. Now lie still. And that's an order you can't ignore." Gage realized his cause was lost. "All right, all right. You win. Just.. gimme some eye covers or something. I don't wanna see what's in those jars over there. And a nose plug." he mumbled through his oxygen mask. Dr. Scribbs looked up from admiring Dr. Brackett's triage chart with a wounded look. "My ward's spotless Mr. Gage. Not a trace of odor anywhere. I personally disinfected your table myself before you were transferred onto it." "Charmed, doc. It's not the physical odor I'm talking about it's the..." "...psychosomatic one.. I know.." Scribbs sighed sadly. "I hear that from absolutely everybody non department who comes in here." he sniffed. "And I've even tried to cheer up the place, too, for all the clinical residents I get visiting me each week." and he threw a hand at a prominent Garfield wall calendar tacked up under a stark white, round two handed clock. "Doesn't it help?" Chet Kelly started an empathetic no, but Mike Stoker stepped on his foot to silence him. Gage let his head thunk back onto his paper sheeted pillow. "A little... I guess.." he replied when Dix put on a little visual pressure with a do it or die face. "Oh, what a relief. I can only decorate so much you know. It's because of the nature of my work." "If you're so hung up on decor, why don't you go be a mortician in a funeral home. That kind of place is total lavish. Satin coffins, velvet curtains, carpetting.." Chet needled Scribbs. Scribbs refused to rise to the bait. "I like problem solving too much to be satisfied with just corpse restoration for burial. Here, I can determine cause of death and there's nothing, gentlemen, more intriguing than that." he said with a grin. Mike Stoker cleared his throat. "Yes, well. Uh... Chow's on. Looks like Cap sent us down a tray.." Gage reached for a sandwich eagerly. Dixie slapped his hand away. "Not so fast, Near Death Boy. You've orders for nothing PO." "Aw,, Dix. I feel fine.." Johnny said. "Yeah?" Kel admitted. "Well the tests Dr. Scribbs and I ran on you say otherwise. If your blood alkali normalizes within the next hour, I'll see about you eating anything. Until then, that I.V.'s all you're gonna get." "Ok, doc, you're my doc." "And so am I." glared Scribbs. "er... for the time being." Johnny mock saluted them both, grumbling while everyone but Sheppard moved away to fill their bellies. Malcolm declined his food saying he might lose it when his arm was reset. Dixie dove into her egg salad. "Suit yourself." she told him. Johnny threw a needle cover at Mike Stoker's back to get his attention when the others had gone. He didn't mind Gil Sheppard remaining for Gage trusted the paramedic to have selective hearing while he dove through the sports pages. Stoker swallowed his last bite of chicken breast on wheat and he sat by Johnny. "Need something?" Gage studied his hands. "Yeah, your ear." he said timidly. "Look, I didn't mean to critique all you did for me. This chip's nothing the dentist can't fix. I have soft teeth I'm told. And you must've had to hurry or something." "I did. You quit breathing less than ten seconds after you dropped the BP cuff.." Mike Stoker said. "I did?" "Yeah. That must have been some benzene dose you took. Something in liquid form I suspect." Mike nodded. "Was anyone else effected?" he asked quietly worried. "Chet was. Both his eyes.." Johnny's face screwed up in complaint.. "Well why does he get to eat?! For crying out l-- That's not fair.." Mike hushed him. "His tests came out negative for phenol." Johnny relented and suppressed a cough so the EKG monitor wouldn't set off a PVC alarm and send the others running. He just thought about what he was going to say for a minute and then he looked up at Stoker. "Thanks for bailing my butt, Mike. I could've died today." "Well you didn't. And even if you had, no one does for long under MY c.p.r." "That much is true.." Johnny chuckled, seriously. "Still. Thanks, pal." And he held out his I.V. taped hand. Mike Stoker took it into a clasp, moved far beyond easy words, so he didn't speak. A nod sufficed. But then he tilted his head and he stuck out a pinning finger. "The first moment you're back on your feet and back on duty. You're gonna drill me on the mannikin. I wanna get a full intubation done in less than the minute they give you. And I wanna learn how to NOT cause a laryngospasm." Johnny warmed up to the new subject heartily and his cardiac monitor sped up into an excited range. "That's easy. Here, move closer. I wanna tell you how I do all MY endotrachs. Roy's method's good. But a tad slow. I got a few seconds on him and he's been in this line of work longer than me.." he grinned lopsidedly. "Now after you've visualized the cords there's a positioning trick you can do with your elbows where you just cock your non stylus hand up a hair.. like this.. Here let me show you.. Gimme your hands.. Are you with me so far?" Mike nodded. "Ok, so you've got your scope blade in and the tongue's pushed to the right out of the way.. now all you have to do is..." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy DeSoto listened to his crewmates quiet babble from the far side of the room with contentment while he sipped the well deserved cup of coffee Dixie had given him. She was with him now, helping DeSoto keep an eye on Gage's EKG monitor and she caught his slight smile of pride. "What?" she asked, mirroring with one of her own. "Nothing. They're bringing back some memories that's all." "What kind of memories?" Dixie pegged, challenging. Roy was caught like a dog on a pole and noose. He sighed. "I remember talking shop with Johnny about paramedic stuff, just like they're doing right now." "Does it feel good? Or bad?" McCall asked with a mixed look on her face, half worried and half horrified. "Both, actually. I taught Johnny everything he knew and now he's got a chance to teach Stoker the same thing. In one respect, that proves that I made a good teacher. On the other hand, it makes me feel really ...old.." DeSoto mused. "Oh, rubbish.." McCall said. "If I felt that way everytime one of my student nurses suddenly figured it out and became well seasoned, I'd never crawl out of bed in the morning. Just,.. let it happen,. and be done with it.." Kel Brackett interrupted them from the autopsy reports he was reading through that Dr. Scribbs was showing him like a proud papa. "That's what I do, Roy. Look how I feel. I'm a great grandfather now.. First I trained you. Then you trained Gage. Now Gage is training Stoker... See? Great grandfather. And I never wallow in an I'm getting older pity pit." "Yes you do.." Dix peeped. "I do not!" Kel said, setting down his report slate. "Sure you do. Whenever you graduate yet another paramedic class, it happens every time. Carol tells me she hears you doing it all the time." "Well,," Dr. Brackett sputtered. "That's ..that might be true.. But I try to curb it." "Relax, doc.." Roy smiled, leaning forward. "I won't let anyone on to the fact that we're all human beings." Dr. Brackett frowned sarcastically and reburied his nose into the autopsy reports. Scribbs added his own opinion. "I know the value of human sentimentality probably more than the both of you put together, since I see just how mortal each and every person,.. truly is." And he raised his cup in an invite. "Here's to life. And our mutual fight to thwart death." Roy and Dix and Kel all raised their mugs of coffee and joined the medical examiner in his toast. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chet Kelly sat in his chair, well away from the others and the corpse cooler, watching Stoker and Gage run through an intubation call at his tableside. Something inside of him made him get up and walk over there. He interrupted their conversation self consciously. "Can I listen in?" Mike Stoker and Johnny Gage fell silent. Chet stammered. "I ..I..I mean.. I was there, too. Maybe I could learn a thing or three... like... like he is." he shrugged. Mike Stoker smiled and pulled up a second metal stool. "Why don't you find a third seat for Marco. We'll all learn together." And Stoker's eyes twinkled in the lights. It wasn't long before a newly arriving Hank Stanley was just as rivetted as the others to Gage's helpful hints and entertaining expertise on the finesse of good advanced life support techniques. And it seemed like no time at all before the whole quarantined bunch was bound for Rampart aboard the helicopter, soaring high above the Carson City skyline. FIN ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Brackett getting into a helicopter. Photo: Close of Dr. Scribbs, L.A. County M.E. Photo: Cap and a Batallion Chief by an engine. Photo: Bob Belliveau, fire paramedic, by a med cabinet. Photo: Gil Sheppard, paramedic, with his partner, seated. Photo: Roy and Marco smirking. Photo: Roy smiling proudly. Photo: The gang loading patients onto a helicopter. ********************************************************************* CROSSING THE RED LINE :) This episode is dedicated to all personnel who deal with :) :) hazardous materials world wide. May you stay safe and well. :) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season Two, Episode Thirteen.. §§ THE WHITE ENGINE §§ ****************************************************** From : Cassidy Meyers Sent : Saturday, August 14, 2004 4:34 AM Subject : Like Kids in A Candy Store Johnny Gage arrived to work, automatically buzzing himself through the fire station's side kitchen door, while unbuttoning his shirt. "Morning, Chet." he greeted. Fireman Kelly didn't even look up from the collection of gadgets and bits of machinery strewn across newspapers on the table. "Hmmm.. " he said, closely joining together a wire and spring with a soldering iron. "Eat on a tray. I'm busy here. Touch nothing." Gage skidded to a halt, naturally, to see what Chet was up to. "What's this?" he said, picking up a small black case fitted with a pressure dial. "ah ahH AHH! Gimme that!" the curly haired fireman snapped defensively, snatching the homemade part out of Johnny's grip. He carefully placed it back into the order he had laid out before him. "Boy, you sure know how to listen to directions, Gage. Cap, I think you oughta send Johnny to Rampart. I don't think his ears are functioning." he complained. Hank Stanley sniffed from where he was sipping coffee in the easy chair, his lap full of snoring Henry . "What else's new? Goes along with both of his feet, Kelly." Cap glared at Johnny, waving what he was really reading on top of the stocks section. "Your accident report for the week is already three pages long. Have you been getting more sleep like I ordered ya to?" Gage forgot his curiosity over Kelly's impromptu project and frowned right back. "Yeah, Cap. Plenty.. I. " "And how about remembering to take those multi vitamins Dr. Early suggested we all start taking." Hank added. "As if I'd forget. Roy left a note on my bathroom mirror a foot wide, reminding me about em." Johnny snorted under his breath. "Good. Now eat. Stoker brought in danishes for breakfast. They're over there on the counter." Stanley said, lifting the paper up in front of his face to end the conversation. "Danishes? Roy loves danishes. And there's a cheese one left." Gage interjected as he chewed a raspberry one loudly. "How come he hasn't taken it yet before Lopez does?" "He's busy.." Chet Kelly answered, penning some molten soldering onto his tiny invention. A plume of bluish smoke rose up and started off the fire detector on the ceiling. "Oops!" Kelly shot up and stood in his chair while he pulled the lid off to silence the alarm. Stoker came pelting in with the fire extinguisher from the vehicle bay. Kelly didn't even look up from his work. "Now there's a set of tightly bundled reflexes. Gage, you can learn from him." "What?" Stoker asked. "Where's the fire?" "False alarm, Stoker. Everything's fine.." Cap said from the chair, still buried in his paper. "Oh..." Mike gaped. Then his expression fell into one of irritation that matched Gage's when he found out the reason for the noise. "I thought Chet fried some snow skiis again or something." "Very funny.." Kelly told him. "Nah, what I got here is going to revolutionize the entire fire department, Stoker. It came to me during last Thursday's fire." "You mean at the factory where we all got a chest full of smoke for nothing after rescuing Moreno's abandoned turnout jacket when we thought he was trapped in there?" Gage supplied. "That's the one. Too bad that almost perfect recall doesn't work so well with the rest of ya." Chet quipped, pointing his steaming pen at Johnny in emphasis. "Speak for yourself. You got Cap here so conditioned to your continually setting off the fire detectors here, that he doesn't even blink any more." "Wrong Gage. I blinked. I just chose not to react." Hank grumbled. "Stoker leave that extinguisher where Chet can reach it. Then you can go back to studying up." "Right Cap." and Mike left the kitchen with two danishes. "Hey, Stoker. Leave the cheese one for Roy!" Johnny admonished. "I'm bringing it to him out back. Wanna come along?" "You mean he's not in the locker room poring over the horse racing column?" "Nope." Mike Stoker said through a cheekful of pastry. "What's he doing that's so important that he's forgetting his breakfast?" Gage asked the station engineer. Stoker said nothing and just motioned to Johnny to follow him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The first thing Gage noticed was the gaping space yawning floor to ceiling in the bay. It made the squad seem very small. "Where's the Ward at?" "In the shop. She needed a new water tank. It was rusting out." Stoker said, picking up a basket ball and shooting it into the hoop above the shower room doorframe. Johnny glanced over at the speaker grill and saw the glowing ready light pulsing there on active mode. "We're on active duty? How can we be with no engine handy to take out on calls?" Mike Stoker just flung the basket ball over to the open door garage button leading out into the backyard, activating it. The screeching massive slats retracted revealing a blinding white light. Johnny's mouth fell open. "What the h*ll is that?" "Our loaner." Stoker said with a grin. "Roy's at the back panel learning how to work all the new gadgetry." He couldn't help but show all of his teeth like a kid in the candy store. "Isn't she beautiful?" Johnny followed Stoker dumbly out into the morning sunlight with the berry danish in between his teeth, remaining unchewed. Stoker gave a running account of what he had discovered since coming to work. "Meet the "Ambassador" Ward LaFrance 1000. She's got a six cylinder Cummins Diesel engine with an automatic transmission, a 2000 GPM two stage Hale Class Water Pump with a 500 Gallon capacity reservoir. And get a load of this, this baby's got a IDLH atmosphere attacking repetoire consisting of a FOUR inch diameter hose- 500 feet in length, a 2 1/2" at a 1,000'. Plus an 1 3/4" topping 450' ! Awesome killing power." "But..but..but...." Gage sputtered. Mike didn't hear him. He was too deep into his stint of fire truck admiration to pay him any heed. " ...Did I tell you that she can seat all six of us, including all of your medical gear from the squad? The chief's already authorized duplicates. See?" and he popped open a shiny chrome door behind the engineer's cab which revealed everything in its proper place. Gage slammed the door shut again. "Hey, take it easy! Do you want to damage Ivory before she's even broken in?" Stoker said, protectively rubbing off Gage's fingermarks with the chamois that miraculously appeared from his back pocket. "We've got the honor of being the first station to get her off the assembly line you know." "Ivory? This ugly thing of an engine's got a name already?" John asked incredulously. "Sure, why not? Our regular Ward's got one.." Marco Lopez said from on top of the huge truck, startling Johnny. He was seated in the chrome sprayer chair, testing out the still dry cannon. "But.. but... but... she's......*ugh*... a white fire engine. When I signed up for the department I was counting on serving the kind of engine I always saw all the other guys working on. An honest to goodness fire engine that was RED colored, not.. this, this frosty kind! You need a pair of sunglasses handy to get anywhere near her here." he said, wiping his eyes free of bright light tears. "Got 'em..." Hank grinned, joining his men outside, pulling out a pair from his uniform shirt. "Here's yours, Gage." and he tossed them to his flustered paramedic. "Roy's already got his." Johnny's disgust only grew when Stoker, Marco and Cap all shoved on the beach lifeguard mirror shades before they climbed aboard. Gage's list of grievances only grew and the others patiently let him vent until he was done. "So how long are we gonna be stuck with her?" Johnny said in the end with his hands on his hips. "Don't know. Chief says could be a week, or three.." Hank smiled, enjoying Johnny's shock and dismay. "I told Charlie to take his time with Ol Red. He couldn't blame me. Ivory here's state of the art and he trusted no one else but Stoker to be her test driver." Mike Stoker was suddenly rivetted with repolishing his new intricate engineer's panel. "Hey Roy.." and he whistled in his teeth. "Breakfast!" and he launched the covetted cheese danish high into the air to free up his other hand. "Stoker! What are ya doing?" Johnny yelled. "For crying out----! " A deep hum of moving parts and gears suddenly kicked on and a part of the engine that was almost invisible because of the snow white paint suddenly .. unfolded. Mike Stoker drew near Johnny's elbow, chewing. "Did I tell you that we are now the proud loaners of a genuine 84 foot Addison extension ladder too?" It was Gage's turn to start to drool. All of his earlier complaints and carrying on, melted like sugar under water. "Oh, boy. An Addison.." A hand shot up from the basket of the rising ladder sections and caught the danish neatly. "Nice catch, Roy." Cap shouted up. " I'd say you got the controls on that thing mastered. Now come down. It's Johnny's turn. He's the last to get to play ladderman." Hank ordered, walking back into the station to finish his interrupted stocks column. "Do you forgive her color now, Johnny?" Roy grinned, setting the ladder into neutral as the gears glided down across Ivory's back. The basket nestled snugly behind the passenger cab. Johnny was speechless and he dropped his danish to Henry who suddenly knew to be there and flashed over to the back control alcove. "Yeah,.. I'll forgive her. Wow.. Is it really my turn?" "There goes those problems with the ears again..." Chet Kelly said, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "You heard the Cap." Marco said. "Take her up." Gage bubbled as he helped Roy down from the scoop stand. "How do I operate this? Quick, Stoker. Help me out." "It's simple. Just think stick shift. Forward for up. Back for down. Left and right for side to side. Nothing to it." Mike said laughing. "Try to touch the top of the hose tower with the basket. All of us got it up there in less than fifteen seconds." "But that's sixy feet high at least.." Gage stammered. "So?" Chet scoffed, grinning. "We've got 84 feet of vertical to monkey with. Go for it. I'm timing ya.. 3,.....2.....1.." and he studied his watch closely. "Mark when I say go.." Gage shoved on the work gloves Roy handed him and grabbed the controls just as Kelly yelled "Go!" The gang cheered Johnny on as he got used to the feel of the white fire engine's best feature. But then the call tones went off and Gage's concentration wavered. The bottom of the rescue basket bumped the top of the hose tower and all the hoses hanging there were jolted off their hooks. Six of them sphagetti-d like noodles to the ground in noisy splats, making all of them duck. "Oh, good going, Gage. Guess who gets to climb back up there to rehang all of those." Kelly said. Johnny shot Kelly a sarcastic look. "I'll use the basket to redo em later." Stoker was already in his overcoat, behind the wheel, sliding into his helmet. Cap ran from the station bay with his on and he began shouting. "Let's move. Roy get that ladder down now. We roll in half a minute. Then it's you two, in the back. The squad stays behind. Chief's orders." "What?" Johnny blurted, confused. "We're gonna need that if it's just a medical call." "No we won't. From now on until the old Ward gets back. We're on every call, together. Kapesh?" Cap said in a no nonsense tone. Johnny nodded leadenly. "Great, now get in." Cap bellowed, jerking a thumb back behind him as he opened the sparkling new engine's door. Gage started to beeline for the squad to get his jacket but Marco stopped him by flinging it and his helmet across his chest. "I took the liberty of moving yours when I did mine, Johnny. Here." Johnny nodded an embarrassed thanks and slid dutifully beside Kelly in the spacious back cab. The yellow of their air bottles looked comical against the snowy metal. ##Station 51, Station 8, Truck 127. Structure fire. 1700 East Beckner Avenue. Cross street Caine. 1700 East Beckner Avenue. Cross street Caine. Time out, 07:06.## Cap thumbed the radio mic, "L.A., 10-4. Engine 51-A is responding. We're KMG 365." And he released the talk button. "Let's get the show on the road gang. Sounds like a bad one. That block's right on the marina.." Hank got in next to Mike on the passenger's side but his door lingered open a little longer while the rescue call directions were broadcast. He reached down to grab Henry's loose scruff as he hauled him aboard. "Isn't this great? We finally got enough room for him. Now he can be a proper fire dog.." Cap chuckled. "Ok, Stoker. Move it out. Go through the garage and then punch the auto down once we're on the boulevard." "Wait a minute. Where's Roy?" Johnny startled. "He didn't follow us inside the cab." "Course not." yelled Kelly gleefully. "Somebody's gotta steer our back end. For today, Roy's designated wheel man!" Johnny's face finally fell into another smile, one of jealousy as the news sunk in. "A wheel man. Just like I used to dream about when I was a kid." "Well, now you get to indulge yourself Gage. We all do. Just like the big boys in the city.. Wah..HoOOooooo!" Chet shouted at the top of his lungs. Henry the basset, in between Caps knees, barked like a mad thing in excitement at finally being able to follow his humans to whereever they were going. "Wow, would you look at that?" Marco shouted, adjusting his helmet over the noise of the powerful engine and shrill triple tone and whistle siren. "Henry's a puppy again. He's acting like he's years younger." he celebrated. The white engine roared down the freeway top speed. Her shockingly bright non color was scattering the traffic out of her way like harried chickens long before the siren's wail ever got there. Gage smiled, noticing. "Maybe there IS something in painting a fire truck white." "Not to my way of thinking, Gage." Kelly said, overhearing. "You're forgetting how much the dirt is going to show up on Ivory's flanks when we're through. Stoker's gonna keep us busy buffing and polishing her up for hours." Johnny's happy little boy look faded into a look of horror. ------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : Station 51's backyard. Photo: Johnny in an empty, open vehicle bay. Photo: A white fire engine, front side out. Photo: A ladder going up on a Ward. Photo: The ladder's rear truck controls. Photo: Johnny talking with Roy outside. Photo: A warehouse fire, full blown at night. Photo: Cap with Henry on the couch. ********************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Mon Aug 16, 2004 5:55 pm Subject: Other Things Are White, Too Stoker had no problem finding the fire. The tang of salt from the ocean was mixed with the bitter smell of tricolored smoke that was the signature of a spanish beach stucco and tile house fire. The burning plume of ash was wafting over the pacific coast highway, making traffic slow as gapers rubbernecked the stilted house perched on the clifftop. Cap gestured, "Stoker, can you get us through on the margin?" "Yep." and Mike hauled the large wheel around until they had by passed the driving gawkers. The airhorn he used every hundred feet elicted cheers each time he used it. All the people stuck in the morning and fire traffic did this as they passed in the usual California motorist reaction to seeing an emergency vehicle moving on through. In the back, highly visible to all, Roy restrained himself and tried not to wave back. Hank was relieved to find that he wasn't the first one on the scene. Captain Ben Stone's Station Eight crew was there, already milling about in the scrub surrounding the house for the water hydrant pipe. "L.A., Station 51's on scene. We'll be attacking from the northern exposure." Stanley made his arrival known. ##10-4, 51. An ambulance has been dispatched to your location. ETA nine minutes.## came the dispatcher's reply. "Copy, L.A. 51, out." Cap replied, collapsing down his walkie talkie antennae as he stepped from the engine's cab. He was about to slam the door shut when a deep woof arrested him. Henry dropped his heavy bulk to the smoky street and he immediately ambled over to a wide place on the grass where he sat himself down by a eucalyptus tree, to begin intently watching the fire. Ben Stone noticed, in between shouted attack orders issued to his men. "Oh, so you've only just managed to spring your resident couch potato off his perch for this one?" he teased Hank. "It's been what? Three years since he showed up for dinner?" Captain Stanley shouted to get Roy's attention. "DeSoto! Ladder up! Unmanned bucket. We'll use the auto cannon to cover the roof. Then get down and set up fire standby medical gear." "You got it, Cap." Roy answered, waving a glove. Then Cap answered Ben. "Sure. Why not? You can see how he's enjoying himself." "That I can." smiled the big dark skinned captain immensely. Gage motored on by at a run, when he saw Squad 8's compartment doors wide open which was a universal sign that a victim had been found and was being treated. Johnny crouched by Craig Brice and Bob Bellingham who were both struggling to offer a flowing demand valve 02 mask to an old lady covered with burns. She was sitting upright and supported in Bob's arms to make her breathing easier. "Now, maam. You'll feel a whole lot better if you breathe some of this in.." Bob urged, pulling the tiny woman's arms down as she tried to push away the mask in her fight to get air into her lungs. Craig Brice nodded, getting out a blood pressure cuff to take a vitals set on her. "Please, hold still. I know those leg burns are painful. We're trying to help you." The woman in the paisley dress and white knit sweater ignored him, choking and coughing louder and she fought them with all of her small frame's strength. Johnny gripped her arms and tried some charm which didn't work. "Maam. It's ok. You're out of the fire. Don't worry about the house. We're gonna knock it down. " The lady's distressed eyes caught Johnny's eyes desperately and she only moaned louder again turning her face away from the mask as she gasped from smoke inhalation. "What's the matter? Easy. Just calm down." Gage asked her."We're trying to understand ya. But first breathe some of this in. It'll get rid of that shortness of breath you got. I promise you that." The tiny old lady yelled louder, pleading something of him in mumbling words that he didn't understand. Her verbal shouts caught Marco's ear as he dragged down hose from the white engine's hose bed. He tossed down his looping armful to the lawn and he pulled off his work gloves. "Chet take over. I gotta check out that victim over there. I think she's speaking spanish." "Ok." Kelly said, picking up the uncharged water line while running to the middle of the front yard. Marco let Cap know with a hand signal what he was up to. Hank nodded. Then he ran over to Squad Eight's flank. Lopez tapped Brice's shoulder. "Let me try. She's frightened about something. Maybe I can find out what it is. I don't think she knows any english." And he spoke to her urgently with rapid questions in Spanish. Paying attention, Henry started to bark and howl, jogging up to the firemen. After sniffing the woman's skirts once, and he began staring at the house, then back at the woman nervously. "Uh oh.. " said Cap, catching on at once. "I hope that reaction from him doesn't mean what I think it means." The white haired lady began to sob, hanging onto Marco desperately and she spoke the first comprehensible words to him, in relief that someone finally could talk with her. After a short exchange, Lopez looked up at Cap. "It's ok, she's not fussing over anyone else who might still be in the house. She's worried about her cat." Cap relaxed his tense crouch with a sympathetic smile for show. "Tell her we'll do everything we can, Marco. Go ahead and ask her where she last saw it." he encouraged. Marco got the information. "Back bedroom, on the ocean side, the room above the swimming pool, second floor. A three year old tan tabby." and he went back to soothing the woman and soon, he got her to accept breathing in the pure oxygen being offered by paramedics' hands. "You need me yet?" he asked Cap, looking up from the frightened woman's face. "Nah, stay with her. Brice and Bellingham may need you to be an interpreter before she gets too shocky to talk. We're fine for now. Kelly, did you hear that about making that room a priority point?!" Hank relayed in a shout. "Yep. I just radioed Roy on our band to hit that side of the house with the cannon!" Chet replied, gesturing to Mike Stoker that he was ready for his hose to be fully charged. Two from Station Eight's crew joined Kelly on his newly stretched line. DeSoto diverted the bucket until it hung above the house out of flame range and he diverted the cannon nozzle's powerful water stream until it connected with the second floor's veranda window. Glass immediately shattered on impact and the fire glowing space within started to hiss clouds of steam as it started to be smothered by water. "Hold it right there, Roy. You're in position. Lock her down, pal." Hank shouted. "Go help Gage, ok? Looks like they've a victim needing an extra pair of hands. I've already got eight's and one twenty seven covering the other three sides." Roy waved and nodded, and froze the ladder maneuvering controls. Soon he was at Johnny's side in listening mode. "Dona Arana. Nosotros estas a ayudar mirar por su gato. Shhh." Lopez soothed as he clutched the old woman's hand tightly as she writhed in Bob's arms due to her severe pain. "Go ahead and get those burn packs on, Bob. Brice's got his hands full on the biophone. I'll take over keeping her elevated for ya." Johnny offered, taking over holding the oxygen valve over the restless woman's nose and mouth as she fought to breathe without coughing. Roy grabbed a two liter saline bag and helped Bellingham pour the solution over sterile sheets Brice had laid over the woman's charred legs, as fast as he could. He knew that its relief would only be temporary. "Does Craig have his order for some MS yet?" Bob shook his head minutely as he worked. DeSoto sighed. "Must be a busy day at Rampart..." he speculated. "My goodness." he complained. "What's the hold up?" "Craig's got a new doctor on the line. Someone covering for Joe Early. He's sure taking his time mulling over our signs and symptoms on her." Quite suddenly, the old woman pitched over with a groan, going limp. "I got her.." Johnny said, catching her head and neck and lowering her to the ground carefully preserving an open airway. He began to get fuller breaths of 02 into the woman's bubbling chest and her color immediately improved. "She's ok. I've still got a good pulse." "Now there's our wish for mercy being granted." Bob confided in DeSoto. "I was waiting for her to black out. Hand me those shears, Roy. I'll get her ready for the EKG leads." Roy reached into the trauma kit and found them. Brice was getting miffed, his cool crumbling visibly to the others. "Rampart, this is a repeat of our victim's LOC. Unconscious, and yes, with a gag reflex. Request permission to insert a nasopharyngeal airway. Marked pulmonary edema is most definitely evident.." he hinted with beginning irritation to a young sounding unfamiliar male resident on the hospital line. Craig's head jerked up and down and his hand swept round in some "oh come on" circles in the air as he mentally encouraged the man on on the other end of the biophone to hustle it up. Johnny, losing patience next to Brice, broke some rules and intubated her anyway after gelling the tube. Brice startled, covering the phone receiver. He said, "Gage, that's not regulation..!" he hissed. "Neither's delaying life saving treatment. We'll say her throat was swelling up if we have to." he remarked, checking the placement of the tube in the woman's sooty nostril. "Just hang up on that jerk. Make it sound like we've hit a communications failure or something. Happens all the time this close to the beach. We've got all our critical orders already. Her IVs, burn irrigation, and that atropine to boost her respirations. Roy, did you hear the doc say go ahead?" "I sure did. He grunted. Clearly." "There you go, Craig. And I know you're with us on this wholeheartedly. It'll be our experienced three against his very youthful one." Johnny said, pointing a finger at the shoulder buried phone receiver in emphasis. On cue, the woman's breathing grew striderous and noisy, but working, because of the presence of the NP. Brice gaped like a fish but finally he said, "Rampart, you're breaking up.." as he dropped the phone into the box and pulled out the radio antennae. He looked up a little stunned. "I just may be in significant trouble now for doing that I'll have you know." "I doubt that." Gage said. "Do you see the captains looking this way right now?" "Hank did. For a moment." Craig admitted, swabbing the old lady's arm with alcohol. "He knows what we did." "Course he knows. He saw us save her airway. He won't say anything if we don't. Welcome to our world of little white lies, Craig. Sometimes you gotta do what you have to do." Johnny said, stone faced as he kept on delivering careful oxygenated ventilations through the demand valve to help the woman out. Bob Bellingham smiled and took the Normal Saline 1000 ml IV bag from Craig's numb hands. "I'll take that, Brice. Thanks guys. Craig would've never allowed me to do that kind of stunt myself. Not in a million years." Craig was still unconvinced. So Roy reiterated. "Brackett'll back us up after he hears the transcript without question. That doc was dangerously slow. And that'll show on the recording." "I supposed you're right." Craig finally replied, rubbing the sweat and dirt off the woman's skin with some gauze to be able apply the heart monitor patches. "Now there's a first.." Gage teased. "I thought I'd never hear the day when paramedic Craig Brice sided with someone who wasn't following the book to the letter." "I am capable of making amendments when somebody's life's on the line." Brice protested mildly. "I know. I saw you save my crewmates last year when that warehouse ceiling caved in on them." Johnny smiled. "Thanks for that. I don't think I ever properly expressed my gratitude back then." "You did." Brice grinned. "I did?" Johnny asked in surprise. Roy mouthed silently. "I sent him a card on your behalf." and he pantomimed a square in the air with two fingers. He quickly busied himself with adjusting the IV. flow when Craig looked up. Johnny gushed in a neat cover. "Oh, that's right. I forgot about that card. Heh. Must've slipped my mind. I was still recovering in the hospital from my own mishap. That time was for my leg, I think. Sorry I didn't recall it sooner, Brice." "Quite all right, Gage. I'll forgive you for being forgetful if you forget the ...er deceitful atrocity that I just committed with our medical director today." "Deal." Gage said enthusiatically, but then he thought about the word atrocity some more and fixed Roy with a puzzled stare. "Atrocity?" he mouthed back at Bob and DeSoto. "To him it is.." Bob silently mouthed back, and Roy bobbled his head in agreement. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Henry's frantic barking finally got Hank's attention. He knelt by the basset hound's side. "What is it, boy? What's got ya all excited?" Henry suddenly took off out of Captain Stanley's grip and loped high speed around the burning house and up into the hillside brush beyond. "Henry! Get back here ya crazy mutt." Cap shouted, starting to run after him. But then he stopped in his tracks, rubbing his nose. Hank decided to delegate a solution before any other station crew noticed the new embarrassing development. ::At least he's not at risk from the fire up there.:: he hoped. Chet Kelly answered Cap's private band hail. "Go ahead for Kelly." ##Chet. Henry's taken off up the hill above the house. Go after him. Make it look like you're just laying spray to protect against a brush burn ignition from the house.## "Got it, Cap." Kelly said. He craftily directed his hose team to follow him while he cased the rough scrub for Henry's familiar brown and white hide. "Just a little bit farther fellas, the grass is real dry here." he remarked. "Oh second thought. Let's just catch this whole side, ok, gang?" No one on the team caught on to Kelly's impromptu search pattern for Henry and continued the sweep. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Behind the burning house, the wind was picking up and Henry's sensitive nose was working full time as he paced along the ground. He got about ten yards from the flaming structure immediately next to the swimming pool when... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo : Fire behind a stucco beach house. Engine in driveway. Photo : Chet on a hose closeup. Photo: Johnny with the old woman who's burned. Photo: Captain Stone of Engine Eight helping Johnny resuscitate someone. Photo: Henry the basset, outside and pointing. Photo: Brice Roy and Johnny all in dirty turnout. Photo: Cap sitting in the engine cab in deep thought. ********************************************************************* From: "patti keiper" Date: Thu Aug 26, 2004 4:11 pm Subject: Straight from the... ...Henry heard something. His ears perked up, tracing frightened high pitched sounds that were laced with vocal distress. Barking furiously, Station 51's mascot lumbered heavily across the singed and burning ground, sneezing from the heavy smoke as he went closer to what had attracted his attention from the street. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Captain Stanley monitored his radio. He had sent Johnny Gage into the house with Mike Stoker from the aerial bucket to case the upper story for their woman victim's cat. She had come to, refusing to transport to Rampart by Mayfair until her tabby was accounted for, one way or the other, as Lopez had put it in translation. Hank put Marco in charge of making sure the woman kept wearing her O2 as she watched the firefighters work. DeSoto had long since joined the perimeter teams in preventing a spread of the structure fire into the cliffside brush above and below the flaming beachhouse and had left the biophone near Lopez in case Brackett had more treatment to offer during their victim decided waiting delay. Roy inwardly hoped that the senora would black out again because of the deep 2nd and 3rd degree burns on her lower calves, giving them an excuse to transport her in legally. Captain Stanley reciprocated DeSoto's impatience, reading the expression on his older paramedic's face. "I know, you don't have to tell me, adrenaline's keeping the fiesty ol gal awake and that's why you're all still here." "You hit the nail on the head, Cap." Roy sighed, watching the water pressure guages on the white engine cycle through as the teams inside the bungalow used their lines off and on to suppress the fire surrounding them inside the house. "Even Brice's no nonsense approach didn't work with her. Nor did Marco's natural Latin American male charms." Hank sighed. "Go see what Chet's up to. I haven't heard from his team for four minutes." "Still a minute early for checking in, Cap." Roy grinned, putting on his helmet. "Call it an instinct. There's a reason why Henry rocketted out of here and into the backyard and I wanna know why. Go. I'll take over the pumps here for ya." DeSoto needed no further encouragement, slipping on his SCBA mask as he circled the route he remembered the basset hound taking when he took off away from them. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Vicki. Jump! *cough* He's telling us to!" said a blond haired little boy from the high crook of the eucalyptus tree where he and his best friends had taken refuge when the Dona Arana's beach mansion had exploded. Now their safe haven was aflame on top and in the grass below. Barely visible in the rising smoke, Henry the bassett kept on barking at the children far above him. "I'm not jumping!" said the sports jerseyed seven year old girl. "I'll break something." the tiny child sobbed, her face soot streaked. "We gotta do something or the smoke'll get us for sure! *choke* Stevie's asthma's already getting real bad.. Just use the climbing rope. I don't think those firemen on the hill see us yet for all our waving." Henry was enveloped with smoke and he disappeared. But the children still heard him barking. "Where do you think he came from?" Vicki said. "He's barking so mean." "He's not mean. He's angry that we're still staying in the tree with the fire getting closer. I know that sound. That's what Apollo does when I climb up onto the garage roof when I'm not supposed to." said Christopher. "He's ok. He's just trying to tell us to get down from here." Stevie's head drooped a little lower inside the fourth child's arms. Becky shouted to her three other friends. "His medicine's not working any more." the brown haired girl said, " I think it's because of all the smoke blowing up here." Christopher made up his mind and he hung from his arms in mid air until his ankles gripped the rope hanging from their club tree's horizontal branch. "I'm going for help. Becky! Don't let him fall! Vicki, come with me!" "I can't!" the tiny girl wailed. "Yes, you can. I'll just bet this old hound dog'll let you pet him once you get down here. Now come on!" Chris yelled right back. Terrified by the thickening smoke, Vicki scrambled like a monkey after her braver friend. "I'll be right back, Becky. Just keep Stevie warm as you can. Mom says that helps with sick people." Becky wrapped her legs even tighter around the gasping boy's waist where they sat in the crook of the giant tree. Sparks rained down around them, alighting tiny fires on wind whipped limbs at their level. She screamed. "Becky! We're all right! We're almost to the bot--" came Chris's voice from somewhere below under the thick blanket of smoke underneath them. But then the voice choked off as smoke stole his ability to speak and started a fit of desperate coughing. The scared, following Vicki soon fell into the same breathing trouble. "Stevie. Hang on. I got you.." Becky squeaked. "I promise we'll stay up here where the air's good. I won't let you fall." Chris was blinded, he couldn't see. Smoke burned his throat and eyes to the point where he lost all sense of orientation. Then he felt a grip of canine teeth take hold of his ankle. He smiled, gasping. "Vicki we're there! Let go! The hound's got my sock to show us where the ground is." Chris celebrated. A burning branch smacked down from the tree above onto Henry's back and he yelped, letting go of the boy. Chris and Vicki fell to their knees and brushed the smoking embers off Henry's coat, then they began to crawl in the direction helead them, uphill. They struggled to breathe but then they were out of the thick layer of smoke on a slope. Henry began barking in earnest at something up hill. It was a hose team. Chet gladly ordered the others to drop the hose to intercept them, yelling over his radio. "HT 51 to Engine 51. Henry'slead two children to my location directly east of the house." he said, pulling off his air mask to offer it to the smallest child who was unable to stand. "Both are suffering severe smoke inhalation." ##10-4. Two pediatric fire victims. Meeting you on the fly!## came Hank's radioed reply. ##Brice and Bellingham are with me.## Another fireman scooped up the older boy as he fainted, making sure that his masked offered air was being taken in with a listening check. "He's still breathing." "Get him outta here then. I got her.." Kelly shouted. He carried her in his arms. Chet bent down to stroke Henry's coat. "Good boy! *cough* You're such a good boy. Come on, Henry. Stick close behind us." and he rose to jog to the street. "We gotta get this little gal to Cap and some O2." his voice trailed off as he ran away from the dog. Henry's happy grin fell. He glanced with a whine behind him. Chet hadn't heard his renewed barking at all. The basset gave a slight cry of pain and indecision before he loped for a second time back into the choking blanket of blue white fire smoke filling the tiny hollow around the big tree. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny Gage was just handing the senora a very soggy tan Persian cat when Chet and his team fireman burst out of the yard with the two coughing children under their air masks. "Over here!" Brice called out, waving Kelly over, "I'm already set up!" Gage smiled at Marco. "Looks like her ride's gonna wait longer. We've more victims. Call me if she changes." "Right." Marco said to Johnny. Kelly set his little girl in a sitting position leaning against Squad Eight's rear tire. "Craig, she's still clear. Not bubbling at all. But the boy fainted on the way back. I think he took in a little bit more than she did. His words aren't making any sense yet." Brice nodded, handing his partner a second flowing oxygen mask for Christopher even as he gave Vicki her own. "Understood. Bob, would you determine his consciousness level while you deliver this? Thank you, Kelly. Now if you'll excuse us. We've got to contact Rampart base now." and Craig bent to his work over the biophone receiver. Chet rose in relief just as Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto ran over. "They ok?" Johnny asked. Kelly nodded, testing his air regulator for remaining volume. "They're just fine. Bit of smoke but that's all. If it wasn't for Ol Henry here, we could've had a very different story to tell you." Roy rubbed his nose around his helmet strap. "Henry?" "Yeah, he found the kids andlead them to my hose team, isn't that right, Henr--" Chet broke off. "Aw guys, I swear he was right behind me. I even told him to follow us back out to the street." Roy and Gage didn't lose their smiles. "Well, Henry does have a mind of his own. Why don't you go check for him by Cap and the engine. Maybe he's already stretched out on the driver's seat getting praises galore from Stoker and Hank." "Yeah. Maybe you're right. But keep an eye out for him, okay?" and he walked to where the white Ward still gleamed brightly in the sooty sunlight. Five minutes after the kids and the old woman with her tabby shipped out code three with Brice and Bellingham, Johnny and Roy noticed Chet was still frowning. "Kelly? Problem?" Gage asked the quiet fireman. "Yeah. Cap hasn't seen Henry at all since he took off. Not yet anyway." "That's odd." Roy said. "I wonder where he could be?" Johnny rubbed his chin. "Any idea where he might've scented those kids initially?" "I haven't a clue, Johnny. All I know is that he came at us out of a lowish bowl with those two kids hanging on to his hide. He had dragged them out of the worst of the smoke." "He did what?" Roy said incredulously. "That's amazing." "I know. Tell me about it." Chet's head bobbled. Kelly glanced around where Cap was talking with Captain Stone. "Look this fire's practically out. I'm going out back for a bit to take a look around. Maybe he's chasing spooked jack rabbits or something now that all the grass is gone." "I'll let Cap know your 20." Johnny said. "Call me when you spot him. I'll round up all the guys and we'll help you herd him back to the engine. Until then, I think he deserves to enjoy a little fun, don't ya think?" Chet's nod was small and uncertain. Roy noticed. "Look if it makes ya feel any better. I'll circle around from the other side of the house, and I'll meet up with ya, ok?" Kelly didn't say anything and he paced off, still slightly worried. "What's eating him? You didn't have to do that, Roy." Gage said. "Henry's able to take care of himself. And he doesn't need Chet or you fussing over him." "I know that and you know that. But why am I starting to get all nervous here? " Roy stated flatly. "He still hasn't come back despite all of Cap's whistling." Gage's grin faded away into a frown of doubt and concern, "I'll let Cap know the game plan." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy DeSoto saw them before he heard them. His radio's talk button was depressed and over his mouth before he actually knew what he was looking at. "HT51 to all units. I've spotted two more kids trapped over a smoke pocket in a tree. A hundred meters south of the house." The frequencies from Engine Eight and 51 burst through his channel. ##Their conditions?## came Cap's voice. "One little girl's all right. She's just crying. The boy with her seems unconscious and he's breathing with difficulty." ##What'd'ya need to reach them?## came Gage's question. "Lifeline and belt. Bring the O2. I'm heading down." said Roy. ##A rescue party is headed your way, Roy. Keep in touch.## said Captain Stanley. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy put on his SCBA mask as his head slipped beneath the thick layer of fire smoke and he found the tree by its shadow and relative coolness. His shoulder smacked into it. Groping, he found the rope and headed up in a climb. At the fork in the tree, Roy removed his mask. The wind was blowing fresh air off the ocean to where he and the two children could breathe it in easily. He pulled himself up the last two meters. "Hi. How are you doing? My name's Roy DeSoto and I'm a fireman. Can I look at your friend here?" Becky nodded tearfully. "His name's Stevie." "Can you breathe ok? Sounds like you're coughing a bit there." "I'm ok. The smoke's not bad now. It was worse when that dog first came and found us." "Dog?" Roy asked. "Yeah, that funny hound dog. He made Chris and Vicki leave with him to go find us some help." Becky whimpered. "You said when he first came by..." "Yeah, mister. He started to bark at us again a while ago but he must've gotten tired of doing it. I haven't heard him for a couple of minutes since you showed up." Roy placed that bit of news about Henry's possible whereabouts in the back of his mind for later. He pulled the boy's head into his lap where he straddled the tree trunk's fork. He found a rapid pulse in Stevie's neck and saw retractions when Stevie inhaled, pushing in above his collar bones. "Honey, what's your name?" he asked the sweaty scared little girl. " Your friend's doing ok. My partner and others are coming to help me get you both down from here." "It's B- Becky. Stevie's got asthma real bad. He says all it takes is a little dust to set it off. I guess that's what happened to him. We climbed up here to watch the fire. I thought we were high enough. Christopher said we were." she sobbed. Roy bent close to the boy's nose and mouth and smelled medication. "Did you kids give him a blast using his inhaler?" he said, replacing his air mask over Stevie's pale face. "Yeah, Stevie told me to give him one." "Where is it now?" "It fell down there. That crazy dog found it and tried to hand it back up but he couldn't reach high enough to give it to me." Roy peered straight down and saw nothing but solid gray waist high murk as the fire reacted to being washed down in the nearly extinguished house uphill with billows of steam. The smoke layer rose to caress his ankles. "Johnny! Over here. In the twisted tree down below. It's the only tree top sticking out of the smoke down here." "I see ya. Hang tight! Chet and I and Cap are getting down over there right now. How is he?!" Johnny shouted from his rocky perch in the sunlight, looking into the shadows. "I've got a stokes coming." "His breathing's tight. Asthma attack. But he's moving air. He's gonna need a bronchiodilator a.s.a.p.!" DeSoto shouted back. "He got some earlier but it's starting to wear off." Roy cradled the stridorous boy against his shoulder, leaning the boy's head over it backwards as he monitored Stevie's condition and listened with an ear. "Just keep breathing Stevie. You're all right." DeSoto heard a creaking rope and Johnny Gage's gloves appeared out of the smoke layer. "Gimme him. I got the stokes right here!" Roy handed Stevie down from the tree by the back of his collar. Then he grabbed Becky and carried her down with him to the ground following after. He felt Chet tie a life line to his belt as he kept his eyes closed protectively against the air's sooty sting. Then he was out of the tiny depressed clearing, helping Johnny carry Stevie's stokes up the slope to the road beyond. Cap radio'ed L.A. "L.A., This is Station 51. Respond an ambulance Code Three to our l--" Roy's shout stopped him in mid sentence. "Not enough time, Cap. We can take him in Station Eight's squad as soon as we've stabilized him. We'll be faster that way." "Belay that request, L.A. My paramedics will be taking in a child with breathing trouble directly to Rampart using Eight's rescue squad." ##10-4, 51. Time out 09:32.## 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. 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. 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." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Henry barking up at something. Photo: Four kids stuck in a tree's fork. Photo: Chet yelling about something in the brush. Photo: Henry down on the ground. Photo: Henry with hands around his muzzle. Photo: An old lady giving a sheet wrapped Henry oxygen. Photo : Roy looking shocked wearing a stethoscope. ***************************************************************************** From : Champagne Scott 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. 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. ##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?## 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..." ##Oh and we'll need more taurine to add as a nutriceutical into some new low salt food for him. If he's going to be responding with his crew on fire calls regularly, he'll have to get in tip top shape to prevent a repeat of this ACM crisis.## "Doctor Coolidge!" Brackett stated more loudly. ##Yes, my boy?## came Barney's reply. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to draw the line with emergency treatment only here. My board of directors will have a hey day if I do anything more. I could be in serious trouble if any of them finds out I'm even doing what I'm doing now." ##Oh, I wasn't meaning for you to run the tests there..## said Coolidge on the handy talkie. ##You can transport Henry here to me so my staff and I can do it. After all, you're already conveniently inside of an ambulance. That was very clever of your ER nurse to think of doing that ahead of time.## Brackett's ears began to steam. "Doc, I know you skipped your lunch in order to help us out. " said Hank. "Tell you what, you've a very large, very loud, fire engine at your disposal to scatter any traffic out of your way going to the shelter and back again. Please stay and help us with Henry until Coolidge takes over. Deal?" And he held out a sooty, grimy hand. Brackett just stared at it, feeling very outmaneuvered and outnumbered. 'I'm coming along, too." said Dixie from the peek window. "I'm the designated driver of this outfit.." she said, wearing street clothes. "Hang on." and she flipped on the Mayfair's reds. "Oh, no you're not." Kel boomed, immediately apologizing to the dog when Henry sat up in surprise. Henry bolted for Roy's arms while the others struggled to keep him from tangling his I.V. "Oh, yes I can. My shift ended for the day five minutes ago." Dixie McCall stuck her tongue out at her now powerless superior. "So sit down, buckle in and play doctor quietly, Kel. The sooner we leave, the sooner we'll get back." "You aren't authorized to drive a Mayfair!" "Wanna bet? You authorized me as a field training nurse. The state says I can. Hang on.." And they were off under the vanguard of the white engine. Stoker belligerently rendered the street clear before them with a healthy chorus of horn blasts and sirens. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Dixie during a do it or die glare. Photo: A baby African Pygmy goat. Photo: An angry manipulated Kel Brackett. Photo: Roy and Johnny in an empty Mayfair. Photo: A close up of Barney, "Doc" Coolidge, the shelter veterinarian. Photo: Henry sitting in close up. ************************************************************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Wed Sep 1, 2004 3:46 pm Subject: The Shriek Box~~ Johnny Gage came whistling into the kitchen area and helped himself to a hefty portion of Dale's Everything deep dish pizza which was Cap's meal offering for his turn at KP food detail. "Must be Thursday afternoon." he said to no one in particular, "I can set my watch by when the delivery guy come with these." "Speak for yourself." Roy said, overhearing from his checkers match with Marco Lopez by the television table. "I'm getting so good at guessing time of day by activity that I can guess the actual minute by that pizza's physical temperature.." he bemoaned. "It's exactly 2:15 in the afternoon." he sniffed. Gage huffed in amusement around a food stuffed cheek. "Huh, don't blame me for the slow week we've had. Blame dispatch and headquarters. They're so worried that we'll scuff up the crown jewel of the fire department that all we've been given is medical calls." "I wouldn't say Ivory is the crown jewel of the department." said Stoker from where he was doing the dishes. "She's more like.. a backup while we're waiting for Ol Red to finish up in the repair shop." "Believe what you like. I'm just hoping you guys aren't bored and all with being support O2 and bandaid backups for Roy and I when we do get out of the station.." he emphasized. "Thing's balance out, Gage. Give it time. It always does. " Hank said from where he was working on a miniature ship in a bottle model he was working on. "I don't know about you. But I'm enjoying the light week of duty. I haven't seen a stretch like this since Woodstock weekend." The guys laughed. "Well, at least we're getting in some good hobby time." Johnny decided. Then Gage suffered a bout of deja vu when he spied Chet Kelly bent with industry over the same pile of gadetry and wiring that he had been working upon on the day that Ivory the white engine had arrived. Being sly, he walked slowly and silent past Kelly so he could get a good eyeful without being caught prying his nose into Chet's self professed secret invention again. Johnny spied a new device that looked for all the world like a mini handy talkie with a large red light attached to its face and a very long radio antennae, longer than what the Battalion Chiefs used on their high powered HTs at a fire scene. Barely reining in an unbearable curiosity, Gage sidled away from the table to sit by Henry on the couch to check his remote EKG monitor on the harness he was wearing around his torso. The holster was about to send a cardiac reading to Doc Coolidge at the animal shelter. Roy noticed and excused himself from his game. "I'll be right back, Marco. This'll only take a sec." "Fine by me. I thought it was time for Henry's betablocker pill." "Nah, that's at three. Forty five minutes from now." DeSoto clarified. "Glad you're keeping Henry's rehab schedule straightened out in your head. I'm totally confused on what he needs and when still." Lopez complained with a smile. "It's a paramedic thing, Marco. " said Johnny from where he was connecting Henry's canine EKG module to the new phone they had rigged on the magazine table by the brown leather couch. "To keep track of treatments and med deliveries. It kinda becomes second nature after a while. Though I'll admit, having Henry as a patient for this long's novel." he admitted. 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. 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. "So what have ya been working on all week? The guys and I are just busting out all over with curiosity over those things. Right guys?" No one else spoke up in support over Johnny's admission. "Ok, ok. I'll admit to being the only one. So what is it?" he pegged, poking a finger at Chet's shoulder in emphasis. Chet Kelly looked up from the metal dust and oil he was rubbing off of his fingers with a cloth rag to see all of his crewmates regarding him eagerly for an answer. "All right. All right, ya nosy bums. I'll let ya in on it, seeing that none of you have the capacity nor the desire to put any inventions on the market like I do." Kelly motioned them over to the table. "Come on over here and I'll explain a few thing to ya. Only don't touch anything. Gage, that goes double for you.." The gang gathered around. Kelly slipped into lecture mode which actually suited him this time since he was so passionate about what he was working on. "You guys all remember the incident with Moreno two weeks ago. Where we went rushing into a vertical fire thinking that he was still in there, only he wasn't, just his turnout coat?" "Yeah, I remember that very well. " Hank said. "Stoker, Lopez and Gage here took in more smoke than necessary searching pointlessly for a man down who wasn't even inside the building anymore." "Exactly, Cap. That's exactly the word I'd choose. Pointless. Pointless and dangerous. We all would've been a h*ll of a lot better off if we knew as a department where everybody was at all times without tying up the radio so much checking in to central command every few minutes with position reports. That's always been real messy. Now I was stuck in traffic the other day and I saw a bunch of surveyors working in a ditch. You know the guys, the ones who measure how much the roadside ditches slip after all our earthquakes we get all the time?" Everyone nodded. Chet went on. "Well I had a long look at them while they were working and I saw something interesting when one of them got himself caught in a land sink by the legs and fell down. I was gonna rush out over there and help him get free when his crewmates, ones that couldn't even see him at all, suddenly arrived and got busy with their shovels." "How'd they get there so fast?" Gage asked, entranced with the story. "He sure as heck didn't use his radio. That got buried when the sand gave way. I noticed something when they finally got the guy out. The man reached down and touched something on his belt and I saw a light go off. Bingo! I thought. That's how he did it." Chet said, sitting on the edge of the top of a chair. "It was a sheer revelation guys, I'm telling ya. The whole way home I kept thinking,.. why is it that the fire department's always be nine steps behind the other guys? It's not fair. So I figured, we can make that kind of invention work for us, too!" The rest of the guys scratched their heads. Johnny finally spelled it out for Chet. "I don't get it." "He had a locator on him, Gage. Plain and simple. About yey big and attached to his belt with wires sticking out of it. Antennaes, I suspect." Hank's forehead creased. "Ah, I see, a motion detector." Chet nodded eagerly. "Yeah, one that knew that he had become still and sounded an alarm. That thing on his belt must have been some kind of personal alert safety system that kicked in the moment he got into trouble." "Wow.." Marco remarked. "But how does what you saw apply to us, Chet? We don't work with land surveying, not often anyways, unless we're called to a cave in." "I'm getting to that." Kelly said. "Just hush a minute and let me show you what I've got." and he pointed to the two or three black boxes on the table including the modified HT that Johnny had noticed earlier. "Now I figured out a few things on my own. A simple motion detector that works can run on a tiny 9 volt battery in a nested compartment here. Reads anywhere, even through smoke. I tested it in the shower." "The shower?" Gage chuckled. Kelly held up a hand. "Hear me out. Just hear me out. Where else was I gonna find safe smoke? Steam works just as well. I hadta test out heat bearing ability, too." "Well how does a motion sensor help us as firefighters, Chet?" DeSoto asked reasonably. Kelly held out a small box, "Here, put this on." he said. "Now go walk around and don't stop until I tell ya. Just flip on the little switch on the side until that red light comes on." "Ok," Roy said and he did what Chet asked. The guys watched Roy move around the table in circles. "Nice invention, Chet." Hank quipped. "Now we'll be able to tell just how many miles we cover each week to measure up to how bad our aches become." he said sarcastically light. "I'm not finished, Cap. Hang on a minute." Chet motioned. "Ok, Roy. Now go down on the floor. Like you were in a fire and a roof fell on top of ya." Roy crouched down and got onto his belly. "Like this?" "Yeah, like that.." Kelly said. "Now don't move for 30 seconds." Then he didn't say anything and simply pointed to the second radio like device that he had switched on that rested on the table. It had a yellow light that was blinking on top of it. Very shortly the large talkie device on the table had a loud shrieker device go off that just about shattered all their eardrums. Henry protested in earnest with howls of his own. Kelly scrambled and apologized, turning down the device's volume control. "Sorry about that, guys. Sorry, Henry.. I forgot I tested this receiver outside this morning." "Congratulations on inventing an airhorn, Kelly. I'm proud of ya." Gage said thoroughly unimpressed and shaking out his ears. He moved to the pizza platter again for seconds after helping Roy back up onto his feet. "No, wait Gage. Come back here. It's not done cycling yet. Listen." A speaker came to life on the side of the unit and started a pre-recorded message in Sam Lanier's voice that they all recognized as having originated along a relay from the main dispatching offices. ##Mayday. Mayday. Mayday. Detector number two has been activated. Attempt radio communications to locate a fireman detected in a horizontal position and motionless for longer than 30 seconds. May day. May day. May day. ## Captain Stanley startled. "Wait a minute there Kelly. You mean to tell me that you linked that funky radio gadget straight to Headquarters?" "No, Cap. This is just a side band that Sam and I rigged on a spare transmitter. We're off the official air. He was just as enthused about this whole man locator device I learned about, as much as I was. In fact, he was the one who was all gung ho making this recording and airing it from work with his manager's full approval." Kelly said. "We're unofficially calling these things shriek boxes." "Shriek boxes?" Gage asked, chewing. "Yeah, well I knew nobody would warm to the idea of naming them Kelly boxes. Especially you, Gage." "You're right about that." he said without barbs. Now the gang was mystified, when the transmitter kicked on a light on the belt unit that Roy wore, telling him that the message had been delivered to the tower. Cap picked up the broadcasting radio receiver and switched it off. "Just what kind of range do your belt things have to reach the transmitter?" he asked in a hushed voice. "I don't know, Cap. I haven't tested it yet in the field. Sam and I are still pulling the paperwork to get these testers approved by the chiefs to work at an actual scene." Chet said. Stoker was frank. "Cap, if the bugs are ironed out, do you realize how many firefighter lives this device of Kelly's could save?" "I'm trying not to get too excited." Hank admitted, peering at the device in his hand, marveling at the simplicity of it. Then he met Chet's eager eyes. "Can we do that live test again? I mean, is Sam ready for it?" "Cap, that was a pre recording on automatic frequency set to channel nine. The same nine on our handy talkies. We're clear to use that channel for another three days he said. That's why he left the loop open when he went on vacation. Yeah, we can do another live test, anytime. As long as we're under Sam's home repeater tower umbrella. That's the only one he's allowed access to for this home project of ours." "How does it work with water? I mean does it still work, getting wet? We are usually swimming in hose wash." Marco asked. "I haven't tested them yet that way either." Chet said. "I only got to the level liquid mercury switch to activate on that remote announcement setup when the bubble hits either of the terminal brackets inside. I used old transistor radio chips to serve as triggers." "Let's go find out, shall we?" Hank said, motioning for Chet to gather his tester units into a bundle. "Who wants to be the lost man to wear the belt unit? We can rig the reel line from Ivory for a light spray out in the backyard." Everybody's hands went up just as the call tones went off. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Dixie hugging Henry. Photo: Gang chatting in the kitchen. Photo: Chet Kelly's PASS device. Photo: Cap with a huge amused smile. Photo: Johnny with his mouth full of food. Photo: Chet confiding details to Gage in a close up. ********************************************************************** From : patti keiper Sent : Thursday, September 2, 2004 10:33 AM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Markers Move ##Stations, 18, 36, 99, 24,..51. Library fire. 12400 Washington. Cross street Milton. 12400 Washington Ave. Cross street Milton. Citizens report persons are trapped. Time out. 14: 27.## Johnny Gage quickly grabbed some of Henry's dog food and wrapped up his pill and tossed it to him on the way out. "Early's better than later, Roy. He's set." "Sounds like it's gonna be a hot one this time." remarked Chet. "They probably had no one else to spare for a fire call. Looks like we're going to be polishing Ivory up a storm come supper time." Not having any place better to put them, Kelly hung onto the four shriek boxes and radio transmitter device, bringing them with him as he ran for the garage. "Looks like." said Mike Stoker, throwing on his jacket and running over to the white engine. "I promise I won't get picky about the chrome." Cap snapped out an order. "Gage, DeSoto. Follow in the squad. With all that paper, this is going to be a real fast fire with the heaviest kind of smoke. We'll need your spare air bottles and lifelines. Go call us in, Roy." "Right, Cap." and he picked up the acknowledging mic. " L.A., Engine 51-A and Squad 51 are responding. KMG 365." Soon, they were charging down the boulevard to the east where already a plume of ink stained the sky, adding a widening tail to the city's smog belt. In route, Captain Stanley overheard another engine get to the scene. ##L.A. This is Station 24. We've multiple victims of smoke inhalation. Respond three additional ambulances and a sixth alarm. Fire containment's a priority!## called out that captain. ##Engine 51-A, what's your ETA on your aerial cannon?## "Stoker?" Hank asked. "Four minutes." the engineer replied over the roar of the engine and sirens. Hank gave the estimate over the air and stated that extra paramedic gear and oxygen was arriving with Squad 51. He heard Craig Brice's entire station called out for the sixth assignment. Then, they were there. People were scattering like milling pepper from the stricken three story glass and steel structure and fire crews already on scene were hard pressed to get them clear of exploding glass. Cap pulled out his HT from his jacket pocket. "Engine 51-A and Squad 51, on scene." ##Station 51, Your time in : 14:36.## bookmarked L.A. Captain Stanley spied a chief's car and he pulled off his mirrored sunglasses. "Battalion Nine, where do you want us?" he asked over the HT. ##Hank. Cover the west side, main entrance. Most of the victims are being recovered through there. Have your engineer rig your four incher from Engine 99 for a heavy attack and I'll send another over to man your ladder's water cannon. Tell your men going in to use caution. The roof is unstable. We've had multiple explosions.## said Battalion. "10-4. Setting up on the western exposure." Cap nodded. Then he contacted Roy and Johnny over their vehicles' band. "Engine 51-A, Squad 51. Join the paramedic search teams with full air gear. Marco and Kelly will dog you on an anchor hose from Ivory. I want solid life belts on all four of ya, doubly knotted." Johnny, Roy, Chet and Lopez all copied Hank's barked order over their radios and rushed to carry it out. While they were gearing up in the shadow of the trucks, Kelly jogged over, passing out his novel shriek boxes. He clipped one onto the SCBA harnesses of each of them. "Don't rely on these at all. This is the water test fellas. Sorry it's gonna be such a b*tc*. If you drop to crawl around flames, tell Cap on channel nine and he'll reset your unit manually. I already got him monitoring the transmitter's band. The units are tagged one through four and will label themselves. I got three, Marco's four, Roy and Johnny's are one and two respectively. Got it?" Johnny grinned as he fitted into his face plate and tested the air flow out of his regulator. "We're gonna do this testing thing around the chief?" "What better way to sell something than to demo it up front, eh? Cap's all for it cause this fire's just begging a collapse chance greater than normal. He said that he'll take any insurance he can get. " Kelly quipped. "Think these things are gonna work?" Gage asked Roy on the side when Chet was busy replacing his helmet and out of earshot. "Who knows. Trial by fire, I guess." DeSoto smiled craftily. "If they don't work, it won't matter. We've more than enough fire crews milling about to bail us out. Hey, looks like Brice and Bellingham are on our quad's team. We're gonna be totalling six very soon." "That'll be a whole h*ll of a lot safer. Now I know why I love Battalion Nine's style of command. You take Brice. I got Bellingham." Johnny groaned. "I don't think I can stomach Craig picking apart Kelly's invention once he gets wind of it." "Protective of Chet's little gadget, aren't we?" Roy teased. "You're d*nmed straight I am. What happened at the station's simply incredible. I think the idea'll spread through the whole entire fire department like wildfire, Roy. And not only in California." "Gage, the raging optimist." "I'm not the only one. Look at Chet. He's grinning like a kid in the candy store." "About picking a flank man." Roy teased. "You're gonna take whom you're gonna get." "Ok. Anchor's in." Marco said, passing Kelly the uncharged four inch from Ivory's bed already laid out from Ivory where Stoker had mated her to the Y line from 99's. "Mike's set for us. We're enabled for full pressure on demand when we want it. I just verified with 99's." "Let's do it." Kelly said, getting ansy as he saw two more firemen leave the stricken building with multiple walking wounded for the ambulance crews. As yet, there were no criticals being found to warrant immediate paramedic attention. The team of six stayed on the job as a point to point search team. Roy glanced back as the blocks and feet on Ivory were extended for the ladder's deployment. It was a soothing comfort to feel the bucket's looming presence hanging over all their shoulders. Soon, a high force arch of water stabbed into the fire's gut and split the worst of the roof burn into two weaker halves. Desoto heard the snarling blaze's growl falter into a belch of steam. ::One point for us. I'd rather it rain runoff on us in there instead of all that burning chaff from the ceiling tiles.:: He gripped his ceiling hook even tighter as they approached the flame pocked library. Then, they felt the perimeter firefighters shove them in the right direction towards the axe gutted main doors of the library. Roy sighed in relief when he saw that body sheets weren't dotting the sidewalk before lurid smoke swallowed them up. Craig Brice's glove gripped Roy's shoulder. "To the left. I see some doors that aren't chalked off yet." DeSoto nodded, giving Chet and Marco behind them a sharp signal, showing them where he and Brice were headed to next. To their right, Gage and Bellingham branched on the parallel row of doors to that side of the ascending fire engulfed staircase. Bookshelves and carpetting both, were alighted with hungry fire. Marco and Chet had their work cut out for them. They set their nozzle to the largest fan and snuffed out a path for both parties to navigate through. All the while, Kelly kept one eye on the uppermost story ceiling. So far, no smoke seeps or heat stains were warping through the grid of tin tiles above the darkened suspended chandeliers. "Man, what a shame.." Chet shouted to Marco. "This is such a classy Victorian building. Must be a hundred years old, at least." "It is. We passed the foundation plaque on the way in." Lopez replied. He snapped back into a close attention of the way ahead when a gust of smoke visually smothered all four paramedics' locations. Chet drove the hose fan over their heads to push the smoke up away from them. When it cleared, he saw five doors were open and yawning fire as the two teams kicked them ajar one by one beneath the stairway and fresh hot pink chalk marks glowed in the firelight. Then he heard Johnny over channel nine. "Shriek Two is crawling, Cap. I think I see something!" he told Hank, monitoring the safety unit's transmitter channel. Johnny didn't move until he saw the yellow reset light flash on his shriek box. Then he dropped down to the floor and crept under a studying desk. There he found a man, unconscious, lying unmoving on his back. "I got someone!" and he pulled off his glove to feel for a neck pulse. "He's alive. Cap send in a team fifty feet forward. Tell em to hook a left ninety behind the grand stair case. I'm at the third door." ##Gotcha, pal.## said Captain Stanley. ##They'll be there in thirty seconds. Stay inside. Roof's fine out here. Another squad's here take over your man's care.## Gage shared his air with his found victim while Bellingham shared his with Johnny as they monitored the man's struggling breaths. Then the reply team arrived to take him away and they helped lift him onto a large firefighter's shoulders for the trip out. Gage let go of his carotid reluctantly. Johnny heard Roy give out a crawl warning just as he had done, and he held his breath. But that was all that came over the radio. No other person had been located. "Ok, Bellingham." Gage gasped in his air mask. "Let's keep it going." Craig had finally noticed the changed channel on HT and the yellow light flashing on Roy's SCBA straps. "What's that?" he asked. "A lucky charm. I'll tell you about it later." DeSoto grinned. "Something one of the guys cooked up. Now let's get out of these study rooms before we cook." Chet suddenly whistled, off the live frequency, and it carried over the crackling fire. Immediately, Roy and Brice along with Gage and Bellingham jogged back to Kelly for news, who was still on the main fire fighting channel. Chet motioned for them to lean in close and he peeled off his mask. They parroted him for better hearing ability. "Second floor's been searched." Kelly coughed. "Two found and safely out. We've been ordered to go to the third. First floor's now clear thanks to us. You just searched the last final areas that were left. Ready to head up?" The four paramedics glanced up the carpet flaming staircase. "Yeah.." said Gage. "That doesn't look too bad. Go ahead and hit it." Chet gave a thumbs up and slid his mask back on. Kelly and Marco braced themselves and swathed the wide wooden rail staircase with cold water, snuffing the fire stripe they saw burning there until they were replaced with steaming curls. They all jumped with a bookshelf from the second story fell over the loft rail and down to their level. Chet hit that, too, to keep their reverse escape route open. Johnny and Roy poled checked each stair's surface as they climbed to test for weak spots. But there weren't any. They rose past the second floor. Then they wrapped up to the third. A set of ornate wooden doors greeted them at the top. Brice, in the front of the team, peeled off his glove and felt the door for heat. An explosion blasted them backwards and set Craig's hand on fire because he was reaching for the still cool door handle. All six firemen went down. And just as quickly, they got up again to beat back the fire in the doors with an aggressive water stream. Gage and DeSoto and Bellingham dragged Craig into the raining hose water to drench him down thoroughly. After a delay, Brice began to yell when he realized that he'd been burned. Gage whipped off his mask and grabbed Brice's shoulders. "Craig. *cough* Let me see you. How's your face? How's your face? Is it ok?" Brice nodded, moaning. Finally he relaxed his arm enough for Johnny to check his left hand. "Second degree on most, Craig. Third only on your thumb. No, quit fighting me. We've got to keep it under the water. We gotta get the heat out of it." Chet Kelly shouted. "How is he? Is everyone else ok?" Roy replied. "We're fine. It's Brice's hand. Flames caught it just when he went for the door handle." "Shut them back up again. Steam'll from the water I just sent in will knock out all the fire in the room. Nobody's still alive in there. It's too hot." Kelly said. Roy swept an eye down to all the 51 gang's shriek boxes. They were still showing steady red. ::Functioning, despite a bath. Second point for us.:: he thought. Marco Lopez was watching the ceiling above them grow molten."I'm seeing some sag. Let's hug a wall guys. Now.. We'll have to find another way out of here with him." The six firemen dashed with Brice supported between to the nearest wall, just as heavy pre-flash smoke descended to below their knees. "It's gonna go!" Gage shouted, looking up towards the roof. "Yeah, but which part?" DeSoto asked, gasping. "I can't see anything." Chet Kelly gripped all of their shoulders. "I've got an idea. Gimme your shriek boxes." "What are you doing?" Johnny said. "Hear me out, Johnny. I'm gonna use em as markers. There are four pillars in the room, one in each quadrant of a square around the room, remember? I'm gonna put a shriek on each pillar and then we'll wait until it's over right here, where we're safer. The ones that finally holler after things are done is where the ceiling came down. Cap can tell us which ones went off! Then we'll be able to get out through the spot that's still showing shriek quiet. We won't need to see where we're going." "*Cough* I just hope to G*d you don't get them mixed up, Chet. Or we're bacon. One. Two. Three. Four. North. South. East. West." Gage suggested. "I'm way ahead of you, man." Chet said, crawling away from the others on his life line with the four shriek boxes in his hands. Roy radioed to the outside on channel nine. "Cap. We're gonna sit through a flash. Looks like the ceiling's gonna cave centrally." ##Get out of there!## "We can't. Not yet. Brice's injured and we'll be too slow to reach the entry doors. We're along an exterior wall that's safe enough and we've got a plan, now listen close..." Kelly gasped, taking a breath of air out of his loose dangling mask. A low growling rumble made the ceiling fire ripple and the monster backflash finally came. All five firemen fell onto Chet's rope as a furnace hot belch of fire rolled low over their backs. Marco lifted it away from them with the upturned hose water fan as it passed by, yelling in defiance. Then it was over and the smoke thinned and lessened. "Chet!" Gage called, tugging on the rope snaking across the floor. His grip on it was tugged back. Twice. Gage smiled. "He's all right out there." "Thank God. " Bellingham said, holding Brice's injured hand under water where it trembled to cool it. Brice began to droop. "Hey. hey..hey.." Johnny shouted. "Stay up, Craig. Fight it." he told Brice. "You're gonna haveta help us get you out. It's bound to be a longish climbing obstacle course out there. I'll letcha black out once we're outside." "U- Understood.." Brice mumbled as his partner gripped his face to encourage him back to full consciousness. Kelly crawled back into their arms just as the ceiling fractured. All six firemen felt the air gust and change color around them when all that tonnage hit the carpeting. The smoke went from orange brown to gray black and the temperature dropped by dozens of degrees. Chet pulled up his legs to his knees as a main beam from the ceiling bounced on top of where he had just scrambled. "OH, that was too close.. Ahh. I hate this job! " A few breaths later, he delivered what they all wanted to hear. "It's done guys. Got em in place. Keep an ear out on that HT band on nine." Soon, Hank Stanley's voice called out shakily over the HT. ##Kelly, Units one, four and three are barking. Your butts intact in there?## "10-4. All six souls. Gotcha. Moving out to the south. Thanks for the info, Cap. I owe you more than one. " ##Quite the reverse, pal.## said a very relieved Captain Stanley. Roy added onto Chet's transmission. "Craig's going shocky. We'd appreciate some med gear to use when we get out there. It's Brice's hand and he's suffering possible explosive impact effects." ##Consider it done.## ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto finished loading up Craig Brice into the ambulance and into Bellingham's transporting care. The groggy paramedic had checked clear of any internal injuries and was only on light O2 with just a precautionary I.V. His hand was badly burned but they all thought it would prove fully salvagable in a few months time. The 51 gang watched his Mayfair depart. Then Captain Stanley set a supporting glove on Chet Kelly's shoulder. "I'm sorry your pet project had to burn. But you sacrificed them for a very good cause. That was one of the smartest ideas I've ever heard come out of your lips, Chet." "Thanks, Cap. I appreciate it." "So do I. " said Gage as he and Roy cleaned up where Brice had been treated to get set for the next walking victim from the fire. "What shall I do with this?" Cap asked Chet, holding up the shriek box tower transmitter. "Give it here. I'll give it to Sam next time I see him. Maybe he can put it up on his fireplace mantle or something as a souvenir. I'm done playing the mad inventor. But it sure was nice while it lasted." he grinned, rubbing some soot off of his face. "There's always next time, Chet. Those shrieking things were a sound idea." Gage smiled. "Promise me that you won't give up on it entirely?" Chet studied the ground with disappointment showing bright on his weary and flushed face. "There's always someday." Roy reassured, laying along side Johnny's remark. "Yeah, someday I guess." Chet Kelly sighed, then he looked up at the smouldering gutted building thoughtfully and a sparkle returned to his gray blue eyes. "Maybe when I'm older. And grayer." "There's the ticket." Johnny quipped, turning to greet their next victim being helped to walk by the strong arms of Vince Howard, the policeman. "How does it feel to be a future millionaire, Chet?" "Don't know. I've got too much soot in my eyes to even think about it. Right now, the only thing I can picture is a hot shower, a soft bed, and maybe a rivetting chess match for later. Are you game? I'm officially challenging you." "Right after I win my match against Roy." said Johnny. "You're on." FIN -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Johnny and Roy in air bottles, tense, looking at a fire. Photo: Chet in firefighting gear with another fireman. Photo: A factory fire view from over the hood of the squad. Photo: Brice and Roy looking at each other in the squad. Photo: The whole gang climbing around after a roof collapse. Photo: Cap and the whole gang grinning in turnout. Photo: Gage on the biophone in smoke. Photo: Chet and Roy and Johnny recreating at the station. ***************************************************************************** FIN §§ The White Engine §§ :) This episode is dedicated to the inventor of :) the PASS device which saves countless firefighter :) lives every day. :) The Story Unfolds.. Season Two, Episode Fourteen.. §§ Twisted §§ ****************************************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Wed, 08 Sep 2004 07:24:13 +0000 Subject: [EmergencyTheaterLive] Dr. Orange to Emergency STAT~~ Dixie McCall sighed expansively as she took an elicit sip from her cup of ice cold coffee. ::This tastes absolutely heavenly.:: she thought, as she dragged yet another chart from the stack carousel out for viewing. Not even aware of it, she began mumbling. "Let's see... an ankle in Room Three. X-rays ...Ordered. In Two, an arm laceration that Joe's suturing as of..." she peered at her delicate silver banded watch. "..five minutes ago... Kel's in Radiology viewing the latest chest films on Station Eight's downed fireman. Who was that again?.." She flipped a few pages, checking on that. "Paramedic Craig Brice. Smoke inhalation from his playing the hero game. And no, he won't be needing a bronchoscopy session with Dr. Irons." answered Carol Evans as she returned from answering a patient light down the hall from the emergency ward's main desk. McCall startled, then caught herself when her coffee spilled over her hand and onto the formica desktop. "Oh my word! Dixie! Did you just burn yourself?" Carol gasped. Dixie smiled. "I know better than to hang onto a cup for too long around here if it's still piping hot. This, is nowhere near that." Carol made a face. "Ugh.. How can you drink it then?" McCall looked up at her senior nurse over the bridge of her nose. "When you inherit my head nurse's position someday, you'll find out the answer to that one." She didn't skip a beat, "What was the light for? I saw it but I knew you were closer." "Bedpan, Room Four. The Iverson boy needed some help using it. He's the left tib fib fracture that's still waiting to be set." Dixie's smile fell into one of self admonishment and she snapped a couple of fingers in sudden memory. "I knew I was forgetting something." And she reached for the phone. Carol stopped her. "I've already called Orthopedics. Dr. Allan will be down to cast him up in ten minutes." Dixie sighed, patting Carol's hand in gratitude. "Thanks. You're a dear. I'm just horrible with organizing anything on slow days like this." she said, mopping up her hand and the desk counter with a wad of tissue. "Now that's something I understand completely, Dix. How about we mosy into Five and see how Dr. Morton's doing with that fever case? We still need to do a full chart on her." "Sounds like a plan. Then, afterwards, it's two cups of HOT coffee for the both of us in the nurse's lounge." Dixie promised. " I gotta jump start the inside of my head sooner rather than later. My right big toe's itching and that means we're gonna get busy.." Nurse Evans laughed. "Really?" "Oh yeah. I've learned to read the tiny little signs I get physically when all my intuitions and instincts slam shut upstairs on the slow business days." Dixie said, closing her chart and returning it to the carousel. "Gee. I don't think I ever know what my feet are doing, unless they're barking at me for covering a double shift." Carol conmiserated. "Doubles? Heh. Try working a 36 hour shift. Then, you'll learn the true meaning of foot agony." she quipped. "I usually have to crawl home." The two nurses had almost passed by the bulky corner of the all glass paramedic base station when the seldom used red phone on the wall rang by the paramedic line's reel to reel transmission recorder began to buzz urgently. Dixie waved off the student nurse supplying the drug cabinet to pick up the call herself. "Rampart Emergency. This is Nurse McCall." Carol watched when Dixie's face lost all expression and took her cue from that. She got on the white phone to the operator. "Yes, this is Carol Evans from Emergency. Could you page Kel Brackett to report down here stat? We've a major in the works. Thanks." and she hung up the phone about the same time Dixie did. "It's a train wreck. One of those new fangled Amtraks or whatever they're called. The DOT says that each hospital in the district could expect to see up to a dozen patients incoming." McCall reported. Carol nodded. "I've put out the page about it." "Really? How'd you do that so fast? I just told you what we're gonna get." Nurse Evans scoffed. "You may be the guru when it comes to stomaching evil concoctions from the brewing pot and feeling the ER weather with your digits. But no one is better than me at reading coworkers. Your poker face firing up gave it all away." "Hmm, I'll have to work on that." Dixie said without grinning. "Who did you get?" "Brackett. He was only going over films, remember?" "Good choice. His grumbling over the disaster alert will be the best medicine I can take to get over my brain fog." "That's why I picked him. Two birds with one stone." Carol agreed. "Perfectionist." Dixie teased with feigned indignant sarcasm. "I learned from the best." Carol smiled sweetly. The two nurses flew in two different directions to bustle the staff into shape for a full blown Condition Orange. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Mike Morton was helping a restless, sweaty young African American woman back down onto the gurney from where she had sat up in a moan from malaise caused by her very high temperature. "Easy maam. Why don't you just ....lie back down again. Just like that. That's it. I don't want you to hurt yourself." Mike soothed. "Now, does your head hurt at all? How's your neck? Does it feel like it's tight or cramping up on you?" The stricken woman on the bed made eye contact but didn't make an indication that she had understood him. Morton frowned, looking up at the orderly attendant with him. "Hmm. She's borderline on delirium now. It's ok. I got her, Malcolm. Why don't you call us a nurse to set up an immediate ice bath? First thing, that fever spiking's gonna be stopped. We'll do it after the spinal tap." The burly blond orderly nodded and moved to the treatment room phone. Morton pulled the thermometer out of the woman's mouth where he had been holding it alongside a jaw spreader. He held it up to the light, peering at the tic marks over the mercury. "It's 104. Tell them to hurry it up some." Dr. Morton moved the still wrapped spinal tray closer to get it set for the staff that was coming to help him with it. To kill some time, he began to speak to his patient. "Now don't you worry. I've got people on the phone lines trying to find out who you are right this minute. The sooner we know that, the sooner we'll get our answers." he sighed, still clutching her restless hand across her chest to partly monitor her breathing and partly to keep her flat. The woman's eyes never failed to leave his over the oxygen mask she wore and she moaned again in unconscious misery. "Shh.. It's ok, honey. I'm a doctor and I promise you that I'm gonna find out what's wrong with you just as fast it's humanly possible." Dixie's head poked in the door. "Mike?" Morton didn't look up. "Coming to help us out?" "Don't I wish. Trouble's brewing, doctor. Big trouble. The fire department dispatch's just notified us of a train wreck east of here." "Do they have any casualty numbers?" Dixie minutely shook her head. "It's too soon to tell." Then her practiced eye noticed a trembling in Morton's patient's legs. "Want some diazepam for that seizure?" "It's mild yet. Her BP's yo yo-ing and I don't want it to take a dive." "How about some quarantine control?" "Yeah, get that going. This might be meningitis in full swing." "Oh, boy. You know you two have been seriously exposed." Morton huffed. "Yeah, we know. And so was half the waiting room when she stumbled in here from the outer doors. We'll decontaminate in the next room and slip into a couple of masks to help out there just as soon as we're through managing her in here." "I'll tell the bath and spinal tap people to gown up before entering." McCall said, letting the door shut between them as she turned on the negative air flow button in the treatment room next to the cabinet. Morton shouted after her. "How about a sign for.." "The infection warning's already hanging on your door." came Dixie's rushing voice. "I had a gut feeling." Rampart General Hospital began shoring up for a large disaster response. Administrators immediately started calling all their available off duty hospital staff to report in for emergency triage work. Multiple med evac helicopters were summoned to the parking lot's landing pad. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe Early burst out of Treatment Two, peeling off his bloody suturing gloves and he tossed them into the hallway biohazard receptacle. "Dixie?" he inquired. "The base station's quiet yet. Apparently, all this has just happened. I have FEMA's radio frequency called up on the scanner and all the senior staff's been properly notified. We'll have everyone but Dr. Morton." "What's tying him up?" "Spinal Meningitis in Treatment Room Five. He didn't spot it fast enough to get covered up. Malcolm's been exposed, too." Dr. Early rubbed his hand and the rings there thoughtfully. "That shouldn't be a problem. They're both young and strong. The chances of them catching it at their ages and conditions are low." "Still. They're gonna work in masks and gloves when they get out here. For OUR protection." she teased. "We're the oldsters in this outfit." "I can order some interferon boosters for everyone you think's been exposed." "Don't bother, there's too little time left. The bell's just about ready to go off on the train pileup." she said, throwing a hand over her shoulder towards the buzz light over the glass paned paramedic radio room. "Let's just hope Jane Doe's germ is a weak one. Cross your fingers and coffee up, you're gonna need it." she said gulping down hers. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I concur. There's absolutely no sign of solid aspiration. No ash. No glass dust. Amazing." Kelly Brackett smiled. "That's Craig Brice for you. He's a h*ll of a fireman. Almost as good as he is a paramedic. I suspect he got some SCBA gear from that roof line as soon as his victim's stokes was pulled free from it. It's just like him to haul his bacon out of a fire at the last possible moment, unscathed except for a few minor things. Another paramedic of mine's green with envy over his almost one hundred percent non injury track record." "A charmed life." Dr. Michaelson of Radiology interjected, peering at the films of Brice's lungs closely. "So far. And I'd like to think it's gonna stay that way." Kel admitted, crossing his elbows. "It will. I see nothing here that indicates a future risk for secondary pneumonia." "Great news. I'll tell him after he's transferred upstairs." Michaelson nodded. Dr. Brackett suddenly heard his name called by the house operator. ##Doctor Brackett. Report to Emergency Stat. Doctor Brackett, Report to Emergency Stat. You've a conference with Dr. Orange.## Kel and Dr. Michaelson both stood from their stools and ignored the row of Xray films hanging under the purple white light in front of them in alarm. "Now just what kind of disaster is it this time?" Brackett asked sharply as his worry suddenly exploded. He headed for the exit across the darkened viewing room. "I'm coming with you." said Michaelson, grabbing his white lab coat. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dixie heard a commotion coming from the outer doors and she and Carol and Dr. Early hurried to meet whoever it was as fast as they could get there. The emergency ambulance entrance doors parted to reveal.... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Joe, Dixie and Kel frantically at work at the base station. Photo: Morton tending a young African American woman. Photo: Dixie reading a chart near another nurse. Photo: A Mayfair Cadillac ambulance backing up to the ER doors at Rampart. Photo: A helicopter view of a massive train wreck with EMS and Fire crews on scene. ****************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Thu Sep 9, 2004 10:08 am Subject: The Best Laid Plans of Mice and .... .......a fire department squad backing up in the space reserved only for resupplies pickup. Dixie snapped a cord mentally. "Oh, for crying out loud, don't they know what's happening?!" she groused, turning on a heel and disappearing back into the hallway. Carol didn't exactly throw up her hands but she frowned, too, at the bit of normalcy arriving in the shape of Johnny and Roy. "No victim?" she asked Dr. Early half heartedly. "No victim.." Joe replied, smiling. "I guess I'd better go cool Dixie down. Already, she's wound up tighter than a top." Nurse Evans admitted. "You do that. I'll take care of the boys here to bring them up to date." Joe leaned into the squad. "Hiya boys." "Hiya doc." Roy said. "Wow, that was some welcoming committee. First Dix, then Carol, now you, heh. Won't be long, we just came for a couple of Ringers that we both forgot to grab that wasn't on our last run's paperw-" Johnny started to explain. "You mean you haven't heard anything yet?" Joe interrupted. "Haven't heard what?" Roy asked, his face going slack. "There's a condition orange in effect as of right now. An amtrak derailed a few minutes ago." Dr. Early told them. "No kidding. You're serious.." Gage shook his head. "Very serious. Dixie has all the staff scrambling. I'm surprised your station hasn't been called out yet to respond to the accident." Joe said scratching his nose. Gage immediately got out onto the running board and checked the antennae on top of the squad's roof. The aerial, was missing. "D*mn it. I knew we were in kinda tight on that last fire hazard call. There was enough mesquite on Old Man Foster's property to choke a horse." Johnny exclaimed. "We must've knocked it off when we left." Roy immediately turned on his walkie talkie to hear a hail of out going tones for L.A. and Los Angeles County's outlying stations. All three of them listened carefully but the tones for 51 didn't sound off. "Maybe we can learn more by listening to your emergency scanner, doc." DeSoto said. "Be my guest. Not much going on yet. It's too soon." Joe nodded and opened the squad door so Roy could get out. Quickly, the three of them went inside and soon were gathered around Dixie's main desk. Dr. Brackett was there watching Dixie pull out the disaster management book from its storage envelope for him to read. "Evening, boys." he greeted. Johnny and Roy both waved half heartedly. Gage got down to business. "Doc, what have you heard? Our squad radio was knocked out. But apparently, we haven't been missed yet. Our station's still at the station." he laughed at his pun. "Not much." Kel frowned. "You know as much as I do." "Anything we can do around here to help out?" Roy said as nurses, doctors, orderlies and patients all in motion, milled about because of the soon to come emergency traffic. "Yeah, help me load up the helicopter with supplies? You can grab yours while you're doing it." He said noting the empty box that Roy held under his arm. "I'm dragging Dixie along with me to the scene. There's absolutely no doubt that we're gonna be needed, and in a hurry." Brackett said. "I'm just doing a little anticipating gentlemen." he said hefting up the disaster protocol manual. "I suggest you do the same thing." "Where's the wreck located at?" Gage said as they moved to the entrance and the outer pharmacy. "West side of town, but east of here, still in the suburbs." Kel pointed as they bundled up boxes of medical gear onto a gurney. Once it was full, the two paramedics and single doctor, hurried outside, pushing the fully laden stretcher before them. Johnny craned his neck into that direction, shading his eyes from the brilliant late evening sun. "I don't see any smoke." Roy shook his head. "You don't have to see any to have a really bad situation, Johnny. An Amtrak has no cargo to burn." "Oh yes it has. You're forgetting all the people." Johnny said grimly, fiddling with the strap on his walkie talkie where it dangled on his wrist. He was the very picture of frustration as station after station, all but 51's, was called to respond. They got near to the landing pad so they ducked as low as the gurney's mattress to protect their heads from the whirling blades and so did a rushing Dixie, now wearing a heavy field sweater emblazed with her medical staff emblem. Kel Brackett helped Dixie inside the roaring chopper. "You boys better get back. We're good to go. Thanks for the loading help. No doubt we'll be meeting up again." he shouted over the wind and rotors of the rescue helicopter. "You can count on that for sure, doc." Gage promised with fervor. Roy and Johnny back stepped until they were well away from the launching pad, each holding a walkie talkie to their ear as fire units continued to be deployed to the site of the crashed train. A full minute after Brackett's helicopter disappeared, there was still no word for their engine or squad. "I don't get it.." Johnny complained. "Did L.A. forget about us? Maybe we should just head on out there and be done with it." "I think we should stick tight. Who knows? We may be just assigned to cover someone else's service grid. Not all of us can go." Roy said reasonably. "Maybe that's true, but I don't have to like it." Johnny said as they went back into the busy emergency room that was in full preparation for a massive influx of patients. Joe Early was reading his own copy of the mass casualty incident manual by the paramedic station when Gage and Roy got to the main reception desk. The silver haired doctor looked up. "Still no word?" "No." said Gage crankily. "Roy seems to think we're being held back in reserve." "Good thing you were. Your antennae was out. It could have been very bad if you were called out and hadn't answered." Joe reasoned. Johnny refused to be placated and just harrumphed in his throat, pushing aside the full coffee mug that Roy offered to him from the pot. "I'm not thirsty. I'm mad. Thanks, anyway. But, no thanks." Joe chuckled. "So, paramedics feel just as much like the preverbial football with superiors as we doctors do." Gage wasn't angry enough not to smile at Joe's glib comment. "Doc, you mean to tell me that you have a boss to worry about?" "Yep. The big man upstairs. And I'm talking about the one smoking the expensive cigars wearing suits by Georgio, not the one surrounded by harps and angels." he joked. "Huh, I didn't know that. I thought that once you become a doctor, you become your own boss with nobody to pay attention to but yourself and your patients." Gage gaped. "Maybe someday. But as long as my salary is paid by what the hospital charges for my services and skills, I'm always going to be at somebody's beck and call." "You know, that- that's not right. It's not right at all. There's something fundamentally wrong with that idea." Johnny scoffed. "I mean, you save lives and all.. I mean, yeah, Roy and I do, too, but not in the same way. I think you should form a physician's union doc, and force a few changes or two to gain a little independence." Joe quickly picked up the white phone. "Want to suggest that to the big man upstairs? I can put ya through..." he said dialing up. Gage sputtered and grabbed the phone from Joe's hand. "Funny man. A real comedian." "I try to be. It keeps me from going absolutely nuts around here sometimes. Oh, by the way. Did your captain remember to cook some extra clam chowder for me and the missus?" "Huh?" Gage said, still digesting the doc's logic. "Whaa? Oh. yeah. Stuck it in the freezer for ya. You can pick it up in the morning." "That's if we're allowed to be 10-8 in the morning." Roy reminded Johnny. Gage looked at his partner without comprehension. Roy elaborated. "Someone has to let Dr. Early IN to get to the refrigerator." "Oh, yeah, right." Johnny sniffed, pulling un-necessarily on his utility belt. "We'll try to have someone there for ya, doc. But seeing that everyone's at the train wreck..." his face retwisted into a seethe at the thought of being excluded from such a major run. "...we may not be able to accommodate you." "I can wait. Chowder keeps a week, Hank tells me, if it's flash frozen." "His was." Roy nodded. Carol Evans, who had been busy answering phones and directing staff to their assigned areas, piped up. "You know, Craig Brice is still here in Room 512. Maybe you boys can kill some time waiting for word from your dispatcher by visiting for a few minutes with him. You know how annoying getting over a chest full of smoke can be. It's compounded ten times over when one is confined to absolute bed rest." Joe's eyebrows rose. "Now that," he said stabbing a finger at Carol. "...is a fine example of the manipulating I regularly suffer. And she's not even my boss. I know a thinly veiled dismissal when I hear one, boys. Feel offended." Evans face quirked. "That's right. Now you paramedics know who's the real head of the emergency department." she said without batting an eye. "How can I get any work done around here with that idle chatter of yours distracting me. Oh lord, I'm starting to sound like Dixie already and I just took over for her." Roy and Johnny laughed. "512 did you say?" Gage asked. "512." Evans answered, dipping her neatly coiffed brunette head elegantly. Joe Early slipped into melodramatics. "Oh adieu, my fair maiden, parting is such sweet sorrow, I should cut my body to pieces to call you once by your name.." "Just Nurse will do, Doctor." and she made shooing motions. "I'm sure your missus wouldn't want you to call me anything other than that." she said dryly. "How sharper than a serpent's tooth!" Early postured. Carol hissed at him making cat's claws. Joe fled, feigning fright, into a treatment room whose patient needed his attentions. Carol's claws turned into a friendly double wave as she watched Gage and DeSoto disappear into the elevator. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny Gage inched up onto his toes, peering out the fifth floor window blinds, at the end of the hall next to Brice's assigned patient room. Roy smacked him. "Would you cut that out? We'll get there when we get there." Gage rubbed his sore arm vigorously. "Ow. I was only trying to get feelers out on what we're heading into." "Who says we're heading into anywhere?" Roy argued. "The HT's still quiet on that issue!" "Yeah? Well YOU'RE not so quiet about it, that's for sure. And not so quiet vocally either." said Johnny, popping a chocolate he found abandoned in a half eaten box on the hallway crash cart. "This is a hospital. Show some respect would ya? There's a lot of sick people around here."and his angry scowl turned into one of amusement when he realized he got Roy's goat yet again. It was Roy's turn to seethe, feeling royally had. Then he started laughing. He barely got things under control when Johnny snatched up the box of sweets on his way in to Brice's room and shoved them behind his back as they entered. "Hi Craig. How're ya feeling?" Gage asked. "It's not every day ya get to receive a little mouth to mouth from your own station captain now is it?" Roy stepped on Johnny's foot, who promptly ignored him. Craig Brice, decked out in a white gown replete with blue florets, set down his magazine. "Gage. DeSoto. What a pleasant surprise. Why aren't you at the railway accident scene yet?" Johnny's grin fell away into one of disgust. "Now, see?" He pegged a glare at Roy. "Why do I get the feeling that everybody who's anybody knows about that wreck and how incongruent WE are for not being there?" Roy pretended that Johnny wasn't even there to help curb his high flowing embarrassment. "Hiya Craig. Carol Evans thought bringing him up here to see you would cheer him up. Have some chocolates." and he yanked the open box away from Johnny's concealing hand and offered Brice the lot by sliding it across his bedside eating table. Brice blinked around his nasal cannula. "I should think that by now, you'd know that John Gage never cheers himself up unless he's ready to do so on his own, DeSoto. Thanks for the confections." and he helped himself to the smallest piece, chewing carefully. Johnny didn't know whether to be insulted or to agree with his old nemesis. He opted on stuffing another candy into his other cheek. "Well, how are ya anyway? Any pulmonary edema?" "No." "Any laryngospasms cropping up?" "No." "Any arrythmias fluttering in your chest?" "No. Do you see me wired to an EKG monitor?" Gage flared. "You mean you don't even have so much as a sore throat for your troubles?" "I don't. Thanks for inquiring." Gage sputtered indignantly, remembering his own miserable symptoms whenever he was laid low by smoke exposure. Roy covered for him. "I guess he means that he's really glad you're feeling better." DeSoto said mildly. "I fathomed that angle a minute ago, DeSoto. Thanks. I am almost back to optimal conditioning. I'll go home this evening Kelly Brackett says. And I've been cleared to return back to work tomorrow morning." Gage turned apoplexic and he couldn't speak. Brice rose from his bed and only stopped because he still had an I.V. line in. "Are you choking?" Roy shook his head and then did a double take at his color changing partner. "Are you?!" Gage nodded, finally grabbing his throat with the universal crossed hands sign subconsciously. Both Roy and Brice smacked a fist into Johnny's back, bending him over the snack table and two mostly chewed squares of caramel and chocolate flew out of Johnny's mouth. Johnny straightened, sucking in huge breaths as he regained a hard won equilibrium. Brice calmly got back into bed, pulled the covers back over his knees and peeled off his cannula. "Want this?" Johnny batted it away with a glare and finally coughed. "Funny man. Never let it be said that Craig Brice doesn't have a sense of humor. You and Dr. Early should get together sometime on that." he rasped, leaning a head into his hands against the tabletop. "You ok?" Roy smirked, still hanging onto Johnny's belt. "I'm fine. I was just a little hungry I guess." he said lifting his head. "No, you were more like a little jealous I'd say." Roy said. "Of what?" Johnny said, cleaning up his spit out candy from the sheets and magazine cover on Brice's lap with a kleenix from the table top tissue box. "Of my faster than normal recovery period, Mr. Gage. It's not often I'm in the hospital like this. The only other time was when I had the roof fall on top of me after I pushed your partner out of the way from under a fire weakened section at the Gilmore Factory Fire on June 8th, 1975. It's nothing to be ashamed of. I, in turn, admire you, too." John blinked in surprise. "Uh, you do?" Roy said the same thing in stereo. "Uh, you do?" "Of course. John Gage's a prime example of what an ex-juvenile delinquent can become when given the proper chance. The paramedic program's been an absolute boon for you. You're almost a model citizen when it comes to true character." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I oughta go back there and KILL him once and for all." Gage spat. "Why?" said Roy in amusement. "And undo all that nice work the docs did for him? That'd be a waste of energy." "Not in my book." Gage grumbled. "You should be happy. We've been called to respond to the train wreck." "Finally.." "Well, why aren't you happy now?" Roy asked. " Because NO paramedic should get to an accident scene a whole half hour AFTER the nurse and doctor does. It's bad for business." he said, staring out the window of the speeding squad. Roy just rolled his eyes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Dixie Roy Johnny and Brackett in hallway. Photo: Roy in a waiting room closeup. Photo: Johnny looking cheeky at Rampart. Photo: Brice in a hospital bed wearing a cannula. Photo: Johnny Gage in a helmet, seething, in the squad. Photo: Roy grinning in the lounge. *********************************************************** From : patti keiper Sent : Thursday, September 9, 2004 6:49 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Red, Green, Yellow or Black... Roy pulled up the squad two blocks away from the intersection to which they had been assigned. It was four blocks away from the first aid station set up near a high school foot ball field that was large enough to accomodate the medical helicopters. Engine 51 was already parked at an angle near a hydrant but her hoses were still in her hose bed. Roy and Johnny got out, grabbed their gear and reported in. Johnny spoke into his hand radio. "Squad 51 on scene at Vajalla and McGinty." Immediately, Hank Stanley intercepted them on the frequency. ##Engine 51, Squad 51, we've been ordered to search all the train cars between Vajalla and Hwy 9. Use triage protocols and set up your gear in a safe area. We're working at car forty five. Cars one through forty four have been cleared and evacuated. Do you copy?## Gage frowned. "10-4. Loud and clear." he replied, pressing the talk button. They started walking fast with absolutely everything that they could possibly carry from the squad towards the train tracks. Roy looked at Johnny, ignoring the dangling air bottle mask swinging around his knees. "Car forty five? Just how big is this passenger line? I'm not seeing many fire crews past ours here." he said throwing a head towards the Ward La France where she was sitting idle. They rounded the next corner of the block and stopped dead in their tracks. "Oh my word, would you just look at that?" Gage exclaimed. Ahead of them, they could see accordianed silver and blue trains cars indicative of Amtrak knotted eerily like some bizarre kinked snake above the railroad tracks. Hundreds of people who had been on the train were milling about, trying to leave towards the first aid station or for the line of police cars that they could see trying to coordinate rescue activities, paralleling the railroad tracks. "Could have been worse." Roy commented. "Looks like most of the cars are still basically near the tracks and fully intact. Tipped over, but not on fire." Johnny began to hit the fringes of walking wounded that police officers were escorting towards the high school to their right. He shouted to a motorcop in the middle of a huddle. "Hey!" he said, getting the officer's attention, by pointing to the green number on his helmet to identify himself as a paramedic. "You got any victims that need immediate attention?!" he gasped shifting the heavy weight of gear in his hands. The cop shook his head. "Nah, these folks are minors and can walk. Here." he said, clipping a bundle of white tags that had green, yellow and red strips on them onto Gage's air bottle straps. "A nurse working up ahead asked me to give these to you." and then he was gone into the crowd. "That must have been Dixie." Roy exclaimed, searching with his eyes over all the heads of dazed people and shouting cops for any sign of her and Brackett. He couldn't locate them. Johnny looked down at the wires and tags swinging from his belt. "Triage tags. The train must've cracked open somewhere along its length." "It would have only done that if it hit an obstacle before it derailed." Johnny spun about, searching for more signs of trouble past the row of pitch angled passenger cars jutting out in every direction from the railroad tracks along the row of neatly tiled houses in the neighborhood. "How about that highway to our right? Could the locomotive engine have hit a car?" Johnny theorized as he stuck his head above the crowd of frightened, but mostly uninjured people moving away from the twisted train to try and spot a reason. "Possibly. I think that intersection's a ground level crossing. Come on, I think I see Cap's helmet." Roy puffed as he moved the O2 cylinder from his side to his shoulder for easier carrying. Then they were there. Gage heard a shout from Lopez to his left. "Over here! We've got a woman down, bleeding very badly out of her legs, looks like something heavy crushed them." the Latin American fireman said. "Follow me. She's over by the Mayfair, on the ground." Roy and Johnny hurried over and crouched over a twenty something year old. A young man with their victim was upset but coherent and he held her hand. "She your girlfriend?" Roy asked him, reading the red margined triage tag fluttering in the wind on her shoulder. "Yeah. Her name's Cindy. Ohmyg*d. Is she gonna be all right?" Johnny made himself smile once he recognized Dixie's work of double tourniquets tightly bound above both the girl's knees. "We're here to give her every chance. Have you had first aid training of any kind?" "Some. Uh, a few years ago. I'm a boy scout pack leader." "Fair enough. My partner's gonna start Cindy on some oxygen. It'll help her get her breathing under control. That panting's just from some blood loss which we're gonna build up again by starting a couple of I.V.'s Keep tabs on her pulse and breathing rate, would ya? We're going to be busy down here for a bit." Gage said, indicating the area of Cindy's badly broken legs. "Anything I can do.." said the frightened young man. Marco kneeled on the ground and helped Roy cut away the woman's shirt sleeve so Roy could get access to her arm for a blood pressure. Johnny got on the land line. "Rampart, this is Squad 51. How do you read?" Joe Early came on the phone almost immediately. ##Go ahead, 51.## Johnny skipped preliminary information. "Triage victim, number sixty three." he read from Dixie's hastily applied tag. "A female approximately twenty years of age. She's semi conscious due to crushing injuries to both legs. Double tourniquets have been applied to her mid thighs. Stand by for the vital signs." Gage buried the phone onto his neck and glanced over to where he could hear Cap and another paramedic crew working on what sounded like a steering wheel being bent with a K-12 and chains. He couldn't yet see the car through the throng of people and rescuers shifting around the silent train through the growing evening fog. Marco said, "Johnny, that driver's not bad. We're putting him on a long board just as a precaution. His leaking gas tank made him something of a priority . I guess a train car clipped him when it jumped off the tracks." Johnny nodded as he took the note pad from Roy containing what he had found on Cindy during his secondary survey. Marco spoke, shifting his head to the right to where the many rescuers beyond Rampart's doctor and nurse had not yet reached. "I've got to go. Dixie's three cars from here, working her way towards the locomotive with Dr. Brackett. They're on the leading triage tag team." "Go." Roy told him. "Wait." Johnny contradicted. Lopez skidded to a halt. "Just how many cars are on this train?" Gage asked. "The DOT counted 102 from the air. The middle section's on fire a half mile from here. Those Amtrak cars impacted a light industrial propane tank. Most of Los Angeles City's fire departments are handling that. Our units from the suburbs are on just triage and extrication detail." Gage nodded, waving him on. "Radio us if you find another red tagged victim." he shouted. "We'll be done here in five minutes." he said pointing to the two ambulance attendants waiting next to the Mayfair that was shielding the girl victim from the milling crowds. Lopez took off at a run. "Well there's a tender mercy. We'll be nowhere near the fire." Johnny said to his partner. Then he began relaying vital signs to Rampart from what he read off the small pad of paper. Two large bore I.V.s later and a neat feat of carefully positioned splinting kept the woman's circulation going into her feet. Johnny and Roy had to fight instincts to let city paramedics be the girl's main caregivers to the hospital. A yellow jacketted paramedic from Pasadena said, "We'll take real good care of her. She's got the first row for a helicopter flight in." And then they were gone in the rig with her, reds flashing, for the impromptu high school football field landing area. Roy and Johnny quickly packed up their gear again and headed north on the strength of Marco's news about Dixie and Kel Brackett's whereabouts. A yellow tagged man with a splinted broken forearm grabbed Roy as they went by. "Please, you gotta look for my son. He was in car number 49. Please. I can't find him...." DeSoto set down his gear and supported him. "Easy, mister. Now where did you come from? You're headed in the wrong direction. Medical help is that way." "He slipped away from me.." said Vince Howard, running up to them. "I got distracted by a couple of red tags. I can tell you more. His son's name is Jeffrey Mathers." he said taking the father's shoulders. "Come with me, maybe he's at the First Aid Station already. Let's go look for him. Stop bothering these two gentlemen." "Please. Firemen. He's about eight years old, wearing a blue T shirt and y- yellow pants. I just gotta find him.." mumbled the injured man. Johnny and Roy watched him get swallowed up by the fog until it seemed that it was only just the two of them alongside the twisted bulk of the train. DeSoto broke out a flashlight to locate the search marks crews ahead of them were leaving on the skin of each car to show the ones cleared of people. "Sun's going down. It's gonna get cold. Man.. I hope we find everybody in time." said Gage. "This fog's getting thicker by the minute." Roy found another rectangular shape jutting eerily up into the indigo sky. "Car 49. " he read on the side door. "And there's no search mark yet. Let's check it out." Roy and Johnny left their gear on the rail road rocks by a lit cherry flare and together, they pulled open the train car door and went inside. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Brackett was a whole train car ahead of Dixie, and he was shouting and calling. "Is anybody in here? Shout if you can hear me. I'm a doctor from Rampart Emergency!" Dixie, too, was calling for anyone to hear, but she started to lag behind the much bigger Kel as she struggled over seats with her flashlight. She had just climbed over a tangle of them when a ghostly figure ahead of her blocked her path. "Bellingham?" she said, stunned, recognizing the off duty paramedic. She grabbed his arm in the darkness. "Are you ok?" she asked, seeing blood running from his mouth and the large bruise on his head. She couldn't work it through her head that he was actually a passenger on the luckless train. "M-My daughter. S-she was caught under me." said the bloody T-shirted man. "She.. she was fine a minute ago..." "Where is she? Easy, Bob. Everything's gonna be ok." Dixie gasped. "I'm keeping her...warm..but..." he said numbly, in heavy emotional shock. Dixie McCall looked down to find an infant lying limp in his arms, her lips, feet and hands already turning blue. Dixie snatched the tiny baby's body from him and into her arms and pressed a couple of fingers against her chilled upper arm. "Kel ! Can you hear me?! I got a pulseless infant back here." she shouted out loud. There was no reply from the way ahead. "Kel! Answer me!" Nothing but echoes replied in the horrible silence of the Amtrak. Dixie fell into an upright seat and set her flashlight until it aimed at the metal ceiling, filling her arms with a bright white light so she could see clearly what she was doing. Right away, she tipped back the baby's head and tried to gently get breaths inside of the still, clammy chest. Nothing went in. Bob began to sob. "I-- I know about that.. I...can't seem to.......move." "She's obstructed. I'm going to clear it." Dixie said quietly, rapidly turning the limp infant over and beginning back blows and chest thrusts. On the third attempt, Dixie's shaky puffs of air finally got in. "Just sit there and relax, Bob. I'm sure help is on its way." The Rampart nurse began the baby's CPR while her shocky paramedic father simply sobbed, watching them, with tears in his eyes. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny Gage startled when the third train door parted under their collective tugs to reveal a conscious victim, blinking up at them from the murk, under his flashlight. "Blue and yellow he said?" "Yeah." Roy replied. "Jeffrey Mathers?" The boy began to cry from where he lay in the rubble and he stuck out his arms towards DeSoto, reacting like a frightened boy half his age. "Help me... I can't find Daddy..." DeSoto's paternal instincts soared and he reached out, gathering the damp shivering boy into his arms. "It's ok. Your father's fine. The doctors are taking care of him at a First Aid Station. How are you doing? Do you hurt anywhere besides that cut on your arm?" The boy stayed mute, frozen with fear and he kept his eyes shut tight and his arms locked in a death's grip around Roy's neck. Gage ran a flashlight over the boy's head and body. "There's a lot of blood here, but I don't think much of it is his at all." he said reaching around and taking the boy's carotid. "Pulse's fast but strong here." He pulled out a green tag and wired it to the front of Jeffrey's T-shirt with quick notes on the boy's injuries and his name. "Whose is it?" Roy asked cradling Jeffrey's head on his shoulder, softly calming the boy. "Shhh.. You're all right. We're going to someone who can take you to your father right now." Jeffrey nestled into Roy's arms a little deeper and he sighed, but his trembling didn't ease. Gage cast his flashlight around in the fog. It alighted on a young shirtless teenager sitting upright in the next car with his head thrown back. Johnny hurried over, his mask dangling air bottle clanging as he crouched down and felt for a pulse at the teenager's pale creamy neckline. He shook his head and pulled out a penlight, showing Roy the fixed and dilated pupils he knew were there. Sighing with disappointment, he tipped the teen over, looking for the reason why he died. He found it when a hole six inches wide became visible in the small of his back. Blood still dripped from the wound. "Looks like a seat brace or something impaled him through the lower abdomen. It must've drilled right through his lower aorta." "Come on." Roy said, making sure the young child's head was turned away so that he wouldn't see the dead train passenger. "Let's get Jeffrey outside. We can wrap him in some sheets from the burn kit to deal with this mild shock of his." Johnny nodded, and gently returned the teenager's body to the position he originally found it in before he attached a black edged triage tag to its shoulder. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marco Lopez was bounding ahead in the treeline in a short cut back towards the train when he spotted movement in the brush. A blood spattered woman in navy walked out from under a pine tree. "Hey! Maam.. Are you ok?" She gave no sign that she had even heard him. Marco ran to her side, gripping her arms, "I'm a fireman. Let's get you out of here to some help." The woman began to struggle and flail at him, screaming incoherently and Lopez was forced to protect himself by restraining her wrists. "Hey, hey hey. It's all right. You're out of the train and you're safe. I got you..." he told her. Sobbing, the woman sank to the ground and her head drooped in unrelenting grief. "He's dead... Ohmygod..." she cried. "They're all dead.." "Listen to me. You're ok and that's what's important right now. I'm Marco and I'm with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Shh, easy hon. What's your name? Can you tell me that? Once you let me check to see if you're ok, we'll think about finding your people on the train, all right?" he said, keeping a light arm around her shoulders. "Come on, can you tell me what it is?" The woman gave a deep sigh and some of the dazed look left her eyes. "C--Candace Mallory..I'm from Santa Barbara..." and she started to cry again actively. Marco penned down her information onto a green labelled triage tag for he could see no other injuries past a face cut and some scratches on the woman's arm. "Candace? My neighbor's named Candace." he smiled. "Really?" she smiled. Candace felt an itch and reached up to scratch her face and startled when her hand came away bloody. "Oh, my g*d, I'm bleeding! OH!" she sobbed, starting to panic again. Marco grabbed her hand and covered it with some gauze, wiping it clean. "Candace, you've only got a small cut on your lip. You're ok, really. See? I'm taking care of it. It'll stop very soon if you hold this right there. Yeah. Hold that 4X4 over your lip just like that." "Ooohhh." Candace sighed, calming down. "What happened to us? One moment we were laughing and the next, the cars were screeching and...lurching.. " her face grimaced into fresh tears as torturing recollection returned in snatches..." We crashed, didn't we? What made it happen?" "I don't know for sure. But I do know that everyone's getting help as fast as we can get it there. That's why I'm here." he reasoned. " And I can get some help going for you, too." The woman smiled, suddenly seeing Marco as the firefighter he said he was. "You're from the fire department..?" "That's right." Candace suddenly gripped her leg. "Ow.." "What is it? Your ankle?" "I-- I think so. Hurts.." "Here, let me take a look at it." Marco said, gently feeling the joint. Candace winced slightly but that was all. "Not broken. Do you think you can walk on it? I'd like to get you to some friends of mine down in that neighborhood below us." Candace immediately panicked. "No! NO! I-- I can't go back down there! It's too dangerous! Crashing! There's so many people .... lying hurt... or much worse! Please, don't make me go back down there...." she begged. "Easy, ok. ok. We'll find a way to go around." said Marco, planning ahead, checking out the terrain around them. He could just see Cap clearing from the automobile wreck from his vantage point. He pulled out his walkie talkie. "HT 51 to Engine 51." he hailed. ##Go ahead, Lopez.## came Captain Stanley's reassuring voice. "I found a walker up here on top of the hill. I'm bringing her down. Green tag." ##10-4. We'll keep an eye out for ya. Watch yourself in the fog. It's getting pretty thick down here. Engine 51 out.## Marco shrank down its antennae and started to stuff the HT back into his jacket pocket. Candace was looking at it with fascination. "You mean, I'm really going to get out of here?" she said reaching for it. Marco let her have it. "Yes." The shocked woman hung onto the radio tightly as Marco helped her to stand. She wobbled, but then walked with more assurance faster and faster as she clung to the chattering radio like a life line. "Come on, let's go this way.." Lopez told her quietly, placing his jacket around her shoulders. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dixie kept on working on the baby. And somehow, she had managed to get through to Bob Bellingham that Dr. Brackett was on the train with them. Bob's voice rang out louder than Dixie's. "Dr. Brackett! Come quick. It's my baby daughter!" he yelled in full emotion. Fear gave him volume that Kel finally heard from where he was. Kel Brackett returned back the way he had come. "Bob Bellingham? Is that you? Where's Dixie?!" "Over here. Pulseless nonbreather. About twenty weeks old." she gasped as she worked, her fingers pumping firmly over the baby's breastbone. "Keep going. Let's get them both out of here and to a chopper. You ok to continue her CPR?" Kel asked his nurse as he gave Bob's eyes a quick check where he sat numbly on the floor next to Dixie's passenger seat. "I'm fine. Just move.." Dixie told him. "Just heard Johnny and Roy in the area. I think they're right outside!" Brackett tried to peer out the train windows but fog made it impossible to see through them. Brackett pulled out a cherry flare, lit it and tossed it outside. Then he took the whistle from around his neck and blew on it hard, three times in several triple series. "That should bring em cracking with their full medical gear. Just keep going on her. Her pupils are reacting." Kel helped Dixie navigate through the darkened car with words while he guided Bob by the shoulders through the same route. Then they were outside under the night sky. Leaping at his communications pack, Kel Brackett grabbed his walkie talkie the Base Commander from the Fire Department had given him. "Car 51. Baby down. Full arrest. Get a crew in here for a chopper run, fast!" Then he bent to put a nasal cannula on Dixie so that she could give the baby more oxygen with each breath she delivered by mouth. "Let me know when you get tired. I'm going to go give Bob a once over, looks like he's going to black out on us." "I will." she promised. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cap met Marco and Candace in a backyard. "I got her Marco. Go north! I just got a call from Stoker and Roy at Car number 50. They've a woman pinned under some debris and she's gonna need full spinal immobilization. They've got their hands full keeping her airway clear. Go help them out." "Right, Cap." and he dashed off after taking his radio back from Candace. Cap gently guided the slightly wounded woman towards the street where the rescue operations were ongoing. "Wait.. where's he going?! I need him to help me get out of here!" she said with rising panic. "Please!" she struggled with Hank, not knowing who he was. "It's ok. He's one of my men. I'm his captain. I'm taking over for him. Shh. It's ok. I got you. See? There are ambulances over there. There's no problem. " he promised. "Just calm yourself down a little. You're ok. You're going to get out of here right now.." The panic slowly died out of her eyes but hot tears returned. "I am?" "Yes, right now. Chet!" Cap said to a running form he recognized in the darkness. "Cap?" "I've a walking wounded. Take her over to the triage line, pal. Go easy with her. She's still a little confused but I don't think she's hurt seriously. Marco has her green tagged." "I've got her." said Kelly. He aimed his flashlight on her triage tag. "Candace Mallory.. Hiya Candace.. My name's Chet. Right this way and I promise to lead you to some warm blankets and a soft bed. Would you like that?" he asked. Like a child, the emotionally traumatized woman nodded yes and let herself be guided. "After you get her over there head north. Stoker and Roy have a tricky one needing extrication." Cap ordered. Chet waved his understanding as he took Candace's uninjured arm. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Train wreck residential - An Amtrak. Photo: Johnny Gage and Cap treating many in a triage setup. Photo: Triage tags. Photo: Roy and Johnny treating victims near the train by a Mayfair. Photo: Bob Bellingham in a T- shirt with a pulseless infant in his arms. Photo: A victim in the train, a boy, looking dazed and bloodied. Photo: Marco sitting in the woods with a walking wounded. Photo: Cap giving an injured walker over to Chet in heavy fog. Photo: Stoker, Roy and Chet working on a badly injured lady under debris. ********************************************************************************* From: Jeff Seltun Date: Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:27 pm Subject: Fast Track.. Johnny Gage ran from out of the fog heavily laden with medical gear. "Hey! Whoever blew that distress, give a yell! I'm coming!" "Johnny?!" Kel Brackett shouted. "It's Brackett! Get over here! Dixie's got an infant CPR." Gage ran, shifting his medical gear until the drug box was in his right hand. He spotted Dixie, sweating and bent over a very young baby in her lap. He slammed down onto his knees and clattered the drug kit's lid open. "You ok there?" he asked her as she worked. "How's your O2 supply?" he said seeing the glint of a cannula tubing around Dixie's face. "It's fine.. Just hurry.." Dixie puffed. "I'm still not getting a pulse from her." Kel looked up from where he was cutting away Bellingham's shirt to look for injuries. Bob was mostly out, and moaning and there was a fresh pool of vomit near his head. "Glad you're one who heard us, Johnny. Where's Roy?" "On an entrapment. Two cars from here." Gage did a double take when he identified the man on the ground as being Craig Brice's fire paramedic partner. "Bob? I thought he was on vacation..." Johnny said, digging through the drug box for what he knew Brackett would order for the baby. Dixie gasped, trying to smile. "So did we.." She shifted her position until the baby lay across Johnny's splint box, using its hard surface to help her efforts. "Come, on honey.. Breathe." she encouraged the limp infant under her compressions. "Daddy's really missing you." her voice begged. "And so am I." Kel gave Gage the info he needed. "Bellingham's got nothing serious yet. Concussion maybe. But first things first. Johnny, skip the baby's airway, she's handling fine without one. We need to bump her heart into course V fib or better and we need to do that right now. Go right to her .01 mg epinephrine I.V. 1/10,000 into a 10ml Ringer's bolus line, without the bag. Scalp stick would be best. Follow it up with a two milliequivalent per kilogram of .5 bicarb in a push. Then take over for Dixie and get that baby onto that chopper ASAP! " he hollered over the roar of the helicopter landing in the street near their location. "Joe will take her first thing once you fly in. I just got done talking with him. He's got an endotrach set up and rewarming measures already waiting with a team. He'll deal with any hypoglycemia once she's intubated." "Right, doc." Gage said, biting the plastic off a lactated fluid syringe. He angled his head around Dixie's and established the l.V. line during one of her ventilation pauses. "Epi's going in..." he shouted to Kel, grabbing up the baby's arm to feel for a brachial beat. His other hand taped up the Ringer's catheter port against the baby's temple."Ok, hold it a second, Dix." he nodded and then he plunged the medication's needle into the injection bulb, depressing the syringe's plunger. "I'm checking her!" he updated Brackett. The nurse and paramedic held their breaths as they studied the infant for any reaction. The baby pinked and twitched. But her chest didn't rise at all. "Got her back, doc. But still no breathing." Johnny told Kel as Dixie once again took that over. "Bicarb's next." "Good enough first step for me. Get that done and I'll be more than happy. Great going, you two. That's the chance we've been hoping for." Dr. Brackett smiled as he waved over some firemen who had run in top speed after hearing the distress whistle. "Over here!" he told the arriving crew trying to find them with their flashlights. "Adult male. Full C spine and a backboard. And all the spare O2 you got!" The Pasadena men hustled over, speaking quickly into their radios. Johnny stuck two EKG monitor pads over the baby's chest and abdomen and wired the infant for a quick peek and punched on the unit with a smack, breathing fast. Then he smiled. "Rate's just over 140, doc. Terrrrrific.." he celebrated. "Sustainable." Kel agreed. "Any distension we need to worry about?" Gage swept a couple of fingers over the baby's stomach. "Not much. Dixie's vents are still working ok." "What's she at?" he asked about Dixie's rescue breathing rate. "24 or so a minute." Johnny replied. "Get a BP for me and then get her out of here." Kel ordered, nodding his satisfaction. Johnny rushed, scrambling, and soon, he got one. "62 Systolic." "That's flight adequate. Stable enough. All right. Dix, let him take over." Dr. Brackett said, getting the firemen's 02 to Bellingham through a non rebreather as others fitted the now unconscious man with a cervical collar and got him ready for a log roll. "Gage, run..." he ordered. "Leave without us. I'll call a ground ambulance for him." The exhausted RN pulled off her nasal cannula as Johnny continued where she left off with the baby's mouth to mouth and nose ventilations, and she fitted it around his face, tucking the O2 bottle under his arm. She pulled the EKG patches off the baby girl's sweaty skin, tossing the wired leads aside and then she nodded. "Johnny, you're set. I'll help you carry your gear." she panted, shouting over the roar of the rescue chopper, blowing leaves and debris over them, as it sped up rotors after Dr. Brackett waved a signal for its pilot to get ready for a fast priority lift off. Johnny wrapped the baby into a blanket and ran, maintaining careful ventilations. Dixie followed him with the drug box and Gage's HT. "Dr. Brackett's now on your channel." she told him. "Use him if she worsens again. I'll keep an ear out, too." she promised, transferring the baby back to him after he leaped high enough to board the hovering helicopter. The last sight she had of Bob Bellingham's tiny daughter and Johnny was when their two silhouettes merged into one as the focused paramedic gave the baby the breaths she so badly needed as gently as he could without harming further, her already resuscitation bruised body. Then they were gone in a swirl of dirt into the night sky. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Gage giving mouth to mouth to a baby. Photo: A rescue chopper buzzing the squad. Photo: Brackett in an intense closeup. Photo: Dixie holding something in a yellow shock sheet. ****************************************************************************** From: Sam Iam Date: Wed Sep 15, 2004 9:43 am Subject: The Flip of a Coin.. Roy DeSoto glanced over his shoulder to where Jeffrey Mathers lay on a burn sheet. "How are ya doing over there?" he asked the boy in the blue shirt and yellow pants who was just a lighter shadow in the middle of a darker one on the ground about thirty feet away from the tangle of metal that held Roy's current top priority. "I- I'm ok... Where's dad?" the eight year old blinked up into the darkness. "Why aren't we going to him right now?" he said, still afraid of moving on his own. "Because we're a little short handed." Roy replied, looking down. Stoker and Chet were handling his trapped victim's airway suctioning while he held the badly injured woman's head still. "And we've a lady here who needs our help just as soon as we can get it to her. Just keep wrapped up like you are and you'll warm up soon, I promise. Someone IS coming for you." hissed the fire paramedic when his knotting forearms started cramping up. "ok.." said Jeffrey Mathers. The three from Station 51 were worried. Chet grunted. "Ughh.. I can't get it lifted any higher. Something's really wrong down here. I think this whole section's attached to the strut pinning her under here. We're gonna need a portapower or a K-12 to make any progress at all. " Roy nodded in agreement as another fireman fitted the woman with a cervical collar to free up DeSoto's hands. "This train car is buried too deep. Nothing short of heavy equipment is going to do much of anything." Mike Stoker glanced up at his crewmates with a frustrated look. "That won't work either. The ground's too soft around us. Something else's gonna have to be done." Roy dragged over a battered suitcase with a free hand and used that to hold the woman's head in alignment with her body. She lay partially under two heavy crossbeams from the chassis of the train car on her left side and her face was pressed almost completely against the train car's skin. Stoker dropped the suction wand onto the woman's chest and quickly replaced the oxygen mask over her nose and swollen mouth. "I got her clear. She's breathing fast and shallow but well enough." "Is her jaw fractured?" DeSoto asked, as another trail of blood started dripping down to the dirt. "No, I think she just bit her tongue. All of her teeth are there." Mike replied. Chet Kelly got on his HT from where he was jammed up between the beams and the semi conscious woman while he supported her torso with his knees to ease her labored breathing. "HT 51 to Engine 51. Cap!" he hailed loudly over the sound of hammering and hand tossed debris as the rescue workers around them tried to dig down to the trapped woman's level from the other side. ##Go ahead, 51.## said Hank. "We're gonna need all the tools ASAP. A bobcat is definitely out. Stoker says we're over a sand pile." ##10-4, Marco and I will run a set of em to ya ourselves. Two minutes!" Chet coughed and set the radio down quickly next to his head on a metal sheet as he tried once more to lift some mass off the woman's stomach. He failed. The woman's breath gushed out of her mouth at the return of weight and she moaned when she couldn't inhale any more. Her eyes rolled up into her head. "It's slipping!" Chet gasped. Immediately, two diggers wormed their way under the creaking car to Chet's location and joined him in a desperate attempt to stop the tipping, barely counter balanced, car. The edge of the train chassis lifted up six inches. Roy helped the woman revive by helping her breathe with an ambu bag until her eyes started regaining focus once more. "It's ok now. We stopped it. Just relax. We're gonna get you outta here." he said insistently into her ear. Soon, the woman pushed the face mask away and struggled to blink clarity back into her vision."S--Something's squeezing.... *gasp* ...me." she gurgled. "ahhhHH!" "I know. I know.. We're trying to get down below your waist to see what it is and deal with it." Roy said. "And about your pain, I've a doctor on the way who'll take care of that just as soon as he gets here. What's your name?" The woman didn't answer, working hard to breathe. She spit continuous blood out of her mouth. Roy helped her once again on the bag from where she hung face sideways. He motioned for another fireman to take over for him while he got another blood pressure reading on her free arm. It was ominous and matched her rising tachycardia. He climbed out of the hole and grabbed two I.V. bags of Ringer's and started to prep them. He shouted down to Chet. "Kelly, see if you can find any I.D. on her. If we have a name we'll have a chance to learn what her blood type is off some medical records to pave the way for a possible transfusion." "Will do.." and the curly haired fireman's feet disappeared back into a hole at the diggers' feet. He came out with a battered tan wallet, passing it off hand to hand until it got into Roy's grip. "That was in her front jeans pocket." came Kelly's muffled voice. Roy flipped it open and startled. "Mathers?" his eyes involuntarily shifted back into the direction of the scared little boy resting out of sight nearby. He bent close to the woman's ear. "Julie.. can you tell me if you have a little boy or not?" "I.... yes. It's Jeffrey." she said muzzily during a lucid moment. "The three of us just wanted...*cough* to take a little trip..." she groaned. Mathers screamed when something on top of her under the train car, shifted. Immediately the men around her, froze, listening to the creaking mass around them. Bloody tears leaked out her eyes and Roy saw tiny blood vessels start to burst in them. ::Traumatic crush injury..:: DeSoto identified. "Julie," said Roy urgently. "Listen to me. We've got your son out. He's ok. And so's his father. We...Jeffrey's right here at the top of the hill. Do you hear me? Jeffrey's ok.. And Mr. Mathers only has a broken arm. He's waiting for us at the First Aid Station." "J---ff? And Jared?" she gasped hoarsely. She began to fade again and so did her brief smile. Mrs. Mather's eyes began to close as breathing suddenly became more difficult. "No, no.. no. " ordered Roy. "Julie? Open your eyes. Can you hear me?" he said, rubbing some knuckles into her breast bone. "You've got to stay awake as long as you can. We need your help." Julie jerked and blinked. "W-where's Jeffrey?" she panted, then a jolt of pain made her cry out. "Thirty feet away from us. He's safe." Roy replied, cupping her face into his hands. "Just keep focusing on me and not the train, all right?" replacing the lighter oxygen mask tightly over her mouth. "We'll have it off of ya as soon as we can." "I--I want to see him." she bubbled, gripping Roy's hand tightly with her own bloody one. DeSoto didn't know what was best. ::Should we spare the boy? By not letting him see his mother like this? Or should we bring him down here? In order to give her a good reason to live?:: Right then, Dr. Brackett and Dixie McCall arrived. "Roy, what do you got?!" Roy's head shot up. "Traumatic chest or abdomen." he answered instantly. "B.P.'s 104. Respirations 26 and shallow with active oral bleeding. She's positioned left lateral, recumbent. Something's pressing her down badly. There's petechiae all over. Scleral, too." "Two large bore Ringer's Lactate I.V.s, wide open. But only if her chest's clear." "Got them right here. Her lung sounds are still dry. That blood's from a tongue bite." Brackett's face twitched. "Ok, get em in and running." DeSoto had to peel off Julie's powerful grip on his hand, which had left bruises behind. "How's her consciousness level?" Dixie asked from another direction above him. "Awake, groggy. Drifting when she gets tired of trying to breathe. We've been helping her. Also, she's feeling a fair amount of pain here." Roy said, swabbing down places on Julie's arms for the I.V.s. "I'm coming down there with some MS." Kel said, aiming a flashlight at Julie's face. "Keep that ambu handy. How soon until she's extricated?" Roy looked to Chet. "Don't know Dr. Brackett. She's in here real tight. A whole crew was radioed a few min-" Cap's shout interrupted him. "They're right there." Kelly amended, continuing to dig with his gloves at Roy's feet, dog paddling dirt away from a hole as fast as he could so a circular saw could fit inside of it easily. Kel leaped into the space Chet had made and soon injected the pain medication. "What's her name?" he asked Roy. "Mrs. Julie Mathers." said four people. Brackett glanced around with a nod and he crouched down next to Roy. A firemen handed him a helmet to wear and he put it on. "Mrs. Mathers. I'm Doctor Brackett. I just gave you something to help with the pain. Tell me, can you feel your legs or anything below your waist?" Julie nodded. "I feel....everything." she grunted with effort. "Where's Jeffrey? Please.. I want to see my son right n--" and she stiffened as another shift in the car jolted through her. Mather's eyes bugged out when an inexorable pressure landed on her stomach. She started to purple and her consciousness suddenly struggled, desperately. Brackett yelled. "Get it off her now!" he shouted, gripping her chin around the cervical collar as two sets of hands began using the ambu bag to try to get oxygen back into Julie's lungs. Animation left Mather's features and she started to convulse as blood flow began to cease going into the lower half of her body. "Anything getting in doc?" Roy asked, snatching up an endotracheal tube. "No tube! The problem's because her lungs are being compressed. Get it off her guys ASAP. We've no ventilations!" Brackett yelled. Captain Stanley and Marco worked the fastest K-12 cutting arcs they had ever made, one from each side, until they met in a semi circle at the top. Many hands punched the severed piece in and then lifted it out as soon as it cooled enough to touch. Julie's chest rose suddenly when the wall section's heaviness left it. She was quickly hyperventilated until her color returned to normal and until she began to resist it once more, moaning in feeble complaint. A floodlamp from above then illuminated the newly freed gap leading inside the train. Dixie gasped. Brackett and Roy and all the rescuers paused in shock. A four inch by four inch pole had been driven through Julie's stomach just below the level of her diaphragm on her right side. Kelly's voice shouted bright and scared. "There's another victim in here! He's been impaled on this thing, too! Through his lower abdomen." and he grabbed the nearest body part to him, a man's bare foot, that was jutting out from under a chunk of metal, to test for circulation. The new victim's voice began to scream. "I'm here. I'm alive! Agh.. Get me out. Please. Get me out of here! I've been s-stabbed." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kel Brackett's mind was racing. He had done everything he could to arrange things. Julie Mathers merited an emergency surgical attempt to save her life lying right where she was. But so did the second man lying beneath her. The Rampart physician took the stethoscope cups out of his ears slowly. ::What should I do?:: Scott Kincaid was dozing fitfully under his two I.V.s and he was still mumbling, begging for escape. The firemen had asked Kel repeatedly if he wanted them to cut the pole between the two with their saws in order to get them out of the train but he refused to let them. "The vibrations and movement from any cutting will most likely kill both of them! You know as well as I do that the pole is acting as a tourniquet internally. No, we're gonna have to operate on them as soon as we get it freed using something with less impact, an arc welder perhaps. Then we can slide them both off it when it collapses." Brackett outlined to the fire and rescue crews. All the men looked at each other uncomfortably. Roy grabbed Kel's arm. "There's only one of you, doc. They will both bleed massively once they're freed. And there's no way you can operate on both of them at the same time...not fast enough.." he urged, the situation was already very clear in his mind in a surge and Brackett saw that his senior paramedic's eyes were painfully haunted. "I know that. This is triage, Roy..." he said, filling the noisy hole with a sudden calm horror. "Pick one." "Don't ask me to make that kind of choice, Doctor Brackett." DeSoto whispered hollowly, stepping away from the bloodied doctor, angling his dusty head. "I can't. " he gasped. "Not ever." "Then let me make it for you. You are relieved of the responsibility." Kel said firmly, hardening. "You can't play god with their lives..." Dixie said to Kel forcefully, her face paling. "No one should." "What other choice do I have?" Kel said a little loudly, crouching between his two now stabilized, gravely injured patients. He swept both his hands out into a frustrated shrug. From the ground below them, a weak feminine voice sighed. "You can let US decide who. It's our lives, doctor. Not yours. " Julie Mathers and Scott Kincaid were lying quietly and both their sets of eyes were silently watching them all, glazed from pain medications. Between them, their hands were clasped calmly together for comfort as if Julie had never uttered such a horrible statement. "But first, let me see my son." the mother requested. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Cap with a porta power. Photo: Marco crouched with a crowbar. Photo: Victim getting a C collar. Photo: Man's foot sticking out of debris. Photo: Roy feeling a carotid on a woman. Photo: Brackett with bad news. ************************************************************************** From: "Cassidy Meyers" Date: Thu Sep 16, 2004 10:08 am Subject: Miracle Baby.. Dr. Early and Dr. Morton met Johnny Gage at the emergency desk at a run. They both were in blue surgical gowns, but Mike already wore his blue mask while Joe's was still dangling around his neck. Johnny puzzled at that odd observation for a total of two seconds. Then Dr. Early spoke, breaking his curiosity. "Treatment Four, we're already set up, Johnny." Joe told the busy paramedic. "Has she started breathing on her own yet?" Gage spoke between the puffs of air that he was giving the baby and he let himself be guided to the right place. "About one every four, doc. She's really cold. But her pulse's hanging in there." he said, pulling off the cannula he wore for the infant. An orderly took the oxygen cylinder out from under his arm just as it fizzled out the last psi. The doors to the treatment room opened on a surgical setup. "This isn't sterile, Johnny. Set her down." said Joe, patting the exam bed while he gloved up and put on his mask. Mike Morton got busy with a warming probe and he started calibrating a respirator to the baby girl's size and age. "She's young.." Gage nodded. " Dix said she's about twenty weeks old. This is paramedic Bob Bellingham's little girl. He was on the train because he was off duty on vacation. My guess is that he was on his way into the city for a pediatric doctor's visit." "H*ll of a way to get one." said Morton through his surgical mask while he flicked the baby's feet to test for her awareness level. Gage carefully set the limp baby girl down on the treatment bed, supporting her head and spine. Joe Early immediately listened to her chest with a stethoscope while Morton set a neonate positive pressure O2 mask over her face. "I've a rate about 150. " he said, looking at Johnny for a reason why it was so high. "I looked her over really good. Her sternum's swollen but intact." Johnny said. "That tach's not trauma related. Brackett ordered some serious epinephrine. That might be why she's racing." "How much?" Morton asked. ".01 mg of 1/10,000. " Gage replied, as he stuck baby sized EKG pads and leads onto the distressed infant lying between them under the exam light. "Ok, thanks Johnny, we got it from here. Nice work bringing her back." "No problem, doc. Bob'll be flying in to you on the next trip. He's been in and out of consciousness. I just thought I'd warn you. He might be a handful trying to find out where his daughter went to." Mike nodded. "I'll tell Carol once we've stabilized her condition." "Is it bad out there?" Joe asked Johnny. "Yes. We're still doing Initial Triage, with Dixie and Brackett at the head of the main team. We're at Car 52 out of 102." Morton whistled through his mask. "That's a big passenger train. Get set for massive casualties once you hit the sleeper cars." "Sleeper cars?" Gage said, watching the two doctors examine the baby for injuries beyond the obvious ones. "Yeah. Amtrak commuters pay a premium for a two by five foot cubby bunk recessed into a wall." Mike gave a shudder. "I never get a ticket for one myself. Reminds me too much of a coffin." "Maybe those provided some protection to the riders.." Johnny thought. "Being that they weren't in a lot of space to get thrown around in too much during the derailment." Morton shook his head in disagreement, making a noise of negation. "Most likely that snugness backfired. Doesn't take much to crush in the roof of a train car." Johnny frowned at that. Gage sighed, mentally letting go of his tiny patient. "I'd better get back. Chopper's waiting. You're sure she's gonna be all right?" he said pointing his talkie antennae at the bed as he backed up reluctantly, not wanting to leave his patient. Joe grinned. "I guarantee it. She's checking out over 90%" "Good. That's real good, docs. Thanks." Johnny said, looking very paternal. "Say, Johnny.." said Dr. Early. "Yeah?" "When you get back, check in with Dr. Brackett, ASAP. He mentioned something about emergency field surgery at Car number 50." "That'll be Roy's case. He was working with an entrapment. I'm on it." and then Johnny turned with an effort and was gone. "Devoted, isn't he?" Morton remarked. "That's what makes him one of the best." Joe commented. The fluting tones off the EKG monitor rose another ten beats a minute and Joe ordered the baby sedated to rest her metabolism and heart. He got down to business and started to intubate the tiny baby. Mike blinked around his surgical cap and mask. "Will she need the crich?" "No, a 2.5 worked just fine. Let's get her hooked up to the bird." he ordered. "Set it to fifty percent in case she's got some pulmonary bruising from the CPR." Joe smiled and stroked the sleeping infant's face with a finger. "What a lucky little girl. Six fragile pounds against 400 tons of crashing locomotive and all she's got to worry about is a little hypothermia.. Absolutely amazing.." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Joe in scrubs talking to Gage in a treatment room. Photo: A baby on positive pressure vents under a stethoscope. Photo: A baby getting intubated in a surgical setting. Photo: Crowds of people around a crashed Amtrak. Photo: A crashed train car can spray labelled as "empty". ************************************************************************* From: "Champagne Scott" Date: Thu Sep 16, 2004 2:02 pm Subject: How You Leave the World Behind... Dixie lowered her head so the sudden tears erupting in her eyes, wouldn't be seen. She waited to see how Kel reacted to his patients getting involved in their own life saving or death decision. Dr. Brackett immediately addressed Julie's concern. "I have no intention of keeping you separated from your son, Mrs. Mathers. In fact, I'll send my paramedic right now to go fetch him." and he nodded up at Roy to leave the hole and get the boy. "We were just simplifying things until we learned the physical conditions of both you and Mr. Kincaid." "Simplifying.. Yes, " Scott coughed into his oxygen mask. "That's what we're going to be doing, isn't it?" Brackett remained silent, as he took first Scott's blood pressure, then Julie's to mark the new readings on their triage tags. Julie started weeping and Dixie went immediately to her side to hold her hand. "Shh,.. we'll figure this out. I-It doesn't have to be this way.." she whispered. "Let Dr. Brackett think a moment." Mrs. Mathers' weeping created spasms along the pole spearing her and she grasped at it reflexively in a choked silent scream. Dixie helped hold it still, along with Marco. "Give the morphine time to work." Kel said. "Another five minutes." Scott was shocky and bitter. "Is that how long we have? Another five minutes?" he gasped, helping his attending firemen hold Julie's pole that was impaling him, too, steady, while others bound his wound to control his bleeding. "Forgive me doctor, for a little gallows humor on my part. It's just that these circumstances are more....*choke* than bizarre. I'm a lawyer and so this strikes me as just a bit......funny. I didn't expect to go this way when I got up this morning." Julie almost started laughing through her grief and fear because of shock and the morphine. But then she filled with uncontrollable sobbing when Scott's joke silenced. Mr. Kincaid caught her grief and magnified it. Scott kept tight hold of Julie's hand the whole time he spoke to his rescuers. "We're perfect strangers," he said of himself and Mrs. Mathers. "And yet I feel like I can't ever let go of her." "Mr. Kincaid.." Kel began. "I'm so sorry. But we have to hurry. The hemorrhaging you both are experiencing will soon reach a critical point. Surgery will have to begin immediately." "Scott. We can't let them go through....*gasp* what we're going through. It's..not right for us to make them choose........who lives......and who dies.." Mathers groaned making eye contact with the man. Kincaid's face twisted in sudden remorse and sadness. Then he mumbled. "Can you all leave us alone for a moment?" Reluctantly, the firemen, nurse and doctor retreated out of the hole. When they were gone, Scott drew a bloody coin out of his pocket and he opened up Julie's fingers one by one tenderly before he set it onto her trembling palm. "This is the only thing I can think of for us to do. I guess I can live or die by the outcome. Money always talks anyway. *cough* Heads or tails?" "Heads." Julie said woozily. "Ok, I've got tails. Ready?" and Scott hefted their joined hands up for a toss of the fateful quarter into the air... "Ready.." she replied. *Pingggggggg......* The flying piece of bloodstained silver glinted in the light. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy arrived back with a bundled Jeffrey Mathers following along behind and he knelt by the boy and told him that his mother was under the train. "Don't be afraid, Jeffrey. Your mother's been given some medicine and she isn't feeling her injuries. She's... she wants to see you." "Is she going to get out of the train?" "We're still working on it." DeSoto answered truthfully. "Yes, sir.." said the frightened boy. He took Chet Kelly's hand long enough to climb down under the lantern lights and into the hole. At the sound of her son's approach, Scott and Julie both covered where the pole had gored them with a free blanket so the child would not see it. And then they both let go of their desperate stranger bonding hand clasp. Julie quickly dried her face and held out her arms to her son. "Jeffrey?" Jeffrey rushed into them and into a deep hug. "Mom. I was so scared, but they took really good care of me. Dad's ok. A policeman is trying to find him right now so he can come see you, too, but they said it might take a long time to find him." Julie started crying anew at the mention of her husband. "That's ok." she said smothering him full of kisses and she smoothed his hair down around the dried blood and dirt that had crusted there. "And soon, you'll get to the hospital where you can get cleaned up. Won't that be nice?" she said, hiding a grimace of pain from the pole getting bumped by Jeffrey's back. Jeffrey looked up from his mother's embrace. "Who's that?" he asked pointing to Mr. Kincaid lying nearby. "That's Scott, another train passenger. He works in the city as a lawyer, just like what you want to be when you grow up." "Hi Scott. " "Hi Jeffrey.." said Mr. Kincaid. "Are you ok?" "Yes." replied the dirty, bloody boy. Then his fingers found his mouth, "Are you and mom ok?" Julie and Scott suddenly met eyes and rejoined hands and they both couldn't stop the tears from flowing down their faces. "Jeffrey, honey. I have always told you the truth about things whenever we talk right?" Julie began. "Yes." the boy said, touching the oxygen mask around his mother's face. Scott blinked and a fit of coughing interrupted mother and son. Then Mrs. Mathers spoke. "Well I'm going to tell you something now,...that is going to be very very hard for you to understand or even to think about. But,... I have to say it now while I still can." Jeffrey started to cry, instinctively sensing the worst. "Are you hurt very badly, mom?" "Yes, Jeffrey, I am. And so's Mr. Kincaid. And ...and..the doctor here can help only one person get better because we're so far away from the hospital." "...no..." murmured Jeffrey, clinging to Julie's neck. "Shut up, Mommy. Don't say that. I don't want you to." "And Mr. Kincaid and I have decided.... who ..stays behind." Next to them, Scott's head began to sink lower and lower as unconsciousness began to set in.. and he whispered over and over again. "I'm sorry, Julie.. I'm sorry............Julie...." Jeffrey's mouth gaped open in wordless grief when he heard Scott's faint admission and he began to wail and cry desperately. "NO.. make them save YYyoou, mom.. Please...Make them save--.." and he began to hold tight to Julie's shoulders, tangling his fingers into her damp hair. Julie felt bad jolts of pain but she managed to speak. "Shhh, Jeffrey. You have to go, so the doctors can start to work on Mr. Kincaid. I...just wanted to say goodbye. And to tell you how deeply I love you ..and Daddy." she weeped. "Noo, MOm..... no..!" Jeffrey wheezed, trying to bury his mother's words under the oxygen mask with his cheek and hands. At his cries the rescue personnel returned. And Johnny Gage was among them. No one had to ask what the outcome of the private decision had been. Quietly, crews swirled around Scott Kincaid and Dr. Brackett barked orders for more I.V.'s and a new one of whole blood of Scott's blood type. Julie said to Roy as he approached, "You take really good care of him...." she demanded, hot tears burning her cheeks. "Jeffrey.. I love you..." she whispered into her raging son's ear and then he was torn away from her grasp by the firemen. Julie lay back down in shock as a numbing darkness began to nibble at the corners of her awareness and she watched Jeffrey's struggling form under the paramedic's arm as if it were a silent slow motion movie. The doctors were ready to drape Scott's abdomen when Dixie noticed that Scott had Julie's hand once more in an unbreakable grip. "Hold it. Hold it.." she snapped and McCall leaned close to Scott's ear. "What is it, Scott?" "Help her instead. I........have no family...." and then he fell unconscious. Dixie's face fell under a flood of tears with high emotion and she shouted. "Dr. Brackett! Did you--?" "I heard." he said bruskly, already transferring positions to crouch over Julie Mathers while he threw on a surgical gown, mask and sterile gloves. "Everybody. We're gonna cut her free without waiting for the arc welder. Don't worry about spinal immobilization. This is life saving measures first. Get set for heavy bleeding and have hemostats standing by. I am almost one hundred percent certain that only one lobe of her liver is involved. There's no time to lose! " he snapped. Then he paused briefly and looked at Chet after studying Scott Kincaid's slack face with an unreadable expression. "Fireman Kelly, please stay with Mr. Kincaid after we move him out of the way." he ordered gently. "Have him brought out to a paramedic team. There's always a remote chance that somebody else, apart from us, can still save him." Julie Mathers didn't hear any of the last two minutes. Her eyes had closed and she drifted away into a deep coma under Dixie's hands. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy and Johnny laid Jeffrey Mathers down onto the ground. DeSoto felt for his pulse. "He's fainted." the emotionally overcome paramedic said hoarsely. "Cover him up." said Gage, equally effected. "Dr. Brackett's going to need me in there. Joe ordered me to help him." "Go. I'll stay until the boy's father arrives.." DeSoto said protectively cradling Jeffrey's head while he monitored the boy's shallow breathing. ::A nightmare. I can't believe this is happening.:: Roy thought. But then the radio next to him crackled. ##HT 51 to Squad 51## "Squad 51." Roy acknowledged. It was Johnny and he said four simple words. ##They went with her.## Roy dropped his head into a grimy hand. "10-4." And he started breathing faster. His chest hurt in sympathetic pain, as the great emotional burden that he had been an unwilling witness to, suddenly lifted away at his partner's terse statement. The radio fell bonelessly from his hand. A few minutes later he began to gently stroke Jeffrey Mathers' forehead to wake him gently, as his father would have done had he been there. Roy hastened the boy's recovery with a soft lullaby that only they could hear. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Firemen over a bloody boy on a ground stretcher. Photo: Woman being given oxygen by a rescue worker. Photo: A man with a flail chest and petechiae flecking on his skin. Photo: Brackett and Johnny Gage gowning up into surgical clothes. Photo: Dixie, Roy and Johnny listening to an HT, looking left. ******************************************************************************* From: Katherine Bird Date: Mon Sep 20, 2004 10:23 pm Subject: Salvage Hank Stanley gripped Chet Kelly's shoulder when he saw the stokes carrying Scott Kincaid being lifted from underneath the train. He noticed how unusually drawn the fireman's face was as he verbally stepped up the pace of the silent extrication team. 51's captain was about to ask him about it when Roy DeSoto, ambulance loading a young boy, gave his head a miniscule shake. "That man's downgrading into a black tag, Cap." the paramedic said, pointing to the bundle of triage tags swinging from his jacket's halligan tool for clarity. "Brackett's asked Chet to stay on a one to one with him...until there's an outcome, one way or the other." "You mean those paramedics working on Chet's victim won't be able to save him?" Captain Stanley asked. "Probably not. He has a penetrating abdominal hemorrhage that only rapid surgery can rectify." "But isn't Dr. Brackett working down there with you guys?" Hank puzzled. Roy looked down as he closed the ambulance doors containing Jeffrey Mathers and his father. "He's operating on a woman who has the same thing. This is her husband and son right here." he replied softly, smacking the back doors of the Mayfair to let the driver know that he could leave for Rampart. "That man told our team to rescue her instead of him. It was.... incredibly brave, what he did." Hank didn't know what to say and he watched Chet kneel down beside Scott Kincaid's head when the man began to stir as the high flow IVs started performing their function. "How long?" Cap asked, feeling sympathy for Chet and his difficult task. "Any time now." Roy DeSoto answered. Then he grabbed up his gear and joined Dixie, who was just as pale and emotionally glazed as Chet, for moving on to the next train car for triage categorizing. Hank caught Chet's eye and held up his radio and tapped it with a finger in supporting emphasis before he returned to the Command Post to get word on the next extrication site assignment. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scott looked up and saw a fireman crouched over him. "So you're the lucky guy, eh?" he coughed. "Sir, just try to relax.." Chet said, taking off his helmet. Kincaid started to laugh weakily, in acceptance of his situation. "It's really not so bad, you know." "What isn't?" Kelly asked. "Dying." whispered Scott, trying to focus his eyes. A paramedic from Ninety Nine's working over Scott's stomach immediately spoke up. He did not yet know how bad Scott's injury really was. He made a sound of negation. "Wrong answer, man." he warned his victim. "Nobody speaks the D word when my partner and I are on the job. It's a real downer." he firmly aimed at Scott. "Would you tell him how it is?" Kincaid tossed his head at Chet. "Better to burst their bubble now then later, kid." Kelly licked dry lips and interjected a reply when the Asian paramedic asked his partner about mechanism of injury findings. "Guys, Mr. Kincaid was freed from a four inch diameter pole that was driven completely through his body. This injury has a large exit wound which is hidden from the packing Brackett tried to use to staunch the bleeding. You can't see it because of the stokes sheeting. Kel tagged that black color for a reason. It's far too late to do anything." The paramedic didn't even acknowledge Kelly's input and he mumbled to his partner. "Everyone's an expert." and then he tuned Kelly out as they took vital signs readings on Scott and opened up a biophone channel to their hospital. Mr. Kincaid lifted a hand to the glove Chet had placed on his shoulder and he gripped it. "Promise me you'll get Julie to her son and husband." "Sir.. " "Promise me, fireman." "I will, Mr. Kincaid." "Tell her that it was worth going. Ladies are ....always first into the life boat." he grimaced sharply. Then his eyes widened and the shallow breaths under the O2 mask quickened. "My G*d, It's beautiful over there." he said looking at a point beyond his feet at the train. "Do you see all those people? I wonder who they are..." Chet looked up and saw only the damp fog and cherry flares lying on the ground in front of the Amtrak car. "Where?" He saw no one. When he looked down, the animation had faded out of Scott's eyes. "V-Fib!" shouted one of the paramedics, studying Scott's monitor. "I got the paddles.." answered the other. Kelly felt a smack against his stomach. It was an ambu bag. The blond paramedic said, "Do I have to show you how to use this?" he snarled. Chet reluctantly took Scott's face into his hands and began bagging the arrested lawyer. Aggressive CPR soon followed with multiple shocks, including an IC epinephrine order, but the look of peace never left Scott's bloody face. It was that expression that Chet concentrated on until he was shoved aside when it came time for the ambulance doors to be closed by attendants. The Cadillac hearse ambulance bearing Kincaid's body lurched onto the roadway and filled the night with its obnoxious lights and siren. It retreated around the fire trucks into the distance. Chet watched it go for a long time before he rubbed the tears out of his eyes. Then he peeled off his work gloves one by one methodically and left them abandoned on the bumper of a fire truck. The smoky fog swallowed Kelly up as he turned to go look for Marco, Stoker and Captain Stanley. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was two days later at a rehabilitation check point. Station 51 had been on duty a full forty eight hours with only brief periods granted for rest and recharging in a nearby tent next to a chow trailer. All the passengers on the Amtrak had been located and processed. Dr. Brackett and Dixie McCall had gone back to Rampart as soon as all the train cars had been cleared. Johnny Gage rubbed his dirty face and nudged a dozing Roy with a foot where he was slumped uncomfortably on some boxes. "Want to go back to the First Aid Station and make a phone call?" "To ask about Julie Mathers ?" DeSoto wondered, fatigue lining his face. "Yeah. Day before yesterday, it looked like she was being resuscitated when they got her onto that chopper." "That was because of the anesthesia, Johnny. Not because she crashed." Roy mumbled, reaching for a wrinkled pear from a food box. "She's doing fine." Johnny frowned in irritation. "And you know that for a fact huh..." he said with mild exhausted sarcasm. "I do. I saw the EKG monitor when they passed by. I saw nothing atypical in her rhythm. She was just being breath supported." Johnny shot to his feet. "Yeah, well. That call will lift a whole lotta weight from my shoulders, and yours. Let's go." "Johnny now hold on. Y-You don't even know to which hospital she was flown." "I can guess." Gage answered after a short pause. "Didn't most of the victims from that section of the train go to Bethseda?" "The non critical ones did, yes. And most of the bodies we're recovering now are going there, too. But I heard all the priority cases went to other places. They rerouted randomly on to the next available trauma department when any hospital reached its capacity. First Aid won't have that information attached to any victim names. It's too soon." DeSoto reasoned. Johnny sat down heavily and set his head against the wall, closing his eyes. "I hate this aspect of my job. Not knowing how people turn out." "It's the price we pay for being first responders I guess." Roy said, getting up. "Come on, we better resupply the squad and go on stand by for the salvage crews in case there are any injuries." "I'm so tired, I can barely register how many fingers I'm holding up." he groaned, not moving. "We'll grab some more coffee once we get there." Johnny slowly followed Roy out to the squad. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Captain Stanley was positioned by the two Amtrak locomotive engines when his walkie talkie beeped with an emergency call. ##Engine 51, L.A. ## "L.A., this is Engine 51." ##Engine 51. Recovery crew spotters report an accident dust cloud near your vicinity. Possible vehicular. At the intersection of Court Crossing and Hwy 38. ## Hank scratched his chin, waving over Chet, Stoker and Marco, giving them the sign that they were moving out on an active engine call. "Any ideas on how many people are involved?" ##Negative, 51. You will be first on scene. Time out : 11:17.## "10-4, Engine 51. KMG 365." And they loaded up and moved out full lights and sirens. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Amtrak double engines. Photo: Cadillac ambulance on the road. Photo: Fire gloves on a bumper. Photo: A victim getting ambu bag cpr. Photo: Roy and Johnny near a Mayfair Photo: Chet with Dr. Brackett. ****************************************************************** From: Sam Iam Date: Wed Sep 29, 2004 10:59 am Subject: Seat of the Pants Craig Brice sat in the nurses' lounge with Dr. Morton, puzzling over an observation that seemed like only he was noticing. Brice sipped his plain hot black coffee. He watched as staff members by the droves came and went from the room calmly despite the disparity leaping out at them. Finally, Brice just had to ask. "Dr. Morton..." "Hmm.." said the young interned resident without looking up from the top patient chart he was reading from a stack of a dozen. "May I ask a personal question of you?" Mike's eyes shot up in surprise. Craig immediately amended. "Stop me if I over step any boundaries." Mike grunted, giving the on duty paramedic his whole attention. "Why are you wearing a surgical mask?" asked Craig. "Oh, this.." Morton said, feeling the blue paper covering subconsciously. "I've grown so accustomed to wearing one these last few days that I had forgotten it was still on." he sighed, reaching for a beverage mug that naturally, wasn't there. "I was exposed to an unknown strain of meningitis from a patient with no I.D. The train crash emergency slowed up my being able to get a hold of her lab results before she was shipped out to another hospital. This is locally imposed isolation by Brackett's order until I get the information." Craig frowned. "You mean you can still work, even though you've been exposed to her illness?" "Sure, viral meningitis is very hard to catch, unless you're a care giver examining someone like I was for her. I'm just waiting to hear back whether or not Jane Doe's bug is Neisseria meningitidis or Haemophilus influenza Type B. The first is highly contagious through the air, the second, isn't, and other strains are usually unremarkable." Brice nodded his head, taking a bite of the pecan pie chunk he held poised on a fork prong. "Neisseria can kill in less than a day, I've read." Morton shrugged. "Dr. Brackett's given me some covering antibiotic. A cephalosporin called cefonicid. If it's viral, I'm not worried. I'm not geriatric or pediatric aged." Craig carefully considered. "Cefonicid. Dosage, 500 milligrams to 2 grams every twenty-four hours IM or IV." "That's right." Morton replied, unsurprised at Brice's encyclopedic memory. "And, I've been instructed to stay away from Johnny Gage." "Oh?" "He's had his spleen removed. If I'm a carrier, he'll be susceptible almost one hundred percent to any meningitis germ if he gets into close contact with it." "I didn't know that." Brice said. "Thank you for informing me of that fact." "Any time." Then it was Morton's turn to ask Craig about Bob Bellingham and his baby daughter's conditions. "They're both stable. Bellingham suffered only a moderate concussion. His little girl was just hypothermic and hypoglycemic. Dr. Early said she turned around vitals wise almost immediately after rewarming measures." "That's a relief.. Usually train wreck neonates fair poorly, even when they're not injured physically." Morton replied. Right then the white phone rang on the wall over the coffee machine. Craig got up and answered it, being closest. "Nurse's Lounge, L.A. County Firefighter Paramedic Craig Brice." He angled his head glancing up at Morton. "Doctor Morton, it's for you." Morton took the receiver handed to him as the other man returned to his seat and snack. He listened for a moment, and soon hung up. Then Mike peeled off his isolation mask and balled it up into his lab coat pocket. Brice smiled. "So, it wasn't Neisseria or Viral meningitis." "Nope, hers was Streptococcus pneumoniae, the bacterial form that's the least deadliest. The Bethseda lab boys have just told me that my prescribed antibacterial med bailed me out of the spreading risk category yesterday afternoon." Sure enough, two new nurses filing into the lounge noticed Morton's liberation and they both said, "Congratulations, doctor. How's Jane Doe?" "Alive, she lost some hearing but she's gonna make it. The PD took her finger prints this morning. They said they'll have an answer about who she is by nightfall." "That's wonderful." said Carol. Brice looked up at the assistant head nurse. "Ms. Evans. Is Miss McCall around?" "Yes, she's back at her desk. You still need your supplies from pharmacy.." she guessed, squinting at him in a calculating look. "I do." Craig nodded. "Not anymore, Mr. Brice. I anticipated a bit and they're all set for you. I went around the supply nurse downstairs. Geez, she's got all the winning personality of a snail. I don't know how you boys deal with her at all. " Morton chortled over his coffee cup. "It's only ingrained training and a re-enforced sense of etiquette that holds us at bay, Carol. Trust me." "Well, I certainly don't trust her. Craig, your squad supplies are all in an ambu box on Dixie's desk, including that IC epinephrine you used on your last run. Now you better eat that last bite and then scoot before.." **Beep. Beep. Beep.. Squad Eight. Stand by for response.** came L.A.'s rich radio voice over Craig's handy talkie. "Thank you, Nurse Evans." Craig said. "And you, too, Dr. Morton. Doctor, we should get together soon so you can tell me more about the clinical aspects of spinal meningitis. I'd like to be prepared further for any future field encounters with it." He rose and ran from the room to grab his squad's supplies. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Craig tossed the box to Belliveau, his temporary partner in the squad's driver's seat, as their call came through. Brice got into the truck, buckled up, and strapped on his helmet. **Squad Eight. Unknown vehicular accident. At the intersection of Court Crossing and Hwy 38. At the intersection of Court Crossing and Hwy 38. Time out 11:19. Engine 51 is responding to your incident. Their reported ETA is three minutes. ** "L.A., Squad Eight, 10-4. KMG-356." Brice and Belliveau spun tires out of Rampart's ambulance bay driveway and onto the freeway. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Morton and Brice talking in the Nurse's Lounge. Photo: A grumpy supply nurse. Photo: Brice putting on his helmet in a rescue squad. ***************************************************************** From : Cassidy Meyers Sent : Wednesday, September 29, 2004 10:44 PM Subject : Intersect Mike Stoker hit his airhorn to startle the mass of bystanders away from their response scene as he brought Engine 51 down to a hissing crawl about thirty feet away from the rising steam they could see from the accident site. The crowd parted with shouts and waves of urgency. Others, fearing incrimination, ran. Captain Stanley jolted when he recognized the shade of red glinting under the bright sunlight. He shouted immediately out his window even as Chet Kelly and Marco Lopez beat him out of the Ward. "Get an inch and a half on that smoking engine right now! No wait, it's not that bad. Let's check it out first." Squad 51 sat in the middle of the intersection, its windshield smashed and spidered with its cherry red hood V folded up from a front end collision. A motorcycle lay a short distance away from the rescue truck, with a casualty, whom Mike Stoker immediately crouched down beside to check for lifesigns. Cap got on his walkie talkie. "L.A. we have a fire department vehicle involved in a motorcycle versus rescue squad. As yet, there are no signs of fuel leaking. Respond two ambulances to our location." ##10-4, 51. Ambulance ETA is nine minutes. Time out 11:23.## Squad Eight came back with an immediate follow up. ## Engine 51, we are four minutes away. Just crossing Williams. Heading onto the Hwy 38 on-ramp.## "Engine 51, 10-4." Captain Stanley replied. His voice had cracked, but it went unheeded by anyone. Hank pelted over to the squad's driver's window, pulling on his work gloves, shouting as he leaned in. "Johnny?! Roy?" No one was inside the truck. Captain Stanley whirled around, yelling at the crowd of neighborhood people on the curb. "Did anybody see the two paramedics who were driving this squad?!" No one stepped up to reply. Marco yelled again to the others, "They're firemen, dressed like us!.. Where did they go?" Seeing the nationality majority of the onlookers surrounding the fire engine and the accident site, he switched to spanish, barely containing his fear and anger. "Chet, see if you can find where either of them went. There's blood all over the cab." he said as the Irish fireman ran up to him with O2 for the victim on the ground. "Stoker.. Is that man alive?" Cap demanded. Mike sadly shook his head from where he was crouched over the man's face. "The biker's dead. Broken neck. I'll go call the cops in. Looks like he was looting, Cap. Must've been hit trying to leave on a fast getaway from the train." Kelly hit an idea. "Cap. Maybe they still have their radios if they got their jackets on. " "Worth a shot..." Cap said, waving him to it. Chet lifted his HT and started a hail.. "Engine 51 to HT 51, do you copy?" Marco gathered near his coworkers, shaking his head about his lack of success with learning anything new from the bystanders. Kelly hailed yet again. Only fresh static met his ears. Then Captain Stanley noticed something. A cluster of heads bending over together in a group on the opposite curb under the shadow of the intersection's tall trees. He started running. He found a bloodied Gage bending over a collapsed older woman, trying to talk to her, over his own severe grogginess. Hank announced his find to the world over the HT frequency and he heard footsteps running and saw that Marco was coming fast to his aid. Cap crouched beside Johnny and grabbed his shoulders. "Johnny? Hey.. It's Captain Stanley..." Gage didn't seem to understand him and fresh blood ran down the side of his face from his hair. Cap took off Johnny's helmet and took his face into his hands. "Hey.. pal. Can you hear me?" Johnny mumbled, not able to focus his eyes. "I...gotta... check her out.. She...that was her kid on the bi... I think she's.. shhhe's got......some crushing chest p--" Hank shouted. "Stoker! Grab the resuscitation gear from the squad. We've a female victim here. Possible coronary.." "..Ugh....gotta get..." Gage groaned, shaking uncontrollably. "Easy. Don't move your head around. Just stay sitting like you are. I got a hold of ya. Gage, listen to me. Where's Roy? Don't worry about the woman. Stoker and Marco are here and they're taking over her care. Eight's on the way. They'll be here in two minutes. You just relax." Shuddering, Johnny tried to pull Hank's arms down away from him, and he was looking at the woman in muzzy confusion. "Her pulse's off.. Irreg...u... Let me over there!" he said weakly angry. He was trembling. Cap sat down on the grass next to Gage, never looking away from his eyes nor did he let go of the support he was giving his wounded paramedic's head and neck. Hank pulled his captain's HT close to his lips. "Kelly, any sign of DeSoto yet? Johnny's conscious but out of it." ##Still looking. Found a blood trail behind a house over here. I'll let you know. The cops are here. I've told them what's up and they're helping me look around now!## Marco scrambled over to Hank and gave him a flowing oxygen mask from their supply for Johnny. "Cap, I'm needed over there. The lady speaks only Spanish and Stoker's busy hooking up the EKG monitor on her. I've got to get the defibrillator set up in case she goes bad." "This'll do for now. I'll just have to wait on a collar for him. He's cooperating with me." Hank said holding the clear plastic mask up to Gage's nose and mouth where he sat rigid against Cap's supporting hand with his eyes closed. "Go.." he ordered. Cap lifted his eyes to the annoying crowd that was blocking his view of their distant surroundings. ::Chet. Hurry. I don't like this one bit.:: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Engine arriving, men pointing up. Photo: Squad 51 with a crushed front end. Photo: A motorcycle flattened in the grass with an ambulance in the distance. Photo: A crashed motorcycle fatality on his back. Photo: Cap helping a wounded Johnny away from a scene. Photo: Chet Kelly yelling in urgency in hillside brush. *************************************************************************** From : patti keiper Sent : Thursday, September 30, 2004 3:28 AM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] When in Rome... ::It feels like a riot brewing.:: Hank thought, eyeing the restless crowds around them. Vince Howard came running. He had his pistol out and it was aimed up into the air in visual warning. He was the only policeman moving in the open areas. Vaguely, Cap saw him run to the fire engine, and open one of her side compartments for an asbestos tarp. The fire captain saw him use this to cover both the dead hispanic teenager and the pounds of jewelry which lay strewn around his body. Hank saw another police officer take a position behind a squad car to cover Vince as he made his way across the street at a dead run, to Captain Stanley side. He had a weapon out, too. One with a spotting scope. Mike Stoker looked up from the woman he was taking a respiration on. "What's happening?" he asked the street officer when he got there, his eyes getting bigger. Vince Howard flanked them, his gun once again drawn and displaying at the subtle angry crowd around them. "Put your back to mine, and keep a close watch on the people around us. I've backup coming. They'll be here in moments. For now, Schaffer's got us covered with an assault rifle." Hank shifted position until he had done what the policeman had asked. "Vince? What's going on?" "How bad are they? Give me that, then let me relay the information to my sergeant. Then I'll tell you. For now, don't make any sudden moves. " the freckled African American street cop ordered. "For the moment, none of us are going to be allowed to leave." "Johnny's got a possible head injury. This woman's the biker's mother and there's a good chance she's having a serious heart attack. Where's Roy DeSoto? He's gone missing, Vince." Hank asked. He bit his lip while the police officer contacted his boss. Howard met Cap's eyes reluctantly. "This crowd thinks Johnny and Roy hit the San Pedro gang's leader on purpose. We're in the heart of their territory. We think the rest of the gang dragged Johnny and Roy out of the squad when they saw it happen to get even. This woman tried to stop the gang from lynching them, but then she went down. Another bystander, a recovery worker, called us out here when they saw the gang attacking your paramedics." Hank glared up at the crowd around them angrily, but Vince regained Cap's attention urgently. "Don't provoke them. Here's how it is. A neighborhood elder, like this lady, holds a lot of sway over the gang. They listen to her. That's probably the only reason why you fire boys are still here in one piece. They want you to help her." Cap eyed up the pipe wielding young Hispanic men with a new light. One of them set his length of chain down when Cap met his eyes. "Is Roy all right? Have you seen him?" Hank asked Howard urgently. "He may not be the only fire fighter in jeopardy. I just sent one of my men over there to try and find DeSoto a few minutes ago." "One of my deputy's has your man Kelly taking cover behind a squad car. We're holding Squad 8 back as a bargaining chip in order to be given Roy DeSoto in exchange.." Vince said. "What?!" Hank bellowed. "You know where he is?!" Johnny moaned in surprise at the shout and started struggling anew in his half conscious state against Cap's shoulder. Hank immediately shushed Gage quiet again and told him to remain still. A part of the injured paramedic understood Stanley, and soon, he obeyed the snap of authority in his ear. "Yeah, never m- move any...trauma.." he whispered. Hank looked once again to Vince. "What can we do to help you and the other officers bail us out of here?" "Just keep your cool. We'll definitely get out of this whole nightmare situation without any more injuries, I promise you.The gang's used to our style of ..official negotiating." he said with a smileless good humor. "It'll just take a little time to play the game to their liking to fit their current mood." Howard said evenly. "We may not have the time to spare, Vince. She needs cardiac medications and a paramedic. Right now, " Marco protested. "This EKG's not normal." he said, tipping the Tetronix up so the police officer could see its restless uneven track. "Do the best you can until my superiors finish negotiating. Keep her breathing or we'll find ourselves in the middle of a shoot out with Roy DeSoto being the hostage in danger." "Is he injured badly?" Cap said. "I don't know. We spotted him on someone's front porch six houses away from here being watched by some gang members. I'm afraid he's on his back and he hasn't moved yet. Our line of sight's horrible so we can't tell if he's still breathing or not." Cap grabbed Vince's arm. "Is Roy still in his turnout?" "What?" "Vince, is he wearing a tan jacket like this one?" he said, tapping himself on the chest. "Yeah, I think a detective gave that in a description for him." "Then he's got a radio like mine. And most likely, it's still on. Can I try to talk to him?" "Hang on.." Vince said and he contacted his senior onlooker. "Go ahead. Roy's arms aren't tied from what we can see." "Stoker. Open a line to Rampart. Get a doctor up to speed. I'm going to kill two birds with one stone. I wanna get Roy's health status and if he's able, I want to use him to determine how bad SHE is." Hank said, pointing to the sweaty, grimacing dark haired lady lying on the ground. "Marco, you interpret anything said for the woman's benefit. Got that?" The fire engineer and hoseman nodded. "This is the last time I'm ever gonna be caught in the middle of an unsafe scene. Smashed vehicles are fine; easy to figure out for safety's sake. Man, I didn't expect any nearby PEOPLE to become my potential powder keg." Stanley grumbled. Vince rubbed his sweaty forehead and he glanced at 51's captain in sympathy. "It happens. How often do you fire boys find yourselves in the city?" "Not often enough, I guess. We never saw this coming." Stoker admitted, setting up the squad's biophone. On the ground, the woman groaned suddenly in fierce pain, and her skin turned a darker shade of gray around her mouth. Marco gripped her hand and he tightened the O2 mask around her face. "Esto vá a aydarle a respirar. żLe falta aire?" "ˇSí!" she moaned. "AhhhHH." Marco smiled at her in convincing confidence. "Respire profundo para dentro y afuera." Then he looked up and his smile fell away the moment his face was turned toward Cap. "What's the problem?" Stanley asked Lopez. "She's getting short of breath. I told her the oxygen will help her even more if she breathed in and out a little deeper." Marco replied. "We have to do something for her. Now." Vince offered advice. "Make it sound like it's fire fighting business or they might not let DeSoto answer you." Howard snapped his fingers. "Better yet. Mention your new victim. It just may allow Roy some conversational freedom if they realize we have an Elder's treatment ongoing." Cap got on the HT. "Ok, here goes.... Engine 51 to Squad 51. I require an immediate response on HT. We've a woman down at our original location. An Hispanic female, aged approximately fifty. Possible heart attack." and he bit his lip as he lifted his thumb away from the talk button. They all poised waiting for a reply over the open line. The silence was only broken by occasional taunts from the onlookers and moans from the elder lady. Then... *Spap* ## Engine 51,...I read you, ...*cough* Loud and clear. I'm....10-2. Situation ..ok..## Roy's voice was thick sounding as if from a swollen lip but no one minded at all. The firemens' expressions were ones of great relief and they had to fight themselves from moving joyfully. Hank motioned for them to tone it down. Vince upped their ante by putting his own gun away and clearing his hands to the watchers near Roy's porch. Cap started relaying information to DeSoto over the radio. "Two victims. Victim One, Code I, non urgent." he emphasized, letting a hint about Johnny worm into the transmission craftily. "Victim Two. Conscious, collapsed with chest pain. Cyanosis about the mouth and fingernails. Difficulty breathing. On 15 liters of O2. Vitals are : " and he slowly took a notepad from Stoker in plain crowd sight to read the finding. "Pulse 130, weak and irregular, respirations are 22 and shallow, B/P is 158/106." Captain Stanley could almost see Roy absorb the patient information like a sponge. Heavy breathing on the line showed that Roy had some pain he was currently dealing with, but his voice's tone was lucid, unlike Johnny's disjointed comments. ##Victim Two. Find out .....what kind of pain she's feeling. This isn't necessarily a cardiac case. Could be a pulmonary embolus, too. Ask her when the pain started and whether or not it travels away from where it is now. Find out its severity. Then ask about any taken medications, get a medical history if you can, and ..and ..and, ask about any allergies. My status, I was 10-7 for about 10 minutes.## "10-7?" Vince asked. Cap made a gesture, "That means out of service. I'm taking it to mean the period of time of how long Roy thinks he was passed out after he was beaten up.." he began once more into the radio. "Vitals on Victim Two.." ##ˇNo otro hombre! Ella solo!## came a furious reply over Roy's radio. (No other man! Her only!) Marco hissed. "Cap. Stop! Talk only about the woman. Someone over there's figured out what we're doing with all the ten codes." Hank preceded more cautiously. "Comprendo. I understand." he radio-ed back. "Squad 51. Please stand by." Roy cleverly kept the talk button down so the others could hear the police negotiating in the background at his location. Marco immediately turned to the woman. "żLe duele más cuándo respira profundo?" (Is your pain worse with a deep breath intake?) "No, es mismo." she gasped. (No, it's the same.) "żHa tenido alguna vez un ataque al corazón?" Lopez asked gently. (Have you had a heart attack before?) "Sí, en la primavera." she admitted. (Yes, in the springtime.) "żCuándo empezó el dolór?" he asked about her pain. (When did this pain begin?) "A las once en la manańa." (At eleven this morning) "żQué tipo de dolor tiene?" he questioned. (What does this pain feel like?) "ˇMi pecho es apretandó! Y presión!" (My chest's squeezing. And pressure.) "żSe mueve para algún lado?" (Does it go anywhere else?) "Alrededór mí izquierda brazo." (Around my left arm) "żHa tenido nauseas?" (Do you have any nausea?) "ˇSí. Tiene mucho!" (Yes. A lot) "żToma medicinas y tiene alergias a alguna medicina?" (Do you take any medications and are you allergic to any?) "No. AhhhHH!" The woman suddenly arched off the ground. "żQué le pasa?" Marco asked her. (What's the matter?) "Siento que me estóy ahogando.." (I feel like I'm suffocating..) "Ok,..no tenga miedo. Nosotros hablamos a el doctor ahorita." (ok, don't be afraid. We are talking to a doctor right now.) Lopez quickly handed Cap the note pad he had transcribed. "She's dyspneic now. I think you should tell them both that fact first." Cap told Roy everything and then he handed Stoker Marco's interviewed information to read off to Dr. Morton, who was waiting on the phone line. A minute later, both paramedic and physician said the same thing over two sets of speakers. ##Try nitroglycerin for now until the other squad is allowed in. ## Stoker had been walked through on how to connect the woman's EKG leads into the biophone. Morton took responsibility so Marco and Stoker could give the woman the angina medication orally. ##That's only if her pressure's above 100 systolic..## Morton punctuated over the speaker. ## Repeat once every five minutes up to three tablets as long as that B/P reading stays there, fellas. ## added Roy. Lopez dug around the drug box until he found the tiny brown pill bottle marked NTG. Then he tapped one out onto his hand and crouched over the woman. "Senora. Habre los ojos. Esta medicina vá debajo de la lengua. Venga en, abra la boca. Esta siente mejór después de tomar la medicina." (Maam, open your eyes. This medicine goes under your tongue. Come on, open your mouth. You'll feel better after you've taken this medication.) The woman gagged for a moment on the nitroglycerin tablet but then her face smoothed after half a minute and her cheeks flushed a more healthy looking ruddy color. They all saw the rhythm on the heart monitor even out just a touch. Marco felt her hand, gripping his own, ease off completely before she finally let go. "żSe siente mejor?" Marco asked once she had relaxed. (Do you feel better?) The sweaty woman nodded. "Gracías bombero." (Thank you fireman.) Then she reached up and grabbed Cap's radio. "Primos. No pegaron el gringo paramedico no mas. Vamos al hospital Rampart, el y yo. Necesitamos ir ahora. Ellos me han ayudado. Usted debe sentirse la vergüenza para sentir la necesidad para la venganza. Carlos ha pagado el precio para su falta de honradez cuando él robó del tren. Su muerte era el hace de Dios. Permita que mí apene con la honradez. " (Cousins, don't hit the white paramedic anymore. We're going to Rampart Hospital, he and I. We need to go right now. They have helped me. You should feel shame for feeling the need for revenge. Carlos has paid the price for his dishonesty when he stole from the train. His death was the will of God. Let me grieve with honesty.) All around the street, weapons were dropped to the pavement as the elder's weeping plea was echoed around the police's and Squad 51's HT frequencies. Seconds later, Squad Eight roared up with an ambulance following close behind. Hank snapped an order. "As soon as she's stabilized, bring all three in together." he ordered the paramedics from Station Eight. "This is Vince's suggestion so we're cleared away from here as fast as possible." "Understood, captain." Craig Brice replied. The elder's IV was quickly started by Brice and Belliveau and heart meds soon leveled the arrythmias shooting across the EKG screen. Johnny Gage was lowered onto a backboard once a cervical collar had been applied and then he was tucked into a handy stokes for a side bench transport. Captain Stanley personally carried Johnny's I.V. bag during his packaging and loading until it was time to hang it on the rig's wall hook. Hank leaned into Vince. "You know we didn't really need Roy to treat the woman. We could've gotten permission from Dr. Morton directly. We had the biophone right there." "I knew, Hank. I knew. " said Howard. "The ruse worked. Didn't it?" "This time. What about for the next time?" Cap wondered morbidly. Vince sighed. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Roy DeSoto denied any head symptoms. He was allowed to ride to the hospital sitting up, once his many cuts and bruises had been poked and prodded and covered up and after he had his vital signs checked out. Marco, was busy until the very last minute. "Lo siento, pero no podemos llevar mas personas atras. Ella vá estar bien." (I'm sorry, but we can't have any more people in the back. She's going to be fine.) he told the elder's claimed next of kin. The double doors on the Mayfair closed, leaving Brice alone with a sick woman, a dazed paramedic and a second, very very very,..quiet one. Roy was mute the whole way in as he let Brice do all the work of keeping his goose egged partner awake and within the realm of verbally responsive consciousness. Finally, DeSoto said something just before the interns and orderlies opened the ambulance doors up for wheeling them all into the treatment room hallway. "I really...hate ...the city now. I'm gonna move Joanne and the kids a little farther out towards the high country just as soon as I can. I think I'll start making plans next week." "Thinking about leaving the department, DeSoto?" Brice asked him. "No, just the ambience of the sadder part of Los Angeles. Thank you very much." he said sarcastically. Brice took that to mean that Roy DeSoto wasn't too physically hurt to feel a real true anger over the attack he and Johnny had just suffered at the hands of unthinking people. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "So, this is a reversal.." said Gage from his hospital bed at the street clothes garbed DeSoto and Brice and surprisingly, Chet Kelly. "Didya bring me any candy like I brought for you last week, Craig?" "Nothing you can choke on." Roy quipped. "Have a taco. Marco cooked up those special, just for you." he said, handing his head bandage wrapped partner, a tupperware full of steaming, south of the border, delectables. Johnny made a face. "I'm just about latin american-ed out for a while. Between accidently killing one, to getting beaten up by a whole gang of em, to being saved by one, I've had just about all I can stomach on that theme for the rest of the year." "Don't tell Marco Lopez that. He might get offended." replied Craig Brice seriously. "Brice, I'm just not hungry yet. They just ended my D5W I.V. a couple of hours ago, you know." "Good." said Chet quickly. "Then you don't mind if I dig in a little, pal? Thanks. I'm still starving." he said, grabbing the yellow container out of Johnny's hands and opening it. "You fellas want some? Here, let me grab some paper towels from the bathroom." he said chewing noisily. He held up the food so Roy and Brice could partake in a second round of feasting, too, before disappearing into the depths of the rest room for a roll of towelling. "Man, Gage. You've been missing out on some radical fire duty. We may be done with the Amtrak wreck and it's....uh, associated resident gang members, but we sure as heck have been starting a record week of station burn calls. We've been roaring, non stop, for just about every kind of fire imaginable. Dumpster fires, brush fires, mine fires, stove fires, even a pool fire when some dork mistook a can of charcoal starter for a jug of dechlor solution. Geesh, what an idiot he was..." Chet rambled on. Gage swore he could feel another near coma coming on, just listening to his enthusiastic coworker. ::But I'd rather feel some nauseated, twisted insides over some as yet too early food, than experience anything like that twisted train or gang, ever again.:: he concluded. ::At least, not until I've been well fed, well slept. And not until I'm completely without a single aching muscle or pulsating bone left anywhere in my entire body. Only then will I think about re-tackling the big stuff. But, ..not today. I deserve a break more than they could ever possibly know.:: Gage reached for one of Lopez's mild green salsa tacos with a good heart and he bit off one end, very carefully. FIN Episode Fourteen, Twisted, Season Two ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Vince by a house looking alerted. Photo: A dazed propped up, Johnny Gage. Photo: Cap on the biophone line behind a car. Photo: Marco and Stoker, pleased, by the engine. Photo: Roy under duress in smoke, crawling. Photo: Marco with a cooking pan, smiling. Photo: An old lady being gurney loaded by a caregiver. ************************************************************************** FIN §§ Twisted §§ :) This episode is dedicated to Fire Chief James O :) Page who was often noted as the father of modern emergency medicine in the fire service. He served as technical consultant and writer for the "Emergency!" television series. In 1979, he founded JEMS (Journal of Emergency Medical Services). Jim was found unconscious in a swimming pool at a spa. A nurse in another swimming lane started CPR and 911 was activated, but the spa had no AED available for the bystanders at his side. Please support installing AED defibrillators in your work place and learn the skill. Absolutely anyone can take the class and kids as :) young as twelve years old can safely operate one. :) The Story Unfolds... Season Two, Episode Fifteen.. §§ 00:51 §§ ****************************************************** From : Cory Anda Sent : Monday, October 4, 2004 1:40 AM Subject : Dixie's Day Off... Dixie McCall stretched languidly on her raft just soaking in the southern Californian sunshine. ::It's just been far...too... long.:: she sighed, listening to the birds nearby playing in her apartment complex's birdbath. Max, the caretaker's cat, seemed to agree with her, stretching a single paw down from his perch on the poolside lifeguard chair. Children's laughter rang like belltones in her ears as she dozed under her sunhat and occasionally, the yips of the excited dogs watching the other tenants sharing the same pool, splashed and played on the sidelines. Sighing, Dixie let the sun fry out her aches, one by one. ::If I ever work another double shift like the one I had last night, may monkeys fly out of my butt.:: she thought. "Ohhh, I hate head colds." Dixie sniffed, ignoring yet another tickle running down her throat. She shifted on her inflatable, easing a sudden gut cramp. The tired nurse let the noonish summer's day work its magic, and ignored it. "Guess what, Kel?" she mumbled to herself, still quite alone on her side of the pool. "I'm cancelling dinner plans. This day is gonna be just ..for......ZZzzzzz...zzz.." The lulling waves returned her to a state of blissful somnolence. Dixie didn't know how long she had drifted, when an uneasy pup's whine sliced through her dreams. McCall made a face. Then the kids started screaming. Dixie shot up onto her hands, blinking in the torrid sun's glare, her eyes tearing. She cast her head about towards the frightened children, shouting in alarm. "What's the problem here?!" One petrified boy pointed to someplace behind Dixie. McCall turned. One of the Miller dogs was still whining, standing rigid on a second floating rubber raft, looking at something down under the water. Dixie saw a wavering form shimmer, sprouting legs and motionless, drifting arms. "Mr. Miller!" she gasped, twisting off the raft. Dixie swam as fast as she could across the pool, shouting as she went, "Call the Fire Department Rescue Squad! My patio door's open!" she told the children. One of the oldest started running for the phone. Dixie plunged into the pool's depths, opening her eyes. It was deep at that end and Gerald Miller was no tiny teenager when she finally reached him and started hauling his spasming lanky body to the surface. She kicked through a plume of red. ::He's hit his head?:: McCall analyzed. The side cramp biting her earlier made a comeback. Dixie grunted bubbles, cursing. But then her hand caught the edge of the pool's rim and her chin broke into the air. The stench of chlorine poured into Dixie's stuffy nose and she opened her mouth, spitting out luke warm water. "Is my brother ok?" asked a tiny blond girl in active horror. Dixie threw an arm over Ger's shoulder and rolled his slack face out of the water, taking care to not jar his spine. The teenager was unconscious now and he fountained water out his nose and mouth when she turned him. ::Drowning.:: she thought. Holding him still, the nurse beckoned to the kids. "Push something over to me!" she ordered, treading water. "I need a support surface to lie him on. Even a lounger will work." But the chairs along the sunning area were chained to the fence. Dixie swore. "There! Use that." and she jerked her head towards the blue raft from which the frantic dog was barking. Two young boys leaped in and shoved it close. Dixie managed to get it floating perpendicular under Ger's chest with his head splinted level in both her hands. She didn't bother to drain him further and started right in with a breath attempt. Ger gurgled, but his chest rose. McCall's fingers found the groove in his neck. ::Sh*t. His pulse's almost gone.:: Dixie kept holding the teenager's head in alignment around her jaw thrust. She lifted rushing eyes to the panicking children surrounding her."Kids, we gotta get him out. Now. Remember how to do that? Like I showed ya in kidscouts.. We're gonna make a ramp out of the pump pipe cover by the shed. All right? Go get it! I gotta keep helping him." she said, blowing another breath through the suffocating man's chest water. Ger's color had grayed before her eyes by the time they got back. "No, Ger. Keep fighting!" Dixie hissed into his ear as she pushed air into his lungs. The oldest boy ran back outside."The operator said that they're on their way! I got through!" "Terrific.." McCall grinned up at him. She used the other children swimming around her to keep Miller's head and back unjostled. Between the five of them, the slippery teen slid off the long piece of plastic onto the deck quickly. "Watch his head. Don't move his neck around..." Dixie told the older ones. "He's bleeding!" cried the youngest. "It's not real bad. Head cuts are just messy." Dixie said automatically. "His neck beat's gone! His neck beat's gone!" shouted Ger's brother, knowing enough to check. "I know. He's just gone out. Don't be scared. Now. He'll need that CPR stuff I taught you all, so girls, dry him off your beach towels, especially around his chest. Then nest them about him to soak up all of this water." Dixie said rapidly, thinking ahead for future defibrillating. Hauling on a rope of floats, McCall flung herself out of the pool. She scrambled over to the teen's head and reopened an airway by lifting his jaw bone. "Michael, now take over here. Hold his chin just like this when you give your breaths, ok? Move nothing else. I'll start here." Dixie told the boy, beginning compressions. "Don't be alarmed if water squirts out after a bit. Let it come. The more of it, the better." Dixie's cramp was a vice now, and her nose ran, so she lifted one leg and crouched on her right foot to ease it. Already, McCall was sweating and beads of it stung her eyes. She glanced up as Ger's brother delivered another breath mouth to nose. "That's fine, Mike. Give those a little deeper. Keep going. Good job." McCall panted, keeping up her CPR. After each pulse check, Dixie lifted her head toward the veranda's main gate listening acutely for the sound of sirens. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : Dixie on a pool raft, sunning with a hat over her eyes. Photo : Birdbath full of bluebirds. Photo : Panicking kids at a pool's edge. Photo : A dog on a raft seeing a submersed victim. Photo : A sunny apartment poolside with palms. Photo : Dixie, talking urgently. ****************************************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Thu Oct 7, 2004 8:32 pm Subject: The Narrow Path.. Dixie McCall reached down yet again to the drowned teenager's throat after another long minute. Her chilled fingers found a thready carotid. "Michael! Trade places with me. He's got a pulse. Hold his head still, in between your knees, as I keep ventilating him." she requested, keeping in line stabilization with her hold on his airway. "Keep talking to him, hon. He's in trouble but he can still hear us." Stuttering nervously, Michael leaned down to his brother's ear. "Ger. I promise I won't tell anyone what you did in the house. Just wake up, ok? Dad's gonna be so mad you jumped head first into the shallow end like we're not supposed to." McCall looked up at the nine year old, about to ask him what that house comment had meant, when the wail of sirens and squealing tires heralded a paramedic squad's arrival. It was 51's. "Johnny! Roy! Non-breathing, but with a pulse now! He was under, I'm guessing,.. less than two minutes." DeSoto and Gage flew into the yard, 02 tank clattering, with a police officer in tow, lugging the defibrillator and a backboard. "Officer, set those by his head." Johnny ordered. Then he wrapped a thick cervical collar around Ger's neck without getting in the way of Dixie's mouth to mouth resuscitation. Roy moved immediately to kick the drying blankets the children had used out of the way. "Dixie? We thought the address was familiar." "Sorry for scaring you fellas but this was pressing.." she replied, delivering another breath to the boy carefully. Johnny felt the teen's distended stomach. "This getting in the way?" "More and more." Gage got busy setting up the demand valve to take over for the nearly exhausted nurse. Roy finished hooking up the EKG monitor and he put the defibrillator on charged standby. Then he set up the biophone's antennae and began a hail. "Rampart, this is Rescue 5..1.." ##Go ahead, 51## answered Brackett over the line. "Rampart, we have a male approximately fourteen years of age. Victim of an apparent diving accident." Dix waggled her head in agreement at Roy's guess at mechanism of injury as she accepted the positive pressure mask from Gage and began using it. Johnny flung open the I.V. box and grabbed out what he needed rapidly. Roy continued his report. "...He's been under active resuscitation, non-breathing now, but with a regained pulse following CPR. He's on 15 liters of assisted O2. Spinal precautions have been taken. Please stand by for the vital signs." He set the phone onto his shoulder as he tore pieces of IV tape off a dispenser to stick in rows onto his leg. ##Standing by, 51.## McCall rattled off Ger's pulse and its quality, and his consciousness level."120 and thready. No reaction to pain. Pupils, reactive, but sluggish." DeSoto nodded, getting a quick B/P while Johnny did a rapid head to toe survey after listening to the boy's breath sounds via scope. "I'm getting rales bilaterally." he said. "He took in a lot of water.." Dixie confirmed catching her breath back as she used the ventilator on their patient. Gage went on. "Negative Babinski's." he said after he ran a pair of forceps points up the bottom's of both of the teenager's feet. Dixie sighed in relief. "One point in his favor.." Gage rewrapped the stethoscope around his neck. He peered at the blood oozing from the boy's temple. "This looks minor. There's no depression." Then he looked for cerebral spinal fluid out the ears and nose. "No CSF, Roy." "Ok, Johnny. Better call out for the engine. His B/P's sixty over P." Gage jerked his head in affirmation and grabbed his walkie talkie. "L.A., This is Squad 51." ##Squad 51.## "Respond Engine 51 for medical assistance to our location." ## 10-4, Squad 51. Time out, 12:51.## Everyone ignored the broadcast tones over the frequency, double echoed through the squad's Motorola Converta-com and the HT as Captain Stanley acknowledged the run and gave an ETA. Dixie felt a wave of fatigue. "Johnny, I'm tired." she shivered. "I gotta give it up." "All right." Gage said, eyeing her up, a little self conscious because of Dixie's skimpy made-for-the-sun, two piece bikini. "Rescuing's hard work. Why don't you..uh,, wrap up, sit down and rest a while. We got it." The motorcop smoothly took over teenager's mechanical ventilations. Dixie barely felt the kids throw a flannel quilt over her shoulders, offering her their gratitude with timid pats and hugs as she parked on a lounger by the edge of the swimming pool. McCall shook her head, thinking out loud. Then she snapped her fingers. " Amy Miller, can you go get that consent form your mother's got hanging on the frig? These firemen are gonna need it to give Ger some medication." "Ok, Dixie. I'll be right back, Ger!" cried the tiny child before she ran off. DeSoto got his first orders. ##51, Start an I.V. Normal Saline with an insulin drip. I'm gonna assume he was coding longer than two minutes. I want to terminate any catecholamine release effects before they complicate things for us. Go ahead and administer 1.0 mg Lidocaine IV push to control any intracranial pressure he might have from that possible head injury. Prepare to insert an esophageal airway and send me a strip. Add 1 mg Sodium Bicarb, then turn his drip to TKO. Let me know when you've secured your airway. ## "10-4, Rampart. I.V. Normal Saline with insulin, Lidocaine and Sodium Bicarb. This'll be lead 2." The reassuring sound of the Ward Pumper's deeper siren grew then fell away with the bark of her airhorn. ##L.A. Engine 51's on scene.## came Stoker's transmission. ##10-4, Engine 51. Time is 12:55.## replied L.A. Dispatch. The pool kids, except Michael, went running to fetch the other firemen to show them the way. Roy lifted his HT. "Cap, we'll need all hands and the spare O2. Active resus." ##10-4, HT 51.## Ger suddenly started to seize and his stomach rippled. Gage startled. "Is he vomiting?" he asked the police man, with his hands full of supplies. "No, there's nothing here yet. ....But.." "But what?" Roy asked, impatient. "I..don't think I'm getting a chest rise anymore.." the officer admitted. "Just started happening." "D*mn!" Johnny swore, feeling Gerald's throat for the beat and double checking the jaw lift. "Try another vent again." The cop triggered the thumb button. Despite a tight seal over skin, the demand valve failed to accomplish a finished breath. The officer shook his head. "See? Just like I told ya." Johnny flew into action. "Roy, ask for a nasogastric tube. He's really blocked and in a convulsion from hypoxia. His gums are blue. I wanna drain that distension now." Roy hurried and updated Dr. Brackett about the new developments. ## I confirm rising tachycardia on the scope, 51. Relieve that intragastric pressure with an NG tube and watch for signs of an obstructed airway..## Kel snapped crisply. Working together, Roy and Johnny inserted a well lubricated catheter into the teen's unbloodied nostril and got it down past a sudden odd resistance. Frothy pink emesis welled out of the tube's end and onto the concrete in a noisy involuntary belch. Then Ger's bulging stomach fell flatter than it had been. "Ok, try him now." Gage told the policeman as he quickly drew the tube back out again and suctioned out the boy's nose and mouth. Difficult breaths went in. Stoker, Chet and Lopez immediately knew what to do at a mere glance of the area. They shifted the backboard until it lay flush with Ger's back as Johnny and Roy log rolled him onto his side for more active suctioning. Swiftly, the head block, chest, waist and leg straps were settled and tightened into place. Leaning down, Johnny examined the stain on the pavement. It was sweet smelling. "Roy, he's been drinking...." he said flatly, not happy. DeSoto's face tightened. "He's just a kid." "I know." Roy picked up the phone again. "Rampart, we've positive evidence of ETOH ingestion." Brackett returned a long sigh of resignation and sadness. ##10-4, Roy. Then we're all the better for that insulin drip counteracting things." Roy had the advanced airway prepped and gelled. "I'm gonna need one of you for a Sellick's maneuver." he told the gang. "Me." Marco volunteered and he peeled off his coat and gloves and kneeled down. DeSoto had foregone the EOA for an endotracheal tube. "Stoker, why don't you take over on the O2? Thanks, Officer Palmer.." he read from the man's name tag. "No problem." The officer stood back to begin his incident report, allowing the more experienced firefighter engineer to take over the task. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Hank noticed Dixie McCall bundled up on her chair. "So much for the day off, eh?" he grinned for her benefit. "Nothing like a little excitement to liven up an afternoon." Dixie just coughed at Stanley's encouraging humor while avoiding the bright sun beating down on her from his direction. She felt a glove on her shoulder that made her jump. "You ok there, Dixie?" Cap asked. "Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." Dixie afforded the helmeted captain a smile. "I'm fine. Just a little worried." "About what?" "About him." she gestured with her head. "If we can't get that airway in......" ---------------------------------------------------------- A weak, choking jolt upset Roy's positioned laryngoscope and the paramedic yanked it out to prevent a sudden mouth injury. "Marco, keep up that cricoid pressure, whatever you do. Johnny!" "I'm on it! Rampart, our victim's seizures are worsening. So's his color." ##Have you established that ET tube yet?## "That's negative, doc. We're experiencing some jaw clenching." Johnny sighed in frustration. ##Knock him out, 51, for a rapid sequence induction. Point one mg's of Vecuronium IV push. That'll paralyze him enough for you to get one inserted. Know that you'll be completely responsible afterwards for maintaining his airway with adequate ventilations.## Roy, next to Johnny, gulped. "10-- uh, 10-4, Rampart." Gage affirmed. "RSI with .1 mg's Vecuronium IVP." Stoker spoke up suddenly. "Gage! Laryngospasm! I'm getting in nothing now." "What?!" Johnny felt around Marco's Sellick hold. He felt a foreboding rock stiff hardness surrounding Ger's adam's apple. "Roy, ...positive on that... Obstruction's total!" "Rampart, standby... We've a fully obstructed airway." DeSoto dropped the phone. ##Push the Vecuronium, now! Double it if you have to!## commanded Kel. ## The increase may help your clearing attempts..## Johnny straddled the dripping immobilized teen while Kelly hastily undid just the abdominal straps of the longboard, allowing Gage access to Ger's lower abdomen. The paramedic delivered four sharp upward thrusts under the teenager's diaphragm with both hands while Stoker and Chet pinned the boy's head and neck still. Roy sent the muscle paralyzer into Ger's high flowing I.V. and hung it dangling on the fence. "It's in. Is it working?" he looked to Mike Stoker. The engineer shook his head and demonstrated the 02 gushing out around the mask quickly with some triggering. Johnny tried a few more abdominal thrusts. Then he scrambled to Ger's head with a long shafted pair of Magil forceps in his teeth. He used a jaw screw to open the shaking teen's mouth to get at the deeper part of his throat. The lengthy, scissors like instrument was guided down, but stopped short only along half its usable length. Gage grimaced as he probed, biting onto a pen light so he could see what he was doing. "There's nothing here, Roy. I'm not seeing any vocal cords. It's gotta be just a laryngospasm. These aren't threading down." he said of his Magil forceps. DeSoto nodded, licking dry lips. "Second dose then, ready?" Gage nodded, backing off so Stoker could use the demand valve yet again. Roy injected a small orange labelled syringe into the rubber intravenous delivery port deftly. "It's in!" Stoker and Johnny struggled to offset the teenager's cyanosis with some chest rise, but they were unsuccessful, no matter what they thought to try. ----------------------------------------------------------------- In the base station, Brackett eyed the running EKG strip and became ansy. He had to force himself not to interrupt his hard-at-work men just for an update. ----------------------------------------------------------------- A dragging minute passed under the firemen's sweaty exertions. Then Stoker detected a relaxing jaw. "He's loose.." and then he started to force as many feebly reaching ventilations as he could into the boy's lungs. He kept it up until the ominous dark blue began to fade from Ger's face and lower extremities. Johnny snatched up the abandoned endotracheal tube that Roy had left on the teenager's chest and said, "Hyperventilate him a minute more, Mike. Then move aside." Stoker nodded. Roy lifted the phone. "Rampart, our victim's still partially obstructed and we can't find what it is. The paralytic agent's beginning to work, but we're getting vents into him only with difficulty. Johnny's attempting another intubation. Both the boy's work of breathing and his seizures, are now absent." Roy reported, seeing a quiet, fully drugged stillness, settle over his patient. Kel let out the breath he was holding. ##Avoid any stimulus that'll trigger V-fib. He's sensitive to that now.## Gage accidently poked the back of Ger's soft palate with the ET tube as he was visualizing for his vocal cords. Roy's head shot up when the EKG monitor warbled an arrythmia alarm. "Brady! Back off, Johnny!" Gage froze and yanked out the tube, digging for a carotid artery in the boy's neck with his other hand. "...Stupid! ..I'm ...stupid...." he grunted. DeSoto flew to the open drug case when the boy's cardiac rate continued to sink into the forties. "Rampart!" ## I see it, 51. Point five milligrams Atropine. Speed him back up again. What I'm seeing here, is vaso vagal in origin. It's not an adverse Vecuronium reaction.## The betablocker soon boosted Ger's heartrate back up into the low, irregular seventies. Everyone sighed in relief. ## D/C trying the endotrach. I'm authorizing an immediate needle cricothyrotomy.## Brackett went on.. Gage tossed the ET tube aside. ##....Set up your supplies. Have your head man keep hyperventilating your victim as best he can. Roy, you've told me in the past that you've done one of these before ..in Nam. You've got the ball once again.## "10-4, Rampart." Roy replied back, wiping sweat off his lip. Johnny was a pure professional. He wasn't offended in the least for being asked to step down during a primary treatment action. He wanted a resolution to the problem too badly to even care. He un-papered an adapter to a 7.5 mm sized ET tube, a 10 ml syringe, and a 14 gauge needle catheter. Reaching down, he slid a finger on a free hand over the hard thyroid cartilage running down the midline of Ger's throat until he found the soft depression of the cricoid membrane. "Ok, Marco. Keep his trachea from moving around and put one fingertip,.....here.." And he guided Marco's index finger to a precise spot on the teenager's sweaty skin. "Mark that landmark and don't lose it.." "Believe me, I won't..." Lopez admitted eagerly. "Ok, Roy. We're ready for you." Johnny said looking up, screwing together the puncture lancet."Lopez has got the trachea splinted." Then Gage handed the whole rigging over to his much calmer partner. DeSoto spoke. "Johnny, could you draw up a mil of water into the syringe for me, please? I gotta trick I like to use." Johnny nodded. "Stoker, is he adequately oxygenated yet?" he said, filling Roy's needle with a pull of its plunger into another unused, sterile IV bag. "As best as he's able. His pupils are still reacting but he's a little too cold now to judge by his color." Gage fitted the syringe back into place into the guiding shaft, curious as to what purpose Roy was going to use it for. ::Not for med absorption into the lungs, Kel hasn't ordered any ET drugs yet.:: he thought. DeSoto took over pressing a finger on the landmark Marco was guarding. Then he moved his fingertip just enough to place the point of the needle directly over the membrane he could feel. He angled the syringe, end down at a forty five towards Ger's feet, and advanced the needle into the skin, all the while aspirating the plunger upwards with his pinky and ring fingers. He stopped instantly when the upward welling suctioning drew up pearling air bubbles. He smiled. "I'm in the trachea.." he announced. Roy slid a 3mm endo tube catheter inside the syringe and threaded it until it was well into the air passage below, angled downwards. He withdrew the long needle, passing it off to Cap to dispose of into the sharps bin. Johnny flew into action once again. "Ah, now I see what the water was for.." he said, listening to the teen's chest as DeSoto fitted the ET adapter's syringe and catheter's end onto a high flow oxygen circulating ambu bag. "A better visual." "Yep." DeSoto blinked. Lopez helped Roy tape the inserted tenuous airway to Ger's throat amply and then he took sole charge of stabilizing it with both hands so that it didn't budge a single centimeter out of place. "You're pure cement, Marco." Gage ordered. "Solid, man. This is going nowhere." he said, watching Stoker rapidly make up for lost ventilating time. "How's he doing now?" the hispanic fireman asked, marveling at the heavy bag's ability to work through such a slender tube. Johnny took the listening ports of the stethoscope out of his ears. "He's got minimal chest rise. But it's enough to keep him alive until we get to the hospital. Nice work, pal." he grinned. "Thanks everyone." "Mike, I'll break you." Roy said. "I know just how to get the most inside without distension happening. It's a narrow band force of pressure with this sized catheter. It's just like a newborn's.." "I'll learn it for next time.." said Stoker as he traded places with DeSoto. Johnny picked up the phone. "Rampart, we have an airway.." ##Congratulations, guys. Now get him in here. I want a vitals set every five minutes in route. Keep vigilant for good or bad lung sounds, any sign of expanding hematomas, or subcutaneous air under the skin. ## "10-4. We're on our way, Rampart. The ambulance has just arrived.." Gage said with a smile. That smile fell away when Dixie McCall suddenly sagged backwards from where she was seated out of her blanket. She tumbled limply into the pool when Hank Stanley failed to catch her in time. "Dixie?!" Johnny yelled. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Photos : None. ***************************************************************** From : patti keiper Sent : Thursday, October 7, 2004 8:44 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The A.M.A. Cap started to get out of his turnout and helmet to go after her when Gage shouted. "I got her!" He swan dived into the shallows. Very quickly, Dixie McCall was conveyed to the surface and to the edge by many hands. She was lifted up, set onto the ground and rolled onto her back. "Dix?" Johnny shook her firmly, monitoring her carotid. He wiped streaming water away from her nose and mouth as she began coughing and moaning. McCall was almost as white as her alabaster swimsuit. "She's ok.." Gage told the others. Stoker jogged over with the engine's O2 apparatus. "I think this's just an episode of syncope, she's waking up already." he said. "Let's move her to one of those chairs and get her wrapped up before you start her on that Mike." Roy looked up from where he and Marco were still watching and working on Ger. "Johnny?! What's the problem?" "I don't know yet!" he shouted, letting Stoker, Cap and Kelly transfer Dixie from the concrete to a head raised sunchair. "Let me check her out." he coughed. "Keep packaging him for transport. I'll call a second ambulance for her if I have to." Cap reaffirmed Johnny's plan, setting an oxygen mask over McCall's nose and mouth. "That's gonna be the call." He waved on Stoker to notify L.A. of their need for an additional Mayfair or Cadillac. "I don't like her breathing rate. It's labored." "Umm hmm, something's definitely going on here.." Johnny agreed. "Dix, can you hear me?" She didn't answer past a few groans. Chet Kelly continued to try to get a legible verbal response out of the nurse while Johnny got a B/P off her arm. The children were scared but they stayed out of the way, remaining maturely silent. Gage saw that Roy was ready to go. "You keep the biophone." "She stable?" "Yeah. Her B/P's no longer low. Take Marco with you for that airway support. Kelly can follow me in the squad later after the other ambulance gets here." Roy was a bulldog. "Use a landline, ok? The kids can bring out a phone to you for you to use for her." DeSoto said, shuffling along behind the gurney leading attendants, carrying the defibrillator and the drug box. "I know. I know.. Just go already. The sooner you leave, the sooner I'll find out some answers on her. Don't worry...I'll contact ya on HT as soon as I find out anything." Gage grumbled. "No, I'll do that.." Cap promised. "All right." Roy replied, waving the ambulance men on again. "I'm going..." Johnny paid no more attention to him as Ger was carted off Code Three to Rampart Hospital. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Cap and Johnny turned back from watching Roy hustle away to find Chet inexplicably armed with a mug of steaming coffee, which he was waving underneath Dixie's nose near the O2 mask on blow by so that she could smell it. Dixie sputtered, shifting her head from side to side. "Kelly, cut that out this instant!" Hank boomed. Gage gave out an exasperated shout of mild disgust and he grabbed the cup away from Kelly. "Chet, would you knock it off!? Where did you get such a crazy idea in the first place?!" he demanded, gently replacing the mask as McCall's eyes fluttered open. "From them.." Chet shrugged. "Yeah," said the oldest child standing nearby. "It was my idea. We do this coffee trick all the time when Miss McCall won't wake up after sunbathing. She told us to so she wouldn't ever be late for work." "Well kids, I hate to break it to ya, but today is Dixie's DAY ..OFF! Thanks for all your help. We got it from here. Now, sCRAMMM!" Gage exploded. The children, all three dogs,..and the caretaker's cat, took fright and all of them ran away as fast as they could with screams, barks and a yowl. "That wasn't very smart." Hank interjected when the noise died away. "Huh?" Gage double taked. "Why not? They're out of our hair..Unlike some people.." he glared at Chet. "We don't have our outside phone yet, you twit." Cap said, smacking Johnny lightly on the back of the head for emphasis on the word, "twit." "I'll get it." said Stoker. "I think I remember a phone being in the pool party hut from last year. It most likely has a cord on it long enough to reach us.." Johnny didn't even hear him. "I'm not the twit. Chet's the twit.. Geesh, Cap. Think about it. Reviving someone with coffee fumes? Now I've seen it all." He kept glaring at Kelly. "Just what were you thinking?" he asked Chet sarcastically. "It worked, didn't it? She's almost speaking." Chet countered. "At least java's kinder on the old nostrils than an ammonia capsule. I should know. You've used enough of em on me as the Phantom in the middle of the night when I was still sleeping..." Hank just rolled his eyes and asked L.A. for the ETA on Dixie's ambulance. "No...ambulance.." coughed Dixie, sitting a little straighter in her chair. A flush of growing embarrassment was staining her cheeks and erasing all of her remaining questionable clinical signs red tagging problems. "I'm......fine, fellas. Really!" she protested, peeling off her oxygen firmly. 'I'm awake, I'm aware.. I know who I am, where I am and what happened....I'm not going anywhere.." she hissed with a little of her normal heavy guns tone. "If I see that hospital one more time this week, I'll rip all my hair out for sure.." she promised. Johnny tossed his paramedic's notepad that he had been writing in over a shoulder and threw his hands up, rubbing his face in exasperation. "I don't believe this is happening, Cap.." he whined. "We gotta get her t--" Hank held up his palms. "Now, Gage, you know the law as well as I do. The little lady's obviously fully cognizant enough, legally, to decide what's best for hers----" "Little lady?!" Dixie fumed. Hank shrank in his overcoat. "Sorry. Poor choice of words? To me, everybody's little." commented the lanky fire captain sheepishly. "I apologize if I offended you but the important thing right now is finding out whether or not you're really ok. We can hash over how this is being handled afterwards, all right?" Dixie drew up a glare. "Cancel that Mayfair, Hank. I have a cold.... That's all." she said dangerously. Cap felt the back of his neck smoking from the strength of her ire. "Ok.. canceling. ." he said reasonably and fully respectful of her wish to end the medical call. "Gage, she's allllll yoourrsss." "Thanks, Cap.." Johnny was thrilled. Not. "Kelly," Cap barked. "...let's give them a little earshot distance. Come on, pal.." "Aww, Cap. I wanna stay and help out.." Chet whined. "Now, Chet!" Stanley snapped. "...coming..." Kelly peeped. The two firemen packed up the O2 and turned for the direction of the Ward just as Mike Stoker came panting up with the private phone rigged onto a bright orange extension cord. "I got it.. Hang on while I dial o--" Stanley didn't even bother to turn around. "Jolly well. The gang's all here. Now put it back. I guess she's a refusal, Stoker." "What?" "Is there something wrong with your ears or mine, Mike." Cap snarled. "Mine, Cap." Stoker bellied up. "Fine. Clean up this mess around here and cancel the second ambulance while you're at it." He began to tromp away. "Oh," he said, retracing his tracks. "You're deaf to those two for the next minute or so.." he said tossing a hand at Dixie and Gage. "I sure will be.." chirped Stoker, recognizing a pending bit of paramedic hardball to come when he saw it. He stooped only long enough to use a water puddle to wash off some blood after he had policed the area free of medical run fallout. Then he was gone, with Cap being his bigger shadow. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gage willfully stopped drumming his frustrated fingernails on the arm of Dixie's poolside chair. He laced his hands together in an unconvincing show of amenability. "Ok.." he smiled, falsely fake. "Now where were we?" he purred, ..tightly. "Talking about how normal I am right now.." Dixie said, crossing her arms together. "I wouldn't call keeling over backwards into a swimming pool in a dead faint, quite normal, Dixie. Quite the opposite." he growled. "Look..." Dixie purred, just as deadly serious. "I just got done with twenty five solid minutes of aggressive, rapid CPR." Would you still be normal after doing that?" she fired back at him. Johnny gaped like a fish, then he pursed his lips, scratching his head. "Well...." he admitted, his voice sliding up a few notes on a scale. 'I-- uh, I'll give you that...... particular point." "Good! Then go away cause I'm telling you, I'm perfectly--" Dixie sneezed and immediately, she gasped, grabbing her stomach. "Oh, really?" Gage moved in for the kill. "That was normal, eh?.. Come on, Dix. Let me see your stomach!" Johnny said, reaching out for palpating check. McCall whipped up the blanket to her chin, deflecting Johnny's hands as she resumed her angry stare. "Touch me, and I swear I'll bite your hand off! Today is gonna be all MINE!" she yelled, barely keeping it below a quiet roar. -------------------------------------------------------------- "Is there a problem here?" came an authoritative voice. Both the battling Dixie and Gage looked up, kinda startled for a moment. They had forgotten about the cop being there. And his report. "No..no.." "Nope. Not at all." they both stuttered. "We're through.." said Dixie firmly. Johnny said the same words, meekly obedient. "We're through, officer.. uh,...I guess.." "Okay, then you wouldn't mind if I go over a few details with Miss McCall here about the Miller boy. That's if.. you found that she's still medically ABLE to.." the police officer hinted. "I AM." Dixie punctuated, dismissing Johnny with a wave. Johnny cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Go right ahead, officer." Gage postured, backing away and wrapping up his stethoscope. He fired off one last glare at her when the cop wasn't looking. "You call us back if ANY of those symptoms return. Understood?!" he hissed, stabbing down a finger at the air. That gesture immediately turned into a farewell wave when the police man glanced up at Johnny with a disapproving raised eyebrow. Dixie celebrated. "Mother's keeper.." And then she stuck out her tongue at him. "In...your....dreams..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ So, having chalked up one save and another one as unresolved, Station 51 tucked their tails back between their legs and left the neighborhood. The engine returned to base as unavailable and the squad remained 10-7 to Rampart until everyone was freed up from their mutual responsibilities. Gage continued to pore over Dixie's symptoms. "Maybe I should let one of the docs know about her." he mumbled to Chet on the way back. "I wouldn't if I were you. You still have to WORK with Dixie later on, man. Do you really want to face her once she's over that cold of hers?" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : Dixie falling into swimming pool. Photo: Johnny soaked to the skin. Photo : Dixie in a faint in Gage's arms. Photo: Cap on the HT outside close by the Ward. *************************************************************************** From : wone3 Sent : Sunday, October 10, 2004 3:38 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Nagging Doubts "You are right, Chet." Gage told him with a bit of hesitation. He didn't want to face the wrath of Dixie. He had faced that wrath too many times as an injured party in Rampart's emergency room, avoiding being admitted for injuries received on the job. She would use that no-nonsense-she-was-right attitude, much like she did a few moments ago. Still something was nagging at him that she was injured more than she'd let on. ::Call it intuition:: he thought for a few more minutes, planning on stopping in to check on her after the shift change, as a friend. He figured that maybe he wouldn't receive quite as much wrath as he would've if he were on duty still. He'd run all of his suspicions by Roy first though, and maybe they could come up with a better plan together. The drive to Rampart moved on silently as Johnny drove and Chet looked out the window. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The police officer, eyeballing Dixie and deciding she still wasn't quite right, decided to keep his questioning short and to the point. Dixie was sitting a bit more straight in the chair than she had been while Johnny was there. "Can you tell me what happened, Ma'am?" he asked. Dixie told him everything, including about hearing what one of the teens had said to the injured boy, of not mentioning what had happened in the house. After finishing her story, Dixie kind of fell back into her chair in an exhausted state. The officer, seeing this, thanked her for her time after getting her contact information and gave her his card. He mentioned that if anymore information was needed, he'd come by to get it from her, and then he turned and left to return to his car to drive to the hospital. After they had all left, Dixie decided, in her exhausted state, that she'd had enough sunbathing for one day. She was still feeling the gripping pain in her stomach and her cold like symptoms weren't letting up, so she went inside to lie down for a bit. "Maybe this is all I need to lessen a few of these symptoms," she said to herself. After locking her patio door, Dixie snuggled up in her bed and soon fell asleep. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy and Marco were quietly talking in the ambulance as it sped away from the apartment complex with Roy watching their patient closely. Marco asked, "Do you think Miss McCall will be all right, Roy?" Roy reassured Marco,"Johnny is there to look out for her and he won't let anything happen that he couldn't do something about." The entire crew of 51-A held this nurse with a great deal of caring and concern, as it seemed like they dealt with her frequently, due to injuries on the job. She seemed to always be there for them, whether they were the injured one or one of the waiting room party. Roy couldn't help but feel as though something more was going on. He would check on the situation once freed up in the emergency room. Fortunately, the ride to the hospital was a short one and their patient did not grow any worse from the trip. Dr. Brackett was waiting for the ambulance to pull up and he told them to go to Treatment Room 2. Roy took a look at the desk as they sped by and noticed Carol was busy on the phone. He'd go check with her to see if Johnny had called in as soon as he was free. The gurney reached the treatment room and soon the patient was lifted over to the examination table and the ambulance attendants left the room. Carol entered the room with two other nurses. Before the doctor could give out orders, Roy asked Carol, "Have you been on the phone with Johnny?" Brackett looked at Roy quizzingly about that statement. Roy then debated with himself about how much he should tell the doc. He had a suspicion there was more than friendship between the doctor and the nurse and what he would say would really get to the doc. He also knew, though, that Brackett wouldn't let it go until he heard the truth. So Roy hesitantly started to tell his tale. "The run we responded to was at Dixie's apartment complex. We found her performing CPR on the patient with a group of kids assisting her as much as possible when we arrived," he continued. "After we had finished contacting you about the re- establishment of the teen's airway, Dixie seemingly fainted and fell into the pool. I know she was coming around when I left but I know nothing more than that," Roy finished, knowing the anxiety he was causing everyone in the room. Carol answered Roy question, "I've been on the phone ordering tests and checking on patients inside the hospital and I know that Johnny hadn't called in when I came in here." That bothered Roy for a minute but he knew Dixie had been coming around as they left, he thought to himself. If she was feeling fine and stubborn, Dixie wouldn't let them bring her in for something non critical in her book. He assumed that was the case and figured the squad would be there shortly. Roy's story also concerned Brackett for a brief moment but he needed to fully concentrate on his patient. "I'm meeting Dixie tonight and I can check on things." he told the room. ::I won't leave her until I'm COMPLETELY satisfied that she's doing just fine:: he continued in his thoughts, and then he refocused entirely on the patient. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. ************************************************************ From : Cassidy Meyers Sent : Wednesday, October 13, 2004 1:07 AM Subject : Connections It was an hour later, not long after the Miller boy had been stabilized cardiac wise from respiratory acidosis. He had gone on to Broncoscopy for a thorough check on the extent of the alveoli damage that he sustained from his aspiration of chlorinated pool water into both his lungs. Kel was very happy with the teenager's labwork, C spine and chest x-ray films. He was being kept under the paralytic agent to thwart another surprise occurance of intubation laryngospasm. The boy had been reunited with his family and things looked good on the EEG. Dr. Brackett was almost certain that no brain damage took place while he had been arrested. ::Helps that someone was there to work on his resuscitation so quickly.:: he theorized. ::My gut feeling on his neurological status will just be confirmed when he wakes up tomorrow morning.:: That line of thinking reminded Kel yet again of his short, revealing conversation with Roy DeSoto about Dixie McCall. The four firemen from 51's had gone back to the station as soon as they were freed from the Miller kid's care and paperwork, jammed together in the rescue squad. He had wished that he could've talked to Johnny Gage directly about his head nurse's symptomatic findings, but he had been too tied up with his teenaged patient's surgical intubation procedure. Kelly Brackett excused himself from the Emergency Department floor, letting Carol know that he'd be in his office for a few minutes. His simple nod and gesture toward its ornately polished dark oaken door guaranteed that Carol would indeed notify him the moment another patient case announced itself either by paramedic biophone or via the waiting room. The babble of hospital activity was mercifully muffled when he shut the door behind himself. Kel Brackett immediately went to the olive green phone on the desk. His fingers danced over a familar sequence of numbers on the rotary dial and he impatiently sat through four telephone rings before he finally heard a sleepy voice pick up. "Dix? It's Kel." he began. "Talk to me." He heard a tired groan on the other end of the line followed by a tight cough and a rustling of blankets when McCall's gravelly voice finally addressed him. "...hmm. Kel? For Pete's sake, what time is it?" "Time for your attending physician to get some answers pronto." he said firmly. "Just what were you thinking when you sent the paramedics away following your little stunt nose diving into your apartment complex's swimming pool?" In a point assuredly in her favor in Dr. Brackett's book, Dixie McCall immediately got angry. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hang up on you right now, Kel Brackett. I was sleeping soundly for the first time in..." "Roy DeSoto. He was worried enough about you to let me know what had happened to you in the Treatment Room after your neighbor was brought in." Brackett fired back. "That b*st*rd!" and there was a silence on the other end of the phone. " Whatever happened to patient/paramedic confidentiality?! I didn't know Johnny Gage was such an irritating example of a gossiping SOB!" "Pipe down! He only did his job like any paramedic worth his salt should've done. He notified his attending medical director of a potential medical problem. The fact that he did it through his partner's a moot point and you know it." Dixie quieted down, thinking of her unexpected rescue victim. "How's Ger doing?" she asked, sitting up in bed, smothering up a wince so it wouldn't be apparent vocally. The lamp turning on in her darkened bedroom did more than just stab into her eyes. It brought on the mother of all headaches and a wave of unexpected deep nausea which the nurse fought down by putting a hand to her mouth. She bore through Kel's ire bravely. "I'll get to Gerald Miller as soon as I know that YOU'RE all right. If you were symptomatic enough to red flag Roy and Johnny, you automatically red flag me. So again, I say, talk to me.." he said no nonsense. Dixie sighed, pulling a waste can full of used tissue and half eaten cough drops into her lap. "There isn't much to say, Kel. What's so unusual about having a stomach virus?" "When did that come on?" "Yesterday morning at work." "What are your symptoms and vital signs?" "Oh come off it, Kel. Quit being a mother hen. I'm not a hypochondriac to take notes on every little incidence of the sniffles." "Humor me." "Kel....no." she spat tightly. "This is my day off, and it's gonna stay that way. We're not going to be getting together over dinner tonight. No police officer's gonna stop by for more details on Ger's drowning. And no pesky off duty paramedic is gonna come calling to my front door. Nada. End of story. I know my rights as an ex-emergency medical patient." "What about my rights as your closest friend? Does that matter any? Forget about my white coat, Dix. That and my stethoscope are still hanging up on the hat rack across the room!" he boomed. McCall sighed, resting her head onto her bare knees. "I'm sorry, Kel. I get cranky with colds. When I get them.." she bemoaned. "Oh, so now you're telling me that you've got a cold and not a stomach bug. Which is it?" "I don't know.. and I don't care. All I want is twenty four hours uninterrupted down time as is due me on my off day. Is that such an unreasonable request? The fact that Ger Miller's accident interceded has absolutely no bearing on the issue!" "You're right, Dix. It doesn't." Kel agreed rapidly, toning down the frustration in his voice. "And thank you for being there. He's gonna make it with flying colors.." "Paralysis?" "None. His films are clear." "Coma?" "There're no signs. You guys were absolutely amazing with keeping him one hundred percent oxygenated. Just be grateful to Brantigan and Grow for Roy's military needle cric technique that he so kindly shared with me during the last paramedics meeting. Miller's already been decannulated and there's no indication of any subglottic stenosis at all. Now enough about him." "Kel, read my lips, or at least listen to them. Go away. I'm fine. I'll call you after sundown in an update. Just keep Johnny and Roy outta my hair tonight and I'll think about staying your best friend. Good night or good afternoon and good riddance!" and she slammed her elegant white and gold Victorian phone receiver down and cut off the connection. Kel Brackett winced at the vigorous slam of noise into his ear. He held the phone in his palm for a few seconds, half considering calling Dixie back again. :: Do I have the right to bother her any more? She sounds like she knows what she's doing. And I'll get my second phone call in five hours.:: he thought, looking at his watch. McCall barely made it to the bathroom in time before vomiting and suffering a bout of miserable diarrhea. "Oh, god I hate the flu bug.." she groaned. Long minutes later, wet from the shower and naked, Dixie crawled back into bed and pulled the covers over her head. Making a decision, Dr. Brackett decided candor was the better part of valor and he dialed the number out to Station 51. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Los Angeles County Fire Department, this is Fireman Mike Stoker. Can I help you?" Mike glanced up, "Gage. It's for you. It's Brackett." "It is?" he said, his mouth full of burger. "It's about time I heard from him. Roy, did I ever tell you I love you for spilling the beans about Dix's little fainting stunt to him?" "No. But I think you can refrain from expressing yourself. Joanne might get a little jealous." DeSoto quipped. Johnny jogged to the phone, dodging around all the gangs' shoulders in his hurry to cut physical corners to reach the doctor. "Dr. Brackett? Johnny Gage." "Gage. I talked with her." "And?" "And...there's nothing more I can do at the moment. She's adamant about refusing to see me or any other doctor for her illness." "That's sheer craziness, doc." Johnny said, spitting out his mouthful of burger into a napkin. "She's gotta be seen sometime. You weren't there. I was. She was paler than anything once I rolled her face out of the water." "Did she breathe any of that in?" "No. She woke up too fast for that." "Did her BP stay bottomed out?" "No. It got back up into the low hundreds." "And that was sitting up, right?" "Yeah, doc. Look. Now you know as much as I do. So bottom line. Are ya gonna do anything about her?" "I can't. Not by law." "I'm going over there." "No you aren't. You'll only get hauled off for trespassing. Dixie mentioned something to that effect." Gage threw up his hands. "Wonderful. Now how are we gonna have any guarantees that she's all right?" "I sort of got one." "How...?" Gage asked sarcastically. "She's gonna call me at sundown with an update." "Fair enough. I'll call off Roy, too, from going over there only so long as we hear from you as soon as you hear from her." "Consider that a promise." "Thanks, doc." "No problem. I'll hear from you next rescue call. I got the floor from lunch time through the rest of the night." "Bye, Doctor Brackett. Talk to you then." Johnny hung up the phone. He wandered back over to his chair and sat down, ignoring the bowl of potato salad that Chet pushed over to his end of the table to cheer him up. Cap inquired finally. "So, how's she doing? Is she gonna get checked out?" "No." Roy looked up from his lunch. "You're kidding." "Wish I was, pally. Kel just made me promise that you and I won't stop by over there in between calls." "On the strength of what guarantee?!" Chet whined. "On the fact that Dixie's promised to keep phone tabs with him every couple of hours." "And Kel Brackett bought that line of malarkey?" Cap sighed sarcastically. "Yep." Johnny said, balling up his napkin and tossing it onto his plate in irritation. Roy had some input. "You know, fellas, this could be a case of personal feelings getting in the way. Those two did date once you know. Maybe they're dating again. It could explain the doc's lack of medical bulldog tenacity because it concerns someone he truly cares about. He doesn't want to offend her." "That's just stupid, Roy. If you were Dixie right now, being sick and all, stepping on eggshells is the last thing I'd be doing about you. I'd be busting down your door with a full med kit." Johnny interjected loudly. "I don't think it'll come to that." DeSoto grinned reasonably. "After all, Dixie's a veteran registered nurse of twenty years. She'd never let an illness go on untreated if it were truly serious." "I'm still not comfortable." Gage said, narrowing his eyes. "Neither am I." said Chet, fully in agreement. "I think we should go around the both of them and let Joe Early in on this. No one will be held accountable if he's the one who suddenly shows up on Dixie's doorstep. He's gotta go over there tonight anyway." "How so, Kelly?" Marco asked. "To deliver a box of tickets for the Fireman's Annual Picnic Event. Dixie's one of the primary sellers this year since Gage didn't come forward and volunteer himself for it like he did for last year's." "Why should I have? I'm a rotten seller." Johnny defended. "Ummm hmm, but you're too good a paramedic not to meddle with a friend who might be in trouble and I'm too good a fireman to let someone burn themselves unnecessarily. I'm gonna go call Joe right now." he said, getting up. "Look, you two have done your job, and so has Dr. Brackett. It's now my turn to go to bat. Calling Joe'll only take a minute. Excuse me. And Gage, if you touch my burger, you're dead meat.." Chet warned as he dialed the phone without turning around. The others laughed when Johnny snatched his creeping hand back into his lap. Roy leaned over the table. "This sorta compromises the patient paramedic confidentiality thing. You feel good about Chet getting Dr. Early involved, Cap?" "You bet your *ss I do. Somebody's gotta take a stand. Cause who's gonna watch out for Dixie's, if we don't?" Hank replied, biting into a potato chip. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Kel Brackett on the office phone. Photo: Dixie in off duty clothes. Photo: Mike Stoker, answering the station phone. Photo: Chet Kelly in close up, serious. Photo: Johnny stuffing his mouth with food while Hank watches. Photo: The gang eating lunch under a sunny kitchen window. ****************************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:17 am Subject: The High Angle Woodie.. The dishes were just about done when the overhead speaker mounted above the payphone in the kitchen, issued tones. Errr! Uuhhhh! Eaggghh! ##Station 51, Truck 99. Unknown type rescue at the Colossus County Fair. 24500 Town Center Drive. Cross street.. the Valencia exit of CA Interstate 5. 24500 Town Center Drive. Cross street, the Valencia exit of CA Interstate 5. Park operators recommend arrival to the West Gate. Time out 15:06. ## The whole gang abandoned towels and newspapers and left for the vehicle bay on the run. "So, whatdiya think, Cap? Another ferris wheel accident?" Kelly shouted as he pulled on his turnout gear. "If it is, that'll make it the fourth time this year." "Hard to say, pal. L.A.'s details are sketchy. Or he would've told us more. Sam can only go on what's reported." Hank said. Then he picked up the alcove mic. "Station 51, 10-4. KMG 365." Marco countered. "We've never gone here before, Chet. I know that for sure. I remember because Mama lives out near there. She can see the coasters from her front porch." he said getting into the Ward. "Ooo, yeah, gosh. Now I remember this place. Isn't that the home of Colossus, the western United State's tallest roller coaster?" Mike Stoker asked. Kelly nodded as the squad ahead of them pulled out to lead the way. "Yep. I know that ride like the back of my hand. The highest point on it is 125 feet. Its largest drop, of fourteen hills, is 115 feet. The track's 4325 feet long with a maximum speed of 62 miles an hour with a rated G force of 3.2. Enough to make you lose your lunch if you aren't prepared." "You sure know a lot about that ride, Chet." "When something scares the bejeesus out of you, you remember everything about it, Marco. I took a date there last month. I don't know who was more scared, me or her." Kelly shouted over the sirens as the engine picked up speed. Cap had been listening and grinning like a feral cat. "Who says this is a coaster incident?" The radio barked into life. ##L.A., Station 51.## Hank snatched up the microphone. "This is Station 51." ##Station 51. Civilians report an unconscious woman. With additional information. Your situation has been outlined as a high angle rescue on a wooden structure. No mechanical failure or fire is involved.## "10-4, L.A. Station 51's ETA is nine minutes." ##Station 51.## "Oh boy." Chet gulped. "What?" Marco asked. "That's where we're headed, guys." "To where?" Stoker asked, hitting the air horn to scatter a particularly stubborn motorist putzing in front of the light blazing fire engine. "To Colossus. She's their brand new coaster. Opened last June. Solid wood, man. She's the only ride in the park made of it." ##So, out goes another ferris wheel extrication and in comes a problem with real sphincter value.## quipped Gage to Roy, who had been listening on live cab to cab band. ##Outta sight.## All the firemen laughed, easing tensions. Hank barked out authority. "Ok, you clowns, pipe down. Chet, what else can you tell me about this Colossus ride." "Well, she's got an up to four person capacity to each passenger car, with six cars per train. " "Twenty four people, huh? I wonder if I should request additional help?" Hank scratched his chin around his helmet's strap as he bounced around in his seat. ##Let's wait until we get there. ## Roy suggested. ##We'll get a better picture of it all once we've talked to somebody.## he said over the radio mic. "Oh, yeah, six trains are always running at any one time." Chet added, licking his lips. "Not now they aren't. Not if that woman was spotted out cold as a rider." Cap interjected. "That coaster operator must be smart. He's realized that bringing her train down would only increase risk of injury. She can't guard against hard knocks or jolts to her head and neck anymore." Johnny Gage finished the thought. ##...so he left the train in a semi level area and called for help.## "Most likely on top of one of those hills Chet mentioned." theorized Marco. "And into that high angle rescue profile L.A. told us about." "125 feet... Do we have rappelling gear enough to handle that height?" Stoker asked. "What we don't have, we can grab from Truck 99. They are strictly a rescue rig." Hank resolved. "So that's it, then." Chet said. "We're set." ## I sure hope so. ## replied Gage. ## For the victim's sake. ## ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: The gang doing dishes and cooking. Photo: The Ward roaring down the freeway. Photo: Cap on the radio mic. Photo: Roy, and Johnny on the mic, in the squad. Photo: The Colossus coaster in a panorama. ************************************************************ From: "wone3" Date: Wed Oct 13, 2004 10:38 pm Subject: Joe's Visit Meanwhile across town, and oblivious to all of the excitement that had gone on that day, Joe Early was enjoying his day off. He was spending it mostly out of the house and therefore he missed Chet's urgent phone call. He had the boring, home maintenance chores to do, like paying the bills and mailing the checks and weeding and mowing touch ups; but he also had some fun things to do, too. He had stopped off at the bookstore to get a book from his favorite author that he knew had just come out and he was coveting. Instead of just running in for it, he spent like two hours exploring the store and looking at other books and he bought a few more besides the one he was looking for. He also stopped off at his favorite liquor store and had gotten several bottles of wine, including a few of Dixie's favorites. He was planning on stopping by her place on the way home to give her a bottle of it as a thank you for a few things she'd done for him in the past few weeks. He was just about finished with his errands. So he headed for his next-to-last stop, at Dixie's place. He left his last stop next, to be the grocery store, because he wasn't sure how long he'd be staying at Dixie's. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ He arrived shortly in her parking lot and stopped his car. He grabbed the small bag that held the single bottle of wine and the box of tickets that he'd promised Chet that he'd deliver, and Joe walked to her front door. He knocked on the door pretty loudly the first time, not announcing himself. He was surprised when Dixie hadn't heard him. He tried a second and after a few minutes, later, a third time. And each time, Dixie didn't answer the door. Joe tried the door one more time and still, he didn't get an answer. Joe grew a bit concerned, since he knew that it was her day off, too, and he that knew she'd planned on doing nothing but relaxing at her place. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Inside, Dixie was shivering, though her forehead, if it were touched, felt like it was burning up, under the covers of her bed. She thought she'd heard the door but she chose to ignore it, knowing that none of her friends would be showing up after the warning she'd passed onto Kel Brackett. She heard the second knock and opened her eyes. Her nasty headache was still with her, and as she started to sit up, a massive wave of nausea hit her. She managed to get to the bathroom and vomited for a few seconds as it turned into dry heaves. She hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. She hadn't felt like it. That had come up earlier. She heard the door the third time and cleaned up in a hurry. She was going to yell at either Johnny and Roy or Kel for coming over even after she'd stated her demands to Kel. She started to open the door, wincing a bit from the pain that was still with her. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Long ago, Dixie had entrusted Joe and Kelly Brackett with a spare key to her front door to be used in case of need only situations. Joe was still digging for it, just as Dixie angrily opened the door. Joe said, "Hi Dix. Sorry to surprise you like this. Did you just get up?" as he took in her appearance. He noticed her sunken, dark, but glassed over eyes, her pale ashen skin that looked like it had a wet sheen to it and the red nose of being sick. :: She must have caught something quickly:: he thought. He knew she hadn't looked like this yesterday during work. Noting the surprise in Joe's face, she reasoned that he was here of his own free will, and not because he was asked by two busy body paramedics and one mule headed doctor. Dixie let her guard down significantly, but not completely, as she answered him. "Hi Joe, this is a surprise to see you. What's up?" Joe answered, "I stopped by to drop a few things off. Chet asked me to drop this box of tickets for the fireman's annual picnic. He told me that you were doing them a favor by selling them. I also wanted to drop off a thank you gift for the things that you helped me out doing the past couple of weeks." he said as he held up the bag. "Are you feeling OK? I won't stay long since you look like you are absolutely miserable." He'd seen her hiding a bit of a wince as she'd opened the door but he didn't feel entirely right about pressing the issue with her. While Kel Brackett was the type to play hardnosed with Dixie, Joe treated her with 'kid gloves' and respected her to have some knowledge as to when she needed medical attention. Dixie answered him, "Thank you for dropping the tickets off. I did promise the guys that I'd help them out. Also, thank you for the gift. You didn't need to do it, Joe. I was very happy helping you out. Also you are right, I feel miserable from this flu bug. I have been sleeping for a bit, and I probably should go back and catch a bit more sleep. Otherwise, I AM fine and I just wish to be left alone." She said that last bit, with a touch of defensiveness, as she knew Joe would want to examine her further if he felt any doubts. Joe took his cue from Dixie. He knew that while he wasn't happy with what he saw, he shouldn't press the issue with her. He told Dixie that he'd see her later. He also asked her, if the symptoms got worse or didn't dissipate soon, to please call one of her friends, either Kel, Roy or Johnny if she didn't feel she could drive in to the hospital, or himself. Dixie reassured him that if that was the case, she'd make the call. And she stressed that she didn't feel like it was needed right now. Joe then took his leave as Dixie gently shut the door. She headed for her bathroom as the nausea returned. As soon as it dissipated, she grabbed two more aspirin, hoping they'd stay down and rid her of her headache, and headed back for her bed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe decided not to stop at the store right away, instead he headed straight home to place a call to Kel and see if he knew what was going on with Dixie. He had Kel paged and waited somewhat impatiently as Kel got on the line. "What's up Joe?" Kel asked. Joe answered him, "Have you talked to Dixie recently today?" Kel told him that he had especially after a call the crew from station 51 had been on. Kel then went through the details of the day including Dixie's "nosedive" into the pool, the deal he had made with her, and his conversations with Johnny and Roy about what they saw. Joe said, " You might want to rethink it. She looks like h*ll. I bet she's worse than when Johnny saw her last. Someone needs to push her to get medical attention though she won't do it unless she feels like she needs to." Joe then went into detail about everything he observed. He told Kel about how she looked and the wince that she tried to hide from him as she opened the door. Kel said, "You know how she is when she's in that stubborn, no- nonsense mood. We aren't going to get her to change her mind. We need to think about this and figure a way to get her to realize that she needs help worse than she thinks right now." They both stayed on the phone for a few minutes thinking, but soon Kel was getting called for a case. They agreed to continue thinking on their own and to call each other once they had a potential plan. Then they both hung up. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************************************ From : Sam Iam Sent : Tuesday, October 19, 2004 10:56 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Domino Effect Cap stepped out of Engine 51's cab even before it rolled to a halt. The two fire department vehicles were flanking the massive back turn of the roller coaster's structure next to the towering white bulk of the ride's main wooden track. They had followed an amusement utilities department vehicle to get there. ##L.A., Station 51's on scene. ## Stoker said into the engine's radio mic. ## Station 51. Time out. 15:22. ## L.A. replied. ##Truck 99, break out your rappelling gear. Looks like we're gonna need it.## Hank Stanley requested on his hand held. All the gang bunched together in between the squad and engine and looked up. The Colossus's rails were silent, and two of its six red and yellow roller coaster trains hung eerily suspended and stationary, on the tops of the two highest hills. It seemed glaringly unnatural in the middle of all the normal crowd noises and amusement park cacaphony. Cap pulled off his working gloves. "Looks like that's our target up here. The nearest one's people are waving us down. Marco, go find the ride operator. Tell him to make sure the emergency stop is fully activated. And tell him I wanna track walker, double checking the manual braking bandit arms on both of these coasters, ASAP. Radio if you learn any medical details." "Right, Cap." and Lopez jogged off towards the ride's primary colored, circus themed entrance. Hank turned, "Ok, the rest of you. Johnny, Roy, head on up. Best way you can. I'm sure there's an open gate around here somewhere." DeSoto was studying something intently. "Cap, I think I spotted her. She's in the front right side car. She's not moving at all." Hank shielded his eyes from the mid afternoon sun's rays and peered in the direction Roy was pointing. "Man, they're really high up there. Climbing's gonna take way too long, guys." "What other choice do we have?" Roy asked, tightening his chin strap and putting on a life belt. Johnny Gage spun a circle in place, looking at their surroundings. He stopped suddenly with a jerk of discovery. "Cap, what about using that Sky Ride? Those gondolas are running right by the trapped train we need to get to." Hank turned and considered the viability and safety of Johnny's suggestion. Then he nodded, "You know the Park Director isn't gonna like having two rides shut down at the same time." Gage sniffed, "He'll live with it." he said dryly. "That he will." said Cap. He lifted his HT. "Marco, we need the Sky Ride's operator over here pronto. I don't care how you do it. But find him. We're commandeering a gondola for a rope launch and tandem rig over to the roller coaster." ##That might take a few minutes, Cap. ## "That's good enough 'cause the alternative is us taking twenty minutes going it on foot." Johnny Gage already had the stokes out and he and Roy were loading it up with gear. He didn't stop looking up at the unconscious woman six stories over their heads. One of her arms was dangling over the side of the coaster car and he thought he could see it swaying slowly back and forth. "She's still breathing. Her arm's moving and there's no wind." Roy and Cap nodded. "Let's hope so. Our delay's already been too long." Hank said with conviction. The Sky Ride address system suddenly gave an announcement via its music speakers about the rescue operation to come that would require a halt in all the gondolas. No one complained. And all heads that were already turned towards the fire departments' flashing trucks nodded encouragingly without any protest. A shrill whistle got their attention. Cap and the others not gathering up rope coils and pulleys cast about for the source of the sound. "Hey, firemen! Up here!" It was the Sky Ride operator. He had a white painted gondola halted on the roof of a nearby shed. "I got this one set for ya. No people!" the gray haired Swedish accented park worker shouted. "Mister, we'll be right up there." Cap said through the bullhorn. "How much weight can one gondola carry?" "Your whole g*dd*mned fire truck if it had to. And I'm not talking about the little flashing red one. This ride is top quality Swiss craftsmanship. She's not from some cheap American made, one of a kind, assembly line." Hank and the others grinned. "No insult intended, sir. Just looking out for safety measures!" Cap gestured. Chet Kelly got a small house ladder from the side of the Ward and jogged it over to the small shed under the eucalyptus trees. Roy and Johnny got into the gondola with the operator and took the rope gun launcher and plenty of rope inside with them before they moved off on the restarted ride. "You help her young fellas! She looks bad.." said a granny from a nearby red gondola as it passed the white one the two paramedics were in. "We will ma'am." Roy said, tipping his helmet. "As fast as we can." Then the two gondolas separated too far for hearing or talking. Gage and Roy kept their eyes rivetted on the woman as the Sky Ride operator took them up higher and higher towards the roller coaster track's far turn hill, the one the unlucky train was on. Roy finally got a closer view. "Yep. She's breathin. But something's not right beyond her being passed out. She's awfully flushed for the temperature out here today. It's not that hot." "Oh, yeah?" Gage said, ducking his helmet down to see around the roof's edge of the gondola. "What do you think the problem is, Roy?" "I don't know. When we get closer, we can ask the other riders." "Good idea." Johnny said, putting on his lifebelt. Right then, there was a snap when the emergency trackwalk worker, on a loop two hundred yards farther up the ride, leaned in on the second coaster train while telling its passengers what the hold up was. He fell onto his face when the coaster suddenly jerked into motion because of a downward slope and gravity. The worker went running desperately, trying to catch up to the slowly speeding up train to flick a brake switch and bring it to a halt again. But the coaster was too fast. "Roy! We've got a runaway!" Gage said, pointing, his voice growing tense and rising into a higher register. "I don't think that track walker's gonna make it to the next junction in time to throw the brake before it gets away from him!" The Swede gave his control bar a kick and all the Sky gondolas jerked and picked up speed. Gage gritted his teeth, helpless. He watched, as the horrified passengers on the out of control line of cars, suddenly discovered, that they were barrelling down on the other stalled coaster. They started to scream in panic. "We can do it ourselves if we get over there!" Johnny shouted. "We're not gonna make it in time!" Roy shouted. "We're rising too slowly!" ---------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A gondola sky ride, passing overhead. Photo: A sky rider operator, waving. Photo: A roller coaster on a track, out of control. Photo: Roy looking up apprehensively. ******************************************************* Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 04:34:24 -0700 (PDT) From: "Jeff Seltun" Subject: Outside Aid.. A zooming roar filled their ears, making Roy and Johnny wince and duck. A raucous voice filled their HTs full volume. ## Chopper 19, HT 51. Halt your cable ride. Pilot is soft touching onto the tracks. We have a ride operator on board!## The Swede peeked over the edge of the fireman's gondola, still covering his ears. "Holy mother of.. Vat is dat?!" Gage grinned from ear to ear. "That... is a Firehawk H-60! You better do as the man says." he told the frightened sky ride operator."You ok?" he asked, setting a hand on the old man's shoulder. "Ya. Are dos tings always so loud?" he chirped, bringing the gondolas to a gentle stop. He was still gripping his chest. "Yep." Roy said, smiling huge. Then he turned to Johnny. "I wonder who brainstormed up the chopper idea? That's gonna make all the difference in the world." "And I wonder if those braking things can stop a train going full tilt?" Gage asked. "We're gonna find out." Roy replied, watching the yellow, black and white Firehawk gingerly maneuver itself sideways towards the crest of the hilled rails near the coaster train holding the distressed woman. The Los Angeles County craft barely got one rung on a strut on top of a maintenance hut jutting out from the coaster course, when the sliding side door opened. A young man wearing a white cloth visor in a maroon, navy and white polo leaped out of the hovering helicopter into a crouch. He put his head between his knees and waited for the powerful bird to pull away. Then he got up and ran to a ladder thatlead to the main track below. All the while the youngish man kept his eye on the second train bearing down on them. He didn't go to a brake along the rails, he went to a special one on a platform sheltered by a hut at the top of a bend just before a steep dip and fall of the rails. He quickly powered up a console and ansted until all lights were green. Then he grabbed a long ratchet arm controlling rod attached to wires beneath the track and threw it backwards like a bandit's as soon as the train passed by a lighted yellow beacon. All the firemen watched the runaway lurch, jerking the riders heads forward as the emergency brakes below the wheels of their train bit down on the steel rails. Sharp sparks flew from the coaster's underside as all the pads on the cars strained to stop the train. But it was still coming fast, full of kinetic energy left over from a large hill it had gone down. The coaster man threw the bandit controller back one more time. Again, the sparks beneath the flying train arched out in a noisy squeal of metal on metal. The riders heads jolted even harder despite the bracing of many locked arms on the padded bars in front of them. A chorus of frightened cries burst out from the coaster's people at the second jerk. Then the roller cars hit an uphill and reverse inertia began to work. The sparks trails shooting out lessened as the train started to finally slow down below sixty miles an hour. One hundred yards, ninety yards, eighty.... The distance gap between the two coasters was still narrowing dangerously. "Come on,...come on... " mumbled Johnny through gritting teeth. "Come to a stop..." The swede next to him got into the moment and shouted, too. "Put some muscle into it, Ivan, or I'm not worth the time and energy I put into trainin ya!" Roy looked away from the dramatic spectacle despite of himself, "Who's Ivan?" "He is!" declared the Sky Ride operator at the brave teenager braking the runaway. "My first born son. If anyone gets hurt up there, it'll just tear him apart. He's got the best safety record of all of them. His riders have gotten nothing worse than a bruise or two for trying to stand up on all the dropoffs. Ivan! Do you hear me?!" he roared. The young man seemed to. He opened terrified eyes below a sweat beaded forehead and glanced at his father's gondola very quickly. Then he threw his whole body onto the brake. The runaway protested, screeching chalkboard sounds as it went by the teenager at nearly forty miles an hour. Twenty. Ten. Seven yards. Six... "no....." grunted the teenager through slitted eyes. "You're still too fast..." he said, leaning on the control bar. His back was nearly level onto the track and his arms knotted and shook with the effort. "Slow down!" Five yards. Four. Then... bang! An emergency crash stop flew up from the track in between the two roller coasters as the runaway finally reached a critical twenty miles an hour. The train slammed into the short barrier in a sudden stop three feet before it collided with the unconscious woman's train. So did the riders, into their shoulder bars. The force knocked some of them out and their heads hung limply in between the padded bars and a few hands fell limp. "Good boy, Ivan!" shouted the Swede across the sixty feet of air separating them. "You did it. Roy and Johnny winced in sympathy, immediately assessing them visually. "Ouch.." DeSoto. "That had to hurt." "Yeah, but they didn't pancake. Count your blessings, partner. Getting the wind knocked out of ya is better than dying. Okay, sir. Let's go! Let's go!" Johnny urged. "You don have to tell me twice.." said the Swede and once again the Sky Ride gondolas began their ascent to Colossus. Roy lifted his HT. "HT 51, to Chopper 19. It worked. Thanks for your assistance." ##Anytime, 51. We're touching down in the north parking lot for your injured to come. Standing by, running hot.## "10-4, Chopper 19. 51 out." DeSoto said, breathing heavily. The firemen's white gondola reached its highest point and Roy and Johnny got to work. They shouted instructions over to Ivan to protect himself while they fired the head of the rope launcher over to the coaster platform and how and what to tie off the heavier corded rope onto. Thankfully, Ivan was a farmhand and got a handle quickly on the knot tying directions. "You go first." Roy said. "I'll string the stokes between us." "All right." said Johnny. Beyond them, Ivan quickly got to his feet again after locking down the electrical emergency braking panel and he ran out to the trains with a fire extinguisher just in case friction had set any wood aflame. Gage attached his belt hook and feed line to the aerial Ivan had tied off after testing it thoroughly. The Swede threw open the gondola's door. "Be careful, fireman. That's six stories to fall if you aren't." "Believe me, I'm well aware of that. My partner and I work in places as high as this all the time." And with that, Johnny stepped off into air, letting go of the warm metal of the sky gondola. ********************** Photo: An H-60 Firehawk Helicopter in the air. Photo: A roller coaster operator. Photo: Stunned people sitting in a roller coaster. Photo: A man hitched to a rappelling harness. Photo: A rappeller inching down an aerial rope bridge. ************************************************************ From : Roxy Dee Sent : Thursday, October 21, 2004 3:47 AM Subject : The Angry Cloud~~ Johnny Gage grabbed the stokes and jerked it along the pulley line behind him. "So, how are we gonna manage this? You take one coaster, and I take the other?" Roy DeSoto grunted a reply, pulling himself along the horizontal rope tethered between the sky ride gondola and the Colossus' hilltop track structure. "Yeah, that's the way I figure." Another helicopter appeared from the direction of the parking lot. Gage could see four heads inside its windows. "Looks like we won't be alone for long. Cap's thrown some men in a second chopper." He pulled out his walkie talkie from his pocket. "HT 51, Chopper 11. What kind of gear and personnel do ya have on board?" Gage shouted into the radio to be heard over the sound of spinning rotors. ## Three spinal immobilization boards, six stokes, the full contents of your rescue squad's medical and trauma store and four firefighters. L.A. reports another fire department rescue squad has been dispatched to our location.## answered the pilot on the headset patched into Johnny's frequency. "Good deal. Good deal. Tell the guys we want the drug box and airway gear out first!" Johnny said as he continued to pull himself one handed along the line. ## I copy, 51. Relaying your message.## "I'll keep touch with ya on HT, Roy." Gage said, out distancing the more methodical paramedic on the horizontal rappelling line. Johnny began to hurry even more when he saw a frantic panic start on the first coaster. "Hey, just calm down over there! Tell me what's happening!" he shouted over to them. No one even tried to answer him and five people from the woman's train suddenly lost it and wormed their way out of their seats. Ivan noticed from his vantage point. "No! Stay put! It's not safe to walk on anything but the center boardway!" And he began running, to intercept them. He ran smack into the center of a pack of bees. "AhhhHHHh!" And he, too, started to swipe and slap himself, trying to get them off. "What the h*ll?!" Johnny mumbled as he completed tranversing the distance to the rails. He unhooked himself and immediately took action. He turned back towards his partner. "Roy! Yellow jackets! A whole swarm of them!" And he ran over to where Ivan was flailing. Gage picked up the fire extinguisher that the young teen had dropped and used it on him to freeze the bees off of his body. He did the same for anyone under attack. Then he set the red cylinder aside, upright for Roy to find when he caught up to him. "Ma'am..?" he asked the original dark skinned unconscious girl as he shook her. "Can you hear me?" He bent quickly to listen to her breathing while he got a grip on her carotid. The woman had one, but it was thready. And there was a new symptom beyond the flushing he had noticed earlier. Swelling and bumps were erupting on her face, neck and upper arms and signs of blood bright urticaria. "Anaphylaxis!" Johnny positioned the girl's head so she had the best airway he could manage on her and then he got on the HT, wide band. "I've got a full blown allergic reaction on Victim One, Train One. I need a drug box and a clear access to Rampart, right now.." ## Establishing the link, 51. ## said Chopper 11's pilot. ## Fire personnel are en route to you with a biophone and your drug box from the east track. ## "10-4.." Gage said, glancing up quickly for their progress and Roy's, looking away from the sun. The older lady next to the girl began to calm down from the fright she took from the bees. "Ohmyg*d. They came back..." she gasped. Johnny immediately took notice. "What do ya mean they came back?" he asked the rider next to his top priority patient. "The bees... Our coaster passed by a nest back there. We all saw it. They were so angry. They must be worked up because of all the trains rumbling by them every couple of minutes. We passed through a cloud of them and they started stinging us. Then this woman here suddenly gave a shout... I couldn't understand her.. it was Pali or something from India, and then she slumped over." "You mean she passed out right after the bees got to you the first time?" Gage asked. "Yes. Almost right away.." the lady nodded shakily. Gage lifted his head. "My name's John Gage and I'm a paramedic with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Now there's a whole buncha firefighters coming and we'll get you all down from here just as soon as we can." Then he told the coaster operator he had helped out. "Hold this woman's head, just like that. I'm gonna be letting go so take over. Keep tabs on her breathing. I'm gonna talk with these other folks to see if anyone else is allergic to bee stings. I'll be right back with ya in less than a minute.." He jogged to a central point along the train's length and yelled, "Is there anybody who's sensitive to insect bites or stings here who's gotten stung?" None of other fifteen people on his train spoke up. "How's she doing mister?" said one man with three bee stings around his eyes. "She's alive and help's coming fast. You can stay standing there but don't go too far from the train." Johnny said. Then he ran back to the roller coaster operator, while he got out his radio to deliver a casualty number report to Cap waiting below once he got some initial info from Roy. He read the young teenager's name tag. "Ivan. Is she still breathing ok?" he said working down the line of people to give them the same orienting speech. "Go ahead and listen to her chest if you have to. I'm wondering about any funny noises, like wheezing, or any signs of choking.." Ivan listened. "I hear whistling Mr. Gage. Is her throat swelling up?" "I won't lie to you, Ivan. And I don't wanna scare you. Yes, it is. But it's very important for you to not panic. I need you to tell me the first second her gums or nail beds lose color and start to turn blue. That'll happen if she begins to quit trying to breathe on us. She'll get a shot that'll fix all of that, in less than a minute, once the others get here. Just keep calm and keep close tabs." The trembling ride operator nodded animatedly, unable to speak. He was still coming down from his adrenaline peak that had surged through him while he was desperately braking the second train. He adequately managed the black haired girl's airway despite his shakes. DeSoto had already started his quick checks of the motionless people on the second coaster. He had two. And four others in his train who were in varying degrees of wakefulness. "Roy! Whatcha got?" Gage shouted.. Roy started his list of severity in worst order first. "Two in the front car are out cold, good airways. Possible coup contra coup on both. I got unequal pupils with blood out the nostrils. Pulse and breathing are slowing on one of them. Two cars back, a forty year old female has some dyspnea and is reactant to pain. Broken left collar bone. Her abdomen's also distended. The other three in the back are uninjured or just minor. " Roy said eyeing up the last few visually as they regained their bearings and started asking him questions. He vaguely wondered what physics had come to bear to save those farther back from getting as hurt as those in front. And a mental ghost of an answer touched on the idea that the hitches between the cars had shock absorbed the impact energy successively. "I'm leaving all six of them in their seats. The cushioned shoulder bars are doing a good job of keeping them immobilized. And it'll be easier to treat them this way, too, until we can get em out of here." DeSoto concluded. Johnny pressed his talk button. "Cap? We've got seven victims! Including the original woman." ##Affirmative. Turning back three ambulances and keeping one. ## "Johnny?!" came Chet Kelly's voice. "I got the drug box." he puffed, gingerly tire stepping over the wooden slates and air spaces. "Rampart's on channel two on relay from Copter 11. And Stoker's right behind me with the O2 and airway kit. Marco's got the IV box. Loaded with Ringers." "Great. Let me see the drug kit." and he took the handle from the firefighter. "Here, change the radio over for me and get a doc on the line. I'm grabbing her epi." Gage tossed open the lid of the black box and snatched out a prefilled white papered syringe and tore it open with his teeth. "Ivan?" "She's still doing it." said the teenager, still carefully holding the woman's swelling head back over the seat pillow. "But I think she's breathing worse. It's definitely faster. Around 22 times a minute." "Ok. Just hang on. I've only gotta get a say so from a doctor. Then it's instant solution time.." he said, holding up his needle covered epinephrine syringe. A man from Truck 99 came with the three light wood backboards and three C-collars. The helicopter pilot and his crewman were busy hovering a distance away, lowering a half hitch on a safety with the six stokes sandwiched and bundled together on a fall line. Mike Stoker jogged in and knelt by Johnny, only long enough to slip in an oral airway on the unconscious bee stung girl of Gage's along with a high flow oxygen mask before he ran to Roy's side to set up the rest of the three tanks of 02 that he carried with him. Johnny cursed under his breath after Chet had given a hail to the base station in Torrence twice. "Come on, doc. Get the lead out." ---------------------------------------------------------- Gif : *animated* A restless yellow jacket bee. Photo: Roy and Johnny working on someone in a stokes. ************************************************** From : patti keiper Sent : Tuesday, October 26, 2004 7:34 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Cupid....Draw Back Your Bow.... Johnny Gage elicited Marco's help. "Lopez. Grab her legs. I wanna get her to the ground now. And stick around. She may need some help with breathing by demand valve. I'm gonna have epi going in as soon as Chet gets Rampart notified." Marco nodded, and he carefully took the slight woman's shoulders, and together, paramedic and firefighter lowered the allergic reacted young woman to a flat area in between the roller coaster's tracks. Lopez automatically took the woman's head and checked her status. "Thanks." he said to Ivan, the ride operator. "I got it from here. Why don't you go over to my coworker and see if he needs any help waking those other people. His name's Roy." "O-Over there? uh, ok.." said Ivan. "Mister, is she gonna die?" "No.." said Johnny with conviction up at the teenager. "We caught her early enough. This med will turn her around quickly and we'll avoid any chance of cardiac arrest." he said, putting the unused epinephrine syringe on the girl's stomach while he grabbed out the Normal Saline I.V. components he'd need for maintaining her hemodynamic stability. Ivan offered a weak smile before he jogged over to the impacted roller coaster. "Chet? Anyone on the line yet?" Angrily, Johnny pulled off a bee that was still stinging the Khmer girl with his bare fingers. Then he hastily got a set of vital signs on his patient after cutting her shirt open down to her elastic tube top with the shears from his holster. Chet shook his head. Then he shouted a little louder into the biophone's black receiver. "Rampart, this is HT 51." said Kelly into the biophone for a third time. "Do you read?!" Marco gave Johnny some information. "Her airway's still clear from what I can feel, Johnny." he said triggering the thumb pad on the positive pressure O2 mask that he had pressed over her nose and mouth. "Respiration's thirty, irregular and shallow." "Keep up supporting her inhalations. That's too fast a rate to do any good." Gage ordered Marco. The helmeted firefighter nodded, licking dry lips. Finally, Dr. Brackett's welcome voice toggled into the frequency. ##Go ahead, 51.## Johnny waggled gimme fingers at Chet for the phone. He got it. "Doc, analyphalaxis. Small female early twenties. From multiple bee stings." he said rapidly. Kel immediately understood the need for haste. ## 0.3 mg of epinephrine 1:1000 solution sub Q. Then a large bore IV Normal Saline wide open for follow up boluses of epi 1/10,000 for a minute. Stat.## Johnny dropped the phone and snatched up the syringe, delivering the badly needed adrenaline into the soft tissue of the girl's abdomen. He continued to listen to Dr. Brackett's orders issuing from the phone receiver by his feet while he established a very fast I.V. from the set up and bag that was hanging from his teeth. ##If she's non reactant to pain, go ahead and insert an esophageal airway. Especially if she hasn't turned around after a minute or so. Give me a set of vitals when you can.## Kelly anticipated and picked up Johnny's notepad from on top of the biophone lid. He also propped up the girl's limp blue jeaned legs onto a gear box to offset the increasing signs of hypotension he saw developing in her. "Rampart, vital signs are: Blood pressure, 70/48. Pulse is 140. Respirations are ..." he paused, setting a hand on the woman's stomach for a count... "..30 and irregular. She is under active ventilations on 100 % O2 at twelve times a minute." reported Chet. ##Standing by, 51..## answered Brackett. Johnny handed off the running I.V. to the girl's seat passenger to hold and he crouched over her chest to listen to her breath sounds around Marco's hands. He froze there, waiting for the slight sounds of stridor and wheezing to go away, listening intently with his head lowered, through a stethoscope. They finally did after fifteen very slow seconds. Johnny Gage smiled. "Rampart, Squad 51. Her dyspnea's actively easing and there's no signs of laryngo or bronchial spasms forming." Dr. Brackett let out a long sigh of relief and he straightened up out of a worried two palmed lean on the base station's counter. ##All right, Johnny. Guess we're gonna get lucky. Belay that EOA and send in a strip as soon as possible. Start an aminophylline push,.....5 mg i/v then .5 mgs on a slow drip. I want to prevent a biphasic reaction even before it happens and I wanna lock out any refractory bronchospasms permanently for this exposure. If you feel you need to give her another covering dose of epinephrine as a bolus, make it 1/10,000 at .5 mg intravenously every ten minutes as necessary. Also, if pulmonary edema shows up or any multilocal ventricular tachycardia, have 2 mgs propranol IV standing by. Remember if arrythmias develop, subsidence of the ventricular effects may be followed by atrial tachycardia and atrioventricular blocks. So watch for that transient bradycardia as a secondary epinephrine overdose earmark. Don't be afraid of it. Preserving her airway and ending any adverse vasoeffects are paramount in this stage of the game.## "10-4, Rampart. Stand by for an EKG on Lead Two." Gage replied. He pulled over the blue Tetronix monitor and opened it. Then he wiped down sweaty places on the woman's shoulders and ribs skin with her own shirt before attaching four of its electrode pads. He deftly snapped on their sensor wires. Gage plugged the EKG in to the biophone and adjusted a dial in the red case to a good send frequency for their apparent altitude above ground. "Rampart, transmitting now." he said to Brackett. Dr. Brackett read his feeding cardiac strip. ##So far so good, 51. Give me a second vitals set after you've delivered your I.V. meds and transport as soon as possible.## "10-4. We'll be bringing her in by chopper. ETA's approximately ten to fifteen minutes, doc." ##Understood. I'll consider myself on hold for any preflight info.## Under Marco's hands, the woman coughed and the fingers of both her hands, resting on the hot sun lit railwood slats, twitched. Johnny immediately bent close and pulled out the short oral airway in her mouth before she could gag on it. "Heyyy.. How are you doing? Can you hear me yet? What's your name?" The girl sputtered, shoving away the O2 mask vaguely, moaning. "....hhghhh. Can't....br--" "Marco, raise her up..." Gage told him. Lopez did so, leaning the girl's weight against his chest. He switched out Marco's hand held ventilator for an elastic banded simple clear mask. "Is that better, hon?" Johnny asked her. "What's your name?" he repeated. "...*gasp* Lathika.." she whispered. "...oh, those horrible.. *cough* things. My father said they could kill...me..." she sobbed softly, with a heavy India accent. Some wetness ran out of both her eyes. Sweat and tears. "Yeah? Well, this time they didn't." Marco smiled. "Just relax, Lathika. You've been given some medication that's ending your allergy attack. You'll feel better soon. The swelling's already going down on your face and neck." "Is....he right?"...Lathika asked Johnny. "I still can't open my eyes all the way." "Absolutely.. Now don't move around too much. I got an I.V. started in your arm." Startled and still very shaky, the girl looked down. "Oh!" "Shhh, it's ok. It's ok. You're doing fine. You were only out for a little while.." Gage lied. "You've nothing too serious going on. Now we're gonna get you comfortable and to the hospital so the doctors can check you out, all right? You're going to be flown out to them. Ever been on a helicopter before?" he grinned encouragingly while he took her wrist pulse and eyeballed her breathing rate. "No.. " she gasped. "Well, it's pretty fun. Noisy, but fun." he told her. Then he slipped into paramedic again. "How's your breathing now? Is that suffocating feeling going away yet? Your voice doesn't sound as hoarse as it did just a few seconds ago." "I...I think I'm ok..." she coughed wetly. "How's my heart? I've got some problems there. I had rheumatic fever as a child." Gage and Marco exchanged a flickering glance and both their eyes fell on the EKG screen, but only normal sinus tach was registering. "What kind of problems?" Johnny asked quietly, holding still. "Father says I've got a murmur. He's a doctor back home in New Dehli." Gage relaxed. "Oh... ok. Thanks for mentioning that. Lathika, your EKG looks pretty good for becoming the one of the first human ballistic pin cushions in the whole entire history of the Colossus County Fair." he joked about the bee attacked coaster accident she had nearly been in. Lathika laughed weakily. "Where am I?" she whispered hoarsely. Ivan had returned and he was kneeling by the girl's feet. "Still on the highest hill of the roller coaster ride. I'm the one who spotted you blacking out and called the fire department." "Thank you...sir..uh,.. Mr.." said Lathika shyly, suddenly taken by her new, unexpected attentive guest who was more her own age than the helmeted firemen around her. "Svenson..But, please, call me Ivan." offered the Swedish accented teenager. "Thank you, Ivan. For watching out for me. And all of you other men as well. Father will be grateful. And.. so am I..." she said and then she smiled the whitest smile Johnny and the others had ever seen. No one noticed the hives or any of the swelling at all on her face and were thoroughly dazzled by her emerging exotic beauty. "No problem.. " they all said, surprisingly effected by the charismatic Khmer girl. Ivan was tongue tied. Then Gage took firm charge again. "Lathika, we're gonna get you set up into a stokes. We're gonna carry you up to the chopper hovering at the top of the coaster hill. Just relax and let us do all the work, ok?" The first frown appeared on her face. "I'm....so cold." "We'll get you covered up in a second. " Marco said. "There's a blanket right here." "That'll pass." said Gage. "The epinephrine I gave you made all your blood vessels constrict while making your lung passages dilate. It's bound to make you lose some heat. Its what's making your heart beat so fast right now." "I wouldn't be too sure of that.." said Chet, sotto voce to Gage. "Just look at those two love birds." Ivan and Lathika were locked eye to eye, both grinning, with gently clasped hands. Their eyes were full of the undeniable, heart felt look of love at first sight. Johnny smacked Kelly. "Go radio the pilot that we're ready for her pickup along with four of these other coaster riders." he said warningly, half in a smile. "We'll load her off with the new paramedic on board before we go help Roy out." "Roger that.." said Chet, still politely admiring the two oblivious teenagers in between them. Kelly rose and helped Marco and Gage lift Lathika into the yellow plastic wrapped nested stokes. Johnny hurriedly gave Dr. Brackett a second BP and other vital signs along with his news of the nearly complete turn around in the girl. Then he was busy with Ivan, Marco and Chet, with carrying Lathika's gear loaded stokes into Chopper 11. Soon, the rest of the roller coaster rescue operation began in earnest. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : Johnny, Chet, Marco, looking down. Photo: Johnny with an unconscious girl, pupil check. Photo: A winningly beautiful Khmer teen girl. Photo: A shy Swedish teen boy. Photo: Cap, Roy and Johnny lowering a laden stokes. ************************************************************** From: Sam Iam Date: Wed Oct 27, 2004 11:28 am Subject: Evac The bee stung girl's complete name was Lathika Senaveratani. Gage made sure to turn down her I.V. to TKO before the co-pilot took over her head. He helped Johnny load her up onto the rear deck of the hot running H-60. Marco and Kelly each set gloves on Johnny's back as the three of them backed away from the aircraft, crouched down low to avoid the rotor wash. Vocal communication was impossible. So, as the chopper sped up its top blades for liftoff for the parking lot, to let out the first batch of uninjured riders, Gage gave the paramedic on board her, Lathika's treatment plan and care history via HT. Then he took his medical gear back after a transfer to 110's. "HT 51 to HT 110," said Johnny into the walkie talkie as Chet, he and Marco were bent over while jogging back down the hill towards Roy and his victims. "Her rhythm's stable. I gave her only one dose .5mg epi I.V. 1/10,000 on the way up to you at 15:41. She's chilled somewhat and just a little anxious. You've got a copy of my care notes under her shoulder, wrapped around the I.V. bag. The victim's father is out of the country but,...she may have a new friend she'd like to contact once she's at Rampart . His name's Ivan Svenson." he said. "Do me a favor and hook those two up if you can." he said with a grin at Kelly, who gave Johnny a thumbs up. "Johnny the match maker. Didn't know you had it in you, Gage." chuckled Chet. "I'm sure Dixie'll learn about this pair of turtle doves on her next shift and who to thank for it.." he yelled over the helicopter's noisy preparations. Gage just rolled his eyes. "Who am I to argue with true love, Kelly? I just wish that someday, it'll happen to me." he yelled back, smiling huge. ##Chopper 11 to HT 51, paramedic signals message has been received. You're clear of my danger zone. Good luck with your other victims.## said Chopper 11's pilot as Lathika's flight took to the air. Hearing that they were in the clear, Marco, Johnny and Chet began to run back down the hill in a controlled descent along the tracks to the second, still occupied roller coaster near DeSoto. Gage set down his tank of oxygen with a clang. "Ok, Roy, which one first? Kelly, start putting C collars on all the ones Roy has opened the shirts on." he said. Then he looked up, "Stoker? Any not breathing well?" "This one." he said about a young teen aged man in yellow with a bald head. "He's worsening. Breathing's Cheyne-Stokes. Carotid's forty two. Roy's already got an intubation order and another for atropine." Mike replied, giving the boy another carefully assisted breath with a demand valve. "He hasn't vomited any more. Last time was two minutes ago and that was only liquid. No food." "Go to Stoker's teenager!" replied Roy, giving his victim albuterol. Gage hurried over and eyed the young man's already hanging Ringer's approvingly. "He's perfusing good enough, cardiac wise. Ok, let's get him going. Endotrach, Roy?" "Yeah. Size 7 French. It's on his lap along with the larygoscope." DeSoto said. "I got an asthma case here turning around with a poor airway with a palpable deformed alignment at C-5. She's my top priority." and then he was on his HT once again to Dr. Early at Rampart. "I'll be right with ya.." Johnny said. Marco had already recruited Ivan to help hustle the uninjured passengers away and to a ladder where climbing teams of firefighters from Truck 99 were ready to show them the way down. Stoker kept up the boy's ventilations manually as Johnny impatiently waited for Kelly to immobilize the teen's neck. "Man, how am I gonna do this? The impact bars around his shoulders are keep him fully head upright." Gage mumbled. "You need him flat, sir, to help him?" asked Ivan, running up. "Yeah, can you do that without jarring their C spines?" Roy asked. "He and the man next to him have bad head injuries." "Sure, I can. Like this..stand away for a moment." and Ivan set a firm foot on the edge of the coaster car and released a hidden spring. The whole car smoothly angled feet up along a rocking cradle and in seconds, the teen's whole passenger row was "seated" horizontal. "That is how we get the riders out at the loading terminal. Just let me know when you want me to release the shoulder restraint bars. They all lift off at once for every seat on the train." "Thanks, Ivan." said Johnny and then he and Mike Stoker quickly got the boy airway secured and fully support medicated. His color improved at once. Johnny left him under Mike's watchful eye and moved to DeSoto's side to help him with the asthma case with the broken neck. Five minutes later, the three seriously wounded, in stokes, were on the way to the hospital in the belly of Chopper 19 with Roy DeSoto, Johnny Gage and 110's second paramedic aboard. The rescue helicopter arched its trajectory into the setting sun, heading for the Torrance city skyline. ##Chopper 19 to Rampart Base, we've three serious landing at the pad in four minutes.## said the flight commander. ##Three minor are arriving via ambulance in eight.## All the rescue personnel heard Dr. Brackett and Joe Early's voices in triplicate over radios, headsets and HTs as the doctors acknowledged that they were ready to receive all incoming victims to their emergency ward at Rampart General Hospital. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Loading Chopper 19. Photo: The H-60 helicopter pilot. Photo: The Colossus roller coaster as viewed from the air with Station 51 and choppers. Photo: Roy and Johnny Gage putting on life vests inside Chopper 19. Photo: Chopper 19, LaCoFD's firehawk helicopter, in the air. ************************************************************************* From: "killashandrarey01" Date: Wed Oct 27, 2004 5:05 pm Subject: After Hours.. Rampart remained busy with the Colossus County Fair accident victims until long after sundown. Dr. Brackett and Joe Early were so deep in their diagnoses, and stabilization surgeries, that they had forgotten about Dixie McCall, still lying sick at home. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Dixie McCall awoke to a full darkness, broken only by the pale moonlight streaming in through the lacy curtains of her bedroom window. Her bleary fever dry eyes, made out the time on her nightstand clock. 00:38. She tried to move, in a reach for a half full, luke warm water glass, when the sharp belly pain doubled her up making her grab around both knees, in a surge of choking nausea. "Owww..." she moaned. "Ok, enough's enough.." she grunted, half sobbing. She hugged herself under the blankets in suffering, burning agony. "I give up. I give in. I'm going to see a doctor. I promise....Just...just ease up and let me dress." she said to her stomach. Her belly pain, had moved. It was now pinpointed, in a spot between her right hip bone and her navel. She frowned, unable to make the significant connection with that new finding. Her mind was too muddled. Dixie had pulled on pants over her pajama shorts and had snatched up her car keys from the dresser, when the pain toppled her onto the rug. She lay there, curled in a ball, soundless, as wave after wave of pure agony swept over her. Her bedroom furniture and the moonlit ceiling blurred. "No, not gonna black out. Oh, boy. Kel's never gonna forgive me for trying to wait it out." she cried, leaking tears of misery. Dixie crawled trembling fingers across the rug until they reached the phone cord trailing from the Victorian receiver on her nightstand. With a jerk, she pulled the phone down from the table. It clattered in a tangle of cord around her head. "...ohhh..hhh..." McCall moaned, dragging the phone and its hand held receiver to her face. She dialed seven numbers, leaving the phone tipped over sideways, out to the only number she could remember entirely. A male voice came on the other end of the line, questioning, and concerned, when Dixie didn't answer. Dixie passed out close to the receiver, where her strained breathing could be heard clearly, in fevered distress. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. **************************************************************** From: "wone3" Date: Wed Oct 27, 2004 1:40 pm Subject: The Call out The number Dixie remembered and dialed was Station 51 and she had been really lucky as the whole station was just returning from a vacant house fire with no injuries to be transported that had occupied all of them for the last hour or so. Mike Stoker had just pulled the engine in place and raced to pick up the phone beating Captain Stanley to it. He heard the distressed breathing on the other end and when he tried to get the person to talk, he received no answer from the other end. "Can you please tell me who you are? " he said into the phone. Suddenly, Johnny realized that they hadn't heard anything about Dixie since being called out for the coaster incident. "Do you think it is her?" he said aloud. "Ask the person if it is Dixie." he said. Mike called into the phone, "Dixie, Miss McCall is that you?" He heard a quiet groan on the other end. Roy, who was right beside the receiver heard the groan, too, and grew concerned that it might be Dixie. Roy called over to the Captain, "Cap, can you call us in a silent alarm for Dixie's place? We should go check it out to be sure. Could you also call over to the hospital? Doctors Brackett and Early will want to know what's going on, we promised to keep them in the loop as they promised us." Cap reassured them that the docs would be called as he hurried to call the alarm into dispatch. "Dispatch this is Station 51, calling in a silent alarm for squad 51 to 213 Elm Street, Apartment 6." Dispatch answered, ##10-4…. Squad 51, time out, 00:51.## Captain answered, "10-4, KMG 365." He went over to the squad with the call slip as the guys were waiting in it. Marco ran over to open the bay door for the squad to exit. Cap told the guys, "Be careful, but get there quickly. We'll make the call. If you need to take her in, you can stay available from the hospital. Call us once you find out anything though, OK?" Both Johnny and Roy echoed, "We will, Cap, and thanks." They then sped out of the bay on a speed trip to Dixie's apartment. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ******************************************************************** From: "Jeff Seltun" with "Patti Keiper" Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 01:26:32 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Hindsight is NOT Better Than Foresight... :) On the way, with lights and siren running, Roy DeSoto had a thought. "Johnny, do you think we'll need PD for this call? We might freak out a lot of Dixie's neighbors if we force our way into her place without alerting em ahead of time." Johnny let out a big sigh, crumpling up the address slip. "It is the middle of the night, and you know how we need the police for most of our other calls like this. I'll raise em on the horn." said Gage with a nod. He lifted the mic, "L.A., this is Squad 51." ##Go ahead, 51.## "Send out a squad car to our silent alarm's location. We may need official authorization for a break in." he said and then he hung up the microphone head onto its spigot. ##10-4, 51. LAPD says their ETA is fifteen minutes.## "What?!" Johnny said in exclamation. "That's sheer craziness! What if Dixie's condition's serious? We can't wait that long just hanging about outside her patio...." he empathized out loud as he listened to L.A. notifiy a police patrol car about their medical emergency private home entry request. Roy said. "If we can't see her in the window, that's what we're gonna haveta do, junior. A phone line with a history of heavy breathing doesn't mean a life or death situation." "But it doesn't negate it either." Gage said, very unhappy, as he clunked a jacketted elbow down on the open edge of his passenger window. "You told me you and Stoker definitely heard a groan on that line." "It IS near Halloween, Johnny." "Yeah, but why would kids prank call a firehouse? Usually kids think we're really cool and...leave us alone." Gage said. "I can think of half a dozen crank calls B shift's had over the last two months that started up just like this one." Roy just shrugged. "We'll have at least some answers in...." he looked at his watch in the glow of the bar lights reflecting off the squad's hood. "....four minutes....." "I got a better idea....." Johnny said with a finger snap. "What?" Roy asked, glancing away from the road. Johnny picked up the radio mic again. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Engine 51 roared off the freeway ramp and pulled up behind the squad in front of Dixie's apartment complex. The noise of her arriving Code Three woke up everyone within ear shot to a distance of two hundred yards. "Is this your idea of a brilliant idea?" DeSoto asked Gage while they wound through the night clothed crowd of people, now milling about the pool area, fully loaded with gear. "Yeah..." Johnny grinned. "Now we have witnesses..." "And Cap's just as concerned about that phone call as we are. He's not gonna yell. Not in the slightest." "You're right about that." Roy considered. "It's not like it's a busy night for firehouse calls. Being available here or at the station's pretty much the same thing I guess." "Exactly.." Johnny said. As they neared apartment six, the gang piled out and went immediately to the front entryway to ring the doorbell while Roy and Johnny covered the back patio facing the moonlit pool to see what they could see. Johnny upped his ante. "Would someone turn on the lights out here? We gotta see what we're doing!" he shouted to the babbling, gossiping crowd of residents around them. The off hours overhead suddenly kicked on over the party hut at the far end of the pool, lighting their way through the thick palms and bushes surrounding Dixie's patio. "Thank you!" shouted Roy. Then he mumbled. "Geesh, talk about an abundance of bystander help." Johnny's HT came to life in his jacket pocket. He pulled it out. It was Cap. ##No answer at the front door at the bell or with the knocker. And we've no windows to look inside. How about on your end?## "Still getting there. I wouldn't say Dixie's a premiere..." he grunted as he forced O2 tank and com box through the hedges.." gardening type. It's a sheer jungle over here, but we're getting there." Johnny told Hank. "She does like her privacy.." Roy grinned. Gage sighed and finally his shoes reached the concrete slab of her patio. "You know, there's another reason why I used the engine to wake everybody up." "Why's that?" Roy asked as he, too, fought through the bushes to join his grinning partner on Dixie's back yard landing. A commotion on the sidewalk of fast stepping slippers got their attention and a thick, hidden ivy covered gate that neither Roy nor Johnny knew was there, suddenly swung open onto the patio where they were, revealing a woman in a robe of quilted pastels with a thick ring of keys in her hand. "That's why.." Gage pointed at her. "I figured one of these crowd folks just had to be the land lady.." Johnny said, tilting his head. "Dragging out the Ward, too, just bettered our chances in finding her.." "Will wonders never cease.." Roy sighed with a half smile, pulling off his helmet. He quickly explained the situation to the land lady about Dixie McCall. "Oh, sure.. Here, let me let you in. The poor dear. We all thought she was just tired from saving Gerald Miller. The kids saw her go back inside right after you fellas left." Johnny was still peeking through the windows, shining his flashlight. He couldn't see anything. "Thanks, Ma'am, for coming. You see, the cops are delayed a bit. And this can't wait." "No, of course it can't.." said the landlady. "Here you go boys. Can I come in? I'll be your entry witness.." she volunteered. "That's what we had in mind, Ma'am.." Johnny said as the landlady opened the glass patio door with a flick of a long skeleton key. Roy and Johnny immediately went inside, shouting Dixie's name. The landlady trailed behind and turned on the lights for them. "She's not in here.." said Roy, leaving the bathroom. "Looks like she's been vomiting." he said about an unflushed toilet. "Some diarrhea, too." He flushed it away after Johnny had a look at it. Johnny let in Cap and the others through the front door and quickly, the gang cased the living room, den, the closest bedroom.... Finally, they found her on the carpetting, face down with a phone receiver in her hand, in the farther one. "Cap, we'll need an ambulance.." Roy said. "You got it, pal. I'll be right back." Johnny unwrapped the phone cord from around Dixie's body and hung up the phone into its cradle, setting the whole thing back on the nightstand while DeSoto knelt down, feeling for a carotid. "Dixie? Can you hear me?" Together, he and Johnny gently rolled her over onto her left side from off of her stomach, supporting her head and neck in a line, carefully, leaving her legs bent up to her stomach as they checked to see if she was breathing. She was, shallowly. Dixie just moaned at an arm pinch. "Altered level, Johnny. Marco," he asked looking up. "..can you get her on some O2?" "Yeah." "Make it high flow." Hank returned after his HT call outside and crouched down, "Can we move her to the bed? It might make it easier for you two to work." Johnny got done sweeping Dixie's head, neck and back for any blood or misalignment. "Yeah, I'm not finding anything here. She didn't hurt herself falling at least. Her c-spine's clear." The gang lifted her to the bed with a sheet, leaving the others pulled down. She was placed onto her back and Roy and Johnny piled the gear around her after the O2 was set over her face. Stoker thought ahead and placed pillows under Dixie's knees to keep them bent, remembering her unexpressed pain from earlier in the afternoon. Cap began a hail out to Rampart while Johnny loosened Dixie's clothes and pants for breathing's sake and got an initial set of vital signs. "Chet, see if you can wake her past groaning. I don't know why she's not conscious yet. The oxygen should've helped her regain more awareness a full minute ago." "That's if this is just another syncopal episode." DeSoto said as he got a blood pressure off of her. His expression changed into a more serious frown. "78/52. She's real warm, too." "Sepsis?" Johnny guessed. "Maybe. Check her abdomen. You remember what happened to her this afternoon better than I do." DeSoto admitted. "Not really. She wasn't very revealing." But Johnny checked. He found mild rigidity in the lower right quadrant and he heard noisy bowel sounds through his stethoscope. "Ok." Kelly began talking to McCall loudly. "Come on. Dixie, can you open your eyes for me? It's Chet Kelly from Station 51. We got your call ok. Everyone's here. Hey, open those gorgeous peepers of yours and say hello to your house guests. Millie the land lady's here, too. Johnny, hand me your penlight. I'll check out her pupils for you." Gage tossed Chet his light. "What'dya got?" Kelly reported a finding after a few seconds. "P.e.a.r.l." "Figures." Johnny huffed in frustration. "Keep at it. We'll need her talkin to learn anything more." "And... she's starting to flinch." Chet continued. "That's a little better. Just don't kiss her. She may get mad at ya." Johnny said with volume, trying a bad joke to get any kind of a cognitive reaction out of the sick nurse. "Why not? She's pretty enough.." Kelly quipped, going along, equally loud. Dixie blinked and then she coughed. And then the pain returned, full blown. "Oh, guys. I ..thu you'd nev ...here.." she moaned, drawing her knees up even higher than the pillows. "Oh ..gaa ..make it sto-- p p.." she sobbed, with the emotions hardly reaching her features as much as it did in her voice. "Dix?" Johnny asked, "Open your eyes.." he said, shaking her. "Tell us what's happening.." he ordered firmly. She just made a non-sensical noise and shuddered in a fever chill. Hank got a reply on the biophone. It was Dr. Morton. "Stand by, Rampart. I'll pass you off to one of the paramedics now. We've got a thirty two year old female with an acute abdomen, non traumatic." he informed. Then he mouthed the word "Morton" at his men when they looked up from getting a Normal Saline I.V. ready. Roy took the phone. "Rampart. Our victim's semi-conscious. Non responsive to verbal commands. B/P's 78/52, Pulse's 90. Her respirations are 20 and shallow and both pupils are equal and reactive. There's no signs of falling injury but there is evidence of gastric and intestinal upset with a fever. We found mild guarding in her lower right quadrant. She's on fifteen liters of O2." Morton nodded his head and then he pressed the talk button in the base station. ##Maintain her O2. Start an I.V., 51. Normal Saline. Administer a 250 to 500 cc's bolus and titrate until her pressure's at least 90 or better systolic. Then turn it TKO. Conduct a head to toe survey and get a better neurological assessment. Look for any abdominal distension or signs of pulsatile masses. Palpate her flank on the effected side for any CVA tenderness. Also, draw a red top for analysis. She's been vomiting and losing digestive material intestinally, so I'm gonna assume it's been a while since she's eaten anything. Give her some Dextrose at 50%. 25 gms in an I.V. push. Let's hope her stuporous state's due to hypoglycemia and that it isn't septic involvement. 100 mgs Thiamine won't hurt either. In fact, give her some. And get an oral temperature for me if you can, 51. Monitor her on EKG for any altered rhythm. Report back to me in two minutes with any new details. If not, transport her as soon as possible. ## "10-4, I.V. Normal Saline titrated to the hemodynamic status margin minimum. A red top followed by 25 gms Dex50 I.V., and 100 mgs Thiamine. EKG check followed by a condition update and immediate transport." Millie wanted to know. "What's all that stuff?" Cap answered, "Salt water and sugar, with one of the B vitamins, a heartbeat reading, and then a fast ticket outta here." "Huh...Whatever happened to the good ol smelling salts and patting the wrists routine? That worked fine in reviving folks awake in my day.." Millie interjected. Johnny and Roy just smiled. They got down to business re-examining Dixie for problems visually and by feel and found only a few bruises on her palms from the CPR she had given Ger and a few minor scrapes on her hips from when she dragged the boy out of the pool. No masses or pulsations were found anywhere in her abdomen beyond the rigidity that was just starting to become apparent. After they had given her a good once over and had connected Dixie to the heart monitor, they covered her up with a sheet for warmth. A minute later, following the energizing Thiamine, all the sugar and the actively pushed fluid bolus, Dixie finally showed some mental life. Her eyes fluttered open. For good measure, she jerked her hand out of Kelly's concerned one. "I heard that joke, you two nutcases. I just couldn't answer.." she growled. "Not yet, anyway. Just how much is all this attention gonna cost me? I've never needed an ambulance before.." "Hardly anything and ...we're glad you liked it.." Johnny said. "And everybody ELSE'S glad that you're conscious. Now you know the routine. Quit griping and answer my questions already." Dixie sighed under her O2 mask and lifted her knees a little higher at a particularly viscious pain stab. "Go.." "What are your symptoms? We already know about the fever, diarrhea and the vomiting." "Abdominal pain. Surprise!" Roy and Johnny made a face. Chet just laughed. "Do you have any allergies?" "No." "Are you on any medications or have you taken anything for this?" "None and no." "What kind of abdominal history do you have? Anything like a past incarcerated hernia, intussuception, cholecystitis, cystitis, duodenal ulcers, diverticulitis, abdominal aortic aneurysm, kidney infections, kidney stones, pancreatitis, pelvic inflammatory disease...." Dixie just rolled her eyes at the last one. "Sorry.. And I know you haven't had any kids recently.." She glared at Gage indignantly. "..ever.." he amended self consciously, clearing his throat. Dixie let him off the look-that-could-kill hook. "None on all counts, Johnny. All I know is that I hurt. Horribly. And I'm so hot I feel like I'm gonna die." she whimpered instead. "No you're not. Your pressure's sitting at an even 100 now. Up twenty millibars." Roy grinned. "Speak for yourself. You aren't hurting." she snivelled. "He could be if you punch him one.." Chet suggested. "Don't tempt me.." she spat. Right then, Johnny tested for rebound tenderness over her stomach and found a definite positive finding when she shoved his hand away with a sharp intake of breath and suddenly grew five shades paler. " Uh huh.. And right over McBurney's point, Roy.." Dixie met both the paramedics' eyes with a blank stare. "You've got to be kidding. Appendicitis?" she pegged. "We don't know that and none of us will. Not until after a battery of testing.." Roy admitted. "Cap, how long on that ambulance? She's.. VERY.. stabilized now." Gage asked, putting a bored chin into a hand on an elbow lean. "Let ME find out for ya, Cap." and Kelly neatly exited the apartment to avoid the storm to come. "I'll....just.. show them the way through darkest Africa out here..." he said. "My garden's not THAT bad! Oww.." Dixie fired back, doubling over when her shouting irritated her side again. Gage returned to his questioning. "Last oral intake?" "Uhh,, I don't remember.." she sighed weakily from the pillows. Roy rubbed his nose. "Morton called her diminished LOC right on the nose. Hypoglycemia.." "Not him, too...?! Ughh!" Dixie denied. "It's bad enough having Kel and Joe snooping around and finding out about this.." she winced. "But to have that beside mannerless automaton knowing about it.." "Shall I relay that message?" Johnny quirked, holding out the biophone receiver. "He's listening.." Dixie paled even further. "No, he's not. I covered the phone when you started up about him. Aren't I nice?" Gage sniffed. "Events leading to your illness?" he continued, scribbling into his note pad. Dixie sputtered, recovering on all tracks but the physical. "Let's see, over work, under pay.." she ticked off on her fingers.. " a tiny head cold and now I've got a big problem with a certain bunch of real pesky firemen.." she blathered. Johnny ignored her. "When was the onset of your pain?" Dixie finally got intimated by the proceedings and started answering without bristling. "Started mid line bilaterally around 11 am, right after work, yesterday." "What provoked it?" "Moving." she snapped. "What does it feel like?" "Awful." Now it was Roy's turn to roll his eyes. Now Gage poured on the purest kind of paramedic mule headed cussedness. "Does it radiate anywhere?" he asked through gritted teeth, staying outwardly professional beyond that one anomaly. "Not anymore. You found the X that marks the spot." Johnny bit his lip. "How severe is it?" "Bad." Cap started chuckling and had to amble away. "Does anything make it better?" Roy tried when Johnny began boiling. "Unconsciousness did, Roy, and I got you two to thank for dragging me kicking and screaming out of it." Dixie said quite honestly, ripping off her oxygen mask. "Excuse me, I'm going to go puke.." and she started to get up. Both Johnny and Roy.... and Cap... stopped her by grabbing and laying across her chest, knees and legs. "You're not going anywhere, Dixie! You've lost your right to make a judgement call." Hank thundered. "Who says?!" "We all do!" Gage shouted. Then he narrowed his eyes in a challenge. "Let her go, Cap. Roy, you too." Reaching over, he shut down Dixie's running I.V. to TKO. "Ok. Prove it." Dixie eyed Johnny suspiciously. "Prove what?" "Prove that you're fully medically competent to handle this health matter..." he said firmly stabbing a finger down on the bed sheets in between them. "If you can stand up on your own two feet, without blacking out," he said waggling a finger in her face."...all of us will just pack up.....and we'll leave..." The silence in the room was palpable. Dixie's hand snaked over and dialed up the I.V. to a fast gush in the drip chamber. "Ah, ah ah.." Johnny said, jerking the tubing out of her hand and he redialed it back down to TKO. "Without any outside help or adjunct." he clarified. Then he pulled her sheets down and invited her to swing her legs over the side of the bed. Dixie froze like a deer in the headlights. Then her jaw clamped shut and the insult she was about to hurl died aborning. She yanked the covers back up to her chin and her teeth started to chatter. "You boys make sure neither Kel nor Joe does my surgery.." Johnny relaxed his finger pointing stare and he planted the abandoned O2 mask that was hissing around her neck to back over her face. She didn't protest. "Promise me..." she asked of her two hands on hips posturing paramedics. "Ok.." Roy shrugged and he turned up her I.V. to a shock fighting level again. Feeling a bit like the devil, Johnny added, "We'll let Morton do it." Dixie nearly levitated off the bed. Right then the elegant Victorian phone on Dixie's nightstand rang. "Uh oh." trickled Cap. Johnny picked it up, reluctantly, after it rang six times. "Oh, hiya doc. Uh, what do you mean what am I still doing over here? Uh, that's kind of a long story. You see...." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : Gang around a Dixie on a bed. Photo: Chet with a You've got to be kidding look. Photo: Johnny infuriated. Photo: Morton casually listening on the landline. Photo: Roy chewing his nail. Photo: Cap with Johnny on a Victorian phone. ************************************************************************** From : wone3 Sent : Saturday, October 30, 2004 1:55 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Kel's Call Kel Brackett had just finished with his last patient from the fairgrounds, stretching and yawning after the long session of patients he had dealt with during this crisis. He checked with the staff to make sure the patient was going to be moved to a room shortly and started to leave the room for the elevators. Joe Early had just finished with his last patient shortly before Kel and was waiting by the elevators for one to arrive when Kel walked up. They engaged in small talk about their patients until the elevator door opened and the bell rang. They both stepped into the elevator with Kel pushing the button for the first floor ER and Joe abruptly changing the subject. "I wonder how Dixie is doing? Have you heard anything? I haven't and asked Carol if Dixie called to just let me know." Joe asked. Kel answered him, "I haven't received a call either. I'm hoping that Carol did and we were all too busy to deliver the message. We can check once we return to the floor or call her from my office if she hasn't called in. Dixie has too many symptoms for it to be minor and I'm concerned that she doesn't realize it." The elevator arrived at their floor, the bell rang as the doors opened and they walked out. They headed straight for the nurse's station. They both saw Mike Morton in base station apparently talking to a paramedic team. Carol saw both of the doctors arrive and before they could ask the question said, "No, Dixie hasn't called in and Dr. Morton is on with 51's at their silent alarm. I don't remember the address but I think it was an apartment." Joe asked, "Are we that predictable?" Carol just rolled her eyes and laughed as she returned to the paperwork before her. Dixie had taught her well about the doctors. Both doctors just laughed as Kel said, "I guess so." They walked back to his office to make the phone call. Joe followed Kel into his office and shut the door behind him. Kel sat down at the desk and dialed the numbers from memory to Dixie's place. The phone rang and rang. Kel was growing concerned as the number of rings climbed up to 6 and then someone picked up the phone. It was Johnny Gage and that confused and concerned Kel even further. Kel asked, "What are you doing there?" >Johnny answered with hesitation, "Hi ya doc, what am I doing here? >Well it is a long story. You see" Kel interrupted Johnny, "You mean she finally came to her senses and called for help?" Johnny answered, "Well sort of, she must have blacked out after she dialed our station number. We couldn't get a response from her over the phone and came over. The landlady let us in and we found her collapsed beside her bed. She got lucky to get us; we had just come back from a house fire that had taken us away from the station for at least an hour. We have been talking to Morton to treat her since then." Kel could hear Dixie yell from the background "Kel, you and Joe, and I know Joe is with you, aren't going to perform surgery on me when I get there." Kel acknowledged Johnny by stating he knew because he had checked by the nurse's station before calling. He then asked Johnny to give Dixie the phone and Johnny did. Dixie stated, "Did you hear me Kel?" Kel interrupted her, "We tried to do things your way, and you haven't gotten better but instead worse. Now it's our turn, and you are going to have to deal with things the way we want to do it. You are the patient and nothing more from here on out until this is finished." He growled at her. Joe tried to get him to calm down in the background. She quietly acquiesced, she knew she had caused too many problems by his time, her fight nearly gone, and her fever-reduced haze was playing tricks on her mind, and handed the phone back to Johnny. He told Johnny that he'd check with Mike about everything that had been done thus far and asked why they weren't on the way yet. Johnny told the doc that the ambulance wasn't there yet and was delayed a while, once it was there they were more than ready to go. Kel acknowledged it and told the paramedic that he'd see him once they got here and hung up. He went to find Mike Morton. Just as Johnny hung up the phone, Dixie's eyes rolled back and she blacked out dissolving into unconsciousness once again. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: None. ***************************************************** From: "patti keiper" Date: Sun Oct 31, 2004 7:17 pm Subject: Here's to Jack O Lanterns and Internal Organs.. Johnny Gage noticed, "Dixie? Hey--" and he reached out to touch her chin when Roy DeSoto stopped him. "Why don't we let her be, Johnny?" he smiled. "Looks like she's finally given in to that long rest her body's been demanding that she'd better have. She's comfortable enough and breathing fine on her side just as she is without us messing around with an oral airway. We'd be disturbing her if we did any further monkeying." "But--" he bit his lip, considering, and checking a sudden retort. "Ok, convince me. What's her pressure now?" checking McCall's pupils again in a search for how far down she'd gone. "116/72.." he said pointedly amused. "The I.V. HAS done its work. And see? On the monitor...." Roy invited with an eye glance. Johnny studied Dixie's tracing EKG reading on the scope and his critical analyzing frown slowly turned into a light smile. "Sinus rhythm... finally." he sighed. "Yeah, her rate's about 58." Roy agreed. "Not stressed any longer at all.." "Now that's what I call sleeping.." Kelly remarked. "Chet, how would you know?" Gage commented. "You're not a paramedic like us." The irritation on giving into his partner's low impact patient care plan was still festering a bit under the skin. He liked his victims awake and talking when they didn't have vitals that disfavored maintaining that status. "No, but I know good vital signs notes when I hear them." he said, unoffended. "I got the smarts when I need em. Don't you worry yourself about that, pally." he said, winking at Roy to let him know he was in a needle Johnny Gage mode again now that all the excitement was over. Gage rapidly starting cleaning up and tidying while Roy readied Dixie's apparatus for gurney loading. "No, you're definitely pumpkin positive, Chet..." he mumbled. "What? I didn't quite hear ya, Johnny? What the heck's pumpkin positive mean?" he grinned, giving motions of a gimme more gesture behind Gage's back where the dark haired paramedic couldn't see it. The gang just folded arms together to watch the verbal tennis match with the same grins on their faces. And Johnny walked right into the baiting, hook, line and sinker. "If a doctor writes 'Pumpkin Positive' on your notes, Chet, they mean if they shine a penlight into your mouth, they would encounter a brain so small that your whole head would light up." "Oh, uh huh." Kelly said, mildly, completely unruffled. "Gee, that's really interesting, Gage. But what IQ scale fits your place at the shallow end of the gene pool...? You didn't even see that Dixie's just snoozing right now until Roy here, pointed it out to you." "Chet---" "Ok, enough's enough." Cap intervened, chuckling. "If you two carry on in here much longer, you just might DO what Roy says not to do and you'll wake her up. You guys can go play debate team after the call's over. Come on, Kelly. Back to the engine. Stoker and Marco are already waiting for ya. " "But--" "But nothin, I'm only lagging behind because I wanna make sure that Dixie's place get's locked up again once the PD gets here. You know my signature's needed on the house entry form. " "That's all right, sir. I can take care of that.." said Millie the land lady.. Cap blinked and her comment didn't register under the hard thinking and disciplining he was still embarking upon. " I'll take the squad in so Roy and John can fuss over her at much as they'd like on the way in. Now, shoo.." Hank said, jerking up his chin in a firm, I'm the captain look. "Cappp..." Chet whined. "Are you gonna let Johnny keep picking on me?" he said in jest. "No, I'm gonna let YOU take a time out on HIM. That wasn't a request, Kelly.." "No, it was an order, I know.. I know." and he trudged out the door, putting on his helmet again over his smoky curls. "Why spoil my fun? I was just trying to lighten the tense mood radiating out from a certain someone still leaning over the bed. And Dixie hasn't been disturbed. She hasn't moved since Roy tipped her head back." "Go.." Cap pointed, his stenorous baritone cracking out. "Yes, sir.." Kelly said automatically at the undeniable tone of command. He snapped his fingers in self chiding annoyance when he realized that he was still so well conditioned, that he actually jumped to attention at it. "Weellll, maybe there's a few seeds in the jack o lantern after all." Gage shot back after him. "You understood that ok.." All the firemen raised their heads when the sound of the Mayfair responding to their rescue call appeared and finally pulled up just outside. "Gage, zip it." Cap coughed, trying to hide a smile. "You're falling behind. DeSoto's got the I.V. box already put back together and the attendants are only seconds away." Millie rubbed her chin. "I guess all the acid banter means that Dixie's really ok?" she asked with a knowing smile. "It sure does.." Roy said, standing up from one last check on Dixie's respirations. "I'll leave a note with her about your involvement in resecuring the apartment. The policeman coming is just a formality. Cap's only got a few lines to fill out on the officer's report." "All right. Thank you, gentlemen, for helping Dixie like you have. It really was sitting in the back of my mind, that something wasn't right. I was just too timid to inquire and intrude, you know?" "Yeah, we know." Johnny said. "It's a trait of being American, that respect for any individual's home privacy. No harm's done, ma'am." "Thank goodness." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Dixie.. Dixie.. Can you hear me? Look what I brought..." said firm but quiet male voice. Dixie opened her eyes and peered around a flowing oxygen mask. And saw a grotesque swollen pink and purple worm, floating in a jar of preserving fluid.. "GahHH!" she jerked, throwing her hands up. "Get that thing away from me." and she immediately winced when stitches, external and internal, snagged on her innards. "Ooo.." "What? It's not a prop from the little shop of horrors, Dixie." said Joe Early with a chuckle. "This was part of you fifteen minutes ago." "I know what it is, Joe. It's just so... yyuck.." she shuddered, coughing up a plume of anesthetic gas from her chest as she got a radar on how truly awake she was becoming. Her nursing side finally got the better of her. "Ok, so what did ya find?" she gave in. Kel Brackett, to Joe's left, also seated on the bed, answered her. "Well, your appendicitis was uncomplicated. We found no fecaliths, lymph node involvements, or any signs of appendiceal perforation. You just had some moderate suprefaction of the mesentery that didn't effect the peritoneum. We did a WBC and a flat plate, which was negative along with a UA for blood which came completely clear of red cells. Your kidneys,..are fine." Dixie blinked, still very groggy. "Would you explain that in plain english? I think I'm still a little hollow in the head right now." "Rest, Dix." Kel said, getting up. "We'll just leave your souvenir on the bedstand for you to analyze later." "Don't forget to use a pillow on your abdomen when you have to cough up some of that phlegm. And yes, we made sure the incision was made below the bikini line." Joe added. "You're all heart." she grumbled, rolling over to sleep some more. "And if I hear one crack about the mickey mouse shaped beauty mark I know you saw down there coming from the nursing staff, I'll personally feed you both half of my appendix floating around in that specimen jar." "She's awake, Kel. I think we can leave now. No one who's too sleepy to breathe ever musters up a threat." "You're right, Joe. Sweet dreams, Dix, and get better fast.." The only reply was a blissful mumble followed by a rub of a few fingers on her nose. The two Rampart doctors left the recovery room on scrub paper covered shoes, gingerly. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : Kel Morton looking down to treat someone. Photo: Joe Early in a suit and Kel in scrubs, talking. Photo: Appendix surgery in progress. Photo: A removed infected appendix specimen. Photo: Dixie, Johnny, Roy and Joe Early around a vending machine. ************************************************************ FIN §§ 00:51 §§ :) This episode is dedicated to the Epipen. Created to :) save literally thousands from dying of anaphylatic shock, by putting the power of an instant cure in the hands of everyday folks. :) :) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season Two, Episode Sixteen.. §§ Devil's Due §§ ************************************************************************* From : Champagne Scott Sent : Wednesday, November 3, 2004 6:35 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Cooped Up Cage Jitters.. "Man, I am soooo bored.." sighed Johnny Gage as he emptied the waste paper basket in the wire bin onto the couch for the fourteenth time, to retrieve the wadded up paper balls that he had been arching into it from various distances around the rec room. He chose a place from over by the strategies chalk board as his next launching point. As usual, Bonnie, the Boston Terrier watched Gage with intense doggy puzzlement, half torn between trying to chase the flying overhand tosses, or not to. "Careful, Johnny." said Roy DeSoto, intently reading the stocks section of the newspaper. "You just may jinx us." he said rubbing his nose. The fair haired paramedic looked up when Marco Lopez set another full mug of coffee down in front of him. "Thanks, Marco." "How can I jinx us? The rain's already doing that for us.." Gage complained, finally missing a basket. He jerked a restless head out the window where the blinds were retracted to let in some feeble gray tinged daylight to offset the fluorescent bulbs in the ceiling to show the others, that the steady downpour that had started when their weekend began, was still with them. Chet Kelly ambled into the rec room, still yawning from a short nap that had turned surprisingly into a long one. He was still disoriented and rumpled. "Ack,...how many tones calls did I miss? I woke up and I found you guys were gone and the beds were already made." Mike Stoker calmly intercepted Chet's trajectory toward the coffee pot on the stove in the kitchen and redirected him before he cracked a sleepy shoulder into the wall by the payphones. "A big fat zero, Chet. Open your eyes before you give Roy and Johnny something to do, all right? Your higher motor skills are still out to lunch." Chet got to the stove safely, then he peered at his watch, eyeballing the time. "Holy cow. Five pm Saturday? I slept for fifteen hours?!" "Yep. And we enjoyed every minute of the resulting peace and quiet, too." said Johnny, as he kept up his basket making shots with the paper wads. "It wasn't for that full time, Chet. I admit I snuck in there around one last night to feel for a pulse on ya. You were lying so still that you were scaring Bonnie.." Roy admitted. "Arf!" said the diminuitive Boston. She caterwauled a few happy whines and then she skidded across the floor on slippery running claws to go trapse around Kelly's stocking socked feet in an enthusiastic welcome. "Geesh, you think Bonnie thought I was away forever, man." said Kelly, rubbing the sleepers out of his eyes. "Wish it had been forever, Chet. That'd make my working life just a bit more tolerable." Johnny grinned, looking at the other guys for brownie points. No one bothered to participate. "Oh, ha ha, Gage. Very funny. I won't even go into how I feel about having you as a working bud." said Kelly, gulping his coffee down despite its boiling temperature in order to wake up faster. "Kelly! Where are your shoes?!" admonished Cap, arriving from the vehicle bay with his journal log book. Coffee was on his mind. For he stole Roy's outright and started sipping while he glared at Chet's feet. "Uh,.." he said looking around sleepily, " Ehheh. Right where I left em?" he replied meekly. "Go put them on. Then its another session with the manikin for all of us in ten minutes.." Hank frowned. Then he turned on his heels and retreated back into his office. Gage gave up the shooting game and pulled up a chair from the table, reversed it, and then sat down on its back edge with his feet on the seat support. He studied the direction Cap had gone analytically, not smiling. "Has he always been such a task master during slow shifts?" "Yes.." replied Marco, Chet, Roy, and Stoker, all at the same time. Even Bonnie barked. "Count your blessings, Johnny boy. We could be cleaning every inch of the station instead." Marco admitted. "Nah, we did that yesterday. Remember?" Chet said. "Or was that the day before?" Kelly frowned, remembering his long coma of a nap. Johnny didn't hear them. "We've retrieved that Annie from the roof, under the engine, we worked her code, splinted every limb, probed every inch of her, and now he wants us to run another scenario? What have we got left to do now?" "An OB case.." supplied Roy, not looking up from his newspaper. "Ohh ho.. lucky us.. Let's hope it's just another obstructed airway with a broken neck scenario or maybe even a femur fracture exercise." Gage said unenthusiastically, setting his chin onto a palm. "I hate getting powder on my hands from pulling that doll baby free." Still ansy, he got up and walked over to the payphone. He picked up the receiver, listened on the line for a moment. Then he hung up and walked back to sit back down at the table. "What'd do that for?" asked Chet. "Just...checking for a dial tone. You know how these winter rains sometimes knock out a repeater or broadcast tower. If I didn't hear one, we'd have the perfect reason for why we've been so dead on business for the last past two days." "A repeater failure wouldn't effect a payphone, Johnny." said Roy. "They're hard wired underground and wouldn't be effected by it." Johnny got defensive because he was embarrassed that his telecommunications knowledge wasn't as good as Roy's. "Well then how ELSE do you explain the fact that we haven't gotten a single run, for anybody, since early Friday morning?" Roy lowered his paper and grinned. "The law of averages..." he said, squinting meaningfully. "The means balance out the extremes eventually." Johnny's face twisted in incomprehension that made the other guys chuckle from whereever they were. Gage scooped up Bonnie and started massaging her head for some moral support. But the Boston Terrier wormed her way out of his grip to go follow Chet on his actively searching mission to relocate his shoes. "Gage, did you-?" Kelly asked from where he was checking out the space underneath the leather couch. "I didn't touch your shoes. How could I? They were on your feet the whole time you were sleeping." Gage answered. "They were? Oh, ok. Then I think I know where they are now then. Thanks, pal." and he jogged out of the kitchen. Lopez said, "You actually helped Chet out of a bind? What's the matter with you, Johnny, you sick or something?" "Yeah, I'm sick. I'm sick and tired of being cooped up in this joint for forty eight straight hours with absolutely nothing better to do. Especially with you guys. It's worse than a high school lock in party." "Well.. " commented Roy. "You could always stop drinking coffee. So far you've inhaled three whole pots just by yourself in a little under three hours. That might explain the feelings of claustrophobia and anxiety you're suffering." "Roy,.." complained Johnny. "You're such a.......a.... paramedic sometimes, you know that?" Gage said pointed an animated finger at his quiet partner. "All true. And you're such an interesting case study in the mis- management of a potentially healthy lifestyle that I just haveta keep right on analyzing ya." DeSoto said, leaning back and stretching in his chair. "Well, stop it. If and when I do get addicted to caffeine, I'll be the first person to let ya know about it." "You just did, with all that pacing and abundant running commentary. Why else would you have such a nasty track record when it comes to your on the job injuries frequency rate?" debated DeSoto easily. "You know, I think I'm gonna go take the squad into Rampart on a supply run. By myself.." Gage said, leaving the kitchen area. "What about that session with Annie the manikin coming up?!" Stoker needled, thoroughly enjoying the sniping banter. "She can go stuff herself!" came Gage's voice out of the vehicle bay. He almost collided with Chet, coming back towards the kitchen replete in his newly found squeaky shoes. Roy got up with a sigh and followed after his partner so that they wouldn't get separated. "I'd better go with him. He might get strange ideas and want to drive the squad or something." "Nothing wrong with that. Go ahead and let him. Then when he plows you two into a telephone pole, that'd give the rest of us guys an engine run to go on." Chet said mildly. "I'd rather let Annie drive.." Roy said plainly, the smile wiping off his face as he accented the statement with a finger jamming Chet's chest. "Better hurry up, Roy.. I think I hear the door opening up." Marco offered helpfully. Roy got into the squad with Johnny, passing by Cap's closed office door without incident or interception from him. He decided to not announce their supply run to L.A. until they were out of sight of the station. He turned the wheel of the rescue truck into the slightly lighter rain soaked western sky, towards Torrance and Rampart, and they drove off together. Roy chuckled. "That was brilliant, Johnny.. I knew acting irritated and wired loudly enough would cause Cap to let us leave to go on an unnecessary supply run." "I wasn't acting.." Johnny said through pursed lips. Roy began to watch Johnny more than he did the road the whole trip into the ER. He only hoped that happenings there would keep Johnny entertained long enough to survive his excessive java intake symptomology. ::A huge fire will dry him out like a prune if he doesn't come down from it before we get a call for one.:: he thought. He decided to temper Johnny's jitters against the only person who could tame them. On Dixie. ----------------------------------------------------- Photo: A bored Roy in closeup. Photo: Stoker and Marco playing chess. Photo: Gage and DeSoto in a chess war with Chet watching from the TV counter. Photo: Cap lecturing Roy and Johnny at the veggie sink. Photo: A resusciAnnie manikin. Photo: Bonnie the Boston Terrier closeup. Photo: The squad rolling out from the POV of the engine. ******************************************************************* Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2004 21:08:01 +0000 (GMT) From: "Katherine Bird" Subject: The Other Department... Dixie McCall sized up Johnny Gage in about two seconds when they were still over thirty feet away from the Emergency Room front desk. She leaned over to the two guests visiting with her and mumbled. "Ok, you two officers are looking for something to do, right? How about keeping a couple of bored firemen out of my hair while I get some charting done? That way, I won't have both public service departments breathing down my neck at the same time." she said to her charming companions. "The worst of this pair is gonna be from the dark haired one. I don't have to be a doctor to know that he's been sucking down the Sumatran Dark a little too much lately." Reed chuckled, glancing back at his partner Malloy. "He sounds like the Sarge on slow days, Dixie. What's his name?" "Johnny Gage, Jim. Just get ready. He'll be an earful. Excuse me..." the demure nurse said, turning her back and pretending to organize the rescue reel to reel recordings next to the pharmaceutical cupboard. "Howdy, fellas." said Pete Malloy to the two approaching paramedic firemen. He waved a greeting with the antennae of his HT which looked very much like the ones Roy and Johnny carried with them, dangled around their jacketted wrists. Gage actually turned a circle in his tracks, thinking the dark uniformed police officer was speaking to someone else. "Oh, you mean us, hi officer. Uh, officers.." he amended, dipping his head. "How are the streets faring today?" Roy deviated his arrival time and went over to the chrome drinking fountain alcove for a sip of cold water. "We've been absolutely hopping, hose jockey." Reed lied. "Please, call me Jim. This is my partner Pete. How are the firecalls going today?" Johnny sighed, trying to look over the two officer shoulders to get Dixie's attention. "They aren't. We haven't heard a peep over the intercom except for a wakeup call test, since Friday night. I'm Johnny Gage and that camel sucking down the water over there is Roy DeSoto. We're both paramedics with th--" "We know. We get to clean up after you folks all the time." Pete beamed. Johnny didn't quite know how to take that comment so he changed the subject. "Hi Dix.." he said, arcing up onto his toes to see her better. Malloy and Reed tightened the gap between their shoulders so Johnny wouldn't be able to nudge through. Gage frowned and couldn't figure out why he was doing so. Roy immediately caught on and he started to laugh. "Johnny. Don't you recognize a couple of body guards when you see them? Jim and Pete are running interference.." "Oh, really.." Johnny said, his voice getting a little less cordial. "Yes, really." said Dixie, turning around with an empty I.V. box full of sound recorded clear plastic tape reels. "Thanks Pete. Thanks Jim, for trying. But I'll handle him from here." "No problem. Thanks for the coffee, ma'am. It went down swell." said Jim. "We gotta go. We're on a break from a stake out assignment. A pair of detectives are covering for us while we're on lunch." "No kidding." Roy said. "Are you gonna get the bad guy?" "Yeah, mostly likely before sundown. Snipers usually give up by then because of poor target visibility." replied Pete. "Snipers?!" jolted Johnny. "We didn't hear anything about a shooting spree going on..." "That's because we've been very good at not alarming the general public about this character. So far, he's only taken a couple of pot shots at our squad car lights and a few park squirrels. No one's been hurt yet." Jim Reed answered Gage. "Ooo, stay safe out there guys." said McCall. "And give these donuts to those two covering for you. I can't stand police types who decide their work's more important than their stomachs." she said, shoving over a box of them across the desk counter. Johnny made a grab for the lid but Dixie slapped his hand away. "Ah, ah ah. You two already had your lunch." "How can you tell?" asked Roy mildly. "Johnny's got mustard on his chin and you still have potato chip salt on your shirt." she grinned, handing over the pastries to the Adam-12 pair. "See ya fellas.." "Later, Dix.." they replied, walking out the ER door entrance to return to their beat. Roy and Gage got the chills. "Now I know why I became a fireman." DeSoto said, refusing Dixie's silent offer of coffee. "Oh? Why's that?" asked the frosted bunned nurse. "Police work's just far too dangerous to monkey with. Joanne made me promise years ago that I'd never consider becoming one." "Now firefighting's just as dangerous as police work, Roy." said Gage. "Not really. At least with firefighting. You can see the danger coming and can avoid it." said Roy. "Usually." Johnny agreed finally. "Not in your case, Johnny Gage." replied Dixie, wide eyed."You've been banged up what? Six times already this past year. And I'm not counting the monkey virus nor that snake bite. Those were unavoidable consequences." "In who's book, Dix?" Roy teased. "Not misplacing an HT could've prevented that bite and wearing a pair of rubber gloves could have made all the difference in the world whether or not that contagion took a hold." "Now, Roy. Don't start in with that scene safety first and that body substance isolation lecture again with all that unnecessary glove wearing and stuff. I tell ya, adding those as permanent changes to our paramedic protocols is never gonna wash. I mean, that's like saying the art of mouth to mouth resuscitation's gonna become passe. Not in a million--" "Don't you get sick of getting all sticky and soiled head to toe on runs all the time?" Roy said, folding his arms over his elbows mildly in conversation. "Well, yeah, sometimes it gets a little annoying changing out uniforms so often. I only got four sets.." he grunted in consternation. "This topic of conversation's absolutely rivetting gentlemen, but I've got charts stacking up higher than my-" "Sure, Dix. We were just leaving.." Roy said, grabbing Johnny's arm. "We only wanted an excuse to get out of the station for a while. Cabin fever don't you know." he grinned toothily. Gage protested the whole way back to the squad. "Now, Roy. We could've at least grabbed a cup of coffee.." he growled. "That wasn't polite leaving her in the lurch like that." "She wanted us to, Johnny. Didn't you get any of the hints thrown our way?" "Uh, what hints? I'm so wired I'm surprised I'm even seeing straight." Johnny coughed. "Then aren't you glad I got us out here again." Roy said, opening the door for his partner and guiding his back inside the squad. "Coffee's the last thing you need." "Well, how about a chili dog at Max's? I'm starving.." Johnny said, putting on his helmet. "Max's it is.." Roy conceded, getting behind the wheel. "You're paying." "Why am I paying? I thought I bought lunch for us both last time!" "No you didn't. Your forgot your wallet at home. I-It ..it was the same morning you broke both your shoelaces.." DeSoto said, thrusting a finger out in a telling gesture. "Oh, yeah. Last Thursday. I always remember when I break my shoelaces." "So do I. Because I'm the one who always has to hand ya some replacements." Roy complained. "Geesh, I'm getting jittery and I haven't even had more than ONE cup of coffee.." "Want me to drive then?" Johnny said obliviously. "No." "Then buy us lunch and I'll shut up. Both actions'll be good for your nerves." he told Roy, closing the maneuvering trap, that he'd been calculating and laying down to spring upon DeSoto, all the way to Rampart. Roy sighed a sigh of long suffering, feeling black. "All right. But I get a little peace and quiet starting right--" Beep! Beep! Beep! ##Squad 51. Stand by for a response. L.A. P.D. requests paramedic backup at the corner of La Monte and Shelby. Details to follow en route.## "Here we go!" hooted Johnny. "And we got one before the engine! I win that bet, too. The guys haveta fix the dinner chow for us now and not the other way around. Wa...Hoo." "Wait a minute! Johnny, you got me involved in a chore bet that I didn't even know about?" Johnny nodded animatedly, eyes twinkled and bright. "And we won. Doesn't it feel great?" DeSoto glared at him for long seconds and then he let out a long resigned sigh. "Silence is golden, huh.." Roy mumbled to himself as he turned the squad around from the hospital pull up and flicked on the red lights over their heads. "Why am I the only one who treasures that?" "What?" "Nothing. Put your helmet on." "Oh. ok." said Johnny a little too fast and it took a few tries for him to fasten on the chin strap properly. "You sure you don't need some Narcan or something?" Roy asked aloud. Johnny gave him a dirty look. "I'm fine. This adrenaline rush I got from finally getting a call'll burn off all the coffee. Thanks for caring about me, pally. " he said sarcastically. "But no thanks." "Suit yourself. And I'm going to be starting any I.V.s that might come up so ya won't be in danger of poking yourself." "Fine." and Johnny clammed up, reaching for the notepad to scribble down the tenative neighborhood address they needed to reach. "I'll do the easy stuff just to please ya and to keep Cap on an even keel about me sneaking us off like this. He can't yell if I don't do anything wrong." "And they say never to say MacBeth right before a performance." whispered Roy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dave was running full tilt, as fast as his blue and white Adidas could carry him after the man running away from him. His Smith and Wesson 39- 9mm was out and pointed up to the sky in his right hand as he pounded the alley he was chasing through. Ken had the red unmarked car with the red flashing dome light on top speeding right on his heels. "Metford! Give it up! We got ya surrounded!" Dave bellowed around painful sucking gasps of air that he pumped in and out of his chest as he leaped over the trash in his way and around obstacles. "Never copper!" said the man, turning and firing back from behind a telephone pole. Ken angled the car sideways and flung open a car door for his partner to hide behind as the bullets riccocheted off the tin garbage cans around them. Three shots from the sniper ex con spidered the windshield, making Ken duck and swear. "Oh, man..! Not another window bill!" "It could've been the paint job, buddy boy. Quit complaining." said Dave to Ken as he curled up behind the car door. "Thanks for getting me some cover." "I wouldn't've had to if you hadn't gone off after the guy when you knew he was armed to the hilt." spat Ken. "Yeah, but that was only because I know Metford likes taking hostages. We're already too near the college campus to make me comfortable." "If Metford was gonna take pot shots at the students, he would've done so already, partner. Not just singed the hair off a few squirrels." "Yeah well I don't like anything parallelling up to the Watch Tower Massacre of 1970. That day still leaves a real bad taste in my mouth." Dave shored up a line of sight across the open window rim of the door with a primal scream of frustration and he let loose a volley of shots that soon ended those winging back at them. He thought he heard the sound of a body hitting concrete. "Got him!" "Get in and I'll get us there." shouted Ken, peeling the rubber of the red car in a squeal. Dave dove into the front seat and slammed the door shut as Ken smashed over a rack of garbage cans to get them there faster. Ken and Dave both threw the dome flashing car into park and dashed out of the car after divesting it of her keys in the direction they thought their shooter had gone in. Dave puffed to a halt and went instantly pale as he neared the spot that had echoed the sound of collapse they had both heard. "Oh, g*d, no." he groaned, rushing forward to crouch over someone lying in the scraps of paper and newsprint littering the alleyway. It was a woman, with a fresh gush of blood coursing down her left temple. He dropped his gun in disgust after engaging its safety to reach gingerly for the young woman's carotid while Ken jogged a careful check around them looking for Metford. "He got away. D*mm*t!" Ken swore. Then he turned to crouch near his shaking partner. "I shot her, Hutch. Ohmygod." said the curly haired detective. "Who's to say that's a gunshot wound, Starsky? Quit snowballing things. This girl was around the corner so how could your shots've been anywhere near enough to score on her? Metford could have done it just to get us to stop chasing him." "There's enough metal around here t--" "Shh.. Is she breathing?" Hutch asked, reaching for the still woman's wrist. "Uh,.." "Tip her head back, without jarring her neck and have a listen. I'll go call for an ambulance. She's still alive. Do you hear me Starsky? She's alive. Do what you can to help her." Ken Hutchinson shouted. Kenneth leaped toward the white striped tomato Gran Torino and snatched up the radio mic. "Zebra 3. Zebra 3 to Headquarters. We've a woman down in the alley at...." he looked around for roadsigns."...6th and Parsons. Over. We've lost Metford! Roll all units in a point by point grid search for him immediately!" Nearly under the sheltering bumper of the white striped red orange car, the other plain clothes detective was almost crying. "Sweety? Can you hear me? Hang in there. We've got help on the way. Just hold on. I've got you." begged a very frightened David Starsky. Starsky felt a very poor answering gasp brush his cheek out of the girl's lips and he gripped her head even tighter when an unnatural blue shade began covering her face. "No..don't die on me, miss. Come on.." and he began to give her fast breaths mouth to mouth to turn back some of the lifeless coloring he saw in her skin and eyes. "Hutch! Get down here and help me stop all this scalp bleeding. She's not trying to breathe for me anymore." It wasn't long before Squad 51 heard from L.A. about the woman down from a possible shooting. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Dixie with Jim Reed and Pete Malloy from Adam-12. Photo: Dixie with Johnny and Roy at the ER desk. Photo: Close of Pete Malloy. Photo: Close of Jim Reed. Photo: Roy and Johnny leaving out the hospital entrance. Photo: A sniper, kneeling and shooting. Photo: Dave and Ken in a red car chasing and pointing. Photo: Hutch and Starsky ducked behind the car. Photo: Starsky with gun up checking cautiously near the Gran Torino. Photo: Starsky reacting seeing a woman on the ground, shot in the head. Photo: Hutch radioing out for help while peeking undercover. **************************************************************** From : Roxy Dee Sent : Friday, November 12, 2004 3:03 AM Subject : Starsky Stresses Hutch reached into the back seat of the Torino and grabbed up his black street clothes duffle bag and tossed it onto the roof of the car. He snatched out a folded T shirt that lay within and ran with it back over to his partner working on the girl. "Ok, I got this.." he said, pressing the shirt gently against the gushing wound on her temple. Starsky gave the woman another breath and the last of the dusky cyanosis on her face disappeared a few seconds later. "Her heartbeat's real slow, Hutch." "I noticed that. Just keep going." Ken said. "Metford was here. She's been roughed up. There's bruising on her throat." "A hostage who fought back?" Dave said after his next breath. "Probably. This doesn't look like a penetrating bullet wound or even a graze. There's no friction burns." "Let's hope so or .............Captain Dobey's gonna kill me..............Temporarily blinding one girl once with a bullet was ........................definitely enough for me partner." Quite suddenly, the girl gasped through her unconsciousness, as if breaking through a resistance. Startled, Dave let go of her face. Then he caught hold of himself emotionally and started carefully relifting her jawbone so that the girl could breathe freely. "Hello. She's back.." he blurted out in his nervousness. "Good job." Hutch reached a hand around Starsky's to a neck pulse that wasn't under a bruise. "Pulse's still very slow." "How's that bleeding?" "I've got it controlled. She isn't losing any more." "From there..." Starsky snorted. "Yeah, well, the paramedics can figure out her other problems once they get here. Just keep up that airway hold." "You don't have to tell me twice.." Dave said empathetically. "Hey, miss.. Can you hear me?" The woman twitched and started to moan, breathing shallowly but well. "Easy, hon. Don't try to move." said Hutchinson. Welcoming sirens grew in the distance and the two plain clothes detectives could make out the familiar red outline of a Los Angeles County Fire Department rescue squad heading into their direction from the side street. They saw its front tires thunk over the slight curve leading into the alleyway once they spotted the Torino and its red flashing light. They were aided on where to go by one or two officers in front of L.A. City black and whites starting to cordon off the area with crime tape. "G*d I hope they remember their crime scene approach protocols.." mumbled Starsky. The driver of the rescue vehicle followed the Torino's direction of travel and skid marks perfectly. "He has.." smiled Hutch. "At least this pair's smart enough not to disturb anything." he raised his voice. "She's breathing now! Semi conscious.." he yelled out to them. "So far, possible head and neck injury! We think she was in a struggle." The two detectives watched as the paramedics gathered medical equipment that matched the situation, the 02 apparatus, defib and EKG, a wooden long board and C collar, along with their usual biophone, drug and I.V. boxes. The two paramedics hugged the chain link fence tightly, off the beaten track, until they were even with the Torino, then they cut over to the woman's side. Johnny Gage immediately knelt down with a pen light after setting a high flow oxygen mask over her nose and mouth which Starsky held on manually. "Hi. I'm Johnny Gage and this is my partner Roy DeSoto." he said to the two police officers. "Detective Ken Hutchinson.. Homicide. And my fretting, pale friend over there is Detective David Starsky. Also with Homicide." he teased, trying to make his partner more at ease with it all. "And we're trying to prevent another one here in the girl." Gage nodded. "I assume we're all safe now..and that we're not about to get our heads shot off by some crazed thug type?" Johnny asked quickly. At that comment Dave cringed slightly, a subconscious gesture that only Hutch saw. "We're safe.." Starsky said quietly. "There's enough cops around here now to fill a barn." "Ok. Just checking. Gimme some history on her, Detective. But keep her head still just like you're doing." he ordered Starsky. "We think she was roughed up by a real low life with a history of violence who was trying to get away from us. She may have been in the middle of our exchanging gunfire." "Male or female assailant?" Gage asked reasonably. "Does it matter?! Just help her fellas. Fast." Dave flared sarcastically, his adrenaline rush still making him jittery. "It could. And we are." said Roy calmly. "Just take it easy. What you're doing is making a huge difference on how she's managing now. But a few questions answered will let us provide care that targets her medical problems quicker. So humor us a bit ok. She's stable now from what I can tell so far." he said, taking a quick respiration count with a hand on her stomach. Johnny waggled his head in agreement as he slipped a cervical collar around the girl's neck after a brief examination of the bruising Hutch pointed out to him that was now taking the shape of a large man's finger grips. "It was a man. She's been strangled. And this head wound's probably the result of her being pistol whipped." he said, briefly lifting up the shirt Hutch was holding over her left temple. Starsky sighed in relief. "You sure about that?" "Pretty sure.." Johnny said, smiling. "An x-ray will tell that for certain. There's no bullet path cratering. I can see the edge of a gun grip's impression on her skull where the skin's torn... Roy, negative on Coon's eyes or cerebral fluid out the nose or ears. Hmm, her pupils are equal, but sluggish." "Late hypoxia? I'll ask Rampart if we can hyperventilate her with that possible meningeal artery involvement.." he said pointing to the wound on the girl's head. "Dave, you can let go now. She's maintaining ok on her own and the collar'll keep her head and neck still. Dave? Did you hear me?" Roy said a little louder. "He answers better to Starsky.." Hutch said, slapping a free hand against the dazed detective's arm. "Starsk.." "Huh? Oh, ok." said Starsky, finally catching up on the conversation. He reluctantly let the girl go, and used part of Hutch's T shirt compress to wipe the girl's drying blood off of his hands. "Sorry. I was...just thinking.." "Yeah, about the ways we're gonna nail the b*st*rd who hurt her." said Hutch. "So right.." admitted the curly haired detective. "Uh,, she wasn't breathing so hot when we got to her. Her face turned kinda blue." "For how long?" Johnny asked, rechecking the flow of oxygen to her mask for a good seal. "Half a minute or so. I had to help her out for a few minutes. Then all of the sudden, she sorta gasped ...like she only just then, caught her breath back." Dave said, trying to explain it well. Roy grinned. "She probably got the wind knocked out of her. Happens sometimes when victims are shoved to the ground hard enough by an attacker. " "What about the strangling?" Hutch wondered. "Could that have caused her to quit trying?" "Most likely not. You said this man was running to get away from you. He wouldn't have had time enough to suffocate her." "But that is why her pulse's so slow." Gage added, taking a blood pressure."Roy, 64/40. Pulse's 42. Respirations still 18. Her carotid sinus must've been contused." "Say what?" asked Starsky. Johnny began to explain while Roy started cutting off the woman's sweater and pants. Both detectives averted their eyes and looked around anywhere but down in typical bystander self consciousness. DeSoto noticed. "Here, cover her with this shock sheet once I'm through. I'm just gonna look her over for a fast check for other injuries she might have." He saw the detectives relax once he was through and had her bundled up again, neck to toes, in the plastic blanket. Gage went on.." .....the whole area inside the carotid artery along the side of the neck's richly innervated with the sensory bundles that regulate the body's blood pressure so that it doesn't have wild swings one way or the other. Now hers has been injured on one or both sides and that has brought on vasovagal responses, that slow heart rate you felt and the low B/P we're getting on her now." "I see.." said Starsky, clearly not understanding the jargon. "But she will get over it?" he pressed. "Eventually." Roy said of the carotid sinus syncope syndrome. Starsky smiled in relief. Gage rubbed his chin. "...It also depends on what her head injury involves, too. That laceration of hers is very large." Starsky's grin turned into a frown as he sagged in relief into Hutch's arms. "At least she wasn't shot. Namely by me. Oh, Hutch. I don't think I could've lived through that again. Thank heavens for small mercies." Both paramedics exchanged puzzled looks but then they politely ignored the detectives' private conversation while they got busy with the rest of the woman's patient care. All four of them heard a light cough and right then, the woman's eyes fluttered open. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Starsky and Hutch asking questions in a closeup. Photo: The torino pulled over on a city street. Photo: The squad in an alleyway shed. Photo: Roy and Johnny giving care to a victim on the ground. Photo: Starsky, Hutch, DeSoto and Gage with the woman on the ground with a backdrop of palm trees and white sky. ********************************************************************** From: "Patti" Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 14:08:06 -0800 (PST) Subject: [EmergencyTheaterLive] Complications Johnny Gage bent close to the woman's face, holding her shoulders to prevent their muzzy patient from trying to sit up. "Hey there. Can you hear me? What's your name? Can you tell me that?" The girl groaned wetly, closing her eyes, still coughing weakily. Gage moved the O2 mask aside and cross scissored her mouth open, using her teeth, looking for blood or any other fluid that might be there. He accepted an active suction line that Roy shoved over to him with a foot but Johnny soon found that it wasn't needed. "Nothing's here, Roy. Her airway's doing fine. Ma'am? Hey! Can you answer me?" Johnny asked again, letting go of her mouth. He dug several knuckles into her breastbone. The girl immediately shoved his hand away with only her left arm and her face screwed up at the painful rub. "*choke* Ugghh.." and she took a deep breath from the mask Starsky replaced back onto her face. "Aaaah..." she sobbed. "My...hea..d-d.." Johnny rocked back onto his heels. "I know. Easy. Just lie still. Can you tell me what happened?" " I...mmmgh.." and fright suddenly filled her dirt crusty eyes as the rest of the woman's words faded into incoherency. "Just try to relax. My name's Johnny Gage and I'm a Los Angeles County paramedic. We're gonna take real good care of you, all right? Keep holding still until I can check you out a little better. Tell me where your pain is besides your head. Can you tell me that?" The woman, looking groggy and heavily stunned, didn't reply, but tears leaked out of the corner of one of her eyes as she finally tracked Johnny's. "You're still waking up a bit. Don't be scared. Try and take as many deep full breaths from this oxygen as you can, ok? It'll help you focus a little better." Gage suggested to her as he rechecked the status of her pupils. "I'm just gonna take another look here with a flashlight to see how you're doing. Just relax." Hutch picked up the girl's cut away clothes and started searching for a wallet in a jeans pocket. He found one. "I've got a name. Mary Malone. Age 22 from 14 North Crescent in Anaheim. The photo I've got here matches her in a positive I.D. Starsky, California driver's license." he told the paramedics and his partner. "There's also a student's pass here to the University down the block." Gage nodded while Roy called Rampart Base on the biophone. After a half minute or so of watching Mary take breaths under the mask, Gage spoke again. "Mary. Talk to me now. Do you hurt anywhere else besides your head?" Johnny noticed that she was growing more and more agitated. Finally, her lips opened and she let out a fully coherent sentence. But it wasn't a reply to his insistent question. It was about something else entirely different. "...Tob... He's... Toby?!" she started calling out. "Where are y---!?" "Toby? Who's Toby? Mary! Take it easy. Don't move around so much. You're gonna hurt yourself!" Johnny grunted, keeping her shoulders pinned and immobile while Hutch kept firm hands across her forehead and over the dressing on top of the gaping wound ripped open on her temple. "Mary..." Hutch started in, being closest. "Who's Toby? Easy hon. Just answer the question without fighting us.." "My...my son. He took him.." she cried frantically. "Ohmyg*d. That man had a gun!" and she started wailing and struggling in her panic. Johnny and Hutch both restrained her tightly. Starsky took the wallet Hutch had dropped on the ground and leafed through its photograph section. He found several of a young boy with blond hair. "There's a couple photos of a kid in here,.... about four years old. He looks a lot like Mary. I'll put out an APB." and he got up to radio headquarters from the Torino. Hutch nodded and then he looked down once more."Mary.. Mary! Lie still! We've got nearly a dozen police officers in the area and we'll look for him immediately. But you've got to start cooperating with the paramedics here so they can start treating you! I'm Detective Hutchinson and I promise you that I'll do everything I can to find your son, but my first concern right now is you, and your injuries. Let these firemen get you to a doctor and to some help at the hospital. The best way for me to help find your son is for you to start answering their questions about what happened to you, ok?" Mary Malone went limp, sobbing in resignation. "Please...I'll do anything you ask. Just find my little boy...." Hutch sighed and so did Gage. Ken let go of the T shirt over Mary's temple. "The bleeding's pretty much stopped here. I'm letting go." he told Johnny. "I've gotta go help my partner get out that possible kidnapped hostage bulletin. I'll be right back to help you with Mary's spine board. I'll also make sure an ambulance is well on the way." Johnny nodded to the fair haired policeman and got to work over Mary. "Thanks, Detective Hutchinson." "Please, call me Hutch. It's easier, Mr. Gage." "O.k.." replied Johnny. "I'll remember that." Ken got up and joined Starsky by the Gran Torino and a couple of other officers who were heading up the grid search for the rifle armed Metford. He also helped Starsky give Captain Dobey a preliminary report of the chase and circumstances surrounding the girl's assault, over their car phone. Johnny bent close to Mary's face once more, wrapping a Coban elastic wrap around her head to hold the blood soaked T shirt and dressings into firm place against her temple. "How are you doing, Mary?" "I...feel so dizzy, sir..." Gage smiled at her. "Well then it's a good thing you're still lying down now, isn't it? How's your neck?" he added quickly. "Sore." "How about back here?" he said, gently feeling the bones in the back from the base of her skull and down to the top of her shoulders. "It hurts just in front where he grabbed me. The left side of my neck's burning." and she pointed over the biggest of the angry fingermarks wrapping around there. Gage checked gently for equality on both carotid pulses with a couple of fingers. "Can you still breathe all right? Is your throat swelling up at all?" "No.. I think its ok. It's just my head. It hurts real bad." she gasped. "On a scale of 1 to 10, if one's nothing and 10's the worst, where's your pain right now, Mary?" Johnny asked. "A nine.." "Are you nauseated?" "Yes.." "Ok, just let me know if you think you're gonna get sick and we'll tip you over." "O.k.." and she grimaced rubbing her right arm with her left hand. "What's wrong?" Johnny asked. "I.. can't pick up my arm." "This one here?" he said, gripping her hand on that side. "Yeah.. it feels ...kinda tingly and numb." Johnny got both her palms in both of his. "Squeeze my hands. Hard as you can." he encouraged her. He noticed her grip was weak but still there on the right but her ability to keep her arm uplifted above her, was absent. He moved down to test both her legs' strength, moving the shock sheet aside. "Ok, can you feel me touching you down here?" he said pulling out a scissors point and tapping her shins and the tops of both her feet. Mary nodded yes. Johnny put the scissors back into his hip holster. "All right. Push both feet down onto both my hands. Ok, good. Now try and lift your legs against my holding them down, hard as you can. Good. That's fine." He looked for a Babinski's. Her toes curled down to his forceps point sweep check, normally, on both sides. "I'm ticklish." she said, trying to smile. The grin was nonexistent on the left side of Mary's face. "Sorry." Gage grinned, looking up. He didn't miss seeing the face droop and he didn't alarm Mary by mentioning it. He went on to get a full medical history, which he wrote down onto a small tablet with his neurological findings. Gage handed it to his partner. Roy had reached a physician through the biophone line. "Rampart. We've a 22 year old female. Victim of an assault. She's got a large left temple wound due to a blunt force blow to the head. Bleeding has been controlled. I estimate her blood loss at under 500 cc's. Rampart, it seems she was a victim of a near strangling. "She was respiratory arrested for a couple of minutes but was aided by a bystander to spontaneous recovery. She's now awake and oriented to 12 on the Glasgow on 15 liters of O2. There's signs of non invasive crushing injury to the soft tissues of the neck. She's complaining of marked tenderness in the left anterior throat without airway distress. She's been cervical spine immobilized. Apparent restlessness has proved to be emotional in nature. "She's positive for vasovagal signs. Carotid pulses are equal. BP initially was depressed at 64/40. Pulse's now 50 beats a minute, up from 42, and regular. Respirations are 18 and shallow. Pupils were equal and reactive, but sluggish, when we first arrived, but now the ipsilateral side's dilated. She has contralateral hemiparesis of only her right arm with partial sensation and face drooping on the left. Negative on Babinski's. "There's no indication of further injuries or allergies. Nor does she have a prior history of medical problems. She's negative for any medications." Dr. Early replied back. ## Start a large bore I.V., 51, of Normal Saline. Run in 500 ml's to offset her carotid hypotension. Then turn the intravenous to TKO. Give her mannitol IV 1 g/kg in a rapid push once you're in transit. After she's been long board immobilized, raise her head up. Closely watch for signs of a deteriorating consciousness level. If she develops Cushing's, administer 1.0 mg/kg of Lidocaine slow IVP. Use 5mg diazepam for any agitation. ##If her Glasgow drops below 8, hyperventilate her, 51, and make preparations for a rapid sequence induction ET intubation. I'll advise you on what to use for a paralytic agent. ##Give her .5 mgs atropine IV for that bradycardia. Get a strip for me, 51, I want to look for any arrythmias. Monitor her vital signs every five minutes and transport as soon as possible, without sirens, to prevent possible seizures.## Roy repeated back all of Joe's orders and then he and Johnny, along with the two plain clothes detectives, got Mary situated onto a backboard. A minute later, the Hearse ambulance arrived and Mary was gurney loaded onto it with DeSoto and all the gear boxes. They used the squad's splint box turned onto one side to lift up the spine board's head end 30 degrees. Roy repeated to Gage. "Johnny. Doc wants silent mode in." "Ok.." said Johnny, putting on his helmet onto his head. Starsky looked at DeSoto, holding the ambulance door so the paramedic wouldn't have to shut it himself. "Traffic's not gonna do anything to get out of the way with just your ambulance reds flashing by themselves." "We've no other choice in the matter. Mary has to stay perfectly quiet and calm. She's got an active intracranial bleed ongoing and any further excitement, like loud noises, are liable to complicate things for her." answered Roy. "Mr. DeSoto, you have an alternative. We'll go ahead of the ambulance. Our siren faces forwards and isn't heard past the rear of our car. Now where's the girl headed?" Hutch asked, his question sounding more like a demand. "Rampart General Hospital in Torrance." said Roy. "Let see, that's.. 6th to Ventura Freeway North, to 101 North to 226th Street. Hang a right... Right?" Starsky asked the paramedic quickly after his mental map drawing. "Yeah, that's the shortest route. And if I can't talk ya out of an escort, I'll take it." DeSoto grinned and got on board the ambulance. "We gotta go anyway to talk to Mary for more details before she heads into surgery. We may not get another chance to learn from her about what actually happened if she doesn't make it." Hutch said grimly. Roy frowned when his hidden paramedic worry was stated so openly. "If Mary's got just an epidural hematoma, she's got every chance in the world to survive it. The neurosurgeons at Rampart are absolutely the best surgeons around these parts." "DeSoto, we're counting on them to do their d*mned*st to save her. Those doctors, and my partner and I, are little different. Little Toby's now counting on the both of us,...to save HIM." said Hutch with conviction, meeting Roy's blue eyes evenly with his own. "Let's go. Time's wasting." said Starsky gently. "Be sure to let that attendant know that he's following our unmarked police car. It's the striped candy apple over there." Roy nodded. "I'll let him know." Hutch shut the door until it latched. He then patted the glass to let the driver know that he could start turning around back towards the main drag. Starsky sprinted ahead to the Torino to precede him in the same move. Then he picked up his partner in a spin of tires and dust and soon, the siren blaring Torino and silent, lights only running squad and ambulance, were off to Rampart as fast as Starsky and Hutch could scatter the city traffic. In route, Roy set up an EKG tracing off Mary. She had fallen into a litany of calling out her son's name. She no longer opened her eyes to Roy's questions nor followed any of his suggestions. Roy picked up the phone. "Rampart this is Squad 51, how do you read?" ##Go ahead, 51.## "Our victim's LOC is 9. Stand by for a Lead Two and vitals." ##Standing by.## The paramedic sent on the telemetry to Dr. Early and waited, biting his lip. Roy picked up his HT to Johnny. "HT 51 to Squad 51." ##This is Squad 51.## answered Gage driving behind the ambulance. "She's slipping into unconsciousness. We might have to pull over for that intubation before we get there." ##10-4, 51. Watching out for a curbside. I'll let the detectives know that we might emergency halt on their Tach Two. ## --------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the striped Torino, Starsky had one eye on the ambulance behind them and the other on the road. He shouted to a slow driver in front of him. "Come on, buddy! Move it!" he shouted, hanging his badge out the open car window for the startled motorist to see. "What part of the color red don't ya see?! Maybe this badge'll talk better!" Hutch ducked down in embarrassment. "Starsky, go easy on them. Scaring the other drivers'll only make'em slower in pulling out of our way. We're making good time. I estimate Rampart's only three minutes away." "More like six minutes, Hutch. Did you forget the seven o'clock coal train already? I'm speeding because we're a minute away from it cutting us off at the pass. Look over there buddy boy." and he pointed out to their left, where two city blocks sideways from their own position, the guard rails of the train crossing intersection, were already lowering and flashing red. Rows of cars were damming up in front of them in anticipation of their own street's train rails coming down. Then Gage's transmission about Mary's potential future ambulance emergency stop came over the radio through their police dispatcher. "O.K. Nobody's stopping for anything else that's as unnecessary as a freight train here." said Starsky and he drove onto the sidewalk to get around the halting cars. Then he threw the Torino into a sharp left onto the railroad tracks wooden rails as he waved on the ambulance and squad to start coming towards the tracks normally, via the street. Starsky jerked the wheel and spun the Torino sideways until the locomotive conductor was sure to see the red car obstructing his way. He pounded on the dashboard happily when he heard the blast of the train's klaxon bite down in rapid succession and when blue sparking arcs started to fly as the train's emergency brakes were frantically applied. Hutch paled, seeing that his passenger door was the side facing the oncoming train. "Starsky, what the h*ll are you doing?!" he shouted in a high panicked voice. "Slowing him down. The gates won't flash for our street until he's an eighth of a mile away. Remember your train stats? I'm buying us an extra thirty seconds. At least." said Starsky. "You're crazy! Are you sure you didn't jam the tires into the rocks?! We might not be able to work free again in time." The smile of success faded from Starsky's face into a white wash. Until he tested the stick and the forward and reverse gears until the Torino rocked in response comfortably. "We're not stuck, Hutch. And we only gotta stay here long enough for the squad and ambulance to work past the traffic jam and get past that R/R crossing. Then we can rocket outta here.." Hutch just stared at his partner and back at the oncoming train again in a panicked flurry of glances. "St...ar..sk..That train's going over forty miles an hour!" he shouted. "Just a few.....seconds.....more..." said Starsky, watching the intersection crossing the avenue they had just left for the Hearse ambulance and rescue squad, in the rear view mirror. "There goes Mary.." he wiped his hands on his jeans. Then he started to re-grip the Torino's steering wheel, ignoring Hutch's shouts of alarm. The train's next horn blare all but split their eardrums. "StarskyyyYYY!" said Hutch. "....and there goes Johnny..." said the curly haired detective with a crow of delight. "They did it.." he laughed, highly pleased. "They beat the train!" Then he caught sight of the immense train bumper scoop and a whole lotta of steam boiling down on them less than ten yards away from Hutch's passenger door. Hutch was scared into completely frozen immobility. "GaahhhHH!" gasped Starsky and he punched the gas pedal to the metal with all the strength he had in his leg. The Torino scooted off the tracks mere feet before the train barrelled by in a high speed squeal of sparking brakes. He caught the barest glimpse of its terrified train conductor before the young stripe hatted man in the locomotive was swept past and then beyond them. Clouds of dust roared into the detectives' car in an angry wind and made both men cough and choke violently. When the dust cleared, they both eyeballed each other from underneath a thick coating of grit and sand. The dusty assault had snapped Hutch out of his freeze. "....Starsk... if ..you ...ever...." he began, holding up a now trembling finger. Then he sneezed. "I promise. I won't. Not ever again. Hey, let's catch up with them now, Hutch. I can still see them on the merge ramp leading onto the freeway." And he spun the car's tires until they dug them off the soft soil of the intertracks and back onto a sidewalk. He cut over onto the merge lane and boiled up onto the freeway in long peels of noisy rubber. A plume of dust accented their departure from the car's interior. Belatedly, Hutch fastened himself tightly into his seat's lap belt. "I should turn you in for reckless endangerment Starsky! I'm sure the captain will LOVE to hear about this latest stunt." he said, trying to brush off the dust coating his tan leather jacket in vain. "How can you rat on me? It'll have no credibility at all. There were no witnesses visible for the last fifteen seconds. The dust cloud was too big for anyone to see through." "I saw everything just fine with perfect one hundred percent clarity. That's all I'll need you big lummox!" "You mean you'd doom our six year long partnership to a dissolvement? Hutch I'm thoroughly surprised at you. I only made that move to save a risk to a life. Mary's." "By risking ours?!" "I had everything perfectly under control." "Let me tell you something Starsky. If you wanna go around rescuing lives, do it with your Wesson 39-9mm. You're far better at shooting than you are at playing chicken." "I am?" "Yes." "Oh." Hutch was still fuming when he killed the siren long enough for them to slide past the speeding squad and ambulance to get back into the leading escort position they had before the train crossing. "Or better yet. Why don't you join the firehouse guys to do that sort of thing and work it out of your system?!" he snarled angrily. "You know, that's not such a bad idea, Hutch. All this ambulance and emergency medical stuff's addicting." And he flipped their forward siren back on with a fancy florish. "I wonder if those two paramedics' stationhouse ever takes on police volunteers...." Hutch just stared at his partner in utter disbelief. "I was kidding, Starsky." "I don't think I was." Starsky replied back, keeping tabs on their two tails in the rear mirror. "When I was a kid, I always dreamed of becoming a fireman." "You've got the wrong kind of badge for that kind of work. Forget about it." "Guess you're right, Hutch. Ah, here's our exit." And he calmly signalled his right hand turn off the freeway. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ##Did you see that, Roy?## Gage came over DeSoto's HT. "See what, Johnny?" answered Roy over his radio as he counted Mary's pulse at her carotid. The woman had quieted significantly verbally and had accepted a simple nasopharyngeal airway without a fuss. So far, her Glasgow rating was staying a solid 9. ##That police car. It just took on a train so we could get across.## "I hadn't noticed. Mary's fair. Still a 9. And Joe's still going over her EKG. She's showing inverted T waves, and non-specific ST depressions. Pressure's rising." ##How high?## "In the hundreds palpated. She's still breathing ok. I put a nasal airway in and she took it." ##Keep me posted.## "I will." ##See you at the entrance. We're gonna make it in without that stop.## "That's my call, too. Whatever those detectives did back there bought Mary a whole lot of time." ##I'm sure they knew that, doing it. Man, I wish I could've become a policeman. Seems like a d*mned fun profession. I wonder if their department ever takes on fireman ride alongs.## "Policemen are useful sometimes, Johnny. But a lot of them are hot headed risk takers who'll do anything for the shortest outcome. They're not your kind of people." ##Who says? I won't know if I don't try..## "I've never heard of volunteer fire in a police station." ##Oh. That's too bad, Roy. I'll see you in one.## Soon, the Torino, ambulance and rescue squad were lined up at the emergency entrance and powered down. Mary Malone was quickly bustled inside to Dixie awaiting there. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Hutch on the radio mic in the Torino. Starsky driving. Photo: A Hearse ambulance. Stuck in traffic. Photo: *animated* A freight train passing a crossing at night. Photo: Hutch panicking in the car with Starsky. Photo: Johnny driving the squad. Photo: Roy on the biophone in the ambulance looking at his watch. ****************************************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Mon Nov 22, 2004 7:11 pm Subject: Hallway Duty "Treatment 3." said Dixie quickly as she took the hanging I.V. from Roy DeSoto's hand so he could manage his chattering HT radio. The two other men, she recognized as police detectives. " Gentlemen, Dr. Early's called for a neurosurgeon and I'll be the one helping you fill out your crime report after we're through examining Mary. Johnny, could you stick around and help x-ray out with her films? I've already set out an extra lead apron." "Sure, Dix." "How's she breathing?" Joe Early asked as Gage and DeSoto wheeled Mary's gurney into the indicated room. "All right." Roy replied. "Still reacting to pain on both sides of her body. All except that one arm. She was talking a minute ago, but now she's just mumbling." And the three of them disappeared inside the treatment room. Detective Hutchinson sped up his walk until he was parallel with Dixie. "Ma'am. Is there any way my partner and I could ask Miss Malone a few questions? She's not unconscious yet." "That's seriously doubtful." Dixie said, as she whirled to prevent the two men from entering after Mary and the two paramedics when they tried to follow them. "Excuse us. We've films to get and then she's going straight into a ward for an immediate craniotomy." She nodded to the two policemen she had anticipated needing to thwart the detectives' meddling, to stand fast on either side of Mary's door. "Miss.....McCall." said Starsky after reading Dixie's name tag quickly. "You don't understand the urgency of the situation! Malone's four year old little boy has been kidnapped by her attacker and only Mary knows the critical details. This'll only take a couple of minutes. If she dies before we find out anything...." Dixie's hand slammed into the frame of the treatment room's door. "She'll die for certain if you two delay us or her treatment for even a minute..." she snarled. "Please! Go sit down in the waiting room! If she says anything during her exam and stabilization, I'll send Johnny or Roy out here to let you know about it!" The richly varnished set of doors swung shut into their faces. Starsky was about to go barging in after Dixie, when Hutch grabbed his shoulders, and stopped him. Starsky knocked his hands away. "What are you doing?" he said with a low warning glare. "You know we've gotta get her side of it for the boy's sake." "Starsky. Think about it. Just how much could Mary've learned from Medford during the brunt of the attack? He was strangling her." "Adrenaline sometimes does some pretty powerful things on memory, partner. I'm banking on Mary having had a total recall effect because of her mother's instinct firing off for her child's protection." and he started to push on the doors around Hutch's larger frame. The two very large officers started to tense up their well muscled arms. Hutch once again prevented his smaller partner from moving. "Don't, Starsk. Be happy. We've managed to save Malone long enough for the doctors to get their shot at finishing the job. Let's go grab a cup of coffee." "No way in h*ll, Hutch. I'm not getting the wool pulled over my eyes by skipping an interview with another material witness against Metford again. Not this time. We lost the last one when he died on the surgical table." "I insist." said Hutchinson, spinning his partner around toward the front reception desk of Emergency's ward. "Sorry officers. He's a bit gung ho when it comes to cracking female victimization cases. Come on, Starsky. I smell coffee brewing over here and you look like you could seriously use some right about now." Starsky let himself be herded, finally realizing that he should retreat rather than embarrass them both with a public scuffle with two fellow policemen. Then he shivered. "I am kinda cold." "Stress'll do that." said Hutch matter of factly, grinning at the nurses who hurried by them, going about their business. He absently patted Starsky's shoulder reassuringly as he guided him away from Mary's room and the two head nurse appointed guards. "We've been hunting Metford down like an animal for ...what? Two days straight?" "Three. I remember that because that's how long it's been since either of us got any sleep." Starsky grumbled unhappily. Then he shrugged out of Hutch's grip, cooperating at last, and he adjusted his brown leather jacket back into comfortable place around his fatigue slumped shoulders. "Homicidal maniacs always give us a run for the money. It's the price we haveta pay before we get to nab the bad guy." Hutch reasoned. "Haven't you ever noticed that?" "No." Starsky reached out an arm in a grab and collapsed his weary butt on an empty gurney stored along the side of the hospital hallway with a sigh, before they had even walked thirty steps. He toppled over onto his side, nesting a cheek on an elbow and then he closed his eyes. "Wake me when those two fire monkeys get back out here, Hutch. I want a decent prognosis on Mary for Captain Dobey a.s.a.p. You know how he makes our life a living h*ll until he hears the final results or at least some decent progress news on any of our felony cases." "That may take a while. They've got to clear her C-spine before they can even move her." "That's ok by me. Why don't you grab the other end of the bed and lie down. This feels....absolutely....divine...." he murmured sleepily, curling up under the wheeled gurney's antiseptically clean white sheet. "Starsky?" Hutch inquired, staying on his feet. "I don't think you should be doing that.. I mean, what if it gets busy later and they need this stretcher?" A loud snore peeled immediately from Starsky's lax face. "Starsk?" There was no answer. Hutch finally yawned uncontrollably and then he gave in to a mild grin. "All right. I guess you deserve a nap, pal. Looks like we've a long night ahead of us." he said angling Starsky's chin, so he slept silently without noise. To keep nosy hospital staff at bay, Hutch threw the sheet over his partner's face, took over a chair, and snatched up a magazine to read. Then he sat next to Starsky's gurney as if on a corpse watch. The shining detective's badge that he put out on his shirt's lapel kept anyone from asking any questions about either the man shaped lump under the crisply pressed sheeting on the bed, or him. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: An x-ray of a linear skull fracture with a parietal epidural hemorrhage. Photo: Hutch muscling up two guards in front of a hospital room door as Starsky watches. Photo: Dixie inside a treatment room in front of a centesis tray. Photo: Dr. Joe Early frowning beside a surgical emergency door. ******************************************************************* Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 15:20:34 -0800 (PST) From: "Jeff Seltun" Subject: The Lead.. Dr. Brackett was already in the Treatment Room on the phone. "Joe, I've got an anesthesiologist coming right now to get her squared away with an endotrach tube." "Thanks, Kel." said Joe as he began a funduscopic exam on Mary. "The sooner the better. There's retinal petecchiae in evidence." "Intracranial changes?" Dr. Brackett offered. Joe nodded. "At the very least, a linear skull fracture. I'm feeling a crack that's non depressed right along her parietal bone just above the left ear. With that same side dilated pupil and partial hemiparesis that Roy found, I'll bet there's a strong possibility that she's got an active epidural bleed going on." "No bet." said Kel. Then he turned to Dixie while he continued waiting for the X-ray tech to lay out the lateral and frontal cranial film series on the light board. "Dix, I want you to set up a foley before she hits the OR. Take care of that once she's under and intubated. Also draw blood for electrolytes, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, glucose, a complete blood cell count with platelets, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time. Have the lab do a toxicology screen and serum alcohol level and get a blood type and crossmatch. Her chart's not up from records yet." said Brackett. "Right away, Kel." and she went to the wall phone in the back of the room. He moved to the woman's right side and uptook her hand and fingers. "Johnny, what's her pressure?" "It's up, Dr. Brackett. 150/98. Respirations are only ten now. The heart rate you already know." he said pointing to the audible cardiac monitor that they all could hear pacing off a slow beat. Joe completed his physical check of Mary's head and he moved to her legs to test their reactions with a reflex hammer. He looked up when the anesthesiologist arrived with his equipment. Brackett pressed his thumbnail on top of Mary's middle finger nail bed, sliding it along until his clicked over the end of hers at the finger tip. The rest of Mary's fingers on that hand flexed, transiently exaggerated. "Joe, I've a positive Hoffman's response." "Both sides?" Kel checked. "Yes." Dr. Early frowned. "That means there's a problem at C5 or above in addition to her head injury." "Good thing she was collared." Dr. Brackett said. "Did you get cervical plates, too?" "Yeah, they're almost set. Hang on." "Mike. Get her ready, fast. Cushing's is just around the corner." Kel said to the anesthestist. Right then, Mary moaned. Roy, by her right side, leaned in close. "Mary... can you hear me? The doctors are right here. They're gonna take real good care of ya. We're at the hospital now." Mary got more agitated, as if feeling Dixie's tap for the lab's arterial blood, and she started to fidget restlessly. "Tttt----Ttttoobbbb " "Keep her down." Brackett warned the two paramedics to hold her still. He drew up a 3 mg syringe of pentobarbitol and injected it into Mary's I.V. "Mary. Mary. Listen to me. You hurt your neck when you hit the ground. It's very important for you to lie as still as you can and don't move." "TTttttt---oob. Money's on the dress...e..r. Tooower's Plaazzz-zz." "Shhh.." Kel soothed holding her forehead. "Don't try to talk. We've given you some medication to relax you." "Brrrrriing....ittt th---" Mary's face slacked off with a sigh as Brackett's sedative took effect and she quit fighting actively. Mike deftly took out the nasopharyngeal airway and suctioned the blood and saliva out of her mouth and nose. He prepared for an in-line intubation with the endotrach airway tube he had ready to place. He nodded to Kel to signal that he was ready for the doctor to inject the second syringe full of succinylcholine to paralyze her the rest of the way until her breathing stopped. Gage pulled the sheet down so the anesthesiologist could see her chest for landmarks and its eventual rise for when the ventilator was turned on. He read off the numbers on the billows gauge. "She's got mild hypocapnea.. I'm reading,...30- 35 mm Hg, doc." "That's fine, Johnny.." said Joe Early. "That carbon dioxide level will prevent any severe vasoconstriction and it'll eliminate her existing cerebral ischemia. Do you have good breath sounds yet for Mike, Roy?" he asked as the tube doc finished his work. Roy listened carefully over both of Mary's lungs and her stomach with the stethoscope he still had around his neck. "There's no gastric gurgling. You've got your placement right first time." he shared. Mike nodded and taped off the breathing tube so it wouldn't move around during her transit into surgery. "Ok, let's go. Dixie, make sure the lab results and those X-rays meet up with us while we scrub up. We'll stall with starting Mary's tapping burr holes as long as we can." Dixie nodded as the two paramedics bundled Mary up again in warm heated blankets and helped the orderlies gather all her tubes and IV from around the wheeled bird vent. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hutch rose immediately from his chair hopefully, as Mary was wheeled out into the hallway. But his smile died when he saw that she was tubed and not breathing on her own, hooked up to a machine. "Do you need us any more, docs?" Gage asked Joe Early and Kel Brackett from alongside her bed. "We got it from here." Kel said, helping to keep Mary's airway from jostling. "Tell those two detectives we'll give them a call as soon as Mary hits the Recovery Unit." Joe added as they put some fast distance between them. "Will do.." said Roy and the two fire paramedics slowed their pace as the surgical entourage entered the metal doored elevator. Hutchinson met up with them as the doors snicked shut on the sight of Mary's pale, still face. "Gentlemen? Did she speak anymore?" "Hmm?" Gage said, looking up thoughtfully. "Oh, oh.oh. Uh. Let me think back. We really had our hands full. Uhhhh. She was really worried about her son, Toby." he offered. "Yeah, she called out his name a few times." Roy agreed. "And..and and.. she mentioned something about some money.." "About what money?" said Hutch starting to walk back down the hall to where he had been reading. The two firemen followed, next to him. Gage blinked a few times. "She didn't specify.. but I think she said something like, 'It's on the dresser.' " "Yeah, and about a place that it had to go to." DeSoto frowned, rubbing his head wearily. "Did she give an address?" Hutch asked, pausing by the gurney along the wall. "Not exactly. We had a hard time making it out." Roy admitted. "She was getting doped up pretty good by that point. It was just a few syllables." "Where?" asked Hutch amicably. "Well,... it sounded like Tauser's Pass or... Tower's...Pl..." Gage broke off, trying to remember. Hutchinson snapped his fingers. "Tower's Plaza?" "Yeah, that might have been it..." Roy nodded. "Thanks fellas. We'll get right on it." Gage stopped Hutch before he turned away again. "Uh, who's we? I don't see your partner around here anywhere." Hutch took his radio out of his pocket and said, "Zebra 3 to Headquarters. We've a lead on the Malone kidnapping. Tell Captain Dobey to call us on our automobile phone in two minutes. We're headed to Mary's residence right now. Come on, Starsk, rise and shine..." he said, tickling something on the gurney. "We've a ransom to deliver." Johnny Gage startled badly when the "body" moved and became Detective Starsky pulling off the sheet in a tangle of bleary panic. Roy steadied Gage as the two hastily departing detectives ran quickly down the hallway for the ambulance doors. "Easy, pal. Don't have a coronary. We've got that dinner bet to collect on, so don't die of fright on me. I don't wanna work that hard." "D-dd-ddid you see that?" Gage said, breathing fast and pointing down the hall. "Why'd they pretend a body was a sleeping guy like that? What a nasty trick." Roy shrugged mildly. "I don't think it was a trick. More like an inadvertant crash. I've seen you do it enough times around here." "What?" "Nothin. Come on and walk it off. Let's go, I'm getting hungry." DeSoto said, thinking about how bad the end of rush hour traffic was going to be and how long their ETA back to base was gonna take. "L.A., Squad 51's available." ##Squad 51.## Spap. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Roy and Johnny at Rampart looking overwhelmed. Photo: Starsky and Hutch figuring it out. Photo: Joe Early in close discussion. Photo: Kel Brackett looking intent. Photo: Doctors operating on a patient in surgical blue. *********************************************************************** From : Cory Anda Sent : Wednesday, December 1, 2004 1:57 PM Subject : Mary's Deal Starsky and Hutch ran up the stairs leading to Mary Malone's spanish shingle house and to its vine wrapped front door. In their hands, they held a property search warrant, fresh from Captain Dobey's hands. Lock picking the door, they went inside steathily, guns drawn and hugging the walls. They put them away when they saw that things were completely undisturbed in every room they could see. Together, the two detectives sighed in relief. "Metford hasn't been here yet." said Hutchinson. "How could he come around to look for the ransom money? He's got a kid in tow. And one who probably isn't very happy about being apart from Mary right now. Besides, Metford still knows he's got every cop in the city looking for him." said Starsky. Hutch frowned. "There's one thing about this whole affair that really stinks." he said, as he and his partner searched every dresser in each room for anything resembling something that could hold hidden money. "And what's that, Sherlock?" smiled Starsky. "If Metford kidnapped Toby on the spur of the moment, how could Mary have had time to make arrangements to have money available on hand to try and get him back so fast? We've all been assuming that attack on her was a first meeting between the two of them." reasoned Hutch, leafing through the stack of mail sitting on Mary's desk for clues. Starsky didn't like the feeling that washed over him. "A prior relationship of some kind?" Hutch nodded. "Not necessarily a romantic one. I can't see a college student getting involved with a man Metford's age. He's old enough to be her father. Perhaps she knows him as some shady, obscure family acquaintance?" "I'll buy that. But if that was true, why didn't she tell us about knowing him, when we were there, right up front?" "She had a head injury Starsky." said Hutch. "I speak from experience that you can't always think clearly having one. I was amazed that Mary could even talk after coming to like that after not having been able to breathe at all." "She sounded pretty lucid talking to that dark haired paramedic for those few minutes. What was his name again?" "John Gage." supplied Hutch, moving on to the next room. "Let's try looking in the bedroom." "Ok, Hutch, I'll go along with your line of thinking. So, ....You're saying, she changed her tune, once she woke up the rest of the way in that alley, because she wanted to try and handle the situation with Metford on her own. I'll buy that. She was scared for her boy." Starsky surmised. "But then, at the hospital, the seriousness of her condition must've convinced her to change her mind about getting some help with him when she realized that she was heading into surgery. She must've figured out that going under the knife would run over being able to keep Metford's ransom delivery deadline." "Most likely." Both detectives stopped when they spied a very masculine black briefcase, sitting on a nightstand by the bed that didn't jive with the rest of the floral or child's home decor around them. They rushed over to it and flipped open the lid. Jewels and a large sum of money sparkled up at them. "Bingo." said Hutchinson. Starsky picked up some documents lying next to the case and started reading out loud. "I, Mary Malone, co-signer of the contents of of this safety deposit box, so avow, affirm and agree that I have made this withdrawal in good faith and sound mind...." He looked up at his partner. "Metford coerced her to get her dead grandmother's savings withdrawn." Hutch had found a notepad next to the phone, written in a curling feminine hand that was also shaky looking with stress. "This says eight o'clock, tonight, Starsky. At Tower's Plaza.. the 1010 Interchange Building." and his face fell into shocked angry lines. "This whole day's turning out so like Metford's usual MO. A targetless shooting spree for kicks to celebrate a heist going his way...." "He's gonna conclude this deal and then go back into deep hiding again where we'll never find him. We're taking all of this with us! Who's to say Toby won't get on his nerves and get beaten up like Mary did?" Starsky said, shutting the briefcase and snatching up both the bank withdrawal papers and the phone notepad along with the money and jewels. "No one." said Hutch. "That little boy's still in danger even if it isn't deadly danger." "We don't have time enough to go to headquarters to get the FBI in on this whole deal. It's 7:10, Hutch." "We're gonna haveta find time," he said. Then, in a burst of an idea. "I know, we'll make arrangements on the way to the Plaza through Captain Dobey and call all the watch dog units to close on in." agreed Hutch. "Most of those offices in that tower are empty now and unoccupied. It's way after their business closing hours." "We'll startle Metford out of any target practicing on the streets by calling in the fire department." The two detectives ran out of the house, secured its front door tightly, and raced for the red Gran Torino as fast as they could in the falling night time darkness. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Starsky and Hutch on the steet in a night time neighborhood. Photo: An arrest warrant in close up. Photo: A briefcase full of money and jewels. Photo: Starsky and Hutch in their car on the radio at night. ************************************************************************************* From: Katherine Bird Date: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:50 pm Subject: Ring of Fire Roy DeSoto and Johnny Gage skidded into Station 51's kitchen, each doing fair imitations of Bonnie scampering claws on the slippery floor, but with their shoes, in their hurry to get to their plates. Marco was grumpy, having just finished peeling twenty potatoes to go along with the steaks Kelly had grilled up. "Hey, watch it you guys, you'll scuff up the tiles! I just got done mopping that." Gage and DeSoto ignored him as they scooted their wooden chairs a little closer to the table and their silverware. "Ah, I can't wait to sink my teeth into... Sorry for winning the bet, Chet. This looks absolutely fabulous." he said tucking a napkin around his neck. "What didya sautee them in?" he said reaching for the steaks platter for a taste of the marinate glistening there. Chet smacked his fingers. "Shittake mushroom and yellow onion. Mitts off until you get served." he said. "Cap wasn't too pleased about being suckered into the bet. But he did his part. He's got a couple of bowls of salad chilling in the frig." Johnny looked around, stuffing a dinner roll into his mouth as Kelly forked over two steaks onto the paramedics' blue and white swirled china plates. "Where is he? Usually he'd be here pulling rank on all of us to get the biggest steak." Mike Stoker looked up from some carrots he was shoving into his mouth as quick as he could. He mumbled. "He's on the phone with somebody named Captain Dobey from the Bay City Police Department. Do you know anything about that?" Gage and Roy exchanged glances. "A fair amount. That police medical standby call turned into an assault and kidnapping. Our victim was a mother and her four year old son's now missing. The cops think he's being held by her attacker." "Ooo, that's rough. She gonna make it?" Kelly asked. "Yeah. Rampart was really on the ball today. Her anesthetist was already in the room when we got to the hospital. She's got a head crack that seemed to be just epidural in nature. Easily mended." Roy replied, cutting his steak calmly and chewing on a center piece stabbed onto a fork. "Pass me the pepper, Stoker. Thanks."Johnny was eating so fast that Roy was amazed that he didn't choke. DeSoto frowned a little and tried not to watch. Johnny added his two cents worth. "The whole run was just plain weird, guys. Bullet casings lying around us like scattered acorns. Cops running around everywhere. Our two detectives' car had its windshield shot through with a couple of bullet holes. " Marco's eyes got real big. "We're you in danger?" "Nah. It was over by the time we got there." Roy reassured Lopez. "The shorter cop reminded me a lot of you, Chet. Complete with moppy hair and tennis shoes." Gage interjected. "No kidding..." Kelly said with feigned interest. "Didn't know I had a twin out there. What'd he do for you guys?" "He got our lady breathing again. She'd been choked and thrown too hard onto some concrete. Starsky did pretty well considering the fact that he thought he shot her with his gun the whole time he and his partner were helping her out." Stoker chuckled. "Starsky. What kind of name is that?" "It's probably Jewish." Marco guessed. "Probably. His taller partner was named Hutch." Roy nodded reflectively. "As in a piece of furniture?" Chet laughed, stuffing a pile of potatoes into his mouth. "I think it was a nickname." Roy said. "But I sure appreciate them both and what they do for a living. They ran escort for us on the way in and played chicken with a train to slow it down long enough for the squad and ambulance to get over the tracks before the gates came down." "Now that took guts." Gage agreed. "They seem like a real crazy pair of partners. Funky and impulsive." "Kinda like the pair of partners sitting in front of me right now, huh?" Chet quipped. Johnny nailed Kelly in the shoulder with a towel. "I meant that in a good sense." "So did I." Chet said, mildly, tossing the kitchen towel right back at him. The whole thing turned into a tossing war between the two, until Cap's entry into the room, suddenly ended it. Nonetheless, Cap's eyes had missed nothing. Hank hurried to his chair and sat down. "No horseplay at the table, you two. You know the rules." "Not unless you can get away with it.." Chet said under his breath to the others. Cap was too busy filling his plate with food to notice him. Hank ate half his steak, before he flipped open a file filled with hand written notes that he had hastily scrawled onto a blank log sheet. "Johnny. Roy. Gang. We're all on special duty for the rest of the day. Apparently there's a man hunt going on downtown for some nut case the cops want real bad. They think they've cornered him in a high rise office building somewhere near Tower's Plaza and we're gonna be part of a fire back up response crew in case any tear gas's needed." "That's probably our kidnapper.." Johnny snorted, chewing his third dinner roll loudly. "What?" Hank asked. "Nothing, Cap. When do we move into position?" Roy wanted to know. "They'll call us just as soon as they get a bead on their perpetrator. He could be anywhere inside that building. And sixty stories is a lot of ground to cover manually. We'll probably make it through dinner." "Knowing the pace our two detectives like to work at, better hurry up with your steaks everybody. We're bound to be called out sooner than you'd think.." Roy warned. The tones went off. All the firemen stood bent over their food and they shovelled in a few last hasty cheekfuls, before they fled for the vehicle bay and their trucks. ##Station 51. Truck 99. Foam 127. Battalion 14. L.A. and Bay City Police request a non code R multiple station response to 1010 Tower Plaza Drive. Cross street Interchange Blvd. 1010 Tower Plaza Drive. Cross street Interchange Blvd. Time out: 19:12.## "10-4, Station 51, KMG 365." said Cap into the alcove mic. They rolled out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A steak dinner. Photo: Gage with his feet up on the kitchen table. Photo: A police MO file on a suspect. Photo: Starsky and Hutch reading and investigating at their office. Photo: Captain Dobey, Starsky and Hutch's superior, looking stressed and angry. ******************************************************************** From: "Patti or Jeff or Cassidy" Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 11:34:03 -0800 (PST) Subject: [EmergencyTheaterLive] Conference Scene Shots I - V... Starsky and Hutch beat the responding fire departments to the Plaza Tower. They pulled up well away from the police barricades surrounding the one block radius around the skyscraper and both detectives got out with the Malone ransom and the two evidence documents and soon met up with the central police command trailer sprouting antennaes and hastily wired telephone lines snaking up to the telephone pole next to it. They flashed their badges to the uniformed cop guarding the command post's door and went inside. Once there, they met the rotound, dark skinned Captain Dobey, seated at a small cramped camper table, across from a very familiar figure that they all knew very well. It was Huggy Bear. Without ceremony, Hutch threw the case down in front of the two of them and flipped it open. The street wise African American informant's eyes got real big at the sight of all the riches. "Whooo wee, Hutch! What cat did you knock off to procure these shiny baubles and greenbacks?" Starsky, out of impatience, grabbed the front of Huggy's threads. "These came from the dead grandmother of one very frightened young mother whose child's is now in very grave danger up in that skyscraper right outside, Huggy. Now tell us what advance knowledge you know about his kidnapping! You'd better have a very good reason why you didn't tell us about it before Metford went on his little shotgun, joy riding foray this afternoon or I'll--" Captain Dobey reached out and yelled right back. "Starsky! Let go of him! He knew nothing until he saw Metford dragging Toby by the arm past his night club down the street, twenty minutes ago. His involvement in it this time, is as a first hand witness only. Lay off! Now! .....or I'lI LET him press charges of illegal harrassment AGAINST you." Starsky's face fell from crafted fake rage into one of grinning apology. "Oh. Sorry, Hug. I'm a little worked up right now." And he let the street toady go. "That I can tell." Huggy Bear said, straightening up his stylish flashy outfit. "No hard feelings, man. I'm just as mad at that dude as you are. He's way uncool. Captain Dobey was kind enough to fill me in and I'm kind enough to offer my services with the next stage of the game already scoped out!" he said proudly. "Services? Doing what?" Hutch asked, leaning back to let a uniformed officer by him as a phone rang up in front of the command trailer. "I'm your delivery man who'll go to Metford,.." soothed Huggy. " with these..." and he slid over the briefcase full of riches closer to where he sat, licking his lips in anticipation and reaching for its contents. Starsky slammed down the lid of the case forcefully, making Huggy yelp and yank both of his hands back in alarm. "Ok, I consider myself ordered to go along with this entire, absolutely ridiculous charade, Captain. But you,..." and he whipped up a finger in front of Huggy's nose, ".. don't haveta go fondling the goods unnecessarily. It hasn't been counted yet." And he cooly passed the case off to an FBI type whose job it was to do just that. "Don't you trust me, Starsky? They all do.." Huggy gestured at the rest of the fuzz milling about inside the trailer. The panting and exhausted detective, said nothing. Then,.. "Cap, I assume you're gonna wire him." Starsky said, not breaking off his angry eye contact with the naturally fidgety street informant. "Not a chance, Starsky. Metford'll be onto that angle in an instant. He's not your average unintelligent city joe. I was thinking of using all those firemen coming to pretend a precautionary fire evac to throw him off long enough for you two to get a bead on him anyway you can. Both of you are gonna be dressed up just like them, going along. And Huggy here can be the panicky witness who spotted the smoky room in the building." "What?!" Hutch said. "Cap, that's ludicrous! There's no way in h*ll Starsky and I can pull off acting like real firemen!" "And why the h*ll not?" snapped Dobey. "That fire captain of theirs said that you four got along real chummy like while you cared for Mary, just like you were the best of friends. Why won't it work? They can coach you on what to do while you hike it on up there to the thirty fourth floor." he roared, pointing to the ceiling. Starsky quieted instantly, and blinked. "T-T-To the thirty fourth floor?! On foot!? Whatever for?" "Because we've been receiving threats from Metford from a phone line coming from up there that's defying any closer trace and because during a fire evacuation, elevators are never turned on for public use. You're gonna haveta keep up the proper appearances!" roared Dobey. "Man, I'm roasting in here. You there! Yes, you! Bring me a desk fan A.S.A.P in five minutes or consider yourself demoted!" he shouted to a very very young police cadet to instill a fear of compliance into him. "Yes sir!" and the young cop fled clumsily for the supply truck outside. "Cap..." said Hutch. "What?!" "You can't demote a cadet. They're already the lowest ranking police officer you can have." "It worked didn't it? Just shut up and let me finish getting you up to speed here." and he mopped his overheated chubby face. "Any questions before you guys go outside and meet Captain Stanley? And I do mean questions! Not complaints!" "Aww, Cap, we've been up for over forty six hours. Straight!" groaned Starsky. "I'm never gonna survive climbing up that many flights of stairs wearing an oxygen bottle." "That's air bottle, Starsk. SCBA tanks are always full of just air." Hutch whispered sotto voce. "I don't care, Hutch. I'm gonna need oxygen if you two make me do that. I'm tired. I'm worse than tired. If I climb those stairs in all that turnout gear I'm gonna hurl worse than your sickest smelliest curbside wino! I'll die, sure as sh--" the curly haired partner protested. But he was cut off by a move that made his vision swim. Huggy had grabbed Starsky's leather jacket and he hauled the detective a little closer to his taller, sweating face. "Think of that poor little kid, Starsk. He needs ALL of us right now to guarantee his very survival. And very badly, I might add. Now will you go along with us?" Starsky froze defensively, resisting ripping the hands off of his lapels. Then he smiled wanly. "How can I refuse, Huggy? You ask so nicely. " he said sarcastically. "Ok, Hutch. Let's go." and he checked his weapon to see if it was still fully loaded. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Starsky squared his shoulders as he and his partner walked bravely over to the fire engine numbered 51. "Which one is the captain, Hutch? I feel ridiculous..." he said, shoving up his helmet once again so that it didn't flop down into his eyes. "The Batallion Chief said that Captain Stanley would have a skunk stripe on his helmet." said Hutch, still trying to figure out how to rig his gun holster underneath the tan fire turnout he wore over his usual clothes. "Skunk stripe? What the h*ll is a skunk stripe?" Starsky grumbled. Hutch pointed as a tall man in fire gear came striding over along with Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto. "I believe that would be it.." Hutch said with amusement. "Oh. So that's a skunk stripe.." mumbled Starsky, eyeballing the bright white crest on top of the black plastic of Stanley's helmet. It was glowing under the street light. "You do all the talking. I don't feel like chatting right now. Maybe later. I gotta conserve my strength for the big climb." he snapped. Hutch frowned at Starsky and rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Captain Stanley?" introduced Hutch as four firemen left the side of one fire truck and started moving in their direction. "I'm Ken Hutchinson and this is David Starsky. We're the detectives Captain Dobey spoke to you about concerning the storming operation that we're gonna do into the Plaza building....." "Oh, yes. Hello." and Hank pulled his gloves off to shake both detectives' hands warmly. "I hope that anything the Los Angeles County Fire Department can do tonight will be good enough to get that young woman's boy down safe. I believe you already know paramedics Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto." "We remember." said Hutch, smiling. "How can we forget...?" whispered Starsky, complaining. Hutch jabbed his partner in the ribs sharply. "Your Captain Dobey has already briefed them on the situation and what they're gonna to do up there during the ransom delivery. They know to keep out of sight if and when bullets begin to fly." said Hank. "We're good at duck and covering." he joked. Neither detective caught the humor in it. "Eh. Hmmm." Hank cleared his throat awkwardly. "Shall we get the show on the road?" smiled Hutch for both himself and his mute partner. "First, did we get these SCBA bottles things on right? Could you check em out? Can't say my partner and I have ever had the pleasure of wearing anything like these in the past." "Oh, that's easy. Here." said Chet Kelly, moving on around Starsky and jerking on the straps animatedly to test their attachments. He goosed Starsky with the two leg straps, accidently. "Hey! Careful.." said Starsky, grabbing his crotch. "Now those two are in the wrong place, Mr. Starsky." said Kelly to his curly haired companion, shaking his head. "Want me to redo em?" "No..no..no.. I'll handle it. I got em.. Just ....show me how you did yours on you, Mr..." "...Kelly. But call me, Chet. Please." said the fireman cheerfully. He was the same height as Starsky. "Glad we're gonna be working together. Don't worry about a thing. You're always gonna be safe with a crew of firefighters workin with ya. Here, this is how I did mine." "Ok,..Chet.. I think I got it." said Starsky tightly, making the corrections. Eventually, the two detectives were geared up properly with a few adjustments to their outer coats so that they'd be able to reach their guns easily in an instant's notice. Mike Stoker showed them a fast run down on how to hold coiled hose on a shoulder for stairclimbing, with one side of the loop bunches slung over the air bottle tank's top, above their helmets. Captain Stanley handed the two detectives a couple of fire HTs. "Use these to contact any of my men. They're set to the frequency our engine operates on and I'll be listening, too. Your captain says he'll be tapped in as well, monitoring, from the FBI trailer." Gage noticed Starsky's tired condition. He leaned over to Roy while testing his air mask for show for Metford in case he was watching from far above. "You know, I think we're gonna haveta shoulder carry the short guy the rest of the way up before we get to the tenth floor, Roy." Roy watched the smaller detective shake his head to rid it of mental cobwebs. "We can always give him a couple of shots of O2 so he can make it to the top. We will be carrying our medical gear with us for when we find the boy." "That's gonna slow us down some." Johnny sighed. "Not by much. There's a lot to be said about honor between departments. Looks like the boys in blue are gonna have to muscle up to the men in brown. He'll last, all right, probably without us even interfering." "I hope you're right, pal. You trail behind Starsky. I'll keep an eye on Hutch. He looks the stronger of the two and seems like he'll be easier to manage." Johnny said. "Oh, by the way, ya got those fake smoke canisters handy for when we get up there?" "Yeah. I showed Huggy Bear how to light one off, too. In case we're still separated when he flushes out Metford with the briefcase." said Roy. "He's the one over there dressed like a business executive holding the ransom payment." Soon, Johnny, Chet, Roy, Starsky and Hutch along with Huggy Bear, were climbing up the stairs of the west side of the Tower Plaza Building following a loud, bold announcement that Batallion Fourteen gave over the megaphone, as he would've done to any evacuating sky scraper population. It was their cue to go. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By floor twenty two, Detective Starsky was weaving, and Roy DeSoto had both hands fully against his back, pushing him up stair by stair. Gage was losing patience. "Detective Starsky. We can always rest ya know. It's only twenty til." he told the dark haired policeman. "A minute either way isn't gonna kill us." Starsky could only puff. ".....* pant * ..I'm.. * pant*... fine... *gasp* In fact, .....I even think I'm ...* cough* ..waking up a little.." he said, pausing at the top of a landing. Chet just grinned, "Ok.. but keep in mind that we firemen do snort oxygen from time to time in real life for a stair climb. There's no shame in doing it. Here. Gimme your hose. Just hand it on over. I'll carry it up the last twelve stories for ya." "No. *gasp*" said Starsky. Hutch grabbed Starsky's other glove and he started hauling. "Sorry, he's so stubborn. It's what makes him a better than average cop." "Please, don't apologize. My partner Johnny here tells Captain Stanley exactly the same thing all the time about being a paramedic." chuckled Roy. At the next flat landing, Starsky eyeballed Huggy Bear, still bounding stairs easily ahead of him. "How come you're not dragging your ever lovin rear like I am?" "I dance. A lot. How else can a night club owner impress all the ladies?" Hutch and the three firemen laughed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A sharp burst of static from the handy talkies in all their gloves, arrested them. It was Hank Stanley. ##Engine 51 to Squad 51. Condition Red! A bomb threat's just been made by Metford! And the FBI says that he has the know how necessary in order to make and set one. Use the utmost caution and your elevator keys if and when you have to get out of there in a hurry. Whatever you do, don't make a descent. Go up towards the roof! Metford claims it'll go off if you're late even five minutes. The call came from the same general area as the others.## "Oh boy.." sighed Chet Kelly. "Where is it?" he asked fearfully. "Isn't it obvious?" Johnny said to him. "Somewhere between the ground floor and Metford's hideaway on the 34th floor. You sorry you decided to come with us, Chet?" "I wouldn't miss out on all this for the world." he interjected sarcastically. But he was grinning. Starsky at once pulled himself together. "34, let's see.... That's one floor above us. Ok, Huggy. Go out here and get into an elevator. Use your fire key to reactivate it. Take it up one to floor 34. And for Pete's sake, keep your hands out in the open. Keep talking until Metford hears you. See if you can find out where the boy is. Remember Metford likes to bully more than he likes to kill. He's usually all bluff." "That's small comfort. Psychopaths are always crazy." Huggy said. "Go." said Hutch. "Send the elevator back down to our floor if you spot him or back down to the ground floor if you don't. We'll wait here for your signal after we set off the smoke canisters. Make mention that you smell smoke clearly." "Got it." "Time?" said Starsky. "Set your watch, Huggy." All three firemen looked at their watches and said. "7:52 pm." "Ok, go!" said Hutch. Chet Kelly and Johnny Gage started setting up their hoses and attaching them to the one coiled near a water valve behind glass in the stairwell. They did everything but prime it. The firemen gathered behind Hutch and Starsky as the two detectives drew out their weapons and entered the darkened floor on 33. "Ok, it's clear." said Hutch, waving everyone else on in. Chet launched a smoke canister right under an air vent, putting on his mask and motioning for the others to do the same. Then the five of them moved into clear air, watching the indicator on the elevator to see where it stopped. The doors opened on their floor. Getting a ladder from a closet, Gage set it up near another ceiling vent where loud conversation could be heard through it from Huggy and unmistakably, another man who was growing desperate. The talking went on for several tense seconds. "Now I delivered the money and jewels in good faith. I owe it to Mary to get her son back. She's my dearest friend, Metford. Where's the boy?!" said Huggy. "Stay right there, company man." snarled Metford. "I have the controls to the bomb right here so no funny business!" "I'm unarmed. See? I just want to see the boy." "The boy's safe. He's only a few rooms from here. Go get him and bring him back here." "Where? There must be at least two dozen doors in this hallway alone." "Then you're gonna haveta search for him in a hurry. You've only got six minutes until we both go out in a blaze of glory, money man. Make the best of it." "I'm telling you, I smell smoke. I was wondering why the fire department was here." Huggy said. "We don't have time for this. Look." and he pointed to where smoke was billowing out of a floor vent at their feet. "The fire's all around us now. We have to find the firemen coming our way to get out of here safely." "To each his own destiny...." said Metford. He set down the bomb's control box, after activating a peculiar set of switches on its face, onto the carpetting at their feet. And then he fled into a stairwell that wasn't the one the others were hiding in. Huggy couldn't tell if the criminal had gone up or down. He didn't really care at that point. It was the farthest thing from his mind. The thin black man snatched out an HT from his suit pocket and he started yelling. "Starsky! Hutch! We've got trouble! Metford's gone, but the bomb box isn't. He says the boy's on my floor!" The stairwell door burst open and Huggy barely shoved Hutch out of the way before his fire booted foot stepped on the bomb controller. Chet Kelly stood by while Starsky and Hutch pulled off their air masks and knelt down by the red glowing device. "It's countdown says twenty minutes to zero." said Hutch. "No problem. We'll get the boy and clear out using one of these highspeed elevators." smiled Starsky. "Piece of cake." Then he dashed off after Johnny and Roy to go kick down a few doors to locate Toby. Hutch whipped up his talkie. "Captains Stanley and Dobey. We found the bomb's controller. It shows T- minus nineteen minutes. It's a touch trigger. Metford's gone with the money to somewhere else in the building..." his voice trailed off when the power suddenly went off. ##We copy you. Have you found the boy yet?## replied Stanley. "Oh, brother.." said Chet in the pitch blackness. "Now we know where he went. The generator room." He strode over to the wall map, carefully overstepping the countdown device, and read its index by handlight. "He's two floors below us." Hutch got right back on the radio."Negative, 51 and Command. We've a problem. We've just lost all our electrical power. And we can't tell how many floors this effects." ##All of them, detective. The entire building's just gone dark.## said an unfamiliar voice from the FBI's end of the frequency. There was a pause and then came a tight shout from Captain Stanley. ##Tell my men up there to get out their elevator brakes! They know how to raise an elevator car up manually. You all can get to the roof an--## ##Belay that Hutch! It'll take too long.## came Dobey's equally concerned voice. ##When you find the boy, run! To a window! We've got a police chopper on the way that you can jump into using ropes..## The banging doors kept on moving down the pitch black hallway. Then a shout. "I found him!" said Roy. "He's alive!" The others saw the paramedic's wavering flashlight as he and Johnny and Starsky ran back to the elevator lobby area. Roy was carefully carrying the boy in his arms. "He's pretty dehydrated. We found him on an overturned mattress under a blanket in an office." he said. Johnny snatched out a pen and checked his eyes. "This's just a faint. He'll maintain ok without an oral." "Ok, let's get going then.." said the two detectives. They went in one direction and the firemen went into an elevator. "Wait a minute. Wait a minute! What are we doing here?!" asked Starsky. "We can't split up." All of their flashlights lit up the lobby in eerie black and white shadows. "Detectives. I strongly urge you to come with us. In fact, I'll tie you up if I have to." said Johnny Gage seriously. "The elevator car will give us some protection if that bomb goes off. Being near that window at the end of the hall's sheer craziness. A chopper pilot won't be able to carry away all of us." "You're right." said the dark haired detective and he bent over offering up his laced fingers for a boost so someone could reach the car's roof access panel above their heads. Hutch set his watch to match the timer on the bomb control and then he and Chet manually shoved the elevator doors shut with their hands. Roy crouched on the floor and monitored the boy. Gage got to the top and reached down to pull up Starsky and then Hutch into the elevator's shaft to the pulley jimmey there. "Here. This halligan fits here. We'll take turns." "Up or down?" asked Starsky, pulling his fire helmet a little tighter over his head. "Up. Because explosion debris always falls." decided Johnny."My captain was right about trying for the roof. Put your air masks on. And detective keep giving us a countdown! If it gets too close we'll leap back in and cover up with the rest of ya." he told Roy and Chet. "How's he doing?" he asked about Toby. "He's breathing fine." said DeSoto, holding an oxygen mask over the boy's pale face. "There's no signs of bleeding or trauma. I'll wait on getting vitals for obvious reasons." "Kinda figured that." said Gage with a grunt as he and the two detectives worked to raise the car, foot by foot with their jimmeying. "T-minus fifteen and seven seconds." said Hutch with a glance at his watch in the torchlight coming from inside the elevator. They were nearing the fifty first floor and passing it, when their time ran out. A muffled BOOM shook the shaft around them. "Here it comes!" shouted Gage, "I sure hope that brake holds! Everybody, hang on!" Starsky, Hutch, Chet, Roy and Johnny all huddled on the floor of the elevator car cradling the boy and watched as the ceiling panel above them puffed in with displacing air as the fire created by the bomb, roared up the elevator shaft to meet them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the street, onlookers startled as the thirty fourth floor of the Plaza Tower disintegrated in a ringing nimbus of fire. All the windows of that story blew out in an explosive rain of glass and debris. The police helicopter, still waiting by a window, hastily banked away to safety. "Holy, mother of---!" shouted Batallion Fourteen. "Get back! Everybody, get back!" Fire crews had already been prepared and had taken cover. Captain Stanley immediately got on the walkie talkie. "Engine 51 to Squad 51, what's your status?" he said into the live channel. Static met his transmission. He waited agonizing seconds, before hailing again. Still, nothing came. Looking up, the firefighters heard a muffled hissing begin from every shattered window over the flames. The building's internal water sprinklers kicked in, quickly snuffing out the flames as they were designed to do and kept on pouring water by the hundreds of gallons per second. They would keep on showering until the floor's internal heat sensors, registering points in the red for high internal temperatures, gave out an all clear and cease order. Metford lost the race to get the master generator restarted on the thirty second floor. His plan to ride an elevator down using Huggy Bear's fire access key, wasn't even a faintly possible option. He went running, passing by some exterior windows, when a rush of air and fire coming down the stairwell he had used, simply expelled him out of the building in a ball of fire. He was dead before he hit the ground by the lush courtyard fountain. The ransom briefcase fared better, it bounced on the carpetting as it was dropped and it rolled to a stop under a desk as the fire suppression system activated around it, putting out the flames in the room. It remained dry and sealed tight. "Engine 51 to Squad 51, do you read?" came Cap's quiet, urgent voice. Dobey and the agents in the trailer remained silent on their end, letting the fire department take a lead over the air waves, trying to reach the group in the elevator car. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The elevator car shuddered, throwing the three firemen and two detectives and Huggy back down onto their hands and knees. The brake above them squealed and sharp, frightening metallic pings and snaps echoed above them as the ascension cable unfrayed and gave way. It parted in two, tangling around the pulley block they had been using to rise. The car dropped ten feet in free fall, then caught against the passive wall brakes on either side of the elevator shaft's track grooves. "What was that?!" shouted Starsky through his air mask. "One of the cables gave way! I think it was the lifter! Stay down!" shouted Roy through his. The elevator car groaned in tortured metal and started a slipping, jerky descent as its mass surrendered to gravity. It dropped, plummeting a few feet, and then it would catch again on the brakes long enough to lose some dangerous momentum. Sitting up proved to be impossible without everyone getting jarred. Hutch managed to lift an HT to his faceplate. "Engine 51, we're falling! The emergency brakes aren't catching smoothly. We're in elevator number three!" Johnny saw an orange glow through the cracks of the jilted metal doors. "Here comes the 34th again. Cover Toby against the heat!" he shouted in painful whistling gasps around his air regulator. Sparks flew through the top of the roof access panel as the tangle of steel from the parted cabling melted with friction and grew brittle. Pieces of it flew apart and their fall speed suddenly increased, carrying them safely by the burning, hissing floor and beyond it. Roy let out the breath he was holding. He had been afraid that the elevator shaft would be warped on that floor, trapping the car in the middle of fire. He reported in over his radio. "We're still sliding. Below the thirty fourth! Still somewhat controlled by the braking system we set manually! Our fall speed's about a quarter floor a second!" ## 10-4! We're on our way to the basement to get you out!## yelled a relieved Captain Stanley. ##Injuries?!## "None so far.." shouted Johnny into his own HT. "A little rough going. We'll see you at the bottom..." he joked tightly. "We're dead.. we're dead!" Huggy gasped, in a whisper, through his air bottle's faceplate. "Not yet we aren't." said Hutch, trying to smile through his. "We're good at elevator ditching. We aren't going to die." promised Gage, patting the soaked street informant on a shoulder. "Just keep your helmet on." The firemen were caught unprepared by the amount of water pouring in from the bombed floor's level. It gushed on top of the car and into it rapidly. It also made the emergency brakes clenched in the car's tracks, steam angrily. Hutch coughed, even though his face was protected from the deluge. "Where'd all this come from?" "Be glad its there.." said Roy as he clung to the boy's head, shielding it from the wet raining water cascading around them. "That water kept us from frying on the 34th." "It's the sprinklers, They've kicked in. We're getting inundated because they're designed to drain their discharged water into all the elevator shafts to minimize water damage." Johnny told him. "Isn't this a very large amount coming in?" Starsky asked them. Neither firemen answered right away. Then Roy said, "A little bit.." he shrugged, trying to calm the detective. "What happens if we don't stop on the street level?" asked Hutch. "We'll fall into the sub basement and into the impact cushions there." Gage answered. "That doesn't sound very comforting, does it Hutch? I guess we'll get to find out what the preverbial sudden stop feels like after a freefall." joked Starsky morbidly. "What if all that's underwater, my man?" Huggy Bear asked quickly, still hanging one hand onto the grip bar above his head and the other over his air mask. "Then we swim." Gage replied. "Don't worry. We're good at that, too." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bubbles. And a deep penetrating cold, with a bitter taste of crude oil. That's all Starsky felt and knew after a numbing jolt slammed him to the floor of the elevator car. He flailed and swam about blindly as he tried to hold his breath far past the point of consciousness. But then he blacked out. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Did ya find him?" shouted Roy from where he clung to the side of the flooded elevator shaft. Toby was awake and floated easily in his arms. Huggy Bear was holding a dazed and wounded Hutch in his grip, keeping his face above water as the blond haired man tried to come to. "Not yet..." said Chet Kelly and then he dove once more under the surface of the water. Johnny Gage did one better and entered the flooded car going all the way to the carpetted floor, sweeping around with his arms. But he found just their abandoned air bottle tanks which knocked painfully against his fingers. His head hit the squad's medical gear boxes floating near the roof, more than once. Gage exited the submersed car, breaking the water's surface in a gasp. "My turn again." said Chet Kelly. "I'll check inside the track grooves next. Gimme your flashlight! Mine shorted out." Johnny handed it off as he swam to a shaft wall where they all floated, almost at ground level. He could hear banging as fire crews started to force open the elevator doors above them and a deep part of him wished that they could do more than just bang on a pipe back at them for a current status report. Chet took in a huge breath and went under. Seconds later, he found Starsky's blue striped Adidas shoes sticking out of a dead end service door that had opened for him into a tiny room that had unfortunately been flooded completely with sprinkler runoff. He grabbed the unconscious detective's waist and shoved him up into the air as high as he could over his head, so the others would see him. Then he kicked for the surface. "There!" shouted Huggy. "Right there!" "Where? I don't see anything.." Gage coughed and shivered. "Right there. In the very middle!" said Huggy Bear. "To your nine o'clock, Johnny!" shouted Roy. Johnny spun around in a circle, treading water until he saw Starsky's head breaking the top of the water where Chet had pushed it. Starsky flopped face down into the water for only a moment as Kelly swam himself up to the air. His pair of hands righted the detective's slack face and lifted it onto a firm shoulder and at the same time, he tipped Starsky's head back. Johnny swam over to help. "Is he alive?" Chet spat out water in a half nod. "But obstructed! I got nothing in down there." "Want me to--" "Yes!" "Watch him!" Johnny ordered. Gage reached around and began modified heimlich abdominal thrusts, with his arms wrapped around Starsky's waist, pushing up in sharp forceful movements. Kelly continued to hold the detective's head backwards over Gage's shoulder until a gush of water spurted out of his mouth. Then he attempted a breath, mouth to nose. It went in with an abundant chest rise. "Keep going!" Johnny told him as he swam both of them to a wall where a narrow beam made aleadged surface. They heaved the rag dolled Starsky up onto it as fast as they could onto his back. They began freeing up his chest out of the fire turnout and shirt, when Johnny thought of something important. "Hold it! Hold it. Not so fast. Let me get rid of this." And Gage drew out and tossed away Starsky's 9mm. It sank with a splash. "How is he?" shouted Huggy from the other side of the shaft. They didn't answer him. Roy did. "He's drowning. But they're clearing him out and he's got a pulse." Chet had given Starsky another two breaths more, when water poured out of his mouth. It was followed by a weak bout of coughing. Together the two firemen rolled the shuddering policeman onto his side to drain and they let him vomit up all the water he had swallowed. The effort woke the chilled detective up the rest of the way. "Easy, man. You're gonna be fine.." mumbled Chet. "Are you hurt anywhere?" he asked as Starsky tried to struggle up into a sitting position. He couldn't control his muscles. Gage and Kelly helped him up the rest of the way and held him against the wall firmly, so he could breathe more effectively. "* cough* ....no.... *groan* ..Hutch?" "He's waking up with just a few scratches." answered Kelly. Starsky leaned over and started coughing violently. "I don't feel so good. What was it Charlie the Tuna said on all those TV commercials?...Chicken of th--- *choke*.. That's me, .. oooh..hh. I hate.. the water. Now I know why Mama told me to take a land job." "Just relax. Breathe deeper breaths and that shortness you're feeling will go away faster. We'll be outta here in a few minutes. A stokes crew's right above us." said Johnny. "Huggy, why don't you swim Hutch over here. " the paramedic said, glancing back over his shoulder. "Sure thing, bro." said the street man. "....then I can check them both out a little better. Kelly, keep the detective upright even if he passes out again. He can't sit up on his own, he's too cold now." "I got him." said Chet, hauling himself out of the water next to Starsky where he could keep monitoring his pulse at the wrist. He wrapped an arm around the policeman's shoulders and he set the groggy man's head onto his shoulder. "It's all right. Sleep if you have to, man. I promise you'll wake up in a nice warm..--" Starsky drifted, feeling supported and off danger's hook. The last thing he saw was Hutch's scuffed face staring back at him. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I believe this, is yours, little lady.." smiled Detective Starsky at Mary Malone from where she lay on the hospital bed. Her son Toby sat curled up in her lap and his eyes got real big when he saw all the money and jewels that were piled inside the smoke stinking briefcase. "What's that, mommy?" he asked curiously. "Oh, where did you find it?" Mary sighed, running loving hands over a particularly old but lovely brooch. "I didn't find your grandmother's heirlooms. The coworkers of these three fine gentlemen to my left, found it." said the curly haired policeman from his outpatient wheelchair. "I just thought I'd do another good deed on my way out. I'm just the messenger. Captain Dobey ran your briefcase here from Headquarters in a squad car as soon as he could swing the paperwork." "Oh, how can I ever thank you?" Mary said, hugging Toby and smiling up at the plain clothed firefighters. "Now I'll have enough to pay for our medical bills." Hutch, from the next hospital bed, cleared his throat. "What medical bills, Mary? The guys on the force...." "...and at all the stations...." added Johnny Gage.. "....gathered up some donations after they'd heard your story and we kind of sorta ...paid for everything.." finished Starsky, grinning from ear to ear. Mary started sobbing, holding her bandaged head. "Ooo, sorry..." said Johnny, almost reaching out to steady her. "I know that still hurts." "I'm not in pain. I'm h-happy.." she said tearfully. Johnny, Roy, Chet, Starsky, and Hutch, took to blushing in abject humility under the power of her beautiful smile. END Episode Sixteen, Devil's Due.. FIN TV Series Crossover Special One §§ Devil's Due §§ :) This episode is dedicated to police detectives everywhere who risk their lives to save others in the line of duty. :) :) ========================== The Story Unfolds... Season Two, Episode Seventeen.. §§ That Latin Flair §§ Debut Launch: December 1st 2004. ------------------- ********************************************************************* From: "Robert Gutheim" Date: Thu Dec 2, 2004 9:00 am Subject: Green Christmas Chet as usual checked around for a certain dark haired paramedic before he went and filled a balloon with water intending to rig the paramedics locker so that it would spring out and get him wet when he opened the door. He was having a little trouble setting up the spring mechanism though when he heard a voice behind him. "You do realize, Chet, that a certain white bearded man in a red coat is watching. You wouldn't want to get a stocking full of coal on Christmas morning. Or worse, latrine duty, if Cap finds out about you trying to pull a phantom act on me yet again," a voice said causing Chet to startle and the water balloon to fall on top of him. "Gage, you don't actually believe in that whole Santa Claus bit do you. After all, your wha? Almost thirty? Plus you are half Native American." Chet pointed out. "I know. But we celebrated Christmas using the non-religious aspects like other human beings," Gage said as he started to put on his uniform. A few minutes later, they were gathered with the others for roll call. "OK, everyone, let's start with a few memos from various Headquarters." said Cap. "First off, no egg nog is to be found on any departmental property by order of Chief Houts. "The Departmental Christmas Party is at Headquarters in the main commissary on December 22nd all firefighters off duty are required to attend and on duty firefighters are encouraged to stop in, so long as their rigs are on hand. "McConnikee wants me to remind everyone to keep a careful eye out for any holiday related fire hazards. Now the fun part, daily chores. Cooking, Stoker, Dishes, Lopez. Apparatus Bay, DeSoto. Hose Tower,Gage. Latrine Duty, Kelly." "Ah, Cap, why am I stuck with latrine duty? Isn't it obvious I'm the one that is wet, not Gage?" Chet moaned. "I know how you tend to be, Chet. Now get going, or I will stick you with latrine duty from now until Christmas." Cap threatened him. The tone box went off right then. ##Station 51. Car crash with injuries. 2300 E 223rd Street. 2300 E 223rd Street. Cross Street, Alameda. Time out, 0810.## "Station 51 KMG365," Cap said, before the engine and squad rolled out of the station. ----------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ******************************************************************* From : patti keiper Sent : Thursday, December 16, 2004 11:30 AM Subject : Snap! Crackle and Pop.... Station 51 pulled up at a curb deep in the heart of Carson. The accident had occurred as reported, but involved only one car and a power pole on the outskirts of the landfill /junkyard which flanked the L.A. river bed. The pole was down and sparking. Cap kept a nose and eye out for gas pools even as he informed Headquarters with what he had. "L.A. Engine 51." ##Engine 51. ## "We have a single vehicle overturned on the boulevard. Lines are down. Have the electric company cut power to the east side block of Alameda between 223rd street, and Franklin." ##10-4, 51.## came a reply after a short pause on the air over both the station's vehicle radioes and all of their HT's. ## Power utilities says electrical power will be cut in five minutes.## "Copy that. Engine 51, out." and he threw the HT onto the seat of the open door of the Ward LaFrance. "Gang, circle and look for any victims a safe distance away. Stoker, draw out the reel line and wash down all this grass only when those lines have been powered down." "Right, Cap." said Mike Stoker. "The rest of you. See what you can see without getting too close!" advised Stanley, yelling over the angry hiss and crackle of violated powerlines from the toppled pole which leaped and tangled with themselves on the pavement. Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto walked to the down wind side of the wreck with a healthy thirty feet between them and the downed pole and writhing wires. It was a tan car, resting on its roof, in the middle of a grass island which split a fork in the road into a Y. A man lay on his stomach and his legs were pinned by the heavy weight of the crashed car. It didn't seem like any live wires were touching the car or the man. Gage sniffed carefully in the breeze blowing in his face as he pulled on his gloves. "Can't tell if he's still alive. There's too much wind moving his clothes around. No gas, though. We're lucky that way at least." Roy shouted to the victim. "Hey! Can you hear me?! Don't try to move! There are wires down all over the place. We'll be right in to get ya, just hang on a bit and don't panic!" The two paramedics circled the wreck site even as the rest of the gang laid protective hose and got the heavy extrication equipment lined up in a safe area. Johnny picked up a flashlight and aimed it onto the man's face in spite of the bright sunlight. "I see sweat beads. He's gotta be alive still. Anyone dead would've been dried off already in this wind." The two pacing firemen backed away from the accident site even further when the wind rolled a bucking wire into their direction. Johnny threw an axe on top of it to pin it to the cement, and then leaped out of the way. Cap's head snapped up at the clanging noise, but then he gave Gage a solid thumbs up of approval. Roy had taken the flashlight from Johnny and he was trying to see into the dark recesses of the car's compartment. "Where's the driver?" "What?" said Johnny, from where he stood, resting his gloves on his knees, as he studied how they would begin to get their victim free once the area was safe. "Our victim's the passenger. See? That seat belt is still around his waist. Broken free, but still around him." said DeSoto, as he played the light over the bluish belt and into the car. "I think you're right. Even if the car flipped, there's no way he could've slid over fast enough if he were driving to get pinned like the way he's pinned now. It doesn't add up." Johnny rubbed his nose. "Cap!" shouted Roy over the angry spitting from the wires. ##Go...## said Cap from the other side of the scene, by the station trucks, over an airwave. Roy belatedly pulled out his walkie talkie and hit the talk button. "We're a victim shy. This is the passenger, Cap. Belt confirms it." ##Ok, I'll assume a possible ejection and call out a search. Stand by for news..## Roy could just make out Cap verbally sending Chet and Stoker into wider and wider scouting patterns, looking for blood and other traces the driver might have left behind. Cap himself jogged over to the police officer keeping away the public to see if any of those people had seen anything about what might have happened. Marco got ready with a plastic tarp and extrication gear. He left a stokes next to a longboard in case the man's legs were too badly broken for easy securing once they got him out from under the car. Then he stood waiting by an idling K-12 for signs that all the electricity was turned off. It was hard to tell in the wind which lines were hot and which were not. It seemed like all of them were swaying. So Lopez used the spot where Johnny's axe was connecting and kept an eye on the blue orange sparks dancing around the head and handle. Chet came back with a clump of hair in his glove and he showed Cap. "It's human...too fine to be dog.. and I think I smell Johnson to Johnson's on it. " "Where'd you find that, pal?!" asked Hank, shouting over the noise of the electrical wires. "Between us and the river bed!" replied Chet, dropping the clump of hair to the ground. Hank sighed, turning so he could see the long barb wired wall of fencing marking proximity to the river spillway. "Oh, boy. Better start casing along the edge. The brush's pretty thick down there. The driver could be anywhere if he flew out of the car in that direction." Then he rubbed his face. "Tell you what. You and Stoker grab some ropes and rappel down on in. The flood gates won't be released until noon for this part of the city. See what you can see and keep in touch by walkie. Johnny, Roy, Marco and I will handle the passenger ourselves. It'll take at least ten minutes for more help to arrive on this." "Will do, Cap." said Kelly and he jogged off to the engine to get two harness sets. Cap called out onto the rescue channel. "Engine 51, L.A." ##Engine 51.## "Respond an urban rescue truck and air support to our location for a victim search. We may have one in the river bed." ##10-4. UR reports an ETA of four minutes. Chopper 10 has been informed. Pilot has your canyon in sight. He reports an arrival time in two.## Marco, Johnny and Roy all stood by, antsy and restless, all staring hard at the man on the ground for signs of life beyond the cold sweat pouring off of his pale skin. Then a hand twitched and his lips moved in a gasp of pain as some awareness returned. Cap shouted, getting their attention. All three firefighters whirled towards the engine. Hank gestured a cut throat motion across his neck and then pointed to Johnny's axe. It had quit dancing and there was no sign of high voltage fire encircling it any longer. "Ok, let's move out. Marco.. grab the K-12. We already know there's no gas leaking. Try and get that weight off of his legs while we stabilize his C-spine for his extrication...It won't take long. He's already laying in a line." Gage mapped out. "Ok, Johnny." said Lopez, hefting up the seventy pound tool onto a shoulder. The three men carefully stepped over the wind swaying wires in case the power came back on. They could see Cap talking with a police officer, trying to find any witness to the moment of the crash to help pin point the river bed search. In a test, Roy leaned over and spit on a wire. Nothing happened. "So far so good." he said, pulling off a glove to test the quality of the man's carotid. "Johnny, 126 and thready. Breathing's real shallow at 22 and he's diaphoretic." Gage nodded, running his hands over the man's back and arms until finally he reached in to see if he could locate the man's feet to see if they were still attached. They were. "I got pulses in both ankles." and he started to cut away the man's shirt, sleeves and pant legs to look for further injuries. He found a few pieces of glass embedded in his hip. Those he left alone. Roy got the man onto some oxygen, right where he lay on his stomach, and contented himself with getting an initial set of vital signs while Johnny worked to get a more complete assessment. All the while, the fair haired paramedic talked to his victim. "Easy, mister. My partner and I are gonna take real good care of you. Just try to relax. We're looking for your friend right now. Just don't try to move around too much. We're gonna get you splinted up here in a minute or so once a firefighter's cut you free. So get ready for some noise. I'm gonna cover your face for protection, all right?" The man on the ground moaned a reply and his fingers crawled on the grass in affirmation. Roy took off his turncoat and lay it over the man's head and body. He used the edge of the biophone to keep an open view of the man's face to watch for any color changes there. Marco Lopez fired up the circle saw and tapped Johnny on the shoulder to get out of the way. Gage scrambled to join Roy by the gear boxes at the man's head and there he busied himself with getting a double set of I.V.s laid out and ready for a doctor's go ahead. Lopez lowered his face shield and dug the blade into the car door's hinges to slice them apart. A loud crackle made everyone yell. A brief repowering surged through the power pole wires and one of them touched the car and sent Marco flying. The K-12 spun into high gear where it was wedged into the car and sang angrily. The electricity also made the man cry out and twist up in a spasm. Johnny and Roy jerked away from the car and the man. Gage took a risk and used both his gloves, wadded up, to flick off the K-12 so that it wouldn't cut itself free and fall on top of the man. Roy whirled, crawling around the once again live wires to Lopez's side. "Marco?!" The hispanic firefighter was on his back, cradling his hands into his lap where he lay. Roy crawled on top of him to protect him from any more wires. "You ok? Did any of that power get to you?" "Ahh!... yeah. A little bit. I'm ...kinda short.....of breath.. And.. Ow!..*gasp* I think I jammed one of .....*gasp* ..my fingers." Roy looked down and saw an index finger jutting out at a ninety in a direction that it wasn't meant to bend in. "You did more than that. Just try to keep your head down!" puffed Roy. He held Marco's legs still with his own when a muscle spasm jerked through the fireman's body involuntarily. He kept a hand on Marco's wrist to monitor the bounding pulse there. "Easy.. Don't move. I can see Cap running to call the power company back. I'll help hold you still. You managed to land in the only safe spot in the area..." "Roy?! You guys ok?!" came Gage's voice. Roy didn't dare lift his head. "Yeah... Marco's conscious.. You?!" "We're fine. G*dd*mned power company. I'll kill em as soon as we get out of here!" Roy chuckled, "Let's just concentrate on getting out of here first junior! Worry about the rest later.." There was a pause around the hissing popping noises. DeSoto didn't dare try to see where they were coming from. "How's he doing?!" Johnny asked from that direction. "Some cardiac changes. He's SOB." Roy said, burying his face a little deeper into the smoky grass. "Awake for now." Marco's face contorted as another series of muscle cramps shot through his thrumming body. An involuntary groan slipped out. Then the radio snapped into life from Roy's pocket. ##Hang in there fellas. The power's going back off. A construction crew down the road didn't realize that we were on emergency shutdown. I see you're all ok and that Marco's still awake. Just keep still with your helmets on and I promise you a solution in less than a minute. ## came Cap's welcome, amazingly calm voice. ::Guess that's why they pay him the big bucks.:: Roy tried to lighten the mood where the two of them huddled on the ground. "Hell of a way to earn a little vacation time, Marco, you know that?" he said, flinching when a snaking wire swung a little too close near their heads. Marco tried to laugh but a convulsion got in the way. Roy turned him onto his side and just hugged him closer, loosening his turnout and uniform shirt collars away from his neckline. "Keep still. Just a minute or so longer.." Lopez began to fight to breathe as his muscles cramped up from the voltage's earlier violation and the pulse under DeSoto's fingers started to skip beats. "Marco?" Roy asked from where he lay across the fireman's stomach. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A car accident with downed powerlines. Photo: The L.A. river bed, choked with brush. Photo: Marco carrying jaws. Photo: Roy over a downed Marco. Photo: Johnny and Roy stunned, and lying on their backs in smoke. Photo: Roy huddled down close on top of something, scared stiff. *************************************************************************** From: "patti keiper" Date: Sun Dec 19, 2004 4:22 pm Subject: The Other Side... offstory- Medical Researched Material Linked to M.D. Consultants : BENOIT BAILEY, MD, MSc, PIERRE GAUDREAULT, MD, ROBERT L. THIVIERGE, MD Paris, France onstory- Marco's eyes weren't seeing anything, staring and seemingly sightless, pointed upwards to the sky in an unfocused gaze. His whole body spasming took on a unified tetany and then, he froze that way, extending every muscle. "R---r, g-get off my chest. Cru---sh---ng me." Roy, keeping low and away from the lashing wires spitting electricity so near them, subconsciously glanced down in worry, even as he held down Marco's shoulders to keep him from touching any of the swaying power lines buzzing angrily around them. DeSoto was nowhere near Lopez's upper torso to cause any pressure there. Not with any part of his body. "Marco...can you hear me? Are you having chest pain right n--?" Marco hissed, the color draining from his face as he contorted at its unexpected arrival. "Y---sss!!" he gurgled. The pulse Roy held at Marco's wrist, disappeared and Marco gasped, suddenly air hungry. Shifting onto his stomach, the flax haired paramedic immediately reached higher up on Marco's arm, grabbing for the groove where Marco's brachial artery lay. He found the pulse again. It was fitful and way above 150 beats a minute; his rhythm, oddly disjointed. Tipping his head way back didn't help with Marco's shortness of breath in the slightest. His attempts to breathe were still hitched and irregular, barely adequate. Roy tore away his shirt, tearing off buttons as he got down to Lopez's heavily sweating skin. DeSoto put an ear to Marco's ribs. He heard the liquidy rubbing gravely sound of rales beginning to take an ominous hold inside of the fireman's lungs. His head whipped up. "Johnny,... Marco's V-tachy! Over 150 with irregularities, with marked rales. No radial pulses. LOC's way down. We have to manage something for him...now! I've no head room to work if he goes into cardiac arrest!" he said, keeping shifting, panicky eyes on the swinging cables sparking around him. Gage tried shouting over the roaring ping of raw power zinging in cabled tangles over his helmeted head to Cap. He couldn't move or get eye contact because of the crumpled bulk of the automobile. He had to stay laying over his own victim, the dazed car passenger, to fend off the wires as best he could with a piece of the splintered telephone pole. "Cap!! Hey!..We gotta get Marco out of there, now! He's unstable!" But Hank's back was momentarily turned, shouting orders to the growing neighborhood crowd, to get further away from the area. As yet, there was no sign of Chet and Stoker reappearing along the ropes cast over the riverbed's wall. Johnny wasn't even sure if they could hear the snapping and popping of electricity shooting into the downed powerlines. Fruitlessly, Johnny searched his turnout jacket for an HT. But he didn't have one with him. The squad radio was in the hands of his partner, who couldn't let go of Marco's head at all or risk losing a tenuous open airway. Yelling in frustration, Gage's gloves shot out and he dragged the biophone on the grass nearby into ready reach. Then quickly, he hailed out. "Rampart, this is Squad 51! Come in!" A long space of fifteen seconds passed before the voice of Dr. Brackett replied. ##Unit calling in, this is Rampart. Go ahead..## Johnny abbreviated his out transmission. "51! Male Code I, electrical shock. Fall : standing to the ground. Unstable V- tachyarrythmias. 150 plus. BP under 90. Conscious! I'm separated from Roy, who's on him. I'm with all gear under loose live voltage wires out of direct access! Orders?" Dr. Brackett shoved the phone a little closer to his ear. He squinted and straightened up in alarm at the hair raising din of energy howling almost completely over Johnny's voice. ##Are you within tossing range?## "Affirmative!!" yelled Johnny, as he pinwheeled an arm round and round, until Cap finally noticed him. He whistled, pointing to Marco, making a cut throat gesture, then jerked a thumb over his shoulder to show that Lopez needed an immediate out. ##Ok, Johnny. Now listen close......## said Kel over the phone. Johnny plugged his other ear in order to hear him better. Gage saw Hank's head cast around rapidly for a ready answer and he held up a hand in a hasty I got it, wait, move. Johnny heard Hank recalling Chet and Stoker to the engine distantly over Roy's radio. It echoed around the houses on the block, lacing through the spits and whines and howls of power curling in the air around them. Then he did something else which made Johnny nod in complete and total agreement.. "Yeah.. yeah.. That'll work. Bring it on in!" Brackett's voice over the landline was terse, focused. ## Six milligrams, adenosine rapid IVP into a Normal Saline line! Flush through 10ml NS bolus. Then recheck for conversion. If none in 1 to 2, double it with a second flush! Get him out of there, 51! I don't care how you do it. With those findings, his crash potential's a guaranteed certainty in as short as five! Forget about any C-spine precautions! Saving his life's more important! His contact with a wire at ground level, most likely didn't break anything critical. ## "6 of Adenosine in NS IV. Push 10ml's same solution. Double in 1 to 2!" Johnny spat back in intense concentration. ##Confirmed. Move, Gage! Re-contact only when you guys have him!## shouted Brackett. Kel heard the clatter of the phone onto something made of metal and the line went dead, or so he thought, but then the liquid lava spit of electricity burned his ear. He gripped the phone in frustrated anticipation. Johnny Gage snatched a hand each into the IV and drug boxes and pulled out tubing, a fluid bag, needles, and three packs of pre-mixed adenosine in the right dosages. He stripped off his belt and bundled the pack together tightly. Then he swung the medicines around his head like a bolo and he horse whistled, piercingly, until Roy's head shot up again from where he crouched over Marco's chest and face. Lopez was no longer blinking, nor moving,.. and his color was almost completely, the washed gray of old river mud. Only his chest rising and falling in unregular jerks showed that he had any shred of fighting life inside of him. Thin choking moans trickled out of his mouth, which Roy soothed away with fast encouragements and what he was doing to help him. Johnny let the bundle fly at the top of an arch and it arrowed through the maze of snaking power lines through the air at Roy.... The bag of I.V. saline slipped out and impacted a wire in an explosion of steam, which made both paramedics flinch sharply. But the rest, Roy caught with all the skill of a practiced soft ball catcher. ::Thank you, Chet.:: Roy thought, ::For making me be your soft ball umpire in the backyard all summer long.:: Johnny swore, and grabbed up a second bag, which he threw it like a football into a gap between the wires. It got through and sailed into Roy's chest, and bounced, undamaged into his hands. Then Gage crouched once more over the biophone while his other hand kept tabs on the car victim's carotid. Roy moved until he could keep Marco's head tipped at the proper angle with his knees. He began to work leaning on his elbows over Marco's shivering body. "Marco. I got help right here. Keep still while I start your I.V." said DeSoto, breathless and strained. Lopez didn't act like he heard Roy and he screwed up the arm Roy wasn't pinning down with a shoulder, against his chest in renewed pain. "No.. don't fight me Marco!..." Roy grunted. "Can you hear me?!" "AgggGG-gh! *gasp* Make...it.....st-----" Something in Marco's eyes shifted, moving from agony, to fear and all of his muscles loosened, just a tad. It was all Roy needed. He spoke again as he pushed a fast needle into a vein using a strip from Marco's torn shirt as a tourniquet. He strung a line, barely bleeding it fully of air before he injected the internal cell energy hormone into the infusion chamber followed by the plasma bolus wash. The increments on the two syringes couldn't empty to zero fast enough for Roy and he yelled in frustration at the slowness at which they were delivering. He killed the time by talking, urgently soft. "This'll med'll do that.. As fast as I can get it into ya... Try to do something else for me that might ease that pain in your chest." Roy urged. "Take a deep breath and blow it out against your nose and mouth without letting any air escape...." Marco sobbed, unable to control the muscles of his lips to obey Roy. "Take another breath in. Bigger.. That's it...now...hold it." And Roy covered Marco's nose and mouth firmly so air couldn't escape. "Blow it out, hard, against my fingers. That's it.. Do it for ten seconds and I'll let ya go." Roy followed up the valsalva attempt by leaning an arm over Marco's abdomen to increase the pressure just enough inside of him internally, to make Lopez tighten his face with resisting effort, but not with any pain. "Ok...let it out... let it out...easy....." said Roy, pulling his hand away. His other one monitored the racing tachycardic pulse in Lopez's neck. ".....blow it out slow... Now breathe, best you can, like normal..." The skipping beats underneath Marco's skin slowed, almost to normal, for long seconds.. But then the crushing chest pain and shortness of breath and the dangerous rain of rapid beats, returned to reinstate themselves with a vengeance. Lopez choked as he re-immersed into difficulty. Roy turned him over onto his left side. "Ok, ok...it didn't work. Just relax. I got you..That move usually resolves any tachycardia on the first try. We won't do that again. Sorry for giving you nausea... Johnny! Tell Brackett! Valsalva and first dose. No effect!.. I'm timing it for the second!" he shouted, looking at his watch while he held Marco's head still in his lap. "Got it! Stand by!" hollered Gage. DeSoto's head snapped to the right as a new sound of power filled his ears. It was the squad, thunking tires up onto the curb, with Cap behind the wheel. He was coming to get them. "To your left! Your fenders will push the wires away! Then I think I can get Marco into the cab with us!" ::Smart idea.. the tires'll insulate us from any wire he drives over. I can tell him when none are in contact with the chassis for the rest of it.:: Roy decided. He shouted directions until he was absolutely sure the rescue squad wasn't getting infused with electricity. Then he snatched open the passenger side door in a guts move. Cap's eager hands grabbed Lopez by the collar and back of pants and dragged him into the squad belly down. He shifted him upright against himself into a hug and caught the I.V. bag and line Roy was protecting as Lopez moved. "Get in!" Hank shouted. "Then roll up the window, tight! Use this asbestos tarp to insulate yourself and Marco away from all the exterior metal, Iike I did with mine. Roy did so, flopping Marco's head back over his shoulder, once he was done. Hank had had the foresight to grab an ambu bag and this Roy began using to help Marco with his inhalations. The IV bag continued running, just over KVO, hanging from DeSoto's teeth. Lopez fought the mask over his face but Hank and Roy managed to pin down his arms enough for it to work and some of the worst of the grayish blue coloring began to recede. One handed, Captain Stanley made a U- turn away from the crashed car so they wouldn't endanger Johnny with the wires they were accumulating in tangles against the hood and light rack of the squad. Hank pulled far enough away to break all the wires knotted around them from the energized transformers. Then he got out, and between him and Roy, they shoulder walked Marco to an open space and lowered him to the ground as carefully as they could. All the motion roused Marco enough that he managed without the ambu breathing support but Roy didn't count on that lasting and hurried to connect it up to some oxygen from the engine's apparatus. Johnny had completed getting his medical orders for the man under the car so he accepted the rope Kelly tossed in order to tie off the biophone so that it could be dragged into the safety of the street for Roy to use. The same went for the drug box and other gear. Right then, the power went off in the main neighborhood line and all the writhing lengths of electrical wire dropped into smoking, stinking stillness. Chet and Stoker wasted no time in helping Gage get the car accident victim's extrication by K-12 going again, followed by a thorough long boarding evac complete with a C-collar and the one hare traction splint that they had found that they needed for a left femur fracture. Roy re-established contact with Rampart in seconds. ##Johnny's already told me about the valsalva maneuver and the adenosine not working well enough. Any further improvement? ## the worried doctor asked. "None.." replied Roy, as he watched Cap start to hook Marco up to the EKG monitor. Marco was only gasping, no longer trying to speak, on his back under a flowing oxygen mask. "He needed assistance breathing a few minutes ago." Roy couldn't wait... He kicked open the defibrillator with a foot and got out the paddles for a quick peek, and he settled them onto Marco's panting chest. He spoke into the phone receiver that he had perched onto a shoulder. "Rampart, I'm reading gross multifocal ventricular bigeminy with a rate of 160. Stand by for telemetry on your end to confirm it." DeSoto, said, shoving the I.V. bag under one of Marco's shoulders. He bumped it up into wide open to get set for more meds. There was a long pause as Cap and Roy both fumbled to set the EKG Tetronix's controls on strongest signal and to wire the unit into the biophone output port. Johnny kept looking up at them as he and the others worked to free the man completely from under the car. He only vaguely heard Chet acknowledge that Chopper Ten was starting a run along the riverbed, looking for the car's tossed out driver. He was very concerned by the audible chaos coming from Marco's cardiac tracing. "Roy? What does it show?" DeSoto told him. "Man, Brackett's gonna order a cardio--" Johnny started to say. ## I concur with you wholeheartedly, 51. Unstable ventricular tachycardia. What are the rest of his vital signs?" "B/P ......." Roy spoke, breathing fast,....." ..'s 78 over P. Rate's still the same with barely palpable carotids. Respirations are irregular and work of breathing's marginally poor on fifteen liters of O2." ## Looks like we have no choice, 51. You're gonna have to give him a shock to cardiovert him into a more stable rhythm before you transport..## Cap's eyes didn't like the sound of that. They filled immediately with alarm. "Can you do that while he's still awake?" Roy licked his lips and nodded reluctantly. "When we have to. It won't be too fun at all. For him, or for me." ## 51, is your victim still conscious?## DeSoto lifted up the receiver once more. "That's affirmative, doc. Very. And he's feeling....a lot." cracked Roy's tired voice. A long thoughtful, I don't like it sigh was heard clearly over the biophone line. ##....ok, Roy. Let's get the job done. Now I don't have to tell you twice. Get set for a full blown ET intubation in case this doesn't work out. Prepare for v-fib, the worst case scenario. Make sure you have enough personnel on hand to handle it...## "10-4, Rampart...uh, we do." Roy said quietly, looking to Cap, who gave a silent command for Kelly and a policeman to peel off their coats in order to provide CPR help. Hank himself, crouched at Marco's head, setting the waiting, clear rubber, O2 filled ambu bag, onto his knees. DeSoto didn't like the idea. ::Who knows how badly his heart's already been damaged by all that electricity. Simply adding more might throw him into unconvertible fibrillation due to excessive energy induced ischemia. :: Roy thought. Roy found his eyes being met by Marco's in a strange moment of clarity.::Do it...:: Lopez seemed to say through them.::I trust you, Roy:: DeSoto looked away from Marco's face and almost started pumping up the BPcuff again just to bury his burgeoning negative emotions into such a familiar task. :: In less than two minutes, I might be cutting Marco's life short, permanently.:: Kel Brackett broke him out of the frightening, nightmarish possibility. ##Roy, I'm now seeing a wide complex tachycardia in the range of 170. We can't wait. We can't allow this to go on. His system won't tolerate it much longer.## "Doc, I've never done one of these before in the field. Johnny's gutsier, maybe he oughta be the one t--" ##Johnny isn't here. He's up to his elbows in extrication gear trying to save the life of our victim number one. Now bone up and save victim number two and push any personal feelings you may have aside. If you haven't learned to trust the orders of your attending MD in eight years working as a full fledged paramedic, you'll never learn it. I'll walk you through the whole thing, as it happens, just like I do any first year resident physician. ## "I'm not a physician." ##No, you're an extension of one. A fully authorized, long arm coming directly off of........me... So quit stalling. Listen carefully... The difference between defibrillation and cardioversion is that the countershock is synchronized to the QRS complex which allows the electric current to be delivered after the R wave and before the period associated with the T wave. There's a toggle I didn't show you in training on the back of the defibrillator. Switch it on now. See the yellow flashing light on your monitor screen? You've just engaged the synchronization button. That blinking yellow dot is a marker that appears only when your victim's heart reaches the R wave of the heart beat cycle. When you deliver your shock, do it only when that dot appears. This will insure that counter shock is delivered during the QRS complex, the most optimum time to regain a normal sinus rhythm. Now keep your strip on. I wanna see what you get through the whole thing. Set your charge to 100 watt seconds and gel up. We'll perform the actual cardioversion once we get your patient prepared properly. Any questions?## Roy was speechless. ##Fine. I'll take that as a no. Do your standard first. 100 mg's Lidocaine IV push and let's see what happens.## Roy gave Marco the medication as fast as he could, as pure nervous adrenaline made his fingers fly. "No change, doc. He's still the same." DeSoto reported shakily. ##Ok, let's abandon that approach. Give him some Propofol 2.5 mg/kg IV ...on my order only. Now this sedative will be extremely short acting. Four or five minutes tops after the initial sixty seconds following its delivery into his blood stream. His breathing will be suppressed, so help it along. This dose will buffer him from recollecting the pain that'll come from the countershock but it won't knock him out. We need him awake because he'll be less apt to vomit during the counter shock : a complication from which he could die due to aspiration. He'll recover from the propofol momentarily if we're successful, but his BP will fall below where it is now. Bradycardia might set in afterwards, too. But don't worry, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Give him another 100 mg's Lidocaine at your next five minute mark. After we cardiovert, switch over to a ˝ Lidocaine dose of 50 mg's every five because he's still in shock, up to another 100 mg's. I'll allow you to attempt synchronized cardioversion up to four times. First the 100 joules, then 200, then 300 and finally 360. If he doesn't catch, we'll try something else medication wise. Remember, if your clinical conditions go critical at any stage of the game, go to unsynchronized shocks like you normally do for v-fib. Ready?... Give him the propofol, Roy. His R on T's are greater than 6 per minute now. Roy,..remember all that I've told you...you .....you................you....## In a haze, Roy gave Marco the sedative through his gushing, richly flowing I.V. Then he reached for the defibrillator paddles and held them up for Cap to gel once Marco stopped tensing and began swallowing mechanically. Cap gave the lightly sedated Lopez two breaths on ambu, then he lifted its mask up in the air to get out of the way.. Roy set the paddles down onto the framing positions around Marco's heart. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ::Mama! I don't want to die!:: cried Marco, deep inside.. A warm rush of energy lifted him up that was almost a noise and the horrid thudding in his ears faded away into silence. Puuffffhhhhhhh.... Air went into his lungs. Effortlessly. Puuuufffffhhhh.. It was getting easier. He didn't have to work so hard anymore. Puuuufffffhhhhhhhhhhh..... So Lopez .....gave up and just let it happen. Marco opened his "eyes" into a bright white light that offered the purest peace and comfort...and saw.......and ............saw......... ....... ::Papa?:: Tears filled Marco's eyes at the sight of the man he hadn't seen since the night he died just two days after his tenth birthday. Lopez reached out to touch his face lovingly. JOLT! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marco's body arched upwards under Roy's hands, accepting the gift of change, reacting to the conversion energy and the sedative with a myoclonus effect. A flood of tears poured out of both Marco's eyes. It surprised Cap, who almost didn't offer Lopez another breath on the bag while it was happening. "Dr. Brackett..." started Roy in alarm over the phone on his shoulder. ##It's all right on my end. I think it's working. Pay no mind to that muscular reaction. Keep maintaining his airway and breathing. He'll come out of it.## Immediately,.. an innocent innocuous unadulterated sinus rhythm of fifty started knitting itself across the defibrillator's EKG monitor. Roy sighed........and smiled the most heartfelt grin Cap had ever seen on a fireman. Marco soon after, started breathing well enough, on his own. Just in time for Gage to see as he trudged by with a patient loaded stokes headed for a Mayfair. "Did it work?" "You have to ask?" remarked Chet. "He's doing absolutely terrific now. Look......."And Kelly pointed out the regular clockwork squiggles on Marco's rhythm strip. "And we got Roy and Doc Brackett to thank for it, too." Kelly added. "Don't forget the big man upstairs.. You forgot Him again, Chet, I'm a professed Lutheran." Roy reminded him. "Oh, yeah, Him, too.." and Kelly hastily crossed himself. "Man, I wonder if Marco realizes how close he came to biting the big one..." Johnny smirked as he walked by. "Guess we'll have to ask him once he comes to mentally in the ambulance. Nice work, Roy. I couldn't have done better myself." "Oh yes you could. Brackett's one hell of a doctor. He'd make Kelly here raise the dead if it was possible." said Roy, taking another blood pressure reading on Marco. "I shudder the thought...." muttered Cap, switching out the ambu bag for a regular non-rebreather. "Lopez's set. He's at 18 a minute again. I better go head up the search for the third victim...... Kelly.." "Hmm?" said Chet. "Come with me." "Oh, uh, ok, Cap." ------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ******************************************************** From : Roxy Dee Sent : Wednesday, December 22, 2004 3:59 PM Subject : The Christmas Gift~~ There was a distant, high pitched wailing in his ears. Frowning, Marco coughed and opened his eyes in puzzlement. He found himself staring at a double set of sunlit windows over his toes from where he was sitting. He was propped upright on something soft and yielding, under his butt and legs. ::An ambulance cot.:: he realized. Two I.V. lines were swinging against the side of his face and bumping his cheek, so he lifted a hand to push them away. ::I don't understand...where is he?:: he thought muzzily. :: Father was right here..:: "Marco...." said a masculine voice. "Are you with me yet?" it asked and then Lopez felt a warm grip stop his hand from touching the I.V. tubing. Lopez blinked. He knew that voice and tried to speak, but it came out as a nonsensical liquidy groan. A face leaned in and blocked out the bright glow from the windows and tugged on something hissing until it cupped around his nose and mouth more tightly. ::This's O2. I'm hurt?:: Surprise registered on Marco's face and he finally formed a question. And a name finally popped into recall of who was sitting above him along with half a dozen emotions. ::That's Roy..:: and he shifted restlessly under the beige blanket, feeling straps snugged across his body. Anger and fear, coursed through him. "How'm I ...d-doing?" he gasped. "Easy. You're still coming out of sedation. Don't be surprised if you feel agitated inside emotionally. That's normal. Did you feel me shock you a few minutes ago?" asked Roy. "Didn't...feel a thing." Marco said, still clearly remembering the soft lines of his father's face that he had seen in that strange soothing nether light when he had given up. "Roy..." "Yeah.." Roy said, looking up from the blood pressure he was taking on Marco. "Did I die?" DeSoto's eyebrows went up at the question but the smile he offered Marco on his face, didn't shift a single millimeter. Roy shook his head. "We never lost a pulse on ya. You went from VT to NSR instantly without a hitch. Cap only had to help you breathe a couple of times on the bag when the sedative's full effect hit ya. There were no complications at all." he grinned. "That chest pain left yet?" "It's gone." Marco sighed. "Figured it was just that rapid heartbeat doing it..Let me listen to your chest to see if your lungs have cleared up yet." Marco blinked, nodding. "What have you got me on? I still feel kinda strange.." Roy chuckled. "Doc ordered a little MS for ya. You got a little combative when we were loading you up because you were still a little out of it. And you're on a Lidocaine drip to keep a normal rhythm...Ok, take a deep breath.." Marco did. "And another one.." said Roy, sliding the drum of his stethoscope over to his left side along the side of his ribs. "And again." Roy said, leaning him forward so he could listen to Marco's back. Then he rocked back onto the caregiver seat and jotted down a few notes. "Your edema's clearing nicely." "What was that from? I wasn't in any smoke...." Lopez coughed. "Sometimes when your heart races too fast, fluid can build up in your lungs. That was one reason why we had to slow it down pretty quick." "So I'm all right now?" Marco asked, keeping still and studying the tape holding his arm straight on an I.V. board. "You're stable." Roy admitted. "Dr. Brackett will give you a good going over once we reach Rampart to see if there are gonna be any secondary cardiac side effects from the shock you took from the power lines. He'll look for signs of internal damage coming from other areas. Your muscles might have suffered circulation problems that won't pop up until later. You remember those spasms that kept coming?" "How can I forget? They hurt like h*ll. Now I know what Cap went through when he messed with a power line." "That's a good sign." "What, that my pain was so bad?" Lopez grinned faintly. "No, it's the fact that you remember what happened to you at the scene that's good." DeSoto replied. "Oh..." said Marco. "I remember a few other things, too." Roy shifted in his seat, staying respectfully quiet while he kept an eye on Marco's live EKG monitor. Not a single PVC was marching across the screen as it had been doing by the dozens before his emergency cardioversion. Feeling confident on the strength of the turn around, Roy closed up and packed away the defibrillator resting between Marco's legs and set it onto the rider's bench next to him. Then he folded his hands together and just listened, meeting Marco's eyes gently with his own. "Do you believe in the afterlife, Roy?" Marco said after a few seconds. "I do. You don't grow up going to services once a day and twice on Sunday without having a pretty strong faith in an idea like that." Roy grinned. "I'm Catholic. Maybe not as devoted as you and Joanne are to the Lutheran faith. Mama and I go to church once a month, maybe twice if we can afford it, and go cook for the congregation. In fact, we've just finished organizing a dinner benefit ....for Christmas coming up in the next couple of days. But what I'm saying is.... I think I died, Roy. Maybe just for a split second. Because whereever I was..I saw my father, as clearly as you and I are seeing each other right now. And he's been dead for twenty five years. It was so real. I could smell his cologne...I could feel the heat coming from his cheek when I tried to reach out and touch him, and it made me cry, Roy." "Hypoxia does funny things to the mind when a person's in shock. You had a short time in the squad where you weren't getting enough oxygen. We had to hold you down to force some air into ya until your color pinked up again. You didn't die, Marco. You were conscious the whole time I was with you. This EKG strip shows that you had a constant heart beat throughout your treatment. Take a look..." and he pressed the red gridded white paper roll into Marco's hands and he helped him scroll through it to the point where the bigeminy was shocked into a sinus rhythm. "But it doesn't matter if you were clinically dead or not. That's not important. If you know you saw your dead father, then you did. Perhaps it was your mind's way of getting you through a life threatening crisis that was at the time, extremely unpleasant physically. A self preservation instinct, if you will. But the experience you had holds the same significant meaning regardless of what brought it on, Marco. And you're gonna have to figure out what its impact is gonna be and find out why it happened to you in order to understand it fully through a way that works best for you." "What did you feel, Roy?" Lopez said, fingering the place on the EKG strip where the tracing had gone from a life threat to a normal state. "I'm afraid I don't understand." DeSoto admitted, leaning on his knees with his palms. "Last year, you were dead for several minutes after you hit that line and fell off the roof during that house fire. Karen the trainee said that you had no heartbeat at all when she found you and brought you back using the defibrillator. Did you see anything like what I saw, during it?" Roy looked down at the question, studying his shoes, when he got Lopez's reference. He laced his fingers together thoughtfully in front of him. "I remember feeling scared for the woman in that bedroom with me. I wasn't thinking clearly about the fact that the ladder under my foot wasn't one of ours. It was a stupid mistake. I was surprised I wasn't written up for it later on after I recovered." Marco heard the sirens over their heads shut off as they entered Rampart's back driveway from the boulevard. "Roy..." he insisted, wanting an answer before it was too late to get one. DeSoto replied. "Easy, don't get worked up. It'll mess up your blood pressure. I'll answer your question." And he started to take down Marco's I.Vs. from the ceiling hook, transferring them to the cot pole. "I saw someone that day, yes." he whispered. "And ...it was just a little boy. A stranger, with...with....with red hair, about four years old. And this is the odd part, Marco... I knew ...without a shred of a doubt, that that little boy standing in front of me... was going be my future son in two years time. A second son for me and Joanne, slated to be born on Christmas Eve.....1977." Lopez's mouth flopped open. "That's next year.." "How's that for a mysterious life after death experience....?" Roy asked seriously. "Count your blessings, Marco. You could've had a vision like mine." he said quietly. "Joanne and I still don't know what to make of it." Lopez crossed himself and said a silent benediction. Soon, no further talk was possible on the subject because rushing orderlies pulled open the doors of the Mayfair once it completed its backing maneuver, to wheel Marco into Dr. Brackett's awaiting treatment room. --------------------------------------------- Photo: Roy bagging a patient inside a Mayfair. Photo: An overhead shot of the squad and ambulance parked in the emergency entrance lot. Photo: Rampart's ambulance entrance door, open next to the squad. ****************************************************************** From: "Champagne Scott" Date: Mon Jan 10, 2005 6:31 pm Subject: A Matter of Perspective Captain Stanley collapsed the antennae of his walkie talkie radio and he put it into his pocket with a sad sigh of discovery. The helicopter pilot had found the third car victim. He lay face up and battered at the mouth of a culvert in the shallows one fifth of a mile away from the accident site. There was no mistaking the pale china blue rictor of death and his fatal color. "Kelly! Stoker! Let's give it up!" He shouted to his two searching firefighters struggling through the river channel's brush and debris islands with probe poles lofted straight up over their heads. "He's been spotted by Chopper Ten. And there's absolutely nothing in the world we can do for him." he motioned grimly, peeling off his helmet and gloves. Hank tried not to look at the heavy disappointment that bloomed over his men's faces. Cap knelt down near the high edge of the spillway over the rappelling ropes hanging over the concrete wall. "I've been ordered to let L.A.P.D. and the coroner's department handle his body's recovery. They say they're gonna need the area around him intact and undisturbed for photos." he told Stoker and Chet quietly. "They just found a pack of cocaine in the trunk." "We hear ya, Cap. Where is he?! We don't see him. " Chet yelled back. "Don't wanna step too close." he frowned, fighting to get out of the thick bulrushes and rhododendron tangles choking the riverway. "In the storm drain, pal. To your one o'clock. Up on a small waterfall. Looks like your way back to me's entirely clear of automobile debris so don't worry about that." hollered Cap. Kelly nodded, finally finding an open space in the wild growth to push through. He took both Cap's offered grip and the rope and hauled himself up onto dry land. Mike Stoker climbed onto the rusting gate covering the water redirect to catch a glimpse of the dead man for reporting's sake. Then he accepted Chet and Hank's firm hands for a pull out of the river basin. "How's Johnny's victim?" Mike asked Cap, scraping the scummy mud off of his shoes on a twisted rock as he retrieved their climbing ropes into potable coils. "Stable. His rig left for Rampart soon after Roy's did. Marco's still doing fine. He's awake now, and talking..." Chet started to open his mouth. Cap stalled his question with a pointed index finger. "And yes, we'll be taking the engine there. I told L.A. that we'll be 10-7 for an hour and a half until Lopez's replacement can join up with us at the station." Chet grinned, wiping muck off his chin. "Cap, taking the pumper to the hospital without an official reason to? I'm surprised at you." he chided teasingly. Hank's eyes demonstrated being put on the spot and he cleared his throat subconsciously. "I don't need one. I'm a fire department captain. My station can be anywhere I put it in our service area. " he gruffed. "Unofficially, I'm doing it for a short welfare visit for morale's sake to cheer myself up. Now get moving and drive the squad in. Stoker can finish stowing the gear. He's a little faster than you." "Yes, sir." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sleep would claim him, if he let it. Marco had only to close his eyes and lean back against the softness of the gurney's pillow. But he couldn't. He felt Roy's hand on his stomach, taking a count of his respirations yet again as he drifted. Marco studied the age lines wrinkling on his coworker's forehead as DeSoto tipped his watch into a better viewing angle but they blurred into nonsensicality. "..ohh...." he groaned, his arms and legs jumping underneath the covers. Biting his lip, Roy held Marco's I.V.s in the other hand so the ambulance attendants would be free to transfer Lopez onto the treatment bed that Brackett had already wheel locked into position. "Easy, Marco. Almost there.." he said with another gentle touch on his patched in shoulder. Marco barely heard him. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More than anyone else knew; more than he himself knew, so much had changed within him, in ways that Lopez was only beginning to understand. The need for rest weighed heavily across his chest. But Marco knew why he put it off, why he tried to forestall its inevitable approach. When he had been between twisted heartbeats, there had been the smallest possible glimpse, as his heart had passed through chaos back into shocked order, of an instant that had been both remembrance and eternal non-time. For just that brief flash of consciousness, he had seen that which had been shown to him, so long ago in early childhood. Warm, happy experiences of being snuggled in the firm security of his father's loving arms as he laughed, while being tickled to death. Lopez closed his eyes, ignoring Kel Brackett's questions and shaking, willing himself towards that memory path again. He had seen his father, his mother's beloved, inside of there. In a moment snatched from those years forever lost to him, in those few seconds, when Bernardo had still been alive. Bernardo had turned to Marco, one hand reaching back to his, smiling as if he were about to say something... There hadn't been time enough to hear what his words would have been. The vision of his face had gone as quickly as it had appeared; Marco hadn't really even been conscious of it, until the jolting shock of the defibrillator came shooting through his body.. Only now, when he could allow his thoughts to sort themselves out, had he remembered completely, what he had seen. What had been granted to him. Marco wondered what it meant. Perhaps nothing, an oxygen and blood starved hallucination, perhaps a gift, a blessing.. Marco smiled ruefully, to appease a suddenly worried Kel and Roy before they resorted to a pain check. "I'm o.k...I'm just a little tired. Gimme a sec to get myself together." he whispered. "And then I'll try to cooperate..." he grunted. He saw their faces move away into a paramedic/doctor consultation. It would have been just like Bernardo Lopez to have given him something like that, something that would enable him to go forward and accomplish what he had to afterwards. Falling now, Marco let himself sink. Toward that bright world, the other one, inside of him, where he could hear the tender words that had been-- and always were-- about to be spoken to him. -------------------------------------------------------- "Kel." said Dixie, lifting her head. "Looks like he's going out." Dr. Brackett moved to Marco's head, peeling a penlight out of one pocket. He ran its white beam over his pupils lightly before he stepped closer to examine the extruding EKG strip running out of the monitor. "Go ahead and get another pressure, Dix, but I think he's ok. His eyes seem like they're in rapid eye motion, like they do when someone's in a deep sleep state." he remarked in surprise. "Hmm, that's something that getting an electrical current overload won't account for." Roy crossed his arms over his elbows, fidgetting, but he let himself smile. "It's ok, doc. Marco always falls asleep like this after an injury. Even for minor ones. He did this the last time he was in here, too." "Really.." Brackett chuckled. "As I recall...Last time was just last year from that accident at the gas station?" Dixie remembered. "Uh huh." Roy replied. "Marco never seems to ever pass out at all. He only does so when things are getting really bad like when his air bottle runs out in a really hot fire." "Oh, now I remember Marco's strange tendency. Mike said he snored up a storm. Morton said he got overly frustrated, until he finally tipped Marco's head back over the end of the table long enough to finish examining him." Kel shared about Morton. Roy just nodded, doing the same action to prevent any problems after he transferred Lopez's oxygen supply line to the humidified port in the wall. "Ok." Kel sighed.. folding up his stethoscope and putting it back into his lab coat. "His lungs sound almost entirely clear now. Dix, call the lab.. I want a chest X-ray and a full twelve lead cardiac study. Draw blood enough for a BUN and creatinine, CBC, cardiac electrolyte serum, blood glucose, and have them get some clotting indexes in case he needs surgery for that finger reduction later. Also, grab a UA by centesis after I get done giving him this sedative to calm these tremors down." "Right away, Kel. His pressure's 100/76." Dix reported before moving to the phone to order the tests Marco needed. Kel glanced up. "Roy, you say he wasn't thrown far? I'm not noting any signs of abdominal tenderness or guarding here." Dr. Brackett said palpating Marco's stomach carefully. "That's right. Only about ten feet backwards from the car, onto some patchy grass and dirt. He was using the K-12 when it happened." "Hmm, we got lucky there.." he said, moving on to look at the fractured finger on Marco's hand. "This doesn't look so bad either. The burns on his hands aren't even blistering." "How's his neurological status?" said Dixie, returning to the bedside. "Good to excellent. We got pretty philosophical on the way in." "About what?" Kel asked. "Marco thought he had a near death experience, doc. He said that he saw his dad. Is such a thing possible with his kind of situation? I mean, his heart rhythm didn't ever stop on us." "It is. He couldn't have been breathing too well with a tach rate that fast. Slight hypoxia is all that's needed to cause changes in the brain enough for someone to feel they've had an out of body experience." Roy grinned. "Are you saying that you don't believe in all the stories of people seeing things after they've been dead a short time?" "That's exactly what I'm saying." Kel said. "I'm too practical, I guess, to believe in such nonsense." "Don't knock it until you've been there, doc." Roy said, without looking away from Kel's skeptical eyes. "You mean, you had a life after death encounter Roy?" asked Kel, raising his eyebrows in surprise. "I did. When I was in his shoes, last year." DeSoto said, gesturing at Marco's sleeping form. "I didn't read anything about that on your chart, Roy." "That's because...." Roy started up loudly..."..that's because.." he whispered so he wouldn't wake Marco up." I thought I was nuts at the time." "Why would you think that? Who did you see in yours?" "My future son." DeSoto said with tightly clenched lips. "And I'll also tell you, doc, that my experience wasn't entirely all warm and rosy like Marco's." Roy had to force himself to get out of Brackett's light while he completed Marco's care."I felt very uncomfortable seeing him." "Oh.. Uh...Sorry about that. Well...don't worry, Roy. It's over and done with. Uh...We'll keep up both of Marco's I.Vs. at a rate sufficient to offset myoglobinuric renal failure. I'm not going to allow any fasciotomies that might be needed on his arms because of compartment syndrome developing later on just because of an unstable B/P that we can easily stabilize now. Here, help me turn him onto his side for those coming chest plates. Then we can get his course of meds going before he transfers to the ICU." "The guys'll wanna see him, doc,.." DeSoto insisted. "..before he goes upstairs." "I'll allow that. There'll be time while we wait for the x-rays to develop." "I guess I'd better collect Johnny and go meet the gang outside before they get crazy ideas into their heads about trying to pile on in here." said Roy, excusing himself. "I'll let you know when we're set." said Brackett. "Tell them Marco's gonna be fine in a couple of weeks. Especially since he has no keraunoparalysis." "I will." Roy left the treatment room to go stand by the ambulance entrance to meet the rest of the gang. A quick status check to L.A. showed them as already en route to Rampart Hospital. He flagged down Johnny as soon as he reappeared from his treatment room and moments later, DeSoto was telling him the good news about Marco. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Doctor Brackett looking uneasy about a subject matter. Photo: Roy in a treatment room in closeup. Photo: Dixie bending over a bed near an I.V. setup. Photo: Engine 51 driving right at you. ************************************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Mon Jan 17, 2005 7:33 pm Subject: The Gift of Life.. "Guys...Set the kettle down over there on the back stove. Yeah, that's right. Then Marissa can get the soup going and still have the front burners free for saute'ing." suggested Marco from his comfortable chair in the center of the spacious room at Father Murphy's Catholic Charities Soup Kitchen. "We are gonna be cooking for a hundred people before sundown, and not just for a few dozen or so." Johnny mumbled around the fake smile he wore for show for the hovering chattering church women who were volunteering for the charity's dinner. "Roy,..are you regretting helping out as much as I am right now?" he said as he and Roy grunted under the heavy weight of the enormous soup kettle that they were maneuvering between them. Roy, chided his partner, flashing a one hundred percent genuine grin. "Where's that holiday spirit Johnny? I know it's in there somewhere. You know we were the only ones able to help Marco out like this on such short notice. The rest of the guys are still pulling a shift at the station. He's still under exertion restrictions, remember?" Johnny's face locked down even tighter on his glued in smile. "For a tiny jolt taken from a power pole? Roy, your defibrillating counter shock mixed up more of his brain and cardiac cells than that ever could of done." "Shh, do you want him to find out that meeting his father in the afterlife was actually an artifact from the paddles? That'd doom any faith he has in the church and then some." DeSoto reasoned, keeping his voice down to a quiet friendly sounding whisper. "Just pipe down and let's get this done. They're opening the doors to the streets in an hour and we'd better be ready with things on time." "Ok, ok. Just...just let me get better leverage down here. Ugh.. Tip it back.. I got it on the bunsen coil. Right in the middle." Gage strained. Then he said a little louder, "How's this, Marco?" "Perfect, amigo. Gracias." he said amid a chorus of gratitude from all the women. Soon the massive metal cauldron was surrounded by the bright colorful aprons of the shelter volunteers descending in mass, as they began dumping pounds of chicken, noodles, vegetables and boullion into the pot. Rapidly, the gas line fire was poofed into life underneath it. Marco Lopez looked up from the hot chocolate one of the church ladies had given him to go along with the afghan now wrapping around his shoulders. "Thanks guys. the neighborhood women and I really appreciate you coming out tonight.." he said sipping from his steaming mug. "Here, take a break. Looks like I got a whole pot to myself.." he said shoving the cocoa tray and mug stack closer to Roy and Johnny with a slippered foot. He plunked down his own mug and Marco reached over to begin peeling potatoes at top speed with a paring knife. "Ah,, easy with that..." Gage said, pulling the blade out of Marco's hand. "You're gonna cut yourself rushing like that. Here, I'll do it.." "Thanks, Johnny.." and Lopez rose from his chair painfully to move over to the floor bound soup pot to do some light stirring with its three foot long steel cast ladle while the ladies around him filled it with delectables. Roy grinned. "He's not on Valium you know." he said sotto voce to Gage. "Just some Tylenol 3 for his muscle aches." "Oh, hush. He's was napping five minutes ago. He might still be groggy enough to get a little clumsy." "Yes, mother Gage.." teased DeSoto, taking up a second peeler to help Johnny add to the pile going into the soup pot. "Your paramedic side's showing itself again." "So's yours. You kept him from doing any lifting at all today." "Then we're in the same boat now, aren't we?...Relax, Johnny, in an hour, we'll be eating a truly well cooked meal with all the street folks and their families and we'll forget all about our sore backs." "Do me a favor and keep reminding me of that, ok? Right now my back's talking something fierce, all over that supposed angelic little voice of mine that's trying to praise me for doing all of this on our only day off." Gage said, stretching out a kink or two. "Consider it done." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Darkness was falling softly over Los Angeles County when Father Murphy finally threw open the doors of his charity to the line slowly straggling in from the avenue. He laughed heartily in his Santa's suit for all the kids shyly coming in with their guardians to share the rare seven course feast. Marissa, a red haired bubbly helper, threw off her apron just in time to fan out coloring books and crayons for the youngest comers along with a wrapped present or two for each, containing toys that would survive their lives spent on the move and on the streets. "Here you go, loves. Come on in where it's warm. Dinner's almost ready." she said. And soon, the tiny brick hall was filled with people sitting down in front of the many plates and silverware lined up along the simple folding tables setting in rows before the kitchen's open counter. Roy and Johnny and Marco were just about to duck out of the way of the volunteers running by with steaming foil pans full of food when Father Murphy dragged all three of them to the front of the room before a tiny rainbow lit white Christmas tree. "Folks, please. Can I have your attention for just a bit before the nightly prayer?" The Santa garbed padre held them firmly in place with a friendly arm over their shoulders. Ski capped heads looked up everywhere and all three firemen immediately flushed at being an unexpected center of attention. "Now for this year's Christmas feast, we've been blessed with the presence of some of Marco Lopez's closest firefighter friends, who've been helping us tirelessly all morning and through most of the day. Everybody, a big warm welcome for Roy DeSoto and John Gage, from Station 51 located in the suburb of Carson. This is their first year volunteering with us and I'd like to say, I couldn't have asked for a more dedicated pair of workers than they. It's been said no one works harder than a firefighter and I've been overwhelmingly ...moved.. to find that this wonderful sentiment, is an absolute G*d given truth. Roy and Johnny everybody.." Marco Lopez, with tears of gratitude in his eyes, starting clapping first for them with warm nods of appreciation, which only increased his coworkers' embarrassment at the memory of their earlier grumbling. Soon, shrill cheers and applause from all the volunteers and diners alike, nearly brought the hall down. Roy and Johnny found that they couldn't escape fast enough into the sanctuary in back of the kitchen to recover their inner dignity. Marissa, the street child activity coordinator winked at them as she handed them two full plates, "Welcome to the family, boys. Here, eat up and refill your plates as often as you like. Nobody goes hungry on Christmas Eve." "Wow,..." said Johnny.. "I...we., I mean, Roy and I ..sure appreciate this, Marissa. Thanks." "My pleasure.. Excuse me fellas, but my place is with the kids. I'm nanny to them all whenever they come to Father Murphy's so their real parents can relax and take a break for a while. And now, this is time for yours. Don't worry about doing any dishes at all. We've hired out some of the city's crime serving teens for that task. It'll be part of their community service obligations debt to the police and Ju-vee Hall to help us out tonight." Johnny and Roy nodded their thanks and they settled in to the folding chairs Marco managed to petal in around the warm soup pot. It was almost surreal to have a three foot high cauldron of food steaming fragrantly in front of them and they revelled in it. "Thanks, Marissa. Glad we could be here." said Roy. "This is a wonderful charity you're offering up to all these street folks." he said shyly. "I've driven by this hall everyday on my way to work and I never even knew this place existed. We're.... very touched by your intense sense of dedication and commitment, ma'am." "Ah,, it's G*d's work, not mine, that I do, Mr. DeSoto. I'm just a messenger and caregiver to the youngest ones and I, just simply, try be there whenever I can. It's folk like you and your coworkers who are the real life savers. I just keep people on track going about the business of wanting to live that life day to day, in truly bad times." Marissa said thoughtfully. "If you would excuse me now?.. Little Stevie's flagging me down." All three of the Station 51 gang rose marginally from their chairs as the cheerful young woman departed for the main dining area and the children. Soon, well fed and content, the three off duty firefighters joined all the volunteers in handing out presents to those who didn't have any yet from Father Murphy's red velvet Santa's bag. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In the kitchen, two scruffy teenaged boys ate from the serving platters greedily. "Is he watching?" said the first to the second. The dark haired teenaged parolee casually eyed the police officer standing in the main hall against a wall. The officer was laughing along with the others as presents were opened and displayed. "No, man. He's feeling the Christmas spirit too much to notice us." "Cool.. Then we can have a little fun." said the first, taller teen. The second eyed his juvenile hall roommate distrustfully. "What kind of fun?" "The walking on fire kind. I betcha you can't do what I can do..Let's see what kind of cajones you have, Punto." "Hey, who are you calling Punto, Gordohead? I can do anything you can do." "All right..." and the oldest reached into his jeans pocket around his sink apron and pulled out a dime. Lightly, he tossed it into the deep french fryer that was full of boiling liquid lard. "Get it, and it's yours. A symbol that earns my protection for you from the others who are beating you up every night in the exercise cell." Familiar with gang initiation and pledging, the second reached for a scoop wire spoon for the task. The first boy grabbed the second boy's wrist. "Not with that.. With your bare hand." The second teen's eyes got real big. "Are you plain loco? I'll get seriously roasted!" "No you won't. You see, I'm sharper than your average jefe, caballero. Use this on your skin first. Watch me, and then it's your turn." said the light eyed leader boy. He reached up onto a spice shelf over the cooker and pulled down a jar of vasoline. He liberally spread it thickly over his arm and fingers, until he was wearing a glove of goo. Then, lightning fast, he plunged his hand into the hot bubbling vat of grease. The leader's companion gasped, but the boy's hand came up rapidly, with the dime, dripping but unharmed. The silver coin plunked with a flip toss onto the countertop, following a string of mirthless laughter. The leader had enjoyed horrifying his audience. "Your turn, amigo. Nothing to it." "You're pure loco, man. I'm not doing it!" gaped the younger of the two toughies. "Does this feel burned to you?" said the oldest, gripping the younger's hair in his greasy hand. "I'm offering you a one time only...offer for my personal kind of protection against your enemies. You know you'll die without it, despite of a fuzz being your shadow. This is your last chance and I suggest you take it,.." he spat into his ear. "..friend..." "Ok.. ok. ok.." bubbled the second teen, in fear, and he pulled his head free from the leader's grip just before the police officer's eyes glanced once in their direction in a bored presence check and away again. He reached for the jar of vasoline with a shaky hand. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A blood curdling scream from the back kitchen sent the adults into a scrambling flurry for the kitchen annex. Johnny, Roy and Marco were just in time to see a young teen aged boy dropping a steam scalded dime limply from his fingers right after he violently pulled his arm out of the french fryer. A plume of grease arched onto the floor and splashed the simmering soup kettle's burner and the amber liquid immediately caught on fire and crawled rapidly along the floor tiles, igniting an even bigger puddle pooled there in front of the grinning older teenager. "Somebody get a fire extinguisher!" yelled Johnny. "Marco, call the fire department!" Roy tackled and then flung a towel over the screaming boy's arm to snuff out the grease burning there that hadn't yet reached any skin. Then he pulled him away from the flaming part of the floor to the water sink where he quickly flooded the teen's fingers with a stream from the cold tap. "What a stupid monkey!" celebrated the leader teen. "You forgot to let go of the dime and it burned ya anyway!" he laughed at his younger companion. Johnny heard a commotion from the hall and accepted the fire extinguisher that Father Murphy tossed him, quickly ripping free its nozzle tie. He was about to use it when he saw what kind of extinguisher it was. "Roy, this is a water can.. We can't use this at all.." and he threw it away in disgust, dancing away from the flames. "We gotta get everyone outta here. If that soup ring's gas line flares...." "I'm on it." and DeSoto rush guided his stunned, only finger seared teenager out of the room on Marco's heels. Johnny threw away the useless extinguisher and whirled to push the laughing teen ahead of him into the police shaparone's arms; ultimately to the front exit of the dining hall. "Merry Christmas, Mister Cop and Fireman. " mocked the leader teen. "Hey, Father! How's that for a holy light?" he chuckled, maniacally pleased, throwing a hand back at the spreading grease fire. "I kinda like it better than that paltry excuse of a Christmas tree in the dining room." Father Murphy's face barely contained a puzzled incomprehension before an urgent panic to evacuate the street folk diners took it over. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marissa stood by the doors, holding them open as panicking people fled the smoke filling charity hall. As men, women and children ran by, she made sure she silently head counted. Father Murphy had already lined up the first group along the far side curb, checking on how bad some might have been effected by the thick smoke. He had torn off his Santa's hat and beard and was running from person to person, who was sitting or lying on the pavement, or coughing violently. "Is that all of them?" Marco shouted to Marissa over the screams. "Oh, my G*d..Meghan and Stevie are still inside. They were at the head table!" and Marissa struggled to get past Marco to go back inside to look for them. "No.. get out of here. Johnny and Roy are checking for any stragglers." "But.." "Just go, Marissa. We know what we're doing!" She back away, reluctantly and was gone. Right then, Johnny and Roy shoved the officer and the two juvenile delinquents out the main glass doors and into Marco's arms, exiting, too, from the black smoked cloud still regurgitating from the kitchen with a vengeance. "Did you manage to get to a phone, Marco? Here, grab him. He's getting all worked up emotionally." "Yeah. I got through.*cough* I got him. Is that everyone?" "We think so. Getting too hard to see anything." Distracted, Marco and the two paramedics bore the grease singed boy away from the hall and suddenly to the ground when the overwhelmed boy fainted from psychogenic shock. When no one was looking, Marissa ran back into the kitchen, full of fear for the mother and child still missing on her own initiative. Using her damp apron as a mask over her face in a desperate attempt at helping out best as she could, she disappeared into the murk, unwitnessed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy and Johnny's heads snapped up from the teenager lying on the road when a soot covered mother, carrying a kicking little boy in holiday green in her arms, staggered against the glass of the door. "Marco..make sure he wakes up..." said Roy, pointing down to the silent shivering teenager still cradling his fingers. Gage and Johnny pulled open the superheated door and dragged out the gasping mother and writhing child, both pulling them away from danger. Fire was now becoming just visible on the roofing tiles, glowing over the rusty bricks. Sound of sirens covered those of the hungry flames eating the interior. Johnny tried to snatch the child out of the woman's hands. "Let go of him! Let me take a look at him!" He said peeling off her fingers one by one, trying to reach his head and neck. "He's having trouble breathing!" The mother coughed violently. "He..'s....might be choking! He was eating potatoes when the scream and smoke startled him! I tried...* cough* to do what I ....." Her voice cut off as smoke inhalation strangled her into speechless silence. Her own breathing trouble loosened her grip and the purpling boy tumbled into Johnny's arms. Father Murphy ran over and drew Meghan's panicky attention to his kindly face while Roy and Johnny worked swiftly on the little boy. Scooping Stevie in front of him, Johnny began firm thrusts with closed fists repeatedly on the boy's abdomen, trying to dislodge whatever food was blocking the boy's airway, dangling him in front of his own legs in a back to stomach hug. Nothing worked. A squeal of tires rousted DeSoto's attention from the boy when he recognized the sound of rescue squad doors slamming. "Over here! Foreign body obstruction. We need the peds kit!" Engine 51 had come along with Squad 18. "Roy's he's out...." panted Johnny. "I'm not getting it. Catch his head. Catch his head. Get him down." DeSoto helped his partner straighten the now unconscious boy onto his back and he quickly got to the boy's head, looking to see if he could spot anything in the glare of the engine's headlights in the boy's mouth. "Nothing yet." Johnny continued to apply sharp heimlich maneuvers, even as he pulled up the boy's shirt for clearer access. "Magills! Small! And suction!" Roy shouted to the paramedics rushing to their side. He got the gear box he needed. Snatching up the long scissor like snubbed instrument, Roy threaded its gripping shaft down Stevie's throat after nodding to Johnny to stop his clearing attempts for a moment. He pulled out a chicken bone. Gage pressed down on the boy's ribcage and air hissed out sharply. "That was it. Pulse?" Roy felt for one even as one of Squad 18's medics grabbed an oxygenated child's ambu bag and oral airway and started using them to get effective breaths into the boy. DeSoto shook his head. "No carotid." Gage began one handed chest compressions, while the second medic began to hail Rampart on the biophone. Captain Stanley ran up to Marco by the teenager. "Who else is there besides this teen boy and the child and mother?" he said laying down an O2 apparatus for Marco to use on the young man. "Maybe a few minor SI's on the curbside, Cap. I think we got everyone out." Lopez said. "Careful in there. Grease fire and an active floor gas line from a soup cooker! We didn't have time to get the main breaker shut off.." "Ok, pal. Hang tight. I've another two alarms on the way. Including L.A. City. We're on the edge of their jurisdiction out here." he said eyeing the brick church like building that housed the burning soup kitchen. Hank then called for the gas company to shut off service to the entire city block over the engine's radio microphone. Right then, Father Murphy looked up from where Meghan was sobbing and reaching for Stevie. "Captain.. I...I- l.. don't see Marissa.. She...she'd never abandon a child in trouble. In fact she'd be the last one to leave them.." "Are you saying that there might still be someone inside of there?" Cap clarified. "Yes!" said the padre. "Chet, Moreno...gear up! There's possibly one more victim inside the building. Keep in mind that there's still a flowing gas line some where near a soup set up and a grease fire along the floor. Be extra careful searching around in there! You have two minutes." Cap ordered. "Then we pull out and wait for backup. This one's going vertical by the looks of it. Stoker! Back her up a hundred feet. This building's got a false front!" "Right, Cap." said the engineer. Kelly nodded at his orders and the pair of firemen swiftly geared up into SCBA bottles and masks. With a charged inch and a half, they knocked out the front window glass and entered the dining hall following a covering fan of protective water. Gage and Roy traded tasks, back and forth, on the boy's CPR while they let Squad 18 handle the child's main care treatment, working quietly through all his resuscitation medications after they'd received terse medical orders from Dr. Joe Early. They paused only for three quarters of a minute in their efforts when Cap had them all evacuate the front sidewalk for the opposite one to get them out of a potential debris zone. ##Squad 18. Defibrillate. 100 watt seconds. As many times as it takes. Don't wait for an ET intubation. Sounds like you've got more than enough hands helping out.## the doc said as he heard an off duty Roy and Johnny confirming and reaffirming verbally how they were coordinating efforts on the child. "10-4, Rampart. Stand by for an EKG if we're successful." reported Squad 18's head paramedic. "Roy..still getting a pulse with my compressions?" Gage asked in the background. "Yeah. They're going good. His airway's still clear. No food matter down here at all. Ok, Marv. We're standing off for ya." Roy replied, raising the ambu off Stevie for the countershocking with the low powered paddles. Johnny lifted his palm away from Stevie's sternum, making sure that Meghan wasn't touching her son with his other one, for the first shock to come. "Oh!" cried Meghan, gripping her oxygen cannula'd face in her hands in worried despair at the sight of her boy jumping convulsively. Father Murphy hugged her tightly. "The Lord's working through these men, Meghan. If they're granted, Stevie will be returned to us very soon. I've seen these kind men working before." On the second shock, Stevie gasped and his hands twitched on the cool gritty sidewalk and Roy's smile announced the presence of a very viable heartbeat under the grip he had on the boy's neck. Meghan immediately began sobbing in relief and Father Murphy bent his head in a prayer of thanksgiving. Roy swiftly patched the almost suffocated boy into the heart monitor and Johnny helped Marv spike an I.V. for the child's continuing maintenance meds. Then they stood up, "You good here now, guys?" asked Gage. The two medics nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, fellas. See you later at the station." answered Marv. "Stan, why don't you check on the teenager over there. The fireman with him's indicating that he's awake and fully conscious now." replied Squad 18's head medic. Marv's partner left to start the teenager's care. "Ok.." and Gage and DeSoto rose to stand by Cap, who was studying the building, intently eyeing the hose feeding into the shattered window frame. Marco had already joined Hank, too. And he was biting his lip. Lopez said, "Roy, Johnny.. Carlos Moreno and Chet have gone in after Marissa." "What?!" Gage said, whirling around. "I didn't see her go back inside...I thought I saw her out here with you, Marco." "You did. She was out here at first. Father Murphy gave Cap a run down on her personality type about not ever leaving behind any kids. So everyone's assuming she went back in to look for Meghan and Stevie here. And for you two. " Lopez said, filling Roy and Johnny in. "That crazy, stupid girl. She's gonna get herself killed. That fire's hotter than anything..!" Gage fretted. "Cap, do you mind if Roy and I throw on a spare set of coats and tanks at all to be your second team in stand by?" "Can't harm anything. I'll add you to the board. Gear up but hang back for now. Put on trousered boots over those jeans! Lopez can help me keep watch." "Thanks, Cap." Gage replied for both Roy and himself. An ominous rumble made Cap's head snap up. He brought his walkie talkie to his lips. "Kelly, Moreno. Out. The upper story's about to go!" he ordered. There was no reply. Cap immediately frowned. "Can't be that noisy in there. It's all one room, right?" "That's right.." said Roy, buckling up his turnout. "Kelly! Moreno! Respond HT!" Hank tried again. A small roof explosion flattened Marco, Cap, Roy and Johnny against the engine in a tangle of protective crouches. He was about to send in Roy and Johnny when the false front of the building finally gave way under the heat of the fire and came tumbling down onto the front sidewalk in a pile of sparking black bricks. Roy was about to go rushing inside when he saw Chet Kelly, helmetless and gloveless, carrying Marissa in his arms towards the open air. Her white kitchen clothes were in shreds. Hank and Stoker both rushed forward to help their dazed coworker walk over the fallen building debris with his unconscious burden. Roy reached for her head and chest for signs of life. Kelly wasn't feeling his reddened and blistered palms one iota, even as the others were wincing for him. "Roy, she's alive. Breathing, too." Where's Moreno?" barked Cap. "He ducked out the back way. He was too far from the front door. I was closer." Chet mumbled, stumbling slightly, licking a contused lip."Father Murphy.. I got her out.." "That you did, son. Now sit down and let me bundle you up until your paramedic friend's ready to see you." the father replied. "Johnny! Tank up and go check out Kelly's story. Meet up with Moreno. Radio me immediately the first second you find him." Cap called out behind him. "Then clear the h*ll out of there until the other alarms get on scene." "I'm gone.." said Gage. And soon, he was. ----------------------------------------------------- Photo: Soup kitchen store front. Photo : Bums eating dinner at folding tables. Photo: Kids piled over coloring books and art stuff. Photo: A bowl of chicken soup in the hands of someone. Photo: Kitchen charity workers slaving over a stove of food. Photo: A collapsing false front at night on fire. Photo: Woman doing CPR on a boy. Photo: Roy, Stoker and Cap helping Chet get a woman out. ********************************************************** From: Katherine Bird Date: Tue Jan 25, 2005 10:21 pm Subject: That Molten Snare... Johnny Gage darted quickly around the burning brick city building. He kept one eye on the roofline, making sure that nothing that had a wall was gonna fall on top of him. He sang out over the HT frequency as he went. "HT 51 to 51-Moreno. What's your 10-20? Over..." he shouted over the roar of the fire jutting from the lower windows. His voice sounded muted through his air mask. Water fog from the overhead ladder nozzle from Pumper Eight broke out into a steaming bouquet over his head, and followed his progress. Gratefully, Johnny tucked his radio under a flap of his jacket and continued broadcasting and sweeping a flashlight from side to side in front of him to attract Moreno's attention. A smudge slightly less dark than the rest of the fire lit surroundings separated itself from between two cars, shedding brick fragments. "Carlos?!" shouted Gage, hurrying to that location. "You ok? Kelly said you bugged out to the rear..." Coughing, the air masked fireman ripped off his own face mask when the air fizzled out on his tank, giving a cut throat signal to Gage with some fingers across his neck. Johnny offered him his mask for a few clean breaths of untainted air. " *choke* I'm fine. D*mned grease slick. I slipped following Chet and ran out of escape time or I would've helped with getting her free. She still alive?" "Yeah.. Roy's got her. What happened to Chet's hands?" said, Gage, guiding the exhausted Moreno safely back to the path he'd found under the water bucket. "He got down on the floor to see better and crawled right into that hot grease in the kitchen. It set his gloves on fire. We got them off as fast as we could. What happened in there? I thought you and Roy were working a dinner." "We were, pal. Only a pair of obnoxious teen gangers decided to turn stupid with some kind of twisted initiation rite and there you have it...." he gestured grandly to the now fully involved structure. "What did they do?" "Dared each other to stick their hands into an active french fryer using vasoline." "Stupid!" "I know. That's what Roy and I thought. And look what it's gonna cost Marco's congregation and the city to repair.." He took a breath himself off the SCBA before he broadcast out to Cap on the curb down the alleyway. As they went, both firefighters gave the bucket man a thumbs up for the water curtain along their route. "HT 51 to Engine 51." ##Engine 51.## "We're in the clear and heading out." ##10-4. Your two victims have medical orders from Rampart already set.## "10-4. I'll be right there!" shouted Gage over the noisy water raining down onto them from above. "Moreno's completely uninjured." ##I copy that.## came Cap's highly relieved voice. Soon, Gage and Moreno made the safety of the main street and separated, patting each other on the back with the parting. Moreno jogged over to the engine for a new air bottle and to give a fast report to Cap about the status of the interior fire degradation. Johnny peeled off his dripping coat, air bottle and helmet. He tossed his HT to Cap as he ran by, heading towards Roy and Marissa. She was now lying on her back, on a rich O2 flow, with both her feet perched up on top of a fire hydrant. He quickly got to work assessing her consciousness status. "She shocky a whole lot?" DeSoto shook his head from the I.V. he was starting on the shelter worker. "Nah. Pressure's still in the nineties. She's beginning to cough and she never needed the demand valve." "How's her chest sounding." "Wheezy, but open." "Ok..." sighed Johnny. "Guess we're in business." He quickly got to work on raising her consciousness level. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marco was cooling down Chet's burn sheet covered hands with a bottle of saline where Kelly sat on the engine's bumper. "Oo, Chet. Do they hurt yet?" "I definitely feel like a french fry, Marco. **Ummhff!* but I can wait. Help Roy and Johnny out with Marissa first. I'm fine. I'm only worried about what Cap's gonna think when I tell him I lost my helmet again." "He's not gonna say anything, Chet, you were rescuing someone. Besides, you've just waded through an edge roofed wall collapse. Your helmet probably got knocked off by a brick or two hitting your head." "Yeah, you're probably right. I do remember a few louder than normal noises from the usual. Oww.." grimaced Chet and he coughed wetly. "How's your breathing? Do you need some O2?" Lopez asked. "Nah. I'm phlegmy, but ok. Probably gonna be hoarse for an entire week. Tell Roy that I'm lung clear once you're through wetting my hands down, cause I am." Chet insisted, leaning his sweaty sooty haired head against the chrome grip bar. He closed his eyes in exhaustion and just concentrated on thinking cool thoughts to ease the throbbing fire shooting through his hands. "Ok,..but I'm leaving the oxygen tank here in case things change. Cap'll have my hide if it's not offered." Lopez said. "Man," said Chet, grinning. "You in working mode already? Get outta here and go be a civilian again. No doubt the cops are gonna need a statement from ya about what went on in there so you'd better act the part, pal, before Cap notices ya fussing with me." "See ya later." "Yeah..." grunted Chet as his irrigated, blistered hands were slowly chilled to blissful numbness in the foggy night air. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gage began a fast sweep, looking for burns and wounds on Marissa after cutting away her seared clothes. He found none. A log roll to expose her back, revealed nothing except dirt also. Johnny set down a burn pad underneath Marissa to insulate her from the cold pavement then he covered her lightly with a plastic sheet to help preserve her body temperature when the fainted girl began to shiver from the cold. Johnny picked up the resuscitator and began using it in time with Marissa's inhalations to stimulate her awake once Roy had a flowing I.V. going. The sensation of being ventilated woke the groggy girl up the rest of the way and she began coughing violently. Her panicked thoughts continued where they had left off from when the smoke had snuffed out her consciousness. "Meghan?! Stevie?! Ohmyg*d! Get em out!" "Easy...easy.. Marissa? Marissa!.. They're both fine. Understand me?" Roy said, holding her shoulders down. "Meghan and Stevie are already on the way to the hospital,ok? Just try to relax." "*choke* What happened?" Marissa blinked when she realized that she was on the street with a dozen bystanders gawking at her amid the flurry of red fire department lights. "You ran back inside and got overcome by a little smoke." grinned Johnny, taking her blood pressure from where he crouched over Marissa's head. Roy palpated the result from where he was on the biophone, reaching across Marissa's waist and relaying it to Brackett on the phone. "Now I'm not gonna lecture you on how stupid a stunt that was. I think you've learned your lesson." said Johnny. "How's your chest feeling now?" "Like I was chain smoking rubber bands.." she rasped. "That'll go away in a bit. Just keep taking in deep breaths on this oxygen and it'll happen faster." he said switching out the demand valve for the clear mask again. "How's Stevie? Meghan said he was choking!" Marissa panicked. "We got it out. He's fine. He's fine. Now don't get worked up fussing about that. Meghan and Stevie are gonna be just fine. No one is hurt bad, including you. We're gonna be taking you to Rampart for a checkup in just a few minutes to be sure you're all right, ok?" Marissa's lip quivered. "Oh, Father Murphy's gonna be so sad. We just found that office space for our soup kitchen. Tonight was our grand opening.." she said, bright tears in her eyes. "It'll be a miracle if the church raises all those funds a second time. We're not rich at all." "Insurance companies can work miracles themselves nowdays, Marissa." Roy reassured her. "Try and get some rest. Johnny and I promise. We'll stay and watch you the whole trip in so you won't be alone. In fact, I'll ask Marco to join us, too, to keep you company." "I'd like that." coughed Marissa, "We have so much to talk about ....rebuilding....everyt-...." and her eyes drifted shut. "Marissa?" Gage asked in a gentle check. "Just napping..." Marissa sighed. "I'm feeling....so tired...Let me sleep." Roy checked the rate and visual on the EKG monitor. Then he said, "Sure. Sleep will only do you a world of good." DeSoto said. "Night, Marissa." "...n-night, ...*yawn*...fellas." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ******************************************************************************** Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2005 09:23:58 -0800 (PST) From: "Jeff Seltun" Subject: Pavlov's Dogs It was Thursday, one week after the soup kitchen fire. Captain Stanley stood by the station's main chalkboard. He was the image of no nonsense authority as he outlined station's business briskly with some speed before an incoming run interrupted. "Ok, is everybody perfectly clear on their duty assignments? Marco, welcome back. You're on the engine, light duty. I want no direct attack fire fighting from you. If there's a call for a victim search, pass it off to someone else. At no time do you go into a fire scene." "Aw, Cap. I feel fine. The doc says I'm almost one hundred percent." Lopez protested. Hank's coffee brown eyes and bushy eyebrows rose in consternation. "Almost's a word, in my book, that means ain't gonna happen, Marco. Not in a million years. There's a reason for the pickiness of the clean bill of health order from McConnike. Gee, fellas," he remarked sarcastically, "I guess the Order Nine's just window dressing. Marco, you know as well as I do that the chief kicked out that to prevent the sidelined from doing anything dumb before they're healed enough to handle it. Just look at Chet, pal. He's not grumbling being my look out and chart man." "Oh yes he is..." mumbled Johnny Gage, from where he slumped on the couch, laughing. Hank, still deep in his fire suppressing strategy lecture, missed the low banter going on behind him. Kelly elbowed Johnny in the ribs to shut him up. "Says who." he hissed in annoyance. "I've been a perfect angel in spite of these." he said, holding up his water proofed bandage wrapped hands. "My burns are already crusting over." "So's your mood, Chet. Shhh. I can't hear the Cap.." mumbled Murphy, Chet's stand in replacement on the engine. "Arf! " barked Boot in a tattle tailing woof. Cap swept down his map pointer in an exasperated huff. "All right. Who's flapping their gums?" he moaned in long suffering. "I told Boot to keep an eye out for chattering, so consider yourselves caught red handed." Gage and Murphy and Kelly looked everywhere but at Cap's directed gaze. Roy raised amused eyebrows. "I don't think Boot can point out the perpetrators, Cap. He doesn't have any fingers." "Yeah, well if I hear another bark from him, None of you are gonna have any fingers left, cause you'll be scrubbing the vehicle slab by hand with toothbrushes! Kapeesh? No one even breathed. "Now let's finish the usual monthly yada." he said, smacking the chalkboard with his stick, "and let's get done with it. I'm getting just as hungry as the rest of you. Whatever Dixie's cooking smells absolutely divine..." moaned Cap. "Don't rush on my account.." came the smoky voiced reply from the nurse bustling around the station kitchen. "This is Roy's Beef Borgeaunon recipe. It only gets better the longer it simmers." and she licked the gravy off of her finger tips. Hank swallowed in sheer torture, and his stomach growled. Loudly. "Yes...well..ok, now...where was I?" Chet burst out eagerly. "Engine assignments just wrapped up and you were showing all of us how you contain an east facing interior warehouse magnesium fire under Santa Ana wind condtions exceeding fifteen knots,.. hypothetically supposing that the source material's ignition point was actually a multiple story high stack of wooden crates containing self heating military rations, Cap." Hank's eyes waggled in sheer amazement. "..wow.. I'm glad somebody was paying attention here. Cause there's a test on it after lunch." "What?!" exclaimed Marco, Murphy and Gage. "Gotcha.." said Hank. "There's more than one way to flush out cover hiding birds. And I don't have to be Boot to do it. You three, consider yourselves on garage floor detail the rest of the week for talking at a meeting." "Aw, Cap.." "Wanna make it two weeks?" Silence reigned. Cap eyed the three firefighters shifting uncomfortably on the cushy leather couch and smiled, real big. "Thought so. Guys, I'm almost done. So bear with me, huh? Then we can dive into that wonderful New Year's eve meal that Dixie, bless her heart, so kindly made for us. Gimme thirty seconds more.." All eyes finally rested on his own. Including Boot's. Cap nodded with a sigh and held up his last update report. "Marco, this one might be of interest to you. This is the coroner's report from that car accident where you got injured. Turns out that the driver's friend wasn't a friend of his after all. The passenger was a murder victim. Killed the night before. The driver was going to dump him in the river course anyway when he hit that telephone pole getting there to get rid of him." "Those two were drug handlers?" asked Gage. "Yep. The cops found some cocaine in the trunk, remember?" "Yeah..." said Johnny aghast, his memories of saving the man pinned under the car slowing turning into something ugly. "I remember. I remember.. it's just that.. He seemed like such a nice guy. He didn't strike me as the murdering type." "Tell that to the passenger we went hunting for in the river bed." said Mike Stoker. "I'm sure if he were still alive, he'd tell you the same thing." Mike sighed, crossing his arms over his elbows. The stunned look didn't lessen on Johnny's face as he absorbed the news, until Boot's suddenly offered comforting tongue washed it away. "That about wraps it up. Let's eat.." said Cap. The gang rose from their chairs and the couch when a run of short tones went out for the squad. "Oh, man..." said Johnny, eyeing up the steaming bowl of delectable meat stew that Dixie was centering on the table. "I'm gonna starve to death..." "No you won't. Just think..it only g--" started Dixie. "I know, I know. Only gets better the longer it simmers.." said Johnny as he followed Roy out of the room at a fast jog for the squad. He tried not to drool on his shirt as he ran by the others settling in at the table. Dixie called out after them. "Oh, boys.. avoid the locker room when you get back if you know what's good for ya.." she warned with a wink. She wasn't beneath priming her favorite paramedic pair for a surprise or two. "Huh?" gaped Johnny, skidding to a halt at the remark. Roy's long arm jerked him into motion again. "Come on, Einstein. You can analyze that one on the way. Let's go.." Soon, the speeding rescue squad was roaring code three onto the sunny, holiday traffic sparse boulevard from the drive. ##Squad 51. Man down. 1414 North Pacific Boulevard...## "Left, Roy, left." pointed Johnny. "I know. I know. Kinda figured it wasn't gonna be anything in the business district today. Everybody's all at home because of New Year's eve, remember? That's why Dixie took sympathy and came out here to cook lunch for us on her day off." complained Roy. ##1414 North Pacific Boulevard. Cross street Cocoa Beach. Time out: 1355.## "I realize all that. I was just trying to help ya navigate Roy, geesh.." snapped Johnny. "Yeah, well you should know I'm never too terribly accommodating on an empty stomach." Johnny cracked a grin. "You and me both. Say, here's an idea. There's no cops out today to catch us speeding in a school zone. Step on it." "Too right." Roy thumbed the acknowledgement microphone from the dashboard derisively."Squad 51. 10-4. KMG 365." ##Squad 51.## ------------------------------------------- Photo: Dixie at the station, close, smiling. Photo: Boot, barking. Photo: Cap giving a lecture to the gang. Photo: Johnny laughing on the couch. Photo: Roy on the squad mic. Photo: A grumpy Gage and DeSoto driving to a rescue. ************************************************ From: "Cassidy Meyers" Date: Wed Feb 2, 2005 9:10 pm Subject: How the Mighty Fall... Johnny and Roy rushed down the sidewalk leading to a rustic suburban house loaded with their complete array of medical equipment. And then some. "Roy, did L.A. give us any more information about what we got?" puffed Gage, hurrying to the front door of the house a little faster. "Nope. You know as much as I do." Roy said tightly. "Man,...*whew* Getting a call about a man down can mean just about anything.." Johnny sighed in frustration as their shoes clicked quickly on the cobblestones. "Tell me about it..." grumbled Roy. So did his stomach. Johnny laughed as they climbed the stone steps of the residence. "Was that you?" "Fraid so. I'm so hungry, just the idea of these sugar I.V.'s being in my hand are setting me off." Johnny split a gut. "Really? Just don't embarrass yourself in front of whoever..." Gage quipped. "The fire department has a professional image to uphold you know." Roy didn't deign to reply to that comment. He set down the defibrillator, resuscitator and trauma box and briskly knocked on the front door loudly. "L.A. County Fire Department!" There was no immediate reply. Automatically, the two paramedics split up to peer into the nearby curtained windows to see if they could see anything. A monstrous barking greeted Roy's sharp knuckle raps on a stained glass window pane. A woman's frantic voice soon wove itself over the large dog's. "I'm coming. Hurry. Please. It's my husband. He won't wake up!" "Open the door, ma'am. It's still locked." Gage shouted. "Oh,,...." the housewife trickled. "I- I'm sorry.. I.. There! It's open!" And the door flung wide open on a living room of olive green shag carpeting and beadstring doorways. The huge slathering maw of a gigantic canine launched in a leap past the two paramedics heads when the way to the outside porch was clear. Gage and Roy flinched as they each got an impression of a great St. Bernard in full motion. But then the dog was gone in a flurry of scrabbling claws. "Faust! You come back here! Oh, bad dog! BAD dog! Not the mail man!" the petite flower aproned, red haired woman quailed. Johnny and Roy gulped down the scare in seconds, barely registering the sight of a mailman across the street rapidly making for a sturdy tree to scale, trailing flying envelopes and bills. Faust cleared the yard's white picket fence easily, in pursuit of his daily quarry. "Oh no!!.. Not again. Uh, I'll worry about Faust later. Please.. Hurry.." begged the very young housewife and she disappeared in a frantic run for a den workshop located just to the right of the front door. "I just about had a heart attack seeing him. Didn't you?" Gage whispered to his equally rattled up partner. "Can't say that we weren't tipped off. Keep breathin'. You'll survive. We'll rescue the mailman after we're done here. Either that, or we can call in the engine to get him down." Roy shrugged, not even giving the dramatic fiasco of dog versus mail carrier a second glance. "Oh, nooo.. I can do without a hungry Cap breathing down my neck." Gage said. "Whatever you do, don't call for the engine." "Ok." Roy agreed. ------------------------------------------------------------------ They found a young man lying face down, slumped under a running buzzsaw on a bench. Not knowing if the man's problem was electrical shock or not, Johnny used an uncut pine board to knock the tool's plug out of the wall. "What happened?" he asked the housewife. "I don't know! Jerry gave a yell and I ran in here and found him like this. He- he- he wouldn't wake up, no matter how hard I shook him. Oh! Is he ok?! I thought he fell down stone dead." she sniveled, still very hysterical. "He's so pale." Roy and Johnny moved the woodworking bench away from their patient and they both bent close over him, feeling for signs of life. "He's got a pulse." DeSoto said. "He's breathing.." added Johnny without moving him and he went straight into a head, neck and spine check, running his hands over the husband's body and along his limbs, looking for trouble spots. "Doesn't seem like he fell. I'm not finding any blood anywhere and nothing's out of alignment here." Roy nodded, setting up the biophone after getting the man on some oxygen. "Hey!" Gage yelled in the man's ear. "Jerry, can you hear me?!" Jerry didn't move. Reaching down, Johnny tried something else. The man finally moaned weakly with a firm sternal rub. "Hey, Jerry.. Open your eyes. Come on. Can you do that for me?!" Johnny shouted. He didn't open them. Nor did he moan again to anything that was just verbal. Carefully, Johnny turned the passed out husband onto his side and opened his shirt up, checking for problems down the front part of Jerry's body. "Ma'am. Does Jerry have any medical problems that you know of? Diabetes, old injuries, any breathing problems?" "No, nothing like that..." she sobbed. "Jerry's a very healthy man. In fact, last night, he was telling me how pleased the airforce doctors were with his physical. He's just been approved to be a test fighter pilot. Oh, my G*d. What's wrong with him?" "Ma'am. We're gonna get some answers real soon. My partner's getting a doctor on the line right now. Just calm down a little. I think you'll do a little better sitting down on that chair over there, don't you?" Johnny suggested. "No need to get worked up. He's doing fine so far." The tearful housewife listened and immediately took a seat when her rubbery knees finally failed on her. "Please help him. I didn't know what to do except get on the phone to the operator." "You did fine doing that. We're here now. Missus...." Johnny fished. "Mrs. Kaftan., uh, J-Joyce. I'm Joyce." "All right, Joyce. I'm gonna take a set of vitals on Jerry here for our doctor on the phone and we'll all get at least some clues about what's causing this blackout of his." Gage told her. "O-Ok.." she sniffed. "Rampart, this is Squad 51. How do you read?" said Roy calmly into the receiver. Outside the window, Faust was still woofing angrily. Roy hoped the carrier outside had reached a safe height in the tree in time. Joyce was torn between watching the two paramedics assess her husband and yelling reassurances to Clarence the mail carrier who was glaring death's daggers at her from the eucalyptus tree in the neighbor's yard. "Just hang on, Mr. McFeely. Jerry's sick. It'll only be a minute and I'll get out there! I'm so sorry Clarence. Please don't be mad at me...Faust. Get down!" And she horse whistled piercingly. "Bad boy! You're a very badddd boyyyy!" The dog went right on ignoring her, raining showers of foamy slobber all over the ground beneath Clarence's refuge as he leaped and jumped, trying to clamp a full set of teeth on a pants leg cuff or any other body part dangling from the flimsy tree. DeSoto cupped the receiver to cut down the noise surrounding him. "Rampart this is Squad 51, how do you read?" Finally, Morton's mellow reply answered him. ##Go ahead, 51.## Roy filled in the resident with what he already knew. Johnny meanwhile, discovered some more medical history on Jerry from Joyce. "Are you sure about that last part?" "Yeah. The airforce doc said that he only had an acute subungual hematoma from getting pinched last week in a hanger door." "Roy, did you get that?" Johnny asked. "Yeah.. I think so... doc did you hear that last bit? An acute subungual hematoma from one week ago? Whatever that is, we're not finding any signs of cranial or body bruising on him anywhere. His pressure's 88 over 62." DeSoto reported. "But his pulse and respirations are normal." There came a long sigh from the biophone receiver. ##51. Check the patient's hands. A subungual hematoma is a blood bound fingernail. Your man's blackout could be syncope if he smashed it again with ..say a hammer. You did mention that he was working with chemical-less tools. His vital signs and lack of obvious injury fit that pattern. Wake him up with smelling salts and advise him to visit his family doctor to trephine the nail to release some of that pressure for pain relief." Morton said firmly with a trace of irritation. Blushing with embarrassment, Johnny located the offending implement lying just to the right of the man's waist. He held it up to Roy. "Oops." DeSoto soon located the dark maroon colored swollen nail on Jerry's left hand. "So that's what subungual means." he smirked covering the phone. "10-4, Rampart. Advise a trip to the family doctor." and he disconnected the line as fast as he could before they both received a lecture about brushing up on medical terminology. With an amused florish, Roy broke out an ammonia capsule and very soon, Jerry was among the world of the living once again. "I think you can manage from here, Johnny. I'll go check on Clarence to make sure he didn't have a coronary or something waiting for us to bail him out." Johnny didn't know what was funnier, the sight of a very beefy air force pilot cradling his pinky finger in his lap, moaning, or the sight of Roy attempting to cage the cagey Faust against the picket fence long enough to snatch a grip onto the massive dog's leather collar so the silver haired mailman could climb safely on down to the street. ---------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ******************************************************* From : patti keiper Sent : Thursday, February 3, 2005 3:01 AM Subject : The Nursing Elf.. Johnny and Roy couldn't get back to the station fast enough. They decided not to spoil their healthy appetites with gas station candy bars, opting instead to gorge on Dixie's wonderfully exquisite station cooked meal. Soon, all the gang were either slumped in chairs or snoring on beds in the bunk room, trying to digest the food they had practically inhaled like air. "Geez, you would think firefighters would know how to feed themselves. What am I? Manna from heaven?" she said of the guys settling in around her with magazines and sections from the daily newspaper. "You sure are..." grinned Cap. "We all harbor a passionate hate for leftovers so we couldn't let your good food go to waste." "But you fellas ate four whole gallons of Beef Bourgenon!" "A little padding never hurt any firefighter. I promise you that we'll burn off the extra weight easily in a couple of days. All it takes is one three alarm fire to trim a body down in mere hours. Have no fear for our cardiovascular health. We've been down that road before.." Cap said, glaring at Chet meaningfully. "Geez, Cap. When are you gonna let that dates and vitamins diet craziness I once tried working for Morton, die?" Kelly complained out loud. "When I'm old and gray." replied Hank. Gage opened his lips in a rejoiner for the left wide open comment from his captain, but Hank beat him to it. "Never mind. You never heard me say the when part of that last bit. Gage, you just hush." Johnny grinned and said, "I wasn't gonna say anything about anything. Besides, all of us already know how you're getting along in years so any further commentary on that's a moot point." Cap cleared his throat dangerously. Roy saved the day."Say, uh, Cap. Did the paperwork go through on that latest requisition sent in by Marco and I?" "What paperwork?" "The holiday dinner charity form. The one Marco needed approval on in order to help out his ch--" DeSoto replied. "Oh that form... already done. The event's tomorrow night and I'm now ordering all of you to attend. You know where it is. Be there at six o'clock sharp. Bring a party hat and kazoo for the stroke of midnight everyone. It's gonna be a great time for everybody." "Am I not invited?" Dixie mused, looking pouty. "I think I've done my fair share for the department." "Ok,.. you can come." said Chet Kelly teasingly. "Under one stipulation. That you let all of us do the cooking." "I hope you fellas remember to bring the stomach pump if that's the case." McCall teased. "Which way to the head guys? I've forgotten." Stoker, Lopez, Gage and DeSoto rose to point out the way, each of them giving her directions at the same time. "The other side of the vehicle bay, straight ahead, and then turn left first door. Go through the shower room to the stalls." they said at the same time in a jumble. "The one on the end's specially made for women.." Johnny said awkwardly, still pointing over his shoulder. He won only disapproving frowns from the gang for the odd comment. Dixie rubbed her nose in apparent confusion. "I don't think I quite got it fellas. You were all talking over each other too much. Would someone ..be so kind as to show me the way there?" The guys fell over each other to be the one to guide her. Soon, everyone accompanied Dixie to the locker room entry door. Gage was the first one over the threshold and quickly, Dixie darted forward, grabbed his head in between her elegant hands, and kissed him full on the mouth. She quickly did the same thing for the second-in Roy DeSoto before he caught onto her amourous intentions. Johnny pulled away from McCall's long nailed grip in a scramble. "Whatja do that for?! Ya kissed me!" Roy just chuckled good naturedly, rubbing the lipstick off his lips. "Oh, my.... Johnny? I think we've been thoroughly had." "Sure you were." shrugged Dixie. "And you had no choice in the matter, Johnny." "Oh, really..." Gage chided. "Why is that?" he said in dismay at being lip covered in ladies' makeup. Hank cracked up and so did the rest of the guys who strangely, hadn't stepped over the portal leading to the bathroom's hallway. "Gage...." "What?!" the Native American Indian snapped. "Use your legendary paramedic's skills of observation and look up." Cap commanded, still laughing. Johnny and Roy both glanced up and only then did the two of them see the huge clustered sprig of fresh mistletoe that Dixie had tied there while they had been gone on their rescue call. "I did warn you two." Dixie soothed, rubbing off the lipstick stick on Johnny's chin. He waved her away, fully in the wounded male's self consciousness mind bent. "Cut that out, Dix. I can wash my own face." Johnny fluttered."Now are ya gonna get by me for the toilets or not?" "Don't have to. I went earlier. Ciao..." and she left the station through the yard's rear exit, followed merrily by a scampering well-fed-on-beef-bourgenon stuffed Boot. "See ya at the party at Headquarters tomorrow night. And captain, I promise to leave the rest of my mistletoe at home." she grinned cattily. "Thanks for letting me pull one over on Roy and Johnny. It was fun." "Any time the mood strikes you." Cap said cheerfully. "I'm sure my men enjoyed every minute of it." "Says who?" giggled Roy. "I'm a happily married man." And at the same time,.."Says who?" moaned Johnny. "I'm a tragically single bachelor." "My work ....is done. Happy New Year's fellas." Dixie purred. Then the still Christmas infected imp from Rampart, was gone. Who's to say who smiled longer, Cap for getting a joke in enough to score on his paramedics using Dixie, or Chet, for not being the butt of the preverbial joke this time around. Gage wiped that smile off Kelly's face with a single comment as he passed by Chet to go wash his face. Johnny winked at Roy to pay attention to what he was about to say next so that he could feast fully on the outcome, too. "Man is she a great kisser. I still got goose pimples!" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A sprig of fresh mistletoe. Photo: Johnny getting smooched by Dixie. Photo: Roy getting smooched in a closeup. Photo: Cap standing by a still shell shocked Gage and DeSoto in the vehicle bay. Photo: Chet and Roy standing in a station doorway. ************************************************** From: Jeff Seltun Date: Thu Feb 3, 2005 5:42 pm Subject: The Bond Beyond Kinship... Marco Lopez separated himself from the others engaged in lively conversation at the Year's End party at L.A. Headquarters. It had been many days since his near death experience, but it hadn't, as yet, left him free of introspection for a single solitary moment. And his lined, tired face, reflected it. Casting a glance around the room, Lopez found an open space where he could sit down by himself, away from the noise and oddly jarring gaiety. He found solice in a pocket of quiet inside a room full of unused chairs behind the dispatching station. Gently, Sam Lanier, the dispatcher, still on duty, turned down his scanner radio to deepen the quiet that Marco was seeking. And there, in the brightly lighted store room, he found another small person seeking the same kind of balm. Lopez saw his own complex expression perfectly mirrored on a hispanic boy's face and instantly recognized it for what it was. His tiny features, too, were blanketed with a pale sadness. "Stevie? Are you ok?" Without looking up, the nine year old sighed. "Yeah, Mr. Lopez. I'm fine. I guess I'm just tired, that's all. Tonight I think I need some time to just go over the things painted in my head instead of celebrating, you know?" "Kind of what I was picturing for myself, too. May I join you?" Marco asked, indicating the plastic chair next to the despondent boy. "Sure. Have a seat..." Stevie gestured absently. Several minutes passed and the two of them just stared at the walls, perking up only when the familiar buzzing notes of a rescue call came out from Sam's board for a nearby fire station. Then Marco felt a tiny hand slip into his own. "Wanna talk about it?" asked a treble whisper into his ear. Marco nodded in quiet acceptance, laying his other hand over the tinier one. "Yep. No one else understands at all what I'm going through. I figured that you would, seeing that we both have gone through nearly the same thing." "You mean the bit where we almost died last week?" "Yeah." Marco said, moving an arm over the boy's shoulder to draw him nearer into a warm embrace to end his shivering. Stevie did the same, and for more than just mutual comfort's sake. He was reaching out, to the only one capable of understanding the unique angst that was still dominating his very soul. "I sure wish I got a note from the other side. Clear as pictures, senor.." muttered Stevie, his own deep brown eyes connecting slowly with Marco's. "Father Murphy says he can't tell me what what I saw means, since he wasn't there. Now isn't that the craziest thing you ever heard? A man of the cloth being totally clueless about the afterlife." the boy scoffed. "He hasn't seen the other side like we have." Marco said gently, lacing his fingers into the boy's. He offered him a Coke from a chilling cooler nearby but the child shook his head no. Marco sighed, not feeling very thirsty either. At least, not in a physical sense. "Stevie, what did you see out there?" The boy's eyes filled with an emotion that Marco couldn't identify, yet Lopez seemed to feel the child, inside of his heart, in an inexplicable way that usually wasn't possible with complete strangers who hardly knew each other. "You first..." said the vaguely troubled boy. "Well, " sighed Lopez. "I saw ...my dead father...and...I was absolutely overwhelmed by something that I can only describe as a pervasive, all encompassing sense of peace. It was as if Bernardo and I ..suddenly had the same mind and body...for an instant. " "I could feel what he felt...and hear what he was saying. I was seeing, what he saw around him, effortlessly, and thinking what he thought. And- and and it was a two way street. He could experience my life's events as acutely as I had lived them. And I saw how he had lived his. But soon, it was if he began weighing my life's worth, and deciding whether or not I should go on into the light with him." "Then I was pulled away from Bernardo's arms while in between a heartbeat. I think it was then my friend Roy gave me an electrical shock to get my heart beating well enough so that it could sustain me again. " "The first thing I heard was Captain Stanley saying that I was finally breathing ok for them. Then I knew nothing for a while until I woke up in the ambulance." Throughout his tale, Marco saw Stevie's eyes get bigger and bigger as parallels eerily lined up with his own sharp memories. The boy's eyes watered in grief and sadness. "I should still be out there, Marco!" he sobbed. "My being down here with everybody still alive is so painful to me... I don't think I can stand it.." Marco drew the boy deeper into his arms and kissed his hair. "Shh, querido. It's ok. I think that this pain's just us, getting used to our bodies again. It'll go away. It has to, like everything else bad always does: I think it'll be a little like falling until we've figured out how to walk again." Silence stretched between them, but there was no distance at all. Marco broke the stillness. "What happened to you when you found yourself...'outside'?" The child's face flushed red with distress and he shifted violently on the chair."People don't know how much those who've gone on are still a part of them!" Stevie cried. "My abuela was over there and she said to me that it wasn't my time to go yet. She said that I had to stay with mom and my brother, until I've done something I'm supposed to do. Only she couldn't tell me what that was... I felt like I knew, Marco, absolutely everything." his face twisted. "But now I've forgotten it all and that's now the pain I got in here..." and Stevie pointed to his head, "and here.." and his shaking fingers rested on his chest. "And if I don't figure it out, I know it's gonna kill me again...." he choked. "It's ok, querido. I think the pain's supposed to happen, so you can learn from it." "How?!" "Just talk to me. And tell me what you know...." Marco whispered. Stevie slowly relaxed and his eyes seemed like they lost their focus. "Grandma was an angel, and she was so bright!" shared Stevie. "I didn't want to leave her." "I didn't want to leave my father either. But now, I see that I'm not ready to go where he is now. Don't you feel that too?" "Yeah.. a little. I can feel that it's in your mind and it's making that awful pain leave you. Bit by bit." sighed Stevie, wiping his tears away with a hand. He snuffled in the way of the very young and that endeared him to Marco instantly. "That's right. And I think I know the reason why. When I think of my father, I can see what's truly important now. Family, love, creativity, was the impression I got." he smiled. "It's really hard to have a bad day now since then. Frankly, I simply can't have one because I realized that I had awakened, still breathing. All because of what my father said to me in those last moments." "He said, 'Marco, go live your life as I have lived mine. I will still be here, watching over you and your mother, every step of the way until we are meant to be together once more. There's nothing to fear from death. It is simply a change in you where your body recedes and your mind grows up. Don't worry about any of it. Everybody who loves you will support your needs fully when the time comes around for good.' " "Stevie, your grandmother probably told you the same thing, but you've had a longer way to travel to get back to your mother. Abuela's message will come when your body's settled again. I know it will." The small Hispanic boy sighed and stopped crying, still nestled in Marco's warm arms. "You know what? I'm not afraid to die now." Lopez threw on a wry look for his benefit. "I sure don't want to, quite yet, even though it was a very wonderful thing." "I think everyone should do it." Stevie voiced with finality. "Well, ...at least, ...someday." "Don't be afraid to talk about all of this with your mother like we are doing now. No one will ever look at you strangely for doing this. Tell her especially the part about your grandmother being an angel." "I will Mr. Lopez. I'll try real hard." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the weeks that followed in church, Marco Lopez often heard Stevie tell his friends about the time when he was dead. Hearing the child's tale, each time, helped him connect with his own story and it got stronger and stronger, easier and easier with each telling to the support counselors or to his fellow firemen at the station. At first, Marco was fearful that the folks around them wouldn't understand their stories and become withdrawn after the listening. But that didn't happen. Rather, they got a profound, softened look on their faces that always came with a smile. FIN Season Two, Episode Seventeen.. §§ That Latin Flair §§ :) This episode is dedicated to the late William Boyett, who :( played Chief McConnike on the Emergency TV Series. :( :) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Story Unfolds... Season Three, Episode Eighteen.. §§ A Fish Out Of Water §§ Debut Launch: February 1st, 2005. ------------------- ********************************************************************* From: "Maggie H" Date: Sat Feb 5, 2005 2:50 pm Subject: An Angel's Fate "Carly?" Bright blue eyes gazed up into Julie Hanson's face, and cheeks bloomed with a smile. "Carly, are you ready for lunch?" The teacher pointed to the small group of students already waiting with their assistant, Lisa, at the door. "I'm ready for lunch, Mrs. Hanson?" The girl answered, her words correct, but her tone imitating her teacher's question. She stood from the rocking chair, where she had been sitting after finishing a lesson with Julie. "I'm ready for lunch!" This time the intonation was perfect. Carly trailed behind the group as they exited the classroom, repeating to herself, "I'm ready for lunch, Mrs. Hanson. I'm ready for lunch, Mrs. Hanson." As Julie followed the four students down the corridor towards the cafeteria, she watched Carly, especially, thinking how nice it was to finally have her back. The girl had had a rough time over the holidays and had missed the first two weeks of school. Like her three middle school classmates, Carly had autism, but unlike the others, she also had a seizure disorder and took a combination of medicines to stable her moods and prevent her seizures. Lately, her medicines had not been working quite right. She had had several explosive episodes, putting holes in the wall in the classroom and the hallway, as well as a fair share at home. Thus, the doctors had placed her in the hospital to try to figure out a better combination of medications. After being back for a little over a week, now, things had been good, Julie reflected. Her mood has been much more stable; although, the new meds tended to make her sleepy in the afternoons. That, at least, they could work through by taking frequent, short walks. Lunch was uneventful, and the group returned to the small, self- contained classroom, where they would work on leisure skills by playing a group game, after a short break. Carly's favorite break activity was a wooden puzzle of the United States. She could do it repeatedly without getting tired of it and she could do it in about two minutes flat, when she wanted to. Today, as she sat down at her desk, though, her eyelids drooped a bit. *Better watch her,* thought Julie. *She's got that sleepy look again.* She was usually fine up until lunch. But then she would practically nod off on her feet. She gazed at the girl as she slowly picked up the puzzle pieces, examining each, tilting it left, then right, before placing onto the puzzle board. Soft blond hair fell about her shoulders, and Julie could see that Carly was smiling slightly and humming to herself. For all the world, she looked like any other pretty 12 year old. The phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. She glanced around to see Lisa busy with another student and moved to her desk to pick up the receiver. A question from the counselor. It took only a few minutes. When Julie turned back around to check on Carly, she noticed that her back was slumped slightly. ::Dozing already,:: the teacher thought to herself as she placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Carly, wake up," she said firmly. The girl did not move. Julie felt her heart beat accelerate as she took a closer look. Carly sat, eyes practically closed, Tennessee gripped between her fingers and poised over its location on the puzzle board. "Carly," she said, "open your eyes. We don't sleep in middle school." The girl blinked and murmured something. "Let's put the pieces in together," Julie said, guiding Tennessee to its spot. Carly glanced at her teacher, but then gaze away, her eyes staring off at nothing. Julie took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Carly, look at me," she said firmly. The girl did not move. And there was no mistaking the rigid lock to her eyes as they gazed off to her left. Her lips hung open and drool pooled at the corner. "Lisa!" Julie stood upright and motioned to her assistant. "Call the fire department, and then get the nurse! Carly's having a seizure!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos : None. ********************************************************************* From : Pam Sent : Sunday, February 6, 2005 10:47 PM Subject : Chapter 2 Lisa ran and called the fire dept. ::L.A. Fire Dept. What is your emergency?:: "L.A. School for Learning Disability. A child is having a seizure." Lisa stayed as calm as she could knowing Carly needed her to be so. After she gave the address to the dispatcher, she hung up. The new dispatcher, training with Sam Lanier, placed the call to the units needed. ::L.A. RESCUE 51-POSSIBLE SEIZURE. L.A. SCHOOL OF VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION 1157 CROSSWIND ROAD. ELEVEN FIVE SEVEN CROSSWIND ROAD, CROSS STREET CARSON. DRIVE TIMEOUT: 0722. SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT HAS BEEN DISPATCHED TO YOUR LOCATION. Roy responded from the rescue squad. "Rescue 51,KMG 365." Johnny wrote the address as Roy replaced the mic into its cradle and began giving directions to the school, avoiding the detours caused by road work from a broken water pipe under the street they would normally travel. "10 calls and we haven't been on shift for 5 hours; man looks like the full moon curse is early this time." Roy could always tell if Johnny's superstitious side was showing-especially if he saw a black cat...something that really caused a miniature rant to begin. "It's not that, and I know it, it's this abnormal heat wave we're having." Roy was glad "The Phantom" had yet to play a joke on Johnny...opps "Pigeon" as Chet called him. "Turn here, should be on the right." Both saw the school and were met at the door by the principal and Vince Howard. "It's Carly, she's had a seizure in class. This way!" She began to run with the medics and officer as they went towards the classroom in question. Soon as they were inside, they saw a child laying on the floor and furniture moved away from her. Several of the children were swiftly moved into another classroom soon as Lisa and Ms. Hanson saw what was happening, and to minimize the possible trauma of seeing this happen to a friend; also giving the men room to work swiftly. "Sweetheart, can you open your eyes for me?" Johnny knelt beside her and began to take her vitals. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ****************************************************************** From : Cory Anda Sent : Wednesday, February 9, 2005 5:25 AM Subject : The Other Rescue Service Dawn was just past. The sea was choppy. It sucked greedily at the slender kelp strands shimmering in the warm morning sunlight while fleeing tendrils of fog still drifted over the newly reborn shoreline. The restless surf almost drowned out the sound of vehicle navigating the beach. C.B. hails and responses punctuated the endless song of the waves. Garner Ellerbee was on patrol. Garner looked like any other cop wearing a light blue polo shirt enblazoned with an iron on "L.A. County Police Department" badge. His three wheeler bike was similarly marked in white and gold paint. There, the comparison to regular police dress ended. Garner's ebony legs poked naked out of navy Bermuda shorts and into navy knee socks and high top Nikes. His dark face and sharp crew cut contrasted with his mirrored shades and the soft blue of the sky. Garner scoped the shore up and down the long line of light blue lifeguard towers running north and south. They would be coming soon. A lot of them. The stocky black man chuckled to himself. It was going to be another beautiful June day in southern California. Every day for the past twelve years, Garner made this morning survey of his sandy beat before the tide of public people came. His department worked in close conjunction with the mammoth lifeguarding operation of the Coast Guard network. Garner's beach was home to its headquarters, a high, gray planked building at the very midway point of an eight mile section of sand declared Roy Rogers State Park along the PCH.Huge one way glass windows cocooned the tip two stories and a single, white sign adorned its seaside face, "Baywatch Headquarters" it said in neon orange blocking. The watch windows were masking the hubbub of activity within. Garner soon noticed a fleet of yellow beach patrol trucks filing out of the base's garage bay. His eyes drew seaward. Already, the bright yellow rescue boat cruised a quarter of a mile out, covering the off reef waters with its usual visual surveillance. He waved to the vessel and was rewarded with an enthusiastic return of greeting. Garner knew them all. He knew every lifeguard team on assignment personally. He hefted and thumbed the C.B. mike, "Mornin' to each and everyone of you lycra clad bodies. Ready for some fun in the sun today? Garner stats coming your way...." The radio suffered a multitude of groans and moans from boat and trucks from all the lifeguards within them. "Surf's swell is lovely with 4 to 6 foot crests and the in-reef water temp is steady at seventy two. Headcount; Beaches are clear. Truck seven, you have four or five cart people in the tunnel between towers 14 and 15. I rate them a mild headache on the nuisance scale. They'll be no trouble for your flockers. Hey, hey,.. I almost forgot! The San Pedro gang's on vacation in the beautifully rustic city jail sunshine. Aren't we lucky ducks?" Some hoots and cheers kissed his ears. "That about wraps it. " Garner went on, "I hope happy, uneventful guarding fills your day." A tenor voice piped on line, "Hey, Garner! Aren't you forgetting something?" Garner Ellerbe felt about two dozen binoculars target him. "Whaa? Oh yeah." He got off his bike seat stretching the mike's cord behind him. With his back to his motorcycle, he whirled the mike in the air like a lasso, grumbling to himself. He bit his lip in concentration. At a crucial point, he let go... The mike arched high, bounced once off of the black leather seat and up again. The mike tail spinned and neatly hung itself up on its own dash spigot clip. Snick! A thunder of applause, whistles and hoots drifted across beach and water and from the radio. Garner bowed graciously. Then he sat on his trusted "chariot" to reflect.He had lost count of exactly how many water rescues, drug busts, gang fights and missing craft calls he had under his belt. The burly cop only knew that a lot of his reports or testimonies proved to be the glue of making his criminal cases stick. A few of them had even become his closest friends. The C.B. radio came alive in excited voice, "Way to hang it, Garner! What was that? Twentieth in a row?" Garner smiled. It was Jill Riley, a veteran Lifeguard of thirty. He could almost see her strikingly fresh smirk and flaxen ponytail. "Yeah.." he answered her. "Something like that. Where are you posted today?" "Backside rim, D@mn it all. If you are here in three, maybe I'll still have enough chocolate eclairs left for you...." "Shush, woman! My gut heard that. Don't you know I'm on a diet?!" Jill answered knowingly, "Sure I do. That's why I'm having so much fun trying to break it." "You demoness..!" he moaned. "Weakling pawn!" she taunted, "Try not to drool on your shirt." Click. Garner chuckled again, patting his stomach. That shrewd woman would be the death of him sooner or later. He headed out to her tower with a chorus of seabirds smoking over his head. It was going to be a beautiful day indeed. -=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- South, at the very edge of the public beach, was Jill Riley's vision of h*ll. Right next to her assigned tower was the exclusively private, Billingsly's Club. Its peach adobe grounds and Queen's palms smacked of the very eminence of money. The beach there was filled with neat white metal tables and chairs, shadowed under black and white striped umbrellas. An outdoor bar nestled in between them on an island of black marble tiles. Closest to the water was a decrepit, sun-peeled watch chair of white wood seven feet in height. Jill groaned aloud at the sight of it for the chair belonged to the club's very own, personal, Australian lifeguard. "Trevor Cole.." she said aloud. The name was an oath in her mouth. The man was attractive enough with his short, curly blond locks and laughing green eyes,....but,.. Jill groaned again, even louder. The fact that he was short was no comfort. The man was a walking gonad. Trevor charmed every pretty thing on the beach with his greek physique and Aussie drawl. Teenaged girls would fake a sprain in order to have him pay attention to them. And he gladly embraced them all, literally. Jill had even heard Cole had had one or two statutory rape charges in his past; it was why the county would not let him become a lifeguard on the public beach. Jill looked at her watch. It was nine o'clock. There was already a crowd of swimmers in her water...and his.... She looked about.. No Trevor. Jill sighed and shifted her chair to give herself a clear view of the club's ocean front as well as the county's area waters. "Mornin babe? Missed me?" a colorful voice asked. Jill turned. It was him. She didn't miss a beat. "Can't say that I did. I'm sure THEY missed you." She indicated the people wading in front of his watch chair. Trevor ignored the barb, "My..my..my. Don't you look lovely in a red bathing suit." Jill regarded Trevor's black and white striped boxers with a grimace, 'New dress code, eh. Can't clash with the umbrellas now can we?" Trevor's smile never wavered, "How about dinner tonight? A little wine.. a little music...." "..A little PEACE.." she countered, "You've been trying to ask me out for over two months. Give it up, Trevor. I'm not interested." Jill put on her sunglasses and looked out to sea. Trevor laughed and strode over to his chair and climbed up into it. He made a big show of flexing all of his visible muscles noisily, affording Jill a sideways glance every now and then. He caught her looking at him stretching his deltoids. "I know you want me. So why don't you just face the facts..?" Jill gave him a double take in utter disbelief and gagged in disgust. She promptly picked up her director's chair and put a whole tower wall and two hanging beach towels between herself and Trevor Cole. "This is definitely the tower assignment from H*ll...." she muttered. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Across town, many miles from the ocean, a museum got a nasty surprise. It was missing a crate of artifacts for its new exhibit, Atlantis, Myth or Fact? The curator turned on the UPS delivery man in a barely contained fury,"Why does this always happen?! Whenever we pay for a rush in advance, we always get shortended! This is the third time this month, now,... I want you.. to go back to base...and tell your superiors that they have two days to find it or else they are going to be minus one very big client!" The man snapped to attention without thinking, "Yessir!" He turned on his heels and left. The curator took a deep breath and regarded his now cold pasta rigoletto and rumpled cot in one corner of the receiving alcove. He put a hand to his sweat drenched brow, "I have to stop living like this.." Resigned to his fate, he turned back to his shipping order. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= "Boy.. I could live like this forever.." Eddie Kramer leaned out over the west rail of tower 34. Water kissed sunlight glinted from the ocean and dappled his tanned face and chest with vivid gold sparklets, "This is where I belong. Right here. In the sun. Right now." he thought with smug satisfaction. It was an easy day. Eddie had only had to go out to warn two little boys away from the pier's barnacle encrusted pilings. And that had been three hours ago. He bent over and pulled a cold St. Croix with lemon out of his cooler and tore the cap off with a twist. Its cool wet iced his throat with a silky caress all of the way down into his stomach. He shivered with a delicious chill, "Ooo.. that hits the spot." Two girls lounging under the shadowing ramp giggled at his antics. Eddie smiled and politely ignored their idle interest. Secretly, he reveled in it. To his ears, that sound made the usual beach babble dance. Life was definitely going easy on Eddie "Buns" Kramer these days. It hadn't always been that way. It had taken Eddie most of his life to get the inner city Philadelphia rebel out of his system. Eddie was an ex-con. As a teen, he found himself thrown in prison for what he thought was a healthy venting of steam built up from living in a shattered home. At nineteen, Eddie Kramer was going nowhere. He was nobody. Eventually, he learned that his old man had taken up with prostitutes and drug dealers and his world became an endless stream of failed suicide attempts. When Eddie was released from prison, he was ordered to do community service. The only thing that appealed to him even slightly was working at the municipal public pool. He chose it solely for the fact that it was out of doors. He figured he had spent too much time behind far too many locked doors as of late. Once there, Eddie's life took an unexpected turn. The pool was a place of ...magic. People from all walks of life untouched by abuse sought refuge in its cool waters. They did nothing but screech and splash. A few just floated on their fat. But they were happy... Slowly, as a lifeguard, a beaten down half Chicano, half German kid became a true guardianover their long hours of liquidy delight. Eddie learned no misery could ever exist for long in that warm crystalline blue. Some days, burnt red from the sun and stinking of chlorine, all he wanted to do was quit and never come back. But he didn't, because finally, Eddie Kramer had become.....somebody. Eddie Kramer sighed contentedly and carefully sighted his target with his frigid bottle of ice water. He flicked a wrist and casually sent an icy stream squarely down the center of a tawny back. A high pitched screech rewarded his efforts. Shauni McLane sat bolt upright barely securing the ties of her sodden halter top,"Eddie Kramer! That was the most....low down... rotten sleazy trick you have ever pulled!" The accuse just snickered from behind his binoculars. It was fun pulling a fast one on a fellow rookie. Eddie scoffed and just smiled some more. He liked what he saw. Shauni was a real looker; she was an ex-model gone athletic. Her hair never ceased to fascinate him. It was platinum and was always twisted in a french braid in defense against the sea winds. Best of all, her eyes were light filled, with the warmest shade of the purest crystalline blue. "That was nasty and you know it." Shauni breathed, gasping from the chilling river still running into her shorts. "Oh yeah?" came a new voice from the tower. Craig Pomeroy stepped outside the door carrying a director's chair under one arm, "So's sunbathing half naked for all the eligible bachelors on muscle beach to see right in front of your fiance.." Shauni's jaw dropped in utter astonishment, "Craig, I can't believe you said that!" She made sure her sodden towel she was shaking out flung wet sand all over the pair of them. Eddie reached down over the top rail of the deck and caught her in an affectionate bearhug, "He's right darlin'.. You've got me insanely jealous of every man who merely flicks a tiny muscle at you." He smooched her lips dramatically. Craig smirked, "You're gonna haveta get used to it, Eddie. It's part of the package that goes along with one of these.." He waggled the finger tht held a wedding band significantly. Eddie cocked his maned head, "Is that so?...." he leaned farther back on his chair's legs, "Well,....maybe I should...... take it BACK!" He charged Shauni down the angled ramp grabbing for her engagement ring. She shrieked in mock fear, "No you don't! No way am I ever going to part with this! I've had you on my line long enough, " she grew soft and let herself be captured, "And... I'm not ever going to let you go..." "Oooo , that sounds so romantic.." Eddie crooned. They kissed. Craig smacked his forehead and looked skyward, "I can't believe these two were voted the most professional lifeguard team of the summer's rookie crop, I mean looked at you ... All gritty and smoochy.. Eeooww.. You are definitely behaving like ....juveniles...I'll have you know.." -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- A raw blob of hamburger sailed through the air and plopped with a wet splat into the frying pan."And he SCOORRREEESS!! Yes! Hobie Buchannon is breaking hearts all over the basketball court tonight, folks. That's two for O, dad. Go for it." Mitch Buchannon smoothed his brown touseled hair and flashed a withering look at his eleven year old son, "Now you're a heartbreaker and Wilt Chamberlain? Well, prepare to eat....my.... dust...." Hobie planted his brown eyes into the most doleful expression he could muster, "Dad, do you know how ridiculous a thirty seven year old man looks balling up a chopped up wad of slimy cow guts into a snowball?" Mitch tried to ignore the innocent comment and failed at the last second. His ball of hamburger decorated the kitchen window in lovely strings of meaty gore. "Got ya!" the boy smirked. "No fair psyching out the competition!" Mitch laughed as he pinned Hobie into a headlock and messed up his blond hair. Mitch's hazel eyes reflected Hobie's energy and love of fun. The petite boy broke free of the hold and plunked himself down into a dining room chair in front of a food laden table, "Rule number nine: No horseplay at the supper table unless you can get away with it. Dad, your elbow twitched that time." "No it didn't." "Yes it did." Hobie reminded him again. "Same as last week." "No way..." Mitch said dishing up a serving of potatoes onto his plate, "I had everything under perfect, " he thunked another scoop of mashies onto his platter, "control.." Hobie pounced, "So why'd you miss?" Mitch regarded his son over Sports Illustrated, "Smart Alec. Aren't you going to be late for Junior Lifeguards today?" Hobie rolled his brown eyes, "Dad, as a lieutenant at work, aren't you supposed to know when programs like junior life saving, end for the week? Eddie called here last night to remind you." Mitch Buchannon laughed to himself, thinking. Lieutenant, he thought. Newly promoted, kicked out of thongs and shorts for a desk and phone. Was it all worth it? Was it worth missing all of the action as an ex-beach guard? Mitch glanced over to a framed eight by ten of Jill Riley, Garner Ellerbee, Eddie Kramer, Shauni McLane, and a few others in formal lifeguard uniform, all pouring champagne over his head from their bottles. They sure threw him a good party when they'd heard the news. Still, being in charge of Baywatch Operations was fascinating.. Mitch was the one who handled tower and boat assignments and coordinated water rescues. It was a far cry from just watching water for ten hours a day. And two weeks out of a year, Mitch could stilll get his feet wet manning a tower with a rookie-in-training..... "You're right, Hobie. I did forget your courses ended today. I guess I have to eat more of these things.." Mitch stuffed a huge forkful of fish sticks into his mouth. Hobie chuckled, "Yeah.. mom used to be really good at keeping you on track with stuff like..." he broke off with a pained expression, looking up t his father with wide eyes, "Since...you know." Mitch put down his magazine and put it away, "It's o.k., Hobie. Talking about mom even though we're separated isn't forbidden or anything. Besides, open communication is the "in" thing now days and yeah, she was good at that. Have some milk." Hobie was silent. Mitch felt his discomforture and spoke just to fill the quiet, "Listen Hobie. I'm....thinking about inviting her over for a while to stay a few weeks in August before school starts. Gail's already said yes, and.." Mitch noticed how hard his own fingers were gripping the table's edge. He forced himself to relax them, "You can't know how much she misses you.. Have you read any of the letters she's sent us?" "No.." came the sharp reply. Mitch tried not to show that his son's answer stung, "Wh-- Why not ? Hobie,,, Wh--" "Because I didn't want to. " he replied. Hobie couldn't help glancing up at his father's face. He saw the hurt barely concealed in his eyes. A sudden stab of guilt coursed through him and he found himself saying, "She can come here. That is, if she can stop drinking so much." The boy's tears flooded forth, unbidden, "I- I- I miss her too, dad. But it gets so hard acting normal around her. When she's here with you, I can't help but feel like some kind of football being bounced around between you guys whenever you fight over me." "Hey...hey..hey.." Mitch wiped a tear away from Hobie's cheek, "It doesn't have to be that way any more now that I've...got custody. Maybe this visiting thing will be a chance for us to try to become friends again. At least, it can be a start..." Hobie thought of all the bad times the three had experienced going through the divorce. And now, he was just about sick of facing it any more. But...he thought, people do change for the better. It was something both of his parents had taught him. Hobie looked at his shoes, "O.k...let's.....give it a shot.." His dad's smile washed away any remaining doubt in Hobie's mind, "Let's go for it!" the boy shouted. "One for O, Hobster... Come here..." Mitch embraced his son. Hobie tapped him on a shoulder. "Hmmm?" Mitch mumbled from inside their hug. "She can come on one condition..." "And what's that?" Mitch asked. "Hamburger rallies are our secret.." "Deal." -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Photo: Dawn at a lifeguard tower. Photo: Empty L.A. public beach. Photo: Baywatch headquarters and a banana tree. Photo: Lifeguard Jill Riley from NBC's baywatch show. Photo: Lifeguard Trevor Cole from NBC's baywatch show. Photo: Eddie Kramer from NBC's run of Baywatch. Photo: Shauni McLane from Baywatch first season. Photo: Hobie Buchanon from Baywatch. Photo: Mitch Buchanon, from Baywatch. Photo: Baywatch beach cop Garner Ellerbe on a four wheeler. ************************************************************** From: "lafddispatcher" Date: Wed Feb 9, 2005 2:19 pm Subject: Confluence... >"Sweetheart, can you open your eyes for me?" Johnny >knelt beside her and began to take her vitals. Immediately, Carly folded up into a grand mal seizure at just a touch of his hands. "Roy, gimme the resuscitator. She's gonna need it.." he said sharply, turning the convulsing twelve year old onto her side to drain her mouth of food. Then he looked up once Carly was ventilating well enough under the positive pressure. "When did she eat last? I'm getting more than just a bit under this suction." Julie Hanson flushed red with stress and trepidation. "We just finished having lunch with the other children. Is she gonna be all right?" "Ma'am, we're doing everything possible. Now, what can you tell me about her medical history? Tell me everything you can." Roy said, listening to her breath sounds over the skin of her chest. Inside, he was happy the teachers had had the foresight to remove her clothing down to her underwear for safety. "Johnny, her lungs are clear. She breathing?" "Not very well. I've taken that over." Gage replied, struggling to keep adequate oxygen pushing into the girl's shaking body without injuring her. Julie Hanson spoke quickly, moving her very upset assistant, Lisa, to a chair to steady her. "Her name's Carly Davison, and she's twelve. She's autistic because of early seizures from a time when she had stopped breathing. She's had none now for almost a year, until today. This one is..is real bad.." she whispered, her fright making her voice tremble. Roy looked up from where he was laying out an endotracheal tube in advance, even as he set up the biophone to call Rampart Base. "Has Carly had any other history of previous metabolic disturbances? Has she eaten anything strange or new? Or played with a new kind of school supply, like paint or with latex based clay? Has she taken sick, developed a fever recently?" Roy probed. "No, nothing like that. Her mother Cory's been scrupulous about keeping her daughter well cared for despite of being a paraplegic and jobless, herself.." said the school nurse. "Can you stop the convulsions? Carly's doctor told me that they shouldn't be allowed to last any time at all. We were given these to use in case Carly ever had a seizure while at school. But I haven't had time to administer them yet." And she handed Roy a plastic baggie full of torpedo shaped white capsules. "And here's the authorization form signed by Mrs. Davison and Carly's doctor." Gage took the bag and read the inscription on back of the silver foiled packet and only glanced at the consent form. "Valium, suppositories. Point four milligrams." Then he looked to Officer Howard. "Vince, take over for me. We're gonna be busy trying to get an I.V. started. She'll manage easy enough for you in spite of these muscular contractions. Whenever her head flips backwards between your knees, give her a shot from the valve." "Got it." said the large sized African American policeman. He took off his helmet, tossing it onto the lunch table and got to work. Lisa, nearby, started trying to hide the fact that she was beginning to cry. "Oh, Julie, things were going so well. We were supposed to leave to go to the Santa Monica Beach tomorrow for the kids' yearly Junior Lifeguards camping trip." Johnny's head snapped up in surprise at their destination, but he couldn't afford to comment. He got right down to getting a second blood pressure off Carly as best he could while Roy got on the line. "Rampart, this is Squad 51. Come in." ##Go ahead, 51. ## said Dr. Joe Early, almost immediately. "Rampart, we have a twelve year old female, with a history of a prior severe seizure disorder which haslead to early childhood hypoxic autism. She's currently in a grand mal under active ventilations on one hundred percent O2. Uh, Rampart, her air passages are free of spasming and clear of any gastric debris." reported Roy. "And her last bad seizure was over a year ago. BP's at least 90. I'm getting a radial. Pulse's real tachy." ##10-4, 51. Do you have parental consent?## "That's affirmative, Rampart. A written note from a school RN via a doctor to treat for this condition." ##Understood. Does she phase clonic long enough to initiate an I.V, 51?## Roy looked up at Johnny, who shook his head in an answer. "That's negative, Rampart. The convulsions are now growing too violent for needlework. However we do have the child's prescribed rectal Valium. Its dosages are in .4 mg/kg increments." ##Ok. Use a first and second, 51. But don't exceed more than 1 mg per minute trying for her sedation. After those two doses, wait it out, until you can establish a Lactated Ringer's I.V. TKO. See if her breathing returns. If it doesn't, sedate to paralysis by any route Valium to get her ET intubated and supported on ambu. Keep in mind that she may just as quickly regain consciousness after the postictal state into a full recovery. Be prepared to handle that particular outcome if you do utilize that airway. Treat her for shock. I want vitals every five minutes and transport as soon as possible.## "10-4, Rampart. Rectal Benzodiazepine times two. On apnea after cessation, ET intubate following full sedation; otherwise, manual ambu only. I.V. Ringer's to maintain." Roy looked up at the sound of an ambulance approaching. "Rampart, looks like our ride's here. Our ETA will be ten minutes." ##Bring her in without sirens, 51. Draw a purple top for a glucosal analysis, antecubital A.S.A.P., and an ice slurried red for an arterial blood gas. Bring both of them, Carly's forms and any other medications belonging to her along with you. Send an EKG en route.## "Affirmative..Draw a purple and iced red, transport consent and prescriptions. Lead two is coming in ...two minutes.." said Roy. He set down the phone to help Johnny glove up and position Carly best to sedate her. Soon, the medication started working and Carly relaxed out of her active seizuring and she immediately began to sigh occasionally around Vince's gentle mask placed breaths. Her chest started to move with a regular rhythm that everyone could see. "She's finally breathing." Gage said, placing a hand on the child's stomach. " We'll get by with an oral just fine.." and he reached over to the oxygen case for a short oral. He placed it deftly over Carly's tongue and traded out Vince's ventilator valve for a simple plastic non-rebreather mask. "Thanks Vince. You're as handy as always." "Anytime.." and the cop stepped back to begin filling out his report and taking an account from Julie Hanson. "Ladies, if I could just get a few words from you before she goes to the hospital..." Soon, the tiny white blond girl was bundled warmly, dried of all moisture, and strapped onto a long board inside of a cervical collar to keep her safely secured for the trip across town to the ER. On the way out the door, following the ambulance attendants, Johnny leaned into Lisa curiously. "Did I hear you correctly that all your students are headed out to Malibu beach tomorrow to attend some kind of lifeguard program for kids..?" "Yes, that's right.." said Lisa. "Little Carly was so looking forward to bringing her mother to the beach." "Carly's got a good chance of going along. She's had no serious complications today that a good night's sleep won't cure. Everything we did was just supportive, uh..." and Johnny held out his free hand out around all his packaged up medical gear. "Oh,, Lisa.. Lisa Gibbons." and she returned his handshake. "Nice to meet you Ms. Gibbons." he smiled graciously, "Perhaps my partner and I will see you out there. You see, our whole station's been assigned to help out that program with teaching CPR to all the kids coming in for a week...Well, that's along with attending a firefighter convention at the convention center in town in the evenings." "Julie and myself won't be going..." blinked Lisa, wise his flirting already. "There are lifeguard teachers at Baywatch who will be substituting for us and serving as parental guardians while our school kids are there." "Oh, I see.. Well, I'll be sure Roy, uh, that's my partner and me, my name's Johnny Gage, will keep a really close eye on Carly while she's attending all the activities." "Thank you." said Lisa politely. "We and Mrs. Davison would really appreciate the extra paramedic eye watching over her." "It'll be no problem at all." smiled Gage toothily, still locked and lost in Lisa's brown liquidy gaze. He didn't care if they were still red from stress. Roy whistled, loudly. Johnny looked up. "Let's go, Dudley Do Right. The horse can't wait for ya." DeSoto said, already most of the way across the school's expanse of sunny lawn, following the attendants swiftly. They were towing Carly's gurney to the street. Johnny startled, and dropped his helmet, which Lisa stooped down and promptly returned to him. Then Gage dropped his green pen from the notebook he stuck between his teeth in order to retrieve his navy jacket from on top of the drug box. "I'll be right behind ya in the squad, Roy. I know the way, remember?!" But the ambulance had already loaded up and was moving away silently with only its lights flashing. When Johnny Gage turned around to thank Lisa for his helmet and pen, she had gone to go comfort a now visibly sobbing Julie, sitting frozen in a desk chair. Scooping up a business card from the occupational school's entryway, Johnny said, "Don't worry. I'll call both of ya with progress reports on how much fun Carly's having. We both promise to... Ok?" Both tired, numb women finally offered a pair of slight grins. Johnny left the school at a fast run, hurrying to stow his equipment fast enough to catch up to Roy's rig without speeding drastically. Vince gave him a wave as he returned to his own squad car. On the passenger's seat of the car, was the same convention flyer that Station 51's men had received along with their orders from Headquarters to go do community service and get in a bit of career shadowing with a sister service at the lifeguard network hub. Howard's assignment on the beach, was going to be a little different. He was assigned to learn how Malibu actually polices a ten mile long stretch of soft powdery sand and pounding tidal surf zones that regularly saw the feet of over half a million people each day of the Caifornian summer. ::Maybe there'll be even more folks showing up because of all this heat we've been having lately. A little swimming time to cool off while I'm there's definitely in the cards. But it'll sure be weird trading my uniform pants out for a pair of bermuda shorts:: Vince thought ruefully. Vince Howard's night shift was just over, so he made his way home eventually after grocery shopping to pack a very full suitcase for the upcoming convention event called Trading Stations. ---------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ********************************************* From : Roxy Dee Sent : Thursday, February 10, 2005 6:47 AM Subject : Beach Shennanigans~~ On the beach, things were heating up. It was the longest embrace Craig had ever seen. Craig Pomeroy smirked. "Three minutes! That's got to be a record or something. Hey, Eddie.. Maybe this year, we can hold a kissing contest at the big picn--" He broke off. They were ignoring him. He tried again. "Guys, don't you come up for air at all? Shauni?? Hey--" ::Yep. Deaf as doornails. :: Craig looked skyward. Then he got a devil of an idea. He thought of a particularly nasty lifeguard captain who was notorious for firing rookies on the spot for the slightest infraction. He gasped. "Uh oh. Thorpe alert. Thorpe alert." The results were spectacular. The two entwinees sputtered and flew apart rearranging various items of intense concern such as loose hair strands and clothing. "Where?! Wh--??" Eddie blurted. A towel cracked inches away from his face. Its master, Craig, beamed. "Sorry guys. I just played a mean dirty trick on you BOTH. Aren't you lucky that ol' Thorpe is on vacation for a whole month!!" Eddie's face looked rather pale from his initial shock but then he began to grin dangerously. The couple collapsed in limp relief into each other's arms. "Would you mind not doing that?! You know, this joking thing might turn into something you may not like buddy, ol' possibly-ex-partner-of-mine." Craig was candid. "Yeah? Right. No horseplay on deck now. Listen, I'm serious." (He wasn't) Guys... it's pretty hard watching the water alone, no offense Shauni, but when you're around, Eddie's useless to me." "I am not!" Eddie protested. Craig grinned evilly. "Prove it." He tossed over a pair of binoculars to Eddie, who barely saved his face from eating eight inches of black metal and glass. Then he glanced up at the ocean. He immediately frowned. He tossed a second pair to Shauni as well. "But I'm not on duty..." she stated. "You are now. There's the start of a rip out there. Let HQ know about it." "Right." Shauni said and jogged up the sky blue ramp into the tower and picked up a phone receiver just inside the frame doorway. Sid, the switchboard operator answered. "Baywatch, HQ." Shauni was brief. "Rip at 34. We need backup surveillance. Swimmers are clear." In the nerve center of the watch station, Sid affirmed his latest call. "Righto, Shauni. I'm on it." He hung up, writing the info down on a piece of paper. He swiveled in his chair at the sound of approaching footsteps behind him. He greeted Mitch. "Boss, we've got a potential hot spot." "Where?" "Tower 34." "Who's manning it today?" "Craig and Eddie." Mitch thought hard, "Ok, no biggie, ah... keep me posted. I wanna know the minute something does down, " Mitch started away, then he turned back, "OOo, no pun intended." Sid smothered a laugh, "Of course." Mitch left neatly. Sid turned back to his switch board, quietly giggling to himself. "I hear ya." -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Craig hefted a red neon rescue can onto a shoulder, "I'm going on patrol. Eddie, check with the other towers, see if they've got heavy water developing, too. Shauni, get the flag up." The two nodded and watched Craig jog down the ramp and begin a scouting run along the water's edge, keeping his eye on the muddier water of the abnormal current he had spotted and its relation to where the sea bathers were. So far, things were normal. According to his wife, Craig was the only transplanted Manhattan lawyer whose closet was half filled with power suits and half with ragged beach wear. He had to admit, even the maid scoffed at umpteen paris of sandy toe thongs lying alongside three hundred dollar eelskin shoes. Craig combed some fingers through his salt powered, light brown hair as he ran. So far, he was lucky. As well as he could tell, the bay was still behaving herself and was cooperating with her usual fair day swells. There were no surprises, .......yet. He returned to his thoughts. Craig couldn't give up lifeuarding for the life of him. He took the gentle jabs dished out by fellow colleagues at his law firm in food humor, He chuckled at some of them" The surfer who never grew up, Hey sea bum! Ya do any heavy breathing to a gorgeous babe today? Pomeroy made no excuses. He loved the work. It was in his blood. He had come a long way. Mitch Buchannon and he had been old college roommates back in the early seventies. Back then, the two were avid surferheads desiring nothing but a rad wave and an occasional one night stand. Together, they had the dubious honor of throwing the best beach parties around. Craig laughed to himself as he remembered all of the swimming races he and Mitch used to hold to see which one of them was the stronger. It seemed only natural for both of them to wind up as lifeguards with the county. The job suited their spontaneous egos. They were one of the best lifeguard teams for many years. Beach bathers, especially junior high aged ones, came to know them as the "Dynamic Neon Dudes". It must have looked funny seeing a tall, brawny Mitch next to a tall, but lithe Craig, running down the beach in tandem with matching black shades and red neon trunks. many female eyes were turned and it wasn't long before one particular black-haired girl carried Craig's heart away to the altar. It was Gina who took him to New yark to finish his PhD in law. But the lure of the ocean remained and he soon returned.... to his beach. His sand. It felt good under his feet. Craig's eye followed the curl of the rip current flowing against the incoming surf. All of the swimmers were safely away from it, a good six hundred yards distant from the dark trough of out going muddy surge. He'd make sure that no one ventured into it... He signalled the tower by waving his hand and gesturing with his life buoy by drawing a line straight above his head and down again three times. Shauni saw him through her binoculars and signalled back, raising the red and yellow flag to half mast on its pole. One by one, the bathers heeded the cautionary and moved away from the rip. They moved north of the flag to where safety remained. Craig relaxed a little and let them stay in the water. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Cory Davison drove her motorized wheelchair along the ocean view walkway.The ocean gave her the tranquility that was so absent now from her life. Cory found herself watching the snorkling instructors and their students learning the art of diving way out among the waves. She brushed an errant red strand of hair away from her eyes as tears threatened suddenly. No, Cory Davison, ex-dolphin instructor for the Point Loma Naval Cetacean Institute, would never know the joys of swimming again. Thanks to a stupid accident, her legs were dead. Oh, it really wasn't the fault of the institute that an orca was turned loose by an animal rights activist into the tank she and her dolphins were training within. No, security had been as tight as it had always been that day. Cory shivered against the memory. She had reacted reflexively, without thinking, and she had put herself between the confused semi wild whale and her dolphin charges. The powerful wake left by the whale's flukes as it veered off sucked Cory into an open running filter grate and her back was broken in two pieces. Full restitution had followed naturally and the settlement had been a big one.... So now, Cory had her life back. She was without the freedom to pursue her life's ambition. Eight years of cetacean research had gone to waste. 'What a shame..' her colleagues had said in the hospital when they thought she was too sedated to hear them. "What a shame..." Cory the current quadraplegic echoed out loud. Quickly, she blinked away the sea and turned up the radio she had on a special mount by her head. It was the news of the hour and the weather report was next, "...This just in. The Naval Institute is missing a dolphin this afternoon from their highly classified testing facility. Charles Isaac, co-leader of the Greenpeace movement, was caught releasing the animal to the open sea while chanting animal rights slogans. The County Court House is expected to hear the case on Thursday. The amount set for bail is not yet known.... Moving on to the weather..." Cory caught her breath, "Koko? Gone?" She began racing her chair down the boulevard to the stony point of land reaching far out into the water. Once there, Cory began searching the breakers eagerly for any sign of dolphin. But only a wild pod of them were schooling fish beyond the reef in their usual fashion. Cory's heart sank. But something inside of her would not die. She took out a slender chrome whistle of high tech design on a matching chain from around her neck thoughtfully. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- It was one o'clock in the afternoon. At 327 South Seventh Street, sunlight poured through a tiny flat's bay window that over looked the ocean. Its beams washed over therapy equipment against one wall and then onto a light walnut table. There, a sun-warmed walnut frame glinted in the sun revealing a portrait of a slender girl in a wheelchair and a medal of valor from the Navy draped on a ribbon across its edge. Next to it was a picture of a smiling twelve year old little girl, Carly. This was Cory Davison's home. A place where her sharp realities could be escaped, if only for a little while, through the creation of pastel drawings. Hundreds of chalk dolphins etched on paper swam in a river of pages over the tan bedspread. The papers were weighed down by a small crate of wood which lay on a pillow. An address label on its nearby lid read, "Attn. El Cajon Museum of Cultural History, 327 North Seventh Street, La Jolla, CA." A rich treasure trove of artifacts lay within the box, glowing under the light, only partially packed in shipping sawdust. No one was home. Suddenly, a shadow marred the harmony of sunbeams inside the small cabana. A figure was standing at the window. Black gloved hands tested the window latch and found it unlocked. White lamay curtains billowed in the wind, concealing the figure as it stepped inside the room. Paper dolphins flew everywhere and into the intruder's face as the crate was lifted into black clothed arms. The robber grunted and nearly dropped the precious find in surprise. The eyes did not see a heavy object fall onto the bed from the crate before a drawing tumbled in the seawind from the open window and covered where the artifact fell. There was no time to waste. The crook had what was sought by so many. The dark figure left the way it came. A last breeze from the closing window cleared the bed of sketches, revealing an object of beauty which sent the sunlight sparkling into all corners of the room. It was a foot high sculpture of a dolphin leaping within a curling wave and the light it cast so brilliantly from the sunlight, graced the bed richly. The ancient statue was made of the purest gold. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Craig Pomeroy, lifeguard, smirking. Photo: Lifeguard rookie Shauni McLane, standing over a watchtower railing. Photo: Lifeguard rookie Eddie Kramer, sitting, embarrassed. Photo: Riptide warning flags on a beach, with a surfer in background. Photo: A woman in a wheelchair, cruising the shoreline. Photo: A gold dolphin statue of great age. ************************************************************************* From : Cassidy Meyers Sent : Thursday, February 10, 2005 12:13 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Foggy foggy dew and lifeguards, too. Johnny Gage hefted up his knapsack and blinked into the misty morning. He was toes deep in ocean sand and feeling more disoriented with every passing second. A loud rawkious noise assaulted him and he ducked as a pair of bold seagulls dive bombed his head, looking for handouts. "Ahh! Go away...!" he snapped at them, flailing his arms over his head in irritation. "Can't go away, we're supposed to show up here at Baywatch Headquarters to greet all the kids as they come in." Roy's figure appeared out of the murk and he calmly drew out a portable airhorn from his pocket and kicked it off, frightening away the birds. A treble screech of surprise made Johnny look down to about waist level towards the noise. "Chris DeSoto? What are you doing here?" The boy just smirked and watched his father peer about into the fog making sure the birds were gone for good. "Heh. Dad figured the camp children would be intimidated by seeing men firemen teaching em something and too awe struck hero worshipping the life guards to concentrate enough to learn anything, so that's where I come in. I'm gonna show those guys all the CPR steps and help teach it along with dad." Gage rubbed a sleeper out of his eye. "Huh, might work. Roy, you'd better hit that airhorn again to get someone's attention up there through all this fog. Cause my knocking hasn't been doing anything yet so far. Besides, my heart's pounding so fast from that air attack that I can't move my arms yet." "You're kidding.." laughed Chris. "I love seagulls. They never take any crud from anybody. And they sound neat, too. Their calls can put me to sleep at night." "I can't see seagulls as calming unless it's at a distance." Johnny admitted, ruffling Chris's hair. "I love the brassy noises gulls make. Nothing but positive memories. Not many sounds give ya that kind of effect." Roy countered. "Ready?" "Yeah." "Maybe this'll wake you up more, too, while it's being our doorbell. You've never been much of a morning person." Roy let loose another wail from the horn, making sure it wasn't in a set of three blasts that would cause an emergency to be declared by the watch guard. Finally, the lifeguard station garage door opened. "Roy DeSoto and Johnny Gage?" a beaming Jill Riley greeted quizzically. "And son." said Chris DeSoto, taking the lifeguard's hand warmly. "Yep. We're your first aid teachers for today." "Great. Captain Stanley told me to expect you. The rest of your station crew's already inside with us having breakfast. Come on in. Don't worry about being late. The fog's delayed the student busses arriving from the Hotel until mid morning. We've plenty of time to work out a teaching itinerary." Gage shook the woman's hand. "Glad to meet you, Jill. Tell me, is there a Carly Davison on your list of kids for our CPR class today?" Riley checked her lifeguard slate. "I believe she is. Do you know her?" Roy smiled. "In a matter of speaking. We took care of her yesterday in school on a run and we've promised her teachers that we would keep an eye on her." "That'll be all of us watching then. We got the heads up on her seizure disorder and we'll have a beach truck nearby in case anything happens to her again." the tall blonde ponytailed lifeguard sighed. "Let's go. I didn't know where to put the CPR manikin so I left it in our rover." Johnny said. "That's ok. I'll send down one of the rookie guards to collect it after we eat." Shivering in the early morning chill, Johnny began to anticipate putting on a lifeguard jacket over his fire uniform. "Man, is it always this foggy at six am? This stuff's thicker than pea soup." Jill Riley laughed, showing them the way upstairs to the main Headquarters area in front of all the spot windows. "Only on days that are gonna turn out to be real scorchers. It's called a land/sea breeze. It'll burn off by eight thirty or so. Don't worry. We'll still be able to hold class on the beach as we planned." "Good deal. Come on, Chris. I'll bet they have your Wheaties already on the table." Roy said, shoving his son forward ahead of them on the gray blue painted wooden stairs. In the main rec room, all the lifeguards not on towers were there along with the rest of Station 51's gang. Chet greeted Roy, Johnny and Chris by saying.... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A fog bound coastline. Photo: Johnny and Roy in the squad, lost in fog. Photo: Attacking seabirds. Photo: Chris DeSoto in a blue T shirt. Photo: Jill Riley, lifeguard, inside Baywatch headquarters. ************************************************************************* From: "chameleonkate01" Date: Sat Feb 12, 2005 3:36 pm Subject: Breakfast Banter "Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to put in an appearance. I think I'm gonna haveta talk to the dispatcher here and see about hardwiring your hotel room's phone into L.A. so you guy'll start receiving our usual station wake up morning check. Say, Chris, did you throw those pillows I told you to try to get these two sleeping beauties out of bed?" Kelly grinned. Gage and DeSoto, stuck in the presence of strangers, had to be politely civil and curb their first instinctive sarcastic replies. Chris DeSoto smiled toothily. "Yeah, sure did. Took three pillows to get "Uncle" Gage up. Thanks for the suggestion." "Anytime. Keep those good ideas coming, Chet. I know how the vacation syndrome works, first ya can't slow yourself down, and then you can't get moving again, for days..." said the dark haired boy. Johnny cleared his throat loudly in embarrassment to atone for he and his partner being late. "Must've been all that good sea air druggin' us into a stupor. Our lungs didn't know what to make of the absence of all the usual city smog.." he grinned. Baywatch Captain Thorpe, sitting to Hank Stanley's right, wiped his mouth free of scrambled egg and pushed his empty plate aside. "It's quite all right, young man. I saw the kind of business your firehouse pulled in the last twenty four hours. The two of you went on more rescues in a day, than my whole lifeguard tower crew force did in three days. You were bound to crash hard and that, is something that's entirely excusable." "Thanks, Mr. Thorpe. At least somebody understands the workload Roy and I have been handling." Gage said, smiling and throwing eye daggers at Kelly. Hank nodded. "17 runs in 20 hours. That's definitely a station record..." "For what, Cap? What about our fire engine's record day?" asked Chet. "In 1970, we did a 25-er that year; when we got all those brush fires in the hills. While Roy and Johnny were messing around with that baby goat call, we put in at least a dozen hot spot appearances." Stanley afforded Chet a no nonsense, don't cross me glance, highly tempered."....for any shift's paramedic squad, Kelly. You didn't let me finish my sentence. Please clam up and eat. Our guest hosts are going to be splitting us into our teaching and tower shadowing assignments before the sun clears the horizon. Eleven's when all the kids come in for guard camp." Chet bobbed his head in cooperation, giving up on needling his two favorite targets. Jill Riley changed the subject, but she was grinning. She fully understood what ribbing meant. "We've some clock radios handy gentlemen, if you think the Tropical Paradise Syndrome'll KO young Mr. DeSoto here, too." "Those'll work.." said Gage quickly, glomming on to a solution to a serious problem. "Thanks, Miss Riley." Roy shoved a milk carton near and opened it for his son, before he winced and caught himself in the act for being too parent-y. "Chris's all green lights. He pulls CPR sets even cleaner than we do." "Ain't that the truth. Mike Stoker here's the one who drilled him." Johnny said through his food full mouth. Mike Stoker cracked a few knuckles in unabashed pride, staying silent. Lt. Mitch Buchannon walked into the room holding a sheaf of papers from his office desk. "It's all set people. Oh, hiya guys. Looks like our two guest paramedics finally got here. Hobie. Go eat." he said. Chris's eyes got real big at the sight of another boy his age, wearing a junior lifeguard's outfit. "Wow, is that you, Hobie Buchannon? I saw you in the newspaper a couple of months ago for saving that little girl who fell off the pier..." he said with big eyes. "I don't know how you did that. I would've completely chickened out jumping off from so high a place." "The secret's keeping your feet together and folding your arms around yourself when you hit." said Hobie, instantly bonding with Chris DeSoto. "Here, let me tell you some other pointers.." and the two boys fell into animated conversation much to the amusement of all the adults. Chet split a gut and kept on chewing. "It'll sure be nice having some medics around this week without having to wait for an ambulance on all our surf victim calls." said a rookie girl. Captain Thorpe held up his hand. "Now, now now. Station 51 is here to learn from us and us from them in a kind of....cultural exchange while they're here for their firefighter's convention. They aren't here to pull a full working shift." "No, but we'll help out whenever possible. We have to by law anyway, We're still in Los Angeles County." Roy said matter of factly. "Ok, but only for the serious ones right in and around HQ. I won't have you fellas overextending yourselves unnecessarily." Don said. "Spoken like a true captain.." said Stanley. "A man after my own heart. Glad to make your acquaintance, Don.." Hank said, offering Thorpe his hand. "I think we'll keep all our people in sharp enough order easily enough without them playing too much in the sand." "So we will, Hank. I've already sent for someone who'll be able to spy on them to keep tabs on how they're getting along with the kids. He's teaming up with your own service area's Officer Vince Howard. A Sergeant Garner Ellerbe. A good man and a very solid dependable sort of beach cop. They'll be cruising around on all terrain bikes every day while all the children are here." Don teased. "My lifeguards'll have their hands full enough just watching the public ones." "Where is Vince now?" asked Hank. "Getting fitted into his beach uniform downstairs. I heard his voice asking Garner about what colored socks'll go best with Bermuda navy shorts." Don said. "I've already given him a radio set to the same frequency as the towers and to our camp staff's active channel. Also, after you and your men, and...little Chris DeSoto, here, get fitted into your lifeguard jackets,..Sid Malone, our dispatcher on the switchboard'll hand out one to each of you." "Looking forward to it.." Cap smiled, speaking for his hungrily eating men. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos : None. ************************************************************ From : patti keiper Sent : Saturday, February 12, 2005 4:58 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Mirage.. It was noon, exactly. Trevor Cole, the private club's Australian lifeguard, was having an excellent day. He was looking for the day's perfect ten. He scanned his water and saw her.... a gorgeous blonde almost lost in the foamy breakers. He smiled and waved at her. She waved back, all teeth and golden tresses. Trevor cat called. Jill, still stuck in the tower next to him, rolled her eyes with a look of long suffering. Totally avoiding a glance at Jill, Trevor checked the angle of the sun and noticed it was lunch time. He signalled his replacement, a zitfaced eighteen year old named, Matt Brody. "Yo, Matt! Front and center." he drawled in his Aussie accent. The knobbed kneed kid grabbed his sunglasses and started jogging in macho style over to his partner and promptly tripped over his huge feet. He scrambled upright and managed to make it to Trevor without losing too much face, "Shift change?" he drooled eagerly. Trevor shook his head ruefully. Whoever hired this dolt for lifeguarding surely had little in the brains department. Trevor figured he'd better tread lightly, though, for the kid might turn out to be the club owner's son for all he knew. At any rate, he couldn't resist a barb or two, "Stop sticking your chest out, kid, or you'll wind up cracking a few ribs." "Oh,... ah, " Matt articulated, "I remembered my binoculars today, Trev." Trevor smiled blandly, "Good. Every good lifeguard ought to have 'em, don't you think?" "Heh, heh, heh." I know, buddy boy. That's why I brought them." The Australian decided not to press the issue, "Fine." The blonde barbie was still giving him the eye so Trevor decided to pay his bathing beauty a personal call. He tossed his head seaward, "Hey Matt. Ain't she a looker?" The freckled teen looked and saw no one in the water except Mrs. Fishmeyer. "Her?" he laughed, "You must have a thing for grandmotherly types." Trevor glanced out again and saw his perfect ten still smiling at him from the seafoam."Matt. Quit kidding with me, all right? Tell me you see a young, blonde woman out there by the reef buoy." Matt searched again. "No, man." he frowned. "You must have been in the sun too long or something. How about going in for a swim to cool yourself off?" Trevor, still seeing his dream girl, nodded confusedly, "Yeah, right. I I-I think I'll do just that." He jumped down out of his chair, letting Brody take his place and he waded out into the water in front of them. He swan dived into the waves marveling at how well the woman was holding her own in the large, white breakers out there. She was both head and shoulders out of the water, beckoning to him with both arms. Trevor shook his head. "Oh, well." he thought. "She's a mystery, but I'll soon find out." He swam powerfully out to sea. "Hey,..what are you doing way out here?!" he shouted. She didn't reply but wavered tantilizingly close, flashing him a winning smile. Trevor tried again with an even bigger smile. "What's your name, doll?" Trevor was very near her when she laughed and ducked beneath a wave. "Hey!" he cried. He waited expectantly for dainty hands to pull at his trunks. A minute past. But still, he felt no fingering caresses. Trevor grinned like a cheshire cat, "So, it's hide and seek, eh? Two can play that game." He dove under for a peek and saw a figure swimming masterfully over the coral shoals far beneath him. He caught a glimpse of shimmering green, and a......tail?! Trevor shot upwards. Now he really WAS confused. It was far too shallow for tuna to be around. And just where did the girl disappear to? Then he heard silvery laughter behind him. Whirling, he saw a mass of hair and an incredible smile beneath the water. Her beautiful face was framed by the noon day glare from the surface and his eyes watered heavily as he tried to look past it. He squinted, and suddenly, she was gone. "What th--?" Then a huge whirlpool sucked him away. He had forgotten about the rip current! Its strength was terrible and Trevor was helpless within it. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- At tower 34, Shauni McLane had just finished changing into her red lifeguard suit. She was starting for the door when the phone on the inside door frame started ringing. "I'll get it Eddie!" Shauni shouted, and answered it, "Tower 34, McLane here." A voice babbled into her ear. "A WHAT was sighted by Crystal Pier?!" she exclaimed. The voice reiterated details."Ok, I'll let him know. Oh, one more thing. I got shanghai'ed into duty because of the alert, would you put me active? Thanks." She hung up the line. Outside, Eddie Kramer was in a director's chair keeping tabs on the bathers and noting where his partner was patrolling the shoreline. He saw that Craig Pomeroy was still jogging slowly south in a very routine sweep. So far, everybody was playing it safe by not going into the rough water. Still, Eddie could remember past alerts where one or two people, who thought they were being macho, ended up getting stuck within a rip. Maybe this time, things would be different. Heartened, Eddie relaxed his vigil a notch. Shauni came out to lean on the rail near him, "Hey Eddie. You're not going to believe this! HQ just called with a very weird story." "Oh yeah? Try me. There's not much going on out here." he said. He took a swig from his water bottle and set it down next to a chair leg. Shauni took that as an invitation and sat down in the chair beside him. "Apparently, HQ saw a Coast Guard clipper out in front of Crystal Pier chasing something in the water. At first, they thought the boat was going after some hot shot jet skier. A closer look revealed that they were actually trying to capture a dolphin with a noose! Imagine that!! Chasing an animal with a rope and five hundred horses of screaming boat engine. How cruel can anyone get?" "Imagine that..." Eddie said as he fell into a paroxysm of chuckles. Shauni cocked a confused eyebrow, "Eddie, I didn't get the joke here." Eddie elaborated. "Oh, ha, ha (Choke).. It's Flipper.. Making a run for it. Maybe he got tired of all of those slimy sardines his trainers were feeding him." For Shauni's small size, she slugged him a good one. "Eddie, the poor thing must've been terrified having those men roaring down after it like that... I hope it got away." Her fiance' was slowly recovering, "What would the Coast Guard want with a dolphin?" Shauni speculated, "Maybe it was coming too close to the leisure craft lanes and they were afraid of it colliding with a speedboat." "That's pretty far fetched wouldn't you say?" he commented. Shauni's face soured, "Oh, and I suppose you can think up a better reason..." "No, I probably can't. Wait a minute. I know why headquarters was watching them so closely so far out of jurisdiction.." "All right. I'll bite. Why?" Eddie began to laugh helplessly again. His smile was infectious. Shauni grinned. "Spill it funny boy.." "Well," Eddie howled, "A dolphin taking out a cruiser would certainly give us a little business to take care of, now wouldn't it?" Shauni surprised him by saying nothing. "Finishing the story..." she continued distantly, retrieving something off of the floor, "..the watchman also said she gave them quite a run for their money.." "Now "it" is a "she"? Why can't Flipper be a "he"?" Shauni only looked at him. Eddie humored her, "Ok, ok, What was Flipper doing during the big chase?" "Oh,..." she said, seemingly only half interested, "She was seen weaving in and out of the pier pilings getting everybody thoroughly..." She flung something at him. "...SOAKED!!!!" A flood of water from Eddie's own bottle cascaded down his front. Eddie jumped to his feet, "Aggghhhh ! I guess I deserved that." "You sure did. It's a shame that was WARM water." Shauni burbled, "The bottle I wore this morning was slightly colder." Blinded, Eddie coughed and groped for a towel, "And here I thought I was getting it for the crack about the dolphin..." "I never forget a slight, dearest.." Shuani waved the towel just out of reach, "Looking for something?" Eddie groaned and stopped groping around. He wiped his streaming face on an arm, "Ha. I can't stop laughing.." he said sarcastically, "Can I sit down now, Pool eyes? Thanks.." He sat. Nearby, Shauni was laughing so hard, she couldn't breathe. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- He couldn't breathe. Trevor tried to reach the surface of the water, and failed. Darkness swept him away..... On shore, Matt was laughing with a few of Trevor's flockers when he looked up, sighting for his partner. Trevor was nowhere to be seen. Matt stood up in the chair, scanning with his binoculars to the rip. He saw a flailing leg break the surface once and sink again. "Jill!!!" The tall woman shifted away from her water irritably, "What now?" she snapped. "It's Trevor! He's in the rip!!" Jill glassed the area and saw Trevor's hand reaching feebly into the air. His head wasn't visible. ::Oh, sh*t. And I got one of the firestation's medics here to babysit through this.:: She shot an urgent glance at Roy DeSoto sitting in a chair next to her and said. "Trouble." "What?" asked Roy. "It's our local beach pest who thinks he's a lifeguard. Rip's got him. Go ahead and kick the phone, Roy. Take it off the hook. It'll alert Sid at HQ to our location." she said rising and peeling off her jacket. "Got it. I'll get the gear set up from the responding beach truck once it arrives. Anything else?" Roy said calmly, reaching for his radio. "Not yet.." stressed Jill, as she glassed the curling rip intently to get an accurate placement of Trevor's location as he was pulled out to sea. Matt Brody, stumbly with panic, started for the water. "No, Matt! You don't have a can. Call in the details on your radio!" She grabbed a rescue can from its hook on the roof corner of her tower and hit the breakers, porpoising powerfully out to the dark tongue of ripping water. The huge waves made it difficult for her to keep sight of Trevor's location, "Hold on!! I'm coming, Trevor!" From the beach, Craig saw Jill go in from the corner of his eye. He unraveled his lifeline and slipped the elastic band over his shoulder. He spotted her target victim. "Trevor." he said through clenched teeth, "If this is a joke, you owe me two plane tickets for Gina and me, for an entire Las Vegas weekend." Throwing his tethered life buoy behind him, he rapidly swam out after her. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eddie and Shauni were now aware of what was happening in the Yacht Club's waters and called Sid for the rescue boat and a beach unit. They began watching all other areas for other trapped people. There were none. The two guards sighed in relief. They divided their attention between the oblivious crowds and Jill and Craig's run, being thoroughly stuck with staying put at their post. "Come on, hurry..." Shauni urged. She couldn't even see where Trevor's body was hitting the top anymore. The siren from the beach truck grew from the north. She could see Mitch coming fast and Roy DeSoto, running down Jill's tower ramp, to meet him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jill Riley treaded water at the last place she saw Trevor Cole go down. The currents were very strong and they were pulling her farther and farther out and away from the safety of the beach head. She let them, knowing the launch would pick them all up beyond the coral reefs. Jill took a deep breath and dove deep, hoping to catch a glimpse of pink skin or striped shorts. She saw nothing. Jill resurfaced. Craig was stationing nearby looking further out along the rip streaming out past them. "Jill! Do you see him anywhere?" She shook her head, "No, Where did he go? Chr*st, " she looked at her watch. "...it's been four minutes already." Craig cursed, knowing that they were now well within the brain damage window time frame and he urgently looked out towards the kelp reef again. He saw the launch already scanning its outer edge beyond the rough water where the rip's energy was dying. "The boat's covering the rip outlet. Standard search pattern. Go!" And he dove deep to the left. Jill searched to the right. A long half minute passed and they both saw nothing but murky brown blue. They resurfaced, gathered sustaining lungfuls before trying again. And again. Unsuccessfully. Jill said, "Corkscrew. Up rip. From the bottom. We've got to risk it before we get too tired to try!" "Ok.." Craig said. He knew the added risk she referred to was one he willingly gave on many rescue attempts. "Let's do it. I'm with you.." He gave the corkscrew sign to the launch so that they would plan for the lifeguards' safety as well with scuba geared backup if something should go wrong. He got his thumbs up from Newman in affirmation. Jill and Craig began their dangerous free dive to the base of the rip's belly. Arching their sweeps in ever widening circles, they past each other from opposite directions thirty feet below the surface and each spiraled upwards in a column back towards the sunlight glimmering far above, letting the rip's force sweep them along its submerged tongue. Long seconds later, the sinking cap of current flattening his hair finally eased. They were almost at the terminal outlet! Trevor most likely was already cast out of it ahead of them near the rocky seafloor. Craig's lungs burned as the silence of the cold water around him turned the blood in his head into a shrill ringing in his ears from oxygen debt. He would have to come up for air soon. The pain in his chest was almost ruling him when a blessedly darker shape crossed his eyes. Jill's arm struck Trevor's limp body about the same time Craig's did. They each grabbed a pale purple arm and bore the Australian hastily to the surface. The long trip up seemed to take an eternity and each moment that passed was a living hell for both the senior lifeguards as they ascended as fast as they could go. Was Cole dead? They saw no sign of motion in Trevor's limbs at all through the murk. The loud seawind's whine and the blinding white noon day sun immediately greeted Pomeroy as he broke the top. He shook stinging salt out of his eyes and he hyperventilated desperately to end his own frantic air hunger demand. Then he willed strength to drag Trevor up next to himself. Jill, just moments later, pulled both their red rescue cans close for their buoyant, supporting help. His trembling hands fouled on something cool and heavy around Trevor's neck as he rolled the man's unconscious face out of the water. "What th-?" Craig blurted out in surprise. A strange, intricate pearl and kelp necklace adorned his throat, not the fishing net or other sort of similar debris he had been expecting. ::This thing doesn't float at all.:: "Somebody had to have put this here." he coughed. "Might explain why he couldn't get out of the rip on his own or lift his head out." Jill was nonplussed, "Forget it for now. Is he breathing?" she said, pulling the odd glimmering jewelry away from the front of Trevor's neck and chest. They were heavy. The gold filagree chain they were woven into, was too well made for either of them to break or even lift free from their victim. Gasping with effort, she helped Craig tip Trevor's head back over one of their rescue floats so that they would get the clear airway they needed. Craig listened carefully by Trevor's mouth and was surprised that he didn't see any of the deep blue of suffocation on his lips. Seconds later, comforting breath's mist warmed his cheek and below, he felt good movement in Trevor's chest from the tight bearhug he had around him. "Yeah. He's... uh... he seems to be fine. He's just out, that's all. Weird.. He's not even aspirated. There's no water in his mouth." he said, looking up at Jill with utter surprise. "I don't get it. He was under for five minutes! He shouldn't be breathing,.. But he is.." He laughed in sheer amazement. "Are you sure?"Jill asked. "It's pretty wavy out here. Maybe the bumpy water's tricking you." and she stared hard at Trevor's mouth and chest trying to see what Craig could feel. She didn't trust the pulse she felt under her fingers to be one that wasn't in danger of fading away. "See for yourself. He's not even cyanotic." Craig shrugged and he waved unnecessarily for the launch's pickup approach. Jill did another kind of check and covered Trevor's mouth with hers while sealing off his nose with a pinch. Almost immediately she felt a resistance to a test puff of air she blew into his lungs. An exhalation from a breath already healthily drawn met her own going in, with a conflicting rush of pressure. Jill released Trevor's face and looked up, wide eyed in disbelief. Trevor WAS breathing easily, in no distress at all. Craig smiled and trilled the twilight zone theme spookily. "And the spectre of death shall have no power over any man who has no fear of the briny deep." Jill set her mouth in a firm line, "Oh, ha ha.. " she said dryly, "Let's get Aquaman here ashore. If air exchange isn't his problem, this cold water sure will be soon enough." -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Mitch and Matt and Roy met the launch as it ground to a halt on the beach. Mitch hardly looked at Trevor as he grabbed him under the arms, "We've got the resuscitation equipment laid out by the truck. If we hurry, we can--" "You won't need it. " Craig drawled. Mitch hesitated., shifting his grip as they carried Trevor over to a backboard waiting on the sand. Craig sounded more...bored than anything else. "What?" Mitch blinked. "He's breathing regularly like clockwork, Mitch. Only he's out like a light." The four of them eased Trevor onto his back and centered him on the long board. Mitch put an 0/2 mask over his face and secured an airway. He felt for a carotid pulse in Trevor's clammy neck even as Roy DeSoto started setting up a portable suction unit near his easy reach. It was there. Mitch looked up, his face full of question marks. "I've got a pulse?" "We can't understand it, either." Jill commented. Roy DeSoto, checking out Trevor's pupils for signs of hypoxia, sighed. "Maybe he was getting to the top longer than you expected." Matt hovered close, "How is he? I'm the one who spotted him. I got Jill a-and.." Mitch couldn't believe what his eyes were telling him. Here was a man who had been caught underwater for over four minutes. And he was still breathing... He shook his head, "I don't know.. I...he's...breathing just ...fine," he didn't meet Jill and Craig's triumphant conspiracy of smirks. "We'll have to wait until the rest of the paramedic gear gets here to be sure he's out of danger." Roy DeSoto saw Trevor was deeply unconscious but in good shape otherwise. He wasn't dyspneic even slightly and there was a new unnatural bright shade of red rising into his face and chest. :: Acute sunburn?:: he wondered. ::I wonder if he heat stroked out there.:: Mitch cleared his throat, meeting his lifeguards' eyes in all serious business. The anger rose up only then, "Just what the h*ll was he doing in the water?! Matt said that there was no one in the area who was in trouble!" Jill and Craig fought to keep straight faces. Craig spoke up, combing some fingers through his hair, "Beats the h*ll out of me.. Maybe there WAS someone else going down out there. I don't know. I sent the launch back out on another sweep just to make sure." Matt had noticed the strange necklace around Trevor's neck. He pulled it free and held it up and his mouth flopped open, "Will ya look at these?! They must be worth a fortune!" He pointed to an ornately marbled pearl that was the central piece, "Wow! This is a black pearl. Look at the size of it!" The pearl hardly fit into his hand. "That bauble isn't our concern right now." Mitch told him, "Trevor is. Now put that thing in the truck for safe keeping and go get a thermal blanket, will ya?" Matt blinked, "Oh, yeah, ..uh, right." He went. Mitch's walkie talkie crackled. It was the launch boat, ##Tower 34, this is Rescue One.## "Go ahead, Rescue." the lieutenant replied. ##Yeah, this is Kip here. Ahh, ...We've circled the perimeter of the rip, and...there's..no sign of another victim.## The voice sounded sad and uncomfortable. Mitch reassured him, "Kip, tell the guys that there was a good chance that this one was an error, that the club guard may have been ill, ok?" Kip was heartened, ##Will do. Returning to base.## Mitch wrapped up the run, "HQ, our man's ashore. Water sweep's clear. Recall all responding lifeguard units to base. Tower 34 out." Craig crossed his arms together, "So there goes that theory. If anyone had been in trouble, the patrol would've found them by now." He frowned, "Matt, what did Trevor see out there?" The teen had finished laying a foil blanket over his partner's still form, "A perfect ten." he answered. "Hmm?" Mitch queried. Matt clarified, " 'A gorgeous blonde.' " he said. I didn't see anyone except Mrs. Fishmeyer. And all of us know that Mrs. Fishmeyer is far from being blonde, or a perfect ten." The men laughed. Jill kicked Matt in the butt, "Cute, Matt, Th-that's real cute." she said sarcastically. Matt went on, ignoring Jill, " I figure he got a little too much sun. He was acting a little funny." "He ALWAYS acts a little funny." the rest said as one. Everyone exchanged surprised looks at their mutual outbursts echoed out of everyone else. Mitch shrugged off the jinxed moment, "Well how do you explain that strange necklace?" No one had an easy answer. Roy nodded for Mitch to move his body out of the way while he listened closely to Trevor's ribcage for breath sounds with a stethoscope from the O2 bag. "He's still clear. So far so--" Under Mitch's hands, Trevor began coughing and struggling wildly. The 0/2 mask went flying. It took all of them to hold him down. "Hey, hey. Hey." Craig yelled, "Just take it easy. You're out and on the beach." "NO!" Trevor screamed, "You don't understand! SHE'S out there. Y-You've got to get her out of there!! *gasp*" "Stop fighting us a second, Cole." Jill shouted firmly. Trevor quieted, rolling over onto his side to spit out some salt. "..oh.." he moaned. "Easy.." said Roy, helping him get it out. Everyone else, except Mitch, began talking all at once. The whole situation was a little too weird, even for the one who was supposed to have seen it all before. Mitch rubbed his face with a hand in irritated frustration, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute! Just.. Shhh!" he hissed. Everybody moused down. Silence reigned except for the waves and seabird cries. "Not you, Trevor! I want you to shed some light on this whole thing!" Trevor croaked meekly, "Well...what do you want to know?" he said, turning back over onto the board. Mitch let out all of his breath in one long, controlled sigh, "Trev,...WHO'S out there?" "A girl. My girl, uh..." he changed track. "A dreamy blonde. She was out there by the reef buoy.." Trevor answered dutifully. "Annnd?" Mitch encouraged with irritation. "A-and she wanted me to go out....." Mitch smiled, "That's better." Honey dripped from his voice. "....there." Trevor finished, pointing out to sea. "WHAT?!" Jill piped up, "Whoa. Whoa. Mitch, ....let me try." Jill was dubious. "Trevor, when we got to you, you were alone. The launch just confirmed it." Cole looked at all the faces riging around him one by one, "No way. No way!" his voice cracked. "Guys, I KNOW what I saw..." Jill stood, "Yeah? Right! This is probably just another stunt of yours trying to get me to start paying attention to you. Well, I've got news for you. It's not going to work. "Going out into that rip was really stupid, Trevor. You know that?" "Jill, keep it down." stage whispered Craig. "You're gathering a crowd." "We ALWAYS gather a crowd, or haven't you noticed?" she tossed back, acidly sweet. Mitch was determined to keep things civil, "Uh,.please don't..." he pleaded. Craig and Jill stopped. Inwardly, Mitch gawked. His two senior guards actually listened to him for once. Mitch could've gaped at them all day..but there was pressing business at hand. "Trevor,..from the top..." Trevor dropped his head, with a hollow clunk, back onto the long board, "I tell you, I saw her. There was something.. a big green fish or--... You see, ..there was this tail....a-and..." Craig speculated, "It was pretty choppy out there. It was hard to see much of anything, let alone fine detail. Perhaps one of your teenaged devotees was playing a practical joke on you..." "Good for her.." Jill quipped. "She almost managed to end your useless l-" "JILL!" Mitch roared. The blonde woman stifled into tolerable rumbles. By now, Trevor was nearly overcome with shaky exhaustion, "I tell you.. I-I never saw that girl before in my life!" Tears threatened to burst free, "She w-was so beautiful.." "Try and relax now." Roy DeSoto comforted, feeling Trevor's wrist for an updated pulse quality check. "Help is on the way. You'll feel much better if you don't try and move around too much." Trevor grabbed his arm, "So beautiful.. like a siren from Greek Mythology." Jill had had enough. She wasn't buying another minute of such b*llcr*p. "Oh for Pete's sake! You're not really going to BELIEVE him? Next, he'll probably tell us he saw a frickin' MERMAID!...I'm going to go wait for the ambulance until it comes. Call me if you need me." She stormed off. Mitch was muttled. He tried a different tact. "Listen, Trevor.. we all know how sometimes a skipped workout or forgetting to take in fluids can sometimes cause a cramp. So, why don't you just drop the charade and adm--" The distraught man nearly levitated, "I haven't missed a single morning's workout and I never, EVER go on duty without drinking PLENTY of water before, during, and after my working shift. Just ask Matt here!" Matt Brody smiled in unconvincing support. ::Uh oh.:: Craig thought. ::Mitch absolutely hates conversations like this.:: He decided to sit out the coming ringside rounds by putting away the 0/2 apparatus. Craig was securing the last strap in its housing when something glittered into the corner of his eye from the sand at the waterline. Curious, he strode down to the hard pack and scooped up the object before the next wave scurried it away. Mitch and Trevor were still at it when he sauntered back over to them. Roy gamely got a blood pressure off of the downed lifeguard despite all the noise. He chose to keep out of the conversation wisely. "All right, already!" the shaken Australian shouted. "Perhaps the sun WAS a little too warm today. Perhaps I didn't see anything. Perhaps.... I was hallucinating! But I tell you, it was the most realistic hallucination I've ever seen. I mean, I could HEAR her, smell her perfume.." Mitch narrowed his eyes, shrugged, and mulled over it, licking dry lips. Finally he said, "You'd be surprised by what sunstroke can lead you to believe.." Trevor was incredulous, "Sunstroke? Sunstr--?!" he broke off, miffed. "All right, have it your way, guys. I didn't..see..a thing. To Jill, I was playing up to her. To you Mitch, I had a cramp brought on by too much sun! Ok. Fine! I didn't see ANYTHING real at ALL!" Trevor let his head fall back, ( Matt missed catching it) with a heavy clunk (Roy winced) and folded his arms crossly. "Then how do you explain this?" a voice interjected. It was Craig. He tossed the object he had found onto Trevor's chest. It was an exquisite ivory comb encrusted with what could only be myriads of emeralds, rubies and more of those eerie black pearls. The group was stunned. Trevor stuttered. "Q-Quit joking with me, guys. This isn't funny." "Well, neither is this!" Matt said flinging the intricate pearl and seaweed shell necklace to Cole. "We found THAT, around your neck." Trevor paled at the heavy weight and undeniable reality of the crusting jewels held in this hands. Mitch extricated the delicate comb from Trevor's numb fingers. He gave a low whistle of appreciation. "This has got to be worth millions..Craig, I think we should give Garner Ellerbe and Vince Howard a call." "Yeah.." he entoned, slinking off to the Venice Beach skate path to do the errand. Trevor laid back down again, "I-I-I don't feel well all of the sudden. uh...This isn't happening to me." and he started shivering even as his rich tan washed into transparency. Mitch pulled the blanket more snugly around Trevor's shoulders, "Whoops, it's shock closing the gap. Don't fret, mate." he soothed. "Maybe that girl you saw WAS a mermaid." He laughed heartily as he replaced the fallen resuscitator mask back onto Trevor's face. Trevor Cole didn't smile. For once, Trevor Cole had nothing to say. Roy DeSoto picked up his radio and notified Sid in dispatch of the vital signs he had taken and asked for the ETA of the ambulance coming to the beach tarmack parking lot near their lifeguard tower. "Baywatch, I've a male, around 24 years of age. Submersion blackout, now conscious with possible associated sun poisoning. Vitals signs are : BP 90/54, Pulse 120. Respirations are normal at 16 on ten liters of O2. Notify the attendants that we may need cooling measures." ##Copy, Baywatch 7. Relaying to Malibu General Dispatch.## -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Photo: Craig Pomeroy swimming. Photo: Jill Riley running with a rescue can. Photo : Jill searching underwater for a victim. Photo : Mitch on a close rescue on the sand. Photo: Roy DeSoto, on the beach. Photo: Matt Brody, spotting trouble. Photo: Trevor Cole, choking on the beach. Photo: A mermaid girl. Photo : A lifeguard huddle giving beach care, aerial shot. **************************************************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Sun Feb 13, 2005 5:36 pm Subject: Something Fishy.. Hobie was free. It was Saturday; he didn't have to worry about anything at all. No chores, no junior lifeguards,.. nothing except the smooth ribbon of concrete weaving under his lime green roller blades. And about his two new buddies, who were an infuriating fifteen feet in front of him, "Chris! Carly! No fair ducking underneath couple's arms. We race the straight way, up the middle!" Hobie sucked in the wind between his teeth and skated like mad down the asphalt path after his two friends. Carly laughed, doing a 360 around a bikini clad, walkman infested jogger, "What's the matter Hobie? Getting old? Let's go!" "Yeah!" Chris DeSoto echoed, "Hurry up or we'll miss her!" "Miss who?" Hobie wheezed as the three of them hit the top landing of the Fifth Street stairs starting the descent down to the beach sand dunes below. They vaulted over the edge.... "AhhhHHHHHH!!!" Their three kid voices sang in terrified treble. Plastic wheels vibrated down the stone steps, threatening to rattle the neon helmets off of their heads. Rocketing momentum carried the trio bladers down and across the sidewalk flats at the bottom, startling a mob of frisbee players collected along the ocean wall, "Hey, look out!" one of them yelled, "What are ya doing? Trying to kill someone?!" Hobie sliced up the sharp curve with ease, "That's the idea, mister.." "Yeahhh!" Carly hooted. "You guys are only worth ten points, though." Chris added. "How come only ten?" a blonde stud asked. Chris howled, "Because you look like a Neanderthal, man. My dad's got better lookin legs than you do." "Why you--!!" The brown-headed boy easily dodged a low flying beer can. Hobie smirked. He was pulling ahead, "Come on you slackers! Get the lead out!!" The seabirds were getting louder by the second now. Hobie looked down the path in eager anticipation. Deadman's Curve lay ahead and he knew he was going too fast... He couldn't help it, a blood curdling scream got out, "OhhhHHH SHHIIIII---------!" Fortunately, his skates banked the sharp left through no volition of their own. Hobie felt his right skate clip the leaves off an overgrown border hedge inches away from the retaining wall's steep drop off. He opened his eyes and was amazed to find that he was still alive. Buoyed, Hobie surged ahead. "Ha!" he thought, "Now I'll show them. It's time for the grand finale." A second flight of stairs neared. Hobie swiveled, backwards, "Top this, dudes!" he challenged. He was airborne. Chris and Carly gaped as their friend spun once, high in the air. Hobie landed neatly at the bottom. Still grinning, the blonde boy smiled at his own tenacity. He saw that his two pals had chickened out at the last minute, buzzing the stairs nose forward. Hobie Buchannon crowed, "Scud wads! I'm champion of the world!" Hobie turned ahead, pleased with his success, when the sidewalk ran out. He had a brief impression of tan sand and blue sky. Twice. Then he hit like a ballistic brick. A huge plume of granite crystals sprayed high into the air. And down in a powdered arch of golden color.. Two teenagers sat up from their towels with a cry, their piled backs festooned in earthen khaki sparkles. "Bummer, man." Carly called from the safety of the landing. Chris squeaked in mirth, unable to talk. Hobie was further humiliated when two highschool aged girls rushed up to him, "Oh!" they fluttered, "Are you ok, little boy?" Hobie sat up, spitting out sand, "Yeah," he said holding up his detached red helmet, "Saved by five pounds of fiberglass." Hobie faked a moan. The girls huddled in closer. "Do me a favor, huh? Would ya kiss my owie?" he pointed to a scraped knee. His would be rescuers straightened, "We're not that stupid. Don't press your luck, kid. Why don't you flag down that more attractive lifeguard over there?" They jogged off. Hobie looked toward the nearest tower with brightening eyes, "Hey, yeah, I never thought of that ang--" A huge Arnold Swartzenegger type was assessing Hobie's status through his binoculars. Hobie shot to his feet and waved his healthiest hand vigorously. The lifeguard turned away. Carly and Chris died on the sand, "Crashed and burned!" "Strung and hung!" "Shut up!" Hobie scowled. "Ooo, we're quaking." Chris teased. Carly looked up from the skate she was unlacing, "Are you two snagwads finished yet? Look, uh, Hobie, when you're done feeling sorry for yourself, she's right over there." Hobie chucked off his last skate, "Where?" "Over by the jetty, man. You blind?" Carly was already light years ahead of the two of them, stepping over the rocks at the foot of the jetty. She began gesticulately wildly, "There she is! Come on you guys!!" Hobie stood, but he didn't move. "What's the matter, Hobe?" Chris asked. "I-I can't go out there.." "Why not?" "It's too dangerous." "Awww, who says?" "My dad does. He says the rocks are loose out there. You could fall in." "Oh," Chris huffed, an irate hand on a hip, "And for that we're just supposed to forget the whole thing? Not me. Suit yourself." The irish boy lugged his skates onto a shoulder and took off for the jetty. Hobie fidgetted. If he was spotted on the jetty by the lifeguard, his dad would probably find out about it. Most likely, he'd be grounded for a whole month! But he really wanted to know who "she" was.... Gingerly, Hobie looked up and down the beach. He saw that his lifeguard sentinel had gone into the water for a workout. And there were no beach patrol trucks in sight... Maybe if he was only out there for a minute.. then immediately back again.. Hobie made up his mind, and ran after his friends. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Garner was eating lunch. A huge chili dog and onions, insisted on spilling all over his shoes. He groaned, trying in vain to stuff two thirs of it into his mouth as he walked the beach. A seabird dove low at his face."Akk! Get away!" Garner only succeeded in losing even more cheese onto his shirt, "Ah, wonderful. Just.." He heard the sound of truck tires behind him. He turned. It was Craig Pomeroy on pier patrol. With him was Vince Howard. The slender lifeguard grinned in recognition. "Hi, Garner. How's it hangin'?" His eyes flickered to the mess running down the policeman's shirt. "Very funny. Did you see that? I nearly lost an eye to one of those d*mned seagulls!" Craig shrugged, "Well, you are eating on their beach.. and you do look well fed and kinda slow." Garner stopped chewing. "What does that supposed to mean?" "Good pickings. You were easy to steal from." Vince Howard stifled a chuckle. "A paramedic friend of mine considers them just as foul feathered as you do." "Glad somebody shares the sentiment. They're an absolute menace! They should trade places with the Passenger Pigeons, man, and become extinct!" A commotion drew away their attention. They heard thrashing inside some bushes from behind a retaining wall in one of the beach front backyards. It was followed by furious watch dog growls and sounds of struggle. There was a hollow thud, and suddenly, the frantic barking ending in a keening whine and silence. Garner instinctively ducked behind Craig's truck. He opened the passenger side door, keeping low, "Something definitely odd's going on over there." Vince drew out his gun and set it muzzle forward onto the dash board, leaving the safety on. "Let's get under some cover." Craig nodded, waiting for Garner to get inside of the cab. Then he drove the yellow truck into the shadows beneath some low fronded palm trees a short distance away from the beseiged house. They all froze as a wooden slated crate dropped right in from of the truck's bumper. Two black trousered legs inched down the wall and a unmasked robber dropped onto the beach sand. The figure's eyes were so intent on the beach crowds that he never noticed the beach truck behind him. Hands picked up the crate and the prowler started creeping down the fence line. Garner motioned Craig to sink down into his seat. Then he too, drew out his gun. "Freeze, mister! Police!" The intruder whirled and saw Garner shielded behind one truck door, Vince behind he other, and the wink of two badges. He ran out into the bright sunlight. Garner flew out of the truck, "He's unarmed! Call it in!" he shouted after putting his gun away. Ellerbee took off after him, motoring powerfully. "Halt! Or I'll shoot!" he said anyway. Vince followed him close on his heels, holstering his weapon as well. The robber ignored him, gaining speed in spite of having the heavy crate in his arms. "Aww, man." This was just what Garner hated. An unknown assailant loose in crowds of innocent people. He forced himself to go faster. "What's the problem?!" Vince shouted to him as they ran side by side together in chasing pursuit. "A far too common tactic. He's trying to ditch us in the crowd!" Craig saw them chase onto the sand along the water. He grabbed the C.B mic, "Baywatch! This is Pomeroy! I'm just shy of the seventh street cul de saac. Garner and Vince are in pursuit of a man in a black jump suit. It looks like a robbery in progress. A pet dog was probably killed. Roll police jeeps my way on the double! The suspect's heading north." "10-4, Craig, " Sid answered, "They're on the way." Craig spun tires as he went after them. He didn't know what to do except be a visual reference for the coming police units. He followed the chase a short distance away, clearing the beach with his lights and siren. Beach flockers fled to either side of the activity with startled cries. Garner felt more confident with each passing second. So far, the robber either had no other weapon, or he wasn't planning on using it. And the man didn't appear to be in the greatest of physical shape either. The intruder stumbled and grabbed a child. He hurled him into Garner with one arm, holding tightly to the crate with the other. Garner caught the screaming little one and absorbed the impact by rolling with him onto the sand. He sat up cradling the boy's head, checking him over, "You're ok, son." Garner ferociously waved Craig on ahead to intercept the burglar. "He's ok. He's ok! Craig! Vince! Go on!" When Craig saw the tiny boy go down, something inside of him snapped. "..No.." The he saw Garner wave that the child was uninjured and to stay on the man. He did so, literally. He cranked the sirens to full volume and sped inches away from the man's heels... Garner was left behind. Vince jumped onto the landing of the lifeguard truck, hanging on by the mirror so Craig could get him closer. "Get me closer! I'll try to tackle him!" Up ahead, breathing hard, the running crook saw the red flashing lights up the beach from the other responding police units coming toward him from the north. He swerved away from the ocean, making for the pedestrian tunnel. "Oh, no you don't!" Craig cut him off and the robber's hip bounced glancingly off the truck's fender. It was time to end this chase, once and for all... "Hang on Vince, I'm about to try something.." he warned the Los Angeles County cop, clinging like a leech, to his passenger door. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hobie negotiated the last of the salty stones at the end of the jetty. "There she is!" Carly called in triumph. Hobie couldn't believe his eyes. A small, gray dolphin frolicked in the water. Her body was fully covered with steel blue freckles from nose to tail and a light pink flushed her belly. She was quite near the humans, chuckling merrily. "Close your mouth, Hobe, or you'll gather fruit flies." Chris quipped. "Huh? I wonder if she's tame." "Of course she is, Dumbo. Why else would a dolphin like to follow people?" Carly smiled. "When we left her this morning, she hung around by us all the way back to the beach." "She followed you?" "Sure. Watch!" Carly and Chris started down by the water's edge to aleadge traversing the length of the manmade jetty. It's width was very narrow. "Be careful you guys." Hobie cautioned, as a wave sprayed them all in a cloudy mist. "We will." Carly said, "But you're going to have to come with us or she won't go along." Reluctantly, Hobie jumped down to theleadge, clinging to the back wall like glue. The waves made him dizzy. "Come on!!" His friends yelled over the sea's crashing din. Hobie went. Deep inside, he was thrilling at the nearness of the cavorting animal. She seemed to stick closest to him, chattering to herself all the while. They made it to the pathway at the foot of the jetty near the concession stands in three minutes. "Whew," Carly sighed, "I'm thirsty. Let's go get something to drink." "Yeah!" Chris cheered. Hobie stopped them with a hand, "Wait a minute." he beamed. "I've got a great idea!" "What?" came two echoes. "Let's go get some fish to feed Suzy." "Why did you name her that?" Chris asked. "Because I liked it. Well, how about it?" His two buddies agreed, "Let's do it." They ran around the concession stand to the bait shop behind it. The three children had barely enough money to buy fifty small mackerels in a styrofoam bucket. "Must be a good day for fishing, eh, kids?" the baitman laughed, "Gonna catch a big one for sure?" "We already have." Chris said seriously. "Oh, yeah? How big?" All three of them stretchd out their arms as wide as they could reach. "Bigger than THIS!" the blonde haired Carly claimed, as they ran away excitedly. "Yeah, sure." the fat man mumbled as he turned back to his work, "Everybody's a storyteller these days." Hobie and his friends had a wonderful time feeding Suzy. They were so absorbed in their task, that they failed to notice a shadowy figure sheltering under the concession stand eaves. The figure spoke. "She's being a pig, guys, but I'd go easy on the mackerel. She might get a sore stomach if she overeats." The children whirled about. The dolphin started a happy chorus and began leaping in huge archs over and over again in a noisy spectacle. Hobie couldn't figure that out. Suzy wasn't acting that way before the woman came, "Boy, she really seems to know you.." he exclaimed. The seated woman smiled and began braiding her long blonde hair, "Coincidence, I'm sure. See the ripples next to the sea wall? The dolphin's spotted a school of scalpin there. That's why she's excited." Carly and Chris were a shy act and stayed by the dolphin. Hobie went nearer to the skinny lady. Only then did Hobie see that she was confined to a wheelchair. He didn't ask about it. "What's your name? I'm Hobie Buchannon." "That's a solid sounding name. Glad to meet you, Hobie. I'm Cory Davison." "Hi. The two rude ones over there are Carly and Chris." "I know. Carly and I are very acquainted with each other." Hobie went on eagerly, not really hearing what Cory had just said. "They're the ones who found Suzy..." The small woman frowned, "Su- Suzy?" "Yeah, the dolphin. I named her." Hobie clarified. "That's not her name." Cory said softly. Hobie didn't quite catch what she said, "Pardon me?" "Oh, nothing." Hobie smiled politely and went back to his friends. Chris poked him in the ribs with a discreet elbow, "She's a little on the weird side, wouldn't you say?" "Her?!" Hobie asked, jerking his head over to Cory. Chris nodded. "Nah,..she's just a little preoccupied, that's all." said Hobie. "Something's made her very very sad, I think." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************************* From: Sam Iam Date: Wed Feb 16, 2005 11:00 am Subject: A Story To Tell.. Craig decided to get the man into his element. He pulled hard on the beach truck's wheel to the left, forcing the fugitive to either head for the water or get run over by two tons of Chevy truck. A high wave tripped the robber, making him drop his precious load. Pounds of jewels and museum artifacts poured out onto the sand and kelp piles. Craig's eyebrows rose, "Just look at that, will you?" he mumbled to Vince as dozens of beachgoers scooped up the glittering booty in greedy handfuls. Two black and whites burst into the circle of looters, "Don't move an inch, people!" The arrival of the police jeeps froze everyone in their tracks. The treasure hit the sand musically as people abandoned their finds. Vince and Craig and a third police unit stayed on the thief's trail, keeping track of the man's whereabouts even through the ensuing hubbub of the excited crowds. Craig timed the waves and drove the truck as far onto the hard pack as he dared. Quite suddenly, the man dove directly into the sea, heading out. "Got you!" Craig said as he screeched to a halt, flicking off the siren. He stepped out of the truck but kept the rover's lights flashing brightly for Baywatch backup to see from the tower. Garner caught up with them, puffing badly, "He's getting away..." Craig just smiled. "Not in those clothes he isn't." he sighed in effected boredom, "Shall I go get him?" he asked, putting on the elastic band of his rescue can, "You're too tired to go for a swim." "Ha. Ha. Just be careful. He may have a knife or something." Garner said. Vince, just stood there, laughing. "I get it. He's as good as sunk. Literally." "You guessed it." said Craig. "I'll be right back." Pomeroy went in, neatly diving under the huge waves. The man in black, on the other hand, was taking the full force of each wave into his face. The man sputtered, feeling the pull of his weighted clothing , trying to bear him down. Craig noticed his troubles. "Hey mister!" he shouted across the twenty feet separating them. "You're gonna haveta kick off your boots and pants soon, or you're not gonna make it." The robber coughed, "I'm doing * choke* fine.. Just stay away, ok?" "Look, uh, sir, either you can come back to the beach now or I'll get you after you sink in a few minutes." "Just shut up, lifeboy. I'm trying to concentrate here." Craig shrugged amicably, "Suit yourself.." He waited patiently, floating easily on his can. The exhausted robber took in a mouthful of seawater and nearly lost his fight to remain at the surface. Craig hovered near, pushing his float towards the man, "I think you oughta take this now. You get any more water into your lungs, and you'll end up getting pneumonia for sure." "I said shut up!" He lunged for Craig, who neatly pinned him in a shoulder tow grip. The robber was effectively immobilized. All the fight went out of the man and he went limp, out cold, from emotional stress. Craig kept the man's head out of the water as he swam him to shore, "Why do you thief guys always do this the hard way? You can't win." He tightened his grip, "Hang on, we're almost there." he said out of pity into the man's ear. On the beach, a second lifeguard team had seen Craig begin his game of wait and fetch and was now set with a warm blanket for the comatose crook. Johnny Gage was with them, standing over medical gear. Craig couldn't help but snicker at his leisurely accomplishment. He would be sure to not let Garner hear the end of it any time soon. The lifeguard looked down and felt a surge of compassion for his victim. "I wonder what drove you to steal that stuff?" On the hot sands, Garner Ellerbe wasn't so nuturing, he just itched to slap on a pair of solid steel handcuffs around his quarry's wrists. "Did ya have ta hurt him at all?" he asked Craig, pausing before he even touched the robber's limp hands. "Nah, he fainted before any blows were needed." Craig answered. "Go ahead and restrain him." "Simple syncope?" Johnny Gage asked Craig, waiting for the cops with him to search the man for hidden weapons or more jewels from the museum crate. "Most likely. His pulse's real regular. But he might be a bit bubbly. He was breathing in water more than he was hurtling threats. I'd say a mouthful or two got in." On cue, the man woke up, rolled over, and promptly puked on the sand. Gage scrambled backwards a few feet and moved to the man's other side to take a blood pressure. He grinned, "Sir, never ever swim on a full stomach. It'll always come back and bite ya. Didn't your mother ever tell you that?" His next question to the groaning crook was straight to the point, "How are ya doing?" "Just peachy.. thanks. I want my lawyer. Now!" he gagged. "You'll get one, mister, have no doubt of that. Can you tell us your name?" asked Vince. The robber buried his cheek in the dry sand, trying to rub some of the wet sand off his mouth and lips. "I've a right to remain silent.. I've a...*cough* right to an attorney. Anything I say can and will be used against me in a--" "..court of law. Yeah, yeah. Ok, Johnny, you can go ahead with that oxygen.." said Vince. "I'll get his I.D. from the wallet they just found in the yard next to the home owner's.. *he winked at the others*..dead dog." he said listening to his radio. "That mutt's not dead!" came the robber's muffled angry reply. "I only tranquilized him with a dart gun." he spat through his oxygen mask. Vince crouched down near the man's head. "Thanks for the confession, bud. Let's see, evading arrest, assault of a minor, and now ARMED robbery added as an upgrade." he said, writing into his report book with a delighted flourish. "Keep it coming, mac. Honesty's real good for the soul." The robber clammed up, gritting his teeth hard for flapping his gums too much. Vince went on, "Craig, they doubly tied up the dog. According to a neighbor, he's a watch dog tracker, who might decide to come after a few pieces of this guy as pay back." "That's fair enough justice in my book. Turn him loose!" Garner said sharply, smiling hard. Then he guffawed loud and long to beat the band. "I recognized the crate, boys. I ran by it where it was sitting on the hood of a police jeep, while getting that kid back to his mother. It's from the La Jolla Museum's Atlantis exhibit. Those artifacts were on our photo briefing board at HQ as merchandise to watch out for on the black market and in Venice Beach pawn shops." "No kidding. Anything missing?" Vince asked him. "Don't know yet. My boys are going over the sand with metal detectors right now. We'll check that house out later, too, for any more stolen items." Garner replied. Gage cared for the man until the next set of paramedics on the arriving street ambulance took over. "Simple faint. Mild seawater ingestion. Elevated BP. Negative on cardiac symptoms. The O2's precautionary for the syncope.." he reported. Then he stepped back and the robber was carted off. After the rig's sirens had died away, he turned to Garner, smiling, "Any bet on your lunch still being intact on top of that picnic table? I saw the birds harrassing you from the watch tower." "You fellas were watching me?" grumbled Garner, trying to be happy. "What else were we supposed to do? We're firemen trying to learn about your trade. Of course we were watching you, we're supposed to be acting like lifeguards, remember?" Garner wasn't pleased that anyone saw the reason why his chili spilled down the front of his shirt so he said nothing, concentrating instead on getting the sand out of his shoes, socks and shorts by brushing his hands over them and much body shaking. Craig crossed his arms over his chest and just waited for the outcome of the current conversation. This was deep into Garner pet peeve territory. ::If Jill Riley were here, she'd think this was funny as h*ll.:: The Los Angeles County firefighter paramedic stopped needling Garner immediately and surprisingly turned politely accommodating. "Tell you what. Let Vince and I buy you a replacement lunch. We've learned more about beach policing today than we're ever gonna learn at our convention. Maybe you and Craig here can share a few more beach tricks of the trade. Like that herding stunt both of you used to end the chase. Chet Kelly was literally rolling on the floor because he was laughing so hard at the sheer simplicity of it." Johnny smiled. "You should've heard him. The lifeguards thought he was having a down and out coronary." he chuckled. Craig Pomeroy blinked in utter astonishment when Garner Ellerbe took them up on the offer, chattering animatedly. "O.k. Done. Who's this Chet Kelly fellow?" "Uhh, you'll like him. Needles worse than I do and he's a master prankster. And he really looks up to authority figures. Cap makes him cower all the time." Johnny related. "I tell you, he'll be the perfect listening audience for all your stories, Sergeant Ellerbe." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. *************************************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Wed Feb 16, 2005 12:30 pm Subject: Girl Talk and Guy Talk It was busy in the breakroom. Two radios were going at the same time. Most of the male lifeguards were clustered around the coffee machine, listening to the Oakland A's game and they were getting louder by the second. Shauni McLane turned up the volume on her own radio. It was a news update on the status of the escaped dolphin last seen around Crystal Pier. ##...........Coast Guard officials lost the marine mammal when the animal disappeared into a coral cove too shallow for the capturing clipper vessel to continue following. ## "Yeyy! She got away!" Shauni celebrated. Jill looked up from her Smithsonian magazine, "Hmm?" "The released dolphin some crazy guys let go from the Naval Institute. It's still free.." "Oh, oh. oh. ok." Jill sniffed, figuring it out. "It's a shame it won't live for long." "Won't live f-- Jill, what do you mean?" Shauni asked. Jill chewed on her reading glasses, "Think about it. All this creature has known is the confines of an eighty by three hundred foot tank. There, it knew no sharks, or fishing nets, or even the reality of a large, open area. The sheer size of the sea has got to be overwhelming to the poor thing. Yeah, I'd say the odds are stacked against him." "Her." Shauni corrected, clearly becoming distraught at her friend's speculations. "Whatever. Shauni, it sounds like this is really getting to you. Maybe you should stop listening to all the new flashes until things settle down." Shauni sat a little straighter in her chair, "I don't think I'm over reacting. It's just that dolphins are ...so....cute.." Jill stifled the broad smile threatening to surface, "Uh, huh. And.. you want to know what uses the Navy might have planned for her in case she ends up back at the Institute?" "Well, that thought did cross my mind." Shauni admitted. Jill relaxed into her seat, once again amazed at people's curiosity over dolphins. --------------- As a graduate student, Jill Riley had once been as attracted to them. In fact, Jill had spent four years on an exploration vessel traveling the world, filming the friendly animals. And she had past up one or two marriage proposals because of her rich devotion to her work. Jill liked to think that those failed relationships hadn't effected her; she was wrong. Eventually, Jill linked up with a biology professor at the University of San Diego as a teaching assistant. One day, Dr. Croft and she were in his office, grading papers, when he suddenly collapsed from a massive heart attack. Jill was horrified. She didn't know what to do for him. She had never taken a first aid class in her life. It took only two minutes for CPR trained people to arrive but nothing seemed to help. Dr. Croft was pronounced dead at the hospital. Jill never forgot that day. She felt herself entirely at fault. She couldn't stop thinking that somehow, her own ineptness could have possibly contributed to her mentor's early death. She abandoned her job at the college and enrolled herself into every first aid class she could find, vowing never to be caught unprepared in such a situation ever again. Her new schooling took her into the budding paramedical field with Karen, the first female paramedic in Los Angeles, and then onto beach lifeguarding. That had been seven years ago; but she never forgot her time with the dolphins. They were always going to be a part of her, like Professor Croft had once been. ------------------------------------- Jill Riley smiled at her young friend, "Uses for dolphins,.. oh, let me see now." She met Shauni's gaze with a reluctant look, "What do you want first? The good news or the bad news?" "Give it to me straight, " Shauni breathed, "I can't stand it." "Well, ... the navy has been known to...strap bombs on their backs..and--" Shauni sucked in her breath, "Ooo, they don't!" she fervently wished. Jill bit her lip, nodding. "Yeah, they do. I once saw some photographs from Pig's Bay, Cuba, where a dolphin took out a passenger ferry liner accidently instead of his target dummy boat. I mean, there was absolutely nothing lef--" she broke off. "I'm sorry, you didn't want to hear that." Jill frowned. Shauni held up her hands in supplication. "No, no. It's all right. I asked for it." She took a huge gulp of her coffee and grimaced; it was cold. Jill was at a loss for words. She opted to remain silent. Shauni frowned in a sudden thought, "How can our government let this stuff go on? It IS still going on, right?" she answered her own question, "It HAS to be or why else would the Institute be so secretive and their training programs for dolphins.. There's got to be a reason why those activists have been causing trouble over there for so long... Man, there's got to be an easier way than using animals for military research and development." Eddie Kramer came walking by with a bag of popcorn. He had overheard part of their conversation. He held out the rare snack. "Found a packet that no one else knew about.. Want some?" Jill dug in eagerly. Eddie noticed Shauni's unusual lack of interest in the buttered morsels, "Shauni?" She didn't hear him, eyes growing full and moist. Jill spoke up around a crumbly mouthful. "She's worried about the dolphin." "Oh, " Eddie nodded. He turned to his fiancee and hugged her from behind, waving the steaming bag under her trembling chin. "MMm, don't these look good?" he snatched up a few and held them to her mouth, "Come on, eat me." he said in a tiny cartoon voice, pleading in baby talk, "Eat me, Shauni, plleassse..." Shauni's face showed a whisper of a grin. "There you go, " Eddie said in a normal tone, "Got one out of you that time. I love your smiles. I never get sick of them. Come on, quit worrying about poor ol' Flipper. She'll soon be safe at home." "At home just in time to be a living bomb!" Shauni countered. Eddie scratched his head in confusion, his attention was already half back onto the Oakland game, "Shauni, don't make such a big deal out of all this. Some animals.. are... are just meant to serve man." Shauni scoffed, eyes blazing. "As pieces of meat to torture and maim all for the sake of science?" Eddie covered his mouth in horror. ::Oh, boy.:: he thought. ::Now, I really opened up a can of worms.:: He tried to reiterate, "I didn't mean that. I-I- I'm just as opposed to rabbits and mice being used to test new make up products as ..as..as you are." He smiled at his own reasoning ability, "And I'm sure that there are plenty of roles that dolphins fill that are good, too. Am I right, Jill?" The blonde woman looked up from a volley ball game on TV, "Hmm? Oh, yeah, uh, plenty. The Navy had a dolphin in the sixties, named Tuffy, who was actually a deep sea "lifeguard" of sorts. He used to carry a rescue line to divers who became lost in the murk around a sea station and showed them the way back to Sea Lab in just a few minutes. Tuffy was creditted for saving twelve lives." Shauni brightened measurably. "Really?" she sniffed. Jill nodded vigorously. "Absolutely." "Maybe that's what our dolphin does and maybe that's why they want her back so badly. Cause she's so valuable." "Could be. Could be." Jill touted, happy that Shauni was perking up. Shaui began eating what was left of Eddie's popcorn. She got a far away look in her eyes. "Yeah, that's what she does. She saves lives. Just like me.." Sitting behind her, Eddie got a little too enthusiastic over the game. "Way to go, team! What a way to blow them to smithereens!!" Shauni's smile paled into a shocked look and she erupted into tearful, sobbing keens. Jill slugged Eddie with her magazine, "Way to go Mr. Psychology, now you've REALLY cheered her up a whole bunch!" Eddie regarded his co-workers with a genuine dismay and he promptly enveloped Shauni in a deep hug, stroking her hair and murmuring reassurances. "What?! What did I say now? Shh, baby. Easy. Don't cry. You know I hate it whenever you do that." "It's the old social foot in the mouth again, Shauni, so give him some slack. Guys are completely clueless to that genetic blunder because a little of their gray matter was sacrificed solely for the inclusion of more muscles. They know not what they do." Jill sighed, in whispered confidentiality to her young rookie lifeguard. Shauni laughed and nodded, reaching for a kleenix. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. *************************************************************** From: "Clairissa Fox" Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 07:53:06 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Shirt Trick... Shauni had made it back to Tower 34 just in the nick of time. It was three o'clock on the nose. Eddie had gone on patrol and had left her alone for a short time. She glassed the water with a practiced sweep. The rip current had died to harmless swirls. The alert, was over. It was easy to relax. Even the swimmers sensed the sea had become calmer, for they laughed and splashed louder than ever among the tide's incoming waves. Shauni scanned for trouble spots and looked to the slate stone jetty in a routine check. She delighted in what she saw. The errant dolphin was there spouting streams onto three kids at the jetty's foot. A woman in a wheelchair was with them but she remained well away from the edge of the steep rock piles. Shauni noticed that one of the boys was Mitch Buchannon's son, who wasn't supposed to be out by that part of the beach. Shauni shrugged, she didn't know why Hobie wasn't allowed to hand around the jetty neighborhood. He was playing it safe enough by staying on the cement causeway. The blonde lifeguard put on her sunglasses and refocused her attention back to the shallows in front of her tower. She made a mental note to ask Hobie how much fun it was to play with and feed a tamed dolphin. She couldn't help but feel a little envious. ::Oh, well.:: she thought. ::There'll be time for that later.:: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They had run out of fish from their third bucket. Hobie felt that Cory had enjoyed feeding the dolphin more than the rest of them put together. Suzy acted differently towards her. Between mackerels, she always returned to a certain spot, just touching Cory's outstretched hand with her head, before racing off again after a tossed fish. It made him feel a little jealous. Chris and Carly had already become bored and had left for Baywatch HQ. He considered doing the same thing. "Wait a minute. Want to see something neat?" Cory asked him. "Yeah, sure." Cory looked around in her hand bag, not finding something, "I wanted to show you a trick that all dolphins can do with a little encouragement. I need something to wrap up one of these rocks down here by my feet." "You mean this rock?" Hobie asked as he hefted a grapefruit sized chunk of stone. "Umm. Hmm. " she accepted the boulder. Her grip was surprisingly strong, "Yep. Now I need a piece of cloth to put this in. Find me a scrap, and I'll show you something that'll knock your socks off." Unceremoniously, Hobie peeled off his shirt and presented it to his new friend. Cory blinked, "I can't use this. It's going to get wet." "That's ok, I can always dry it when I skate back home again for dinner." "All right." The crippled woman bound the stone within Hobie's red striped shirt. When she was through, she tossed the stone into the water beside the dolphin. "Now," she breathed. "Raise an arm over your head and pretend that you're throwing a baseball. Then tell Suzie to fetch the toy. She'll do it." Hobie was skeptical. He couldn't even believe he handed over his favorite shirt. He figured it was gone for good, so he had nothing further to lose by humoring her and doing what she asked, "Fetch, Suzie! Fetch the toy!" He swung an arm out over the water. Unseen, Cory put something to her mouth and blew. The dolphin moved. And dove deep, disappearing for several seconds. The sodden mass flipped out to land by Hobie's feet. The dolphin chattered happily. "Wow! How did she do that?" Hobie said, retrieving his soaking shirt. "Dolphins are really intelligent animals. Rather like a family dog." Cory replied. "But dogs have to be TRAINED to do tricks." Hobie insisted. "You've forgotten. Koko is tame." Hobie spent a minute wringing out his shirt. "I know SHE is, but ..what I want to know is h--?" A scuffle of thongs on pavement broke his concentration. It was Eddie Kramer, "I see you found the little daredevil everybody's been looking for. She gave the Coast Guard boys quite a chase." Hobie looked up and grinned, "Yeah.. Cory here says th--" "Who?" Hobie looked around. Cory Davison was gone. "She was here a minute ago." Eddie fixed Hobie with an all business glower, "Uh, huh, and your shirt just happened to blow into the water way over here by the jetty on its own while you were just roller blading." "Well, ..ah,...no." "I'm waiting, then how did it get wet?" "The dolphin fetched it for me. She's real smart! Er,.. That woman, er, who's gone, ..wrapped my shirt up around a stone and.." Eddie was unmoved, "Sounds like a line to me..." "No, really! It's the truth!" "Hobie..." he warned. Hobie shut up. "I thought you were supposed to be a junior lifeguard. You know the dangers out here by the jetty better than anybody. Your dad isn't going to like this." The remorseful boy looked at his stocking feet. "So you're going to tell him?" "Maybe," Eddie said, hefting his can onto a shoulder, "Maybe not." Hobie looked up, a desperate hope in his eyes, "You mean?" Eddie interrupted him, "Provided that you are out of here in five seconds. I'm counting.. one,.....two...." Hobie scooped up his skates and made tracks, "I'm gone. Bye, Eddie." The boy disappeared instantly. Eddie shook his head ruefully, "Kids today; they'll do anything." He turned toward the sea and was greeted by a treble warble. He crouched down, "Hey ya, girl. Are you going to cause trouble for me?" The dolphin chirped companionably. Eddie smiled. "Yeah, well, I think I'll stick around for a little while." His instincts were right on. It wasn't too long before he was nearly run over by a cluster of excited children, cheering over their discovery of the famous dolphin from the new flashes. "Hey, hey, hey. Be careful, " Eddie warned, "Those rocks are slippery." He looked to the hyperactive creature by his feet. Then he laughed, "It looks like you're gonna be a pied piper to every kid in the neighborhood." The marine mammal leaped happily. "Ok, guess I can stick around and make sure you all stay safe." Eddie retreated to an open space to keep an eye on things. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. ************************************************************************ From: Jeremy H Date: Thu Feb 17, 2005 2:44 am Subject: The Dawn Spell Trevor awoke the next morning in a cold sweat. All night he had dreamed of swirling water and of the beautiful woman in the surf. He turned to the clock on his nightstand and found that he had only slept three hours. He laid back down again.. Sleep came next to impossible. Finally, he got up and threw on a flannel shirt and a pair of Levi jeans. Trevor Cole walked to the beach to listen to the calming sound of the waves. He sat on a well known rock to watch the newly rising sun. The sky was a brilliant pale red behind him and the seafoam was dashed pink at his feet. He looked around him, surprised that so few people were enjoying the dawn, as he was. Trevor heard a splash to his left. With a sudden start, he peered out into the water. He was just in time to see a tail slide under the surface. He ran closer to the waterline, his heart hammering in his chest. ::Not again.:: he thought. But he saw nothing else. "A sea lion, yeah. That's what I saw." he said aloud. His head still hurt from his near drowning two days ago and a cough came up unbidden from deep inside Trevor's lungs. He sat down once more, shivering. The doctor had said Trevor had been very lucky. He had only suffered a mild case of sun poisoning. It was his fever that had driven him into the water. The Australian suffered another chill, recalling that day. The whole numbing experience still had a very powerful hold on his emotions. There was a dim fear that wasn't ever there before. The off-duty club lifeguard stood and began to walk, ghosts hounding every step. He ended up at Crystal Pier. Here, too, was devoid of people. The restaurant at the end of the walkway was still closed. Trevor leaned over a rail and looked deeply into the sea. Warm winds caressed his face, making his eyes water. Slowly, a semblance of peace settled gently over him. He thought he was alone, until he saw her. A blonde haired woman sat, almost obscured, in one corner of the deck. She was staring at the horizon with a far away expression on her face. "Hello." Trevor smiled. The woman jolted, a shocked look on her features."Oh, hi!..I- I didn't hear you approach." "I didn't mean to frighten you, sorry." The young woman brushed away the hair from her eyes, "You haven't. I just didn't expect to find anyone up so early." Trevor smiled politely but didn't say anything in return. He rested his forehead on top of his arms propped along the white railing. The headache was back again, and growing. "I've come to this place every day for the last ten years, and I've never seen anyone so depressed by the beauty of a dawn on the ocean. Want to talk about it?" Cory finally said. Trevor sighed. "Am I so transparent?" "Yup." He regarded this stranger in a new light. She had long hair the color of the purest fire. Her eyes were the greenest he had ever seen. Her oval face was set with a quiet patience and she had wrinkles by her mouth that told of an almost perpetual smile. She was wearing a jacket that matched her eyes and a blue plaid blanket lay, covering her lap. Strangely, Trevor found himself spilling out his soul to her. He discovered she was hanging on his every word, intently. "....so then I got a clean bill of health and was released from the hospital. You know, I still can't figure out who or what I saw out there." "Maybe your friend Mitch was right.. Perhaps you were seeing things.." Cory whispered. "No chance of that, the other lifeguards found a weird piece of jewelry around my throat when they dragged me out." The small woman said nothing. It was beginning to cloud over; California was going to get its share of rain. Trevor looked at the sky. "Say, it's really getting dark. How about I walk you home?" She looked up with a wry smile. "What's so funny?" Trevor asked. "That's going to be a little difficult to do.." she said, folding up her blanket. That's when Trevor Cole realized she was in a wheel chair with her legs locked tight into it. Taken aback, Trevor apologized and offered to push her home."Thanks, but I'll manage. Say, listen. If you ever want to talk again,I'm here this same time just about every morning." She turned to wheel away. Just then, a shaft of sunlight burst through the cloud cover and bathed the both of them in a golden haze. "Hey, do I know you?" Trevor asked. But the woman was already out of earshot and blending into the fog as she moved away. Trevor succumbed to the wishes of his body and sat down once more on his favorite rock to rest a few minutes later. His eyes closed. He blinked and a frighteningly vivid hallucination of a wolf, sniffed at his bare toes buried in the sand. Sweating, Trevor screwed his eyes shut until the growling stopped. He finally acknowledged that his fever was back once again to plague his very thoughts. A truck pulled up along side of him and he snapped from his reverie. He recognized Craig Pomeroy from the public beach and Roy DeSoto, the paramedic from the suburbs who had taken care of him the day he had fallen sick, "Hi.." he ventured. "How are you feeling today, Trevor?" Craig asked, genuinely concerned for his former charge. "We saw you out here by yourself, looking a little green." "I'm not going swimming again if that's what you mean." he smiled weakly. He frowned. "Maybe I am still sick.." Trevor looked up with worn eyes. "I imagined I saw something in the water again today." "No you didn't." said Roy DeSoto, answering easily. "There's a tamed dolphin loose. He's been wreaking havoc on us for three days. People keep drowning themselves to see him." Trevor had to smile at that. Craig opened the door of the yellow beach truck. "Come on, How about coming to HQ with us for a cup of piping hot coffee? It looks like it's going to rain any second now." Trevor felt the first drops fall onto his shoulders. "Sounds like a plan." He stood. "Are you sure all the women won't lynch me once I'm there?" Craig grinned. "Been that much of a pest to the lifeguards, eh?" Trevor slowly eased himself into the cab seat next to Roy. "Guess I must've been a big one. Say, fellas, on your way here, did you happen to see a blonde haired woman in a wheel chair leaving the pier's beach area?" "Nope. She a friend?" Roy asked Trevor. "Nah, I just met her this morning. But I swear to you, I've seen her somewhere before." "Did you catch her name?" Craig asked. "Maybe I know it." Trevor frowned. "That's funny... I don't KNOW what her name is." He moaned in frustration. It was one more thing to worry about. "Don't get worked up about it." Roy soothed. "A few aspirin to lower your sun fever and two cups of caffeine ought to jar your memory. If you'd like, I'll take a look at you to see how you're really doing once we get there." They drove off. Behind them, the song of a dolphin mingled with the rain. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Trevor in the arms of Cory Davison. Photo: Wheelchair view of a pier and ocean water. Photo: A wolf running the beach near a man's bare feet. Photo: Roy and Craig Pomeroy with a beach truck. ************************************************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Thu Feb 17, 2005 10:45 am Subject: Life's Lessons~~ Cory wheeled up the ramp of her apartment. It was the first time she had been home for days. She had stayed with her old friend Linda and helped her dog whelp fifteen Labrador puppies while her daughter Carly was away at junior lifeguards' camp. There was an official notice on the door frame. Cory ripped it down with shaking hands. It outlined a search warrant and a copy of the police report telling of the robbery that had occurred. And of the drugging of her dog, Kujo. Cory unlocked the door after reassuring herself that Kujo was fully recovered and well fed. She hurried inside frantically. Inside, she found all of her things were undisturbed, except for the crate. It was missing. Cory eased herself onto her bed. Her dolphin drawings had been neatly stacked in a pile and a handwritten note from one of the visiting officers lay next to them. It scrawled how much he had admired her artwork how he had personally made sure the house was re-secured with locked windows. Somehow, that innocent intrusion was nerve wracking. She hugged one sketch tightly to her breast. It was a pastel of the little golden dolphin statue. Cory's will snapped and she started to cry swollen tears without a sound. The drawing swam before her eyes, "Oh, Koko, they've found me. I-I was going to give all of the treasure back. It..it was wrong to keep it for so long.. I wasn't thinking.. I wasn't !!" Cory beat her dead legs in frustration with hard fists. The pain in her hands finally made her stop. She lay back down on her pillow, staring deep into the eyes of the dolphin drawing, "You are the answer to all my dreams. Koko, I won't let them take you away from me!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The rain had completely burned away in the brilliant sunlight. Mitch's office glowed in yellow warmth. Mitch Buchannon got up from his filing and twisted the venetian blinds shut. There was a knock at the door. "Come in.." Mitch invited. He looked up. A black and white photograph appeared in the open doorway. "Look familiar, Mitch?" Garner said as he stepped into the room with Vince Howard. Mitch made his guess, "Yeah. Isn't that a photo of the jewelry we pulled off of Trevor Cole's neck? And that's the comb Craig found." "Right on." said Vince. "The stuff is priceless. The comb alone is worth a cool 2.6 million." "Whoa...." Mitch's boggled. "I wonder who's losing sleep at night over these things." Garner smiled. "The La Jolla City Cultural Museum. They reported one of their shipping crates as missing earlier this morning." "No kidding." Mitch said, "Why'd they wait so long to report it?" "Now that's the interesting part of the story.." replied Vince, shuffling through the arrest folder he had brought with him. "Try me. Coffee, gentlemen?" he held out a cup to Garner first. The ebony policeman shook his head vehemently, "No thanks. You lifeguards keep feeding me enough as it is.." He split a gut, remembering the chase Mitch had only read about. "Ha! Mitch you should have seen Craig pulling out our man, looking as smug as you please." "You mean the robber who dumped all of his goods out onto the beach while trying to get away from you guys?" "Umm hmm. Trevor's necklace, comb and that crate belong to a new exhibit opening up next week. The missing artifacts were accidently SENT to the wrong address by courier. Our robber had a serious beef with the UPS system and he figured he'd right things properly, once and for all, on his own." Garner related. Mitch gawked. "Not the museum curator?!" "The one and the same." said Vince. "All he had to do was check out the only other address in town that was nearly identical to the museum's own address. N. Seventh Street as opposed to S. Seventh Street.. All of the stuff was there except for one thing, a small gold statue of a dolphin." "And you found the statue in the house." "Yes," said Garner, "And before you pounce all over me, the search and seizure we did in your district on the beach was legit, although the owner wasn't home at the time. We're still trying to locate her. The residence belongs to a one Cory Davison, an ex-Navy scientist of eight years." "It gets stranger.. and it's probably nothing. But my boys, Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto treated her daughter, Carly, the other day in school for a near fatal flare of a preexisting medical condition." "Small world. She ok?" "Who? The house owner or the daughter?" Garner asked. "Both." "They're fine. Carly's at Baywatch right now in camp and the watch tower says that they saw house lights go on over at the Davison house earlier this morning. Cory's finally returned home. At least, she was there then. They haven't seen signs of her since." "Gonna go talk with her?" Mitch asked. "What does she look like?" Vince Howard handed him a dossier and a photo of Cory. "She's beautiful. Are you going to press charges for mail theft?" "No. During the search, we found a letter she had written to the museum. She was going to send the crate back to where it belonged when she was ripped off." Vince said. Mitch set Cory's photo down onto the corner of his desk. There was another knock at the door. "Come in." said Garner and Mitch in stereo. They looked at each other in a mild double take. Two Coast Guard officials entered. One of them said, "Excuse me, lieutenant?" "Buchannon." Mitch finished for him, taking his hand in return greeting. "What can I do for you?" "One of our helicopter pilots has sighted an escaped naval dolphin in your area. I'm sure you've heard about it." Garner piped up. "We sure have. He's been running these lifeguards completely ragged." Mitch agreed wholeheartedly with Garner. "As he so bluntly put it. Yes, we have. We've heard and seen the results of your dolphin's encounters especially." "Yes, sir. It, unfortunately, got away from us. We were wondering whether or not a joint operation could be set up to recapture the animal using our trainers and your lifeguards. You see, we were thinking about using nets and--" "Look out!" Hobie Buchannon skated into the room and collided with his father's desk. He came nose to nose with Cory's photograph and read the name typed in bold print at the bottom, "Cory Davison, huh.." he breathed. Then he saw the military men with the Naval Institute's logo all over their uniforms. His heart took a leap. They were coming for the dolphin! He tried not to show the trepidation on his face. Mitch was startled. "Hobie? What are you doing here? Can't you see that I'm a little busy right now?" Hobie was crestfallen, "Gee, dad. I thought we were going to have lunch together with all the firemen, both paramedics and Chris DeSoto." Mitch edged around the desk, "Excuse me gentlemen. This will only take a moment." He grabbed Hobie by the shoulders and started wheeling his son out the door, "How many times have I told you not to skate inside headquarters? You'll scuff the floor." Mitch smiled politely over his shoulders at his visitors. Hobie was oblivious to the finer points of etiquette, "You'll never guess what I found yesterday...." "A dolphin." "Yeah, how'd you know?" "I'm clairvoyant. Now would you mind getting out of here? Tell Station 51 to take a raincheck. Craig'll be more than happy to take them all on the noon day sand sweep in my place. Besides, he makes a better cross occupational ambassador." "Sure, no problem. One more thing, dad." But his father was already half inside the office again. "I don't have time to talk right now, Hobie.." Hobie called out after him, loudly. "It's about the picture of the lady on your desk. I ran into her a few days ago. I think she's a dolphin trainer who's worked with the escaped dolphin!" But Mitch wasn't listening anymore. "Later!" came the faint reply. Hobie shrugged and skated for the front door. He nearly ran into Shauni around the corner. "Whoa there!" she burbled as she caught him and saved them both a tangled fall to the floor. "Where's the fire?" "Sorry, Shauni." Hobie wriggled out of her arms and got out of there. She preceeded on to Mitch's crowded office. Hobie's voice floated back towards her, "I wouldn't go in there if I were you..." he warned. ::Uh, oh.:: she thought. Another father/son disagreement. She knew well, how those went. They still happened between herself and her OWN dad. -------------------------------------------- For twenty one years, Shauni had had to butt heads with him.. over everything: Which school she would attend, which cheerleading team to join, what clothes she was to wear. It was all very nauseating. She had absolutely no sense of individuality because Daddy had created her in the image that he wanted to see. Just to appease her own frustrations, Shauni started carrying out interests of her own, secretly. Like her modelling. ::Now that had fit well with Daddy's wishes.:: she thought ironically. ::Not.:: Shauni didn't even bother to tell him the amount of money she landed as a clothed exotic dancer in a nightclub her senior year in high school. The real problems began when she had started dating. Every guy had to be a doctor or a lawyer straight out of Yale with a six digit paycheck. ::Daddy was always the perfect matchmaker.:: Shauni frowned. But it was plain ol' Eddie Kramer who encouraged her to break away from the well do to Mr. McLane's devices to become whomever she wanted to be, no matter what. One of the first things they did away from Daddy McLane, was to go through lifeguard training together and then she moved out, despite a storm of protests. Only the law and the fact that Shauni was already a three years legal adult that kept Daddy McLane from pursuing them and taking her home again with him to the McLane Mansion. Naturally, Shauni fell in love with Eddie. For he was the first person who had ever respected her as the separate, living, FEELING individual she was who still had hopes and aspirations going on that were very different from those of his own. And he had never, ever stifled her; not even once. And that made Shauni feel truly loved for the first time in her life. ::Now the true test'll actually be marrying him and then having children of our own.:: she mused. ::Will we allow our kids the freedom to be themselves too?:: Shauni hoped that she had learned that lesson well enough in time for them. She smiled, thinking how wonderful it would be if they would turn out as free as Hobie Buchannon seemed to be. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shauni steeled herself and entered Mitch's ready room. Four heads in close conference looked up. "Shauni, what can I do for you?" Mitch piped up. She handed him a stack of index cards, "Here are the rescue cards for the last past week. You requested only those ones that involved the tame dolphin in some way." "Ah, great." Mitch smiled in relief, "Just in time." He took them from her and slapped them into the palms of the highest ranking navy official. "Nine people have nearly drown because of your freed dolphin. One of them, was a beach front lifeguard. I'll do anything to get rid of it." he said firmly, his eyes sparkling with anger. The big man aquiesced, "Ok. Let's get to work then. Here's what I've got outlined so far." and he started to recite his plans coordinating lifeguard clippers and coastline helicopters. Shauni turned to leave, then she turned back again after a slight hesitation. "Uh,, Mitch?" "Yes?!" he whispered, in barely contained fury. "I saw Hobie hanging around the jetty neighborhood yesterday." she said, thinking she was being protective of the child. "I thought you'd like to know that." "Hobie? He knows he's not supposed to go there. Where is he?" Shauni pantomimed rollerblading, shrugged both shoulders, and left. Mitch really had a hard time concentrating on the schematics of the huge dolphin "safari" operation after that. The official's voice droned on, "So, would this course of action be acceptable to you, Lieutenant?" Mitch looked up, "Hmm?" Garner and Vince nearly choked on their donuts, laughing hard behind his back. They retreated to the sanctuary of their beach four wheelers before they could destroy any more of Mitch's dignity. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hobie, minus his skates, dejectedly tromped up the ramp leading to Eddie's tower. He slumped wordlessly into the canvas chair next to him. The older red trunked man mimicked the boy's actions and slumped just as low into his own chair. Hobie was mildy surprised when Eddie didn't ask what was bothering him. In fact, it looked like Eddie was feeling a little down, too. The boy broke the silence. "Did you lose a swimmer today?" "Nope." Eddie said, not looking at him. "Lover's quarrel." "Oh." Hobie killed a moment by juggling with Eddie's sunglasses, binoculars, and a civilian CPR book. "Neat trick." Eddie said unenthusiastically. "Thanks." Pretty soon, Hobie got bored with counting all of the gorgeous babes he saw walking by in front of him. "Wanna talk about your problem?" "If you talk about yours." Eddie countered. "You first." "Ok, pretend that you are dad." "Shoot." Hobie took in a deep breath, imagining his father's face in front of him. "Dad, you told." "He did?!.....uh, I mean. I did?" "Yeah! Two muscleheads are with you now going over the big dolphin hunting trip details!" Eddie ran some fingers through his hair, "Oooo, rough, uh.. *cough* What can I do, son? She has to go. People have gotten themselves in a lot of trouble trying to get closer to her. Would you want to be held responsible for their lives?" "No." "Well, I am, Hobie. I have to worry about the thousands of people who come to the beach every day, expecting me and my guards to keep them safe." Then, a big, almost grown up, eleven year old boy, started to cry. Eddie startled, pulling his feet down from the tower railing. "Oh, geesh.." He put a reluctant hand on Hobie's shoulder. He hated it when kids cried too. He saw at least ten of them every day. He hated it especially when one of them was a close friend. "Aww, Hobe. Show some backbone. Just think, she'll be going home soon now and won't be starving anymore." Hobie's tears flooded anew. "But I wanted mom to see her!!" "Look, I know how difficult this is for you; when you want something so bad.. that...that ..that you can almost taste it." He nodded encouragingly. "No you don't. *sob*" "Sure I do. Listen.." Eddie guided Hobie's head to his red jacketted shoulder and held him close. "When I was nine, I found a puppy that didn't belong to me. I had him for two whole months before my dad located his real owners. My dad then told me, that I had to give him up.. That night, they came to take him away. I ran to my room and locked the door so I wouldn't hear them come inside the house to get him. When the front door closed for the final time, I couldn't resist peeking out my window. There I saw that the pupply belonged to a little boy, even younger than I was, and that he was crying...because he was so happy to see his Little Lucky again. Later, in school, I kept picturing how many nights that boy must've stayed awake worrying about Lucky and wondering whether or not he'd ever see him again. ...Then I understood, Someone ELSE needed that puppy more than I did and that it was very wrong to keep him apart from those who originally loved him." Hobie slowly stopped crying and just sat there, nestled in Eddie's arms. Eddie didn't want to move, "So you see, Hobe. That dolphin has a place where she belongs and it's up to all of us as lifeguards, to take her back there." Hobie thought hard about the boy, and the puppy, ...and Suzy. Finally, he found his inner peace. ------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. *********************************************** From: "Cassidy Meyers" Date: Thu Feb 17, 2005 10:57 am Subject: The Glow in the Water.. Captain Stanley and the rest of the gang was enjoying toying around the strand in their beach trucks, paired off by twos together and shadowed by trucks, driven each, by a Baywatch team. Stoker was driving the sand hose truck, a sort of lifeguard fire jeep that had compressors that could pump out seawater from the ocean and turn it into fire supressant foam from short nozzles anchored onto a frame on top of the yellow truck's rooftop. They were surprised by how large Baywatch's service area was, ten whole miles running north and south along a narrow stretch of beach. Soon, the gang stopped at the far north end of HQ territory, where the public beach ended and the private neighborhood's began. Six beach trucks pulled up for lunch near a large effluent storm drain sticking out of a cliff face at the surf line. "Phew.." Cap complained to Craig, the senior guard who was heading up their roving day trip on the beach. "Do your storm drains always smell this bad?" Craig Pomeroy shrugged. "That's part of the reason why I brought you and your men out here. We're to collect water samples from that to see what kind of effect it's having on the reef out by the jetty. We typically test for fecal coliform counts, too. Once a week. The last samples of hair collected from surfer fatalities from this spring has shown elevated levels of heavy metals coming from this pipe." "Yeah, but I'm smelling something different today." said Captain Stanley. "It's more like raw petroleum runoff." "Really?" asked Craig, "I can't tell. My nose's still plugged up from hitting the water so much pulling people out from around that dolphin yesterday." "Would you mind if me and my men take in some equipment from the trucks and go check it out?" Cap wondered. "Something's not right here." "Be my guest. Assessing pollution leaks, aren't exactly, our forte'." Pomeroy admitted. "I'll radio in our plans to HQ after we've got lunch grilling. Then, I wanna check out that jetty. There are kids out there again who're ignoring the high sea wave warning signs. Can your pipe inspection wait until after lunch?" Cap turned his head into the wind appreciatively and was soundly fooled by the ocean's salty tang. "I guess another hour won't hurt any. Let's eat. Mike Stoker's already volunteered to fry the chicken." ------------------------------------------------------------------ Hobie was on the jetty. He didn't know why he was there, it just turned out that way. He was on the stormleadge again, working his way out to sea. The violent waves made him dizzy, splashing on either side of him. He closed his eyes to steady himself. When Hobie reopened them, he saw that he had found what he was looking for. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Mitch walked onto the main deck of Baywatch. He went over to the main duty watch guard at the windows, "Bird eye my son, would you? I need to talk with him. Real bad." His foul mood permeated the room. Every lesser ranked lifeguard tried to disappear behind slates and retaining walls. Mitch split the air. "Have any of you guys seen Hobie?!" Jill and Trevor Cole looked up from their coffee cups. Jill responded, "I saw him at Eddie's tower a half an hour ago. He looked pretty upset." "Upset? I'll show him upset.." Mitch growled. "Trevor, you're with me. Jill, go call Eddie and see if he can spot him, will ya? Hobie's got some explaining to do." He grabbed up the required red rescue can he had to keep with him into his palm. Mitch turned on his walkie talkie and hooked it to his belt, "We'll be on the boulevard, Jill. Buzz me when you find him. Come on, Trevor.. Move it!" A rookie spoke up to no one in particular. "Eee, I feel sorry for Hobie." "Hobie?" jibed her companion, admirer's hearts in her eyes, "I feel sorry for Trevor.." Jill spit coffee all over her newspaper. Trevor had to run to keep up. "Why are you using me as a partner on foot patrol?" "Because the rest of my men are with a group of firemen on the far side of the beach taking water samples, that's why.." Mitch didn't even hear the bustle of the crowds whizzing around him on their bikes and skates. His binoculars were glued to his head. Trevor peeled off his shirt as their fast walking pace drew sweat. "Why are we going to see Hobie?" he asked. Mitch told him, "Because I just found out that he didn't level with me about being at the jetty a bunch of times this week with his new camp friends. My son's never lied to me this badly before." He jumped when his radio beeped. He answered it, "Riley? Go ahead." ##Eddie said he left to the north about five minutes ago.## "Ok, thanks. I owe you one." he turned to his companion, "How much do you want to bet he took his friends out to go see that dolphin again?" "He's spotted it?" "I'll say, Shauni's said that he even fed the thing fish to keep it around." They continued toward the jetty neighborhood. Mitch put down his binoculars, remembering something. "How are YOU doing? I forgot that you're still on the sick list.." and he slowed down his ferocious walking pace to a crawl, out of deference to Trevor's less than top notch condition. "Going back to work soon?" "Day after tomorrow. I figured that going back to work as soon as I'm cleared will help me get my mind off that woman I saw." "Still think she was real?" Mitch wondered. "I don't know. That memory's still a real fuzzy mystery." Trevor admitted, wiping sweat off of his brow. He only faintly started puffing, out of breath from their exertions. This time, both of them jumped when Mitch's radio beeped again. "Buchannon. Go ahead." It was Manney, the watch guard in HQ. ##Lieutenant. We've found Hobie.## "Where?" ##Climbing on the 5th Street Jetty at the beach terminus with Carly Davison and Chris DeSoto..## Mitch scowled. "That tears it.. I'm gonna kill him.." He walked faster. They were almost there when Garner Ellerbe and Vince Howard flagged them down.. ---------------------------------------------------------------- She was there, swimming in the last place Hobie had seen the dolphin. It was a woman with long blonde hair in a shimmering green bathing suit. Her back was to all three of them. Chris DeSoto went closer to her, "H-Hey there.. H-Have you seen a dolphin around here anywhere? We saw it yesterday and--" The woman turned to face the three children, a look of surprise on her face. It was Cory Davison! Carly was shocked. "Mom, you're the one Hobie says the police are looking for?!" Cory shook her head in desperate denial, moving away from them. A sleek dolphin erupted to the surface, blowing powerfully. The paralyzed woman was sitting on its back! She cried out. "Oh, no! Carly, take your friends home! This was supposed to be OUR secret!" and she tapped Koko's head with her hand and blew on her whistle, making the dolphin turn around to start heading for deeper water and the concealing late afternoon fog bank that was forming there. Hobie scrambled along theleadge, trying to keep up with Cory and Koko, "Hey, Cory! Wait a minute! I just want to help you--" At that moment, a stench of strong fuel from the nearby effluent pipe filled his nose and made him gag. His foot slipped on a slick boulder and he tumbled head first into the deep froth. He had no time to cry out. "No!" Cory screamed. "Koko! Forward!" She and the other kids tried to grab him but a wave swept him away out of sight. Cory guided Koko nearer to the jetty. The animal swam with great strength over the next wave's crest and down. But Hobie was gone. Just then, a nearby street jogger on top of the beach cliff, tossed down a lit cigarette carelessly to dispose of it into the ocean. Instead of landing on water. It landed inside the drainage pipe. And ignited it. A huge explosion ripped out of the five foot high tube of concrete and fire spread on a gushing oil slick spurting out onto the surface of the sea. It surrounded the jetty where the two frightened children were standing. They started screaming. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hey Garner? What's up?" Mitch asked, tossing his can into the air. Garner puffed as he caught his breath, "I just wanted to tell you that we found out more about Cory Davison. Apparently, she's a dolphin trainer who knows the escaped animal." Mitch stopped in his tracks, "Hobie KNEW that. He tried to tell me. I wouldn't listen." He started moving again. "Hobie's probably with her and the dolphin right now trying to fix things up." "Great! Perhaps she can help us capture it.." Vince said. The four of them rounded the last bend leading to the overlook. Trevor went white as a sheet, looking through his binoculars, and stumbled. "Trevor?" Mitch asked. Garner and Vince grabbed the Australian's shoulders in support. "What's wrong? Are you ill again?" Cole stared blankly ahead, letting the binoculars fall through numb fingers. "It's her.." he pointed to a far distant woman in the water near the jetty. "She's the one I saw in the surf the day I almost drown." They all beheld what looked for all the world, like a mermaid. Complete with a gray tail. Then the walkie talkie sound an alert. A swimmer was in trouble somewhere. Sid the dispatcher's voice came over the radio. ##To any available unit. We've a boy off the jetty. Who's rolling?## Mitch choked. "Hobie!!" He started running, dropping his radio, using his can as a barrier to protect his legs and face as he slid down through a tangle of bushes choking the length of the sandy cliff's face, to the beach below. He didn't hear Eddie come over the line, but Garner and Vince did. ##Truck Two, responding. We're on our way. Baywatch, we see a 10-92 at the same location. Repeat, a land and sea 10-92 in progress at the jetty! Multiple casualties in the water!!## "A fire?" Trevor gasped, staring down the beachhead where Mitch had hastily descended. "From where? There's nothing but rock and concrete out there!" "Come on, we'll give you a ride!" shouted Garner and Vince. "We'll get there faster than Mitch will, using the four wheelers!" Without thinking, Trevor Cole scooped up Mitch's abandoned radio and leaped on board Vince's sand bike. "Ok, let's go.." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The whole 51 gang, on the beachhead, flinched and hit the sand when the effluent pipe lit up in their faces with the angry explosion of fire violated fuel. The air over the beach soon filled with burning fuel droplets that rained down onto all of them from far above their heads. "Into the water! Go.. go ..GO!!" shouted Craig and the other lifeguards. Chet Kelly shouted when his curly hair caught on fire. A nearby lifeguard tackled him under the water and snuffed it out. Another lifeguard had grabbed a special navy blue meshed bag full of tiny yellow cylinders before all of them were forced to abandon the six beach trucks as the oil slick fire slithered onto both sand and water, growing dangerously larger by the second. Suddenly, a new burning outpouring gush from the pipe cascaded down into the water and a burning sea of flames surged towards all the lifeguards and firemen desperately splashing water over themselves by the shallow end of the jetty. It encircled them, rushing towards their faces. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the jetty, Carly Davison and Chris DeSoto were terrified out of their minds. Between them and the safety of land, the entire sea was catching on fire. "Mom! Swim away! Swim away! It's too dangerous!" shouted Carly. Already, in her head, that odd buzzing aura that always made her mouth go dry and sour, was rising. "Chris.. I think I'm gonna black out! Help me!" Chris DeSoto leaped into action, tearing his eyes away from the last place he saw Hobie Buchannon go down. "Carly?!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. ******************************************************************* From: Constantinos Bouras Date: Thu Feb 17, 2005 11:49 pm Subject: The Drama Continues Meanwhile, back at Baywatch HQ, Sid, continued to send additional units to the scene unfolding, and picked up the phone and pushed the speed dial button for L.A. County F.D. Dispatch as the force of the explosion rocked the building and knocked him out of his chair. "What the- ??????" He yelled as he got up and looked out the window, seeing the growing plume of smoke. At that moment, the radio traffic went into overdrive as all the units in the area reported they were rolling. He pushed the speed dial button on the phone a second time. ##L.A. County F.D. State your emergency.## The call taker responded. "This is Baywatch HQ, we have a explosion and fire at the 5th Street storm drain, in Malibu. Stand by... Ok, we have petroleum products involved, that's spread to the ocean. We also have some kids on the jetty there. Give me everything you can!!!!!! We also have reports of lifeguards and the county firefighters that are with us involved!!!!!!!!!" ##Copy, help is rolling.## came the reply as he got the appropriate box number from the sheet and passed the info to the dispatcher at the console. "Better get boat 110 and whatever L.A. City boats they can send." he said. "Right." was the reply. ##Station 69, Station 65, Station 70, Station 71, Station 88 Station 99, Squad 67, Squad 51, Copter 11, Boat 110, Boat 310, Battalion 5...Respond to the 5th street storm drain in Malibu for an explosion and fire with people trapped. L.A. County lifeguards are on scene. Time out : 1230.## ##Battalion 5, L.A.## "Battalion 5." ##Be advised, L.A. City F.D. is sending Boats 2, 3, 5 and 4 to assist. You also have 4 ambulances responding.## "Battalion 5, 10-4. Start move ups and start the Coast Guard in also with their chopper to assist." ##10-4, Battalion 5.## Meanwhile, back at the jetty.. Craig turned on the canisters of emergency air and passed them around to the firefighters of engine 51 and the lifeguard escorts, and included a mask. "Ok guys, this should give us some clean air to breathe, while waiting for the backup to arrive. Should last 15 minutes, and there are more in the bag. Just time your breathing right and you can make it last longer, just like your SCBA tanks that you wear." Just as they were preparing to dive under, they heard a scream from the end of the jetty from Chris DeSoto, who had spotted them, "HELP!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!! HELP US PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!" "Look!!! Down there at the end.." Marco yelled. "Isn't that Chris DeSoto???" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. *************************************************************** From: "Patti or Jeff or Cassidy" Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2005 12:21:54 -0800 (PST) Subject: Inch by inch.. Second by second.. As they rushed over the sand, Vince and Garner and Trevor could see the lights of Eddie's truck as he sped through the wave splash to join them. Mitch made for the beach, stripping off his tan uniform as he ran. Now, they could all see that Cory was on the back of a dolphin and that she was screaming for them, "Hurry!! I can't find Hobie! He was right under me..!" Buchannon backstepped to a halt before the flaring flames, not seeing anything but the sea ...on fire.. and Cory. He made his choice and peeled shoes and pants down to his red trunks. "Hobie?!" He unraveled the line on his rescue can and slipped into its band. He hit the breakers, swimming in powerful strokes towards her. Mitch's plunge into the water, upset the dolphin. Koko went wild with fear when fire splashed near her eyes and Cory tumbled off, "Kok-- Come h--" A wave slapped her in the face. She started to drown. On the beach, leaping off the police bike, Trevor saw her fail, too. He, too, shed shoes and shirt. He knew that Mitch needed help now, for Hobie was nowhere in sight. He dove in. Garner and Vince snatched up fire extinguishers and fought for clear paths over the smoking sand to the ocean. They saw that the beach was empty of bodies. "Where are they? *cough*" Vince choked over the smoky fumes. "I thought Mitch said all the fire boys would be down here somewhere.." "They are.. Look!" said Garner, pointing to the water. "But I don't know how much longer they're gonna last. The fire's closing in on them! Hey! Duck under! Now! The fire's coming fast!" he warned them. Roy Desoto, coughing hard on fumes, shouted towards shore. "Vince! Get to Chris! He's holding Carly up. Something's wrong with her!" "Got it! Now save yourselves!" shouted Howard through the smoke. He leaped and jumped over burning sand to get to the jetty and he started running towards the two kneeling dots of white that were the children on the far end, dancing quickly over the rocks as fast as he dared. "L.A. and Baywatch has the whole calvary coming!" he said, listening tightly to his radio pressed to his ear. Johnny Gage let out a shout and forced his own and his partner's heads down into the next wave before Roy had a chance to refill his lungs again. A hissing caressing bubbling sheet of orange skinned over the surface of the water they had just left. Fire was now burning directly above them on a thick oil pool. Roy DeSoto kicked out of Johnny's arms, trying to head out to sea to outswim the spreading fire, but Johnny grabbed his ankles, holding him in place. He pointed into the murkiness to their right. Another baywatch lifeguard, wearing a mask of glass, swam over to them and thrust the mouthpieces of two yellow emergency spare air cylinders into their mouths, and hovered there, waiting for them to signal that they were all right and breathing ok. Roy thought that air had never tasted so good. He felt an underwater Cap, Chet, Marco and Mike join them, with linked arms, similarly sucking on the tiny spare air tanks that the lifeguards had handed out, and one by one, they all gave the guards the ok signal. Then they began the long submerged swim up current to reach the part of the sea that was away from the fuel fire to get plucked out by the rescue boat. Two guards stayed with the firemen while four others kicked back towards the jetty to help Mitch and Trevor Cole locate Hobie Buchannon's drowning form. --------------------------------------------------------------- Mitch kept his eye on the woman. She was having a lot of trouble staying afloat. He was torn between diving to search for Hobie, and helping her. He chose to go for Cory. "Here! Hang onto the buoy!" he commanded her. "Can't! Paralyzed..Too tired.." She slipped under. Mitch took a breath and went down after her, dodging clumps of burning oil. He grabbed her waist and pushed her to the surface. She sputtered, sucking in huge lungfuls of air, choking on the acrid smoke around them. "Easy, I got you." he encouraged. "*choke* Carly! How's Carly?. She seizes whenever she gets too excited...." Mitch shot a look over to the jetty. "She's still on the rocks. A policeman's there with her, she's still ok." Mitch said as he brought his float in front of them. The swirling water was deafening. He agonized over leaving her, "Cory! Listen! You've got to try and hang onto this. I've got to go after my son..!" He tried to release her but she had no strength left. Mitch couldn't leave her. He spun them both around to drive away the fire, searching desperately for any sign of clothing. "Hobie!" "Wait!" Cory shouted, growing more clear headed with her renewed ability to breathe while in his arms. "Koko can find him." She blew her whistle and the small dolphin surfaced next to them. Cory commanded her. "Koko. Seek! Retrieve the toy!" Mitch was beside himself, "What are you doing?" "Just trust me! Koko, now!" she sobbed. She made a sweeping gesture and the dolphin suddenly dove under the burning waves. Trevor Cole got to them both, seconds later. His hair was singed but he was still very very full of adrenalin. Cole saw that Cory was in pretty fair shape, managing to keep her head above the water despite of her paralysis. "Take her!" Mitch said. He took off the lifeline float and gave it to Cole to use for Cory. "Look for the dolphin!!" "What?" "Just do it!" Mitch twisted in a circle in agony, still searching for Hobie. "I'm so sorry. I did it again.. I'm....s-sorry.." cried Cory. "Shhh.. Just relax. Let me do all the work. Concentrate on breathing lightly. This smoke can still knock us both out." Trevor hissed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Cory drowning. Photo: A dolphin under the waves. Photo: Mitch Buchannon grabbing a rescue can. **************************************************** From: Jeff Seltun Date: Tue Feb 22, 2005 4:03 pm Subject: Beached! Ten feet away, the dolphin broke the surface of the sea, bearing Hobie in her mouth by his shirt. Trevor spotted them, "Mitch! Over there!" Mitch got to his son and turned him face up. The boy was limp and unconscious. He tried to see if Hobie was breathing, but a wave full of fire suddenly swept over them and he was forced to cover up Hobie's nose and mouth with a hand to keep them submerged until the danger passed. Mitch held his breath, hearing his own heartbeat thud rapidly, waiting for the deadly swell to pass by. It pushed them nearly to the sharp rocks. He and Hobie burst into the air a few seconds later. Rocks loomed at them horrifically. Without thinking, Mitch grabbed onto Koko's close offered dorsal fin and the animal tail kicked them away into some calmer, fire free water. There was more time between the waves. Mitch tipped Hobie's head back over the dolphin's flank and listened. Hobie wasn't breathing. After the next wave, Mitch gave him a breath. "Oh, G*d. Breathe!" He couldn't tell if Hobie had a heartbeat. Mitch began to swim to shore, looking behind him for incoming swells or other lifeguards. He found his rhythm, giving Hobie two breaths in between each wave's duck and cover move. He got him ashore just down beach of the oil fire. Garner helped bear him out of the water, "Is he breathing?" "No.." They stretched Hobie out onto the stained hard pack. Garner felt Hobie's neck after the next breath. "He's still got a pulse." Mitch nodded, continuing his efforts. "Come on, Hobie! Breathe!" The boy remained still. Eddie and Shauni arrived and the siren ceased. They skidded to a halt a few feet away from Hobie. They leaped out of the truck, grabbing equipment they would need. Johnny Gage dropped to his knees with an ambu bag and oxygen. He tapped Mitch on the shoulder. "Ok, Mitch, I've got him.' Mitch was in unreality. Hobie was going to die if he stopped and all he knew was that someone was now trying to pull him away. He fought back, grabbing at his son's head again. "Mitch!" Eddie cried out, "Let us use the O2 on him! He needs it!" Garner dragged his friend away forcefully, using an arm lock to control him, "Listen to Eddie and Johnny. They're going to help Hobie.." Mitch shook violently and came back to himself. "All right.. I'm all right.. Let me go..." Garner released him. Eddie and Johnny Gage worked desperately. Shauni took the boy's hand into her own. "Hobie? Can you hear us? Hobie. Come on, honey. Take a breath. You're out of the water.." They all looked at his fingers. They were motionless; only the ambu bag hissed as Johnny Gage delivered breaths. Then Hobie squeezed her hand. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Trevor had Cory near the beach. He picked her up and carried her to the sand by Eddie and Shauni's rescue truck. She was coughing violently. "You're going to be ok. Both of us are. Concentrate on breathing slowly." He laid her down just before he had to lay down himself. He felt Roy DeSoto offer him oxygen even as Captain Stanley gave some to Cory as she blacked out. Mike Stoker and Chet Kelly helped Vince carry a limp Carly Davison in all their arms, in a line, and then into the clipper boat tethered to the smoking rocks. Koko leaped over and over again in concern for the humans and for her missing trainer until the boat finally ground itself ashore near where the others were working on Hobie, Cory and Trevor. Then Koko just lay quietly on the hardpack, squeeing softly on her belly as she watched everything going on. "She's ok, Roy." said Vince to DeSoto about Carly, the little girl. "Just a faint from smoke. No signs of convulsions at all. We gave her some 02 on board the launch." "Set her down over here. I'll take her vitals as soon as I've taken Cory's. Chris.. nice job keeping Carly from falling into the water. I saw the whole thing. You make a pretty good junior lifeguard, you know that?" "Thanks, dad. What happened to you? You're all wet.." "It's a long story. I'll tell you about it on the way back to Baywatch. Can you start getting blankets for anyone who's lying down? I'm sure Garner and Vince'll help you before they have to fill out their reports." Roy suggested to his son. "Ok. I'll get things started." smiled Chris. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gage and Buchannon bustled Hobie onto a backboard after immobilizing his neck with sandbags. Things looked good. Hobie was breathing on his own, taking oxygen well. And he could move all of his limbs. Hobie was loaded onto Eddie's beachtruck for the short trip to Headquarters to await an ambulance while Gage and the others tended to his I.V. starting and crash recovery medication delivery. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "You have some hard explaining to do, young lady.." Garner gruffed. Cory looked up from the sanctuary of her blanket, "Yeah, I guess I do." She was lying propped up on an ambulance stretcher. Cory felt better. Her head was clear again. Her daughter, Carly, was sleeping lightly under a lifeguard's careful scrutiny on the passenger bench in a stokes stretcher. Trevor appeared from around the rig's door. "You?!" Cory gasped. "You're the one I saw on that beach that day?.. I didn't mean to get you in trouble. It was just....I was so happy to be swimming again." She looked away, uncomfortable. "With the dolphin?" Roy asked, puzzled, he had already discovered Cory's partially paralyzed state in the few minutes it had taken her to decide to wake up again. "And a scuba tank. I used to work at the Institute before...." Cory looked down at her legs in shame. Trevor bit his lip from where he was getting some minor burns attended to on his forehead. "Look, it was my fault for getting caught in that rip current. Not yours." "But I distracted you.." "It's not your fault!" He said angrily. He pushed away Roy's hands and walked away to deal with the crowd gathering to watch the firemen from 51's fighting the fire with foam alongside the lifeguards they were already familiar with. Garner fixed her with a stare. "It's about time you were straight with us. What really happened out there? Why did you do all this?" Cory sighed, caressing her sleeping daughter's damp hair. "After I heard on the radio that Koko had been freed, I went to look for her, with this..." She showed him and Vince Howard the silver chrome recall whistle and chain she clutched tightly in her hands. Silence stretched for several seconds. Cory shifted, restlessly, and pulled off her oxygen mask. "Officers, you can't know how much I've missed being in the ocean. I had to know that feeling again. Do you understand? With Koko, I was free.." Vince was a study in seriousness. "Talk about Trevor." "I was feeling good that day. I had found the crate at my doorstep. I couldn't believe what I saw inside. Such beautiful things. And the statue of Koko. I wore the comb and necklace to celebrate my first swim since the orca whale accident. I don't get the attentions of many men anymore. That's why I teased Trevor. I thought he was cute." she looked away embarrassed. "Go on." Garner said. Cory looked up at the brightening sky, "But then he got caught in the current and was swept away. I thought, My G*d, I can't let this man drown. He was almost unconscious when I managed to get a hold of him. I gave him air through my regulator, but he passed out. He looked so beautiful in the water, like an angel. Before I knew what I was doing, I put my necklace around his neck and I kissed him. Then I saw the lifeguards coming and I pushed him into their arms." "Why didn't you stay with them?" Ellerbee asked her. Johnny Gage shoved past Garner. "Excuse me, Sergeant Ellerbee, We've got to go. The boy's already left for the hospital." Garner relented and so did Vince and they both stepped back as Roy got out and closed the ambulance doors. They saw a last glimpse of glistening green eyes as Cory began to cry for a great many things that would be no more. "What will happen to her?" Shauni wanted to know. Vince and Garner had forgotten that she was still there. Garner smiled at her. "Oh, I have a sneaking suspicion that the courts will go easy on her." Vince nodded his head, agreeing with his colleague. "After all, she did help save two lives." Shauni nodded and together, Roy, the two officers and Johnny Gage watched the manned Malibu paramedic ambulance disappear into the distance up the tarmack. The firemen and lifeguards didn't know what sounded more mournful, Koko's crying distress whistles at being separated once again from Cory Davison, or the wind blowing through the dying waves. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Mitch diving underwater. Photo: A child being supported in the water by the belly of a submersed dolphin. Photo: A lifeguard and his victim being dwarfed by monster waves. Photo: Closeup of a girl listening to a child swimmer's airway. Photo: Johnny Gage, soaked to the skin. Photo: A lifeguard diving off a rescue boat in huge seas. Photo: Roy soaked to the skin in close up. Photo: Cory Davison out cold, being breathing checked by hand contact. Photo : Chris DeSoto, standing in frothy water, dripping. **************************************************************** From: "patti keiper" Date: Tue Feb 22, 2005 6:28 pm Subject: Pure Fishy-ness Mitch and Hobie were at the zoo along with the whole gang from Station 51. Dolphins leaped in their enclosed pool. The water danced in the sunlight. They chattered excitedly, begging Hobie for more fish. Mitch hiked up his son so he could more easily reach over the fence. His son threw in a sardine and three dolphins played tag with it. Hobie grinned. "Wouldn't it be neat if all dolphins were as smart as Koko?" Mitch laughed and set his son down, "Yeah, it sure would. Maybe the dolphins are the smart ones and we're the ones who need to do all the learning." "Think so?" wondered Chet Kelly. "Yeah," said Chris DeSoto. "Aren't their brains larger than ours or something?" Hobie looked up from the dolphins, "Jill says it's too close to tell." All nine of them leaned on the rail, watching the light play on the dolphins' faces. Hobie chuckled, reaching up to hug his dad's neck. "You know, I think mom's going to like it here." "I know she will Hobster, I know she will." The firefighters of station 51 smiled broadly, recognizing that a small rift had been mended between the burly lifeguard and his son. Gage grinned. "Hey, Roy.." DeSoto didn't looked up from the sardines he was feeding the milling hungry mouths in the pool below them. "Yeah.." "You know what?" "What.." "I think we oughta.. sign up for a tour with these Baywatch guys again. I never got to hold one of those big red rescue can things and actually use it going after a victim.." Gage frowned. "You aren't a certified lifeguard.." Roy smirked. "Well between that nasty drain pipe oil fire, and treating all the drowning cases hauled in by em, I certainly feel like one." he chortled. "Can you do a pier jump? Or leap out of a hovering Coast Guard helicopter? Or make a 1000 meter swim out and around a reef buoy at full waxing tide?" "..no.. Roy, that's not the point." Johnny sighed. "The point is..." Captain Stanley broke into the conversation, nipping the escalating debate in the butt before it was overheard by the Buchannons. "..the point is.. that ya had fun. We all did and the best part about it, is that nobody died. Now quit yapping, ya twits, and enjoy yourselves, or I'll make a few heads roll. Consider that a ..friendly order from your directly supervising superior. Gimme those fish, Roy, I wanna try that." Chet's eyes boggled. "Cap, I thought you hated touching fish, or the thought of even looking at one." "Not any more. Cory Davison's been.. conditioning me with handling Koko. I can even pet her now." smiled Hank. "Cap, Koko's not a fish, she's a--" "SHhhh!" Cap said. "Quiet, Chet. You'll ruin all her good hard work getting me over my fish phobia. Don't say it's not working, Kelly. Can't you see that I actually have a food fish out by the tail?" "Quit cheating and open up your eyes, Cap." teased Stoker. "Give me a minute.. I'm working up to it.. It's just that a sardine's so... slimy.." "So's a fire hose in a brush fire and that's never stopped you.." Roy interjected. "Telling point.." Cap said, cracking one eye open to look at the fish he was moving over the dolphin pool. "Thanks, DeSoto, for your vote of confidence." "Anytime. Sorry for these guys, Cap. I do keep trying to teach them em all the finer points of reverse psychology, but it's kinda hopeless sometimes." Roy smiled. Gage and Kelly glared in mild irritation at him, but held their tongues, because they'd been ordered to. "Keep at it. I like the thought of that end goal when they'll become as tactful as you about my personal affairs and the odd quirk or two." Hank sniffed. Marco snuck up behind Cap and said very loudly, "BOoO!" Hank leaped up about six feet, and the fish went flying. It was snatched up by a hungry maw in seconds even before it hit the water. "Lopez! Would you ..CUT..THAT...OUT?! I'm trying to concentrate here...." Cap sighed, catching his breath as he leaned heavily on the zoo railing. "What, I didn't do anything.... Maybe the Phantom followed us all to the convention." Cap sighed, deciding to ignore his man, and he bravely reached into Roy's steel bucket for another fish. Lopez leaned into Roy, "Hey, how was that for a bit of psychology? I was thinking it was sort of like how you scare someone to forget about the fact that they're hiccupping..." he whispered. "Crude.. but I think this situation calls for more ....subtlety.." Roy admitted. "Oh. I'll keep working on it." Gage started laughing so hard, that he had to sit down. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Mitch Buchannon and Hobie glanced over their shoulders and saw that the Los Angeles County firemen were finally relaxing out of the stress filled tension that they all had when they had first arrived at Baywatch. ::A grueling set of workshifts'll do that to ya. I knew the balm of the ocean would set em all to rights. I'm glad I invited their crew out. I think I'll do the same for the other shifts at that station.:: Hobie Buchannon coughed lightly, clearing his still raspy chest and he felt his father's hand grasp his shoulder protectively. To reassure Mitch that he was ok, Hobie reached up with a grip of his own and squeezed it affectionately. To his thoughts, Hobie gave. ::Koko. I'll never forget you.:: In his head, the memory of the dolphin's smile, seemed endless. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FIN Episode Eighteen.. §§ A Fish Out Of Water §§ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo : A dolphin leaping out with a camera mounted on a flipper. Photo: Mitch and Hobie in a heart to heart talk by a railing. Photo: Gage brandishing a fish at Cap. Photo: Baywatch headquarters front. Photo: Baywatch TV logo. Photo: Emergency TV logo. ******************************************************************** ***This current episode has just ended. ***Keep watching here daily for new episode ***scene installments. To see other episodes ***we have produced, please see the links ***below. Music and screengrabs accompanied. ************************************************** This is the pre-production period for.. Episode Eighteen, Season Two §§ A Fish Out of Water §§ Debut Writing in Progress Launch : February 1st, 2005. End Credits -- Episode Eighteen (Third Season) §§ A Fish Out Of Water §§ :) This episode is dedicated to lifeguards everywhere who :) save lives by the multitudes from the world's unpredictable rivers, lakes and oceans with a devotion bordering on the obsessive. May all the victims in their arms right now...survive. :( :) ******************************************************************************************* The Story Unfolds... Season Three, Episode Nineteen.. §§ Sacred Ground §§ Debut Launch: March 1st, 2005. ------------------- ******************************************************************** From : katalyia Sent : Tuesday, March 1, 2005 10:19 PM Subject : Sacred Ground-opening scene Johnny slowly opened his eyes, wondering what had awakened him. After a few moments, he realized that he was thirsty. Slowly, he sat up and stretched a bit, before swinging his feet over the edge of his bed and standing up. Quietly, he shuffled his way through the dorm, across the apparatus bay, and into the kitchen. Even though he was still half asleep, he didn't have any trouble finding a glass and getting the necessary drink. Once he was done, he placed the glass in the sink, turned and made his way back to the dorm. As Johnny was making his way across the bay, his foot bumped against something in the dark. He paused as he tried to make out the slight noise it made. Deciding that he would find out what it was in the morning, and wanting to get back to bed and catch a few more hours of sleep, he started once again to the dorm, unaware that the object he knocked over was directly in his path. A moment later, Johnny felt the surface under his right foot move and realized he had knocked over the slide board for working under the squad. As his foot went out from underneath him, he turned and tried to grab the railing that ran along the top of the squad. But the fact that he was tired prevented him from reacting quickly and he missed as the momentum threw him into the side of the squad. Johnny heard the crack that his jaw made as it connected with the edge of the squad and the bang that followed as his head and shoulder met the side as he headed toward the floor. He hit the floor, as his hands went to his jaw and the air was knocked out of him with a whoosh. ******* Roy jerked awake as he heard what sounded like a bang come from the bay. Looking around he noticed that the others were also awake, trying to figure out what the sound was. Except for Johnny, who was not in his bunk. Deciding that his partner had probably tripped over something, and that was the source of the noise, he started to lay down.... started to, as the next moment a muffled pain filled scream, echoed through the bay. Roy bolted out of bed as the light was slapped on by Stanley. Reaching the door mere seconds before his Captain, he saw that Johnny was down, that he had been holding his jaw, and that blood covered the lower portion of his face. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos : None. ******************************************************************** From : Cassidy Meyers Sent : Friday, March 4, 2005 10:35 PM Subject : How Sharper Than a Serpent's.... "Oh, L*rd, what now?" Cap exclaimed, rubbing frustrated fingers through his hair when he spied Johnny lying flat on his back just past the hallway leading from the bunkroom into the large vehicle bay. He had just about stepped on one of Johnny's outflung hands. DeSoto hurried forward, bending low. Gage failed to move at Roy's touch, shout or to a sharp knuckle rub to the chestbone. Chet's eyebrows rose in concern. "Seriously beaned, man." He leaned forward to crouch down by Johnny's head. "Looks like he wiped out on the mechanic's creeper, Cap. It's no longer leaning against the tool locker by the mop bucket. It's by his foot." Hank sighed, "Now who managed to bump it down out of the rack and onto its rollers like that?" He kicked it away under the squad in irritation and it clattered metallically on ball bearing wheels as it hit the far wall in a scooting ricochet. "Probably accidental." Stoker replied. "Maybe Boot horsing around in here again, jarred it free. You know how he likes to go after the damp mop heads hanging in the cleaning closet to dry. Roy, is he breathin' ok for you? Carotid pulse's fine." And he reached for Gage's jawline with two sets of spread fingers to get a cleaner airway on him. Roy stopped him, "Wait a minute. There's more than just a bit of blood here around his mouth. Let's stabilize his head and roll him over onto his side instead to get him opened up better. Kelly, go get the O2, a C collar, the backboard, and the biophone." Cap wasn't worried much, yet. "I don't think he's deeply unconscious, guys, he's not snoring any. I'll go call in a still alarm." Hank said, rising. DeSoto stopped him. "No, Cap, not yet. It'll take all of us to turn him without bending his neck at all until I get this collar on. It'll only take a minute..." Carefully, moving firm but smoothly, the five men tipped Gage's quiet form onto his side, keeping everything about him in a line while Roy gingerly secured the soft cervical collar and fastened its straps. Johnny's mouth sagged open then and a flow of bright tinged saliva and blood bubbled out from between his lips. "Is that blood coming from his tongue?" Lopez said, getting a hasty demand valve on full passive flow ready for use. Roy and the others finished getting Gage strapped securely onto the light oak spineboard. Kelly didn't let go of Johnny's face until Gage's head was fully sand bag blocked and strapped firmly still. "No,.." said Roy, settling a hand on Gage's stomach to monitor the change in his breathing following a deft bulb suctioning. "His lower lip's not split either. I think just the upper side of his right jaw impacted hard on something. It's just beginning to balloon up a bit here with a bruise right at the cheekbone by his ear." "Look at your squad door, Roy. That dent's the same size as Johnny's face." Marco said in exasperation, wincing. "At least that part of the chassis's hollow. " Roy sighed. "Ok, get that O2 going, he's clear enough now, but don't tip him off his side until I'm done checking out his head here." Marco held the oxygen mask firmly over Johnny's nose and mouth and let the stunned paramedic breathe it in on his own without any thumb triggering, which wasn't needed. Roy was finishing a set of vital signs, when Gage moaned and coughed weakily, trying to move. Everyone began talking all at once, urging five different kinds of encouragement, or stern warning, to keep still. It made Johnny screw up his eyebrows in irritation as he came to. Angrily, he choked on something, startling Lopez, who dropped the mask. Gage spit out a bloody tooth, complete with its double forked yellowing roots. It rolled like a playing di across the shiny cement and clicked against Kelly's shoe. Chet picked it up. "Well, I'll be darned. It's a whole complete molar!" "More like a wisdom tooth.." said Roy squinting with expertise. "His upper right one." he sniffed. Chet cocked his head like a dog twerking to an oddball sound. "He's just as pale as us, man. Is he doing ok?" Roy glanced down between his backboard supporting arms to get nearer to Gage's ear. "Hey.. Johnny. Talk a little. We got your C spine. Where do you hurt?" Gage sucked in a catching breath and his eyes fluttered opened. "Whaa.. happhh..nd? I can't moou--bb!" he blinked from around the demand valve's face mask. "Oh..spineborth?" Roy grinned. "Yeah. You fell. Again.." he rolled his eyes. "I told you that you needed to get some sleep to avoid hitting your trusty ol klutz in the dark button. Now answer the question. What hurts besides your jaw here?" "Nuffin..." "What?" "I saith..nuffin!" Johnny winced. "Owww.." and he closed his right eye. And his tongue probed around a little. "Hey, Roy? I think I losth a toof..!" he said in high alarm. DeSoto straightened up in sudden, relieved, exasperation. "I think we can set him on his back now, fellas, don't you? He got that one right." he added dryly. "Cap, go ahead and call Rampart. He's doing good enough neurologically now to manage without the gravity aid." Chet was thinking about Johnny's last horrifying self discovery comment. "You sure did you lucky son of a--- Johnny, ....Roy here says you lost one of your wisdom teeth..See? It's right here." Chet said, holding it nearer to Gage's eyes like a fine jeweler would a precious gemstone to a watching buyer. "Eeooowww. Get thath away frob me or I'm gonna puke on ya!" Johnny yelled half in a mix of horror and genuine anger. "Why? It's just a tooth..." Chet said reasonably and puzzled. "It's not just any toof.. It's MY toof! Uoohh no.." And he turned green. "Here I goOOOU.. GAAAAAuhgghhh......." And he fake vomitted, jutting out a gory tongue, just to shock Chet into dropping the thing out of eyesight and fingers reach. He stopped pretend gagging before Chet hit his own personal gross out point. Then he started laughing at how successful he was in getting Chet's face to wash ghostly white. He let Kelly off the hook."Of all the wayths to thave a little money by avoidin a thit to the dentith, guyths. Oh,, maaannn *Cough*" "You sure you're all right?" Roy asked him after exchanging a few words and sentences with Dr. Brackett on Johnny's almost completely normal vital signs. ##How's his Babinski's?## came the firm bass voice of Kel. Roy licked his lips, "Doc, I haven't got that far yet. Hang on a sec." and he quickly covered the jarbles of irate physician with his other palm, deciding quickly that preventing hurt partner from getting irate was a far lesser evil than any mere doctor rage. "I'mm no-- hurth!" Gage insisted around his fattening cheek. "Jus hath the win knockth out--me." he wiggled in the C collar. "You weren't even twitching when we all found ya. Stoker, here.." and DeSoto tossed Mike his penlight. "Go check his eyes for any mismatching or misreactions.." Gage sighed around the 02 mask. "Lope... I don't nee thisth..!" he said plainatively. "I'b fine.." Roy sighed, too, rubbing his tired face with his free hand. He froze for about a quarter of a minute, meeting Gage's staring eyes that were singularly boring through his own. They didn't even blink or wince once, even when Stoker checked their pupillary responses with the overly bright pure white glowing L.E.D. illumination. "Perfectly p.e.a.r.l., Roy. I checked twice." said Stoker seriously. ##Transport, 51! If you can't give me all the details now, transport, and we'll definitely be talking about him and how you've managed my transmission later!!## "I'm.......not......GOING!!" hissed Gage so vehemently that both the pink and the black and blue cheek puffed out in passionate obstinance around the demand valve. "It's Friday, around three am ...and I'm lying on the friggin floor in the middle of Station 51.. in the heart of industrial ... Carson City!" he rattled off, in barely contained apoplexy. Derisively, DeSoto plugged his phone receiver ear to block out Brackett's booming beratement while he said, "Gage's refusing, doc. One hundred percent. Sorry about that. Disregard this whole patient contact call. Squad 51, out." And he hung up the black phone in seconds. Click. A loud silence overtook the vehicle bay. Hank didn't know whether to fold his arms in a glare or mince his fingertips with worry in front of his suspender-ed T shirt. "Roy... can he--" "He can. He just did. I can't treat him if he refuses. Any more than I can treat any patient who's awake, conscious and fully aware of his surroundings. Guys, set him free.." he said, getting up from his knee aching squat on the hard chilly cement floor. "And let's save that O2 for somebody who really needs it, huh? Lopez get a ice bag for that face purpling from the freezer. I'm sure he won't argue THAT recommended treatment to death any. I'm going back to bed." he grumbled. "Thanks, Johnny, that was real funny...." he said deadpan sarcastic."Can't say it was one of your best gigs. It stank. Royally." Roy's sleep dishevelled shadow shuffled sleepily back into the bunk room. His was followed by Boot's and the methodical click of bored claws. All the rest of the guys watched them go, all wearing the same expressions of sheer dumbstruck muteness, including the strap and block immobilized Gage. Then, one by one, all the gang got equally in a huff. Grinning secretly in unspoken sudden conspiracy, the four of them swept up Johnny and his long board into their arms... and hung him on the wall off a jacket hook. Yawning, they turned to go, imitating Roy to the point of actually leaving John in the dark with the flick of the light switch...... for several minutes. "HeyyyyYY! Ya aren't just gonna leave me here!?" Johnny rattled against the bricks. "I didn't plan anything.. Well, maybe the fake chunk blowing part.... Guys.. I'm getting real uncomfortable!!! If you don't want me going into shock for real, you'd better g--!" Laughing at his ire, the guys hastily returned and laid him back down on the ground to undo his arms and legs and pull off the collar. Stoker and Marco helped Johnny up with a double grip of their hands, chuckling evilly. Kelly said, "If you're feeling well enough to call off an ambulance, why don't you go put the gear away like a good little non-patient before you shower up to wash all that blood off." Then the gang DID leave Gage alone, exiting stage center, full back. In irritation, Johnny got rid of the last of his throbbing jawline sinus headache with a few snorts from the oxygen tank mask. Then, in a re-inflamed case of the willies, he started cleaning up all the rescue apparatus, all the while cringing in anticipation of one of his bare heels suddenly crunching down onto his now truly lost, luckless tooth. To add insult to injury, Boot didn't even leave his warm place curled at the curve of Roy's butt, to help him find it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Hanging upside down from a longboard stretcher. Photo: Gage looking greasy in a T shirt, and confused. Photo: Cap and Chet grinning in relief and amusement. Photo: Brackett in scrubs over the phone, listening closely. Photo: Johnny, irritated, sucking on O2 in the vehicle bay with Roy laughing about it. *************************************************************** From: Roxy Dee < laterrapincabesa@hotmail.com > Sent : Wednesday, March 9, 2005 3:46 PM Subject : The Sacred Ground Gage was the last one to breakfast. He had spent the better part of a half hour poking and prodding in his mouth using the bathroom mirror in and around the gap his knocked out tooth had left behind. The cheek bruise, he wasn't worried about. It was the fact that nothing behind remained of his tooth, that did. He sat, holding the long since warmed ice bag Marco had given him last night over his bruised face self consciously, as he sank down in his chair. Roy immediately zeroed in on him while he spooned out a hefty portion of hashbrowns onto his plate. "Headache gone yet? If it's not, you've earned yourself another mandatory vitals check. Cap's orders." DeSoto said. "Yeah, it's gone. My face doesn't even hurt anymore." "Then why the long face, Johnny? You're not the one who's going to get the shop bill when Charlie comes to pop out that door panel on the squad this afternoon." Kelly ribbed, taking a sip of milk. "Man, nothing like taking a midnight header into a solid object.." Johnny frowned in irritation at Chet's light humor, tossing the spent ice bag into the trash so that it narrowly missed smacking the curly haired fireman on the shoulder. Kelly dodged it easily without even looking up. Gage waited for a reaction, but didn't even get one. "So," Johnny said. "Didja find it before ya mopped the garage out this morning?" he demanded. Kelly kept on chewing.. "Hhmm. Chewy omelets, Cap. Glad I got enough teeth to manage it..." "Chet!" Marco chastised. "Knock it off.. You know how much this is bothering Gage. Quit teasing.." "All right.. all right.. I'll give. Geesh.. How else can a guy get his fun around here? Yes, I found it. It's in a glass of water by the stove over there..." Kelly pointed with his fork. "But I already called the dentist's office. They said it's far too late to do anything about saving your tooth. Nothing short of an ambulance ride to the dentist chair would've saved it in time and that trip...you nipped in the butt before anyone could say anything about it last night." Chet admitted honestly. "So, what'cha gonna do with it? Raise it on animal skin scaffolding out in the woods somewhere to dispose of it? I know how much the physical body and its parts mean to your people." Gage flared. "Chet, you don't know what you're talking about. I don't have to bury or burn it. I just have t--" he broke off, getting even more self conscious. Cap wiped his mouth with a paper napkin while he munched on buttered toast. "To do what, Gage? Now don't clam up. You've got us all curious about it. Might as well 'fess up because you owe me one for not filing a report on that header you took out in the vehicle bay." Hank said no nonsense. Gage looked properly abashed, even though his eyes rebelled against it. Cap went on . "Beside that, I let you sleep in to recover some. And.. I'm not subjecting you to any of the usual A.M. chore details. Heck, Stoker even made you some soft boiled eggs so you could actually eat something this morning." Johnny accepted the plate pushed in front of him meekly. "Thanks, Mike, Cap. But I really can't talk about it. What I gotta do is something that's.. real personal and private." Hank stabbed Gage with a piercing glare. "I almost threw it out for being a biohazard in the station." "What?" Johnny said in shock. "Cap, you know where I'm angling and yet you're trying your d*mnedest to make me talk about it." "D*mned straight I am. How many times have I told you to turn some lights on in the garage at night when raiding the refrigerator." Cap countered. "I wasn't raiding the frig. I was getting a glass of water." "Moot point. Your accident, was totally preventable." Cap replied. "So's just about every other one Johnny's been in.." Chet chuckled. "Hush." Hank huffed at Kelly. Then he simply turned eyes on Gage in firm insistence, to spill the beans. "I...have to make a personal totem offering to the Spirit World." Gage mumbled. Chet didn't miss a thing. "A what? You mean you have to burn your tooth up in a bonfire or something while dancing naked under the moon in warpaint?" Gage just made a face. "No,, Chet. You make it sound as though my people were still living in the dark ages. I just have to make a prayer sack and wear it for a couple of days. No big deal.. Uh, that's if I can wear it under my uniform, Cap." "Sure.. Why not.." Hank said throwing up his chin. "No different than Marco wearing his gold crucifix under his t-shirt. But I absolutely prohibit any noxious weeds or other highly offensive olfactory offerings going into the bag. We've a public image to uphold." "I think I can get Nakoma to make me one that's subtle." Gage said. Stoker lifted his head from the paper. "Who's Nakoma? Some sort of medicine man?" Gage started to look uncomfortable. "No.. he's an elder in my family who has the sacred responsibility of burying us when we die." Kelly laughed. "Ah, I see where this is going. He'll even bury just a tooth?" "Yes." said Johnny seriously. "That especially. My tribe considers the head to be closest to the Creator Spirit. It's where our soul truly rests while we're alive." "Well what about the fighting spirit?" Marco asked. "I remember reading somewhere that Seminole warriors believe that aspect lives in the blood and heart." "It does. But I'm not a warrior. So I don't have to worry about my blood when I lose it. Only..." he broke off. "Only physical body parts.." Kelly continued where he left off. "I get it. Radical, Johnny. I never knew you were such a religious fanatic." Gage sighed while he gingerly slurped down his steaming eggs. "Very funny. I got an appointment with Nakoma to get my prayer sack today. I gotta go get it before the sun hits noontime or there'll be h*ll to pay with my Aunt." "She already knows about your tooth?" asked Roy. "Yeah.. I called her last night after you guys went back to bed. I had to. It was my duty as her nephew to let her know that a part of me had just died." "Gage. That's so morbid.." Kelly squirmed. "Chet. I didn't expect any of you to understand any of this so why don't you just shut up and forget about it. Let Roy and I handle this ourselves." DeSoto, set his jelly knife down onto his saucer with a clatter. "What do you mean let me handle it with you?" "Roy.. you're my oldest friend.. And...whenever there's a sacred ceremony on the Grounds with Chief Elder Nakoma, a non married tribesman always has to have his closest friend in attendance..to...show that he's lived his life honorably by having someone who's already proven themselves to be a ..true soulmate." Johnny blushed. "I mean, what else can we be to each other? We've saved each other's lives a dozen times over." Roy smiled. "I'll be happy to stand with you, Johnny Gage. Wouldn't have it any other way." he said sipping his coffee. "Just so long as I don't have to run around naked, wearing beads around my neck or anything like that, roasting my skin off in a sweat lodge." "You won't have to do anything but be there and smoke a pipe briefly...Thanks." Gage said, without looking up. The rest of the gang continued eating in respectful silence...until Chet piped up. "So, you both gonna have to wear face paint for this tooth memorial ceremony thingamabob going on today?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It was ten A.M. and Johnny clutched the saline filled jar holding his tooth in his hand nervously. "Roy, I hope to G*d we don't get another squad run.." he said, pulling off his helmet while he and his partner drove for a resupplying stop at Rampart. "There's only two hours left until my spiritual appointment's deadline." "Easy way to fix that. We won't eat any food. It seems we never get a run when we're not eating..." Roy joked. Gage surprisingly didn't laugh. "There is that.." he said seriously. "You're really worked up about all this, aren't you?" Roy asked. "Of course I am. All these years since leaving the reservation, I've never even once had to visit Nakoma. When I was a boy, he used to make me nervous..." Johnny said. "Why? It's no different than say, me, meeting my pastor." "It's a lot different.. Nakoma just doesn't oversee tribal religion. My aunt says that he can see into you.. Directly. Up close and personal. And he doesn't even have to know anything about you..." Gage sighed. "I guess I'm afraid that my life so far won't measure up. I haven't done anything for back home.. since..since I left.." he said, throwing up his hands and pulling off his overcoat. "A dereliction of duty, huh?" "You can call it that.." Gage said uncomfortably. "Well, no matter what happens. I'll be with ya." DeSoto nodded. "After we've restocked I.V.s we can go to Nakoma's shop, ok.?" "Ok.." said Johnny nervously..." ok." he said to reassure himself mostly. "Oh,...man.." He fumbled setting his tooth jar into a cup holder and almost dropped it onto the floor. Only a hasty catch saved it. "Relax.. or do I have to get Dr. Brackett to prescribe you a sedative?" "I'll be relaxed once I have that prayer amulet sack and things are under way. This whole process will take a week. We gotta fast, and be outside during certain times and the whole works.." Gage admitted. "We do?" "Yeah..." "Cap isn't gonna like this fasting part.." he scratched his nose as he drove the squad into the hospital's driveway. "And I don't think I'm gonna like it much either. I think we oughta grab some chow in the cafeteria while we're here because we still can." Roy said evenly. "No! No.. Roy, you said it yourself. We'll get a run then for sure.." "I was joking.." Johnny didn't hear him and immediately flung his squad door open the moment Roy had backed it to a halt near the ER's ambulance doors. Gage rushed inside, seeking out Dixie McCall.. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos : None. ********************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Tue Mar 15, 2005 5:40 pm Subject: Body Part Paranoia Johnny Gage made his way through busy bustling Rampart with all the skill of a medical worker to the ER's front desk. "Hey Dixie.." he said without preamble. "Oh, hiya Johnny. How's it going? You fellas made good time from Anaheim for this time of day. Traffic must be real light. I got the supplies you requested right here. Double check me. Two bags of Ringers, six Travenol set-ups. An ET sized 7.0 French. Two epinephrines, at 1/10,000.. Three MS adults, and a box of cardiac electrode pads." she said. "Missing a peds Narcan dose." Johnny said, fidgetting with a couple of pens like a drummer would a pair of drumsticks on top of Dixie's latest metal patient chart. He didn't look at the relaxed nurse, nor did he beg off for a cup of coffee from her. That got Dixie's attention faster than a fainter in the waiting room. "Ok, what gives, Johnny Gage? You're jumpier than an addict on heroin this morning." "Whaa.. say, listen, Dix." Gage said, still rubbernecking down both ends of the hallway. "Are Early and Morton nearby? I gotta talk with them. It's kinda urgent." "I'm not replying to that question until you actually show signs that at least one of your ears are still working." she said, noticing the deep, dark bruise purpling the right side of Johnny's face. "Dix.. this is important!" Johnny insisted, leaning in on her. "I gotta track down my last M.D. surgery notes A.S.A.P. before it's too late to do anything about it." A puzzled frown knitted itself across Dixie's face. "That might take a while. Your patient records are buried somewhere in the depths of Medical Records, inactively status-ed , because you're currently 100% perfectly healthy." "That'll change in....an hour. Exactly." "Are you hexing yourself for some reason or do you just love me so much that you want to get that nasty face bruise looked at right away?" McCall squinted suspiciously, reaching for it, trying to use humor to curb her own sudden, rising worry about him. Gage jerked his face away from her long fingernailed grip. "I'm fine. This is nothing." "No it's not.." offered Roy, finally catching up with his partner."I think that cheek bump is the first case of frontal brain pan concussion in the history of modern medicine..." DeSoto quipped. "Trip and fall last night. Minor." he confided to the head nurse. "Relax, Dix. I already gave him a once over before he pulled a refusal on me." "Oh. So his fidgetting here, like a five year old in a dentist office, is normal?" "Yeah, he's got an appointment he doesn't want to go to.." Roy said, collecting the box of medical supplies from Dixie after signing off on a requisition form. "With Morton or Joe Early?" Dixie asked, watching Johnny mince uncomfortably. "I noticed the tooth jar in his hand and he's asking where they are right now." "Neither. He's got a date with a close relative concerning a personal matter. At noon." "What can be so personal that's got Johnny wound up this bad?" Dixie wondered while they both watched him get a drink that he didn't need from the hallway drinking alcove. Then she remembered what he had just said to her. "Locating a surgical record...?" she mumbled, answering her own question with an even deeper puzzle. "Huh?" Roy jerked his head around. "Johnny was plugging me to drop everything, including today's admitting chartwork to snag the surgical notes from his last visit here when he was under the knife..." Dixie said. "Specifically, Joe and Mike's surgical notes..." "He was?" "Uh...huh." Dixie blinked slowly with a confiding nod. An uneasy light flickered on in Roy's eyes. "I think you'd better humor him and get them. This may get ugly." "What'll get ugly?" Dixie demurred. "I don't think I'm allowed to talk about it." "Shh. Here he comes again...Keep it down." DeSoto hissed. "Hi Johnny. Cup of coffee?" Roy asked brightly, feigning a cheerful casualness. Dixie McCall got busy on the phone. "Nah. No thanks." said Johnny glumly. "I'm not thirsty.. Dix.. any luck in finding them yet?" he said grasping the tooth jar so tightly that his fingers were turning white. "Careful! " Roy shouted, snatching the jar out of Gage's hand. "Or you'll shatter it and earn yourself a place in the waiting room." "What? Oh, sorry.." Johnny said, still searching worriedly for Joe Early and the young African American resident. "Dix?" "Working on it. Betty says she's calling an orderly right now to run it up personally. A burly one." she joked. "Oh. ha. ha. My chart's not that big..." "Oh, yes it is..." said Roy and Dixie together. Johnny pursed his lips, refusing to be cajoled into a better mood. "Just so I get that sheet." Right then.. Dr. Morton left Treatment Room Five, drying his hands with paper towelling. He tossed it away into a medical waste bucket. "Just the man I wanna see..." Gage muttered and he quickly crossed the few steps between them with Roy and Dixie tagging along behind, trying to stop him. "Doc.. you gotta help me..!" he began. Morton took one look at Johnny's face and took Gage under the arm. "What happened here? Orderly! Get a wheel chair! Stat..." "No...not for this thing. It's just a bruise." Gage said, feeling up his purpling face and under eye. "H*lluva bruise if it knocked one of your teeth out. Roy was smart to bring it in with you.." Morton said. "Now sit." Johnny shrugged and tried to deny the need for himself be wheeled into a nearby empty treatment room. "I don't need to. I need you for ANOTHER reason real bad.." "Sit down. Shut up. We'll talk about it." Morton commanded darkly. "Or do I have to call in another musclehead to get you in order?" The orderly pushing Gage's summoned wheelchair flexed his biceps meaningfully. Johnny sat. Embarrassed, Roy and McCall both followed doctor, orderly, and Johnny into the darkened room. Morton flicked on a light switch with an elbow and immediately started probing Johnny's tender face. "What'dja stop with your face? A truck fender?" "Yeah..The squad's." Roy said firmly sarcastic. "Mind explaining that one to me? How the h*ll did he get under your front tires?" Morton jibbed. Roy minced in frustrated irritation. "Doc. He's not here to be seen. He's here to..." Morton interrupted him, pulling out his penlight. "I'll be the judge of that. Roy, I'm surprised at you. His pupils are showing that he had a black out about eight hours ago. Why didn't you bring him in as soon as this happened?" he snapped at the blonde paramedic. "He didn't want to go. This is all nothing! Really! Just ask Dr. Brackett. He'll vouch for me." "I'm gonna do that..Right now." Morton withered them both with a trademark glare. "Johnny, don't move outta that chair.." He made his way over to the phone on the wall and started dialing. "Dix, get a left arm blood pressure reading." "But.." "That's an order, Miss McCall!" the young physician resident pointed a sharp not to be denied finger at her before turning back to the operator. "Right away, Doctor Storm." Morton ignored the jibe. Dixie's mouth was still hanging open in confusion. "You both lost me minutes ago at the front desk. Care to clarify?" she said wrapping a BP cuff around Johnny's arm. "He's gonna kill me..." Gage mumbled, reclaiming the jar that Roy held, into a tight protective cradle of laced fingers. "Oh, come on.. Morton's not that bad.." Dixie breathed. "Well,..maybe that bedside manner of his is. He's never been a good listener." she sighed. "However I AM, so spill it Johnny. The whole sordid tale.." Gage swallowed. "I need my spleen back.." Dixie nearly dropped the stethoscope in her hands. "What kind of crazy comment is that? And I thought I'd heard everything." "Look, do you think it's still in Pathology Store from this spring or not? I know how you guys like to save organs for teaching all your medical students. Plleeaaasse say that it might still be down there." "Johnny. Calm down.." Dixie she said, patting his arm, trying to get a BP around his wild gesturing. "It might be. Though I can't be sure that you even signed the right forms for that then. You were pretty out of it the night that car hit you." "I remember signing a donor form when I first signed up for the fire department!" Johnny yelled, his voice getting louder. That made Morton, in close discussion with Kel Brackett, look up. "Is he getting combative? I'll be right there...." Roy and Dixie both denied that observation vehemently. "No..no no no no no no.. He's fine. Just mad. Emotionally mad. Uh, he's just...fine doc. Heh. Look I'll prove it. His pressure's 140 over 96, doctor.." "Hmph." And Morton turned back to the phone, getting the rest of the details about Johnny's accident and jotting the notes down in his pocket notepad. Johnny was still plenty worked up, biting his fingernail. "I gotta fix everything.. Make it right before I go over there." he mumbled. "Just what the heck are you talking about?" Roy asked. "I thought you were angling being hurt to get a new nursing student in here to fuss over you so you could cheer up a little. I wouldn't put a stunt like that past you." Johnny grabbed Roy's collar and hauled his face down to his level. "I gotta get my spleen back or prove that Joe and Morton cut out my spleen knowingly in writing or they'll be h*ll to pay. He's gonna know, Roy!" Now Roy was looking at his partner askance, the same way the doctor and nurse were. "Are you feeling ok? Maybe I missed something on you last night." "I'm fine. Roy. I just need either of those two things within...within..." he looked at his wrist watch. "ohmyg*d forty minutes, or I'm dead meat.." Johnny panicked, fussing in the wheelchair. His activity earned another sharp glance from the rapidly talking young doctor across the room. Dixie frowned, setting a gentle hand on his heaving chest. "Who's out to get you?" "Nakoma. And very soon after that, my aunt'll be." A light bulb went off inside Roy's head and he buried his head in his hand against the wall. "Oh no. Not the burial rites thing..." "Yes, the burial rites thing. Roy, the more I think about it, the more trouble I think I'm in. No one has ever not atoned for a body loss before in my family. And now I know I have. I allowed a splenectomy done on me." "You were in life threatening shock, Johnny. You had no choice. It was either that or...." Roy began. "I know that. Dixie knows that. And so does Morton here. He and Joe are the ones who cut it out of me..." Gage said with exasperation. Then he froze still in discovery.. "Say.. maybe Morton can come along with us today and confess what he did to me. Or..do I need Joe Early too? As his co-murderer?" Roy's face twisted in searching, very unwelcome, disbelief. He couldn't quite fathom what his ears were telling him. Dixie was a little faster absorbing details. "Won't that chart entry be enough? Joe nor Mike can't leave the ER right now. Kel'll more than have a fit." Dixie insisted. "Take it easy, Johnny...I think I can put a rush on it.." Johnny clamped down on Dixie's arm in a vice grip. "That might not be fast enough, guys!" he agonized."Nakoma's traditional to the last. He might not even know how to READ a chart entry let alone accept one from the outside world." "Johnny.. this is the 1970's. Everyone reads. Especially curio shop owners in this day and age, or their taxes would never get done." Roy said no nonsense. Johnny froze, considering. And then he relaxed a whole nine yards. "Oh, yeah. You're probably right. I must be snowballing..." "You are.." said Dixie and Roy in one breath. "Enough to freak out Dr. Morton here. And that's not easy to do.." McCall quipped. "Oh. I am? Gee, I guess I'd better let him off the hook, huh?" Johnny said mildly. "Hey doc.." he called out.. "Doc..." Morton barely looked at him. Johnny horsewhistled sharply between his front teeth. "What?! I said I'll be right with you, Gage." said Morton in irritation from his phone conversation. "Malcolm? Watch him. Closely.." he snapped to the orderly. "I'm almost done." Gage poked Malcolm the orderly in the stomach. "You can't touch me. That would be assault and battery. Hey doc, guess what? I'm refusing again... Bye.." and then he, Dixie and Roy hurried out of the room as fast as the wheelchair could move. Morton was left behind, helplessly tied to a highly re-annoyed Kel Brackett who had overheard Gage's parting shot over the phone line. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Johnny Morton and Roy talking at the base station desk. Photo: Johnny in a helmet chatting with Dixie. ***************************************************************** From: Katherine Bird Date: Tue Mar 15, 2005 6:35 pm Subject: Elder Encounter Johnny Gage didn't trust himself to not fidget. "Roy, did ya remember to bring my chart log?" "Right here. Relax, junior." Roy sighed as they left the street where they had parked the squad curbside. He held up the surgical notes that Dixie had copied for his partner up in the air as he ambled up to the door of Nakoma's curio and trading shop. He tried to peer inside around the ornate gold lettering and tribal designs stenciled on the door's glass. "Hasn't he opened yet?" "Not to the public. This morning is reserved all for me..." Gage said nervously. "Oh, man. I'm wound up worse than what I was for my first day morgue clinical for paramedic's class.." "That's good." Roy said. "Then you won't say anything you might regret. You have a tendency to clam up when you're really flustered. Just think, now your foot won't be able to get wedged so tightly in your mouth once we're standing in front of him. Ready?" "No.." "Open your eyes, Johnny. I'm reaching for the door knob right about....." A sharp tone on both their belted HTs, came to life. ## L.A., Squad 51.## Johnny jumped and was shaky enough to not be able to reach his radio's release clip fast enough to reply. Roy answered the hail. "Squad 51.." ##Squad 51. Message from the L.A. Shop Office. Standby for communications patch.## "Standing by..." said Roy, with a puzzled look. "Oh, no.." groaned Johnny. "What?" "That's Charlie I'll bet. He's probably itching to get at the squad to pop out your door." "The sooner the better. " "I don't know who's gonna be worse.. Charlie the mechanic or Nakoma here.." Roy was a friend enough to not laugh. "I promise I won't tell him exactly how it happened or who was actually responsible for the dent.." Gage completely missed it. "Roy, Charlie'll never yell at Boot. He loves that dog more than his own mother. Didn't you know that Boot camped out at the Engine Shop for a whole two months and got so good at anticipating Charlie's fire department repair routine, that he started being able to hand out the tools Charlie needed to work with before Charlie realized that he was even thinking about using em.." ##Squad 51, I have your patch to 602.## "Copy 602.." Roy told L.A. ## Hey slackers! Where the h*ll are ya?## came Charlie's irate New York sounding taxi driver's voice. ## I got my truck idling in the back yard waiting for ya..## "Grab some lunch with the fellas, Charlie. It's Cap's chowder today.." he dangled. "We'll be around in..." Roy looked to Johnny for a time estimate. Gage silently mouthed.."One hour." "...an hour." DeSoto said over his talkie. "See Stoker for the damage photos. They're on Cap's desk so you can guess how much time you're gonna need in order to--" ##Already saw em, fireboy. Just get your butts back at the station with my poor abused squad in an hour, five, or there'll be Hades to pay. Don't think there won't be any because I'm a smidgeon away from accruing overtime that I don't need! And do me a favor that I won't regret...## boomed Charlie. "What's that, Mr. 602?" Roy said with an amused expression on his face. ##Be sure to wash the blood off Lil Red's paint job before it cakes on any worse in the sun before ya get here. Next time, slow down enough to nail the d*mned squirrel with your front bumper, not with the door with any speedin' up trying to get away from it.## "Squirrel?" " * squeak..squeak..* " Roy teased Gage, covering the speaker. "Well, well well. Will wonders never cease? Looks like Chet managed to turn your dramatic escapade last night into something mundane enough to chill that temper of Charlie's. Good for him. I think you owe him one, Johnny." Gage was too nervous eyeing up the curio shop's dark animal taxidermied and artifact filled windows to pay any attention to Roy. ##602, Squad 51. Did you two bozos copy my last transmission or not?!## "Squad 51 to 602. 10-4. Squad 51, out...." DeSoto replied. "Our ETA is confirmed at an hour, five." ## It'd better be. ## snapped a barely mullified Charlie. In the background, Roy could hear dishes being served up onto a table and sounds of bubbling. In spite of itself, DeSoto's stomach growled. :: I'm missing chowder! :: Then the open line cut out and Sam Lanier's voice came back onto the frequency. ## 602 signals automated termination at his location. Do you affirm?## "We do, L.A... Squad 51's now 10-8 at the 1100 block of Lerner and Oseola." ##10-4, Squad 51. Noting your change on the grid. L.A. out. * Spap.* ## Gage startled at the severed line click from Headquarters. Then he squared his shoulders and said, "Let's get this over with..." His hand reached down and turned the intricately Seminole pictogram carved door handle. The two paramedics made their way into the shop. A low growl met their ears. Turning, Roy and Johnny came face to face with what looked like a wolf lying in the doorway leading to the back of the trading post's counter. Unbidden, Johnny's left palm came up into the air in a respectful benediction before his own forehead. "Ko-wah-yah- lot to chené pahén empom. Numpagalaale laknalon." The hybrid dog's hackles slowly fell and it sank back down onto its belly, and licked its lips in resumed boredom. Roy unfroze.. "What was that all about?" Johnny shrugged a shiver of incomprehension. "I dunno.. It just came to me without my even thinking about it. Seemed right to say that somehow.." he said, licking suddenly dry lips. "Not quite right, Ya-laahe Kowechobe. You just told Nageela that flowers are yellow and that three horses are eating hay in your gift mother's tongue." said a voice, stepping out of the shadows. It was a shorter older Seminole man dressing in colorful beads, silverwork, ribboned pants and an airy mauve speckled shirt opened at the chest. "You should be ashamed of yourself to let your native language slip so badly. It dishonors all your ancestors." Johnny paled to almost Roy's skin tone. "Nakoma! I meant no offense. I'm feeling a little off balance here. Look, can we go outside for some air? I-I..I was working a house fire this morning and haven't yet cleared out my lungs good enough yet to think straight." "So you now fight Ee-te Yo-ga-hé, Orange Panther? She said as much. That, at least, is a step in the right direction. Fire is an enemy not many men are brave enough to face. But that is no excuse to shun your aunt's desire to impart some wisdom about your heritage through Speaking." "I'm sorry, Nakoma. I haven't had much time to keep up my lessons with Kehayke." Johnny said like an eight year old school boy in front of a chastising school teacher. "I could honor my pledge to gain knowledge if only Snow Hawk wasn't so stubborn about moving into my ranch house so I could take better care of her..." The wizened old tribal elder simply held up a gentle hand to silence him. "She is a piece of the West Wind, Johnny Roderick Gage. And I now see that the same wind is in you, too. No one can tame such as that easily. Not even one whose birth embraces it. This speaks much to me of your life, Panther." Nakoma studied Roy closely with a wrinkled, piercing gaze that sank deep. "So, your closest companion is Miccosukee, Johnny. Honorable that you've chosen him of the Other People whose homeland now dances with our own. Nakoma bids you welcome, Roy DeSoto..." Roy blinked in surprise when his name was spoken out loud without an introduction. "I read your name tag, son.." said Nakoma with a toothy grin. "And I see you carry the spirit proofs I'll be needing." he said, indicating both the tooth jar and the folder containing Johnny's patient notes in Roy's hands. "Uh, yes sir.." sputtered Roy, rubbing his nose in embarrassment. "Come. Nageela will show you the way into my Sun Circle.. uh, my personal garden. I've already set aside some refreshment.." he said with a slight angle of his whitening head. "After we've eaten and are filled from the pool's waters, we can begin your purification rites. I have Young Opa Henle, helping me today. He is a most promising initiate." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was forty minutes later, Johnny was almost completely untensed after the simple meal of palm hearts and fried corn cakes. The sun felt warm on his back as he listened to Opa and Nakoma say the sacred chant of Atonement for his behalf. He hadn't even coughed when the ceremonial pipe of herbs passed between the four of them. ::Guess all this fresh air's finally doing something for me.:: he thought. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, fending off a slight drowse. A steamy puff of summer wind made him open them... And he came face to face with a slabbering, roaring maw of a six hundred pound grizzly bear. "YahhhhHH!" he shouted, flinging himself backwards off of the coarse, brightly colored woven prayer mat. Nakoma, Opa and Roy fell to laughing as the tame bear began snuffling Johnny's outflung hands, begging for any shred of leftovers. "Where did that bear come from?!" Gage gasped. "From under that tree, Panther." said Opa, the young indian man. "She was lying under it the whole time to keep herself cool. You mean to tell me that you never saw her there? Miccosukee did, right away.." Roy chuckled. "You'll have to forgive my partner. He.. injured himself yesterday enough to addle his brains. Always takes a day or two for Johnny to sort himself out." Nakoma patted the affectionate giant bear's dusty coat fondly. "Yes, I saw the battle marks on his face that showed how his tooth was taken from him." he gestured with a ceremonial ribbon dressed hawk's feather. "And Coo-Wah Shoke here knows she might get some food from one who's still slow from his wounds.." he said. Gage laughed. "Big Pig? Is that what you call her?" "Yes, for that is her nature. How she gets with food and her love of wallowing in the mud. The city says I can have her as long as she never goes into the shop and stays behind my gated fences. Are you still frightened of her my boy?" Nakoma asked. "A little. Let's just say bears and I haven't ever gotten along. Lions and tigers don't like me much either.." Johnny said, uneasily. Clucking his lips, Nakoma sent Coo-Wah Shoke away from the food fire on the tiny willow tree ringed shore of the garden's pool. "Go for a while. This one needs my healing without his fear of animals rising, my old friend. He'll be all right.." the old man told the bear. Roy and Johnny looked at Nakoma thoughtfully until the elder explained. "She worries about those who're heart sick and is drawn to them. I'm afraid you were enough to break her sleep, Panther. Tell me of your old transgression that effected you here.." he said, motioning to the general area of where a spleen would be located. "You will not be judged by me for that is not my place in the World.." said Nakoma. "I see that part of you has been missing for a half circling of the sun." Roy handed Nakoma the medical records Dixie had managed to scrounge up. "I don't know if we have time for you to read all of these doctor notes. Johnny was hit by a car and had to have emergency surgery to save his life. I was there when it happened." "We will have time. The Creator will send those who might need your medical healing and fire fighting to the others in your House. It always happens that way." said Opa with certainty, briefly touching the broad cast monitoring HT that Roy had set on a rock by their blanket. Gage blinked and so did Roy. "We did eat without getting a rescue call. Think it'll last?" he joked to the young man. "Until we are done here. Yes." said Opa with fervor. "Wish I had your confidence.." Johnny murmured, as Opa took away his grass woven food plate and pottery fired water cup. A cloud passed over the sun, and its shadow chilled the air, making the pleasant sweat on Johnny's face turn uncomfortable. Nakoma's eyes opened and he fixed Johnny with a sad stare. "I am sorry.There is little I can do to restore your Spirit's balance, Johnny. It is because the circles that you move within have been disrupted for too long." "Disrupted? How?" said Johnny, his old apprehensions about keeping the tribal appointment coming back in a flood. "Your body takes on its hurts and pains often. Does it not?" "Well, yeah, but.. I've always sort of had a klutz gene." "Not always. It is only since then. When you did not see me when the first Loss of Body happened. It does not matter that it was the Miccosukee doctors who took your body's spleen without your knowledge then. What does matter, is that you did not atone for its loss, until now." Nakoma said. "I can erase that old transgression now. But the harm that comes often to your Great Circle, will stay near for a time." Gage felt uneasy. "I'm sorry.. I didn't think that my surgery was a critical matter for the tribe to have to worry about." "There is always a serious cost for delay when the spirit/body is concerned. You as a city healer, as a paramedic, should know that. But, what's done is now done and I cannot lessen the imbalance. I'm afraid I can see that you will suffer more in that which surrounds you, before your spirit circles come into balance again." said Nakoma. "For every neglect, comes a price," said the old tribal elder,.." In blood or in its ties.." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The warm sun had fled, and a dreary, inadequate rain fell on Station 51. All the gang only half heard a complaining Charlie the mechanic banging away on the squad door, finishing up its restoration work out in the vehicle bay. Johnny Gage thought that sipping a mug of Cap's chowder would cheer him. It didn't. So he started talking instead. "Roy, what do you think he meant by that?" "Do you mean Nakoma's doom and gloom statement that he shared with us before we left him or Charlie's last oath in Italian?" Roy grinned. "I'm talking about Nakoma.." said Johnny quietly. The smile on Roy's face died. "I don't know. I'm not good at understanding mystical stuff....and about what happened earlier today.. I understand, even less. Maybe he was just trying to scare you into spending more time with your Aunt to learn your native language like she wants you to." "Roy, Nakoma's a respected elder. He wouldn't stoop to such pettiness to get anybody back in line. "Johnny said. "A man doesn't become a Spirit Elder by being manipulative. There's only one born in every generation, and that is earned with years and years of dedication and study. Nakoma's the free-est spirit I've ever encountered." "I've heard of one freer.." smiled Roy, looking up at Johnny. "What?" "Nothing. I wouldn't worry much about what Nakoma said. No one is subject to manifest destiny. We all have free will. I sincerely believe the choices we make in our lives are always made free and clear from anyone's influence, except perhaps, sometimes, our own." "You really think so?" "Yeah." Johnny didn't say anything and just toyed with the steaming soup with his spoon. "You look hungry again," Roy said gently. "Eat your soup before we get called out on a---" The tones went off.. and the call that followed them began to transmit over the speakers as the whole gang piled out of the kitchen. Charlie the mechanic grabbed Boot's collar and got both himself and the shaggy station mutt, out of the way of traffic. ## Station 51...... ## ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Johnny and Roy talking by the squad. Photo: A spleen diagram. Photo: Nakoma the elder and Opa assistant, grinning. Photo: The elder by a camp fire with Opa, nightfall. Photo: Johnny and Roy answering a call squadbound. Photo: A trading post curio shop. Photo: Close up of the squad's radio. **************************************************************** From : Champagne Scott Sent : Sunday, March 20, 2005 5:48 PM Subject : Boot the Dog's Sixth Sense ##...., Truck 9. Possible suicide attempt. 18 West McGinty. Cross street Lawrence. 18 West McGinty. Cross street Lawrence. Police on scene advise no lights or sirens. They specify a boy is involved. Timeout, 1437.## said Sam Lanier quietly. There was a slight hesitation in the L.A. dispatcher's usually calm voice that that showed uncharacteristic emotion or something else, that all the humans simply missed in their haste to gear up and get belted in. Before the echo of Sam's voice died away, Boot suddenly whined, rising to his feet. He began to bark deep authority filled woofs to hasten the gang into faster action like he did only for a located victim whenever he was at a rescue site. But this time, he was looking up the wall where the giant city map frame hung, intently focused on the speaker grill. Mike Stoker gaped as he slipped into his overcoat. "Why is he doing that?" he asked Chet and Cap and Marco piling into the Ward around him. "Crazy mutt. There's nothing up there, not even a flying moth to go after." Cap shrugged. "Boot's a veteran fire dog but he's getting older. Maybe he's just in anticipation for us to hurry it up a little. This is a kid call and he's smart enough to know what the word "boy" means without any encouragement from anybody." "Probably." said Mike, and then he was all concentration on checking out the boulevard through the opening door ahead for approaching traffic. Chet and Marco continued to stare in puzzlement at the stiff legged, on-the-point barking Boot as the engine pulled out after the rushing squad. But then there was no more time to wonder when an update from the police department came over the radio. ## Seven Mary Three, Station 51. The child's guardian is on scene and accessible.## "Engine 51, Seven Mary Three, 10-4." replied Captain Stanley as he tightened the strap of his helmet more firmly against the rainy wind pushing through the engine's open window. The outer door rumbled shut, muting the busy traffic sounds, and relative quiet returned to the station bay. Charlie the mechanic tried to pet Boot's back, but the shaggy, tan and red dog shied away from him quickly, only to resume his staring pose and urgent barking fit. "Hey, boy. What's the matter? You hungry? Come on, I'll feed ya a can of Rival. Don't worry about the boys, they'll be back. Firemen return to the coop even faster than carrier pigeons do, ol' fella. Just give it em couple of hours for this one. I'll just bet that kid's got himself up in a high place somewhere while he's working through being a runaway or something. You know how parents can get sometimes. He's probably just scared witless." Boot ignored him and continued to stare and bark oddly at the grill, until an unbidden stomach growl brought the juices flowing into his mouth at the word 'Rival'. He cut his barks off reluctantly. "Huh." smiled Charlie. "Thought so. Your chow'll be under the payphones in a second. Then I'm gonna go read the sports pages. Just let me wash up a bit." mumbled the greasy palmed Charlie as he ambled towards the kitchen, whistling an aimless tune. Boot finally padded after the blue shirted grizzle haired mechanic. He offered one last whine of concern to the rain gray light in the air as it dimmed in the garage. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A rainy river bridge from a car driver's perspective. Photo: Boot, barking frantically. Photo: The engine and squad traveling down the expressway. ********************************************************************* From : patti keiper Sent : Monday, March 21, 2005 10:49 AM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Miracle from the Sky.. Hank radioed Squad 51 when they were a half mile away from the high rise ivory brick office building where their incident was taking place, to begin dark and silence mode. The complex was located in the clover leaf of the busy expressway and already, cars were honking and slowing down to gawk at the sight of the crowd milling about and pointing upwards towards a floor much higher than the speedway ramp. "DeSoto, Gage. Pull up out of sight in the park on the east side of the building. Take off your helmets when you go meet with PD. We don't know yet if this young man gets agitated at seeing uniforms or not. Err to the side of caution. E 51'll station down the block with Ladder 9 until you give the word." ##10-4, Cap.## replied Johnny using the radio mike from the dashboard. The falling rain was easing into a fine chilly mist that muted details of the top stories of the building. A new transmission cut in. ## Station 51, this is Seven Mary Four from the sixth floor. I'm moving the mother in close enough on the boy's level to begin a talk using a megaphone. We can only see him through a plate glass window that extends out the whole dimensions of this room. Suite 615. He's located in a recessed corner under the horizontal flag pole on the south side. Stay your personnel until we get a good feel about this.## Captain Stanley quickly scooped up the engine's mic. "Seven Mary Four, Engine 51. 10-4. Truck 9, hold your position until further notice but go ahead and enable the Eddison to vertical on your side of the building. I want to give that boy an option of climbing down by himself if necessary once my men are up there. Looks like CHiP PD will give us an order to move in." ## Truck 9, Engine 51. We copy that. You'll have your access route in five minutes.## Cap nodded in satisfaction and waved over Kelly and Marco. "Guys, go get belts and ropes. But keep under tree cover. The fog layer between us and that boy could thin to clear at any time and we don't yet know how far the boy can see from his perspective. Lopez, hand me the binoculars from the brush bag. I'm going around into the crowd to see what I can see." "Ok, Cap." Meanwhile, Roy and Johnny had shed their helmets and donned their non descript navy shirt jackets. They pushed their way through the spectators to the front rotating doors and hurried inside.They wasted no time using their fire keys to take over one of the public elevators. They quickly established a patch to the two CHiPs up with the mother. Speaker mode allowed them to overhear what the mother was saying while they rode up to the sixth floor. ##Baby, daddy and I aren't mad at you. We just want you to come back home. Please, move away from the edge, you're frightening me..## ##Good!## came an angry shivering boy's voice full of rage. ##I'm sick and tired of all the doctors poking and prodding me all the time. I'm sick of all the needles! I'm sick of all the tests that I know won't make me live longer. You said it yourself, ma. My brain tumor's cancer and I read in my chart that it's gonna kill me before Christmas. So why wait? I don't want those terrible pains to come back again.## screamed the distraught boy. ## So, I'm gonna jump before that happens..## he sobbed, almost hoarse and shaking with cold under the falling light rain. ##Eric. You're scared. You can't possibly understand everything that was written in there. I can't, and I'm a librarian. But I know enough. You won't feel anymore headaches. Doctor Early says that he can operate and turn off those parts of your brain that will try to do that when the tumor gets big. Did you read his notes about it? He said he'd perform a craniotomy with Doctor Alfans to-## The tone of the boy's voice through Roy and Johnny's HT as the elevator rose agonizingly slow, grew quieter. "Enough mom! I want to die now and get it over with. I hate what's in my head. It's eating me away bit by bit...*sob* I'm starting to feel like I'm no longer me anymore." he whimpered, sagging down the dripping brick outside and he started crying violently with a bowed head bent over his knees. Eric's mother fell into a tortured silence and her muffled crying was the first thing the two paramedics heard in person when they entered the suite office, cautiously avoiding windows. A CHiP named Frank Poncherello motioned them to a marble pillar out of the boy's direct range of sight. Roy and Johnny ducked behind a desktop and scrambled over to the policeman's position. Johnny asked him, whispering. "Is there a removable pane of glass around here anywhere?" Ponch shook his head as he guardly watched Kelly and Lopez enter the room as stealthily as Gage and DeSoto had with the rappelling gear. "Nah. He picked the CEO suite to fall apart in on purpose. This is his dad's office. He knew there wouldn't be an easy way for potential rescuers to reach him from here." Roy asked, "Where's Eric's dad now?" as he looked around for another man in the room who wasn't PD, trying to keep out of sight. A blonde CHiP name tagged Jon Baker replied. "In Houston. He flew out on an emergency flight for a trip this morning. Guess he forgot to tell his wife and son where he was headed to." "Nice time to forget.." said Johnny. "Sound's like that kid has borderline altered himself into a crisis at finding out the bad news just at a time when he needs his dad most. Brain cancer's a serious load." Then he checked himself. "No offense, ma'am.." he addressed Eric's mother. "I'm Johnny Gage of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. My partner, Roy DeSoto and I, are paramedics." "Oh no. Not paramedics... Eric will know you for who you are in seconds. He had a seizure two months ago that began this awful nightmare and two men like you came to treat him." her face twisted. "Please.. don't let my son see you... I beg you..." she pleaded, nearly hysterical. Roy hung onto her shoulders.. "Shhh. Easy.. Keep your voice low and try to calm down a bit. Your son needs you and the four of us are here to help you help Eric, too, ok? Please. Sit down right over here and get your thoughts worked out. We won't have to look at your son directly. These two officers have already filled us in on exactly where he is and how he's positioned on theleadge. So far, he's hugging the wall because of the high height out there." Johnny nodded, adding further encouragement. "He won't jump, maam. Not if we don't agitate him. Depressed children his age have a hard time overcoming the survival instinct left over from early childhood long enough to actually kill themselves. I know it sounds bad right now, but he's only asking for help in the best way he can work it out right now.." "Oh, g*d.." the mother sobbed, her knees gave way and Roy and Johnny gripped her arms long enough to guide her down to sit on the cushions of the office chair. "I can't take this right now. This is all surreal.." Gage immediately bent on curbing her denial, before shock could set in and cause her to topple in a psychogenic faint. They needed the mother's voice of reason. "Now, Mrs. Benoit..." he said, reading the name plate sitting on the desk next to them. "Quit snowballing the situation here. You gotta pull yourself together. Your son's wet, but he's not in any deadly danger. Thatleadge is over eight feet wide. It's not as narrow as you might think. My partner and I are very familiar with the buildings on this block. We use them for climbing and rescue practice with other fire stations all the time." "You....do..?" she whispered. "Yes. Here, drink this. Officer Poncherello got some coffee for you. Take a few sips and then we'll begin talking to your son again, all right?" Gage encouraged her. "He's scared but I know he'll listen carefully to whatever you'll say next. Why wouldn't he? You're the only mother he's got.." Johnny smiled at her. He dabbed away the worst of her tears with a deftly snatched kleenix from a box near them. "And besides that, it's freezing out there..." said Johnny teasingly, chattering his teeth as an unfeigned chill washed through him. Mrs. Benoit, briefly smiled bravely at the four men. "I'll hold out a blanket for him.." she sniffed before another wave of crying gripped her. Officer Jon Baker slipped a second one for her around her shoulders and refilled the coffee cup that had splashed mostly empty, because her hands were trembling so strongly. A crash from outside startled them all. Jon Baker rushed to hug a wall and parted the rich venetian blinds to peer outside. Benoit remained frozen in a horrid fear. "It's ok.. That was only some lightning. Eric's still nestled behind the gargoyle, hanging onto its lower feet as tight as he can. There's no way he's gonna let go. Roy, Johnny. I think that thunder petrified him. He's gripping the stone so hard, his fingernails are bleeding..." "They are?" Gage said, rising up from his crouch in quick discovery. He dashed over to Baker and hugged the wall enough to see the sign for himself. "Roy.. looks like he's catatonic.. maybe even pre seizure stage." "We gotta get out there..." DeSoto qualmed. Kelly burst into the room, keeping low. "No problem. The office next door has a window washer's access pane and it's open. That's how Eric climbed outside. One of his shoes is lying on the carpeting underneath it." "Let's go..." Roy said. "Mr. Poncherello..." DeSoto said, reading Frank's nametag. "Stay with Mrs. Benoit. Stretch her out on the floor on her side if she passes out on you, ok. We'll have O2 up here in a jiffy.." Ponch nodded. DeSoto lifted his HT to his mouth as he and Johnny followed Kelly and Marco to the open window and were belted up. "Cap.. have someone bring up all the medical gear. We just got our big break and we're taking it." Jon Baker barked into his own radio link to the engine. "Captain. The ladder's a sure thing real soon. Send it on up.." ##10-4..## Chet frowned. "Catatonia? How long will that last?" "That depends on how far along Eric's tumor's progressed. Could be for minutes... or for just a few seconds. It's ok to hurry.." Roy replied calmly, but impatiently. Marco whipped his hands away from the lifebelts now around the two paramedics' waists. "Done.." "Go, man. We already got ya anchored!" Kelly turned to Jon Baker. "Officer Baker? Come wrap Roy and Johnny's ropes around ya, Lopez and I will take the weight if they fall but you'll be great as our secondary brake. Put your belt gloves back on." he said, pulling on his own fire ones. Roy and Johnny both got confident ready nods from the two engine firemen so they inched their way out onto the concreteleadge that was one cornerstone pillar away from Eric's dripping perch. Gage was the second one to step outside. He was immediately soaked to the skin from the driving rain but he never hesitated. Roy looked back through the access window. "Kelly! Is the boy's rope attached to a third belt yet? We'll try to get that around him first before we do anything else.." "Yeah, anticipated ya!..." Chet shouted back. "Here!" and his tan gloves lifted out to Roy, a neatly coiled line and a life belt already cinched down to a small, child sized diameter. DeSoto peeked around the corner of the end column, but Eric still hadn't moved or blinked. Slowly, Roy pulled out his bandage scissors from his hip holster and he crept one glove around the edge of the pillar blindly, until he felt soft flesh, giving way. He quickly withdrew them but there was no reaction at all to his nudge. "Eric?" he whispered carefully over the mist. There was no reply or any sound of voluntary movement that showed the boy had even heard him. "Is he zoned?" Gage whispered. "Yeah..." Roy nodded. The two paramedics flew into business, hollering for a pair of rig stretchers over their HTs once Eric's safety rope was securely snubbed off. The boy did not resist them and continued to stare straight ahead, emotionally reacting to nothing. He stayed rigid necked and limb stiff, the whole way back through the office window on Roy's shoulder. --------------------------------------------------------------- It took only seven minutes for the four firemen to get both Mrs. Benoit and the boy into the waiting ambulance. Hank Stanley gave the departing rig a couple of hand slaps to the back to send it and Roy on its way. Hank turned to Johnny and the others, and said..... ---------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Suicide kid onleadge. Photo: CHiPs on scene. Photo: Cap Roy Johnny talk at fire in day turnout. Photo: Chet high up, watching. Photo: Stoker Johnny Roy doing ropes prep highup. Photo: Roy Gage with witness, pointing. Photo: Gage speaking with a heartsick, seated mom. ********************************************************* From: "lafddispatcher" Date: Mon Mar 21, 2005 11:01 am Subject: Gift From Heaven... "..I think we owe the Big Man upstairs a whole lotta thanks, don't you?" "Heck, yeah..." said Gage. "I'll never complain about a rainy rescue day, ever again..." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************** From : Jeff Seltun Sent : Sunday, March 27, 2005 3:19 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] In for a Mile.. Cap was dozing in the black vinyl rec room arm chair. Just about everyone else, was either nodding off on the couch or onto their dinner plates while the droning effect of the late afternoon rain on the roof of the vehicle bay, lulled them into sleeping drowsiness. Only Charlie the mechanic seemed invigorated by the continuing dreary weather. He had both bay doors wide open to further dry the paint on the squad from his repair job and he had Boot as a very eager audience, for company. "What's the matter, boy? Are the guys too inanimate for you? Heh. Firemen are like that." Charlie told the shaggy dog. Boot intently wagged his tail energetically from where he sat with a screwdriver in his mouth. Every time the older mechanic made eye contact, he wagged it ferociously. "One minute, they're like you'd expect them. Running right for you, doing the work they're hired for. But then, after only a little atmospheric effect from mother nature, they slip into hibernation mode and drop whereever they are. I know, fella, it's boring. Seems like every firehouse I come to is like that when it starts to rain." Charlie explained rubbing red paint dotted fingers to scratch an itch on his nose. "One of these days, I'm gonna make a short call to Headquarters, suggesting that an afternoon communications check would be a good idea. Right around mid shift. That way you mascots'll benefit and have firemen to play with who're actually awake and functioning at least part of the day." he chuckled. Boot whined in agreement. "Say, didn't I see some dog toys in the mop cupboard in a box with your name on it?" Charlie addressed Boot. Boot angled his head quizzically, still drooling around the screwdriver he dutifully held in his jaws. "Yeah, I know I did. Hang on a minute and I'll go get it out for ya. Maybe it'll have something in there for you to do besides getting crumbs of companionship second hand from me. It's not like I can pet any part of you right now. I'm all gooey." Charlie opened the wooden cupboard on the squad side of the garage with a carefully clean rag, and almost fell over the mechanic's dolly, the same one that had injured Gage the night before. "Geesh! Doesn't anybody use the wall cradle I made for this thing that's in the closet?! This is gonna kill somebody some day... Stupid firemen.." he grumbled. Boot barked in concert, giving the offending apparatus a firm bite as he helped Charlie lift it up into where it ought to be. Charlie reached down and pulled out Boot's toy box. Inside was a few dusty rawhide bones, a tennis ball or two, an old CPR baby full of bite marks and some rope shreds, well frayed and chewed. Charlie lifted out the obsolete training baby. "Is this your retriever toy? So that's how they get you to go find people who're lost. I've always wondered how you do that." But then, to the left of Boot's box, Charlie spotted one marked, 'For Tour Kids'. Inside, there were a few interactive games. One box, Boot instantly glommed onto, sniffing eagerly and whining. "Oh ho!.. So you're a dyed to the wool Twister fan. I think this one should belong in your box, Boot." he laughed. Charlie lifted out the game, and blew the dust off its cover. "Say, I got an idea. If ya bark over this game loudly enough in the kitchen, I'll bet you'll get some signs of life outta those lazy lugs in a jiffy." "Bark! " said Boot. Charlie chuckled. "Here, boy." he said, handing out the Twister game's box. "I'll trade you. Now go get the blood moving in your buddies while I finish up out here.. And if they ask, it wasn't my idea...." he whispered to the station mutt, taking the Phillips tool from between his teeth and substituting the Twister box. Boot lifted his head high, counterbalancing the tangle limbs game in his teeth and he eagerly padded away into the kitchen at a puppy like gallop. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SMACK!! went the game on the tile floor right in the middle of the cluster of the snoozing gang. All six of them jolted from their rainfall induced naps with satisfying alacrity at the noise. Boot barked, hastening their progress to wakefulness. He set a paw on the Twister game pointedly. Chet mumbled sleepily, rubbing his eyes. "Geez, Boot. If ya wanted to play you could've got only one of us awake, a little more gently than.. hey.. what's this?" Gage coughed, picking up his head from the kitchen table. "Looks like the board game we use when the school kids come here on tours." he yawned. "Really? I didn't even know we had this.." Chet said, pulling it away from Boot and opening it up. "I remember this game. I used to worm my way into victory against my sisters all the time." he said, unrolling the floor playing mat. "Smells like our old game used to, too. Like an attic.." "Bark!" Boot insisted, nosing the color spinner until it moved around its circled panel. Captain Stanley blearily rose, messy haired, to the stove to pour out six mugs of fortifying coffee for all of them. "Sorry, Boot, there's no tours scheduled today. It's Saturday, pal. Not a kid in sight." "Bark!" Boot yapped again, pulling on a corner of the game mat Chet had unfolded in his lap pointedly. "Hey, Boot! Knock it off! You're gonna rip it.." Marco said. "Then where would we be for the kids?" "Bark!" Boot parked himself in the middle of the Twister mat and started a staring match at each of the gang's eyes in turn as they looked at him in amusement. Stoker scratched his stubbly chin. "I wonder where he found that?" Roy snorted, "The same place he found the dolly that KO'd Johnny last night. The mop cupboard." "Bark!" boomed Boot. Chet narrowed his eyes. "Hey guys, I think Boot's issuing a challenge or two here. There was definitely a note of insult embedded in that last bark." Gage scoffed. "Oh, come off it, Chet. You're hearing things. Boot's the nicest dog in the world. He wouldn't--" "Bark! Bark! Woof!" Boot said, looking right at Johnny. Gage nearly spit out the mouthful of coffee he was swallowing and he spun around, not believing what his ears were telling him. His jaw dropped open. "See?" Chet gestured at Boot. "That was pretty colorful language for a dog, wouldn't you agree?" "Yeah..." Gage said incredulously, wanting to doubt his ears, but finding that he couldn't. Captain Stanley grinned. "If he wants to play, then we'll play with him. Nobody's gonna get any sleep around here with him making that kind of racket." "Woof!" "...and I don't think he'll shut up until we play how he wants to play.." Cap continued. Marco made a face. "Come on, Cap. You've got to be kidding.. Us playing Twister?" "Why not?" shrugged Cap. "Consider it a modified fitness exercise. Come on. I'll join in, too. The faster we humor Boot, the faster we can get back to napping..." Hank said. "Get the drift?" "Ok. Fine." Kelly said. "But let's liven up the pot a little for the winner. Let's say, the winner doesn't have to patrol the yard after Boot's bathroom breaks for....an entire week." "No, make it longer.." said Stoker. "How about for an entire month?" Roy suggested. "You're on.." Kelly said. "Wait a minute, wait a minute.. What's in it for Boot?" Marco asked. "This game was his idea..." The gang fell quiet, their faces falling out of their grins in a hard moment of consideration. "Bark!" Boot said, looking at the silver SCU tones speaker grill on the wall. "Oh,.. now that's worth playing for.." Cap understood. "He wants to play for a ride along. Ok, pal. I'm dealing you in..." he said to Boot, picking up his paw and shaking it. "Let's play..." Mike Stoker smiled. "If this works out, maybe we can use Boot's game to wager away chores for the future.." "Don't tempt me.." Hank grinned. "I'm beginning to warm to the idea.." Gage frowned. "Awww, Cap. I'm still stiff and sore from my fall. I can't do this now.." he complained. "Are you telling your captain that you're too hurt to work today?" Hank glowered. "I can always arrange that talk with the Chief about the little field trip you took in the garage last night.." "Playing's fine, Cap..." Johnny said, shooting out of his chair. "There's always Tylenol available afterwards.." "Thought so. Now, who's gonna spin first?" Hank asked. "Bark!" Boot said. "Ok.. Boot's got it. Everybody on your border marks. Watch for it.." Captain Stanley ordered, kicking off his shoes. Roy immediately gaped. "Cap.. that's not fair." "What's not fair..?" Hank asked, cracking a few joints as he stretched out the sleepy creaks from his bones. "You. You're wearing white socks today..." Gage continued. Cap's face immediately washed self conscious but just as quickly, turned all captain. "I was...running late today. I grabbed the only clean pair handy. My wife was too busy getting dinner on the table last night to remember the laundry." The rest of the gang frowned, unappeased. "Ok, ok. The next time you guys forget black socks, I promise not to yell. But I'll only excuse ONE time.." Cap punctuated. The rest of the gang settled into serious competitive play poses, waiting for Boot's nosed spin. "Blue!" Chet shouted aloud. Six socked feet shot out,.. and the game was on. Out in the garage, Charlie the mechanic smiled as he worked on polishing the squad's chrome around the new fender he had rebuilt. The noises of tusseling, wrestling firefighters mingled with the sounds of Boot's happy barks. "Maybe I should go into business as a pet psychologist as a side job. I'm getting pretty good at it if I do say so myself." he grinned broadly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Charlie the fire mechanic, working under a hood. Photo: Boot, with a screwdriver in his mouth. Photo: Johnny Gage, sleeping elbow propped on the table. Photo: Cap, frowning at his coffee cup. Photo: The gang and Boot, playing a Twister game. ****************************************************************************** From : Cassidy Meyers and Patti Keiper < pattik1@hotmail.com> Sent : Tuesday, March 29, 2005 12:34 AM Subject : The Fall of an Icon.. The guys were hard at play when the Motorola Quicktones for a medical rescue sounded from the station control unit grille. The guys froze in place as the first three notes filled the air. Cap sighed. "It's not us..." he said, from underneath Roy's waist on the Twister board. He meant to win and he tried to concentrate on not falling onto his butt and into the same disqualified status that Marco and Johnny had already fallen onto. Boot was still hopping gamely on his hind legs on the proper colors shown by the spinner. ::It's astonishing that he knows how to play.:: thought Cap as the speakers played out the SCU's for the call that wasn't gonna be theirs. As soon as the familiar voice came on, giving the address, Boot startled in unexpected alarm and fell over onto his back in his haste to rush underneath the speaker to begin the same barking vigil that he had done for 51's earlier child suicide call. "You threw your game, you crazy mutt! Why'dja do that? You were winning.." Chet moaned as he picked up the spinner and spun out yet another color for the rest, still arms and legs tangled on the Twister game's playing mat. "Yellow!" he said. He tried to pet Boot's back with a free hand, but the dog would have none of it, barking mightily up at the ceiling again once he had dodged the Irish fireman's grope. Chet gave up trying to calm Boot down and said, "Hey, Cap. He's doing it again.." "Doing what?" Hank grunted from his very difficult body pretzel he was currently preserving while the others moved onto yellow touches around him with either fingers or toes, or a chin, in Mike Stoker's case. "Fussing over another rescue.." Kelly frowned. "He is? Why? Did 18's draw a kid call like ours?" Gage asked. "I don't know yet. Sam's not done assigning it out.." Chet shrugged. He paused with the game's spinner, as the run filled out verbally. ##Squad 18, difficulty breathing. 1710 North Barren Street. 1710 North Barren Street. Cross street An-Annex Way. Time out : 18:10. *Spap.*## Gage's eyes widened, "Was that a sound skip?" the paramedic wondered. "Hey, Cap. I think the rain's effecting the P.A. system." "Never mind the P.A. system.. I'm worried about my muscular system!" strained Cap. "Chet, start spinning or I--" "Green!" Kelly gulped, giving the grille and the still vaguely whining Boot a glance or two as he complied. The new switch did everybody in and the whole contorted firegang fell over in a balled heap, wiping out any hope of having a winner in the game. Cap lay where he had fallen.. "Oww.. I may never move again.." Roy, still leg trapped beneath his lanky captain, grinned. "You may have to if we get a run just like they d---" The tones pealed out. This time, the three notes spelled out their signal. And then two more, a complete station call. Chet and Marco helped the others to their feet and all the firemen hastened into their shoes as they rushed for the garage. Charlie was already holding out the squad's keys.. "Aren't you lucky I planned ahead and used fast drying automobile paint.." he said to Roy, handing the sweaty paramedic, his helmet as DeSoto climbed into the open driver's door. Roy smiled, "Looks beautiful..!" he said warmly. "Isn't that right, Johnny? You can't even tell where our hairy collision hit anymore." he teased. "Don't you mean furry collision?" Charlie blinked. Gage did his best trying to sink into the passenger seat. "OOoo, Roy, quit it. He'll figure it o--" ## Station 51. Unknown type rescue. 4100 Upton Lane. On the college campus. 4100 Upton Lane. Cross--ss S-Street University Boulevard. Time out : 18:13. *Spap.* Hank answered using the radio mic from the Ward. "L.A., 10-4. Station 51 is responding, KMG 365." Johnny dug a finger into his ear after he put his helmet and belt on. "Ugh..H." he shuddered. "Hey Charlie.. can you check out the station radio feed lines? They still sound like they're shorting out.." Charlie grabbed a Boot who was once again growing wild, barking and jumping up the county wide wall map in his haste and want to climb upwards. "I'm a mechanic, not a gaffer!" "Yeah? Well, all right, all right.." shouted Gage over the sound of the pouring rain out front and the start of the sirens Roy had flicked on. "How about getting inside Boot's head a little and finding out why he's going crazy.." "He's probably mad because you're ditching the game I suggested to him.." Charlie grinned, jogging alongside the squad Roy was pulling forward. "What?" "Never mind.." Charlie chuckled. "Just go! I'll see what I can do.." Station 51 roared out of the dry, lighted vehicle bay and into a driving full dusk rainstorm. Charlie watched them disappear into traffic and out of sight. Thinking of Boot's current state, he slammed down the autoshut garage door button early and then he turned to deal with the things Gage had mentioned. "Ok, there, fella. You squirming because of an ultra high squeal on the communications band? Maybe I oughta go climb the station's roof to go check it out.." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gage squinted in the rain, fully aware that Roy and he were a visual vanguard for the engine, following closely behind. In his hands, he had a road map. "SoCal campus.. Yep. This is it. 4100 is not administrative services, nor the library." "It's gotta be a college house..." DeSoto decided, turning on the wind shield wipers to their maximum setting in an attempt to see through the dark and the deluge of the long duration summer rainstorm. "Ok, turn left here.." indicated Johnny. "This leads to Fraternity Row. And that, bisects Upton." Roy leaned on the hooter so a whoop of siren split the air to get people's attention. Following suit, the Ward blasted its air horn a few times. Lights came up porches and one such porch suddenly disgorged a young man who was wet and dripping. What made him stand out was that he immediately ran out towards Station 51 in the street, without caring to stay dry. "There!.. At Pi Kappa Alpha.." Gage pointed. "I see him..." Roy pulled over to the curb quickly and soon, the engine did, too. Cap hurried out into the rain after letting L.A. know that they had arrived on scene. He snatched his walkie talkie and tucked it protectively in a plastic bag from his turnout's pocket. Hank rushed to the college aged student's side and shouted over the rain pelting onto his fire helmet. "What's the problem? A fire?" "N--no sir.. This way. Hurry!" and before Cap could stop him, the light blue clad young man ran back over the slippery lawn towards the front door in between the greek columns of the frat house and inside. "Wait a minute!" Cap shouted. But the young man was already gone. He sighed. "Roy! Johnny! Guess we bring ALL the medical gear in. I didn't get any details at all from him! The only thing I learned is that we aren't dealing with a fire call." "Right, Cap.." Roy shouted. "Kelly, you go grab the adult male sized spine board...." Chet hurried to get it, flipping up his coat collar against the heavy rainfall that was all but drowning the grass. "And some flashlights! It'll be full dark any minute!" roared Hank after the glimmery shadow Chet made against the rain glittery red flashing light sprayed engine. Marco flung open the compartments Gage and DeSoto hadn't already gotten to and snatched up the defibrillator and the heavy white trauma dressing case. "Let's go..." Cap said, motioning them all forward at a run. He lifted up his encapsulated radio. "L.A., we're going inside. Stand by.." ##S-Standing by...## In their haste, no one realized the vocal distortion was still there over the wire. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The gang ran into the house, laden with gear and immediately came face to face with a slew of college kids, partying, with alcohol. Amused glances and laughs at the sight of the fire department in their midst made everyone from the fire station, but Cap, feel vaguely defensive. "Where's the fire, guys?" said one drunk young lady. "Did you come to the wrong address?" she giggled. Pushing her gently aside, Cap sought out the young man who had first appeared on the porch. It was easy finding him since a wet trail of footprints showed dark on the tan shag carpeting in front of them. "Excuse me.. pardon me.." he said, moving around the kids.."This is an emergency... please.. Move out of the way.." he complained. Slowly, the crowd thinned, but the loud disco party music, continued. Grasping the radio tightly to his ear, Cap kept tabs on the updates coming from L.A. ##L.A., Squad 18. What's your ETA to your incident?## ##Squad 18, L.A. Our estimated time of arrival is ten minutes. We've encountered flooded streets and have taken an alternate route.## said the paramedic's voice over Cap's HT. ::Terrific. I wouldn't doubt that the whole city will bog down at some point or another tonight..:: Cap sighed. Soon, he spotted his quarry over the boogeying bodies jiving to Shadow Dancing by the BeeGees. "Hey! Mister! Slow down.. We're coming!" Hank firmly pointed out to Gage and Roy, the bead covered kitchen doorway. It was the brightest room in the whole house. The gang shoved their way through. Beyond, a deck door was already reopened into the night with a fresh trail of soggy footprints evident on the rust colored tiles of the floor. Another set of muddy ones traced up an exterior white painted staircase to a second floor, while the first set lead to the yard. "He's over here!" said a rain noise covered voice. "Please! You gotta hurry! He's dying!" Cap froze at the forking intersection of the two sets of footprints, aiming his flashlight down and peering into the dark, even as the violent downpour was slowly erasing them. "Split up. Three and three. HT when you find something! Marco, Stoker,..With me upstairs.. The rest of you, check out the yard. I can't tell where our witness's voice is coming from, so we better check out both ways pronto.." he ordered, water dripping from his helmet rim. "Each take an oxygen tank!" The firemen split up according to plan. Gage looked back briefly as he ran after Chet and Roy and he could just make out Cap and the others entering an upper story bedroom through the white door at the top of the outer stair in the beginnings of a medical victim search. "Ok..I've heard of panicking witnesses, but this is a little ridiculous. Roy, where is he?" Before his partner could answer, there was another shout. "Hurry.. We're by the pool! We can't find Derrick! We think he fell in!" Gage and DeSoto and Kelly ran for all they were worth. As they did so, they peeled off their overcoats, trading the medical gear between hands as they pelted towards the night lit pool garden just ahead as they shed their excess weight. Johnny's teeth began to chatter violently the instant the cool night deluge soaked down to his skin. Kelly and Roy were gear laden arrows ahead of him. The two men set down the squad's equipment hastily and began a leaning search of the pool, trying to see around the raindrop craters pocking the night dark water. DeSoto improvised and pulled out his flashlight, aiming its bright spear of illumination deep into the pool. "Can't you turn the lights on out here?" "No..." said the young man before them. "The storm's cut off the power out here! That's why we all went inside. Derrick said he'd follow us in a half an hour ago. But no one's seen him since. He was pretty drunk. And I'm scared. I called you when I thought I heard a loud splash. I thought instantly that Derrick probably fell in.." quavered the water dripping staggering student. Roy saw that the young man wasn't too sober himself. Gage spoke into his HT, using his helmet as an umbrella for his radio. "Cap! By the pool downslope- south. Possible ETOH and drowning! We're still searching! Look for the pool lights!" ##On our way!## Hank instantly replied, barely audible in the fury of the storm. Roy suddenly shouted. "I think I see him. In the deep end!" Johnny peeled off shoes and ditched his radio under his helmet onto a patio table and he dove into the frigid under lit pool water. Roy and Chet could barely see Gage swimming under the rain torn surface. The side lights flickered eerily as Gage swam past them. Then a reflection of another submerged flashlight lit up a man shaped form in clothing colors sitting head up and vertical off the bottom. Chet grimaced. "Fatality..man.. Oh, geesh." But his hands worked fast to set up the resuscitator mask to the demand valve off the upright oxygen tank. "Are we too late?" Roy didn't answer, and immediately sank both arms into the water to intercept the drowned student Gage would push into his hands. "Grab my belt, Chet. I'll haul him out to ya!" Stiff cold hands appeared in between Roy's gloves and soon, Kelly and Roy were leaning away from the pool's edge in a desperate pull backwards to free Derrick from underneath the water. Roy and Chet had the limp form out onto the poolside lawn and quickly log rolled onto a back when Gage suddenly shouted angrily up at them. "G*d d*mn it! It's all a prank! I should've figured. It's H*ll Week this week. These guys pulled a fast one on us, and good.." "What?!" Chet and Roy scrambled apart from their rope pull tumbled positions and to their hands and knees to crawl up their victim's torso towards his face. "It's a dummy!" Johnny said, exiting the water powerfully. Chet and Roy looked down. Black plastic eyes met their own. And teeth that had never smiled, winked back in the wavering flashlight's glow. The panicky witness suddenly burst out into amused laughter and a multitude of other tipsy students came out of the surrounding bushes to point fingers and laugh at the joke that they had successfully pulled on the firefighters. It was into this scene that Cap and the others arrived but Gage slammed an irritated hand into Hank's jacketted shoulder as he grabbed up shoes, radio and hat. "There's nothing here, Cap. The sh*the*ds dumped a manikin into the pool for us to find.." "They did what?!" "Forget it!" Roy's eyes steamed under his helmet. "We're still closer to that trouble breathing call than Squad 18 is. Let's go answer it." "Awww NUTS!" Cap roared into the raging sky. "I'm gonna prosecute this prank call to the max! Chet take pictures and rush your butt to the engine! Now!" Hank said, dragging the O2 apparatus by a handle violently. It clattered almost more loudly than the lightning and thunder beginning around them. Kelly melted into the rain to get the evidence. Gage radio'ed out. "L.A., Station 51. We're now available and can respond to Squad 18's call. ETA three minutes!" Gasping, the six firemen trucked around the huge fraternity house, slipping occasionally on the wet grass as they hurried back to their flashing trucks still stabbing the night with their red fiery glow. A clear channel met their ears. They could hear phones ringing in the background. But the L.A. voice didn't return hail them. Johnny repeated his callout. "L.A. Station 51. Do you copy? We're taking 18's incident!" Still no reply. Breathing hard, the exhausted angry gang piled into the engine and squad after throwing all the equipment back into their stows. Roy and Johnny tossed their soggy fire fighting jackets back into the squad's sunken roof space in between the yellow air bottles and climbed inside wearily. DeSoto threw the squad in drive and reengaged her siren. The engine was only seconds slower to accomplish the same. Roy hefted the CB mic. "Maybe the rain got into your HT.. L.A. This is Squad 51. Do you read? What's the exact house address of Squad 18's dyspnea case?" Again, only silent but strangely clear air met the question. Then a new voice crackled into the frequency.. ##Break. Break. Break! Squad 51. Battalion Seven in Roving Unit Delta Nine. I'm now assuming ultimate command of all emergency communications traffic. Rampart Hospital has just reported a complete failure of all base to paramedic radio sends from L.A. in Blue One. We're assuming the main repeater tower in that service area has been fully lightning compromised or knocked down by a mud slide. I've routed Squad 45 to cover 18's call. I want your station to 10-19 immediately to Headquarters. Switch your radio frequency to Carson 154.0700 TAC 21; BLUE 1 and turn your HTs to South County & Catalina Island channel 470.5625. Respond immediately to the COMMAND & CONTROL DIVISION at 1320 N. Eastern Avenue and check it out. Do you copy?## Roy gasped. " We're ordered Code 3 to L.A. Headquarters?" He gave a shudder of horror. "Yeah. I know what you mean." Johnny whispered, shivering from the cold water soaking his uniform. Hank Stanley's firm voice shot out of the squad's speakers, making Roy and Johnny jump. ##Station 51. Battalion Seven. 10-4. Our estimated ETA is....six minutes!## DeSoto, scared out of his mind, punched the gas as hard as he could in order to just get there before nothing left remained of his strength and will to do the job. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Truck to truck, Hank's tight voice was calming to his men, ##Roy? Johnny.. Spell out the headcount at L.A. ## Gage took the mic from Roy and just let him drive, white knuckled, through the torrid storm flashing around them. "Cap,..There are two towers: One is the primary, and one is on hot standby. There are ten call taker positions, and 9 radio operator positions for a t-total of nineteen personnel.. For electrical and fire risks, the main primary tower runs through one supervisor console and one spare radio console used for training. That power line threads through, I think, fourteen mountaintop UHF repeater sites simultaneously and then it dumps directly into Carson city residents' power supply." ##Copy. Let's hope the building's intact..Stoker has our ETA in less than one. If there's no smell of smoke, go for an immediate in.## "We got it, Cap.." Roy said dryly, finally finding his voice once more. ::Oh, my G*d. What's happened there?:: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L.A.'s immaculate, earthquake defended, elevated building was intact, but completely dark. Roy rushed inside the main occupied office suites and started counting people. One supervisor even abandoned his attempts at restoring his radio station to demand questions of Roy about the rainstorm outside and the possible damage taken by the EMS communications grid. Roy ignored him. "Is everybody ok?" He didn't wait for an answer. "I assume because you're all working that there isn't a fire going on anywhere..?" Two feminine heads shook in the negative. "What's the matter, 51? Why are you here? We think we've figured out what the problem is. Main power's out but the backup generator's working just fine. So far, I've isolated that your controller's station three's console is still reading as open but it's either incapable of or not responding to any incoming transmissions..." Roy hissed irritatedly at her, pushing up his helmet as he spun around in the emergency battery lit room. "Eighteen.. I'm only seeing eighteen... Who's missing?" "What?" said the gray balding haired retired firefighter supervisor trying to stay in contact with all of Los Angeles's Battalion Chiefs via short wave radio. "We've only fourteen repeater towers in operation this month.." he said, mistaking the count for towers and not people. DeSoto, threw up his hands and ignored him and the others, and he left, beginning a room to room search for trouble. "Johnny,.. no fire." he said into the newly adjusted frequency on HT. "Power's on backup. One person's missing from what I can tell." ##Any ideas on where that person is?## Gage shouted into his talkie. "Working on it.." gasped Roy, opening doors and casing each room carefully with his flashlight, including the floor and each room's break or bathroom areas. Then he saw a sign in the dark. Controller Room Three. DeSoto kicked down the door, and startled. The radio console that filled most of the room was alighted with normal functioning, but it was hideously sprayed with blood from a man in a tan communications uniform still seated in a chair and sprawled on top of it. Roy let out a small cry. "I found him. Unconscious with non-specific head bleeding! Controller Room Three! Stand by for his status!" he wheezed with effort into his HT. ##Hang on, Roy. We've got all the gear coming!## Hank encouraged DeSoto. Pulling off his fire gloves, Roy rocked the man's head and neck backwards in a spine protective line along his jacket sleeve to reveal the face of a very familiar dark skinned man in his late thirties who had gushing blood oozing out of eyes, nose, ears and mouth. DeSoto's world reeled. ::Oh, no.:: "Sam...Sam Lanier? Can you hear me?" ::It's a burst aneurysm..Cerebral..:: said a tiny paramedic voice in Roy's head. Unbidden, his fingers felt for a pulse at Sam's gory neck even as he bent over his bloody nose and mouth to listen for breathing. Sam's red obscured, half lidded eyes gaped up at Roy, one grossly dilated and huge. But the other, immediately shrank under Roy's trembling flashlight beam. "Guys get in here! On the double! I've got no carotid with positive pupillary reaction." DeSoto yelled into his radio. His stationmates' quick replies went unheard by Roy. The numb, still rain dripping paramedic carefully stretched out Sam's small frame onto the floor and started aggressive resuscitation efforts. ::Oh, m*ther of G*d. Is this what Boot sensed coming?:: He sobbed as he worked. "Oh, Sam.. I'm so sorry.. We didn't know you were having a stroke. No one paid close enough attention." he whispered as hot tears of grief ran down his muddy face. ::That wasn't an electronic distortion over the speakers during those calls, it was a stutter, a glaringly obvious pre-warning sign!:: his mind roared at him. Roy barely registered the fact that the retired fire supervisor turned chief dispatcher, took over Sam's chest compressions after he rushed into the room, once the older man received a set of shocking words from Cap over another frequency. Mud mingled with blood as Roy tried to breathe life back into Sam Lanier, the owner of the voice from L.A.H.Q. that he had heard every single day of his working career. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Boot in a close shot by the engine's wheel. Photo: Charlie and Roy working inside the squad's engine. Photo: The squad with an open door in the pouring rain. Photo: An opulent fraternity house at night. Photo: A manikin submersed in a pool. Photo: Battalion Seven talking into an HT at night. Photo: L.A. Headquarters building sign. Photo: Sam Lanier, the dispatcher, at his work station in L.A. H.Q. Photo: Roy, bent down low with a grim expression, treating someone. *********************************************************************************** From : Roxy Dee Sent : Wednesday, March 30, 2005 3:06 PM Subject : Will of the Creator.. Captain Stanley waslead at a run to the room from which Roy had radioed, by people from the front offices. Johnny Gage was in front of him and he ducked into the dimly emergency battery lit room to swiftly kneel by his partner. He flipped open the defibrillator. "What do you got? Post effect from convulsions? He's awfully banged up." he asked, seeing all the blood. But then Gage caught the shocked expression on Roy's face and did a double take while the gelled paddles in his hands charged up. DeSoto's voice was very small as he nodded while stringing up a rapid oxygen line from the demand valve regulator. "These wounds aren't crime inflicted, they're from a stroke. He's full of intracranial petechiae. Scleral,..oral. He's probably suffering from a bad hemorrhagic attack." he said filling Sam's quiet chest with fast sets of mechanical breaths. "Guys, it's Sam." he said. "Who?!" sputtered Cap. "...no..." he said with some pain when he saw that it was true. The gang startled uncomfortably as their nameless victim suddenly turned into a dying friend, making them move faster physically, but each felt slower by the second inside, mentally. Heart pain bit all of them deep and caught them fully aware of sudden and utter misery. All six from Station 51 unbalanced. An unwelcome chill flooded Johnny and what Nakoma had predicted returned full force. :: "For every neglect, comes a price," the old tribal elder had said,.." In blood or in its ties..":: The memory made ice fill Johnny's veins with a nightmarish wash of horror and he felt his world recede into unreality. "How long has he been down?" Cap asked his senior paramedic trying to regain a grip on himself. "I can't tell. His right eye shrank down a minute ago but now both are blown." Roy reported, his voice cracking. Sam's blood still stained one of his cheeks from doing mouth to mouth. Cap took over ventilations for Johnny to free him up while Stoker took over Sam's CPR. Kelly was silent while he dried Sam's skin of cold shocky wetness and applied EKG leads. "I got these, Johnny. I'll stick em on.." Mike Stoker coughed harshly from reaction and that earned him a scathing reply from Hank."Stoker! Even it out so I've got a good pulse with compressions!" he said a little too sharply. "Ok..." Stoker replied instantly, the tone of his voice strangled with emotion. Cap bit his lip. His look apologized immediately to Mike and it was too quickly accepted. Roy and Johnny never even heard the exchange. "I'm reading course V-fib. I got 400 watts!" Gage reported loudly in the pools of flashlights now directed down around them from a disbelieving Marco and others. His rain spattered face lit up in the orange glow of the shock button. "I'm hittin' him!" "Clear!" shouted Roy. Sam's body convulsed with a shock. His limbs lifted oddly on the right side and none did on the left despite the energy delivery. "Nothing..." said Gage listening with a stethoscope. He grabbed a held out biophone receiver from Chet. "Rampart this is Squad 51. Do you read?..Come on..docs, answer me now.." He hit the charge button a second time while Roy got out an endotrach tube and a laryngoscope. He left the unpeeled airway lying across Sam's collarbones in preparation for the order. Hank pulled off his helmet in between vents from the mask quickly, to see better in the darkness. He looked up at Sam's stunned co-workers. "Did anybody hear him complain about being sick today? Headaches? Nausea.." The retired fire supe shook his head. "No. Not at all. At lunch we were joking about how hungry he was. He had two steaks on his plate. Oh, Sam.." the older man said. He knew full well how bad the situation was. "Do you think an aneurysm gave way?" The paramedics didn't answer him. Legally, they couldn't. The fire supe swallowed and didn't interfere with them again. "1,.....2.....3.....400!" said Chet in a firm readout to Roy. "Clear!" DeSoto answered. Again, Sam was defibrillated. This time, the monitor settled into an ominous, wavery unresponsive flatline, despite the best CPR delivery possible. Gage got a returning hail. ##Go ahead, 51.## came Early's quiet reply. Johnny handed the phone over to Roy when his voice faltered in emotion on the first word. Cap's eyes flashed to Gage some immediate sympathy. DeSoto's face grew emotionless to match his voice. "Rampart, 39 year old male. Down from cardiac arrest caused by a cerebral blow out. We've defibrillated times two. No recapture. Showing a fine asystole despite CPR and 100% O2. Noting a marked lack of reflexive neurological signs during countershocks on the left side of his body. Pupils fixed and dilated but I found his right eye responsive three minutes ago." ##10-4, 51. Attempt an IV of lactated Ringer's. Intubate with an endotracheal tube and administer two milligrams 1/10,000 epinephrine by ET. Then defibrillate again. Send me a strip.## Roy complied. "ET. 2 mg's epinephrine through a pulmonary route and countershock. Stand by." The powerful stimulant was added a minute later. DeSoto suffered a pang. The airway had gone in picture perfect without the spasming complications that should have been there as leftovers from Sam's recent grand mals. He glanced at Johnny. "It's in. Too easily." he said, letting Johnny know Sam's absent deep neuro responses. "Got my line, too." Johnny said, hitting the charger on the defib unit almost too hard. "1....2..." he counted off, his voice audibly trembling. "...3....400 watt seconds. Go, Roy..." "Everybody clear!" said Roy, and they were. Sam's body lifted up at the shock even less this time with muscular reaction, hardly any at all. All the gang's eyes widened into sharp denial when the flatline returned from its vertical dance upwards only to fall back to a new dead even level. Stoker and Cap started in once again on their aggressive CPR. ##I see it, 51. Administer 1.5 mg/kg Lidocaine intravenously, 51. Repeat every 3-5 minutes until a total of 3 mg/kg has been given. Also Bretylium 5 mg/kg IV.# said Joe, reading the monitor. ## Counter shock one more time. If we don't get a rhythm, give another 2 mgs epinephrine by ET and follow it with a 20 mg normal saline fluid bolus. Give one amp sodium bicarb IV...## Cap anticipated. "Marco, Kelly, go get a stokes. We're not waiting for the ambulance guys to worm their way through the building in all this dark. Move it quick." "Faster than that, Cap..." Chet said, leaving the second oxygen tank from the engine already cracked with a suction tube attached and laid out. "Marco." he tossed to Lopez a spare lit flashlight. ##10-4, Rampart. 2 mgs epi endotracheally with a bolus flush normal saline. One amp bicarb IV. Stand by for our fourth countershock..## said Roy. Kelly and Marco got mercifully out of earshot before they heard a repeat of hollow sound as Sam's unreactive body was once again injected forcibly with electricity. They didn't want to know the outcome they knew to be fast arriving. Death was visiting through the storm and it was going to take one of their own despite all of Roy and Johnny's desperate medical fighting. They were grateful for the rain. It was good for hiding their sharp tears of rising private grief. The cluster of dispatchers hastened out of the way when Chet and Marco returned and that broke them out of their gaping paralysis. The fire supe began snapping orders. "Ok, everybody. Back at your stations! Give the boys all possible room to work. Don't worry, Sam's being handled. But Battalion Seven needs us to resume service to 51's area yesterday.. Steve, Daphne.. work on clearing the west tower of lightning interference in Blue 1. Burn the breakers if you have to! Bob, Scott, go kick the generators a few times to see why the secondary network hasn't fired up yet to full power. Move!" Cap shook his head sadly. ::They don't know it yet. Sam's gone. And I don't think I'll be the one who tells them. It wouldn't be right.:: Gently, he cleared Sam's lax face free of blood with his storm wet gloves while he offered him a parody of life through the ventilator. ::I'm sorry Sam. We did the best we could.:: Right then, the lights came on and full power returned to L.A. Headquarters. Battalion Seven's voice rang out over 51's multiple HTs. ##Nice work folks, L.A. H.Q.'s southwestern communications network is back on normal service. All Battalion units, return to your bases. I'm reading all channels green and clear..## But then Cap heard one thing that tore his heart. "Sue, take over Sam's console until we get a replacement called in. Make sure the paramedic calls he was dealing with have been handled." said the dispatcher manager from the other room. ================================================================== Roy and Johnny made pests of themselves outside Sam's treatment room while the crack neurologist surgical team worked. Finally, they were gently, verbally, pushed out of the room's doorway. Stoker nearly dragged himself out of the room, his T-shirt wringing with sweat and rain water. His uniform shirt was tied off around his waist in an effort to cool himself off. "Are they still working him?" Gage asked Mike. Stoker nodded yes and wandered off in the direction of the engine. Outside, the storm was giving way to a bright dawn and peeks of pink and lavendar from the sunrise were smoothly dissolving the black clouds at the horizon. "Mike..what can you tell me?" Gage asked Stoker. Mike lifted a weary hand and let it fall in dismissal as he walked away. He refused to answer. "Mike!" Gage called out again. Loudly. Roy stopped him. "Let him go. He was in there for almost an hour and a half, working on Sam with the others. Let him go." Dixie was the next to open the door of Sam Lanier's emergency surgical suite. She immediately fetched up against Roy and Johnny trying once again to see into the room. "Now, boys.. go on to the waiting room. No, wait a minute. Scratch that. Roy, go wash up first. You've still got bl-- uh,.. you're still not presentable enough to be seen by...visitors." she said softly, correcting herself. They ignored her. "Dix, what's happening to him?" Gage said. "We've got to know. Don't you know who that is?" "Of course I know.." she hissed. "Who wouldn't know Sam?.. He's been in the business longer than I have." She immediately amended her sharp tone. "Sorry. This is going hard on all of us,..too." and she sighed quietly. She noticed Johnny's shivering and set a warm hand on his to comfort him. A passing nurse offered two sets of blankets to the paramedics to wrap themselves in at just a glance at the blood on their uniforms. Dixie nodded her thanks to Sharon and spoke. "He's on full life support with an internal pacemaker in place." she said without cutting corners. Johnny sucked in his breath, turning away to hide his tearful reaction. Roy shot a look of concern at his partner but he continued to worriedly listen to Dixie. McCall hurried her words as if she could smooth away the bad news. "They've started Mannitol to stave off his increasing intracranial pressure. His EEG is still showing activity.." "Yeah, but how much?" Roy asked softly. Dixie lowered her eyes. "Not enough. I'm sorry." Johnny bit his lip, wiping silent tears away angrily with a sleeve. He leaned against the wall, studying the posters on it without looking at them. "And now you're going to tell us that there's always hope, right?" Dixie and Roy stayed still, both physically frozen in the face of Johnny's self immolating pain. "Right?!" Gage asked again, this time meeting their eyes squarely. His brown ones were flooded with fresh liquid grief. Dixie gripped Johnny's hand even tighter. "I wouldn't say anything that wasn't absolutely G*d's given truth, Johnny Gage." "Well my Creator certainly isn't giving me mine." he snarled. Then his hand fished inside of his shirt for Nakoma's prayer sack. He ripped it off violently and tossed its sodden soft deer skin's weight to the tiled floor at his feet. It ruptured and a rumpled hawk feather gushed out in a spreading pool of herbal stained water. "My tribal elder said that I would either pay in blood or lose a blood tie soon for past sins so Dixie, don't offer me your sympathy. I don't deserve it. There's none that I'll accept in this world or from any other one for that matter. I just lost a close friend today and it's entirely ..my ...fault." Johnny Gage left Roy and Dixie staring at the broken prayer sack he had left abandoned and bleeding on the tiles. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Cap in helmet, grimacing in emotional pain. Photo: Johnny, Roy and Cap working in a medical huddle in dim surroundings. Photo: A grim Chet carrying a stokes stretcher and yellow blanket. Photo: Stoker and others performing stokes CPR. Photo: Johnny and Roy working a code in a Mayfair. Photo: Gage gelling up the defib paddles. Photo: Johnny holding O2 at Rampart, getting mad at Roy and Dix. Photo: A native american prayer sack and feather amulet. ************************************************************************** From : Cory Anda Sent : Wednesday, March 30, 2005 10:47 PM To : emergencytheaterlive@yahoogroups.com Subject : The Spirit Circles The phone call came at noon, right when the gang had roused from restless sleep that was filled with dreams of overwhelming sadness of the night before. Everyone was present at the kitchen table, sipping coffee, except Johnny Gage. "I understand, Mrs. Lanier. I-I'll let them know, right away. Thank you for calling.. I-if there's anything that the boys and I can do... Yes, Shara, we'll all be there come Monday morning for him. And we'll bring the engine." Cap said quietly into the receiver. He hung up the phone. Marco, Mike, Roy and Chet all looked at him with close unwilling attention but they knew even before Hank said it that Sam Lanier had died on the surgical table. "The docs did everything they could, she told me. But the damage was just too extensive. They found a large intact aneurysm in between the two hemispheres of Sam's brain with a smaller one burst right at his brain stem. That's the one that knocked his heart and..and.. killed him." Hank reported to his silent men. "A berry aneurysm.." Roy said, nodding. "Sam didn't stand a chance against one of those. He probably never felt anything when it happened. That kind of stroke kills you pretty quick after making you black out." "Shara said that the docs told her that his having those aneurysms was virtually undetectable. Sam would have had no prior symptoms beyond a few tiny ones." "Like his stuttering over the radio..." Roy sighed sadly. "And very little if any pain.." Cap agreed. "She said that his condition was most likely congenital. Sam's mother died from a stroke like this one." Stoker lifted his cup to drink his coffee but it never got to his lips. "When's the funeral gonna be, Cap?" "The chiefs have set it for Monday at sunrise with full departmental honors and Shara wants us to be Sam's honor guards for the precession at the front. Battalion Seven is commissioning a horse drawn fire engine to be the vehicle to bear Sam's casket to the cemetery. He....said it was only right for a man who's earned a medal of valor." "Sam died while on duty. He ought to get one.." Chet sniffed, he looked up after blowing his nose and wiping his eyes. "Where's Johnny? Shouldn't he be updated like the rest of us?" "I thought he was still sleeping in the bunk room..." said Marco. "Nah, he got up with the rest of us a half hour ago." Hank replied. "I saw him in the bathroom, washing up." "Then where is he?" Kelly wondered. "Bark!" said Boot, standing in the kitchen doorway. He pointedly looked towards the vehicle garage and back again. Cap sighed. "He's probably in the backyard trying to warm up in the sun. Guess we'd better let him know the outcome." "We'll come with you, Cap.." said Stoker, getting out of his chair. The rest of the guys went with Hank. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bootlead the way to where Johnny was. They found him sitting upright against the brick wall opposite the garage doors on an intricate blanket of woven yarn, with a second one draped over his uniformed shoulders, sound asleep against the small maple tree. The sun on his face made Gage look worn and tired. "Oops, I forgot. I promised him that I'd come out here with him for this thanksgiving bit every day at noon and at sundown." said Roy, joining his sleeping partner, sitting cross legged on the blanket. He took up the lit pipe resting on a seat of rocks and held it up into the sun to spread a plume of its smoke to the wind before returning it to its cradle. Then he placed a hand totem of leather bound and beaded feathers into his lap and he began holding it in a reverent manner in between his hands. It looked strange to the others to see Roy doing that but somehow, it felt right and proper. "You gonna wake him up so we can tell him?" Chet whispered. "Nah. It's not like he can get sunburned..." said Roy. "I'm just supposed to stay here with him for a while. I'll tell him when he wakes up. He's pretty wiped out as it is. That rain got him pretty cold last night." "All right. Guys, let's give them a little peace to do what it is they gotta do with all this." Cap said, indicating the pipe, and the prayer blanket. "Guess this is a private thing." "I'll make him eat." promised DeSoto. "Keep a pair of plates warming in the oven for us." he said, yawning in the sunlight. Hank nodded and the others left for the rec room to talk quietly while they prepared lunch. Soon, DeSoto and Gage and Boot were all alone in the quiet yard, cocooned in the bright sunlight that was beating down on them. Boot circled once on the edge of the ornately woven blanket, facing the sun, and soon slept. Roy drowsed, too, almost unbiddingly. Soon, his head fell onto his chest and he began to snore. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- A piercing whine brought Johnny sharply to as something plunked heavily into the hands he had folded up in his lap. "Nageela? What are you doing here?" he said, burying fingers deep into the wolf dog's thick sun warmed coat. Johnny looked down and saw that the prayer sack he had abandoned at the hospital was strangely intact with fresh feathers and repacked with pungent spices. A brush of wind and a voice got Johnny's attention and he shaded his eyes as he squinted into the sun towards it to figure out what it was saying. The leaves on the tree behind him, weren't moving. Nageela whined again, studying Johnny's face intently and she sat back down on her haunches. The brightness of her eyes made Johnny blink. ::I'm dreaming.:: he thought. ::I must have fallen asleep in the yard.:: "..So, Ya-laahe Kowechobe. We meet again...." said Nakoma, joining Gage by sitting on the Indian blanket and crossing his legs in front of him. "Nageela is returning that which rightfully belongs to you.." he said, sweeping a wand of hawk feathers out to the prayer bag Johnny clutched in his hands. "Put that back around your neck, Panther, so it can do its work absolving you of--" "I don't deserve to be absolved, Nakoma. What you said...what you said came true last night. I lost a very good friend on a rescue..." he said, his eyes filling with tears. "I don't understand you..." frowned Nakoma. Johnny sighed. Sometimes the older elder wasn't very good with modern ways of talking. "I watched his spirit...just leave under my hands as I tried to save him. He died...." Nakoma's eyes flashed and he smiled warmly, showing white teeth. "Ah, I see now." said the old elder, reaching down and taking a smoke from the lit pipe. He returned it to the rocks, resting it near a familiar man's uniformed ankles. Johnny startled when he realized that Roy was sound asleep next to him, sitting up beside him, almost invisible in the plume of smoke rising from the pipe. "The west wind brought the storm that took your Speaker, Johnny. His leaving wasn't your doing at all. The Creator meant for him to go. It was his time.. You know the bravest warriors are the first to return to the Great Spirit. Even those who are only Miccosukee." "But why, Nakoma? Did I cause his death by not honoring my life properly for you?" Johnny cried out in grief. "I am not responsible for Sam's death, Panther. And neither are you. No one can say what circles one's spirit may travel in, until it does. Sam was not the blood nor the blood tie you think he represents. You have it all wrong. I was referring to your aunt and your sense of tradition." said the earthy clothed elder. He reached over and retied the buckskin prayer sack around Johnny's neck. "Your blood is your tribe, and she, your tie to it. If you turn away from what she holds dear, that is a death, too. Don't mourn Sam, but let him go. Honor him for who he was and honor yourself the way you are doing it right now! For that is the circle you must travel in order for you to find yourself. Roy has decided to be here with us. Let him help you as well. Boot will be good for your healing, too. For a dog is the Guardian of the Spirit. Pay attention to them both and remember to not be afraid of your own spirit. It is just circling as it must. Panther, in the next days, face to the east, and go on that path, for that is the way that will lead you eventually to the truth that you are seeking." -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- An angry car horn from the freeway jolted Johnny Gage awake. A soft weight plunked down into both of his hands and smooth beadwork caressed his hands as it tumbled down and into his grip. Whatever it was, was also wet, having come from a panting, tooth filled doggy mouth. "Boot? Where did you get this?" said Johnny, sinking his fingers into the station dog's warm, thick coat. "Who gave you my prayer sack?" "I'm afraid I did." yawned Roy, coming awake next to him. "Sorry it got wet. Boot got a hold of it and wouldn't let any of us near it. Guess he just wanted to be the one to give it back to you. And before you yell at me for tampering with it. Dixie and I decided that we couldn't bear up against your aunt once you got back home from working the weekend without that prayer sack around your neck. So we monkeyed with it on our own. I..don't know if we fixed it up right. The seams came apart at the sides there. That was easy enough to sew up with a suture kit. And Dixie found new feathers to put inside of it.." "Oh, yeah?.." Johnny said, "What kind?" "Pigeon.." "Pigeon?" laughed Johnny. Roy blushed, "Yeah, well it was the best we could do at the time. The nurses knew where to find some since all the pediatric kids on the fourth floor like to leave food on theleadges outside Rampart's playroom windows for all the birds." he broke off as Johnny started shaking his head in disbelief. "Did we do something wrong?" Gage redraped the Indian blanket around himself and just smiled. "No, in fact, I think you did things just right. I never did understand the symbolism behind the hawk in my tribe's terms. Now, the pigeon,..I think I understand very well. Now that bird's self sufficient, colorful..." "..messy.." added Roy. "Just a little. But they're smart, too. They always like to stick close together with the others. You know, Roy. Maybe they're supposed to be my personal totem after all. They kinda suit me." he said, retying the delicate beaded and tasselled bag around his throat. He tucked it underneath his shirt. "But I thought your name was Panther. Or something like that." DeSoto said, putting on his shoulder blanket so that they could have the tea Johnny would make in a few minutes in the proper manner. "It is.. Orange Panther. But that isn't my animal totem, that's a proper name, The name of the clan family my ancestors are from, in Florida. Nakoma said that a man's animal totem always reveals herself when the time's right." "When the time's right..." echoed Roy, his face growing full and sad. "Johnny, I'm afraid I have some very bad news to share with you.." "I already know, Roy. Nakoma's already told me.." Roy unconsciously looked around the yard. "He did?" "Yeah. Sam died an hour ago, right when it finally stopped raining. It was just as the sun was coming back out. I...think I felt him go..." Gage sighed, fingering the lump his prayer sack made under his uniform. "How do you feel? Are you still a little chilled?" Roy asked, feeling Johnny's wrist for its temperature even as he smiled gently. "I'm better. I'm not cold anymore. Not at all." "That's good. We were all worried about you when you stormed out of Rampart like that to sit behind the squad full out under all that rain." "So when's the funeral? There's a few things I'd like to say for him." "It's Monday.." "I'll be ready... Isn't that right, Boot?" Gage said, affectionately petting the mascot's sides from where he lay happily panting on the Indian blanket. Boot looked up and licked Johnny's nose. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Johnny and Roy smiling, outside the station. Photo: A Seminole Indian man, staring at you in a ceremonial shirt. Photo: Chief Houts addressing the gang in dress uniform with a commendation. Photo: A rose draped black casket at a cemetery. Photo: A white fire horse pulling a water pump engine. ---------------------------------------------------------------- From : Dr. Jeff Seltun Sent: Thursday, March 31st, 2005 11:06 pm Subject: The East Wind... They had come. As many as could be spared on a busy summer's day. There were so many firefighters arriving, that a larger vehicle bay at L.A.'s shops was utilized for the memorial service. And all work ceased on the fleet of Wards to honor a man fallen in the best way known. By memory. Johnny Gage wiped his hands uneasily on his suit coat before taking Chief Houts place at the microphone. He barely saw Sam's picture on a framed stand with the medal of valor hanging off one edge. He tried to focus on Roy's face, but he lost it in the crowd, so instead, he chose Shara Lanier to speak to for somehow, that made it easier. " I have the hard memory, of being one of the last firemen, who saw Sam Lanier while he was still here doing what he loved and wished with all his heart to do, and that was to be a Los Angeles County Fire Department Dispatcher. His last call was to my station, my squad. Someone in a storm needed us so Sam's voice was our guide. Things went as they sometimes do, and we were soon free to answer another call for help. But when we reached out once more for direction, Sam's voice had been silenced. My friend and partner felt the same sense of ...something gone terribly wrong. And so we went to where he was, only to find that it was far too late to make a difference when we needed to most. A tribal elder, one with whom I have ties at times, told me that nothing is more valuable than blood and the bonds your family and friends give you while you go throughout your life. Well, Sam taught me the book about just that sort of life's lesson every day of my working life. And I will ...dearly....miss him. Nakoma, my elder, said to speak openly of the heart so that I may heal myself of the pain my work sometimes brings. And so let me speak now, to honor my friend, Sam. Oh Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in those I serve, and whose breath gives life to all the world, Hear my heart. Let me walk in safety, so that I may be strong for others. May my eyes see how to save them, and nuture their life. Make my hands do the things you have taught me, and may my ears be sharp to hear you calling me on their behalf. I am small and weak. I need your strength and wisdom. Make me wise, so that I may learn the lessons you have hidden in every trial that I may face. I seek strength, not to be superior to my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy - myself. Oh Great Spirit, hear me. Make me ready, so when life fades to a last sunset, my spirit will come to you, and him, without shame. I stood and I watched as a firebrother guided me, as I always knew he would. Then I heard that his home was in danger, so I ran to him. He didn't die because he was old, Or he didn't die because he was in a wreck, He died doing what he felt was right. I watch a wife trying to hold back her tears, Her beloved lived only 39 years, Her husband had died 50 miles away, and what is there left for me to say? Yesterday, I got down on my knees and I said a prayer, That he was the bravest soul I knew and I let him know that I cared. For in a past day, I stood and watched as a little boy cried near me, He didn't understand why his life was passing on,, Why he'd never again play with his mother on the lawn. Looking at the little boy's tears I knew, That a firebrother used his voice, so that I'd be there. Fighting for that child, until I had saved him and little did I know that one day, I'd come, ...for him and fight the same life's battle. But ..I...we...lost.. Rest in honor and face the East Wind, Sam. I'll be watching for you when it comes time for me to leave the west, ...and come home.." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- End Credits -- Episode Nineteen (Third Season) §§ Sacred Ground §§ :) This episode is dedicated to the real life Sam Lanier who was the voice of the dispatcher for the Emergency TV series. Sam passed away in 1999 and is still to this day, missed by 911 operators and fans around the world. He served the L.A.Co.F.D. for over 30 years. :) :) The Story Unfolds... Season Three, Episode Twenty.. §§ Recertification §§ Debut Launch: April 1st, 2005. ******************************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Mon Apr 4, 2005 3:02 pm Subject: The Changes in the Air.. Dr. Kelly Brackett pulled up into his parking place under the Jerusalem pine row next to the fire paramedic chopper pad. Joe Early, in the passenger seat next to him, grabbed his travel mug and got out of the convertible. Kel was twenty feet away from their parking space when he immediately about faced and returned to re-key the driver's door to roll up all four of his windows snugly, including the sun roof. "Kel, I don't think it's gonna rain.." teased Joe Early. "There's not a cloud in the sky this morning." Brackett grumbled, adjusting his wide splashy tie as he paced back to the silver haired doctor's side. "I learned my lesson about not doing this, the hard way. Joe, I'm surprised at you. The first time I forgot to seal up, I had so much dust in my car from all the chopper landings that I could leave fingerprints on the dashboard. Deep ones!" "Guess my last name's too close to the beginning of the alphabet, Kel. Every non-surgical doctor up to M has to park in the east lot, remember?" Joe said. "But that doesn't mean our cars don't get just as filthy..." "Oh, yeah, I'd forgotten, you guys have the honor of parking near the freeway ramp." he gave a shudder. "All that oil vapor's much worse." "Not really." "I think so. Having to wash gummy petroleum scum off your car windows is ten times more annoying. I may get to park nearer the main doors, but I didn't expect that privilege to include free auto paint sandblasting.." "Oh, hush, Kel. You love the chopper program and you know it." "I'll either affirm or deny that after a cup of joe, Joe.".. he winked, deliberately teasing Early with the pun on his first name. "It's too early to be admiring how lovely our suburban hospital is sitting in the middle of an urban city setting." Dr. Brackett joked sarcastically. "The only thing rustic about our location is the silhouette of the mountains we sometimes get to see whenever the smog lifts." "Do we need cleaner gasoline?" Early wondered, thinking on it with a frown. "I know it. Just look at the middle of your driving lane sometimes. They are black as coal. No wonder people are dropping from respiratory and cardiac disorders like flies." "Job security, Kel. What's on your agenda for today?" Joe chuckled as they walked the short distance to the emergency ambulance doors for the doctor's lounge to pick up their white doctor's coats. "A little paper pushing. A surprise meeting with Los Angeles County regulatory board itself. Seems the big shots from the fire department want to "standardize" my paramedic program to fit their new system on how they train new firefighters.." "Oo, I don't like the sound of that. What are they looking for?" Dr. Early asked curiously. His mild shy smile never left his face. "Probably how to put a bandaid on someone while simultaneously manning a fire hose. Who knows? Guess I'll find out once I get there." "What's there to replan? Your paramedic training candidate success rate's been almost perfect these last past six years. Especially using fire engine rescue men training up to the paramedic squad level. Johnny Gage is a classic example of that." "It's not that they're not happy with my certification numbers.The county claims that they have new technologies they wish to incorporate into the department system, both on the medical and firefighting fronts. The most obvious being the creation of a paramedic manual with some pre-set standardized protocols to eliminate the usual field to doctor communication time delays on implementing victim treatments. Seems they don't like all the rehashing being done over the repeater tower frequencies for medical clearances. They say all the unnecessary air time's getting expensive to regulate and coordinate." "Oh, I get the picture. It is you or them who's embarrassed by all your paramedics out-thinking the doctor and anticipating your orders over the radio?" "Not me. I love the fact that some of my senior medics do that. Saves me a lot of headaches on busy base station call days." "Sure it does..." Joe teased sarcastically. "And the chiefs, too. They want you to write those fixed new protocols into stone to put your county funded money where your mouth is to save THEM a couple of bucks." "Just call me Moses..." Kel quipped, not hiding an obvious truth. "I don't envy you. I can see the practicality of doing a change like that. Perhaps the biophone concept as we know it, is on the way out.." Joe theorized. "Not in a million years." Brackett grumbled good naturedly. "How can you improve the telephone industry? Eliminate telephone wires for everybody?" "Stranger things have happened.." Joe said. "So, what's some of the new stuff the fire department wants to implement into the new manual?" "We'll find out at the meeting. Want to sit in on it? I could use your input. I already have all the paramedics scheduled to attend the county fire heads with the Physician's Association in a series of conferences to refine needs for the new guidelines I've been asked to write." "On top of your usual ER workload?" goggled Dr. Early. "Seniority sucks sometimes, too, Joe." "I'm so there. Who else is going to watch your back to make sure you don't crack under the pressure?" "A friend to the end. Knew I could count on you." smirked Kel. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The gang had just cleared the table of breakfast dishes when Cap came in the room with a brown paper sealed, person sized package stamped priority mail. Johnny Gage, being curious, asked about it. "What's that, Cap? A new chalkboard for the rec room?" "No, it's a piece of new equipment we're to start training on. One of several new pieces for the engine. Grab the other end and help me open it." Stanley said hefting the bulky package over the table top. Marco, Chet and Stoker hastily cleared away the napkin holder, and the salt and pepper shakers. Gage ripped open the paper like a kid at Christmas. His face immediately frowned. "What're all these? A new set of cave in braces?" "No, Gage. What else does it look like? Far out, Cap. I read up on this in the Fire Science Digest last month." Chet said. Roy DeSoto quit rubbing his chin as the paper wrapping fell away. "It's a new kind of stretcher.." he guessed. "Yep. It's called a scoop stretcher. And this thing's only the first of the new stuff that's being tested out with us in the field. Seems there's gonna be new standards of recertification in the works for all of us simple firefighters." Cap said, trying to smile. The other firefighters, quit smiling. "You're kidding.." said Marco. "You mean learning all those engineer chemical formulas and hose pressure calculations weren't bad enough?" "Apparently not." said Hank. Gage started laughing. "Too bad, guys. Maybe you all should become paramedics to avoid all that....on the job training suffering." "Wipe that smile off your face, Gage. This," Cap frowned as he smacked down a large fat notebook that they all recognized as the squad drug pharmacology manual from his office down onto the table."..is for you. Brackett wants you to take it to the first of several meetings to go over the new paramedic changes, starting today. Seems a bunch of trial senior paramedics have already attempted to pass the new mock test recertification standards. Over half of them, failed. One of them who didn't pass, I'll have you know, was Craig Brice." The smiles fled off Roy and Johnny's faces. "What? But he's the walking rule book. How can he-?" Gage broke off, dumbstruck. Roy simply sighed, closing his eyes. Chet Kelly started chuckling. "Well, what's good for the goose.." he leaned into Johnny's gaping face, hefting up the heavy, dusty, little used drug manual and sent it into Gage's arms with a toss, "..is good for the gander. Join in the fun, boys. Looks like it's just beginning... for all of us.." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Joe Early and Kel Brackett, conferring. Photo: Roy and Johnny studying manuals. Photo: A metal scoop stretcher. Photo: Brackett and a lot of paramedics in a meeting. Photo: Cap in a closeup from the office. ******************************************************************** From : patti keiper Sent : Friday, April 8, 2005 3:46 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Scene.. The SCU tones went off, long ones, calling out both the squad and the engine. As he ran, Cap couldn't quite suppress some shivers. L.A.'s information had followed quicker than normal after the electronic call signs for multiple stations. "Move guys. This one's big..." Hank said unnecessarily. "Lopez, take the new scoop in with you guys into the crew compartment. We'll stash it in storage later if there's no need for it. I already have the rest of the new equipment in the back. I'll train you up as we go." "Right, Cap." said Marco and he picked up the two halves of the new stretcher from the tabletop. Chet helped him carry the two sections like a ladder. Everyone was in full turn out even before the bay doors fully opened. Stoker drew out the massive Ward La France to the edge of the drive behind the squad and waited for the rest of the call. ##Stations 99, 24, 10, 18 and 51 with Battalion 1. Structural collapse at the Beverly Mall. 8500 Beverly Boulevard. Cross street, Cienega Boulevard. 8500 Beverly Boulevard. Cross street, Cienega Boulevard...## Roy hung an immediate right. ##..Mall supervisors report multiple trapped casualties. Negative on fire occurance or main structure compromise. Triage protocol alerts have been issued. Incident 10-20 is the central rotunda, west entrance. Time out, 1003...## Cap picked up the radio mic. "Station 51, 10-4. KMG 365.." as a chorus from the other four stations followed suit. Then he picked up his HT and flipped over to truck to truck. "Have any of you been here before? The center's a large-ish concrete four level behemoth on the end of the main drag." "Yeah, Cap. The layout's a sort of lopsized diamond. The rotunda's a big open area with two elevator shafts situated opposite on a square. If I remember rightly, there's glass in the ceiling latticed with steel girders above it over marble flooring." said Kelly. "Nothing that could burn, but I wouldn't be surprised if one or two water mains were effected. There is a large cafe like restaurant adjacent to the plaza with an open air bar extending into it." "Anyone else have something to add?" asked Cap, hunting for more information. Marco spoke up."Electricity may be a factor. There's an escalator hub that runs complementary on the non-shaft sides. Right in the middle. I seem to remember four flights of them running three decks high next to each other. There's a central wishing pool and a two story sculpture." Chet added more. "I can't understand it, Cap. What could have collapsed if it's not the roof? There's nothing major over that area." Hank considered, then he thumbed the talk button again on his walkie so the squad could hear him. "When was the last time you were at the mall, Kelly?" "Around the holidays.." "So your knowledge is six months old. Maybe there's been new construction." Cap interjected. "Thanks, guys." then he flipped over to Tach Command frequency. "Station 51 to Battalion 1. Where do you want us?" ##51, the north parking lot. Go in through the restaurant to avoid the ongoing evacuation of the effected area through the main public entrances. Also, there's bound to be congestion from traffic due to the proximity of a small casino so watch out for that. Lay no line until I've determined the full nature of the incident.## "10-4, Battalion 1." said Hank. "51, going off TC channel." Mike Stoker had overheard. Cap switched back to crew frequency. "Roy, take her into the north lot. Head for the restaurant. We're going through the kitchens.." ##10-4, Cap..## Gage, sitting next to DeSoto, rubbed his chin in anticipation. "I don't like the sound of this one. I knew it was gonna be a big call but this feels REAL big." "Time to earn our pay.." Roy said with a sober face. He sped up, pushing seven over the speed limit. "Ever been there?" Johnny said over the sirens. Gage's unanticipated question startled Roy where he sat tensely. "Yeah, it's a gorgeous place. An engineer's waking dream. Joanne likes it.." he broke off, studying his hands nervously. "...so do the kid--" He didn't finished the sentence. Both knew the chance of young victims was probably high due to the fountain's attraction factor. "But there's also a bar there.." Johnny said, as if reading his partner's mind. "Yeah..." Roy said, uncomforted. "But I still don't feel any better about it. A lot of people could be attending a large special event or something." "What things go on at the center?" "I remember Tuesday's tea. They sometimes have a band playing." Roy sighed. "And it would have to be Tuesday.. terrific." Gage said sarcastically. "Dozens could be down, if not hundreds.." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: A neon and concrete shopping center edge from a road's view. Photo: The interior of a large open area mall. Photo: Roy on the squad mic, talking. Photo: The engine and squad pulling up to a scene near police and a battalion chief. ******************************************************************************** From : Roxy Dee Sent : Friday, April 15, 2005 11:08 PM Subject : Sifting~~ ##To all units, this is Battalion One. We've updated information. I'm on scene. I'm seeing a broken water main from the fourth floor over what appears to be a collapsed aerial sidewalk in the main rotunda. First-in reports over a dozen casualties visible with evidence of others trapped out of sight via eye witness accounts. I'm declaring this scene chemical hazmat negative. L.A., Battalion One, return Hazmat response. Notify a heavy equipment assignment, including bulldozers.## ##10-4, Battalion One. Station 99, return.## ## Station 99, ten four.## said a travelling fire captain. ##Time out, 10:10.## replied L.A. ##*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP* Brush Nine, Excavation Ten, aerial sidewalk collapse at the Beverly Mall. 8500 Beverly Boulevard. Cross street, Cienega Boulevard. 8500 Beverly Boulevard. Cross street, Cienega Boulevard. Timeout: 10:11.## rehailed L.A. Headquarters. Roy and Johnny tuned out the remainder radio traffic, focusing instead on where they were going. The place wasn't hard to find. Two other stations were already flanking Battalion One's red chief's car at the north entrance and a heavy plume of dust was following in the wake of those evacuating the mall's central courtyard. Already, basic framework for a triage network was setting up. Captain Stanley thumbed the engine mic. "Station 51, Battalion One. On scene." Battalion One's rich voice reverberated through the HT net from his location inside the mall. ##Battalion One, Station 51. Tackle the north end of the collapse nearest the ruptured water main. We're hearing about multiple victims in that area. Mall management indicates those who may be trapped number less than two hundred according to ticket sales. I'm declaring a full emergency triage situation. Handle by priority condition only. A canine search unit has been deployed.## "10-4, Battalion One. Station 51 is moving in.." Hank said firmly, but his voice betrayed anxiety over what was to be discovered. He leaped out of the cab before Stoker could coast the Ward to a halt. "Chet!, Marco! Ignore all hosework! Grab extrication gear and all the medical stores we have! Stoker, go with Roy and Johnny, help them get situated ASAP. Stokes oughta work going through the restaurant. It's bound to be cramped in the kitchen.." Cap reported. He had never seen his men hustle faster. ::Recertification, my *ss. You can't speed any crew faster than mine.:: thought Hank ruefully. Then he entered the mall. Station 51 barely heard the plainitive questions coming from the cafe's workers who were as yet unaware of the collapse out in the central plaza. They focused on those witnesses who were screaming and running, for details. A man, his face looking as flat as a manikin's, under a layer of concrete dust, stumbled against Roy as he fled the cafe's eating area. "An old lady was on top of my ankle, screaming. I said to her, `Be calm. Breathe deep,' but she just kept struggling. I felt her last movement. She's dead!" "Easy, keep moving outside. There are people outside who can help you! Go!" DeSoto said, piling his gear onto a white wire patio table that was safely under an overhang dripping ivys and away from the fountaining high pressure water shooting from the fractured suspended pipes spilling out thirty feet overhead. Gage had grabbed another dazed witness, equally dusted in chalk white and dotted with red wounds. "I was watching the dance contest," the woman said, recalling. "Thank God I'm short. I was surrounded by tall people. It- it, it hit them first .." she said weakily, "I saw it falling, and there was nowhere to go." Johnny gripped her face. "You're ok, you're ok.. Hey, can you hear me? Now follow that man. You've got to get out of here, ma'am. It's not safe with all the debris in here." "Oh, ok..." she said, stumbling towards a police man in rain gear who was at the end of a human chain showing the way out. Gage shouted to his crewmates. "Put it all here! This'll be our base station!" he said slamming a glove onto the white metal mesh of the large patio table. Soon, piles of gear, oxygen tanks from the squad and Ward, were lined up and cracked open. Roy and Johnny ran past and through the plume of escaping water once they determined that the plaza's main power had indeed been shut off. They carried with them, just the basics, dressings, airways and their radios. Pushing through the blinding curtain of water, they found a sunny open spot in the dusty gloom and headed for it. In the glinting bright morning sunlight, on the mall's floor, was carnage. Dozens of victims were pinned, dying beneath the debris. Bodies cut in half. Broken necks, broken backs, severed limbs. Captain Stanley paused in shock only momentarily, wiping away streams of pipe wash from his face and eyes. "Oh.." he gasped in mental angst. Then he shut out his feelings. "Gang, fan out sixty feet square and don't go beyond it! Remain in visual and radio contact. Go for those making sounds, tag em, assure any breathing, then keep moving. I'll prioritize who gets first attention when we're set for cutting as the equipment gets here...Go.." he said unnecessarily. His men followed orders explicitly, ignoring the unconscious, doing little beyond inserting short oral airways to those still pink with a pulse, before they reluctantly moved to a moaning victim. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Outside, Battalion One was grabbed by one man ignoring his surroundings. "Why haven't they brought her out?" the older man asked. "My whole life's in there." He stared blankly toward the mall entrance, holding his wife's purse, which she had handed to him before the accident. "My wife just wanted to get closer to the orchestra......." The chief gently peeled the man's hands off his jacket and shouted. "Hey, lieutenant!! Help this man! Non injured!" he shouted, then he leaned the man against his red car. "Easy sir, go with this fireman, I promise he'll do everything he can to locate your wife." The man went. Sighing, Battalion returned to the business at hand, directing personnel to the disaster. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some spanless time later, a rain jacketted Vince Howard appeared at Cap's side. "I was here from the beginning, there was a big snap, like lightning in your back yard," said the cop. "It was the worst thing I have ever seen," he said. "I watched the people on the walkway grab a hold of it when it began to tip over. Then, they just disappeared. I think it was just the weight of the people that made it collapse." Cap took Vince's arm and turned him around, away from the main pile of shattered concrete, twisted wire and the worst of the red speckled shattered glass. "How many?" "About one hundred people were dancing, and everybody else was sitting down," Howard said. "But the area under the walkway is jammed, because that's where the bar was." "Ok.." Hank said. He lifted his plastic wrapped HT. "Roy, Johnny. Focus our team nearest the fallen platform. Seems most people were there at the bar.." ##Ok, Cap..## said Johnny in reply. Vince rubbed his dusty face. "No one panicked and few even cried. Everybody was so incredibly calm. I couldn't believe it." "Are you hurt anywhere?" "Nah.. I was doing my mall beat like usual, I just happened to be leaving the cafe after lunch when it happened. I told the first squad cars to ignore those lying still and go after the people covered with blood and still moving." said the dusty, wet policeman. "That was a tough call, but you did right.." Hank said quietly. A scream from right near their feet, shot both of them into action and they picked their way across crunching gory glass over to it. Hank drew out an all weather flashlight and played it down deep underneath the red stained platform. "Marco, help me lift this brass railing! I see a hollow space under here. What is this spot? The top of the escalator?" "Yeah, I think so..." said Vince. "We're situated right.." he said, eyeing the square open air courtyard above them. A muffled male voice filtered out. "Hey..*cough* Somebody's alive down here! Help me, please....!" Cap waved over Kelly as well signalling urgently for a red hydraulic brace beam. "Mister, how badly are you hurt?" he shouted, aiming a flashlight in through the dripping water from the pipe. Sunlight made a checkerboard of gray dust and red wounds over the man's face. "I..I..I'm..in town for a convention. I think I was struck on the arm by a brass railing and then by a ...by a...*gag*..falling body. It- she hit my neck." "Don't move.. I have some men coming down to ya.." Hank commanded. He pulled out his HT antennae. "Roy, Johnny. Over to me. I've picked the first one. He's trapped next to the bed of tooth treads on the escalator at its top. Bring full spinal gear. And ropes." ##On our way, Cap..## said Roy. Mercifully, the roaring water pipe above the rescue area slowly trickled off, leaving behind puddles of pink as mall maintenance crews finally shut off the flow. Immediately, the moans of survivors attracted the roving fire rescue crews like moths to a flame. "That's a relief.." Hank said to Vince. Then he turned back to the hole. "What's your name in there?!" There was no answer. "Hey!" said Cap. He picked up a twisted plaster dusted metal rod and began slamming it against the part of the silver side of the escalator he could reach. "Stay with me!" Instantly, the man's panicked cries rewarded him. "Stop it! *cough* The whole thing'll collapse on me!" he gasped. Cap looked farther up the debris pile and along the shape he now recognized. "You're in a safe pocket. The sidewalk flooring capped the escalator when it fell. Don't worry. These steel side walls are more than strong enough to hold everything until we get you out of there. Just keep talking..." "O-ok....." Soon, the rest of the station gang was at Cap's side. Roy knelt, pulling off a coiled rope from his overjacketted shoulders. "What'cha got, Cap?" "Man with neck injuries lying along the escalator treads somewhere under that.." he said pointing to the angled jumble of rosy marble fractured in gigantic scale over the length of the escalator. "If he's in there, chances are, others may be, too. They've been protected from any crushing forces. I want you and Johnny to go in and get him out of there. Take a belt line down with you. We'll send a stokes when you give the word..." Johnny nodded, shifting his dusty helmet a little higher on his head. "Ok.. Mister. We're coming down! Just hold still!" "Hurry..*gasp* It's getting hard to breathe. She's still on top of me.." Roy leaned into Cap. "What's he talking about?" "Man says a body fell on his head and neck and that's how he got hurt." "Let's hope she's not in the way.." Gage said frowning. Then he adjusted his belt, rope and gloves and started climbing downwards. "Roy..I'm using my penlight in my teeth as I go so I won't be able to talk to ya until we get to him.." "Ok.." Roy, soon followed his partner down onto the pitch black, glass crunching steel escalator stairs, underneath the remains of the aerial walkway. Cap added his two cents worth. "And keep those radios ON you at all times. Use them every five minutes. Got that?" "Yeah..." both paramedics replied. Then Roy did nothing but keep a vocal connection with the trapped man they knew lay somewhere beneath them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A sunny mall central court, with a flooring collapse in the middle of it. Photo: Mike Stoker, looking pensive by the engine. Photo: People peering down a stalled escalator, overview. Photo: Cap on HT, night, by the vehicles. Photo: Overhanging view of aerial sidewalk collapse. Photo: Johnny, geared up, dusty, on HT. Photo: Roy and Johnny hurriedly peering down a hole at their feet. ***************************************************************************** From : Cory Anda Sent : Saturday, April 23, 2005 6:43 PM Subject : Trading spaces.. "Hey! Can you still hear me down there?!" Roy shouted. There was a long pause before the injured man replied faintly through the rubble. "Mister. Don't waste....your breath. *cough.* I'm sure.....not." "Me and my partner are on the way down to you. Just try to relax..." "Don't.....have much choice in not doing that, d-do I?" said the man's voice weakily. "That's something we're gonna change real soon." DeSoto encourage as he squeezed in through the small hole underneath the heavy slab of stone that once was the suspended mall walkway. "What's your name?" "Leo. W--What's yours?" "I"m Roy. And the one worming his way down to ya is Johnny. Are you hurt anywhere else besides your neck?" "I-I don't know. Can't feel my legs much, because she's- ..because of all the weight...*gasp* ..on me.." "Can you move em?" DeSoto said, pushing a large marble chuck away from his head as he crouch crawled slowly past the obstacles in his way on the escalator's bed using Johnny's feeble penlight as a guide. "Think so.. I got two feet.. right?" Leo joked. Roy smiled and pushed on another block in his way. Something above his head shifted and dust and sheets of leftover water rained down onto his helmeted head. The trapped man gave a scream. So did a few others between him and Roy. They were muffled, detracted moans. DeSoto began shouting. "Cap! I hear other victims!" he reported into his radio. ##I know that, pal. Some of the conscious have relayed to us the same story. We're more than working on it. Can you tell if some of them are inside the escalator with you three?## Hank asked in a rush of interference on their private band. "No way of knowing.. All the water still coming down's making everything echoey.." Roy said, hanging onto Johnny's shoe as the smaller paramedic in front of him slowly wormed a torturous path open in front of them. ##The gear's coming down. O2, and the splint and trauma boxes. We've got em on the new scoop stretcher. It's compact enough to reach you guys.## "Just in the nick of time.. What would we have done if this whole mess occurred yesterday?" DeSoto mumbled through the open airwave. Cap was grace itself and knew enough not to reply. Several stuffy, wet minutes later, Gage encountered another obstacle. A soft one in the darkness. He spat out the penlight in his mouth, shifting it to his free glove. "Roy! I think I reached someone..." he gasped. "Is it her?" Roy asked, somewhere next to his waist under the marble. Johnny squirmed his way even further, crawling head down along the jammed toothed metal stairs. He encountered a steamy copper pool of red near an elbow. It was flowing striped along the grooves as it ran down into the mechanical works beneath the escalator. One that was far too big for hopeful encouragement. "Leo. What's she wearing? We think we're near ya!" "B-blue..dress, and stockings.* gasp* ...I'm smelling roses.." said the man with a sob."Why did she have to go and wear that now? It smells ..so nice.." and he started crying. Johnny fell silent as he reached into the larger gap around the broken form of the woman in front of him. He could smell the older woman's delicate perfume, too. His penlight beam found a bony white, concave shape, that looked like a curved plate, stained scarlet. And a mass of silver hair. It was a badly crushed skull, denuded of skin and scalp. Gage lifted up his head with a grimace when he recognized a large patch of gray tissue lying apart from it. "Roy.. this is her. Definitely dead. Leo! Can you feel me touching you? I got a dark brown courderoy pants leg in my gloves and I'm tugging it a bit.." There was another pause in the dripping blackness. "That's....not me." whispered Leo. Johnny reached around and found the clothes shears from his holster at his side and began cutting to expose a femoral pulse site in the limb. It revealed just a leg and nothing else. "Roy... No second victim. I got no torso.." he said in a strained voice, accepting the rope Cap and the others were feeding down to them as they worked. "Can you still get by?" Roy said, keeping his partner focused on their task. "Yes." A crackled from the HT met his ears. Hank was talking again. ##Stoker's on the way down to you with a bundle of extra hydraulic braces. He's got a radio with him. He's gonna help ya move debris and those bodies out of your way!## Roy closed his eyes and crawled past the blood and what used to be two people, groping ahead for Leo's breathing ribcage. The man's sounds of struggle were almost soothing amid the horror as returned silence surrounded the two firemen as the great pile of heavy flooring above them continued settling. "Understood ya, Cap!" reported back Roy. "We...won't be needing the saw.." Gage focused on a vague movement in the dripping shadows. He soon laid a hand on a moving stomach. It was Leo and the dead woman's shoulders were pressing heavily down on him. Johnny shoved her off him with a slow push. Leo screamed in pain but his gasping immediately quieted and his panicky breathing began to slow down. "Easy! It's ok. I got her off of ya.." Johnny told him. "Just keep holding still. Are you bleeding from anywhere?" Leo chuckled under the flashlight's beam as Roy directed it onto his face. "None that's mine, fireman. Thanks for coming so fast. Being alone like that was driving me crazy." he blinked. "I've always hated small spaces..." Then he cramped up when his neck gave him a spasm. "Oh!" "Just the neck?" Gage said, running his hands over Leo's head, sides and limbs, looking for trouble spots even as he held the man still. "Yeah." said Leo. "Not bad.. just....real annoying.." and he shivered. Johnny found a bad laceration on Leo's lower leg. He stopped the hemorrhaging with thick layers of dressing and wraps. "All right, Leo. Move your feet for me.." He did. "That's a good sign." Roy said, reaching over to Leo's throat to take a carotid pulse after peeling a dusty glove off. "Let's see how you're doing. We've got a man coming down here with a stretcher and we'll bundle you up and get you outta here, ok?" "Ok by me." smiled Leo. "That's real service fellas." He was sweaty and chilled. Roy couldn't tell if that was from pipe water or perspiration, so he took the man's smile as a gauge of apparent vigor. "Johnny, 120 and rapid. But regular." He lifted his walkie talkie. "Cap, we're gonna need permission and then IV supplies down here." ##Lopez's got Rampart on the line. As soon as Stoker gets a clear path using those braces, that box's next! Brackett's on Channel One.## Gage immediately flipped over frequencies. "Rampart,..*cough* This is squad 51. How do you read?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Cramped view from stair level looking up an escalator. Photo: Men in hardhats working in a tight underground place. Photo: Gage treating a man using his penlight amid a jumble of debris. Photo: Roy stopping the bleeding from a man's head. Photo: Johnny Gage, head down in a hole, digging. *********************************************************** From : Roxy Dee Sent : Monday, April 25, 2005 3:59 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Sharp Report~~ Kel Brackett had completely forgotten the leather jacket he was still wearing from the parking lot. He had been almost to Joe Early's car to get his presentation items for the paramedic recertification meeting when the call came through about the disaster at the Beverly Center. Local authorities couldn't yet give him casualty numbers so Brackett put out a full alert to all hospitals within a ten mile radius around the shopping center to cover for the information gap. He had told Dixie McCall to expect victims arriving in taxis and buses in addition to out of county non paramedic attendant ambulance services working along side their usual fleet of fire department rescue squads. Now his attention focused on the first voice to reach him from the site. "I read you loud and clear, 51. Go ahead."` ##Rampart we have a male victim approximately 30 years of age. He's suffering from a neck injury and multiple lacerations following a suspended concrete shopping mall sidewalk collapse. All bleeding has been controlled and we're working on getting him immobilized. Vitals signs are : Pulse 120 and rapid, palpable to the brachial artery only. Respirations are 20 and shallow and he's heavily diaphoretic. However, he's fully conscious. Permission to start an I.V until we can extricate him to a safer location and can get to the rest of our equipment.## said Johnny Gage. Kel heard the sounds of moaning over the comm line from multiple victims and the hair raising distinctness of deep throated structural damage settling. "O.k, 51. Start an I.V. with Ringer's. Does your victim have any signs of head injury?" ##Negative, Rampart. Just the shock symptoms.## "Administer 5 milligrams MS I.V. for pain as needed, 51. Get me a BP as soon as it's possible and transport ASAP." ##10-4, Rampart. I.V. with Ringer's and 5 mgs MS I.V. for pain as ordered.## Kel forged ahead. "Johnny, how many people are involved at your location? Do you need a doctor out there on scene?" ##Doc, we've dozens or more entrapped with a large number of Code F's. Our injured may possibly number into the hundreds, best guess. I'd say yes from what we know already. FD Command's still mobilizing heavy equipment so I don't have better figures for you yet.## "Understood, 51. I'm coming out to you. I have a nurse remaining on the line with your HT channel for any new victims you'll find. " Brackett said loudly to be heard over the incident noise he heard pouring in over the intercom speaker. "I'll be there in twenty minutes..." ##10-4, Rampart.## said Johnny. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mike Stoker had reached Roy and Johnny's location quickly on his own rappelling rope. He opened the I.V. box and handed out an infusion set and plastic bag of Ringer's. An MS syringe was in between his teeth. "DeSoto. I've a few more of these in my pocket with a few of atropine and epinephrine for any others." he said. "Those loose sections we passed, I've jymmied tight with portajacks. The way up's still workable." He shoved the scoop containing the I.V. case and an ambu bag with an unopened yellow plastic shock sheet nearer to the two paramedics with a foot. "I'll get his O2 set up ASAP. Here's another flashlight.." "Thanks, Stoker. Sometimes I think you're more paramedic than engine man nowadays. Leo, relief's on the way and I've got a blanket for us to wrap you in." replied Roy. "It'll only take as long as my starting an I.V. on you here into your arm." "A-Appreciate it, fellas.." gasped Leo. "When are we getting outta here?" and he trembled underneath Roy's head stabilizing hands. "Once we've got your neck secured in a collar and into this scoop stretcher? Less than ten minutes. Mike, this fireman at your feet, has been shoring up the passageway we all came down through. Your trip up should be short and sweet." replied Johnny, finishing his recheck of Leo's condition by roving feel. "That afternoon air and sunlight'll be just as wonderful as you imagine, I promise." Leo sighed and closed his eyes. He didn't even flinch when the I.V. needle found a tourniquet encouraged vein. Leo's breathing shallowed a bit as the stress from the ordeal started taking its toll. Mike reached for the oxygen regulator valve but he didn't yet crack it. "Is the power off yet?" he asked Gage. "Let me find out..." Johnny said ruefully, surprised at himself for not checking on their local safety conditions. He spoke into the walkie talkie. "Squad 51 to Engine 51..." ##Go ahead, Squad 51.## came Cap's reply. "What's the utilities status up there? We now have the O2 with us.." ##Clear to go, all the power and the restaurant's gas have been shut off.## "O.k, Cap. Go ahead and watch for a rope tug in ten minutes when we have him bundled up." he reported. "Stoker's gonna be the point man." ##Believe me, I'm all eyes.## said Hank. In a lower tone, Johnny spoke quietly, so Leo couldn't hear him. "How bad is everything showing for more live victims?" ##Conditions are serious. Numbers are lower than we'd hoped. Mall officials have surveillance coverage that the casino captured of exactly how many people were on the walkway when it fell. Looks like the bar saved a few by being where it was. Hang tight for more info. The chief's talking now...## "Standing by.." said Gage and then he concentrating on helping Roy get Leo situated into his cervical collar. "Leo, here's some O2. It'll get rid of most of that stuffiness you're feeling. Don't try to help us at all. Let us do all the work getting you into this metal stretcher here, ok?" Leo didn't speak but he blinked and waved a few dusty fingers in weak understanding under Johnny's new flashlight beam. "Roy, hand me your clothes shears would ya? Leo's sleeve is caught real good in a crack between the stair teeth. I'm lying on mine." DeSoto gave Johnny his pair of blunted scissors. Mike Stoker took the spent pain medication syringe and I.V. needle from Roy and dropped it into the I.V. box's disposal bin. "Fellas, I'll watch his respiration rate while you two move him. I've a good line of sight from over here." he said flipping over onto his side and keeping his covered head low and away from a jutting shard of glass. He began to dig with his gloves to create a smooth runway in the marble and plaster pieces on top of the stairs so the two paramedics had more than enough headroom in which to maneuver. A minute later, Leo fell asleep as the pain med he had been given started working. The three firemen soon had the dead woman and the severed leg rolled against one of the guide walls and out of the way. They used a second shock sheet to mark their locations and covered them respectfully. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Battalion One continued to update Captain Stanley. ##I used to work for Belger Cartage Service. Hank, they've got cranes we can use and they're only blocks away. Call em in.## "You got it, chief." said Captain Stanley. He got busy mobilizing that construction crew tip as fast as he could. Soon, two cranes smashed through the mall's lobby windows, showering glass onto the bloody floor. They were driven inside until they reached the pile of dusty debris mounded up in the middle of the rotunda and then they started working. Operators lowered cabled pulleys. As each skywalk section was raised a few feet, rescuers shined lights underneath and continued looking for life amid the many dead. Eventually, a rescuer heard sounds of an injured man below an unraised slab. "We've got a live one!" the rescuer yelled. A jackhammer pounded through the concrete above him. As it bore nearer, its sharp tip brushed unknowingly between the victim's left arm and ribs. Then it knifed between his legs. The frightened man feared the next one would pierce his spine. "You idiots!" he hollered. "Shut that jackhammer off!" When the section lifted, cool air and light washed over the man's features and he fought down nausea. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see the bodies. "Get me out of here.." he choked. "Please, just get me out of here. I can't stand it." The man was the first live victim freed by the working crews. Six others were located by using a police search dog held on his leash by Vince Howard. The dog, named Luke, suddenly lifted his head and began barking towards the escalator slope where Station 51's crew was known to be working beneath. "What's the matter boy?" asked Vince. The dog started growling at a distant commotion in the shadow of dust haze still hanging over the scene. Vince lifted his radio. "Murphy, Dwyer..something odd's going over there by the casino entrance. Go check it out. Luke's on a defensive mode for some reason. Watch yourself. It may be an imminent cave in over that area or something. He's acting too strangely for it to just be victim contact behavior." ##Copy that..## replied Vince's mall partners and they moved to investigate. Along the way, they helped bystanders who were leading away the slightly wounded. The police officers showed them the best route outlined by the fire department for getting out of the mall through the restaurant's abandoned kitchen. Luke growled louder and eagerly leaped against his trace when he felt Vince finally give him seek and scenting room. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hank Stanley had just finished acknowledging his chief's report when a low rumbled sound cascaded over the roar of the lifting cranes. He saw the broken pile of debris draping over the escalator, suddenly start V-ing downhill in a further collapse. He could just see Mike Stoker's head start to poke out as he began to drag the scoop stretcher out of the top landing hole. He didn't hear the danger over all the noise and din coming from the two lifting cranes. "No! Mike, get back!" But the stretcher struggling engineer didn't hear him. Captain Stanley dashed forward and shoved Stoker back down the escalator. Then his head shot up in alarm as the sound of bolts snapping zinged around him. He felt a change bodily through the air as something nearby in the darkness around Mike ripped free from its moorings. He didn't wait to see what it was, and started scrambling deeper. Cap threw himself onto the escalator stairs inside the hole alongside the scoop stretcher as the opening leading to the outside suddenly sealed off with a roar. Pancaking heavily to the floor, another skywalk section spewed a gust of wind and a huge dust cloud as it slid to the mall floor over their location. Then, followed a sickening silence. "Cap! You ok?!" shouted Stoker as he grabbed his captain's jacket and hauled him over onto his back. "Yeah.. d*mned fool construction workers.. They're hurrying too much! Now WE gotta get dug outta here.." coughed Cap. "Come on, let's get back down to Roy and Johnny to give them the bad news. How's your noggin? I tackled you pretty hard there.." "I'm fine. So's Leo. I still got my hand on him." Cap told the Battalion Chief what had happened over his radio. ##Of all the-- Ok, Hank. We'll get you and your men out as soon as we can. Keep in constant contact with me through all developments as you check out your situation. ## "Will do, Engine 51, out." Roy, Johnny, Mike and Cap met in a ring of faces above Leo's sleeping one under an umbrella of torchlight. "Any way out the bottom of the escalator?" Cap asked Gage. Johnny wasn't too pleased after learning that they were all trapped like all the other mall victims under the debris pile."We haven't gone down that far yet. We stopped at Leo's level, remember?" he gestured. Cap sighed in frustration, grunting as he tried to get his bulk comfortable in a space that was too small for him. "Ok, exploration'll be our new priority. Stoker. Stay with him. Shout if his breathing changes for the worse.." "Right, Cap." Johnny, Roy and Hank slowly untied their ropes from their jacket belts and they started the slow process of crawling down the buried escalator. "Hey! I think I'm seeing daylight..." shouted Johnny over his back, from where he lay in the lead on his stomach. "Where?! I don't see any. Oh, there it is. Let's go ch--" began Hank. A sharp report and echo ripped through the chucks of debris above their heads with a whine of seared air and cut off his words. All three men ducked, fearing another cave in. "What was that?!" Johnny spat in surprise. "I don't know. I'm gonna go ahead and look.." said Stanley. He inched forward and stuck his head through a small hole shining in full sunlight. "Maybe it's one of the diggers trying to dig us out already." *Ping!!* bit another odd sound. Johnny watched as Cap suddenly jerked as a small boulder of "ceiling" gave way in front of him in a cloud of dust, making him drop his helmeted head to his elbows in a protective stomach down move. "Watch it, Cap!" Gage yelled. "You all right?" Hank didn't react. "Cap?!" shouted Roy, squirming beside Gage along the small cramped space in the sunlight in a sudden panic. "Can you hear us?!" "What's wrong with him?" hissed Johnny as the two of them clambored up to their captain's side. "He's seems like he's out cold! But I swear nothing fell on him." "I don't know yet." Roy's probing hands slid lower underneath Cap's jacket after they had assured themselves that he was still breathing. They came away bright with blood. "What th--?" Johnny drew out his shears and cut away Hank's shirt over that place. He startled over a wound that was cratered like a geyser's mouth, bubbling out air and blood. "Roy? Get your head down! This is a gunshot wound!!" As if to taunt his words, another ricchochet hit very near where they were pinned, through the hole of sunlight and the whizzing bullet spat angrily around them as it spent its velocity before embedding itself into the softer debris pile over their heads. Roy and Johnny unceremoniously hauled the unconscious Cap, face down, back into the escalator's smothering darkness by his pants belt. "Mike, get back! That noise's not debris settling out! It's gunfire. And Cap's been hit!" Johnny shouted. "What!?" said the startled engineer. "Shhh!! Get out an occlusive dressing. He's got a sucking chest wound, Mike. Right here under my hand." Johnny hissed, suddenly whispering to hide their location. Roy was already handling securing a good airway on Cap using an oral one from his turnout pocket. "Gimme the other O2 line off Leo's tank. On second thought give me that ambu too, in case Cap decides to stop breathing on us. He's out real deep." Stoker moused down and did what he was told. A moving shadow covered the daylit hole forty feet away from them, making the three firemen freeze their positions right where they lay on the tooth stairs in fright. ::Oh mother of..:: thought Gage, as he started looking up. The gut feeling about who might be there with them wasn't a pleasant one. ********************************************************************************** From : patti keiper Sent : Wednesday, April 27, 2005 3:40 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Pinhole Operations.. A grizzled man of fifty whirled on his partner in crime and thrust the arm that was still holding the smoking silencer down forcefully. "Mugsy! Knock it off right now! Put your piece away! What in blazes do you think you're doing ?!" he said from behind a pillar in the rotunda a short distance away from where the mob of firefighters, rescuers and crane operators were working. "Lance, it's that d*mned dog of da fuzz's. The one they're using to search. I swear I saw him stalkin us from that hole. I saw his black fur coat, I swear. If we don't put a bullet in his head, he'll spoil da plan even before we get inside the casino." said the younger thug with the twisted nose and uneven crew cut. "You know how they're trained to sniff out hidden guns.." "Are you as stupid as you look? No, don't answer that." fumed the gray haired ex con. "Lance, you're definitely not thinking again. We can't waste the mutt out in the open like this." "Listen to me, Mugsy, no one will think anything of a d*mn bleeding dog once we nail him. There's too much danger and instability around this area. You saw a part of that whole mess cave in. We'll bury him in junk. Then we can still circle around and get right back into the wall ventilation shaft. No one's paying attention to us since we put these on." Lance insisted, gripping the construction worker hard hat he was wearing that matched the team of construction workers milling about on the rubble with blow torches and shovels. "I'll just put a clever bead on him at close range." "Ok.. ok,..you win. Anything to calm ya down. Ok, Lance. Go have a look but don't use ANY lead unless you're face to face with that mutt and he's slobberin on ya. And I mean it, Lancey boy. Get it into your thick skull. No more guns out in the open! Not even when we get the high sign from the rest of da guys to slip inta the casino to start knocking it off." "Ain't that why we sabotaged those sidewalks to come down in the first place? To give us some working cover in case we had ta knock off a few people wid these.." he said, patting the L shaped bulge of his gun crammed half hazardly into his dusty shirt pocket. "I definitely got it now, boss." "You sure didn't a minute ago." "Cover me.." said the eager Lance with a scarred eye wink. He started making his way back up to the hole that he had spotted the black colored movement within, using a shovel and fake digging to blend in whenever an alert rescuer glanced up in his direction. "Once we get that roving fuzz dog outta the way, it'll be smooth sailin', boss. He's the only complication left, between us and millions, and you know it." Mugsy mumbled to himself, "Cover him, he says.. Cover him.. Why did I ever agree to school this sorry excuse of a joe inta the thieving business while I was still stuck in the slammer? He's hopeless!!" Another mental voice in his head replied back. ::Because his uncle'll mark ya for a driveby hit if you don't.:: Right then, a piercing whistle split the noisy air from a fireman wearing a white helmet and workers everywhere suddenly froze in place. Even the two laden cranes became still and every single person in the area fell silent. Mugsy dashed over to the foot of the debris pile. "Lance! It's another listening check. Hold still up there, ya moron, or you'll stand out like a sore--" A passing fire captain with the number 99 on his black helmet glanced up at him while walking by with a handful of mall blueprints. "Problem, mister?" Mugsy put on his best street smile. "No problem, fireman, sir. It's just that my partner's part deaf from running da cranes tonight. I was just giving him a heads up for the check, sir." "I see." said the older fireman. "Well, tell him to keep his eyes out for signs of an engine company, number 51, up there. They've been pinned inside the escalator track and may find a way out somewhere near your buddy up there. Have your man radio in if he spots any sign of movement." "Will do, sir. I'll tell da whole crew while I'm at it. Don't you worry." The fire captain nodded and hurried away with his plans of the electrical infrastructure, ducting and pipes layout of the rotunda area beneath the disaster area. "Be ready for when we break through into the escalator from the casino vault. There's a maintenance tunnel that we're gonna use that runs in between to get all of 51's trapped men and their victim out. We just got the casino manager's blessing to use their secured access routes." Mugsy's eyes bugged out but he quickly turned away before his plot hungry, surprised face, could betray him. Lance, in the meantime, was complaining loudly to himself up on the debris pile where he stood with his hands on his hips while he impatiently waited for the survivor listening check to be over. "No pieces, he says. No wastin' the cop dog out in the open, he says. What does an honest crook like me haveta do to get any fun in anymore? Do I haveta start pickin the pockets of all these dead people lying around to even get somethin to eat tonight?" His litany of grievances against his fellow criminals kept on as his frustration grew. Some of it carried into the hole and down the escalator to the trapped firemens' ears. Johnny Gage held out a shushing hand and frowned as he overheard the now oddly suspicious sounding non rescuer voice. He kept his other one on Cap's neck, monitoring his pulse. In a flash of inspiration, Mike Stoker pulled out his HT, switched it to emergency channel nine and then he bound its talk button firmly, with a thick strap of I.V. tape so it would remain open and on . He tossed the radio neatly up the escalator until it landed just short of the sunny spot Cap had discovered. Gage nearly cried out a warning when he figured out what Stoker was up to. But then nodded in affirmation fiercely in agreement. Roy was busy keeping the drugged Leo quiet and still with soft whispering. Johnny lifted his handy talkie to his ear and started listening on channel nine as Stoker's open line began registering. ::What an idea.. Stoker, you're simply wasted working our engine. You shoulda made cap a long time ago.:: thought Gage. ##......six guys to knock off a joint as small as this one, he says...## came Lance's complaining voice. ##Not everyday you get to stir up some real trouble like making those sidewalks come down...Now if only that d*mned mutt would stick out his head out again like a nice doggy so I can blow it clean off his stinking, fully police trained shoulders!! ## boomed the voice as the cacaphony of rescue work suddenly resumed overhead, releasing the criminal to freely voice his frustrated opinions again. ## ...Lance,....## came a second quieter thick New York accented voice. ##..You're not seeing anything and you know it. Get your butt back down here. I think I'm onta something real big. Seems these fireboys are gonna do all of the work FOR us so we won't have to...## ##Really, Mugsy? Ok,.. I-I ..I think I got him though. There's blood on these marble rocks here. The dog's gotta be dead. I saw him drop real fast after I shot up this here hole real good..## ##..Fine, .. That's great. Now get down here before I crack ya up on the side of the head and leave ya for all these rescuers ta find and deal with ya.. Listen close ya big lug. The Treasure Chest's gonna deliver right into our ever lovin greedy hands, my good man. And soon, too. Come down and gimme your ear.## ##Coming, boss.. Now what's so all fired important that's got ya all steamed up like a---## The voices over the open HT faded into resumed sounds of loud rescue work as the two mystery men left the range of Stoker's HT's transmitter. Mike Stoker leapt up the escalator steps and snatched his HT back down, turning it over to 51's rescue channel. "Engine 51 to Battalion One! Did you copy that? Those were perpetrators with guns in the area up to funny business. But we've a Code I down with a gunshot wound. He's critical! Over.." ##Just relax son, we heard but we don't completely understand. Are you saying you've a fireman who's been shot up?## Gage broke into the channel on his own radio. "Yes, Battalion. Our captain. He's taken a bullet to a lung. We're safe for the moment but there's at least six of these guys running around by you! Listen to the recording again and then tell the police ASAP. Those two we caught on the air are only a few who're directly responsible for this whole mall disaster!" ##Battalion, Squad 51, 10-4. Stepping up your rescue's priority.## Gage continued transmitting. "Chief, there's a hole to the outside that's too small to break through that Cap found. We need more medical supplies to handle him or he'll go sour on us real fast." ##Where son?## "Watch for a fireman's overcoat! We're tossing it out!" shouted Stoker. He crawled to the sunny hole in the debris pile and peeled off his coat and he kicked it outside holding his radio's handstrap in his teeth. He watched it tumble down the debris pile even as he put his helmet back onto his filthy head. ##Got you pinpointed boys. Hang on. Give me a report of your man's injuries! I've just learned that a doctor sent for is only a minute away.## Mike sighed where he lay in gratitude, and he let his dusty head thunk down onto the escalator steps dotted wet with Cap's blood."I'm glad that worked.." "And I'm glad we're all safe..." Gage echoed, turning back to tending Cap's wound and airway. "Stoker, come help me prop Cap semi seated. He'll breathe easier that way. The bullet didn't exit so we've just this single pneumo of his to deal with. So far, both lungs are still inflating from what I can make out, but that's gonna change real fast. He's got a lot of bright red froth present in his mouth and nose and his breathing rate's already over 20 a minute." DeSoto picked up his radio. "Not good. Battalion One, Squad 51. We're located on stair set number seventy two. The hole we reached ya through's been punched through a break in one of the escalator's outer walls. Nothing short of a whole night's blow torching will make that hole any bigger I'm afraid. It's only a head wide." ##We've an alternative, 51. Hang tight.There's a tunnel that's accessible beneath the escalator stairs that connects with the casino nearby. We're making arrangements to get to you through there. The stair plates themselves will cut apart easily for freeing you. I'm estimating we'll be at your side in less than fifteen minutes. As long as it takes to cut through the steel decking inside a vault's secondary door that leads into that tunnel.## said Battalion One. "DeSoto, go meet your doctor at your hole's breach. He's being shown the way to it." "10-4, Battalion." said Roy eagerly. "Johnny? Did you hear that?" he grinned. "It's about time Brackett arrived. Hey, Leo, naptime's over. The doctor's in!" he smiled. He touched Leo's forehead with drumming fingers. "Hmm?" sighed Leo. "Terrific.. I'll tell my wife to bake him a ..a..cake.." he grimaced sleepily from inside his cervical collar. "yeah, that's what I'll..." Leo fell back asleep at once but his face was now truly relaxed for the first time since the firemen came. Kel Brackett's welcome shadow blocked out the sunlight. Two blood pressure cuffs and another O2 tank were firmly shoved inside and onto the escalator's steps by work gloved hands. "Roy? Johnny? I've been updated. Come get these and the new tank. Gimme your fireman's vitals first. The others said that he took a bullet into the chest.." "Mid left lateral, doc!" shouted Roy. "Breath sounds still on both sides.." "Is he breathing?" asked Kel, pressing his face against the torn metal hole to try and see around the corner. "Yeah, but rapidly. Borderline." said Gage. "Bloody froth's now becoming apparent in larger and larger amounts." "Could be just a hemopneumothorax.. That's better than a tension pneumo any day of the week."grumbled Brackett. "How's your other man doing?" "He's stable. Sleeping." Stoker replied, quickly accepting all the medical gear rescuers were handing him around Brackett's shoulders. Brackett nodded. "Leave him be then after the first set of vitals. We've gotta get those I.V.s going into your second victim." "Doc, it's Captain Stanley.." said Roy. "Knowing who he is'll help out here." "He's forty two years old at one hundred ninety five pounds if I remember correctly. It sure does, Roy. Thanks. Start two large bore of normal saline on him in both arms. I don't know yet if we're gonna have to rapid sequence intubate him or not. We'll see how he does after we've got some light fluids into him and a whole lot more of that O2. The d*mn EKG monitor won't fit inside, so I guess we'll have to do without it." "No we won't, doc.." said Stoker. "We can go get him and lay him in front of you, wounded side towards you, so you can see him for yourself. The patched lines will reach in that far." "Get it done, boys. I've got the defib right here that can work for him in the same manner a little faster. I wanna see whether or not that bullet has compromised his pericardium. Any signs of jugular vein distension?" "Not yet.." replied Roy. "Better and better. Get him up to me, pronto.." said Kel, gesturing hasty hands through the ragged hole. He only moved aside long enough for brightly lit construction lamps to be inserted past him from their connected portable generator. All the firemen squinted painfully in the blasting glare. But they were grinning, too, for Cap was gonna live. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Battalion One stood in the doorway of the Treasure Chest Casino next to the casino manager. The small lobby of the casino was dotted with medical people and firemen caring for the walking wounded either seated or lying on the carpeting. He extended his hand out to him. "I wanna thank you for opening your business to us, sir." "Anytime. Anything else I can do besides getting you that vault tunnel access beneath the rotunda?" asked the well dressed casino man. "Not at the moment. I'll give you the names and numbers of exactly who's coming into those secured areas of yours for your surveillance people. I've a man coming with that information right now." "Thank you, sir." said the manager. "But you can have him work with Mr. Blaze here. He's our surveillance head. Please, use as many security guards as you need, too, to handle your equipment. Some of them are first aid trained and are available to help you stretcher out your people. And all of them know the way to where you're going. They have to remain present throughout your rescue attempt. The vault's a very sensitive area." The radio head set festooned Mr. Blaze and Battalion One shook hands. "I understand. We'll follow your procedures to the letter, sirs." said Battalion. "Let's just hope that you can distinguish all your casino guests from those we detected earlier in the mall as being highly suspect. One of our men's been shot by them." "Believe me, our cameras miss nothing. Even more so now that we've been alerted by the police." reassured the casino manager. Right then, Vince Howard and Luke paced up. "We'll be keeping post at the main door, gentlemen. No one with a gun will get through. Not with him standing watch." said the streetcop, pointing to the dark coated German Sheperd seated at his feet. The group of men glanced around at the glittering casino surrounding them. Not a single slot machine player looked up or acknowledged the wounded being tended near them by fully uniformed firepeople. "Is this a normal reaction from everybody?" Battalion asked Vince. "Oh, yeah. Medicals happen in the casino all the time . And the regulars get real used to that. I saw a man suffer a fatal heart attack, falling out of his chair once. The player sitting next to his machine simply took over the man's vacated spot and started playing on his credits without even looking behind her to see how he was doing. Gamblers are real weird like that." said the policeman. "They either ignore the clearly obvious, or they cross themselves on behalf of the sick or dead ones leaving by ambulance." The chief frowned uneasily after learning that. The casino manager and the head of surveillance both nodded in agreement, enjoying his reaction. "This way, please.." they said after controlling their exchanged glance of humor. The group of rescuers and the firemen were suddenly flanked by four security guards wearing ear bud radios who indicated the way to go silently. A female security officer held out an electronic name card which triggered a magnetic door that opened onto a long metal lined hallway. "The way in's at the end. But hold up a minute, I have to call down a camera first, gentlemen.." And she triggered a hidden toggle in a sleeve. "Security to 100 and Surveillance." ##Go for 100.## "LACoFire's entering secured hallway. Six in number." ##100 copies.## "Ok.." she smiled. "We're clear to go. I'll be here to swipe open the doors with my access card for any stage you need during the rescue. I'm the one going into Softcount with you. Mr. Blaze, if you'll go ahead of me." said the security guard. "Thanks, Peri." "My pleasure, sir.." she replied, holding open a second thick door leading into the mantrap area before the vault room. Mr. Blaze went inside with the rescuers but not the casino manager. He went back to talk with Vince Howard to learn more about the supposed heist that was planned to happen sometime soon in the mall that day by the mysterious rotunda shooters. Peri waited until every fireman was crowded into the L shaped three-way doored access space. "The door behind us will have to be fully closed before I can open this one. Only one of these doors can open at any one time. Just let it shut behind you." Marco Lopez, Chet Kelly, along with the four others carrying a K-12 and wall cracking gear shoved up tightly against each other in the small space to allow the outer door to relock itself while Peri called out again to her dispatcher and the surveillance room. "100, ready to enter cart storage and Softcount.." she stated into her radio's microphone. The hidden voice acknowledged. "100 copies. Entering Softcount." Mr. Blaze surged ahead into a room full of people who were counting large sums of money on a clear acrylic table located in the center of the room. They wore dark navy tunics with no pockets and they looked up in surprise at the sight of fully dressed firefighters entering the vault area. The black tunic count supervisor stepped forward to Mr. Blaze. "Is there a 10-92, Mr. Blaze?" "No, there isn't a fire. But a walkway's collapsed out in the mall, trapping a few firefighters inside a buried escalator. We're going to go get them using the old utility tunnel behind that wall.." he pointed. "We'll move the dollar bill acceptor carts out of your way then.." smiled the vault supe. She motioned for several workers to leave the sorting table to push the wheeled, pock hole covered metal carts out of the way of the steel panelled wall Mr. Blaze had pointed to. Kelly and Marco, meanwhile, were goggle eyeing the money bundles sitting in clear acrylic trays on the money sorting machines and in the workers' hands and all the eye bud domed cameras that almost completely covered the ceiling inside the windowless room. "Man, look at all the bread, Marco. Even just one bundle of that and we'll won't have to work for an entire year..." Kelly whispered. "Look at the muscles on the vault guards, Chet. If you try anything you won't leave TRACTION for a whole year.. Mind your own business. Johnny and Roy need us to be fast focused for Cap's sake, remember?" "I can admire from afar, can't I?" Chet asked Peri. "I guess.." she smiled. "Even we can't touch the cash." Soon, the wall was courdoned off with canvas tarps and the saws bit deeply into the metal sheeting concealing the old access tunnel whichlead to the escalator's housing room. The high pitched whine they made cut sharply through the noise of all the money sorters chattering and the white noise hum of the money sorting machines. Lopez tried not to look up as one of the camera domes lenses rotated to focus on their cutting point. He felt more on display than he had ever felt before in his entire life. "You get used to it.." said Peri. "Keep in mind that they're here to help as well as to watch all the money." "Are those other two guards in the room watching the sorters so that they don't steal anything?" asked Kelly, swallowing dryly. "No, they're watching to make sure money doesn't fall on the floor to end up under a table or machine someplace where the cameras can't see it anymore. The counts will be off then." she explained. "It's up to Surveillance and the cameras to watch for wrong doing. Not us." "Oh.." Lopez elbowed Chet for being forward and he changed the subject while they waited for the wall crews to cut down to the hidden tunnel door. "Are you one of these first aider guards Mr. Blaze's manager was talking about?" "I am. I help out now and then when I can." "Good, cause we may need you as a go-for between our firemen and your Mr. Blaze here. I don't think our radio frequencies match up enough on our radioes to let us talk to each other." "She can do that.." affirmed Mr. Blaze without turning around from where he was watching the other firefighters work. Marco and Chet startled. "He's sure got good ears." "That's why he's head of surveillance..." Peri winked. Soon, the metal sheeting of the vault room was folded down out of the way by eager boots and Marco and Chet promptly forgot about the female security guard and the James Bond like Mr. Blaze. Lopez swept his radio out of his pocket. "HT 51 to Squad 51. We're halfway there. We're into the tunnel at stairway number..." Mr. Blaze spoke up. "H-Vac Maintenance says this tunnel reaches stairs level ninety, Mr. Kelly.." "Ninety.. We're breaking through now with plenty of help.." Kelly said loudly, impatient to see those who were trapped. "How's he doing?" he asked before Battalion One could. ##Cap's vitals are holding, Chet. Just concentrate on getting us outta here..## Gage said half amused. ##Brackett's taking a good look at him now. We'll let you know as soon as we know.## Kelly sighed in relief and then he got a shiver. He looked uneasily at Blaze while he whispered fearfully to Lopez, "Wait a minute, how did he know my name?" Peri cleared her throat as she held the light a firefighter had handed her to light the space behind the wall. "He read your nametag.." she said sotto voce. "Oh.. Geeshh." Marco laughed. Chet glared at him. Mr. Blaze suddenly tilted his head at an incoming transmission, and so did Peri's. It wasn't loud enough for either Chet nor Marco to overhear. But their reactions were instantaneous. Peri spoke up suddenly serious and hard. "I'll stay, sir." "Then I'll take one of these two. Kelly, come with me. There's been a development. We need you down in Surveillance ASAP." "But..." Peri took hold of Chet's arm. "When Mr. Blaze says go. You go.." she said. Chet went. "Yes, Mr. Kelly. We need you and your radio. You yourself, don't have to physically do anything. But I am going to ask you to never talk about what you'll see in the room where we're heading into. It's all classified information." "Chet'll be good for that. He forgets everything.." piped up an eager Marco. "Good enough." said Blaze, holding open the Softcount door for the curly haired fireman. "See you later, Chet.." said Peri. "I'll keep you posted about your friends." "You do that.." Kelly said feeling more than intimidated by the whole casino feeling in the vault. The atmosphere had a pall like he would imagine the secret service would have on any protected government place. His last sight of the vaulted room was sets of curious eyes from all the casino vault sorters as they straightened out and organized any wrinkled bills they found from the cash boxes they had keyed open. It wasn't long before Battalion contacted Gage over the radio to tell them to watch out for blow torch fallout from stair set ninety as plates were removed to gain access between them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Squad 51, Battalion One. 10-4. We've got Leo and Cap well away from that stair section. We're set for ya." said Johnny. Right then, Brackett gave a shout. "Roy! Get over here. I think Stanley's coming to.." His gloved hands were examining the bloody hole in Hank's chest around the EKG wires attached to him through the small sunlit tear in the escalator wall. Stoker was holding Cap's side pressed against it to give the doctor the best working angle possible. "On my way.." said DeSoto. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A construction worker, grinning. Photo: A master mind criminal, dressed as a construction worker. Photo: Brackett getting onto a paramedic helicopter. Photo: Casino tables. Photo: The casino manager, amused. Photo: The casino slot gaming floor. Photo: A security guard sitting at a surveillance console. Photo: A long metal lined hallway. Photo: A vault full of money. Photo: Stacks of money. Photo: A casino surveillance camera dome. Photo: Chet in turnout, working in darkness. Photo: A surveillance head man frowning. Photo: A surveillance room. ******************************************************************* Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 06:26:03 -0700 (PDT) From: "Jeff Seltun" Subject: Relay.. Johnny Gage had his hands full of moaning Cap. He was hard pressed to keep the foamy red tinged oxygen mask fastened over Hank's nose and mouth. "Keep still a sec until you're awake all the way. Cap?! Listen to me. You've been hurt real bad by a-- Roy, he spat his oral out a few seconds ago. You talk to him. We've got to concentrate to keep both our hands over this chest wound. Air's getting in even faster now that he's breathing harder." Dr. Brackett and Johnny worked fast to tape a strong three sided seal over the gaping gun shot wound shining in the sunlight. Roy raised Cap's shoulders gently onto his knees without getting into his partner's way to ease Hank's sense of suffocation from the blood sitting in his chest. "I got him.. Hank.. It's Roy. You with me yet? I'm gonna hold ya still until you are all the way.." Brackett spoke sharply, "Stoker, keep that side of his as near to me as you can! We've almost sealed this off good enough..." "How's that?" Mike asked, straining to lift Cap's ribcage high enough off of the metal stairs for wrapping. "Perfect.." said Brackett, working intently. Cap coughed wetly and suddenly made a face of pain at the jarring he was going through while doctor, paramedic and fireman taped him up rapidly. "That's it, Cap. We're done. Welcome back.." smiled Roy. He angled a penlight into Cap's eyes to check their responses with Stanley's return to consciousness. Gage finally rocked back onto his heels. "We got that dressing back into place. It's holding, doc. But for how long?" he frowned, then he put on a grin for Cap's benefit as the world came slowly into focus for Stanley. "Who punched me?" Hank asked through the reddened oxygen mask. "My side's hurting like a real son of a-- wait a minute, we're still under the debris pile.." he remembered. "Yes, we are Cap.. How's your breathing coming?" Roy asked. "Like I'm....not getting enough.." admitted Hank. "*cough* Come on, tell it to me straight. How'd I get hurt?" Johnny and Roy and Stoker and Kel all exchanged looks of who's gonna break it to him. But Johnny finally relented. "It was a bullet, Cap. Now that you know I'm not gonna lecture ya as to how important it is for you to lay absolutely still. Dr. Brackett's here and he's working on ya best he can until we can all get ya outta here. They're already blow torching us free just above us from a side tunnel." Gage said, draping a tarp over Cap's head so the sparks from the swiftly cutting tool wouldn't land on Cap's face and be further ignited by the oxygen. "I've...been..shot?! By ......whom?" whispered Cap. "We don't know that yet. But the nearby casino's working on that. We just got word from Battalion One of possible video coverage." "Of all the stupid ways to get laid up on the...hhhh." Hank began to shiver and his skin grayed a bit. Against his will, his head sagged back onto Roy's lap. "How's Leo?" "Fine, Cap." said Roy. "We just need to fuss over you." "And what's going on outside? Any more survivors?" Hank said without opening his eyes. His voice was gurgling. "Still too soon to tell. Heard about a dog working a while ago.." DeSoto said truthfully. "That's...that's good. They got him here real .....fast.." "Hank. Do I have your permission to treat you? Surgically if necessary?" asked Brackett. "Doc,...you don't have to ask that yet. I'm...awake aren't I?" said a woozy Stanley. "Cap, answer the man. It's important." said Gage seriously and loud. "Yeah.. I guess so. But actually, I feel like ...like ..I'm doing pretty good.. Gimme my radio.." Cap ordered weakly. "Now, Cap,..that can wait...." said Johnny, turning up the flow on Cap's I.V.s. "Shut up, Gage. Nothing's better than a personal audio on a rescue scene this bad. There's a lotta stunned firefighters out there pulling out a whole lotta corpses right now. Let me show them that there's one less they'll haveta deal with! ..In me... Now hand ..*gasp* ..it over.." Mike Stoker flipped to the general all call and set the HT down on Cap's sweating chest. At a nod, he kept his hand on the talk button and pressed it. Hank opened his eyes as wide as he could. "This is Station 51. Wanted to show you all that we appreciate the personal attention being given for digging ...us out. We have a live one with us and he's doing good. About me? I'm talking to ya, aren't I? K- Keep up the good work. I'm proud of what ya all are doing for us out there...I couldn't ask for a better set of people to bail my whole station out of a tough spot. E-Engine 51 out.." Cap waved that he was finished and Mike took back his radio. "Thanks, pal. Had to be done. For morale's sake, you know?" "Yeah, I know." said Stoker. "Listen.. They're cheering out there.." "Good." smiled Cap. Then his face lost all expression and animation and his eyes closed softly. "Cap?" Roy asked. The heartbeat sounding on the monitor suddenly sped up ominously and Hank's face turned dusky. "Doc, he's not breathin.." he said after a fast check by feel and a careful listening. "Bag him, Roy. Gage..get out a paralytic agent. 0.10 mg/kg of Vecuronium IVP. We're not delaying anymore for our secured endotrach." Brackett snapped. "He's probably just gotten tired. So we're going to take over for him. That's it, Roy. Get him real pink. He's not quite there yet. Johnny, when you're through injecting that med, tube him. Stoker, clean out that blood in his oropharynx first." Kel handed Gage a laryngoscope and he ansed uncomfortably through the hole as he shoved the drum end of a stethoscope into multiple places over Cap's chest assessing his assisted breath sounds. "As I suspected, the left lung's gone quiet, boys. And he's deviating. Looks like I'll have to insert a full chest tube. Not just the needle decompression we were hoping for." "What? Here? You can't get to him well enough through that hole!" Johnny reasoned as he taped off the endotracheal airway he had finished positioning. Roy now used his ambu bag through it. "No other choice, Johnny. We all know he'll just get worse without one. I've got a thoracic tray right here. So scrub up, Gage. You've just been drafted as a nurse." Kel barked. "These conditions are filthy, doc.." Roy said, pumping pure oxygen into Cap's paralzyed form. "No matter. Antibiotics are wonderful these days, Roy. I'll just double his dose. In fact, I'll begin some right now. Is he allergic to any?" "To sulfas, and penicillins.. and I think some of the mycins.." Stoker said quickly. "Any others?" Brackett grinned. "No..." said Roy and Johnny at the same time, nervously. "Relax, guys. A chest tube's no big deal. Think of it as a very large catheter. Cause that's what it is. I'm not completely cracking his chest and you guys are already handling his breathing problem. He's covered..." the doc smiled. "Start him on a 300 milli ESN, microdrip I.V., wide open. Are you set yet, Gage?" "Yeah,.." said Johnny, holding up a pair of sterile gloved hands. "So am I. Let's get started shall we? Stoker, I hope you have a strong stomach." "I've seen nothing yet that's gotten in the way of working." said Mike. "Good, cause this rod and blade's over a foot long. Hold that light just as you are. I'm skipping the anesthetic cause he doesn't need it." said Brackett, draping sterile sheets over Cap's hastily betadine cleaned wound that was still pressed up against the hole in the escalator wall. "Cutting now.." and Kel made his incision to expose rib cartilage. "Johnny, hand me some gauze. Lots of it. Roy, give him some epinephrine. 1 mg 1/10,000. After this is in, he'll drain better if he's been dried out." "Got it, doc." said DeSoto. "That and the piggyback antibiotic." "Ok, Stoker, I'm punching through his chest wall in a few seconds. Hold him tight so he doesn't move. I have to push pretty hard." and Dr. Brackett unpackaged the chest blade and rod to ready it for use. "Johnny, get his tube and my 5.0 suture set out. I'll reach for them in a few seconds. We'll worry about the vacuum jar later. Getting that lung reinflated's more important than being tidy." Johnny got out of Brackett's light as the ER doc made his sharp carving stab to gain entrance into Cap's chest cavity. Holding the site open with a small spreader, Brackett flicked his fingers for Johnny's chest tube. He got it. Kel threaded it in six inches until he was rewarded with escaping air and a flood of blood down the inch thick tube, which Johnny had end sealed off with an OB clamp. "That's right, Johnny. He's gotta lose all that pulmonary blood slowly. Take a BP. It can't be allowed to fall too low as I let this hemorrhaging out to reinflate that lung or he'll develop arrythmias. It's ok to break your sterile field now." Kel said, stitching the other end of the chest tube securely into place. "I'm finished." Stoker took over for Roy to continue breathing for Cap using the bag valve attached to his airway. DeSoto kept track of what Hank's left lung was doing while Brackett made tube adjustments and continued draining Cap's chest clear of artifact fluid and air. "Doc, he's eighty four over fifty." said Johnny. "Fair enough. If it drops below eighty, give him another dose of epinephrine. Mike, he may start gasping for you at any time. The vecuronium will soon be wearing off. Let him make attempts on his own and help him when he needs it. I just gave him Versed so he won't remember from moment to moment that he's intubated. Don't be frightened of it. He won't know he's feeling uncomfortable from that airway at all. That tube has to stay in as insurance against any further collapse in the injured lung." "Ok, doc. There's the first one already.." he said as Cap's chest began to rock up under his hand. Roy looked up from his stethoscope check. "Dr. Brackett. I've got breath sounds on both sides now. And the bubbling in his trachea's gone." "Figured it was just saliva.. Sealing this off right now, nothing more's evacuating for the moment." said the doctor. "Good going. There wasn't enough blood telling me that the bullet had gotten down as far as his left lung. Ok. Johnny. Go ahead and completely close off the patch over his gunshot wound. We don't need to have the one side open on that anymore. A complete close off's better until he gets into exploratory surgery to handle a repair job." Under Stoker's hands, Cap began to moan unawares, as if he was talking. "Look at that, he's giving orders already." Gage quipped, taking another fast blood pressure. The others smiled and Brackett wasn't the only one who laughed. "Ninety eight over seventy two." reported Johnny. "Right on schedule." said Brackett. "He'll be on a bird for another day until that chest finishes clotting up. Take turns bagging him until we get to a resuscitator. The easier, the better. He's profusing well enough for real shallow assists. He doesn't need them any deeper." Right then, stair plate ninety clattered through as a last cut was made with a torch. Marco Lopez's head stuck through the rectangular gap. "How's it going guys? Ready to get outta there?" he beamed. Then his face fell into a look of worry when he spied Cap being actively ventilated. "He's stable. That's just for a fresh chest tube." Roy reassured him. "He's waking up bit by bit in stages. So don't fret. See?" and he pointed to the EKG monitor that was visible from Marco's angle. It bleeped evenly in the eighties in unadulterated sinus rhythm. "I'll tell the others. The lieutenant in here says that it'll take us about twenty minutes to burn through enough stairs to get an opening large enough for a scoop stretcher for Cap." said Marco. "Got any water?" Gage said, licking his lips. "Yeah, hang on a minute. These casino folks sure are quick. Anything we need,.. and its suddenly right there...." said Lopez's head as he withdrew to collect a large thermos with water in it. "What's the tally so far?" asked Roy, taking his turn on the water container. "Six alive. Not including him." said Marco, pointing to Leo. "The dog located them pretty quick. Most are still being dug out. The minor injuries are being treated in the casino in triage before they ship out. Vince says hi." Captain Stanley made a noise immediately after that comment. "I thought you said he wasn't awake." Marco frowned. "He isn't. Not mentally at any rate. He's a little looped on meds right now because of this." said Stoker, tapping the bag that was giving Cap another slow breath under his hand. "Oh..." said Marco in faint disgust. "Glad I'm not him. I'll be back. They've just gassed up the next torch and I gotta move out of the way. See ya fellas later.." "Later. Thanks for the water." Johnny said with a grin. "Doc, want some?" the dirty paramedic asked hefting up the jug that finally came to him. "I'm fine. I had too much coffee as usual before I came out here." he grumbled, turning on a paper EKG strip so he could get an updated reading on Captain Stanley for his patient chart. "If I think about it too much, I'll probably float away. Enjoy that amongst yourselves. Thanks." he said quickly. Gage shrugged and returned to getting an uncalled for set of vitals on the dozing Leo. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chet Kelly was turned instantly mute by the sight of the sophisticated, completely complicated surveillance room. Monitors covered every free wall, counter and lap space surrounding the five technicians in the room. But Mr. Blaze strode forward unhesitatingly and touched a tech on the shoulder. "Show me." he said, indicating the largest monitor nearest him and Chet. "Happened at 1108. Looks like a definite 10-95, boss. That fireman took it into the chest. See?" and a replay of Cap's shirt puckering up against his skin and the sudden bloom of red showed over and over again before the camera angle zoomed out to show the shooter himself. Lance. Eerily, the crook's figure mouthed the only audio anyone had captured. The frantic channel nine trick that Mike Stoker had dreamed up. Mr. Blaze held Chet's questions pending until he had listened to the entire segment of babbling three times. While he was listening to the last replay, Chet's radio went off. Kelly desperately turned down his volume but none of the casino techs seemed to be bothered by the addition of another radio voice. In fact, Mr. Blaze asked Chet to turn his up. It was Marco. ##We're through, Battalion. And all they need is water.## Mr. Blaze nodded to a security supervisor in the room. "See to that, would you?" The male supe shrugged and took a thermos from the refrigerator right next to the extensive camera console from a recess that Chet hadn't even seen and left quietly through the door to deliver it. ##Cap's alive. He's only not breathing because they had to knock him out for a chest tube insertion.## said Marco. ##All in all, the rest of em are fine. We only need the six personnel here to get em out, sir.## ##Ok, HT 51. I'll turn back the second team on your word of assurance. Kelly, is there's still no news of Hank's shooter?## asked Battalion. "Uh,,,, they're on to something, chief. But it's a little too soon for details. Please stand by on that. My end's a little busy, sir." ##10-4, Kelly. We'll be standing by. Tell the casino folks that a full police response has been deployed, and a swat team.## Chet Kelly looked up and realized that some of the monitors were already showing the SWAT unit's men and vehicles in live feeds. "I...see them, sir. Uh,..they know that already." ##Good going. Keep in touch, Kelly. Now, be sure to give me an update as soon as you gain full access to your trapped men and start getting them out of there. I want to coordinate the team coming in with the additional scoop stretcher you need with the ambulance crews working out here. Your victims will be loaded up first. Got that?## "As clear as pictures, chief.." Chet quipped. Mr. Blaze smiled at that. "Fireman Kelly, over and out." It was a minute later before Chet summoned up enough courage to ask his next question of the black sunglass shaded head of surveillance. "What is it that you're looking for, Mr. Blaze? Didn't you hear? My coworkers are all safe now and are just about as good as free." "I heard, Mr. Kelly. But my first priority is to this casino. Doubtless you are wondering why I dragged you into the surveillance room. Well, this is why. I suspect the men who shot your captain are going to try to harm this establishment in an attempted robbery. We've just had two false fire alarms due to excessive dust blowing around the ventilation shafts over the restaurant. Looks like our crooks are on the move." "Well, where do I fit in?" Chet asked with exasperation. "These same men may try to use those weapons of theirs on my guests and start actively shooting at random again. When the time comes, no doubt we'll be requiring more than just your two paramedics to care for all of them. If that happens, I want nothing but the best people available immediately, for my patrons ....and employees. You are now our fire department radio go between. Don't mess it up, for their sakes. Responsibility for their lives, is now falling on your head." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Cap hurting, lying on his back being treated by Roy. Photo: A chest gun shot wound close up. Photo: Dr. Brackett wearing scrubs. Photo: A chest tube insertion procedure. Photo: A casino surveillance room. Photo: Close up of a security team over monitors. Photo: Chet Kelly looking very very put upon. ****************************************************************************** From: "Cassidy Meyers" "Patti Keiper" Date: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:39 am Subject: That Personal Touch.. Peri the security guard stood by Marco Lopez as the last stair skirt was burned away and thrust aside by eager firefighter hands. Leo's scoop stretcher was the first of Station 51's injured to be evacuated into the casino vault's access tunnel leading into the heart of Softcount. "He looks pretty good." said Peri to Lopez. "Yeah, he's not the worst of em. My captain is. Some criminal out in the mall shot him, thinking there was a police watch dog after him." said Marco, watching the first set of four firemen take up shoulder and feet carrying positions to walk Leo out. "So you know about that..." sighed Peri. "Mr. Blaze was hoping to stop those perpetrators without you fellows having to worry further about it." "What's that supposed to mean?" "The last radio message we received had a point going into the red in a ventilation shaft above the restaurant coat check station." she replied. "Only there's no fire. The temperature gradient read as nominal. It's just dust blowing up. Because somebody inside was moving it around. Those unknowns are trying to get into the casino Mr. Lopez. Right now." she answered truthfully. "And the place where they are is by the only way we have to get your people out to the mall." "So what's going to happen? My captain can't wait." Marco said. Peri the guard stepped back out of the rescue party's way in the semi darkened, emergency lit tunnel and radioed out. "Security to Surveillance. They're extricating those wounded men now through the vault. Two stretchers." ##Surveillance copies. Continue the rescue operation. Know that PD swat is maneuvering into a surround. You have close coverage.## Peri sighed, "That's a relief." "What is?" said Marco, aiming his flashlight down the dusty hallway for signs of Roy and Johnny coming through with Cap's scoop and I.V.s. "We're not alone anymore. The cops are moving in to intercept." she replied. "Doesn't that put us into a whole lotta danger?" Marco fidgetted. "Not really. Not if we pretend that everything's normal. Those robbers won't pay any attention to us if we don't pay any to them. It's on some form of money that they're going to focus on. Not on any people. So far, their MO's aren't suggesting any active homicidal tendencies. We've photos and names on the two involved so far with your captain's shooting." Peri replied. "That was fast." "It always is. We can get right down to any moving traffic violations off a photo sometimes." But Marco wasn't listening. "Here Cap comes. Grab his I.V. lines. They're going to be busy bagging him. This is Johnny and Roy at his head. Stoker and somebody at his feet." "I got em.." said Peri, accepting them from Roy DeSoto. "Turn ninety to the left once you see the money sorting table." she told them all as they came past her. Captain Stanley was fully unconscious once more and lying quietly in the scoop stretcher, being breath supported. The blood filled, sealed off chest tube lay carefully along his side, still protectively wrapped in the stained blue surgical sheets that Dr. Brackett had used beneath the spaghetti pile of his deattached EKG wiring. Johnny Gage had a set of fingers clamped on Cap's brachial pulse as he walked. "Do you need your doctor to meet us at the main doors?" Peri asked, tapping her ear bud and coil resting behind her neck. Gage shook his head. "Thanks for guiding us. Your answer's no. He's been treated as much as he can be at the mall. Now there's just getting him outta here. How far now?" "Forty yards, through secured hallway, then another ninety to the right down the middle of the gaming floor. You'll see the sunlight by the exit at the main doors." Peri answered, making sure the I.V. lines were free and still flowing as they hurried through the maze deep inside the casino. "Expect a little excitement on the way." "Ooo, I take that to mean that we all should take cover getting out of the way when the police make their final move?" Roy guessed. "Yeah." said Peri. "In between the slot machine rows is best, against a wall." The two paramedics nodded as they saw another guard swipe open the final door out of the secured area of the vault hallway. The noise of normal casino electronic bells and slot machine music met their ears. Marco's hands tensed on the foot handle of Cap's stretcher. ::Now what? I feel like a goldfish in a shooting barrel.:: He spoke into his walkie talkie. "HT 51 to Battalion One. We're out and headed for the mall. We'll need another oxygen tank in less than five minutes." he reported tapping the regulator dial on Cap's cylinder. ##One will be waiting for you when you emerge.## replied the chief. "Look sharp.." said Peri, as they were joined by more unarmed security guards who cleared out some completely obvious, lounging slot players and pushed in chairs that were in their way. "Hug the wall, sirs." she told Johnny and Roy. "We have to go around the early drop power shift over there." Station 51's three saw another cluster of security guards working around a very large DBA money cart exactly like those in the vault room with another team of navy tunic-ed machine money pullers. The area was courdoned off with yellow plastic chains which outlined the area cameras were watching even as they kept out the milling casino guests as full money boxes were replaced with empty ones and shelved onto the money cart. The guests inside the chained areas were asked to abandon their coats and coin buckets while things progressed. The stretcher line rescue party made their way slowly by the drop detail. Marco was more than just nervous and it began to rub off on Johnny, Roy and Stoker, who crouched even lower over Cap without even knowing it. Suddenly, Peri and the other security guards shouted a warning. "On the floor! Everybody, get under cover!" she said, gripping the sound piece in her ear, urgently. The gang needed no encouragement. They dropped Cap and Leo's stretchers onto the patterned carpetting and pushed them under the protective bulk of a row of slot machines underneath gaming chairs before they themselves laid onto their stomachs next to them. Mr. Blaze snapped out an order on the guard channel. ##10-91! Lock it up! And disappear!## The power shift officers literally threw any loose full metal money boxes being pulled from open slot machines onto the cart and then they slammed the metal doors of the cart shut. One guard locked a thick padlock on it before crawling away behind a row of machines. The hardcount team fled in all directions, leaving the cart alone. Gage and Roy watched as Peri and the other security guards peeled out of their conspicuous white and black uniform shirts down to their T shirts. They immediately grabbed some guest sweaters and jackets still draped over the voluntarily vacated chairs in the drop area and slowly put them on where they crouched, watching the open areas of the casino intently. In seconds, not a single security guard uniform was in sight. They now blended in wonderfully, looking like guests. Now, they were much safer than they had been before. "What's going on?" Marco whispered at Peri. "The robbers are headed this way. The cameras have spotted them. Do nothing! It's not any of our jobs to confront them!" Peri said. "They're going for the drop cart!" Roy and Johnny wormed their way deeper under the machines, still keeping the ambu bag working where they were hidden, for Hank. "We're not getting paid enough for this.." Gage hissed in frustration, getting himself out of line of sight. "You took the words right out of my mouth.." Peri said, eyeing the ceiling and listening to something over her radio intently. "D*mn it, Cap, just keep a heartbeat through all this. We've no headroom for any CPR.." Stoker grumbled. "I think he heard ya.." Johnny joked. " His pulse just leaped out a little stronger..." he whispered. "He's sure not in danger here." "Good." hissed Stoker, his face warring between a smile and a scowl. A trio of three in black lappelled jackets and gray pants arrowed by the firemen's location, giving Peri and the other concealed security guards a thumbs up before they just as silently moved off for the direction of the money cart. Handcuffs winked at their leather belts next to metallic badges. "Who were they?" asked Marco. "S.L.'s. Our supervisors." Peri grinned. "Looks like they're taking action. Stay close and stay very still." she said, her face growing serious as she studied the direction in which they had gone. Suddenly there was a crash and the sound of guests startling as new suspicious figures in black, erupted out of the shadows in the dim casino lighting, for the money cart. The robbers! Marco saw Peri nod at a command given to her on her radio and she leaped up to heave a shoulder against the heavy silver metal drop cart. It tipped over with a thud and pinned a man in a black ski mask by the legs and his gun with a silencer was knocked out of his gloved hands as he went down. Lance screeched in pain and grabbed the edge of the massive cart but he was no longer a threat. Gage shouted out a warning. "Look out!" as another robber rushed to attack Peri. The guest sweatered security guard went down in a heaping tangle of legs and collapsed into stillness as the infuriated Mugsy started kicking her. "You stupid girl! Things were going so well! We had it m---!" That was as far as the mastermind got. A team of swat men buried him to the floor and away from the security guard and he was quickly cuff immobilized in front of a furiously barking Luke on the end of Vince Howard's leash. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Every television screen in the Surveillance room except for the ones watching the vault were tuned into every microscopic detail of the assault taking place on the casino. Chet practically dug his fingernails into the back of Mr. Blaze's surveillance chair when he saw the fighting so near his coworkers and Cap. He gave another gasp when he saw the female security guard go down. "Relax, Mr. Kelly, things are under control.." said Mr. Blaze. "But, but...but she's hurt! And Johnny and Roy can't get to her from where they are." Kelly insisted. "She's not. Look." and Chet was shown a close up of Peri's face, where she lay quietly waiting for the SWAT team to secure the area. She had a predator's grin on her face. "The ground's the best place to be in an all out kicking fight. My guards know that." he replied. "She's just not drawing attention to herself at the moment." Chet's mouth popped open and a smile flicked there momentarily before it was swept away once more into intense worry for his stationmates. He lifted his HT to his mouth. "Gage, that guard's fine. Hold fast." --------------------------------------------------------------------- Out on the casino floor, Johnny immediately halted his move to cross the floor distance over to Peri on his belly. "What? Ok..." he said vocally, throwing his hands up into the air. Soon, his sharp eyes spotted the normal breathing on her and he shifted his attention once more onto Cap and his I.V.s. Roy had figured it out. "Clever girl. She's just background now." He watched as another black jacketted S.L. crawled forward to handcuff Lance, too, with a knee to the chest. She didn't bother to move the cart trapping his knees firmly. But she did look up at the firemen. "Left leg's broken.." she gestured. But then she gave them a stay gesture and froze, listening to her ear radio suddenly as a surveillance technician updated her on a new change in her ongoing situation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chet watched as the remaining four robbers abandoned their buddies to make an escape through a nearby Safeco store on surveillance camera. A team of swat gave hot pursuit soon after. Sighing, Chet sank down onto an empty chair. "Does this happen every day of the week?" "Often enough to keep us on our toes." smiled Mr. Blaze knowingly vague. "Your work's done here, Mr. Kelly. How about you go out and join your friends? Just follow this guard and he'll show you a way fast enough so you can catch up to them." Chet didn't have to be encouraged in the slightless to leave. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Out on the casino floor, Roy had already crouched over Lance with a new team of firefighters to start the robber's rescue from underneath the hundreds of pounds money cart. Gage was too mad at him to participate so instead, he contented himself with giving Stoker unnecessary orders on Cap's continued care while they loaded him up into a Mayfair. Marco Lopez helped Peri off of the floor. "You ok?" "Never better, Mr. Lopez. Now that, was invigorating.. Nothing like a little action on day shift." Lopez laughed as he hurried away to go help DeSoto get the splint he needed for the crook's leg. "Thanks for everything." "Come back again. But just for fun next time. And not just on one of our medical calls. I wish you luck with all those injured people out there, Mr. Lopez." Peri waved, "All my prayers." she said returning the guest sweater back to the chair it had come from. She winked before turning to make sure the money cart was still secure and locked. It was quickly muscle hauled back onto its steel running wheels and soon the push team rapidly returned to mind it. The last the firefighters saw of her was her contacting Mr. Blaze to say that the drop cart was on the way to the vault, fully intact. =========================================================== It was a few days later, and Kel Brackett was sitting in his office, surrounded by charged up, worked up, worried paramedics at the recertification meeting. "Now gentlemen, you're all making me out as the Spanish Inquisition! A few changes in departmental policies never hurt anybody." declared the brown haired doctor. A sharp clearing of the throat timed perfectly to fall clearly into a quiet moment, from Dixie McCall, immediately made Kel blush right down to his toes. "Well, all right. It bugs everybody a bit for the first few days or even weeks, until everybody finds themselves used to it. Now these are some, for instance." he said, handing out editted versions of the thick packet that once was the Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedic procedure manual. "Outlined in here is everything that you fellas seem to do automatically even when one of us doctors is on the phone line with you. Getting the right I.V.s set up, or the correct airway for the situation presenting itself. Even down to working a cardiac arrest case, step by step. It's high time for us doctors to take a step back and let you paramedics leap a few forward. You're all highly trained professionals at the absolute height of your best game. Gee, I thought I'd never hear myself say this but,..now it's time to let you guys fly solo. We're giving you your heads to treat every medical or trauma situation to the best of your training without a constant radio presence in the hope of greatly shortening up the time span it takes for you to deliver a victim to us personally. And that, gentlemen, takes a giant leap of faith.. Shall we begin outlining the new changes? Say, five minutes from now." Dr. Brackett said. Dixie McCall began smiling secretly to herself where she said cross legged in a chair as the paramedics around her began to squirm. "Oh, come on, fellas. I promise this'll be painless. I've gone through it.." she admitted. "Yeah, and how many deaths did you die breaking old habits for new?" "Not even once, Johnny Gage." she chided, nailing him with her eyes. "I had fun being your victim hanging way up on that building." Roy chuckled. "Yeah, that's after we covered your face with the tarp so that you couldn't look down." "That scoop stretcher's tiny!" Dixie said in mortified indignation. "And so are you..." said Johnny. "It was a piece of cake. We had ya down in a few minutes. Not even enough time for you to wet your shorts." "I wasn't scared..." Dixie insisted. "And I didn't pee myself." "No, but it woulda made your supposed unconscious state seem more real to us." "Don't be such a detailer.. Gross." Dixie laughed uproariously. "All our recertification training's supposed to be realistic, right?" Johnny said seriously. "Not that realistic." she said making a face. "Even the moulage wounds are rubber." "But the fake blood's still red. I like that part.." said Gage, getting into it. "It feels gross when you're soaked in it." admitted Dixie. "Really?" Roy asked. "I thought Brice says it dries on pretty good." "It doesn't. It ruins your clothes, too. I had to throw mine away." "You mean, even that bathing suit you wore underneath after I cut your clothes off? Man, that one was classy.." Johnny said, leaning close. "Johnny! I heard that.." said Brackett, ever protective of his nurse. "Sorry.. Never let it be said that Dixie's shapely chassis is sub par." toasted Gage with his styrofoam cup of steaming coffee. The room erupted in cheers and cat whistles much to Dixie's chagrin. She hid briefly behind a hand to hide her embarrassed reaction. Then she got a look of pure mischief in her eyes and leaned in closer to both Roy and Johnny. "How'd ya like the fake seizure I threw in when you least expected it?" It was Johnny's turn to blush unexpectedly. Roy just sat back in his chair and started laughing. "Ha! I know better than to squat over a patient's arm and hand. Ya goosed him good, Dixie. He must've jumped up a mile high.." "I did not.." Gage hissed through tight teeth. "You did, too. I was watching the whole time.." said Brackett from across the room. "Remember I was your protocol tester yesterday. Nice move, Dix. Every paramedic should learn the lesson Roy knows already." "I aim to please." Dixie said bowing her head with a grace that spoke of gentle self congratulation. "Somebody's gotta protect these boys' assets." That only made Gage blush redder. "Changing the subject. Cap says hi. Roy and I visited him in his room just before the meeting began. Doc, nice bit of surgery. Didya give him the bullet?" "Of course." said Brackett with feigned insult. "He's gotta have something to show the missus for his trouble. And it'll be a whole lotta fun for him to show that to some new probie when it comes time to show off that medal of honor of his during any fire training." Roy smiled. "Do you know, he's the first one in our station to ever receive one? I mean, the one Johnny and I got by mistake, doesn't count. It was rescinded as soon as someone realized it. And he's proud of it, too. He thinks that getting it'll chill McConnike for a while about remembering when Hank burned his hat. He's hoping the effect will last long enough to get us through the summer without even a single surprise inspection." "That'll be the day.." Johnny said, rolling his eyes. "Say, Dix.. Uh,..If I can ask, what tripped up Brice earlier about all this freedom we're getting granted working as paramedics?" Dixie took a knowing sip from her coffee and made sure the room opposite Craig was preoccupied with the new manual before she answered. "There weren't enough rules. He choked working on his victim in the building scenario." Gage bit his lip suppressing a chuckle. "But he's still working, Dixie. How'd ya get him over that kind of reaction good enough to pass?" "I didn't goose him." Roy spit out his mouthful of coffee all over the floor. FIN Episode Twenty, Recertification ---------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. End Credits -- Episode Twenty (Third Season) §§ Recertification §§ :) This episode is dedicated to those who died in the :) real life Hyatt Hotel tragedy in 1995 and the heroes who saved hundreds of them from the ruins of the collapsed aerial sidewalk rumble. May they be remembered with pride.. and love.. :) :) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season Three, Episode Twenty One.. §§ Devil Winds §§ Debut Launch: May 1st, 2005. ************************************************** From: "rwein5" Date: Thu May 5, 2005 8:18 pm Subject: It's a beginning . . The dry air settled over the brush and dry foliage of the mountain range. Smog and haze were a natural part of the horizon most of the year, but on this day it seemed thicker and stronger than ever. It was also the time of year where the winds returned in strong, sweeping passes between the mountains and the valleys. Despite the wind, however, the dry, arid thickness remained determined to keep the horizon embedded in its cloak of heaviness. There was no escape from the inevitable happening. When the natural elements joined together in song and dance over the parched land it seemed to always end in a spark, and then the real terror began . . . Hank shook his head again as he climbed down Big Red. Water continued to drip from his hair and turnout coat leaving him in a very determined mood to get dry. The clean up had been long and tedious from the apartment fire, but he was thankful that the injuries were minor. Johnny and Roy were finishing up at the hospital while the engine crew worked on their own finish. "Cap, I've got the logbook. Why don't you take what time you need," Mike said, breaking Hank's temporary reflection. "Yea, good idea. Chet, Marco . . I get the shower first. I'm pullin' rank sorry, fellas!" Hank gave a small pause as he considered his statement but then again, he rarely used his rank. "Sure, Cap," "No problem!" responded Chet and Marco at the same time. Despite their own discomfort, they deferred to their captain. "I'll get some coffee going," added Chet. Hank sloshed toward the locker room and stripped away the wet and heavy clothing. He eased into the shower and let the hot water soak in. The steam filled his nostrils and he took it in with his eyes closed and his mind wandering. The dispatch he had received prior to their latest run included the annual reminders of brushfire drills and training. The heat of the water continued to soothe Hank's muscles. He thought about the upcoming brushfire season and sighed. Despite the calming effects of the shower, his anticipation and inner sensibilities warned him of what was to come. Whispers of the beast seemed to enter his thoughts and he realized that his sense of foreboding was not the best way to end this shower. He turned the water a little cooler and finished washing up. Burying his head and face in the clean wooly towel seemed to refresh his tired mind. He dried quickly and with years of experience in fast changes, had completed his dressing routine. "Shower's free!" Hank yelled as he walked by the day room. He entered his office and found a new dispatch on his desk. Obviously, Mike had put it there while he was cleaning up. Hank started reading it and felt the tendrils of distress creep back. He heard the squad roll back into the bay but he didn't hear Roy coming in. "Cap? You okay?" he asked. Hank appeared startled for a moment and then looked at his senior paramedic. "Uh, yea . . it's just another dispatch. The winds have already kicked up and they've spotted the first fire." "Already?" Roy seemed surprised. "Yea . . looks like it'll be a long season," Hank replied, not feeling as refreshed as he did a few moments ago. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************** From : crash200225 Sent : Saturday, May 7, 2005 1:53 AM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Adding Up The harsh Santa Ana wind was beginning to pick up across the Mojave Desert area. A Sig Alert had been issued for Highway 14, the main road between L.A. and the desert. Big rigs, RVs,and buses were being warned to stay off the Freeway. The wind was well known for blowing the large vehicles over. Passenger cars and pick up trucks had a hard time staying on the road, as the strong wind would make them swerve and shake. Small dust devils were growing into a major dust storm. Long time residents knew the signs as the afternoon heat fueled the wind and prepared for the worst. Most opted to stay indoors and heaven help those stranded outside. The blowing sand would leave stinging marks on exposed areas of skin that lasted for days and eye injuries were a common complaint at the local ER's. The wind picked up speed as it traveled from the desert, down the canyons and the Freeway towards the San Bernadino Mountains and, eventually, the City of Angels itself. It had many names, but whatever it was called, it meant serious trouble. Many had begun to call it the Devil Winds. It lived up to that name. Gusts of 100 miles per hour or more, where not unheard of. A cigarette, carelessly thrown out of a car window, was all it took for the wind to whip an burning ember into a raging brushfire. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Cap was worried. It had been a wet winter and spring that allowed alot of new plant growth in the canyons and hills. The once lush plants were now just very dry tender waiting to go up in flames. The brush had not been this overgrown since before he had joined the Fire Department. To make matters worse, homeowners ignored the instructions to keep empty lots and areas surrounding their houses clear of the dry brush and tumbleweeds. ::A long season indeed.::he thought. ::Better get started on the brush and wildfire drills:: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. ************************************************** From : Cory Anda Sent : Monday, May 9, 2005 2:48 PM Subject : Divining Doom.. Cap helped himself to the pot of Jaimaican dark that Chet had just finished brewing by taking it directly out of the stocky firefighter's hands even in the act of pouring. "Kelly,...hope you don't mind." "Not at all, Cap. It'll behoove me to provide the caffeine to the worst addict first around here. Isn't that right, Gage?" "Yep. Eases the symptoms of withdrawal and in Cap's case, it'll eliminate a severe case of the crankies.." he said whole heartedly, with a frown as he ambled into the kitchen from the vehicle bay on Roy's heels. "I am not cranky..." Hank insisted with a sharp tone. Then he replayed mentally how his own sentence came out of his mouth. "Well, maybe just a little. A hot shower only soothes so far. You know how I hate fourplex fires. They take forever to knock down. And there's always an interior wall collapse into the basement to worry about." "What I can't understand, Cap, is why you're still steaming. And I don't mean from the shower." Johnny complained, setting down his as yet unread and unbundled newspaper. "Kelly's right. You HAVE been on edge today." Roy gathered at Cap's side and leaned on the countertop, asking with a silent holding of a mug thrust out, for some coffee from the coffee pot still tightly held in Cap's grip. "It's because of the memo that arrived this morning. The first hot spot's official, Johnny." "Oh now that explains everything. Sorry, Cap. I guess it's okay to have a snarling veneer then. I would be, too, if I had to organize brush responses at L.A. fire training academy when every other fire station in the state wants to do the same thing. There's no seniority between caps, Cap." and he grinned one sided in supportive amusement. "Don't remind me. I've had a bad feeling about the weather all day." Hank sighed, pouring and draining his second cup of coffee from the pot he was still holding. He filled Roy's cup almost to over brimming. Chet finally gave up getting one for himself when he was ignored, so he sat down on the couch to give Bonnie, the station Yorkie, a scrub behind her ribboned ears. "It's not so bad. L.A. says the Santa Ana wind scale's not even a condition three yet." Hank wasn't comforted. "Yeah, well, it's not four in the afternoon yet either, is it?" he commented, still with a sharp edge. The other firemen didn't even flinch. They understood Cap's ire was blowing off the steam created for being in his type of occupational office. Bonnie barked, jumping down from the couch. She skittered over to Cap's recliner, bounded up onto its black leather seat cushion, and immediately sat up on her rear haunches in a wistful whining beg. "Cap, listen to Bonnie and sit down some. She's being your second mother again..." Chet said without looking up from the chess game he was playing with Marco. Neither fireman got up to go shower despite of being stinky, multiple shades of dirt color, and sweaty. Marco echoed the sentiment. "Yeah, go pet her to calm your nerves a bit." "Marco, Chet,.. De-scum-ify and make your captain feel better that way, huh?" Hank snapped in an order as he sat down in the chair to humor Bonnie. He began a brisk belly rub to shut up her vocal piercing fusses over his own stress levels. "I'll be a LOT better if I'm not smelling what I'll be up to my eyebrows in tommorrow morning.." "No way, Cap." protested Lopez. "We're only gonna get all filthy again, so why waste the water? We're gonna need every drop we can get.." Marco said in challenge without looking up from the chessboard between Kelly and himself. He frowned when Chet took his white knight with a black rook. Cap fell silent for the first time, unable to enforce his demand in the face of that overwhelming truth of a thing so obvious. Roy grinned, taking a sip from his coffee mug. "What makes you so sure that we'll be on a brushfire assignment by then?" "Because Mike Stoker isn't here.." Cap insisted loudly, rubbing his lips in worry. "Just take a look around you, Roy. Do you see him in here with us anywhere?" He gestured with his question. The gang looked up and glanced around the kitchen and rec room and saw that it was true. "Uh, oh.." trickled Chet. "He's poring over the releve' density charts again, isn't he?" Gage's forehead furrowed. "What's a releve' chart? I've never heard of that.." "I thought you went to first grade, Gage. Gee, knock me over with a feather, man. Everybody knows what releve' studies are.." quipped Chet, seriously not serious at all, just to get Johnny's goat. Then he looked up and winked at Marco, to let Lopez know that he was setting a prime baiting trap again. Johnny fell right into the middle of it. "I know what releve' studies are.." said the dark haired paramedic defensively. "Releve' studies are.. studies of apparent density, Chet." "Of what kind?" Kelly oozed, needling. "Your last statement is one hundred percent desperate digging on what I just said, and you know it. It didn't make any sense at all. Just admit you don't know something for once, Johnny and I promise I'll drop it instantly." he said silky smooth, priming his teasing jab to the max. Gage's face fell into a struggling expression mixed with the eternal half angry look of a victim who's realized that they've just been outfoxed into admitting a weakness. "It's a study of...stuff that needs measuring, Chet. So quit being irritating about it." Kelly folded his fingers together in a scholarly look of consideration completely devoid of any sting. "It's analyzing numbers of plant species and their distribution population over a given area. A fire ranger throws out a one meter by one meter PVC plastic pipe frame randomly onto a brushy slope without looking where he's throwing it. Then he goes out and extends that square to ten meters by ten using string and pikes and everything growing inside of it is sampled in great detail. What species is growing there and how many. Their densities in relation to each other can relate a whole lot as to what that slope'll do if it ever catches on fire. And when it might go up under Santa Ana conditions." "It does?" said Johnny, cheek full of cookie from the platter on the table in front of him. "Yep." said Cap, looking up, thoroughly forlorn. "Stoker's made a serious hobby of it. Every year since he started on at the station." "No kidding..." said Gage, finally becoming infected with Cap's flavor of intense worry. "Well, what else kinds of things does he learn from all that math ratio stuff?" "See for yourself. I'm too depressed to even think about it..." sighed Cap, sinking a damp chin into one of his palms. Roy immediately got up and poured Cap his third cup of java in as many minutes. "Here, Cap. Drink up. It'll lessen the sting of what Stoker's fathoming out for ya.." "Appreciate that..." Cap said, looking up and accepting the pour eagerly. "I think I'll go with ya...." Johnny said, all uncertain curiosity. Chet was deprived of the cream of his crafted tease and that broke his concentration on his chess game. Lopez took his queen with a nondiscreet pawn from the back of the board and Marco said, "Checkmate in six moves. Sorry, Charlie." he said, rising from his chair. He walked over to kneel by Cap and Bonnie in the recliner to help Hank calm her rising nerves over the new turn of imminent dry weather and the gang's even sharper mood changes. "Had to take the throat when it was wide open like that. Chet, don't try to do two things at once, especially if one of those things is playing chess. You'll lose every time." "Thanks for the sage advice, Marco. You're all heart." he said, mildly miffed as he realized the series of moves to the endgame Lopez had just foreseen. "I'll remember that next time we're working a hose together. I'll just look the other way when the ceiling comes down right on top of ya." "Oh, yeah? Then I think I'll just overlook the next live wire that pops up under your boots when I'm your rear man for concentrating on my waterwork, and we'll see what happens." Roy looked up wide eyed mock shock. "Don't do that, Marco.That'll just suck us all into a full blown cardiac arrest case on him and we'll have to work hard for half an hour with CPR until we reach the hospital. Think of something else with which to avenge yourself. That plan doesn't work too well. There's too much coworker fallout." he teased. "Oh. ...ok. I'll be devious in another direction then." said Lopez, pegging Kelly with a penetrating stare. The soot on his face only amplified the piercing white of his eyes and he didn't even blink....Not once. "W-what other direction?" Chet said, squinting his eyes as he reset the chessboard up for a new game in vulnerable uncertainty. "Wait and see...." said Marco mysteriously curling the end of his moustache with a fingertip. Chet shuddered. "I hate it when he does that. Sends chills runnin up and down my spine. I think I created Frankenstein by being The Phantom around here, guys. Marco's learned from me." "Then quit playin one up with ME when you're playing chess and you won't open yourself up to it." insisted Gage. "Thanks for the counter rib, Marco. You stopped him from messing around with my head again quite nicely." "No problem. I know to stick by the one who usually has both the defib paddles in his hands..." Cap snorted in mirth, still tickling Bonnie's belly until she was deep into squirming doggy heaven. Her rear foot began to dig the air in utter ectasy. Roy chuckled, turning from his banter admiring lean in the doorway to finish his side trip to the office for Cap. "I'll go see what predictions Stoker's got for us.." he announced to everyone. Gage followed in his wake seconds later. "You do that. And I DON'T wanna know. Keep it to yourself. A bad surprise is sometimes much better than a clearly known future in my book." Hank said empathetically. "Ok.. My lips'll be sealed. One hundred percent." shrugged DeSoto diffidently. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Stoker was out in the vehicle bay, with a rainbow array of spray cans, spread out on the hood of the squad. He had closed the enormous glass cover on the route wall map in front of him and he was liberally applying layers of frothy bright color on specific areas of the mountains; all around their entire fire response district and service area. Johnny's eyebrows went up when he saw Mike doing that without looking up from hastily scribbled notes from what could only be a homemade releve' study packet. Stoker already knew their map's garage scale blind and that made what he was doing even more remarkable to Gage. "What's all that red mean?" he said, waving away the water soluable paint fog cloud fumes from his already sooty nose and mouth. Mike didn't stop what he was doing. "That's ninety five percent probability on complete uncontainment of any fire when the northeast santas hit anything over twenty miles an hour." Kelly was a paramedics' shadow without their knowing it and when he spoke up, it made them both jump unexpectedly. "Hey, Johnny, look!" he said pointing. "That red paint's all over Bear Claw Canyon, pal. I guess the rest of us oughta start feeling real sorry for ya right about now." "Very funny, Chet. Let me see that." And he stepped over to where Chet was squinting through the wet glazing of the largest semi translucent crimson stain. Johnny's ranch was right in the centermost heart of red spray paint. "Uh, Mike.. C-can this uh, predic-- prediction stuff of yours ever be wrong? " he said, swallowing around a suddenly dry mouth.. "Cause I got a whole head of my ranch horses running wild in the foothills around my place and they're not always the easiest ones to locate for weather sheltering." "Only if we see some rain in the next two weeks." said Mike. "Why don't I feel better hearing that?" Gage sighed, his voice quavering. Chet wasn't beyond rubbing in salt. "Because you know how h*llish the fall devil winds can get..." "I think I'll go back into the kitchen and join in on Cap's monster sulking fit. Sounds like a real good idea right about now.." whispered Johnny. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: The gang studying a tiny area on the garage wall map. Photo: Gage in a helmet with a sickening realization on his face. Photo: A mob of ranch horses running through Californian scrubland. Photo: A raging brush fire. Photo: Cap looking very caged. Photo: Bonnie, intently worried in a stare. ************************************************************************ From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Thu May 12, 2005 7:51 pm Subject: Down the Devil's Throat~~ As if to taunt his words, the wind blowing outside began howling around the station's garage and the air began to heat palpably, making everybody rub their arms thoughtfully and look up at the ceiling and the bay around them. "Just like last year." Lopez whispered.."The devil winds started at sunset then, too." "I hate being right about them coming early like this." said Stoker. "Doesn't mean that we'll get busy, fellas. Maybe a day or two before we go at least, right Stoker? The brush's gotta dry out first." said Chet. Mike Stoker picked his shoulders up. "I don't know. I know I don't like these figures I'm seeing here." he said, smacking the notes he had gathered into a black spiral notepad."Not at all." The tones went off. "That was mighty wishful thinking, Chet. Too bad it didn't work..." smiled Roy as he and Johnny jogged to the squad for their overjackets and helmets. ##Station 51. Small aircraft out of control along the freeway. PD has positively identified the plane as a cessna. Aviation Tower North reports three on board as of the last pilot contact at 1843 hours. 100 East Riviera Boulevard. Cross street Grant. 100 East Riviera Boulevard. Cross street Grant. Timeout : 1848.## Cap literally ran out of the kitchen. "Thanks for trying with the coffee, Roy. It was nice while it lasted." "Anytime, Cap." waved Roy from the driver's seat of the squad. "Let's get the show on the road." sighed Hank and he ran over to the radio mic by the wall map to acknowledge their response. "10-4. Station 51, KMG 365." Johnny hastily rolled up his side window as Roy took a left turn onto the roadway after taking in a faceful of dust. "Man! Not hard to see why that plane's going down. Pwaghh!" and he spat grime out of his mouth into a rag he pulled from the wash kit on the floor. "We're gonna need googles for this one if the winds keep up this high. Notice how warm it's getting? It's hotter now than it was when the sun was up." he said with exasperation. "Yeah.. Temp's sure rising. If the pilot didn't have a rich enough mix and high enough rpm, it would explain why he's in trouble. I'm not gonna even mention the crosswinds.." he shouted, hauling the wheel sharply to the right when the rescue squad was soundly buffetted by a wind gust. "Seems the beginning of the devils' season always brings down one or two who weren't ready for it on its opening night." "Does Cap count as one of them?" Gage wondered. "Don't hold your breath. You saw how he rocketted out of the kitchen. I made sure he had enough coffee to get him outta the blues long enough so he'd be ready for the first santa anas call. Glad it's not a fire." "Yeah, but people are sure gonna get hurt from this." Johnny frowned ruefully. "They always get hurt, Johnny. And they don't usually need the wind to do it." "I know. It's just, ...this year feels different somehow. I can't quite put my finger on it." said Johnny over the wail of the sirens. "That's just Stoker's voodoo working on ya. Don't let it get your goat. In all my thirty five years of living, I've never seen any number figure stand the test of time. And that includes brush burn factors like his." "You really mean that?" "Yeah, I do." Roy insisted, slightly worried about the eagering fishing for reassurance that he had heard in his partner's last question. He almost stopped looking at the road. A few minutes later, they were there. "Oh, my word..." blurted out Cap as the squad and engine rolled ahead. The plane was down. Sort of. It was upside down and seemingly completely stationary in the darkness, about forty feet above the road. Chet squinted and pushed his helmet up a little higher onto his head. "Hey, Cap. I think that plane's hung itself up on a high power wire." "Looks like it." said Hank. He picked up the radio mic. "Engine 51, L.A. We're visual contact with the distressed plane. It has crashed and is hanging on the high tension power wires over the roadway. Respond Light Truck Seventeen and a full ladder assignment along with Foam Truck 127. Have the utilities cut power along the wire span between,..." he aimed a powerful side spot onto a plaque at the base of each of the tower poles flanking around the swaying plane..."..substations 117A and 118B.." ##10-4, Engine 51. Will notify when the power has been cut.## Johnny and Roy got out of the truck. For a moment, Gage thought that Roy had forgotten to turn off the sirens on the squad but then he realized it was the screaming winds causing all the noise roaring by his ears. He flipped up the collar on his turnout to block it out. "Cap?!" Hank turned from his scrutiny of the situation from where he stood on the seat cushion of the engine while hanging onto its roof. He immediately issued their orders. "Full rappelling gear! But wait on climbing any ladder up a pole until the electric company shuts off all that juice!" "You got it.." said Roy, turning on his spotlight, too until it aimed up at the plane's white and yellow roof. He could see no limbs or clothes or any sign of the plane's passengers or pilot through the windows. Hank turned the spot to focus on where the plane was entangled. "It's caught by the landing gear! We gotta move fast. If it twists in the wind too much it'll..." Just then there came a sharp rending sound of tearing steel cabling and stressed bolts giving way. The firemen standing by the Ward ducked in alarm as the plane fell from where it was and flipped over in the wind, landing on its belly onto the roadway the police had cleared. Johnny began to run forward but Cap stopped him. "Hold it! Hold it! Don't go barging in there without a fanning water cover! There's bound to be aviation fuel all over the place. And that fused nose prop's still hot enough to catch it with a spark in this wind! Stoker, Lopez, get out two inch and a halves on the double!" It was only a minute later when all was set. Cap got on the loud speaker. "To the pilot and passengers. This is the fire department. Stay inside the plane and keep the doors shut. We're coming in to get you. If you heard me and can respond, wave out a window!" There came no movement at all. And it was impossible to hear any shouting over the wind. Roy and Johnny worked even faster to lay out their medical gear and plane skin cracking equipment. And Cap helped, even as he continued to update L.A. on what just happened. "Cap!! We got trouble!" shouted Marco suddenly. "It's the wind! It's flipping the plane!" "The wind is doing what?!" hollered Cap, running around the front of the engine. The plane once again began to move, pushed by a powerful, almost angry, night santa ana wind gust. "Watch it close!! Marco, Kelly!" hollered Cap. "Follow! Follow it !! Keep the engine and fuselage under your hose wash!! If there's even so much as a spark under there, this whole roadway'll go up! Aw, gahhhhH! Roy, Johnny. Help me tie this thing off before it lifts up on us!" Chet and Marco smothered the places where the plane was dragging along the pavement with hastily coordinated gushes of water. They barely pushed away the spreading fuel puddle that the wind was blowing a few feet ahead of it. Hurrying, Cap, Johnny and Roy flung two sets of lassoed ropes over the tail section in a V. Each paramedic tied a rope to a telephone pole until the plane finally was jerked to a shuddering halt. Cap followed up by knotting a double strength rope over an intact wing. Quickly, under a protective water spray, he secured it to the engine's bumper. "Mike, back her on up! I want all of these anchor lines tight enough to keep the plane perfectly still until Foam 127 gets here!" Grunting, working hard, Gage, DeSoto, Stanley and Stoker, finally managed it. Like a calf pinned between a pair of header and footer rodeo horsemen, the fallen cessna locked into immobility between the two power poles and the idling engine. Then Cap gasped, leaning on his knees. "Gage, DeSoto. Get our reel line on it, too! I want this asphalt washed down as good as you can get it! Under no circumstances are you to go near the plane until she's buried to the roof in foam. Is that understood?!" The two paramedics nodded. The wind suddenly rose so strong, that Chet and Marco had to aim the hose while lying on the ground in the darkness. Cap returned to the loud speaker and began hailing the injured people a second time, warning them to stay inside the plane's cabin. It seemed an eternity until Truck 127 got there. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Marco, Cap and Chet looking up at something near the engine. Photo: A cessna hanging from a power wire, at dusk. Photo: A close up of a cessna hanging from a power line by its landing gear. Photo: Chet, Johnny and Stoker duck near the engine. Photo: Squad 51 near a plane down on the ground. Photo: Cap pulling on a taut rope, grimacing. Photo: Chet and Marco blowing over at night with a fanning hose. ************************************************************************** From : Cory Anda Sent : Sunday, May 15, 2005 10:26 PM Subject : The Broken End Hank got on the loud speaker the moment 127's sirens were flipped off. "Truck 127. We've got people still in the plane and leaking fuel is moving downwind towards traffic! Lay your foam from the southwest ASAP. The plane's already been heavily secured with ropes." he shouted over the howl of the dusty wind. Angrily, he reached into the Ward and put on his brush goggles so that he could see everything without his eyes stinging from the blowing grit flying through the air. He whistled, until the rest of his men did the same thing. Soon, the cloth tunnel from two foam units were liberally coating the dark roadway and pillowing a blanket of soupy white foam in a thick layer around the airplane. Captain Stanley waved Johnny and Roy ahead with their gear. "Gage! DeSoto! Watch yourselves in there! We'll have three stokes ready before you radio out to Rampart. Stay on your HTs continuously!" "Right, Cap.." said Gage. The plane's fall accomplished what the tools would've done. The pilot's door had been forced ajar from the force of impact with the ground. Johnny waded into the chest high fire suppressant foam and pulled it open. He scooped the flowing foam away from the plane's cabin to see the face of a man lying slumped over the pilot's controls. He quickly peeled off a glove to feel for a carotid without moving him. Roy began to work on crowbar popping the passengers' wing door inside the river of foam. He began to be grateful for the googles when the wind began to pile up the stuff up higher than his head. Roy jammed his back into the door space between the body of the plane and the door itself to keep it out as he shouted to his partner. "How is he? I got two female victims. One in her forties, the other a teenager. Both appear to be unconscious.." Johnny shoved his goggles up onto his forehead as he pulled out his penlight to examine the pilot's eyes. "He's a code F. Pupils are blown both sides with no pulses discernable at all." he said pulling off his stethoscope. A further check with his hands found a grossly fractured spine through his shirt just above the man's chest level even though he couldn't see the white splintering of bone. "An open fracture of his back is above T3. He's gone." "Both of the passengers are still alive. Come in through my way, Johnny. The door on the other side's been crushed like a tin can. I'm afraid we don't have the time to take to cut through it. The mother's in Cheynes Stokes pattern with heavy cyanosis and the girl's in deep shock. The daughter's got a bad pelvis injury. Her left leg's grossly turned." Roy reported as he crouched over the older woman to aid her respirations. Johnny slid on his goggles again and waded by touch through the flowing foam until his gloves hit the back of Roy's canvas turnout jacket. His terse report out sounded muffled in the deep stuff and the wind's screaming was mercifully, bubble filtered. "Cap! We've two female survivors. We'll need the resuscitator and an ambu run in now! Get the mast suit laid out second." ##10-4, Squad 51. Chet and Marco are on their way in now.## came Cap's speakered voice next to his ear. Roy looked up after giving a first mouth to nose breath to the mother through his jaw thrust hold. "Johnny, she's good and clear. Is the bag coming?" "Yeah. It's thirty seconds away along with the O2.." "Johnny!?" came Kelly's voice. Abruptly, the wind's shriek returned when the stocky fireman burst through the wall of fire foam with the tank and breathing apparatus. "Over here. Hand it over. Got a short airway with ya, too?" Gage asked. "Yeah, two are taped to the mask! I hope they're the right size.. I heard about two females." "Yep. These are fine. Roy!" said Gage, passing off the bag valve mask even as he strung it to the upright oxygen tank. DeSoto tore off one of the taped oral airways and finger scissored it into place deftly into the mother's mouth. He began hyperventilating the woman with the bag while Kelly secured cervical collars on both the passengers. Chet glanced down at the teenager's slack face. "How she doing breathing wise? Does she need help, too?" Gage shook his head. "She's fair. Get an oxygen mask on her. I'm gonna look for more bleeding past this femur and hip fracture." he told Chet after he got the girl airway secured using the second one Chet had brought. Johnny split the clothes off the slight teenager and found a rigid distended abdomen when the jeans fell away. "Guarding, Roy. All quadrants." "She gets out first..." DeSoto said. "I'm on it. I'll get the guys in here with her spine board..." said Kelly and he disappeared. Right then, the foam cocooned around the plane lit up with a soft white light as the Light Truck got her lamp tower turned on. Roy sighed when the mother's new skin color glowed under it with a healthier sheen of pink. "That's better. Always good to see what who your working on. Johnny, the mother's pupils are equal and reactive." "Good deal..She wasn't dyspneic too long. Maybe the breath was just knocked out of her when the plane fell off the wires." Johnny guessed. "There's more going on here than just that. She's got a depressed skull fracture, over her left temple. I've got Battle's sign, too." Roy said, bagging the mother carefully. "Hey!" he shouted out of the plane. "I need a ventilator in here ASAP!" A goggled man from truck 127 wormed his way into the plane. "Got her.." he said, taking over breathing for the woman using the ambu bag. "Fellas, the foam's well down. All your fire danger's over." "Thanks.." Johnny said, getting a blood pressure reading on the young teen. "You guys work fast." "I don't like being slow at airplane calls. They like to blow up far too often for my taste." said the fireman. "Is this rate good?" he asked Roy. "Yeah, a little fast like that's a good thing. It should slow her cerebral swelling a bit." said the foam dotted paramedic as he ran hands over the mother to find out her other injuries. "Watch for vomiting. She made do some with that head injury." "I'm all eyes." Soon, Gage, DeSoto, Kelly and Lopez had the two women out of the plane on longboards and stokes with the daughter's blanketed additionally with mast trousers. "Cap, we're gonna need the traction splint for the girl! This femur's causing complications. Her left foot pulse's absent!" Roy shouted as the bunch of firefighters assigned to the plane moved the passengers out of the roadway and away from the plane. Gage looked up sharply at that even as he radioed out to Rampart. Hank jogged over with the Hare a minute later, still wearing his googles. "How about for the mother?" "Just a suction set up..." DeSoto said. "In seconds, pal." said Cap as he watched Kelly and Marco scramble to lay the victims gently down by the sheltering side of the rescue squad out of the hot santa ana winds. The glare from the generator lamps on the Light Truck cast surreal shadows on the badly hurt mother and daughter. It made all their blood reddened wounds wash into pallid shades of purple gray. Roy glanced up at Marco. "Help me stop this leg bleeding. This is from an arterial cut so don't worry about hurting her any. The fracture's not open. I'm going to go get a set of vitals on the mother.." "Pressure point?" "No. Use direct pressure. That foot's circulation's been compromised enough. Also that sagging femur's hidden the femoral artery you'd need. If she's still bleeding real bad after we get the Hare traction on, ignore what I said and switch over to that groin point until it works. You'll have the bone shaft back to push on then." Lopez nodded his goggled face, tight with concentration. Johnny shouted his hail once again to get his voice louder than the wind. "Rampart this is Squad 51. How do you read?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Johnny opening a plane door. Photo: An unconscious teenager on her back. Photo: A rolling cockpit view of a crashing plane. Photo: Chet grabbing a Hare traction splint from the squad. Photo: Firemen spraying foam thickly over a fuel spill. Photo: Gage covering a dead man. Photo: Roy and Marco working over a victim. **************************************************************** From : patti keiper Sent : Saturday, May 21, 2005 4:56 PM Subject : From the Devil's Mouth.. Dixie McCall looked up from the patient chart she was working on when the red light above the door of the glassed in base station started flashing. She dropped what she was doing and entered the tiny room. "Unit calling Rampart, would you repeat your transmission?" she asked as she turned on the audio recorder next to the alcove receiver. ##Rampart, this is Rescue 5-1.## Dixie punched the talk button again even as her other hand picked up the black paging phone to the hospital operator. "Go ahead, 51. I read you loud and clear." Dixie began to jot down Johnny's findings with one hand and got a doctor tipped off about the incoming paramedic call she had. She squinted when the finer details of Gage's voice were nearly drowned out by the high winds in his area. ::Oh, it's started already? Kel's not gonna like knowing the Santa Anas are here so early.:: she thought to herself. They sounded un-usually bad for 51, who was showing up on the frequency's indicator in their usual service area inside the valley. "I found I.D.s in wallets on both women.They've the same last name, Johnny." Stoker said, squatting down by him. "Ok, thanks, Mike." Gage nodded. Johnny began shouting. ##Rampart, I have three victims of a vertical fall from over thirty feet sustained while inside an airplane. Victims one and two, are unconscious females who are a confirmed mother and daughter pair. Victim one is approximately sixteen years of age with probable pelvic and femur fractures with extensive abdominal guarding. Most likely from additional internal injuries. Pulses in her effected extremity are absent. An unrelated arterial wound over her left leg is now under active bleeding control. I estimate around 800 cc's blood loss. She's now on sixteen liters of O2. Victim two is fifty,..##Gage said reading the age on the I.D. that Mike had found on the mother. ##Found in marked Cheynes/Stokes respirations. She has a depressed skull fracture over her left temple area also with early Battle's sign. She is under assisted ventilations. So far, we've no evidence of abnormal isipilateral pupillary responses. Both victims are C-spine immobilized. Victim Three is male,...## Gage looked up when Roy slapped his notepad against his jacket's arm that contained pen scribbled details....##....deceased from his injuries.## He took it and bent it into the truck tower's light to read it. ##Vital signs are: Victim one, BP 76/50, respirations.. ah,.. 28 and shallow. Pulse is 140, rapid and weak. She is acutely diaphoretic. Victim two, BP is 152/120. Respirations unassisted are eight, but she's no longer showing an abnormal CNS respiratory pattern. Pulse is sixty and regular. No obvious signs of other injury...Rampart, note that we have mast trousers already set up and standing by for victim number one.## Dixie's fingers flew. "10-4, 51. On victim one, go ahead and apply her suit first, inflating only the chambers over her uninjured leg and abdominal areas until her blood pressure elevates out of shock. Then secure your needed traction. For victim two, maintain assisted ventilations. Keep both victims' body temperatures warm after drying them off." the nurse suggested, already knowing that a plane crash meant fuel leaks and that fuel leaks were always handled with a light water fan raining over the rescuing firefighters. "A doctor is on his way to advise you further. Stand by." ##Squad 51,....standing by...## yelled Johnny over the roaring winds. He looked up at Cap and the others crouching over the daughter. "We got permission..Make it fast.." he motioned to them about the Hare traction splint and the antishock pants go ahead for the daughter. "Let me know when you guys get a pedal pulse on that foot! Stoker, get us some blankets, would ya?" "Grabbing em.." he said. Marco spoke up, spitting some dust out of his mouth. "Johnny, there's nothing in this leg wound at all from what I can tell." he said adding another dressing on top of the soaked ones under his gloves. "I've got a whole lotta pooling. But it's no longer spurting." "Has it stopped yet?" Roy asked Lopez from where he was listening to the mother's breath sounds with a stethoscope. "Yeah. For the most part. But she's wet from the hose wash, I don't know if this cut's clotted up completely enough or not yet." the hispanic fireman frowned from where he was leaning over the girl using most of his weight. "We just have to stay ahead of it.." Roy smiled at him through his goggles. "Once these I.V.s go in, just tape that up best you can." he said lofting a pair of Ringers and one normal saline line over his shoulder while he spiked three bags. Then he studied the care being given to the mother. "Monroe, slow to normal vents on her. I'm not getting any bad cerebral swelling symptoms here." he said watching the older woman's face and the area around her eyes. "And another point in our favor..She's not getting nauseated." he said, glancing at her bare abdomen's quiet breath rises and falls, which were entirely free of queasy tensing or rocking motions. Gage propped the biophone receiver onto his neck as he rechecked the young teenager's vital signs. When he was through, Dr. Brackett had come on the line. ##Squad 51, start two large bore Ringer's wide open on victim one. Draw a red top for a type and cross. Start a normal saline TKO with 0.5g/kg of mannitol over 20 minutes, I.V.,on your second victim. I want to stave off any uncal herniation from that skull fracture site on the mother. Let me know if you regain a pulse after stabilizing that sagging femur fracture on the daughter. And I want EKG readings on both as soon as you can get them." Johnny acknowledged a reply and repeated their medical orders back to Brackett. He nodded when he got a smile from Cap about regained circulation in the broken leg stretched inside the Hare traction splint. Crawling around to the teenager's chest, Stanley began to put EKG pads on her after drying off her skin with an edge of a blanket from several brought by Stoker. Hank then thought of their time factor situation and saved over a minute by throwing open the defibrillator. He lifted out and then set ungelled paddles onto the mother's ribs and stomach in their usual frame around the heart for a faster way to send in the second strip to Dr. Brackett after he had the daughter wired up. Gage vigorously nodded approval over that plan and he made the adjustment on the biophone radio to carry the other cardiac signal from them. Roy shifted his attention to the teenager after passing off the mother's mannitol piggybacked I.V. to a waiting ambulance attendant. Then he scrambled over to Johnny and plucked the phone from him so he could finish starting the younger girl's I.V.s without getting a crimp in his neck. He picked up the pad Johnny had added to and read it aloud. "Rampart, all medications are in. Both EKGs will be Lead Two. One hard wired, the other through the datascope." he said. ##Understood, 51. We're all set here for those cardiac readings.## he said, after turning on the secondary defib/heart reader next to the always-running-hot, usual one. Gage looked to Monroe. "Ok, pause for a sec while we send hers in..." he told the firefighter working the mother's ambu bag. Monroe stopped his vents and carefully made sure that he wasn't touching the mother so his own heart rhythm wouldn't read out through the defib paddles Hank was pressing down firmly. After half a minute, Brackett came back on the line. ##Looking good on both, 51. I'm seeing no arrythmias anywhere and I note victim one's sinus tach rate of 140, which is more than stable enough for me in this stage of the game.## "10-4, Rampart." said DeSoto. "Ok, Cap. You can put em away. Thanks. Monroe, it's ok now to start up on her again." Stanley sighed and repackaged the defibrillator shut. He carried it over to the daughter and set it on the long board between her knees next to the upended datascope still running a live feed off her where the two paramedics could watch it. Without being told, he took the tube of blood Roy had gotten and taped it to one of the teenager's I.V. lines for safe keeping after marking down what time it had been drawn with a pen from his pocket. Dr. Brackett suffered a sudden afterthought. ##51, how's that foot doing now?## Roy glanced up at Chet who was still giving the thumbs up from his place at the ankle end of the Hare traction splint. "Pink and pulsing, Rampart." ##Good. Get both your victims in here as soon as possible, 51. Go ahead and radio any further complications if and when they arise and gimme new sets of vital signs every five minutes.## "10-4, Rampart. Transporting as soon as possible. Our ambulances are on scene. Our estimated ETA to you is twelve minutes." said Roy. ##This is Rampart base, signing out.## replied Brackett. There was no place more welcoming than the inside of the two spacious Mayfairs away from the raging bite of the hot winds. Gage wasn't aware of the tiny abrasions over his eyelids until he tried to rub them free of dirt after pulling off his dusty goggles. He placed his live HT onto a knee. "Roy, I'll meet you there. I've got the daughter loaded." DeSoto replied from his own rig. ##O.K., Johnny. The mother's now breathing ok on her own without us helping her.## Gage grinned at his ambulance attendant wrapping up the long boarded daughter in a heated blanket. "That's a good sign all around, Roy. My victim's pressure is now in the low nineties with just Dixie's recommended light mast inflation. And Marco's tape job is staunching the worst bleeding well from the leg so far. I didn't need a hemostat for that laceration at all. But I wish I could wash my face and irrigate both my eyes out right about now. The wind's skinned me alive." ##Count your blessings, junior. We won back two out of three straight outta the devil's mouth. Your poor hide's a small price to pay for that kind of score card.## "I suppose you're right, pally. But next call, I'm donning my whole entire scba setup whether we need it or not. I like to keep my face's skin in one piece thank you very much." ##Good idea. Think I'll copy ya, too. Betcha I'll be faster getting into mine.## "No bet. I don't think either of us'll win that race. Absolutely nobody hates this wind storming up more than Cap does. He leaped back into the Ward cab to get out of the weather so fast, I thought he broke a few hinges on the engine's door. I honestly think that he'll be sleeping in his air gear tonight, Roy, and in his bunk, too. Complete with helmet and all." ##I wouldn't be surprised. Tell you what? How about we both get checked out by a doc when we get there. I kinda banged my shoulder a bit slipping on some foam.## "You did? Well, why didn't you say so?!" Gage complained into his walkie talkie's speaker. ##Uh,, I didn't feel it, not until I got in here where it's quiet. Kinda the same story you just related to me about your face and eyes.## "Ok, you got me on that. I'll stop yelling cause I'm guilty of the same crime about hiding an injury. I got more than just my face. I got my hand pinched in the pilot's seat getting over to him." ##Ice and elevate, partner.## "Not until you do." ##Can't do that, my shoulder doesn't lift any higher.## "You know what I mean..." sighed Gage wearily. ##Yeah, I know what you mean. See you at the hospital. I think Lopez's bringing us the squad.## "Hope he manages to snag us all a few burgers on the way in. I'm starving." ##Just don't go starting any I.V. on yourself. I'd hate to fill out all the paperwork after a doctor finds out about you pulling a stunt like that.## "All right, all right. I'll just choke down a "gluke" tube or two." ##Those'll work. At least eating sugar leaves no traces. I'll vouch for ya with the supply requisitions for getting new ones. We really had a ton of hypoglycemic kid calls the last few days, didn't we?## Gage could practically hear Roy's teasing wink over the HT. He bit the ends off both sugar tubes and starting sucking. "Wish I can hide my face, Roy. Dixie's gonna fuss over me something awful." ##I'll just moan a little louder over my shoulder, Johnny. That way, the problem's solved. She'll spend less time dabbing all that alcohol over those scratches of yours for worrying over me. I know how much you hate that kind of first aid.## "I can't help being such a sensitive guy.." ##I know you can't. Now shut up and eat before you faint. Just make sure you keep an eye on the daughter's monitor while you're doing it.## "Mother's helper." ##Yep. I am one in this ambulance. Only makes sense to spread the wealth around a little. HT 51, out.## said Roy smugly. Gage leaned forward to tap on the driver to cab window of the ambulance and rapped on it once. It opened. "Say, Malcolm. Kill the sirens, kay? No one can hear us for all this wind anyway. The reds'll be enough. I could use a little less noise and I'm sure she can, too." he said, pointing to his patient. "Getting some rest is a good thing." "Uh huh.." said the driver with mild fatigue. The flip door snapped shut. "Typical." Johnny grumbled to the other attendant. "Be glad you two aren't firefighters. Cause I've a feeling that my whole station'll be spending the the rest of the week out in that howling mess out there. You haven't lived until your ears are ringing from Santa Ana wind shrieks. Try sleeping with that going on. Cause that's what I've got going on right now, real bad." Malcolm's partner smiled supportively and reached up to scratch on the peek window with a few nails, softly. Johnny looked up with surprise when the sirens actually turned off. "Mine are ringing, too, man. And so are his up front. We've been waiting for one of you paramedics to actually ask for silent mode. It took a smart guy like you to finally do it. And I mean that in a nice way." said the attendant. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Dixie picking up the red phone inside base station. Photo: Roy and Johnny rolling a victim over in a small space. Photo: Johnny and Roy help a C-spine long boarded teenager. Photo: Malcolm and another ambulance attendant. Photo: The defibrillator datascope from above. Photo: Cap listening to something with scba gear on. ******************************************************************* From: "Cassidy Meyers" Date: Mon May 23, 2005 5:27 pm Subject: The Hornet's Nest.. Johnny and Roy arrived to the hospital and passed off their two patients to Dr. Morton and Dr. Brackett, who immediately set in to get the two fall victims into surgery. Dixie McCall, on the other hand, was parked in her usual place at the front desk of the emergency room, hemmed in by constantly ringing phones. The two on the wall and the white one in front of her were nearly jumping off their hooks. "Rampart, emergency. This is Dixie McCall. How can I help you?" she said into the receiver even while she picked up a second and plunked it onto her shoulder. She flashed the two dusty, foam flecked firefighters a look of instant desperation. "Rampart emergency, can you hold?" Gage immediately pointed, seeing the need for another rescue. "Want us to answer some of those? Uh,...are we allowed to?" "Feel free. The entire hospital switchboard's overwhelmed with calls and every treatment room's occupied. You just gave us our last two patients. The rest of the ambulance inbounding have been diverted to other hospitals." she said quickly. "It's been that busy?!" Johnny said incredulously. "You have to ask?" McCall whimpered. "The d*mned wind's made everybody go crazy tonight. What hasn't happened? Your downed plane was a piece of cake compared to runs the other boys've been on." she said, throwing a careless hand at the status board full of red and yellow magnets. Every one of them was slid over into the on-scene column. Dixie took a deep breath and then she set both phones over her ears and started talking. "Ok, the worst first. Maam, go ahead. Sir, you're second. Go." Gage awkwardly reached for a ringing phone with haste to ease the worst of Dixie's phone burden. Roy, in the meantime, started digging in the supply cupboard for the things they needed on his own. He reached around Dixie's shoulders for the supply forms even as he kissed the top of her head in friendly encouragement. "Hang in there. If you drop in your tracks, don't worry. Gage and I have an oxygen tank and EKG monitor right here.." he said jerking a head over to the squad equipment they had brought out of the treatment room with them. Dixie rolled her eyes and kept talking. "You say he's got dust in his eyes from the wind and can't open them? All right. Are you near a sink?" she asked the woman. Then she shifted her head and spoke with the man on the white phone. "Sir, we can't do anything about your insomnia. Have you tried a warm milk toddy?" And on and on it went. Minor call after minor call. For around ten minutes. Marco Lopez soon arrived and waved at Roy. He caught wind of the flood of calls and took prompt advantage of it. He sat down next to Roy in a vacant waiting room chair to leaf through the paper, ignoring Gage who was swamped and now wrapped in phone cords. He ignored Johnny's looks to come help out. "Sorry, can't. I'm not a nurse or paramedic. Not allowed." he shrugged. By the time the phone slam was over, even Johnny was sweating for taking down so many notes and offering out fast and pointless first aid advice to all the petty concern callers he had spoken to. He hung up his last caller in exasperation. "Man, Dixie.. Have all of these phone calls been as pointless and stupid as the nine I took?" "Yep." said McCall, wearily collapsing a head on the desk. Gage chivalrously got her a cup of coffee, complete with a dimpled napkin. "I've already been stimulated enough, thanks. You drink it. You're still hungry." Johnny did a double take. "How did you know, Dix?" "You still got gluke paste on your lips. Here.." she said without looking up. The paper napkin full of jaunty flowers was thrust up into his face. "Give me a bit to reboot my brain and I'll see about getting the treatment room you guys need for your bumps and bruises..." "Wait a minute, how did y--" Gage was about to say. "Never mind.." he said. "I just gotta learn that your powers of telepathy are just as good as Stoker's weather voodoo." Dixie lifted her hair strewn exhausted head up at that. "Huh?" "Nothing. Roy and I just got an inside track from our engineer about how the winds are gonna nail us..." Gage sighed expansively. Then he regarded the coffee cup and walked fingers over to it. "Are you sure you don't mind?" he said, hungry eyes fastening on the cup of coffee. "Be my guest..." Dixie said, parking a frazzled head onto her hands folded over the dozens of notes she and Johnny had taken. "Drink up! It may be the last meal you'll ever--" Then she jerked, reaching for a phone on the wall behind her. Gage stopped her with a grab. "Dixie.." "What?!" "It's not ringing yet..." "Oh... It isn't? Sorry. Thanks. I can't tell anymore. My ears are still ringing and so's my whole head." "Really?" piped up Roy, folding over to the horse racing section. "Funny that. So our ours." he laughed without humor. "Say, Dixie. Ya got any ear pl--" Dixie's hand tipped up a box of styrofoam ear plugs that she had next to the tissue box. It was already half empty. "Help yourself. The other paramedics already have. Amply. Better safeguard your hearing now, boys. Ayers is booked solid dealing with ear trauma cases. Did you know that five cases of perforated eardrums filed on in here in just the last hour alone?" "No kidding.." said Marco, looking surprised. "Caused by all this wind?" "Yep." nodded Dixie tiredly. "A straight line's perfect for kicking up stones and litter from off the ground. City missiles.. Joe's coined them." "Wonderful. A new malady for the santa ana's already growing list." Roy sighed. His stomach growled, making it over the screeching of the winds outside the entrance doors. "He should write a paper and capitalize on it." "He already has." Dixie said. Then she reached for Johnny's eyelid scratched and puffing face. "Ooo, those look like they smart.." DeSoto immediately made good his promise and jerked in a twinge. "Oww, d*mned shoulder! Ooo. Next time, Johnny. You crawl under the plane to reach someone. I'm too big to play." he fussed exaggeratedly. It worked. Dixie immediately magneted over to Roy's side and plunked down on the empty seat next to him. "The left one?" "Yeah, it's nothing." "Pretty painful nothing, Roy. Can you move it full range?" "Enough to feed myself, which is all I'm interested in." DeSoto said, sniffing at Marco's jacket. "Lopez.. tell me you stopped at the burger stand.." he said indignantly. "You're not smelling like smoke here." "Didn't have time. I got an ambulance on my butt and had to scoot in fast so I wouldn't slow them down while getting here." Marco told him. "What ambulance?" Roy glared, some of his humor sliding away. "I don't see one..." "Roy, blame me. That one was probably the one I sent to Regents when I saw you two filing in with our last two criticals." Dixie said. "Here, let me get you some ice.." she said, rising to get some from a wheeled specimen cooler next to the drinking fountain. Gage drained half the coffee pot before he remembered his coworkers and sheepishly offered them some into two mugs. "Do I dare ask the question?" Roy glared again. "Don't, junior. You'll jinx us.." "Ok.. ok.. I won't. Seems the fire radio's quiet enough though. It's not even scanning." Gage said, throwing a head at the all band sitting above the ekg monitor outside the base station. Dixie kept her tongue still to honor superstition and pointed back at the status board with a pencil, even as she nestled an ice bag under Roy's shirt over his sore spot. Not one magnet labelled fire had been moved into action. "That's a minor mercy if I ever saw one.." DeSoto said. "Dix, that wind is bad. Real bad. I wouldn't be surprised if the whole mountain range ringing us went up in smoke." "Roy!! Cut it out. You'll make me think about my ranch again." said Johnny, almost spilling his coffee. "What about your ranch, Johnny?" Dixie said, distracted. "It's in the line of f...i...r..e." he said spelling it out. "Literally. I just hope I remembered to renew my homeowner's insurance, or I'll get to be the proud owner of a twenty acre pile of ashes." "Don't fret until it's a reality Johnny, or you'll just burn yourself out on it." "Too late. I already have." Gage sighed, finishing his mug. Dixie grabbed Marco's grimy chin, examining it gently. "Are you banged up, too?" Her eyes drifted to the stains of blood around his sleeves that he had gotten from helping the daughter out. "Nah, Dixie. None of this is mine. I'm just the squad driver." he answered. "I just haven't hosed off yet." "Use the doc's locker room. You can't walk into a hamburger stand looking like a war casualty." she sniffed. Lopez rose eagerly. "Thanks, Dix, for the invitation. Best offer I've had all night. I'll go shower off my jacket. I promise to disinfect afterwards." "Never doubted you for a moment, Marco." McCall smiled, watching him retreat for the locker room. "That's not fair.." Roy whined. "We can't do the same thing. We got all this equipment and all these supplies to watch." "Nice perk for being a regular fireman.." Dixie said. "Maybe you should quit the paramedic program and regain it back." "Not a chance. I like my extra pay.." DeSoto grumbled. "I've got kids, remember?" "Hush.. you're just crabby cause you're hungry. Here." Dixie mothered, grabbing a gluke tube out of her uniform pocket. "Eat before Joe sees that shoulder of yours if you want to stay on duty. Your pressure's probably sky high compensating for your low blood sugar and foul mood." Roy moused down sheepishly and began slurping down the sugar. "Good boy... Now for some cof--" she broke off. "Guys..you didn't leave any left for me.." she said snatching the empty clear glass pot from Johnny's dusty hand. Gage hastily ran for the coffee brewer to make some more just for her. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe Early completed his examination of Roy's shoulder. "I don't think you tore your rotator cuff, Roy. It's probably just a strain. It should clear up in a couple of days if you take it easy." "Don't think I can take it easy, doc. Not when the Santa anas are blowing.." Roy smiled. "Don't remind me. This is the slowest I've been all day." Dr. Early snorted. "You can go ahead and put your shirt back on." "So is he gonna live?" Johnny grinned. "A long and healthy life. That is if he eats how I keep telling you firefighters how to eat. Boys, you're getting sloppy again. I can smell the glucose paste on your breaths from here." Roy and Johnny both blushed a proper shade of red. "We promise to hit the hamburger stand." "Make sure you mean that hypothetically. I've already taken care of a pair of paramedics who wrecked their squad when a wind gust blew a roof down in front of it." "No kidding. Roy, did you hear a call for that over your HT?! I sure didn't." Johnny's face dropped into horror. "They ok, doc? Who's was it?" "It was out of your district. They're fine. But I can't tell you what station. I've been sworn to secrecy about it at their request." "That's ok. Knowing Charlie the mechanic, we'll all find out about it before midnight.." Roy said, smiling. "He knows nothing about sparing anyone a little embarrassment. And that's not even his worst trait." "Sounds like one h*ll of a mechanic." Joe preambled. "He is. I swear, doc. He treats the squad and engine better than we do our patients.." Gage laughed. "Are we done?" "Yep. That is if you still don't want anyone messing with your facial abrasions." Dr. Early said, pointing to Johnny's eyes. Johnny sagged. "They're only gonna get dirty again anyway during a fire or something. Why bother?" "Because germs aren't our friends, Johnny." DeSoto piped up. "Doc, he wouldn't even let me clean him up." "Maybe your Captain Stanley can convince him when you guys reach the fire command center.." Dr. Early said. Both paramedics stopped short. "Wh-- what do you mean fire command center?" Roy stammered. Joe simply pointed to the scanner radio on top of the defibrillator in the room. "We've been put on High Alert, boys. Seems half of Malibu's already on fire. Go to the nurse's lounge after we're done here and go check it out on TV. Johnny, your fire district's the only one not yet locked into a full firefight. So I suggest you grab some chow while you still have the time cause I've a feeling that things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better. And you'll be doing it alone. Rampart's been put out of the picture cause we're already at full bed capacity. Good luck, boys. Needless to say, I'll be thinking about you fellas a whole lot while you're stuck up there." And with that, the sympathetic soft spoken doctor, left the room. "Roy.." Johnny gasped. "What?!" overreacted Roy even as he struggled back into his grimy T shirt. He was still shaky from his hunger and still grumpy. "I"m gonna kill Stoker." "Why?" DeSoto asked, uncovering his head finally. "Because he's proving himself right. Malibu's straight upwind from my ranch." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Dixie's very busy front desk and Roy and Johnny. Photo: Roy getting treated by Joe Early. Photo: A raging mountain fire bearing down on the suburbs. Photo: A tube of insta-glucose paste. ******************************************************************** Date: Sat, 28 May 2005 13:27:01 -0700 (PDT) From: "Jeff Seltun" Subject: Base of Operations.. "You don't know that for certain. We haven't even seen the news bulletins yet." Roy reasoned, jumping off the exam table. "Oh, yes I do. I got a good look at the station wall map today, remember? Adrenaline's great for imprinting instant and total recall of whatever your eyes are stuck on when you've been jolted by sheer horror like I was, seeing all that red painted over my ranch." Gage grumbled irritatedly. "Johnny, those were hypothetical numbers. They weren't even real. How can you be horrified by something you can't even taste, touch or feel?" Roy asked as the two medics gathered up their medical gear. Marco Lopez whizzed on by them whistling, and divested DeSoto of the heavy defibrillator on their way out to the squad. "Give one example of something where that's true and I'll eat my shorts." "Carbon monoxide gas, Roy. Start salting em, cause you just lost the argument." Gage said without a smile. "Hmph. Can't. Or I'll get indigestion and have to have an emergency gastrectomy to pull em back out again." DeSoto quipped, level faced. "Quit being so literal, Roy. I only said that because it actually made me feel better for a few seconds." Johnny said honestly. Then he started chewing his fingernails again. DeSoto slapped his hand away from his mouth. "Yuck. Nothing like foam residue for lunch, eh?" "Fire foam can't hurt us." Gage said, opening his passenger door and motioning for Marco to get into the squad in between him and his partner. "That's what they said about those asbestos tarps we used to have for years and years. You don't see them in our trucks anymore, do you?" DeSoto sighed. He started up the engine. Just as he was doing so, Dixie McCall came dashing out of the emergency doors. "Boys, you forgot these!" she said, handing over the half used box of earplugs that had been on her desk. Gage took them from her in stride and noticed the dozen or so gluke tubes that had been shoved inside with them with a wink. "Are you gonna get in trouble for issuing excess supplies, Dix?" "Nope. We're in disaster mode. You know Rampart's administrators never count bandaids until after it's all over. They'll just lick their wounds and write everything that isn't a government regulated medical supply off as gone to a good cause." McCall grinned. "And saving you three from wasting into food starved twigs enough to blow away, definitely fits that parameter." "Dixie, you're a miracle worker!" said Marco and he dug in eagerly for a tube to eat. "How about telling that to the administrators upstairs, Marco?" Dixie smiled. "Maybe I can get a real good pay raise out of it." "Sure will. Uh, I mean, as soon as I'm no longer tied up." and he pointed to the east. "Looks like our calm rescue day's over fellas." A mile wide, thick column of orange lit brush smoke was just beginning to rise over the city margins from the foothills. Its heavy mantel of post destruction smothered the fringes of glowing streetlamps gridded around the rich suburban homes of those neighborhoods. Already, sounds of sirens pierced the night noise over the santa ana's. "Oh, boy. Step on it, Roy. Who's closer? Mac's burgers? Or Amos's chili dogs? We gotta scoot before we're toned out to report to the chief." Gage snivelled. "Amos's." said Marco. "Mac's." said Roy. Dixie broke the tie and said. "Amos's, boys. By half a mile. Go. And stay safe out there." "We will.." said Roy, putting on his helmet for night travel. "I just may see you up there, guys. And soon. It's my turn to delegate out nurses to any evac recovery operation that might spring up because of a grade four wildlife fire. And that certainly smells like one." she said, her limpid eyes reflecting the mountain fire's glow. "We'll save a pot of coffee for ya.." said Gage as Roy stepped on the gas with a squeal for their nearest planned source of food enough for the whole station. Dixie shook her head ruefully when the squad's tires screamed piercingly as it made its right exiting, ninety degree turn under the hospital skyway. Dixie retreated inside out of the wind to pack her field bags. Already, she could see the head nurse relieving her from swings, on early graves, getting tangled up in another phone call blitz. She just hoped all of them were as uncritical and benign as the ones she and Gage had fielded twenty minutes earlier. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ya got em?" pegged Hank Stanley even before the chili dog perfumed squad had shut off its flashing backing lights. "Plenty.." said Marco, pushing a slow Gage out of the cab. "Enough for four dogs each." he said wiping away chili sauce from his moustache. "Hey, Cap that's no fair.." moaned Chet. "How come Marco got to eat before the rest of us?" "He was faster at volunteering to take the squad in for Roy and Johnny, that's why. Next time, leap a little higher if you're hungry and I just may pick you." Cap said, snatching a hot dog bag from Lopez's presenting hands. He had a dog halfway inhaled before Roy shut down the squad's power. "He's clean, too. Remember that, Kelly. There are open showers at Rampart when it's busy. So I don't wanna hear another gripe about taking a squad in. That chore's packed so full of incentives I'm surprised murder isn't done whenever we have two victims to transport at the same time." The gang didn't even bother moving to the kitchen table for dinner. They ate right there on top of the squad's hood, using their jacket gloves for snack trays. Stoker matter of factly shrugged as he stuffed his face with food while his other hand marked another spot with a red headed pin over the wall map next to them showing where fire stations all around the county were being deployed. "I'm too nice to kill anything but flames, Cap. Let the weak ones eat first." "Very funny.." said Chet, spilling cheese onto his shoes. "Oh, man.." "Start slurpin', Chet." grinned Roy. "Those are the only four you're gonna get." Johnny teased, too. "Yeah, you just go ahead and lick those shoes. If you're still hungry afterwards, Dixie gave us all some gluke tubes for dessert." "Really?" Chet said, whistling to Bonnie to come lap his shoetops clean. "I claim dibs on the cherry flavored ones." "You get what comes.." Marco said, blinding reaching into the earplug box for his share of tubes and Chet's. He thrust his hands behind his back without looking at what flavors he had grabbed out. "Ok, pick an arm." "The right one." said Kelly holding still, while Bonnie the Yorkie groomed off his shoe polish along with the chili cheese. "Aw, nuts." finger snapped Marco. "That handful's got two cherry tubes." "Luck of the draw, sore loser. Heghhh." he laughed in a teasing sneer. Johnny chortled around his mouthful of meat. "Don't grouse Marco. I can always start an IV on ya and spike it red with some koolaid or something to make up for it." "Nah, that wouldn't work at all." said Lopez watching Bonnie eat. "I don't think my veins have any tastebuds to work with." "Yeah, but you'd be looking at it. Pysch power goes a long way if you use your imagination." Roy teased. "I don't like needles enough to be Gage's guinea pig for that little experiment. I'll settle for the lemon tubes I got fair and square." sighed Lopez. "Thanks, Marco. Thanks, Dixie!" Chet toasted to the air with one of them. "Instant room temperature jelly pops. My favorite.." Hank chided Kelly into silence for acting out his overactive sense of silliness. Bonnie was just burping contentedly when the tones finally rolled out a brush call standby series. Cap jogged to his office phone to get their assignment, wiping off his mouth with a jacket sleeve as he went. The gang followed after him. Chet was somewhat slower because Bonnie was still growling warnings and feeding off his chili splashed toes. "Station 51, Los Angeles County Fire Department. This is Captain Stanley." he greeted. "Oh, hiya Chief.." He nestled the phone onto his shoulder briefly. "It's Houts. He's already at the command center." He lifted the phone receiver to his ear once again. "Where to?" The voice on the other end of the line jarbled a few questions about deployment for Stoker, who got the passed off phone long enough to reply to the chief. "Yes, Chief? Uh, I got em all pegged, yessir. There's only a six mile long gap left that hasn't been manned by FD above Bear Claw Canyon." he advised. ##Do you know the territory?## asked Chief Houts. "Uh, not really. It's been seven or so years since that area burned, sir." replied the engineer loud enough so that the others could hear him. Gage piped up. "Sir, uh, Chief?" he said, punching on the speaker phone so that he could talk to Houts as well. "I offer my property as a base of operations. I've insurance enough to cover and a pond that might make a good helicopter filling point. It's in the middle of a hay field." Hank slapped Gage's jacket in admonishment at his sneaky way of getting the fire department onto his ranch but he had to hold his tongue or be overheard. ##Hmm. A big pond?## "Over three acres. I've several barns, too. They'd make great bunkspace for recuping fire jumpers. And....I'm.. right near a repeater tower direct to L.A." Johnny buttered even further. ##Good man. Hank, didya hear Gage's offer? Use his ranch to set up your fire district's base of operations pronto. You'll have stations eight, ten, ninety ninety and one twenty four all under your jurisdiction. I'll trust you to get that source of water potable for the choppers just as soon as humanly possible.## "Yes, sir." ##Now finish eating and get cracking, 51. And for g*d's sake start feeding your station mascot a little better on the busy shifts. I can hear her complaining about the grub way over here.## Chet Kelly piped up, "Uh, Chief, sir. That's not Bonnie's stomach rumbling, that's----" Hank stepped on Kelly's foot sharply and shut him up. "We're on it, chief. Give us twenty minutes to gear up the extra hose and rescue equipment and we'll report in. Gage, give the man your ranch address and box number. That way he'll know where to send the others." Johnny grinned at his success and gave the information. When the phone hung up, no one was smiling bigger than he was. "Let's just see my ranch burn now with five whole fire departments and their vehicles camping out on it." Mike Stoker just tapped the red colored region of the map ominously on their way out to keep Gage on a level. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Roy in turnout outside Rampart's emergency doors. Photo: Dixie smirking mildly. Photo: Gage insistent and sitting from the squad's open door. Photo: The gang gathered in the vehicle bay. Photo: Chili dog on a red carhood. Photo: Johnny and Bonnie the dog, on the phone. Photo: Chief Houts, grinning. Photo: A mountain brush fire at night above a Californian city. ***************************************************************** From: All the Voyagerliveaction Staff Writers Date: Wed, 1 Jun 2005 15:49:36 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [EmergencyTheaterLive] Wind and Fire.. The Final Price.. Engine 51 and Squad 51 kept up tight formation as they wound into the mountains deep in the heart of rural Los Angeles County. Task Force Batallion came over the radio. ##Station 51. Your unit's the last one to roll in to the others on your station's assigned call. Report to the main fire camp located at the airfield 2 miles north of highway 14 on rural route 384. Your unit's designation for the duration is Task Force 2376 Charlie. This fire's line has been plane reported as an escalating level four firestorm eighteen miles wide with recent accelerated fire behavior. Use caution.## "10-4, Battalion. Reporting to Main Incident Command. ETA approximately fifteen minutes to that location." Stanley reported over the engine's mic. Chet in his turnout gear gave a low whistle. "Drought conditions for ten years and whatdidya get? H*llfire in the making and I'm not talking about penny annie stuff. Look.." and he pointed out the window of the Ward. The squad, roaring ahead of them, actually slowed down as the two paramedics rounded a corner of wild country to see what they would eventually be facing. A black maw of pitch colored smoke was yawning over a tiny team of fireline fighters and their vehicles, which were slowly retreating back down the highway to an open space at the mountains' foothills. Cap paused along with Roy and rolled down the window. "Can we still get by?" he asked a worker sitting on a hill with some evacuated civilians who were clutching pets and babies, while watching the monster blaze approach their neighborhood town. "Yeah, man. We saw ya coming. PD and roving FD will escort you in past the hotspots. The road's still open but I'd recommend you get into gear right now. The smoke's down to less than a mile visibility..." said the lieutenant. "The reason we pulled out is for an air drop of scbas and more drip torches." "You heard him boys." said Cap loudly, so his paramedics could hear him through their open windows as well. "Ok. Stay safe fellas..." Hank said cheerily, hunkering down in his coat as he waved Stoker and DeSoto to go on. "We will. You too, 51." said the man. Station 51 left the crews behind them and headed into midnight blackness. Their first fire escort kept radio silence as transmissions were impossible in between the steep canyon walls surrounding the valley highway. Inky black and choking gray turned the landscape into that of the moon with ash and darkness. The engine and squad drove forward as fast as safely possible behind their guide's vehicle. At the next major highway intersection a police car suddenly flashed down to their position from a side road. And a loud speaker boomed out a warning. "51, detour! The fire's leaped your road quarter of a mile up. I know a second route the way I came." said the officer. The gang screeched to a halt and blinked as a Santa Ana lifted the smoke veil long enough to reveal a solid fire line eating the road and the hundred foot high slash pines on either side. The fire there was so hot, the asphalt was already slag and ignited. "Uh, you're right. Lead the way, PD. We're on your tail." said Cap as his eyebrows rose up into his head. As the engine and squad backed up back to the intersection, Marco spoke up from his seat behind Hank. "That's a huge hot spot. I wonder where air suppor--- Oh, there they are." he said as a fire plane and an Erickson sky crane roared from over the clear air treeline to the highway to douse the leaping edge in mutual attacks of red fire retardant and lake water. The angry blaze wasn't even slowed one second. "D*mn.. Santa anas must be feeding that firehead something awful." said Chet. "That's why we're not going up that way.." said Cap. Soon, Station 51 was following the squad car through the smoke dimmed thick pine forest. The slopes around them grew only steeper and thicker with fire sign. Already tree top fires were starting just through radiation effects alone. But soon, PD broke away with a waggle and a siren squelch, letting the station know that they had reached Fire Camp One. Stoker coasted the Ward down the airfield to the upwind side to gain full benefit of the clearing winds rushing in to feed the fire on the mountain slopes above them. Roy parked the squad next to him and the whole gang filed out. It looked like a warzone. Yellow coated national forest firefighters lay whereever they had dropped to nap the sleep of the totally exhausted in any available space they could find. On the backs of filling pumpers, along roadside guard rails and on the bare ground in between fueling trucks. Dixie was already at camp with her army of nurses, still in her white hospital uniform and cap. She was going from man to man, as all the Rampart nurses were, to be sure that each fighter was well watered and not hiding injuries from their commanders just to suit a "being macho" image that so many of them carried like badges. Dixie waved at Station 51 that she could see across the field and they waved back as they reported in to the incident command tables set near a row of airplane hangers. Roy announced his squad's status as being free and available paramedics by flinging all the gear doors on the squad wide open with a pair of empty stokes set up vertical against the front bumper. They'd be running on visible cues only from the others in camp until they knew what radio frequencies units were assigned to for medical call monitoring. A minute passed but not one firefighter or support crew flagged them down. DeSoto thought perhaps it would take a while for word to spread that a paramedic unit was on the field. After getting the word, the gang got one each from their rings of twin ID jacket tags turned into the clipboard crew at the head table. They cast their eyes about for familiar faces. Johnny soon located one in an old man, a civilian, sitting with his white german sheperd in a large green wooden lawn chair on top of an old battered pickup truck. "Graben! What the heck are you doing here? Guys, this is Graben Joergg. He's a retired horse trainer who helps me get chores done around the place whenever I'm away at work in the city..." "Hiya Johnny boy. Hi fellas. Nice to meet you finally so I got faces to put with all the names. This here's Snowflake." he said, stroking the head of a beautiful white dog who lay panting in his lap. The dog's weight didn't seem to bother the old man at all. "He's Johnny's right hand dog whenever he's riding back into the scrubland to check on the wild horses ranging up there." he said, pointing a gnarled sun freckled finger up at the burning mountains ringing them. "And before ya ask. Yes, the ranch is still there. And yes, Command's using your pond to get their water buckets filled. Your waterhole's pretty much drained already." and Graben began to chuckle with a throaty rasp. "The water level's so low that the copters pass out of sight as they go into the basin for a water pickup. Quite a sight. So far, just the sky cranes are actually using it. " "I'll fix that with a quick radio report once we get our incident HTs from the forest crews. They're being calibrated to our new call sign and the rest of the four stations with our assigned unit." Gage smiled. "Where's Kehayke?" "Your aunt's around here somewhere, feeding the boys. She says your wild horse ranch band's taken off for the high country. I was gonna go find them to make sure they skiddaddled but these fireboys around me said no one not a homeowner's allowed up there, because of the fire." "And they're right." said Cap in a no nonsense tone of voice. "You'd be best staying put." he said, petting the relaxed white dog gently. "Doesn't the caretaker house we stay in count, Johnny? We don't own it but we live there.." asked Graben. Gage started making denial noises but then the need for truth got the best of him. "It's possible to return. But only with a fire crew going with you. As your boss, I can order you to stay in camp.." "Not your aunt, Johnny. You can't order her without the police to back you up. She's family. And I know about family. Cause they're visiting me right now. My boy and my grandson." The gang drifted away from Gage to give him a little privacy. "You mean they're still at the ranch?" Johnny said with dismay. "Yeah, where else are they supposed to go? Besides them four fire stations are surrounding them real nice like. I don't know how ya did it getting em to come but that was smart thinking, boy. They're doing a real fine job clearing space around the buildings. I'm going because she's going and that's that." he protested. Johnny threw up his hands. "Ok, you're right. I guess I can't convince you two not to go back up there. But promise me you'll listen to the fire crews and stick with them, ok? Tell Kehayke to forget about the mountain horses. H*ll they're mostly wild already after being loose all spring and summer. They've more sense than firefighters do when fire's a factor. They'll get to safety on their own. Promise me that you two will just evacuate the horses in the barn." "I will, but it'll be harder convincing your aunt to promise that. She worries about those wilder horses of yours more than her own children sometimes. And you know that for a fact. " A shout from Cap got his attention. "Look Graben, I gotta go. Looks like we're finally getting our situation report. I'll try to swing an excuse to get up there and help ya, ok? Don't do anything stupid." "Like I would.." laughed Graben. "I'm old enough to be your grandfather." Johnny had to grin and he put on the helmet he'd been holding as he jogged away to the forested clearing Cap and the others had gathered in. Snowflake whined as the paramedic moved away. "Hush, Snow. He'll be all right, that one. It's his aunt we need to worry about. " he said rising to his feet. "Come on, let's go find her and deliver Johnny's message, ok?" The old man and the white dog left for the food trailers. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Captain Stanley was already meeting with a fire jumper fresh out of the surrounding forest. Gage wandered up in time to hear the core of the news. "....This monster's already straining the firecamp's resources to the breaking point and beyond..." said the sooty firefighter. "Usual and customary procedures are going out the window, captain, not by design, but because way too much is happening in way too many places and way too fast, sir." he said. Then he leaned forward to all the gang and whispered. " I really don't think Incident Command is able to grow personnel fast enough to meet requirements on the fire line. I've heard of way too many guys who're being ordered to pull out and retreat, even before they've had a chance to backburn anything." Johnny grew immediately uneasy and cast worried eyes in the direction of the mountain slope where his ranch lay. "How about Bear Claw Canyon? What's happening there?" "Don't know, medic. I haven't heard. Communications have been as patchy as getting immediate supply and water support. Sorry." the man shrugged. "All I need to know is that the guys from my unit are getting their *ss*s kicked. We've three on the injured list already. Do me a favor medic, keep an ear out for Task Force 1117 Beta. That's me. If you get a Code I, come running. I want no one dying today.." said the man, getting more and more agitated. His rising stress and anxiety began to prey on 51's gang. Hank put an immediate halt on that effect. "Hey mister, take it easy. We'll do everything we can paramedic wise. That'll be one resource that won't fizzle out on you and your crew. Ok? I'm personally overseeing that no one within ten miles of me goes without treatment. Just remember that this whole thing's workable. Eventually you'll get to the backside of the thermal curve, the fires'll die down, the winds'll abate. The trick is to just get through it, event by event. Just protect yourselves and your equipment, and, when you get the chance, make things better one small piece at a time. This blaze can't burn forever. There's not enough fuel in the world to keep it going once it reaches the lowlands for I know this whole part of the county's been lumbered to death wherever it was flat enough for trucks and crews to reach." The exhausted dirty firefighter shook Captain Stanley's hands in gratitude. "Thanks, again, sir. We'll be watching for you and your partner, medic." he said, returning to his crew heading for the rest and recovery station near the roving nurses. Hank sighed as the newly issued walkie talkies they carried expressed a department wide update. ##....Strong Santa Ana conditions will drive predicted daytime temperatures above 90F leading up to the fire. In addition, humidity is reported down to single-digits, and 40 mi/h westerlies are blowing from the desert toward the coast. Results are mass ignition, rapidly-moving fire, and extreme fire behavior, including large fire whirls. All elements of the fire triangle are present and at high levels, still classified : Firestorm. This is Incident Command weather bulletin for 1900 hours and--## Cap tuned out the rest of the broadcast. Mike Stoker folded his arms and started rubbing his chin. "Uh, oh. Stoker's pondering again, guys. I don't think I like seeing that." said Chet. Mike proved him flawless in feel. "Hmm, releve' seventeen... That mountain..." he said pointing in the direction of Johnny's canyon and ranch. "..has got a 90% impenetrable, 12-foot-high chaparral cover. Steep canyon walls and approaching Santa Ana wind conditions. Fuel's dense on the ground, with dried out chaparral available in large quantities in the inland valleys and foothills." "What the heck is chapparal, Stoker? Sounds like an aftershave." said Lopez. Stoker smiled, then his face fell into a quiet seriousness. "Chaparral is a fire-adapted bush, part of what fire ecologists call "fire climax" ecosystems. Its ground fuel does not naturally rot or otherwise disappear like other vegetation. It doesn't deplete until a wildfire takes place and the shrub's growing cycle can start again from seed." Roy asked the unspoken question. "What does Bear Claw Canyon consist of?" "96 % Chaparral on firecrew inaccessible slopes." he said softly. The gang fell silent, growing scared for Gage. Johnny mumbled. "So that's why my ranch's red on the map, huh?" "Yeah, sorry. Chaparral's an indicator species I can't ignore in all my numbers." "So I bought my new home on the range right smack in the middle of a giant tinderbox. That's just terrific...No wonder it was so cheap." Gage said. "Look on the bright side, Johnny,.." said Chet. "After the fires move through. The grass'll grow back real lush enough for all your rehabilitated mustangs." "That's if I have a ranch left with which to manage them." growled Johnny. Kelly moused down and swallowed hard under Johnny's irritated gaze. The whole station was galvanized when there came a call from Beta 1117 direct. "Hey, isn't that the fire jumper's unit?" asked Marco as they all ran back to the fire trucks. "Yep. Looks like the fire's playing more than a little hard for those boys. DeSoto, Gage. This one's a medical. Get on it." Cap said as he listened to his command HT's channel. "Right, Cap." And soon, there was no more time for worry. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Squad 51 pulled up at a group of outbuildings on the shore of a river. The far side was engulfed in flames and completely hostile to human life. Roy and Johnny pulled up and got out their gear when they spotted a couple of Type II firefighters huddled on the ground, giving oxygen to another one who was just starting to move. "What happened here?" asked Roy. "We had to abandon our spike camp.." said the firefighter at the gasping man's head. "Jerry here was a little slow getting into the water during our escape. We swam across. I think he got a lungful of vacuum when the trees exploded. His tank ran out." "Crown fires are air hogs. Was he unconscious long?" Gage asked. "Nah, started breathing right away when we got him out of the river. Our main concern is a check for super heating or not. His chopper's on the way." Gage nodded and started talking. "Jerry? Can you hear me? Can you breathe ok or do you think you need a little help?" he said, setting a hand on the firefighter's chest to feel for any bubbling vibrations through his clothes. Jerry just moaned incoherently and flung a hand over his face. The fireman at his head pressed the oxygen mask a little tighter over his nose and mouth. "He vocalizing, Roy. Seems any heat didn't get that deep." Johnny said. "But a little epinephrine will get him pink again faster. I'll call for it." Gage lifted up the biophone to the fire camp's doctor and got his medication order okayed. Johnny gave Jerry the shot into the fat of his hip and rubbed it in. Then he fell to monitoring the man's improvement when it came. DeSoto crouched to pull off the rest of the man's clothes to look for burns when he noticed a silent but very closely hugging fire captain watching their every move. "Captain? He's fine. He's now moving air enough to know he's uncomfortable. That's a good sign. Looks like we don't even need that ambu." Roy smiled. Then he stuck out his hand, taking the young fire captain's dirty one into a handshake. "Station 51. I'm DeSoto. That's Gage." "Mitch Reed with San Bernadino County Station 286. Thanks for coming out so fast. Our engine doesn't have much past resuscitation gear in the way of medical equipment. We're strictly a brush unit." "He won't be needing much care, Cap." Johnny affirmed as he listened to Jerry's chest and slowly got some words out of the groggy man. "I'm just seeing some light burns and blisters on his neck and shoulders. Nothing around the mouth and nose. Looking better and better, Roy." Beneath his hands, Jerry coughed and his co-firefighter raised his head onto his lap and held his head still. "Hey, bronco man! Rise and shine. Guess who's bailing our butts this time. 51's all the way from Los Angeles County. That's from half way across the state, man. Do you believe it?" he crowed. Jerry actually started smiling. "Cap, do for them, o-kay. We owe em. *choke* I'm feeling pretty alive here." and he shivered. "And c-cold. Anyone got a blanket?" Five of Jerry's crewmates peeled off their jackets to cocoon him thickly. When Jerry was safely evac'd out of the fire zone to a receiving hospital, Captain Mitch Reed sought out Roy and Johnny as they put all their squad equipment away. "Say, fellas, I'm here to make good on a promise I made for Jerry so he'd ship outta here without starting a riot act. Uh,,.. is there anything that I can do for you two? Arrange meals for your crew at a local restaurant? Get you to some showers from a grateful homeowner?" "Nothing, Cap. Thanks. We just got here this evening and we just ate." "Come on, fellas. Anything. I know how scarce you paramedics are covering for the 14,000 firefighters working this fire." said Captain Reed. Gage's mouth flopped open. "Fourteen ..t-thousand?" "Yep. From as far away as Montana and Washington state. How do you like them apples?" and the yellow helmeted man began to laugh uproariously. "Seems you boys haven't been filled in on all the details yet." "No, we haven't. Just a forest jumper's general weather report." Roy frowned. "Sorry for that. I thought you boys knew. Sixteen are dead already. Several of them firemen. So what do you say? Name it and I'll get it for you." Johnny's eyes thought hard for a moment and then a slow crooked smile lit his face. "What's your pull with the chopper crews in the area?" Roy smacked his shoulder for asking. Reed glanced at the both of them in puzzlement. "I'm their message courier now that we've been pulled off the fire lines for being down a man." "Good. Here's the favor I think you can give and it'll mean a whole lot to us.." Roy smacked him again. "I mean me.." Johnny corrected. "I got this ranch, you see, in Bear Claw Canyon.." Reed grimaced. "Ooo, you mean the one where there's only four fire stations assigned?" Gage looked askance at him. "Uh,..there's soon gonna be five in less than an hour if I have any say in the matter." "Oh, I see. You want me to divert a chopper to save your place when the heat's on because my voice is the one in authority? Consider it done, 51. As one grateful fireman to another. We can't get gifts from those we serve and in your case, treat, so I guess it's up to us to give to each other in my line of thinking. And apparently in yours, too." he laughed. "Just give the word. I'm on Tach 5, 101.8. I know that ranch. Choppers have been going there for water the last two hours." "Sure appreciate it, captain." said Gage, getting into the squad. "My pleasure.." said Reed, and he waved as he walked away. Roy had finally come to terms with Johnny's machinations and he only shook his head ruefully. "You're a lot gutsier than I ever thought you could be, junior." "How's that?" said Johnny, buckling himself in. "First, you con the chief himself to use your ranch as a base of operations...." "I had water, remember? That's rare in these parts, Roy. I had to offer an option when I knew about it. " DeSoto didn't seem to hear him. "Then you stretch those overtaxed resources even further by trying to pull a chopper off his route along the fire line by taking advantage of another guy who is still an acting superior. All captains are." "Soo." said Gage, grinning. "He offered. I took it. No big deal." "It is a big deal when other lives might be on the line and needing that chopper." "No fireman's that stupid to wait that long to get into that kind of trouble, Roy. Doesn't our training as firefighters amount to anything? Even if we totally lose Command frequencies, we should be able to read this fire and deal with it as it comes and besides, Stoker's not the only one good with numbers. I've been doing a little calculating on a few facts myself. Even if all those choppers and tankers flying around out there hit their mark one hundred percent of the time, they would still only hypothetically be able to contain only thirty percent of this fire." he said smugly. "It's just grown too big, Roy, for air support alone to contain. Ground crews are gonna be the key in this blazing inferno as they are for any other forest fire. So no, I don't feel a bit guilty for grabbing a bird crane off an effort I know will be an act of futility in itself in the end." Roy stared at Johnny, unblinking for long seconds, in utter amazement, until driving needed his full attention when the road back to the Main Fire Camp curved on him. "You never cease to surprise me, Johnny. You do think things through." "Have I ever not done that?" asked Johnny stretching with pure satisfaction in his seat. "I'm claiming the fifth amendment.." Roy answered honestly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dixie smiled and came to meet their squad when it got back with two very very welcome bottles of water. "Are you sure you boys don't want some coffee? I got some chilling in a thermos by the ice baths." "Water's good." said Roy, gratefully draining his. "So how did it go? I heard your voice over the doctor's radio calling for IM epi." McCall asked. "Piece of cake. He was practically awake and all the way breathing by the time we got there. Nothing that a good hot meal and a solid night's sleep won't cure." Gage said. "That and a few bandaids." DeSoto added. "Huh?" Gage sputtered. "You're forgetting Jerry's spark branding." "Oh, yeah. He had a few face, neck and shoulder blisters, Dix. It'll be good for dragging sympathy out of his wife or girlfriend." Roy glared at him. "Or for dragging out a good long fight for her being reminded of his being in such a high risk job." Johnny frowned. "You and Joanne fight about your job?" "All the time. But my love for it wins out. Needing money really helps my end of the argument. And her love for me let's me stay doing it for the price of a disagreement or two whenever I get laid up." "Is it worth it?" Gage asked warily. "Every second." Johnny continued to fix a studying cautious stare at Roy. "I hate picking fights. I never win at em. Unless they're against a one, fireman Chet Kelly." he grinned. Dixie chuckled. "Say, Johnny. Do you need help at the ranch? I ran into a Graben Jeorgg about an hour ago. Said he was heading up there with your aunt to fetch his son and grandson." "Is there a problem we don't know about?" Roy asked reading the guarded expression on Dixie's face. "Yeah, high command's practically ordered the evacuation of all fire personnel from the mountain except for the four stationed on your property. They're gonna try to hold onto that water supply for as long as they can." Johnny took off for Engine 51 at a dead run, looking for Cap. He cajoled, pleaded, argued and begged, until Captain Stanley hunkered over to the Command tables to get orders to report in earlier with their assigned task force currently stationed at the ranch. Dixie took advantage of Roy's equally rattled state and joined them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Station 51 headed down the highway. Ten minutes later, Roy screeched to a halt when the looming ghost of a burned falling tree suddenly fell onto the road ahead of them. The gang got out and put on their scba masks in the heavy smoke and stood there helplessly as they considered their options. But right then, none other than Captain Mitch Reed melted from out of the trees with a team of axemen. "Hang tight. Save your air. We'll get you through." And he winked at Johnny. Not spilling the beans at all about their chopper deal. "If you see fresh fire from the top of that ridge to the west, don't worry. We're firing up there to start a backburn on the edge of that slope, hoping to keep the fire from descending into your canyon." "Good luck." said Hank. "Appreciate the breakout captain." "No problem." he said and soon he had his men clearing the road. Station 51 arrived at Johnny's ranch without any further delays. They met up with the other four fire stations already camped out with laid fire hoses. They were concentrating on clearing the brush and back burning pure scorch around the buildings and horse corral. Johnny frowned. "Graben's not here yet? The work horses are not out of the barn it seems. The corral's still empty." "Maybe he thought better of coming." Roy said. "No, I'm sure he's coming. He promised Snowflake a dish of canned Rival when he got here." Dixie countered. "Don't know what to tell ya, partner. Let's just see what we can do." Roy said finally as he turned off the squad's motor at the edge of the pond for protection. "Ok," said Johnny nervously. The two paramedics and nurse got out. Cap went to the other four captains for his situation report. Johnny told Hank that he and Dixie were going to scope out the barn and release the horses to the range. Hank nodded. "Stay on radio.." he said, lifting his. Then he fell to listening to Station 124 with the latest. The lieutenant was filling in for his captain who was overseeing yet another water drop a half mile away from the lake through binoculars. The pond had long since been drained away too shallow to utilize with the Erickson air cranes. "..The hill falls away in front of us to the south, where the fire is coming from, rather steeply. We had a ridge road in front of both of our fire lines for a while. But then we discovered that the wind's blowing very lightly out of the west. We've decided that we can wait until that spot fire's closer, when it's clearly going to burn through us before firing the ridge around the houses. Then, in stages, starting to the east, we plan to fire the grassy slope in front of us. That way the two fires will burn towards each other using up all the bush fuel to black before the big line gets here." "This is your call. I'm just a city slicker.." Stanley grinned. The other stations were tied up om the ridge above 51 when the fire exploded and advanced high speed towards Johnny's ranch. Hank couldn't believe it but when he went out and looked, the fire was on the ridge across the canyon from him and had already spotted about half way down the hill. He radioed that their last hope was that the road below would hold it until the backburning preventative work was done. Gage had a much better view than the crews east and west of him, so he called and alerted them to the fire's advance. "Roy! I'm going in! Dixie stay close to me. Go to each stall, open it and step out of the way. If they don't want to run, slap them over the rump with a stick or something. Make sure it hurts." "Got it.." said McCall. The fire increased and then some of the large dead pines next to the barn started going off like explosives. A whole tree collapsed and tumbled into a barn window and ignited the hay loft. Marco shouted into his radio. "Johnny! Fire in the barn! Get out of there!" Lopez wasn't sure that he had been heard or whether or not Gage knew the worst had happened. Lopez quickly informed Cap and soon two engines were relocated next to Engine 51 and hoses were directed onto the new fire inside. Hank shouted. "Hear from them yet?" "No! I don't think they can hear me.." answered Marco. As if in reply, several spooked horses darted out of the barn, narrowly missing the firefighters. "That'd better be all of them.." grumbled Cap. Then he jogged over to the engine and got on the loud speaker. "Gage! Dixie! Abandon now! Hay loft's ablaze!" In support, Marco and another firefighter positioned their hose streams into the same open barn door from which the horses had fled. A crash of noise and a bright burst of flame from all the windows made every firefighter dash a little closer to the barn. The loft had fallen. "Gage! McCall!" Cap continue to shout through the loud speaker. "Get out of there now!" His anger was fierce and almost as hot as the fire. Finally, he hooked fingers at Chet and Roy. "Put your masks on and get em out. Over your shoulders screaming and kicking if you have to. I'll deal with Gage later. Just see that I won't." Chet and Roy were almost entering the sparking barn when the roof above caved in, completely engulfed in flames, and it landed completely blocking their way in. Captain Stanley shouted. "Axes! West side!" Kelly and DeSoto ran for them. -------------------------------------------------------- Johnny Gage was in the stall with the one remaining terrified horse. And Dixie. He clung to her. "Keep your air mask on. There's only one way out for us. How did the fire get here so fast?" "A *cough* tree." gasped Dixie through her scba mask. "I saw it fall after I chased the last horse out. It took me this long to get back to you. I think the way out's blocked!" "Take off your tank!" "What?!" "We can't ride him weighted down by them. We'll tip off." "What do you want me to do?" said Dixie, peeling out of the air bottle, but not the mask. "Breathe deep, then get on behind me. I'll help you up!" Gage said. hyperventilating in his own mask. He threw it away and shimmeyed up the stall wall until he was high enough to ease onto the horse's back. "What makes...... you think this is ......going to work?" Dixie huffed, breathing intentionally fast from her air mask. "He's a cow horse. He'll do anything I tell him to do." "Even walk through fire?" Dixie trembled as she was helped up. "Even that. I got sugar in my pocket that he'll get afterwards." "Sure hope he's got a sweet tooth bigger than the fire." "Oh, he does all right. Hang on tight! Here we go!" yelled Johnny. He shared his mask with Dixie one more time before tossing it to the wooden slated floor. He gathered the bay horse's reins and dug in his heels. The stallion jolted forward. Dixie buried her head in Johnny's shoulder, trying not to look as they galloped toward what appeared to be a solid wall of flames. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy and Chet hadn't even thunked in a first bite of their fire axes when a indignant squeal of angry horse and terrified male and female voices, in stereo, split the air. Like Ichabod Crane, they leaped out of the barn fire and over the burning tree trunk in a single leap and out into the smoky twilight. "It's the lone ranger!" Chet hooted. "Not so alone, Chet.." Marco grinned. "He's got a girl riding with him." "Ok, so it's the paired ranger. Way to cut it close, Gage. Cap's gonna cut into you the moment he sees you. Are you guys burned anywhere?" Dixie coughed and let herself be lowered by Johnny. "Nah." he said. "My hair's singed." said Dixie, feeling herself over good. "So that's what I'm smelling.." Chet quipped. "Here, let me hose you off." he said, turning his line down to a trickle to put out the sparks in Dixie's hair. "How's your lungs?" "Fine. We got air right up to the mad dash." Johnny was already off the brown stallion and checking him over. "He's got a cut over the eye. Nothing else that's major." Then he started to grin. "And no burns.. Here you go, boy. I'll get you a whole box full of sugar just as soon as--" "Gage! Just what kind of stunt do you call that?!" yelled Hank as he barrelled over to where they were clustered. Johnny made it a point to get on Marco's hose so he'd look properly busy. He sent off the horse to the freedom of the open meadow with a choice sharp spray to the rear and ears to cool him down. "Uh,..what stunt? I'm anchoring now, Cap." Dixie planted herself between Hank's ire and the cringing paramedic. "And we got all the horses out. There's no possible way anyone could have predicted that tree falling so hush or I'll make you hush." she glared, still dripping from her washdown. Stanley grumbled into silence. "That much is true." he said at last. "Ok, everyone. Pack up. The barn's toast. Go concentrate on protecting the houses now." Everyone hastened to the task. Soon all five engines were laying water and backburning desperately around the remaining buildings. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny turned to Roy. "Ok. it's time I made my last stand. Wish me luck. I'm going to be on the roof of my house, laying down tarps and water. I'll call the chopper down from there.." he said. Roy said. "You're nuts. That fire's too big for any of that." "I gotta try, Roy." and with that Johnny jogged over to Cap, to get permission to start cooling down a house roof. He got it. The others could just see Johnny reflected in the rising red morning light as he stood with a hose on the roof of his bungalow defiantly. He turned to the others when he felt them watching him and offered an encouraging victory sign that drew tears to their eyes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gage was still feeling pleased with himself when a child's shout drew his attention. Then it finally registered on Johnny that he was seeing Snowflake running high speed towards the caretaker cottage into the direction of the sound. "Nathan?!" Gage could see the boy, one who should have never been there, run after the dog. He gave a shout over his radio. "The kid's here! They're all here! Follow him!" The firemen all did, dragging their charged hoses after them. Johnny moaned when he saw the boy standing in front of a doorway of fire at the caretaker cottage's front, screaming at him. "They're in there! They're still in there!" shouted the boy. The firemen were horrified when they looked into the living room window behind the child and saw the curtains ablaze. A pine bough had stabbed through the glass and was starting a fast fire inside. Roy knelt by the boy. "Who's in there exactly!" "Auntie and my grandfather! Dad went to find you guys but he went the wrong way towards the pond and the all the squads." the boy cried. "Are you sure you aren't hurt?" "I'm ok! I'm fine! Please help them.." Up on the roof, Johnny heard that heart wrenching plea plain as day. Without a thought, he lifted his HT and called for Mitch Reed and a helicopter. Then he gave the only drop order he could. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The four other station captains, busy with the protecting ring, pointed at Hank to lead the rescue operation. But the fire proved too hot to enter by the front door. Then Gage's voice yelled out a warning. "Cover! Drop and cover! A bird's gonna load on ya right now!" Startled, the firefighters looked up to see a huge bulk of a fire retardant helicopter hovering overhead. They abandoned their hoses and ran out from under the roaring bird's prop shadow. Then the coast guard helicopter dropped its entire load of red retardant onto the cottage's porch which immediately snuffed out the fire. "How in the world did one manage to get here so fast?!" Hank marvelled. "Don't question fate.." said another fireman as he ran back to re-man his hose to put out all the minor hot spots still remaining. Stoker did the same with Cap as his anchor man. Quickly, Chet, Roy and Marco got into the living room in air bottles and found Kehayke right away lying on the couch, unconscious. Meanwhile, Johnny had slid down the ladder leaning against his house and had come dashing in after them. Johnny didn't know whether or not his aunt had been hit by the tree bough but there was no time for checking anything. He hefted her up into his arms with Roy's help and got her outside. Marco and Kelly went in as a team to search the rest of the house for Graben Joergg. Johnny lowered his aunt down to the dirt and immediately got on her head. "She's barely breathing. Cap, you got the--" "Right here, pal." said Hank plunking down a squad's oxygen tank and demand valve near his shoulder. Gage dug into the gasping woman's mouth with a few probing fingers. "It's just her dentures. Must've been knocked down her throat when something hit her or when she fell." The moment the false bridge was out, Kehayke started breathing hard and soon her eyes fluttered open. "Johnny? ....Oh,..." Then she started struggling as memory returned. "Graben!" she shouted. Roy and Johnny and Cap all held her down. "Easy. We've got people in there looking for him right now. Just take it easy." Snowflake the dog was frantic. He was running from door to window and back again, barking at the top of his lungs at the fire. But he didn't try to go inside the caretaker's house. Soon a laden Kelly made it back out the knocked down living room fire with Marco helping him. Graben was slung over his back like a sack of potatoes. Kehayke sat up and started sobbing when she saw him, pushing away the oxygen mask. Hank contented himself with putting a nasal cannula for her to wear around her face. "Kelly?" Chet shook his head grimly but he remained gentle, lowering the very still and badly burned old man to the ground face down. He gestured a few gloved fingers over his face. ::Facial burns. Too extensive for resuscitation..:: Cap thought. ::He's dead.:: It took Roy and Johnny only a few seconds to realize it, too, and stunned, Gage asked Chet to go cover him up with a sheet. Snowflake immediately started howling and he set his milk white head down onto his master's stomach and mourned. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was an hour later. The collective attack plan of theirs had worked. The main fire had bypassed the area and had spared a full firestorm effect over Johnny's ranch. But the teams did spot a fire whirl or two over the now crusted over pond. Kehayke was awake and ambulatory with normal vital signs. Healthy enough, that the paramedics had to respect her refusal to seek further medical attention. "I'll keep an eye on her. She's still reeling from losing Graben." said Dixie, holding the reins of the brown cowhorse that had gotten Johnny and herself out of the barn so fast. Kehayke simply wept against the tired horse's face. Johnny reluctantly left them. Carefully, he avoided the tiny clearing in the trees where his dream house was located and he took a short detour through them, hoping to find a place to relieve himself in private. He met up with a very sad man in a burnt out clearing. Johnny recognized him as Graben's son, the little boy's father. "I tried to tell him." the grieving man said. "I told him it was too dangerous to come back up here. But my father said that horses were important enough to go back for." "I'm sorry, Mr. Jeorgg. It's a horrible thing to have happen to anyone. I just wish that there was more that I could have done." Johnny said, scuffing a foot in the black ash at his feet. "You let your house burn for Graben. I saw you redirect that helicopter so that it would dump on the cottage instead. That was very noble of you. My father was probably already dead by the time my son found all of you." "There's no knowing.." Gage said, without looking away from his eyes. Not saying anything else, he gripped Darrin's shoulder in a heart felt move of sympathy and finally hugged him. "Graben was a wonderful person. That horse he trained saved my life today and got us out of a burning barn. I can think of no greater gift than that as his final one. Your father was big on giving." Darrin smiled as best he could and left Johnny to his thoughts. It was a long time before Gage could summon up enough courage to watch his house burn to the ground. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Snowflake had done his duty and had located the mustangs Johnny had been worried about all day. They were safe and grazing quietly by the lake, totally unphased by the fire helicopters zooming in for their measure of water to combat the main fire, which was now moving away from Bear Claw Canyon. Dixie was playing with Nathan and Kehayke around the brown stallion. Roy was there too, putting silvadene on the few burns the horse had received from flying embers, while the barn burned down. The rest of the gang was watching him, while they rested with water bottles and food. They were waiting for relief crews to arrived to continue the hot spot and digging details in the surrounding woods. Johnny couldn't resist baiting them all. "Hey guys, and especially Dixie. Guess what this old boy's name is.." he said patting the snoring horse standing quietly next to him. "What is it?" asked Mike Stoker. "It's Windy.." FIN Episode Twenty One- Devil Winds ------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. *************************************************** End Credits -- Episode Twenty One (Third Season) §§ Devil Winds §§ :) This episode is dedicated to the crews and private citizens involved in :( California's largest brush fire in history. The Cedar Fire of October 26th, 2003. It was started by a hunter who didn't put out his food fire properly. And we pay tribute to horse rancher Nancy Morphew, aged 51, who died attempting to flee her home in her car. :) :) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season Three, Episode Twenty Two.. §§ In Certain Terms §§ Debut Launch: June 1st, 2005. ************************************************** From: "rampartbase" Date: Sat Jun 4, 2005 7:18 pm Subject: Trying again, rampart base. Kel was looking forward to his vacation. The last couple times, things hadn't worked out. Something either got in the way of his going or work interrupted it. He was feeling a bit burned out and needed to get away for a few days. --------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. *********************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Mon Jun 6, 2005 3:06 pm Subject: The Deep Heat... Dr. Brackett sighed as he closed the medical reference text he had been reading on his desk in the office with an impatient thud and he rubbed his eyes in immense fatigue. ::Maybe I can get by with just eating something. Dix's already been on me for that since two o'clock.:: he thought. He studied his watch. ::ohmyg*d. It's five p.m. already?:: Kel picked up the phone and dialed her desk again. Dixie McCall looked up from the patient chart she was working on when the olive phone next to her started ringing. "Rampart Emergency. This is Miss McCall." she said. ##Hey, Dix.## "So, Kel. So are you going to stop slamming books around long enough to take me up on my offer to buy me my long overdue lunch? We can trade why-I-need-a-vacation-right-now stories over a pair of burnt cheeseburgers." said the nurse with a frown into the phone receiver. Unconsciously, Kel quickly glanced down at the Merck's Manual he had just abused and slowly loosened his tight gripping fingers from the book's cover. Then he caught himself and began to smile. "So, are you tapped into the security camera in here?" "No. There isn't a monitor wired by me. Besides, anything that goes on in your office lately is something I don't really wanna know about firsthand. I'm hearing enough about your frustrations from all my nurses that you've been so thoroughly berating this week, letting off some steam." said Dixie in a huff. "They can handle it. Doctors are supposed to be authoritative whenever stupid mistakes happen. It's part of doing my job." "Not when it effects mine and makes my life miserable..." fired back Dixie in a confidential hiss so no one else working near her could overhear. "Sorry, Dix. I guess I have been overreacting a bit. The air conditioning's not working in here again and I've had a lot to handle lately." "A lot of what? You're down only one doctor today with Joe touring the fire stations to get feedback from the medics about how they like that new rescue squad program idea of yours. Remember that he went out into the field on your orders. Perhaps you should have been the one to go digging for that desired feedback in his place." Dix said. "Nah," Kel said controlling his voice to be milder than a slow sizzle. "It was proper that he be the one. Besides, with the rate of cardiacs flooding in here because of the heat this week, I have to stay available for all the angioplastys and surgeries they seem to be needing." Kel sighed. "Joe's been doing them for a month straight. I'm spelling him as a favor because he's been getting a little grumpy." Dixie let out a little strained laugh. "And you haven't been?! I'll let you in on a little secret. You've overtaken Dr. Morton these days as being the worst in the bedside and deskside manner department in the latest buzz through the house grapevine." sighed Dixie saucily. "Kel, I lost two trainee nurses because of another bout of your temper this morning. And I don't think they'll be coming back. Just what am I supposed to do now?" Kel remained silent. Dixie decided to end the angry pause pronto. "It's definitely too late for you to apologize to them and almost impossible to soothe the ruffled feathers on me so the least you can do is humor me by buying me a solid hot, steaming lunch! It'll be a break for you and cathartic for me to not yell at you anymore. I'm done with that right now! Deal?" Dr. Brackett shifted in his chair uncomfortably when he remembered belatedly the tears he had seen in two pairs of eyes when one of the newer student nurses had knocked a Betadine basin off of his sterile tray during a suturing repair. The dark yellow antimicrobial had spilled onto the floor and all over his hundred and fifty dollar pair of Swiss made leather shoes and endangered the patient by making Brackett jump with his hemostat held suture needle and thread that had been still attached deeply to skin. "I guess." he snapped reluctantly. "No, don't guess. Just open your wallet. I promise to leave MY frustrations behind at my desk. You do the same at yours. See you at our usual cafeteria table under our favorite birdless palm tree in five minutes. Oh, and by the way,... I've got a surprise for you I think you're gonna like." Click! Dr. Brackett actually flinched at the sound of the terminating line because he was still so wound up. He hung up the dial tone humming dead phone and lay his head back down onto his sweating hands. "I hate surprises. Especially when it's not my birthday..." he grumbled, staring into the fish tank and at the catfish that had once bitten him. "What are you looking at?" he snapped. The silver catfish, of course, didn't reply. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Dixie, mad. Photo: Dixie placating a flustered student nurse. Photo: Dixie surrounded by a cluster of nurses. Photo: Brackett regretting past behavior in his office. Photo: Dix and Kel fauning over his new office fish tank. Photo: Dix and Kel sitting in the hospital cafeteria, eating. ************************************************** From : patti keiper Sent : Sunday, June 12, 2005 5:13 PM Subject : Finger licking good.. Chief boot licking, too. Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto were in the locker room, hastily changing out of shower towels as fast as they could manage. The fire that they had just wrapped up was already a far distant memory. Roy leaned forward, standing over the wooden bench, propped up on top of it with a still soggy bare foot while he struggled to put on a midnight colored uniform sock, until his face was inches away from his equally awkward hurrying partner. He wobbled in place fighting over the glue of water to don it. His dripping back crashed against his locker door as he almost fell in his tremendous haste. "Are you sure? I mean is Cap sure? Ohmyg*d. He'll be here in five minutes?" he stage whispered over Hank's shouted panicky orders echoing through the vehicle bay. "Yeah." grunted Gage as a stubborn damp T-shirt didn't make it completely over his head. "He got the triple ring with nobody on the line himself from Station Eight's on the captain's pager. McConnike's beelining for our station as ....we ....speak!" Johnny squeaked keeping his voice down desperately. He cracked in genuine fear. "You know the new secret code we got set up with the other stations about snap inspections. Don't you remember Dwyer setting up this system so everyone wouldn't haveta suffer an unpleasant surprise by the chief sneaking in? The first fire house falling under seige from even the barest glimpse of a creeping battalion car onto property, agrees..." he hissed. Roy interrupted him citing the mantra. "....to give warning amply ahead of time for the rest of us.." he hissed. "I know. I know. Just keep an ear out for Henry's bark from the couch! He's already guarding the doors, listening for a Chevy idle big time." Johnny was skinny and won his battle between wet skin and dry clothes. He was way ahead of Roy, but cursed when he snapped a shoelace while hurrying mightly. "ShhHHHT!" he yelled aloud and immediately covered his mouth to stifle it. Far too late. Hank's voice boomed out from the garage. "I don't wanna hear a single solitary peep from in there if you know what's good for you! Shut up, twits! And get those clothes on, A.S.A.P. ! I don't wanna hear talking or I promise I'll deliver on my threat to give out tower details for the rest of your working careers!" Johnny and Roy both ducked into cringing curls, dressing even faster than before, comically stumbling and rushing to get into shape in spite of their damp skins. Gage reached behind his poster for an emergency roll of black electrical tape. He bit off a large piece and started wrapping his foot snugly with his all expert paramedic long board taping skills, to hold his still loose shoe onto his foot. Roy's eyes goggled as his fingers flew to button up his shirt. "Nice idea.." he said in awe. "Dwyer's too. He said the chief never lifts pants cuffs to check higher than the toes for polish shines." Then the two of them ran for the doorway. They corked in the doorjam, shoulder to shoulder for long seconds until they unpretzel-ed themselves and ran for the hat locker next to the squad. Stoker was hastily scrubbing the Ward's front fender chrome with licked fingers and his butt, like a back scratching bear. Hank noticed. "Forget that! The chief'll smell the fire smoke. He'll know that we just got back from an alarm call. Get in line!" he gestured sharply at the invisible one before the rest of the gathering gang's toes perpendicular to the county wall map. "And don't scuff the floor running over here! He'll see!" Chet whistled and drew out a small dark blue bottle from his pocket. "After shave! Spritz down, everybody! Dwyer says this trick works, too!" The bottle was passed like a hot potato from hand to hand as it was used then hidden snugly again in Chet's shirt pocket. To their credit, the firemen didn't struggle with finding their different sized dress uniform hats. They had long surmounted that little problem by using spare accountability tags neatly tucked into their inside crown seams. They had a whole thirty seconds before Henry's muffled wuff from the kitchen's depths announced the firing gun going off. The gang quickly combed wash wrinkled fingers through their hair and inspected each other rapidly for the slightest deviations. Cap barely corrected the crooked angle on the wall clock with a pinky before they all snapped to straight attention at the sound of the side kitchen door squealing open. Hank mumbled from the corner of his mouth. "Nice touch not remembering to D-W 40 the hinges..." he said in admiration to Stoker on his left. "Figured overlooking that would be just minor points off for the maximum benefit.." Mike replied through the corner of his. Henry preceeded Chief McConnike, energetically seeking the chief's hands actively for some attention as he had been secretly trained to do by Chet. This allowed everyone to compose their inspection stressed faces into fascimiles of social smiles. McConnike was oblivious to the dog delay ploy. He wholeheartedly greeted 51's hound dog as only a fire station dog lover could. "Heya boy! I'm glad to see you, too, big fella! How'ya doing? These boys feedin ya too much again? Well I'll fix that." he chuckled, patting the snuffing, drooling Henry's ribs affectionately. And then he looked up. The chief immediately blinked when he saw the silently straight backed, impeccably positioned firemen standing in a row, already in front of the fire trucks before him. He knew he didn't need to draw out a ruler to measure the spacing between them because everything was absolutely....perfect. He eyed the bay, sniffed the air for fire smoke to dismiss the fire trucks currently sooty conditions. And then approached Hank as was customary. But he couldn't hide the shock of his sudden appearance failing to surprise his current inspection targets. "Hank. Gentlemen. What's with all this?" he said, throwing a careless hand to the air between them. Cap cooly replied. "What, sir? Welcome to Station 51, chief, uh, sir. I hope you find everything in its proper order." he said with barely reined in smugness. McConnike narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but one glance at the receiving alcove mic panel showed that it hadn't been used for recent intra-station communication. At all. "The sink's dripping in there." the chief said finally, while the gang's eyes twinkled secretly as his puzzlement grew at their lack of nervousness. "Stoker. Go fix that." Hank said neutrally. "Immediately, sir.." said Mike neatly saluting. He and Henry beelined for the kitchen in formation. Stoker coughed a smoke cough to hide his opening the fridge to reward Henry with a piece of bacon for delaying the chief's entry. Then he tightened up the water faucet and returned to his place in the inspection line. Henry retreated to his dog house to chew his savory mouthful. The gang stood quietly composed while the chief walked rings slowly around the squad and engine, casually opening gear doors to check their inner contents, without further comment. His eyes widened when he saw hose couplings, neatly strung on tarp ties, organized by size in the engine's cab along the back equipment hooks in between the hanging scba tanks. "Who's idea is this?" Sheepishly, Marco Lopez raised his hand. "Mine, sir.. Do you like it?" "Yeah, can I borrow it to ply onto other stations? I can write it in as new protocol." "Feel free..." the hispanic firefighter replied. He was nudged with a shoe from Chet to wipe the cheshire's grin off his face. Kelly's eyes said it all. ::Tone it down and we'll survive..:: "Thanks, crewman." said the chief. He slowly opened up the squad's doors to peer at all the medical gear on the driver's side. "Where's the defib been moved to?" Gage piped up, sniffing hastily. "Uh, on the passenger side, chief. Upper left compartment. We found that a squad rider can grab it and the resuscitator more quickly than if the driver does it. Saves about fifteen seconds since a passenger doesn't have to put anything into park before he does it, ....sir." he added. "Can I use that idea, too?" "Certainly.." Roy said, with perfect timing. McConnike merely grunted. Then he slowly shook his head in the barest grudging admiration for what he was seeing around him. "Congratulations, gentlemen." He said with an expansive sigh. "You're the first firehouse this quarter to have five or less points taken off on one of my infamous pop inhouse checks." Hank smiled broadly, but then started to frown, and broke his eyes away from the far wall where they had been staring. "Wait a minute, chief, uh, sir. A dripping sink's only three points/demerits. Where'd the other two come from?" The chief grinned, and pointed. "From the Ward. She's parked partially blocking the doorway leading to the bunk room. That'll slow how you guys'll pile in here by a few seconds if you all try to squeeze through one by one, getting by her, to answer a call." "Stoker...." Cap said again.. Mike anticipated. "..Fix that. Yep. I'm on it." said the engineer. And he smartly about faced once more to correct the error. Then he returned back into line and McConnike held them all there, still at attention, while he gave their uniforms a good eyeing over. McConnike noticed the waft of aftershave with surprise, but then he nodded in satisfaction. "Yeah. Wearing scent'll be good for calming female victims down. Nice thought, fellas. Can I borrow--" he asked. All the gang murmured hasty acquiesences for that idea as the ones for the nozzles' order and the defibrillator's store shift and then they froze back into ramrod places. A minute dragged by and Gage ate a drip of sweat when the chief's eye swept over his shoes. Hank cleared his throat finally with the barest sign of strain. And that, satisfied the chief's perpetual appetite to make his favorite captain remember his burning hat sin yet again. "I'm through. At ease. Who's making the chow today, guys?" he said, dropping the officienado stance. "I'm starving." Five sets of index fingers stabbed to the right. "Stoker." came the reply in stereo. "Fine. Fine. Hope it's fried chicken for lunch." "Of course." Mike grumbled in amusement. "Nothing but the best for a busy fire season." "Don't rub it in.." Cap mouthed to him behind McConnike's back. Stoker immediately amended. "Uh, I'm trying to recreate the batter from a fast food place." "Oh?" cheeped the chief. "Which one?" "It's from a new joint called ah, uh...Colonel Sander's .." Stoker stretched. "Tennessee Fried Chicken." Lopez supplied eagerly to help him out. Stoker couldn't summon up the courage to correct him on the proper state's name of the brand new restaurant. "Hmm, guess the missus and I'll have to try that one out." smiled the chief. Kelly piped in, while gathering up the hats into their customary box and heading for the mop closet. "You can't miss it, sir. It's on Laredo and San Bernadino Blvd in Torrance. A victorian guy looking like Mark Twain's on the sign and the building's got diagonal red and white stripes on it around the roofing." "I'll remember it. Thanks." And they all filed into the kitchen. While they were eating, McConnike struck up unusual casual conversation. "Fellas. Have you heard of the fireman's contest I'm starting up next month yet?" Everyone admitted their negation. "Well, the prize is a whole year of no spot inspections to the firehouse I vote as the winning entry." the chief grinned. "Really.." said Hank, perking in interest as he chewed a drumstick hungrily. "What kind of contest?" "Equipment re-designing. Game, fellas?" "Sure am. Uh, we are.." Cap said quickly. "And we'll win it, too, chief. Just for you.." Chet muttered out loud. Stage whispering to Stoker, he added. "Because you gave us such good marks this time around on our records." Mike flashed him a warning silent hush with a greasy finger. But McConnike had been thinking too much about filling his stomach to overhear that remark. "Fine, I'll send the details over by courier from the head office as soon as I get back. I think I'm gonna go make a hit on station th-- uh, down yonder next." and he rose in his chair, wiping his mouth with his paper napkin. He was, of course, the first to empty his plate. Decades of experience had made McConnike a veteran food vacuum at which the others could only admire. They hastily rose in their chairs, too, as the chief took his leave of them. Chuckling, the chief picked up two drumsticks from Stoker's platter. "Might tasty, Mr. Stoker. When you declare this recipe as fitting identical to that chicken stand, I'd love a copy of it." "It'll be yours." promised the engineer. "Good. I like new chow recipes to hand out at all my firehouses as much as I like to collect organizational ideas during one of my inspections. Keep up the good work, 51." he said, tossing one of the chicken pieces to the couch where Henry's head suddenly emerged from the leather cushions to neatly intercept it. And with that, he was gone. The kitchen door had barely closed behind him when the gang piled against the window, to watch him pull away in the chief's car down the side drive to the avenue beyond. "Left! He turned left!" Chet piped up excitedly. "Doesn't help us." said Roy. "That still leaves either station thirteen or thirty as his next target." "No problem." said Gage. "We'll just warn them both with Dwyer's ringing--" "Marco, get it done from the office. Gage use the payphone to save time." Hank ordered, still watching out the window through the peep blinds. "With my dime?!" Johnny protested. "You certainly aren't going to use mine..." Cap snapped. "Now, hush and think of the service you're doing for your fellow firefighters. Eight's certainly done it for us. Now move." "Moving, Cap." Gage grumbled, making for the phone. But then he about faced. "Hey guys. I just had a horrible thought." "What's that?" Chet asked, diving into his plate of chicken again and licking all of his fingers like he couldn't do in front of the chief. "What if McConnike's onto us with the ring warn network? He could've slipped us that station's number of his planned route on purpose. After all, he's been in the fire service long enough to know all the tricks." That stopped everybody chewing. But then Marco scoffed with a laugh. "What's he gonna do? Have Vince begin tracing fire station phone lines? That's illegal. Besides, nobody's even doing any talking when we're warning each other. Just the rings and the hangup after three." "Still, he could trace that as having come from one firehouse to another." Gage surmised. "No chance in h*ll, Johnny. Our scheme's flawless for a change. Anyone could say they were calling up a station when their own got called out on a run, interrupting business." Kelly explained. Gage hung onto the phone receiver and bobbed it against his chin. "Yeah.. never thought of that." "Gage!" "Cap?" "Call. Thirteen's is only four minutes from here!" Hank growled, eating from his center breast without looking up from his meal. "Uh, right. Right." And Gage gave out the warning to one of the two stations that might be next under the chief's pop inspection gun. After he made his call, he frowned again, the devil's own advocate. "Guys. What if the chief never shows up at either station? Would the other fellas who had to rush butt to get into order remember that it was us who tipped them off falsely? They might take that as a malicious joke and get their revenge by not warning us about the chief's knocking on doors next time around." That, put the others back into worry mode faster than hose water on fire flames. But then, L.A. was merciful and delivered them from troubled thoughts instantly. **Eee Ohh OOOoooooo.** issued the chrome holed speaker. ##Station 51. Unknown type medical. 412 south Davis St. 412 south Davis street. Cross street Melton. Time out : 13:55. ## Johnny beat the others to the response mic. "Station 51, 10-4. KMG 365." Snick. And then he said, unnecessarily. "Let's roll guys." Soon, the kitchen lay abandoned as they leaped for the trucks. And the lounging dog noticed exactly what things had been forgotten that would really make his day a happy one. In spite of his short stature and great bulk, Henry used some brainy gray cells that he had only used once before with his human companions and a certain missing plate of food. He bit into a chair leg, and tugged until its wooden seat was exposed. Then he leaped up with an eager moan onto the table top, sniffing like a blood hound. He found the one quarter full, still steaming chicken platter in two seconds and started gnawing happily with bright full fledged tail wags. ::Guess my reward for the day just got a little bigger. :: the dog thought. ::Stupid firemen. They're so gullible.:: Henry burped as he ate. And Station 51 hit their sirens liberally as they responded to their assigned rescue in the immediate nearby neighborhood. --------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Roy and Gage in a sharp whispering argument, locker room. Photo : Gage and DeSoto in a door jam pileup shoulder to shoulder. Photo: Stoker serving chicken to the table. Photo: Chief McConnike shaking Cap's hand in the bay. Photo: Henry chewing on a bone inside his doghouse on the couch. Photo: Stoker's view of the squad's rear from the engine cab, driving. ********************************************************************** From: "Champagne Scott" Date: Mon Jun 20, 2005 7:20 pm Subject: The Sad High.. Station 51 pulled up at the edge of the cliffside homes ringing the La Conchita neighborhood. The surrounding hillside was covered with a dense carpet of coastal sage shrub and some scattered trees, so thick that Johnny noticed. "It's sure green out here. This area in a fog zone?" "Yeah, the ocean's a mile that way." Roy replied, pointing downward where all the roads were converging. "Builds a rain effect." Cap flipped off the sirens when he, too, spotted the correct house address. Hurrying, the gang helped Roy and Johnny gather their complete set of treatment gear and they all clustered around the front door. Cap rapped sharply on the peach colored doorface. "Los Angeles County Fire Department! Can anyone hear me?" There was no reply. "Chet. Marco." ordered Hank. "Check the back. Mike, let's check in all the windows." The firemen separated, leaving the medical equipment at the paramedics' sides. Right about then, Vince Howard showed up, pulling up quickly in his squad car. "What's the call, Vince?" Cap asked the helmeted policeman as he alternately peeked into every window he found while shouting his station's identity. The yard rang with their loud shouts of attention aimed at whoever was inside. The stocky city cop said, "The neighbor next door said that he heard a woman screaming that she felt like she was going to die and to go get help. He couldn't find a way to get in here himself." "Is there more than one person living here?" Roy asked him as he kept on looking for a way into the house. "We're not seeing signs of any smoke." "Yeah, a girl aged 25." Vince replied."According to the neighbor. She lives alone." Right then, a piercing, wrenching wail of agony jolted through a bush heavily shrouding a veranda window in the backyard facing the clifftop. It made Vince instinctively draw out his gun. "It sounds like she's getting attacked." he said plastering to the side of the house. "Be careful fellas. I'll cover you." "Hey!! FIre Department! We're trying to get to ya!" yelled Johnny as he pushed through the bush to get a better look past the sun shadowed glass. "Keep making noi--!" The screams cut off abruptly. "I can't tell which room she's in.." Johnny grunted as he tried once again to futilely open the window. "I can't see anything in here." "Cap! Nothing's open! Everything's locked down real tight." Chet shouted as he and Marco returned at a jog. "Then we'll have to break in..." Hank decided. "Intruder or no intruder, Vince. That's not something we can just ignore." he said, jerking a thumb at the bush and at the total silence curdling their blood. "Front door." Vince nodded. "Use your helmet on a side pane." he said at last. "Thank you.." Roy sighed urgently, stepping quickly back to the small front porch. "Stoker.. grab the resuscitator." he said and he pulled off his helmet and used it like a piston to crack one of the two windows surrounding the front door. Once the frame was swiped clear of shards with a jacket halligan, he reached around carefully under Vince's watchful eye and gunpoint and tried feeling around where a deadbolt lock would be. "Fire Department! Hey! Are you ok?!" Gage shouted through the opening. "Got it?" he asked. "No, there's more locks on this door than Fort Knox.." DeSoto said in exasperation. "I can't reach them all." "Then battering it down isn't going to do any good. John, don't even try. You'll wreck your shoulder.." Cap said when Gage looked like he was hunching up. "Stoker. Grab the K-12, will you pal?" he ordered. Mike Stoker ran to get it. The firemen and cop were highly disturbed by the lack of response from the woman they now knew was in serious trouble. It reflected in their haste as they split the door and its hinges and drew it away with many gloves. Vince went inside first. "Let me check it out first." he said, keeping his loaded revolver aimed up at the ceiling with cocked elbows. "Once I sweep a room, then you can look for her. Not a moment sooner." Gage ansed with the defib and drug box on the porch. He still had on his helmet and the strap dangled in his face. "We got it. Just go.." he hurried Vince along with an encouraging pat on the shoulder. There was no disturbed furniture in the living room. But a tang of rotten food and garbage stung their noses. Room by room, Vince cleared the way for the gang. Then he holstered his weapon. "House's clear. Nobody else is around. Go ahead with your searching. She may be scared and hiding." Then he raised his voice. "Diane Hart! This is the police department. It's ok, you're completely safe. Nobody but me and the fire department are here! Come on out!" The men paused briefly for a reply from the girl. None came. Cap split them up. "Try the closets, shower and laundry rooms." he suggested. "And the floor. Maybe it's like Vince said, and she just blacked out somewhere in an odd place." Each firefighter took a room and started opening doors. "Diane?! Los Angeles County Fire Department and Police. It's ok, we're here to help you!" Hank yelled. In one bedroom, Gage slapped Vince on the arm, pointing to the desk top. A spoon and packet of powder lay in the open by a spent syringe. Using his gloved fingers, the cop picked up a corner. "Yep. I see it. Narcotics. All of this is making more sense now. She's probably a junkie on a bad trip. This spoon's still warm." he said, touching the scooped metal with the skin on his inner wrist. "Diane?" Johnny shouted loudly. "Listen to me. We're not gonna hurt you at all. We just wanna talk to you. Look, a neighbor called us because he was real concerned about how you were doing today.. Can you hear me? Where are you?" He pulled open a linen closet and stopped short when he saw a shoe with the rest of someone it in, in the row of neatly spaced empty ones beneath the hanging clothes. "Roy! Hank! In here." Vince shouted. Gingerly, Gage parted the clothes and spotted a frightened eye peering up at him. "She's awake and sitting on this hamper." And he reached inside to grasp her hand. Screams and flailing arms and panicked kicks greeted his touch and he leaped back as the whole rack of clothes tumbled down over the struggling girl. "Easy.. Easy.. Diane.. Cut that out. We're here to help you! Now tell us what's wrong. Don't struggle and I'll pull this stuff off of ya. Now I'm a paramedic and this is Vince, a policeman. We're not gonna hurt you, hon. We wanna help ya." Johnny said. The kicking ceased and the wild eyed girl let the fireman free her face and mouth from the mound of clothes. She was deep in paranoia and unable to talk. Thinking ahead of time, Gage didn't free her arms and legs right away. He gingerly got out a penlight and showed it shining down onto his own palm as he spoke, moving slowly closer to her. "This is just a light from my pocket. I just wanna check your eyes out. It's ok." Diane flinched and pulled away, sinking deeper into the tangle of hanging clothes piled around her. Gage froze in place. "Sorry, Diane. Easy. Listen, I won't touch ya if you don't want me to, I'll just look from here." and he aimed the beam from a foot away, at her eyes. Diane started sobbing, but she never stopped watching Gage's hands warily. "Grossly miotic, Roy. It's heroin or cocaine for sure." he said over his shoulder. DeSoto started setting up the biophone and oxygen equipment onto the messy bed. "She diaphoretic yet?" "Yeah." Johnny replied, still not moving. He swept his light a little lower and found signs of many many track marks on both her arms. The freshest still had a needle and plunger sticking out of it. "Roy, she's free basing it." He fluttered a few fingers in a distracting move in front of Diane's face while his other hand quickly jerked out the syringe buried in her arm. He held it up to the light in a quick check. "Lotsa residue. This is a ten mil. And all of it's gone." He tossed it onto a dresser top so no one could get stuck by it. The familiar sound startled Diane and she suddenly flew up out of the heavy pile of clothing and got past Johnny. "Diane! No!" Gage shouted. Diane started to fight with what seemed like super human strength when Roy grabbed her. "Get her on the floor where we can control her!" Vince swept out the girl's legs with one of his own but she didn't go down. Hart screamed inhumanly and actually tore free from DeSoto's grip. Johnny, Stoker and Chet added their weight and pinned her back against the side of the bed with their shoulders. Diane kicked out and her left foot connected with a heavy dresser. The ankle snapped loudly and angulated, broken. For one hideous moment, Diane froze in their grips, falling silent at the choking jolt shooting from a fresh source of agony. Then she started screaming decibels. "Grab that leg! Or she'll open it up!" Gage shouted, avoiding her raking fingernails as he and Roy hung onto her wrists to protect themselves. It took Marco laying across her pelvis sideways, to finally drive her onto her back and onto the carpeting. Vince worked Diane's arms over her chest and held both her wrists in a hand lock and he crossed her elbows slowly over her neck. "I got her. Roy, Johnny. You can let go now." Roy scrambled clear of the tangle for the biophone,. "Cap. Hold that foot down by her knee. We'll splint it later." he said over her terrified screams and gasps. Hank sat on top of Diane's knee. Johnny leaped for the drug box and grabbed out a narcan pack and began setting it up as fast as he could. He passed off the medication to Cap to hold while Roy got a blood pressure cuff on around the gang's tight gripping forms. Diane was beyond reasoning and nothing she uttered was anything resembling coherent words, so the gang stopped talking. They just clung tightly, trying to keep Diane's head and limbs protected from her own drug overdosed, crazed struggling. "Johnny.. Getting a BP of 174 over P. Her pulse is 160 and weak. I'm finding it by apical only." he reported, yelling. "She's now bleeding from the nose and from a deep cut on her sc--" Diane started vomiting up half chewed sour food and her conscious attempts to kick and hit shuddered into huge, wracking, unconscious convulsions. Her eyes rolled up into her head. Vince and the others quickly let go of the girl and Chet and Stoker rolled Diane over to get it all out by quickly sweeping her nose and mouth with their gloved fingers. Cap reached up and dragged the resuscitator over for the suction wand tubing. "Here! It's on." he said, handing it over so they could use it. Diane sagged into motionless unconsciousness as the firemen worked to clear her throat so she could breathe again. But Diane didn't even try when they were done. Stoker found a lack of a pulse in her neck. "I'm getting no pulse, Johnny. Just stopped." "Start CPR as soon as you've got her airway clear." Gage said quietly grabbing for the defibrillator so he could power it up. Roy stepped up the pace on his call to the hospital. "Rampart Base, how do you read?" He dug out his clothes shears from his hip holster and tapped Marco on the knee with them. Lopez snatched them up and got Diane out of her soaked sweater top and sport bra as fast as he could. The wool was barely parted out of the way when Kelly began aggressive CPR on her. Stoker took over her blood dampened head and started using the demand valve to give the girl full, active ventilations on 100% pure oxygen. "I've got good chest rise.." Chet confirmed, when it was time for delivered breaths a fraction of a minute later. Roy let go of Diane's neck. "And I've been getting a pulse with compressions. Keep them fast and even while I get the ET ready. Stoker, don't skimp on her. Get up to a rate around thirty." "Vince.." Gage said. "Get a good look at the stuff on the table. Is it heroin for sure?" "Yeah. Fraid so. I pegged it by the smell. How's she doing?" "She missed a vein and got an artery instead. That's where I found that needle. She literally fried herself. Doesn't look good." Johnny said, gelling up the paddles. "Ok, Chet. I'm set. Wipe her dry with her shirt." Kelly hastened to get the dripping sweat off of her chest as fast as he could. "Ok.. I'm done." Johnny laid the two handgrip electrodes on Diane and confirmed the lack of a viable beat scrolling on the screen. "V-fib confirmed." He moved his thumbs to the shock triggers. "Everybody clear?" Everyone was and Gage pushed the paddles down firmly with the countershock as he pressed the buttons derisively to activate one. Diane Hart lifted off the floor and jumped. Johnny let the defib sensors connect with her skin again afterwards to see what the monitor showed as a response to the shock. "Nothing.. Guys start up on her again while we're waiting for the recharge." Kelly and Stoker did. "Roy, stir them up over there sometime soon." he said of the still as yet unanswered radio transmission. "She's not capturing in the slightest. Now shocking times two.." He warned everybody and again Diane's torso jolted upwards under the paddles. Johnny studied the manual readouts for long moments. "No conversion. Still coarse V-Fib." "I.C. epinephrine?" Stoker asked Gage. "As soon as we can get it. The doc may order narcan by tube first 'cause we have to cut down on her high before we can use any other stim med on her." he answered. DeSoto got through his abbreviated report to Dr. Morton a half minute later "...second time to no effect. Police confirmed heroin use. Self administered arterially. Guessing around ten mils free based. Previously fighting enough to break her left ankle." Roy could hear Morton letting go a sigh of great sympathy over the phone line. ## 51, intubate her endotracheally after one more minute of CPR. Give her 0.8 mgs Narcan with a 10cc bolus of ringers lactate with normal saline by ET. Then countershock once again. Give me a strip as soon as possible. I'll order cardiac meds once I see how this works. Use caution if you restore a normal sinus rhythm. She may regain complete consciousness quickly on you and injure herself on the breathing tube by struggling again.## "10-4. 0.8 milligrams Naloxone ET and countershock with EKG strip. Stand by.." Johnny prepared the narcan bolus by connecting two air evacuated syringe halves together. He held the injector in between his teeth as he applied the heart monitor pads they would need to send Diane's telemetry to Dr. Morton. Hank hooked up the wires while Stoker, Roy and Chet got Diane airway secured and drug antidote treated. "Stop CPR a sec." he ordered his two crewmates when he saw Roy was waiting with a tooth blade guide. "I've got cords.." DeSoto said using the laryngoscope. He threaded down the thick milk colored airway until he was sure it was in the right place. Then he nodded. Stoker shot two slow ventilations through the tube while Roy listened carefully with his stethoscope in a couple of places to hear lung sounds. Not yet satisfied, he pulled up on the tube an inch to get rid of some dead sound over the right side of Diane's chest. Breaths soon entered well after that and Gage quickly followed up with the Narcan injection down the tube. Roy listened as it trickled completely into her lungs. "Ok, Mike. Hyperventilate her. Chet, keep going. Give CPR until Johnny's ready to shock her." Kelly relocated a careful landmark for his gloves and started up again. Johnny waited until the medication had absorbed. Then he cleared everyone and defibrillated firmly for the third time. The green indicator shot up on the datascope and wavered for long moments from the broad leaping electrical effect but then the tracer slipped into a horizontal level unremarkably. "Flatline..." Gage said. Roy got on the phone. "Flatline post narcan, Rampart. Sending you a strip on lead two.." Chet Kelly grunted as he worked. "Marco, on fifteen, switch with me. My gloves are getting too slippery on this stuff." he said of the defib gel and the debris that he had wiped from between her lips. "Ok.." And Lopez knelt over Diane, too. "I'll scrub her off during the next vent cycle and I'll take over." Mike Morton studied the monitor intently. The cardiac signs looked clearly mortibound. ##51, Give 1 mg. epinephrine I.C. followed up with one amp sodium bicarb by Normal Saline I.V. but only if a venipuncture's successful. Countershock one more time. If we still don't get a recapture, continue CPR. After one minute, administer another Narcan to airway bolus of 1 mg, then transport as soon as possible. Don't waste time with that fracture on scene. Immobilize and treat any other trauma she might have sustained from fighting, en route.## Roy repeated his orders to the doctor. ##10-4, 51. What's the ETA on your ambulance?## The siren outside slowed and fell away as it died. "They're here right now, Rampart.." replied Roy. Johnny quickly got out the long needled syringe of epinephrine and prepared it. Gage stabbed it home into Diane's left ventricle after calling for a cessation in CPR so he could deliver it safely to her heart without harming himself or anyone else. Then he defibrillated the girl for the fourth time. Diane jerked but her heart didn't begin beating afterwards. DeSoto reported in. "No recapture, Rampart." ##I confirm, 51. Switch to an oxygenated ambu after your second Narcan dose. Get her in here as fast as you can.## Morton said gently. ##We'll see what more we can do once she's in.## "10-4, doc. I estimate our ETA in nine minutes." Roy sighed. Captain Stanley and Chet began packaging up all the medical gear. Kelly had plastic bagged his gloves up and he wore the bundle hanging from a turnout snap out of the way for later cleaning. He handed Stoker one for his soiled pair when Roy final took over Diane's ventilations on a bag valve mask. The ambulance attendants quickly loaded up Diane, leaving her bare from the waist up for unimpeded continued CPR. Lopez stood on the bottom rail of her gurney to work on her nonstop while they wheeled Diane out to the driveway. Cap jerked a head at Kelly. "Take the squad in after them." he ordered. "Radio me if they have to make a stop for further care." "Right, Cap." said Chet. An ambulance attendant and Gage took over for Roy and Lopez's tasks once they reached the waiting Mayfair. Stoker and Hank hefted a second O2 tank and regulator from the engine for the paramedics to use for the trip along with the squad gear boxes, and the defibrillator case. They slapped the back of the rig twice in a signal once they had sealed up the hatch latches of the ambulance doors after Roy and Johnny got settled around Diane. They returned to the house and began to clean the bedroom free of all the papers and plastic wrappers from the medications that had been used on Diane. They were careful to not disturb much else in the room, knowing that it was now a crime scene. "Are you going to come with us in case she makes a turn around recovery in transit?" Cap asked Vince. "She may have a few interesting things to say about where she got her dope." "Nah, I'm going to stick around here for the backup I just called to case out the house. Who knows how much drug money or heroin's lying around." he said. "With that front door in shreds, somebody's got to watch the place until the DEA muscles in." "Suit yourself. I'll make sure Roy and Johnny make a statement, if she does come to, for you to check out later." "Appreciate it, Hank." "Anytime. See ya.." Cap waved wearily. "Come on, Stoker, Lopez. Let's go home." "I think we watched a woman die on us in there, Mike." Lopez said to Stoker once Cap had left them to go climb back into the Ward. They heard him say the station was still unavailable for another hour, until Diane's follow up run was over. "I think you're right, Marco. She was probably dead the moment she started screaming for help from that bedroom closet." Stoker whispered sadly. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A K-12 saw on the ground. Photo: A frightened woman in a dark closet. Photo: A woman struggling with Roy and Johnny. Photo: Vince and ambulances attendants loading a woman on a gurney with Cap nearby. Photo: Roy on the biophone in a bedroom, close- sad. Photo: Flatline on an EKG monitor. Photo: Johnny preparing a narcan bolus. Photo: A closeup of a narcan med bottle. ************************************************************************************ From: Cassidy Meyers Date: Wed Jun 22, 2005 10:14 pm Subject: Alone.. Al the ambulance attendant heard the slam of the Mayfair's rear doors and immediately, he flipped on the sirens and checked for his clearance before slowly pulling away from the street's curbside. "Is she intubated already?" he asked Roy, who was nearest his peep window. "Just disturbin ya to see if there's a chance we'll need to stop along the way. Dispatch wants to know." DeSoto didn't look up from the compressions Johnny was delivering to the young junkie nor did they stray off the EKG monitor turned to face him in the captain's chair. "She's as set as she's gonna get. But try your best to avoid the bumps. This's gonna be a long CPR and we all gotta last until we reach Rampart." he said of Johnny, Al's partner, and himself. "You got it." said Al. "I'll go a way that's big and easy. Along Santa Monica Boulevard. It'll be faster than the freeway this time of day that's for sure." And the window snicked shut between them. Johnny was already drenched in sweat maintaining the rhythm. He grunted, fighting to keep his depth correct despite the jolting the Mayfair's travel was giving him where he stood over the stretcher and the girl's chest. "Roy, you going again?" asked Flint, the other ambulance attendant. "Morton didn't tell us not to try and zap her back." "You ......read....between.....the......lines.......pretty......good." gasped Gage. "Ever thought of.....joining the para....paramedic.....program? Give her some. That's fifteen again." he reminded the bigger man. Flint bagged Diane twice on the oxygen even as he pulled her lips back to check for any sign of fluid or material working its way back into her mouth. "Nah,..don't have the brain for all those medical calculations and I.V. ratios. Guess I'm too old a dog to learn new tricks." said the salty haired man. DeSoto punched the defib button once again, calling it out himself so Johnny could concentrate on pacing himself and keep on breathing without getting light headed from his exertions. "Charging.. One, two, three, four... Clear?" Gage sat back onto the cushioned bench, keeping his hands well away from the gurney frame. "We're clear." Roy shocked full charge, making it the fifth of the run. Flint began rebagging while they waited for the outcome on the screen. The lit needle danced high and settled into course V-Fib. "Well, that's an improvement.." Gage said, resuming CPR. "Least her heart's getting irritable again." he said breathing hard. "Flint, take over..I'll trade with ya. Roy's gotta stay free to try and get in an I.V. line on her somewhere." He shifted places and Flint swept Gage's hands away and set his down without missing a beat. Johnny was sopping wet and he turned the air on in the ambulance full blast until it blew on all three of them. "Found any veins yet, Roy? The epinephrine's done all that it's gonna do until we get her blood neutralized a little better." DeSoto spoke from around a needle cover set in his teeth. "Yeah, goin' for a jugular stick. Seems she's been too chicken to shoot up there. Just about everywhere else has been scarred too badly to use." Carefully, Johnny turned the young woman's face away from Roy's knee until the side of her throat was exposed at the proper angle without jeopardizing the endotracheal airway's alignment any. He bagged unconsciously with his left hand, while his right wiped off his face on a sleeve. Gage checked the positioning of the broken ankle. It had fallen off the bed on loading. He shifted it back into place by grabbing some pant leg as a sling and he flipped it up until it lay alongside the other foot. Roy called for Flint to halt his compressions while he attempted the deep neck vein that was still flat from lack of circulation. His long years of experience paid off and rewarded him with a feeble flashback. "Ok, got it." he said, planting two fingers over the catheter as he withdrew the needle. He let the blood run out freely until he was able to snap the normal saline I.V. line into its hub and tape it off tightly. He used a soft cervical collar to safeguard the site and a second one underneath her shoulders to keep Diane's head tilted back enough to not kink the tube in her jugular vein. "Bicarb's going in.." he announced. "Johnny, how long since her last Narcan dose?" "Two minutes, twenty seconds." "I got her next one right here." he said, He bit the cover on its fluid needle off. And then he handed it over to Gage, from its niche in a fold of her bloody pillow where he had placed it earlier. "ET'll be faster still. I'll check to see if she's aspirated any after this is in." Flint pinwheeled at a sharp turn and caught himself on the wall to avoid injuring Diane. "Whoa! Take it easy up there, Al! I almost broke a few ribs here.." he snarled. "Sorry, something's holding up traffic. I had ta slam on the brakes big time." came his partner Al's muffled reply from the front. Flint shook his head in frustration and quickly started up compressions again, stamping his foot on the floor to rid himself of a cramp twisted up his back. Gage noticed, "Wanna trade off?" "No, you're still giving out them meds. I'll call it when she's been defibbed twice more." said the older man. "We could be at the hospital by then.." reasoned Roy. "Fine by me. I'm still fresh. This girl's only our first call of the day, so use me to your best advantage fellas, while you can." Flint said levelly. Despite of his best care, another dip in the road made his finger laced hands slip downward too deep and a rib snapped audibly along Diane's breastbone. "Sorry, hon." he said automatically, without looking up. "Damn streets. You'd think the city would remember us ambulance people come legislation day and budget in even more than the usual meager repair funds. They don't realize how much pain we cause folks by running over the bad spots. There adds at least two more days in the hospital for you, dear thing. I am trying to be careful." he told his patient. Gage and Roy didn't pay any attention to Flint's venting. They were deep in lung assessments and listening to the biophone for more orders. "Rampart, bicarb's in. Still no vital signs. Request permission for atropine." Roy asked. Morton countered immediately. ##Go ahead, 51. One milligram IVP every three to five minutes to a total of .04 mgs per cubic kilogram. Give her another countershock afterwards. That narcan loading should start to do something for you real soon if it hasn't already. Our success of defibrillation's gonna decrease dramatically with the passage of time if she continues her ischemic slide downwards. The progressive imbalance in her myocardial oxygen supply and demand will kill her in less than ten minutes if we don't see some positive progress soon. I want to see a live rate in two, 51. You've got nothing better to do now since you've already countered all the heroin in her blood. Pick it up, boys. Use 0.5 milligrams epi this time I.V. along with the atropine or we're gonna lose her before you hit the freeway.## "10-4, Rampart. 1.0 mg atropine piggybacked with 0.5 mg epi, both IVP." Roy said quickly. He was just as determined as the audibly frustrated Morton to save the young woman. He couldn't push a thought away from the back of his mind. ::What if it was the pile of clothes falling on her that pushed the heroin plunger down too deep and not Diane herself? Then all of this mess is actually accidental and not the usual desperate druggie's attempted suicide, if that's the case. She'll fight hard to come back even if we give her just one more chance to make it.:: The Mayfair was only crawling now, at less than twenty miles an hour. Gage snapped. "What's the hold up?!" he shouted to the front. Al said, "Traffic jam. The ramp's a parking lot, Johnny. I don't know why the cars are like this. Dispatch said there's nothing going on up ahead." Flint frowned and a drop of sweat rolled off his nose and landed on the back of his hands. "That's strange." he said, keeping up his CPR until the paramedics were set to defibrillate Diane again. "It's nowhere near rush hour." Roy looked up out of the window from where he sat timing the wide open I.Vs drops when he saw the road sign that bore his namesake flash by. Only it wasn't the comforting inside joke it normally was for all of them seeing the avenue bearing his last name. For the mountains behind it, were gone. "Holy---" DeSoto exclaimed, almost dropping the paddles he was re-gelling. "Roy? What's wrong? Go ahead and get her again. It's charged to four." Gage said sharply. "Keep it together. Take care of her, and then tell me." Roy framed the sticky paddles once more, and fired them off. Diane frighteningly re-animated as soon as her heart started pulsing again following Roy's shock, and she continued where she had left off, falling right back into the superhuman mode that had so scared all of them in the house. Her violent gyrations to fight and spit out her airway, threatened the very gurney straps that held her down onto the bed. DeSoto shouted as both Flint and he threw themselves on top of Diane to pin her down. She choked and air popped loudly around the endotrach tube in her throat, as there was no possible way for her to talk being tubed as she was. "Pull over!" Roy ordered. Al did so. Gage drew out his HT to Chet. "Chet! She's fighting! Get in here!" But the rear doors didn't snatch open like Johnny wanted them to. There was a long pause of dead air over the walkie talkie. Then came Kelly's voice. ##Oh mother of g*d. Johnny! Roy! The whole mountain's come down up ahead in La Conchita! The whole friggin' hillside!## "Roy, what's he talking about? Diane! Diane!! If you can hear me, don't pull out this tube! It'll damage your voice box! We'll numb ya up just hang on a second. Diane? Do you understand me?" said Johnny. Diane went on struggling, oblivious to her surroundings. And her eyes never tracked nor focused on anybody's face. "Brain damage?" Flint asked as he got her arms back down at her sides. To calm her, he covered her completely with a light sheet up to the neck. "It's ok, it's all right. We're taking ya to the hospital to get that junk outta your system, hon." Diane's severe agitation didn't ease in the slightest. In fact, it was growing worse. The three men soon found that they weren't able to hold her at all. Until Kelly finally got the urgency of Johnny's message about their patient and tugged the Mayfair's doors open. Swiftly, he used his turnout jacket as an improvised reverse straight jacket and used its snaps to cocoon Diane's writhing body under the railings by fastening each fastener around the bars like a world war II canvas stretcher. Johnny was freed up to hold Diane's head firmly around the C-collar Roy had applied earlier to protect the girl's I.V. "Who gave you that idea? It's working, Chet! Roy.." "Yeah, I know.. Get her sedation order.." DeSoto gasped, sweeping sweat soaked hair out of his eyes. Morton beat him to the punch. ##51, I'm getting no cardiac signal anymore from your end. I'm gonna guess that she's now combative. Treat her agitation with chlorpromazine, 25 mg I.V.## Before the paramedics could move, Diane jerked her hands up and yanked, with both sets of fingers, at her loosely taped mouth piece. A flood of bright blood fountained up as her unthinking reaction caused the inflated balloon at the base of the endotracheal tube to tear away the soft structures on the inside of her throat. Hart gagged and vomited weakly as her pressure suddenly plummeted and her eyes rolled up to their white undersides. The heartbeat still registering on the monitor slowed from its racing tach into a vagal reflex brady rate of thirty. Diane went limp. Kelly yelled in fear and fluttered to unhook his jacket from around the girl as the others rolled her sideways to drain out the gushing flood of fresh blood. Roy listened to Diane's chest with a fast ear. "The tube's completely obstructed! Get it out!" Gage rapidly deflated the ET and drew it free to suction out Diane's blood filled windpipe."D*mmit! She must be a long time user. It took only the three Narcan doses to put her into waking withdrawal. She ripped herself up even before we could even think of sedating her.:" he said angrily. "Flint?" "She's not breathing anymore." the attendant reported from where he rested Diane's stomach across his chest where he knelt, using his body to keep her tipped onto her side. Gage got out an antibite ring to hold Diane's teeth apart, then he used just the ambu to drive some badly needed oxygen back into her lungs without moving her position. But soon, Diane began to gurgle from all the blood that was bleeding out of her ruined throat and it flowed too rapidly for the suction wand to pull away despite of Roy and Johnny's best efforts to clear it. The heartbeat on the monitor started speeding up into rapid v-tach as profound shock set in. Gage dug a hand into her carotid. "Pulseless ventricular rhythm. Flint, let her go. We gotta--" "I heard. I'm on it yesterday.." the attendant sighed sadly and he resumed active CPR once more over the girl's bruised breastbone. "I was afraid of this kind of thing happening. She must've taken the entire mixed ten mg's I thought I saw her take." said Johnny. "Now, she's bleeding to death for her troubles." Roy replugged in the EKG monitor feed that had been disconnected from the biophone in all the struggling. He handed Johnny a short oropharyngeal airway for him to insert once he felt he could stop suctioning Diane in between bagged breaths. "Dr. Morton. Our victim went into acute withdrawal syndrome up to consciousness. But we've lost her airway. Damage is severe. I am estimating around six hundred cc's blood loss. Now ceased due to a return to an acute cardiac arrested condition. We're reading a pulseless ventricular tachycardia. " ## I confirm, 51. Continue the best you can. Stop all medications and maintain the patient's circulation and breathing manually. I'll see you in a few minutes.## Roy and Johnny felt their world suddenly contract around them. "Uh,, negative, Rampart. There's been a massive landslide a few blocks away from what we can see. All routes leading to you are most likely blocked off." Roy reported. There was a dead silence from the other end of the phone line. "51, re-route to another hospital then. Who's closest from your current position?" "Rampart, we're in a gridlock. There's too many panicking people out here." said DeSoto as he peered out the side window of the ambulance. "I don't think we'll be able to go anywhere fast, anytime soon, doc." A fierce pounding startled him when a hand slapped his window and drew open the door at the back. It was a bystander, from one of the many blocked in automobiles now surrounding them. "Hey, guys! There's a lot of hurt people just ahead. A mudflow's covering the road. We're clearing a path for ya!" said the construction worker. "Come on!" "Look, mister! We can't." Johnny started to say. "We already got a p--" But the man had already swung the doors shut in their faces. They saw him waving animatedly through the back windows for them to follow behind him as he ran towards the wall of gray dust rising above them. The Mayfair was shoved sideways from an unexpected jolt from the left. A giant fist of earth and rock rolled over them. It soon blocked out the sun, plunging the Mayfair and its suddenly overwhelming CPR plight, into semi-darkness. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A cloud of dust over a DeSoto Ave sign over the freeway. Photo: Al the ambulance driver, looking back in fear. Photo: Roy falling inside an ambulance away from an intubated patient. Photo: Johnny ventilating a victim receiving CPR in a rig. Photo: A mountain landslide in La Conchita, eating a road. Photo: That same slide, swallowing roads from the hilltop. ******************************************************************* From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Thu Jun 23, 2005 10:22 am Subject: It's Not Nice To Mess With Mother Nature~~ Al began shouting, "Everybody out! This is a rock fall! Not mud! Grab what you can!" cried the ambulance driver and he rushed to the back of the Mayfair. Chet Kelly paused only for a moment at the sight of huge boulders rolling down the coastal road from the mountain. Any one of them could've crushed a bus without stopping. He ran for the squad to move it closer. "Get her on! Then climb aboard." he shouted. "We're getting outta here!" Johnny and Roy grabbed the squad gear, throwing tanks and cases on top of Diane's gurney in between her strapped legs. Flint hesitated. "What's he talking about?" as he kept up CPR. "We're evacuating before the next wave of debris hits us. Something else's giving way on that hillside out there!" Gage coughed. He snatched a spare french 6.0 from the supply rack and jammed it under Diane's pillow for later reinsertion for her new airway. He hefted up the engine's oxygen supply and they got out of there. The five of them got Diane lifted onto the top of the squad, stretcher and all, that nestled into the air bottle gap storage firmly. Chet fled in the squad then, carrying them, using the route the excited witness that told them about. Behind them in the mirrors, he saw the Mayfair get swept off the road by a twenty ton boulder that tumbled down noisily from the nearby slide a few seconds after they had started moving. Soon, Chet parked on a section of ground he knew was stable. "There's no pistol butt trees here. See? None of these trees are warping yet. I'm stopping!" he shouted to those clinging on top of the squad. Diane was lifted from the squad in between CPR sets, and the entire group headed for a grassy slope that was undisturbed by substrate shifting. They placed her, head side downhill, while they worked to keep her going, so her lungs would drain out even more. Roy stood long enough to get his bearings and call for their nearest help over his HT. "Squad 51 to Engine 51! Do you read me?" His mind was still reeling with disbelief at the moving chaos flowing around their island of calm earth. ##This is Captain Stanley, HT 51. What's your situation?## "Mudslide in La Conchita has destroyed our ambulance. We've no injuries. We need backup CPR assistance. Other casualties are being reported in our immediate area. Uh,..From what I can see, your best approach will be from the beach access road until you reach the edge of town. We're on the south side near the water tower, with the squad." he said to ease Cap's worries about another vehicle loss. "This slide's huge. I see at least, a dozen homes disintegrating." ##10-4, S quad 51. We've just received word from L.A. about La Conchita. Hang tight, pal. We're on the way.## said Hank. Chet smiled when he heard the airhorn blast briefly over the channel. "Remind me to hug Stoker when all this is over, Roy." "You're gonna haveta get in line, Chet, after us.." said Gage. "Flint, need a switch out yet?" he said giving Diane another easy breath on the ambu. "I'm good for a while yet." the man said. "Now what? You've lost your antennae link when the Mayfair disappeared. That biophone won't work very well in this low spot of ours." Roy checked over the defibrillator to read its power level for if and when they decided to try and use it again on Diane. "We'll improvise." he said, without smiling. "Joe Early has been preparing us for just this kind of communication isolating circumstances." he said, rechecking the flow of I.V. fluid to Diane. He rehooked up the EKG pads that had fallen off in the commotion. "We've recently been given broader decision making powers with a new brainstorm project of Dr. Brackett's." "What kind of brainstorming?" asked Chet, using the suction wand to help Johnny work his vents a little better. "We've new procedures being put into place. They're called standing orders. They're doctor's instructions given out in advance to fit specific medical findings in any given situation so we won't always be tied to the phone for confirmations and permissions. Johnny and I were going to drill on them this afternoon with Dr. Early to make sure we had them committed to memory all right. Now we're here." Roy explained. "So we don't need the biophone any more?" Al asked, taking off Diane's sock to begin splinting the broken foot as best he could with a piece of wood he had found. "Not now. It's dead. We need just additional help to care for anyone ELSE we find in trouble. We got our engine coming. And she's just three minutes or so behind us." Gage nodded. "How can you tell that? I didn't hear you get a time estimation.." frowned Al. "The airhorn blew three times over the transmission. It's Stoker's way to tell us an ETA when somebody else's talking over the HT. Something we set up a while ago." Kelly smiled. Kelly knelt down by Diane's side. "Johnny. What do you want me to do? I got the O2 tank ya got out with ya cracked and set on wait. But that's the last suction reservoir. Sorry. Didn't think we'd need more than the one on her." "Be Flint's trade when he says he's tired. Roy and I have to work out something." Gage replied, nodding. Kelly nodded and got busy. Johnny watched Roy drag the drugbox closer to their knees. He squeezed the ambu bag a little faster without realizing it. "Roy, you're not doing it." "Doing what? I'm just getting out another roll of gauze for when we reintubate her." DeSoto said. But his fingers brushed over a bretylium syringe briefly. "We can't use any more medication on her. Morton's live order supercedes any of Brackett's standing ones." Gage reasoned. "I think....." he frowned. Roy glared at his partner. "You of all people should know me, I'm like Craig Brice, I usually follow the book to the letter, only second best to him. But consider where we are, Johnny. If we find even one unconscious breathing victim from the slide, we'll have to abandon Diane here in favor of their better chances for survival. We're on triage ground now." Gage blanched at that, glancing down at Diane's still beautiful face. "I know that. I thought we'd have more time to--" "I know. I thought that, too. But look at the monitor, Johnny. She's asystole again. And with pulmonary artifact this time from all the blood in her lungs. She's so full of rales I'd be surprised if any oxygen is reaching her at all anymore. Her pupils are blown and unresponsive. Even in this sunlight. We have to make a decision about her and hope that Dr. Brackett's experimental protocol is concrete enough to save our butts afterwards. Before we are officially locked down by fire department triage orders. Now are you with me or not?" DeSoto said, licking his lips. "Make a choice now 'cause I see a whole lot of people coming our way and some of those being carried, aren't moving at all." Gage looked up, startled. And saw that it was true. Patients were coming to them from the disaster site, zeroing in on the only help they could see, the red flashing squad. "Bretylium, ok, drawing up 5 cc's for IVP. Roy, she IS dead already but we've three other witnesses attesting to the second flatline and we've the paper strip as our bargaining chip to go ahead with another attempt. Let's do it.. If we're gonna get fired and jailed, I can think of no better cell mate to have, than you. Chet! Hit the defib recharge, we're trying again!" "Ok, Johnny. I'll re-gel the paddles for ya." Chet replied. DeSoto prepared the D5W I.V. that they would need and he tried very hard to stop his hands from shaking. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cap Stanley and Marco and Stoker raced the Ward up from the beachhead along the same street where they could see the red dot of Squad 51 in the distance. She was parked hastily angled on the only road not jumbled forty feet high with debris. She came trailing hose for the hydrants that were sticking out of the ground abundantly all aroundJohnny, Roy and the others. Hank stepped out of the cab to give Battalion the short and thorough of what he was seeing in the neighborhood. "Battalion One. Engine 51 is on scene. I'm estimating a slide a quarter of a mile wide. It has spilled over a row of houses half a block long. No fire is in evidence but we're setting up in anticipation of gas leaks. We're 10-6 with 51's casualties on the corner of...... Topanga Canyon Drive and Rocky Peak Road." ##10-4, Engine 51. Sending a helicopter evac to your location as soon as one's available. Keep me posted.## Cap Stanley knelt down by his paramedics where they were working over Diane. "Is the squad damaged much? She's awfully dusty." "No.." replied Chet. "But that Mayfair may be leaking some. We watched it get carried off the road twenty five yards that way by a river of mud." Kelly said jerking his head so he could keep going on his CPR. "That won't be a problem for now. Being buried means no air will be around to ignite anything. I'm satisfied. What do you need here?" He saw that the paddles had been used twice more on the strip growing by the foot off the monitor. But the indicator still showed no signs of electrical activity. At his question, Roy and Johnny's body language, fell subtly. "A tarp to cover her." said Roy quietly. "What?!" said Chet. "You guys just can't quit on her like this.. Don't you need a doctor's order to pronounce somebody?" he hissed, still working hard to keep on circulating Diane's blood. Gage ignored him. "Cap, Roy and I have another victim right there." he said, pointing to a pale boy looking like a cardiac case stretched on the ground on the other side of Diane's stretcher. He was breathing but the manual read from the paddles showed him to be throwing off what even Cap recognized as multiple PVC's. Cap was no nonsense. "Are you absolutely sure of this, you two?" His unspoken statement questioning the basis for their rational hung silent on the dusty air. Johnny was grateful that he didn't ask anything sensitive out loud. He knew Cap knew about the experimental protocols newly put into place by Brackett as he had been the one to field the phone call from Joe Early asking for a date to set for testing Roy and Johnny out on them. "Yeah. We've done all that we can do for her. She's max'd out on limits for all the drugs we're allowed to give anyone in her situation. He comes first now." Roy said, not looking at Hank directly. Kelly started protesting. "Captain, no! That's stupid! I'm not needed yet. And neither are these two.." he said of Al and Flint. "Let us work her until we can't anymore. We owe Diane at least that much more. I'm sure her family would appreciate it in the long run.." he glared at Roy and Johnny. "Who knows? She may come back again." Cap sighed in exasperation. "Kelly! I can't let y--- " But then he saw the fresh haunted look of weighty stress dragging down his two paramedics, and he relented. "..ok, but the three of ya are through the second another unconscious makes it over here. I'm sorry but she's gonna have to be lifted off of that gurney so they can change the sheets and get it set for the little boy. A triage station's setting up down the block and we're gonna need the stretcher to get him there. I'm saving all our stokes for future victims we may have to dig outta this mess later on." he pointed out sharply. "You got that tank of O2 only, and that's it, Kelly." "Enough for me, Cap. We'll be under that tree and my HT will be on." he promised. Diane's head was stretched out on the soft earth for only a couple of moments when Chet jerked his hands off of her chest and started screaming. Flint and Al likewise leaped up and began peeling their clothes off rapidly. "AhHHH! Sh**t!" Hank ran to them. "What's wrong?!" Chet writhed on the ground, rolling. "Fire ants. Aww, man.. Get em off! Get em off!! AhhhhHHH! I'm burning from their stings or something!" Cap dragged Chet clear of the large pile of dirt that Diane had been inadvertantly set upon and he immediately called for a fire hose to spray the three men down to get rid of the attacking ants as fast as possible. From his new angle he could see the warning shape of an ant nest that hadn't been clearly obvious until just then. He was horrified anew right along with Chet. "I'm sorry, pal. Stay still. We'll get em off in a minute. Looks like your turnout kept most of them off. Marco's washing down the ambulance attendants. No. Don't move until I'm done getting you soaked down. Don't worry about them. Let me get you taken care of first. Marco's covering them. Hold still now. Any get under your clothes?" Chet sputtered under the water stream. "No...they just got my hands and arms and a few crawled into my hair. Sh*t these hurt like the son of a mother. Ugh! Cap, as soon as I'm done we can get back there an--" he broke off, seeing the thick carpet of red feathery ants now swarming over and stinging the body of Diane Hart. His horror shattered into nausea and he looked away. "Oh, my G*d. Cap..." he sobbed. "Come away, pal. There's nothing else we can do. If we spray around, getting her off that mound, that whole colony will come out and attack all of us, including them..." he said pointing to where Roy and Johnny were working hard to save their second victim. "And we can't allow that. I'm sorry it had to happen like this. Believe me, no one's more sorry than I am right now." "Cap, isn't she more important? We had her first.." "Shh.. pay attention to me. Don't look at Diane. Stoker's covering her up. We're through. Now refresh my memory.. Are you allergic to bee stings? Fire ants are in the bee family if I remember my first aid training right." Cap said. His eyes swept over the many raised white pustules coming out thickly on Chet's hands and arms and at the red flushed color rising around them. "Uh,,, I .. d-- I can't think straight right now." Chet gasped, still hunched in a ball of pain. "I think they're still trying to bite me!" "I got em all off. Let's just get you to a dry spot." ::And away from Diane Hart's body.:: Caplead him away from the puddle of water which was drowning the ants that had been washed off Kelly's skin. Kelly let himself be supported and sat back down as soon as he hit the curbside. His legs wouldn't allow him to stand for any longer. "Chet, you're shivering. Take my jacket." Hank said peeling his off and giving it to him. "I'll have Johnny or Roy come over and give you a once over on vitals as soon as that cardiac's stabilized. You sure you can breathe ok? Is your throat getting tight any?" Chet's was, but not from any ant venom. It was from soul pain, and that, he knew, would remain with him, for many many days. He answered Cap by coughing wetly and with a small wheeze. He started crying and gasping uncontrollably, in his grief. "Easy, Chet. Just relax. I'll have someone over here for you just as soon as I can. Marco! How are they?" he shouted, asking about the ambulance attendants, who were down to their boxers and t-shirts, standing soaked underneath wrapped blankets. "They're fine. Shaken, but they're not stung as bad as Chet. They're refusing to see anyone for further care. They only got a couple of stings each." Lopez replied. "Understood." Hank counted a quick pulse in Chet's neck as he sat next to him. Kelly didn't even seem to notice his touch. " Marco. Come stay with Chet for a while and keep him company." Cap ordered."I have to get going on the landslide." "Right, Cap." As Marco went by, Hank grabbed his arm. "He's busted up over losing the drug victim. He got symptoms but I don't think he's anaphylactic. But go get the O2 if you feel he's getting shocky past this mild stuff. Keep tabs on his consciousness level." Lopez gave a look of sympathy for the dead woman and he crossed himself and said a fervent prayer for her. "I will, Cap. I won't let him stay sick like that without treatment." Marco went to be a friend for his shattered co-worker for a few minutes and before he knew it, something else called him away. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Boulder rolled onto the road. Photo: A fireant mound. Photo: Stung hands. Photo: Fire ant sting whealed arms. Photo: Chet falling in pain in turnout and helmet. Photo: Roy getting out of an ambulance in a hurry. Photo: Cap peering at something in brush turnout. Photo: Roy and Johnny treating a kid on a hillside. ************************************************** From: "Derrick" Date: Fri Jun 24, 2005 1:24 am Subject: In Certain Terms : It's Not Nice To Mess With Mother Nature . " Marco , Marco ! " Gage yelled . The boy had slipped into v-fib as Johnny and Roy were working on him and they needed and extra hand to help with ventilations as Johnny and Roy started CPR and defibrillation . ::Oh God now what ? Not the boy !:: Marco thought to himself before he went up the hill to help care for the boy who was now slipping away from Johnny and Roy's hands . " Waddya need ?! " Marco shouted back . " Get up here . Take control of his airway. He's in v-fib ! " shouted Gage . " All right . " Marco shouted ." Stay right there, Chet , I'll be right back . " Marco said to his pal . " Just get back here . " replied Chet . " Cap! Gage and DeSoto need my help with the boy. He's getting worse . " Marco said to Captain Stanley as he passed by him on his way to help Johnny and Roy . " All right. Go . I will keep an eye on Chet when I can." Hank replied . Marco charged up the hill and took over ventilations from Roy . Roy went to use his HT and he called into Dr. Brackett through L.A.'s frequency in an emergency patch. Roy : "Rampart base , County 51" . Dr . Brackett : ##Go ahead, 51 , this is Rampart .## Roy : " Patient update , 10 year old male in respiratory distress due to an asthma attack . We have placed him on high flow O2 at 15 liters per pediatric non-rebreather mask and have given him 1:1,000 epinephrine SQ . As we were attempting I.V . D5/W , patient went into v-fib . We do have CPR in progress and we're attempting to defibrillate at 60 joules . We will be preparing to intubate . Any further instructions ? " Dr . Brackett : ##51 , go ahead and intubate and continue resuscitative efforts . Administer 3ccs 1: 10,000 Epinephrine I.V. If he does not respond from the three initial shocks . Go ahead and administer 60mgs 2% Lidocaine I.V. Defibrillate 30 to 60 seconds after each dose . Contact us if anything changes . ## Roy : "Copy Rampart , intubate and continue CPR followed by 3ccs 1:10,000 epi I.V. If unresponsive, give 60mgs 2% Lidocaine I.V. and keep you posted . " Dr . Brackett : ##10-4 , 51. ## " Okay , charging 20 , 40 , 60 , CLEAR ! " Roy said . The defibrillator delivers a shock to the boy's heart as his small body jerks from the jolt of energy . Marco Lopez checks for a carotid pulse and tells the two paramedics , " No breathing , no pulse , continue CPR ." Johnny starts compressions again as Marco ventilates with the ambu bag . He notices the oropharyngeal airway in place as Roy hurriedly assembles the equipment necessary to facilitate intubation . He orders Marco to start hyperventilating the patient as he prepares and lubricates an endotracheal tube . Marco removes the oropharyngeal airway as Roy inserts a laryngoscope blade to visualize the vocal cords but he sees a very serious problem . "Oh sh*t." , exclaimed Roy . Marco and Johnny quickly glance up at Roy, not stopping their work as he continues , " His trachea is swelling shut and we may have to trach him . I bet he has pulmonary edema as well . " " Well , ..we are not gonna lose this boy ! " . Johnny said as he signaled to switch places with Marco . Roy gets back on the biophone/HT patch with Rampart to advise them of their new findings . Roy : " Rampart , County 51.." This time Dr . Joe Early answers the call on the second base station console as he had just completed a difficult cardiac case with Squad 14 . Dr . Early : ## Go ahead, 51 .## Roy : " Rampart , we have attempted to intubate and cannot due to tracheal edema . We are suspecting a development of possible pulmonary edema as well . We have defibrillated once with no conversion and have an I.V. D5/W established . We have not given any meds yet . " Dr . Early : ## 51 , give 60 mgs Solu-Medrol I.V. and keep us advised of any changes . Continue orders from Dr. Brackett. ## Roy : " Copy. 60mgs Solu-Medrol and keep you advised " . Dr. Early : ##10-4 , 51 ## . Johnny and Marco continue CPR on the boy as Roy prepares to administer the drug . He shoots it up the I.V. line and hopes that the swelling will subside soon so they will not have to end up having to do a trach . Roy decides to defibrillate again after two minutes have went by since the last shock . Roy says, " Charging , 20, 40, 60,80 , 100, 120 , CLEAR ! " Marco and Johnny get clear of the patient as another shock is delivered to attempt to convert the life-threatening arrythmia . All of the sudden, Captain Stanley calls to Johnny and Roy on their HT, that two more squads have arrived with three engines as help in their area . ##Squad 51 , HT 51.## " Squad 51 " . Johnny replied . ##We have more help arriving here, shortly . It will be Squads 36 and 45 , Engines 127 , 236 , and 18 . ETA... about 5 minutes . ## "Squad 51 , 10-4. " Gage replied . " Still no ambulances, Cap ?" ##Negative.## Captain Stanley replied . ##No helicopters either.## "No breathing , no pulse , continue CPR . " Marco replied . Roy pushed the button to charge the defibrillator again and again said " Charging 20 , 40 , 60 , 80 , 100 , 120 , CLEAR ! " Marco and Johnny backed off as another shock was delivered . There was still no breathing or pulse from the boy , but the guys were determined not to give up this time , not after all they had went through with Diane . Johnny and Marco started another round of CPR while Roy got the first dose of epinephrine ready to administer . As that was occurring , Flint and Al met up with them on the hill and Flint spoke , " We may have got bitten by fire ants , but at least we can give you a hand." "Great , you and Al take over CPR so Johnny and I can get to work on this kid." Roy said as he administered the epinephrine up the I.V. line . " Marco , go back and check up on Chet." " Gotcha . " replied Marco . " I sure hope that this boy will make it , and Chet will, too! See ya . " Roy and Johnny were so concentrated on their patient, that they completely ignored Marco's departure . Another shock was delivered to the boy's heart at 120 joules per second and still no response was noted . The swelling in the boy's trachea had decreased enough so Roy could successfully intubate the patient . They had administered the lidocaine I.V., when just seconds after the next shock was delivered , the monitor blipped . Gage : " Roy , we have activity on the monitor ! " Roy : " Okay , hold it a second ." The rate and wave strength increased on the monitor as the boy's color began to improve from deep cyanosis to a pale pink . He then tried to show signs of purposeful movement as his eyelids fluttered and hands trembled lightly . Gage noticed the boy's movements and said . " Roy , he's trying to wake up . He just fluttered his eyelids and his hands are moving a little ! " As Al was ventilating , he stopped to check for a pulse . " I have a pulse, guys , about 76 and increasing in strength . I think he's trying to breathe on his own ! " " Respirations 10 and labored. " Flint said . " Don't stop. Let's keep going and I'll get Rampart . " Roy replied . ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos : None. ************************************************************* From : Derrick Sent : Wednesday, June 29, 2005 4:50 AM Subject : The Recovery Effort " What is the BP Al " ? Roy said as he grabbed the biophone handle with his gloved hand . " 70 over 40 " . Al replied back . " 70 over 40 ? " asked Roy . " Correct . " Al nodded . Roy then speaks into the biophone's transmitter . "Rampart base , County 51." There was no answer for a few seconds and then Dr. Mike Morton, attired in surgical scrubs, responds. ##Unit calling Rampart, identify.## " Rampart , this is County 51 . We have another update on our patient . He is now exhibiting motor response by fluttering his eyelids and making purposeful movements with both hands . We now have vitals to follow . BP is 70/40. We have a pulse of 70 and slightly weak and thready , respirations are 10 and labored . He is now exhibiting sinus bradycardia on the monitor at 70 , oxygen saturation is now at 80% . Any other orders at this time ? " Dr . Morton : ##51, give another dose of 1:10,000 epinephrine I.V . at 30ccs followed by 60mgs Solu-Medrol I.V. Let us know if anything changes . ## Roy Desoto : " Copy, Rampart. Repeat epinephrine and Solu-Medrol and keep you advised of any changes . " Dr . Morton : ##10-4, 51.## Roy gets the medications out of the drug box and prepares to administer them while Gage does a sternal rub on the boy to try to ellicit another motor response from him . " Hey kid.. Kid! Can you hear me? Wake up ! " Mayfair ambulance attendant Flint is still ventilating the boy through the endotracheal tube and monitors his color which is still a pale pink . His partner Al, continues to monitor his vital signs and motor response. Johnny sees the boy trying to open his eyes again . His hands are now making more purposeful movement as his fingers make a clawing like figure then extend slowly out to their normal position . " Roy ! " Johnny exclaimed . " The boy moved again ! " Roy had just administered the dose of epinephrine and was about to administer the second dose of Solu-Medrol up the I.V . line when he said , " Johnny, is the motor response the same or different than the last time?" " He moved his fingers as if he was clawing at something then straightened them back out." Johnny replied . " Okay , Soul-Medrol is in. Let me try." Said Roy as he now knelt down beside the boy and gave another sternal rub . " Hey kid , kid ! Can you hear me ? Can you feel this ? Wake up ! " DeSoto shouted. The boy's eyelids then flickered and his fingers went into a clawtype position and straightened out again . Roy tried rubbing the boy's sternum again , " Hey kid , kid ! If you can hear me, move your fingers again ! " " Hey guys , vitals picking up." Al said . " Give 'em to us " . Johnny replied . Al felt for another carotid pulse and he said " Pulse 86 and regular. Stand by for BP " . Flint, who had been ventilating the patient, had observed the boy's facial color change to a slightly deeper pink then earlier before, and he said. " Come on little boy , breathe ! " Not soon enough , the boy's chest rose and he made a gasping sound and he jerked to life . " Hey hey ..Take it easy...We are here to help you ." Johnny said . " Al , Johnny , Flint , let's roll him over to his side . I'll get the suction and O2 ready . Johnny , get Rampart . What's his BP ? " Roy asked. Al said. "105/70. Pulse.. 86 and regular . He's sure looking good ! " " Okay , are we in position ? Lets roll him 1,2,3 . " Roy said as he got to the head of the patient as the two attendants and Johnny gently rolled the boy onto his side . Johnny heads over to the biophone as Flint disconnects the oxygen supply tubing from the Ambu Bag and attaches a pediatric non-rebreather mask that was capable of delivering 90 to 100 percent oxygen . In the meantime, Roy turns on the portable suction machine and tells the boy . " I want you to stay as still as possible . I am going to remove a tube that is inside of your windpipe that was put there to help you breathe . I need you to take a deep breath for me , okay ? " The boy tries to talk through the tube and makes muffled cries as Roy talks to him . ::There is a concern of how his mind and lungs will function after such an aggressive resuscitation..But if we can save just this one precious life in this disastrous situation , then our day was worth it .:: he thought. Johnny is witnessing the extubation procedure by his trusted partner, with the biophone in hand at the ready, if something else should go wrong with the boy . He now makes contact with the hospital . Johnny : "Rampart , County 51." A very tired Dr . Brackett answers the radio , ##Go ahead, 51 .## Johnny : " Rampart , update again on our patient that we initially contacted you about . We have administered another dose of epi and Solu-Medrol . Patient 's vital signs and level of consciousness have increased significantly . Vitals were BP 70/40 , pulse of 70 and thready , respirations were 8 to 10 and labored with an oxygen saturation of 80% . He was making purposeful movement upon painful stimuli by fluttering his eyelids and flexing fingers on both hands into a claw like position and extending them back into normal position " . " Vitals are now BP 105/70 , pulse 86 and regular. We do not have current respirations and oxygen saturation at this time . The patient is displaying a normal sinus rhythm on the monitor. Request permission to extubate . " Dr Brackett : ##51 , obtain respirations and oxygen saturation and contact as soon as possible.## Johnny : " Standby, Rampart " . Johnny ; " Al , what are the O2 sats ? " Al : " 92 percent . He's got respirations of .... 18 . " Johnny : " Okay , I'll tell Rampart . Rampart , County 51 " . Dr . Brackett : ##Go ahead 51 , this is Rampart and it better be good ! ## Johnny : " Update on our patient's vitals . We have respirations of 16 and his oxygen saturation is at 92 % . Requesting permission to extubate . " he repeated. Dr . Brackett takes a long sigh to calm his already frazzled nerves and says. ##Okay, 51. Go ahead and extubate. Keep the patient on high flow oxygen at 15 liters by non-rebreather mask . Monitor his vitals closely and set up a breathing treatment with 0.90 ml , 0.5% Albuterol SVN when you can .## Johnny : " Copy to extubate , keep on high flow O2 at 15 liters by non-rebreather. Give an albuterol treatment at 0.90ml SVN and monitor vitals . " Dr . Brackett : ## 10-4, 51. ## " Hey, Roy. Brackett said to go ahead and extubate. Then let's give him that albuterol treatment at 0.90ml. Put him on high flow O2 ." Gage said. " Yeah , and let's hope that we can get him outta here " . Roy said . " Hey there ! " Roy said to the boy . " We are going to take the tube out now . Try to take a deep breath for us and hold it as long as you can . " The boy musters enough strength to take in the deepest breath he could get into his lungs and with a gentle tug on the ET tube , paramedic Desoto places the end of the suction tip into the boy's mouth and suctions it out as the tube is easily removed . The boy begins to cough violently as Flint puts the child sized non- rebreather mask on his face . " Okay , take deep breaths " . Roy instructs the boy as he coughs and gasps and holds the mask to his face . " What's your name ? Can you tell me your name ? " The boy takes a breath in and says " Timmy.. " " Timmy , my name is Roy. I am a paramedic with the Los Angeles County Fire Department . This is my partner, Johnny . We are going to help you and give you some medicine to breathe in and then we'll get you to the hospital, okay ? " Timmy then nods his head in agreement . Johnny Gage came up to Timmy and said. " Hey, Timmy. My name is Johnny . I am going to listen to your lungs . I understand that you have asthma . Do you take any medicine for it ? " Timmy nods his head in affirmation to Johnny's question. Gage says to the boy. " Timmy , can you tell me if you have allergies? It's really important that I know . " Timmy nods his head in agreement to Johnny. Al then sees an object near the boy that appears to be a nylon wallet . Al picks up the wallet , opens it and sees a medical emergency card inside it belonging to the boy . Al comes over to Johnny and says . "Johnny , this might help you guys out . It looks like a medical emergency card. We found it here in this wallet . " " Timmy , is this yours ? " Johnny said . Timmy nodded yes . Johnny and Roy look at the medical information on the card and Roy said. " This boy has asthma , he's allergic to penicillin , peanuts , seafood and pet dander . He has O+ blood type and takes Proventil and receives antigen shots every three weeks . " Gage turns to the boy and says " Timmy , did you take your medicine today ? " He shook his head no . " When was the last time you had your allergy shot ? Do you remember ? " Johnny said . All of the sudden, the paramedics' HTs crackled with Captain Stanley's voice on the air . ##Squad 51 , HT 51 .## " Squad 51 , go ahead, Cap." Desoto replied . " Good news. We have word on three of our helicopters. Two of L.A. City's and one CHP are headed to this area for a med-evac . Mayfair has two ground units headed for this vicinity as well . HT 51 out .## " HT 51 , Squad 51." Desoto said . " That is good news.. How are Chet and Mike doing ? " , Roy inquired . ##They are trying to come to terms with the Code F . They still are Code I emotionally and have been taken off this assignment .## Captain Stanley replied . " Mommy , mommy ! " Timmy cried . " Where 's my mommy ? " " She's not far away . She is being taken care of by some paramedics just like us right down in the hill there . In fact , she will be going to the same hospital as you are as soon as soon as the ambulance gets here . But maybe you will both get to ride in a helicopter instead... " Roy said . " Mommy ! " Timmy cried out again . " Hey Timmy,..don't worry . Now you will have to lie down and be quiet for us, or you might get sicker . " Johnny explained to him . " We are going to give some medicine for you to breathe in, to help you breathe better , okay ? " Timmy 's emotional state settled down some as he replied , "Okay. " , in a weeping voice . ::For a boy his age, the trauma of being involved in such a catastrophe as the landslide in La Conchita Canyon, and being separated from his mother and friends, could be more than he could bear .:: thought Johnny. The radios crackled again as Sam Lanier put out a countywide broadcast to all L.A. County Fire Department units from Pomona to Malibu , and from Pear Blossom to Palos Verde, as the dust settled from the landslide . Four alert beeps went off and Sam announced from his console at L.A. County Fire Department Headquarters . ## L.A. to all units involved with the La Conchita Canyon incident : Situation report from Division 2. -- All access roads have been closed off due to light and heavy debris making motor vehicle traffic not possible . There is widespread damage to existing structures and utilities . Broken underground natural gas mains may rupture, causing high risk for explosions due to sparking power lines. The main power station has been severely damaged, resulting in widespread power outages within the region . Local water supply may be subject to contamination. Break ...## Sam continues as those in command on the incident listen attentively . ##L.A . continuing . ..As of this time, here are the latest reports on casualties: 43 confirmed civilian Code F , ..no firefighter Code F .., 655 civilian Code I , 18 firefighter Code I ...Regionwide mutual aid has been requested and is en-route , L.A. clear . ## --------------------------------------------------------- Photos : None. ************************************************** From : crash200225 Sent : Thursday, June 30, 2005 5:50 AM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] I Lift Up Mine Eyes Captain Stalney had settled Mike and Chet behind some boulders where the two emotionally shocked men could rest. Cap didn't want to leave them alone, but he had his hands full with the landslide. He left Mike an HT and reassured them he would be back to check on them when he could. Neither man responded, which further worried Cap. After a few more reassuring words, he left to join Johnny and Roy where they were working on the young boy. Mike sat Chet with his back leaning against a large tree, then sat back himself. Both wore a dazed expression. Though Chet had not had an allergic reaction to the fire ants, Mike knew they had to still be burning and stinging. Chet never moved, and spoke not a word. In Chet's mind, he was reliving the events of the past hour, over and over again. The chatter on the HT was comforting to Mike, though he didn't listen to what was being said. Instead, he concentrated on a flower at his feet. He was too numb to think and really didn't want to. At this moment, it was just a flower and Chet. That's all he would allow to enter his mind. He heard a noise to the left and uphill from where they were sitting. He turned his head and looked, but went back to contemplating the flower and a shining pebble next to it. "You boys okay?", a soft voice asked. Receiving no reply, the question was asked again. Mike looked up at the voice and was stunned to see a young woman squatting beside him. "You guys are firemen, are you hurt?", she questioned. Mike managed to shake his head 'No'. "What about your friend? Looks like he got into a mess of fire ants." Chet was still wet from the wash down and shivering. He was still in his own personal waking nightmare. He didn't speak or move. Just stared straight ahead. "I got some water bottles and a couple of blankets in my backpack, if you need them. My name is Jolene, by the way." Her soft, southern accent was slowly beginning to clear away the fog that seemed to envelop Mike's mind. "What's your name?", she asked quietly. It was obvious to her that these men had seen something that had really rattled them. She didn't want to startle them. "Mike. He's Chet." Mike mumbled. Digging through her backpack, she brought out a bottle of water for Mike and a blanket which she wrapped around Chet. It was then that Mike noticed she was completely covered in dust. "You were in the landslide?", he asked. "How did you get out?" "Oh, us southern girls are tough as nails. Dern mountain came down on me. Had just enough time to grab my bag." Jolene smiled slightly. "Hey, got some stuff in here that'll take the sting out of Chet's bites. Think he'd mind?" Mike just shrugged. His brain was still on overload, and talking was never one of his strong points. "Where I'm from, that's a yeah." As she rummaged through her backpack, Sam's announcement came over the HT. "Oh my....." "You understood that?", Mike asked as his face paled. "I'm an EMT, so yeah, I understood it." Jolene's face was as pale as Mike's. Neither man recognized the title she gave herself. "They may need you down there. I'll contact Cap on the HT and let him know.", Mike stated, thinking she was hurt. "I look more like a victim than EMT right now. Not certified in California yet." She knew she couldn't be of much help down there. "Why don't you call your Captain and let me speak to him a moment. I am more than what I appear to be." After a brief conversation with Cap, it was agreed that Jolene would stay with Chet and Mike. Cap was secretly relieved that someone with some kind of medical training was with his two men. "Well, it looks like you boys are stuck with me for awhile. Let's get Chet taken care of and then we'll see about getting a bit more comfortable. That root you've been sitting on must hurt your tail somethin' terrible. At least sit on this blanket or scoot over a foot or so." Jolene had taken over care for these strangers as a good samaritan. The barest hint of a smile crossed Mike's face as he remembered a saying he had once read. ::I lift mine eyes unto these hills, from whence cometh my help.:: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos : None. ************************************************** Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 06:18:35 -0700 (PDT) From: "Jeff Seltun" Subject: Loose Ends Marco Lopez looked up the moment the child had been taken by a secondary engine crew to the triage evacuation site. "Cap, I've marked these oxygen cylinders as empty with a fire search crayon. Where should I leave them for support pickup?" Captain Stanley only briefly looked up at him. "By the road, there's a county oxygen supply truck running back and forth through town and they're exchanging them for new every fifteen minutes." Lopez nodded, setting the two that had been used on Timmy and Diane with a clang down onto the cracked ground. "Who's that with Chet and Mike?" he asked, rubbing sweat and grime from his nose. Stanley shrugged. "A girl who says she's an out of state EMT named Jolene." Lopez frowned, "What's an EMT? Didn't know they have any of whatever those are, in our day and age." "As far as I know, they don't. It probably means emergency mobile transport or some such. Or....maybe it's offshoots of Brackett's paramedic program branching out throughout the rest of the country or something that we haven't yet been made aware of, but that's a moot point. She's not certified to treat in California, so she says, with whatever her credentials are. But I'm sure glad someone who knows something medical's with Kelly and Stoker. They're still a bit emotionally winged. Go check on them and get a feel for their statuses. Roy says he'll be set to check them out in a few minutes. It'll be at least ten minutes or so before we're pulled out of here to go into the damage zone." Captain Stanely ordered. "Right, Cap." Marco jogged over to his stationmates. "Jolene? My name's Marco." The dusty, plaid shirted blue jeaned girl looked up from where she was digging in her camper's knapsack. "Oh, you must be one of these two's crewmates." She read Marco's stencilled name on his turnout. "Mr. Lopez, I got some salve here for Chet's stings. Could you put some on? He's agreed to it. I know better than to practice out of jurisdiction so you can just wipe those suspicions right out of yer mind and be at ease. I only want to help. Even if only through the tiny legal ways I still can use. Is a paramedic coming soon to check em out?" "Yeah, Roy is. He's getting set to come over here after he speaks with a policeman about the treatment he and Johnny Gage gave a little boy without parental consent." Jolene set out six water bottles and the rest of her blankets. She handed the tube of anesthetic salve to Marco so he would use it in her place. "Who's Johnny Gage?" and before Marco could answer, she figured it out. "Ah,..his partner. Makes sense now." Marco noticed the out of state EMS i.d. she had set out next to her feet on the dirt to thwart the PD scene patrollers from ousting her and to keep others from considering her a walking wounded who was unattended. "Where were you when that hill came down?" "From my house, I saw the mountain pop loose." she said. "At least four homes in that area are destroyed or seriously damaged. Including mine." She lowered her head as she watched Marco apply the salve to the worst of Chet's bites. She cracked both Kelly and Stoker some water bottles and made them drink. "A lot of kids were on my street, too, because the schools were closed for PTA meetings." "Can you tell me what you've seen with all the debris? The reports from L.A. aren't covering that part of it." At that, Stoker sighed, shook himself, and started paying better attention to what was happening around him as he drained the whole bottle of water in his hand. Then he concentrated on getting Chet to drink something, including bathing his face with some of its icy chill and a towel from Jolene's survival pack. The dusty young woman went on with her account. "The slide is about forty feet high. It was very scary. It looked like that it wasn't going to stop. It looked like liquid dirt. But it didn't surprise me too much. This south facing beach has gotten over twelve inches of rain over the course of last night." "That explains the fog hanging over the area even during these late afternoon hours." Marco said. "I saw broken bones with the crews that are working and a lot of injuries, but only one fatality. I've been the one directing folks to come over to your squad and engine." "We'll, we're bringing in all sorts of heavy equipment now. So we are making progress." Lopez said. Cap, nearby, started giving orders out to the arriving fire stations that had been assigned to them. ##Assess the area, Engine 236. Make sure the site is secure so none of our rescuers are in danger. Truck 127, stand by foam in case of fuel leaks from the roadside oil pumping stations north of town. Engine 18, grab chainsaws, and axes. Try to locate any potential trap victims.## he barked into his HT. Jolene nodded with satisfaction at the alacrity with which Cap was delegating tasks. He reminded her of a Battalion Chief she knew very well in Texas. "Marco, it's bad. I found two people. I got one young girl out. Firecrews just extricated the other one." Marco startled and looked around for folks headed into their direction. Jolene touched his arm. "It's all right. They were on the other side of the slide. They'll be getting to the triage station from the opposite side away from us." she went on. "I could hear the voices. I climbed up on top of the rubble and the mud. And two other guys came in and were helping me. She was buried. Very buried." "Did she make it?" Marco asked as he finished putting the pain killing ointment on the worst of Chet Kelly's ant bites. Then he pulled Chet's shirt and turnout back on, leaving one of his arms bare for a future BP cuff. "She made it. They got her out." the young first aider woman said, biting her lip. "I have another theory about why this happened. It's not the first time you know. Cutting a road seriously undermined the stability of the slope's mass and contributed to the slide. You can just see it there at the head of the scarp. There's been a long history of problems in this area. Some even blame the one rancher up there for planting all those avocado and lemon trees and how he irrigates them." Mike Stoker suddenly shook himself and pulled his HT out of his pocket. "Engine 51 to HT 51 Command." he said. Jolene and Marco looked at him with close attention while he twirled the stem of a wildflower in his hand as he waited for a reply from Captain Stanley. ##Go ahead, Stoker.## "Cap, put me to work. It'll do a lot to ground me even faster. I can't just sit here." Mike said non regulation. There was a pause on the other end of the frequency. ##10-4, HT 51. Report to me at the west intersection in one. Grab a shovel.## Stoker smiled then, giving Chet's shoulder a caring squeeze and he let out a quavering sigh as he still struggled with the stress of victim loss as he stood. "Tell Chet I'll find a live one for him." he said to Jolene and Marco. "We will." grinned Jolene, wiping some filthy hair away from her eyes. Stoker jogged off into the direction of the sunny, fogged shrouded, Ward LaFrance for tools. He waved as he left at Roy, who was coming from the opposite direction to attend Chet with a drug box and vitals kit, to show the paramedic that he was fine. Roy did a double take back at Stoker as he knelt by Kelly to begin a vitals set. "I thought he was still pole axed mentally." he grinned. "He was, but he got over it." mumbled a sleepy Chet. "Never underestimate flower power. He's still got one in his hand." Roy glanced down in a frown at Kelly. "What's he talking about?" and he started to examine Chet's eyes with a pen light for signs of abnormal reactions from the ant venom. "Nothing that's a fantasy. Your man used the weeds growing in front of him to focus on for a while until he worked things through enough to shake himself out of it." answered Jolene. "Fair enough. Thanks,...Miss..." Roy dug for a name. "Jolene. Jolene Morphew.." she replied. "His breathing rate's twenty and even. I've been keeping tabs on it." Roy's eyes glanced down at the strange cert card lying on top of the knapsack, but he didn't inquire further. "I take it Stoker cleared himself." "Yep. And Cap went along with it." Marco supplied the rest of some vital signs. "His pulse's still 120 and rapid, but he's cooling off. He's had some of this water to drink and the red rash on his chest isn't getting any larger." Roy nodded. "Thank heavens for small miracles." he said, taking a quick blood pressure reading off Chet's blanket bared arm. "....Well,..." he sighed. "You're not doing too bad after being ant bait, Chester B. Kelly. It's 100/68. How do you feel now with this salve on?" "I still feel like a pin cushion. Those things were biting and stinging at the same time, Roy. From both ends!" "Yeah, well. They're gone and it'll cheer ya to know that they don't leave behind any stingers like bumblebees or yellow jackets do." "Oh, wonderful..." moaned Chet. "They save em for later to get the next guy, huh? Don't think I like that idea very much." "I don't think the state does either, Mr. Kelly. That's probably why they're still spreading into California from Texas.." said Jolene. "No one can get near enough to some of the larger fire ant colonies to exterminate them with chemicals." "How's the kid? I saw you two working on him." coughed Chet. Roy smiled openly for the first time in hours. "He's gonna make it. He was almost one hundred percent stable when we loaded him up." "Good.." said Chet, too quickly. "That's--that's very good news.*cough*" Roy got out his stethoscope and checked out Chet's lungs, listening for any signs of fluid buildup. "Shhh, and let me listen.. Take three deep breaths, Chet. I want to know why you're coughing." The four of them fell silent as the quick chest exam was conducted.Then Roy looked up. "You tight in here at all?" DeSoto asked, gesturing to his own chest. "A little. But it's not bad. Just slightly itchy. I think it's from all this dust." Kelly replied. "Yeah, well. Let's be safe better than sorry. Get set, Chet. The new standing protocols of Early's requires that I give an IM of epi to anyone with the slightest hint of chest trouble." Chet started to anse. "Oh, man.. Roy, you know I hate shots." "You'd hate getting intubated even more if I don't nip this light edema of yours in the butt right now. You're not reacting, but you might a few hours later on when more of this venom leaves the fat under your skin for your blood stream. Let's stop your mild reaction process before it decides to roller coaster on us, ok?" DeSoto said, holding the unsheathed needle and syringe behind his back so Chet couldn't see it. "I promise it'll hurt less than one of those ant bites did on ya earlier." "Ok, get it over with. All I want is a hard cot out of the sun in a personnel recovery station somewhere to sleep it off. I'm groggy." said Kelly. Roy said. "Now that's just the emotional part of things working on ya. Your BP's doing fine for getting partially eaten alive by hundreds of insects." he quipped. "It'll come up faster if you drink that whole water bottle. Then I won't have to start an I.V. on ya." "Not a second needle?! No way, man. I'm not getting another one." And with that, Chet lifted up his previously barely sipped water bottle and started chugging away. Jolene went on with her tale of how it happened. " The news choppers were all set on hover over my house and they weren't going away. I thought, how annoying. So I called the police department to complain...'Why in the devil are there all these helicopters over my house?' I asked." 'La Conchita Canyon's had a major landslide. 20 homes wiped out. We're evacuating the canyon. Turn on your TV.' they said. 'Which channel?' I asked. 'All of them.' said the sergeant. Yikes....I no sooner flicked on the TV set when the rest of the hill came down on me." she said, brushing more dirt off of her shirt and pants legs. Roy glanced at her. "You sure you're not hurt?" "Positive. Save your skills for someone else." Jolene answered. "I know how triage works in California and how scarce the medics are around here today. I've only seen three squads responded to our location." "That'll be my squad from 51's, squad 45 and squad 18. The others must all be busy elsewhere in the city." DeSoto said rubbing his chin as he gave Chet his .3 mgs of epinephrine. "Owww.." said Chet. "You'll live. Now let Jolene get you to the road and to the rest and recovery tent. Stay near a nurse for the next two hours in case you go into rebound, ok?" "I will." Roy packed up his drug box and BP cuff set once more. He got up and started jogging after Johnny, who was headed towards Cap to get their next victim to treat. "Take it easy, Chet. Thanks, Jolene, for watching my friends." He uptook Cap's jacket, which had been cast aside for one of Jolene's camping blankets, to give back to him. "Anytime. Be careful out there." she said, helping Chet get up off the ground. She slung an arm of his over her shorter shoulders and slowly, they got up to head for the road. A police car quickly stopped to give them a lift to the first aid tents and budding incident command center. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dixie McCall turned to Kel the moment the child had been stabilized. "What's got you, Kel? You're acting like you've got ants in the pants." she chided. "You nearly bit Roy's head off when he said he didn't have an oximeter or resp count for you yet." "Gee, Dix.." he replied sharply. "I'm surprised you even have to ask me that. Let's see... I've got three paramedic teams out there with hundreds of slide victims and none of them has a working biophone between them. They're in a canyon shadow, remember? This kid call came to me through an emergency HT patch through the county fire department comm board. Now what happens if they have to treat simultaneous victims when we can only listen to one case at a time through the intercom patching system?" Dixie didn't even blink. "Then aren't you glad Joe started updating all of them on the new off radio protocols last week? The only station he hasn't gotten to on that, for final testing, is 51's. But you've no cause to fret about Roy or Johnny's ability because they are just too d*mned good at what they do to screw up." "We hope." said Brackett, rubbing a headachy head. "Who knows what happened with that drug overdose. I haven't heard any ambulance dispatcher call her in, as arriving here." Dixie fell silent. "Maybe she didn't make it for some cack odd reason. They are in a danger zone." "Maybe. But I hate not knowing." he replied. "Join the club. I'm sure they feel the same way searching for all those slide victims. Be glad you aren't one of them, digging out." McCall sniffed. "Sorry, Dix. You know I hate disaster calls." "I think everyone does." she said, accepting the apology. "But I'm easing your sense of helplessness even as we speak.." she admitted. "How?" asked Brackett. "I told Joe Early about the landslide way before Squad 18 got their call to respond. I'm sure he's now riding along with them." "Dixie, you're beautiful!" celebrated Kel. "He can cover any questionable treatment territory from the triage station on a walkie!" "And you,...can finally stop chewing up your nurses. See ya.." she said, heading for the coffee lounge down the hall before Brackett embarrassed himself further by hugging her in public. Brackett sat down heavily onto Dixie's vacated desk chair in profound relief and chuckled ruefully. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: La Conchita's landslide from road level. Photo: La Conchita's slide from above, eating houses. Photo: Roy treating someone down with a woman civilian watching. Photo: A tourniquetted arm getting an IV shot. Photo: Engine 36 arriving. Photo: An aerial view of diggers on a landslide. ***************************************************************************** From: "Cassidy Meyers" Date: Thu Jun 30, 2005 2:59 pm Subject: Basement Depths Captain Stanley watched Roy and Johnny run up the hill to where he was standing along the line of fire engines working the landslide. He directed them to task instead of to another patient care call. "Roy, Johnny.. Stoker's working on the third house down there. Searchers thought they heard activity underneath it. But watch yourselves, there's still some mass wasting coming from the cliff like scarp at the head of the slump from unconsolidated sediment. Note this, you've got people from the town's local fire department helping you out so you don't have to go get tools. They're on channel seven. I'll have a link open to them and to you. Stoker's got one of our K-12's and three air bottles in case of a fire." "Right, Cap." "How's Chet, Roy?" Hank asked as they walked by. "He's fine. He had some light rhonci which cleared up right away with only one injection. I sent him to the R & R part of the triage station." DeSoto replied. "Good going. Thanks for the update." Cap nodded, his helmet strap swaying in the breeze. Then he turned back to Battalion One to plan out broader rescue efforts. Overhead, the newscast crews buzzed the canyon site with their helicopters relentless. But they didn't interfere with the landing zone set up by the school for patient evacuations. In fact, the pilots from the televisions stations often gave out condition reports to the incoming rescue pilots. Gage and DeSoto got to work. They met up with Stoker right away. "Mike? Whatdiya got?!" Johnny shouted over the din of the working circular saw. Mike Stoker didn't stop splitting the main beam he was slicing through. "Witnesses said they saw a man dive in between a couple of cars when the slide came down. I've found the two cars inside this house. I'm cutting down into a crawl space to see if the victim's still there where he took cover." "Have you heard any signs?" "Not me. But these guys from La Conchita did." and he nodded at the two volunteer fire department men rapidly digging off jumbles of mud and a pile of splintered wood from under Mike's spinning blade. "He's down there." said one of them. A creaking sagging sound of stressed roofing made all the men duck as the cockeyed slanted floor and ceiling of the house started moving again infinitesimally. Roy spoke again as he took up a pike and started rolling large timbers out of the way with his feet. "Are you sure we're on stable ground?" "As stable as it gets. The USGS said this spot's ok. Any settling will just be damaged house support beams giving way to gravity. The worst is over and the landslide's energy was spent in the first couple of seconds." "Until the next one.." said his partner ominiously. "This slide only took five years to build up after the last one." "Then why do they build here?" asked Johnny. "For the money. The climate and the natural springs in La Conchita are just too good to pass up. But I'll agree, it's stupid that they don't see the old slide zones as well as we can. I've been at city hall for years trying them to stop rebuilding in this arroyo because of the slide risk. Now, this happens and it's gonna suck when I have to tell em, I told ya so.. yet again." said the local fireman. "It sure will.." echoed his partner. "What were you doing in the area? We didn't hear 51 get called out from the county." said the first fireman who was helping Roy push away massive cracked timbers from the house's garage frame. "We were transporting a drug case by ambulance, taking a short cut. Then the slide hit us as we were going through town to avoid some traffic we didn't know was related to the slide here." Gage replied. "Oh my G*d. We saw that boulder in the road. Anyone get hurt from that?" "Not directly. Our victim died on us when some fire ants ravaged her, a crewmate, and our ambulance attendants, after we got out of there."Johnny said tightly, grunting as he dug in with his shovel into the disturbed dirt sucking around his ankles. "I'm so sorry. Those d*mned things came with the home builders. Came on a load of southern state lumber according to one teacher in the school who's been studying them. Are your buddies ok?" "Yeah, no one was allergic. And everyone else effected will get over it." ::I hope.:: he thought privately. Joe Early came over 51's HTs. ##Squads 51, 18 and 45. I'm on scene and will be open for any medical traffic should you encounter a situation warranting detailed treatment decisions. Use your walkies normally. I have been given three to cover each of you.## "HT 51 to La Conchita Base, 10-4, doc.." smiled Gage as he heard the other two pairs of paramedics acknowledge Dr. Early at the same time over the airwaves. "We've got a live one working, but he's still out of our reach. Stand by.." he said. ##Standing by, 51.## replied Joe. Johnny pushed down his HT's antennae and he stuffed it into a side pocket. Roy gave a shout. "I think I see something! Mike, hold off on the K-12 a second. I wanna hear for a bit.." Stoker snuffed the power to an idle and set it down. "Hey!!" Roy shouted into a deep hole that seemed to be in the basement of the foundation jilted house. His feet rested on the roof of one of the two cars that had been described by witnesses. And the bumper of the second was just visible through the pile of red dirt that Johnny was sifting through. "Fire Department! Can you hear me? Shout if you can!" he ordered. A muffled moan to Roy's left sounded, from underneath the still buried car. "He's alive.." DeSoto said with a tight expression. "But he's under there." he said pointing to the still buried second car with his lit flashlight. Gage coughed. "What I'm trying to figure out is how these cars... got into the basement." One of the La Conchita men replied. "Easy, the house rolled on top of them from the cliff top upslope. This is actually the streetside curb underneath us. See?" and he pointed to a yellow fire hydrant that was oddly jilted against a pool table that was still standing upright next to them. "I just hope nobody was home when it did." "Yeah.." Johnny agreed wholeheartedly. " Uggmmhhf! I can't get to him. Looks like all of us are going to have to crawl down into the basement to get to him. Let me get my belt on. Roy, tell Incident Command where we're headed. I'm sure Cap's gonna wanna know that we're going into a slide hole." "Already did. He's coming himself to help us out. Battalion Two has taken over for him." Roy replied. Soon, Stoker, Cap, Roy, Johnny, and Marco were completely covered in darkness inside the destroyed basement. Only a tiny hole showed the way back to the top of the landslide's edge. Johnny began to take heart when he smelled neither natural gas nor blood or bowel material in the shattered room. "La Conchita.." he said into his radio. ##51, go.## said the two firemen watching the climbing ropes which had carried station 51 down into the angled house. "Looks like we won't need our air bottles nor the mast suit. Just a stokes!" he shouted. ##It's on the way down.## Roy crawled under the first car and had to drag himself from bumper to bumper in order to reach the moaning man they all heard clearly now under the second. He was grateful that all eight tires on the cars hadn't been blown by flying slide debris. "Hey,.. how are you doing?" DeSoto asked as he peeled off a glove to feel for the semi conscious man's carotid. "I thought I .. had found myself a really...good safe ...spot." he panted. "You did. A house fell on ya and you're not a pancake on the pavement." quipped Johnny from above. "Can you tell us what hurts on ya?" "My head...and...my knee. The left one. I think I blacked out for a couple of seconds." said the trapped man. "Can you move at all? Is anything pinning you down?" "I can move. Just too dizzy to." he gasped. "Afraid to move.." "You don't have to. We'll do all the work getting you outta here." soothed Roy. "Just try to relax.." he said sweeping his hands over the man's back and sides and limbs, looking for wet spots or deformities. "No fractures or major bleeders, Johnny." "Ok. How's his neck?" Gage asked. Roy felt along it. "What's your name? Can you tell me that?" "Martin.." said the man. "And it's Tuesday around six o'clock. Look mister, I'm not that bad. Just got a headache. My neck's fine, just get me outta here. I gotta find out where my brother is..." The rescuers fell silent. Captain Stanley spoke up from where he crouched under the low ceiling of the broken house's floor boards. "Where was he when the landslide hit?" "At the school....He always goes to play on the swingsets on vacation days." Everyone let out the breaths they were holding. Hank smiled. "Martin. Everything's fine. The school wasn't hit at all. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if your brother's running around all the fire engines parked there. That's where we have set up our triage operations." Martin sighed as he let Roy check his eyes out with a penlight. "That's a relief." DeSoto grinned. "Well, it looks like you aren't hurt too bad. Your pulse's strong and both your pupils are reacting normally." "Thought I was just bumped and bruised. Can I try and get off my stomach now?" "Wait until I get this lifebelt around ya.." said Roy. "Then we'll get you pulled out of there." "Ok.." Gage motioned in the dim space. "Stoker.. go ahead and start cutting. If we get this fender off right here. I think we can get Martin out sideways instead of making him crawl the same way Roy did getting to him." "Martin, I'm gonna give you some oxygen to help push away some of that dizziness you're feeling. Ok. Just breathe this in normally." Roy said as he pressed a passive demand valve over the dusty man's nose and mouth so he could get its full benefit. Martin closed his eyes gratefully. Stoker and Hank got to work on splitting the car open just behind the front driver tire. They had pulled the chassis away when the rest of the house came down unexpectedly, sending the two firefighters from La Conchita spilling into the hole after the 51 gang and it motion sprawled them spreadeagle on top of the two cars. Dirt and debris rained down, covering everyone like sand into the bottom chamber of an hourglass. Gage's panicky voice rang out through the main emergency channel on HT. ##Emergency! Cave-in at 51's location. We need an immediate emergency resp---## Then it choked off. Dirt completely filled the basement and started to bury all the firefighters as the house collapsed like a falling house of cards. Two minutes later.. firemen came in a barely controlled panic when none of their hails were answered by 51 or La Conchita on any band. They started digging at the ruins of the house's front porch as fast as they could. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Gage in a dark space, falling in turnout. Photo: A house collapsing on itself in a landslide. Photo: Cap working with Gage in tight quarters. Photo: Stoker watching Gage climb into darkness. Photo: A victim on a demand valve. Photo: Los Angeles County firemen digging through weeds to get to a house's porch door. ************************************************** From: "patti keiper" Date: Thu Jun 30, 2005 5:23 pm Subject: In Certain Terms... The glow of the setting sun, twinkling off ocean waves, now glinted off the large brown gash that marred the verdant hillside above La Conchita. The whole gang of 51's sat up in a row on the grass of the school yard, on a curb, getting treated for suffocation effects. Each one wore a high flow oxygen mask and were getting medically treated by the remaining members of La Conchita's fire department. Joe Early was working down the line listening to each fireman's chest in turn for any developing problems. Johnny Gage was still coughing occasionally, so he was the first to get his blood pressure taken by a rescue worker. He pulled his mask to the side as he spit out a wad of dirt from his mouth. "Roy, tell me again how we all managed to get out of there. I still can't believe it..." "Stoker dove under the pool table and found a firewood storage bin under the stairs. He opened it up and we all piled in, jammed together like sardines. Guess we ran outta air soon after. I only remember waking up here a few minutes before you did." Gage held his arm still while a first aider took his blood pressure. "Thanks, Stoker.. I owe you another one...." coughed Johnny. "Pay me back by cooking dinner tonight. Then we'll be even." sighed Stoker from where he sat a little farther down the street curb wearing his own oxygen supply. "Awww, man.." sighed Gage. "Not KP again. You asked for that when you got me out of that factory fire last week." "I stick with what works, Gage. I'm that kind of guy." Stoker said, peering over around Cap and Roy, to peg Johnny with an ironic glare. Gage tried to smile for his caregiver and hide some residual shaking. "What's it at?" "120/74.. Coming up.." she replied. "Thanks." he told her. Then he raised his voice again. "Hey, hey, hey. That's seven out of seven not in bad shock. What a track record. Say, Cap. Wouldn't you say that La Conchita's got a faster rescue response time than we do? They dug down to us in two hours flat, and through rock debris, too." "They're fast enough, or we wouldn't all be breathing so good right now." Hank replied. They all watched as a sleeping Martin was closely attended by firemen getting him set to fly out to Rampart. Joe Early had long ago treated him and stabilized his oxygen levels enough for an aerial transport. The helicopter bearing him away had become a dot in the darkening sky when they all turned their heads at some jaunty whistling that somehow didn't seem out of place. It was Chet Kelly, bearing a box full of ice cold bottled water and some sandwiches. "I love the Red Cross. Ran into Jolene again and she got me these. There's enough for everybody here. Eat up.." Gage went with that completely. "Yeah, eat up guys, I promise I'll cook tomorrow night. That okay with you, Stoker? I'm kinda tired still." "Fine with me, Just make sure dinner isn't pizza again like that last time. That was cheating." Mike replied. The others laughed, looking comical behind their oxygen masks. Chet paused when he reached Johnny, who was the only one who had had an I.V. started. "So you didn't wake up fast enough for them, huh?" "Guess I didn't. My NS I.V.'s still running wide open. But gimme something, I'm just as thirsty as the rest of em." he complained. Chet grinned, playing keep away for a few times until relenting and finally giving Johnny his allotment of food and water. "Got a joke for ya'all that I've been thinking about." "Oh, yeah? What's that?" smiled Roy from where he was getting a small head cut bandaged. Chet lined himself up so everyone, including the two La Conchita firemen who were caught inside the collapsing house with his own station's men, could hear him. "Why is hating fire ants considered a genetic trait?" No one knew the answer. Kelly delivered his line. "Because they often run in people's jeans. That's why." he said smacking his own pair that he had changed into once he was recorded officially as a code I casualty off duty. All the sitting firemen groaned, startling their caregivers for a moment until their rescuers realized that nothing was actually wrong with them. Cap sighed under his oxygen mask and toyed with his still actively broadcasting HT. His eyes wandered over to the sunlit slope nearby that showed clear signs of backward rotated trees that had been going on for years. "I wonder if they've seen that..." he said pointing them out to the others. "We have.." replied one of the injured La Conchita men. "That's plot 76-A in the teacher's log, who's been studying the mountain. He's been my main supporter whenever we start crying wolf about landslide conditions cropping up again, in city hall meetings. Seems the obvious in front of their noses still means nothing to the mayor and his board of directors." he said, wincing as a worker splinted his sprained ankle carefully. "Well, I don't think anybody can ignore that, this time around.." said Hank, tossing his helmetless head up at the gouged hillside above the town. "Not this time.." said the passionate fireman. "It's just a shame that so many people had to die before something constructive gets done. You can count on me fighting the house builders in a few months so they don't make the same mistake a third time." "Maybe instead of saying I told ya so to them.. you should just sit back and wait to see what they do on their own this time.." Stoker suggested. The La Conchita fireman laughed. "I'm nice, but I'm not that nice. They need their butts kicked so no more people will die. Isn't that strange how suddenly, everybody's gets selective hearing whenever someone starts talking future-disasters-that-could-be, in council?" "Ahh, now that's the 'what ifs' factor working..." Cap chuckled. "We encounter that all the time working with our brand of bureaucrats about earthquake risks in L.A. Only we don't have just a isolated hillside to think about. We have miles long faultlines,.. and some of them are cutting right through the heart of downtown." "I read that. Isn't the La Brea Tarpits bubbling up from one?" "Yep." said Roy. "Seems the smell isn't enough of a warning sign. And they built a museum situated there right alongside the tar lake." Chet chuckled. "Now isn't that the craziest idea you've ever heard?" "Nope." said Gage with a wry smile. "Building at all in California's the craziest." He started ticking off negative points on his scraped up fingers. "We got too little water for the population, we burn up every fall with all the brush fires because we let things overgrow too much, and we let ourselves *cough* suffocate under our wonderfully orange traffic caused smog cap because of perpetual desert/seabreeze inversions that we know we can't do anything to eleviate. Now that's stupid." "Speaking of ideas. I've been thinking..." Kelly went on. "Uh, oh. Here it comes.." Marco said taking another breath from his oxygen tank. "No, hear me out. This is good, guys. Remember the contest the chief sorta ordered us to enter this morning?" "Yeah.." Roy replied for the rest of them. "Well, I tinkered a bit in the first aid tent and came up with something that I think will revolutionize at least one of your older paramedic protocols. I brought it along with me. It's right here." At this, Gage started paying attention and stopped chewing his food. Chet Kelly reached under himself and pulled out what looked like a low metal stool with an opening square of bars between the support legs in front. He picked it up and headed for the gurney that Roy and Johnny were sitting on. "Roy, get up for a sec. Johnny, lie down on the bed on your back. Here, I'll string your I.V. up on the pole." "What are you up to?" "Just something I thought about, thinking about Diane Hart." Chet replied. "I had hours to do that you know, while they poked and prodded at me." That quieted the others respectfully. By then, everyone knew the name of the drug overdose fatality that squad 51 had run unsuccessfully due to horrifying circumstances. Johnny lay down and Chet set the modified stool over Johnny's stomach, Then he climbed up and sat down. Its foot stands were completely on the gurney. Then he reached down through the square gap and flicked opened Johnny's shirt, "Hold still Gage, I'm using you as a demo." Chet framed his hands into a CPR position on Johnny's sternum. "See this? I'm gonna call it a CPR jack. Sitting up here like this makes me part of the gurney so I'll bounce at the same time any arrest victim does in a moving ambulance no matter how bumpy the road becomes. Compressions will stay even constantly. Can you picture it? You guys won't ever have to give sh*tty CPR again en route. This special seat of mine will smooth that right out." And with that, Kelly got down off the stretcher, lifted his invention off the gurney and he helped Gage sit up again and he helped him swing his legs over the side and back onto the ground. He gave a jaunty little bow as the others slowly started clapping in utterly stunned amazement. Captain Stanley took off his O2 mask, pulling it around his neck. "You know, I think this idea just might win McConnike's contest, gang.." he said, getting excited. He startled when a rescuer first aider suddenly hurried to his side to put it back on again, chiding him for taking it off when her back was turned. "It might at that.." smiled Roy. "It sure would be nice if we had no inspections for an entire year." Johnny was so incredulous, that he forgot to cough. "We're gonna win." "We sure are.." said Chet. "I was inspired by Diane directly, guys. I'll even call this the Hart CPR jack in her honor, man, on the official papers. It's the least I can do. And when it goes to market, I'll make sure to set it up so her family gets all the profits instead of me." "What a guy.." said Stoker. "That's so cool. Wish I had thought of this." said the station's CPR expert, examining all the solder marks Chet had made to it. "In certain terms, I thought of it for all of us, guys. And I'm dedicating it to everyone who's died here today." Kelly whispered. Thoughtfully, Station 51 and La Conchita's crew raised an impromptu toast with their cracked bottles of water and soon, all of them said their prayers and humble thoughts of consolation for the La Conchita and firefighter dead, to the arriving night wind which was blowing up softly from the beach below them. FIN Episode Twenty Two- In Certain Terms END ---------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************* §§ In Certain Terms §§ :) This episode is dedicated to the people of La Conchita, California and for all the victims and rescuers who helped the day the mountain fell in spring 2005. :) :) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season Three, Episode Twenty Three.. §§ The One That Matters §§ ************************************************** From: Jeff Seltun Date: Wed Jul 13, 2005 2:10 pm Subject: Tiny Little Bundles.. The scents of sizzling bacon and frying eggs were already thick in the air when Johnny Gage finally dragged himself out of the shower. He scrubbed a white towel over his head to begin drying his hair and staggered by feel back to his bunk to where had already laid out a fresh uniform and pair of shoes. "You know, Roy, I think I should just buckle down and sign up to get another set of shirts or something. It's not even nine yet and already I've burned through two of the four of the bunch I already have.." he complained. "That's funny. In the eight years I've been working on the department, I've never gone through all my shirts during the course of any work shift. Guess I'm just neat enough to make it through one without ever using them up." Johnny threw his hair towel onto the wall in a clever flick and he began combing fingers through his unruly black hair to tame it. "It's tough some days, Roy. If I don't total em from a messy auto rescue, I lose em to cleanup fire grime. I don't know how you manage to stay clean." He eased his towel covered rear down onto the foot of his bed. A hostile snap of teeth and a fierce pygmy growl immediately arrested him in the process and he shot back up onto his bare feet. He almost lost his balance on the water dripped floor as he danced off his painful splinted toe. "What the h-?!" Roy raised his eyebrows at the sight of little Bonnie, the station Boston Yorkie, crouched with flattened ears, on the pile of paramedic clothes near Johnny's pillow. "Wow. I don't get it. You weren't anywhere near enough on your end to make her think you were going to sit on her.." he said in absolute stunned amazement. Bonnie continued to watch the two paramedics warily from her tight protective ball. She never stopped baring her teeth. She emitted a growl or two when Gage finally sat back down carefully onto his bunk to finish dressing. "Think Chet forgot to feed her again?" "Unlikely.." DeSoto said mildly. "He knows Cap'll get on his case if she gets cranky past the usual around him." DeSoto answered. "Maybe she just got out of the wrong side of bed this morning." Johnny said, still frowning at the posturing ball of fur. "You mean, kinda like how you did a couple of hours ago for that trash fire call? How's that toe ya stubbed?" asked Roy, leaning on the wall with a section of newspaper in his hands. "It's fine. You can see I taped it to the one next to it. I don't think it's broken." "Good. Last thing you need is more injured days off. You've already max'd out for the month." "Thanks, mom.." Gage said with mild sting. "You sound like Cap did a few hours ago." Roy didn't get offended, but he apologized by changing the subject. "I only came in here to tell you that breakfast's almost ready." "I appreciate it, Roy. But the aroma's already beaten you to it by a good five minutes or so." chuckled Gage. "I can't tell. My allergies are kicking in." Roy admitted. "I told you to take some benadryl tablets last night. I even told you the ragweed pollen counts were on the rise." "I know. I know. I've just been so doggoned tired after the week we've had, that it completely slipped my mind to take my prescription." "I'll remember to leave the bottle on your pillowcase tonight." chided Johnny as he zipped up his pants over his boxers. He blindly reached back for his balled up socks. Bonnie lunged forward in a viscious bluff, charging over the top of them until they were under her furry belly and hidden from sight. Her punishing teeth clicked shut just a hairsbreath away from Johnny's fingers and he jerked his hand back in shock at the attack. Then he got mad. "Hey, you little piece of mop scrap. Now cut that out! Do you really want me to be late for my next rescue call? You think you're mad, just wait until I catch it from Cap for being slow and then I promise to come back later looking for something else to dump out my frustrations on and you'll be it!" he said, stabbing a guarded index finger in Bonnie's direction. Bonnie was unimpressed. She even went so far as to stuff the oversized ball of black socks into her mouth and went on glaring at the two men standing above her. Her soft growls became only slightly diminished. Gage sighed hugely. "Now what am I going to do? My others are still hanging over the shower rod." "I'll go get a pair of mine you can have." Roy said, puzzling over Bonnie's odd behavior. "I don't get it. She's not hungry..and she's definitely not sick." Gage agreed empathetically. "Not with that kind of energy. She could drive off our mail carrier with that act." "Hmmm. That's females for ya. I married one...but I can't say I understand em completely yet. I'll be right back with your socks." Johnny didn't even see him leave. He went right on staring strangely at Bonnie and she went right on glaring back and salivating angrily. Until Gage couldn't take it any more. "Hey Cap?! Guys! Get in here ASAP! I need ya!" he hollered loudly. The gang came in on the run. Some of them still chewing food. Hank started up. "What's the problem?" he said in immediate concern. "Is somebody hurt at the side door?" he said, looking up at the one they never used exiting the bunk room. "No, it's nothing like that. It's Bonnie, Cap. Watch this. And Chet, if you start laughing, I'll kill ya and I won't let Roy get anywhere near ya enough to bring you back." Kelly's bushy smile spread into one of mischief anyway. "I won't know if I'll do that until we all get brought up to speed on exactly what the problem is here, Johnny.." he said deadpan in tone, but his face was already deep in gonna getcha mode. "Cut to the chase, John. My eggs getting cold." Hank ordered. "Sorry, Cap. Here.. Watch what she does.." And he wrapped his hand protectively in one of his shower towels before he brought it down towards where Bonnie was guarding the sock bundle. Bonnie immediately let loose and latched on like a tiger in a fierce bite. Then she scrambled back to pick up the pair of socks into her mouth again. The others leaped back in surprise. All but one. Chet started laughing.."Nothing mysterious here, Gage. I'm utterly surprised at you. I mean with you being a paramedic and all." he grinned. Gage's face fell into a frown, not liking that he was being baited, once again by Chet, who knew something he didn't. Roy returned into the room and handed Johnny his loaner pair. "So you had to drag the others in here to witness our poor dog who's just having a bad day?" "Kind of?! Roy, she's an absolute menace!" Johnny said, taking the socks and putting them on where he stood. He winced when he had to pull the first over his sore toe. "No she's not." Chet said quietly, still smiling. "She's being broody." "Broody? I know she's crabby. We can all see that." "Not that definition of broody, Johnny, the other one." said Kelly smugly. "She's growling for another reason because it's the season, man, ...for lovvvee." he crooned. The other firemen started chuckling and they left the room. Chet stayed behind to enjoy the fallout. Everyone but Gage, had understood him. "Quit using twenty dollar words at me, Chet, and speak plain language already." Johnny flickered, rubbing his chilling arms. "Ok, I'll spell it out for ya. My uncle's dog used to do this all the time when it was her time each month. She's adopted your socks in lieu of the puppies that she now wants to conceive or already has conceived." he said knowingly. "Her mother's instinct is roaring to the foreground and in that state, she'll guard the first thing handy. In this case, it's your bunk and socks, Johnny." Roy stayed quiet and waited for the punchline while that last digested inside of his damp partner's brain. Then it came out, wholly satisfying. "No way. She's not pregnant. She can't be! She--" then he broke off, remembering. "Oh, no... Roy, I thought it was odd that Boot came back to the station away from his favorite laddertruck at sixteen's. Remember two months ago?" Johnny asked. Roy started frowning. "Yeah.. He didn't take a nap under the engine like he always does, waiting for Stoker to come out and feed him. He went right for the b--" Chet completed his thought gleefully. "The bunk room." he said, nodding eagerly. "Uh, huh. It's making sense now, isn't it?" DeSoto's face fell, figuring it out finally. "I thought that was kinda odd behavior, even for him." Johnny's mouth flopped open. "But how could he? I mean, how could they-- He's three times her size, guys.." Kelly stopped laughing and headed for the door, his mouth quirked in mirth. "Where there's a will, there's a way, fellas, and that's all there is to it. Hey Gage, looks like you're just gonna have to face the facts. Your little Bonnie here's about to become.... a mother." "On my bed?!" "Looks like it now.." remarked Roy speculatively. "Oh, Roy..." "Oh, Roy, nothing." said DeSoto. "Sheets are replaceable." "I'm not thinking about that, I'm thinking about the size difference here." "Johnny, that's sick." "No, I mean the puppies....not what... happened earlier between them." he said clearing his throat uncomfortably. "What if they're too big for her to deliver naturally? It could explain why she's so mad. She might be in a lot of pain here." Johnny said in a new light. On cue, Bonnie folded up onto her right side and moaned pitfully. The ball of socks rolled out of her mouth limply. Roy's whole demeanor completely changed. Gage started to anse nervously. "Hey guys! Get back in here. I think we've got a real problem now and I'm not kidding this time! Stoker, bring the gear and the O2 apparatus on the double!" Cap ran in irritably. "Now what? Gage, if this is some stunt to get back at Chet I'll--" he broke off when he saw Bonnie, seeming to strain and pant. "You mean this broody stuff of hers is the latter case?" he guessed. "Uh, huh... and she's probably already laboring, too." Roy said, trying to get near the now distressed dog. Bonnie was so deep in her misery that she finally allowed Roy to touch her. He took a fast leg pulse and respiration count. Stoker and Marco came dashing in with everything. "Not the defibrillator and the biophone you dorks.. We can't use those!" Gage snapped. "You know,.. 'Bring the gear's pretty vague there, Johnny." said Marco. "What's up?" Chet's forehead was wrinkled in concern. "Bonnie's actually having...puppies?!" he said licking his lips. He had said that like he didn't believe it himself. "What?!" said Hank. "I didn't even know she was pregnant." "Who could have known under all that fur.." said Stoker. "Cap, permission to--" Cap sighed. "Yeah,...go ahead. We can grab another tank from the closet to replace this one." Mike Stoker got to work and fitted a peds oxygen mask to the regulator and laid the flowing mask on the pillow near Bonnie's lolling tongue. Johnny was able to feel her tensing muscles and the bulging shapes moving there. "I think I feel three very large puppies, Roy. And one of them seems to be stuck head and shoulders down inside of her." That got Chet thinking. "She's having em now?! Where did her water break then?" he said, looking across the shiny floor. "Probably in the yard, Chet." said Cap, stroking Bonnie's head, murmuring reassurances to her. "She was out there alot this morning sniffing around." "Yeah, but now what are we gonna do? It's Saturday. Our vet office's closed." Roy asked. "I don't know much about dog deliveries but I've heard that C-sections are common in tiny dogs like Bonnie." Bonnie gave out a cry of pain that cut through everyone and her tail arched into the air and trembled. The gang immediately fell to soothing her and carefully positioning her body so that she could breathe in the easiest possible way. Cap didn't even hesitate. He picked up the mic from the bedside radio console and thumbed the trigger. "L.A., this is Station 51. .." ##Go ahead, 51.## said the dispatcher's voice. It was the very familiar Sam Lanier on duty for them and for that Cap was eternally grateful. It would make his next request only that much easier. "L.A. we need a patch over to Rampart Hospital on a personal medical call over to the emergency desk. This is not a still alarm. Can you put us through?" Cap asked. ##Stand by, 51.## A few seconds later, the phone rang on the table. Cap picked it up. "Hiya Dix, listen, I know you're puzzling over why I had the fire dispatch connect you to through this radio. This is why. Bonnie's pregnant. Not only is she pregnant, she's very pregnant and having extreme difficulty giving birth. ......I know this sounds crazy but none of us even knew she was expecting.. Can you help out at all here?" Amazingly, Dixie could. And soon she outlined her plan. ##I'm off duty in five minutes. Mike Morton is, too. I'll swing him by with a full animal OB kit from the lab. Captain, keep her on her left side. That much I know about dogs. It'll take the pressure off her heart and lungs if you do at least that. She should stop panting. At least that worked when my dog was having her puppies last year. Try that and we'll be over in fifteen minutes. Keep trying to reach an on-call vet, too. Morton was only a vet candidate when he gave it up to intern here. He might not be able to do much for her on his own. ## "Will do, Dix. Thanks for the suggestion and the aid. I'll have the boys get the rear garage door open for ya." And Cap closed the connection on the radio mic. He didn't even have to jerk his thumb to get Marco to crack open the station. "Gage, Dix says to put her onto her left side. She's coming with Morton." Roy got busy with a stethoscope. "Don't know if knowing this'll matter but I'll try to pinpoint how many heartbeats there are. Johnny, you said three puppies?" "Yeah, the stuck one's stopped moving a few seconds ago. Stoker, turn that liter flow a little higher would ya?" Johnny said. "Maybe it's just keeping still to protect itself. Better safe than sorry." Cap stood back and said, "I'll get water boiling." Chet looked up with an worried expression. "What for?" "Don't know, they do that in the movies, don't they?" Hank said. "We could use it for clean up later.." Gage shrugged as he shifted a limp and moaning Bonnie onto her back and to the proper side. Her gasping eased off just a bit. And the first obvious contraction that the gang could see twisted her body in waves. Bonnie gave a pitiful shriek, trying to suppress it. "Easy girl.. that's ok.. You're doing fine, we're just trying to help ya." soothed Chet, as he stroked her head. "Are you seeing anything?" he asked Gage. Gage looked. "No, not so much as a single foot." he admitted. "That can't be good.." Kelly said. "This whole situation's not good, Chet. Do you know how hard it's gonna be to find a vet to treat her on a weekend?!" Johnny said rubbing his face in utter frustration. He still had one bare foot getting cold on the tiles. "Could get even harder if we get another run to go on." said Cap seriously. "That's probably why Dixie and Morton agreed to head over here." Johnny nodded. "Roy, what do you think? I.V. with saline? Or Ringer's? We could keep it TKO." "Make it saline. I don't know what a dog's electrolyte hemostasis level is..." DeSoto admitted. "250 of normal saline. Ah,.. there's a cephalic vein right here. Chet, can you shave her leg bare using your razor. She'll hate the sound but we'll hold her down." "My razor? Why are we using my r-- I'll be right back." he amended after he got a glare from everyone else. Cap issued another order. "Marco, take over for Stoker. Mike, go make sure all the food's off the stove. And see if you can call around for a nearby vet. We'll notify animal control to take her there if we have to." "Isn't Les and Dave in our area today?" Chet asked. "Yeah. Yeah! I think so. I think they have all the city pound duty assigned for our neighborhood." Gage said, looking up from Bonnie's belly. Roy smiled, "Then there's our standby doggy ambulance." "Great idea, Kelly. That's using your noggin. Mike, why don't we call em sooner rather than later." said Cap to Stoker. Stoker left the room at a run. Roy frowned and took the stethoscope out of his ears. "There's not much more we can do until everyone gets here. That third puppy's heartrate's sinking fast. And Bonnie's is rising." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A closeup of Bonnie the Yorkie growling. Photo: Captain on the radio in the bunkroom. Photo: Dixie reaching for the phone. Photo: Gage and DeSoto making beds in the bunkroom. *************************************************** Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 10:13:23 From: "Roxy Dee" Subject: The Other Rescue Squad.. Across town, towards the heart of L.A., the phone rang on the desk of Sandy, at the Animal Shelter. "L.A. County Pound. Doc Coolidge's office..." she stated after picking it up. ##Hey, Sandy. How's my favorite dispatcher doing?## said a deep saxophony voice into the receiver. "Dave Gordon, don't tell me you're bored already. You and Les just got to Carson City on patrol half an hour ago.." she said with her hands on her hips. Then her face blossomed into an eager smile. "So tell me, how do you guys like the new truck? It's not everyday the state commissioner commissions one for us. And not everyday that we put one into service for the first time." For fun, Dave hit the speaker phone button on their brand new white and green squad's radio panel so Les could hear the whole conversation. ## We're liking it real fine.## Gordon said, flashing white teeth from his ebony face in the sun at his tanned blonde haired partner sitting next to him. ##You know, maybe we should scrounge up another tiger like the one we rounded up for the fire department at that meat market last year. Seems the publicity has done us nothing but good. Just look at our new wheels, man.## he said throwing his palms up in celebration. Sandy was a firm counter to his jubilation. "Don't push your luck, Dave. You're forgetting the fines we almost got for conducting surgery over the radio for the baby goat that that same fire station rescue squad pair brought in to that human's hospital." ##We brought William in, Sandy, remember? Those paramedics had done everything they could for him, even over the ire of their medical director. I know. I watched them use their defibrillator to get a heart reading. So if you want to blame someone for that stunt. Blame us. They were completely innocent of the crime.## spouted Les. Dave agreed wholeheartedly. "Yeah, How could we have refused a handicapped little girl in need? Those paramedics sure couldn't.## Sandy softened, even audibly, over the airwaves. "That was one expense the Doc was happy to pay, eagerly. He compensated Kel Brackett for the anesthesia and medical supplies we used up in William the goat's care." Les's face melted into genuine dismay. ##You never told us that. Why that inhuman human doctor! Didn't he understand the meaning of the word humanitarian back then?## "Les. Les..." chided Sandy. "Now before you go charging off to Rampart to confront that heart surgeon, let me let you in on a little secret. Dr. Brackett had to account for the missing supplies somehow for insurance purposes, or it would've meant his license if it was ever found out that he used them for an unauthorized surgery, kapeesh? I know that hospital administrator they have upstairs on the ninth floor, and he's a real task master! Kel put his job on the line or at the very least, his reputation, I'll have you know!" That quieted down the passionate flaxen haired animal control officer. ##Oh. Well that's different, then.## "Thought you might think that." said the vet office secretary. "Now, what's on the agenda for today?" ##Not much.## said Les Taylor. ##We just completed our first rescue call.## "Would that have been one of the mewling kind?" ##No. We didn't have to rescue any kittens from any attic today. Not yet, anyway. We had to relocate a gila monster from a public swimming pool back to the foothills before he bit someone.## said the African American man. "Now that's exciting! Makes me wish I could join you sometime. But," Sandy sighed. "..someone's gotta man the phone calls. I can't see any of you guys or the Doc, as having enough patience to sit through some of the more irritating ones." ##For all your years of passionate service and dedication, our hats are off to you, Sandy. ## said Les, smiling widely in mock exaggeration. "They always are when you're patrolling, fellas! But,..thanks for the tribute. I'll keep you posted if anything really good comes in today. The Doc should be in by three." ##You do that, 240-Sierra, out.## said Gordon, thumbing off the microphone connecting them to the animal shelter. Les grinned at Dave as he rounded the turn leading into the industrial section of Carson City by the Arco refinery plant. "Well, another day, another dollar, partner." "Yeah, but in such luxury? Feel that blissfully cool air conditioning!" said Gordon. "Believe me, I am. I wonder if the fire boys have that ability in any of their trucks..." said Les as he saw that they were driving by a fire station on their left. He couldn't read the number on it but he recognized it as being one of their county's. "Nah, they're probably used to the heat from working all those fires, man." said Dave. "Skin tough as nails, remember?" "Yeah, you're probably right." said Les, looking away from the brick station receding behind them. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Stoker set down the receiver after getting just rings at six animal hospitals that were near by the station. He decided to ignore proximity and time factors and abandoned the phone book. Instead, he dialed the Los Angeles County Animal Shelter and he finally got a pleasant sounding woman named Sandy as his last resort. After all, it had been Cap's orders to call in a team from there if nothing else worked. Mike reiterated his situation. Sandy spoke carefully. "A Yorkshire Terrier in advanced labor? I'll let them know. I've got a med vet truck patrolling very close to you. Expect their ETA in just minutes.." "Tell them to come into the yard in the back. The door's open.." said Stoker. "I will. Station 51, right?" "That's right." "Watch for them. They're driving a white and green truck fitted with yellow flashers." "Like a hawk." "Oh, there's one thing you should know, mister. Our vet won't be in until three. He's attending a veterinary conference in Anaheim and won't get back until then." "That's okay. We've got a doctor of our own with some vet experience on the way. He'll be handling Bonnie long enough to make sure it isn't dangerous to move her. And a nurse, too." "That wouldn't be a Rampart physician and one of his top ER nurses coming over, would it?" "Why, yes.. How did you know?" "Let's just say I've experienced some of the compassion that particular hospital staff seems to hand out by the ton indirectly and let's leave it at that. It's nice to know that Kel Brackett rubs off on his juniors occasionally when not rubbing them the wrong way." "You haven't met Mike Morton, then. He's still a little rough on the edges." "Huh?" "Nothing. Never mind. " said Stoker. A shouting from the bunk room got his attention. "Sandy, I've got to go. Something's happening.." "Sure. I'm hanging up right now. I'll have the treatment bed waiting for Bonnie and any of her puppies A.S.A.P once all this sorts itself out ! " Click. Mike left the kitchen at a run for the bunkroom. He skidded to a halt when he spotted a street clothed Dr. Morton and Dixie rushing into the garage from the backyard searching around the Ward LaFrance for the rest of the gang. "She's on a bunk in there!" he shouted. Then the phone rang again. This time, on the wall by the large county map. Stoker jogged over to answer it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ##240-Sierra. 240-Sierra. Come in.## "Go ahead, Shelter Base.." said Les Taylor, picking up his microphone. "More business already? That was fast.." said Dave Gordon. Les shrugged. Sandy's voice returned to give them the call assignment. ##19 over to Station 51 at ...2049 E. 223rd Street just east of Wilmington. They've a b*tch in severe birthing difficulty. She might be a small dog C-section for the Doc.## Les startled. "Hey, didn't we just pass them? They're three blocks behind us." Dave gripped the wheel. "Hang on.." and he flicked on the lights and tapped his horn as he did a uw-ee in the avenue. Dave took over the microphone so his partner could drive. "Ok, Sandy. We got it. We'll bring in the vet box with us." ##Good going. Let me know updates when you know them, okay? You know how I feel about new puppy calls. They've got some human doctor and nurse arriving, too. So be nice.## "We will. 240-Sierra out." Dave replied and he hung up the receiver onto its spigot. "Man, speak of the devil. We were just talking about firefighters." Les shivered. "Try not to get too weirded out over it, partner. Relax and try to remember that we are all working for the same goal. We both save lives when we can." "I know. I know. But what two departments are farther apart than we are under the county's jurisdiction? Still feels awkward when we get together. I feel a bond better with a cop than I do a firefighter." Taylor frowned. "That's just you. To me, we are all on the same team. Here we go......" said Dave as the animal squad straightened out to turn into the fire station's side drive. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Animal control rescue truck driving away. Photo: Dave Gordon, close up, animal control officer. Photo: Les Taylor, medium shot, animal control officer. Photo: Barney "Doc" Coolidge, animal shelter vet. Photo: A sooty Roy and Johnny treating with paddles and a stethoscope. Photo: A picture of an African pygmy goat wrapped in a shock sheet. *********************************************************************************** Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005 15:00:45 -0700 (PDT) From: "Sam Iam" Subject: Reaching Out.. Mike Stoker picked up the phone receiver. "L.A. County Fire Department, this is fireman engineer Mike Stoker speaking..." The person on the other end of the line never started talking. But Mike heard the sound of an open line, and some soft brassy wind chimes moving faintly in the background. A male canary was singing joyfully over it. "Hello?" Mike said again more loudly. "Is this a wrong number?" Thinking that one of Marco's family was calling to chat, but was taken aback by getting another english speaking firefighter, he repeated the question in broken, halting spanish. The phone clicked dead a few seconds later and the dial tone buzzed harshly in his ear. "Huh..." he shrugged, hanging up the black phone. Glancing up, Stoker returned to the bunkroom detouring only long enough to grab a stack of folded bathroom towels from the locker room. ========================================================== The scramble around Johnny's bed, and Bonnie, was noisy. Dr. Morton and Dixie were already in vet gloves that Les and Dave had given them eagerly. "Just how do you check a blood pressure on a dog?" Johnny said, shining a utility torch down on Bonnie's tail end, so Dr. Morton could see what he was doing in his exam. "Doc, I got the I.V. in and taped the line up around her leg so she can't pull it out..." supplied Roy at the same time. "Set it at the drip you want.." Les and Dave piped up even before DeSoto finished his thought. "Doctor, do you want us to transport her to the shelter? Our V.M.'s not in yet. Coolidge comes at three." said Dave. "Dave, she's breathing awfully fast, I think that it's already too late to transport." said Les. "Just look at how close those contractions are together... It must be less than ten seconds in between each one." Dixie placed soft hands on either side of Bonnie's panting face and crooned. "There, girl. Easy. We'll find out what's wrong. Stay down. Stay. It's ok to be scared. I would be, too, if I had three babies one sixth my body size working their way out of me." Morton surfed calmly through all the chatter. "Everybody pipe down. Thanks, Roy. Don't need one, Johnny. No, Dave, it's too late to move her. I see that, too, Les. That's right, Dix, distract her. There's a problem down here." "What did you find?" Johnny asked quietly, all professional. "She's pushing out two puppies at the same time..." Carefully, he lifted her tail at the height of a contraction and they all could see a pair of birthing sac bulges peeking out briefly before they slipped back inside of her. "Probably a leg and a snout.." Morton said, palpating the area gingerly. "What kind of heart sounds did you get?" Roy answered, passing off the stethoscope to Morton as soon as he remembered that it was still framing his neck. "I don't know what normal is on a dog. But Bonnie's heart rate is much faster than it was just a few minutes ago and one of the puppy's sounds slow and depressed..." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Closeby, Cap leaned into Stoker. "Who was on the phone?" "Don't know, Cap. I got a hangup before I could find out anything." Hank sighed. "Figures. Why don't people have the common courtesy enough to apologize when they do that?" "Because of some embarrassment?" Stoker suggested. "Only in the very young or very very old. I think that people are just getting sloppy nowadays and get rude without meaning to." Mike mumbled to himself with a half smirk. "That was the nicest rude canary I've ever heard..." "Huh?" "Nothing, Cap. Just thinking to myself." The two fell to listening to the huddle around Bonnie again. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Marco, tip her head back a little more. Dixie, let's slide her to the middle of the bed." ordered Morton. "Got it.." said Dixie. Morton frowned. "I'm a bit out of my element here. It's been years since I worked in a vet clinic. And even then, I was just a technician." "But can you help her out?" asked Chet. Mike pulled his hands away from Bonnie's heaving stomach and started to examine Bonnie's eyes with the penlight that he had deftly snatched out of Gage's shirt pocket. "I'll do the best I can, but I can't guarantee anything boys. She's in a real bad way.. I think.." he amended. "She's not yet shocky but I don't want to risk a Cesarean section under these unsterile conditions. The resulting infection would only kill her later on." Marco moved the oxygen mask closer to Bonnie's mouth and nose on the pillow case. "Poor girl. I know it hurts. Hang on.. The doc's gonna figure out something.." Mike Morton shot him a sharp look, feeling uncomfortable with the confidence the others were giving him to solve the situation. Then his features settled into resolve. "Dixie, your hands are smaller. I want you to do this next part. I'm going to try to turn these pups in utero. I want you to hold back this one's head in the birth canal while I twist this second one's hind paws right out of her. It may return the endangered one's umbilical circulation flow to normal before his heart stops completely. Then I'll figure out how I'm going to free the first for delivery. Fellas, I'm not going to rupture either placenta at all until we've got just one puppy into position. We need the cushioning in there to safeguard the third still waiting inside. If these suddenly burst, all the cords will start shunting blood into all the puppies. And that may bloat them too big to pass through Bonnie's pelvic arch. Each sac is supposed to break only when its attached pup's nose and head is pushed outside into the air." Hank blathered. "W-What ever you say, doc. You're the expert." "Far from.. I'm on one hundred percent guessing ground territory here. Don't get your hopes up.." Mike grunted. "I'm afraid this dog might still die before we're through if things don't start moving along a little faster." Dixie smiled quickly to soften Mike's bluntness. "We'll do everything we can to save her guys to the best of our abilities. I promise." she said, kissing Bonnie's nose affectionately. The gang was still uncomfortable. So were Les Taylor and Dave Gordon. "I hate getting calls like this. D*mned if you do, d*mned if you don't. And none too fun for the pups." "Got any sage advise for me?" Morton asked the two shelter officers uncharacteristically. "Yeah, start praying." said Les. Dave, was more thoughtful. He rubbed his chin. "I remember one time when the doc had a mother straining like she is with some large pups." "Oh, yeah..?" Mike said, still working feverishly with Dixie to unknot the two glistening twin bulges peeking out under Bonnie's writhing tail. "What did he do to help her?" "He got her warmed up. To relax the worst contractions long enough for him to right the pups positioning to normal. Worked better than any drug I've ever seen.." said the sweating African American man. Gage flew into action. "Roy, how about a burn pack from the squad. We can fill it with hot towels straight out of the shower.." "Sounds like a plan.." said DeSoto. "Here." said Mike Stoker, passing off his stack to the two paramedics who rushed to soak them. He handed them a plastic wrapped yellow bundle as well. "No need to run for this. I already got a burn pack. I thought we'd be needing it for a stretcher." Right then, the tones went off.. "Oh noo.." Chet fretted angrily. "Not now.." ##Station 51, unknown type rescue. At the high school. 1701 Western Ave. 1701 Western Ave. Cross street Lincoln. Time out 0940.## Hank Stanley fumbled with the bunkroom radio mic until he got a good grip on it. "Uh,, 10-4, L.A.. Station 51 is responding, KMG 365." Gage reluctantly tossed the towel bundle to the two animal control officers. "Les, Dave.. could you?" "We're on it. The showers are where?" All the gang told them eagerly and nervously, talking over each other. Dave held up his hands. "I got it. We'll radio on Tach Two with news when we can. The doc here can fill us in as soon as he's able to." "Appreciate it.." Hank said as he and the others ambivalently retreated for the fire vehicles. They shoved into one another like a comedy act before finally pulling themselves together emotionally and physically for the run. Soon, the county animal team and Rampart's team were left alone to deal with Bonnie's ineffective labor. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Stoker on the payphone. Photo: Dixie in street clothes at the station with the gang. Photo: Morton in close up at the station. Photo: Two birth sacs sticking out of a dog. Photo: The gang hovering over an animal on a station bunk. Photo: Cap answering a rescue call on radio. Photo: Johnny and Roy pulling on turnout at a scene. *************************************************************************** From: CONSTANTINOS BOURAS Date: Fri Jul 22, 2005 1:42 am Subject: The Story continues kb9ora As the Engine and Squad sped out the door, Morton placed the warmed towels around Bonnie to help her get warmed up after Dave returned with them from the bathroom. --------------------------------------------------------- Back at the shelter, Sandy's phone rang and she answered it "L.A. County Animal Shelter, can I help you?" "Sandy, it's me, Doc Coolidge, calling in to check my messages. Anything important?" "No. No calls. But Dave and Les are on a call at L.A. County F.D. Station 51, for their female Yorkshire Terrier that's in labor and having a difficult delivery. I understand Rampart also has a doctor and nurse on scene also." Sandy replied. "Oh, great! And I'm still three hours away by vehicle. Do you have a phone number to reach them at ? Maybe I can call them and help by phone." Doc Coolidge answered. "Sure it's (310) 830-3170." Sandy told him as she passed the <--- number from her directory. "Thanks." as he hangs up his phone, then places a call to the station. ----------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, at Rampart General Hospital, Doctor Brackett asks Dr. Early if he has seen either Dr. Mike Morton or Dixie. "No Kel, sorry." Dr. Early replied as Dr. Brackett walked away searching for his missing nurse and doctor. ------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. ************************************************* From : Cassidy Meyers Sent : Monday, July 25, 2005 4:35 AM Subject : Eye to eye... Kel made his way over to the nurse's desk in emergency in a last ditch effort to find his head nurse and youngest resident doctor. He saw Carol's retreating back as she guided a father carrying his son with a pillow cocooned broken arm into treatment room five and trailed by Joe so he squashed the plan to ask her their whereabouts. Frowning, he turned to Sharon Walters, the large dark eyed lip gloss oiled brunette in a blue nursing student smock, working on resupplying the drug cabinet behind the main desk. "Miss Walters, have you seen either Dixie or Mike in the last half hour?" "Yes, doctor." she replied. "They both had their coats on and both said that they had an urgent errand to run. They told me to give you the Greggerson chart that they finished up together for you." And Sharon handed Doctor Brackett a steel chart holder opened to the prescription ordering page along with the blue pen that she had been chewing on thoughtfully while she worked. Dr. Brackett took the lip gloss smothered, tooth dented pen politely after only a short, half smiling hesitation. "Thanks. I WAS looking to add a med to this. How'd you know?" he asked changing the subject to get his mind off the masticated pen. Sharon shrugged. "I saw that Mrs. Greggerson's w.b.c. count was high enough to get an antibiotic order since that wasn't started by the paramedics who brought her in. Then I saw that your name was on the base station log as having dealt with their call.. The rest was pretty easy to figure out." Brackett gave her a rueful grin. "That's Dixie rubbing off on you,.. all over." Then he threw back his head and laughed. "Sharon, you're turning into the epitome of efficiency around here. " he quipped. "Thank you, Dr. Brackett. I have a good mentor in Miss McCall. Second only to you." Brackett was good enough to blush with the compliment. But then he frowned again. "I wonder why Dix and Dr. Morton left so soon.. Their ER rotation doesn't end until six o'clock this evening." Sharon just blinked her shy, mascara heavy eyes at him. "It's Thursday already, Dr. Brackett. Doesn't time fly when you've been having fun working all night?" Dr. Brackett looked as if a sudden realization leaped up and bit him in the pants and he sighed expansively in unpleasant discovery."Oh,.... it's ......Really?" Sharon went on apologetically nodding her head yes. "Today makes it their payday "friday." And on fridays, both Dixie and Dr. Morton get off by nine fifteen in the morning for their..." "...their subjective weekends. That's right. I still feel like it's Wednesday. Did I ever tell you how much I hate the graveshift effect?" Sharon batted her eyes with a shiny smile. "Frequently, doctor." "I do?" "About as much as you used to yell at me for making a mistake." she said. "Well, let me compliment you again on your foresight to start offsetting that past negative balance..." Kel grinned, hefting the patient chart for which he had been looking so intently. "I can be an ogre but that's..." "...that's what helps shape unconfident students into confident nurses.." she echoed along with him and she started laughing. "I know. Dixie says that's one of your personal mantras that you'll never sway from in practice. Brackett mantra number thirty seven." "Thirty seven?!" Kel said starting to boil with a lit wick. "I know Dixie likes to psycho analyze me to death, but spreading around what she discovers about me on you nurses is ...is...taking things a little too far into personal territory!" "Doctor.." "What?!" "Please don't yell, I think the people over there in the waiting room can hear you..." Sharon said, without ruffling. "Besides, it's all been for a good cause, doctor." Fuming, Brackett just turned redder the more he tried to whisper angrily. "Oh yeah?! Well how do you figure that?" "Well,..there hasn't been a student nurse quitting because of one of your famous tantrums in over three months.." she said honestly. "Because Dixie's deflated the fear in practically everyone in my nursing class by continually reciting these B mantras she attributes to you to each of them over coffee. Including me." Kel was struck speechless. He just handed back the order scribbled chart he had just finished penning without a word, gummed the air a few times, and walked away with all the dignity he could muster, until he reached his office across the hall. ::I'm gonna have a long talk with my supposed head nurse. I can't believe she's made good on her threat to make things go softer on all the nurses during training. If she keeps that up, pretty soon they'll all start questioning doctor's orders as soon as they get them for thinking that they know it all fresh out of nursing school!:: he thought vehemently. Soon, he had the hospital operator spill the beans on the latest base station call that Dixie had last recorded in an attempt to find out where she had gone. He was told about the land line call from Station 51. Soon, he was on his own landline to her, directly. "Dixie..Come on now! Spreading ANY kind of rumor or grapevine about me is just short of insubordination in my book and you know it.." ##Uh huh! Brackett mantra number nineteen, DOCTOR. And I don't care what you think about what effect MY nurse training methods are having. I never tell you how to do heart surgery!## "Touche, Dix." Kel just had to smile at her verbal ire even through his own stung ego."Thirty seven, Sharon said... I have that many?" ##No, Kel. You have thirteen MORE. Just call them the fifty deadly vices of Kelly Brackett and be done with it. I had my reasons. And I have an even bigger one to hang up on you because Bonnie's about to become a mother in just about five minutes. And I'm not there to help Mike out with her because I'm tied up on the phone .. arguing....with you! We'll talk about this on Saturday when I'm not busy doing something that's really none of your concern right now that's on my own personal time!## Click! Dr. Brackett's ears stung with the reverberation. "Oh, for Pete's sake. Who the h*ll is Bonnie?!" he said, hanging up the phone grumpily. He pegged a guess in the wrong direction about that name and his little reputation problem. "Next thing you know, they'll be hiring female firefighters to go along with the female paramedics already filing through! It's gonna be ..pure matriarchy for sure. Between them and all my nurses! And a living h*ll for every doctor who'll ever hope to train with me at Rampart for the next decade!" Kel drowned out his sorrows in a cold bottle of spring water from his office frig and tried very hard not to think about the word ..."mantra." ============================================================= Photo: Kel Brackett at the desk base station with Sharon Walters. Photo: Dixie on the rec room couch with Henry and Johnny Gage. Photo: A closeup of Brackett looking perplexed outside his office. *************************************************** From : Roxy Dee Sent : Monday, July 25, 2005 9:52 PM Subject : The Wrong Crowd~~ Station 51 rolled to a halt at the high school across town. The sirens had already attracted most of the school's inner students, who were in between classes, like flies to a roadkill. They clustered around the firemen as they got out of their vehicles, quickly. Cap was hard pressed to locate the call originator in the front cul de saac parking circle. He approached the nearest person old enough to look like a school employee. "Captain Stanley of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Did you call us?" The gray haired man nodded and replied. "I'm the superintendant here. I thought he'd never listen to reason. Oh, ...thanks for coming so fast." Roy DeSoto spoke up. "Sir. what exactly is the problem here? Is there a fire? We can't tell whether all these students are out here because of an alarm or because of the fact that they saw our trucks pull up." Nearby, Chet Kelly was almost pushing the crunch of kids away from the engine. "Hey, guys. Step back onto the curb. You're crowding the h*ll out of us. We can't work without space. Please, just step back. You can see fine from the lawn and sidewalk across the street. Now move for your safety until we figure out what the problem is.." At least some of the hundred or so chattering curious, rowdy excited teenagers did what they were told. Stoker finally scattered the rest of the large milling group off the driveway with a blast of the airhorn on the Ward set at full freeway volume. They didn't stay there for long and soon returned to smother the firefighters. The superintendant tried to answer Roy's question but got bumped strongly by a pair of horseplaying young men who were shoulder wrestling. Marco steadied the man. "Hey! Knock it off you guys!" "Says who?" replied one of the mock fighters, who promptly ignored Lopez and turned away, waiting for his sporting game to start up again. Hank immediately got on his HT. "Engine 51,...L.A., Respond a police unit to our location for crowd control A.S.A.P. They're interfering with our ability to ascertain just what our current situation is." he said in hurried frustration. He ran interference to protect their contact caller by jamming himself between the play shoving teens and him without touching anyone with his hands. ##10-4, Engine 51. L.A.P.D.'s reports their ETA as three minutes.## One of the boys bounced off Hank's broad back and glared at him in mild irritation for spoiling their fun. Cap stared back as his men began to probe for information from their contact again. Gage hung onto the superintendant to be heard over the noise of all the teenagers boiling around them. "You ok?" "Yeah, stupid kids. Don't worry, mister. The bell's gonna go off right about....." RIINNNGGG! As if by magic, the students suddenly looked up in horror and started rabbiting back into the school in droves, parting like a river around Station 51's crew. Soon, they were alone. The superintendant sighed hugely and wiped the sudden sweat off his forehead. "Whew! That's a relief. It's not a fire.. or anything like that, guys. The call was from our coach. Out there. He says he's got a player down on the field.." said the man, pointing across the very car congested parking lot to a full to capacity outdoor bleacher stadium filled with game attendees at an active football match. "Glad you called the cops, captain, because I don't think the father's gonna let anyone near his son long enough to treat him. He's dead set on him continuing to play. You know the type. Macho ex military.." "What happened?" Roy asked. "Bad tackle. I think the kid busted his leg real bad. Coach said when he got his shoe off, his toes were already turning blue." Cap jerked into motion. "What's the best way out there? If that leg's circulation's been cut off, that kid's gonna have major problems." The superintendant shifted his urgent gesturing. "Through the utility gate. There's an access road that leads right to the fifty yard line to the north. All you'll have to deal with is a few picnic blankets and lawn chairs from those who couldn't get bleacher tickets. Come on! I'll open the gate for you. I have the key.." "Uh, huh. And what does this coach look like?" "Green jacket. The downy kind. And gray hair like mine!" shouted the witness. "Ok, thanks a million. Now let's move.." Cap urged the man. Roy and Johnny were already beelining for the squad, peeling off their helmets and overcoats. They threw them inside before restarting their ignition. Hank shouted to Roy. "You want us to follow you?" "Yeah, we'll need the extra hands if active traction's gonna be involved. A stokes wouldn't be a bad idea either. That player may be pretty far out onto the field." "Ok, You lead the way after him." Cap gestured to Stoker, still sitting in the cab, to follow the squad that was quickly dogging the hurrying superintendant's back. The sweating man soon got hold of the the privacy blinded chain link fence sealing off the access road and had it pulled out of the way. The engine and squad roared with lights and siren down the red rock until they cut a sharp right onto the grassy expanse around the stadium. They soon were leaving deep muddy gouges on the pristine grounds that had just been sprinklered. Behind them, the superintendant put his hands to his face. "Oh, no. Not the lawn. Just look at those furrows. The nightshift groundskeeper's gonna kill me." Cap got on the horn as he and the rest of the gang bounced wildly as the engine alternately had its opposite tires sink into the water soft ground as it moved. "Engine 51, L.A. we have a football player down with a serious leg injury. Respond an ambulance to our location at the outdoor stadium at the end of the high school's side maintenance road to the north. Update P.D. to our new twenty. Also tell them that we're not out of our little crowd problem yet either." he added as he spotted an illegal bottle rocket arching into the air from one of the bleachers. "I'm seeing pyrotechnics.." ##10-4, Engine 51.## Hank looked at Mike when he had rehung the radio mic onto its spigot in front of them. "How do the treads feel? Are we gonna get stuck?" "Not a chance, Cap. Torque is still good even in first." "Ok, just take her slow." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gage and Roy found the gap between the bleachers and pulled up as far as they could go to the painted field boundary. "Man, they're really into this game now, aren't they?" he shouted to Roy over the loud booing roar from one side of the high school's wooden risers. And it wasn't from the home team. "Sounds like this football team's just as aggressive as the book learners around here." "Yeah.. if those two wrestling clowns were any indication.." Johnny remarked as they gathered up all of their medical gear. Hank snapped out orders. "Chet, Marco. Lay some line and cover spray all the garbage you see under the bleachers in a complete 360 around the stadium. Connect off to the hydrant by the concessions stand. If any sparks from those rockets firing off reaches the paper debris down here...." "No one's gonna burn past emotionally in this game, Cap.." Kelly promised. Cap nodded in satisfaction. "Stoker give me a megaphone and then go grab a stokes out for them as soon as you can. Getting a hare traction splint's not a bad idea either. We've a fifty fifty chance on this being a femur fracture." Hank got his portable loud speaker. ###You there in the bleachers. This is the Los Angeles County Fire Department! Stop lighting those fireworks off now! It's too dangerous in such close proximity to all the spectators!### He was met by jeers from the few people who even bothered to peer down through the bleachers slates at the boring pair of fire vehicles beneath them. He was shocked to see full grown adults, obviously parents, in the home team crowd misbehaving right along with younger teenaged ones. The bottle rockets continued. Soon, Cap, Stoker, Johnny and Roy got their first look at their surroundings. To their absolute amazement, the game was still ongoing in an active charge. They winced as green and white jerseys colliding in bone jarring, no stops bull in a china shop momentum. "So where are they?!" Gage shouted back at his crewmates over the angry buzz of the crowd. "I can't see anything yet.." He had to dodge a full paper pop cup that suddenly hurdled down onto him, full of chocolate shake. "Look out, Roy!" DeSoto wasn't fast enough and got a face full of ice cream. "Knock it off you idiots!!" Gage shouted up to whoever threw the drink. "We're on a rescue call!" Cap took Roy's gear boxes and tossed them into the stokes he and Mike were carrying and hurried after Johnny while Roy cleared his eyes enough to see and follow. "You ok, pal? D*mn that crowd. I should have called for six squad cars!" "Cap, now that wouldn't be good PR to cast a nuisance fine on the high school like that. I'll live and we haven't been delayed enough to matter here." Roy sputtered. "I'm not hurt.." "You may not be. But a few more of them might get that way if this animosity between teams keeps up like this." Cap growled. Another bottle rocket went off into the sky. "CUT IT OUT LAUNCHING THOSE ILLEGAL FIREWORKS! YOU'RE GONNA START A FAST MOVING BLAZE RIGHT UNDER THE BLEACHERS IF YOU KEEP DOING THAT!!" Hank bellowed through his megaphone. "Cap, I think you oughta tone it down. We're on the wrong side if you know what I mean." Stoker yelled. "They realize we're gonna be helping one of the rival team's players.." "What a bunch of... And this is their own home game?! Just what kind of high school is this?" Cap complained. "A very very cliquey one, Cap." Stoker said, pressing foward, as he lowered his helmet to shield himself from a raining box of popcorn that suddenly started pelting down like confetti to compliment the ample bottle rockets continue to hiss into life around them. "They're gonna fry if they keep this up. And they don't care. What monsters!" Hank said in exasperation. "It's only a matter of time before one of those spent works reaches the trash under the bleachers. And then we'll really have a hot time." "That's only if Marco and Chet are slow wetting the stuff down, Cap. And they're never slow when it comes to a potential fire risk." "You got that right.." Cap muttered angrily. Stoker and Stanley heard a series of indignant squawks from above them when Chet shot all the bottle rocket launchers and the drink and food throwers in the butt with a sharp icy stream from his hose under the seats. The home team boos choked off, and ones from the rival team across the stadium shifted to the opposite point on the compass into light mirthy jeers. They got the rest of the way out to the tight coach and staff huddle over the downed football player unmolested, amid a jumble of cheers and shouts of encouragment from his team's onlooking spectators. "Yey, they're here!" "Don't worry, we'll protect ya on this side!" "Is he all right!? My g*d that leg looks awful. He's got a second knee! I think I'm gonna be sick!..." "We'll cream 'em in the second half time for injuring our star quarterback like that. Just you wait. " said several. Just shy of the rival team's fifteen yard line, the firemen finally got to a team of three coaches kneeling over a navy jerseyed african american teenager. One of the coaches was making gestures in an obvious can-you-breathe-ok? motion. Gage shoved past him with the O2 and quickly got some on him by the faster demand valve around the teenager's screams of utter agony. "Ok, Move aside. We got it from here. You down there, keep holding that leg still until my partner can take a better look at it." he ordered, crouching over the boy's white helmeted face. Roy ignored the pointed curious stares he got from the coaches as they eyeballed the pinkish brown goo dripping out of his hair and down his shoulders. One of them threw a towel over his shoulders to use quickly so he could work. "Sorry about that." said the man who could only be the coach who requested their response on scene. "I've been trying for six years to get my boys' family and friends to behave nicely at these games. Believe me, it's been a war this whole season keeping them civil. I'm surprised murder isn't being done yet judging by how your partner looks." he told Johnny. Another coach spoke up around him, a woman of thirty with short brown hair. "He's real shocky. His pulse's 126 and bounding. I've tried to get Lance's breathing slowed down but..." Roy turned to her. "Thanks for the information ma'am, we appreciate it. Now could the three of you step back a little? We can't work with you folks sitting shoulder to shoulder with us like this. He's gonna be just fine. He won't suffer with this for long here. We have pain meds that can take away all of his pain in seconds. Lance? I know it hurts, but my partner is gonna have to check you out to make sure you don't have a head injury working on ya before we can handle any of your discomfort. Ok? Now how old are you?" "OwWWW! *gasp* S-seventeen.. Mister.... I can't feel my foot anymore. Ohmyg*d my leg hurts!! It's real bad. Something's wrong inside." "I'm trying to help that down here." said Roy, gingerly manipulating the leg even before he cut open the teenager's leg wraps and tights to see the extent of the thigh bone's misalignment. "This is gonna hurt but I'm gonna try to get the blood flowing back into your foot by moving it back down the way it rests normally." "Just do it!" gritted the heavily muscled dark skinned young man. "I wanna play ball again without facing a lifetime on crutches-S-S as a total crip, man, understand me?! AghH! Just fix it!" Roy carefully drew the leg down to neutral position and smiled tightly when the foot began to pink up very weakily in a surge of rapid pulses. Lance started gagging and nearly blacked out. "Lance!.. Lance!! Now breathe in this oxygen to get your mind off it. The pins and needles'll go away in a min---" Gage started to say. Lance rolled over onto his side and was violently sick. Johnny barely slid his knees out of the way in time. Stoker quickly handed Gage a suction wand in trade for the demand valve so Johnny could rapidly clear food out of Lance's lolling mouth. He bent close to make sure Lance started breathing again when it was all over. "Easy.. easy. We're done, Lance. We're done.. Spit the rest of that out. I'll get it out of the way." Lance groaned and full consciousness returned cruelly once the oxygen was settled back onto his face. Roy looked up as the boy lifted violently off the ground with a return of more sensation in the shattered bone. "Where's his father? We can't treat with any medications here without a parent's--" "I'm Lance's step father." declared a big beast of a man who suddenly barged through the trio of smaller coaches. "He don't need no dope for his leg. He'll take his lumps like a man. He won't be showing no weakness to those heckling jackals in the stands by taking junk. Ain't that right, Lance?" "Y-yes, dad. I'm just....*egff* fine the way I am..." he grunted as another gush of cold sweat poured off his straining face. That set Johnny off the deep end. He glared fiercely up at Lance's father and said.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: A high school football field. Photo: A jeering bleacher's crowd in closeup. Photo: Coaches treating a wind knocked, stunned player. Photo: A spilled chocolate shake. Photo: An ice cream soaked Roy. Photo: Cap ordering police on an HT by a concessions stand. Photo: Johnny looking up from treatment at someone above. Photo: An angry inner city man outside, glaring. *************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Wed Aug 10, 2005 8:44 am Subject: The Winning Combination.. "Stoker, take over for me on his mask." Then he rose to his feet, pointing angrily at Lance's step dad. "Listen mister! If this pain goes on much longer, shock's gonna set in worse than it has already and the circulation to this leg's gonna stop completely and there'll be no chance in h*ll then to save it! Let us do our jobs! Is your pride over looking weak worth your son's future?!" Johnny growled up at him. "He ain't gonna die, fireman. Even I know that. Not while you're still here. I know how paramedics work. And besides that, a broken leg never kills unless fever sets in." demanded the massively tall man. Johnny tried to go over the truth of the danger of Lance possibly having a torn femoral artery again but Cap held up his hand to hush him. The frightened boy on the ground sighed under the demand valve as Mike eased his head back for easier breathing. "Dad,..*gasp* I tried to be what you wanted to be.. but now this has happened.." Lance swallowed around the bile in his throat. "No one can be perfect in the game, dad. Don't you see? We've had two chances to live a dream. But now it's over.. Pleas--please.. Let them help me.. I don't wanna be crippled. I don't wanna end up like y--..." "Shut up, boy! It's not over until I say it is!" shouted the step father. Right then, Vince Howard, his partner, and four other officers arrived in three squad cars. He sized up the situation in moments when Gage gave him a significant glance at Lance's grossly swollen leg and the drug box. Vince barked with all the authority he had. "Fireman Gage, is this boy's life endangered?" "His leg is. This gentleman here is keeping us from treating his son with anti-shock medication. If Lance's pressure falls into black out levels, the leg will start dying." he said truthfully. "Treat him. He's now under police department protective custody.." "What?!" spat the step father. "You can't do that.." "I just did. Or would you rather face reckless child endangerment and parental neglect charges in front of a board of inquiry?" Vince shouted back. "My other officers can see what's going on here clearly enough. They'll be my witnesses to the judge about your lack of judgement on providing humane care to a minor under your responsibility." the officer shouted back, just as street sharp. The gang didn't know whether or not Lance's dad backed down because Vince was his own nationality or because he had finally thought things through as he felt up the permanent brace he wore on his left leg. But step back he did, and he broke away all eye contact with the officers and the kneeling firefighters. They got to work. Roy quickly got another blood pressure reading on Lance. "80/50, Johnny. I'm leaving this pumped up for an I.V. stick. I got the MS right here." "Right.." and Johnny ignored Lance's father as he directed his crewmates on applying the Hare traction splint swiftly. "Lance.. once this goes on, the pain will lessen significantly once the bone's put back into better alignment. Just hang on. " "...O..ok.." said the boy. "Ok, Cap. Start cranking on that knob until I tell you to stop." Johnny ordered. Roy made a hasty call to Rampart. "...Doc, we've got a badly fractured femur complicated by muscle cramping due to severe pain. Circulation's twenty percent at best. Request permission for some MS a.s.a.p. to calm our patient down before applying pull on the traction splint. He's shocky with a systolic pressure around 80." Dr. Early asked a question. ##What's the nature of the break?## Roy replied, "It's closed, Rampart, but convoluted from an excessive tackle in a high school level football game." the paramedic told him to let him know the forces involved. Joe mulled over that. ##Do we have parental consent?## Hurriedly, the now cowed father nodded briskly, aware that his honor and reputation were now risked in a more binding, legal way. Roy sighed. "We do." ##Go ahead with ten milligrams morphine sulfate, 51, into an I.V., half Ringer's Lactate, half Normal Saline,.. set to wide open. Monitor his breathing rate closely and support him on one hundred percent 02 if necessary. Let me know when the traction splint becomes effective in returning the leg's normal blood flow. Then transport as soon as possible. I'll have a vascular and an orthopedic surgeon standing by when you get here. If his vitals don't improve promptly, place him in antishock trousers and inflate only the chambers over his abdomen and the good leg until he regains 90 systolic at the minimum or higher. And I want a set of new vitals every five minutes.## "Already drawn up, doc. 10 milligrams MS I.V. into a Ringer's Normal Saline bag. Anti-shock trousers on stand by for possible use to regain low normal. 10-4. I estimate our ETA at fifteen minutes. I'll have a full set of vitals once we're moving." DeSoto said. ##10-4, 51. Standing by.## Roy soon established an I.V. and he began to administer Lance's MS into the piggy back hub. Johnny had his hand on Lance's popliteal pulse as Cap and Marco adjusted the clicking tension on the Hare splint. He halted them when a beat appeared under his fingers. "Ok, right there.. right there.." he said. "Lock it off." Lance groaned at the relief of pain from both his narcotic injection and manual realignment and his wet face sagged under Stoker's hands, into a numb stupor. Lance's father started forward in alarm, grabbing his son's sweaty arm in both his hands. "Lance?!" he choked, his voice now full of worry and a genuine panic any father would have for his hurt child. Mike smiled. "He's ok. He's breathing just fine. And look at his leg. It's straightened up well. Johnny's getting a good pulse down to his foot now." he told the man as he watched the American Indian paramedic checking the splint's settings and straps. "No kidding? His leg's fixed now?" "Not by a long shot. This splint's just a temporary measure until an operation to repair the bone with rods and pins can begin." Johnny told him. "That's not like any splint I've ever seen. That one's got a crank or something on it. Mine didn't have anything like that when I broke my leg in this stadium eighteen years ago when it was applied by the coaches. In fact, it didn't help at all and now I'm half the man I was." And the distraught, tearing man lifted his pants leg to reveal a steel metal brace strapped around his upper leg. "It's called a Hare traction splint. Remember that when Lance starts walking again in a few months after some physical therapy. And the name of the medication that released the muscle spasms cutting off your son's leg's blood flow. That one's called Morphine. Because together, those two things will make sure Lance gets to the surgeon's table in one living piece. He'll most likely play football again,....someday. But you're gonna have to be more patient with him from now on, and a little more forgiving. Don't push him so hard next time, ok?" Gage grinned respectfully. The step dad said nothing but Gage could see that he was chewing over what he was seeing and hearing around him as food for thought. And when the ambulance attendants started wheeling the boy's stretcher out across the infield to the waiting Mayfair, both sides of the stadium suddenly started cheering. "See?" Roy said to the father as he held up the boy's high flow I.V. over his pillow out of Stoker's way. "No pride lost at all. I don't think they've forgotten all about you yet like you think they have. They know a pair of heroes when they see them. Both the home team and the away's." ================================================================ Subject: And Then There Were Four... :) From: theaterhost@voyagerliveaction.com Date: Thursday Aug 11, 2005 11:42 am Les, Dave, Dixie and Mike Morton were still all alone in the bunkroom at Station 51, working feverishly. The only difference was that someone had kicked on the sleeping room's light switch with a foot while they attended the hard birthing Bonnie. They had been successful untangling the puppies internally but no one was smiling. Bonnie lay barely trying so Morton helped her with an injection of saline into her uterus to stimulate effective contractions. Dr. Morton's hands flew. "Here comes the first one. Les, Dave.. take puppies two and three since you already know how to do this. Miss McCall, take the first. Your hands will be faster. Dixie, now when it's fully born, take the bulb syringe and clean out its nose and mouth free of fluid by doing the nose first. Then take a towel and rub the puppy briskly all over. It'll act like CPR and resuscitation all at the same time. A puppy this young's still all cartilage.." said the sweating doctor. "...so don't worry about hurting it. The harder the better. Its got to start breathing within a half hour or the mother's surfactant inside of its lungs will dry out and kill any hope of further alveolar oxygen/CO2 blood exchange. The pup needs to be breathing by then to make more of its own." Dixie rubbed a drip of sweat off her chin with an elbow and got a nest hammock of towelling draped over her palms by the sandy haired LesTaylor. "Gimme.." was all she said at last, pure determination making hard angles of her face. The youngest animal control officer put the worried nurse at ease. "It's easy to revive a newborn, ma'am. Just watch me when I get mine to get an even better technique once you get started." said Les Taylor. Dave Gordon smiled when Mike Morton snipped the first limp puppy's cord and scraped some gloved fingers over the small form to get off the placental sac and a lot of the mucous from around the puckered looking head. "It's a boy!" "Here, Dix.. Take him." ordered a brisk Morton. "I've cut and clipped him off. Whatever you do, don't pull off the umbilical clamp until all the fluid's done crossing over into him." Dixie made a deeply unconscious maternal sound. "He's so limp. My g*d, the poor thing's all distorted." she murmured, teary eyed, working fast with the blue syringe bulb to get air in a clear string down inside the male puppy. Two suction pulls later and only air gushed out of the bulb. Dave reassured her. "He'll shape up. They always look a little crunched at first." "Good. Now pick him up with some stimulation." Morton told her from the corner of his eye while he watched and helped Bonnie deliver the second puppy's head. He used a pair of blunted scissors to tear open its tougher than normal birth sac. Brown green rectal meconium poured out. A sign of a difficult birth. "This one's stressed and apneic, too. Les, you get this one. You're closer to me." The second puppy's nails, skin and cord were stained a sickly yellow. "Think rolling bread dough." coached Dave at Dixie, holding her shoulders while she scrubbed and rubbed the small still pup with the folds of her towel. He watched his partner get the second pup into his own nested towel. Then Dave showed the very jumpy nurse how to safely hang the puppy's head down low to drain him out even more. "And drying off one of the kids. There, just like that. Put a finger on either side of his shoulders like a whip cream can so he won't fall." "I don't have any kids.." Dixie said softly. "And this is nothing like that at all, Mr. Gordon." she said even louder in her fear. "Okay, picture drying off your own head after a shampoo. It's the same motion." soothed the calm officer. "That's right. See how he's not getting any paler around the mouth and gums? That's you, acting as his heart and lungs until he figures things out on his own." Dave told her. "Now, keep it up. If you get tired, we'll have one of the fire boys take over. I hear them pulling into the garage." "Oh, thank goodness. A paramedic when you absolutely want one." Dixie babbled. Les Taylor's eyes went up as he worked on his own limp newborn. "Give yourself credit, Dixie, you're doing a wonderful job. You can't screw up. That one's either gone already or he'll come back real soon. Just give him time. " Then he cried in discovery. "Mine's a girl! Hey, sweetheart! Come back to me and mama..!" he chuckled. Dixie ignored Les's amused candor. She was all analytic. "Mike, is Bonnie in danger from all that waste material inside the birth canal?" "No. Dogs are different than people. At the very most, she'll catch a urinary tract infection that'll clear up on its own in a couple of days." Morton said, pulling out the third puppy for Dave and he opened up its placenta like a podded specimen with his delivery scissors. "This one's lively. Dave..." he prompted, holding out the last pup as it squirmed and opened its tiny mouth mutely in his glove. "Come take her. And yes, I checked proper for gender this time." Gordon left Dixie's side to gather up his own towel and Morton concentrated on making sure Bonnie didn't bleed out by massaging her abdomen firmly while she lay under the oversized pediatric oxygen mask. "Is she breathing okay?" Dixie asked Dave about the third puppy. "Yes, she's trying. I just have to get out some of this fluid so she can talk a little." A few seconds later and a loud peeping protest erupted from the healthy girl pup. It acted like a jolt in Bonnie, who shot bolt upright onto trembling legs. "Easy girl.." Morton told her. "You're not going anywhere until you've finished the job." Then he used the fact that Bonnie had heard one of her new pups and tested out a teat. It generated ample colostrum and a little milk. "We'll give them back to you. Don't worry. We're all friends here..." he said distractedly. Then he looked up. "Well, her mother's milk is good enough. Dave, give me your puppy when you're sure she's cleared out. There's nothing like a mother dog's tongue to do a proper job of drying out dog hair." Dave gave baby three to the doctor who set the pup to one of Bonnie's nipples and offered her a squirt after he showed the pup where to find it. Bonnie immediately was all mother and she finally tolerated the human doctor fussing down below, checking to see if she had torn herself with the birthing effort. The newborn puppy started suckling hungrily with strength right away. Dr. Morton got busy assembling all the parts of the puppies' afterbirth onto Bonnie's burn sheet. "Well, for a first time mother, she's thorough. Everything's here." he announced. "And I'll have no stitching up to do." Les and Dave sighed in relief but Dixie didn't know what to think, still curled quietly around her lifeless puppy on Roy's bed, rubbing desperately all along its wet sides and face. Les's puppy sprang into weak voice that stereoed the last puppy's cries still fresh in their memories and she, too, was put to a breast to calm under Bonnie's attentions. That left Dixie's puppy, still lying limp and nonresponsive despite vigorous stimulation. Mike Morton heard the garage door rumble shut. "Gage! DeSoto! Bring the drug box.. double time!" Soon, the whole suddenly panicked bunch of firefighters, minus Roy, who had beelined for the nearest shower, appeared behind Johnny, skidding on the tiles with the asked for equipment. "She crashing?!" Gage minced. "No....no. no.." Morton said, putting him at ease. "It's the first pup, the one that was stuck. Nothing's bringing it around fast enough for me. Grab out a spent epi from your sharp's bin." "What?" Johnny gasped. "Can we do that?" "Sure, why not? I heard you used some on that teenager to boost his breathing en route to Joe a few minutes ago. Your captain was kind enough to leave the scanner on for us to listen to so I know you have that syringe handy. So crack open that bin and get it out. Time's wasting!" For a moment, Gage jumbled with its lid and almost reached inside the disposal chamber when Cap smacked his shoulder and handed Johnny his own forceps from his utility holster. "Use these.." snapped Cap. "Clever, doc. This way Brackett's form happy minions won't ever catch on that we used epi from our stores in an unauthorized way." Morton's head nodded.. "Umm hmm. There's more than enough left in this syringe to turn this little guy around." he said, fitting a new needle into the injection hub. Gage's face flushed with embarrassment that he hadn't thought of that way to protect himself from a contaminated needle stick. "Well, what about the I.V. we're using on Bonnie?" he said a little sharply. "Don't we have to account for that?" "Got a plan for that, too." said Morton. "The I.V. fluid we can account for. Don't be so clumsy next time, Johnny, you stepped on the bag here without watching, and broke it earlier on one of this morning's rescues. I'll file that incident report myself for the supplies people." Johnny started sniggering. "Who says you're not the devious type, doc. You're a sheer genius when it comes right down to it." "Anytime. Now.. Dix, let me see the little fellow, but don't stop what you're doing.." Dr. Morton ordered. The gang crowded around Dixie's towel and tiny charge. Morton opened the limp puppy's mouth, grasped its tongue and shot some drops of epinephrine from the recovered syringe deep into the lingual tissue there. The reaction was instantaneous. The puppy coughed, wretched, then pinked up and started breathing weakly after dumping out a gush of meconium from under his twitching tail. "Got you!" crowed Les Taylor. "Ah, I knew he was a fighter from the start." Dave murmured softly, admiring the markings on Bonnie's first born son. Johnny snatched away Bonnie's no longer needed O2 and held it over the pup's face on blow by. "What liter flow?" "Four will do. Watch him though." Morton ordered, pointing to the injected pup. "When he sucks on your finger, Dix,, stop the rubbing and put him with the other two to nurse. It'll keep Bonnie from bleeding out any more. Keep all of them warm. Except Bonnie. She needs to cool down or her milk'll fail. I'm going to go wash up.." said Morton, peeling off his obstetrical gloves. Johnny adjusted the mask's flow and handed it off to an eager Kelly, who took over his place next to Dixie when Gage rose up. "Uh, doc. Roy's in the shower.. he got a little messy after a run in with some irate fans." "Is he hurt?" "No. Just a little ice cream spill over." Morton's face looked as if he was going to ask a few more details on that one but he finally chalked it up as another story of the weird and said. "A sink'll do. I showered before I left work. I'll stick around long enough to discontinue Bonnie's I.V. But then I got to split. I've got a hot date tonight.." celebrated Morton. That made just about everyone do a double take in disbelief and amazement. "Dix, you showering after Roy?" Johnny asked finally, after clearing his throat to get by the stunning announcement. "Are you kidding? I'm married to the little guy here until I'M sure he's all right. I'll sleep in my clothes on the couch if I have to." she promised. Cap's eyebrows went up. No nurse had ever stayed overnight at the station before. And for that, he knew he had to make some changes. "Chet, go rig a tarp in front of the rookie's bunk down there. And do the same for the spare locker and extra sit down toilet." "Captain Stanley. You don't have to go through the trouble..." Dixie began. "No trouble Miss McCall. You did us all a favor by bringing him." he said jerking a thumb at Morton's back as he grabbed a few leftover clean towels to bathe with. "..so the least we can do is feed ya and offer you a place to sleep tonight if it comes down to that... or is Bonnie and her puppies relocating to the V-E-T-S before then?" he asked Les and Dave. Les picked up the phone next to the bedside radio station that reached an outside line. "I don't know. Let's find out. It's way after three p.m. The doc's in now." All of them gathered around Dixie and her furry brand new patient and around Bonnie to satisfy their worry that all was now truly well. Dave soon gave Sandy, the shelter receptionist, the good news and was on the line to the man he most wanted to talk to right then. "Heya, doc. It's done. Three live pups with no complications on the mother. The human M.D. did a fine job and only needed fractional epi on one of them. Do you want to see the whole bunch now?" Doc Coolidge chuckled. ##Nah, why bug them? We'd just be disturbing the mother/puppy bonding stages. A whole firehouse crew, a nurse and two paramedics are plenty to monitor and succor to them. Tell me the play by play when you get back here after supper..## "Supper?" ##Yeah, sure.. Use some of your animal rescue clout and make those boys over there to feed ya real good. After all, this emergency squad call of yours will be free of charge. My gift to the men in tan for a job well done. Tell them they can get a free check up for her and her pups from me in a couple of days.## "I'll tell them, doc. And I'll have my report on your desk by sun up." Then Dave hung up and addressed all the firemen and the seated nurse. "Doc says a checkup's not necessary right away since things went just fine all things considering. He's offering to check them out for nothing in forty eight hours. All you have to do is swing on by." "Wow, that's terrific." said Hank. "Can we offer you boys some barbecue? It's Stoker's night for KP and he's already started grilling. Dixie, same offer extends to you. Marco, go see if Dr. Morton's got time to chow before he heads out. I don't know of one hospital resident who can't pack away more than one meal when given the chance. They all just plain work too hard not to be able to do it." Marco headed off to ask him. ====================================================== Lopez peeked his head into the bathroom where Morton was lathered up like a surgical scrub down. "Doc, what time's your date at?" "Ten p.m. We're going to the late show." replied Mike. "The dinner table's open. Ribs. Are you game before you leave?" "You have to ask? And I'll bring my raging appetite, too. Thanks Marco." Marco nodded and turned to leave. "Hey Roy!" he shouted over the rush of steaming water in the shower stall. "What's the matter? Is it Bonnie? I'll be right there." "Relax, pal. She's fine. She delivered two girls and a boy who came back with only a little puppy CPR and leftover epinephrine from the trash." "Glad to hear it. Bonnie's a real trooper. I wasn't worried at all." ::Sure you weren't.:: Marco thought privately. ::You would've stayed sticky with chocolate malt in defiance of Cap for the next run if he hadn't've put his foot down to get presentable, in order to be there for her delivering.:: "I'll go set the table. Our four guests are staying to eat." "Ok. I'll grab out more soda from the cooler in the yard when I'm done changing..." bubbled DeSoto under the hot water. ================================================================ Subject: A Home For Each... From: theaterhost@voyagerliveaction.com Date: Friday Aug 12, 2005 1:52 pm It was two hours later in the depths of early evening. "Come on fellas. You've stopped stuffing your faces so drink up some of this soda. The case Roy brought in's already starting to get warm. What's the matter? You got a sudden aversion to carbonated prune juice or something? Hmmm, this is yummy.." No one even looked at her from where they sat burping or reading or playing checkers. So Dixie improvised, trying to get some bodies as thirsty as she was."Drink Dr. Pepper,..BE-eeee a pepper... " croon sang Dixie, to the others while sipping on hers. "Well, maybe not you. You're still on just the soft stuff." she babytalked to the snoring scruffy coated puppy nestled in her arms inside the shock blanket. "I think I'll call you, Max. You're definitely gonna be mine after all I went through trying to save you." she murmured. The guys didn't protest. Gage smiled as he turned off Max's wafting oxygen source. He had just finished drifting over for the fifteenth time to monitor his hind leg pulse. Dixie smiled. "Hey, check this out. Little Max thinks I'm Bonnie or something and he's looking for some insta-dinner. Isn't that the cutest thing you ever saw?" He was just barely visible in between all of Dixie's curves. Johnny's grip on the regulator valve slipped and the tank key clanged loudly against metal on its chain when he dropped it as Gage contained his shock and surprise at the casually mentioned observation. Every male in the room ( except Morton ) suddenly found themselves studying the walls, the ceiling, the floor, anywhere....but towards the couch. ( Nothing humanly body functional...ever surprised a doctor. ) Johnny started in awkwardly, thick with embarrassment, when Dixie finally decided to shift Max to her shoulder for a cuddle. "So u-uhhh.. *cough* What are we gonna name the other two? I mean, Dixie's got dibs on him. Uhh, congratulations to you." he said deadpan. He looked everywhere but at Dixie as he spoke. "Why thank you, Johnny..." McCall demurred. "He's definitely the best of the bunch." Chet piped up, the first fireman to sound somewhat normal in several seconds. "I dunno, Johnny. Whatever names we decide on, I guess. Maybe we should make em the epitamy of cuteness so that they'll be sure to adopt out when it comes time to give em away or sell them." "You got a dog allergy like Mama Lopez or something there, Kelly? That's why Marco can't take one. His mother'd only get sick." Cap asked."Why don't you take one of the girl pups for yourself? All I know is that I can't myself. My wife would kill me." "Mine, too." piped up Roy. "Oh, no..." Kelly evaded."You guys aren't gonna stick me with doing this. My cat Bruno will eat that tiny ball of fuzz for lunch. He doesn't tolerate having other animals around. At all." Gage laughed lightly. "Nor any of his dates either.." he joked, letting the others in on a little secret. "Very funny, Gage. But uh,, speaking of the subject, you're a bachelor. Why don't YOU take one of Bonnie's puppies home?" Johnny became uncomfortable, now that the tables were turned. "A puppy'd only get lonely for sure at my house. I'd be outside minding the ranch all the time and besides....I'd .. probably'd never remember to feed her on time. I'm just too dog-goned busy with my horses for that kind of thing." The guys didn't relent in their disbelieving stares. Chet shrugged "Is that a pun, Johnny? If so, it wasn't a very good one." Gage went on babbling and pretending that he never even heard Kelly's jab. "I swear I only go inside the house to sleep." "Among other activities.." Chet implied with innuendo. "You're not always alone, Johnny." said Kelly, revealing a little secret of his own. Johnny stabbed Chet with a glare to silence him but Dixie caught onto Chet's implied observation and laughed richly. Gage was stung. Dave Gordon raised his hand. "I'll take the third born. I kinda feel like she's half mine already. My heart strings are already getting pulled too hard to ignore." he admitted. "She's definitely woven her spell on me, the little witch. I think I'll call her Sabrina." "Glad you joined my adopt a puppy club.." Dixie said, raising her pop can into the air. "Anytime.." Dave replied, lifting his own in a toast to match. "That leaves one puppy left." Kelly tallied. "Uh..." "The last's a girl, Chet. Wanna check again?" Gordon said, moving Bonnie and her basket of babies a little closer to them on the kitchen table. Marco spoke up. "You know I can't take her. Like Cap said, my mama's deathly allergic. How about we check to see if there's a still a fire station around who doesn't have a mascot yet? A puppy'd be the perfect thing for any crew to have to baby to death to burn off excess stress on the job." "I don't think there is one." Hank said. "Boot's done a lot making everybody want a dog just by his visiting their stations. So that's what they all went out and did. They each got a dog. And as I recall, the chief brags constantly at meetings that there isn't a single solitary firehouse in the whole county that Boot hasn't yet influenced in that way. McConnike swears up and down that we were his absolute last stop when he arrived for that cliff top rescue two years ago." Gage stared at the garage in utter amazement. "Why that sneaking little ball of fur..." "Not so little.." Roy intoned. Johnny ignored him. "If I had known two years ago that I'd be forking out thirty dollars a year in dog food expenses, I never would've even started scratching those flea bitten ears of his. And now there's this fatherhood thing he has with Bonnie. I wonder if he even knows he HAS any puppies." Roy smiled. "I'm sure he does, Johnny. He does get around. Who knows how many Boots are running wild through the streets of L.A. by now. I'm surprised that none of us even guessed what he was up to." "How do you mean?" Johnny asked Roy. "What better way to guarantee his own survival than to train us firemen to take in station mascots for him to play with. Especially if they're females ones." DeSoto grinned. Morton started laughing. "And I thought I held the market for possessing a high grade of cleverness. Boot definitely had all of us fooled. Right from day one, I hear?" he teased the firecrew. They pointedly ignored him. Morton was nonplussed. "I still can't believe you fellows didn't even realize that Bonnie was pregnant." "Did she look pregnant to you?" Johnny and Roy asked the Rampart folks simultaneously. "Yes." replied both Dixie and Morton. Dixie chortled. "And you two call yourselves paramedics... How could you miss her belly settling? She was practically dragging the floor with it when she walked." McCall said, returning Max to his anxiously waiting furry mother. He already wore a ribbon in his hair, like Bonnie's. Only it was blue. Morton grew serious faced. "Uh, boys. I wouldn't let Brackett find out for all the world about your little slip up. He just might sic Craig Brice on the both of you for some retraining in the paramedic skills canine lab." Roy and Johnny paled. Mike Morton let them off the hook by bursting into a huge toothy smile with a guffaw bellowed out at the top of his lungs. "I'm joking, guys. Got ya, good." The others fell into a giggle fit. Morton went on. "And before you ask. Pets aren't allowed where I live." "Same here." said Les Taylor, the blond headed animal control officer. Chet wiped tears of mirth out of his eyes. "That leaves one left to speak up. Mike.. what's your excuse for not taking the last pup?" All eyes turned to Mike Stoker. The soft spoken fire engineer didn't move in his chair. His answer slammed them all into complete silence. "I don't like dogs.." came his reply. Even as he petted the snoozing Bonnie's head. "Why ever not?" Gage asked incredulously. "Dogs are great.." Hank said. "Stoker, you've absolutely stunned us flat with that kind of remark. Care to reiterate?" Mike Stoker lifted suddenly sad eyes and said.. ************************************************** Subject: A Call For Help... From: theaterhost@voyagerliveaction.com Date: Saturday Aug 13, 2005 12:31 am "Whenever I've gotten a dog in the past, something bad always happened to me. I guess.. I ...sort of ...built up a negative association with dogs that's now become impossible to ignore. I know this sounds stupid and even a bit crazy. I've tried to get over it, but I find that I can't." he replied. "Not even for a moment.." Cap was matter of fact, "A defensive mechanism?" "Maybe.." agreed Roy, analyzing. "And Mike is the shyest of the shy at times. It makes sense." Hank angled in. "A man of few words.." murmured Chet. "But big on heart." Morton added. "Mike why didn't you share this with us before?" asked Marco. "That's what friends are for. We never would have agreed to keep Bonnie, or Henry or even Boot for his few weeks of visiting for that matter for one single minute, if it meant that you'd feel any pain by having them near you." "Amen to that.." snapped Cap wholeheartedly. Mike Stoker studied the floor, but one hand strayed to Max, to keep tactile tabs on his shallow napping breaths. "Forget I even said anything. Guys, I ..don't know what to tell you about it." "You don't have to." said Dixie with sudden conviction. Her tone was all friend and not even a hint of nurse colored it. "Sometimes, there are things people have to keep to themselves in spite of everything else." That made Stoker stand up, unusually uncomfortable. "Ok. I'll take her home with me." "Are you sure?" Cap asked, angling his head. "Wasn't that rather sudden?" "No, it wasn't. And yes, I'm sure. Maybe she'll get me over this negativism I have once I grow to love her like I do all my hutch rabbits." "You have hutch rabbits?" Chet chortled with a laugh. Gage smacked him. Stoker ducked his head shyly but then he grinned. "I do. They're the best pets in the world, Chet, I'll have you know. And they'll never ever claw you to death like your cat does to you whenever you p*ss him off with the garden hose when you shoot it at his window." Stoker said with a smile. "I do not!" "You do, too. I see you do it whenever you have me over and you think I'm still just sleeping in the hammock." He made a graceful exit to the armchair that Cap had vacated and retreated behind the entertainment section of the newspaper. "Why that shy little snitch..." Chet grinned. "I had no idea he was watching me." "Have you ever heard of a fireman engineer who stopped watching a fellow firefighter?" quipped Cap. "No.." Kelly answered. "There you go. Stop looking so surprised then." Roy said with a smile. "So now you know that Mike Stoker never stops watching anyone he cares about. Something we all learned about years ago." "Yeah, all except you, apparently.." Gage mocked at Chet with a predator's smile. Chet made a face at his still gathered tormentors. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the wall, the outside line payphone, started ringing. Dixie sprang up off the couch and scooped up Max joyfully in a short dance of happiness. "I'll get it..." She positively floated to the phone, giddy with the idea of having adopted a shaggy mini version of a Boot/Bonnie combination. "Los Angeles County Fire Department. This is Nurse Dixie McCall. How may I help you?" she asked shifting the whimpering Max to a shoulder to soothe him. The smile on her face instantly wiped away and disappeared into a haunted, barely contained mask of shock. "Honey.. honey, can you still hear me? Please, whatever you do, ..don't hang up.. I'm not going anywhere, ok?" That attracted everyone's attention instantly and they all started speaking at once, asking questions. Dixie silenced them desperately and mouthed two totally silent words, "Suicide attempt.." Cap dashed out of the kitchen, "I'll let the phone company know." "Get Detective Crockett, too, Cap." Gage urged in a whisper. "He's got our district on shift tonight." "I know! He's gonna know second. Now shhHHH!" he hissed back. "Give Dixie your pocket pad and pen so she can take notes!" he ordered. Johnny stayed with Dixie, crouching cautiously near the receiver in her ear so he could make out their conversation as it happened. He handed over a green pen and pointed to his back so Dixie could start writing, using him as a desktop. Max, he put into her shirt pocket, having no better place to put him where he wouldn't cry out for Dixie's body warmth. The guys split up. And Roy went to the phone in the bunks room with Morton so that they could eavesdrop in on the conversation to see how far the caller had actually gone into harming himself or herself by listening to how they sounded. Marco went to the communications alcove and put the station out of service for an off site still alarm suicide attempt via phone call. Something that headquarters might be able to trace on their end. Chet got a chair for Dixie and set it down for her to sit on. Then he freed Johnny up by carrying over an end table after setting its lamp onto the floor. Dixie immediately started scribbling, using its new conveniently horizontal surface as a desk. In a sudden thought, Kelly ran out into the garage and opened the night doors so police negotiators and Detective Crockett could enter without ringing the visitor's doorbell. Johnny read what was on Dixie's paper. ..Female. Younger than fifteen by the quality of her voice. Maybe fourteen. No other sounds except windchimes and a bird of some kind... "A bird?" Johnny mouthed. Dixie nodded. "A nice sounding one. A nightingale or a mockingbird or something expensive.." she whispered, then aloud she shouted. "I'm listening honey. What's your name?" ##I'm....not dumb...enough to...tell you that. I... I just called in order to have someone to talk to... Only you.....aren't him...Why couldn't you have been him? To...tonight ..of all nights..## said the unseen, groggy sounding girl. "Oh,... I feel ...so sick.... I shouldn't've-" There came the sound of vomiting and it was a fairly long time before Dixie heard the sounds of the girl's difficult breathing again. Dixie didn't waste time reestablishing dialogue to dig for information. She opted on delaying long enough for a trace to be successful. "Who's him? Can you tell me his name? Hello? Who's the one you wanted to speak to tonight?" Johnny mouthed two words. "Stall her." and threw his hands apart in a growing expanding gesture. Dixie nodded in an exaggerated, irritated, I know that already move. They could both hear Cap on his private office line with the phone company, setting up a trace to their kitchen phone's number echoing quietly through the vehicle bay and a twin voice from Lopez, setting up the slower second trace via L.A.. over the station's alcove mic. ##...Mike..... Mike Stoker..## sighed the weak voice answering Dixie's question. Dixie's eyes flashed panic. ..Should he get on the phone?.. she wrote in a panic. ..Where is he?.. "I know him. He's a good friend of mine. And yes, he's still here.....working.." Dixie told the girl. "But he's out of the room. Can you hold on a moment while I find him?" Gage wrote back on a pad that Chet gave him from his pocket. ..He went to move the engine into the driveway to run her hot if we can trace this call and find out where she is.. He'll be right back.. ##No tricks.. What's your....name?## "Dixie. What's yours?" she tried again, while Johnny hugged his head near hers to listen in. ##Uh uh. No clues. I'll only talk to him... I know him.... See?" gasped the girl. ##Put him on... Now..## demanded the short of breath caller. ## I...I don't think I have much....time left..## Gage scribbled a furious suggestion. ..Tell her he's hanging hose and that it'll be a few minutes while he climbs down for the phone.. It's dark outside.. Dixie told her. ##Ok,... I'll wait ...those couple of... minn.. utes.. But no more! I don't ...trust you, yet, Dixie...*gasp* Only him..## ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Morton sat still and contemplative next to Roy where they were at the little writing desk in the bunkroom. The tiny lamp was on and an HT was in Roy's lap already connected to Cap's in the office. And he was listening intently. He had already unscrewed the talking microphone in the mouthpiece of the dial out phone receiver so that he and Dr. Morton wouldn't be overheard by Dixie or the girl. "Does this happen very often?" Morton asked DeSoto. "Not very often. This is maybe the third time it's happened since I started in the department. And all three of those calls came to this station. Enough for us to develop our own game plan on how to try and handle it..." said a paling Roy. "It's ironic though." "What is?" asked the Rampart doctor. "You okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that Johnny and I were going to take our new "suicide call to the station" protocol ideas to the fire department board of directors tommorrow on our mutual day off. So we could fine tune things for just this kind of worse case scenario." Morton nodded in sympathy. "She sounds bad.." "Yeah. There's no denying that this isn't real. Do you think it's pills?" "No. She's speaking too lucidly for that. Dixie can't seem to trick her into releasing any information here." "Natural gas?" Roy guessed again, grasping at straws. "No, we're not hearing any hissing in the background. Anyone who wants to die that way usually sits in the same room as the source. Besides, that bird singing in the background would've asphyxiated long before she'd even START to feel the effects of that." "The minehole canary idea?" "My modern day version of one.." Morton remarked darkly. "I don't think I like the way your mind thinks, doctor. It's too morbid." "Sorry, I was trained to think clinically, using symptoms. And right now, her symptoms are too vague to pin anything on." Morton said. "I'm stuck with pure suppositions." "Let's concentrate here. Maybe her breathing pattern'll match something. We know she's already vomited enough to sound projectile." "A chemical irritant..." Morton agreed. "Right. With no head injury. Ruled out and refuted. Again, due to the current level of her talking ability. So no gunshot wounds there or ...." Roy thought hard. "But what about a knife? She could be bleeding to death.." Morton asked. "Slashed wrists? Could she be a cutter?" "Nah, bleeders never vomit, not until near the end." Roy said. "Now who's getting morbid?" "Doctor, let's keep our Sherlock Holmes/ Dr. Watson observations to ourselves and start paying closer attention here. This girl's life's in danger." "I haven't forgotten that for a moment, Roy. Let's keep listening and see what Johnny and Dixie can come up with.." ************************************************** Subject: Birds Of A Feather..... From: theaterhost@voyagerliveaction.com Date: Sunday Aug 14, 2005 08:06 am Dixie was beside herself physically, but emotionally, she instilled false calm into her voice, an ability born only of long years spent working in the medical field. "Can you tell me how you're feeling?" ##Why should you care? You don't even know me..## "I'm here at the fire station." Dixie countered. "If I didn't care about helping people, why would I stay here to answer the phone even a single day?" But backward logic seemed lost on the suiciding girl and growing beyond her. ##What?!## and she screamed in overwhelming pain. To Dixie, it sounded like someone who had crippling abdominal pain."Hey! Tell me what's wrong.. Is it because of something you ate? Maybe I can do something for you!" ##You'll only tell mom and she'll tell my shrink and then I'll end up in the hospital again with a bunch of people who get paid trying to figure out what's going on inside my head. I know ...how you nurses ...work..## she panted. ##You only push paper and ....give shots and never ever do you really get to .....know the people you treat. Oh!## the girl wailed. ## I hurt.!! It's not supposed to hurt this ...bad.## "Tell me. What did you do?" There was no reply. "Hey, listen to me. Are you alone?" Again, came only the sound of shuddering half breaths. "Is there anybody with you?" McCall asked. ##No one to care...## sighed the pain wracked girl. ##Just Raphael..and he always cheers me..*gasp* Do you hear him? He's my ....dearest pet. ## she said through a slurred haze. ##Mom travels.. you see, and she's never home for me when I need her. I hate being alone by myself in such a big house...## she wailed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Captain Stanley met Detective Crockett at the door, who asked. "How long has she been on the line?" "Just under five minutes. She's on the payphone in the kitchen." Hank replied. "A payphone, huh? That's gonna make things a little more difficult for the phone company to trace. Public communications cabling has checks and balances and other security systems to thwart just exactly what we're trying to do here." said Crockett. "It's not anything that was planned for in the designs. It just turned out that way because the phone companies are now out to protect themselves and their businesses these days." "My man, Roy, one of my paramedics, has an open HT to a voice pickupless speaker phone in the bunkroom. They've been listening in..." said Cap and he turned up the volume of his handy talkie. "Have you been able to determine the method she's using?" the African American police detective wanted to know. Hank's face fell. "No. Not yet. Whatever she's doing. It's bad enough." The two men froze, listening to Dixie's desperate dialogue with the troubled, isolated girl and caught the scream that made both of them wince in horror. "Ok, captain. Me and my men will take it from here. You get your man Stoker talking to her as soon as possible. Make him use her payphone only. As we learn clues, I'll put out squad cars in a grid around the immediate neighborhood. That way we might get close by enough to respond in time to reach her." said the man. "Increased numbers is the idea.." "And buy us time to get there with our rescue squad once your officers find her. Ok.. What do you want us to do?" asked Stanley. "Listen close, here's the plan..." said Crockett. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So you live in a big house. What is it? A mansion? Or simply a big split level bungalow?" McCall plugged. ##Definitely...a ...bung.. An- and the only thing I ....like.. here is... that Raphael can watch the sun come up every morning because we're so high up..## ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crockett snapped his fingers as Cap turned the volume down low again. "She sounds close. Within a couple of miles or so. Camden Bluffs is the only house neighborhood I know of in your area that's on clifftops." "Mike Stoker would know more about this. He lives out that way.." said Cap. Hank shouted. "Mike, front and center!" A pale, worried Stoker ran in from the driveway. "I pulled up the squad, too, Cap." "Good. Now get ready. Yes, you're gonna be talking to this girl. From the kitchen. But first, tell us about Camden Bluffs. How many houses are up there?" "Is that where she says she's from?" Stoker asked. "Not specifically."answered Crockett. "We're just guessing. She sounds very near. There isn't the usual city static sound of distance on the line. She doesn't sound tinny. Not even a little bit. We think she's in the vicinity of the Camden neighborhood because she says she lives in a bungalow high up." "There's around sixty houses up there. I live on the outskirts on the east side..." said Mike. "East, did you say?" broke in Crockett. "Yeah, why?" "This girl said that the view was the only thing she liked about her house, because Raphael could watch the sunrise from the window." "Who's Raphael?" Crockett gestured absently.. "Oh, just a family pet..." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What does she do?" Dixie asked the girl. "Your mother..." ## Her job's......not im--p portant. Dixie, I thought you said... th-- I was.## "You are, hon. Please don't forget that already. Your mother might not be there but know that I am, ok? Tell me what you like to do...." McCall stalled. ##Where's Mike..? Y-You promised that he'd be there. Or did you lie to me?!## she gasped. "He's here! Don't hang up. I'll get him to hurry up... Mike! I need you on the phone, now!" Mike Stoker ran into the kitchen at a jog. His face was gray with fright and in his hand, he held an HT with Stanley's name on it. Dixie showed Mike her notes with her last question asked written on it , encircled thickly with ink. Stoker took the phone from Dixie and repeated it. "Tell me what you like to do." ##Is that you, Mike?## "It's me." he said simply. ##Oh,..I'm so...glad. * cough* I was too chicken to talk to you directly earlier ....t-today..## --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cap looked up in shock. "Mike had her on the phone this afternoon?!" "Did she speak for long? The phone company may have a recording of it. They always record what calls go into fire stations, for obvious reasons." the policeman said. "No, he said that he heard no voices. That it was a hang up." "About what time was that?" Crockett asked. "Oh, about five minutes before we got the high school leg injury call." "That's a lead! I'm on it. Is your man Marco still on the air with L.A.?" "Yes. I told him to stand by with a live channel in case we needed to patch in to this girl remotely." Hank answered. "Ok, get set for the next stage. I'm going to find that recording's calling number's imprint.. Give me three minutes.." "That's up to her.." sighed Cap as the passionate detective left his office at a dead run. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ##I make...things. From...th- the garden.## sighed the girl. "Ah, do you mean you bake from it?" Stoker asked shakily. ##No, silly. Don't you remember? I craft from it. J-Jewelry and stuff. Didn't you get my ..my present? I ....sent it through the mail to your .....stationhouse. ## Like a heavy shot to the heart, Mike remembered. "Gage." he hissed. "There's a package from her that I got yesterday. I haven't opened it yet. It's sitting on the wall over my bunk. I moved it to get it out of the way for a nap and forgot all about it. It's got to have an address on it at least!" Johnny ran. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Morton and Roy were still listening for clues when Gage burst into the room and skidded out on the floor tiles onto his butt. "Johnny! You ok?" DeSoto shouted. Together he and Morton got him to his feet but he quickly broke out of their double grasp. "I've got to get to it." "Get to what?" Morton asked. "Mike's package. The girl on the phone sent it to him! It's right there!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Stoker heard the sound of wretching and it was followed by the sounds of a short seizure. "Hey.. are you ok? Talk to me..." The thrashing ceased. "Talk t--" ##I'm...st- here. But I'm sooo scared, Mike. It's got blood in it.." she sobbed. "What does? From what you threw up?" Stoker asked. "No, the ....other way..." and she began to cry. "Diarrhea?" "Yeah. And I can't ...go anymore. I haven't for two hours.." she cried. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morton and Roy met in close conference over the bunk desk, thinking. "Renal failure? Intestinal blood?" DeSoto listed her symptoms. "It's got to be an organic poison of some kind.." Morton guessed. Johnny Gage slammed the box down and snatched for the mail opener. "There's no postmark or return address." He grabbed Roy's HT. "Mike? I'm opening it!" he yelled into it. He got a clickback in return. The two paramedics and doctor quickly pulled off the neat brown wrapping and got to a white paper box, hand drawn in colored marker, filled with ornate designs of garden flowers and butterflies: a child's work. Then they got down to tissue paper and a carefully wrapped bundle that was meant for the engineer. Gage ripped it open and a necklace made of natural materials fell into their laps. Morton snatched it up, staring. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Roy?" "Yeah,... aren't those seed pods on that string castor beans?" Gage held his breath. "Oh, that poor girl. Ricin! Her mother must have some adult plants growing in the garden. If she's bitten into even one of those seeds..." "Let's go tell the others.." Morton commanded. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "They couldn't get it. She wasn't on long enough for them to trace from the recording this afternoon." Crockett told Cap when he had returned from the receiving alcove. "Let's check and see how the others are doing then, shall we?" Hank said. "I refused to believe that we are plumb out of options. Things just don't ever work out that way." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morton, Roy, Johnny, Cap and Detective Crockett all got into the kitchen as rapidly as they could. They entered fast but quietly, so as not to disturb the trembling Mike, who was still on the phone with the still living soon to be dead girl if they didn't find out where she was located in time. "Beans.. Ask her about the beans.." Morton told Stoker with no preamble. He waved the necklace in front of his face. Stoker noticed that the doctor wasn't holding the necklace with his bare hands. He had it clutched in a pillow case to protect his skin. "I will.." he squeaked. Captain Stanley noticed. "Doctor, are those dangerous to us?" "No, the poison only causes local skin reactions in this form. It can only spread by being inhaled, injected or ingested. Mike, find out how many she swallowed..." Dixie added. "Oh, no..these have no anti-toxin.." "Then what do we do once we get there?" Johnny asked intently. "Treat the symptoms and wait it out. A stomach pump would be more than nice. Are you fellows issued one?" Morton wondered. "No." Crockett spoke up quickly. "Don't worry. You'll have one yesterday. I'll radio one of my officers and get one from Rampart immediately. Whereever we all end up, he can just meet us there with it. " and Crockett ran out of the room back to Marco Lopez's dispatch radio to get it done. "Give me the hospital's exact address. I may know where it is but that officer might not know it." "1000 West Carson Street, in Torrance!" Captain Stanley shouted after him. Mike Stoker was about to ask the girl about the pods she had taken when a beautiful canary burst out into full voice on the phone at a flare of heat lightning that flashed both over the station and over the girl's clifftop house. His face went white as a sheet. "A canary? Is Raphael a pet canary?" ##.....yes....he's so beautiful.. He's my yellow angel. Always there to keep me saf---## the girl broke off when she slipped into another convulsion. Stoker shoved the receiver back into Dixie's hands. "Cap, I think I know where she is! There's a white house above mine to the left about a quarter of a mile. I swear to G*d when the wind is right, I can hear a canary in the mornings. And windchimes...." "Can you take us there, pal?" Hank asked. "In a heartbeat.." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Station 51, with a vanguard of two squad cars, one bearing Crockett, the other bearing a stomach pump and nasogastric tray from the hospital soon wailed through the night towards a fourteen year old girl on the brink of death. Mike Stoker was beside himself so Cap did one thing more while his engineer drove fast, breaking the speed limit with permission. "L.A., Engine 51. Patch my station's live phone through to my HT unit three, priority band one, over all units. Notify Battalion of the override! Clear all frequencies on Tach 5 at 101.8 ! We need an immediate link to our suicide attempt." ## 10-4, Engine 51. You have the band now at 20:07... Mark.## L.A.'s soothing baritone left the air and soon, the joyful canary's confused song over the lightning, returned. Chet Kelly held the HT over Mike's mouth as he drove the Ward towards the block above his house. "Hey,.. listen to me." Stoker shouted over the engine's sirens, until Cap flicked them off. The two flanking squad cars and the preceding rescue squad, holding Morton, Roy and Johnny were more than enough to ensure their safety on the dark road in front of them. "Are you still there?" ## ...*moan* It's...over soon, Raphael. We'll show mom that it's never..... ever..right to abandon me at home for ....weeks at a time. I'm so...lonely now. It's nice to know you're there, Mike. But..I think....I'm ...going to...die....## "No you won't." Mike promised. "We're coming! What's your name? At least tell me that." he begged her. There was no reply for long moments, until Dixie's voice on the payphone cut in. ##Listen, honey. Do you want a new pet to care for? I know people haven't proven to be any good for you but listen... can you hear her?## The sounds of whimpering and puppy talk filled the cab of the rushing engine. ## We can bring her to you, just as soon as we can. All you have to do is tell us your name.## repeated the shaken nurse. Crockett, in his speeding car, leaned into the scanner, with a pen from his pocket poised over his notebook. Silence reigned over the air wave. And Mike was oh so aware of how many breaths he was breathing in the stretching interval that follow. He was about to burst, so he blurted out. "She's my puppy. Born a few hours ago. I'd like you to have her in exchange for that secret necklace you gave me. Please, will you tell me? I want to know what to call you before.." Stoker broke off, overcome. "...before it's too late." ##....promise.... ?...? ## came the softest whisper. "Yes.." They all heard the sound of a door opening to the storm growing outside and the sound of a body dragging across textured concrete. And the sounds of lightly wind stirred waves as they rippled along the edges of what could only be a a closeby swimming pool. And the haunting wind chimes that Mike had mentioned earlier. ##It's Soledad....## the girl sighed. ##Soledad Martin.. Ah, Raphael.. Keep singing. Keep singing until I can no longer.......hear you...## whispered the seed poisoned artist girl who admired a firefighter from afar. The phone line issued a terrible splash and the HT fuzzed into a piercing signal lost squelch when its transmissioned channel snuffed out as the girl's body fell intentionally into the deep end of the pool. "No!!" yelled Mike, even as Chet whipped away the radio so Mike couldn't hear her struggles anymore. He briefly grappled with him to get it back. Cap grabbed his arm firmly. "Keep your mind on the road! We'll get there just as fast as humanly possible, Mike. But we have to get there in one piece first. Understood, pal?" he said, his eyes weeping. "You've got eleven tons of fire engine sitting under your butt and you're driving. Hold it all together until we get there!" Mike Stoker nodded blindly, his eyes wet with incredibly fresh grief of his own. "Ok, Cap.." he sobbed. "I hear you." Cap then beckoned for the radio from Kelly. "Dixie,.. let us know if you hear any more sounds. Any at all." he said grimly. "We're three minutes away at the very least!" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crockett was practically eating his microphone. "Madeline! I want the address of a Soledad Martin, a female minor living in Camden Bluffs and I want it NOW! She's just thrown herself into a pool to drown and we're nowhere near enough to save her yet!" The frightened police dispatcher finally gave the information as fast as she could push it from between her lips. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They found her at the very bottom, drifting almost peacefully under the water. Captain Stanley wouldn't let Mike Stoker anywhere near her as they worked to get a clear airway and later, to get a dried off chest for an EKG reading on the pulse they had recaptured on her using the manual defibrillator. Dr. Morton let Roy and Johnny establish an ET first before he threaded an NG to extract the offending seeds that Soledad had consumed. Six beans spat out into the collection jar. And to his immense relief, all of them were unbroken and entirely free of bite marks. Mike Stoker began to weep. "She swallowed them whole, doctor?" "Looks like it. If she manages to last three to five days, that'll see her over the worst of it." "How can you treat a poison that can't be cured?" "You wait it out. Her condition appears young and strong. She seems to have kept herself well fed from what the police found in her refrigerator in spite of being left to her own devices." Morton replied as they watched Roy and Johnny package up the girl even while they breathed for her. "Those d*mned plants are everywhere. Glad you pointed them out to me, Dr. Morton." said Cap, stepping near. He was putting on his jacket again after having been the one to be Soledad's chest compressor for her CPR. "I'll know what to watch out for in the ornamentals around houses on unknown child down calls from now on. They just might be these, then. Pretty things, aren't they?" "That's the trap..Grownups cultivate them in their gardens and kids find them irresistable." Morton sighed, holding up the jar of deadly beans he had taken from Soledad's stomach. They glistened in the moonlight, beautifully coated with an appealing speckled seagreen and maroon. "Kids and crafters everywhere like to make them into jewelry. And they wrongly think that just because castor oil is safe, that the plant's beans are, too." "How..how does the toxin work, doctor?" Mike Stoker asked as he watched the slight girl get wheeled away and rushed to Rampart by his coworkers. "Just one milligram of ricin, one of the main toxic proteins in the plant, can kill an adult. The ricinus lectins act by inhibiting protein synthesis by destroying a cell's ribosomes. The seed is only toxic as the outer shell is broken or chewed open. Or baked and glazed as they usually are to make top selling jewelry for all the art shows. People are dumb enough to be ignorant and they buy them. Then the many children playing with these homespun necklaces get sick and die after they eat the attractive seeds, thinking they are actually the candy pieces they appear to be." Morton said sadly. "Early symptoms are the gastric upset and later there's kidney and circulatory failure along with seizures and acute respiratory distress syndrome, if not complete apnea in all cases after severe exposures." Crockett sighed and folded his arms together. "I know of at least one man who's been killed by ricin." he said thoughtfully. "He's on all of our books and his death is now a subject to be taught about at the police academy.. Bulgarian Georgi Markov, was a communist defector working for the BBC World Service, last year. He wasn't considered a popular man by his countrymen because he was a playwright and satirist who had broadcast scathing accounts of Communist high life to Bulgaria abroad. He was killed by a poison dart filled with ricin that was fired from an umbrella in London last spring, 1978. Markov's assassination was detected only because the pellet carrying the poison had not dissolved as expected properly into the muscles of his thigh. It took him four days to die and he developed a very high fever and the most hideous symptoms. That's why I became so distressed when I learned that the girl had taken some of this in the form of castor beans." "I don't know what horrifies me more, doctor. The fact that ricin is so deadly or the fact that Soledad knew about them from her mother and tried to take some to end her life.." Mike said, stroking the brilliant brass cage that housed a now silent Raphael. The brief summer storm had long since passed without spilling a single drop of rain and that explained the bird's sudden quiescence. There was no more lightning for him to mistake for a rising dawn. Stoker smiled. "And this little guy, deserves a reward. He saved her life you know. I never would have put two and two together if he hadn't've burst his heart out when he did." "Miracles do happen." Chet Kelly grinned, picking up all the paper wrapping from the medications and stimulants that they had used on the girl. "Seems like us crew of Station 51 got a real good quality one today. Man..." he puffed, stretching like a cat. "Kelly.." "What, Cap?" "Make yourself scarce." Kelly missed nothing and realized that a conversation never meant for his ears was about to take place. But that was ok in his book because he knew that fire captains sometimes needed private times to talk and sort out problems with the men under him. Mike didn't look happy, but that was ok, too. Chet would fix any ruffled feathers he found on him later, when they were alone. "Ok.." said Chet and he disappeared back into the house to help the police locate information on the whereabouts of Soledad's mother. When he was gone, Cap turned to his engineer and met his eyes. "What are you going to do now, Mike? I mean, when she comes back home again, you'll still have your secret admirer problem looming over your head." Cap asked with a faint smile. "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. But you know, I think we both should become friends anyway, Cap." "Why? You know how obsessive types usually get with us. We usually have to get a restraining order to keep them away from the station." Hank said matter of fact. "I know. But she's young. Only fourteen. I don't think she'll get too bad. Not with state psychologists chaparoning all our visits together. And I think that she'll be able to teach me how to love dogs again through that pup I'm giving her as much as I can show her how to love other folks again. Maybe we can learn a lot ... ....from each other." "Admirable, my man, simply admirable.." grinned Detective Crockett with a large smile. The policeman's face lit up the night sky like a beacon. "Outta sight." FIN Episode Twenty Three §§ The One That Matters §§ *************************************************** End Credits -- Episode Twenty Three (Third Season) §§ The One That Matters §§ :) This episode is for those who weren't saved from suicide and the the families still living with the burden of that memory. :) :) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season Three, Episode Twenty Four.. §§ S.n.a.f.u. §§ Debut Launch: August 1st, 2005. ************************************************** From: "Mark" Date: Fri Aug 12, 2005 12:41 am Subject: ( Episode 24 opening scene ) Dr. Kelly Brackett stumbled into the shower. His head was pounding and he knew his temperature must be at least 102. He grabbed the bottle of Tylenol and swallowed them with a gulp of water. He felt that he had to get to Rampart, not as a patient, but because the ER was short staffed. Mike Morton had left for vacation in New York last Saturday and wasn't due back for a full ten days. It didn't enter his fevered mind that Dixie would take one glance at him and chew him out for even attempting to come to work. Perhaps most of the lecture would take place the NEXT time he came to work though. After putting on his plaid suit, Kel picked up his medical bag and trudged out to his car. Checking the clock, seeing it was 11:30 p.m., he muttered. "If only I hadn't scheduled myself on the graveyard shift." He got in his car and carefully backed out his driveway. After driving for a few minutes Kel started to wonder if he was doing the right thing. He stopped at a red light and started to alertness when the car behind him honked. It was a couple of teenagers in a convertible. He looked up and realized that the light had turned green already. As soon as he passed through the intersection, the other car whipped around him, effectively cutting him off. Kel grimaced as he saw one of them make a rude gesture at him. He slammed on the brakes to avoid a collision. Shaking from the near miss, it occurred to him that maybe he had not made the right decision. "I'm so tired of feeling this rotten," he stated to the empty road. Flexing his stiff neck he slowly continued down the road. ::Oh, no.:: Kel thought, as his physician mind kicked in, ::Please don't let this be meningitis.:: His dread grew as he added up his symptoms. Suddenly he realized he was driving much too fast. His car careened, narrowly missing an oncoming car. Unfortunately, feeling the way he did, his reactions were slowed and he realized too late, that he had launched his car over the curb. As his car began to flip, it glanced a parked car, then crumpled into a large tree. The car landed on its right side, the front of the car crumpled in, breaking both legs. His windshield shattered on impact, spraying Kel with glass. Pinned against the steering wheel, he drew a ragged breath. He knew he had broken ribs. Pain ran down and radiated through his body. ::Why is a tree branch sticking out of my shoulder?:: he wondered, as the darkness claimed him. ------------------------------------------------------------ ##Station 51, single car accident, 110th block of Torrence Blvd. Time out: 23:59.## John Gage bounded into the driver's seat, joined by Dwyer because he knew that Roy was at home recovering from a minor injury that he had taken on a prior shift. Helead the engine out of the bay, unknowingly, to rescue his boss and friend. "Station 51 at scene." Captain Stanley radioed to dispatch. John and Dwyer looked at crumpled heap of metal in front of them. A feeling of dread came over Johnny. "Please don't let me be right," he spoke out loud. "Right?" Captain Stanley said, "What do you mean, John?" "I think that is Doc Brackett's new car," John replied. ------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. ************************************************** From : wone3 Sent : Sunday, August 14, 2005 10:59 AM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Start of an Long Night As Dr. Brackett's accident was happening, Dixie McCall was pulling into Rampart's employee parking lot. Though she loathed the graveyard shift, she still scheduled herself to the shift in regular intervals. It was one of many reasons that she had the respect of her nursing staff, as most supervisors wouldn't work the shift unless they were needed. Of course it didn't hurt that both Kel Brackett and Joe Early were working the shift with her. The three of them were the closest of friends and did a bunch of activities together. Dixie looked around the parking lot and spotted Joe's car almost immediately but didn't see Kel's. :: That's strange, he's usually here by now in his office.. :: she thought. :: Of course, he could have had car trouble and his car isn't here. :: she continued her thought process. She knew the only way to find out was to go inside. She exited her station wagon, locking it up as she went and headed for the emergency room doors to get ready for work. As she headed for the nurse's locker room to change, she walked by Dr. Brackett's door. She noticed it was shut, but knocked at the door and tried turning the handle. She was surprised to find the door locked but figured that he must be running later than she was and went to get ready for work. About ten minutes later, she left the room ready for work. As she exited the door, she nearly ran over Joe Early in the hallway. "Hi Dix, I see you got stuck, too, huh?" "Yeah, Joe. I scheduled myself to work with my two favorite doctors though, so at least the shift would be bearable. But it looks like I might be pulling a double shift since I hear we are down four nurses due to this flu going around. Hey Joe, You haven't seen Kel yet have you? I needed to ask him a question." Joe was about to answer when they were interrupted.##Dr. Early and Nurse McCall to the Base Station, stat. Dr. Early and Nurse McCall to the Base Station, stat.## They both hurried down the hall to answer the call. ------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. ************************************************** From : Champagne Scott Sent : Thursday, August 18, 2005 2:35 PM Subject : The Woody Jumble.. The night was thick with late evening darkness. Gage peered into the cab of the shattered maroon sports car and recognized Brackett's leather jacket and cologne right away. He heard an effective rate of labored breathing but the doctor didn't answer to his name at all, nor did Gage see any attempt at voluntary movement, from where he crouched. "It's his. Positive I.D., Cap." Cap tried some wry humor. "Looks like lightning's struck twice here for the doc, unfortunately. Ok, let's get to work, gang!" Stanley immediately stopped Gage with a hand on his arm when the dark haired paramedic stuck his head in to climb inside. Johnny licked his lips with uncharacteristic stress and more than a little dread. "John, you guys gonna be all right working on him like this?" he asked, realizing the huge weight knowing a victim would have on his paramedic team. "Cap, don't call another squad." swallowed Dwyer. "We'll handle it. In fact, we'd rather know what's going on with Brackett, good or bad, than let a total stranger station learn about it first. Besides, who can care for him better than the best possible people he's trained personally to date?" insisted Dwyer as he began to jack open the driver's door frame with a crowbar. "Roy's not here, but I'll do.." Hank hesitated, but as the sounds of difficult breathing began to falter due to the awkward positioning Kel lay in, he held up a warning finger. "Just this once...Let me know what you need the instant you figure it out." he ordered. Dwyer and Gage nodded mutely and squirmed into the car even before the gas had been pushed away with water. Their flashlights disappeared inside as they got to the injured doctor's side. "Marco! Stoker! Get a covering inch and a half. There's gasoline all over the place. Then grab the spreaders! We're not using a K-12 on this tree unless we absolutely have to!" Cap got on his handy talkie. "L.A., Engine 51. We have a single vehicle crash with a live victim. Notify the ambulance company. Station 51's out one hour.." ##Engine 51. Your ambulance ETA is reported at twelve minutes.## "10-4, L.A." Hank got busy grabbing the resuscitation gear. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Oh, man. Would you look at this?" Johnny said to his partner. "A tree branch's been shoved clear through a shoulder." Dwyer immediately got on Brackett's head, opening his airway with a modified jaw thrust and provided firm immobilization for his neck. "The left side...Above the first and second ribs?" he asked as he bent to listen closer for the exact quality of Kel's shuddering respirations. Gage knew that below meant cardiac damage, a pneumothorax, or worse. He got out his clothes shears and started cutting. "Above,.. and the blood's not bright or frothy." "Brownie points for us. Come on, Kel. Show us more......" Dwyer mumbled, as Johnny searched lower, slicing down to bare skin as he got rid of the doctor's clothing. "Some rib involvement, but no sucking chest wound ...... and two broken legs.." Johnny spoke swiftly as he gingerly shucked off both of Brackett's shoes to check for a Babinski's. His reflexes, were normal. "Back so far, seems clear. Let me check it out closer. " said Johnny as he felt and examined Brackett's spine under the bright swathe of flashlight illumination. "Any pulmonary blood?" "No, but he's getting cyanotic for some reason, in spite of a good airway. And he's awfully warm to me." Dwyer said. "Head injury?" Johnny asked, adding the elevated temp and slow, noisy breathing symptoms together. "Don't know yet without a BP..." "I'll get it.." murmured Johnny, hurrying even faster than before. "Check his head once Marco gets in here with a collar." Dwyer shouted into the air. "Cap! O2 on the fly! His color's turning!" Hank fed the unit through the side window that Stoker had just compromised. "Here.. He awake?" "Sort of.." Dwyer stated, "He makes noise on pain. See?" he demonstrated by rubbing a firm knuckle into Kel's breastbone. At the same time, Johnny pinched his Achilles tendon, hard. Brackett moaned but didn't try to push the saliva or blood, out of his mouth. This Johnny drew away with suction. "Cap, tell Rampart that he's reactive only to pain. And read this off..." he said, handing his notepad out of the car. "We'll have vitals for ya in a second. We're gonna vent him for a minute or so until his color improves before we do that." Hank set up the biophone and started giving a report to a very very quiet Joe Early. Gage professed confusion as to Kel's mild stridor. "His chest's clear." he said pulling off his stethoscope. "No artifact at all. I can't tell if his heart sounds are muffled. Not with all this noise going on.." he said of the working jaws and chain springing the dashboard away from them. "I'm putting in a nasopharyngeal on the right side. His gag's negligable." Dwyer said. "Here's the demand valve. I got a mask on his stomach whenever he's set for that. Marco!" Johnny shouted. "Yeah!" hollered Lopez. "Get in here with a short board and that C-Collar. We're ready for ya!" he said as both he and Dwyer checked the placement of the NP and the effectiveness of the light ventilations Johnny was triggering on Brackett's inhalations. "He's gonna need full spinal immobilization! And that's after we deal with a shoulder impalement! It's got him pinned in here real good!" "You got it, pal. Collar coming first." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hank could drop a pin over the airwaves as the gray haired physician and mouse quiet nurse stayed that way while he reiterated his patient report off of Gage's notes.... " C-spine's clear so far, all reflexes are intact. However, he needs some airway support with an NP." Joe's voice literally cracked after a sigh of relief that he couldn't hide to save his soul. ##...10-4, 51. What are his vital signs? ## Hank got another scrap of paper from the dark hole and he plugged his ear as he read the information in the glow of the Ward's headlights for Rampart. "..BP's 88/46, respirations unassisted are deep at nine. Pulse is 130 and thready. Rampart, my paramedics note that our victim is semi comatose but febrile without a head injury." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dixie was afraid to move while she wrote down the information in a haze of surreality. "Sounds like he's got that d*mned flu going around. Maybe that's why he crashed..." she whispered. Joe thumbed the talk button again on the base station receiver. "51, I suspect an infectious etiology to explain the fever. Ignore that for now. Monitor vital signs, splint both legs and get him on a spine board, with full head, back and neck immobilization. Start two large bore I.V.'s of normal saline, on the uneffected arm. Run them in until you've reached his haemodynamic stability level. Immobilize the tree branch, without removing it, as best you can, once you get him free. Re-evaluate his chest , heart and lungs every minute. Keep an eye on his consciousness level and let me know when either that or his cyanosis improves. Any muffled heart sounds may indicate developing tamponade. Watch for it and treat accordingly." ##10-4, Rampart. Two I.V.s of NS, leg splints, complete long board and relative stabilization of the stabbed shoulder. Re-examine breathing and heart sounds continually. Stand by for another vitals set, Rampart...## came Captain Stanley's voice. "Standing by." In the few seconds that took, Dixie started shaking. "Oh, my god, Joe. This is really Kel, isn't it? I- I mean ....couldn't they be mistaken about him? It's full night out there." "What do you think, Dixie? Now you know and I know that those firemen out there are just too good to make a mistake like that. Ever. Let's just concentrate on getting Kel the best surgeons possible and take things one step at a time, once we get him in here, ok?" Dixie nodded, but then she frowned. "Can you treat your best friend, Joe? Regulations say no." "The regulations be d*mned. It's nearly midnight and there's no one else readily available with my qualifications. I'll weather that administrative storm once Kel's been stabilized in surgery and is resting comfortably." That ended the conversation most effectively. Both the stunned doctor and nurse turned back to the speaker phone and tried not to bite their lips as they heard the sounds of shouting, sawing and orders coming over the open phone. For some reason, Cap hadn't muffled the mouth piece. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Get a hose on that, now!" Hank yelled to Chet. A spark had ignited a puddle under the door opposite the driver's open one. "Cap!!" shouted Johnny and Dwyer. Gage pinched off the O2 line, even as he pulled in his feet from the bottom of the fire on his side of the car. "We've got a burn here!" ##Kelly's on it! Keep sawing in there..## Cap reassured through his belt HT. ##He's pushing it out from under ya as we speak!## Johnny blinked as blood droplets sprayed his face from the wood and bark stake's base as Marco bit into it once more with a handheld hatchet saw. "Easy...easy... go slower! His BP's dropping with all the vibrating going on!" Brackett began to moan in pain. And he began to speak. "..fire, Johnny....got to get out.." he gurgled on dirt and blood. Gage sucked it away with an active wand. "Doc. We're ok. They're not gonna let us burn. How's your chest doing?" "You mean ...besides feeling that d*mned tree driving ...clear through it?" "Yeah.." "I'm still breathing..." he gasped. Johnny cracked a grin. "A lot better than you were before." "What-- what else is wrong with me?" "You've got a broken tib on the left, a tib/fib on the right. Both closed. And some uncomplicated rib fractures on the left. How's your head?" "I....got a headache. But Johnny.. I had that before....the crash.." Kel whispered. "I think I'm sick... Very sick. You both protect yourselves. You hear me?" "Too late for that, doc. We're already in the thick of it. Besides, there ain't a bug alive that can keep a fireman down. I speak from experience, remember?" Gage grinned. "Now you just concentrate on breathing in this oxygen. We're starting to get signs of pulsus paradoxus on you and that may not be just because we're moving this maple off ya." "H-how bad?" Kel gasped. "Around a twenty point drop in your systolic on every inhalation..." Brackett sighed.. "I'm tamponading or..I've...most likely got ..an aortic contusion going on. How's my pressure ..reacting in my arms and legs?" he asked weakly while Marco slid a Kendrick short board next to his head around the snugly fastened collar the doctor now wore. Dwyer responded, looking up from a set of thigh BPs he had just taken. "All four are equal, doc. No drop in the legs and no hypertension in the arms." "That's a relief... but, we all know I'm....not out of the woods, yet.." he said swallowing around the uncomfortable soft rubber nasopharyngeal airway hanging partially down the back of his throat. "That a pun, doc?" Lopez quipped. Brackett tried to smile. "Who's on, tonight, who's....got me?" "It's Joe, doc. An ortho and thoracic surgeons team is already standing by." Johnny replied. "Let me talk to him.." "Sorry, doc." said Dwyer, turning up both of Kel's I.V.s. "Can't oblige. Against regulations. And besides, there's a fire between us and the phone.." "No there isn't....about the fire, I mean. I just heard Chet Kelly announcing that he smothered it out a minute ago with some foam." "Still too far away.." Gage teased seriously. "Cap's out there and the reception'll probably be cut off in here. So, answer's still...nope." "Come on, Johnny. I order y--" "Wrong, doc. You're not my doc anymore. Not since you started bleeding and we started trying to stop it. So hush up and quit twitching your good arm around like that. You'll infiltrate your I.V.s." Johnny said. Brackett's ire was squashed as a fresh jolt of agony lanced through his shoulder as Stoker shifted a large piece of tree away from his body. His awareness started to fade. "Round two, later, Johnny. Use an ET, rapid sequence,...if I ...." Kel blacked out. "Dr. Brackett?...Dr. Brackett?" Johnny prompted, feeling for his carotid. "Can you hear me?" he shouted over the loud buzzing of the jaws. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. *************************************************** From : Mark Sent : Monday, August 22, 2005 3:36 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The rescue continues.... "His pulse is weak and thready." John announced after checking his carotid. "We need to get him out of here, NOW! BP has fallen some. 84/40." Fortunately the last piece of the tree Mike had removed left only about a foot sticking out of Kel's shoulder. The back side had already been cut to enable them to get the backboard in place. Dwyer took a careful hold, supporting Kel, securely holding the backboard. Johnny quickly wrapped the portion of the tree limb that still impaled Kel, securing it in place and immobilizing Kel's arms. The car gave one final jerk as the engine crew worked the jaws, prying the dashboard off, freeing Kel. Johnny carefully placed the splints on and secured Kel's legs to the board. "Let's get him out of here." Johnny said tersely. ::I never dreamed how hard this rescue would be.:: Johnny thought to himself. ::I hope I never go through the rescue of a person I know again! If I can't have my partner, I'm glad it's Dwyer here. But I sure wish Roy was here instead.:: They carefully lifted Kel, setting him on the waiting gurney. "Cap, let's get the equipment in the ambulance." Johnny requested. "We'll update in route." Cap quickly transferred the biophone to the ambulance. Marco handed in the rest of the equipment. Johnny and Dwyer climbed in. Captain Stanley shut the doors and gave them the traditional two thumps. "BP is still 84/40." Dwyer advised. "His pulse is the same - 130 and thready." Johnny listened to Kel's heart and lungs again. "Drat! I'm hearing more stridor." Johnny said. He picked up the receiver to contact Rampart. "I'll get him patched in." Dwyer said. "Rampart, this is Squad 51." Johnny called in. ##Go ahead, 51.## answered the anxious voice of Dr. Early. "Rampart we have extricated victim and are in route. Our ETA is 10 minutes. Just prior to extrication patient was conscious and oriented. Patient advised he had a headache before the crash and believes he is very sick. He advised us to use safety precautions. Patient has lost consciousness. BP is now 84/40, pulse 130 and thready, respirations are labored with increasing stridor. We have him patched in and are sending you a strip. This will be lead two." ##10-4, 51. We're standing by for your next update.## ----------------------------------------------------------- Roy DeSoto was awakened by someone pounding on his front door. He'd just dropped off to sleep after spending an hour tossing and turning. "I'll get it." he told Joanne. He threw on his robe and went to answer the door. Opening it, he saw his neighbor, Bill, anxiously standing there. "Bill? What's wrong?" he asked. "Judy's in labor." he told Roy. "She says it is time but our car won't start." Roy smiled and held up his broken left wrist. "It's your lucky night, Bill! I should have been at work, but for this. I'll be over with the car in a flash." Roy dashed back to his bedroom. "Judy is in labor." he told Joanne. "Bill says the car won't start so I'm going to take them to Rampart." He quickly dressed, leaned over to give Joanne a kiss, and then headed out. He grabbed his keys and wallet from the kitchen and hurried to the car. He drove next door, jumped out and helped Bill get Judy situated in the back seat. They quickly headed to Rampart. "They told us to come to the maternity entrance." Bill advised Roy. "Sure thing, Bill." Roy said. The drive was short and soon they arrived at Rampart. Roy dropped them off. "Give me a call when you need a ride home, Bill." Roy told him. "Thanks for everything, Roy!" said a thankful Bill as he helped Judy out of the car. ::It's after midnight and I'm wide awake:: Roy thought. He drove around the hospital and found himself going past the emergency entrance. ::Oh, what the heck. I might as well go in and see who is here.:: He parked the car and casually strolled in the entrance. ::It doesn't look very busy right now:: he thought to himself. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Kel moaned, starting to surface to consciousness once again. "Wake up, Doc." Johnny said. He gave Kel a sternal rub again. "Come on, Kel! Talk to me." ordered Johnny. Kel looked up into the lighted ambulance and moaned, "My head hurts." he complained. "Ahhh, the lights!" "Hang in there, Kel. We're almost there." Johnny told him. "Oh man, Johnny. I really messed up this time, didn't I?" Kel said. "Hey, Doc, give yourself a break." Johnny replied. "You're human. You know as well as I do that when a person gets sick, they don't always use the best judgment. Remember, you're talking to the man who rappelled down a high rise with that monkey virus." "Yeah, you're right." Kel sighed. "Dixie's gonna have my head on a platter, though." "It's o.k., Doc." Dwyer chipped in. ::I need to think of something positive for him to focus on.:: thought Dwyer. ::I know!:: "You'll be able to make it up to her with a nice dinner. You know how much she loves that swanky restaurant you've taken her to in the past." "Rampart, this is Squad 51." Johnny spoke into the biophone. ##Go ahead, 51.## "Rampart, victim has regained consciousness and is complaining of a headache as well as light sensitivity. Vitals remain the same." Kel found himself suddenly feeling very nauseous. He tried to voice his difficulty, but as he opened up his mouth to say something, he realized he was too late. He weakly began to vomit. Johnny dropped the biophone and grabbed the suction wand. Dwyer quickly unstrapped the backboard from the gurney and turned Kel up on his side. ------------------------------------------------------------------ ##Easy, Kel. We've got you.## Dix and Joe heard Johnny say over the sounds of retching. "They'll be here soon, Dix." Joe commented looking at his watch. "Treatment one is ready." Dixie answered. "I'd better prepare the nurses." ##Rampart, this is Squad 51.## "Go ahead 51." Joe answered again. ##Rampart, vitals remain unchanged. Patient has vomited. ETA about 1 minute.## "10-4, 51. We'll be waiting." Joe replied. Dix went out to the desk. Carol and the newly promoted nurse, Sharon, were at the desk. "We have a patient coming in." Dixie told them. "This one isn't going to be easy for any of us. The patient is Dr. Brackett. He has multiple trauma injuries and probably some kind of infectious etiology. We'll be taking him straight into room one. Please head in there now and double check that everything is in order." "Yes, Miss McCall." came the shocked reply from both nurses. They hurried into room one. Dixie looked up to see Roy heading down the hall. He stopped at the desk and gave her a grin. "Quiet right now, huh? I just brought my neighbors into maternity." he said. "It's their first baby. Guess it is a lucky thing I broke my wrist last shift because their car wouldn't start." Roy stopped and studied Dix. It dawned on him something was not right at all. "Dix? What's wrong?" he asked. Roy had rarely seen Dixie this upset before. ::The last time I saw her this upset was when Joe needed heart surgery.:: Roy thought. "It's Kel, Roy." Dixie said. She bit her trembling lip. "Dix?" Roy anxiously questioned. "Johnny and Dwyer are bringing him in now." she told him. "He crashed into a tree. Probably because he is pretty sick." Shocked, Roy could only say, "Oh, no!" Joe came out of the base station. "Hi, Roy." Joe paused and took a deep breath and tried to mentally prepare himself. "Let's go. They're here, Dix." He said. They heard the ambulance backing up by the doors. "We're set up in room one." Joe called out as the ER doors opened. They rushed him into the room and quickly transferred him to the treatment table. Kel gasped for breath and cried out, "I...." -------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. *************************************************** From : patti keiper Sent : Wednesday, August 24, 2005 4:14 AM Subject : The Heart of the Matter is..... "What, Kel?" Dixie said immediately after she pointed to Carol and Sharon to switch over Brackett's oxygen supply to the wall's port hub. "Can you tell us what's happening now?" But Dr. Brackett wasn't able to voice anything more. Joe Early looked to Roy, who had followed them into the trauma room. Early quickly listened to Kel's chest for signs of why he was having so much trouble breathing. "Roy, would you call for the respiratory therapy and anesthesiology team stat? He can't wait until he gets to surgery for that endotrach tube. We need to put him under sooner rather than later. " "You got it.." DeSoto said, moving swiftly to the phone. "Want me to help him, doc, until they get here?" Gage offered. "Yes, on that ambu again, but real light. I'm hearing a definite pericardial friction rub with Kussmaul's and Ewart's sign with developing aortic regurgitation." Joe said firmly as he checked and double checked the entry and exit points of the tree branch into and out of Kel's shoulder. "Something's bringing on this cardiac tamponade but it's definitely not trauma related. His vitals don't add up for that. He's got an area of dullness to percussion at the tip of the left scapula and a clear rise in JVP on inspiration forming. See?" said Joe as he pointed to the veins in Kel's neck ballooning out when Johnny helped him breathe in on the bag. Dwyer whispered. "Sorry we missed that out there, Doctor Early. Things were noisy with the jaws and all the car cracking." "Effects nothing. This is probably a new finding that just started happening because he's been physically active trying to vomit. You fellas did an absolutely terrific job out there...and from the both of us,..we thank you wholeheartedly." Joe said about Dixie and himself. Then he began to snap out lab orders to Carol and Sharon. "Carol, draw bloods and have the lab run a creatine kinase and isoenzyme levels series, a CBC with differential, a PT, a PTT, an antinuclear antibody assay, and an erythrocyte sedimentation rate." "Yes, doctor." Carol said. Early turned to Sharon. "Let's stave off volume depletion, right now. Confirm type and cross him off the I.V. line then set up a piggy back TKO blood transfusion. Then I want you to begin another NS with dobutamine at 0.5-1 mcg/kg/min IV and titrate until you hear better compliance in his pericardium by auscultation. That med will definitely get his heart, stroke volume and cardiac output increasing without dilating the blood vessels in the rest of his body where any internal bleeding we don't know about yet, might take hold." Sharon the R.N., nodded. "Yes, Dr. Early. Right away." Johnny tried to smile around his obvious, silent worry. "You have a medication that acts like a chemical mast suit? I didn't know you guys had stuff like that in your drug arsenal.." "It's a brand new therapy, Johnny. Kel okayed the preliminary human trials himself two months ago. I'm just glad the whole experiment worked out fast enough to help the man who instigated it all. " Early said calmly even as his hands worked fast to assess his best friend. "And how..." Dixie said in agreement. Joe went on. "Dwyer.. get him going on a twelve lead. I wanna see the whole picture as soon as we can get it." he looked up. "Roy, add a cardiologist and senior radiologist specialist to interpret the films we'll be getting of his chest, complete spine and bilateral legs and get Kel's cardiothoracic surgeon in here a bit faster!" he called out to the paramedic. DeSoto picked up his pace with the switchboard nurse over the black stat phone. Meanwhile, Dixie was getting another set of vitals and she wrote them down on the skin of Brackett's shivering stomach with a pen so the surgical team would have them in plain sight along with the time they were taken. "Kel, try to settle down and let Johnny do the work of breathing for you. Just a few more minutes,.. then it's off to sleep. It'll be a fast end to all this pain you're feeling, I promise you." Brackett ignored her in a shock delirium. "Joe.. *gasp*.. J-.." he waved a weak hand to his sweating forehead and his eyes asked, ::What about the fever?:: Joe grabbed his hand and pulled it back down under the backboard straps. "I know, Kel. I know. I don't think what you have is contagious. Think about it. You have a classic Beck triad going on....Little, if any chest pain, in spite of this shoulder involvement, along with a prominent fever and chills without any other clearly obvious cold or flu symptoms.. What does it add up to? And no, this isn't meningitis. Your stiff neck was probably just you sleeping twisted up wrong on a pillow last night. Your deep tendon reflex reactions don't float that theory one iota." Brackett's eyes squinted into a faint frown of confusion. Then his features folded into self discovery as he put two and two together. "Yep." said Joe. "You've probably got an acute case of purulent pericarditis going on. The blood work will show us exactly what bacteria's the annoying culprit. Although I'm suspecting Neisseria since you felt lousy enough to wrap yourself around that tree with your brand new sports car." he quipped. "I'll have the surgical team tell us what they plan on the table when they explore and repair that left shoulder so we can tell you all about it when you hit recovery. Ok? You aren't gonna die here. Not with these findings. That falling tree missed the bullseye and the whole target for that matter. And I'll prove it to you with your slides. I'll just bet your left subclavian and left carotid arteries' integrities are unscathed apart from a little bruising. And I now know that you have absolutely no aortic hemorrhaging going on. Look..." he said, tearing off the running EKG strip that Dwyer had collected. He held up the roll like a scroll over Kel's pillow so he could read it. "You're just in sinus tach with simple PR segment depression with an alternation of your QRS complexes, in a 2:1 ratio." "Electrical....alternans?.." gasped Kel. He used the next breath Gage gave him on the bag to whisper. "...are you ...sure?" "Is my hair gray?" Joe smiled. "It's alternans. Your heart's slipperier than an eel inside its sac. But not grossly so. And I didn't hear any aortic complaint, at all. Not even a whisper of any. Your tamponade will be an easy fix. Maybe just an echocardiographically guided pericardiocentesis. I'll authorize the Swan-Ganz catheter myself anticipating Dr. Weathers. That way we can sclerosely effuse your pericardium with a family of tetracyclines and corticosteroids through the pericath to get ahead of whatever heart germ you've managed to pick up. There'll probably be no chest cracking this time around, you lucky son of a---" Kel tried to chuckle and finally, he let go of his consciousness. Gage changed his head hold to compensate for that as he kept Kel's lungs expanding enough to matter without causing any more jugular vein distension with all of his ambu work. The ekg began to slow from its frightening, racing level. Dixie sighed in relief as she handed Kel's stat chart for Joe to sign for all the labs and treatments Carol had scribbled down at his recitation. "Now that's the only benefit I've ever found having a doctor for a patient. I've learned a milestone lesson this morning everybody. Seems no one can calm a doctor down ...better than another doctor." Joe ordered another medication set. "Sharon. Start him on Ampicillin, given IV every 4 hours plus Gentamycin, given every 8 hours. It's time we nip this transient pericarditis in the butt." And about Dixie's calculated commentary, he telegraphed absolutely nothing at all ...past a pair of faintly raised eyebrows. Soon, the x-ray, respiratory and surgical teams got working as one in a smooth, orchestrated knot of aid, around Kel. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not long after, the three paramedics retreated back to the station to come to terms with the whole unreal ball of wax with the rest of the gang. Roy was more than willing to hang out and talk about it. He said.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Joe outside the surgical emergency room. Photo: Another paramedic in a close up. Chosen to be Dwyer. Photo: Brackett in a hospital bed. Photo: X-ray slides of a tamponaded and a normal heart. Photo: A tamponade ekg strip of a 134 beats a minute. Photo: Dix, Joe and Gage surrounding a treatment gurney with a chest bared, cardiac monitored Kel. *************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Wed Aug 24, 2005 12:09 pm Subject: The Cookie Chat.. "I still can't believe I walked into that stone cold and still managed to function properly.." DeSoto laughed, sitting at the table sipping on coffee. The rest of the gang, now filled in on the surgery Kel was heading into, chuckled good naturedly. Chet Kelly pointed to the cast on Roy's left hand. "So how's the old wrist? I still get shivers remembering how it sounded when you popped that bone catching yourself on that rappelling rope when the gear gave way." "This?" Roy said waving his arm around. "The ortho says it's just a stress fracture, a crack in one tiny bone. I still have use of the hand and all. This splint's just a reminder to keep it still to keep all the swelling down. I'll be back on the job on light non fire duty after the weekend." Dwyer spoke up. "And that'll be just in time, too. You know, Roy? Gage is driving me nuts. Talks about you constantly." "I do not. Did I even mention Roy once while we were getting Doc Brackett out of his car? Huh?" Dwyer ducked his head. "Well, no. But that's because you were so busy, you didn't have time to." Roy smiled. "Wow..Gee, Johnny. I ...didn't know you cared so much." he teased mildly. "Usually you complain about all my bad habits when I'm around." "The grass is always greener...." Chet quipped. "Oh, knock it off." Johnny said. "I'm just used to working with him and miss it a little bit, that's all." he said to them all, flinging a careless hand at Roy. "More than a little bit.." Dwyer said. "Anyhow, just two more days and I can get back to B shift." Hank Stanley got up and refilled everyone's coffee mugs. "So, Dr. Brackett's gonna be fine? Really?" "Really.." said Gage. "He's probably just got two bandaids, one on each side where the tree branch was sticking out and another one where the cardiac needle went in draining out his pericardium." "It's a little more involved than that, Johnny boy." Dwyer prompted. Gage relented. "Well,...Maybe a few stitches in front under his collar bone and a support wrap for his ribs. He'll have a needle cath for his I.V. and blood supply, another very small tube for the shunt draining and treating the sac around his heart ...and a foley in.." The guys crinched. "But that's only until he wakes up from his anesthesia." Johnny added hastily. "He'll probably be back to work in a week just like Roy, on light duty, consulting on cases from his wheelchair." "That's a relief. He looked pretty bad when we were there." Hank replied, snatching one of Stoker's chip cookies from the platter in front of him. "That was just the heart infection working on him, making him a little too tired to breathe." Dwyer told him. "And he got a little cold waiting for us to spring him free to get him onto that backboard. That's why he looked gray." "I thought he was a goner man, the way Johnny kept hollering." Chet said. "You think he thought the doc was dying." "There was every chance he was....until a certain point." Gage admitted. "I didn't know what was going to happen until Dwyer told me all the blood pressures in his arms and legs were reasonably fine and equal." "Well, what did that mean?" Stoker asked. "It meant that he wasn't heart stabbed. Sometimes the aorta above gets nicked and people bleed out into the pericardium and are dead in very short order. They just up and quit with little warning and no amount of defibrillating and CPR gets em back. You had two cases like that last year, remember Dwyer?" "I remember, I thought I was cursed." "Yeah, I remember you telling me about them. That's the first thing I thought when I got to Brackett's side and saw that tree branch sticking out of his chest." Johnny said. "I couldn't trust my instincts about him at all, thinking about it. That's why I was yelling so much at Kel, Chet, trying to keep him awake. I was getting myself convinced that he really wasn't gonna crash on us because of a cardiac bleed out." "Well, I'm sure when he wakes up in his room, that he'll remember you cared to a great degree." Hank said to Gage. "Yeah, that's probably after he nitpicks the kind of care Dwyer and I gave him earlier." Roy spoke up. "He'll do nothing of the sort. Johnny, Dr. Brackett's not the complete ogre everyone thinks he is. He's good at what he does and he tries to draw that out in others, but he's no Craig Brice to tell a guy about how to do it. Not when it boils right down to the fact that he found himself on the receiving end of it from Joe Early." "Hey,,... I never thought of that.." Gage said, snapping his fingers. "That's right. Didn't Kel think he was coming down with meningitis or something like that on the way in? He sure mumbled something to that effect.." he said, looking to Dwyer. "He did. I passed it off as a shock effect." "Well, then we can go visit him with a clear conscience without fear." Johnny said, stretching back into his chair with a sigh. "I'm feeling better about the whole thing already." Mike Stoker spoke up. "Hey, guys. We all got the weekend off. I got a great deal on a bunch of steaks before shift last night . Why don't we all get together at my place to celebrate Brackett's recovery with a genuine backyard barbeque. Maybe we can get in a few rounds with a set of clubs, too. I live on a golf course." Chet brightened. "Oh, yeah! Didn't you tell us that you built an incredible outdoor stone fire place along with the outdoor kitchen patio last week?" "I did. Only everyone was so engrossed in the Marco versus Johnny chess game, that I thought no one even heard me say it." "I did, Stoker. Didn't you see me nodding?" Chet insisted. "No, I was watching Marco here swooping down to murder Gage's black queen." Johnny squirmed in his seat uncomfortably. "And she died a noble death, too. I tried to take out Marco's attacking bishop before he moved onto a pawn to checkmate my king. I don't like to lose my patients or my chess games." "No one does." Roy remarked. "Say, Stoker. Count me in. A steak dinner sounds absolutely fabulous. Can I bring the kids?" "Uhhh.." Stoker stammered. "Well..." "No problem. The newly post pregnant neighbors still owe me a favor. I'm sure they can keep an ear out in our yard for the kids in between their newborn's diaper changes." DeSoto said. "But I get out of doing dishes. Walking wounded, remember?" he said, holding up his wrist. "But I thought you said that you have full use of that hand." "The cast still isn't waterproof, Johnny. I wouldn't want Brackett to get mad at me for wrecking all his nice handywork. You know how he reacts to people ruining their broken bone casts. He practically chewed up the last guy who went surfing with one." said DeSoto. "If we're gonna visit Kel, I want my cast still smelling like new plaster, if it's all right with the rest of you guys." "Fine by me." piped Stoker. "Dishes are my game. Cooking, too, for that matter. " Chet spoke up from the depths of the frig where he was hunting down some milk for his pile of cookies. "Stoker, I'm not coming if you aren't grilling chicken." "I'll get some just for you, Chet." Stoker promised. "Just show up without your rubber ones." "Deal. The Phantom needs to take a break for a while. I need a night out to relax some." "Then it's a plan. Sunday afternoon..." Cap said rubbing pleased hands together. Stoker jumped in happily. "My place. Bring your own beverage... I hear the weather's gonna be fine.. And the golf fees after dinner, are on me.." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Chet and Stoker eating at a table. Photo: Cap and Roy talking at the table. Photo: Dwyer with a book on the couch. Photo: Stoker close at the table, couch behind. Photo: A golf house view patio. Photo: A backyard stone fireplace and stove. Photo: A golf house deck. Photo: Johnny grinning like a cat. Photo: Brackett putting on a wrist wrap cast in close. *************************************************** From : Roxy Dee Sent : Wednesday, August 24, 2005 2:47 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Out of the Blue~~ Soon, it was Sunday, under a glorious, cloudless blue sky around two p.m. in the afternoon, at Engineer Stoker's house. "Man, that was fantastic, Stoker.." belched Cap from the wooden bench as he lazily stared into the stone fireplace on Mike Stoker's earthen patio. "Can I hire you on as my personal house chef?" "Sorry, not enough pay.." Mike replied. "But you're not making any kind of pay now, Mike, as an engineer. Maybe becoming Cap's kitchenhand and butler has its merits there, pal." Chet chuckled. "No thanks. I prefer a firehouse setting or a natural one for cooking. That's why I moved out here to Torrence. So do you like the new place?" "How can you keep up with the payments, Stoker? Man, this house is simply..incredible! And you've got a den, too." Gage sighed in amazement. "I don't live alone. A pair of stewardesses help me with the mortgage payments. They fly PSA on weekends and are home when I work during the week at the station." Chet nearly choked on his beer. "St-stewarDESSES? As in female? Wow, didn't know you had it in you, Stoker. Living in sin...." he egged. "We're just roommates, Chet. Just like Three's Company the show? With the cost of living nowdays, getting a pair of roomies seemed like the smartest thing to do. I even had enough saved up to design and build this stove and fireplace for the backyard." "I like it." said Marco. Cap jerked his head back at Johnny and Chet still mulling over Stoker's living arrangements with two members of the opposite sex. "Say, you two. Why don't you copycat like him for a while. L*rd knows I can use some peace at the station from you two yammering all the time about how poor you are." Gage froze, considering his libido. "Uhh, I don't think that would work out too well for me." Roy sniggered. "Why, don't you trust yourself to behave like a gentleman, Johnny?" "Well,..no, it's not that I don't trust myself, it's just the fact that my place is so small.. Th- there'd be no room for two more people moving in." Gage said. "Uh huh, a likely story.." said Stoker. "We all know how you are, Mr. Nurse Stalker. Maybe it's a good thing that you lock yourself away from society in that apartment of yours all alone." "Very funny. Why don't you go....play golf or something and make yourself useful." Grinning slyly, Mike did. "I'm up for a few rounds of golf. Cap? You coming?" "Sure. Let me get my jacket. How about the rest of you guys?" "Too full." sighed Marco. "My wrist's itching. I'd get distracted and probably hit one through one of Stoker's expensive bay windows." said Roy. "I think I'm too drunk to play. I'd probably do the same thing as DeSoto. " said Chet. "Don't look at me. I play chess, not golf. In fact, I don't think I've ever played a game of real golf my whole life." said Gage. "Suit yourselves. We'll be back in half an hour." said Stoker. "Come on, Cap. We'll catch up with these guys later. We'll leave the second golf cart here in case any of these turkeys changes their mind and decides to join us." Hank grinned and soon, they were gone, zipping away in the first golf cart, for hole number one. A few minutes later, Gage fell back from the stone balcony railing and into a contented sigh. "Boy, this is a slice of heaven. I hope Stoker knows how good he has it." "He does. He put in all of this stonework, remember?" Roy said, snoozing in a plastic and metal slat chaise lounge. He set his bound wrist up over the back of his head to ease the itching. "I remember, I remember." said Gage irritably. "I'll ..go do the dishes or something. Chet, burn off some of that alcohol and get up and help me or you won't be fit to drive home later tonight." A snore peeled from Kelly as he lay on the wooden bench in front of the cozy outdoor fireplace. Johnny kicked his foot with his sneaker. "Come on, up! Show some hospitality and help me dry all the dishes.." Gage told him as he filled the chrome steel outdoor kitchen sink next to the mesquite coal glowing grill, with soapy water. "We can probably clean up and have dessert laid out by the time they get back." Kelly snorted and finally sat up and reached for a towel. "Do I have to? I'll get all hot and s-sweaty working like that, man. I wanna snooze. " "Yeah, it is kinda humid, isn't it? That's odd." said Gage, peering up into the pure blue sky. "Don't worry about it, Johnny. I'll help ya." said Marco, moving to tie on the apron that Stoker had left hanging on a hook off the stone chimney. Lopez had just moved away from the side of the patio where Chet and Roy were snoozing, when a bolt of energy from the sky cracked down and blew apart the pine tree framed by the deck. Johnny was thrown backwards ten feet by the concussion and his ears began ringing even as his nerves vibrated with a furious buzz of electricity. ::Lightning!:: he thought frantically as he rolled over. He lifted his head dizzily. "Marco?!" "I'm right here next to you!" Lopez shouted over the ringing his own ears were suffering. "You okay?" "Yeah! What was that?! A power surge from the circuit breaker?" "No, It must have some lightning. Just look at that tree!" Gage coughed. He dragged himself off his stomach. "Did any of it touch you?" Marco rubbed bark out of his eyes and he, too, coughed on ozone. "No. I think I'm ok...How are the others?" "The others?!" Johnny shook cobwebs out of his head. Marco crawled over to Chet where he lay and touched his shoulder. Kelly immediately began screaming. "I can't see?! Oww!! Ohmyg*d. Am I talking? I can't hear.. Ohh hoo...GGHH!! I can't feel anything!!" Marco grabbed Chet's shoulders. "Go check out Roy, Johnny. I got him." Shaking his head, Lopez looked up onto the golf course to see a bunch of heads turning in their direction. He looked up higher and saw that Mike Stoker's chimney as well as his Ponderosa pine tree, were smoking. And he noticed that there wasn't a single solitary cloud in the sky. Not even a white one. ::How can that be?:: he wondered. Then Chet's panicking drew his attention downward. "Easy, Chet. I'm here.. Lie still. I got you. You're ok.." Chet erupted into a new horror. "I can't move my legs, Marco. I'm deaf!..*gasp* ..Blind! I can't move my--" his body seized into a spasm and he grabbed Marco by the arms, yelling in pain. Johnny ignored them both. He staggered to where he could see Roy's feet lying toes down underneath the lounge chair. The cast on his wrist was completely blown away. Fine bits of dust and debris from it had settled onto his clothing. And his jeans were shredded down one pants leg. DeSoto wasn't moving. "Roy?!" Gage got to his side and rolled him over, feeling for a carotid and he quickly began using some fingers to feel at his nose and mouth since he still couldn't hear well. "Can you hear me?" Marco waved at Johnny to get his attention while he held Chet down with a second hand on his chest. "How is he?" "Just a sec! " John gasped, trying to get the stink of heavy ozone out of his chest enough to talk louder. "He's got a pulse......but he's not breathing. Not at all... Must have been some step voltage shooting down the tree into his chair. It's knocked out his respiratory muscles.." He bent down, tilted back Roy's singed head, and gave him a couple of firm breaths until he got his chest to rise. He kept at it while his ring finger kept tabs on Roy's heart rate while he worked to support his partner until his nerves could recover the ability to breathe again. "Chet's paralyzed, Johnny! What do I do?" "Stay with him. Make sure he keeps breathing. It's probably..........keraunoparalysis working on him big time. He'll be ........all right. It's all temporary. Keep him from hurting himself!" Johnny said, still keeping up his mouth to mouth. "When he calms down, go inside and call for help. I'm fine here......... Roy, come on now. Start breathing! Tell me you can smell my morning mouth! ..........Start waking up for me, pal. The main part of that bolt missed ya completely!" he told him. "..so.........I know you aren't hurt that bad. Come on. Pick it up again.." Roy stayed still and Johnny was forced to stay on his head, and stay being his lungs. ::At least you didn't sick up when you fell off the chair.:: He could hear Marco talking to Chet and holding him down onto the stones until Kelly could get a grip on himself. Finally, he heard Chet ask a question. "Marco? Are Johnny and Roy ok?" Lopez took that as his cue and took off running for the house. And the phone. Then, just as fast, he was back. He said. "I'm looking for Cap and the others. I think I see them on the second hole. L.A. says Station 127's on the way!" "Good going! Yes! Go get them!" Gage shouted, pushing the seared chair out of the way of Roy's legs. In between delivering breaths, Johnny felt down DeSoto's limbs for fractures or other problems. He knew that tetany of the strength that convulsed his partner would have done some kind of harm if the current had been strong enough to cause it. He found only spidering burns on both of Roy's ankles. He got up and dragged Chet closer to him so Kelly would know that he hadn't been abandoned. Then he concentrated on outwaiting Roy's breathing paralysis by offering breaths every few seconds. He knew they would return by themselves soon. ::That's how it works. If I prevent secondary hypoxia, we got it made. He won't lose a pulse a second time..:: he thought eagerly. ::There's no way that bolt didn't zap his heart still the first time. It must have started up again when he hit the ground so hard.:: Two minutes dragged like years, but then Gage spotted Marco's cart coming fast with Stoker's immediately behind him. "Get my kit from the land rover! I got airways in it!" he shouted to them. The dots they were, quickly grew larger, until suddenly, they were all there. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Lightning striking a tree in daylight. Photo: A stunned Chet on the ground in closeup. Photo: A golfer down on the grass. Photo: Johnny supporting a hurt Roy's head. Photo: Dendritic burns down a leg and ankle. Photo: Gage giving mouth to mouth to a man. *************************************************** From: "Mark" Date: Wed Aug 24, 2005 3:17 pm Subject: Kel to the rescue A young paramedic was brought into the room Kel was occupying while he recovered from his illness and injuries. ::Not again.:: he thought. ::Last time I was in here, it was young Romeo, a.k.a. Johnny Gage, whom I had to room with.:: Kel recognized him from the last training class. The harried nurse, realizing Kel knew the man, told him, "He will be fine. He has a slight concussion and is dehydrated. I think he will probably sleep for awhile." She hurried out of the room before Kel could ask her any further details. "Dixie would have stayed and talked with me at least for a bit." Kel mumbled to himself. It had been a long quiet Sunday. Drained from the last few days of recovering from his illness and the surgery, Kel had been sleeping most of the day. Now, however, he was awake and feeling quite bored. The nurses that had been in had done the minimum they had to do with few words. With the flu going around they were covering many extra patients. "Not to mention they really don't know how to react to having me as a patient." Kel groused. "You would think I'm Simon Legree or something." He decided then and there that he was not going to make "rooming in" a habit. After reading from a medical journal for awhile, Kel drifted off to sleep. He was still quite exhausted from his long ordeal. Kel wasn't sure what woke him. He looked over and realized the young paramedic was dreaming. "No, not dreaming, he's having a nightmare." he said out loud to himself. He watched as the young man started to jerk. Kel heard him call out something about being trapped in a fire. Worried, Kel pressed his call button to summon help. Kel called out to him, "It's ok, you're safe now. There isn't a fire here." Unfortunately the young man was still caught in the dream and jerked him arm, breaking off the catheter from his IV. "Nurse! I need help in here right now!" Kel yelled loudly. Unable to reach the intercom that would enable him to call for help, Kel wondered what he could do. ::Maybe I should just go ahead and attempt to get to him anyway. No, I'd probably fall before I got to the other side of his bed. I know!:: Kel picked up the phone and dialed the number he knew so well, the ER phone number. "I need help in here!" Kel called out again as he waited for the phone to ring. "Rampart Emergency." answered Joe Early. Kel knew the few nurses on duty were nowhere near the base station phone. "Joe, this is Kel. The paramedic they put in my room yanked out his IV and broke the cath off in his arm. No one is coming to my call light and nobody's hearing me!" "I'm on my way, Kel!" Joe responded quickly before hanging up. "Johnson! Eric! Wake up!!" Kel ordered. "Huh?" murmured the paramedic, still sleepy and somewhat lost from waking suddenly. "Johnson! This is Dr. Brackett. Put your arm down at your side. You've broken the cath off in your arm. My legs are broken so I can't get over to you to help you." Eric looked over at Kel. "What did you say?" he asked. "Put your arm down towards the floor NOW Eric! Raise the head of your bed, too, if you can. Eric, used to following orders, did as he was told. "Don't worry, I've called for help." Kel assured him. No sooner had he finished speaking, when Joe burst through the door. Kel, relieved, relaxed back into the bed. "I managed to get him to wake up and put his arm down and raise the head, Joe." he stated. Joe quickly fastened a tourniquet on. "Ok Eric, we're going to take you out for an x-ray and see where that catheter is at." He examined the remaining portion hanging from the IV pole. "It looks like you broke a fair sized piece off. There is a chance it has snagged on some vein valves." An orderly with a gurney came in the door just then. Together, Joe and the orderly got Eric transferred to the gurney, and then the orderly took him out to have the x-rays done. "Good job, Kel." Joe commented. "I'm glad you got him awake enough to respond to you. I'm also very glad you didn't try to get out of bed to take care of him. That sure wouldn't have been good for those legs." "I admit the thought crossed my mind when I couldn't get help here." Kel confessed. ::I'm not going to admit that the only reason I didn't was I thought I wouldn't make it.:: he thought. "Luckily my next thought was to call ER on the phone. I'm just glad I got you." "Well, I'd better go see about that venous cutdown. We'll undoubtedly be bringing Eric back later." Joe promised. "Now try to get some rest. You still have a long recovery ahead of you." Joe hurried out the door to catch up with his new patient. Just then Dixie entered the room. "I finally have a day off, Kel. I thought maybe you could use a little company." "Hey, Dix!" Kel greeted her with enthusiasm. Kel stopped and studied her. "You look..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. ************************************************** From : Cassidy Meyers Sent : Thursday, August 25, 2005 3:30 AM Subject : The Best of Friends... "....like a sight for these sore eyes. Glad you came so soon." "Oh? Bored already?" Dixie asked, surprised. "Or is there something wrong with your pericath?" she said fussing with the patient gown draped across his chest. "Nothing's wrong with it. I'm fine. Your first guess was right on the money so stop acting like a fussing nurse." "Sorry, it's second nature. So, what's on the agenda for tonight? I brought over some more journals for you to read.." Brackett made a face. "I just had a live case history in here a few minutes ago..." "What?" "Never mind. It's over. Shall we play a game? Sharon brought me over some from pediatrics. They're in the closet." A look of mischief came over Dixie's face. "We haven't played a game since Monopoly over caviar." "Last year, I know. I'd like to start up again. That's if, you don't mind." he said self consciously. "I don't mind.." Dixie smiled. "Not at all, Kel. I was waiting for you to say that again to me some day." And gracefully, she settled down onto the bed to take hold of his hand. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy coughed as a firefighter gave him a sixth breath on the demand valve. "*cough* Wh--? What happ...ened? *cough* Sorry-- Was I caught ...napping again?" Gage grinned from every dirty pore. "You weren't napping, Roy, you were fricaseed.... By lightning. Now hold still for the nice paramedic and don't move until we've checked you out." Johnny sighed. "Marve, his C collar's secured. Do you want to call Rampart? Or shall I?" Marve cracked a smile. "Who's on duty, Mr. Gage?" "You are." Johnny answered truthfully with a matching grin. "Then you have your answer. Hand it here." said the big burly medic from 127's, holding out his hand for the biophone receiver. "I'll letcha cut your partner's clothes off." he teased, handing Johnny the clothes shears, from his belt holster. Gage just made a face and didn't take them. "He doesn't need a strip down and you know it. Just patch him in. I'll be back soon. I gotta tell your captain where the bolt struck so the truck crew can check out the area and Stoker's roof, for lingering sparks." Roy frowned at his surroundings, but he seemed to have all five senses, unlike Chet. "Wh-where am I?" Gage's expression fell into worry and analysis. "Anterograde amnesia?" "No, Johnny, you're done. I'll fill him in." said Marve. "Why don't you go help my partner get Kelly squared away. Roy's vitals are stable now that he's breathing and I actually believe ya that he never lost his color. Justlookatthosereactivepupils." he gushed, checking out Roy's eyes with his penlight with a flourish. Johnny's frown started to falter into a wisp of a smile. But then DeSoto winced at the beam and made out a few facts. "Ok, I'm hurt. How hurt am I?" Johnny started to open his mouth. "Ah, ah ah...Johnny boy. Leave him to me." Marve said. "Just go." he grinned. Johnny stood, wiping cast soot off of his hands. He held up a mock threatening finger. "If he throws off so much as a single PVC..." he warned. Marve threw up innocent hands. "I hear ya. I'll tell ya. Now shoo.." Gage walked over to the second ambulance trying to hide how sore his muscles were with all the dignity he could muster. Marco Lopez was still with Chet and holding his hand tightly. Lopez glanced up when he heard Johnny coming. "He still can't see or hear. He's pretty frightened. He only seems to calm down if someone's touching him." he said, adjusting the flowing oxygen mask over Chet's face. "I'll get a sedative order.." said Bill, Marve's paramedic partner. "But I don't know how I'm gonna get it into him because I don't know how to tell him that he's gonna have an I.V. started. Not with him being out of the loop like this and all." he teased Gage. "I know how.. Just gimme that, you....crazy character. I appreciate you and Marve trying to make me feel better about them. I can solve this problem. It's easy, man. Just act like normal. Watch.." Gage said, taking a latex band from out of Bill's shirt pocket. He made an obvious show tying it off around Chet's bare upper arm and miraculously, Kelly froze still, recognizing the pressure band being put around his arm. He started fussing when Johnny began smacking the bend in his elbow to raise a sluggish vein. "Oh, no.. not an I.V." he whined. "If the doc says I gotta have a med, do it IM. I know my rights. Last thing I want is having my muscle cramps breaking off an I.V. catheter in my arm.." he quipped even as another full body spasm twisted him up onto his side on the gurney. "I may be a male Helen Keller right now but I'll be d*mned if I'm gonna be mute about it." he added. "Johnny, shame on you. You know how much I hate I.V.s. You should've told them I won't accept one unless my life's in danger." Bill, the paramedic, just rolled his eyes. "Heaven help the nurse who's gonna get stuck taking care of him." Gage flashed 127's senior an annoyed look. "I'll give him the shot if you get me an order for it. Chet doesn't mind me giving them to him. Just tell me what for.. and the dosage." "You might wanna DOUBLE it.." Bill winked as he moved to his partner's side to take his turn on the biophone. Despite himself, Johnny burst out laughing, but then he staggered, falling against the fireman monitoring Kelly. Bill grabbed Gage's arm. "Whoa..whoa. Hang on just a minute there. I thought you said that the lightning never touched either of you guys." Marco suddenly sat down, too. "It didn't." he said. "Oh, I'm dizzy.." Captain Stanley hurried up with a resuscitator tank already fitted with two demand valves. "You twits, I told you not to cover your symptoms from them." Then Hank eyeballed Bill. "Both took in pretty good lungfuls of ozone at fairly high concentrations for a few seconds." "Huh.." Bill mulled that over. "Gonna be some touchy arrythmias in their future. For Roy and Chet, too." "Don't I know it." Cap grumbled. "Gage! Lopez! Get ventilating and then get yourselves checked out! Looks like you both earned yourselves a free ekg reading and a night's stay at Rampart. So lie down and shut up." "I think I will." said Johnny, turning green. He never felt a second firefighter help him down to the ground or felt the mask that Cap set quickly over his face. Dimly, he was aware that Marco, Roy and Chet had fallen into the same state and were being cared for. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A few hours later, fate had dealt a funny hand out at Rampart. Eric Johnson hadn't come back. He had to go to the intensive care unit when another surprise piece of the catheter fragment suddenly showed up in one of his lungs. That had left five beds free in Dr. Brackett's six bed room. Brackett was still grumbling over his and Joe's bad luck concerning Eric the rookie paramedic, when all four firemen from 51's were wheeled into the recovering doctor's room. "You've got to be kidding me. Dix, did you arrange this?" he snapped. "Me? Kel, we've been up here playing Yatzee together all afternoon. So how could I have arranged for-- Fellas, ohmygosh. What happened to the four of you?" she said oggling the four EKG monitors attached to Chet, Johnny, Roy and Marco's upper torsos. "Four birds with one stone..." Hank explained, holding the door open for Mike Stoker. "Or should I say, bolt of lightning." "Oh my.." Dixie gasped. "I didn't know it had even rained." "It didn't. It was a freak bolt. Caused by some daylight ground fog and built up tetonic static." Hank replied. "You should have seen them, Dixie." Mike said of his coworkers. "After they got done rescuing each other, the ozone poisoning set in. They each puked for half an hour. Straight." Stoker smiled. "Ah, so that's why they all got I.V.s. How are they doing?" Hank filled her in eagerly. "Roy got lung trigger knocked for a while. No damage past some sizzled skin since Gage was on hand to take over. Chet here's temporarily blind and deaf. He's only a noodle from the waist down...." "That'll pass, too.." Brackett said through his annoyed cross armed stance before he could stop it. "Yeah?" murmured Dixie, sitting by Chet's bed to take his hand in hers. "Poor guy. He looks so lost and helpless." Chet Kelly immediately smiled when he recognized her perfume. "Hi, Dixie. Wish I could ask you how you're doing, but I can't hear any answer you might give me yet. Sorry.." She kissed Chet's cheek slowly and made him blush into muteness after giving him a shiver. "Ok, so what's the story about the second half of the room?" she said, rising to go check on Roy's oxygen supply while he slept fitfully under a CPAP. "Gage and Lopez had just that bad gas exposure and both are waiting for their cardiac rhythms to settle back to normal." Stoker told her. Dixie adjusted Roy's I.V. so it was no longer kinked against the bed rail. "Ah, I see.. so that means that we all get to throw a sleepover party tonight in Kel's room, is that it?" "No, Dix.." sputtered Dr. Brackett. Dixie ignored him. "Yes. Why don't we have some fun for once. I can take the empty bed here and Cap, I know there's a couple of spare cots in the closet , for you and Stoker, so, any decision making's now final." she purred. "Kel, they're staying." she said iron voiced. "I'm sure you'll agree with me real soon. After all, these men did save your life." Dr. Brackett finally ground his teeth together and uttered........ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: A firefighter being given oxygen by an ambulance attendant. (Real life NY fireman looking a lot like Randy Mantooth.) *************************************************** From : wone3 Sent : Wednesday, August 24, 2005 10:12 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The start of reckoning "A sleepover, Dix? At least, you could have called it something else. It sounds too little girlish to me." The entire group chuckled. Probably most of them were surprised that the Doc even knew about such things considering he was the confirmed bachelor. Dixie then kicked Cap and Mike out along with herself, telling the guys she'd see them in the morning with hopefully their release papers. "All except you Kel, you have a few more days here," She grinned. Kel just gave her a look thinking, ::Last time it was bad enough getting stuck with young Romeo, but why do I have to get stuck with the whole bunch? I just hope we have a quiet night. :: Kel was lucky, the whole incident took enough out of the guys that they went to sleep all night and were all discharged the next morning with the stipulation that Roy and Chet were going to miss at least the next shift. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was around 6pm that evening when Dixie wearily walked into Kel's room. Joe had been up to check on Kel several times and let him know that he had planned on letting him out of the hospital with a few restrictions tomorrow. Kel had also noticed the other night that Dixie looked a little tired but she had put on a good show for the guys when they came in. This time she couldn't hide it. She had the classic symptoms of being tired and run down; especially glassy eyes with dark circles that make-up couldn't hide. "You look like something the cat dragged in. What's going on?" Kel asked in a concerned tone as he took in Dixie's appearance. "After the past several days that I have had, you'd look like this too, Kel. Pulling a couple double shifts, worrying about friends who have been in accidents over several days, and being called back in after pulling the first double shift; has not made the past few days fun, Kel." Dixie answered trying not to raise her no-nonsense temper. Dixie curbed herself. Kel didn't entirely need the lecture and it would just show him how vulnerable she felt that night when she and Joe initially received the call. They were in the middle of one of those "off stages" in their "on again- off again" relationship and she didn't want his pity as a motive to start the relationship back up. Kel had been waiting for this ever since the day after the accident; he knew Dixie wouldn't go into it right after surgery. He just hadn't figured on dealing with her after a couple of double shifts, the guys from 51 being in the night before as patients, and a call back in shift. "I'm sorry," he started to apologize. Dixie interrupted, "Look, Kel, I know that you are sorry for putting both Joe and I through h*ll especially initially, but you need to face facts, even if it deflates your ego. You aren't Superman or God and when you are sick, as much as I suspect you thought you were when the accident occurred, you need to stay home and be sick. This place will survive if you have to take a few days off, Kel, trust me." Dixie's voice eased off to her gentle caring one that she seemed to only display for him. "I know I deserved that, Dix. You are right in saying that I'm not Superman. I think I just need the reminder once in a while." Kel answered. It brought a smile to both of them. "Look, let me make it up to you. Let me buy you dinner at Manny's soon and we can talk more. It will be nothing more than a friendly dinner." Kel said, knowing how Dixie would hate to restart their relationship over something like this. ::It's strange how we really do know each other way too well:: "What caused you to be called in after a double shift anyway, Dix? That almost never happens." "Same reason for the first unscheduled double shift in the first place. I am down nurses to this darn flu. Started with four being out when you were brought in. It's now up to twelve. The call in was for a nasty pileup on the 405. Something like, at least, forty cars involved. We had to bring everybody back with the shortage of personnel, both doctors and nurses." Dix answered with a sigh. "How much longer are you on shift, Dix?" Kel asked. "I just got off, and wanted to check on you before I left. I also wanted to let you know that Joe told me that he's letting you out of here tomorrow. I can give you a ride home and I can stick around for a bit. I also accept your dinner invitation." Dixie answered with a yawn. "Dix, are you ok enough to drive home? I don't want hear that one of our guys had to bring you in after wrapping your car around something." Kel said. Dixie smiled, "I'm fine Kel, but I am going to go straight home. Good night, Kel." Kel answered with a smile, "Night, Dix. Drive carefully." Dixie then walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her. She headed straight downstairs to her car and drove home, all the time thinking how lucky they were, that Kel was still around to talk to. A few short minutes later she pulled into a parking spot, parked her car, locking it as she exited, entered her apartment and headed straight to bed for a good night's sleep. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ******************************************************************** From: "killashandrarey01" Date: Thu Aug 25, 2005 1:00 pm Subject: Fish Eggs and Morning Mouth... It was Tuesday morning, two days after the lightning strike and the morning after Dixie had had a good night's sleep. Hank Stanley buttoned up his work shirt swiftly. "Come on, come on... If we're gonna get this done before lunch time or another call, we gotta leave now." Marco sniggered. "Cap, are you sure we aren't breaking any rules by showing up at Rampart with the vehicles on a non emergency call?" Hank stared at Lopez as if he had grown a third eyeball. "How many years have I been a captain, Marco?" was all he said. "Uhhh...." Gage, next to him, whistled low under his breath,.. "Too many..." so Stanley wouldn't hear him. Cap, covering for any rank differential fallout, offered his excuse belatedly to stave off any further criticism.. "Headquarters knows the two of you have to get your final checkout at Rampart...." "Hi, guys..." "Mornin, all..." said two voices from Roy and Chet as they came walking in through the side door from the backyard parking lot. "....Correction, the four of you." Hank amended. DeSoto fielded enthusiastic greetings from the others as he quickly caught up changing into his uniform. Chet was a few seconds faster. "The four of us, what?" Marco told him. "As soon as we're set, we're stationing at Rampart so the four of us can get our final medical clearances from Joe Early to work today.." "No, kidding? Is there a parking space big enough to hold the Ward?" Kelly asked like a kid catching another doing something naughty. "Yes, there is.." answered Stoker with a "duh" tone in his voice. "Of course." breathed Chet. "Our engineer would know." "What a memory, Stoker.." admired Marco. "It's been, what? Five years since that fire at Rampart in the research buildings. Through all that chaos, in the middle of the night, you still scoped out the REGULAR parking places?" "Yep. I gotta learn all the fast outs on any scene in case the chief ever orders a pull back." replied Mike. "Consider it an unwritten rule of the trade." "That's why I keep him on.." winked Hank at the others. "He keeps expensive property whole without my telling him to." Stoker smiled at the surprise compliment. Roy spoke up, "Speaking of memory...." and he glared at Johnny to his right. "Your answer is yes. I did smell it." "Smell what?" Johnny asked in confusion. "Your morning mouth..." DeSoto snapped. "Next time, drink a little water beforehand before you help someone out." Chet Kelly looked up in confusion. "Just what the heck did that mean? Hey,....Cap? I think DeSoto's still got a few brain cells addled." "Yeah, well. It'll be up to Joe Early to determine that." Cap said, not getting it. "That's why we're leaving, remember?" he teased. Gage just closed his mouth with a grin and didn't say anything. He ignored Roy's continued glare at his back while he dressed. Marco got it, though. He whispered to Johnny. "I keep forgetting how good unconscious people can recall things during a rescue.." "I was counting on it that day.." Gage admitted to him. "Roy wasn't listening to me then. At all. So I had to do something drastic to get his attention." Roy just slammed his locker shut and went out on Cap's order to the squad. "How's the wrist doing?" Gage hollered after him. Roy didn't answer him, intentionally. Lopez said, "And he's not listening to you now." "What else is new?" Gage sighed. "Let's go, Stoker!" hollered Cap in the bay. That hustled the rest of the gang with their socks and shoes and belt instrument gear. They had to hurry to keep up. Marco turned to Kelly. "Did you get it?" "Of course, I got it. Is he still in the same room?" Chet asked. "Yeah, Dixie called this morning and said so." "So what did you get? Vanilla or chocolate?" "Both, in a swirly. I couldn't decide.." said Chet. "That'll be good enough. Chances are, Brackett will throw the cake in all our faces for even bringing it." "Nah, he won't." said Chet. "People change when they come close to dying and survive it." "It didn't change Roy." Marco sighed. "Huh?" "Never you mind. Put your seat belt on.." said Lopez as he buckled his. Soon, the engine and the squad were rolling. "L.A., this is Station 51." called Cap out on the mic. ##Station 51, this is L.A.## "We'll be 10-8 to Rampart with both. Base location will be there for an hour. We are available." ##10-4, 51.## came Headquarter's reply. Behind Cap's engine seat Chet muttered. "Well, that was easy." "Course it was. L.A. knows how to roll with the punches." Hank sighed contently. "I knew that would work." "Do they know we're having a going home party to go along with all the medical checks?" "Nope." smirked Stoker. "Why should they? We're doing everything by the book and anything else is.... at the captain's discretion." "D*mned right it is. Step on it. I'm getting hungry for cake. Dessert first, I always say." Chet's mouth dropped open. "Cap! How'd you know I got a cake for Dr. Brackett?" "I'm aware of anything new entering the station." Kelly and Lopez gave Cap suspicious looks and they grew uncomfortable. "H-how does he know?" they whispered to each other. Cap let them off the hook. "Guys, I only knew because I had to chase Henry away from the rear compartment before I climbed on board a minute ago. He only scrabbles at the engine doors when he's looking for food." Stoker whirled around in the driver's seat."He was scratching my engine's paint job?!" "No, no..no.." Hank grinned. "I stopped him before he got even two paws up on the panel. Aren't I nice?" bubbled Cap. Stoker was barely appeased and he took the last corner leading to Rampart a little fast. Chet complained. "Hey, Stoker. Slow down! You'll spoil the frosting!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The gang left their overcoats in the trucks to avoid worrying the public folk in the hospital and soon, the gang was knocking at the door of Dr. Brackett's patient room, with the cake. "Ok, everybody, now pipe down. Is everybody here?" Kelly asked. He turned his head and saw Dr. Early, Carol, Sharon his whole crew and even the x-ray techs, all present and accounted for. "Ok, I'm opening the door..." "Surprise!!" shouted everybody. "Happy going home day!" Their mouths just about fell open when they swung into the room and found Dr. Brackett, fully in street clothes, reverse entwining his arms with Dixie's, while they both ate crackers smothered with caviar, over an open Monopoly board. Brackett opened his mouth, raining fish eggs and cracker crumbs and he said... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ******************************************************************** Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 09:57:19 -0700 (PDT) From: "Jeff Seltun" Subject: Reflections.. "Oh, that's just great, the gang's all here! ...Again!" he groused in his worst doctor mode. Kel's face turned multishades of angry that matched his blistering tone. Everybody in the doorway, froze. But then the most miraculous thing happened, Kel Brackett's face softened, and then he actually smiled. Eyes darted everywhere, but no one moved for being still in the grip of the shocking sight, stunned. Dixie finished popping the fish egg smeared wafer into her mouth, chewing. Then she wiped off the crumbs from Kel's brand new striped shirt, "I was wondering when you'd show up. Did you bring it?" she asked. "Uh,....yes?" peeped Sharon, who had been in on the whole thing. "Hiya, guys. I got the plates already set up on the next table. Come on in..." Dixie said brightly after that. "Gotcha!" said Brackett, "I was only kidding. Dixie's been giving me lessons on how to pull a fast one. Ah, Joe. I see you brought your doctor's bag. Are you here to give me a clean ticket outta bed?" Slowly, the gang realized that they had been had and filed into the room. Joe Early was quickest to assume normalcy. "That and four others. For the boys here, too." he said, throwing his head over his shoulders at Chet, Johnny, Roy and Marco. Kel grinned as he helped Dixie clear the board game and the crumbs from the made up bedspread. "Chet, how are your eyes doing? Have they stopped giving you problems with long distance?" he asked. Chet Kelly was bold and reached for some of Dixie's caviar. She slapped his hand, "Do you know how much this stuff costs?" "Yeah.." Kelly dipped his finger into the roe anyway, to taste it. "Doc, the eye chart you gave me still wavers on me when I look up first thing in the morning, but only for a few seconds. Then it's all peachy for the rest of the day. But don't worry. I don't drive anything at work and I'm not going into any burning buildings for a while. Cap won't let me." "That's for your own good." Dixie waggled a finger at Kelly. "Both Kel and Joe were in on that one." "I kinda figured that." Kelly admitted. Mike Stoker came forward with the cake. "Dr. Brackett, this is for you. Uh,..I'm afraid the baker didn't know what a K-12 was or even a jaws tool for that matter for the frosting picture, but we gotcha a toy stethoscope for a decoration.. Here.." he said handing the heavy cake over onto Kel's patient table. "Oh, thanks guys. Although I think you've got things all backwards here. You saved my life, not the other way around." Dr. Brackett grinned. "We were thinking about the others times, Dr. Brackett.." Roy said. "From other years..." he whispered. Joe Early missed nothing. "Hey, where's MY cake then? I saved a fair bunch of you then, too." he chuckled. "We'll share.." said Kel, being a mediator. Soon, they were all eating. Joe had set up a small exam tray on the other side of the room with a live EKG monitor decorated in balloons and ribbons that Sharon had wheeled in behind her. "Kel, you get the first clear all reading. Sit down.." he said, patting a chair next to the bed. "Chet, would you get Kel's BP? That way, I'll know you remember how to do one, and I'll be able to tell whether or not you got your whole hearing back or not, ok?" "Hmmm, trusting a firefighter to examine me? I don't know..." Kel frowned. But then he laughed. "Give it a go, Kelly. This is your test." he said while he watched Sharon, Dixie and Joe patch him into the EKG. "Joe give Kelly your stethoscope." "Ok.." laughed Dr. Early. "The pointy things go in your ears." Chet smirked. "I think I got that part down ok, doc. Thanks." Kel unbuttoned his shirt a little wider for the last EKG lead. Everyone took in a gasp. Gage squinted at Brackett's chest and said, "See guys? I told you, three bandaid holes and a row of stitches under the collar bone. Just like I said..." he exclaimed, pointing. Then he said, "Say, doc... They did a nice job on the sewing..." Brackett chuckled. "I get only the best, I guess. Who's work is this, Joe?" he said, trying to peer at the stitches where the pericath used to be, still glistening under their steristrips. "Ryder's. He insisted." "I should have known." said Kel. "He's a lefty. All the suture knots are tied backwards. But they sure are even.. Maybe I should save some of this cake for Ryder,.. to thank him." Joe studied Kel's EKG strip silently, not letting Kel see the monitor at all. "Nah, It might inflate his ego a little too much...." "Well?" Kel asked of Chet Kelly and Joe Early after another minute had gone by. "NSR, Kel. No abnormalities whatsoever." replied Early... "136/98..?" replied an only slightly fumbling Chet, pulling off Joe's expensive stethoscope. "Congratulations, gentlemen. You both passed... Next...?" Joe said. "I'll go.." said Roy, stripping off his button down and pulling up his T shirt. All the nurses in the room cat called. Roy just rolled his eyes. "Don't let my wife catch you doing that, or she'll probably have a complex." he teased. DeSoto sighed and good naturedly let them patch him into the datascope monitor. At the same time, Joe listened to Roy's lungs. "Take a breath. And.....another one...." Kel leaned forward, reading Roy's screen. "Hmmm, I don't know, Joe." "What..? What do you doctors see?" asked DeSoto, suddenly worried. "He's got a pulse. Think that might be a problem?" Dr. Brackett quipped. Dixie smacked him on the arm. "Oh, Kel...Roy, you're fine. The QRS intervals are normal.." "Since when did you become the cardiograph expert?" Kel asked Dixie. "Well," said Dixie. "..since I first started dating one, six years ago..." she whispered, and then she kissed him full on the lips, right in front of everybody. The whole room burst out laughing, a few, with a crow of mock innuendo. Kel was good enough to blush. Marco and Chet and Gage were examined and given clear bills of health in short order. Then the whole room filled with the buzz of animated conversation as everyone broke off into splinter groups to finish their cake and ice water. Joe was in a group with the five he had medically okayed and he found himself listening to Roy while the others looked on. "Doc," said Roy. "What I can't understand, is why that lightning didn't kill me outright. I mean.." he crossed his arms shyly. "..I feel pretty normal inside, all things considering..." Chet broke into the conversation. "What Roy means to ask you, doc, is why did Gage find him with smoking shoes and clothes but nothing at all coming from his hide...?" DeSoto nodded. "Y- Yeah. Thanks, Chet. That's it. That's it exactly." "Anytime, bro.." Kelly replied, wrinkling his nose with a grin. Joe sniffed, popping into lecture mode, and he said. "I've found that lightning doesn't usually enter the body on strike victims, but flashes over the exterior instead. Sure, some charges may leak into the body via the eyes, ears or mouth, to cause senses loss, as in Chet's case, but most of the current from a lightning strike passes over the surface of the body in an external flashover. Burns are usually superficial, and usually caused by objects heating up close to the skin, ...belt buckles, bracelets, rings. It is not uncommon to not have severe burns, but on the other hand, clothing can be blasted from the body. Such as that cast you used to be wearing.." "Oh,..uh, that.." said Roy subconsciously. He began to rub his wrist when he remembered that he no longer had it on. Dr. Brackett crossed his arms, crossly. "So.., you wanted out of your cast bad enough that you just had to go invite a lightning strike to get it off?!" he mocked roared. Then he smiled. "Come on, let me see it." Roy gave Kel his left arm. Dr. Brackett began to manipulate it gently in an exam. "Does this hurt?" Roy was honest. "It's stiff, and the spongy bone itches something fierce, but no, it doesn't hurt." "Can you bear weight on it ok?" Chet Kelly spoke up again. "We ran a few CPR sets on a manikin at Roy's house. He did just fine, doc." Roy just held up his hand at Chet to say "what he said." Dr. Brackett nodded. "Mr. Kelly, could you let Roy answer this next question? It's kind of important." "Sure, doc.." said Chet, not taking any offense at all. "Ok..." said Dr. Brackett. And then he sat knee to knee with Roy. "Do you remember everything that happened to you on Sunday afternoon? Tell me as much as you remember. The paramedics who treated you said that you were demonstrating signs of anterograde amnesia. Joe and I just want to check to see if you still are. The effects of the lightning should've worn off by now if it was going to." Roy took a breath and started speaking. "Well.... I remember eating a really nice steak. Stoker's recipes are the best.." he grinned nervously. "But then I think I decided to take a nap on a chair under the pine tree.. Then, I began to think that something was starting to get a little funny." Hank spoke up, "Yeah and around that time, I got the impression that something wasn't right, too. I glanced back at the house and I saw Stoker's TV antennae throwing sparks! I thought, those dorks, they're overloading a fuse box.. I started running back for the golf cart. But before I could do that, about 1,000 feet away, I began to feel a strange, intense, pressurized sensation around my head. My hair stood on end, and I immediately crouched into a low ball with only the bottom of my feet touching ground. The barbed wire fence across the golf course sizzled with sparks; and I thought I was going to die any second. Then, I knew the energy build up for what it was.. Lightning.." Roy nodded, "I didn't know it was building up so far away, Cap. I remember shouting. I was blasted off my feet in a roaring vortex of energy and sound. I felt my body hit the ground and as I did, a searing heat and burning began passing through my left side through my rib cage. I was surrounded by a force field blanketing me to the ground. Either the current was going through me or electricity from the ground was meeting the bolt in the tree. I couldn't tell for sure. I thought to myself, I can't believe I just said this and it's happening! There was a humming I felt more than heard. My body vibrating, and the intensity of the searing heat was scaring me. All along I thought if it stopped in time, one of the guys could help me. And luckily the current began to lessen. My side felt scalded and puffy. I could see the sky and hear the wind, and it was over... The next thing I knew is that it was dark, calm, and quiet and that I wasn't breathing. Like something had knocked the wind out of me ...but with no pain.. I started to think that it's time to breathe now, so I tried to concentrate on that, but I couldn't. After what seemed like ten or fifteen minutes, I got my first breath and the lights went back on in a bang, but I couldn't move or feel much of anything." Roy looked up. "Was I talking, Johnny?" Gage met his eyes evenly. "After a while. After we put a lot of O2 into ya." DeSoto's eyes clouded again. "I felt like I was in a dream..... that I wasn't able to wake up from. I did notice a strange, sweet burning smell..." Johnny cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Not you.. that was something different. It was all the ozone, doc, at that point." Roy said. "Later at the hospital, I was able to see the spider web tracks across both my feet and lower legs, the only sign of what I had gone through." Roy blinked and returned back to the present. "Fortunately, they faded rather quickly." he said. "But I still feel like I've been kicked by a mule! " he chuckled. "Be glad you aren't a horse, Roy." Hank commented. "Why?" DeSoto asked. "Because your legs aren't very far apart. Sitting on that chair like you were, protected you somewhat. A person who has one foot closer than the other to the strike point will have a potential difference between the feet so that a current may be induced to flow through the legs and body. This is a frequent killer of large livestock such as cattle and horses because the distance between their hind legs and forelegs, is so great." Stanley explained. "Oh, so you mean, because I was crossing my legs, the lightning, sort of, skipped over me after brushing my feet?" Joe agreed. "Something like that, yes." Roy stretched in his chair. "Boy, I never knew that having bad posture would someday save my life... My mother used to tell me that crossing my legs was bad for circulation.." "It is.. but only if you have circulation problems." admitted Joe. "Kel, he sure remembers a whole lot more of his near death experience than most patients I know. I'd say he's recovered enough to be able to work today.. What do you think?" "I agree, Joe. Roy, how do you feel?" Kel asked seriously. "Well, I still have problems sleeping. Seems like since the strike, I... can't seem to doze off for long periods before waking up again." Marco spoke up. "That's been happening to all of us.." he said, pointing to Gage, Chet and himself. "We've talked about it." "It has?" Cap asked. Gage nodded. Joe spoke up again. "Some people can be slightly injured by lightning and not have a scratch on them. It's like a computer damaged by a power surge. On the surface, the hardware appears fine, but when the machine is rebooted, the software malfunctions. And insomnia is the most commonly reported side effect following a lightning hit." Johnny was shocked. "Then, does that mean Marco and I were hit, too?" "More than likely. You probably just don't remember it." Kel answered. Gage and the others fell silent. "But,.. I wouldn't worry about it. That's probably a good thing. There's nothing critical that Joe and I noticed today that could possibly effect your day to day activities." Dr. Brackett said. "In fact, you guys appear normal in just about every aspect that matters." "That's right." Joe said. "Lightning-strike survivors can suffer from over ninety symptoms. And some, don't start cropping up for weeks or even years. But, if you don't feel like you're suffering from any.." "A symptom which doesn't feel like a symptom.." Kel recited. "...IS no symptom. I know.." sighed Johnny. Chet was fussing in his chair, quietly. "Does this mean that I'll need glasses at some point in my future?" he asked the doctors. "Oh, Chet, everyone does at some time or another.." Gage said in exasperation. "It's no big deal.." "If the early morning blurring starts to bother you, we can certainly prescribe a pair for you." Dr. Early offered. "Just for reading, of course." Brackett tempered. Roy was thoughtful. "Chet, I don't think you should snowball on things concerning this. Please. Let's all just give this some time, ok? I'm not glad you're hurt," he said softly to him, "but I'm glad that I'm not the only one. That way we can talk about it whenever we feel like it." "That's the spirit." Dixie said. She had been listening to Roy's account, with tears in her eyes. "Come on, boys, we've got a party to enjoy." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Lightning in a daylight sky. Photo: Man in a lightning crouch. Photo: A split tree, ground level. Photo: Johnny and Brackett talking in hospital. Photo: Roy, serious shot, at Rampart. Photo: Caviar and crackers. Photo: A Monopoly board in play. ************************************************** From: "Patti K" and.. From: "Mark" and.. From: "wone3" Date: Thu Aug 25, 2005 (afternoon hours- pm) Subject: The Defining Run... Station 51 went roaring down the highway with sirens blaring and lights flashing to their next call, which was being broadcast even as they left Rampart General Hospital. ##Station 51, Station 8, Station 99, Station 36, Truck 127, Battalion 14, Dam burst, Castaic Lake at Hughes Lake Road. Multiple persons stranded, injuries reported. Ambulances are responding as well as police. Time out, 10:37.## "Oh, man.... Roy, this sounds like a really bad one." Johnny moaned. "I'm afraid so, Junior, I'm afraid so." responded Roy sadly. "It's times like this where I'm both very glad I'm in this line of work as well as wanting to hate it with all my being." "I know what you mean, Pally. I know what you mean." agreed a solemn Johnny. It wasn't long until they reached Hughes Lake Road and took in the horrible sight. Many people were leaving in a complete panic. "Where on earth do we start, Roy? I sure don't envy the Chief right now." Johnny commented. "Me either, Johnny. Well, let's go." he said as he pulled over the squad. They got out and proceeded to pull some gear as the engine team pulled in behind them. People were running toward them with a scared look in their eyes. The rest of the engine crew held back as Captain Stanley grabbed one of the lesser frightened bystanders and asked. "What happened?" "Everything was great. It was a clear, relaxing day. And then all of the sudden, the alarms by the dam started going off. No one could understand why. And then I could see some cracks forming in the dam! There were people on top of the dam, also, from what I could see. Once I saw those cracks, I just ran just like everybody else." he said. "Roy, John.." Captain Stanley started. Nothing more had to be said as the guys grabbed the basic gear they had pulled and headed toward the dam, following the trail while avoiding the stampede of people. The trail had a pretty big turn and once they rounded that turn they saw.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************************* From Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 19:05:41 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [EmergencyTheaterLive] S.n.a.f.u.s. Compounded... ...a large earthen dam, oddly colored in newly applied, bright, red, white and blue colors that spelled out words that Cap couldn't yet make out. "What th-?" Hank blurted. The male witness started stammering self consciously. "Please don't have us arrested! W-we didn't mean any harm climbing on the dam. W-we just wanted to celebrate the bicentennial. You know, as a joke. So we painted it. To surprise everybody." Captain Stanley nodded his head grimly even as he smiled. "Your dam defacement stunt's probably gonna save a lot of lives, mister. If you hadn't been up there, no one would have noticed those cracks forming at all, until it was too late. Good job!" The man's jaw fell right open. "Now tell me just how many of your bunch is in danger. I've got men making their way down there right now." "Four. No, five... I think. Oh, I don't know!" he panicked, rubbing blue paint across his face that accompanied the gaudy red and white splashed all over him. "Go find out, or people are gonna start drowning if we can't find them just as fast as we possibly can. There isn't much time left." The man started blithering. But then he moved. Cap ordered. "I want you back here as soon as you know more!" The man ran to locate the others in his group. Hank had a thought. He pulled out his HT. "Roy, Johnny. Watch for victims who might be covered with red white and blue paint! :: If they've been hurrying as much as this guy to commit graffiti, they're most likely coated in the stuff just as bad!:: he mused. "Be sure to keep a firm tie off on your lifelines while you search below!" ##10-4, Cap.## said Gage over the handy talkie. Shortly, Roy skidding downwards on the dry dust of the river's edge, replied as well. Cap updated L.A. "L.A., this is Engine 51. We've located the incident. Breach is on the downriver side of the Prado dam. Not the larger expanse. Repeat. The main resevoir is uneffected. Only the riparian causeway's structural integrity is failing. Large cracks are evident in the spillway dike twenty feet high. We're getting reports of at least five victims in danger of being swept away by escaping water. As yet, we haven't been able to spot them. Respond a seventh alarm assignment and an all terrain extrication team a.s.a.p!" ##10-4, 51. USAF has been notified. Also, Chopper nine is available for your victim search. They report their E.T.A. as four minutes.## "10-4, L.A. Engine 51 out." Cap shouted over the hissing of violated churning water. He stood on the edge of the basin and started scanning the washfield with a pair of binoculars so he could direct his crews to the unseen, trapped people he knew were still below. ::Four minutes is an eternity! Those people haven't got four minutes. Two if we're very, very lucky.:: he thought unhappily. ::Battalion 14's not gonna like this one bit.:: He knew the Prado dam's specs. Changes and additions to the flood control earthfill dam, built in 1941, now bestrided three California counties: Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino. Then, only 100,000 people lived downstream of the dam in areas that were affected by flooding on the Santa Ana River. But today, he knew over 2 million people lived downstream of the dam, in an area full of homes and businesses and places like Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. He heard the National Weather Service issue a flood watch along the Santa Ana River over his radio. Soon, an evacuation center was set up at Corona High School, and residents could be seen jamming the few streets out of the evacuating neighborhoods. Hypothetically, Hank was aware that the crack's flood breaching over the levees could flood 110,000 acres from Anaheim to the ocean, and had the potential to kill as many as 3,000 people. The dire possibility was very clear in his mind when he remembered Battalion 14's briefing accounts of March 3, 1938, which was, back then, the date when a flood of massive pre-dam proportions, had became Orange County's worst natural disaster. The town of Prado had simply disappeared. That night had been a turning point for Orange County, which was situated on one of the most vulnerable flood plains west of the Mississippi River. In its aftermath, the government built the massive Prado Dam. And its bulk had, to date, offered enough protection to launch the development of modern day Orange County. "But now we've reached today. 1976.." Cap sighed nervously. "So much for the 190 year protection hype claim. I've always known that I didn't trust earthen made constructions." he mumbled. "Especially earthen dams." Captain Stanley heard an excited hail from Kelly, scoping out the west side of the spillway. "Cap! Your two o'clock! A news chopper! Can we use them until ours gets here?" Cap shot his head around. Then his walkie lifted to his mouth once more. "L.A., Engine 51. Looks like Air Channel Four's in our airspace covering this. Can you see if they can spot anything?!" he shouted. ##Stand by, 51.## said L.A. About a minute later, Cap saw the news chopper jerk closer out of the respectful field it normally flew and over the moving fire vehicles still arriving to 51's solitary patch of high ground. L.A.'s welcoming calm voice advised him of newly learned details. ##News 4 reports four victims on a caisson about four hundred feet to the east, below your location. They are being inundated.## "Copy that, L.A.. Gage! DeSoto! Did you get that?!" he shouted over the radio. ##Working our way down, Cap! Heading for the eastern side caisson!## Gage puffed as he scrambled in his rope and harness gear over the rocks and concrete tangles. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "There! There! I see them, Roy. On the rocks to the left of the spillway!" Johnny shouted. "Marco! Gimme more slack!" he shouted back over his shoulder as he slid down the angled concrete slope leading into the main water channel. "Cap! We're gonna need the rope gun!" he hollered into his HT. "I think we can get it over one of these pylons!" Chet Kelly reported a new victim find a thousand meters away in the wetland brush along the rising Santa Ana River downflow. ##Stoker and I have got another one down here. We're bringing him up! Notify Rampart of a boy around twelve years old! No vital signs..## Johnny looked over to his partner. "Roy? You wanna go back up and handle him?" "Just as soon as I get you squared away. Cap and the others can work him until we've started rescuing these four." DeSoto said, thinking about priorities. "Once the rope and tackle's tight, I'll go.." The two paramedics could just barely hear the sounds of the trapped men on the scrap of rock sticking out of the churning water. They were controlled and not yet panicking and every one of them was splashed liberally in bicentennial colored paint. "At least it's easier to keep track of them looking the way they do." "Fortunately for them." Roy agreed, getting set to fire the rope gun that Cap had lowered down to him on a tether. Cap prepared the men on the rocks. ##Rescuers are going to fire a line over to you, attached to a rope. Catch it and secure it to the most stable object you can find!## he hollered over the engine's loud speaker. One of the men waved an affirmation. A safety goggled DeSoto shot the line from the shoulder gun and it zinged out across the gushing flash flood and then in between two of the college students. They scrambled desperately for the light line before the current swept it away. In their panic, one of their number tumbled and fell into the froth. ##One's in! One's in, Cap! Get some people downriver, now!!## DeSoto frantically radioed. Hank looked up to the freeway bridge above the dam basin and got on the horn. ##Man in the water! Truck 99, get set with your catch rope move! He's twenty meters center but still on the surface!## Firecrew dots on the overpass of Highway 10 buzzed into motion and distantly, Cap saw tan firecoats converge on either side of the concrete river bed as they drew a rope taut across the channel. The flailing man tumbled by in the rapids but managed to catch the lifeline in his armpit and he hung on for dear life. Firemen on either side strained to hold his weight in the swift water. Battalion 14 shouted out encouragements to the man over bull horn as his crew hurried with a dam maintenance boat they had found to go get him. "We're coming to get you. Don't panic. Try to wrap your arms and legs around the rope!" There was nothing else Cap could do for that victim, so Stanley concentrated on gaining status information on the drowned boy Station 36's paramedics were working on. He got a shake of a head and a gesture indicating nonreactive pupils from one of them as they bagged the young child and aggressively kept up attempts to revive him on the long board he had been hastily strapped into. He updated his own men about that. ##DeSoto, boy's a code F. Stay with your situation.## he commanded. Hank saw Johnny and Gage briefly pause on tying their belt ropes when they heard the bad news but then they started hurrying again. Marco and Stoker quickly strung block and tackle pulleys onto the now fast river line the trapped men had secured. Gage shouted. "We're coming over! Stay put!" he told them over the roar of the water springing from the gaping crack in the spillway near them. He could see that the water corps of engineers had opened the flood gates a while ago to ease the pressure on the smaller dam's back face. It hadn't yet effected the water levels around the trapped painters. But it made for high noise levels and there wasn't much that could be effectively communicated well without a radio between them. Soon, Gage and DeSoto were hand over knee crawling, upside down on the line stringing between them and the victims, like tree moles. They were wearing extra belts, harnesses and lines along with life preservers enough for all of them, while extra fire crew stabilized their lifelines. There was no chance for stokes work. The swelling swirling rapids didn't afford a level water surface for that kind of thing. Velocity and movement made stretcher extrication impossible. And the victims were too close to the unharmed mother dam for a lowered chopper basket. "Gimme more slack!" DeSoto shouted. A rolling wave from the flashflood reared up and drenched him, nearly causing him to lose his clinging grip on the horizontal crawling rope. He coughed as his head broke the surface once more. "Roy! You ok?" shouted Johnny, remembering his still freshly healing left wrist, as he hung upside down just ahead of Roy. "Yeah, I'm ok.." DeSoto sputtered, hooking that elbow around the rope instead of using his hand on that side. "Keep going! I'm not gonna get swept off. I'm hooked on.." he said of his belt snaffle on the tow line. Soon, one by one, Gage and he tandem hung the men on the river line, barely three feet above water, and had them hauled to the edge of the dam basin and onto the concrete riverbed slope, safely. Gage was supporting the last college student as he stood in the twisting water to unhook his belt off the rope, when a rogue wave toppled him off the concrete island. Johnny made a fast grab and barely caught his wrist in time to save him before the flood carried him away. "I got you! Pull yourself up!" he shouted to the young paint splattered, red, white, and blue man in his grip. "Give me your other hand!" he grunted. Johnny's helmet fell off and landed with a splash into the water. It startled the rescue crews downstream when they saw it rush by their rope catch point. Cap immediately hailed. ##Truck 99! Stand down. Just a helmet..## he told them. He saw them give a thumbs up in reply through his binoculars. Kelly was running to get out of the flood zone where he and Stoker had found the boy, when he shouted over his HT. "Gage! Woman in the water! See her?! She's gonna rush right by you in---" Johnny quickly shoved his victim's control rope into Roy's hands. Then he let go of the line above him until he hung arms and head down towards the water. He snatched at the nape of the limp woman's clothes at the neck and grabbed her by the hair. He fought until he got both legs wrapped around her tightly. Then he pulled up on a braid to get her face out of the water. He shouted and immediately let go of the woman when he saw a second smile beneath her jaw and ugly phone cord ligature hog tying her arms and ankles together behind her back. Her weight splashed back into the river, causing Johnny, Roy and the last man to rebound up in a slow bounce on the rescue line. DeSoto shouted tightly over his radio. "99! Here comes another one!" Just as fast, Gage countered with another radio burst. "Belay that call. Do not risk the attempt!" he told them and Battalion 14. "What's the matter?! Why'd you let her go and call them off?!" DeSoto shouted angrily at Johnny. Johnny gasped, trying to recover from what he saw. "Just keep pulling, Roy. There's no point. That wasn't a dam casualty at all. That was a murder victim!" "What?!" "Her throat was cut ear to ear and she was bound up with a phone cord. Let's just get out of here." Johnny said without strength. The trembling young man strung between them stiffened and he could only let the two paramedics drag him along with them. "She's ... been killed by someone?" "Yeah..." Gage told him softly. "Come on, we've got to hurry before that crack gives way any more." "I know..." shivered the battered paint coated young man. " And I know what you both are probably thinking. We didn't do it." "Never said you did, kid. " Johnny told him. "She was rigored already. Probably been gone for days." Gage said quickly. "Just keep crawling. Right now we've got our own lives to worry about saving. She'll be something for the police to figure out later when they do a body recovery." The young man met Gage's eyes dully. "That's if they ever find her again." Soon, all five men were carried to safety and treatment began to stave off shock and hypothermia from the cold flood waters. Battalion 14 ordered all units to back away out of harm's way and they all retreated back to the highway overlooking the resevoir river valley. But the final destruction never came so Station 51 concentrated on caring for their victims and their gear until the call was over. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dixie took another sip of her coffee while she and Dr. Brackett and Doctor Early conmiserated Squad 51's adventure at the Prado locks a few days later. Roy was talking animatedly about it with a hint of a chill. "Turns out that woman wasn't the only murder victim..." Johnny reflected seriously. "Yeah, they found a whole bunch of remains, all along the trail along the river bottoms. Nine more women. Crockett says the way the bodies were killed indicates the work of a serial killer or some other kook. The FBI seems to think they might be another lead on Idaho's unsolved Green River Killer." Dixie gave a tiny shiver and set her mug of coffee down without drinking it. "Eeoow, then those happy go lucky dam painters ended up benefitting society far, far more than they originally intended." Kel pursed his lips where he sat in his wheel chair. "I kind of feel sorry for those college kids. All they wanted to do was create a little bicentennial spirit without creating waves and they ended up preventing a major catastrophe AND undercovering a mass murderer's work." "You know," said Joe Early. "Stranger things have happened." "Yeah, I know, when you least expect it." Kel smiled. "Just look at what happened to all of us.." Gage was thoughtful. "You know, this week hasn't been all that bad." Roy was incredulous. "Just how to you figure that?" Johnny said, "Well,..it's just a little snafu effect taking hold. Nothing to shake a stick at." "I beg to differ.." Dixie glared back. "I've been through h*ll this week worrying about the whole lot of you. Snafus aside." "Well, things can only get better from this point on." Roy reasoned with a shy grin. "Shhh, don't jinx us." Gage said, smacking his arm. "You know, Johnny. That's part of the problem right there." said Roy. "What is?" Johnny replied defensively. "You're just plain too superstitious for your own good. If things are gonna happen, they're gonna happen and that's just all there is to it. Coincidence is just a man made thing. Like time. Something that's not real, but we truly like to believe it is, just for the thrill of it." he concluded. "Speak for yourself. I didn't know that Dr. Brackett was almost gonna die this week, or you either, for that matter.." Johnny said indignantly. "No one can predict the future." he frowned. Roy held up his finger and poked Johnny on the nose. "That's precisely my point, Junior. Right there. Learn from it. See ya, Dix, Doctor Brackett, Dr. Early. I'm gonna go wait for Gage here to stop preambling in general, out in the squad. Bye.." he waved. "Take it easy, Roy." they said. Johnny was left scratching his head at the ER counter while everyone else ... got back to work. FIN Episode Twenty Four S.n.a.f.u. -------------------------------------------- Photo: Gage climbing with an ambu bag in his teeth. Photo: Dam flood gate open. Photo: Animated rope gun river rescue. Photo: Roy and Johnny sliding down a slope. Photo: Five victims coming out of water. Photo: Roy saying I told you so in Rampart hall. Photo: Beautful creek sunlight and small waterfall. Photo: Joe Early grinning like a cheshire cat. ******************************************************* ***This current episode has just completed. ***Keep watching here daily for new episode ***scene installments. ************************************************** End Credits -- Episode Twenty Four (Third Season) §§ S.n.a.f.u. §§ :) This episode is dedicated to the survivors and rescuers currently :) enduring the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the United States. :) May as many lives as possible....be saved. :) The Story Unfolds... Season Four, Episode Twenty Five.. §§ The Overhaul Principle §§ Debut Launch: September 1st, 2005. ************************************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Sat Sep 3, 2005 6:27 pm Subject: The Transfer~~ Nine p.m. was only half an hour old when Johnny Gage decided to beg off a Sunday night challenge of cards and chess with the others. "Night all, I'm going to bed. I can't keep my eyes open any more." Chet Kelly looked up in surprise from the seriously aggressive war game he was currently engaged in with Marco Lopez. "What's the matter? You sick or something? Roy, are you paying attention here? The perpetual night owl's turning in before any of us for a change." Roy, engrossed in the Bogart movie on the tiny black and white, didn't even look up. "I heard ya.. Enjoy the peace and quiet while it lasts. Chet, he's not sick. If Johnny was sick, he'd be complaining about how bad he feels to everybody with every gory detail of symptomology. You know how he is.." "Thanks a lot, partner.." Johnny grumbled, rubbing his eyes as he shuffled to a halt by the kitchen door leading out to the bunk room. "Nice to know I rate a full vote of confidence around here." "Only when you're on a firehose or at the working end of a defibrillator, Gage. Don't get so bent out of shape. I mean, who knows your personality better than the guys who work side by side with you just about every day of your life?" Kelly said. "You should take advantage of this free status check from us, Johnny. It might teach you a few things about yourself that you don't usually know about when your physical chips are down. We can see how you really are when you're not even aware of it." Kelly added secretly, right as Marco cleaned him out of a set of aces at the end of a three stacked face off in their war game. "Marco! That's not fair. You already have two others.." "That's how the cards fell, Chet. Sorry." Lopez grinned, completely unapologetic. He eagerly scooped them up into his discard pile. "Johnny, don't listen to them. Hope you sleep sound. Don't worry, I'll keep him quiet for ya." Marco said tossing his head at the fidgetty Chet. "Thanks, Marco. I appreciate that. And I think I will. The weather's cooling off for the fall and it took me by surprise. This time of year always makes me bushed when it does that. Hot during the day, then down right freezing at night. Messes with your metabolism.." Gage mumbled while yawning. "That and a few other things.." Chet quipped. Cap looked up from the sink where he was washing dishes. "Shush, Kelly. Let him go to bed unmolested or I'll send you to yours too, for picking on him when he's not dishing it out to defend himself." Kelly plugged it up. Johnny just threw his hands at them all in sleepy disgust without looking at anybody, and scratched his frumpy hair. Gage never remembered hitting his pillow. That was a distinct disadvantage when he was awakened hours later by a cool set of fingers digging into his neck for a light pulse check. "Ahh!! Get off me..." he mumbled, shoving the hand away angrily. "I'm fine, don't be stupid." he said without even looking who it might be. A mild voice, neutral of reaction, met his comment evenly. "I've been called many things, Mr. Gage, but I believe that's the first time anyone's ever called me unintelligent." Recognition flared unpleasantly clear and Johnny rolled over and shot up bolt upright in shock. "Brice? What the heck are y-- Why are you here now?" He shook cobwebs out of his head and immediately tempered his sarcastic tones for sake of civility. "I mean, wait a minute, I knew you were coming to the station, but I thought you were transferring into C shift on the other rotation.." "I was, until yesterday. Then I did a little more calculating and decided that my financial budgetting would best be managed, if I took A shift. Captain Stanley was kind enough to push my paperwork to the proper channels necessary to accomodate my needs." Craig said, pushing up his glasses. "If you're wondering why I'm sitting on your bed, the explanation is that Captain Stanley asked if I'd check to see if you were still breathing since you slept right through what they called, the midnight popcorn feast.." Brice frowned in confusion. "Oh, Brice.. He was just kidding. Why do you always have to take things so literal all the time? If I was sick, do you think I'd be in here by myself, being allowed to sleep, unmonitored?" "That's true. You'd be evaluated at Rampart for any detrimental health effects and then you'd either be allowed to stay at work or be sent home on doctor's orders, to recover from them." Brice reasoned. "So they got to you, too, huh..." Johnny said mildly, pulling the blankets a little tighter around his shoulders. Brice said nothing, freezing in place at the sudden sharing of confidence. "Don't worry about it. Sometimes their joking gets under my skin, too. You should have seen me when the water cans were flying thick.. But between you and me, I know humor's not your strong point." Brice finally looked up from adjusting the pair chrome silver pens he carried a little straighter in his paramedic's shirt pocket. "I appreciate your honest observation about me. But how are we going to...." he bit his lip and said without emotion."..get back at the other guys?" "By doing nothing." Johnny's sleepy face cracked into a huge devil's grin. "Or better yet.. Grab a bunk.." The dim light from the moon outside glinted faintly in Craig's glasses. "I'm afraid, I don't understand." "Copy what I'm doing. It'll drive them crazy trying to figure it out. That way, we both can get our revenge on them for teasing you into vitals checking me." Johnny grinned. Brice thought about it without moving, but then he suddenly fell into a convincing yawn. "Gee, I'm suddenly feeling a little tired. A nap sounds like a good idea. Who's bunk shall I take over?" "Definitely Kelly's....Opposite Roy's directly across other side of the aisle." said Gage, rolling back over to bury his head under his pillow. "If this works, Roy'll be in here himself with a penlight and stethoscope to check on BOTH of us inside ten minutes. Sometimes, I think he's more gullible than me at stuff like this. Don't worry, Brice. We won't have the wool pulled over our eyes for much longer. All we have to do to is just go to sleep to get it all back." Brice was soon snoring as loudly as Johnny from where he laid out neatly on his back with his hands folded over his chest. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Roy and Johnny reading in the kitchen. Photo: Johnny having a nightmare. Photo: Craig Brice leaning over somebody by the squad. Photo: The gang putzing in the kitchen on off time. Photo: Station 51 in the dead of night. ****************************************************************** From : Cory Anda Sent : Sunday, September 18, 2005 9:42 PM Subject : Double Indemnity.. The two paramedics never got a chance to see their counter move joking ruse bait, bitten. The tones went off before another half an hour had gone by. Gage groaned as he threw on his night trousers, attached suspenders and boots. He was about to check aloud verbally about whether or not Craig Brice had dug his own out of consignment yet from Headquarters, when he realized that the door leading from the pitch black bunkroom was already swinging back and forth from the sandy haired fireman's rapidly disappearing departure. The natural level of irritation he normally felt around the man flared even greater. :: He's way ahead of me as usual again, d*mn it.:: Johnny thought as he squinted and rubbed bleary eyes as he jogged to the squad's passenger side fender. He opened the door and then stopped when he found the center seat between him and Roy empty. "Where's Brice?" "He'll be riding with the engine until you two work out some kind of rotation about who gets to ride where when we respond to all of our rescue calls." DeSoto replied with a grin. He was enjoying his partner's major sleepies immensely. "You missed a really good late show and a whole lotta popcorn." L.A.'s information broadcasted as the station klaxon tones completed their cycling. ##Station 51. Unknown type rescue at the gravel pit. 128 Live Oak Avenue, cross street North Western Avenue. 128 Live Oak Avenue, cross street North Western Avenue. Time out, 0256.## Hank's ringing radio acknowledgement of the call and slamming fire vehicle doors finally jolted Johnny into full wakefulness."I'll live. All I need is a little fresh air. Maybe we'll get a high angle extrication so I can just hang out and get a lungful or two.. And speaking about passenger riding, why won't you be rotating on and off the engine with Craig Brice's new work schedule?" "Seniority ranks, Johnny. But I wouldn't pull that argument for yourself in front of Cap if I were you. I bet if you look at the numbers, Craig's been around longer than you have with the department." Gage was about to smart off a retort when the truth of that fact bit home. He tried to content himself with rolling down the squad window so the cool smoggy autumn night blew into his face. He set a grumpy elbow on the edge of the door frame after writing down their response address on a piece of paper. "Sleep well?" Roy asked as the squad straightened out on the boulevard and sped for the nearby highway. "How do ya think? Take one good look at these bloodshot eyes and just take a wild guess, pal. I hope Brice gets assigned a bunk down Cap's way, because he snores louder than Chet does when he's sleeping." Johnny snapped. "Glad I've got a set of ear plugs under my pillow." DeSoto sighed, not reacting to his partner's grumbling. "I've told you a hundred times to go grab a pair from the pharmacy at Rampart along with the shoelaces you're always borrowing from me to replace the ones ya break all the time." "I will. I will." Gage insisted self defensely. "Trust me. I'll go get a pair the next time we resupply at the hospital. How else am I gonna get any sleep any more?" "You could always go a few rounds on the punching bag Stoker hung out in the yard." Roy said. "I'm sure that'll work out some of the restless overtired energy I'm seeing pouring out of ya tonight." "Energy? You call this excess energy? I'm plum beat, Roy. That nap did absolutely nothing for me." "Sorry, I couldn't tell. You hardly seem different from the usual." "Very funny. Just drive and keep your thoughts to yourself, okay? And hang a right here on the off ramp. The Peck water conservation park's around the corner past those trees." Roy smiled bigger and shook his head ruefully as Johnny's groggy attempts at hasty finger hair grooming finally panned out and he watched as Johnny belatedly remembered to shove on his fire helmet. "That sign we passed a couple of minutes ago beat ya to it. I'm way ahead of you." "So's Brice it seems..." Johnny grumbled. "What did you say?" Roy asked over the loud wail of the squad's sirens. "Nothing!" Gage said, pulling on his chin strap. "Pretend I'm just sitting here looking pretty.." Roy curbed another amused grin to spare Johnny a last shred of dignity. He never understood why broken sleep always brought out the worst in Johnny. ::Or in the rest of the gang for that matter. Maybe I got my immunity from it for having two kids to raise the last eight years or so.:: he decided. Soon, they were there. A construction foreman immediately ran up to Cap, taking Hank's immediate appearance and physical stature, as the one man in charge. "We're so glad you guys are here.." the man gasped under the night lights of the gravel quarry. "The problem's two fold. One of my workers is stuck and a child's trapped under one of our transfer conveyor belts in a car over there." Cap understood the first part, but the second, took him aback."What? A child? In a car at the bottom of a gravel pit?" "Yeah, the city gang buries cars in here all the time to try and hide em from the heat when they steal em. They think covering them up with gravel's the smartest idea in the world for their auto hustling ring. We try to thwart em with dog patrols and security guards, only the place's so big we can't watch over everywhere and we never usually find them all until the gang sneaks back in to collect em. We're guessing that this kid must've snuck in here playing earlier in the afternoon and got caught by the gang while they were hiding one. Twenty minutes ago, one of us heard shouting under the rock pile beneath this belt's fall/dump. Only our man got in trouble trying to find him. We're guessing that this kid's been locked up inside a trunk." Cap held up his glove. "Get back to your victims' locations. Show us where." he ordered. The anxious man, surrounded by a core of determined tool wielding workers, motioned quickly. "This way." And around the firemen, the pit crew suddenly split into two groups arrowing into the surrounding spot lit darkness. Hank immediately dissembled. "Brice, Roy. Check out that child's situation. Chet, help em out. Johnny and the rest of you, come with me with all the tools you can carry and plenty of rope!" "Don't bother. We've got plenty in use right now, mister." the foreman said hastily with a hint of anger. "Come on, come on! Marty can't wait much longer. He stopped screaming a couple of minutes ago." "Ok..ok. Calm down a little. Getting excited's the last thing that'll help these people, ok?" Hank said gently. "Gang, you heard him. Skip the extrication gear. Let's move." As Cap's group ran to the accident site, the sweating highly agitated foreman filled them in. "This belt became overloaded causing the electrical breaker to trip!" he shouted over the roar of chistles and jack hammers hastily being applied from an area just ahead of them in the heavy dusty gloom. "I shut down the entire line and Marty went to try and fix everything, like he always does, to clean away spilled material on the sides of the belt with a front end loader, only this time, he was assisted by Scotty, d*mn it all." The foreman bit his lip in sudden guilt and worry. "The kid's a truckdriver recently hired by the company. He didn't know what he was doing down there. Scotty told Marty that he was going to the breaker panel to turn the power back on after the jam was clear. He told everybody specifically to stand clear of it while he went to start up the belt again." "I don't understand." said Cap. "I'm assuming Marty's your man who's trapped." "Yes, yes. Here's what happened!" urged the foreman as the firemen strode deeper and deeper into the heart of the central gravel pile underneath the conveyor belt. "The electric panel for the conveyor belt's at a location out-of-sight of this far end. There's always a few minutes delay when someone does a restart because of this long walk over to the panel area. Only this time, Marty must have noticed that the discharge chute from the incoming belt was also clogged. We figured that he must have climbed up onto the belt to clean the secondary chute. When he did that, Scotty didn't know about it and turned the jam breaker back on. Marty fell down on the moving belt when it jerked to life again." Cap started shaking his head in pure high level professional frustration as the tale unfolded unpleasantly. The foreman noticed. "You gotta understand. Marty's a very big man, in excess of 300 pounds. He couldn't easily get up or jump off the belt. Marty tried to yelled at Scotty, who ran alongside him, to shut off the belt from the other end, but Scotty wasn't familiar enough with the conveyor system and he couldn't find the emergency shut-off switch in time before--" Johnny hastened to the point. "Ok, that's how it happened. Just tell us how Marty's hurt. That's the most important information right now." The foreman wiped his face with a filthy rag from the back pocket of his overalls. "Scotty says Marty rode the belt for about 30 seconds, the entire length of the conveyor, before being pinned under an end angle iron motor bracing." Gage winced. "Traumatic asphyxiation for sure, Cap." Stoker ran back towards the engine. "I'll get the O2 tank and the intubation kit." "And a full adult sized spine board with sand bags. " Cap added. "Hurry!" Gage shouted after him. Soon, the wiry paramedic and the others reached the spot where Marty's gravel dusty leg protruded from a knot of belt cloth and metal. Already, gravel works employees were frantically digging with shovels, crowbars and brute force to try to free their coworker. "Has he moved?" Johnny shouted to them. "No." one of them replied. "Not for a long time." Gage, being the skinniest firefighter, took off his overcoat and helmet and crawled onto the halted gravel strewn belt into the feeder hole on top of Marty's partially pinned body and stomach. The whole way inside, he felt for signs of respiration with his gloves. He found none. "Not breathing. I'm going for his head!" his muffled shout echoed from out of the hole. Cap snapped an order. "Marco, get in there with him. Help him any way you can." Lopez peeled his coat and helmet, too. Hank stopped him with a touch on the leg. "Take this with you!" He passed off a pack of oral airways that he always carried in his turnout's jacket pocket. Then he pulled out his HT. "Roy, Brice. Our victim's spotted, not breathing. Gage and Marco are going in to aid him. Let me know the first second you know what you have out there with the minor. I'll call PD for you to get a court ward consent for treatment on him or her but note this... after your word only....that we have a survivor." ##10-4, Captain Stanley.## replied Brice over his radio. There was grunting from the hole and Cap hung onto Gage's and Marco's boots and they worked deeper into the tiny space at the end of the gravel shunt feeder bin nearest Marty's head. "Easy. Easy.. Some of this loose stuff's working its way down." "Ok, Cap. We almost have his head freed up!" Marco shouted in a strained voice. Cap didn't like the tight quarters. He turned to the guilt ridden foreman, gaining assurances. "Do I have your absolute guarantee that that feeding circuit breaker's locked off?" "You do, I locked the panel access cage up myself before I came running outside to meet you.. Oh my G*d, Marty. I got ya in so much trouble. I'm so sorry. I- I knew I should've been more firm with the boss about making the changes you pointed out around here. I- I know we should have had the starting and stopping of the belt possible from the same location." Scotty, the new employee, was standing nearby and was thoroughly tear stained and crying. "That starting should have also included a warning alarm, Miller! And I should've been briefed on where all the switches were before you even put me to work on the line!" "It's my fault.." mumbled the foreman. "It's.." he stumbled against a shaft piling. "Oh, my G*d. What have I done?" "Don't you mean what DIDN'T you do?" snarled Scotty. Cap ignored the pit men and began poring over his two men with Marty. "How is he?" he shouted into the gap along the belt where the two firemen were struggling to unbury Marty. There was a long delay inside the hole. Then Johnny's voice came over the HT. Two short words. ##Code F.## Cap sighed and slammed both gloves against the side of the inert gravel belt and he lifted his head to fight down a crush of emotional pain. The foreman got back onto his feet. "Code F? Wh-what's a code F? I-is that some kind of rescue code?" he asked hopefully. "If there's anything I can do for Marty, just a---" Scotty interrupted in a rage and a new flood of tears. "That's F for fatality Miller. Marty's dead! Remember that for the rest of your pathetic life. A good man died today because of your unwillingness to confront your boss, and his death is entirely ..your ...fault. I sure hope someday you can learn to live with this, cause I know I sure won't. Not ever....." he glared softly dangerous. "I quit right after I talk one to one with the cops. There was no excuse for this happening, Miller. None. I've never seen such a shoddy excuse for a twenty four hour gravel operation in all my working days." Hank and the others broke out of their listening shock between the two gravel works men and fell into immediate action. Cap grabbed first Gage's legs and then Marco's to hasten their progress off the belt. Then he yelled at Stoker over radio to get the resuscitation and spinal gear out to DeSoto and Brice instead. Cap added one thing more. "Gage, leave your clothes shears on his chest so the MSHA investigators know that we got in there first for a victim's vitals check. Disturb absolutely nothing else getting back out here, guys. Remember everything you did in there in close detail and what you touched." he said in barely controlled fury. Gage and Marco soon fled for the site of Brice and Roy's situation with Cap running close behind them. They found... ------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Cap speaking with a helmeted construction worker. Photo: A gravel works emergency stop panel. Photo: Two workers digging in a very large deep hole. Photo: A working conveyor at the bottom of a gravel pile. Photo: A dirt buried car. Photo: Brice, Roy and Johnny in turnout gear, getting ready for a rescue operation. ******************************************************************** From : Champagne Scott Sent : Wednesday, September 21, 2005 1:11 PM Subject : Saved From a Tomb... ...them easily under the gravel pit's night spotlights three minutes later. Roy didn't even ask why his partner and Marco had returned so quickly from the conveyor belt site. He already knew. Brice was directing gravel workers and Chet on where to dig to try and locate landmarks on the buried car so that they could reach a window or even better, the rear trunk compartment. But it was like shoveling inside of a sand funnel. As fast as gravel was removed, more slid in immediately to take its place back into any hole made by the workers. Kelly shouted. "We got problems, Cap! This pea gravel's like water. We can't make any headway!" Hank jogged to where Roy and Brice were kneeling on top of the hood of the buried stolen automobile. "Wanna cut into the car from up there?" "I don't think that'll be a good idea, Captain Stanley." said Craig Brice. "The interior'd only get buried as well. If we can get by with a visual looking inside, that'll be good enough to determine where the child might be trapped." Hank nodded in agreement. "And I'm sure the car's owner would appreciate minimal damage as well." He rubbed his lip. "How about a front end loader, digging a channel to the trunk? The foreman mentioned they use one of those a lot to find these cars when they encounter them." "Bring it on in, Cap. And hurry. We don't know how long our child's been in these low air conditions like this." Roy fretted. Brice looked up from lying on his stomach. He had peered into a window from its top edge, looking upside down with a flashlight. "The car's empty! I'm only seeing beer cans, spent shotgun shells, and I'm smelling a whole lot of alcohol in here." "What nice car crooks, gang. Don't ya love it?" snapped Johnny. "Not only do they hide what they steal from the police, they mess it up, and then endanger kidnapped small children while going about their business as usual. Makes you wanna--" "Easy, partner." said Roy. "First thing's first. I promise I'll let you get into a few faces once the cops find them later on. Right now let's just concentrate on undoing some of the mischief by rescuing that kid first." Then he froze in place. "Shhh.. I think I hear something." he said, angling his helmeted head. But then the front end loader started approaching, and drowned out all chance of anyone hearing any subtle noises. Gage looked up for the heavy equipment driver eagerly. "Over here! Over here! Nice and easy.." Brice scrambled out of the way of the work crews and shouted. "I'll call Rampart and let them know we almost have a victim. Sir, making that phone call now for court authorized treatment might be prudent." Hank nodded, only slightly raising his eyebrows at Craig's formal demeanor, and jogged over to the squad's cab for a quiet place to call L.A. and the police department. Johnny and the others watched as the front end loader slowly bit into the flowing rivers of gravel. Its appetite soon won a solid dirt path leading right up to the very rear of the gang buried car. Stoker went running, "I'll get lines from the engine. We can pull it out using them tied around our bumper and their loader's, in reverse gear!" "Make it happen!" Hank agreed, missing nothing from where he sat. Marco yelled. "I'll get a crowbar!" Chet said, "I'll get the gear laid out." And he fell to work spreading a yellow plastic treatment sheet onto the damp dirt of the roadway. He quickly placed the resuscitator, defibrillator, trauma and drug boxes out with their lids open. Cap finished making his call to L.A. and to the emergency court system and he told his men good news. "Gage, DeSoto, Brice! Do what you have to do. That child's now under federal court authority for being a kidnap victim. All you need now are doctor's orders.." "Thanks, Cap." said DeSoto. "Let's hope we won't need to do much." The firemen hurried to secure two fast rope lines to the Ward and the front end loader once it had completed clearing away what gravel it could from the back end of the stolen car. "Ok,, ok.. ease them back, slowly!" said Cap to Stoker and Marco, who had joined the gravel vehicle's driver with an HT so they could hear Cap's instructions the same time Stoker did. ##10-4." they both replied. "Easy... easy..." said Cap as he watched the tension in the tug ropes increase, and finally grow taut. Soon, the intact car groaned, shifting under its deep cocoon of heavy gravel with ear piercing nails on chalkboard squeals as raw rock pellets scratched into the chassis relentlessly. Everyone covered their ears at the sounds. "Ooo, there's goes the paint job." Chet shivered as he opened a second sheet pack into thirds on top of a backboard in case they needed spinal care on the child. Brice smiled from where he was hailing Rampart. "A problem easily remedied. Just picture what the owner of this car would have thought if we had decided to flower petal open the roof to saw through the back passenger seat and frame, looking for this minor." "You got a point there." said Kelly, grinning. But then his grin fell away when he saw Cap raise his glove in a halting gesture. He shot to his feet quickly. "Here we go.." he said, grabbing an iron bar with which to help Lopez jimmy the trunk release. Brice watched his crewmates as he talked with Dixie McCall. "Rampart, we're a minute away from extricating a child of unknown age from an automobile trunk that was found buried under five or six feet of loose gravel. Please stand by until we free our victim. And yes, we have official court permission to render any treatment authorized by you." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ::Well, if that isn't clairvoyance, I don't know what is.:: thought Dixie when Brice's last statement anticipated her next question neatly. ##10-4, Squad 51. We're standing by.## replied Dixie when she saw Joe Early making his way over to the base station at her urgent wave. The frosty haired nurse readied a note pad and set the record button on pause. Joe entered the glass alcove, read the basic information Dixie handed to him, and then they both began to wait restlessly. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The trunk cracked open and its springs shot the rear hood up with alacrity. A wave of hot, fetid sour air met the firemen's noses in the darkness. But an odor wasn't about to stop them in the slightest. Gage threw aside loose objects that the child had kicked around in his struggles and peered down under Roy's flashlight beam as he felt for a neck pulse. "He's alive. But it looks like all this rock did absolutely nothing to protect him from daytime heating. He's got all his clothes torn off." Chet quickly set a resuscitator mask of pure oxygen over the boy's face as soon as the two paramedics had him carefully turned onto his back, while he still lay in the trunk. "Is he breathing ok on his own?" "Help him a bit. It's irregular." replied Gage. "Go 20 a minute, and someone tell Stoker to rig a reel line! We've got to get his high temperature down with a hose as soon as he's been spine immobilized! Roy, I'm seeing blunt force bruising here. His left eye's orbit, right side rib cage and right thigh so far. And he's got a broken index finger on his left hand." Kelly tried not to seethe. "He's been beaten up, too?" "Looks that way." said Roy, holding the heatstroked boy's head still until Johnny could get a pediatric cervical collar around the child's neck. The tall quiet paramedic was ready to kill in his eyes but his hands remained firmly gentle as they moved the boy onto a long board and strapped him in tightly with sandbags and belts. Chet was a tick with the demand valve, sticking to the child's face and minding his airway aggressively while he delivered light, fast breaths. "No problems here, Johnny. O2's going in easy." "Keep them light until I listen to his chest a little better. We've got to rule out traumatic chest injury." Gage told him. Mike Stoker was ready with cold water and he stood close by for the word to begin cooling measures by the time the three firemen carried the boy over to all the medical gear and Chet's treatment tarp. "Start with his legs, arms and abdomen only, Stoker. A very light wash. We don't want to chill him too fast here." said Roy. "If you see him start to shiver, stop immediately and get him snuggly wrapped up. Keep an eye out for any active blood flow into your water. We haven't checked him out very well yet for other injuries past these bruises and that hand." Mike Stoker began his bathing with just an inch wide trickle from the end of the red hose's nozzle. "Got it." said the engineer softly. "Is he resisting Chet's vents yet?" he asked DeSoto. "No." said Roy with a worried frown. "We'll try to change that with some I.V. epinephrine real soon. Craig.." he said, wiggling fingers for the biophone receiver. Brice handed it over and then got busy with Roy's stethoscope on assessing the flushed red boy's lung sounds. DeSoto never took his eyes off the boy while he spoke with Dr. Early. "Rampart, this is Rescue 5-1." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe Early flicked the recording machine off pause and said, "Unit calling in, please repeat." ##Rampart, this is Squad 51.## "Go ahead on your pediatric suffocation victim, 51. I've been updated." ##Rampart we have a male approximately four to five years of age. Unconscious and unresponsive, being ventilated on 100% O2. He's markedly overheated with blunt force trauma in evidence. Looks like a beating. I'll cover exactly what areas are involved after initial vital signs. BP is 150/102, pulse is weak and rapid at 134, breaths unassisted, were at eight and very irregular. Our victim is currently undergoing a cold water washdown over his extremities and abdomen to allow us to start to get a handle on a very high body temperature.## "What is it, 51?" ##Stand by, Rampart. We've got to work around some spinal precautions to ascertain that.## "10-4. Let me know what you find. Has your victim shown any indication of prior seizure activity?" ##None, Rampart. No signs of incontinence or unequal pupillary reaction are apparent.## "Ok, 51. Start him on an I.V. of.......... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Brice and Roy working by the squad with the drugbox. Photo: A front end loader digging away at a cliffside. Photo: A car's trunk, opened and full of junk. Photo: Rescuers carrying a stripped boy away from danger. Photo: A child getting ventilated by demand valve by the gang. Photo: Dr. Joe Early listening to a transmission wearing glasses. Photo: Roy frowning in his helmet at night. Photo: Marco and Chet in full rescue gear, waiting for orders. *************************************************************** Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2005 13:25:04 -0700 (PDT) From: "Jeff Seltun" Subject: The Saving Grace of Professionalism.. ....Lactated Ringer's at TKO and another of 50% dextrose in water. Protect his airway judiciously, 51. There's a strong possibility of respiratory alkalosis developing from your active ventilations. They might bring on secondary hypokalemia. Are there any signs of deep tendon reflexes?## Joe asked. Brice checked, running a blunt scissors point up both the boy's bare feet. He also pinched the skin sharply behind both the boy's knees while holding them bent and upright. Not one twitch manifested. Craig shook his head. DeSoto shared that news. "Negative, Rampart." ##Ok, go ahead and intubate him with an EOA. Sounds like he's already largely in a coma from his exposure. What's his core temperature reading?## Johnny took out the thermometer probe from the child's rectum and read it under penlight. "41." "It's at 41°c, doc." Roy told Dr. Early, biting his lower lip. ##Continue his cooling measures aggressively, 51. Halt all irrigation when his body temperature reaches 39°c and let it drop no lower. I want an EKG as soon as possible. If he develops seizure activity, use a benzodiazepine variant such as Ativan 0.1 mg/kg I.V. If hypotension sets in refractory to cooling and initial fluid boluses, initiate a Dopamine drip and titrate to maintain a systolic BP greater than 90 mmhg. Once you've sent me a strip, continue monitoring vitals and maintain his full 02 support. Bring him in as soon as possible.## Roy confirmed his orders. "10-4, Rampart. Point one mg's Ativan I.V. on posturing, a dopamine drip to raise any developing basement BP to 90, and an EOA. Stand by for his EKG, lead two. I estimate our ETA at twelve minutes." ##Standing by, 51.## Johnny was way ahead of Joe Early. He already had the still child's chest dried and patched in and it was only moments before he flicked on the datascope monitor and linked it into the biophone. Roy spoke once more into the phone. "Transmitting EKG, Rampart." ##10-4.## Gage, Brice, DeSoto and Kelly all leaned into the screen to read its tachy signature. Johnny let out a worried sigh. "Frequent PAC's and look at this. Doctor Early called it right on the money. He's very low on electrolytes." DeSoto picked up the receiver. "Rampart, we are reading marked flat T waves with prolonged QTs and prominent U waves on a V tach of 140 with PAC's. There is possible evidence of Cor pulmonale manifestation." ##I concur, 51. Bolus in 100 cc's of that Lactated Ringer's. Most likely the heat's damaged his lung tissue, causing atelectasis and that backup into his right descending pulmonary artery. That's probably why we are seeing a poor breathing effort and the Cor pulmonale. It is paramount, 51, if he crashes, that you avoid using sodium bicarbonate on any defibrillation. He's low enough on potassium or magnesium as it is. Use Dobutamine 10 mcg/kg/min IV infusion for circulatory support with your first stacking dose of epinephrine should any be needed.## Roy re-outlined the doctor's treatment and plan if the boy suffered a cardiac arrest. Then he added, "Rampart, we've examined all exposed surface areas on our victim. He's got bruising of the left orbit of his eye, right lateral ribcage, and on the skin over his right thigh with no evidence of obvious fractures except for a midshaft bone break on his left index finger. Also, we've found that he's slightly guarding the lower left hand quadrant of his abdomen." ##Might be splenic involvement. I'll have a surgeon standing by.## "10-4, Rampart." Roy practically threw down the biophone into its case in his eagerness to get the boy intubated and moving out. Gage re-read the thermometer again, taking it from in between the boy's frogged legs where he lay in his moistened shock sheets and he held up his hand. "Ok, Stoker, that's good." he said, and he motioned for the engineer to take away the cold water stream. Roy took a small ambu bag from Chet's hand and fastened it to the end of the boy's esophageal airway once he was through inserting it. He gave it a few short squeezes while Craig checked the tube's placement. "Ok, Chet. Take this over again." he said in a hoarse whisper. Brice gave a curt nod. "It's positioned correctly, DeSoto. ...Ready?" he asked Gage and the others who were bundling up the boy's sheets, I.V. tubing and EKG monitor wires away from the pooled water running around his body. He got all nods around the circle of quiet firefighters. The heatstroked young boy's spine board was lifted and laid straight onto a half height raised ambulance gurney, and soon, they started on their way to the hospital. Marco quickly followed behind them in the rescue squad, adding his red lights and siren to the ambulance's. The foreman sighed as Cap stepped away from the Cadillac ambulance doors that he had just double slapped. "I hope he makes it, mister. Cause if he doesn't, then Marty died for nothing and my losing my job over him will just be another tragedy this company'll bear quietly in the private sector..." Hank just stared at him, and displayed absolutely no sympathy. "Your poor man didn't have to die at all today! Haven't you gotten that fact in through that thick hard hat of yours yet?! This whole rescuing situation was all ....completely... and utterly.....preventable!" "I didn't put that car into the gravel pile! That stupid city gang did!" said the foreman, defensive and trembling. "Why are you all looking at me like I was the one who kicked that kid around?" Scotty, rendered angrily mute, turned his back as he began talking to the police officer newly arrived on scene. Cap just jerked his head for the other firemen to pick up all the medical waste wrappers, labels and needle covers without saying another word. He headed off to give out a station's availability ETA to L.A. over the engine cab's chatter filled radio and soon, they were free of the sad gravel works company, ...forever. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Roy on a biophone, surrounded by rock. Photo: Firemen fighting to save a nonbreather with a construction worker. Photo: Roy bagging a victim in a cadillac ambulance. Photo: Cap grimacing in barely caged rage. Photo: A cadillac ambulance driving away. Photo: Gage and DeSoto fighting to maintain an EOA in ambulance. **************************************************************************** From : crash200225 Sent : Saturday, September 24, 2005 4:35 AM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Waiting Marco backed the squad in next to the ambulance just as the boy was being unloaded. The intense look on both of the paramedics' faces spoke volumes. The child's condition must have deteriorated during transport. As he followed the gurney through the emergency room outer doors, Marco heard the sound of distant thunder. He turned back to the squad and rolled up the windows. There was no way of knowing how long they would be there. Not seeing Roy or Johnny in the hallway, Marco found a seat in the nearly empty waiting room. Having left his helmet in the squad, he ran his hands through his hair, then over his face. The rescue had effected him more than the others knew. His close friend had died in an 'industrial accident' several months earlier. Though the circumstances were vastly different, the cause was the same. Incomplete training and stupidity on the part of the supervisor. He hadn't told his crewmates about it, not that they wouldn't understand. He knew his friends would try to console him, but he didn't want that. The rage he still felt drown out the sorrow that would eventually surface. He just wasn't ready to face it, not yet. When he was, he knew they would all be there for him. Closing his eyes, an image of the child came to Marco and his barely controlled anger threatened to overwhelm him. He thought about who could do something so horrible to a little child, just a baby really. He took a deep breath and let his thoughts drift back to his friend. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Marco," Roy said for the third time, "Are you all right?" He had become lost in his memories and had not heard Roy calling his name. "Yes, just tired. How is the boy?" "Dr. Early stabilized him. He's on the way to surgery now. Johnny is getting supplies. He won't be much longer." Roy knew they were all shaken by the rescue, but now was not the time to dwell on it. It was a kind of unwritten rule not to mention the bad runs for awhile afterwards. They would talk about it at some point, but not now. Five minutes later, the three men were on the way back to the station. Johnny seemed to fall asleep before they had left the ambulance bay, head against the window. Marco was in the center seat and asked Roy, "You sure he's not sick or something? He's usually 'Mr. Can't-Sit-Still'". "He was okay in the ambulance and at Rampart. Like he said, he's bushed. Nothing some sleep won't fix." Roy answered with more confidence than he felt. He knew how his partner could be sometimes. "What about Brice? He went to check on Johnny and fell asleep himself. Maybe there is something going around." Marco reminded him. Roy thought about it for a few moments before saying, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to check them both out when we get back." Neither man saw the smirk on Johnny's face. He hadn't quite gone to sleep, but before he knew it, Marco was shaking him. They had returned to the station and Roy had the passenger door open. He was taking Johnny's pulse. "Aw, Roy, Marco, leave me 'lone. Tired is all. Lemme sleep." he grumbled. Roy shook his head and sighed. "We just thought you might want to sleep in your bunk instead of the squad." "Huh?" Johnny looked around before stumbling out of the squad and straight to the sleeping quarters. He didn't bother to strip down to his t-shirt and boxers. He dove onto his bunk and, for the second time that night, didn't remember his head hitting the pillow. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************************************** From : Roxy Dee Sent : Saturday, September 24, 2005 8:57 PM Subject : The Haunted Chat~~ Johnny heard a motion in the darkness in the bunk room where he lay. ::That's Cap. Is he restless! And Marco's none too relaxed either.:: Gage thought as he blinked sleepers away. His roving eyes studied the ceiling and flicked to the window, which was still glowing street light blue. ::Dawn's nowhere near yet.:: The dark haired paramedic rolled over to eye his partner, Roy, snoring lightly nearby on the next bunk over. Immediately, his overlarge eyes spied an HT on standby lying on the table between them ::Got you! :: Johnny grinned quietly. ::You finally went for the tired act Brice and I crafted hook line and sinker if you have a radio in here with ya.:: Trying not to laugh aloud, he glanced over to Brice's bulk on the bed kitty corner from him next to Chet. Craig was quiet, and his glasses were off. ::He must have continued the joke after I "staggered" in here if Roy was concerned enough to keep close communication cover in the bunk room after checking up on me. Wish I had been awake when he finally came in for me. Oh, well. Maybe Chet was there watching him. I can get the play by play about what happened during breakfast when it's light out.:: Contented with the progress of his mother hen fostering joke, Gage flipped back over onto his back and closed his eyes in a sigh and soon returned to a much needed slumber. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ten minutes later, Captain Stanley flipped back his sheets, pulled on his suspendered pants, and shuffled into the bathroom on his boots. Hank was shocked to find that his face was covered in a sheen of fine sweat in the mirror. Slowly, he realized that his heart was still pounding in his chest. ::Why am I still mad? We're well done with it!:: he thought about the dead man at the gravel works. The nightmare from which he had just awakened was still playing shadows of strong emotion behind his eyes. A commotion made him quickly turn on a sink flow in a pretend face wash to hide his damp skin. It was Marco, just as unsleepy and concealing the fact that he was actually disturbed. "Hey, Cap. Can't sleep?" Lopez asked him as he startled at finding him up. "Just thirsty I guess." Cap sighed, hiding the reason why his sleep had been broken. "I'm headed into the kitchen for some warm milk. Uh,... want me to fix ya some? Stoker told me we gotta finish up that gallon before it goes bad on us tomorrow afternoon." Instead of shaking his head, Marco nodded yes. "I think I need all the comfort I can get after tonight's run." the hispanic firefighter finally admitted. "Oh?" Cap startled. He rubbed a tightness in his chest that was coming oddly with his boosted heartrate in a pretend scratch through his t-shirt. "Wanna talk about it?" Marco eyed him with a haunted look and his eyes flickered over the hand Cap was using to grip his shirt's front in an attempt to silence the hammering under his ribs. That grip, matched his own, on his own shirt, that was trying to do the same thing. "Yeah.." he said softly, meeting his eyes. "I ..think I need to, Cap... And... I think you need to, too." Hank stopped drying his face in a towel with his free hand and ended his charade of false calm. In a rush, whispering confidentially, Cap let loose. "Oh, it was awful, wasn't it? I-I- I really think that I wanted to kill that foreman, Marco. With my bare hands. And I've never lost my cool on a rescue like that before. Not ever. Not even half mentally! So why did I feel something like that tonight? I still feel plenty angry about it now. And it's two hours later!" Marco surprised him by taking Hank's sudden deep admission in stride. Lopez waved it away with a dismissive hand and a tiny smile. He touched Cap's arm, and started leading him to the more private space offered by the still warm kitchen and rec room. "Believe me, I understand completely, Cap. I just lost a good friend a few weeks ago due to circumstances alot like those that killed our park gravel worker. I've been feeling a little trapped myself lately over him." Captain Stanley's eyes radiated instant sympathy and caring. "I'm so sorry, pal. Abou-- about him." he said as they both padded silently past the quiescent engine and squad in the bay and then through the kitchen's swing door. "It's ok. I....think I'll get over it. Only I haven't figured out how yet." Marco said, looking shell shocked and vaguely numb as they both moved over towards the refrigerator and the stove after squinting painfully when the autolights came on. "Think we should call a CISM counselor for a late night session?" Hank asked frankly, opening up uncharacteristically to his troubled coworker. "I know it's been a while since we as a shift, have called for one." "Nah, having a shrink come to the station would only wake the others. And embarrass us further after they nose around a little for the reason why. Maybe we could...just have it out just between the two of us, and see if that'll do any good before we try anything drastic enough like calling for one of them." he said, mincing a salt shaker around pointlessly on the eating table. Captain Stanley blinked, his back still to Marco, as he got out two empty glasses for their drinks. Hank coughed, trying to relieve the tightness he still felt in his jaw. The nausea which always came with any stress he dealt with began to rise and it finally made him speak as he busied himself with the crumpled milk carton marked "Use Now." and a sauce pan over a low gas flame on the stove. So he finally gushed, wide open. Cap turned around, met Marco eye to eye, and opened his mouth. "Oh, man. I was completely stunned over feeling the way I did in front of that foreman. Blind rage, rising grief. A whole gauntlet of emotions. I- I didn't actually know what to do with myself after we found out that our first victim had been killed because of sheer lame brained stupidity and total inaction. I've seen people die for dumb reasons in the past as a captain, but nothing like--" he choked off, slamming down a lump that threatened to make his eyes water. "This was simply the last straw for you, Cap, and very nearly mine." Lopez said very quietly. Tears flowed unabashed down his face as he drank the heated milk Hank finally handed out to him. "And we've got to figure how get it all out somehow, before it makes us both too hobbled to work well enough to save those we can still do something about." Cap found he couldn't release his grief. Not yet. Not even a half an hour later when Marco and he finally returned back to the sanctity of their beds and the warm roughness of their beige woolen blankets. Trying to ignore the weight of stress still bearing down heavily on his chest, Cap let go of himself into an unrestful sleep. In the blackness across the room, Craig Brice watched them both, thoughtfully analytical and soon, privately worried. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Johnny, lying in bed in the dark. Photo: Cap and Marco, looking unhappy on a rescue scene. Photo: Cap closeup, looking stressed. Photo: Marco leaning against the kitchen sink, thoughtful. Photo: Cap trying to rest in bed. Photo: Craig Brice, looking down. **************************************************************************** From: "Monster Moofie" Date: Sat Sep 24, 2005 7:01 pm Subject: Monday morning breakfast Meanwhile, back at Rampart the night shift had just ended. Dixie had called Kel Sunday night and made arrangements for him to come meet her and Joe for breakfast. Dix hurried and changed out of her uniform and met Joe at the front desk. Waving to Mike Morton, Joe and Dix headed out and drove to the diner. Having enjoyed a peaceful night, Kel waved to them with a smile. He held up the pot of coffee as they approached. "I secured sustenance for you two!" he said with a grin. "How did the night shift go?" Joe sighed happily as he grabbed the cup of coffee Kel poured him. "It was fairly uneventful for once. 51's brought in a kid who had been found trapped in a gravel quarry. He was in pretty rough shape when they brought him in but it looks like he will be fine." "I had a few minutes to talk with Johnny Gage while he was gathering supplies following the rescue. Would you believe they have added Craig Brice to 51's A shift?" Dixie queried Kel. "You're kidding me, Dix!" Kel said in disbelief. "Nope, she sure isn't, Kel." Joe responded. Dixie hurried to explain further, "The really funny thing is that apparently the rest of the guys, including Roy, tried to pull a joke on Johnny and Craig. Johnny told me he was feeling the change of season and just in a sleepy mood so he went to bed early last night instead of staying up for movies and popcorn. The rest of the guys sent Brice in after midnight to check on Johnny. Once he realized what was going on, Johnny convinced Brice to set up a joke on the guys by crawling in Chet's bed and joining Johnny in slumber. Unfortunately, they got the call out before it worked." Kel laughed hearing the firehouse antics. "Johnny and Brice joining together to pull a joke?! That is certainly funny! It was hard enough when we saw Brice working with DeSoto when Johnny was out because of the hit and run. I have a hard time imagining Brice and Gage working together, let alone planning something together! Those two are like a cat and its prey." Still laughing at the idea of this unlikely pair, the three friends finished their breakfast. After paying their bill they headed out to their cars. About to go their separate ways, they noticed the white land rover that pulled into the parking lot. It parked and they saw Johnny get out. Johnny approached them with a grin. "Hey Docs, Dix! You are just who we wanted to see." Johnny said. "We?" Joe asked Johnny. "I don't see anyone with you." Johnny grinned and pointed. Unnoticed, Craig Brice had come in from the other direction. "Dr. Brackett, Dr. Early, Miss McCall." Craig greeted them. The Rampart staff, surprised, greeted him. "You are right, John. They would be the perfect people to help us pull off this joke. I know all three of you are planning on attending the upcoming fireman's fall harvest." Craig said referring to the upcoming fund raiser, "A Safe Alternative For Kids", planned for October 31st." Shocked, the trio could only reply. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. *************************************************** From: "patti *mimic* " Date: Sun Sep 25, 2005 6:09 pm Subject: The Final Baiting.. Inwardly, Dixie tried not to gawk when she heard Craig Brice of all people, refer to Johnny Gage by his first name. But outwardly, she smiled, really big. "Johnny, just what the heck are you and Craig up to now?" she asked first, being the most eager to get social fast enough to satisfy a deepening, healthy curiosity. Joe Early blinked, and nudged Dixie, leaning into her ear so she would be the only one who heard him. He disguised his comment as a hug and a cheek smooch for her paying his part of the diner bill. "I can't believe you mentioned the two of them inside the same sentence." he murmured. Dixie elbowed him subtly back to hush up. Oblivious, Gage went on eagerly. "Oh, nothing much. We're just gonna finish what we both started two years ago." Brackett, fairly familiar with most of the firehouse pranks that usually occurred associated by station number, took a crack at it. "Would this have anything to do with the publicity grudge you pretended to have whenever Brice was mentioned in the newspapers?" Dixie and Joe Early had to scrape their jaws off of the pavement when they heard that comment escape Kel's lips. Craig Brice pushed his glasses up onto his nose. "It sure does, doctor.." looking pleased but a little self conscious at the same time. He seemed to Dixie a little like Roy just then. "Yeah.." bubbled Johnny. "You see,... the guys think that I still hate him on a professional level. I know that because Cap asked me that very question indirectly on my last departmental review, about whether or not I still harbored some ill will and jealousy towards Brice, during my formal/informal psych test." "The way Mr. Gage behaved concerning me, was pure bunk." Brice smirked in a tiny grin. "Uh, no pun intended, Johnny." "None taken.." Johnny rocked back on his heels in a mutual self congratulatory stance. The Rampart three just stared in incomprehension at the firehouse two. Johnny explained. "We're trying to make the others think that we're both laid up in a minor fashion somehow physically and we've been using the bunkroom as the setting, doc, to bait the guys." Gage told Brackett, who was starting to grin as he learned of just the smallest twist of shamming currently developing at 51's. Kel's eyes twinkled, as Joe and Dixie finally understood the ramifications. Joe's finger began pointing. "Oh, so I see. You acted irritated about anything to do with Brice here two years ago, just to set up a larger bait of a broken wing act with both of you, tricking them, now." Early guessed. "You're on the right track, doc. Only it doesn't stop there." Johnny crowed. "We need to take things up to a new level now that the guys are teetering off balance. We need to cap it all with the final blow. And that's why we stopped to visit when we saw the three of ya. To get ya to deliver the coup de grace on this third phase of ours. The broken wing bunk acting is just to throw the rest of the gang off of our true intentions. We're starting to be the lures to lead the hounds off the fox trail." Dixie started to frown. "Oh, boy. Do I even want to learn what you two are cooking up now?" "Yes." "Yes." chorused Joe and Kel at the same time. The two doctors looked at each other and started chuckling. "All right, so here's what we want you to do. But it's important to spring this during the parade REHEARSAL for that fund raiser of yours Dixie... That event, uh,..".A Safer..." Gage began. "...Alternative For Kids"..that I planned on the 31st." Dixie continued. "All right, I'll bite. What do you want us to do? And I'll go through with this as long as nobody gets hurt or embarrassed too badly." "Oh, they won't, Miss McCall." said Craig. "Their uniforms won't even get wet." Gage and Brice fell into a paroxysm of laughter at the famous reference to the Phantom water can legacy that had ensued between Chet Kelly and Johnny the year before and they nearly fell over themselves trying to contain their giggling. "Here. You're gonna need this. Follow the instructions to the letter on the very day, ok?" Gage said when they had regained their ability to breathe. Kel eagerly snatched the paper that Craig held out to the three of them at Johnny's words. Dixie's eyes got real big and very fearful. "I don't want to read it.." "That's ok, Joe and I will." Brackett shrugged. " You can decide if you want in after your gotta-know nose festers for a while. Come on, Joe. Let's read this and go over it before the three of us have to go back for our overtime at the hospital." and the two of them headed back to the side of the parking lot where their two cars waited. Dixie's mouth flopped open and her hands took positions on either side of her hips. But just as quickly, her eyes lit up. "Is it a good one?" "The best..." Gage winked at her. But it was genuine, without the slightest hint of deception. And that, finally convinced her. "Ok,.. I'm gonna go catch up to Joe and Kel. But what, uh, what ARE you guys doing here this time of the morning? Besides, getting us involved in your latest practical joke war. I thought you both had a 48/96 going on." Brice pushed his glasses up onto his face a little higher. "We are working a two days on/four days off rotation. Uh, hospital staff, especially upper level medical staff, might be able to afford the prices in there...." he said, pointing to the posh diner Kel, Dixie and Joe had just breakfasted inside of. "...but us poor firemen, are after the true cuisine.." he winked amicably. His other hand pointed to the far end of the lot. At Davey's Diner, the tiny run down one, located on the corner. Dixie made a face. "You're going to eat chili dogs? Now?" "We were busy last night.." Johnny shrugged. "We need comfort food. And Brice tells me that Marco and Cap probably need it more than the rest of us." Nurse McCall's expression softened in sorrow. "Bad call yesterday?" she asked remembering the child that Joe Early had spoken of. "Not about him." Gage said, studying the ground, suddenly serious. "It was about a man we couldn't help at the same scene. Craig says the loss's taking physical lumps out of Marco and Captain Stanley in a ...how exactly did you put it?...in a detrimental way." "Yes, that is the description I utilized." Craig agreed. "...so we're doing the friends first thing by offering food and being there without prying, until they decide to dump onto us what they're feeling." Johnny smiled, wanly uncertain. Dixie rocked forward on her nursing shoes and kissed him full on the cheek. "That's so .." her eyes watered. "...sweet, you guys. Let me know how they're doing, ok?" "We will.." Brice promised. A brash car honk caught all of their attentions. Dixie whirled. "Oh! Kel's leaving. I've got to go. We came together..." "So are you?" Johnny pressed, with a cat eating grin. Dixie smacked him with her purse as she pulled out her head scarf. "If you must know..." she started to grin. But then her head didn't move in an up or down nod, or with a shake in the negative, about a romantic relationship, in the slightest. She simply, walked off, with quiet dignity, tying the scarf around her elegant head. Gage blustered. "Oh, come on, Dixie. That's not fair..!" he hollered after her. "We tell ya the nitty gritty about all our relationships... Just look at what you found out about Craig and me today with this joking thing!" But the nurse only slid into Brackett's convertible and waved jauntily as the three of them departed in their two cars. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. **************************************************************** From : Cory Anda Sent : Tuesday, September 27, 2005 4:55 AM Subject : Pomp and Circumstance.. Johnny Gage was still smiling when he and Craig Brice climbed back into his land rover for their trip back to the station. "Don't spill those, Craig, or we'll have spent our four dollars for nothing." "I can honestly say that I've never wasted anything meant for a humanitarian cause." Craig sniffed ruefully, sitting ramrod straight in his seat with the cardboard carton holding the seven chili dogs in his lap. "I believe you. But usually things that ya want really bad to happen, have a tendency to blow up into your face, Craig. And I'm one of the most well known people around, department wide, to suffer frequently from that effect. Let's not tempt fate, all right?"Johnny wasn't convinced that his newly retuned old shocks would be merciful or not so he reached over and belted Brice in so the paramedic didn't have to let go of any of the food he was cradling. "Let me fasten this for ya. Hold still. Ok, got it." "Are you talking about the jinx gene?" Craig asked seriously. "Jinx g--? Oh, you mean my klutz gene, the one that usually fires up and causes me to get sick or hurt all the time whether I want it to, or not?" Johnny said, starting up his ignition. "You know that is a complete fallacy." Brice said no nonsense. "Anyone can make bad things happen for themselves just by thinking about it too much..." he said checking out the intersection ahead of them. "Road's clear my side. Go ahead and blow through this yellow light, our food's already dropped by about ten degrees Fahrenheit." he declared. Johnny stepped on the gas instantly, causing both of them to flatten against the back window of the rover. Brice blinked, glancing over at his latest, shared, paramedic partner. "That exact mind set used to trip me up all the time until I decided that the effect wasn't going to rule me anymore." he said. "For the first two years I was with the fire department, I was... exactly... like you for wracking up a lot of injured days." "Really?" Gage gaped. He found that he had a hard time concentrating on driving. "Well, h- how did you manage to get over it? I've been wracking my brains for about six years trying to figure out how to get sheer bad luck to leave me alone for a little while." "I just let myself think.. 'It won't happen, because I won't allow it.' And it never does. Every time." Brice said with firm conviction. Gage just slumped in his driver's seat with a defeated sigh. "Easier said than done. Guess I've never had the will power strong enough to psych myself outta thinking anything. I always seem ta get caught up in an idea and then I get completely lost, obsessing about it." "Yeah, I noticed.." said Brice candidly. "I think that's part of the reason why we get along so well." Gage didn't know what to think about that particular Brice comment from the peanut gallery. But then he offered a nut of his own. "Nah, I think we get along so well because I never know what's gonna pop outta your mouth until you say it, Craig. ....So,.. are we gonna eat without nosing into Cap and Marco's emotional business to give them some space to think about it some more?" "Yes, I think that would be the least problematic for now." "I concur." Johnny said deadpan. Then he shook his head. "Geesh, I'm even beginning to sound like you, ...partner." he grinned in a tease. "That's not a bad thing, John. The more we think alike, the better we'll function together as a paramedic team." admitted Craig. "I see similarities between you and DeSoto all the time." "You do?" Brice nodded. "In what w--? Oh, never mind. Ok, so it's breakfast,.. How about we get to Rampart for all the daytime supplies we need afterwards?" Johnny smirked, asking the question. "Sounds like a good plan of action. That'll buy approximately.... one hour fifteen minutes of time where you won't suffer any bad luck." Brice announced. "Huh?" Craig reiterated. "You chose a direction to go without wavering, Gage. Your klutz gene will be so busy being efficient for once, that it won't have time to get you into trouble for at least that long." "Oh." Johnny sighed, not getting the full benefit of free counseling. "Uhhh, if you say so.." he said with incomprehension. Craig Brice returned to smiling out the window mildly, and enjoying the aromas coming from the steaming cheese chili dogs in his lap. Gage completed the drive back to the station, in thoughtful silence. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The hospital was busy for nine a.m. Joe Early was making his rounds in Neurology, gathering the latest test results for all of his non-emergency ward patients on the fifth floor. Hounding the nurses station, was a whole plethora of visitors, orderlies, student nurses and x-ray techs all wanting a piece of the floor's head nurse working there. Joe felt more than a little sympathy for Carol Evans, Dixie's official second, as he reached around the stretched phone cord between her and the countertop for his pile of lab results. "Sorry, Carol. I'll ...be right over here, reading these. I promise I'll put them back in exactly the same order so I won't mess up your filing..." Carol barely afforded the silver haired doctor a glance. She was concentrating very hard on the person speaking to her on the phone just then. "I know you just had your stomach surgery Monday.. But Mr. Stephan, you just can't eat anything your family brought to you. It'll only cause serious complications..." she told the man in room 602. Carol pulled the phone away from her ear when the strong greek accented man realized that a mere woman was trying to tell him what to do. Joe held out his hand, to spare her a tirade, asking for the phone. He said five words. "No, because I ordered NPO." and he hung up the phone. He nodded curtly to Ned, the orderly. "Go confiscate the take-out from room 602. And make sure you check all the women's handbags for handouts, too." "Yes, doctor." replied the orderly. Carol finally found a brief pause in her work load as she finished giving directions for one visitor, fielded another call from the lab, and handed Dr. Morton the chart he couldn't find in the piles sitting on her countertop. "Oh, thanks, Dr. Early. He's been trying to speed up his GI tract and recovery all morning. Only he's too dull witted to understand how dangerous it is to eat before regaining peristalsis and bowel movements." "I can understand his apparent haste. I just saw the medical bill his insurance company's getting." Joe chuckled. "Isn't that crazy, doctor?..." Carol said in a side whisper. "What in the world are medical insurance companies thinking nowadays?" "Dollar signs.." Joe sighed ruefully, drawing double Nixon fingers in the air. "Almost makes you wanna work for free just to spare the patients grief, doesn't it?" she whispered. "Well, almost.." Joe laughed. A commotion from down the hall made both of them lift their heads in surprise. Someone screamed. And then, shocking sounds of strange sharp bangs that they couldn't immediately identify, ricchocheted around them. Dr. Morton and Dr. Early immediately went running down the south wing towards the sound of the noises. Carol snatched up the red phone from the wall and called for hospital security stat to fifth floor Neurology. Then, she too, went running down the hall with most of the orderlies not tied up with other patients. She rounded a corner, skidding on her shoes, and saw Joe Early crumpled on the floor, inside room 602, lying on his back beneath a crash cart, with blood on his head. Carol Evans let out a scream of her own. "Dr. Early!" But then the room's swinging door shut out the sight of him and the angry woman standing over him with a bedpan. Just as rapidly, Mr. Stephan, complete with a walker, smashed into Carol with enough force to knock the wind out of her and drive her to the ground. He brandished a small handgun in the air, causing instant mayhem. Then he disappeared into the ensuing, panicking crush of people that he had caused. Carol coughed, violently, trying to get her breath back. She pointed to the wall as Dr. Morton tried to help her to her feet. But her awareness started fleeing from pain. Mike eased her back down onto the floor by his knees from where he was ducking behind an empty gurney and he shouted. "I got it.. Lie still if you're hurt." He jerked only high enough into the air to pull the fire alarm that would signal an instant emergency evacuation for the entire floor. The hospital operator's voice came overhead a second later. ##Code Red. Code Red. Fifth floor. South wing. Code Red. Code Red...## Morton yelled at an orderly who had managed to scramble behind the nurses' desk. "Call security and tell them we have an armed man at large in the hospital shooting up the place! A.S.A.P.!" Then he turned back to Carol to get her true consciousness state and he tried to figure out exactly where the orderly was that Joe had sent into Stephan's room. "N-ned..d?" she mumbled. "Oh...n--" "He's probably been shot.." Morton guessed as he lifted Evan's eyelids one at a time peering at her pupils to check their reactions while he held her neck carefully still. "Shhh, Carol. Don't talk. Save your strength. We gotta wait until fast help gets here before we can do anything else." Carol blacked out before she could tell Mike about Joe Early. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The tones went off, large and long in a multiple station run. ##Stations 99, 8, 24, Engine 2, Engine 39, Engine 20, Battalion 1, Battalion 14, Battalion 9, with Station 9, and Station 51. Unverified fire alarm at Rampart General Hospital. 1000 West Carson Street. Cross street 223rd Ave. 1000 West Carson. Cross street, 223rd Ave. Security reports an evacuation has begun. No further information is available. Time out: 0912. ## Cap didn't even swallow his last mouthful of chili dog. He spat it out into the kitchen sink. "Whoo boy! Move it, move it. Brice! Grab the triage pack and kits from my office!" he snapped unnecessarily. "I'll call us out." Soon, Cap's booming voice filled the apparatus bay. "Station 51, 10-4. KMG 365.." The gang pulled the fastest mobilization rollout that they had ever run. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Hospital hall full of patients. Photo: Engine 2 running by. Photo: Engine 39 coming at you. Photo: A fire alarm wall pull box. Photo: Joe Early, thoughtful close. Photo: Rampart's driveway in daylight. Photo: Squad 51 roaring through a parking lot. Animation: A firing handgun. Photo: A hospital patient room. Photo: Triage kit and vest. Photo: Triage kit, rainbow tape and tags. Photo: Triage tag. Photo: Brice, marking time on his watch, in the squad. **************************************************** From: Sam Iam Date: Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:51 pm Subject: Condition Dr. Black.. Dixie McCall's head snapped up at the declaration of a possible fire on the fifth floor of her hospital by the operator. She got over an instant of heart pounding sheer denial but then got busy right where she was at the main emergency room desk, to start delegating priorities for the soon to ensue evacuation of that level. Dixie made sure a smile stayed plastered on her face for those few waiting room and outpatient visitors who glanced up curiously at the Code Red general announcement. ::Like that code stuff really fools anyone.:: she scoffed deep inside. ::They know there's trouble somewhere. We're not fooling anybody. Someday someone should decide on a new page code for emergencies around here. These are archaic.:: She told the operator to flash a condition orange voice and wall beacon code at all nurses stations displaying patient call lights, to run things by the book. ::That way, our people will take the assigned positions called for by our steady state evacuation plans.:: she nodded mentally. She no sooner had that completed when she saw sharpish movement out of the corner of her eye. Kel Bracket burst out of the minor surgery treatment room where he had been washing up. "Dixie.. real or false alarm?!" he asked the second he was within comfortable earshot. Brackett kept glancing around offering smiles to non-staff passers by even as he minced inwardly as the emergency situation progressed around him. It began subtly, with a greater frequency of stairwell doors opening and closing along with the elevators'. "I haven't heard yet from security or any staff member from that floor yet." she admitted, glancing self consciously at the ivory phone still resting quiescent in front of her. ::Odd. Someone should have at least told us down here if anyone was smelling smoke or seeing it out the patient room windows.:: she thought. "All right. Let's assume worst case scenario. Dixie, get all the free nurses and orderlies stationed at all the stairwells until the fire department gets here to confirm that we're actually on fire. I want extra gurneys and wheelchairs surrounding the elevators to hold those evacuating those wings so we can move them outta here." "Already done, Kel." McCall said. "A minute ago. I called a condition orange just now." "How many stations are coming for this?" Dixie threw her head up at the always on fire and police scanner parked on a remote relay EKG monitor. "Five stations, and three engine companies along with three of their battalion chiefs, probably to organize things on each flank of the building." "Quite a response for a possible false alarm." Kel frowned half, ruefully and half amused. "It was told differently this time. The fire dispatcher added that an evacuation was underway on the all call." Dixie blinked. "Has Security called yet?" Kel wanted to know. "No, strangely enough. I wonder what the trouble is.." "I'm going up there. Hold the fort?" "Kel...." McCall began, beginning to feel uneasy for some reason. "Dix, I'm going to use the stairs, don't worry. Besides, Joe and Mike are up there and they might be able to tell me what's going on a little bit faster than security would if they're being beleaguered by the public like they always are at every possible fire alarm." "Keep in touch with me." Dixie said reluctantly, pointing to the red phone hanging on the wall by the glass alcoved base station. "Don't I always?" he grinned, as he disappeared up the nearest stairway for the fifth floor. Then Dixie moved to the waiting room to calm down the visitors who had begun noticing the growing stream of gowned patients and orderly pushed gurneys leaving the freight elevator doors. A scream from one of them attracted her attention. Her head whirled and she spotted a blood covered orderly falling out of a side stairwell. She ran forward after yelling at a nursing student to go get a doctor or resident. It was Ned, the orderly. He was trying to staunch a rapid flow of blood from his lower abdomen with his arms and elbows where he had fallen. Dixie immediately pushed him over, grabbed a blanket off a nearby unused gurney and began applying pressure over the wound using the floor and her hands as leverage. "Ned... Ned.. It's Dixie. What happened to you?" "A....cr-crazy man. He shot me!" Ned gasped quietly, mindful of the public ear ironically even though he was in full gory view. They were already gaping and horrified. Consciousness was creeping away from him. "Easy, Ned. Lie still. Let me control your bleeding..." Dixie snapped at a nearby security guard, who was glued to his shoulder radio. "Get over here and take over!" she told him. "Do what I'm doing. I have to notify the police about what's happening now.." Another fast thinking nursing student found a trauma pack and tore it open for McCall and showed the security guard how to use it, freeing up Dixie to do her new automatic designation as head triage for the ER. That had fallen onto her shoulders the moment Ned had tumbled into her arms. Running for her desk, Dixie broke out a small triage case filled with priority tags and colored strips of ribbon. ::Now's the test of this new system of the fire department's.:: she thought. She handed out a red plastic arm strip and triage tag to the student nurse who had stopped to help, from the wired spooled bundle in the bright orange box. "Red tag him! Write down Ned's name, vitals and time, and where his wounds are located.." Dixie told the student. "Then get some muscle to help get him onto a gurney until a doctor gets here." she ordered. "When he does, take them all into Treatment Three. Stat! When you give him full flow oxygen, use a portable tank in case we have to evac down here as well. And good job on getting out those trauma dressings so fast. He'll live following some surgery." "Miss McCall." the nervous nursing student said, ducking her head with an almost non-existent smile as she rushed to carry out her orders. Dixie rubbed the loose hair out of her eyes with an elbow while she wiped the blood off of her hands on a clean surgical drape from the neatly folded stack on a gurney near her desk that had been waiting to get put away by supply. Then she voiced to all the public. "Leave or stay. Your choice. Think about your safety first! If you need immediate medical attention, there are fire paramedics outside to aid you!" Almost everyone, left the hospital, in a hurry. Soon, the ivory phone in front of her rang. Dixie snatched it up. "Dixie McCall. Emergency." she said quickly. ##Dixie! It's Morton! Four staff members and I are pinned behind the fifth floor nurse's desk, under cover, from a man and a woman, both with handguns. The male assailant's a patient of all things from room 602 ! Tell the FD that there is no fire at all. Get some police support for us A.S.A.P.!! It's not safe! Let absolutely no one come up here. I've been sending those patients and visitors that I can still reach, down only! So far, we've heard no more shots fired past the four or five initial ones a few minutes ago. ## "Any more injured?" Dixie asked outwardly calm as she watched orderlies and a doctor, who had come from the direction of the cafeteria, as they knelt beside Ned to begin his trauma care. "A shot orderly just collapsed in the waiting room. It's Ned." ##Just Carol. She was shoved against a wall by the jerk who started this whole mess!## Dixie's heart leaped into her chest. "How is she?" the nurse asked before she could stop herself. ##Stable! A moderate concussion only. She's already starting to wake up for me. Now go! Pass the word along!## "Mike, Kel's on his way up there! He doesn't know what's going on yet!" ##I'll try to intercept him.## and the phone clicked off line in her ear. Dixie picked up the red phone on the wall to the hospital operator, who had halted all non emergency pages in deference to the conditions red and orange in effect. "ER front desk. Notify the police of two armed suspects running rampant, last seen, on the fifth floor. Then notify the fire department of the same thing. Be sure to tell them that there's no active fire...." Dixie held her breath. "That's right. Now all page a situation Dr. Black on all overheads." McCall didn't even pause at the gasp from the operator who recognized the 'weapons wounding staff' emergency code. She hung up immediately. Dixie left her desk when the freight and regular elevator doors all started opening in earnest, disgorging its passengers who had fled the fifth floor. The operator's falsely steady voice started paging the unreal Dr. Black. She sighed gratefully when security guards appeared and started manning the stairwell doors and elevator lobby for any possible gunshot danger. She held up two fingers at them so they knew the number of suspects and so they'd check through the window doors and as elevator doors opened for their dangerous presence before letting any evacuating people leave through them. It went unspoken that if the gunpeople were spotted, to bar their way into Emergency by any means possible. ::They aren't police, and aren't supposed to risk themselves for us, but I know they will, regardless of their own safety.:: Dixie thought quietly as she tried not to worry herself and those visitors and outpatients milling up to her asking questions. The evacuation continued. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Captain Stanley heard an update from his station's battalion chief over the line. ##Battalion One to all stations District One responding to Rampart Hospital's incident. There is no fire. Repeat: There is no smoke. However, the fifth floor is the scene of an ongoing seige and shooting. Deploy on standby and assist the evacuation process, using appropriate precautions. ## Johnny, Roy and Craig Brice immediately ducked their heads and moved around the side of their squad facing away from the hospital. They saw their engine crew, do the same thing. Captain Stanley motioned. "Move in. Check it out." he told them. "Engine crew, assist evacuees only. Gage, DeSoto, Brice.. go in and see if they need paramedic assistance. Report what you find immediately as you learn it, over HT and keep your heads down!" The three station 51 paramedics nodded. They used the trees and the skyway's underside and the side of the building as heavy cover away from the story windows to reach the ambulance loading doors of Emergency, carrying only their triage tags, vests and radios in with them. In the distance, they heard a new batch of sirens growing from the east, from an ample police unit response to the hospital. And then they were in the building. -------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. **************************************************** From: Katherine Bird Date: Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:33 pm Subject: The Black, the White... and a whole lotta Red... "Dixie!" Gage called out as soon as Roy and he had spotted her through the frightened hospital visitors and the hurrying medical staff directing them. They headed for her. Brice, decided on a more practical approach. "Johnny, I'm going to go find a police officer for a report. We can't move around if it's not safe..." Johnny spun, high in adrenalin, and spoke up. "You do that. Let us know that aspect via HT. We'll go find out the medical needs end of it." Craig nodded and departed for the front entrance of the hospital and the receptionist, who would be the first person to notice the presence of any police officers who began a storm inside. Roy noticed the blood splattered on Dixie's navy colored nursing sweater. "Are many people getting injured by this shooter?" "Yeah, good question. Where is he?" Gage asked angrily, repositioning the air bottle and its dangling mask a little more tightly around his waist by the straps. "Fifth floor south, and not just one gunman, but two. And they know each other. Roy, there's only one shooting victim who fell out of a stairwell and a nurse concussed when she got in the way of someone leaving in a hurry." "Ok, we'll start sweeping for other injured in the stairwells once the police have cleared the way ahead for us." Johnny told her. He blinked when he noticed the bright orange vest that Dixie now wore that had Triage Commander stamped in black across her breast pocket and in bold print on the back. He radioed out to Incident Command. "Squad 51 to Battalion One. Head of triage reports only two casualties so far. She has a radio.." he said, giving her a spare from his jacket pocket. "My partners and I will give further details as soon as we know them. Our captain has our incident tags on his clipboard. We will be heading to the fifth floor, south wing when we are well under police protection.." he told him. ## Battalion One, Squad 51. 10-4. I'll have all pumpers and laddertrucks standing by. I'm sending in your captain to relay to us through you during your sweeps. Keep us fully advised on any possible developing fire situations or other potential life risks.## "Squad 51, Battalion One. We will advise." Roy answered their district chief. Dixie grabbed the sleeve of his turnout. "No one's heard from Joe Early since all of this began. He was last seen in the south wing. Kel's gone up after him." "Stupid!" Johnny muttered. "And he's the one who taught the two of us about considering a scene's safety first." "Johnny..Joe's his best friend. And mine. Assign blame when this is all over. In the mean time, we've a h*ll of a lot of people needing guidance before they go panicking further. It's partially up to us to make sure they don't go hurting themselves trying to get out of here." Dixie changed her ribbing tone and said. "I've activated triage protocols hospital wide." she said, patting the kit sitting on the desk in front of her. "Using the system." "The chief's already authorized us to use ours.." Roy said. "Ahead of time. We knew to bring ours along the moment a large building full of people was implicated." A clatter of leather shoes on tiles ended the conversation. Six police officers with their guns drawn ran into the ER for the elevator lobby and the two stairwell hubs following Craig Brice, who was acting as their guide. Dixie recognized two officers. They came up to the desk. "We're your scouts, firemen. Stay behind us until we say the coast's clear." said the fair haired one firmly. Then he smiled. "Hi Dixie.." said Pete Malloy. "Who ticked off a patient this time? Dietary? Or the billing department?" he joked. Jim Reed, Pete's squad car partner, gave a quiet nod and started ordering the public away from the stairwell and elevator lobbies to give them room to enter. "Pete! I'll take two of these firemen, and you take the other pair." he said, carefully keeping his loaded gun pointed up at the ceiling. The paramedics looked around and saw that Cap was quickly jogging his way over to them from the crowded entryway. Malloy motioned Brice and Johnny to go with his solo search. "Our other four officers are going for the roof, west and east stairwells, and the basement level to see if we can either negotiate with these two characters or take them out." Dixie took a deep breath in sharply, but she knew that lethal force was in the picture. ::That's ever since Ned ended up with a bullet in his gut.:: "What are their names?" Reed asked Dixie, ready to commit anything to memory. "Philomena and Georgio Stephan." she said, checking a chart with fingers that were already starting to shake, not something she usually suffered from, no matter how hairy her department became during a work shift. Gage reached over and squeezed her hand. "It's ok. We'll get him down, and in one piece, too." he said, nodding at Malloy's hand gesture to begin following behind him for the trip up the stairs. "And that goes for Joe, too." he promised, heading up the stairwell after Pete but before Craig. Brice pulled the landing door shut behind them with a snick. A second echo of the same sound repeated a few seconds later over the loud evacuation babble, when Officer Jim Reed, the junior most half of Adam-12's patrol team, took Roy and Captain Stanley with him, doing the same search casing, in the opposite stairwell. Dixie guessed that it would take them less than three minutes to reach Dr. Morton's level, even stealth checking around every corner with a muzzle of answering fire power pointing the way ahead first. Dixie jumped when the nursing student returned and tapped her lightly on the shoulder. "Here, Dixie. I thought you'd might like to clean up a little." said Karen giving her a small bowl half filled with warm water and a green bottle of Phisoderm and along with another surgical towel. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." "It's ok. Today's the kind of day that'll make anyone jumpy. Including me." "But you're so... experienced, Miss McCall.. I thought..." "Well, you thought wrong. I may be wearing these collar insignias but I'm still human and can still feel everything happening around me just as acutely as you can." Dixie told her, a little harshly. Then it was her turn to apologize. "Sorry right back. I don't need to vent just yet. The fact that I just did's freaking me out a little. How's Ned doing?" "Dr. Theilen says that the bullet missed the descending aorta and only lodged in a section of his large intestine without damaging the liver or bladder. He's earmarked for surgery and he's very stable. A surgical resident's monitoring him while we wait for an outcome in case he needs to be moved from three for someone more critical." said Karen. "Good girl. Now how about pouring us a round of coffee?" Dixie smiled, fingering the hand held radio that she had craftily turned to Squad 51's band. Know-how told her that she could always flip back to the main incident channel if a battalion chief wanted to speak with her by listening to the scanner that was still on behind her for their hail. Right now, she wanted nothing better than to be able to see through four hospital floors to the nightmare drama probably unfolding over all their heads. "Can we even think about drinking these during a time like this?" she said, pouring two cups from a well heated coffee pot. "Sure, why not?" Dixie asked. "I'm afraid this whole mess will be with us for a long while before it's finally over. It'll do our patients no good if we get overtired and exhausted for not eating or hydrating properly like we have to do anyway. Just think about it, if we get out of commission, then who'll be left to help all of them?" she asked, throwing a chin out at those moving by the desk for the exits. The very young student nurse, Karen, smiled nervously. "That makes a whole lot of sense, Dixie. I- I'm sorry I questioned you." "Go right on asking questions, Karen. After all, I'm still one of the senior preceptors for you, even though I'm now wearing this triage vest." "Speaking of that.. why aren't the top end fire chiefs in here inside the hospital, coordinating efforts to solve our alarm and evacuation problems?" she asked. Dixie sat down on her desk stool, dragging the radio, ivory and black phones a little closer to her. She invited Karen to take the one next to her from its storing place underneath the pharmaceutical cabinet. "Well, because in this case, a paramedic outranks any senior ranked fire chief wearing a white helmet. You see, when the first units arrive at a multi-casualty incident, they are certainly going to be overwhelmed. Just look around you." Dixie said casting a hand at the ambulance doors where a confusion of fire fighters, police officers and reporters, milled about. "There is a temptation to set up the management levels of the organization first, so the operational levels will have supervision when they are assigned. Like what you thought, on their current absence in the building. "If they wanted to do this, most organizations have to use personnel from the first or second wave of responding stations. This removes them from the triage / transportation / treatment provider role, creating a delay in getting patients to primary care. After 10 to 20 minutes, it would be a sad sight to see many rescuers in ICS vests, setting up their operations and no one attending to the victims. "Remember that it is not necessary to assign mid-management positions until the maximum span of control is exceeded. An incident commander like me in an ER triage role, can easily handle 5 to 7 direct reporting positions before an Operations Chief or medical group supervisor from upstairs or outside, is needed. Assigning your first arriving operational units to hands-on functions as much as possible will speed up your ability to triage, transport and treat your patients. That is why Johnny, Roy, Craig and only one fire captain, Hank, was sent inside to rendevous with us." The young nurse to be just frowned, biting her lip. Dixie smiled and closed the young woman's hand around her untouched coffee cup. "Karen, if you think about the things that need to be done before you can transport a patient, it becomes clear where you need to assign your initial resources. Here's the most critical mantra of triage. Learn it, because Dr. Brackett will expect you to know this better than you know CPR... "Before you can send a patient to a hospital, you must have an ambulance available and get a destination from an area coordinator. " Before you can get a destination, you need to know how many of what category of patients are loaded in the ambulance. " Before you can identify what category a patient is in, they must be tagged and carried to the ambulance loading area. "Before they can be tagged, they must be triaged...." Karen's eyes got a little wider. "And no one is better trained to triage already,.. than a..." "...a paramedic." Dixie said with a little bow of her head in a knowing grin. "That's right. They're better than doctors. In that respect. They won't get tripped up on diagnoses when sorting out any sick or injured. They stick with just the basics on determining survivability and nothing more. Now let me tell you how our triage system works now. This is a new system our administrators just accepted from the fire department.. That is why those condition orange lights are flashing over all our work stations. Ready?" Karen nodded her head. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pete Malloy hit the top stair and dropped onto his stomach after turning the knob ajar on the stairway door above him. He glanced down to make sure that Brice and Johnny were well below him by two full landing turns, before he cracked the door open with his night stick. The door swung open with a creak onto a pitch black fifth floor to his great dismay and chagrin, absolutely nobody appeared to be around. Malloy squinted in the dimness, eyes casting around for the nurse's station, where the hospital operator had said that four staff members and one injured nurse were trapped behind. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************************* From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Fri Sep 30, 2005 9:46 pm Subject: Endgame.. The Los Angeles County police officer risked speaking softly. "Hey..." he stage whispered. "You behind the desk. Where are they?" He heard the sound of a woman's muffled moan and that made him duck his head even lower against the floor between the frame and the door. "He's down the north wing. We think by the surgical store closet." came back another whisper. Pete Malloy saw the glint of glasses in the dark reflecting the bright light of the stairwell. It was Dr. Morton. Pete put the safety back on his handgun, and belly crawled to the desk and then, he, too, took cover beneath its high edge. "You put the lights out?" "Yeah, figured we'd make less visible targets." "That was smart thinking." Another moan made Malloy look down and the policeman saw a penlight briefly turn on in someone's hand that illuminated the face of a dazed nurse. "How is she?" "She'll be okay. Hit her head when Stephan decided that he had had enough of his expensive hospital stay." Mike whispered, still cradling her head in his lap with a few fingers monitoring Carol Evan's neck pulse. "I don't know where his wife is. This surgical tech swears up and down that she hasn't left the room yet." The young man huddled next to the african american doctor nodded, vigorously. "One of our doctors may still be in there. No one's seen him since the first shots were fired." he fretted, keeping his voice low. Pete set his lips in a thin line, holstering his gun for the moment. "First things first. We should get this nurse and all of you, out of danger. Can we move her?" "Yeah, her back and neck weren't injured..." declared the tech, while Morton worked to soothe Carol into keeping quiet. Pete pulled his hand held radio off his belt and turned the volume way down. "744 to Squad 51. The coast's clear so far. Beeline only from the stairwell straight to the desk. Eat the floor coming over so you're not spotted. Tell your firefighters friends that we need some way to get an adult female who can't walk down the stairwell. She's breathing and semi-conscious. I'll watch your back while the two of you get this nurse and the other staff here to safety." Morton grinned when he recognized Gage's voice over the handy talkie. ##Already got that covered with a stokes. Here we come....## "Anyone else up here with us?" Malloy asked the frightened hospital workers. Morton shook his head. "They all got out except for our missing doctor." "Ok, we'll look for him next." Pete promised. Pete saw Brice briefly stand to unscrew the light bulb inside the stairwell on their level so that they could open the door without being exposed by back lighting. Then he saw Gage prop open the door with a jacket halligan. The two paramedics softly stomach dragged their bare stokes across the open space of the dim hallway between them, taking care not to rattle the straps inside the chicken wire mesh. They quickly got under the cover of the nurses' station and the eerie condition orange beacon flashing there and they drew their legs up protectively to their chins. Pete motioned ahead of them. "Wait to get them outta here until I give the high sign. I'm gonna make sure our friends out there don't get any more bright ideas about shooting anyone else." "How's Ned, the orderly?" Mike asked. "He's still alive last I heard." Malloy told Morton. "Ok, hold fast until you hear me tap my nightstick on the floor." Morton and the others nodded. Pete turned and spoke once more into his radio on the quietest volume. "744 to 2430.." ##Reed here.## "I'm making my move from the nurses' station, headed your way, on the north side of the wall along the bottom. Firemen behind me will be getting the desk nurse and medical staff outta here down the same stairwell I came up in. Then Brice and Gage are gonna take cover back behind the desk..." ##10-4. I'll cover you. Any sign of those other doctors or the two suspects?## asked Jim, Pete's partner. "No, 'fraid not..." Malloy sighed. "Here I come.." ##Go.. I see you now.## Brice and Gage froze in place with their fire gloves on Carol to keep watch over her while Pete scrambled over to the cover of a tipped over gurney and then further down towards the south wing at the crossing intersection of the two fifth floor corridors. They held their breaths and Johnny tried to shush Evans in her half state with a hand over her mouth while they tried to keep an ear out for Malloy's sharp signal. From what seemed like an eternity later, came three taps and the flash of dull blue metal of Pete's shotgun as he redrew it and pointed it towards the deeper shadows of the south wing. "Ok..that's us. All right. Ready?...I got her shoulders, Craig..." whispered Johnny as he and Brice and Morton lifted Carol up and placed her into the stokes basket on the floor. Then they began the slow process of dragging her stretcher across the tiles, keeping on both of their stomachs. Fortunately, the waxed linoleum made it relatively easy for them. A minute later, and Carol was firmly in the hands of a series of firefighters in the stairwell, being passed down hand to hand as she was conducted to Emergency as fast as they could move her out of danger. Gage reluctantly let her go. Brice got his attention with a tap on the shoulder as the rest of the fifth floor staff passed by him. "Be careful you two. Here." said Dr. Morton, shoving a small airways and emergency kit into the paramedics' arms. "For when you find him.." Mike said about Joe Early. "And Kel's being stupid, too. He's somewhere up there trying to find Joe." "We know.." said Johnny unhappily. "Dixie told us. We'll find em. After all, we are experts on search and rescue, remember?" Gage whispered sarcastically. That only made Morton grin as he disappeared down the stairs. Then the doctor's face was all business as he once again got ready to focus on Carol Evans' well being and care. The false bravado Johnny put on for Morton's benefit washed away in a wave of nervousness that made him jittery. He ducked back down to the floor imitating Brice for their trip back to the nurses' station. "When I joined the department and said I wanted some excitement, I didn't mean this particular kind of 'fire' fighting." he complained to dump a little stress. "That's what the men in blue are for, Johnny. To run us some interference so we don't have to worry about it." Craig smiled back."...much." he added. "Officer Malloy wouldn't have told us to stay in a place that he felt wasn't safe. As long as we remain here, nothing'll happen to us." "We hope.." Gage mumbled. A flash of gold white light and the thunderous barrage of two fired shots in close quarters startled the firemen, who kissed the ground underneath the counter. The echoing violent whines died away into a frightening silence. Swallowing around his dry throat, Brice lifted his radio to his ear for word of an outcome. No voices came out of it. Johnny stayed Craig's hand when he wanted to speak aloud to the two officers on the band with them. Gage put a finger to his lips, listening to an area just ahead of the desk. A man in white, vivid enough to see, stumbled barefoot down the hall in front of them, trailing a torn I.V. line. It was Mr. Stephan! And the shadow Brice and Johnny could see coming from him, showed the outline of a small revolver clearly.. Johnny's breath whistled loudly in his throat as numbing near panic almost crippled him. But the two firefighters didn't move a muscle, instinctively locked into a freeze. Grunting in anger, Mr. Stephan staggered past the desk and down the stairwell propped open by Johnny's jacket tool. Brice didn't wait. He got on the radio. "He just went past us down our stairwell!" he whispered sharply. ##Understood. Reed's gonna follow! Hang tight. And get ready for the lights to come back on. We're gonna start evening the odds!## The whole floor re-illuminated in a hum of power, right down to the ringing telephones. Brice reached up over the counter, and yanked them, one by one off their receivers with fast tosses to re-silence them for the two policemen still deep in their hunt for the Stephans. Jim Reed ran by in a duck as he began his careful chase after Georgio. "It's safe up to Room 601. Let Malloy check out 602 before you search down the hall any farther than that first room!" The two paramedics nodded, still staring at the ceiling pointed gun in Reed's hands. Johnny managed a little bravery. "Were those shots yours or theirs?" "Theirs.." Jim grinned craftily. "We wouldn't have missed." And then he was gone, leaving the two paramedics alone and huddled on the floor in each other's arms. Slowly, Brice and Gage unfolded to begin searching for Brackett and Early within the area Reed told them to. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dixie was still doing a fine job keeping Karen, the student nurse, calm. "Managing a scene with multiple patients can be frustrating and difficult. There are just a few steps needed that will help you systematically triage and treat each patient. Now I'm sure you're familiar with the red tags, those suffering from life threatening conditions that might die if not treated as soon as possible. Well, there are two other colors, yellow/delayed, and green/minor..." Karen began to shift uncomfortably on her seat. Dixie immediately soothed her. "It is important to recognize that you are not abandoning patients by assigning them the Delayed or Minor category tags. Remember that they will be directed to the rescuers that have been assigned to handle those kinds of patients. They will also continually monitor all the yellows and the greens and re-assign them to the red/immediate category if they start to deteriorate, ok?" Karen nodded nervously. Dixie went on.. "Now, yellow is delayed, strictly for those patients whose respirations are under 30 per minute, with capillary refill under 2 seconds and able to follow simple commands. Now for the green tags. Remember that patients with minor injuries are still patients. Some of them may be frightened and in pain. Reassure them as much as you can that they will get help and transport as soon as the more severely injured patients have been transported first... Lastly,.. black tags are for the deceased.." Dixie shared. "Now.... For triage sorting..ask those who are not injured or who have only minor injuries to identify themselves. If they can,..tag those with minor injuries as minor/green..." Karen tried very hard not to fidget as the noise in the ward began to grow from some kind of new development down the hall.. Dixie drew back her attention gently.. "Go to your next victim.. and think.. respiration first. Determine if the patient is breathing. If yes, immediately check the respiration rate. "If there's none, reposition the patient. If he or she does not start breathing spontaneously, do not start CPR. Any patient not breathing after repositioning, you'll tag deceased/black. Move on to the next victim. Not starting CPR may be the hardest thing you must do at a multiple casualty scene. But if you perform CPR on one patient, many others may die for the sliver of a chance that your pulseless victim may have. It isn't worth the price to pay in stopping to help that kind of physical finding." Dixie told her. "Even with so many doctors and others around to help us figure things out?" the student nurse asked. "Even then. You can only run a code on a triage scene if you have the personnel to cover it and still do what needs to be done without pause." Dixie said. "But what if they have a neck injury.. or--" "You will have to position the airway without manually stabilizing the cervical spine. This is counter to what you have been taught and may result in worsening a cervical spine injury. But if you don't reposition the victim immediately, the person will die in the field. You won't have the personnel to carefully stabilize the C-spine and you can't afford to let other victims die while you take time to do it yourself. If the patient begins breathing spontaneously after repositioning, tag the person immediate/red and move on. If necessary, ask an uninjured victim to help maintain the open-airway position. So, to reiterate... if a person begins breathing after repositioning, tag immediate/red." Karen tried not to pay attention to the police officers suddenly rushing in from surrounding areas around their desk. She stared only at Dixie's face for a small measure of calm that she wasn't feeling herself. McCall was a rock. "Next victim.. If the victim is breathing when you approach, but has a respiratory rate of more than 30, tag immediate/red and move on. Don't take time to formally count the respirations. If the rate seems too fast, tag the victim red and go to the next person. So... a respiratory rate greater than thirty is a...." Karen parroted mechanically, trying not to panic outwardly at the commotion going on near them. "Red tag, immediate.." "Right... Good." Dixie said. "We're not in danger, Karen, so ignore all the fuss over there. It's not our concern right now. Triaging is. Let's continue... Umm, where was I? Oh, yes...perfusion. If you can feel a radial pulse, move on to the mental status assessment. "If you can't feel it, the blood pressure's at shock levels below 90 systolic. Tag the patient immediate/red. If you have an uninjured victim near you then, have them put direct pressure on any visible, serious bleeding and then move on to the next patient. In sum at this step: No radial pulse at the wrist means.... red tag/immediate. "Next, check for capillary refill by squeezing a nailbed. If capillary refill takes more than 2 seconds to return to normal, tag the patient immediate/red and have another put direct pressure on any visible, serious bleeding so you can move on to the next patient. Capillary refill that takes greater than 2 seconds to normalize is a red tag/immediate. But, If capillary refill is less than 2 seconds, move to getting a mental status.. "If the victim is unconscious or can't follow simple commands, tag them immediate/red and move on to the next victim. Now, you're probably wondering about these yellow tags, huh?" Dixie said, fingering those in her kit. Karen nodded. Dixie completed her thought. "If the victim can follow simple commands, tag them yellow/delayed and move on to the next victim. And that's all there is to it.." she smiled. "That's all?" Karen gaped. "That's all. Triage isn't rocket science, it's one hundred percent common sense. And this new system of the fire department really works. Now we may not have to use it today, there's always hoping." Dixie said, her eyes getting a little wide with irony. "And how.." gushed Karen with stress. "Now that I know what to do, I hope not to have to." "Good girl. Drink your coffee.." Dixie told her. Karen gulped it down. "Ok, do you have any questions for me about this triaging system?" Before Karen could open her mouth, Carol was brought in via stokes and then there was no more time for talking. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They found Joe Early where he lay in 602 by line of sight but nobody couldn't approach him, for Mrs. Stephan was standing over him with a gun. Malloy was all cop, his nose barely sticking around the edge of the doorframe. He motioned Brice and Gage to get into the flanking rooms to open both connecting doors ajoined on opposite sides of Room 602 so that all three of them could see each other yet still be out of the line of fire from the very upset woman. "What's the problem ? Your husband was receiving the best care possible for his cancer.." the cop asked. "You american peoples! All you care about is the money in your pockets! My husband is in pain! Not the kind that hurts him here.." she pointed to her stomach where Georgio's stitches were. "But the kind that hurts him here!" and she pointed to her temple, alarmingly, using the same gun she was brandishing. "And I don't think I can take much more either.." she weeped. Pure fury consumed her and she picked up a steel bedpan and hurled it randomly across the room. It clattered with a racket and bounced right in front of Craig Brice's hiding place in the side doorway. Johnny Gage ducked in sympathy on his side of the room in the mirroring alcove entryway as Craig caught the flying thing before it nailed him. "Easy, Philomena, take it easy! Now let's relax and think about this, shall we?" Pete asked her without showing himself once iota from around the door frame. "Acting hasty will only get more people hurt.." That acted like a pistol shot in Philomena and her mouth flopped clean open. "My Georgio hurt somebody?" she asked in her thick Greek accent. The gun in her hand fluttered from her temple, back down to at her side. Malloy used the distraction to motion the firefighters to take a better look at Joe who was still motionless on his back, lying partially underneath the crash cart, his face full of blood from a freely bleeding head wound and split lip. Gage cocked his head and was alarmed to find that the semi comatose doctor was gurgling. "Doc! Hey! Roll over!" he shouted, unable to stop himself. "Or you're gonna suffocate and choke to death on all the blood!" Philomena startled, whipping up her gun to point at the source of the sound. Malloy, just as fast, whirled into the main doorway from the hallway, pointing his own gun straight at her. "Hold it right there. I don't want to hurt you. That's just a friend wanting to help that man right over there.." Pete told her, throwing his eyes at the strangling Dr. Early. Philomena's hand never wavered. Neither did Malloy's. She didn't even seem to care that a gun, just as lethal as her own, was aimed right back at her chest in a line of kill shot. "What man?" she asked. She didn't seem able to comprehend that her husband's doctor was lying in a pool of blood at her feet. All she cared about was her husband. Malloy changed tactics and he left the two firemen paramedics to figure out Joe's urgent dilemma on their own. He had to worry about his own skin, first. "Where's Georgio, Phila? Can you tell me that? It wouldn't be right if he keeps on trying to hurt the people who are only trying to help him, would it?" Philomena tipped her head in high emotional distress."No, it wouldn't be right. But I have to protect him.. don't you see? I'm his wife." she sobbed. It was then the police officer and two paramedics realized that Philomena was deep in the early stages of a complete acute, nervous breakdown. Johnny snapped his mind back to the present. ::Joe'll die if I don't do something fast..:: He continued to shout. "Joe! Roll over! You're bleeding real bad into your mouth. Can you hear me?! Joe?!" But Joe only choked, his breathing attempts growing weaker as he drown in blood. Then he stilled, turning blue. Thinking fast, Gage retreated back into 601 and fumbled with that room's crash cart, grabbing up a whole box of endotracheal tube guide wires. He ripped it open and began to twist them together. "I'm gonna hook his belt, Brice, to drag him over here! But I'm gonna need a distraction first." "What kind of distraction?" Craig asked him. "I don't know! Think of something. You always tell everybody indirectly how smart you are...so live up to it." Johnny grunted, groping cross the floor with his swifty improvised tether, still keeping under heavy cover away from Mrs. Stephan's line of sight. The hooked end of the wire flipped open Joe's white lab coat almost instantly, but complete missed snagging a belt loop. Groaning, Gage tried again while tuning out the desperate dialogue carrying on between Malloy and Philomena, still locked one on one beneath mutually pointing gun muzzles. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Captain Stanley felt alone in the crowd of e.r. folk. He cast about, only half listening to his HT when he caught word that Mr. Stephan was on his way down the west stairwell, still armed. And that, cast pure lead into his chest. "This has to stop. This has to stop now.." he mumbled. Not considering his own safety in his emotional turmoil, Cap snuck by the security guards and started jogging up that same stairwell to take matters into his own hands. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jim Reed was pure stealth on the stairs. He took the steps quietly, one by one, letting his gun's muzzle aim whereever his eyes were looking as he pursued Mr. Stephan down the landing. He didn't say a word, knowing that any noise he made might be rewarded with the snapping crack of a bullet sent his way. He didn't like going downwards in an active gun pursuit. He never did. Going in a downward direction was never good because balance wasn't preserved. Maybe it was because he was thinking so hard, but the next turn, brought him face to face with a charging madman in a patient gown. Jim Reed raised his gun and braced on the steps to fire at Mr. Stephan at point blank range. But he didn't pull the trigger. Not yet. He began to search for a reason for a need to shoot in those few precious seconds while he looked for the telltale glint of blue black metal Georgio's hand. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the third try, Johnny did it, snagging Joe's belt firmly with his improvised dragging wire. "Craig! I got him! Distract her while I move him over to me!" Brice, looked around desperately for some means but then his eyes alighted on the bedpan next to him. He picked it up. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Malloy told Philomena a simple thing. A lie. "Mrs. Stephan, your husband has given up to our officers." he told her, holding up the radio he carried in his other hand slowly. "I just heard him do it." said Pete, keeping his bead on the distraught woman. "What?" Philomena blinked. "No..." she started to fret, suddenly dropping her gun's muzzle away from her silver badged target. "That's impossible! We agreed that we would not do this thing until the doctors promised to help him using assistance from your government for all the bills. They... they are growing too much.." she wailed. From out in the hall, the sound of distant shots fired, drifted into the room. The effect on Philomena was dramatic. "Georgio?! Why are you killing people?! The war was over twenty five years ago..." she whispered in agony, dropping her eyes away from Reed while her chin lifted in an attempt to peer down the hallway. Brice reacted, and threw the bedpan at the code blue button over the patient rumpled bed. It activated and soon the hospital operator began her urgent page. ##Code blue. Code blue. Room 602. Code blue. Code blue. ## At the same moment, Gage pulled back on the wire, dragging Joe Early swiftly across the floor toward him. Startled at the sudden activity, Philomena whirled and fired blindly. Two bullets bounced off the floor in between Joe's shoes as he was dragged to safety. "Drop it!" roared Malloy, taking the safety off of his gun. With a sob, Philomena cast down her gun and fled out the open window onto theleadge outside the hospital. Malloy just as quickly ran over to the fallen gun, and disarmed it. He got on his radio. "744 to Battalion One. We've got a woman on the east side of the building on a windowleadge. Possibly suicidal. The gun threat in room 602, is over." he told them. ##10-4, LAPD. Sending up a ladder and bucket team a.s.a.p.## Brice saw that the coast was clear and he ignored the drama unfolding outside the window. He got to Gage's side as fast as he could. "Johnny?" Gage had Joe Early flipped over onto his side, draining out a lot of free blood and saliva. "He's able to breathe.......now. Just gotta get some more of this out." he added more sarcastically. "What about Philomena?" "She's no longer our problem." Craig said as he and Johnny helped Early. They held his mouth open while he worked liquid free, mouthful by coughed mouthful as he began to wake up under their ministrations. Soon, the code blue team arrived from an emergency freight elevator into 602 to assist the relieved paramedics on managing Joe's recovery. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jim Reed's finger was just about to press on the trigger when a sudden blast of water from a fire hose suddenly pinned the crazed man against the wall. The completely surprised officer whirled to find a determined Captain Stanley standing next to an equally pissed off Dr. Brackett, helping him on the firehose nozzle. A huge smile filled the young officer's face when they finally turned the water off. Mr. Stephan dropped his gun and started clutching his side where the water had stung his surgical stitches and tore a few open. "Now's that's a novel way to clean up the picture." said Reed. Kel started to laugh. So did Cap, until a spasm gripped him around his throat and chest. He bent over and fell against the wall, dropping the charged firehose. Dr. Brackett grabbed him. "Captain Stanley? What is it?" "My chest.." Hank hissed. "It's been hurting since last night.." "Put your arm over my shoulder. Let's get you downstairs and I'll take a look at you. Can you walk?" Dr. Brackett asked. He motioned for a firefighter to help him with Cap even as a whole slew of cops ran up past them to help Officer Reed cuff Mr. Stephan. "Yeah..yeah. I think so.. This is weird.." he gasped. "I'm healthy as an ox I tell you." "Maybe so. But if this is a new problem, I wanna know all about it. Let me run a few tests on you?" "Fine by me.. Oooo." Cap grimaced. Brackett caught more of the captain's weight. "Orderly! Get a gurney over here on the double!" he said as they exited the stairwell. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy DeSoto had been the first firefighter on theleadge to handle Mrs. Stephan's situation. And he was still talking to her as she cried, holding onto theleadge's thin steel safety railing, the only barrier between herself and the five story fall to the ground. "Mrs. Stephan. Your husband is fine. I don't know what you thought earlier in the room, but..I- I just got word that he's been taken into safe custody by the police. He hasn't been killed like you say you think he has. No one else has been shot. Just the one orderly. And he's gonna be fine." "Georgio...?" she whispered. "My Georgio..." "He's ok. Please, d- don't do anything hasty. We all just wanna help ya." Roy said from the window, stalling, as he watched the bucket, still three stories below, rise slowly up towards them. Philomena made a face and suddenly looked down the front of her blouse, noticing the splatters of blood just then on her hands and sleeves. "What...what did I do?.. " she asked softly, trembling. "Did I hurt someone?" DeSoto carefully turned up his radio as he listened to Johnny and Brice give a care report to those down in the e.r. base station through the HT. He heard his partners mention the fact that Joe wasn't shot anywhere, only beaned from something that had inflicted blunt trauma. Johnny guessed over the airwaves that Joe had been knocked out with a patient's bedpan from what blood he had remembered seeing on the one Philomena had thrown. "Uhh,..not badly. Anger does sometimes get the best of people. It's nothing to be ashamed of. You're under a lot of stress right now and some of that could just be coming out in an odd way." DeSoto reasoned with a small smile. "It's really ok to be feeling the way you are now." But Philomena wasn't listening. "I... beat up..somebody?" she asked again, in growing horror. She had very good hearing and she had listened to every word coming from Johnny and Brice's HT transmission while they worked on Joe Early, inside. Without a word, Mrs. Stephan rose up from her crouch on the windowleadge and leaped off the height before anyone could stop her. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe Early and Captain Stanley lay on matching beds in the same treatment room. Roy was taking Hank's blood pressure. Kel bounced back and forth between his two patients, chattering worse than Dixie in a firm mother hen mode. Cap's EKG was on audible and his I.V. was T.K.O. "I'm seeing nothing out of the ordinary, captain." Kel concluded, pulling off his stethoscope. He began folding up the cardiac strip for Hank's patient chart. "You're absolutely fine. Most likely your symptoms are all just psychosomatic because you're holding in something that's bothering you, like the chaplain said you were doing." "Mind caused? Whew.. that's a relief.." sighed Cap on the table. "For a minute on those stairs, I thought I was a goner. Guess I'm just feeling old today." The hospital chaplain stood, acting his role as a CISM counselor for both Cap and Marco. And they were finally talking together freely. The man of the cloth continued his counsel and he chuckled. "I frequently run into the old 'dinosaurs,' who says, 'I don't need this, but I'll be here to see you kids through it.' Then, during debriefing, the dino'll bring up a car accident that happened 30 years ago, and he'll recall every detail. I can't stress enough the need to talk it all out, fellas." he says. "I don't care if you talk to your steering wheel, your dog, your partner or your spouse. Part of the whole macho image in emergency services is having this mindset about not taking your work home to the family, but our entire team tells people, 'When you've had a tough call, your kids know as soon your foot hits the door that something is different with Dad. They aren't sure what and don't understand all the ins and outs, but we always strongly encourage everyone to talk to their spouse and kids about the call. The more you talk about an event, the easier it is for you to park it in the right spot. It's having the attitude of, 'I gotta suck it in; I gotta keep it in my gut; I can't talk about it,' for fear of being a wimp or not 'one of the boys' that's self-defeating." said the chaplain. Dr. Brackett agreed with him. "I see emergency services folks having heart attacks at age 59 and cirrhosis at age 56," said Kel. "They're chewing up their bodies over 20 years of service, because they didn't go park stuff. Bottling things up had literally eaten away at them. So keep what the chaplain's telling you in mind. Every time you talk about an incident, it'll take a little more of the load off your shoulders." "CISM is not a magical thing that cures all. But neither is it a stigma, boys. So use it. And use me. Now. Both the good doctor and I are after the same thing here. It's all about keeping healthy people like the both of you, healthy and strong." said the chaplain. "You see, the principle of all this is that sometimes decent folks like yourselves just need to get a little mental overhaul or two done to learn how to handle the emotions which can come barreling down on a truly bad call. Please, call me anytime you want to talk about one of those and I promise, I'll drop everything I'm doing and stop by the stationhouse or at your own home." and the chaplain handed Captain Stanley a small light blue business card. "O.k." promised Marco and Hank. Joe Early was thoughtful. "So, Johnny. The nurses are telling me that you signalled my potential code by throwing a bedpan at the code blue button on the wall?" he chuckled as a nurse cleaned up his face and a resident got a local ready to stitch up his lip. "I didn't think of that gem, doc. Brice did." Gage complained. Cap laughed. "And I thought I was the one acting a little odd with my reactions. I wouldn't call that a by the book protocol, Craig. What happened to your personal mantra of being letter perfect in all that you do on the job?" Brice just shrugged, finding himself at a loss for an answer. "There's being perfect and then there's being a genuine menace to society, Cap." sighed Roy DeSoto. "I don't think a flying bed pan'll count for too much in the long run." "Guess it won't." Cap agreed. "Not unless you're dying under another crash cart and we're being held at bay by gunpoint again." Gage quipped to Joe Early. "Then, it just might become another standard emergency medical hospital protocol if people begin to see how useful that little trick is." Dixie and her student nurse Karen, just rolled their eyes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was three days later, Gage and Brice were drying the dishes early in the morning in the kitchen, when the sound of an engine pulling up in the backyard, garnered their attention. "Shh, here they come.." Brice snickered. "I wonder how it went. Did Brackett and the others live up to their word?" "They must have." laughed Gage, as he peeked through the blinds at the angry expressions he was seeing on the rest of the gang as they hopped off the old refurbished engine in their dress uniforms. "Well, well, well. Looks like this joking stew is well seasoned and ready to eat." Brice smiled and handed Johnny another clean towel. Gil, filling in for Marco while he took a few days off to talk with the CISM counselors some more, asked. "What did you two do?" Gage, started smiling. "We didn't do anything. Dixie, Kel and Joe did all of it for us.." he said, without elaborating. Gil cracked Johnny in the butt with a wet towel for being evasive. Gage howled, rubbed a nether cheek, and then, finally, answered. "They took an empty box, put a couple of full soda cans in it to weigh it down and tied it to the back bumper of our old engine with some string. They then wrote on it with black marker "FREE KITTENS. just before the start of Dixie's parade event.." "They didn't." chuckled Gil. "They did." said Brice laughing even louder, his voice barely a squeak when it came out. Cap, once he got inside the station, made sure he glared good and hard at Craig and Johnny. But no one glared harder at them, than Chet Kelly. He said. "We left the station this morning and got pulled over by the fuzz about ten miles down the road I'll have you know. Clowns, Cap. The both of them!" "Well, what happened?" asked Gil, fighting to keep from smiling. Stoker told him. "The cop at first was furious, but then saw he Johnny and Brice's little joking stunt and couldn't stop laughing. "And we went through that whole d*mned parade trying to figure out why people kept pulling up beside us, yelling." Hank scowled. "Well, well well, Mr. Craig T. Brice. Guess we can rest on our laurels now." grinned Gage. "That prank of yours, has simply got to be the best joke I've ever had the pleasure to help sow." Johnny said with a lopsided smirk. "Congratulations, Craig. I think we pulled it off in grand style,..like true masters." and he started to laugh aloud to the point of tears. Brice had only one thing to say to that. "Phantom, read it and weep." he told Chet and the others, winking just his left eye..."...for I do believe that you all......have just been seriously ...had." FIN ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. **************************************************** End Credits -- Episode Twenty Five (Fourth Season) §§ The Overhaul Principle §§ :) This episode is dedicated to the designers of :) the START Triage System.. The Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment (START) program was developed by Hoag Hospital and the Newport Beach Fire Department, Newport Beach, CA. http://www.start-triage.com/ :) :) The Story Unfolds... Season Four, Episode Twenty Six.. §§ The Shallow Light §§ Debut Launch: October 1st, 2005. ************************************************** From: Patti Keiper Subject: Burger Wars.. Date: Thursday, October 6th, 2005. 08:48 CST USA Johnny Gage was eating his hamburger as fast as he could stuff each humongous mouthful into his mouth. He was being watched uneasily by the owner of Davey's Hotdog stand. And Roy, ignoring Johnny completely, was watching the diner owner in very high, almost laughing but silent amusement. DeSoto leaned closer to his partner. "You think he's wondering when you're gonna start choking on that?" "Huh?" Johnny asked Roy, raining a few bun crumbs and wiping a smear of ketchup off of his chin with a few fingers. He fidgetted a bit, trying to figure out where to clean them off until Roy handed him a napkin from the dispenser sitting on the picnic table in front of them. Then he looked around and pegged whom Roy was talking about. "Oh. Him. Hasn't he ever seen a firefighter eat before? Man, that's rude just staring like that." Gage said with both cheeks stuffed to capacity. He deliberately pushed another hamburger into his mouth, making a face at the owner while doing it. "Maybe he doesn't know that I'm a paramedic and can fix a choking before it'll even have time to drive away all of his other customers." Roy reasoned. "Very funny. I'm only hungry. I don't like people staring at me while I eat. And I don't think that's why he's staring at me." he raised his voice. "Whatcha staring at over there? Is there a problem?" he asked loudly at the owner to be heard over the busy afternoon traffic running by them. The owner of the diner still looked uncomfortable and uneasy and he tried three different ways to fold his arms across his chest trying to look nonchalant. But then his face hardened. "I'm trying to figure out how many burgers you're gonna stuff down that maw of yours before you choke on it." "See?" Roy shrugged at Johnny. Johnny made a face back at DeSoto and turned to set the diner owner straight. "Listen, Mac, or whatever your name is." he said swallowing and gulping down half his soda pop. "My partner and I have been coming here for nigh on six years now, giving you our business and hard earned cash. I know better than to draw unwanted attention to folks coming to your stand." "Oh, really? You mean that big flashy red truck, loud blue shirts, and shiny silver badges winking in the sun, aren't bad enough to attract a little attention?" Mac asked. "I just watched five businessmen walk right on by just now when I know that they usually stop in to get something." "Now hold on just a dog goned minute here!" Johnny said holding up a finger, his ire rising. Beep! Beep! Beep! hailed the HT in front of the three. ##Squad 51. Child down. 1450 McKenzie Way. 1450 McKenzie Way. Cross street Reynolds. Time out. 13:09.## Roy rose, neatly tossing away his empty paper tray and crumpled napkins. "Come on, partner. Save the showdown until later. Do you really want to lose the convenience of having such a cheap food stand located so close to the station?" Johnny blinked. Twice. "Thought so." DeSoto said. "I'll let you finish these on the way without telling Cap you ate in the squad." he said grabbing up Johnny's remaining two burgers and his soda into one hand. He answered L.A. with the other. "Squad 51, 10-4. KMG 365." He had to drag Johnny away from his deadly earnest glare at Mac. Only the nature of the call and the urgent wail of the sirens tempered Johnny into civility as they hurried away. Gage put on his helmet after taking his food tray from a hand that Roy had hefted up like a waitron, holding it, while he drove the squad one handed, deftly, through the heavy lunchtime rush hour. "I was only trying to prove a point." "So was he. And I think he would've won that argument. He has you wrapped around his little finger because of the size of your appetite, Johnny." Roy smiled as he sped up a little faster. "Says who?" "Me. And most likely him, if he were here. Watch yourself Johnny. Didn't you see the naval "I love mama" tattoo sticking out from under his sleeve?" "I was too busy trying to work up an appetite around all that bear grease of his dripping in his hair.." Gage admitted, eating quickly and throwing all of his crumbs and stray bits of meat out the squad window. "He's trying to look dapper and neat for his customers." "No one greases their hair back anymore, Roy. No one. Not unless they're sixty years old or something." "Well, how do you explain Cap then?" Johnny opened his mouth but nothing came out. Then he shrugged. "Well... Cap's a different guy. That's all. Besides, he looks good slicking his hair back." Roy did a double take in surprise. "Well, you know what I mean." Gage said, finally finishing his hasty meal. "Makes me almost wanna do the same thing. I'm getting sick of my hair always blowing in my face while on a rescue." "Cut it short then." Roy said with finality and a straight face. "Like McConnike keeps warning ya to." he said, turning around a corner automatically, without needing to look at the road. "I will. I will in time. Don't push me." Gage blubbered. "First things first. I gotta get through my date later this week without making any drastic changes in myself before going on it so she won't get mad." "I don't think any amount of drastic change will make her think any better of ya." Roy mumbled. "What?" Gage asked, not hearing Roy over a particularly loud crescendo of the code three sirens. "I said we're about to make fantasic time here. Five miles in two minutes? That's gotta be a squad record." Roy said. "Must be. Here we are. There! Over there... There's a mother running out to meet us." Johnny pointed. Roy pulled the squad over as quickly as he could along the curb of the affluent surburban neighborhood home and was surprised to find a police officer already on scene. Fearing the worst, the two paramedics dragged out all the medical gear, including the resuscitator and the defibrillator while the frantic mom gave her very panicky story. She said..... ------------------------------------------ Photo: Close up of the squad's door. Photo: Roy smirking at his partner. Photo: Johnny eating a burger very fast outside. Photo: A diner stand owner staring with a funny look on his face. Photo: Johnny Gage holding a panicky mom. ********************************************* From : Cassidy Meyers Sent : Monday, October 10, 2005 12:38 AM Subject : Reading the situation.. "Hurry! Please! It's my son! He can't breathe!" Then, in sheer anger on top of the fear, she stabbed a finger towards the curb angled squad car and a black uniformed L.A. cop sitting inside of it, speaking quickly on his radio. "He had the nerve to say that I was panicking my own kid and...and..and then his partner just....locked me out of my own house!" yelled the young mother as she struggled in Johnny's arms, in just that kind of high panicky state herself. "Easy, ma'am. Calm down a little. I'm sure there was a very good reason for what he did." Gage disassembled, pulling off his helmet. He took advantage of a person's natural instinct to take whatever's handed to them and shoved it into the mother's palms. "Here. Hold this while we carry our medical gear." The trick, worked like a charm, and Johnny was free to rush things along. At the same moment, Vince's partner jogged up from his squad car and retook possession of the mother's flailing arms when she threw Johnny's helmet angrily into the rescue squad to get rid of it. "Sorry, boys." said Nate. "I had to call another squad car to look after the rest of this mother's children. She's beyond listening as you can see, and yes, I have the whole story. Vince recognized the child's problem immediately. It's not a choking in the slightest and she says.." he said throwing a chin down at the mother.." he's got a history of high fever along with severe swallowing trouble. Mom said that he wasn't eating at all or playing with anything in his mouth when his trouble began. So far, the kid's still managing to breathe. Barely. Vince is holding him sitting straight up. And that's the only thing that keeps him breathing at all. He's calm, only if she's not within eye or ear shot. The mother's agitation seemed to make him worse." "How old?" Roy asked as he hurried in picking up the resuscitator case and I.V. and drug boxes. Johnny snatched out the EKG monitor and defibrillator and rushed on ahead to the shut front door. "Five years or so." replied Nate the officer, grunting as he got a better hold on mom. "Ma'am. I'll give you another minute to start settling down!" "He's four and a half! Let me go!!" fought the mother. "You can't keep me away from my baby like this! I'm his mother, you horrible men! My husband Alan's a lawyer! He'll have your badges for this!!" and she let out a heartrending, blood curdling scream that brought looks of surprise and suspicion on the part of all the onlooking neighbors gathering on the sidewalk. A few even started to get angry on behalf of the mom. Nate immediately changed their minds on interfering, with a warning touch to his gun holster. The mother even tried to bite Nate. He stopped it, of course, giving the mom every chance to get a hold of some of her stupider emotions. Johnny nodded firmly. "Keep her out here until we've checked him out. Ma'am, can we treat him?" he shouted over her cries. "Why the h*ll do you think I called for help in the first place?! Idiot!" "Hey!" Nate told her sharply. "Enough of that. Keep your voice down or I'll arrest you right now for disobeying a police officer and interfering with a medical call." It was the wrong thing to say. That set the mother off the deep end verbally and she began a litany of trucker talk that would put the most veteran fireman and police officer to shame. Gage ignored them both and Roy and he went pelting up the sidewalk, fully laden, until they reached the porch. They set down their gear and Johnny reached up to knock to be let in, but then thought better of it, thinking of the child's explained presentation. For a few seconds, Roy and he were at a loss on how to get to him, after they tried to push on the expensive brass handle and the door didn't open. Just then, the calm, soothing baritone of Vince Howard came through the open screen. "Push the doorbell like button to the left. It's an electronic lock. Stay quiet as you can. He does a bit better that way. Ditch your badges. Mine only scared him.." Then they heard a strange comment. "Got the suitcases mommy wanted for Mikey and me?" DeSoto, not yet knowing what the problem was that Vince had spotted, went along. "Yes, the red, white and black ones. We'll bring them in to you.." From inside the house, the two paramedics started to make out high pitched squeals and sounds of very tired attempts to breathe by the little boy. Roy hit the button and the massive carved door buzzed open a crack. Gage angled a head, listening to the window as he unpinned his fire badge and put it into a pocket. "No coughing. This definitely isn't croup, Roy. No seal's bark at all. Drug related? I'm smelling crack cocaine smoke." he wondered as he watched Roy take off his helmet to leave on the railing. "That may be her doing but not his. Not if he's sitting up." Then the nature of the child's emergency, dawned on Roy the second he noted the way the boy had arranged himself in Vince's arms. The child appeared very toxic with flushed skin, leaning forward with his mouth open and chin extended in an effort to maintain his airway and he was drooling long unswallowed strings of saliva onto the lush carpeting over his limp, elbow tripoded knees. "Epiglottitis.." Johnny said softly to DeSoto, even as he smiled in an act for the wide eyed, glassy fright barely held at bay by the child. "I'll just set our luggage behind the couch here, Roy." he said a little louder and very feigned friendly. "Okay, Johnny. Then let's meet Mikey here because mommy invited us in to meet him." he explained to the child. Vince held very still, holding the boy's forehead and chin in his hands. "It is what I figured?" "Classic." DeSoto agreed. "You were definitely right to get mom busy with the mail outside. Any commotion could have definitely set off a laryngospasm." then he grinned artificially, keeping just as subdued and calm as a reader in a library. "Hi there, Mikey. I'm Roy. Can I feel your skin to see how your fever is before we play with you?" he asked. "Mommy said you weren't feeling well today.." The boy's eyes darted everywhere despite his body being totally drenched and exhausted from his work of breathing. But Mikey didn't flinch and only blinked when Roy gently looked at his face for the quality of capillary refill and the extent of cyanosis in the boy's gums through his gaping mouth. Those tissues were still pink but his tongue was turning liver purple with every fast exhalation. ::There's the oropharyngeal edema effects compromising his trachea.:: DeSoto thought. "Johnny, almost got our suitcases unpacked over there?" he asked Gage quietly. "I'm ready to play." Gage looked up from behind the couch. "Almost. Got some new toys out that we brought with us." he said for Mikey's benefit. "Here's the blow up football for Mikey." he said walking over and handing Roy a disassembled pediatric ambu bag. Mikey allowed it to be placed in his lap. While he was distracted with that, Johnny placed a laryngoscope, endotracheal tube, the rest of the ambu's mask portion and a syringed paralytic agent behind Roy's back, where the boy couldn't see them. He slid them over until they touched the bottoms of Roy's kneeling feet so that he knew they were ready in case the child obstructed suddenly at a loud sound they couldn't prevent fast enough. "Wow, we sure brought you a nice football, Mikey. Look at that, it's green." Roy said, pointing to the ambu bag in the child's lap. "I'll let you play with it first." he said, connecting a running tube of oxygen to it so the flow leaked richly around them through its open tubed end. The child watched but didn't try to pick up the ambu. He was too weak physically to grasp it even though his eyes were fully anxious on the edge of terror. Vince had to hold the inflatable between the boy's hands for him so the oxygen stream coming from it could reach the boy's face. Glancing over, DeSoto saw Johnny choose to pick up the lamp table's phone and not the squad biophone line in order to raise Rampart for the call in another clever way to keep their patient calm until they got their treat and move orders. He was still staying behind the couch, getting the defibrillator open and a needle cricothyroidotomy setup the proper size, out of the boy's line of sight. Gage hailed the base station on landline. "Operator, this is a Los Angeles County Fire Department Rescue Squad. I'm Fireman John Gage. I need an immediate patch to Rampart General Hospital's Emergency Department in Torrance about a sick child ASAP........Yes, I can give you the proper number." And he did. Roy, in the mean time, managed to get a wrist pulse and the child's belt off for breathing ease. He wrote the rate down on a piece of paper. Vince, started talking. "So how do you like my two friends, Mikey? I told you they would bring you some toys you haven't seen before." Mikey didn't smile. But his painful, rasping stridor didn't get any worse. Then he tried to say something. Roy quickly shushed him with a finger to his own smiling lips so the child wouldn't cough and obstruct. Vince bit his lip realizing what he had almost done. "Sorry." he mouthed silently. He concentrated on seeing through the lacy curtains of the living room window and noticed that Nate had finally had enough of being Mr. Nice Guy. The mother was getting handcuffed against the rescue squad while the newly arrived backup police unit kept the now just curious neighbors under a careful watch. Howard's eyes drifted towards the crack pipe that he had found ignited on a plate across the room. It had snuffed out nicely under the overturned clear Cheerios bowl that he had dumped out to use to smother it to rid the air of its taint. The cereal had been dried out and sitting in days old soured milk. ::The boy hasn't eaten obviously. He'll get a meal in a couple of days in intensive care.:: thought Vince. ::That's if he makes it that long.:: Gage thought of victim counts and he looked up at Vince, waving a few fingers to get his attention. "Where are Mikey's siblings?" he mouthed. "In the bedroom. They're sniffly, but not like Mikey. I turned on Seasame Street for them." Howard replied. Johnny nodded and got right back to his phone call as Dr. Brackett gave him his initial instructions. ##Securing an airway is the overriding priority, 51. Obtaining vital signs or any other diagnostic procedures are to be considered completely secondary to that primary concern. Physical examination should be kept at a minimum with careful attention so as not to increase the child's anxiety. Skip placing your EKG leads. It may cause him to cry and obstruct. If you can, leave him in his mother's arms, it'll keep him calm.## "Uh, that won't be possible, doc. She's currently a crack addict going off the deep end." Johnny told him when he caught onto Vince's subtle point to the tabletop and as his eyes alighted onto the pipe. "But he does tolerate Roy and a police officer so far. Rampart, would you call us a second ambulance for the mother through dispatch for us?" Kel Brackett nodded at Dixie and the trim nurse took the note he scribbled down. ##It's done, 51. Are you able to get ahead of his oral cyanosis? I know you told me that he's still conscious and attempting his own ventilations.## "Somewhat." Johnny replied, seeing Vince trying to entice Mikey to keep the "football" nearer to his mouth and nose. "However, his acute stridor is continuous with intercostal retractions. There is very abundant drooling, but only moderate perioral cyanosis." ##Ok. Do not attempt direct visualization of the epiglottis by depressing the tongue, at all, Johnny, unless he blacks out or he'll tighten up fast. We'll assume that you've pegged the correct diagnosis until it's ruled out. This situation's far too volatile for us to add paramedic/doctor frills. Perform a nasotracheal intubation under controlled conditions, if necessary, with the patient seated absolutely upright during the procedure to avoid him sealing off until it's in place. Only attempt orotracheal intubation or a needle crich in a complete obstructive emergent situation. I've assembled the necessary personnel on my end, including an anesthesiologist on standby and an endoscopist in the event of a difficult intubation. Expect a frank respiratory failure at any time, Johnny. Keep him warm, oxygenated,.. and get in here as soon as possible. We'll worry about the I.V. after we've guaranteed his airway. Transport non code R and cushion him from all jars or bumps. Let me know about the mother as soon as you get her lined up in the second ambulance.## "Uh, doc. One more thing. The police say there's a few more kids who are sick here, but not as bad. Want them to ship with me?" Gage asked. "Or will that be too much of an exposure risk for the boy from his infectious condition and their potential ability to startle him?" ##Put them with the mother. Hopefully they'll calm her down enough for all of them to tolerate a transport. I'll check them out after the boy's stabilized. Is the mother still combative?## "Verbally. But she's now restrained." Johnny replied when Vince crossed his wrists together in a gesture to let him know the lay of things with her. "I suspect our ETA is..... as soon as we get everything and everyone packaged up and we get over to you. We're about four miles out." ##Bring the boy in first. No delays. Have Roy bring in the mother and siblings at his own pace as needed. We'll be standing by.## Johnny and Roy soon reversed their luggage ruse and an afghan soon snuggled around the boy in Vince's arms. He was hugging the ambu "football" tightly in his fright, but it was near his face. Roy helped the boy keep his chin up with a soft firm grip, as the two men slowly walked outside the house into the sunlight. Soon, Mikey was seated safely in a quiet Mayfair with Johnny and Vince. Roy gave the mother a quick once over where she was handcuffed to a stretcher and soon, he recruited the remaining cruiser officers to round up the other kids to go along with them. "How's Mikey? Don't you take him away from me! The State tried that once, but I won him back, fair and square.." she challenged. "You just wait, we'll all be back together before the sun goes down." she told Roy. "I highly doubt that, ma'am. You see, we found some incriminating evidence in the house, and signs of child neglect in some rotten food that you left sitting out." DeSoto told her as an officer sat down on the treatment bench next to him. The female officer smiled and held up the crack pipe evidence bag she had gathered. The frantic, agitated mother, for all of her earlier noise, fell completely silent for the rest of the trip to the hospital. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dixie met Johnny at the outer doors of Emergency. "Treatment One." she told him, as Johnny and Vince walked in with the completely head covered and blanketed boy in their arms. The filled ambu bag and drape were being used to make an incubator around him. Just as they rounded the corner by the x-ray machine, the boy's stridor ceased abruptly. Gage and Vince, began to run with their burden. Dr. Brackett saw them coming and he said...... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Boy coughing with cyanotic tongue. Photo: A crack pipe. Photo: Vince entering a house. Photo: Johnny using a landline. Photo: Roy asking questions in a house. Photo: Brackett and Dixie taking notes at the base station. ************************************************** Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 17:06:24 -0700 (PDT) From: "Sam Iam" Subject: Treatment Doubled.. "In here!" Kel motioned for them, holding the door. "How long ago?" he asked about the change with the child's lack of effective breathing effort. Johnny set the small limp boy down on the almost perpendicularly head raised bed in the brightly lit treatment room that contained an anesthetist and he tipped back his tiny head gingerly. "Just now, as we were coming around the corner." "Help him on that ambu. Long slow ventilations, Johnny. We'll be set in a moment. Let us know about his responsiveness level while you're doing it." Dr. Brackett told him as Dixie and another nurse quickly set up a tray of specialized intubation equipment for both him and the anesthetist that they had called to come to Emergency. He nodded to Vince, smiling his thanks, when the police officer switched the boy's oxygen tubing from the squad's portable D tank, to a flowing port on the wall. "Vince, that's right. Set him at fifteen liters. Johnny? Are they working?" Gage sighed, feeling how the bag sent very careful breaths into the boy as Dixie cut open the child's shirt so he could see chest movements. "They're going in well enough, doc. Mikey!..Mikey.. Open your eyes!" he shouted. "Can you do that for me? Mommy's right outside waiting for ya!" He tested the boy with a pinch to the back of his upper arm behind the elbow. The child pulled away a bit in a normal reflex. Gage shared what he had found with the doctors. "He feels pain somewhat. He's not responding to verbal. And...he's offering no more attempts to breathe on his own here. He's too tired." Dr. Brackett spoke up. "Fair enough. Keep maintaining him easy. Everyone, maneuver for a single portable endolateral neck x-ray, before we even try to directly visualize for epiglottitis. If he's positive for it on the film, Bob," Kel told the anesthetist, "..go ahead and anesthetize with your inhalation anesthetic and take a look at the supralaryngeal area using a bronchoscope. My guess is that he'll tolerate us going in nasotracheally with a tube for an intubation before he laryngospasms. His fever's not that bad yet. Dixie, after he's been airway secured, start an intravenous line of normal saline and draw blood for a complete culture for Hemophilus influenzae type b and a CBC.. Also get an antibiotic going once you find out from his chart what his tolerances are. Ceftriaxone, 75-100 mg/kg via his IV every 12-24 hours." "Right, Kel." answered the frosty haired nurse crispy. She got busy with her own tray set up to await the moment when the boy was guaranteed a good airway. The x-ray didn't take long. Five lead aprons protected those who had to stay in the room to aid the critically threatened child. Soon, Bob and Kel gathered around the image under fluorescent light. "And there it is, Bob. The classic "thumb sign" from Mikey's swollen aryepiglottic folds and arytenoid cartilages showing a partial marked upper airway obstruction. I'll just bet you're gonna see cherry red supraglottic structures, including the epiglottis in a minute, after you tube him." "No bet." Bob moved immediately to the bed to secure Mikey with an uncuffed endotracheal tube after a squirt of Hurricane spray once Johnny had hyperventilated him on oxygen. Kel nodded for the one orderly in the room to start the boy on mechanical ventilation to free up Gage so he could return to available service. Kel got a few cultures of the epiglottis and throat from Mikey around the tube using a laryngoscope and he gave them to a nurse to run down to the lab for immediate gram negative staining for the illness organism he knew with almost one hundred percent certainty, that might be making the child sick. "Let's move him to intensive care, people. Stat." Brackett ordered. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Joe Early had gotten off the phone with Dr. Brackett. He moved to the bed that contained Mikey's mother where he had just given her another vitals check from the quick injection he had given her. The mother's handcuffs were off, but Vince and his partner stayed in attendance during the whole conversation to assure Joe's safety while she burned off the crack's influence. Joe stayed a few feet away from her while he shared his knowlege. "Your son is out of immediate danger, Mrs. Brown. However, epiglottitis is often a multi-event illness. During the bacteremic phase of the disease, other foci of infection are possible. To give him some rest, his artificial ventilation will be continued and we'll directly visualize his epiglottis on a daily basis until the edema resolves, generally within 24-48 hours. Systemic antibiotics will be given to him for approximately 2 weeks to be sure the infection's completely gone from his bloodstream." "My boy's on a ventilator?" asked the mother meekily, still bleary eyed from her smoked drug use. The tension in her manner was growing. "Yes, but... Peri, being breath supported like that isn't hurting him. Respiratory isolation for the first 24 hours of antibiotic treatment, is necessary, so he can recover from whole body exhaustion. His CBC was remarkable for a leukocytosis with a marked left shift and the rapid latex particle agglutination we got from his blood serum was positive for H. influenzae or, HIB." "Is... that a bad germ?" asked Peri Brown, hugging her other two children nearer to her as they sat on the gurney next to her. "Only if you're vulnerable, like Mikey was. Epiglottitis caused by HIB has a unique distribution in that it typically occurs among children aged 2-7 years." "You mean my other children...might get sick like little Mikey?" she gasped. The nurse near Peri, touched her arm to calm her. Peri took her hand gratefully. "Control measures for invasive H. influenzae type b are very important since asymptomatic carriage in the sinuses of household contacts is quite high. We can stop this illness from spreading in them and in you if you let us." Joe wore his best white jacket smile. "Chemoprophylaxis with rifampin given once daily for 4 days eradicates H. influenzae in approximately 95% of carriers. We can do nasopharyngeal cultures on all of you before any treatment. But, chemoprophylaxis should be instituted as soon as possible after diagnosis of H. influenzae type b is made. It's unfortunate, that this happened to Mikey. But one day, I believe a vaccine to prevent H. influenzae disease may be developed. But until then, complications associated with epiglottitis including otitis media, adenitis, meningitis, pericarditis, and pneumonia, are bound to occur in your other children." Joe admitted, "..unless we treat everyone with antibiotic therapy now." "Treat him. And us." she said quickly, growing scared. Peri began to look frantic, fast, so Joe tempered his lecture by adding more. "The mortality risk for Mikey now is only about one percent because we have him airway secured and ventilation supported. And the risk for the rest of you, now that we know what's going on, is negligible. So relax. Everything's ok." The oldest boy, Mikey's brother, clinging to his mother to avoid sight of the policeman he knew was arresting his mother, spoke up. "You mean my brother really has quinsy?" Joe knelt down by the boy with a look of amazement. "Quinsy? My, I haven't heard that term in a long, long time. Hello there." he said, taking the young boy's hand in a handshake. "Yes, Mikey has quinsy, but he's going to be just fine, young man. How did you ever come up with that idea for your brother's breathing illness?" "I learned it in school. My teacher said that President George Washington died of it when he got real old and she said that he had sounded like a squeaky rabbit when he was in trouble. Like Mikey did before the ambulance people came." "That was very perceptive of you." said Joe, tickled. He raised significant eyebrows for Vince and Nate to note that the children had been exposed to regular school as a point in Peri, the mother's favor. "Only today, we call what your brother has, as a peritonsillar abscess, or epiglottitis..instead of quinsy." The child withdrew his hand shyly, still in awe of seeing a real white coated doctor. Peri began to tear up. "C-can I see my boy, before.... before the social workers come for my kids, doctor?" "Sure. I'll have a nurse show you the way up to intensive care to sign his admittance papers. Don't worry, Mrs. Brown. Mikey's going to be over this in less than two days, I promise you." Dr. Early said. "The danger to his life, is past." "I trust you, doctor. I-It's just that, I don't know if I can trust myself anymore. These policemen say that I haven't fed my kids in days because of...." she broke off, rubbing her nose when it started running from her withdrawal symptoms."..my smoking habits.." she cried. She took the kleenix the nurse gave her and used it. "We can help you with your crack addiction, too. The narcan I gave you only has a temporary effect holding the drug at bay. It's not too late to make a change, Peri. I can link you up with counselors and doctors who can help you break the habit eventually. Would you like that?" Joe asked. Peri Brown nodded and started crying. "Oh, please. Yes.." "Ok. Let's go see Mikey and afterwards, I'll get you admitted. While the police get what information they need out of you, I'll also have Dixie McCall, my head nurse, take your children down to the cafeteria to get some food." "I can help with that." volunteered Roy eagerly. "I'm..pretty good with kids." "Thank you, doctor. Mr. DeSoto. I never meant for my life to get so screwed up.." Mikey's mother sobbed. "It just sort of happened that way before I even realized how bad it was going for my kids. " Peri gave them tearful hugs when Dixie suddenly appeared. "Go with the nice nurse and fireman, Davey, Suzy. They'll take real good care of you for a while. Mind everything they say. I'm going to a hospital room upstairs after I see how Mikey's doing so I can be treated, too, for smoking the pipe daddy left behind." The two older children went quietly out the door without a fuss. ::Hunger's a good behavior modifier.:: thought Joe sadly. But then his thoughts brightened. ::There's hope for this family yet. I'll make sure Vince and Nate know how much this mother tried despite appearances. She shared a lot with me after she came to.:: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Mother depressed. Photo: Joe Early looking kindly. Photo: Dr. Brackett and Johnny working in a treatment room. Photo: A swollen epiglottis, laryngoscope view. Photo: An xray of epiglottitis, endolateral. Photo: Roy, offering to help in a treatment room. ************************************************** From : Monster Moofie Sent : Friday, October 21, 2005 11:09 AM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] A Grey Cloud of Doom Arrives Four days later, the 'A' shift was back on duty again. Johnny arrived early, in a terrific mood despite the torrential downpour outside. He had taken a long ride in the nearby mountain before the rain started, and then spent the rest of his days off working in the barn on his ranch. The date he had told Roy about last shift had gone very well, resulting in plans to go riding with the girl the next nice day off they had. In addition, he managed to one up the Phantom at his own game by successfully avoiding a water trap in his locker and placed a new trap where it was sure to get Chet. "Chet must have put this here before he left last shift," Johnny remarked to the empty room with a huge grin. "Won't he be surprised when he gets in today?!" Johnny gleefully finished getting dressed and headed out to the dayroom. Unfortunately, he met a grey cloud of doom as he entered the dayroom. ::Uh oh.:: Johnny thought. ::There is only one time of year Roy looks like this. It must be time for the dreaded mother-in-law's visit.:: Johnny decided to cheerfully greet Roy anyway. He hoped maybe some of his cheerfulness would spread. "Good morning, good morning, good morning, gentlemen!" Johnny greeted the guys. "Good morning? You've got to be kidding, John!" Roy growled. "What on earth is good about this morning?! It has been raining since noon, our first day off. I've had a very lengthy 'honey, do list' to complete. I had a flat tire I had to change this morning. I tore my nice jacket in the process. AND my mother-in-law will be at my house by the time we get off tomorrow. I can't think of anything good about today!" Roy quickly stalked off to the locker room to change, swinging the door hard in the process. Captain Stanley, Mike, Marco and Johnny watched the door swing in shock. They all knew that Roy got cranky when his mother-in-law was coming but this was far worse than usual. "Yikes!" "Wow!" "Ouch!" came the simultaneous remarks from Cap, Mike and Marco. "Please tell me I'm not THAT bad when my mother-in-law is here!" Cap added. "I think we're all going to be walking on eggshells today," Johnny said to the guys. Just then, a disgruntled, "Gaaaaggggeeeee!" was heard from the locker room. Johnny grinned and stated, "I do believe the phantom just got caught again." He headed over and grabbed the last jelly donut and a cup of coffee as the rest of the guys erupted in laughter. "The Phantom will repay his pigeon in triplicate!" a dripping Chet stated as he entered the room. He grabbed a cup of coffee, only to have Captain Stanley call them to roll call. "Drat! The pigeon is REALLY going to pay now!" Continuing to grumble, Chet headed into the bay with the rest of the guys. "No new announcements today," Captain Stanley told them. "Mike, you're on kitchen duty, Chet and Marco, hang the hoses; Johnny, you have the dorm. Roy, sorry pal, the latrine is all yours today. 'C' shift had a pretty busy night and both vehicles need a good once over. Let's get to work!" Johnny and Roy headed to the squad. Roy sighed and softly said to himself, "Figures, latrine duty today, and on a muddy day no less. What else could possibly make things worse today?" Grabbing the equipment out of the squad, the two paramedics performed the morning inventory and calibrations. "We need to make a supply run," Johnny informed Roy. "We're short on D5W and MS." After informing Captain Stanley that they were headed to Rampart, the two headed back to the squad. Johnny couldn't resist. "Shall I drive today, Roy?" he asked with a grin. As he expected, he was met with an icy glare. Roy didn't respond verbally at all, but rather just got into the squad. Johnny jumped in and Roy drove off into the downpour. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Entering Rampart, Johnny and Roy headed for the nurses' station. "Good morning, Dix!" Johnny smiled his famous grin at his favorite nurse. "We're here to get supplies, Gage, not spend all day chasing nurses!" Roy grumpily advised his cheerful partner. He stalked away, heading to the lounge to grab some coffee. "Did someone get up on the wrong side of the bed today?" Dixie questioned Roy's shocked partner as she grabbed the supply list from his hand. "I'll give you three guesses but I think you can figure it out in only one." Kel and Joe approached the desk, having witnessed Roy's uncharacteristic jab and then Johnny's statement to Dixie. All three of Rampart's staff figured out it had to be the annual visit of Roy's mother-in-law. Dixie said, "It's that time of year already?" "Yep, I'm afraid so," Johnny confirmed. "Is it just my imagination or is Roy a whole lot more out of sorts from this impending visit than usual?" Dr. Bracket asked. "Yeah, Doc, he does seem to be worse this time," replied the puzzled paramedic. "I have no idea why. Although, he did comment he had a bad morning. Not to mention the weather." "I certainly hope things will improve soon," Dr. Early stated what they all were silently hoping, "With both Roy AND the weather!" "How is the Brown family doing?" Johnny asked. "Mikey is much improved," Kel replied. "We were able to remove him from the vent the night before last. He is doing excellent." "The rest of the kids were placed in a good foster home. Mikey will be able to join them when he is released," Joe added. "Peri entered an excellent treatment program. I think when she completes it there is hope social services will help them be reunited as a family." "I'm glad to hear that, docs! Maybe that will help take a little grump out of my partner." Johnny responded. "Well, guess I had better not get caught 'chasing nurses' now," Johnny said with a laugh. "If you dare, tell that partner of mine I'll be in the squad." "We don't get paid enough to put our lives at risk Johnny!" Dixie smarted off to the departing paramedic. Momentarily, Roy rejoined Johnny in the squad. Silence reigned as they pulled out of Rampart's driveway. ::This is going to be an incredibly l-o-n-g day.:: Johnny decided. Shortly, they were back to the station and performing their assigned chores. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For a day the skies decided to downpour on Los Angeles, the tones stayed remarkably silent, resulting in a slow, tedious day. All of the guys stayed well away from Roy, not wanting to be in the path of his ire. Even Mike's famous spaghetti failed to pull Roy out of his funk. Much later that afternoon, as Johnny was busy elsewhere, the Phantom decided it was time to strike back. Unfortunately, it resulted in Roy falling victim to the attack. Chet turned tail and ran as he realized what had happened. Roy could only stand there and mutter, "What else could I possibly expect today?" Roy returned from changing his shirt and Cap, the only one who dared approach him, said. "We've decided we would like to have those chili dogs for dinner tonight. I'd like you and Johnny to head up and get them now," Captain Stanley commanded. "Come on, Johnny let's get this over with," Roy said with a huff. They headed out into the rain once more, heading to bring the food back to the station. They had nearly reached the food stand when the tones went off. ##Engine 51, Squad 51, Station 36, Truck 110, Squad 45; mudslide, multiple cars over the embankment, Hwy 10, just south of mile marker 75. Police and ambulances are responding. Time out 16:55.## "Wow, I'm glad we are fully supplied," Johnny said as he pulled on his helmet. "Yeah," Roy agreed. Roy maneuvered the squad past the heavy Friday afternoon traffic. Fortunately, the cars, although already backed up more than a mile as people headed out of the city for the weekend, managed to get over enough for the squad to pass. First on the scene, Squad 51 pulled up, parking the squad well away from the slide that was blocking off the full width of the three lane highway. The two paramedics pulled on their turnout coats and grabbed their gear. Looking up, they saw the sky showed no signs of letting up. ::If anything, the weather is worsening.:: Roy thought. ::Sure wish I hadn't wondered what could be worse about today!:: Multiple cars, unable to move because of the slide and the traffic behind them, were stopped in front of the squad. "Hey, Roy.." Johnny said as he pointed above them, "I really don't like the looks of this mountain. I think this section could go at any time. These cars can't move yet because of the traffic, but I think we need to get the people out of them and back to where they will be safe." "Yeah, I agree, Johnny." Roy responded. "Listen up, folks!" Johnny called out. "We need everyone who is between our squad and the slide to please get out of your cars and move back behind the squad. This area isn't safe for you to stay." Fortunately, most of the people listened and proceeded as Johnny had asked them. The paramedics surveyed the cars that they could see off the embankment as they walked towards the slide. The embankment was steep, but not a cliff. As far as fifty feet down the hill they could see multiple cars, as well as a few victims that looked like they had either been thrown or crawled out. Another fifty feet below they could see the northbound section of Highway 10. A four door Buick sedan was buried under the debris, a large rock on top of the hood and windshield. Roy reached in and confirmed what he feared. "Johnny, the driver is a code F." He continued to check the other cars on the road for any victims. Johnny headed back to the squad and grabbed the climbing gear they needed. As he headed back towards the slide, Vince drove up and parked by the squad. He was immediately followed by Engine 51. Cap joined Johnny and surveyed the scene while the engine setup for the upcoming rappelling. They spotted movement just below. A muddy woman crawled up the embankment. Johnny reached out to help her back onto the road. "My car was the last one that went over," the woman said. "It was stopped by the big tree there," she pointed about ten feet down the embankment. "I'm fine. I just cut my head on the window as I crawled out of my car. The people in the car in front of me didn't look good. I heard someone moaning. Please, don't worry about me, go help the other people." she implored. Meanwhile, Vince spotted the car containing the code F. He noted the license plate and told Roy, "This car was involved in the kidnapping of a five year old girl! She is still missing!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Gage laughing in conspiracy. Photo: A crabby Roy in the squad in helmet. Photo: Chet, getting nailed by a water can in a locker. Photo: Gage, talking to Dixie in a hallway. Photo: Brackett and Johnny chatting in consternation. Photo: Chet, setting up a water trap by Mike Stoker. Photo: Multiple cars in a mudslide. **************************************************************** From : Cassidy Meyers Sent : Wednesday, October 26, 2005 3:01 PM Subject : Muddy Mire, No Fire.. "Vince, there's a ton of people in trouble down there!" Roy said. "We'll get to her when we can. Could you make sure that any of the guy's potential weapons in that car have been disarmed? Last thing we need is a firefighter shooting himself later on in the middle of doing his body recovery." Vince nodded, wincing uneasily up at the oozing mountain above the section of road in front of them. He could see that the cars in the gully hadn't been in the brunt of the main ongoing mudslide. That one, was still in progress like a large tongue of slow gooey lava in a slate colored river, moving across the highway two hundred feet away from the flashing fire trucks. Howard could barely see the spots the engine crew had aimed on the tangle of cars through the fierce rainfall that wasn't letting up. "I'll make sure to check the whole car out as soon as I get this lady into the squad car out of the rain." "Have Stoker check her out a little better and tell him to stay with her until the ambulance arrives!" Gage said as he and Roy started down the buried hill already spread knee deep in mud. "Ma'am, go with the police officer. He'll get you to a safe place and get that cut on your forehead treated by one of our engine crew. If you start to feel worse or faint, tell them and either my partner or I will come back to take a better look at you." he told her over the loud rainfall flooding down around them. The shaken woman was nonplussed. "I meant what I said. I'm o.k. I wasn't even jarred when my car got shoved off by the slide. Just ignore me." Cap had to smile at her tenacity. ::As if he could.:: He stepped forward to take her shoulders from Johnny's firm grip. "Miss. First things first. Let's get you dry before you start shivering any harder. Vince here will get you into some warm blankets and I promise you he'll get the heater going. While you're in there, if you remember anything about victim numbers, tell us using the policeman's handy talkie." The dripping woman nodded, accepting the 4X4 Mike Stoker starting pressing gently to her wound to stop the thick bleeding she wasn't yet aware of. "This way.." Mike told her, and Vince and helead her away from the area. Gage was already counting the number of injured people doughed into the pools of mud around the cars. "...four, five, six.. Roy, none of them are moving but none of them are face buried at least." "Points in our favor.. Cap!" Roy called out. Stanley came back, running from the engine. He had been calling for another alarm assignment, a heavy equipment crew to handle the moving mudflow, and another six ambulances. "I think we're gonna need all the resuscitation gear, drownings are most likely gonna happen in all this." DeSoto said about the flooding rain. "I'm way ahead of you. Marco's getting everything now. Want a tank to go down with you initially?" "Yeah." Roy nodded, letting Kelly quickly tie off a lifeline to his belt from the engine's wench. "Put it in a stokes, we'll drag it along with us while we check out the victims thrown free of their cars. The ones still inside vehicles are gonna haveta wait a while. They're sheltered at least." Lopez hustled and guide-roped a bare stokes' head end with fast knots to the engine's bumper. He got a canvas web sling snapped into place along with packages of folded yellow shock sheets for when they chose the first person to rescue and extricate. "Here's the first rigging, guys. I've got four demand valve tank regulators cracked open and set in here." Gage and Roy nodded as they studied the hill for the safest way to slither down it using their lifelines. "Lower it down to us as we go! We'll signal ya what we find." Chet returned Roy and Johnny's HTs, wrapped in plastic bags. "Waterproofed fellas. Go.. We got ya.." he told them as he and Hank took up their waist ropes. DeSoto and Gage wasted no more time, slipping deep into triage mode. Roy shouted, "I'll take these three!" he said, crawling through the mud towards the nearest twisted group of victims sticking out of the muddy morass. Gage waved to him as he high stepped through the mudflow down to the lowest cluster of victims that he could see. He carried a resuscitator with him, from the stokes Marco was sliding down alongside them. He put an oral airway in between his teeth as he scrambled, to keep it relatively clean. Johnny reached the first man and tipped back his head from where he lay on his back. He didn't bother with spinal precautions when he realized the man wasn't breathing, lying as he was, partially submerged in muck. He crouched down hopefully over the man's nose and mouth to see if he started breathing again. He didn't. And a set of gloved fingers to the neck proved the lack of a pulse, too. ::Dead.:: Gage thought. He rose up only briefly to his knees in the muck to give Cap a cut throat gesture about the man in front of him so Hank would know about his killed status and mark the dead man's position on his chart for the coroner. He threw an unopened blanket packet onto the man's chest to show other workers that he had been assessed as a fatality and then he moved on. The next woman lay on her side, gurgling weakily. Gage scooped away water and mud from her nose and mouth and immediately tipped back her head further until she started gasping in stronger more relieved breaths. He left a flowing oxygen mask over her face to shield out the rain and he used the oral airway he had carried with him. He decided to leave the first demand valve unit behind for the extrication firefighters behind him to find and use on her later should she need it. Johnny moved on again, pressing through the mud with his hands for the location of another victim to check. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy reached his first victim, a young teenager. The girl immediately reacted when he touched her face and head to listen for breathing. She screamed. DeSoto froze. "Easy, calm down. I'm Roy DeSoto, a Los Angeles County fire fighter paramedic. A bunch of my crew behind me are gonna get you out of here before anything else happens with that hillside up there, ok? Now tell me, where is this pain of yours coming from?" he asked with a gentle smile, wiping away mud and blood from her lips with his gloves. "My l-legs. I think they're broken!" she sobbed, breathing fast. "Ok, lie still. I promise I won't bump them again. How's your back or your neck? Do they hurt anywhere along here?" he asked carefully probing over and behind her head and on down her spine underneath the mud while he held her forehead still. "No..*gasp* ...no.. Just my legs." she trembled. "Oh, g*d. What happened?" "Mudslide. We're off the side of the highway about thirty feet down. Hold still as you can while I cover you in this sheet to warm you up a bit. Some other firemen are on their way down to come stretcher you out of here, ok?" and he turned to crawl to the next form lying in the mud. The girl grabbed the back of his jacket. "You're not leaving me?!" she startled in fright. She immediately winced and screamed when her shattered legs jolted her. Roy grabbed her shoulders, pulling the sheet over her face so the rain would stop drowning her. "I have to. Others may be hurt worse than you nearby. I won't be far. And it'll be less than five minutes until the next crew gets here to get you out of this mud." he told her when he saw that there was no active arterial hemorrhaging happening from her broken legs in the water pooling up around the craters their bodies were leaving in the thickening mud. The girl's eyes connected with his for a moment as she tried to talk again, but then she suddenly sagged into unconsciousness underneath his hands. "Hey.. are you still with me?" Roy shouted, pinching the skin of her neck. She didn't wake in the slightest. DeSoto cross fingered an oral airway into her mouth and left a high flow oxygen mask in place once he was assured her breathing continued. He raised her head up onto a torn free car door to thwart the rising level of the mud flowing around her. Then he used his HT. "Cap! This girl first. She's real shocky!" he said when his fingers failed to find a pulse lower than the crook of her elbow. ##Two men from thirty six's are coming down for her. We see you! So far, Gage's got one alive.## replied Hank from the talkie's speaker. "She's airway secured. No apparent spinal injuries." Roy told him. ##10-4, pal. They've been notified. Keep going with triage.## DeSoto crawled away from the teenager, feeling the tug of not wanting to acutely, dragging another muddy oxygen tank case along behind him. A man called out to him from a filling hole. He was buried up to the waist in muck. "Hey, fireman! A little help here?" DeSoto whirled, almost losing his balance and falling in the mud until he spotted the man. "You hurt at all?" "Nah, I'm not a driver from one of these buried cars. I'm a bystander who wanted to actively help instead of gape like those morons are doing up there. But I was stupid enough to get stuck stepping into a hole." Roy continued to slide his eyes around for his third victim as he talked. "We'll get you out of there real soon. Just keep still so you don't sink down any deeper. Grab this rope." he said, tying one off to a tree over the man's head. "Keep yourself on top of all this mud. I gotta keep searching here for other victims." "I know.." said the muddy man. "Check over by that shrub. I thought I heard coughing over there a minute ago." "Over here?" Roy asked the trapped man, spitting out the rain streaming into his face. "Yeah. Sounded like a kid." he replied with a shiver. Roy found a child eight feet further along under the branches of a chaparral. He knew he had found Vince's kidnapped girl by the way her mouth was taped with her hands tied behind her back. Giving a cry of instinct that only another parent would understand, he pulled the tape off her mouth and listened for signs of respirations while he felt for a pulse. He found very weak ones under icy cold skin. ::She's hypothermic already.:: He opened the resuscitator case and began using it, fast. The oxygen slowly boosted the unconscious little girl's color away from cyanotic gray. The trapped bystander wanted to know. "Is that person alive?" he asked, unable to see Roy clearly through the driving rain. "Yes, thanks for the tip. It was a near thing but I think she's gonna be ok." "A woman?" "No, a little girl. One the police have been looking for." "Good deal. How about that..." chuckled the man. "I'm stuck, but I'm a hero, too. Kinda makes feeling like an absolute fool all worth while." Roy was relieved enough to laugh along with the well meaning bystander. Moving her as a unit, DeSoto pulled the little girl into his arms and into the warmth of his wrapped overcoat and body heat as he stood up with her to meet the extrication crews coming down to meet him. "Tell Vince I'm coming up with his kidnap victim! There's two live victims down here besides mine. One ok, one unconscious and breathing secured." The roped firefighter team nodded and Roy recognized them as part of 36's engine crew. They had a stokes between them and shovels. "Where are your paramedics?" Roy asked. "Topside!" they replied. "Waiting for your partner's two victims! Need help with her?" "I got him.." shouted Marco, skidding down the hill with a child's backboard. He set the board on top of a car roof while Roy kept up ventilations on the girl and strapped her in tightly for the trip to the road. As a precaution, a rope had been tied to the head of the board and a fireman from Truck 110 manned it. "Roy, how's she doing? She arrested?" "No. Breathing too slow. I don't think she's hurt badly. She's just real cold." Roy replied. "Looks like she ran over here from these footprints. Probably fell into the mud when she got overtired from panicking after she got away from the dead kidnapper's car. How's my first victim?" "Squad 45's already transporting your leg fractured teenager out by ambulance. All helicopters are still grounded because of the weather at the airport." "I'm not surprised." DeSoto sighed grimly. "Though we sure could've used one to spot more slide victims. What does Johnny have?" Roy asked, giving the little girl another careful breath on the demand valve as Captain Stanley rappelled down the hill toward them to aid their climb to the top of the gully. Lopez tipped a flood of rain off his helmet away from the little girl's face. "A water drowning and a possible conscious cardiac." "Anyone spotting any more victims inside of cars?" "All of the ones we're seeing exposed, are empty." Soon, they got to the road and quickly to a blasting heater's warmth inside of an idling Mayfair. It had its doors open flush with the doors of Gage's so the two paramedics could see each other's victims. Medics from Squad 99 that Cap had called appeared and jumped in to help them with their four victims which included the first head wounded eye witness. DeSoto picked up the biophone while Marco stayed to ventilate the tiny chilled girl on the small backboard. ##Rampart, this is Squad 51. How do you read?## ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Gage, sitting muddy on a Mayfair bench. Photo: Roy, muddy helmet by squad in daylight. Photo: A little girl on an EKG. Photo: Cap on HT by a muddy hillside. Photo: A warm heated interior of a Cadillac ambulance. Photo: Close up of a woman getting jaw thrust airway opened. Photo: Roy DeSoto in turnout under heavy rain. Photo: Two men, stuck neck deep in muddy waters. ***************************************************************** From: Roxy Dee Date: Thu Oct 27, 2005 11:54 am Subject: Mud Salvage Joe Early looked up when he heard the double incoming transmission buzz begin over the ER base station. He saw that the red light was flashing urgently in a triple call rescue pattern. He turned to Sharon Walters next to him. "Sharon, looks like we've a multiple casualty rescue coming in. Go get Dr. Brackett and Miss McCall to help field these, stat." "Yes, Doctor." she replied and she hurried off to find them. Joe entered the room and toggled the first switch on the band. "This is Rampart Base. Unit calling in, please repeat." ##Rampart, this is Rescue 5-1.## "Go ahead, 51." ##Rampart, we've four victims of a mudslide involving vehicles. Trauma isn't grossly apparent but exposure symptoms are present to various degrees in all of them.## DeSoto said. Then he motioned for his partner to go on ahead with transmitting. On a separate biophone, 99's, Johnny added his patient info. ##Victim One is a male, approximately fifty five years of age, complaining of severe mid substernal chest pain with shortness of breath. Conscious on oxygen at 15Lpm. He's got an irregular pulse by palpation at the wrist. "Victim Two, is a semi-conscious female, around twenty, fresh water near drowning, breathing on her own in good color on O2. Breath sounds indicate mild pulmonary edema bilaterally with growing rhonci. Pulse is regular but mildly tachycardic. Victim Two denies any cervical spine or back pain.## Roy got a nod from Johnny to take over on their own biophone while he stooped to get a set of vital signs on his more urgent cardiac case. DeSoto spoke loudly, to be heard over the rain pounding down on the roof top of the ambulance. ##Victim Three. Female aged five in protective police custody. No obvious bleeding but she's moderately hypothermic under assisted ventilations. The child is spineboard secured. Note that she was in a car that has sustained a traumatic fatality. "Victim four. Female. No injuries beyond a largish head laceration above the left eye...," Roy added more when Stoker pointed to his helmet and waggled iffy fingers at him about the first woman who had walked out of the gully...." but noted on her by a firefighter is some anterograde amnesia post accident.## He looked away when Mike nodded in affirmation at the kind of memory loss she was experiencing. Joe Early looked up from the fast notes he was taking with a pencil. ##Go ahead with vitals on Victims One and Three to start.## he told both paramedics. Johnny took the airwaves first. ##Victim One. Vitals signs are: Pulse is arrhythmic at 54. Monitor shows.... a junctional escape rhythm. It has normal QRS complexes with inverted P waves, on lead two. BP is 96/50. Respirations are shallow and rapid at twenty two. Pain is at eight of ten and is described as building.## Roy spoke quickly..##Victim Three. Pulse is 46. Respirations unassisted are at eight. BP is 60/42. Passive rewarming of her extremities has begun. Skin is cool to cold, but now dry. We are attempting to get a core body temperature. An EKG reading is ready. Non specific brady without irregularities..but it is not improving to oxygen and ventilations.## Joe hit the talk switch. ##DeSoto, send your strip by telemetry. Gage, give me his using the defibrillator paddles to save time.## Dr. Early got Brackett on the line with Gage's acute MI with a finger point and a pass off of the feeding strip from him over the remote monitor. He also gave the attending his notepage on the man. Kel sized up the findings in seconds. "Johnny, his BP's too low for nitroglycerin. Give Victim One 325 mg. children's aspirin and start an I.V. of 5% Dextrose in half normal saline TKO. Give 0.5 mg atropine. Also morphine sulfate with 5 mg titrated to obtain pain relief. If you gain no resolution of his PJC's after a minute, administer Dopamine 10 mgs IVP. We'll try epinephrine and an isoproterenol drip only if you begin noting a Type II second degree or third degree AV block. Watch for respiratory depression or any further signs of deepening hypotension and guard against it aggressively with positive pressure ventilations and a fluid challenge if necessary.## Gage kicked back the instructions through the phone propped onto one muddy shoulder, while he spiked the I.V. bag that the shivering, moaning man needed. Joe advised Roy on his small child. ##Roy, on Victim Three. Establish an I.V. of lactated Ringer's and infuse at 150 ml/hour. If despite oxygenation and ventilation, her heart rate falls below 60 bpm with poor systemic perfusion, give her some epinephrine I.V. of 0.01 mg/kg 1:10,000, 0.1 mL/kg. You may repeat every 3 to 5 minutes at the same dose to a third injection. Add Atropine 0.02 mg/kg which you can repeat once if you still don't regain that minimum pulse rate. Avoid all rough movement and excessive activity around her. Jostling could move chilled acidotic blood around and cause ventricular fibrillation. Keep in mind if she arrests, defibrillation and anti-dysrhythmia medications should not be used until her core temperature has been raised to at least 86° F. Monitor her core temperature. Switch to warm, humid oxygen via ambu. Start active rewarming of both her axilla, trunk, and groin areas and heat your I.V. fluids to 106°F if at all possible under your conditions.## "10-4, Rampart." and DeSoto repeated his orders back to the listening doctor on the other end of his line. "The girl's temperature is currently 84.2°F and rising." Chet Kelly used a spare fire glove that he had thrown onto the Mayfair's dashboard heat vent to steam as an improvised, insulated I.V. pouch. He tested to make sure it wasn't hot enough to melt the child's I.V. bag, like one would test a few drops of bottled milk for a baby on an inner wrist, and Roy found that he had to smile at that. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Early turned to Kel about his patient. "What do you think? Bradycardia's a late sign of severe hypoxic deficit in a small child. Think the cold saved her from getting brain damaged?" Kel frowned, studying the countertop. "Depends on how she became dyspneic in the first place. We won't know a definite outcome until we get a true esophageal temperature reading and warm her up back to normal using aggressive peritoneal, chest tube and bladder lavage." "I was afraid you might say something like that." said Joe. "I wouldn't tell you anything but the absolute truth in this kind of matter." Kel replied. "In your shoes, I'd be hunting for a little optimism myself." Then he turned back to the radio. "51, Victim Two. Go ahead with her vitals set and findings." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gage finished injecting the heart attack victim's medications as he spoke. ##We've got her head elevated and it's helping with her shortness of breath. Level of consciousness is improving. Pulse is 120. EKG remains unremarkable. But respirations are 22 and mildly labored. Her BP is 100/70. Body core temperature drop is negligable at this time. Seems the blankets and all the heaters running full blast in here are starting to work for her.## Brackett told Johnny to start an I.V. saline lock as an open window for future meds and to give the woman a dose of Albuterol to ease her bronchospasming. ##Dirt and debris might be the cause of some of her difficulty, Johnny. Guard against further aspirations and keep treating for shock.## Joe handled the last victim after he got vital sign details. ##Roy, check her neurological status and watch for other signs of mental deterioration with that possible head injury. Immobilize her head and neck and place her onto a longboard with her head raised just as a precaution. Start her on O2 and check her blood glucose. It may be that exertion under these frigid conditions have caused a little hypoglycemic imbalance in her bloodstream.## "10-4, Rampart. Squad 99 is riding with us in assistance." replied DeSoto. Brackett wrapped up their treatment call. ##Both of you, survey all victims head to toe for other hidden problems you haven't noted yet. Keep everybody warm and dry and continually monitor their vital signs every five minutes. Keep ventilating those with airways in place with warmed humidified oxygen. Transport as soon as possible. What's your ETA, 51 and 99?## "Fifteen minutes max for both ambulances. All air support has been grounded by storms." said one of 99's paramedics using his HT on the biocom frequency. ##10-4.## Brackett replied. ##We'll be waiting.## Dixie McCall picked up all the care notes the doctors had started, leaving only two blank supplemental sheets for them to add on to as they stayed inside the base station alcove to monitor the rescue squads progress to the hospital. "I'll get treatment rooms two through four set for everybody. I've already gave Morton a heads up. He's on lunch. And I've notified a pediatric neurologist about our hypothermia case." she told them. "Efficient as usual. Thanks, Dixie." said Joe. "Have you heard an ETA on Squad 45's victim with the bilateral tib/fib fractures?" "She's here and has already been anesthetized for an emergency exploratory. Dr. Weathers planned ahead of time that he wouldn't disturb you boys while you dealt with the multiple casualty call. And before you ask how you never heard anything on them while they rushed in here,..he handled her radio traffic from security dispatch." Dixie told them with a gracious head incline. Dr. Brackett grinned ruefully. "That was ingenuous. Saved us a bit of noisy confusion in here. I hate it when we've got more than two calls running at the same time. This room's too small for comfort or concentration's sake." "That's what he figured." Dixie demurred. "I'd better go get things set up asap. We're gonna need a lot of hot water along with all the warming measures equipment." And she left the two doctors behind to mull over plans of attack for their latest mudslide cases. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A junctional complex cardiac rhythm. Photo: A pair of fire department rescue squads. Photo: Closeup of an ambu bag being used. Photo: Roy DeSoto carrying a small child. Photo: Paramedics loading victims onto a Mayfair. Photo: Dixie and Joe taking run notes at Rampart's base. Photo: Roy and Johnny treating many people down. ************************************************** From : patti keiper Sent : Thursday, October 27, 2005 9:02 PM Subject : The Dogging Emergency.... Captain Stanley watched Squad 99 treat patients alongside his men until he knew it was time to move all four ambulances out. He had just wrapped up the last victim in blankets when Squad 36's paramedics came out of the gloom. "Do they need us?" one of them asked him. He shook his head. "How's your new man?" "You mean the less than smart guy who piled on down the hill to try and play the hero?" "Yeah." "He's got a sprained ankle. Refused transportation." answered the second taller medic. "Well, he's gotta save face somehow. Can blame him too much for beating a hasty retreat. He can still smile plenty for finding that little girl for us over a nice hot dinner cooked by his adoring wife." Hank quipped. The two from 36's chuckled. "Any more victims, captain?" "Nah. 99's engine crew says no more are being found on top of this stuff. You can stick around if you like, just in case." Stanley kidded. "We're gonna have to. Our captain's the tenacious type. He won't let us leave until every inch of that slide's been probed and checked. Think about us when you're showering up in a half hour and count your blessings that yours was the first station on scene, okay?" "There's always next time. You know how it works. The medically treating station gets to leave when their squad leaves while transporting victims." "We do. Won't be so slow next time. Just you watch. Second arrival search duty's gonna be yours. Count on it." they promised without sting. "And we'll be sure to make it during a frosty night in the mountains on brush detail." they laughed good naturedly as they returned back the way they had come with their gear boxes. Captain Stanley winced in sympathy. "Stay warm, fellas." He drew out his HT. "Engine 51, L.A., Station 51 out one half hour." ##Station 51. *Spap*## "Come on, gang. Let's wrap up our end and clear out of all this rain. I swear my socks are shrinking." Hank told Marco, Kelly and Stoker. The three soaked and muddy firemen left for the engine with absolutely zero prodding. Just the idea of slide clean up made their upcoming station vehicles wash detail seem like a cakewalk. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny Gage walked out of the hospital staff locker room in fairly dry clothes. He was carrying the resuscitator rack from the squad that they had been using on the little kidnapped girl. He leaned into Vince, who was seated in a chair outside of her treatment room awaiting the arrival of her anxious parents. "She's doing a whole heck of a lot better. So don't think you'll have a corpse anytime soon on your hands. Roy and I have a pact not to lose any kids at least until spring." Vince visibly brightened. "Really fellas? She's ok? She looked like she was dying when you rushed her in there." he said, hooking a thumb over the dry mud on his black uniformed shoulder. "Kids turn blue when they're cold." Roy shrugged. "The EEG looked normal to Dr. Early and so did all of her motor and nervous responses. She's even breathing on her own now with a temp of 94." he celebrated. "Now that's a fast rewarming trend." "I'll take your word for it." Vince said. "She talking yet?" Gage shook his head. "She's still too busy shivering. I'd wait a while to get a statement from her about her kidnapper. Maybe ten minutes more. Besides, you'll have to go through Dixie to get to her for that one on one investigation, and she won't allow that until her body temperature's regained normal levels." "Thanks, guys. See you later." the police officer told them. "Any time." they replied. Roy exited the ambulance emergency room entrance doors before he started stamping some of the dried clods of mud off of his pants and jacket. Gage, took things a little further. He wandered out from under the hospital roof's overhang until he was getting deluged by the rain again. He even took off his overcoat and laid it over the hood of the squad to be scoured. Then he pinwheeled around, taking his helmet off, letting the water soak his uniform clear through. DeSoto chided him. "What are you doing?" "I'm getting showered off. Geesh. Can't a man get clean using novel ways without getting the third degree from his partner? Better the mud gets off into the parking lot than in the squad, don't you agree?" "The squad doesn't have to listen to you in a couple of days when you catch a bad cold and piss and moan about every gory symptom." DeSoto complained. Gage made a face. "Thinking about your mother in law already?" he deflected. "No, I'm not." he lied. Then, "Yes, I am. Seems the kids and Joanne have natural immunity to her while I don't. Johnny, having her with us for a whole weekend's gonna be pure h*ll I tell you. She really gets under my skin.." "Like this rain's doing?" Johnny joked. Roy just glared at him, wrapping his turnout a little tighter around himself even as he hunched down inside of it to keep the cascading water from running down his back underneath the collar. "Maybe we'll get real busy and get a big fire or something that'll take two days to knock down." "Fat chance! I know how my luck works. We always get real quiet at the station when Sylvia's here." "Sylvia?" Gage laughed, taking off a sock and wringing it out around one of the squad mirror's posts. "That's your mother in law's name? No wonder you hate her so much.." Roy clamped his mouth tight, controlling his temper as he got into the squad and slammed the driver's door. The impact made Gage lose his grip on his rain laundered sock and it flipped off the mirror rung and down onto the river running asphalt. Thinking the clear watering concrete made a good washboard, Johnny took off his other sock and began scrubbing it into the street with both of his bare feet. "Here, Roy." he said, tapping his now dripping, but squeaky clean shoes against his window until DeSoto grumpily opened it and grabbed them from his hands. "Thanks. I'll be done in a minute. Then we can go grab some take out for dinner." "What makes you think I feel like eating anything?" demanded Roy. "I'm a big guy. My digestion takes longer than yours to finish up a meal." Right then, DeSoto's stomach growled. Big time. DeSoto froze in place. Not moving his hands off their irritated grip on the steering wheel, DeSoto tried not to look away from Johnny's suspecting eyes. Roy fiercely hoped that his partner couldn't hear the rumbling sounds that had the potential to betray what his lips had just said. "That does." Gage said deadpan, shaking rain water out of his hair like a dog. "Paramedic hearing's a b*tch, isn't it?" Roy grunted in sheer exasperation and immediately rolled up the window, muttering epithets that would've curled Dixie's hair if she had been listening into the conversation just then. Gage knuckled the glass in a couple of raps, undeterred by the physical weather or the storm coming from his long time paramedic partner. "We'll stop by Dave's Dogs again, ok? It's the closest." he grinned in high amusement. "Last thing I need is you passing out behind the wheel from acute hunger." There was no reply from the shadowed figure behind the steaming window. ::Big guys don't need to eat so often my a@%.:: Johnny thought with amusement. Then he turned to slapping his soggy turnout against a fender rhythmically to rid it of all of its now water thinning mud. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sun made a grand appearance just as the still light brown mud caked and dripping squad squealed up alongside the curb that somebody had painted in festive colors that complemented Johnny's favorite chili dog stand. Roy hadn't even turned off the ignition when the agitated Mac made a hasty appearance to ward them away from his flaking, pastel painted picnic tables. "Oh, no. You're not sitting on my seats, guys. Not like that. Not in a million years. I don't have to accept business from any customer who isn't one hundred percent publicly presentable. So get away from here before you get mud all over the place." Gage smacked Mac against his chest with an expressive hand. "Oh why not? We're following your sign's instructions to the letter. See? We've got shoes. And...we've got shirts. So give us some service. We're hungry again.." And with that, both paramedics firmly sat down at the nearest picnic table and pulled out a set of laminated menus from behind the ketchup squeeze bottle and the tiny chrome paper napkin holder. Mac wiped the sweat off of his brow around the foldout paper hat he wore on his head to appease the health department and licked his lips nervously, as several of his regular businessmen customers started giving the two filthy firemen looks of consternation and disgust. "I'm fresh out. I got my eldest boy making a grocery run for more hot dog buns.." "Fresh out, huh? Then what'didya call those hanging right there off your roof overhang? Hallucinations?" Gage pointed. A cluster of still freshly sealed bun bags hanging like cotton candy at a carnival, swayed in the bright sunlight, glinting a little. Mac went ballastic. "Listen guys, let me be a little forward here. You're very bad for business. I mean, you pay good and tip well and all. But you're still bad for business. The plain clothes cops that normally keep kids from stealing the pickles outta my dill barrel disappear everytime you show up because you're so conspicuous and draw too much attention to them while they're undercover working on my case." Even Roy had to gape at that fact. "You hired a couple of detectives to try and bust school aged pick pockets?" "Well, yeah." said Mac defensively. "Do you know how much it costs to get a pickle barrel delivered these days? Eighteen dollars a barrel!" A businessman that the hotdog stand owner hadn't seen arrive at the ordering window, bellowed. "Hey, Mac. Are you gonna chew the fat with those sparkies my whole lunch hour? I want to get my order in before my hair turns gray!" A couple of young mothers with babies in strollers, who were going to stop for some food from the stand changed their mind when they heard the loud business executive's very audible complaint. They left quickly with more than a little nervousness. Mac immediately poured more sweat and his agitation grew by tenfold. "Ah, sorry, Ben. I'm coming. I'll be right there." Then he spied the departing moms. "Ladies! Ladies. Do come back. It was just the tiniest of misunderstandings." But they didn't return. Mac's anger, barely suppressed, grew and he gasped with barely contained rage as he made his regular's order as fast as he could make it. The change from a dollar bill he normally got to keep, was taken away and Ben stormed off in a huff of affront. Mac's glower sharpened and he began to breathe even faster. Gage and Roy, oblivious to the ruckus they were creating, were deep in their plans for an opulent supper off their menus. Johnny's hand snapped the air over the top of one of them. "Mac? Uh, say Mac. Looks like you're through there. Can we order now? My partner's famished and so am I, finally. Nothing like a good rescue to build up an appetite." "What makes you think I'm gonna do anything for--?!" Suddenly, Mac doubled over the counter, grabbing his chest and he started panting for air rapidly. Roy and Johnny's heads shot up at the sound and they dropped their menus, making a beeline for the small door at the side of the small stand. "Mac? Are you all right?!" Roy asked loudly as they hurried over. Gage went to Mac and held up his shoulders. "Mac? What's the problem? Is it your chest?" he said, leaning the owner against the window frame while he felt for a wrist pulse. Johnny saw that his breathing was very labored. "Now don't fall over onto the grill here. Roy's coming in to get you and help you outta there asap. Easy.." "Can't......breathe.." "I can see that." said Johnny. "Just hold on. Now put your arm over Roy's shoulder and come out with him. Let him do all the work. He can hold your weight and then some." "Ahh, why can't ...I ......breathe?" panicked Mac. Gage let go of Mac and met them at the tiny door. The two paramedics sat the pale, sweating hot dog man down at a basket and garbage strewn picnic table. Johnny looked up at a transfixed secretary at the same table who had stopped chewing her lunch at the sight. "Ma'am. Do me a favor and go to that squad over there. Reach in for a radio lying on the seat. I need my walkie talkie to get some fast help for this man. Can you do that?" "Uh, sure." she said, wiping her mouth free of mustard self consciously. She slowly rose to go get it, yanking off the napkin that she had tucked in around her neck. She clattered away on stiletto heels. Roy and Johnny both crouched over Mac, loosening his clothing and apron from around his waist and neck. One of them took his paper hat off, too. "Mac,.." asked DeSoto. "Do you have any history of heart trouble? Are you feeling any kind of chest pain right now?" "Heart trouble?!" startled Mac, still gasping in huge lungfuls. "Is that what's wrong with me? Oh, no...*choke* I'm gonna die..." Gage placed both hands on Mac's shoulders. "Now, Mac. Mac. Listen to me. We don't know anything yet. That's what we're trying to learn about by taking a look at ya. Just take it easy and try to calm down a little. Getting excited's only gonna make you feel a lot worse when you don't have to." Mac nodded in resignation, and he began trembling. Especially when he saw that both paramedics were opening up his shirt in preparation for an EKG reading. "Tell us about what kinds of things you're feeling right now." Gage commanded. "Roy, how about some oxygen?" he asked softly, thinking about possible symptoms. "Yep. I'll get the biophone, too, among other things." he hinted about a defibrillator and the drug box. Mac totally missed the interplay. "My... mouth's...all numb. And.. my fingers and toes are tingling.." he admitted, while Johnny took his pulse again at the wrist. Gage looked up in discovery at that. Then he began smiling, but just to himself, very slightly, and his natural paramedic's guard completely lowered to the ground. "Feels like you're suffocating, huh? Like you're not getting enough air?" "And how. Please. H- Help me. I'll do anyth-- anything you ask. Just.. don't let me die. I love my life.." pleaded the breathless Mac. "I'm a real healthy man. I don't smoke. I don't drink. My blood pressure's always been good. So's my cholesterol according to my family doctor. I don't even get colds like other folks do." he muttered, panting. "In fact, I don't remember the last time I had even so much as a sniffle." Gage took a respiration count, and his smile suddenly got bigger. But he quickly suppressed it when Mac looked up at him in distress as he was examined. Roy returned, setting down their medical equipment just as the bystander came back with their plastic coated, muddy walkie talkie. "Thanks. " he told her as he took it from her hand. The woman retreated, wiping the slimy mud off her hand with an ample clump of napkins. Roy crouched down and got out an oxygen mask from the resuscitator. A clear, plastic one on full flow. He started to string it out from the regulator to put on Mac's face, when Johnny's hand stopped his from doing it. DeSoto's face frowned in puzzlement until Johnny starting speaking. "Mac, I think I know what your problem is. I think you're suffering from acute hypocapnia syndrome. Roy, do you concur?" he asked his partner. Then he winked at DeSoto. On the side that Mac couldn't see. ::Go along with this.:: it said. Roy blinked. Three times. "Uh,...whaa.. ahhhhh...yeah?" he guessed. Then he set aside the HT he had snatched up, back onto the table. Without saying anything, he studied and soon found what Johnny had found on Mac. But there was one tiny little question still floating on the tip of his tongue. "Johnny, why are you doing th---?" Mac was beside himself. "I need oxygen,..guys. Help me!" he begged in genuine panic. Gage played their sudden ace to the hilt. "Ok, just relax. And let me get this on you here. Roy's gonna get a blood pressure off ya." Johnny turned the flow on the regulator to twenty five liters a minute, the top aperature, and then he put the mask onto Mac. Roy's eyes got real big and he bit his lip and he began hiding a smile when he finally put two and two together about what his crazy partner was up to. Narrowing his eyes, he took that BP. But he also put a steadying grip on Mac for the dizziness he knew was going to strike from an overabundance of 02 into Mac's system. "I've got.....132/86." Johnny did, too, on his other side. It didn't take long. Mac soon swayed in his seat, feeling faint. "Oh,. This is it.. I'm......dying. Oh, mama. I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you how much I really love you. But I didn't know I was gonna kick the big one today..." he mumbled. Gage leaned into his ear. "Mac. Mac... Can you still hear me? Is it true you'll do anything if we save your life?" "Yes... yes! I don't wanna die.. Not yet... I'm sorry if I made you feel unwelcome. I just wanted to stop losing busin---* gasp!*" And his eyes got real big in the precursors of a blackout. "Anything at all?" Gage plugged, holding the oxygen mask and Mac's shoulders. "....anything..." whispered the terrified hot dog stand owner. "How about a whole year's worth of free chili dogs for both me and my partner and the rest of our gang, always delivered...with a smile?" Gage said, dropping the clincher. Mac nodded yes, and promptly passed out into their arms. DeSoto and Gage were ready for that and caught him. They lowered him to the paper and french fry strewn pavement and they placed Mac onto his back. Johnny left the oxygen mask on Mac's face and his other hand deftly shut off the flow of gas to it. Moisture from condensation began to steam solidly around the fainted man's nose and mouth. Roy couldn't hold himself back anymore while he tipped back Mac's head so he could breathe a little better with a patent airway. "Johnny, that was pure evil and completely dirty handed." "So.... A little humility's good for the soul. Especially a meesly money grubbing hot dog stand owner's. We didn't do this to him. He brought it on all by himself...by being so..." he broke off, searching for the right words to explain what he meant....."so..prejudiced against guys like us and what we do for our daily living. A little hyperventilation faint has never hurt anybody, and you know it. After all, anyone in one is about as far away from incurring ischemic brain damage, as one can possibly get." Then he nudged Roy's shoulder."Just look at what this one eensy weeny little blackout will get us, Roy. Think about it! Finally, firemen will have some place to eat for free like every cop does everywhere else, just because of the nature of the job he holds. Now, that.. is delivering sheer poetic justice for once, wouldn't you agree?" "At the expense of someone else's pain and suffering?" Roy challenged. But he was starting to grin the precursors of 'I-like-it.' even while he chided his second half firmly. Johnny was unphased by the berating. "Sure, partner. This didn't hurt Mac one iota. We're still doing our jobs like he asked us to do, Roy. We're still helping him out by the fire department book. This other tactic, it's....well,.....call it a little free attitude adjustment if you will." "I don't think Mac's the one who actually needs it." Roy mumbled. Johnny looked up from the pulse he was monitoring on Mac. "Huh?" "Nothing. You better make sure that Mac here doesn't have something truly wrong with him to cover our butts." "WAYYy... ahead of you." said, Gage, flipping open the EKG monitor. He stuck on the pads with a flourish and wired Mac in. He flipped on the machine to audible and turned up the volume to the loudest gain so that it would start to work on waking Mac up. Roy appeased the last of his concern for Mac's well being by studying the rhythm flowing across the screen. It was entirely unadulterated NSR. DeSoto grunted. "You got lucky. You weren't wrong this time." "I'm never wrong." "Uh huh..." Roy grinned. "Now that you've had your fun? What's next?" "This..." Gage said, scooping up the paddles just as Mac groaned and awoke as his blood's carbon dioxide levels normalized. He placed them onto Mac's bare chest and held them there after he made sure the machine was completely, uncharged. Roy bit his lip, fighting to keep a straight face while Gage completed a scheme worthy of the best Chet Kelly could ever possibly dream up. He looked away and pretended to fiddle with the now turned off oxygen supply so he wouldn't spoil it. "Mac! Mac!" Johnny shouted as he held the paddles down firmly onto the man's chest. "Can you hear me now?!" Mac opened his eyes blearily and startled when he saw what Johnny was doing. "Ackhh!" he shouted, shoving them off his chest. "Get those things off of me! I'm fine now." He also pulled the non flowing oxygen mask off of his face and started to struggle to his feet, peeling off the EKG pads eagerly. His face was a mask of sheer embarrassment but now, a little gratitude, mixed in. "Are you sure?" Gage asked, throwing the paddles back into their case. He genteely helped Mac return to sitting on the picnic table bench. Mac winced for each tacky sticker he yanked off his chest that pulled out some chest hair. Yank! "Ow.." Yank! "Ouch! Yes, G*d d*mn it!" Roy's back started jiggling as he tried to keep his uncontrollable giggles completely hidden. He decided to occupy himself by putting away all the rescue gear. Gage started to button the buttons up Mac's shirt again, one by one."You're a very lucky man, Mac, that we decided to have dinner with you. We almost didn't come here because we wanted to shower off so bad." "Oh, yeah?" grinned Mac sheepishly. He was a completely different man now. "I wanna thank ya fellas. You saved my life. Do you have an address where I can pay the bill?" Johnny held up his hand in negation and he smiled craftily. "What bill, Mac? We didn't transport you to the hospital in the ambulance. No ride? No bill. That's how it works with all of us paramedic types. " Mac beamed up at Gage with tears in his eyes. "Gratitude works, too. And I still remember my promise to you both.. I mean, about feeding ya lunches for a year." Gage demurred. "Aw, Mac. You don't have to do that." "Yes, I do. A deal's a deal. From a grateful businessman to a fireman, even if he is a little muddy around the edges." And then Mac stuck out his hand. Roy stayed in the truck, containing near guffaws. Just barely. "Ok, I can't argue with you. I promise we won't come everyday, all right?" Johnny told him, taking the palm offered to him in a returning grasp. "Ok." said Mac, feeling like he had a whole new lease on life. He got up and started to clean up his stand and surrounding picnic tables, with new energy. Johnny got into the squad and closed the door behind himself with complete and utter satisfaction. "There ends the war, of all wars. I do believe Johnny Gage has declared a truce on that particular hot dog stand." Roy grinned as his tone belied the further beratement he wanted to deliver. "I still think that little stunt was evil." "You won't be saying that later on when the whole station's filling up on those wonderful chili dogs every week." Johnny said, lacing contended fingers behind his head. Roy started up the ignition but then paused as he jerked the squad out of park. "Does this mean that Mac now has to feed every shift? Or just ours?" Johnny's satisfied smirk fell into one of instant dismay. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Roy and Johnny discussing a sensitive matter outside by the squad. Photo: Roy looking incredulous. Photo: Johnny looking down at a victim in the sun in turnout. Photo: Johnny fake defibrillating a man on a sidewalk. Photo: DeSoto and Gage treating a possible cardiac. ************************************************************************ From: "Cory Anda" Date: Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:52 pm Subject: Feigning Grace.. The gang was bored.....again. There had been no calls for six hours since the big mudslide. And it was looking more and more likely that Roy was going to have to go home for the weekend to spend it with his wife and kids ....and with Sylvia, Roy's mother in law. Gage was currently bragging about how they had pulled the wool over Mac's eyes to the others, but only Chet Kelly seemed to enjoy the tale thoroughly. "Just feel lucky that Mac didn't press charges of malfeasance, Johnny." Cap said sharply. "He could've you know. There's a state law that says anyone who suffers unconsciousness has to be evaluated by a physician if at all possible on a paramedic run." "That's only If, Cap. If...they give you permission. Mac directly refused. All right, ok.. not verbally mind you,.. but he sure pulled off those patches and that oxygen mask fast enough." he chuckled. Kelly gave him a high five in admiration for carrying off such a gem stunt. Then he said. "I'm gonna go shower fellas." "Again?" Cap groaned. "Yeah, why not? I'm still spitting out sand here from between my teeth.." Kelly exclaimed back. "Excuse me while I go freshen up. Geesh.. What a grouch.." "He's only hungry." Johnny explained to Chet's retreating back. "I think Cap's kinda crazy for not going down to the dog stand for a free weiner." "I'm not going to go there to eat because it's not right, Gage. Not after you pulled off that kind of thing." Gage just grinned and spun a quarter into a spin on the table some more, absently humming to himself while he downed milk from a carton. "I wouldn't celebrate so hard, Johnny. It's always easy to get into trouble when you start to criticize and judge people while treating them with less than the respect you normally would, just because they're a little different than you. So don't begin to view them in such a shallow light, Johnny. You'll only regret it in the long run." Roy said gently. "Says who? Chet seems none the worse for wear for his pranks. Watch." and he held up two fingers to his mouth so he could deliver a sharp piercing whistle. It was so loud, an echo of it returned to them from out of the vehicle bay. "Hey Kelly! Get back in here. I wanna talk to ya for a minute." DeSoto just sighed and buried his nose into the stock pages. Kelly jogged back into the kitchen and barely managed to hide the tools that he had been using to wire up another water can in one of the toilet stalls for Gage to find, into his back pocket. "What now, Gage? I'm a little busy. I wanna get clean.." "I'm through, Chet. No more wars. Concluding the one between Mac and I, got me to wondering.... about whether or not the two of us, should do the same.." Chet immediately squinted and angled his head suspiciously. "Roy, did he crack his head working on any of those slide victims earlier today?" "Nope." DeSoto replied, still reading. "He's injury free, Chet." he yawned. "Today.." he glared back from over a newspage. "And I'll stay that way. I promise, guys. And that includes not getting any more bruises from unexpected flying water bombs. Chet.." he shot back at Kelly. "So this, I vow. It's over. No rubber chickens, no more short sheeting the bed. No dresses on CPR manikins, or touchy mousetraps....nothing...ever.....again." Gage told Chet mildly with conviction. "Starting......now." "Well, what about this Phantom thing of ours?" Chet asked, shifting uncomfortably onto his other foot. "I mean, things were just getting good.." "Didn't you get soaked enough in all that rain earlier on?" Johnny frowned at him. "Well, yeah. That's different. One's water from a cloud, the other's water from a c---" Johnny halted the very words out of Chet's lips when he held up his right hand in a native american benediction over the middle of his forehead. "I swear on the grave of my forefathers to never play another prank on Chet Kelly, ever again." The genuine solemnity of his voice gave chills to the rest of the gang and they all stopped whatever leisure activity they had been partaking in at that particular moment. Chet just slowly turned around and left the room, affording Johnny a sidelong glance back at him every once in a while. "It's a start.." Roy said without looking up from his reading. A few seconds later, Kelly peeked back through the door to look at Johnny suspiciously, who was still holding his prayer summoning hand up in the way of his people with his eyes closed. He spoke again. "You're staying one hundred percent dry from now on, Chet, so you mark my words. Hear it again from me. It's overrrrrrrr.." The face in the door disappeared. Peace reigned once more over the warm kitchen....until.... ##Station 51. Possible suicide attempt. 6101 Sharon Road. 6101 Sharon Road. Cross street Benedict. Time out 17:55## The gang dropped everything and ran for the trucks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The rain, had returned, with strength. It was so dark and the way ahead so obscured, that Johnny had to remark on it. "I sure hope you know where you're going, Roy, because I sure don't." "I do. Sharon Road's a street one of my daughter's best friends lives on. In fact, the house we're going to just may be a neighbor friend of hers. We'll be there in four minutes." "What do you think we got?" "Someone who's very unhappy.." DeSoto said. "Suiciders always seem to be that way when they start trying to kill themselves." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- offstory- The following rescue call was based on the true life experience of EMT, "Roger Stuart" Thank you, Roger, for such a realistic, true case. You are truly an asset to the EMS field. I can tell by the way you handled this boy. Onstory- Soon, the engine and squad pulled up at the house. Stanley was relieved that the cops had preceded them, assuring scene safety. The gang entered the house on the invite of a crying mother. "It's Michael.. Please, he's on the couch..." she sobbed. "He's taken his grandmother's heart medication.." Johnny motioned for Stoker to place the resuscitator by the young teenager's head while he knelt beside him. "Michael, Michael! Can you hear me?" he said, feeling for a wrist pulse with his own arm draped also over the boy's stomach. "He's breathing.." he told the others. "Normal so far." Then Johnny moved to further test Michael's awareness level. He rubbed a knuckle into his breastbone. The boy groaned and purposefully shoved away Gage's hand, but his eyes never opened. "Huh..." Gage thought. ::That groan is a very good sign for someone in such serious trouble..:: He bent to take a blood pressure while Captain Stanley got an oxygen mask set and flowing for him to grab later on, if necessary. Michael's mother was sobbing to the police officer in the room with them. "I can't understand why my son would ever do such a thing. He's a good boy. Please...*sob* Is he going to survive this?" "Ma'am, we're going to do everything in our power to make sure he does that. Ok?" Johnny told her. "Why don't you sit down in this chair over here. I promise we'll tell you absolutely everything that we're doing for Michael as we're doing it. Marco, can you come guide her over there?" "Yep." and Lopez did. "Thanks." Roy stood quietly by, while his partner worked, since the teenager's status was nowhere near a crisis point yet. He took a closer look at the lamp stand near the boy's head. The first thing he noticed, was that the grandmother's prescription bottle, laying on the table, was turned onto its side in plain sight amid recently used kleenix tissues and a T.V. guide, with the cap screwed on crooked. ::Well, that explains things.:: Roy thought to himself. He glanced at the boy's closed eyelids and saw both eyeballs moving randomly under the lids. ::He's a very aware supposed unconscious. I'll just bet this pill bottle arrangement is a purposeful sign of a staged suicide attempt.:: DeSoto counted the pills and about eight were missing from the number count on the bottle. The prescription had just been filled two days before and the drug on the bottle was labelled "Furosemide", better known as "Lasix". Roy then knew with little doubt that Michael was faking it. :: I can't think of a worse way of dying than p*ssing yourself to death on water pills!:: So, DeSoto leaned over the kid and palpated his lower abdomen. Sure enough, his bladder was as tight as a drum. He knew that Johnny was buying into the dramatic tension oozing from the mother, thinking the worst, and that had caused him to go deep into paramedic mode. ::He's thinking more about the ALS equipment than the findings.:: Roy thought. ::I think I better set him straight before he does any unnecessary biophone calling.:: Within ear shot of his partner, Roy whispered to the kid. "What you took are water pills. If I press right here any harder, you're going to pee in your pants." That caught Johnny's full attention. Roy went on, still keeping his voice down as Gage opened the teenager's eyes to check them with his penlight. "Michael, we have to assume that you are critical and know that my partner and I will do whatever it takes to save your life, unless you can tell us differently." Now Johnny realized that his patient needed to drain his bladder in the worst way and Roy couldn't resist the temptation to make a faker tell the truth, so he continued and said to Michael a few more things. "That means we will have to stick needles in your veins, shove tubes up your nose, down your throat, to pump your stomach with charcoal. We will also have to shove a hose up your ..well, you know, before your bladder ruptures." Then DeSoto mildly applied pressure on his bladder and said. "We don't have to do all that if you can snap out of it and tell us how many pills you took." Michael opened his eyes a crack and started weeping. "Four.." he said, and he held up four shaky fingers as well. Roy smiled gently. "Since you took those pills, you need to go to the hospital to get treated for at least dehydration and an electrolyte imbalance." Johnny, was now fully onto the situation, once he realized that Roy had solved the mystery for him with just a scene check. "So how about we load you into the ambulance and I'll give you a urinal." The kid abruptly nodded his head affirmatively. It took every ounce of energy for Roy and Johnny to keep their faces straight. Gage looked at Cap who asked. "Load and go?" Roy nodded. "Yep, he's a Code 2 transport." With that comment, the gang started putting away all the squad gear. Roy handed his notepad to the cop, winked at him, and asked. "Can you take mom to the other room and get his information while we load him up?" When his mom left the room, Michael opened his eyes for the first time, looked at the two paramedics and whispered, "Please hurry." Gage and DeSoto loaded him up. And Roy volunteered to be the one to ride in with the boy. He jumped in as Cap said, "You're writing this report." and he closed the door from the outside. Soon, Roy was alone with Michael. Things quieted then in the driver's cab, as the ambulance began to move. Finally, DeSoto was able to say.. "Ok, the coast is clear." Michael sprang to life, unable to drop his drawers fast enough under the blanket to relieve himself. As the Cadillac driver took off, he tapped the siren a few times for no other reason than to give the Michael's mom one more step of a truly adolescent, unfolding drama. Once they turned the corner and had gone out of her sight, the driver turned off the lights and Roy and the teenager were driven casually the rest of the way to Rampart. Along the way, Michael sighed, feeling much more relieved after voiding more than a liter of fluid. The slightly built teenager laid his head back down onto the pillow and said, "You're awesome. I thought you were gonna bust me for being a fake." Then, he started crying as he told Roy the story of his plight. DeSoto shared with him. "Sometimes, while growing up, I thought I had clueless parents, too. I know how life, as a teenager, can actually be pretty miserable a lot of the time. And I know that your parents probably remained ignorant of your feelings until today, until you tried something like this." Michael looked away from Roy with a resurgence of sadness. Roy told him. "It's not so bad, Michael. You've probably succeeded at re-connecting with your mom. But trying a suicide trick next time will most likely turn into a real suicide because you won't ever know what you're doing. I could very well be thumping on your chest right now." Roy couldn't count how many times Michael apologized to him then. DeSoto said. "Be sure to explain the things you told me just now to the psychiatric people who are going to evaluate you at the hospital." "Why are those kinds of doctors gonna be there? I'm not sick." "They won't be seeing you for that, Michael, they'll be there because you need to be assessed for being suicidal." Roy clarified. "They're going to think I'm nuts." he said. "Yes, they will. Are you ready for that?" "I'm gonna have to be." said the boy, with tears glistening in his eyes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Later that night, Johnny and Roy returned to Rampart with a new patient from another medical call. DeSoto told Johnny that he wanted to stop by Michael's room. Michael's mom was there and they were hashing out their problems. When Michael saw Roy, the first thing he said was, "They hosed me." and he pointed to his urinary bag, obviously angry about it. Roy laughed good naturedly. "At least, some good looking nurse did it here instead of one of us doing it on your living room couch right in front of your mother." Michael dropped his head, and sheepishly said. "Point made." Dixie entered the treatment room with an intravenous tray and the teenager promply offered her his arm. He certainly had no complaints of having an IV after his first encounter with a Foley catheter. The boy was admitted for two days to monitor his electrolytes and for a psych evaluation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next morning, Roy got a phone call at the station from Michael. ##Hey, Mr. DeSoto. My parents want to invite you home sometime so we can talk together over dinner.## "I'm sorry, Michael. But I don't think that's a very good idea. You see, here at the fire department, we're not allowed to get personally involved with the patients we treat, but I appreciate the offer and I'm glad to see that you and your mother are beginning to work out some of those problems we discussed in the ambulance." ##You know something, Roy?## said Michael. "What?" the paramedic smiled. ##I'm joining the paramedic program at the fire academy and it's all because you directly inspired me to better myself.## "Now that's a scary thought. I wish I had that same effect on both of my kids." ##See you later?## "No, but feel free to call here anytime, when you think you might be having some of those old troubles plaguing you again and I'll promise we'll talk more. Ok.?" ##I will. Thanks for saving my life, Mr. DeSoto. And please, thank your partner, too, for not embarrassing me in front of my mother when he realized I was actually awake.## "Sure. Take care of yourself, Michael. Goodbye." Roy hung up the phone and allowed a small smile to touch his lips. Johnny, who was still up with Roy for the late show, mulled over Michael's case. "You know, that boy had me completely fooled with his true medical status. I had no idea he created the whole incident for us to find himself." Roy didn't rub it in. "I've found a good many suicide attempts, with teenagers overdosing on pills, are usually staged because they're having a personal crisis. They, almost ninety nine percent of the time, have absolutely no intention of killing themselves, Johnny." Roy told him. "They create this kind of scene just because they are going through something emotional that they think they can't handle any more, and this is the easiest way for them to cry out for help while trying to resolve it. "Don't beat yourself up for not seeing through his ruse, Johnny. I'm just a little more experienced than you are about these kinds of kids, probably because I see milder versions of tantrums in my own kids so often. I think I spotted the gist of things so fast because all the classic signs for a pill stunt were there for his call." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************** From: "patti keiper" Date: Fri Oct 28, 2005 6:41 pm Subject: Just Desserts.. Roy and Johnny couldn't believe the changes that had sprouted around their favorite hot dog spot during the past seven days. New, trendy rice paper lamps and genuine car lot, triangle-plastic-flag banner strings, framed themselves over absolutely pristine, brand new, white wicker metal patio tables. Gone were the decrepid, peeling picnic tables of yore. All of the new shiny furniture, was sprawled underneath vinyl palm tree themed umbrellas, and accented occasionally with vases of real birds of paradise blooms. Every day, when they could, between calls, Roy and Johnny, and sometimes even Chet Kelly made the sojourn to Davey's stand for the free handouts that had been contrived craftily by Gage's possibly very questionable medical deceptions. "Well,.." Gage sighed expansively to DeSoto as he leaned back in one of Mac's newly redesigned and poshly cushioned seats. "I guess there's something to be said for the positive life changes that can come about whenever someone believes that they've truly had a life after death experience. I mean, just look at this old place of Mac's. It's ...it's simply...incredible, Roy! Don't you think so, too?" "Yeah, but I also ...still feel kinda bad about how we egged Mac on, just to con him out of some free food like this." "Oh, Roy, there's no harm done. In fact, I'll just bet that ol Mac's making more cash now in a single day than he ever did in an entire month! The cost of feeding us has got to be the merest drop in the bucket on expenses for him." "Shh, he's coming back with our order." Roy cautioned, trying to smile in spite of his still contradictory feelings about the whole affair. "Just the one dog today, fellas?" Mac beamed. "Yeah, we're splitting it up. We're not very hungry this afternoon." Johnny chuckled. "It's been a very slow day at the station, Mac." he said, sipping a straw noisily on a Dr. Pepper thermos advertising the new look for Mac's stand. "We saved only....what?" he said, turning to Roy, who was trying to duck behind the new ice cream dessert menu.. "Just...two lives today, Roy? Is that right?" "Yeah. A trucker wrapped around a viaduct pylon and an alcoholic street bum who was suffering a cerebral vascular accident." DeSoto replied reluctantly. "Wow, my two very own personal heroes have pulled a couple of miracles yet again. Very impressive, fellas. Do you know how proud I am that I can call you my very dearest of friends these days? Here, let me tuck that in all nice and neat for you, Mr. Gage." "Oh, that's very nice of you, Mac. Thank you." Gage smiled, allowing his now expensively poiffed, after shave splashed patron, to fuss over the unfolded napkin hanging from his collar. Mac smiled and cooed, "Anytime, Mr. Gage." But then Mac did a most peculiar thing... He set knot cording fists on either side of his neatly ironed, aproned hips as his usually good natured manner decayed into something truly frightening. A full, very p*ssed off naval sargeant's bark exploded from his frothy lips. "Enjoy that delicious chili dog, boy, 'cause that's the last one you'll ever get to share with your pal here!" "Uh, wha-- what do you mean.. Mac. Uh,...exactly?" Gage stuttered, and then he completely obstructed on beef link. Roy thumped him in between the shoulder blades to rescue him quickly back into the world of the still conscious and breathing. Mac clarified, in a dangerous voice carried softly enough, so that his regular and brand new crowd of business executives, wouldn't overhear him. "You twos was faking things on me the other day. In fact, I've known just what kind of nasty trick you two clowns actually pulled on me last week, all week long." he said knowingly in an unintentional verbal redundancy. Roy immediately spat the very savory hot dog out of his mouth and into a napkin and he managed to mumble.. "Y-you knew?" "Yeah, I knew. Only I didn't find out about what you two did, or more like what you didn't do to me, until later on that day, when I was taking my usual nightly bubble bath." "Oh, uh...yeah?" Gage muttered lamely, a flush rising high and deep into his face. "Yeah." Mac punctuated firmly. "How'dya find out?" Johnny asked him in a cowed squeak. "Did a hospital staffer point out how common is it to black out on pure oxygen while you're in the midst of hyperventilating?" "No. I found out about your little stunt, because I didn't find none of them red defibberatin' circles burned into my everloving hide... Nor did I find any sign of slimy spots anywhere on me, which I've since learned from kindly coroners, that are supposedly left over from that jolting jelly stuff you fire guys always use when you're electra-jumpstarting fresh, dead folks." Roy and Johnny both gulped uncomfortably. Mac's good natured grin sharpened into something entirely hard. "My grandma always used to say, 'If someone steals a dollar from you behind your back. Turn around and give them your entire wallet, too, with a full smile. For it'll make that thief's later shame and guilt burn that much brighter about carrying out the crime in the first place.' I fed ya for nothing all this time, just to make the revenge pot a little sweeter for the savoring. You know, my grandmother was a very wise woman, don't you think? "So enjoy the burn, you pathetic pair of cocky paramedics. Especially you, Mr. Gage. Because after that last delectable bite passes those pearly white, native son molars of yours, this establishment is swearing off giving ANY service to anyone who's of the firefighting persuasion, FOREVER!" he roared. And with that, Mac strode purposely back to his neat as a pin, freshly painted, now very popular, trailer stand. "Oh, boy.." Roy said, placing his stunned chin on his two thoroughly miserable sets of palms and elbows. "Did we deserve that one." he murmured with a long, painful sigh. Then he added. "Still feel terrifically great about this wonderful day we're having?" "I've got only one thing to say about being permanently banned from Davey's hot dog stand." Johnny swallowed, suddenly feeling his meal sit like a heavy rock in the pit of his stomach. "Oh," Roy conmiserated. "And what's that?" "Doggone it." he whimpered. FIN The Shallow Light, Episode Twenty Six, Season Four ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************** §§ The Shallow Light §§ :) This episode is dedicted to Denis Gerzewski, who is :) fighting lymphoma and leukemia for the chance to live a life of joy and fulfillment for at least, a little while longer. :) :) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season Four, Episode Twenty Seven.. §§ Heavy Duty §§ Debut Launch: November 1st, 2005. ************************************************** From : katalyia Sent : Tuesday, November 1, 2005 8:58 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Heavy Duty Roy pulled Squad 51 to a halt, barely aware of the Engine doing the same behind him. He opened the door, and hopped out, knowing without looking that Johnny had beaten him out the door and was grabbing the lines out of the back, as he studied the side of the building. Following his partner's gaze, he wondered how they were going to get up there. "How did they manage to get themselves stuck up there?" Johnny asked, as he looped the rope over his shoulders. "Do you see where they're at?" "Yeah," Roy answered, following his pointing finger. "It's not going to be easy to get them down. "You're right," Johnny responded, glancing back toward the engine and watching as Stanley approached. "What do you think, Cap? Want us to get up there before the snorkel gets here?" Cap studied the situation for a moment, then answered, "You think you can make it up there?" "Sure," Johnny answered, after a moment. "We can reach the top if we follow that path and then Roy can lower me down." "Roy?" Cap asked, glancing at him. "Sure," Roy answered, not liking the idea. "What's the problem?" Johnny asked, picking up the slight hesitation. "I don't like it. If either one of us slips, it's a long way down." "But do we dare wait?" Johnny asked. "No, we can't. Not with them that close to the edge." "Then let's go," Johnny answered, heading off toward the only way up. Roy sighed, not liking it, but knowing that Johnny was right, and followed him up. It was a rough climb and both of them had a problem at one time or another, to keep from getting stuck themselves. After what seemed like hours, but was only about thirty minutes, they reached the top and looked over the edge. As Johnny put on his life belt and threaded the safety rope through the loop, Roy studied the area, hoping to find an easier way to reach them. By the time Johnny was ready, he had to accept that there was only one way down, and they were it. "Ready?" Johnny asked, as he handed the rope to Roy. "Yeah. You?" Roy shot back. "Yeah," Johnny answered looking over the side. "I hope they stay put. Hitting theleadge from this angle is going to be hard enough without worrying about landing on them." "Just be careful," Roy reminded him, bracing himself as Johnny slowly started down the incline. "I will," Johnny responded, focusing his attention to a spot just to the right of the victims location. All talking ceased as Johnny concentrated on maneuvering his way down the incline. He was basically climbing blind as he couldn't see more than three feet below him. He had only been working his way down for a few minutes when his left foot slipped out from beneath him and he went down and he hit the side of the incline. He gasped as the tension of the rope tightened around him before easing. "Johnny!" Roy called down, as the rope went slack again. "Are you all right?" "Yes!" Johnny called up, remaining prone as he wiped the dirt off his face and spit some from his mouth. "I'm all right!" Then glancing down, he saw he had about a foot to go. "Just another foot or so and I'll be there!" "Okay! Taking up the slack!" As soon as the slack was taken up, Johnny carefully brought his feet beneath him and started back down. A few minutes later, he had reached theleadge and looked into the two frightened faces looking up at him. "Hi! My name's Johnny. What do you say about getting down from here?" ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. *************************************************** From : Roxy Dee Sent : Thursday, November 3, 2005 1:50 PM Subject : Birds of a feather~~ "We're not going unless they can go, too!" cried the blond haired girl. Johnny had to blink at that. "Uh,.." he mumbled, looking around and wiping the ample sweat off of his brow with a glove. "Who're they?" "Them!" said the boy in Gage's arms, pointing. "Right over there.." "They need us!" insisted his young female friend. "They're hurt. Not us!" DeSoto rubbed dirt off his exertion runny nose. "Did we miss a head count here, Johnny? I thought the corner cop said that there were only two kids stuck up here." Roy and Johnny both twisted on their ropes, mindful of snagging, until they eyeballed the side of the building's escarpment cap upon which the stately stone skyscraper gargoyles sat. Gage came face to face with a nervous peregrine, backframed by the flowing traffic, far below. "Agh!" he shouted, when the bird promptly took to the air and started dive bombing both the firemen paramedics. "Would you--!" He bit off his explicative when he realized that an angry bird of prey wasn't all that good on the english language. Roy ducked, too, and swayed, causing both their anchor ropes to jostle and ripple down the building. Cap's voice immediately shot out of their belted HTs, its sudden booming immediate voice driving off the oddly furious falcon. ##Engine 51 to Squad 51! Are you all right up there?! Do you have a struggle on your hands?## Johnny fumbled for his talkie, spinning on his line ridiculously, until he planted both feet on the powered down radio antennae that they had just climbed past to still himself. "Affirmative and negative! We just got--" and he broke off, at a loss for words. Roy, still rotating on his lifeline slowly, got out his own radio and completed the sentence Johnny couldn't finish, neatly. "..shown off by a peregrine falcon. Must be a nest around here somewhere nearby." ##I'm beginning to understand things a little better here. Kids and birds' nests are like powercords and outlets. They're gonna get into them.## sighed Cap. ##O.k. Do what you have to do while you secure those kids. If the air attacks get bad, let us know and we'll send a stream up through the bucket man. 110's snorkel is half way up to you already. It will be extended to meet you as far as it can reach, at the halfway descent point.## Both paramedics threw their chins down to gape between their hanging feet and saw that it was true. ##Any injuries? Do you want an ambulance?## Hank asked. "Affirmative, Cap. Looks like the boy here's got a face lac. Let's go through the motions for mom's sake, when you find her." Roy said, starting to seethe at the idea that two children under ten were unattended long enough to get themselves stuck on aleadge sixty storys up a very tall building. "Are you his sister?" he asked the little girl while he roped and lifebelted her in. He had noticed the close resemblance between the two. "Yeah, I'm Nan and that's Stan, short for Stanley Dean." Johnny caught onto his irritated mood in kind. "Listen, doesn't being this high up bug you two at all?" he asked the boy while he lifebelted and hooked the child safely snugged to his own. "Why should it? My sister says you can't fall if you don't move. So why be afraid of it?" Roy started grinning despite himself but then his fierce disapproval of unshaparoned minors got the best of him. "Does your mother know where you are?" "Sure she does. She's one of the biologists who's been studying Zoom here." said Stan, accepting the helmet that Johnny put onto his head. "She just left a half an hour ago to get us lunch. We didn't mean to fall. Honest. Usually, we're very careful. We just go out to make sure the eggs are staying warm." "Every day." agreed Nan. "Only today, Stan twisted his ankle and fell down to theleadge. That's how we found out that Zephyr and one of his babies were hurt from a cat that tried to eat them. Zoom's just trying to protect her family. She didn't mean anything.." insisted Nan. "Please, please you gotta get Zephyr and the hurt baby down. That's what we wanted to do in the first place." Gage started up. "Now listen. We're people paramedics, not peregrine paramedics! And besides, birds' of prey talons are very dangerous if you don't know what're doing. And I'll admit, I don't know what I'm doing even being up here, guys!" Nan crossed her arms. "You climbed up here because a cop told you to do it. I know how it works. Mom and us, we always get harrassed by them about studying the three confirmed falcon families around town." Roy's eyebrows went up at that fairly informed answer. It spoke of an intelligence that belied age. "Ok, so you think you were given proper permission to hang on the side of a building just because your mother has a license to? Well, let me share something with you, it's against the law for folks your age." It was Stan's turn to cross his arms, except for when he had to swat away Johnny's hand for fussing with his small cheek cut with a square piece of gauze. "What law? There's no ordinance against falcon studies." "Oh, yeah? I'm not talking about urban nature study regulations, I'm talking about reckless child endangerment!" said DeSoto, glaring firmly. Gage, meanwhile, still had his hands full. " Hold still, Stan. All right. I'll stop monkeying with your laceration until we hit the ground. Lemme see your ankle. Now which one is it?" he said, beginning to spin on the axis of his rope again until the firefighter manning it below muscled in the reverse rotation, to slow and stop the effect. "The left one." "The left one." replied both kids. But then Stan added more. "Don't think my foot's outta commission, buster. Because I'm gonna start doing a whole lotta kicking here, square into your gut, if you don't rescue Zephyr and his son before you two turkeys leave with us on this 'rescue'." Johnny framed an arm around his middle instinctively. "That wouldn't be the smartest thing to do, now would it?" "When two lives are on the line?" Nan huffed. "You bet it is. Go get em! Or I'll add biting to his list! But, take me with you when you go to the nest and I promise I'll keep Zoom from taking a chunk out of your scalp." DeSoto sighed and then signalled to the firemen watching from the bucket snorkel below that he was going to be making a lateral move. "Take your sweater off. I'll use that to wrap the tiercel in. You handle the hurt chick. I need both my hands to do the climbing. I'll put him into my helmet and hang it off a jacket snaffle or something. Just stay quiet and unmoving while I'm doing it." "Thank you, sir." said the little girl politely. Stan started up. "See, Nan? I guess firemen aren't so bad after all. They actually listen to ya unlike those corner cops we constantly dodge to get up here." Zoom, the female peregrine, started screaming when her mate and one of her chicks suddenly disappeared from her sight a few minutes later. But she didn't charge ballastically any more, past the one armor beaked stab she took at Roy's departing shoes as he left the nest site. Zephyr, the male falcon's head, now kid sweater covered, caused the bird to twitter softly in question and that calmed down much of the flying female's fire directed at the two adult human intruders, after that. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was a long trip down to the snorkel. Johnny and Roy didn't know exactly what they were going to tell Captain Stanley in explanation when he finally eyeballed the two bleeding birds with them. They unspokenly decided that the problem was beneath notice. All they cared about was that two more kids hadn't become another set of sad urban fall fatality statistics. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Gage hanging from a rope in the sky. Photo: Roy near aleadge trapped man. Photo: A peregrine falcon, staring at you, backdropped by traffic. Photo: A falcon dive bombing from a fire stairwell. Photo: Roy talking to a kid calmly. Photo: A falcon attacking someone's escaping shoes. Photo: Roy reaching for a boy on aleadge on a ladder. Photo: An Addison ladder and bucket, fully extended vertically. Photo: That same ladderview, straight down towards the engine. Photo: Cap, peering upwards, intently, in a helmet. ************************************************** From: "Cassidy Meyers" Date: Mon Nov 7, 2005 4:35 pm Subject: The AMA girl.. Roy and Johnny were divested of their problem in the form of the children's mother, who strode into their midst wearing a bland, I-expected-this-to-happen-someday, matter of fact expression. "Nan?..Stanley?.. ah, there you are. Oh, hi fellas. Excuse me a second and I'll be right with you." She immediately knelt by her son's cot and examined the softly warbling bird in the boy's arms. "Oh, no! Don't tell me, the penthouse caretaker's cat?! You poor thing..." she cooed at Zephyr, gently manipulating the falcon's wing out to inspect all the blood tinged pinions. "Stan, he's ok, this doesn't look serious. Just a few nasty skin scratches." Roy and Johnny exchanged disbelieving looks with each other. Then Roy DeSoto cleared a thoroughly climb weary, dusty throat and took a step forward while his partner, Gage, stood by with the bio receiver phone open to Rampart, and muffled against his thigh. He knew that Roy, by far, was the best choice to play the public service diplomat. Johnny tried to content himself with nursing his cramp riddled shoulders and forearms. "Ma'am?" DeSoto smiled timidly, through the grime on his face. "Can we talk a moment? We can't treat the boy here until we do." The long haired ornithologist finally looked up, a warm grin on her face now completely free of birding worry. "My son can handle getting a few bumps and bruises without fussing or bothering folks unnecessarily. I'm ...pretty sure he must have told you already that his scrapes are nothing by now. He knows enough to tell someone whenever he's really hurt. I can tell he isn't, or he would've shared that with me already, Mr....uh.." "Mr. DeSoto. Fireman paramedic Roy...DeSoto." he added, still plastered in a mild public smile and pulling on his shirt's name tag. "Yes, I think I understand the nature of your occupation." the mother said demurely with a winning freckled grin as she hugged her daughter and kissed her head. "Good job getting help for Zephyr and his son, dear. I'll call the vets right away as soon as we're done speaking with these fine firemen." she told Nan as she next held and examined the fluttering white falcon chick. She looked up with the first frown the firemen had yet seen. "Uh,, do either of you have some cotton or a clean cloth handy? I can't see what I'm doing here." Johnny ran frustrated fingers through his hair and thrust out an already opened and corner taped four by four for her. "Oh, thank you so much." said the mother and she taped up a bare spot of ripped away down on the tiny bird's back. "There, Nan. Stop fretting. This'll hold well enough to keep him warm until we get to the university lab." Then she stood. "I believe, sir, that your station has an against medical advice form that I have the option of signing that'll release you from all of your legal responsibility regarding my children. I'd like to do that now if I may." Gage blinked, and found himself caught in a coughing fit when the mom's comment thoroughly surprised the snot out of him. He waved away Roy and the mother both when they looked over at him in concern. "Ahhh, ..about his ankle, ma'am..." "Which one?" she sniffed curiously, looking down. She was completely worry free. "The left one. Uh, right there." Johnny said, pointing and pulling up the dusty boy's pants leg. "Stan, is your foot still sore?" the mother asked her adventurous boy. "Nope. It's better now. See?" and he stamped his paramedic unsneakered foot against the pavement in a few solid smacks. "And a bandaid will fix the nick on my face. It's not even bleeding any more." "I'll get you one out of my knapsack once we're in the car. Come on, we better not waste anymore of these fine gentlemen's time. The longer we wait to get Zephyr and his son treated the slower their recovery period'll be." And she scribbled on the line Roy pointed to on the form, efficiently swift. Cap couldn't hold himself back any longer. He approached. "Ms..,do you realize how much it costs citizen taxpayers to haul out three fire stations for a high rise building rescue?" "I didn't call for you. They did.." she neatly told Cap, pointing to the glaring traffic policemen, without breaking her bubbly expression. "Take it up with them." And with that, the biologist mother bustled up both birds, both of her kids, and promptly made herself gone. Cap sighed through tight lips and actually sat down on the engine's side bumper in full view of all the curious business district onlookers currently on their lunchbreaks who were out to view the fire department's unexpected showing. Gage joined him, and Roy, too, folding out of their sweaty paramedic turnouts, into utterly exhausted piles on either side of him. "How do you feel about this one, Cap?" Johnny groaned, a hand over his eyes. "Just terrific..." he growled sarcastically, replying as he rubbed his own. Then Cap lifted his HT. "Engine 51, L.A. Snorkle Truck 110, Stations 8 and 51 are now one hundred percent...available." ##Engine 51.## A long interval of stupefaction overtook all three firemen as the call's tensions drained away. Then Hank spoke. "You won't hear this from the cops or from our dear departing ditching victims, either, I'm afraid. But,... nice job up there, you two. That was absolutely fabulous high angle work you did for them." "Thanks, Cap." Roy said, not moving. "Appreciate it.." Gage echoed, just as immobile. "Ow,..I think.." Cap rose and helped each of his climb rubbery men, to their feet. "Come on. We've got to clear out of the streets. A set of showers isn't much to offer, I know. But I'll turn your bunks down myself for the naps you two have just earned yourselves big time." But the naps the squad crew rightfully earned would never come that afternoon. Because then, something happened that no one could've ever predicted. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Cap, saying why me in front of the engine. Photo: Johnny and Roy getting ready for bed. Photo: A peregrine near a rooftop nest. Photo: Johnny, exhausted, outside by the engine. ************************************************** From : wone3 Sent : Monday, November 14, 2005 7:20 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] Roller Disco At Rampart Hospital, the day had been moving along. While not totally overly busy, the doctors and nurses on duty had seen their fair share of patients but still had time for short breaks in between. Doctors Kel Brackett and Mike Morton were presently among the ones on duty along with Head Nurse Dixie McCall. Joe Early would be coming on later in the day after having a day off. He was substituting for another doctor on vacation that week. Presently, Kel and Dixie were in treatment room two with a patient, a Miss Stephanie Miller. Stephanie had been watching the latest show on TV where the dancers were performing roller disco and had decided to go outside and try it herself. She wasn't going too badly until her spins got totally out of control and her legs got twisted. She then went tumbling to the cement trying to catch herself on the way down. She was sitting in the treatment room with her left wrist and both ankles splinted, awaiting surgery that the x-rays indicated she needed. Kel had thought based on a few observations that Stephanie might be anemic based on her vital signs and asked for samples to be taken down to the lab. The x-rays had returned, but the lab results hadn't yet, which was totally unusual. Kel Brackett was getting impatient to get his patient up to surgery to set the breaks that the x-rays revealed, and Dixie could tell. "Doctor, do you want me to go down to the lab and see what the hold up is?" Dixie asked. "If you would, Nurse," Kel answered and then quietly leaned in and said, "I'll meet you in the lounge to share a cup of coffee after you return with the results." "Ok, doctor. Let me make sure the base station is covered and I'll go down." she replied with a knowing smile as she exited the treatment room. Dixie walked down the hall and noticed Carol by the base station. Dixie told Carol where she was headed and asked her to stay by the desk since she knew that Station 51 was out on a call. Carol reassured her that she'd stay at the desk, and Dixie headed to the stairs leading to the new basement laboratory. The basement laboratory was down a rather long hall once Dixie reached the bottom of the stairs. There were several storage rooms and former abandoned labs between the stairs and the new lab. A couple of the storage rooms still had oxygen stored inside and one of those rooms was an old lab that still had old, usable wiring. However, the wiring in this room hadn't been checked in a very long time and the safety coating on the wires had worn away exposing the bare metal. Electricity was still flowing through this room and several rooms adjoining it, including a storage room near the new lab. A technician had gone into the adjoining storage room and turned on the light to retrieve something, sending electricity through the entire circuit. The wiring in the old lab couldn't take it and sparked, setting the wiring in the wall on fire. The fire in the wall spread quickly outward to the wall's surface and down the wall coming closer to the stored oxygen. As Dixie passed in front of the door to that lab, the fire reached the stored oxygen causing a big, loud blast. The blast took the door of that room off of its hinges, slamming it into Dixie; and slamming both of them into the wall across the way. Dixie immediately blacked out. Upon hearing the blast Kel said... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ******************************************************************** From: "Monster Moofie" Date: Tue Nov 15, 2005 6:58 pm Subject: 51's new clothes A clothes line above 51's crew snapped, raining down its contents onto the unsuspecting guys. Johnny now was wearing an underwear hat, and Marco was covered in pink, polka dot and zebra striped socks. The line could not have fallen any more perfectly onto Chet, allowing a size 28 dress to float onto the unsuspecting fireman, fitting over his turnout coat perfectly. Unfortunately for Johnny, Chet and Marco, the clothes had just been hung and they were still soaking wet. Cap's jaw fell open as he watched his crew be clobbered with clothes. He couldn't help it and dissolved into hysterical laughter, along with Roy, Mike and stations 8 and snorkel 110. A crewman from 8's said to Chet, "Madam, would you have this dance with me?" causing the rest of the crew to nearly collapse on the ground in laughter. Red faced, Chet threw off the dress and headed back to the engine and got in. Johnny and Marco followed suit, followed by a bunch of laughing hyenas. Johnny muttered as he went. "So much for a nap this afternoon. I'm too awake now and the guys won't stop laughing until a month of Sundays has passed." "We really ought to make a supply run anyway, Johnny," Roy advised his sulking partner. "Remember? We didn't have time this morning." "Ok let's go." Johnny replied. "Cap we're going to make a supply run." he advised. The crews got in their vehicles, heading back to their respective stations. Squad 51 headed to Rampart. Shortly, Squad 51 was pulling into Rampart's driveway. Watching the ER grow larger, Johnny said, "I sure hope they have a fresh pot of coffee! I could sure use a cup about now." Roy backed up and parked and the paramedics were getting out of the squad when an explosion shook the building. Johnny looked at Roy and saw the look of dread mirrored in Roy's face that he knew must be on his own. He picked up the microphone and radioed dispatch. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. *************************************************** From : Cory Anda Sent : Wednesday, November 16, 2005 11:10 AM Subject : Underground.. The shake that had rattled Kel's teeth, died away. "What the--?!" Then Dr. Brackett remembered his limb fractured young skater and immediately curbed his first natural instinct to get loud in his shock about the concussion he just felt and heard through the floor tiles. "Easy. I know that sounded a little frightening. I'm going to go out and find out what that was. Stay here, Miss Miller. I'll have an orderly let you know what's going on just as soon as I do." he promised with a barely believable smile. Kel fled the treatment room for the front desk. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Llewellyn, the orthopedic surgeon Kel had asked for, was shouting at the panicking nurses gathering around reception. "Quiet! Security's already on the way down there to see if the way's open to that level. But no one, absolutely no one else is allowed to go into that area until the fire department says it's ok to enter there!" said the jowled white moustached doctor in scrubs. "I will not add to any casualties intentionally. Is that clear?!" Kel immediately shouldered into the bunch taking charge. "Benjamin. What happened?!" "Explosion. In the south lab's outbuilding basement, offshooting the main hospital proper." said Llewewllyn quickly. "How do you know that?" "Because I stuck my head out the doctor's lounge window, and I looked! Don't get stupid on me, Kel. I know you're worried about Dixie McCall. We all are. That's at least half the cause of all the pandemonium going on around here." replied the older doctor saucily. Kel took a deep breath, one that he could feel down into his very heels and he barely curbed an angry outburst. "Ok, ok...you're right. I'm not thinking clearly yet. But I'm gonna change that right now by getting a hold of the fire department." he said, grabbing up the red phone only used in the worst emergencies. Ben grabbed his arm. "I'll let you know what the security guards discover, I promise that, Kel. But after you make the call, triage must take the priority. The junior M.D.'s can handle patient management without us while we get everything ready to run hot. Morton's already applying his unique brand of diplomacy as you can see.." and the surgeon pointed to the waiting room. Dr. Brackett saw that Mike was in his deepest professional colors, issuing orders to his staff and reassuring those in the waiting room that their immediate safety was not in jeopardy. "Yes, there's a fire. But it's in the next building. Please, everybody remain seated and calm. There is no need for an evacuation as yet. I'll have a spokes person fill you in once help arrives and after they've assessed our current ongoing damage. Please, if you'll excuse me.." he shouted over the noisy babble of people. "I'm needed by my superiors." Dr. Morton neatly extricated himself from the public's eye to join Ben and Kel. Dr. Brackett saw that he already had soot on his face as he hung up the phone with the fire dispatching center. "How bad is it, Mike?" "Bad enough." said Morton. "Did you see any sign of--" "No, Kel. I didn't. The stairwell ceiling's partially caved in, in that underground tunnel walkway. But the smoke didn't smell like chemicals to me. Only like burning cardboard. If Dixie had time to make it down there after leaving your treatment room, she won't have inhalation poisoning to deal with." "No, only one tiny complication...called a roaring fire, Mike." he growled, clearly not happy in the slightest as he kept the worst of his agitation low so no one not medical would overhear. Morton had nothing else to say. So he put his attempt at reassurance into physical action. "I'm going to meet the first fire crews at the ER entrance and let them know what we've got." Ben Llewellyn added more. "And I'll go up to the sixth floor to get the blueprints of the tunnelways under the parking lot leading to that lab building." Dr. Brackett nodded. Then he spotted Roy and Johnny, masking up in scba gear, jogging down the hallway towards them with fire extinguishers in both of their hands. Gage wasted no time. "Doc, help's already on the way." "I know." Brackett tried to grin. "They told me. Guys, can you go check it out? There's a good chance Dixie might be trapped. No one's heard from her since it happened. " His face twisted in horrified guilt. "I asked her to go check on some results down there." Roy was level headed. "Dr. Brackett. What's in that lab?" "Just tissue sampling equipment and storage. The basics. Nothing substantial like fuel or other volatile chemicals. But there's a supply room of surgical gas tanks right next door on the same level in the sub-basement. That's probably what went up." Kel said, mincing on his toes as he fretted. "What about biohazards?" Gage asked as he tested his mask's air flow regulator with a few taps. "The fire will take care of the small stuff. Don't worry, the type fours are all well away from the fire in another unconnected building. Including samples of your monkey virus, Johnny. All the cultures Rapid Lab deals with are your usual garden variety emergency room ache and moan bugs, exclusively." "I think we can handle the sniffles, don't you think, Johnny?" Roy joked. Kel immediately took solace in DeSoto's shammed calm. "I'll hand you the kleenix boxes myself. Can you just go? I thought you guys can scout around without a captain's order as long as you have a charged hose." "We can." said Gage. "Good." said the older, listening bone surgeon. "There's one in the west stairbay. But, uh, don't try the east way down. Dr. Morton says it's blocked by ceiling debris." said Dr. Llewellyn. The silent Dr. Morton, next to him, nodded. "We're on it." said Johnny. He and Roy ran back outside to the squad to grab tools and irons. Together, they ran into the smoke pouring out of the lab building in Rampart's shadow as the sound of responding fire station sirens began filling the air. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Brackett, Gage and DeSoto in an urgent huddle at Rampart in the hallway. Photo: Morton, seated, looking urgent. Photo: DeSoto's jacketed back as he is grabbing gear out of the squad. Photo: Gage and DeSoto in full scba gear, heading down to a lower level floor in an elevator. *************************************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Subject: Plan of Attack Date: Fri Nov 18, 2005 1:53 pm Battalion 14 rose out of the driver's seat of his red chief's car and surveyed the scene around the lab building as arriving fire stations filled in around him on all quadrants of the fire site that was showing clear of blast debris. He got on his radio mic's bullhorn. ##Station 36 : See if you can determine an estimate of the numbers trapped and their possible locations. Engine 8 : Ascertain the type and extent of the damage to the building, any hazards and where they are. Battalion One: Get on top of what rescues are currently underway right now. L.A. specified that two from Squad 51 are in the immediate vicinity and responding. Engine 51: Cover the north exposure and lay out two inch and a halves in a water curtain over the main tunnel entrance. Use extreme caution. This is a hazmat priority one until we find out otherwise.## he ordered. ##Ladder Nine : Cover the west side with your equipment for an external attack only. Stations 24 and 18 : Start handling these walking wounded in the parking lot and remove all other casualities from non-difficult situations as you find them. Do not enter the fire area with scba until we get Squad 51's initial scene status report. Engine 10 : Search areas of high survivability, blocked by light debris only, until after we've received positive feedback from Squad 51. Anyone else: Report anything critical to note, directly to me.## The chief of the district nodded in grim satisfaction as all phases of the operation around Rampart took shape and acknowledged his overall plan. To his practiced eye, it was bad. ::The subterranean tunnel networks in these hospitals always beg for trouble whenever one of them goes up. And it looks like this one has, the whole way under the parking lot. My secondary concern is the stability of the asphalt infrastructure over the tunnels leading directly to the lab building. Cars can and will tumble into the fire zones underground if the temperatures underneath rise high enough. And then we'll have exploding gasoline tanks from collapsed cars to manage as further risks.:: he reasoned. But he kept his worries to himself while his eyes drank in the disaster site for more information. His right hand clutched the now live HT tuned to Squad 51's duty active frequency in a grip of iron. Tightly. Glancing over his shoulder, he spotted some hospital staffers already setting up triage inside Rampart's helicopter hanger. Some were milling about behind his car with laden gurneys and ambu bags. He flagged down a pair of them who seemed to have a doctor in their midst judging by the stethoscope around one silver haired man's neck. He gestured the blue jumpsuited team over. "Chief?" asked Dr. Joe Early. "I just got word. Any victims yet?" he asked the white helmeted fireman as he checked and rechecked airways and crash cart medications under the stretcher's buckled straps. "Squad 51's on a rapid recon to find at least one. Stick arou--." A sweeping plume of dust like a wind devil suddenly billowed around them and all three of them started choking. The chief shielded his face, using a hospital blueprint map as cover. Battalion 14's voice shouted over a sudden roaring sound in disbelief.. "Is that chopper running hot?" "Yeah." answered Dr. Morton, who was teamed up with Joe, glancing over to the hospital's roof and eyeing it. "Guess they figured they'd be ready for any critical evacs once we fill up." The chief immediately got on his full, wide bandwidth channel. ##Copter 2. Power down immediately! Your backdrafts are raising dust that'll suffocate our exposed victims! You and you alone are grounded until this scene's fully contained. Shut down all systems and report to triage to aid operations!## The pilot complied instantly. He had been unable to see the effect of his rotor wash through all the smoke spilling from the violated lab. Battalion 14 turned back to the sheepish doctors. "He meant well but that was inexcusable. I've been telling the county to train pilots as firefighters but they never listen!" "Someday, perhaps." Joe admitted. "Look how long it took Kel Brackett to get your department to accept the paramedic program." "Point taken. I guess progress is always slow when you want things to move along faster than the established bureaucracy. How many victims can your teams handle in triage?" "As many as you can give us, chief. We've recalled all available hospital staff in for this emergency." empathized Morton. "Good man. I'll let you know when those in the building are finally outta there." "We'll be waiting." said Joe Early. The two doctors retreated to the chopper's hanger to radio from their portable base station to the paramedic one inside Rampart about the walking wounded being rushed through their propped open ambulance doors. Battalion 14 turned back towards the fire. ::Okay boys, I've done my part.:: he wished at Squad 51's men. ::Now tell me what you're doing for yours..:: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. *************************************************** From: "Champagne Scott" Date: Fri Nov 18, 2005 8:47 pm Subject: Debris Pile... Roy turned from his fast rummaging through the squad when his partner tapped him urgently on the shoulder. "Would you look at that?!" Johnny mumbled, his face going slack. DeSoto looked. "The upper story's going?" "That's got to be an elevator shaft. I thought Brackett said that all the passages leading to the effected building are underground." "That was my impression. Let's get going, junior." he said, hefting up an extra set of scba air bottles to leave by the entrance for themselves. "Time's more than wasting." "You don't have to tell me twice." Gage said empathetically. They noted the arriving fire response with a sidelong glance and then they had their masks on and found themselves embedded in the sublet staircasing leading underground. Immediately, the smoke grew thick. But it was white. ::Clean burning.:: Roy thought automatically as he tied off both their lifelines to a railing at the foot of the parking lot's stairs. He left the bright yellow clump of airbottles as a conspicuous marker to show other units where they had entered the fire zone. "Dixie?!" Gage began to shout as they began their search of the rooms immediately around them with sharp kicks to locked doors and hastily scrawled 'room empty' chalk marks. They started working quickly towards the orange fire glow remnants that they could see left over from the initial explosion. As they got nearer, the atmosphere around them grew clearer and more free of billowing smoke. "There's a hole to the outside around here somewhere." Roy grunted through his respirator's mouth piece at Johnny. "Yeah, and it's gonna fan up the bad stuff." he said kicking away a pile of lumber that had fallen from the ceiling after making doubly sure no live wires were crisscrossing through the middle of them. "I wonder if the hospital engineers know to shut off the utilities and power down here?" Gage shouted. "Dixie?!" "If they don't, Battalion will be sure to remind them." DeSoto replied back, making another chalk marked "X" on the door of the room that had proven itself to contain no downed victims. "Dixie! Can you hear me?!" he chorused right after Johnny. There was no reply from the missing nurse in the relative quiet. Gage was growing more nervous. "I don't like this, it's too easy. Where's the heart of the fire, Roy? The explosion's origin?" They came to a T junction intersection of hallways where they faced no possible good choice, but to split up, in order to still rapidly cover the search area. "One thing at a time, junior, one thing at a time. Whatdiya want? Left side or right side?" DeSoto said falsely confident. "I'll follow my writing hand." Gage said turning left. "Keep in contact, partner, over the HT every thirty seconds." he panted with effort. "I say, too, that we pull out for our next set of air bottles in.... six and a half minutes..Tops." "Done.." Roy gasped. They separated, following the oddly normal looking corridors of the lab's reception area, casting about for audible moaning or the sight of singed bodies on the floor. A minute later, Gage's voice came over the frequency. ##I got one, Roy! He's in the freight elevator! You were right about that change. The fire's vertically climbing around the shaft!## DeSoto didn't stop his own searching, and he stumbled over debris; some unseen carts and a couple of concussion tipped towel storage shelves lying in piles in the dimness. "Need help with him?" Roy shouted into his walkie. Johnny's breaths came in whistles over Roy's radio as he hefted up the semi conscious orderly's back against a wall using the sooty man's feet as anchors under his own so he could tumble him between his shoulder and his air bottle in a fireman's carry. ##Nah, I'll be faster on my own. Keep looking for Dixie! I'm headed outside with this guy and I'll be right back! * cough.*cough* ## "Ok, I'll be watching for ya!" Gage's breathing came painfully rapid due to the fatigue that he had been fighting since the skyscraper climb after the peregrine falcon admiring kids. He rested for a long moment at the foot of the short stairs leading up to the parking lot before heading back into the daylight with his half out victim. Captain Stanley met him there and Johnny was rapidly divested of his burden. "He breathing?" "Yeah!" Gage gasped, peeling off his mask. He folded into an indian style crouch onto the ground, sucking in the much cooler, fresher air now swirling amply around him as he recovered from the rescue. "Ok, give me the short of it." Hank ordered. "What's in there?" the tall commander demanded as they both watched Chet and Marco carry off the luckless lab orderly to the nearby triage center set up in the heliport hanger, on a backboard. Cap and Gage watched as the man was richly ventilated with pure oxygen from a demand valve in time with his own weaker inhalations as he was carried away from them. Gage stretched out onto his side, not even bothering to remain seated as he talked. He began checking and rechecking the integrity of the knot on his lifeline that was still whole and attached to his scba's harness. "There's no sign of discoloration in the smoke or flames, Cap. So no chemical spills there, but we can't seem to find the center of things either. It's real weird inside. Blast damage is all around us concentrically, not located just in one or two places..." "Hmm." said Hank, thinking. "A large scale trigger field, huh? Perhaps the news is true then, that a faulty wire in the surgical gas store room along with a slowly leaking oxygen tank, is the cause of it all. There'd be little flame in a situation like that after the flashpoint." "That's a thought." Johnny said. He grabbed Hank's arm. "Cap, I think everybody got out. There wasn't a single soul down there,.. except for him." Cap started to grin. "And maybe...Dixie McCall." "What?!" Hank uttered, horrified. "Brackett says Dixie came down to this particular lab after some results on a fracture patient. He mentioned that there's a good chance she may have been in the lab itself next to Surgical Supply at the time of the explosion because she hasn't been seen by anyone since then." Johnny told him. "Have you two searched down that far yet?" "Roy's working on it." "How are you two doing fatigue wise?" "We're....fine." Johnny lied. "What about THAT fire?" Cap said jerking his head at the blaze sputtering out the top window of the freight elevator shaft. "That's only the greased cable burning and then probably the start of the roof of the shaftworks room. It's doesn't have a lot of fuel to go anyplace else, Cap." "Ok,..Get back in there. I'll have a hose team on your backs in two minutes." Cap promised. "See you in four when you change out your bottles." Johnny rose and turned to leave when he felt Hank jerk him to a halt by a bottle strap. "Wait! Gimme your out tags first!" Johnny sheepishly handed Hank both Roy's and his, metal id incident tags for the chief's status and personnel board from a special clip on his jacket. Cap patted Gage's back encouragingly and gave him a push back down the subterranean stairs after his paramedic had reapplied his air mask and had his helmet returned to his head tightly. Then, he got on his HT on the squad's frequency. "Engine 51 to HT 51 DeSoto! Your position?" Inside the crackling, but only fitfully burning, shattered lab, Roy studied a door. ##Suite 9-A, heading, uh,... heading towards the east wing.## "10-4." Hank said watching his best rescue man return down into the smoke with trepidation. ------------------------------------------ Back inside, Johnny quickly caught up with Roy. "How's your air, pally?" "Five minutes left. Yours?" "Same. Let's go." Johnny said, yanking on his trailing lifeline so it wouldn't snag on obstacles. "That corridor's clear! There's no one else." he said when Johnny wanted to continue where he had left off. "Ok," Gage gasped, hurrying alongside his partner down the final wing still left unexplored. Soon, they spotted a form on the carpetting next to a warped, force torn, now floor stretched, door. "Female victim! Ohmyg*d. Is that Dixie?" "Sure is!" Roy celebrated through his steamy mask. But then his great fear bit home."Dixie?! ....Hey, can you hear me? Dixie!!" She was lying face down and didn't move in the slightest at the sound of their yelling voices or noisy, tanks clattering approach. Johnny swiftly knelt onto his knees after kicking burning cinders away from her hair with his feet and he peeled off a glove to grope at the angle of her neck for a carotid. Frowning, he groped again, digging deeper. Finally..."She's alive. But her pulse's very weak and thready." Roy let out the breath he was holding as he carefully started untangling her limbs enough for them to log roll Dixie onto her back to look for life threatening injuries past the unconsciousness and for a quick listen and feel for signs of adequate breathing. But then, a belching roar of fire suddenly vomited expansively out of the supply room along the ceiling over their heads, making the two masked paramedics immediately duck to cover their heads and torsos over Dixie's smoking body. A full sized monster oxygen cylinder gave way and blew up, shooting through the ceiling, on fire. "Let's get her out of here!" Gage gasped. "Before another one of those tanks works loose, falls, and fires at us like a rocket!" Swiftly, they pushed bits of ceiling and gas cylinder chains off the shattered door that had impacted outwards into Dixie, and gently, they eased her in a safe spine line onto it for use as an improvised emergency stretcher. A few seconds later, they jog carried her lying on it, to the safety of the T junctured hallway. They both settled onto the floor over her instantly then, so they could get back on McCall's head for a more thorough breathing check. Roy opened her airway further with a modified jaw thrust. "She's still doing it." he said, studying the slight rise and fall of her stained uniform's chest. He quickly placed his air mask over McCall's face in a clean air offering. "No coughing though." "That's far better than being dead, Roy. Count your blessings. Dixie?" Gage prompted, feeling up McCall's arms and legs for fractures or major bleeding. "Can you hear me? It's Johnny Gage. We've just found you in the lab." She didn't respond to him, not even to a pain check. DeSoto got on the HT. "Squad 51 to Engine 51. We found our victim! She's deeply unconscious and in severe shock. We're in the south corridor, thirty yards and ninety degrees left from our exterior stairway." ##Sending in a stokes backup team now!## Hank replied over the radio. Roy was about to insert an oral airway into Dixie's mouth from his jacket's pocket, so they could leave with her without the worry of a tongue/airway obstruction, when a fierce cascade of explosions from behind, rocked them both off of their knees. It also caused the corridor's ceiling to start raining thickly down in pieces around them. Sickeningly, a lightweight truck from the parking lot above slid into the gaping hole newly made in the ceiling, and pinned all three of them underneath a vast debris pile of rafters and the Ford's smouldering gasoline tank, now impact jarred free of the sunken 4 X 4. The two paramedics didn't even have time enough to scream as the vehicle came tumbling down in a massive roar of dirt and shattered cement blocks. -------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. *************************************************** From: "finiterider" Date: Sun Nov 20, 2005 9:03 pm Subject: Two Bulls in a China Shop. Kel Brackett was beside himself with more than just a little worry for Nurse Dixie McCall. He was so preoccupied with listening to the fire department scanner over the main ER desk for any word about her, that he never heard the soft tread of Dr. Fred Hathaway arrive until a gentle hand set onto his shoulder. "Kel?" "What?!" Brackett startled, whirling on the seat of his stool. He also bumped his elbow smartly against the cardiac telemetry monitor in a sharp crack. "Ouch! GaaHHhh ! D*mmit! Now I've done it.." and he curled fingers around it and locked his body up in a grimace from the arm pain. Fred immediately stabilized his coworker's elbow in a concerned automatic surgeon's reflex. "Ooo, geesh. I'm sorry, Kel. I should've given warning ahead of time. I know how keyed up you get during a blitz like this. Let me take a look at that." he offered in a not-a-question tone. Dr. Brackett ...reluctantly, ...rolled up his sleeve. "It's not your fault, Fred. I should know better than to let myself get that way in the first place." he sighed. His irritation put gravel into his voice and all degrees of his trademark gruffness. "Feels like just a knock on the nerve. It's nothing." he deflected falsely. Fred softly checked the bony structures of Brackett's elbow and eased the joint through a small range of motions. He stopped when Kel's face twisted tightly. "Pretty unfunny for just a funny bone, Kel. You're ballooning up here transversely...... I think.. " he said, feeling around carefully. "..that you actually ...managed to dislocate this, my friend." "No way.." Brackett looked up, fiercely. But Fred noticed that he didn't move his arm an inch. He watched as five shades of red shot through his coworker's face in utter mortification. It made him instantly want to remedy things. "I can reduce it before it stiffens on you.." Dr. Hathaway said, ducking down in equal confidence, keeping low so no one would discover the situation with Kel's arm. "Fred, I can't leave now. Are you insane?!" Kel whispered so no one would notice them and his present embarrassing difficulty. "I'm a surgeon specialist, remember? I don't need a surgical ward or tools to realign a dislocated elbow." And with that, Fred took hold of Kel's armpit and forearm and gave it a practiced, firm jerk that literally picked Brackett up off of the stool. A bright jolt of pain shot across Kel's eyes but then, the agony was gone. Just like that. It was as if the arm had never been injured. Kel blinked then, suddenly aware of Fred holding him upright by the shoulders, waiting patiently until Kel got his full senses back. "Need a few smelling salts, Mr."Fainter"?" whispered Fred. "No." Kel spat acidly, whipping his repaired arm away from Fred. "I'm fine!.. Uh,.. thank you. Your trademark trick still works like a charm. Now go get me some coffee and tell me why you're down here." he said, changing the subject swiftly with some real anger. Fred got the fortifying drink promptly. He set it down before Kel whom he knew wasn't about to take sips from it. "You know why. I came down here to find out about a mutual acquaintance of ours. You know her. She's got blonde hair, an absolutely stunning smile with a pure saxophone silky voice to match?" Kel pretended ignorance as he turned up the volume of the fire scanner to drown out Fred's voice. He remained stonily silent, clearly displeased with being in such close proximity to his companion. Fred kept going relentlessly, still mild and cheerful. "Am I ringing a bell? She's got a five letter word for a first name beginning with a D and ending with an--" That was quite enough for Kelly Brackett. He turned and pegged his best glare of full fledged professional irritation that wasn't professional in the slightest in actual reality. "Fred. Let's get straight to the point, shall we? I don't know anything yet. Would I have both ears glued to the L.A. county fire monitor if I knew the slightest scrap of anything at all?" "No. I guess you wouldn't." Fred agreed. But then he changed the subject. "I thought we were friends, Kel. So I was the one Dixie turned to after she left you. So what? It's no big deal. I'm also standing in the dumped beau line right after you, so lighten up a little. Let's put our mutual emotional differences aside and worry about posturing later after we find out whether or not the woman we still both have some feelings for is still in the land of the living, all right?" Kel said nothing. "I'm sure Joe Early would have a lot to say about how we're behaving right now if he were here. I may have fixed Joe's heart but he sure knows the state of the two of ours concerning Dixie I'll just bet." Dr. Brackett sighed hugely, groping at some ghosting humility. "You're right. We're acting like a couple of kids in the school sandbox." he said, rising to fiddle yet again with the empty patient information clipboard waiting on the table for the first paramedic team's call from the base station. "I'm just disgusted that it took something bad happening to Dixie in order to get us in the same place at the same time, in the same room together, Fred. Don't you feel that way, too?" "I do." Fred said, biting his lip, looking suddenly vulnerable for the first time. Kel met his eyes in a matching look, mirroring the same emotion. "Care to go out there for me and poke around a little after her?" "In a heartbeat." said the cardiovascular surgeon with a grin. "I'll keep her safe after they get her to us, and I'll tell you absolutely everything I'm doing for her treatment wise while I'm doing it, ok?" "I'm holding you to that. As doctor to doctor. " Kel said pointing a finger up in emphasis. "Consider it done. After all, you're the boss." And with that, Fred was gone. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. *************************************************** From: Sam Iam Date: Wed Nov 23, 2005 1:11 pm Subject: The Different Eye Chet Kelly came running. "Cap! Cap!" he shouted. Hank Stanley felt an instant stab of dread even before he addressed his man about what the problem was. "Kelly! Why aren't you on the stokes crew assignment for Roy and Johnny's new victim?" "Infrastructure's collapsed right over their position." he panted, sweating profusely. Only then did Stanley see that the curly haired fireman was coated with plaster dust and insulation fibers. "We were almost there when a truck in the parking lot melted through the ceiling." "You guys got water going into there?" "Yeah. Marco and Stoker are fanning the pile right now through the asphalt." "Ok, I'll get the chief." Hank told him, patting Chet on the shoulder while he leaned over and hacked up pulverized building material from his mouth and throat. "When you're set, head back there to dig them all out." Cap ordered as he toggled his HT. "Engine 51 to Battalion 14. Emergency! Cave in at HT 51's location. Thirty yards south of a ninety from their ground point entry, going left. We're gonna need all the man power we can get for an underground operation. Our possible total victim number trapped is a count of three. Two are Code I. Note that ample water cover is in place." ##10-4, Engine 51. I'll route personnel your way a.s.a.p. Stand fast at your posting to give the arriving crews details of your situation.## "10-4, Battalion 14. Engine 51 out." Soon, L.A.'s tones sounded out the upgrade alert over every walkie talkie and truck radio in the area. ##L.A. to Station 36 and Engine 10 : 10-19 the southern exposure with Engine 51. Multiple trapped victims have been reported underground. Situation : Code I plus one. Time out. 13:56.## Hank was grateful for the dispatcher's hint that firefighters were involved. ::That'll make them arrive that much faster to me.:: Captain Stanley turned to where he could see Chet Kelly, Marco Lopez and Mike Stoker clustered over the gaping smoking hole in the middle of the parking lot, raining a thick fan of water down into it, trying to suppress the active flames they could see erupting from around the rear bumper of the truck sticking out of the hole. He looked at his watch and saw that there was only two minutes left on his mental countdown. After that, the air in both Johnny and Roy's bottles would run out and they would both fall into serious breathing shortage rapidly. ::Why didn't I tell Johnny to take in the spare scba tanks with him going back in?:: Then another voice in his head told him the reason why coolly. ::Because you knew that they had Dixie McCall to find. Don't be surprised that you'd get absolutely the fastest way to rescue such a close friend in that kind of danger involving some risk. It's only natural. :: said his conscience. ::You're still doing your job properly.:: Hank hated that inner voice. It took away the guilt he wanted to feel just then and it sounded a lot like his wife's voice the more he thought about it. Then the emotional pain truly gripped him. :: Roy's wife will be devastated if she thought I let anything happen to her husband.:: That put fear deep into his chest. He lifted his HT again, quickly. "Engine 51 to Battalion 14. Uh,.. CIS channel?" ##Switching over.## replied Battalion 14. Captain Stanley fidgetted until he heard his chief come over the new private frequency. ##What's up, Hank?## "Chief, I read last month that Ladder Nine was trial testing a new device that reads heat. Do they have one with them now?" ##That just might be a winning ticket, captain. I had forgotten about that thing. I'll send them straight away. Get that hallway your men used cooled down well so the image contrasts will be cleaner. ## "Copy that, chief. Thanks." ##No, thank you. That was original thinking, the kind that always saves lives. I still think you're wasted at the captain's level. Don't turn down the next promotion when it comes, Hank. I'd still love to have you wearing the white before I retire. ## "I've got a year to think about it. You're not sixty four yet, sir." ##Good luck with the IR camera. I'll be crossing my fingers behind my back. All of them.## Cap grinned. "Engine 51 out, switching back to main channel." Hank got the fire companies newly assigned to him, cracking, when they appeared a short time later. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: A firefighter with an infrared imaging camera. *************************************************** From: "Cassidy Meyers" Date: Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:26 pm Subject: The Inactive Action.. Dr. Hathaway made his way around the barricades marking the boundaries of the hot zone until he came to the triage center. Already, he could see seventeen or eighteen being treated. None of them, was Dixie. He turned to the nearest doctor he saw; Dr. Morton. "Mike, you got things in hand here?" he asked with his voice. But outwardly, his eyes were still casting about for the lost Nurse McCall. ::Oh, my G*d. Where is she?:: his mind raced. ::Why are things taking so long?:: "Yeah, pretty much. Did Kel send you for an update?" the blue jumpsuited resident asked. "Something like that." he evaded and quickly stepped around a young woman being treated for smoke inhalation. Before the young doctor could ask Fred more, Hathaway walked swiftly away from him towards his next target, Dr. Joe Early. "Joe, what have they told you so far about Dixie? Have they located her yet?" Dr. Early looked up from the leg he was splinting on the orderly that Johnny Gage had rescued from the laboratory tunnels. "Not yet. But things have just gotten worse. There's been a cave-in reported." "A cave-in?! Oh, Joe.. I've got to get over there!" "Good luck crossing the fire line." said Early, not even looking up. "I already tried that, until my sense of duty about taking care of these casualties got the better of me." "I want to help, Joe. But just over there. How can they turn down a doctor's help? They'll listen to me, I'm sure of it. I know the lay out of the labs. They can do things my way. I just want to offer them another opinion." Joe turned on the EKG monitor that he had hooked up on the moaning orderly and he started studying it intently. "I'm sure that the fire department will set you straight instantly if you try to take matters into your own hands." Fred sighed, running fingers through his hair. "Don't you care about Dixie?" Joe Early looked up with a flash of fury. "Of course I do. We all do, Hathaway. But first we have an obligation to fulfill here. And if that means providing triage for the fire department then by G*d, I'll provide it, because that's our job and oathsworn responsibility now by all hospital procedural duty and definition." "Not mine. Kel ordered me to..." Fred flickered a few agitated fingers. " ....snoop around and investigate a little. So I'm not going to let him down. Or her either, for that matter." he growled defensively. Joe glared at Hathaway fiercely. "Call me if you get a critical." Fred sniffed with an angry frown, holding up his triage radio. "It's too bad us surgeons have to wait around for orders and surgical case approval from one of you guys first before working any. But hey, triage handles life threats before scheduling those patients' operations, right?" Joe remained mute. A part of him wanted Fred to be his eyes, too. For Dixie's sake. "See you later." said Fred finally. He dashed off into the smoke. "I'll be careful." Ben Llewellyn, working a short distance away, bandaging a young lab technician's head, said. "That was brainless." he told Joe. "How so? I warned him." Joe insisted. "Yeah, but you didn't stop him." said the crusty, blue haired doctor. Whispering softly to himself, Joe Early looked up into the direction Fred had disappeared, with tears filling his eyes. "I couldn't." Down in another casualty row, having overheard the tale end of the conversation, Dr. Morton became pure fire. "I would've! Now we'll all get into trouble for letting him go! So much for swearing to watch out for each other my fine, fanciful colleagues. I'm utterly embarrassed and ashamed to think that the fire department is a whole h*ll of a lot better at it than we are." Joe thought he had a backup plan. "We could always call him, saying that a hospital administrator's ordered him to return." "With what, son?" snorted Dr. Llewellyn. "Fred's left his radio on top of the crash cart over there." "Are you sure?" "Are two doctors always doomed to fall in love with the same nurse?" murmured Ben. Joe Early left his victim's side for a moment to pick it up to confirm the name engraved on its bottom surface. It was Hathaway's. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:45 pm Subject: The Opposite of Fire Is~~ There was the sound of quiet coughing echoing in the darkness. After images started burning Roy's retinas before he realized that he had come to. "Dixie?!" He struggled up from where he lay crumpled flat on his back. A jolt of pain through a trapped leg, stopped him. ::Something's pinned me.:: he thought, reaching in the murk for his feet. A searing hot gas tank branded his gloves. "Ahh!" He whipped his hands away and lay still once more, listening to the noises around him. To his left, he could hear breathing, about three feet away from his right elbow. Then DeSoto realized that the weight on his stomach was Johnny's face. "Johnny?" he gasped, pulling off his face mask when the low air alarm started going off. The electronic howler awoke his partner, who flinched and immediately grunted when he found his legs pinned, too. Roy held him still with both gloves. "You ok?" "Yeah,...I think so..*cough*." "Gimme your mask, mine's through.." he croaked. "Gimme a breath, then let's shine our lights around us to look for Dixie." Gage moved into immediate motion as full recent memory of McCall's condition, returned. "Where is she?" he said, pressing the air mask to Roy's face so he could get some relief from the smoke. "I hear her breathing to my right. *cough* It's labored. Liquidy." Roy said hoarsely, sucking in the fresh air from Gage's bottle greedily. "We gotta flip her over. Can you reach her?" Johnny gasped, taking the mask back for himself. Roy sobbed, feeling the full extent of pain from what felt like a snapped ankle. "Ugh!... No. Neither can you. Both of us have a full gas tank and half a ton of rafters lying across the lower halves of our bodies." "We gotta do something, or she'll choke in a few minutes on that blood." Johnny said, aiming his penlight onto Dixie's pale face from where he and his partner lay tangled in the beams from the ceiling. Roy looked around their small enclosed space carefully. "I've got an idea." "What?" panted Johnny, laying a dizzy head back down onto Roy's hip so he'd wouldn't be a burden to his breathing. "G-Give me....your belt." Roy told him. "I've already got mine off." "What are ya gonna do?" Johnny said, squinting as he kept watching Dixie's respirations. "Fusebox.." Johnny grunted, feeling where the tremendous weight of the vehicle pressing down onto them, had him trapped. "I don't get it." "We shut off the master switch and we ...earn the ability to crank up the ..." Roy grimaced when a spasm shot through his leg. "..oxygen in the room. This is a surgical supply store, remember?" he smiled weakily. He shook his head to clear it. "I'm stupid. DuhHHhh. Can you reach one of those cylinders?" "My head's lying on one." Roy grinned, tapping it with a knuckle so Johnny would hear. "The regulator key's in my hand. But first..." "Yeah, I know we gotta get the power off.. so sparking risk's minimized." Roy tried to laugh but nothing came out."You're worried about us causing some with all this open flame around?" "Do you see any fire, Roy? It's pitch back in here. That last explosion must have snuffed it out." "Wondered why I couldn't ....see too well." Roy drowsed. "Don't think my vision's clear enough for your belt buckle tossing idea, Johnny." "I'll do it.." he said tightly. "I'm more awake than you. Hyperventilate on that and then hold your breath. I'm gonna need the mask for a bit while I try to snag the handle of that utility box. Keep an ear on Dixie. Her breathing rate's picking up into the crisis range." Roy gorged on the mask's flowing air and passed it over. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stars were parading thickly across his vision from hypoxia when he felt Johnny push the mask back over his nose and mouth. He felt his chin get tipped up until he had a clear passage through which to breathe. "Roy? I did it. Get your senses back. You get the last of the scba's supply. It's got thirty seconds left. Then crank on that O2 full blast when you can. Dixie's up to twenty four a minute." Roy's limbs felt like pure lead and it was impossible to respond. "Roy? Can you hear me?" He felt Johnny's hand push under his jacket to rest on his stomach, monitoring him. DeSoto finally answered him with a cough as the last feeble stream of waning air from the face plate revived him somewhat. "Sorry. .... lost track for...a few seconds." "The air's bad in here. My guess is that it's only from a lack of 02. The explosion used it all up in those flares. Doesn't help that I shut off the ventilation system when I deactivated the power in that fuse box. Come on, you gotta get that done now before we both black out." Stubbornly, Johnny refused the mask Roy try to hand back to him with a firm grip. He held his partner's eyes with a no nonsense look about it until DeSoto gathered up the strength he needed to lift up his arms. Roy reached over his head. His hands were bloody and shaking. ::Is this from me? Or from Johnny? Dixie wasn't bleeding that badly from her tongue bite.:: Gasping hugely, he managed to turn the valve on the E tank until it was wide open and it started pouring out its pure, cool oxygen. Immediately, clarity returned to both paramedics. Roy's pain doubled and so did Johnny's, but together, he and Gage shifted the green cylinder's weight on the gravel debris lying underneath them until it was shooting out the oxygen gas right over Dixie's liberally fire ashed head. They both began shouting to grab the first of her attention. Dixie emitted a single, weak cough a minute later, finally reacting to their shouts of encouragement. "Dixie? Wake up! Listen to us. Breathe deeper! You're way too shallow to do any good." DeSoto said loudly. Dixie's suffocation struggles grew as she began to panic in her half state. Stronger and stronger, she flailed her limbs. Then they began to weaken and she started turning a deeper blue. "No.." Roy yelled, trying to reach McCall with either hand. He failed. "Dixie....!" Gage got an idea and took up a length of splintered wood. He began to poke her in the shoulder firmly. "Dixie! Come on now! You need to roll over onto your side. You've got to get rid of all that cr*p in your mouth or you'll start to breathe it all in." Dixie's index finger lifted an inch, involuntarily, under their penlights. "Dixie! Do I have to leave bruises?!" Johnny yelled, losing his temper. He was about to smack her across the hand with the flat of the board when Dixie gasped. Adrenaline finally made her jerk and flip over onto her face. She landed inches away from the oxygen tank's nozzle and the sharp breeze from it started bringing her around. The sounds she began uttering were only half nonsensical noises. The other half was a healthy bout of swearing. "@#$%!*&" said Dixie. Roy and Johnny began to smile only then and they both fell back onto the ground with a complete sense of relief. Vocalizing was a good sign in anybody. They began to watch her closely as she recovered from almost drowning from her tongue's bite wound. A large amount of mouth blood trickled in a stream from between her teeth, to land sizzling in the embers underneath her that were glowing brightly in the oxygen stream. "Feel like talking now?" Johnny asked her a few minutes later. McCall didn't answer. "Come on, I won't bite. You already did that to yourself so I won't, I promise. How's the tongue doing? Are you still bleeding out badly?" Dixie stayed quiet, sucking in the rich oxygen gratefully. Johnny started up again. "I know you can hear me, Dixie. Your eyes are twitching." Dixie sighed without opening them. "Get...me...out.. of here. NOW." she said quietly, because of the intense pain still shooting through her head. "Sorry, we can't really oblige ya. You see, uh, Roy and I both have a truck lying on top of our legs..." That made Dixie pick up her head. "What?! A truck? How did th--OhhhHHH!" She immediately set it back down again when a sharp wave of dizziness sent a gush of vomit into her throat. She spat it out, turned away from her rescuers, and impatiently waited for the bout of nausea to recede. It finally did. "How's your back and neck? We've already guessed about the concussion.." Gage said. "I'm ok that way." Dixie swallowed dryly. "Why isn't Roy talking any more?" Johnny glanced over at his partner. Roy was dozing, but his skin remained warm and dry under Johnny's touch. "He's tired. That's all. He got our oxygen supply going so give him a break." Gage said grimacing, laying his head back down onto Roy's upper leg. The nurse in Dixie started reappearing. "Speaking of circulation, how's it in you guys below both your waists?" "If I didn't know you better, I'd be taking that as a distinct attempt at a pass, Dixie." Johnny joked, trying to get a rise out of her. "Really? You're not my type. I reserve all my flirting strictly for men of the white coat persuasion, Mr. Paramedic." "Huh. Figured that one out years ago. Kel's one h*ll of a lucky guy." Dixie didn't deign to correct him on exactly where her love life stood just then. "Seriously, Johnny. Will you answer my question? I don't want to have to worry about anyone but myself here, ok?" She heard Gage sigh, trying to hide a cry of pain. "I can feel everything, down to my toes.*gasp* I assume he can, too. Or he would've mentioned that he didn't." "There's a small mercy. Do they know we're down here?" "Yes. Roy got out our position before the second explosion separated us from both our walkie talkies." "Any bleeding on you two?" she asked. "Nope. Just scratches." "Spinal injuries?" "None." "Broken bones?" "Uh,...let's leave that one for the attending once we're outta here." "Johnny.." Dixie warned. "I ...don't know. I can't reach Roy's lower half to find out and he can't reach mine. You wouldn't happen to be free from debris enough to check on that for us, would you?" "I.. think I am. But there's this little problem called vertigo happening." "Oh. In that case, never mind. Prop your head up onto that tank. You need to keep it up with a head injury." "Practice what you preach. I can see the bruise on your forehead from here." Dixie said. "Lemme spend half a year crawling over to you and I'll help you keep an eye on Roy's pulse. I can do that at least. It doesn't require me to keep my eyes open." "Lazy." Johnny kidded her. "No, I'm just honest enough to acknowledge my current limitations." A sharp hiss and a sudden shift of settling weight made the metal of the fire heated truck in the ceiling groan sickeningly. Roy's eyes shot open when something pressed down even harder on his thighs. "Ow. Ow. Ow.. sh*t!" he writhed. Then he closed his eyes, and let a string of profanity gush out freely. "Of course it would be me get the lowest end of the truck's bumper on my lap." he hissed. "Hurry up, gang, if you know what's good for you.." he grunted, throwing up a look at the ceiling in the direction of the working firefighters he thought he heard digging down to their chamber. "Hey, nap boy. Morning..." Dixie joked, waving a weak hand at him in the dimness. "Guess who's awake?" Roy cracked an eye open and waved back. "Oh, it worked? Hi Dixie. Excuse me while I vent a little m---" and he choked out another bout of bad language. It faded into a soft moan when light shock finally came to give him relief. "I think your run of trucker mouth was better, Dixie. It had more class." Gage chuckled as he took Roy's pulse while he worked through the increased change in pain. It began to speed up. Johnny frowned and looked at Roy's face. Cold sweat was beginning to bead on his forehead. "Roy? Are you hurt worse than just your legs?" "I think ....something's in ......my lower back. I can feel it when I breathe." Then he blacked out. "Roy?" Johnny said, getting a grip on Roy's neck pulse. "Roy?! Can you hear me?" DeSoto didn't reply. "D*mn it!" Johnny said. He immediately reached into his partner's jacket pocket for one of the oral airways he knew Roy kept in there for rescues. He bit off its plastic wrap and used it on him. "I knew something wasn't going right with him." Dixie started dragging herself over to the two firefighters, fighting nausea the whole way. "Dig." she said with urgency. "Let's dig a hole under him and see what it is. Maybe it's just something he's lying on." "All right.." said Gage evenly, seriously. "But the moment you get tired, I want you to stop. I don't want you overexerting yourself. I'm still kicking myself for letting him do the same thing by letting him crack open that oxygen tank without checking him out first." "We were suffocating, Johnny. Time wasn't yours to waste." "Well, now it most definitely isn't either. Hey!!" he began to shout, picking up the ripped up board to hammer it soundly on a pitch angled wall near him. "We're right here! Hurry up! H---" Agony from his left leg locked Johnny up. "Johnny. Quit that. Serves you right. You're a trauma victim, too, whether you want to be one or not. So shut up." Dixie ordered. Gage smiled from the ground where he had curled up around his pinned leg. "Now I know you're getting better. You're beginning to sound more like the Dixie I know." "Speak for yourself." "I thought I was doing that." Johnny said, loosening up Roy's jacket and collar from around his throat. "Here, take this board. Use it to deflect some of that oxygen stream Roy's way. I want it in his face." "Think it'll wake him up like it did me?" "There's always hoping." Gage said sharply. Then he looked up at the dark hole above them again. "I wonder what's taking them so long to get through to us. It's not that far up to the parking lot's level from here." In answer, a falling pipe of drinking water, the lab's two foot diameter water main, fell down over their heads, rupturing wide open. Hundreds of gallons of water began to bounce off the roof of the mangled truck and onto the three trapped below. The water began to rise rapidly around them, filling up the hallway. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. *************************************************** From: "patti *mimic*" Date: Fri Nov 25, 2005 4:47 pm Subject: Morpheus Effect.. Dixie let out a startled scream. "What's happening? Is this from a fire hose?" "No, there's too much of it. I think this is from a subterranean water main! Don't you smell the chlorine?" said Johnny. Dixie nodded that she could. "Reach him, Dixie. Cover Roy's face with his air mask. He can't protect his own airway from all this water while he's unconscious like this." Grunting, Dixie shifted on her stomach, until she got a hold of the emptied scba bottle. She began using its face plate like an umbrella , holding it over DeSoto's nose and mouth to start deflecting away the cascading water. "I got him." she coughed, shaking frigid streams from her eyes like a wet dog. The cold of it drove away the last of the nausea she was feeling and surrealistic terror took over. Oddly enough, McCall felt her brain begin to function. "Johnny. Use the water! It's softening the debris layer underneath him." "I know. I'm already down here." he grunted, digging under Roy's hip and lower back with both muddy gloves. "I'm gonna try to free him first." Dixie helped him with a heel of her foot. "Is he really stabbed on top of something?" she gasped, struggling to keep the air mask off of Roy's face even while the falling water tried to beat it down forcefully. Gage didn't answer, coughing in whistling, frightened gasps while he dug a hole underneath DeSoto, using his penlight for illumination. The dull gleam of an opaque white cylinder revealed itself, etched with familiar horizontal black lines. It was stuck vertically down from Roy's back. "It's a 100 ml syringe of some kind. The needle's impaled him and it's partially full of something." "Get it out!" McCall quailed. Johnny didn't like the idea of disturbing an object inside of Roy's lower abdomen, but the thought of whatever that solution was, injecting more of itself into him, was too much to bear. Slowly, he pulled out syringe's embedded needle carefully; straight down, and back out the way it had come. One inch, two inches, three... Finally, the end of it pulled clear. "This looks like a bicarb needle, Dix. It's six inches long." he said, holding it up quickly into the light of his flashlight. He snapped the sharp lance's hub off and threw it away violently. "It looks like an anesthetic." she said taking it from him to study it. "A lot like one of the preps they use before doing spinal punctures." "I'm saving this then." Gage said, stuffing it into his turnout pocket. He knew it would have to be analyzed to discover what drug it contained. "How's he doing?" "Still breathing. But it's very slow, shallow." "That might be because of all this oxygen saturating the air. He's still pink enough." Dixie coughed, thinking of an idea. "Give me your penlight." Johnny handed it over, barely able to reach Dixie's hand far enough to do it. Dixie flattened herself over Roy, using her body to shield him from the raining water burst, and ran its beam over Roy's pupils, checking each in turn without disturbing the lay of his oral airway. "They're pinpricked, nonreactive." "So it's a narcotic working on him." Gage sighed. "It fits his symptoms. Let's hope he didn't get enough for an overdose or he'll lose all vital signs eventually." he said with dismay. "All three of us might suffer that if this water gets any higher. I can feel that it's almost up to his ears already, Johnny." Dixie grunted, struggling to keep the scba mask over DeSoto's head. "We've got to hurry." The two of them began to dig out from underneath the fallen truck even faster, shouting for help as loud as they could at the hole that was flooding them out rapidly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos : None. ************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Sun Nov 27, 2005 7:44 pm Subject: To Dixie.. With Love.. Marco Lopez looked up from where he and Chet were washing down the sinkhole in Rampart's parking lot when a portion of it suddenly collapsed again; the fire glow that they could see, turning into more steam than their own water cover could account for. "Chet! Substrate's shifted! We've got a pipe burst! Get back!" They staggered backwards in a panic as the tarred ground beneath their feet gave way before them. They both fell onto their backs and were immediately helped to their feet again by fire crews so their hose wouldn't get away from them. They both fumbled until they could man the nozzle again, enough to shut it off. Running back to the new edge of the subsidence in between the parked cars, Lopez stretched himself out onto the ground, peering down, "Johnny?! Roy?" he shouted into his walkie talkie on the squad's band. There was no reply. Only the sound of tons of water escaping infrastructure at high speed. He nodded to Stoker to report the change. 51's engineer spoke quickly with Battalion 14 and filled him in. ##Engine 51, is Ladder Nine setting up at your position?## Mike looked up and saw a team from the city in yellow opening up a high tech, foam cushioned equipment case. "That's affirmative." ##Hang tight. I have a couple of Rampart's designers here with me. We'll work out exactly what water main's involved and try to get it shut off a.s.a.p.. Note your stable ground and get a vertical wench situated.## ordered the chief. "10-4.." Stoker affirmed. He rapidly got what he wanted and clusters of helping hands set up the rapid access tripod and pulley over the hole. A new voice interjected through the chatter of the firemen as they checked and rechecked their set up. "Let me through! I'm from triage. We need an update on your situation." It was Fred Hathaway. "What's happening? Why aren't your people going down there to start digging?" Marco rose from where he crouched next to Stoker and Kelly who were threading lines into the portable winching gear and hooking up lifebelts and stokes to it. "Hey, not so close. The ground isn't safe here." Lopez cautioned holding up a damp glove. Fred used his greater height to peer over Marco's helmet. "How bad is it?" the surgeon asked. "We heard the tunnel ceiling gave way." "Mister, we're about to get your staff nurse out of there." Kelly told him. "We're gonna peg her position with an infrared reader and then get our team down. She's not alone. Believe me when I tell you that. Johnny and Roy, our paramedics, are simply the best in the business and they're right down there with her. " "Wait a minute, that stuff coming out of the hole's not fire smoke. That's a water vapor cloud!" It was only then that the blonde haired surgeon smelled pipeline moisture. Fred panicked, instantly understanding that the firemen were dealing with a rapidly rising flood, and flames no longer. ::Dixie!:: Fred quailed. "Somebody, get down there now!" he said, pressing nearer. "They're drowning! Let me over there!" Stoker grabbed his shoulders. "Doctor! Stay put!" he growled. "You're not going anywhere. Let these people do their job. Your interference isn't helping matters.." he told Fred as they grappled. Vince Howard, manning the public traffic away from the rescue site, looked up. "Is that man causing you a problem?" he asked Kelly and Lopez from his traffic directing post. Fred pushed away from Stoker's grip, throwing his hands up in surrender. "No problem officer. I was just.....leaving." said Hathaway, and he put his hands into his triage tunic's pockets. Fred strode away, weaving in between cars in the parking lot in a general direction back towards the triage hanger. As he had hoped, the firemen's attention fell away from him and back to the rescue ongoing over the pavement collapse site. He saw a firefighter lift up some sort of camera to an eye, looking through the billowing water fog. Hathaway immediately ducked behind a large van and made his way over to the south entrance of the lab building. As he suspected, there weren't any fire personnel over there anymore. All were at the hole, helping out with the active rescue team at the winch. Slyly, Hathaway uptook one of the spare air bottles Gage had left at the top of the stairs and put it on. Then he took hold of the end of Johnny's safety rope that was still tied off on the underground stairway's banister and Fred began following it down into the tunnel, feeling his way by touch in the steamy darkness. No one saw him go in. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gage was still digging around Roy's legs. It was harder, since everything was now under two and a half feet of water. Dixie was holding Roy's head up against her chest. "Johnny! Hurry. I can't sit him up any higher." she sputtered. Rushing water was now up to her chin. And Roy's neck. "I'm going as fast as I can." Gage said, taking another huge breath. He dove underwater and swam under the truck again to chop with his knife's blade once more around the plastic truck bumper still stubbornly trapping his partner's legs. He rose for another gasping breath."Keep getting his face out of the water! I've almost got him free." Johnny's own foot, had been easy to untangle. The water had acted as a lubricant, softening his shoe's leather. Cutting it away was all that had been needed to rescue himself from the debris pile's grip. Now, he was working frantically to save Roy. A wave of dizziness swept through Dixie and her fingers slipped on Roy's skin. His head slid off her shoulder into the water. With a cry of dismay, Dixie thrashed about with her arms, searching for him in a blind panic. "I got him!" said a new voice. Dixie gasped and startled when she suddenly felt strong arms supporting Roy's heavy weight. She knew immediately who it was. "Fred! Get him up! Get him up! He can't maintain his own airway. He's been drugged." The doctor grunted, lifting, until Roy's nose and mouth reappeared at the surface of the water. The paramedic gasped involuntarily then, through his unconsciousness, and they watched as he started to breathe again in the rich oxygenated air. "OhmyG*d, How'd you get down here?" Dixie said, returning DeSoto's head to her shoulder. "Are the others coming?" "Not the way I came through." said Fred, blinking in the torrents of water raining down on them. "It's all submerged now and there's been another ceiling collapse." he said, slipping behind Dixie to support her back to help her with Roy's weight. "How's that head of yours?" "Never mind that. You're very stupid to come down here after me. Johnny's gonna be p*ssed when he runs out of air down there after digging, comes up, and finds out about you." "Who?" Gage's head burst to the surface and he sucked in huge lungfuls as he shook the water out of his eyes. "I'm almost done! I think I can get him free this last try once I catch my br--" he broke off when he realized that Fred was there. "Dixie? Who's this? A survivor?! Mister, are you hurt?" "No, I'm not. Just concentrate on your friend here. Time's wasting. Time that we just don't have." Hathaway barked. "I'm estimating another minute for him before the water gets up over his head the rest of the way. Get going!" Gage didn't try to fathom out the odd look in Dixie's eyes, nor the one on the stranger's face. He just took another breath, and dove down again with the knife in his teeth. Roy began bubbling and choking as the water slapped over his chin and trickled down his short airway tube. Dixie cried out. "Oh, no." Fred was firm. "I got his shoulders, Dixie. Let him go. Concentrate on helping him by mouth to mouth. Seal him off in between breaths when you come up yourself for some. If you get dizzy, let me know and we'll switch places." the surgeon shouted."Whatever you do, keep that airway in place, it'll prevent tongue spasms." Dixie nodded in fright and ducked under the water, starting to give Roy quick, light breaths after pinching off his nose firmly. She kept going as the water began to climb higher and higher up her arms. Dixie found that she had to pull herself down deeper and deeper each time to reach his lips and the hard plastic of the tube she was blocking off with her fingers. Gage burst to the top again, seeing sparkles from the lack of air. He saw Roy's head had submerged completely and that he was being aided already by the two Rampart staffers. Hyperventilating by the hissing oxygen bottle's underwater bubble stream, Johnny forced himself to recharge his lungs for only a few seconds before he dove down one last time to cut free the cloth still twisted around Roy's legs. Above him, the truck settled, sliding down with a groan of tortured metal. Johnny inchwormed out from under it at the last second with a fist gripping Roy's pants leg cuffs, dragging both feet out of the way. But then a block of ceiling cement impacted him in the small of his back, pushing Gage face down, onto the submerged floor. He began to struggle. Fred saw the change. "Dixie! Johnny's in trouble. Hold this guy. I'll be right back." And he porpoised underwater after Gage. Dixie began shouting. "Fred! .....*gasp* Fred! " But then she had to deliver Roy's next breath again and that effectively ended her screaming out Dr. Hathaway's name. Johnny grunted as the crushing weight pressed down excruciatingly. He lost precious air from his lungs as he tried to get his feet under himself to get out from under it. Then he felt a pair of hands lift it away and pull him to the water's surface. "Easy, fireman. You ok now?" asked Fred. "Now I am. Get back to my partner, Roy. He's free. I'm climbing up onto the truck. I hear a winch line and belt coming down to us!" Fred let Johnny go. "Ok, be careful. Try not to fall playing the hero." he teased. Gage flashed him a grin that was only half worry then, for Roy. Soon, his feet disappeared through the ceiling and above the shattered waterfalling pipe. The surgeon waded back over to McCall to cradle her as she worked to maintain DeSoto. He was now a near drowning case and not breathing on his own even though his face was easily floating on top of the water. She told Hathaway why. "He landed on a filled needle, Fred. We don't know what was in it." Hathway was soothing to Dixie, to calm her. "Roy's still got a pulse here. Need a break yet?" "No.. just keep holding...........me up. I won't be able to do the same for you. I'm too weak yet." she gasped, keeping hold of Roy's chin and nose. "Fair enough. Blow harder. It'll push what water got in,.. out of his lungs." Fred directed. "He's not distending, so don't worry about that." Dixie was ever grateful for an anesthesiologist's wisdom. It felt strange being in Fred's arms again and it brought back memories and sensations that she had long since forgotten. Emotions rising to the foreground made her start to cry from stress and shock. Her breaths to Roy faltered. "Shhh, you're doing fine." Fred told her, kissing the top of her head gently, shielding her from the falling water with his body. "I'll help you count. One, two, three...four..five.. Breathe.." Dixie breathed. She let Fred's voice guide her through her mental haze and fear. ::Roy's not going to die, Johnny. I won't let him.:: she promised. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gage got within arm's reach of Stoker. "Mike! We're here. Lower the rope farther! Roy's in trouble. He's apneic being assisted. He goes first!" Stoker bubbled his worry ...and relief.. and started snapping orders. Kelly, next to him, frowned as he looked at the IR imager's screen. "Johnny, we're reading four heat signatures down there. I thought it was just you two and Dixie.." "Some triage doctor came down after us.." Gage shouted back up. "That crazy mother---" Vince blew up. He had heard Johnny's comment. "I'll arrest him as soon as you fellas get his sorry butt back up here!" he roared. "Gimme more slack.." Gage said, "And get this stokes outta here. There isn't the room for it! We'll go with just the belt and pulley. He's hurt his leg and a foot only." Chet couldn't contain himself. "How's Dixie?" "Concussed but fully conscious. She's the one breathing for Roy." Hank was beside himself. "Oh, L*rd... Need an airway, pal?" "No, we got one in." said, Gage, guiding the winch lowering cable down past the truck. "That's right. That's probably one from Roy's pockets." Cap said. "I forget how much he plans ahead for things like that being an ex Viet Nam medic like he is. Stoker go grab a resuscitator. Then call a doc to get over here from triage to manage Roy as a critical. And find another paramedic team to handle our wounded. Gage isn't going to by himself. I won't allow it." "Right. Back in two minutes." Mike dashed off. "Cap!" said Johnny once again from the hole. "Yeah?" "Catch this!" Gage said. He tossed up the syringe that he had pulled out of Roy's back. "Roy got himself stuck on the stuff when the ceiling caved in. He got a good dose of it, enough to wipe out his breathing. A lab's gonna have to analyze it so we know how to counteract whatever drug's effecting him." Hank caught it deftly. "Lopez.. Run. Tell the chief and then make this your top priority." he told Marco. Marco took it one step further and radioed ahead about the syringe coming to the ER. "I'll stay with Brackett until he has an answer for Johnny. I'll have him radio on it as soon as he knows. And I'll tell Stoker to bring the rest of gear from the squad with him." Cap nodded. "Ok, sounds like a plan. Move." Marco needed no encouragement. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Time was standing still. The only thing that seemed to move for Dixie, was Roy's chest as she made it rise and the gushing water from the pipe that tried to beat it down again. Even sounds seemed to still. Dimly, she heard voices. Johnny's as he slipped a lifebelt around DeSoto's waist, and Fred's as he helped the paramedic fireman ready the winch cable. She hardly felt Gage place a belt around her own waist and she actually protested with a short cry when he snugged it tight and accidently disturbed her rhythm of breaths. She allowed them to put a fire helmet onto her head after they had Roy rope attached. "Ok, Dixie. Let me at him. You're about to drop." Gage told McCall. With an effort, Dixie tried to let go. Her cramped hands didn't want to fall away from Roy's face...until Fred's warm ones peeled them gently off. Johnny leaned down and hyperventilated Roy a couple of times mouth to mouth,.. giving him enough oxygen into his system to last for the fast winch trip to come through the ceiling. Roy's feet and knife shredded pants disappeared up into the hole and into many firefighter hands. Fred unexpectedly, shouted. "Fireman, you go next. " the surgeon told Gage. "I'll get Dixie up. You gotta get up there for your partner's resuscitation care and to act as a go between sharing info with everybody about that syringe Roy poisoned himself on." "I can't leave until you two do. You're crazy!" Johnny told him no nonsense. "Yes you can. I'm a doctor and I'm giving you, as my paramedic, a direct order. Go. Leave here. I'll assume full responsibility." "You can't do that." "Sure I can. I'm not a victim of yours. I came down here of my own free will as a fellow rescuer, remember? So my doctor's authority is still acting over you most thoroughly." "You're leaving before me. And that's that." Johnny yelled, thrusting the winch cable at the surgeon. "Like you're gonna stop me, Gage?" Fred grinned. "I'm bigger than you by at least hundred pounds." Then he smiled as he cradled Dixie, who had started shivering violently in a sudden odd muteness. "Someone's gotta stay down here to make sure her line doesn't foul. Go, it'll only take a minute. I'll watch her feet as she moves through. She's getting shocky and I'll never forgive you if she blacks out from hypothermia due to your delaying." glared Hathaway. "I promise you I'll come down full guns on you discipline wise if you try anything to interfere with my decision here. Anything at all. So don't do it." "Fred..." "Don't tempt me, paramedic!" Hathway interrupted. "I will file an official reprimand if you don't go in five seconds. One,..two... three.." A small whimper from Dixie and the sight of her glazing eyes decided Johnny. He reluctantly climbed the rope and uptook the one on Dixie belt. He shouted to the firemen above him. "Another victim's on the line. Take up my slack! .." He crouched briefly on top of the crushed truck's hood and met Fred's eyes with a long look of indecision and reluctance. But then he grew too busy with Dixie to remain frozen with doubt for long. He climbed up out of vision to aid in the rope guiding. "Fred, I'll be back for you in less than a minute. Be ready for my rope. Coil it twice around your belt's loop hook!" Dixie was halfway up out of the water when the fallen truck tipped sideways and started falling towards her with a slow creeping roar. Fred didn't hesitate as he leaped at the nurse to tuck Dixie's feet safely up into the ceiling and out of danger. He sighed with a smile when his hand fell away from her shoes as he came down again. ::I did it. I saved her. This is more than a fair enough trade. My life for hers. Thank you, G*d, for letting me be there for her one last time. Goodbye, Dixie. All my love. Kel, you take good care of her, you hear?:: he wished. Hathaway had a few seconds to turn then, to fully embrace the truck that was inexorably cascading its five ton weight down the debris pile, on its slow approaching way, to killing him. Fred was still smiling when the impact forced the air out of his lungs and bore him deep under the dark frothing water. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gage startled. He was by Stoker, who was crouched intently over Roy, giving him badly needed supported breaths with the demand valve. He had heard the deep throated grind of falling weight that had belched from the hole. "Did you get him?" he demanded of the fire crews. "We're still pulling up the slack..." admitted the fireman manning the winch. Just then, engineers managed to shut off the water main and the flood died away into soft drops which echoed off the truck below. Cheering, the firefighters picked up their retrieval's pace. Inch by inch, the surgeon's rope was coiled on the wheel. On the ground, nestled in a stokes and being blanket and oxygen tended by paramedics, Dixie saw ....the torn, frayed end of it come into view. The life belt that should have been around the surgeon's waist had been ripped clean away from the line and it was missing. The fibers there were red with blood. "I've just lost the heat signature! I've lost sight of the last victim!" cried the camera operator, still looking through the infrared imager's viewscreen. The full meaning of what that meant shadowed painfully on Johnny's face, driving the full impact of the reality of Fred's sudden death, home to McCall. "No!!!... Oh, G*d, no...." Dixie sobbed. "Fred...? Fred!!" The surgeon couldn't.. and would never,.. respond to her cries. Johnny, knelt by Dixie's stretcher, and took her hand, numbly. "Dixie, I'm ...so....so sorry. He left me no choice but to leave...." Dixie's turned a shivering, tear filled gaze onto her friend and rescuer. "I knew Fred would do that. I think I knew that the moment he started arguing with you. That's why I went so numb.. I...Oh, G*d, don't blame yourself. He was ...always pushy, Johnny. And that's why I loved him so much..." she choked up, crying in gasps as her waterchilled shock began to rule her once more. "Dixie...." "Go take care of your partner, Gage. Don't let that man's sacrifice be for nothing, ok?" snapped the paramedic working on the nurse. "Or I'll start doing some butt kicking,.. real fast." Johnny went. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos : None. ************************************************** From: "wone3" Date: Mon Nov 28, 2005 11:54 am Subject: Absolution and Grief Johnny kept Stoker aiding Roy's breathing even as the medic team started to move Roy to triage. Marco had made record time in getting to Dr. Brackett and getting the syringe analyzed. Fortunately for all involved, it was a benzodiazepine derivative that wouldn't pose any other side effects. Brackett had the medication's name, Versed, radioed over to the triage team in short order and ordered incremental intravenous bolus injections of flumazenil to counteract the symptoms via I.V. Based on the estimated dosage that Roy took into his system, Kel knew that Roy would only potentially have troubles for the next six hours or so. :: He will most likely sleep through that entire time and be fine when he wakes up.:: Dr. Brackett thought. It was during the syringe analysis that both Marco and Dr. Brackett heard of Dr. Fred Hathaway's demise through Marco's HT. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dixie was next moved back to the triage area. The entire triage staff felt as though the weight of the world was off their shoulders and there was a general sense of relief seeing that particular stretcher. Joe Early saw her stokes coming and he couldn't have been more thankful to see one of his best friends still alive. As he came up to her, he saw her red, tear filled eyes, noting her shivering body. And he could see the concussion signs that he had been radioed about before she arrived. Joe knew what had basically happened at the hole as well. "Hi, Dix. I should ask you how you are feeling emotionally but I think I have a clue at least a bit about how you feel. Fred was a special doctor and I know you cared about him quite a bit. How are you feeling physically though?" "Hi, Joe, I have a big headache that just won't quit, and my body's cold and numb. But as far as I can tell, no broken bones or internal injuries. I was knocked unconscious for a while though." The tears came to her eyes again as she started to speak about the now dead doctor. "He pushed me out of the way of the falling truck and took the hit himself. Why, Joe, why?" she said in a sorrowful voice that had been crying seemingly nonstop. Joe placed his hand reassuringly on her shoulder as he continued his evaluation of her. "I'm not entirely sure of the why Dixie. I do know that he came here looking for you before he went over there. I also tend to think that, even though you two broke it off between yourselves, that you both were still harboring feelings for each other. Am I right?" Dixie did all that she could do between her sobbing gasps, and that was just to carefully nod her head. She didn't do it too much as the headache she had, still wouldn't quit. Joe finished up with the exam and told her that she'd be spending the next day or two upstairs in the hospital. "Today will be just for the neurological checks. You'll stay tomorrow, too, so you can catch up on sleep from the checks and so we can make sure nothing else creeps up." he explained. Dixie didn't even put up a fight, which kind of surprised Joe. But he understood with the mood that she was in after all that happened. He motioned to the two orderlies to take her inside Rampart and he told them to let admitting know that he'd fill out her paperwork once he was done triaging. They took McCall upstairs to her room for the night, afterwards. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was several hours later. Kel was out checking on some last minute details on a few patients before he left for the night after his absolutely nightmarish shift. He couldn't believe that Fred Hathaway was gone. But was he was thankful that Fred had come through for Dixie. Just like he'd told Kel that he WOULD do. And Kel wouldn't have had it any other way if it helped his other friends. Johnny had told Brackett most of the story of what had happened to Fred while being checked out by the doctor. Kel had known about the water and Johnny's near mishap with the truck, too. ::Johnny couldn't avoid trouble if he tried. :: he thought. Dr. Brackett had been saving two patients for last on the rounds; partially out of the guilt trip he was experiencing and partially because he wanted to spend more time with Dixie, Johnny and Roy, who happened to be, what he considered as close friends. Johnny and Roy he still had to thank for risking their lives saving Dixie. And as for McCall, he felt he had to apologize for getting her into that situation in the first place. Perhaps he would add some reassurances to all during the rest of the chain of events to come. He stopped by the nurse's desk on their floor and grabbed his patients' charts. They were only a couple of doors down from each other. Kel went to the paramedics' room first, mainly because it would be easier to deal with them and get the thank you out of the way. He was not relishing the idea of facing Dixie yet, as he wasn't sure of the words to use for both apology and reassurance. Kel came to the partially shut door and knocked. He entered even as Gage acknowledged him with a come in call. Roy Desoto occupied the bed still recuperating from his Versed intake and an ankle injury. Roy wasn't awake but he was sleeping peacefully, off the ventilator finally. Kel saw that Johnny Gage had taken residence in the chair next to his partner. ::Has he been there ever since I allowed him to leave the ER?:: he asked himself mentally. ::I did tell Johnny and Captain Stanley that Johnny would have to miss the next shift after all that had happened down in the hole.:: he surmised. Johnny had put up his usual fuss but Kel knew he wouldn't get his way. "Hi, doc. What brings you through here this time of night?" Johnny said as he slowly took in Kel's appearance. Gage could see through Kel's tired guilt ridden eyes and facial features. He realized Kel still hadn't granted himself absolution over the entire situation with Dixie yet. The paramedic knew that he'd have to step carefully in part of the conversation to come. "What are you doing here, Johnny? I thought I told you to go home and get some rest. I came to check up on Roy mainly. But it looks like I also guessed correctly that you'd still be here. I hoped to talk to you both. But I can tell now that I'll have to wait until later to talk to Roy." Kel answered with both a sense of purpose and a bit of joking. "You look like you really have something else on your mind though, doc." Johnny answered. "Yes, I do have something on my mind, Johnny. I want to say what I have to say to you without being interrupted if possible, o.k.?" Johnny nodded as Kel continued. "I want to thank you for taking your life into your own hands, saving Dixie from the fire. I know she means a lot to both of you. She means a lot, to a lot of people and I am not sure what we'd do without her. Fortunately, this time we won't have to find out, thanks to you two and the rest of the firefighters who responded. And don't say you were just doing your job. Because, from what I heard is left of the lab space down there, you had to have been doing something special just to survive then. I also hope you aren't blaming yourself for Dr. Hathaway's death. He was the type of doctor that would stubbornly give up everything to save a patient and this time, ....he did." added Kel with a touch of melancholy. Johnny decided to be blunt in responding, "We WERE just doing our jobs, but I am glad you think we did something special down there. Dixie does mean a lot to me, ..to all of us; but I think she means even more to you, doc. I'm glad none of us had to find out what life would've been like without her around. I'm just sorry that we didn't get Dr. Hathaway out in time before the truck got him. And you're right, I do feel guilty about that, but I know that I'm not G*d. Every situation is not going to be a happily ever after scenario. Doc, the fire wasn't your fault and Dixie being down there getting hurt wasn't either. Dixie was doing her job, checking on those results. It was simply her being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and yes, I do know about these things...." Kel thought about what Johnny just said. He cracked a smile and started to chuckle. "You are right, Johnny. Especially about that part of her being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Don't stay too long. Go home and get some sleep. Your partner will be fine here." Johnny couldn't help but get caught up in Kel's laughter, "Go talk to her, doc. She'll tell you the same thing about the fire. And she really needs you to deal with Dr. Hathaway's death I think." Kel walked to the door and turned around, "That's where I'm headed now, Johnny. Thanks for the talk." He walked through the open door and shut it behind him. He left it as he had found it when he first entered. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kel walked down the hallway past a couple of doors to Dixie's room. Again the door was cracked open but Kel went ahead and knocked as he entered. He could hear Dixie's quiet crying as he entered. :: I know Fred meant a bunch to you, Dix, but something must have happened down there that I don't know about. I need to tread carefully with you through this:: he thought to himself. Dixie took in Kel's appearance through red eyes. She could see guilt hidden in his eyes and his melancholic facial features. :: I know you so well Kel. You are feeling very guilty about me having been downstairs when the fire started. :: she thought. She saw that he had what she assumed to be her chart in his hands. And she knew that he'd start with small talk first using that before he would try to apologize. ::I'll let him start. :: she decided. "You're doing good, Dixie. Your concussion symptoms seem to be lessening and nothing else is showing up. After another day in here and a few days at home, you should be just fine physically." he told her. ::Thank God:: he mentally added. "Dix, we need to talk. I want to start by saying.." he voiced. Dixie interrupted in a firm tone, though not in her typical no nonsense tone, but one that still had some authority behind it. "Kel Brackett. Don't you think about starting to apologize to me. There is nothing to apologize for. And yes, I have been talking to Joe, Mike, a few other concerned doctors, and my nursing staff about how you have been acting since this whole thing started. You aren't G*d, Kel. You can't stop time just when things go wrong. You're human and you have feelings like the rest of us. There is no reason for this guilt trip you're harboring. So it's time to drop it. Right here in this room and right now. I was doing my job, just like everybody else in this hospital was doing when the fire broke out. It was just a case of my being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.... I.." She paused for a second as that last bit sunk in, realizing what she had said. She started to break down again, crying. "Gee, I sound so much like Johnny saying that. How are the guys doing by the way?" Kel cracked a very small smile as he listened to her talk. :: I knew this would come from you, Dix. You know what to say to me to get my mind straight again. We do know each other way too well. :: "They are both doing fine. They're just a couple of doors down from you. Right now, Johnny is watching out for Roy for a bit, even though I told him to go home a few hours ago. Gage's going to miss one shift, though, just as a precaution. And Roy shouldn't suffer any side effects from the Versed dose that he suffered. He should be able to go home in a couple of days and he'll be back on shift most likely, within a week." He paused then to carefully change the subject. "Johnny told me the story of what happened down there as far as he knew it. I think there is something else going on here though. Something that maybe only you know about. Fred was a great guy. He told me that he'd get you out of there and help you and he did." With that Dixie broke down and started sobbing even more heavily if it were possible. Kel just held her and tried to reassure her. She kept on crying for several minutes. Once Dixie regained her composure, she went on. "Fred and Johnny were arguing about who should go out last. Fred ordered Johnny to go up so he could help on top with Roy and play the go between as the only information source on what had happened down below. Fred even told Johnny that he'd watch my rope for me and that he alone should be the one to do it. I went quiet at that point to make it easier for Johnny to decide. I was so scared for both of them then, Kel. I know Johnny wasn't happy, but he went. Then I was next and as I was halfway up..." The tears started to threaten to return and a lump hit her throat but she continued. "...as I was halfway up, the truck which had pinned Roy and Johnny in, started to sway and it headed right towards me. Fred pushed me up as far away from it as he could reach. Then ...I- I think he took the hit of the truck full force, Kel. He pushed me out of the way... Why, Kel?" The tears started, but not as heavily as she had cried before. Kel tried to reassure her, "Fred and I talked about you as things were happening. We both admitted to each other that we still had feelings for you. Fred knew that I couldn't go look for you. He knew that he could, Dix, so he promised to do me that favor. He told me before he started out that he'd make sure you'd come back and I think that we both know that he would've done whatever he had to do to live up to that promise. I'm not sure what in his mind made him think that your life was more valuable than his during those last moments, but I am sure glad that he did what he did do to get you out of there. Dix, Fred needs some sort of recognition and I think a memorial service of some sort would help all of us deal with what he did for us that caused his death. What do you think of that idea?" "I like the idea of memorial service for Fred. And I am glad to hear that the guys are going to be just fine. That certainly helps making Fred's death feel not quite as bad you know? " Dix stated softly with a yawn as she really took in his appearance. "You look so tired, Kel." she sighed. He DID look exhausted to her. And she knew he must have had a busy shift past the incident which had occurred at the hospital to look so haggard. ::His guilt .. or his relief over what happened to me is just sinking in. Perhaps he's feeling a combination of both.:: she thought. "Well, this is the end of shift for me and I'm going home to bed for some sleep, which something that you need to do, too. Your yawn has just told as much. So I'm going to bid you a good night, Dix. Try and get some sleep. Even if you're still feeling bad about all this. Hold on to the thought of how much a whole lot of people, including Fred, cared about you then." he told her with a special twinkle in his eyes as he crossed the room to the door. He opened it just enough to exit. He heard her call out good night to him and then the small sobbing continued as he walked down the hall. He knew that she would probably cry herself to sleep but as he stopped at the desk to replace the charts, he saw that Joe had a very mild sedative prescribed for Dixie once the neurological checks were done for when she really needed help falling asleep. :: Good thinking, Joe. I guess she told you about everything, too, huh? :: He thought to himself. Kel continued to walk down the hall after his stop at the nurse's desk and he started to make plans for the service. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos : None. *************************************************************** From: "Champagne Scott" Date: Wed Nov 30, 2005 11:00 am Subject: Food for Thought..:) It was a week later. Johnny and Roy had just dropped off a sprained elbow into treatment room five into the hands of Dr. Morton when a shocking sight stopped Gage right in his tracks. He slapped his partner's chest to get his attention. "Look over there, Roy. Wow, I wonder who's chart that is?" he asked. Both of them eyeballed Dr. Brackett as he staggered a bit with it until a passing orderly craftily kicked a wheelchair his way in a strong hint for him to use it to cart the thick bundle. Dixie and Joe Early rushed from the ER's front desk to help him with it. The two paramedics ambled into that direction. "Hi docs. Dixie.." said Roy. "Oh, hi fellas.." McCall greeted warmly. "So it's back to business as usual today. No more restricted duty?" "None." Roy said. "I feel like a million bucks today." Johnny leaned into Brackett as he centered the foldered pile in the middle of the seat so that it wouldn't slide around. "Private citizen's? Or firefighter's, doc?" he whispered about the massively thick chart. Kel looked up and smiled at the question. "Neither. This is the usual adminstrative claptrap that any department head goes through whenever anyone tries to petition management to up the annual spending budget." "You have to go through THAT much paperwork just to get a new lab building built?" "Yep. And that's not all I have to do. There will be a formal investigation into the final actions that Dr. Hathaway took that were against hospital protocol to safeguard such an occurrance from ever happening again in the future." said Kel. "I have to submit a personal deposition on that outlining my supervisory role that day and how I could have prevented the incident." A pause silenced them all when Dixie sharply looked away at the unexpected mention of Fred's name. She fought back a stab of bubbling grief that made the firemen uncomfortable simply because they had witnessed her still vulnerable emotional weakness. Johnny gave her a hug around the shoulders with an arm offered in pure companionship. He didn't have to say anything aloud to comfort her. The way she relaxed against him as she wiped away the saltiness from her eyes was all he needed to feel. The others pretended not to see Dixie's emotional slip that had gotten out in public. Roy changed the subject, and shammed looking relieved. "So,..all that's red tape? Whew. For a minute there, I thought you were carrying Johnny's chart to add closing notes to, Dr. Brackett." Gage let go of Dixie, indignant at his amused, larger partner. "Very funny, Roy. You know, after this week, I think the size of yours is fast catching up to the size of MY patient record." "Not quite, Johnny." said Dixie. "Roy's is still a few pounds shy of yours on tipping the scales." McCall teased. "I win that argument. I got you beat with this one, guys." said Kel, hefting up the finance requisition forms folder that he needed to peruse in order to get construction repairs going on the new subterranean wing. "And it'll take about three hours just to skim read it all." Gage's mouth flopped open. "Can't you get someone else to do that? What about your physician's assistant? Can't she do that for you enough to show you where to put all your signatures?" "Nope." Brackett replied evenly. "What a load of--" Gage sympathized. "Well, it's the money that counts in the end, Johnny, not the thought." Kel nodded. "And in Fred's case, it was the thought that counted, not the recklessness, Kel. And I'm gonna tell the board exactly how I feel so his immediate family will still get all of his life insurance benefit." said Joe. Brackett grinned. "I'll help you on that one. The other good news is that no one is going to get sued for anything even remotely related to the fire. The whole thing was ruled as an accident concerning that leaking oxygen tank and responsibility for that electrical wire shorting out was found to be nobody's. It was ruled that its deterioration was just the simple effect of normal metallic aging." Joe Early cut in. "I'm starving. Who wants to go to the cafeteria with me for a little lunch? It's time for my half." Everyone raised their hands while the two paramedics raised their HT antennaes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The five of them clustered around the biggest table under the eucalyptus tree and as soon as they sat down, they dove into their trays with abandon. Nothing was said for long minutes as fries, soda and chips disappeared in rapid order. Then McCall opened up conversation. "Did you know that Kel actually got down on his knees and proposed to me twice this week?" she tossed out to them, laughing. "Really?" said Johnny, perking up at that particularly unexpected gossipy news. "Yeah, he was helping me with my socks then when I couldn't bend over without feeling like my head was gonna pop off." "That passed." Kel told her. "So it did. But I can't say that I don't miss the special attention." Roy and Johnny cleared their throats and just bit into both their burgers as they watched a full rise of red color Brackett's face. But then, Kel surprised them all by saying. "Ok, I can fix that Dixie. You and me. Tonight. At my place for a steak dinner. And don't bring the wine. You aren't ready medically to handle metabolizing such a stuporific yet." "Of course, Dr. Brackett. I wouldn't deviate from one of your patient care plans for all the world." Dixie giggled. Then she leaned into Roy and Johnny. "I promise to tell you how the date goes. Watch for the high sign when Kel's not looking tommorrow." she whispered. "Well, I'll tell you one thing, doc." Roy said, suddenly becoming mischievous. "You aren't gonna be disappointed at the end of the evening when it's time for the big goodbye. Dixie's an absolutely fabulous kisser. And I'm speaking from experience." "You remember me helping you?!" Dixie asked, stunned, growing pale with mortification. Roy just winked at her and said nothing at all. FIN Episode Twenty Seven, Heavy Duty Emergency Theater Live ------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. ************************************************** End Credits -- Episode Twenty Seven (Fourth Season) §§ Heavy Duty §§ :) This episode is dedicated to nurses everywhere who are :) there to succor, heal and care for all who are in great need. :) :) ******************************************** The Story Unfolds... Season Four, Episode Twenty Eight.. §§ Smoke Screen §§ Debut Launch: December 1st, 2005. ************************************************** From: "Robert Gutheim" Date: Thu Dec 1, 2005 12:05 pm Subject: Trouble for Johnny Johnny's Landrover was full of gas. ::Which isn't always cheap, especially around LA.:: he thought. Gage was driving into work that morning, hoping to get there as early as he could so he could avoid the wrath of The Phantom of Station 51. He was almost there when he heard a strange explosive like sound coming from a nearby alley. Gage pulled up nearby and ran into it only to find a badly wounded woman lying on the ground of the trash filled alley. He ran over to her and began checking her vitals as best he could without a BP cuff. Her respirations were either extremely slow or nonexistent. Then he sighed. ::Not that it would have helped much since I'm not getting a pulse anymore. And there's no way she can stay alive with a head wound this bad.:: he said, seeing gray matter sprayed out on the pavement near her shoulders. Not too far from the body, Gage concluded that he was dealing with a pistol shooting when he saw a weapon on the ground. It was barely visible underneath a piece of box cardboard. Contrary to regulations, Gage picked up the gun with a pen through the trigger ring , worried about safety. ::It can't hurt anything if I move this a few feet out into the open into plain sight. I don't want it to get kicked by those who're gonna respond to this mess. I still remember all too well what happened after a head knocked Officer Vince got a hold of one of these that was allowed to stay too close on scene..:: He was so engrossed with moving slowly so the safety disengaged gun wouldn't jostle off his pen, fall, and go off, that he didn't notice the sirens of a police car pulling up. "Put down the gun, sir." a voice called out as a tall, dark haired husky looking man in plain clothes walked up with his weapon drawn. It was pointing at Johnny. Johnny realized then what he must have looked like and he carefully set the gun and pen down at his feet, muzzle pointed away from the newly arrived policeman and his partner. "I was checking the victim's vitals to see if she was still alive. You see I'm a paramedic with the Los Angeles County Fire Department." Gage explained, getting out his ID. "You are?" "I'm Sergeant Joe Friday, Los Angeles Police Department. This is my partner Bill Gannon. If you don't mind, we'd like to take you downtown to answer a few questions." Sgt. Friday indicated. "I'm on my way into work actually." Gage informed the detectives. "We'll explain things to your department chief." Gannon promised him. "Please come with us." His look told Johnny that he had absolutely no choice in the matter otherwise. --------------------------------------------------------------- Before too long Gage was being "interviewed." He was surprised that he felt like he had to defend himself. "Look, detective, I was simply driving into work when I heard an explosive like sound coming from the alley. I stopped and checked to see what it was, you know, in case anyone was hurt..." His attempt at irony was lost on the detectives, even when he tapped his paramedic's I.D. that they had taken out of his wallet that lay on the table in front of him. They said nothing. Johnny sighed, doing what they had asked and went on with his statement of account. "First thing I did when I found the woman lying there was to check her over to see if she had any vitals signs. " The detectives looked at him blankly. "You know, to see if I could get a pulse, or respirations,... that kind of thing?" The clarification finally registered on them and they both nodded in understanding. "Did you feel so compelled that you had to disturb a crime scene like that past a pulse check?" asked Gannon. "Yeah, I had to see if there was more I could do for her, guys. I wasn't equipped to check her blood pressure without a bp cuff and stethoscope since I don't carry them when off duty. And I didn't like the way that gun was buried under all that trash. I didn't want anybody to step on it. Folks can get themselves killed doing stuff like that." Gannon and Sergeant Friday just looked at each other with raised eyebrows and that made the young paramedic all the more nervous. ::Why am I sweating? I didn't do anything wrong. Not seriously, anyway.:: he thought to himself. The silence going on between the two detectives began to bug Johnny and it made him start rambling like he always did when he got uncomfortable about a situation. "You know maybe I should look into carrying them with me. I don't think they would take up all that much space really. Then it would be much more then a just simple first aid kit with me..." Gannon and Friday said nothing and started whispering to each other in conference. Gage added more lamely, "...don't you think?" ------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, at Station 51, Cap was not in a good mood. "Any of you seen Gage around? The rest of us are all set for roll call and that twit is nowhere to be seen!" Cap roared to the rest of his men, including Gage's partner Roy DeSoto. Hank pegged the blonde paramedic with a stare. He didn't have to ask the question again out loud. He didn't have to. Roy sang out. "Nope. Sorry Cap. I don't know where he is. And yes, by now he IS usually screaming for Chet's blood after getting nailed by one of the Phantom's pranks." Roy explained, pointing to Chet, who was still standing at attention to avoid catching flack from Hank's agitated ire. Just then the phone rang. Mike Stoker fell out of line from in front of the Ward and jogged into Cap's office to answer it. "L.A. County Station 51. Firefighter Stoker speaking." ##Stoker, it's Gage. Is Cap there?## "Yes, he is John. And he is not happy with you right about now. I'd look out for him if I were y--" Stoker said as Cap grabbed the phone. "Give me that, you twit." Cap insisted. "Gage, where are you?!" ##Can't talk too long, Cap. It seems I'm being booked on murder charges of all things.## "What?!" Cap startled, almost dropping the phone. Gage explained. ##I'm using up my one phone call to let you know the scoop. Could you call the Fire Department lawyer for me to come down here? I'm with a Detective Gannon and a Sergeant Friday..## "Gage, sit tight. I'll talk to McConikee and Houts see what I can do to get you that lawyer. Don't do anything further to make it any worse, you twit." Cap said before hanging up. Johnny grinned despite himself. :: Cap's four letter apellative only comes out when he's emotionally riled up but thoroughly in your camp.:: he thought. ::Now why aren't these detectives in mine?:: ----------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************** From : Roxy Dee Sent : Wednesday, December 7, 2005 1:22 PM Subject : The Holiday Rigmarole~~ ##Ladies and gentlemen.... The story you're about to read, is true. Dragnet : The documented drama of an actual crime. For the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will travel step by step on the side of the law through an actual case from official police files. From beginning to end, from crime to punishment, Dragnet is the story of your police force in action. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to the homocide and burglary division. You've already received a call about a shooting in an alley down the block where you found an off duty Los Angeles County firefighter paramedic, caught red handed, holding a revolver by a pocket pen, standing over a recently deceased young hispanic woman. The victim was later discovered to have died of a single gunshot wound to the back of the head. The dead woman has yet to be identified by the county medical examiner's office. Your soul suspect's name is Johnny Gage who claims to work out of a county firehouse, 51's. So you check it out. That station agrees with your man's account of current employment and you confirm the entity to be located nearby in the outlying surburb of Carson City : an affluent community, that is most often perfectly crime free by your recollection. A puzzling background origin for a possible rampant murderer. To you, your perp is nervous but he has yet to give away something with which you can peg on him that links the apparent suspicious actions that you witnessed on scene earlier, to the killing. So far, Mr. Gage seems to be just a case of a good samaritan who got there too late to do anything to help a damsel in distress. But that could change. You've always realized that leads usually pop up into existence when you least expect them to. You also get a call that an important piece of religious art has been stolen from the oldest church in Los Angeles. There's no lead to its whereabouts either. Your job? Find it and solve your woman in the alley's murder before Christmas time......## -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- ::It was Wednesday, December 24th. It was cold in Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out of the burgulary division. My partner's Bill Gannon. In the front office is Captain Mack. My name's Friday. I'd gone across the street to buy stamps for some Christmas cards I was sending out. It was 9:15 a.m. when I got back to Room 45; Burglary.:: thought Detective Joe Friday. ::I sat out on a table in the squad room and I started to address the cards when Bill Gannon walked in carrying a stack of Christmas boxes.:: "Hi, Joe." greeted Bill Gannon. "Hi." "Christmas cards, huh?" chided Bill to Detective Friday. "A little late aren't you?" "Well, I was gonna send them out Monday, but we had that stakeout." grunted the brown haired Joe Friday, who still musing over Johnny Gage's case file, photos and the notes he had taken while talking to his fire station's captain, out of the corner of his eye even as he carefully wrote down his addresses on his sparkling glittered envelopes. "Take a look at this." Bill said tossing down a magazine of a newer brand down in front of him. "What's this? A comic book?" Friday asked, picking it up as if it was going to bite him. "No, you look through and there's a picture on the next page." Bill demonstrated for him. "Oh, yah. I've seen those on the newstand." he said, no longer peering through the department store's magazine cover's peek hole. Bill was still grinning. "They have cloth pasted in them." "Cloth?" "In the ads." Bill elaborated with a finger florish. "If you want to buy a suit sample, it's right there." he said, indicating what had captured his eye on the way to work enough to buy the issue. "Hhmm, you mean you can feel it?" Friday asked. Bill nodded. "Where you can try it out and feel it. There was one for two hundred dollars." "A suit?" "Sure. The cloth comes from Scotland." Joe tossed down the magazine in disgust. "What's it made out of? Solid gold?" "No. They got a special kind of goat over there. It's real smooth." "Not a goat, Bill. A sheep." "Well, a special kind of sheep then, cause it costs two hundred dollars." Bill said, still enamoured with the sample he had found. "You gonna get one?" Joe asked. "I told Faye. She said wear the sample." Bill sighed ruefully. Joe Friday's eyes twinkled in a glad I'm not you look. He returned to torturously addressing his Christmas envelopes. And he was good enough not to laugh. "You ought to get married, Joe." said Bill, going through the packages he had brought with him from the locker room. "Yeah?" "Laundry, meals, cards.. All taken care of." Bill surmised, handing to his partner an ornately wrapped blue and gold foil present, that was elongated the length of his palm. "Might help." Joe agreed, taking the gift, his expression still dead pan. "Wanna open it now? I always open a couple the day before." Bill smiled. Joe pegged him with a stare, ignoring his partner's brevity. "Stanley.." "What's that? Your guess on what I got you for a present?" Bill asked. "The answer's no. I'm not guessing that this is the Stanley wrench and screwdriver set I asked for. It's too light. Stanley's a fire captain, at 51's down in Carson, the boss who lines up our current murder man consideration, Johnny Gage, with daily jobs to do with the county. You remember Hank? Cooks the best chowder this side of West Hollywood." Joe admitted. "Oh! I I remember him now. Didn't we speak to him about a case of a rescued bum whose mattress was found to have contained eighty thousand dollars in cold cash last year?" Gannon asked, snapping in fingers in discovery. "We did. While he fed us that wonderful soup. I thought that Johnny Gage's nervousness seemed familiar. Just got off the phone with Hank. He sounded just like our medical man does in there. " Joe said, pointing to the interrogation room behind them that had still had its one way glass view of the talking table lit up with Johnny Gage leaning both elbows onto it from his chair while he continued to fidget. "He must have learned the anse trait from Hank Stanley directly." Bill said, studying the paramedic carefully. "Doesn't make him a murderer. A lot of people are a little jumpy under stress." Friday said. "Wouldn't jumpiness like that be a bad thing to have in a fire fighter?" replied Gannon. "That's what I asked his captain. And do you know what his answer was to me, Bill?" "No, what?" "He said he's put up with four years of Gage's twitchy mannerisms and has yet to see a character flaw that he didn't like in the guy. Then he proceeded to tell me just how many people his paramedic has been accredited with as having saved." "How many?" "1,017." Joe replied. "That many?" Gannon gaped. "Yep. Just got off the phone with the fire department division chief, too. Mr. Houts. He came up with the same quote when I asked, when I checked up on Stanley's statement from the phone call before." Bill sagged onto the desk and set down his Christmas packages. "Then we're back to square one on our alley girl." Joe nodded. Gannon wrinkled his forehead. "Tell me again how we're able to hold murder charges over this Gage fellow?" "He was holding the gun. The woman's blood was on his hands. Because Cap says we gotta go through the motions. And because there were no witnesses to support his alibi. " "None that we know of." Bill said, staring off into the distance as he leafed through the folder containing their second assignment, to solve the church art theft. "Say again?" "We found Mr. Gage at 0700, right?" "Right." "Well, doesn't holiday mass let off right about then? Maybe our murder victim was a member of the congregation." Bill said. "This church's in the same alley." Joe immediately got up from his desk, abandoning his cards. "Then let's kill two birds with one stone. Release Mr. Gage on bail. Say on five hundred dollars worth. He should be able to afford that on a fireman's pay. If he can't cover it I'm sure his stationmates will do it for him." "Aw, Joe. You're such a softy. You're letting him out so he can be home for Christmas." Friday looked up without expression. "I'm afraid things won't be so merry yet for him for a while, Bill. Even if he's innocent. He's got a guilty conscience a mile long and for things he didn't even do. Come on. Let's get to the church and see if we can get some of the right answers to our questions that our squirrely Mr. Gage couldn't really answer for us." "Anything else on the alley murder showing up?" Gannon asked. "Nothing else." "I hope it stays quiet. I got more shopping to do." Gannon says, reaching for his detective's jacket. -------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A spanish Los Angeles church. Photo: Gannon and Friday leaning over a desk. Photo: A ribboned blue foil wrapped Xmas gift. Photo: Johnny Gage in a T shirt looking depressed. *************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Wed Dec 7, 2005 6:16 pm Subject: The Ties That Bind.. The police man and the detective were on the boulevard, heading back to the crime scene locales of both their currently assigned jobs when another question just begged Bill to ask it. Joe had remained silent while he considered the legal options for the young paramedic that he knew both he and his partner had already found to be liked immensely by all concerned, including themselves. Gannon broke the stillness as he drove the Fairlane. "Anything doing?" he asked, pointing a nose at the quiet police CB radio in the car. Joe picked up the chin he had resting on his hand. "Hadding and Pryor were in on that market holdup." "Did they come up with anything?" "Nah, the city's not talking much tonight." Then he held up a package that he had already wrapped for someone in delicate fawn yellow from out of a voluptuous pocket in his trench coat. "Do you see that? Real rice paper pages with persimmon perfume. Leather binding." Bill raised both his eyebrows over the steering wheel. "Joe, you'll never learn." he said, clucking his lips in sympathy. "Well, what's the matter?" Friday asked, not changing his position or the present's, which he was holding up for Bill to admire. "No woman wants a stationery set. Get her something personal." Joe started up with petulance. "It's got her initials on it..." Bill smiled. "No, no. You want something more sentimental. Romantic..." he began to soothe gently in advisement. Joe didn't move, talking fast from the corner of his eye, immediately changing the subject. "WhatdidyagetFaye?" "It's different in my case." pursed Gannon with a stiff lip. Joe insisted. "Whatdidya ..get ..Faye?" he said more slowly. Bill sighed. "....A sewing machine..." Joe's face never changed. "That romantic?" he asked monotone. Gannon had the grace to look uncomfortable. "Well, it is in a way." "Why didn't you buy a catcher's mitt?" Friday replied dryly. Right then, the car phone went off. Joe picked up the receiver and turned up the volume. "Burglary. Friday. Yes, that's right. You've got the right department.....Ok, Padre. We'll be right out. No you can tell us about it there. Good night." and he hung up the phone. Then he turned to his partner, "It's the Golden Church. About the theft. We're closest." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ::Bill and I checked in with the office and rode over to the church at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Main...:: narrated Friday's thoughts. ::The Old Mission Plaza Church. Founded in 1781, the year Los Angeles became a pueblo. The outside was typical early spanish design, complete with scarlet azaleas lining the walls. They called it the Nuestra La Senora Reina. Her founders had been mostly from Mexico. And their ordained priests still held services there. They had flattened and old stable floor and had added grapevines, trees and flowers. A young priest crossed the courtyard to meet us. He had been sitting on a stone bench reading his morning prayers as padres have done here for one hundred and seventy two years. We asked for Padre Xavier Rojas who had communicated with us and we were told that he was inside. We entered a side door..... The church seemed to glow with the hundreds of moulded candles flickering on both sides of the altar and in the shrines throughout the church. It was empty except for a few people praying. Surrounding the main altar were several old oil paintings in gold frames. The air was heavy with the scent of advent flowers. We found Father Rojas near the sanctuary looking at the nativity scene. He told us about the crib. It was a seventy dollar duplication of the scene at Bethelem. The parishioners had taken up a collection for it thirty one years ago. Every year it was put up December 22nd and taken down after the holy season. It was beautiful..... Except that one of the shepherds had lost an arm.. The sheep was old and cracked. And the infant J*sus was missing. Father Rojas led us back into the sacristy... :: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "I'm sorry to bother you men..." said Father Xavier Rojas. "It's all right, Father." said Bill. "...especially now, the holiday season." Joe gave a small nod for Rojas to go on. "We cashed our checks, Father. Will you tell us what happened?" Bill elaborated more. "Or what you think happened?" Xavier sighed, folding over his intricate red and white robes. "I discovered the statue was missing right after the six o'clock mass." "Did you say the sixth?" Bill asked Xavier about being its officiary. "Yes. I started the collections, wrote them into the directory and then last of all, I usually stop by the crib to pray." Father Rojas said. "Was the statue missing before the mass?" Joe asked him. "I don't know. But it WAS there last night." "How late is the church open?" Gannon wanted to know. "All night." Joe brindled a bit. "You leave it wide open so any thief can walk in?" "Particularly thieves, sergeant." smiled Xavier. "You say it was there last night, Father? How late?" asked the younger detective. "Ten or eleven o'clock. We had confessions." "No one saw it after that?" "One of the altar boys. He says it may have been there. He thinks it was." "Did he see it?" Friday clarified. "He's not sure." distressed the padre. "What's his name?" Bill asked softly, touching the priest on the arm to calm him. "Hefferman." Xavierlead the two detectives over to a plain, heavily scratched desk, and slid over an openleadger for them to view. "Here's the schedule. You'll find him in the names for every mass there." The two detectives made use of the information and leafed through the pictures of the congregation included in the margins. One particular image halted them of a young female singer with a face they immediately recognized. Her name was Maria Angel Lopez. Their young murder victim. Joe did his best not to sigh in reopened pain. "Was there a big crowd at the six o'clock mass this morning, Father?" "Why do you ask?" Friday and Gannon both exchanged uncomfortable looks with each other. "Padre. I'm afraid we have some ...very bad news. Have you known this young woman long?" he said holding up the dog eared photograph of Maria in a christening veil up so the father took it into a gnarled hand. "It's important." "Why, yes. This is Maria Lopez. She's a cousin of one of the firefighters who attends church here twice a month with his mother. She's such a sweet child, and one with G*d. I've known her all her life. I was the one who christened her a few days after she was born." he grinned happily in remembrance. "She's related to a firefighter?" "Yes, to Marco Lopez from Station 51, one of the county's I believe, located a few miles down the road." Joe's face fell even more dead pan and he rose from his seat, setting down an offered cup of tea that had grown cold. Bill took the older man's shoulders. "Father, I think you should sit down." "Something's happened to Maria? No!" the padre immediately guessed. "Yes, padre. She was killed by gunfire only this morning around seven, right after mass in the alley immediately behind the church." Xavier's breath caught deep in his throat and he caught himself on the edge of the desk. "And do you know her killer yet?" "We don't. Not for sure. There was only one man found standing over her body when we got her shots fired call." "And who was he? If he's not a patron of my church, he shall surely pay with eternal d*mn*tion." "His name is John Gage, and he's also a firefighter. And we've learned that he's a paramedic, too,..." Bill said softly, reluctant to add the rest. Finally, he said it. "...from Station 51." Xavier's face blanched pure white and the two detectives thought that they would have to catch him falling into a faint. But that never happened. "Oh, my goodness. Has someone let Marco know about Maria's murder yet? This is simply ... terrible.. I--" "Here, padre." said Friday, giving over the tea that would have been his. "Drink this. It'll help." Bill went on. "We didn't know about the connection between Johnny Gage and Marco Lopez until now. Rest assured that we'll get to the bottom of this, Father. We don't think that Gage is Maria's murderer. His basic character doesn't fit the profile." "I hope not. Pitting friend against friend can scarcely be imagined, detective." he took in a big breath. "Do you want me to tell Mr. Lopez about his cousin? He is working today at the station." "We'll do it. Mr. Gage's probably already met bail and may be headed there. We'll share the information with the two of them in the presence of their superiors for moral support." Gannon said, rising. "Thank you, Father." said Friday, rising from his chair. "And about the statue, we'll solve that mystery, too." Bill promised. "Was there a large crowd of people here after the six o'clock mass?" Friday questioned Rojas before they lost him in fresh grief. "Not many. Uh,...People are usually going to work." said the tearful padre. "Did you notice anyone strange hanging about Maria in particular?" "Not especially. I came back here,.. I took off the vestments. I suppose it was ten, fifteen minutes before I went back out into the church. She had stopped singing by then." "Was it empty?" Bill plugged, looking desperate for any new suspect. "No, people were coming in for the seven o'clock." Xavier sighed. "I'm so ashamed that I didn't even notice that Maria had gone missing, too." "Can you check with the other priests, Father?" "I can." "Please do. It's very important that we find the killer or else this young paramedic may pay the unfortunate price." "I shall, believe me. I will most diligently." "Just for a check on the pawn shops, on our second task, how much is the infant statue worth?" Bill asked Father Rojas. "In money?" Xavier frowned, genuinely surprised by the odd question. He was still stunned by the news of the murder of Maria, the most devout celebre' of his congregation by far. Friday smiled then. "That's the point in pawn shops, Father." The older gray haired man sighed and wiped away an escaping tear. "Only a few dollars. We could get a new one, but it wouldn't be the same. We've had children in the parish: they've grown up and married. It's the only J*sus they know." "We understand." said Friday. "....And we've had children who died....Like her.." the Padre choked up as he hugged Maria's choir picture. " It was the only J*sus they knew....So ...*sob* many of the people who come here are simple people. They wouldn't understand, sergeant. It would be like changing the evening star. " "We'll do our best, Father." promised Bill Gannon. "That's why it would mean so much to the Lopezes, and to the church, to have it back for the first mass on Christmas..." Rojas said. "That's not very long, Father. Less than twenty four hours." Bill frowned. Friday silenced his partner with a small shake of his head. "If anything turns up, you know where to get in touch with us." "Yes." Rojas sighed. "It's sad, isn't it?" "How's that?" asked Bill. "In so short a time, men learn to steal and kill." Friday allowed the grieving man of the cloth a look of hope. "Yes, but consider us, Father." "Us?" "If some of them didn't, you and I would be out of work. Now let's try to save a paramedic, together, so he won't find himself out of his." Joe said with conviction. Next to him, Bill Gannon's eyes shone with the same passionate light. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************** From: "Patti or Jeff or Cassidy" Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2005 13:07:07 -0800 (PST) Subject: [EmergencyTheaterLive] Brown Against Blue Captain Stanley was more than grateful that the station hadn't been called out of the house yet while all personnel he had requested from L.A. Headquarters, came. Houts was hanging about in the office and the lawyer that Gage wanted was still gathering background information from the others on shift. :: Man, ...Marco, Stoker, Kelly and Roy, are taking this bombshell event rather well. Wish I could say the same for myself.:: thought Cap. For the third time, he cleared his throat and leaned on the map outside his own office door, waiting for it to reopen. The side door buzzer rang, making him jump. "I got it!" called Chet and he skidded on the garage floor, colliding with Boot, who was just as eager to get there, to see if Johnny had arrived yet from the police station. His face fell when he saw that it was two men, holding up detectives badges. Stanley pulled up on his belt, fighting a lump in his throat that had formed ever since he had received the phone call from Johnny about the murder wrap. He dropped all pretense of formality. "What's new, fellas? Can I interest you in some coffee? We've a fresh pot in the kitchen on the stove." he tried to grin. Joe Friday surprised him by looking around the vehicle bay before speaking. "Is Fireman Marco Lopez available, captain? It's rather important that we speak to him immediately." "About what may I ask?" Hank said, sweeping nervous fingers through his hair. Right then, a happy disturbance interrupted the three of them when the gang celebrated Gage's appearance through the station's kitchen door. Bill stopped smiling. "Uh, I think it would be better if we all talked together about this captain. It'll be best for all concerned if we do. After all, fire crews harbor no secrets from each other, or so I waslead to believe by Chief Houts." "That fact is definitely true, detective. Uh,... This way..." he said, showing the two investigators to the kitchen table. The animated babble surrounding Johnny that was filled with worry, encouragement and energetic advice dropped into silence instantly when Gannon and Friday took the chairs Cap offered them. Hank's face fell. "Fellas, have a seat. These two gentlemen have something to say that can't wait until later. Marco, this is meant for your ears, too, so don't go wandering off." Uncomfortable and clearly uncertain, the gang did as they were told, filing in around the kitchen table. Stoker immediately handed out coffee mugs to everyone, but forgot to pour anything. No one noticed the oversight. Chet Kelly got up quickly, "I'll......go get the Chief and Johnny's lawyer. Is that ok if I do that, pal?" he said looking at Gage. Gage was still deciding how to place his arms in front of him through his agitated state of worry. "Yeah. By all means! Uh,.. if that's all right by you guys....heh." he said without humor to the two policemen. They nodded. "That might be a good course of action. We don't want to interfere with anyone's rights under the law." replied Bill Gannon. When Chief Houts and a young, fresh faced lawyer with a side part sat down, the nervousness in the kitchen grew palpably. Especially when Houts, a department icon, refused a fill into his coffee cup. Hank cleared his throat. "Detectives, Bill Gannon and Joe Friday, everybody. I've beenlead to believe that they're working on the case against Gage here." he said carefully, taking his own chair awkwardly. "Not against Gage. We're simply a neutral investigative party. It'll be up to a courthouse judge to decide Johnny's eventual guilt or innocence. We're merely here to seek out some details to answers that haven't been made clear yet." He looked to the fire department lawyer who had taken a seat near his nervous client. "May we proceed, sir?"Joe asked the lawyer. He got a nod from him. "Go ahead. For your records, my name's Trenton Cogley of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. I'll be representing Mr. Gage through any formal proceedings until there's a resolution found in this case." Joe's gaze cast around the room and he took in everybody's faces one by one in careful measure. Then his eyes stopped on Lopez, the only man of hispanic descent, in the room. "Mr. Lopez, I presume. Please confirm for my partner and I that your first name is Marco." "Uh,.. yes, uh, it is. And I vouch for Johnny Gage here completely. He wouldn't harm a fly let alone some woman in a city alley." Marco insisted, licking his lips. "She was no stranger, I'm afraid. Especially not to you, Mr. Lopez." Joe said bluntly. Unpleasant nausea that couldn't be explained caught Marco fully as he tried to work his brain around Friday's last sentence."Wh-?" he gasped. Johnny Gage immediately became vocal when the implication came to him first about the dead woman and Marco."Now wait just a dog-goned minute here! That's no way to drop a--" Bill Gannon broke in. "I'm sorry, Mr. Lopez. But the woman your friend couldn't help this morning has just been positively identified as your first cousin, Maria Angel." Lopez went white as a sheet and choked. He got one step out of his chair before his eyes rolled up into his head into a dead faint. He went limp and noodled, straight down. Johnny and Roy's chairs slammed backwards into the couch as they both scrambled to catch him before his head cracked against the floor. The kitchen erupted into pandemonium as Captain Stanley, the lawyer and the other firemen started arguing angrily with Gannon for his tactless way of delivering bad news. Only Chief Houts remained measured. He got DeSoto's attention, who was crouched with his partner over Marco as they loosened his collar so he could breathe without restriction. "Do you need your medical gear and a Mayfair's response?" Gage, still numb but functional, nodded. "Yeah. ...uh, yeah, chief. I mean, sir. Stoker! Go grab it all." Then a bizarre thought struck him. "Chief, am I able to work still?" he asked Houts. "Of course. Until I see real evidence that proves otherwise. Keep helping him." Captain Stanley was still glaring at the two city detectives as he got on the pay phone. "L.A., Station 51 is no longer available. Still alarm at our location. Respond one ambulance and--" Houts held up his hand as he stood to help the others move the kitchen table and Boot out of Roy and Johnny's working space over Marco. "Hank, don't worry about getting Lopez's fill in. I'll do it. I already know Gil Robertson's signed up for replacement duty here. He thought he had to do it for Gage." Stanley looked up sharply at Hout's "extra man" plan already in place, and all he could do was nod stupidly. "....that's all for now, L.A." Hank said into the receiver. "Yes. Thanks. My timeout for the log book is 14:55. Got it." and he hung up the line. Then he turned his back purposely on Gannon and Friday and looked to Roy, who was fitting an oxygen mask over Marco's pallid face while Mike got his shirt open. "Is he ok?" "As well as he can be, given the circumstances.." Roy said angrily. He got back to taking Lopez's blood pressure. He frowned when he found how low it had become. "Johnny, we might need an I.V." he said, reaching out to his shaky partner's sleeve. "Johnny,...did you hear me?" "...uh,...right, I'll make the call to Rampart. Stoker, keep an eye on that EKG. His system's had quite a shock. Mine, too, for that matter." he said, rubbing his face fiercely to drag his thoughts together. "That's right, cover him up, Chet. He's going to need a blanket. Boot! Get outta here! You're getting in our way!" Chet, nearby, was seething. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder in irritation at Gannon and Friday. "Cap, do we need these two hanging around any more? I think they've done enough damage to the station for one day." Stanley held up his hands in sarcasm. "Not my place to say, Chet, now is it? Chief?" "They stay. Cogley still has to get in an official conference with them to get all the details for the formal court proceedings. Do you need anything special for that task Trent?" Houts asked Trenton. "No. That is, if Mr. Lopez here is nothing more than just a relative of the deceased." Joe Friday replied. "That's all he is." "Ok, uh, Then I'll need nothing else. Let's get to work, shall we?" Cogley said with mild sarcasm, trying to ignore the sharp emotions in the room as the cluster of firemen tried to restore Marco to some semblance of normalcy with shouts and shoulder shaking. But Lopez did not awaken. Cap knelt by Roy's shoulder. "Is this because he's still hungry from sleeping overnight on an empty stomach with all this bad news? We did get back from that multiple MVA awfully late. I know for a fact that he didn't eat before crashing then." "Probably. Rampart'll order a check for glucose in the ER after we give them some vitals." DeSoto said. "That's pretty standard." "Ok. Let me know if you need anything. I'm going to go pop open the front doors for the mobile rig when it comes." and Stanley jogged out of the kitchen. Johnny finished getting Marco turned onto his left side so an airway wouldn't be needed over his tongue. He handled his crewmate gently, going overboard with being the caretaker to protest the detective's manhandling of Marco's emotions. Then he got on the biophone Chet had deposited at his feet. "Rampart, this is Squad 51. How do you read?" Gannon and Friday were oblivious to the proceedings, deep as they were in deliberating with Cogley about the strength of the murder rap against Johnny. Trenton had the good manners to keep concerned for Gage's coworker even as he got details from the detectives' notes down onto his ownleadger. ##Go, ahead, 51. We read you loud and clear.## replied Dr. Early. Johnny opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Roy took the phone from Johnny when he choked for being so furiously upset at how Marco had been treated by the Dragnet pair. He spoke instead. "Rampart. One of our own. A thirty one year old male. Down from a syncopal episode due to psychogenic shock. Patient did not strike his head when he passed out. Vital signs are : B/P is eighty two by palpation with his legs elevated. Pulse's 110 and respirations are twenty and shallow. He's on 15 L's of O2. EKG is showing only slight sinus tachycardia with normal T wave elevations but he's still proving as unresponsive to verbal commands. Request permission to start an I.V., Rampart." ##Go ahead, 51. An I.V. of Lactated Ringers at a rate of 120 ml/hr. Run in an initial 250 ml bolus, or more, until his blood pressure returns to normal. Administer a course of 100 mg Thiamine IM as a precaution. I heard your station had some fairly heavy duty during your last twenty four hour shift. Give him glucagon 1 mg IM if his LOC doesn't change appreciably within five minutes. Push D50, 51, at 50cc IV if you still don't see improvement en route after an appropriate interval following those first two treatments. Get a full medical history and any medications he might be currently taking. Resend a set of vitals if they continue to downcurve. Keep him warm and transport as soon as possible. ## "10-4, Rampart. I.V. LR at 120 with 250 bolused to low normal of 90 systolic. 100 of Thiamine now. 1 mg Gluc IM in five if no change. D50 push at 50 if still unresponsive en route. Our ETA is...." Captain Stanley heard the sound of an approaching siren. "....less than five minutes." he said tersely. "...five minutes." Roy finished neatly. ##We'll see you then, 51. Rampart out.## replied Joe Early. Roy and the others quickly directed the arriving ambulance attendants into getting Marco situated on the wheeled gurney once he was I.V. line tape secured and fluid, mineral and sugar treated fully. Johnny Gage couldn't wait for the sanctuary of a quiet Mayfair cabin in which to try and pull together his tattered thoughts. If events had seemed surrealistic before, they were feeling absolutely out of any shred of his control now. Marco coughed then under the mask and Johnny used every breath sighing from Lopez as a steadying support for his nerves. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Mad Cap and Gage leaning on the frig. Photo: Marco looking lost with questioning Chet. Photo: A fresh looking man in the engine bay with Chet and Cap. Photo: An angry Roy in the kitchen. Photo: Joe Friday and Bill Gannon with case files, talking. Photo: Boot helping out with medical gear. Photo: Mike Stoker, looking down in concern at the station. Photo: Johnny Gage reacting to a fallen Marco. ************************************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Wed Dec 14, 2005 7:49 pm Subject: The Truest Color Of Devotion~~ Dr. Joe Early sighed as he and Roy and Johnny left the treatment room that held the sleeping Marco Lopez. "And you say that Marco fainted right after hearing some news? That doesn't sound like the kind of thing that would usually bother him normally. He's been a firefighter too long to be that vulnerable. But his tests, past the basement level serum glucose reading, are all coming back as negative which forces me to believe his symptoms were as you say, all psychosomatic. But surely, he must have some pretty thick skin working for him by now. What did he get upset about if I may ask?" Roy and Johnny shared a conspiratory gaze and clammed up. "Uh, doc. We're on sensitive ground here and I guess by the chief's orders, such as they are. He's effectively gagged us. We can't talk about it. At least, not yet." said Johnny, raising his eyebrows matter of factly. He bounced on his toes and fidgetted with the buckle on the front of the oxygen demand valve case he was still holding. "But I promise, we will soon, hopefully." Roy reiterated. "Sorry, doc. But the matter is rapidly stepping into Johnny's personal territory and into the professional range of another higher agency in authority." "I understand perfectly. I realize that even a doctor can fall under a need to know only basis. I hit walls like that with juvenile court, priests and nursing home administrators all the time and quite frankly, I'm almost getting used to it." Joe grinned. "You told me all that was necessary in order for me to effectively treat Marco and that pretty much nails the cap on what a doctor SHOULD do, boys. So don't worry about it." "So is he gonna recover in time to start tomorrow's shift? If he can't, he's sure gonna rail about missing getting in some good holiday overtime." Gage grinned wanly. "He's gonna wanna work after tonight. Trust us that Roy and I know this as a concrete fact, doc." Joe met both paramedics with an even stare. "Physically, I'd say yes. But our chaplain, who was in when you two stepped out of the room briefly for the lab tech's draws, says no for the emotional side of things, for at least a couple of days." Joe was unhappy with that kind of prognosis from a man who was a healer of a kind, like himself, and it showed on his face. Johnny opened his mouth, about to say something to his silver haired mentor, but immediately shut it again. Joe didn't press him one second further, at least, not intentionally. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help all of you when you can, ok? It's the least I can do past the non-charges I'm going to file for him for that precautionary ambulance ride, your treatments, and the use of that exam room." he said jerking his thumb over his white coated shoulder. Both paramedics brightened from their listless distant look enough to thank Dr. Early with a heartfelt sincerity. "Thank you, doc, on Marco's behalf. I'm sure if he wasn't medicated right now, that he'd think the same thing I was thinking, uh,..I mean, about thanking ya and all." said Gage. Joe Early nodded, accepting the vague explanation gracefully and they could see that he was chalking up the whole conversation as one from a couple of men truly caught between a rock and a hard place. "If I don't see you again before midnight, Merry Christmas, fellas." "Merry Christmas, doc." said Roy, waving as the mild mannered M.D. returned back to his normal rounds. "Thanks for everything." "From me, too." said Johnny, trying to smile as he watched Joe's back retreat cheerfully away from them. ------------------------------ "I suppose we'd better get back. Your lawyer's bound to get fairly expensive if we keep him waiting too long for us to return here." Roy jibbed, attempting a joke. He started to head for the squad with the ekg monitor after taking a sip of water from the fountain in the wall. Johnny leaned on the door of the treatment room, pressing his nose against it to fight back tears that had surprised him by resurfacing. He ignored Roy's comment completely as he busied himself by watching Marco's breathing rate and its count through the glass window. A floating floor nurse was still in the emergency room with him. She was waiting for his pressure to stay level enough to discontinue Lopez's flowing I.V. It was almost empty. ::That's kind of like how I'm feeling right now.:: Gage thought. Suddenly, he started actively crying...quietly to himself, without making a sound. Being closely attuned, Roy noticed Gage's absence at his side immediately, and made his way back over to him through the heavy Christmas Eve waiting room crunch. It was then, that Roy noticed Johnny was shaking in a delayed reaction. Gage's mind was a whirlwind. ::Why didn't I know the dead woman was part of Marco's family? I'm usually pretty good about noticing odd coincidences like that. Why didn't I look for a wallet for a form of I.D. like I've done on calls thousands of times before?:: He felt Roy rest a hand on his shoulder softly and his head shot up with a jolt, both reddened eyes glistening in the lights. DeSoto dropped a balled handkerchief down his front subtly while he pretended to fiddle with his online HT with the other one, waving cheerfully at passing nurses who were noticing Johnny's droop against the door to show them that he was fully aware of the situation and had it in hand enough without needing them. He kept his back to his partner, so he could save some face and have some privacy while he gave into some healthy venting. "You had a gun drawn on you for Pete's sake." Roy replied as if he were clairvoyant. "I honestly can tell ya my shorts wouldn't've been as clean as yours if I turned around to find a police detective with an oozy aimed at my head. Quit blaming yourself. You can't know everything. Let's go. You can roll down the squad window and let the sun dry off your face before we get back to the station. Take comfort in the fact that nobody'll see you if you start blubbering again in the squad, except me." "I should say something to him." he said, throwing a chin up at Marco, still looking at Lopez through the window's clear pane. "Do you think now's the best time to offer Marco platitudes? Come on, Johnny. Get real. You know how crappy folks feel for the rest of the day after suffering a faint. Especially one as deep as his. You can tell him anything you want once he's been discharged. Now, come on." And Roy tugged on his arm. "Let's get this detective/lawyer interview thing over with. Houts hasn't got all day available to babysit us like he's been doing already." Johnny used the cloth and chucked it into a red plastic lined bio-bin nearby. "No, let's go grab a cup of coffee first. I gotta get something to settle my stomach that's not liquid drug box anti-acid. I must have chugged a whole bottle of it on the way in." "Ok, but only for a few minutes. And milk'll be better for you." Johnny started to gape but Roy interrupted him. "Before you open that yap of yours in pointless protest, I'm buying. So get moving." Roy told him. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Brackett was working on his chart stack at Dixie's center desk when a pair of police officers approached him. Kel looked up. "Can I help you, gentlemen?" "Yes, we're looking for a paramedic who's recently brought in one of his coworkers from his own fire station. A guy by the name of Johnny..." "Gage? Yes, I know him. I think I saw him and his partner, Roy DeSoto, walking that way towards the cafeteria. They're here for what?" The two officers didn't like that he had missed their prior information. They started to head away, when Kel grabbed the officer's arm. "Uh, if I may, what's all this about officer? Is my man in some kind of trouble?" "Well, I don't know if I can tell you our business, doctor.." "Dr. Brackett. Dr. Kel Brackett, head of emergency." The Los Angeles street cop still looked un-reassured. Brackett reiterated his position clearly. "Technically, I really am the boss of every paramedic who delivers patients to Rampart Hospital. I trained up most of them myself. So anything that effects any of them legally, effects me, in a way." "Ok, doctor. Guess we can tell you. Your man Gage's free on bail over murder charges for killing the cousin of one of his fellow firefighters, a Marco Lopez from Station 51. Apparently, this Lopez collapsed a half hour ago and was treated by Gage's Squad 51. We want to ask Lopez a few questions about the victim and about what might have caused his own illness. You see, we have reason to be suspicious of Johnny's off duty whereabouts over the last day." Kel reeled and barely covered the shock which bloomed in his chest at the bland statement. "Who's overseeing this investigation officially? I've a right to know if this effects one of my out-of-hospital employees." "Detectives Bill Gannon and Joe Friday from the downtown precinct, Los Angeles." "Johnny? Trumped up on homicide charges? You're sure barking up the wrong tree! Gage's never harmed anyone his whole life." The taller officer leaned in on the desk. "Did you know that before Johnny Roderick Gage became a rescue man with the county, he served three years probation for offenses he committed as a teenager?" Brackett's face twitched. "No, I didn't." The two officers started smiling at the doctor's chagrin. Kel erupted. "For what? Double parking or drinking and driving underage?" "For disorderly conduct, doctor. Which is well known to be a precursor for a later tendency ...towards violence." Brackett became speechless. "Excuse us, doctor, we've a couple of paramedics to catch." and they walked away, leaving a very rattled Dr. Brackett holding the worst possible of ill tidings. Dixie happened to notice him as she passed by and immediately, she went to his side. "Kel? Are you ok?" "No. Not by a long shot. I've found out something incredible recently about Johnny. And it involves his fellow crew member, Marco Lopez." Dr. Brackett proceeded to tell his nurse about the whole situation as quickly as he could. "Apparently, Johnny just treated him." "Marco? He's here?" The thought of working an easy ER night shift on Christmas Eve instantly became the most remote one for both doctor and nurse soon after that. "Yes. And the only possible one who could know about that is.." Kel said. "....Joe. Come on, I think I know where he is." Dixie finished for him. They practically ran for Joe Early's office to speak with him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hank Stanley was still steamed. He had already sent Chet Kelly out to the yard to hang hose to work out some of the hostility that had shown in his voice when he directed his humorless comment about the detectives. And he had received word that Marco Lopez was fine, well, and resting comfortably in one of Rampart's short stay emergency treatment rooms. His office door had barely closed behind himself, Chief Houts, Bill Gannon and Joe Friday, when he went off. "Is it common practice to devastate relatives about a victim's shotgun murder so thoughtlessly?! My g*d, didn't you two see the kind of effect your just the facts mentality had on him?! It was as if you had hauled Marco Lopez against a wall and shot him with a gun yourself!" "At ease, captain..!" Houts snapped. Hank immediately went rigid at attention. "Sorry, sir, I thought I could speak freely in my office because we're well away from the rest of my crew's ability to hear." "Not when you're yelling that loudly, you're not. Sound always carries through the pipes in stations this new." he said jerking his finger up at the ceiling where a few white painted ones threaded through above the fluorescent light. "Captain, I appreciate you wanting to protect your firefighters being incriminated and investigated. It's only natural, given your station. And I don't mean that as a pun, Hank." Stanley had to smile. Wearily he sat down in his chair without asking, and Houts didn't harp on him for doing it. "Sorry, Gannon, Mr. Friday, it's been a stressful day. Every Christmas Eve gets this way. I just wish you would've found a gentler way to tell my man about the death of his cousin. Marco's very attuned to his family. It was bound to have effected him the way that it did." "How else are we going to catch Maria Angel Lopez's killer? Every minute we delay is one minute more for the trail to get cold. We wanted to speak with Marco as well as the rest of your men about what happened this morning with Gage on his way to work. Can we get to it please?" "Ok, but talk with them all in a group or they won't be talking I'll have you know." Hank warned. "Firefighters are fiercely protective of each other." Houts added. "You don't have to tell us that. We see that in you." said Friday deadpan. "Oh. Yes. Well,.." Cap said sheepishly. "sorry I blew up just now. I just thought you did a little too much straight sided talking over the kitchen coffee, that's all." "And how are we going to solve this crime if we don't talk?" Gannon asked quite frankly and dotted with a little sarcasm. Like the firemen, he was very hungry. "You don't learn ANYthing by talking. You learn by listening." Cap said with a touch of heat. Behind him, standing quietly under the clock, Chief Houts, nodded slowly in agreement. He was deeply pleased for Hank's bit of cool wisdom. That got Gannon and Friday's attention. "Just how do you propose we do that?" Hank's eyes sparkled with newfound energy. "Let's discuss it over a pot of chili, shall we? My station never gets called away on a run while we're eating five alarm chili." Houts added more, trusting his favorite captain and trusting Hank's absolute faith in his men. "I promise you that we'll make such head way into your investigation, in just an hour, that your ties'll start spinning." Finally, the two detectives looked up from the watches they wore. "You have one hour to prove your point of view. After that, we do things ...our way." "Deal." said Hank, leaning over his desk. He thumped his fist onto its surface so hard, that Chief Houts' picture retilted on its nail above the file cabinet. He immediately flushed, muttering apologies. Grinning at Cap's embarrassment, the Chief put it to rights with a few fingers and straightened his hat. "Let's hit the chow line. Hank, go invite that young lawyer to dine with us. No doubt he's gonna ask to ride along with Gage and DeSoto on squad runs so he can hurry things along a little faster before tomorrow's holiday break." "I'll do that right now." said Stanley, opening the door for his very official guests. The four of them were struck speechless when they found Boot, the station dog, sitting square in the absent squad's parking space, waiting patiently in the sea foggy afternoon chill for Johnny and Roy's eventual return. His gaze never left the cars on the boulevard as he searched for the two paramedics' truck. Gannon was impressed. "Does he always do this?" "Always. And only for those he cares deeply about." winked Hank. "He dogs anyone in trouble and stays with them until he finds that they're finally out of it." Houts grinned, shivering in the seasonable cold seeping in from the open garage doors. "Boot here has been creditted with saving fifty five people by leading fire department vehicles right to them on rescue calls." "Really.." said Friday. "Was he trained to the skill?" "No. He does it on his own. You're looking at a genuine, one hundred percent unadulterated, wandering alley mutt, gentlemen. But he always comes through for us in the end. And he is never wrong about those he thinks are in trouble." "Impossible! You say he's here for Gage?" asked Gannon. "Most likely. You know how a dog's instincts can sometimes get." Hank said. "That I do. Mind if we borrow him when we take Gage on a re-visit to the crime scene when he gets back?" asked Joe Friday. "That my friend, is up to Boot. He comes and he goes as he pleases around here." Houts told the detective. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************* Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2005 14:14:35 -0800 (PST) From: "Jeff Seltun" Subject: Just the Simple Facts... ::17:15 pm. Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto had reported themselves as available according to the fire department dispatcher a half an hour ago. But still, they hadn't returned from the hospital after caring for Mr. Lopez. My partner had a theory about that. They must have stopped at a burger joint on the way back to the station. One of the regular fireman, a Chet Kelly, seemed to agree with this assessment. So Bill and I checked out the two altar boys from the day's masses while we waited for a phone call from the fire captain as soon as DeSoto and Gage were confirmed as return arrived back in their base of operations. The first one, James Cormeen, said that he knew nothing about the missing statue. The second one, Joseph Hefferman, was not at home. His pharmacist father said that he had a part time job but he'd have him get in touch with us right after dinner. By 18:00 pm, we'd run out of book procedure. We had a killer to find. Our only clue; that the murdered victim had been to church. 18:07 pm.. We checked the phonebooks for the names of religious stores in the area. Two of them were closed. We tried the third. When we got there, the only person in the store was an elderly man sitting by a table. In front of him was a large beautifully carved chess set. :: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe Friday drew out his wallet when the white whiskered man finally looked up from the move he had been contemplating. "We're police officers. My name's Friday, this is my partner, Bill Gannon." "Great to see ya." said the man, not looking up from a letter that he was studying intently past a cursory glance to take in the fact that the men speaking to him were actually who they said they were. "I'll be with ya in a minute. You caught me in the middle of my big chess match." Bill smiled, looking at the empty chair across from the man. "Where's your partner?" "At work in a church boiler room. We've been playing for years." said the old timer. "Same match?" asked Joe. "No. Just two or three months on this one. What I meant was that we've been playing different matches for years.." he said proudly. "I see." said Friday. "You know, we do it through the mail, since he's autistic and can't leave the church sacristy and Father Xavier Rojas's direct care officially. He sends me a move and I send him one." "Must keep you on your toes." Bill said rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Except during the holidays when the mail gets all fiddled up. That's no good." "Guess not." said Bill. "Slows things down. That's no good. I like to catch him off guard." "What's his name?" asked Joe. "Leonard Baptista." "Really. Is that his real last name? Kind of ironic since he's a ward of Rojas's church down the street." Gannon probed. "Yes. That's his, and that's the honest to G*d's truth." smiled the white whiskered man, crossing himself. Bill looked up at the storefront window, squinting for a moment. "Are you Maximillion J. Lorentz?" he guessed suddenly, returning a studying gaze at their store proprietor. "How'd you know? We've never met." declared Maximillion with surprise. Joe grinned. "Your name's on the window up front." "Mr. Lorentz, we've checked with the other two religious stores in this neighborhood. They're closed." "This is the best one anyway. Fifty percent European items." said Lorentz proudly. Joe smiled. "We're checking the stores around the Mission Church." "For what?" asked their chess player. "A statue of the child Jesus." replied Bill. "Do you have one we could look at?" "Sure.." said Max and he stepped to a cobwebbed but shiny brass display case with no glass and held out the nearest one he had for sale. It barely fit into the palm of his hand. Joe piped up. "No, sir. A larger one." Max blinked. "You don't want a large one. Unless it's for a church. That's where you want a larger one." he declared, thinking the two detectives were actually going to buy. Bill smoothed some feathers. "Could we see it, please?" he asked gently. Max went away and came back with one about a meter long. Too big to be one that would fit in the Mission Church's manager. "It's not my due to butt in, but unless you live in a big place, this one'll make your living room all the killer. " Joe and Bill exchanged ironic looks at the use of that word. "Yes, sir." said Joe. "Do most of the people who go to Mission Church trade here?" "A good many of them. Especially kids." Friday was puzzled. "Why kids?" "They're more religious." said a surprised Max at the detective's daftness. "Check on it yourself. See if kids aren't more religious than you." "That'd be so." agreed Joe. "That's what's wrong with the world. Oh, I don't mean you're wrong with it. Everybody!" said Max spraying some spittle in his fervor. Bill nodded. "Yes, sir. But I wonder if we could stick to the point, Mr. Lorentz." "Sure. A lot of people from the Mission Church come in here." said Max, cooling down and cleaning his face with an old, but tidy handkerchief. Joe dug into the lead. "Do people ever come in here to sell BACK a religious article?" Maximillion rubbed his scraggily beard in puzzlement. "You mean like a prayer book or rosaries?" "Yes, sir." Friday nodded. "Second hand you mean?" asked Max. "Yes, sir." Bill confirmed. Max shook his partially bald and graying head. "Not since I've ever been around. That'd be silly." "Why?" asked Gannon. "People don't have religious articles so they can get rid of them. They have them so they can HAVE them." reasoned the old man sensibly. Bill pressed his point. "But if a man had a statue and wanted to sell it.. would he come to a place like this?" "Sure. But he wouldn't want to sell it." Max said, not changing his beliefs one bit. Joe added more. "He would if it were stolen." Max vehemently shook his longish, hobo looking hair underneath his floppy hat. "No sir!" he said, the first touches of anger coloring his voice. "If a man were to steal a statue, he'd be crazy or something like that. The only place he'd want to go is where crazy people are." Joe saw that their contact was getting riled up unnecessarily rendering him too clouded for reliable information. "You may be right, Mr. Lorentz." But his placation did nothing to settle Max's roused ire. "I don't know what you fellas are looking for. But if it's somebody who stole a statue, he's crazy and you won't find him. You won't find him as long as you live. Not in a million years!" Joe raised his eyebrows in sarcasm at their impossible assignment. "That should cover it." he said in resignation and he and his partner excused themselves with a nod of thanks to Lorentz. "Sorry to have disturbed your game, sir. I hope you can get back to it soon enough to enjoy it again." he said of Max's agitation. "I will, gentlemen. I just need a snort to compose myself. Sorry. I always get this way whenever I find somebody's thinking stupid. Uh, no offense meant. It's how I feel about banks, too. I don't trust em either when THEY'RE stupid!" "Well, isn't that the way you feel about your slowish friend, Leonard Baptista?" Bill asked, puzzling on an apparent contradiction. "He may be dim witted, but it's not the same thing. He's innocent of the crime of stupid thinking. He's too pure of a soul for that. It's why I like him and our chess games." As Bill Gannon and Joe Friday left the store, Bill leaned into his partner and remarked. "You know. I'll just bet he's the type to stuff his life savings into a mattress to sleep on it at night." "I wouldn't be surprised." Joe said, rolling his eyes. "Come on, let's get back to Station 51 and wait on our two paramedics to come home. Maybe after we eat on that captain's invite, they'll show up in time for dessert." -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A boiler room with a fire going. Photo: Maximillion J. Lorentz getting riled up. Photo: The Dragnet detectives interviewing a witness. Photo: The station doors propped open, showing engine and squad. ******************************************************************** From: "Patti or Jeff or Cassidy" Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 18:48:20 -0800 (PST) Subject: [EmergencyTheaterLive] Looks Can Be Deceiving.. Dixie McCall and Dr. Brackett were no more clarified on events circulating around Johnny Gage than before they had spoken with Dr. Early, twenty minutes earlier. Both nurse and doctor slumped as they wandered back down the hallway to the elevators above the emergency ward. "Well, I guess that ends that." Dixie sighed. "So much for trying to go for the coveted proverbial friend in need cause." Brackett matched her look of disappointment. "Never knew how much of a stickler our hospital rules about confidentiality were until I ran up against them myself. And I can't blame Joe for clamming up on Marco's case and about what he overheard earlier in the hallway from Roy and Johnny." "Look who's talking." Dixie said, pushing the elevator button. "And I thought I was onto something that would solve everything for all three of them." She buried her head against Kel's shoulder once the doors were closed behind them. "Having a sense of curiosity sucks, Kel. Don't you feel the same way?" "If I did, I never would have become a doctor." he smiled, giving her a comforting hug. "I guess we'll just have to let our firemen get themselves out of this bind on their own. All we can do is be two sets of ears when they do decide to open up to us later on and offer all the best advice we can." "I still want to do something to help." "Maybe we can." Dixie looked up in puzzlement. "No one says that we can't look in on a patient to get a vitals set or two for the charts. We can always say that we were short nursing assistants today." Kel reasoned. "That'd be the truth at least." Dixie said, pulling away from Dr. Brackett as they reached the ground floor. "But do we have the right to involve ourselves here? Talking about whatever upset Marco with him may just make his holiday even worse despite our best intentions." "You know, I would have never even thought of that." "Being empathetic sucks, too. Now I can't go against my better judgement either." she complained miserably. Kel sighed hugely, and both of them eyed up the room where Fireman Lopez was. They knew he was most likely changing while the reception desk awaited Joe's paper orders to officially discharge him from the hospital. "Neither can I. But we still can do something on another track." "Oh? And what's that?" McCall asked.. "We can talk to those detectives on the phone directly, to get some answers." "How are we going to know where to call them, Kel?" "Easy. We ask that police officer who was hunting down Johnny. By law, he's got to say why he's on private property like this for somebody legally freed on bail. And I'm just the man he's got to explain himself to. All of the sudden, I'm feeling hungry. And gee,... from the looks of your pale-ish skin... You are, too." he lied. "Come on, let's go to the cafeteria for some pie and coffee to get ourselves unhungry and in better shape to handle things." "Best news I've heard all day." said Dixie. With their faces set firm in determination, Dixie McCall and Dr. Brackett set off on their self appointed errand briskly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny Gage couldn't eat. He couldn't believe it when a police officer sat down at the table behind him and started to stare at his back, without looking away, while he drank his coffee in slow measured sips. "Now that really burns me." said Gage to DeSoto. "He's just sitting there. Why is he looking at us?" Roy glanced over his shoulder and shrugged. "Why don't you get up and go ask him." Johnny turned back around with irritated energy. "Oh, no. I'm not gonna play his game. So, being out on bail still means guilty until proven innocent? Ok, all right. Two can play that game. Roy, let's leave a little bit early." "What? I thought we were going to wait for Marco until he's through filling out the paperwork so all three of us can go back to the station together." Roy insisted. "We are, we are. Not so loud. He'll overhear you." Gage hissed, over his corn bread and chili. "He already knows what's going on." Roy said through tight teeth. "Don't make such a big deal out of this. You've done nothing wrong. If ya had, you'd still be locked up in jail tonight for Christmas Eve." "Well, then, if I'm so innocent, why are those two detectives still hanging around us? They're more than just starting to get on my nerves, Roy. Think about what they did to Marco." "That was an accident. They had no idea how close Maria and Marco were." "Well, they should've checked before they notified next of kin like that of her death. If they had, they'd have realized that it was just him, her and his mother living in the same house together." "Maybe they took that into consideration, Johnny. Who better to tell than a younger son and not some poor old frail mother about her passing?" "They did check." said a voice nearby. "It's standard policy to notify a healthy next of kin with distressful news to prevent any unfortunate adverse reactions." The two paramedics turned around with a matching set of strongly disapproving double frowns and both pegged onto the policeman who had just spoken. Johnny went ballistic. "Thanks a lot for eavesdropping on a private conversation Mister Squad Cop. The least you can do is tell us why you've been ordered to dog us like this." The smile fell away from the police officer's face. "I thought I was being polite by letting you eat before clarifying a few facts that I've been asked to get by the coroner's office. They need your detailed positional and physical findings so they can completely fill out Miss Lopez's official death certificate." Gage shot to his feet. "That's it. Roy, let's go..." he said dangerously. "If I don't leave now, I'm gonna start getting real mad here." "Ok, ok.. Sorry about that, officer.. You see, my partner's upset about how your superiors handled breaking bad news about your deceased's status to a friend of ours. So you're gonna have to forgive him for acting uncooperative. He's just had to treat that same friend for falling into moderate to heavy shock because of it." DeSoto offered apologetically to the man in blue. "Ok, now I know. Thanks for telling me what happened to Mr. Lopez. That's another question I had been wondering about." Roy blinked five times, getting hold of his own emotions."Uh,..you know where we're headed, right?" "I do." said the man, motioning to his own partner that they were going to follow the rescue squad men and the truck numbered 51 whereever it went. "Ok, ...Then I guess Marco, me and Johnny will meet ya there." Roy smiled artificially meek, as his partner all but yanked his arm out of its socket as he successfully dragged him out of the cafeteria. As the two paramedics and the two policemen left the dining area, Dixie and Dr. Brackett were coming in. Dixie was crushed. "Oh, no.. Now where are they off to?" she quailed. "They probably have a response to handle. They.. are.. still on duty. I heard Roy call their squad available over the base station radio as we were coming here." said Brackett. "They can do that with Marco as a passenger?" "Sure, why not? His replacement's already at the station taking over. I heard that from Captain Stanley himself about his personnel change over the same channel to their Battalion Chief. Marco'd just be tagging along, Dixie, and still resting under their direct supervision." "Not what I'd call a great way to spend Christmas. It's cold out there tonight." "Whatever their trouble is, at least they're together. And we're just gonna have to live without knowing anything more until after the holidays, Dix." "Somehow, I'm not feeling so merry anymore." said Dixie with a sad pout. "And I won't be anytime soon, not until I learn that they're all truly ok." she promised, wiping a sudden wetness out of her nose and eyes. "Shhh," Brackett soothed her. "That's no way to spend Christmas. Tell you what, let's spend it together come midnight at my house, and I promise you that I'll make a few well placed phone calls using my supposed considerable paramedic business clout around city hall." Dixie nodded blandly, barely appeased, and together, they left the food line for their mutual work stations in the busy E.R.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Detective Joe Friday leaned on Captain Stanley's office desk and polished one of his shoes by swiping at it with a clean handkerchief. "We can't wait for your men to return any longer, Mr. Stanley. Our other assignment has a very firm deadline that we must meet. We have to have that second case fully solved by midnight." "Just what do you expect me to do about it, fellas? I'm not a mind reader. I don't know where my men are." Hank protested. Boot, in his lap, started whining. "Shh, easy Boot. These are the good guys. We can trust them, I think." he muttered. "Murder is never pretty, Mr. Stanley. Believe us when we tell you that we'll do everything in our power to make sure your man walks free from these charges. It's only a matter of time before the real murderer steps forward." "Oh, really." Cap scoffed. "Have you found any witnesses to that effect?" "Not yet." said Gannon softly. He set down his nearly empty chowder mug and he spun it around morosely on the desk with a calloused thumb. "That's why we want to borrow Boot here." admitted Friday at last. Cap's eyes squinted. "You're going to use him to track scents in that alley?" "Yes. Very astute of you." said Joe monotone. "Using dogs to solve crime scenes is something I've been trying to get the department heads to buy for years. Maybe Johnny Gage's case will finally be the one that shows my superiors the true worth of a canine's incredible sense of smell. I know they can fathom out clues where none remain obvious to the rest of us human detectives." "And we'll take along Johnny as encouragement for your dog. You said he works hard for the people with whom he's formed an attachment." Gannon added. "Please, captain. Call your Squad Unit 51 and tell them to report to the alley where it happened in five minutes. We'll be meeting them there." Stanley fingered the live HT on his desktop with an empty, pained look. "You know my man Marco's with them." "We know. In fact, we're counting on his presence as positive impetus for Boot to perform. Lopez's emotions should drive out the instincts in him that we need to help us disprove the state's case against Johnny Gage one hundred percent." Gannon said. Without saying anything more, Cap opened a drawer next to his knee and he drew out a hardly worn black leather collar with a fire department trumpet on it and a light rope leash. He held it out to Gannon firmly for him to take. "These are Boot's. He knows that he'll be asked to actively work a scene once he's wearing them." "Thank you, captain." said Friday. "We appreciate this greatly. Boot may yet prove to be the big break we've all been waiting for." he said. "I dearly hope so, for Johnny and Marco's sakes." nodded Hank seriously. He watched as Bill Gannon clipped on the leash and collar on the wanderer fire station dog. Boot immediately sat up with interest, looking up at the detective and then towards the engine bay. "Ok, you do your part captain, and I promise, we'll do ours." said the gray haired man. The two detectives left the station with a very eager Boot on their heels for the unmarked tan Fairlane which was lying hidden and parked in the station's sidedrive. When they had gone, Hank lifted up his HT and called Squad 51. "Engine 51 to Squad 51. Report." ##This is Squad 51. Still 10-8. ## came Roy's puzzled voice over his handheld radio. "Squad 51. Rendevous to a Code 6A with Unit H/5K. They are on Tach 2. Respond a Code 2-High, on my order, a.s.a.p., to their twenty." ## 10-4, affirmative. Switching to Tach 2 for H/5K. We will advise L.A. when we're on location. Also, uh....our Code I is very 10-2, Engine 51. He is currently 10-12.## Cap dropped his head in utter relief at the news that Marco was fine and discharged from Rampart officially. He wasn't too pleased with the fact that he was with Roy and Johnny on the way to another foray into Dragnet's current murder investigation. ::But then again, beggers can't be choosers.:: he decided. A whooping holler of pure delight echoed resoundedly through the vehicle bay. It was Chet Kelly. He came running into Cap's office. "I heard! I heard! Yey! Marco's ok, fellas! Roy just said as much over the radio." Cap rose from his seat and hung in the doorway, studying the rest of the gang as they gathered around the wall map excitedly to talk. Kelly was working on straightening out the spare I.V. box and oxygen equipment with Gil Robertson, Marco's replacement for the evening. He couldn't help but smile. Gil Robertson looked up from the rag he was using to clean the chrome on the resuscitator. "You're not the only one good at police codes, Kelly. H/5K?...hmm that's Homicide/Detective Support Section and a Code 6A is ..." "..'Out of Car on Investigation, Requires Assistance.' " replied an equally radio savvy Mike Stoker. Kelly's smile never wavered, "Right, and Code 2-High means top priority but with no lights or sirens. And Marco's still with em in the squad." then his face fell. "I wonder what they're up to?" Cap happily filled them in. "You've been hearing our detectives' work up to here all day. Now they're saying it's time for a little bloodhound action from Boot in that alleyway." "To catch a thief?" Gil guessed eagerly, still in the dark about everything. "To catch a killer." Cap corrected. "Chet, fill Robertson in on the latest concerning Gage. I'm giving you permission. D*mned if I'm going to keep a secret from one firefighter concerning another one." Kelly fell to with Gil in a huddle with Stoker and the animated talking began. Cap restlessly ambled over to the open garage doors with his hands in his pockets to fill his lungs with the cool night air blowing around him. The heavily darkening sky was filled with moonshine and the oddly sharp light from a single bright star, rising in the east. Try as he might to believe otherwise, Hank swore up and down, that it was winking at him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ::Thank goodness it's too dark to see the bloodstains.:: thought Johnny. ::I don't see any. Maybe someone's already washed them away with a garden hose to keep the curious from lingering.:: On the way in, they had learned about Boot coming to meet them in the unmarked detective's car through one of Cap's updates to L.A.. Soon, they were there. Gage, Marco, Roy got out of the squad at once, turning off the ignition. It was quiet in the alleyway; broken only by the sound of the police squad car that had followed them from Rampart as it pulled up behind them. And by the sound of Boot, running joyfully to them from someplace else that was out of sight. He was dragging his working leash behind him. Johnny and Roy were worried for Marco's sake about seeing where his young cousin had died, but Boot stayed near and helped distract him from thinking about it too much. "So where are they?" Johnny demanded of the two police officers. "My friend hasn't got all night. He needs a place to lie down in the worst way." he said about Marco, exaggerating a bit. Lopez subtly kicked him in the ankle to pipe down. "Johnny.. I'm fine..." he hissed. "We'll check on the other end of the alley for their car." said the cop and he and his partner turned on flashlights for the trip towards the church. "If your dog is here. They're here." he said. Soon, they were swallowed up in darkness. Johnny smiled when he looked up at a familar outline of a brick building on his left next to its steeple. "Hey, Roy. Look. My old apartment building." All the windows were dark, except for one. In the topmost left corner story, a brightly festooned Christmas tree was illuminating it from a lightless living room. "That's my old place. Nice to know someone's still living there." he said, pointing to the apartment displaying the glowing tree. "You used to live there?" Marco asked, stooping to pet Boot for some comfort. The shaggy dog nuzzled the place where Marco's I.V. had once connected. "It's ok, boy. I'm better now. So don't fret. Go with the detectives. You're working for them tonight." Boot whined indecision but then he turned and faced the alley way. He didn't have to go very far. The two cops had located the two detectives. "Let's start this, shall we?" asked Friday, gathering up Boot's lead. "Can you get him going for us?" "Sure.." said Johnny. He knelt by the brown dog and said one command. "Seek, Boot. Go find what's wrong. We'll stay right here. Ok? Go, Boot." Deftly, Friday released the leash's catch from the station dog's collar. Boot went. Bill Gannon, Joe Friday, Johnny, Roy and Marco were just watching Boot's third pass around the alleyway around the body silhouette tape outline and yellow and black plastic barrier square fluttering in the wind from orange cones, when a man stepped out of the shadows. Joe Friday started. "Mr. Lorentz.. What are you doing out here?" "I'm going to Christmas mass a little early. Father Rojas says his two altar boys aren't feeling too well this evening. Says both have a fever or something working on em. I may be needed to stand in their place for the candle service." said Maxmillion. "What are you doing with Johnny and Roy boys? They aren't being blamed for Maria, are they?" Gannon's suspicions were raised. "How did you know why we're here, Mr. Lorentz?" "I didn't for sure. I just tricked you into telling me. Johnny, did you get the money for your bail ok?" Maxmillion asked Gage. Roy and Johnny finally recognized the old man. "M- Max? What are y-- Are you the one responsible for doing that? I thought Roy and the rest of the guys from B and C shifts were the ones who put up my bail." wondered Johnny. Maxmillion the bum and religious store proprietor crowed in pure glee. "Ha! HA ha ha ha..I finally found a permanent way to pay you two fellas off for saving my life last year. That bail is completely nonrefundable. So don't even try to give it back to me. It belongs to the state of California now." "Excuse me, Mr. Gage, Mr. DeSoto. Just what is your relationship to this man?" cut in Joe Friday. "He's our victim!" said Johnny, grabbing the old man's blue veined hand and shaking it gratefully. "I mean, he was. Uh, it's a little hard to explain." he said, grinning from ear to ear. Then he ignored the detectives's questions while he caught up on news. "That smoke didn't give you pneumonia, Max? We were worried about ya. All of us were. The last we heard, they were bussing you off to the state old folks home for the homeless." "Never happened. Heh. You see, I'm not quite as homeless as you and they thought I was." winked Maxmillion. "Oh.. uh, ... really?" asked Johnny. "Really." said Bill Gannon. "Mr. Lorentz is the proud owner of that religious curio shop right there behind us." "He is?" rubbernecked Roy, squinting to peer at the dim storefront around the parked rescue squad. "I truly am. What else did you expect from me? Did you think that money you boys found while rescuing me, was all I had? I'm not stupid enough to leave all my eggs in one basket there, sonny. No siree. I have my adopted brother to think about providing for, now don't I?" said Maxmillion. Both detectives frowned. "Who would that be?" "Who would that be?" asked both Johnny and Joe Friday simultaneously. They both looked at each other in irritation. Roy and Marco just smiled a bit through their tiredness at their mirrored reaction. They welcomed Boot into their arms when he had finished his trained thorough circuit of the alley way with vigorous pets and rubs onto his broad hairy back. Maxmillion told them proudly. "Why it's good ol' Leonard Baptista, my fine upstanding P.I.s. You remember me talking about him, my best-est friend and chess partner.. He's the one." Gannon and Friday both sighed and shook their heads ruefully. "The church boiler man." "Huh?" asked Gage. "Never mind." said Max looking more and more distressed when he thought about his two paramedic saviors' predicament. "Say, Mr. Fried Egg.." "Friday." "Whatever. How can you pin Maria's murder on him? They found children's prints on the gun. And them only." declared Max, putting a protective arm over Johnny's uniformed shoulders. "What?" startled Johnny. Bill and Joe didn't move. Gage immediately got mad, so did Marco and Roy. And Boot, too, when he sensed the change in his firehouse humans. His growl spoke for all of them. Johnny got angry, fast. "Why didn't you tell that to any of us in the first place? Here I was, fretting it out in jail and then at the station and even over poor Marco here while we treated him for hypotensive crisis and you just sat there keeping this information to yourselves?! Oh, ....man.." "Some kids ...killed my cousin?" whispered Lopez. Roy and Johnny immediately flanked him. Marco waved them away. "Whose were they?" "We don't know. They were smeared and only partial prints." Bill Gannon said finally. "How did you know they were child sized, Mr, Lorentz?" Joe said, looking at Maxmillion. Maxmillion hung his head, deflecting his answer. "I heard about your troubles, Johnny, on my fire department scanner and I wanted to help these investigators clear your name. You see I never got around to tellin ya fellas that I'm also a closet P.I on the side." And he pulled out a richly polished leather wallet. Inside lay a very high level detective's I.D. One that Friday and Gannon knew only by reputation. And it was real. "I work for 1K4Y directly." he said simply. Joe raised his eyebrows in the first expression of amazement his partner Bill had ever seen. "Organized crime intelligence at investigative services headquarters? Sir, I'm honored." he said, lifting his palm up to shake Max's. "I don't get it." said Johnny. Even Lopez seemed shaken out of his unpleasant thoughts surrounding the setting he found himself standing in. "Boys, think about it. I was heavy undercover during a deep police sting operation when that fire broke out in the warehouse where you had to rescue me." Lorentz explained. "But... but... what about all that money?" Marco asked. "That was mine. I used my own because I didn't want to do it any other way. You see, the part about my not trusting banks is still true. You could say my first name describes my REAL financial standing." "Maxi.....million?" Roy peeped. Maxmillion J. Lorentz just nodded and smiled toothlessly. "Yep." "And I plied my credentials at the forensics lab, 714 and 4848. That's how I know about the small hand prints on that murder weapon." he said fiercely. Then his face softened and he set a gentle hand on Marco's shoulder. "Sorry, Marco.. I still don't have all the answers for you. But I'm trying. And I'm trying real hard to clear you, Johnny, and come up with the reason why Maria died. There just aren't enough clues t--" "Do you smell something?" Johnny asked when he saw Boot, sitting at his feet, sniffing and sneezing, too. Boot began to bark in earnest toward the tall apartment building looming over Father Rojas's church. A sickly orange cast was just started to stain that solely lit holiday decorated upperstory window. And it jarred discordantly with the gay colors sparkling there. "..oh, no...." Johnny moaned, as he recognized the sight and smell for what it was. It was a fire,.. starting quickly inside of the Christmas tree. Johnny started shouting at the detectives. "Call it in! Call it in! We gotta get up there, now!" "What? What are you seeing?" Gannon cried. "A fire in my apartment unit!" "A fire where? I thought you lived in Bear Claw Canyon.." Joe said quickly, trying to see where Gage was pointing. "I meant in my old apartment! Where I used to live. Up there!" and he rushed to the squad as fast as he could run, throwing open a gear compartment to get out his turnout coat. Then he jumped up top in the back to grab down two air bottles. "Grab one down for me..." shouted Marco, gesturing. "No way, Marco. The chief hasn't cleared you yet to work. Let L.A. know that Johnny and I are going up there on a landline with scba gear!" ordered DeSoto. Not happy, and holding tightly onto Boot's collar, Lopez made the call. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Brackett and Dixie discussing a matter over the base station. Photo: Johnny trying to drink coffee with a cop laughing nearby. Photo: Cap looking incredulous. Photo: Det. Bill Gannon explaining things. Photo: Det. Joe Friday looking caught. Photo: Chet and Gil Robertson cleaning the resuscitation gear. Photo: A blocked off body crime scene. Photo: Maximillion J. Lorentz, the gang, and a bag of money. Photo: Johnny Gage startling, looking up by the engine. Photo: An apartment with a Christmas tree on fire. Interior shot. ************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Thu Dec 22, 2005 1:15 pm Subject: The Fire of the Soul... Roy hurried into full gear as fast as he could change into it. Already, he could see that panicking, still sleepy sets of families were making good their escape down the building's exterior stone staircase as smoke in the stairwells started filling the air from the ceilings on down. "Keep going!" he told them as he got out coils of rope for him and Johnny to use. "Head across the street and go into the church, you'll be safe there."Then he shouted at Johnny. "How many apartments do we have here?" "Forty. Arranged four units deep each wing, two wings each floor to ten stories." "Sprinkler system?" "Yes." he said as he and Roy jogged to the front entrance. "And no elevator to speak of. It's one of the reasons why I moved away from here." Marco grabbed up their two life lines into his hands. "Be careful in there, you guys. I got your backs. Here's a squad radio." he told them, tossing Roy an HT. "The engine's two minutes out." "Thanks, Marco. Don't get hit by falling false wall debris. There are a pair of gargoyle corner stays right above the fire up there." Johnny told him. Lopez looked up, spotted them, and moved aside fifteen feet. "I see them now." he said wrapping the ends of his coworkers' ropes around both wrists. "Man, what a shame. This place has gorgeous architecture." "It isn't too late yet. Marco. It's not over until it's over." he grinned. "Ok, in we go. Standard tugs ok?" "Two for good going every three minutes." agreed Marco, buttoning up a spare overcoat he had grabbed from the squad. "I got the second radio so we can keep in touch with one other." Johnny and Roy both gave him a wave as they entered the building with their masks on and ropes tied off to their waist harnesses. "Roy, about where we're going.. the fire's tenth floor, apartment two on the end left corner. Two windows, one east of the front door, one north directly opposite." "Do you know how many people live there now?" "No, I haven't a clue. Wish I did, Roy. Know what I mean?" he said, hustling up the interior stairs right behind his partner. They met several families coming down in the opposite direction, fleeing. "That's right, keep going to the lobby!" Gage hollered. "There are firemen down there at the bottom who'll help you get out of here! Move, keep down by the floor in the thicker spots and you'll be able to breathe!" he told them. Soon, they were passing no more families. They had reached the tenth floor. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Dragnet detectives and the two street cops immediately began to guide people away from the smoking building in droves. They soon had help, when the sounds of arriving firefighting companies attracted the attention of church goers from their service. Father Rojas threw his doors wide open for refugees. "Come in, come in. Please, sit down. Who's hurt?" asked the kindly Xavier as he hustled his congregation and the holiday choir singers to attend and care for the evacuating families until the fire crews and paramedics and ambulances were ready to handle them. "Maxmillion? Could you go get the stack of blankets from the sacristy? We should have about a dozen altogether." Lorentz just nodded, helping one tearful mother in her holiday best sit down with her baby onto a pew's seat. "I'll be right back." he promised the frightened woman. "Don't worry, ma'am. You two are safe here. We won't let anything happen to you. Good help's arriving soon. Is your baby daughter ok?" "Y-Yes.." she said. "Uh, I think so." "Is everybody in your family out of the building?" Again, the crying mother nodded. "Everyone. It was just my husband and my stepfather at home. Apartment 120." she sobbed. "Ok, just rest here a bit. There are four policemen here who'll help you out with her very soon. Ok." "All right... Thank you Max.." she sobbed, clutching her sooty crying infant to her damp cheek. "Shh, honey, it's ok. We're well out of there and safe.." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Engine 51 arrived and received its working orders from Battalion One. ##Engine 51, lay two supply lines for Ladder Nine on the eastern exposure. This will be an exterior attack only until we know the extend of the fire zone. Stations 99 and 8, assist Squad 51 with victim evacuation from the south and north entrances.## said the chief. Cap immediately had Stoker pull the engine up to their assigned hydrant. Chet Kelly grabbed the ends of the engine's two hoses and wrapped a 2 ˝ inch supply line around it, then he whistled. Mike pulled ahead using the hydrant for leverage to yank folded hose down from the hose bed. The connections were swiftly made between hydrant, 51's reservoir and into Ladder Nine's active pump. Stoker got on the panel to coordinate their water feed when the bucket man was ready to charge the water cannon. Hank paused briefly right outside the Ward's cab as he showed Gage's lawyer how to fasten up his turnout jacket. "Sorry we had to drag you along, Mr. Cogley. But your ride's here." he told Trent, pointing out the detectives' Fairlane, parked in the still uneffected alleyway next to the compartment door opened rescue squad."Stay out of our way and stay clear of any charged lines. If you don't watch out, they're sure to buck and knock you flat." "I understand, Captain. Where's Mr. Gage now?" Stanley smiled. "Knowing him? He's most likely already up there." he said jerking a thumb at the flaming apartment that was starting to light up the night sky. The bright star shining above, was now completely hidden from view. Hank frowned. "Can I speak with Marco when he's free?" asked the lawyer, still fumbling with the helmet strap around his chin. "Only if he wants to. He's officially not on duty. But, he's probably rather busy at the moment anyway, covering my paramedics' rears at the front entrance. Where you can't go." he said firmly, to be sure the man did nothing stupid on his fire scene. "I'll wait, sir. Make sending him to me last." Trent said empathetically. "All these other people come first." "Glad to see lawyers don't have the idiot gene like some claim, Mr. Cogley. I'm going over to talk to him." "And I'll be at the church with the detectives if Marco chooses to talk to me." "I'll tell him." Hank adjusted his mask onto his face and his harness firmly over his coat. He jogged to Marco's side of the street, where he could see Lopez holding onto both of Roy and Johnny's lifelines. "How long have they been in there?" "Three and a half minutes, Cap. I got their tank start up times right here. He said, pointing to the skin on his wrist where he had written them down with a pen. coughed Marco. "So far, Johnny says it's just the one apartment." he said holding up his HT meaningfully. Then his face screwed up as acrid smoke from burning cloth stung his unprotected eyes. "Ok, I got these. Go get out of here and out of this smoke." he ordered. "It's too thick now to go unprotected." he said, tapping on his faceplate. "But, Cap." "You're inactive, Marco. On the injured list. You know the rules. Go." Cap told him. Then he looked over Marco's uniformed shoulder. "Robertson! Kelly! On the double. Man DeSoto and Gage's lifelines. They're on the tenth floor." he told his men. Then he meaningfully snatched the chattering paramedic handheld radio out of Marco's fingers. "And by the way, our resident lawyer wants a few words with you." Reluctantly, Lopez got out of the billowing smoke drifting down the building's side, accepting a mask handed out to him from one of 99's men for a few snorts. The firefighter was going in with a dry attack line coil for the stairwell hose connector on the top landing. "You ok?" asked the man as Marco coughed and pulled a few clean breaths of air from his scba gear. "I saw you face naked from all the way over there." "Yeah. I'm not on duty. But I was here when it started. Thanks." he said, taking in a last shot of good air. He returned it to the fireman with a nod. "I'm headed for the church to see what I can do over there." "I'll let the chief know." promised the man. "Are you one of 51's?" "Yes. But on the inactives' list. My captain knows where I'll be." "Ok..I'd hold off on a chat with the chief then." waved the man as he put his mask and helmet back on and nodded to his fire bud that they could leave. "Good luck in there.." Lopez gave the team a thumbs up. They left his side and disappeared into the smoke and darkness filling the alley way. On a thought, he stopped by the squad, where he had shoved Boot for safety, and took him out on his leash. ::Maybe he can calm all these kids down.:: Marco thought as he saw the building's residents being helped into the church's well lit annex. He went inside, going to Father Rojas's side at once. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rojas immediately approached him. "Maxmillion's gone to the sacristy for some blankets for the youngest ones. Is there a paramedic team coming for all these folks yet?" "I can sure find out, Father." said Marco, looking to the entrance where a street cop was standing as a guide. He could hear his belt radio clearly. Maxmillion ran up to the both of them. "Marco. There's a baby over there coughing from the smoke. Can you see what you can do?" "Of course..Here, take over Boot's leash from me." said Lopez and he quickly spotted the nervous mother and the infant. He waved over one of the police officers who had followed them from Rampart and told him to radio out to Battalion to get a fireman in with some oxygen tanks for the worst of those smoke effected. Then he took the baby from her mother and started calming both of them down by speaking in soft Spanish. All the while, he watched the child carefully until the time came for one of the paramedics to stop a crowd status sweep, long enough to prioritize her. He then started to notice that several people had taken to lying down on the floor in front of the altar on their blankets. He gave the baby back to the mother with a smile. "I've got to go now. She's not having any trouble breathing here. I think she's just a little scared because you are..." Lopez excused himself and went over to the open space by the altar. "Hey.. is everybody ok over here? I'm with the Los Angeles County Fire Department." Five exhausted heads lifted from the floor quickly and most nodded that they were. But then Marco noticed two youngish boys bundled up on the first pew. What attracted his attention was the fact that they both wore church robes. "Boys. What's wrong? Are you sick from being outside too near the fire?" he asked them. The first just moaned. "Whaa?....a fire? Oh, I feel sick." he said without opening his eyes. "Let me go back to sleep, ok.? I promise I won't make any more.. *gasp* ...noise, Father.." he whispered hoarsely, misidentifying who Lopez was. The second altar boy, didn't move. "Hey.." Marco shouted, shaking the blond haired child's shoulder. He recognized him at once. "Joseph.. Joseph Hefferman.. Can you hear me?" The boy didn't react. Marco lifted his head and began yelling for Father Rojas and the policemen. "Father! Both your altar boys are in serious trouble. Get help!" Lopez noticed that the boys' faces were hot and flushed. There was a damp stain of vomit on the edge of the blanket under Joseph that he almost missed. Marco carefully tipped back Joseph's head and listened closely for any attempt at breathing. The ill looking boy was doing it, weakily, so Lopez balled up the blanket and wadded it under his shoulders to keep the boy's head fallen back enough for a good airway while he monitored his wrist pulse with worry. Father Rojas came instantly when he heard his name with a firefighter in tow who was carrying a portable oxygen case. Marco and the lieutenant quickly got two masks set up, a flowing nonrebreather for the partially awake child and the demand valve, he set up for Joseph so Lopez could aid him at will."How long have these two been like this?" Marco asked Xavier as he watched the firefighter call for a paramedic to come to their location. He frowned and began to ventilate Joseph with a thumb trigger when his chest suddenly began to bubble under his ear. "They were just sleeping, Marco. I sent them both over here to nap during the mass. Joseph did say that he and little James weren't feeling too well. He said it felt like the flu coming on." "In both of them?" Marco asked. "Yes. The boys didn't want to raise a fuss by calling their fathers to come take them home before the services were over." fluttered Rojas. "They're not sleeping now, Father. Something's making them black out." "What?" said the old priest, bending closer for another look. "They weren't this bad a few minutes ago. Joseph was just blowing his nose. Oh, my word." "Have they been playing anywhere strange today? This is important, Father. I already know that they haven't gotten into any of that smoke out there. James didn't even know that there was a fire going on outside." "Well, no, nothing comes to mind, ah..." he gripped his head. "It's been a busy day. We've all been tired since early morning." said the Padre. Then he coughed. Lopez looked up sharply. "Xavier are you nauseated, too? With a headache?" he said, handing over the resuscitator to the fire lieutenant to take over. He rose to his feet and held the churchman's shoulders. "A little bit. Funny, I.. didn't feel this way a half an hour ago." Marco quailed. "Father Rojas. Get everybody to open up every door in the church. All the windows, too." "What? Why?" he said as he motioned well trained robed assistants to do just that. "If I'm right, there's poisonous gas building up in here from somewhere." "Impossible. We don't use gas. We have all electric." On the bench, little James stirred restless underneath the steadying hand of the firefighter working on his best friend. "..Leo.. Leo!....Go get Leo. He's sick, too. Real bad... Joseph and I couldn't get him out of bed for the Christmas mass." A feeling of dread overcame both the firefighter and Marco. "Oh, no. Does this place have a boiler room?" guessed the fireman venting the little boy. "Yes. Blocked flue or chimney for sure. That boiler's brand new..." said Lopez rising suddenly. He grabbed his HT. "HT 51 to Battalion One. Possible carbon monoxide leak at my twenty! At least four victims. We need an immediate fire company at the church!" "Marco! Leonard Baptista must still be down in the basement. I thought it odd that he wasn't here to listen to the singing tonight." said Xavier. "Ok, ..I'm gone with him. Soon, they'll be, too." said the firefighter nodding at the evacuees, as he lifted up Joseph into his arms. He kept up his mask delivered breaths on the boy as the policeman picked up the other boy and the tank. "Outside, everybody back outside!" the lieutenant shouted, stirring up the groggy sleepers on the floor with a boot. Then he turned to Lopez. "Take off my air bottle. You're gonna need it if you check the lower level for that man. I'll get back to you with a full team as soon as I get these two to a paramedic." Boot, the dog, was coughing now, even at the main doors, and Maxmillion J. Lorentz, noticed it. "Hey, boy, don't pull at your leash so much. We're ok here. At least, I think so. " Then the words "...bad boiler.." echoed down to him from the rafters from somewhere near the back of the church. Their significance didn't sink in until he saw little Joe and James being rushed out of the church, both with oxygen masks pressed firmly against their faces, their gold and ivory robes fluttering in the wind. "Baptista.. you crazy ol codger. If you've killed yourself, I'll never forgive you!" he hissed, tying off Boot's leash to a lamp post on the street. He craftily followed the repanicked crowds abandoning the church, going with the flow, until he reached a special side door whichlead to the basement. Taking a deep breath, Maxmillion, slipped inside. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Detective Friday, heard a door slam at the church from where he and his partner were watching from a good vantage point. It was one that he knew which opened from the dark alleyway. "Come on, Bill. That didn't sound right." he said, throwing his cigarette away. "What didn't?" "That slamming door. I think someone who's not a firefighter went down after Leonard Baptista." "Was it Lorentz?" "None other. Look, Boot's tied up on that street light . A minute ago, Max was still holding him." "Gonna tell somebody?" Joe didn't reply. He just opened the Fairlane's door that he had been leaning on and got on the CB, switching it to the fire command frequencies. "744 and 4848 to Battalion One. Urgent." ##Go ahead, H/5K.## said the fire chief. "We just eyeballed one of our men doing something stupid at the church. He's gone into the basement after a man possibly trapped in all that gas." ##10-4 on that. Speeding up our response teams. Battalion One out.## The two Rampart police officers met up with the detectives and Trent Cogley to keep out of all the firefighters' way. "What's new?" Trent said, still in the dark about the church gas leak and Maxmillion's disappearance. "Maybe another pair of DBs." Joe replied. He wasn't beneath shocking the frilly laywer. "What?!" Trent choked spitting out the mug of coffee he had been given by a church volunteer. "Whose this time?" "A retarded boilerman in the church basement." "And probably soon, his best friend. He just rolled the dice by going down after the guy while trying to brave a sea of carbon monoxide." Bill Gannon told him. "He won't make it." said one of the cops. "I've seen this a thousand times. CO can kill in less than ten minutes in high enough concentrations." "Ah, but these fire boys know they're down there. Maybe that'll make em just a little bit quicker on the draw." Joe hoped. "And maybe, they'll both make it out of there." Joe angled his head, seeing an altar boy being loaded onto an ambulance stretcher. "Say, Bill. Isn't that James Cormeen and little Joe over there?" Gannon jolted. "It sure is." "Who are they?" Trent Cogley asked. "Two altar boys who served at mass the same day Maria was killed." said Bill." I wonder what happened to them." he replied. "They look bad." "Let's find out." Joe nodded. He and Bill and Trent left the two cops behind at the car and soon, they were kneeling by both ambulance gurneys as they awaited loading by the two paramedics caring for the apneic boy. "L.A.P.D." Friday announced himself to the paramedic team. "How are they doing?" he said, putting his badge away after the busy medic had gotten a good look at it. "One's been intubated as you can see. He's most likely down from carbon monoxide asphyxia." "And the other one?" asked Bill, studying James Cormeen's reddish face. "He's got a better chance of recovery. He got less gas we think." replied Station 8's medic. "Mind if we talk to him?" The paramedic sighed. "Yes. We gotta get these two to a hospital a.s.a.p. We still don't have consent to treat for either one." "You do now." said Joe firmly. "What?" "I've just put them into protective custody. Treat away." said Friday. "Starting those I.V.'s will give us time for some questions." The paramedic rubbed his sooty nose. "Just don't wear him out or you'll have me to answer to." he warned, handing off the biophone to his partner already in the Mayfair, venting Joseph one handed. "I know how you investigators work. You're ..all ..dry and facts hungry." "Actually, he's real gentle under that iron exterior." Bill grinned wanly. Eight's man grinned faintly. "I'll believe it when I see it. The boy's a bit confused, but if you go slow. He'll answer you. His name is James." he said, getting another blood pressure off the moaning altar boy. "We know." said Joe, then he crouched down by Cormeen's side. "James... Can you hear me? It's the police. It's really important that you answer a few questions about your illness. Why were you two in the boiler room with Leonard Baptista?" "We had ...to make sure.. he was ok. We've been protecting...him." sighed the boy under the breathing mask. "We don't want him to get arrested.. " "Why?" smiled Bill, holding the groggy boy's hand. "What for?" James' face screwed up, startling the medic, who instantly checked his airway status with a hand to his chest. "..It's all .... our fault." sobbed the boy. "Joseph and me... We found it in Leo's cookie jar. We didn't mean to do it. Honest.." Joe's eyes glinted softly. "You mean you found the gun." "Yes. We didn't mean to hurt her. We were aiming at all the garbage cans. We....didn't even know she was there...Joe thinks one of the shots bounced off one of the loose bricks lying in the alley and hit her." he cried, bright tears flowing down his face. "Oh, G*d.. We just wanted to know what it felt like to shoot like the Lone Ranger does. He looks so cool with his." he cried, gasping. "What happened this morning after you saw Maria fall to the ground?" "We dropped it and ran away. There was a man in a white jeep coming." "Johnny Gage..." whispered Trent Cogley in Joe's ear. Joe nodded. "It's ok, son. Maria's death was an accident. Try to relax now. You've gotten it off your chest. But...one more thing, can you tell me if Leonard's still alive in the church's basement?" "Yes.. Joseph and I saw him at the seventh cantas." Bill looked at his watch. "That was fifteen minutes ago." Father Rojas stepped out of the shadows, and he had heard every word. "G*d forgives the little children, detective. When their hearts fully realize their sins." "You're forgetting Marco and his family, Father. What about them? If any real forgiving's to be done, the absolution must come from them as well." Joe said. "Or the boy won't be able to find his peace. He's too young to understand anything else." "You might be surprised, Detective. The soul knows more than you think when its been properly guided. James was Maria's best vocal student. A lot of her is already deeply embedded inside of him. He loves life too much to let it go like that. Faith can bring one very, very far along at times." "Then why are you giving Joseph here his last rites?" Friday asked cynically. He pointed to the purple satin stole around Xavier's neck as the Padre motioned the sign of the cross over the second still boy getting bagged by ET on an ambu. "Because I must when I find that a soul's in mortal danger. It is one of my jobs on this earth. Just like it was yours to uncover those who accidently took Maria's." said Xavier sadly. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marco Lopez could hardly see through his air mask. But he knew the church well enough to get where he wanted to be in less than a minute. Leonard Baptista was only inside the next room, he knew, with his cot near the boiler for added warmth. ::I only hope I get there in time.:: he wished. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Thu Dec 22, 2005 8:58 pm Subject: Times Two~~ "Leonard!?... Leonard!! Can you hear me? It's Marco Lopez..." he shouted, shoving his shoulder against the door he could see chain secured whichlead to the small dormitory next to the large round boiler. As he feared, Leonard was lying face down on a simple, unadorned cot devoid of sheets or blankets inside the tiny clean white washed room. He broke the chain on the second try using the air bottle on his back as a battering ram against the door. A quick snatch on a lever above the huge church boiler on the chimney flue made it open easily with a yank and a crumpled bird's nest along with several dead pigeons fell into the fire from the ventilation hole leading to the roof. :: Those birds must have knocked this shut accidentally somehow. Especially if they had been trying to warm themselves there.:: A knock of his helmet against the window popped open its panes and the cool night air began to flood in and flow up the newly opened chimney. ::That'll get rid of most of this gas.:: Marco thought. Then there was no more time to waste. Lopez didn't even bother with a vitals check on Baptista. He grabbed up the man and balanced him between a shoulder and the bottom of his air bottle and ran for the spiral staircase leading back up into the church proper. He had no sooner gone when Maxmillion came crashing through the opened door from the hidden back stairwell and straight into a pool of carbon monoxide that had settled there from the temperature change. Lorentz slipped on a fallen newspaper and landed on his rear. It caused him to lose the breath he was holding. Maxmillion struggled to his feet when he saw that Leonard wasn't on the bed any longer and he panicked, trying for the window and the fresh air that Marco had just liberated. He failed to get there in time and the insidious, invisible fumes wafting about the still stuffy room snuffed out his consciousness. Maxmillion slumped to the floor in a graceless heap, limp. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Outside, Boot was frantic. His barks of warning had gone unheeded by the hustling firefighters dashing through the darkness around him and he leaped and strained against the leash bound to the street light. All of his attention was focused on the alley way where Maxmillion Lorentz had gone. Hank Stanley looked up toward Boot. ::I wonder what's gotten him so riled up?:: A few seconds later, word finally came out from Marco in the church that the basement CO victim had been found over a police radio. He ran for the steps of the pueblo style church and intercepted him, motioning for one of 99's paramedics to meet them with full medical gear. ::So that's why. A victim's coming out.:: he guessed wrongly. He petted Boot's back in affection as he jogged by. "It's ok, boy. We got him. He's coming right here." Hank told the excited dog. Lopez soon appeared out of the church and was helped with his burden by several masked firefighters. "I know. I know, Cap. I'm off duty." "I didn't see anything, Lopez. Hurry up and let go of him." Stanley said firmly. Baptista was lowered to the ground and Cap immediately got on the man's head as an oxygen apparatus was cracked and set next to him. Lopez shed his scba and opened Leo's shirt so they could clearly see the upper half of his body. Cap knelt low as he listened to the red, sweaty man's nose and mouth. "Nope." he told Lopez and the paramedic waiting with a positive pressure valve mask. "Not breathing." Leonard immediately got ventilated while Hank slid his fingers into the groove next to the man's adam's apple. He soon waved Marco off the man's chest where he had laced still fingers in a waiting for CPR position. "Got a carotid, but it's thready and irregular." Cap told the medic and Lopez both. Marco took his hands away, sighing in relief, finally giving in to the effort that it took to rescue his victim. He sagged onto his butt on the pavement. "We've got him from here, guys." said 99's partner, who appeared from around the corner at a run with an HT cocked to his ear. "Thanks." "O.k., we're clearing." sighed Hank and he got back on his feet. Then he turned to Lopez. "What did you find in there?" he said squatting down by Marco. He helped him unbutton his turnout so he could cool down a little. "Birds and a nest. They must have knocked the flue shut. I reopened it. I also got the room's only window thrown open." "Good going. That'll do whole bunches for airing out the rest of the church on our level." said Hank. "Now do I have to tell you to sit down for a while? You're as white as he is." Stanley quipped, throwing a head over to Leonard who was getting prepared for an endotracheal intubation on a doctor's order. "Sitting's real nice, Cap. You don't have to tell me twice." Marco coughed. The commotion Boot was making finally got through to Hank and Marco. Lopez lifted his head. "Wait a minute, where's Maxmillion?" he asked Stanley. "Who?" "Lorentz. You remember that old bum we rescued from that burning mattress fire last year who had it stuffed full of money..." "Yeah, I remember him, the crazy coot." admitted Hank. "What does he have to do with anything?" "He's not what he seems, Cap. He's a detective and he's been helping Johnny, too. He was supposed to be right here, watching Boot for me. He said he'd do it while I got his friend out." Boot's loud barks continued unabated and only then did Lopez and Cap realize what that meant. He was focused on someone else in trouble. Captain Stanley rubbed his forehead. "Uh, oh. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" "Yeah, and I don't think I like it at all." declared Marco, slipping on his air mask again. Quickly, Captain Stanley drew out a jack knife from his belt and sliced through Boot's leash, freeing him. The search dog immediately tore for the alleyway. "Yep. The old geezer's up and done it. He most likely went in directly after you, Marco. Go. Take Gil in as backup. He's right by our engine over there. And bring Boot inside with you. He'll find him faster." "What about all the monoxide, Cap?" "It's probably cleared out by now. You did say you got the window open." "Right." Lopez took off at a run, hand signalling to Robertson to follow him for a victim search. In the same instant, Battalion One came over the handheld frequency with the news about a second victim possibly being in the basement of the church as reported by Unit H/5K. ::Those detectives again?:: thought Captain Stanley. ::Man, they sure get around. But Boot's beaten them to it this time.:: Hank forced himself to trust his men to keep themselves breathing safe for the second run into the church. His attention focused back onto the apartment building where Roy and Johnny and others were fast sweeping through for lagging victims. ::Come on, come on. That tree's pure tinder. I give that living room about a minute more to remain livable. Then it'll be too late for anyone, victim or firefighter, still caught inside.:: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************** From: "patti keiper" Date: Sun Dec 25, 2005 4:21 pm Subject: Miracle on Alleyway Street.. Captain Stanley couldn't wait any longer to hear from his medical men on the tenth floor. ##Engine 51 to HT 51. Just exactly, where is the fire? The aerial bucket is lining up her nozzle as we speak!## shouted Cap into his handheld. Gage gasped as he and Roy rounded the last bend to stop before the still closed front door of the renter's apartment. "To the right of the exterior window along the outer wall as you're looking at it from the street!" shouted Johnny in reply into the talkie's pickup as he ran and tugged his lifeline into reach behind himself. ##Will do. Watch out for flying glass! We're charging and firing in full water now!## said Hank. "Maybe that'll buy us some more time here." coughed Roy in his mask. "This door's real hot. Almost too hot." "Yeah, well, here's hoping. I'm kicking it in!" Gage yelled as he backed up. On the third try, the door popped open and a searing mushroom cap of fire belched out the top of the doorspace as the air from the hallway rushed in and fed its raging appetite. They found the only two occupants, conscious and huddled in the bathroom under a running stream of cold water. Throwing a large bedspread over themselves and their two air masked covered victims, Roy and Johnny got out of there as fast as they could. Seconds later, the hose team rushed in to battle the living room fire with an ample fan of water. "HT 51 to Battalion One. Bringing out two live ones. Both conscious. Have two ambulance gurneys waiting in the street for us. They have moderate heat exposure but only mild smoke inhalation." DeSoto declared happily to the firemen outside over his HT. "Engine 51. FYI.. we're coming down the fire escape on the north side if you want men to meet us there." ##Copy that, HT 51. Nice work. O2 is standing by.## said Stanley. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marco Lopez and Gil Robertson shoved their way past unseen spilled garbage cans in the alleyway, until they forced their way into the stairwell door that Boot had nosed open. "Boot! Sound off, boy!" Lopez yelled into the darkness as he and Gil clattered down the stairs in their scba gear. "Bark!.. Bark!" came an echo just down the narrow basement passageway. "Straight down, to the left. The left!" Marco gestured eagerly at Robertson. "The room's lit up. Second door." Gil and he soon saw Boot's urgent, whining form as he licked the face of the comatose Maximillion lying on his back on the floor. "There he is. Right there." pointed Gil. The two firefighters rushed to the old detective/bum's side and pulled off their gloves to feel for a pulse and signs of respirations through the man's shirt. "He's ok. He's ok...!" Marco declared. He let go of Lorentz's stomach and soon, the two of them were carrying the man out of the church by his legs and arms followed by a worried prancing Boot, the whole way out, to where a rescue squad waited with a yellow tarp and spread out medical gear. Once laid on the street, Lorentz was reassessed and given a flood of oxygen until he started grunting in protest at the fussing his head and face were getting from the ventilating fireman. Marco leaned in close to his ear. "Maxmillion. It's deja vu all over again I'm afraid. Guess who's shaking some sense back into ya?" he grinned. "My money!" Lorentz startled as he awaken fully on the next breath. "It's safe and still whereever you've hidden it this time. Now I'm telling you to lie still to let Roy and Johnny take more than just a good look at you on the monitor, ok?" Lopez said in half warning. Then he smiled fully and felt all of his fatigue melt away like water. "You sure about that? Where's Leonard? I..." Lorentz coughed. Roy DeSoto piped up from where he was dressing light burns on the hands of the two victims he and Johnny had rescued. "Breathing and on his way to Rampart Hospital. Which is where you're going too." "Not gonna argue with you. Don't think....I have enough puff ...with which to do it." gasped Maxmillion. "But I am ...gonna say... thanks. From him.. and me..*cough cough cough*" "You're welcome.." Lopez told him. "Roy, how many victims shall I say are coming to the hospital?" "Three. These two should be evaluated, too, as soon as possible for some smoke inhalation." "You sure got them out fast." Marco said, picking up the biophone antennae and plugging it into the receiver port. "They were easy to find. They were using a shower curtain as a smoke screen under some running water." Gage shared. "Wow, that was clever thinking. Most people hide in the closet and bake a bit first before they realize that it's a bad idea getting into a tiny space." Lopez replied. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe Friday let go of the hat he had been clutching tightly, rolled like a log in his hands. "Wow. I had no idea what firefighters go through on their actual day to day. They really stick their necks out, don't they? Guess a fire's not like a bullet at all, which you can sometimes see coming. What do you think, Bill?" "I knew there was a reason for that larger paycheck of theirs. I just don't think I've ever realized it, until now, you know? Don't think I'll complain to the city payroll about the difference again. I just wouldn't feel right about it. They sure are something special." "Yeah. Six lives saved in one night's work? Incredible. Especially notable on this night of all nights. I hope their superiors realize what kind of men they have at their disposal. They're way beyond just being good at what they do." said Joe, lighting up a cigarette and offering the flame to his partner who had pulled out one of his own. "I'm sure they see that. Hank Stanley in particular. Did you see the way he protected his men from even the slightest bit of harm? Our own captain could learn whole chapters about looking out for Sam Small from him." nodded Bill with conviction. "I personally, have never seen him treat junior officers or public P.I.s badly. Are you saying our captain lacks character, Bill?" montoned Friday. "No. All I said was, Captain Mack IS a character who could learn a lot from that fire captain right-over-there's example." Bill said. "I thought that that was what you said. Thanks for clarifying." Joe replied dryly. But he was smiling. "No problem, Joe. " As the nearly bald, hawkish detective opened his car door, the crowds still waiting along the street for the fire crews to give the final word on their progress in airing the two buildings, grew quiet and suddenly respectful when the young mother with the baby Marco had held earlier, started to sing a touching, soft solo of one of the oldest Christmas carols known. A tentative, unaccompanied old ballad, ..Silent Night. It was quickly picked up, joyfully, by Father Rojas's church choir, still standing in a group on the curb in their sparkling holiday robes. And immediately, the two downtown detectives knew that it was to thank all the fire stations for all that they had done. "Oh, would you look at that?" said Bill, as the overhead eastern star made a reappearance as the smoke from the upper story apartment steamed and fizzled away into nonexistence above them. "It's just going on midnight. It's Christmas Day." said the younger investigator. "Ohhh, it's so beautiful out here now, Joe. Look.." he whispered, pointing to the strong powerful light coming from the star glimmering in absolute purity over the city's nightscape. Joe saw that he had true tears forming in his eyes. Bill sighed, suddenly moved beyond words. Gannon took off his hat and clutched it in feeling on the roof of their unmarked car. "Merry Christmas, partner. Now that's what I call one h*ll of a gift." And he turned his head so he could hear the collected voices from the church and apartment evacuees more clearly on the soft rising winds. "Merry Christmas, Bill. I do see it. And her... The singing's lovely.." he nodded genuinely. For once, the famous Friday monotone was nonexistent and full of emotion. "So...Where to?" Joe asked quietly, reluctant to destroy the almost tender, miraculous moment. He was referring to their last as yet unsolved assignment concerning the nativity statue still missing from the church manger. "Well, I don't know." sighed Bill with a sad, wilting frown as he dragged himself back to reality. Friday was gentle, and willing to ease the sting of it. "We could stay and work on it tonight." "Wouldn't do any good. We won't find it...Will we?" Bill paused, his foot on the driver door's runner. Joe nodded in agreement. "I don't think so." Bill sighed. "No use kidding the priest. It'd build his hopes up." he said. Friday got into the car and buckled in. "We might as well go tell him now." Behind them in the rear seat, Johnny's lawyer, Trenton Cogley, was all smiles. "Merry Christmas, fellas." he said gayly, fully ignorant of the bad tidings the two men now had to deliver. The two detectives dipped their heads at him, without saying anything. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- :: 12:04 pm. We found Father Rojas. Bill told him how it was, that we didn't get the statue back; nor could we by morning, but that we'd keep trying during the week. He said he understood. We told him that we had to get on. As Bill and I started to leave, the doors to the main entrance of the church opened. It was a good two hundred feet away, something making a wheeled noise on the ceramic tiled floor. It was hard to be sure, but it looked like a small boy drawing a bright red wagon behind him. When he got closer, you could see he was no bigger than a pint of milk. He was a luminous eyed little Mexican boy with a face as young as yesterday. The priest suddenly knelt, and crossed himself with a gasp. ::In the back of the wagon, was the missing statue of the child, Jesus. He picked it up gently and walked over to us.:: The boy spoke with innocence, holding up the delicately painted statuary to Father Rojas. "Feliz Navidad, Padre Rojas.." he said sincerely. "Aqui, triago por tu, senor." (Merry Christmas, Father Rojas. Here, I brought this for you, sir.) Rojas glanced up at the detectives. "This is Pablo Mendoza. Another altar boy from the parish." Joe joined them both on the boy's level. "Ask him where he found it." Xavier and the boy exchanged a dialogue in lilting, musical Spanish. Then Father Rojas looked up. "He didn't find it. He took it." "Why?" asked Friday. Rojas addressed the tiny, simply dressed boy again in his own language. The child replied, fingering the face of the statue in the Padre's arms thoughtfully while he spoke his mind. Soon, the priest had his final answer. "He says it's because of that wagon. He promised himself that if he ever got the wagon, he would give Jesus the first ride in it." The detectives' eyebrows rose in mild amusement, touched by the innocence of boy's acting motive for the petty larceny. Seeing that the strange men before him were from the police department by the sight of the guns shadowed in holsters underneath their jackets, Pablo spoke once more, pointing at the main altar behind them, still covered with advent flowers. Rojas translated. "He wants to know if the Devil will come to take him to H*ll." said the priest, pointing to the detectives belt hanging handcuffs. Bill pulled his jacket shut and Joe, next to him, did the same to calm the child. Then Gannon smiled. "That's your department, Father." Rojas grinned, glad that no example would be made of his parishner. And he absolved the boy softly with reassurances with a stroke on the cheek. He rested a light hand on his head, and smiled at him. ::We crossed over to the sanctuary. With the help of Father Rojas, the young boy replaced the infant Jesus in its rightful place in the crib of the nativity scene. Bill and I could have been wrong, but.. the small plaster statue seemed to approve. Mary, Joseph, Elijah, Gaspar.. Malteer, Balazaar, the old shepherd, the young shepherd, the peasants.. They all seemed to approve. ::The priest told the boy to go home. He took hold of his wagon and Pablo started the long walk out of the church. There wasn't much we could say. There wasn't much TO say... We just stood there and watched him go. Half way up, he turned to look back. Then he went on out.:: The huge granite doors slid shut with a resounding echo behind him and the three men of honor were left nestled in a soft, peaceful silence under the warm candlelight from the side alcoves. Bill was hushed. "I don't understand how he got that wagon today. Don't kids wait for Santa Claus anymore?" Rojas beamed, still looking at the tall doors. "It isn't from Santa Claus. The firemen in all the surrounding stations fix up old toys, making them look like new, to give to all our church children. Paquito's family? They're poor.." he shrugged in explanation self consciously. Joe met his eyes evenly and a knowing sparkle seemed to shine out from deep in their depths. "Are they, Father?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was very early at dawn on Christmas Day, Dr. Brackett and Dixie were jolted out of sleep from where they lay stretched on two separate couches by a ringing telephone. It was Trenton Cogley for Dr. Brackett. Kel replied to the fire department lawyer, instantly. "Yes, I'll be there, Cogley. First thing come Monday morning. Merry Christmas to you, too. Goodbye." And he hung up the phone. "Who was that?" murmured a sleepy Dixie as she rose to clear the plates full of food crumbs still scattered on the living room coffee table. "Cogley. He says the case against Johnny is pure bunk. Turns out a couple of mischievous altar boys are truly to blame for Maria Angel's killing." Kel replied, grabbing up the empty wine bottle and glasses that they had used to toast in the new holiday. "It's panning out so far, as purely accidental." "Ooo," Dixie sighed. "Will the authorities go easy on them, Kel?" "They'd almost have to. Both are laid up in the hospital with heavy cases of carbon monoxide poisoning taken in at Marco Lopez's church during Christmas services yesterday." "Oh, ironic. That's .. really rough. It'll take weeks, ..months.. to determine how much damage was done by their exposure..." Dixie frowned. "Don't I know it.." Brackett said, "I'll call Joe to see what their blood carboxyhemoglobin percentage levels are sitting at to help him figure out how things might go when we return to work tomorrow." "It'll tear Marco apart if either one of them dies. He probably knows both boys well." "He's not going to press charges. Not now and not ever. Cogley told me as much just now. He got Lopez's angle on how things'll stand, while at the scene of a fire. 51's still there now, cleaning up." Dr. Brackett said. "That's a long night of duty. And on Christmas, too. How on earth are they gonna celebrate anything for being so tired like that?" McCall demurred. "I don't know, Dixie. Maybe a few grateful residents from that fire will give them a batch of holiday cookies or two to take back home with them." Kel replied. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The gang returned to base just as the dawn came and swallowed up the mysterious star that had overseen the events of the past night. They dragged themselves out of engine and squad, moaning in fatigue. Marco had come, too, to collect his car and to put the two pies they had received from the church congregation into refrigeration for later. "I'm bushed..." Cap said, sitting on the foot guard of the engine next to Stoker, who was doing the same thing. "Everybody, forget the usual vehicle clean up. Top priority is a round of hot showers .. and it's off to bed. That's it." "Sure, Cap." Roy said, "But I am gonna check out the drug box to make sure we have enough supplies with us for the next call." The much fresher Gil Robertson, leaped in. "I'll... go fill up all our oxygen cylinders. We used, what? Four at the fire?" "Something like that." Gage sighed, sitting opposite the others on the squad's step grill. Chet Kelly saundered over to Johnny. "So, how does it feel to be a real free man?" "Absolutely wonderful. I couldn't've asked for a better Christmas present." "Wait a minute, Johnny." Marco said. "I thought as a Native American, that you didn't celebrate Christmas. At all." "I can honor the spirit of the day. Nothing in my belief system says that I can't do such a thing. All the well wishing and the giving sentiment, is very reminiscent of my own people's sacred days when they come." Gage said, chuckling. Then his stomach growled. "Wow, I'm hungry now?" "Why not?" DeSoto grinned. "I can't imagine the food in that jail was any good." "It wasn't. I couldn't eat a single bite of it." Cap coughed some soot out of his chest and rose to his feet. "You know that sounds like a terrific idea. Eating, I mean. How about we cook up leftovers and then enjoy some of that pie before we detail ourselves clean, ok fellas?" "I'm for that.." said Chet and so did everybody else in other ways. The gang entered the kitchen, rubbing Boot's still smoky coat in firm praises, when they all stopped dead in the doorway leading from the vehicle bay. Standing in the rec room, were Detectives Friday and Gannon, flanking a fully decorated, and delightfully alighted, Christmas tree. Bill was solemn and he nudged Joe to pull his hands down from behind his back to present a more sincere picture. "Uh, hi fellas." Gannon began. "I suppose you're wondering why we're here. We, uh,.. wanted to apologize to Mr. Lopez directly and to the rest of you for our earlier behavior towards him. It was thoughtless and very unbecoming of a police officer to have done what we did." Joe nodded gravely. "Same from my end, too. I'm sorry to have caused so much trouble. We had no idea that you would be sickened so badly, Mr. Lopez." "Apology accepted, sir. Uh, sirs.." said Marco. Then he stepped forward. "Wow, what a wonderful tree. How long did it take you to put it up and decorate it?" he asked. "Not long." answered Joe Friday. "We had help. Father Rojas's church choir was here en masse not too long ago. They figured they could express their gratitude that would agree with departmental polices about gratuities in this tree, for saving Leonard and his friend and the two altar boys. Technically, this is just a little sidework that could be classified as redecorating." The firemen grinned then and Marco Lopez was the first to take the detectives' hands to shake them in heartfelt forgiveness. Then everyone was lost in the heady smells wafting from the heavy pine needles, from sap and from the bright clusters of holly berries making the Christmas tree's branches fill with the spicy scent... of Christmas. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Brackett reported first thing that Monday morning to the paramedic regulatory board. He had a loose end to tie up concerning the discipline the committee wanted to lay on Johnny Gage for his apparent recklessness in trying to come to Maria Angel's aid. He set the committee heads straight onto their ears. "I know things were dangerous for my paramedic. Name any firefighter paramedic who never encounters at least some danger while working on the job. I concede that Johnny Gage took on a lot of risk to himself unnecessarily. He just didn't clearly know the possible legal ramifications that his actions would have at the time he had to act. All my paramedic wanted to do then, was to help, as he was trained to do, by me. So I offer you a compromise, ladies and gentlemen on the board, ..if you lay aside his written reprimand. "I offer you an amendment proposal to the paramedic program, officially. I can submit to you, this..." With that, Kel Brackett approached their long table of deliberation set up in the back of the city courthouse with a packeted outline that he and Dixie had created together on Christmas Day. "I propose to you the following new protocol. No paramedic shall attempt to render aid to any victim until such time as the scene is declared fully safe to enter. Attempts will be made to secure the scene by using the police department, where necessary, before any care is rendered whatsoever." Eyebrows went up all around the committee table. It surprised each and every one that such a common sense idea had escaped them so completely. And it drove its credibility home even more to have a real life bonafide practicing medical doctor, show it to them so poignantly. It was no time at all before the disciplinary paperwork, halfway in the works for Johnny, was dismissed soundly into the shredder. As he left the judicial offices, Kelly Brackett could only smile as he took hold of Dixie's arm tightly on the return trip to the parking lot where his convertible was parked. "Well, looks like we found a way to help out Johnny and Marco, without stuffing our noses directly into it." "I'm sure glad we finally did. But let's not tell them anything, ok? It'll be our little secret." she whispered. "Merry Christmas, Kel. That was showing absolutely the best kind of Christmas spirit." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ::You have just heard Dragnet, a series of authentic cases from official files. Technical advice comes from the office of Chief of Police W. H. Parker, Los Angeles Police Department....:: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FIN Episode Twenty Eight, Season Four Smoke Screen Emergency Theater Live ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Vince and Cap studying a burning building at night. Photo: Roy giving a rescued boy air from his scba. Photo: An aerial bucket's view of ambulance attendants. Photo: Close of Maximillion J. Lorentz, the money bum. Photo: Roy and Johnny treating victims by the squad. Photo: Joe Friday and Bill Gannon talking at night. Close shot. Photo: Fire witnesses watching at night. Photo: Father Rojas by a cross, listening. Photo: A little boy with a statue of Jesus in his hands. Photo: Brackett at his house on the phone. Photo: Dixie and Brackett enjoying Xmas day on the couch. Photo: Cap and the gang standing stupified in the kitchen doorway. Photo: The Dragnet detectives with a Xmas tree in Station 51's rec room. Photo: Brackett at an official hearing in front of a committee. Photo: A Xmas tree ornament reflecting a fireplace on a branch. ************************************************** End Credits -- Episode Twenty Eight (Fourth Season) §§ Smoke Screen §§ :) This episode is dedicated to the late, great, Jack Webb, creator of television's Dragnet and Emergency series. May the fruits of his talents continue to shine here at ETL and the whole web over for decades to come. :) :) The Story Unfolds... Season Four, Episode Twenty Nine.. §§ Where The Wind Blows §§ Debut Launch: January 1st, 2006. ******************************************************** From: "Derrick" Date: Thu Dec 29, 2005 3:36 am through Wed Jan 4, 2006 12:29 am Subject: Up and At 'Em Johnny Gage's alarm clock radio popped on in his Marina Del Rey apartment at 5:30 in the morning. It was time to get up and prepare for another shift at Station 51. And his radio was tuned to KROR 99.9 FM "The Roar", one of the FM hard rock station in Los Angeles, where Ken Kruiser, a popular morning dj, was on the air. The dj said to his audience. ##Wake up L.A., it's half past the six o' clock hour. Time for you working folks to get up for another day of work, and for you kids listening, to get your butts to school on this windy Thursday morning. Here is your weather. The weatherman is calling for patchy morning fog along the coastline and partly cloudy skies inland with a slight chance of a shower or two after the noon hour. Your highs today in the City of Angels and surrounding vicinity will be in the upper 60's along the coast to the mid 80's inland. The overnight lows will be from the low to upper 50's, with those pesky Santa Ana winds kicking up in gusts of up to 50 miles per hour by this afternoon. A red flag warning is in effect for the hills and canyons so be careful with fire.## ::Now he tells us.:: thought Gage. With that in mind, Johnny knew that it was going to be a long day. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gage arrived two minutes too late at the station for the start of his shift and said. "Well, good morning all. Windy out there, ain't it? I--" Captain Stanley interrupted Gage and said. "Good morning to you, too, Johnny. I don't want to ruin your day but may I remind you that you are now three minutes late? That means that you have exactly two minutes to get in uniform and report to the living room. You too, Chet." Chet Kelly tried to make up a good excuse for his tardiness, replying. "Cap, you know how hard I try to be here on time, but the traffic is murder out there! Especially with the wind blowing!" Gage agreed with Chet. "It's still early, you know what I mean?" Then Captain Stanley stated. "Well, o.k. But don't make it a habit. McConnikee has been on my back about this. And I agree, this new starting time for our shift at seven in the morning just doesn't make sense." The captain yawned as he finished his conversation. "I kind of cut it close getting in here myself. I'm still tired." As Kelly and Gage entered the kitchen for coffee and exchanging hellos with the rest of the crew, Marco Lopez was looking out the back door window. He said, laughing. "Geez , you've got to see this. The wind just picked up a trash can and tossed it like a rag doll down the street! There's trash everywhere!" "No kidding?" said Roy DeSoto. "Our neighbor had a tree branch land on a power transformer early this morning and it knocked the power out to the whole neighborhood for two hours." "Two hours? Why so long?" Marco inquired. "Because that's how long it took before Pacific Gas and Electric could get out there with a boom truck to get it down and restore the power. As a matter of fact, they had just turned it back on when I left this morning. The guy told me that they were already ten calls behind and they were still getting calls for more help by the time they got to us." "Wow, looks like we may be in for a busy day." replied Marco as Henry the station's basset hound mascot sunk his head into the couch in a sign of pity for the guys. Chet Kelly scratched his nose. Henry's too. "I remember one time when I was over at 7's when a power pole fell onto a house up in the hills near Bel Air. Huge house. And it had squished it right in half! The wind took the pole right off of its base and we had sparks flying and arching wires everywhere. It was absolutely a miracle that no one got killed." he added. Mike Stoker had another story to tell. "When I was up at 69's, we had Santa Anas up to seventy miles per hour. We had a whole family with seven kids in a station wagon that had blown off Altadena Pass Road and rolled off to the side about ten feet down an embankment. That was a miracle there too because the way it looked, we thought that everyone would be dead or at least, badly hurt. But it turned out that everyone only had just a few bumps and bruises. That's all. We were glad to be out of there with them when a spark caused the gas tank to explode, which then caused a five alarm brush assignment! I think we were there all night putting that one out." Hank swallowed a bite of donut. "When I was working at 58's, we had an assignment where one of those steel power poles somehow blew over onto the tower of that shortwave radio station in Idaho Canyon. McConnikee was walking up to inspect the damage to the tower itself when a gust of wind caught him off guard and blew him right onto his rear. We all got a good chuckle out of that! Like the saying goes, once a b----- ." Captain Stanley was interrupted as the station's tones sounded. ##Station 51, Engine 95. Antennae on top of a structure. Two seniors trapped. 11864 Pocohontas Circle. 11864 Pocohontas Circle. Cross street, Alta Vista. Time out: 0714.## The firemen scrambled to both the squad and engine as Captain Stanley acknowledged Sam Lanier's urgent dispatch. "Station 51, 10-4, KMG 365." he replied on the mobile radio inside the Ward La France engine. Both the squad and engine left with lights flashing, sirens wailing, and air horns blasting on the way to the scene which would take them seven minutes to get there by the fastest route. ::But seven minutes can seem like an eternity for those in need of help inside the damaged home, especially if you are elderly.:: thought Cap. According to the mail box, the house that the firemen could see they had the response to, belonged to Mr. Frederick Risenborough and his wife Carolyn. Cap saw that it was a modest home, most likely with a couple of bathrooms, a den, maybe four bedrooms, and a large backyard with a barbeque pit and wooden deck. There was also a three car garage, some fireplaces due to the type of chimneys Hank could see, and a built-in swimming pool round the side. Now, it was a pile of rubble. And the fate of its occupants was still unknown according to the police over the radio. Soon enough, Station 51's crew pulled closer onto the scene where they were greeted by Officer Howard as they exited their vehicles. Officer Howard explained that the upright base station radio antennae in the back yard of one of the next door neighbors had snapped near the base and had landed on the roof of the house. He said that the neighbors had built and used it to pull in ham and shortwave radio transmissions. "It used to be about seventy feet tall." he said. Captain Stanley noticed that the antennae was also lying across some power lines. He told Officer Howard. "Well, Vince, before we do anything we have to get the power turned off. Are there any other outages in the area?" "None that I know of, Hank. But there may be in the rest of the neighborhood. Anything I can do?" "Why don't you keep any onlookers and cars out of the area except for immediate witnesses. Also see if you can get a crane to clean this mess up later on. O.k., pal?" asked Captain Stanley. "Will do." Vince said. Cap got back in the engine cab to give out his report. "L.A., Engine 51. I have a heavy steel radio transmitting and receiving antennae approximately seventy feet tall on top of a residential structure with two elderly people perhaps still trapped inside at this time. Send a truck company for assistance in rescue operations and an ambulance. Notify PG and E and have them expedite if all possible. Advise of their ETAs." ##10-4, Engine 51.## dispatcher Lanier replied. The firemen tried to find their way around the house safely to make their initial damage assessment so they could identify how to gain access and locate potential hazards, including the antennae on top of it. They also had to decide what resources they would need as far as equipment and manpower was concerned. Roy called over to Captain Stanley. ##Squad 51 to Engine 51. We have located a way in on the west side of the house. We will need the Porta-Power, air bags, K-12, and the Hurst tool to gain access to the victims.## he said over his HT. "Engine 51, Squad 51, 10-4. Engine 95! Assist my crew in any way you can." Captain Stanley ordered as he spotted Engine 95 was coming on scene. ##Engine 95, 10-4, Engine 51.## the engine's captain replied. The scene action progressed. Chet Kelly, with his gloved hands, used a crow bar to break out a bedroom window to allow the firefighters to get inside the house. He peeked inside the bedroom to look for obstacles that might impede their advance toward the victims and found a bureau dressing drawer in the way. He crawled through the window, able to pull himself up and through the couple of feet that separated the window from the ground. Engine 95's crew hustled with a ladder to aid their fellow co-workers. Then they retreated with Station 51's crew to get more equipment to set it up. Chet and Marco moved the dresser out of everyone's way, shoving it into a corner wall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny got out the biocom and called into Rampart near where Dixie McCall was standing within earshot of the radio. The light flashed and the alert buzzer sounded as Johnny said. "Rampart base, County 51." ##Go ahead, 51.## Dixie replied. "Rampart, we are at the scene of a rescue operation. We have a seventy foot steel antennae that has fallen on top of a house. It has trapped at least two victims inside. We are working to gain access at this time and will let you know when we have contact with them. We're estimating about a forty minute extrication time. Over." As the conversation kept going on, Dr. Morton listened attentively as Nurse Mc Call stepped out of his way for him to use the radio. ##51, this is Rampart. We read you and are standing by. Is an ambulance there yet?## "Affirmative, Rampart. It just arrived along with an engine, a truck company, and the Battalion Chief." Gage told him. ##Okay, transport as soon as possible but only after you give us a full report on your patients.## said Mike. "10-4, Rampart." replied Gage and he headed from the squad back to Roy and the rest of the guys at the house. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- As the firemen made their way inside, Captain Stanley stood at the window where they had made entry as Chief McConnikee arrived to be filled in on the situation. "Hank, what have you got?" McConnikee asked him. "Bill, I have a seventy foot radio antennae that has collapsed on top of a house with two people trapped inside. My men along with 95's and the truck company I called are still gaining access. I've heard that they are older people." said Hank glancing over to the worried bystanders across the street. "I hope that we can get to them while they're still alive." Chief McConnikee surveyed the damage to the roof and sighed, "I sure hope so." Inside the house, the firemen made their way down a short hallway that had serious damage to the interior walls in which crumbled sheet rock and cracked paint and plaster lay. Ahead of them, there was a huge pile of rubble in what could have been the living and dining room. It was where the tower had landed. Roy called out to listen for a response from the victims they all thought were trapped there. ::I hope someone's conscious so we can have an open line of communication to them until we get there.:: thought Roy. "Hello. This is the fire department. Can anybody hear me?" he said. There was an eerie silence. "Hello! Fire department! Can anybody hear me?!" Roy DeSoto shouted louder. There was still no response. ::We're not going to give up that easily.:: Roy decided mentally. Johnny Gage, following behind Roy, shouted as loud as his voice could carry. "Hey! This is the Los Angeles County Fire Department. We are coming to get you out!" Ten seconds later, there was a muffled cry ; a female voice within the rubble. Roy, Johnny, and Marco heard the elderly woman with difficulty, but they smiled. They knew she had survived and perhaps her husband, too, if he was anywhere near by her. The firemen urgently, but very carefully, placed their equipment down to get it ready to get to them both. They were especially careful to not cause any sudden moves. The Battalion Chief, watching his men work, thought. ::A further collapse would endanger the lives of the other rescuers inside if they aren't.:: Johnny asked the woman. "Are you trapped?" The woman replied. " ..*Gasp*...yes, help me. My husband is, too. He is out cold." came her muffled voice. Johnny then asked. "Is he breathing?" "...yes, but not that good..*gasp* I feel ..short of ....breath. Please get us out of here!" "Okay. Stay still and we will have both of you out in a few minutes. There is going to be a lot of noise. That will just be the equipment we'll have working to get you out so try to relax." said Johnny through the tangle of debris still between them. Captain Stanley said. "Chet, Marco. K-12 and easy with it. Henderson and Briggs from 95's, man the inch and a half just in case we spark something and the rest of you, start clearing out some of this debris as we go. Stoker, standby the biocom to Rampart." "Okay, Cap." he replied. All the firemen then busied themselves with their tasks. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The wind outside made the shrubs, tree limbs and power lines dance. All loosened debris around them was being hurled through the air by it as it suddenly gusted up to forty five miles per hour. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inside the house, there was a loud creaking that seemed to be coming from the threshold leading from the hallway into the living room. Captain Stanley, who was standing nearby, heard it and went to investigate. He knew that the supports to the roof had been pretty weakened and that the whole roof could cave in at any time, trapping everybody inside. He heard another groan above him just seconds later and ducked instinctively. He got on his portable radio to Chief McConnikee, who had since gone outside to head command the incident while standing on the street in view of the house. "Battalion 14, HT 51." Captain Stanley's voice crackled into his radio. ##Battalion 14. Go ahead, Hank.## McConnikee said. "Battalion 14 , the roof on this structure is weakening as I speak and can go at any time. I have sixteen men getting to the victims inside and it will be at least another thirty minutes before we gain contact. But we maybe have fifteen to twenty only to get them out before this place falls down. Any suggestions?" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vince, overhearing Captain Stanley's radio conversation, said to Chief McConnikee. "I have men up on Alta Vista and Loma Prieta shutting down traffic, except for you guys, to come through. I put in for a crane to come even before you arrived. They should be here in twenty minutes." Vince said, looking at his watch. McConnikee glanced up directly into Vince's eyes and replied. "I don't know if these guys have twenty minutes. Hank Stanley says that roof can go at absolutely any time. Is PG&E here yet?" "They just got here a minute ago. They should have the power off by now." Vince said to him, looking around for the flash of utility lights. It was then, they both noticed that the sparks and arching of the power lines that had fallen down because of the windstorm and the antennae, had all but died away. :: Hmm.Things are now a little safer for everyone.:: Bill thought. :: But the peril of the roof collapsing remains.:: the chief worried. Battalion radioed inside to Captain Stanley. "HT 51, Battalion 14. The power has been turned off. Repeat. The power is now off." ##HT 51, 10-4. What now?## "HT 51, you're going to have to step it up but be careful. Do you need additional manpower?" asked the chief. Hank Stanley surveyed the scene in front of him and knew with about sixteen men, that he was fine. He conferred with Engine 95's Captain Eddie Green, a 26 year veteran, working near by. Eddie nodded to Cap. "Another engine company would be nice. But we don't want too many cooks spoiling the pot. We'll be outta here sooner with just ours if we can push it a little." Cap lifted his head sharply in agreement and turned back towards the victims' pocket. "Hey, let's hurry it up in there. The hallway roof's gonna go real soon and bring down the one above us with it." Hank Stanley warned everyone. Then he turned to Green. "Let's give these guys a hand, Eddie, ok?" Finally, he answered Battalion's question over the radio. "That's negative on additional manpower, Battalion 14." "HT 51, 10-4." McConnickee answered. "Cap. We've made it to the victims!" Gage yelled. "How are they?" Captain Stanley shouted back. "....The lady is semi-conscious, but coherent. The man is unconscious. Responds to painful stimuli. Looks like they are both pinned down. The tower debris is lying on the lower part of their bodies. We'll need ....the airbags, jaws, ......and the Porta-Power to just lift it up off them a bit so we can get em' out." said Johnny. Roy DeSoto then filled the captains in with their medical priorities and he said. "The older man goes first! We'll need O2 for both of them." Captain Stanley ordered Mike Stoker out to the squad to get the O2 and he told Chet Kelly to retrieve the O2 kit off of the engine. Then he advised the chief on the portable radio about their reaching the victims inside and what their conditions were as both being trapped by their lower extremities. He shared also that Kelly and Stoker were on their way out of the house to get the medical equipment. ::Come on. We now have just fifteen minutes at the most to get them out before the roof collapses for good. Time's not on our side.:: worried Hank. ##Okay, Hank. It's too windy for me to be standing out here. I'm coming in to help." McConnikee replied. Hank Stanley was suddenly concerned about his Battalion Chief. ::Wow. I wonder if he can still hack it with the rest of the guys.:: Cap thought. Then he keyed the mic on his handheld. "All right, Battalion 14, 10-4. But be careful." Outside, Chief McConnikee popped open the trunk of his red battalion chief's car by pressing a button inside of it. He walked briskly to its back and put on his bunker pants after he had taken off his coat and helmet to get their suspenders onto his shoulders. Then, putting his bunker coat and white helmet back on, he made his way into the house with Stoker and Kelly who then followed behind him with the oxygen kits. "Chief?" Lopez asked. "What are you doing in here?" "I'm gonna help you guys. Maybe teach you all a thing or two while I'm at it. Hurry it up!" McConnikee said to Stoker behind him. The chief got behind Captains Stanley and Green who were working the Porta-Power and he said to them. "Good. Keep going. Just a little more." "Yes, Chief." replied Green. "Henderson, as soon as you get the tower up a little with the jaws, get a good bite on those poles and a good lift on the tower struts. Stoker and I, with the other two guys here, will get those bags into proper position. We don't want any mistakes." Bill added. "We've got four more air bottles off of the squad, chief. " shouted a young rookie firefighter of Oriental descent from Engine 95 as he propped them upright for the porta-power's hydraulic use. "Good, Tse. Set them up for 51's guys and fill the lift bladders fast." said McConnikee. Gage returned to the biocom once again to advise Rampart of their current situation. "Rampart base, County 51.." he said. Dr. Morton, still in charge of the base station over the call, re-entered the radio room and replied, ##Go ahead, 51.## "Rampart, I am updating you about our situation. We have made contact with our victims and they are being extricated at this time. We have a shortened revised time of ten minutes due to the danger of roof collapse. As far as I can tell, we suspect both our victims' conditions as having critical lower extremity injuries and possible internal injuries to their abdominal cavities. The female is still semi-conscious. Earlier she was somewhat incoherent. The male is now responsive to verbal stimuli. We have them both on 15 liters of 02 via non-rebreathers. Over..." reported Johnny. ##51, can you visualize their upper extremities?## Dr . Morton inquired as Dixie and Dr. Brackett walked into the radio room to listen into what was going on. "Uh,..stand by, Rampart. We have another development." Johnny replied at a sudden cessation in sawing noise behind him. ##Okay. Keep us posted.## Morton answered. "What's going on?" Brackett asked Dr. Morton. "Do you know the case we have been working with 51 for almost a half hour now?" Mike asked him. Kel nodded. "Well, it seems that they have gotten access to the patients and are extricating them now." Brackett sagged in relief. Mike shook his head. "However Kel, they are in immediate danger of having the roof collapsing right down on top of them. They're saying that it can go at any time." Dr. Brackett and Dixie bowed their heads in deep concern. Dr. Brackett sighed then, looking up."Well, I know that the boys, with enough help, can really get the job done. Let's hope for the best." he said. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, the air bags were ready. The large black squares marked with an X to indicate area of placement, had been inflated fully. And with the other equipment in place, they had finally lifted the heavy antennae off of the victims. They had provided just enough space for the firefighters to move in to remove the injured couple. "Okay, that's enough! Let's get them out of here." McConnikee shouted, bending low to see into the victims' gap. "Gimme the extrication collar for this man,.. uh-ah , what's your name?" the chief directed at Chet Kelly. "Chet Kelly." Chet replied. "Kelly. Right." The chief said. "Chet, get the second one while you're at it, too." The chief shouted with dismay as another groan came from the roof above him. It seemed to be much louder than the first one heard by Captain Stanley, who was still working on locking off the Porta-Power with his friend, Captain Green. Truck 11's Captain Marlon Hankins ran into the house. He was one of just three African-American captains that Hank knew about; a 20 year veteran of the County F.D.. Hankins ordered two of his men, Fisher and Jenkins, to get 51's back boards propped up against the wall behind the two other captains and nodded as Battalion told him the names of the victims that he had read off of the house's streetside mail box. McConnikee made sure that he said them loud enough for all the rescuers around to hear as well. Chief McConikee slipped the first collar easily behind the old man's neck, making sure to get the trachea hole facing center forward on it. He wrapped it around the man's neck then, to immobilize it. He spoke to Mr. Risenborough as Roy maintained manual traction to the man's head. "Sir, please don't move your head. I'm placing this collar around your neck just to remind you to keep your head still." "Oh ,.... sonny . Please help. I hurt..... all over. I still can't...... move .....my legs! What's.... that..... board .....for ? " Mr. Risenborough gasped. Roy explained to him. "It's to make your whole body immobile so we can keep your head, neck, back, and body straight, okay? We are going to roll you onto your side and place you onto this. Then we'll support your head with a head immobilizer and your body with straps. All right?" The old man didn't reply. His attention was starting to drift. McConnikee, Lopez, and Jenkins, rolled Mr. Risenborough easily onto the backboard as Johnny placed a HeadLoc device and its straps on that were still needed to safely remove him from entrapment. The old man was soon carried out of the house and set onto the front lawn where it was truly safe. The small crowd of onlookers, a few houses down, standing on a neighbor's plush, newly mowed lawn, applauded the firefighters as Mr. Risenborough was brought out. They had seen that he was in and out of consciousness; still alive. Johnny, Chet, Hank, Wally Tse, and Tony Fisher were hard at work preparing to remove Mrs. Risenborough from the wreckage of the home. Davis, Truck Company 11's tillerman, dragged the biocom nearer to both the woman and the paramedics. The roof let out a really loud groan above suddenly and some light roofing material showered onto Gage, Chet, and Fisher. They hit the floor protecting Mrs. Risenborough with their bodies as the others inside protected themselves by covering their helmeted heads. "Everyone all right?!" Gage shouted, looking up, heavily frightened. "Yes." Chet yelled after he had checked with the other guys in his group. "Are you, too, ma'am?" Johnny asked Mrs. Risenborough. "Yes! Just get me out of here. I ..*groan*...don't want to die now." she cried. "You're not going to die, Mrs. Risenborough. We're taking you out of here right now." Johnny said . "How's Fred? Where is he?" she asked, blinking in the falling dust. Johnny said. "My partner Roy and some other firemen are taking care of him outside. I can tell you that he is alive, but he may be hurt bad." he told her truthfully. Mrs. Risenborough's face twisted at the news. Gage reassured her. "Easy. We will do everything possible to help him and you, too. Okay?" "Thank you. You paramedics are just wonderful." the old woman said. "Thanks." said Johnny, trying to smile at her. Johnny and the guys soon rushed Mrs. Risenborough outside and they placed her onto the grass next to her husband, positioned so that she could see him. He had had splints applied for fractures to his legs, hip, and for an ankle. Gage could see that Roy was readying an I.V. of anticipated Lactated Ringers, that covered Dr. Morton's usual silent standing orders, stringing it out for him. ::I'll probably need one of those as well.:: he thought. Johnny began his full updated primary and secondary patient survey on Mrs. Risenborough. Privately, 51's paramedics were also concerned about the status of the firefighters still inside. They both could see that only Captains Stanley and Green and two other of 11's firefighters were reported as out of the wreckage with their Porta-Power. Gage and DeSoto knew that Captain Hankins, along with his crew firefighters Henderson, Brown, Bridges, Collinsworth, Gentry, and Terrelli and a couple of others, were still inside taking down equipment. ::I hope they get out of the house before the roof collapses.:: Johnny thought as he treated his patient. Time was running short. Again, the roof gave out another loud and menacing groan, dumping more shattered material into the inside of the house. Chief McConnikee, nearby, shouted into his radio. "HT 11, Battalion 14 . Get the h*** outta there, now! You might only have three minutes or less. Move it!" he told Hankins. ##Battalion 14, HT 11. We have gathered the gear and we're coming out now.## Captain Hankins replied. As Hankins' firefighters and Stoker made their way, without incident, to the window through which they had all come, Johnny started relaxing while Roy got back on the biocom to Rampart. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The incoming buzzer sounded at the hospital. Dr. Morton finished his second medical case off quickly. It was one from Squads 110 and 36, in which four patients had been injured due to an auto accident on the San Diego Freeway. While he talked, Mike motion invited CHP officers Baker and Poncharello to listen in on Johnny's radio transmission. Mike had seen the two officers at the nurses station, filling out an unrelated accident report. ##Rampart base, County 51.## Roy called. "Go ahead, 51. This is Rampart." said Dr. Morton. ##Rampart, we have extricated both victims successfully. Patient number one is a semi-conscious, but arousable seventy two year old male who's a critical trauma patient. He was trapped for approximately thirty five minutes due to a fallen radio tower antennae that collapsed from its base onto a house. It caused the roof severe structural damage. The victim was unresponsive when we initially arrived, but his LOC improved when O2 was given to him during his extrication. ##At this time, he has a fracture to his left ankle, left hip, and right femur. He is complaining of pain in the cervical spine but we're finding only tenderness. There's negative deformity to it. We also have found some abdominal swelling. He has no signs of distention. Negative on absent bowel sounds. Vitals are as follows : BP is 92/70. Pulse rate 116. Slightly abnormal, are respirations at twenty eight and shallow, but his SaO2 is at 98% on O2. He's on 15 liters per non-rebreather. The patient has a history of arthritis in his back for which he takes over the counter medications as needed. He has no known allergies. We have him fully immobilized on a long spine board with an extrication collar via HeadLoc, and straps. A Sager traction splint has been applied to the right femur fracture and the leg's now stabilized. Vacuum splints are also immobilizing the ankle. We're supporting the hip fracture, too, for pain relief. Any further?## DeSoto asked about medical orders. Dr. Morton glanced down at the toggle switch and pressed it. "County 51, start an I.V. of Lactated Ringers, followed by piggyback I.V. of 250 milliliters D5/W t.k.o . Administer 5 milligrams Fentanyl I.V. Monitor his vitals and get him set to transport." ##10-4, Rampart. Stand by for patient number two.## replied Roy. Johnny took over the biocom. "Rampart, County 51 with patient number two." he reconfirmed for the radio log. "Go ahead, 51." Dr. Morton answered. ##Rampart, patient number two is a conscious, but somewhat disoriented seventy year old female. She's a potentially critical trauma patient from the same incident with the same length of entrapment to extrication time as patient number one. Her chief complaint is severe pain to her left femur, right foot and its tib-fib. She is complaining secondarily of minor c-spine and general back pain. She has pain in her left wrist and left hip. On exam, I found her to have an open fracture to the left femur with gross deformity. Absent distal pulses were present on first arrival. She has an open fracture of her right tib fib with moderate to gross deformity of the leg. Noted initially there, too, were no distal pulses. She has a closed fracture with deformity above the right foot. She also has tenderness and slight pain in her neck and back with a small contusion and swelling on her left side neck. And Rampart, she has moderate pain with any slight movement of the board.## Johnny added about her awareness level. ##There's a large deep bruise on her left hip with severe swelling and acute tenderness but with no pelvic deformity. Her vitals are : BP 122/92. Pulse 110. Her respirations are also at twenty six with an SaO2 at 98% on oxygen. Patient has prior history of migranes and has taken Cafergot. She says she's also allergic to horse dander. Reaffirming at this time, we have her in general c-spine precautions and we've immobilized the left leg with a Hare Traction Splint. The wound's covered with dressings and is bleeding controlled. The leg's distal pulses are still showing and limb color and temperature to that foot are normal. We have the right open tib-fib fracture immobilized with a full leg vacuum splint which is likewise dressing covered and bleeding controlled. ##Distal pulses have just returned there with half normal limb coloring and temperature. I have an ice pack applied to the left hip contusion and she states some relief from pain in that area. We also have the wrist splinted with a short vacuum splint, sling and swathe. There's ice there as well which is gaining pain relief. Note, I have her on 15 liters of O2 per non-rebreather. Any further instructions, Rampart?## asked Johnny. "51, start an I.V. Lactated Ringers on patient two along with a piggy back of 250 milliliters of D5/W t.k.o. Administer 5 milligrams Fentanyl I.V. for discomfort. Monitor vitals and transport both patients as soon as possible. What is your ETA?" Dr. Morton asked. ##Ten to fifteen minutes, Rampart.## Johnny said. "10-4. Get them in here." said Morton, smiling at the two highway patrol officers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As soon as Johnny got off the biocom with Rampart, there was a loud crash and a big cloud of dust emitted from the doomed house. The roof had caved into the bigger section of the house and what was left of it was no longer standing. Gage sighed. ::But I'm not gonna be worried any more. The chief's relaxed and that means that everyone got out of the house with no one getting themselves in any kind of peril doing it.:: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At Rampart, things were wrapping up. "Wow! This is like being right there in the action, Docs." Poncharello said with his trademark smile. "Almost. But we still can't see the patients until they get here. Someday when video telemetry comes along, we will have that ability." Dr. Morton replied. "Every one of these squads you see listed on our board; 14, 24, 36, 45, 51, 99, 110, 116's and these two L.A. city R.A.s, work under our licenses. And here we provide them with on-line medical direction." said Kel, resting a hand on the recording base station terminal. "We also share equal responsibility over the patient in the field with the paramedics until he or she comes here. Then, they are ours." Dr. Morton grinned with mock threat. The two highway patrolmen chuckled. "We've known Johnny and Roy for a little while. They are great to watch at work." Baker said, nodding. "They're the best we've got. But I can't leave out the others." Mike Morton said. ##Rampart Base, Squad 45.## The base radio beckoned. "Excuse me, gentlemen. I'm wanted again." Dr. Morton smiled as he stood over the flashing radio toggle to answer the squad call. Quietly, the other three left the glassed cubicle, leaving Mike to his work. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back at the scene, everyone stood momentarily gaping at the house which had been thoroughly reduced to a pile of rubble. McConnikee shook his head and turned to the three captains. "You know, I hate to see beautiful homes be destroyed by an act of nature like this. I know their owners usually have enough insurance to rebuild... but.. It just goes to show you that everything, no matter what it is, it has an ending." Green, Stanley and Hankins agreed with him in mutual nods. They all watched as the Mayfair ambulance EMTs, Harold and Malcolm, came up to Roy with a wheeled gurney. Mr. Risenborough was hoisted onto it and placed him on the cot side of the ambulance as Roy sat in the jump seat in back of his patient. Then the EMTs brought out a flat stretcher to take Mrs. Risenborough into the ambulance, too. Johnny stood in the jump door stairwell as Mrs. Risenborough was set gently on the squad bench. Marco and Chet brought their equipment to them and Captain Stanley ordered Chet to drive the squad into Rampart. "Kelly, go." He then told him that they would follow in behind to pick him back up again after the transport. The ambulance doors closed and Marco Lopez gave Malcolm the "all clear" signal to drive away. The Mayfair took off code three towards Rampart. McConnikee said, as Engine 51's crew starting leaving, to all except Chet Kelly whom he had noticed was driving the squad into Rampart. "Hey, Hank. I'll meet you back at the station for some of that good coffee you guys make? I need to tell you guys something about this incident that will interest you." "Sure. Come on down, Bill. Make yourself at home. Henry will be glad to see you." Captain Stanley said with a smile. "See you there." Chief McConnikee said. Then he picked up the mic on his vehicle C.B. "L.A ., Battalion 14. This incident's under control. Police and PG&E are to take over with Fire Investigator 3 on scene. Time out : Forty five minutes at 0800." ##Battalion 14, 10-4.## Sam Lanier replied over the radio. Captain Stanley then got on the Ward's mobile radio and added. "L.A., Engine 51. We're clearing the scene and are en route to Rampart Hospital to briefly pick up a crew member." In his usual fashion on their private station channel off the main one, Dispatcher Lanier replied. ##Engine 51, 10-4. Good job, guys.## ------------------------------------------------------------------------ As soon as the ambulance took off towards Rampart, Roy DeSoto got on the biocom. He waited until the yellow busy light was off before speaking since he knew that Squad 45 was using the same frequency for their patient report. As soon as the frequency cleared, he got on the air. "Rampart,County 51." Roy said. ##Go ahead, 51. This is Rampart.## replied Dr. Morton. "Rampart, we are in route with our two patients now with a seven minute ETA. There' are still no changes in our victims' statuses since we've last contacted you. Please have the trauma team standing by, over." ##51, yes. They are standing by.## Dr. Morton replied. "We'll give you another update when we are two minutes out." ##10-4, 51.## Dr. Morton said as there was another flurry of activity at the ER entrance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was growing busy at the hospital. Dr. Early met Squad 116 and their elderly patient whom the paramedics said had a history of mental illness. She had apparently slipped and fallen in the bathroom where she broke her ankle. She was singing "Amour" from Biset's opera "Carmen" as paramedic Bailey and an EMT from Goodhew ambulance named Hills, brought her out of the ambulance. As she was being wheeled in with Hills, Bailey, and their respective partners, she saw Dr. Brackett and Dr. Early waiting for her arrival at the triage nurses's station. She instantly broke out singing. ''@Oh, sweet mistery of life, I'm so glad I've found you@." The doctors both shook their heads and Dr. Early said to the incoming crew. "Put her in three." And then he went with them to look after his patient. Dr. Brackett sighed as he met Dr. Morton and Dixie McCall back at the nurses's station . "I don't know if it's the wind that's bringing in these crazy patients, or if I'm going crazy myself, Dix." "Is there a full moon out?" Nurse McCall asked. "No, first quarter." Dr. Brackett said. "It seems that every time the santa anas kick up, we get every strange character under the sun with at least some kind of odd problem." Dr. Morton replied. "Well, Mike, you are kind of a strange character, too, since you are the only junior resident we have currently at the hospital." Dr. Brackett chuckled. "I resent that!" smiled Dr. Morton as he stood in the doorway of the base station cubicle with his arms folded. "Still being inexperienced in some cases doesn't automatically mean that I'm that odd. Maybe someone who's odd is a doctor who claims to have seen it all before." he winked, pointing an index finger at Kel. "Hey, let's not pick on each other!..." Dixie said with a smile. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. ************************************************* From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Wed Jan 4, 2006 10:37 am Subject: Shuffling The Patient Care Cards.. "....We've enough work to do without poking jabs at the home team while the bases filling up." she told them both. Then the amused smirk fell completely off her face. "I'm putting 45's near drowning into five, Mike." McCall added. "That way, we'll have the x-ray machine in three open for someone else who really needs it." "Ok, that'll work. I'll go call respiratory therapy to line up a bird for her." he replied. "How's she doing? I only heard part of that run while those two motorcops were in listening with you." asked Dixie. "45's said that she still wasn't breathing on her own during their last transmission to me." Morton nodded, quickly disappearing into that room to get it ready for that patient's full resuscitation care. "but they also said that her v-tach was stabilizing on adenosine." Dixie pursed her lips. "Boy, that was lucky for her." "Real lucky." said Mike. "She'll survive this with a little help." It was right then that Roy and Johnny arrived with their two tower collapse trauma cases. Kel saw them coming and he called out loudly. "Guys! Don't bother bringing them into the "stabe" room. We've got two O.R. and anethesiology teams set and waiting for them upstairs. Any support work we have to do, we'll do up there in pre-op. Move them into here. It's on pause." he said about the elevator in which he was standing. DeSoto and Gage did, passing off their patients run charts over to Dr. Brackett who quickly read them while they all piled into the patient freight elevator still being held open for them by an orderly. The two ambulance gurneys were steadied by many hands as the doors closed behind them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jon and Ponch from the highway patrol felt themselves backed against a wall by the crush of patients who seemed to be arriving to Rampart from every exterior door. "Come on, partner." said Francis. "If it's this busy in here, just imagine what the streets are probably getting like." Jon Baker rubbed his nose, reshifting his motorcycle helmet under his arm while he sipped his hastily grabbed coffee. "You really want to go back out there again? It's boring. You know how it works for us whenever the fire department units get swamped, we never get anything to do ourselves." "That's true. And when we're busy, they don't get any calls at all." said Poncharello. Baker's face sobered. "Let's go. It's time we left this to those who are actually handling it." Jon said, throwing a open palm out to all the bustling doctors, nurses and arriving fire department rescue squad pairs rushing around them. "I'm feeling like a extra left boot." Ponch nodded. "Just watch how fast I can disappear. Race ya back to the freeway." he said walking fast out of the emergency entrance doors. "Ponch, go slow. You don't want Sergeant Getraer on your case again, do you? You already have two speeding tickets issued out from our own police cruisers on your records." Jon said, chasing after him. "I do? Oh.. yeah. I had forgotten about those. Ok. Just for you then partner, I'll be a pure featherfoot." Ponch grinned toothily. The two highway patrolmen left Rampart, turning right under the skywalk, with an accelerating thrum of rev-ed up motorcycle engines. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Brackett and Gage in a hallway with a defib in the background. Photo: Johnny arriving in hallway with a victim. Photo: Roy, Gage and a nurse in the elevator. Photo: Docs operating on a patient. Photo : Chips highway patrolmen, Ponch and Jon on the scene. Photo: Morton treating an old man while Gage and Roy watch in the background. ************************************************** From : Roxy Dee Sent : Thursday, January 5, 2006 4:30 PM Subject : Heart to Heart~~ Roy and Johnny reappeared back onto the ground floor of emergency services. They left the elevator with their two station backboards, already sprayed off and germicided by a thoughtful surgical technician. "Man, those two are the luckiest building collapse victims I've seen in a long, long while." Johnny remarked while they walked down the hallway towards the desk to resupply their I.V.s and cervical collar stores. "The vascular surgeon got great pulses in both their legs and feet using that sonogram. You can't get any better results than that. And they both could still wiggle their toes, too." "I'm usually not one to be a raging optimist in trauma cases as severe as theirs, but I think you're right. This time." he held up a warning finger so Gage would know not to get his hopes up so high for a future run that proved as bad conditions wise. "I think they had a lot going for them because they weren't dwelling so much on themselves as much as they were worried about each other. How you handle things psychologically in adverse situations has got to say a bit about what kind of cards you'll be dealing with afterwards. I've been in the business long enough to start noticing certain patterns. Remember that hand stab last week who was so shocky, that we had to ventilate her a bit whenever she fainted on it?" "Yeah, I remember. Talk about panicking. She drove herself into not breathing so hot." Johnny sniffed as they both paused at the main desk. "And how about that soy farmer with the severed hand? Walked right into the ambulance without so much as breaking out into a light sweat with normal vital signs? That was weird." "Not really. That was an example of positive will power at work. Just what I've been talking about here. I wish half the patients we treat would learn that same mind trick." DeSoto grinned. "It would make their rescue experience with us a whole lot more comfortable." "In your dreams. Think about it from their perspective. You're suddenly slammed into an unexpected emergency that possibly threatens your life. Nine times out of ten, you've never been in that kind of situation before. Now how in the heck can anyone have enough previous experience in their life to not let that kind of thing get the best of em? Especially if it happens to them kinda fast like it usually does. You've got to be absolutely stunned while it's still going on. It's only natural." replied Gage. "That's what WE'RE good for, Johnny. To do all the thinking and worrying for them. I keep thinking that if we find the right way to explain things to the conscious ones, or even those that aren't, that they'd do a little better for us on the way in. But there isn't yet a surefire book on reverse psychology for covering any of that. Everybody's personality's different." "Exactly my point, Roy. That's why I think those two up there in that operating room are so lucky. They figured it out." he grinned hugely. "I just wish I could. I don't enjoy seeing downward vitals trends." DeSoto grumbled. "No paramedic does." agreed Johnny. "Let's start experimenting on that ok? Promise?" "Ok. I'm game. But who're we gonna experiment on in between response calls?" "The guys.." Johnny nodded seriously. "The guys? Johnny, they're not even hurt or anything. How can they be of any use to us?" "They hurt, Roy. Just like we do, when we all lose someone on a station run. It hasn't been that long since we lost those two swimmers in the reservoir. We can use that as impetus if the topic crops up again at lunch today." "The CISM counselors have already made all the rounds they're gonna do. No one was interested." "True, but that doesn't mean they're not hurting any. That means, they've decided to get mule-headed about it." Gage said, raising both eyebrows without a smile. Roy fell silent, listening to the whispers of his own pain still just under the surface. "They were kind of young. And such a pointless boating accident, too. I mean, who ties off an innertube rope on an anchor's drag handle so close to an outboard prop? That was...uh..." the memory of how badly mangled they were, returned in a flash. "....pretty stupid." "Yeah, it was." Johnny said, getting faintly angry and sad at the same time. "So there's some hurt we can sink our teeth into. Maybe easing some of their stuff will ease ours." Roy looked up at Johnny and gave him a miniscule nod and the two of them fell quietly thoughtful. His look told Gage that he was more than game to try. Dixie wasn't around, so DeSoto and Gage helped themselves to the base station coffee pot. It was full and fresh, a sign of a busy shift. Johnny held it up so Roy would get the same sign he did about the E.R. to explain why Dixie or another nurse wasn't there to fill a supply order yet. They filled only two cups since Chet Kelly had already rejoined the engine crew and had accepted their drive-by pickup. They had heard as much through the radio traffic coming from their HTs while working on their two seniors in the pre-operation room. About three minutes later, someone did come to help them out. But the nurse who came, wasn't Dixie. ::That's too bad.:: Roy thought. ::I wanted to pick her brain about how SHE calms and relaxes people down.:: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Soon, DeSoto and Gage were back at the station and they were surprised to see Chief Bill McConnikee still hanging around the chower pot. Johnny's defense against the mild depression that he and Roy had reflared was to grab the long dusty guitar out of Chet's locker. Without preamble, Johnny sat down in a chair, and started playing. Badly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Johnny playing a guitar while Stoker and the gang listens over a chessboard. Photo: McConnikee sitting with Cap at the kitchen table. Photo: Roy and Johnny treating a shocky child. ************************************************************************ From: Sam Iam Date: Fri Jan 6, 2006 7:35 pm Subject: Hardball.. Henry, the couch potato bassett, immediately sat up and started howling at the teeth jarring, scalp twisting absolutely wrong chords and notes Johnny plucked out of the sorry looking wooden guitar. Of all of them, Roy DeSoto was the only one who didn't wince. ::He's starting our psych pick me up experiment already?:: he wondered. Chief McConnikee wasn't fooled either, his eye didn't miss the feathery dust wafting up from the guitar strings as Johnny's uncalloused fingers stoked them into a knotted bluesy jive. He started grinning. "Why Hank, I didn't know one of your boys was such an officionado of one of the finer arts. That's- that's really starting to come along here." he said gesturing at Johnny's closed eyed, oblivious playing. He tried a wink at the paramedic to tell him that he knew the game of emotional probing hard ball was on, but Gage's enthusiasm slowed how attuned to the chief's hint he was, unintentionally. "I didn't know, either." said Stanley, reliving a powerful, would-like-to-have-forgotten-it-instantly memory of when Gage had been on his one time and one time only music kick. McConnikee upped his ante'. "Say, Gage. Did you know that some of the best, longest serving fire fighters I know are all talented musicians? When I talk with them, they say playing helps them initially cope a bit with their excess day to day baggage. Is that what you do, too?" Johnny's chording faltered even more when his shock at the chief's correct guess at what he was up to, sank in. His playing died away. "Uh,..really. Didn't know that.. And yeah, I've... been known to dabble with this ..sometimes. Uh, sir, uh, what do you do whenever you know, whenever you feel like you just wanna rip out all your hair?" Gage asked loud enough to be overheard by everybody. Then just under his breath he added, "...what's left of it." he mumbled. Chet Kelly's face went white as a sheet at that comment and unbidden, his left shoe under the table, started tapping sharply on Johnny's shin to shut him up. Even Henry dropped off into utter silence and his ears perked forward. But the chief didn't seem to have heard the jab. Roy barely hid a smirk and covered himself by folding interested hands together across his chest to mask his amusement as he waited for the chief's response. Johnny's throat wasn't even dry. He was banking on the fact that the chief was playing along with his and Roy's plans to.....talk. The kind of talk that firemen usually never shared with each other without some kind of official counseling mediator, sent from headquarters, hanging over their heads. He subtlely slid his chair over to the right to get out of Chet's kicking reach in order to hand over the old guitar to Bill, who was literally reaching for it with wiggly fingers. Bill McConnikee settled the ornate country western strap over his broad shoulders and after a brief, swift retuning of the flaccid strings, he coaxed a very bright, jaunty prison feeling number out of it. "I just learned this one last week from some fresh faced new fella playing an open stage in a bar." he said. "Said he was making his big break with the record company. Played something called Leaving On a Jet Plane with a trio of others. I think he was a singer, too." And his playing shifted to the melody he just mentioned. "Hey, I think I know him, chief. But I can't remember his name right off hand." Johnny remarked. "I've forgotten what his was, too." said the chief. "But I remember that I liked his music set immensely." Henry, instantly collapsed into a heap onto his side in pure beastly bliss at the sweet sounds whispering out of the guitar. Everyone but Johnny and Roy just stared at Henry and the chief. Both of them. Back and forth. Like a tight tennis match. Only Johnny and his partner were playing things cool. The door was wide open. "So...." Roy stammered, "You find this allows you to get whatever's bugging you off your chest pretty easily?" he nodded in encouragement for Bill to dive right on in. "Nice tune. Never heard it before." "As I said, that musician was going places. And I always pay attention to people who're doing just that." he winked at Cap, tapping his white inspection hat that he always wore when he was visiting a station, even when he wasn't conducting a surprise snap inspection. Hank immediately blanched, and the past sin of committing mayhem by the burning of Bill's old absent hat came slamming back into his brain like a freight train. ::The chief's paying close attention to me still for that?!:: he thought in sudden horror. ::I thought he was here to talk about our last rescue call. I didn't know he was out for my bl---:: "Music's always a balm. Never forget that, guys. Gage may be still be new at it. But he's on the right track here. You should follow his example." the chief grinned, taking off the guitar strap. He held out the instrument by the neck, passing it off to Gage. Johnny took it. "I think I will." Chet Kelly said, snatching it quickly out of Gage's fingers. "Give me that..." Johnny smiled, which wasn't really a smile at all as he snatched it back. He started playing again. This time, he plucked a very hesitant version of the first song the chief had strummed for them, but at a molasses snail's pace. With every third note a half key off. "That's the way, Gage. Wrong notes don't matter with the blues. They just seem to fit." McConnikee grinned. Then he looked to Roy to continue what was afoot between him and the two paramedics. DeSoto's stammer was even more pronounced than Johnny's. He found himself tongue tied. "Yeah, uh, Chet here, collects barbed wire as a hobby in order to relax. Somedays, he completely fills up the kitchen table to show them off to all of us. Uh, what do you do, Cap, to blow off some steam?" "I yell..." he said with narrowed brows and a firm press on his lips. He wasn't smiling. All the gang froze. Then Hank's mouth opened up and he laughed great guffaws at his own joke. Bill was the only one to join in. The chief poured himself some more coffee from the steel pot sitting in front of them from its place on a gingham pot holder. "Funny, Hank. That's a good one. Yep. Guitar playing.... Collecting bits of antique wire... It all helps a great deal, guys. I should come up with a stress relief program demanding that you fellas practice some kind of hobby to do religiously so I know you all have a relief valve going for ya." Then he leaned into the table from his chair in a confidential air. "I hate those CISM shrinks, too." he admitted, "with a passion. But they do know their jobs and Headquarters seems to like em." He sat back with a sigh and studied the two speechless paramedics in front of him, just waiting for them to delve again. But neither of their lips moved. Bill decided that they were giving up on the emotional probing and he changed the subject. "Now about the way that earlier tower tumble was handled..." he said, lifting up a finger with a stern face. The gang's eyes got bigger and they re-petrified. "Nice job, all. I got word on my way over here that those two victims we dug out together are doing just fine. That's a thing I always like to hear." Battalion said. "We do too,..Bill." Gage peeped, smiling faintly, slapping an affectionate hand onto McConnikee's shoulder. Chet kicked his shin again. Cap did, too. "I mean, Chief, uh, sir..." Johnny amended, pulling back his hand as if it had burned him. He started playing again as if his life depended on it. The chief's gray eyebrow furrows narrowed stonily, but then Cap said... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos : None. ************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Tue Jan 10, 2006 7:52pm Subject: Struck... "Chief, at our last call, you said that you had something that would interest me about the response we just wrapped up an hour ago." Hank deflected. Bill looked up, effectively diverted. "Hmmm? Oh, yes, I did say that, didn't I? A change in the department, captain. And for the better." "Oh?" Stanley asked, his eyebrows raised. "By next week, no fire department will ever have to haggle with a city or suburb via Headquarters in order to turn off gas or electrical utilities at the scene of an incident.." McConnikee smiled. "They will have already been shut down even before any firecrew gets there." That shocked everybody. "Really?" Kelly asked. "How'd they manage to do that?" Stoker added. "Don't tell me that all the public utilities suddenly turned clairvoyant.." Bill looked up at 51's engineer with a frank frown. "In a way, they have. Gentlemen, yesterday, I was informed that within soco city limits in all L.A. County Fire Department service areas, that we've finally entered a new age of infrastructure regulated technology. They've gone fully computerized, boys. The minute there's a disruption of any kind in the power net or in the gas flows, safety shut offs are triggered on both sides of the trouble spot and plant operators are notified soon afterwards." Cap celebrated. "Terrific! No more ripping my hair out waiting for the proverbial tinder box to unfuel itself under other fingertips while chewing on my own." "Wow.. " remarked Roy. "When did all that automation happen?" McConnikee grinned expansively. "Little by little over the past three years. Believe me, I was shocked as snot myself when I heard the news. That whole robotic communications net they have up now, is a lot like the monitoring network usually in place in a subway transportation system." "Something of which we don't have in California due to all the earthquakes..." DeSoto smiled. Bill nodded. "We been behind the times on how the city senses itself. But not anymore I'm pleased to say. And that's a boon for the whole department." He rose in his chair and subconsciously, so did the rest of the gang. "Well, I'd better be getting back. I've a stack of captains' exams to plow through from Division 2 to get done before sundown. See you fellas. Stay safe out there." "Thanks for helping us today, Chief." Hank said seriously. "Your hands on bit probably made all the difference in the world for those two people we dug out this morning. There's nothing like having a higher up around to motivate things to move along a little faster." "It wasn't about that, Hank. Your station has one of the best track records for speedy extrications. I wasn't worried about that. I only wanted to get my hands dirty again for once. I've missed getting into all the action, especially since new paperwork, like the new city automation alert packet I just told you about, seems to ...magically pile up by the pound in front of me onto my desk. Seems like there's more and more of it every year, too. It sucks, gentlemen. And the main consequence besides burning the eyes out of your head for all the reading, is gaining a big one of these.." Bill said, smacking his ample waistline. All the gang chuckled. "Well, I'd better go. Maybe I can bug 116's after dinner and help out on one of their brush fire assignments while I'm delivering the good news about the new utilities management system to them. See you, thanks for lunch and coffee." "No problem, chief." said Captain Stanley as he opened the kitchen side door for McConnikee. "Thanks for lightening my radio load." "Any time, Hank. Any time." said Battalion as he returned to his chief's car parked neatly facing the avenue in the side drive. "I like being the bearing of good tidings." They watched, as McConnikee pulled away from the stoop, waving at his tip of the hat he gave them as he drove off. "Ooo, Cap.." gushed Chet. "Does this mean you're gonna find a way to lighten our radio traffic load so us guys can enjoy something just as nice as that bit of news was for you?" "I'm working on it." Cap said after a thoughtful pause. "There's a new fangled thing called a passage device or some other name that some yokel dreamed up last month. It's still in the testing phases." "What will that do for us?" Marco asked. "Don't know the answer to that quite yet. Its designer claims it'll revolutionize the whole fire department. He's hailing it as a new kind of life saver." Johnny sniggered. "You mean there's something more revolutionary than a blind insertion luminal airway? I heard about that new paramedic tester device from Brice yesterday. He says it's being used in the surgical wards at Rampart right now to learn its versatility." "Apparently so." Cap said, finishing off his cup of coffee. "I guess we'll all just have to wait for the final word on both of those things when they finally filter down to us as official gear." Kelly started clearing the lunch bowls. "Meanwhile, the waiting's intolerable. It'd be nice for a little job improvement more often than once every five years. The last thing we got was that our asbestos tarps were taken away." "Hmmm." Cap snorted. "We got a change. Roy and Johnny here got themselves free of being tied to those dangerous glass I.V. bottles last month." "I'm talking about something for us common fire guys, Cap. Everybody knows that it's the paramedics who get all the experimenting benefits when they crop up." Gage had a compliment to cheer Chet and he shared it. "How can you improve perfection? Maybe engine firefighting's honed to the sharpest it can be already." "So where's the pay raise then? Geez, guys. Think about it. We're in the forgotten multitudes." he sighed at Marco and Stoker. "I'm bushed. Who's up for a nap after someone volunteers to help me do the dishes?" Chet auctioned off. All hands were fully raised just as an injury tones call went out for the station. ##Station 51. Man down at the shipping yard. Dock workers report an explosion occurance without fire. 6610 Busch Blvd... 6610 Busch Blvd. Cross street, Canal 5 Causeway. Time out : 13:11.## The gang rolled out of their chairs, abandoning the kitchen lunch table. Roy got in an acknowledgement at the alcove station. "Station 51, 10-4. KMG 365." Soon, both the Ward and rescue squad were flying down the boulevard towards the nearby industrial ocean canal district. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They were met instantly by the loading dock boss. "This way fellas. He's still out." said a big burly yellow hard hatted man wearing tan coveralls. "I think he's hurt real bad." "What happened?" Cap asked, as he shut the engine's door. "We don't know. Mac was unloading those crates from Europe over there using the ship's roof crane when Kablewy! Something went up. It caught my brand new man here real bad in a flash and knocked him flat." Johnny and Roy immediately got their medical gear and the oxygen over to the clustered group of dock workers holding another young man on the ground's head still. "Did you move him?" Gage asked loudly. "No. They didn't." answered the dock boss. "I'm not that stupid. I know about the possible broken neck and back thing happening in any fall or bump my men might take. I told them to lay off him past making sure that his tongue wasn't blockin' off his breathin." Cap got the boss's attention again. "What do you think caused this mess?" Hank asked, sweeping a glove and active HT over the shattered debris dotting the canal waters and the concrete immediately upwind of them. "Larry found this.." said the boss. And he handed Cap a bill of laden. Cap read it quickly. "Aww, nuts! Gang, get your air bottles on before you go anywhere near that fallen pallet. I got a CAS number of 7439-95-4." The boss immediately got alarmed. "What? Did we screw up somehow moving that junk?" Cap took his arm and spoke gently. "You had no way of knowing this clearly. The crates are marked totally wrong. Stoker! Call a foam unit. We've got pure, loose magnesium powder of an unknown quantity, right there!" he said, stabbing a finger at the jumble of splintered crates. Then he turned to the boss and the small group of dock workers still hovering over Roy and Johnny and the unconscious man, sprawled on his back. "Mister, I want you to get everybody who's outside within three hundred feet of him.." he said, pointing at the injured man. "...well back. Better yet get them all inside the warehouse and close those main bay doors." "I'm doing it!" said the boss man, running and shouting. He soon had the area cleared and locked down tight so the firefighters could work. Gage was still tossing the wooden boards off of their explosion victim while his other glove rested on the man's stomach to monitor his shallow respirations. "Cap, you want us in scba, too?" Hank shook his head, squinting at the color of the sky. He set up the oxygen tank his paramedics needed. "You're safely downwind. The day's land/sea breeze is already rock solid. It's not going to shift with the Santa Anas shearing like they're doing on its topside." Gage finally got to their patient's head as he shooed the last first aider away. His fingers found a careful jaw thrust lift that eased the man's fitful gasping soon afterwards. Then he did a double take, when his eyes caught sight of the man's face. "Ohmyg*d. Is this man who I think he--?" he broke off when he realized the dock workers had already retreated to safety on Cap's order. Johnny leaned in closer, making sure the man was breathing well in a listening check. Roy smacked his arm, holding out an oral airway and handing Johnny a flowing oxygen mask. "Here. I'll check out his back next. Cap, would you go get a C-collar from the rear stow?" "Yep." said Hank. And he jogged to the squad to get one. Johnny was still gaping and he stared at the young, round eye glassed, page styled, blonde haired man under his hands for long moments. Roy finally lost patience and snatched back the oropharyngeal from his partner. He cross fingered in the short oral himself and planted the oxygen mask down over the pale man's nose and mouth. Gage slowly reanimated. "Roy, don't you know who this is?" he said, throwing a chin downwards while his hands continued to hold the face bruised man's head and neck still. "No." DeSoto said, working swiftly in a check for broken bones and other problems. Gage dissassembled. "This here's Jimmy Colorado! The one and only." he grinned. "Yeah, well whoever he is. He knows you're not acting very professional right now while you're drooling in amazement, all over him. Sorry, sir. Forgive, Johnny here. We ARE taking good care of you." he said to the unconscious man's closest ear. "Try to pick up your breathing a little. You're doing ok for us. I'm not finding any bad problems yet past a swollen right knee so far. Can you hear me?" he asked tapping a light finger over one of his eyelids a few times after he gingerly removed the man's round glasses for safe keeping. The man didn't move or swallow around the airway in the slightest. Cap returned with the cervical collar and a backboard. "Marco, Stoker. Grab some sandbags. Once we get him moved outta here, we'll worry about the mag spill." Soon, Gage was freed up hands wise so he could get an initial complete blood pressure past a pulse estimated one. His earlier starstruck gape, was disappearing and he was fully back to business. "Roy, 92 over 66. He's not reactant to pain either." Johnny shared, after pinching the underside skin of the man's upper arm firmly between a few fingers. "He's not diaphoretic though despite this pallor. Resp rate's twenty two and regular." "Ok.." said Roy, finishing up a Babinski's on the man's feet that he had bared for a CMS check. "So far so good down here, too. No apparent fractures. But I think we should splint that knee up anyway. It's getting pretty big. Marco, can you handle that before we check out his back and log roll him onto the board?" "Got it." said Lopez. Gage added more. "And see if he's got his I.D. on him in one of his jeans' pockets, too." he ordered eagerly. Roy threw his eyes skyward. "That can wait. We're rapidly getting out, remember?" "Finding a wallet's important, too. He.....might have a preexisting condition we need to know about to explain all this wheezy breathing." Johnny stammered as a little of his recognition stun came back. "He got the wind knocked out of him when the crates went up most likely." Roy shrugged dryly. "Come on, focus here, Johnny. Ok? ..Chet. Fellas. On the count of three, we'll tip him my way. One, two... three... Cap, keep those legs in an easy line. He's twisting a little." Roy quickly scissored away the man's shirt back and pants to look for more injuries and bleeding. There was none. "Ok, that's it. He's clear. Roll him back down. Yeah, he's centered. Ok. Let's get those straps on next." Soon the comatose man was safely long boarded and head tilted up onto the splints box by the squad behind the secure shielding bulk of the Ward. Cap and the others went to tend the hot spot in air bottles. Gage silently brandished a found wallet at Roy and set it open onto Jimmy's stomach and turned it so Roy could read the driver's license himself while they opened Jimmy's shirt to set him up for an EKG reading. Roy ignored his partner with a sigh of long patience and picked up the phone to Rampart to give their opening hail. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Roy and Johnny treating a downed man in a ship yard. ************************************************** From: Sam Iam Date: Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:31 pm Subject: Hazmat Captain Stanley got on his HT to Headquarters. "L.A., Engine 51." ##Engine 51, this is L.A.## answered the dispatcher's calm baritone. "We have a positive I.D. of several hundred pounds of pure magnesium exposed to the air and sitting on a wet pier. There are signs of recent explosive hydrogen gas effects. Respond a Haz Mat crew for decontamination and clean up. I have a foam truck standing by should this spill ignite other combustibles in nearby shipping crates of unknown content." Hank told him, cocking his head. He had heard Foam 127 pull up at the same safe distance his own vehicles were positioned at around the corner of the large sea facing warehouse. He motioned for their captain to come on over once he saw his men air bottled. "For now, holding dry and seeing about getting large quantities of sand." Captain Stanley made sure he was upwind and pulled off his air mask long enough to eyeball the pier boss and crook a finger to draw the man out of the building from where he was watching anxiously, to commandeer a front end loader to deliver just that. The boss took the hint and exited a side door away from the canal and he circled around until he had met Hank behind the bulk of the engine. He had on his own contamination air bottle of short acting duration, the kind normally issued to ship firefighters. Immediately, a triple beep intercepted the transmission. ##L.A. This is Battalion 14. I'm in the immediate area. I'll be responding to fully assess the situation for escalating fire conditions. My E.T.A. is four minutes.## ##Battalion 14, 10-4. 51's incident address is 6610 Busch Blvd. Cross street, Canal 5 Causeway. Your time out : 13:19.## said L.A. ##Battalion 14. KMA 116.## acknowledged Bill through his wailing siren over the frequency. Captain Stanley replied. "Engine 51, Battalion 14. I note your response and estimated time of arrival. We've only one injured civilian who's been confirmed as contamination free. Ambulance is not on scene. I'm getting bills of laden handed to me right now for all cargo inside the hot zone. We're located on the north side of the causeway. Our wind is north to south banking west and then out to sea away from most line of sight cargo barges and all buildings. Please notify responding units of our local weather conditions from the coast guard. In fact, having them come out here themselves isn't a bad idea. They could oversee operations." ##Copy, Engine 51. Keep your men in scba and fully outfitted outside the radius you've marked. Have them wait until your sand arrives. A three hundred foot circle should just about cover it.## McConnikee advised Captain Stanley.##And I already have a Coast Guard Dolphin crew, their closest cutter and Fire Boat 110 en route to your position with an E.T.A. of under two minutes. Watch for them.## "Engine 51, 10-4, Battalion. I will advise you of all changes." Hank replied. Then Stanley put his mask back on as he turned to the pier boss to discuss getting one of his pier firefighters to drive in a front loader to dump sand and air smother the magnesium spill until it could be scraped into an empty cargo container in the canal for safe water decomposition and later disposal. 127's captain jogged on over, placing his helmet over the air straps fastened around his face. Hank leaned into him, grabbing him around the shoulders and soon they got into an immediate plan of attack huddle with the pier boss and the new paired pier firefighting team the warehouse boss had summoned through the harbor master by phone. Battalion 14's lanky red car soon pulled up behind them and their efforts were joined. Then they broke apart. Hank got on his walkie talkie to advise his own men, waiting in a line along the landside of the La France. "Engine 51 to HTs 51, all. In two minutes, a front loader will be coming in from the shipping yard with his first load of sand. Marco, Stoker, Kelly, follow him with a charged inch and a half each time he moves in to dump his sand but do not release any water over him. Do that only if a fire erupts to turn away any explosion from him. And if fire does happen, do not eyeball any flames directly or you'll burn your eyes. The brightness flaring from the burning mag will flash sear your eyes in seconds, faster than an arc welder's. Foam 127 will be covering you should fire get around your cover before you make good your escape with the driver. Secondarily, wash down those blue crates..... right over there, when he goes back for more sand without getting any of the original fallen ones dampened in the slightest. Make sure all the runoff you make goes straight into the ocean. Those second bins contain fresh shrimp." Cap told his men. Chet groaned. ##Oh, no. Iodine? Those'll smoke the mag for sure if the wind blows any powder over there.## Hank grinned ruefully through his air mask. "That's probably what made the initial explosion go off when the magnesium crates fell off their unloading cables the first time. So, the sooner we wash the fish juice away, the better off we'll be. Go.." Marco, Stoker and Kelly soon had their hose set up ready and waiting for the silver hazmat suited and air bottled pier firefighter to start up the heavy machinery. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Coast Guard helicopter and boat in the ocean. Photo: Cap yelling over a bullhorn while his men watch by engine. Photo: McConnikee and Cap and Gage standing by squad. Photo: Roy and Gage patching a man into the monitor and on O2. ************************************************** From: "patti keiper" Date: Wed Jan 11, 2006 7:18 pm Subject: World of Silence..? Roy lifted the biophone receiver and plugged in the antennae. He was just about to speak when Johnny looked up from the eyes of their victim that he had been checking out with a penlight. "Roy,..he's gone tachycardic.." Gage said suddenly. "Just started happening." he said, getting a grip on Jimmy's carotid as he looked at his watch to time it. Roy set the unused receiver onto his shoulder and he looked at the EKG monitor which was set to visual tracing, studying it for long moments, then he flicked on the audible mode so both could follow what was happening without looking away from what they were doing by listening to its sounds. The beat was racing at 150, and it was bounding. "Adrenaline effects? He might be waking up some. His breathing's still ok. It's not causing this V-tach." DeSoto told him. Johnny shifted his attention from his patient's vital signs to neurological ones. He tried another pain check with a firm sternal rub in between two of the man's EKG pads. He was rewarded when Jimmy jerked both of his hands under the backboard straps. Deftly, Gage slid the oxygen mask aside and pulled out the oral airway before he could gag on it. "Jim?...Jimmy? Can you hear me? Open up your eyes. Can you do that for me?.. Hey.." he said, rubbing knuckles once more, grinding a couple fairly deep into Colorado's breastbone. A weak groan trickled out of Jimmy's cracked lips and he kicked out both legs. Pain from the knee finished the job of arousing and he was suddenly awake. "OhhHHh... nghhH. *cough* " The heartbeats coming from the monitor speakers jolted a series of slow beats at the cough, then started racing once more when a sudden new panic filled Jimmy's face. Fear poured into his eyes as they snapped open and started watering under the sun. "Hey,... take it easy. You're all right... You're all right." Gage said, firmly, grabbing one of Jim's shoulders to keep him still. "That explosion's over. You're safe. Tell me what's happening to you, ok? Can you talk?" he said, leaning close over his face. Jimmy's eyes met and tracked Johnny's easily. But he didn't speak. He remained obviously frightened and it reflected in the monitored heartbeats, which climbed even faster. "Are you in pain? Is it your leg? Or is it your neck or back?" Roy tried asking him, taking a hold of his other shoulder. Jimmy Colorado gave a cry of dismay. Then he froze, taking in an unpleasant breath of discovery. "Guys, I can't hear you. At all. Are you yelling? I can't.....hear .... anything. I... my ears were ringing before. Now they're totally quiet!" he panicked in a rich sounding tenor voice. The paramedics saw that he wasn't even the slightest bit confused mentally from the blackout disorientation that they were used to seeing on people who finally decided to wake up for them. "Ok. ok.." Johnny said. "Just let me put this oxygen mask back on. It'll start slowing your heart down some. I'm going to check your ears out right now. Just try to relax. You're not hurt bad at all. We've just got you on a backboard and in a C-collar as a precaution." he pantomimed with two hands wrapped around his own neck to demonstrate what he was talking about visually. Jimmy's eyes took in the straps over his chest and the wires feeding the Tetronix display and a hand worked free to feel the oxygen mask sitting over his face tentatively. It was more Johnny's reassuring smile than his words that made the man settle a bit. Fright was still very highly evident on the EKG monitor, but Jimmy no longer tried moving his arms and legs. He was watching both paramedic's faces intently instead. Johnny knelt down with his penlight and check both ear canals. Then he looked up. "Roy, bleeding in both. Perforated eardrum on the left side. Contusions and swelling on the right." he reported. Then his hands slid under the collar to palpate the back of Jimmy's head. "There's no stiffness in his neck, or Battle's sign. Negative on CSF in any of this drainage." he said, looking at the reddish stains Jimmy's ears had left on the sand bags holding his head still. Roy took another blood pressure. "It's up. 140/100." Gage nodded and then he turned his attention back to communicating. He pulled out his writing pad and a pen. With it, he wrote Jimmy a few facts and asked a few questions while Roy slid the round glasses back onto his face so Jim could read the note being written for him. Jimmy gasped. "No, my neck and back don't hurt." he said, his eyes growing wide. "I just can't hear myself talk. But my knee's old news. I hurt it last week getting tossed off a horse. Are my ears going to be all right? You see, I'm a musician and I play and sing for a living." Johnny wrote. ~I know. I recognized you when we first got here. Just take it easy. Is it okay if we start an I.V. on you? The doctor we're gonna call may want one for you because you were knocked out for a while.~ "Yes. How long was I out?" fretted Jimmy. ~Around twenty minutes according to your boss.~ "Am I ok?" Mr. Colorado asked with alarm. ~You must have a very hard head. You're doing just fine, Mr. Colorado. But we were wondering about that wheeze you've got in your chest.~ Johnny wrote. "I'm not used to the California smog yet. I've a dust allergy. I've only been in the state for a couple of days so I guess it must be flaring up now." ~Do you have any other problems we should know about?~ Gage asked in words. "I've hypoactive thyroid in the wintertime. I take a pill for it when my energy's low." said Jim. ~Ok. How about pain. Are you in any?~ "My head, a little bit. Guess I cracked it when I flew backwards. And both of my ears are stinging badly. Is that why I can't hear anything?" ~The explosion put a hole in your left ear drum and bruised the right one. Once we get to Rampart General Hospital, a doctor will examine you much closer to see exactly what is causing your deafness right now. And he'll get you out of this contraption, too, after a couple of x-rays.~ Roy answered on the note pad after pointing to the longboard. Jimmy sighed and closed his eyes. "All right. I hope they can fix whatever's wrong soon. Music's my life... Annie, my wife, will kill me if she finds out that I have to give any of that up." Gage tapped his shoulder again to show him another question. ~Do you want someone at the hospital to get a hold of Annie once we get there?~ "Yes. Could you arrange that?" Johnny nodded. "I want to thank you for caring for me like this. I never thought I'd see the day where I'd need a couple of Los Angeles County paramedics called out to look after me." Jimmy grinned. ~That's what we're here for, Mr. Colorado. Welcome to California.~ wrote Roy. Jimmy managed his first full smile and the racing audible heartbeat finally slowed to near normal. "I'm ...a little tired. I was up all night playing a gig with my new band. We were practicing for cutting a new record when I remembered that I had my first day of work to report to at the pier. I barely got here in time. Is it ok if I sleep a bit?" Johnny and Roy both nodded that it was safe for him to doze. Their patient relaxed instantly, his face going slack with released strain. His breathing evened out and his slight gasping went away. "He's a very busy man." Gage remarked to Roy. "I guess so. Who is he again?" "A famous country western singer. Remember the second song the chief played for us? That's his." "He still doesn't ring a bell." DeSoto said, looking at their patient's face again. "Roy, you need to get out of the house a little more. You're sure missing a whole lot." Johnny frowned, cutting away Jimmy's sleeve for his future I.V. "This young man here's gonna be as big as the Beatles someday. Mark my words. I got his first album and his second one, too, I think." Gage thought out loud. "Yeah, I played 'em both last month." "I may be behind on the music scene, but little else escapes me." DeSoto teased Johnny with a straight face. "You should loan me those records sometime. Joanne and I like to try new things every once in a while." "Deal. He's real good. You won't be disappointed." Roy got on his HT. "Squad 51 to L.A. Can I get an estimated time of arrival on our ambulance?" ##L.A., Squad 51. Mayfair Two reports an E.T.A. of four minutes to your location.## "Squad 51, L.A., 10-4. We'll be set. Our scene is safe." ##Squad 51.## Roy got switched over to the phone on top of his shoulder. "Rampart this is Rescue 5-1. How do you read me?" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Roy in scba gear by squad on the biophone. Photo: Johnny looking down at someone. Photo: An eyeglassed man in a C-collar on oxygen in a closeup close. ********************************************************************* From : Derrick Sent : Tuesday, January 17, 2006 12:46 AM Subject : Where The Silence Is There was a brief period of silence. "Rampart base, County 51. How do you read?" Roy repeated. ##Go ahead 51, this is Rampart. We read you loud and clear.# replied Dr. Early. "Rampart, we are at the scene of an explosion at an imports pier involving powdered chemicals. We have only one previously borderline critical patient at this time. Our victim is now a conscious and oriented late twenties to early thirties male trauma patient. He was thrown back onto his head from the force of the blast and was initially unresponsive for twenty minutes prior to our arrival. At this time, his chief complaint is stinging pain in both ears. On a scale of one to ten he rates his ear pain as a nine. "On examination, he has active bleeding in both ears with a possible perforated eardrum on the left ear and swelling in the right with profound early tinnitus and deafness. He has swelling in the right knee, now splinted, and facial contusions. But we have found negative findings of any stiffness in his neck, battle's sign, CSF fluid drainage, or signs of pain with his neck or back. There are no other injuries, past these, detected ..but we have him longboarded with a C-collar for his protection." said Roy. At Rampart, another doctor was with the carefully attentive Dr. Early. It was Dr. Brackett, listening in. They heard Roy add more to his radio conversation "Vital signs were : BP 92/66, pulse 150 and regular, respirations twenty two with wheezes detected in all fields. We now have a BP of 140/100, pulse is 110 and regular, respirations are twelve and normal. His chest sounds like it's clearing. O2 saturation is at 98% on six liters of O2 via non-rebreather mask. On that right knee injury, it is from one week ago following a fall from a horse. He also expresses a history of hypothyroidism. He is allergic to dust and takes thyroid medications for his condition only occasionally. We request an I.V. and affirmative, I will be sending you a strip. Over." Dr. Early replied. ##Squad 51, do we know what chemicals were involved?## "Rampart, distilled powdered magnesium as far we can tell." Roy replied. ##51, are any of you or is your patient contaminated?" Dr. Early queried. "That's negative." Roy answered as Mayfair two's electronic wail siren tone shattered the air. "Rampart, this will be Lead II." Roy said as he sent the EKG strip over the radio. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Joe Early and Kel read the strip as it came over the telemetry lines and they interpreted the rhythm to be mostly a normal sinus rhythm at a rate of one hundred ten without ectopi, with intermittent periods of sinus tachycardia. Kel thought. ::That's probably due to the fact that their patient's worried about his sudden loss of hearing. His vitals are too good for this reading to be anything else.:: Brackett saw that his mental conclusion matched Joe's by the expression on his face and they shared a look without needing to speak. Dr. Early replied. "51, start an I.V. of Lactated Ringers TKO at 30 to 60 cc/hr. Monitor for any changes and transport as soon as possible." Roy answered.##10-4, Rampart. Copy an I.V. of Ringers at 30 to 60 cc/hr, monitor patient vitals and transport. Our ambulance is here and our E.T.A. is twelve minutes.## he added. "10-4, 51." Dr. Early said. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy had just gotten off the air with Rampart as Johnny double checked Jimmy Colorado's sensory, motor functions, and immobilization effectiveness to the long spineboard. He told Johnny. "Early wants Ringers, TKO." Then he handed him the I.V . bag, microdrip tubing, and a 20 gauge needle. He knew the reason for the infusion of small fluid volume to their patient was because of the fact that Jimmy might have sustained a head injury. It was his goal and Rampart's to prevent any swelling in his brain which could lead to disastrous consequences. That would change though if their patient went into a poor breathing shock level on the way in. Then Colorado would have to be rapid sequence intubated and hyperventilated as an increased intracranial pressure preventive measure and a faster flow on the I.V. would be dialed up. ~Okay, Mr. Colorado.~ Johnny wrote . ~I am going to start an I.V. on you. You're going to feel a big pinch here in your arm for a couple of seconds. That's just me putting the needle inside the the inner elbow vein in your arm.~ Colorado froze, looking away from the needle. His trepidation was plain on his face. Then came the sharp stick, ..but he didn't move. "Ow. That stung a little. But no worse than getting a shot at the doctor's though." Jimmy Colorado replied nervously, gasping as he released the breath he had been holding. ~Believe me, they do sting. I've had em', too.~ wrote Johnny Gage with a smile after he secured the I.V. catheter with tape to Jimmy Colorado's right arm while holding pressure on the lanced vein above it. Gage attached the I.V. bag and its drip set after he flushed out the tubing to the catheter. He adjusted the drip's rate after the fluid chamber was half filled to start the I.V.'s challenge. Mr. Colorado's face expressed relief the ordeal was over. "I truly hate needles. Sorry for flinching." Johnny then signaled Harold and Malcolm to move in with the stretcher. ~No problem. But I'm glad you felt that to tell you the truth. It means you're waking up well for us and have absolutely no signs of upper body paralysis to speak of.~~ he joked on his notepad. In a test, Colorado wiggled his toes to reassure himself and the paramedics both that he was still fine the rest of the way down, too. Gage smiled at that and looked up at the waiting ambulance attendants who quickly picked up the longboard after dropping the foot guard flat on their mattressed stretcher. "Guys, he was in an explosion and got knocked off his feet. He has injuries to his ears, possibly the head, and a bum knee that he got last week. We got loose dressings to both ears, just that knee splint, and he's on light O2. He's pegged for a continuous read on the monitor and will remain fully immobilized. Note that we're going to Rampart and it's a rush. Be careful." he told them. Chief McConnikee walked up to check on the progress of his favorite bar singer. He examined the loading scene and said to Roy as he was picking up the biocom and trauma kit to hand to him. "How's he doing?" "He seems to be doing better now. We're taking him to Rampart and we'll know a lot more later. But I think he's got nothing serious that can't be repaired or healed, most likely." said Roy. "Before you go, I want to warn you that as big as he is getting, there will be a ton of media at the hospital. Maintain your silence about meeting him, both of you, unless he personally says you can do otherwise." The Chief told them as his eyebrows furrowed with a straight face. "I'll be back at the station in a couple of hours to tell you how to report his run in the logs to fully protect his privacy to prevent someone in our internal departments from leaking his misfortune to the papers." he added. "I'll drive the squad in." Johnny told his partner. "Get to know him, Roy." he grinned. "Here's a once in a lifetime chance that I'm just handing out to you. Remember that." "See you there." Roy said unimpressed, as he and Malcolm stepped inside the ambulance to transport Jimmy Colorado to the hospital. Vince Howard arrived at Roy and Johnny's location and gave the ambulance the all clear, double slap signal as the ambulance pulled away with red lights and siren towards Rampart with the squad leading the way. McConnikee afforded one more look of concern for their young, rising, from out of state singer. Then he put his white helmet back on and strode back to work on the long hazmat cleanup ahead with engine 51 and the other units covering the incident. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Their Mayfair's arrival at Rampart took a couple minutes longer than expected because of the strong head winds and low visibility from blowing dust that slowed down the squad and ambulance's speed as they travelled. They also had a couple of unexpected obstacles to overcome, like a windblown trash can and a road strewn cord of firewood that some motorist had lost unintentionally that had blocked lanes of traffic. However, Roy's celebrity patient remained stable throughout transport and there were no unforeseen events. When they arrived at Rampart, the emergency entrance looked like a used car lot with three squads and four ambulances parked there. ::It looks like business is still picking up.:: thought Roy. ::I wonder how busy it is now.:: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. *************************************************** From: "Derrick" Date: Wed Jan 18, 2006 1:33 am Subject: About Jimmy Harold, who was driving the ambulance, looked in the Emergency entrance lot, wondering where to park so no passers by would be gawking to see who was being brought in. A Schaefer Ambulance EMT saw the Mayfair's situation and she hinted to Harold that she was moving her van ambulance to the side lot so he could get in with Jimmy and Roy. Dr. Early was standing in the doorway with Kel Brackett to greet his patient. The ambulance doors came open as Roy was writing his last note to Jimmy. ~Well Jimmy, here we are at Rampart Hospital, the best in the county. The doctors will take good care of you here. It was nice meeting you. Come see us at the station when you get better.~ he said, pointing to the number on his bench parked helmet. Jimmy said, with a grin. "You can count on that." As Jimmy was unloaded by Harold and Malcolm out of the ambulance, Joe directed them. "Room Two. Is this our explosion victim?" he asked the attendants. "Yes, doc." said Roy, appearing out of the dark interior of the rig. He got out and went into the doors, following his patient. Dr. Brackett curiously followed behind him. "Those face wounds look ugly, but there still is no change in the degree of his tinnitus and deafness. He remained stable and alert throughout transport. I also got something to tell you privately when we get inside." Roy said to both of them. The sextet entered the treatment room that was used for lesser injured trauma patients as a backup to the main trauma room. Rampart was experimenting with a new trauma center concept, an idea whole-heartedly embraced by all three of her main ER doctors. Jimmy was transferred off the ambulance gurney onto a hospital one. Kel looked at Jimmy again, then he turned to Joe and said. "Joe, do you know who this is? It's Jimmy Colorado." "I was about to tell you the same thing, Kel." quoted Joe. Joe went to a drawer and pulled out a ruled style notebook. Reaching into his doc's coat pocket, he pulled out his pen and wrote in capital and small printed letters. ~Mr. Colorado, can you tell me what happened?~ he began, getting an awareness level check in. "I was starting my day job at the pier, when boom, there was an explosion. The next thing I knew, I couldn't hear anything after the paramedics woke me up. My ears were hurting and ringing something terrible when I found I could talk again." Jim said. ~Do they still feel that way?~Joe asked in writing. Jimmy's face wrinkled as he grasped how he was feeling and he said, "The quiet's about the same, but some of the pain has gone away a little bit." Then, a stunned Dixie McCall walked in and gasped when she saw Jimmy Colorado lying on the gurney. Despite of who he was, she asked. "Jimm--? What happened?" Joe Early filled her in. "There was an explosion at the pier. He got blown off his feet and it looks like it injured both of his ears. He can't hear a word we're saying, but he can talk to us. I'm going to take a look at his head, back and neck in detail, even though there are no acute signs of injury there." A concerned Dixie grabbed a stethoscope and a BP cuff and took Jimmy's vitals. "BP's 140/90, pulse's 100 regular,...respirations are twenty and normal." she said afterwards. Roy was busy with the new trauma room's pulse oximeter machine and a thermometer. "O2 sat is still 98%, .. and his temperature's 98.7 degrees F." he said. Kel did a sensory/motor assessment on Jimmy and he ran the list of what he found through his head. ::Good capillary refill, normal limb color and temperature to the extremities, all with purposeful movement.:: The last test he said out loud. "Negative on Babinski's. What next, Joe?" he asked Early, who was in charge of Colorado's case. "I examined his eyes already, Kel. His pupils appear to be equal, round, reactive and conjugate. Skin temperature's still normal and dry to the touch. Let's shift him to our monitor so Roy can have his back. Dix, call Radiology. I want a full skull series CT scan with special attention given to both his middle and inner ears. Also see if they can get me an anterior and lateral view of that knee." Brackett spoke up. "Also, Dix, call the lab to set up a spinal tap, I want to be sure this deafness isn't being caused by a slow subdural or epidural bleed. Draw blood for a full count CBC, platelets, and hemoglobin. Call Dr. Jones and have him set up for an EENT consult please, stat, after he views all his slides and images." Kel ordered. "I got it." Dix replied as she finished marking the tests on Jimmy's chart. Then she busied herself dialing out on the treatment room's phone. "O'Brien's on today for ears, nose and throat." "Do you two have a minute?" Roy asked both doctors. "What is it, Roy?" Dr. Brackett asked, looking up from the dressings he was removing from both of Jimmy's ears. Roylead Dr. Brackett into a corner in the treatment room and said. "Bill Mc Connikee says that there will probably be a media circus very soon, all over this place, wanting to know something about our patient's condition. The chief wants us all to keep a tight lid on it for the sake of privacy because of Jimmy apparently being as big as a star as he is. Can you arrange that?" "Roy, you know you've got my word to keep everything confidential. Did you hear that, Joe?" Kel asked Early, hooking a thumb at Roy. "Absolutely." Joe Early replied. "And I'll hear, see and speak no evil, too." Dix replied as she got off the phone. "I'll be sure to tell Mike Morton about the press and staff gag order which I guess by now has already been forwarded to our ER desk directly from Fire Chief Houts. Mike'll probably let Dr. O'Brien know the same order upstairs as soon as he gets it." Joe said while he hooked Jimmy up to the monitor so a suddenly treatment room door appearing Johnny could retrieve the squad's. "Where have you been? Did the wind take you away like Dorothy to Oz?" Roy chuckled at his partner. Johnny smiled at Roy as the hospital attendants came to transfer Jimmy to the brand new, experimental CT scanner lab down the hallway. Being clever, Gage tapped Jimmy's shoulder in warning with a wink, then he flipped Jimmy's blanket half over his face and the oxygen mask to help better conceal his identity from uninvolved hospital staff and from the public wandering the halls around the ER waiting room. "I, partner, was having a meaningful conversation with a beeeauutiful chick outside who's an EMT with Schaeffer's. She said she likes me. And she told me she'd like to get into the paramedic program one of these days. And....we have a date for next Saturday night!" he said happily. "Oh? What's her name?" Roy asked. "I've memorized it already. Matilda Emily Lynn Volskeld. The nurses call her Mel for short and they say she's a tomboy with a mouth like a sailor." said Johnny. "I think I'm in love...." "You go for that type? I thought you like to go for the brainy, sophisticated, feminine kind of girl. Like that air hostess we met coming home from that paramedic convention or that newspaper journalist writing about firefighters from last year." "Or like Valerie?" Johnny reminded him sourly of their past hit and run victim, the mother of three, that they had responded to when she had been struck by a motorist right in front of their squad's bumper. "Heh. I've broadened my horizons a bit since then." "I remember befriending a young lady like that." replied Dix as she got into the conversation, reflecting on her younger years when she was actively dating. "She used to tell m--" A page went out for Dixie to report to the CT room, and she smiled. "I'm needed to help with Colorado's scans apparently..." As she left the room with Roy and Johnny, she finished her previous line of thought, "Back then, fellas, I was sweet and treated people with the utmost respect and dignity." she said batting her long elegant eyelashes. "But after hanging out with Maude for a while, she showed me the real value of things whenever I needed to get angry to speed things up at work..." She slipped into a mock, but convincing Brackett like roar. "They didn't mess with me then afterwards. And please don't mess with me now!" she said in clear birdline earshot of a curious knot of floor nurses who were tightly whispering about whom they thought they just saw, at the desk outside the CT scanning room. "This place has been an insane asylum all day, DATGUMMIT!" Dixie then slammed her charts on the nurse's station desktop to scatter them. The gossiping nurses broke apart and fled before they learned anything concrete about who the man was in the CT room. Roy and Johnny looked at McCall in amusement and she winked secretly back at them. Then they all sighed at each other, knowing that the day's stresses weren't over yet for her. :: Or for us either.:: thought DeSoto. The two paramedics shifted the weight of the gear in their hands so they could both wave a quick bye for now to her. "Well, let's get outta here, Johnny. Let's head back to the station. The rest of the guys should be back in an hour if all this the wind cooperates." said Roy. "A nap sounds real good. Chet had the right idea about all of us getting some sleep earlier at lunch time." "Yeah, I'm even more tired now." Johnny said, yawning. The bright afternoon daylight made them squint as they neared the ambulance doors. "Whoa! Look at the wind out here." Johnny said as he and Roy walked outside the short distance to the squad. "It must be blowing sixty five miles per hour!" "I guess so. Let's get in here in a hurry." Roy said after horsewhistling to get his weather gaping partner to pay attention to him. He tossed Gage the ignition keys so he'd take the hint to take over driving the squad for him. "My hair's being blown all over my head and it's really bugging me." Roy replied. "Put your helmet back on your head." Johnny teased. "It's too late for that now." DeSoto grumbled. The paramedics hastily put their gear back inside the squad and entered the cab. Johnny, as usual, had picked up the radio mic to report themselves back into service when he noticed that the wind was shifting the squad a little as stiff gusts blew by it. "Man, do you feel that?" he asked Roy as he started the squad up. "Feel what?" asked a freely dozing, hand and elbow face propped Roy. "The wind. It's rocking the squad!" said Johnny. "Big deal. It will take a tsunami to tip this thing over." said Roy. "You're right about that." said Johnny. Gage pressed the button on the mic and said. "L.A., Squad 51's available." ##Squad 51, L.A. clear. KMA 896. ## replied Sam Lanier on the other end of the channel. "So tell me, Romeo. What does this dreamy new date Mel look like?" Roy asked Johnny as they pulled onto the boulevard. "Well, she's about five foot five. She has long shiny brown hair almost down to her waist. Not to skinny, but not too fat. Just how I like 'em. She's been working for Schaffer's only for a year she says and her old man's a captain with the fire department in Daley City." Johnny said, gripping the steering wheel. "They've got a good department up there." Roy said. "Let's see if you'll hit the jackpot with her this time and fare better than you did with single mom Valerie." "As a matter of fact, Jimmy Colorado is supposed to be playing a gig next weekend at the Beer-A-Bye-Bye uptown and I plan on taking her there. I'm buying the tickets as soon as I get home." Gage said. "You and Joanne can come along, too, if you like. We can call it a double date." "You know, Junior. You amaze me. I'm not much into music, but after I got to know Jimmy a little bit on the way to Rampart, he's made me a real fan. He's got something about him that's ..real honest and natural. Know what I mean? And it most likely shows in his songs, too, if the one I heard at the station is any kind of indicator." Roy replied. "But I doubt if he'll heal up in time enough for that bar performance of yours. He may have to cancel that one and schedule it for a later date." Johnny, feeling let down said. "Oh. You're right, pal. It might take a while for his ears to heal up enough for all his hearing to come back by then, if it ever does. But you never know." Gage said with a smile. "Surgery's wonderful these days." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile at Rampart, Jimmy's CT scans came back to Joe Early. He and Dr. Brackett were looking them over with Dr. Nathan Jones and the ear doc, O'Brien, in the CT viewing room. "Well , what do you see, Joe?" Kel asked. "A little deviation to the cochlea here. The left eardrum is perforated all right. But the right ear is appearing just as soft tissue trauma. Oh, and there are no abnormalities in the head and neck area. That knee will just need an Ace bandage and a cortizone shot. He's lucky." Dr. Early. "What do you think, Nate? Steve?" Kel asked. "Well, needing surgery's out of the question. The hole's too clean. But there's still going to be a little bleeding over the next day or two as his ears begin to heal, but it's nothing that I'm concerned about. The tinnitus and deafness are probably just temporary effects from the fluid buildup that came as a response to the explosion's concussion wave." said the specialist, O'Brien. "So,... what I'm going to do is just keep him here until maybe later on tomorrow night. I'll start him right away on antibiotics and pain reducing ear drops. Tobradex'll do. He should start hearing things by tonight after those I.V. diuretics drain more out of his middle ears. My final diagnosis? He'll heal up good as new within the next four to six weeks." Dr. Jones said, too. "Well, let's go tell Jimmy the good news." Joe Early said. "Dixie's with him now managing his crowd control." he quipped. "A crowd? Already? That was fast." Kel remarked. "News travels fast when you're popular I guess." said Early. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. *************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Thu Jan 19, 2006 9:01 am Subject: For the Love of Music.. Dixie McCall entered the holding room next to the CT scanning suite. The lights were subdued, but her eyes didn't miss the sight of Station 51's backboard leaning against the wall. ::I'll take that out with me when I leave in a few minutes.:: she decided mentally. Jimmy Colorado, was dozing on a head raised, pillowless gurney in the center of the room. He was no longer wearing oxygen but another I.V. now hung next to the one Johnny Gage had given him. Walking quietly across the fawn carpetting, Dixie checked its flow rate against the notation Dr. O'Brien had marked on his orders page. ::Diuretics. Hmm.:: thought Dixie. ::That probably means that the spinal tap they did in here after all the scans came back negative on blood from a head injury. Well, that's very good news, at least, ...so far.:: She saw that the doctors hadn't yet visited Colorado with their findings on his ER exam or CT tests yet. She was about to leave him to sleep more quietly when she saw a hastily scrawled notation from Johnny Gage on the run sheet to locate someone named Annie, Jimmy's wife, to let her know about his accident. Sighing, Dixie sat down on a stool next to Jim and gently woke him by pulling his blankets, which had tumbled down below his waist, back up to his shoulders. Jim's eyes opened, but the fatigue she had been expecting, wasn't there in the slightest. His face opened up in a bright smile. He said, "I remember you. You came into the room in Emergency when all the doctors were checking me over to see how I was doing. Hi, I'm Jim." and he held out his I.V.less hand. Dixie took his and shook it. Then she wrote on a spare notes page. ~Hi, I'm Dixie, the head nurse around here. How are you feeling now?~ "Oh. I'm a little sore still. But the breathing treatment I received and the ice packs for my knee are helping. The doctors told me they have me propped up so I won't get a headache from that back needle test they did on me a bit ago." ~That was a spinal tap, Mr. Colorado, and it's used to rule in or out internal head injuries and illnesses.~ she wrote to him. "So, how did I do?" Jimmy asked. ~I'd say pretty good. See this?~ she wrote, pointing to the second I.V. hanging piggybacked alongside his first one. Jim nodded. ~That is giving you a medication that'll get rid of all the excess fluid in your circulatory system in about a half an hour. Seeing one of these ordered by your assigned ENT, Dr. O'Brien, is a good sign. He only drains middle ears like this when surgery's not indicated.~ "So, does that mean that I'm going to get my hearing back, Miss...McCall?" he asked, squinting to read her nametag without his glasses. Dixie was honest. ~I can't say for sure, Jimmy. I'm not one of your doctors.~ she scribbled. ~But do give me your wife's telephone number. Then we can call Annie together to let her know what's happening.~ "Right now?" ~Right now, if you'd like.~ "Oh, yes, please. She's probably worried sick if any of this has gotten on the news." he said with an anxious frown, writing down the number for her on a paper towel using the pen she had with her. ~Nothing has, Jim. You and your records are being isolated from everybody except those directly involved in your recovery. You'll see myself, an orderly or two who are guaranteed to not wag their tongues, and only your four doctors from this point on until you're discharged. And that's it. I'm telling you the truth that no reporters, at all, have been knocking on your door.~ she wrote. "How'd you arrange that?" ~Let's just say I learned a few things from a TV soap doctor last year about hiding folks when they desperately need to be hidden for the good of their health.~ Jim laughed. "I appreciate what all you folks are doing for me. I'm not a star. I don't think I care to actually become one to tell you the truth. All I know is that I want to share the music that's inside of me to those who'll listen. And if a record or two will help pay the bills for me, my wife and for my baby daughter, so much the better." Dixie smiled, and picked up the phone. ~Shall we call your family now? I'll be your relay. You just tell me what to say so she knows I'm really legit, o.k.?~ Jimmy nodded. A few minutes later, the phone call was completed and Jim relaxed for the first time since he was injured. Absently, he began humming an unthinking melody while Dixie took another set of vital signs for his progress chart. Dixie began smiling. Then she handed him the writing sheet. ~That's lovely. Is that one of the songs you play regularly?~ Jimmy blushed. "No. I haven't ever sung it out loud to anyone yet. I wrote it thinking about Annie, last week, in about ten minutes, while on a ski lift." he admitted with an amused grin. "I think I can still sing a bit of it in spite of being deafened like this. My pitch's usually pretty good. This is about how it goes, Dixie." he said. And then he softly filled the room with a bright, love filled, very softly sung ballad of incredible beauty..... "You fill up my senses like a night in the forest. Like a mountain in spring-time like a walk in the rain like a storm in the desert like a sleepy blue ocean You fill up my senses, come fill me again. Come let me love you, let me give my life to you Let me drown in your laughter, let me die in your arms. Let me lay down beside you, let me always be with you. Come let me love you, come love me again...... ...There. And that's all of it." he shrugged. "It's so different from anything else that's ever come to me lyrics wise. I honestly don't know how my manager will feel about it when I tell him that I came up with it in just a couple of minutes." Dixie opened her eyes and fiercely started to write. ~Mr. Colorado. If you don't produce that song, you will be losing a very fine chance to teach others about one of the truest lessons in life : how precious it is to love someone else without condition.~ "You really think so?" Jimmy asked, surprised. ~Look at the tears filling my eyes, Mr. Colorado. And you did that without being anywhere near your guitar. Any song worth its salt will move people beyond words without a single solitary note of accompaniment playing along with it. Trust me on that one.~ Jim looked at her face for a long, delving, soul searching moment. Then he handed her a kleenix from the box on his patient table. "Wow. That's sound enough endorsement for me, Miss McCall. So, as soon as I'm better, I promise, I'll set up a recording session and get it down on tape. For the last thing I want to do is disappoint a busy nurse in her own hospital." he grinned. Dixie laughed warmly and dried her eyes just a few seconds before the door opened to admit Joe Early, Kel Brackett and the two specialists coming to deliver their glowing prognoses. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Dixie, smiling. Photo: A blonde, page style haired man in round glasses, laughing. ************************************************** From : Roxy Dee Sent : Friday, January 20, 2006 4:22 PM Subject : On The Cliff Tops~~ It was two days later at the station. The gang was feasting on Marco's spaghetti with gusto and all were freshly showered and in new uniforms following a routine abandoned house fire. Roy and Johnny were talking to themselves, being vague on details. DeSoto raised his eyebrows while he gulped down a large swallow of milk. "Was there any word on him yet from her?" "Yeah." answered Johnny. "Dixie says he's no longer in the hospital. He got out yesterday. But she was tight lipped about any further news on him." "She would have to be. Its those privacy laws, remember?" Roy sighed. "If it were that easy for paramedics to get information about a previous patient, lawyers everywhere would be suing us left, right and center for unlawful practice." Cap immediately knew who it was they were talking about. He framed a silent "shhh" to hush them. "Pass me the Caesar's dressing, please." said Chet, stuffing his mouth full of french bread and butter. "Look at that everybody. Chet's hungry enough to use a full set of manners at the table." quipped Stoker. "Record that for posterity, folks. I can't remember the last time he asked before grabbing." "So says the man who usually doesn't talk much, with his mouth full." Kelly grumbled, wiping his with a napkin. Cap's comment, topped them all, only barely tempered with a smile. "Shut up and eat, you twits, before we get another--" RiinNNNggg! rang the phone. "I'll get it.." said Gage, shoving away his empty plate with a belch. "L.A. County fire department. This is Fireman John Gage." A few seconds later, he nearly dropped the phone. "Oh, uh.. hi there Mr. Colorado. Uh, wow. You're finally talking to me." he immediately bit his lip. "I....didn't exactly mean it the way it sounded. Heh. I meant it the other way meaning that I'm ....very happy you got your full hearing back." Cap spun in his chair with a scrutinizing glare at Johnny and he narrowed his eyes curiously at the name he had heard. Gage said, "Uh huh.." whipping out his notepad from his back pants pocket. Furiously, he began to scribble down some information. "Uh...huh." he punctuated. Roy piped up. "Johnny?" Gage whirled with a hasty silencing gesture and he gripped the phone receiver even tighter against his head while plugging the other ear. "Sure.. I have a couple of my own. Are you sure you won't mind my bringing two, one each for Roy and myself?" There was a pause. Then Johnny smiled hugely. "Sure. Tomorrow morning would be fine. We both get off at nine tonight. Ok, I'm glad you're on your feet and doing so well. Roy and I were worried about ya. Yeah? Ok. Thank you. Thank you.. Bye.." and he clicked the phone down into its wall cradle with a bang. Then he collapsed on the wall in a sag of disbelief and celebration. "Ooo, Roy. Do you know you that was?!" "You kinda told us." Hank snapped. "Should you have told us?" "Yes. He said I could." said Johnny. Then he scrambled over to his partner, waving his paramedic note pad in the air. "So our official gag's lifted as of right now." Cap's serious peg didn't let up. Gage shrugged. "If you don't believe me, run a trace with the phone company and listen to the conversation yourself, Cap. I wouldn't lie about a thing like that. I mean, after all, who do you take me for?" "A total nutcake." Chet chuckled. "Very funny, Chet. And it's too bad you're not invited." "Invited to what?" Marco asked. Hank told them briefly about their pier explosion victim of the other day. "No kidding?" Lopez said. "You met HIM? My mom really likes his music. She cranks him up on the radio stations every chance she gets." Cap's mouth fell into firm lines. "What exactly did he say? If this is about showing gratitude for helping him out, you know where the department stands on that one." Gage's happy smile died away. "Well, Cap. I uh, he didn't exactly use...words to that effect.." he laughed weakly. "All he asked was whether or not I knew anyone who could show him how to ride a horse on the beach." "You didn't..." Roy stared, flabbergasted. "Well,... why not?" Johnny said unapologetically. "Naturally, I said that I could help with that. I do own a few of them." "And what about that part about having one enough for me as well?" Gage fell silent, feeling the weight of Cap's unwavering stare and Roy's ire most acutely. "I was doing you a favor, Roy. Didn't you say you had become an instant fan of his to me? I thought you might enjoy actually talking with him, now that we can." "I'm not a cowboy." Roy said, not looking away. Hank started laughing hugely and broke off his captain's scowl. "Ok, I understand things a little better now. And that's not receiving a gift for services rendered. I'd say that's unofficial professional advisement on another topic. Have fun, Roy, and don't forget to bring a pillow along with your first aid kit for when you fall off." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy and Johnny pulled up in the rover that was hauling the double horse trailer containing two of Johnny's most trusted mustangs. Johnny put the truck into park and said, "This must be it. The sign back there said Starwood on Aspen. Now there's nothing to horseback riding at all. All you gotta do is relax a bit in the saddle and let the horse do all the work." "Easier said than done. A horse isn't a bicycle. Which is about all I'm able to handle riding wise. I never said I was a country boy." "Well, Jimmy does on the radio. All the time." "Huh?" "Never mind. Don't be such a cynic. You'll have fun. Just think, if you fall off, you'll have me around to care for you. We got the jump bag in the back, remember? And a CB radio. I also got ropes. Jimmy says he wants to show us an eagle nest he's discovered that he thinks no one else knows about. And Bess will be able to handle you. She takes the city kids' mane tugging real fine and she doesn't even blink at saddle tippy seating." "It's not the horse I'm worried about." Roy sighed. Then he changed the subject. "What a name for a ranch. Sounds like a penthouse party event." said Roy. "Does he own all this?" "Nah, he's just renting a couple of stalls here. He said he leased his horse at this coastal ranch because it and its name reminded him of the mountains back home where he's building a house in Aspen, CO. Here." said Johnny, handing Roy his cream colored five gallon hat that he once wore in Santa Rosa County. "I took the liberty of grabbing that out of your locker when we left the station last night. Shall we unload the horses next? Jimmy said he'll be saddling his appaloosa in the driftwood corral located nearest to the beach." "You lead Bess. She's bound to .... nip at my hair again." "Can you blame her? It IS the color of straw.." Johnny smiled. "She's probably hungry from the trip." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There was no mistaking Jimmy when they found him. He was wearing khaki colored pants with a loose white dress shirt etched with an ivy vine design. His head was bare to the ocean breezes. Roy felt conspicuous in his hat. He didn't feel as comfortable in it as Johnny seemed to be in his black one. But then he relaxed when he saw that Colorado wore boots just like they were wearing to ward off the wet. Johnny tied off both Bess and his horse, Eagle to the tangles of driftwood that made up the rustic fence. "Hello there fellas! Glad you could make it out here today." greeted Jimmy. "I didn't think I'd get lucky enough to find real horsemen smack dab in the middle of Los Angeles. I hope your captain doesn't mind that I'm borrowing you two for this. He might get the wrong idea about my intentions." said Colorado. "No.. no. no.. We straightened him out about that right from the start when you called." Johnny grinned. "It's a real pleasure to actually be able to get through introductions this time. I'm Johnny Gage, and this is Roy DeSoto, that other man you met that day who was on the hospital phone." he kidded. Then they offered Jim each their firm hand shakes in genuine heartfelt welcome. Jimmy sighed. "I'm glad to finally be sociable like a man ought to be. I had a rough day with a headache yesterday but then both my ears decided to come back right at noon, just shortly before I called your work place to ask about where to find some horsemen." said Colorado. "I just couldn't wait to start trying to figure out my little horse problem again." "Oh?" said Johnny. "He seems trained enough and he's real calm here, even with us being on his offside like this." Gage remarked with a practiced eye for the black and white rear spotted appaloosa standing before them. "Oh, I wasn't referring to Stud Spider here. He belongs to James Brolin, a good friend of mine. I meant my problem of being a little apprehensive about getting him to take on moving waves. I keep thinking he'll take a tumble or something and pitch me right off. I tried that with him at the lake back home and that's how I wrenched the heck out of that knee you guys found on me earlier last week at the pier." "How is it now?" Roy asked, pointing to his right leg, in professional curiosity. "I have a brace on it. Just a light one. And an ace wrap. I've been cleared to ride as long as I don't overdo it." admitted Jimmy. "It's a piece of cake, Jimmy. All you have to do is point his head at the water and relax his neck reins a bit. His natural instinct to wanna roll in the water will get him playful and then he should start listening to you real easy." said Gage, stroking the singer's glistening gelding's face. "I sure hope so. Roy, you ride much?" asked Colorado. "I know how to drive a rescue squad. Does that count?" he laughed ruefully. "It sure did for me the other day. Thanks, you two, for then and now." "No problem. Shall we take that spin on the beach? Bess and Eagle are all set to go and I've already checked their hooves out. They're stone free." said Johnny. Jimmy nodded. The three took to their horses. Roy, a little bit more slowly. But he managed. They spent a wonderful half hour, rushing their horses through the sea foam and through the ocean shallows, casting up spray that liberally coated everyone's slacks up to the knees. They were starting to cool down their mounts in the sharp breeze coming in from the water by leading them from their reins when a ranch hand they didn't know rushed up to them on a horse of his own. "Jimmy! Jimmy! It's Ike. He's just radioed from his pickup half way up in the hills. He says he's spotted a hiker down from a fall up there. Looks like he was trying to light a camp fire when the wind took hold of it and fanned it up. Cougar Rock'sleadge's burning and we think that he had to jump to avoid getting fried by the flames." "What?" Gage startled. The ranch worker went on, panicking. "I'm glad I found you. I've been trying to find some of the ranch hands to ride up there with me to go help him out." Roy said, "Can we help? We're paramedics from the Los Angeles County fire department and we've climbing gear and first aid equipment with us." "Really?" sputtered the man. "Oh, man. Just when we need ya. Let's go." he said, starting to wheel his horse's head about. Johnny shouted. "Wait a minute. Let's go to my rover first. We'll notify our dispatcher and get a full rescue response started out here." he said, getting into his own saddle. Jimmy and Roy followed suit and soon, they were on their way. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Johnny riding a horse. Photo: A blonde man riding a horse at the beach. Photo: Roy DeSoto in a cowboy hat Photo: Johnny in streetclothes with horses in the background. Photo: The landrover with Roy and Johnny in it. Photo: A hiker down on a cliff face. Photo: A raging new brush fire in dry scrub land. ******************************************************** Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 06:26:45 +0000 (GMT) From: "Clairissa Fox" Subject: Sticky Business A shot fired in distress rang out clearly over the roar of the wind. "Someone else's noticed the fire or the hiker. He might not be alone." DeSoto said, pulling up to listen more closely. "Let's just get there before we start worrying about someone else doing something stupid." shouted Gage, driving his gray on a little faster. It wasn't five minutes later when the hard blowing horses finally reached the top of the wide tableland billowing fresh brush smoke. Jimmy dismounted soon after the ranch hand did. "Where's this hiker, Lou? I don't see him at all." "Right there!" said the older man. "Just under that pine tree on the flat to the right of the cliff face." he said pointed. "All right. We got him." said Johnny, grabbing two coils of hundred foot rope. "Roy, what do you think? Just the basic equipment?" "We're gonna have to. That fire building up may not give us time for anything else except dragging him out of the fire's way." answered DeSoto. Colorado's cool was shaken. "Is it really that bad of a burn starting up? I'm familiar with ones back home. Usually they take a half an hour or so before working into anything serious." "You're overlooking a crucial factor, Jim. There's about a hundred times less water present in the soil and foliage here in California than back near your home in Aspen. Fires always get bad when they get going in thick brush like this. And they get bad fast. So do us a favor; man our anchor line and don't try to follow us. If we need something from the horses, we'll signal ya for it." he told the quietly worried singer and the frantic ranch hand. "All right. I'll tie the horses by the road so the fire stations can easily spot us when they come." said Jimmy. "I'll keep an eye on him, too. He looks a bit anxious to just dive right on in with you." Colorado said, casting his head at the ansy rancher shouting up at the distant prone hiker. "Fair enough." Gage said, sighting along the ridge face for the best, safest way up the cliff that wasn't downwind of the gnawing flames building in the grass niched in its crevasses. They left the others behind on the horse trail, quickly jogging for the vertical cliff face Lou had shown them. Soon, they rounded a bend and the accident slope became visible. Johnny sighed in frustration."Our victim's a city slicker all right. He's hardly tan and there are no rocks above him around the fire pit he tried to light up. Looks like he tried to use charcoal starter in spite of the warning signs about all this breezy weather. I can see the can lying at his feet from here. It's still leaking." "Is he moving?" Roy asked. "No. And it's too windy to tell if he's still breathing or not." "Let's just hope none of that fuel got on his clothing when he fell. If a spark from one of those burning shrubs gets a chance to land on him..." "Don't even think it, Roy. I'm scared enough as it is going into all this smoke without knowing where the head of the fire's at." Johnny frowned. Soon, the two paramedics began to climb the rocks, foot by careful foot. Johnnylead the way, being the nimbler of the two and every so often, he tied off on a snug tree that wasn't dead to be a backup rope support for the medical pack equipped Roy. Theleadge was even narrower and more angled than what they had initially feared. Many times, the two firemen slipped, sending rocks and small dirtfalls cascading to the trail floor down below. Only the ropes kept them on their hand and foot holds. "Gimme more slack!" DeSoto called out as he skirted around a smouldering pine sapling. He started coughing as acrid smoke began to grow thicker. "I'm * cough* almost over to him!" "How far?" shouted Gage, still out of sight around a fold in the boulders. "About twenty five feet." Roy yelled back. "He's alive. His legs are trembling. Looks like fracture spasming and contractures." "I'll be right there in a minute. I'm tying you off so I can send down a line to the others for the rest of our gear." Roy methodically negotiated the bare rock face on toes and fingertips until he found good purchase. Then he reached over to the shivering man's neck for a pulse quality check. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Johnny climbing a rock face in street clothes. Photo: Roy and Johnny climbing in homemade gear. Photo: A man in a cowboy hat, sitting in grass, looking up. Photo: A brush fire burning through shrubs. ************************************************** From: "patti keiper" Date: Fri Jan 27, 2006 2:46 pm Subject: Catch 22... "How's he doing?" Gage asked, crouching by Roy's side. He started unstrapping the knapsack full of medical supplies from his partner's back without asking. Roy leaned forward and dug out some loose dirt and pebbles out of the unconscious man's mouth with a few fingers. "He's shocky. Breathing for now although how long he'll be able to keep that up once the air gets worse up here.." Roy said, blinking the stinging smoke out of his eyes. "I turned him onto his side. He seems clear neck and spine wise. He took the impact to both feet when he landed. See the blood smears? Looks like he struggled then stopped moving when he realized both his legs were broken." Johnny knelt down and got out his clothes shears from his hip holster. "Good thing for him he's passed out." he said quickly cutting away the man's blood soaked jeans. "This lower bone shaft's open and comminuted right at the knee. The other leg's been spiralled. That break's closed. It's most likely his femur. It's angulated. But I've got a good femoral pulse with this." "Do you have circulation in the first leg anywhere below that knee?" Roy said, feeling along the man's upper body for other soft spots while he checked also for telltale skin tears and bleeding. "No. His foot's dark. And it's getting more than just a little cold." Johnny said grimly, peeling off a tarp that had wrapped their backpack's frame. He used it to cover up the man snuggly to start preserving his body temperature. Roy tried moving the pulseless leg into better alignment. "Feel anything now?" Johnny shook his head after feeling at artery points on top of the foot, around the ankle and behind the shattered knee. "Nothing. At least, an artery's not torn. He isn't hemorrhaging badly from anywhere down here through these bone lacerations. I don't understand it." "Compartmental syndrome?" Roy sniffed, thinking. "Already?" Gage frowned, bending close to make sure the man was breathing well in his new left side shifted position. "It has to be that. You know how bad joints swell up after taking a hit. Especially if it's a knee." Gage lifted his head, feeling how the broken bones lay tangled just under the skin. "I'll get a splint. Maybe we can keep, at least, his upper leg viable enough to save." "That's what we're gonna have to do. We've no other choice in the matter." Roy agreed. Johnny horsewhistled loudly, and got Jimmy Colorado and Lou's attention. He pinwheeled an arm sharply in a gesture. "He's alive! Send up the first bundle! The splints pack! No, not the green one yet. The long, flat orange one!" Colorado finally got the right duffle tied off and Johnny began the long chore of hand over hand pulling it up on its rope. A scuffling on the rocks above them sent a small cascade of sand down onto Roy's head. He protectively threw his body over the injured hiker's head as he looked up for the source of the disturbance. A dangling foot of a practiced climber lowered quickly into view. Roy saw that their new arrival had expensive cleats on and he barely registered the fact that the man could only have come from the hot, flame burning campsite on the ridge above theleadge. "Where'd you come from?" he blurted out, helping the man's feet gain a grip on the narrowleadge. "I was about to ask you the same thing." he grinned, pulling something off from around his neck. "Glad you heard my gunshot and came up here, too. I was wondering how I'd get Stuart down from thisleadge all by myself." he said piling a coil of light mountain rope near the cliff's drop off. "Wait a minute. Isn't the fire fully involved up there? How is it that you're still breathing?" The climber reached into his jacket and pulled out a small cylinder. It was green. "With this. It's portable oxygen. I grabbed it from our cessna while getting a few other things I needed and I wore the mask until I got into the clearer air blowing up the rock face. Get it on him. I assume you have medical training. Stuart looks like he's been effectively evaluated." he said, throwing a well groomed head at the neatly split clothing skirting Stuart's bruised arms and legs. "You sound very much like a close paramedic friend of mine." Roy mused, smiling. "His name's Brice." "And you're one, too?" guessed the man. "Yep. So's my partner. He'll be right back. He's getting some splints up here from a pair of horseback riders waiting down below. I'm Roy DeSoto. From Los Angeles County." he replied, turning the dial of O2 on after he had the small mask snuggly fastened over the hiker's nose and mouth. Johnny reappeared from around the corner, flattening to the rock wall with all the clinging power he could muster in the sharp breeze. "I got them and some..." he broke off as Roy and the stranger both reached down to help him up onto leveler ground. "This is Johnny Gage from my same fire station. 51's in Carson City. And you are?" DeSoto interjected neatly. "Dr. Lance Baldwin. I'm an orthopedic surgeon. Stuart's a med student of mine, originally from Chicago. I brought him up here to see what the back country looks like but I didn't quite bank on his suburbanite upbringing getting in the way. I told him not to light a fire until the Santa Anas died down for the night." said the doctor tightly as he immediately knelt down by Stuart's ruined knee. "Still no pulse in it?" he asked them. "No." Gage replied. "You wouldn't happen to have any I.V. solution bags with that oxygen do you, doc?" he said, crouching near with a serious expression on his face. "Sorry. Fresh out. We can always improvise and make some at the ranch once we're out of danger until your coworkers get here to give us replacements." he said opening a small red plastic case that he had pulled out of his jacket pocket. "I've got a sphyg and steth in my backpack. Take a vitals set, would ya? I'm gonna try and save this leg if I can." he said, getting out a long sterile syringe and needle pack. "What are you gonna do?" asked Roy, frowning. "I'm going to try and draw out some of this excess fluid buildup here. If I can do that, blood may flow back down into Stuart's leg. Knee fractures create a lot of clots. If I can remove most of them..." "His foot'll probably make it then. I get the picture. Need my help at all?" asked Roy. "Yes, go get that empty water bottle blowing around. We can use that to hold the blood and debris I'll get out of the joint. But first, swab down the entire knee with this betadine. I'm going to go in from the front." said the surgeon, holding up the still safely sheathed syringe. "Will that evacuation work?" Johnny asked, looking up from a blood pressure he had taken along with the rest of the basics. "80/54.....22 and 124." "Yes. I do these all the time on the operating table to prevent nasty unnecessary amputations. Let's hurry a little. Stuart'll kill me when he wakes up later and finds out that I couldn't keep him from having one of THOSE done on him. There's still time to reverse this leg's compromised blood flow." said Lance. "And he won't get cardio-hyperkalemic on us if I manage to do this fast enough." Soon, the leg was set and the doctor began the emergency procedure. He advanced the long needle under the skin after a sharp pop, until a pulling up on the plunger produced a flashback of thick redness. "Hold the leg still, while I get the rest of this eviscerated marrow out." Johnny and Roy both used their hands to still the twitching muscles of the oxygen starved leg with firm grips. Clot after thick soupy clot entered the syringe's chamber until nothing but clear fluid followed. Gage slipped a hand under Stuart's popliteal artery. "I've got a pulse now." He looked down at Stuart's bare foot. "And there's refill almost faster than two seconds in all five of his toes. I think that did it, doc." "It usually does." smiled Baldwin. He pulled out the needle and plungered pushed its contents into the plastic water bottle Roy held out to him. He dropped in the whole injector set, needle and all into the container and screwed the water bottle's cap down to seal it away so no one would stick themselves on its sharp end. "I like to stay thinking that I'm pretty good at doing knees, boys. Ok, let's get him set to move out. I'll take one of those splints of yours to wrap this leg up myself. I know just how to position this kind of bad break for the best perfusion. Don't worry, we've plenty of time to do this now." A sharp gust of wind sent a swirl of burning loose grass tornadoing around the four of them. Johnny threw the tarp over Stuart's head so the oxygen gas wouldn't ignite the skin on his face off an ember. The fire surged and lapped over the edge of the ridgetop only twenty feet above them making all of them duck into a huddle instinctively. "I think.. we just ran out of time. The brush fire's right on top of us." Gage quailed. Then the opposite ends of the ledge burst into flames. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: A fractured knee being needle evacuated. Photo: Marrow and blood in a water bottle. Photo: A well splinted knee using homemade cloth strips. Photo: A firestorm spilling over pine trees. Photo: Roy, Johnny and another man crouched on a cliffleadge. ************************************************** From: "Cassidy Meyers" Date: Sun Jan 29, 2006 2:00 am Subject: Good Things Come In Small Packages... "He's gotta get down now!" Johnny shouted to Roy and the cringing doctor. "We won't make it running away from here if we're carrying him!" Baldwin swiftly began wrapping Stuart's legs together with his belt. "I got some mailing bubble wrap in my pack. Between that and the straps off of it, I'll splint his legs well enough to keep his pressure in compensation for any rough hauling. You guys just get that rope I set over there ready for him." said Lance, reaching into his emergency satchel for a nasopharyngeal airway. "I got this working..." he said firmly, threading the rubber tube into Stuart's nose to secure him better breathing wise. Roy heard a shout of panic drift up to the ledge. It was Lou, yelling louder than ever. "Get down! Get down from there!" screamed the ranch hand. "The trees are going up! It's a fire storm!" Thick smoke billowed in like a sour fog, blocking their view of the horse trail utterly and the heat began to build. A sputtering spark alighted in Johnny's hair as he worked to fashion a fast, crude body harness. He uttered a cry and fell to the ground as he used the sandy dirt to snuff it out. "You ok?!" DeSoto coughed. "I'm fine. Just keep working..*choke*. We may bake for a while here lowering him down, but at least in all this wind, we've got air to breathe." Gage puffed, getting to his feet and shaking dirt from his head. "I can think of worse ways of dying as a firefighter." Roy quipped, grinning. "But I never thought I'd find myself wishing that the Santa Ana winds would keep on blowing." 'Yeah, well that's one wish I'll join in on wholeheartedly." Johnny said, tying one last knot into their improvised rope harness. "All right, my side's done. Let's get this on him." Lance was folded on the ground, sucking in the cool air uprising into the fire. Stubbornly, he had kept the oxygen on Stuart while he waited for DeSoto and Gage to finish their preparations. Roy crawled over to him. "If you're short of breath, go ahead and use his O2. You can't rescue anybody if you let yourself get into trouble first." he told the doctor as he peeled off the young man's mask to hand it to him. "Wait! What are you--.." Lance protested. But then he accepted that firefighter lesson instantly when the oxygen Roy suddenly pressed to his face drove away a bad wave of dizziness. He let his face drop nose down into the dirt as it left him. "You ok?" Roy asked him, pulling himself nearer. "It's gonna take all three of us to handle his weight with all this bad air around." he said, keeping the mask in place. "Is this helping?...Baldwin?...Hey.." He started to call out when Baldwin didn't move or reply right away. "..Johnny.." The doctor held up a just-give-me-a-minute finger without lifting his head as he started coughing, trying to get his lungs free of the acrid smoke. "I'm.....*gag* ...fine. Don't slow ....your partner down at all." he whispered. Then he rolled over onto his back and took three more breaths off the oxygen mask Roy was holding for him. "I don't have a pair of firemen's lungs yet like you two seem to have. Guess I'm.....just unlucky enough to be in the wrong kind of business here." he grunted uncomfortably. Roy bent lower, watching him closely. "Do you have asthma or any other kind of COPD I should know about?" "No." Lance lied. DeSoto wasn't fooled. "I'll give you a minute more on that. Then we have to---" "I'm ready now.." Lance said, sitting up abruptly. He pulled off the mask. "Give this back to him for a bit. Until he's over the edge. Then we can take it and save it for our trip down, ok?" he begged DeSoto. With an effort, he suppressed his coughing long enough to show Roy that he could still control his breathing rate. Gage suddenly reappeared and dragged himself into their midst through a thick plume of smoke. "Stuart's set. Gimme that." he said, reaching for the oxygen. Lance gave it to him. Johnny took a few pulls and pushed it back. "Here, set it back on him. Roy doesn't need it yet." With a sober look, Baldwin did it. Stuart's color improved visibly a few seconds later. "He's feeling this smoke, too. I still say we should keep the tank on him." "Lance, he's not breathing as deeply as we are. He's got more tolerance then we do right now believe it or not. He'll do fine for a while. Just help Roy and me roll him over the edge. I've thrown a rock. The others saw its impact so they know we're still all right and that he's coming down." Gage snapped. Lance tried to smile. "Imagine that. A paramedic's finally giving orders to a physician." "I won't tell if you won't." Johnny quipped with the same brave smile. They got to work. Roy added more. "I got a note tied around Stuart's arm saying to send up our last pack, Johnny." "Good, we're gonna need it." Gage said quietly, scared. "Need what?" Baldwin asked. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jimmy Colorado and Lou managed to lay Stuart down on the trail in between the horses. They cut his rope away to save time and they saw Roy's note. The smallish square green pack was soon secured by its hook to the hauling line still disappearing up the cliff's face in the thickening smoke. The ranch hand gave the line a firm couple of jerks. Slowly, foot by foot, the pack was retrieved. "What are they doing now asking for that?" Jimmy wondered as he knelt by Stuart's head to keep tabs on his condition. "I don't know. Maybe they're pulleys or something so all three of them can rappel down from there all at once." Lou shrugged. "They'd better hurry. The fire's burning right down to them. If they don't get out of there soon..." Colorado said. "Easy, son, don't get all worked up over nothing. Have a little faith. Those are firemen up there. I'm sure that they probably know what they're doing. Think about it. If they didn't, they never even would have made the trip up there to try and save this guy." chuckled Lou. But then his face lost all trace of humor after they both lost sight of the dragging bundle knotted at the end of the rope. Above them, the fire began to roar like an angry waterfall. They were forced to retreat many yards down the trail towards the roadside. ::Please be ok. Please.:: Lou thought privately as he desperately tried to peer through the huge bank of smoke twisting visciously into the sky. Then the tongues of flame began to rise higher than the trees. "Oh mother of--!" Colorado gasped as they watched in a panic. "Lou, please tell me they're good enough to survive even this." he moaned softly. The horses behind them panicked, straining against their reins tied to a tree. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: *Animation*: A firefighter pulling up a mylar shelter around himself and falling to the ground. ************************************************** From: Sam Iam and Cory Anda Date: Sun Jan 29, 2006 10:39 am Subject: Plume From Heaven.. "That'll be up to the wind, Jimmy. It's holding all the cards now." "The ....wind..?" Colorado murmured. "Oh, the wind. Yeah,.. uh, right." he said weakily, sagging to the ground next to Stuart. "This man's still alive. And he's....breathing ok for us." he said taking a wrist pulse with his other hand on top of Stuart's stomach. "That's good. You just keep on thinking positive thoughts, son. It'll work out in the end for those paramedics 'cause that's just the way things follow through for guys like them." Lou said with a fervor he didn't feel. Then the horses' frightened chorus whinneys splintered off key under some new growing sounds. The sounds of fire department sirens...... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Up on theleadge, Gage was clawing at the pack blindly because he couldn't see very well at all through the smoke, but he was smiling. "Roy, that's 105! And our engine. I know those sounds ....*cough* anywhere." "105's the magic number we were waiting for, junior. She's gonna be our ticket outta here." Roy was just as quick to help him while Baldwin conserved his strength lying on his side. Lance's face was overhanging theleadge inside the stream of speeding fresh air flowing up the mountain. And Roy was still firmly sitting on the rope tied around the doctor's waist."Let's hope she's faster than the fire, Johnny. I don't wanna have to use the brand new aces up our sleeves." "What? Don't you trust 110's brush captain to come up with another smart, effective invention like he's apparently done? I don't know about you but I'm awfully glad we commissioned to get some of his new FS's. Those brush assignment boys of his alone swear up and down that these things work like a charm." "I don't wanna tempt fate any more than I have to." Roy told him softly, coughing. Johnny forcibly turned Roy's head with his hands until he had DeSoto looking directly up into the inferno enveloping the doctor's plane and campsite. "Just look at what we're gonna face, Roy. In about three minutes we won't have much choice to do anything else about it." Gage said loudly. "Come on. No use whining now. We got these. And I know you're really glad you have em, too. I know you are, ...somewhere." he said unconvincingly. "You always trust new technology whenever it's handed to us. Just like I do. You knew that when we got up here or you never would have written that note we sent down with our victim." It had taken half a minute to explain why there wasn't time enough for anyone to climb down the clifftop. DeSoto could still remember the end of their conversation. "....The ropes will catch on fire and burn through with us only half way down. Think about it, doctor. Do you want to end up like Stuart or worse?" Roy had asked. "We're far better off sticking around and waiting for help to arrive." Lance had shut up after that. He no longer said anything much at all. Neither did he attempt to cover up the obvious fact that he was slipping further into a bad asthma attack. He just crawled over to theleadge's lip and rested there on his stomach, gasping. It was as good a solution as any. Cold air usually worked for him. ::Now why didn't I grab my inhaler along with the plane's emergency surgical kit?:: he wondered. Johnny broke Roy out of his reflections with a smack of a plastic bound package against his chest. "Open yours. I'll open mine. And then we'll both tell him how to use his. Is he still conscious?" "Yeah. He's trying to get a hold on his fright right now so he doesn't tighten up worse than he already is." DeSoto replied, keeping a hand on the doctor's respirations where he lay. He tapped him. "Baldwin,..." he said. "Come on and get on your feet. We gotta show you something. Real fast. And yes, it's gonna save our lives here. I can read your mind." The two paramedics opened up billowing silver triangles of mylar supported with tent shaped wire frames and both of them stepped onto elastic cords stretched across the ends of their fire shelters. "Here. Do what we're doing now. Grab a tight hold of yours so the wind doesn't pull it out of your hands." Johnny told Lance. "What? I don't--" "These are emergency fire tents, doctor. It'll block out all the flames. No matter how hot it gets outside, inside these, it'll only be 275 degrees.. Just pull it over yourself once you get on the ground and let it cover you completely. Like a tent would." "Wonderful." said the gasping doctor, getting to his feet. He soon caught up with them on setting up his own experimental fire shelter. "That solves the fricasee problem, but what about ....the air ..*gasp* ..we need to breathe?" "That where she come in.." Gage said happily, pointing downwards through the smoke just as a loud klaxon burst through the roar of the fire. He stuck out one of his hands that contained a flare gun and he fired it off away from the mountain where he knew it would arch in clear air and be seen. "105's already on the job. Just get in. Get in!" he urged as he dropped to the ground "Doctor, you're on your own now." he warned. "The fire's here! Trust us. These will buy us the time we desperately need." Then Johnny disappeared underneath his shelter. Roy had already done so under his silver triangle of flimsy seeming mylar. "Just relax and breathe slow off the oxygen's tank once you're under it." shouted his voice through the shiny material. Baldwin finally decided to use his emergency fire shelter moments before a wall of fire, dipping on the wind, covered him utterly in a snarling blast of red hot flames. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Captain Stanley got out of the Ward LaFrance and instantly, his face turned toward the mountain as he felt the others gather around his side. "Chet, Marco. Circle around and see if you can spot where they are up there. Bellingham, Brice, and I will start this man's care until 84's squad gets here to help us out." he said opening the squad's medical gear doors. "Stoker, get our water hooked up to 105's pump immediately." "Right." said 51's engineer. "Cap. I hope they're doing ok. This fire looks like she's shaping up into a bad one." Marco said. "They managed to find the hiker and get him out ok, but they might not get so lucky here." "Yeah, well, it might not be so bad yet. The only tinder's up there on top. A point in our favor always.. concerning coastal pines like these. Get going up the trail. Chet's already heading towards the ocean." Hank told him. "Radio to 105 with a new orientation if you see any signs or anything at all about where they are." he said with a full, quiet worry coloring his voice. "Got it." said Lopez, gripping his HT even tighter. He ran off away from the light smoke pouring off the mountain slope. Station 105 continued to prepare for her rapid rescue. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kelly had pushed through a thick bush when he spotted a blood bright flare as it came bursting out of the rising smoke column above the canopy blaze. He froze in his crouch and started yelling into his handy talkie. "HT 51 to Laddertruck 105. I've got a flare! Seventy five feet above you directly. See it? The wind's pushing it westward rapidly." ##We see it and we're shifting position. Our bucket's live and all aerial hose lines are charged. ETA to your men's elevation, one minute.## "Come on, come on. Burn those hydraulics, captain." Chet mumbled as he started running back for the engines and squad. "These are my personal friends' butts we're bailing.." he said to himself. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The tall, pure white, swan like neck of the Addison on Ladder Truck 105 rose high into the sunny air and was soon bissected by the fire's thick brown smoke. Her operator was uneffected, wearing full scba. Even before the full panel directed height was reached, the bucket man plumed his hose on full force stream into a massive fan. Supported by Engine 51's ample supply, he sent tons of water down onto the mountainside over the invisibleleadge the flare had apparently fired from. The falling water snuffed out the rising flames in great fountaining hisses and suddenly, three singed, deployed silver fire shelters became visible. "I don't believe it." he muttered. "They managed to get em up in time. But who's under the third shell?" Still providing cooling cover in a curtain, he lowered his bucket to the rocky shelf and landed on it with a thud. "Hey, can anybody hear me? Rise and shine!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny Gage was firmly delivering breaths, using the ladder bucket's positive pressure demand valve, to Doctor Baldwin. The small oxygen tank that Lance had used had run bone dry. Then the smoke had done the rest of its suffocating work. Roy was on 105's HT. "Cap! Get permission for albuterol and a tracheal intubation a.s.a.p. We've a status asthmaticus. Acute!" ##Brice's got Brackett on the horn. I'll relay.## replied Hank. There were no sweeter words Roy could have heard right then, except those. Baldwin and Stuart would live to fly another day. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A ladder truck with its aerial deployed delivering water. Photo: 105's bucket cannon in a close up. Photo: A rescue flare firing off into the sky. Photo: Chet Kelly radioing into his HT under bushes. Photo: A man in a cowboy hat, sitting in the grass. Photo: A laddertruck coming up a dusty hill. Photo: A bucket in active resuscitation, touching down. Photo: A fire shelter victim lying in an upturned mylar tent. ************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Sun Jan 29, 2006 9:31 pm Subject: Walk Like A Man... It was Saturday. Six weeks later. And things were definitely looking up at the Beer-A-Bye-Bye club in uptown L.A. The entire A shift, plus four others, were with their associated dates or spouses at tables surrounding the talent night open stage where Jimmy Colorado was holding the last newspaper promised concert of the year, in California. It was intermission, at the half way point, which allowed time for the down to earth singer to rest and drink water to get set for the more vocally intense second half of his one man show. "Johnny, you are absolutely right about him." murmured Joanne DeSoto about Jimmy Colorado. "His music makes you want to smile or cry in the blink of an eye. And I'm not one to be swayed easily that way." "Sure you are." said Roy. "You weep listening to classical music all the time while you do the dusting..." he insisted. "That's not because of the music, you ninny. You know I have a dust allergy. I turn on that music so I can distract myself from sneezing. If I didn't do that every week, the housecleaning would never get done." Joanne laughed. "Really.. so I married an insensitive domesticator? That's news to me." Roy grinned, biting into a Cheetos nugget from the woven snacking basket in front of him. "Oh, you..." Joanne said, smacking Roy affectionately on the shoulder in mock insult. Dixie and Kel Brackett had overheard and McCall whispered to Joanne. "Jimmy's singing effects me the same way and I first heard him a capella." Nearby, Kelly sat with his sister and he leaned into Johnny secretly. "Psst. Hey, Gage." he said, pretending to tie the laces on his splashy two toned shoes. "What?!" Johnny replied in irritation at his coworker. He was deeply into making ga-ga eyes at his date, the EMT from Schaeffer's. "Is that Matilda Emily Lynn Volskeld? Man, is she a looker.." and Chet gave him a thumbs up before he leaned back into the darkness once more to give them a little privacy to continue on with what they were doing. Johnny Gage just smiled with a smug modest look and started kissing his date once again over a glass of red wine. "Thanks. I think she's real nice, too. That's why I brought her here tonight, Chet." he whispered. Mel blinked quizzically when they finally broke apart. "Who are you talking to?" "Nobody as important as you are to me right now." he said cheekily sly, sipping his wine without looking over at Kelly. "Aww, that's so sweet." Mel said, and she gave Gage another peck on the lips. "Way to go to charm the ladies.." came another silky voice from the darkness on Johnny's other side. It was Craig Brice, still relaxing at his own table. Johnny turned around to grin at him, too, when he realized that Brice's date, who had been late, had finally arrived. "Hi, Johnny.." said a familiar bubbly blonde. It was Valerie, the three kid single mom who's dating stint with Johnny ended horribly during her oldest child's dog bite rescue call. Gage did an unpleasant double take. "Uh, hi." He said the first thing that came to mind. "Uh, I hope you enjoy the rest of the show, Valerie. Glad you could come..." Then he turned right back around, with social niceties satisfied. Then he thought very softly to himself. ::First thing I'm gonna do tommorrow morning is get Valerie's picture out from behind Smokey the Bear's poster in my locker. If Craig finds out that I have that still...:: he shuddered. "Oh Jimmy's dreamy, Johnny. And his voice is, too. How many albums did you say he has out already?" asked Valerie innocently. "Two." Johnny replied, trying to smile at Mel again over his wine glass, without turning around. He could feel his lips pursing angrily at the further interruption. "You know, I think I'm gonna go out later this week to go buy them myself." Valerie tittered. "I never realized that I could get into country tunes.." Then she mercifully turned back to Brice, and started snuggling a blush overbrushed cheek against his shoulder. Johnny had a further thought. ::Should I warn Brice about her?:: Then his better half decided discretion was the better part of valor. ::Oh, well. No one warned me. Experience is the best teacher they always say.:: he said giving a mock mini toast to the air as he sipped his Cabernet solo at the idea. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The MC for the club got back on the microphone parked on the black varnished stool sitting center stage. He was wearing a Woodstock tie dye T-Shirt with a peace symbol in metal on a chain around his neck. He had a red biker's bandana tied around his forehead but his hair was nothing like a biker's, it was close trimmed with elegant sideburns. "Hello all, I hope you all got the right burger orders. We have a new waitress on the floor tonight." he joked, pointing at the bar's newest employee just to embarrass her." No, really folks, Peggy from Anaheim did just fine on her first night waiting tables. Please show your ...appreciation ...the best way you know how later on, she thinks she's going to med school in the fall..." he teased. Peggy blushed even brighter. "It's almost time once again for this evening's very special guest performer to return onstage to finish the very latest repetoire of previously unheard and soon-to-debut radio songs. Ladies and gentlmen, remember that you heard them first right here at the classic, Beer-A-Bye-Bye in wonderful uptown L.A. I give you once again... the one, the only, Jimmy Colorado, folks." and he started applauding in cowed respectful admiration as the singer, still limping lightly, came out from behind the wings with a bright blue guitar to take over. He sat down on the black stool, returning the microphone back to its mic stand in front of him. Jimmy sat down with a bit of stiffness from lingering muscle aches. He politely acknowledged the over enthusiastic whistles and applause coming from his fans and invited firehouse and hospital guests. Then he began to speak. "You know. I'm going to be honest with you tonight if I may." "Sssure... Gao ahead!" yelled one drunk audience member. "I'm listhening.." Colorado chuckled when he spotted the tipsy man, after shading his eyes from the spotlight. "Ok, guess I can dump out just about anything now. Thanks." he said cheekily with a touch of shy embarrassment. Then his expression sobered into one of serious gratitude. "There was a good chance, a very good chance a few weeks ago, that a bit of a mishap could have kept me from performing here tonight for this show or for any other future one, for that matter, if it hadn't've been for a bunch of good, kind folks who helped me out of the unexpected rut I had suddenly found myself in." Cries of dismay from the younger adolescent crowd burst through but Jimmy staved them off with a reassuring hand. "I'm fine now. Really. Thanks. I can only say that ...that ..I have a truly new sense of appreciation for all kinds of music these days, .. and especially for my own, ..because of them. So I figured I'd return the favor, doing a good deed......for ...a good deed received. Johnny.. could you come up here for a moment? ....Folks? Is Johnny Gage out there in the audience tonight?" Johnny looked pinned but he finally stood in his seat when the roving spot light located him when an overeager Chet showed the techie where to point it. "Ah, he is. Come on, don't be shy now. Because I know you're not. I've seen how you work." Colorado quipped. That brought a spate of laughter from the firehouse and hospital portion of the crowd. Jimmy then gestured to a stage hand to come on out with a second stool, microphone.. and....Chet's beat up, hastily polished guitar. Captain Stanley quailed, along with the rest of 51's gang. They all remembered what had happened the last time Gage had a guitar in his hand. "Oh, no.." Kelly moaned. "He's gonna make a fool out of himself. He can't play worth a dime.." he hissed at Lopez. "Should we stop him?" Marco asked Chet. Stoker shushed them both into silence. Bill McConnikee just winked from a rear table in back of the club where he sat with his wife in a private booth. He raised his glass in a toast to Johnny before Gage stepped onto the stage and into the pastel lights splashing sparkles across the black tiled floor. Johnny wasn't nervous at all. In fact, he appeared almost....smug, and everyone he knew soon began to wonder .....why. But then Jimmy Colorado started talking again. "I'm sure some of you are scratching your heads right about now, wondering what I'm up to.. and this is it." He started to strum a few chords of a new never heard before ballad when he remembered something." Oh, sorry. I've forgotten someone. Craig Brice? I hope you remembered your bongo set. I haven't forgotten that you helped me teach him everything he now knows." the singer said mysteriously with a wink at the front tables. "Everyone, Johnny here is about to accompany me, playing on his guitar, during a very, very special new piece that's growing to mean a completely whole new world to me. He helped me come up with the melody during these past few weeks...while I finally got all the words down on paper. These lyrics came to me believe it or not...while I was watching someone struggling to live....during a brush fire... "Folks, without further delay,.. we bring you the next main signature song from my as yet to come third album,......Ladies and Gentlemen, This...is 'Windsong.'" smiled Jimmy. The gang from 51 cringed as the first notes of the tune started to emerge from Johnny's fingertips but the jarring they were all expecting, never arrived. As one, the two guitarists stroked, chord for chord and then they broke off into independent, bright, melody and harmony, interweaving call and responses as the opening measures began, with Craig Brice's soft bongos delivering a light, lilting tempo. Under the rainbow show lights, Brice and Colorado almost looked like....twins. "When did Gage learn how to play like that?" Kelly asked everybody, thoroughly dumbstruck. He sat forward and shook his head a little, not believing his ears as perfect, professional quality musicianship, filled him with ....actual wonder. "Guess he got a few lessons in somewhere along the line. Jimmy did mention that Brice and Gage were in on the song's creation. For that matter, I think Bill McConnikee was in on some of it, too. Did you see the odd way he raised his glass to--" Marco guessed. "Shhh...." hissed Hank, ending the conversation most effectively. Very soon after, the whole club was carried away, lost in the delicate power and beauty of Colorado's newest song. It was surely destined to become one of the most popular tunes he wrote that year. Inwardly, Johnny Gage tried not to smile too big......when it was over. He took the following standing ovation, like a man. Episode Twenty Nine- Where The Wind Blows FIN ----------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. End Credits -- Episode Twenty Nine (Fourth Season) §§ Where The Wind Blows §§ :) This episode is dedicated to the multi-platinum American :) singer John Denver, who died suddenly in an experimental plane crash in October 1997. His messages of tolerance and environmental awareness still ring joyfully in the songs he created for each and every one of us to enjoy. His works still transcend far beyond his own death. He moves us still into realizing the spirit of life fully while all who listen to his music continue to be captivated by the power of his voice. :) :) The Story Unfolds... Season Four, Episode Thirty.. §§ Eligibility §§ Debut Launch: February 1st, 2006. ************************************************** From : patti keiper Sent : Friday, February 10, 2006 4:29 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Little Wager... Rec-time at Station 51 was in full swing...with a catch. "You guys are all absolutely nuts, you know that?!" warbled Cap across folded arms from where he was leaning just inside of the ample curtain of rain falling from the lip of the rear garage door's opening. "I should have McConnikee come out here right now to see this to evaluate the whole lot of ya for sudden crisis behavioral changes. Stress is definitely playing a factor here." he chided, without an ounce of humor. "What stress, Cap? We haven't had a run all day." said Stoker, grinning as he readjusted the blue hat on his head to deflect more of the lightningless shower threatening to drown out his line of view of homeplate by the old engine. "We're playing a little game. Softball to be exact. Even ol' Henry's getting into it. See?" he blinked through thick streams of cascading downpour. Stoker was soaked to the skin along with the rest of the gang, and grinning like a banshee. Mike pointed to the ample bellied bassett, who was rolling with pure doggy pleasure in a rapidly filling rain puddle with an out of play ball clenched firmly in his teeth. "Ohmyg*d... Guys, he's rolling in pure mud!" Hank fretted like a cat spooked hen. "Who's gonna mop up all his paw tracks afterwards?" "That's what fire hoses are for, Cap." Marco chuckled, opening his mouth to catch enough of the rain to fountain it out of his mouth again in childish pleasure. "They're real good for fast cleanups." Hank just harrumphed low in his throat and took another step away from the open backyard doorway to avoid getting his shoes wet. Gage got into needling Cap, too. "Yeah. We promise we'll open up the front doors and .....blast them all away into the street when we're done." he crowed absently, almost giddy from the ample downpour that was practically drowning him. "Oh, and can you do that in thirty seconds after we get toned out...?" Cap shot back acidly, "Around both the fire trucks and everything?" "Come on, Cap. Look..He's loving every second of it here. And so are we I might add. I feel at least, twenty years younger." smiled Roy, leaning up to the garbage can lid that was serving as a plate for his turn at bat. "Just think, it's the one kinda bath Henry'll take here without causing us a major battle." he grinned toothily, blinking away the warm rain's deluge. Cap had a comment for that, too. "Oh no!" he quailed. "Now look at him, ya twits. He's rolling in the ash pile. He's gonna smell real good come the third inning. I oughta order you all back in here right now.." he threatened with a note of seriousness. Chet, just grinned as he wiped away thick droplets of rain that were trickling into his eyes from his water flattened hair. "Aw, Cap. Don't go and spoil things for the rest of us just because you don't like to get wet without good reason. We can't help it if your dislike for fish and what they live in runs through ya like water.." he grinned at his own pun. "Why don't ya come out and join us?" Kelly challenged, pulling down his catcher's mask again over his face and spitting out a stream of mouth gathered rain. "Don't knock it unless you've tried it. It's great! Roy's right about feeling invigorated. I feel like a million--" "Five minutes.." finger stabbed Cap. "Five minutes, and then it's back into the locker room for all of ya. I'll never live it down if we show up at some poor old lady's house on a kitten stuck in a tree call looking like a pack of drowned rats." "I don't think a cat's really gonna go out into weather like this, Cap." Gage remarked honestly with a straight face. The others were trying to hide infectious sets of grins. "Oh, you all know what I mean.. My order stands. Just make sure you obey it to the letter.." he growled. Then he disappeared into the bowels of the apparatus bay. Moments later, they heard the coffee pot jangling when Cap snatched it off the burner it was warming on to pour himself some. The five firemen frolicking in the storm immediately got back into the thick of things and the current play in the game. Chet smiled. "That was easy." "It always is when Cap's had a bad night's sleep. All that wool muddling his brain conveniently gets in the way of his handling us during station downtime. Remember? You know he only gets sharp as a tack mentally during a fire or medical call on days he seems like that." chuckled Johnny. Roy bit his lip. "I wonder why he's tired today... It's not like we were busy or anything last night. Not at all. I wouldn't count the three dumpster fires we responded to as having been very taxing." "Cap? Tired?" Chet piped up, tossing his softball up and down into a testing catch in the rain. "Man.. Roy, he slept like a newborn babe last night. Didn't you hear how loud he sawed the wood around two am? And that was only about five seconds after his head hit the pillow. I think he was studying those mystery books of his again." "What mystery books?" asked Marco. "Don't be dense, Marco. You know what books. There's probably a chief's spot opening up at Headquarters and Cap's probably been trying to hide the fact that he's putting in for such a promotion from us by drilling from them whenever he thinks the rest of us are all still sleeping.." Kelly replied. "Hey,.." Lopez looked up, puzzled. "I just thought of something else." "What, Marco?" Roy asked. "If Cap gets that white helmet spot he's supposedly going after, who'll get his skunker stripe spot here?" Lopez wondered. There was a pause in the storm for a long, single beat.. Then.. Chet and Gage eyed each other in a new light of appraising competition instantly that had nothing to do with the storm sewer cover softball game. Kelly smacked his rain wrinkled hand into his soggy ball glove. "You gonna go for it, too, Gagey boy?" he said, narrowing his eyes at Johnny and not looking away. "Yeah,.. I think I will." Gage said, beginning to grin. "Let's put a ....friendly little wager on it there, Mr. Chester B. Kelly. And may the best man.....win." Roy's eyes got real big. "Oh, boy. Talk about opening up your can of worms here." he said, looking from his far too serious partner looking back at an equally, pure ironized, Chet Kelly. "Uh, guys, you're just kidding about following through with all this becoming-a-captain stuff,....aren't you?" The clap of thunder that finally drove them all pell mell into the safety of the garage, punctuated his feeble statement, soundly. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Chet and Gage playing softball. Photo: Marco and Stoker playing softball. Photo: Animation: Falling black rain. Photo: Gage and Chet nose to nose in an argument on the kitchen table. *************************************************** From: "Monster Moofie" Date: Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:43 am Subject: Who is Johnny's date? Three days later, 51's A-shift was back on duty. The day, however, bore a completely different change of weather and call-outs for them. The weather was beautiful and the station had been run ragged for the last twenty four hours. And for a change, even Johnny and Chet had arrived early. Captain Stanley called the guys together for roll call. After giving out the assignments, he advised. "Hey guys. Just so you know, C-shift has been as busy as we were slow the other day. It looks like we're going to be kept hopping today. Also, you two twits can put 'gonna be captain' thoughts out of your minds," he looked directly at Chet and Johnny."We simply aren't going to have the time for any of that today." Hank said, biting his lip. ::Heck, when we DO have time, I'll be glad to place some wagers on them myself.:: Cap thought. "I'm going to go do some paperwork I need to get done." Cap advised the guys as he headed towards his office. "I suggest that all of you be ready to take over from C-shift on the fly when they get back." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "How in the heck did Cap know about our little wager?" Johnny pondered as the five firemen headed into the kitchen. "He always knows everything going on around here it seems. At least, to me." Marco commented. "Yeah, I think you are right, Marco." Roy agreed. "Well, we'd better grab some coffee and donuts while we can." They all dug in, enjoying the usual station morning ritual of Chet feeding Henry pieces of his donut. "At least Cap can't complain about Henry being muddy today," Kelly stated to the others. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Several hours later, Johnny was in an ambulance heading to Rampart with a trip and fall patient. "You are going to be just fine, Mrs. Jackson." Johnny calmly soothed the anxious woman. "It looks like you've broken your leg but the baby seems to be ok. We're arriving at the hospital now. They'll take good care of you." The ambulance doors opened and he quickly wheeled the gurney into treatment three with the attendants, where Dr. Brackett was waiting for them. "I'm Dr. Brackett." Kel introduced himself to the expectant mother as he smiled. "Betty, please get me another set of vitals on her." "Doc, do you need me?" Johnny asked from the door. "Nope. See you later, Johnny." Kel responded as he prepared to check the mother's fetal heart-tones with his stethoscope. After a minute, he said. "Your baby's heart sounds just fine. He or she seems to be very active right now. We've contacted your doctor and he'll see you when you get up to Maternity. Meanwhile, we are going to get your leg x-rayed and then get that bone reset." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny headed out of the treatment room and was joined by Roy who was just entering the hospital. ::It has indeed been an extremely busy shift for the entire station.:: DeSoto mused to himself. ::Thankfully, the weather's beautiful and its forecasted to stay that way for several days.:: he thought. Now that they had delivered their latest patient into Dr. Brackett's care, Roy and Johnny decided to dare taking a break. They had been going non-stop since their little donut-fest that morning. Ten minutes after Cap's little talk, the squad and engine, manned by C-shift, had pulled in and their own shift had been toned back out just two minutes later. Besides Mrs. Jackson, Squad 51 had responded to : a house fire, thankfully with no injuries, a man who had cut himself with a jigsaw, a toddler who locked herself in the bathroom, two heart attacks, and an MVA. They hadn't even had time to stop for lunch, although they had been back at the station for five minutes at noon. ::Just long enough to hope for a lunch break and then have those hopes dashed.:: Johnny sighed mentally. Heading into Rampart's staff lounge, they grabbed some coffee and fruit and sat down with another weary pair who entered the room as well. "You two finally caught a break, huh?" Dr. Early asked the two paramedics. The hospital had been equally busy and Joe and Dixie were enjoying their first break of the day. Both had been on duty since 6:00 a.m. and had been running non-stop. "Doc! You'll jinx us!" Johnny exclaimed. Dixie laughed at Johnny's paranoia. She didn't address it out loud, however, choosing instead to ask, "So how are the plans for the fireman's ball coming?" "It's looking good, Dixie." Johnny replied. "We've got the hotel ballroom rented and we've got a nice little band reserved. They'll play quite a variety of tunes.. everything from jazz to some of the modern pop numbers. I'm really looking forward to it." "Lucky for us, Joanne and Cap's wife, as well as several other firemen's wives from C-shift, have taken over most of the planning," Roy stated. "They've taken on the menu, all the decorating and buying the prizes. Pretty much all we guys have to do, is show-up in our tuxes." "Now that's the kind of planning I like to do." Dr. Early said with a laugh. "I've asked a friend to go with me. It'll be nice to take her out to a ball like this. I hope this band's jazz is good." "Kel is taking me, Joe. And I know he bought our tickets already." Dixie added. "I'm glad for the excuse to go shopping for a new formal dress tomorrow. Not to mention the fact that I'm looking forward to dragging Kel away from this hospital!" Changing tactics, she slyly said with a smirk, "So Johnny, who's the lucky lady?" Blushing, Johnny stuttered, trying to think of an appropriate reply. He really didn't want to reveal who she was just yet. The guys had been trying to drag her name out of him for weeks and he had been successful at deflecting their inquiries. Dixie, however, was another matter. "Well, Dix, let me tell you about her." he replied. "She's...." ##Squad 51. Stand by for a response.## squawked the radio. "Squad 51, standing by." Johnny answered as he and Roy quickly headed out the door. "Thank goodness! Saved by the bell," Johnny muttered under his breath. "Wow,.. that break lasted almost five minutes! See you later Dix, Dr. Early.." Roy called as the paramedics rushed out the door. "Ohhh that darn radio! Joe, did you get the feeling Johnny didn't want to answer my question?" Dixie asked. ::I'm going to have to look into this.:: she thought. "Yep, I sure did." replied the thoughtful doctor. "I'm not sure why though. I guess time will tell. He's an eligible bachelor, so I suppose anything is possible." ---------------------------------------------------- ##Squad 51, Engine 51, child trapped. 3414 Parker Avenue, Cross street, 212th. Timeout :15:20.## came the call a short time later. Arriving on the scene, Johnny and Roy were met by the frantic mother of a trapped little boy located inside a residence. "Please, hurry! You've got to help my son! He isn't moving anymore!" she cried. "Ma'am, please, you've got to calm down." Johnny soothingly said. "Why don't you show us where he is?" Quickly gathering their gear, Roy and Johnny followed the distraught mother into the house. Leading them into the family room, she pointed towards the floor. A small pair of sandal clad legs hung out of what appeared to be a heating vent, approximately a foot above the floor. Around the vent, was a large, heavy bookshelf full of books. They could see telltale prints showing how the boy had scaled the bookshelf to reach it. Lying on the ground beside the bookcase, was an ornate brass vent cover and a screwdriver. "I was in the kitchen doing the dishes when I heard a thump in here. Johnny was supposed to be taking a nap! I checked on him not half an hour ago and he was asleep!" "There's the engine," Roy said as he headed for the door. "I'm going to get the tools and talk to Cap, Johnny. I'll be right back." ::Oh great, if this kid turns out to be fine, the guys are going to have a field day with me about us having to rescue a stuck kid with my same name.:: Johnny thought as he appraised the situation. "Johnny! Can you hear me? My name is Johnny, too." Johnny called out to the boy. Seeing a step stool nearby, he shoved it out of the way and kneeled down, checking the pulse in the boy's leg. "Ma'am how old is he?" Johnny asked the mother as he felt its quality under his fingertips. "He is six and a half." she replied. "Please get him out of there." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, back at Rampart, Joe and Dixie were already returned to work. Joe headed upstairs, having been called to consult on a case in the Neuro step-down unit. Dixie headed back to her desk in the ER. Kel was there, making notations on a chart. "I just sent Mrs. Jackson upstairs to maternity," he commented. "Looks like she is going to be fine but they want to monitor her for a day or so. And yes, the cast should be off her leg by the time she has the baby." "Poor lady. It must be hard enough to be pregnant, let alone breaking your leg, too, in a fall." Dixie observed. "By the way, don't forget that I'm off tomorrow. I'm looking forward to a full day of shopping. It isn't everyday a girl can look forward to being escorted to a fancy ball, and by a handsome prince no less. " she grinned at him. Brackett was good enough to blush. Dixie leaned closer. "You do realize we're going to have the entire Rampart staff and half the fire department speculating again about whether or not we're an 'item'." she said saucily. Kel laughed. "I'm glad you are looking forward to it." he commented. "You definitely deserve a fancy ball after all you do for us around here. Oh, by the way, be sure to let me know what color dress you come up with. A pretty lady deserves some pretty flowers to go with them. As for all the speculation, let them wonder! I don't care if they think we are having a torrid affair or not. They were going to gossip even if we never spent any time together. Actually that probably would have made things even worse. Then,.. they would think we were having a wild affair while acting like we didn't like each other. So,.. we might as well just spend our time together when we want to and hang all the gossip!" he grumbled. "True on all counts. I'm glad you feel that way. You are pretty important to me, too. Although I do have to say one thing...There had better not be any emergency deliveries or any other such thing this time once we're there." Dixie stated. "With my luck, the ball will end up like our lunch did last month at Manny's." Just then, they were interrupted as the ER doors opened and a woman entered. She looked barely able to stand and they quickly ran to meet her, attempting to get her into a convenient wheelchair before she collapsed. Barely able to speak, the woman moaned. "He's in my car.." Then she passed out. She would have fallen if Kel hadn't been there to catch her. Dixie grabbed a gurney and they got both the woman onto it. Typical for the way the day had been so far, the base station chose that moment to start squawking. Fortunately, at its beeping, there appeared several other nurses and Dr. Morton. "Here we go again!" Dixie said to no one in particular as she started taking the fainted woman's pulse while Dr. Brackett ran outside to the still running car. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. *************************************************** Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 10:09:51 -0800 (PST) From: "Sam Iam" Subject: The Control Factor Kel Brackett had to search only a few seconds to find the car the woman had spoken of. It had crashed into the wall outside of Emergency and was steaming from a violated radiator. He glanced into the back seat where a man lay sprawled only long enough to reassure himself that he was still breathing. "Hey,..what's the problem?" "M--my chest.. Hurts...real bad." gasped the man. His pallor was gray and he was sweating profusely. "Ok, I'm gonna get you out of here. Did you get hurt when she hit the wall?" "N...no.." he moaned. "But I think ...my daughter did. She hit her head on the steering ...wheel." he whispered. "Ok, I'm getting you out of here. Just let me do all of the work. The car might not be safe anymore." The slight sized, sick man nodded and let Kel take him into his arms like a child. Dr. Brackett stood with his burden and moved quickly into a patch of sunlight and turned in a circle until he spotted a couple of hospital staffers arriving to work from the employee parking lot. He whistled. "Hey! I need some help here with this man!" The young intern and an orderly ran the remaining distance to the emergency entrance, dropping their books and bagged lunches, and took the gasping man from Kel. "What happened?" they asked, rushing to support the man's head and airway so he could continue to breathe without any problems in their arms. "Possible cardiac. Looks like a relative panicked and smacked their car into the wall trying to find some fast help. Bring him inside.. Dixie'll tell you where to put him. I'll be right in. Max, get him on some O2 a.s.a.p. and inform Joe Early. I gotta handle this car first." Kel paused only briefly to watch the two staffers carry away the older man. Then the dark haired doctor leaned down to shut off the running motor. He kicked the gear into neutral so he could push the overheating Oldsmobile into the center of the ambulance lane away from the building. Sure enough, there was leaking gasoline underneath where the car had been. He barely had it a safe distance away from a parked ambulance and a squad when it burst into flames under the hood. Brackett snatched down the fire alarm lever next to the ambulance doors. A few seconds later, 99's paramedics, whose squad it was in the receiving space, dashed out at the sound of the alarm. They immediately ran for the hospital's exterior glass encased hose, giving out the situation they were seeing through their HTs to L.A. as they turned off the auto-alarm with a jacket key so a hospital evacuation wouldn't start unnecessarily. One of them shouted to Brackett. "Anybody inside of there?" "Not anymore." Kel sighed, resting in a crouch leaning over his knees. "There's some spilled gas on the ground all the way up to the Cadillac ambulance parked next to your squad. I had to push the car back out of range." "Good thing you did, doc. If this explodes, it'll only take out itself now." "Need anything else?" panted the doctor. "Nah, we got it from here. Go treat the people who own this car. The rest of our station's only a minute away." said one of the fire paramedics. "Most likely, we'll have this out before our engine arrives on scene." he told Kel, pouring hose water over the engine his partner had exposed by popping the smoking hood open with a crowbar from their nearby squad. In an angry growl, the car exploded, chasing Brackett into the safety of the hospital's entryway. The firemen, were fine, having known instinctively where to stand to wait it out to attack it afterwards with the charged emergency fire hose. Dixie noticed the orange flare from where she was taking a blood pressure on the woman, who was still unconscious. "What was that, Kel?" "Nothing we need to worry about. How's she doing?" he said as the two of them began to push her gurney toward the same treatment room as the man's. "BP's low and staying there. Too long for just a faint. Did she hit her head?" "Yes. She decided to argue with a wall on her way in here." "She what?" "Never mind. Let's get cracking. The man she was with's a possible MI. And he's even more critical than she is. Any sign of Joe down here yet?" "Yeah, I saw him go inside the man's room a few seconds ago. He's got an intern and an orderly with him, I think." Dixie said, reaching down under the gurney for an oxygen mask to start on the girl. "You're right about who else is with him. Those two, I flagged down from the parking lot." Doctor Brackett said as he connected the mask's tubing to the oxygen tank latched at his end by her feet. "It's high flow, Dixie." "I'll chart that just as soon as we get back in control of things here, Kel." Then she wrinkled her nose. "Are you ok? You smell like a barbeque." "I've got nothing that a long, hot soapy shower won't cure." he said, wiping his sooty hands along his white jacket's front to clean them enough so a future pair gloves would slide on a little easier. "I had to play fireman for a bit out there with this girl's father. It made me glad I'm just a simple city doctor." he said, keeping a grip on her wrist to monitor its weak, rapid pulse. "Fireman? Kel,..what happened out there?" Dixie chided. "I'll tell you about all of it...later. That's if, we ever get another break in today." The door of treatment room five soon opened after they pushed the woman's gurney against it. They found they had walked straight into a full cardiac arrest response on Kel's man from the car with Joe Early orchestrating things efficiently at the head of it. "Ok, zap him again..." Early said to the attending intern standing next to him. Kel and Dixie started right in caring for their injured girl positioned next to the man once the outer door snapped back shut behind them. "Any recapture, Joe?" Brackett shouted over the aggressive CPR and noisy ventilations being given to the man. "Not yet. Stop CPR. I'm going in with an eppy IC." he told the orderly and intern. "Let me get her squared away with finding a decent reason for her syncope and I'll come over there to help." Brackett offered as he checked the daughter's pupils with his penlight. "What happened to you? You're filthy." Joe asked, finishing his IC injection of epinephrine into the man's heart. "Ok, begin CPR again.." he nodded at the orderly. "I decided to try out Roy and Johnny's other job description outside a few minutes ago. I can't say I like that kind of work. I didn't feel in control of anything out there. Not at all." "And you think we all feel that way in here today, Kel? You'd be wrong. What's her story?" asked Early, as he watched the intern hit the charge button to get the defibrillator paddles ready to fire off again. "A full blown case of daughter panic with a little MVA to spice things up a bit." "Oh, so that was the fire alarm I heard going off...Don't tell me. The wall parked the car for her." said Joe. "You got it." said Kel, checking out the girl's neck and head. He found a small pool of blood under the skin just above her forehead under the hair line. "Looks she's got a front impact concussion. But there's no fracture here." he said, palpating the area gently. "Dixie...." "Already ordered. A full upper C-spine and skull series." McCall answered from the black lab phone. "Ok, is everybody clear? 400 watt seconds.." Early said calmly. Then he delivered his fourth defibrillation attempt on the girl's dad after taking the paddles the intern handed out to him once more. Shock! And the man's body jumped on the bed before it settled down again. The intubated father's EKG wavered into sputtering life with a slow rate of thirty. Early snapped out his orders. "Max, get an Isoproterenol Drip going into that I.V. Dixie, could you call for a respirator for him? He's not picking up that part of things yet." he said, listening to the father's chest for lung sounds not being made by an ambu bag. "On second thought, I don't think he's gonna do any breathing today. I'm reading a third degree right bundle branch block creeping in on his monitor." "I'll get a bird right away, Joe." replied Dixie. "CCU for him or surgery?" "CCU. He's perfusing well enough for me for the moment. I want to get his strength up a bit before cracking into his chest." "I'll take a surgical ward for my gal if her x-rays don't pan out." Kel volunteered. "I'll reserve one." McCall nodded. "Labs, Kel?" she said, looking at him. "The works." Brackett answered. "For dad, too." Early piped up. "We didn't have time to get any done before he arrested on us." said Joe. "I'll do them myself." Dixie said. "I'm faster." she said seriously. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Out in the receiving alcove, it was just as busy. Doctor Morton leaned into the biocom. "Unit calling in, please repeat." he said, thumbing the radio's talk button. Chet Kelly's voice came over the frequency. ##Rampart, this is Squad 51.## "Go ahead, 51." said Mike as he pulled out a notepad from his pocket. ##Rampart, we've a child approximately six years old trapped in a heating duct. He's unconscious and still partially inaccessible to our paramedics at this time. We have rudimentary vital signs. We've found a popliteal pulse of 142. We're assuming that he has adequate respirations. The boy's color in his lower extremities remain shades of fair to good without strongly evidenced cyanosis. Please stand by for more information.## "10-4, 51. Standing by.." sighed Morton. He reached over and pulled up a stool and tried not to look up at the chaotic emergency ward bustling around him through the glass windows. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Joe, an intern, Johnny and others working a code in a treatment room. Photo : An animation of a burning car. Photo: Dixie, talking to a hastily washing Kel in a room. Photo: Animation of a real EKG monitor in V-fib. Photo: Chet Kelly on the biophone. Photo: L.A. Headquarters front door. *************************************************** From: "andacory" Date: Sat Feb 18, 2006 5:16 pm Subject: Spelunking For Children... Johnny Gage looked up as Roy returned with the gang and a slew of manual extrication tools. "How's he doing?" Roy asked, pulling off his helmet. He got out a thigh blood pressure cuff to take a quick reading off one of the boy's exposed legs. Johnny glanced up, very aware of the fact that the boy's mother was watching and hearing every word. "He's still unconscious, but I'm not finding any obvious bleeding from anywhere that I can reach. Don't worry, ma'am. We get children out of tight spots like this all the time. The only thing that makes your son's situation different from others is that ..." he grunted while he pushed and prodded around the child's limp legs.."an application of soap's not gonna be the obvious answer for getting him outta here. I'm afraid we're gonna haveta make due with just a Phillips screwdriver." he said with a grin, holding up the one the boy had used to twist open one side of the heat vent cover. The mother laughed a short nervous laugh and sat down onto the bed next to the bookshelf. "Johnny is just like his father. Always tinkering with things around the house. But this..." she said, her composure breaking again into sobs."..is something else." Cap knelt by her and smiled. "It's ok to be a little upset by all this. But my men and I will have some answers soon about how he got this way and how he's doing now. But first, there are some questions you need to answer for us.." Roy stepped right into the medical history opening. "Does Johnny have any illnesses or pre-existing medical conditions that might be causing this unconsciousness? Any allergies?.. Is he on any medications or has he been sick or hurt recently?" "No.. no. Nothing. The only thing I can think of is that he's autistic. He never gets into anything that would be bad for him. At least, not intentionally. He always listens to what my husband and I tell him very closely. Only this time, I think his overwhelming curiosity about mechanical things got him into this trouble..." she sobbed. Roy looked up. "Johnny. 90/52. Pressure's normal. Ma'am, is he severely autistic?" The mother looked uncomfortable. "Well..he's not bad. M-maybe moderately according to his doctors." she shrugged helplessly with more than a little embarrassment. "It's nothing to be ashamed of." Roy smiled. "I've a neighbor who's daughter has some autism at about the same level. She's the best painter I've ever seen. I have one of her landscapes hanging in my living room." "Oh?" sniffed the mother. "How old is she?" "Only about a month or two older than your son is here. And her condition doesn't effect anything she's truly interested in. Johnny seems to be very handy for his age with these tools. Maybe giving him his own garage workshop after today'll keep him from exploring the ventilation ducts." DeSoto said, helping Johnny unscrew the outer rim of the vent. "That was my husband's idea, too. If only I had listened.." she sobbed. Gage motioned for Chet to give him a flowing oxygen tube without a mask on it. This he shoved under the boy's shirt back through a gap in the intricate brasswork mesh and fed it further until the end of the tube thrust out around the boy's collar to poke against the child's cheek. "Ma'am. Johnny's doing fine for us so far. It's probably a simple reason why he's out cold like this.. " Johnny said. "He might have gotten scared a bit at being jammed in here so tight. He could have suddenly discovered some claustrophobia he didn't know about before and just fainted. His vital signs so far, are matching that profile." "That might be true. I.. I.. don't like small spaces much myself." "At any rate, I'm not worried quite so much about his condition as I am about how we're gonna save all your ductwork getting him outta here." Johnny smiled. "Please. Tear away. My husband will have a fit about having to replaster the wall. But if Johnny helps him, some of the sting will work out of having to do the repair." "Now that's what I call being optimistic, ma'am." said Cap kindly. "This probably isn't as dire an emergency as you first thought it was. Kids getting stuck in weird places always looks scarier than they sometimes actually are. I think we can get him out of there without demolishing anything." "I dearly hope so, captain." said the mother. Even after the screws were removed, the venting cover still didn't pull free, even with an encouraging crowbar. "Man,.." Gage grunted. "This is really nailed down here." "Yeah, but I'd hate to cut this grill. It looks like an antique." Roy replied. Then he reconsidered. "Maybe there's another way to approach this.." He looked up. "Cap?" "Yeah?" "In split level ramblers like this, aren't the heating ducts built double wide for better air exchange when the furnace kicks in?" "I'm pretty sure they are. What are you thinking of?" Hank asked. "Maybe we can get through the vent opposite this one from the room behind this wall. We might be able to spot the rest of him and figure out how to get him out without damaging the ventilation system unnecessarily." DeSoto speculated. "I'd hate to cut into things when we might not have to." "Give it a try." Hank said, "Marco, Stoker. Go with him with the small tools. He's gonna need another screwdriver most likely." "Ma'am?" Roy asked. "Could you show us the way to the other vent?" "Oh.. uh, sure... That would be the master bedroom. I'll show you." she shouted. "Johnny...Mommy will be right back. Please wake up for me. Mommy's so worried about you." Then she bravely left her son in Johnny, Chet and Cap's care. Meanwhile, Kelly gave Dr. Morton an update. "Rampart, we have more on the little boy." Then he read the notes Roy had written down onto his notepad. "Unconsciousness remains but he's got an oxygen supply near him. Blood pressure's 90/52, obtained from a leg. Pulse has now settled to 70 and it's regular. There are no signs of active bleeding or injury. Uh,..another footnote. The child's mother says he has moderate autism." ##10-4, 51. Fear and anxiety stemming from his autism may have precipitated a syncopal episode.## came Morton's voice over the biophone. ##Let's hold off starting an I.V. until you've freed the child and have assessed him more throughly while out in the open. His vital signs don't suggest the need for aggressive therapy yet beyond preserving that good breathing source of oxygen that you've already set into place.... 51, when he's free, see if you can wake him up by the usual means. If he doesn't regain consciousness quickly or easily, transport him as soon as possible. Otherwise, if he appears normal and oriented times three to his normal baseline, advise his mother to take him in to see a family physician for a follow through exam TODAY. Make sure it's not tommorrow or some other time when she decides to go.## Gage nodded his understanding and Chet relayed his response verbally. Then he set down the phone and knelt down next to Cap to help him aim a flashlight deep into the vent to see if they could see anything of the boy's face to judge how his true skin color appeared now that he was breathing in pure oxygen. Johnny tried a pain pinch in the fleshy part of the boy's calf. Little Johnny flinched and moaned slightly, jerking that leg. "Well, looks like he's waking up a bit." Gage grinned. "Hey, Johnny? Can you hear me?" he called out, rolling his eyes at Kelly in advance of his reaction. "Johnny? You mean, this boy is named Johnny, too?" Chet chuckled when he heard the name. "Shush, Kelly. Hush up and help Gage with him." Cap said no nonsense. "Your voice carries better." Chet began shouting right along with the paramedic. But little Johnny didn't move until a second pain pinch was applied as encouragement. His eyes never opened. Nor did he articulate anything new past a quiet moan. "Ok, that's all, Chet. Leave him alone. I got my estimate. He's sitting at about Glasgow ten." said Gage sharply. Kelly ignored his coworker. "Roy? Can you hear me? The boy's waking up a little over here." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In the master bedroom, Roy had the heating grill off. His head was stuck through the opening and a flashlight's beam was fully lighting up the small space. "I hear you! And I can see him. Looks like it's big enough for me to get inside. Did he just move his legs a bit?" "Yeah.." Gage shouted back. "Glasgow 10." "Better and better. I'm going in!" DeSoto yelled in warning. Sliding on his stomach and inching forward with his toes, Roy buried himself in the vent. Then his fingers reached the boy's collar. "I got him! Taking him out my way. Let go of his legs!" Stoker, next to Roy, grinned and said. "I'll go get the O2." "Wait on that, he's ok. I'll bring him back over there." Roy said, leaning his face near little Johnny's to double check his breathing status. On a thought, he checked the boy's pupils with his penlight. "They're dilated, Johnny! And there's no bleeding anywhere just like we figured!" he yelled through the jammed grill where the others were huddled. Then he mumbled to Stoker and Marco. "Classic sign of a recent blackout, these eyes of his. Ok, guys, haul me out of here. He's in my arms.." And soon, he was in his mother's and stretched out on the boy's own quilt in the original bedroom under a richly flowing oxygen mask. It wasn't any time at all before the challenged child was asking her questions about the nightmare he thought he had dreamed in the dark, stifling hot cave that he had found under the bookshelf. Station 51 left soon afterwards, without their patient. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************** From: "patti keiper" Date: Mon Feb 20, 2006 6:38 pm Subject: Like A Pride Of Lions... The wonderous smells from a well cooked meal permeated Station 51's kitchen and the primary cook, Chet, stirred some mash potatoes into consistency in a bowl as fast as he could whip his wooden spoon. The others, gathered around Kelly in a hungry circle, waiting for the spuds eagerly. Gage made a snatch for the bowl and got it. "These are done already." he pounced and ducked with it to the table and the others leaped just as fast into their own chairs to eat. "Hey! I haven't tasted the seasoning yet.." Chet protested. "We can season our own." said Marco. The bowl of potatoes shifted from hand to eager hand as it was dished out. Chet reluctantly untied his apron and sat down. He frowned when the potato bowl finally got to his seat, empty. "What about me, guys? These are gone. Do I look like I need to lose some weight here?" he complained. "Yes.." said Gage, stuffing his mouth. He immediately snatched up a water glass to down when his mouthful of steak proved too hot to chew. "Ahh.." Cap immediately glowered. "Gage, quit burning yourself into a still alarm. Eat slower. I wanna get through a full meal and dessert once and for all,.. and today's the day!" he mumbled through a slice of well buttered Italian bread. Johnny ignored his superior, recognizing a non threatening threat when he heard it. "Oh, sorry, Chet. Here you go. Have some of mine." and he forked over the tiniest mound of potatoes onto Kelly's plate. Chet didn't even blink an eye. When Johnny was still busy reaching for a saucer of mushrooms, Kelly made off with Gage's entire lunch plate, trading it for his potato-less own, and dashed off with it to reseat himself next to Cap for what he considered the ultimate protection. ::No one ever tries a retaliation around Hank while he's ravenous.:: Chet thought gleefully, shovelling in his newly stolen food. Roy grinned when Johnny started cutting into the steak in front of him without realizing that he'd been victimized. "Johnny." "What?! Can't you see I'm eating here?" Gage insisted, chipmunk cheeked and chewing desperately hard in an attempt to fill his gnawing stomach as quickly as possible like everybody else was doing. "Try looking down." said Stoker, chuckling. Johnny did, and immediately started sputtering. "Chet.. now give it--" he broke off when Cap fired off the look of death with no bones about it. "I - I mean.. uh...pass the steak sauce." he wilted verbally, even while his eyes shot flames. "Sure, Gage. No problem. Here you go.." said Chet straight faced, "And here's some extra napkins, too, pal." he added with a smirk, ducking around Cap's larger shoulder. Johnny all but shredded them out of Chet's hand. Cap tuned out the reaction, having gotten the quieter conversation he demanded while he ended starvation. Marco ladled out some green beans for Gage. "Here, Johnny. Have my portion of these. At least, they're fiberous. I like potatoes better anyway." "So do I..." hissed Gage from the corner of his mouth. Then softer, "Thanks." "I'll get even with him later." "There might not be a later if you get blocked up on that whole shitake." Roy said. "Cut it up already." "Why don't you just mind y--" Gage immediately piped and his hands flew to his throat. Cap's head snapped up. "Gaagggee, are you choking on me?" he growled. "What part of 'no still alarms' at the lunch table don't you understand?!" Roy smacked Johnny's back over his lungs with a firm whack that cleared him out violently and the offending fungus sailed clear over the table and across the room. Henry's beefy head shot up from the couch and intercepted it in midair gleefully as a token handout. "... I..got..the..hint..clearly, ..Cap..." Johnny rasped hoarsely as he coughed to find his wind again. "I'm..*cough* fine.." he peeped, downing the last of his water. "Good, now shut up and eat." Hank said, tucking his napkin neatly at the collar so he wouldn't soil it with sour cream. Chet snorted. "Aw, Roy. Why'd have to go and save him for? If Gage kicked off, there would have been more food for the rest of us guys." "You got plenty enough already." Johnny said, feeling his neck for damage. Hank instantly dished out discipline. "Kelly, you just lost your part of the apple pie to Gage here for wisemouthing." "Aw, Cap..I--" "Doyouwantafullmopassignmentwithnolunchinexactlytwoseconds?" Hank gushed lightly with some dangerous speed. Kelly's face flushed bright red just a little bit faster than his lips as they clicked shut. Gage grinned. "Cap..." he said with admiration. "You gotta teach me that dressing down wither real soon. If I'm gonna be making Cap when you get promoted to the chief's spot, I'd better be ready to handle these turk--" "Who said I'm leaving the department?" Hank asked matter of factly, letting his knife sharp glare at Chet fall away. The gang moused down. Roy broke the pregnant pause. "Well, Cap. It's not exactly a secret that you've been studying from manuals none of us have ever seen before." "You know about that?" Cap asked sheepishly. "Yes.." said absolutely everyone. "What gave me away?" Marco lifted his head from blowing on his too hot cup of coffee. "We can't sleep somedays without hearing your snoring, Cap." Lopez shrugged. "On those days, we usually wake up and find that you've gone into the office." It was Cap's turn to blush. "I do not snore." Henry, from the couch, barked in betraying negation. Hank lowered his eyebrows, "Oh... I do. Uh, ok. Geez you two.." he said pinning a stare at Roy and Johnny accusingly. "You're both paramedics. Why don't you ever flip me over or something to stop me from doing it?" "We're usually too tired to, Cap." sighed Johnny. "Putting pillows over our heads is far easier than braving the chill in our underwear just to get up to correct your noisy airway." "Huh.." grunted Chet. "Don't they have nose tape nowadays for dealing with that kind of thing?" he said, scraping his plate clean of the last of the mushroom gravy with a soup spoon. "Well, why didn't any of you tell me that I had a problem at night?" Hank asked. "It wasn't erotic dreams mumbling or anything to tease you about. So why bother?" Kelly said. "I do not have erotic dreams." Henry wailed one out again, this time, two times louder. The rest of the gang stayed politely silent, giving their entire attentions to clearing their divested plates from the table. Only Roy met his eyes sympathetically. "We're all men, Cap." And then he got up to help wash the dishes. "It's no biggie." "Oh, yes it is." said Chet sotto voce. But no one heard him. Gage laid out the still warm apple pie with a flourish with a pair of red checkered pot holders and started cutting it into six pieces. Then he checked himself. "Oh, that's right. I'm supposed to cut only five pieces now outta this." he said straight faced. Chet sighed. "Ok, Gage. Touche. Now let's talk about our little becoming the-new-cap-of-51's-competition in earnest, shall we?" Roy winced in embarrassment for Stanley out loud. "Guys, he's not going anywhere yet. The tests are still a week away for just the preliminaries of battalion chief consideration." Chet wiped his mouth and reached over for Marco's coffee pot. "Well, you know what younger pushier male lions do whenever the dominant one in the pride shows even the slightest hint of aging." "Uh oh." Stoker trickled. "I beg your pardon." Cap scoffed in surprise. Chet eyes got big when he realized that his mouth hadlead him astray once again. He immediately grovelled. "Well, I uh, I..uh. Cap, I didn't mean it quite ...the way things sounded.. I was speaking figuratively... hehehe, of course..." and he sank deeply down into his chair. "Front and center.. Right now." Cap said, getting up in stiff anger, stabbing his butter knife very near Chet's vulnerable spread fingers. "Marco. Go grab both of our Manikin Andys. ASAP." Kelly yelped and tucked them into his lap. "Oh..boy. Cap..what're you gonna do with me?" he peeped. Hank's eyes narrowed and the guys couldn't tell if he was actually being serious...or not. "You wanna challenge me for my job?" he said, not using his greater height to press into his much smaller man, at all. "Uh, no, Cap. Uh, that's not how it's done I thought. I thought that HR had to--" "Directly?!" Hank roared quietly. "Ok... you're on. Let's do it." Chet's eyes got real big in real fear. "Let's ...do...what?" "On the floor. On your knees. Right now." he said cracking his knuckles meaningfully. "Cap. You don't mean to do that..." Stoker said, catching on instantly. "Oh yes I do.." chorused Cap, taking the place opposite Chet in a like position. "Marco lay them out right here." he said smacking the ground. Lopez grunted with the heavy weight of the two manikins locked against his chest with laced fingers. He dropped them and they fell on Kelly. Chet flailed a bit until he got them off. "What's the meaning of this?" Roy and Johnny started grinning and they began to help turn the Andys until both dummies were lying parallel to each other on their backs. "I had to go through it when I got engineer, Chet." said Mike Stoker. "Had to go through with what?" Kelly said suspiciously. Hank cracked his knuckles again and said. "You got three seconds, Chet. You wanna play games? Fine. Go longer than me and I'll help you study for the captain's test even before I get my promotion paperwork in order." "Uh,,. I don't understand.." Kelly murmured, feeling his knees press into the hard floor. Henry thumped down from his cushion sympathetically and came over to lick Chet's face. Hank met Chet's eyes and held them. Then he gestured. "Your man right there is in full arrest." Cap said, poking Chet's Andy in the chest. "This guy's mine. He's got the same problem and the squad's ETA is ten minutes. You have no gear whatsoever to work him past your bare fingers. Got it now?" Chet squeaked. "Uh,, this is a CPR exercise scenario?" "You bet your a**." Cap said no nonsense. "Gage, give us ten seconds so we both can start in fairly. Chet, you wanted to test yourself against me saying I'm the weaker one? You're on." And he ripped his manikin's snapped shirt open. "This exercise will include all the necessary rescue breathing, too." Hank glowered. Then he nodded at Johnny. "An inadequate chest rise will count as a failure. So will mis-counting or missing any compressions." "10...." Johnny began. Chet blithered. "Cap, should we be tiring ourselves out like this?" "9..." said Roy, too, joining in with Gage. Kelly went on, "I mean, what if we get a huge fire call to go on? Neither one of us will be in any shape to even pick up an empty hose.." "8...7...6... ! " chimed the rest of the guys. "Are you saying that you're too out of shape to handle your firefighter's position, Chet? Hmm, this might put a different light on things entirely. Nothing that a tiny board of inquiry can't investigate in more detail.." Chet gulped. "...3....2.." "Don't miss your mark.." Hank hissed. " 1..! Go!" hollered the gang, getting into things big time. Kelly sweated and bent down to listen in a breathing check. Henry bent down, too, with all his bad breath glory. "Eeoow. Henry, ya big bum.. Get outta my face!" Henry just wagged his tail a little harder. Chet forced himself to begin his mouth to mouth, under duress, miserably, and with high fear of falling behind Cap's own dummy CPR. Chet was feeling for a "pulse" when Henry laid down contentedly right on top of Chet's manikin's lower stomach. "Cap.. look what he's--" "Consider him a piece of fallen debris, Kelly. Work around it!" he said, groping his Andy's neck for the required ten seconds monitoring. Kelly whined. "He's gonna make chest rise harder for me." "Too bad.." Gage whispered. "Pretend it's a developing pneumothorax.." and he started laughing to beat the band. Compressions began in earnest at 100 a minute and both firemen worked in perfect concert to each other. Five long minutes passed under the din of the gang's cheering and enthusiastic egging. Then Cap issued a comment. "Just like arm wrestling contests, eh, Chet?" he said giving his Andy a full set of breaths. "How are your butt cheeks faring right now, hmm? Are they burning yet? If they are, that means you're really FAR outta shape, pal.." he mocked. ::Oh sh*t..:: Chet thought as he felt a bead of sweat splatter off his face to land right in the most inconvenient place in the world. Right on Andy's rubber sternum where it posed a slipping danger. Kelly wiped it off with a calf during his next breath cycle. ::Why did I open my big fat mouth?:: he gasped, beginning to feel another kind of burn from lack of air deep in his lungs. The CPR war went on.. And on.. until.. ------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. ************************************************** From: Jeff Seltun Date: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:07 am Subject: "Watch Me Pull A Rabbit Out Of My Hat." Henry suddenly looked up with his ears perking back towards the station house. He barked three times in a new urgency that was very different from the kind of excitement that he had shown during the CPR contest. "Visitor's doorbell." Mike Stoker said. Cap broke off immediately and got to his feet."Which one?" "The front office's entrance by the street. He's looking that way." "I'll get it." said Roy and he jogged off with Henry trucking alongside of him with a firm doggy determination. "We'll go, too." said Marco about himself and Stoker. They disappeared after Roy. "I don't know about you, but I got thirsty just watching you two. What do you say I pour a pair of tall ice teas with lemon for the both of ya." Gage said. "I'll leave them on the kitchen table after I check out what the buzzer's all about." and he ran off after the others. Chet covered his true out of breath state by laughing. "Henry's better than L.A. for intercepting incoming traffic, don't you think, Cap?" he said, not getting up from where he was kneeling on the ground. He was practically folding over his middle in an effort to loosen cramps. Ruefully, Cap offered him a hand up. "Come on. Let's see go what the problem is along with the rest of them." Kelly allowed himself to be pulled off the ground. "Thanks.. *gasp*.. Why aren't you puffing yet, Cap? You were pulling mean sets there same as me." "I'm a good faker, Chet." Hank said, finally gaping his mouth to suck in all the air he could get in a few cleansing breaths. "Here's.....*gasp*.. some advice for .....you. A good captain never lets his men see the full extent of ........how tired he is after doing something having anything to do with the business." "But, Cap, you're letting me see it." "That's because I like ya, Chet. You don't give ground under pressure, in spite of how you might act outwardly." he grinned. He looked behind him and started walking as fast as he could for the bay. "It's too quiet over there for just some casual housecall. My sixth sense is starting to fire off big time here." "Mine is, too." said Chet, following, rubbing away the goose bumps dotting his breeze chilling skin. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy started running for the window framed entryway next to the garage door when he heard a constant car horn blowing. It cut off alarmingly. DeSoto got there just in time to see a frantic woman pounding on the glass. "Please... Please! Help us.." she cried when he jerked the door open and propped it to stay that way with a loose brick from the flower bed. "What's the problem, ma'am?" "It's my husband." she said, trying to calm herself down in his steadying grip. "He's having some bad chest pain. I - I was driving him to the doctor's office when he began throwing up and sweating. It's not the indigestion he says it is.." she told him. "Cap!.." DeSoto shouted. "There's a medical situation out here. One victim!" Gage skidded on the floor after punching open the main doors. "I'll pull the squad forward into the drive out until it's out by you, Roy. Is he conscious?" Roy looked over the woman's head and saw a fifty something year old man sitting in the passenger seat with a worried look on his face. " Yes!" he shouted to Johnny.Then he focused his attention back on his panicking visitor. "Ok...It's all right. Why don't you have a seat on this stone bench right here by the flag pole." She was almost beyond listening as she let herself be guided to sit. "I had to do something fast. I knew I couldn't wait to reach the doctor's office even though it's only three minutes away.." "Ma'am, you did the right thing by stopping when you did. We can take care of him right now." Roy said soothingly with a calming smile. In the background, he could hear Cap in the communications alcove calling out a still alarm. "I figured that you, over anyone else nearby, probably could. My mother told me that you guys have specialized doctor training or something similar to that." The woman startled when Henry interceded his wet nose under her hand for a pet. "Yes, ma'am, I'm one of those trained as a rescue paramedic with the department. I'm gonna go have a look at him right now, ok? Good ol' Henry here will keep ya company along with Fireman Lopez, all right?" DeSoto said, seeing Marco taking a seat next to her. She nodded quickly, her tears just beginning to come. Roy pulled open the passenger car door and knelt in front of the man. "How are you doing, sir?" He saw that the man was ashen and drenched in a cold sweat in spite of the heat of the afternoon. "Not... so hot, fireman. I've.. had this.." he winced in a spasm that made Roy reach out to open his collar and undo the man's belt for breathing ease. "..pain for about forty five minutes." "What does it feel like?" Roy asked, glancing over as Johnny swiftly parked the squad parallel with the car with its lights turned on so the ambulance would be able to spot them better from the road. He heard Chet Kelly and Captain Stanley begin to break out a full array of gear onto the pavement next to him. Bending down, Roy set the emergency brake on the manual stick driven car for added safety. Mike Stoker opened the driver's side of the car and crawled in with the resuscitator case. He unlatched it and got a nonrebreather mask going for Roy to use as soon as he had his initial impression. "It's bad.. Crushing me.. Right under the breastbone." "Does it radiate anywhere else? Mike, go ahead and put him on that. 15 liters." "No." replied the distressed man. "I've had these chest pains before. The docs at Rampart performed one of them angioplastys on me nine months ago.....I don't understand it. Why am I having problems now? They tell me I had a very easy rehab." "I don't know the answer to that question, but a doctor soon will. We'll hook you up to a monitor and let him take a look at what your heart's doing to figure out why you're in so much pain now. Just breathe deep and regular. This oxygen will help you feel a little better." Roy took the slumped man's pulse at the wrist and found that it was very slow. "Johnny. I've got severe bradycardia. His shirt's saturated but he's got no jugular distention or any difficulty breathing." he said, opening the man's shirt. "I'll tell him.." Gage said, holding up the phone receiver from the biocom. "I've got Brackett on the line." The husband tried to relax his clenching fists. "The....only other problem I had was some high cholesterol. The day I heard that test result, I started eating that Promise margarine right away." he chuckled. "But I've never felt pain like this before. It's a ten outta ten, mac.." He stiffened in another surge, gripping his chest with both hands. "I was ....dragging the garbage cans out to the street when all of this came on.." he said through his oxygen mask. He didn't even notice Stoker climb into the back seat to keep tabs on his carotid around the headrest. Cap got busy pulling the leads out of the Tetronix case. He tried to apply the electrodes using the manual pads but they wouldn't stick to the man's chest. He ran to go get a rag from the mop closet to dry off his skin. "Johnny.. Hand me a benzene swab so I can dry him off a little faster here until Cap gets back." DeSoto said reaching behind himself with a look for the foil package. A groan from the man under his other hand drew back his attention. The sick husband's body had arched up into an active shudder. Suddenly, he fell limp and became breathless. Stoker cried, "I'm getting no carotid, Roy." Together, he and Mike pulled the man out of the car and laid him out gently on the driveway, in a patch of full sunlight, on his back. Cap shadowed them with the oxygen equipment he had snatched from the car seat. "Alphonse!" said the wife as she tried to get up. Marco grabbed her firmly by the shoulders and prevented it. "Easy.. let's keep giving them room to work. They're going to do everything they possibly can for him, ma'am." "Cap. Let's skip these." DeSoto said about the manual pads. "Let's use the combination ones from the monitor." He quickly intercepted the clump of stickers and wires that Johnny had already pulled out of the EKG pouch. "Mike?" "I got him.." said Stoker as he began CPR. Chet Kelly started active ventilations using the heavy, black rubber demand valve after he had pulled the other clear oxygen mask off. "Rampart.. Our M.I.'s gone into full arrest..." Roy heard Johnny say behind him. DeSoto sighed when the pads proved to be gummy enough to stick to the husband's clammy skin with good contact points on all three leads. He accepted passive paddles from Stanley who had tackled the defibrillator setup after being shooed away. "Ok, Stoker, Chet. Hold off for five seconds and let me scope him. Turn the screen so Johnny can see it, too." Roy told them as he laid uncharged paddles on the man's dripping ribcage. "Yeah," Johnny agreed while still on the phone line. "Rampart, this will be lead II." Gage leaned forward from where he was writing down doctor's orders and he got his EKG interpretation faster than Roy could tell him about it. "We have a confirmed ventricular fibrillation. I'm sending you a strip now." he said turning a dial on the biophone's communications panel. ##Defibrillate, 51.## ordered Brackett over the phone receiver, loud enough for the rest of the firemen to hear. Hank hit the orange charge button and called out the rising wattage. "One, two... three,..four hundred watt seconds." Roy yelled out, "Clear!" and shocked the man firmly. The erratic bouncing line jolted in a snarled peak but then fell ominously level again. "Nothing. Continue CPR." he ordered. Stoker and Kelly immediately started in again with their care. "Charge it again, Hank." DeSoto whispered hoarsely as he regelled the paddles himself by using some teeth to re-unscrew the lubricant tube's cap. "Make sure his EKG wires aren't touching the car. Henry's sniffing around in there." "They're not....Henry, get out of there.." Cap hissed at the dog tail he could see waving through the window next to his ear. The basset hound dutifully returned back to Marco and sat down uneasily by the wife's side. His instincts were telling him to guard the fallen man. Captain Stanley got his final number. "Ok, 400.." Roy got his clearance and delivered a second shock. The dying rhythm rose up at the energy jolt but otherwise didn't respond as he was desperately hoping that it would. He could still see V-fib on the monitor. "Going for a third, Johnny. He's still in V-fib." he announced in a update without turning around to look at Gage. "It's quickly becoming a fine one." Hank sighed as he held the I.V. bag that Johnny was swiftly setting up. ::Fine V-fib? With that, he's nearly asystole with hardly any cardiac activity. That's always real bad.:: Cap thought as he spared the wife a sympathetic look. He could see Lopez offering her an accepted comforting hug. Kelly anticipated Johnny, and in between breath to compression pauses, he switched out the positive pressure valve for a gentler transparent green latex ambu bag. He pointed to the array of wrapped endotrach tubes in the case with an elbow and Gage answered his unspoken question. "He's an eight French." Chet read a label and got out the proper one and unpapered it, laying a laryngoscope along with the airway onto the man's stomach where Johnny would have easy reach of them when he was set on his medication syringes. Hank helped prime the I.V. tubing while Roy grabbed a tourniquet, tape and alcohol prep to start the man up with his fluid access point. Gage set down the phone. "All right. Roy's ready to intubate him, Mike. Brackett wants an ET as soon as we get him on a long spine board. Kelly, we'll lift at the end of the next CPR cycle. Just slide that underneath him. Cap's got it in his hands. We're gonna need it for his transfer to the gurney later." Johnny told them. "I'm waiting.." said Chet, never slowing on his squeezed ventilations. "So am I." replied Stoker, keeping his compressions even. At the end of a fifteen set and two breaths, all the firemen lifted the husband rapidly by his clothes until the longboard squared him. Then the core of the medical work began. Cap raised the head of the board up onto the splints box just enough so DeSoto would have a way to drop the man's head back for his intubation attempt. Roy used Cap's abandoned closet rag to wipe away a splash of vomit left behind after suctioning. The he quickly tubed the man using the strong early evening sun that was still lighting up the top of the man's head. "How's that?" he said, folding up the laryngoscope and tossing it into the case next to him. Johnny left Cap holding the I.V. bag and an array of sheathed syringes while he checked for equal lung sounds. "Pull it up a bit, Roy. The left's muffled. Chet go easier for a few breaths until we're sure of his placement." he said to Kelly, glancing up from where he crouched low using his stethoscope. DeSoto jostled the ET out an inch, not getting into Chet's way where he was bagging and applying cricoid pressure. "How about now?" Gage paused, moving the drum around Stoker's stationary laced fingers as he listened. "Ok, he's equal bilaterally. No sounds over the stomach." Mike continued his CPR at a nod from Gage. "That's placed at twenty two centimeters.." Roy said for Johnny's notes. "Got it." he replied. After writing, Johnny took back the I.V bag and medications from Hank. Roy secured the man's airway with an ET holder and bite block. A minute later he asked. "Cap, found a vein site yet?" "No. He's flat everywhere on both arms and legs." replied Stanley. He had cut away the man's pants legs and sleeves with Roy's shears looking for possible sites. "Ok, we'll go ET for his epi loads." DeSoto decided. "Yep. Brackett wanted those first. Here." said Johnny passing off two epinephrine 1:10,000 doses that he had cap popped, air squirted and screwed together a few minutes earlier. Roy grabbed them both. "Ok, Stoker. Stop CPR. Chet, go ahead and pull off the ambu for a second." Then he injected both syringes down the airway through its mouth port. "Give him three breaths now. Make sure they're deep." Kelly did so. "Ok, Stoker. Start up again." Chet said when he was through. CPR resumed to begin circulating the stimulant. Roy shook his head at the monitor. The V-fib still hadn't coarsened for them. "Ok, I'm shocking again." and he hit the charge button on the defibrillator until its whine built up to the top level. He delivered the charge, but afterwards, the fine ventricular fibrillation returned to plague him horribly. ::Not another death so soon. Please...:: he wished mentally. Then his knee bumped the man's head as he was setting down the paddles. He let out a grunt of discovery. "Oh, would you look at that." It was one of the nicest jugular veins he had ever seen. "Johnny, I got one." "It's about time.." Johnny murmured as he wrote down another order from Brackett. "I was beginning to wonder if we'd lost our touch." he grinned. Then he set about getting a new course of medications prepared. Roy swiftly inserted a sixteen gauge catheter in the man's neck and attached the tubing. He dialed up a wide open to see what would happen. He got a rapid flow of fluid with no swelling or infiltration to the site. He quickly secured it with tape and turned the rate down to TKO. He barely noticed Johnny delivering Brackett's one amp of sodium bicarb right behind his taping. He was pure thinking instead. "Does he want Lidocaine or the new one?" "The Amiodarone. 300 mgs I.V. push." Gage replied. Roy pulled two vials of 150 mgs and snapped the tops off their glass ampules, drawing both into a syringe. He stopped himself when he remembered that the anti-arrythmic had a tendency to foam on pressure without a saline bolus. He calmed it down with 10 cc's from the I.V. bag Cap was holding up for him. Then he filled his mix the rest of the way into his injection syringe. The foam disappeared. A glance told him that V-fib still existed on the monitor around the CPR waves. He injected all of the cardiac stabilizer and ran in fluid wide open to complete its delivery. They all started gaping in disbelief when the fine V-fib started to grow into a very coarse pattern. "There's our window. Defibrillate him again." said Johnny. Post shock, the V-fib remained coarse. "Ok, it's been four minutes." he said, popping the caps off another Epi 1:10,000 and twisting them together. He shot the stream into the air before giving it into another port on the I.V. tubing. The man was shocked again with the same result on CPR. "Let's go with what works." Roy muttered, cracking open another ampule of Amiodarone. He glanced at his watch. "Here's his second shot. The time of his half dose, at 150, is 17:03." he reported to Johnny as he pushed it into the I.V.'s med port followed by a saline flush. Cap looked up at Henry's bark. "The Mayfair's here." A minute later, a siren began to build from the distance, coming fast from the east. The next shock showed a change from V-fib to a more normal looking sinus type rhythm. Chet checked for a pulse, but found none. "It's not there yet." he said. "Resume CPR." DeSoto said, looking up, leaving the I.V. set at a wide open rate to encourage all the medication. "We'll ready him for transport." "Four minutes since the last epi." offered Hank, looking at his watch. Roy gave the man another loading dose of epinephrine to keep up the required stimulant intervals that Brackett liked his paramedics to use. Captain Stanley planned out their next move. "Chet, Mike, stay with DeSoto. We'll follow along in the engine in case he crashes again. You'll need a CPR switch off with us if that happens. Stoker, you ok for now?" "Yeah, I'm fine. Guess I'm used to long CPRs now." Mike replied. "No thanks to you." he teased under his breath so only Cap and Chet would hear him. Then he winked at them both. The husband was carted off without a break in his CPR to the waiting ambulance. Once he was situated and locked down, Roy rechecked the tube's placement. It was still secure with good breath sounds. Marco quickly got the wife into the Mayfair's passenger seat. The ambulance attendant took over Chet's cricoid pressure hold to prevent the man from stomaching his oxygen. Johnny remained on the side bench getting another dose of epi and bicarb set and ready for Kel's next move. The Mayfair took off for the hospital Code Three. In transit, Roy was all business. Hopefully, he checked for a carotid. And found one. "Hold off, Mike. I think he's got a pulse of his own now." Stoker stopped while Kelly kept bagging. Roy nodded again, smiling happily at the neck pulse bounding under his fingers. "It's there." Johnny looked at the monitor. "He's in the nineties. All right.." he celebrated. He followed up with a blood pressure check. "98/48." He snatched up a smaller 250 ml bag of normal saline and added 250 mgs more of Amiodarone with a microdrip set. He piggybacked it into the main I.V. line. He left it at a rate of 60 gtt to keep up the perfusable rhythm with 1mg of the medication a minute for some patch maintenance. The tweeking brought better results. Roy checked and got a second BP reading. "108/50. He's on a definite recovering curve." All four of them looked at the EKG. It was showing a very good normal sinus rhythm. Seconds after, the man started gasping with some chest rise through his unconsciousness. Chet shifted to assisting him with light vents on inspiration with his ambu. Johnny got back onto the biophone. "Rampart, vital signs are responding towards wakefulness with the rhythm you can see. Respirations are beginning. Our ETA is one minute." ##10-4, 51. We'll be waiting.## replied Kel. ##Nice job, fellas. Congratulations on a successful turn around. We have cardiac catheterization specialists standing by. Rampart Hospital, out.## ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next day, Roy and Johnny asked Brackett how their surprise visitor had fared. Kel replied. "A twelve lead indicated an acute inferior MI. We drew labs and did his second angioplasty, which revealed numerous blockages of the right circumflex artery. He went through a triple bypass last night. He should be fine once again after a bit more of extensive rehabilitation." "Wow, was he lucky." sighed Roy. "He sure was." Gage said, equally impressed. "I thought he was a goner for sure the way he crashed like that." "Well, it helped that his arrest was witnessed and that care was rendered immediately to rectify the situation." said Kel, beaming. "Kinda makes you smile knowing that you've got so many paramedics around these parts nowadays, doesn't it doc?" Gage asked Dr. Brackett. "Smile, Johnny? He gets positively effusive at everyone whenever he thinks about it." replied Dixie McCall, looking up from her chart. "It's a welcome change from his usual grumbling mood, let me tell you." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That night, the gang slept the sleep of the dead, warm in the glow of pure self satisfaction. That is, until something else unexpected happened.... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:19pm Subject: The Cheynes-Stokes Scare~~ Henry began to whine softly in the darkness. From his bunk, Chet groaned. "Oh, for Pete's sake, Gage. Did you forget it was your turn to let Henry out earlier?" "I let him out. I let him out.. Two hours ago. Maybe he's just bored or something.." Johnny said flipping over onto his back. "It is kind of unusual that all of us went to bed at the same time. Maybe he's just picking up on that fact as being a little odd." "Yeah, well, let's just hope for your sake that he settles down." said Kelly as he flipped back over. Johnny smiled in the blackness surrounding them, stretching a little. Then he thought of something. "Hey, Roy. You asleep?" "I was. What do ya want?" DeSoto complained sleepily where he lay half out on his stomach. "I was wondering whether or not you know what's eating Henry up so bad. I mean, there's no reason for his fussing. Know what I mean?" Roy gave a sigh of long suffering. "I'm amazed that you even heard him. Usually you sleep like a log when it's so quiet in here." "That's it. It's silent! I'll just bet Cap snuck off to the office ten minutes ago to study the chief's books again. That explains everything." Johnny said, sitting up."Hey Marco... Hey! Is Cap over there?" Lopez flipped over in irritation. "Oh, for crying out. l- Ok, I'll look if only to shut you--" he broke off. "Uh, guys.. he's still here." Something in Marco's voice made a chill flow down all their spines. Lopez immediately pegged the problem for what it was. "Why isn't he snoring like he usually does?" Marco sat up, and peered the four feet over to his left to Cap's bunk. "Guys, I don't think he's moving." Gage and the others shot to their feet but no one was faster than Chet. "Hey, Cap?!" Kelly said loudly as Roy waved the lights on at the radio table next to the window. "Gage, I don't think he's breathing." said the curly haired fireman, going nearer. That alarmed Roy and Johnny and they hurried over to his bed, and they both kneeled down on either side of Hank, pulling his covers down and off of his chest. They were about to shake him when Stanley shifted in an involuntary jerk where he was on his back. Then he choked oddly and started gasping violently through a half open mouth without waking up. And fell into the normal snoring pattern they all were familiar with hearing at night. Johnny glanced up at Lopez. "Are you sure you weren't seeing things? He's just fine. Geez, Marco. Thanks for scaring the h*ll out of all of us like that." said Gage, hurrying back across the cold floor to get under his blankets again. "I know what I saw." declared Marco. "How could Henry and I both be wrong? How else would you explain why he's so uneasy. We all felt it a moment ago. That's what probably woke us all up." The bunkroom erupted in loud conversation when everybody began debating about the real reason why they had crawling skin. Then the expression on Roy's face stopped them all. His head was tilted as he listened to something they weren't yet aware of and his eyes slowly fixed on Cap's face. His snoring had gone completely absent and Cap lay still as concrete. Then they all noticed that he wasn't even trying to draw breath in any more. "Holy sh*t." Johnny immediately gulped and jumped out of bed and he flew back over to Cap's side. "What's the problem? Roy, is he sick?" "See? I told you." said Marco as he joined the others in a rush for Hank's bed. Gage was just about to touch him when Roy stayed his hand. "Wait a minute. I think I just figured something out about what's happening here. I don't think we have to wake him just yet. I wanna see if I'm right about my sudden idea." "Are you crazy? Let me at least open his airw--" Gage protested. *Choke!* came the odd noise again from Cap. They all froze when Hank once again sputtered and gasped as if he were partially throat blocked for a few seconds. Then his snoring became once again what was normal for him during sleep. Narrowing his eyes, Gage thought about it. "Every minute he does that?" "Apparently." Roy said, folding his arms. Chet was nervous. "Shouldn't we wake him and see if he's really ok? I mean, it might be a stroke or something." The rest of the guys just rolled their eyes at Kelly. "Oh, Chet, please, he's as healthy as an ox." Johnny scoffed, folding his arms like Roy was doing but for a different reason. "Be that as it may, I'm gonna go get the O2. Just in case." Kelly said, jogging out of the room. "Unlike the rest of you, I'm getting ready for the unexpected." Roy sat on the edge of Cap's bed and felt his pulse. "Normal. His color's good, too." Gage figured it out. "Nah, it can't be." "Only one way to find out." admitted Roy. "Find out what?" Stoker asked, carefully watching Hank for any further adverse changes from where he crouched on his toes. "We'll see in a just under a minute if what we think is up happens again." Gage told him. Kelly came clattering back with the oxygen apparatus and he was intercepted instantly by Roy and Johnny and made to keep quieter. They took the equipment from his hands. "What're you doing? We probably need that for him." Kelly snapped. "Shhh! No we don't." Johnny hissed, jerking a thumb at where Cap lay slumbering. "Just hush up and watch him along with the rest of us, ok?" "Watch for what?" Chet whispered, still scared. From the other side of the room, Henry started whining again. Faintly, and worried. Cap's loud snores grew more and more labored over time, but he didn't wake, his eyes rolling under their eyelids. Then he seemed to relax and his chin fell onto his chest again like usual. But while doing it, he fell silent and didn't draw in another breath. For ten seconds, fifteen... twenty.. Roy and Johnny watched tensely, still monitoring Hank's pulse, which was picking up. Chet ansed. "I don't like this one bit. What's wrong with him?" "Chet,...we don't know for sure. But Johnny and I see that he's not in any kind of danger yet. His color's still real good." Roy answered. "What?" "See for yourself." Gage said, gesturing. "But he's not breathing." Kelly insisted. Roy nodded in agreement. "If I'm right, he'll start up again in five seconds.." Unconsciously, the others looked at their watches. Mike stood in nervous anticipation, glancing at the oxygen gear in a brief flicker. Gage was about to fidget himself when Cap repeated the violent recovery cycle of his strange seeming affliction without waking up in the slightest. Roy timed the rate they all saw and heard as he resumed snoring. Kelly squinted suspiciously. "Is this what I think it is?" "You mean about him probably having a bad case of sleep apnea?" Roy asked. "That's what we both think it is." he said, pulling a BP cuff and stethoscope out of the desk drawer. He also grabbed a tape recorder, set it on the table, and hit the record button. "We're gonna document this right now and play it back for Cap in a few minutes when we wake him up. If we don't have proof of something odd going on, he'll never go to the doctor's about it. You remember how he was last year with the tendonitis he found in his hands. It almost took a catapult to get him in to see Dr. Brackett. Now, everybody, pipe down. Let's get two minutes of this recorded, ok?" The rest of the gang twitched nervously, but they held their tongues. Johnny showed pure paramedic skill when he got a blood pressure reading off Cap without disturbing him. "It's fine. 130/90." Then Hank's odd breathing started rising in ever increasing apparent difficulty. Until he quit trying to do it at all. It took everything the others had to hold their own breaths so the tape recorder caught everything without giving into their training to fix Cap's situation with a firm head adjustment. A half minute went by where Cap didn't breathe. Then suddenly, he did, just like he had before in great shuddering inhalations until he was resting peacefully. The gang watched this agonizing cycle once more before they couldn't hold themselves still enough to wait any longer. They woke him. Swiftly. Hank shot up onto his hands and butt blearily. "What?" he mumbled, rubbing a very sleep heavy face."I didn't hear anything. Did I finally sleep through an alarm call here?" "Not exactly.." said Marco after a pause. "No, wait a minute, Marco, that isn't exactly true, now is it? Cap, for a few minutes there, we thought you were one." Kelly said in exasperation. Cap's eyes squinted in a don't-you-go-kidding-with-me look. Then he noticed the oxygen apparatus by his bedside and the cuff still wrapped around his arm. "What's this all about? Are you playing some kind of joke on me, Chet?" "Wish he was, Cap." Gage said, rubbing his face. "We all think you got a little problem coming out that needs you to start paying attention to it. It also explains why you've been feeling so tired lately. Just listen to this." said Johnny, rewinding and playing back the tape for Hank to hear. The captain's face fell from embarrassment to actual horror when he heard himself stop snoring so disturbingly for so long. Henry's quiet moans in the background only increased his fright. "That was me? J*sus!" he sat up a little straighter, hugging his knees. "I sound like I'm dying. No wonder you guys dragged that in here." he said, jerking a thumb at the resuscitator apparatus next to him. Then he blinked as he absently calmed an overjoyed Henry with a few pets. "Uh.. Why am I doing that kind of thing?" he said, flipping off the tape with a shudder. Roy sighed, folding his fingers on the bed. "Have you ever heard of sleep apnea, Cap?" "Yeah, isn't that what people develop when they get a little too overweight?" Hank guessed nervously, coughing. He was a still a little uncomfortable with everyone staring at him like they were still doing in serious concern. DeSoto shrugged. "Deviated septums, enlarged tonsils, abnormal REM cycles, sleep ailments..any number of things can bring it out if one has a tendency for it." "Well,.well.. uh.. What's a guy supposed to do about it in the meantime? Is it dangerous?" "For you, not yet." said DeSoto. "You don't develop cyanosis when you quit breathing because your body fights back and starts it up again before even a minute goes by." "But you probably never get a chance to hit REM sleep, Cap, before you're half jolted awake enough to fix your own airway by harder snoring. I'll just bet you can't remember the last time you dreamed about anything. How could you? You never get into that state which allows it." Gage said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Sure I do. I last dreamed about..." he broke off, rubbing burning eyes. "Well, I'm sure I dreamed something last week.. or was it last month?" he sighed in confusion. Then he sagged back onto his pillow and peeled the BP cuff off his arm. "I'm too tired to think about it any more, guys. Me with sleep apnea? I just can't believe it.. I mean, well,...why doesn't my wife notice this? We sleep together in the same bed." "Maybe she's just a sound sleeper." Roy suggested. Cap made a face. "It might be true you know. Most likely, your dog'd notice things before she would. Because he isn't so habituated. I mean, that's what happened to us, with Henry. He's the one who woke us all up to check you out in the first place." said Johnny. "He did?" The rest of the guys nodded. Then Chet said. "We thought you had gone into the office again to study. Just imagine our fright when we found you still in bed, not moving. You scared the h*ll outta Marco here." "Sorry, Marco." Cap winced. "I didn't realize." "Well, now you do. You should schedule an appointment with a doctor in a sleep lab a.s.a.p." said Roy firmly. "Oh, now, don't go starting that go see a doctor business up with me again." Hank stiffened. "Do you like feeling tired all the time?" Johnny insisted, getting frustrated instantly. "Sooner or later, your fatigue's gonna start effecting your job, Cap. And quite, frankly, I don't think Headquarters is gonna be too keen on letting you get a chief's spot while still suffering from uncontrolled night apnea." Cap seemed to shrink in his underwear. "What do I do in the meantime..?" he whispered. "I'm so tired tonight, I - I, I can't even think straight anymore." he said, his lower lip quivering with an uncharacteristic waver. "And we still have a full day to get through tomorrow." Gage nodded at Roy knowingly, until DeSoto said, "We can do this, Hank." and he handed Stanley a plastic oxygen mask. "Just for tonight. Setting the regulator at half a liter a minute should get you through until dawn without another episode. When you're fully rested in the morning, we'll talk about it some more then, ok?" "I can't use this. I'll look stupid having to explain things when A-shift sees a discrepancy in oxygen tank usage in the equipment logbook in a day or two." "So?" shrugged Gage. "We can cover for ya. I know at least one intern who owes me a favor for letting him go on a ride along. We can bring your emptys to Rampart in the squad and I can have him fill them up there each day until you finally get evaluated and treated." "You don't have to do that for me." Hank sighed. "I - I can always stand up to them on A-shift, and, and- and be evasive. I am a captain after all." "Yeah, but why risk such a glowing record as one by lying to another shift at your own station. That won't wash over well with McConnikee once he finds out. And find out he will once Brice figures things out about what we're doing on our end." Roy told him. Cap couldn't say anything else as a huge yawn threatened to crack his jaw in two. Henry yawned right after him, and curled up on his stomach with a worry releasing sigh. Gage just ended the conversation by turning on the oxygen and hooking it up. "Here. Go to sleep already. Once you are, I'll sneak back over here and turn the recorder back on to see how the bumped up oxygen helps ya. The doctors will wanna know what makes it better and how much. The tape'll tell them." "I can't sleep now! Not with knowing about this.." protested Cap. His body immediately refuted that statement into a lie by making Hank yawn again. "Oh, yes, you can." chuckled Stoker. "Come on, roll over or I'll go call Dixie to come to the stationhouse just to tuck you in." "Yes, mother.." growled Cap through the mask he set reluctantly onto his face. He turned away from everybody and curled his arms around himself as he got comfortable on his left side. "Pretend this never happened, ok? I'm embarrassed enough as it is." The gang respected that and turned off the lights. They all laid down to sleep again, except for Gage who sat indian style on top of his blankets, waiting for the moment to switch the recording machine back on. Softly, he whispered. "You take good care of him, Henry. Woof when he's asleep for me, ok? I can't see him very well from over here." Henry sneezed. Johnny took that as a yes for his answer. Then Gage turned towards the window to pass the time and he let the sight of the slowly rising moon fill his eyes. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Sun Feb 26, 2006 5:34 pm Subject: Start of the Day. It was five fifty six a.m. Station 51's kitchen was in full chaos mode. The gang, except the still slumbering Cap, had unspokenly agreed sometime in the night to KP without him. Stoker took the brunt of egg frying while the others juggled carefully contrived waffle searing and general mayhem with the bacon. Johnny rubbed his nose as he began to set the table for all the food. "Man, are we lucky no calls have come in. Cap's still sleeping like baby in there." he chuckled. "And before you ask, Roy, yes, I made sure that he's not tangled up in tubing." Roy looked at his watch. "At least that worked some. I heard second part of his sleeping tape while shaving. Do you think we should disable the overhead in the bunkroom so he gets in a little more pillow work? L.A.'s morning communications check is due in four minutes." Johnny opened his mouth, gesturing with a fork. "Noooo wayyy, Gage. Don't do it. " interrupted Chet. "Do you really wanna face Hank's wrath once he learns he actually lived through one of his worst Captain's fears? You heard him last night. He never wants to wake up to the day he misses hearing a call. Even if it is just the usual county a.m. wake up tones." Stoker was mischievious. "Why not? Let's go ahead and live dangerously." Gage snorted in laughter. "No thanks. I think what we already do for all our jobs is excitement enough. So,.." he said turning around a chair at the table so he could butt perch on its highback edge with his shoes planted on the seat. "What's gonna be the gameplan for getting him into Rampart for a sleep study test?" Chet shrugged. "We could always hook part of a ceiling on an extinguished fire call down on top of him when he's not looking. You know, just to wing him a little bit into a precautionary ambulance trip. That way, Brackett can get his meaty claws locked onto him a little easier." Roy smiled. "That'd be attempted murder charges, Chet." he kidded. "At the very least. But I don't think we're gonna have to get quite so drastic getting him in to see a doc about his apnea. That tape did all the scaring work for us." "Nah, I'll believe it when I see it." Chet said, stealing a bacon strip off the sizzling grill. He burned his fingers on it. "Ouch!" "What a dummy." said Marco, throwing him a wet towel. "Why don't you wait for your food like the rest of us?" "I'm used to pilfering. That's how I survived growing up competing with my much older big sister." Kelly replied. "What'd your parents do? Starve you two?" asked Gage incredulously. "No, we both like drumsticks. And after dad got his there was only one left to grab. I got good at it." said Chet. "Boy, don't I know that. I'm still missing yesterday's potatoes." Gage mumbled. "I'll make some more just for you at lunch later on today. Deal?" Kelly said, running his seared fingers under the tap. Then he shook his head. "Man I never thought I'd see the day where I renegged on a food snatch. Mark it as a landmark moment everybody." No one did. Then Stoker did a Radar O'Reilly. "Wait for it. Not for us.." ##Rrawww OOO EEeeeeeeo.#### said the SCU tones. ##This is L.A. testing with Stations, 24, 99, 18, 110, 8 and 51. Your time check is now 0700.## declared the speaker grill. A minute later, they all heard the clattering of the oxygen apparatus as Cap put it away back into the squad's gear stow. Hank soon shuffled in and sat down, fully dressed in uniform. He looked self conscious for only a moment, thinking about what had happened to him in the night but then he said, "I put the empty tank away and covered the top of it with a biobag so you guys won't accidentally grab it on a medical call." he said to Roy and Johnny. "Thanks, Cap." said Roy, not looking up intentionally from his folded newspaper. Then Gage neatly changed the subject. "So, who's ready for the Fireman's Ball? I got my tux rented." Marco smiled. "I am. My mother's gonna pick it up for me today from the rental place at one since I'm working." "That was nice of her." said Cap. "Wish my wife would pick up mine." Chet frowned. "What's wrong with the one you wore at your brother's wedding? I thought that one looked just fine, Cap." "The wife doesn't like gray." shrugged Cap, dishing out some peaches from the large can opened on the table into his bowl. "She says it'll clash with everything she's got in the closet." "Well, there's no accounting for taste these days." said Chet "I think she just doesn't realize the impeccable fashion sense you possess, Cap." Cap set down his spoon. "Are you saying that to try and butter me up into helping you study for the captain's test?" "Yes." said Gage. "Shut up, Gage." said Chet with no sting. "I'm brown nosing here." "It's not gonna work.." Johnny said relentlessly. "Cap doesn't like that kind of thing." "I don't like fake sentiment either, Johnny. So don't buddy up to me by reverse association. I'm onto you as well. If you want help studying, the same resuscitation challenge's waiting for you." he said. "No thanks. I know my own abilities with that and how good a student I make while studying on my own." "I'll vouch for that." said Roy. "He did graduate paramedic class at the top of the pile." "Who's side are you on, Roy?" Kelly wondered sarcastically. "His." DeSoto said, pointing at Johnny while chewing without breaking off from his reading. "He's the better man for the possible captaincy here." "What makes you say that?" asked Cap in amusement to Chet's chagrin. "Maybe it's because I know him so well. Anybody with bad habits as transparent as his has gotta have something going for him inside any command chain. Any men who find themselves under him will see right through those and automatically learn the good habits." "Thanks a lot for the personality profile, Pal." Johnny told Roy. "If that's true, then how do you explain him?" And he jerked a thumb at the pondering Chet. Stoker did another precog. "This one's us..." he warned. Then Henry barked. The gang got to their feet, abandoning breakfast. "Rrawww OOO EEeeeeeeo." said the SCU tones. ##Station 51. Unknown type rescue. 1457 Marx Way. 1457 Marx Way. Cross street. Jefferson St. Time out : 0709.## Cap muttered as he pulled on his turnout coat. "That sounds like a house address." "It is.." said Stoker, fingering the wall map for a route trace. "It's in the West Carson neighborhood by the ballpark." The station rolled out. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Cap getting on suspenders and trunks. Photo: Stoker and Chet eating. Photo: Gage worried and listening to Roy on squad bumper. Photo: The tones speaker. Photo: Stoker pulling out of the bay at the wheel of Engine 51. Photo: Both the engine and squad rolling down the highway. ************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Wed Mar 1, 2006 11:02 pm Subject: Sleep Eternal... Roy and Johnny were two minutes into the trip when Johnny said, "Man, I got a real bad feeling about this one." he said, rubbing his lips nervously. "Hair's prickling on the back of my neck." "Are you sure it isn't because of the word 'unknown' being used on a call. That's all it takes for me. It's only slightly better than responding to a domestic disturbance and getting there before any police arrive." Roy said, gripping the steering wheel. "It's more than that, Roy. I haven't felt like this since I looked down and realized that it was my best friend lying in pieces on the side of the road in a patrolman's uniform." "You're just tired, that's all. We did have a restless night thinking about Cap and how to best monitor him last night." Roy smiled in an attempt to cheer him. "I saw the way you were still watching him when I got up this morning. You didn't have to do that. He was just fine. And so are you right now." "Then why do I feel like I have to throw up?" Gage asked with a little fear. "A lack of sleep doesn't explain that away at all." The two said nothing while Roy simultaneously kept tabs on the engine speeding at a safe distance behind them and the turns they were carefully taking as Johnny directed their route by pointing, nervously. An unwelcome tension began to permeate the squad. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Captain Stanley tried to ease the anxiety quotient on their rescue call. He contacted Headquarters. "L.A., This is engine 51." ##Go ahead, Engine 51.## "Do you have any more information regarding the nature of our current call?" ##Engine 51. Negative. Your response was designated as unknown when the caller left the operator on an open line. However, I've notified the police. A squad car is responding to the same address. Their approximate ETA is two and a half minutes.## "10-4, L.A. Engine 51 out. Will advise upon arrival." sighed Hank. He shook his head at Stoker to share mutual frustration while the engineer skillfully maneuvered the Ward through the busy traffic surrounding them. Dawn had burned away into full daylight when there was no more distance or time left for which they had to wait. Cap saw the squad jam its tires up against the curb and park there. As protocol demanded, they didn't immediately get out. Instead, they watched and listened for a response from inside the house reacting to the sounds of their sirens. But Stoker's blasting airhorn summoned no one's face to either window by the door when they turned them all off to listen. Just then, Vince pulled up in his squad car and drew out his gun. "Wait right there until I check it out, boys.." he said. "Turn down your radio scanner for a minute, all right?" Hank nodded and gestured a glove at Mike to lower the volume quickly. Then everybody got out on the street side of their vehicles. They watched as Howard hugged the bushes, keeping under close concealment as he moved towards the house's white painted porch. He found the front door open and went inside, his gun preceding him. Peering around the engine's fender, Cap held the others back and got on his HT. "Engine 51, to squad 51. Stay behind the squad until we get word from Vince to follow. Get all the gear you can reach over there on that side of the truck only.." he ordered. ##HT 51, to Engine 51. We're standing by.## said Gage into his own HT with every syllable of his answer showing how unhappy he was at having to freeze in place and not act on anything. He smacked a frustrated glove against the mirror frame of the driver's door where he was crouched next to Roy. "Easy." said DeSoto. "We'll get in there and at an answer soon enough. You know how this works." Johnny ignored him and pulled the resuscitator apparatus even closer to his side. Then, a shadow appeared in the doorway. It was Vince, waving them in. L.A.'s voice erupted over the loud speakers of both trucks and all their walkie talkies. ##Station 51. LAPD reports a child call with a mother in attendance.## "10-4, dispatch an ambulance times one to our location as soon as possible." confirmed Hank over the radio. "We've no fire." ##Engine 51.## "Go..guys.. Move it." Cap said unnecessarily to the others as he helped carry the EKG monitor and defibrillator while they gathered the rest of the squad's medical equipment and followed the rushing paramedics. Vince said. "The baby's not breathing. But mom seems to have been trained well enough. She's doing some pretty good CPR on her." Without another word, the gang entered the house and got into the bedroom Vince indicated. It was a sheer shock when the mother looked up in almost blind terror. "Roy? Johnny?" she whispered hoarsely. "What took you so long? I...can't get ..my daughter going anymore." she sobbed through stringy sweat soaked hair. Gage and DeSoto startled as they ran to the bed when Chet said something that explained the mother's odd familiarity towards them. "Karen Overstreet?" It was the paramedic trainee who had saved Roy's life the day he got electrocuted and fell off of a rooftop two years ago. Captain Stanley immediately grabbed her shoulders. "Hand her over to them, Karen. Let them see her." he told her firmly, pulling her hands away from a small, limp infant who was only weeks old from where she lay on the blanket rumpled bed. "They can help her now." "No!!" she said, trying to pull her daughter back. Vince got her away from the firefighters and gently tripped her leg so she would fall seated into a nearby chair. "Jennifer..?!" Karen screamed, trying to get up again. She was restrained by both Marco and Vince instantly. "Let me go!.." Roy immediately saw the tiny child's bluish color and he placed a stethoscope over the baby's chest. He shook his head at Johnny and quickly started manual CPR, nodding to the others to get out the neonate resuscitation gear while he gave the baby careful breaths through his lips and restarted light compressions using his thumbs while he worked the baby on top of the defibrillator case. There would be no using that equipment, Johnny knew. The child's body size was far too small to handle even its lowest shock setting. Gage lowered his voice to calm her when Karen finally stopped fighting Vince and Lopez's grip and giving into hysterics. "Karen.. Karen. We're getting her on some oxygen right now." he said, watching Cap and Chet getting some set up and flowing into a newborn's ambu bag. "You gotta tell us all you know about what's happened. How long do you think she was down without a pulse before you found her?" he asked, holding her arms tightly by the shoulders. "I don't know. I don't know.." Karen cried, only being able to focus now on the floor in front of her bare feet. Gage gripped her chin and forced it up until she met his eyes. "Johnny, I'm so scared..." she gasped, sucking in a ragged breath. "Easy, Karen. We're here now. It's ok to be frightened. But you gotta guess what time was it when you first noticed that your baby was in trouble." Gage told her firmly. A second startling sight above them almost dragged his attention away from Karen when his eyes spotted the paramedic's certificate hanging on a frame and a medal of valor for fire services rendered, perched in a case next to it on a bookshelf. ::Well, I'll be, she made it through the program and then some.:: he thought. He fought and regained his focus in seconds. Overstreet trembled, grabbing onto Johnny's gripping hand with both of her trembling ones."She was asleep, that's all. Jeff just left for work. I.. uh, it was ..then was six. He always leaves at six." she said, in fear. Johnny soothed her. "Tell me more. Then I gotta get over there to help Roy out with her." Karen just about fell apart, trying to keep herself talking. "Ok..*gasp* ..ok.. I think the time was 2:00 a.m. when Jeff came to bed. I don't know exactly at what time I awoke, but I reached for Jenny. Just something that I always do. I reach out and touch my children when they're sleeping with me. I was groggy but she felt so cool. I thought she had just kicked the covers off. So I went to reposition her and snuggle her up against me. When I did, I could tell something was wrong. She was so limp..." she sobbed. "Oh, Johnny,.. I remember so many things about that moment. Her little face was turned in toward the sheet, but I don't actually know if it was that way before I started to reposition her or if my repositioning did that. When I first reached out to rearrange her I didn't have my eyes open. I scooped Jenny up, turned the light on and I said, 'Jenny's cold... Jeff?' But he had already left." "After six am? Or was it later? Your call reached us at 0709, Karen." Hank asked from where he crouched over the bed, watching Chet work the bag while he himself did CPR with his thumbs over the breastbone, his large hands encircling Jennifer's tiny chest. "It's important for the doctors to know--" "Don't you think I know that!" she screamed. "You guys supposedly taught me everything I know." she cried bitterly. "You made me into one of you and I went kicking and fighting all the way!" The firefighters fell silent, working only for the child. Stoker spoke up softly while he set up the biophone. "Karen, we're not going to lie to you. It's bad, but she may still have a chance. We have to find out whether or not Jennifer may be a victim of SIDS or not, in order to treat her more effectively." But Overstreet was beyond listening. She mumbled. "I remembered that your station's rescue squad was less than a mile from my house, so I dialed the operator and I told her.. 'Oh, G*d! Please hurry!.' They've got to come. I said to myself. They've got to come fast..." she sobbed, rocking her face against her knees. "Then I don't remember anything, guys. I can't even remember now.." she cried, fresh tears re-staining her face. Vince took a quilt off of a love seat and covered her up. "I'll go call mobile crisis from the hotline for her to meet us at the hospital." he offered. "I'll try to track down Jeff, too. Won't be hard. Looks like she's married." he said, tucking in Karen's left hand under the blanket where she sat dazed and rocking and twisting the wedding band on her finger numbly. "Mike, keep an eye on her. Watch her for further signs of shock after you're through with your initial hail to Rampart." Hank ordered. Stoker hurried to obey. Vince had a million thoughts running through his head. ::Observe the scene. Take note of what was moved and how. The final determination of SIDS as the cause of the baby's problem will be based on possible evidence at the scene.:: he chided to himself. ::Just because we're hastening to resuscitate the infant, evidence can easily be destroyed and valuable information lost. Document what you found when you arrived; it may prove invaluable later. Remember the beginning? We needed to move the patient, and a few other things in the room, like the mother. Note it! Then go out and lock your car. You're going with them. But first, clean up the mess being made. Last thing this mother needs are reminders of today when she returns back home again.:: Karen spoke up as she felt Johnny leave her side for the bed. "ALTE! She's got ALTE..It's come three times before." she gushed, struggling to stop shivering. "Got it.." said Johnny as he took the phone from Mike. He spoke softly to the doctor who had answered the call. "Rampart, this is Squad 51." ##Go, ahead, 51.## replied Joe Early. "Rampart we have a female infant less than eight weeks, down. She has a history of multiple apparent life-threatening event incidences. Uh, the mother was performing effective first aid upon our arrival. We've no vital signs, but there isn't clear evidence ruling in algor mortis. Livor mortis is not apparent either. CPR on one hundred 02 is in progress." Gage told him. ##10-4, 51. Start an I.V. of Ringer's Lactate, O.S and give a 5 ml/kg fluid bolus. Make sure you angle your needle to avoid damaging the epiphyseal plate. Establish an endotrachael airway and deliver by intraosseous infusion: 0.01 mg/kg of 1:1,000 solution epinephrine. If there's no response in three minutes, make your second and subsequent doses 0.1 mg/kg of 1:1,000 solution. Repeat every 3-5 minutes. Get me a cardiac reading from more than one lead. "Administer sodium bicarb as a one time bolus 1ml.kg-1 of an 8.4% solution if you're absolutely sure the child is being effectively ventilated or paradoxical intracellular acidosis will result. Transport as soon as possible continuing full resuscitation en route.## said Joe. Gage repeated the orders he had written down. He eyeballed Roy. "Epi, .01 of 1:1,000 through her tibia, Roy. I'll get her ET in a sec after Rampart's got her half minute strip. Bolus in an 8.4% solution bicarb neonate O.S." The paramedics tried not to look at the absolutely flat asystole scrolling across the screen as the tube threaded down too easily. Cap resumed compressions while Kelly ventilated and the paramedics delivered all their death correcting medications in rapid sequence. Stoker ran back in with a KED short board and Jennifer was transferred onto that and physically bandaged to it using soft gauze rollers by her head, upper legs and armpits without hindering her CPR. Karen followed them out the door and jumped into the passenger side of the Mayfair's work door. She took to the rider bench immediately and Vince sat with her with Mike Stoker on the other side. They didn't stop her from holding Jennifer's hand and made ample room for her while they worked fast to secure fluid lines, cardiac wires and oxygen over the small baby. Chet traded his ventilating spot at the baby's head with the non-driving ambulance attendant. "Do your best." he whispered in his ear. "We know the mother." Then he was gone to drive the squad in, with Marco following, driving the engine. Roy relieved Cap from his two fingered compressions and watched as Cap got out of the ambulance and closed the doors between them. Two slaps came soon afterwards and then the Mayfair took off code three. Hank Stanley's lanky form dwindled in the window to a tan spot on gray asphalt. He was the very picture of the grief they all felt starting to rip through the tenderest parts of their souls. Roy didn't know at what point Karen quit listening to them when she realized that her daughter was going to die. ::She knows we're not going to be able to save her.:: he thought. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the hospital, Karen Overstreet sat in the waiting room, waiting. Rocking, praying, bargaining with God. ::It didn't work.:: a small voice with no sound shouted at her. She remembered few things of the ride in to Rampart. The corner streetlight was backed up where she normally turned at with patients, while she was working her station shifts. ::That driver took a different route to get us here. Working in EMS, we know lots of short cuts.:: she thought numbly. She watched as a very concerned, professionally smiling Dixie tried to reach her husband who worked sixty miles away to tell him that Jennifer had been taken in to the hospital. ::Wasn't I just grand? When we pulled up at the entrance I sure ran in the ER entrance like I owned the place.:: Karen's mind started crying. ::I have to get to Jennifer soon, she's probably so scared. I have to see those big blue eyes light up at me.:: Overstreet blew her nose. Then she looked up and let the quilt from home drop from her shoulders. ::That police officer's taking my hand.:: Then Karen knew she was in real trouble. Two other doctors flanked her sides and she remembered someone touching her elbow as they told her in the ER hallway that Jennifer didn't make it. Karen saw a tech come out of the room at that moment with a grim look on his face carrying a pediatric cardiac pacer tray. It still had the blinking battery unit on it. ::Oh G*d they had to heart stab my little baby!:: Karen started crying softly. "I have to see her! This can't be real. I promise I won't start screaming or faint." she told them. Overstreet could feel that her daughter was gone but she didn't believe it. She watched with detachment as theylead her into the nurses' lounge and told her that she could call anyone she needed to. There were others in the room that she recognized as the hospital chaplain, and the family crisis counselor from the ninth floor. Karen ignored Dixie as she gripped the red phone. "Jeff, I need you here, now." ##False alarm, huh?## asked Mr. Overstreet. Karen couldn't reply, his statement had caused the second biggest blow to her soul in as many minutes. A small whimper trickled from her lips as tears blinded her. "What should I say?" Karen asked the chaplain. ##Just tell me, Karen.## demanded Jeff, growing alarmed. Mrs. Overstreet did very quickly and she heard and felt Jeff falling to the ground to scream in pain through the phone. At that moment Karen thought. ::I want to launch the rescue helicopter to go and get him.:: But out loud she said, "Please don't let him drive in such an upset condition." she told them all. Her own voice sounded so calm in her ears, that it amazed her. "He'll just hurt himself more." she said, hanging up the phone receiver. Vince replied. "I'll go get him, ma'am, if you'll give me the address." Numbly, Karen handed it to him from her purse. "Thank you." she told him as he left. Karen didn't think she could breathe another minute being so far away from her husband even though she was surrounded by two doctors, so she desperately started talking again. "What exactly did you do for Jennifer? I'm....trying to reconstruct what happened. You see, I just completed a neonatal resuscitation course a few weeks ago and I want to make sure .." her face twisted in pain as the white hot grief she had prevented knotted up once more in her throat.."that you did everything correct." The tears came then, unrelenting. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Roy and Johnny and Cap went into the room with Karen. The police officer, Vince Howard, was guarding her door. The baby was so tiny ...laying on the stretcher in the ER. Dixie handed Jennifer to Karen and they watched her sink to the floor rocking her baby in her arms. Within moments, the chaplain entered the room with Jeff Overstreet and he started praying with and for all three of them. Roy's face was a mask of pain. ::My insides are tearing apart. I've never in my life hurt so much as holding that baby's lifeless body.:: he thought looking at her. Jennifer's eyes were ever so slightly open and she was still pinkish; just a tinge of blue at her eyes and lips. Karen's mind wailed. "Oh, I want to look at her tummy, arms, back, and everything. But I'm so scared. I'm scared that she won't look the way that she should. I want to change her diaper." She didn't. "I want to nurse her!" She couldn't. Johnny saw her shrivel and felt horrible, too. ::So much physical pain comes with emotional pain. And there's not a d*mned thing I can do about it.:: he thought. Then he went to crouch down next to Karen, just to be near in support. Gently, he combed a few fingers through Jennifer's hair to neaten it with a soft caress. Cap turned quickly away and had to leave the room before it became too much for him to bear. Karen's mind raced. "Why couldn't it have been me?! What did or didn't I do?!" she demanded of Jeff and the chaplain and Dixie. Now it was guilt's turn to rule her. "I just want to hold her forever. I don't want to see death come!" she sobbed. "Please bring her back. Please. Oh, Jennifer... I'm so sorry...." she said, flooding her infant daughter's still face with kisses. Time both crept and sped by for Karen. Jeff had left the hospital for a little while because he wanted to go home and hold his two older daughters and get them out of school. Karen understood that, but knew, too, that she couldn't leave Jennifer.. Mrs. Overstreet had to go several times to the bathroom but didn't want to let go of Jennifer, "I don't want her to be lonely." she sniffed. Roy offered to hold Jennifer while she went. Gage knew it took guts for him to be there because he knew he had a red headed little boy at home. The same red hair as Jennifer's. When Karen's husband returned to the hospital, Jeff Overstreet said, "The girls are waiting. They want to know what happened and they're asking me if Jennifer had to have a shot." Breaking down, Karen and her husband sagged into each others arms around their silent baby. Ten minutes later, holding hands tightly, they left with their infant child to tell them together, leaving the chaplain alone with the firefighters and Dixie. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was after 10:00 a.m. when the medical examiner came to get Jennifer's body for the autopsy. Karen Overstreet had words to share with him. "I can tell you that fourteen hours of hard labor is nothing compared to the pain we feel right now, doctor. I don't want to give Jennifer up, but we both want to know what happened to take our baby girl away from us. She was so healthy. She....she was current on all her immunizations, she always slept on her back and is...was..breast fed. Every precaution the experts advise you of, we followed. And it still didn't help." said Karen leadenly with a low anger. But her hands were soft as she touched her daughter for the last time. "I promise, I'll find the answer for you." said the M.E, taking the blanketed bundle. Then he and little Jennifer, were gone. ------------------------------------------------------------------ The Overstreets slept very little for the next week. Bit by bit, details came back to them. Karen mulled over yet another untasted cup of tea. ::I still have problems sleeping now a month later. I notified family and friends. I remember one of the firemen, Chet Kelly, the prankster, telling me the news hit him so hard he wanted to puke. That coming from a fireman who is trained to remain calm in most fiercesome of situations, seemed appropriate and were just the right words to describe that time. Was it the day of the funeral that I found out Jennifer died from SIDS? In a small way, it's a relief because I don't think I could handle her death occurring due to accidental abuse or neglect coming from one of us.:: There had been three ambulances and Engine 51 at baby Jennifer Overstreet's funeral. The entire fire station had turned out in uniform. Jeff commented. "The town must think a fireman had died." Karen smiled. "I carried Jennifer all through paramedic school and she was born in between station clinicals. G*d, what those station boys must think of me. Then, I was a real b*tch. In a way, I think a paramedic did die." Jeff Overstreet laughed out loud. "Really.." Karen slapped his arm and hugged her daughters closer to herself. "Think about it, honey. Jenny frequently attended class with me, and her daddy kept her on the days I had clinicals. She probably knew more about para-medicine than I do. She changed our lives, Jeff. She drew us closer together, made the world a wonderful, exciting place in vibrant colors. And now, it seems like everything is in black and white and fuzzy. But I know someday there will be color again and clarity, but that's still a long way down the road." "We'll all be happy again, Karen. I promise you that." said Jeff with tears in his eyes. He kissed her head tenderly. Karen sighed sadly. "She was with me and I was with her.. She is not with me anymore, but there is such a part of me that is still there, Jeff, where we were." After the funeral, at home, Jeff talked with the medical examiner over the phone. The doctor replied, "If I were to give you my opinion on what happened to Jennifer, it is that her heart just stopped, Mr. Overstreet." Later that night, Fallon, Karen's youngest said, as she was falling asleep, "Jennifer knew she was going to die, Mommy. She talked to God about it. She just had something inside of her that went up and down...and up and down ...and up ...and down.. and then it stopped." Karen's sadness almost burst out of her chest. But then her mind smothered it absolutely with a question. ::Now, how did my five year old see that in Jenny?:: The answer came on the soft wind blowing in from the lacy window. ::Because they were bonded together, more deeply in love by their thoughts, than later spoken words could've ever hoped to achieve.:: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It had been a grueling week, and Cap still hadn't gone in to get evaluated in a sleep lab for his bad snoring problem. So one afternoon, Roy and Johnny and the rest of the gang decided to stick him to it with a little artful persuasion in a joint effort. They started by discussing the emotionally charged atmosphere surrounding all SIDS calls like Jennifer Overstreet's. "Handling the scene in such a case involves much more than our normal protocols, Cap." said Johnny passionately. "I don't think we have the resources in place yet to cope with that." "How do you mean?" asked Cap, sipping his coffee thoughtfully. Roy spoke up, quickly. "Some in EMS do not realize that when we treat a patient, we treat the whole family." "Yeah, amen to that, brother." said Chet ruefully. "Boy, did I learn about that. Never leave a grieving family alone without emotional support after the death of a child." Cap began to look uncomfortable. "What's the matter, Cap?" asked Johnny. "Thinking about Karen's baby again?" "No, I was thinking about what killed her. This SIDS.. uh, do adults ever get that?" he asked, thinking about his apnea. Roy was about to answer when Johnny stopped him with a touch on the foot with his heel. Gage put on a straight face. "Well, the experts don't rightly know, Cap. Uh,.. you see, not a whole lot of money ever makes it in committee to devote itself to that topic of study." Roy caught on instantly. "Yeah, the only way to find out for sure is to study people who are at risk for that sort of thing." he said vaguely. "Meaning...people who're like.....me?" The gang all disassembled and stared at different parts of the room without giving away the whole pot of beans. No one said a single word. Finally, Cap sighed and said, "Ok, Gage. Gimmee the phone and what's the number?" Roy and Johnny both spoke up quickly. "Five, five..uh." stuttered DeSoto. "Five five four...three. " parroted Gage. "No Roy, you tell him. I'm gonna go stow Cap's latest drained oxygen tank in the side squad compartment and out of the front cab. If we're getting him to Rampart to get sleep evaluated this afternoon,.." Gage said happily. "..we're gonna need to make room if we're taking him in ourselves." "So soon?" Cap gaped. "Yeah, why not?" counted Roy. "The sooner the better." he glared back. The rest of the gang muttered pretty much the same thing in various shades of emotions. "Ok, guess I've been out maneuvered and out numbered." Hank told them. "But I wouldn't count on Rampart having any bed space open for me since it's already Saturday. I might not even get in today.." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fifty minutes later, Cap was face to face with Dr. Brackett and Joe Early. And they were both smiling. Hank was asking plenty of questions, still feeling like a cold germ under the microscope. "What is a polysomnogram?" Joe warmed up to the subject. "Sleep apnea is diagnosed using a special test called a polysomnography. Polysomnography involves sleeping overnight with various leads or wires attached to your head, face, chest and legs. Stretchy bands are placed around your chest and stomach to detect breathing effort. Polysomnography testing is usually carried out overnight in order to get a polysomnogram reading. Or PSG." he answered. Brackett continued. "All the leads will detect how you are breathing and sleeping. Leads and bands gather information to assist the doctor in making the diagnosis. A video camera assists the doctor or his tester in knowing your sleeping position. While you sleep, data is gathered about the number and length of apneas or other problems that disturb your sleep. The morning after such a test, we'd be able to explain the results of any PSG and suggest the best treatment." "What's the catch?" Hank asked warily. Brackett's cheek twitched, when he realized that he would have to share a less than popular factual detail about the apnea lab. "In some sleep disorder centers, a "split night" study is done when continuous positive airway pressure (C.P.A.P.) is placed on you at some point during the night. The tester explains before you go to sleep what will happen and fits the mask before the test begins." "Wait a minute! Johnny, Roy, you didn't say I'd have to wear another mask for all this monkey business. I'm getting outta--" "Now Cap.. hear them out. It's not as bad as you think." Gage started up, putting his hand square against his chest to stop him. "He's right, captain." said Brackett. "That kind of testing is not bad at all. During a test you will find that: None of the leads or wires hurt, you can sleep in any position, you can go to the bathroom, sleep is disturbed as little as possible by the test itself, and based on your test results your doctor may suggest lifestyle changes that can help with mild sleep apnea or treatment for a more moderate to severe type of condition." "Really, doc. I'm sure it's not the easy street you make it out to be or else it wouldn't cost eight hundred dollars to get yourself evaluated.." Cap scoffed right back. DeSoto and Gage whistled in feigned shock, then started cackling. Hank ignored them."I'm still not entirely convinced that the two of you are for me." he said looking back at the two doctors with abject ambivilence. Cap narrowed his eyes and got back on the exam table. "What's the worse case scenario, if- if- if.. I go ahead and listen to you guys?" he asked nervously. "Come on, Cap. You're not terminal." chuckled Gage. Cap made a face. "....at least, not yet anyway.." added Roy with a hint of the devil. He disarmed Cap by winking at him. "Quit teasing me!" roared Cap. "Quit teasing him.." roared Brackett at the same time. Both men looked at each other and laughed. "Now where were we?" asked Kel. Joe told him. "Ah, yes. Treatments for sleep apnea. There's the C.P.A.P. machine..." Brackett began. "While sleeping, the patient wears a plastic mask or nasal prongs connected to a positive pressure device with provisions for adjunct therapy with supplemental oxygen or humidification of inspired air. Positive air pressure is delivered through the nasal passage forming an air splint of the upper airway to provide air exchange during the patients sleep. Flow rates ranging from 20 to 60 L/min generate pressures of 2 to 20 cm H2O pressure. With monitoring by PSG, the pressure level is titrated to a level that restores airway potency, improves arterial oxygenation, and ensures uninterrupted sleep. Patients must be followed regularly to assess treatment efficacy and to verify compliance. Part-time or inconsistent use of the device does not adequately control OSA. The C.P.A.P's sure proved it's worth over recent years." Cap's eyes started to cross in incomprehension. "Let's start that last bit from the beginning.. Excuse me,. a ..C.P.A.P? "Uh, that's - Continuous Positive Airway Pressure." elaborated Joe. "Thank you, doctor." bowed Kel graciously at Early. "No problem, doctor. You're welcome." said Joe, equally charming. "Would you two cut that out! You're talking about something that might potentially effect my life here. And I find it's no joking matter!" Hank yelled at them. "Your life's already been effected if that tape we just heard is any good kind of indicator. Just ask your men here." Brackett shrugged blandly, crossing his arms together. Both Roy and Johnny nodded vigorously, clamming up so they wouldn't say anything else that was offensive. "Then there's always the dental devices,.." "Soccer mouthguards.." hissed Roy helpfully. "....the radio frequency procedure.." "Melts your uvula.." Gage added sotto voce. "...and other various kinds of surgery that makes throat structure corrections that either eases or eliminates sleep apnea entirely." Brackett concluded. "The most common one's called a U.P.P.P." "Sounds complicated." Cap frowned. "What happens if I don't do anything at all? I mean, I've survived just fine for years with the condition so far without risking anything or anybody." Gage and Roy both cleared their throats meaningfully. "Well, almost fine." Hank amended under their less than subtle hinting. "Hank," said Joe no nonsense.. "The results if left untreated: high blood pressure, " he ticked off on his silver ringed fingers, "heart problems, heart attack, stroke, car accidents and work-related accidents due to sleepiness, a poorer quality of life. Especially marital wise." he nodded seriously. Brackett nodded in agreement, "Umm hmm and obstructive sleep apnea, O.S.A., patients, prior to diagnosis and treatment, use 2 ˝ times more health care resources than patients without O.S.A. because they usually have more doctor visits racked up because of nagging fatigue and lingering, unexplained pain-like symptoms." Right then, the hospital chaplain played his trump card by coming in the door at the appropriate moment. Cap took one look at him and just threw his hands up into the air. "Ok, here comes the speech. Lay it on me.." he said with fluffed up sarcasm. Father O'Malley's eyes just twinkled. "This is for your charming wife. Remember it and share it with her, won't you?" Eh- hem.. Helping a partner with sleep apnea. Wife or husband, you can help your partner be successful with the treatment for sleep apnea. The following are a few ways to help: Reassure your partner that using C.P.A.P. does not affect how you feel about them or alter your view of them. "Encourage your partner to keep up the treatment even though it's not always easy. "Offer to attend meetings, support groups or doctor's appointments with your partner to learn more about sleep apnea. "Enjoy your partner's extra energy by planning activities together. Support your partner's efforts to lose weight or exercise. "Marriage can be challenging at the best of times, but these same challenges can be overwhelming when trying to cope with a chronic disorder. It is common to become overburdened and exhausted and to get so wrapped up in our own problems that the disorder can begin to separate couples. "The person with sleep apnea may feel alone and isolated - often feeling frustration and guilt that they may have caused marital disharmony by having Sleep Apnea. They may feel misunderstood, afraid and angry. It affects how they see themselves and their masculinity/femininity. Some get wrapped up in self-pity and begin to shut down from the world." said the chaplain passionately. "Boy, I'll say if the bunkroom follies have been any indication.." said Gage loudly enough to be heard by all. "The healthy spouse often shares similar feelings but from a different perspective. Some feel guilt for their own wellness or feel pity or resentment towards the spouse, and they take on more and more responsibility to compensate. Some feel anger at the disorder and the burden it has become in their lives. Some feel frightened and confused at the prospect of perhaps having to be the responsible, healthy care-giver in the relationship. "Whatever couples may be feeling, the most important thing is to keep communication lines open. Involve your spouse in your feelings and challenge one another to be open and honest. Share your hurts and pains as well as your strengths. Be supportive to your spouse. Learn together about the disorder, and develop coping strategies to help you through rough times. Become involved in the disorder by showing compassion, concern and caring. Be kind to one another keeping in mind that no one requested this disorder to come into your lives. Remember to enjoy the important things in life like memories shared, time spent, and continue to dream and plan for the future adjusting to accommodate the disorder. Using the treatment for sleep apnea can relieve stress and tension and help both of you to relax and enjoy each other..." Cap coughed out of a catatonic state. So did all the others. "That's it? Uh, I mean. That's it. I think I'll stay for...whatever test I need to do next." amended Cap leading wise. "Uh, that's if it's ok with the both of you two, docs." Brackett jumped right on in, blinking out of his own mind fuzz. "Sure. First we'll have to determine how deprived you actually are from getting any rest. We'll test how fast and likely you are to dozing off or falling asleep in common everyday situations. Then we'll contrast those findings to how you feel when you're just feeling tired. To do this we run two studys, The Multiple Sleep Latency Test, the MSLT, which measures the speed of falling asleep and the second one, The Maintenance of Wakefulness Testing, the MWT, is a quantitative measurement to help a physician determine how long wakefulness can be maintained by the patient." Gage piped up. "Oh, I see. How fast does he crash and how long can he fight it?" "Exactly." Kel and Joe said at the same time. "Whatever. Let's just get on with it, shall we?" Cap fidgetted as he rustled the sheets around his hospital gown restlessly. Soon, he was counting sheep with the best of them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So, how'd it go?" asked Gage in the locker room a few days later as he and Roy walked in. Cap was shaving in a mirror across the way, brushing on foam for the straight edge that he always liked to use. Strangely enough, he didn't turn around to chew them out for prying into his private affairs again. "Hey, .. Cap.. you deaf or something? My partner thought he asked you a question here." Roy laughed. "I heard ya. I'm....just busy.." "Oh, yeah? Busy doing what?" Gage asked moving to a sink to go wash his hands clean of the shoe polish that he had just got done using. Cap oddly angled away from him again, showing his two men only the back of his head in a careful contrivance. While avoiding the paramedics, Hank forgot one crucial direction. The door they had arrived through. In sailed Chet Kelly. "OhmyG*d, Cap, you got a nose job.." "He did what?!" snorted both Roy and Johnny incredulously. Abandoning whatever they were doing, Roy and Johnny cornered Cap craftily and spun him around so they could all see. Johnny started laughing. "It's true.." he breathed aloud. "Nice bandaid job. What'd they do? Correct a deviated septum?" Hank's glare fell away and his shoulders, squared in anger, wilted. "Yep." he said simply. Marco and Stoker had heard the shouting and had come to investigate all the hubbub. "Say.. Cap...." said Lopez in admiration. "They did a nice job, fixing ya.." Mike added more. "You may look and feel like Pinnocchio, but I'm sure I can rig something up with your helmet to hide your schnoz from the general public. Maybe one of those face plates that Hazmat wears all the time." "Very funny." Hank said. Henry waddled in right then, took one look at Cap, and ran out in a panic. "Now don't start feeling more self conscious, Cap. He's just a dog." said Roy hurriedly. "My feelings are crushed here." Hank said for real. "And it's gonna take about two months of me using a C.P.A.P. machine at home and here at the station while I heal inside before I'm deemed normal again by all the docs." "You're kidding.." sighed Kelly, his eyes going wide. "Gage, you know what this means, don't you?" "No. What?" Gage asked, having lost interest in Cap's situation. He was concentrating completely on polishing his teeth with some Pepsodent. "It means that I'm not getting promoted anywhere for another year." elaborated Hank meaningfully. "You can both kiss all your becoming a captain pipe dreams goodbye." And he left the room, laughing up a storm, for the coffee pot. The others followed him. Chet didn't stay downtrodded for long. He started sighing in a haze at a private memory once he had re-found the ticket stub from the Fireman's Ball they had attended the day before in his shirt pocket. "Are you still thinking about her?" Roy asked in irritation. "And how..." answered Chet. "Gage did you see Dixie's dress? Man, guys were falling down all over the place. Including me." "I wasn't." muttered Roy sharply. "I'm a happily married man." "Suuurreee you are." Chet teased. "Bet you were thinking the same thing all the rest of us were the second she showed up at the top of that stairs landing. Woooweee..Dixie can sure be one hot babe when she sets her mind to it. I thought Brackett was gonna stumble down those stairs right after her for a second there. But Joe caught him nicely. Cap didn't you see her? Talk about your stunning night gowns. Hers was the mother of--" "Nah, missed it. I must have been taking a nap." sighed Cap sadly, and he walked away. FIN Eligibility - Episode Thirty Emergency Theater Live ---------------------------------------------------- Photo: Stoker and Gage at a run with the gear from the squad. Photo: Paramedic Karen Overstreet, crying. Photo: A dead baby on a bed. (simulated) Photo: Roy treating someone in a bedroom. Photo: Gage, very sad, in a close up. Photo: Karen, the trainee, smiling. Photo: Roy and Johnny in the hallway at Rampart with bad news. Photo: Cap asking, "What?" with an incredulous look. Photo: Julie London in a knockout old time ball gown. ************************************************** ***This current episode has just begun. ***Keep watching here daily for new episode ***scene installments. ************************************************** End Credits -- Episode Thirty (Fourth Season) §§ Eligibility §§ :) This episode is dedicated to all who've lost a child due :) to SIDS. Surviving afterwards is a testament to true love. :) :) @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The Story Unfolds... Season Five, Episode Thirty One.. §§ All That Glitters §§ Debut Launch: March 1st, 2006. ************************************************** From: "crash200225" Date: Sun Mar 12, 2006 3:39 am Subject: Gold Fever The men from Station 51's A-shift looked down at Johnny as he squatted next to a wide, shallow bucket half filled with sand, pebbles, and water. In his hand was a small pan with sloped sides that he carefully swirled. "John," Cap sighed. "You want to explain, again, why you are panning for gold in a bucket in the station's parking lot?" "I'm just practicing." Johnny said as he continued the swirling. "You know Jim Hanes out of 110's? He and his wife, Pam, go dredging for gold every spring and summer. They invited me to go with them to the Kern River for a few days to help them out in about two weeks." "Doesn't the water run too swift until July?" Roy asked, knowing his partner would dive into anything without much thought. "I know they have a sign up near the road saying how many people have drown in the river." Johnny laughed and said, "Jim and Pam are both experienced. They'll keep me out of trouble. Besides, the upper Kern, that is the river above the dam, is off limits to dredging. We'll be going to a small creek that feeds into the lower Kern, below Lake Isabella. It's all dry except for when the snow is melting off the high Sierras." "Isn't a dredge a large machine that suctions out the bottom of lakes and stuff?" Marco asked. "It can't possibly fit into a creek, can it?" Johnny answered, "They make them in many sizes. The one Jim has is made for prospecting. It had two pontoons about six feet long. It uses an engine and air compressor to power the pump, and keeps the person under water supplied with air. It's a little like scuba diving, only in shallow water and instead of air tanks, there are air lines going down to the diver's regulator. Pam said it has a three inch intake tube that is thirty feet long. She also said you wouldn't want to put any body part in front of the intake. She'll be in charge of keeping the gas tank full, because if it ever stopped, the diver digging under the creek would have no air. She'll also watch the baffle for large nuggets that might not get caught in it." Cap cleared his throat and asked, "So what's your hand panning here got to do with it if the machine does all the work?" "It can't do it all. Jim said it's easy to pick out the small nuggets, but you still gotta pan the old fashion way to get the fine flakes that the baffle may not catch. You pan the sand and small pebbles that flow off the end of the conveyor for the majority of the flakes." Chet couldn't resist. "You're a flake, Johnny, for getting caught up in all of this. I hate to inform you, but the great Californian Gold Rush was over two hundred years ago." Johnny ignored him. Pointedly. Mike shook his head at Chet's remark and inquired, "Isn't a baffle kind of like a sifter in rapids with all the gold settling heavier than the rock and sand? Don't the larger nuggets stay in the bottom of this baffle thing while most of all the rest flows over them and off the dredge?" Johnny grinned. "Yep, except the baffles are thin and metal. Kinda like rungs on a ladder that have been laid flat." "Well, Johnny, sounds like you know a lot about this." stated Roy. "Sounds like it might be kinda fun doing all that." "Yeah, it does sound like fun. I can't wait." Johnny replied. "You're going to have to, John. Get this cleaned up. You have cooking duty and it's almost lunch. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm starved." Cap said as his stomach growled. "Be right in, Cap." Johnny sighed as he started cleaning up the mess he had made. "Man, you should see some of the gold nuggets they've found already. They're beautiful." Roy smirked. "I think you've got gold fever, you know that? You're practically salivating here just talking about it." "No, I don't." said Gage, putting dripping hands carefully onto his hips. "Johnny, I'm telling you, you have gold fever. You should see your eyes when you talk about it. They light up like, well, sun glinting off a piece of gold." Roy retorted, still smirking. "No, they d-..." "Gage. Lunch. Now." came the voice of Cap from the bay door. "On my way." Johnny mumbled. "Gold fever. I do not have gold fever. I'm gonna get rich. Maybe I'll even find the motherlode all the stories say is still up there." Roy just shook his head as he followed Johnny into the station. He knew he'd be listening to his partner for the next two weeks about this adventure he was going to go on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. ************************************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:17 am Subject: Red, Red, Wine, You Make Me Feel So Fine~~ Lunch was in full swing and Johnny was trying his hand at making something that wasn't a natural recipe in his family. Spaghetti. "Here, Chet. Come help me add these roma tomatoes to the sauce. It's almost ready." Gage said, holding out a paring knife. "It's not my day for k.p. detail. It's yours." Chet said, opening up the refrigerator in a hunt for something to drink before lunch. His stomach rumbled audibly. "Quit being so stubborn here. By the sound of all things gastronomical, you're hungrier than Cap is." Johnny said in exasperation. "Now help me out before the sauce bruises." Hank gave a snort from where he was reading his newspaper. "Sauce can bruise?" Roy piped up from a shoe he was polishing. "I think he means scorching." "No, I meant what I said." Johnny insisted, still holding out the knife for Chet to take while he quickly stirred the pan with the simmering hamburger, the pot with the boiling linguini and tossed the wooden bowl holding fresh nearly whole romaine and raddichio greens to coat them with Caesar dressing. "You know, where the sauce turns dark from under attention." "Scorching." Roy mouthed silently to the others as he shrugged again, without looking up. Gage stalked over to Chet and opened his palm and handed him the vegetable knife like a surgical assistant handing off an operating tool. "Go slice 'em up, wouldya? Please? I only got two hands ya know." "All right, Johnny. Don't have a cow. I will. But under protest. Everyone, you're my official witnesses. This means I get to ask Johnny here to do something next time it's my turn to cook." said Kelly. "Done." said Cap. "Hurry it up, Kelly. Me and the rest of the gang are still starving." "I'm hurrying. I'm hurrying." said, Chet, glancing down at the cutting board as he chunked up the smallish tomatoes and added them to Johnny's sauce pot. When Gage wasn't looking, he added more burgundy wine to the hamburer in a quick splash and turned up the heat to denature the extra added alcohol away. Johnny glanced back at the fresh hiss of steam but didn't catch on at all. Then the oven buzzer went off. Gage hurried over and shut off the knob. He was so frantic about making sure nothing burned that he forgot to remember using heating pads when he reached for the bread tray. Hank bellowed out loud. "Gloves!" Gage immediately snatched his hand back with a wince. "Sorry, Cap. I forgot." "Yeah? Well one of these days, you're gonna remember on your own." Hank chuckled. "The oven's no different a place than inside a car wreck for safeguarding yourself. Aren't you sick of getting stitches at Rampart yet?" "Apparently not." Roy giggled, turning around to toss the pads to his partner so he could take out the garlic french bread length from the oven. "How often do I cook here? I'm entitled to a few mistakes. Usually I rate all the latrine detail." "That's for being tardy, John. Not because we don't like your cooking." Cap corrected. Chet chuckled. "He's not the brightest bush in the woods, DeSoto. I don't know how you've managed to work together for so long without him managing to chop off one of your arms or legs with a roaring K-12." "I'm bigger than he is. Whenever it inadvertantly points at me or a victim I usually wrestle the blade away from our danger zone in time." replied Roy. "You shouldn't have to. " Chet said looking up. "That's the point I'm mak---OwW! Cr*p." he said, dropping the knife and putting a smartly cut finger into his mouth. He left the back counter to go sit down on the couch near Henry. "I'm through." "You're not done yet." complained Johnny. "There's only one tomato left to cut up. You do it." said Chet mumbling around his index finger. "I'm a little busy right now stopping this from---" he broke off what he was saying when a strong squirt of blood gushed out from between his teeth and down his chin. Kelly immediately paled and he pulled it out, staring dumbly at his fountaining finger. He groaned, "Oh, ...I.. think I did a Gage, guys. I think I'm gonna be--" Then he crumpled and sagged, landing chin up with his head flung over the back of the couch. He stopped moving and his eyes fluttered shut. "Chet..quit kidding." said Marco. "So you nicked an artery. That cut's small enough for you to handle." "Chet?" Roy said, looking up. Henry whined and started sniffing at Chet's lax face, ignoring the bleeding finger. Then the color washed completely out of Chet's lips, too. All the guys slammed out of their seats and rushed over to him. Cap snapped out an order. "Gage, turn off the stove first. Then you can get over here." he said as he crouched down next to Kelly. He put a hand to Chet's neck to feel for a pulse. He expected it to be fast from typical faking it while joking tension, but it wasn't. "It's slow." he said, looking up in surprise. "Very slow." "I'll go get the gear." Roy said. He grabbed a towel from the table. He tossed it to Lopez. "Here. Stop that finger hemorrhaging. Wipe his mouth out, too, so he can breathe a little better. I'll be right back." "You mean he's not faking, Cap?" Johnny said, the smile leaving his face as he got to the couch. "Not this time. What happened?" Hank asked, a little worried. Johnny frowned as he pulled out a penlight. "Dilated pupils? I don't know yet. Let's get him onto the floor. Marco, quit messing with his face. The blood's all mopped up already. His throat sounds clear. Concentrate on that finger instead. See if you can tell how bad it might be tendon wise once it stops bleeding." "Gage. It's nothing. I can tell already. Looks like a pinprick." Marco said. "Then it's just a lucky poke then." Johnny sighed. "You mean unlucky." frowned Stoker. "Want me to get the O2?" "Not yet. He was hyperventilating a little. Remember? He was sure arguing up a storm with me. Last thing we wanna do is flood his system with too much." Roy arrived with the trauma box, the biophone and the EKG monitor. "How's he doing, Johnny?" "Still blacked out." "His pressure coming back up yet?" asked Cap, keeping Kelly's head tilted back gently so he could breathe without problems. Johnny felt at the wrist, and when he felt at the brachial groove, he still felt nothing. He moved to another check at Chet's carotid and found a weak sluggish beat there. "Nope. It's still sitting somewhere below seventy." "Doesn't make sense. Chet's not squeamish. Not at all." said Marco. "So why did he pass out? Is it because he cut his finger?" "There must be another reason why he fainted. Something we haven't found yet." said Roy, unbuttoning Chet's uniform shirt. He was going to cut apart Kelly's t-shirt with his clothes shears, but checked himself and pulled the material up loosely around his jawline instead. Then he reached for a blood pressure cuff from a gear box."Nicking an artery where he has usually doesn't hurt at all." Then Stoker pointed out something. "Look at his left arm, Gage. Is that a bandaid?" Johnny turned Kelly's arm while Roy started to get a blood pressure reading. "It sure is." He pulled it off. "Looks like a needle mark or something here. Right at the crook of the elbow." "He's got one over here, too." said Marco, pointing to the right arm. "What the heck?" Johnny rocked back onto his heels in exasperation. "Now I know Chet isn't some kind of cheap street junkie. What are these for?" Cap, fiddling with Chet's t-shirt to expose his chest area further for the monitor's pads, found the final clue. It was a red sticker with white lettering on it. "I think I got the answer to that. Found this sticker on his shirt here. It says," and he squinted as he read the fine print. "I gave blood today." Johnny asked. "Does it have a date on it?" "Yep. And a time. This morning. About two hours ago." Hank replied with a relieved sigh. He began tapping Chet's face lightly with a few fingers. "Hey.. Chet.. Come on, pal. Wake up now. You're doing just fine." he said, keeping his steady airway hold on him using both of his knees like a vice on either side of Chet's head. Kelly finally moaned weakily. He tried to cough then, beginning to come to. "Atta boy. Try to open those eyes. Lunch's getting cold waiting for us." smiled Hank. Chet began to breathe in deeper and deeper but remained half out. "So that's why he was digging in the frig for something to drink early. He probably didn't take the juice the nurse handed out at the blood center like he should have because he was late coming in to work." Gage said, noticing how he was waking up. Marco got busy with the limb leads. Then he hesitated. "He's gonna need a shaver. He's more furry than an Italian stallion here. I can't find places to stick these." "I'll get one." said Stoker, rising to his feet. He jogged out for a disposable one from the locker room spares box. Johnny got up and got two of the couch cushions propped up under Chet's feet and legs. "This'll speed things up a little faster. Roy, his pulse's still forty. But regular." "Vasovagal?" DeSoto asked, pulling the stethoscope down and out of his ears. "That'd be my best guess. Still wanna call Rampart?" Johnny asked, holding up the unactivated phone receiver. "Do you?" Roy asked, looking a little shell shocked and slightly annoyed. Coughing self consciously, Gage tossed it aside a few seconds later. "Let's scope him first and see what we got. Then we'll decide on things. He's not that sweaty yet. The color's back in his lips. Hey, Chet. You with me yet?" he said, digging a firm knuckle into his breastbone. Chet twitched his arms and groaned, but didn't open his eyes. Mike returned with the shaver. He bent down to begin work when Roy stopped him. "He'll kill us all if we do that." Then he pulled out a small bottle of Arrid extra dry from his back pocket and an alcohol pad. He spread some on like defib gel in the right places before wiping it off judiciously with the finger's towel. After the same move with alcohol and another wipe off, he added a second coat from his sample sized Arrid roll on. "Ok, now try them, Marco." "Where'd you learn that trick?" asked Cap as the pads stuck through the furry mat of Chet's chest hair. "In Nam. From a very saucy nurse major named Hot Lips Hoolihan." Roy grinned. "She taught me a lot of front line medic tricks like that one. Those pads are gonna keep on sticking for at least a week." he said, flipping on the scope. "Still got brady showing, Johnny. But nothing grossly abnormal is really apparent here." "Let me see." DeSoto turned the scope so Cap and Gage could both see it. The rate was rising but still a bit sluggish. Henry barked loudly from his place sitting up on the remaining couch cushion and that made Kelly twitch into consciousness, working better than smelling salts. "Oh,.. my head." Chet coughed. "Dizzy..." Then he realized where he was. "What am I doing on the floor?" "You fainted." Johnny grinned, picking up Chet's hand to examine the finger nick. "Right after you did this.." he said showing Kelly the tiny wound. "I did not." Cap laughed. "You sure weren't sleeping any. How do you feel now?" he asked, releasing Chet's head. "I feel like something Henry dragged outta the trash." "That's normal." Roy said. "Takes a few minutes for the body to regain its equilibrium after an episode like this. Got any nausea?" "A little." Chet said, rubbing his eyes. "Next time, don't suck on a wound. Swallowing your blood is what makes you green." Johnny told him. Chet tried to sit up. "Ah. ah. ah.. Not so fast. Your pressure's low." Cap said, keeping him down. "What's it at? Come on, guys. This is embarrassing. Let me up." Kelly whined. Roy finally got irritated. "It's fifty over patent pending, Chet. Now that's a fairly deep faint for just donating a little blood to the blood bank. How many bags did you con them into taking out of you this morning?" Chet was silent. "Answer him, Chet. Cause if your BP doesn't rise to near normal in five minutes, you've won yourself an I.V. wide open and a trip into Rampart. You can't keep your internal organs under perfused for very long." Johnny growled. "Well, you see.. I had extra bills to pay and so I went twice." "You what?!" exclaimed Cap. "I changed my clothes into a new disguise and went to a different nurse a half hour later." "How many.." Gage pressed, getting angry. "Five. I think, uh,... five pints." Chet peeped. "Without eating or drinking anything?" DeSoto asked incredulously. "Uh,.. yeah. Look guys, I really needed the money." Hank got livid. "I don't think the fire department would enjoy dishing out injured pay to someone stupid enough to donate on a work day who'd actually be dumb enough then to try a scba sweep of a house fire afterwards. They have rules for that kind of incompetence. Stoker, go get him that gallon jug of orange juice. Now. He's gonna stay right here, on the floor, until he drinks the whole thing while we're watching." "Aw, Cap. I'm not thirsty any more." "That's because you're in shock, Chet. Psychogenic and maybe even some slight hypovolemic shock." "I am not." "The monitor's bleeping out your brady big time." Gage insisted. "Here, let me turn on the alarms for ya..." he yelled. The Tetronix warbled and whistled fluting tones to beat the band over the supressed cardiac rhythm which only made a very worried Henry start howling. Until Cap turned them off again. "All right. Enough of the sand box routine. Guys, is he serious enough to be put on the sick list?" "No.." "Nope." said DeSoto and Gage. "Not for simple vasovagal syncope syndrome." "Are you sure that's what this is?" Hank roared. Gage stuttered. "Uh,.. r-reasonably sure. We'll know more after he eats and drinks a whole ton.." he glared at Chet. "Ok. guys, lift him into a chair. We're feeding him lunch. Is he ready for that yet?" Hank asked no nonsense. "Uh, hang on. Let me check." Roy said, grabbing up Chet's wrist. He could just barely feel a pulse there. "He can sit. Pressure's back up to at least ninety." Kelly protested when the guys each grabbed a limb while Johnny followed behind them with the cardiac monitor. "Oh, come on. I can walk just fine." "No, drink and chew first. And that's an order." said Hank, pulling out a kitchen chair. The guys set him down from their four man arm and leg sitting carry before they hurried back to their own plates to pile them high with spaghetti. Johnny made it a sore point by plunking down the EKG monitor right next to Chet's lunch plate so he could see its now tachycardic rate leap across the screen. He turned on the periodic alarm so that it bleeped at him full volume. "You got five minutes to make this shut up." he said, tapping the screen with an angry finger. "Or it's Brackett's and a Ringer's time to take over. Eat!" "And drink all of that." Roy punctuated, shoving the jug of orange juice he had just warmed up in the oven over to him. Chet suffered Marco tucking in a napkin over his T-shirt. "Ok.. ok.. I learned my lesson." he said sheepishly. "Sorry, Cap. Didn't mean to pull a fast one at the blood bank. I just needed to make rent I'm behind on." "Well, why didn't you ask us all for a loan?" Gage sighed. "We would've helped ya." "It's not easy for a guy to ask for help money wise, is it? Gimme a break." Chet said in complaint, holding his head as he forced himself to drink a few large swallows straight out of the jug. Then he put it down. "So why'd I black out? Seeing blood doesn't bother me." "Of course it doesn't." said Roy. "Not coming from others. It's a whole different story when it's coming out of yourself. Tell me quite truthfully, when's the last time you cut youself wide open at an artery?" "Uh.. I don't think I ever have before." "Now that's pure deja moo." scoffed Stoker. "Pure what?" Kelly asked. "What's deja moo?" "The feeling that you've heard that line of bull before." Stoker replied, putting a bandage over Chet's punctured finger to keep it from bleeding out again. "No, truthfully. I haven't. I've lived a charmed life wound wise. And so have you, Stoker. I don't even remember the last time you managed to hurt yourself." sniffed Chet, shoveling in his food around some lingering nausea. A few swallows of juice later and the EKG monitor's alarms silenced as the rate fell below 120. "There. See? I'm fine." "Now you are.." mumbled Marco. Kelly chewed a slice of bread and blushed. "So, what do they call what happened to me?" "Syncope." said all the others in stereo. Chet made a face at his orange juice. "Yuck, this stuff's putrid luke warm. Lopez, grab me a glass of ice cubes to chill this down, would ya?" "Sure, pal." said Marco, getting up. Roy and Johnny both shot out of their chairs and blocked off access to the freezer. "No you're not. That'll make him faint again." "What? That's sheer craziness." Kelly protested. "Marco, go ahead and grab some out for me." Cap interceded. "No, belay that." Chet threw up his hands. "Ok, tell me why I can't drink cold stuff." Johnny and Roy sat down again only when Marco did first. Gage glared at him. "It's because your vagus nerve runs from your eyeballs to your butt, Chet. Ever heard of the diving reflex? Anything monkeying around your trachea and esophagus like cold or touch will set off another faint by dropping your heart rate down into the basement again. Especially if that nerve's still freshly irritated like it is." "What? I didn't drink cold liquids or swallow anything before.." complained Kelly. "No, you triggered your vagal faint for being low blood sugared and then thinking about that active bleeding in your finger." Roy countered. "How is it by the way? Has that finger bleeding stopped yet?" "It has." answered Stoker for him. "And he's got full circulation, feeling and function in it, too." "Thanks, Mike." said Roy. "It must have just been a spurting nick then." Gage was evil. "Better watch out, because once you've figured out how to do that mental trick fainting one time, Chet, you'll be able do it again." he said, trying not to grin. Kelly fell for it, hook, line and sinker. "You mean at the sight of blood? Every time?" he asked genuinely crestfallen. "Not every time. Only when you bleed out yourself. It's called negative association." Johnny chided. "Kids develop phobias from bad experiences like that all the time. It's because of the way your synapses impress while in the shock state. It sets up a spontaneous fainting tendency into your nervous system." "Yeah, well I'm not a kid." Chet said defensively, feeding Henry half a bread slice to calm him down. "That wouldn't be a good trait to have being a firefighter like I am. Cap, that could get nasty if I'm in a rough spot somewhere when it happens." The others kept their silence, seeing the value of tough love. "Gonna take work beating that new reflex." Johnny went on. "I'll do anything you tell me." Kelly said gratefully. Johnny primed the pot. "Pull off those EKG pads. You've recovered." he said, shutting off the now unbleeping EKG monitor. Chet yanked on his wires and yelped immediately. "OwwWWW! That smarts!" The gang burst out into loud laughter, pointing at him. Sympathetically, Marco patted Chet on the back to ease the joke's sting. "You mean I won't be an easy fainter after today?" "No, you won't. Just don't give blood without eating or drinking anything again like you did this time." Roy rescued him. "Just pull off the snaps. Leave the pads. I made some improvised glue to get through all that chest fur of yours. Figured you wouldn't mind waiting for them to fall off over waiting for the hair to grow back in." "You thought right." Kelly insisted, checking out his chest unfruitfully, because his neck wouldn't bend that far down to allow him to see anything. He contented himself with tucking his T-shirt back in around the pads and rebuttoning up his blue outer shirt. "Thanks for not splitting open my underwear, Roy." he said. "Uh,.. I meant, my T-shirt." "No problem." DeSoto said, buried once again into his newspaper. His food was already gone and milk glass empty. Cap sighed, pushing away his own plate. "Marco, after you finish up, put the med gear away, ok?" "Sure, Cap." The tones went off. Hank kept a hand on Chet's shoulder to keep him in his chair when Kelly failed to realize right away that it was a call for just the squad, without the engine company. Gage snatched up the EKG monitor and neatly wrapped the wires into a coil before snapping it shut for potability. Marco helped Roy gather up the other gear boxes to put them away into the squad's side compartments. "Guys, keep an eye on him. Cap, make sure you make him sleep it off after that orange juice jug's gone." "I will." Cap promised. ##Squad 51. Biker down at the Glen Helen Motorcross Park. 1700 West Carlsbad Way. 1700 West Carlsbad Way. Cross street, rural route, McKenna County 5. Time out: 12:11.## Cap rose to acknowledge L.A. for his paramedics so they could speed up their belting in. "10-4. Squad 51 is responding. KMG 365.." he said into the alcove mic. Squad 51 roared out into the brilliant morning sunlight. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Johnny cooking souffle. Photo: Cap lecturing Roy and Johnny over cutting veggies. Photo: Chet down. Photo: Johnny looking down at someone on the floor in the station. Photo: Cap holding Henry, with oxygen and a blanket. Photo: The tetronix EKG monitor, turned at ya. Photo: The squad leaving the bay right at ya. *************************************************************** From: Sam Iam Date: Fri Mar 17, 2006 5:49 pm Subject: Getting There.. Johnny started laughing spontaneously in the squad for no apparent reason. It made Roy smile when he figured out why. He glanced over at his partner. "I know. That was sheer stupidity, wasn't it?" he smirked. "You think I'd be used to Chet's antics by now. But that little stunt took the cake and ate it, too. Boy, I'm sure glad he's all right." Gage giggled. "Me, too. Well, you got a chance to get your revenge out of it for him scaring us all out of our wits like that..Have no fear." Johnny looked at him askance. "I don't get it. How do you figure?" Roy elaborated."He's gonna look like a vampire for the next few days due to his anemia. You can take advantage of that and get back at him for it." Johnny blinked, totally not comprehending. "You know, like he teased you about being Native American a while back with that crazy peace pipe gag." Roy tried again. "Y-you can use a vampire theme." "Oh.. Heh. How exactly do I do that?" Johnny said, leaning an elbow out the sunny window, seriously listening. "You could always be subtle at the start. How about hanging garlic strings around your bed or... how about leaving a wooden stake and crucifix under Chet's pillow. " Gage warmed up to the idea offering a thought of his own. "..or exchanging his sheets for a body bag.." Johnny smiled mildly. "I'm surprised at you, Roy. In all the years I've known you, this is the first time I've ever seen you trying to be sneaky. You're actually helping me plan and pull a series of fast ones on Kelly." Johnny gaped. "Why not? I'm enjoying the war. And so are the rest of the guys." he sniffed, turning back to watch the road as they sped along code three. "I'm gonna try everything I can to keep it going. For Cap's sake." Johnny's amused grin fell into one of wary suspicion. "For Cap's sake? Why uh, H-how does he fit into all of this?" "He's got a betting pool running on the two of you." admitted Roy with a mild shrug. Johnny shifted on his seat in dismay and readjusted his loose helmet strap impatiently when they hit a series of railroad tracks without slowing down. "You've got money down on us?! Roy, that's unethical. That's.. that's tacky.." he complained. Then his face completely changed expression. "So, who did ya pick to win?" "You." Roy pointed. "Chet doesn't have enough class to outlast ya." "How long do I got to beat him?" Johnny asked mildly. "Can't tell ya." DeSoto smiled. "Because that would influence the outcome and possibly throw off the entire contest. I don't want to skew the results one way or the other." "You're all heart." "I try to be." Roy said just as fast. "Earning a little extra cash at the expense of others harmlessly sure takes the sting out of the memory of all those short matchstick-long matchstick chore drawings I always manage to lose." Johnny's mouth fell clear open. "Roy, you haven't managed to lose even one of those drawings in my recollection." he said incredulously. "Really?" "Yes.." Gage said empathetically. "Oh. Guess I'm remembering wrong then." "You sure are.....Man.." Johnny sighed. Then he pointed business-like at a turn in front of them. "Take a left here. It's a short cut and it'll save us a minute or two." Roy dutifully squealed the squad into the turn. "How far are we?" "Four minutes. Tops. We should start seeing the track in the distance up the mountainside in a few seconds. Look right to your one o'clock." Roy soon spotted their objective. He gave a low whistle under his breath. " *WheWWwww* What a terrain." Johnny nodded in agreement. "Looks like we'll have a huge crowd to wade through, too. Just look at all the cars! There must be ten thousand or more folks here." Roy silently agreed by altering their siren's slow screaming wail to a faster oscillation so it would be heard more clearly over the babble of excited, highly distracted people. "Look at all the motorcycles. They must be nuts! Did you see how high that last crunch of bikers leaped off that jump?" "I sure did. Ouch." he said, pressing his nose against the windshield. "I think.. I think...they all made their landings ok, though." Then he squinted. "But I can't seem to spot where the officials are waving our yellow caution flags." "Easy way around that. We'll just drive onto the course from somewhere and run along it ourselves until we find them." "What?! Roy, no. The race is still going on. We'll kill somebody for sure." "No we won't. Because everybody has an innate respect for anything painted red that's bristling with pretty flashing lights. Including all the riders." he said cheekily. "Find me a gap in the safety fence, Johnny, would ya? Time's wasting." Gage corked any further protest and concentrated on guiding them in. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Aerial shot of a large motorcross event. Photo: Crowds at a motorcross race. Photo: A motorcross rider leaping into the air. Photo: Motorcross race leaders cresting a dirt hill. Photo: A motorcross rider sitting air. Photo: Squad 51 running down a dirt track behind a crunch of motorcross bikers. ************************************************************************ From: Jeff Seltun Date: Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:27 pm Subject: Much Too Little, Too Late Johnny slowly let go of his tight hold on the dashboard and window frame as the squad successfully made the track and was deftly avoided by the bouncing, flying, motorcycle racers. Soon, the main pack outdistanced them and disappeared over the crest of a dirt hill. "Whew.. glad that's over. I was half expecting one of them to land on top of the squad or something from that hilltop turn back there." "It would never happen." grinned Roy. "We're throwing off a warning dust cloud five times the size of one of theirs. Anybody'd be a fool to take a jump into something like that." DeSoto kept to the very center of the track, moving carefully forward, waiting on his speed until the dirt plume billowing in front of them from the departing riders dissipated. Soon, they had a clear view of the wide course snaking on ahead of them. A white and red glint attracted Johnny's attention. It was a retired cadillac ambulance parked prominently on the sidelines. Its attendants were oblivious to the rushing rescue squad as they watched another serpentine bend in the track where all the riders were competing with each other for the front spot in between spectacular aerials acrobatics. One of the white clothed men was taking rapid photos of the leapers as they passed the sun faded old ambulance by. "Well, at least they have all the insurance angles covered. They've got a volunteer crew over there. But I don't think they have radios on them. I'm not seeing any antennaes on the roof of their ambulance." he said, peering after the red bandana head wrapped men. "Maybe they're working CB from the broadcasters booth. Those TV announcers would have the best view of the track of anybody from their building." suggested Roy. "Yeah, but let's still use our own service with Mayfair when we get there all right? The idea of letting those public ambulance attendants handle one of my patients, gives me the willies." "If you say so. They're still trained properly, Johnny. Or the state never would have issued this motorcross event their racing permits." said Roy. "Doesn't mean I have to work with em. Would you? They both have just sneakers on." he complained. Gage suddenly pointed. "There! There! Officials are waving a whole lotta yellow flags along the right margin on the straightaway. And it looks like the crash bales have been knocked out of their alignment." "That's it." said Roy, looking into his peek mirror to be sure that no straggling bikers were moving around them before he hauled on the steering wheel to get over there quickly. Gage was out of the truck even before it stopped moving. "What's happening here? he asked the nearest one. "Is this the right place for us?" "Yes. A biker lost control in the air and landed wrong. We're getting him uncovered a little better for ya." said the polo shirted official, pointing. Roy and Johnny both glanced over in that direction while they rapidly pulled off their helmets and left them on top of the squad while they got all their medical gear out. A sea of backs from well meaning volunteers were clustered around a tangle of haybales. Gage saw a pale, limp arm flop down in between a couple of feet. He roared. "Hey! Don't move him around like that! All of you, just back off! What if he's got a back injury or something? You wanna paralyze him?!" he said, rushing over to a helmeted young man lying on the ground. He had one booted leg still draped over a straw bale. Murmuring apologies, the audience crowd gave him space and belatedly, a couple of police officers rushed up to push them back behind the sagging chain link fence. The downed rider was unconscious and bleeding heavily from his chin. Hearing the sound of weak choking, Johnny pulled out an oral airway from the squad's resuscitator case and curled it carefully over the man's tongue to ease his difficult, rapid breathing. He told the referee who had tried in vain to keep all the worried spectators from interfering, now at the rider's head, to keep holding the man's helmet still while he suctioned out some saliva and dirt from the man's mouth with an active wand. Then he placed an oxygen mask over the rider's nose and mouth on high flow. "Roy. His legs are shivering. Pulse's weak but regular." Roy moved some of the fallen hay off the man's sun sweaty body. "Priapism's starting up. If he didn't have one before, he's definitely got a spinal cord compromise now." he said grimly, glaring up at the race enthusiastic, beer perfumed crowd who was now ignoring them. :: Someone's gonna have hell to pay for moving this injured man.:: thought Roy. ::I hope the TV cameras are still recording the incident. It'd be nice if this man's family had a legal recourse to follow up with later on. That's if we can get him to survive that long.:: "I've found a left femur fracture and open left tib/fib .... His chest seem to be clear though." DeSoto shared, lifting his stethoscope away from the man's lungs. He tested the man's pelvic stability and found an outward softening motion. "Possible pelvis, too." "I'll get a pressure. 130 at the carotid. Breathing's 22 and real shallow." said Gage. Roy nodded grimly, looking at the stunned track official. "I'm sorry. I tried to shove them off of him but they wouldn't listen to me. Most of these people watching the race are drunk." said the man. "You let alcohol in during an event like this?" Gage said, venting some frustration and anger as he cut away the man's nylon jump suit to unstrap the man's knee and elbow crash pads to look for more fractures and bleeding. "I don't make the rules around here. I only try to enforce those they tell me about. I guess the sponsors feel that this race is no different than a baseball game as long as the riders don't drink anything themselves." said the dusty, head holding official. "Yeah, well here's some fallout for you to go tell all of your sponsors once we're through treating this man. He's paralyzed now, however indirectly, because of that little ruling of theirs about beer and alcohol being allowed for spectators. Maybe if that fence line over there were in better repair, the general crowd might not have been able to swarm onto the track to monkey with this injured rider in the first place! How about them apples, huh?" Johnny hissed quietly into his face. Then Gage turned his back on him to set up the biophone to notify Rampart of their victim. "Rampart, this is Squad 51. How do you read?" ##51, this is Rampart.## came Dr. Brackett's voice. ##We read you loud and clear.## "Motorcross biker down. Please stand by. We're set to immobilize a freely breathing spinal injury." said Gage. ##10-4, Standing by.## Johnny set the phone receiver down. The track man's bland haughtiness fell away into one of shock and he glanced over to the sideline margins as if seeing the tattered metal chain link fence for the first time."I never even considered that aspect... I-." "It's not your job to do that. It's theirs." said Roy. "At least, you're helping us with him right now and that's what matters here. Don't feel guilty about this, ok? You tried your best to do what you could with what you had to work with. We can still make a good difference if things decide to go our way. He's gonna have to fight if he wants to live after today but live he will with a little help from all three of us, mister, if we're lucky. Ready to help us roll him onto this longboard? Johnny and I are going to be busy using these sand bags next. We're gonna immobilize his head and neck safely in a good line without taking this helmet off so things can't be made any worse for him after we get him centered on the board inside of these mast trousers." "O- ok.." said the official numbly. "I'm ready. I've got a real good hold here." he added eagerly. He was gripping the pale biker's helmet so tightly that his tanned fingers were turning white. Roy poked Johnny with an elbow while he connected the biker to the EKG monitor, hinting for him to soothe the track official a little. Gage looked at him. "I never said it was your fault. I just wanted you to be a messenger, sir. For all this track's future injured riders' sakes." Johnny managed to put on a convincing smile and all it took was a brief touch on the shoulder to make the man relax whole yards. Soon, the unconscious rider was bundled with the mast suit's first chamber ready to inflate on Kel's order. Roy began filling the hospital in with their findings... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Motorcross sideline referees. Photo: Motor biker down in tangled haybales. Photo: A biker's unconscious face with an oral airway. Photo: Roy on the biophone while Johnny treats in the background. Photo: Brackett leaning down into the base station receiver. ************************************************** From: "patti keiper" Date: Wed Mar 29, 2006 10:01 am Subject: The Fudge Factor.. "Rampart, we've a male, approximately 25-30 years of age weighing 150 pounds. Unconscious and unresponsive to pain. Multiple trauma's apparent. He's got a head injury of nonspecific origin with a laceration on his chin, a possible pelvic fracture, also involving his left femur directly. He has an open left tib/fib with circulation. Uh, there are also positive signs of spinal cord insult originating below the waist. He has non-essential tremors evident in both lower extremities. Vitals signs are : BP is 74 systolic. Pulse rate's 140 and weak. Respirations are 22 on fifteen liters of O2. Pupils are reactive but sluggish on the right. Our victim has been helmet and long board immobilized, Rampart. And that's affirmative, we have him placed in a PASG par your standing orders." said Roy over the roar of racing bikers and the crowd's cheering. ##51, you've anticipated my next question. Go ahead and inflate the abdominal and right leg chambers one at a time, starting with the pelvic compartment first. We need to get that BP up now in spite of the risks. Start two large bore I.V.s of Ringer's Lactate in both arms and send me a strip. Also, draw a red top for a type and cross if you can.## said Brackett. "10-4, Rampart. This will be lead 2." said Roy twisting a dial inside the comm box so the hospital started receiving what they were seeing on the scope. Then he abandoned the phone. "Johnny, would you start pumping up the suit here? We'll do his stomach first before that uninjured leg. Go slowly. I'll monitor his BP while you're doing it. We can't go higher than 90 with that possible head injury. Are you able to find a vein on him?" "Not yet." said Johnny, searching swiftly for one with temporarily tied off tourniquets. "He's getting too shocky in his arms and I think his jugulars have already started collapsing. I couldn't find them well enough for a good stick." "Go IO on his right leg then. We'll leave worrying about trying something new before it's officially become official for later. You ok with doing that?" Roy asked him, making sure that he had definite eye contact with Gage. "Like we have any other choice. He'll die without getting I.V. fluids." Gage scoffed, working fast. Soon, he had a set of running lines into the man's tibia just below his right knee. "How's his pressure doing now? I got these patent using sixteen gauges." he said, securing the flowing lines with double the tape to hold them still. He hung both large bags off the side of a stack of hay bales. Roy looked up from the sphyg dial and pulled off his stethoscope. "It's 84/50. Let's hold off on inflating that right leg. We can't do that side now because we've got those I.V.s there." "And we can't put on a Hare traction splint either on the left because of that pelvis break. Ok. I'll monitor his respirations get him suctioned out a little more." A few seconds later, Johnny spoke aloud to Roy when his guilt was highest. "Roy, I might as well give Brackett a head's up on what we did that deviated." Gage sighed. He reached for the phone his partner handed to him. "Rampart, Squad 51." ##Go ahead, Johnny.## "His pressure's in a climb, but only into the eighties with very poor extremity perfusion even with the MAST's abdominal cavity inflated. We had no choice but to go intraosseus, doc." ##That was jumping the gun a bit on protocols but I'll cover for your actions. You both were more than right for going that route. He's in no shape to follow the usual run of the mill standards.## Kel said bruskly. ##Did you get both the lines in?## "That's affirmative, doc. And both are on full flow." ##Support his respirations as necessary and get him in here by air.## "10-4. Uh, we're not in a location suitable enough to call for a chopper. We're in a large crowd." Johnny told him."Our ETA is at least fifteen minutes by land." Johnny heard Brackett let out a huge frustrated sigh. ##Do what you can to keep him stabilized, 51. I'll have a surgical ward open and waiting upon your arrival. Bring him directly there.## "We're on our way, Rampart." Johnny said. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They were loading up the Mayfair they had summoned when the track official ran up to them again. "Guys, don't go yet. A report about a couple of kids colliding on their bikes has just been called in to the main booth." "More motorcrossers?" asked Johnny. "No, this time it's two children on the side lines. A camera man told me that one of them is still lying down on the ground, not moving." Roy let out his breath. "Johnny, use your HT and I'll relay to Rampart about what you find as long as I can while we're still within range of each other. I've got him." DeSoto said, pulling out what drugs he thought he might use if the racer suddenly lost a pulse. "I'll take out just some crash doses." "Keep the defibrillator, too." said Johnny. "I'll call for another squad if I have to. I'll use the track's ambulance as my backup for an extra pairs of hands." he added as he took back the drug and trauma boxes. "All right. I'm set. Good luck with them." he teased about the civilian ambulance crew. Gage made a face as his partner closed the rig's doors. Johnny delivered two loud 'I'm locked up.' signal smacks against the door so the driver in front knew that Roy was now ready for departure. He didn't even watch as the Mayfair sped away with screaming sirens for he had turned all of his attention to the track official. "Here. Put this on and get in." Gage said, handing off Roy's sun warmed helmet to the fretful man as he put the gear boxes back into their side storage racks. "What? I'm riding with you in there?" blubbered the man about the squad. "Yes. Because you're the only one of the two of us who knows where we're going. Would you just hurry a little and buckle up? Kids go sour real fast, mister." Johnny urged him, jogging to the driver's side door. Soon, they were on their way and off the main track. But in seconds, they found themselves surrounded by the thickest of the milling crowds and they were forced to slow way down. Johnny was relentless and leaned on the horn and whooped the siren at times to get their attention. "Don't people know we're responding to a medical emergency?!" he said slamming his hands down onto the steering wheel as they were stalled by a crush of bodies yet again. "I suppose they do, but they're too distracted to pay any attention." said the track man. "Wait, I have an idea that might work. " He pulled out his private band walkie talkie and asked for concessions. "What are you doing?" Johnny asked in exasperation. "Shh." said the man apologetically. "Gimme a sec, ok? This'll work. Hiya, Stu? We need a Pabst truck asap to the western concourse. We're bone dry. Would you get on it? Ok, thanks." and he shoved down his antennae on his radio. "Problem solved." "No, it's not.." insisted an agitated Gage. "Sure it is.. Look." A huge semitruck dripping refrigerator fog through an open rear door slowly lumbered to a position in front of them. Painted in a broad image across its side in advertisement, was a case of dew dripping beer bottles. All the truck driver had to do was tap his horn once and the crowd parted like the Red Sea before Moses. Gage began to smile. "Heh. Guess it is. I'm right on his tail." he said, putting the squad into drive once more. "Yep. You got the idea all right. People will always listen to their stomachs. I'm surprised you didn't know that being a paramedic and all." he said in amazement. Johnny just laughed. Two minutes later, they found the accident site. Bikes were the mechanism involved only they weren't the motorized kind. One bike was pink and the other was green and both had foot pedals. "Oh, I see now. The kids were trying to emulate the big guys by making their own track and jumps?" "You got it. Right here in between all the campers.." sighed the official. Gage hurried out of the cab with his HT and the 02 apparatus and went to the side of a small African American boy still entangled in the handle bars of his fallen bike."Hey, son. You doing ok? Can you hear me?" The boy started to move where he lay on his back. "...Yeah.. Ow.. I wanna get up. I'm ok I tell you." "Don't move yet." Gage said, holding a hand against his chest. "Let me check you out first to see how hurt you are." "Who are you?" "I'm a paramedic. My name's Johnny. What's yours?" "Keenan." groaned the boy. "Is this your boy, ma'am?" Johnny asked, finding the woman who most looked like his new victim. "Yes, he is." "Did he lose consciousness at all when this happened?" "I don't think so. He just said he hit a jump wrong and landed on another girl and her bike. He walked back here to tell me that and then he just sort of fell over again and the bike came with him." said the mother. "It did? Uh, Ok. And where is this second girl?" Gage asked, plying for more details. "Right over there." offered the boy's mother. Johnny turned about on his squatted toes. Then he spotted his other victim. "I'll be right back, Keenan, ok? Just lay still for a minute more. Falls like this can get tricky. They can come back and bite you." he told the boy with a nod. "Are you dizzy?" "No. Never was." "Just so you know, I AM gonna take another look." he said firmly. "Only I can clear you of everything so don't hide the slightest thing from me when I get back. I'll be able to tell." Keenan just sighed where he was still stretched out in the dirt. "At least, get this bike off me, it's getting heavy." Johnny set it up and applied its kickstand. Gage hurried over to the little girl. Two first aiders from the track were already attending her where she sat stunned on the ground. "Is she all right?" he asked them. "I don't think it's anything we can't handle, sir." said one of them. "That boy's mom over there said that he just landed on her with his bike." Gage told them. "That kind of force might have done quite a bit of damage to her internally even though her consciousness level seems ok so far. The only way to tell is for me to get a vitals set on her. Is it all right if I take a look at her first before you bring her and her parents to the first aid station?" "Sure, don't you outrank us or something?" smiled one of the men. "Guess I do, I never thought of it quite in that way before." he grinned. Gage looked the blonde girl over carefully. But the only thing she was complaining about was a bumped chin and a couple of scraped up palms. "Stick around, would ya. I'm gonna go take a vitals set on the first boy and then I'll be back to get hers." The ambulance men and parents were amenable so they waited, the first aiders giving a status update to their department heads sitting in the announcer's booth. Johnny returned to the boy's side. "How are you feeling now?" "All right. Is it ok to move anything yet? This sun's getting too bright for my eyes." complained the boy. The track official took off his fire helmet and used its shadow to block off the sun over the child's face. "Thanks." sighed the boy as Johnny put away his penlight after a pupillary exam. "Do you hurt anywhere down here?" Johnny asked, feeling the long bones in the boy's arms, and legs. He took a pulse at his wrist and found it to be normal. "Can you feel me touching your feet?" "Uh huh." "Ok, move them for me. Just a little." The boy's reactions came quickly and he didn't seem to be in any pain. "How about your hands and arms? Can you move them as well?" "Yeah.." "How's your neck and back? Did you hurt them at all?" "Nope. Just my pride.." groaned the boy. "Just gimme some ice! That's all I need! I keep telling you guys that I'm fine. Why aren't people listening to me?" The other bike girl piped up. "Because we're just kids, duh. Don't be stupid." she grumbled. "Look what you did. My hands are all messed up!" "I didn't do nothin!" said the boy, sitting up. "It was your fault you didn't follow my right of way rights. I can't help it if you were dumb enough to ride past an active jump." "Hey, hey, hey. now. Just settle down, the both of ya." Johnny shouted. "The important thing isn't trying to figure out who was right and who was wrong here. The most important thing is about seeing who's hurt and who's not, ok? So how are ya?" he asked the boy, grabbing his shoulder to get his glaring attention back. "I keep telling ya. I'm fine. I just didn't get up again because everybody kept telling me not to so I wouldn't get paralyzed or something worse." the boy said angrily. The track official just shrugged self consciously. "Uh, I did make that kind of announcement to all my employees on wide band while you were treating the first injury.. Sorry." "Don't be sorry. You did right by doing that. It's always better to play things safer. I'm just trying to make sure things are really ok and all. Son, is it just your butt?" Gage asked, whispering so the still angry little girl wouldn't overhear. "Yeah. And yes, I can still firehose ok, too. Don't have to find out about whether or not I can do things the other way because I already did." the boy complained, reddening in fury. A rising waft of wind shared that fact with Johnny right then, clearly. The paramedic bent low, placing a hand over the boy's shoulders. "I would have been scared sh*tless, too, if I saw I where I was going to crash. Don't feel bad about it." he whispered again, trying not to chuckle at the boy's embarrassment. "Have you ever--?" "Of course. And it happened when I was much older than you are right now." said Johnny animatedly. "I think I was twelve." "What happened?" Johnny admitted. "I wiped out waterskiing in a reservoir. Gimme your arm. I've got to take a blood pressure reading. Then one of these fussy men over here will get you that icepack donut you want so bad." "They'd better. I'll use it after mom gets me another pair of Under Roos and jeans. But I don't know where I can change into them. We aren't camping here." "Tell you what. I'll hold up a fire tarp around ya so you can do that." Johnny promised. Then he got his reading. "100 overrrrr......72..." he announced. "Is that good?" "Yep. Let me go get your friend checked out and I'll help you with your changing." "She's not my friend! These were my favorite pair of jeans!" "I'll buy you a new pair, dear." soothed Keenan's mom. "That won't be the same. It never is." whined Keenan, getting gingerly to his feet. He limped away behind a camper to shake some poo out of his pants leg. Gage sighed. "Uh, ma'am.. This man will get you that tarp from my squad's compartment. Sir," he addressed the track official. "It's in the second from the last compartment on the passenger's side at the top, folded up. I'll be right over here with her for a couple of minutes if you find you need me." he said, pointing to the little girl. "We'll be ok. Keenan's very independent for his age." said his mother. "Yes, ma'am, I'm sure he is." he smiled. "He's nicer than most seven year olds. Very level headed." Johnny went to check out his second bike crash child in detail. She had ended up with just what he figured; a bruised chin, two road rashed palms, a slightly bitten tongue, and a huge steaming shorts load ... just like Keenan's. Johnny thought only the best as he was packing up, his paramedic's perspective putting the healthiest slant on things. ::Ah, but that's a good sign in these two. I'll take a fudged child victim's embarrassment over their being totally silent, any day of week.:: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Roy Johnny treating a kid fallen off a bike. Photo: A girl down in a campground being treated by trackcrew near a bike. Photo: Johnny outside, looking alert at something. Photo: Oxygen gear by a bike. Kid scene angry mom. Photo: A motorcross girl crash closeup. Photo: A motorcross track mayfair ambulance. ************************************************** From: "Cassidy Meyers" Date: Wed Mar 29, 2006 4:37pm Subject: Hoisted By His Own Petard.. Johnny wandered through the ER entrance at the hospital, looking for Roy. He found him standing in the hallway, talking to Dr. Early. "How's he doing?" Gage asked them both, already knowing what the subject of converstation was about. "He's in surgery with Dr. Rhodes to handle a lacerated hepatic vein that they found on one of his radiographs. It was a life threat." Dr. Early replied, waving hello. "What happened with that?" Johnny wanted to know. "He developed marked rigidity in all quadrants soon after arrival, and his packed cell volume, after a four quadrant abdominocentesis test, started far exceeding his peripheral packed cell volume counts. That told us that it was very likely that he had either a splenic, hepatic or renal parenchymal laceration with hemorrhaging. Rhodes and Brackett found a liver rupture with a lot of frank bleeding just a couple of minutes ago." "Which the mast suit slowed down." Johnny added. "And what your aggressive through-a-bone I.V. fluids push offset. Nice job." Joe smiled. "Kel told me about that move before he left for the operating room." "How about that paraplegia we found on him?" Gage asked, diving in a little deeper. Joe looked down at his hands apologetically. "It's too soon to know how he'll pull through on that evaluation. But he's got an abnormal Babinski's only on the left side." Roy nodded. "Then there's a chance that the cord in his lumbar spine wasn't completed severed." "That's right. It may just be bruised with some swelling going on. You both sound pretty relieved. What happened out there with him? Was it a bad extrication?" Johnny shook his head. "No. He got a little too much help from bystanders." Gage said seriously. "He was moved around off some haybales before we got there in time to stop them." he said, looking away uncomfortably. "Oh, that's too bad. I'm sorry to hear that. But listen, he's has absolutely every chance still going for him. Those leg fractures weren't anything a few pins can't handle. He's almost guaranteed to survive now that all his internal hemorrhaging's being stopped." "Yeah, but will he want to later, doc, if he stays permanently paralyzed in that same leg? That's the burning question now, isn't it?" Johnny sighed. Joe conmiserated with Gage. "Yes, he got a bum deal, but there's always hope for anybody in his kind of case." Then Dr. Early licked his lips thoughtfully. "You want me to poke around in a few days to find how he turned out so I can tell you guys later?" DeSoto looked surprised, it was almost a breach of confidentiality on Joe's part. Almost. Roy opened his mouth once or twice, but then he said. "Uh, no thanks. It would only get us both down in a bad way if we found out that his spinal outcome wasn't anything but rosy." Beside him, Johnny agreed with his partner a nod. "See you later, doc. Thanks for offering." "Sure. No problem. See you later, fellas." Dr. Early waved and he started walking away. "Bye." they both said. They gathered up their medical gear that was still resting on the countertop of Dixie's desk to carry it outside. Another nurse there briefly smiled a greeting at them. Johnny stopped in his tracks. "I wonder where Dixie is?" "It's Sunday, her day off." Roy answered. "She'll be back at midnight." "Oh, that's right." Johnny said, snapping his fingers."I forgot that again?" "You forget a lot of things." Roy told him to his face. Johnny ignored him, and set down a coffee mug that he had filled from the standing base station pot. He had it polished off in seconds. DeSoto shook off a depressed air. "So, how did your kids run go?" "A couple of skinned knees and palms,.. among other things. Nothing big." Johnny sniffed, taking a finishing sip of water from the drinking fountain. "I take it neither of them transported because I never heard anything over the radio from you." Roy said. "You'd be right. Although I did almost have a full blown riot between those two on my hands." Gage smirked. "Why? It was a bike accident. What would two kids fight about over that kind of of situation?" "A favorite pair of jeans." Johnny leaned into him meaningfully. "Oh. I got it." Roy said, immediately understanding that idea. "The boy's, huh?" "Yep." "Now that WOULD be a matter of pride. The love of a good pair of jeans comes first they always say." Roy chuckled as they put away their equipment out in the parking lot. "Yeah, and then it's the love of a good car a few years later." Johnny grinned lopsidedly. "That much is true. But what about the love of a first special crush in between them right in the middle?" Roy said, getting into the new topic happily. "Some guys aren't lucky enough to hit that stage, Roy. I have to admit that I was one of them." Gage admitted, smiling. "Really? Us guys figured you grew up being a natural born lady killer. But then we all thought that you must have lost it somewhere along the line soon after you hit puberty." Roy grinned. "Very funny. Nah, I think my problem striking out with the opposite sex stems from wanting to deal with the opposite sex so bad in the first place. Once I figure out how to uncondition myself out of being so overeager about falling in love with one of them, I think I'll be able to manage them just fine." Johnny said analytically. "I'm afraid that that's the heart of the problem right there, Johnny. You can't manage women. They'll always insist on managing themselves." Roy said, grabbing the microphone off the squad's ConvertaCom. "I know. I know.. I was...speaking hypothetically. I meant 'charm' not 'manage'. I just picked the wrong word and ...misspoke myself.." Johnny said empathetically. "I sure hope you did, or you'll be in for years more of sheer disappointment." DeSoto shared. "You almost ....have to get married first ....in order to understand women a little better." he teased. "Well that sure makes a whole heck of a lot of sense now, doesn't it?" Gage scoffed sarcastically, getting frustrated. That only made Roy's grin larger. DeSoto thumbed the mic. "L.A., this is Squad 51. We're available." ##Squad 51. At 13:33.## came Headquarters' reply. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy and Johnny sailed into the day room, whistling. Most of their troubles had already been forgotten. Gage tried to sneak in with two grocery bags full of something but the smell gave him away. "Whew.. what's that stench? Is that garlic? I know it's not mustard gas.." Cap complained. "Would you just ...Shhh! Or Chet'll hear you. I'm trying to play another joke on him." "It won't work. Try putting those garlic strings outside until you're ready for them. Or he'll smell em for--" Hank broke off when Kelly entered the kitchen, still brushing his teeth after the nap he had enjoyed. Chet didn't bat an eye. "Oh, cooking lunch again? Smells good. I'll expect my plateful soon. After all, we can't have me fainting dead away a second time. Thanks, Gage. That was real nice of you." and he walked right back out of the room. The others started chuckling as soon as he was gone. Marco spoke up, "So, what are you gonna do, Johnny? Not cook anything? He'll know a vampire gig's up for sure then." "How'd you know about that? Roy, did you tell em' about my coming prank?" Gage said, poking a finger into DeSoto's chest. "How could I? I was riding in the squad with you for the past two hours." Roy fired right back. Stoker spoke up. "You know, it doesn't take a genius to guess that Chet's blood loss incident would set you into teasing him about blood suckers in general. I say you just wasted your money on all that garlic for nothing." he said, with a glint in his eye. "That is, if you're going to cook with it." "Not you, too." Gage pegged at Stoker. "Hey..." said Mike. "I didn't start anything. I was merely offering a simple observation based off of Chet's reaction just now." he smiled, holding up innocent hands in a surrender. "So,.. what's it gonna be, Gage? Are you going to blow the joke or start grilling all of us some hamburgers?" Cap said,rubbing his hands together hungrily. "I'm always hungry these days." he grinned at him. Johnny shot him a dirty look just before the tones went off.. ##Station 51. Station 10. Structure fire. 90210 South Beach. Cross street, Fruitland Park Drive. 90210 South Beach. Cross street, Fruitland Part Drive. Time out : 13:57.## Cap got on the acknowledgement instantly, leaving Gage to throw his two awkward grocery bags full of garlic strings back into the refrigerator by himself. "Station 51, 10-4. KMG 365." Kelly was already miles ahead of them all, sitting in his seat in the Ward engine, looking like a king. Johnny could see that he was already in full turnout, and wearing a Cheshire's smile to match. Roy, next to him, started laughing. "That was brilliant. Sheer brillance. He got you good that time." "Oh, for pete's sake. Why don't you just shut up and drive already?" Johnny said sourly. Roy did. Still grinning like a banshee, he flicked the squad's lights and sirens on as they left the garage. They were off and running, headed north. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Roy and Joe Early standing in a hallway at Rampart. Photo: Garlic strings bags. Photo: Johnny cooking in the oven and not liking it. Photo: Chet smiling matter of factly. Photo: Johnny pissed in the squad. Photo: A house fire nearly gutted. ************************************************** From: Jeff Seltun Date: Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:33 pm Subject: Turnabout is Fair Play The house, when they arrived, was going to be completely gutted. Cap let Stoker pull the engine flanking the exposure that was upwind in the best way possible. "Ok, pull her up here." he said to the engineer. He stepped away from the truck and met with Captain Stone, filling in from eight's for Station 10. "What do we got?" "Single story structure. Most likely electrical. Nobody's inside according to the neighbors." said Ben. "All right. Where do you want us?" Hank asked. "How about attacking from the south. There's a grove of trees back there that won't take too kindly on being showered with downwind sparks." he said, pointing into the sun. "What about cleanup?" Cap wondered. "I've got two of my men already cooling the roof to get it ready for axe hole ventilations. Should be safe to go up there in a few to finish up." "Ok, we'll get right on it. Any surprises on property?" "Just an old car in the garage and a couple of gas cans. Those must have blown up before we got here. The garage's practically skeletal. This must have burned a long time before somebody even bothered to call it in." Cap nodded and he started to turn away to start work. "And Hank?" "Yeah.." "All the utilities are turned off." "Thanks." Cap began issuing orders as soon as he returned within earshot of his men. "Stoker.. South side. Lay two inch and a halves for the trees. 10's crew will set up and charge the hoses. The rest of you, poles and axes with your tanks on, and enter inside only when it's entirely clear. Is that understood?" The gang nodded and jogged off. But Kelly was stopped with a gloved grip to the shoulder. "Not you. You're still too blood poor for anything fire related. Stay and help Stoker man the panels." "But Cap.." Chet protested. "This is an easy fire. It won't hurt me at all if I just--" "But Cap, nothing. You broke the rules this morning, so you don't get to play with the rest of the boys. And that's the end of it." Hank told him. "Now get going and unscrew that hydrant over there for our wye-line so we can feed Engine 10 all the water she needs." Kelly sighed, hung his head and finally went along with the order. He didn't do it gracefully and grumbled about it the whole way across the street. Hank couldn't help but smile to himself. ::Ah, one day he'll learn.:: he thought. ::It's my job to fuss and keep my crew safe. Especially when they've acted stupid like he did before coming to work.:: Ten minutes later, the fire was out in the garage and the house was mostly extinguished but still festering in places, fanned by the moderate winds blowing down from the surrounding canyon. Two of ten's men were working around the chimney with anchor ropes while they chopped holes in the shingles to let out dissipating smoke. Suddenly, there was a cry when one of them fell through a soft spot. Both fire captains whirled towards the sound and Stone cracked out orders over his HT. "Get some men up there with a ladder and all the ropes you can spare. We'll go in after him via the roof. The front entrance's too unstable and involved to enter through that way.." Cap touched Roy on the shoulder. "Go help them. They don't have their rescue squad here yet. They may need a paramedic." DeSoto put on his air mask and quickly joined the effort to rescue the fallen man. A voice suddenly burst through all the scene chatter. ##HT 10 to Engine 10. I....think I'm all right... I... It's just my shoulder.## Stone spoke into his radio instantly. "Where are you?" ##I think I'm in the attic.. I've sunlight on me.## Stone motioned the others on the roof to move to the attic windows to see if they could see the trapped fireman. "He's over here!" shouted a grunt to the east. "Towards this end. He must have crawled over there to get away from the fire." Roy asked. "Can he reach us through this hole?" pointing to his venting square still actively spilling out smoke past their boots. "No. It's a vaulted ceiling!" replied 10's newest man in fear. "All right. We'll wait for the ladder and winch. It's coming up right now. " Roy said. "Just calm down. It's ok. He's conscious and not in any immediate danger down there. Just relax a little. Last thing we need is for you to get yourself into a rough spot for not thinking straight." he said, setting a glove on the man's tank. "Move your left foot. You're on a weak spot." "I am?" And he jerked it off. "Right. Gotta relax.. Ok. Thanks, 51." The rookie jiggled his head, still breathing hard through his mask, worried for his crewmate. "I'll try to pull it together fast..Really, I will." "I know." smiled Roy through his steaming faceplate. "It sucks when it's one of your own crewmates who gets injured. You'll find a way to tone down your reactions whenever it happens eventually. Don't worry so much about it. It just takes time." said Roy, overseeing operations down in the hole. The kid firefighter nodded again, slowing his breathing rate by a concerted effort, even more, but his face was still pale. He smiled for the first time when he heard the sound of his station's squad arriving on scene from whereever they had been. Then it happened. An overhot water heater blew in the house, sending shrapnel and debris out every window. A piece of ejected wood hit Kelly on the back of the neck, when he wasn't looking, just under the helmet, and he went down. "Hey! Johnny! Chet's down!" Cap shouted from his place in the yard. "What happened?!" "Debris hit him in the back of the head!" Stone added. "I got him.." Gage said, peeling off his scba gear. Squad 10 had seen Chet fall and they skidded to a halt right next to him along the curb. They began snatching out all their gear. Johnny rolled Chet onto his back, while supporting his head and neck in a line. He bent down low to check for breathing and he found it. "He was knocked out." he told the arriving paramedics. "We know. We saw him drop right after that plank hit him." said one of them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the roof, Roy was distracted by the incident on the ground and almost stepped off the edge of the roof. He felt a strong hand grab him by the arm as it hauled him back safely on top. The rookie next to him grinned. "Like you told me. It really sucks when a Code I's one of yours." he grinned. "Yeah.. Thanks." DeSoto said. And then he didn't look Chet's way again. Ten's man was almost free. His hurt shoulder had been bound and he was already waist belted for the trip up the pit ladder. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny started acting strangely. "Just leave your gear out for me. I can handle him from here." "Not by yourself, man. No one can long board anybody without help. Besides, we're grateful that your partner's up there helping get one of OUR guys out." said paramedic Mahoney. "I'll just sweep him for you and--" he broke off when he got Chet's shirt unbuttoned. He gaped. "What are these?" he asked, pointing to the EKG pads that were already in place on Kelly's chest. "Uh,..combination pads?" Johnny offered lamely. "Now I know you didn't have time to put some of ours on because our defibrillator case is still latched shut." Johnny dug for a reply. Finally, he said the first thing that came to mind. "Uh,.. Chet here. You see, he's the kind of guy who likes to be prepared for any contingency..heh.." he shrugged unconvincingly. "He's sort of a Craig Brice type if you know what I mean." Mahoney cocked his head, vaguely disturbed. "He patches himself every morning just in case he gets hurt later on? That's a little weird...don't you think?" Mahoney's partner, slipping an oral airway into Chet's mouth, started chuckling under his breath as he got Kelly on some oxygen and into a C-collar. Gage turned five shades of red. "Not really.. I..." "And how do you explain these?" Mahoney glared, stabbing a finger down at the bruised needle marks Chet still had on both of his arms. Johnny qualmed. Last thing he wanted was Cap getting in trouble for letting a man work the same day after giving blood. It was a potentially serious fire department policy violation for him. "Chet. He.. volunteered to be stuck today. Just for practice." "Uh, huh.."said the no bones Mahoney in a tell-me-another-one-I-don't-know tone of voice. "Our station doesn't have a manikin that can do that yet." Gage concluded truthfully. "You won't mind if I draw a little blood for the hospital to check, do you?" That got Johnny mad. ::Chet's not an addict!:: his mind raged."Go right ahead. He's as clean as they come, man." he said mildly on the outside. "Ok. I think I will.." and his eyes narrowed at Gage as he felt for Chet's carotid in a quality check without looking down. "I trust you. We're both paramedics after all, right? But that doesn't mean I trust him." said Mahoney, throwing a look down at the comatosed Chet. "Can you get a set of vital signs for us while we sweep the rest of his body for other injuries?" "Sure thing. I'll get right on it.." Gage said through lax lips. ::Cap. You owe me one. Big time. :: he thought, thinking of Hank. ::Perhaps even a very large favor. Like cancelling a practical joke wagering war. Yeah, that'll do just fine. Thanks, Chet, for getting beaned on today of all days. Because soon, nobody will be smiling bigger than I'll be smiling when you find out that all the joke bets are permanently off.:: Roy came by, helping the wounded man walk, with another fireman, to 51's rescue squad's rear bumper. "How's he doing?" "Fine. But he won't be feeling so hot later on tonight." Johnny grinned. "It sure won't be because of a splitting headache I can tell you." Roy's eyebrows rose. "This oughta be good. Tell me later." he said moving away with his patient. "Oh, I will. Believe me. You'll be the first one to know, Roy." Johnny chuckled. Mahoney and his partner were so bugged by Johnny's behavior that both of them almost hit their heads on their engine's ladder for not looking when they stood up to flag down the Mayfair and both captains to offer up a status report. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. ************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Thu Mar 30, 2006 2:26 pm Subject: Let The River Run... Johnny Gage got excited from moment one after he arrived and found himself overlooking the tawny banks of the aquamarine colored Kern River. ::Gold's under there. And soon, I'm going to get to mine it out of the streambed myself with my own two hands.:: He had driven almost two hundred miles into the foothills where the old 49'ers used to camp and mine with their mules, pans, pick axes and shovels over a hundred years ago. Jim Hanes, the rugged firefighter from Station 110 and his wife Pamela, waved when they saw Johnny's rover pull up to their campsite. One of their crew was taking a break from Jim's small underwater gold mining operation and that had formed the basis of the invite Gage had received from Jim to fill in for him, two weeks ago. "Hiya, Johnny. How's business at 51's doing? Is she still the number one station in the county for call volumes?" he laughed hugely. "Not this month. 86's beat us out by eleven runs. But we'll catch em again next month and probably stay there for the rest of the summer." Gage said, shaking Jim's hand and then the hand of Pam, Jim's petite wife. He was amazed at how strong her grip was and he remarked about it. "Oh, sorry. That's from hundreds of hours manning the sluice box and the suction hose support booms on the Pro-Mack as a dredge tender." she grinned, brushing away the light brown hair that was covering her freckles. "Sometimes I don't know my own strength." she murmured shyly. "And that's why I married her." said Jim, giving her an affectionate squeeze. "Always so modest." Gage laughed along with them. Then he asked. "Uh, where can I leave my tent and sleeping bag and the rest of my stuff? I brought along extra food, water, raingear, a CB radio, and a first aid pack." "What? Are you worried that we can't take care of ya?" Jim guffawed, slapping the much slenderer Johnny on the back with a big beefy hand, making him catch himself to avoid falling. "No, I'm just not so sure that I can keep my own skin intact while learning all of this awesome gold digger's stuff." Johnny said enthusiastically."What do I have to do to start?" "Not much." Pam smiled. "We'll explain everything clearly...Before we do." she said, looking for all the world like a 49'er in her red plaid jacket and battered tan miner's floppy hat. Twenty minutes later, Johnny waslead down into a tiny rainwashed gulley to the creek, where rushing white water spun itself into a surprising roar. Gage's face fell quickly into doubt when they walked by the sign that Roy had mentioned about drowning statistics in the region. All he had to do was look at the water to feel it. "We're going to be dive mining under that?" he asked. "Sure.." Pam said. "It's not as bad as it looks. The water out there to the hardpack streambed is only about eight feet deep. And we always have a weight belt to keep us down while we dig out the sample holes. But the most effective way to maintain your position in fast water is to streamline your body properly, with your head and chest close to the river-bottom and your rear end slightly elevated. This posture allows the water-flow to push you down, toward the bottom, so you can get a better footing." "Sounds complicated." Gage said, trying to smile. "It's all about sheer common sense, Johnny." Jim said seriously. "And we've been coming to this spot for, what would you say, Pam, nigh on six years? We know the stream bed like the back of our hands sometimes. And I'll tell you something else, Gage, that's a deep, dark secret that I want you to spread to no one.." Hanes warned with a held up beefy finger. He leaned in confidentially to Gage, grasping his shoulder. "Pam and I have known for quite some time, that pay streaks, often very rich pay streaks, exist in these faster waters. Because dredging rapids is more difficult, others are less likely to have mined there before you, including those rascally old timers of yesteryear. For this reason, fast water stretches like this little creek are actually modern day virgin gold territories just aching to be found. And we did it!" "Really?" said Johnny, his eyes brightening. "Just look at these beauties. The product of last summer..." and he reached into his jacket, pulling out a cloth sack full of nuggets. Pam, giggling, went to a pack and got out a miner's pan. She knelt by the creek to moisten its surface. Then she brought it to Jim, who tipped out the sack, spilling gold out liberally so Johnny could touch it. "Holy cow..." Gage gasped, picking up one of the gold rocks. "And we also get placer gold by panning the leftovers." Pam told him. "Placer gold?" Johnny asked. Jim shifted his weight to another boot. "Gold found in streambeds is called that. Found in flake form, usually about the size of flattened grains of rice and smaller. Some deposits carry a larger amount of such flakes and fine gold. Other deposits carry substantial amounts of larger pieces and nuggets like the ones we're showing ya." "You got all of these here?" "Yep." said Pam, her eyes twinkling. "With that dredge machine you told me about over the phone?" "Yep. And you're gonna get a few days' share of whatever we find as payment for helping us out of a tough spot, with us being one man short." said Hanes. "Everyone's gold income depends directly upon how much material we can get sucked up by our main hose. It's not that easy, but it'll be worthwhile in the end." he promised. "Well, Jim, I...I.. really don't know what to say.." "Say nothing. Just learn. And don't worry. It's hard work but we promise we'll try to make it fun for you." Jim hurried along the trail, dropping their lunch and safety and first aid packs on a section of well trampled beach on a white sand bar that had piles of tilings from previous expeditions mounded up into small hills around them. "And there she is, Johnny. The Sierra Madre.. aka the Pro Mack 2000, streamlined with a lot of floatation keeping the floats as narrow as possible." "Wow, is she a beauty! But those narrow pontoons, why is that?" Johnny asked. Jim warmed to the subject. "Well, it's because we're working in white water rapids. One of the main considerations when adding flotation to a creek dredge is to avoid increasing the drag of it against the current because it puts more strain on your dredge, frame, tie-off lines, and diver airhoses. We like to use inflated tire inner tubes, PVC pipe material, and styrofoam. They work the best. "When you are set up with the dredge positioned off to the side in some pocket of slower water, your suction hoses will be running perpendicular, at least to some degree, to the flow of the fast water. That much hose exposed broadside to the current creates enormous drag, which can cause the suction hose... and our air hoses to kink at the points where they connect to any kind of machinery or inside of an air hose loop curled by the water." "Sounds like a continual problem, sort of like keeping a charged firehose flowing when you're traversing up a stairwell." Johnny thought out loud. "The principle's exactly the same." smiled Jim. "Now breathing air hose kinks, you can avoid by not turning around in any circles while working under the dredge. And any silt suction hose kinks can be avoided by rigging one or two extra ropes down from your main tieoff line that's holding the dredge in place in the creek. Those ropes you see out there allow the suction hose to be flexed back by the current, but not to any critical kinking point. You see, it's the hose kinks that cause plug ups which are rocks that jam in the dredge's suction-hose or powerjet. This bend in the suction hose is what allows you the movement to expand the size of your gold dredging hole." "Using the boom is nice." said Pam. "Because then you can move the entire dredge and suction hose harness as a unit, when you take the equipment forward downstream as your dredge hole progresses farther along." "Sort of like a stokes and pulley system on the side of a building." "Right again, Gage. You're catching on fast." laughed Jim. "So the Pro Mack essentially sucks up streambed material : rocks, sand, gravel, silt, ..and gold.." Johnny's eyes bugged out. "and passes it up through that main suction hose, and runs it across the recovery system floating at the surface?" "Yep. Pieces of gold, which are nineteen times heavier than the water and six times heavier than rocks, are separated from the other streambed materials and trapped over the conveyor riffles, as the gravel and other material wash through the recovery system and then we just wash the leftovers back into the stream." said Pam. "The whole process is completely nonpolluting." "What about the silting effects?" "Storms and floods do the same thing and what's one tiny little dredger to compare to the power of all that?" Pam teased. "Point taken. How do you provide breathing room for the divers? Us?" he wondered, tapping himself on the chest, chuckling. "Air for breathing underwater is generated by an air compressor, and passed down through an air line and then through a mouth regulator, similar to the SCBA we use in fires, Johnny." said Jim. "So we aren't going to be that deep. I don't relish the idea of getting the bends way out here in the middle of nowhere." "It'll never happen." Pam reassured him. "We dredge only in ten feet of water or less and any rocks too large to pass through the suction nozzle are moved out of the way by hand." "Couldn't you use a cutter head like they use out at the marina for digging out holes?" Gage asked. "A cutter-head's rotating series of hardened-steel blades that are designed to cut into sand, clay or classified gravel and will just get bogged down or damaged. It doesn't have the capability to deal with hard-packed streambeds which are made up of oversized rocks and huge boulders. Also, any blades would be continuously up against rocks that must be moved out of the way by divers. And we don't like those risks. It would be too dangerous to put divers into a hole in fast water where a cutter-head is operating." "What kinds of other problems to you come up against when you're digging under the creek?" "Two things." Pam exclaimed. "Those rock plug ups and people who have a tendency to nitpick." Johnny laughed. "Nitpick? Underwater? No one can talk down there." Jim chortled. "It's a new definition that us gold diggers have coined. It means anyone who keeps dredging around and around rocks which are locked in place by other rocks that need to be freed up first by hand." "So, what's my job gonna be this weekend?" Johnny asked. "One of two jobs, your choice." said Jim. "The nozzle operator is responsible for getting as much material up the suction hose as possible and it's he who directs how the dredge hole is being taken apart. The second job is being just a rock person who has the responsibility to help the nozzle operator by removing those rocks that are immediately in the way of production by using prybars, and brunt force." "That sounds like me. No different than wrestling with a fire hose." he said with humor. "As we move our hole forward, we dredge layers or top cuts off the front of the hole, while we try to leave a taper ramp behind us to prevent rocks from rolling back in and on top on us. You as a rock person will be responsible for deciding which rocks and boulders could potentially roll in and remove 'em before they have a chance to do so." "Sounds simple enough. I could handle that." "Smart man, being the nozzleman's awful at times. And there are things you gotta do when you take a lunch break or knock off for the day. The most annoying one is remembering to anchor your suction hose and nozzle by either piling rocks on top of it or tying it to a large rock in the bottom of the dredge hole. It's no fun to start a production dive by having to work against the current to get your suction hose back into your dredge hole, because the fast water blew it out after your last dive." "Don't have to work with that kind of effect at the station. Wind's never powerful enough to move hoses around." "Are we lucky that way? Heh." Jim guffawed. "But I beg to differ. Hanging hose in the drying tower when the wind's making them sway, really sucks!" "That's when you con someone else into doing that chore for ya." Gage said empathetically, making Pam laugh. "But being down a hole like that in such fast water... Is it truly safe?" "No. But then again, is anything guaranteed one hundred percent safe? All right. I'll tell you about the risks you'll be running. One of the most serious dangers to a dredger is the possibility of being pinned to the bottom by a heavy rock or boulder. All of the oversized rocks that can't be sucked through the dredge nozzle must be moved out of the hole by hand or with the use of winching equipment. When undercutting the streambed, or taking apart the dredge hole, there is the possibility of larger rocks rolling in on top of you. This possibility increases when you are working in turbulent, fast water. The erratic changes in the pressure that the water exerts on the exposed streambed material, inside and around the dredge hole, can cause boulders to loosen up and roll into the hole. Generally, rapids make you begin creating your dredge hole as soon as you can dig one out. The hole will eventually help anchor you in place because the water is much calmer inside of it. " "So the larger you dredge the hole, the easier it gets." Gage surmised. "Yes." Pam said happily. "My, Jim, you are right, he is a fast learner." Together, Jim and Johnny said the same thing. "Firefighters have to be." Then they shared a macho high five, just to tease her. "How long do you work at a time during any one session?" Gage asked Jim. "Oh, in two or three hour dives at a time. We rest up in between for two hours to get over the fatigue from the cold and battling the current." "So, your man who's not here, is usually your rock person?" "Yeah, and he's great at it, too. We use hand signals to communicate. When I give him the plug-up signal, he always races to the surface to quickly clear the obstruction in the suction hose. He's funny that way, always swimming around pell mell with an exaggerated sense of urgency. Even when he's just returning to the hole when the plug-up's free. Sometimes, he even grabs the pry bar and start breaking rocks free for me just one rock ahead of the nozzle tip so the water doesn't cloud up with silt, that would block our view." Hanes told him. "Show me those signals." Johnny said, rubbing his chin carefully. "Ok, this one means.. there's a plug up in the suction hose, this one means there's one in the power jet, and this one means that we're moving the dredges forward to the next spot." Pam said. Johnny learned them quickly and added one of his own. "How about this one? It is ever used?" and he wrapped his hands around his throat in a universal 'I'm choking' grip. "We don't have to rehearse that one. It just happens." laughed Jim. "Here, let me show you how to pop off a weight belt in case that happens to any of us while we're working." And Hanes showed him. "See? It's just like a parachute release handle. Right at the chest. You may also find that it is better to first remove your work glove before trying to release your buckle in an emergency." "Heh. That's a laugh. I usually get into the biggest trouble for taking my gloves off during an operation. So,..if you're the nozzle man, and I'm the rock person, what will Pam be doing?" Johnny asked, pointing at her as she offered him some hot chocolate out of a thermos. "Thanks. It is chillier up here than back at home." "Oh, I'll be the dredge tender up top. It'll be my job to monitor the water volume flowing through the sluice box. If it visibly slows down, I'll be suspecting a plug-up and then I'll look for it and clear it. Also, I'll be paying close attention to where you dredgers are working at all times in all this fast water. Do, always, keep an eye on Jim while dredging down there. When we dive, we make sure we keep track of each other and everybody else on the team. If you need to leave the dredge hole or go to the surface for some reason, always let someone know you're going." she said seriously. Jim added more. "If you or I suddenly disappear, Pam will immediately go looking for a body." Johnny nodded, accepting that bit of reality well. "A person in serious trouble underwater only has about thirty seconds to get it together. That isn't much time at all." Pam told him. "There is no margin for error." Gage agreed. "You are either breathing air or you're not." Then he began to mince uncomfortably about the idea of diving and breathing through a very thin hose underneath raging rapids. Jim noticed. "It's not that bad. I've been doing this for so long in water moving so fast..." he tried to soothe. Then he went a different track, "Sometimes, air bubbles created by the turbulence eliminate ALL my visibility. It's funny, Gage. It feels exactly like a night fire in thick smoke after you're done sweeping an apartment on your hands and knees. After diving in really turbulent water, my equilibrium goes and I get so disoriented I can hardly stand up without weaving when I crawl out of the water." "And that's when I break out the oxygen tank." Pam touched Johnny on the arm, to get his attention after the laughing was over. "One of the main concerns when dredging in fast water is having your mask and/or regulator swept or knocked off your face. This will cause you to panic, especially when it happens for the first time. The masks we use are larger than oceanic ones with substantially more surface area to encompass the mouth regulator to reduce hose tugging on the head. Know that it will be likely to get accidentally dislodged from your face. This can happen when the mask is bumped by someone, or a rock, or when turbulent water catches it, especially from the side." "I'll be careful. I'm used to air bottles and heat/cold suction effects from working a fire." But Gage was not soothed. "I have to ask this. What about finding yourself suddenly swept down stream?" They all chuckled. "Everybody asks that question." Hanes smiled. "Contrary to what many people believe, being swept down river by the current is not the major concern. This is a normal happening in fast water dredging. As long as you have your mask clear and your regulator in your mouth, being swept down river by the current is generally no big deal. That is, of course, unless you are dredging directly above a set of falls or extremely fast water." he teased. "In most cases, the fast water you are in is not a steady flow of current. It is usually turbulent, varying in direction and intensity. A swirl can hit you from the side and knock you off balance. Or, sometimes it can even hit you from underneath and lift you out of the dredge hole and into the faster flow. If you get swept down river in fast water, you usually just need to grab hold of the river bottom and work your way over to the slower water, nearer the bank. This movement is best done by continuing to face upstream, into the current, while you point your head and upper body towards the river-bottom. That posture will drive you to the bottom where you can get a handhold on rocks or cobbles to anchor yourself down. Then, you can work your way upstream, through the more slack current near the bank, and back out to your worksite again. After three or four times getting caught, it'll all become pretty much routine." shared Jim. Pam had more to add, "By the way, your air line will also be your direct connection to the dredge and to safety. When you connect your air line to the dredge, wrap it around the dredge frame several times before attaching yourself to the air fitting on the dredge. Then you can use your air line to pull yourself to the dredge in an emergency." "That's nice to know. But what about using regular ropes?" "Ropes are unreliable underwater around divers. You'll find your airline, however is actually an extension of yourself. Please, please, Johnny, especially in fast water, it is very important that you not allow your air line to tangle around parts of the dredge, underwater rocks, or around Jim's airline in the dredge hole." "And always be sure to get all the loops out of your air line before starting your dive. Otherwise, the current can pull these loops into kinks, which can immediately cut off your air supply." added Jim. "Ever been in a cave-in out there?" Johnny asked, casting his head toward the beautiful, fast blue water creek. "Nope. When you dredge a hole down through loose streambed material, it will keep sliding in on you. But when you finally break through to the hard-pack, the streambed will generally hold up the wall surrounding the hole. In fact, many of the old-time operations a hundred years ago tunneled underneath hard-pack. This was called drift mining. Sometimes they even tunneled directly under active rivers!" Jim shouted. "Even in 1846? That's incredible." Johnny exclaimed. "They were daring back then. That's why it's so fun coming up with ways of doing what they did that isn't so gosh darned dangerous." Pam laughed. "So,..." sighed Johnny expansively. "Is it all worth it? I mean. How much gold is possibly left in these hills? They were picked over with a fine toothed comb and then microscoped to death as far as I know." "They were. But gold depositing is ever replenishing, Johnny. And I'll explain to you how it works." said Jim. "With the kind of dredging we have now with machines like the Sierra Madre, gold doesn't have to be as concentrated as it once was to be lucrative because we can move hundreds of times more material than any 49'er ever could with his pick and axe." "So how does it work, Jim?" Gage asked. "Because of its enormous weight, gold tends to follow a certain path of its own when being washed down a waterway, and will get hung up in various common locations where the water force lets up enough to drop gold. One example is the inside of a bend where a stream makes a turn. Another example is at the lower end of a section of white water. Gold will form pay streaks in areas such as this, where the water slows down on a large scale during large flood storms. Generally, a winter storm, even a large winter storm, will not create enough turbulence and force in a river, creek or stream to redeposit the compacted streambeds that are already in place along the bottom. Flood storms of the magnitude to redeposit streambeds do not occur often. Pam placed laced fingers in front of her mouth, getting excited about gold mining all over again. "We believe that the last time that a substantial amount of hard packed streambed was formed on this creek was during the 1964 flood." "Hey! I remember that." said Johnny, snapping his fingers together. "It rained for days on the reservation when I was ten years old and all of the low country was flooded out for an entire month." Jim nodded in agreement. "I remember it very well, too." "In most of the channel along the Kern, from which this creek runs, the 1964 flood layer was laid down on top of a much older, harder packed, virgin streambed that formed perhaps thousands of years ago. So, it takes a major flood storm to move and lay down a hard packed streambed. And, it takes a super major flood storm to create enough force and turbulence in a river to break up ancient streambeds and redeposit them as newer hard packed streambeds along the course of the waterway. This happens only very rarely.The reason that hard pack is important to a prospector is because gold nearly always concentrates at the bottom of hard packed, flood layers. At some point during the storm, gold becomes trapped out of the turbulent flow by dropping into irregularities, cracks and holes that are present along the surface over which it is traveling and it will always be beneath a hardpack. You can find the signs because most of the flat rocks will be lying horizontally and slightly tipped downward in the direction of the current. If gold traveled in that part of the waterway, we find it concentrated at the bottom of the hard pack, sitting on top of the tailings. Underneath, we find loose cobbles with sand and silt between them. These usually go all the way to bedrock. We find very little gold on bedrock because it has already been mined. Because of this, we have found the best means of production is to dredge the hole down a layer at a time. This is the top cut we mentioned earlier. If you take down a broad horizontal area of the streambed together, you uncover a whole strata of rocks which are interconnected like a puzzle. Then, you can see which rocks must be removed first in order to free the others more easily." "Sounds like doing it that way would be far safer, too." Gage guessed. "It is. But, the only time I intentionally slow things down is when I am uncovering the gold. I have to keep an eye on that to follow the pay streak. If the streak is good, I also point out the gold to my rock person as I uncover it. Now that," said Jim, grinning gape tooth wide. "..is very fun. Everyone deserves the boost because gold eventually gets spent..." "And the memories last forever.." sighed Pam. "I'll bet." said Johnny. "Now here's the quirky part.." Jim chuckled. "Areas where the water runs fast during low water periods are likely to be drop zones for gold during high water. This explains why you can often find pay streaks under rapids when the river is flowing at low water levels. It also explains why you seldom find pay streaks within the first slow water area below a set of rapids when the river is running low. At first, this may seem contradictory to the general belief that high grade gold deposits form in areas of the waterway where the water slows down after a stretch of rapids. Just keep in mind that pay streaks are created during major floods." Johnny's eyes lit up in discovery. "And during a major flood, a sudden dropoff edge in the bedrock can cause a very good gold trap, like the riffles in a sluice box, but on a very large scale!" Pam put her chin on her hand, sighing. "You know, I've been married to Jim for fourteen years, been mining for six and I still don't get how that effect works.." Jim explained it once again. "Here, let me put a firefighter twist on things, Pam, because you sure know a heck of a lot about me that way already." he teased. "Oh, you.." she said, slapping his arm affectionately. Hanes flinched good naturedly and went on. "Pam, if you turn on a fire hose at slow speed, the fastest water area is found directly where the water flows out of the hose. Right?" "Yeah, I can see that...." "Now, here's the analogy,..when you turn the water pressure up, momentum forces the water farther out. This condition occurs within the river during a major flooding, another reason why you are likely to find gold in fast water. It's pushed farther out from the rock which formed it." "Oh, I see it now.. Duh." Pam laughed. "And if you still want to be traditional, you can get placer gold into your pan from the shallows by sifting through loose streambed material. Paystreaks can happen like that, but they're rare, and almost always the result of winter storms, and the related run off, eroding away the hardpack streambed cut in along the bank. It washes the gold down into the waterway to rest with the loose material,.." he said marching his finger from the nearby hilltop, down to the shore and finally to the waterline.." right on top of your most favorite sand bar, love." "Aww,," sighed Pam, kissing Jim. "He's so sweet, isn't he?" Blushing, Johnny stood up off of his creek rock seat. "Ooo, my head's hurting from all of this stuff. Can we eat first before we go dive prospecting?" "Sure, I'll go get dinner ready." said Pam. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It was one day later at the creek camp and it was high noon. Johnny had survived his initiation period and was finally broken in well as a full fledged dredging rock person. He no longer minded the churning rapids roaring about his ears. In fact, the water in that part of the creek was so swift that he and Jim both were swept out of the dredge hole time after time after time. And Pam took each "accident" when it occurred, like a trooper, running along the bank with a poolside sheperd's hook, with her long sandy hair flying, to snatch them back onto shore with it whenever it happened. After the fifth time, Pam started to get worried. "Jim, shouldn't we call it a day? I think the creek's lowering, the water's definitely getting faster as time goes by." "Why stop, Pam? The area downstream only gets deeper. We can't get crushed against rocks that aren't there, honey. We'll be fine. Besides, Johnny and I have found a really good paystreak that we're afraid may get buried if we slow down for even a minute." "I don't like it, Jim. I don't think it's safe enough any more to go on." she said, frowning and biting her lip. Jim smiled from where he stood in the shallow water, up to his waist. "Tell you what, ten minutes more, and we're done. Ok? Johnny has to go back home tonight anyway and I think we've found enough gold to make the trip worth his while. So yeah, I'll halt operations then. Does that satisfy you now?" "No. But I know I can't stop you. Go have fun." she smiled. "That's my girl." he said, putting his airhose regular and mask back onto his face. Johnny was moving a particularly stubborn watermelon sized rock when it happened. Jim was uplifted out of the hole by an errant welling of creek current and he was carried away so fast, that he didn't have time to untangle himself from his air line before he reached the end of it. And the air line got tangled around his neck. Hanes lost what breath he had in his lungs in seconds. There he was, flopping around in the current, like a flag snapping in a stiff breeze, tethered by the air line around his neck and he started struggling, unsuccessfully, to regain his footing in three feet of water. But the flow of rushing rapids proved to be too strong. His mask was ripped away, leaving him blind. But his teeth clenched down on his regulator causing a kink about five feet above his head. His air supply was abruptly cut off. Above, floating on the dredge, belly down, Pam screamed. "Johnny!" Gage got a funny feeling down where he was and he turned towards the front of the hole, looking for Jim. All he found was empty space. Quickly, he dropped his weight belt and hung onto the suction hose, riding it like a long sinuous snake, until he drifted down stream towards where he could see Jim fighting to free himself. He got there and released Jim's weight belt with a powerful tug. He grabbed onto Jim, gripping him with both legs as he tried to pull the hose from around Jim's throat. Jim gave him the choking signal weakily. Thinking fast, Johnny grabbed a hold of Jim's air hose and pulled it in towards the both of them and then he let it go. The pressure was temporarily removed from Jim's hose kink and he watched as Hanes received a hard won breath of air and the expression on his face fell from utter panic into one of immediate relief. Gage did this several times to get Jim more awake, before he reached to the surface to get a knife from Pam. By the time he had sliced the hose free, Jim was unconscious and limp. Struggling, Johnny and Pam used one of the dredge's floats to bear up his body to the surface and together, they rode the creek down to calm water, hanging onto him. Gage got Hanes to shore and got on his head in a listening check. "Go get the medical gear..." he told Pam. Sobbing, she ran to get it. Jim wasn't breathing anymore. Johnny tried to get a first breath in but it didn't work. Repositioning Jim's head, Johnny tried again. "Come on, Jim. You couldn't have gotten that much water inside. I didn't see your mouth open." Then it dawned on him. Jim was suffering laryngospasms. Straddling Jim's stomach, Gage started delivering a series of firm but slow abdominal thrusts to encourage his windpipe to open up again. A rush of air gushed out after the fifth one. Johnny moved back to Jim's head and tipped up his chin high. Then he started mouth to mouth after pinching his nose. This time, he was rewarded with a chest rise. A quick check showed that Jim still had a slow heartbeat in spite of his bluish color. Pam clattered back with the small resuscitator case, Johnny's first aid pack and his portable CB radio. "Is he ok? Oh, Jim!" Gage got out a demand valve and began using it without stopping to put in an airway first. Soon, the rich flow returned a pink shade to Jim's face and hands. "He's got a pulse. I think he just had some throat spasming. I'm not hearing any water in his chest at all. If that's the case he should be waking up any time now. He wasn't apneic for very long. Maybe two minutes at the most. This oxygen should turn him around fairly fast." "Thank G*d. Jim is so afraid of water drowning. He has nightmares about it sometimes." she shivered, grabbing the radio to call for help from the nearby ranger station. "Jim.. come on, wake up for Johnny. You're out of the creek.." she sobbed. Jim stirred under the ventilations seconds later and started coughing. Gage moved the mask away. "Jim, how are you doing now? You're out of the water...." Hanes sucked in a huge tortured breath of air with a pained expression on his face and then he began to laugh out loud and long. "Do I still have it..?" he crowed, choking on saliva and some sand, crying. Still dripping, Johnny sat him up off of the ground, supporting Hanes from behind so that his breathing came easier. "What the h*ll are you talking about? Jim, you almost died on us." he said, holding the oxygen mask back over his face. For an answer, Jim opened up one clenched fist and showed them what was lying there. Johnny and Pam almost had breathing troubles themselves as their disbelieving eyes took in the glinting fire of pure gold. It was a solid high grade nugget the size of an apple. Jim Hanes face split into the greatest look of joy Gage had ever seen. "Guys, I've found the motherlode!!" Then he fainted into Johnny's arms, falling into an utterly exhausted sleep. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was Monday, at Station 51. Chet Kelly sat in one of the kitchen chairs, shaking his head in disbelief. "Johnny, you mean to tell me that after only two days working on a mining dredge, about which you know practically nothing, that you managed to break even on all costs of operation for absolutely everybody?" "Yep." smiled Gage, biting into a red apple and relishing every moment of it. No one could figure out why he was studying a simple piece of fruit so hard and for so long with such a ridiculous smile plastered onto his face. "Ok, so you can't tell me where you went, and you can't tell me exactly how much you found, what can you tell me?" Kelly asked in exasperation. "I'll give you a little hint, Chet. A top of the line, three inch hose diameter gold dredge, and the miscellaneous gear needed to run a small dredging operation, for an entire summer, can be obtained for just under $5,000. " "Yeah, so?" Chet said. "$5,000 split four ways still isn't very much." "I'm not finished yet.." said Gage holding up a finger to shush him. "Jim and Pam have been running that operation for six YEARS. Now do the math.." Stoker was the fastest. "No way, Gage.. No w--" "Yep. Split four ways. And I got a bonus, too." he grinned. "On my last day as a rock person, behind Jim, I found this, just lying at my feet under the water." Johnny reached into his uniform pocket and drew out a marble sized water roughened blue star sapphire. He held it up like a prized jeweler doing an appraisal. "How do you like them apples?" he grinned. "Is that real?" Cap said, getting up out of his rocker chair. "Yep. I'm gonna be a really rich man for a good long while." smirked Gage at the rest of them. "I don't believe it.." Chet whispered, his eyes filming over and mouth falling slack. "I never knew that creeks in California still give up rare and precious gemstones.." Johnny started laughing gently at them all.. "Well, that just goes to show ya, Chet, my man, that all that glitters..." and he trailed his voice off, laughing with sheer celebratory delight as he walked proudly away, tossing his gemstone up into the air and catching it again. It glinted prettily blue in the light. "...ain't gold." Chet finished, his eyes still bugging out. Then Kelly smiled a bucktooth sort of smile, mumbling as he sat back down on the couch to go play with Henry and his well mauled tennis ball some more... "Man, I tell ya, Roy. That Gage,..he's something else somedays, ain't he? Wow.." he exclaimed, blowing through his lips in admiration. "He sure is, Chet,.." DeSoto smiled gently. "He sure is.." FIN Episode Thirty One, All That Glitters Season Five, Emergency Theater Live -------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Johnny frowning outside. Photo: Underwater gold dredgers in a creek. Photo: A woman panning gold. Photo: Gold nuggets in a pan. Photo: Divers hose suctioning a hardpack streambed. Photo: Closeup of underwater gold getting sucked up by a hose. Photo: A diver in trouble, hose tangle. Photo: A diver getting swept downstream. Photo: Johnny swimming with a drowning victim Photo: A large museum quality gold nugget. Photo: A hand holding up a raw gem into the sun. Photo: The gang standing over the couch. Photo: Johnny grinning like a banshee in the kitchen. ************************************************** ***This current episode has just completed. ***Keep watching here daily for new episode ***scene installments. ************************************************** End Credits -- Episode Thirty One (Fifth Season) §§ All That Glitters §§ :) This episode is dedicated to hose jockeys everywhere.. :) :) For all the obvious reasons and everything in between. :) ************************************************************************ The Story Unfolds... Season Five, Episode Thirty Two.. §§ Water Day Saints §§ Debut Launch: April 1st, 2006. ************************************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Wed Apr 5, 2006 0:53am Subject: Drooling For Donuts~~ Johnny Gage sailed into the day room in the best of moods. "Morning. Morning all. Isn't this the most terrific morning, guys? Boy, last night I think I had the best date I've ever--" "You're late.." grumbled Cap. "We're just about to begin the meeting the chief's asked us to have about lining up another fundraiser for the station." Completely unphased about his tardiness or the growled complaint, Johnny snatched up the warming coffee pot from the stove and sat down in a spot next to his partner. "Oh, Cap. Not another one. I still have nightmares about how badly the one we tried to set up selling fireman's picnic tickets at Rampart." Chet and Stoker, who were still whispering confidentially about something together in close conference, broke off when Johnny got curious enough to peek at some papers they had laid out on the table in front of them. Kelly protectively snatched them up and stacked them, keeping their information a secret. "Only you did so badly, Gage. The rest of us breezed through selling our ticket packets. We had no problems at all. Who knows what your excuse was." "Maybe Johnny's just not a born door to door salesman." Marco scoffed kiddingly. "Ain't that the truth.." Chet goggled. "I mean, who'd buy from a fireman with that smile coming at em.." "Hey...." Gage protested immediately. "Cap.. now that was uncalled for. Chet just--" "Cap just nothing, Gage." said Hank, no nonsense."I'm not responsible for Kelly's flapping gums." "Yeah, there is such a thing as the First Amendment in this country, Johnny. Did you miss hearing about that in school when you were growing up?" Chet grinned, trying to snatch a donut waiting on the platter in front of them that was to be their reward for getting company business done. Hank smacked a butter knife across his knuckles instantly. "OwW!" Kelly howled. "Not until we're done. You know the rules. You should know them better than anybody else around here." Cap told Kelly. Johnny laughed, celebrating Chet as he nursed his knuckles in between his lips. "And who's been assigned to this station longer than anybody else has been, except Stoker?" he teased. Bonnie, sitting on the empty chair next to Johnny, was practically salivating as she stared at the freshly baked donuts Cap had set out intentionally as a powerful meeting attendance incentive. Kelly just glared at him for a few seconds, then fell into blatant ignoring as he and Stoker brought their heads together into animated conversation about something that seemed to be a project that they were working privately on together. Roy seemed to know what it was, for he began nodding to himself when he overheard a term or two outlining a specific that they were hashing out. Gage couldn't help but be cattish. "Ok, so what're you working on?" he asked them. Stoker and Kelly didn't look up. They might as well have been a news broadcast for all the response they gave Johnny. Hank, however, immediately glommed onto Gage's interest and set him straight. "They're working on what the chief asked them to directly. And that project's gonna be the meat of this whole meeting today. We're gonna raise money so Stoker and Kelly can continue working on it with the department's blessing. So the sooner you zip your lips the sooner we can get eating the donuts I brought in for all of us." Marco's stomach couldn't keep silent any longer and it growled. "Sorry." Lopez mumbled. "Guess I'm just as bad as Bonnie here." he apologized. Chet Kelly eased Bonnie's self inflicted torture by sweeping her into his lap and petting her affectionately. "I'll start this meeting off, Cap. Stoker and I have already come up with our preliminary figures. We figure we'll need around five hundred dollars to complete phase two. That'll include paying for Brackett's time evaluating our invention and the cost of materials to build it." "What invention?" Johnny interjected clearly into a pause in conversation. "If you needed to know that, I would have told ya. Now shush." Cap glared at him. "Drink your coffee and cork it." Gage immediately whispered animatedly to Roy. "What's this all about? Geesh,.. I was only trying to-" "Shhh." Roy said mildly. "I'm trying to listen to this.." he stage whispered. "Listen to what? They haven't even given us a real subject matter yet." Johnny countered. DeSoto shut his partner up by pouring way too much sugar from the table dispenser into Johnny's mug with intentional moderate malice. Gage sighed and rubbed his face in irritation at the stunt. Then he started fidgeting in his seat, when he began to realize that he'd be unable to dump out his coffee into the sink just yet with the meeting officially going on to go pour himself a new one. He finally fell to silence. Hank conducted the next natural question."Does anybody have any ideas on how we can get half a G by the end of next week to fund this brainchild project submission?" Gage decided to hasten things along. "How about a barbeque or a fish fry at the supermarket?" he suggested sarcastically. Chet didn't even blink a mild eye. "That'd cost us personal money first, Johnny. And you already know how hard that is to swing getting ANY money from the other shifts." "I agree. So some kind of cookout's out." Cap said empathetically. Johnny threw up his hands. "Well, what other option have we got? Anything we plan to do's gonna cost us money, even if we just host a handpainted backyard carnival dunk tank and cheek kissing booth." Stoker looked up at that enthusiastically. "Now that's getting a little closer.." he said brightly. Roy raised his hand slowly with confidence."I got it." Hank called on him with a nervously chewed on pencil eraser. "Shoot it out." "We declare a fire department holiday for kids and spruce up the usual station tour rigmorale to make it more fun. Then ask for donations from all the parents." DeSoto smiled. "Hey. Now that's one heck of an idea.." Kelly grinned toothily. "Stoker, I think we're back in business here." Gage blinked into another pause. "Back in what business?" "Never you mind." Stoker said, flipping a chin at him. "You'll find out about it soon enough when the time's right." Hank clattered his drained coffee mug on the table to call things back into order. "Ok,.. sounds like a great idea, Roy. What shall we call it when we sing out about it with an advertisement tarp hanging from the flagpole?" Roy looked a little uncomfortable then and he crossed his arms across his chest shyly. "Well, I don't exactly know, Cap. I.. sort of didn't think it through that far yet." Marco piped up. "I got it.. why don't we call the holiday pitch Water Day? The kids'll get it right away. Getting chances to fire off real fire hoses despite of the drought restrictions.. It'll be perfect!" "It sure would.." said Cap, enthusiastically. Then he snatched for a donut faster than the speed of light. "Meeting's over.. Gage, you were late so you get to design and paint the tarp banner. Solo. Give it to Stoker when you're done so he can string it up and fly it by tonight." "What!?!" Johnny sputtered. "Don't press your luck, Johnny." Roy warned him with a grin, reaching behind and over his back for the coffee pot to give to Johnny so he could get a fresh cup to replace the one DeSoto had ruined. "You just may learn to regret it." "But..." Gage gasped. Bonnie barked. "Uh oh.." said Hank. The tones went off. ##EEE, ooo AArrrrroooo.## The gang grabbed two donuts in each hand and jogged out of the kitchen. Before he left, Chet broke off a large piece of one of his for the diminutive Yorkie still sitting patiently in her chair. Bonnie wagged her tail at him and yipped in appreciation. ##Station 29, Truck 8, Heavy Extrication 20, Station 51. Battalion 1. Multiple car traffic accident with injuries. Highway 580 and Ventura Freeway. Highway 580 and Ventura Freeway. Time out 0915.## Cap felt his blood begin to pump as he hauled on his turnout jacket. "Let's move. Sounds like a big one." Then he got on the radio. "Station 51, 10-4. KMG 365...." The rest of them needed no encouragement. Soon, the squad and engine were driving down the boulevard with all their lights set to maximum, their sirens screaming for space through which to dart around the morning's choking rush hour. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: The gang sitting around the kitchen table in a meeting. Photo: Gage with Chet Kelly holding Bonnie in his lap. Photo: Stoker and Chet listening to conservation closely. Photo: Gage agonizing over not knowing something by the engine. Photo: Roy pouring Johnny a cup of coffee by the stove. Photo: A large car pileup under a viaduct in daytime. Photo: Station 51 arriving on scene from the distance. *************************************************** From: "patti keiper" Date: Thu Apr 6, 2006 8:15 pm Subject: MCI Level 1 The hair started going up on the back of Hank Stanley's neck as they got closer to where they could see the morning rush backing up. "Oh, L*rd. There must be a dozen cars involved in this one." he said to everyone in the Ward's cab. He got on the mic. "L.A., this is Station 51. We're arriving on scene. I'm seeing a multiple MVA pileup in excess of ten vehicles just south of the Highway 580 viaduct. I'm officially declaring a Level One Multiple Casualty Incident. Infrastructure has collapsed on top of vehicles and at least one semi truck of undetermined type. The command post will be Engine 51 with the same call sign until further notice. Note the best route of access is from the north along the outside lane's margin, going southbound." There was a slight pause as Sam Lanier, the dispatcher of the day, digested Cap's information. ##10-4. Confirming MCI Level 1. I copy victim numbers ten or more vehicular. Responding four additional paramedic stations, a full hazmat team and two air support units.## Fluting tones rang as the county wide issue came over on Station 51's frequency as the high level incident was radioed out to all available EMS in range. It was followed with rapid radio traffic as additional police and highway response crews were notified of the call and acknowledged it. ##Engine 51, Battalion 1. My ETA is still four minutes out. I'm giving you permission to assume the scene as Incident Commander. Install your posts ASAP.## said the chief through his car radio. "10-4, Battalion 1. L.A. an update. There is no smoke. I repeat. No smoke as yet." annunciated Cap clearly to his superior. ::Last thing we need are fires breaking out.:: Then he turned to his men, gathering around him with full turnouts, tanks and gloves. He spoke urgently quiet. "As I assign you, put these reflective vests on." Captain Stanley's mind kicked into high gear and he took action, giving rapid orders. "Roy, take over as Medical Group Supervisor. Order any needed resources through me, such as law enforcement or coroner's aid. Establish communications through a secondary control channel and designate yourself as DeSoto HT 51 to L.A. Make three staging treatment areas for triage, red immediate, yellow delayed and green minor. Use the squad's triage kit for taping. Gather the bottom halves of all triage tags with their patient information and have them brought to me. When Battalion gets here, he'll coordinate evacuations as Operations Section Chief." Roy nodded, breathing hard as his eyes took in more and more of the damage laid out about them. Hank turned to his left. "Stoker, you're my Safety Officer, sweep the area and determine casualty numbers and all hazards and report them to me directly. It'll be your job to make sure no one, including rescuers, gets into danger while working out there. Direct units to handle any problems you see through my channel. You arrange critical hazard mitigation, deal with any fire threatening survivors and all critical exposures, ongoing hazardous substance releases, and any further structural instabilities. Manage all of that before performing any nonambulatory victim rescues." "Right, Cap." said Stoker putting on his scba mask. He snatched up his HT and went running for a slope above the pileup to get a birdeye's view of the whole area. "Chet, you're the Transportation Supe. Create channel Kelly HT 51. You'll be responsible for loading ambulances by priority triage tags and sending recovered victims off to the appropriate assigned hospitals. Coordinate with Rampart, Mercy General and Mount Sanai Hospitals direct." Hank directed. "Roy will send victims to you as you call for them." "Got it, Cap." said Kelly. He swiftly decided that an adjoining viaduct cloverleaf circle would make the perfect helicopter landing zone and ambulance disembarkation point. He ran for that area, changing channels on his handheld as he hurried into his scba mask. "Johnny, you're the head treatment unit leader for triaging on Gage HT 51. Use the first two arriving paramedic units and make them a part of your team. Declare yourself now and have them report to you out there directly. Go. Grab the Ward's triage kit and tags with just minimal airways and trauma dressings. The rest of any squads' gear will be brought to triage shortly." "I'm gone." said Johnny, heading for the nearest car to their location. He didn't hurry, but first looked to Mike Stoker for a thumbs up to make sure the area he was entering was truly safe. Then he got his hand signal to proceed in and suddenly all the rest was as if he was wearing blinders. Set on his new channel and connected with those rescue squads coming to report to him, Gage reached his first victim... It was a woman, twisted and moaning in the driver's seat. "Maam, stay still. I'm a paramedic with the Los Angeles County Fire Department." he said, reaching into the shattered car window. "Can you understand me?" he asked the panting, bloody woman as he grabbed her by the sides of the head to check her true consciousness level. Her respirations count was twenty and he got a pulse at her wrist easily but she didn't open her eyes for him or attempt to answer any of his loud questions. Gage swept down her body and limbs for problems. He found and tied off a bad bleed on her right thigh. Finding nothing else, Johnny got the young lady's license out of her purse, wired it to the woman's triage tag and wrote down the controlled bleeding's location and the time, and left a triage tag untorn as red immediate around her upper arm. Her companion was on the floor, unmoving. Jerking the passenger side door open, Johnny crawled inside the car and climbed on top of the seat. He checked and found no breathing with his hands. Ignoring the finer spinal protocols, he tipped up the man's chin with a jaw thrust and listened for air exchange. He found none. Johnny left the man with a short tag torn down to the black color and a time. There was no one in the back seat in spite of a child's restraint chair strapped in. Johnny marked the car's roof with an orange spray can. ' R X 1, D -- 1.' ---------------------------------------------------------- On the hill, Cap noticed Johnny's first marker. He got on his hand held radio. "Engine 51 to Engine 29. You're assigned extrication. Head for the white two door Chevy Impala that's been marked, immediately next to Squad 51. One victim critical." ##Engine 29 to Engine 51. We copy. Our crew's moving in.## Cap noticed Heavy Extrication Unit Twenty rolling in with her sirens blaring. "Truck Twenty. Head for the broken viaduct. We're seeing two pinned cars by that jackknifed truck. Determine all hazmat risks, live victim numbers, then radio back to me. I'll send no paramedics into your area until you secure full scene safety." ##Truck 20, Engine 51, 10-4.## ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy DeSoto was animated. He spoke into his frequency, requested, and got a reply back for a doctor and nurse to fly in from Rampart. "I'll use both of them for victim treatment. Vince can head up being morgue manager. Looks like Johnny's found the first Code F." he mumbled to himself. He contented himself with laying out multiple tarps and medical gear upwind of the crash site into three rows. He squared these off into three sections with red, yellow and green tape on sticks thrust into cones. Moving to Squad 51, he unloaded absolutely every piece of medical gear it had and organized them opened and ready to use in a row along a center aisle which ran through the middle of all three tape colored areas. Thinking ahead, he asked a couple of policemen to go to any other light flashing rescue squads parked away from the crash site to gather their gear and courier the equipment to the triage station. Then he waited with a command slate for the first fire teams to arrive with a victim's stokes. When he saw two firemen coming from the white chevy, he called for a paramedic team to intercept and treat the red tagged woman without using their biophone. "Treat her briefly here then contact MD control when you're in route. Brackett's on the way to the scene if you find anything life threatening that needs immediate intervention with a doctor's order." he told them. Squad 29's medics handed Roy half of the woman's triage tag outlining her designated color and the ID notes Johnny had jotted down along with her driver's license. He got on the radio to Chet. "DeSoto HT 51 to Kelly HT 51." ##This is Kelly HT 51.## "I've a red tag. She'll be ready to move out your way in.." Roy peered closer at what the paramedics were doing for her with an I.V., oxygen without an airway, and additional dressings to her one wounded leg and guessed at her possible departure time."Four minutes. Altered LOC. Bleeding controlled. Triage tag number #1. An Evelyn Samuels. Age 54." ##This one a fly out?## asked Chet, writing down the woman's information on his command slate. "No, we've stabilized her. A ground transport will do." Roy told him. ##I've a Mayfair standing by. Two spots. A rider bench and a gurney.## "Send those attendants on foot for her." DeSoto told Chet. "She's in a stokes. I'll try to get another red tag for you to go along with her." ##They're on their way.## Kelly promised Roy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Johnny moved rapidly through the next two cars, there were three green tags, panicking assuredly, but he managed to convince them to remain where they were inside the glass cracked vehicles until other firemen arrived who could help walk them out to the triage station. "Meyers! I got a non-mover over here!" Gage shouted to another paramedic that he had assigned to work under him. "Boy of ten or so. In the black convertible!" "Where are you?" asked the voice through the steam of violated cars and dust. "See my tags? I looped them onto the car's radio antennae!" "Got you." shouted the man. He rushed to the car door that Johnny was struggling to open and helped him yank it ajar. Both men got inside in seconds and crouched over the crumpled boy in the back seat. His shirt was bloody. Gage knelt and listened close to the boy's face. "He's not breathing." Johnny told him as he opened the child's airway with a modified jaw thrust. "Does he have a pulse?" Gage felt for one at the boy's carotid. "Yes." Meyers bent low and gave the boy five ventilations mouth to nose, pressing the boy's lips closed to prevent escaping air. "How about now?" he asked maintaining the boy's open breathing position. "That did it. He's around 46 times a minute." Johnny smiled. Meyers sighed and slipped in an oropharyngeal airway in between the boy's teeth. The noisy breaths continued. Gage cut away the child's shirt, looking for the reason for the dampness staining the boy's clothes. "Pneumo. Left side. I can feel it sucking in and out." he told Meyers. "Only one?" "Yeah." "Here's a vasoline dressing." said the man, handing it to Johnny. Gage slapped it onto the child's chest wound on his back and then wrote down his information onto a red tag. As they were leaving the car, Meyers asked. "Where's the boy's parents? Front seat's empty." "Maybe they were walking wounded before anybody got here." Meyers frowned intensely. "I hope they're found. This kid needs parental consent." "Roy'll call a police officer into the triage station to cover situations like his to take protective custody. He'll do that with of all unattended minors brought to him." Gage reassured him. "Really?" "He's real good that way with things like that. He's got two kids of his own." Johnny said. The two paramedics reluctantly left the gasping little boy alone in his car to move on to the next one. They left their spray painted marker for Cap to see and left. Stoker began shouting and hand signalling to some crews over by the worse area of the pileup. Something was happening that only he could see by the semi truck and it was bad. "Uh, oh.." Johnny noticed, looking up to the hill to where the engineer stood with Captain Stanley. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A triage kit with tape, tags and vests. Photo: Roy on the biophone inscba. Photo: Collapsed car and highway sign. Photo: Gage opening car door wearing turnout. Photo: Cap pushing down an HT antennae by engine. Photo: Car smashed into an obstacle. Photo: A helicopter in the air over the Ward engine. Photo: Another triage kit, with case, markers and color ribbons. *************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Mon Apr 10, 2006 6:43 pm Subject: Extended Rescue.. Captain Stanley's voice suddenly came over Johnny's band. ##Gage! Civilians are being stupid trying to render aid to someone under a pickup truck next to the east end of 580's viaduct overhang. Stoker says they're trying to use an oxyacetylene torch on something directly over him.## Gage's head snapped up. "It takes all types. Where are the cops when you need em?!" he said in frustration to paramedic Meyers."Let's go." He got on his radio. "Gage HT 51 to Engine 51. 10-4. We'll be there in less than one minute.." ##Follow Stoker's flares in a line. They divert around fuel spills. Don't worry about the steaming semi. That truck's been declared Hazmat neutral. Its payload's just milk and the condensate's only thawing frost. You can D/C both your scba apparatuses.## "Copy that.." answered the first-in team. Happily, they dumped their bottles into a conspicuous open spot for easier equipment recovery later on. Johnny and Meyers picked up their light triage packs and began to run. They stopped only long enough to point out moving victims to the other roving paramedic teams also assigned to search through the piled up cars. Soon, they were there. A dusty automobile driver ran up to them, pointing. "A driver's been thrown headfirst into a rotating cement mixer. He's been buried alive under fresh cement. He's entangled in the mixer's motorized agitator.. My friend and I are trying to help him." "Show me.." said Johnny, his face growing tight. "Has it seized up?" he asked about the barrel agitator. "Yes. The blades aren't turning anymore around the shaft which I think's been cocked at an angle." said the man. "Great, now get out of here. Make for those two firemen you see on the hill by following along these cherry flares." "But.." "It's for your own safety. There's more than enough people here now who can help that man." Gage snapped. Then he noticed the cut over the man's eye. "We'll tend to you, too. Take this tag and show it to them." Johnny said, passing off a hasty green tabbed triage tag. The man hesitated, looking at the other firemen jogging towards them. Gage gestured urgently. "Don't worry about him. We know what to do. Get yourself out, ok? Please, mister,...move!" The man went. Johnny and Meyers were shocked when they turned a corner around the rolled over milk truck and saw the cement mixer. They could see only the victim's left hand and right leg extended and moving out the top of the hopper. His head was partially protruding through a small discharge port on the bottom. And there was a lot of dripping blood. "Gage HT 51 to Engine 51.. We've a man heavily entrapped and in critical condition inside a construction agitator under hardening cement. I'm declaring an extended rescue.." Gage told Cap. Realizing the scope of the incident, Hank quickly called Headquarters' communications center to land a medical evacuation helicopter near the scene. ##10-4, notifying L.A. and Truck 20 to report to your location.## said Cap. As Gage and Meyers climbed to the top of the mixer, they encountered a beefy construction man attempting to free the victim by cutting the agitator shaft with a flaming torch. Molten metal from the shaft was flying through the air and landing on top of the moaning man, causing very obvious third degree burns to the exposed paling skin around his neck and back. "What the h*ll do you think you're doing?! Get away from there!" Meyers said, hauling the torch out of the man's hands. "You're burning him!" "But I was just trying to get a hole open down to him for you fellas." said the worker. "He's bleeding ta death!" "Are you crazy? There's a ton of fuel spilled around here. Didn't you consider where all your sparks were blowing? You did more harm than good, man. Get outta here. Now!" Gage shut down the torch and flung it away from their victim in disgust. One of Truck 20's firemen immediately removed the worker from the area. The two rescuers could see the victim's upper torso had pinned between the lower half of the mixing unit and the agitator shaft. He was trapped face down, from his head to his waist, under the agitator. His back was bent backwards under the shaft, and agitator blades had impaled three inches into his left shoulder. Johnny could see that the metal pistons would seriously limit the space available to rescuers for cutting operations. Gage could hear the victim's muffled screams for help. "Hey, hey. Take it easy. The torch's gone. We got rid of it. Can you breathe ok?" Meyers asked the frightened man. The man gasped, shaking his head. "N-no. Smothering me.." he gurgled. The two paramedics positioned themselves on either side of the man's head and discovered that the motion frozen agitator was causing a nasty problem. The cement covering the victim's body had begun to dry, putting pressure on his lungs and diaphragm. And more of it was oozing onto his face as he spat and choked and tried to turn his head away from it. Meyers and Johnny knelt quickly to scoop wet concrete from around the man's mouth and nose with their gloved hands. As they also removed cement from around their victim's body, they found his left arm was badly mangled. This was the source of the tremendous bleeding pooling under the mixer. Johnny drew out a tourniquet and used it on the man rapidly. "We need an oxygen tank at our location as fast as possible." he radioed out to Cap. ##It's on the way with Truck 20. They're also carrying a full squad's gear. ETA is half a minute.## Hank promised. "Understood..." Johnny replied. Gasping in effort as he worked to ease the man's breathing difficulty, Johnny looked up to see the heavy rescue truck equipped with a hefty complement of specialty rescue equipment, including hydraulic tools and lifting bags, arriving. ::Good, they're bound to have an exothermic torch for us to use.:: he thought. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Battalion Chief One arrived to the command hill shortly thereafter. He had heard Johnny's declaration of an extended rescue situation. He had received a face-to-face briefing from Cap minutes earlier and had assumed his full incident command. Cap said to him off channel. "Johnny tried to describe the victim's position in the mixer and.. Well, Chief, you just have to take a look for yourself." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Soon, Battalion had. "Tricky. What's your plan?" he asked 20's head rescueman and officer. "Me and my men'll cut that 300 lb. agitator shaft here to create a space between the blades and his chest. It'll give the medics more working room for their I.V.s and gain them better access to determine the extent of his other injuries.." said the helmeted fireman. "Make it happen, boys." agreed Battalion. Then he knelt down next to Johnny. "How's he doing?" "He's barely holding, Chief. We've got to get him out of here fast. This cement's started drying and it's crushing down on all of his arms and legs." answered Meyers. "We're working on it." soothed Battalion. Then he looked up. "Here's your medical gear." he said, motioning quickly for the courier on the extrication fire truck to hasten in with his full arm load. "Great.." said Johnny reaching for the O2 apparatus. He placed the mask over the man's face and began to help him breathe using the ventilator. In spite of the help, the man blacked out. "D*mn it. Stay with us, sir. Hang on. We're working hard on getting you out of there." But the man didn't open his eyes at all. Truck 20's rescue crews tried to use hydraulic cutters on the agitator shaft. Then they attempted to use hydraulic mini-cutters to sever the blades impaling the victim's body. But the blades and shaft proved to be too thick. They plied in again with a reciprocating saw.. Still, they had no success. Finally, they placed a fireproof blanket around the victim and used the exothermic torch to cut the impaling blade. The procedure worked well, but the crew had to stop two minutes later when they became concerned about reburning their victim as they cut closer to his torso. Battalion was thoughtful. "How about placing a wooden wedge between the blade and his body? A Partner K-12 saw would be a cinch to finish cutting the shaft. Don't you think?" "That'll work.." agreed the truck officer, motioning for a free fireman to go retrieve a chock from storage. The firemen soon removed the heavy agitator shaft from the victim's back, but the blade remained impaled inside of his shoulder. "That hole's big enough. We gotta get in there." Gage fidgetted. "He needs fluids yesterday." "Ok, men. Step back. Let the medics in to work." ordered the chief. Meyers and Johnny eagerly upended into the mixer, questing for more information with what they could see and feel with their slurry soggy gloves. They were soon disappointed. With no blood flow to his severely damaged left arm and with his right arm pinned under his body, the paramedics couldn't establish an IV on the man. And they soon discovered that the cement mixer's U-shaped drum made it nearly impossible to completely assess him from the waist down while he remained entrapped upside down like he was. Meyers bit his lip. "This is taking too long." he mumbled to Johnny. "I know." Gage agreed. "But we don't have much choice except to wait it out." The crews stepped in once more at a wave from the chief, to resume chistling concrete and cutting out twisted metal, bit by bit. Johnny stayed on the man's head. "Let Meyers patch him in, next metal-cooling break. We'll be monitoring him using the EKG so we'll be out of the way except for whoever's ventilating him." he said to the head rescueman. The firemen nodded. He said. "Maybe all of this concrete's a blessing in disguise." "How so?" Johnny asked. "Ironically, although the drying cement's hindering us. It's probably saving his life. His bleeding's being kept in check." Johnny smiled. "Yeah, let's hope there're no cuts on a leg outside of the ooze, or he'll exsanguinate further and lapse into irreversible shock." "I'm all for that idea. Raging optimist. Know what I mean?" said the older fireman, giving Johnny an enthusiastic thumbs up. To ease the rescueman's worries, Johnny echoed the gesture with a soft smile. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A few minutes later, Meyers looked up from his handheld where he had been relaying updates to Roy on the trapped man so DeSoto knew what to tell Dr. Brackett when he arrived at the triage station. "Vitals?" Gage said. "Pulse at the neck. 120 and thready. Respirations unassisted are eight." he told him. "No reaction to pain. His airway's clear. Hanging upside down like this, everything's running out of his mouth well. But the demand valve's the only thing working for him. The ambu didn't provide enough internal chest pressure to afford him an adequate breath." Meyers nodded and relayed the findings. Then he looked up. "Brackett's here. Just checked in. He says he's on his way to help us out. ETA in two." "Thank youUuuu." Gage intoned with a low whistle of gratitude. "Now maybe we'll get the ball rolling." But things didn't happen that way. Long after the rest of the car crash scene had been sifted through, hose sprayed down, and cleared of all its injured and dead people, Johnny's team and Truck 20 were still hard at work an hour and a half later... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kel, looked up grimly at Gage and asked. "What's the scope showing now?" he shouted over the noise of dismantlement as the rescue crews struggled to take the cement mixer apart piece by piece from around the man. Johnny looked up, pulled the stethoscope out of his ears, and then... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Roy helmet scared close. Photo: Gage extricate man in car.jpg Photo: McConnike talk to scba'd Cap.jpg Photo: K-12 cutting close. Photo: Brackett, Gage with man c-spine car. Photo: Child being longboarded. ************************************************** From : Cassidy Meyers Sent : Friday, April 14, 2006 3:53 AM Subject : Aftermath... Gage sighed.. "I'm seeing peaked T-waves, shortened QT intervals, and some ST segment depressions. He's at a rate of 130 and thready." "ahhHH,.." Brackett scowled, "Crush injury syndrome's setting in already?" "Could be just hypovolemia..." Johnny told him. "But hyperkalemia's a definite possibility in his case. That left arm of his is very close to being completely destroyed. Ok, Johnny. Here's what we'll do. I'll start another I.V. subclavian of Normal Saline. Hand me a 1000cc bag, would ya? Dial it wide open. We'll try calcium chloride at 5 mL of 10% solution IV over two minutes. The effect should last half an hour to an hour to control any electrolyte induced arrythmias. Add Sodium Bicarbonate 1 mEq/kg piggyback. Stop titration of either one if he slips into bradycardia. We're gonna offset any possible rhabdomyolysis even before he starts it." "Right, doc." Gage nodded, grabbing for the drug box a fireman had brought very close to where the doctor and paramedics were working. Brackett took a blood pressure reading on the man's thigh. "It's holding. The cement's still having that compression effect. It's acting like a mast suit." Kel grunted, reconsidering his options. "Keep a close eye on his EKG for any bundle branch blocks. He's bound to widen his QRS-s and flatten P-waves if we aren't real careful getting him outta here." The extrication team milling around the trapped man became quieter, overhearing. "He's motion sensitive now?" asked Truck 20's captain. "Yeah." said Meyers. "But we'll handle changes as they happen and treat for it. He won't arrest on you. Just concentrate on getting him free, in one piece, and we'll handle the rest." The truck captain nodded. Brackett frowned as he stabbed the needle home and got his subclavian line. "Meyers, let's buffer him with glucose and insulin. That way some of the potassium in his blood will shift back into his body cells temporarily. Administer 1-2 amps D50W and 5-10 U regular insulin IV. Once we get him out of here, we won't waste time with an intubation. He's maintaining just fine the way he is on that ambu, now that the cement's been thinned out." The fireman, breathing for the man, agreed with Brackett's observation. Ten minutes later, after carefully disentangling and extricating the victim from the mixer, the rescuing personnel rapidly assessed him. "He's still out, boys. He won't need any morphine." Kel told the two paramedics as they cut away the man's crusty clothing. A severe laceration to the man's buttocks was so large that Brackett had to use both hands to shovel hardening cement from inside of the injury to check its full damage extent. Then they immobilized him onto a long board. Johnny itemized what he found for Brackett. "Right arm, humerus fracture. Dislocated left ankle. Just that glut laceration, doc. These welder burns here, and then just what you see on that left arm. Still no pulse in it." Meyers quickly splinted what they found, using volunteers. "Go ahead and straighten it out." Kel ordered. "Turn that palm up. How about now?" "I've got refill.." Gage said as he saw blood begin to ooze out of raw abrasions on the nearly severed hand's fingertips. "Good enough. Watch the monitor. If he goes abnormal EKG wise, boys, titrate a second dose of calcium chloride to turn it around and flush the I.V. afterwards." Brackett said. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By a miracle, the man didn't die on the way to Rampart despite his being trapped for nearly two hours, hanging upside down, with critical injuries, inside a crushing, suffocating mound of raw, wet cement. Roy, Johnny and Dr. Brackett, all conferenced in the hallway once the helicopter crew had departed with their unloaded gurney. Gage made a face. "He's in for seven hours of surgery?" "Yep. And I think we'll manage to save his bad arm, too." said Brackett, grinning. "At least Joe seems to think so. His angiograms came back as completely workable." "That's incredible. Johnny told me the whole story on how it happened. And I still don't believe it." said Roy, raising his eyebrows. "Oh, he's got a few rough spots to get through before he'll completely heal." Brackett grinned. "His doctor will have to monitor him for internal infection for four years at least, because lime from all that cement's been found to have entered his bloodstream." "The effects'll linger that long?" Johnny gaped. "Yes. Lime's caustic to tissue. And bone. Necrosis will still be an ongoing risk for him. It can act like battery acid that can concentrate and cause damage anywhere inside his body for a long while yet. But eventually, it'll accumulate as precipitate into his larger bones, out of harm's way." Roy whistled. "Sounds like it was one a h*ll of a rescue, Johnny. I'm sorry I missed it." he said with a horrified awe. "It was a real challenge, Roy. We had obstacles every inch of the way. Our victim's body position, the severity of his injuries, the inability to immobilize his cervical spine, the hardening cement that was compressing him, the tight quarters we had in which to treat him and from which to cut him free.." Johnny ticked off on each of his fingers. Brackett waved farewell when he heard his name being summoned by intercom to handle a walk-in case. He melted back into the hospital crowds. "See ya, doc." said Roy, lifting his HT. "L.A. This is squad 51. We're available." ##Squad 51.## Johnny waved goodbye to the E.R. doctor belatedly. "Where'd Dr. Brackett go? He tells that rescue way better than I can." "Duty called." smiled Roy mildly. "Come on, let's go. I'm sure the guys'll be more than happy to be your captive audience once we get back to the station." "Say, yeah. Maybe I can...submit this one up as a new extrication problem for all the teaching manuals..." Johnny said, his eyes lighting up. "Truck 20 already beat you to it." DeSoto told him. Johnny blinked. "What makes you say that?" "I saw them taking pictures of the truck and cement mixer after you had left in the ambulance with your victim for the landing pad. And the chief was there drinking up all the nitty gritty details the extrication cap was telling him." "Oh." said Gage, crestfallen. "That's .. that's too bad. Oh, well." he shrugged, making for the squad. "I wonder what's for lunch.." he smiled, putting both hands into his pockets. He whistled an aimless tune as he ambled away. Roy rolled his eyes, and followed him. Unbidden, his stomach began to growl in earnest. "I'm beginning to wonder that myself.." he mumbled, strolling out the ambulance entrance doors after his partner. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Paramedic with a car pile up victim. Photo: Hyperkalemia on an ECG. Photo: Marco using jaws on a car. Photo: Ambu bag on your face. Photo: Johnny, Roy and Brackett in Rampart hallway. Photo: Roy and Johnny driving the squad in the rain. ************************************************** From: "patti keiper" Date: Wed Apr 19, 2006 4:16 pm Subject: Water Day.. :) It was finally the long awaited Water Day. All the gang were in their turnouts and helmets in front of the station, lined up along the brick wall framing the open driveway. And across the lawn. Engine 51 and the squad were both pulled out under the sun with all their gleaming equipment doors ajar so milling kids could explore inside of them at will. Gage had set out a training resuscitator filled only with air so the older kids could try out the cool demand valve thumb trigger and mask on the manikin that he had thrown out onto the grass next to the yellow street side hydrant. The sight of what looked like kids working a medical call only served to attract more customers. Johnny began smiling at his own cleverness at the idea. It was his idea also to post a sign right next to Cap's ticket table that already answered the most frequently asked parent and child question. It simply said. 'No, we don't have a fire pole. Sorry.' Marco Lopez was already hard at work, entertaining the kids at a spare picnic table, putting out lighter fuel fires inside of jiffy pop pans using a fire extinguisher and letting his young charges do the same soon after. Every so often, an appreciative motorist driving by would honk and everybody would look up from whatever they were doing and wave back, especially the bathing suited kids manning the red reel line Roy had pulled out for all the water games. And above them all, snapping in the brisk, warm summer breeze, was the banner Johnny had designed for the flagpole, declaring that Saturday as Water Day. For effect, Chet Kelly had rigged up four HTs on monitor in a square around the driveway at its corners so the sounds of active fire station broadcasts reverberated with nifty delated echoes around those still waiting their turns and all the mothers standing at the admissions table, where Cap was collecting the three dollar donation fees. Each mother or father was eagerly handing over for this, the first ever, Station 51 Water Day event. Marco laughed from where he stood by the squad, guarding all the medical gear. He pointed to the advertisement banner flying beneath the state flag near Johnny and himself. "Where'd you come up with that idea, Johnny? I think the symbolism's kinda neat." "Oh, that? Really? Heh. I guess." Johnny said, trying to not look at it. Roy rubbed his chin thoughtfully as yet another kid took over his low pressure fire hose to play the Great Chicago-fire-save-Mrs.-O'Leary's-cow game. "Yeah. I wonder how many people have made the connection that your water drop logo is from all the 'San Bernadino Waste Management is your friend' posters." Chet laughed with delight. "How's that for plagarism?" he teased. Gage glared at Kelly and didn't deign to comment further. Mike Stoker, standing as a guide near the engine's open doors, did. "You know, I thought things would be total chaos with us hosting all of today's activities so close to the street." "Nah, Stoker, you got it all wrong." said Chet, helping some more kids color fire safety rules cartoon pages and directed others to draw even more fire colored chalk hopscotch games onto the driveway's baked surface. "Chaos doesn't mean that things'll go wrong. Chaos actually means..The Chiefs Have Arrived On Scene." The rest of the gang chuckled loudly as they played with their laughing young charges. "Shhh," Roy cautioned Chet. "Not so loud. Cap could've heard that." he warned Kelly. "No way, DeSoto." said the helmeted Marco as he gave yet another kid a try on his reel line fire hose to knock down the hinged toy flames surrounding the wooden cutout of the Chicago fire cow. "He's so busy counting money to see if it's enough to fund Chet and Stoker's mystery project, that he's tuning us out completely." "You better hope so." laughed Gage, glancing over at Hank who was just about overwhelmed with eager parents wanting to pay "admission" for their kids. Roy rubbed his eyes free of water spray. "Aren't you glad we struck a deal with the arco refinery so all of these families can park their cars across the street without troubling traffic?" "That was my idea." said Chet proudly. "Last thing I want to see is another car accident for at least a little while." Stoker, meanwhile, was telling jokes while he set each interested child behind the wheel of the Ward so they could pull the airhorn chain. He said to his latest child. "What kinds of ears do pumpers have?" The little boy gave up after only a few tries at an answer. Chet piped up from the lawn. "I know the answer to that one, Mike. You're so predictable. The answer's 'engineers' little boy." The child laughed so hard that the oversized helmet on his head almost jiggled off his head. Attracted by the slow, rubber necking traffic and the sight of a lot of helium balloons tied in bundles and held down by spare helmets around Station 51's front lawn, Vince pulled up in his squad car for a visit. The burly white helmeted cop grinned up a storm when he read the flag banner for the reason why there was such a festive atmosphere. "Hey boys. What a nice idea for a fundraiser. Water Day, huh? Does the city know about this yet? There's kind of a drought still going on." "Yes, we have our permit permission slip. It's right here." Cap's face slacked off into instant mortification as he thanked another young mother for paying her two children's admissions. "Are you here because of a traffic complaint against us?" "Nope." said Vince. "It's just natural born human curiosity working this time, Hank. All the drivers are on their own today. It's a weekend. I figure they should be used to traffic jams and surprise holdups happening on those days by now." he winced when a particularly close blast of hose water from DeSoto's direction sprayed at him on the wind. "Whoa." he said, backing up a few steps. "Sorry, Vince.." hollered Roy, grabbing onto the hands of a little kid still mastering the hand bar valve on the reel hose he held between his knees. "That's ok. That water felt good. It's hot out here this afternoon." chuckled the policeman. " And I'm sure that both your of own kids are deathly afraid of getting in a water gun fight with you!" "So right. I use that to gauge my efficacy as a real fireman." DeSoto grinned at him toothily. Without being asked, Vince took advantage of the station's event on his beat and decided to take a few minutes to help out. He got Bonnie going on a game of doggy tag with a couple of kids starting to get frustrated with waiting in line for the engine tour. Two children nearby began discussing Bonnie's station duties. "They use her to keep crowds back." insisted one youngster. "No, they don't!" said another angrily. "She's just for good luck." A third child brought the argument to a close. "They use the dog," she said firmly, "..to find the fire hydrant." she said crossly. Their mothers, monitoring nearby, laughed at the charming misconception. A few minutes later, Cap got up when the last family group had gotten their triage tag admission bracelets tied around their wrists and he wandered slowly over to Charlie the mechanic, who was helping the gang out with facts and trivia about the vehicle bay's closet scattered gear and offering complete encyclopedic litanies on both the fire trucks. Charlie had left his maintenance Dodge, which looked very much like Squad 51, in the back yard parking lot so it wouldn't be confused for being the real one. He sighed expansively, sharing yet another work related story of his days when he was a fireman before he became a mechanic. "When I got on the job our oldest piece was a 1958 Mack. I loved the idea of driving a truck that was actually older than I was. It was an open cab, and we called the steering 'armstrong' steering, because it was so freakin difficult to steer! It came with a full cab but the chief at the time thought it was 'wimpy' for firefighters to be protected from the elements so he had it cut off! Heh." Then aside, Charlie leaned into those of the gang listening in. "And you wondered why your ol' Crown was made that way? He's why. They told me it cost $2000 bucks to shave off yours." "No way." said Stoker in horror. "Wasn't it hard to do that to her?" "Not really. It was a reserve piece when I got on, and ideal for driver training. It was in service one night when I was assigned as the driver during one of those torrential, numerous call summer storm nights. It was raining so hard the wipers couldn't keep up and I remember half-standing so I could see over the windshield. I had the door open so the water could run out. One of the best memories of my career. Wouldn't trade it for anything." he laughed. Stoker shouted out from the driver's door of Engine 51 where he was helping kids climb around the engine cab. "I don't miss her." he said empathetically. "I hated getting wet." Gage crowed. "Oh, so that's why you became an engineer." he quipped. "I've always wondered about that." Johnny smiled at him. "Very funny. I did it for the better money actually." said the shy Stoker. Then he shot forward inside the engine. "No..no no no. Don't key up the radio mic. L.A. will wonder who the crazy caller is and send out the looney bin truck after you. Complete with straight jackets." he goggle eyed his captive audience of kids. They all laughed at him, pointing at his odd and funny face. By the time the day was over, nearly one thousand dollars had been raised. "Wow.." breathed Captain Stanley as he locked up the cash box. "I think I'll store this in the office." he said, while the others were cleaning up the lawn of decorations. He saw that Roy was washing away any chalk mark driveway artwork and games that hadn't yet been scuffled away by the wind or the many pounding tiny feet. One last mother and her son had lingered. "Ma'am. Did you forget something?" Johnny asked her. He had already handed out several pairs of forgotten shoes and a beach towel that someone had left draped over the bushes. "Oh, no. It's nothing like that. May my son use the restroom? We've still got to get across town." "Oh, sure.. sure." Johnny told her, holding out his hand towards the open garage. He raised his voice. "Chet?!" "Yeah?" called out Kelly from where he was stuffing the manikin away into a closet. "Can you show this nice young lady and her boy the head? It's for him." "Sure thing, Johnny." said the curly haired fireman, now divested of his helmet and turnout coat. Helead the two towards the locker room door and safely around where Mike was backing the two station vehicles, one by one, back into the yawning shelter of the apparatus bay. Chet Kelly returned to join them all in the driveway while they watched Roy casually spray the reel line around, scrubbing the pavement. Once or twice, just for fun, DeSoto made them dance, using the water stream, along a hopscotch or two while they were talking to each other until they caught on to what he was trying to pull. Finally, all the cleanup was complete. Bonnie ran into the garage carrying the last bouquet of floating balloons and Marco helped her to let them go to float up to the ceiling in the kitchen. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cap was about to close the main bay door for the night when a frantic female shout startled them all. It was the mother, sounding embarrassed, yelling for some help from inside the bathroom. The gang hurried in. Gage was so intent with finding out what was wrong, that he left his helmet on his head. "Thank you for coming. I just wasn't sure what else to do." said the red faced mother. "I only had my back turned for a minute. I only wanted to wash my own hands at the sink." "What happened?" asked Cap. "You'll see. I still can't believe it myself." she said. They followed her down the short wood panelled hall, to the bathroom, where a sobbing little boy had his arm and head inside the toilet bowl, stuck almost up to his shoulder. Roy and Johnny looked at each other and just smiled. Roy sat right down cross-legged on the floor, eye level with the little boy. "Wanted to see where the water went, did ya?" The boy nodded his tear streaked face. Gage asked Cap if they still had any cooking oil. Hank nodded his head. "Marco. Go grab it. That and a toilet plunger." Stanley ordered. "I already tried soap. I think I tried just about everything in here to get him free." sighed the mom. "Even someone's shaving cream." Lopez returned. "Want a silent called, Cap?" Hank shook his head minisculely to spare the mother more embarrassment. The mother was making a face. "He hates the idea of getting exposed to germs. I have no idea what came over him to do THIS kind of stunt." she snapped. "Son, I cleaned the bathroom myself a few hours ago with a very strong germicide. Nothing's gonna get you sick." Hank chuckled at the inverted child. Sighing, the boy shook his head in relief. Gage told Marco to hand the small jar of Crisco over to him, "I have some of that 'special fireman's oil additive.' that we use all the time, right here..." he winked at the boy. The child looked at him with interest, intently watching Johnny as he took a small white plastic bottle from his pocket. Gage made a show of "adding" it to the jar of oil. Gage knew that the child was tensed up, and probably involuntarily, had his hand in a fist. Whenever the mom tried to pull his arm out, the anticipation of pain would cause him to scream and tense up more. The mom, not being able to bear causing pain to her son, had then stopped. Johnny knew if he could get the child distracted and calm, he'd relax the arm and the fist, and Roy could probably then maneuver his arm out of the toilet's wash hole. ::Stoker's standby Plan B of course, would work too, but that would definitely do some unnecessary damage to the toilet fixture. K-12's are anything but subtle.:: Johnny mused to himself. Gage put on his best paramedic smile. "There are magic ingredients in the oil now. It's gonna get you unstuck real fast." he said, while Roy rubbed a handful of oil down the boy's arm. At the same time DeSoto was feeling the angles of the child's arm, trying to picture how it was turned inside the drain hole and to check to see if it still had a pulse in it. Johnny just talked to the little boy, keeping up a steady stream of banter while he kept smiling eyes on the child, making sure that the boy's eyes were on him exclusively, and not on his trapped arm. Roy had gotten it out to the elbow, when the boy screamed in pain. The mother jumped. Roy immediately stopped probing, holding the boy's face out of the water when his head dropped down in a reaction. Gage took a breath, and studied the boy's face closely. Johnny kept talking. "That only felt funny, it didn't really hurt did it?" The boy sobbed. "My neck's getting tired." "It's ok.." said Roy. "I got your head. I won't let you drown on us. Don't worry." he soothed, trying not to laugh. "Stoker, could you see if you can plunge down some of this water away from him so he feels more comfortable?" "Sure." said Mike and he gingerly sent the remaining bowl's water down the hole around the boy's arm using the toilet plunger Marco had found in the locker room. Gage soon continued where he and the child had left off. The mother was getting frustrated. "I don't care if you have to smash the toilet. I'll pay for any damage. Just get my son out!" But Cap knew there were risks involved, and hoped to avoid that scenario. "We'll get him out, ma'am. We just have to wait for his muscles to relax a little. That's all." said Hank mildly. "Here. Have a seat on this changing bench." The mother's frustration caused the boy to tense up again. And Johnny had to get him calmed right back down again. At one point, the child asked him. "Why do you have a helmet on in the firehouse?" Johnny laughed, "I must look silly with a helmet on in the bathroom! You should see me when I take a shower..." he said, bugged eyed. The little boy laughed, and at that moment, Roy got the rest of his arm out. "I got it.. There.. that wasn't so bad now, was it?" "No.." said the boy with disgust as he held his soggy arm out for Marco and Chet to dry with a few bathroom towels. "Did you hurt your neck or head at all when you fell in?" Johnny asked, gingerly feeling the vertebrae in the child's neck and through the boy's hair as he felt for potential problems. "I'm fine. Just let me outta here." said the boy, shooting to his feet. "Mom. I'll wait for you by the flagpole." he said crossly, now fully embarrassed about what had happened to him. When the small family was leaving across the street for their car, which was the last one left in the lot, Gage tipped his firehat to the mother, and he teased her, "So...,Mom..., where does the water go? We'll be free of charge if you answer that one for your son." he grinned. Cap smacked Gage's arm in a mock discipline for being mean. As the mother opened the green Matador's door, he heard the boy asking her just that same question. "Mom.. could you 'splain it to me? Please?" he begged. "I only wanted to know." The slamming car door closed on her answer. Soon, they were gone with a squeal of tires on the boulevard. Roy and Johnny laughed as they joined the others still standing in the driveway. "So, what was the magic oil additive?" DeSoto asked. Johnny took the white bottle out of his pocket, "Tylenol!" DeSoto told him. "You should have given it to the mother." Then Chet asked sarcastically amused, "So, you think this story will make the front page on this month's Firefighter's Magazine?" Gage replied, "Oh, h*ll, yeah! We were d*mned heroic. Ouch. I think I lost all the feeling in my legs sitting on the floor like that." he said rubbing his thighs. "That's gotta count for something." said Roy to Cap and the others, who were immensely enjoying the growing night's soft breezes and their rising cases of sunburn. They stood in silence for a while, smiling to themselves, admiring the twinkling summer stars. Then Chet asked, with a straight face. "But Gage, seriously... Where does the water go?" ------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Station 51's front sign. Photo: A water hose squirting out at you. Photo: Kids squealing in joy while getting wet. Photo: Charlie the mechanic in street clothes with Roy. Photo: Water Day kids games. O'Leary's cow. Photo: Kids peek into engine compartment. Photo: Roy and Johnny on a bathroom detail. Photo: Kid stuck in the toilet. Photo: A toilet cross section getting plunged. Photo: Stoker, Chet and Marco cleaning engine parts. Midi Music File: 'Any Second Now' by Depeche Mode. ************************************************** From: Jeff Seltun Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2006 16:41:51 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Chaos Night.. Rampart was anything but quiet. Dixie was fielding five ambulance patients as they poured in the red flashing light filled entrance. "How many more?" she asked the latest set of attendants bearing in yet another bus accident victim. Sam, a cauliflower eared veteran, sighed and shrugged. McCall grumbled under her breath. "Ok,. uh. Let me take a look at them all again before I start giving out destinations.. Hang on.." Dixie blinked when she realized that all of them were broken legs. "Front end crash?" she guessed, mumbling to herself. Then she ran plans off out loud as she awaited the two doctors she requested by emergency page. "He can wait, she can wait, she can wait.. Ah, tib/fib? Let's wait, too." "Right here in the hallway, Miss McCall?" asked one of Station 10's paramedics. "Yep. We're triaging here since you didn't have time to there." she told him. "Keep your victim's I.V. TKO. His EKG's looking good." Dixie looked up. "Who's got the short of breath?" Station 99's medics raised their active rain wrapped HTs. "Us. We do." "Ok, you first. Into Treatment Four. I've got a defib set up and an intubation tray. Dr. Early will be right with you." she promised. "Dixie? What do you have?" shouted Kel, jogging out of an opening elevator. "Bus crash. Transfers from Mount Sinai Hospital. They're at capacity. I've got four lower leg fractures, and one possible cardiac slated for Joe in Four." Dixie told him, handing off her phone notes that still had wet ink from all of her scribbling. It had been only four minutes since she received word that her department would be receiving the overflow. The waiting teams of paramedics were patient, keeping up on their vitals sets as the two organized their response. "Ok..." said Brackett. Then he looked up. "Joe. There's an SOB in Four." "He conscious?" asked Early, hurrying out of the cafeteria annex corridor near them, where he had been eating a very late meal. "No.." said Dixie and one of 99's medics at the same time. "All right. Where's his run sheet?" asked Joe. "Under his pillow." said the second paramedic through the door he had been holding ajar in anticipation of Joe's arrival. "Ok, get it out for me, wouldya boys?" Joe smiled. "Thanks, Joe. Sorry about dinner.." shouted Kel as he checked the run sheets on two of Dixie's wall parked gurney patients. "No problem. Guess it's time to start earning my pay." said Early. The white haired doctor disappeared into the red priority room. Brackett looked at the trauma on the legs of two, seeing blood stains under their sheets. "Surgery for these." he pointed. "I've got surgeons on standby up in the suites. The head OR nurse'll intercept you. She goes by the name of Carol Evans." "Evans? Right.." said a newer paramedic from 24's. Dixie couldn't help but smile as she remembered all over again that her good friend and ex-second in command of the ER had been promoted upstairs only last month. "And I wish her all the luck.." McCall whispered warmly under her breath. "You said something?" Brackett asked as he listened to some fast breath sounds on his remaining two patients. "Nothing critical. You want these two in Three? It's clear. I just had the headache case moved to the floor." Dixie told Kel. "Yeah, you read my mind. That room's closest to the portable X-ray." Dr. Brackett said. "Is Mike on the way?" "Yeah,.. He said he's hitting some traffic.." said Dixie. Kel frowned as he checked the pedal pulses and Babinski's on the two waiting to transfer into the room. "Wouldn't that be ironic if he's driving by the scene of this very same accident?" "I'm trying not to think about it." McCall said. "Uh, oh." she said, glancing up at another flash of red lights as they pulled up at the ER entrance and killed their sirens. She saw two very, very sooty firefighter paramedics get out of a Mayfair in a hurry, carrying two large bore I.V.s. "What's 110's doing here? I heard Mercy copy their call." she grumbled. Sharon Walters apologized. "Sorry, Dix. Mercy's just declared an all full status. I was going to tell you but..." said the dark doe eyed, light blue smocked young nurse intercepting the new team at the doors. "Oh, terrific.." Kel said. "Dix, would you--?" "Yep." said McCall, giving the order for the two remaining leg cases to go into Treatment Three. "Gimme your orders you wrote down. I'll have the labs started ahead of time on these two for you." Dr. Brackett went running for the new arriving patient, who was dark with ash and being bagged. "Is he a burn case?" he asked the two paramedics. "No. Smoke inhalation." said one of the paramedics. "He was converted from full arrest four minutes ago." "Couldn't get a tube down?" "Didn't have time. He was a load and go right now. Orders from our Battalion Chief. We were lucky enough just to get these I.V.'s in, doc." said the gasping exhausted, smoke stained firefighter. "How big was your fire?" "It's a crack house. Single story. This guy's got a friend still coming. He was a little out of touch with reality due to better living through chemistry but he was conscious and stable." said 110's senior medic. Brackett sighed, painfully aware of a growing problem with Rampart's own available remaining bedspaces. "Ok, take him into One. I'll join you. Sharon.. have respiratory therapy called to bring down a respirator for him. Looks like I'll have to intubate him myself." said Brackett. "Then call the administrators and let them know about our own rapidly diminishing patient bed capacity. Get an exact count of how many we have left and let me know directly!" "Yes, doctor." Walters said swiftly as she held the door open for the fire case and Dr. Brackett both. The hospital staff began to hasten around Dr. Brackett, settling into a new mode of activity without having to be prompted. Automatically, L.A. County Fire Department's air fleet was notified of a possible re-routing relay operation, from Rampart's parking lot, for the moment the hospital was declared full. The only other option after that was flights out of the city into the surrounding suburbs to all of the Level Two trauma centers. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Dr. Brackett murmured, "or all the fire departments in the area will have to take on those extra long transports themselves untilizing the private ambulance services." Kel Brackett shouted the moment the doors closed shut on all of his room's staff and his fire case. He had glanced at the EKG monitor Walters just hooked up. "Boys, stick around a minute." he told Squad 110. "I'm seeing--" "Doctor.. he's in full arrest.." said Sharon, handing the paddles over to Kel. The two paramedics took over the man's ambu bag and chest compressions. Dr. Brackett gelled his paddles and drove down the first shock to the man's clammy skin. ::Dixie. I hope you're faring with your cases better than I am right now. My batting average is awful.:: thought the sweating doctor. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dixie had her hands full in Treatment Three. One of her leg cases' morphine dose had worn off and it was taking everything she and two orderlies had to keep the large man on the bed. She told a passing nursing assistant, who had run into the room at the commotion, to call security for extra help. McCall looked up, with an angry thought, even as her voice began a calm, placating reassurance she hoped would relax the man. ::Doctor Morton. Where the h*ll are you?:: she demanded privately. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Doctor Morton hit the ER entrance doors at a dead run, slamming his palm into the emergency release switch to make the doors fly open faster. "All right. Where's the worst?" Five sets of fingers pointed down the hallway. Mike skidded to a halt, his Levi jacket still on, and it was then he saw the retreating backs of two security guards rushing into Treatment Three. He followed them there, moving fast. "Doctor!" yelled Dixie. "This guy has bilateral leg fractures. He's not combative. Only in pain." "I got him!" said Morton, drawing up a fast injection of MS into a syringe. "His I.V.'s gone..." Dixie said, holding the man's fighting head. "Then we'll have to do this the hard way.." "I.M.?" "Yeah.. Hold him down people.. Tightly. Dixie, cut away his pants." McCall did so as the man grunted and screamed and tried to throw off both of his splints. Morton delivered the narcotic, double dose into the man's hip, and rubbed it. And then he helped the four men hang onto the man while they all waited for the medication to take effect. "How's victim number one?" Mike gasped, looking over his left shoulder at the other gurney in the room. "Stable.." said Dixie, backing away to recheck that person's vitals status. "She doesn't have spiral fractures like he does." "Just how many new people did we get in the last fifteen minutes?" Morton asked sarcastically, getting concerned despite his frustration. Dixie sighed, trying to catch her breath. "Five from a bus crash. One from a house fire. Who knows how many more we'll be getting. Mercy's full and so's Mount Sinai." Morton whistled under his breath. "Helicopters on standby?" "Yes. The fire department's been notified." McCall answered. "Where's Joe and Kel?" "Joe's with a possible cardiac in Four. Don't know where Kel is. Last I saw, he was working over 110's redirected SI case in the hallway." Dixie replied. "Ok, first things first. This guy's gotta settle down. Boys, go ahead and strap him down. I'm authorizing restraints for his own safety." ordered Morton to the orderlies and the security guards. They did so. A minute later, the man sighed and passed out and Dixie automatically opened his airway and slapped on an oxygen mask. "How much did you give him?" she asked with wide eyes. "Fifteen milligrams." Morton grinned openly. Dixie let out a surprised look of admiration and shook her head ruefully. "He's a big boy..." said Morton. "Milt, go ahead and put in his oral airway. Take his vital signs and give me what you got." Then he dismissed the security pair. "Thanks. We'll call you for the next one." he told them bruskily as he got to closer work on his two patients. The two guards departed, adjusting their uniforms and finger combing their hair back into place before exiting the room. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Station 51 was quiet by comparison. The gang was.... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Dixie, Kel and Sharon Walters discussing cases. Photo: Joe and Kel looking at a cardiac case. Photo: Morton, fighting with a man on a gurney. Photo: Dixie McCall on the red crisis phone. ************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:28 pm Subject: Sweet Tooth. ....just finishing up with the dinner dishes. Stoker and Kelly had long since disappeared into the bowels of the locker room, where they had set up handyman's tools and of all things, a sewing machine. Johnny could hear it echoing clearly around the ceiling in the large bay surrounding the fire vehicles. And his curiosity was nearly getting the best of him...for the second time. Roy noticed his discomforture. "Oh, now don't go starting that up again. Cap'll eat you for a snack for sure." Gage abandoned his soggy dish towel and snagged another dry, crisply folded one from the utensil drawer to replace it while he dried the last pot. "Can a guy help it if he's curious about just what the heck his friends are working on? Aren't you dying to find out just what kind of contraption is so good that it makes a full Battalion Chief order up a new fundraiser event, our Water Day, just to finance it?" "No." said Roy, blandly, pulling the rubber stopper out of the sink. The water there started gurgling with a noisy suck down the drain. "We're finished here. How about some ice cream everybody?" "Here. Here." said all the rest of the gang appreciatively. Even Bonnie barked from her place on one of the bright yellow orange varnished kitchen chairs. "Ok, I'll dish them up." said Roy, smiling. He pointedly ignored his partner's growing restlessness about the preverbial project carrot, dangling just out of sight of his nose, in the other room. "Cap? Chocolate or vanilla?" DeSoto asked, looking up. "You need to ask? What color is my coffee in the morning?" he gruffed. "Brown." "White." said both Roy and Gage at the same time. Marco, working on a crossword puzzle nearby, started chuckling. "Shows how observant you two are." he teased. "Roy, he wants chocolate. Cold enough to stand a spoon in it. Just like the java he pours into his mug and always leaves in the freezer for a few minutes before he drinks it." Johnny made a face. "Eeoow. Cap... Iced coffee?" he shivered. Roy opened the freezer, found Cap's chilling coffee pour about which they had all been pondering, and handed it to him. "Sure, best thing since Sunday morning breakfast sometimes. Especially in the summer. Would you be drinking hot coffee with a sunburn as bad as Cap's?" he whispered on the side to his partner, pointing even as Hank rubbed an itch gingerly on a still painful ear. "Uh,... NoooOO." Johnny said, his voice moving up a scale. "Actually, I think I'd rather prefer lemonade, heh, heh." he said, rubbing a few fingernails on his water drop dotted uniform shirt to polish them. "We don't have any." said Roy, tightening his lips into a scowl. "And quit fidgetting. You're making me nervous." Johnny threw up his hands, stalked over to the couch, scooping up Bonnie along the way, and he plunked down onto the leather couch, starting to stroke her cinnamon and black streaked coat aggressively, ** much to her obvious delight. "Oh for Pete's sake, guys. Doesn't anybody even care what Frankenstein-ian invention those two are crafting up in the changing room?!" he said to the room at large. Nobody answered. They were all enjoying Johnny's comical reactions too much to end it so soon. Roy finally offered up a tidbit. "Whatever it is," he said, licking frosty but melting Baskin Robbins off of his fingers. "We get to take it into Rampart for the next stage of testing tonight. It's gonna be done by Brackett himself if he's not tied up." DeSoto told Gage. Johnny's hand on Bonnie's back stopped stroking and the tiny yorkie yipped in dismay, shoving her nose back under his palm eagerly to demand a resumption of attention. "Oh, sorry, girl." said Gage, guiltily plying in once more. "What's gonna be done?" "Hush, Gage. You'll see it at the end of your next patient call after you get in to resupply." Hank said with finality. "Honestly? Your nosing's getting more annoying than my kids' nagging at me to buy them something from the new mall one of these days." said Cap, accepting his bowl from Roy with a smile. "Thanks, Roy." "Anytime.." DeSoto whispered, thoroughly enjoying Johnny's self made predicament. "And yeah, I'll get you some Solarcaine for your ears then, too." "Thanks. You read my mind." Cap said appreciatively. "I'm a good paramedic." Roy told him. "I would sure hope so." Hank fired back. "Or you wouldn't be working here." Right then, Stoker and Kelly walked briskly into the kitchen. "Ah ha!" said Chet in discovery. "I thought I smelled Cap's coffee curdling in the cold. It IS time for dessert. Anything left?" "Tons." said Roy. "Help yourselves." he told them. Chet rubbed his hands together and cleaned them free of what looked suspiciously like glue to Johnny on a damp dish towel. "I put them both in the rear squad compartment, Roy. Inside a spare stokes." "Ok, I won't forget they're there." replied the sandy haired paramedic, putting the finishing touches of his own two scoops of both vanilla and chocolate into his carved wooden bowl. Bark! said Bonnie. "Oh, yeah.." said Roy, setting the ice cream crusted scoop down onto a saucer for Bonnie to enjoy. The dog was out from under Johnny's hands in an instant. Chet burst out laughing. "Roy, that's mean. What if her tongue gets stuck?" "I rinsed it a little.." DeSoto told him. "What do you take me for? A sadist?" "Yes." said Johnny. "The worst kind for not sharing privileged information..." he hissed through his lips as he jerked a pro-offered ice cream bowl out of his grinning partner's hands. Roy didn't rise to the bait. "Patience is a virtue..." he said, holding up a lecturing index finger. "You'll see everything soon enough. And you're gonna love it." DeSoto promised him. "Yeah... I do." piped up Marco. "Not you, too..." Johnny glared in irritation at Lopez. "They demo'd it for me this afternoon in between kids during a pause in all the water games. I think it's a really, really good idea.." Lopez said, slurping up his ice cream as only a hose jockey could. Gage glommed onto the hint. "AhhhhHHhh. It's a device of some kind. Something that a firefighter's gonna be using eventually." Johnny smiled brightly, finally thinking himself the cleverest of all firemen. "Duhhh." said Chet. "What else would we have fundraised for in a firehouse?" said the curly haired Irishman sarcastically. Johnny's face fell into irritated dismay and got even worse when Cap laughed hugely out of his newspaper. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was hours later, and the gang was deep in slumber when the automatic lights came on, rocketting them out of bed and into their attached suspenders and boots. EEE.Ooo.OoowwwwWWWwww. ##Station 51. Foam 127. Station 9. Tanker fire. At the intersection of 101 and Riverside. 101 and Riverside. Time out: 0306.## "What time is it, Cap?" sniffed a sleepy Chet. "Listen up, you twit. Sam just said it over the airwaves." Hank replied, equally fuzzy as both men rushed for the trucks. "And for that, I should make you enter this one into the log book for lat-- oww." Cap winced as he bumped a sunburned shoulder against the doorframe as he went out after the others. Kelly dashed under his arm as Hank froze in pain. "You shoulda worn sunscreen like I told ya, Cap!" Chet said gleefully. "Mother's keeper.." muttered Hank as he yanked open the Ward's passenger side door. Station 51 rolled out. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Soon, they were very near. And Cap had received an update. He thumbed the truck to truck mic. "Guys.. I've just been told it's a diesel truck. Overturned. Possibly propane." he advised everybody and the squad. ##10-4, Cap.## said Johnny through the patch. ::Oo, this'll be a fast one if we don't have any serious injuries. Then it's back deep into slumberland for all of us..:: he thought happily. Hank's voice boomed out once more on the main channel. "Don't get out until we're all sure what we're facing!" he ordered. As the Ward and Dodge turned onto 101, the gang could see smoke, but no fire up on the Interstate. ::That's odd.:: thought Cap to himself, running through his options on how to fight a truck fire when it couldn't be seen so very well in the night's utter darkness. ::Huh. It would have to hit lightpoles.:: he sighed. He toggled L.A. "L.A., Engine 51..." ##Engine 51, this is L.A.## "Respond Light Truck 90 to our location. Mile marker....34. Eastbound." ##10-4. 90's ETA is six minutes.## Hank held up his glove for Stoker to hold them off a goodly distance from the roiling black smoke to keep a very healthy and safe breathing margin. He got out and sniffed the air. "That's not fuel." he told the others as they gathered around him, donning full scba. "That's--" Headquarter's voice burst through their Converta-Com. ## Engine 51. L.A.## "L.A., Engine 51." Cap mic'd quickly. ##An L.A.P.D. patrol car's just confirmed that your tanker is carrying a single payload. 10,000 gallons of....pancake syrup.## "Pancake syrup?" Chet asked incredulously. L.A. went on.## There's a report of one minor driver injury on the shoulder.## "10-4, we'll keep an eye out for the victim. Engine 51 out. Ditch the air tanks, boys. Don't think scorching carbon's gonna do all that much harm to us in the short term." laughed Cap. "Smells like burning marshmallows.." said Marco, grabbing some hose. Cap, was still standing by the LaFrance's cab. Stoker had handed him the HazMat book without asking and was helping him riffle through it. Gage caught on, determining their wind direction. "Yeah. How in the world DO you put out a pancake syrup fire?" Roy shrugged, grabbing out the biophone, oxygen and the light dressing case. "With batter?" Everybody shared a laugh. Roy and Johnny soon found their dazed, scuffed truck driver. A male. And they set to work assessing him while the others worked to snuffle out the hidden fire hissing softly under the smoke rising up from the large, slowly spreading pool of superheated tree sugar. Soon, the fire was knocked down and Cap cancelled the foam truck and second alarm assignment. The Battalion Chief arrived. "What happened?" McConnikee asked. Cap couldn't help himself. "Fire." "Oh?" said Battalion, starting to smile. "This had better be good." "Oh, it is." Hank chuckled. "We've just this guy who's a little singed, but unharmed." Soon, the veterans of the hose were joking about hot maple syrup and going back home to get containers. Then, Vince arrived on scene. He had shown up for traffic control but had missed a few transmissions. "So, what happened?" The Chief and Cap looked at each other. "Fire." Hank informed him cheekily. Then Battalion bent down and scooped up a fingerful of the glop and ate it. "Tastes like Mrs. Butterworth's." "You're kidding." chuckled Vince. "Would I be eating anything on the ground like this, mister, if I was?" laughed the Chief. Nearby, Johnny was pumping up a BP cuff on the man they had laid down onto the ground for safety's sake. A passing motorist, sliding by the now declared unhazardous crash site, hollered out. "Is he gonna die?" to the working paramedics. Gage looked up in utter shock and irritation. "Sure he dies...in about 80 years..." said the angry paramedic to the annoying bystander. Roy got fed up at another one who was rude enough to open his mouth while they were loading up their patient into a Mayfair. "What happened?" asked the second motorist. DeSoto erupted. "Plane crash!" he shouted back. The driver shot Roy a pissed off look and rolled up his window again. "Nice.." admired Gage as he buckled in their man. Of course Vince arrived belatedly to hush up all the coasting gawkers with his intimidating bulk. Before the double doors of the ambulance were shut firmly by Hank, Chet shared a gem with everyone. "Hey.. who's up for some pancakes for breakfast? That truck smells real good.." Even the bruised, sticky, and blanketed trucker laughed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Gage getting laughed at by Stoker and Kelly. Photo: Gage bothered by a mystery while coffee pours. Photo: Overturned hose washed tanker. Photo: A pool of amber syrup on the ground. Photo: A bottle of Mrs. Butterworth's pancake syrup. Photo: Marco and Roy at an overturned tanker's window. Photo: A man being splinted by Roy. ************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Sun Apr 23, 2006 2:37 pm Subject: The Shattering.. Dixie McCall and Doctor Brackett were in the ER nurse's lounge, nursing steaming cups of satisying Folgers instead of screaming, fighting, leg bleeding people for once. "So, did he live?" Dixie asked, smiling with her eyes closed while she gave herself a java treatment strictly by inhalation. Kel was so tired that he was almost mesmorized by the way the fluorescent lights in the room glowed off the steam curls wafting around Dixie's eye lashes. "Which one?" he chuckled. "Mr. 'Bus M.I.' or the street bum on the curb who suffered a stroke watching the first guy stagger away from the accident site?" "Both." McCall amended. "They'll be fine. The first was just a junctional problem and the second is responding to steroidal and anticlotting measures." "That's good. All my leg cases are gonna recover, too. Except perhaps for mine. I ache all over." she complained, finally taking a gingerly sip of her stale coffee. "Tell you what? We both get off in two hours. Why don't you grab your swimsuit out of your locker and I'll fire up the hot tub on the deck. Just for you." "Hhmm. Tempting. Do I have to cook?" "Lord no. Not after a night like tonight. That's what takeout's for." grumbled Kel. Dixie's eyes twinkled. "Deal. But first you and I gotta take care of one more thing before we go. Remember you said you'd--" The breakroom door opened. It was the dark eyed Sharon, calmer now but still with dishevelled hair. "Dixie? Roy and Johnny are here. You asked me to let you know when they dropped off their latest patient.." Kel finally remembered his prior arrangement. "Oh, that's right.Thanks, Ms. Walters. We'll get right with them. Do they have a stokes with them?" Sharon looked sideways, thinking for a moment. "Uh,. Sort of." she said mysteriously. "Does what looks like a sheet covered DB count?" Brackett and Dixie burst out laughing. Kel's mirthful mouth split open in amusement and he gleefully got to his feet to rinse out both his and Dixie's drained coffee mugs in the tiny sink next to the fruit vending machine. "Those two." Brackett smiled. "You think a couple of firemen wouldn't get embarrassed about wheeling a CPR manikin into the emergency room." Sharon frowned. "Now why would they be doing that?" still holding the door she had cracked opened. "Wanna find out?" Kel asked her. "Sure. I've got a few minutes. Oh. Uh. Dixie. Carol says hi, and all our treatment rooms have been cleaned up and are ready for the next wave to show up." Walters reported. "Shhh." Dixie hissed. "Or you'll curse us with more patients too early. We haven't had a decent chance to catch our breaths back yet." "Sorry.." Sharon apologized while she ducked out of the room to show the two senior staffers where DeSoto and Gage had holed up. Brackett and Dixie soon followed her to meet up with 51's paramedics, padding down the still disarrayed hallway, piled up with extra supplies and gurneys. The waiting room, thankfully, was back down to normal density for walk-ins. And Morton and Early were deftly thinning down those numbers as they met their cases as they came to them. Kel tapped his watch at them and held up ten fingers. Joe and Mike nodded their understanding. Sharon took them to the vacuum isolation room, now brightly lit with its windowless door propped wide open. Johnny Gage was leaning over the single center bed while he manhandled every inch of something wrapped around the training manikin's torso. The disguising sheet was shoved down around the doll's ankles and Brackett could see that everything Chet and Stoker had sketched out for him had been made and was in order. "Did you remember the defibrillator battery?" Kel asked Roy. "Yeah. I got it." replied Roy. "I pulled one out of the recharger we keep in Cap's office." Gage chattered, high speed. "Ok.. I'm truly fascinated. Now what is this invention of Stoker and Kelly's, you guys? Some kind of splint?" Johnny said, pointing to the thick band of white canvas tarp encircling the Andy's chest. He could see the ends of it feeding into some kind of gray painted metal board and mechanism lying under the rescue doll that stretched from its head to its waistline. "Not exactly, Johnny." grinned Kel. "Do you remember the old style thumpers we used to use out in the field? You two did utilize one the very night the paramedic program became officially ratified during that mudslide mining tunnel incident." he said, plugging the bulky battery into a terminal at the head. "Yeah. I remember em." said Gage. "I remember I didn't like them too much for all the damage they did to someone's sternum, all for the sake of automated circulation. I can still hear the sound of crunching bones even to this day." he grimaced. Brackett said nothing for a moment and pulled out a compression meter common to an electronic Resusci-Annie and plugged it into Roy and Johnny's station manikin, right into the cable port. "Gimme thirty, Johnny. Do the best CPR you can manage and I'll get a strip of it. I'm gonna show you something." "Ok." Johnny shrugged, stepping up onto the gurney rungs. Roy opened the doll's shirt and Gage started in after getting a landmark through the new invented band. "Need ventilations?" "Nope. Just those." Roy told him. After a half minute of compressions, Johnny stepped back and waited for Brackett to show him the paper strip he had made off the manikin. Feeling cocky, Gage even folded his arms up with confidence, grinning. "Gonna be in the green. Every one of them. Stoker was a good teacher." "They are." Brackett said, looking up. "But, did you ever notice this line on the graph paper?" Frowning, Johnny looked. "Well what does that squiggle mean?" "It's the line for intrathoracic pressure. And that solid, darker line above it is the point where passive refilling of a heart starts to occur on any relaxation period following a compression cycle. Do you see where your trace's at?" Johnny squinted. "Yeah.. it's.. it's somewhere around 12 millibars." "That's right. On averaging. Now did you know that the passive pressure inside someone's chest needs to reach 23 millibars in order to have any blood return, at all, to the heart during CPR? That's what this solid yellow line means on the second graph grid located below the one you're used to seeing." Brackett told him. The implication struck Johnny like a blow. "What? You mean I wasn't doing a good enough job with my CPR just now?" "You were according to the standards that we have in place currently. You did the required fifty/fifty up and down depth ratios, the required rate and position with only the usual consequences of a cracked rib or two." Kel said, crossing his arms together thoughtfully, waiting for his point to sink in. Roy was already smiling. Gage looked confused. "But that means--" he began. "That's right. Your patient was still nonperfused ineffectively despite of everything you did." Brackett told him. Johnny's mouth fell open in shock. Roy leaned forward. "Johnny, haven't you ever wondered why we only manage to save two percent of all our witnessed cardiac arrest cases whenever CPR's used?" he told his numb partner. "Well, sort of. It was in the back of my mind. But to tell you the truth, I never really gave that particular statistic much thought.." Gage said quietly. Dr. Brackett frowned in agreement. "That's because having such a low number's so incredibly depressing. No one wants to think about it for very long. But your station fireman and station's engineer did." Dr. Brackett shared. "That's what this meeting's all about." he said, throwing a hand over the bed. "Roy, would you hook up that thumper next? Don't worry about the band. It won't effect our readings. Sharon, would you help him set it into place. It'll be good practice for you." "Sure doctor." said Miss Walters. "Ok." said Dr. Brackett. "Now we'll run the same thirty compressions using purely mechanical means with the thumper. Ready? Johnny, when it's done, tell us what's on the strip below the compression depth telemetry." Kel ordered. Kel hit the start switch after setting up adult chest compression depth controls. Soon, the trace was complete. "What does it say?" Dixie asked with curiosity, swinging away the piston arm when the test interval was over. Gage sighed, his new dismay apparent. "Hardly better than mine. Somewhere around 15 millibars pressure." "Umm hmm." nodded Kel. "And that's only because the machine delivers compressions with absolutely perfect timing with no hesitations or different delivered depths to the sternum." "Well, how about changing the way we do CPR nowadays to something else? Maybe thirty to two? Instead of five to one? That way maybe intrathoracic pressure can build back up in the circulatory system over time." Roy suggested. "Not enough time's being devoted in studies to examine that angle, Roy." said Brackett sadly. "It may be thirty five years or so before anyone gets frustrated enough with all the poor CPR save counts to actually re-examine and question the status quo because the people who matter are continual suckers for established tradition and methodology. Especially in the firefighting and medical fields. There's bound to be tremendous resistance to ANY new CPR idea when that day does come." "But that thumper still didn't do good enough.." Sharon whispered, just as stunned as Johnny as she saw that the readings had stayed the same dismal pressure as Johnny's hands on CPR. "You mean we've been thinking we've been successfully maintaining these CPR needy people all these years with manual CPR and by automated thumpers when actually we weren't doing them a d*mned bit of good?" Dixie rasped in shock. "There've been no confirmed cases of a CPR turn around when it was used all by itself until a defibrillator could also be used to correct the heart conductivity problem." Kel answered. "Our CPR attempts do help... But only a little bit." "I don't understand." said Johnny. Brackett held up a hand. "What happens to someone's blood when they exercise?" Johnny was quick on that one."Carbon dioxide builds up and oxygen levels drop as the body demands more to sustain itself. Breathing picks up and the heart rate accelerates to meet increased need for metabolism." "Exactly right. Now make that same person cardiac arrested and lying on the ground. What's happening now?" Kel challenged. Johnny, Sharon and Dixie looked blank. Roy replied. "Nothing. Oxygen isn't being used up because there's no circulation. Carbon dioxide isn't building up as fast as it could be like it does with a person who's still breathing. Oxygen need at this point isn't so critical. That's probably why the way we do CPR now seems to get enough oxygen to the brain to gain at least our current two percent survival rate with defibrillating capability." "Precisely. At the moment of arrest, some of that still oxygenated blood gets to the brain and then any subsequent movements of a person's body helps minutely to get that last fully oxygenated heart's full sized volume where it belongs. But then, the heart gets emptied on the compressions and the super long pauses we take starting I.V.'s and intubating people drops off even that tiny bit of faint circulation to an arrested brain." "And that's why the two percent.." Johnny said with stunned realization. "Yes." said Brackett softly. "Now look at this.." he said, turning on a button to a machine box attached to Kelly and Stoker's invented manikin board. The canvas band began to shrink until it just snugged around the chest. Then it began to regularly compress and release the whole ribcage; its top, sides and all, like a hangman tightening a slip noose. Kel adjusted it for the proper rate and for a single thirty compression sample cycle. Gage nearly tore the paper strip printer out of the Annie reader getting the third test result. "Oh.. " he peeped. "It's showing 30 millibars. That's incredible!" Sharon blinked and startled into a smile. "You mean the heart hypothetically is refilling after every compression now?" "Yep." said Brackett. "I was intrigued when Stoker and Kelly came to me with this circumferential band compressing idea, but I honestly didn't know how well their device would actually work, until today..." he said. "And quite frankly. I'm very.....very pleased with what I'm seeing here." Gage was stupified. "Wow, what about the force being delivered? Aren't all of Andy's ribs getting pulverised right now?" he said, flipping on the new board's power switch again to see a repeat demo. "Nope." said Roy. "Put your hand under the band while it's working like this." Johnny looked at him askance. But finally did. "Hey. It doesn't hurt at all. It only feels like a snug hug when it's bearing down pressure." "That's because the band's got a larger surface area. Not just a tiny piston's circle or the palms of somebody's hands on a sternum." said Kel. "The lungs are also getting squeezed and released right along with the heart." Roy grinned. "So some breathing's also being done by this thing and providing a slight bit of adequate carbon dioxide and oxygen exchange.." he told his partner. "Do you realize what we've just seen here? This band machine's gonna revolutionize the whole fire department, probably nation wide!" Johnny gaped. "I had a notion.." said Kel, his eyes very merry. "Doc, we gotta test this out in the field. Roy, does this thing set up pretty fast?" Gage wanted to know, getting into it eagerly. "Yeah.. takes about as long as a thumper does." DeSoto replied. Johnny's face brightened into an excited beaming, but then it fell into dismay a second later. "Doc, what about ventilations? There's no time for much chest rise here." Brackett chuckled. "You're forgetting the lung squeezes. He's already breathing somewhat. You won't need to ventilate anyone under this band when it's active much at all. I'm speculating that only a six to eight times a minute assisted breath rate'll be needed on pure oxygen." "We gotta test this some more.. See what it can do on a real person!" Johnny said. "I've already made those plans and got permission from the hospital administration to try out our next step." said Brackett. "Sharon. Go get one of today's med student donor specimens from downstairs. I think they're still in the prep room, waiting for tomorrow's physiology lecture." "The adult male?" "Or the woman. Makes no difference. Anyone who's the best unchilled will work for our purposes optimally." "Right away, doctor." Johnny ansed, pacing the tiny confidential room, rubbing his lips in barely contained excitement. "Oh, Roy.. this is ...this is absolutely astounding. Do you realize how much money could be generated for the sake of the fire department when folks'll start marketing this thing?!" He immediately checked himself. "Oh, and.. for the hospital as well....heh." he amended. "And also for our spreading paramedic program.." Dixie added in wonderment. The few minutes it took for Sharon to procure the cadaver seemed endless. But then she came. "Did you put a chux under her?" Dixie asked Sharon. "Yes, ma'am. I have fresh sheets, too. And suction if we need it." answered Walters. "Ok.. Let's hook her up." said Brackett, opening the corpse's lab hospital gown for her physical shift onto the invention's working metal board. It took only a short time for them to fit the new band into place. Johnny had a thought. "How long has she been dead?" "About twenty four hours. We'll still receive good data despite of all her degraded internal chemistry changes. We needed someone past the rigor mortis stage." Brackett nodded. "Ready? Roy, turn on the new unit and the paper tracer." Roy did so. Johnny's eyes bugged out. "Oh, my..she's.." And he automatically reached for the body's carotid artery before he stopped himself. "Regaining a good color?" grinned Brackett. "I knew she would.." Dixie actually grabbed a fingernail and did a capillary refill check. "I got some?" she asked incredulously. "Yep." said Roy, checking the other hand. "And all this lividity's travelling." DeSoto noticed. "See here on her stomach where we've touched her?" "She's getting a pulse also. Down to the wrist." Brackett added, checking it. Johnny was stunned utterly speechless. "Oh, boy. We gotta tell someone, doc. We gotta tell someone today about this whole thing." he muttered, falling into a seat next to the body's bed. "We've got a long way to go before we demonstrate anything, Johnny." said Brackett. "What Firemens Stoker and Kelly have done here's a very novel start but any device based on their idea created commercially's gonna be crazy expensive: a very high price tag per use factor just to gain EMS a few more pink corpses in the field. And that my fine friends, will no doubt be given a very, very low priority by any brainchild organizations because their hands are already full regulating and promoting our still infant staged paramedic program." Johnny was unbowed. "How much above the two percent you think we might gain with this band device when it DOES get developed by the powers that be for those folks who were witnessed arrests and receiving CPR?" "High. Johnny. High." smiled Brackett. "I'm guessing around a thirty percent save rate in conjuction with the usual cardiac arrest protocols." Gage goggled. Roy pushed the next happy thought. "Ok. So it'll take more than just a few years to push anything more on this band thing. What are we all gonna call it when all the talking sessions DO begin in meetings a decade or so down the road?" The room erupted in thoughts. "Robobeat?" "Heart belt?" "Autopulse?" suggested Johnny, Dixie and Sharon. "I don't know." said Brackett, pleased, turning off the band's cycling motor. They all watched as the woman's skin waxed once more into the original chalk and purpling pallor it had been when they began the test. "My guess is that the honor of naming anything will fall to the highest paying sponsor and developer. In any case, Stoker and Kelly will be well compensated eventually for their role in making this prototype for the county to see. The hospital can definitely keep Kelly and Stoker's machine safe here in storage until its final stage paperwork can be presented and pushed for the appropriate legislative and marketing levels when the time is ripe." "Wow.." is all Johnny could dare himself to say. He was still shaking in reaction at the profoundness of all of it. Brackett set a comforting hand on Johnny's shoulder. "Would you thank Chet and Michael personally for me for making two bands for the machine. This second one we'll have to throw away." "Sure.. sure doc. Heh. I'll tell them that. And a whole lot more, too. I didn't know those two had it in them to do this kind of thing!" he gasped incredulously. Roy smiled. "Well, you know what they say about all the quiet types and clowners of the world.." "What do they say?" scowled Johnny, getting mad that his still flying high enthusiasm was due to someone else's good idea and tremendous luck. "I'll leave that answer up to your infinite and ultimate wisdom, junior. Come on, let's help the doctor and nurses return this room back into working order. We can take Andy back out in his stokes the same way we got in." DeSoto sighed. "Oh, yeah? But then we've got a cake to get to share with everybody here and at the station to celebrate. The chief's gonna freak when he hears that this invention's actually gonna work." Johnny crowed. The two paramedics and the hospital staffers respectfully packaged up the donor body for the return trip back to the morgue. They washed up, disinfected everything, and went on with their respective work shifts with very light and happy hearts. The experience in the isolation room had utterly banished all signs of fatigue and stress in absolutely each and every one of them. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Stoker Roy doing CPR in the station vehicle bay. Photo: Gage and Roy working with a CPR thumper in a cave in. Photo: Johnny, frank and happy, in a treatment room. Photo: Brackett, Roy and Johnny talk in treatment room. Photo: Nurse Sharon Walters falling, Dixie Kel watching her. Photo: Headless CPR. Fireman joke photo. Photo: A heart compressing band device and short board. Photo: A heart machine control panel. Animation: A heart circumferential band compressing device at work. ************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Thu Apr 27, 2006 6:04 pm Subject: End of Day.. Dr. Brackett sighed two hours later as he finally reached the cool, dark sanctuary of his private office. ::I'm through for the night. Good riddance. Let the younger, fresher doctors play all the be-the-hero roles this morning. Dixie and I are gonna hide.:: he thought with a tired smile. He was barely settled in his chair with his feet up with both burning eyes buried deep beneath his leather jacketed arm, when the door flung open to admit a fast retreating Dixie McCall. "Kel! They're after me!" she said, slamming the door shut and leaning with all of her weight against it. Dr. Brackett didn't even move. "Are you off the clock?" "Yes. I punched out in the locker room, while begging a cigarette off of Carol. But hers are all gone." "Then you're Scot free. You can let go of the knob. The door locks now. Had it installed yesterday, right after an amorous druggie tried to get to know me a little bit better past just the usual doctor to patient relationship." Click! snapped the lock as Dixie turned it. The hurrying footsteps that had followed her, wandered away finally, a few seconds later. "Who were they?" Brackett asked, his voice muffled. "I'm not gonna tell you. You'll only get mad. Then you'll go out there to fix their problem yourself and not get paid for it." Dixie explained. Kel sighed unhappily. He was the very picture of fatigue. But one hand snaked into a drawer and pulled out a pack of Menthol 100s for Dixie. He gave them to her with a tattered book of matches without even stirring from his comfortable slumped pile in the chair or opening his eyes. Dixie chuckled low in her chest. "Thanks, Kel. But now that I've got em, I think I'm way too tired to smoke. I just might black out on you if I even try." And she tossed them right back into the open desk drawer with a practiced flip. McCall exactly matched Kel's sag by sliding into the guest chair, opposite the desk from him. She slung her legs over the cushy orange arms as she slipped off her thick, tan, high heeled pumps. "Ooooh. This feels so good." she melted, letting her head fall over the seat's back. She began loosening the straight pins out of her bun to release her long, flowing frosted hair out of its constrictive style. Both nurse and doctor let the sweet silence, now filling the room, stretch between them for long treasured moments. Then an unintentional thump on the wall from the hallway made Dixie jump. McCall flew up, startled, to her bare stocking feet. "Ahh!" She immediately winced with a tension headache. "You wouldn't happen to have any morphine in that cigarette drawer, would you? Or a valium?" she said, sitting down tightly, still holding her newly throbbing head. Brackett opened his eyes, pulling his arm down. "You know the answer to that one, Dixie. All pharmaceuticals must be regularly stored in the--" "...in the locked cabinet at Emergency's front desk. Yes, I know. That was just one hundred percent pure wishful thinking on my part. I'm trying to trick my head into believing that I'm actually on the way home right now." and she let out a small groan of pain. Kel got up from his chair, smiling gently. He padded over to stand behind her, in his own stocking feet, and he started to massage her still knotted up and tensed shoulders and neck. "So, how are you coping without Carol as your second in command these days?" "To tell you the truth, Kel, after today, I don't think I can take it any more." she whimpered without any tears. "Our two mutual triage incidents today only proved to show just how much I've relied on her all of these years to help me out, in running the place. I just didn't realize how much I really needed her, until she was gone." Dixie said grumpily. Kel chuckled softly. "Do you think Sharon's gonna be the right candidate to fill her shoes? She's come a long way from being that awkward, giggling candy striper, who always tripped over herself whenever things got a little busy." "She's the one." Dixie sighed. "Of that I have no doubt." "Oh? What made you finally come to that conclusion?" "Because I see in her exactly the way I used to be." Dixie said, letting Kel massage away the night's stressful memories. "She's a good nurse, and she'll be an even better leader eventually. I think I've just forgotten how long it takes to shape a promising protege' for the assistant head nurse spot. Carol picked it up instantly, probably because she spent so much time over in..uh,..in ...Nam. Roy even ....r- remembers seeing ...her." McCall's words grew slower and slower as actual sleep started threatening to overtake her. "Dixie?" he smiled. Dr. Brackett lingered a touch on the pulse at Dixie's neck. "Are you still here?" he teased. "Barely.." she whispered, falling completely limp and pliable in both of his soothing, massaging palms. Kel kissed the top of her head affectionately. "Believe it or not, I've got you calmed down now. You're below seventy." he said, letting her go with a last shoulder squeeze. "So, you wanna just hang out and watch nonexistent cobwebs grow here at the hospital? Or are you ready for us to begin our late evening/early morning time out at the Green Pagoda?" "Food. Now. Please." she said, letting him put her shoes back on. "There's no debate. Not any more. My nicotine shot nerves can just go straight to--" "I promise you fried wantons in fifteen minutes." Kel grinned, helping her back onto her sore feet as he opened the office door to the loud distinctive sounds of a still very busy waiting room. "When I get my brain and blood sugar back, I wanna get excited all over again about that resuscitation device Station 51 cooked up, ok? So start preparing your skin shivery lecture all over again. I still can't believe what can and might happen with that device of theirs soon. But honestly? Your voice's about all I have the energy for right now." "I'll change dinner to egg drop soup and green tea. That way you won't have to chew anything." Dr. Brackett promised her as they walked out of the emergency doors to the parking lot and paced slowly for Kel's dark green sports car. "Perfect." she sighed, linking her arm into his. "I wanna be soup, too, in your hot tub." "Already arranged, hon. I had the landlady fire it up ten minutes ago." "You're such a good friend." Dixie burbled sleepily, almost weepy with tiredness. She leaned her head heavily on his arm and let him support her. "You're not so bad yourself as one, either. I like fussing over you, Dixie. Haven't you learned that by now?" he told her."You always make my day." he said, opening the passenger door for her. "No matter how bad it gets." Both of them smiled when they saw that the sun had already started rising for the new day. ::Thank God, it's Monday.:: McCall thought, buckling in. :: At last. Now we can both just collapse, and rest for a good.. lonnggg while.:: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The kitchen at Station 51, was a hot bed of activity. Chet's mouth was still gaping open over the sight of the rescue squad decorated cake that Roy and Johnny had picked up on their way back to base from their latest non-transportation call. Stoker was handling it a little better, and like Kelly, he was still grinning like a banshee. "Tell me that again, Gage. Our machine.. It really worked?" asked Kelly. "Yep. Like a charm." replied Roy. "The cadaver was dead a day and your band machine still started moving every single solitary drop of blood in her." "You mean if she'd been alive, it would have saved her?" asked Chet. "Dr. Brackett seems to think so. Well enough for all practical intent and purposes." Roy nodded. Stoker's eyes bugged out, still tickled pink, and he smacked Chet's arm in celebration. "How about that, Chet? We actually did it!" Gage winked at them. "Even I was impressed." he said. "Well, that's not saying anything." remarked Chet. "It doesn't take that much to ever impress you, Gage. You're such a simpleton." the fireman teased with a straight face. "Yeah.. but I'm such a smart one." Johnny fired back with no sting. "Smart enough to do you a favor by getting Brackett and the hospital administrators to appraise your machine. Aren't Roy and I gonna get some thanks for doing it?" "Thanks, guys." said Stoker. "And I mean that." "You're welcome, Stoker. Thanks for the experience." Johnny smiled, but then he glared at Chet, full guns. "I've never seen anything the like of it before. Not since the birth of plastic bagged D5W." Kelly just chewed his piece of cake, and grinned. "Hmmph.. Like he said.." he mumbled, jerking a thumb at Stoker, spraying crumbs out of his mouth and all over the floor. Bonnie began immediate cleanup detail around his feet. Johnny had to be content with not hearing two certain little words from his cohort. But on this morning of all mornings, it didn't really seem to bother him all that much for once. Cap was just about to comment on how kid-cute-ly the cake had been decorated, when the intercom tones went off. It was for.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Close up of a congrats cake with a rescue squad decoration. Photo: Brackett hugging Dixie affectionately. Photo: Gage sulking around Chet. Photo: Stoker throwing on his overcoat at a tones call. ************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Sat Apr 29, 2006 6:40 pm Subject: Trial by Error ...one of the most dreaded calls a fire department could ever hear come into their station. ##Station 51, Station 9, Truck 127, Battalion 1. Foam 110, Station 24. Gas leak at an elementary school. 2780 N. Nellis Blvd. 2780 N. Nellis Blvd. Cross street Arroyo Grande Boulevard. The gas company is reported as having arrived on scene. Time out : 0659.## "10-4. Station 51. KMG 365..." said Cap into the reply radio set into the wall next to the large map of Los Angeles County. Stoker didn't have to trace their route this time. He and the rest of the gang already knew the way. "Roy!" Gage shouted. "Is that the school both of your kids are going to?" "No. They're in another district." DeSoto sighed, rushing into his smoke scented turnout with a speed only a father could accomplish. "Don't tell me we're dealing with M&M Construction again. I thought OSHA shut them down for good last week." he said, waiting for the bay doors to rise high enough to admit them outside. He made his immediate right turn in the squad, squealing a few tires. Behind them, Cap pretended that he didn't notice when the Ward did the same thing, lurching into the fast lane at slightly higher than normal speed. Inside the engine cab, Stoker was grumbling. "It's gotta be those construction crews again. That school's in their territory, Cap. I know the court ordered them to check ahead of time to get the location of any gas lines and display that proof on site before they started any wash grading, but I'm getting one of my little feelings again." Chet smacked a gloved hand against both of their red leathered driving seats. "Stoker, now cut that out. Don't you know that all six of us are in really good moods this morning for once? Now we don't need your natural born precognating juju firing up so soon to spoil it." Marco rubbed his tense face, frowning. He tightened his helmet's chin strap with a nervous grip. "I don't think he's worried about just his own head firing up, Chet." he commented ominously. "That neighborhood's got houses that're really closely packed together." "How could I forget that, pal? We've shown up for every mock evacuation drill that school conducted every spring and fall for the last past five years." snapped Kelly. Hank held up two hands around his seatbelt to get his men to calm down a little bit. "Hush, you two. Let's not count all our possible disasters scenarios before they happen, ok? I for one, am gonna remain strictly optimistic. The wind's not blowing all that bad for us yet." he said, sniffing appreciably at the dew damp sunlit dawn blowing into the cab. "Wait'll the sun gets a little higher..." murmured Chet, settling into his seat glumly as he watched the scenery pass in jerky movements by his window. Unpleasantly overhearing, Stoker upp'ed their siren volume and pushed the safety envelope between them and the speeding rescue squad, letting Roy and Johnny know his change with a few blasts on the airhorn. Squad 51 needed no urging. She leaped ahead, crisscrossing over whole driving lanes as she tracked the shortest possible route through the traffic lights. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Oh, nuts! It IS them.." Cap spat as Stoker brought the engine to a halt the customary two hundred feet away from a danger spot. A backhoe loader surrounded by bright fluorescent orange cones was being eerily lit by a roaring plume of invisible natural gas, dust and metallic debris, shooting high into the sky. He sent Marco, and Chet out of the engine to snag out all six of their scba bottles and spares from the squad. Hank rolled up his cab side window. "Stoker. Stay in the engine. We're gonna sweep this block with an evacuation order. Looks like the PD's not here yet to do it themselves." The tight lipped engineer nodded, already turning the huge pumper in a large U'ie in the middle of the road and back towards the downwind direction of houses they had just passed. Already, the mercaptan indicator odor was reaching near choking levels, even in the open air. "They must've hit a 16 inch line or greater this time. I'm seeing the glint of coal tar enamel coating that pipeline." he said, looking through a small set of binoculars."That's got to be at least a 300-pound pressure line that's been severed or I've missed my guess." he told his men with dismay when E-51 had reached her final mid-block position, cock-eyed at an angle to block off curious motorists. Stanley grabbed for the radio cab mic and keyed it up. ## #This is the Los Angeles County Fire Department declaring an evacuation emergency! Leave your homes and classrooms immediately! Move on a route heading north towards 21st Street and Main in the direction of the high school. Do not stop to open any windows and do NOT under any circumstances, turn any appliances, or lights, on or off. Take all ringer phones off their hooks.# ## he added, thinking about electrical sparking and the sheer volume of frantic parent phone calls that would come once the newstrucks starting airing the school's escalating incident. Hank finished his initial recording into the dash tape recorder and looped it into the Ward's P.A. on continuous playback. Then he leaped out of the idling cab to accept the tank an air masked Chet already held out for him. Cap coughed away the rotten egg smell stinging his nostrils, retreating quickly into the cool sanctuary of his flowing faceplate. From the corner of his eye, he could see Station 9 gearing up and reporting their situation to Headquarters and to the white helmeted chief just getting out of his cherry red Chevy. Cap didn't waste any time contributing his own input. Building evacuation was automatically specified in the manual as his station's first course of action due to the intense explosion risks now running. And Hank was truly worried about the clouds threatening to overcast them. He knew the wind would soon pick up then in the canyon and start to blow the escaping gas, both from the severed massive pipeline and venting of the existing line's contents, out of the surrounding homes and school's gas flame interrupted water heaters and furnaces. ::If any air at all snuffed out pilots lights, we could be in for a potential multiple-ignition-point fire four blocks wide. And all it takes for that to happen is one careless cigarette smoker, lighting up.:: he qualmed. It was only a matter of time before the rest of the stinking cloud carried into other buildings by gaps around their outer doors and through the fresh-air intakes on their roof-top HVAC units. Thankfully, Hank was peripherally aware of police and the other assigned fire units conducting rapid traffic control in a very confused intersection down the block from the gas leak's volcano-ing excavation site. He could vaguely see streams of escaping children being helped away by bright vested adult crossing guards and by the police. Stanley knew that it was progressing well because there were few sounds of startled screams cutting through the hissing sound of the rupture belching violently in the ground. Stanley formatted his evacuation plan out loud. "Marco, you're with me. We'll check all the houses on the east end of this block. Roy, Johnny cover the west side.... We're all gonna get people out and look for possible casualties. These fumes are getting real bad. Fast." he shouted, his voice muffled by his air mask. "Search and move together within visual eyesight of each other. And gang. Listen to me closely. Shut your radioes off and keep them that way. The gas pressure inside of any room will be very low, less than 1/2 of a pound per square inch, but spark risks are still very much there. We do have some margin of safety working for us. Natural gas requires a very precise air-to-fuel ratio to allow for any kind of combustion. You'll know when you're in a trouble spot because the smell of it will become unbearably strong just before the atmosphere becomes explosive. People you find in these areas will be very, very sick. Recover them as quickly as possible and get out of there. Don't even stop for a pulse check. There's no time. Is that understood?" All of Stanley's firemen nodded. "Don't use your hand helds until you know you're back out in very, very clear air and use them only if you have to. Get everybody out into the street so they can be evacuated and treated. I'll be watching out for all of ya with constantly updated reports on the leak's repair from the gas company." he said. "Once we're declared population clear, go back over your territory and locate all the meter shut-off valves. For this neighborhood, it's usually the first fitting on the gas supply pipe coming out of the ground near the mint green colored meters round the side of each house. Give a long-handled wrench one-quarter turn in either direction on the valves so that all levers are crosswise to your pipe to reach 'off'. And shut off all stop valves labelled "WOG" behind appliances as you find them." "At least, there's no ignition or explosion yet, Cap." Roy told him, eyeing up the shortest routes that he and his partner would take across the house lawns to reinforce the loud, recycling evacuation announcement. "Believe me, I'm Hail Mary-ing that blessing this morning with the best of em." Cap smirked briefly. "Go. We'll start PPVing classrooms and houses only when the leak's been contained and repairs have begun." Cap said. "If you've finished up your houses, go help pull kids out of the school windows. Looks like they're jamming up the fire doors." Kelly jogged up. "Cap, we've got a few owners who want to go back in to get their pets out." "Where?" asked Hank. He turned around in place with one eye on his two departing coworker pairs and the other he put into the direction Chet was pointing. "At the Promontory Point Apartments over there. Those ugly peach adobe ones located behind the school." Kelly told him. "Too close. Signal the police to tell them 'no' any way they'll take it." Kelly started to jog away when Cap snagged the back of his air tank, and hauled him back around using his greater size. "Ah, ah ah. Tell them from here with a hand gesture because I need you to set up every on-scene truck's medical gear, strong on respiratory equipment. And grab out all our own oxygen supplies." Stanley told him. "We as L.A. County have far more than the non-paramedic stations do. So offer our extras up to any firemen showing up with victims." "Right, Cap..." said Kelly running to the squad and engine to break out their stokes stretcher stores and oxygen apparatuses. He gingerly set metal cases and basket beds down on top of asbetos tarps to prevent any chance of an errant pavement spark happening inside a sudden tendril of migrating invisible gas. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy and Johnny began to run for their nearest house, keeping pace with Marco and Hank's progress on the opposite side of the street. They widely circled around the violently hissing pipe hole in the center island's machine graded ditch. DeSoto tapped his partner's shoulder when they reached the first porch. "You know, Any air in that pipe line could allow an explosion if a malfunction in an appliance allows its flame to flash back upstream. They're gonna have to seriously purge that big line once they get it shut off..." Johnny nodded. "Air definitely does not belong in a gas line. But I can think of a worse situation for us to be in. Remember the last gas call involving M & M when they were accidentally flushing the water mains last year using their utility truck?" "Yeah, I remember. They backpumped pure gas into everybody's toilets and garden hoses for not knowing a hydrant's normal water pressure. It's a wonder nobody was killed during that stunt." Roy gasped as they approached a front door. The two paramedics didn't bother to knock. They just entered. By any movement-quiet means possible. "Hey! Is anybody in here?! Fire Department! You gotta get out now. Pipe leak!" they shouted. A sleepy young mother with her baby staggered out of a bedroom. "What?!" Then she started coughing when the sour rotten egg of gas sidled into her open front door. "Oh, no.**choke*" Gage immediately covered the baby's face with an offered air mask and showed the mother out to the safety of the cluster of light flashing fire engines. He choked a few times on the room's gas stench but soon, he was back at Roy's side breathing tanked air. "Any more?" he asked as he saw Roy leaving the mother's back rooms. "No. The rest of the house's empty.." DeSoto whistled through his steaming face plate. "Ok, let's mark this one's main door with a search sticker and move to the next house..." Johnny said, smacking one onto the front door and leaving it conspicuously ajar. As they were leaving for the neighbor's, along the way, Gage overturned a few lawn chairs to clue in other firefighters as to the first house's completed victim search status. Seven minutes later, there was only one house left to check. The one immediately in a direct downwind coming from the rupture. Kelly had taken to following Roy and Johnny along the curb with demand valve cases, staying available for them and offering keen observations for them from the street. He shouted. "There's somebody home over there. A jacuzzi's still on, with a pair of men's shoes around it." Johnny and Roy ran inside the house, tanks clattering. "Check that out, Chet, for anybody blacked and drowning. The fumes are getting really bad over here." Roy said, seeing a couple of dead sparrows on the grass. Kelly dropped his two oxygen cases to the grass and ran to the house's deck. He grabbed a bird feeder pole out of the ground and used it as a probe, sweeping it from side to side in the steam bubbling tub's water. "It's clear..." he told DeSoto and Gage as they disappeared inside the dwelling. "Ok, we'll be right back!" Johnny shouted to him. Roy did a double take at the family name on the front door. "Did you see that?" he asked his partner. "H--?" Johnny blinked. "I'll check in here, you check down the hallway." Gage said distractedly, looking towards the pine tree shadowed living room. DeSoto wasn't to be denied giving news."Johnny the welcome sign said Brackett! Doesn't he live out this way?" Roy hesitated. "Oh, sh*t.. Uh.... Maybe.." Johnny gasped through his mask. "But doesn't he work today?" "Nah.. it's his weekend. He's still gotta be here. There's a car in the driveway." Roy shouted back. A few tense searching seconds later Gage yelled, pulling Roy away from his own room searching. "Got him...!" Johnny said quickly, seeing a pajama tangled form in a blanket on the couch. A TV set was still on and ironically, it was covering the gas leak incident on the news. "Hey,.. Dr. Brackett?!...Can you hear me?.." he shouted, bending close and shaking a shoulder. But Kel didn't move. "He's unconscious, Roy." "Let's get him outta here..." said DeSoto, grabbing his legs. Johnny got a hold of Brackett's head and armpits and soon, they had him outside. Chet met them both running, and he helped lower the pale doctor to the asphalt. "Holy cow, isn't that---?" "Yes, Chet. It's him. Just shut up and get out the resuscitator. He's getting cyanotic." Gage grunted as he and Roy laid him out onto his back and opened his shirt. All three firefighters ditched their scba gear. For the few moments it took Kelly to get things ready, Johnny did a breathing check after tilting a clear airway on the Rampart doctor. Gage froze, listening and feeling intently. "He's not breathing.." he told them. To save time, Johnny gave Kel two hurried, light breaths, mouth to mouth, to see if he could get a decent chest rise. He did. Then a quick gloveless grope at a cold sweating neck also proved fruitful. "He still has a strong carotid..." Roy and Chet sighed in relief at that finding. "That was close.." Kelly whispered. "Always better half gone than all gone..." Chet quickly took over Kel's care using the thumb trigger valve. "Ok, he's regaining good color, guys." he shared as Roy and Johnny caught their breaths and finished summoning help. "And there's a definite voluntary gasp. I think he's coming around a little already." "Just keep helping him." Johnny directed. "He's not out of the woods yet. Gas suffocation's funny that way." Johnny rose up on his knees to a greater height and horsewhistled, getting Cap's attention to get a couple of firefighters with a empty stokes on the fly so they could get their patient over to the rest of the medical gear and closer to a defibrillator. Hank's face opened in shock at the sight of who they were working on. "Kel Brackett? Is he all right?" He crouched down to be sure Chet was making the proper rate and volume of ventilations around the doctor's own feeble attempts at weak breathing. "He will be. We got to him in time. Nothing that a little epinephrine won't fix." Roy said. "His pulse's still real good." "Where'd you find him?" Hank asked. "On the living room couch." "He a bachelor?" Cap asked, wondering. "Yeah. He lives alone.." DeSoto replied, fully expecting the question. "All right. Move him out, boys." ordered Cap to the firefighters he had brought with him. Before they got even halfway to Chet's cache of waiting medical equipment, Brackett came to and began to struggle, almost worming his way out of the stokes he was being carried in. The firemen lowered him to the street in a controlled drop before he could fall and hurt himself. "Doc! Doc! It's Johnny Gage. Take it easy. You're doing fine." Johnny said, taking hold of a bleary eyed, now coughing Kel, by his shock dampened shoulders. "Here. Breathe in more of this oxygen we're giving ya. You weren't doing it so hot a moment ago..." Kel twisted up and choked, turning red, as huge coughs finally cleared the rest of his chest free of the burning smell of gas. Then he relaxed physically. But mentally, he was very agitated. They all watched worriedly as he grabbed his T-shirt in a powerful grip. "What's the matter?" Roy asked him. "Does your chest hurt?" Kel took another breath of oxygen from the offering mask. Then he began to fight it, actively pushing it away. "D-D-D-....." he stuttered, shivering in a sweat chill. A firefighter covered him with a yellow sheet, thinking that was his complaint. Johnny leaned in closer, thinking he heard something different. "What was that? Can you say that again?" Brackett's face contorted.. "...dixie.." he moaned, wincing. The paramedics misunderstood. "Dixie? Easy, doc. Yeah, don't worry. We'll call her just as soon as we've stabilized your vital s---" DeSoto started to say. Kel caught his collar in a death grip. "Go..get her out! Came home with me.." he whispered painfully as he tried to struggle to full awareness. Then he let go, his head falling to one side into a lapse of returned breathing difficulty. Chet's face paled. "Oh, ...no ..way...." Kelly gaped in disbelief, eyes sliding back to the silent, white porched house. Hank was iron. "Kelly. Go check it out with your air on. Check out the bedrooms first. I'll take over here." Cap said, starting to ventilate Brackett once more when his chest failed to move well enough for him. Chet ran. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kelly got into the house. "Dixie!" he shouted. His breaths whistled loudly in his mask as he quickly searched for a direction in which to head. Then he saw a baby blue glow coming from the bathroom stabbing into the room that was its opposite. The new sun's dappling light was illuminating a fallen pillow on the carpeting. "Bet she's in there.." he mumbled to himself. "Probably knocked it down trying to get out of the room." He found Dixie sideways on the bed, nearly hidden by sheets. She was in a one piece swimsuit and still wearing rubber sandals. "Gone to sleep after hot tubbing it, huh? Well, getting gassed by a neighbor isn't exactly what I call the nicest way to unwind. Not by a long shot." Chet told her coughing, half out form as he hauled her up and hung her face down into the perch between his air bottle and a turncoated shoulder. Dixie groaned at the jarring disturbance. "Easy, Dixie. I got you." Kelly said, making tracks for the front door. "Just keep breathing.." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twin sounds of demand valve ventilations punctuated the air around the fire department broadcasts near the high school. Roy and Johnny were just beginning to treat their current and past bosses when a young student wandered up from the other kids still in the group awaiting buses that would take them safely back home for the day. "Hey, are those people going to be ok?" asked the little girl as she looked down as Stoker and Marco lightly aided the nurse and doctor's shallow respirations. DeSoto smiled as he adjusted an EKG reading on a yellow shock sheet blanketed Dixie. "They sure will. All that escaping gas's just made them a little sleepy. Don't worry. Those oxygen masks will help them wake up from their naps in a couple minutes." he promised. "Good." said the little girl, satisfied. "I'm glad. I didn't think there was anything you guys couldn't do.." she told them matter of factly. Hank started chuckling. "Huh, what a concept." Then he asked the child. "Who put that thought in your head this morning, young miss?" "My teacher." she replied, thoughtfully chewing on a ponytail. The firemen looked polite and didn't comment on that further like nice little firefighters, while they quietly worked to ready Dixie and Kel for a code three transportation to Rampart. The happy girl shared more. "Didn't you know? You're famous. That day we played together got on the news. And today, my teacher says the reporters are all calling your Station 51, the house of the Water Day Saints on TV." she said proudly. "Well, how about that gang?" Stanley grinned. "Tops even that cake we still have sitting out, getting stale, in the kitchen." FIN Water Day Saints, Episode Thirty Two Emergency Theater Live ------------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. ************************************************** End Credits -- Episode Thirty Two (Fifth Season) §§ Water Day Saints §§ :) This episode is dedicated to LaDonna, who died too soon and touched :) :) everyone who knew her with her dignified poise, gentleness, and charm. :) ************************************************** The Story Unfolds... Season Five, Episode Thirty Three. §§ California Dreamin' §§ Debut Launch: May 1st, 2006. ************************************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Wed May 3, 2006 5:11 pm Subject: The Wall Crawling Remedy~~ It was a slow afternoon at Station 51. The whole gang had long ago given up newpapers and checkerboards and were falling into round two of aimless television watching and taking catnaps whereever they happened to be sprawled around the rec room. The only three people showing signs of active animation were Johnny, Roy and Chet. The tinny volume from the station's cheap television set held them rivetted, nonetheless. "Would you look at that?!" Gage exclaimed in exasperation at the current news story. "People are just nuts these days, I'm telling ya." he said throwing a careless hand at the television screen. A news broadcast was showing footage after footage of people waiting in line at the gas pumps to fill their trucks and automobiles at filling stations across the nation. "Now that is just plain craziness.. We're not out of gas yet, so why the ridiculously high prices?" Johnny wanted to know. "Aw, Gage. Don't you know how politicians work these days? They're probably taking hand offs from all the big oil companies to look the other way. And while that's going on, it's the average guys like us who have to own up to their tabs by paying them out through our gas tanks." Chet summed up. "I don't know.." said Roy thoughtfully as he crunched a carrot from a plateful of cut veggies and dip. "They say this is a true energy crisis going on because of the oil embargo overseas. I'm not so sure this is just gas gouging." Desoto frowned. "It'll probably blow over in a couple of weeks." "Easy for you to say.." said Johnny with exasperation as he sat up to steal a peanut buttered celery stalk from Roy's snack table. "You've got just a tiny sports convertible to worry about." "Hey.." protested Roy. "Go get your own!" when he missed grabbing Gage's stealing hand. Johnny ignored him, chewing happily. "You guys don't own a gas hog like I do. My rover costs me twelve whole dollars to fill sometimes." Chet just leaned back in his kitchen chair turned cock-eyed toward the TV and stretched."Yeah, well that's what we monkeys get for digging in the dirt and depending ourselves and most of our machines on a fossilized mineral slime. I say we deserve what we get." "Oh, that's deep... that's really--" began Johnny with irritation. "Would you guys keep it down a little?" asked a sleepy, booming voice from behind them. "Stoker and I are trying to get some shuteye in the bunkroom. We heard you guys commenting on things from the peanut gallery all the way over there.." grumbled Captain Stanley loudly. He wasn't yawning. Johnny was so startled that he started slipping over backwards from the two rear chair legs he was balancing on by the bookshelf. Hank had no sympathy for him when he finally lost the battle over gravity and thunked over, bruising his tailbone. "Ow, d*mmit! Why did you have to startle me like that?" Johnny fumed. "I'll try harder to tip toe next time, just for you." said Cap disappearing back into the garage, heading for his bed. "In the meantime, pipe down, ok?" Kelly just smirked as he watched Roy get up to help Johnny right his chair and himself from his undignified heap on the floor."Anything startles you, these days, Johnny. That's because you're always wound up like a top from drinking too much coffee." The body on the couch laughed out loud. It was Marco. "That much is pure fact." DeSoto glared at Lopez. Then he looked down. "You ok?" Roy asked his partner. "You didn't hit your head, did you?" Gage nodded no. "I managed to keep my neck up." Chet mocked with a newscaster sounding voice. "That hollow sound we all heard, folks, was just the skinny rack of bones Gage calls for a body coming to a complete stop." Then he took on normal tones. "Should be familiar enough to you by now, Roy. He always gets into mishaps these days. At least once a week on the job by my reckoning." "Very funny. I'm not going to even dignify that with a comment." Johnny said, rubbing his rear. "It's true.." insisted Chet. "We can always give Rampart a call and get the official tally to see if I'm right." "Oh, why don't you just shut up for once!" Fed up, Johnny exited the room, moving to the equipment closet with alacrity as he searched yet again for something worthwhile and productive to do. He ended up grabbing a still clean and full mop bucket and he started scrubbing the floor in the corner by the front glass entryway door and Cap's office with angry sloshes and wringouts. His amusement wiping away, Roy followed him out into the vehicle bay. "Wanna talk about it?" he said eventually, leaning up against the squad's bumper. "No. Nothing to talk about." said Gage tersely. Roy bit his lip. "Come on, Johnny. I know you better than that. What's your problem? I'm a good listener, maybe I can figure something out for you..." "Now that's it right there, pal. Why does everybody think they always have the answers for me?!" Johnny said, splashing his mop back into the wash bucket so agressively that Boot ansed away from the spreading puddle he was checking out with curiosity. "Sorry, Boot." snapped Johnny. Then he continued. "If it's not suggestions on how to manage my love life, it's razzing about how klutzy I am when things aren't actually my fault at all in the first place.." Roy respectfully stayed quiet while Johnny ranted. "That snake bite wasn't my fault, neither was that monkey virus or my broken leg last year. The only incident I can recall that was entirely my mistake was reaching into that car in the L.A. river bed and cutting my hand wide open. That.. was my fault.." spattered Johnny. "I wasn't wearing my fire gloves." DeSoto decided not to mention that soap foam was getting sprayed onto his shoes and pants legs. "Don't let Kelly get the best of ya. Why don't you always do what you normally do to defuse him and craft a joke or two to play on him? You always get the best of him. Well, every time except for that once when the Phantom wars were going on." Johnny didn't even look up from his rapid, irritated floor scrubbing. "That's not even an option any more, Roy. Because, I'm sick and tired of stooping down to his level just to control him.." Roy's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure you didn't hit your head earlier?" "Oh, for Pete's sake." exasperated Johnny. "Now even you won't take me literally anymore. Do me a favor.. Just go away." "All right.." said Roy, getting stung. "I will. Enjoy your tantrum. I was just trying to help out. Geez.." DeSoto said, moving around the squad's front end to get to the equipment stow. He dragged out the defibrillator case and the biophone to do a telemetry check. He hooked up the antennae after he had the defib paddles charged on their metal test plate and made his call. "Rampart, this is Squad 51 for an afternoon Tetronix check, EKG and live paddles." The two paramedics made it a production of not looking at each other. Dixie's voice came over the line. ##Squad 51, we read you loud and clear. We're set for your signal and shock.## "Rampart, this'll be a lead II calibration, followed by a 100 watt shock!" Roy yelled at her, slamming the phone down on the squad's roof to turn a dial. Then he waited to hit the shock buttons. ##Squad 51, your strip's coming through as testing all channels. Go ahead.## she told him, her puzzled tone at the anger in his voice apparent. Sighing loudly, DeSoto placed the paddles on the test plate and fired them off. ##Cardioversion's registering properly, 51.## she said no nonsense to get him to shape up mood wise without using other words. "10-4, Rampart. Squad 51, over and out." Roy said softly apologetic to her. Then he hung up the phone receiver back into its red metal case and latched it shut. Johnny paused in his furious mopping. "Leave those charged up for me, would ya? I'd like to use them on Chet's head.." DeSoto made a face, and put the EKG and defibrillator cases away. He then drew out the resuscitation apparatus and a clean rag from the stow. He turned on the oxygen flow and tested the mask on himself at the middle liter delivery rate. It was patent. Satisfied, he turned it off and wiped out the inside of the rubber face mask with a flourish. "Sounds like we all need a vacation.." he told Johnny with an angry mumble. Gage glommed onto that idea eagerly, suddenly very unangry and excited. "That's it. That's it right there.. I don't think any of us has gone on one since last Christmas, and it's what? Mid-May now?" "Yep." said a confused Roy at Johnny's sudden about face mood change. He added the drug box to his array of gear to check out on the floor. He started to inventory their whole set of supplies against a check marked laminated card stuck with a magnet to the ceiling of the gear stow compartment. "Maybe we SHOULD just get away somehow. You know, re-bond with each other or something. It might do away with some of this wall climbing we've been doing lately." "I wouldn't go so far as to say that any of us needs to do that, Roy. It's more like, needing to do another activity that's not so my-life-depends-on-you-to-do- the-right-thing kind of thing." Johnny said, slowing down his mopping thoughtfully. It was the calmest Roy had seen him since he fell out of his chair. DeSoto smacked his lips in agreement. "Ok, where can we go that's cheap enough so the gas prices won't kill us off?" DeSoto asked. "I don't know.. Uh,..Up north for a little skiing?" DeSoto shook his head. "Stoker, Cap and Marco hate the cold. That's why they moved to California." "How about a little mountain fishing then?" Gage threw out. "Nope. We've gone twice and have gotten saddled with medical emergencies happening. And thoroughly stuck with saving all the locals.." "Oh, that's right. I'd forgotten." Then his face brightened. "I know.. why don't we all go to a hiking camp? We've never done that before." "Where is there a park that's close?" DeSoto asked. "The nearest state park I know of is in Santa Rosa County." "We don't have to go far to find someplace really good, Roy. The place I'm thinking of is only twenty two miles away." Johnny asked. "Where's that?" asked DeSoto, scratching his chin. Johnny pointed westward, out the open garage door. "Catalina Island, pal. Didn't the Catalina Island Conservancy finally buy up the whole interior to save it for posterity and all the wildlife?" "Yeah, I think they did it last year. They're putting in another pier eventually." Roy said. "Then why don't we go there? It's close, wild, and as far away from firefighting as you can get." "I don't know, Johnny. Does everybody even have camping equipment handy?" "If they don't, we know we both do. We can share with em. And maybe we can even get in some rented hang gliding time, too. All you need are a pair of inexpensive permits to go inside Catalina so the Coast Guard knows that you're there. Dead easy to set up." Roy looked skeptical at his partner, pausing in his count of paper sealed narcotic syringes. "I'm still not so sure that's the best idea." he said thoughtfully. "Roy, why not go? We can go for just a couple of days. Let's set it up for the middle of next week. We all have that stretch off anyway for that firefighter convention L.A. ended up cancelling on us." Gage said. "Boring time to get unintentional leave, for there's no live ball games set on the bill for then. There'll be nothing for anybody to do except sit at home and twiddle some thumbs." ::Spoken like a true bachelor..:: mused Roy. Then he spoke up again. "Ok,..I'm in. I'll leave it up to you to approach the guys since going to the island was your idea. I'm gonna be there anyway, because Chris's gonna be touring with his grandpa by plane who's a pilot by trade." "Is he now?" Gage grinned with surprise. "I've already been made to promise that I'll let those two fly around by themselves on all the fair weather days." "What about Joanne and your youngest?" asked Johnny. "My daughter's not into that kind of thing. She'd rather stay home and be domestic." DeSoto smiled. "And-and Joanne's simply content just being with her, too, while she studies her english writing and takes ballet." "Then it's settled. We're all going for an excursion into the great wild out of doors. It's gonna be fun, Roy. I just know it." DeSoto returned a mildly excited grin. "I think you're right. I can't wait. Now the guys'll finally be able to meet some of my family. Chris's sure growing up fast these days." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: The gang watching tv all together. Photo: Chet, Roy and Johnny by the TV and playing games. Photo: Gage mopping the bay aggressively. Photo: Roy and Johnny checking the drug box in the bay. Photo: Catalina Island and a ferry. Photo: A rural beach on Catalina Island. Photo: Cap listening to a rope tying Johnny and Chet. ************************************************** From : Cory Anda Sent : Monday, May 22, 2006 11:26 PM Subject : Turn About.. It was three hours later and Johnny was impressed that the rest of the gang actually warmed to the idea of a camping getaway. Chet had a few words on that matter. "I'll go as long as you pay for my ferry, camping and hang glider fees. I'm strapped for cash this week because of paying property taxes, remember?" Gage scowled. "All right. Fine." he replied from where he was regarding Boot with intense, feigned disinterested scrutiny. "I'll pick up your part of the fees. Are you happy now?" he said, without looking away from the shaggy, equally eye to eye glaring station dog. Kelly didn't answer him. Instead, he made a face. "What are you doing to him?" Chet asked about Johnny's studying an increasingly emotional, uncomfortable Boot. Gage rubbed his face with frowning irritation. "I'm trying to figure out why Boot doesn't seem to like me." Roy snorted around his sipping from a coffee mug. "Maybe that's why he doesn't like ya." Johnny ignored both his coworkers and reached out a hand absently to stroke Boot's head. The dog gave a short growl of warning as he immediately leaped down off the kitchen chair he had been sitting on and fled for another part of the station. "See?" Gage scoffed, throwing a hand in the direction Boot had departed. Marco had some sympathy. "I don't know, Johnny. I've seen you and Boot squaring off over nothing through three of his station visits now and I still can't believe you two aren't getting along." Captain Stanley offered up his view. "Maybe you're just trying too hard with him, Gage. Try acting like you're his best friend. Spoil him a little." "I do. I do.." Johnny insisted, pouring himself a cup of coffee from Roy's pot grumpily. "I bought him a bone from the butcher's last week, didn't I? And what did he do? He buried it out in the yard out back and peed on it." Kelly and Cap and Roy chuckled. Stoker said. "Maybe he was saving it for later by marking his territory." Lopez was a bundle of suggestions, too. "What do you expect, Johnny? A bone's pretty slim pickings when you consider that he's probably used to getting stuffed on beef fillets from the firefighters in all the other stations he goes to see on his neighborhood rounds." Johnny refused to be appeased. "Maybe I should go in there right now.." he said, jerking a thumb at the doorway leading to the apparatus bay,.."and drag a rope around in an invitation to play." "Good luck." coughed Hank. "You can't just pick and choose your friends, Johnny, and expect them to reciprocate. They have to pick you, too. It's a two way street." "Well in Boot's case. It's more like a dead end alley." sighed Johnny. Roy looked up from his plate of nachos and smiled. "Why don't you give Boot a little more time? I think he might be like a cat in this case. If you ignore him completely, he'll hate it and double over backwards to become pals with you." "You think so?" Gage asked, brightening. "I know so." said Chet from the couch. "That's what worked for me." "Chet, you don't know anything. I don't know why I should even listen to y---" Gage mumbled through tight, angry lips. The station tones went off. ##Station 51. Altered level reported on a man at the supermarket. 1719 South Caine. 1719 South Caine. Cross street Burnett. Time out : 9:56.## reported L.A. The whole gang leaped out of their seats and ran for their vehicles. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the way to the call, Gage rubbed his chin around his helmet's strap. "Which kind of rescue call is worse, Roy? This one were going on right now? Or whenever we roll on a domestic disturbance?" "It's hard to say." said DeSoto tracking the traffic around them as he drove the squad through busy intersections. "More of a toss up. I guess it depends on what the situation happens to be in the first place. If it's just two newlyweds having their first dish throwing argument, I don't ever have a problem with it. But if it's ever kids getting used as a punching bag..." he let his words trail off. "Yeah." said Gage, sighing. "I'm hoping our man's just some bum for the drunk tank. I'm not in the mood for any excitement this morning." Roy looked over at his partner. "Don't tell me Boot's starting to bother you. Boot's just being.. well, Boot. Nothing to eat your stomach out over." "That's easy for you to say. He lets you pet him." Gage glared. A blast on the airhorn from the Ward LaFrance behind them made both paramedics look into their sideview mirrors quickly. "Huh.. I wonder what Cap wants." Johnny said as he got the hint to switch over to their station's private truck to truck band. "Go ahead, Cap." he said into the hand radio mic. ##I just got off the horn with L.A.P.D. They're gonna be delayed getting to our call for at least five minutes. Looks like we're gonna be the ones first in. They have a 211 in progress at the bank a mile down the road.## "Ok, Cap. Thanks for the heads up." replied Johnny and he switched back to the station dispatching channel on the main frequency. "So much for peaceful Sunday mornings." he grumped. "Look on the bright side, Johnny. We're not working a useless junkyard fire or anything." DeSoto grinned. "Shhh.." Gage hissed. "Or you'll jinx us for real." Roy lifted a puzzled face. "Now how does that work?" he whispered to himself as he gripped the steering wheel more tightly for a turn off the freeway. Soon, they were there. It wasn't hard spotting where to park the squad and engine. A grocery store manager wearing a bright yellow produce apron was standing in the middle of the widest part of the parking lot, surrounded by a couple of bag carrying housewives, gossipping about some spectacle unfolding right in front of them. Roy and Johnny pulled up into the middle of all of them while Stoker angled the Ward to block off the avenue's entrance to give themselves working room without a fresh crowd of cars being able to pull in. A squat Asian man in a long oversized gray T-shirt and very baggy black demin pants was seated in a wheel chair, out in the open, flailing his feet and arms like a palsy case. A pair of black sandals had been kicked off his bare feet and lay on the pavement. No one else seemed to want to go near him. "Handicapped? Doesn't look like a seizure." puzzled Johnny as he and Roy got out of their light flashing squad to pull their medical gear. DeSoto rushed ahead and crouched down by the man, locking the chair's wheel brakes for safety to stop the man's aimless random spinning in the wheelchair. He lightly touched the man's still jerking, restless knee."Sir..? I'm Roy DeSoto, a paramedic from the Los Angeles Fire Department. This is my partner, Johnny Gage. Can you understand me? What seems to be the problem here?" he asked, sniffing breath coming from the man. The twenty something youth didn't seem to be able to focus on faces for very long but Roy found no sign of alcohol on the wind. Their patient smiled. "Hey.. whaz up? I...uh,..I..don't wanna cause.. I'm just trying to.. I..I.." he slurred. He continued to writhe rhythmically in the seat, like an impaired invalid. Captain Stanley, standing nearby, had removed his helmet. He cocked it under an arm. "Want the O2?" he asked Roy. DeSoto shook his head. "I don't think his confusion's new. Maybe a pre-existing condition. There doesn't appear to be any bruises on him." he said, carefully studying the man. He fell into orientation questions. "Sir,..can you tell me where you are?" "I'm..I'm at the super-- supermarket.." he twitched, still smiling and gyrating his arms and legs slowly with dyskinesia. Johnny wrapped a blood pressure cuff around the man's arm. "What day is it?" "Saturday.." he guessed wrong. Gage and Roy exchanged significant looks. "And the time?" Roy said, taking the man's pulse. "Three thirty... I.. look.. I wanted to get some pizza.. Is that a crime?" asked the fuzzy man in mild cooperation. His smile wavered from blandness then back to an absent grin, in wavering cycles. Roy tried to get the man to focus on him visually with a penlight but he couldn't seem to connect with him long enough to hold eye to eye contact. "Ok.. it's all right. We're here to help you out, mister. Just try to relax. Do you have any I.D on you? We're gonna need one for our report so we can treat you." "S--Sure." said the small Asian man in the white baseball cap. "Here." he fumbled into a front pants pocket for a nylon wallet. He couldn't grip it too well, so Roy helped get it out so they could read it. "Victor Yang Lu Ngyuen from 123 Hwy. 101 North in Escondido. There's also his birthdate. March 7th, 1955." he said, passing it off to Johnny who had completed an initial set of vitals. Gage looked up. "Cap, could you ask around a bit on how he was found? Looks like he might be tripped out on something. There's no medical alert info or any old prescriptions in his wallet." "Sure thing, pal." said Hank. The store manager soon piped up. "He came into one of the side entrances of my store asking for a wheelchair, saying that his legs didn't work too well. So one of the cashiers gave him one. He was doing fine fellas, shopping and reaching down groceries ok. But then he started talking loudly to himself and spinning around like a space case. Made a mess of my cereal aisle when he dropped a jar of tomato paste. So we got him to pay, brought him out here, and then we called both you guys and the cops.." said the manager mildly. "You did the right thing. He's not himself." reassured Roy as he read the vital signs Johnny had written down. "Thank you for calling. We got it from here. Would you mind getting all these people to step back a little. The ambulance is gonna have to have some room to get through here." "Oh, sure.." said the manager and he began loudly herding up the curious housewives and other car parked folks drawn to the spectacle of a crew of firefighters ringed around a limb flailing man in a wheelchair. "Come on, folks. Go home or into the store. Nothing to see. Get outta here. Give the man some privacy ok? You're gawking like a gaggle of geese. Shoo.." he said, waving water wrinkled hands at them. The crowd dispersed. Cap got on his handy talkie. "L.A. this is Engine 51. We've one male victim in a parking lot possibly being effected by a controlled or illegal substance. Respond an ambulance to our location. Do you have an ETA on P.D. to our scene?" ##Engine 51, this is L.A...A squad unit reports three minutes. I have sent an ambulance crew to your twenty. Their ETA is one minute.## Cap looked up at the sound of approaching sirens. "10-4. Engine 51 out." Mike Stoker moved the drug box nearer to Gage's knee. "Want me to set up an I.V.?" "Yeah. String up a 500 ml of normal saline in case the doctor orders some precautionary Narcan. Roy'll have his instructions in a few seconds." said Johnny, watching as Roy hailed Rampart and gave his medical report to Dr. Early. DeSoto set the phone on his shoulder and nodded at the sight of the bag Mike was tearing open with his teeth. "Yep. He wants it." Then he felt the man's skin. "It's hot, dry. Early thinks he may be suffering crystal meth overdose precursors." Gage sighed. "Not another one. I sure hope the cops bust that hidden neighborhood lab around here soon or those dealers are gonna end up killing somebody for sure." "Well, at least it's not gonna be him today.." said Roy, rubbing down a place on the man's arm not already riddled with track mark scars and shallow, self inflicted nail scratched pock marks. The man continued to smile but didn't have the ability to hold still for his I.V. start. It took both Marco and Mike to hold his arm down long enough for the running inserted catheter to be taped firmly to an arm board. Gage took another B.P. once the light Naloxone dose and a little IM Thiamine had been delivered. "Still up. 172 over 110. Pulse 130 and bounding.." he sighed. "Early wants a glucose stick to rule out hyperglycemia." Roy told him. "I'll get it." said Johnny reaching into the drug box at his feet. He moved aside long enough for the two newly arrived ambulance attendants to move their gurney close to the wheel chair. "Wait a second while we draw some blood for a glucose check. He's junked out, but cooperating." Both the men nodded. They concentrated on preparing the low bed's sheets and blanket to receive their patient. Roy read the strip on the glucometer once the blood drop had soaked through. "Normal. He's at 100. At least he's been eating here. Right, Mr. Ngyuen?" "Yeah.. yeah.. had some salad. Wanted some pizza.. Did I get any?" he asked muzzily, still writhing restlessly in the wheelchair with slow jerks and starts. The smile returned, full and beaming. Stoker had his hands full guarding the I.V. board which he held out in the air in front of the man's chest. "Yeah, you did. Take it easy, sir. Soon, you'll be at the hospital." he told him. The man just grinned, his emotional reactions strangely child-like and at odds with the rest of his shimmeying body. Soon, the man was stretched out onto the gurney and strapped in. Mike helped lower the man's head down onto the pillow. "Did anybody grab his sandals?" "Yeah, I put them back on his feet." said Marco. "I gave him his I.D., too. His wallet's in his hand." "Ok... Roy, I'll ride in with him." Gage said, after he completed patching the man's four limb leads into the EKG monitor. "He's only sinus tach with slightly elevated T waves." "You sure?" asked DeSoto. "Yeah, he's not gonna fight." Johnny said. "Just look at him." he grinned. The man was humming and completely off into a deeper lala land. "Ok,. I'll grab the squad." Roy said, retrieving his helmet off of the ground. He left for the truck to start its ignition. Hank issued orders for Chet and Marco to clean up all the needle covers and paper wrappers off the ground while Gage and the attendants blanketed the man and gathered the medical gear together. Then Stanley asked, "Are we done here, Johnny? If so, I'll put the engine back into service." "Yeah, we're done. Go on ahead, Cap. We'll be back at the station in twenty." "Ok. I'll tell L.A. and P.D. that you're going ahead with transporting." said Cap. "Let's go, gang." he nodded at Chet, and Marco when they were through with their task. Hank, Kelly and Lopez climbed into the engine and shut the doors. "Stay with him a sec, Mike? We're gonna put this stuff into the ambulance." Johnny asked Stoker. Stoker nodded, crouching down by the nearly sleeping man's head to monitor his breathing. Soon he was quite alone with him. Then suddenly, it happened. Mike blinked and found himself face to face with the muzzle end of a steely blue black .38 mm revolver, pointed at his nose. And the gun was firmly in the hands of loopy, grinning, tripped out Mr. Ngyuen. "Like my piece, mister? It's my ab- absolute favorite. Just got it last week." he said proudly, still firmly lost somewhere in his addiction high and wearing his kindergartner smile. Stoker's heart stopped in his throat and he froze in panic. He found he could only squeak. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Chet, Stoker scoff at table. Photo: Gage and Boot nose to nose. Photo: Squad rushing through parking lot. Photo: Johnny and Roy with full gear in parking lot. Photo: Man in a wheel chair. Photo: johnny sees Mayfair go. Photo: Gun aimed at you. Photo: Stoker with a shocked look, wearing helmet. ************************************************** From : Cassidy Meyers Sent : Thursday, May 25, 2006 7:07 PM Subject : Blink of An Eye.. Time seemed to stand still for Mike Stoker. ::Move!:: he thought desperately from someplace very small and deep inside of his head. ::That gun's right now and it's very, very real!:: Stoker struggled mentally through a thickening haze of tarry numbness and the most absolute, paralyzing fright that he had ever known. Long, terrifying seconds etched themselves in time with perfect clarity in his mind.....the glint of shiny bullets cocked in the unspun barrel as they caught and trapped his gaze....that idiot stupid, mild smile still plastered on the ill man's face... ::I'm gonna die.:: shivered Stoker. Mike blinked a couple of times, drawing in a ragged breath, trying to talk. Then the gun was gone, concealed once more drunkenly under a neatly belted blanket fold. The Asian youth actually yawned and folded two hands beneath his head. Mike found his mouth had become icy and dry and he still couldn't speak at all when Johnny and the attendants returned to his side to start wheeling away their patient. ::Do something!:: Mike's mind raged, but he felt utterly helpless. There were still dozens of people in the area in close range of the gurney. ::But what?! :: another part of himself demanded. ::Somebody's gonna get shot if we try to restrain him. He might go superhuman on us if it's PCP he's on.:: His legs locked, Mike could only watch as the man was casually loaded up into the Mayfair ambulance by his coworkers. Then he had it. A way out of everything. Stoker felt the snick of the stretcher wheels clicking inside as they mated into the floor locks through the skin of the ambulance under one of his sweaty hands. Then Mike took two steps to the rig's front bumper until he was sure that the driver could see him clearly, and then he collapsed to the ground onto his side, faced away from the truck, not moving. His helmet clattered away from him with a satisfying clunk and skid across the hot asphalt. The driver startled, turning to the back. "Hey! Paramedic! Fireman down!" "What?" came Johnny's voice in the back. "I'll be right out!" Mike heard the driver get out of the ambulance and felt him crouch down quickly near his head to roll him over for a listening check at his nose and mouth. Stoker reached up fast and grabbed him by the shoulders, making him cry out. He muffled the man's face with his arm. "I'm ok. This was a ruse to get you out of the cab. Mac, get your partner to come out with Johnny! That man has a gun!" Then he laid down once more on the pavement, as limp as he could get himself, around his frantic state. Mac lifted only one horrified glance back at the Mayfair as he started shouting. "Get over here, the both of ya! He's quit breathing on me!" yelled the burly attendant, playing along desperately. He set a pair of shaking hands on Mike's face, tilted it up, and pretended to begin a ventilation by bending over. The shout and pose worked. Stan and Gage flew out of the rig with the defibrillator and a demand valve resuscitator, along with the biophone. "Mike?" Johnny startled when he saw who was on the ground. Even as Stan and the paramedic got onto their knees over Stoker, Mac fled instantly for the back of the Mayfair. Seconds later, the older attendant quietly shut both of its rear doors with a reaching arm without raising his head to any window's level, locking them firmly closed. Then Mac crouch-ran in a zig zagging dodge for 51's moving fire engine, just pulling away from them in a maneuver meant to reopen traffic into the supermarket. He leaped onto the side runner board to try and flag her oblivious crew down. But the gang didn't hear him at all as the Ward started a lazy repositioning circle towards the far end of the parking lot. Mac was carried unknowingly away, unable to tell the firemen what was happening just behind them. Helplessly, he watched also, as Roy DeSoto turn the squad onto the boulevard, on the start of his way to Rampart. Stoker shot up off the ground when he finally felt two new pairs of hands on him. His paralysis was gone, now fueled by fear for his companions. "The junkie's got a loaded gun in his pocket! Get into cover..now!" he told them and he instantly flipped over and started crawling on his hands and knees, making a hasty beeline for the closest row of parked cars in the lot surrounding them. Gage and Stan hesitated for only a few seconds. "What the h--?!" Johnny blurted throwing himself down onto his stomach to follow after Stoker. "Stan, grab the biophone with ya. I left my g*dd*mned HT in the ambulance.." Soon, all three of them were under a tiny yellow Volkswagon bug, keeping in line of sight of the silent and shut Mayfair and all the medical gear lying open and abandoned near it. Already, another curious spectator crowd began to build. "No..no..no.. Why don't they just go away?" Mike hissed. Johnny was stunned, ignoring everybody but Stoker. "Mike, are you sure? How did you find out that he had one?" Stoker let his head drop onto his forearms right where all of them lay on their stomachs and he started trembling. "He pulled it out on me and pointed the revolver right at my face, Johnny. I was n-nose to nose with it. I'm more than sure." Gage eyed him without convincing comprehension. Mike lost his temper. "J*s*s Chr*st..Why don't you believe me? I was almost killed a minute ago!" Gage started cursing. "F*ck*ng baggy clothes. I never knew. You know we can't hands on survey a fully conscious patient..." Johnny spat, rapidly setting up the biophone. Then he got a good look at Stoker's complexion. "Mike, are you feeling ok?" "No.. I mean, yes." gasped Stoker. "Uh,...does wanting to throw up count?" "Just stay down if you wanna black out. Stan'll watch you." Gage told him. Then he started broadcasting. "Rampart, this is Squad 51! We've a Code Yellow. Repeat, Code Yellow. I need a relay to our fire department dispatcher in L.A. immediately! I've a 10-95. Repeat a 10-95 at our scene!" Quickly, a base station listening Dixie McCall soon made the needed connection about the same time a window pounding Mac got through to Cap Marco, and Chet in Ward's cab to tell them about the same situation. Rapidly, Marco pulled the engine back into a broadsided angle to give Gage, Stoker, and Stan, the attendant, a clear route to safety behind its solid, protecting bulk. Then the whole gang and both the Mayfair attendants hunkered down against the engine to await the police who soon arrived in three squad cars, ordered in on silent reds, a minute later. Mike closed his eyes firmly so he wouldn't see the outcome of any standoff as the cops closed in on the Mayfair with all their weapons bristling cautiously into the air. ::Vince. Watch yourself out there. Don't get yourself killed.:: he wished fervently. He never even felt Johnny slip gripping fingers around his wrist to monitor his post reaction. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A gun pointed right at you. Photo: A fireman down on the ground. Photo: Johnny crouched under cover in turnout. Photo: Engine 51, Squad 51 and cops from afar. Photo: Roy and Gage ducking by the squad with gear. Photo: Johnny and Vince approaching an open Mayfair. Photo: Stoker looking stunned in a close up. *************************************************** From: "Monster Moofie" and "Patti Keiper" Subject: End and Beginning, The Debriefing Date: Thu May 25, 2006 8:29 pm Roy had received the radio transmission about a weapon at the supermarket. He returned there and parked in a safe spot and fidgetted with worry while he awaited an outcome. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vince carefully opened the back of the Mayfair as he and another officer positioned themselves behind the doors. Peering around he saw the junkie flopped out, sleeping it off. A loud snore punctuated the silence. Vince carefully entered the ambulance and patted the blankets, locating the .38. Handing the gun off to the other officer, Vince pulled out his cuffs and quickly locked the man's wrist to the side of the gurney, repeating the steps with another pair of cuffs on the other side. He then called out, "John, Roy, all clear! He is cuffed and ready to go. Officer Jackson will ride in with you." Vince climbed out of the ambulance and was replaced by Jackson. Roy grabbed all the gear, climbed up in himself and checked the patient's vitals. He contacted Rampart, letting them know all was well and that they were on the way. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny still had his fingers wrapped around Mike's wrist, monitoring his pulse. As soon as Vince called out and exited the ambulance, Mike's pulse changed drastically, his face turning a sickly gray. Johnny felt him start to go and switched from gripping his wrist to placing his hands under his armpits, lowering him to the ground as he fell. "Something tells me you're not faking it this time." Johnny said to the fading engineer. Gage didn't find a pulse easily the second time, he found one only higher up in the crook of Mike's elbow. "Just relax. It's over. Everybody's safe now, thanks to you." Cap, Marco and Chet quickly surrounded them, demanding to know what in the world was happening. Recovering from shock, Captain Stanley quickly asked Johnny, "What gear do you need?" Cap looked down from the peek mirror he had cleverly angled towards the now un-beseiged ambulance. "How's Mike doing? The other guy's still quiet for now." Chet grabbed a blanket out of the squad, opening it quickly and offering it to Johnny. Stoker started shivering again as he tried to nod that he had heard them. Gage smiled as he opened Mike's collar where he lay on the ground. He studied the engineer while Stoker stared out at nothing in particular. "He's a little shocked, but ok, Cap." "H*ll, I would be to if I'd been in his shoes." Hank replied. "I was there once before, Cap. Remember Vince's concussion?" Gage asked. "How could I forget that? You almost got your head blown clean.." Hank broke off, very sensitive about Stoker's possible feelings right then. "Ah, well. Now's not exactly the nicest time to talk about that particular little adventure." Removing the blue uniform jacket he was wearing, Johnny placed it under Mike's head as he answered, "Let's get his feet elevated. It's just psychogenic shock. He had that gun in his face." Grabbing the blanket from Chet he covered Mike with it. Chet kneeled down by Mike facing Johnny while Cap and Marco squatted down one on each side. Only about thirty seconds had passed before Mike's eyes fluttered back open. He moaned. Then he rocketed up, turning away from Johnny. Vomiting, he spewed his recently ingested meal all over an unsuspecting Chet. Completely shocked, Chet could only sit and gape, mouth open. Recognizing that Mike was pulling out of it, Johnny lightly quipped, "Well, Mike, looks like to me you caught the Phantom sleeping." Turning serious again, he instructed, "Lie back down here while I check your vitals. I think you're fine but I know Dr. Brackett might want to see you." Now completely embarrassed, Mike began to protest, only to be silenced by a stern, "Mike!" from his Captain. Mike resumed his prone position and allowed Johnny to verify his recovering status. Chet, meanwhile, hadn't said a word. He had merely risen, removed his uniform's outer jacket and grabbed a rag to clean himself up, leaving Mike to wonder what the conniving Phantom would do when things calmed down. "Do you need another ambulance for him, Johnny?" Captain Stanley asked. In spite of his paramedic's assurances, he was still extremely worried about his engineer. "No, Cap. He can ride in with you. His system just had a small shock. I'm not worried now." Giving Mike a hand up, he stepped back and allowed Cap and Marco to steer the embarrassed engineer to one of the passenger seats in the engine. "Mike, We'll check you out a little better once we all get back to the station. Let me know when that nausea starts to go away, ok?" Cap was finally convinced. "Get Stoker into the engine as soon as the cops have all of the information they need from us and cover him up with our turnouts if you have to, to counteract his chilling symptoms. Johnny, I promise I'll get Chet to make him start talking about it on the way back to quarters. And I can put in a call for a CISM counselor to help him out if he still feels like it, once we get back there." "Sounds like a plan." sighed Gage unhappily. He turned back to Mike and kept his hands on his shoulders just to let him know that he was still there and that he was absolutely safe in his arms. "Easy, Stoker. We're all right here with ya." Then Johnny picked up the HT and jumped in the squad where Roy used to be and drove off to Rampart after Roy's departing ambulance. --------------------------------------------------------- Detective Lt. Ron Crockett waited patiently for Gage and DeSoto to finish a routine vital signs check on their station's engineer. Finally, he couldn't hold his questions in any longer. "Now, let me get this straight. None of you had a clue about this character having a weapon on him, at all?" Johnny got angry on Mike's behalf. "No, detective. We didn't have a clue. I'm telling you, this guy was totally happy we were there to help him out of his crazy predicament. Isn't that right, Mike?" he asked, pulling the blood pressure cuff off of Stoker's arm. "Roy, he's finally back to normal. 132/98." "Same here. Pulse's 56." said Roy, then he spoke again. "Go eat something once we're done here, ok?" he told Mike no nonsense. "I'm sure Marco'll be pleased as punch if you stuff yourself to the gills on his mother's cooking. He's been wanting to do that to you ever since we got back here." "I will." grinned Stoker shyly. "But I'm still mad at myself for not seeing the gun on that guy. I was right next to him." Cap and the gang spoke up protectively in a rush once more about how they all had been duped when Vince Howard, the policeman, spoke loudly over them from where he was butt perched on Cap's office desk. "Now, boys. Don't go blaming yourselves in the slightest for that kind of oversight. Police officers miss weapons that are located in a suspect's front pants pockets all the time. And sometimes, even after very thorough body searches have already been conducted. It didn't help that this junkie was looking like Fat Albert in clothes sizes five times too big for his body frame." said the easy going police officer. Detective Crockett rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "What I'd like to know is why the paramedics didn't do a head to toe exam on the man once he was placed on the gurney." he wondered to Vince. Cap sighed and leaned back in his chair. "We don't have the authority to do that typically, lieutenant. Not when someone's completely conscious and talking to us without signs of obvious injury..." Roy spoke up. "We both agree with our captain there." DeSoto said quickly, letting Crockett know about his and Johnny's viewpoint. "A routine medical call usually doesn't need us to go into that kind of detail since the patient can usually tell us what's going on verbally." "And even if that kind of exam's needed, we still have to ask permission to do so every step of the way, like,..' Do you want some oxygen? Can I take your blood pressure?'" explained Johnny. Police Detective Ron Crockett wasn't content. "You mean you fellas decided on your own not to wait for the police for backup even though this guy was clearly altered mentally?" asked Detective Crockett sharply. "That was stupid. Doesn't your fire department policies state that at any time a patient displays incompetent faculties, a police officer should be on the scene to oversee things to assure safety measures are being taken in case the patient needs to be physically restrained?" All the firemen in the fire station office shifted uncomfortably and then they got angry. Fast. They all started talking at once. "Now wait just a gosh darned minute here!.." said Gage. "That would mean we'd have to call the cops for even the simplest fainting case." "That's a little uncalled for.." said Roy. "Most of our patients are always half out. And those are just the non-trauma related ones." Chet bristled. "We saved ourselves this morning just fine." "Cap, did I do something wrong?" asked Stoker. "No way in h*ll, Mike. You did everything absolutely by the book. If the fault's anyone's, all of us are guilty for missing the danger. Including the witnesses who called us out to help him in the first place." Hank growled. Vince held up appeasing hands in defense of himself and his stern faced African American supervisor. "Boys, boys. We're not playing the bad guys with this little meeting here all right? That was never our intent. We're just trying to get a clearer understanding about what happened today so that maybe,.. just maybe, all of us can keep this from ever happening again." Silence reigned in the office, except for Boot's anxious whining. Mike Stoker picked him up and began petting him to quiet both his stress reactions and the dog's. "Shhh, easy boy. We're just talking. I think.." he glared at the detective. Crockett threw up his hands in exasperation with a huge frustrated sigh and placed both hands on his hips firmly. "Ok,..looks like we're gonna get nowhere with this informal inquiry. Howard, we're not helping here. Let's go hit the streets after filing their report and do something that'll make a real difference to someone else, huh?" he said sarcastically. Then Ron left the office in a huff, his brusk manner very apparent. Vince Howard rubbed his hands together. "Sorry for that. We both spent a real unpleasant last couple of hours on this case. It doesn't make it any easier on any of us that my police coworker had to handcuff your patient's legs, too, after he woke up and freaked out for seeing us standing over him. His attending doctor just about chewed us up and spit us out for doing it." Stoker looked away, putting a hand to his mouth, stifling powerful emotions. "He became dangerous?" "Yeah. And it didn't take much to provoke him." replied Howard. Cap set a gentle hand on Mike's arm in support. "Are we done? All my men and I want to do is forget this whole incident for a while so we can get on with the rest of our workshift and start to begin to feel better about this whole horrid mess just as soon as we possibly can." Vince rose. "You're absolutely right. Nothing else can be done here today. Any protocol changes in your department and mine regarding this kind of rescue call gone bad will have to be hashed out by higher paid administrators and other bureaucrats. I'm sorry I let Detective Crockett inflict himself on you the way he did. I had no choice in the matter. See you fellas, later." he said moving to the door. Then he turned back. "Mr. Stoker, if I can show you a few moves on how to disarm someone with a gun for later, give me a call." he said, handing Mike Stoker an L.A.P.D. business card. "It seems that requests for that kind of training's reaching me more and more from all you paramedics and firemen lately. It kinda makes me mad that no one ever asks me to do this until something really bad happens first." "I'll definitely look you up for that lesson after we're back from our vacation." replied Mike with sincerity. Vince actually smiled, as glad to change the subject as the fire gang was. "Oh? Where are you fellas off to?" "Santa Catalina.. We're all leaving Saturday for ten days camping and doing the usual touristy things people from the mainland normally do out there." chuckled Cap. "Well, hug a Beechey's ground squirrel for me when you see one. They're real friendly on the island." waved Vince. "I had two of them who liked getting into my backpack all the time looking for food when I was on a hiking trip three years ago." "I promise you we'll watch out for them." said Chet, waving back. "No one's gonna steal a meal from me and get away with it." "No, you'll only wear one on occasion." quipped Gage, sotto voce. No one heard him at all then, and he smiled at his own humor. Vince nodded, putting on his helmet and left the station. Hank looked up when the side doorbell rang. "That'll be Gloria Schaefer from Headquarters, the CISM. Kelly, would you go let her in? We've all got lots to get out and talk with her about, isn't that right, Mike?" Stoker sighed. "Let's get this thing over with." he said, rising. He had never been a fan of crisis debriefings. It meant admitting weaknesses. ::And no firefighter will ever show weakness to anyone. Not if he can help it.:: thought the engineer. Gage and Roy patted him on the back in encouragement as they all left for the coffee pot in the kitchen and the formal introductions soon to come between them and the crisis counselor. --------------------------------------------------------- A few days later found the `A' shift finally on Catalina Island. "I can't believe the time flew so fast!" Marco remarked. "I really thought we were never going to get here!" Several of the men laughed and nodded their agreement. Roy spoke up, "It was really getting tough around the station. I guess we just really needed a break from it all." Johnny backed out of the tent he had just finished setting up and chimed in, "I'm sure glad we're here but I'm even happier the hang gliders worked out. I'm really looking forward to learning how to soar through the sky." The Phantom had remained quiet until this point, deep in plotting revenge on Mike. He couldn't resist taking a jab at his favorite pigeon and taunted, "You know,.. it's just as well we're all here, Johnny. With your luck we'll end up having to rescue you and take you to Rampart while we're supposed to be on vacation. Maybe with all of us, you'll manage to stay out of trouble." Johnny gave Chet a glare, then uncharacteristically dropped the subject, instead grabbing his canteen, camera and backpack. Inspecting his backpack to be sure he had snacks, first aid supplies and a spare pair of socks, "I'm going to head up the west trail. I want to get some pictures of the lake from the viewpoint." Whistling, he headed up the trail, Mike and Marco falling in behind him, leaving Chet open mouthed in shock. Captain Stanley looked at the departing trio then he turned to Chet and said with a saucy grin, "Well, Chester B, you've been put in your place! You're going to have to..." --------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Cap with helmeted gang in a group. Photo: Gage in turnout by the squad crouching. Photo: Detective Crockett side view. Photo:Johnny takes Stoker's BP. Photo: Cap talking intently in his office. Photo: Officer Vince Howard in a closeup. No helmet. Photo: Gang in a meeting. Photo: Roy hugging Boot. ************************************************** From : Roxy Dee Sent : Friday, May 26, 2006 2:50 PM Subject : Catalina Charms~~ "...bite the bullet this trip and content yourself with being just Plain Jane for while. They're onto ya." Hank winked. Chet froze, where he was fussing with assembling his orange and white hang glider. "Oh, so you think that, huh.." he murmured blandly. "Well let me share something with ya, Cap. There isn't a prankster born who can outfox me for long. Yes, Stoker christening my turnout jacket got past my guard and defenses. That was only because his illness was real, Cap. A touch of the truth always catches people by surprise and yes, I fell for it. It wasn't like I hadn't been warned ahead of time that he was going to sick up real soon. Stoker was cement slurry gray, sweaty, and to go along with those, were full blown shivers. It was my own fault that I chose to ignore those obvious nausea signs in favor of emotionally worrying about a pal of mine instead." he shrugged mildly. Hank's mouth fell wide open. "Kelly, do my ears deceive me? Are you admitting to having made an actual mistake? G*d, I wish the others were here to witness this." he crowed delightfully. "I'm here.." said Roy, poking his head out of Johnny's tent. "And I heard every word he just said. Booga booga." he said monotone, splaying lame spooky fingers at Chet in mock jest. "Oh, Roy. You don't count. You never gossip about someone's failings. You're too d*mned honest for your own good." Chet told him. "Ixnay on the wearsay ordsway." DeSoto hissed through his teeth, pointing at a mound pressing against the rainfly of his tent as a flaxen haired head emerged into the daylight. "I heard that.." said Chris DeSoto, his voice newly deepened into a light baritone with growing puberty. "Yeah, Chet, nix the swear words. I still don't like em, even though my ears aren't nearly so young any more these days." he said, crawling out of his father and Johnny's four man tent. Chet scoffed, mouthing an apology to Roy silently before saying his next retort. "Ah, from the mouth of babes. Er, excuse me, let me formulate a correction here.. At least from one with some very first time sprouting peach fuzz.." Kelly said affectionately, rubbing a few fingers under Chris's barely hair bristling chin. "Aw, Chet. Cut that out. I'm thirteen. Dad says I'm finally a teenybopper. And that's somewhere where I'm not a child anymore but not quite an adult." said the blond haired Chris DeSoto. "Then what are you...?" asked Chet in a spooky voice. "Hungry. Who got the short end of the toothpick this morning and earned first cooking of the chow? I'm still growing like a weed here,.." Christ said, dragging out a first aid pack to inventory its contents carefully. "And I'm feeling every growling roll of my poor bile and acid filling stomach." "Eeooow.." teased Chet, curling up into a look of disgust. "Do sons of paramedics always become so gifted with the more medically graphic turns of phrase. Yuck. You're spoiling my appetite." "Oh, so I guess that means you're 'Cook' today, eh, Mr. Stanley?" smiled the teenager, correctly guessing the one so stuck. "Please, Chris. Call me Hank or Cap. Everybody else does." said Stanley. "All right. Guess I'm just used to being polite all the time. Especially out in public." replied the junior DeSoto. "I can fix that trait in a jiffy. Just start hanging out with me, kid." said Chet. Roy smacked Kelly's arm meaningfully. "Not in a million years. He's going flying with his grandfather this morning, right after stuffing some food into that fuzz growing face of his." "Dad...." Chris frowned with a blush. "I did try to shave it all off like you showed me." "You're doing better. I'm not seeing any nicks I gotta treat on you this time." Roy teased. "Grandpa let me use his straight razor. It works a lot better than those cheap plastic Schick things you like to use.." said Chris. Roy cleared his throat self consciously, "Yeah, well, I'm not a fan of antiques like your grandfather is, son. I happen to like a lot of speed and convenience for my dollar." "Grandpa Ian says 'Waste not, want not.' " chimed the half teen, crossing his eyes at DeSoto. Roy made a face right back at his first born. "My way doesn't need a whetting strip of cloth..." "Yeah?" answered the teen in challenge. "Well, your way needs a sink. Mine doesn't. A straight razor's perfect for camping." "You got a point there. Guess I lose." sighed Roy. Stanley choked down a snort of laughter. "Ian DeSoto? Where's he off to? I didn't see him at all this morning after I got up." "Oh, my dad? He usually gets up before the sun to putz with his airplane. I think he took a shuttle to the landing strip at first light." replied Roy with a shrug. "Oh, then I'm late!" startled Chris, shooting to his sandled feet. Roy grabbed his son by the arm. "Not so fast.. Is everything accounted for in the emergency jump bag?" Chris was quick with his reply. "Everything but the oxygen key. I think Uncle Johnny left that clipped on his backpack by mistake. I saw it hanging off a zipper tab last night." "I'll get out a spare." planned Roy. He let go of Chris's soccer shirt sleeve. "Ok, you can go. Mind your grandpa." "Yes, dad." Chris snatched up his handheld radio from the picnic table along with a canteen and rain gear and started up the long dirt rutted trail leading up to the Airport in the Sky five miles up the mountainside. Cap called out after him. "Hey, what about breakfast time?" The freckled boy who looked a lot like his firefighting father, grinned. "Flying is flavoring, Mr. Stan-- uh, Captain. How can you feel hungry looking at such a stunning sunrise as that, sir?" he asked, pointing at the brilliant dawn spreading out over the ocean waters stretching far below their pinetree strewn ranchland campsite. "There's not a single solitary speck of smog in the air. And I wanna absorb every second of it from deep inside a Cessna's cockpit at a thousand feet. Gotta go!" and with that, Chris was gone in a stirred up cloud of dust left behind by his running feet. Cap chuckled at the same time as a coffee sipping Roy who tended the black and white flecked western enamelized tin pot still simmering on the fire grill. "Now where is that crazy partner of yours dragging Lopez and Stoker off to?" asked Cap. "Off to the 'lake.' Well, actually, it's more like a desert rock rain collection pool in a cave system just over the hill. It's deep enough for swimming,.. And at the top of the gorge along the flat sand dunes--" Roy broke off as Stanley got the picture and the idea. "...it's great for learning how to hang glide using the land/sea breezes sloping down to the beach. Outta sight." Hank said contently. "Say, can you pour me a cup of that Folder's? Smells good." Kelly looked up from a finally completed glider assembly. "Let them swim first. I don't care. My butt's gonna be the first one in the air.. Last one to the cliff tops is a rotten fireboot!" he shouted, hefting up his finished hang glider in a triumphant display. He hooted all the way up Johnny's trail catching up to the others who were heading for the slit in the cliffside whichlead to the swimming hole. "Bring your radio.." Hank Stanley shouted, throwing a bit of captain's gruff which turned his reminder into a sharp edged order. "It's in my windbreaker, Cap. I'm not that dumb.." Chet shouted back. "See ya on the next airport shuttle back up here. My landing strip's that beach you're gaping at, directly below us. My guide promises I'll make it easily." "Let's hope so." Hank countered. "I KNOW so.." Kelly shot right back. "See ya.." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Catalina airport cliff view. Photo: Catalina avalon airport. Photo: Catalina airport building. Photo: Chris DeSoto, a teenaged blonde boy, close. Photo: Catalina open airplane. Photo: Catalina sand sunrise. Photo: Catalina tentgrounds. Photo: Chet hang gliding dunes. Photo: Catalina pool gorge. Photo: Cap and Chet in helmets by sunny cliffhouses. ************************************************** From: "Cory Anda" Date: Mon May 29, 2006 6:37pm Subject: Payback's a b*t*h "Ah, this is the life, fresh air, pine cones.. It's gonna be great." sighed Lopez at the edge of the swimming hole. Gage grinned, chewing on a blade of grass taken from a niche in the rock..." What is it? It's a.. It's a...." Stoker piped up, sleepily from where he napped in the sun. "It's a thing of beauty." "A thing of beauty?" grunted Chet as he made a sudden appearance from the crack hole in the rock which served as the tourist's entry into the semi-secret red stone grotto framed around the deep green rain and spring fed pool. "Yeah, a thing of beauty.." insisted Marco in a glare, part reminder for Chet to stop the scuffling noise he was making. He eyed the harness around Chet's torso. "So,.. you're going to go do it after all." "And why not?" Kelly straightened up selfconsciously on the shelf he had deposited his trail sweaty rear on. "Johnny's hang gliding idea was the best one he's ever come up for a vacation plan since Santa Rosa County.." he beamed happily, rubbing some island dust off of his nose. "That is,..if I ever get to cool off first. I didn't know June out here gets so darned hot. And windy. I had to leave my glider tied to a tree to keep it from blowing out to sea on me." "It is a desert climate, Chet. Don't you know your California island meteorology?" Lopez retorted. "Enough to know that today's a good day for flying." Kelly said. "Oh?" Gage sniggered. "Who else bought your fly like an Catalina osprey invitation besides yourself?" "Chris and Ian DeSoto. Only they're doing it by cessna." he said. "Both should be at the airport right about now, making preparations for takeoff." "Yeah, well, I'm doing another kind of takeoff." said Marco, peeling out of his Los Angeles Raiders jersey and jeans shorts down to his swim trunks. "Who's up for some good wholesome cliff jumping? The water's deep enough. You can see all the way down to the bottom.." Stoker, Gage, Lopez and Kelly curled their toes on the rockleadge they perched upon, peering down distastefully. "You first.." said Gage. "That way, if you ** don't make it, the rest of us can climb down and rescue you long before you start drowning." "Ok." said Marco in challenge. "This spot's not so high. What?.. It's about eighteen feet up?" "More like twenty.." grinned Stoker in a gray tank top and navy baseball cap, plying his hose distance measuring skills easily. "You can't leap off from way up here.." said Chet, growing disconcerted. "This cliff's not a nice safe diving board. You'll shred all the skin off your legs and bare feet for sure." "Watch me.." Lopez shot at him. "Oh, believe me, I will.." Kelly fired back. "And I'll be anticipating just how long Cap'll shred you verbally too, if you go and hurt yourself for doing such a crazy stunt." "Marco's all right, Chet. The water depth's just fine.There aren't any rocks jutting up from the bottom." Mike offered. Kelly fell silent, casting a still half worried look down at the sun glistening pool below them. Then Mike inserted a jokester's expert priming with one stylishly cool phrase. "Pollo Pequeno.." said Stoker smoothly. "Bet you can't do the same dive.." he dangled. His words hung in the moist steamy air and echoed off the rocks. Gage began to chuckle. That did it. Chet's mouth set in a firm line. "Ok, Stoker. You're on. Ready to rumble? Let's do this then.." and he mock spit into his hand pointedly, "..mano a mano. Marco, you be our height tester, but don't jump off. Just let us know where the safe places are so we can complete this little contest without killing ourselves horribly in the process or getting unfairly reassured by having someone else jump down before us." "You're on.." Marco crowed with excitement. "Stoker versus Kelly. On the high dive.. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Say you two dive up to.... " he cast his gaze around the red sun glowing grotto.."that little gnarled bush up there as the top most challenge. Ready? Line up your toes on the mark, boys." he said, scuffing a sneaker in the sand on theleadge hanging over the water. "May the best man...win.." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stoker neatly swan dived from the second to the last shoe Marco had perched on a fold in the ribboned cliff face. His body sliced into the water like a knife and hardly made any splash on the way in. The gang leaned over semi fearfully from the newest height to make sure he surfaced once more. Mike's head broke the surface. "Ok, Chet.. Your turn. Are ya gonna do the ninety foot leap off or not? I'm tired of waiting for ya." Kelly licked dry lips from where his lily white toes gripped the narrow ledge he was leaning for dear life on. Stoker taunted in good humor once again. "Are ya gonna let me pull one over on ya once again like that day I stared down a gun? I'm still laughing about that, Chet. No longer blushing.." he said, squirting mirthful water out of his mouth playfully as he treaded water. "I'll do it. I'll do it. " said Chet. "Just to shut your yap. Don't rush me!" he shouted punily down from his great height. The rest of the gang began to catcall and jeer with the rest of the tourists in the grotto who were watching with shivering can't-watch captivation. Gage shouted up one more time. "I can always swim out there and catch ya!" he gestured at Chet. "I'm not a cheater..." sputtered Kelly from up where he was. Marco and Gage looked like ants to him from his perspective. "All right, I'm going. If only to shut you up once and for all.." Then he lost his balance before he could leap away from the ragged rock face as his foot slipped. Johnny shouted. "Look out, Chet! Turn yourself! Turn yourself.. you're in the wrong position to hit the wat---!" SPLASH !!!! !!!! Kelly went, landing fully on his stomach, his legs and arms splayed stiffly. Then his head and body disappeared beneath the alkaline surface and his leap's violent ripples started to die away. "Oooo.." Lopez grimaced, grabbing his own midsection in empathetic sympathy. "What a belly flop..." he groaned. "Stoker, do you see him?" Johnny shouted down. "Is he ok after that one? It's been taking longer and longer for you guys to swim back up to the top." Mike circled in a three sixty right where he stationed in the pool, eyeing for movement from below. "Still seeing a bubble column. I think so." Seconds dragged out into a full minute. The gang became increasingly anxious until finally, even Mike began shouting. "Chet? Where are you?!" Johnny and Marco both leaped into the water after Mike to begin a search. Thirty horrifying seconds went by while all of them started to hyperventilate for frantic search dives. Then... a curly mop broke the surface. "...OwwWWWww. That one smarted like h*ll!" Gage frontstroked over to Chet quickly and took him by the shoulders and gripped an arm across his chest in a hold. "Chet, are you ok?! You scared the sh*t out of us. Mike's still down there diving after ya.." "I'm fine." Kelly said drolly with a shrug. "Whatever gave you the idea that I wasn't?" "Your delay underwater.." said Marco. "Geesh, guys. What do you think I was? Born yesterday? My sister and I used to intentionally belly flop when we were kids to see how much water we could displace out of the swimming pool. We used to laugh at the lifeguards while they yelled at us for doing such a dangerous stunt. I know how to fall that way without ripping my guts open.." "Well, he doesn't know that.." Johnny gasped, letting go of Kelly, pointing down to Stoker's bottom sweeping underwater form. "Perfect.. Guys, I'm gonna hide. Keep on pretending to look. Let's scare him real good. Remember, I got some payback time coming for him puking on me last week." Gage broke into a grin. "Guess that's true. Ok.. go back down there. Pop up again after a longish minute or so. He should be good and riled up by then enough to satisfy honor." "Cool beans.. If Mike doesn't laugh after this, then I know he's still messed up from that gun call. It'll be our daily psych check on him. Thanks, guys, in advance." And with that, Chet took a huge breath of air and returned to the depths beneath theleadge to wait it out. When the joke was sprung in the end, Johnny and Marco both sighed in relief when the shy trademark smile spread over Stoker's face when he realized that he'd been had most thoroughly. "You got me, Chet. Ha HA!" he said, shaking water out of his eyes while catching his breath back. He let the others haul him out of the water to recover. "Man, guess we're even now on the joking oneupmanship. I didn't know you had it in you.." he crowed. "I never thought you'd pull your revenge out on me while we were still on vacation.." "Yeah, well live and learn.." Kelly said, holding out a hand of apology for scaring him. Stoker took it warmly while he shivered in the beach towel Marco piled on top of his head. "You know what this means though." "No, what?" said Kelly. "It means I get to pull another joke on you now, too, during vacation. Watch your back, then, Chet. Because I just might be right behind you when you least expect it." The smile wiped clean off of Chet's face. ----------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Chet sitting by a desert rain pool. Photo: Cliff divers diving. Photo: Chet doing a belly flop. Photo: Chet holding up a peace pipe in a joke. ****************************************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Fri Jun 2, 2006 4:15 pm Subject: Here's To Chips and Wings.. "Aw, don't take it so hard, Chet." said Marco, patting the curly haired fireman on the back. "It's not like it's the end of the world, you know." "No, but it's the end of me being able to completely relax myself. I won't be able to let my guard down for even a second now." sighed Chet, staring at Mike Stoker's sunburned back as the engineer dried himself off with a beach towel. "Poor baby. Here, have a coke." said Johnny. "The sugar in it'll calm your nerves down." Gage nudged an icy glass bottle against Kelly's shoulder in emphasis. Kelly jumped at the bone aching chill branding his reddened skin and he snatched the bottle out of Johnny's hands in irritation. "So who won? Me or him?" Chet grumped. Lopez shared with eagerness. "It was a draw. You both leaped off at the ninety foot mark." Chet wilted in fatigue, letting water droplets drip down off his hair and onto the cold stone beneath him. "Aw, man.... really? I put everything I had into beating his smug little a---" "Now, none of that. Why don't you go warm yourself in the sun at the top? It'll loosen you up a tad. I'll walk up your lunch as soon as Mike and I get it ready. And I promise I won't let him get any opportunity to lace it with jalapenos from Marco's provisions pack." Johnny suggested. "Thanks, I'm counting on you, Gage. Don't mess up here or I promise you, you'll never hear the end of it." Chet warned quietly as he painfully buckled his sandals and put on a hawaiian shirt. "Geesh, what a grump.." Johnny frowned as he and Lopez watched Kelly stiffly make his way up the narrow path leading out of the swimming grotto. Then Johnny started laughing. "Maybe I should slip some aspirin into his potato salad for all those sore muscles of his." he chuckled to the other two. Mike piped up as he pulled a T-shirt on over his goose pimpling skin. "Let him suffer until sundown. Then tend to him. He scared the sh*t out of me by staying underwater like that for so long." "All right. Makes sense to me. He's only gonna get even MORE sore after getting in that hang gliding session today." Johnny nodded. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chet Kelly was almost dozing. Almost... One eye was sealed shut and the other was scanning the pure blue skies morphing clouds overhead. He could hear Sonoran bumblebees and smell California lilacs in full bloom on the breeze. The spicy scents of toyon and oak intoxicated him where he snugged face down on a hot boulder to ease his still smarting stomach. He knew that he'd have one h*ll of a bruise there by nightfall. He lazily surveyed the canyon and near distant Mount Orizaba, until his hand brushed something coarse and very sun warmed by his feet. He picked it up and studied it. ::I wonder what this rock is? Lava? It's so light...:: A scuffling on the trail behind him made Chet scramble to his feet and get under a mesquite bush. He held his new found soft rock cocked in ambush while he waited for Mike Stoker to appear.... A firm, strong nose on his shoulder made him fly forward in complete surprise and Kelly fell onto his back, facing the sun. 'Snort!' huffed a truly massive animal. Kelly scattered like a crab away from the shaggy beast, still hefting his tan rock pathetically until his head impacted against a leather boot. Chet looked up, rubbing his scalp with a free hand. It was Johnny. And he began to laugh. "What's the matter, Chet? Haven't you ever seen a buffalo face to face before?" Chet shot to his feet. "That's a... a... buffalo? H-Here? But ..but ..but, this is an island, Gage. Who'd ever release and leave those monsters to fend for themselves way out here?" "The Conservancy, Chet. Catalina's eighty eight percent wildlife land now. Don't worry. I don't think he's gonna charge. He's not jaw chomping nearly enough." reassured Johnny, who seemed expert on that kind of thing. To Chet, Johnny seemed even more Native American right then to him than he'd ever had before in recent recollection. ::Maybe him being near that buffalo, wearing those chaps, helps with the effect.:: Kelly guessed. Johnny thought Chet was still petrified with fear so he pointed to the ground. "Didn't you see all of their footprints around here? This is perfect bison country." Kelly didn't answer him. He still stood frozen, eye to eye with the mildly curious, cud chewing bovine standing only thirty feet away from the two firemen. It was well concealed by natural camouflage in the heavy mesquite scrub. "Nice, big cow.." Chet soothed the placid bison nervously. 'Snort!' it answered, sending up a cloud of desert dust from its coat. "Easy boy.. I'm not gonna--" Kelly started to say. Gage interrupted him. Johnny looked down and eyed up Chet's geological curiosity, noticing it for the first time. He gripped Kelly's wrist and turned it over, studying Chet's odd rock with a growing amusement. "Hmmmm. I didn't know you liked to collect buffalo chips to go along with your western era barbed wire collection, Chet. This one's still fresh." Chet gagged with a cry and dropped the crusty lump instantly. He groaned in disgust while he immediately began wiping both of his hands off onto his equally dusty shorts. Johnny smiled even bigger when Kelly went running back to the swimming grotto to wash the dried buffalo dung off his palms. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chris DeSoto was as excited as he could be. He had found Ian DeSoto just in the nick of time. His grandfather had completed his walk about his airplane, paid the tie-down and landing fees, and now he was on the radio with the local coastal air control tower situated in Long Beach. "Unicom tower, this is Alpha Tango Charlie 11795, requesting clearance for take-off on runway 22 with two souls on board." said Ian with a wink at Chris, belted in the front passenger seat. ##You are clear for take-off, ATC11795. Note your MSL approach is North 33 by 24.30 and West 118 by 24.95. Altimeter ground level is 2602 feet. Nearest traffic is 7 nautical miles due SSE at 1120 feet. Current weather shows a building but weak low pressure 40 miles west into your direction. Wind is 20 knots WSW.## "Confirmed, Unicom. My transponder is actuated. Thanks for the update." Chris smiled in wonder as the older man put on his helmet after hanging up the radio receiver mic. "What was that all about? That sounded like LAX. It's seems so remote here on the mountaintop, grandpa. I didn't know anybody was even watching us." Ian laughed out loud. "We're still too close into the coastline to not be worried about the other ten thousand and six airplanes zooming through the skies over our heads." he explained. "You're forgetting that all the airliners loop out over the ocean on takeoff from Los Angeles. And that puts a plane into a trajectory that clips Catalina Island's local airspace once every minute and a half." "Really? Where?" said Chris, pressing his nose against the windshield of his side of the little white cessna in a careful search. "Right there..." said Ian, pointing down towards the ocean. Chris's mouth flopped open when he saw a red tailed Northwest plane angling out over the sea in a turning arch to gain altitude away from the unseen skyscrapers of Long Beach, L.A. and Torrance. "They're below us?" "Yep. The approach end of Catalina's runway 22 begins at the edge of a 1500' cliff. This gives the airport some characteristics similar to landing on an aircraft carrier that is 1,602' in the air." said Mr. DeSoto. "Wow. Needle in a haystack! What else is weird about this airport?" asked Roy's oldest. "Well," said Ian, taking his aircraft into a taxi mode ahead of the other tourist planes, idling with spinning props for their turn to use the runway. "This runway's first 2000 feet slopes up and the remainder of it is level. Pilots can't see aircraft on opposite ends of the runway due to its gradient. There've been plenty of accidents on this course. On landing, that strange upslope creates the illusion of being higher than you really are, tricking inexperienced pilots into flying its approach too low. They then encounter the steep dropoff at the end of the runway which always creates significant downdrafts and turbulence, often exceeding some of the smaller aircrafts' ability to climb." "Isn't that dangerous?" frowned Chris, adjusting the radio mic over his mouth around his bulky blue helmet. "Nah. Unschooled pilots are never allowed to fly to Catalina, Chris. That optical illusion's overcome by using the altimeter, and some focusing on only the first few hundred feet of the runway. And you can back yourself up using VASI during the approach. Most pilots only see half the runway when aligned with it in takeoff position, See us right now?" he asked, pointing out ahead of them. "Pilots on their first time here have induced a takeoff stall as they panicked by pulling up near the mid-point of runway, thinking it was the end." "Well that's dumb.." said Chris, turning his head. "What is?" asked Ian, keeping his eye on the jumbo jet's comtrail he could see climbing out over the ocean nearly at their same elevation. "There are no mid-field or distance remaining signs for the runway." said the teenager. "I know. This airport's private, Chris. Hard to raise funds for aircraft services, FBO, fuel, and maintenance if you don't have airfares. They've just the landing fees to rely on." said Ian. "A cute reminder of that is the fact that we find rocks fallen on the runway all the time. Makes me glad sometimes that they have their full stop landing ordinance absolution. Are you ready? Get set for a strong downdraft at the approach end of the runway. It's caused by the prevailing winds falling over that monster cliff out there that we can't see yet. Be prepared for a dive, Chris. Catalina's downdrafts are notorious. We might suffer a loss of altitude during our short final." "I'm set, grandpa. Let's fly.." smiled Chris. "I trust you." The small airplane soon launched herself into the great big blue sky surrounding them, heading out over the longest width of rugged, high peaked Catalina. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was about three hours before sundown. Kelly had convinced Marco to fly for the first time with his morning hang glider guide, Kip. "All right, I think that's it. I think we got everything.." said Chet, growing excited. Cap frowned as he eyed the row of cloth and aluminum framed gliders lined up on the highest dune of Ripper's Cove. "What's all this stuff? I thought we were just going camping.." Kelly looked at Marco. "Oh, you didn't tell him?" Marco said. "I thought you did." Hank narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Tell me what?" Chet fidgetted under his captain's withering look. "Well, we're going camping. But we also thought we'd do some hang gliding." he grinned warmly, adjusting a wire's tension on his glider. "Oh, you mean 'we' as in you and Lopez. Because I tried this craziness once and I'm not gonna go do it again." Hank said, looking uncomfortable. "Aww, don't be such a bab-- uh, stick in the mud." said Johnny to Stanley. "It's gotta be a lot of fun." "It's a great sport, it's a..." Kelly said, trailing off as struggled to think of an expression that covered what he was feeling about flying. "A thing of beauty.." piped up Gage as he saw others circling gracefully in the clouds above them over Avalon. "Wow.. just look at them!" "A thing of beauty, huh.." parroted Cap doubtfully, shaking his head in soft sarcasm. "You're gonna be thanking us come Monday." Chet reassured him. "Ah,..after a surprise like this, I doubt I'll be talking to either one of you guys." Stanley grumbled. "Don't worry. I thought ahead.." said Gage. "Just in case you change your mind, Cap, I brought you a glider." Cap laughed in his face. "John, there is no case, no possible scenario that will EVER... get me to jump off a cliff again without a rappelling rope. Honestly? I thought you guys would try to pull something like this. Come on, come on, let's go. Let's get back to the campsite and get Roy. I wanna grab another drumstick or two off the barbeque. I'm still hungry." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An hour later, Kelly strapped himself in with Johnny's help. "Cap, are you sure you won't change your mind?" Hank chuckled from his portable camper's chair. "I was about to ask you the same thing." Chet was eager to talk about how his morning flight lessons had gone. "Ah, there's nothing like the rush of leaping off that cliff, Cap. Get this for me, Johnny, will you?" he asked Gage, pointing to his radio helmet's strap. Hank was thoughtful. "Listen, uh.. If you guys really wanna die so bad, I got assigned a golf cart rental with no brakes." Kelly, Chet, Johnny and Roy laughed at the invitation. "Then don't drive it." DeSoto smirked. "Walking's good.." Hank nodded in instant agreement. Kelly wove his story about his lesson with the artistry only a new time hang glider could create, eyeing up Cap especially. Johnny merely listened in with fascinated horror. "You take off a cliff, drop for a couple of seconds, the wind takes hold.." Chet grinned. "It's a.. what is it?" he gestured gimme fingers at the eager listening Marco. "It's a thing of beauty.." said Kip, the hang glider guide strapping Marco into his harness attached to his own in a tandem knot. Hank was beginning to see the attraction. "A thing of beauty.." he mumbled finally in a quiet admiration. Chet picked up his solo glider's wings by the flight bar as Johnny stepped away. "Come on. Get out of the way, Gage." he shouted impatiently, grinning like a banshee. "Kip. Marco.. I'll see you up there!" he shouted, running for the dune's high edge. Soon, he was airborne. "Yeah.. wooo! " he said as he drifted away on an uprising thermal. "I'll catch up with you later!!" he shouted back down to the ground at Cap. Once Lopez got over his fright of being strapped like a mummy to something without an engine to keep it in the air, he actually found that he reveled in the silence of cloth winged flight. And then he stopped bubbling out nervous questions at Kip, tandem tied above him in the same glider. The two firemen had fun radioing to each other in the air and they challenged one another in trying to match a soaring osprey's rise inside a warm ocean thermal. They could see all of Santa Catalina spread out beneath them. Its crystal blue cove waters amazing visibility and the orange flecks of garibaldi mingled with the brown blades of giant kelp. Marco grinned. "Hey, Chet..." he said over the headset. "What, Marco? Can't you see I'm busy banking corkscrews?" shouted Chet excitedly from his own solo hang glider. Lopez smile right back as he looked at the crazy antics his coworker was swooping out just above him. "I haven't seen a car since we launched off the dunes at Two Harbors." "That's because they're aren't any. Well, not many, anyway. The locals and tourists mostly use golfcarts because it takes twelve years to get a permit to own and drive an automobile." shouted Kelly over the wind in his transmission. "Far out.." said Marco. "My kind of town. Just like the Prisoner series on TV. You are number 6.." he said in a mock english voice. Chet shouted gleefully, high on flying. "I am not a number," he crowed "I am a free man." Lopez was reflective in his helmet as Kip banked their hang glider in for a better view of the two small towns built on the island. "Yeah, up here, we both are. And doesn't Avalon look like the Village from that show?" "Yeah, spooky. I'm just glad we won't be finding Rover on the beach when we land anytime soon." "Chet? Kip wants to take me over the west end to see the Isthmus up close. Meet you back in this area in five?" asked Lopez through his helmet frequency. "Ok, in five and counting." said Chet, setting his watch. "I'll coast inside this thermal while I wait for the two of ya to show me the way home. I really wanna go higher than that osprey, man. It's become a matter of pride." "Good luck." said Kip from his own radio set. "Osprey won't tolerate anything over their heads. Makes them chatter something fierce. I've never been able to do it." "First time for everything..." said Chet, gaining altitude. "See you soon.." said Marco as he and Kip leaned onto their hang glider's guide bar and swept out of sight into the setting sun. Chet smiled when he realized that he finally had some real solitude to savor on his own. ::Ah, aloneness.:: "You got the right idea my fine feathered friend." he said to the osprey gliding around in the thermal above him. "I love it." Kelly stretched in his harness. "Cap, you don't know what you're missing by keeping those cold feet of yours. This is pure heaven on earth. Marco's learning that, too." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Hoofprints in clay. Photo: Johnny looking to the right, in the mountains. Photo: Buffalo on Catalina Island. Photo: Catalina airport's cliff view. Photo: Catalina's infamous runway 22. Photo: Runway 22's dangerous optical illusion. Photo: Cessna over Catalina aerial. Photo: Chet hang gliding. Photo: Crazy hang glider guide and tandem rider in a dive. Photo: A flying Catalina osprey. Photo: Number 6 from the TV series, The Prisoner, with Number 2. Photo: The "Village" from the series, The Prisoner. Photo: A beaten Number 6 on the beach with the Rover smothering ball. Photo: Cap and Chet smiling outside. ************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Sun Jun 4, 2006 6:13pm Subject: Moments of Gravity.. Lopez had just begun relaxing when it happened. A sharp upwelling gust jolted their wind sails, lurching both Kip and himself upwards in a nauseating violent jerk. Kip yelled. "Hang on. We've hit a dust devil! I'm trying to--" His words were ripped away as another slap of curling wind twisted around their glider unexpectedly. Lopez, ever the alert fireman, started talking immediately on his headset to the others at the campsite. "Hank, Roy! We've hit an off-thermal..." he grunted. Kip struggled to right the craft, falling into swoops and dives, trying to find his way out of the narrow monstrous downdraft. He didn't speak, so intent was his concentration. There was no reply from the others. Cap, Roy, Johnny and Stoker were too engrossed in eyeing up the sights on the beach below them with binoculars to even pay attention to Marco's frantic radio transmission echoing out of all the other upturned hang glider helmets parked on the picnic table on the other side of the camp fire. Kelly didn't hear him either, he was currently dipping into a low canyon in a bid to beat the osprey at his own game. Marco gasped, sharp grains of whirling sand getting into his eyes. "Guys! We're in trouble!" he screamed into the helmet radio's mic over the roar of the invisible whirlwind toying with them. Kip's chin hit him on the back, making him grunt in pain at another lurch. "Keep ... talking!" grunted the guide, forcing the flight bar up to try and gain more altitude. But the force of the mini tornado was too strong to resist. Marco gasped as the tips of tall pine trees hurdled up towards them. "Guys.. we're going down!! Guys, can you hear me?!" Lopez yelled. "Chet, eye our position! We're going d---" CRASH!!! A main beam of torrey pine cracked off the left wing of Kip and Marco's hang glider, sending them dropping dozens of feet towards the ground and into a thick stand of a small forest. Both men fell like rocks, helplessly tethered to the craft as it tumbled down and destroyed itself in violent snaps and shrieks of aluminum. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Marco opened his eyes at the soft tink of metal pipes banging into each other above him. He was still in his harness. But he was also hanging thirty feet above the ground from a treetop where the luckless glider had embedded itself. He gave a start when he twisted around in place to check on Kip. The guide was impaled fully on a branch through the chest next to him and his face was blue. He was very dead. "Madre Dios..." Lopez muttered, crossing himself. Closing his eyes, he inwardly assessed his status. ::No broken bones. Not bleeding from anywhere except my left cheek. At least that's something.:: he thought. Then he remembered his radio. Reaching painfully up, he groped until he found the mouth mic that had been bent and twisted upwards and tried to use it. "Chet? Do you read me? Chet?" But there was no power left in it. None at all from what he could see. Its speaker light was dark. ::D*mn it. This'll never work again.:: Marco thought when he found the back of the power unit thoroughly crushed. He shoved panic aside and worked to free himself from where he hung. Struggling, he undid his helmet strap to be able to breathe a little better. It slipped off his head and Marco watched with some horror as it took a fairly long time to thud to the ground after crashing through the tree boughs swaying underneath him. Then Lopez's unfamiliarity with the harness releases tying him to Kip's body proved his undoing. The main buckle opened suddenly and dropped him out of the tangled glider wreckage and into a sudden freefall. Marco yelled in startled surprise. His momentum was slowed only slightly by some thick pine branches as his body fell towards the ground. Pieces of his hang glider and some of its wingsail tumbled down with him, striking Lopez painfully on the head, arms and legs. Then he hit bottom, landing on his back in a thick bed of pine needles with his right leg folded awkwardly beneath him. The large bone below the knee instantly snapped like a twig. "AhhhHHH!" grimaced Marco and he folded up double over it and gripped the fresh, closed break with both of his hands in acute agony. He threw up immediately, losing his late lunch. Soon, he found he could breathe again as the wind that had gotten knocked out of him, returned. When the bout was over, he was left suffering retinal stars and gagging at his intense pain. Then some of Kip's blood began to drip on his face from far above and he fainted into oblivion. Ten minutes later, Marco was ready. He had bound his leg with aluminum struts and glider cloth in a tight splint and he had made himself a makeshift crutch using a piece of debris from one of his glider's overhead beams. "Ok..." he grunted, psyching up to try and stand. He knew he had to get to a trail or at least get out in the open so Chet would be able spot him or the crashed glider still hanging partially in the treetops. He eventually got onto his good foot and began the long way back to the duneside campsite that lay a few miles downhill from him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hank was beside himself. "Come on, Chet." he said into one of the helmet's microphones. Gage, Stoker and Roy were sitting next to him on top of the picnic table, also wearing glider gear so that they could hear the conversation. "He crashed didn't he?" ##No,.. no.. he's fine. He's just ah, ...he's just up to some kind of funny business.## sighed Chet from where he was in the air. "Then why aren't you laughing?" Cap growled. "And why can't we pick him up on his radio?" Chet got defensive. ##Because these radios have only got a range of ten miles!## he decided. ##If I'm not back in fifteen minutes....## "Just find him." Gage said, holding onto their portable VHF radio receiver in case they needed outside aid. He had already dialed over to frequency sixteen, the emergency channel. ##I will.. ## gasped Chet with worry as he flew his searching sweeps. ##I'll find him.## Quiet waves of wind rustled his glider's wings as Kelly focused his gaze on the ground as he swept over the arid landscape and steep cliffs which descending in deep ripples all around him towards the surrounding ocean. On an instinct, he followed the osprey, still calling forlornly above him. It was headed towards a thick wood a few miles away. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marco was getting tired, fighting his way through thick scrubland using the clumsy crutch. Then another root seemed to snag the end of the aluminum pole under his arm and he fell heavily to the ground yet again. Lopez took the wave of pain from the jarring tightly, waiting it out. Then he opened his eyes to see where the crutch had tumbled to. He was stunned when he heard the buzz of a snake begin behind him from under a bush. It was very nearby. ::Rattler!:: Marco quailed, freezing in place so he could locate where the sound was coming from. He found it camouflaged in a snarl of branches and roots. It was a fat rattlesnake only a yard away. The snake was very angry. Marco's good foot was lying directly on a rabbit it had just killed. Marco breath quavered as he tried to will the snake to stillness where it lay inside the tangled knot of its body. He became acutely aware of the quiet-full-of-sound; quail and other birds, waves, wind, insects and the bite of poison oak beginning to form a rash over all the exposed areas of his skin. A trickle of sweat stung his eyes but he didn't dare wipe it away. Slowly, his eyes located the metal bar and he reached for it in slow motion until he gripped its sun warmed weight. Scuffling softly in the clay, he moved it back under his arm until he could roll his body inch by inch away from the snake. But then, an untied shoe laced twitched an ear on the dead hare. The snake struck.. driving both fangs deep into the calf of Marco's good leg. Jerking in panic, Marco threw himself over backwards in fright and in doing so, fell over a dropoff which sent him hurtling down into an uncontrolled tumble down a cliff. His broken leg's splint slammed painfully into rocks and bushes as he rolled, making Marco scream as he tried to arrest his violent fall helplessly. Then he hit bottom in a deep arroyo and landed face down onto some moist dirt by a small bubbling creekbed. Violated, bumped and bruised, Marco took one big stunned breath as he tried to rise back onto his hands and knees, but then overwhelming shock took him deep into blackness. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Captain Stanley spoke again by helmet radio. "Any signs, Chet?" ##Not yet.## Kelly answered, turning his flight bar into another turn to the left so that he'd arch into the next canyon. Then he spotted a sudden white and orange flash in between some pine trees. He gasped. "##Cap, I got a visual. Looks like they're down.## Gage broke in using his own helmet mic. "Are they ok?" Chet replied. ##I don't know. I don't see em. There's some broken branches. Looks like they hit hard.## Hank sighed. "Let assume those boys have gone and broke something. I'm gonna take the golf cart down the mountain to get a chopper." "Cap, you can't. It'll be dark soon. Too dark to navigate the drive clearly without good brakes." Roy said to him. "What choice do we have? It'll be night soon." Cap spat. "Give Chet a chance to find them. They may be ok and walking out of there as we speak." Roy suggested. "Twenty minutes.." Hank agreed. Johnny offered another option. "Guys, I can raise help right here.." he said, holding up Roy's portable hand held that he had dug out of a backpack. "Do it." ordered Stanley. "Chet, Johnny's radioing on VHF 16 for assistance. Hang tight and keep circling over that spot." Johnny began his hail for help while Cap and Chet continued their conversation while Roy and Stoker listened on. Kelly spoke up again. ##Gage's out of range down there, Cap. I just flipped over and I can't hear him at all. He's transmitting nothing but static.## "Then I'll walk to a higher elevation." Gage said. "You can't get any higher than this, we must be getting blocked by Mt. Black Jack's leeward side. It's higher than we are." DeSoto said. Hank eyed all three of his men. "Then what's left for us to do, huh? Can you tell me that?" Roy, Stoker and Johnny looked at him but couldn't offer anything. Hank walked to the dune's edge and hailed Chet once more. "Kelly, what's going on? Talk to me." Chet was straining his eyes to the utmost to see past the growing shadows falling on the land below him. Then, he saw a small figure lying on the ground with a bent leg. ##Cap, I see something. I'm taking ...*static crackle* ..a closer look. *crackle spatter*## "Chet, you're starting to break up, you're almost out of range." said Stoker into a mic. ##I found Marco. He's at the bottom of a rocky quarry.## Chet shouted, growing scared. Lopez was lying absolutely still, partially tangled in a bush with a leg splint half undone. ##Cap, I'm about ten to twelve miles east--- ## The frequency fizzled into immutability into all their ears. Hank shouted. "Chet!" ##.....*static*...I'm going in for a landing...## The radio comm whistled and then cut out completely. Hank pulled off the glider helmet and threw it onto the ground in disgust. Gage shot to his feet. "Time's up, Cap. I've got to leave." "How?" Roy asked him incredulously. "We can hardly see the terrain around us." Cap said, "And you're not taking that golf cart. Not until we fix those brakes." Johnny rubbed his face. "I'm not talking about taking the cart. I'm talking about using one of those.." Gage said, pointing at the waiting hang glider that Chet had set out for Cap to try. "You must be outta your mind." Cap told him. "You've never flown one of those things before. You'll end up like those two did and wreck yourself on a hillside somewhere." "No I won't, Cap. Haven't you noticed? It's nearly dark outside. The wind's died down an awful lot from what it used to be. I can just glide into Avalon and land on the beach. How can I miss it? The whole village's lit up like a Christmas tree. I can't possibly hurt myself.." said Gage, pointing towards the tied down hang glider's large silhouette looming nearly over them. The three of them just stared back without saying anything. "All right. Ok. All right. I admit there are no guarantees here. But I can't think of anyone else but me who'll actually dare to fly out of here. Can you? Besides, I can't be scared of something I can't even see. It'll be too dark for me to know how high up I am." Johnny insisted. "Ok, Stoker, are you gonna get up off your stunned butt long enough to help me get into this thing or am I gonna haveta get into this harness all by myself?" Hank saw the look of sweaty determination in his paramedic's face and found that he couldn't counteract his decision to fly out for help. He just nodded once at Mike, tersely, without saying anything. Johnny ran off into the darkness, followed quickly by Roy and Stoker at his heels. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chet Kelly circled until the cliff sides of Marco's canyon were whizzing by under his sneakered toes. He barely banked around a small tree in the way as he glided his wingtips lower and lower down with each pass, until suddenly there was no more room for him to travel. Just solid rock looming up before him. Kelly panicked and pulled up on the flight bar, causing the hang glider to stall in mid air about twelve feet from the ground. He landed nose down, heavily falling onto his right side with a cry of frustration. Then he got up. The night's stillness surrounded him. Unclipping his harness straps and pulling off his helmet, Chet began to run towards the bushes which ringed the place he remembered as framing where Marco had fallen. He found him. "Marco?" gasped Chet, kneeling quickly at Lopez's head. He gently rolled him over as a unit and Kelly bent down, listening over his nose and mouth. Lopez was breathing shallow and fast. Chet took a pulse at his neck. It was rapid. Sweeping down Marco's body for blood and problems, Kelly found a soft spot on Lopez's left side along the ribs. When he pressed the area lightly, Marco moaned faintly. Chet studied his face. "You are a mess." he complained. But he got happier when he didn't find any signs of active bleeding anywhere. He paused only briefly over the leg splint which was still doing its job even though it was muddy and very torn. He moved further on his survey to course down Marco's good leg, splitting his jeans cuff open with a pocket knife. Turning the limb over at a feeling of dampness, Chet spotted two wet spots glistening in the waning daylight on Marco's calf. He recognized them as fang marks. "You tangled with a snake, too? Oh, Marco,..why'd you have to go and do a Johnny Gage? I'm not a paramedic here.." he mumbled, hesitating over the puncture wounds. Then training took over and he tore part of the splint's binding free, to use as a restricting band and he used it to tie off the blood flow just below Lopez's knee above the bite. "We've got nothing to worry about." he told Marco's still form. "The guys know exactly where we are. They're going for help." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Johnny nodded once at the others behind him with a confidence he didn't feel as he adjusted his radio helmet on a little tighter. Then he ran forward, hanging onto the flight bar as sent his hang glider off the edge of the dune. He couldn't help himself. His screams began immediately as the first sickenly lurch downward took hold. Then the wind captured the wings and lifted him back up with a jerk into the opposite direction. Gage careened sideways, overbalancing, and his legs kicked out as he swooped and dived up and down, wildly fighting the flight bar and glider physics for control. He couldn't hear the shouts of encouragement the others were calling to him over the radio as he fought to calm the glider against a strong breeze as he gained altitude. He lived a rollercoaster nightmare until he remembered what he saw Chet and Marco and Kip doing to steer the kites. He straightened his body and relaxed into a push up layout with his hands gripping right next to the landing wheels on the triangle bar. The glider levelled off and the violent cloth rippling above him died away into soft rustles. He stopped falling. "Hehhehe.." he trickled at last. "Hey guys, I think I got the hang of it." At their groans, he apologized. "Sorry for the pun. Aiming for the beach now." he told them. The firemen watched as their messenger sank out of sight into the land's shadows. Then they began to pack up camp to head for the airport on the way to meet the rescue crews when they finally arrived. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chet was scoping out some shelter for Marco when Lopez regained consciousness with loud groans and yells. He went running back to his side. Kelly knelt by his head and helped Marco roll onto his back again from the recovery position Chet had left him in. "That was a good healthy scream. Glad to see you're feeling better.." Chet said happily, supporting Lopez's head while he attempted to focus on his face. Marco was very groggy and it took him a while to recognize Chet. Finally, he gasped out a word. "Hey..." "Hey..." answered Kelly softly, concerned. He waited while Marco worked through some shortness of breath and confusion. "Wh--where are we?" Lopez whispered. "We're down inside a rock quarry." Chet told him. "How the h*ll did that happen?" "You crashed your glider." Marco got mad. "I know I crashed my glider. I hit a tree. How did I get down here?" Chet shrugged, still leaving a hand on Marco's chest. "I don't know. I guess you fell trying to get away from that snake." "Snake?" Marco asked muzzily. Recollection was slow, but it did come. "Oh,.. the snake.." he sighed sarcastically as he lowered his head down onto the fanny pack Chet deftly placed underneath his dusty head. Marco winced as he tried to move. "Easy.." said Chet, grabbing onto his shoulders.. "Help me up, ok?" Lopez told him, gasping. Kelly did, so his breathing would ease, and he started to lift Marco against his chest. He felt both of his hands to see how cold he was getting with the night's arriving chill. "Come on." he smiled, not letting his worry show when he found clamminess to go along with icy skin. "Come up. I got you." Marco drew in a greater breath in half relief once he was upright onto his butt. He noticed the new dressing over his snakebite. "Did you do this?" "Yep." said Chet mildly, still watching Marco's reactions closely. "It's a good job." Lopez tried to smile. "Thanks." Then Marco's face twisted in strain. "Oh, Chet, I broke my leg." he sobbed. "You sure did." Kelly agreed. "But you did a nice job on the splint though." he said, passing over a canteen so Marco could sip some water to ease a his dry mouth. Marco took a long swallow. "Uh,..brr..." he said, shivering, drawing his jacket closer around himself. "Yeah, looks like we're in for a chilly night..." Kelly shared with him. Lopez stabbed him with a glare. "What do you mean we're in for a chilly night? What are you doing hanging around here? Why don't you go get help?" "I can't. We're stranded." Chet admitted, taking back the canteen Marco handed to him to seal up again. "I can't carry you outta here. I glided in." Marco was flippant. "You glided in.. Huh. That's brilliant." he said. Then he threw up a careless hand. "Well, at least you brought your headset." "Yes, I brought my headset." said Chet, nodding. "Great.." said Marco, lowering himself back down onto the medkit pillow to get comfortable. Kelly went on. "....but a headset doesn't work 300 feet down in a rock quarry." Chet explained, biting his lip. Marco's face fell into a firm line. "Can I ask you a personal question?" he asked tersely. Chet began to fidget self consciously, shaking his head in an adamant no while looking everywhere else but at Marco. Lopez asked it anyway. "Where did you learn your rescue training anyway?" It was Kelly turn to bristle a bit, but he kept his temper under admirable control for Marco's sake and health. "I'm going to go look for some shelter." he said neutrally, pointing at the narrow canyon walls surrounding them. "Good. Great idea. You go do that." said Marco, still mad. He shifted around onto his side to try and find some sleep. "I'll wait here.." he retorted, "Huh. He glides in...." he complained as Chet jogged away from him. But sleep didn't come, only nausea... And fever. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny had a very short flight back to civilization. It took about five minutes despite his helicopter like vantage point from the hang glider. ::Thank God it's a small island.:: he thought with relief. The Casino Dive Park beach lay just below him in the soft darkness. He aimed for where he could see a black strip between the sidewalk running lights and the surf's moonglow glistening white caps. ::That's sand. It's soft.:: Lower and lower he came, until he narrowly missed pulling up to avoid a life guard tower's flagpole. He took it out with a wing tip, wavered in his flight, then crashed onto the beach. A figure came running out of the darkness from the dive shop. "Hey, are you all right? Why'd you land so late? Don't you know it's against the law to fly after sundown?" said the angry shop owner, who righted the hang glider's nose up to see the dazed and sandy Gage struggling to free himself out of the harness underneath it. "You're one of those camping firemen, aren't you?" asked the man. Johnny coughed out sand. "Some landing, huh?" "Well, are you all right?" "Yeah, I'm ok. It's a friend of mine who's in trouble." "Well, why didn't you say so? I got a golf cart right over here. Don't worry about the flagpole. Hang gliders knock it down all the time landing here. I got a deal worked out with the park people who patch it up again in return for being able to park their boats on my pier." said the man with a shrug. Gage listened impatiently. "You got a phone?" "No, I ..uh. I don't. My shop's kinda small." "Can I borrow your wheels then.." Gage asked like a bulldog on a bone. It was not a question. "Sure. My golf cart's right over there by that palm tree. Just bring it back in the morning for I'm gonna be using it to bring tourists down from the hotel to the glass bottom boat tour's launching slip." "Ok.." said Gage, looking around the Victorian built looking buildings, bistros and clifftop houses. "Uh,...Look, where exactly are we mister? I'm not familiar enough with Avalon to get around even with that cart you're loaning me." "Listen, buddy, this road's Cabrillo Mole. To get to Fire Station 55, hang a right on Crescent Avenue, left on Descanso Ave. Take that all the way to the end until you reach Tremont Street. Hang an immediate right, then an immediate left onto Avalon Canyon Road. Take that and go all the way past the golf course in towards the interior's mountains.The fire station's white with mint green doors. There's a three tiered spanish adobe style fire bell tower to the west surrounded by plenty of palmettos near a sitting park. You can't miss it. The fire chief's there with three captains, three engineers, three on duty firefighters with the potential on-call crew of 25 more. Once they know the problem, they can set off the fire siren to call em in. It'll go on, then off again, and back on in a triplet of thirty second intervals once it's been committed. Mister, they can get one of Mercy Air's birds or the Coast Guard on the fly in seconds." "How far is it?" asked Johnny. "About four minutes. Less than twelve hundred feet if you put the cart's petal to the metal. I'll run this way and notify the county lifeguards about your friend. Their office is at the end of my pier." he said pointing to a Victorian stencilized sign that said, "Pleasure Pier." at the foot of a green painted pier stretching out into Avalon Bay. "Lifeguards? Must be one of my county's Baywatch teams. I'm a paramedic. Who do they use for emergency communications way out here?" "I think it's still the L.A.County Sheriff's dispatch." "Thanks, mister, for the use of this. " said, Gage, accepting a key with a small rubber water float attached to it from the shop owner. "I gotta go." "I've no doubt of that. Good luck finding your friend." shouted the local as Johnny climbed into the white and red cart and sped away. "I'll let you know how it turns out.." Johnny promised with an urgent outstretched wave. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chet grunted as he dragged Marco into a cave that he had found. For a travois, he had used the nose frame of his glider as a drag. Lopez hung on for dear life as he was thunked over rocks and boulders that littered the cave's floor. "I started a fire. It's nice and cozy in here." he told Marco as he struggled to pull him deeper into the cave. "All right.. Here. we go.." he grunted gain. "Ok.. I got you." he said as he finally got Marco next to the fitful blaze he had going in a rocky depression. "One, two, three.... ready?" "Yeah.." "Ok, I got ya." Kelly struggled over the last large rock in the way. Lopez screamed in pain when Chet dropped his glider made stretcher down too quickly over the last rock. "There. Sorry.." Kelly said, collapsing onto his butt to rest. Both men just rested for a while, breathing fast in the cold silence. Marco readjusted painfully on the metal frame, trying to get pressure off of his cracked ribs as a new layer of sweat built on his face. "Oww,... Oh,.. man..." Kelly, tried to catch his breath, too, and he wiped wind blown dirt out of his eyes. "What'd ya think?" he said, sweeping a proud hand over their little emergency camping area. "I think it would be better if you put me over there...." said Marco wearily, pointing a slow finger. "Oh,, uh, what?" Chet exclaimed sarcastically. "The other side of the fire. Yeah, that's better.." Kelly shook his head in disagreement, having come to the end of his strength. Marco picked up his head, getting anxious. "Well, the least you can do is get branches and some bigger logs. This thing's only gonna last about twenty minutes.." he complained, gesturing at the feeble fire. Chet finally let loose. "I found the cave. I built the fire. I know what I'm supposed to put in it." he told Lopez sharply. Marco blinked. "Why are you getting testy with me? I'm the one with the broken leg and the snake bite here." Chet stared incredulously at him as if he were some odd specie of fauna, with half guilty for backtalking and half not written all over his features. "You're also the one with a strange way of showing your appreciation." Lopez suddenly doubled up in pain, holding his left leg. "Oh, ugHH!" he grimaced, holding it. His hands were trembling. "What's the matter?" Kelly said, scrambling back over to Marco's side. "The bite. I think it's...starting to go.....bad." he gasped. Chet looked up at him, reaching down to touch a new area of red skin on Marco's thigh. "Does this hurt?" "AckkKKK! Of course that hurts!" Lopez screamed at the lightest brush of Chet's fingers. Kelly whipped away the offending hand. "Ok, sorry. I'm sorry.. I had to know." Marco lowered back down onto his makeshift pillow, trying to slow his breathing rate. "Is the swelling moving up my leg?" he asked fearfully. "Yep." Chet said, examining the skin by firelight. Then he shifted his eyes upwards. "But your color's still good." Lopez waved a weak hand over the tourniquet. "You gotta move that thing." "I know to move this thing." said Chet defensively, Marco's fear rubbing off on him. "Ok, ok,.. I'm doing it.. ready?" he said, untying the knot of glider material banded around his calf. Kelly slipped it higher up until it was above Marco's knee at the thigh and then he retightened it. Lopez bit his lip, stifling another scream. "Ok,.. easy.. This tourniquet's gonna buy us some time,.. but I guess it can't last us forever.." Chet told him honestly. "We're gonna get you outta here." he said. "We're gonna get you outta here real soon.." he soothed. Chet was startled when he didn't get a reply back. Kelly looked up, glancing at Lopez's damp face. "Marco?" But Lopez didn't hear him. Marco was shivering in a fitful half sleep, reacting to the surge of venom that had been re-released into his bloodstream, and both of his hands were gripping the front of his shirt in a paltry attempt to fend off the chill. Chet took off his jacket, instantly chastizing himself for forgetting the most common way to treat shock as he used it to cover him up snuggly. Kelly buttoned up his own shirt as high as it could go at the collar to conserve heat and he began to rub his arms briskly to try and warm them as the wind howled mournfully at the mouth of their tiny cave. He kept a few fingers on the rapid pulse beating at Marco's elbow to reassure himself that he was still with the land of the living. "Hold on, pal. Help's gotta be on its way soon if it isn't already." said Chet for his own ears' sake so he wouldn't start despairing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Man down in a rocky gorge. Photo: Hang glider taking off. Photo: Avalon, CA at night. Photo: Casino Music hall and Baywatch lifeguard boat. Photo: The Avalon Fire Department Photo: Glider flying down to the ocean. Photo: A snake bit leg closeup. Photo: Chet and Marco lying down. ********************************************************************* From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Mon Jun 5, 2006 6:35 pm Subject: Juxtaposition... Marco awoke to the sound of a stick snapping. He opened his eyes and found Kelly seated by a much larger fire, breaking a pair of green twigs into smaller pieces. Chet smiled at him warmly. "I brought you a given special." he said, handing over one of the toyon branches that he had found. "Chew on that. It's got vitamins and minerals in the bark. My dad showed me where to find these for a quick snack while we were cattle rustling once in Wyoming." Lopez took the stick and noticed movement under the bright green inner bark's layer. He peered a little closer. "It's got plenty of protein, too.There's a family of termites living in here." Chet's eyes widened and he snatched back the branch in horror and disgust. They were there. He felt like an *ss. Angrily, he tossed the offending twig into the fire to burn with the others. Marco sighed and closed his eyes wearily. "How could you fly off.. to save me ...without bringing me any food, huh?" Kelly told him how it was. "I had to choose between the medkit, and a roast beef sandwich." Lopez scoffed in his dilirium. "Yeah, right. Like a candy bar really takes up a lot of room." Chet got mad, his patience gone. "Remind me never to save you again..." he said defensively. Marco lifted his head in amazement. "You call this a save?" he asked with light sarcasm. "I call this a save." said Chet firmly, holding his ground. Lopez begged to differ, and he held up a dirty, waggling finger. "No, no. I'll tell you what a save is. A save...is when I am stretched out at home, in a warm bed, with lots of hot food and lots of loved ones.." he winced. "...fussing over me. That's....a save." Then he relaxed back into a half state. Kelly shook his head in annoyance, mumbling to himself as he tended the fire. "I should have brought the roast beef sandwich." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was morning, first light. Chet was once again hard at work dragging Marco's makeshift travois out of the cave and into the open to try and warm him in the growing sunlight. It had been a rough night of pain for Lopez when he often became lost in fevered nightmares. The wind around them was anything but friendly. It was blowing hot, and wild, casting leaves, dust and insects into the air in a flurry of swirls, with a roar. Marco felt some flying sand sting his cheek and it triggered a new surge of mindless anxiety in him. He began to struggle under Chet's coat as he grabbed at the glider straps holding him down. "We...gotta get outta here. We...g--" he sobbed. Kelly gripped his arms tighter, afraid Marco was going to hyperventilate himself into a blind panic. "Hold on. Hold on." he said, grabbing both of Marco's hands into his own so that he could feel them. "I'm right here, pal. Just try to relax..." A part of Lopez heard him and he made a huge effort to slow his rising breathing rate by tightening his crampy stomach muscles. It worked. The wave of misery passed, leaving Lopez limp. Kelly noticed that his eyes were starting to roll up into his head. With a start, he grabbed for Marco's inner arm for another pulse check. Lopez pulled his elbow away. "What are you doing? I'm ok.." he said self defensively. "We're here. I need the practice." Chet told him with a soft but no-nonsense worry. Marco frowned, gasping, and he looked at the fingers gripping his arm. He couldn't feel them. Scared, he let Chet get his count. "Yeah." he agreed. "Do me a favor, would ya?" "What?" Chet asked him, trying to smile. "Watch out for Boot for me, ..will you?" Lopez whispered. Kelly's face twisted in emotion and he looked away suddenly to hide the tears which sprang up unbidden. Marco paled and he started to slip into unconsciousness. "I'm just gonna take a little rest. Yeah,...take a little--" his voice trailed off and his eyes closed. The brachial pulse under Chet's hand disappeared. Chet's despair returned full fold and he violently wiped away the moisture in his eyes. He gave into crying eventually, staying silent so Lopez wouldn't know how frightened he was feeling. Sniffling, Kelly moved his monitoring grip to Lopez's weak and thready carotid pulse as he scanned the sky desperately for signs of rescue. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Captain Hank leaned into the Coast Guard pilot from where he wore his communications helmet. "Let's go lower..." he told him. "I don't understand it, we're not in darkest Africa. Where the h*ll are they?" The fierce wind blowing in from the dawn warming ocean bucked and rocked the helicopter like a toy bobbling on a string. The pilot shook his head. Johnny and Roy re-examined the map authorities had given them of Catalina's terrain, tracing out another possibility and yet another canyon that might be holding Chet's hang glider. They had already located Marco's shredded one a half hour earlier. Some of Avalon Fire Department's on-duty crew had remained behind in the forest to bag and carry out Kip the guide's body. "Cap, the prevailing winds yesterday were north by north west." Johnny shared with him. "I got the weather report from the Sheriff's office before we took off. Maybe if we travelled in a line downwind from our campsite......" "It's worth a shot." said DeSoto agreeing with his partner over their shared helmet frequency. The pilot and Cap both nodded, redirecting the orange HH-65A Dolphin up and over the rise toward the dunes bed to the east. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chet lifted his head from where he cradled Marco, guarding his airway. He thought he had heard the unmistakable thwap of helicopter blades fighting high winds. He eased Lopez down off of his lap and turned him onto his side so he could breathe without his thickening tongue getting in the way. Hurrying, Kelly ran to where he had tethered his brightly colored glider in the center of the tiny rock quarry. He lit up the SOS he had spelled out in termite infested toyon branches with a fire brand. The insects and bark began to burn with thick smoke. It was inky black, caused by the chemicals in their bodies. The messaging column rose high into the air as an urgent signal sent on the wind. Then Chet spotted them. A tiny, moving orange dot in a big blue sky.... "Here! Down here!" Chet shouted gleefully, waving his arms wildly. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gage nearly jumped out of his seat. "There's Chet!" he yelled. "I don't see Marco but he's got to be close by if Kelly made a landing there to spend the night." Stanley pressed his nose against the search window. "How the h*ll did they get down there?" said Cap as he got a better and better view of just how steep and small the gorge they had found actually was. Hank tapped the pilot on the shoulder. "Bring it around.." Cap told him, pointing to the left in a downward gesture. "It's actually them this time." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kelly began leaping about ecstatically in celebration when he saw the helicopter finally circle his location. "Yeah! Yeah!" he shouted. Then he ran back to wait with Marco while the others landed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy looked at one of the Avalon Baywatch guards wearing an overland jumpsuit. "Would you mind at all if the two of us rappel down with the rest of you guys?" he said, indicating Johnny and himself. Cap waited expectantly for the lifeguard captain's decision. Lifeguard Paramedic Steve Troegger shook his head. "You're fully qualified and technically still in your legal service area. I'm not gonna stop either one of you from doing whatever you want. I know how I'd react if that were one of my crewmates trapped down there. Knock yourself out, fellas. The only stipulation is that you let my paramedics treat any problems as they're the ones who're considered officially first in by the city." "You are heading this rescue mission." said Gage with a smile. "I promise. My partner and I'll just hover." "Thanks, captain. We appreciate it." said Roy. "Likewise.." answered Hank from his search window seat. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chet crowed over the roar of the descending helicopter. "Hang on, Marco. We're almost home!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stoker spoke into his radio to the hospital in town. "We've spotted them. We're going in for a closer look." ##10-4, Medevac 1. Mercy Air will meet you at the airport for your patient transfer. We'll be waiting. ## said a female voice over the radio channel patched into their chopper cabin commline. ## Call us back when you have your initial patient report and I'll have Dr. Greene standing by. Avalon Municipal, out.## Roy looked up at Mike. "Who was that?" he asked with genuine surprise. Stoker shrugged. "One of the nurses at the hospital I guess. She said they still have two open beds available if we need them." Gage started chuckling. "I must be getting a little homesick. She sounded a lot like Dixie McCall." The pilot spoke up. "Dixie McCall? Of Rampart General?" "Yeah.. you know her?" Gage wondered. "No, I know OF her, though. Through that RN you just heard. That nurse you just checked in with was the one and only one we have on the island, Jo Swett. Jo talks about Dixie all the time. Seems they trained together in nursing school until Jo left the mainland in 1966 to come here." he said. "No kidding. Do they still keep in touch with each other?" "I wouldn't know, boys. Probably not I'd guess. Head nurses are kept too busy to hang onto old connections sometimes. Know what I mean?" "Yeah, I know what you mean." Roy agreed. "Ok, here comes the tricky part." said the pilot. "Everybody, hang on. We're going in. It's bound to get a little bumpy.." The coast guard chopper started to give away altitude, but gust after gust of wind buffeted the sides of the craft, making it rock and pitch with rolls and violent yawing. The pilot decided not to make the attempt. "We can't land here. The crosswinds are too strong. We'll land on the bluff. Avalon FD can route our climbing gear to us there." The Baywatch and Station 51 crews all nodded. The helicopter stopped fighting for a level as the pilot carried them back up into calmer air. "This fire road ends in five hundred yards.." the coast guarder said. "I'll land us at the top of the quarry. Then you can rappel down." Then he got on the radio to the island village's fire department; Avalon. "Meet us at coordinates 693 at 7-0." ##This is Chief Hoefs. I copy Medevac's rendevous point.## came the reply. ##Six, nine, three at seven oh.## Hank met the Avalon Fire Department along with Baywatch Avalon's Captain Troegger outside the waiting aircraft. Stanley filled them in after some short introductions. "They're at the bottom of a rock quarry. We can make it down the south face. Is all the gear ready, sir?" he said, flashing his fire captain's badge. The fireman in charge of the equipment nodded. "Yeah." And he ran through a fast scene checklist. "Three five hundred length Borders?" "Check." said another man. "Slings?" asked the first. "Check." said the second. "And anchor points?" "Check." "All right, let's go." Avalon's fire chief ordered. "Troegger, head both teams going down. I'll coordinate with Mercy and relay your found patient ICR data to them." "Right, Steve." said Troegger. Everybody who could gear up for the descent to come, did. The rescue using ropes, began. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chet held Marco's head as he struggled to awaken, and talked to him. "Hang in there. I can see Roy and Johnny coming fast for us, pal." he said, keeping his eye on the rocks above. "It won't be long now at all." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Baywatch Avalon's team along with Roy and Johnny, made bottomfall. They disconnected the stokes litter from the guide rope it was tied to and all six of them ran over to where they could see Kelly's form bending over something. Roy shouted. "Chet! Where's Marco?" "Right here. With me!" The two on the lifeguard crew who were paramedics nudged between Roy and Johnny apologetically when they all got there. Johnny asked Kelly. "How's he doing?" Chet answered very eagerly. "Blood pressure's low. Snake bite's been swelling up for the last couple of hours. He's got at least two broken ribs.... And that.." he said, pointing to the leg split. Troegger nodded as his medic partner assessed Marco's breathing after he had applied some oxygen from his backpack. "Neck? Back?" Kelly shook himself out of a daze of relief at being found. "Uh,, They seem ok." he said with a nod of dismissal. Troegger directed a lift to get Lopez into the stokes from off the glider travois. "Ready on three..." he said. Roy, Johnny, and the others all grabbed belt loops, shorts material, shoulders, and head for the move. Johnny snuck in a pulse check from his place at Marco's neck. "It's 130..but nice and regular.." he reported. "Man, is this poison oak?" he asked Troegger, gesturing down at Marco's legs and arms and face. "Yeah, it grows all over the island. It was unintentionally introduced by ranchers growing hay. Don't touch him too much or you'll itch for weeks later." said the Baywatch paramedic in warning. "Ready to lift? On three...." he skipped counting 1 and 2 and went straight to 3 to spare Marco the wait. "Three.." he said, and Marco was moved. Pain roused Lopez out of his stupor. "AHHhhhhhh..! " he groaned.. Then he grunted, trying to hide how much he was hurting from the others. "Nggnnn." he grimaced as he was settled and covered with a tarp in the stokes. Soon they were at the top and paused for an I.V. start and a hefty MS injection. "Hey, Cap.." Lopez said after a fast flow of electrolytes had sharpened his awareness back to near normal. "Hey, Marco.." said Hank happily. "Don't worry. We rescued your glider. Won't cost you a dime to replace it at the rental place since you were with their guide when you crashed." "I'm sorry he died. He seemed like he would have been a really fun guy to hang out with..." quipped Marco in a morbid joke. Johnny groaned at the pun that he himself had used the day before. Cap, Stoker, Roy and Chet all smiled at that sign of returning vigor. "Hey, Chet.." Lopez whispered. Kelly knelt near, giving Marco a couple of raised eyebrows to show that he was paying attention. "Hmm.." "Thanks.." Marco said, and meaning it. Kelly smiled, his face so full of emotion, that it made his eyes almost start to water again. Lopez cleared some phlegm out of his throat uncomfortably at the intense warm scrutiny by which he was being regarded. "What are you waiting for? An invitation?" he mock snapped at Roy and Johnny to get him going to the hospital. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At Avalon Municipal, Roy and Johnny had their eyes opened when they finally met Head Nurse Jo Swett in what served as the hospital's trauma receiving. She was unique, in all respects. And the doctor heading her was equally interesting to Roy and Johnny. Gage and DeSoto were eager to learn more about them now that Marco had been stabilized and treated for his injuries. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: The catalina coast. Photo: Air station L.A. Animation: Willow Creek falls. Photo: A Catalina rattlesnake. Photo: Chet's hang glider guide, Kip. Photo: Catalina avalon FD truck. Photo: Baywatch Avalon paramedic chopper. Photo: Baywatch lifeguard paramedic. Photo: Chopper fly over cliff. Photo: Roy with stokes in a cliff climb. Photo: Marco down getting treated by gang. Photo: Catalina Avalon Municipal hospital. (Real life Midway Island Hospital. Circa 1944.) ************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Thu Jun 8, 2006 3:09 am Subject: That Small Town Charm.. That was once they got over the fact that Avalon's hospital only had twelve patient beds. Dr. William Greene nodded at his head nurse. "Jo,..I'm ordering up these lab studies on Mr. Lopez : A CBC with manual differential and peripheral blood smear, a prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time, along with a fibrinogen and split products test. Get a type and cross and blood chemistries, including electrolytes, BUN, creatinine. We'll need to get a urinalysis to check for myoglobinuria and an arterial blood gas determination since he's feeling some systemic symptoms. Besides that leg, please order up a baseline chest radiograph, I found some mild P.E. Oh, and a plain radiograph to rule out any retained fangs." "I'll get right on it. And I'll be right back with all of you boys." said the silver haired round nurse named Jo Swett as she picked up a phone to call the hospital's on duty pink lady to handle getting the needed specimen samples Bill had ordered. Roy and Johnny's eyebrows went up completely when she recited Greene's verbatim word for word to her staffer without scribbling down a single note. "How'd you do that?" Gage sputtered when she was through. He immediately checked himself in embarrassment at being so blunt. "I mean,.. remember what he ordered so well." Jo smiled. "I've been doing this a long time. Since 1966, Mr. Gage. And in the early days, we didn't have computers and even now we don't have student nurses to transcribe any orders down as they're given. It's just me to make due." Roy turned back to Dr. Greene who was washing his hands clean in a sink behind his nurse. "So how's he doing, doc? The rest of the fellas over there and I really want to know." he said throwing a hand at the others seated in a small waiting area. He watched as the doctor peered around the x-ray machine getting wheeled in for Marco's use. Greene grabbed up a blue surgical towel to dry off. "Well, the guilty culprit who bit your friend has definitely been identified as a Pacific rattler. And we all know that in 80% of cases, their bites are usually dry and harmless. I ordered those tests just as a precaution." That got Chet's attention from the chair he sat in nearby. "You mean, he's not gonna need any antivenin? What about all that swelling and the fever he had going last night?" "That was poison oak exposure and what I think is a simple fibula fracture working." said the doctor. "Those were purely reflex immunological responses. Nothing else." Kelly went limp against the medical desk in obvious relief. "That's great." said Captain Stanley. "So how long will Marco have to stay here? You see, we're on vacation and--" Bill smiled, looking fatherly. "Captain, all of my patients with the exception of a rare winter local or two, are tourists like yourself. I assure you Mr. Lopez will be tied up only long enough to be fitted for a walking cast and an application of hydrocortisone for his rash. His vital signs are very normal now." "Really?" asked Stoker. Bill nodded. "I'll get right back to you folks as soon as I get a little repair work done. Up there.." he said pointing to the ceiling. Johnny's eyebrows went up. Greene explained. "The city wanted someone doctoring on the island, if a tile breaks on the roof, who would be up there in his boots, hammering. I have many different hats. I'm Avalon Municipal's CEO, doctor, city official and general handyman. Nine years ago, my wife Trish and I had our belongings hauled here on a barge when I took this job. And since then, I've never looked back to the mainland. I love it here. We have our usual small town challenges. Avalon has 4,200 permanent residents, all of whom pick up their mail at a central post office and go days without milk or bread whenever storms prevent shipments from the mainland. And I usually take my house calls on a golf cart as I'm the only full time physician on staff." Roy and Johnny blinked skeptically. "Don't worry." he told the two paramedics."When it's gets busy, we have four temporary physicians, who rotate in from the mainland every five,six, or seven days. Usually, that's not necessary though since we at the hospital average only about two patients a day." Cap gaped. "Why that's hardly enough to cover your overhead costs." he exclaimed in surprise. Greene nodded, taking up a coffee pot and holding it out for the others in invitation. Only Chet accepted a cup. "I have a 10-by-10-foot office at the far end of the hospital with one administrative assistant helping me manage things. Last year, we had more than $2 million dollars worth of services that had gone uncollected." "Why's that?" Roy asked. "The city runs all potential critical patients to the mainland, once they've been stabilized here, by helicopter. Trip takes about thirty minutes. And the ruling about state sales taxes being 30% higher on the island only puts a dent into our budget deficit because in the winter, our population dwindles down to just a few, like any other tourist town along the coastline, and their potential revenue leaves with them. But we're making good headway." Greene said. "We've just about gotten through a huge pile of old bills that had been sitting on the office floor for the past six months.'' he winked. "Excuse me. But a storm's coming. I've that roof to see to next. Ask Jo for absolutely anything you need, and it'll be done." he winked. "I'll catch up more with you when I get back." The gang waved and then got a hold of their mutual collective head shakes of wonder and amazement. Chet leaned into the counter and sagged almost nose to nose with their nurse. "So, Ms. Swett, how did such an attractive nurse like you get to end up here? The Coast Guard pilot seemed to know a lot about you and a mutual friend of ours." "Oh, you mean Dixie? How's she doing? It's been a few months since we've exchanged letters." answered Jo, not buying one minute of Chet's Don Juan-ing bull. "She's fine. She's fine. Still at it at the front desk of the emergency room." Gage told her empathetically. "But how come she's never mentioned ya to us?" "Maybe that's because we get along so famously. Dixie usually only grouses about people who've irked her in some way to her friends." Roy started grinning. "Dr. Morton, Dr. Brackett.. that high powered administrator upstairs...." he listed off. "That's true." Jo laughed and took a deep breath. "Actually Mr. Kelly, I saw a want ad that changed my life. What I was doing with Dixie in pediatrics at Rampart wasn't what I wanted to do." she said. "I grew up in Boston, so the idea of moving to an island was interesting. Here I can provide in-home care to a variety of patients, and I simply love the night shift. I figure I am the only nurse in the whole United States who works all by herself at night. I get up in daylight for emergencies, like yours today." "Is Avalon Municipal a full service hospital?" asked DeSoto. "Oh, sure. We can do tonsillectomies, hernia repairs, hysterectomies and gall bladder surgeries, minor trauma repair. The surgeons fly in from St. Mary's and bring their own anesthesiologists. Usually the local doctor, Bill Greene, is the assistant." she said proudly with amusement. "And when we're having a baby, I like to go around to the other patients and I ask them, 'Are you going to need anything, we're going to have a baby now.' And once the baby's born I love taking the infant on rounds to meet the other patients while the mother's recovering." Johnny chuckled. "Do you get many emergency cases in any given year." "Oh, yes.." said Jo empathetically. "Especially in the summer. Like now. Recently we've had a lot of cases like Mr. Lopez's." "Really.." said Hank. "I thought our man's rescue was highly unusual." Jo shrugged. "People seem to fall prey to the James Bond syndrome when they get here; what else can I say? Everybody gets the feeling that they're invincible while they're diving or flying Catalina. I've never understood that effect. But I appreciate that it pays my salary." she laughed. "The pace is slow, with the upgrades in my training and visiting patients, I'll admit. But there's a certain charm here that I've since fallen in love with. I didn't learn how to do an IV until 1970, but now I've lifeguard paramedics to rely on. I enjoy what I do I've no plans to retire anytime soon for there's a record I want to hold first - Oldest Working Nurse in California." "So, are you gonna make it?" Chet quipped daringly. Hank smacked his arm, right on the sunburned spots. "Oww!" Chet protested. Jo only smiled, used to firefighters' antics. "There are one or two who are older," she said. "I just hope they retire before I do." Mike Stoker had wandered over to the baby window, noticing a single infant sleeping in an incubator, on an ekg machine. It was only then that the others noticed a sound monitor turned on at Jo's desk near her hand. A contented coo issued from it. Curious, the gang joined him to see the baby. "Aww, she's cute. Where's her mother?" Stoker asked Jo, who had followed them over. "She doesn't have one." said Jo simply. The look on the gang's faces registered incomprehension. "Baby Jane was left at our fire department steps about a day after she was born." Jo told them quietly. Chet soured. "But who could just up and leave a newborn like that. That's...that's...insane..!" he finally said. "Not really. Ever heard of the Safe Surrender law just passed this year in the state of California?" Swett said. The gang shook their heads no. "The City of Avalon is ready to accept unwanted newborns and get them into safe hands. No questions asked. If the mother does the right thing and gets her baby to a designated safe surrender location within 72 hours of birth, there will be no shame, no blame, no names and there will be no prosecution. The Avalon Fire Department is a vital link in a strategy to create a countywide safety net of Safe Surrender locations so underpriviledged babies won't ever have to suffer their parents socio-economically suppressed lifestyles." Roy was the only one who understood those ramifications. "There is a need for it. I'm glad such a law exist now, for sometimes, Johnny and I treat those kids and babies. And everytime, we've felt helpless that there wasn't anything further we could do for the mother after she signed off on our run sheet simply because she knew she couldn't ever pay our ambulance costs." The gang spent a warm few minutes playing with the soon to be named baby girl until Marco was declared ready for visiting. A half hour had gone by with everybody eating breakfast spread out over Marco's bed inside of his curtain cubicle, when Bill returned with his results. "Marco.." said Dr. Greene. "You're fine. Your bloodwork's peachy king and your cast, perfect. But I wouldn't recommend you fellas returning to your campsite just yet. There's a storm approaching. I'm offering my house to all of you for sheltering while I'm working here tonight. Jo and I might get a few emergency cases coming from the water. Tourist boat outfitters always get a little stupid in squalls like this. And it looks like this one's going extratropical." "Oh, no.." said Hank. "You mean like the Columbus Day storm of 1962 that started as Hurricaine Freida?" "I'm afraid so." Stanley stepped forward and briskly shook Bill's hand. "Doc, I appreciate it. We'll definitely take you up on that offer. But now we've got to go. We've family out flying at the airport." "Who?" asked Jo. DeSoto frowned. "My father and son. Let's hope they both don't think that they can outfly it like James Bond." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The gang was halfway to the tiny terminal tower on the mountain when the rain began. Doctor Green suddenly came over their hand held VHF radio.. ##The storm's definitely going to hit Avalon. The fire department advises no travel.## "We'll be careful.." Cap promised him. Roy studied the sky that was still half clear from where he sat in the shuttle. "Where are they? How could they miss seeing a cloud that big?" "I don't know the answer to that, Roy. But I promise you, we'll find out once we get there, one way or the other.." said Hank. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Avalon Muncipal Hospital. Photo: Avalon hospital evac. Photo: Dr. William Greene's life picture series. Photo: Dr. William Greene's life picture series 2. Photo: Catalina ambulance cart. Photo: gang watches through window in street clothes. Photo: Nurse Jo Swett and associate. Photo: Building Catalina storm fog. ************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Thu Jun 8, 2006 1:39 pm Subject: Final Scene: Storms and Waters... "Twice in one day? You're starting to make my boys smile, Captain Stanley.." said Chief Hoefs as he climbed down off of his station's fire truck as it arrived to the tarmack at the Airport In The Sky. Hank shrugged. "What's sharing little business between firemen, eh?" he joked. But then his face transmuted into intense worry. Mike Stoker offered the chief an update. "Sir, Chris DeSoto's been talking to us over the plane's radio." "How far are out are they?" Hoefs asked seriously. Roy added more. "My father's really got his hands full with just flying so that's why my son's been the one doing all the radio contact. Chris says they're about five miles to the west, northwest, flying through an active thunderhead. They've lost power due to a lightning strike and they've two failed engines." "Do they still have fine control?" asked Hoefs. "Their wing and tail flap hydraulics are all still reactive." DeSoto said. Hank shouted over the powerful, wind gusting rainfall that was turning Catalina gray and frightening around them. "LAX says that they're in a good power-off glide back to the island. They were following the shortest route from Long Beach while over water, to see Land's End which Chris said was mapped in a flight plan of twenty two nautical miles." Steve thought hard, trying to remember some facts about flying small aircraft. "The midway point of that route would be 11 NM. If your pilot remembered to check the performance chart for your airplane and see which altitude gave him a power-off gliding distance of 11 NM or greater, they should make back here, ok. " "That's if they remembered to factor in the headwind component." said Stanley. "Boy are we lucky they filed a flight plan with a request for VFR flight following." said Roy. "LAX got their distress call right away and put them on immediate priority." "Where are they showing up on the mainland radar?" Hoefs asked. Roy shrugged his shoulders."I can't recall all the jargon, but a minute ago, Chris said he could see the lights of Two Harbors at the isthmus." "Then they're eight minutes out, tops. We'll be ready. Best of luck, Hank." Hoefs said, crossing the fingers on his fire gloves. "Here's to talking them down successfully." said the yellow and tan outfitted fireman. "Piece of cake." said Hank with very sound, positive feeling while he gave his counterpart a resounding thumbs up. "See you when they touch down." Steven Hoefs jogged away and began barking orders to his men to string hoses from a ground hydrant located near the airport building, mated to a small foam unit. Soon, a thick blanket of suppressant lay in a slurry across many dozens of feet along the terminal end of the high altitude scrubland runway. Luckily, the rising storm winds didn't blow any of it away. Then the Avalon firecrew set about laying two rows of cherry flares to illuminate the full length and stretched outline of the rocky runway. They were so bright, that the even the storm fierce night lit up in a brillant red glow from their multiple burning brands. Johnny Gage had borrowed county turnout from Station 55 as had the rest of them, and he used a brainstormed idea of climbing the back of a nearby parked airplane to gain a better vantage point of the odd downsloping runway 22 through his binoculars. He shouted down to the others. "I don't see them yet, Cap. Chris's turned on the cabin lights so we can spot them a little better." "Keep looking." said Stanley. "Give us the play by play, Johnny, over your radio so Roy'll know what to tell them as help while they're attempting to land. Some of their cockpit instruments may have been knocked out, too, and nonfunctional!" ##Dad, I'm scared.## boomed out Chris's voice over the fire engine speaker that Hoefs had tandem tuned into the plane's radio frequency and put out over the loud speaker so that all of his men could hear the plane. Roy held up his plastic coated VHF Radio set to Unicom's frequency that was connecting all of them to Ian DeSoto's cockpit. "Chris, we're all right here with ya. And yes, the fire department's all set up and waiting for both of ya to stick the best possible landing you can." encouraged DeSoto, who tried very hard to not to let his voice tighten with emotion to where it would be audible to his son. ##Is the storm growing worse?## "Yeah, Chris. I'm afraid it's....it's pretty bad fairly close to us to the east because we're so high up on top of the mountain." Johnny said in his own handheld receiver. ##Dad,.. I think grandpa's not telling me something. I think he's been hurt by a panel overload and isn't telling me.## said the teenager. ## I think I see a burn on his palm that wasn't there before we took off.## "How's his consciousness level?" asked Roy, biting his lip. ::If Ian blacks out..:: he quailed. ##He's still talking, but we're wavering all over the place. And he's sweating. Kinda pale.## "Hang on, Chris. We're gonna come up with a backup plan for you.." s0aid Roy. "You just try to keep Grandpa focused, all right?" Then he, Cap, Stoker and Avalon's fire chief fell into hurried discussion about other options for landing. Roy signaled up to Johnny with his arms outstretched like wings and waggled them into firm stillness like he was steadying himself. Johnny got that idea right away. Gage spoke up. "Listen, Chris.. can you at least take over the plane's leveling handles? You're almost scot free. Ian can probably still do the rest of the hard parts." ##I....can...## grunted Ian DeSoto through the radio. ##Not much ...lightning....got to me....## gasped his strained voice. Chris's voice came back on. ##Grandpa's showing me how to steady the wings, Dad. I think I can do this...## he said excitedly. "I know you can, son." said Roy empathetically, letting the rain wash away a tear of fright. Johnny began signalling away from his radio mic. "I see em! But there's a problem.. They're approaching us going the wrong way in relation to the runway. About two miles out." The Chief issued another fast set of orders. "Boys, lay the other end in foam. Fast as you can. Their pilot's probably reversed his landing to try and handle all this fouling weather to get the best advantage. Move!" he said crisply. The fire truck crew hastened to carry them out. Soon, the second location for foamed countermeasures was ready with yet another team of firefighters held at hose charged readiness. At the same time, Johnny yelled again. "I lost sight of the plane. A cloud bank's rolled in! I'll try to find em again." Hoefs smiled under his water cascading helmet. "Your father's a smart man, DeSoto. He's getting the airport cliff's wind shear quirk out of the way first. Don't worry about medical gear for him. We've plenty for you and your partner to use." Roy kept running cardiac anomaly scenarios through his head despite the Chief's kind reassurances. ##I see you!## said Chris suddenly as the stricken, silent plane burst through a black fold in the storming clouds with a crack of thunder, illuminated by lightning flash. "I've a positive visual! They're right on track!" Gage said at the same time. "Thank G*d they've run the gauntlet over that cliff ok.." sighed Roy. Then he picked up his radio. "How are the two of you doing, Chris? Talk to me.." There was no reply. "Chris?!" Roy said sharply. "Can you hear me?" He received nothing but static over the radio. Frustrated, Roy let the radio fall away from his mouth. With nothing else possible for him to do, Roy felt his eyes glue to the storm silhouetted outline of white aircraft that Johnny was pointing to that was careening in jerks as it came down out of the sky. All the fireman froze in place as the next few seconds determined the make or break of imminent disaster. The little cessna's wheels touched down dead center of the cherry flares and absolutely parallel with their glowing white smoke sputtering rows. Roy, Johnny, Cap and the others began cheering as they leaped onto Avalon's fire engine to rush down the runway after them. A minute later, the cessna was dead stopped and safe. Roy climbed onto the little plane's wing and pulled the door open. Chris had had the foresight to start Ian on the aircraft's tiny oxygen supply in a first aid attempt. "How's he doing?" Chris answered. "He was just awake and talking to me, Dad, I don't understand it." "Dad?" asked Roy, "Can you hear me?" he shouted frantically as he scrambled on board. He dug a grip around Ian's neck feeling for a carotid. "Can you breathe all right?" The older man didn't move.. But then, Ian nodded, and took another solid deep breath under the oxygen's flowing face mask. And for show, he moved all of his arms and legs normally. DeSoto sighed in relief when his fingers found a very regular and uncomplicated heartbeat down to the wrist. "No kerauno- or respiratory paralysis is present. Not even slightly, Johnny. Let's get him outta here and into the ambulance." he sighed in relief. Then he looked over at his son proudly. "You did a good job, Chris. A very good job." "I didn't do anything, Dad. Grandpa did all the work. I just helped him out a little bit with all the levelling." "Yeah, well that little bit saved you both. I'm proud of ya. We all are. Come on out of there so Johnny can get to work starting Dad's I.V. here. I've got someone I'd like you to meet outside." "Who is he, Dad?" Chris wondered. "Just think of him as Captain Stanley's island counterpart." he grinned. "Only a rank up. We owe him a very large favor for being here for us today. Twice, for that matter." he admitted. "Why twice, Dad? And where's Marco? I don't see him anywhere out there." "Well, Chris. That's a very long story. It just so happens those two facts are concurrent. I'll tell you once we're all warm, dry and comfortable at our new host, Dr. Greene's house." "Ok.." Hank Stanley came over just then, grinning. "Hey Roy, would you take a look at that? Guess what kind of ambulance they sent up here to meet us.." "What is it?" asked DeSoto, opening up his father's shirt collar a little wider as he peered out through the rain showered windshield. "It's a 1959 ...Catalina..." Stanley elaborated. "Well, I'll be." chuckled DeSoto, laughing out loud. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The storm raged through most of the night, pounding Avalon Harbor and doing its best to damage infrastructure. But no more crises developed. The weather warnings put out by the county had done their job of keeping all of Catalina Island's tourists and locals safe. Chet came out of the bedroom of Dr. Greene's cliffside house and marvelled at the view glowing in a brilliant sunny dawn splendor just beyond the glass panes framing the many windowed living room space. "Wow, this is the life. No wonder Bill bought land way up here. He's got this place laid out like a mountainside ski chalet. Although it would've completed the illusion if we had some serious snowing going on." Kelly sighed, putting his hands on his hips. "That storm we didn't sleep through last night was more than enough for me, Chet. You can keep your snow." said Roy as he rebound his father's electrical burn. "How's that, not too tight?" "It's fine, son. And yes, my headache's gone, too." said Ian, still loafing in an opulent leather recliner. "Once you two annoying paramedics decide you're done fussing with Marco and I, go out and have a little fun, huh?" "Who's fussing?" said Johnny as he finished pulling a blood pressure cuff of Marco's arm. "We're only following Bill's orders to make sure you two relax enough to start healing properly." Gage said drolly. Ian ignored him. "And take Chris with you. Show him a good time for me. I gotta find some way to thank him for saving me." "Oh, Grandpa.." exclaimed Chris in his warm teenaged baritone. Lopez jumped on the bandwagon. "Yeah, guys. We'll both manage. Can't say we're not in the lap of luxury here in the house. Wide screen TV, a wet bar, a jacuzzi..." "Not in that cast.." Gage shook a finger at him. "Johnny, I was only kidding about the whirlpool. I do know better." Marco frowned, taking another sip of his iced tea. "And if we get tired we can always go out onto the deck and nap in the sun." Roy and Johnny looked around their rich, airy surroundings skeptically, but finally, in the end, they relented. "Fair enough. Ok, we'll go." said Cap for the rest of them. "Take plenty of pictures for us. Then we'll have something to look at for this day we're missing..." said Marco empathetically as the guys and Chris trudged out the door with full sets of waving hands. "We will.." they said. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The gang was settled happily. They were enjoying a beach picnic at Parsons Landing while they lazily watched a scuba boat conducting its tourist pair through a diving experience just past the surfline. Chet's sunburn had reached the peeling stage and he absently scratched while he munched away on five legs of Stoker's fried chicken. "Umm, Mike. Excellent as usual.... Say, guys, maybe we should make him cook chicken on a BBQ outside when we get home when it's his turn to cook again back at the station. Maybe we'll be able recreate today's dream feast if we do that." "Not in a million years.." said Stoker. "I hate getting smoke in my eyes without a good reason for it." "Spoken like a true veteran firefighter.." chuckled Cap. Roy smiled. "So, Chet, what's on the agenda for today? We've already tried hang gliding.. What's next?" "Surfing lessons.." "Surfing lessons? Are you out of your everloving mind?!" roared Hank. "There's still massive storm surge out there. You like the idea of drowning in it?" "No one's gonna drown, Cap. Johnny and I just wanna park on our stomachs on top of our boards and--" "Gage,..you didn't encourage him on this, did you?" Stanley asked, redirecting his instant ire. "Uh,..." Johnny stopped chewing his potato salad. Chris began to giggle, pointing at Gage from where he said on their medical bag. Kelly thrust Johnny out further along the limb. "He sure did. You see, Gage thought it would be less risky for us to swim today than to try flying anything after the experiences we've had to live through during the last two days." said Chet. "Thanks a lot.." hissed Johnny through his teeth at Chet. Kelly ignored him and took another sip of Diet Rite. "Nope. I forbid it." Hank said evenly. "You can't do that to us, Cap.. we're on vacation.." Gage protested. "We're not at the station for you to have the power to order us around." "I'm not doing any forbidding because of how we usually work together while on the time clock. I'm putting my foot down because the two of you forgot something very fundamental about our outing today." "Oh, yeah?" Johnny asked, still a little stung. "And what's that?" Both Roy and Cap said the same thing at the same time. "A permit. " Chet and Johnny both looked at each other wanly. Roy elaborated. "You need one to enter the water for any kind of ocean activity here. It's in the park rules. See?" he said handing over a pamphlet. "Just read here by the number six." Gage snatched it out of his hands, reading fast in irritation, with an equally miffed Chet, reading over his shoulder. In a few seconds, Johnny balled up and threw the park guidelines away over his head in disgust. "No littering's allowed either.." said Hank matter of fact, with a neutral grin, pointing absently at the wad spinning in the sand in the wind. Chet pinned the pale yellow paper down onto the sand with a newly flaking bare foot before an arriving gust could blow it away, and just glowered. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deep under the water, a diving instructor was doing a head count of his two tourist students while they explored a thick kelp forest that was rising up from the rocky floor thirty feet below. Their flipper strokes were lazy. :: All normal. These two catch on fast.:: he thought. ::Ahhh, so it's gonna be easy fee earning today. Cool..:: He had just looked at his watch to time their remaining regulator air when the man of the couple suddenly fell motionless to the bottom. ::Oh, sh*t..:: thought the instructor and he dove down to where the woman was panicking below as she gestured at her arms and legs still husband. The instructor pulled the woman away from the man's face plate after making sure she had her own air still safely in her own mouth. He peered at the man's face through his mask. His eyes were open and dulled in a thousand-yards stare. ::He's out...:: The instructor dropped the man's weight belt completely off and then the woman's and his own as he grabbed the unconscious husband around the chest for an emergency ascent to the surface. As he kicked himself and his victim upward, he kept looking down to make sure that the woman was following them. ::We'll make it fine here without a decompression stop. We've only been down ten minutes.:: What he didn't know what that the couple had been diving the morning before with another dive company at depths below sixty feet. Unbeknownst to him, serious problems for them were already starting. He got to the surface, tore off the husband's mask, and listened at his nose and mouth for any signs of breathing. He found none. Immediately, he began mouth to mouth on the man as he swam him rapidly into the shore. The wife's head broke the surface a few breaths later and she began to scream, not for her drowned husband, but for the sudden cramps which were knotting up all of her limbs at the major joints. The instructor grabbed her by the hair with his other hand and began shouting for help at the people he saw lounging on the beach.. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chris looked up at a sudden shouting from the water. Other people in black wets suits and other private diving parties had heard it, too, for they began running as fast as they could for the foaming surfline. "Dad! Those three out there are in trouble!" he said pointing out to sea. "Grab the medical bag, Chris. Bring it with you.." said DeSoto, leaping to his feet. Johnny started to say something, too. "Cap--" "I know.. Call for help, then grab both oxygen cylinders from the golf cart. Just get going!" he said, sending Chet along with them. Just ahead, they could see a dive instructor dragging a man, divested of his scuba gear, through the violent surf while keeping up his steady artificial respiration. The worst victim's color now, was turning blue. Gage and Chet ran for him first while a civilian diver from the beach met up with the struggling second woman fighting the waves a little distance away from the others. He picked her up and carried her into shore by piggy back. She went limp in relief as he got hold of her. "I got her head." said Roy, reaching him. "Let's get her laid out flat on the sand. Raise her feet up as soon as you can." "Are you a doctor?" asked the woman's rescuer. "No. We're all firemen. Myself and my partner over there are paramedics. We can treat them until help arrives using our emergency medical kits." DeSoto said, helping the man get her out of the water. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The instructor collapsed in exhaustion onto the beach, but waved Chet away briskly when he saw that Kelly had started over to his side. "Just help the diver guy. I'm...ok." he gasped. Kelly rejoined Johnny over the unconscious man's body. Gage looked up at him. "He's got no pulse either. Start on him first, Chet. Chris's coming with an oxygen tank." he said, unzipping the husband's wetsuit to locate a fast compression landmark. He began some solid CPR. Kelly stayed on the diver's mouth to mouth, pausing only to drain seawater out of the man's nose when whenever it welled up and out of him. Chet noticed that it was laced with bright blood and pink foam. "He's lung injured, Johnny. If it's barotrauma or just water inundation, I can't tell." "Doesn't matter. Just .....keep going. That's not going to........be his only...... problem here." he grunted as he worked. "We've got to.....assume he's developed....the bends... I think his wife... has, too." he said, looking up at Roy where he and Hank knelt in the sand. He saw that DeSoto had raised the woman's feet up high on his medical pack despite her difficult breathing. ::He's trying to keep nitrogen bubbles from traveling up into her brain or heart.:: he thought. Then Johnny couldn't afford to consider the other things any more while he concentrated on keeping the stricken diver under his hands circulation viable long enough for the coming slim chance that a lifeguard's defibrillator might shock him back to life. Dimly, he was aware of Cap relaying to a Baywatch crew and the Coast Guard, their camping coordinates using VHF Channel 16 over their ever present hand held radio. ::We're getting into a habit here with calling out for help all the time on vacation now, aren't we?:: his mind thought ironically. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy was smiling at the woman while Cap gently dissuaded her from pulling off her flowing oxygen mask. "Maam, we're working on your friend now. He's out of the water. I need you to answer a few questions for me while I check you out here to determine your true condition. I'm Roy, a paramedic with the county, and this is my fire station's captain, Hank Stanley. Can you tell me who you and your friend are at all?" he asked her. The frightened woman yelled out a reply. "God I hurt!.. Make it stop. I...can't....br--" "Easy. Just try to relax. Help's on the way, ma'am." Stanley told her while he quickly dug a hole for her head so that it would tip backwards a bit into the sand so that she could breathe a little better. "There. It'll be easier now. Try to answer Roy again. He needs to know how you're doing, ms., in order to treat you using the best way possible." The woman began trembling under their hands, but she started talking to them a few seconds later. "My ....name's Callie Johnson. That's ...*gasp* Scott, my...my......uh,...we're m - married.." she got out. "Ok, good, Callie." said Roy, taking her pulse and respiration count. When he was through, he asked, "Mrs. Johnson. Can you tell me where you are?" "B--beach. I'm at the..beach." she cried. "That's right. And what day is it?" Cap asked her, helping Roy with gathering details while the paramedic took a fast set of bilateral BPs. "Sunday.." "Do you remember anything about the dive you were just doing?" Hank asked her. The woman's face frowned, the left side of her mouth sagging a bit, as some new confusion set in. "I was....diving?" she asked through the oxygen mask. The diving instructor, DeSoto and Cap all exchanged glances with each other. The woman had a definite neurological deficit building up. Roy pulled the stethoscope out of his ears. "Ok. Now I want you to follow my finger with your eyes, Callie. Don't move your head. Do you understand?" asked Roy. Then aside he said. "Cap, put down the time and these BP readings on paper. 110/70 on the left side and 90/50 on the right." he told Hank. The instructor, watching both groups working nearby, startled. "She's stroking out?" "Perhaps not.." said Roy. "It's too soon to tell yet. These signs just might be temporary effects. How deep were you?" "Twenty five, maybe thirty feet.." replied the dive instructor. "I never take new divers any deeper than that. The risks are high enough as they are." Roy learned Callie tracked visually just fine, without any indication of doll's sign. "Can you hear these sounds equally?" he said, snapping his fingers first over her left ear and then over her right. "Y--yes.." she gasped, breathing hard. Callie's skin was pale and slightly blue in the fingernails despite the pure oxygen upon which she was hyperventilating. Hank covered her with a thick layer of beach towels for warmth. DeSoto reached out for Chris's necklace. It was a vial of cologne he knew his son was fond of using. He uncorked it. "Callie, what's this smell?" he asked, moving her oxygen mask away long enough to wave the necklace's vial under her nose. Callie couldn't answer him and she shook her head. "I.....I.....I don't know.." she cried. "How's Scott? I.. I can't see him from here!" They didn't tell her about him. DeSoto continued his fine neuro exam. It would save a lot of time at the hyperbaric decompression center, he knew, if this was already completed and out of the way. "Smile for me, Callie, then stick out your tongue." Callie couldn't on the left side. And her tongue deviated to the right side corner of her mouth when she thought that it was sticking out straight. "That was just a check on certain cranial nerves. Now, I'm gripping both of your hands." said Roy gently. "Are you left or right handed?" "Right.." gasped Callie. "Ok, so you'll be stronger on that side." Cap continued. "Squeeze Roy's hands, Callie. Squeeze both of them at the same time. Hard as you can." Callie was about the same in both grips. Stanley and Roy tested Callie's body for sensations and ability all the way down to her toes. They looked at shoulder shrugging, how she could push up or down against pressure put to all of her limbs, whether or not she could bend her knees or move them apart..... Then they swept her skin, testing sharp and dull responses on it using a ball point pen. She did fine there, discerning normally. But Callie's Babinski's response was positive, her toes curled upward when Roy stroked both feet from heel to toe along the bottoms of the young woman's feet. They found that Callie could not distinguish between hot or cold when they ran either an ice cube or a sun-hot rock along her skin anywhere above the waist on her left side. Nor could she successfully touch her left index finger to her nose on command. Her hand kept arching and going wide, only to hit the sand next to her head. "Ok, we've found the data we need to know about." said Roy after those few minutes. "I've written everything down for the doctor. He'll be better qualified in psychometric medicine than I, Cap." he said to Cap while both firefighters monitored the stressed and fleeing reactions coming and going on Callie's wind drying face. Chris was right there, too, holding her good hand to comfort her, while he kept tabs on what was left of the oxygen tank's compressed liters as they flowed out to her through their high flow mask. "These men are really good at what they do, Callie.." he soothed. "I should know. My dad's the best paramedic in the county. Soon, you'll have answers for everything that's happening once the doctor begins to treat you and your husband." Roy smiled when he saw his son using a few fingers to brush away some of the woman's fear with soft gentle strokes to her sandy hair. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Soon, transportation came. It was Baywatch Isthmus, arriving by boat after it was decided that even a helicopter flight's low altitude would further complicate both victims' already bends-aggravated conditions. During the whole forty five minute trip to the USC Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber, the thirty two foot lifeguard boat's Cummings diesel engines, were pushed to their fastest speeds in excess of 30 knots in an attempt to cut down the Golden Hour that they all knew was playing out. They reached the west end of the island right at noon and were met by a crowd of chamber volunteers who were on call there twenty four hours a day, seven days a week for just this sort of diver emergency. The male diver was whisked away into the first blue painted chamber while his cardiopulmonary resuscitation was continued aggressively. Johnny agreed to join Leo Fishman, the Baywatch paramedic, in recompressing the man for this new attempt to save him. Gage knew that sometimes, on occasion, a diver in full arrest could, upon reaching a critical pressure in the chamber, regain a pulse. He had seen it happen before during other decompression accident sessions in his past. He was banking on that possible effect for the wife's sake. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Callie on the other hand was being told what to expect before she was loaded up into her own chamber for treatment. The dive center's doctor explained everything to Callie while the tank was prepared to receive her and the second Baywatch paramedic who would be helping Roy monitor her condition during those hours. "For your treatment, Mrs. Johnson, this chamber will be compressed by sealing its doors and pumping in high-pressure air. You'll keep breathing in this pure oxygen as we go along. The combination of high pressure and increased oxygen levels will cure you if the hypoxia you've been suffering hasn't been too severe. These two states will reduce the size of the nitrogen bubbles you're feeling in your arms and legs and they'll go a long way towards restoring the circulation to the affected areas of your body. Any and all excess nitrogen will be completely flushed out of your system. "You'll be placed inside the chamber in a few minutes, accompanied by these two men who're trained in hyperbaric first aid. I'll be present throughout the entire treatment, standing just outside, and I'll be watching you through the window. If you need me, I can enter the chamber via the entry lock if you have any questions or concerns at any time. "You'll be brought to the equivalent depth of your dive, Callie, where you'll continue to breathe 100 % oxygen through your mask. Short breaks in the oxygen treatment, where you will breathe the compressed air within the chamber, are included in this treatment to minimise the risk of what we call oxygen toxicity, getting too much oxygen in your blood because of the saturation levels we'll be reaching. The initial treatment lasts approximately 4 hours 45 minutes. "If no, or only partial improvement is observed in your symptoms then the initial treatment can be extended in time until an improvement is seen. "If you show signs of deterioration at any point during the initial treatment then the chamber operators will change to a different recompression table. The length of this recompression treatment can vary, but typically lasts between 48 to 72 hours. "If your symptoms get more advanced and/or resume to deteriorate, or if the record of your diving incident shows that you had severe depth concerns, we'll then fill the chamber with a 50:50 Heliox mixture and starting recompressing you at a depth of 30m until you return to a neurological state as near normal as possible. Are you ready?" concluded the kind faced doctor. "I...am.." Callie paused and took her instructor's hand. "Thank you for saving me and Scotty. I'm..I'm sorry we screwed up.." she sobbed. "You didn't. Not from what I saw." said the diver instructor, waiting nearby. "Sometimes these things just happen, Mrs. Johnson. And I'll do everything in my power to be sure that no mistakes or errors were made by anyone concerning your husband's diving gear." "Ok..It's...*gasp* ok.." Callie sighed, closing her eyes. Then the injured female diver's care took precedence over everything else. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jo Swett and Dr. William Greene popped the champagne cork soundly. The portly nurse poured out nine glasses of the bubbly she had bought at the island market and gave one each to the Station 51 gang, themselves, and the last to Chris DeSoto. Ian declined her invitation, telling the hospital nurse that he wanted to sit out alcohol for the evening so he wouldn't fall asleep on them and miss something truly fun. "Here's to your absolutely stellar double save, gentlemen." Jo crowed. "Dr. Greene and I are stretching legal confidences a little when we say this, but Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are doing fine tonight and resting comfortably. In a few weeks time, both of them'll be able to continue their vacation where they left off. At the beach.." "Here! Here!" cried all the firemen. Chris looked stunned at the drink in his hand, but then he caught his father's wink. "Just a sip." Roy said. "Because it's such a special occasion. Then give it to Marco. His leg's itching him tonight." "Ok.. Down the hatch.." said Chris, holding the glass over his mouth as if he was going to pour the whole thing into his gullet. But then he desisted, taking only a small taste. "Thanks, dad." he said, handing the rest of it to a scratching, grimacing Lopez. Chet was grimacing, too, for a different reason. "D*mned sunburn. I forgot how clear the air gets over the island." he said, trying to reach an itch on his back with a few fingernails. "I told you to use sunscreen, Chet, but you wouldn't listen to me." said Roy, grinning. "No, but I am using Marco's calamine lotion now..." Chet retorted. "You are?" said Lopez, setting down his empty glass onto a tabletop. "Chet, that salve's supposed to be just for me. What am I going to do when it runs out?" "Use these..." said Bill Greene, handing over a case of new bottles over to Marco from where it had been sitting behind the couch out of sight. "Gee. Thanks, doc. What do I owe you?" "Nothing. The city's decided to pick up all of your medical bills, Marco. Let's just say for services rendered in the line of off-duty duty performed by the rest of these fine fellows in your group." he winked. "No kidding..." said Cap, brightening up from his place on a deck chair near them. The Casino Ballroom was lit up like a jewel on Avalon's coastline behind him. "I'm not. " said Bill. "Steve Hoefs lined up getting funds to cover them all at City Hall. He did that, in fact, as soon as he heard about those two divers you guys helped rescue through Baywatch's watch commander." "Tell him thanks, doc, from all of us." Lopez said, deeply moved. "I think he already knows, Marco. He already knows. Firefighters do read each other's minds sometimes, don't they?" smiled Jo in amusement. FIN Episode Thirty Three California Dreamin' Emergency Theater Live ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Roy and Johnny at an airport at night. Photo: Catalina Avalon firemen at night. Photo: Chris and Roy treat an old man with O2. Photo: Johnny running on top of a plane. Photo: 1959 Catalina ambulance. Photo: A Catalina, Avalon house. Photo: Pounding surf at Avalon Harbor. Photo: An Avalon mansion's living room. Photo: A diver discovered unconscious underwater. Photo: An instructor giving mouth to mouth to a diver. Photo: A swimmer carrying out a distressed woman in trouble. Photo: Distant divers in wetsuits on a beach. Photo: An active cardiopulmonary resuscitation attempt. Photo: A Baywatch boat landing at a diver rescue chamber. Photo: Hyperbaric paramedics and doctors working over a man. Photo: Johnny and Roy talking to a blonde haired woman outside. End Credits -- Episode Thirty Three (Fifth Season) §§ California Dreamin' §§ :) This episode is dedicated to Jo Swett, :) who's been serving as an RN on Catalina Island for over forty years.. and counting. May she gain her :) wish at being the oldest working nurse in California. :) The Story Unfolds... Season Five, Episode Thirty Four. §§ No Sooner Said... §§ Debut Launch: June 1st, 2006. ************************************************** From: "crash200225" Date: Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:38 am Subject: Not One Word Paramedics Roy DeSoto and John Gage were heading back to the station from Rampart after their first and only run of the shift. They had been toned out at 1100 hours for a sick child. Arriving at the scene, they had found a two year old boy with a very high fever and his nearly hysterical mother. "Man, I hope the little fella is going to be all right." Johnny sighed. "Me, too." replied Roy. "When Chris was that age, we had to make a few trips to the hospital for high fevers. Mostly in the middle of the night. The fevers usually broke within a few hours after treatment, and he was back to his normal self the next day." "So, what do you think is wrong with Chet today?" Gage wondered. "Huh?" Roy knew he should be used to his partner's sudden changes in subjects, but he was still amazed at how fast he could shift gears. "Chet, you know, bushy hair, mustache, pain in the..." "What about him?" "He hasn't said one word all shift, Roy. Not one word." "Did you ever think he might not have anything to say?" Roy knew it was an absurd question as soon as it left his mouth. "Chet Kelly? Having nothing to say?" Johnny snorted. "And he hasn't bugged me yet either. What's he up to?" It dawned on Roy that the station HAD been unusually quiet all morning. He wondered briefly if Chet was coming down with something. The name 'Chet Kelly' and the words 'nothing to say' were like oil and water. They didn't mix. Johnny snapped his fingers and announced, "I got it. He's trying to bug me by NOT bugging me." "John, I need to tell you something." Roy stated with the most serious voice he could muster. Concern etched Johnny's face as he turned to his partner. Roy always called him 'Johnny', 'partner', or even 'Junior', but never John. "I'm scared." muttered Roy. Surprised by the words, Johnny stuttered. "What... What's wrong?" "What you just said... made sense to me. I think I'm beginning to understand your logic." "Haha, Roy. First Chet isn't talking and now you're the joker. Why I put up with..." Roy smiled and tuned Johnny out. Just as he backed the squad into the bay while Johnny used the radio to announce that the squad was back in quarters, the tones sounded. Roy idled the motor while they waited for the dispatcher's voice to come over the speaker. ##Station 51....## ---------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************* From: "mkmg365" Date: Fri Jun 16, 2006 9:23 am Subject: No Sooner Said In Johnny's recollection, yesterday had started out as completely normal between him and Chet. And that had been way before he had felt the need to even tell Roy about it. Johnny thought back to eight am the previous day..., remembering how it had all begun. ------------------------------------------------------- Roy and Johnny had been changing in the locker room when Chet walked in. "Yeah, and she says..," Johnny said to his partner. "Don't tell me. Let me guess.." replied Chet, interrupting. All of a sudden the tones began to sound... -------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************** From: Roxy Dee Date: Sat Jun 17, 2006 8:32 pm Subject: Canyon Run~~ ##Engine 51, Squad 51, Engine 8. Man trapped. A half mile south of Red Rock Canyon. A half mile south of Red Rock Canyon. Cross street, Scenic Drive. Time out : 0824.## Cap told dispatch that his crew was responding to the call. With Roy and Johnny in the squad, Marco, Cap, Chet and Mike in the engine, they were off. At the end of the driveway, they flipped on their lights and sirens which cleared the road of traffic. Their drive took them away from the city and into the rural mountainous area of northeastern Los Angeles County. Station 51 arrived at the scene ten minutes later to see, among the tall pines and spruce, a dirt road with broken road block bunkers cast all around. Men in hard hats were down in a ditch full of rhododendron and sumac surrounding a tipped over bulldozer. Cap jumped out of the cab and a foreman ran up to him. He began to tell him what had happened. "It's Charley. The cat we were using to knock over those trees lost its brakes and shot down into the canyon, out of control. It crashed into a tree before Charley could leap off and it fell on him. A couple of guys tried to free him but it's no use." ansed the foreman. "Just leave that to us and clear your men out of there. I don't want anybody else to get hurt." said Hank. The foreman got his crew out of the canyon just as Engine 8 arrived. Captain Stone came over to Cap who filled him in. Hank was thoughtful. He turned to Chet. "How about climbing down the cliff to see how badly he's trapped, Kelly?" Chet nodded and went down, spilling dirt in a rain as he slid down the slope. He got to the bull dozer. Chet saw Charley lying in a furrow made by the cat. The heavy machine's roofing section was solidly fallen on top of his legs. "Charley?!" Chet yelled from where he could see the injured man in between a tangle of trees. He couldn't get closer because of snapped tree limbs and thick underbrush. There was no reply or any signs of movement from the man. "Charley!!" he shouted louder. Chet got no answer. Kelly walked around the debris to the other side of the bulldozer. He saw a thin stream of gas seeping down the slope. "Hey, Cap!" he yelled up the slope. "Yeah?" Stanley shouted back, shielding his eyes under his helmet to block out the worst of the rising sun's glare. "He's unconscious and it looks like both his legs are pinned under the cab's roofing!"reported Chet. "Can it be cut with a power saw?" Stanley asked. "It's possible, but you better hurry. There's gas leaking all over." Kelly replied. At that, Cap sent Johnny and Roy down the loosely bound slope, using rappelling ropes to aid them. "I'll send the stokes down with your gear as soon as you're ready for it." he told them. "Ok.." grunted Gage as he helped Roy rope bounce over a cat tumbled pine tree. Mike Stoker and a few of Captain Stone's men soon followed the two paramedics down with the portable saw and they started cutting on the bars of the caterpillar's roof under a protective wash of hose spray. They decided not to wait for a foam truck before setting to work. Thick corded lifelines tied off from both fire engines kept the cat from shifting any from its precarious angle perched on top of the man. The last thing they wanted was its bottom heavy chassis re-rolling back down and crushing Charley and his rescuers to death. Cap and Marco got the stokes out of the engine and tied guidelines to the front and back of the stretcher. They slid it down over the side of the road with the most critical boxes of medical equipment attached, the I.V.s, splints and the oxygen resuscitator. Stone's men were fast at cutting away the branches separating all the firemen from their victim and soon, Roy and Johnny were able to get over to the stilled man. "Charley... Can you hear me?" asked Roy as he knelt, pulled off a glove and felt for a carotid. He looked up at Gage. "He's alive." He shouted the man's name once again, loudly so that it could be heard over the buzz of the saw's spinning blade. He got a low moan for an answer following a sternal rub. "Easy. I'm with the fire department and we're gonna get you out of here in a minute, so hang on as best as you can, ok?" He got another moan from the bloodied man lying on his side in the dirt. But the noises he made weren't intelligible words. Johnny started Charley on a fast flow of O2 through a plastic mask after making sure he was able to breathe well enough without being helped. Roy crawled under the roof and slid into a hole Charley's coworkers had apparently tried to dig out around him. He grunted when landed on his face at the bottom. "Ouch!" "Roy, you ok?" Johnny demanded immediately, half rising from where he was cutting away Charley's clothing in a search for other signs of injuries. "I'm...ok.. Just in a pocket.." DeSoto answered. "Startled me, that's all." "You sure?" "Yeah..." Johnny listened for a few seconds to his partner's repositioning scuffling. Finally, he was convinced Roy was ok. "So far, his chest's clear. His trauma looks like it's all below the waist level, Roy. I got no rib fractures or any obvious gross bleeding past a large lac on his forehead." Roy grunted assent and checked Charley's branch bent legs with his own shears and hands carefully. He found a compound fracture on the right one and a bad cut on the left just above the knee. He got a fireman applying direct pressure over the second wound as soon as he found it. Then he backed out of the hole and waggled some fingers for one of the splints another fireman was holding strap ready for him. DeSoto asked Stoker. "How much longer? He's bleeding out badly from an arterial tear." Mike answered. "About two more minutes... Three, tops. And most of that time we'll just be moving tree branches out of your way." Roy nodded and grabbed for the biophone. Johnny noticed that Charley was now blinking in a semblance of wakefulness. The oxygen had done its work. Gage saw that Charley's bruised and dirty hands seemed to be weakily guarding his stomach so he pressed on it in a check. The man winced and brushed Gage's fingers away quickly. "A little bit tender, isn't it?" Johnny asked, reaching again to see how far the rigidity extended away from the sore spot. Charley nodded when he found he couldn't talk easily. "Anywhere else past your lower right side?" Johnny asked. Charley shook his head. A groan of rope lifted metal rewarded all of their ears. The cat's roof swung away under many gloved hands and spun off of the construction worker and the sparking saw de-powered down immediately. Charley screamed in pain at the sudden release of weight and he sagged. Johnny regained a clear airway on him with a jaw thrust and waited for the heavyset man to recover from his near faint. "Ok, gimme his collar. We board him up first before we move him out of here." he told the others around him. A few tense minutes went by as all struggled to immobilize the cat driver as safely as they could without jarring his fractured legs. "Ok, he's free!" said Stoker. "Ready to pull him out?" "Yeah.." said Roy, looking up from his vital signs notes. He glanced over at Gage. "Johnny, I can't get any reception down here. His I.V.'s gonna have to wait until we get him to the top." "He's doing fine on my end. Still semi-conscious." Johnny agreed. "I no longer have to hold his head." DeSoto redirected his attention back to their patient. "Charley,..We're going to pull you out and it's gonna hurt. Try not to help us, ok? It'll only aggravate your injuries further." Charley waved a grimy hand in understanding. Two men moved to either side of the man and they lifted the longboard up slightly so that hand shovels could dig out a boulder blocking their way. Charley screamed in pain. Roy and Johnny held onto his shoulders "You're almost out, Charley." said Johnny. Roy brought the man's stokes near and he was nestled inside of it with the oxygen tank sandwiched in at the foot end. They strapped him securely. Then Stoker hollered up to Cap to take up the slack. "Cap.. Good to go.." Once on the road, Johnny and Roy took off their gloves and helmets and got to work. Roy opened the biophone and contacted Rampart while his partner got out the BP cuff and took Charley's next blood pressure. "Rampart, this is County 51, how do you read?" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dixie McCall looked up as the buzzer sounded over the base station door. She went inside the glass room and toggled a switch. "Unit calling in, please repeat." she specified as she turned on the rescue tape recorder. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Rampart this is Rescue 5-1." grunted Roy, catching his breath back after the climb. ##Go ahead, 51.## said Dixie. "Rampart, we have a male approximately 42 to 45 years of age. He's been a victim of a vehicular accident involving a construction caterpillar in a rollover. He's sustained multiple injuries resulting from it : a compound fracture of the right femur with an arterial popliteal tear on the left that's also a probable non-angulated fracture. Direct pressure seems to be working for that. I would say that he's lost about a 1000 cc's of blood all total. There's tenderness and some rigidity to his lower right quadrant. We suspect some internal hemorrhaging there. He also has a cut over his left eye without signs of obvious skull fracture. However, he remains somewhat stuperous and diaphoretic even on high flow O2. He's exhibiting early moderate signs of shock. Stand by for the current vital signs. Rampart, he has been successfully extricated from a limb entrapment." DeSoto reported. ##Standing by, 51.## said McCall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dixie rapped on the window and Dr. Brackett looked up from the slate he was reading as he was walking by the ER's main desk. He set his chart aside and immediately joined her inside the callroom. "What have you got?" he asked her. "Caterpillar driver in a roll over. Mechanism sounds worse than what's really apparent to the medics." she told him. Kel read what she had down for notes. "51, this is Dr. Brackett. Have you obtained your new vitals signs yet?" ##That's affirmative, Rampart.## Gage answered, taking the phone from Roy while DeSoto reached for the drug box. ##Vitals signs are : BP is 90/50, pulse is rapid and weak at 116, respirations are regular and only slightly labored at 20. He's responsive to verbal commands.## Brackett looked up in worry as he said. "Dixie, set up Treatment Four. He might be bleeding pretty fast into that stomach of his. We may need to open him up right here in the ER to stop it." "Right, Kel." she said and she left the room. The wavy haired doctor thumbed the talk button. "51, start an I.V. of Lactated Ringers, wide open. Also draw blood for a type and cross. Is your ambulance at the scene yet?" ##That's affirmative, doc. It's just arrived.## Gage told him over the airwaves. "What's your ETA?" ##Our ETA's approximately twelve minutes. Pulse's still very regular and palpable down to the wrist.## "What's the scope showing?" ##Normal NSR, Rampart. Do you want us to send in a strip?## "Negative, 51. Get him in here as soon as possible without delay. Send me one only if problems develop on him rhythm wise. Continue monitoring his vital signs closely, every five minutes, and maintain a high level of perfusion for those fractured legs. Hyperventilate him if you have to, to keep both feet viable." ##10-4, Rampart.## said Johnny. He hung up his connection while Roy quickly got an antecubital intravenous line in on a fast flow. An ambulance attendant pulled the stretcher next to the two paramedics while other fireman kept up the elevation on Charley's leg end of the stokes and his I.V. bag. Gage soon took that and snugged it under Charley's shoulder to keep it pushing fluids while they wheeled him to the waiting rig. "I'll ride in with him." Roy announced as he set the medical gear inside the Mayfair next to Charley. "Ok, meet you there.." Johnny said picking up both their helmets and glove pairs to throw into the squad's open window. Cap shut the ambulance doors and rapped on them. The boxy rig took off with the squad right behind it. Hank watched them go and then he said to dispatch on his walkie talkie. "L.A. Engine 51. My company and Engine 8 are out one hour for brush detail to wash down spilled gasoline from a rolled over construction caterpillar at the bottom of a ravine." ##Engine 51.## ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ At the hospital, the ambulance slowed and drove under the skyway. It backed up to the emergency doors and the attendants got out. Johnny pulled the squad up next to their patient's transport and quickly went to assist them with moving Charley inside. He took and held up the nearly empty I.V. while they fast-walked the man inside. Passing off the test tubes full of blood to Dixie took only a few seconds. Brackett met them in the hall and said. "In here." Johnny handed off the I.V. bag to one of the attendants just before the door closed between them. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- He and Roy went to the receptionist's desk to await Dixie's return from the lab. "Coffee?" DeSoto offered to his partner. "No thanks." Gage sighed, rubbing his face in fatigue. "Isn't lunch waiting for us back at the station?" "Today it's not. The engine's still in that canyon if you recall." "Oh, that's right.." Gage said, disappointed. "Well, that's ok. We can always stop off at a hamburger stand somewhere on the way back." "What do you mean, we? I'm not hungry yet. I don't wanna drive anywhere extra this morning. I've a feeling it's gonna be one of those shifts again." Roy complained. "Fine. I'll drive then. Gimme the keys.." said Gage, not turning around from where he was sipping his coffee while helping himself to the medical supplies they needed to replenish. He held out gimme fingers impatiently. "Try not to scratch our new paint job. Charlie the mechanic will have a bird if we damage the squad before what he considers a decent interval's passed." DeSoto replied, handing over the cluster of keys on a bungee coil. Gage ignored him. "Think he's gonna make it?" Johnny asked Roy as he threw a head towards Treatment Four. "Yeah. His pressure went back up. Even before surgery. I guess he was just emotionally shocky like we figured. I know I wouldn't like kissing the dirt so intimately while knowing five tons of machinery was about to roll back down the hill on top of me." Roy quipped. It was a few minutes later when Dixie rejoined them. Smiling, they pro-offered her a cup of Folders before she could offer them an empty wash bowl complete with a green bottle of Phisoderm with which to scrub their dirty faces clean. "Beaten at my own hospitality game, eh?" she joked. Roy replied cheekily..... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Johnny and Roy with a bobcat, looking down. Photo: Johnny and Roy with a fallen man. Photo: Gang follows bobcat down. Photo : Johnny holds an I.V. over stokes. Photo: Close up of a man trapped in debris. Photo: An injured leg. Photo: The whole gang loading an ambulance. Photo: Roy and Johnny resupplying solo. Photo: Dixie and Brackett take a rescue call. Closeup. ************************************************** From : Cory Anda Sent : Monday, June 19, 2006 2:14 AM Subject : The Hidden Danger.. "We learned from the best.." chuckled Roy. Johnny grinned, too. "You were a good teacher in the paramedic program. Your mother hen instincts must have ...rubbed off on us pretty bad... I wasn't even aware I was under your past carefully sowed influence, until you mentioned it to us just now, Dix.." Gage laughed. "Now, fellas,.." Dixie demurred. "...everyone knows that flattery works ninety five percent of the time it's used in practice...except when you're a male with the last name of Gage trying to pick up a date at a single's bar." She crooked a half smile. "Very funny.." Johnny said sarcastically. Roy grinned even bigger. "Yes. It was.." Dixie smiled right back. "I consider myself buttered up. What's the real story here? What else can I do for...such a nice pair of ..., hard working young men such as yourselves today?" she teased, pouring on fake flirtation by the pound. Johnny sighed and came out with it. "When are the paramedic refresher tests coming out this month? Brice told us they were coming last fire call.." he admitted with a pained expression, his word coming out in a rush like a bad hiccup. "Johnny..You know I can't give out classified information like that without getting into a lot of trouble. Kel would have my hide if I told you, personally and professionally." Dixie scoffed mildly. "Roy, I'm ashamed of you for letting him even try to wring it out of me." "I'm the very picture of innocence today, Dix." said DeSoto. "Since when has Johnny ever done anything that wasn't his own idea to pursue in the first place? No, wait a minute. Don't answer that.." he said, rubbing his forehead in discomforture. "Thanks a lot.." Johnny piped up, insulted. "Look, we'd better get going before I drop down to the floor in a hypoglycemic attack. Wouldn't you know?..I'm starving--..." "..again..." said Roy. "..again.." finished Johnny at the same time. McCall laughed. "Why don't you eat here in the cafeteria? That food's closer..." "You call that food?" Johnny made a face. "I can eat it when I have to. Only the burgers,..heh. But today, I need some real nourishment. Roy thinks we're gonna have a busy day of---" "Don't say it!" Roy interrupted. "...runs.." Johnny finished matter of factly. The walkie talkie immediately began to speak in a response. ##L.A., Squad 51, are you available?## Roy lifted up his radio. "Squad 51, 10-4, L.A.." he said. ##10-4.. Stand by for a response with Engine 51...## Roy, Dixie and Johnny all froze into listening poses. Gage's eyes opened in interest despite his growling stomach. **BEEP....BEEP....BEEP..** ##Station 51, Battalion One. Minor excavation fire. At the Sandstone Mining Company's secondary shaft. Two miles south of West Ridge Pass. Two miles south of West Ridge Pass. Cross street: Pacific Coast Highway. Time out : 10:02.## Roy nodded, fumbling with the box of supplies and their EKG monitor, until Johnny rescued him by taking the HT out of his hand to acknowledge the call for him. "Squad 51. Responding from Rampart General.." Gage told dispatch. ##Squad 51.## "Gotta go, Dix.." Johnny said to her with a short, friendly wave. "Here.." she said, pulling out a candy bar from her smock's pocket. Johnny barely caught the Mounds Almond bar when it sailed through the air in his direction. "Oh,.. thanks but I don't like---" "Just shut up and thank the lady already.." Roy elbowed him. "If you won't eat that, I will.." he mumbled in irritation through the side of his lips. "Thank you, Dixie. Saved my life.." Johnny fired back dutifully as they turned away from her for the ambulance entrance. "Good boy." Roy retorted. "And I'm driving. You're too shaky to." Gage's next acid comment was drowned out by the sound of Captain Stanley's voice replying back to L.A. from their location on the road. ##Engine 51. 10-4, L.A. Our ETA is eight minutes.## ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A thin stream of smoke billowed out of a horizontal mining tunnel opening, staining the placid ridge's sun soaked landscape with a rusty purple soot cloud. There were no obvious signs of open flames raging from down below. Sirens mingled then tore apart from the rush of the Santa Barbara traffic growing louder as the engine and squad met up and flew around tight gravel road hairpin turns to get to the scene. Clouds of dust rose when the two red, light flashing vehicles screeched to a halt. Captain Stanley stepped off the running board, meeting his two paramedics alongside the squad. "Gage, DeSoto,.. L.A. informed me that the new fire here was detected by radar plane. The pilot reports that no miners are around now and none have been in the shafts today. This might be that old subterranean coal fire smouldering up again under the soil. So let's put it out and then check for any workers who might've snuck into their primary shaft down the road in an attempt to rack up some unofficial overtime." "Right.." John said, buttoning up his overcoat. Roy was already putting on his gloves. Cap faced his other men. "Marco, Stoker,..Get an inch and a half played out. Kelly, you're going down to see if you can scout out the source." he said, glancing and sniffing carefully at the mossy hole. The smoke had already abated somewhat so he added. "Don't think we'll need an air bottle just yet for this one, Chet. It's a fairly cut and dry ground fire as far as I can tell. Probably just a dust flare up with no kindling." "Ok, Cap. I'll be careful. I'll radio in every minute." Kelly told him. "You do that. Go get a torch, lifebelt and a rappeling rope. The shaft lift's not in service today. There're no workers." Hank said as he stepped back into the Ward's cab to give his status report to Battalion. The others moved away to their fire duties. Stanley scraped off some mud from his shoe absently as he watched them set up. The clump of clay fell and landed heavily onto the ground and a dust eddy wafted up from the impact and drifted under the engine's tires. The swirl moved on and passed a freshly dead body of a jack rabbit partially hidden in the grassy rut running along the middle of the road. Nearby, a bird faltered in flight, recovered, then faltered again only to tumble end over end in a crash to the ground. It landed in a fluttering heap and soon became still. No one noticed the absence of animal sounds or the sudden silence falling around them for the engine's radio was still filling the air with situation chatter and firefighting conversations. Cap waited for a gap in vocal traffic. "L.A., Station 51 is out forty five minutes. Our incident appears to be a resurgence of the perpetual underground fire Five Beta already noted by Headquarters on the "to monitor" list. All company shafts appear to be completely uneffected...There's no damage to property." ##10-4, 51. I'm standing down. Keep me posted.## replied Battalion One from his car's frequency. "Will do, Battalion.." said Hank in reply. He sighed and pushed down his walkie talkie radio, looking up. "Mike, go ahead and charge up that hose just to be on the safe side while Johnny and Roy man Chet's lifeline. We'll give him just a quick down then up and then we're out of here after a fast ground heat survey update on that old fire." "Ok..Cap." said Stoker, jogging off to the tall red and white painted water valve clearly marked by the circuit breaker building. A few minutes later, Mike turned off the hose and peered into the steaming darkness of the ventilation hole, satisfied that every flame had been extinguished. All of the guys stood around the new shaft, talking about the peculiarity of the blaze. "It shouldn't have lasted down there this long, Cap." Kelly said, belting up. "Why wasn't all the oxygen used up in the first few minutes after it broke into the shaft from the substrate enough to put itself out?" "Random breezes..?" guessed Gage. "There is a storm front in the mountains. See?" he said, pointing to the Sierra Nevadas on the horizon. "And rainwater moving down the overflow might account for better ventilation.." Stanley concluded. "Bingo.." Chet grinned, tightening his helmet while Roy checked his belt's buckle and the rope hitched in a double loop attached to it. "Yeah, well, the sooner I get down there to see if it'll stay out this time, the sooner we can all get back to the station to fix up some serious chow. Are you as hungry as I am, Gage?" "You have to ask?" Johnny groaned miserably. "Eat.." Roy said, shoving the candy bar that Johnny had left on the dash of the squad at him. "Oooo, thanks.." said Kelly, snatching it from Roy's gloves. He quickly stole one of the candy bar halves and then tossed the last one up into the air so Johnny had to catch it fast before it hit the dirt. He munched happily. "Thanks for the work reward ahead of time, pal. That was nice of ya.." he chuckled. Gage scowled. "Hey, that was mine.." "Was.." said Chet, disappearing into the hole, his rappelling equipment jingling as he climbed over the lip and started heading down in the direction of his flashlight's beam. "And it was real yummy, too. Remember.. you snooze, you lose.." Johnny had to quickly pop the candy into his mouth before Chet's descending tension fell onto the rope he was holding for safekeeping in between his knees. Kelly continued downward cautiously. "Cap, the air's still fresh down here, and it's not hot in the slightest." "Ok, pal.." said Stanley. Gravel skittered and echoed up the slantwise shaft. Then there was a particularly loud slide past the usual, followed by a sharp thud. Suddenly, Chet's rope whipped taut, nearly dragging everyone manning it off of their feet. Marco was driven to his knees, balancing on the edge in a strain to support Kelly's fallen weight. He grunted, and saw a flash of silver as Kelly's light tumbled away and down. "Canisters?" he grunted. "Cap, something not right down there. I thought this tunnel was supposed to be zoned for air venting only, not storage." Cap fell onto the rope with the others. "Chet?! You all right?! Chet ?!!" The rope creaked back and forth in the empty black space yawning in front of their noses. "He's in trouble." Cap swallowed tightly. "Let's get him out of there. Fast." Painstakingly, hand over hand, the gang retrieved inches back. Finally Marco grabbed Chet's belt at the waist and together, the five of them hauled him out onto the grass. He was limp and his eyes were closed slits. Lopez gasped. "What the h*ll happened? He was barely down there for twenty five seconds." On a sudden impulse, Roy knelt, placing an ungloved hand onto Chet's stomach over his turnout where he lay. "He's barely breathing, guys." Johnny shot him a crazed look. "What?!" And he got on Chet's head instantly to monitor his pulse. "Holy---" Hank exclaimed while Stoker and Marco sprinted to the squad to get the gear and the oxygen. Roy checked Kelly's eyes quickly. "I don't understand this. Did something hit him on the head to knock him out?" Johnny quickly ran fingers through Chet's hair, feeling for wetness. "No..there's nothing. Plenty of dust but no injuries here. Or anywhere else that I can see. Are you finding anything?" Gage asked incredulously with alarm, thoroughly stunned. "No. Let's get him to the road into com range." said Roy. The three firemen gathered Chet's unconscious form into their arms after they pulled off the safety belt and hastily loosened Kelly's jacket collar. They carried him in anatomical alignment on his back, without jarring Kelly's neck or spine. Cap was beside himself with anxiety. "What-..what's wrong with him guys? Think he slipped or something? The smoke wasn't thick enough to turn or be even the slightest bit bad. I checked. " "We don't know, Cap. It's... I... something's not right with him that's for sure.." Roy stammered. The gang set Chet onto the ground while Roy took over guarding his airway. Johnny froze in his check for broken bones, listening suddenly as he peered at Chet's paling face. "He's stopped breathing." It was Gage's turn to shake his head in denial. He turned a valve on the resuscitator and started Chet on forced, oxygenated ventilations. Mike soon knelt and took over the job while Roy carefully reassessed Chet's pulse. Cap fairly flew to the engine. Marco followed. Lopez held onto the door, biting his lip while Cap got a hold of L.A. "L.A., this is Engine 51. We've a man down at our location. Send an ambulance and--" He stopped. Marco was shaking his head, apparently dizzy. "Marco, you ok?" Marco blinked and took a breath. "Yeah.. uh...yeah." Cap studied him closely. "Ok.." he retoggled the switch on the cab mic. "..And a full mining survey team. We've got an odd occurrence of respiratory collapse following exposure to old coal smoke. Advise all units coming in to wear their air masks." ##10-4. ETA on your ambulance is ten minutes.## Right away, another Klaxon sounded over the radio, assigning a Ground Fire Hazmat team to 51's incident. Hank tossed down the mic. "We're getting out of here. Marco, get your air bottle on. We'll help the others get into theirs. I messed up somewhere. And I've messed up big.." Lopez was already hefting his scba apparatus onto his sweating back. But he was having trouble. Cap pulled it on for him and got him into his mask. "So it's gas fumes?! Coming from where? G*d d*mn it! " Stanley snatched up four air bottles, one for each man awake, and himself. "I saw...saw cyl-- cylinders, Cap. Silver ones. Down the hole.." Marco coughed through his faceplate. "Go help the others.. I'm getting mine on. Tell them--" Cap took a hesitant step forward, with his burden, and then went down as if poleaxed. Numb, his senses reeling, Marco yelled aloud. "Cap?!" He bent over and nearly tripped over Hank's legs. He started to pick up his HT to turn it on to call out a warning for Johnny and Roy, when dizziness gripped him, too. Lopez fell. For a moment, Marco thought he managed to get out his jacket halligan for a wild swing at the side of the Ward to sound a warning signal, but then the rising blackness cast him deep into a soundless void. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Did you hear something?" Roy asked the others who were working to hook up Chet to the EKG monitor. Johnny looked up from the short airway and ambu he had begun using on Kelly. "Me? No. All I hear is Chet expiring O2 after we put it into him." he replied in a rush. Stoker was too occupied with manning a BP cuff with a stethoscope to notice the question. Gage felt a resistance to a generous bag squeeze. He removed the face mask. Kelly coughed out a chest full of oxygen and then some shallow but regular breaths began spontaneously through his new semi-conscious state. Johnny blurted out. "That did it." Mike grinned when he saw some finger twitches. "120 over 74." he reported to Roy and Johnny. Then he got out a non-rebreather mask set to maximum literflow and turned on the suction unit in case it was needed. He slipped the clear mask over Chet's face with a light grip, his face still full of strained concern."Rate's about thirty, guys." he said, studying Kelly's chest movement. "If you don't need me anymore, I'll go check on that ambulance. Cap and Marco went back to the engine to call for one three minutes ago." "We're ok now. Go on ahead." said Johnny, shivering, as he opened up the biophone case. ::That's odd. It's not even cold outside.:: he thought. Stoker jogged around a bush towards the mining road. Gage reached for the phone as another chill gripped him. He stopped and let it pass before setting up the transmission aerial. ::Funny. There it is again. Oh, no.. Could this be a hostile gas working on me?:: he wondered. In mid thought, a spasm doubled Johnny over and he made himself look at his partner, who had gripped his arm in a reflex. Roy was staring at him, too, half reaching for his own throat, a horrified expression on his face. He stood up, stumbling, trying to reach for an air bottle near them on the ground, when he fell like a stone. Johnny saw details only muzzily as a numbing paralysis gripped his arms and legs, and constricted his lungs. It tumbled him onto his left side. "Gas..." he groaned, hearing the live handy talkie chatter on obliviously in his turnout's pocket. He tried to reach for the biophone to knock the receiver free into an open channel, but it was too far away from his hands in the dust. Desperately, he launched out a foot and dimly, he felt his shoe hit something heavy. Gage blacked out. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Stoker glanced across the ravine to the mining company's entrance gates. There was no sign of a transport yet. Sighing, he started back the way he had come. Absently, he kicked a stone and it bounced off at a right angle and came to rest close to the gaping mouth of a dead robin. Stoker jumped. He hadn't noticed any dead birds before on the way to scope out for the ambulance. He nudged it with a toe. "Oh, sh*t." He immediately stifled any deep breaths and he started shouting on the tail of his last one. "Cap?! We got gas in the area! Everybody! Emergency! Get into your scba now..!" A twinge of pain quickly silenced him and he was forced to blow out the rest of his breath forcefully. His eyes fell on the carcasses of a rabbit and another bird. Both were dead, like the robin had been. Thoroughly unnerved, he took a calculated risk and started running back for the rest of the gang. He rounded a corner and saw.... Things were blurring.. Spinning... Mike blinked and shook his head. He let out a shout of dismay. Johnny and Roy were crumpled at Chet's side and both weren't moving. And under the engine, Stoker could see two pairs of sprawled arms and legs. Going blind with suffocation, the engineer crawled towards Roy after failing in his attempt to strap on his own activated air mask from a tank near DeSoto's hand. Nausea pitched Mike onto his stomach and on top of Chet. His last thought was that he was glad Kelly was still alive and breathing..... Silence filled the gulley as the firemen gasped, threw up, then lay still. Then the serious minutes began to tick by. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A dead Western Robin on the ground. Photo: Johnny down, in pain. Photo: Roy coughing in scba gear, with difficulty breathing. Photo: Gage feeling his head while on the biophone. Photo: Man being ambu ventilated. Photo: Biophone close up with the phone knocked loose. Photo: Chet Kelly smirking by the engine, outside. ************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:33 am Subject: One Tracked Mind.. At Rampart, the red light went on over the glass enclosed base station next to Dixie McCall's desk. The head nurse set aside her chart filing and made her way into the room, turning on the recording reels. "Unit calling in, please repeat.." she said on reflex. Nothing came over the air, just the sound of wind blowing. "This is Rampart Base on the air. Go ahead with your transmission please.." she tried again. Dixie frowned when she thought she heard a faint scuffling and some very quiet strangled gagging. Startled, she automatically snatched up the red phone over the radio that gave her an instant open tie with the county's fire department dispatch. "L.A. County, this is Miss McCall at Rampart General Hospital. I've an incoming call from a paramedic unit that's just been initiated. I've a confirmed open comm but no one's talking. Sounds like they've got some real trouble. Could you run a trace?... Yes, I'll keep their radio frequency open. All right, I'll be standing by.." she replied to L.A. "I'm turning our FD scanner on right now." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chet opened his eyes to the sound of cool hissing. He reached up muzzily and found a heavily flowing oxygen mask parked cock-eyed over his chin. He remembered that moments ago, he had spat out something hooked over his tongue. Rolling over dizzily, he spotted an oropharyngeal tube lying in the dirt next to him. ::That oral was mine? What the h*ll happened to me?:: he thought with a heavy confusion. Groaning, he looked up from where he propped belly down on his elbows and spotted Roy and Johnny lying in a heap on either side of him. Stoker was out, too, twisted haphazardly around his legs. "Guys?! Can you hear me?!" Kelly's knee plished against a used ambu bag assembly as he untangled himself from his unconscious crewmates and got up onto his hands. Instinct made Chet pull his plastic oxygen mask back over his nose and mouth, hastily pressing it down to gain more protection. ::They're all skin flushed. And the white vapor hanging over us is new..:: his mind screamed at him. Sucking in frightened gasps, Kelly looked quickly at his surroundings for a better solution to safeguard himself from a suddenly gone-hostile breathing environment. He found it. Struggling, Chet groped for the air bottle's mask lying near Mike's reddened hand and he put it on himself as fast as he could. Dragging the tank near, he hurriedly felt the carotids and breathing attempts of all three firemen lying near him. Unlike the others, Gage wasn't even trying to cough through his fast, very shallow respirations. In pain from a tremendous headache, Kelly set the oxygen mask that he had found being used on himself over Johnny's face and cranked up the flow to try and boost the paramedic's far weaker vital signs. Satisfied that Mike, Roy and Johnny were stable for the moment, Chet got onto his feet in a hunt for Marco and Cap and for more air bottles to fit into place for his downed coworkers. Weakness kept Chet from standing and he was forced to drag his air supply's tank weight behind his crawling feet by its straps. A little clarity allowed a gasping Kelly to hit the distress button on his bottle's PASS device as he made his way towards the parked, light flashing Ward engine. Its piercing audible wail comforted him as it told the others that he was coming. As Kelly drew closer to the road, he could hear L.A.'s hail, for his station's reply, repeat itself continuously. ::They know. Oh, Thank G*d.:: he thought as he slowly dragged closer to the truck. ::But it won't hurt to tell them to hurry their *sses a little faster.:: Chet thought. He reached a trembling glove into his pocket and hit the emergency squelch tone on his handy talkie until it began sounding out triple whistles over a live channel. All radio chatter coming from the engine ceased as the main frequency was instantly priority cleared by all units working around the county to await a further explanation or reply. Kelly kept crawling with the HT tethered around a wrist as he spoke, his thumb pressing down over the talk button. "Mayday... *gasp* L.A.,..Engine 51.. Mayday..." he gasped desperately. "Environmental ex--exposure.. Unknown vap-- vapor.. From the mine..." he yelled through his face plate. ##Engine 51, how many?## returned L.A. "Six..... Code..I." sighed Chet, dropping his head. "All above ground.. *cough* by the eng--..." A spasm silenced him instantly. Kelly found he was no longer able to talk, gagging in agony at the fire in his lungs. :: Is this methane on top of the CO? Somewhere, that perpetual coal fire's broken through to the surface in a new place close by.:: ##Engine 51. Do you read? Engine 51. Respond by HT distress toggle if you can't speak. ## L.A. ordered. ##Hazmat and two alarms have been notified. Their ETA is at a maximum of three minutes out.... Engine 51, do you read?## Chet ignored the voice, his vision tunneling tightly when he spotted Marco and Cap lying face down in the dirt beneath open cab and equipment doors. Lopez already had an air bottle working for him to the point of half-conscious coughing, so Chet crawled past him and got to Hank's limp body. Flipping Cap over, Chet tilted Hank's head back adequately while he sagged over him. A resting forehead on Stanley's chest confirmed a slow rise and fall of continued air movement by feel to Chet without his ever having to open his eyes as fatigue began rolling in waves over him from trying even a half upright crouch against the pull of gravity. With a jerk, Kelly got away from the impending blackout by hastily flopping back onto his stomach. Chet got Cap into a flowing air bottle mask as fast as he could manage after the hypoxia stars had left his eyes. Then, with an effort, he finished what Hank had started by completing the long trip back to the rescue squad with three new air bottles in tow for Stoker, DeSoto and Gage. The last of these were fitted to them successfully when Chet's gas sickened condition swept him once more into unconsciousness. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Hazmat Incident Commander studied the mine company's landscape from a distance. He had made sure that all of his crews were carefully upwind of Station 51's location. "Have you spotted them all lieutenant?" he asked his safety officer. "Yes sir. It seems they had time to get into their air bottles before blacking out." replied the fully hazmat suited firefighter. "But we can't tell their statuses, those vapors are too dense." "Easy son, we'll get to them just as soon as we can. You know I'm not risking any more men down there until we know what the situation is fully. Tell the Operations Officer to set up for Level Two Haz Mat. Showers and full respiratory suit precautions. I'm not convinced the mechanical sniffers were accurate on those methane and carbon monoxide readings. There may be another gas working down there that we haven't detected yet." said the IC scoping his binoculars once more over all the vomit stains. "I'll get everyone started.." said the Safety Officer. "Whatever those fumes are, they weren't fast acting enough to prevent those paramedics from reviving someone during the early minute intervals. We spotted a bag valve mask lying next to them and a resuscitator supply fitted with a nonrebreather, turned on, by a used oral airway." "Maybe that was the fireman who eventually called out the mayday. Have you found him yet?" "Yeah, he's the fourth casualty you're seeing lying by the paramedics with the HT around his arm. His jacket says his name is Kelly." "Keep having our people trying to contact him through his talkie. He may still be responsive somewhat despite being unable to move." said the fireman in charge. "Once I'm convinced things are safe enough through which to enter, we'll stokes them all out to Decontamination." Soon, the IC was joined by Battalion One and all factors were worked out and decided upon in a course of action. Six minutes after the Hazmat response arrived, suited crews entered the Hot Zone to rescue and decontaminate Station 51's fallen firefighters. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was several hours later in ICU at Rampart Hospital. Station 51's crew had all been admitted to the same open nursing station in six different cubicals of vacuum controlled isolation rooms arranged in such a way where they could all see and hear each other. Chet smiled a few seconds after his eyes reopened around his oxygen mask. ::We're safe now, partially because of me. Gage is never gonna live this down once he finds out what went on after I woke up out there.:: he thought in wonder. He caught one young isolation suited nurse newly studying him from her place in front of the vital signs monitors wired to all of them at the nurses desk. "Yes, folks. Chet Kelly probably has single handedly saved the lives of his entire station crew today. And all in one shot, too." he mumbled happily to himself. "Johnny Gage, you are gonna eat your heart out big time once you find that that fact's the absolute truth." His iso room door opened just then, and Chet soon found himself face to face with a hazmat suited Dixie McCall and Doctor Brackett. Chet opened up his mouth and started speaking hoarsely... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Hazmat Incident Commander- Captain of 110's. Photo: A hazmat Level Two shower. Photo: A coal fire vent, newly exposed. Photo: Kel and Dixie in isolation clothes. Photo: A hazmat team providing patient care. Photo: A hazmat unit. Los Angeles County. Photo: Johnny Gage out on a gurney close. *************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Wed Jun 28, 2006 9:31 pm Subject: Full Circle------ "Doc,...h-how are they?" Kelly whispered. "They're all fine. Johnny was touch and go with a bit of acute respiratory distress syndrome but that proved just temporary." replied Kel. "He only entered into crisis because his blood carboxyhemoglobin levels were near forty percent. Anyone would pant a little with that kind of PO2 shortage. The hazmat triage paramedic said your treating him probably made all the difference in the world, Chet. You bought him more voluntary breathing time than he normally would have had following that kind of carbon monoxide exposure." "Then that's all it was that got us? Carbon m-monoxide?" Chet blinked in confusion. He didn't even wince when Dixie drew out a followup arterial blood gas from his arm. "And methane. No special decontamination was needed in the end. Just a lot of O2 and a little Amyl nitrite to get rid of the cyanide traces built up in your systems from the fresh coal smoke blowing in from the road. That's what saved all of you from serious cases of atelectasis. The medication was injected at the scene until your I.V.s could be established to prevent bronchial cast formation caused by protein rich fluids potentially washing into your airways. "Now with Gage, we had to blow off all of his CO a little more rapidly. He's just finished a twenty three minute session in a hyperbaric chamber to speed up its half life decay inside of his bloodstream. His PO2 levels are finally out of the eighties." Kel shared. "You yourself only have fifteen minutes or so before you're cured of your carbon monoxide poisoning. It exists in the body for only seventy five minutes or so on one hundred percent oxygen." Chet looked at him skeptically, still feeling the effects of smoke inhalation deep in his chest. "It's true.." soothed Dixie. "The worst is over for you and the rest of the gang. They're all resting. See?" she said, throwing a hand about the ward. "Then what are you two still doing inside of those funky space suits." Chet asked. "What aren't you telling me?" Brackett and Dixie exchanged looks of amusement. "We found that Marco's infected with a particularly virulent pathogen." said Kel. "What's he got?" Chet asked with worry. Dixie tried to hide her grin. "He's got the chicken pox. Only he hasn't erupted out into the weepy lesion stage yet." "He's got the chicken pox?!" Kelly frowned, still not believing. Brackett nodded. "Yep. Its antigen came out clear as a bell in his blood work. We had to isolate each of you into separate self contained cubicles until we learned your exact histories with the disease. You're the last one to awaken to tell us yours. Have you had em?" "No. Can't say I've had the pleasure." he grumbled miserably. Chet sighed softly when he felt Dixie place a comforting hand on the side of his cheek to ease the not so happy news and he closed his eyes wearily. "As I thought." Brackett said. "Well then, it looks like all six of you have earned a protracted stay at Rampart until the pox runs past the highly infectious stage." "You're kidding. You mean nobody on my shift's had them before?" Chet said with surprise. "Nope." said Dixie. "Not even Roy with his two school aged kids." "What about our folks at home? How are they gonna cope?" Kel met his eyes evenly. "Do you really want to subject your friends and family to the chicken pox like this? It's the best part of summer right now. Not too cool. Not too hot.." he tried reasonably. Chet quieted down. Just a little. "Cap's gonna hate this. He's probably already his own worst enemy for missing the escalated coal fire conditions under us." "Not his fault.." said Dixie. "I spoke with your Battalion Chief to get what kind of gases he thought you fellas were dealing with in the triage area. Apparently, secondary fire crews found a very recent surface soil failure above a very large, new, burning vein of coal. A hundred foot section of the road upwind of your rescue site gave way just when you went down into the shaft and caused a silent steam explosion, releasing years worth of trapped gases. No one could have foreseen that happening. Not even your captain." said McCall with conviction. "So, in spite of wanting suddenly to be put in a zoo for my future spots, how am I doing right now?" Kelly asked, sitting up a little higher in the bed. "You're going to be perfectly fine. Your chest roentgenograms were negative. Your kidney functions are showing normal. Your EKG shows absolutely no signs of secondary smoke inhalation related cardiac ischemia. All we have left to do is assist in displacing the elevated level of carbon monoxide from your blood's hemogoblin." Kel said, raising both eyebrows thoughtfully. "And how are you going to handle that?" Chet asked, his leariness of hospitals and doctors showing almost as strongly as Hank Stanley's did. "Me? I don't personally have to do anything more.You're doing all the work fixing yourself just by breathing in the humidified oxygen flowing through that face mask of yours." Brackett smiled. "Try and get some sleep. It'll speed up your detoxification. I'll have Dixie go on rounds to tell the others that you're finally back in the land of the living." "Appreciate it, doc." Chet folded his hands behind his head. "Oh, and Dixie?" "Yeah?" asked McCall, turning at the door in her iso suit. "Could you deliver a message to Marco Lopez for me?" "Sure. What do you want me to tell him, Chet?" "Tell him to watch his back when this pox thing's finally over. Looks like the Phantom's gonna be real busy paying him back for a week's time spent in the hospital.." Kelly gestured empathetically with his non I.V.'ed arm. Dixie just rolled her eyes before she left the room on Brackett's heels. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It was Day Two at Rampart in the Isolation Ward. By then, Chet Kelly felt that he knew every irritating mannerism his coworkers possessed, and then some, by the time lunch finally rolled around. Captain Stanley, in the cubical to his left, took his tray from the dietary aide and smiled sweetly at her. "Thanks for the food, miss." And he cracked the lid open, trying not to make a face. "Smells wonderful." "Cap,." grumbled Marco, trying to take a nap in his sheets, with his back to the others, said. "Don't you know it's wrong to tell a fib? You're lying now. I can tell." Cap huffed and slammed the aluminum lid back down over his plate of turkey and reconstituted mash potatoes. "Oh, really? What if I meant it in spite of things?" "Impossible, Cap. You're not the contradicting type. You can get real mean, but you definitely never get deceitful. Ever." said Gage around his oxygen cannula. "This coming from a man with two prongs shoved up his nose.." Chet gestured. "Shut up already, Chet." roared Johnny. "We've heard enough of your Freudian observations to last a lifetime." "And whose lives did I save last week?" The rest of the gang fell silent. "That's right. I saved all your hides. Least you can do is allow me an ear or two whenever I got something to say for at least a little while." Chet said with some sting. Gage met Chet's gaze eye to eye. "Since when have you got anything worthwhile to say to us anyway?" Johnny told him crankily. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So that's how it happened.." said Roy, as he and his partner waited for the rescue call to finish airing through the overhead speaker. "You offended Chet in his highest charitable benefactor mode when we all were quarantined at Rampart last week. Johnny, I think remembering what you did then's keeping Chet from speaking to you any today.." "You think so?" Johnny asked, parking his helmet back onto his head as Roy reactivated the squad's lights. "Yeah, I probably know so." Roy returned, equally firm. "Well, good. I think I'm actually enjoying the peace and quiet for once." Johnny said empathetically with anger. "You sure could have fooled me. Just a minute ago you were really fretting about what hidden shinanigans he might be up to." Roy exacerbated. "Things change. I change. Especially when Chet does." Johnny said with heat. "Now are we gonna roll on this call or am I gonna have to get out and push the squad all the way there?" he said holding out the piece of paper containing the address he had written down to his glaring partner. "I'm going. I'm going. We gotta wait a tad for the slower engine, remember? Now hush and let me drive this thing without you doing it from the perverbial back seat." Roy fired right back. L.A. unexpectedly cancelled their response. ##L.A., Station 51. Return.## In the Ward, Marco grumbled. "Aw.. there's goes another chance to burn off the rest of my scabs with some real fire heat. That's not fair at all." "I got some calamine lotion with your name on it.." said Roy, holding up the bottle out his driver window. "You know I hate the smell of that stuff, Roy. Thanks but no thanks. Epsom salts and another serious bath'll do me just fine." "No baths while on duty, Lopez. You'll lag behind changing back into your uniform because you'll be too wet to be speedy enough." Cap told him with a firm jerk of his thumb. The others chuckled as they peeled off their jackets and helmets to return to the kitchen and the rec room to resume downtime activities. Gage grinned. "You can always elicit Boot's help with your itching. He loves to lick people when they don't want him to." "You keep him away from me, Johnny. He must have pulled a dozen sneak attacks on me last night as it was. I didn't get any sleeping done at all for keeping up my guard." Lopez complained. "Maybe a little sleep deprivation'll de-sensitize your skin a little more, Marco." Cap grinned, offering up a bright side. Gage and Roy laughed as Marco glared at them all while trying not to scratch at his withering pox marks. Lopez grumpily snatched the topical's bottle out of Roy's idle hand and he immediately peeled off his uniform shirt down to his white tank top to dab some on liberally with the flat of several fingers using the squad's side mirror. "Any words of wisdom from the wise on this subject matter?" Gage asked Kelly directly, with a smile. "Why should I have anything better to offer him, Gage? I'm not the paramedic here." and he stormed off, dragging Boot after him by the collar so he wouldn't leap up and lick off the medication Marco was slathering onto his skin. "Wow, what a grouch.." Johnny hissed to the rest of them in a subdued voice. "Yeah, well at least Chet's talking to ya again." Stoker remarked. "You call that talking? I liked him better when he was staying mute." Johnny told him no nonsense. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was the middle of the night when the next response toned all of them out of a sound sleep. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. ************************************************** From: "Mark Panitz" Date: Wed Jun 28, 2006 9:41 pm Subject: Service Dog Rescue The tones sang out. ##Squad 51, we've got a 911 call with a dog barking. 3560 Riverside Drive. Cross street Hollywood Blvd. Enhanced 911 shows a person with a service dog at that address.## said L.A. Roy and John got into the squad and responded. John said. "I wonder who called us?" "Who? The person or the dog?" Roy replied. "I'll bet the dog made that call.." John said. "We'll soon find out." replied Roy as they pulled away. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. ************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Thu Jun 29, 2006 8:35 am Subject: Man's Best Friend.. "You know, Roy? I don't think I like this new experimental phone system they're working on. It may be great keeping an open line whenever someone's incapacitated and not able to talk.. But at the onset, there's not enough information given to any crew who's supposed to be getting there. I mean, dog barking.. assistance dog. It could be anything going on at that house." Gage grumbled while he and Roy tightened their helmets under their chins a little more. "Me? I'd rather know what I got coming.. Be it a man down, child trapped, or a house fire..... ya know?" Roy smiled. "Everything the fire department does is for a good reason, Johnny. I've been with working for them long enough to know that usually when Headquarters springs a new idea like this 911 thing, it's usually revolutionary in nature and awkward only temporarily. That network's probably gonna save a lot of lives." "Just three little numbers.. What's to keep your kid from dialing those up whenever he feels like it?" Johnny mused. "The chief says there's an operator on the other end who'll call right back to see if there's truly an emergency at the incoming call address that covers that." "Still wastes valuable time if you ask me. A neighborhood watch gives better info on what's happening with someone better than an electronic phone system. I mean, what difference does it make whether or not we know a person's got a help dog with em or not? That only means they're physically handicapped in some way. Either being blind, or deaf, or with challenged mobility.. That's something a paramedic can learn getting face to face with a patient... ...in about two seconds.." Gage insisted. "Try not to fuss about it too much, Johnny. People like you are a little slow warming to anything new, but once you've been convinced that an idea or new technology works, you settle down and decide that you feel comfortable with it." DeSoto told him. "With this idea though?...Not in a million years. There's been too many bugs with the 911 Sifter. And what does enhanced mean anyway? That things sound louder?" Gage's face was dubious. "No, it means that L.A. can track a phone's location on a map and discover where it's at when a caller can't talk themselves. All a victim has to do is kick a phone off the hook and leave it there after dialing out." Roy told him. "You sure know a lot about this funky new system, don't ya?" "Sure I do. I'm a paramedic trainer, remember? Gotta keep up with the latest for all those trainees we get coming through.." Roy grinned cheekily. "I'd be happy to show you all the paperwork on it..." he offered. "No thanks. I'm a staunch supporter of the eyes and ears first theory. Just like Cap. I don't wanna know about the 911 system, not until it's been ratified into our county's fire department policies, and only when I've been officially ordered to learn about it." Gage told him firmly. "Suit yourself. It's always a good thing to keep current...Remember how surprised you were when Cap dragged out that life net to catch us when that apartment building was threatening to flash?" Roy asked him. "Yeah. What about it?" "You didn't even know it existed until Cap had that other company drag it out to use for us. And that was OLD technology.." DeSoto shared. "So? Do I look like I suffered for not knowing about it?" Gage snapped. "Well, no. Not exactly. But it's always a good thing to be prepared.." Roy told him. "I'm not a boy scout.." Gage grumbled. "Turn a right turn. Here." Roy never lost his smile as he rounded a bend onto Riverside Drive. Johnny's face completely washed into a hard line. "And there's yet another 911 bug biting us in the *ss again right now, Roy. Get a load of that situation.." he said angrily. A house was engulfed in flames down the block and its address matched the one on their notes. And an assistance dog was waiting for them, seated nervously in its harness on the lawn, torn between training to stay until help arrived and running back into the house after his companion. All Johnny had to see was its fidgety behavior to know that the house wasn't the slightest bit empty of human life. Roy pulled up a hundred feet and upwind of the dwelling while Johnny got on the squad radio. "L.A., Squad 51. Respond two pumper companies to our address! We've a fully involved single story wooden house structure on fire with a possible victim or victims inside. Their exact number is unknown." Gage was livid as he burst out of the squad's cab and got into his turnout jacket. "You wanna tell me again that some operator didn't shut out another caller on this incident who had more information simply because he or she felt the 911 enhanced information was enough?" Roy didn't have anything to say to that while the two of them ran cautiously to the nearest window to look for a body on the floor. When they got to a particular bedroom, the harnessed dog leaped back into the house, utterly ignoring the fire around them. "Hey!! You stupid dog.. Get back out here. What do you think we're here for?!" Johnny was worked up, and worried. DeSoto let Johnny use that anger to heighten his awareness. But he also wanted Gage secured onto a safety rope before he went anywhere, too. "You going in?" "Yeah.. The air's not hot yet. Looks like this fire started in the attic.." Gage said. "Want an air bottle?" asked Roy, tying off a rope around Johnny's waist. "No, that ceiling's firm, and the rest of these windows are already blown out. Ventilation's good enough to enter for me. But what do you think?" Gage asked him. "I agree. I'll give you two minutes. Uh,...follow that dog..." Roy pointed with a glove. "No kidding. Be ready for me, Roy. I'll bring em out one at a time if there's more than one person in here.." Johnny said. Roy fed Johnny slack as his jacketed partner jogged off through the flames in pursuit of the anxious help dog. Then he got on his handy talkie and gave a report. "L.A., Squad 51. We've got one going in on the west side of the house on a lifeline with HT support. There's clear evidence that the house is still occupied. Also, send police assistance for crowd control." DeSoto said as concerned neighbors got a little too close on the effected house's lawn for his liking. "Folks, listen to me... Move back to the street.. It's not safe. Please,.. everybody...just get back." he told them. Then Roy concentrated on clearing the window frame free of shattered glass with his jacket halligan, shaving away splinters and sharp pieces of melted stripping in a couple of sweeps. "Johnny?!" he shouted into his HT. "You've got a minute left! Make it count in there!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "He would have to be orange in color. That d*mned dog blends right in.." Gage muttered as he searched, feeling around doors carefully before he kicked them in. He found a man in the last bedroom on the bed. He was an unconscious adult in his forties with shortened and crippled arms and legs. A phone receiver and cord was strewn and melted some distance from the bed. It was apparent that he hadn't been the one to make the phone call. Johnny looked at the worried, trained dog in utter amazement. The man was still alive, breathing shallowly. "Good dog.. I got him.. Come on.. Let's go, boy.." Johnny said as he hefted up the small man onto his back into a carry. The helper dog whined and danced away from sparking embers that were burning his paws and landing on his rich tan and white coat. "I've got your guy with me. Now let's get out of here. " Johnny told the dog, giving him a shove back towards the dark window with a boot. He tugged on his rope to let Roy know that he had found someone who needed active rescuing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DeSoto felt the pull back signal and he began peering into the window again after Johnny. About thirty seconds later, Johnny reemerged, facing backwards until he got his victim's butt perched on the window sill in preparation for a dead weight shift with his fresher partner. "He's already breathin' light.." Johnny warned, coughing out some thickening smoke. "Where'd you find him?" Roy shouted, taking the man's weight onto a shoulder while he waited for Johnny to climb out the window. "Exactly where the dog said he'd be.. In the back bedroom. I got some of his medications in my jacket pocket. He's got a ton of them. I grabbed all I could." Johnny said. "Let's get him to the squad. You ok, carrying him?" "Yeah.. just go get the gear laid out.." grunted Gage as he slung the man back over his back once again in a vertical carry by the arms. "Where's the dog? Didn't he stay with you?" "He did. I know he did.. He was right behind me.." Gage said insistently. "I'll tell Cap about him once he gets here." Roy said grimly as he jogged away. "L.A. called out the rest of the station." Johnny looked back towards the house that was growing brighter and brighter as the fire consumed more and more of its internal structure. The window they had come through, was now completely obscured with smoke and there was a sound of crashing debris as the ceiling gave way just beyond it. "There's no going back in that way.." he whispered. "I'm sorry, boy.. We've got to leave.." he called out. Then there was no more time to waste. Roy helped Johnny lay the man down onto the sidewalk near the resuscitator. A quick check proved that the man had given up trying to breathe because of all of his smoke exposure. DeSoto looked up. "He's respiratory arrested. Gimme the trigger.." he gestured at Johnny, who was trying to get his wind back while getting the biophone set up to send telemetry at the same time. Gage passed it over with a correctly sized oral airway. "I'll scope him." Johnny snatched open the defibrillator and laid passive paddles over the man's chest around the sooty shirt Roy had torn open. "He's SVT." he announced. Then he felt the man's neck. "Viable.. I've still got a carotid.." Roy nodded while he worked to deliver ample oxygen into the man's lungs. Sirens grew in the distance and it wasn't much time at all before Engine 51 appeared, sparkling red nimbuses before itself onto all of the sleeping houses as it arrived on scene with Engine Company 24. Hank stepped out of the cab and gave another fire report on what he saw happening in front of him. "Engine 24, cover the east side in full scba in a frontal attack. Engine 51, wye line to a hydrant and supply Engine 24 with water support. Battalion One, we've one victim so far with Squad 51. Assign at least two responding ambulances. We can use the second on fire standby." ##10-4, Engine 51. I concur with your assignments..## said Battalion as he watched the house burn. Then Cap crouched down near Johnny and Roy."Need any help here?" "Yeah, Cap. Patch him in, would ya? Johnny's still a little fried." "I'm not overheated, Roy. I'm just worried about the dog.." Gage said, holding the biophone against his shoulder as he panted, sucking in the cool night air through his teeth as he recovered. "The assistance dog?" Hank asked. Roy nodded. "Helead Johnny to his owner and then didn't make it back out again. We didn't have time to do a complete house search for anyone else before our only way to the outside collapsed in behind us..." said DeSoto sadly. "Dogs are resourceful. Instinct would have driven him to cooler places. Don't worry, we'll find him. And don't fret about missing a chance at getting out another victim. Phone Directory says this man lives alone.." Hank told him as he rubbed the sweat off the dwarfen man's skin for a twelve lead reading with a glove. He placed the EKG monitor's limb lines carefully, too, and afterwards he switched on the machine and turned it so Roy and Johnny could see all the changes on the screen while they delivered their care. Then he placed the defibrillator and the opened drug box so that it was within their easy reach. Hank got on his radio. "Marco.. Chet.. do a quick house search. We've a missing work dog somewhere inside. Keep safe in there and pull out at the slightest risk of further collapse. Have a fully charged hose backup team with each of you when you go inside.." ##10-4, Cap.. Looks like the north end of the house's not burning yet.## Chet reported over HT. ##We'll both be going in there. Battalion's got all of our accountability tags.## "Copy that, Kelly." Hank rose with a "you're set" nod at his two paramedics. "I hope you find him.." he told his men by the house over the radio. "Cap, one more thing.. I've got this man's medications in my jacket over there. Could you get them out for me? I'm just about ready to give Rampart my patient report..Maybe we could get a name off one of them or something or a medical chart number that can clarify what his normal baseline condition is." Gage asked. Cap retrieved Johnny's abandoned, smoking, jacket from the lawn and dug around until he found them. "Are there five bottles?" "Yeah... just the five. thanks.." said Johnny, already focusing on the voice coming over the phoneline. Hank made himself useful at Battalion's side monitoring the battle against the fire. The wind blew up several times despite the darkness and that made the chief order up a standing water curtain to protect the surrounding trees and homes nearest the blaze. Gage spoke to Dr. Early after grabbing a page full of notes from Roy. ##Rampart, this is Squad 51. How do you read?## --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Johnny and Roy put on helmets, night squad close. Photo: Squad drive by night city. Photo: Fire burn house far night. Photo: Springer spaniel close at night. Photo: Gage squad acknowledge night. Photo: Roy and Johnny at night turnout check window. Photo: Gang night hose burning house. Photo: Battalion 10 or 4. Photo: Gage back carry man night. Photo: Gage with HT outside night. Photo: Roy and Johnny treating a non-breathing man, with biophone. Photo: Stoker in engine. Cap, Marco discuss at driver door, night. ************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Thu Jun 29, 2006 4:54 pm Subject: Good Things Come In Little Packages.. ##Go ahead, 51.## said Joe Early. ##I read you loud and clear.## Johnny sighed as he watched Roy grab what he knew he needed airway and cardiac medication wise."Rampart, we've a male, approximate age, in his mid forties. He's a victim of acute smoke inhalation. He's currently unconscious and respiratory arrested on assisted ventilations at fifteen liters. The datascope is showing a nonspecific supraventricular tachycardia with an irregular widening QRS interval. Pulses are palpable. We're sending you a strip: Leads Twelve. Request permission to start an I.V. Also, there's a pre-existing physiological complication. Our victim has severe achondroplasia.." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dixie McCall, who had just joined Joe in the receiving alcove, looked up. "Dwarfism? That could get tricky if it's due to osteogenesis imperfecta. His bones and cartilage might be extremely brittle." "He's survived to the age he is. That's a good sign in those kinds of cases. Usually, brittle bone syndrome kills those afflicted before they even have a chance to leave their childhood years." Joe turned back to the base station radio and pressed the talk button. "Go ahead and start an I.V., 51. Make it Normal Saline and run in 250 cc's initially to offset the effects of shock. What are his vital signs?" ##Rampart, vitals signs are : Left arm BP, 82/60. Right arm BP, 70/44, pulse is 170. Skin is cool and diaphoretic. Pupils are dilated. There are no signs of surface dermal burns. Breath sounds: His chest is bubbling in the upper trachea just below the vocal cords on auscultation. Deeper lung sounds are clear. But his PaO2 perfusion is growing poor.## "10-4. Position the patient to ease ventilations and prepare to intubate either with a pediatric EOA or ET tube. If necessary, prepare for a rapid sequence induction using ... 51, what do you estimate your victim's weight to be?" Dr. Early asked. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Roy looked up at Johnny as he bit the packaging off a 1000 ml saline bag. "80 pounds, maybe..." Johnny quickly nodded his head in agreement, for he had carried the man for several minutes. "Rampart, we are pretty sure he's around eighty pounds or so." ##Ok,..Then prepare one to two mg/kg of ketamine, I.V. for a paralytic agent only if the esophageal tube placement's unsuccessful. We can use its brochodilating effects.## said Dr. Early. ## I'm reading atrial fibrillation with Wolf-Parkinson's-White syndrome. Looks like his heart's atria are getting pre-excited, so avoid any AV nodal blocking agents like adenosine in order to slow his rapid cardiac rate. I'm banking on the intubation process to do that for us manually first, through a little vagal nerve stimulation. He may cardiovert back to normal on his own during the process. But be prepared for V-Fib at any time and treat him accordingly.## "10-4, Rampart. After our victim's airway secured, I've a medications history to relay to you." said Gage and he set the phone down to relay to Roy what their orders were. ##Understood. I'll be standing by..## answered Joe. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Careful, Joe." McCall grinned. "You're starting to sound a lot like Kel with that using-RSI-to-slow-the-heart move." said Dixie into Joe's ear. "And why shouldn't I use a such a good idea as that? Kel's not a top notch cardiologist for nothing, you know. The less electricity used on someone.." Early chuckled, raising both eyebrows at her. "...the better." Dixie completed for him. "Uh huh, I know. You learned that one from him, too. I'll go call for a cardiologist and respiratory therapist for him. Let me know if you get a name, I'd like to pull all of his medical records and have them ready for everybody before he arrives." "Call an orthopedic specialist, too. He may be more familiar with electrolyte imbalances than any of us are concerning this man's adult/child sized body." added Joe. "Today, it'll be Dr. Keenan." Dixie said, leaving the room. Joe turned to wait for an outcome from Station 51's two paramedics' current treatment effects. ::They've more to worry about on their hands right now than they probably realize.:: he thought privately. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnny looked at Roy once he had a patent I.V. up and running into the man's arm. "What sizes do you want?" Gage asked, referring to the Broselow tape color coding system. "He's a blue.." DeSoto said very fast. "A 5.5 uncuffed ought to do it. I couldn't get the EOA in worth a d*mn. He's spasming too much." Then Roy looked at Stoker, who was using an ambu bag very carefully, to artificially breathe for the man. "Get ready to hyperventilate him on my word. It'll be about sixty seconds after I get this paralytic injected. He won't bite down on your suction tube when this goes in, all of his muscles will get relaxed until I'm done. All right?" "Yes." said Stoker, checking the liters left on the oxygen tank he was working from. He called for a second one over his HT from the nearest engine when he saw that its level had slipped below 500 liters psi. ##More O2, on the double.## Cap affirmed when he heard the request. "Here's a 14 stylet and a 2 straight bladed laryngoscope." said Johnny, passing the instruments over that he had torn free of the intubation set he had laid out on the man's stomach. "Want me to do it?" "Nah, I'm good. Prep the ketamine with a two hundred cc bolus, and hook it up, piggyback until his O2 sats are high enough for an attempt." said Roy, looking at the EKG monitor's pulse oximeter readout. "He's just at 94." Gage nodded at Lopez. "Ok, Stoker.. Knock yourself out. Nice and easy. I've got the cricoid hold against distention." he said, grabbing the ring around the sweaty man's trachea with a couple of fingers. He pressed down on it slightly while his other hand started delivering in the sedative. Roy got busy, aligning himself onto his elbows at the top of the man's head. He whistled, piercingly, without turning around or moving from his position until a fireman flicked on someone's squad headlights so he could see what he was doing. Deftly, he slid the man's tongue out of the way to the right with his intubation blade. He felt the jaw lift up and loosen as the medication began to work. "I got em.." said Roy as he saw the white vocal cords shot through with swollen venation. "I'm through.." he said, advancing the endotracheal tube to around fifteen centimeters."Ok. Stoker, reattach the bag here and start in while we listen for placement." Johnny looked up at a anomalous blip from the EKG monitor. "He's gone bradycardic. Rate's fifty. I'm giving him .5 mgs atropine I.V. and pushing it, until you've decided that you're through monkeying with him..." he prodded. Roy grinned at being teased and kept listening in all fields around the man's chest for the man's new breath sounds. "Equal bilaterally. No gastric noise. Right first time." "That's why I let you do it. I'm not very good with the little people. I haven't seen enough of em yet.." said Johnny. "Felt no different than a four year old child." DeSoto admitted while he marked off on a piece of tape where the tube settled along the man's lips. "He's at 15.5 cm." he reported. "And that 21 gauge butterfly's working like a charm here.." he said, eyeing up the I.V. bag's drip chamber. Both paramedics turned their attention back to the EKG monitor. "He's nearly normal. Elevated sinus rhythm at....120. I can live with that." said Johnny, turning up the I.V. to hurry their patient's fluid replacement. "Let's see what 250 cc's more'll do. I'll just bet we can get him down into the nineties by the time we get to Rampart.." Roy grabbed up the biophone. "Rampart, we've established an endotracheal tube. And I've learned that there's some erythema, and a deposition of soot in his throat above the vocal cords." ##10-4, 51. Deflate your tube's cuff to minimal levels, even to the point of allowing a small leak, to prevent iatrogenic tracheal damage since he's already been compromised. Continue to monitor his vital signs every five minutes and transport as soon as possible. Nice work, gentlemen. His EKG's looking more than just adequate.## said Joe. Gage grinned from ear to ear. "Hey, Roy, Stoker, would you look at that? They found him.." DeSoto and the engineer straightened up to see Chet and Lopez running with a four legged burden. A dog pound crew met them, and took the light brown assistance dog into their arms, wrapped in a yellow shock sheet. Cap tapped Marco on the shoulder. "Nice job. Now go get the squad's nearly spent first oxygen cylinder from over there and go see what you can do for him.." Gage got Lopez's attention when he caught on to what he was doing. "Here's a fresh mask.." he said, tossing a non-rebreather at the fireman for the dog. "How does it feel to be a hero?" "Awfully nice." answered Chet for Marco. "Thanks, Gage. I'll let you know the moment that sweet little mutt wakes up." And with that, Kelly and Lopez were gone. "Huh." Gage said after they had gone and were deeply involved tending to the dog's breathing recovery needs. "What?" asked Roy, covering up their patient as a pair of Cadillac ambulance men strapped him onto their wheeled gurney. "Guess that 911 system really works." Johnny summed up simply. "What makes you so sure all of the sudden..?" asked Mike, who was still being the stricken man's lungs on the bag valve mask. "Somebody had to call out the dog pound to come treat him and take him to the vets.." said Gage in exasperation. Then he started smiling. Hugely. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Johnny and Marco, along with Chet, were at Rampart for their post fire physical examinations, waiting for a treatment room to open up. Dixie was having fun egging them on. She said.... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: A sooty Johnny Gage on the biophone. Photo: An intubated, bagged man on a CPR board. Photo: Roy preparing a shot at night. Photo: Joe Early on the intercom at Rampart. Photo: A datascope defibrillator showing sinus rhythm. Photo: An endotracheal tube sliding past vocal cords. Photo: City workers treating a smoke succumbed dog with oxygen. ************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Fri Jun 30, 2006 3:53 pm Subject: The Clever Means.. "I've never seen an ansier trio of nervous firefighters in all my working days.." she giggled. "It's just Dr. Morton who's gonna be giving you fellas your exams, not Dr. Frankenstein.." mused Dixie. "It's not the raising the dead part that I'm worried about..." mumbled Chet. Gage smacked him on the arm for impropriety. Roy, the designated driver as their medical followup on Cap's orders, broke right in. "Uh, Dixie.. how's our man doing? He..seemed to be coming around a little on the way in." "He's holding his own. A bit of Albuterol ended that tracheal spasming that you were dealing with in transit. And I've just heard from the dog pound that his dog, Trip, is gonna pull through just fine, too." McCall grinned, taking a sip of her coffee. "That's wonderful. It's about time we pulled a live pet out of a burning house again." smiled Marco, looking pleased. He high fived celebrating hands with Chet, who immediately winced when a small burn was palm slapped. Johnny grabbed his wrist and shoved Chet's hand back into the bowl of ice water where it had been soaking seconds before. "Ah, ah, ah....This is only first degree, Chet. If you don't want it to blister into the second, chill out." he glared. "Is that a pun?" Roy asked his partner. Dixie lost it completely. A minute later, she composed herself enough to ask on the latest of the mine fire that they had all experienced first hand. "So, what's being done on the property now? Is the whole place still a death trap?" she asked the gang. "Not anymore.." replied Gage. "The fire department found an engineering firm who's developed a heat resistant "grout" to pump in on the fire. It's a mixture of sand, cement, fly ash, water and foam that oozes in around all the burning material. Headquarters is coining it 'Thermocell', because it's helping to cut off the underground fire's oxygen supply while allowing the blaze to cool down a whole bunch." Chet added more. "That stuff is being used to fill that trench tunnel I was overcome inside of to bury the illegal canisters of acetylene stacked there. Would you believe those things Marco saw were being stored only ten meters from an exposed coal seam." "Acetylene?! Isn't that highly flammable?" Dixie exclaimed, setting her coffee cup down with a thump. "OHHhhh, yeahhhh.." said Kelly empathetically pursing his lips. "I could have been blown sky high on top of getting asphyxiated then. The barrels are all drowned now but the danger's not quite over yet." "Oh? How so?" Dixie asked. "Unmined coal can smolder when exposed to air only one seventh of that on the surface. Especially the bituminous coal being found in this part of California." Chet answered. "Nope. Looks like that underground mine fire's gonna be burning on and on, for centuries. That's thanks to some jerk who parked a backhoe on that road without washing off the tires first before leaving it there." "What happened?" asked McCall. Roy elaborated. "Coal dust is opportunistic. It can spontaneously combust without warning in certain specific conditions of temperature and humidity. For the previous two days, the backhoe had been mucking out slag and coal collection ponds to remove coal fines. A security guard failed to notice a fire that started on the backhoe rear tire the morning we got there to handle our emergency. Facility personnel believe the cause of the fire was those coal fines, which had adhered to the tire, going literally up into smoke. Some of the thick coal mud in the ponds had not been exposed to oxygen until it was churned up by the tires of the backhoe. It's blatant negligence that some worker ignored instructions to wash his equipment vehicle's tires when he left those ponds for the day." "And that's why the surface road failed.." murmured Dixie, putting two and two together. "Umm hmm." nodded Johnny. "The coal vein underneath all that asphalt caught fire and absolutely powdered all the concrete making up the drive in just a couple of seconds." "Now how is the fire department gonna put out THAT fire?" Dixie wondered. Marco told her. "The fire's gonna be extinguished by injecting gaseous nitrogen into the crevasse over all the hot spots. It'll be easy getting in there because some pavement's still intact." Chet contributed. "And the rest of it's gonna be fought with foam smothering bore holes, tunneled side shafts into which water can be poured, and digging out the glowing coal veins that are actively embering." Dixie sat back onto her stool. "Sounds like you boys've done all your homework with this incident." "We sure have." said Chet. "Anything that's likely to kill you in short order always gets dissected and solved before it can happen to someone else." "Especially in our line of business." added Lopez. "I shouldn't wonder.." McCall smiled. She looked up when Dr. Morton appeared around the corner, wearing his stethoscope. He noticed them, stopped in his tracks and he beckoned impatiently at them with a finger. "Ok.." sighed Dixie. "Who's gonna be first?" she asked, eyeing them all. The fire sooty three fidgetted and played a quick game of paper, scissors, stone where the young doctor couldn't see them. Roy crossed his arms over his elbows and watched with mild amusement for an outcome. Gage lost. " *Groan* " Johnny grimaced. "Looks like it's gonna be me..." he said, hanging his head. Johnny Gage took his post fire examination and blood test,.. like a man. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Later that day in the station, Roy looked up from his newspaper. "How's your arm?" he asked his partner. Johnny made a face and flexed his sore inner crook sporting a band-aid. "It still hurts." he sighed. Then he dropped the ice bag he had been holding over the bruising. "What is it about doctor these days? Why do all the teenaged zit faced lab technicians always seem to know how to draw arterial blood gases better than the doctors they all work for?" he exclaimed. Chet didn't look up from the couch where he was brushing Boot. "Maybe it's because those doctor no longer have to sweat the small stuff so much because they know that all they have to do is snap their fingers and the menial work gets done for them." "Highly unlikely.." Hank gruffed from where he was doing the lunch dishes. "Don't doctors have to pass physical skills tests just like paramedics do at regular intervals to keep up their certification?" "Probably.." mumbled Roy, around his glass of milk. "I wouldn't know for sure. Johnny and I just take orders from them." "Speaking of orders. Guess who won that bet, Roy." said Johnny. "What bet?" "The one we kicked around getting to that 911 call this morning..." Gage said pointedly. "Oh..." Roy ejected, remembering. "Who won?" "I did. The DOG made the call out to 911.. There's no question about it." "How do you know that?" Cap asked, frowning. "Is a dog even smart enough to know how?" Bark! protested Boot. The gang ignored him, rivetted by Johnny's news. "The guy was on the bed six feet away from his motorized wheelchair." Johnny told them. "And it had manipulator arms on it." The others blinked in total incomprehension. Johnny sighed at their obtuseness. "It was parked on the opposite side of the bed next to the window... Tell me how a crippled man in a fire could make an emergency call about it, then be so worried about parking his wheels neatly out of the way long enough to collapse onto the bed afterwards.." Roy set down his glass of milk. "You're right. That doesn't make sense." Chet leaned forward on the cushions, scrubbing Boot's ears affectionately. "You mean to tell me that service dog knows how to dial 9-1-1?" "Why not? A child can do it.." grinned Gage. "Why can't a dog? Especially one who's smart enough to answer doors and open refrigerators after beer cans on command.." Kelly blew a raspberry at him. Then he murmured into Boot's ear. "Say, boy. Go dial us all up a pizza. Heavy on the sausage..." Boot barked and jumped off the couch immediately. Gage grinned and gestured at the departing tail of their station's mascot. "No sooner said, than done.." The rest of the gang giggled warmly at his joke. FIN Episode Thirty Four, No Sooner Said.. Emergency Theater Live --------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Morton, Gage, Roy talk in treatment room. Photo: Chet on couch making a face. Photo: Johnny grinning at the kitchen counter. Photo: Roy, good smirk. Photo: Marco Stoker, and Cap, amused. Photo: Boot in a closeup. Photo: A mouth watering pizza. Photo: Coal fire bore holes in a road. Photo: An underground coal fire, spontaneously combusting. End Credits -- Episode Thirty Four (Fifth Season) §§ No Sooner Said.. §§ :) This episode is dedicated to mine workers everywhere. :) :) May they never be trapped without hope of rescue. :) The Story Unfolds... Season Five, Episode Thirty Five.. §§ Captain's Prerogative §§ Debut Launch: July 1st, 2006. ************************************************* From: "rwein5" Date: Mon Jul 3, 2006 7:08 am Subject: Eye Opener.. He couldn't see the face behind the light. All he felt was the piercing pain down his left side and the chorus of bees that seemed to have settled in his head. The light shifted and he groaned, knowing that the cracked vocal strains came directly from him. Cap tried to shut his eyes against the forced brightness, but didn't have the strength. Finally, the light shut off and a voice filtered through the buzzing. "Okay, Hank, good job. Just hang in there." the deep voice commanded. He wasn't sure if he understood the command, but it didn't matter. There was only so much he was capable of doing right now. Images began dancing in his mind as he tried to shut out the annoying real world. Between the pain, the prodding, and the obvious demands for him to comply, he let himself drift to the earlier part of his day. That part wasn't filled with pain and anguish. That memory was pleasant and filled with satisfaction. Then the whirlwind of images picked up speed and he tried to make sense of them. His addled brain set into overdrive and he felt the spiraling descent into the worst part of his day; the part that landed him here on an examining table with nothing but pain.. Yet the physical pain seemed to competing for his mental anguish. He desperately wanted to open his eyes and see the faces of his men. However, that reality was no longer around. All he knew was the despair of loss and the anguish of defeat; all because of his decisions and his leadership. He succumbed to the depths of his own reality where the crew was safe and all was as it should be. A veil of darkness slipped around him carrying him away to a world of sleep. He groaned again. Remembering . . . ---------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************* From: "sniffles_76102" Date: Mon Jul 3, 2006 10:15 pm Subject: Reverse.. It had been a dark cloudy day. All the men had gotten to the station on time. Even Gage. They all had been on time for three shifts in a row. Cap remembered that he made a bet with all of his men, stating... "I bet you twits couldn't get here on time, all of you, for three shifts..." Smiling, Hank looked around as Johnny came skidding into the kitchen mumbling, "Sorry Cap, about being late." Chet looked up and said, "Cap what would happen if we got here on time, all of us,"..he mused, while glancing at Johnny, " for three shifts?" Hank knowing how at least one of them would always be late, smiled and said , "I'll hang the hose for you twits without any of you helping me." Well that time had come. ::How could I have known that "C" shift had a lot of calls during the night and didn't have time to hang hose?:: Cap thought miserably while he was getting the hose hung off the tower and thinking about his men. ::How DID all of my men get Johnny in here on time?:: He was still mumbling to himself, when he looked down... He immediately made another face. All of his men were watching him from below the tower. "Johnny, how come you can get here on time when I make a bet, but all the other times you're late?" scowled Hank from where he was. "Well, Cap. I couldn't let down the men... How was I to know that "C" Shift left you these nice, soggy presents?" Johnny smiled up at Hank. "Yeah, Cap. We HAVE wondered how the experts do it." said Chet with laughter in his voice as he gestured at the long spaghetti trails of hose slowly moved upwards, one by one. Stoker really never thought this kind of outcome would happen either. Mike just laughed and didn't say a word. Marco was smiling, when he looked around at the clouds. "Hey Cap, you might want to hurry a little. It looks like there is a storm coming in." he shouted up. "Do you twits have nothing else to do, except watch me?!" Cap said a little testily. He hadn't hung hose in a long time and he was remembering quite easily why he didn't miss it. The men turned to go back into the station. They had just made it inside, when it happened. Lightning struck the tower and outside, the captain started yelling and screaming. They saw that he was being electrocuted as the tower came down through the window. The firemen felt like the world had come to an end. They were still reeling at how the loud the crack of lightning and the boom of thunder had rocked them. They raced back outside and began circling the crumpled hose tower where their captain lay entangled. Mike turned around and immediately called out on the alcove radio to headquarters. But he got no reply back. ::The lightning must have zapped the radio transceiver.:: he thought. Then he went to the engine, grabbed his HT, and tried once again to radio out to L.A. for help. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************** From: "rwein5" Date: Sat Jul 15, 2006 2:41 pm Subject: Flashback Being the best paramedic team in the county had had its drawbacks. One of the biggest drawbacks had to have been handling an emergency situation in their own backyard. Once the lightning had struck, both Roy and Johnny slipped quickly into their paramedic mode and had administered CPR. Chet and Marco frantically pulled away the heavy canvas hoses and cleared the area for the team. Mike was already at their side with the biophone and oxygen. Despite the intimidating wind and threat of a downpour, the crew of Station 51 had stayed professional and persistent. A heartbeat soon began again, and by the time the ambulance arrived, Hank was reading as stable and was ready for transport. A day of rest and monitoring... and Cap's visit at Rampart was promised to remain short. He had survived that one. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The scene played out in broken details as Hank continued to struggle to consciousness once again. Why he was remembering an incident from several years ago with such clarity, eluded him and further agitated his pain-riddled senses. He had survived then. :: But what about today? Will I survive the consequences of my last decision?:: he thought. "Hank?" The tunnel of voices spun away again. He tried hard to listen, but only shook his aching head in frustration." . . .aghh . . my . .men?" he whispered. "Hank? Can you stay with me? Hank . . ?" prompted the question again. Stanley felt a softness against his forehead as the gentle voice made its way to his confused mind. "Hank? You need to let me know where it hurts? Can you hear me?" it asked. Cap decided that he couldn't open his eyes nor find the strength to reply back. Dixie looked up at Joe Early as he continued to assess his newest patient. Early sighed, putting away his stethoscope. "I don't know, Dix. We need to see those X-rays before I can do much else." he told her, indicating the backboard that Cap had been strapped to. "I know. I just wish he was more coherent." she said. Hank restlessly moved his arms and legs, attempting to find control in the physical world and not succeeding. " . . Roy?" Dixie tried to soothe the injured fireman. "Shh, Hank. Everything is okay. You're at Rampart and we're working hard to make you more comfortable." Hank heard some of the words, but felt no relief. The depth of his anguish and pain radiated from his groans and the vision of his latest dream still taunted him. "..jus' lightning . . But thank G*d they all ...stayed okay while getting to me.. " he swallowed dryly. Dixie frowned at Cap's mismatched facts as Hank mumbled through his current pain. "What is he talking about?" she wondered. Then Early pointed to a detail on his chart. "Two year ago, Dix. That was the last time he was hurt like this." Dixie hung her head and once again tracked the fast flow of I.V. fluid out of the drip chamber that was delivering badly needed electrolytes. She knew the next few days would be tough as the fireman discovered the outcome of this latest rescue. Details were still scarce as the rescue effort continued. Despite her need to attend to Hank's injuries, McCall also wished she could be at the base station to hear the latest from the command center. " . . jus' search for. . my . .men.." Hank tried to roll to his side as another wave of pain rolled through his back. "..My decision . . " he grunted when the immobilization measures he was under, stopped him. Dixie took another blood pressure reading and noted the tears slipping from Hank's clenched eyelids. "Hang on, Hank . . You have to hang on." she whispered "Absolutely everything possible is being done to try and find them." The door to the treatment room opened and Carol peeked in. Joe and Dixie looked up briefly to acknowledge her presence and both of them flinched at the look on her face. "They've found Roy and Chet. Life Flight is bringing them in now." said Evans. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************** From: "Champagne Scott" Date: Mon Jul 17, 2006 7:46 pm Subject: The Staining.. Out in reception, Gage was impatiently waiting for a police car to take him back to the site of the collapse. A voice startled him from a nearby chair, breaking into his whirlwind nightmare. "Please tell me the truth, Johnny. How bad is it out there?" Gage turned, struck numb with recognition when he saw Joanne DeSoto, rising to her feet with a kleenix clutched tight and mangled in her hands. The exhausted fireman paramedic cast away his glance with a curious, pained reluctance as he took her palms in his own. Firmly, Roy's frantic wife reached out for his fire jacketed arm. "Please. I know you're under orders. But... I want.." she corrected herself. "I have to know what to say to the kids..They need hope." she moaned, fighting crippling fear. Gage renewed the tight grip he held, holding Joanne's sweaty, chilled palms in both of his own while he fought the stinging tears in his eyes. He looked up, lost for words. ::How can you relate a horrific disaster like this? :: he thought. "I can't. Not yet. I.. I-it's not over yet." he whispered. "Oh, Johnny. He can't even fight back. There's no fire." Joanne sobbed in the tiniest of voices. The shreds of Gage's remaining courage, built back up during the hour it took for him and working crews to free Captain Stanley from the building, fled like burst fruit and he found himself clinging to the wife of his friend like a needy child. "It's so hard. I.. It's hard." he choked. "But he's not..." Johnny broke off. "They're not...gone. Not yet. I know I'd feel it if they were." he sighed. Joanne separated softly and wiped the traces of weeping from Gage's plaster dusted face. "I trust you, Johnny. And the others, just as deeply." she half smiled through barely veiled underlying panic. A stab of anger coursed through Johnny when he remembered the last order Captain Stanley had given him, that he had given ALL of them. . ::He was dead wrong. Why didn't he see that?!:: he raged inwardly. On the outside, he held his face in professionalism. Gage nodded, firming up his mouth. "It's only a matter of time before they're found. Every available county fire station's been mobilized. And most of the city's." he said of Los Angeles. "They're moving fast, Joanne. And they're sifting very carefully with their best dogs. I saw them beginning already when I had to leave..." he broke off.. " ..leave with Cap. That's the hard part about being a paramedic. You're tied to your current patient, whereever he goes. You have no choice about it even if you want so badly to go back to help in a search.." he choked. Mrs. DeSoto immediately took him into another desperate embrace. "Shh," Joanne soothed. "It's ok. One thing at a time. We mustn't fall apart. Not now. Roy needs us to be strong. Chet, Marco, and Mike are counting on that, too. Oh, Johnny.. Close your eyes if you have to from moment to moment, but just trust yourself to do your job.... ...I do.." she pleaded. Gage swallowed hard and blinked. "You're right. You're absolutely right. I..." "Fireman Gage.." came a nurse's voice from the desk. "Yeah?" Johnny said, moving quickly to her side as he returned his heavily scratched and stained helmet to his head. "They're bringing in your partner and another named Kelly from your engine crew." she said, pointing to the scanner and the backs of two doctors, leaning over the base station inside the glass receiving room. "Dr. Brackett left standing orders. He thought you two should know." she told him. "They're both alive but their reported conditions are rated as serious." "How are they coming in? By rig or by chopper?" "By air. On the same flight.They're on approach right now with Station 8's paramedics." she said. "Thank you.." Gage said, grabbing Joanne's hand eagerly. Mrs. DeSoto needed no encouragement to follow him out the ambulance entrance doors to the helicopter landing pad. "Now Joanne. Stand where I tell you to stand and don't even think about moving closer once we get there." he told her firmly. "The rotors have a nasty reach." "I understand.." she sobbed, longing to see her husband. Blinking in the fierce daylight, Johnny took Joanne to the edge of the parking lot and put her slightly behind him to shield her from all the flying landing debris. He could just make out Craig Brice's bent form working a suction tube on someone through the cabin window. He got on his HT to their call channel. "HT 8. This is HT 51. I'm outside to help you transfer to your rendevous point." Joanne saw Craig's head snap up in recognition at Johnny's broadcast and the real private reason that he was actually there. Brice offered the two figures below an encouraging visual thumbs up through the glass panes as the large red and white helicopter touched down cautiously into place. Roy's wife practically melted against a bordering palm tree. "Oh, thank G*d." she sighed over the roar of the spinning props. Gage gave her hand one final squeeze and then he ran out in front of the pilot to await his flashing hand signal that it was safe enough to approach the side door. He got it half a minute later. Then the chopper door cracked open to reveal... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Johnny sad in close up. Photo: Joanne DeSoto clutching a kleenix. Photo: Station Ten leaving base at night. Photo: Station Ten firefighters rushing with equipment. Photo: A building collapse site seen from the air. Photo: Brackett boarding a chopper. Photo: Brice in close up, looking down. Photo: Victims of triage, lining a road, bloodied and bandaged. ************************************************** From: Jeff Seltun Date: Wed Jul 19, 2006 11:28 am Subject: Transfer of Care.. ...the unmistakable shape of Roy's feet and body, lying under a yellow shock sheet in a stokes. Johnny saw that he was unconscious and firmly head and neck immobilized, but he was entirely without an ET. "What's his Glasgow?" he asked Brice as he grabbed an edge of the basket stretcher along with several hospital orderlies to help pull DeSoto out of the chopper. "Nine. We found ligature around his neck from electrical wires. He's started not being able to handle secretions just a minute ago, but we've seen no obvious deformity of the underlying structures in his neck. Resp rate's twenty six. Here, take this.." shouted Craig, passing off a suction tube to Johnny that he had placed openly on Roy's exposed EKG cabled chest. "His lungs are still sounding clear. If you need it, the ambu's right there." said Craig, pointing to the clear green bag valve mask assembled and waiting off a regulator cracked oxygen tank lying in between Roy's knees. "Ok." Gage saw that Roy had dark facial congestion with faint centralized cyanosis above well demarcated petechial hemorrhages from his neck on upwards, above the shallow cut the constricting wires had made. Both of his unseeing half cracked eyes were shot red with high pressured in blood and his tongue had swelled out around one side of the oral airway. "Just the strangulation?" "Yeah.." said Craig. "Quit breathing on us for a few seconds while we were digging him out but his sats got up again quickly after a few shots off the ventilator. No rib fractures at all. We guess he was protected by the main support beam we found lying over him." Johnny sucked out another surge of bloody saliva from Roy's mouth as they carried his dusty stokes over to a safety braked, bare mattressed, and wheeled gurney. "His EKG's holding. Sinus tach. Bump down the I.V. His intervals are shortening." "Thanks. I got it." said Craig, dialing down the Ringer's crammed under Roy's shoulder. "Babinski's is normal on both, but we collared him anyway." "Craig. Joanne's here. We gotta plan out what to tell her." Johnny gasped while they pushed Roy closer to the edge of the parking lot. "John, we'll think of something." Brice said with a half smile. "How about,.. 'Don't worry. He's nowhere near dying?'" "That'll work." grinned Gage. "Sure it will." retorted Craig. "Because it's true." They were still inside the dangerous hundred foot flight zone when Roy's stomach began rippling forcefully. That halted them all. "Hold it. Hold it!" Gage ordered, anticipating a possible need for a rapid log roll. "Is he choking? Or vomiting?" Craig bent over Roy with a penlight, who had been rapidly tipped onto his side so Brice could look into his mouth and clear it with the suction tube. "It's just nausea. The general swelling inside's still about the same." Gage spoke up, having snatched the stethoscope from around Craig's collar. "Breathing's ok. And still no thrill or bruit." he said, feeling and listening lightly over Roy's carotid arteries, one at a time. "Got it all?" he said, holding Roy's oxygen mask nearer, on continual blow by. "Yeah.." said Craig, removing the last of the gastric debris leaking from Roy's mouth. A strong sound of empty air sucking inwards into the tube announced the task's completion. Brice sighed in relief. "Ok, guys, let's go.." he told the attendants as Johnny repositioned the O2 flow back over his partner's nose and mouth firmly. "Easy. Easy.." Johnny said as they set DeSoto onto his back once again and elevated his gurney's head a little higher so the stokes would angle up along with it. Only then did Gage give a glance back towards Chet who was beginning to be eased out of the hot running chopper, attended by Brice's partner, Bellingham. "How's Kelly doing?" "Non specific head injury. Reacts to pain but he's got an unexplained unsteady low BP that isn't reacting to a fluid challenge." "That's why he was flown? And the reason for the mast suit?" Johnny asked, pointing back at the attendants now carrying Kelly's stokes to a second gurney waiting a safe distance away from the helicopter. "Yeah." Brice told him. "What else did you find on him?" "Not much else. All quadrants were soft. We found no ecchymosis anywhere past his forehead and his right shoulder. Does a broken pinky count as serious trauma?" he joked. "Maybe his hypotension's due to inhaled fumes or something." Johnny replied, grinning. "It might be that. He's got some rales bilaterally that the oxygen isn't clearing." Brice shared. Gage paled uncontrollably when he did the next natural thing. He asked about his coworkers. Brice met his eyes fully. "There's still no word. But the dogs are reacting positively. Someone's still alive under the debris and they're getting excited right over the spot where your men were ordered in." Johnny fought his emotions for a long moment. Then he shook himself. "All right, I'm breaking away to go handle Joanne. Thanks for their updates." Johnny said, reluctantly releasing the brachial grip he had on Roy's weak arm pulse. "No problem." smiled Brice as he loosened his helmet's chin strap. Then his expression changed. "I'm sorry all of this had to happen, Johnny." Gage sighed at the repeat of Brice's rare usage of his first name. "So am I, Craig. So am I... Our captain waded through the worst possible situation call imaginable. And unfortunately, he's gonna have to live with what he did along with the all the rest of us." "It's a real tough break. Is the chief here yet?" "No, but he's gonna be and I don't think I wanna be there when it comes time for Cap to start facing all the music." Johnny said, eyeing up Roy's EKG monitor one more time. "That flow rate's good, Craig. Lock it off. His tach's slowing." he said as he ducked down to leave the hospital workers and station eight's paramedics to finish conveying Chet and Roy into Rampart. Seconds later, it would have taken a hydraulic spreader with jaws on full to break Joanne away from her husband's side. Her tears gone, inner strength took over solidly in their place. "Roy, I'm here with you and Chet. Johnny's here, too. So's Hank. Don't worry about anything you don't have to worry about. Let the doctors do the hard part for you, love. Can you feel me holding your hand?" she said loudly as they entered through the ambulance doors. Dr. Brackett met both firemen and Kel triaged them right there in the entryway. "Tardieu spots?" he noted as he peeled up Roy's eyelids with both hands. Craig nodded. "And the beginnings of dysphagia although I can't tell if it's cranial nerve IX involvement or just due to posterior or lateral pharyngeal wall bruising. We've had to suction out his airway twice during the last three minutes." Kel nodded, and turned to a very closely listening Dixie McCall. "Dix, order the standard trauma blood studies: CBC, electrolytes, and all warranted blood chemistry levels, blood type and cross- matching. For his imaging studies, I want plain-film radiography in a 3-view series of the cervical spine to look for emphysema, fractures, displacement of the trachea, and the possible presence of a foreign body. "Craig, when we get into the presurgical room, I want you to establish a second intravenous access in that arm opposite the side of this injury." he said pointing to the soft sign nonexpanding hematoma that Craig had told him about over the radio at the scene.".. I want that option working in case disruption of Roy's ipsilateral venous circulation has occurred." Brackett said. "Has his breathing been noisy or impaired at all following that apneic period he suffered during extrication?" "No, doctor." said Brice. "He didn't complain of tenderness over his larynx or trachea even one bit before he blacked out. I didn't feel anything out of the ordinary there either." Brackett palpated Roy's throat cautiously down to the shoulders. "I agree with your findings. But let's err to the side of caution. Dixie, prepare Roy for an emergent intubation. He's starting to show an increasing inability to suitably handle his secretions here. While he's being intubated, tell the respiratory specialist I want him to look for obvious distortions of any neck landmarks, tell him particularly to watch out for tracheal deviation or the existence of large amounts of subcutaneous air. I'll join up with him in a minute." Joanne stepped forward, looking startled. "Wait a minute. Johnny, Kel..I thought you both said my husband was doing all right.." "He's doing fine all things considering, Mrs. DeSoto." said Kel, taking her aside while he waved the orderlies to move Roy on into a nearby treatment room. "But Roy may develop hard signs of an arterial injury, include a resumption of expansion in his neck bruising with severe active or pulsatile bleeding. He may develop shock unresponsive to fluids, or start showing signs of a cerebral infarct, with or without the presence of a bruit or thrill and diminished distal limb pulses. "Virtually all patients with newly developing hard signs of an arterial injury require operative repair. And for that possibility, Roy will have to be fully airway protected and anesthetized or things might quickly become problematic in very short order." "But what if he gets better on his own, Doctor Brackett? Sticking a tube down his throat sounds a little bit extreme to me." she said worriedly. Kel bent over Chet, beginning Kelly's quick survey after he glanced over Bellingham's notes on him. "Mrs. DeSoto, soft signs, such as stable bruising and absent paresthesias, do not improve the predictive value of an arterial injury any more than guessing its wound proximity to a major vessel just by viewing what the area looks like. The fact that we still have a clear presence of both carotid pulses doesn't exactly exclude a vascular injury, nor would a sudden absence of a strong pulse on either side be indicative of vascular damage. We won't necessarily have to perform surgery on Roy today once he's been secured. But he needs endoscopy regardless to reassure everybody that his trachea truly hasn't been structurally compromised. Before inserting any scope, we will confirm that his airway is patent, intact, and thoroughly protected before we begin anything. Also, as a side hedge to that ace, his films will reveal beforehand, all possible cervical spine disruptions. Afterwards, once he begins to reawaken, we can begin checking for neurological deficits. ." "Roy might be paralyzed?!" Joanne quailed. "It's always possible. We won't know whether or not he is until he's conscious." Brackett told her frankly. Joanne sucked in her breath, not willing to face such a disturbing idea. Brackett knew that as a fireman's wife, Joanne would always appreciate brutal medical honesty before anything else concerning her husband's condition. So he went on. "Not only was Roy's spinal cord vulnerable how he was injured, but so were other neural pathways like the phrenic, recurrent laryngeal, and lower lying cranial nerves, as well as the brachial plexus bundle. Additionally, detection of a neurological deficit may signify damage to the carotid or vertebral arteries with subsequent CNS ischemia. "But then again, anything adverse that happens in the future could occur only temporarily. When pressure is exerted on the the carotid vessels of the neck, a decreased level of consciousness occurs, but only sometimes, will contralateral hemiparesis result because of it, mimicking stroke-like symptoms." Brackett said. "What should I be on the look out for later on, doctor?" Joanne asked, studying Chet's half conscious, wincing face while Kel palpated his injured shoulder around the splint. "Any drooping of the corner of the mouth, vocal hoarseness. An inability to shrug a shoulder while rotating his chin simultaneously to the opposite shoulder, like someone would do while putting on a T-shirt over one's head. Any sideways deviation of the tongue after he sticks it out at you. Tell us immediately if that happens. Especially if he thinks it's jutting straight out perfectly..." Kel suggested. "These are all abnormal cranial nerve signs." "I'll watch for them." she said, moving off to the same chair in the waiting room that she had been in when she first ran into Johnny Gage ten minutes earlier. Dr. Brackett looked to Station Eight's medic as he kept a hand on Kelly's stomach to monitor his slightly rapid respirations. "I've found suggestions of Zone I wounds right here. He might have suffered damage to his thoracic cavity.." he said, showing Bellingham the faintest marks now just beginning to rise over Chet's collarbones. He mandated an order for a chest x-ray. ::I'll circumspectly review the film for a hemopneumothorax or a widening mediastinum with emphysema.:: he mentally planned out. "The crackling breath sounds you're hearing could be due, not to gas inhalation, but to possible developing bilateral pleural hematomas. Nurse. Get another pressure. Stat. " he told the one assigned to assist him with Chet. Then he asked his paramedic another question. "How was he when you first uncovered him?" Bob frowned thoughtfully. "Unresponsive to verbal but he was self ventilating adequately. Unlike Roy, he never turned a bad color at any time." "A point in his favor. Looks like Chet's proved once again that he's got a head hard enough to survive just about anything. " "Doctor,.. blood pressure is eighty over forty." said the nurse. "Ok, let's get him into Three." Brackett grimaced tightly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************** From: "rwein5" Date: Thu Jul 20, 2006 9:34 am Subject: Remembering the Call The clouds had moved in quickly and with little fanfare. Gusts of wind and lighting took turns dancing across the Los Angeles' south bay area, leaving little evidence of their presence. However, the flash of a lightning strike danced too close to the tanker unloading gasoline at one of the berths. As the first spark ignited, a series of explosions rocked the harbor and the calls began. A muscle spasm shook his whole body as the lightning flashed again deep in his dream. A small moan escaped his dry lips and suddenly his eyes opened to reveal the fear and dread that surrounded his entire consciousness. The reality of the bright and stark hospital treatment room reminded him of his ongoing despair over their assignment at the harbor. "Hey, Hank, back with us?" Dixie moved closer to the injured man and began taking his pulse by gently holding his wrist. "Dix?" "You're okay, Hank. You're at Rampart and we're getting ready to send you to the OR. Looks like you've some internal bleeding and we need to get it repaired." she explained. "News. . . ? Anything yet?" he struggled to make himself clear but the words and energy were too hard to find. "Now you need to concentrate on just you. You know that everyone's working hard to find them." She didn't want to say much more knowing how much he was already struggling. "I shouldn't . . shouldn't of let them go back in . . . Too many tanks .. I should've waited . . " Hank tried to get his words out and fumbled over the attempts. Tears of frustration began to build up again and he clenched his fists. "My decision . . " he whispered. Dixie adjusted his IV tubing and turned as Joe re-entered the treatment room with X-rays. "Joe, he's coming around again." Joe moved over to Hank's side and gently gripped the man's shoulder. "We're going to take you up in a minute and get this bleeding stopped. You're going to feel better soon. Also, the ribs look like clean breaks." he explained to Hank. Hank looked back at Joe and merely nodded. "Not okay . . . " Joe patted Hank one last time and began preparations for moving him upstairs. The injured captain surrendered to the latest dose of sedatives, his mind ebbing away from the dark reality of gas explosions, lost men during the search and rescue, wrong decisions, and lightning. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. ************************************************** From : patti keiper Sent : Friday, July 21, 2006 4:47 PM Subject : Twisted It was thirty minutes later, and Johnny was still waiting for the axe to fall from Headquarters in the form of a grizzled man in Battalion helmet white. He knew that it would only be a matter of time before the radio transmissions recorded on scene at the site of the blast would be reviewed and enacted upon, and dealt with in a harsh critique that was directly face to face with the known infractor. ::Oh, Cap. I'm really trying hard not to think about that.:: he worried deep in his tired thoughts. :: I know all those kids were screaming. I heard em, too. And probably, for once, your instincts as a father overrode the ones you usually always carefully listen to as a fire captain.:: The federal building's front facade had been completely shorn away by the pier's landbound tanker explosion. Nine stories now yawned the gaping maw of a crater, filled with jumbles of concrete debris, infrastructure piping,...and bodies. It had been very clear from the onset that civilian fatalities were involved. ::The concrete... I can still see the blood between cracks.:: Johnny's memory moaned. He shivered again, draining yet another cup of pot forgotten, scalded Folders. He shot to his feet out of the chair where they all were inside the chapel, and a few feet's distance away from a softly praying Joanne. "Still thinking about them?" she asked him quietly after a long, self conscious interval, heavy with powerful emotions. Gage didn't meet her eyes, and instead they found the flickering flames of candles, dimly lit on the altar before them. "How can I not think about them? All that blood we saw on the fallen wall means that somebody just has to be on the other side. But d*mn it.." he sobbed. "We're dealing with eight to ten inches of concrete for each slab. And I can't help but think to myself,.. how are we ever gonna get through it?" Joanne's eyes filled with sympathy instantly and she took Gage's dirty hands into her own. Gage snatched them away and rubbed his nose in a loud, stressed snuffle of pain. "See? You can't get through it fast. You have to remove it. And yeah, they're all doing it, piece by piece. But d*mn it all to h*ll, Joanne, it's not going fast enough for me." he said through a very tight throat. Johnny Gage still vividly remembered how frustrating it was for him to crawl through the rubble, trying to get to the shoe on Cap's twitching right foot, the only limb that had shown signs of any life inside the violently force collapsed day care center. ::I can still see the way he was... It's how the others might be,.. if they're still alive.:: he agonized mercilessly in his head. Johnny curled into a stiff, seated ball on the hospital pew, not accepting any tactile comfort from Joanne, who was seated beside him. Then a form in surgical blue broke them both out of everything in an instant. Mrs. DeSoto and Gage shot to their feet and joined the newly arrived doctor. "Chet's off the nasal P.E.E.P., and out of danger." said Dr. Morton, his voice mild and highly conscious of soothing subtlety. "His pulmonary insult's rapidly resolving. And yes, Roy's just as stable as he is. It's looking more and more under the knife, scope and films, that DeSoto's just moderately carotid contused, if still a little raw internally. Rotund bradycardia has made an appearance. But it's been very reactive to only minimal doses of atropine. Not jarring him around much and his earlier cautious I.V. volume delivery probably accounts for his lack of serious complications now." "That was Brice again and his usual brilliant outcome of care. " Johnny said sarcastically. "Can't say I was there to help contribute much of anything for him. All I did was vacuum my neck stretched partner out a little and eyeball an EKG strip or two." Morton chose to overlook Johnny's remark. "Doctor...And Hank? How's he doing?" Joanne asked timidly, very uncomfortable with Johnny's harsh, self defeating, spiralling bent. Mike Morton sighed, pulling off his surgical cap. "Kel and Joe found a small bowel tear on him in a lower quadrant. But it's clearly without fecal contamination. The fact that he was immobilized so fast in the field's probably what's gonna spare him the onset of any form of invasive peritonitis. The most he'll probably have is a bad case of cramping gas later after his digestive tract decides to kick back on." A page overhead, calling Morton to Emergency, sounded. "Excuse me. That's probably another victim coming in. I've got to go. Hey, you two. Things are ok. Roy and Hank'll be hitting recovery before you know it, all right?" Mike smiled. Joanne and Johnny both nodded, still absorbing the news. Then the sweat stained, disaster cowed resident was gone. And that was the signal for Johnny's restlessness to instantly return. Gage crushed his empty coffee cup and tossed it into a nearby trash receptacle noisily, startling a few family members huddled in prayer behind them as the sound shattered the peace of the non-denominational chapel. They began to whisper in understanding and they smiled encouragingly at the agitated paramedic, knowing without a doubt that he was also someone who was...waiting. For some reason, their unspoken, mute compassion irritated him on a deep level. "I'm leaving the hospital. . Right now." Gage hissed, moving for the sanctuary's door. Joanne swiftly intercepted him. "You can't do that. Cap's in surgery.. So's Roy. Now just what kind of friend are you if you won't be there, at their sides, when they both finally wake up and look to you to help them while they ask for clarity to release them from their own personal kinds of 'What happened?' h*ll?" "Why not? I'll tell you why not.. Because it doesn't look like there's any fire department official here who's got the guts enough to stop me." Desperate and hurting beyond comfortable tolerance, Johnny finally flagged down a taxi cab to take him back to his rescue squad's location at the edge of the green zone. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ There was dust, thick and choking, in the blackness. Distant drips of falling water echoed through myriads of deeply buried tiny niches in the rubble underneath the government building's foundations. Marco Lopez came to, moaning as he spat bitter plaster from his mouth and throat. In the next instant, he hit the off button on his pass device's distress beacon, silencing it. Pain shot through his arms and head with the movement and consciousness wavered. Fright took over. Eye blind, Lopez felt around him for the size of the space in which he was trapped. ::More air space. I'm gonna need that.:: Then he remembered that he was not alone. He began shouting for his engine crew and two squadmates. His hand smacked into a helmet lying near his concrete pinned left side. It wasn't his own. That one was still fastened securely to his head. He felt the inside of its band for its engraved indent tag. "S...T...O.. K..." he whispered.. "Stoker?!" he shouted, feeling around desperately for another warm body lying near his. "Are you here? Answer me!" He found a pool of still warm blood next to his ear. In horror, Marco wiped off most of the stickness coating his fingers onto his turnout jacket. ::Why didn't I smell that?:: asked his mind. It answered bluntly. ::Because you've got a concussion.. or worse. You were unconscious a minute ago..:: Lopez closed his eyes and concentrated on his body and what it was feeling. Pain and senses slowly began returning as panicked breathing and the realization of where he truly was hit home. A rising stench of bowel matter and urine stung his nose then and he was aware of the soiled mess's cold dampness as it made his pants cling around his legs. ::I must have been out a while. Long enough to sh*t on mysel-...:: A snoring gasp choked above him, startled Marco out of his thoughts. "Stoker?!" And instantly, he knew that Mike was very near. Again, straining, Lopez reached and blindly probed the cramped space surrounding him. He found a head of hair, and when his hands disturbed the dirty mat, he smelled the familiar scents of Old Spice and Johnson to Johnson's shampoo. "It's you..Come on, pal." Marco gasped, feeling around for the direction Mike's face lay in the crush of dust and glass. He found Stoker's nose and mouth facing the floor. Digging, Marco freed up a hole around them and he listened for another effort for continued breathing. "Hey,..take another breath in. Move a little!" he begged. Getting angry in his fear, Marco pinched Mike's face, in between two fingers. Hard. A huge answering gasping inhalation rewarded him as Marco pulled himself out from under a fallen pipe to cradle Mike in his arms. There was barely room to lift his head and he cut himself on something sharp when he held up Mike's head so he could easily reach air. A thudding, rapid neck pulse greeted Lopez's eager fingers. "OhhHHHh.. *gasp*...cough. cough cough...." Mike choked, spitting out drool and dirt. Then came a rasping whisper of a question. "Marco? Is that you?" "Yeah. It's me, pal. Hold still until you're more awake." Mike didn't reply, falling into the same self survey of his body that Lopez had done on himself a minute ago. Stoker just gasped and lay still where he was, trying to read his throbbing injuries by concentrating on them, one by one. "Are you better now?" Lopez waited for Mike's answer as both men breathed in and out until their initial oxygen debt was completely gone. "I'm...ok.." Then he paused. "Who's bleeding?" he asked as his hand splashed into the same gory puddle Marco had discovered by his face. "That's not mine or yours." he said tightly. Then he changed the subject. "Were you near anybody when--" "Yeah.. I was running towards a bunch of kids. Five, I think, when the explosion came. Was that the tanker?" "One of them..." Lopez grunted as he fought to move a hand down to his pocket for his HT. He doubted that it was in working condition. For it hadn't issued a single sound out of his pocket. "Where's your radio? Mine's.. fried." "I had it out in my hand...*ugh* but it's gone." Stoker said. "Must've lost my grip on it when these floors came down on top of us." he gasped. "What hurts?" Marco asked him, still groggy with shock. "Me? It's my head mostly.. And...I've got a piece of glass sticking out of my lower leg." "Is it bad?" Stoker coughed. "Not yet. Must be acting as a tourniquet inside. I'm not even bleeding that much from there. How about you?" "Same with my head. Pain.. I've got one h*ll of a lump." Stoker sighed, as he ran his hands up and down wherever he could reach on his body. "My left foot's numb but I'm not trapped. You?" "I'm free." Marco gasped. "Let's see if we can start finding our way outta here." "Wait a minute.. Let me wrap up that shard in your leg first to immobilize it. Don't want you to sever an artery or worse." Stoker said, setting a hand on Marco's neck to check the pulse rate there. "ok..ok..ok....." Lopez sighed, resting his head on the ground as he submitted to Mike's light status exam."Oh, man. Cap's probably beside himself with worry about our sorry *sses, eh?" "That probably isn't even the half of it." Stoker chuckled, but then Marco could almost see the seriousness fall over his coworker's face. "Was it a bad call on his part? We did hear kids nearby." "Mute point. Let's just concentrate on getting rescued. I, for one, wanna see a little daylight here, real soon." Marco said, flipping painfully over onto his right side as he gingerly felt the slant of the broken slab tenting over them. Mike soon bound his leg and the glass shard with strips from his overcoat that he had knife cut free, using Marco's helmet as cupping protection over it. "I'm with you there. Let's go.. I think the harbor's that way.." and Stoker began crawling into the mouth of what he knew was an impossible maze of tangled spaces and twisted debris that had once made up a building. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Johnny and Morton talking. Photo: A chapel's red candles and cross. Photo: A collapsing building from a distance. Photo: Cap in an anguished look. Photo: Stoker, Chet and Cap seeing catastrophe strike. Photo: A building falling. Photo: A fireman running away from a destroyed building. Photo: Johnny, crawling through debris after a man. Photo: Rescue worker's sifting through a debris pile. Photo: Marco, looking terrified. ************************************************** From: "rwein5" Date: Tue Jul 25, 2006 4:35 pm Subject: Clarity The walls were white, the ceiling tiles were white, and the sheets were white...and even the window blinds were, too. He slowly lifted his eyes to the brown door to his room, trying to decide why its color wasn't white like everything else. The fogginess of waking up after his surgery had faded since he was in the recovery room. Earlier, when he had fallen back asleep, it was obvious that this white room would be his new home for a few days. He cringed as he felt a dull pain shoot across his mid- section. Clenching the crisp white sheets, he allowed for the pain spasm to ease before opening his eyes. And again, he stared at the door. "Okay, Hank, they're gonna be here soon. What are ya gonna do about it?" he whispered to the door. His headache had been reduced to another dull throb and he tried to sort out the many images that circulated in his mind. He recalled most of the details from the harbor rescue including his decisions. And he knew that based on the aftermath of the fire operation, he was in for some trouble. "Why did ya do it, Hank?" he asked himself, settling into the pillow. He continued to mumble knowing that only the door and the walls were his captive audience for the moment. "Why? I am the Captain and my crew is my responsibility." he said quietly and with conviction. "But, I also have the primary responsibility to the victims." he paused. "Children . . ." he whispered, remembering the cries. Cap cleared his throat and closed his tired eyes again. This time, it was all black, no white walls staring at him during his monologue. "The safety of everyone is my prerogative; my crew, the victims. My decision. My authority. . . " he continued with closed eyes. He willed away the taunting images of explosions and blood and in a deep voice full of emotion, "I'm not supposed to look out for myself here, only the people under my command, and for the people who need rescuing. My prerogative....R-right?" he sighed quietly. The brown door opened and Hank opened his eyes. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************** Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2006 09:10:11 -0700 (PDT) From: "Cassidy Meyers" Subject: There is a Balm... Unbidden, the heart rate on Hank's monitor sped up and set off his tach alarm as two shadowy figures entered the room, shattering the quiet with chiming attention tones. It was Dixie and Dr. Brackett. "Sorry, Hank." said Kel, moving to the bedside to feel the pulse in Cap's wrist as he eyed the EKG's screen in a check. "Didn't mean to startle you. Next time, we'll knock before coming in." he said, smiling. "You'll be happy to know that your abdominal repair job was a piece of cake. There'll be no complications. We found only a small bowel perforation and some kidney bruising. Nothing that a week of bedrest and another month of serious down time won't cure." ::Wanna bet?:: Hank thought mentally, ..miserable. Cap's face must have betrayed his true state of emotion, for Dixie set a soothing hand on his shoulder while she checked the flow of I.V. fluids and antibiotics moving through the pump. Nurse McCall was as equally relaxed as the doctor, and she made sure that fact was not lost on Cap. "When Kel says you're fine, he means it. " she blinked. "How are you feeling?" "You mean, besides feeling like a pound of hamburger run through the meat grinder? I suppose I should be feeling lucky, all things considering." said Stanley. "But I can't say that I feel much of anything except for these staples right now." he lied. "Easily fixed." said Dr. Brackett, turning up the auto dose of meperidine on the I.V. pump. "There..How about now? I've set this for 1mg every half hour. Should do the trick now that your general anesthetic's fully worn off." Cap closed his eyes in relief and just nodded, swallowing hard around his n.g. tube that was drawing out red tinged fluid and the contents of his stomach which he knew was the only thing holding any nausea at bay. He didn't feel much like talking anymore, even to himself. All he wanted to do was give in to his medications. ::I want to deny reality for a while.:: he thought. ::No man should face all that horror happening out there when he's not able to stand on his own two feet. It's not fair. I wanna know what's going on. Every gory detail...Not knowing's cutting me to shreds and ribbons faster than Brackett and the other doctors can patch me up. Go on, coward. Ask the next question.. Come on, Hank. Say it.:: he sighed privately. Finally, his dry lips opened despite his fear. "Any news, guys?" Kel's eyebrows went up as if he hadn't expected that question so soon. He finished getting a set of breath sounds over Cap's chest and he pulled the stethoscope out of his ears while he spoke. "You already know about Chet and Roy. They're stable, with only moderate injuries. As for the rest of your men, we h--" There was a knock at the door which interrupted them. The raps were soft, and respectful. Dixie turned to let that person in. "Ah,..that's the chaplain." "Chaplain?!" Cap said, rising higher onto his pillow. Dixie was no nonsense. "The FIRE chaplain. He called us and said he was coming of his own accord a few minutes ago. Now just settle down Mr. Stanley, or you'll aggravate your catheters. Both of them." she warned. Cap grumbled into silence, only then noticing the false feeling of urgency sitting in his bladder that was being caused by an inflated foley balloon. "Fine. Ok.. Fine.." he gushed in irritation, fiddling with the gown underneath the sheets so it wouldn't tug on the tube that was draining him of liquid waste. "You'll find there's a shunt coming out of your incision, too. That's only precautionary to speed up the healing process." said Brackett. "Anything else medical I should know about?" Cap tried to grin for their benefit. "That's it." said Dixie, marking down Cap's current I/O on his bedside chart as she strode for the door. "Can I let him in now?" "I guess I really don't have a choice here now, do I?" Cap snapped as he scratched the n.g. tape stuck around his nose, gingerly. Then he amended immediately, regretting his reflex sharpness."Could- could you stay with us a moment? I'm sorry. I....I'm not myself." "Sure.." smiled Dixie and she opened the door. Fire Chaplain Father Mychal Judge was still in his sooty turnout. "Hank. Had to come." said a strong faced, small boned, but tall fireman. "I figured you wouldn't mind." he said, studying Stanley's reactions as they flitted across his face. "I had a few minutes. And I wanted to tell you things myself." All the animation on Cap's face disappeared as the moment he had been dreading came. Shockingly, he found himself rendered mute. Mychal's lined face actually smiled. "Hank, they're alive. We can hear Stoker and Lopez shouting from underneath a piling on the lower level. They say there are three others alive with them. One of them is a child." Hank's eyes filled. "That's.. that's good news." he choked gratefully. "You bet your ever blessed, bruised butt it is. The best kind of news that I always go out of my way to deliver to people." said the mild mannered chaplain. "That's definitely one of the reasons why I'm here at your bedside." said Father Mychal. "And what's the second reason, Mychal?" said Hank, as he shook in relief, finally accepting a sip of water that Dixie held out for him to drink through a straw. "I want to get you to stop snowballing the blame the surgical staff says you're heaping a mile high on yourself so you can get some decent rest." said Judge no nonsense. He immediately checked Cap's weak glare at Dixie. "Now, now, she's not responsible. It was no one you know who told. Just a... civilian nearby who mentioned you. She overheard some of your delirium while you were wheeling by her mother's room on your way to surgery. A real compassionate soul if I do say so myself to take time to think of a total stranger first in spite of her own stress and troubles." Judge rumbled happily. A strange, vague feeling of forboding filled Cap as he settled down deeper into the pillows Brackett had arranged for him. "Father,..you stay safe out there, ok? Watch your back and keep your helmet on." Mychal Judge's eyes sparkled with a powerful faith, and he chuckled. "There isn't a place I won't go if it's to save a soul, Hank. You know that. I'll go anywhere He tells me to without hesitation. It's a little like what you did today to try and save those children. In my reckoning, you did what was right by you, instead of what everyone else expected you to do, as right by the job. And that was a real tough egg to crack given the few seconds in which you had to make the call. I know, for I was watching the whole thing AND listening in over the radio. I'll vouch for you personally during the upcoming Skelly hearing. So don't worry about yourself anymore and I'll have none of those panged qualms for me. When it comes my time to go, I'm sure it'll be the right time in His eyes. I know it won't be today, Hank." Cap nodded sleepily in affirmation, still oddly disturbed by the faint impression he was getting while looking at the holyman. When he closed his eyes, he could see firemen all around a mortally limp Judge, bearing him from an incomprehensibly large place of death and dust, in a battered chair. The mental image was fuzzy and faint, but it was nothing like a dream. ::More like a premonition?:: Cap shivered. ::I hope not.:: It was then Judge took on his official visit duties. He began to speak. "He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two.... They anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. From Mark 6:7-13. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord." Mychal said, signing a cross over Hank's bed. "And their prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make them well; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Amen. From James 5: 14-15." Cap's sore, tense muscles began to ease as the intravenous pain killer reached the last places still throbbing in his body. Hank found that he had been soothed at last by Judge's gentle voice and words. "Well, I'd better be getting back to the boys still doubting themselves out there. I'll stop by and see you later, Hank." said the fire chaplain with a friendly wave. Cap never remembered waving farewell in reply. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Dixie bending over a bed near an I.V. bottle. Photo: Cap in a hospital bed with an N.G. tube in place. Photo: NYFD Fire Chaplain Mychal F. Judge in turnout gear. Photo: Vision of a Fire Chaplain, fatal casualty. Photo: Building collapse near a cross. Photo: Fire crews taking water from a Harbor. ************************************************* From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:33 pm Subject: Progress.. Gage wiped away the sweat and grit that was still stinging his eyes as he hailed Rampart once again. "Rampart, Squad 51. Our patient's now intubated with equal breath sounds on both sides." ##10-4, Squad 51. Keep ventilating him. Prepare to re-introduce another paralytic to keep him controllable. Switch from the succinylcholine to 0.1 mg/kg of Vercuronium I.V. push. Follow up with 3 mg/kg thiopental every five minutes if he wakes up at any time while still paralyzed so there won't be any chance of him panicking on you.## said Dr. Early. "10-4, Rampart. 0.1 of Vercuronium and 3 of thiopental P.R.N. every five minutes." sighed Gage. Inwardly, he was happy that they were being allowed to treat all the witnessed nonbreathers located around the hot zone. Hazardous materials, beyond the burning oil spilled from the exploded tanker store drum, simply weren't being found. ::I'd give anything to be one of the paramedics assigned to Stoker and Marco's location.:: he thought as he loaded up his man onto a scoop stretcher for the transfer out to the safe green zone. Johnny took advantage of a fireman new to the paramedic program to make his move. "Hey! Yeah, you! Take over bagging this man. Here are his care notes. He's Dr. Early's patient so talk with him while you take him in." Gage disassembled. The younger man bought it, still used to following more experienced paramedics' orders. ::The kid must have had one hell of a preceptor to still be that malleable.:: he celebrated as he made good his escape from another ride-in. ::Not quite against the rules here. This guy's my same care level, a paramedic, so I'm not, technically, abandoning my patient.:: A piercing hand blown horse whistle broke through the sounds of the heavy machinery being used to clear away paths leading into the worst of the rubble pile. Johnny looked up, donning another pair of clean, rubber gloves. "Brice? Where are you?!" Gage hollered into his HT as he watched the scenes of chaos as other paramedics treated the wounded on the pebble strewn parking lot's pavement. Rescue workers continued their battle to dig out those still trapped in the rubble. ##Ground level. North. To your eleven o'clock. I'm waving an orange safety vest.. See me now? Get over here with everything you've got. We've a woman Marco dug out and he's not that far below her position. She's going sour.## A few minutes later, Johnny was at his side, wearing nitrile gloves. Craig looked up at him and snatched away the trauma kit and I.V. box even before Johnny finished stumbling over debris to get to him. "Did that probie medic prove gullible enough for you? I kinda gave him hints to listen to those medics who've more department years under their belts than him." Brice said, matter of factly. "I thought that was kinda easy. You devil, you.." Gage smiled, still dusty. "Not devilish, Gage. I thought my behavior was colored more on the side of an angelic attempt to solve a problem." Brice corrected him. "Same thing." Johnny said, unhelmeting and sticking his head and body into the hole the other firefighters had marked as being the one Marco and Stoker were trapped inside of. He quickly got his hands on the woman's head and neck for a vitals check. "Not exactly." Craig preambled. "Well... Ok, same result, then. Are you satisfied?" Johnny exasperated from his upside down position in the hole. "No. But you are and that was my whole point in setting up that patient switch loophole scheme. How's she doing?" Brice asked. Gage grunted. Only his ankles jutted up from the hole, being firmly held onto, by two burly L.A. city firemen. "Still checking.. Uh,...Gimme some clothes shears!" came his muffled voice. The search dog who had discovered the two trapped firemen and their victims, was growing more and more excited as time went on. His handler did nothing to stop his antics. Everyone was more than glad to hear an overjoyed search dog instead of listening to a depressed one on a death point. Brice made sure he scrubbed the dog's ears as he climbed by to get better access to the hole yawning between the two giant concrete slabs angled underneath him. "Good boy. Yes, you are.. Here, Gage. Catch..." he said, tossing the scissors down into the darkness. "Not you, boy." he warned the dog. "Go play with your reward ball. Go on, get.." he teased. "Thanks for these." Gage said. "Give me a minute more and I'll have her info for ya." Brice hung a connected biophone receiver over his shoulder while he prepared five Lactated Ringers I.V.s in rapid order for their future use for the worse of the trauma victims down below. Gage's voice soon came back. "She's semi-conscious but she's extremely diaphoretic. I'm seeing signs of a basal skull fracture with possible nerve damage behind both eyes; her pupils are unequal despite good verbal responses. She's got a broken nose, possible face and jaw fractures, and Marco says she's got six missing teeth. She's also guarding her ....left upper quadrant. Feels like it's getting rigid." "Ruptured spleen?" asked Craig loudly so Johnny could hear him. "As far as I can tell. Yeah. Very likely. And two broken legs. Simple tibs on both of them, *grunt* ..uhh,.. right above the ankles." "Here's the first of the O2. Two more tanks are on the way from the engine.." reported Craig. Gage accepted the rope lowered oxygen supply. Immediately, Lopez took that task over and got some flowing amply for the critically wounded woman. "See, ma'am. Just like I told ya. The paramedics are here." said Lopez, biting his lip as he slid his injured leg to one side away from Gage's view. "Don't try to hide that leg on me, Marco. Don't you know I can't be fooled medically? Truth now, did you rip open an artery on what I'm seeing impaled in your calf? If so, you're gonna be the second one outta here." "I don't think I did. Stoker and I bound it up pretty well when we first started crawling. It's just plenty sore now." "Sore as in how?" "It feels like a dull, stabbing throb." "That kind of pain's good when it comes to feeling things in the legs." Gage told him."Can you wriggle that foot?" "Yeah." "Good. Now hold that whole leg still until we get to you." Gage told Marco. Lopez started sobbing. "Johnny...how's Roy, Chet, and Cap? We...Stoker and I...saw them all disappear in a cloud of debris." "They're all fine. They're probably out of surgery already and resting comfortably. Now stay quiet. I'm tryin' to work here." The woman was soon collared and carefully placed in a stokes that had been sent down from above. She began talking nervously, entering a lucid period. "Ma'am, can you talk to me?" Gage asked her. She did, but the woman couldn't focus her eyes on his face. "I could see clear blue sky pockets throughout all the floors in the building after it happened. I realized then, what I was looking at. The six floors above me had blown up into the air and fell back down again. I...don't know how I came to find myself lying on aleadge above a chasm of rubble. I think the other floors fell on all the staff members who were in the meeting room with me. Are my friends ok?" asked Florence Rogers. "Have you seen them?" Johnny raised his eyebrows at Marco but Lopez immediately shook his head. Johnny didn't miss the hint and he deflected her attention. "Miss Rogers, take a deep breath in, I'm gonna listen to your lungs to see how they're doing. Are you having difficulty breathing at all?" he said, opening her shirt a bit at the torn neck even as he pulled the material from around her pant's waistline so he could get his stethoscope's drum underneath and over skin in all the right places. "Just...a little. More because it's so stuffy....in here." she replied. "Breathe in three times. Slow and deep." She did so, losing concentration suddenly on the third breath when she forgot what she was just doing. "Ok..Marco, bump up her oxygen a little. Bring it to fifteen liters." Johnny requested, setting a sealed ambu bag into the stokes with the woman in case it was needed later. "I'm strapping her in. Craig, her lungs are clear so far. I.D.'s in her left front pocket!" he shouted up through the hole. "Ok.." came Brice's disembodied voice above them. "Got it." said Marco. "It's set to fifteen. High flow." Lopez replied. "All right, now, Florence, here we go. It's gonna hurt, but I promise, my partner, Craig, will go slow. Holler if something gets real bad and we'll halt immediately." Johnny told his first victim. Rogers closed her swollen eyes tightly in a prayer. "Just do it." she gasped. "I can't stand being down here any-- any more." she gurgled. "I....wanna live to see....another day. I got a little girl at home." The shattered woman began to hoist upwards, inch by careful inch. "Mike, how're your other victims?" Johnny shouted once she was underway so Stoker could hear him where he was located out of sight around a tangle of leaking water pipes. "The baby's fine. Not a scratch. The two men with me have minor injuries. One has a broken arm, and only cuts and abrasions on both." "How about yourselves, guys..." Gage said as he directed the woman's stokes up through the hole using the guide ropes. "Don't leave anything out." "We were both unconscious for a bit. Me? Deeper than him." Marco said. "You already know about ...the leg. I've got a slight headache. I can't seem to make...sense of certain things." "You mean, as in recent memory?" "Yeah. Uh,...where exactly are we? On Supolveda?" "No. We're at the harbor. Keep your head up. This O2's for you." said Johnny, cracking open a second tank. "I'll take your blood pressure in a second. You're getting a little hypovolemic because of some blood loss from your leg. I know you're not as seriously head knocked as you think you are." Johnny said. "Put this mask on and lay quiet. I'm gonna go see how Mike's baby's doing. I'll be right back." Gage said as he rechecked the dressings over Marco's leg. As he thought, hemorrhaging had begun again in that wound in earnest. He quelled it with a blood stopper dressing without disturbing the shard and tied it off. "Ouch.. Easy with that!" sighed Marco, placing his dusty head on a concrete lump until he was comfortable. The hissing sound of the oxygen over his nose and mouth only made him sleepier. ::Maybe I'm just relieved the other guys are ok. I hope I'm not really shocky at all.:: he wished. Then his awareness faded, and it scared him to no end when he realized that he couldn't fight it off. He blacked out. "Marco?" Johnny asked. Lopez didn't reply. Johnny scrambled near once more and angled Marco's head back along a rubbled boulder after he was sure the fireman was still breathing well enough to manage by himself. "Brice, throw down a Ringer's! Marco's just gone out on me due to a partial impalement through his lower right leg." "Two bags coming right up." Craig anticipated. Inwardly, Johnny both grinned and frowned at Brice's d*mn*ble but always incredible paramedic's foresight. ::And I'll probably need 2000 cc's, too, to revive him.:: After fluid stabilizing Marco, Gage slowly worked to get through the small, cramped space to gather the rest of his medical surveys on the others. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of the men with Stoker, sighed. "You mean, that wasn't an earthquake? I never heard anything quite that loud before. What was it?" Mike answered him, blinking grit out of his eyes. He had long ago taken his helmet off to use it like an umbrella over the whimpering baby cradled in his arms. "That roar was the whole building crumbling down after the tank reservoir on the dock exploded." "That d*mn*d Oil Company. I told them that tank was leaking. It's been stinking every morning when the breeze blows inland from the sea. Everybody in the office's been smelling it for two weeks straight." "Wait a minute. It was doing what?!" Gage asked him as he crawled a little closer to all four of them. "Why didn't you call the gas utilities?" "We did. Numerous times. Not our fault that nobody did anything about it. If anything, the fault's entirely on your heads now. Don't you fire department types regularly inspect oil wells for problems every month? Too bad so many people had to die today before--" the man broke off, completely shaken. Gage filed away that observation as food for thought along with the man's personal information from his Driver's License. Johnny only delayed the baby's rescue by a minute or so. Long enough for him and Stoker to carefully place her onto a papoose board for the trip up and out of the debris field. "Infant's stable!" he shouted at Craig. "Stoker, are you uninjured enough to help me with Marco? He's next. Pop in his OPA for me, would you? I thought he'd've reawakened by now." he said, turning up Lopez's second drip chamber to wide open as he immobilized the first injured man's lower arm with his other hand. Johnny watched Lopez accept the airway without flinching. But Gage noted that Marco's face was still warm and only a tiny bit pale. Gage did a deep pain check and was rewarded with a grimace as Stoker bent close to tend him. Mike sighed and he turned his head when Gage's radio began chattering at him. "It's in, Johnny. The crew's sending the stokes down again in half a minute. They have to check on a potential recollapse warning siren that's just gone off." "Brice!" Gage shouted. ##Hang on down there. We're checking with the IC.## came Brice's calm voice over the HT Johnny had out on a rock. Seconds later, Craig was back on the frequency. ##False alarm. It was just dust settling. What'll come down, already has, according to all the engineers we've got out here. You're free to resume..## he reported to Johnny. "We're on our way! Ok, Stoker, while we wait for the basket stretcher, help me put a pair of splints on this arm and Marco's leg. And before you ask, Roy, Chet and Cap are doing just great. All three are at Rampart. And that's where we're going, too. I made sure of those arrangements way ahead of time." Johnny told the dirty, worried engineer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photo: Gage, digging under a house near a victim. Photo: Brice close, looking up near a debris field. Photo: Firemen carting away a double I.V. cath'd woman. Photo: A handler, hugging his search dog. Photo: Paramedics tending a roof top victim. Photo: A bloodied hysterical man being stair chair'd to safety. Photo: Johnny Gage, looking tense, outside in a closeup shot. ************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Sun Jul 30, 2006 4:18 pm Subject: Blood is Thicker Than... Mike Stoker finally allowed himself to relax way inside, where all of his tension had wound the tightest. ::It'll be a long healing period for all of us physically.:: he thought to himself as he watched Marco be loaded onto a gurney in a prep to be moved to a waiting helicopter. He himself, had declined the offer to fly in a bird, using his right of choice to take an ambulance into the hospital. "See all the victims here? Now even though I'm not a paramedic, I know there's someone who needs it more than I do." he told Johnny from his gurney as he was blanketed and triaged. Gage grinned. "That's the sound of a true fire station engineer's heart talking, Brice. Ain't it a wonderful thing?" he chuckled. Craig nodded in agreement, pushing his debris dusty glasses up a little further up his nose. "Marco's coming to. Those two I.V.'s are finally working." he said where he crouched over the bundled firefighter. Brice took the short airway out of Marco's mouth just as the waking fireman started protesting it physically. "About time things worked. Knowing Marco, he just wanted to take his usual afternoon nap time anyway despite being buried under ten storeys of collapsed building." Johnny looked around them quickly. "Where's the woman?" he asked. "She was flown out three ago. See it there?" Brice said, tossing a careless bloodied glove westwards into the sun. Gage caught the sight of the tail end of the chopper as it crested the last hill as it disappeared over the horizon. When he concentrated, he could just make out the air distorted thwap of retreating rotors over the noisy, chaotic sound of heavy machinery still digging in search. "Got ya. So, how many do they think are still out there?" he asked about trapped victims. Brice's face fell. "Not many. Dogs have reacted to only two more places past your crew's hole on the whole site. I'm afraid the rest are....probably dead." he said quietly. But he immediately bolstered up his confidence again. "That child one of the city guys pulled out of the debris field's still alive. He was breathing on his own when he left. Got a chance to see him when the firefighter carrying him fast walked on by for the green zone." "That's good to hear." said Gage. "That's.. that's really great. Come on, let's get these two into a pair of warm beds at Rampart. Dixie'll probably wanna baby them to death like she did Roy, Cap and Chet when they got there." "...sounds nice.." Lopez whispered in a phlegmy wheeze. "Me first.." he grunted in pain. "Shush and let your epinephrine start working in peace without your jawing about things aggravating it." Gage chided him no nonsense. Marco ignored Johnny, his sense of self righteousness becoming fully intact as rapidly as his returning consciousness did. "I don't remember all the details. Was I happy about being found?" he coughed, pulling off his oxygen mask. "What happened to me again after you got to us?" "Same thing that always happens when you open a vein or two and let it go too long. Your body decided to go on strike for a little bit. You'll be fine now." Brice told him, taking another blood pressure. "Your EKG's showing that you're back to near normal." "Hate to bust your bubble. But I don't feel anywhere near normal..." "That's just your bruises talking. Trust Craig Brice on that one, Lopez. He's a brilliant paramedic." Johnny laughed. "Says who?" said Bellingham, walking up to the others to collect Marco's red tagged evac orders. "I don't see no Floyd Nightgale here. Do you? I'd know it if I ever found myself working with a Mr. Perfect Partner type." "You gotta stand back a little to see the halo. You must be getting blinded for being so close." Gage told him. The others smiled, including Brice, who did his with a strong dose of simple modesty. Bob waved over two firemen to take Lopez away to the evac takeoff pad. "Well, the fire's out, at least around here. It'll be the rest of the day yet before those tankers are doused properly. They're still having trouble with tanker number twelve. Keeps re-igniting itself due to internal heat." "No longer our problem..And never will be again." Johnny said empathetically as he gathered up the last of all their medical gear. "Come on, let's get out of here. I'm getting really tired of the scenery around these parts. It's becoming too depressing for me. Fast." he said, thinking about repercussions that would soon come Cap's way. No one denied him that observation. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hank Stanley pulled up his car across the street from Station 51. He couldn't find it within himself to park boldly in the backyard's lot like he would have done if circumstances weren't so disturbingly different. It was mid-evening, and the station was deserted. ::They've rearranged the FD response grid in our service area to work around our absent shift. They don't have enough people to fill all our shoes while we're still gone like this on medical leave.:: Stanley empathized. He hadn't wanted to come. Not really. Not when every familiar piece of equipment, smell, and object in the firehouse would remind him of working. ::And that's a job that might no longer be mine come the end of the week.:: Hank thought miserably. ::I'm just torturing myself. Maybe I should just turn around and go home.:: But Stanley turned his key in the lock anyway and let himself in. It was already beginning to smell unused inside the office. He could barely make out the scent of firesmoke left over from B and C's shifts from when they punched out and left the station at the crack of dawn. The sun was just setting... It was usually Cap's favorite part of the day. For it made the rec room and his office glow with warm, profuse daylight that always offered to soothe any pair of tired eyes, worn from a fire call or bad child medical. Sighing, Hank lowered himself down into his chair, kicked off his sneakers and folded his tired feet on top of the neatly plastic tarp covered desk. ::It's been two weeks. And I still don't know what to do. I haven't even gotten the letter talking about the disciplinary action that they're going to pitch against me yet. I know that needs to be disclosed first to me and my union rep before any official hearing's scheduled.:: Cap thought, biting his lip. He was not relaxed, and it caused his healing, still itching staples to ache over his tense stomach muscles. ::But I still hate the whole idea of this Skelly hearing thing. I mean, I haven't so much as gotten a single parking ticket since I first became certified with the fire department eighteen years ago. Leaving me in a lurch like this isn't fair at all. I wanna know a decision now. Before it drives me completely nuts!:: Hank fidgetted. His restlessness drove him to his feet. He strode for the door and ran right into a cloud of freshly percolating coffee steam, drifting in from the kitchen. He dashed for the rec room carelessly, partially fearing who and what he'd find once he got there. All five of his firefighters were standing around the kitchen table, not yet seated in their chairs, as they passed around a coffee pot. It seemed that they had been waiting for him. They all set down their coffee cups when he entered and slowly, as one, they all saluted him formally, in a respectful line as if they were wearing dress hats in full uniform during a surprise inspection instead of loose fitting t-shirts and blue jeans fresh off the streets. It all but broke Cap's heart when he realized that he could still spot the signs of injury in his men: Roy's Frankenstein's monster like stitches still in a ring around his neck from his emergency cervical dissection, Chet's shoulder sling, the crutches Marco was leaning on so he could stand on his sore leg... But most of all, it was Stoker's still blood darkened black eye that cut through him the most, for it marred the mild engineer's usually shy handsome smile. He fought tears when he saw their unswerving unspoken tribute and noted that they didn't break formation one inch nor their right handed salutes one millimeter, until he returned it quickly. That released everybody out of a suffocating silence of uncertainty. Gage beat out all the others to be the first one to pull out a chair for their still stiff, and sore, captain. Johnny said just three words as they waited for any kind of verbal reaction from him with frozen nervousness. "...welcome back, Cap.." he said with a small tentative, ambivalent smile. That released a Hoover Dam of emotions in Hank. "Oh, my word. I thought you all would absolutely begin to hate me after what I did to you." he gasped, eyes powder dry with shock and relief as the breath slowly returned to his body. The gang bubbled forward with a gush of reassurances and shoulder pats and hand shakes. "No way, Cap." shouted Chet. "Amigos siempre.." said Lopez. "Whatever gave you that idea?" asked Roy. "What's to hate? You're a likeable kind of guy. Even more so than me, Cap." Stoker insisted. "And that's the truth.." Gage punctuated, setting an amply filled cup of coffee down before Hank, complete with the bowl of sugar and the carton of vanilla cream that they all knew he liked. "So there.. I'm afraid, you're still stuck with us.." he chuckled with a lopsided grin, gesturing in exasperated relief. "Drink up. There's plenty where that came from. We couldn't just keep hanging around home either..heh." "What are y-- what are you all doing here?" Cap asked, still not drinking. But he held onto the warm cup as if his comfort depended on it like a lifeline. "This came today. We sorta kinda saw the chief come out to deliver it." said Chet uncomfortably, pulling out and sliding over an unopened Headquarters stamped envelope from a rear jeans pocket. "We all hid so he wouldn't see us. We...." he broke off but then finished his thought. "...didn't want ya to get into any more trouble just because we let ourselves into a station that's officially stood down for a shift." "Can't get into any more trouble than I already am." admitted Cap. "Give it here. I.....think I already have a pretty good idea what this is all about." he said reluctantly. Hank sat down into his chair and he was amazed that he couldn't seem to find the ability to make his fingers move long enough to open it. "Come on, Cap. Go on ahead. We're all with ya." said Kelly, firmly. "Yeah,.." echoed Marco. "We're all in this together. So out with it.." "And how. Go on,...Rip away..." said Stoker. Trembling, Cap opened the letter... _________________________________________________ Photo: The gang at the kitchen table, in front of coffee. Photo: Gage and Chet overlooking a letter with trepidation. Photo: Cap looking uncomfortably nervous in a close up. ************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Mon Jul 31, 2006 6:55 pm Subject: The Coup De Grace.. Cap didn't look up as he forced his eyes to move over the crisp, neatly creased and letterheaded page. "This letter is official notification in a matter of discipline, SPB Case number 312-6 being filed against Henry A. Stanley, Rank of Fire Department Captain, NO. 97-06, City of Carson, LACoFD Station 51. You are summarily summoned to appear before an official arbitrator and the LACoFD Operations Commander of the state of California on Monday,...August 12th,..0830 hundred hours..." Cap swallowed hard, trying to keep his voice even as he read on. "You have been found to have committed a violation of Article 34 of the Los Angeles County Fire Procedures Manual, sections 171.105 and 171.106. It has been ruled that you, the grievant, issued an Improper Fire Command Direction in a clearcut Protocol Code Violation, which resulted in the unnecessary direct endangerment of four of five firefighter personnel who were reporting to duty under your command on Wednesday, August 18th, 1976. The time in which the infraction occurred was at 10:02 hours while your station was on scene at an oceanic pier fire incident located at 1700 Industrial Boulevard. Evidence of your violation has been inarguably demonstrated on officially recorded LACoFD fire radio transmissions that were also overheard by the Battalion Incident Commander on co-current active duty on the same date. "A severe reprimand action has been authorized to be rendered against you consisting of...." Cap broke off, his eyes filling. "Oh, is this really happening to me?" he whispered through dry lips as sudden hot tears blinded him. Hank crumpled up the letter weakily in two limp hands and sat back down, hard. The gang was stunned into silence. Roy's mouth opened in grave concern. "Hank, are you ok? It- whatever it is, it can't be that bad. I mean, we all went into Headquarters and filed official statements saying that we all agreed with your decision telling us to go in after those kids. Those must have had a positive impact,.. didn't they?" he asked timidly, scared. Cap didn't look at him. Gage immediately got mad. "Cap, now what did they decide against you?" "You can tell us, man. Whatever they wanna do to you, we can fight it." said Chet firmly. "I'm sure our union reps can help us out that way. We've already found a steward to oversee you from the Carson City Area Firefighters Local 522 I.A.F.F., AFL-CIO." Hank finally spoke. "Oh, and who's the best one for that? Can't be any of you guys. You all were the victims of my supposed wrongful action." "He's the best, Cap. Trust us on this one." said Marco. "Yeah, we brought him here today just to see you." said Stoker. "You what?!" bellowed Cap, quickly wiping his eyes on a paper napkin that someone had pushed in front of him. "Don't you think that's jumping the gun just a little bit? This arbitrary hearing's only to present counter evidence to lessen any punishment, if possible. It's not a trial that takes material witnesses like some criminal court case." "No, but the Arbitrator may listen to character ones." said Craig Brice as he walked through the vehicle bay doors. "Captain Stanley.." he greeted formally with a small bob of his head. "If you'll permit me, I'd like to attend your Skelly hearing in that function. I am, after all, a neutral party. I am not one of your direct crew members." Cap hesitated. "Come on, Cap. He's also got total recall of the entire Procedures Manual and Union rules. He's the perfect choice to mediate for you." Gage insisted. Hank looked up tentatively, vulnerable. "W-what exactly does a steward do at a Skelly hearing? I- I wouldn't know since I've never had one myself, nor have any of my men under any of my commands throughout my entire career.." he said, still in an odd sort of shock. Brice smiled, and calmly soothed everyone with his quiet, methodic voice. "First of all, I need to know what they wish to do as your disciplinary action." Cap looked up with numb eyes. "They want to fire me." The room erupted in complete and utter denial. The gang exploded into noisy empathetic complaints, pleading sympathy or anger on Cap's behalf, until Brice held up his hands for silence. "Captain Stanley, that charge is most grievous, but we do have many recourses we can follow to challenge the action the Board wants to take against you. In Skelly, the California Supreme Court set forth certain notice requirements that a public employer must fulfill to satisfy an employee's pre-removal procedural due process rights. At a minimum, these pre-removal safeguards must include notice of the proposed action, the reasons therefore, which is contained in that letter you're holding." he gestured. "In addition, a copy of the charges and materials upon which the action is based must be provided to you. You also have the right to respond, either orally or in writing, to the authority initially imposing this discipline." "I do?" Cap asked quietly, still getting a hold of himself. He was gripping the edge of the table so tightly, that it was creaking. Brice nodded. "Pursuant to Skelly, the Board enacted Rule 52.3, which provides in pertinent part: (a) Prior to any adverse action. the appointing power shall give the employee written notice of the proposed action. This notice shall be given to the employee at least five working days prior to the effective date of the proposed action. The notice shall include: (1) the reasons for such action, (2) a copy of the charges for adverse action, (3) a copy of all materials upon which the action is based, (4) notice of the employee's right to be represented in proceedings under this section, and (5) notice of the employee's right to respond... Brice took in a deep breath. "That being, so far in your case, it looks like Headquarters is in protocol violation itself here." he explained suddenly. "They are?" asked Gage incredulously. "How so? That letter sounds like it's in very tight order.." said Marco. Again the room filled with noise as everyone fought to be heard over each other, expressing their opinions and very great concern. Brice put a finger to his lips to quiet them, and still smiling, he reclined his head. "There's no tape." he said simply, holding up the torn open empty envelope. To emphasis his point, he turned it upside down and shook it as if to look for the incriminating reel that wasn't there to fall out of it. Gage began to laugh, darkly amused. And slowly, Cap began to grin, right along with him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fifteen minutes later, the firemen had laid out their plan of attack. Craig Brice filled them in as to the nitty gritty details. "The purpose of the Skelly hearing is to determine only if there are 'reasonable grounds to believe that the charges against the appellant are true and support the proposed action.' In contrast, an appellant's right to discovery is broader. It includes 'the right to inspect any documents in the possession of, or under the control of, the appointing power which are relevant to the adverse action.' Now,..." he sighed. "Many FD bureaucratic managers and supervisors do not understand Skelly rights, and they therefore often violate the rules. This can provide grounds for winning a grievance, because further arbitrators take Skelly rights VERY seriously. "Now we already know, that THEY know, that management must have sufficient evidence by the time of the Skelly hearing to support the proposed discipline. But they may NOT know that employees, or their representatives, are entitled to the same access to the relevant documents as outlined by Code SPP 270.11 (b) in the fire department manual. Although they may try to doctor up a case against the employee after the Skelly hearing, this would still be considered a violation of the employee's Skelly rights. It looks like the employee, Captain Stanley, has not been given a lawful chance to review the quote/unquote d*mn*ng evidence material. And probably won't be, before the disciplinary hearing's final action's administered." "Wait a minute. Wait a minute.." said Gage. "You mean, since Cap hasn't heard the radio tape yet, that all we have to do is wait these five days out and everything'll turn out just fine?" he asked incredulously. "Essentially,... yes. On Monday, file a grievance under the SPP or A&PS sections I've pointed out, and then at the second grievance meeting, just say that the employee should have the termination letter removed from his file because there was no properly supplied Skelly meeting documentary material supplied the grievant at the onset. Of course, you should make all other relevant arguments as well..." Brice concluded, adjusting his glasses. "Such as, 'We're not pressing charges.'.. etc. etc.." he smiled blandly. Chet got into that big time.. "Yeah, and how about..Go take a hike, too!" "Brice, you're a genius!" exclaimed Cap, grabbing Craig's hand and pumping it up and down vigorously. "I guess." said Craig modestly. "Usually, everybody tells me that I'm a braggart." "No, it's true..You are a RAVING genius!" Hank said. "Ok, uh.... so tell me, if- if- if I still keep you as my steward, what is your function, and wh- what's mine?" he asked, nervously sipping from his steaming coffee cup. The mug was shaking so bad, that Marco and the others had to help him drink the mouthful he wanted, until Cap waved them away in irritation. "This is what I, while working as a steward, usually do..." shared Brice. "One of the jobs a steward has, is to keep management from intimidating employees." "They actually do that?!" Hank asked in horror. Brice sadly nodded his head yes. "This is especially important in the case of closed-door meetings where supervisors try to force employes to admit that they did something wrong to prove a point and to prove that their punishment decision was the right one." "Ok.. ok.." said Cap eagerly. Brice went on. "Your right to have a union rep present in such meetings was established by the Supreme Court in the Weingarten case. The Court ruled that a worker is entitled to have a union rep present when a supervisor asks for information which could be used as a basis for discipline. This is another thing that the Board who sent you this letter, did not do." The gang chuckled again, finally more sure in their relieved feelings about the whole situation. Craig held up a finger in warning. "But management has no obligation to tell workers their rights, so employees may not know to ask for union representation before or during the interview. A steward can put such a request in writing, and direct the employee to keep a copy to back up any counter-evidence." Hank nodded, paying close attention, his eyes finally dry. "Now my role as a steward to you..." he went on. "Watch what you say at the meeting because it really may be, and very often is, used against you if any shred of defensiveness materializes. Keep your answers to their questions short and avoid volunteering any information. If you don't know an answer, say so and don't speculate. Most importantly, stay calm and reasonable. You aren't fired yet." Brice snorted, getting into his counseling with a little animation. The others murmured encouragements. Brice looked Cap in the eye. "Be reassuring. The union is there to help. Also, call management today and casually asked what the meeting is about. Don't assume you know what their agenda is despite this letter. Take good notes of what is said and by whom. Good notes of management's early positions can save your case neatly, especially with a mistake happening in your favor THIS big." he said, lofting Cap's wrinkled letter. "It'll be my job to not let the supervisors harass, abuse, or intimidate you. I'll do this by saying things like. "Don't interrupt, he's trying to answer your question," or, "I'm afraid we can't continue with the meeting if you're going to shout." or, "Let's take a break and re-convene when you've decided what it is that you need to know," etc. As your steward, I'll have a lot of control over the atmosphere of this meeting. Don't worry. If we're surprised by another turn in bad news or if you feel like you're beginning to become unglued, just nod, and I'll say, "We're going to step out and caucus for about ten minutes. We'll be right back." This'll give us a chance to regroup and to discuss a new tactic to win the hearing, ok?" "Thanks Brice. I owe you one." said Stanley, truly grateful. "No you don't. What you did to try and save those kids was the right thing to do. And I always defend anyone who's willing to do that any day of the week. Now,..we'll allow enough time so that we can meet privately first beforehand and still be punctual. Don't be surprised if management is late or keeps you waiting. They often do this deliberately to remind you who's in charge. Ignore it. It's an old trick." Craig told him. "Of all the low down, underhanded..." Hank growled to himself. "Patience, Cap." Roy reminded him. "We've always known that all the chiefs have many tricks up their sleeves. I don't have to remind you of the ones Chief McConnike pulls on you all the time for burning his hat once as a probie." "No, you don't." Hank said, relaxing. Brice continued. "Cap, introduce yourself, too, and shake hands with everybody in the room. You need to know their names for your notes, and it establishes you as their equal. Be polite, at least initially. If the situation warrants, you can express anger or disgust, but always remain professional. I like to be friendly with the enemy, so I'm warning you in advance so you won't think that I'm changing sides. It'll be a sweeter victory when we deliver the coup de grace if they've been buttered up a little.." he grinned broadly, rubbing his hands. "Now as for the rest of you guys... Show up, dressed impeccably. And leave all your bandages and crutches at home. " ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was Monday, and Mike Stoker was the first of the injured firemen to be called by Brice to the stand to serve as an optional character witness at Hank's Skelly hearing. Stoker's black eye was well concealed under solid flesh toned stage makeup to the point of invisibility, a skill Dixie had plied generously. Smiling, the shy engineer began to speak.."Fire comradeship runs very, very deep in our station. My ...faith in Hank Stanley has never been shaken, not even once, for as long as I've known him as my captain..." FIN Episode Thirty Five, Season Five Captain's Prerogative Emergency Theater Live ----------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Brice shaking Cap's hand. Photo: Very thick procedure manuals on a desk. Photo: Cap, Chet, Roy and Gage in close conference over coffee. Photo: Gage in a suit, looking calm and relaxed, listening. Photo: A representative confronting Cap, seated in a chair. ************************************************** End Credits -- Episode Thirty Five (Fifth Season) §§ Captain's Perogative §§ :) This episode is dedicated to those rescue workers, :( survivors, and victims of the Oklahoma City Bombing tragedy of 1995 and to NYFD Fire Department Chaplain Father Mychal Judge, who died at the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001 while delivering last rites to a downed firefighter when tower debris struck and killed him while he :( prayed for the dying who lay surrounding him. :( The Story Unfolds.. Season Five, Episode Thirty Six.. §§ Tower Drill §§ Debut Launch: August 1st, 2006. ************************************************** From: "Derrick" Date: Thu Aug 3, 2006 3:05 am Subject: The Morning Blues The crew of Station 51 had reported in for their tour of duty on a sunny but cool, spring day in the Los Angeles area. It had just thunderstormed two days earlier, which forced a rainout of a Dodgers vs. Giants game at Dodger Stadium to which Chet and Marco had planned to go. They were still less than happy about it. "I don't know how come is it, when we go to a ballgame, that it always rains." Marco complained to Chet. "Well, consider it this way, pal. You can't stop mother nature from doing her thing. I guess we'll have to go some other time when the weather gets a little nicer." Chet emphasized with a shrug. "Who wants to see them lose again anyway?" Chet added. "It seems that everytime we go, they lose!" They watched with growing bemusement as Johnny Gage came into the kitchen, wearing a sulken face, grumbling. Chet looked up and asked. "What's wrong with you?" "What's wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong, Chet. My whole love life is wrong!" Johnny told him. "Oh, really?" asked Marco. "What happened to you?" "Before I knew it, Sue dumped me after our date Friday night and gave me the third degree about it.... Telling me that I'm a- a- a loser ... and a perpetual slob. And then she had the nerve to call me a liar when I told her that all of that wasn't usually true. All I said to her was that I had been working a lot of overtime.." Marco snickered and shook his head in sympathy during Johnny's conversation while he exchanged 'what else is new?' looks with Chet. Chet rubbed his chin. "Johnny, you need help there. I mean, you really need...'help.' " he suggested gently, drawing finger quotes in the air meaningfully. Gage blinked a few times, until the suggestion sank in. "Are you telling me that I should go see a shrink?" Johnny snapped. Chet immediately looked away at the glare Johnny shot him when the dark haired paramedic fired back at him in offended ire. "Maybe that will be the best thing for you, partner." said Roy as he entered the kitchen, just overhearing the conversation. "All right. Ok...All right. I hear ya. Then, I'm.. I'm..crazy." Johnny told them all, throwing up his hands. "You all think that I am crazy? Well, I'll show you who's crazy by the time our shift ends. And Chet, you and Henry are..are just plum crazy, too!" Gage said as he pointed to the dog on the couch, who seemed to turn his head away from Johnny as if ignoring him. Then Captain Stanley walked in, barely avoiding a shoulder check with Gage as the angry paramedic barged out of the room and stormed on past him for the quiet sanctuary of the vehicle bay. Cap asked the obvious without even looking up from the daily mail he was sorting through. "What's been going on here?" he asked matter of factly. "Do I sense a little unhappiness in the air?" "Just a little." sighed Roy, taking another sip of coffee from his mug. "Oh. Coming from Gage? That's normal." Hank shrugged as he sat down in a chair to finish his filing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Photos: None. ******************************************************* From : Rampartbase Date: Wed Aug 2, 2006 11:45 am Subject: See you later, alligator.. In a while, crocodile... Heh. It remained a nice sunny day for the rest of the morning. The crew at 51's were doing their usual chores and were about to have lunch soon, when the tones sounded. ##Station 51. Man treed by an alligator at Harper Park. 1100 Santa Monica Blvd. 1100 Santa Monica Blvd. Cross street, Watercreek. Be aware. Animal control has been notified and they've responded that they are unequipped to capture it. Time out: 11:06.## Captain Stanley acknowledged the call. On the way, he picked up the mic and said. "L.A., Engine 51. How big is the gator?" he deadpanned seriously. The reply came back. ##Eyewitnesses have estimated its length at six feet.## "10-4." Cap hung up the mic derisively. Then Hank said to his crew. "We have to be really careful." "Thanks for telling us. I don't think we could have figured out that one by ourselves, Cap." joked Chet as he jogged by Cap to put on his turnout and helmet from the stow. Hank made a face and threw a 'get in there' thumb gesture at his wise cracking fireman. They rolled out. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ************************************************** From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Fri, 4 Aug 2006 18:33:33 -0700 (PDT) Subject: That Loyal Postal Stick-It-To-It-Ness~~ Station 51 rolled through the regional park's entrance, code three. Surprisingly, a Los Angeles County animal control unit, wasn't there yet. A scream rippled out. It was female and very, very panicked. The gang rushed out of their trucks, pausing at the edge of the parking lot to get their bearings on where the scream came from, but it didn't repeat. Then a sharp eyed Gage spotted their subject on a tree limb. It was a girl in her mid twenties, hysterically mute and trembling. "There, Cap. Near the eucalyptus. Forty feet to our ten o'clock. That ain't no man. I wonder who call THAT in?" Johnny said, snatching out rope coils and life belts for himself and Roy. "Maybe it treed more than one victim.." Roy shrugged. "Eh,.. the number of victims aside, I wanna know where that alligator got to." Cap said empathetically, eyeing the ground and the thick grass surrounding them along the lake's margin. He could just make out the remains of a shredded german shepard lying just off the jogging path. "Stoker and I'll go look." Marco volunteered. "Be careful. Don't these things like to charge thirty miles an hour out of the water when they want something to eat real bad?" Cap asked him. "I'm trying not to remember that.." Stoker frowned. "Don't think a charged firehose is the answer for this one." Chet did the only other thing he could do. He grabbed out a bullhorn for Hank. Cap snatched it up and turned it on. ##Miss, this is the Los Angeles County Fire Department. We see you. Just hold still until we figure out a way to get you down from there, o.k.?## If the woman heard, she wasn't answering, petrified as she was. Then she started panting and looking wildly around desperately when she jerked at a sound that only she heard. "She's gonna fall for sure, Cap. She's panicking again!" Johnny said, running for the tree along with Lopez and Marco. Roy got off the engine's radio. "We can't get a snorkle, Cap. L. A. says they're all busy at fire calls for the next forty five minutes to an hour." Hank thought a moment, then he pulled out his handy talkie. "Engine 51, L.A., respond a Sierra rescue team to our location. We've a young woman trapped thirty feet up a pine tree. Code three." ##L.A., Engine 51. Sierra Bravo has been notified. Their ETA is five minutes by air. ## Roy just looked at him. "Park rangers?" "Why not?" Cap replied. "They're good with trees, wild animals, and search and rescues. Go get the life net and back up the others in case she topples outta the tree." "Right.." grinned DeSoto, peeling off his turnout. He ran with the folded encircled catch net quickly. Cap soon became aware of four state personnel in blue running down the hill from the direction of the neighborhood houses on the cliff row above them. They were postal people, complete with their tan canvas and bright fluorescent orange handled mail bags. One of them had a portable scanner radio in hand. "Hold it, hold it.. Where do you think you're going?" he asked them. "To go help. Marve said he was in trouble with an animal on his route." said one man. "We always drop whatever we're doing to get a fellow postman out of danger." "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Marve's a postman? What's he doing in the park?" A hefty, African-American woman answered him, sternly. "Taking a short cut. Now are we gonna hem and haw about this all day or our we gonna do something for that poor girl?" she said, throwing a careless hand up at the woman she spotted in the tree. Right then, another dusty postman ran out of the bushes and joined them. "Marve! You ok?" the mail woman asked. "We came fast as we could." "I'm fine. I couldn't do anything for the jogger's dog. The alligator was too big." "Where is it now?" Hank asked, pulling off his work gloves. "Right over there. About fifty feet. It's facing the girl's tree from the shallows." Marve pointed. "All right. Go back there and keep an eye on it, would ya?" Cap thought for a moment, then remembered the safety net's need for at least eight to hold onto it safely. "The rest of you, circle around in the open and catch up with my men and take a hold of the life net." They started moving. "But get there moving away from the water!" Cap reinforced. Just as Cap was about to join them, Les Taylor and Dave Gordon from animal control arrived,.. empty handed. "Where's your tranquilizer gun?" he asked them. "Sorry, captain. An alligator's not a tiger. It can't be tranquilized the way you think." replied Dave. "Why is that?" Hank demanded, irritated and worried for his people and the victim. Les shrugged. "It's just their metabolism and the way that their blood flows. We've eyeballed it. It's a male, and it's lean. It's probably starving." Dave added more. "Being sick like he is, his metabolism is so low that if we tranquilize him, he'll probably drown after being darted." "Then let's kill it." Cap snapped. He frowned when the two officers in front of him looked at each other."Why hesitate?" he asked them. "American alligators are a protected species. We've been ordered to capture it with traps and take it alive." Dave shrugged. "That's raising the risk for all of my men and those helping them." "Sorry, sir. Only the police can overrule our supervisor for a use of lethal force." Les told him. "All right. Ok.." Cap said. "Let's see what we can do with what we've got then, shall we?" he said impatiently when he realized that the PD was nowhere in sight. All three men soon joined the firemen and the four postal workers around the net. Half of them had their backs to the net while they hung onto it, being lookouts, while Gage climbed the tree with a nimbly tossed rope. He was moving slowly so that he wouldn't alarm the girl. Roy spoke softly. "Miss,.. my partner's on the way up to you. It's ok. We..we know where the alligator is exactly and it's not gonna hurt you." he said with convincing confidence. The girl didn't seem to hear him. She kept mumbling a dog's name over and over again, her eyes dry and shocked. Her hands kept slipping on the bark where her cheek rested as cold sweat drenched her. Once, both of her palms slipped and she let out a yelp as she scrambled to keep her balance along the branch. "Don't worry about falling. We'll catch you.." said Hank. "We've got a net just below you. Do you see it?" The girl didn't react. She only gripped the branch tighter. "I'm almost there..." Gage grunted to the others down below. "Keep her distracted. If she moves too much here, she might miss the net before we can correct for it." Suddenly, there was a massive sound of hissing and an explosion of water erupted from the lake. "Look out!" Dave shouted as the still hungry, large alligator charged them. Before the firemen reacted, the five postal workers let out a holler of their own and in a blink, they all leaped on the alligator's body, pinning its head, and very dangerous thrashing tail. Hank's mouth dropped open as Les ran to help them with a stout roll of duck tape and a thick length of rope. "Oh, my..." Cap gushed, not wanting to let go of the net he still held with Dave, Marco, Roy and Chet. The net wavered in the wind blowing off the lake and it was very difficult for the few of them who were left to stay under the tree and in a good position. Stanley eyed the ball of postal workers and the animal control officer, tangling with the thrashing alligator. "They're all nuts. Absolutely nuts!" he exclaimed. Gage let out a shout of dismay that suddenly grabbed Cap's attention. Hank whipped his head back to what he was doing. The woman was falling towards the ground, off center to the net. Hastily, the five firemen and Dave shifted the net desperately to encompass her, but they succeeded in only catching the girl's upper body as she landed partially in the net. Her waist and lower back pinwheeled over the edge of the lifenet's frame and she somersaulted vertically, feet up, before she hit the grassy ground hard. Panicking, and in pain, the young woman sat up and was immediately halted by Roy, who grabbed her from behind. "Easy. Don't move! You'll only hurt yourself further." he warned into her ear firmly. "B-but..the alligator..He--he...*gasp*.. ohhhHH!" she grunted, feeling something broken inside. Her face paled and began to turn blue. She gurgled into silence, still horribly conscious. "Johnny, go get the backboard! Marco?!" DeSoto shouted. "I'll get the gear.." Lopez answered. "I'll help." Chet added. "On the fly.." Gage punctuated as he slipped down his rope hanging from the tree to go aid his partner. He knew the girl had been seriously, grieviously hurt as clearly as Roy did. He knelt to help DeSoto stabilize her head and airway where she sat upright on the ground. "What can you tell?" "I don't know." Roy answered him. "Might be her spine, or ribs. I'm feeling blood soaking into my shirt." he said hoarsely. Johnny knelt down. Cap knelt near. "Anything I can do? The alligator's no longer an issue. He's tied up." "Get that chopper in here faster. She's going critical. And get us Rampart in a relay." Roy told him. "You got it, pal." Stoker said, running for the road. Sighing in sympathy, Cap handed DeSoto an active resuscitator on demand feed to give to the woman so she would get as much oxygen into her system as she could take. He could see that she was still drawing breaths on her own; short, painful efforts that frighteningly didn't seem like they were going to last much longer. ::This is bad. And we still have to immobilize her.:: Cap thought. ::Oh, no.. She's got that thousand yards stare already.:: he worried mentally. Knowing that there wasn't much he could do yet, Cap rose to his feet after nodding at Johnny that everything was coming as fast as it could get there. Numb, he said the first thing that came to the top of his head. "Nice work, guys.." he said to the sweaty, grinning postmen who were rejoining him, one by one from the lakeshore. Marve smiled. "Believe me, we always reap our revenge every chance we get. Have no fear of that." "Do you guys always tackle hunger crazed alligators when they charge you like that?" Stanley wondered. The chocolate skinned mail woman smiled. "You'd be surprised at what chases us at one time or another, fireman. This ain't nothing at all. Them pound boys are.. usually off chasing stray cats in trees or something, leaving us postal workers to fend for ourselves." she said, watching the two animal control officers who were checking and rechecking the gator's tied up legs and taped jaws carefully to see that they were truly secured. "Now why would they do that?" Cap asked her. "It's because we call em to get past all the dogs and other guard animals in people's yards all the time. Their vet says we drain their operating budget faster than a coke on a hot day. Doesn't seem to concern the LACoAC much that we think the mail must go through no matter what, know what I mean?" she laughed, still high on adrenalin. Cap tried to smile, and couldn't. The dark skinned woman noticed. "How's she doing?" she asked quietly, the glow of heroism slowly fading from her features. "My paramedics are still checking her out. We'll know more here real soon." said Cap, looking down at the five firemen now crouched over the girl. "She's got some developing breathing problems starting up." he told the postal worker. Silently, the postmen watched Station 51, while they worked to save a life. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Cap on the bullhorn, while Roy and Johnny watch. Photo: Woman up a tree. Photo: Cap holding a lifenet, calling up. Photo: A fire department's lifenet view. Photo: A prowling alligator. Photo: Three postmen capturing a gator. Photo: Cap in his helmet looking down near a mail woman. Photo: Roy holding a woman's sshoulders on a street. Photo: Sierra park rangers and the gang carrying stokes. Photo: Gage running with a spine board. ************************************************** From: "killashandrarey01" Date: Mon Aug 7, 2006 1:46 am Subject: Tacit Care.. Roy immediately started talking as he was holding the badly injured woman against his shoulder. "Ma'am,.. can you still hear me? Ma'am?" The girl did not reply through her involuntary gasping. "Hey!" Gage shouted to get her attention. He saw that her eyes were no longer focused. Johnny pinched her earlobe firmly. She didn't move. "She's going unresponsive, Roy." he murmured. "Marco, take control of her head with that jaw thrust. Stoker, an ambu would be real nice right about now. Help her on it when she needs it." he said, slipping in a lubricated nasopharyngeal airway into one of her nostrils. "Chet.. get a C-collar. Looks like she's a small regular." he said, feeling around her head and neck in a fast check. Periodically, he looked at his palms, one at a time, searching for wet blood stains as he worked them down to her shoulders. "She's not bleeding from anywhere up here, Roy." he told his partner, who was setting up an EKG monitor. DeSoto nodded, looking down at his own shirt to see where the large blood stain that he had felt soaking him earlier, was located. "Try her right lower back." Cap gestured to his paramedics. "I'll get Rampart." Then he turned to the postal workers. "Could you folks help us out one more time?" "Sure.. sure.. " said the dark skinned lady. "Anything you say, mister." "Can one of you go grab a blanket packet out of the engine? They're yellow. Right rear compartment above the driver's back tire. Then turn around with your backs to us in a ring. We're gonna need some privacy for her. Seems we're already gathering ourselves a crowd of the curious here." said Hank, seeing more park goers arriving due to the unusual sight of the bound and taped alligator and the three flashing county trucks. The post woman took one look at the shears Gage was using to get the girl's clothes off and nodded in immediate understanding. She put two fingers to her mouth and let loose a piercing whistle to catch the other chattering mailmen's startled attention. "Don't just stand there, Marve." she pegged her cohort. "Go get that cover up tarp for the little lady. As for the rest of you,.. about face, pronto, and don't let me catch you lookin' back over here even once." she ordered her coworkers like a bossy mother hen. They obeyed her. Instantly. "Don't you worry, captain. Nobody else is gonna get anywhere near her. And that's a promise from us." said the saucy, pleasant faced mail woman. "Uh,, thank you.." said Stanley distractedly without looking up from where he crouched over the biophone case. "Rampart,.. this is Engine 51. How do you read?" Roy and Johnny were deep into their initial assessment. Gage felt for carotid pulse quality on both sides of the woman's neck and then he compared them to those in both wrists. "Weaker radials bilaterally... but I'm feeling no cervical crepitus. She has no signs of jugular venous distension or tracheal deviation.. Resp rate's thirty, very shallow, and intermittent." "Got it." said Roy, taking notes. He had patched the woman in on limb leads so that they would have constant audible cardiac cues to listen to. And then he placed one of her fingers inside the wired pulse oximeter's soft rubber clamp. "Ok, Chet, she's set for her collar...Let's get it on." Gage grunted as he ducked around Stoker's hands as the engineer started working the bag valve mask. "Then go get the KED ready, would ya? Marco's still got his hands full holding her. I'll probably be finished with her entire sweep by the time you get back." "All right, Johnny." replied Kelly. Soon, they were through and Chet took off for the engine's auto extrication equipment bay. Gage continued to search for serious problems. "I've got a spreading bruise medial right chest..." he said, feeling and looking at the woman's skin. He stopped when one hand came away bloody. "There it is.. Lower right side, Roy. A penetrating wound with a single rib fracture into the abdomen.. The injury's fully below the diaphragm." he reported as he snatched out some bulky dressings to control the bleeding. He used many layers and taped them to her side firmly in a square to slow the heavy hemorrhaging. He moved on down each of the woman's arms and legs in turn in a careful check for other critically bleeding wounds, but he found none. Quickly wiping his hands off on the woman's discarded shirt, Johnny got out a stethoscope for a fast chest/lung check. "Roy,..mid clavicular right is hyperpercussive with diminished breath sounds..." he said, catching his breath as he listened closely, "..But mid right axillary and all other lung fields are clear. Her heart sounds normal but it's not at the same rate as her pulse." "What are you getting for a discrepancy?" DeSoto asked as he rechecked the pressure dressing Johnny had applied to see that it was still working. "Apical: 136 and steady. But the 90 palp's irregular." Gage replied. "Any other life threats?" Roy asked. "No." Johnny told him as he placed the flat of two hands and pressed down lightly over all the areas of the woman's abdomen that he could reach with her as she was, sitting up on her scissors split open jeans and underwear. "Just where we know already. Right upper and right lower's firm and distended. Pelvis is stable." he said after gripping her hips with an inward pressure. The bones didn't shift even an inch. He looked at the woman's entire back with a pen light around Stoker knees and jacket flaps and he double checked himself when he felt her skin, too. "Yeah, nothing else.." he concluded. Then he added. "A change..Current LOC is causing incontinence." he said as an odor of urine and stool rose over the blood scent. "But there's no peritoneal or rectal bleeding." "I'll tell Cap to relay what we have so far." Roy told Johnny. Gage and Chet got busy with the Kendrick device. Kelly opened the KED and placed it between Marco and the girl's back. He centered it and placed the wings of the immobilizer snugly under the woman's armpits while Gage tucked some padding at the small of her dusty neck where the head guard didn't rest. Then Johnny fastened the chest straps, taking care that it didn't interfere with Stoker's ability to get good chest rise with his ventilations. "Is she breathing on her own?" he asked the engineer. "Only trying one out of every three now." Stoker replied. "Keep at it, but don't hyperventilate her at all." Mike nodded. "I'm watching her sat's.." he said, throwing a head at where he could see the numerical readings renewing themselves on the screen of the EKG monitor. "Heart rate's still steady. 136.. PO2's 98%" "If her tachycardia's no longer felt at the carotid, let me know." Gage said. "I sure will. I see that Cap's got the defibrillator on active stand by." Chet slid two straps under the girl's thighs and wrapped them over each leg before he snugged them tightly at both ischial grooves. Then they secured the woman's head against the KED's head rest and placed the secondary straps over her forehead and chin once she was confirmed as being placed well centered to vertical. Marco still held onto the woman's head. "Airway's good. Are we ready to place her on the board?" "Yeah.." said Johnny, as he stood up to grip a side handle on the cradle of the KED with one hand. The other, he placed under one of the woman's knees. Chet got set positioning himself on the opposite side to help with the transfer after he was through tying the woman's hands together with a gauze bandage. He paused when his shifting accidently jarred the woman's left arm. It bent into a sudden second elbow just below the shoulder. "Ahh! Broken left humerus." he announced, holding it quickly above and below the break to stop its falling, flopping movement. "Must be a real clean break if I didn't feel that. We'll splint it in route." Gage told him. "Just place that arm neutral enough so that a pulse's always felt in that hand with her arm supported." "Ok, I'm set." Kelly said a few seconds later when he checked circulation. Locking their arms together underneath her, the gang lifted and then carried the woman over to the long board lying on the ground. Carefully, the three firemen lowered her flat onto it and strapped her in after covering her up snugly with the shock sheet Cap had obtained from the engine. They left the woman's wounded side exposed to the air so they could monitor the pressure dressing's continuing effectiveness. Chet did one more aid by propping up the woman's boarded head on a gear box to ease her manually helped respirations. "There you go, Stoker. She should vent nice and easy for you now." "That works." said Mike, watching her color closely as he bagged her. Cap lifted his head. "I've got Brackett on the line!" he shouted. Roy tossed Cap his notepad. "Cap,.. she's a 'load and go'. Tell them the NPA and that jaw thrust are doing the job ok even though her Glasgow's seven. And I found a wallet." DeSoto said as he bent down to do a blood pressure on the woman's unbroken arm. "Catch.." he said, throwing that over, too. "Will do." said Hank, receiving it. "Sierra Bravo's ETA is three minutes.." Then he turned back to the biophone. "Rampart. I have more patient info." he said, leafing through the girl's wallet cards. "Our victim's twenty five with no prior medical problems or allergies." he concluded after reading a few of them. "As I said before her mechanism of injury was a thirty foot fall out of a tree to soft grassy ground after bouncing out of a fire department life net. Status: Unconscious, nonreactive to pain. She is being partially breathing assisted on oxygen and is doing well with just an NPA and jaw thrust. She's got a large, open wound lower right quadrant lateral to the hip with a penetrating rib break into the abdomen. External bleeding has been controlled. She's a second bruise on her upper right chest with slightly diminished superior right lung sounds. Broken left humerus. All extremity pulses are palpable. She is spinally immobilized with a KED on a longboard and is being treated for shock. Stand by for the vitals signs.." Captain Stanley told Rampart. ##Standing by..## answered Kel Brackett from the base station. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. *************************************************** From: "patti keiper" Date: Thu Aug 10, 2006 7:30 pm Subject: Turnabout Intruder.. DeSoto looked up and supplied Stanley with the information Brackett wanted. "BP is 72 over 50. Pulse is 144 and regular. Respirations unassisted are now holding at 10, irregular and shallow. Skin is pale, diaphoretic and cool at the extremities. Pupils are slightly dilated but reactive to light. Glasgow is nine. Bilateral Babinski's: normal. Distal pulses are equal in all four despite that closed fracture in the left arm, now realigned in a position of function. EKG 's showing still viable V-tach and the digital PO2 is 96% on 15L of O2 on ambu. Breath sounds are the same still, with that extremely localized mild rhonci. Estimated 900 cc's blood loss externally from the abdominal wound." Kel Brackett nodded, tapping the glass with a knuckle in a hint to get Dixie to enter the glass enclosed base station just as Cap was parroting back Roy's information over the biocom. She had been pulling out a blank stat chart for him for his patient to begin a surgical workup, knowing the young woman to be a trauma case from the nature of the radio traffic going on between L.A. Headquarters, over the fire department scanner near her head, and with the regional park's county rescue services branch. McCall opened the door just as the emergency room physician was finishing his initial orders. "51, start two large bore intravenous lines of Lactated Ringers in the uneffected arm and run wide open until she's reached effective homeostasis with an upper systolic of 90, auscultated. Don't waste time performing an RSI. Use the addition of an OP if you have to, to maintain her airway in transit. Time is of the essence. Splint all unstable joints later. Send me a twelve lead EKG once you're on your way, and I want additional vitals sets every five minutes. What's your current ETA?" Dixie quickly joined him. "What do you have, Kel?" "Traumatic fall, with a major disruption of a body cavity involving a rib fracture, with possible internal bleeding. So far, she's minus a head injury without any glaring pulmonary or cardiac symptoms and with one, apparently simple, broken humerus." ##Rampart, ETA is eight minutes by air. Coming in with Sierra Rescue to your flight pad.## reported Cap. "10-4, 51. Get her in here as soon as possible and notify me en route of any profound neurological or respiratory changes." Dr. Brackett said, thumbing the talk button. "What now, Kel?" Dixie asked him, anticipating. "I want to organize the care team prior to her arrival. Get two general surgeons on stand by to form the core of the trauma team. They'll be in close cooperation with us while a surgical room gets ready. I'll direct her further evaluation and resuscitation. Get a mid-level provider to manage her airway along with a respiratory therapist. I'll be conducting the primary and secondary surveys, and tell Dr. Early he'll be performing other procedures as needed. I'll leave monitoring her vital signs to you along with drawing bloods for her lab work. I also want an orthopedic surgeon as an immediate consultant as well as the neurosurgeon on-call. I want to make sure her C-spine's truly intact or at least determine any new disability with a complete motor examination performed before surgery." Kel told Dixie. "I'll get right on it." "As soon as she gets in here, I'll want a foley in along with a gastric tube to simplify things in prep for her anesthesia as soon as she's been airway secured by our therapist. Oh, and let's stave off any iatrogenic hypothermia with additional warmed IV fluid, blankets, heat lamps, and a heated, air-circulating blanket. Order up an anteroposterior chest radiograph, a focused abdominal sonogram, a full C-spine series and get films of that left arm. If the room's open, order a CT scan of the abdomen with intravenous contrast. But those spinal pictures first, so we can get her off the long board before surgery." "I'm assuming you want arterial blood gases, a type and cross match, and baseline work on her hemoglobin and hematocrit levels?" Dixie blinked. "Yep." Kel smiled. "And how about a dipstick urinalysis to exclude occult hematuria?" "That, too." he grinned. "You know me too well, Dix, you know that?" Then his stomach growled. Loudly. "Umm hmm.." Dixie nodded without batting an eyelash. "Do me a favor, Kel. Let Dr. Morton handle the next paramedic call when it comes in. You haven't had your lunch yet and you definitely look it." she pegged, with a finger stabbing the ornate tie peeking out of his white lab coat. "And neither have I, for that matter." she reconsidered. "Boosting our mutual blood sugars will be on me just as soon as we've seen 51's patient safely into a surgical ward." Brackett promised. "My kind of guy." she winked. "I'll put her in One." Dixie said, disappearing out the door again. Dr. Brackett hunkered down with just a plain coffee to await his cardiac strip sending from Roy and Johnny. ::Hunger's relative they say. In more ways than one.:: he thought ruefully, admiring Dixie's departing back and efficient, thick bun just beginning to show graceful falling strands from underneath her paper white nurse's hat. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The gang met up with the Sierra team when the park's BK-117 set down on a nearby hillside that proved free of obstructing pine trees and surprise daytime heating downdrafts. The red helmeted rangers met the firemen with an extra large stokes to accommodate the fallen woman's long board so Station 51 could follow with their medical gear piled up in one of their own. Both Roy and Johnny chose to fly into Rampart with the rapidly stabilizing woman, and soon, they were on their way, quickly buzzing over the cityscape of suburban Carson. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The engine and squad reported that they were available in quarters an hour after that. Captain Stanley found that they had returned home, to chaos. Chief James O. Page, was waiting for them all, in full department regalia, standing by the large county wall map. Hastily, the gang abandoned helmets and jackets as they pulled in and everyone tried their best to rid themselves of the thick park dust that was still coating them. Gage hid the bloodstains under his nails that the alcohol hadn't cleaned up properly as everyone scrambled to the mop cupboard to get their black inspection hats on in fast order. Then they lined up in stiff formation in the bay in front of the fire trucks and waited until Cap quickly got into his white one. Captain Stanley strode forward in surprise. "Chief? You want to inspect the station? I thought Chief McConnikee had that detail this month." "Your rumors were correct, Hank. But I'm not here for that so please, everybody, just relax. I'm here for another reason. I'm here to ask you all to do me a personal favor." said Page. "Oh? And what's that?" Cap asked his boss. "Do you remember a fireman named Ed Marlowe from last year? He rode with your boys in the squad for a bit while being evaluated for the paramedic program." "How can we forget? He was a real cocky sort of hot head, wasn't he?" mumbled Chet under his breath to the others in line.."Glad he failed to make the grade." Roy elbowed Kelly swiftly into silence before their all-seeing, easy going chief overheard him. "I'm here to ask you, Hank, if Stoker could walk Fireman Marlowe through the engineer's program in a stint through your station." The others' mouths gaped open. All except Hank's, who couldn't, because Page was still regarding him with a questioning expression. "Uh, chief.. uh, I'm sure he'd.. Stoker? You doing any off time in the next week?" "No, sir. I'm available to train. Just give the word." Mike said surprisingly easily. Stanley pegged his tillerman with a shoulder grasp and sputtered. "That's....entirely up to you. I-I- I.. know how busy you are studying for your potential upcoming promotion to lieutenant and all..." "Cap, I'll do it." he said, nodding. Page took in a big breath and sighed contentedly. "Great, Mr. Stoker. I knew you would. You're a good fireman." said the chief. "That he is..." murmured Cap, trying to stomach a very old feeling of dread. Page was oblivious. "You know this means that you'll all follow through and each take a turn teaching at the Fire Tower. This year's cadet class is about to start. Their beginning course work begins tomorrow in fact. I've already made arrangements for HQ to cover your work shifts to accommodate.." smiled Chief Page. The gang didn't know what to say. But then Mike filled the gap neatly. "When do I shadow Ed, chief? When he ships back into town?" Stoker asked, after swallowing bravely. "I'm already here, boys." said a country sounding drawl, coming from the kitchen. Ed Marlowe, the ex-Viet Nam medic and current firefighter, saundered into the garage. He was wearing a brown denim jacket, complete with a rope tie, blue jeans and a cowboy hat. To the 51 gang's dismay, he had already helped himself to a sandwich from the refrigerator. "Hi, Mr. DeSoto. You know, I was real surprised the other month when you failed to recognize me when I helped you real estate shop for that new ranch house of Gage's." he chuckled. "I'm glad I finally got a chance to connect up those missing memory dots for you...Know what I mean?" Then he began to laugh uproariously. Still standing in line, Roy DeSoto slowly took off his inspection hat, and he began to nurse a frown... big time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Brackett and Dixie looking tired at the base station. Photo: Sierra rangers and the gang walking with stokes. Photo: Sierra rangers in a close rescue stokes carrying. Photo: Battalion chief closeup visiting Station 51. Photo: Gang in the midst of an inspection's scramble. Photo: Cap wearing an inspection hat in the vehicle bay. Photo: Ed Marlowe in the squad with Roy and Gage. Photo: Ed Marlowe with a cowboy hat near Gage. Photo: L.A.Co's fire training facility. Photo: New tower drill recruits jogging. Photo: Roy looking worried in the vehicle bay. ************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Sun Aug 13, 2006 7:56 pm Subject: The Negative Influence Roy said the only thing he could under the circumstances and the chief's smiling gaze. "Welcome to Station 51....again." he said quietly, holding out his hand. Ed tempered his gleeful enthusiasm and took the paramedic's handshake. "I promise I won't screw up so much this time. A fire engine's not like a person at all.... She can't be arm crippled, nor...misdiagnosed, now can she?" he grinned slightly, implicating everything. There was a slight smolder of old affront filling his eyes when he finally caught Gage's wary ones. Johnny glanced over at Cap chatting the chief up. Both men had their backs turned away from the inspection line while they caught up on old times. Made of iron, Johnny refused to take Ed's thrust out, hose calloused hand. "Yeah, aren't we the lucky ones." he whispered. His tones were definitely not a question. Kelly instantly matched Gage's expression, sliding over against his shoulder to take his side in unspoken support. "Thank you, boys. Dissss-missed..." Hank's voice rang out when he realized his men hadn't broken ranks yet. "Chief, I'll get the paperwork ready and I'll send it in by on-call courier, right after we get the afternoon chores done." Ed didn't move his hand. He still offered it in friendship to Johnny, even as his other one caressed a visitor excited Henry's head and back enthusiastically when the dog stood paws up against his jeans panted leg looking for a few affectionate pats. Stoker cleared his throat as he leaned over and took Ed's palm instead, to end all of the quiet tension before it could be noticed by Cap or the chief. "Ed, why don't I show you where you can change into uniform so you can finish out the rest of the shift with us." "My stuff's not here yet from the station house. My girlfriend was gonna go get my things and bring em over to me sometime tonight." Marlowe told him. Mike shrugged. "You can borrow one of mine. We're about the same size I think." Ed Marlowe went mild then.., the emotional guard that was never entirely up, fizzling away. "Thank you, Mr. Stoker. I really appreciate your station's warming hospitality.." said Ed, smoothly pushing past Johnny and an equally troubled Roy. For the first time, they all watched as the falsely bright smile disappeared off Marlowe's face. They all caught the moment when his clean cut mouth fell into a second, eerily dangerous kind of steel. They saw Ed throw the unfinished half eaten sandwich of his noisily into the garbage bin next to the door, where Henry couldn't reach it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chief Jim Page left soon after making his reacquaintance with the rest of Hank Stanley's crew. It was apparent that Cap would have very little choice in the matter about taking Marlowe on again in what the chief mistakenly thought was just another kind of trainee routine for the over confident, visiting fireman. Ed wasn't gone into the locker room a minute before Gage cornered Cap in his office. "Why weren't we notified in advance that he was coming? Cap, don't you know how this is gonna effect the rest of us?" Hank didn't stand up to face the pissed off paramedic. He didn't need to. His voice was enough of a slap. "Is there a problem, Gage? If so, you'd better have all the facts before coming to me about him officially or unofficially. Let me remind you that Marlowe is still fully fire qualified. His captain says he's doing very good work according to this dossier; even good enough to earn a commendation or two." he said, holding up the state employee packet from HQ that Page had given him. "And until I see Ed performing otherwise with my own eyes, doing something contrary to departmental policy, I don't want you to step a single inch inside my office to harp about it. Is that clear?" Hank said firmly. Surprised, Johnny drew himself up tall, at sudden attention. It looked horrible to Hank to see that with Gage still in his slightly crooked black inspection hat. "Yes, sir. As clear as crystal. Permission to go, sir."Johnny asked quietly formal with no rock hardness in his face at all past the new bright beam of hurt. ::In all my years, Cap has never denied me speaking my mind about anything.:: Gage thought privately, in shock. Hank sighed hugely. "My ...my hands are tied on this, Johnny. I'm sorry. We....have to keep neutral about what we already know about the man. True, we were his testing paramedic preceptor station back then. But we have to treat this as if he's gonna be going right on through for the first time. It's an entirely different ability we're being asked to foster and examine here. And to tell you the truth, the pressure's entirely off you and Roy now. You two aren't fire engineers." Still not locking eyes with his captain, and studying the wall where it met the tiled ceiling, Johnny said one more thing. "Do you think that's any comfort to Mike Stoker, Cap? He was there when Marlowe risked those patients' lives right along side of us. What makes you think that Marlowe's gonna act any differently when we're all *ss deep in a fire somewhere with him controlling things at the other end of our hoselines? Hate to break it to ya, Cap. But when those moments finally arrive, think about it. Those lives Marlowe's attitude targets next, are gonna be ours when he second guesses something stupid trying to get around Mike Stoker like he tried to get around me and Roy back then. Just how are you gonna feel about it when that grossly wrong moral character flaw of his rears up again, sir?" Without waiting for word, Gage melted away into the shadows and was gone. Hank sat still as Johnny's last words rang in his head like a bad alarm call. Cap didn't pursue him to check his insuboordination at the root. For that root was now growing inside of himself mentally, through a tiny voice of conscience, whether he liked it, or not. The first kernels of doubt began to suffuse his thoughts. "We'll all be safe enough on scene and later at the Tower. Won't we?" he asked softly to himself. Hank Stanley was not comforted by his thoughts and an invading migraine headache began to pound in his head soon afterwards. ::This is gonna be a very long week, I'm afraid.:: concluded his mind silently. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Ed Marlowe treating a man down with Roy and Johnny. Photo: Gage in Cap's office, in conversation. Photo: Cap and Stoker, paying close attention. Photo: An engineer's panel. Photo: A tower drill recruit, picking up a flaccid fire hose. ************************************************** Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 14:10:51 -0700 (PDT) From: "Roxy Dee" Subject: Drill Tower Assignment Day~~ Johnny groaned as his clock radio went off yet again. ::Oh, man. Why did I ever join the fire department?:: he wondered as he rolled over onto his back and pulled the covers down around his ankles to finally get it over with. The chill air of his bedroom clinched things fully for him in a solid dose of reality. ::These cadets of Page's today'd better be fast learners. Or else.:: he commiserated. :: I'm a fireman, not a drill sergeant. I don't plan on spending any more time at the academy, holding their hands, any more than I actually have to.:: he grumbled in his head. Twenty minutes later, Gage had left the warm sanctuary of his sheets for the foggy, early morning grounds of Long Beach's infamous Tower Fire Academy. His assignment that day, was to show the latest class of cadets of the summer, all about the small tools and the finer survival arts of his department's self contained breathing apparatus gear, including exposing the recruits to the realities of raw fire smoke, unprotected. ::Now that's gonna be fun.:: he thought sarcastically. ::There's nothing like making sure cadets don't choke to death on ya when you're busy trying to prove a valuable point.:: Johnny felt very fortunate. It was Hank and Roy who had received the sucker end of the chief's mandatory instructor orders. They got the "honor" of conducting recruits through the cracked concrete maze of the much feared ten story drill tower. True, they would have the luxury of air bottles while the tackboard panels all around them were intentionally ignited one by one via remote control, but the whole exercise was designed to demonstrate fire behavior at its worst; with a very controlled, real seeming, but simulated, building flashover effect. Needless to say, the drill cowed most cadets into one or two of their baser emotions, like panicking,.. inside the first five minutes, once the torching began. And it usually took a pair of larger sized, overseeing veteran firefighters to keep everyone, going through the live fire section, from ripping off their air masks during the worst of the terrifying heat's crawling. Gage chuckled. ::At least, I got the lighter duty. Anyone who fails in my drill gets a fast shoulder carry outside to a guy waiting with a demand valve resuscitator... Heh. :: Ed Marlowe was already deep into his part of things, driving the aerial ladder truck around the designated cones laid out in a frame, about the tower. He was training there for his engineer's test, in case a rescue was called by Cap or Roy for a recruit actively going ape. ::Please knock down a cone. Please.. Please..:: Johnny begged in a twisted sense of dark humor. But Marlowe remained annoyingly on track, clearing the narrow fourteen inch margins between them flawlessly. ::D*mn it, Mike. Quit being such a good teacher!:: the paramedic qualmed. Then he laughed at himself for his willful act of ill wishing at the station's current thorn-in-the-side. ::Why am I stooping to Ed's level? That's dumb.:: he chided himself privately. Soon, the first of the recruits listed on his chart fell in at his table under the red and white striped and shaded roof canopy tent. When he felt that a fair number of them had gathered, Johnny looked up. "Hi... Here for the smoke and tools session?" he asked brightly, finally putting all thoughts of Ed Marlowe firmly out of his mind. Numerous nervous heads nodded. Johnny smiled.::Their turnouts are so new, I can smell the rubber and retardant spray, from here.:: "Ok, let's get the show on the road. Now everybody take a book, a helmet that fits properly from over there, and then have a seat in one of these folding chairs. I've got a few preliminary health interview answers to get from each of you." he told them cheerfully. :: Huh... Glad I'm a paramedic and can conduct medical histories in my sleep. I'll worry about Ed later, when the live burn Tower drill finally starts.:: groused Gage mentally. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Photos: None. ********************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Sun Aug 20, 2006 3:53 pm Subject: The Doubting Thomas.. Roy DeSoto was busy on the tarmac located across from the training tower's large lot. He had just acclimated his candidates to their scba gear, after sharing with them what the Tower would feel like once it was ignited around them. Surprisingly, he learned from the recruits, that the Tower wasn't their worst fear. It was actually the final testing details they needed to pass in order to become full fledged graduated firefighters that was really bothering them. Smiling, Roy set a foot onto a chair's hinged base and bent over, casually crossing his arms as he relayed details. "The test consists of two timed sections. On the final test day, each candidate will be required to wear the following: a polo shirt, long pants, sweat pants, or exercise pants, but no shorts. Also, no shoes with open toes or heels. You'll be given a twenty pound weight vest, a turnout coat, a helmet with chin strap, gloves, and your previously fitted training scba to put on for the duration of the test. Watches and loose or restrictive jewelry are not permitted. You will be asked to leave those in your car. "Candidates, while wearing the required gear, you will carry a 150 ft. high-rise hose bundle up a stairwell to the tenth floor of this Tower, read the pressure gauge located on the top landing, then return to your starting point. All candidates will then lower a hose bundle to the ground floor from the outside top most balcony using a hundred foot rope. Minimums for the stairs section: The time for your first-step-up to the last-step-off will be completed in under four minutes or less. Anything over four minutes is an automatic fail. The test is over. "After completing the stairs test, the candidate will then assemble and disassemble a set of fittings chosen at random from the test engine waiting nearby on stand alert. Also, you may be tested on the following parameters: "The candidate, while wearing all his required gear, will perform the following events, not necessarily in this order: "Pull a charged 2-˝ inch hose fifty feet, then discharge a full stream for thirty seconds at 100 PSI. Failure to drag the hose to the required distance results in an automatic fail. The test is over. "Drag or carry an 180 lb. dummy seventy five feet. Failure to drag the dummy the whole distance is a fail, the test is over. "Remove two randomly called for appliances from the engine apparatus and carry them both seventy five feet before setting them both down. Then you'll be asked to pick both appliances up again to carry everything back to the engine for restowing into their original compartments. "Walk the extension ladder up this building using the hand over hand method, where you'll be asked to move to a nearby second secured ladder. Climb that second ladder to gain access to the immediate roof level. Your next move will be to rope, and then pull, a donut hose roll up ten stories to the roof where you are, in order to place the donut roll at your feet. Then you'll be asked to relower that same hose bundle back down to the ground. "Using a Kaiser forcible entry simulator, you'll be asked to drive a 160 lb. beam back a distance of six feet using an eight pound maul tool. Failure to drive the beam the required distance in a suitable amount of time is a fail. The test is over. "Ride in a bucket aerial to a height of one hundred fourteen feet and remain there for two minutes. If candidate says stop at any time in order to return to ground, it will be considered an automatic failure. The test is over...." Roy concluded. "And that's it. That's all there is to it. Are there any further questions about the final physical firefighter's exam?" he grinned. None dared raise their hands. "These physical tests are nothing compared to what you've probably already subjected yourselves to while working out before even coming here to the Academy. It'll be no sweat fellas. Really." Finally one burly recruit inclined his head. "Have there been any female candidates admitted to the academy this year?" Roy raised his eyebrows, completely surprised by the question. "Not yet. Although I have every confidence that there will be before the year's out because of the new employment equality stipulations that have been recently ratified by Fire Department Battalion Chief, James Page. It only makes sense that our female paramedics now undergoing medical training can enjoy the same opportunities to learn to fight fires along with the rest of us, wouldn't you agree?" A voice from the back of the group spoke up. "I'd say that wouldn't be a very smart idea at all.." the masculine tone chided quietly. "The rest of us won't be able to ignore feeling like we'd have to watch out for all of them on the job. I for one, wouldn't like to have my life depending on a known to be physically weaker member." Roy stood up, still keeping the cordial smile on his face as he shielded his eyes from the sun in order to see the one talking. Then he recognized who had spoken. "Mr. Marlowe." he acknowledged. "No one not physically able to pass the firefighter's test will ever be allowed to work in a county fire station so your concerns are unfounded to say the least. It might interest you to know that preliminary female fire fighter candidate testing has shown that women have significantly better stamina in the heat than men do. They also have better agility at greater speeds through tight quarters, too. Even fully laden." "I didn't know that, sir." Marlowe buzzed with doubt. "But I'll have to see those kinds of performance results with my own eyes before I'll reserve any judgement if you don't mind my saying so." said Ed, leaning against the idling fire engine at the back of the group. "You're entitled to your own opinion, engineer candidate." Roy said to Ed intentionally to reinforce his instructor's role relationship to the visiting fireman. Then he turned to the rest of his group. "Now... are we ready for the live fire drill?" The recruit group fidgetted nervously, but all nodded yes. "Then let's get the show on the road.." smiled Roy, reaching for his scba bottle. "Everybody, get into your bottles and report to the lieutenant at the back of the group for a thorough equipment check." Behind him, Ed Marlowe tightened his helmet strap thoughtfully as he studied the fair haired paramedic. He never felt Mike Stoker's encouraging shoulder grip, telling him to get behind the engine wheel for the return trip back to the Tower to be the group's rescue resource back up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Roy with coffee, lecturing. Photo: Firemen climbing up an aerial ladder. Photo: Recruits in scba testing on hose fittings. Photo: A Tower instructor with two ladder recruits. Photo: Firemen pounding mauls on sleds in a race. Photo: Roy and an administrator looking up outside. Photo: Fireman Ed Marlowe and Roy sharing words. ************************************************** From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2006 15:03:18 -0700 (PDT) Subject: The Purifying Fire.. Gage helped the last recruit out of the smokehouse. "Now that wasn't so bad, Miller, now was it?" he said to the last red eyed, mucous draining, spittle smeared, panting cadet to come stumbling out of the test compartment. "Here, take a seat by me. You're a little bit more distressed than the others. We're just gonna get you to grab a snort or two off the D.V. before you get re-examined. Don't worry, nothing's wrong. I'm just covering my instructor butt like any good paramedic who finds himself in a teaching mode would." The cadet gratefully accepted Johnny's helping arm as they got over to the first aid station that had been set up so cadet vitals signs could be checked at need for abnormal reactions over the course of the whole training day. "Bu--*choke*..but, did I-?" the young zit faced recruit gasped. "Yeah, you passed. Drooling like a baby teething and coughing like a ninety year old COPD-er's completely allowable at this stage of the game. Failing this station constitutes blacking out within the first two minutes. You were exposed for three and stayed alert the whole time. But,..we held ya in there a little bit longer for a reason. Now do you see the merit of knowing how to hook up your air bottle and its regulator's connections with your eyes closed in complete and total darkness?" The violently hacking cadet nodded eagerly. "Y-yes, sir. *cough* !" "Good. Now suck this in nice and easy while I listen to ya clean out your lungs." said Johnny, opening the cadet's shirt and donning a stethoscope. "If ya gotta puke, let me know. I got a garbage can right here." Johnny told the flushed teenager as he firmly pressed a spare resuscitator's mask against the young man's face. The man jerked, still on high adrenaline. Gage instantly reassured him. "This is on pull only, ok? It won't bite ya. So just relax. The test's over. You did a good job in there. I'm proud of ya." Gage praised, patting the trembling man's arm. With his other hand, he waved Chet over to his side after he had finished thoroughly checking out a set of breath sounds. He rose to his feet in a pretend grab for a spare oxygen tank from the table behind him. Speaking low, he leaned into Kelly's ear. "Once Miller calms down, walk him over to the first aid station's canteen and get him to drink a lot of water. It's a distraction. I want him to not see me going through his duffle bag." "Uh, oh. Think another one's hiding an inhaler and a history?" asked Chet. "Unfortunately, yeah. I can smell Albuterol on his breath." "Too bad he doesn't know he's gonna be rejected from the Academy not for being an asthmatic, but for denying that he was one on his application form in the first place." Kelly murmured. "Some day, they'll learn." Gage sighed sadly. "Are you the one who's gonna be the one to break it to him?" "Nooo... Geesh, Chet. Do I look like I'm wearing a white helmet here? That's administrator's sh*t duty. I'm just a probie barker with bandaids." "Nice bullwhip, too." Kelly said, eyeing up the defibrillator that Johnny had on stand by underneath the chair. "You put that where they'd notice it intentionally, didn't you?" "Of course. Had to reassure them somehow that every precaution's being taken while we torture them into becoming prime fire fighting material.." Johnny quipped with a lop sided smile. "That's the only way I know how, at least, being a paramedic and all." he chuckled. "It worked. Those guys were all ears and concentrating so hard, they never even heard the whoopie cushion I snuck underneath the chief's chair pad." "You did what?!" Gage gaped incredulously. "You didn't.." "He didn't know it was me... No one but A-shift knows who the Phantom is. Aren't I sneaky?" "Hate to be you when you get caught. Page's got a lot of fans who'll be happy to pound you into hamburger for doing that kind of teasing to him." "The chief doesn't mind." Chet sighed. Then he shrugged, reconsidering. "...Most likely. He probably just laughed, thinking that my idea was a good way to blow off some cadet nervousness by lightening things up a little." Chet shared. "Want him on an EKG?" asked Kelly, studying the recovering Miller. "Nah, his rate's already going down." Gage sniffed, watching the bounding pulse point in the tired recruit's neck from where they were. "You know, you're making a pretty good EMT here. Perhaps you should get your rear into the next paramedic class and see what you can really d--" "No way.. I saw how you two monkeys drilled Ed Marlowe to death in between calls this spring." Chet complained sarcastically. "That was only because he was making too many dangerous choices, Chet." "Oh, and I wouldn't?" Kelly asked him seriously. "Don't you remember? I'm the one who took five whole hours to pick up even the most basic CPR skills good enough to pass the test." "Maybe.." Gage squinted in mock appraisal. "But now, you're the best child resuscitator our station's ever seen. You got the highest pre-defibrillator viability ratio of all of us put together. I know. I've been keeping track of how many are actually saved after you've had a chance to work 'em." "That's just because I hate kids dying right in front of me all the time." Chet grinned. "I just want them to make it, that's all. Nothing spectacular." "Yeah, well. You just let us go right on admiring your miraculous skills for ya, ok? Just knowing what you're capable of past the joking department makes us all smile real big whenever we find we're down about going to another child arrest call." Gage told him warmly with seriousness. "I'm a fireman, not an icon. And don't you forget that, you hear?" Kelly said in embarrassment, turning gruff in self defense as he made a hasty departure back over to Miller's chair in order to follow Johnny's orders. Gage watched him go with mild affection. Then his thoughts turned to other angles. ::Huh. I wonder how Roy's making out..:: he thought to himself as he turned his eyes up to the training tower. It was just beginning to smoke at the very top story as the live fire drill exercise began in earnest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Photo: Gage and Chet talking outside. Photo: Chet working a child CPR call. Photo: An exhausted man on oxygen. Photo: Recruits climbing a fire tower. Photo: Roy looking sooty in a close up. ************************************************** From : "patti keiper" Sent : Wednesday, August 30, 2006 4:40 PM Subject : The Daring Do.. Roy grinned at his partner. "So, how'd it go?" he smiled, eager for Gage's news about his teaching session. "We're down two. And it's not because of the smoke.." Johnny frowned miserably. Roy bit his lip after sucking in his breath in sympathy. "Oh, don't tell me. You found a couple of recruits lying about pre-existing medical conditions?" DeSoto nodded when Johnny began studying the ground without answering. "I don't think I'd enjoy discovering that kind of thing either. I'd rather get soaking wet jumping out of a helicopter into a polluted harbor than deal with that." "That's what I told Chet, too. Well, ...not in so many words but.." "I get the picture, Junior. Try not to think about it so much. What's done is done. Ready for another rocky bout with baby faced cadets feeling their nerves again?" Roy asked. "Don't I have a choice this time?" Gage insisted passionately, rubbing the sooty sweat off of his brow. "Man, I can't wait until the day I make captain. Then I won't have to kiss up to battalion chiefs mandating last minute orders to teach at the... Hi, Chief..." Johnny brightened as he spied the tall lanky Page striding towards them from around the corner of the squad. Chief Page calmly made his way over to Roy and Gage where they were putting away some small tools from their demonstration stations. "The perimeter's set. Marlowe and Stoker, Stephens and Conrad are ready with hot aerials on engines 501 and 22. Gage, any casualties to report from the smokehouse exercise?" Johnny winced at the question. "No physical ones due to injuries, sir. But I've these two concerning paperwork discrepancies. All the deciding details are in my instructor notes being held by the quartermaster." he sighed, handing over two metal id jacket tags that he had pocketed earlier. "Oh." said Jim, immediately understanding. "I'll take your passed buck. I'm sorry you had the weight of that on your shoulders all morning. I had a bunch of politicians visiting who wanted to see the facilities in close action." "So did we get more funding in trade for that wonderful fact filled tour you conducted, sir?" Roy asked Page. "Yep. We've another year's cadet training completely paid for. That and we've finally filled the price tag for 36's new engine and squad. I just commissioned those a few minutes ago from our manufacturers." "Then it was well worth it sitting on all the bad news about these two cadets then." said Johnny, smiling and taking the chief's hand as he accepted Page's heartfe