The Finishing Name
Just a short one shot that has been begging to be written.
John Gage reported to his newest overtime assignment. All the overtime he had been working was starting to get to him but after this shift he would have enough money to pay for his most recent truck repairs with a little extra to go toward the Hawaiian vacation he wanted to take next spring. This was a new station in the County system and the address he had been given was a little confusing so John had allowed himself some extra time to make sure he could find the place and arrived before most of his temporary shift mates.
Wearing his uniform and carrying his turn out gear and a couple of clean uniforms. Working as a paramedic involved getting dirty and even without the phantom around with his water cannons you never knew when you'd need a clean uniform.
Since his captain was in a meeting with the previous captain and was not to be disturbed, the engineer for the shift preceding his showed him to an empty locker and where to store his turn out gear before helping him find a helmet with the proper numbers and insignia on it. What puzzled John was the way the man snickered whenever his name was spoken.
While waiting for the Captain to be available, John stepped in and helped the outgoing paramedics with their morning check list. The squad had been checked and all the batteries changes and still the door to the captain's office remained closed. As the next shift started to move in John accepted the invitation to join them for a cup of coffee and a Danish as he was introduced around.
The first guy he shook hands with just gave him a stunned look. "Did you say your name was John?"
"Ah, yeah, John Gage." Johnny was really confused."Is there something wrong with my name?"
"NO, NO, nothing wrong, nothing wrong at all, after all it is your name, right?" the man had answered, but the faint giggle that was heard when he turned away from the new member of the team had John wondering what he had gotten himself into when he agreed to work this shift. John was introduced to three more team members and each one of them at least showed some surprise when his name was spoken aloud. John was really starting to get antsy. Finally the door to the office opened and the team engineer stepped out.
"Cap said to tell you guys roll call in five." He then turned to face John. "Is there any truth to the rumors that we have a John on board for this shift?"
"Uh, yes sir," John responded hesitantly, "Is there something going on here that I should know about?"
"Oh, nothing personal; it's just kind of a private station joke." The engineer continued to smile at John. "I'm sure Cap will explain it to you after roll call."
When it was time, five men lined up in the apparatus bay and the door to the office once again opened. Three men stepped out talking amongst themselves as they did so. One of the men carried a clip board and after saying his good-byes to the others, stepped toward the lined up men. The other two showed themselves out.
The captain started by walking to the end of the line and stood in front of John Gage. "Fireman/Paramedic John Gage, I assume." The man offered his hand to shake.
"Um, yes, sir," John questioningly shook the offered hand.
"Well if this is not a coincidence then someone at headquarters sure has a sense of humor. Welcome to 18's, I'm Captain Carl Schmitt. I'll talk with you in the office after roll call. Don't be offended by all the snickering, it's just kind of a station joke, we'll explain later. Have you been introduced to your team mates?"
"Not really, sir, they've all met me, some of the guys have told me there names but not all of them," John explained.
"Men," the captain spoke very chastisingly, "I expect more from you that this. . . Alright, John Gage, allow me to introduce you to the rest of the men properly. Your partner for this shift is Jacob Albright, our Engineer on this shift is Jason Chun, our first lineman is Jack Gull and our other lineman is Frank Maier." The captain stepped back into a position at the center of his crew. "Now, John, I know you've got to be feeling like you're the brunt of some joke but I'm about to show you that you are simply the completion of it. Alright everyone line up."
John was surprised when all of the men lined up behind him, except for the captain, who then proceeded to move his arms as if he was leading a choir with a motion for John to start as he sort of sang, "John—"
"Jacob,"
"Chun,"
"Gull,"
"Maier,"
"Schmitt," the men all sing songed as the light of understanding came on in John's head causing him to laugh as the rest of the men continued with the song.
"Your name with my name, too, whenever we go out, the firemen will always shout, there goes John, Jacob, Chun, Gull, Maier, Schmitt, Da, da, du, da, da, da, da."
John was still laughing so hard his eyes were watering when roll call was completed and he was asked to join his present captain in the office.
"Please have a seat," Captain Schmitt pointed to a chair as he sat in another. "I want you to know up front that the man you're replacing today has been a major part of this team since this station opened up. He went down at a fire on our last shift and testing to determine why turned up a diagnosis of Leukemia. It has been a hard pill for all of us to swallow. The doctors are optimistic that they've caught things early and can effectively treat him but of course it's a career ender as far as being a firefighter goes.
"When we were visiting with him in the hospital yesterday, he was the one who made the wise crack about how his replacement should be someone with the name of John and then got us started on the song. I do hope you're not offended but the truth of the matter is that I'm glad to hear the men singing and see them smiling right now. I have no doubt that the first time you're in the hospital today your partner is going to race you up to Mark's room and introduce you."
"Now that you've explained it, there is no offence what so ever," John responded with a smile on his face. "I was a little worried there for a while, but not anymore."
Chores were completed to the hummed or whistled tune of John Jacob Jinglehimer Schmitt as the men smiled and did their work stepping to the tune. Meals were prepared to that tune and before long that tune was ingrained in John's mind in such a way that he was sure he would never get it out of his head.
Sure enough, on their first run that required the patient to be taken to the hospital, Harbor General, John was nearly dragged into the elevator to be introduced to a fellow paramedic. John was blushing, but in truth he felt honored to be the inspiration for the man in the hospital bed to double up laughing. The man had already been started on chemotherapy and had spent most of the morning before they arrived puking his guts up. It felt good to brighten his day a little.
After a slow morning, the afternoon turned out to be quite busy as a hard rain fell to make the work miserable. They had just cleaned up their fifth traffic accident, in which none of the victims were seriously injured and all were taken to the hospital without a paramedic accompanying them. The firemen working with Station 18 and station 30 were gathering their equipment and cleaning up the bags from the numerous disposable blankets they had opened when the sound of metal groaning caused them all to freeze in their positions and carefully look around to see what was happening.
The crew of station 18 was closest to the wrecked cars so they felt it first. The ground beneath their feet just started to bend then opened up swallowing the cars, the men of Station 18 and two of the men from Station 30.
It wasn't a harsh drop; it was more of a slippery slide sort of fall as the men found themselves at the bottom of a very large hole and between knee and waist deep in thick, soupy mud depending on where they ended up.
Captain Schmitt was quick to pull his handy talky to his mouth and alert the men up top that they were all fine but that they needed to move the trucks. John watched in horror as the squad teetered over the edge. Being not only one of the ones who were buried up to his waist and unable to move, but he was right in the path of the truck if it were to fall. As he held his breath and kept his eyes locked on the grill of the truck, he watched as it was slowly pulled back away from the opening sending chunks of roadway above them down in its wake narrowly missing John as they fell. As the radio chatter between Captain Schmitt and the Battalion Chief above continued, the firemen that were only knee deep managed to pull themselves free from the mud and then, standing on top of the cars, were able to pull the rest from their confinement. John was just far enough away from a car that he couldn't be reached so one of his team mates took off his turn out coat and tossed him one of the sleeves while holding onto the other. The rain was coming down in a steady pour and the sun was starting to set making everyone miserable. John felt for the man who had taken off his turn out to help him as he was rapidly getting soaked to the bone.
By pulling steady and slow John was soon swimming on top of the mud and eventually managed to get close enough to the car to take hold of two of his teammates hands and they pulled him on top of the car they were standing on. With boots covered with mud the footing was iffy at best but they still managed to move over to where there was some shelter at the edge of the sink hole.
John and Jacob were summoned to the aid of one of the men from Station 30 who had the only injuries that were noticed. He had managed to get his leg caught between a large chunk of asphalt covered concrete and one of the cars. After a complete examination both John and Jacob felt the leg was probably broken but it would take x-rays to tell for sure. The call went out for a leg splint and a Stokes and soon the loosely coiled end of a rope was tossed down, and a Stokes with the requested supplies was attached to the other end, was sent down, held by the men lucky enough to stay on the top side of this rescue. While the two paramedics, with the assistance of the rest of the men, worked to immobilize the injured leg and get the injured firefighter into the Stokes, Captain Schmitt and the Battalion Chief topside continued to talk over strategy. One end of the hole they found themselves in was the cracked opening of a large drainage tunnel and with the unstable ground around the opening it was determined that the safest way out was to walk down the tunnel to an open storm grate that was a mile away.
If there were any doubts as to that being the best route they all disappeared when a large section of roadway broke off and tumbled down crushing one of the cars in the hole with them. The men gathered around the Stokes bound fireman, lifted him and started down the tunnel before the Captain was able to radio their movement.
Once the men were a hundred yards into the tunnel the mud under their feet stopped and the footing was surer. Continued radio communications assured the men that the grate at the end of their tunnel would be opened and an ambulance waiting for them when arrived but even with their steady weight training and taking turns at carrying the Stokes they were all finding themselves getting tired.
It was Engineer Chun that had the solution to that problem. All they really needed was a good cadence. It started low as one person started to sing but before he made it to through all the names the rest of the men were joining in with smiles on their faces. Well, the two men from Station 30 thought them all a little strange but they still joined in with the singing. There was no reason not to.
John Jacob Chun Gull Maier Schmitt, your name with my name too, whenever we go out the firemen will always shout, there goes John Jacob Chun Gull Maier Schmitt, echoed down the tunnel as the men stepped in time to the music. Bright headlights greeted them at the now opened grate and a fresh team rushed in to take over carrying the injured man and to start evaluations on the other men. It was hard to tell if there were any other injuries since they were all heavily covered in mud, so heavily that the call went out ahead to set up a reel line to hose them down as soon as they reached the opening.
All of the men danced around under the cool spray that revealed men under the mud and when the mud no longer came off in slabs they were all relieved of their turn out gear and wrapped in blankets that someone had thoughtfully warmed on the running engine of the fire truck.
"We're going to take you all in to Harbor General to have you checked out." The Chief gave out his next orders as a second ambulance backed in for them all to climb in and sit. "Do we have everyone accounted for?"
"Both of my missing men are accounted for," Captain Johnson called out with relief as he gave one of his men a slap on the shoulder.
"Alright men, sound off," Captain Schmitt called out and his men smiled as they started.
"John,"
"Jacob,"
"Chun,"
"Gull,"
"Maier,"
"Schmitt."
The men started marching in place to the tune they were singing.
"Your name with my name too, whenever we get out the firemen will always shout here comes John Jacob Chun Gull Maier Schmitt. Da, Da du da ta da." The men stepped in time toward the waiting ambulance, offering a slight salute to their chief as they passed by.
The Chief took hold of the Ambulance driver as he moved to close the ambulance doors. "Make sure to tell the doctors to check them all for head injuries." He then turned to the Captain next to him. "We better check and see what kind of gases might be in that tunnel they just came out of."
-0-
Two days later a now dry, clean and warm John Gage reported for his regular shift. He was just tucking his shirt in when Mike stuck his head in the locker room informing him that the Captain wanted to see him.
John quickly obeyed and soon found himself seated next to the desk where his Captain was looking over some papers.
"This is an interesting report on your overtime shift. What I don't understand is why they did all the lab work and x-rays." Hank was sure something was missing from the report and he was hoping to find out what.
"I'm not sure, Cap, I thought it was a little over board myself but the Chief in charge insisted so the doctor's complied."
"Well according to this report everything came out fine. How are you feeling?"
"Fine, fine," John answered very innocently.
"Well I think you'll be pleased to know that Captain Schmitt wrote a very impressive report for your file. He told me to tell you that if you ever want to transfer they would love to have you at their station."
John smiled and shook his head, "I think they're just interested in my name," he told his captain.
"Well I can believe that," Hank responded having no idea what was so funny. "You have made quite a name for yourself as one of the best paramedics in the program."
"That's nice of you to say, Cap, but the truth of the matter is, I think 18's would be happy with anyone named John."
John then excused himself to finish getting ready for shift and Hank looked at the report again; clearly there was more to the incident than was recorded on the paper he was reading.