THAT OLD HOUSE
by ardavenport
- - - part 1 - - -
SPLASH!!!!!!!!!!
Cold chlorine water filled his nose. Still holding his breath, Johnny Gage blew it out. He furiously scrubbed his hair, face, neck, arms.
Air, air, air!
He pushed upward from the bottom of the pool, shot out of the water and gulped in air.
"Johnny! Johnny!"
"Johnny!"
Squinting in the bright daylight, he didn't look around before plunging down under the water. He scrubbed his neck, his body, his arms, his chest.
Air, air, air!
He pushed his head up out of the water and gulped again.
"Johnny!"
"Johnny!"
"Bugs?"
"Johnny!"
Plunging down into the pool, he scrubbed his ankles, taking his shoes off, pushing his pant legs up. And he kept scrubbing. Legs, waist, as much of his backside as he could reach. His neck, his hair.
Air, air, air!
He broke the surface of the water again and stood.
"Johnny! Johnny!"
"Johnny!"
"Over here! Over here!"
The water only came up to his waist. He was in the shallow end of the pool. He pushed his wet hair back, wiped water from his face and turned around.
"Johnny! Over here!"
He dove down and came back up with his shoes, one in each hand and then stumbled toward the edge of the pool.
"Come on." His partner grabbed his arm. Johnny kept gasping as he climbed out, Chet Kelly and Mike Stoker helping along with Roy. He kept gasping for air, but it didn't seem to be going in. Roy led him to a white metalwork bench.
"Did you swallow any water?"
He shook his head and pushed his bangs back again. Gasp. Gasp. Gasp.
"Here try this."
Surprised, Gage looked up from the paper bag his partner held up to him. Gasp. Gasp. Gasp.
"Come on. Breathe." He let Roy put the offending paper bag up to his face. He blew into it. Whuuuuussshhh. Whuuuuussshhh. Whuuuuussshhh.
"Is he going to be okay, Roy?" Captain Stanley leaned over Gage's head.
"Yeah, I think so, but do you mind telling me what happened back there? Where did you find him?"
Whuuuuussshhh. Whuuuuussshhh. Whuuuuussshhh. Whuuuuussshhh. Whuuuuussshhh.
"There was some kind opening panel in room back there. We heard him banging around inside and we found the catch for the door. He came running out as soon as we opened the door." Captain Stanley straightened. "You wouldn't believe what was in there. The whole room was floor to ceiling with nothing but bugs. I just about pissed in my pants looking at it myself."
Johnny lowered the bag from his face.
"That wasn't - - -" gasp, gasp "- - - the worst part, Cap - - - " Gasp, gasp, gasp. "As soon as the door closed - - - " gasp " - - - behind me - - - " gasp " - - - the lights went out." Gasp, gasp. "I couldn't get'em back on." Gasp, gasp.
Roy pushed the bag back up to his face again. "Breathe."
Johnny grabbed the back from him. Whuuuuussshhh. Whuuuuussshhh. Whuuuuussshhh. Whuuuuussshhh.
"He must've got locked in there just before the old man started shooting at us."
Shooting? Johnny looked up at Stanley.
"Breathe." Roy pushed the bag up to Johnny's face again.
Whuuuuussshhh. Whuuuuussshhh. Whuuuuussshhh. His breath came easier, but he could still smell the chlorine.
"Yeah, it looks like he got a few bites." Roy touched Gage's hand. "Did you see what was in there?"
The Captain shook his head. "I didn't stop to look. But there were a lot of spiders."
"Hey did you find your man?"
They all turned and Johnny saw an LA County sheriff's deputy waving at them.
"We need to clear the house."
"Come on." Stanley looked down at Johnny and put a hand on his shoulder. "Can Gage walk?"
Johnny nodded. Whuuuuussshhh. Whuuuuussshhh.
"Yeah. Help me with this stuff."
Johnny automatically started to reach for the drug box on the ground, but Roy stopped him.
"Just keep your hands on that bag." Kelly and Stoker picked up the paramedic boxes.
Roy put his arm around Johnny's waist and all six firemen left the poolside and went back into the house. They passed more sheriff's deputies in the dark, wood paneled hallways, along with the old furniture and piles of boxes. The disuse and decay of the inside of the house contrasted with the trimmed lawn and well-maintained and sunny exterior. They emerged onto the front porch and walked down the steps. Roy questioned him as they went.
"You don't have any dizziness? Abdominal pain?"
Johnny shook his head. Whuuuuussshhh. Whuuuuussshhh.
They reached the engine and the squad. Police cars were parked in front by the street.
"You think he needs to go to the hospital?" Stanley stopped by the squad.
"I'm fine, Cap." Gasp.
"Well, I think if he'd been bitten by anything poisonous he would be showing more symptoms by now, but I think we should take him to Rampart just in case. And we need to get you and Marco looked at anyway." Roy waved a hand toward Stanley's bandaged wrist.
"All right. I'll just check and see if they still need us for anything." But the LA County deputies did not need them for now. The old man - - his name was Richard Crandall - - was in custody and they were going to cordon off his booby-trapped house and go through it slowly later. So the squad and the engine went to the hospital. No sirens.
"So." Pant, pant. "Can you fill me in on what's been happening?" Pant, pant. "Who was shooting at us?"
"The old man who called us. And breathe." Roy turned the squad onto a main street.
"I'm fine." Gage took deep breaths. It still didn't feel natural, but he could get air in.
"Breathe."
Gage puckered his face at the bag he still held. Pant, pant.
"Well, I can stop this squad right now and we can talk to the captain about it."
Whuuuuussshhh. Whuuuuussshhh. Johnny pointed the bag at Roy who just smirked back.
"Well, anyway. Chet and Mike ran into another booby trap on the stairs while you were looking for a back way up. They didn't get hurt, but it almost dropped a bunch of boxes on them. Right after that the old man stopped yelling for help and told them to get out.
"What?" Whuuuuussshhh.
"I was still outside patching up the Captain and Marco, but the next thing I knew there was a shot and Chet and Mike came tearing out of there. That's when we realized you were missing."
Whuuuuussshhh. "Well, what was he shooting for?"
"You're not going to believe this." Roy turned the squad unto the main street that would take them to Rampart General. In the rear view mirror he saw Engine 51 following. "The old man had just finished booby-trappng his house for intruders, but he didn't have anyone to test his contraptions on, so he called for help from the fire department."
Whuuu - - - "What?" Gage stared back in open-mouthed shock. "Are you serious?" His voice rose an octave on the last words.
Roy nodded. "Yep. He needed somebody to test them out on." He exhaled equal amounts of incredulity and suppressed anger.
Johnny stared forward; surprise seemed to have knocked the breathlessness out of him. "Well, what did you do?"
"We called the cops!" He spoke more loudly than he meant to. He should his head. "We had to get them to get rid of the old man so we could find you.
"Well, then we had to help them clear the traps in the house because he barricaded himself in the attic. And they called the bomb squad. We had to trip four more of his traps so the cops could get to him. It wasn't that hard to spot the wires once you knew what to look for. And their was a tiger trap covered up with a rug that was pretty obvious."
"But he still had a gun. Wha-what did you do about that?"
"Well, he set the traps and barricaded himself, but he forgot the ammo. The cops broke in and cuffed him when we figured out that he'd run out."
Mouth still gaping, Gage shook his head. "Well, I kind of figured that there had to be a good reason it took you so long to get me out of there."
"Yeah." DeSoto's eyes flicked toward his partner in sympathy. "Sorry about that. The cops wouldn't let us look until we had the old man wrapped up." He made the last turn into Rampart.
"The Cap heard you banging around; that's how he found the catch into that room. It was hard to hear, so it must have been pretty well sound-proofed in there."
"Yeah, it must've been. I sure didn't hear any shooting. And I wasn't banging anything. I was stomping on them. It was the only thing I could do. When the lights went out I didn't know which way I was facing. Every time I tried find anything, I could feel bugs crawling around on me. And when I did find the door it wouldn't open. And the whole time there was this buzzing overhead up in the rafters, like there was a hive up there somewhere." Gage ran a hand through his messy, damp hair as if checking for insects that might have survived the pool chlorine.
The squad passed under the shadow of the hospital building and emerged in the emergency entrance parking. Roy turned the squad and backed up. The fire engine rolled in right after them and did the same.
- - - End Part 1