It had poured for three days, buckets, waterfalls of rain at times soaking the soil filling the gutters and roaring through the sewers. The dull drumming dulled the senses like cotton stuffed in the ears. Since yesterday morning, the downpour had stopped. The quiet was thunderous. Large, dark clouds had moved out, but newer ones were gathering. For now, the city welcomed the respite.
Johnny walked out of his place to his Rover jingling the change in his pocket while grasping his keys in the other. Whistling and with a spring in his step, Johnny hung a spare clean uniform on the inside hook over the driver's side passenger door and briskly slid into the driver's seat. With a flick of his wrist, the engine turned over.
A short while later, Captain Gage pulled into the lot at station 110 a full thirty minutes before shift. A far cry from my last minute arrivals at 51 he thought with wry amusement. If I am late now, I'd have to give myself latrine duty. Chuckling to himself, he grabbed the extra uniform and strode to the locker room. The bay was empty. The shift C crew must be out on a run. Hanging the spare uniform in this locker, he checked his hair then smoothed his uniform in the mirror attached to the door. With a snap, he closed the locker door and headed into the mess to make fresh coffee.
It had been over a year now that he had been captain of shift A at station 110. Johnny enjoyed the new responsibilities that came with this job. He'd developed his own style of leadership and melded it with techniques Hank Stanley. His crew was skilled, especially his young engineer, Eric Miller. However, Johnny missed paramedic work, missed the regular contact with the doctors and Dixie at Rampart. Oh he saw them some, but not like before. He chased the gloomy thoughts away with a shake of his head and poured a cup of joe.
The kids' voices rang out through the house. Jennifer needed clean socks and Chris could not locate his school library book. Joanne wiped her hands on the dish rag, rolled her eyes good naturedly, and walked out to deal with the children. Roy smiled at her as she passed by, laid the newspaper aside, and gulped down the last tepid swallow of coffee. Roy heard her chide, "Chris why didn't you put the book with your homework?"
"I read more right before bed and I kinda forgot," Chris admitted with chagrin.
Roy had dealt with a missing history book the day before. He checked his pants pocket for his keys, pulled them out, and called, "Jo, kids I'm going."
Rowdy feet thundered towards him. "Bye Daddy," the two children said as they hugged their father around the waist. Roy kissed the tops of the two heads.
"Love you. See you tomorrow," Roy replied ruffling their hair. "Chris, check under your bed for the book and next time put it with your other school things. Okay son?"
Chris' head dipped down. "Yes Dad."
Joanne shooed them off to breakfast. She paused and hugged her husband tightly. "Have a good shift Captain DeSoto," she murmured in his ear.
Roy pulled her close and pecked her cheek. "Love you Jo. I'll try to call tonight, regular time." He released his wife and left with the scent of her shampoo and the feel of her arms.
He arrived at work early, as usual. He walked into the station and placed his street clothes in his locker alongside his extra uniform. Roy greeted the shift C men warmly and then walked to the captain's office to check in with the current captain on duty.
Roy was a born leader, calm in crisis, even-tempered and skilled as a rescue man, lineman and paramedic. Not a shift had passed that he didn't' miss the paramedic part of the job. That led to thoughts of Johnny. It had been three weeks since they'd been able to get together. Oh, he'd seen him at the captain's meeting at headquarters, but they hadn't had time to talk. Roy smiled as he recalled the easy way the two slipped back into their silent communication of looks and small gestures. Tonight when he called home, he'd ask Joanne about inviting Johnny over for dinner.
Shift A started quite unspectacularly at both stations. At roll call, cautions were given to expect landslide rescues over the next few days. Both captains knew stir crazy citizens would be out and about hiking or biking after three days of rain. Protocols for those types of rescues were review and equipment checked and readied. Klaxons at both stations were mute. Hose was hung, stations gleamed and even paperwork was completed. Bored firemen played cards for match sticks or thumbed through old magazines.
Johnny sat with his third cup of coffee listening in on the different conversations while he pretended to be reading a novel. Not that it was a boring book, he was just antsy. His thoughts drifted to times before he was captain. Times like these he had spent talking with Roy-usually about some girl who'd dumped him. Johnny chuckled to himself and drew the attention of his crew. They had grown quiet just a moment before. His laugh in a silent room had spotlighted him.
"Cap, what's got you smiling?" Al, one of the paramedics, teased. "Perhaps a lady?" Al himself was quite a lady killer and had a different date most days off. His tales of romance were often the talk of the shift. Johnny suspected they were often exaggerated, like many of his and Chet's had been.
Johnny put a twinkle in his eyes. There was no way he'd admit he'd been thinking of his former partner and best friend. With age, he learned silence could be louder than any words so he smiled slyly and shrugged. His crew laughed raucously and right before the probing questions started the klaxon blared. With enormous relief Johnny pushed back his chair and rushed to scrawl down the address to a construction site and to acknowledge the call.
Across town at station 36, klaxons interrupted a friendly game of basketball. The men scrambled to the bay, grabbed coats and climbed into vehicles. Roy acknowledged the call and handed off the slip to his paramedics. He rushed to his place in the engine. The call was to a construction site.
Arriving first on scene, Captain Gage jumped out to assess the scene. Greeting him was a half-finished parking lot. Over half was still a muddy bog, just a maze of muddy pits and uncovered drainage culverts, followed by a strip of asphalt and punctuated at the end by another ditch. As he began to take charge of the scene, the second engine pulled up. Seeing the number 36 and his good friend Captain DeSoto caused Johnny's face to soften a bit. Roy jogged over while shrugging on his turn out coat. "Hi partner," Johnny greeted him with a lopsided grin. Roy's eyes met his.
"Junior, so what have we got?" Roy replied placing a hand on his shoulder using his old nickname.
"Patience pally, I was just about to find out," Johnny replied gesturing towards the man hurrying towards them. A man with a construction helmet bustled forward obviously distressed.
"We didn't know about the child until right before we call you," the burly man insisted. His wiry eyebrows jumped up and down as he continued gesturing wildly, "We pulled out three of the kids. It was decided to wait for you all to look for the fourth. Plus the soil in the pit is unstable. Two of the sides have already begun to slide. Before either captain could ask a question, the man ran off motioning for them to follow.
As they loped towards a large muddy ditch with a few potholes filled with water, both captains felt their guts clench in dread. The ditch held the intersection of several smaller culverts which carried run off coming from the drains of the parking lot. This central location funneled that water to a larger culvert leading to the storm drains. Nearby four boys about ten years old stood covered in slick mud.
The construction worker sternly ordered one of the boys to tell what had happened.
"We were just playing in the area. All the water was drained and we were only exploring," he plaintively beseeched. We told Paul to stop, but he just kept crawling on in that pipe," the boy continued pointing to one of the smaller pipes. We heard a loud noise and him yell out for help. He was crying for a while and then there was nothing. These pipes branch out to other ones. I was afraid to go much farther. We might get lost. Finally we came out and told Mr. Small," the boy finished pointing to the large, beefy construction worker. Mr. Small's eyebrows danced again in consternation. It only took a moment to see what needed to be done before they could even consider going down in the pit.
Johnny motioned Eric over. "Eric, you take Ted and Eddie. Work with Mr. Small to shore up the sides of this ditch. The last thing we need is a total collapse and cave in." Eric nodded, turned. He called out to Ted and Eddie and they conferred with Mr. Small. Soon they were moving lumber to stabilize the walls. Johnny then called for a pump to be brought to help remove the liquid mud from the pit.
At the same time Roy stooped down to talk to the boy. "Son, what's your name?" he asked.
"Michael Slayden. This is Doug and that is Jamal," Michael replied timidly pointing to each buddy.
"Okay Michael. Who is in the pipe?" Roy prompted.
"Adam is in there. He's my cousin." he explained hesitantly.
"I see. You boys live around here? Are your parents nearby?"
"You aren't gonna tell them? We'll be in big trouble," Michael moaned.
"I need to know in case Adam needs medical help when we get him out." Roy said kindly. He knew they'd be in trouble too, but hey that whole ship had sailed. "I need you to talk to the police officer over there so they can get permission to help Adam if he is hurt, okay?"
Michael's eyes widened, filled with tears and he nodded solemnly as the officer led him to the side to get the information. Dog and Jamal shuffled forlornly behind adding information as they could.
Walking back towards Johnny, Roy stopped. He studied the scene, eyed the culverts, considered the crew and then gazed back at his former partner. Johnny looked up and their eyes met.
"I know. It's the only way." he replied to Roy's look. "I'll go gear up," Roy nodded in agreement and Johnny sprinted towards the vehicles to gather the gear.
