"High On Morgan Towers"
Chapter Four
Roy began lowering the workman's body to the ground. He stopped, as a wave of dizziness suddenly washed over him. The fireman felt sort a' whoozy—drunk almost! He squinted and shook his head, in an unsuccessful attempt to clear it.
John had decided to give his arms another brief rest before starting the long climb down. He felt the tower swaying, and noticed he was becoming a little dizzy and light-headed. In fact, he was beginning to feel a bit drunk!
'Oh, great! Just what I need!' he insincerely told himself. 'I must be getting motion sickness!' The fireman managed a bitter smile. 'I sure hope—for Roy's sake—that I don't have to ralph!'
Back on the ground, hundreds of feet below…
"Engine 51…" the dispatcher's voice suddenly sounded.
Captain Hank Stanley slid the handy-talky from the right side-pocket of his turnout coat and thumbed its call button. "Engine 51. Go ahead, LA…"
"Engine 51…request the where-abouts of Squad 51 paramedics…Firemen John Gage and Roy DeSoto."
Stanley squinted up at the middle tower. "LA, Engine 51. Gage and DeSoto are with us—here at the scene."
"10-4, Engine 51…request you transport them both to Rampart General Hospital—immediately…"
The Captain's already slightly elevated eyebrows arched even higher.
The dispatcher continued, "…There is a strong possibility that they have both been exposed to an hallucinogenic drug, and may suffer a delayed reaction…Time out: 12:08"
Stanley stared down at the radio—then up at the middle tower. Gage and DeSoto's Captain cursed aloud, and a look of abject horror filled his suddenly pallid face.
Hank slipped the HT back into his coat pocket—without signing off—and snatched up a bullhorn. "Bring me a security belt!" he ordered, on his way over to the middle tower's base. "Kelly! Lopez! I want you to don some belts, too!"
As they headed over to the tower, Stanley explained the situation to his Engine crew.
Along the way, he and his men ditched their bulky coats and donned their security belts.
The rescuers reached the middle tower's base.
Before beginning his climb, Station 51's Commander unclipped the bullhorn from his belt and shouted up the ladder, in his most commanding voice, "Roy! Listen to me! Secure the rope and don't move! That's an order!"
Seven hundred and some feet up the middle tower, DeSoto heard his Captain's shouted order.
Roy had already secured the rope.
He'd had to! He was too dizzy to do anything else!
'Must be the altitude…' he thought and looked down.
Everything was spinning around—all the colors were coming together.
He smiled. "Wow! That's really pretty!" he quietly proclaimed, as the blending colors produced new, more brilliant hues. 'I wish Johnny could see this!' he mused and looked up the ladder.
Another seven hundred feet or so above him, John Gage was feeling very, very good.
He leaned back and stared up the ladder.
'I wonder what it's like at the top?'
He saw the sun spinning around the tower. Or, maybe the tower was spinning around the sun? 'Maybe I'm spinning around?' he amusedly mused.
Gage threw his head back and grinned. "Who cares?" he shouted into the wind.
He reached out and tapped one of the tower's braces. 'Man! What a glorified set a' monkey bars!' he suddenly realized and came up with a truly terrific idea.
He could just climb out onto the brace and then slide down one of the tower's anchor cables.
He wrapped both arms around the brace and tried throwing his left leg over it. He couldn't.
He was stuck to the stinking ladder.
"I'm going up for John!" Stanley stated and started climbing. "Chet! You come up behind me and get Roy down! Marco, you follow Chet and finish lowering the vi—"
"—Hey, Cap!" Mike Stoker suddenly shouted and pointed up.
Stanley and his ladder crew shielded their eyes against the sun's bright glare and looked up the tower. They spotted Gage—trying to climb out onto a brace.
Their Captain cursed again and then quickly recommenced his climbing.
Stanley and Kelly climbed right on by the dangling victim.
By the time they reached Roy's position, Marco had the dead guy on the ground with 16's paramedics.
"You just take it easy, Roy," the Captain urged, as he climbed carefully past the spacey paramedic and clipped his belt securely to the ladder, about five rungs above DeSoto's helmeted head.
Chet climbed right level with Roy and fastened his safety clamp, too.
DeSoto was gazing blankly off into the distance…and smiling. The paramedic appeared to be completely oblivious of his company's arrival.
"Roy? I'm gonna lower you down now. So you just relax and enjoy the ride," Kelly told him as he finished rigging his belay. The mustached fireman felt really stupid saying that, because his zoned out colleague couldn't possibly have appeared any more relaxed.
"Why are you shouting?" Roy suddenly wondered. "Why are all the colors so…bright?" He looked down the ladder.
There were flames everywhere!
Golden, orange, and bright red flames were even dancing on the rungs, just below his feet. "Why is everything on fi-ire?" he pondered of no one in particular.
"I'm gonna have to lift you a little to get your clamp off," Kelly warned, speaking in a whisper. He released Roy's safety clip and began belaying him below.
"NO-O!" DeSoto screamed and clung to a rung—for dear life! "It's burning down there!"
Chet looked up at his Captain, and shrugged.
Stanley exhaled an exasperated sigh.
Precious moments passed.
John saw three, itty-bitty people on the ladder—seven hundred and some feet below him.
Below them, was another person…even ittier and bittier than them.
"Itty-bitty...like ants!" He stiffened. "Ugh!" There were bugs crawling all over the ladder rung, just beneath his feet! He turned and tried to climb higher, but he was still stuck to that dang ladder. He looked up at the sun and forgot all about the bugs and the ladder. " !" he declared.
Why hadn't he ever noticed how beautiful the sun is before?
" !" he shouted into the wind again, in slow motion. "And all full of warm…wishy-washy…colors!" He grinned and rolled his head around.
The wind in his face made him feel like he was flying.
He had an irresistible urge to let go of the ladder…
Chet suddenly got an idea. "Hey, Ro-oy? Can you see the diamonds down there?" he inquired. "Diamonds! Sparkling in the sun!" he dramatically tacked on. He saw his Captain's brow arch skeptically and shrugged again.
As DeSoto stared down the ladder, the flames turned to crystals.
Light radiated from the crystals and separated into breathtaking hues of practically every color in the rainbow.
'Like little prisms,' Roy thought. "Crystals! T!" he declared and finally released the ladder rung.
Kelly glanced smugly up at his Captain. "Right, Roy! There are magnificent crystals down there, and I'm gonna lower you so you can take a closer look at them." Chet wasn't sure the paramedic was listening anymore, but at least he wasn't protesting.
"Think you can manage alone?" Stanley asked.
Kelly glanced up and was just about to nod, when he saw John jump! His mustached face filled with horror and his racing heart missed a few beats! He shouted a warning to his Captain and then ducked.
Seconds later, Gage's helmet came sailing down the ladder…on its way to the ground.
TBC