Chapter 4

Dixie stepped out of the shower and into her night gown before slipping on her robe. She then decided to do the first of her concussion wake up checks before she went to bed herself. As she stepped into her living room she paused for a moment to look at her guest and friend.

Laura was stretched out on the sofa dressed in a light gray t-shirt with the graphic design of some Civil Air Patrol Squadron printed on it and a pair of gym shorts. Her long damp hair was spread out above her head and cascaded over the arm of the couch. Her arms were raised over her head and also draped over the arm of the couch hanging down from her elbows. A gelled ice pack lay draped over her forehead and eyes as she lay motionless.

"And she said she couldn't sleep unless she went jogging," Dixie mumbled to herself as she made her way over to her guest.

"It's Thursday October 18th 1977," Laura spoke as soon as Dixie reached the side of the couch, "My name is Laura Morningstar Elmer and I'm currently resting on the sofa of one nearly insane nurse named Dixie McCall and if she has a middle name I never knew what it was so of course I can't remember it. What else do you want to know?"

"And I thought you were asleep."

"Nope, not me." Laura reached down and pulled the ice pack up so she could see out of at least one eye. "You know I never lost consciousness there is really no need for neurological checks."

"It's just that you were so dazed when they brought you in and you act so different than you did the last time you were here."

"I would hope so!" Laura pulled her arms up and folded them across the top of her head. "I was not in a good place when I was here last, physically or mentally."

"So are you trying to tell me this is the real you?" Dixie sat down on the foot stool next to the sofa.

"No, I'm not quite there yet." Laura turned her head in Dixie's direction. "That will take a little more time and I doubt I will ever be the same person I was."

"That's understandable, Are you sure you're ready to leave the international medical service?"

"Yeah," Laura both looked and sounded positive.

"Do you think you'll have a change of heart when you hear about the next great disaster or are you going to be glad you're not there?"

"Yeah," Laura nod her head and gave a distant glance.

"How about your new job, are you excited or nervous?"

"Yeah," Laura looked at Dixie and chuckled and Dixie joined in understanding that the emotions were well mixed.

"What about Mike Stoker, do you think you're ready to consider a relationship?"

Laura looked at Dixie then looked away; she took in a deep breath and then let it out before looking back at Dixie. "I have no idea." "I guess it would be best if I keep him from getting too close until I figure it out."

"I think that is what dating is all about," Dixie admonished.

"Is that one old maid to the next?"

"Who better to truly understand."

"But I don't want to hurt him Dix."

"That's the chance everyone has to take. That's why there's a famous saying, it's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all."

"Yeah, I've heard that one, but with what I've experienced in life, I can't say that I agree."

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Back at station 51 six firemen were showered and had their turn outs set up and ready to go. Four of them were settling in to their beds with eye lids growing heavy. One was trying but kept tossing and turning, over come with nerves and the last one was lying quietly in his bunk with his hands behind his head very much awake.

When all was quiet and everyone with in his sight seemed to be sleeping soundly Chester Kelly pulled his hands from behind his head and carefully sat up. Cringing at the squeak of his box springs as he placed his feet in his boots, Chet took another look around before proceeding. Once his turn outs were pulled up he ever so quietly tip toed into the locker room and retrieved the box he had been given earlier and quietly made his way to the common room to share the couch with Henry while he read.

After cutting the packing tape with his pocket knife Chet slipped the lid off the box to see a legal sized envelope resting on top of a one inch high pile of neatly stacked but loose papers. On the envelope was written Jester Chester Kelly, so of course Chet quickly opened it and pulled the contents out in full view. As he unfolded the pages a newspaper clipping dropped into his lap picking it up and turning it over he could quickly see that it was a copy of an obituary, the picture was of an older man who looked like a grandfather. He quickly read the contents of the article to learn that the man had died about ten days ago from complications to injuries received while helping the victims of the China earthquake. His list of world wide accomplishments were many and ended with a quote, 'I believe I have made a difference in the life of at least one person so I can say that my life has not been in vain.'

As Chet read again the man's list of accomplishments in life the page began to blur. He hadn't been mistaken about Laura having some emotions in her voice when she handed it to him; she had recently lost a friend.

Wiping the moisture from his eyes with the back of his hand Chet lay the obituary back in the box and turned his attention to the hand written letter. The hand writing looked distinctly feminine and a quick glace at the end of the letter confirmed his suspicions that the letter had been dictated and written by his daughter.

Turning back to the beginning Chet read:

Dear Jester in training:

I don't know which gives me the greatest joy in my last hours, knowing that there is someone out there to carry on in the world of rescue working Jesters or that he is a fellow Irishman. To the manuscript found in this box I add the following, if you are just in it for personal entertainment you are nothing more than a prankster. To be a true Jester you're goal must be for the betterment of the individual and the team as a whole. You must be willing to do what ever is needed to help your fellow rescue workers get through the tough times and remember their successes as well as bring comfort to those who are injured and frightened and cold. Be sure to study Laura Elmer's chapter on Crow bars of conversation especially the part about the third party along with these notes. . . . . . . .

Mike Stoker finally realized if he had any hope of getting to sleep he would have to try something else so he tossed in bed one more time to untangle himself from his bedding and got up to go get Henry. As he reached the common room door he noticed Chet on the couch with an opened box on one knee and Henry's head on the other. The hand that held the papers he was reading trembled slightly and the moisture on his face and the thoughtful expression in his eyes caused Mike to step away from the door and lean against the wall of the equipment bay. It was while he was leaning against the wall trying to decide what to do next that the tones sounded and the lights in the station flashed on. They were needed along with three other engines at a house fire in an older, more run down section of their response area.

Mike quickly pulled on his coat and climbed behind the wheel of the engine as he noticed Kelly make a mad dash for the locker room with his box and return ahead of the rest of the crew with out it to claim his seat on the engine.

Following the squad they were the first to arrive and from a block away they could see the building was boarded up and fully involved.

Because there was a chance that the fire had been started by a homeless person trying to stay warm John and Roy were sent in to do a quick sweep ahead of a hose carried by Chet and Marco. It was in the hottest part of the fire that the paramedics found their only victim and quickly scooped him up and together carried him toward the door. Chet and Marco were backing out behind them spraying water as they stepped when Chet heard and ominous grown and shoved his shoulder into Marco's back to push him out of the way of the collapsing roof. The debris that landed on Chet's ankle earned him a fast ride out across Marco's shoulders and a complete going over by the paramedics. Neither of which could find any reason to haul Chet to Rampart and since their only victim was code F before they got to him they had only to make sure the fire was completely out before heading back to the barn.

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Dixie's alarm went off and she quickly turned it off and rolled out of bed and headed for the living room and her guest. There she found Laura lying face down her head resting on the icepack and her pillow resting on top of her head. Her arm hanging off the edge of the sofa and resting on the floor, her feet propped up on the back of the sofa. She looked anything but comfortable but she did look to be asleep. Since she had been awake the first two times Dixie had checked on her, she was deciding not to wake her now but couldn't bring herself to go back to bed with out at least checking her pulse.

Carefully she walked forward and knelt down to carefully take hold of Laura's wrist. Happy that her patient was in good condition she let go of the wrist.

"Is it still going thump thump thump?" Laura questioned with out moving or opening her eyes.

"Yes, now go back to sleep, that's an order."

"Yes Ma'am."

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There was still three hours of possible sleep time available when the fire trucks backed into the station so everyone was quick to wash off the smoke and get back in the sack. Mike being the cleanest in the bunch waited till last and while he was in the shower he glanced over the shower door to see Chet pull a large manila envelope from the top of his locker. Mike knew exactly what it was; all of them had such an envelope. Some like Chet kept them in their Locker others kept them at headquarters and yet others placed them with various friends or loved ones but they all carried the words 'open in case of my death'.

Mike stepped out of the shower as soon as Chet left the locker room and with a towel wrapped around his waist, stuck his head out the door to see where Chet was going. When he saw Chet opening his envelope as he stepped into the office Mike quickly dressed with out drying off and tip toed up to the office door. Using the reflection in the door's window Mike could see Chet borrowing the black marker from the captain's desk and marking out a large section on the paper he had pulled out of the envelope and after waving his hand over the paper for a moment to dry the ink he then placed the same paper in the type writer and positioned it to begin typing below the blacked out part.

Mike carefully stayed out of sight while as Chet typed just a few lines and then pulled the paper from the typewriter and began to stuff it back in the envelope. Mike covertly ducked behind the squad and made sure he stayed out of Chet's sight as he walked back into the locker room.

"That last fire must have been worse than I thought," Mike thought to himself and made a mental note to mention what he saw to Cap first thing in the morning. Mike then slipped into the common room and collected Henry and hauled him back to his bed.

When the wake up tones sounded Mike was not in his bunk and Chet found a cold wet nose blowing in his ear.

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When Dixie woke up she again made her way to her living room to find the pillow and sheets folded neatly and set on the foot stool next to the sofa but no Laura. Scanning the room she was comforted to see Laura's luggage still in the room and followed a faint sound to the kitchen. There she found Laura sitting at the breakfast bar with the morning paper spread out and the phone book opened to the yellow pages.

Laura herself was still wearing the clothing she had slept in she had a ball cap on her head holding a fresh ice pack in place over the goose egg on her forehead and her hair was in a tight pony tail. Just as everyone who had looked at her the day before feared the blood from her forehead bruise had drained down giving her a black eye.

"Good morning," Laura looked up from her paper, "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"Yes I slept very well thank you." Dixie stepped closer to see that Laura was looking over the classified section listing apartments and had several adds circled in pen as well as a list of things to do written over the top of a car dealership add. "You're up early."

"I've got a lot of things to do and only two weeks to get it done," Laura responded. "Where's a good place to buy uniforms in the area?"

Dixie listed two places and watched as Laura wrote them down in the margins of the paper before looking them up in the phone book and copying down the address and business hours.

"Oh, your paper is over there, I met the paper delivery boy and bought another one from him."

"So you have been up for a while," Dixie commented.

"Like I said I have a lot to do and not a lot of time to get it done."

"Would you like some coffee?" Dixie offered with a yawn.

"No thank you, I don't drink Coffee."

"What are you, a Mormon?"

"Not last I checked," Laura grinned. "I just don't need the caffeine in my system."

"You're welcome to take a shower while I fix breakfast," Dixie offered.

"Thanks but I'd rather wait till after I've been jogging. I'll really need one then."

"Do you know when Mike is coming by to get you?"

"He just said when he was off duty, I hope he doesn't forget." Laura did seem a little nervous.

"I don't think there's much of a chance of that." Dixie then opened a drawer next to the sink and pulled out a key chain. "Here's a key to the apartment so you can let yourself back in."

"Thanks for giving me a place to stay; I promise to get my own just as soon as I possibly can."

"I can tell you're working on it." Dixie said as she placed a glass of orange juice in front of her guest.

Laura had just finished helping Dixie wash the dishes when they heard a knock on the door and neither was surprised to see Mike standing there in his running shorts and a T-shirt. Laura quickly folded her newspaper up so that her notes were on the out side and stuffed it in a pocket of her bag before tying a bandanna around her head and following Mike through the door.

Mike had drawn heavily from the letters he had exchanged with Laura over the last several months and choose a park with a path that ran next to a small stream. They were less than a mile into their run when Mike tripped on a tree root and went down.