Chapter 4: Endings

The next few days were a blur for JJ. Filling out forms, dealing with insurance companies, making arrangements for her father's body were emotional and draining. She barely had energy to deal with the horses each evening. She made a few calls to a couple people back East to tell them the news and delay a few work related projects. Elaine told her she'd be out for the funeral and offered to stay a few days afterward. She called the station, but John and Roy were not on duty. She then left a message on John's machine about the memorial she'd planned for the coming Saturday with the time and place. His greeting and prompt to leave a message were a bit cheesy, but it made her laugh out loud—the message was a contrast to the man who had helped her out the day her dad had died.

Johnny and Roy's first run of their next shift was lighthearted. They had just sat down for coffee when the klaxon sounded. "Child trapped. 1405 Collins. 1405 Collins. Time out 7:15.

Captain Stanley took down the information and replied, "Station 51, KMG365." He handed off the note to Roy, who then passed it to Johnny. They arrived at the scene and found a frantic teenager flagging them down at the curb.

"Over here," she yelled waving frantically. "He's stuck tight. I didn't know what to do. Man, they'll never call me again."

Roy reached her first and Johnny grabbed equipment. Roy used a calm voice, "Where is he? Can you tell us what happened?"

"This way," the teenager pointed and sprinted off. The two paramedics followed quickly behind her. They rounded the front of the house towards the garage near the back and then she led them through the back fence gate. In the back was a hyperactive mutt racing around and jumping up on them all. "Get down Bandit, you stupid dog," she scolded momentarily grabbing Bandit's collar, "There…" she said pointing, "Cooking oil didn't work so I called."

The teen had pointed to the back door. There half in half out was a boy of about five years. His blond head and one arm were poking through the pet door. He was glistening in the light since he was covered in something greasy.

"Lisa," the boy wailed, "You left me alone. The dog wouldn't stop licking me." He was struggling to get free. Johnny went straight to the boy.

"Okay, it will be alright. Settle down. What's your name?" John asked as he made a visual assessment of the situation.

"Johnny," the kid replied between sniffs.

"Really?" the paramedic replied, "That's my name too." He smiled. We are going to get you out Johnny, don't worry. Can you hold still? I don't want you to hurt yourself. I need to open this door to see the other side, okay?" Gage opened the door carefully and inspected the other side with the other arm plus back end of the little boy hanging out.

Roy had determined that the babysitter had tried pulling and pushing the boy out and then tried to use cooking oil to get him to slide out but with no luck. The child had been stuck for about 30 minutes before she called. He sent her to get towels. Then he led the dog back to a chain near its dog house and clipped the chain to its collar. The dog whined and strained against the chain. The whining swelled to yips. He walked back and squatted down near the crying boy. "Hey, I'm Roy. We are here to get you out Johnny." He then turned to his partner, "John, what do you think?"

"Roy, I think we can remove the pet door from the inside," and he pointed to the screws in the pet door frame. "Once it is free of the door, we can pull him and the pet door into the house and just cut it away from him. He's wedged in pretty good and now it looks like he is a bit swollen around the upper chest. I don't think we can just slip him out."

The two firemen went to work. John manned the tools inside and Roy stayed outside to comfort the boy. He and the sitter, Lisa, used the towels to wipe excess oil from the boy's arms and face, talked to the child and kept him still. The boy regaled Roy and Lisa with his many reasons why trying out the pet door had been a good choice. Roy wasn't buying it, but he kept quiet. Once the pet door was detached from the exterior door, Gage and DeSoto cautiously pulled the boy into the house with the pet door still stuck around him and cut the frame gingerly from the child.

Careful examination determined the boy had no broken bones or cuts. His only external injuries were red marks from where he had been stuck. "Oh thank you so much for getting him out okay," Lisa said, "It is my first day babysitting him. I think now it might be my last one too."

"No problem. Just doing our job," Gage replied. He quickly cleaned up the area.

Roy smiled at them both as he picked up the drug box and bio-phone. "You have a good day."

As they left, the paramedics heard Johnny, the child, tell his babysitter, "Dad is gonna be so mad. He told me that was just for the dog to use, but I only wanted to try it out. I didn't think I'd get stuck."

Lisa replied, "You didn't think, you got that right kiddo." They heard the door shut as they reached the front yard. The two men exchanged amused looks.

As they put away the equipment, Roy turned to Johnny. "That little boy remind you of anyone Junior?" he said with a smirk.

"Huh?" Johnny asked.

"You know talkative, impulsive, acts before he thinks with the name Johnny?" Roy teased.

"Oh, ha ha," Johnny answered sarcastically. "Anyway, if it had been me, I would have been skinny enough to slip right on through Roy."

Roy smiled. "Yeah, but you still would have tried the pet door," he replied dryly.

Johnny started to answer, huffed in irritation and sulked part of the way back to the station.

John found himself wondering how JJ was doing and holding up. He got her message on his next day off and told Roy about the memorial set for that coming Saturday. They were both on duty that day. They arranged for coverage so they could attend.

Saturday arrived. JJ had stayed out at the ranch Friday night. She felt closer to her dad there but more emotional. "Well," she thought, "Emotional is part of the package here, I guess." After breakfast, she went out and started moving the pots of flowering plants she had picked up the day before from the nursery carrying them down to the pond. They were placed around the split log benches her dad had created. Few people would be at the memorial. She had not had time to make friends in LA yet. Their two closest neighbors, her publisher from New York, and the two paramedics were the only ones attending. She hadn't even found a church yet and her dad had stopped going after the death of his wife. He had been angry and distanced himself from the church. The ceremony would be simple. She'd read the summary of her dad's life and would share a few special memories first. Then she'd take his ashes and scatter them over the pond and close with a time of silence for each attendee to say a prayer or whatever. She was pleased there was no wind. JJ sat on the bench to enjoy the view and just let her mind go blank. She just sat and existed for a bit. The frogs, the lap of the water and bird songs wrapped around her. Peace settled in and she felt closer to God. JJ sat there for a long time and then checked her watch. She slowly got up and headed back to the house to get ready for the service.

The morning of the funeral the crew at station 51 finished breakfast. They had started their chores and in the middle of completing them the station was called out for a fire and injury at a home. Arriving on the scene, they found a man on the lawn having his head and hands hosed down with a garden hose by a neighbor. The engine crew checked the garage and found a small fire that was quickly put out.

Johnny reached the man first. "What happened?" he asked.

"I was lighting the furnace in the garage. We just moved here a few months ago. We have a new puppy and I wanted to warm the garage up for him tonight so I was checking out the furnace now to get ready. I followed the directions on the unit and next thing I know a huge cloud of fire came out. I burned my hands." He held them out and they were quite red and starting to blister. Johnny moved the garden hose away and asked the neighbor to turn it off.

"What's your name?" he asked the man.

"Larry Williamson," he answered.

"Okay Mr. Williamson, let's flush those hands with saline." Johnny looked at the victim's face. I don't see any burns on your face, but your beard and hair are singed." He checked his eyes, "Good thing you have glasses. You also have some bits of rusted metal in your face, but your glasses probably protected your eyes. He checked the victim's lungs with the stethoscope. Johnny got out the sterile saline and gauze. He poured the sterile saline over the burns and then draped gauze over the burned hands loosely.

Roy was getting BP, pulse and respiration and then set up the bio-phone. "Rampart, this is Squad 51."

"This is Rampart, go ahead 51," answered Dr. Brackett.

"Rampart, we have a male in his 30's who has been burned while lighting a pilot light on a furnace. His BP is 140 over 80, his pulse is 90 and respiration is 18. He has 2nd degree burns on his hands. They were flushed with sterile saline and covered with sterile dressings. He has singed hair and beard, but no apparent burns on his face. He is breathing on his own and there is no sign of respiratory involvement. He does have some debris in his face from the flash explosion. The victim was wearing glasses. His eyes look clear.

Dr. Brackett replied, "51 put him on oxygen, just in case there is respiratory damage, flush his eyes as a precaution and transport as soon as possible."

Captain Stanley came over to Mr. Williamson. "Did you install that furnace?"

"No, it was put in by the former owner, why?" he answered.

"It was improperly installed. I can't believe the house inspector missed it. Following the instructions would have caused a build-up of natural gas and an explosion much like you just experienced. I'd call a repairman to come out and install it correctly," Captain Stanley advised.

"I will," Mr. Williamson replied, "thanks.

Mr. Williamson's wife drove him to the hospital and the ambulance was sent away.

The engine and squad returned to the station. While the engine was out dealing with a trash fire, the squad was called out to a possible heart attack. They arrived at an office building and a security guard met them at the curb.

"His office is in the back. He is reporting chest pain and can't breathe," said the guard.

Roy and Johnny grabbed equipment. Roy turned to the guard and asked, "Can you carry the oxygen for us?" The guard quickly grabbed it without comment.

"This way," he instructed the two paramedics.

They hurried through the front door, into the lobby and took the hallway to the right. Office workers were standing in doorways and near the end of the hallway there was a cluster of workers at a doorway on the left side of the hall.

"Excuse me," Johnny said, "Can you move back please and let us through?"

Roy and Johnny saw a man in a suit lying on the floor. His tie had been loosened and the first few buttons of his dress shirt were undone. Another office worker quickly backed away and explained, "I loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt."

"That is fine," Roy responded as he pulled out a BP cuff and began to get vitals. Johnny started oxygen on the victim since his breathing was labored. Roy asked the guard to go back out and wait for the ambulance.

"Sir, can you tell me what happened?" Johnny asked the victim.

"I was in a meeting and suddenly my jaw started hurting. I came back to my office. The pain had gone down my neck into my chest and down my left arm. My chest is so tight and it hurts. I can't breathe and now I am dizzy."

"My name is Johnny and this is my partner Roy. What is your name sir?" Johnny asked.

"Mort, Mort Wiebe," he answered.

"Okay, Mort, you are going to be just fine. I'm going to put these leads on your chest so we can send information to the hospital on your heart rate," Johnny explained.

"You think it's my heart? I was afraid of that, a heart attack," Mort said anxiously.

"Mort, we don't know what it is yet," Johnny calmly replied, "The doctors will check it out. Now relax, you're going to be just fine."

Roy took the BP, pulse and respirations , set up the bio-phone and contacted Rampart. He reported they had a male victim about 45 years old, gave the vitals-all which were within normal range with the exception of a slightly elevated respiration rate and then said they would send a strip. Roy looked to Johnny to see which lead they were set up to use.

Johnny said, "Roy, it will be lead one."

Roy relayed the information. Both men could see from the monitor that the man was in sinus rhythm and could not see any arrhythmia.

Dr. Early's voice came over the phone. "Patient has sinus rhythm. Does the patient take any medications? Has the victim been under any pressure recently 51?"

Roy looked at Mort. "Mort, do you take any medications or have you had a lot of stress recently?"

Mort Wiebe answered, "Me? Nothing more that Pepto Bismol or aspirin occasionally. Stress, no not really."

One of the other office workers piped up, "Now Mort, that's not exactly true. You have a daughter getting married in two months and your mom had a stroke. On top of that you have this big deal you are working on," the lady said to Mort. "I am his secretary, Katherine Temple. This deal he is working on is managing the accounting services for a large manufacturer of appliances and will double our business. He has been working a lot of overtime on this project. I am worried about him," she finished.

Mort reconsidered, "Yeah, I guess that's right. I haven't slept well for a couple of weeks either. The wedding is getting bigger and more expensive too."

"Rampart," Roy began, "The victim has no regular medications but has had several sources of stress and has not been sleeping well for a couple of weeks. We did start the victim on O2 and he is breathing more normally now."

"51, monitor his vitals and bring him in."

"10-4 Rampart."

As soon as the ambulance arrived, Mort was loaded into the ambulance and Roy rode in with him. Johnny followed in the squad.

The paramedics left Mort in the capable hands of Dr. Morton. They walked to the nurse's station to get a few supplies. "Hey fellas," said Dixie as she looked up from the patient chart she was working on, "How is it going?"

"Fine, fine," Roy answered, "We do need a few things Dix."

Johnny had already started filling out the supply form while Roy and Dixie talked.

Johnny picked up the needed medical supplies.

"See you boys later," Dixie remarked.

"Yeah, we are out for a bit for a funeral midday, Dix," Johnny said, "but most likely we will be in several more times this shift after that."

Roy saw the question in Dixie's eyes, "Yeah, you remember the heart attack earlier this week, the one with the daughter who was a nurse? She has no family, so Johnny and I are going to the service today at 1:00."

"That's nice of you fellas," she answered as she bustled off to a treatment room.

It was 12:20 pm when Johnny and Roy thanked their replacements and headed out to Johnny's Rover. It seemed more practical choice given the drive into the canyon even though Roy's car was way cooler. The men had to attend in their uniforms, but it seemed apropos since that is how they had met JJ. Roy asked, "So do you know what JJ is planning?"

"No Roy, I don't. She just gave me the day and time. Well, that and that it would be at the ranch." The partners talked a bit more about the memorial and some of the runs of the shift as John drove them toward the ranch.

JJ smoothed the skirt of the simple dress she had put on. It was pink eyelet and had been her dad's favorite dress she owned. Her face was not made up. She figured she'd just cry it off anyway. She pulled her hair into a simple ponytail. It was easy and took little effort. She wore low heeled white sandals that would make walking on the dirt path easier. She placed the urn with her dad's ashes on the table near the door. Then she walked out to the porch and sat on the porch swing to wait. "I'll be relieved when this is over", she thought. And yet she dreaded the end of the memorial since it would make her father's death so final.

The memorial was short and sweet. It was obvious JJ had a wonderful dad and that he would be missed. It was a surprise to the paramedics that Joe had been a missionary. Elaine Matthews, a friend of JJ's from New York, her two neighbors, Johnny himself and Roy had attended. She'd scattered her dad's ashes over the pond where her dad had scattered his wife's ashes five years before. Now they were together again. JJ seemed like she was doing okay, considering, and Johnny was glad to see she had someone, a friend, who had attended. JJ had coffee and cake up at the house and the few guests mingled. John met and talked to her neighbors the McLaughlin's and the Longbow's. Both couples had only good memories of Joe and JJ and shared the ways they had been helping her out. They had finished clearing some brush, watered plants and had been caring and exercising the two horses. One of them had even remembered to have a farrier come to finish the care for the horses, a need that JJ had missed due to the death of her father. They hadn't even told her about it, fearing she might feel guilty for forgetting. "She has done so much for Joe and has had a lot of loss. First, her brother then her mom and now Joe, she has had more than her share of heartache. We sure hope she stays around here and doesn't go back to New York. She lived there for years, you know," remarked Sara McLaughlin.

As the guests began to make excuses, Johnny and Roy went to check on JJ and head back to LA. Roy took JJ's hand, "It was a lovely memorial. Your dad sounds like he was very special. I am so sorry it ended this way."

"Thanks Roy. I know you did everything possible. I really appreciate you coming. I can't believe how kind you've been. It speaks a lot to the type of man you are." She gave him a quick hug and Roy blushed. "I really meant it when I told you to come out to fish or camp anytime. I hope you take me up on it."

Still a bit pink from his blush Roy answered, "I'd like that. I thank you for the invitation."

As he stepped back Johnny moved over to JJ. He took her hand and then gave her a quick hug. "It was perfect Janey. I am glad to see your friend here too."

"Oh you mean Elaine? Yeah she's great. She's my publisher and we became friends. She will stay for a couple of days."

"That's good." John smiled and said, "Well, take care, see ya."

"You too," she answered, "thanks again for coming. It meant a lot John."

Elaine stayed with Janey for four days. She helped her sort through her father's belongings that needed to be disposed of and was there for her hurting friend. She was intrigued by the two fireman/paramedics that attended the funeral. From what JJ told her, the dark-haired one with the arresting looks had been quite supportive. JJ had been independent for many years and it surprised Elaine that she had accepted help especially from a man she knew so little about. "He was just being kind," JJ had insisted, when Elaine had inquired about John Gage. "He said he understood being alone. He and Roy went above and beyond, because they are good men that's all." Of course, JJ could be absolutely right. Elaine didn't doubt their intentions were praiseworthy, but it didn't stop her from speculating. It just was a bit odd. It wasn't like JJ was all that trustful of any man, after New York.

Roy and Johnny returned to the station by 3:00 pm and relieved their replacements. The engine was out on a possible gas leak call. They had just sat down to eat a sandwich. The cake had been good but certainly not enough to fill them up for lunch. As they took their first bites, the klaxon sounded. Johnny wrote down the address. They were called to a child injured call. Both men were quiet during the drive. Calls for children were always more emotional.

They pulled up to a house on a shady street and a woman jumped up from where she had been kneeling on the lawn and ran to the truck.

"She's over here. I don't know what's wrong. I came out to call her in for her snack and I found her on the grass," the woman said in a high pitched voice. Her hands fluttered about with anxiety.

Roy ran ahead with the woman and Johnny got the equipment and followed quickly.

They found a three year old girl lying on the ground on her side. She had thrown up and was lethargic. "My tummy hurts Mommy," she said over and over as she gripped it with her hands. Her mother stroked her forehead and smoothed her hair comfortingly.

Roy had already taken her respiration rate and told Johnny, "Respiration is 20."

Johnny pulled out the BP cuff, took the blood pressure, and then took the pulse. Roy set up the bio-phone.

"Rampart this is Rescue 51," Roy said.

"51 this is Rampart, go ahead," answered Dr. Brackett.

"Roy, BP is 68 over 43. Pulse is 70," reported Johnny.

Roy said, as he talked over the bio-phone, "We have a 3 year old female, her respirations are 20, BP is 68 over 43 and pulse is 70. She has been vomiting and is complaining of stomach pain. The child was playing outside and the mother found her daughter in this condition. The child is lethargic. She has no fever."

"51, did the child eat anything?" asked Dr. Brackett. Roy looked at the mother.

"I don't think so. Not since lunch," the mother said. "Sally, did you eat something?" she asked her child.

"Uh, just salad," the young girl said.

"Salad, what salad?" the mother questioned surprised.

"The salad I made for me and my dolls," she explained.

It was then Roy and Johnny noticed the oleander bush. "Did you make the salad from these leaves, Sally?" Johnny asked pointing to the bush.

'Uh huh, salad is good for you," she answered and then she threw up again. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out.

Roy contacted Rampart, "The girl indicated she ate oleander leaves. She just passed out."

"Start an IV with normal saline and give the patient oxygen. Insert gastric tube to start lavage, and transport immediately. What's your ETA, 51?"

"10-4 Rampart, ETA is 7 minutes." Roy replied. "The ambulance is here and standing by."

The ambulance had arrived during the contact with Rampart and as soon as the IV was started, gastric tube was inserted, and oxygen administered, the child was transferred to the gurney and Roy rode with Sally. Her mother ran to the house to get her keys and meet them at the hospital.

Upon arriving at Rampart the girl was rushed into a treatment room. The men stuck around to see if they could find out how she was doing. Dr. Morton spied them and came over.

"Hey fellas, that office worker you brought in earlier is fine. He was having a panic attack."

"Oh that's good," said Roy with little enthusiasm.

"Yeah, it is. What's wrong?" he asked noticing their somber mood.

Johnny answered, "Just brought in a little girl who ate oleander leaves. She isn't doing well. Roy rode in with her."

"Ah, I see. Well, good luck," Morton said and he patted Roy on the back. He walked off to attend to another patient.

Dixie came out of the treatment room slowly. One look at her face and both of their hearts fell. She approached the paramedics. "I'm so sorry guys. She had the poison in her system too long before she was found. We couldn't save her," Dixie looked away and then walked down the hall to tell the mother.

" Oh, man...," Johnny said his eyes closing and head dropping down.

Roy grew still. "Damn."

The two paramedics picked up their HT and other equipment and trudged back to the squad.