Boot Work
Roy arrived at the station half an hour before he was required to report. It felt so strange to see the back lot totally empty of cars. Shuttling their cars home was one of the first tasks that was taken on in order to make more room behind the station to maneuver the equipment used for cleaning.
The hose tower was so heavily loaded with hose Roy had to take a second look to make sure it wasn't leaning from the weight. It was clear by the amount of hose hanging to dry that they had stripped the engine.
Using his key, which had been returned with his car, Roy entered the building and found it totally void of any sound or smell that made the place familiar. There was an overpowering smell of bleach and a pine scented cleaner, the combination Roy knew to be hazardous so his first move was to open the back bay door to let the place air out a little. He was not in the least surprised to find the large fans set up on the floor near the rear bay door so he turned them on also.
Turning around to see what had been done with the place, where the locker room had smelled stronger of pine cleaner the bay carried a strong odor of bleach, although over shadowed by the smell of cleaning liquids there was still a hint of skunk but for all Roy knew it could be coming from him.
Roy found the engine minus draft hoses or any other hoses for that matter, the compartments were standing open and the tools usually stored in them placed on a burn blanket on the floor. The Squad also had its compartments open, rescue equipment, back boards, stokes and crow bars placed on the floor behind the squad. There was no sign of their medical equipment and drug boxes, Roy just hoped they were locked up somewhere and hadn't been stolen.
From the Bay Roy stepped into the day room where he found all of the cupboards standing open and empty. The counter was lined with all the dishes and pots turned upside down on hazmat towels. Anything that resembled food was pilled on the table. Two large galvanized steel garbage cans stood near by, this was one of his assignments today.
Wanting to get started but knowing he needed to wait for the paperwork that the Chief was going to be bringing him in about ten minutes, Roy made his way to the dorm room. It would be a good idea to open all the windows and get the room aired out.
He had just opened the second to the last window in the dorm when he heard foot steps and turned to see Chief McConnike standing just inside the doorway.
Roy turned around and faced his superior properly at attention. "Good morning Sir."
"Good morning to you DeSoto, I see you got an early start this morning." The chief responded before adding, "At ease."
Roy widened his stance and placed his hands behind his back as he followed the Chief with his gaze. The Chief silently walked past him and opened the last window.
"I see you've picked up on our mistake." The Chief commented as he moved back in front of Roy facing him casually. "We had three crews in here yesterday cleaning. The crew in the bay was using a cleaning compound heavy in bleach. The crew in the locker room was using some pine scented cleaner and the crew in the kitchen were using Lysol." "We had to send them all home early yesterday afternoon with head aches." "The Hazmat team came in last night to check the place out and they don't think there'll be any problems today but they did recommend keeping the fans going and opening the windows."
"Yes Sir," Roy answered.
"Why don't we head out back and I'll show you what we have for you to work with." The Chief commented and the two men made their way from the dorm. Once they reached the bay in passing the Chief started to talk again. "They've sprayed some sort of bacteria enzyme in here that's supposed to break down the smell but it should take a couple more days to start working. The hose has been sprayed too so if there's time today you can have those two nitwits, your working with, load them back on the truck. Make sure they do it, not you."
"May I ask what the two 'nitwits' did to deserve this disciplinary action?" Roy asked cautiously not sure if he should be asking.
The Chief stopped and turned to Roy and Roy swallowed hard. They were outside now and the fans were blowing past them. "I guess that's a fair question, since you're going to be babysitting the two of them." "It seems that one of the fella's that was here to rescue you guys on 'skunk day' was pulling an extra shift, probably because his wife couldn't stand to have him at home with the smell, Anyway during a foam drill at a chemical factory the two boot's thought they'd give him a good wash down. The only problem was that the guy in question stayed back to allow me to lead the company's CEO and his wife and grandchildren through to get a good vantage point to watch the practice, and I'm sure you can fill in the rest of the story yourself."
Roy was holding his breath to keep from laughing and turning red with the effort when the Chief added, "It's okay to laugh, believe me, everyone else is. Except for the two boots that is." "Fortunately the kids thought it was the best thing that could have happened so once the CEO was assured there was nothing toxic about the foam he calmed down and had fun with his grandchildren."
Roy let his breath out with a chuckle and shook his head.
"By the way DeSoto, You don't smell that bad, at least not compared to two days ago. I can tell by the hint of bubble gum and peppermint that you've been working on it."
"Thank you sir," Roy managed to get out past his fresh blushing grimace. That wasn't exactly something he wanted to hear from a superior but he was grateful to know he was making progress.
"I'm sure you'll be ready to go as soon as the station is. We'll have you working at headquarters until then."
For the next hour before the boots were scheduled to arrive Roy was instructed in the procedure and paperwork for clearing out lockers and reporting the food to be disposed of. He was then presented with the newly disinfected personal belongings and badges for each of his crew mates, their uniforms had been incinerated but their brass and pocket contents had been removed first, and given the assignment of delivering them personally to the hospital.
When the boots arrived, five minutes late, Roy was introduced as their incident commander and they were ordered to get to work starting in the dorm. A rented moving van was parked in the back with the hatch opened and the boots made short work of pulling all the bedding off the bunks before starting to load the mattresses while Roy tackled the lockers.
By the time ten mattresses, and the bedding were stacked in the truck and the dorm floor mopped and windows washed Roy had gone through and packaged the contents of about half of the lockers. He had found one very surprising item in his Captain's locker that he chose not to send in to be cleaned but instead made sure no one could see him then stuck it in his pocket to give to his Captain personally.
The boots were then assigned to load the contents of the locker in the back of the truck and by the time Roy was doing the last six lockers the boots were assigned to wash the inside of the ones he'd already emptied. Roy made a note to get Johnny a new Smokey Bear poster, he knew he needed to update his pictures of his wife and kids and he was sure the same went for Cap, Chet and Marco were on their own to replace their pin up posters. Mike, well Mike didn't have anything to replace, he preferred the undecorated look.
When Roy was done in the kitchen and with all of his paperwork the boots were just starting to load the hose back on the engine. Roy watched them carefully and needed to give them a few pointers about how to make sure the connections were properly placed and how to drape the end of the hose so that it would be that much easier to hook up to a hydrant. When the hose was loaded Roy had the two men load the equipment making sure they put everything in the right places. He was tempted to make them unload it and do it again when they were done but thought better of it since it was nearly two in the afternoon and they hadn't had lunch yet.
00000
Johnny was the first in the room to wake up the next morning. Since they had all been kept awake while the doctors worked on Marco and Chet they had been allowed to sleep as long as they would. Answering the call of nature Johnny walked his IV Pole to the bathroom and while washing up he took a good look in the mirror, his skin looked normal, not at all jaundiced this morning, he was grateful of that. Maybe he could get rid of his IV today.
On the way back to bed he took a detour past Chet and Marco. As the nurse smiled at him he looked his crewmates over, they were sleeping comfortably with the head of their bed raised still wearing oxygen masks and a quick look of their monitors showed they were doing as well as they looked.
Mike was starting to stir and feeling for his urinal so Johnny walked over and handed it to him. He offered his assistance but Mike didn't need any. Mike's skin was still mildly yellow just about where Cap had been the day before.
John looked over at his Captain his eyes were now open but he was clearly still trying to wake up. Looking around the room he finally pushed himself into a seated position and was letting his head get acquainted with which way was up.
After Mike hung his now filled urinal on the bed rail, Johnny walked over to see if his captain needed a hand up.
"How are they doing this morning," Hank whispered with a nod toward Chet and Marco.
"Their doing good right now Cap, How are you doing?" Johnny asked then began a visual assessment. The captain still looked slightly pale and though his skin was more normally colored the whites of his eyes were still yellowed.
John gave his leader a helping hand to get to his feet and stood by him till he was sure he was steady on his feet.
"I can take it from here," Hank assured but Johnny still followed him for a few steps till he was sure.
When Hank returned the nurse helped Mike into the bathroom to freshen up a little and then a late breakfast was brought in for everyone.
It was the smell of food that brought lights to Chet's eyes and Marco came around shortly afterward. Surprised by their returning appetite Chet and Marco pushed themselves higher in bed in anticipation of any thing remotely edible, even hospital food.
While they were eating the word went forth through out the hospital that they were awake and people started coming into their room in droves. First the vampires arrived for their morning blood samples, followed by nurses aids with wheel chairs to take them two at a time to get new chest x-rays and a chance to see someplace out side of their room. As soon as they were back in the room Dr. Bracket was there to do his rounds, followed by the eye specialist to complete a thorough examination of Mike, Marco and Chet's eyes.
Johnny and Cap could feel themselves holding their breath as the doctor spent extended time with each man. Johnny could tell by the look on the doctor's face and Cap could tell by the look on Johnny's face that not all was well.
"Well men, I can tell that you've been rubbing your eyes. I know it's hard not to but rubbing can cause scaring that will effect your vision." The Doctor began and he stood in front of them with his hands in his pockets. "I'm going to change the eye drops we're giving you and since the drops will blur your vision anyway I'm going to have your eyes bandaged to keep you from rubbing."
