A NEW HOPE
by ardavenport
- - - Part 7
When Roy got into work, as usual, he saw Captain Stanley and Mike Stokers' cars in the parking lot behind the station, along with C-shift's. Chet, Johnny and Marco usually traded places for who was last getting in, but lateness on A-shift was very rare.
He caught Mike, already in uniform, coming out of the locker room.
"Hey, Mike. How'd the extra shift go?"
He shrugged, his usual minimally-verbal self. The B-shift engineer had called in sick and Mike had covered for him. Roy didn't hear much before leaving his last shift, but apparently the wake for Hookrater had gone late. "It was pretty light. Medford and Morino were a little hung over, but they made it okay."
"So, it was quite party they had then."
"Yeah. That's what I hear." Roy waited, but Stoker didn't seem get that he might want to hear more.
"So, did anyone say anything about what happened at Hookrater's funeral?"
"Oh, yeah."
The smile on Roy's face got a little more fixed. Stoker's remained blandly pleasant.
The locker room door swung open and Burt Dwyer, still in uniform, came out.
"Hey, Roy!" A blond beach-goer, he had a big smile under his mustache.
"Hey, Burt. How was the shift?"
"Oooh, kinda slow actually. Only five runs. Told our new captain he could expect a lot more action from this place."
Roy's eyebrows rose. "You got a new Cap?"
Dwyer's smile broadened. "Yep. And a new day has dawned around here."
"Better than Hookrater?"
Dwyer laughed. "Ooh, way better. Now I'm sure he's not perfect. But we're just going to bask in the glow of somebody halfway normal for now. He's still here in the office talking to Captain Stanley. I'll take you to see him after you get dressed. . . ."
Stoker moved on while the two paramedics went into the locker room.
While he changed, Roy got the story about Hookrater's funeral.
Attendance at Hookrater's funeral had been modest. Station Fifty-One crew members along with a few other firefighters and someone from headquarters had represented the department. Some other friends and former marines that none of the firemen knew showed up, along with Hookrater's family. Hookrater's older brother had spoken nervously at the grave-side service about burying a younger brother who had died of natural causes. Hookrater's widow, a thin, grim-faced woman in black had said little other than, 'He was always a good provider.' A daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren said nothing at all. A son in a Marine dress uniform, who looked and sounded astonishingly like his father, said a few terse, but respectful words over his father's casket.
After the 21 gun salute and presentation of the flag to Mrs. Hookrater, the men in the group had gone to a wake at a local bar. Even before the first round of beers was done it came out that nobody in attendance had liked Hookrater. Not even his two sons. The second son mostly stayed on the edge of their group with his brother. There were mutterings that he had come down from Canada and was only able to return to the US because the president had pardoned all the Vietnam War draft dodgers. But nobody seemed to care too much about that. Eulogizing the infamous Hookrater took priority and the rounds of beer among the marines and firefighters kept coming along with the stories about who had suffered more under his command. Before joining the fire service, Hookrater had been a drill sergeant. Dwyer and some others had gone home before eight, but he heard later that the sons, marines and firefighters had gone back to the graveyard to set off some firecracks on Hookrater's grave.
Dressed, Roy went with Burt to meet the new captain.
Stanley greeted them with a smile. "Ah, Roy." He nodded to the man in the chair next to him. "This is one of our paramedics, Roy DeSoto."
The new captain looked like he was in early thirties, average height and build with dusty blond hair, a little on the long side, but still regulation.
"Pleased to meet you." He had a firm handshake. "I'm George Lucas."
"Welcome to Station Fifty-One, Cap."
"Thanks. I was just telling Hank here that I was pretty glad to have a chance to move back to the city from One-Fifteen. Especially before the middle of summer."
Roy recognized One-Fifteen as a brush fire station. A dry summer there would be pretty hot. But the name got his attention, too. He looked at the new captain's badge. 'G. LUCAS'. His brows furrowed.
"Uh, Lucas . . . . isn't that. . . .?"
Lucas rolled his eyes with a weary grin. "Oooooh, I'm going to be stuck with that for the rest of my life." He held his hands up in surrender. "I had nothing to do with any space movies. I'm George Lucas because my father was George Lucas and his father was George Lucas, too."
Stanley waved his hand with a grin. "Don't worry about it. I once served with an engineer named Jimmy Stewart." They laughed off the coincidence of Captain Lucas's name and Roy left to talk to Dwyer about the squad. Since it had been such a light shift, they were fine for medical supplies.
The shift change was otherwise ordinary except that Captain Lucas lingered to meet the remaining members of A-shift. Roy was sitting at the kitchen table with the others when Johnny came in last, chipper and with a big smile on his face.
"Hey, did everyone meet the new Cap?"
Everyone else had. Johnny pulled up a chair. "Ooooh, I'll bet C-shift is on cloud nine. Finally got a normal captain. Hey, and did you check out his name?"
Chet, who had been yawning over his coffee cup, perked up. "Yeah. But what would you know about it?"
Johnny's good mood went on undeterred. "Well, I just think it's kind of interesting that our new captain happens to share the same name as the director of the biggest film of the year, that's all."
"Biggest film of the year, huh?" Chet looked at him suspiciously. "Really? What makes you say that? I thought you hated 'Star Wars'."
"Hate it? Chet how could anyone hate a great movie like that? It's gotta be the greatest movie of the year. Possibly of all time. It's already a classic. It'll change movie history. Maybe even people's lives."
Roy sat back in his chair, arm on the table. "So, you took Denise to go see it."
Johnny proudly grinned. "Even better. We saw it twice."
Marco's eyebrows rose. "Who's Denise?"
"She's the older sister in that family on the run where those kids were swinging from the tree in their backyard." Roy already knew about her. He had seen the whole mating ritual on their last shift after he had ridden into Rampart with the injured children. Not only had Johnny spent extra time in the waiting area talking with Denise, when he turned around, Roy caught her looking at his rear end with a sly grin.
"You saw 'Star Wars'? Twice?" Chet looked doubtful.
"Yep. In fact, we'll probably go see it again tomorrow." He looked quite pleased with himself
"You better be careful Johnny. Another Luke Skywalker might come along and steal your girl again while you're waiting in line."
"Nope." Johnny sat back with a crooked, cocky grin, hands behind his head.
"She thinks I look like Han Solo."
%%%%% END %%%%%
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Mark VII Productions, Inc., Universal Studios and whoever else owns the 1970's TV show Emergency!; I am just playing in their sandbox. Thanks to Dawn for technical proofing on some of the medical stuff.