Chapter 6
Station Fifty-one

During the next two weeks Stephanie called Roy twice. Both times she had been upset by some trifling thing. All she really needed was someone to talk too, and Roy was always happy to chat with her. She even got an opportunity to visit with Roy's wife Joanne. And she was just as supportive of Stephanie as Roy had been.

After being cooped up in the apartment for two weeks, Stephanie decided it was time to go out. She had originally decided to ride her bike to the library, but on a whim she picked up the Yellow pages and found the address for Fire Station Fifty-one. It wasn't that far from where she lived, an easy bike ride.

Stephanie took the time to bake a small batch of cookies and packed them into a paper bag. Then she set out to find the fire station and Roy, so she could give him the cookies, as a way to say thank you. It took Stephanie thirty minutes to transverse the distance between her apartment and the station. She parked her bike on the right side of the red brick building and stepped into the visitor's door. "Hello," she called at the partition that separated visitors from the Captain's Office. Captain Stanley stepped to the door way of his office and greeted the visitor. "Good morning what can I do for you?" He asked with a gentle smile on his face.

"I'm looking for Roy Desoto."

The Captain waved his arm and said "Right this way," Stephanie followed him through his office into a large garage with a fire truck and a smaller red truck stood waiting for the next call. "What's your name?" Cap asked as he pointed toward another doorway. "Stephanie Mason," she said as she looked at the Fire truck and Squad. Cap recognized the name. Roy had spoken of Stephanie frequently over the past few weeks.

"Are you felling better?" The Captain asked. Stephanie nodded her head as Cap escorted her into the kitchen/training area of the station. "Roy, you have a visitor." Roy was standing over by the sink washing the breakfast dishes. He quickly grabbed a hand towel from the counter and dried his hands as he walked over to greet Stephanie.

"Hey, you look much better than the last time I saw you," he said.

"I feel a lot better too," Stephanie replied. Other members of the team heard Cap announce a visitor and they came into the kitchen.

"Aren't you going to introduce your friend Roy?" One of them, a man with black curly hair, brown eyes, and a mustache asked. Before Roy had a chance to speak Stephanie heard someone behind her call out.

"Hey Stephanie, how are you?" Stephanie turned to see Johnny standing over by a cork board, pinning papers to it.

"I'm doing a lot better. Thank you, Johnny." Then Roy stepped over to Stephanie, rested his hand on her shoulder, and introduced her to the other men.

"Guys, this is Stephanie Mason." Then, as he pointed to each of his fellow coworkers he told Stephanie their names. "This is Marco Lopez, Mike Stoker and Chet Kelly, and I think you have already met Captain Stanley." Stephanie reached out and shook hands with each of the men in turn.

"What's in the bag?" Chet asked her, when she came to him. A smile came to her face as she turned to Roy and held the bag out for him to take.

"I baked you some cookies to thank you for all you have done for my Mom and me." Roy took the bag of cookies from her. Then she turned back to Chet. "It's up to Roy to decide whether to share them with the rest of you, or not."

"I know Roy will share them with me," Johnny said as he came strutting over. He reached out to take the bag from his partner. Roy quickly pulled the bag away.

"I need to taste them first. Gotta see how good they taste. I may want to keep them all. I've heard Stephanie is a real good cook." Johnny glared at Roy as he slipped his hand into the bag and pulled out a cookie and took a bite. "Boy, these are good!" All the other men then started to complain about Roy being stingy and not sharing. Stephanie looked at Roy with an apologetic look on her face.

"I know I should have made more, but Mom and I can't afford it," she said. At that point, Roy handed the bag over to Johnny and asked him to pass it around. He was always planning to share them with the other guys. He was just enjoying making them beg a little. But when Steph made her last comment, Roy didn't feel like teasing the others any more.

Within minutes the cookies were all gone and the men were raving about how good they were. With a broad smile Johnny stepped over to Stephanie and offered to give her a tour of the station, holding out his arm for her to take. Stephanie returned his smile and slipped her arm into his and they left the kitchen. As Johnny showed her around she was surprised to see the men working on various duties, including house hold cleaning. When Johnny had finished the tour he took her back into the kitchen where Roy was now drying the dishes and putting them back into the cupboards.

Stephanie marveled that men did all the cleaning of the station and did a good job at it too. Stephanie had few memories of her father and they didn't include cleaning or being helpful around the house at all. She was also enjoying all the attention the firemen were giving her and she didn't want to leave. She stepped over to where Roy was drying the dishes and offered to help him finish the job. Roy thanked her and handed her a second towel. As Roy and Stephanie finished with the dishes she began looking around for other excuses to hang around the station longer, when an idea came to her.

"Chet," Stephanie called out. "If you really liked my cookies, I would be glad to make more on the condition that you buy the ingredients." She soon realized that Chet was not the only one to approve of this idea. The men all turned to Captain Stanley and waited for him to agree or disagree.

"I don't see a problem with that," he said, and the men gave a cheer. They got Stephanie a piece of paper and pencil to write down the list of ingredients needed for a batch of cookies.

"Would you like me to bake them today or on another day?" she asked.

Everyone seemed to have an opinion and Stephanie was feeling a little overwhelmed by the noise and confusion. Stephanie was startled by a loud noise that rang out into the station, followed by a voice that said 'Squad Fifty-one, child with breathing problems' and then gave an address. Stephanie stepped back as she watched Roy and Johnny head for the Squad while the Captain hurry over to a radio station and picked up a mike, acknowledged the voice and handed Roy a slip of paper, just as the squad pulled out onto the road with its sirens blaring.

Once the squad had left the building Stephanie looked at the other men.

"Don't you need to go too?" she asked.

"No," Cap answered. "There are times when we roll out with the squad and other times when only the fire engine is called out." Stephanie quietly followed the four men back into the kitchen. She watched to see what they would do or say about her still hanging around. They all seemed to act as if she wasn't there as they went about doing their chores. Finally, with a sigh, she headed for the front entryway. As she stepped into the office she found Captain Stanley sitting at his desk. He looked up and smile at Stephanie. "Do you want us to drop off the ingredients at you apartment or are you going to make them here at the station?"

Stephanie thought a minute.

"I would like to make them here if it is okay?"

"Sure," he replied. "When will be a good time for you to do that?"

"Any time is good with me," Stephanie replied, starting to feel good about her visit again.

"How about Tuesday? That's when our next shift is," Cap suggested.

"That's good," Stephanie confirmed. "I'll be here at nine o'clock that morning." Then she retrieved her bike and rode off to the library before heading home.