It was a great day for a barbecue. It was 100 degrees, but it was a dry heat. The whole extended family was going to be in attendance including Battalion Chief Stanley, Captain John Gage, Engineers Chet Kelly and Mike Stoker, and firefighter Marco Lopez and other firefighters from Station 51 who weren't on shift. The clan from Rampart General was also in attendance.
Dixie, Jen, and Joanne were busy in the kitchen preparing the salad, cut fruit, and desserts while Roy was out grilling and talking to Brackett, Early, Hank, and Morton who all deemed themselves too old to play pick up football with the other guys. The ladies brought out the food and placed in on the large picnic table while Roy took off the hamburgers and hotdogs. "Hey guys. Foods ready!" Roy called out.
Chris and John quit football so that they could pig out on the heavenly taste of chargrilled burgers and Joanne's famous potato salad. The group sat at the table and ate while most of the firefighters were still playing football.
"So, Cap...er Chief, When's the next class starting up?" Roy asked. After ten years you would have thought that Roy would be able to remember that Hank Stanley was Station 51's Battalion Chief 7, not Roy's captain anymore.
"Next week. It should be exciting, although I must admit, I'm a little nervous about the girls in the academy. I can't treat them differently but I don't want to see them hurt. But I guess it was going to happen eventually that women would join the ranks. But I hear Cindy's doing well. She became a paramedic." Hank Stanley said. Cindy was the first female firefighter and a six year veteran of the department. Jen couldn't take her eyes off of her Uncle Hank.
"I still can't believe McConnike recommended you as head cadre for the class. Especially after you torched his hat!" John, Roy, and Hank started to laugh about that. He remembered the constant fear that McConnike was able to put in Hank, especially when Hank was going ot first take the chief's exam.
Jen started coughing on her hamburger as it went down the wrong way. She coughed a few times and then settled down. She took a big gulp of her Pepsi. Everyone, but her brother, thought she had laughed and choked. But it was the fact that her Uncle Hank was going to be a part of the cadre. Out of the hundreds of LA county firefighters, Hank Stanley had to be the one to head up the academy!
"You okay honey." Roy asked Jen could couldn't talk with the lump in her throat, so she only nodded. Chris stared at her while the others continued to talk about the academy and their personal lives. Jen didn't hear any of it. She was too focused on the fact that keeping this secret from her father just became more difficult.
Jen couldn't finish her food. She played with her mom's potato salad, trying to make it look as though she ate some, but she had lost her appetite. No one noticed because everyone was too busy talking. But Chris noticed and he couldn't wait until night when he could talk to his sister.
After Chris was finished eating he decided to play some more football. "Come on, sis. Let's see what you're made of!" Jen slowly got up and walked with Chris over to the guys. "Are you goin gto tell dad now? He's going to find out!" Chris said low and out of earshot of everyone but his sister.
"I can't tell him now. Hey, dad, day after tomorrow I'm going to the academy not summer classes like I said." I'm just going to hope that Uncle Hank doesn't say something.
"I told you to tell him the truth before! And now you want Uncle Hank to cover for you. Think of the spot your putting him in! What if you get hurt? How are you going to explain that to dad. I got smoke inhalation or heat exhaustion from my English class!"
Jen couldn't say anything because she realized her brother was right and she hated to admit that. She couldn't turn back now though and she'd be damned if she told her father about the fire academy until after she graduated. She knew that she could be talked out of it because she honestly did not want to hurt her father. She walked behind Chris when they met up with the rest of the guys playing football.
The guys were arguing over who got Chris and who got Jen. They all wanted Chris, but it was Chet, Marco, and Mike who rallied for Jen. The guys didn't really know how to respond to this intruder, but her uncles would get her involved. She covered Chris, who ended up scoring a touch down and her team started to groan. She heard a comment by a younger guy about a "girl can't play football." And she realized are they going to be saying the same thing if she became a firefighter. She decided she had to step up and put on her A game.
Chet instructed her to run down field for a pass. She made the catch and juked around her brother. He turned and tried to catch up to her. He was faster until he was stopped with a stiff arm by his sister. She ran it for a touchdown. He came over and gave her a pat on the shoulder. She looked up at him. "I can do this," she said defiantly. Chris wasn't sure if she was talking about playing football or dealing with the guys' idea of a woman doing a man's job. She walked back to her teammates. The only ones who congratulated her was her Marco, Chet, and Mike. The others ignored her accomplishment.
A quick little thumbs up or down would be appreciated ;) I'm going to try to post as much as I can but between college papers and finals coming up, work, and playing football, I can only do so much! Hopefully more will be posted with away trips. Writing is a good way to spend 8 hours round trip on a bus!