The Boot
Chapter Thirty Two
By GCS
DISCLAIMER: "Emergency!" and its characters © Mark VII Productions, Inc. and Universal Studios. All rights reserved. No infringement of any copyrights or trademarks is intended or should be inferred. This is a work of fiction. This story is only written for entertainment. No financial gain is being realized from it. The story, itself, is the property of the author.
The vehicles lined up in front of Station 10 to back into the bay. Johnny and Bill jumped down from their jump seats to direct traffic while the rigs moved into position. Johnny still found himself mesmerized by the magnificence of the bright red parade as each vehicle swung out and reversed into the building. Pride welled up inside and he stood a little taller knowing the passengers in the cars he'd stopped could see that he belonged to this band of brave men.
'I don't know what Drew thought was so tough about stopping a few cars. This is a cinch.' He smiled to himself as he thought about his new friend's comments earlier. Then he followed the Squad as it trailed the other vehicles into the bay. The cars barely waited long enough for his feet to cross the curb before starting back down the road. 'Well maybe those drivers do get in a bit of a hurry.' He turned and looked back at traffic as cars rushed back to their busy lives. He shucked out of his turnout coat and tossed it into his seat when he walked by the engine; then he yawned and realized that even though it was just past noon he was already tired. His stomach growled reminding him of the lunch hour as he wandered toward the kitchen.
"Okay men," Captain Jones called to his crew. "It's past lunch, and since we didn't get assignments done this morning before the call out, we need to do that now." Captain Jones proceeded to dole out the chore assignments ending with cooking duties.
Johnny found himself on the team assigned to hang hose. The lunch crew said it would take at least thirty minutes to pull together the supplies for sandwiches, so he decided to start pulling the hoses they had used at the morning fire to be cleaned and hung with the ones already waiting. When he rounded the back of the engine he found that the others on his assignment had the same idea. Together the men made quick work of gathering all the hose and hauling them out back to the tower.
His throat still felt scratchy and he still had the occasional coughing spell, which led Cody to suggest that Johnny take a breather. They had reached the hottest part of the day and Johnny looked a little pale to his friend. "Hey Johnny, you sound a little rough there. Maybe you should take a break."
Squinting down at Cody from the top of the hose tower Johnny stifled a cough and waved him off. "Nah, I'm good. Just caught a little smoke back there; besides lunch will be ready in a few minutes. I want to finish this before they call us in."
True to things at a fire station, as soon as they finished hanging the hose and were called to lunch the tones rang out calling the station to an MVA. As he climbed into his jump seat Johnny's stomach growled loudly. "Wow Gage" Bill teased. "You better feed that thing first chance ya get." The men all shared a laugh as they pulled out of the station.
The Rescue Squad arrived first on the scene. Tony and Joe made quick work of checking the less damaged vehicles for survivors and moved on to the most damaged car. Tony raised the HT to his mouth to report back to Captain Jones. After reporting what appeared to be minor injuries in the other cars, requesting at least three ambulances unless someone refused transport and the jaws to extract the people in the car he and Joe were working on now, Tony also requested Johnny's assistance.
"Gage…" Captain Jones called.
Johnny shut off the nozzle to the hose he'd been using to wash down gasoline. "Yes sir?"
"Assist with extraction." Cap pointed to the car Tony and Joe were busy trying to gain access to. The roof appeared crushed as if it had rolled.
"Yes sir." Johnny passed his hose to another lineman and jogged over to the car. He got there at the same time as Jeff Swanson with the Jaws. "What've ya got?"
"Two women…they're pinned in pretty good; they're alive, but who knows if they will make it to Rampart. We need to get this roof off 'em." Tony explained.
Johnny reached for the jaws without hesitation. Together he and Jeff made quick work of removing the mangled roof and then assisted with lifting the women out of the wreckage and onto the waiting stretchers. "Can't we do anything for them?" Johnny asked. "My grandfather taught me how to make a splint."
"We're not authorized to do anything." Tony looked at Johnny with sad eyes. "Even if we know some simple things that would help them, we're not allowed." He reached out and gripped Johnny's shoulder. "But the quicker we get them out and to the hospital the more chance they have to survive. That's the best we have to offer them."
"There has to be something more." Johnny watched as the ambulance attendants wheeled the stretchers to the ambulances. "Some way…I mean we're right here." His shoulders sagged.
"We are here, and we've got them out. We are getting them the help they need. That's what we do in Rescue Johnny. We get the victims to safety. Then we turn them over to the hospital. That's the way this works. It's better than it used to be before the department had Rescue Squads. At least now we can concentrate on the rescue while you guys fight the fires." Tony did his best to help Johnny understand the importance of the Rescue Squad.
"Yeah…I guess." Johnny ran his hand through his hair, turned and walked back to the engine to see what else Cap needed him to do.
Jeff picked up the Jaws. "He's good at this. You should encourage him to take Joe's place."
"I don't know Jeff. He wants to do more. I don't know if I could stop him from doing things we aren't allowed to do." Tony scratched the back of his neck.
"One thing I can tell you about Johnny is that he will follow orders." The two men exchanged looks and started laughing. They both remembered Johnny going into that burning house to find the missing boy after Cap had ordered everyone out. "Well for the most part. He really wants to help people though." Jeff shrugged the heavy Jaws to a better position and carried it back to put it away. Tony headed to the Squad. He had to meet Joe at Rampart.
By the time Johnny reached his Captain they had already rolled the hose and were waiting on the tow trucks. "Need me to do anything else Cap?" Johnny asked despondently.
"We're just waiting on the tow trucks. Why don't you take a break? You look beat." Captain Jones couldn't help but notice the weary expression on Johnny's face and the drained tone in his voice. "How were those women?" He asked thinking by the way he was acting maybe they hadn't made it out of the car alive.
"They're hurt real bad. We did all we could to get them out quickly." Johnny ran his hand through his hair. "I wish…" He looked at Cap with sad eyes, but didn't finish his statement.
"You did a good job John."
"Yeah…thanks Cap."
"Hey Boot, you look like you could use some water." Scotty slung his arm over Johnny's shoulder and led him over to sit in the shade of the engine. Captain Jones returned his attention to the arriving tow trucks. They would stick around until the last car was loaded and all the glass and debris removed from the scene in case they needed to wash it down again. Then they would head back to the lunch they had left waiting on the table back at the station.
The rest of their day progressed in much the same busy way.
Finally, just after midnight the exhausted men fell into their bunks hoping they wouldn't get called out again, and that their shift would end quietly.
Around five AM Johnny woke up with a headache. That happened to him often after even mild smoke inhalation. Not wanting to wake anyone up before morning tones, he tried to lie quietly in his bunk, but the pounding in his head made the decision for him. He eased from beneath the covers and into his turnouts. Deciding that bare feet would be quieter than the heavy boots he picked them up and carried them as he padded toward the stairs and down to the bay below. When he reached the bay he could hear voices in the kitchen: Captain Jones and Scotty. Not wanting to intrude on their conversation he tiptoed across the bay to the locker room to find the aspirin he had in his locker.
Johnny cupped his hand under one of the faucets in the locker room sinks, raised it to his mouth and drank back the two aspirin, and then he sat down on the bench with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. He pinched the bridge of his nose, a habit he'd picked up long ago when he was younger and trying to overcome the sedatives the doctors kept giving him after his father died. Somehow that seemed to lessen the ache, or if he pinched it hard enough he thought of that pain instead of the pounding in his head. It made for a good distraction.
"Got another headache Boot?"
Johnny jumped when Scotty's voice startled him. "Yeah, I took some aspirin."
"I just made a fresh pot of coffee. Come on in the kitchen. It might help." Scotty reached out and tugged Johnny by the arm to help him up from the bench. Johnny allowed his friend to pull him to his feet and then followed him slowly across the bay with his boots in his hand. "Have a seat. I'll pour."
"Are you all right John?" Cap looked at him with concern etched on his face.
"Just a headache Cap." Johnny softly answered and resumed pinching the bridge of his nose.
Scotty slid the steaming cup of coffee in front of Johnny and took the next seat at the table with his own cup. "Drink it while it's hot."
Johnny lowered his hand to the table and wrapped it around the cup pulling it closer. "Thanks."
"I have some aspirin in my office if you need it." Cap offered as he slid his chair back from the table and started to rise.
"I took some. Thanks." Johnny sat very still and now had both hands wrapped around the warm mug. His head hung down with his chin resting on his chest, and his eyes were closed.
Scotty nudged his arm. "Try the coffee."
Johnny looked to his friend and gave him a small smile. "Okay Scotty." He picked up the cup and took a sip to check its heat. Finding the coffee to be warm but not too hot he took a bigger drink. "Mmmm that's good." He took another drink before putting the cup back down. "You guys are up early."
"Couldn't sleep." Was the only explanation Scotty gave.
Cap didn't respond. He sat the coffee pot back down after refilling his mug and headed toward the door. "I'll be in my office."
"Johnny, can I talk to you about something for a minute?"
Johnny looked up into Scotty's eyes to see if he was upset, but he only saw sincerity. "Sure, what's up?"
"Well Cap and I were just talking about Joe. He's put in his notice. They finally sold their house, and with his wife due to deliver any time, they're planning on moving by the first of the year. Cap checked and there doesn't seem to be anyone ready to join the ranks of Rescue right now. There are a few in training, but none the Cap really wants to add to his crew." Scotty slid his chair back and refilled his and Johnny's cups.
"What does that have to do with me?" Johnny asked. He actually thought he knew what Scotty was going to say.
"You've been doing a lot of assisting to Tony and Joe. Cap thinks you would make a great partner for Tony. He wanted me to see if you might be interested in training for Rescue. He said with your on the job experience and performance in rappelling and such at the academy he could probably get you certified pretty quickly without you actually having to complete the whole training regimen."
"I don't know Scotty. I became a fireman to fight fires. I like it. I like riding the engine."
"And you're really good at it Johnny. You've only been here for a short time, and there isn't a man on this shift that doesn't trust your instinct when it comes to reading a fire. You're a natural, but we've seen you running back into a building and out again carrying a boy that no one else could find. That kid would've burned alive if not for you. We've seen you shimmy into spaces no one else could even think about getting in, and watched you hang off a bridge holding on to that truck driver. You have the hunger inside to help people. You would be good at Rescue." Scotty gripped Johnny's shoulder. "Just think about it."
Johnny stared at Scotty while he spoke. First he was stunned when Scotty called him Johnny instead of Boot. That in itself spoke volumes to the seriousness of the conversation, and then the compliments that Scotty poured out to him. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You really think I'm that good?"
"Yes I do, and so does Cap." Scotty smiled. "Listen Boot, if you want to we can go over to the training center today after shift and check things out."
"Um…I…I can't. I promised a friend to go bowling and dinner at his place. I don't know what to think. I haven't even finished my probation, and I'm already being asked to move on in the department." Johnny rubbed his temples. "I just don't know."
"You don't have to decide right now. Like I said, just think about it." Scotty patted him on the back just as the morning tones sounded. "Better get the last of that coffee before someone else does."
Johnny slid his chair back and emptied the pot into his cup. He grabbed his boots and slipped out of the kitchen before any of the other men knew he was there. He went out in the back lot and up the hose tower with his coffee to think. He left his boots on the ground by the ladder.