The remaining two days off went by in a blur. Before Roy knew it, he was back at the station getting changed for his shift. He had just finished tightening his belt when Johnny followed closely by Chet raced in. The shift hadn't even started yet, but they were already trading barbs with each other as they quickly got changed. Before either of them could try to pull him into their "discussion", Roy said a cheerful hello and left in search of the coffee he could smell.
"Hey, Roy how were your days off? Did you have to cancel your plans?" Marco inquired.
"Real good Marco. Joanne's wrist is much better and Johnny joined us for the trip to that new amusement park so we didn't have to cancel. "
"Did I hear you correctly Roy? You took Gage with you to an amusement park? Weren't two kids enough for you?" Captain Stanley asked while Mike looked on.
"Joanne and I didn't want to disappoint the kids. Since we weren't comfortable with them going on the rides alone, we asked Johnny to join us." Once again Roy was struck by how something that sounded so reasonable managed to turn into an episode of The Three Stooges. Shaking his head, he just sipped his coffee. The trip was over. He had survived. His family was happy. Johnny was happy. It was in the past. Time to move forward.
The other men in the room shared a look. They knew there was more to that story. If they were lucky, they might even find out. Johnny and Chet chose that moment to join them. Or they tried to anyway, since both of them had attempted to get through the door at the same time.
"Gentlemen!" Hank bellowed. "One at a time! Roll call in five." With much muttering between the two, Gage and Kelly finally managed to get through the door.
"Twits", Captain Stanley thought as he rolled his eyes and headed to his office. It was going to be one of those shifts.
Johnny had barely sat down when he jumped back up. "I'll be right back Roy. I forgot Dixie's present in the rover. And I got something for you too."
Roy just shook his head and wondered where Johnny got his energy.
Johnny ran back in the door with a small wrapped gift and a larger package. He quickly grabbed the coffee out of Roy's hand, replacing it with the bigger item. Before Roy could protest, Johnny had finished his coffee off and headed out to the squad. Snickers could be heard around the table.
"Well, I guess we better get out there too" Mike said.
The rest of the guys agreed as they finished their coffee and pushed back their chairs. Roy left the package on table figuring he would look at it after roll call. He completely missed Chet, aka the Phantom, staring at the package as if it contained all the secrets of the universe. Or maybe he was just salivating over the possibilities it could contain. Before the crew could make it out to the apparatus bay, the tones went off.
"Squad 51, woman down, 21205 Water Street, cross street E 213th. 2-1-2-0-5 Water St. Time- out 0804."
Captain Stanley tore off the call slip and handed it Roy. As the squad pulled out, sirens wailing, the rest of his crew lined up for roll call. Once the day's assignments were handed out, the crew moved off in various directions to begin their chores. Chet watched them go, the whole time edging closer to the break room. As soon as they were out of sight, Kelly ran to the table and snagged the envelope. Quicker than a kid at Christmas, he had the contents dumped on the table. With a look of disbelief, Kelly pulled out a chair and sat staring. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Slowly a big grin spread across his face followed quickly by laughter. "Guys! Guys! You got to come see this!"
"Kelly! Was that package meant for you?" Cap asked when he arrived.
"Uh Cap, Johnny gave it Roy…"
"And you felt the need to open it for him?"
"Cap– you really have to see this…" Kelly began as the rest of the guys arrived.
Marco and Mike each grabbed an item off the table and stared. After sharing a quick look to reassure themselves they were really seeing what they thought, they quickly dissolved into laughter.
"Don't you twits have any respect for Roy's privacy?Gimme that." Cap said as he snatched the photo out of Chet's hand and began to stuff it back into the envelope. He stopped abruptly when he saw what had everyone laughing so hard.
"Is that ROY?!" He tried to keep his own laughter in check but was failing miserably.
"You see Cap. These are pure GOLD! Just look at 'em!" Chet couldn't believe the ammunition the Phantom had spread out in front of him. He rubbed his hands together in glee, thinking quickly of all the potential uses.
"You mean there's more?" Cap asked between bouts of laughter. For the next several minutes the crew passed the photos back and forth. By this time, they were all red faced and wiping away tears of laughter.
Suddenly Chet jumped up exclaiming "Cap! I've gotta make some copies of these before DeSoto and Gage get back. Is it OK if I use your copier?" Mike and Marco quickly added their pleas for copies. Cap got himself under control and trying to sound stern replied "These were supposed to be private, not passed around and copied." Once again laughter threatened, and he took a deep breath and continued. "Chet, make me a copy too. The wife isn't going to believe this without proof."