"Godzilla and The Smog Monster"
Chapter Thirty
Less than an hour later, the sound of more scuffling shoes could be heard out in the hall.
Kelly pulled his nose out of the mystery novel he'd been perusing to see who was approaching.
Two uniformed, gun-toting cops came down the corridor, stepped right past the guard and clear into the room.
"Officer Dennis Harmon, LAPD," the taller of the two intruders introduced. "This is my partner, Benjamin Rivard."
Chet stood and shook their extended hands. "Chet Kelly, LACFD."
Denny exchanged a quick glance with his comrade. "We, uh, just wanted to return Fireman Gage's wallet," the cop paused to pass Kelly the paramedic's billfold—and badge.
"Yeah. And his paramedic stuff," Ben added and set a clear plastic evidence bag filled with the contents of a paramedic's assessment kit down on the hospital bed.
"We had planned to drop this stuff off when we pulled duty here," Denny announced.
"Yeah. But that isn't too likely to happen," Ben sadly tacked on.
"There's a' list—five pages long—of officers who have already volunteered to pull guard duty on that door," Denny explained and pointed to the ICU room's exit.
Ben exchanged another glance with his buddy. "Look, we gotta get goin'."
"Yeah," Denny agreed. "Tell your friend that we're real sorry for what happened in that alley. I guess we were a little rough on him."
"Yeah. And tell him that we both hope that he gets better real soon."
"I will," a totally bewildered Chet Kelly promised. The vertical fireman took and shook the apologetic police officers' re-proffered appendages…and then the two cops quickly took their leave. Kelly's completely puzzled gaze promptly resettled upon the peacefully sleeping paramedic. "Good grief, Gage!" His buddy had better 'get better real soon', cuz he had a whole lot of explaining to do.
The mystified fireman stuck his friend's 'stuff' on the nearest med' stand and then returned to his reading.
Less than an hour later…
Chet heard more footsteps approaching and glanced up from his book—er, Roy's book just in time to see two more uniformed, gun-toting police officers step past the cop at the door and into ICU's Room 604. The seated fireman's mustache twitched a couple of times and his bushy eyebrows arched clear up into the middle of his forehead.
The younger of the two cops stepped quietly up to his buddy's hospital bed and then stood there, staring silently—and sadly—down at the peacefully sleeping paramedic. "He sure looks a whole lot better, lying here in this bed, than he did back in that alley," Johnny's visitor solemnly determined, keeping his concerned voice hushed.
"Most definitely!" the older officer agreed, as he stepped up beside his colleague.
The younger guy finally glanced up. "Officer Nick Fedrizzi. This is my partner, Officer Alexander Michaelson."
"Mike," his partner corrected and promptly proffered his right appendage.
The interrupted reader set Roy's book aside and stiffly got to his feet. "Fireman Chet Kelly," he re-introduced. He took and shook both officers' hands and then stood there, experiencing a major case of deja` vu.
"Are you his paramedic partner?" Nick pondered.
"I'm a lineman," the mustached fireman informed him. "Johnny and I are shiftmates."
"We just wanted to see how your friend was doing," Fedrizzi explained. "Yah see, we're the guys who found him that night…and brought him in."
Kelly's confusion was suddenly quadrupled. "Thanks."
The younger officer's sorrowful face filled with even greater sadness. "We damn near didn't get him here in time."
"I, uh, also came to apologize," Mike quietly confessed. "We—er, I mistook your fireman friend here for a 'hype', and I'm afraid we—er, I treated him rather…badly." The officer gazed glumly down at the sleeping paramedic. "Looks like I'll have to come back another time…"
"They've got him 'sedated'. So he can't talk, but I'm fairly certain he can still hear you," Kelly assured John Gage's latest gun-toting visitors.
"In that case," Mike bent over the railing on the side of the sedated paramedic's hospital bed and sincerely said, "I'm…sorry I acted like such a jack-ass."
"He wasn't acting," Nick teased, and received an elbow in the ribs from his bent over buddy.
Officer Michaelson fought back a smile and forced himself to continue. "I was…pretty rough on you that night, and you certainly didn't deserve to be treated like…that."
"Nobody deserves to be treated like that," Nick reminded his fellow officer and immediately backed away from the bed, before his partner's elbow could reconnect with his ribcage.
Mike flashed his young friend a sad smile and then focused his full attention back on the bed-ridden fireman. "Nick's right," the 'set in his ways' police officer sadly and solemnly realized. "Nobody deserves to be treated like that…"
Once again, John Gage was able to fight the drug's sedative effects and struggle to the surface. "You…don't…owe me…any…apologies," the fireman assured the repentant cop, speaking in sort a' s l o w motion. "I…owe…you guys…my…life."
The two astounded police officers watched as a hint of a smile appeared upon the sedated paramedic's face.
"Thanks," Gage told his two rescuers. Then his slight smile disappeared and he was perfectly still—er, sedated…once again.
"You're welcome!" Nick warmly replied, with a slight smile of his own making. "We gotta go now. We had to promise the nurse at the desk that we'd only stay a couple a' minutes. But we'll be back."
"Yeah," Mike agreed. "We, uh, sure hope that you will get well—real quick!"
Kelly re-shook the two officers' extended hands and then quickly re-took his seat. 'Sheesh!' he silently re-exclaimed as their latest gun-toting visitors exited the room. The now even more mystified fireman picked the mystery novel back up and promptly resumed his reading.
TBC