CHAPTER THREE!

Torrance, California

BY the time Roy had finished showering at the station and was through wrestling his way around Thursday rush-hour traffic, it was already seven o'clock. The sun was nearly set on the sycamore-lined residential street as he drove up. Warm lights shone from the windows of all the nearly identical ranch-styled homes. Roy pulled into the driveway of his own ranch house—the single-story blue with the white accents. It had the same exact floor plan as the Jenkins' across the street, but at least it wasn't the same colour (and had a neater garden).

As he got out of his car and limped up the gravel walkway to the front door, someone across the street called to him. "Good evening, Mr. DeSoto!"

It was the ever-cheerful, geeky neighbour kid, Ronnie Jenkins, who was good friends with Roy's son despite being two years older. He was turning on the front yard sprinklers to water his mother's weedy over-growth of hollyhock flowers.

"Hey, Ronnie," Roy replied, trying not to sound too disheartened. The last thing he wanted right now was to have a meaningful discussion with the neighbour kid—and Ronnie tended to like discussing things a little too much.

"What's it been like at the fire station?" Ronnie asked, hollering over the sprinklers he'd just turned on. "You had any extreme rescues lately? Have you—?"

"It's been all right!" Roy hollered back. He'd have to leave it at that for fear of sparking more conversation. "Have a good night, Ronnie."

"Um...you too Mr. DeSoto. Tell Chris I said hi..."

"I sure will."

And with that, Roy watched the neighbour kid skulk back into his house. Then he turned to open his own front door. Finally home, he thought with a sigh.

Once he was inside, Joanne was there quickly to greet him. At first she looked worried, glancing down at his ankle then back to his face. Then she smiled in relief and hugged him tightly.

"You're okay?" she whispered into his shoulder as she hugged him.

"Fine, fine," he answered softly. "Dr. Early said it was only a pulled muscle and that I should just take some aspirin and stay off of it for the weekend."

"Daddy!"

They both turned at the sound of their daughter's voice coming from the adjacent living room. Jennifer poked her head over the couch to look at them, her strawberry blonde pigtails bouncing. "You're home!" she went on happily.

"Hey, Dad!" Chris added, too busy watching Wheel of Fortune on the TV to do anything but half turn around.

"Hey, kids," Roy said to both of them with a smile.

"Well," Joanne said to him, "if Dr. Early told you to sit down, why don't you go sit down. I'll bring you your dinner. We already ate, but I saved enough for you in the oven." Her eyes looked a little bit sad at the mention of him missing dinner, but she still smiled.

"Thanks, Jo," Roy said as he limped over to the couch feeling more than a little guilty over the whole thing.

"Mom said you hurt your ankle," Chris commented as his father sat between him and Jennifer on the couch, still unable to peel his freckled face away from the television. "That's really a drag."

"Tell me about it." Roy lifted his injured ankle up on the ottoman. "But the doctor says it'll be okay in a few days."

"That's cool."

"So...how was school today?"

Chris shrugged. "It was okay...Sorry, Dad, can I watch this?"

Roy sighed. Eight-year-olds.

"What do you think it is, Daddy?" Jennifer suddenly asked, referring to the phrase the contestants on Wheel of Fortune were trying to solve. She happily leaned up against his side, considering the TV.

"Shhh!" Chris admonished her. "I'm trying to listen!"

Jennifer instantly stuck her tongue out at him, but all Roy had to do was look at her to make her stop. She flung herself back into the couch pillow with her arms folded tightly across her chest with a pout. Five-year-olds...

That was when Joanne arrived with Roy's dinner. "What is going on here?" she asked, noticing Jennifer's pout. "Are you kids being mean to each other?"

"Chris was being mean to me!" Jennifer spoke up first.

"She won't be quiet and I'm trying to listen!" Chris gave her a dirty look.

"Stop it, kids" Joanne ordered, handing Roy his tray of food, "both of you. You're being very rude. Your father hurt himself at work today and he's not feeling well, and I can guarantee this nonsense isn't going to make him feel any better. Now, stop it or I'll send the two of you to bed right now."

The kids were quiet almost immediately at the mention of that. Joanne took a seat on the other side of Jennifer, knowing that her orders had been heeded.

"Thanks for dinner, honey," Roy said, picking up his fork to dig into the green bean casserole. He was very hungry, but also inwardly grateful that he didn't have to eat Chet's chili earlier. Starving to avoid that was definitely worth it.

Joanne nodded, smiling. "You're welcome," she said. "I'll bring you your aspirin after you eat. Wouldn't be good to take it on an empty stomach."

Roy nodded back to her, his mouth full, but she understood that he was saying thanks again.

She smiled bigger and then looked over the puzzle on Wheel of Fortune. "Hm...I'm going to guess it's 'don't let the cat out of the bag'." There were only a handful of letters up on the board already, but it fit.

"Mooooom..." Chris blurted in irritation. "I was just about to guess that!"

Then one of the contestants guessed the same thing and they all laughed.

After the kids had been sent to bed, Roy and Joanne sat back at the couch to watch the evening news broadcast. Embedded after the usual braking news stories—shooting in El Segundo, terrible accident on the 405, Boston Red Sox defeat the Cincinnati Reds in World Series game—was a little mention about that afternoon's apartment fire.

"An apartment fire in Carson was quickly apprehended by the County Fire Department this afternoon," the reporter was saying. "Thankfully, no lives were lost and only one individual suffered major injuries."

"Two!" Joanne said to the TV. "My husband! The media never get's their facts straight."

"Major injuries," Roy muttered. "I pulled a lousy muscle in my ankle. It's not really breaking news."

Joanne turned to him as some local commercial came on—a loud-mouthed salesman shouting at you to buy his cars. "How exactly did you pull that muscle, anyways?" Joanne asked.

Roy dreaded these kinds of questions. He always told Joanne the truth when she asked about his work, but he hated seeing how disturbed she got when he told her about life-threatening scenarios. She never really said how much it disturbed her, but he could see it in her eyes.

"Well." He cleared his throat. "Johnny, Chet, and I went up to the fourth floor of the building to get someone out. The fire spread fast and the floor almost caved in beneath us. I jumped back and landed on the other guys, and it was a big mess."

Joanne sharply sucked in her breath at the mention of the floor caving in, and then covered her mouth.

"But everything was fine," Roy assured her. "Aside from my stupid ankle."

"Fine for this time at least." She grimaced and was silent for a few prolonged moments. "I'm sorry..."

"Joanne?"

She took Roy's hand and looked at him squarely. "It's just—when Dixie called and said you were at the hospital, my heart just about sunk to the floor. I know it was just your ankle, but what about next time?" She sighed and swallowed thickly. "I just worry about you sometimes...that's all..."

"I know." He squeezed her hand. "I'm sorry, Jo...I—"

Gently she put the tips of her fingers to his mouth to stop him from talking. "Don't be sorry," she insisted. "I try not to express my worries that often, because I know you love your job very much. Just—please...always be careful, promise me?"

Roy smiled and hugged Joanne to him. "Always..."