Chapter Eight
The rest of the evening went by swimmingly. Penny and James were walking down the strip. They would peer into each one of the shops on their walk. Penny leaned against James' shoulder. "I had fun tonight James." He smiled. Penny's fingers interlaced with his. The two of them went home that evening. James was in high spirits. He noticed that the lights in the café were off. He opened the door flicking them back on again. "Hello?" he called. He got no reply. This unsettled him quite a bit. Usually, his mother was the only one up waiting for them. He made his way upstairs to hopefully find somebody home. He heard the TV upstairs making noise. He could make out a pale outline of someone sitting on the couch. The light from the TV illuminated one side of their face. "Winter?" Winter looked at him. "Oh hello. Your mom told me to housesit for her." James turned on the Living Room light. "why? What's going on?" Winter turned the TV off. "she said she's gone off to see your brother." He yawned softly. "I'm going to sleep. Night." James nodded. "night." James went off to his room to sleep.
The next morning came. James' alarm went off at 9:00 like usual. He slid the lock across the screen. He let out a soft groan of annoyance. He was tired from his date last night. James got changed into his work uniform. Bronwyn didn't come home at all that night. This worried James a little bit. He decided to call his mom to see if she was okay.
Bronwyn: hello?
James: hey mom
Bronwyn: good morning James. I stayed with your brother overnight. Sorry if I worried you this morning.
James: it's okay. I know Hoshi has been rather ill lately. Speaking of Hoshi, how is he?
Bronwyn: he's responding to the treatment slowly. The doctors are fearing his condition is worse than they realized. They don't know when he's going to come home.
James: I feel bad for him. He works so hard to provide for us. He's like dad in that respect.
Bronwyn: I know dear. I know. I'll keep you updated with how Hoshi is feeling. How was your date last night with Penny?
James: it went well. We had a fun time
Bronwyn: that's good. I can't wait to hear all about it when I get home. Have a good day at work James.
James: I will. Thanks mum.
James stuck his phone back in his pocket. He headed down to the station. Chief Fire Officer Steele was standing at the garage door with James' Uncle Sam. "I'll make sure I notify the team about the search and rescue drill this afternoon sir." Steele nodded. He saw James walk up to them. "good morning Firefighter James. I trust you slept well?" James cracked a smile at him. "of course, sir." He saluted Chief Fire Officer Steele. "how is your brother?" questioned Steele. "he's responding to the treatment slowly. My mom is with him currently." Steele nodded. "right well I will be seeing you gentlemen this afternoon. I want to be able to evaluate you for myself." James waved at him. "bye sir." Steele nodded as he walked away. Sam sighed. "would you like a cup of tea James?" offered Sam. "Sure." He followed his Uncle upstairs into the lounge. "remind me to give Ben a call later." He told his Uncle who gave a nod of his head. Sam put the kettle on while James went to sit at the table. "will Penny be on duty today?" asked James. "yep. I'll give her a call right now actually. She'll need to be here for the drill." Sam poured James a cup of tea. He handed it to him. James took a small sip of it. "how have you been holding up since your brothers' been in the hospital?" James looked down sadly. "I just feel really bad for him. He always works hard to provide for us. I just wished there was something that I could do for him." Sam smiled. He put a hand on James' shoulder. "I think the greatest joy he has is just being able to take care of you guys. He is a lot like your dad in some ways. He grew close to your father after he was rescued." James nodded. "I remembered how depressed he was when he passed away. He wouldn't move from dad's spot on the bed." Sam sat down next to his nephew. "I'll keep him in my prayers' James. But in turn he needs you to be strong for him now." James looked up at his Uncle. "I'll try to Uncle Sam."
James was downstairs polishing Jupiter. This gave him a chance to be alone in his head for a while. He often wondered what life would have been like if his dad were still there. He put the sponge back into the bucket. He looked at his reflection. He soon snapped out of his daze and got back to work. The afternoon hours came quicker than anyone intended. Fire Chief Officer Steele came back to oversee the drill. "Team One will be James, Elvis, and Arnold. Team Two will be Penny, Ellie, as well as Tom Thomas in Wallaby Two. Your goal is try and find Ben who has hidden himself somewhere on PontyPandy Island. Keep in mind that Fire Chief Officer Steel and I will be evaluating you. I want to hear effective communication being used. I also want you guys focused." Said Sam sternly. "stay safe and once you find him, return to the station for a debrief." James followed in behind his teammates as they went down the poles. Elvis ran over to Jupiter getting into it. James climbed in followed by Arnold. James flicked on the siren. Elvis pulled away from the station. Penny and Ellie followed in Venus. The girls took a different path that lead up to the Mountain Rescue Center. Tom ran out to Wallaby Two. He waited for the girls to hop in. He began starting the engines up. Penny climbed into Wallaby Two first. She helped Ellie before closing the cargo hold doors. Penny buckled herself in. "Team Two is ready to go, Sam." Came Penny's voice over the radio. Sam looked up at the screen. "Team One are you guys in position?" he questioned. Elvis finally arrived at the ORC. They all got into Neptune. Elvis launched Neptune into the waters below. "Team One is ready Sam." Sam let out a sigh of relief. "good. Ben, are you in position?" Ben got on the radio. "I'm ready, Sam." Sam put the timer up on the screen. "commencing drill…now."
Elvis turned on Neptune's sonar. "let's try checking the rocks around PontyPandy Island." Murmured Arnold. Elvis gunned the engine. James grabbed the pair of Infrared Binoculars that were sitting next to Elvis' leg. He used them to try and see Ben. Elvis used the sonar to navigate Neptune around the rocks. James zoomed in on the rocks. "nothing over here." Tom checked another part of the Island. "nothing is coming up on the radar." Elvis let out a sigh of frustration. "Do you want me and Arnold to check the island on foot, Elvis?" questioned James. "if you could. I'll keep searching around the shore for him. Be careful you two." James nodded. Elvis pulled into the lagoon. The both of them got out of Neptune. James grabbed his flashlight off his belt. He flicked it on. Arnold did the same. They decided to check the woods around the island before heading up into the mountain. "Ben?!" Called James. Arnold put his hand on James' shoulder. "it wouldn't do us any good to call for him. Ben may not be able to communicate out to us." James nodded. He shined his light into the trees. "how about this: you take the path that branches off to the right and I take the path that branches off to the left? We can cover more ground that way." James looked up at him. "are you sure Arnold?" Arnold smiled. "positive. I'll give you a call if something goes wrong." James dipped his head. "alright." James split off from Arnold. He darted off down the path. He kept checking the corners around him for any sign of Ben.
Tom checked his radar again. He got a dark red spot on his radar. "I've spotted him, Sam. He's up on one of the ledges on the mountain." James paused right where he was. "good job, Team Two. You know what to do next." Penny opened the cargo hold doors. She attached the double harness to the crane hook. Tom moved closer to the ledge. Ellie carefully attached the hook to her harness. She sat close to the edge of the helicopter. Penny gave her a thumbs' up and lowered her down close to where Ben was. Ben slid into the second harness. He waved at Tom to tell him to take him up. Penny winched them both back up. "good job you two." said Ben as he sat down next to Ellie. James and Arnold returned to Elvis.