Disclaimer: All characters belong to HiT Entertainment.
Chapter 5
"Do you want me to do anything special when we get to Newtown, Sam?" Arnold asked me as he drove Venus down the Newtown Road.
"Just keep the motor running and prepare for a fast get-away," I replied. "With any luck, I won't even have to see Chief Fire Officer Boyce."
"And Murphy's Law says that he'll be standing right out in the yard as soon as we arrive."
I groaned. "Please don't jinx me, Arnold! I'm going to try and avoid Chief Fire Officer Boyce at all costs."
"You can't avoid him forever, Sam."
"I know… But it won't be so bad once I've managed to redeem myself."
A few minutes later, we arrived at the Newtown Fire Station. I was relieved to see that the yard was empty. Leaving Arnold with Venus, I hurried inside the fire station.
"I'm Leading Fireman Jones from the Pontypandy brigade," I told the Station Officer. "I'm here to collect the Mobile Command Unit."
"Very good. I'll just get you to complete these forms, and then you can be on your way."
I took the clipboard he offered to me, and I started to fill out the first form. "Is Chief Fire Officer Boyce around?"
"No, he's in Cardiff today for meetings. He won't be back until tomorrow. Did you want to speak to him?"
"No. On the contrary, I'm trying to avoid him."
"Ah! Get into his 'bad books', did you? Well, we've all been there. Never mind. His bark is worse than his bite."
"Yeah, well… 'Once bitten, twice shy', right? I'm not usually on the sharp end of his tongue. Here are those forms back."
"Great, thank you! And here are the keys. The MCU is in bay six. And, uh… I won't mention to Chief Fire Officer Boyce that you were here, unless he asks."
"Thanks. Much appreciated."
I left the reception area, and I went over to bay six. Sure enough, the Mobile Command Unit was parked in there, all ready to go. After I'd ensured that everything had been locked and secured on the outside, I climbed into the cab and I started it up. Seeing that I had the Mobile Command Unit, Arnold started driving Venus out of the yard. I followed him.
Half an hour later, we arrived back in Pontypandy. While Arnold went to park Venus inside the fire station, I drove the Mobile Command Unit down into the park, and I parked it near where Mike had just finished erecting a large marquee. Station Officer Steele walked over to me.
"Is this all right for you here, sir?" I asked from inside the cab.
"Yes, that'll do," Station Officer Steele agreed. "Thank you, Sam. Did you see Chief Fire Officer Boyce?"
"No. He's in Cardiff for the day." I climbed down from the cab.
"Oh. Well, why don't you head back up to the station now? I'll manage things down here."
"Okay, sir. I've left the keys in the ignition."
Station Officer Steele waved his hand dismissively. "Thanks, Sam. Go and have your lunch. I'll come and join you shortly, after I've made sure the Professor is comfortable. Please see to it that Elvis has a nice hot cup of tea ready for me."
…
Shortly after lunch, Station Officer Steele, Penny, Elvis, Arnold, Ellie and I were just getting settled for what we hoped would be a quiet afternoon, when the alarms went off.
"Norman Price is dangling from the statue in Pontypandy Park!" Station Officer Steele announced over the loudspeakers.
"I'll just take Arnold," I told the others as we stood up. "And we'll take Jupiter."
"Roger that, Sam," Arnold replied.
Within minutes, Arnold and I had arrived at the park. Using the extending ladder, I was easily able to pull Norman to safety.
"What on earth were you doing up there, Norman?" I asked as Arnold brought the ladder back down for us.
"I was looking for Pontypandy Pete's treasure," Norman replied innocently.
I sighed. "Well, make sure you do it safely."
"We will!" Norman promised.
However, less than an hour later, we received another emergency callout. Since Station Officer Steele back down at the park, I took care of responding to the alert.
"Norman Price has fallen headfirst into a foxhole," the Map Screen-700 told me.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he's gone all the way through to Wonderland," I muttered to myself as I hit the alarm. "I think that was a rabbit hole though…" I put on the headset. "Fireman Sam to Station Officer Steele. Come in, please."
"Reading you, Sam."
"We've just had a callout to rescue Norman Price from a foxhole. I think this is a one-person job, sir. Permission to respond alone, sir? I'll call for back-up if I need it."
"Of course, Sam. Just be careful."
"I will, sir."
I removed the headset and I placed it back down on the desk, before I hurried downstairs. The others were already in the garage, waiting for instructions.
"It's a solo callout!" I told them as I hurried over to Venus. "I'll call for back-up if I need it."
"Okay, Sam," Penny agreed.
I climbed into Venus, and I started her up. After I'd activated the siren, I drove away towards the Newtown Road.
Gareth waved me down somewhere between Pontypandy and the old wishing well. He opened a gate for me, so I could park Venus off the road.
"He's just over here, Sam," Gareth said as I got out of Venus.
I jogged over to where Nipper was barking at Norman's flailing legs.
"HELP! I'm stuck!"
"Hold still, Norman," I instructed. Norman stopped kicking, and I grabbed hold of his legs. Surprisingly, it didn't take much effort on my behalf to pull him free. "I wouldn't call this very 'safe', Norman Price," I scolded the boy as I held him upside-down by his legs. Norman waved sheepishly up at me.
"Sorry, Fireman Sam. I tripped over Nipper. Erm… Could you put me down now, please?"
Although I was tempted to drop the silly boy on his head, I set him down gently on his back. "I think you should go home now, Norman," I told him firmly. "I'm tired, and I don't want to have to rescue you again today because of your foolishness."
"Oh. Okay, Fireman Sam," Norman replied sadly. And he started to walk back to town.
I suddenly felt a bit guilty for speaking to him so harshly, so I called him back. "Norman!"
"Yes, Fireman Sam?"
"Come on. I'll give you a lift home in Venus."
"Yay! Thank you, Fireman Sam!"
…
The next morning, Pontypandy Pete Day began. Charlie had decided to offer boat tours in the harbour, while Bronwyn had made some of her new 'Sharky Nibbles'. They were similar to her Fishy Nibbles, but these ones had pepper mixed into the crumb. I know, because she'd tested them out on me the other night when I'd had dinner with the family. They weren't bad, but then again, I quite liked having pepper on my food, and I was used to it, so I didn't mind the heat. Anyway, Mike was organising a short play commemorating Pontypandy Pete, and he was busy making the scenery.
Meanwhile at the fire station, I'd tasked Penny with carrying out the training exercise I'd been trying to get done for several days now. I'd have led the exercise myself, but Station Officer Steele wouldn't let me lead any training drills until Helen was satisfied that my lungs had fully recovered. And so, I found myself helping him organise the safety aspects for Pontypandy Pete Day.
"So, all the preparations for Pontypandy Pete Day seem to be full-steam ahead! Eh, Sam?" Station Officer Steele declared as we left the Control Room and headed downstairs.
"They do indeed, sir," I agreed half-heartedly. I really wanted to be outside with my colleagues, instead of being cooped up inside all day.
"But the one thing that would top it all off is if I could get someone to play the part of Pontypandy Pete," Station Officer Steele continued. "I don't suppose you'd erm… You know?"
Uh oh! "Oohh, you mean, me?" I had to laugh at that. "No, no! Sorry, sir. Acting's not really my cup of tea."
"Maybe we could get one of the team to do it?" Station Officer Steele suggested. I think he must have realised that no amount of begging would be able to persuade me to do any acting this time.
"Maybe, sir. But I think they might be a bit busy with their training drills."
We'd just emerged outside in time to hear Elvis and Arnold bickering loudly.
"No! This is how you do a Pontypandy Pete voice, Arnold… A-hawr! Arr-rarrar!"
"No, Elvis. It's like this. Huh-arr! Hehe! Arr-rrr!"
I was surprised. "Um, would anyone like to try…putting out that fire?" I asked, indicating to the fire that was coming from the first floor of the training tower. Penny had at least started the drill by lighting it.
"Avast behind!" Elvis shouted, completely ignoring me. Just then, Penny and Ellie jogged across the yard.
"Ah! At least we have two firefighters who might be interested in doing the job in hand!" I said to Station Officer Steele. Then I laughed, trying to make light of the situation, despite knowing that the complete lack of disorder would be blamed on me. Station Officer Steele really didn't look impressed.
"Yo-ho-ho! And a har-har! Ar!" Penny growled at the boys, giving her best imitation of a pirate.
"Har! Repel forgers on the starboard side!" Ellie added.
Groaning in disbelief, I rolled my eyes. "Or maybe not."
Elvis laughed at the girls. "You two can't be Pontypandy Pete! You're girls!"
"Ha! I think we'd make great Pontypandy Petes', actually Elvis!" Ellie retorted.
Then the four of them started making loud pirate noises to see who was the loudest. Realising that they'd forgotten all about doing the drill I'd assigned to them, I picked up the nearest fire hose, and I started putting out the training fire myself. After all, the last thing I wanted to see was the training tower going up in flames. I shook my head in disbelief. "This is going to be a long day!"
"Sam, I want a word with you in my office when you're done," Station Officer Steele said loudly enough to silence the rest of the team. With the fire now out, I shut off the hose. Penny quickly stepped forward in front of Station Officer Steele.
"Don't blame Sam, sir. I was the one leading this drill, so the lack of discipline is my fault entirely. I'm sorry I let things get out of control. We should've been concentrating on the drill, and not who was going to play Pontypandy Pete."
Station Officer Steele sternly turned to face all of us. "It seems that Pontypandy Pete Day has gone to everyone's heads! I shouldn't have to remind you that despite the occasion, you're all on duty. As punishment, I want you to run ten laps around the fire station. Off you go, now! Not you, Sam. I don't want you running with your strained lungs. You can put that hose away instead."
"Yes, sir." And I crouched down to disconnect the nozzle. "I'm sorry for the chaos, sir. It won't happen again."
"It better not, Sam, or I could put you on a charge. But Penny is right. It was her responsibility to oversee this drill, not you. When you've put that hose away, I want you to have a rest. And that is an order."
Sighing heavily, I started to roll up the hose.
A few points I'd like to raise:
PLEASE ADOPT - Will you kindly please stop making story requests. This is your first and last warning. If you'd bothered to read my bio. you would see very clearly that as a rule, I do not accept request stories. I only accepted Octo's requests because I'd already started/planned stories along her line of thinking. Needless to say, they are NOT my best work, and I'm not sure I'll ever finish one of them. I write very select genres, and none of your suggestions fit into that criteria. I suggest you go and read some more of my work before you make any more suggestions.
The same applies to DoraemonYummyBun2012. I CANNOT write a rewrite story on one that doesn't exist yet. The whole point in my 'Through Sam's Eyes' series is to rewrite the movies and special episodes entirely from Sam's POV. So, I'm sorry, but I have to reject your idea as well.
I'll say this one last time - PLEASE DO NOT SUGGEST STORIES IDEAS TO ME UNLESS IT FITS MY CRITERIA/GENRE. And IF on the rarest of occasions that I do decide to take up your idea, please DON'T keep saying that 'it's good'. That is NOT feedback. Honestly, the majority of readers on this fandom seem to have no idea how to write a good review, and that is a BIG turnoff. Unless things drastically improve, I am planning to complete all of my unfinished stories on this fandom, and then I'll quit it. It simply it's worth my time and effort writing something that brings in little to no reward. I'd rather write for people who actually appreciate the art of writing complex stories.
And that brings me to my next point. Kianna, you're the idiot for not understanding how rank and authority works! You have just made yourself look utterly incompetent for what you wrote. FYI, a Chief Fire Officer is the HIGHEST rank in the UK Fire Service. As a Leading Firefighter, Sam is the SECOND LOWEST RANK. There are at least TEN ranks between Sam and Boyce! SAM IGNORED BASIC SCUBA DIVING SAFETY PROCEDURES IN THIS EPISODE. Anyone who's done scuba diving knows that the first rule is that you NEVER dive solo, in case you or your partner gets into trouble. Sam thoroughly DESERVED the punishment he got! Yes, he's a hero, but he is also 100% HUMAN, and he does make mistakes from time to time. I would suggest that you watch the episode for yourself before you go making stupid comments like that. I have seen the episode several times - that's how I know what happens.
I am NOT sorry for being so blunt and honest for once. Honestly, I have tried my best to be patient with everyone, but my patience is running very thin right now. If I didn't love writing so much, I would give up on this fandom right now, and leave you all with several incomplete stories. I don't want to have to spell it out to you again, so I'll be very blunt to finish up...
THIS IS THE WORST FANDOM I'VE EVER WRITTEN FOR ON FANFICTION! From now on, I'll have just two rules:
If anyone posts a review asking for updates immediately after I've publish a new chapter, the review WILL BE DELETED AND YOU WILL BE BLOCKED.
If anyone makes an unsolicited story request (ie, via a review), YOUR IDEA WILL BE DELETED. Unsolicited story ideas will only be considered via PM ONLY.
If you can't follow that, you're obviously too young to be on FanFiction.