At the end of the morning briefing, Boden said "And Truck you're being reinforced. Lombardi is coming back for the next three shifts. Then he retires and it's back to you four."
Lieutenant Kidd asked, "Who is Lombardi?"
Mouch said "He transferred here from Engine 40. Then he got an off-duty injury and they found him a spot at Headquarters."
Herman smiled. "Guy was here for a cup of coffee. Gone almost as soon as he arrived."
()()()
In the dayroom, Ritter, Violet and Gallo took their phones out and began searching. In no time they found Lombardi's social media accounts. (He hadn't hidden them very well.)
Gallo double-clicked on a photo and held his phone up, saying "There's my new teammate with one of his grandkids."
Mouch turned to Herman "Lombardi called me three weeks ago. Ten years since I'd run into him and suddenly he calls."
Herman asked, "What did he talk about."
Mouch said "The usual pleasantries. Then he asked if our shift had a regular cook."
Herman smiled "He should of gone where there was a regular cook. Regular cooks are good cooks and we haven't had that since Peter Mills left."
()()()
Next shift Lombardi showed up early, put his gear on the truck, took an empty locker and put his bedding on an unclaimed (for their shift) bed.
He was white, average height, wiry and going bald. Sure enough, agewise, he looked like a grandfather.
A long round of round of introductions soon commenced. Carver asked if he had a first name. "Herman" Lombardi replied.
Carver replied, "Engine already has a Herman."
"I'll just be Lombardi. It's on my turnout gear anyway."
Gallo asked "I suppose the city has changed since you started."
Lombardi glanced at him and two young friends (Violet and Ritter) and figured this talk was going to get to ribbing him about his age. So he started joking. "Yeah, back in the day we had a lot of fires in dinosaur livery stables. You had to be real careful of them big-legged Stegosauruses charging out of the burning barn. Few of them around today, with the current animal regulations."
They stared at him, then politely laughed. Then it was time for briefing.
()()()
After the briefing, Kidd had her crew drill. Starting in their station clothes they all got into their turnout gear. Lombardi was last by a couple of seconds. Then she had each of them get equipment off the truck. She had Lombardi get the oxygen supplies. Next time it was his turn she had him get the five-gallon extinguisher. When he looked in the wrong place she had Gallo show him.
Then Kidd gave a lecture. "We work in pairs for safety. We all know 'Two In- Two Out.' But riding with five might give us one pair and one triple. Know who ALL you're going in with and NEVER leave a teammate behind."
She waited for them all to acknowledge this.
She dismissed them so they could work on their station cleaning but kept Lombardi behind.
"Do you have any sick days left?" She asked. "You could get stomach flu for a week."
"I feel fine Lieutenant." He replied.
"Are you in shape for the work?"
"I do my Pilates. And Yoga."
"When was your last run with this department?"
"December 2008. Then I busted my knee skiing. But I'm better now."
"Are you active with a volunteer fire department where you live?"
"Wife and I live in city limits. Condo on Lakeshore Drive."
"So you haven't ridden a rig since before Obama was president?"
"Right."
"If you were a candidate I'd train you thoroughly. But since you're almost out the door I'll keep it simple. If we have a medical and get there before the ambulance, bring the oxygen. If we have a fire bring the extinguisher. Otherwise, I'll tell you what to do."
(That had been her backup plan all along and the reason she'd sent him for these items during the drill.)
He nodded. Then he went to clean the kitchen floor and kitchen surfaces, the chore he'd drawn.
()()()
Lombardi said, "You seem to be thinking hard."
Gallo replied, "Yeah, I'm deciding what to make for dinner."
"Well, I haven't cooked here in like 14 years. I figure it's my turn. So you just throw something together for lunch and I'll do dinner."
Soon the truck took a trip to the grocery store. Gallo and Lombardi went in to buy food supplies. Lombardi asked "So how many mouths to feed? Engine, Squad, Truck, Ambulance and Chief?"
Gallo said "Four, four, four, two, one. Total 15."
"You forgot me didn't you?"
"Sorry. 16."
()()()
Later they were all dispatched on a run, except for Boden. "Possible haz mat" [Hazardus materials] "incident. Adult son of homeowners was Skyping with his parents. He thought they were just drunk then he saw them deteriorate on screen."
After a three minute drive they arrived at a small two-story house. Kidd had Carver and Mouch cut the utilites. Squad masked up, took their detectors, broke the front door and made entry.
Soon Cruz came out with an unconscious thin man. He pulled off his air mask. "It's a carbon monoxide leak. Two vics, checking for more."
Kelly carried out a thin woman.
Brett and Violet put them on oxygen. Soon Brett asked the radio. "Ambulance 61 to dispatch. What's the ETA on the second ambulance."
The radio replied "Ambulance 43 was in a property damage accident en route. Ambulance 27 has been dispatched. ETA six minutes."
Brett looked at the house. Kelly came out and said "No more vics." Squad began to open windows to ventilate the house.
Brett radioed "Ambulance 61 to dispatch. Cancel Ambulance 27. We'll take both to Lakeshore." [Hospital]
The man was slid in on the stretcher. Violet got in. Some firefighters grabbed the woman and slid her in where Violet pointed.
Brett went to the driver's seat. Violet said "Old Guy" then corrected herself "New Guy" then settled for "You." She pointed at Lombardi and said "Hop in and oxygenate whichever one I'm not working on."
()()()
Ambulance eventually made it back to the firehouse. Mouch remarked on Lombardi's mood. "You seem cheerful."
Lombardi replied "Both got better in the ambulance. My first saves in years."
Mouch asked "Yeah, about that. Somehow I had the impression you were returning to the field a LOT sooner."
"Well, I was going to after I made Lieutenant."
"After you made Lieutenant?"
"Turned out, I'm a lousy test taker."
"So you just stayed."
"It's really fouled up at HQ. They needed me."
"But you're back now?"
"Well, I trained in my replacement too fast. I'll NEVER make that mistake again. So I came back to you guys."
()()()
When the time came, Lombardi chased everyone out of the kitchen and slaved away. He made Beef Stroganoff over noodles, with green beans and garlic mashed potatoes.
The flavors of beef, mushroom and onion were quite savory mixed with the right amount of sour cream. The mashed potatoes were fluffy and creamy with a garlic taste. They ribbed him anyway but he watched them eat and smiled knowingly.
()()()
That night truck went on one run, a false alarm.
()()()
On their next shift, Ambulance 61 and Engine 51 were out so Truck 81 was dispatched to a gunshot injury.
They pulled up nearby and waited for the scene to be declared safe. A cop came out and waved them on. "It's safe. Guy shot himself cleaning his own gun."
The guy was middle-aged and bleeding all over the place, but remained conscious. Kidd and Carter ripped off his damaged right shoe and sock, then began to apply bandages. They slowed the bleeding to a trickle.
Lombardi stood by with the oxygen and waited but the patient seemed to be coping by saying an unending stream of Portuguese swear words in a conversational tone. So he just stood by.
A siren wailed. Ambulance 23 arrived and applied a large bore IV. Gallo and Carter pulled him up and set him on the ambulance's stretcher. Soon the ambulance drove away with him.
()()()
After lunch, Squad got dispatched across town. Some mountain climbers had broken into an abandoned grain elevator to practice and the first units on scene asked for specialized help due to "rope issues."
A few minutes later Engine 51, Truck 81 and Ambulance 61 were dispatched to an apartment building fire. "Multiple reports of smoke on the 4th floor."
Soon they were charging across streets, sirens blaring away.
Chief Vickers, Boden's replacement as Battalion 25, had somehow been positioned to get there first. "We got a five-story building. Nothing showing."
Engine, Ambulance and Truck pulled up and announced their arrival on the radio. Chief Vickers greeted them and gave orders in person. "Truck 81 have a ventilation team ready to get the roof, 4th floor windows or 5th floor windows." Kidd pointed to Mouch and Carver, who nodded. "Then take an entry team up to locate the fire. Engine 51 I didn't see a standpipe, drag a hose all the way up."
Kidd and Gallo grabbed entry tools and a pike pole. Lombardi grabbed the five-gallon extinguisher. When he went in the main doors he searched with his eyes. No elevator. Wearing his full turnout gear and his SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus), though not breathing from it yet, he followed Kidd and Gallo up the stairs to the fourth floor.
The gear was heavier than he remembered. His heart began to accelerate.
Lombardi found himself panting by the time they got to fourth. Kidd took off a glove and felt the door. Then she wordlessly put on her protective hood and SCBA then returned her glove to her hand. Knowing she'd found heat, Gallo and Lombardi followed her lead.
Meanwhile, on the radio "Battalion 25 to Engine 44. Lay into the hydrant and supply Engine 51. Truck 37, send an entry team to the fifth floor then take the Charlie side. Be ready to ventilate roof 4th or 5th floor windows."
Most buildings have four sides. Firefighters designate the side the street address is on as the Alpha side. Going clockwise the other sides are Bravo, Charlie and Delta. (They were in the Delta staircase.)
The floor was full of smoke. They dropped low and crawled forward. There were six apartments, three on each side. Kidd led them to the first apartment on the Charlie side. Gallo had the tools ready but Kidd reached up and tried the door and it was unlocked. They searched quickly. Some smoke, no occupants.
Then Kidd led them to the middle apartment on that side and tried the door. When it was locked she gestured. Gallo forced the door. When it opened, flames jumped up, feeding off the hallway's oxygen. Lombardi worked the extinguisher, holding them off briefly. Gallo found a victim and began to pull him out.
He was very heavy. As the extinguisher began running low Kidd tapped Lombardi and pointed to the victim's feet. Lombardi dropped the extinguisher and grabbed the feet. He wondered if he should be leaving Kidd behind, especially after last shift's briefing, but as they went down the hall Engine 51's hose team passed them.
While Gallo and Lombardi hauled the unconscious man down to the first floor, the hose team took care of ventilation by just blasting a window open, then began pushing the flames back.
After getting the patient to the ambulance Gallo and Lombardi came back up. Lombardi wished he could take a ten-minute break then return to work but he knew firefighting wasn't like that.
On the fourth floor, the fire seemed under control but all other apartments on the 4th and 5th floors were entered and checked for victims. No one was found dead or unconscious, but some badly coughing people were led out.
Lombardi knocked on a door. No one answered so he tried the door. Finding it locked he forced it with the entry tools only to hear a VERY angry cat howl. Before he could take his bearings the cat jumped him, claws out then ran into the still smoky hallway. Lombardi's turnout coat absorbed most of the attack, but he was still shaken and wished the cat knew he was there to help.
He searched the rest of the apartment, found no one and opened the windows for ventilation. When he came out the cat sniffed the apartment and snuck back in.
A second ambulance came for people who were still coughing but none seemed too bad. The fire apartment was overhauled, which involved breaking parts of the wall and ceiling to check for fire extension. There turned out to be none, but Lombardi's arms began to ache from stabbing the ceiling repeatedly with a pike pole. Still, it could be worse. Carver was next to him vigorously chopping parts of the wall.
()()()
Lombardi took his time getting back to the truck after overhaul. Kidd said, "Yoga and Pilates might be good for reducing some injuries but firefighting is anaerobic work. Sprinting or the cardiac equivalent is the best exercise. Maybe start with aerobic exercise first to build a foundation."
When Lombardi wryly nodded, she continued, "At the" [fire] "house, you could claim a migraine headache. Go home, call off your next shift and be retired."
"Lieutenant." He replied, "I'm the only one who knows the recipe to take the ingredients I bought and turn them into a meal."
She shrugged. "If we get another all-hands-on-deck call, I expect you to pull weight even if you feel tired from this one."
"Understood lieutenant."
()()()
Back at the station, Lombardi rested in the day room for awhile. Gallo thought it was funny to sit next to Lombardi and take his phone to the internet getting Gene Autrey singing an old cowboy song "Back In The Saddle Again." He played it a few times.
Much went to the kitchen and snuck out with the flour. He went into the bunkroom and put some in Lombardi's sheets. Then he carefully remade Lombardi's bed and returned the flour.
()()()
Later Lombardi mustered his energy and got up. He cleared the kitchen and made teriyaki chicken with popovers and baked apples.
The entree was an excellent mix of flavor, the popovers were quite fluffy. At dinner all of it was well received, despite the usual ribbing, but the baked apples were especially a hit as virtually none of them had had that in years and years. He'd baked them tender with cinnamon, butter and a dash of ginger. Lombardi carefully watched them eat.
()()()
Lombardi went to bed early. Then he immediately got up took a sponge bath changed his underwear got dressed took his sheets outside and shook them. Then he remade his bed. He looked suspiciously at the others, but they all maintained innocent looks. When he finally went to bed again he was out like a light.
()()()
He had to wake up a few hours later when they were dispatched to a fire alarm on the 12th floor of an office building. Lombardi crossed himself as he got in the truck (Which was weird because he was a Baptist.)
The overnight guard let them in. They took an elevator to the 10th floor. Then got out and took the Bravo stairs to the 12th floor (obviously it can be bad to get out of an elevator in the middle of a fire.) They felt the door it was cool. Since the security guard had stayed in the lobby instead of going up with them, Carver "forced" the door breaking it (while Capp forced the door on the Delta stairs.)
The whole floor was one big office. They searched their half as a team. Lombardi walked in the trailing position carrying the extinguisher and looked more at the other truckies than at their surroundings, like he was running on autopilot. Truck and squad cleared the floor and they declared the alarm unfounded. They took the elevator down and went back to the firehouse.
Four-fifths of the truck crew went to their beds. Lombardi took off his SCBA and undid his seatbelt and stretched out in the back of the truck. He was asleep in seconds.
Truck went the night without another alarm. In the morning Lombardi took off his turnout gear and drifted into the kitchen for shift change.
()()()
On the early afternoon of Lombardi's final shift they went to a school fire alarm. After a search they declared the alarm unfounded.
()()()
For dinner, Lombardi cleared the kitchen and then began working on burgers.
Gallo went to the refrigerator for a bottle of water. On his way out he stared at the stack of empty cheese wrappers and asked "Where did you hide the cheese slices?"
Lombardi replied, "In the burgers."
Gallo replied, puzzled "But the cheese goes on top of the burgers."
"I'm making juicy lucys. The cheese goes in the patty. I tried it in a restaurant in Minnesota on vacation."
"But this is Chicago."
"As a shift cook, I should occasionally challenge your culinary horizons."
"How would you like it if I spent my days off learning Ethiopian cooking very badly and made that next shift?"
"Go right ahead."
Much was wise to the logical flaw. "Gallo. Don't punish us once that self-appointed Julia Child is retired."
Gallo nodded, remembering. Then said "Self-ANOINTED Julia Child."
Too experienced to retaliate Lombardi smiled.
()()()
Lombardi served the juicy lucy burgers on sesame topped buns with a big stack of oven baked onion rings and mountains of oven baked French fries. The melted cheesy core of the burgers made an interesting taste experience. He smiled through the usual ribbing while noting the speed at which they were eaten and how all the sides vanished.
()()()
While watching the late news. Lombardi turned to the guy on his right and said "Man, I'm married but I pay more attention to the weather since they got the new weather gal. A really fine voice coming out of" he paused slightly, "what looks to be a fine pair of lungs. Know what I mean?"
The guy on his right, Ritter, said, "Actually, I'm gay."
Lombardi looked around and laughed. "You guys are good. The way you all acted like you already knew that after Ritter said it totally deadpan really sells it."
"Um, I am."
Lombard laughed again. "Right." Then he added jokingly "Good luck with the dudes."
Gallo said, "You could check his social media accounts."
"Check his social media accounts? You young whippersnappers are already going to rule the world someday. You don't need to recruit guys like me to your impersonal techno-lifestyle."
()()()
That night Truck only got one run. They responded with Ambulance to an accident of a jeep hitting a parked SUV. Both vehicles were totaled.
Kidd looked at her crew, her eyes passing over Lombardi. "Carver. Get the jaws." Carver used the jaws of life to open the Jeep driver's door. Brett took one look at the driver and declared "The coroner will take this one." Carver meanwhile opened a rear door, but they didn't find anybody.
Gallo took the jaws and opened up the SUV just in case. No one, dead or alive, was in there.
()()()
Back at the house they had no trouble getting back to sleep. They'd become too hardened to tragedies.
()()()
In the morning Lombardi waited for the next shift to relieve them. Once he was sure he was safe he went to Stella Kidd and said "Lieutenant." He gave an unnecessary salute "When you get your next promotion are they going to call you Captain Kidd the pirate?"
For a moment she looked surprised as if she'd never considered that. He chuckled. Then he turned to the rest of the locker room. "Tomorrow's my 63rd birthday and mandatory retirement. Next time you wake up at four in the morning to crawl on your bellies through a smoke-filled hallway, have a thought for us poor retired folk who have to get our adrenaline fixes from exercise or watching action movies."
"We get it," Gallo said sarcastically "You're the unlucky one."
"I gotta go to a side job." Carver said, "So type the rest of that speech in an email and forget to hit send."
Ritter passed Lombardi on his way out. "Enjoy your retirement." He said politely and sincerely.
"Ritter" Lombardi replied, "Enjoy the eligible bachelors of Chicago." He laughed. The idea that the guy who'd slept in the bed next to him was gay was that funny.
()()()
(Months later at the start of a shift.)
Gallo asked Mouch "Did you see Lombardi's latest post."
"Of course" Mouch replied sarcastically, "I have nothing better to do than spend two hours a day staring at my phone, scrolling through stuff, almost all of it irrelevant and pointless."
Herman said, "Back in the day if it wasn't worth writing a letter it wasn't worth sharing."
Ritter said "He's one of 11 contributors to this new cookbook. 'Heat Source: America's Firehouse Chefs Spill The Beans On Firehouse Cooking.'"
Violet said, "I got it, but I didn't think it was funny."
"It wasn't." Gallo said.
Ritter said "I downloaded the free sample. His garlic mashed potato side dish recipe for 16 is there, with suggestions for how to scale it down for smaller groups."
Mouch said "Why that Son of a Gun. He used us as lab rats. That's why he came back here."
Kidd said, "Well, that's one mystery solved."
Ritter said "I just tweeted him. Said if there's going to be a sequel he can come back and use us as lab rats again."
"Why?" Mouch asked.
"Well, we won't let him on a rig. I'd just rather he cooked than me."
Mouch said "Me too. He's better at it."
()()()
After lunch Mouch had nothing better to do than spend hours on the couch, watching the TV and waiting for an alarm.