PS16a
Roy and Johnny had come to unspoken agreement, neither would discuss Johnny's station and only made rare references to runs they had each shift. However, Roy had a harder time than Johnny to accept his fate.
Johnny was surprised how quickly he had acclimated to 118 and the men's lack of enthusiasm or concern for anyone other than themselves. Not that it stopped him; every patient or victim had his full attention. Problem was he couldn't tell Roy. The first two months were difficult on him.
"Hey Johnny," Roy smiled as they worked on the lawn. It was another perfect southern California day, blue sky with white puffy clouds. An early rain had washed away the smog and a light Santa Ana wind blew as they did yard work. After a few hours of hot and sweaty work they were both ready for a break.
"Hey Roy, want me to get some brews for our break?" Johnny grinned knowing his friend's look of impatience.
"Sure, sure. Joanne is at the PTA and the kids are playing with their friends, we got some quality time," Roy put down the rake and watched as Gage went into the house. Johnny brought them out and then they sat on the porch and sipped their beers.
"Johnny," Roy looked at Johnny. "How's…how's things?" Rubbing his nose he tried to read his friend's once expressive eyes. He wiped the sweat out of his eyes and waited patiently.
Johnny looked at his friend and knew exactly what 'things' he was talking about. "Um, Roy just like I imagined them, no better or worse, just there." He frowned and then took a long drag of his beer. Mostly worse, pally. Don't know if I'm going to make it this time.
"But Johnny I ...is there anything I can do?" Roy took a long drag of his beer and stared out in the backyard, knowing Johnny didn't want his intense stare.
"Just being here makes a big difference, knowing you're here man, it helps a lot," Johnny grinned, knowing his friend has his back even if he wasn't there.
"You're sure Johnny? You know I could go to headquarters and…
"No, Roy, remember is was my fight not yours besides we'd better get this yard work done or Joanne will have our hides," Johnny got up and went back to work, ending their conversation.
#######
It was the 15th of the month and Gage dreaded going to work. He knew what the shift would be like. Three months and the runs were wearing him down, but he refused to be callous. Just like his partner had predicted, the morning started out worse and got progressively slow. From bar fights to OD's, people cashed their checks and played recklessly with their lives.
They received the midnight call. Both men were serious; it was a domestic disturbance. Johnny hated them, never knowing what or who they would find. Working at 118, he found the few domestic disturbances he had previously been to didn't compare. More often than not a code F would result and another family would be torn apart.
They pulled up to a run down apartment building, the police car and ambulance already at the scene. Flashing blue and red lights with the low lying fog made for a surreal sight. Grabbing their equipment, they trudged tiredly up the stairs and through the open apartment door.
In the small apartment, a woman lay on the floor, bleeding out. Her face was cut and she had a black eye. A man in handcuffs looked angry and two scared children looked on in fear. The apartment smelled of burnt bacon, cigarette smoke and fear. Both the police officer and attendants had grim faces.
"The bitch didn't have my dinner ready when I came home. She fed the two brats but wouldn't feed me! I needed to teach her a lesson," the drunken man gloated.
Johnny quickly assessed the woman who had multiple stab wounds. He heard Manny on the biophone and went to work. Looking up he saw the tear stained faces of the two frightened little girls. They were dressed in threadbare pajamas. In the background, Gage heard the drunken husband being led away and handed off to another police officer.
"Your mom is going to be all right," Johnny assured the girls. But he could see they were in shock. "Really c'mon now. They'll be okay." Johnny's quiet voice called as he looked at the shell shocked and tear stained faces of the other victims in this domestic abuse case.
"Gage," Manny snorted. "Social services will take care of the kids, it ain't in our job description." The Hispanic paramedic didn't want to get attached to the children of their victims, since to him it seemed everyone was a victim.
"No, man. They're riding with me to the hospital," Gage hissed, "Their mom is going to be okay and they need to see this before being shuffled off to some foster home."
"Have it your way, Gage. I'll let the officer know," Manny snorted as the ambulance attendants showed up.
True to his word, the frightened children rode in with Johnny; he wrapped them in blankets and calmed them down. However as soon as he jumped out of the ambulance a woman and police officer were waiting. His patient was quickly whisked away and Gage held on tightly to the frightened girls.
Manny came behind Gage.
"Janine," Manny offered his hand. "Guess we're both working tonight."
"Yes we are. These are the children," Janine looked at him, then at Johnny and the frightened children.
"Yes this is Mary and Sylvia Wang," Johnny introduced the two traumatized children.
"I'll take it from here," Janine cooed softly, took both girls hands and started walking away.
"You take care of them," Johnny ordered, feeling totally helpless.
"That's my job Mr. Gage, you just do yours," Janine turned in a huff with her charges.
So Johnny had finally met one of the social workers the victims of the victims ended up with. Just the three short months of working at 118's had opened his eyes. He had never seen so much squalor and pain in one place. Finally finding his center, he turned away. He refused to let his mind drag up images from the rez. Gage had seen enough death and destruction there.
The rest of the shift was quiet and then he quickly left the station. Heading to the DeSoto's he found himself in a terrible funk and knew he couldn't face his friends. He needed some serious down time, maybe a bike ride somewhere. Then he thought of Roy and how much they had helped him. Pushing down his feelings, he pulled into the DeSoto driveway. Seeing Roy's Porsche in the driveway, he knew Roy would be also asking questions.
Opening the door, he found Roy waiting with a worried expression on his face.
"Hey Johnny," Roy waved and gave a very weak, reassuring smile.
"Hey," Johnny grinned, "man I'm beat we had a late night run. Think I'll crash for a little while."
"Sure, you do that. Let me know when you get hungry," Roy waved as Gage quickly disappeared into his bedroom.
Roy knew something was bugging his friend; all he had done was read it in the paper. Every article where Gage's territory was mentioned only heightened his feelings. Not a very religious man, he now took to praying every day his friend went on shift.
#######
Dinner was a subdued affair. Johnny forced himself to eat seconds on dinner and dessert. Roy kept taking side glances as his friend contributed to the conversation. Looking at the DeSoto children he had a brilliant idea.
"Hey Roy, Joanne. Um, there's a holiday coming up and Roy and I aren't working and school's out. So I was thinking we go to Disneyland." The happiest place on earth will sure as hell take me out of 118, he thought.
"Johnny," Roy kept his tone even and calm, trying to figure out what was going on with his friend. "That's awfully expensive."
"Hey it's only money, besides when's the last time you've been? You've been letting me stay here, rent free by the way. I just wanta do something nice for you guys. Please!" Johnny looked at Joanne, giving it his best Gage charm.
"Say yes Mom," Chris begged. "Please for Uncle Johnny." He had his hands clasped and a bright smile on his face.
"Please Daddy, say yes," Missy grinned and grinned at her favorite uncle.
"Roy," Joanne sighed and looked at John and her children.
"Oh, okay," Roy grinned knowing his friend needed a serious break. "Okay."
The next day found the DeSoto's and John Gage at Disneyland. Luckily they had four days off. Johnny took delight in the children's faces as they explored the amusement park. With protesting from Roy, Johnny bought everyone two ticket books, intent on everyone not fighting over what rides to go on.
"Hungry?" Johnny asked his favorite friends. Setting them down at a café on Main Street, he paid for dinner just as the Fantasy in the Sky fireworks lit up the sky. Gage took tell by his tired friends he had done the right thing. The whole day he hadn't thought of 118 and its problems. Today was just for him and the DeSoto's the rest of the world be damned.
