Author’s note; This one’s for you Tangee! Enjoy!
"Roy this is not a good idea." Johnny said, as they left the parking lot of Rampart.
"I have to pick up that paint from Tangee or Charlie is going to kill you."
"Charlie knows I didn’t do it on purpose. Tangee on the other hand, thinks I do things to ‘hurt her baby’."
"Oh just quit. Tangee isn’t such a bad person."
"Not to you maybe, she likes you."
~51~
"Ralphie, I wish she would just go away!" Tangee mumbled to the dog lying on the floor. The big fuzzy, dirty, head lifted lazily and then just as lazily, plopped back down on the rug she slept on. Ralphie had been left at the gate when she had been a puppy. She was a combination of golden retriever and Saint Bernard, a very strange combination. Not very fierce, but extremely loving. She took care of the grounds and earned her keep.
The little curly haired, blonde girl had been ‘tap dancing’ up and down the sidewalk in front of the garage for over an hour. "I’ve asked the little thing to go away but she persists on dancing in front of my building." Occasionally, someone would stop and talk to her but most of the time she would wave and smile at the passing cars; and dance. She heard a squad pull into the lot and turned. Her heart jumped at the thought of seeing Roy. She took a deep breath and then stepped out to greet him as he exited the squad. "Roy," she smiled. "Come to get that paint?"
"Tangee," he stepped up next to her. She could smell the freshness of his shirt. Joanne sure kept his shirts clean. She almost sighed, but stopped herself. "Yeah, Charlie said that you would have it ready for me." He heard a little girl’s sweet voice. "Do you have company, Tangee?"
"No," she stopped. "Why do you ask?"
"I hear a little girl’s voice."
"Oh, that." She said disgusted. "The little ‘thing’ won’t go away. She’s been out on the sidewalk for over an hour now, dancing, singing, smiling, and waving at cars. I keep telling her that if she sticks around here she’s going to get hurt, but she doesn’t want to listen to me." She took Roy over to the window and pointed at the bouncing, happy little child.
"Well, Tang, I think she’s cute."
"You would." The little girl disappeared around the side of the building. "Where did the little squirt go?" Tangee quickly ran out the side door, Roy right behind her. "Little girl," she called. Tangee began looking frantically around, knowing that the little girl could get into trouble, or worse, get hurt, on county property, and it would all be Tangee’s fault. "Her parents will sue me and I’ll lose my job," she complained.
"What?" Roy asked.
"She’s going to get hurt and her parents will sue the county. I’ll lose my job because they weren’t paying attention to their own kid." They came around the corner to see the little girl sitting in Johnny’s lap, hugging his neck. As they got closer, they could see the little twinkle in her eye. Her little bow mouth would pout and then curl up in a sweet little smile as she talked. "GAGE!" Tangee shouted, causing all three people to jump.
"What did I do now?" Johnny said, setting the little girl down on the ground. She slipped her chubby little hand into Johnny’s.
"She has been yelling like that all morning. I really think she needs a daddy to give her a big hug," the little tike said. Tangee stared at the child like she had grown a third arm. Roy grinned.
"Shut the…."
"Tangee!" Roy quickly stopped her before she said anything more. "She is a child, you know."
"A child that has gotten on my last nerve. She’s going to get hurt wiggling around here, and then I’m going to be sued because her parents…."
"I know, they weren’t watching her," Roy finished.
"I don’t have a mommy. She died when I was born. My daddy went over to Vietnam and hasn’t come back yet. Do you know where I can find a good mommy and daddy?" Her blue eyes glistened with unshed tears, and her bottom lip jutted out.
"Do you believe this?" Tangee said.
"Don’t Tang, she doesn’t have any parents."
"Come on, Tangee have a heart," Johnny said. She glared at him.
"I used to do the same thing to get something out of my dad, and it never worked."
"You used to have a daddy? What was it like?" Tangee rolled her eyes and turned towards the building.
"Awe…" Johnny reached down and picked her up into his arms. "Where are you staying for now?" She flung her arms around his neck, kissing his cheek.
"The little orphanage down the street." Tangee stopped and looked back at the ‘wonderful’ scene.
"The Daddy Warbuck’s place?" Tangee said. "This is unbelievable."
"Its not called Daddy Warbuck’s. It’s Saint Theresa’s of the Little Lost Children," the tiny mouth replied.
"Perfect. So why don’t you go dance in front of that building then?"
"Because I have been, and I thought maybe you needed some cheering up." She smiled and batted her long blonde lashes.
"Gee, thanks. Please go home? I don’t want you to get hurt around here, okay?"
"I won’t get hurt. My angels are always watching out for me." She poked both thumbs into her puffed-out chest. Tangee growled, and headed for the building again.
"Roy, you get rid of her! I don’t want her to get hurt." She slammed the door to the garage.
"How would you like a ride back to the orphanage?" Johnny asked the little girl.
"In a fire truck?"
"Well, a squad car," Johnny corrected.
"You would do that for me?"
"Sure. Anything for you sweetheart."
"Wow, I wish you were my daddy. Do you have any little girls?"
"No, and I don’t think I’m ready to be a daddy yet. I can’t find the right mommy."
"And it doesn’t look like she’s going to be found any time soon," Roy snidely said. Johnny glared at him.
"Thanks for that vote of confidence, Roy."
"You’re so welcome, Johnny." Johnny placed the little girl on the seat between him and Roy.
"Wow, there are so many buttons and things. Do you think I can turn on the lights and siren?" she asked.
"No, we aren’t allowed to turn on the siren unless we’re on a call," Roy told her. The little lip came out and her blue eyes began to cloud with tears.
"But maybe we can make an exception for a second." Johnny said. "Only in front of the building and only for a second." She bounced on the seat, clapping her hands.
"Yippee!"
"Now you have to sit very, very still in the front seat, okay?" Roy told her.
"Okay, I will." She sat with both her hands sitting in her lap. When Roy pulled up in front of the building, Johnny showed her which buttons to push. Every single window of the orphanage filled with curious eyes, and when they saw the curly blonde getting out of a squad car the building emptied into the sidewalk. The boys all wanted to see the machine, the girls all wanted to hug the men. Several nuns came out of the building to ‘rescue’ the paramedics. One of the older ladies, Sister Margaret, started talking to them as the younger nuns ushered the children into the building.
"Oh, I’m so glad that you found Bubbles, sorry, that’s our little nickname for her. Her name is actually Shirley. One morning, 6 years ago, she was left on our door step with a blanket that had the name Shirley embroidered on it, so that’s what we called her. Of course, she has a talent for seeing the bright side of everything. She loves to dance, sing, and spread the joy around so we call her Bubbles." The nun combed through her little curls with her fingers. "She is such a pleasure to have around here that when she does get adopted, we will miss her dearly."
"Well, she was dancing around the county garage and the mechanic is afraid that she’s going to be hurt." Roy explained.
"You know you aren’t supposed to go past the corner."
"I know, but she looked so lonely down there and I wanted to cheer her up."
"I don’t want you going down there any more, okay? You could get hurt and we wouldn’t know where you were."
"Okay, Sister Margaret."
"Now, you go wash your hands for lunch. We’re going to have a long talk afterwards."
"Yes sister," she bounced up the stairs, her curls dancing around her head like a little halo. The sister followed behind her closely. She stopped at the top of the stairs, turned, and waved at the men. "Bye Johnny, Bye Roy. See you again sometime." Both men waved back.
"Bye Shirley," they said together. They climbed back into the squad and went back to the station.
~51~
"Do you know that we did not pick up that paint?" Roy said.
"Would Tangee still be at the garage?" Johnny asked.
"Yeah, I think so. It’s not too much past 7. She’s usually there until 7:30 or 8:00." Roy said. "We could get the paint and do the scratch after we get done with dinner."
"Okay," Johnny said.
~51~
"I guess I should be getting home, Ralphie," she said to the junkyard dog. She raised her head for Tangee to pet it. Tangee patted it twice, and then turned to leave. "Behave," she flipped out the light as she locked the door. She heard a noise behind her and turned. "Ralphie! Don’t sneak up on me like that." She patted the scruffy head again, and headed for her car. She turned the key in the door lock and again heard a noise behind her. "Ralphie I want to go home." She didn’t turn this time. She heard the dog whine, which was unusual. She stopped and listened. "Ralphie?" She turned to see the curly haired blonde standing next to the giant dog. She held in her hand several dandelions. "Aren’t you supposed to be home in bed, or something?"
"I wanted to apologize to you in person. I’m very sorry that I upset you today and I’ve felt terrible all afternoon." The big blue eyes shined in the setting sun. Tangee got an eerie feeling in the pit of her stomach. The little bow mouth curled up in a grin showing her perfect white teeth.
"Apology accepted, now go home before you get hurt." Tangee reached down and took the dandelions from her chubby little hand. Shirley watched closely to see what she would do. Tangee thought a moment and then lifted the flowers to her nose smelling them. Shirley smiled, pleased that her gift had been so appropriate.
"Bye," she turned, waved, and skipped towards the sidewalk.
"You be careful going home."
"I will," she patted the dogs head as it moved along beside her. "Bye, Ralphie, see you tomorrow."
"Oh no you won’t. You stay home tomorrow. I don’t want you…" about that time, Tangee saw the little girl slip, and twist her ankle.
"Ow," Shirley grabbed her foot. Tangee watched the tears flowing down the chubby little cheeks and almost felt sorry for the little thing. Almost. Tangee sighed and went over to her. She knelt down beside her. "It’s broken I know it is."
"No, it’s only sprained. You’ll be fine."
"I’ll never be able to dance again." Tangee rolled her eyes heavenward wondering ‘why me?’
"Honest, it’s only sprained, it’s not broken. You go home, get a good night’s sleep, and it’ll be better in the morning." Headlights blinded Tangee for a moment as a vehicle pulled into the parking lot.
"Tangee?" Roy’s voice floated through the air.
"She tried to kill Shirley," Johnny said jumping out of the cab. He hurried around the front of the squad.
"I did not."
"I slipped and I think my foot is broken." Shirley told them.
"It is not broken."
The two paramedics began their assessment of the little girl.
"I don’t think it’s broken either," Roy said. "It’s only sprained. You stay off of it for a little while and it will be good as new."
"I’ll take her home," Tangee said. Both men looked at her in total shock.
"Do we need to take you to the hospital?" Johnny asked.
"No, but she did bring me flowers and if she hadn’t done that she would be all right, so I feel sort of responsible." She looked at Roy. "Did you come back for that paint?"
"Yeah, we did. Hope that’s okay?"
"Yeah, let me go into the garage and get it." She went into the garage and got the paint. Roy followed her to the door. When she came back with the small bottle, she handed it to him.
"Are you sure you want to take her home?" Roy asked.
"Yeah, she is kind of cute and I feel badly that she twisted her ankle. It’s the least I can do."
"Okay." The two walked over to Johnny, who had picked the small child up into his arms.
"Are you sure that you’re not a daddy, cause you’re strong enough to be one." They over heard her say.
"No, honey, I’m not a daddy. But I do hope to be one someday, and I hope that she’s as cute and sweet as you are."
"Thank you, Johnny." She leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Tangee almost puked.
"Okay, Gage, put her into my car and I’ll take her back to St. Theresa’s now." Johnny went over and placed the little girl into the front seat, buckling her in.
"You take care of that ankle and everything will be okay." Johnny patted the little girls’ head.
"Thank you, Johnny." She kissed his cheek again. Tangee climbed in behind the wheel.
"Roy will you make sure that front gate is closed and locked for me?"
"Sure, no problem." Tangee pulled out of the parking lot and headed for Saint Theresa’s. The two paramedics climbed into the cab of the squad, and Roy backed out. Johnny jumped out, patted Ralphie on the head, closed the gate, and locked it. On the way back to the station, Johnny turned to Roy.
"You know, I think I misjudged her."
"Who?"
"Tangee. I think she’ll make a great mom." Roy only grinned. He knew she would make a great mom someday.
THE END
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