Johnny's Story
Once upon a time in a far away fire station, there lived a handsome fireman named Marco Lopez. Actually, Mike Stoker was quite handsome, too. They were housed with four others on the "A" shift of Station 51 in Los Angeles County.
The guys all looked at each other puzzled. Marco asked, "What is going on here? Is it a fairy tale or what? EMERGENCY was not a fairy tale. Neither is fire fighting. Johnny, what are you doing?"
Johnny asked, "You don't wanna be known as handsome, Marco?"
"Not by you," Marco answered feeling a bit uneasy. Glancing over at Mike, who was seated on the sofa by Henry, Marco wanted to know, "Mike, have you seen this, yet?"
Mike grinned, saying, "Why do you think I'm over here?"
Marco answered, "Oh, I thought you were keeping Henry company."
Mike told him, "I'm staying as far away as possible. I don't want anything to do with what Johnny's doing."
About that time, Roy entered the room carrying a sack of groceries. He glanced over at his partner working hard at the typewriter. "Making any progress, Johnny?"
Marco answered before Johnny could, "He's got the first paragraph. Is this a writing contest or what? I mean, I don't think Johnny is that great of a writer."
Johnny gave Marco a dirty look. He told him, "If you don't like my writing, then, don't read over my shoulder."
Roy intervened as he put the groceries away. "Guys, we're all adults here. Let's act like it. OK?"
Marco muttered, "Most of us are adults."
Mike snickered as he got up. He suggested to Marco, "C'mon, Marco, let's let Shakespeare do his thing. I've got something in the car for you anyway. Let's go."
The two disappeared out to the parking lot. Roy glanced into the typewriter when he finished his little job. "You think you'll get anything out of this?"
"I haven't even got to the damsel in distress, yet, Roy."
"Who's going to get to rescue her?"
"The knight in shining armor," was the reply.
"And who might that be?"
Johnny grinned at Roy. Roy shrugged saying, "I might've known. And who or what is Knight Johnny going to rescue her from?"
"The fire breathing fireman."
"As opposed to a fire breathing dragon? Does this fireman have a name?"
"Chester B. Kelly."
"Did somebody call me," Chet's voice asked from the doorway?
Johnny gave him a dirty look. "Not unless you wanna fire breathing dragon."
"Gage, you are a real comedian."
Before they could get into an argument, Marco and Mike returned. Mike was bleeding from the forehead and Marco was guiding him in.
The two paramedics rushed to his side. Roy said, "Ease him down in a chair, Marco."
Chet ran from the kitchen to Caps office. "Cap, Mike's hurt."
"Kelly, you get the equipment from the squad."
Cap called in the station emergency. As he went to the kitchen, helping Chet with the equipment, Roy asked, "What happened, Marco?"
Marco didn't know. He told him, "One moment he was fine and the next, he was in intense pain, bleeding from the head."
Mike fought to stay conscience. He mumbled, "Some...thing...hit...me..."
At that moment, everything went black and all he heard was the insistent sound of the typewriter keys.
As Mike struggled to consciousness, he felt something licking his face. His eyes opened, yet, his eyelids were heavy. Beside him, was his ever-faithful companion, Henry. The basset hound looked at him with his big sad eyes as if to say, "Get up, you fool."
Mike glanced at his surroundings. He discovered he had fallen asleep under a big weeping willow tree. In the sky, the sun was shining ever so bright, except for the few fluffy clouds rolling by. Near him, on the ground were his tricorder, phaser and communicator, which was bleeping madly.
He picked up the communicator and opened it. "Stoker."
On the other end, Marco's voice came back. "Mike! Where the hell are you? Capt. Kirk wanted us to report back to the ship almost an hour ago! I couldn't find you back at the landing site and I wasn't going to leave you here. Where are you?"
Mike hesitated before answering. "A...Marco...I...er...ah...fell asleep."
"Fell asleep!" Shouted Marco. "Mike Stoker, get your butt back to the landing site ASAP or I'll put you on report myself!"
Mike sighed and responded with a "Aye, aye, sir."
"And don't call me 'sir'. You're the one who outranks me. Geeze, Mike, I thought Chet Kelly was bad, but, you take the prize today."
"I'm on my way, Marco. Don't have a cow."
Henry looked at Mike puzzled. He nudged him as if to help him to stand up.
Mike was finding it difficult to move. His whole body ached as if he slept very stiff for a long period of time He and Henry slowly made their way back to the landing site.
Marco was pacing the ground nervously when he heard Mike tell him he was there. As he turned around, Marco said, "It's about damn..." He stopped short of finishing his sentence. The look upon Marco's face told Mike something was wrong. Marco's eyes were as big as saucers and his mouth was open wide.
"Marco, what is it?"
Overcoming some of his shock, Marco managed to ask, "Are you feeling all right, Mike?"
"Not really," was the answer. "My whole body aches and I can't seem to get a grip on things. Why? Don't I look all right?"
Marco opened his communicator. "Lopez to Enterprise."
"Enterprise, " Scotty's voice said.
"Two and a dog to beam up and please have Dr. McCoy stand by in the Transporter Room."
Scotty complied with the request. As the group started materializing on the pad, McCoy arrived with his medical pouch. When they finally took form, McCoy dropped his pouch in shock, Scotty looked even more stunned than Marco and Henry laid down on the Tranpsorter pad as he always did, with the intent of going to sleep until the next landing party transported somewhere.
Mike was puzzled as he asked, "Why is everyone looking at me like that?"
McCoy started scanning Mike, asking, "How do you feel?"
He answered, "Tired and my joints hurt. Why?"
It was Scotty who answered, "You look as though you have aged 50 years."
Mike looked at his cousin in shock. "You gotta be kidding."
McCoy told him, "No, he's not. Your metabolism has changed dramatically. Get him to Sickbay. I need to run test."
Scotty took charge of the situation. He gently pulled Mike by the arm, saying, "C'mon, Lad, let's go."
As they went out into the corridor, Kirk passed them on his way in the Transporter Room. He did a double take before entering the room. The captain found McCoy questioning Marco as well as scanning him for any unusual readings.
Kirk asked, "Will he live, Bones?"
Marco gave him a funny look. Kirk snickered, saying, "As my distant cousin, Marco, you should know I'm kidding."
Marco muttered, "I never know when you are being serious or not, Jim."
McCoy answered the captain's question. "Yes, he'll live. Obviously, whatever Stoker got into on the surface, Marco didn't."
Kirk glanced at the dog laying on the Transporter pad. "What about him?"
McCoy snorted, "I'm a people doctor, not a animal doctor!"
Kirk snapped, "You happen to be the most experienced doctor on the Enterprise, Bones. Examine him. "McCoy glared at his captain and friend. He went to the dog and scanned him from head to tail.
Kirk asked, "Well?"
"He's a dog," the doctor sarcastically told him.
Marco snickered and was told to get back on duty.
Kirk turned to McCoy after Marco was gone. He asked, "Is there any way we can get this dog off the platform, Bones?"
"Form a landing party," was the response.
Kirk glared at McCoy as if to say, "Duh." Instead, he told the doctor, "I guess he is good for keeping the Tribbles off the ship."
McCoy agreed. "Tribbles don't seem to care for him. Maybe he's really a Klingon in disguise, Jim."
"You're the one who checked him out, Bones."
The good doctor rolled his eyes. He told his captain, "Henry is not even close to being Klingon."
"Who did he transport to the ship with, anyway? Was it DeSoto, Gage, Stoker or Lopez?"
McCoy unemotionally answered. "He came with you, Jim."
The captain ordered him to sickbay. Sometime later, Kirk arrived in the lab. The look on McCoy's face told him he was drawing a blank. It was McCoy who made the suggestion. "Jim, the only way I can determine to find out why Mike Stoker aged as he did is to return to the surface and search for clues. I know you quarantined it, but, Marco Lopez checked out fine, as did Henry."
The captain decided to follow the doctor's advice. He ordered several men to the Transporter Room. Among them were Marco, Roy, Spock and Chet. Scotty was going to work the controls. Kirk arrived and asked, "Does everyone understand what we are going to do?"
It was Chet who said, "To boldly go where no man or dog has gone before. To seek out new life and new civilizations."
The captain stared him down to 3 feet tall. He told him, "Kelly, when we return, you will be on KP duty for a week. Understood?"
"Yes, sir," Chet mumbled.
As the group materialized on the surface, Kirk ordered, "Look for anything Stoker may have come in contact with."
As Chet was about to open his mouth, Marco quickly cupped his hand over Chet's mouth. Marco then said, "As far as I know he said he was asleep under a weeping willow tree."
It was Spock who said, "Most illogical, Lt. Lopez. This planet has millions of weeping willow trees. By the looks of it, I would say they all appear to be the same."
Kirk said, "DeSoto and Spock team up together. Marco with me and Kelly, you get the dog."
Chet complained, "Aw, Captain, I'd rather have the girl."
Marco muttered, "I removed my hand to quickly."
Kirk glared at Chet. "Ensign Kelly, you will be on latrine duty for a month when we return to the ship."
Chet was confused as he asked, "What happened to KP?"
"That is included. And, if you continue your insubordination, I will have you scrubbing all the decks of the ship including the hull. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir," Chet answered, trying to hold back his anger.
"As for the girls," Kirk said with a grin, "I get first choice if we find any."
Roy muttered to Marco as the group started to split up, "No wonder he's still an ensign."
Said Marco, "No wonder Captain Stanley didn't want him on his star ship."
"What was the name of his ship?"
"The Ward LaFrance," was the answer. "She was a real beauty, Roy. Mike was almost assigned there, but, Captain Kirk won out."
Several minutes into the search, Spock and Roy came across unusual readings. They compared their tricorder readings to each other's to be sure they were reading their own correctly.
Spock contacted the captain via communicator. "Captain, Lt. DeSoto and I have came across something I believe you should be aware of."
About that time, Henry began whimpering again, trying to get Chet's attention. Chet glanced at the dog, saying, "If you have to go, by all means go it, but NOT on my leg like you did the last time. Deal?"
Henry just looked at him with his big sad eyes whimpering. As the group started gathering nearby, Chet decided to join them, followed by Henry.
Kirk asked, "What is it, Mr. Spock?"
"Broccoli," was the answer. "This planet is filled with many different types of broccoli."
Roy put in, "And Mike Stoker loves broccoli."
Kirk was puzzled. "Why didn't the ships sensors pick up the readings?"
As Henry began to make a real fuss, Spock managed to answer, "Unknown, Captain."
He wanted to say more, but the dog was beginning to howl and blocked his train of thought. Kirk was growing impatient. He snapped, "Kelly, get that dog under control! And after you do, take some samples of the broccoli back to McCoy for analysis."
"Yes, sir!" Chet almost had to shout above the howling to be heard.
He reached down to Henry. Henry growled and snapped at him, then ran off. Chet was taken aback by the unfolding events. He watched where Henry ran to, which was a weeping willow tree. Henry started nosing around. Chet decided maybe Henry was constipated and would leave him to his misery. He went about his work to take samples of broccoli.
In Kirk's little group, he asked, "Marco, you know Stoker better than any of us, would he eat uncooked broccoli?"
Before he answered, Marco noticed Chet was yawning up a storm. "Er...Chet? You all right?"
Kirk was alarmed by Chet's sudden sleepiness. He aborted the mission and ordered the landing party to the ship. McCoy met them in the Transporter Room. He examined Chet, muttering, "There must be a sleeping agent in that stuff because all Stoker wants to do is sleep."
"Bones, take Kelly to sickbay and examine him."
After he was gone, Kirk quarantined the planet once again. Spock asked, "How are we going to determine if the broccoli caused this if we did not return with samples, Captain?"
It was Marco who discovered it. "Jim, Henry brought back broccoli stems. Mike must've ate the broccoli raw."
"Marco, take the stems to the lab."
When the room was clear, except for Kirk, Spock and Henry, the captain turned to Henry, saying, "I owe you another doggie biscuit."
Henry wagged his tail, then went to sleep.
Later on, McCoy determined it was the broccoli that caused Chet's sleepiness and Mike's aging problem. Kirk asked, "Can you come up with a cure, Bones? For Mike? There is no cure for Chet Kelly."
"I gave Stoker a laxative."
"What will that do, Bones?"
"Give him the runs, what else, Jim?" He answered with a straight face.
Kirk had to suppress his chuckle. McCoy explained, "The laxative will clean out his system of broccoli, thus the effects will wear off. He should be back to his normal loving self within 48 hours."
The captain gave his too famous icy stare. The group around the table started moaning.
Johnny asked, "Is there something wrong with my story, guys?"
"Chet snorted, "You've been watching too much Star Trek again."
It was Mike who said, "Better watch it, Gage, it'll give you strange dreams about Tribble babies again."
Marco wanted to know, "When is this contest supposed to end?"
Johnny answered, "The 15th."
The captain picked up the contest entry form and asked, "What year, Johnny?"
"This year."
Roy glanced at the form. He looked at the captain with his usual dumb founded look as if to say, "He did it again."
Cap cleared his throat. I hate to tell you this, Pal. But, the contest is Sept. 15, 1999. This is Sept. 12, 1975. You have a few years to go yet."
Johnny grabbed the form and looked at it in awe. At that moment the alarm rang.
When the station was empty, Henry picked up the contest form and ate it.
The end.
"Johnny's Story" ©1999 Suellen Stotler. "Emergency!" and its characters © Mark VII Productions, Inc. All rights reserved. No infringement of any copyrights or trademarks is intended or should be inferred. This is a work of fiction, and any similarity to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.
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