by Karen Hobbs
The A shift at Station 51 was starting to assemble. John Gage was in the locker room, changing into his uniform, when Captain Stanley's voice came from behind him.
"Johnny, I'd like to introduce you to Mel Ellison, Roy's replacement," he said.
John turned round, still in his shorts, his uniform pants in his hand.
"Hi, Mel, you're..." he started and then fell silent. A woman paramedic was regarding him, a slight smile playing on her lips as she saw his embarrassment at his current state of undress.
"I'll leave you two to get acquainted," Captain Stanley said trying to suppress a grin. John threw him a withering look and hastily stepped into his trousers.
"I'm what?" Mel asked
"You're ah - a woman," John stammered
"10 out of 10 for observation," Mel replied frostily
"Okay, okay," John muttered as he hung up his civilian clothes in his locker. He slammed the door shut and turned back.
"So what's the Mel short for? Melissa?" he asked amicably
"Just Mel to you," Mel replied curtly as the bell sounded for role call.
***
"So, Johnny, what does it feel like to have a woman as a partner?" Chet inquired as John was checking the contents of the Trauma Box.
"Just fine, Chet," John said tightly, knowing the Chet was winding him up.
"Oh come one, I can see you're not happy about it. Admit it, you'd prefer it if she was a man."
"I didn't say that."
"She's a good looker," Chet continued.
"It's not her looks I'm interested in, Chet, all I'm concerned about is that she's got what it takes to get someone out of trouble, that's all."
"That someone being you, I presume?" Mel's voice came from behind the squad.
"Not necessarily," John replied, he finished checking the trauma box and replaced it in it's designated locker on the side of the squad.
"Enjoy the grand tour?" he asked, slightly peeved that he had to do the checking of the equipment on his own.
"Not particularly, one fire station is very much like another, but it makes the captains feel as if they've done their bit for equality I suppose."
"Hank's a good Captain, one of the best," John replied.
"I've no doubt that he is."
John opened the door to the cab and took out his helmet, turnout coat and blue jacket.
"What are you doing?" Mel asked.
"Moving my kit over."
"You don't usually drive?"
"No, normally Roy does," John replied.
"I wonder why that is?"
"He's more senior, so while he's away, I'll drive."
"Oh will you?"
"Yes," John snapped.
"And why do you think that?"
"I am the senior paramedic and I know the area better than you."
"Who says you're the senior paramedic?"
"I still get to drive," John replied, slamming the door.
Chet smirked "Lover's tiff?" he enquired.
Even he wasn't prepared for John's reaction, John launched himself at Chet and grabbed his collar, propelling him toward the side of the Engine.
"Hey, take it easy, Johnny" Chet stammered.
Luckily for Chet they were interrupted by the Station tones, Johnny let Chet's collar go in disgust.
"I still get to drive," he growled.
***
During their first shift together John tried, unsuccessfully to find out more about the blond haired paramedic rostered on his shifts. Most of his enquires were met by frosty one-word replies and after the second hour John gave up and decided not to bother with small talk.
They returned to the stationhouse after another tense call out, neither were speaking now. They met Chet Kelly in the station hall, he noticed how wound up they both were.
"What's wrong, Johnny, your chat up lines not working?" he enquired as they passed him en route to the office to file their paperwork.
"Stow it, Chet," John said menacingly.
"Is that all you lot think I am, some sort of love interest?" Mel demanded as she filled out her report.
John didn't reply, he had had enough of confrontations for the day.
"Listen, Gage, I worked damn hard to get where I am today, just as hard as any of you lot and every station I go to its the same. You guy's think I'm weird, or spend all you time trying to chat me up. Well for your information I enjoy being a paramedic, it's all I've ever wanted to do and I'm damned good at it."
"Yeah, don't we just know it, perhaps you should team up with Craig Brice" John retorted sarcastically, putting his report in the filing cabinet.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Mel demanded.
"While you're busy being Superwoman, the rest of us are putting a human face on the business," John said.
"I don't know what you mean," Mel replied huffily.
"Well take that kid today, the one with the badly broken leg, it wouldn't have taken much to explain what you were going to do, so that it was less frightening for him. But no, you had to march in there, Mel the professional paramedic, and get on with it."
"It had to be dealt with, Gage," Mel replied defensively.
"Yeah, but you could've been more human about it," John snapped back. "That kid was scared and alone, the last thing he needed was the 'robo-paramedic' approach."
"The what?"
"You heard, you've got about as much empathy as a robot. It's all very well being the best, but being a caring human being is more important," John replied.
"Have you quite finished?" Mel asked.
John grinned. "Yeah I guess so," he said.
"Good," Mel said, and without warning slapped him around the face hard. "Don't you ever talk to me like that again."
John regarded her, a cold look in his eyes.
"It seems like the truth hurts," he said as he pushed past her and left the office slamming the door behind him. Mel stood in the middle of the office, clenching her fists in rage, how dare he, what did he know, she would show him.
She caught up with John in the locker room.
"Gage, I want a word with you," she said.
John ignored her and continued searching for his book in the chaos which passed for his locker.
"Gage," she persisted, grabbing his right arm, John silently reached across with his left hand and gripped her wrist, he squeezed until she had to release his arm.
"Ouch that hurt!" she commented rubbing the red patch that had come up on her wrist.
"It was meant to," John replied menacingly.
"I'll report you for this," Mel continued.
"And shall I report you for this?" John turned, his left check displaying three red finger marks across it.
"I think we have said all that we need to," he continued, "Let's get one thing straight - it doesn't bother me that you're a woman. I've got no problem with that. I suggest you look a little closer to home for the one with a problem."
He slammed his locker door shut and headed off in the direction of the recreation room.
***
The squad screeched to a halt at the lakeside.
"You called for assistance, ma'am," John asked the elderly lady standing at the water edge carrying a small dog. She was frantically looking out over the lake.
"Yes!" she cried, "There's someone out there, I think he might be in trouble. I've tried calling but there's no response."
John and Mel looked out over the lake, some way off they could make out a shape in the water.
"It's just a log or something," Mel commented, "Or one of those buoys they use for watersports."
John squinted trying to make out the shape.
"No, I don't think so," he mused, he bent down and slipped off his shoes and socks and undoing a couple of buttons, took his shirt off. "I'm going to check," he said forcefully.
"Don't be silly, Gage. It's a false alarm," Mel replied bitterly.
"Yeah, so I fancy a swim," John shot back as he waded out into the water.
The water was cold at this time of the morning. John shivered slightly as he started to swim out to the shape. As he got closer he knew that he had been right to go in. Mel's 'log' was a body. John increased his speed. He reached the young man, who was resting on his back, supported by the lifejacket that John had seen from the shore. John trod water as he felt for the main's pulse, it was there but very weak. Cupping the man under the chin to keep his head above water, John turned back towards the shore, but after only a yard, he felt something preventing them from going any further.
The man moaned. "My leg's caught," he managed to croak.
John swam round to where the man's legs were, feeling under the water he managed to locate the rope that seemed to be wrapped around the man's right leg.
"Take it easy, fella. I'll get you free in a minute," John said as he managed to unclip his scissors from his belt pouch.
Taking a deep breath, he duck dived. It took a moment for him to locate the rope and start to saw at it with the scissors. It took three attempts to cut the rope, but finally John was able to swim back to the shore with his casualty.
"Careful of his right leg. It's got some kind of rope around it," John advised as Mel helped him lift the man clear of the water. They laid him on the grass at the water's edge. The wailing of a siren on the still morning air heralded the arrival of the ambulance that Mel had radioed for once she realised that John really did have a victim out in the water.
"Rampart, this is Squad 51, Rampart, this is Squad 5-1, do you copy?" John said urgently into the biophone.
"Squad 51 , this is Rampart, go ahead," came Doctor Mike Morton's rich tones over the loudspeaker.
"Rampart, we have a male patient, age approximately 25. He is semi-conscious but shocky. We have just pulled him from a lake. His main injury seems to be caused by a rope which has been wrapped tightly around his lower right leg." John relayed the vital signs from the notebook that Mel handed to him.
"Squad 51 , start an IV with Lactated Ringers, TKO and watch for possible aspiration. How long has the rope been around the victims leg?"
John shrugged " Rampart, this is 51, we believe in excess of 20 minutes."
"Squad 51 , advise you carefully remove the rope from the victims leg to minimise nerve and tissue damage. Use direct pressure to stem blood loss if the limb is lacerated and transport immediately."
"10-4, Rampart," John said.
Mel was already getting the necessary equipment from the trauma box which she laid on the grass next to the patient.
John carefully started to undo the rope around the man's leg."Severe lacerations to the right calf," John commented, "Hand me a compress I need to apply direct pressure here."
Mel handed over a gauze pad which John pressed firmly over the worst cut which was bleeding badly.
"It's slowing, try to bandage it in place, "John said.
The elderly lady was still standing at the water's edge, John walked over to her.
"Thank you ma'am, without your prompt action that young man might have died out there," he said.
"They looked so pretty," the lady said.
"Ma'am?" John looked confused.
"The water skier and his boat, going so fast across the lake," the lady continued.
John looked at her, a look of horror on his face, so that was why the guy had a rope around his leg, he was a water skier, but where was the boat?
"What happened to the boat ma'am?" he asked.
The lady seemed to be drifting off into her own world. John gently touched her shoulder.
"The boat, ma'am, where did it go?" he asked again.
"What boat?"
"The water skier, you said there was a boat, what happened after the accident?" John said urgently.
"It spun off over there," the lady said pointing towards a clump of trees at the right hand side of the lake.
Mel was just getting into the ambulance with the water skier to escort him to Rampart General Hospital. John ran over and grabbed the Bio-phone."Get out," he hissed.
"Gage, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Mel demanded.
John had already opened the box and set up the aerial.
"Rampart, this is Squad 51, " he said urgently.
"Squad 51, this is Rampart, go ahead, " Dixie McCall's comforting voice came back over the loudspeaker.
"Rampart, be advised that our patient is coming in without escort. I repeat, without escort. We have another possible casualty at our location."
"10-4, 51, please keep us informed," Dixie replied.
Mel jumped down from the ambulance, dragging the trauma box with her. John had already run around to the cab and advised the driver of their revised plans.
"What are you talking about, another victim?"
"The speedboat driver," John explained as he closed the ambulance door and gave two hard slaps on the side to signal to the driver to move off. "You need a speedboat to water ski."
"Don't patronise me, Gage," Mel threatened as she loaded the gear back into the squad.
"The lady said that the boat, hit something and went spinning off over there," John pointed to the far side of the lake. He jumped into the squad and grabbed the mike hanging from the dashboard.
"LA, this is squad 51," he said as he started the engine.
"Go ahead, 51," the LA dispatcher replied.
"LA, request another ambulance be sent to our location," John said, by this time Mel had joined him in the cab and he was starting to head over to the likely location of their other victim.
"10-4, 51, LA out."
The lady had been right, amongst the trees as the waters edge they found the broken remains of the speedboat.
"Gee, what a mess," Mel said as she surveyed the tangled wreckage.
"He must have been going a full speed when he hit," John observed.
"I think you should have ordered a hearse."
"I'm glad to see you're so positive today," John shot back.
"But where's the driver?" John asked puzzled, surveying the wreckage.
"Perhaps he got thrown clear?" Mel suggested looking around. "Hey, what's that over there?" she cried.
The two paramedics rushed over to the area, there at the top of the slope the driver of the speedboat lay. They turned him over. He had a bad cut to his head. Mel started to take vital signs whilst John ran back to the squad to collect the equipment that they would need.
He set up the biophone "How's he doing?" he enquired.
"Not good," Mel shook her head.
John relayed the man's vital signs to Rampart
"Gage, he's stopped breathing!" Mel called.
John dropped the phone and automatically started chest compression's. Mel grabbed the oxygen mask and ambu bag from the equipment box. She fixed the mask on the man's face and started to pump the bag which would force oxygen into the man's lungs.
"I'm not getting a pulse," Mel said. "We need to defib."
"I know what we need to do," John muttered, still performing CPR.
Mel quickly unpacked the paddles from the defibrillator and switched it on, they both waited for the unit to charge up, John taking over both chest compression's and ambu bag pumps as Mel applied the various monitoring pads to the man's chest and applied the conductive jelly to the paddles.
"Clear," Mel said, John took his hands from the patients body. The shock jerked the man's body upwards, both paramedics breathed a sigh of relief as the monitor on the defib unit blinked into a steady heart rhythm.
"Ambulance is here," John said, as he started to prepare the IV that Doctor Morton had ordered, his hands shook slightly as he opened the sterile bags, after the exertion of swimming and the earlier rescue, coupled with the CPR he was beginning to tire.
"What's the matter, Gage, the pace too tough for you?" Mel enquired, noticing the drained look on his face, as she swabbed down the man's arm to receive the IV needle.
"I can beat you any day, Ellison" John muttered.
"One day I hope you're wrong, Gage, and that I'm there to see it" Mel replied tartly.
"I hope you like funeral's then," John shot back, "'Cause the only mistake I'm intending to make will be terminal."
Their bitter exchange was interrupted by the arrival of the ambulance men carrying the stretcher.
***
Things hadn't improved at all when the two warring paramedics met up again in the Emergency Department of Rampart General Hospital. John was feeling tired, wet and decidedly grumpy.
"Hi Johnny, why the grumpy face?" Dixie McCall asked as he approached the front desk, a cup of coffee in his hand.
"Ask the Ice Maiden," John growled.
"You and Ellison still at daggers drawn?" Dixie asked, their feud hadn't gone unnoticed amongst the close knit medical community at the hospital.
"Something like that," John replied, staring at this coffee cup. "You know, I just can't figure the woman out, she just won't relax, always has to be the professional. The rest of the guys are fed up with her disapproving looks. Every time they have a laugh. We'll all be glad when Roy's back I can tell you."
"And how long is that?" Dixie asked.
"Another week and a half," John replied gloomily. "If things don't improve though, I'll have throttled her by then, " he warned.
"Never mind, but from all accounts, you're not the only one she's had a downer on," Dixie replied.
"How do you mean?" John asked suddenly interested.
Dixie suddenly looked guilty as she spotted Mel Ellison coming down the corridor, "Ssh here comes the Ice Maiden, " she hissed.
John hastily changed the subject "So, Dix, did you find out what happened from our water skier friend?" he asked.
"Yes, Johnny, aparently they were skiing without a spotter, your second patient, the driver of the speedboat had been sitting on the back of his seat watching the skier turn some tricks. Evidently the boat hit some sort of obstacle in the water, the driver got thrown from his seat and was knocked unconcious. The next thing the skier knows is that he is lying in the water with the rope around his leg."
"Could have been a lot worse," John replied. "How's the driver?" he asked Mel.
"He'll live," Mel replied. "You ready to roll, Gage?" she enquired.
"In a minute," John replied still drinking his coffee.
"Come on, Gage, we haven't got all day for you to take as coffee breaks!" Mel snapped, she picked up their suppies from the counter. "I'll meet you at the Squad, if you can tear yourself away."
"Some days I think even Craig Brice would be better than this," John muttered.
"Have you tried talking to her?" Dixie enquired.
"Huh!" John snorted, he drained his coffee cup hastily "Look, Dix, I'd better be going before she drives off without me."
"But you've got the squad keys" Dixie remarked, noticing the key ring in John's hand.
"She wouldn't let a little technicality like that stop her," John remarked. "Bye. Dix," he waved as he made his way down the corridor towards the parking lot.
"The Ice Maiden" ©1999 Karen Hobbs. "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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