Stoker’s Bad Day
by Capt. J, Katy, Nifty, RC, Cameron, Star, Jessica C,
& Alice
Engineer Mike Stoker had finished raising the flags, and looked up at the gray clouds. He hoped they wouldn’t get any rain. Roll call had gone smoothly, as always, with no bad news.
As Mike stepped into the apparatus bay, the klaxon sounded, sending them to a structure fire. Mike stood at the gages preparing to send the water to the hoses, when a woman thought there was enough room for her to squeeze her car between the engine and the parked cars. While trying to get by, she managed to give the engine a large scratch down the side, almost clipping the back of his legs. If he hadn’t jumped up onto the running board of the engine, she would have pinned him against his precious machine. He watched in amazement as she got out of her car to inspect it. She stormed over to the stunned engineer with her fists on her hips and proceeded to rake him over the coals for something that he had no control over. Captain Stanley heard the woman’s ranting and stepped over to his engineers’ defense.
"Is there a problem, Miss?" Captain Stanley asked.
"Yes, this deplorable man has scratched the side of my brand new BMW. I want to report him." Hank looked at his engineer, and all Mike could do was shrug his shoulders.
"I didn’t do anything, Cap. She wanted through," he indicated the small space between the parked cars and the engine.
"So how was he supposed to have scratched your car?"
"If he had not parked this," tossing her nose in the air at the beautiful engine, "contraption in my way I wouldn’t have had to try to get past." Captain Stanley stepped over to the woman and wrapped his left arm around her shoulder. Looking down into her ‘snooty’ face, he told her,
"I think I know who you can talk to about this, Ma’am. Follow me, would you?"
"Good, if it will take care of the situation, I’ll talk to anyone." Mike watched as his Captain led the woman over to Officer Vince Howard. Mike grinned and shook his head, turning back to his gages. After returning to the station, and finishing lunch, Mike strolled out to the apparatus bay to see what he could do to fix the small scrape. He didn’t want Charlie to see it. Charlie would have his hide if he saw anything amiss on his pride and joy. He opened the closet door where they kept the wax and paint for such emergencies. He turned around with the items in hand and closed the door. As he turned, he heard several male voices. Listening carefully, he followed his ears around the back of the engine. Three teenage boys were standing over in the corner of the apparatus bay. He opened his mouth to say something, when the boys noticed him, the oldest one yelled,
"Scram!" The three boys ran out of the open door. Mike hesitated a moment before taking a step forward.
Suddenly, there was a massive explosion from the front of the
station. Alarms could be heard going off around the neighborhood.
Johnny shook his head to clear it. Marco and Chet had been
watching some game show on the TV, and Roy had been reading the
paper on the couch, with Henry curled up beside him. Captain
Stanley had gone into his office to complete the paper work for
the last run and Mike had gone into the truck bay to repair the
scratch on the engine. Johnny had been getting a cup of coffee
when he was knocked off of his feet. The ringing in his ears was
horrible. He instantly looked up to see where his station mates
were.
"Oh, man," he whispered, as he carefully got to his
feet. The whole front of the building looked like it had
collapsed on it's self. Marco and Chet were unconscious under a
pile of rubble. Roy and Henry looked okay. Roy had the same look
of disbelief on his face. The two paramedics stood simultaneously
and stepped over to the fallen firefighters. "You okay,"
they asked each other at the same time. They nodded, and
proceeded on to their patients. Johnny checked Chet and Roy
checked Marco. Feeling a strong pulse, Roy stood and went to the
apparatus bay to call the explosion in to headquarters. The squad
and the engine had been severely damaged and Mike lay behind the
engine unconscious. He checked Mike's pulse, and then ran into
the dorm room to use the phone in there. It was dead. He had to
pray that someone with a phone would call. He went back into the
apparatus bay to get equipment and take care of his patients.
Getting the bio-phone out his brain clicked, Rampart. He set it
up and contacted the hospital.
"Rampart, this is squad 51 how do you read?" Brackett
had just picked up a cup of coffee. He looked at his head nurse,
Dixie, questioning the call.
"They weren't sent out on a run were they?" She shook
her head no. "Go ahead, 51," Brackett said, with his
thumb on the button.
"Rampart, we have an emergency at the station. There has
been an explosion here, and the whole front of the building is
gone. There are three firefighters down and I can't locate the
captain. The phone lines are out and I need you to contact
headquarters."
"10-4, 51," he released the button and picked up the
direct link line to the LA County fire department headquarters.
"LA dispatch, this is Rampart General Hospital. Station 51
has had an explosion at the station. Four firefighters are down,"
Brackett informed Sam Lannier at dispatch.
"10-4 Rampart." The two professionals listened as the
call was sent out. "Station 48, truck 127, and station 16,
building explosion at station 51, time out 12:35."
"Rampart," Captain Stanley coughed. "Roy and
Johnny are busy. Stand by for vitals."
" Rampart standing by."
"10-4, Rampart." Silence greeted their ears as they listened. Dr. Brackett and Dix exchanged worried glances while they waited.
~*~
Johnny eased Captain Stanley back. Hank was in a lot of pain
and despite his efforts to assist his men; his injuries were
getting in the way of being any use to them.
"Cap! Listen to me," Johnny instructed the older man
sharply. "I think you've got some busted ribs. You can't be
moving around. You might puncture your lung if you haven't
already. You need to lie still. Help is on the way."
He tried to rise in protest but Johnny's hand firmly prevented
him from moving. He lay back down. He knew that Johnny was right.
The pain in his ribs was almost unbearable. He tried to relax his
body and shut out the moans of his crew. He had to resign himself
that Roy and Johnny would do everything in their power to take
care of all them. His greatest concern was for Mike. Obviously,
Mike had taken the brunt of the explosion. His body lay deathly
still on the floor of the truck bay. The wail of the approaching
emergency vehicles filled the air. Both Roy and Johnny sighed
with relief. Soon there would be plenty of hands to help them
with their coworkers.
Roy eyed what was left of the wall to the day room and worried
that it might collapse but until the other men arrived to help,
there was no way they could move the injured out. A quick glance
at his partner told him that Johnny was worried about the same
thing.
Moments Later, Stations 48 & 16 arrived at Station 51. Paramedics Craig Brice & Bob "The Animal" Bellingham raced inside the collapsed station.
"Desoto, are you all right?" asked Brice.
"Yeah I’m fine, Marco, & Chet are hurt bad," Roy replied.
"What about the others?" asked Bellingham.
"Johnny is in the apparatus bay with Mike and Cap. Check
with him about them." Johnny glanced at Roy from where he
was kneeling next to Stoker on the floor, confused by Roy's
rambling to Brice and Bellingham. Maybe Roy wasn't as okay as he
said he was.
"Brice," Johnny said, rising to his feet. "Help
Stoker." Brice started to argue about protocols, but sensing
the urgency in Johnny's movements as he approached Roy, he let it
pass. Johnny stopped in front of his partner.
"I'm right here Roy, I'm fine." Roy blinked and stared
hard at Johnny before allowing a smile to cross his face.
"Of course you are. Its Stoker, we have to find Stoker." He anxiously looked past Johnny at the pile of rubble. Johnny gently grasped Roy's arm, leading him to where Stoker lay on the floor.
"Mike's right here Roy. So aren’t Chet, Marco, and
Cap. Can I get you to sit down and let me check you over? Are you
sure you didn't bump your head?"
"No, I didn't hit my head." Roy again was looking past
Johnny at the pile of rubble. "We have to get Stoker..."
Roy moved to go around Johnny, but stopped when Johnny's grip on
his left arm tightened. Roy raised his right fist. Surprised,
Johnny did not react quickly enough to avoid the punch, which
landed squarely on his nose. Shock filled his eyes as they rolled
back in his head and he slumped to the floor unconscious.
" That will teach you not to be so pushy, Junior,"
Roy said becoming extremely agitated.
Brice was on his feet and moving towards the two paramedics.
Something was wrong with this picture. Desoto would never hit
Gage like that.
"Desoto, what are you doing?" He called, approaching
more slowly, because he could see the anger in Desoto's eyes.
"What am I doing?" Roy yelled, standing over an
unconscious John Gage menacingly. "Don't you think the
question should be more, what did he think he was doing? I'll
teach you to grab me." Roy snarled delivering several
vicious kicks to Johnny's rib cage.
"Stop it, DeSoto," Bellingham snapped, as he shoved Roy
away from Johnny, before he could deliver a fourth kick to Johnny's
still body. Stumbling from the force of the shove, Roy stood
shaking, looking around in confusion, he asked Bellingham,
" What happened?" Brice motioned to Bellingham to
look at Roy, while he moved in to care for Johnny.
"It's all right Roy, there was an explosion, and you got
hurt, let me help you," Bellingham said soothingly, taking
Roy's arm and lowering him to the floor.
"Oh, I remember now. Johnny and I weren't hurt," Roy
said, glancing in his partners’ direction. Johnny lay in a
crumbled heap on the concrete floor, where he had landed after
Roy’s punch. A dark pool of blood was rapidly forming under
his head. Brice felt along Johnny's spin to assure no damage
could be felt before rolling him on his back. Grabbing a large
pressure bandage, he applied it to the laceration over Johnny's
left eye. He opened Johnny’s uniform shirt, and cut through
his tee shirt. There was extensive bruising that covered Johnny's
entire left side. As Brice palpated his rib cage, Johnny moaned
in pain and attempted to move away from his touch.
"Stop," Johnny hissed through clenched teeth as pain
shot across his chest. All he could feel at this moment was
severe pain and he wanted it to stop.
"Relax Gage, you know how this works, tell me where else
you hurt?" Brice said.
"Don't feel so..." Was all Johnny got out before he
began to vomit.
"Gage, you could give some warning." Brice said in
disgust as he rolled Johnny onto his side.
"Sorry," Johnny muttered when he was done, and then
began to groan and attempted to curl up.
"Tell me where it hurts, Gage," Brice ordered.
"Back… chest… my head feels fuzzy," Johnny
said, stopping to swallow, "I think I’m going to be
sick again," he groaned starting to choke. Rolling him again
on his side, Brice held his head as he vomited again.
"Okay, take it easy," Brice said.
"Where's Roy!" Johnny asked. He tried to rise, but pain
brought him back down to the floor.
"We'll take care of Desoto, you let us help you now, were
does it hurt?" Brice asked.
"Right leg," Johnny whispered slipping into the
darkness.
~*~
Stoker started to remember what had happened. It was still
fuzzy around the edges but he remembered he had heard a commotion,
an explosion, and then darkness. As awareness started to solidify,
he tried desperately to get up, but it seemed like someone had
parked the rig on his chest. He tried calling out but the words
wouldn’t form. Cap heard him struggling and moved over and
placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Take it easy Mike. Help is here. Brice, Bellingham, Mike is
coming too."
"I’ll be there in a second, Captain Stanley."
Brice responded. Station 16, was already there. Station 23
arrived shortly to help, along with three ambulances. Police
officer Vince Howard and Female undercover detective Stephanie
Smart arrived shortly there after. The numerous firemen from the
other stations began their chore of dealing with the rubble of
what was left of Station 51. Chief McConnikee's car pulled up. He
got out of his car and ran into the building; the color draining
from his face as he surveyed the damage.
The paramedics from 16’s were loading Captain Stanley and
Marco in one ambulance. 23’s was loading Chet and Johnny
into another, while Roy was being loaded into a third. The chief
caught the eye of Captain Jerry Thompson. McConnikee noticed the
basset laying on the couch surveying the commotion.
"Captain Thompson. Have someone take that dog out of here
before he gets injured," McConnikee ordered.
"Right away, Chief." McConnikee moved into the truck
bay where Brice and Bellingham were frantically working on Stoker.
"How's he doing?" the Chief asked. Brice looked up and
pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose before telling
the chief,
"Not so good Chief, from our initial examination it looks
like both legs are broken, he has numerous broken ribs, and a
severe concussion," Brice said, turning back to Stoker.
"At least he's still with us," Bellingham added.
Shaking his head Chief McConkiee looked around at what was left
of station 51. Bellingham was right; they were all lucky to be
alive.
"Chief, you might want to have a look at this sir,"
Detective Smart said. With a sigh, the Chief stepped forward to
looked at what was left of a very crude bomb lying in front of
the engine. He didn't understand why someone would want to do
this. These men put there lives on the line every time they
reported for a shift, without having to worry about this being
done to them.
"Chief, Stoker is stable, where going to be moving him out
of here." Brice informed him as the ambulance attendants
loaded Mike Stoker into the ambulance.
A large crowd had gathered to the scene of the bombed out fire
station. Police had formed barriers to keep them back. The
majority of the crowd had been drawn by morbid curiosity.
Danny Morris, a fifteen year-old with sandy blonde hair stared
with fascination. He couldn't believe that they had caused all
that damage. He looked over at his friend Pete Mathews. Pete was
sixteen, well almost seventeen, and a high school dropout. The
young man had let his dirty blonde hair grow long and his
appearance was unkempt. Danny found his pal exciting and a little
dangerous. After all, Pete was on his own. He smoked; not just
regular cigarettes. Danny had thought he was cool and groovy. Now
he was having doubts about his association. He was developing a
gnawing fear in his belly.
The other youth was Pete's little brother Stevie. Stevie was only
thirteen and a little on the slow side. He idolized his big
brother, but all this destruction in front of them worried him.
Pete said that it was just a smoke bomb. Stevie stole a glance at
his big brother. Pete had a sick grin on his face as he took a
drag on his cigarette and blew the smoke out skyward. Stevie felt
confused. They hadn't planned to hurt anybody but already three
ambulances had left the scene and a fourth one waited in front of
the station.
Stevie visibly paled as he saw the paramedics transfer the last
fireman to the awaiting ambulance. He thought he recognized the
man he had seen raising the flags that morning. Even Stevie could
tell the fireman was hurt bad. He started to cry.
"Don't you dare cry!" Pete hissed at him.
"But," Stevie hiccuped, "that man is hurt bad." The look that Pete gave his brother stopped any more protest.
"Stop it now." Pete's voice was harsh and menacing and it frightened the younger boy. He wiped his eyes with the back of his sleeve and stared fearfully back at his brother. The look in Pete's eyes really scared him and he turned and started running for home.
~*~
Stephanie Smart decided to head back to the station and gather
clues. She got into her jazzy sports car and hurried off. As she
was driving, she picked up one of the little smoke bombs that had
been recovered.
"This couldn't have caused the explosion," she thought.
"Any moron knows that smoke bombs are harmless. But why
where they there?" So lost in thought was she, that she
never noticed the hairpin turn on the curved road. Her small
sports car careened through the guardrail and flew down the steep
embankment. The tiny car rolled repeatedly till it landed at the
bottom of a ravine. And then the car exploded losing Stephanie,
and the smoke bombs in a fiery inferno.
~*~
Police officer Vince Howard was patrolling the area between
Guadeloupe & Broody streets where he had spotted a small
Sports car that had rolled over and caught on fire in the ravine.
He directed traffic until the fire department showed up. The
captain shouted orders at his men and went over to the officer.
"Vince are you okay?" The captain asked.
"Yes but I think that’s Detective Smart’s car,"
Vince answered.
"I'm sorry Vince but I don't think she could have
survived that," the captain told him.
"But..." he dropped his head. The captain put his hand
on the officers' shoulder.
"I hope you don’t mind my being very blunt here, Vince,
but she's gone. There isn’t any way she could have made it
out alive." Vince's head snapped up to look at the captain
in shock.
"What did you just say? I can’t believe what I’m
hearing."
"From what I see, and I AM the professional, she couldn't
have made it out alive. She's dead, and nothing you can do will
bring her back."
"I was going to ask her to marry me tomorrow at a special
dinner. One year ago tomorrow is when we started dating. I waited
too long!" He began climbing up the embankment, tears
flowing heavily down his cheeks.
"I'm so sorry Vince." The captain called after the
officer. "Really sorry."
~*~
Chief McConnikee shook his head in disbelief, who would have thought that three teenage boys could be capable of doing something like this, and all on a dare. Investigation had lead them right to the boys, were the oldest of the group, proudly claimed he was the mastermind behind the stunt.
A weary Dr. Brackett walked into the doctors lounge. "Excuse me Chief, I thought you would want updates." Brackett said clearing his throat.
"Yes, of course I do, how are they?" The Chief asked, slightly nervous about the information that he was about to receive.
"Well, we’ll start with Captain Stanley. He has two broken ribs and a badly sprained knee.
Desoto has a severe concussion and heavy-duty contusions all over his body. Kelly, has a broken jaw and his nose his also broken, we wired his jaw shut so that it would mend." Brackett said, stopping to chuckle, over the thought that, for a change Johnny would have some peace.
"So how are Gage, Stoker and Lopez?" he asked.
"They are out of surgery and all doing very well. Lopez has a fractured shoulder.
Gage, has four broken ribs, one of, which punctured his lung causing it to collapse, a broken right ankle, heavy duty bruising on his back and a severe concussion. Stoker has bilateral compound fractures of the Tibia and Fibula, two broken ribs and a concussion." Brackett finished the long list of injuries with a sigh.
"I guess they're all going to be out for awhile," the Chief stated more then asked. He really felt for the six men of station 51. They were all so badly injured, and hadn’t had the chance this shift to rescue anyone.
"Two weeks for Stanley and Desoto, four for Lopez and Kelly and six to eight for Gage and Stoker." Brackett informed him as he turned to leave. Stopping he turned back towards the Chief, "They were all very lucky."
~*~
Mike stumbled into the dark apparatus bay. He walked between the two vehicles, and in the dimness of the room could see the large scratch that ran along the edge of the door where the woman had scraped the paint off. He ran his hand along the scar and shook his head. He heard a noise in the kitchen and decided he should investigate. As he stepped into the well-lit room, his eyes had to adjust to the change. Marco and Chet sat facing the door with their heads on the table. Cap was at the stove pouring five cups of coffee. Johnny was lying back on the chair, covering his eyes with his right hand; his left hand held his stomach. Roy sat next to him, with both elbows on the table, his hands covering his eyes. Cap turned around carrying two cups of coffee.
"Glad you could join us, engineer," Cap commented. "Was your nightmare as bad as everyone else’s?"
"Well, I’m glad I’m not the only one," Mike pulled out a chair and sat down. Cap put a cup in front of him. He nodded his thanks and took a slow sip of the hot liquid. Cap went back to the stove to get the next two cups of coffee. Suddenly, Marco sat up, and regretted it. He groaned and then spoke.
"I got it."
"We’ve all got it Marco," Chet commented into the table.
"I know why we’re all having the same nightmare." Chet turned his head to look at the Latino.
"And what’s that?"
"Johnny’s Chili." Johnny sat forward in his defense.
"No way. You can not pin this on me." Chet sat up and looked at Johnny.
"This is your fault," Chet accused.
"This can’t be my fault."
"You added something to it."
"Honest, Marco, I didn't add anything to it."
"Then why are we all having the same nightmare?"
"I don't know, maybe it's in the way you ate it or something."
"Yeah, right!" Marco stepped over to the fridge and pulled out the leftover chili. Opening the lid, he took a deep whiff. "There is something else in here, Johnny what is it?"
"I swear." Roy nudged his partner. "Roy, I didn't add anything."
"You did drop that towel in there," Roy reminded him.
"Oh, very funny Roy. Very funny. A million comedians out of a job, and you're trying to be funny. Honest, Marco, I didn’t add a thing. I followed your recipe to the letter."
"This does not smell like my chili." He placed it on the table. Everyone looked at Johnny, accusingly. Johnny looked down at his hands.
"Well, I couldn’t find the spices for the chili, so I had to do the next best thing."
"What’s that?" Cap asked, finally taking a seat opposite his men.
"The spices are right here," Marco reached up into the cabinet next to the stove. He felt around on the shelf. "Well, they were right here." He turned around, rejoined the men at the table, and took the next to Chet. "So what did you do?"
"I went and got spices." He leaned back in the chair folding his hands on his stomach.
"When? I was here the whole time and I didn’t know you had left."
"I didn’t have to go far."
"You didn’t…" Marco said, shocked.
"You had better not have…" Cap threatened.
"Well, Cap it was the only choice I had."
"Where did you go, Gage?" Chet asked, curiosity getting the best of him.
"I went to the herbalist around the corner. She said that she used those spices in her chili all the time." There was an audible gasp heard around the table from each man.
"I thought I warned you about that place?"
"Sorry, Cap. I couldn’t leave the station for any length of time to get the spices that the recipe called for so, I did the next best thing."
"Johnny she has been arrested for selling dope out of the back of that house," Roy said.
"I know, and I asked her about that. She said it was all a misunderstanding and the police let her off."
"Yeah, right." Chet commented, "hey, Gage, I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like for you to see."
"I’ve got some seaside property in Arizona..." Marco giggled.
"Yeah, Johnny," Mike said, "I’ve got prime farmland down in Florida…"
"Okay, I get your point, but she assured me that there wasn’t anything artificial in the spices she gave me. She told me that it was all natural."
"Excuse me, Gage, but I believe all drugs are considered ‘natural’." Chet scoffed, using his fingers to ‘quote’ his last word.
"So, where are these ‘natural spices’?" Cap asked. Johnny sat forward, leaned his elbows on the table, folded his hands in front of him, and tried to explain.
"Well, Cap, she saw that I only wanted a small amount so she only gave me a small bottle," he paused a moment and then continued, "at no cost."
"That’s how it starts," Chet smirked.
"Chet," Cap threatened. "Where is it?"
"Well, I…" he looked into his Captain’s eyes, "used it all."
"What?"
"Like I said, Cap, she only gave me a small bottle, so I used it all." Cap rolled his eyes heavenward.
"Sometimes Gage," Chet started, "you amaze me."
"Oh, shut up, Chet." Johnny snapped.
"Yeah, Chet, what he doesn’t think of you will," Roy said.
"This does have the earmarks of a Kelly idea, doesn’t it?" Mike said.
"Now wait a minute. Johnny screws up, and it’s my fault?"
"Okay, guys, that’s enough," Cap used his authority to stop the fight before it began. "Roy, do you think the Rampart lab can analyze Johnny’s chili and find out if we’ve been poisoned?"
"I think they can, but I’ll call Dixie to be sure."
"Poisoned? You think I’ve poisoned you, Cap?"
"What would you call it?" Stanley asked. Johnny looked at his Captain, not wanting to argue with his superior he backed down. "Roy could you get on that right away? I think we need to know if we need an antidote."
"Antidote?" Johnny whispered. Cap glared at him.
"Right, Cap." Roy stood and went to the phone in the dorm so that it would be quiet. Everyone waited anxiously for the answer. Roy returned and sat next to his partner.
"What did she say?" Cap asked.
"Well, she said as long as no one was throwing up or in great pain that we didn’t need to examine the food. She told me it should be gone by mid-morning, or this afternoon."
"She thinks we’ll be okay?" Chet asked.
"Yeah, she said it sounds like there was some opium in the spices and it shouldn’t hurt us."
"Opium?" chorused the five men around the table.
"Small doses can’t hurt you. If there were enough in there to hurt you, you wouldn’t be sitting here."
"You’re sure?" Cap asked.
"I’m positive," Roy answered.
"Marco do us a big favor, would you?"
"What’s that, Cap?"
"Don’t ever give Johnny any more of your recipes, please?"
"You’ve got it, Cap. No more recipes for Johnny."
"Well, if that’s the case then you shouldn’t give them to Chet either," Johnny said.
"Me? What did I do?"
"It was your idea to use the herbalist."
"Excuse me? I wasn’t even here."
"You suggested it."
"When?"
"Just the other day. You said that you wanted to go in there to pick up some spices for your sister."
"I was JOKING, Gage. After that talk that Cap had with us about that place, there isn’t any way that I would step foot on that property."
"Oh, sorry. Cap, it won’t happen again."
"I hope not. I don’t need any one on this shift to get sick."
"Really, Cap, I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would hurt anything. She said it was natural."
"Like I said…." Chet began, and Cap cleared his throat. "Sorry, Cap."
"Now is there anyway that we can find our way back to bed?"
"I think I’m going to try to fix that scratch on the engine, Cap." Mike said. "I figure since I’m up I may as well do it." He stood, turned on the apparatus bay light, and opened the closet, getting out the equipment he needed to repair the scratch.
"I’m going to try to go back to bed," Chet said, standing up and heading for the dorm room.
"I’m with Chet," Marco commented, standing to follow Chet. "I think I’m going to try to sleep too."
"I’m going to sit up and read a little," Roy said, leaving the room. Johnny and Cap sat facing each other.
"Cap…" Johnny began.
"You’ve already said you where sorry, please, don’t say it again. Any one of us could have made the same mistake. It’s okay. I think you just need to sleep on it."
"I don’t think I can. I really feel bad."
"Don’t. You didn’t do anything wrong. The only thing you did was you trusted what she told you. It’s possible that because she uses the stuff all the time, she doesn’t know there are any side effects."
"It did make the chili taste pretty good though, didn’t it?" Johnny and Cap stood up together.
"Yeah, it sure did. I think I had three bowls of the stuff."
"Did you see how much Mike ate?"
"No," they stepped into the bay. "How many did he have?"
"I think he had four. He must have really been hungry."
"I only had three, Johnny," Mike’s voice said from between the two vehicles. Johnny and Cap stopped to look at the engineer sitting on the stool rubbing on the scratch. "Chet was the one that had four. No, come to think of it, I think he had five."
"Five?" Both men asked. Mike shrugged his shoulders.
"I think so, check with Marco. We were talking about that earlier, that he ate more of Johnny’s chili than he ever did of Marco’s." A grin spread across Johnny’s face.
"You mean, Chet actually liked MY chili better than Marco’s?"
"Yeah, but you didn’t hear that from me." Johnny
walked purposefully into the dorm room. Cap right behind him.
Johnny walked up to Chet’s bunk ready to ask him if he liked
his chili, but stopped short. Chet was tossing and turning on the
bed, mumbling.
"No, Roy, you can’t make me…." Johnny couldn’t make out the rest.
"You’d better ask him in the morning," Cap said.
"Wow, that stuff is fast. You think…?" Cap shook his head no.
"I want you to stay as far away from that herbalist as possible."
"Well, it’ll have to be after Saturday night."
"Why is that?" Cap asked.
"I asked her out to dinner and a movie." Cap glared at him. "What? She was cute and available…"
"Sometimes, Johnny, I wonder about you. Go to bed."
"Yes, sir." Cap climbed into his bunk while Johnny headed for his.
"Oh, and turn out the lights." Johnny sighed and walked across the room to the light switch. "Night, Gage."
"Night, Cap. Sweet dreams," Johnny added, snidely.
"You too," Cap responded.
THE END
Editor’s note: Sorry, gang, the guys kept talking to me and I couldn’t help myself. The last four pages the guys took over and wouldn’t stop. They had to make their point. Pat emailed me and said that with an explosion of that magnitude there would be loss of life and limb. Hence the reason for ending it at the car accident. In the process of emailing Pat back, I jotted down a brief chili scene that made her ROTF and she told me I had to put it in. It was rather cute so when I got to that point, I asked my sister in law, master cook ;o), what Johnny could put in the chili that would make everyone have the same dream. She suggested the herbalist, and the guys took over from there. This last part has made me ROTFLMBO. I enjoyed doing it. Now if I can get the guys out of my head… This of course to some wouldn’t be such a bad thing. I just can’t have so many voices bouncing around in my head. To quote a bumper sticker: I only do what the voices in my head tell me to do. :o)
Katy