By

P.J. Bedingfield

October 31, 1954

   “Mr. Fireman? Are you there?” the soft, voice asked.

   “Yes, sweetheart, I’m here.”

   “Please, Mr. Fireman, will you hold my hand?”

   He reached out to the seeking hand and grasped its softness into the tough leathered calluses of his own.

   “Mr. Fireman?” she asked again.

   “Hush, child. Save your strength. We’ll have you out soon,” he told her.

   “No,” she whispered forlornly, “Please, don’t waste your time. I have heard the angels singing.”

   He shifted closer to the trapped child. In the dimness he could see where the rods had pierced the young body. He knew, beyond a doubt, she would not live. But he still held onto hope.

   “Mr. Fireman,” she whispered, her voice growing ever softer.

   “Yes, sweetie, I’m here.”

   “Can I make you a promise?”

   His brows puckered into a frown. She wanted to make him a promise?

   “Sure, sweetheart. Anything you want.”

   She was silent. The sounds of digging filtered through the layers of metal and wood. A fine powder of dust sifted down, covering them both.

   “I want to promise you, and all the other firemen, that if they get trapped and hurt like I am…. I will be there for them. I will hold their hand until help arrives for them. That way, they will never be alone, and they will know that someone cares.”

   Tears rolled from the fireman’s eyes. He could only listen as her ragged breathing began to slow. He bowed his head in defeat. This time, death had won. Suddenly bright sunlight broke into their space, but it was too late.

   “Good-bye, Mr. Fireman. Remember my promise.”                                                  

20 years later – October 24, 1974

   Marco Lopez and John Gage walked into the station together. They were arguing about the previous day’s events.

   “Well, Marco, next time I’ll set the ladder up!” Johnny teased his friend.

   “Come on, man! It wasn’t my fault the ladder fell!” Marco’s eyes were twinkling.

   Roy DeSoto, blond haired and senior member of the paramedic team, walked in on the argument. He grinned at Marco’s pronouncement.

   “What ladder fell where?” he asked.

   “Johnny came over yesterday to help me fix momma’s roof. The ladder wasn’t grounded right and it fell over. We spent a little more time on the roof than Johnny wanted!”  Marco explained.

   “A little time!” Johnny exclaimed. He turned to his friend and partner. “Four hours we sat on that roof waiting for someone to find the ladder so we could get down!”

   “Yeah, but we finished the roof!” Marco laughed.

   Johnny snorted, “Yeah, well, thankfully your sister, Teresa, came out and found the ladder, or we’d STILL be up on the roof!”

   “We could have climbed down the tree, “ Marco said, his voice muffled by his locker.

   Roy shook his head and grinned. He opened his locker and pulled out his uniform shirt. A small object fell to the floor. He leaned down and picked it up.

   “What’s that?” Johnny asked.

   “Looks like an antique cameo locket,” Roy said. He turned it over in his hands. “How’d it get in my locker?”

   “You sure you didn’t buy it for Joanne and just forget?” Marco asked, joining the two paramedics.

   “No. Joanne wouldn’t like it. She’s not into old jewelry.”

   “Give it to Jenny, then. I bet she’d like it,” Johnny told his friend. He and Marco left the room.

   Roy looked at the tiny locket once more then placed it in the front corner where he would be sure to see it when he left for home. He quickly finished dressing and headed for the day room. The locket was quickly forgotten.

   The morning passed quickly for the men. The squad had three calls and the engine had six.

   “Wonder what’s for lunch?” Johnny asked as Roy backed the squad into the bay.

   “Probably sandwiches. Today’s Chet’s turn to cook. At least he’s not on one of his health kicks right now!”

   Roy and Johnny had just returned from a run at Rampart.  A nurse had managed to get herself stuck in one of the many vending machines.

   “At least it wasn’t Dixie this time!” Johnny laughed, referring back to the rescue.

   Captain Stanley stepped from his office. He waited for the two men to exit the squad. “Roy, John, could I talk with you two for a minute?”

   Johnny glanced at his partner with a worried frown. “What’s the problem, Cap?”

   “No problem. Just a question,” Hank told them. The two paramedics relaxed. He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a bracelet with a small charm dangling from it. The bracelet was tarnished with age.

   “Hey, that’s cool, Cap! You going to give it to your wife?” Johnny asked.

   “No, I found it in my locker this morning. I asked the others if they knew where it came from, but they said no. So I thought maybe you two might know?” He looked at them.

   Roy held out his hand and Hank placed the bracelet in his palm. He dangled the charm in the sunlight coming in through the blinds. “It’s an old pumper truck.”

   “It looks about as old as that cameo you found this morning,” Johnny said.

   Captain Stanley looked at Roy, “What cameo?”

   “I found an old cameo in my locker this morning while getting dressed. I thought maybe someone was playing a joke.” Roy rubbed the side of his nose. “You want to see it, Cap?”

   “Yes. I was told by Chief McConnike yesterday at the meeting that the men from the other shifts were finding stuff in their lockers, too.”

   “Wow!” Johnny said. “I haven’t found anything in my locker. But I guess I should look a little closer.”

   Roy returned to the captain’s office and handed the cameo to his superior. Hank turned the locket over and studied the backside. He flipped it over once more then pressed the side. A hidden spring released and the locket opened.

   “Any pictures?” Johnny asked.

   “No, nothing. Not a mark on it to identify its owner, or where it might have originated from.” Hank placed the locket in his drawer with the bracelet. “Keep this to yourself. I’ll tell the others after lunch.”

   The three men made their way to the day room where Chet had sandwich makings laid out on the table.

   “At least we don’t have to worry about what’s in the food!” Johnny said in a stage whisper to Roy. He winked at his partner when Chet responded as expected.

   “Just you wait ‘til dinner, pal! You’ll be eating your words!”

   “Probably taste better than anything you cook,” Johnny shot back.

   “Enough!” Captain Stanley interrupted before a full-scale war could start. “Everyone take a seat. I have some news to share from HQ.”

   The men gathered around and Hank explained about the mysterious appearances of the cameo in Roy’s locker, and the bracelet in his. “The other two shifts have also been finding objects in their lockers, so keep your eyes open. If you find something that shouldn’t be there, report it to me immediately!”

   “Yes, sir!”  “Right, Cap!”  they acknowledged. The meeting was interrupted by the klaxons.

   Tone after tone rang from the speaker. The men darted to the trucks and waited. The last tone sounded. Static filled the station, but Sam Lanier’s voice never announced what the calls were for. The men of 51 looked to their Captain. He shrugged in confusion. Jumping from the cab of the engine he grabbed the microphone and called in to dispatch.

   “LA, Station 51. We are waiting directions,” Stanley said into the microphone.

   “Repeat, Station 51?” Sam’s voice answered.

   “LA, we received the tones for an emergency. Where are we headed?”

   “Negative, 51. No tones were sounded,” Sam answered, his voice full of curiosity.

   “Uh, 10-4, LA,” Stanley said. The men left the trucks.

   “Cap?” Mike Stoker asked for all the men.

   “I don’t know. Maybe it’s a malfunction. I’ll call in on the land line and have them send someone to check it out.” Hank headed for his office. The door snapped closed.

   By the end of the day the tones had rolled three times. Each time there had been no follow-up announcement. A man from the main office had come and gone. He had been there with the A-shift crew the third time the tones had sounded. He left as puzzled as the men he left behind.

   The men settled in for the night. Out in the truck bay, Henry sat looking up at the squad. His tail thumped the floor in a rapid tattoo. He dropped a yellow ball and waited. Slowly it rolled across the floor and came to rest by the dorm room entrance. Henry grabbed the ball and ran back to the squad with it. Twice more the ball went rolling. Henry eagerly played chase, but when the ball refused to move again, he returned to his favorite position in the dayroom. He climbed onto the couch, and stretched out and fell asleep.

   Charlie Dwyer sauntered into the station fifteen minutes early. He wanted to brag to Johnny about his terrific date from the previous night. He opened his locker and jumped back when a soft green piece of material floated out at him. It landed in a crumpled heap at his feet. He let out a yelp of surprise and stumbled backward over the bench.

   Captain Hammond and Captain Stanley charged into the area. They took in Dwyer’s position on the floor and the green material on the floor.

   “You okay, pal?” Captain Hammond asked the B-shift paramedic.

   “Yeah, I think so. Just had the life scared out of me is all!” He rubbed the back of his head.

   “Better let Roy and Johnny take a look at your head,” Captain Hammond said, not quite making it sound like an order.

   “Yes, sir. Um, sir, what about this?” he indicated the green material.

   “I’ll take care of it. Go get yourself checked out.” Hammond turned to the assembled men. “Everything’s okay, men. Go on about your business. Hank, let’s go to the office.” Hammond grabbed up the material and followed Hank to the office. They closed the door, leaving behind several disgruntled men. 

   “What do you make of it?” Hank asked, looking over the material. It appeared to be the remains of a child’s blouse.

   Hammond sighed in frustration. He shook his head and said, “Either someone is playing a really bad joke, or we’ve got a stalker on our hands.”

   “How do you feel about, uh, paranormal activities?” Hank asked his friend.

   “What do you mean?”

   Hank told the B-shift captain about the tones sounding, and the locket and bracelet he and Roy had found.  He also told him about some strange sounds that had occurred in the truck bay the night before. Items had been moved from their normal spots, and other items appeared that had been missing for some time.

   “Let’s just play this by ear for now, Hank. I’ll talk to Bob on C-shift, maybe he has some ideas.”

October 27, 1974

   Chet strolled through the day room. Henry perked up at the sight of his favorite human. He thumped his tail on the couch and grunted in happiness when Chet stopped and gave him a good scratching behind the ears.

   “Hey, mutt, anything exciting happen around here? Thought not!” Chet laughed at his own joke. He wondered for the ump-teenth time if a prank by the Phantom would lighten the mood around the station, then decided against it. Too many strange things were already happening for him to get into trouble because of a prank by the Phantom. He poured himself a cup of coffee, then headed for the locker room to change his clothes for the shift.

   Mike Stoker was leaving the room as he entered. “Hey, Mike! How was your day off?”

   “Pretty good. Peggy and I went to the beach for the day. Then we went to the movies. It was nice.” Mike left a gaping Chet behind.

   “Wow! A complete sentence, no, four sentences! Must have been a good time!” Chet grinned. He opened his locker and stared in disbelief. Marco walked in and saw Chet staring into his locker.

   “What’s wrong, Chet?”

   “Look at this!” Chet exclaimed. He waved his hand towards his locker.

   Marco peered around the open door and laughed. “That’s a new way to hang uniforms! How’d you get them to stay like that?”

   “I didn’t do it! I opened the door, and there they were!” Chet groused.

   “Let me get Cap. You know he said to tell him if anything else happened!” Marco trotted from the room. A few minutes later both men were standing in front of Chet’s locker. Captain Stanley had an instamatic camera with him and he took several different shots of the locker’s contents.

   “Go ahead and straighten your locker now, pal. I’ll put these with the rest of the stuff we’ve been finding.”

   Chet sighed and began to remove the shirts and pants from the hangers. He re-hung them and placed them together on one side of the locker. He then sprinkled a white powder in the bottom of his locker before closing the door.

   “What’s the powder for?” Marco asked.

   “Well, if the person doing this gets in my locker again, I’ll have proof it is a real person and not some ghost!” Chet explained.

   “Ghost?” Johnny and Roy had walked in on the conversation.

   “Yeah, Gage, a ghost. How else would you explain all these strange things going on?” Chet challenged.

   “You’ve been watching too many horror movies, Chet. Everyone knows ghosts don’t exist!” Roy laughed.

   “You know, Roy, Chet may have a point there,” Johnny said. He opened his locker carefully. When nothing jumped out at him, he proceeded to change his clothes for his uniform.

   “Don’t tell me you believe in ghosts, Johnny?” Roy said in disbelief.

   “Gee, Roy, I don’t know,” Marco spoke up. He picked up a shoe and started to put it on when he yelped and pulled his foot out. He tilted the shoe and several pieces of change fell to the floor.

   “New banking method, Marco?” Johnny laughed.

   “Um, no. Look, these coins are over twenty years old.” He held out his hand. In his palm lay two dimes, two nickels and a penny.

   “What’re the dates?” Roy asked.

   Marco held one of the nickels up to the light. He squinted at it then said, “1954.”

   “All of them?” Johnny asked as he, too, checked the date on one of the coins. Captain Stanley poked his head into the room.

   “Roll call in five minutes, guys. What are you looking at?” Hank opened the door all the way and went to see what had caught their interest. Marco handed him the coins.

   “Where’d these come from?” Hank asked.

   “My shoe,” Marco answered.

   Captain Stanley sighed, “okay, I’ll ad these to our growing collection.”

   “Um, Cap. Look at the date on the coins. They are all 1954, and the total is thirty-one cents,” Johnny said.

   “Yeah, so?” Hank asked.

   “This is October, Cap. In four days it’ll be Halloween. You know, October thirty-first?” Johnny fidgeted under his captain’s gaze.

   “What’s your point, Gage?” Hank asked.

   “Well, what if Chet’s right? What if we have a ghost here that’s trying to warn us of something that’s going to happen?”

   “A ghost? You twit! There’s no such things as ghosts!” Captain Stanley shook his head. “Roll call in three minutes!” He left to put the coins with the other items in the desk.

   The klaxons sounded. The men waited, breathless, to see if it was a real call, or if it was another malfunction in the system.

**Station 51...Structure Fire…1213 Industrial Blvd….1-2-1-3 Industrial Blvd…Time Out……08:05**

   The men scrambled for their trucks. “KMG 365” Captain Stanley acknowledged.

   The building was fully involved by the time the crew arrived. Captain Stanley ordered his men to start hauling lines and try to contain the fire in one building.

   “Marco, Chet, take an inch and a half and hit the opening! Johnny, Roy, take another inch and a half and go to the north side!” He pulled out his HT and contacted head quarters. “LA, we have a building that is fully involved! Send out a second alarm!”

   “10-4, 51” Sam Lanier replied.

   Within minutes stations 110 and 28 had arrived on the scene. With their help, the fire was quickly brought under control. Captain Stanley was watching his men when something caught his eye. He stared at the building, trying to see clearly through the smoke. He blinked, then pinched the bridge of his nose.

   “Hank?” said Station 110’s captain, “What’s wrong?”

   “Did you see anyone over by the building just now?” Hank asked.

   “Where?” asked Captain Hookraider.

   “Over there,” Hank pointed to the now destroyed building. “I thought I saw a kid standing there.”

   Hookraider looked to where the Station 51 captain was pointing. He wiped his eyes, then glanced back at his fellow captain. “You sure you saw someone, Hank?” he asked.

   “No, maybe it was just the smoke playing tricks on my eyes,” Stanley replied, uncertainly.

   “Yeah. Could be. I’d hate to think someone had been trapped inside.” Hookraider said.

    “LA, Station 51. This fire is under control. All stations out, one hour.” Hank told the dispatcher.

   “10-4, Station 51.”

   Once back at the station, the men quickly went about their assigned duties. Captain Stanley sat in his office thinking about the fire, and what he had thought he had seen. He sighed and decided Hookraider was right. The smoke had played a trick on his eyes.

   The tones sounded again.

**Squad 51…..Man down at movie house…….2221 Temporal Lane….2-2-2-1 Temporal Lane…Cross street Lamar…..Time out….10:45**

   Roy and Johnny jumped into the squad and headed out. Just as they cleared the bay doors, Roy caught a glimpse of a child out of the corner of his eyes. He quickly put it out of his mind and concentrated instead on their call. Once at the scene the two paramedics found the reel man had fallen down the stairs leading to the film room. His left ankle was fractured, and he had also managed to bang his head hard enough to get a minor concussion.

   “Where are you going to take him?” the movie house manager asked.

   “Rampart General,” Johnny told him.

   “I’ll call his wife. She can meet him there.” He walked off to make the call.

   Roy and Johnny helped load the man into the ambulance. “I’ll ride in with him,” Roy said.

   “Okay, meet you at Rampart.” Johnny closed the doors and slapped them twice. The ambulance pulled away, lights blinking and siren wailing its mournful tune.

   Johnny gathered their supplies and trash. He started to climb into the squad when he saw a young child standing to one side. He grinned and waved. She returned the wave then skipped off. Johnny watched her disappear around the corner of the building. He thought that odd, since there was no exit on that side. He walked over to see what she was doing. He stared at the area around him. The girl had vanished. With a shrug Johnny returned to the squad. He opened the door and stopped in his tracks. Lying on the seat of the truck was a newspaper clipping. It was yellow with age, and very brittle. He picked it up and tried to read the story. All that he could make out clearly was the date and name of the paper. He carefully folded the old clipping, then went to collect his partner.

   Johnny saw Roy talking with Dixie. He headed to the nurses’ desk and tapped his partner on the shoulder. “Ready to go, Pally?” he asked.

   “Uh, yeah. What’s your hurry?”  Roy asked. He noticed how agitated his partner was.

   “Um, I just think we need to get back. Ah, I have something I need to give to Cap.” Johnny explained. Roy’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

   “What is it?” he asked.

   Johnny rubbed the side of his nose. “You know Cap said to let him know if we found or saw anything?”

   “Oh!” Sudden comprehension made Roy move to join his partner’s side. “See ya later, Dix!” Roy and Johnny said.

   “What?” Dixie asked, but the two paramedics had quickly disappeared through the doors.

   Dr. Morton saw Dixie staring towards the doors. “What’s up, Dixie?” he asked the head nurse.

   “Something’s up with those two!” she exclaimed.

   “Johnny and Roy? When is something NOT up with those two?” Morton grinned and dodged as Dixie took a playful swipe at him.

   “Oh you!” she said in exasperation.

_____

   Johnny gave his captain the newspaper clipping. Hank tried to read it, but could only make out the date and name of the paper.

   “Cap, why don’t I call the library and see if they have this issue on micro-fiche?” Johnny asked. “We could at least find out what the article is about.”

   “Good idea, Johnny. Ask if they would mind bringing a copy to us. Let them know we’ll reimburse them for the copy.”

   Several minutes later Johnny reported that a friend of his would drop the copy by the station later that afternoon.

   “Good deal, pal,” Captain Stanley said.

   Just as the men were sitting down to lunch, the tones sounded again. They jumped up and ran to the trucks.

   Mike stumbled over a small object on his way to the engine. He kicked it out of the way, then climbed into the driver’s seat and waited for the captain to join them.

** Station 51….Station 36…..MVA 405 Pasadena Exit…..MVA Pasadena Exit…Use Victorville on ramp…time out 12:45. **

   “KMG 365,” said Stanley. He, too, tripped on the small object. He kicked it aside and joined his crew on the engine.

   “Here’s the ramp,” Johnny said to his partner. “Vince is waving us on through.”

   The engine followed closely behind the squad. They parked on the side of the highway and all the men climbed from the trucks. Johnny and Roy began to check on the occupants of the nearest vehicles while Hank sent the rest of the men to check on the other cars scattered across the freeway.

   “What have ya got, Roy?” Hank asked the senior paramedic.

   “Nothing major, Cap. She’ll be fine.” He smiled at the woman in the car. She grinned at him and nodded her thanks.

   “Okay, go see if you can help your partner. It looks like he has his hands full with that man.” Hank motioned towards where Johnny was struggling with a heavily overweight man.

   Roy jogged over and joined his partner in an attempt to calm the man. After a few minutes, the man passed out and Johnny heaved a sigh of relief.

   “Get Rampart on the line. He has a broken leg and a nasty contusion on his forehead. I also think he may have some internal injuries,” Johnny said. He wiped his brow of the sweat that had beaded on his forehead.

   Roy quickly set up the bio-phone and contacted the hospital.

   “Rampart, this is Rescue 51, do you read?” he paused. “Rampart, this is Rescue 5-1, do you read?”

   “Go ahead 51, this is Rampart,” Brackett’s voice floated from the bio-phone.

   “Rampart, we have a male, approximately 50 years old. He is severely obese. He is the victim of a motor vehicle accident. He has a fractured right tibia and a contusion on the left side of his forehead. Also, he may have internal injuries. B/P is 150/85, pulse is sixty. Respiration’s 28 and shallow. He is diaphoretic. ”

   “10-4, 51. Start an IV with Ringer’s Lactate. Keep an eye on his vitals, especially his B/P. Transport as soon as possible!”

   “10-4, Rampart! IV Ringer’s, keep eye on vitals and transport!” Roy repeated back. He and Johnny quickly readied the man and were loading him into the ambulance when a yell came from Chet.

   “Cap!” Chet ran up to his superior. “Marco’s been hit by a car!”

   “What?” Captain Stanley exclaimed.

   “Some kid decided to leave the scene in a hurry and hit Marco!” Chet was agitated and kept trying to pull his captain along.

   “Roy, Johnny!” Captain Stanley called even as he and Chet raced by the ambulance. “Marco’s been hurt! Let 36’s paramedics go in with your patient!”

   Cunningham and Brice heard Captain Stanley, and raced to take Roy and Johnny’s place. Cunningham gave the two a ‘thumbs up’. Roy and Johnny

quickly took off to help their injured shift mate.

   Marco lay quietly on the asphalt. His face was ashen. Blood seeped from a gash on the back of his head where he had hit the ground. His arm was at an odd angle to his body.

   Roy knelt beside the unconscious man, and began to take his B/P and other vitals. Johnny opened the bio-phone to contact Rampart once again.

   “Rampart, this is Rescue 51!” he waited.

   “Go ahead 51!” Dr. Brackett said.

   “Rampart, we have a male, 27 years old, victim of a hit and run. Vitals are…..” he looked at Roy.

   “B/P 90/60, pulse 45 and rapid, respiration’s 18.”

   Johnny repeated the vitals then continued, “Victim has a broken left ulna. The arm has been splinted. He has also suffered a blow to the back of the head. The wound was bleeding, but is now under control. He is unconscious and unresponsive to any stimuli.”

   “51, start an IV with D5W TKO. Transport immediately. Get me a new set of vitals in five minutes!” Brackett ordered.

   “10-4, Rampart!” Johnny replied. He closed the portal and helped ready their friend for transport to Rampart Hospital. “Roy!” Johnny called. He pointed to Marco’s uninjured hand. He had it curled as if holding on to something. A smile spread across his face, but he remained unconscious.

   Marco was quickly loaded in the waiting ambulance and taken to Rampart, where Dr. Brackett met them at the door. He quickly had the fireman on the exam table and was barking out orders when Dixie McCall pushed through the door. She took Roy’s place and began taking a new set of vitals. 

   Forty-five minutes later Marco was sent up to orthopedics to have his arm set and placed in a cast. He had regained consciousness and passed the neural exam with ease.

   Roy and Johnny waited until their friend had been placed in a room before calling and letting those waiting at the station know how their comrade was doing.    

   “Hey, Marco,” Roy said softly as he and Johnny entered the room. “How you feeling?”

   “Tired and very sore!” Marco answered. “Hey, who was the kid holding my hand out there? I didn’t think she would be allowed to ride in the ambulance,” Marco told the two paramedics.

   “What kid?” Johnny asked.

   “The little girl. She was holding my hand the whole time. Real pretty thing, too. Strange, though, she never spoke, just smiled and patted my hand.”

   Johnny and Roy stared at Marco. Roy gave a slight shake of his head when Johnny opened his mouth to speak.

   “We don’t know, Marco, but we’ll try to find out and let you know,” Roy told him.

   “Great, thanks, guys.” Marco yawned. The painkiller was making him sleepy.

   “We’ll stop by tomorrow and check up on you,” Roy said, and motioned to Johnny they needed to leave.

   “Thanks again, guys,” Marco said as he drifted off to sleep.

   “What kid was he talking about?” Johnny asked as he and Roy left the hospital. “I didn’t see anyone! Did you?”

   “No. Marco may have been hallucinating. You know that happens with a serious head injury sometimes.”

   “Yeah, you’re right. I was thinking that maybe we ought to tell Cap what he said, though. But I guess it would be kind of silly, wouldn’t it?”

   “Maybe,” Roy said thoughtfully, “then again, maybe not.”

_____

   Roy and Johnny made their way to the day room where the men were sitting around the table. They were handing around the copies of a newspaper Johnny’s friend had delivered while the two were still at the hospital.

   “Here, you two, read this.” Hank gave them a copy of the article he had found. It matched the faded copy Johnny had found on the seat of the squad.

   They quickly scanned the story. Johnny asked, “What’s this got to do with all the weird things going on here?”

   “Good question, pal. I’m trying to track down the fireman mentioned in the article. If he’s still alive, I’m hoping he can clue us in,” Hank told them. The telephone rang. Chet jumped up and grabbed the receiver.

   “Station 51. Fireman Kelley speaking.” He stood listening for a moment. “Hello?” he asked. When he received no answer he placed the phone back into its cradle. He gave his crewmates a perplexed look. “No one was there. It was dead air!”

   “I’m getting the creeps, guys! Too many unexplained things are going on here. Maybe we should called a priest or something and get him to bless the station!” Chet said. He rubbed his arms as the air in the room suddenly became cold. All eyes turned to stare at Chet. They were rubbing their arms as well.

   “What?” Chet asked. “I didn’t do anything!”

   “It’s not you, Chet. It’s what you said,” Mike Stoker spoke for the first time since returning from the run.

   The klaxons sounded. The men ran for trucks, but once the tones stopped, only static filled the air.

   By the time the shift was over, every man was ready to head home and put their strange day behind them. They did not stay around to chat as they usually did. Captain Stanley stayed just long enough to fill in the B-shift commander before he, too, left for home. He hoped that with two days off the men would be able to forget the strangest shift they had ever had, but little did he know that an even stranger shift awaited him and his men.

October 30, 1974

   Mike Stoker stood in front of his locker. He was holding a tiny object in his hand. The door opened and Jerry McMillan, Marco’s temporary replacement, entered the room.

   “Morning, Mike. What’s up?”

   Mike looked up. His gaze was unfocused. “Morning, Jerry. Um, better ask the Cap. He’ll fill you in.”

   Jerry looked at the engineer in surprise. His answer was not what had been expected. “Uh, sure, okay.” He quickly stowed his gear and left the room.

   Mike continued to study the object in his hand. He had found it attached to his uniform shirt. He tossed the pin up then caught it and folded his fingers around it. Quickly shutting his locker he went in search of his captain.

   “Cap?” Mike said after knocking on the door to the office.

   “Yeah, Mike. What’s up?”

   “This.” Mike handed the pin to the captain and waited for his reaction.

   “Where’d you find this?” Hank asked.

   “It was pinned to my shirt. I almost missed it, but it was in the way of my badge.”

   Hank studied the small pin. He opened the drawer to the desk and tossed it in with the rest of the collection. “The collection is growing!” he said.

   The telephone on Hank’s desk rang. He grabbed it up and said, “Station 51, Captain Stanley speaking.” He listened to the voice on the other end of the line. Mike started to leave, but Hank motioned for him to stay. “Yes, well. Thank you for calling. I appreciate you taking the time to let me know.” He listened some more. “Okay. Yes. Uh huh. Thank you again.” He hung up the phone and stared into space.

   “Cap?” Mike said.

   “That was the daughter of the fireman mentioned in the paper. Her dad was killed two years after that fire. She said he only spoke about the girl that was killed once. Said something about a promise she had made before she died.”

   “She didn’t know what the promise was?” Mike asked.

   “No,” Hank shook his head. “But it would be interesting to know. It’s just too bad the promise was never told to anyone else.”

   Mike and Hank left the office. Captain Stanley called the men for morning roll call and assigned chores. He was making announcements when he suddenly noticed the men were not paying attention to him. Instead, they were looking at something behind him. He turned around to see what had captured their attention.

   A small yellow ball was rolling across the floor. It bounced off his shoe and rolled over to Johnny’s foot where it came to rest. A clicking sound came from the day room. Henry rounded the rear of the squad and sat down beside Johnny. His tail beat a happy tattoo on the floor. A low ‘woof’ came from deep in his chest. The ball rolled over Johnny’s foot and bounced across Roy’s shoes to land in front of the Basset Hound. Slowly it rolled way, and a happy Henry followed its progress across the bay floor.

   They men watched in fascination as the Basset grabbed the ball and began to run around, dodging now and then as if playing with someone. He disappeared into the day room and the men heard him climbing onto the leather sofa. They crowded through the door and stared at the now sleeping Basset.

   “I never would have believed he had it in him!” Chet said to no one in particular.

   “Who was he playing with?” Johnny asked.

   Chet looked at his shift mates and said, “I’m telling you, guys, we have a ghost!” No one disputed him.

   Captain Stanley cleared his throat. He glanced at Marco’s replacement to see his reaction. Jerry stood with a grin on his face. His shoulders were shaking with suppressed laughter. A tear trickled down his cheek. He saw the captain looking at him and finally gave in to the mirth he was feeling.

   “Ghosts? Come on, guys. Spooks and ghosts and goblins are only in books!” He turned and left to room to start on his assigned duty.  A few minutes later a loud scream pierced the station. All the men ran to the latrines where Jerry was sitting on the floor. He was holding his head and muttering to himself.

   “You okay, pal?” Stanley asked as he knelt in front of the downed man.

   “Uh, yeah, Cap. I uh, just scared myself.” He chuckled. “Guess I have a better imagination than I thought!”

   “Did you hit your head?” Roy asked, the paramedic stepped into the room and knelt beside the captain.

   “Awe, yeah, but not hard. There won’t even be a bump. I was kneeling down when I fell.” He refused to tell them that someone had pushed him, and that someone had been a young girl.

   Roy checked his pulse, as Johnny checked Jerry’s eyes with his penlight. “I think he’ll be fine, Cap,” Roy said.

   “Be a little more careful, pal,” Stanley told the man.

   “Yes, sir,” Jerry answered sheepishly.

_____

   Throughout the morning objects were moved, or came up missing. Missing objects showed up in strange places. Items that had disappeared on previous shifts showed up where moments before, nothing had been. Captain Stanley kept adding objects to the desk drawer. Once in a while a surprised cry would come from one of the men when something either appeared, or disappeared from view without warning.

   Chet found his favorite puzzle book lying in the oven when he went to turn it on to cook lunch. Roy found his stethoscope looped around the latrine doorknob. Mike and Jerry found their turnout coats hanging from the hose wrack, and Captain Stanley found the contents of the drawer strewn all around the office.

   Jerry quickly learned to keep his disbelief to himself. Twice he had felt himself pushed from behind, only to find no one there when he spun around. Henry slept through the day as usual, with the one exception that morning.

   Nerves were beginning to fray when Mike Stoker spotted her, for the first time that day. He had gone outside to retrieve his turnout coat for the second time. She stood in the shade of the building. She watched as he climbed the tower and grabbed his coat. He was muttering to himself as he climbed down. He stopped when he saw her. She smiled at him and waved, then darted behind the tree. With a cry, Mike ran after her. By the time he was around the tree, she had vanished.