If Wishes Were Horses
Roy looked out the rain-splattered breakroom window and sighed. It seemed like it had been raining day-and-night for weeks. He was beginning to forget what the sun looked like. Calls that day had been unusually light considering the weather, and Roy was bored. Plus Johnny had been getting on his nerves this morning. The rain was making everyone a little stir-crazy.
“DID YOU HEAR WHAT I SAID,” came a voice from behind Roy.
“Huh? What? Sorry,” said Roy, turning to see Johnny standing behind him.
“I said that Chet, Marco and I are going to play some poker, do you want in?”
“No, thanks,” replied Roy.
“Oh come on, are you just gonna stand there and mope around all day?” complained Johnny.
“I’m not moping, I’m thinking. Something you’re not used to,” replied Roy, a bit exasperated.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d take that as an insult,” said Johnny getting ready for a little verbal sparring match. He was bored too.
Roy opened his mouth to reply but the claxon went off instead.
“Station 51…. Car in a ravine on county road thirty-two, three miles north of Breaker’s Canyon, county road three-two, three miles north of Breaker’s Canyon.”
Roy and Johnny hurried out to the squad, their potential argument abandoned.
* * *
It was so dark and cloudy that Johnny had to squint to read his map as the engine and the squad rushed toward the scene of the accident. “County road thirty-two is a dirt road, we’ll have to be careful and watch the road for mud.”
Roy glanced briefly at their drenched surroundings and thought, “What else is there?”
“At least it looks like the rain is letting up for a bit,” said Johnny as they got closer to the accident. Roy could feel the road become mushy and had to stop about 30 yards from the ravine. The engine had to stop even further away or risk getting stuck in mud.
As Roy and Johnny got out and began to unload their equipment, the rest of the crew came running up. Chet already had a coil of rope. Marco and Mike reached out to grab some of the equipment. The crew slipped and slid their way down a small incline to the edge of a tree-lined ravine. They could see a pick-up truck in the water, entangled with what remained of a bridge. The bridge had only partially collapsed and was the only thing keeping the truck from being swept down the flood-swollen river. They could just make out three people, two adults and a child, in the cab.
Chet ran toward the bridge while Stanley took stock of the situation, “They’ve gotten themselves into a mess. I don’t see how we’re going to be able to get them out unless we get a line all the way across the ravine,” said Stanley.
Chet came running back up, “Not enough bridge left to try to cross on foot.”
“How long to find another way around?” asked Stanley, turning to Stoker.
“At least forty-five minutes. We’ll have to backtrack and take Mill’s Road, assuming that the bridge there is still in one piece and the road is passable,” replied Stoker.
Stanley took out his handytalkie, pulling out the antenna, “LA, this is Engine 51.”
“Go ahead, 51,” came the dispatcher’s voice.
“L.A., the bridge is out at our location, is there another unit that can respond from the North end of our incident?”
“Negative, 51,” came the reply. “Station 115 will not be available for at least an hour.”
“10-4, L.A.,” Stanley collapsed the antenna and returned the radio to his pocket, his eyes never leaving the swamped truck.
“Cap,” said Johnny, “They aren’t going to last forty-five minutes or even half an hour, the truck’s already starting to slip.”
“I wish there was another option. A chopper wouldn’t be able to help, too many trees in the way; and it’s too dangerous to try to swim, so unless you can fly…. You and Roy stay here. We’ll…”
“Hey, Cap?” interrupted Marco, indicating the far bank. Stanley and the rest turned to look. On the other side of the ravine was someone on horseback waving at them. The rider was dressed in a rain slicker and was waving a hat to get their attention but the rushing river made it impossible to hear anything.
“I don’t suppose we’d be lucky enough to get him to tie off our rope, do you think?” said Stanley hopefully, waving back at the rider, who put the hat back on and dismounted.
“Can’t hurt to try,” said Marco. “I’ll get the lifegun,” he shouted over his shoulder already jogging for the engine.
“Grab the binoculars too,” yelled the captain after Marco’s retreating form, “And some extra rope.” Marco waved a reply without turning or slowing.
The captain put his hands around his mouth and yelled down to the pick-up truck, “STAY WHERE YOU ARE, WE’LL BE THERE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.” It was doubtful they could hear him. He turned back to his crew, noticing Chet was rubbing his shoulder absently. “Hurt your shoulder again?”
Chet stopped and grinned sheepishly, “Just aches a little in bad weather sometimes.” As if on cue, thunder boomed in the distance and Stanley turned an eye toward the threatening clouds. Things were bad enough already, they didn’t need anymore showers.
“Here’s the gun, Cap,” said Marco, running up.
“Okay,” said Stanley taking a few steps back to get out of Marco’s way, “Go ahead and give it a try.”
Marco handed Stanley the binoculars and dropped the extra rope. He aimed the lifegun carefully and shot the thin line across the ravine. It landed on the opposite bank, about twenty feet from the rider, who ran and grabbed the line before it slid down the embankment. “Now, if he’ll just…YES!” exclaimed Stanley happily.
The rider began slowly pulling the line across the ravine and kept pulling until the rope was across, then jogged over to a large tree and began to tie off the rope. Marco followed suit on their end, pulling the rope as tight as possible.
“What do you think Cap?” asked Johnny.
Stanley lowered the binoculars and said, “Looks like he knows what he’s doing, and we don’t have time for anything else -- want to give it a try?”
Johnny put on his safety belt, grabbed three more, and walked over to the edge of the ravine, clipping his belt on the line. Hand over hand, he worked his way toward the truck. His weight brought the rope dangerously close to the water by the time he reached the truck, but he made it there safely.
Standing on the top of the cab, he rigged a safely line to give himself more maneuvering room. The truck was partially submerged, the water rushing over it’s bed, but the cab was still about half out of the water. The passenger side was crushed and entangled against the remains of the bridge, so Johnny knelt to talk through the driver’s side window. “Is anyone hurt,” he asked, having to raise his voice over the sound of the rushing water.
“I don’t think so,” replied the driver, a man in his late twenties.
“Please help us,” pleaded his panic-stricken wife, holding a crying, shivering child who appeared to be six or seven. The water was about waist-high in the cab.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get you out. Just stay calm,” said Johnny. “Is anyone hurt?”
“No,” came the reply.
He handed the extra safety-belts to the man through the window, “Can you put these on?”
“Yeah,” said the man, already fastening the belt onto the child.
Johnny heard a crash and felt a small shudder. He looked up and saw a large piece of debris being thrown up against the remains of the bridge before it continued its violent journey downstream.
“All right,” said Johnny, “What I want you to do is slip out of this window so I can tie a safety line to you and we can get you out of here.”
“What about Patty and Rachel?” asked the man.
“We’ll get them out too…one at a time…you first,” said Johnny firmly.
The man turned to make sure his wife and daughter had their belts on before he slipped out of the window, placing his feet on the window frame as Johnny tied the safety line.
“Okay,” said Johnny, “Do you think you can work your way back across hand over hand?”
“Yeah,” he replied, “What about Patty and Rachel?” he asked again.
“I can’t help them until you’re out of the way,” explained Johnny. “Now there are five guys on the other end of this safety line, so if you get into trouble, don’t panic, they’ll help pull you the rest of the way. All right?”
“Okay,” replied the man, then proceeded to work his way, hand over hand, toward the edge of the ravine.
Johnny watched for a moment, satisfied that the man was making good progress, then proceed to tie off another safety line. Then he slid down on his stomach on top of the cab. “Okay, next please,” said Johnny in forced chipperness, reaching through the drivers window toward the little girl. The child’s wailing grew louder as she hugged her mother tightly.
“It’s okay,” murmured her mother, “Everything going to be okay, Honey.” She gently disengaged the child’s arms from her neck and lifted her toward Johnny. There were faint shouts from the bank.
Johnny looked up in time to see a large tree being swept down the river before it hit the truck with a BANG, spinning the truck so that the entangled passenger door was ripped off. The child was torn loose from her mother’s grasp and swept away down the raging river. Johnny just managed to grab the mother’s arm before she was swept away as well. He struggled desperately to keep his grip on her and the safety line.
***
“Damn!” exclaimed Roy from the shore as he saw the child’s head above the water for a brief instant before she vanished from sight.
“RACHAEL!” screamed her father and was prevented from jumping in the water by Roy. Chet grabbed the extra coil of rope and he and Stanley ran along the embankment trying to keep the child in sight, but knowing there was probably nothing they could do to help her.
“PLEASE,” the man cried, as Roy held him.
“LISTEN!” shouted Roy, “You can’t swim in that… NOBODY can swim in that... you’ll just get killed trying.” The man’s shoulders slumped and he stopped struggling, “The Cap and Chet are doing all they can. We need your help now, Your wife needs your help now.”
Mike and Marco were doing everything possible to help Johnny but it was becoming apparent that two of them wouldn’t be enough to pull both of them in. Roy put the man’s hands on the safety rope and said, “Pull!” Slowly, the four of them began to pull Johnny and the woman to safety.
***
Stanley and Chet were running as fast as they could along the riverbank. They were having trouble keeping up with the child, trying to watch her and their footing at the same time. They were beginning to fall behind. Stanley had an awful, sinking feeling that even if they could get ahead of the child, there was nothing they could do in time to save her.
Just then the child was swept into some tree limbs that were wedged between two rocks near the middle of the stream. Chet gave Stanley a brief I’ll-jump-in-if-you-say-so glance but Stanley shook his head. “We can’t swim that, it’s too strong, we’ll have to figure something else out,” he shouted over the roar of the river.
Then Stanley noticed movement on the opposite bank upsteam. “What the heck….” Chet turned to see the horse and rider plunging into the river. “I don’t think that horse can swim against this current either,” hoping he was wrong, “But it might be the only shot she has,” said Stanley grimly.
“Either that or they’re all dead,” added Chet worriedly.
* * *
“PULL!” yelled Roy, the four men dug in their heels and pulled. Johnny had managed, though some miracle, to get the hysterical mother’s belt attached to the safety line. They only had a few more feet to go to the safety of the embankment. His mind wandered briefly to the fate of the little girl, then back to the business at hand.
***
Chet and Stanley watched the horse and rider make their way across the river. Stanley wondered if the rider started far enough upstream, for every foot of progress he made across the stream, he was swept five feet down it. It was beginning to look like he might be swept passed the child before he could make it to mid-stream.
***
Roy let go of the rope and reached out to grab the arm of the mother, pulling her to safety, then grabbed Johnny’s wrist, pulling him up and over the lip of the ravine as well. Seeing that his partner was no worse for wear, he quickly turned to examine the woman, who was sobbing “My baby, my baby,” uncontrollably in her husband’s arms.
Johnny gave Marco a questioning look. Marco shook his head. He didn’t know the fate of the child, but it didn’t look good.
“Roy, do you need me?” Johnny asked.
Roy knew how Johnny felt. “No, go ahead,” he replied waving to Marco as well. Johnny and Marco jogged downsteam past the newly arrived ambulance attendants who were hurrying toward Roy and the victims.
***
Stanley and Chet held their breath, “He’s not going to make it,” said Chet. Indeed, it looked like the rider was going to miss the child by several feet. The rider, realizing it as well, jumped the last few feet toward the child, grabbing her by the hair. The force of the grab, freed her from the entangling tree limbs. Now horse, rider and child were being swept downriver again.
***
Johnny and Marco caught up to Stanley and Chet just in time to see the rider’s frantic attempt to save the child. They all ran downsteam, chasing the waterlogged group. Stanley realized, with relief, that the bunch was actually beginning to make some progress toward the shore.
The rider had one arm firmly around the child’s chest, keeping her head above water, and the other hand grasped the saddle horn, letting the horse do all the swimming. The plan seemed to be working, though it was obvious that they were beginning to tire. About fifty yards further, the river took a sharp curve. The water moved more slowly there. The men ran to get ahead. Marco and Chet slid down the embankment into the shallow water and waded out as far as they dared, they could feel the water pulling at them and knew that the further away from the shore they got, the harder the current was.
“Here they come,” warned Stanley from atop the embankment. Marco and Chet hurriedly finished tying their safety lines. Stanley and Johnny quickly looped the other end around a boulder to give them extra leverage if either Marco or Chet lost their footing in the dangerous water.
The group rounded the corner only a few feet from shore. The horse found his footing and the rider let go in exhaustion. Marco and Chet quickly reached out to pluck rider and child from the river’s grasp.
“Is she alive?” the rider gasped.
Chet quickly took the limp child to the edge of the embankment and handed her up to Johnny who immediately began mouth to mouth.
Marco was speechless for a moment, then quickly helped the rider to her feet. “Johnny will do everything he can for her…Miss,” he replied.
The rider stumbled over to where the horse stood panting and hugged it’s neck fiercely.
They heard a few weak coughs, then crying, coming from beyond the edge of the embankment. Chet and Marco looked at each other and smiled, “Sounds like she’s going to be okay,” said Chet aloud. “Come on,” he said, gently pulling on the girl’s arm, “Let’s get out of here.”
“Not on your life,” she replied, shivering. “I’m not leaving him down here,” she said indicating the horse. Chet looked at Marco helplessly.
“Everything’s all right on our end. How about you?” asked Stanley, who was looking down over the edge of the embankment.
“Ahhhhhh, we have a little problem here,Cap,” said Chet.
“What’s that?” inquired Stanley, warily.
“What are we going to do about the horse?”
“Can’t it get up the embankment?” asked Stanley, looking at the girl.
The girl studied the nine-foot wall. “Maybe if it wasn’t so muddy and slippery, but there’s no way he can get any traction the way it is now,” she answered. Her shivering grew more violent.
“Let’s just take care of you first, then we’ll figure something out. Why don’t you come on up now?” said Stanley, reaching down a helping hand.
The girl didn’t make a move toward him. “If he doesn’t go, I don’t go,” she said defiantly, crossing her arms.
Stanley shook his head, “Come on now, let’s be reasonable. It’s obvious you’re freezing. We can handle him once you’re taken care of.”
The girl stared at him stonily.
“All right then,” sighed Stanley, seeing that she wouldn’t be convinced. He slid down to join them. “Do you have a suggestion, Miss?”
“Not off the top of my head,” she replied, teeth chattering. “I’m Katie and this is Sierra,” she said pointing toward the horse. Stanley took off his turnout coat and offered it to her. Katie took it from him gratefully. It smelled of smoke and chemicals. When she put it on, it came down to her calves and her hands disappeared into the sleeves. She knew she looked absolutely ludicrous but it was warm so she didn’t care. “Thank you,” she said through still chattering teeth.
“Don’t mention it,” replied Stanley, quickly looking away to hide a bemused smile at her appearance.
They heard shouts and screams from beyond the embankment. “Everything okay?” yelled Stanley, toward the commotion.
Roy’s head popped over the edge, “Yeah, just a little family reunion.” He was grinning ear to ear. “You need me Cap?” he asked.
“No, go ahead in with the ambulance, we’ll figure something out.” Roy nodded and disappeared. Stanley stood there in his shirt sleeves, one hand on his hip, the other on his chin while he tried to come up with a solution. “You sure he can’t make it up there on his own?”
“Pretty sure,” replied Katie, “Even if he wasn’t worn out, he wouldn’t be able to get any traction, he’d slide right back down.”
“What if we kept him from sliding?” asked Stanley.
“Like how?”
“What if we tied a rope to his halter …”
“Uh uh,” interrupted Katie, “You might break his neck that way.”
“Okaaay…what if we looped it behind him instead?”
Katie considered it thoughtfully, “That might work, but I don’t think you have enough men. When he slips, he’d drag you down with him,” she replied.
“We could tie off one end to something solid, like a tree, loop it behind him, and then wrap it around, say, another tree to give us some extra leverage if he slips,” suggested Stanley.
“I dunno,” said Katie cautiously, after a moment she brightened, “Let’s try it!” she replied more optimistically.
Johnny threw down the rope. Stanley and Katie looped it though one of the stirrups, behind Sierra, through the other stirrup and tossed the end back up to Johnny. Chet, Marco and Stanley climbed back up the embankment while Katie stayed behind to calm her mount, who was becoming more and more nervous.
As Katie waited for Stanley’s signal, she was suddenly struck by the smell in the jacket, it was probably contributing to Sierra’s unease. She thought about taking it off but then Stanley called “Ready?”
She grabbed the halter and backed Sierra as far back as the slack in the rope would allow, then shouted, “Here we come” and ran Sierra toward the embankment. He made a leap about half way up the embankment and started to slip, frantically trying to get his footing.
The men couldn’t take the sudden slack up fast enough so Sierra slipped about a foot before the rope held. He was still struggling to climb the embankment with Katie encouraging him as much as possible while avoiding being trampled at the same time. Stanley realized that they were stuck and he and the men dug in and pulled, Sierra got one foot on the edge of the embankment, then another, then suddenly he was up and over it, practically dragging Katie with him.
“Oh, thank you!” exclaimed Katie. Sierra just shook himself all over and began to rub his head against Katie. “Ouch, those buckles hurt you klutz,” said Katie in mock anger, and swatted him playfully. She walked him around in a circle to make sure he wasn’t limping or otherwise injured. He looked a little dirty, but none the worse for wear. “Thank you all so much,” said Katie.
“You’re welcome,” replied Stanley. Katie turned as if to leave. “Just where do you think you’re going?” asked Stanley.
“Home,” replied Katie, matter-of-factly.
“Not just yet,” said Stanley. “I want Johnny to check you over and make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine. Really,” protested Katie.
This time it was Stanley’s turn to cross his arms and look stonily at her. Then he grinned and said, “Besides, that’s my coat you’re wearing…It might come in handy if I have to fight a fire, don’t you think?”
Katie grinned sheepishly and removed the jacket, handing it back to Stanley, then tethered Sierra and submitted to their questions and examination. “Well, will I live?” she asked Johnny a bit sarcastically as he removed the blood pressure cuff.
“Yeah, assuming you leave the rescues to the professionals,” he replied, a little sarcastic himself.
“Now, can I go home?” she asked Stanley.
“That depends,” replied Stanley, not being able to resist a little teasing, “Are you planning on swimming there?” he asked jokingly.
Katie looked perplexed, “I hadn’t thought of that…guess it will be kind of a long hike home at that.”
“We can have dispatch call someone for you if you like,” offered Stanley.
“No, thanks,” replied Katie, “there’s really no one you can call, I’ll just have to take the long way home and hope the rain holds off for a little while longer.”
The plan didn’t please Stanley but there was really nothing he could do about it. “Okay then, thanks for all your help.”
“Shouldn’t I be the one saying that?” grinned Katie, she stood on tiptoe and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “From Sierra,” she said. Stanley covered his embarrassment by offering her a leg up. Horse and rider started down the road at a slow trot.
“Aaaah, Cap,” said Chet mischievously.
“YES,” replied Stanley in a threatening tone.
Chet considered the captain’s mood for a moment, changed his mind, and asked instead, “How are we going to untie Johnny’s rope from the other side of the ravine?” Stanley opened his mouth, expecting a different question, then closed it and shrugged.
“Who’s up for a little game of poker when we get back?” asked Johnny as they made their way back to the squad and engine.
“I’m in,” replied Chet promptly, “You must have used up all your luck on that rescue.”
“Yeah. What? What do you mean ‘used up all my luck’, you can’t ‘use up’ luck,” said Johnny a little uncertainly, looking to Roy for reassurance, “Can ya?”
Roy gave Chet a dirty look. Chet quickened his pace so that Stanley was between them.
“No, Johnny, you can’t use up luck,” replied Roy, attempted to forestall what would very likely be Johnny’s next obsession.
“No….no, of course you can’t,” replied Johnny. There was a long pause “Are ya sure?”
"If Wishes Were Horses" ©1999 Erika Bartlett. "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.