A large, red, heart-shaped box sat on the table in the day room. Embossed on
the box were the words "BE MINE." How long the box had sat there no one knew.
One by one the men walked into the dayroom only to be ensnared by THE BOX. All
six men stood looking down at the box on the table.
"Where do you suppose it came from?" Chet finally voiced the question all of
them had been pondering silently. No one seemed to know and all shook their
heads or shrugged their shoulders in denial.
"What do you suppose is in it?" Marco asked.
"What do you think would be in it?" Sarcasm laced Chet’s reply. "Choc’lates,
of course." Chet rubbed his hands in anticipation of the treat in store.
"Hold on!" Cap exclaimed as Chet reached for the box. "We don’t know where
these came from or who they came from or for that matter who they are for. Is
there any note or card or anything?"
The other men looked around on the table, under the table, under the box, and
around the room, but came up with nothing to explain the presence of THE BOX
on their day room table. All the men knew was, they had gone out on a call and
when they returned the box lay on the table.
"Well," Cap began, "I don’t think we should eat those candies until we know
more about them."
"Ah, Cap, they’re just choc’lates." Chet protested. "What could be wrong with
choc’lates?"
"They could be laced with garlic." Roy cut a sideways glance at his partner,
chuckling. John’s face took on a sour look as he remembered the last time he
had found candies lying on the table and popped a whole candy into his mouth.
"That’s right." Cap replied. "Let me see if I can find out more about them
before you guys go biting into them."
"Look, if you're afraid there’s garlic in them, I volunteer to be the taste
tester." Chet stared at the box as if he hadn’t had a meal in days.
"Yeah," Marco injected, "you’ll taste test everyone of them. And leave the
ones you don’t like in the box, half eaten!"
"I wouldn’t do that! I…" Chet hotly replied, but was interrupted by the
captain.
"All right you two, no one’s going to taste test them, so just shelve the
argument!" Cap paused to allow the men to calm down and back off from their
argument. "Besides," he continued, "it’s lunch time. Who’s in charge of
cooking today?"
"I am," Chet said quietly. "We're having sandwiches."
"Okay, let’s get the fixin’s and have lunch. I’m starved!" Cap replied rubbing
his hands together in anticipation. Dragging their collective gaze from THE
BOX, all six men began to prepare for lunch. THE BOX was moved to the middle
of the table taking on the role of centerpiece. Bread, cold cuts, mustard,
mayonnaise, chips, plates, and drinks were prepared and placed on the table
along with whatever else was deemed necessary for a sandwich lunch. No matter
what anyone did or how hard they tried, their gazes kept coming back to THE
BOX in the middle of the table.
"Wonder what kind they are?" John spoke with his mouth full of the bite of
sandwich he had just taken.
"Maybe caramel" Marco said looking longingly at the new centerpiece. "I love
caramel."
"Or maybe chocolate cream." Mike said.
"Or cherry." Roy added.
"Those are good but what I love is the peanut clusters." Cap said
"What say we open up the box and find out soon as we get through eating." Chet
suggested hopefully.
"No." Cap replied. "Not until we find out more about them, if we can."
Groans started going around the table, but were cut short by the sounding of
the klaxons calling them out to a fire. Leaving the table covered with lunch
fixings and THE BOX at the center, the men hustle from the room and into their
respective vehicles.
The fire turned out to be more of a small explosion, which had burned the
victim’s hands and face. By the time he had finished explaining what had
happened the man was red faced in more ways than one. After prepping him, the
paramedics transported him to Rampart ER.
John spied Dixie sitting at her desk and ambled over. An idea had occurred to
him and he set about finding out if it had any validity.
"Hey, Dix. How ya doin’?"
"Fine." Dixie didn't look up from the paperwork that engaged her attention.
"How ‘bout you?"
"Fine." John paused framing his next question carefully. "Hey Dix, know what
we found on the table when we got back from our last run?" After a moment or
two Dixie finished her paperwork and looked up at him enquiringly.
"No. What?"
"A box of chocolates. A big, red, heart shaped box of chocolates."
"Oh, where’d they come from?"
"We don’t know. You wouldn’t know any thing about them, would you?" John’s
expression of hopefulness faded as Dixie shook her head no. Roy appeared just
then.
"What’s up. Why the gloomy look?" he asked his partner.
"Oh, I was just asking Dixie if she knew anything about THE BOX."
"Oh?" Roy looked hopefully at the nurse. Once again the hopeful look faded as
she shook her head.
"Sorry, guys," Dixie said. "Don’t you have any idea how it got there or who
it’s from?"
"Nope," Roy said shaking his head. "We just arrived back from a run with the
Engine Company and there it was on the table. It wasn’t there when we left…"
"Don’t you guys keep the place locked up? Who could have gotten in?" Dixie
queried.
"No one. At least not anyone who didn’t have a key." Johnny replied. "Oh well
thanks, Dix, see ya later." With a wave of the handy talky the men made their
way down the hall and out the door to the squad.
On the drive back to the station Roy could almost hear the wheels turning in
his partner’s head. "You know what I think?" Johnny asked suddenly.
"No. What do you think?" Roy asked resignedly. He was going to hear what his
partner thought whether he wanted to or not.
"I think it was the Phantom…"
"The Phantom? What makes you think that?"
"Think about it. Dixie’s right. The place was locked up tight. Who else could
it have been?"
"Johnny, Chet was with us. When could he have had time to…"
"Yes, but who was the last one out of the dayroom? He could have had it hidden
and then when the alarm sounded he took it out and put it on the table and
then ran out to the engine."
"That is so far fetched it doesn’t even deserve a reply. If the phantom put
the box of candies there, it was for a prank. What kind of prank is that,
giving us chocolate candies."
"Maybe they are laced with garlic or something like that, maybe he knew
cap wouldn’t let us eat them and he did it to drive us crazy. Who knows how
the phantom thinks."
Roy merely shook his head. Even when the phantom didn’t strike, he struck.
Back at the station the other men were engaged in their own conversation as
they stared at THE BOX sitting before them on the table.
"It’s not even Valentine’s Day yet. Who sends Valentines when it’s not even
February yet?" Chet huffed in exasperation.
"Maybe it was JoAnne or Cap’s wife." Mike said sitting up straighter.
"Why would either one of them send the box here, in the middle of January,
without a card?" Marco replied logically.
"Maybe the card got lost." Mike put his chin back in his hand and leaned his
elbow on the table once more.
"Maybe HQ, maybe it’s some sort of gimmick or something," Chet said as the
paramedics walked into the room.
"HQ!" John exclaimed. "Why in the world would they send a Valentine box of
candy to the station?"
"I don’t know, but right now it makes as much sense as anything else."
"Oh for Pete’s…" The burgeoning argument was interrupted and cut short when
Cap entered the day room.
"I already called HQ…" He looked around as five pair of expectant eyes looked
back at him and shrugged. "It wasn’t them."
"What about JoAnne or…." Mike started.
Cap shook his head in denial. "I called them, too. They don’t either one know
anything about this."
All during the rest of the day and into the evening, when they weren’t on a
run, speculation on the source of THE BOX was rampant. Cap continued to refuse
to let them open the box and eat the candies. Finally it was time to hit the
sack. Everyone turned in and soon the room was filled with the sounds of deep,
regular breathing.
Except for one man. Johnny was still sure the phantom had put the box on the
table but he was dying to know if the candies were tainted or not. A dark
chocolate cream filled candy would be so good. Just the right bedtime snack.
Finally giving in to impulse, Johnny threw back the covers and stood.
He made his way stealthily into the kitchen and found THE BOX sitting on the
table practically gleaming. Quietly he lifted the lid on the box and found
chocolate covered candies nestled in ruffled paper cups looking up at him.
Just one. Picking a candy from the box he bit into it carefully. It wasn’t
laced with garlic but it was a coconut candy, not his favorite by far.
Stuffing the candy into his mouth and munching on it regardless, he proceeded
to search the box for another likely candidate. Finally after several attempts
he found the one he was looking for. Satisfied he placed the lid back on the
box and made his way quietly back to bed.
Throughout the night this scenario was repeated five more times. Even the
captain finally gave into temptation and raided THE BOX.
The next morning when C-shift returned they were surprised to find THE BOX
sitting on the table. As both shifts gathered around the table and stared at
THE BOX one of the men on the other shift lifted the lid to see what was
inside. Inside lay a multitude of empty ruffled cups; here and there lay a few
nibbled on pieces of candy.
"I only had a few," Johnny said in surprise.
"I had a few, too." Marco admitted.
"So did I," Roy said.
"Me, too," said Mike and Cap together. Everyone turned his gaze to Chet.
"Me, too." Chet said sheepishly. After everyone else denied having left any
half-eaten candies in the box, all gazes turned once again to Chet. "Well…I
didn’t like those."
"So you put them back in there half eaten! Chet that is just gross…" Johnny
continued his tirade.
"Hey, Cap," one of the men from the other shift addressed Captain Stanley.
"Where’d the candies come from?"
"We don’t know." Cap shrugged. "I don’t suppose we’ll ever know."
