His Bubble Popped
Audrey W.
“What pray tell is that?” John Gage asked when he saw Chet Kelly come into the dayroom with a huge clear plastic roll of padding. It was as big around as a tire and twice as high, with pockets of air throughout.
“This?” The curly haired fireman teasingly questioned in return. “Bubble wrap,” he stated proudly.
“I know that much,” Gage stated from where he sat at the table near the kitchen end of the room. His partner Roy DeSoto sat quietly across from him, his back toward the sink and stove top, waiting to see where this conversation would lead. “What I meant was what’re you doin’ with that bigga roll?”
“Why this is what may very well save your life one day. Or at the very least, keep you from breaking an arm or leg . . .”
“Yours or mine?”
Roy grinned slightly as the exchange continued.
“Johnny baby, don’t be so negative.” Chet stepped closer to the table. “I’m tellin’ ya, this is just what you need on rescues. I’m sure Roy would agree.”
The senior paramedic put both hands up in front of his chest, pushing his involvement away before it got started. “I’m just here for the show.”
John looked incredulously at him.
“The show? Don’t encourage him, Roy.”
“I don’t need his encouragement. I inspire myself.”
Gage snorted a laugh. “Inspires himself,” he muttered to his partner.
“So what do ya say? Ready for a little innovation?”
“I’ll show you some innovation,” John said as he stood up and lunged forward in one swift move to snatch the roll of bubble wrap.
But Chet was quick on his feet and stepped back. “Uh uh, not like that.”
The curly haired fireman then found himself running through the open doorway and into the apparatus bay, the dark-haired paramedic close behind. The two raced past Captain Stanley, who was just on his way to the dayroom to get a cup of coffee.
He watched as the two men disappeared around the end of the squad, then peeked into the other room.
“What’re they up to now?” he asked Roy, who was still just seated at the table.
“Chet suggested Johnny wear bubble wrap for protection during rescues. So Johnny tried to rip the roll out of Chet’s hands and Chet took off.”
“Oh, okay. For a minute there I thought it was something ridiculous,” he said with a roll of his eyes, his voice laced with sarcasm.
Roy grinned.
Suddenly they heard a barrage of muffled popping noises coming from the direction of the apparatus bay. The two men looked at one another in amusement, then Roy pushed his chair away from the table to get to his feet as Hank turned to leave out the doorway he’d just stepped into.
~*~*~
Marco and Mike, the other two engine crew members, were already making their way behind the squad and engine, toward the noise.
“Sounds like a bunch of balloons popping.”
“Why would anyone of us do that?” Mike wondered.
The two firemen arrived where the sound was coming from the locker room. After they pushed the door open and stepped inside, they stood staring at the sight before them in curiosity and slight amusement.
~*~*~
Roy had quickly followed behind the captain as they trotted along the same route as Marco and Mike.
“I wonder who has the bubble wrap now?”
“With those two?” Hank said as they approached the still closed locker room door. “By the sounds of it, probably into a tug of war.”
He pushed the swinging door open, then stopped, Roy nearly running into him.
The long roll of bubble wrap was now completely rolled out and flat on the floor between the rows of lockers on either side of the hallway that led to the dorm room. John was in the process of stepping firmly on it from one end to the other and back again for who knew how many times. The plastic bubbles popped less and less as more were flattened.
Chet stood staring and shook his head. “What a waste of perfectly good bubble wrap.”
He then noticed the audience of four that had joined them.
Captain Stanley grinned slightly. “You look more deflated than it, Pal.”
With one last stomp, John popped the one remaining little pocket of air, a triumphant crooked smile on his face as he leaned with his left shoulder against the wall, arms folded across his chest.
Chet sighed. “I didn’t think he’d really do it, but I gotta hand it to him. He ended it with a bang.”
This was inspired by all the times some of us joked about John Gage needing to be protected by bubble wrap. It is dedicated to Wanda Hargrove, who was often a part of those conversations.
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