The Carolers Five Plus One
By Audrey W
“C’mon, Roy, now’s not the time ta drag your feet!”
“I’m just trying to get my belt buckled. . .” he defended, following behind.
John Gage and Roy DeSoto had just recently arrived for their next twenty-four hour shift at Station 51 and were getting dressed into their uniforms when one of the engine crew members had delivered a message from their captain. Chet Kelly had told them Captain Stanley wanted them all in the dayroom for an announcement, one that sounded rather big.
“C’mon, man. That can wait.”
“I don’t know why we just can’t line up out here,” Roy said as they hurried past the rear of the engine and squad.
“You heard Chet. Cap thinks we’re gonna need to hear this one sittin’ down. You know what that means.”
“Yeah. It may make us sick.”
Gage glanced at his partner, who was now beside him. “Bad attitude, Roy. That’s a bad attitude.”
“Just call me wary. . .”
The two entered the room, where the rest of their crew was seated around the large table in the kitchen end.
“Have a seat, gentlemen, and we’ll get this started,” the captain offered.
The paramedics complied and waited with the others as the senior officer explained.
“I know you all remember when we did the firehouse quintet--”
“The department’s having another competition?” Gage asked at the same time Roy mumbled, “Who could forget?”
DeSoto’s remark drew an annoyed glance from his partner.
“Lettum tell us, Gage,” Chet said. “Then we’ll all know sooner.” He then looked at the other. “Is that it, Cap? Another competition?”
“Unbelievable, Chet. You asked the same thing as me. . .”
“If you two are through, I’ll finish and then you’ll both know.”
“Right, Cap,” the two men said in unison, then gave each other a quick glance.
Roy wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the news. But he’d have to remain as an unwilling participant.
“Well, it seems as though we left quite an impression on someone who was at the firemen’s picnic--”
“My mom shows our trophy to anyone who comes over to the house.”
“Marco,” John said between clenched teeth. “Wouldya just let ‘im talk?”
Unfortunately the captain didn’t get to say anything more, but it wasn’t his crew that caused another delay. The klaxons sounded and the men of A-Shift were sent out on a call for a structure fire, along with multiple other units.
The ‘structure’ turned out to be a large dumpster. Both Engine and Squad 51 were directed to cancel en route. As Roy made a u-turn, Gage stated, “Well, at least maybe now we can find out what Cap’s news is. I wonder if we’ll win another award?”
“I wouldn’t count my chickens before they’re hatched. Besides, you didn’t exactly ‘win’ the prize you intended to the first time.”
Johnny shifted in his seat to face his partner.
“No, but, Roy. . .this time could be totally different. Totally.”
“You’re right. As in not even a competition at all.”
The younger man frowned as he faced forward again. “Man, why do ya gotta be such a Scrooge?” He grumbled.
Roy shook his head and rolled his eyes. Something told him this wasn’t going to be the only time Gage referred to him as that.
The paramedics had just turned onto the street their station was on when Dispatch contacted them over the radio. They were once again turning around, this time due to a rescue.
“Unknown type rescue,” Johnny said out loud.
“Maybe we’re saving someone else from a group singing that shouldn’t be.”
“Oh real funny. So funny I forgot to laugh.”
Roy smirked at his partner’s obvious annoyance with him, then grew serious again as they continued on toward their destination.
When they arrived on the scene, the paramedics were escorted into a community center where a choir of middle-aged adults had been rehearsing until one member suddenly passed out.
“Marjorie was holding a long note and as her voice faded, she just fell over,” the director of the choir explained as he led them through the building. “It’s like she just refused to give up, no matter what. We’ve had a handful of ladies vying for the solo part of our performance,” he added. “I can only guess it was determination to win the part that kept her going.”
When they came into the room, they could hear mutterings of deep concern by many of the other choir members.
The woman was conscious now, but still lying on the floor as she gathered her senses.
“Can everybody step back please and give us some room?” Roy said as he and John set their equipment down and knelt beside the victim.
The group complied, but still looked on with worried expressions.
“Has this ever happened to you before, Marjorie?” Gage asked as he checked her pulse.
She seemed to give the question careful thought before quietly responding, “Well, almost. Usually I quit holding a note when I start to feel dizzy. But I just couldn’t this time. . .I just couldn’t.”
Her latter words had a more desperate tone to them.
Roy set up the biophone while his partner gathered her vitals and continued to calmly talk with her.
“So I take it you really enjoy singing.”
“Oh yes. When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a professional when I grew up.”
“How old are you?” Roy asked, needing the information to pass on to Rampart.
“Fifty-two.”
“Well, you still have time,” John said with a crooked grin.
She smiled slightly.
Once Majorie was checked out, it was determined she should be brought in non code R. Doctor Brackett wanted to run a few tests to rule out a couple of possible underlying causes of her syncopal episode.
“So she’s going to be alright?” One woman asked the paramedics.
Gage gave her and the others a reassuring smile. “It looks that way. Hopefully she’ll be back to singing Christmas carols with you very soon.”
Most showed relief, but he noticed three ladies still had concern on their faces.
While Roy left the room with Majorie on a gurney, the ambulance attendants along with them, John stayed back a moment to try to ease the three ladies' apparent worries.
“Really, everything looks good right now. The doctor just wants to see her as a precaution.”
“That’s not what we’re worried about,” one explained. “We were hoping now she’d be out so someone more qualified could do the solo.”
Another added, “Yeah, with her ego, it was our only chance.”
He eyed the third lady, expecting much of the same sentiment. Her folded arms across her chest and pouty expression were enough.
Poor Majorie. Her supposed friends were more concerned with ousting the soloist than the fact she’d been laid out on the linoleum floor not long ago. He could only figure they had to be some of the ones the director was referring to.
“So much for the holiday spirit of caring,” Gage muttered to himself as he went to join his partner.
On their way back to the station, after John had told him about the ladies’ negative attitudes, Roy remarked, “I can’t believe I was right about the kind of run we were on. I guess I know more about people than I thought.”
“Yeah,” Gage agreed with a slight snicker. Then a look of sudden awareness washed over him and his brief smile faded as he recalled Roy’s low opinion of their firehouse quintet they’d had. “How come you know? It wouldn’t have anything to do with your firehouse brothers. . .would it?”
Roy glanced at him. “Can I plead the fifth on that?”
His partner’s smile said that he was joking, but John had his doubts.
When they arrived at the station, the paramedics climbed out of the squad and walked into the dayroom. Their colleagues, minus the captain, were seated around the table, cups of coffee in front of them.
“Hey, that sounds good,” John said, noting the drinks. “Want some coffee, Roy?” He asked as he looked in the saucepan on the stove that they made the beverage in. “After we make some,” he added with a frown at the others. They’d emptied it and not made more.
“Sure.”
“Hey, we didn’t know when you’d be back,” Chet defended, having gotten Gage’s subliminal message.
“Speaking of back, should one of us tell Cap they’re here so he can finally pass on whatever news he had for us?” Mike suggested.
John quickly handed Roy the still empty pot.
“I’ll go let ‘um know.”
Before anyone else could say anything, he was gone.
Roy glanced at the saucepan in his hand. “I guess this means I’m making the coffee he offered.”
Captain Stanley came into the dayroom with a piece of paper in hand, John right behind him. When Roy glanced curiously at his partner from where he stood waiting for the pot of water to heat, the younger man just shrugged. Apparently he hadn’t gotten an explanation ahead of them.
“Okay, I’m glad we could finally be here all at once because I really want to get this news out.”
John had walked over to stand by Roy while the captain began to speak.
“I really hope it’s another competition,” he whispered out the side of his mouth.
“As I was saying earlier,” Hank continued, “It seems someone remembered us from the firemen’s picnic--”
The klaxons once again interrupted his news.
“Oh good grief.”
It was just the paramedics who were dispatched out. Stanley decided they’d just have to find out later from the rest of the crew.
“This is the place,” John said as Roy brought the squad to a stop in front of a church. The two paramedics quickly climbed out of the truck, then got their supplies from the passenger side compartments.
As they started up the sidewalk toward the building, a man came out and met them.
“You guys got here fast.”
“We do our best,” Roy answered.
John followed behind the two, the biophone in his right hand. Roy had the drug box in his.
“He’s down this hallway,” the man explained as they entered through the doorway and into a hall that was a half circle around the main room of the church. “We were putting up Christmas decorations in the children’s Sunday school classroom, when Mark missed a step on the ladder coming down, he twisted his ankle and crashed onto the floor on his back. He’s in a lot of pain.”
“I think we’re gonna need the backboard,” John said. “You wanna take this and I’ll go get it in case?”
Roy acknowledged as he took the biophone from his partner. He continued on with their guide, while Gage trotted back out to the squad.
The man who had been so surprised at their quick travel time was also impressed with the paramedic’s efficient assessment and treatment of the victim as well. A brief time after arriving, they had him on the backboard with an IV as directed by Doctor Brackett at Rampart, and secured on a gurney from the ambulance.
Roy walked alongside as the ambulance attendants wheeled Mark out of the church, while John talked to the other man.
“He may be out awhile with that ankle and back injury.”
“I guess I’ll just finish the decorations by myself. Mark’s wife is already on her way to the hospital, so I don’t need to be there.”
“You want help, Tom? We could probably come back after we take him in, as long as we make ourselves available from here.”
His face brightened. “Hey, that way if I fall off the ladder, you’ll already be here.”
“I could use that as a selling point to my partner,” Gage said with a slight grin.
“I appreciate the offer, but it’s not necessary. There isn’t that much left to do, really.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.”
At the tail end of their conversation, they reached the ambulance. Roy had climbed up inside with Mark and was ready to go, the biophone and drug boxes secured inside as well.
“See you at Rampart,” the younger man said, closing the doors. He gave them two slaps, indicating they were secure. Once the ambulance was on its way, he stepped over to the squad. With a wave to the other man, he was on his way.
John hadn’t gotten very far from the church when he realized what he’d just about done.
“Oh man!”
If Tom had agreed to them helping and Roy agreed, they would have had to wait even longer to hear Captain Stanley’s news.
He sighed and glanced upward, with a quick “thank you”, immediately returning his attention to the traffic ahead.
“C’mon, let’s find out now,” Gage said to his partner as Roy brought the squad to a stop in the apparatus bay. Before Roy could respond, the younger man was already halfway out of the now open passenger door.
“Sure,” he said with a roll of his eyes. He climbed out, following behind the over anxious dark-haired paramedic who was around the front of the squad and almost to the dayroom.
“So, is Cap ready to give us the news?” John asked when he saw the engine crew minus Captain Stanley seated in chairs facing the television at one end of the room.
“He already broke the news,” Mike Stoker remarked.
“Yeah,” Chet chimed in as John and Roy both stood with mouths hanging open that they had really missed the briefing. “Apparently a staff member from a local nursing home who’s related to Jones at Station 8 heard us sing at the Firemen’s Picnic awhile back and she suggested us to the higher ups there. They want us to be in a Christmas show for the residents. 'Holiday With Heroes' is what they are calling it.”
“Really?” Gage wondered, a slight grin on his face. “We were that memorable?”
Roy rolled his eyes again as he glanced at his partner. Memorable in a not so good way. . .he thought to himself.
John sat on the edge of a corner of the kitchen table as he asked, “Do we get paid?”
“See?” Chet said, nearly shoving Marco out of the chair beside him. “I’m not the only one.”
“No we don’t get paid,” Captain Stanley said as he entered the breakroom. “We get the joy of bringing smiles to the faces of senior citizens.”
“Which is better than money,” Chet stated, in hopes of sounding less greedy than Gage.
“Right. However, I do have another job for you that you will get paid for because you’ll be on duty.”
Roy and John looked at him with eyebrows raised in anticipation.
“There are a couple of classes at one of the elementary schools that you two are going to go talk to about Christmas tree and lights safety, first and second graders. A few of the guys from other stations are covering the other classes.”
“When do we do this?” Roy wondered.
“This afternoon. Headquarters has it all set.”
Both men forced smiles. Though it wasn’t the worst assignment, children weren’t always the best audience when it came to lectures. They tended to get a bit antsy.
“And so, remember to make sure your mom and dad keep that water bowl under the tree full.”
“Any questions?” John asked, following his partner’s reminder. He pointed to a little brown-haired girl with a bun in her hair, a red ribbon around the base of it. The child looked very anxious to ask something. “Yes, young lady?”
“Yes? But I haven’t asked my question yet.”
“Oh. . .well. . .I mean, that’s just an acknowledgement. . .” He noticed she looked just as puzzled after his explanation, so he just went with, “I’m sorry, go on with your question.”
“How does Santa get into houses that don’t have chimneys?”
Gage shot a look toward his partner beside him, hopeful Roy would have a good answer since he had children of his own. The blond paramedic seemed to.
With his arms folded across his chest, Roy explained, “You see, he’s magic. He can get in without a chimney just like he can get presents in without one.”
“My mom and dad said he isn’t real,” another child stated.
John glanced at the little red headed boy. He wasn’t about to let the kid ruin the magic of Christmas for the others. “Of course he’s real. But I’m sure your parents had a good reason for tellin’ you he’s not.”
“Now that we have that settled,” the teacher put in, “Are there any safety questions?”
Another little girl raised her hand.
Roy pointed to her. “Go ahead.”
“I don’t feel very good. Can I go to the school nurse?”
The teacher excused both herself and the student, directing the two paramedics to carry on until she returned. The next few questions turned out to be valid safety issues.
“Well, that went pretty good,” John said as he and Roy settled into the cab of the squad after they had completed the safety briefings for both classes. "Aside from the three kids between the two classes we lost to the school nurse."
“I don’t know. I have a feeling someone’s parents aren’t going to be too keen on us telling them there is a Santa Claus. You know, that’s really something the parents should handle, and since there were a few who had been told there wasn’t--”
“Ah, they’ll get over it,” John interrupted. “Easier than if we told the ones who still believe that there was no Santa. You wanna see a mad set of parents,” he snorted, “Just ruin that.”
Roy put the truck into drive and pulled into the street after seeing there was no oncoming traffic. He decided to leave well enough in their conversation alone, rather than remind his partner he was talking with the dad of two young children who still believed in Santa. He knew all too well how he'd feel if some other adult ruined it for them.
On the way back to the station, after making themselves available, the paramedics were dispatched out on another rescue.
Another man had fallen off a ladder, this time after a ‘Santa stomping on the roof’ rehearsal for Christmas Eve. Their children were in school, so he and his wife decided then was a good time to do it. She had waited inside the home while he got on the roof so she could tell him when his footsteps were loud enough by yelling up to him through an open window. He wasn’t seriously injured, but enough to require a trip to Rampart General. Once he was in the care of the doctor, John and Roy were once again headed back to the station.
“Now there’s parents who wouldn’t appreciate their kids bein’ told there wasn’t a Santa,” Gage said as he turned slightly in the passenger seat as they left the hospital lot.
“Yeah, when they go to that much trouble to keep it real, I’m sure they wouldn’t. Can’t blame them.”
“Ya know, I admire people who go to that length to make others’ Christmases special.”
Roy glanced at him. “Is this still about them or are you back on the concert deal?”
John turned more to face him full on. “Roy, c’mon. Get in the spirit. It’ll be incredible.”
The other rolled his eyes yet again. “Sorry, I don’t follow your belief we have what it takes to do a good show.”
“But since we know it’s for a good cause now, not a stupid contest, you’re onboard, right?”
“Maybe I can be an usher. . .”
The younger man shifted in his seat once more, this time to look out the side window. He sure wished Roy would have a better outlook about singing in the concert. He still knew more about music than any of the rest of the crew and they could use his expertise.
“Five days? We only have five days?”
John couldn’t hide the shock on his face when he and Roy got back to the station and found out the concert was sooner than they would’ve hoped.
“That’s right,” the captain confirmed from his desk.
The paramedics were in the office to write down their calls so far for the day in their log book.
“How’re we gonna pull this one off?” Gage wondered out loud. “I mean, do we know what songs? How’re we gonna practice?”
“We can rehearse on our days off, maybe just a couple of hours a day.”
“Do they have certain songs requested?” Roy asked.
Captain Stanley shook his head. “Just that they be Christmas carols, obviously.”
Roy smiled. “Well, then, just pick songs we all know and it’ll make it a lot easier.”
“I just hope--” John cut off his own words when Roy’s sank in. “Wait a minute. Did you say we? As in you and us?” He motioned toward his partner, then himself and the captain.
The senior paramedic nodded. “It’s like you said. It’s a good cause.”
Gage was up from his seat in an instant. He ran out of the doorway before he and his partner had finished the log book. “Guys! Guess what! Roy’s in the concert with us!”
The last of his words faded as he got farther into the apparatus bay.
Roy looked at the book in front of him on another desk. “I guess this means I’m on my own here.”
Hank Stanley laughed slightly. “You probably should have told him your change of heart after you two were done.”
He was probably right, but somehow this made himself happier, too.
The next two days off the men practiced for a couple of hours each day as planned. They played record albums with the Christmas carols they selected, so as to get the hang of singing them together.
The first day was at Captain Stanley’s home, the next was at Roy’s. His wife Joanne and their two children baked Christmas cookies for the guests, which made John even happier. The whole DeSoto family was now involved in a sense.
“Just think what you’d be missing out on if you hadn’t wanted to do this whole thing,” John said as he pushed a half chewed sugar cookie against his left inner cheek to speak.
Roy sat on the arm of the couch his work partner was seated on.
“I have to admit this performance endeavor has really been fun.”
“I can’t wait till we put on the show. Six voices in harmony.”
Roy wasn’t sure they were entirely in harmony. Joanne would probably let him know exactly how they sounded after everyone left. But they did seem to sound better than he originally expected, certainly better than their previous performance. If the employee from the nursing home was that impressed then, maybe everyone would be entertained with this concert.
Back on duty after their regular days off, Chet and John hum rehearsed Christmas carols as the two washed and dried the dishes from lunch, Gage doing the latter. He placed another dried plate in the cupboard to his right, then grinned as he and Chet closed out the latest song with a long held note.
“Heheh,” Gage said, patting his task partner on the right shoulder. “We are gonna killum’.’
“I don’t think you want to use that term when talkin’ about old people in a nursing home.”
The paramedic frowned. “You’re right.” His expression then brightened. “But the day after tomorrow is gonna be the best.”
“If this is what singing Christmas carols does for moods with chores, we may just have to keep it up year ‘round.”
The two dish doers turned to face Captain Stanley, who looked very pleased
“That might work till March, Cap,” John said. “But I think our moods would sour on the music by then.”
Chet nodded in agreement. “Maybe even by February.”
The captain laughed slightly. “You’re right. I’d have enough of it by then, too. Maybe even by the end of January.”
“Care to join us?” Chet offered.
“Doing the dishes?”
“Humming Christmas tunes,” Gage explained, an upbeat tone in his voice.
“I could spare a few minutes,” he said as her stepped over with a wide smile.
Soon the rest of the crew had come in and joined them. All six men had never felt more confident that they had this concert thing set. They were ready.
The following day, the men from A-shift got off duty on time at eight o’clock in the morning. As they walked out to their vehicles, Roy suggested, “Should we practice some more after we all get rested up?”
“I think I’m about caroled out for a day,” Chet responded, Marco nodding in agreement.
John shook his head. “I’m kinda beat. I think I’d rather just have the day doin’ absolutely nothin’.”
Roy found it rather ironic that now he was the enthused one and Gage was the less inspired.
For the day, anyway.
Tomorrow would be entirely different.
Finally it was time to meet at the station and head out to the nursing home for the Christmas concert. Chet arrived first in the late morning, followed by Marco. The two watched as DeSoto pulled into the lot not long after them. Dressed in dark suits with collared white shirts underneath, the two approached as Roy climbed out of his Porche sports car, also dressed in a dark suit with a white shirt and red tie.
“Where’s Johnny?” Chet wondered. “As anxious as he was to do this, I thought he’d be here first.”
“I haven’t talked to him since yesterday,” he shrugged. “He was just still tired. I’m sure he’ll be here soon.”
A dressed-for-the-occasion Mike Stoker peeked out at the men from the open rear apparatus bay door.
“Is there another spot back here? I’m parked on the side of the street out front.”
“There are two more parking spaces back here,” Marco answered. At that same moment, Captain Stanley pulled into the lot and parked.
“Make that one,” Chet corrected.
“I’ll just leave it for Gage,” he said as he walked out to join them.
The captain climbed out of his wife’s Edsel. As he walked over to the others in a suit and tie as well, he stated, “It’s just going to be five of us. John says he’s as sick as a dog. He thinks it’s the flu. Seems some of the children at that school I sent he and Roy to had it. Must just be something going around.”
The other four men frowned.
“Poor Gage,” Chet commented as he shook his head, his gaze on the ground. “He was really lookin’ forward to this, too.”
“Yeah, he was.” Roy looked at the captain. “Can’t we postpone this until he’s feeling better?”
The senior officer shook his head ‘no’. “I called and asked them already. They have a pretty tight schedule for activities for the holidays. Not to mention that we aren’t the only ones set to do some songs. We’ll just have to do it without him.”
Roy wished now that he could forget the whole idea himself. His partner was likely miserable, not only from feeling ill, but disappointed about missing the opportunity to do the concert. It just didn’t feel the same anymore. But he didn’t want to let the others down either. He was just going to have to make the most of it.
Clad in red boxer shorts and a white t-shirt, John lay in bed, wondering why he had to get the flu now.
“Why couldn’t it be tomorrow?” He wondered out loud. “Tomorrow I wouldn’t care.”
He was very disappointed that after all the rehearsals and finally getting Roy to join on, he was now going to miss the Christmas concert.
His thoughts about it quickly changed and were replaced by the miserable feeling in his stomach and mouth as another round of nausea hit. He kicked off the covers and quickly trotted out of the bedroom, toward the bathroom. He made it just in time to lean over the toilet bowl and lose what little he could from his mostly already empty gut.
The ill paramedic sat back on his heels with a sigh.
“Man, I’d take anything over this. . .”
After immediately recalling when he’d been extremely sick and nearly died from a virus he’d gotten from a rescue victim’s pet monkey. . .a monkey the virus was named after as The Cokey Virus. . .he quickly changed his thoughts to, Well, maybe not ‘anything’.
He shivered through a chill, then headed back to bed to climb under the covers.
Two days later, it was A-shift’s turn to be back on duty. John was over the twenty-four hour flu bug he’d gotten, so he’d be able to pull the shift with the rest of the crew.
The dark-haired paramedic parked his Land Rover in the lot behind the station, Roy’s Porche already there beside his spot. He hurried out and toward the building to locate his partner.
“Hey, you made it,” Roy said when he saw Gage come into the locker room from the apparatus bay. He was at one of the sinks in front of a mirror, shaving.
“Man, it’s good to be here, I’ll tell ya that.”
“Anything beats being sick.”
The other nodded in agreement as he stepped over to his locker. He noticed Roy’s blue uniform shirt hanging just inside the locker two down from his. The older paramedic was in his uniform trousers and a white t-shirt as he shaved.
“Was Joanne tying up your bathroom or somethin’?”
“No, I thought I was running late, so I left without shaving, figured I could do it here when I had time.” He shrugged with, “Turns out I had time now.”
John unbuttoned his yellow shirt, then turned to ask, “So did the concert really go as well as you said on the phone yesterday?”
“Well, yes and no. I mean, it went okay overall, especially for the other participants. But I wouldn’t say we were all into it as much as we should have been.”
John pulled off his shirt, a puzzled expression on his face. “Whataya mean?”
Before he answered, Roy wiped the excess shaving cream off his chin with paper towel, then turned to face the questioning paramedic as he tossed the used paper into the trash.
“We were the last performance after some duets by two nurses, a group of policemen, some of the guys from Station 110. We closed the show. So by then, try as we might, we just weren’t into the whole thing. It wasn’t the same without you anyway, plus we just weren’t that good without you.”
Gage stood staring at DeSoto, his mouth open in shock. It took a few seconds for what Roy said to sink in.
“Really? The guys missed me?”
“Absolutely,” he replied as he made his way back over to his open locker. “Cap even tried to get it rescheduled until you were feeling better. But with everyone else involved and the home being on a certain holiday schedule, it just wasn’t feasible.”
“Man, I never expected to hear this.” He eyed Roy a moment. “And you really think it would’ve sounded better with me?”
The other shrugged. “Sure.”
“You’re not just sayin’ all this ta make me feel better are ya?”
Roy put up both hands. “Nope, all truth.”
John rubbed at his chin in thought, a crooked grin on his face. “You sure you all missed me? Even Chet?”
“Even Chet. But you’ll probably never get him to admit that.”
The other snickered. “That’s okay. As long as I know it, that’s all that matters. Well, maybe next Christmas we can do it again.” After a couple of seconds he clarified, “Actually, you all would be doin’ it again. Me for the first.”
“You’ll be happy to know it’s already in the works. Cap was already talking to them about it.”
“Good deal. Well, I guess there’s just one more thing to do.”
“What’s that?”
“Hope that none of us get the flu next December when it’s time to do the concert.”
Roy figured out of any of them, Gage was likely to be the one to have it happen again. It just seemed to be his kind of luck. . .or lack there of. Then again, he could probably put himself in that category since he missed the performance at the Firemen’s Picnic due to having a bad cold. Or perhaps in that case, his could be considered lucky.
Rather than bring either thought up, he simply stated, “If it happens again, maybe we can get Majorie to fill in.”
“Well, being where it’s at, at least there’d be plenty of oxygen on hand if she held a note too long again.”
Both men grinned over their conversation as they continued to get dressed into uniform, Gage also still very happy about the news his partner had given him. Just knowing he'd been that much a part of the performance without even being there meant almost as much as actually being there. At least that's what he'd keep telling himself to hold him over until the next opportunity.
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