Author’s notes: The posting of this story is a bittersweet one for me. Sit back while I tell you a small tale of friendship.

I posted my very first Emergency! story way back in 2001. The very first person to send me feedback, other than the two people who saw it and reviewed it for me before it was ever posted, was Jennifer Bartholomew. I won’t hesitate to tell you that a friendship quickly followed that first sent feedback in 2001. In the passing weeks, months, and years, Jen never failed to send me her feedback when I posted a story, and she was soon receiving my stories in advance to them even being posted. The two of us could spend hours talking about Johnny Gage, music, family, libraries, books, and our love of all things Emergency!

In the spring of 2004 we decided to collaborate on a story and soon we were spending hours giggling and plotting about what we would do with our Station 51 heroes. In May of 2004 the first part of our story was penned and it was slow going. We took a break from writing it in Oct 2004 to Feb 2005 and then again in Mar 2005 to June 2005 and then again in Sept 2006. We had only managed to write a few little parts in those few months when we started up again that September before we had to take yet another break. Sadly, we would not work on the story together again.

In March 2008 my dear beautiful friend Jennifer lost her long fought battle against cancer. There was never a question in my mind as to whether or not I should finish this story without her, as I feel she still helped shape the tale to its conclusion. I know she would love this finished story and would be the first to share her thoughts. She was a wonderful friend, as well as wife, mother, and most importantly all round person, and I know I’m not the only one in the Emergency! community missing her. RIP Jennifer and may a continuous loop of E! be found playing on at least one of those big screens in the sky.

I know I’m not speaking out of turn when I say Jennifer and I both hope you enjoy our own little tale of Emergency! friendship, its nice to know the guys can count on one another, no matter what situation they find themselves in. J ~~Sharon

Thank-you to Peggy for both the beta read and the suggestions to help make our story a better one. To Audrey for giving our story a title and a home. Also, to both ladies for their friendship.

By Sharon and Jennifer B.

Fireman/paramedic Roy DeSoto walked into Station 51’s kitchen and noticed his partner, John Gage, with the newspaper spread out on the table. Walking past his friend, he sat down beside his station mate, Chet Kelly, and gave all those in the room a cheery good morning.

His crewmates responded in kind and Roy wasn’t surprised when Mike Stoker placed a mug of coffee in front of him. “Thanks, Mike.”

“Welcome.” Came the quiet man’s reply.

The previous crew, C-shift, had already left the building, but Captain Hank Stanley of A-Shift had yet to have roll call. This was a daily ritual of all shifts throughout the Los Angeles County Fire Department. This allowed the captains to pass along information from headquarters, as well as assign daily chores or announce upcoming events and let his men know about any drills they’d be performing.

The crew was all sitting around the table, quietly discussing their days off with the exception of Johnny, who continued to pour over the Los Angeles Times. Taking a quick glance at the newspaper, Chet noticed Johnny was reading the local news and gave him a gentle nudge.

“Lemme have the comics, Gage.”

“Hmm?”

“The comics.” Chet repeated.

“Oh, yeah, sure. Here.” Johnny passed them over and continued to engross himself with the news.

Marco Lopez and Roy had just started to discuss the ball game from the previous evening when Johnny’s excited voice rang out. “Look it here! Look at this! This is incredible.” He pointed to the article he was reading.

“Look at what?” Chet asked.

“This!” Johnny looked incredulous. “Says here NBC is looking for contestants for a new game show.”

“So?” The Irish man replied.

“Wait a minute. Let me finish. It’s a talent contest.”

“Yeah?”

“We should try out.” Johnny exclaimed.

“WE?” Four separate voices responded in unison.

“Yeah. Our barbershop quartet.” The lean paramedic smiled looking around the room at his shift mates.

 

“No way.”

“You gotta be kiddin’.”

“Not on your life.” Came the replies.

“Why not?”

“We can’t sing!” Marco answered.

“We’re no Mills Brothers, but we’re not that bad.” Johnny reasoned.

Just as Mike was about to respond, Captain Stanley entered the room and poured himself a cup of coffee. Looking about the room, he almost laughed at the looks of bewilderment on his men’s faces. All except Johnny’s, he seemed baffled more than bewildered.

“Is there a problem, gentlemen?”

“Yeah, Johnny!” came Chet’s response.

“What now?” Hank asked.

“He thinks we should try out for some television talent show,” Marco informed his superior.

"Doing what exactly?" Cap asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

 

"He thinks we should sing for this new talent show," Chet answered.

 

Stopping in mid sip and choking as he swallowed, Hank began to cough violently.

 

"Cap, you okay?" asked Roy, as Johnny started to get up out of his chair.

 

Getting his voice back some, but squeaking, he replied, "Fine…fine…just swallowed wrong is all." He managed to get out without having to be rescued by his paramedic team.

Johnny sat back down and tried to read more about the new game show in the paper.

 

"John, pal, hasn't it already been established that we cannot sing?" Cap asked as he came closer to where Johnny was sitting.

Johnny looked up at his superior and opened his mouth to respond, when the klaxon suddenly sounded.

 

"Squad 51, child down, unknown injury, 1505 Lakeside Blvd, 1505 Lakeside,
cross street Tyler...Time out 8:02.”

 

The paramedics jumped up and hurried out to the squad as their captain acknowledged the call.

"Squad 51, 10-4, kmg365," he replied into the hand held microphone.

 

With Johnny and Roy inside the squad the big door rolled open. The lights flashing and the siren screaming the squad pulled out of the station turning left onto the street in front of the stationhouse.

 

As the bay door began to close Captain Stanley shook his head heading back into the dayroom wondering what in the heck his younger paramedic had going on in that over active mind of his.

 

Meanwhile, as the squad sped along Roy was tense. Every call that involved a child made him feel this way. As they pulled up to the address given, they saw a small crowd gathered. Jumping out of the fire department vehicle, they gathered their equipment and began working their way through the group before seeing a small child lying on the sidewalk.

 

Johnny knelt down by the boy as Roy tried to determine if a parent was nearby. The child was crying for all he was worth. In his initial assessment Johnny could see the child was skinned up a bit on his arms and had a pretty good knot on his forehead.

 

"Hey their, son, what's your name?" he asked trying to get the child’s mind off of his pain and crying.

The boy slowed down some as he tried to answer, "Ji...Ji...Jimmy."

"Hi, Jimmy, my name’s Johnny, can you tell me what happened?" the paramedic asked as he gently began to probe the bump on the boys forehead.

 

"I...I...was...was trying to...to...skateboard...and....I...fell off," he said between hiccups.

 

"Skateboard huh...how old are you, Jimmy?" Johnny asked as he quickly shined a light into the small boy’s eyes checking his pupil responses.

 

Jimmy squinted as he responded. "Seven...I'm seven."

 

Johnny smiled at the boy as he ran his hands down his limbs checking for any breaks. Not finding any, he got out the BP cuff and began getting the boy's vitals.

Roy, unable to find a parent amongst the small crowd, came over and knelt down on the other side of the boy. "Hi there, Jimmy, I'm Roy, Johnny's partner, could you tell me where you live?"

"In the brown house over there," he pointed with his free arm as Johnny was taking his blood pressure on the other one. As Roy turned his head to look in the direction Jimmy was pointing, he could see a young woman running over to them.

 

"Oh my gawd, Jimmy" the woman yelled as Roy rose to meet her effectively stopping her from reaching the boy.

"Ma'am, it's okay, are you Jimmy's mom?"

"Yes…yes, is he all right?" she asked near hysterics.

 

Roy took her by the shoulders and moved her away some as he calmly said to her, "He's going to be ok, but you need to calm down, otherwise you'll scare him."

 

Meanwhile, Johnny was on the bio-phone reporting Jimmy's vitals and his overall condition, "Rampart, vitals are, BP 110/70, pulse is 82, respiration’s 15. Pupils are equal and reactive, patient has a large bump and contusion on his forehead above his right eye, no apparent fractures." Johnny advised.

 

"10-4, 51, if parent is present, start an IV, D5W TKO, take spinal precautions and transport." Dr. Brackett said.

 

"10-4, Rampart, mother is here, IV, D5W TKO, spinal precautions and transport, ETA 20 minutes." Johnny responded, setting down the phone. He looked up as both Roy and the now calmer mother knelt down next to Jimmy on his left side.

 

"Mommy, I fell down." Jimmy said as his mom took his small hand into her's.

"I know, sweetie, but you’re going to be okay," she said as she stroked his face.

 

Johnny looked at Roy; "we need a C-collar and backboard."

Roy got up to go get the items as Johnny pulled out the items needed to start the IV.

Johnny tapped the mother lightly on her arm to get her attention and quietly said, "could you distract him," as he indicated the needle…the woman nodded her head yes as she started talking to the boy to keep his attention off what Johnny was doing.

Johnny quickly prepped the arm and inserted the needle, getting a good flashback, as he taped down the shunt. He grinned slightly as Roy knelt down next to him and said, "I see you haven't lost your touch partner." Noting the child didn’t seem to notice what Johnny had done, as he was explaining his fall to his mom.

Roy helped Johnny secure the arm-board so Jimmy wouldn't be able to bend his arm and ruin the IV. He also placed the c-collar around the boy's neck and together he and Johnny rolled him onto the backboard, all the while explaining to the little boy what they were doing. When the ambulance arrived they packaged Jimmy up and placed him in the vehicle as Johnny climbed in with him. Roy took the mom around to the front so she could ride in with her son.

 

While the ambulance started away, Roy cleaned up and put the remaining equipment into the squad before heading off to the hospital, advising dispatch that Squad 51 was on a 10-8 to the hospital for a follow up.

 

As Roy came through the emergency room doors, he could see his partner standing at the nurses’ station talking with Dixie, drinking a cup of coffee.

 

Roy grabbed the pot and poured himself a cup, "How's Jimmy?" He asked smiling a hello towards the head nurse.

 

"He's doing fine, has a mild concussion and will have to stay the night, but his mom promised him his choice of ice cream when he gets out tomorrow," Johnny said smiling.

 

"That's great, so, Dixie, how are you?" Roy asked.

 

"I'm fine...Johnny here tells me you guys are going on a new game show," Dixie said smiling at the stunned, opened mouth look on Johnny's face.

“Oh no, I’m not participating in his antics,” Roy said shaking his head.

 

Meanwhile, Johnny placed his coffee cup on the counter and looked at Rampart’s head nurse with a look of exasperation on his face. “Dix, you promised not to say anything!”

 

Squelching her urge to laugh, Dixie replied, “I didn’t realise your station mates weren’t privy to this information, Johnny.”

 

Realising how silly he was behaving Johnny shrugged his shoulders and gave a sheepish grin to the woman standing before him. “Uh…I guess…it’s just that I haven’t convinced them to go yet. But I will. I think we’d have a pretty good chance. We’re not as bad as Roy and Cap seem to think we are.”

 

“Not…Johnny, singing at some firemen’s picnic and going on television are two entirely different things. At the picnics, you guys are embraced as brothers, on TV you’d just be a bunch of firemen trying to sing,” Roy explained.

 

“What da ya mean you guys?”

 

“I don’t sing in the group, remember. I just…conduct.”

 

“Squad 51, what is your status?” Dispatch crackled over the HT in Roy’s hand.

 

“Squad 51 available,” He replied.

 

The two firemen walked down the corridor of Rampart out to their waiting squad listening to their orders while Dixie couldn’t help letting out the giggle she had trapped inside her throat. The thought of Station 51’s crew singing on television was too funny. She couldn’t wait to find out how Johnny was going to manage to talk Hank Stanley into this. Because if nothing else, Johnny was fairly good at persuading people into doing things they had no desire to do.

Rolling up to the traffic accident they’d been dispatched too. The paramedics could see the engine crew had already arrived. The pair kept giving quick glances at the scene as they pulled out their gear from the compartments that housed them in the squad. It was a one-vehicle accident with a small two-door hatch back twisted around a stop sign.

 

Marco was spraying down the vehicle while Mike kept a close watch on the gauges on the side of the engine. Hank and Chet were both at the driver side of the car. No doubt trying to decipher how to remove the victim or victims from the car.

 

Soon the group had the roof off of the Honda Civic and the two victims out. The driver, a young mother, was lying on a backboard with a C-collar on as a precaution and the passenger, a young girl of about ten, was on a stretcher with a splint on her left leg.

 

Roy rode in with the mother and daughter, while Johnny followed in the squad. The engine crew stayed behind, cleaning down the area, not wanting to be called back to the same area later in the day due to a fire sparked by any leaking gasoline.

 

The paramedic team arrived back at the station before the engine crew and took a few minutes to sit down and relax. Roy grabbed the newspaper still lying in disarray on the kitchen table and started working on the crossword puzzle. Johnny lounged on the couch with Henry lying at his feet, still trying to figure out how he was going to convince his station mates to try out for this new game show. Sometimes they amazed him. How could a bunch of men who fought fires and helped people out of hairy situations not have any sense of adventure amongst them? It didn’t make sense.

 

Soon, the sound of the engine backing into the bay was heard along with the muted voices of its crew. Marco and Chet were the first to saunter into the room, followed a few seconds later by Mike. When Hank failed to materialise, the paramedics figured he’d escaped to the quiet of his office.

 

“That woman was some lucky. She still okay?” Marco asked.

“Yeah, she has a nasty break in her leg though. Wouldn’t doubt if it takes months of rehab for her to walk again, though,” Roy answered.

 

Shuddering at the thought Chet shook his head while opening the refrigerator. He rummaged through it for a few seconds and popped back out with an apple in his hand. “Wonder how she managed to hit that sign?”

 

“Who knows, probably just a matter of not paying attention.” Mike offered.

 

“Who’s cooking today?” Marco asked wanting to change the subject.

 

“Cap,” Roy responded.

“Wonder what he’s making?” Johnny pondered aloud.

As was the case with many conversations between the crew, the klaxons sounded, informing them of a fire at 450 Barclay Street…cross street Newton. The time was 10:39.

The structure fire turned out to be rather routine with no injuries, and had the men back at the station within ninety minutes. No sooner back, than the squad was called out to an unknown rescue.

 

Cap decided to make his famous clam chowder and got right to work, resulting with the station filling with its wonderful aroma as it sat simmering on the stove.

 

"Marco, why don't you set the table, and Mike get the crackers out." Hank
instructed.

 

"Sure, Cap, it sure smells good." Marco said as he set the table with six bowls and spoons.

"Why, thank you, Marco, it's just about done. Where's Kelly?"

 

"Last I saw him, he was sitting on the side of the engine reading that article Gage was talking about." Mike said as he set the box of crackers down on the table.

 

"Well, go tell him that the soups on," Cap said as he turned back to stir the bubbling mixture savouring the wonderful smell.

 

Mike headed out into the bay spotting Chet sitting on the side of the engine engrossed in the article. "Chet, come on, the foods ready," Mike said as he stopped in front of the stocky fireman.

 

Chet looked up and replied, "Okay, Mike, I'm coming," as he got up he added, "you know, this thing Gage wants to do sounds like it could be fun."

 

Stoker just looked at him as he walked back into the day room behind his shift mate.

 

Cap was setting the pot of soup in the centre of the table.

 

"There you are, Kelly, why don't you get the milk out of the refrigerator and some glasses?"

 

"Sure, Cap," he replied getting the milk out of the refrigerator and setting it on the table. He then sat down placing the newspaper article beside him.

"Uh, Kelly, just what are we supposed to drink the milk out of, our hands perhaps," Hank said with just a bit of sarcasm.

 

"Oh, um no, Cap, sorry," Chet said as he got up to retrieve the six glasses. Just then they heard over dispatch the squad was available and returning to quarters.

"Good, maybe John and Roy will get to enjoy this soup while it's still hot," Cap said.

The four hungry men dug in with gusto as they enjoyed the delicious soup. Ten minutes later, they heard the bay door open and the squad backing in to its proper position. Johnny came bounding into the room ahead of Roy. "Man that smells good, I'm starving," he said as he sat down and poured himself a glass of milk.

Roy sat down beside his partner dishing out a hearty helping of the soup for himself and Johnny.

"Thanks," Johnny said as he stuffed three crackers into his mouth along with a spoonful of soup. "Hmm, tis is grut."

Watching him shovel two more spoonfuls into his already full mouth, Captain Stanley just shook his head and replied, "Thank you, John."

As they all continued eating, Chet finally spoke up. "Hey, Gage?" When Johnny looked up, he continued, "I think this singing thing you wanna do on that TV show is a great idea."

Having just stuffed another cracker in, along with the soup, Johnny swallowed and with a look of surprise on his face replied, "You do?"

 

"Yeah!"

 

Five sets of eyes looked at Chet, one set surprised and four sets glaring.

“Great! I think we could have a shot at winning this thing.”

 

“I don’t know about that, but it’d be fun. There may even be some hot single chicks there,” Chet wiggled his eyebrows up and down before shoving his spoon into his mouth.

 

“Yeah, never even thought of that!” Johnny grinned.

 

“Wait a minute!” Stoker interrupted. “We didn’t say we’d do this.” He pointed a spoon in the paramedic’s direction for emphasis.

 

“But…”

 

“Yeah, I’m not crazy about this idea at all,” Marco voiced his disapproval.

 

“Come on, Marco. We could meet some hot mama’s,” Chet tried to encourage his friend.

 

“No!” Marco nodded his head. “There’s no way I’m singing on TV.”

 

“Same here” Roy chimed in.

 

Johnny turned to his traderous partner. “Whaddya mean? Roy, just think of the money we could win.” He added hoping to reach Roy’s monetary side.

 

“Gentlemen,” Hank’s voice boomed. “Isn’t there a saying, not to count your chickens before they’re hatched?” When the room remained silent, he added, “Seems to me you’re counting.”

 

“Awe, Cap.”

 

“John, I can understand your enthusiasm, and even appreciate it. But you’re assuming the rest of us want to do this. We don’t.”

The young man just sighed while looking at his shift mates. His frustration was building. Why was it that these guys never seemed to get excited about anything? And when they did it was only after he had convinced them? This just didn’t seem fair.

 

“Look guys. This really could be fun. Why not at least think about it?” Chet quietly asked.

 

Feeling his sense of fairness kicking in, Marco replied, “Okay, I’ll think about it.” When he saw his two shift-mates silly grins, he added. “But I’m not promising anything.”

 

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to think about it,” Stoker added.

 

Sensing his friends shift Johnny fought hard to squelch his excitement, knowing that he had them now. Once they turned from “no” to “I’ll think about it.” He knew he’d win this battle. Reaching for some more crackers he started to wonder what song they would sing for the contest.

 

“Okay, seems that’s settled, now can we eat in peace?” Hank asked.

 

Which is exactly what the crew did, and even managed to clean the table, do the dishes, sweep the floor, and watch some of the news before being toned out to a traffic accident.

 

~51~

 

The following shift found Mike and Marco sitting in the locker room in various states of dress.

“What do you really think about this talent contest?” Mike asked.

“To be honest, I think it could be fun. I don’t think we’d ever win, but like Chet says, it’d be fun and who knows. I just might meet some hot mama!” he smiled.

Mike chuckled at his friend’s last comment before commenting. “I still think it’s crazy.”

“Morning,” Roy called walking into the room.

 

“Morning,” Both his co-workers replied.

 

“What’s up?”

 

“That stupid talent contest,” Mike answered.

 

“Oh, that.” Roy groaned. “Johnny called me yesterday trying to convince me.”

 

“Oh no. What did you say?” Mike’s concern was evident in his voice.

 

“I said no, of course!”

 

“Well, lover boy here thinks it’s a good idea.”

 

“Oh, Marco,” Roy moaned. “Don’t tell me…”

 

“Listen, it’s just a game show. It really could be fun.”

 

“But it’s on TV, or have you forgotten?” Mike asked.

“No. I read the article. It’s only a half-hour show and there are at least three or four contestants on each show. Including commercials, we’d only be on for maybe, what…five minutes. That’s not so bad.”

 

“Bad enough, you know what Gage is like on camera. He freezes. Do you honestly think he’ll be able to sing?” the engineer questioned.

 

“You have a point there,” The husky fireman replied.

Later that day while brushing his teeth and getting ready for bed, Roy contemplated how pleasantly surprised he was that his partner hadn’t nagged him over this silly contest for the entire shift. It was pleasant, yet unsettling at the same time. He couldn’t help but wonder if Johnny had some sneak attack planned. He’d mulled this thought over a few times during the last eight hours or so, but nothing jumped out at him, so he figured he was being paranoid. Lord knew working with John Gage could do that to a person, he silently chuckled to himself.

 

“Night, Roy,” Captain Stanley called out as the paramedic walked past his superior’s bunk.

 

“Night, Cap, guys.”

 

Assorted bedtime goodnights were given before the crew fell into a comfortable sleep.

 

~51~

 

The following morning as the crew was walking out to their vehicles, Roy asked Johnny if he’d be coming over for dinner that night. Joanne had extended the invite through her husband and he knew his wife would like to know upon his arrival home if she’d be cooking for five instead of four.

 

“Yeah, I’ll be there.”

 

“Good, see ya ‘round three then?”

 

“Yeah, sure.”

 

~51~

 

“Hi, Uncle Johnny,” Chris DeSoto greeted when he opened the door, “Mom, Uncle Johnny’s here!” he hollered over his shoulder.

 

“How’s your model car coming along?” Johnny asked the small red-haired boy.

 

“Almost finished. Dad says soon I can start paint’n it.”

“Great, lemme know if you need any extra help,” Johnny ruffled the eight-year-olds hair.

 

“Hey, Johnny,” Roy extended as he walked into the hallway to see what was holding up his partner.

 

“Hey.”

 

“I could use a hand. I’m putt’n together a bookshelf Jo bought yesterday.”

 

“Show me the way.”

 

The partners buckled down to the business at hand. Johnny could see why his partner needed help. The bookshelf was completely put together, but there were three screws left over and the structure was slightly wobbly.

Knowing left in this condition, Roy’s children would be unsafe, Johnny bunkered down with Roy to solve the problem.

 

Moments before dinner was served, they had finally managed to rebuild the shelf using all the screws provided. The piece of furniture was now ready to use, but more importantly, safe to use.

 

“Uncle Johnny!” Jennifer flew into the lean paramedic’s legs wrapping her tiny arms around them. Soon the room was filled with squeals of delight as Johnny tickled his princess. “Uncle Johnny, stop, stop.”

 

Stopping, he lifted the small strawberry blonde girl up and placed her on a chair at the dinning room table. Pulling out a chair, he sat beside her, with his arm draped over the top of her chair. “Hi, Jo.”

 

“Johnny, it’s been a while.” Joanne replied as she placed a bowl of roast potatoes on the table. Roy followed with a platter holding a roast chicken.

 

“Been busy.”

 

~51~

 

After finishing Jennifer’s favourite bedtime story Roy climbed off the bed and stored the book on a small three-tiered bookcase beside the bedroom door. He walked backed to the bed pulling the Barbie sheet and comforter over his little girl. Bending to kiss her he was interrupted.

 

“Daddy?”

 

“Hmm.”

 

“Please help Uncle Johnny win.”

 

Confused, Roy sat down on the bed. “Win what?”

 

“The contest.”

 

“What....”

 

“The singing contest, Uncle Johnny says you don’t want to help. Is that true?” Her face revealing her disbelief.

"Jenny, it's not that I don't want to, it's just...um." Roy hesitated, trying to find the right way to tell Jenny how he really felt about the show, but not hurting Jenny's image of her Uncle Johnny.

 

"Uncle Johnny said you'd be great in it, Daddy, being you've sung in a
beauty shop quar...um..quar....et"

 

Roy chuckled, "that's barbershop quartet, sweetie.”

 

"Oh, yea...that...yep, Uncle Johnny said you were real, real good daddy,
so please sing on TV daddy...plllleeasse."

 

Roy felt trapped, here was his little girl, who Johnny obviously coached
real well to 'get to him' doing just that. Man, I'm gonna get that partner of mine, Roy thought to himself.

 

Sighing, Roy said, "Now listen, honey, I'll think about it and if the rest of the guys say yes, then we'll do it, okay?"

 

Jenny jumped up throwing her little arms around her daddy's neck, "Oh boy
oh boy, I'm gonna see daddy and Uncle Johnny on TV."

Roy hugged his baby girl back wondering what he’d just gotten himself into?

~51~

Slowly walking into the Station the next shift, Roy dreaded talking with
the guys. After putting on his uniform he went into the dayroom where the rest of A-shift was sitting drinking their coffee.

"Hey Roy, ‘bout time you showed up," Johnny said before stuffing a donut
into his mouth.

Ignoring Johnny, Roy got a cup of coffee.

 

"Hey, Roy, why so late?" Chet asked.

 

"No reason, just got stuck in some traffic."

 

Roy sat down, taking a sip of the hot brew...sighing heavily.

 

Johnny stared at his partner wondering why he was so glum; getting his answer when Roy raised his eyes locking them with Johnny's. Johnny swallowed hard realising that Jenny must have talked with her daddy, as was his hope, but now he saw possible anger in his partner’s eyes.

 

Cautiously, Johnny said, "Anything wrong, Roy?"

 

Taking a deep breath, Roy said, "Well it seems someone I know said some
things to my daughter who now expects me to sing on TV!" Roy said looking
right at Johnny.

 

Johnny looked down finding his coffee cup suddenly very interesting.

"Who said that, Roy?" Cap asked

 

Looking over at his Captain, "Johnny, that’s who. He apparently talked my
daughter into asking me to sing, didn't you, Johnny?"

 

"Now, Roy, don't get so upset, all I said," Johnny paused placing his hand to his chest, "was that we might be singing on TV and that you might not…well…might not really want to…and stuff.”

 

Roy frowned deeper at Johnny.

 

"I didn't know...she would...um...ask you too, Roy...honest!" Johnny said,
trying to look as pathetic as he could.

 

"Yeah...well...she did, partner!"

 

"Uh, Roy?" Cap said

 

Turning toward his captain Roy responded, "yeah, Cap?"

 

Hank let out a small chuckle before adding, “Seems I might have said something about it to the Chief at our meeting the other night and he thinks it would be good publicity for the fire department if we did go on the show and sing."

 

Five pairs of eyes and five mouths dropped open in surprise.

 

"You’re kidding, Cap," Mike squeaked.

 

"He did?" Chet exclaimed.

 

"Oh man!" Marco frowned.

"I don't believe it," Roy shook his head.

 

Nodding his head, Captain Stanley responded with, "That's what he said, so I guess we will be going on that show in the near future, any idea what we could sing?" Cap asked.

 

Four of the men shrugged their shoulders, except for Johnny.

 

"Cap, how about we sing Ring of Fire?"

~51~

As the auditions for the new game show got closer and closer the A-Shift spent more and more time together on their days off with the efforts of sounding better and better as their goal. Most of the time the group of men met at Roy’s home or Hank’s home. On this particular Wednesday afternoon they were sitting in Marco’s living room.

 

They’d just finished a rather terrific sounding rehearsal and were finishing their drinks around Marco’s coffee table.

 

“What about outfits?” Chet wondered aloud.

 

“What about ‘em?”

 

“What should we wear? Our work uniforms, our work dress…”

 

“What’s wrong with our street clothes?” Roy asked.

“What’s wro… Roy, what’s wrong with you? Street clothes are too ordinary for our efforts. We need to look the part.”

 

“We could get our quartet outfits again,” Mike piped up.

 

“No, no, we’re firemen, I think we need to look like firemen,” Chet qualified.

 

“Yeah,” Johnny nodded his head up and down in agreement.

 

“Work dress is too plain. Boring actually. They don’t jump out at you as firemen. People could think we were garbage men with those things on,” Marco pointed out.

 

“Garb… Marco, I think that’s a bit drastic, don’t you?” Hank asked.

 

“No… honestly, it doesn’t jump out at you as firemen,” he argued.

 

“Oh.”

 

“What about our turnouts?” Johnny snapped his fingers.

 

“Hey, now that’s good, Gage,” Chet agreed.

 

“But they smell,” Mike frowned.

 

“Mike, nobody can smell their televisions,” Chet chided.

 

“Turnouts it is then,” Hank confirmed rubbing his hands together.

 

~51~

 

Mike paced the floor at a lightening fast pace for him. His stomach was whirling as though he was on the front car of a roller coaster. He was eyeing the men’s wash room, making sure he was never more than ten paces away. His shift mates sat on comfortable looking chairs, looking calm and tranquil. He wondered to himself if any of them had been drinking? After all, it was very unlike John Gage to be so comfortable moments before walking in front of television cameras.

Hank watched his engineer pace back and forth, trying to come up with some way of putting the man at ease. It was unlike Mike to be nervous, the man was usually a rock. Then again, it was unlike Hank not to find a way of helping one of his men when they were in distress. Of course there was nothing in the L.A. County Fire Department’s Captain’s Manual about helping your men relax before going on a television game show. Hank stayed in his seat wondering how on god’s green earth John Gage had managed to talk him into doing this in the first place. He looked over at his senior paramedic. Poor Roy looked pale.

 

Roy’s eyes followed Stoker back and forth and back and forth. He wanted to yell at the man to stop. It was making him feel nauseous. The only problem was it was so out of character for Mike to display any type of discomfort Roy was positive his yelling at the man would only do more harm than good. Roy’s own fear was based on a common singer’s phobia. Forgetting the lyrics to a song. They had gone over the song so many times he was sure he could probably sing it in his sleep. At the moment he thought being asleep might just be a better alternative to where he currently sat. Taking his eyes off of Stoker, he locked eyes with Marco and gave him a slight smile.

 

Lopez turned away from Roy. The man looked nervous and he didn’t want it to become infectious. Marco felt okay, considering he was a bit worried about Johnny’s usual phobia in front of television cameras. How in the world had they managed to get in this position? A memo had been sent out to all the stations about the A-Shift’s appearance on this particular game show. He was positive that all off duty firemen would be watching not to mention any stations that weren’t currently indisposed. The only regret Marco had at the moment was not being able to come up with some way to help Mike relax. Sitting beside him, Johnny’s leg bounced up and down. Marco took his hand and gently placed it on Gage’s knee.

Johnny looked down at Marco’s hand and then looked into his comrade’s eyes with a slight nod of his head. He was trying not to show the others how nervous he was. He was sure that they were probably thinking about his inability to function once the green light on top of a television camera came on indicating that it was rolling. He just had to keep thinking about the song lyrics. He was singing them over and over in his head. He hadn’t even noticed his leg bobbing up and down until his friend steadied it. He felt sick and was starting to wonder if this had been such a good idea after all. Why did he continually get himself into these situations? How come nobody seemed to tell him his ideas weren’t very good? Looking up from his knee his eyes met Chet’s.

 

Kelly looked at Marco’s hand on Johnny’s knee and smiled. Gage was a basket case. How come such an out going guy got so nervous in front of a camera? It was so strange. Speaking of strange, what was with Stoker? The man was driving him crazy. Why couldn’t he just sit and wait like the rest of them? What was his problem, they’d already passed the audition process and now was their big night to shine? Does he know something we don’t? Of all the guys here, he had the most experience singing, so what gives? Roy looked sick; his face nearly washed out from the yellow of the turnout coat. Chet couldn’t help but prey that someone was looking out for them tonight, or they’d be the laughing stock of the entire department.

 

“Gentlemen, I’m Lisa Ives. The stage manager is ready for you now. If you’ll just follow me.” She smiled at the six men in yellow.

The six firemen allowed the stagehand to arrange them on a platform while a TV cameraman and lighting crew continued setting up their shot. The television crew had arranged the men in two rows, with Hank, Mike, Johnny, and Roy in a row on a platform, which was raised about two inches off the floor with Chet and Marco standing together in front of the taller men.

With the men positioned how the cameraman wanted, the stage manager, Kevin, came up to them. “Okay guys, first the camera’s will start rolling and the curtains will remained closed while Chuck, the host, introduces your act. Then we’ll open the curtain and your music will start. Then just sing your song, relax, and have a good time.” With those words Kevin left the stage.

The six men nodded their heads in understanding. Mike had no idea how he was suppose to have a good time. He was a nervous wreck. All week long he’d been trying to figure out ways he would help Johnny relax, and now, here he was practically freezing himself. What was wrong with him? He was a fireman after all. He continually found himself in hairy situations. Situations where he had to remain calm, cool, and collected. Why was the thought of singing a song on television wrecking havoc on his nerves? Boy when this ordeal was over he was going to ring a particular paramedic’s neck. That was for certain. After all, the grand prize for winning this ridiculous contest was a measly five hundred and sixteen dollars and thirty-two cents. When divided between them that meant they’d each get approximately eighty-six dollars, if they won! What had Gage been thinking?

Suddenly Mike could here the muffled voice of the show’s host. “Okay folks, tonight we have a fabulous show for you. We’re going to start with six firemen from the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Please put your hands together for the crew of Station 51.”

With those words the curtains opened and the intro to the guys music began to play. Reaching deep and pressing his nerves aside, Mike joined his shift mates as they sang.

Love is a burning thing
And it makes a fiery ring
bound by wild desire
I fell into a ring of fire

Johnny looked over Marco’s head and immediately knew he had made a mistake. He was looking at between seventy and one hundred sets of eyes, all watching them. Swiftly, he closed his eyes and continued to sing on, knowing his voice was barely more than a squeak.

 

 
I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
And the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire

Hank took a quick look towards Johnny to see if his junior paramedic was participating in this event or had finally succumbed to his obvious stage fright and had fainted. To his astonishment Gage was singing although with his eyes closed. He then looked to his right and saw three individuals sitting behind a desk like apparatus. Behind them hung a huge round metal cymbal. That’s when he noticed one of the three individuals was holding a mallet type device in his hands. Oh, god, now I get what the title means. We could be eliminated while we’re singing! Hank couldn’t take it any longer and looked back towards the audience.

I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
And the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire

Roy managed to smile while singing the song in a strong voice; he took a peek at his partner standing beside him and was relieved to find Johnny was in fact singing. He had his eyes closed, but he was singing. He looked forward again and couldn’t help but wonder what Chet was doing. Why had the stagehand put him in front? Surely, if the guy truly knew Chet, that would never have happened.

The taste of love is sweet
When hearts like ours meet
I fell for you like a child
Oh, but the fire went wild

Kelly’s eyes were practically bugged out of his head. He had no idea there would be so many audience members. Gage had failed to inform him that the show would be taped in front of a live studio audience! In his mind he just kept telling himself to continue to sing and it would be over soon. Although he couldn’t help but wonder if Johnny was still on his feet or had the goofball fallen when the curtains rose?

 
I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
And the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire

Beside his moustached friend, Marco belted out the Johnny Cash tune for all it was worth. He actually managed to be enjoying himself. He figured the four to five minutes they would actually be onstage would just be a small time in his life and he could handle it. A sweet looking young woman sitting in the front row caught his eye and he winked at her. She smiled back at him and Marco puffed up his chest and continued singing.

I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
And the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire

When they finished their last note, the host came back on stage and addressed the audience. “Okay, lets put our hands together for the six firemen. They managed to last through their song, but will they win our grand-prize? We’ll have to wait and see.”

Chuck Barris walked up to the group of men still standing on the stage. “That was pretty good fellas, although it did look like you were going to get the boot there for a moment. What’s your name?” He asked the captain.

“Hank Stanley.”

“And your rank?”

“Captain.”

“So you’re in command of these here men then?”

“Yes.”

“I hope they’re better firemen than singers.” The host joked.

“I can guarantee you they are.” Hank finally allowed a smile to cross his mouth.

The host turned to the panel of judges. “Jamie Farr, ladies and gentlemen.” He let the audience acknowledge the judge. “Jamie, what did you think of the firemen’s vocal talents?”

“Chuck, lets be serious, there was no real talent there, but I respect the work they do so I gave them a 7.”

“Great.” The host clapped his hand together. “Now ladies and gentlemen, our next judge had a rough time growing up, she wasn’t aloud to date until she was seven. J.P. Morgan everyone. What did you think, J.P.?”

“I have to agree with Jamie, Chuck. There really wasn’t much talent there but the fireman in back who kept his eyes closed the entire time is cute, so I gave them a 9.”

“Arte Johnson, what did you think?”

“I actually enjoyed their performance and I think they had the best costumes of the evening, so I gave them an 8.”

“Okay, so you’ve heard what the judges think, although I must add these here costumes certainly reek of smoke.” Chuck pinched his nose between his thumb and forefinger, finally getting a laugh from the audience.

“So with a score of 24, that makes our singing firemen tonight’s grand-prize winners. Let’s give it up for the talented hose jockey’s.” Chuck announced to the audience. “That’s it for tonight, join us next week for some more talented everyday people on the Gong Show.”

The End

Ring of Fire written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore

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