Into The Fire
By Terribv
"It
shouldn't have happened," Hank commented not for the first time. Hank
Stanley had never been angrier in his life. He knew this day would come. He didn't know it would be this
soon but he knew it
would come. It had been inevitable and it had happened. He hoped the powers that be were happy with
themselves. Those damn politicians
didn't know one god damn thing about firefighting. All they were concerned about was saving money
and the fire department were the ones
to pay the price.
They'd just returned to the station after having attended the funeral service for one of their own and they were
all grieving. Hank flung himself on the
coach in the station's day room. He ran a hand across
his weary face. When he looked back up, the grief that he had worked so hard to contain all day threatened to
spill out. He looked at his fellow
shift mates. They were no less grieved but they weren't being quite as vocal about it as Hank was. He
supposed that was a good thing. He knew
that they had to be just as angry.
"How many more do we have to lose? How many civilians? Tell me how many
before these jerks see that they have made a huge mistake?"
"Hank, the department is suffering too. The top brass fought this tooth
and nail. You know that. And they'll continue to fight it."
Hank snorted at the comment. His anger was again building and getting the better of him.
"I bet the only way to get their attention is if it had been one of their homes to burn to the ground. You think
they'd be so happy to save a little
money then?" It was a rhetorical question and as such
he didn't wait for a comment.
"Maybe we oughta show them," someone piped in.
"I know that you're all upset. We all are."
"Not everybody," he said through clenched teeth. "Not those politicians with their heads in their
asses."
The room fell silent as each man contemplated the deadly aftereffects of the cutbacks that had forced a
neighboring fire station to close its doors. Hank had known that no good would
come of the closing but
was surprised at how fast his prediction came true.
"Maybe I will show them," he said with force. He stood and stormed
from the room. The others listened as they heard him banging around but no one
dared to confront him. And truth be told, no one really
wanted to. If Hank wanted to make a statement, they weren't about to stop him.
The noises grew silent and McConnike decided to go in search of Hank. He found him outside behind the
station and he couldn't have been more
shocked at the actions of this normally reserved man. Hank
was one of the best under his command and here he was still in dress uniform
building a fire in one of the metal trashcans.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm going to give our county council a present," he said as he removed his hat and threw it in the fire.
"This is for Bobby," he said
as he stared into the flames. "A piece of me died with him."
McConnike was dumbstruck until Hank snatched the hat off of his own head.
"Give it back, Hank," he ordered loudly.
Hank twirled the hat around on his finger. "This is the only way, Cap. I
gotta do it. I'm going to burn our hats and mail them to the county council so
that they know that Bobby's death is on them."
"Hank, be reasonable. You aren't thinking clearly."
Hank was indignant. "Me? I'm not thinking clearly? And they
are?" He looked at his captain
with disgust. "You want to tell that to
Bobby," he threw back.
Hank noticed that the other men had wandered outside and we're witnessing the
whole scene but he couldn't back down now. He turned and threw his Captain's
hat into the fire.
McConnike knew his Engineer was hurting so he chose his words carefully.
"I know that you and Bobby were tight but this isn't the way you want to
do things," he said more calmly than he thought possible. "Hank, you
have a career to think about. A wife, kids. What are they going to do when you
lose your job? And you will, you know, if you follow through on this." He
watched the emotions play across Hank's face.
Hank turned and looked at his Captain and he knew the man was right. If he did
this, his career was over and that's not what he wanted. It's not what Bobby
would have wanted him to do. He walked over and
stood with his back against the wall of the station and let his body slide down
to the ground.
McConnike turned to his other men. "Put this out now!" They ran to do
his bidding but not before passing by the trashcan and throwing their own hats
into it in support of Hank.
The captain came to stand in front of Hank. "I know that this isn't easy
for you so I am not going to write this up. But if you ever pull another stunt
like this, I'll hang your ass out to dry. Is that clear?"
Hank nodded his reply.
"Good. Now, get your gear and clear out of here. I don't want to see you
until next shift. Take some time and let yourself come to terms with Bobby's
death," he said more gently than he had previously spoken. "Go on, go
home, Hank."
Hank Stanley numbly did as his Captain ordered. When he was gone, the Captain
turned to his men. "This stays here. I don't want to hear this mentioned
again. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Cap," came the chorus of replies.
The
End
