Will He or Won’t He?
By Sharon
He peered around the corner…stretching his neck to see if the vehicle of their expected visitor was sitting in front of the station. He let out a huge sigh of relief when the station’s driveway remained empty. He hated these visits. Nothing he ever tried helped him to relax. He’d tried meditation…exercise…a game of basket ball with his men…helping Mike polish the engine…making a pot of clam chowder…but none of these activities had helped him relax over the years. He just had to admit that an inspection from the Chief was bound to leave him stressed.
He turned on his heels and headed towards the kitchen/day room. The TV was playing with Mike seated watching the mid-day news. A forest fire was burning in the canyon and Hank wouldn’t be surprised to hear that all the TV’s at all the LA country fire stations had the news following the process of their peer’s efforts in distinguishing the raging beast. Hank also figured it was only a matter of time before some of the non-brush fire stations were called in to help. How he wished the tones would call them out today before McConnike’s arrival.
He walked to the coffeepot and made himself a cup of java before taking a seat on the couch joining his engineer in watching TV. “How’s it going?” Hank nodded his head toward the set.
“Still burning out of control. It’s not looking good.” Mike replied without taking his eyes off of the scene before him.
“Think we’ll be called?”
“Hard to tell. I think if the wind direction changes, yeah, definitely.”
Hank looked towards the heaven and pleaded with just a small change. Please!
“Is this what you do with your down time, Hank?”
Station 51’s captain jumped to his feet at the sound of Chief McConnike’s voice and in the process spilled his piping hot coffee all over himself.
“No…no, Sir. Just taking a small breather after working on some paper work.” Hank looked down at the growing brown stain on his crisp blue work shirt. As he walked towards his supervisor his free hand brushed at the liquid on his shirt. When he reached his superior he held out his hand.
McConnike took it firmly into his own and observed his once engineer’s uneasiness. He could never understand the younger man’s paranoia. The hat burning incident had happened years earlier and if truth were known, he didn’t hold any grudges. Neither at the time of the burning nor now. It had actually been a well-needed prank at the time. His crew had just returned to the station after a particularly hard house fire call. The wife and a child had perished in the blaze and left all those stations crews who had responded to the call with a rather sick feeling in their stomach. Even now, years later he could still smell that unmistakable smell of burnt flesh.
Hank had been young then. Less than five years with the department and only one year as an engineer and his, what some people might call, childish prank had proven to relieve the stress his crew had been dealing with. McConnike wished the man would allow himself to see the moment for what it was. He had no idea why Hank harboured such regret over it. He knew at the time he had to “reprimand” his engineer for his joke, but thought a week of latrine duty had been a light enough sentence.
“Why don’t you wash off that hand of yours and give me a tour?” The Chief suggested.
“Yeah…yeah…sure.” Hank stammered as he made a beeline for the kitchen sink and washed his appendage. He returned and announced they should start the tour in the bunkroom. As they entered, Hank wished he’d started elsewhere. Standing in the middle of the room was Gage and Kelly. Gage was pointing his finger and yelling at the shorter man.
“I’VE HAD IT…”
“GAGE…” Hank bellowed.
The two men turned to see their Captain and Chief standing in the doorway. They both immediately turned in their superior’s direction and stood as close to attention as they could. Johnny wished the floor would open up and swallow him. Their captain had reminded them all that morning that the Chief would be making an appearance today, but he had since forgotten. It wasn’t an official visit so he had no idea why Hank was having a cow. He, as well as all his shift mates, had for years tried to find out the story behind Hank having burned the Chief’s, who had been Hank’s captain at the time, hat? Nobody seemed to know the truth about the incident.
“Gage…Kelly,” McConnike stated with a nod of his head. “At ease.”
Both men relaxed and smiled. Johnny piped up; “We were just practising lines for the firemen’s picnic.”
“Lines?”
“We’re gonna put on a play.” Johnny returned.
The Battalion Chief knew Gage was making this story up on the spot by the reaction of the man standing beside him. Kelly looked like his eyes were going to bug out of his head. The fire Chief had to stifle the laugh building inside him. He was sure if he turned to look at Hank; the man would look as if he were about to have a coronary. He didn’t mind John’s fib, as it showed the lengths Hank’s men would go for him. Speaking of the fire captain, he turned to his subordinate and said, “Could we have a moment in your office, Hank?”
“Sure…sure.” Hank responded while giving his paramedic and lineman the evil eye.
When the two men reached the captain’s office, McConnike closed the door behind him. The two sat down and the battalion chief got down to business. “Hank, I’m not here for an inspection.”
“You’re not?” Hank gulped.
“No, as you know the annual chief’s review board was going on last week. With Chief Davis retiring at the end of the year we’ll have an opening. The department would like you to fill it.”
“ME…I haven’t even taken the Chief’s exam.”
“We realise that and that’s why I’m here. We want you to take the exam.”
“I…I don’t know what to say, sir.”
“Hank, quit with the sir.” The chief paused for a moment before adding, “what do you say?”
“I…I’m not sure. You want me to take the chief’s exam and then take Davis’ position? Why?”
“It was unanimous.”
Hank looked the other man in the eye, “Unanimous.”
McConnike shook his head. “Yes. Even I voted for you, Hank. We all feel among the current captain’s your men show you the greatest respect, you have great communication skills, great fire skills, fantastic instincts, you have great integrity, you’re disciplined and show a great willingness to jump in with your men. The loyalty your men show you is bar none the finest in the department and we feel that’s because you show them fairness, a belief in their abilities and treat them as men and friends and not just subordinates.”
Hank sat still looking like a deer caught in the headlights. He couldn’t believe what his former captain was saying about him. He was dumbfounded to say the least. “Could I take a few days to think it over?” He finally asked.
“Yes, yes of course.” With that McConnike stood and extended his hand once more. “No pressure, Hank. Whatever you decide I’ll stand behind you.”
“Thanks, Chief.” Hank shook the older man’s hand and watched him leave the office. Once he’d gone, Hank sat back down and tried to still his rapidly beating heart and formulate his thoughts into something coherent. He wondered if this was all some sort of practical joke, but his gut told him this was on the up and up. Should he take the exam and become a chief? It would mean more pay, more responsibility and possibly more headaches. The thought did excite him though. A Chief! Chief Hank Stanley, it had a nice ring to it. He’d be trading in a striped hat for a white one.
The only down side, and it would be the only down side, was he’d have to leave Station 51 and his men. Could he do it? Did he want to do it? Would they want him to do it? Boy, for the first time he truly knew how Roy had felt making his decision about his promotion to engineer. He knew it hadn’t been easy for the paramedic and was quickly realising it wasn’t going to be easy for him either. He decided to put it on the backburner for today and talk it over with his wife when he got home the following day.
Just as he decided on that course of action the tones sounded sending the entire station to a structure fire. As he took the seat beside his engineer on the rig and placed his helmet on his head a huge grin spread across his face. Chief McConnike had voted in favour of him, Hank Stanley, becoming a chief. Even if he decided to stay in his current position the thought that his former captain had spoke in such glowing terms about him had made his day, perhaps his year. The attributes McConnike described made him feel ten feet tall. He knew his men would probably agree with all the chief had said and that, more than the offer of chief was more important to him. It was one of the reasons he enjoyed his job as much as he did. He loved directing and instructing based on his experience and continually growing knowledge.
When the rig came to a stop and he jumped down he began shouting instructions. After four or five minutes, Chief McConnike’s voice could be over heard on the HT in Hank’s hand. He was co-ordinating the four captains on site. He was doing this by obtaining information from the four of them and then giving further instruction. Hank realised at that moment that the Chief’s position wasn’t that far removed from his current one and once again a huge smile spread across his face. It seemed as time went on, this decision was going to become easier.
Author’s note: Thanks to Audrey for the beta, the support and a home for the story J ~~ Sharon
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