The Meaning of Life by Icecat62 Dicing a pile of vegetables for the station’s dinner, Gage found himself wondering what was the point of it all? Every day, time after time, they made dinner, ate, cleaned up and it was over and done with until the next meal. Picking an onion up, he stared at it. Roy lifted his head from the newspaper he was reading to find Gage looking at an onion. Before he could stop himself, he asked the question. “Johnny, what’s the matter?” Gage’s face was serious as he held the onion toward Roy. “What’s its purpose?” “What?” “This onion. What’s its purpose in life? It gets planted, it grows, some farmer sells it to a market, then we chop it up and eat it.” Roy looked blankly back at Gage. Why did he even ask? When would he learn to not ask Gage questions? He could have kept reading the paper, but noooo…he had to ask. Gage shook the onion in his hand. “What’s the meaning of its life Roy? It’s here, then it’s gone!” Cap who had walked into the kitchen and had caught the tail end of the conversation stepped up to Gage and snatched the onion from his hand. “I’ll tell you its purpose you, twit! It’s food! It makes the soup taste better so get chopping!” He slammed the onion down on the chopping board and walked away. Gage frowned at the doorway that Cap gone through. “Man, what a grump.” Gage picked up the onion and began dicing it, Roy ducked down behind the newspaper glad to avoid any more discussion on the topic and the onion served its purpose in life. Life Goes On by Pattie Chet Kelly laughed hysterically at the captain's reaction to Johnny and his onion. Roy shook his head and held the newspaper up a bit higher to hide his own grin. Gage finished chopping the onion and deposited it into the large soup pot. Mike Stoker was making vegetable soup for supper and Johnny had volunteered to help him with the chopping. Unfortunately Stoker got called away by the telephone. Chet decided to use this opportunity to his advantage. He approached the grumbling paramedic and stood right next to him. Johnny kept at his task and tried to ignore his nemesis. Chet cleared his throat and bounced several times on is toes. "Can I help you with something?" he asked the grinning firefighter. "Nope. Just watching you peel those potatoes. Wonder what their purpose in life is." He had a hard time keeping a straight face. "Buzz off Chet." "This is much more interesting and I'd really like to know," he said grinning madly. Gage gave him a hard look and continued peeling. "GO AWAY!" Chet stepped out of the irritated man's path and poured himself a cup of coffee. He sat down at the kitchen table and loudly sipped the brew. Roy glared at Chet while Chet stared at Johnny. Johnny glanced at the table and saw Chet's eyes on him. "Chet. Cut it out!" "Cut what out?" he asked innocently. "Staring. That's what." "I'm just waiting for my answer. Do you think potatoes have feelings?" He burst out laughing which annoyed Johnny even more. Roy seriously considered leaving the room. This was turning out to be one of 'those' shifts and he wasn't sure he could handle much more. After all, Chet got Gage all riled up and then he'd leave and Roy would have to calm him down or listen to his ranting. Roy spoke up. "Chet, go find something to do...elsewhere." "Awwwww Roy! I - " DeSoto's look quickly changed Chet's mind. "Okay, okay. But he asked for it ya know. These half-baked ideas of his are just too much temptation." He turned back to the lanky paramedic. "Gage, I honestly cannot believe you sometimes. Your mind isn't altogether there. Somebody drop you on your head when you were a baby or something?" Chet picked up his coffee cup and left the room. His musing could still be heard as he turned the corner. "The purpose of its' life? He's just plain nuts. No doubt about it. Onions don't have life. They just don't! I mean..." Johnny rolled his eyes and finished with the potatoes. "Roy? What do you think? Do potatoes have feelings?" Gage started laughing. Roy looked at his partner as if he were crazy. "Are you serious?!" "No. Sure got Chet wondering about that onion though." He snickered and put the cutting board and knife into the sink. "You...did you just..." stammered Roy. "Uh huh." "That was sneaky. The sad thing is that he doesn't even know he's been 'had'." "Yeah, but we do. It's a small victory but a victory nonetheless." "Good job Junior. I'm impressed. You had me going for a few minutes though." Johnny grinned and grabbed an apple to tide him over till supper. A mischeivous grin appeared on his face and he turned back to his partner. "Apples have a purpose. They keep doctors away. I wonder if Chet..." his voice trailed off after he left the room. Roy set the paper down and walked over to the stove. He lifted the lid and looked into the pot. "Mmmmm....smells good. Maybe that's its purpose!" Author's note: When Icecat wrote 'The Meaning of Life' I told her it would be funny to see what Chet's take on the situation would be. She told me to go for it. This is what I came up with. |