The Magic Pen

by The Phantom

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Gage, would ya stop it with the pen!"

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Gage!" Chet got in Johnny's face.

"Huh?" Johnny looked up from the crossword puzzle he was trying to fill in. Roy usually did them, but this time Johnny decided to try it first. How hard could it be? Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Do ya mind? You're driving normal people crazy with your pen tapping."

"Normal? YOU? I highly doubt it, Kelly." John returned to his puzzle.

"I mean it, Gage, if you don't stop that, I'll...take that pen and you'll never see it again!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah.

Rat-a-tat-a-tat. Johnny tapped his pen as rapidly as he could.

"Watch out for the Phantom, Johnny, he doesn't like your tapping any more than I do."

"Chet, I 'm warning you, touch my lucky pen, and I'll..."

"You'll do what, Gage? Go running to Roy? Grow up!"

"I don't have to go running to Roy. You just better watch out, that's all."

"Oh, I'm so scared. I'm shakin' in my boots!"

Captain Stanley walked into the dayroom in time to catch the tail end of the childish argument. "I think I'll find a report to write," he muttered, making a U-turn.

Mike Stoker, the tall, quiet engineer, got up out of his chair.

"Hey, Mikey, where ya goin'?" inquired Chet.

Mike sighed. "Chet, first, don't call me Mikey; second, I am going to polish the engine; and third, you guys need to grow up. Sometimes, it's worse than a preschool in here." He stalked off to his beloved Big Red. At least out here in the bay, it's relatively quiet, he thought.

"Now see whatcha did? You upset Mike," Johnny accused.

"Me?"

"You know he doesn't like that nickname."

"He likes it. He just pretends he doesn't."

"Oh, right. For your information..."

"¡Caramba! Don't you two ever quit? I think I'll go help Mike." Marco moved Henry aside and left the dayroom.

Johnny turned to Chet, ready to start in again, but at a look from Roy, contented himself with sticking out his tongue. Roy just shook his head in disgust. The dorm would be a more peaceful place to read his book.

Roy got up and left the room. Johnny glared at Chet. "Man, nobody clears a room like you do, Kelly. You're just incredible."

Chet tossed him a snide look and warned, "Just look out, Gage, you're not gonna know where, you're not gonna know when, but you'll know why." He got an apple from the refrigerator, and went out back to sit on his car.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Hey, John!" Cap's voice carried into the kitchen with a note of annoyance. Johnny looked at his pen. Surely Cap didn't hear...nah!

"Yeah, Cap!" Johnny stood and made his way into the office.

"Would you look at this mess? I can't read this! Did you fill out this log?"

"Uh...yes. I was tired, Cap, we had eighteen runs and almost no sleep," Gage whined.

"Well do it over so I can read it. Geez!"

The tones took that opportunity to call out the squad.

John and Roy headed for the squad as Sam Lanier's voice rang out over the bay. "Squad 51, maternity case, 6565 Royal Lane, Six-Five-Six-Five Royal Lane, cross street Wilmont, time out 13:05."

Hank Stanley's calm voice answered, "Squad 51, 10-4, KMG-365."

As the squad raced down the street, Johnny reminded Roy that it was Roy's turn to deliver. "I know, Junior, I remember."

"After all, Pally, I did the last delivery." Johnny smiled remembering the birth of the twin boys in the back of the ambulance last week.

Johnny reached for his pen to write down the time and initial details...no pen. Then he remembered, it was on the table in the dayroom. "Oh, man! Roy, can I borrow your pen?"

"Careful, Junior, last time you did that, you signed up to be a paramedic." Roy handed over his black pen.

"Oh, ha ha."

"You know when you think about it, we have had these pens a long time," Johnny mused. "Roy, next turn on the left." Roy turned the steering wheel, and they pulled up in front of a white two story house with shutters. They grabbed the OB kit, and the biophone out of the squad, and ran up to the front door.

As Roy raised his hand to knock on the door, it opened and revealed a frantic little girl. Tears ran down her cheeks, and as she stepped aside to let the paramedics in, she said to them, "My mommy's in the living room. She hurts a lot. Can you help her?"

"That's why we're here, sweetheart," Johnny answered while Roy hurried and knelt down beside the woman.

The child's mother, a woman in her late thirties, held her abdomen and cried out in pain. "It didn't hurt this bad last time," she said between clenched teeth. "Something must be wrong."

Johnny opened the biophone, putting the antenna in place. Picking up the handset, he spoke into it. "Rampart base, this is County 51. How do you read?"

Dixie McCall's calm voice came back over the link. "We read you loud and clear, 51."

"Rampart, we have a woman, late 30s in active labor. Patient is complaining of a great deal of pain."

"Stand by, 51." Dixie picked up the phone and paged Dr. Kelly Brackett.

"Mister, is my mommy and my new brother gonna be all right?"

"We'll do everything we can to make sure your mommy and your brother are fine, okay? Now you need to step back and give us a little room. Roy? What are the vitals?" Johnny prepared to write down the vitals, but the pen chose that moment to run out of ink. "Oh, man! Sweetheart, does your mommy have a pen around here somewhere?"

The little girl ran to the desk in the hallway and retrieved a chewed-up pencil. "Is this okay? Mommy doesn't let me use her pens."

Johnny smiled, "That's just fine. Thank you."

Kelly Brackett, Chief of Emergency Services for Rampart General Hospital walked through the double doors that separated the Emergency Department from the rest of the hospital. He strode up to the base station, nodding to Dixie. She whispered "51, and a patient in active labor." He hit the link, "51, this is Dr. Brackett. Do you have vitals?"

"Stand by, Rampart," Johnny looked at Roy.

Roy reached for the biophone. "Rampart, patient is experiencing pain different from previous labor and delivery. Vital signs: pulse 120, respirations 26, and labored, blood pressure 130/100. Fetal pulse reads 126." He handed the receiver back to Johnny, who wrote down the vitals using the borrowed pencil.

"51, how far is the mother dialated?"

"Stand by, Rampart. Roy?"

"About 8 sonimeters."

"Rampart, the mother is dialated about 8 sonimeters."

"And how far apart are the contractions, 51?"

"Ah, Rampart, the contractions are two minutes apart."

"Get ready for delivery, 51." Kel looked at Dixie, their eyes meeting. "Good thing Roy and Johnny are there. I wonder who called them?"

Dixie shook her head. Johnny's voice came over the biophone link. "Rampart, Patient is delivering the baby."

Kel and Dix heard Roy instruct the mother to push, and then heard him say, "Wait, don't push."

Kel hit the link, "51, any problems?"

Johnny answered, "Rampart, the umbilical cord is wrapped around the baby's neck. Roy's trying to remove it."

Johnny felt a tug on his sleeve as Roy worked desperately to save the baby. "Mister, what's wrong with my brother? Is he going to be all right?"

"Sweetheart, we're doing everything we can." Johnny placed himself between the little girl and her mother, shielding her from the view. "Can you go to the window over there and watch for the ambulance? That would be a real big help." Solemnly the little girl nodded and hurried to the picture window.

Johnny turned back to watch Roy, glad this time it wasn't his turn.

The mother, lying on the floor, glanced at her daughter. She looked at Johnny gratefully. "Thank you." she panted.

Roy worked slowly and carefully to unwrap the cord from around the baby's neck. He smiled as he accomplished his task. "Now you can push, here he comes."

Roy caught the baby in a sterile towel, and cleared his airway. "Okay, little fella, let's see how your lungs are." The baby obliged him by giving out with a loud, lusty wail. Roy smiled, and handed him to his mother.

"Rampart...it's a boy!" Johnny informed, grinning broadly.

"The ambulance is here," the little girl said. She skipped across the living room to look down at her little brother. "He's all wrinkled...and noisy."

"He's beautiful." stated his mother. "And it's okay if he's noisy, that means his lungs work."

The ambulance attendants came into the room with a gurney. They picked up both mother and baby and placed them on it. The little girl, looking up at Johnny, asked, "What's going to happen to me?"

"You know," Johnny said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin with his index finger, "it gets awful lonely in the squad without my partner. Do you think you could keep me company on the way to the hospital?" She nodded, her eyes round and solemn with responsibility. "Okay. But I don't let strangers ride with me, so you'll have to tell me your name first."

"It's Shelly," the child said.

"Well, nice to meet you, Shelly," Johnny said, holding out one hand. "I'm Johnny. Shall we go to the hospital? By the way, where's your daddy?"

"My daddy died awhile ago, it's just been me and Mommy and now the baby. My aunt said she'd be here when the baby came, but she's at work." Shelly's eyes filled with tears.

Johnny put his arms around her and comforted her. "Hey, now don't cry, we'll call your aunt and she can meet us at the hospital, okay?" He smiled at her, and got a hug in return. They went to make the call.

Shelly's aunt agreed to meet them at the hospital and Johnny, with Shelly's 'help' loaded the gear into the squad, then assisted the little girl into the passenger's side. She kept up a monologue all the way to Rampart about how she wanted either a brother or a kitten for her birthday and she ended up with a brother. Tomorrow, she told Johnny, would be her birthday.

"Johnny," Shelly asked, "if I change my mind, can I trade my brother in for a kitten?"

"I don't think so, Shelly. Hey, you'll like your brother just fine, I'm sure."

"Johnny?"

"What?"

"You still have my pencil."

"Oh, yeah. Huh. I guess I'd better give it back." He handed over the chewed-up pencil, and reminded himself to retrieve his pen as soon as they got back to the station.




Back at the station, Chet wandered through the dayroom, picking up litter and preparing to sweep. For once Gage got the latrine. As he raised a folded newspaper, Johnny's green pen fell to the table. The tapping sound it made as it hit reminded The Phantom of his promise to Gage.

Looking around to make sure he was unobserved, the Phantom picked up the pen and searched for a place to hide it. Somewhere that nobody would find it by accident. He snapped his fingers. Chet leaned down and laid the pen on the floor, then using his foot, slid it under the refrigerator.

Henry looked at him from his position on the couch. The big brown eyes watched as Chet picked up the broom and started sweeping again. The basset hound yawned and rolled over on to his back. He loved all his humans at the station, but the one called Chet was especially good to him, feeding him all his leftover table scraps. He would keep the secret, he was good at keeping secrets. He closed his eyes and went to sleep.




Pulling up to the Emergency entrance, Johnny backed the squad into place next to the ambulance. Shelly opened the door, and hopped out. Johnny took her hand and they followed the gurney into the hospital. Shelly skipped along beside the paramedic, holding his hand until she saw her aunt. "Aunt Patsy!" she ran up to the woman standing there, and gave her a big hug.

It took a couple of moments before Johnny remembered to close his mouth. "Aunt Patsy" was drop-dead gorgeous, a tall, willowy brunette with green eyes and more class than he'd seen in years.

"Aunt Patsy, this is Johnny. He's a fireman. He talked on the phone while the other man helped Mommy have a baby."

"I'm pleased to meet you," she raised her eyebrows, "Johnny?"

"Ahhh uh, it's John, John Gage. My pleasure Aunt...er...Miss...uh Patsy?"

"Patricia Wilkins."

Shelly giggled as Johnny stammered and turned red in front of her aunt. He was funny.

Roy walked down the corridor from having dropped Shelly's mom off in Treatment room 4. He stopped short when he saw his partner talking to Patsy. He took a step forward. "Patsy? Is that you?"

Patsy turned and saw Roy standing there. She smiled and walked over to him to give him a hug. "Roy DeSoto! How are you? How's Joanne? I haven't seen you both since high school."

Roy blushed, and then reintroduced her to his partner. Johnny stared at him like he'd never seen him before.

Shelly pulled on his arm, and he looked down. "Johnny, Aunt Patsy is my daddy's sister. Do you like her?"

"Uh...yeah," Johnny said, still staring at his partner and the beautiful brunette. "Yeah, Shelly, Aunt Patsy seems to be very...nice."

"Daddy used to say she 'slays men'. What does that mean, Johnny? Is it giving them a ride, like in Santa's sleigh?"

"Yeah...er um... no! That is he didn't mean in a ... Look, Shelly, your daddy just meant that his sister is very pretty."

"Oh. Are you sure?"

"Oh, yeah!" Johnny reddened again as he realized that his partner and Patricia Wilkins had stopped talking and were listening to his conversation with the little girl.

Shelly looked up at her new friend. "You think my Aunt Patsy's pretty? You wanna go out with her? She likes to go out and eat, and she likes movies,and she's..."

"Shelly! Stop that!" Now Patsy was the one blushing.

Johnny gave her one of his killer smiles, and said, "You know, she's got a good idea. How would you like to go out to the movies sometime?"

"That might be nice. I'll be pretty busy for a while, though, taking care of my sister-in-law, my niece and my new nephew. Speaking of my nephew..."

"He's all wrinkled, Aunt Patsy, and he's awful loud. Can't we get a kitten instead?"

The two paramedics laughed as Patsy rolled her eyes. "Shelly, let's go find out how your mommy is doing. Roy, thank you for delivering my nephew. Give Joanne my love. Johnny...ah...John, it's been a pleasure meeting you."

"The pleasure's all mine." Johnny answered gallantly. "Wait, what's your phone number? He reached for his pen, but remembered it was at the station. Dixie walked by, and Johnny asked her for a pen.

She reached into her pocket and pulled one out. "I need that one back, it's my favorite pen."

Patsy wrote her number down, and handed Dixie back her pen. "Thanks for the use of your pen."

Johnny gave her a smile, and said, "I'll call you and we'll set up a time to get together, okay?"

"All right." Patsy smiled.

Shelly leaned toward Dixie, who was watching the conversation with interest. "You gotta watch him," she informed the nurse, nodding toward John Gage, "he almost got away with my pencil."

Dixie raised her eyebrows and peered sideways at Johnny.

"Thanks for the tip. He does look like a suspicious character."

Shelly nodded solemnly and as her aunt took her firmly by the hand to escort her upstairs, was heard to ask, "Aunt Patsy, what's a 'spicious character?"

Roy walked over to Johnny as they both laughed. Dixie joined them and they proceeded over to the desk to pick their supplies. Roy put the HT to his face, and made them available.

Johnny asked Roy, "You know her from high school?"

"Yeah, she and Joanne were really good friends and she covered for us so Joanne's mom wouldn't find out we were together. Her brother was killed in a car accident three months ago. I forgot he was married."

Johnny looked at his partner, and said, "She covered for you and Joanne? Why did you guys have to sneak around?"

"You know how Joanne's mother is, how she doesn't like me?"

"Yeah"

"Well," Roy sighed, "she didn't like me back then either. Patsy covered for us, by telling Joanne's mother she was with Patsy, rather than with me." Roy smiled at the memory. "We really owe her alot."

Johnny brightened. "Then, Pally, why don't you pay her back by setting her up with me?"

Roy looked at his partner, and laughed. Johnny's face fell. "What?"

Roy decided to keep his comments about 'paybacks' to himself. He didn't want to put up with a rant for the rest of the day. Patsy and his partner? Maybe I'll ask Joanne, he thought.

"Well?" Johnny prompted, impatient with Roy's silence. "You don't think I'm good enough for her, do you? You think I'd strike out or something. Gee thanks, Partner. Thanks a lot!"

Roy opened his mouth and then closed it again. He started the squad, sure this day was shot as far as peace and quiet went.

Roy pulled out of the parking lot, and turned in the direction of Station 51. When they got back to the station, Big Red was gone, which meant that the engine crew was on a call somewhere. Johnny sat morosely in the squad.

Might as well take care of the log before we forget. Cap's already mad that it's such a mess. Johnny reached in his pocket for his green pen and found Roy's pen instead. Oh yeah...my pen. He exited the cab and walked into the dayroom, careful to avoid his partner. He picked up the crossword puzzle...no pen. Johnny carefully scanned the dayroom and even lifted a reluctant Henry from the couch. Still no pen. It's gotta be here somewhere, it's just gotta!

"What are you looking for, Junior?"

"My pen, it's not here; I left it here, but now it's gone."

"Are you sure, maybe it's in the office."

Johnny looked at him. "Roy, I had it right here, working on the crossword puzzle. I was tapping it, remember, and Chet.... That's it, Chet's got my pen! "

Henry woke up and yawned. This human, the shaggy one named Johnny was always ranting about something. Who could sleep with him around?

Roy asked Johnny, "Are you sure Chet had it?"

"Who else could it be? He told me The Phantom would get even. It has to be Chet!"

"So, use another one until you get yours back."

"Roy! It's the principle of the thing. That's MY pen and Chet took it on purpose!"

"Johnny, you don't know that."

"Oh yes I do. Great, just great. First my partner thinks I'm not good enough to date his old friend, then Chet steals my lucky pen."

"I didn't say you weren't good enough..." Roy objected.

"Well, you didn't rush to set us up, did you, huh? Huh? See!"

Roy threw up his hands in defeat. Johnny removed the black pen from his pocket and handed it to Roy. "Here's your pen back. It doesn't work anyway."

"Thanks." Roy walked to the office to find a replacement, sure this day was headed right down the toilet.

Johnny went into the locker room, and opened his locker. He checked the contents, and found everything but his pen. He opened Chet's locker, and stopped. "Man, what a mess! How does he find stuff in here?" He closed the door, and headed for the office.

Johnny opened Cap's desk and rooted through the top drawer. There were pens and pencils galore, but none that had the metal clip to make it stay in his pocket. He was about to give up and just pick up the first one he came to, when a bright red pen rolled from nowhere into the center of the drawer. It had the metal clip he needed, in fact it fit the bill perfectly...for not being his lucky pen.

He picked it up and put it in his pocket. Somehow, it felt just like his lucky pen, and it was very comfortable. He headed for the log book. He reread what he had written, and understood why Cap was having a hard time with it.

Suddenly the letters seemed to waver and change. The words morphed into something else completely...not even his writing. Instead of "Sunday: heart case 10:15 2002 Oak St. Follow-up Rampart return 11:43", he read "Tuesday: 11:42 Gage falls into manhole and fractures wrist." Johnny blinked and shook his head, then stared at the words again. They remained an account of his injury. Today was Tuesday. It was close to 11:15 now. "Roy! Come here a minute!"

Roy walked reluctantly into Cap's office, sure Johnny had found something else to complain about.

"Roy look at this. What do you see?"

Roy read the log. "Heart case 10:15 2002 Oak Street. Follow-up Rampart return 11:43. So, what's the problem, other than it's almost unreadable. No wonder Cap wanted you to fix this. Where did you learn to write?"

"Roy! You don't see 'Tuesday 11:42, Gage falls into manhole and fractures wrist'?"

"Junior, you're writing is pretty bad, but no, I can't make it say that, no matter how hard I try."

Suddenly the tones went off summoning the squad to duty. "Squad 51...child lost in sewer...intersection of Fairmont and Pine...time out 11:21."

Roy ran to respond to the transmission. With a quick motion, Johnny leaned down and used his new red pen to scratch out the words "fractures wrist" and replaced it with "finds a dollar". "Just in case," he muttered.

"Squad 51, 10-4, KMG-365," responded Roy. He hit the switch for the door, and then got behind the wheel.

Johnny jumped in beside Roy. In moments, the squad was racing down the street, with lights blazing and sirens wailing. Slowing down at the intersections, Roy listened as Johnny called out, "Clear". They pulled up to the intersection of Fairmont and Pine to find a group of people standing there. Vince Howard was trying to keep them back as another officer pulled up.

Johnny jumped from the squad and began gathering equipment from the side compartments while Roy went to consult with Vince. "What do we have, Vince?"

"Roy, this is Darla Carver. Her son was playing near that storm drain and reached in to retrieve a lost toy. One of the neighbors saw him disappear. We figure the nearest access is this manhole."

The cover was off and Roy gazed down into the gloom below. He nodded to Vince. "How old is the boy?" he asked Mrs. Carver.

"He's only five. Please, please find my son. Please hurry. He might be hurt, and he's all alone..."

Johnny came running over with belts and a rope. "I'll go down," he told his partner.

Gage sat down on the edge of the manhole, his long legs dangling over the darkness. It was perhaps a ten-foot drop. Roy handed him a flashlight and prepared to lower his partner into the sewer. Johnny wrinkled his nose at the unpleasant smell before scooting into position.

A commotion in the crowd captured Vince's attention. A man, obviously in a panic, barreled unheeding toward the group around the manhole. Vince's attempt to stop him was almost successful, but not before he tripped on the manhole cover and fell headlong, pushing Johnny Gage into the hole.

The rope slipped through Johnny's hands as he plunged down into the sewer. He landed painfully, his feet sliding from beneath him as he hit the slippery wet concrete.

"Ow!"

"Johnny? Are you all right?" Roy's concerned voice floated down to him.

"Yeah, I'm okay, Roy. I'll check around down here for the boy."

Johnny slowly got to his feet, the slime from the sewer floor soaking his pants. He hated being wet, and he hated smelling like a sewer. Bits of trash littered the floor and clung to his now-wet uniform pants. He peeled a candy wrapper from his right leg and reached to pull off another one clinging to his left wrist---only to find it was a dollar bill. "Well what do you know!" He grinned.

Roy called down, "Johnny? I'm sending down the HT, and a rope. Cap said to make sure that you're tied off.

Johnny reached up to take the HT. "Hey, Roy, I found a dollar."

The guys laughed. "Great, Johnny, now find the kid, willya?" Roy grinned. His partner was something else. Leave it to Johnny to find something good in such a nasty situation.

Roy shook his head and looked at Hank. "Cap? Maybe we ought to send Chet and Marco down to the next manhole, and they can watch for Johnny there."

"Good idea, Roy, Chet, Marco, take the squad and see if you can see anything down at the next manhole."

"Okay, Cap." The two men got into the squad and drove away.

Johnny was surprised to hear that the engine had been called to join them. They must have come directly from the fire. Maybe Chet had his pen. Shrugging, Johnny waded through the ooze toward the storm drain. A whimper that sounded like a frightened child echoed through the corridor. With all the side tunnels, it was hard to pinpoint the origin. Gage headed in the general direction of the noise.

"Hello? Fire Department! Anyone there?" he called. He stopped to listen, and he heard a faint "I'm here!"

"Keep talkin', I'll find you," assured Johnny.

"Okay. Mr. Fireman? I gotta go to the baffroom." Johnny's eyes closed. "Why me? Oh, man!" Johnny called to the boy, "Kid? Can you hold it?"

"No! I can't! But it's only number one, not number two."

"Okay, kid, just let it fly."

"Right here?"

"Yup, right there. Don't worry, I won't tell, if you won't." He was starting to come up to an intersecting series of tunnels, when he found the little boy just zipping up his pants.

"Hi, my name is Johnny, and I'm a firefighter. What's your name?

"My name is Jeffery Ray Carver. I'm five years old. I live at 1312 Pine Street. My mom is Darla Carver; she's a housewife. My dad is Daniel Carver; he's a plumber." The boy finished his recital and blinked at Johnny.

"Yeah, I think I met your dad just before I came down here," Johnny said, rubbing his sore backside.

"Are you really a fireman? Why did they call a fireman? There's no fire down here. Is it really okay if I pee down here? My mom says 'nowhere but in the bathroom, Jeffery'."

"Kid, take a deep breath." Jeffery did as Johnny instructed.

"Phew!"

"See, I don't think your little... um... addition is gonna hurt anything. Now, let's get outta here, it smells a whole lot better upstairs."

"Okay, mister."

Johnny raised the HT, "Engine 51, this is John. I found him. He's okay, and in good condition."

Sighs of relief came from the crowd as Johnny's voice came over the radio. The boy's parents clung to each other in relief. Cap and Roy shared a smile, and as Roy glanced up at Big Red, he saw Mike Stoker look skyward, and whisper "thank you". Roy smiled. Mike was a man of few words, but he was an asset to their station, and Roy was grateful for the support, physical or otherwise.

Deciding the extra life belt was useless with such a small waist to span, Johnny tugged on the rope and picked Jeffery up in his arms. "Going up!" he said, grinning at the boy.

Jeffery smiled back. Johnny was glad to take a breath of relatively clean air. Whenever he felt like complaining about the smog, he would remember the smell down there and realize there were worse places.

"Hey, Chet," he called as Kelly and Lopez came sauntering up, "do you have my pen?"

"Your pen? Gage, what would I want with your pen?"

"Look, Chet, my pen is missing. The last time I saw it was at the station, and you and the Phantom threatened to do something with it. So where is it?"

Marco rolled his eyes. "I don't believe you two! Knock it off before someone winds up with permanent latrine duty."

"Hey mister?" Marco looked down.

"Yes?"

"Do they fight like that all the time? My mom would put them in time-out."

"Sounds like a good idea, buddy. I'll have to talk to the Cap about that."

"Hey, Jeffery, I thought you were my friend!" Johnny said in mock anger.

The boy shrugged and walked away with his parents before the fireman could tell his mom he peed in the sewer.

"John, do you mind standing downwind? You smell pretty bad." Chet held his nose as he spoke.

Johnny made a threatening fist, but remembered the dollar bill in his pocket. Maybe some good would come of this situation after all.

"LA, Station 51 returning to quarters." Hank radioed in. He climbed up in Big Red, seating himself next to Mike. "Let's go home, Pal."

"Okay, Cap."

Johnny and Roy got into the Squad, Roy rolling down the window as fast as he could. He looked over at his partner. "Don't take this personally, Johnny, but you really stink."

"Oh, har, har. Really funny Roy. Let's go."

Back at the station, Johnny ran into the locker room and stripped out of his smelly clothes, then jumped into the shower. He cleaned up and changed in record time, anxious to have another look at that log book.

Cap exited his office just as Johnny came to a halt outside the door.

"Uh, Cap, I think I'll work on that log now."

"Be my guest." Hank indicated the desk with a sweep of his hand.

Johnny hurried over and opened the log. He pulled the red pen from his pocket and laid it on the desk. The next entry from last shift read, "Sunday: structure fire --minor burns, smoke inhalation 12:45 105 S. Wendover. No follow-up. Return 14:07."

Johnny was vaguely disappointed. He used Cap's pen to clarify his chicken-scratch writing and noticed the previous entry was back to normal.

That's amazing! he thought. I wonder what that was all about?

He proceeded to check the rest of the log, and found the next entry: "Sunday: maternity case--precipatate delivery, 15:00, 10278 Buckley. Delivered healthy baby boy. Follow-up to Rampart. Return 16:45."

Hmm, nothing out of the ordinary here. Must have been my imagination.

Shaking his head, he picked up the red pen and prepared to enter the sewer call into the log. The Sunday structure fire entry wavered and twisted, the words reshaping themselves to read, "Tuesday: 13:02 Gage shocked by downed power line."

Johnny put down the pen and the words returned to normal. He picked up the pen...again the message about shock.

Johnny picked up and put down the pen a couple of times, and each time, the message appeared and faded. He wasn't sure he wanted to see the message again, but decided to change it. After all, it worked the last time. And he was a buck ahead.

Carefully he scratched out the words "Gage shocked by downed power line" and paused for a moment to think. A crooked grin spread slowly across his face. With a chuckle that was pure mischief, he wrote in "Kelly rips out the seat of his pants." Then he glanced at the clock. If this thing was consistent, Chet Kelly would be feeling a draft in about twenty-five minutes. And hopefully, Johnny would be around to witness it.

He continued to work on the log, when the tones went off. "Station 36, Station 110, Station 51, Battalion 14, structure fire, Windsor Avenue Middle School, intersection Windsor Avenue, and Buckingham. Windsor Avenue Middle School, intersection Windsor Avenue and Buckingham. Time Out: 12:45."

Sam Lanier's baritone rang out across the bay as men scrambled for their vehicles.

Cap answered with his customary, "Station 51, KMG-365." Running to Big Red, he said to Mike, "Let's go, Michael."

The engine and the squad rolled out of the bay, siren's blaring. The call took on a special urgency because a school was involved.

When they arrived, it was to find one corner of the two-story building ablaze. Severed power lines hissed and snaked on the ground between the firemen and the flames. Johnny felt a cold chill go up his back. If he hadn't read that log, or picked up the red pen...

"L.A., Engine 51, we need the power cut off to this school ASAP. We cannot access the fire due to downed power lines."

"Engine 51, L.A., 10-4"

Cap turned to his paramedics, "Circle around to the other side and go in through the back door. Do a sweep of the building." Roy and John nodded and ran to don their SCBA.

The principal approached Hank Stanley on the run. "We've got three students unaccounted for," he puffed.

"All right, my men will look for them." Turning to Chet and Marco, he gave instructions. "Marco, Chet, grab a couple of inch and a halfs and take the opposite side from the power lines."

Mike was already in position, checking his gauges and hose pressure.

Gage and DeSoto started toward the building. Hank instructed them to look for the three missing students. Johnny acknowledged with the wave of a hand before he and Roy disappeared around the back side of the structure.

Students milling around were ushered to the safety of the football field as police officers arrived and took charge of crowd control.

Three young girls were standing in a huddle crying as Johnny and Roy passed by them. Johnny stopped to adjust his mask before putting it on. Hearing giggles, he turned around. They had stopped crying and were staring at him. He saw them and grinned, then put his mask on. Replacing his helmet, he heard, "Did you see HIM? He's CUTE!" He followed his partner up the stairs.

Roy turned to grin at Johnny, "Come on, Cutie."

The lopsided grin appeared through the facemask as Johnny shook his head in amusement.

"I'll take this side of the hall, you wanna take that side?" Roy indicated that Johnny should go left while he went on the right side of the corridor.

With a nod, Johnny trotted to the first door. It was open and the classroom was empty. There were no closets or other places a student could be hidden. He took a chunk of chalk from his pocket and quickly shut the door then marked it with an "X". He proceeded to the next door. It was basically the same...no closets, no large furniture, and no students.

At the fifth door on the left, Johnny saw the sparking ends of a wire dancing inside the room and part of a tree branch poking through the window. Glass littered the floor and three students, all girls, lay unconscious near the window.

"ROY? I FOUND THEM!" he shouted. Raising his HT, he said, "Engine 51, HT51, I found the girls, they're all unconscious. We're gonna need help getting them out."

Roy joined him, and asked, "Did you call for help?" just as Cap came back with, "HT 51, I'm sending Kelly up to help out."

"10-4, Cap," Johnny answered.

Smoke drifted down the hall as the fire engulfed the rooms at the far end, working its way toward the paramedics.

"We can't treat them here," Roy said when Johnny knelt down to check for a pulse. Nodding, Gage told him, "They're alive. Where's Kelly?"

As if conjured by Johnny's voice, their comrade bustled into the room and looked to Roy for instructions.

"We've got to get them out now," Roy told him as he shouldered the first victim. When Chet reached down to pick up another of the girls, Johnny heard a faint tearing sound.

It didn't register at first, but one look at the wire still sparking just a few feet away was enough to clue him that Chet's pants may have just saved the paramedic's life. Thank's, Kelly, he thought to himself.

The three men carried their precious burdens down the stairs and out to the squad, where Mike and Cap had set up their equipment. Mike brought over the oxygen from the engine.

Chet laid his victim down on one of the blankets, and moved back out of the way. He reached back and felt behind him. There was definitely a draft. He couldn't believe it. He had actually ripped his pants.

He was sidling out of the way, when Johnny, with a smirk on his face, questioned, "What's the matter Kelly, you look like you ripped your pants." He nodded his head, embarrassed.

"How did you know, Gage? I didn't even know I did it until now."

"Oh," Johnny replied glancing at his watch, "I figured it was about time something happened to you instead of me."

"Johnny, you wanna call Rampart?" Roy was surprised to see his partner so preoccupied.

Two of the girls opened their eyes and appeared dazed. The third was still unconscious. Johnny picked up the biophone.

"Rampart, this is County 51, how do you read?" Johnny glanced at Roy and the victims, back on track with the rescue.

"I read you loud and clear, 51, go ahead," Dr. Early's voice came back over the base station radio.

"Rampart, we have three victims of a fire in a school, stand by for vitals. All three are currently on O2, at 4 litres per minute."

The third girl regained consciousness, started coughing, and eyes fluttering, squinted up at Johnny in confusion. At the sight of the blue uniform, she began to struggle. As Johnny leaned forward to hold her still, a small bag of marijuana fell from the pocket of her flannel shirt. His eyes widened. That explained why the girls had not left with the rest of the students.

"Hold still! Settle down!" Johnny ordered. Roy glanced over at his partner, then down at the patient. She had a fearful look on her face.

"You gonna narc on me?" Her friends looked at the paramedics, then at each other.

"Rampart, stand by, we have just discovered marijuana on one of our victims," reported Johnny.

The girl who had the pot looked at him disgustedly. "Great! He's gonna narc!"

"Look, kid, I'm talking to the hospital, not the cops."

"Yeah, well, you guys with the badges always stick together. I'm okay, I just wanna go home." She struck Johnny's hand from her shoulder and climbed unsteadily to her feet. Her two friends were still staring glassy-eyed, amazed at the activity going on around them.

"Hey, wait a minute, you aren't going anywhere." stated Roy emphatically. "You inhaled a lot of smoke back in that building, and we need to have you checked by the hospital."

At the instigation of the first, the other two girls struggled to their feet and prepared to leave.

The dark haired paramedic stood and blocked their escape. "Look," Johnny said, his patience wearing thin, "you either go with us, or our friend over there." He pointed at Vince Howard who was busy with crowd control. "Now what's it gonna be?"

The girls looked at each other, eyed Vince, and sat back down.

"That's more like it," Johnny told them. He picked up the biophone and spoke to Dr. Early.

"Rampart, vitals on victim one: Pulse 100, respirations 16, Blood pressure 110/60. Victim is on 4 litres of O2. Victim two: Pulse 90, respirations 18, blood pressure 100/50. O2 at 4 litres. Victim three; pulse 110, respirations 20, blood pressure 120/68, O2 at 4 litres," Johnny reported.

"51 Keep the victims on O2, monitor vitals and transport."

"10-4, Rampart, O2 and transport." Johnny hung up the biophone and signalled for a gurney.

"We can walk." The belligerent girl, who appeared to be the oldest of the three, got back to her feet and motioned for the other two to join her, keeping a wary eye on the form of Vince Howard still in the distance.

Still protesting a trip to the hospital, one of the girls whined, "My mom isn't going to like this at all."

"Well, your mom would have liked it a lot less if you had died in that fire, so plant your butt on that gurney before I do it for you," answered Johnny. The three girls glared at the paramedic who, fresh out of sympathy, glared right back. Roy rolled his eyes and motioned the ambulance attendants forward.

The attendants placed one girl on the gurney and strapped her in. Johnny and Roy had brought out the collapsable stretcher from the squad, and placed another in that, and Mike had brought the stokes from the squad and placed the last girl in that. They rolled the gurney into the ambulance first, and then seated the two stretchers on ledges at either side. Roy replaced the nasal canulas on each girl then sat down on the bench and began rechecking vitals. The ambulance attendant gave him a sympathetic look as he climbed in.

Johnny shoved in the drug box and biophone, closed the doors and thumped them twice then watched as the ambulance sped off. He was glad it was his partner and not him in there.

Johnny's small gang of admirers gathered not far away to whisper and giggle as the rescue proceeded. Now they waved at the dark-haired paramedic while he prepared to follow in the squad.

Flashing them a crooked grin and an indulgent wave, Gage got in the driver's seat and started the squad. This group was definitely too young, but there was a new nurse at Rampart he wouldn't mind getting to know...so far he'd had no luck. And there was Aunt Patsy to consider. Roy and Joanne would just have to fix them up.

Man, I don't envy Roy this ambulance ride. Those girls must have either been too stoned to realize there was a fire, or too afraid of being caught to leave the building. This could have been a real tragedy.

With a shake of his head, he backed the squad up beside the ambulance, wrote in the details of the run, and started to put the red pen back in his pocket.

Oh...oh wait a minute! Maybe this pen can do more than just avert disasters. A light went on in Johnny's mind and a devious look appeared on his face---a look that Roy had definitely learned to dread.

Whistling, the junior paramedic exited the squad and passed through the double doors into the hospital. He knew just what to write in that log book next!

Gage walked down the hall to the desk, where Dixie was sitting at the counter, trying to figure out the new supply requisition forms.

"Hey, Dix."

"Hi, Johhny, how's it going?" Dixie smiled up at the handsome face of one of her favorite paramedics.

"Um, Dix, is that new nurse, Bambi, on duty? You know, the cute blonde?"

"Yes, Johnny, I think so."

"Well, when does she get off?"

"Oh, I think she's on until eleven. Why?"

"Oh, nothing." An ear-to-ear grin split Johnny's face. He couldn't wait. He patted the red pen in his pocket.

"Thanks, Dix."

Dixie shook her head and went back to the supply forms. I don't really want to know.

Johnny ambled down the hall looking for Bambi, still grinning. This is gonna be good, he thought. Just then Roy came out of the treatment room shaking his head.

"What's wrong, Partner? Girls giving you fits?"

Roy glared at his friend. "Johnny, do you know where they got the marijuana? Their PARENTS! Can you believe that? Just incredible! I'll never understand people"

"Me neither, Partner. I'm glad you rode with them in the ambulance. I don't think I could have handled them."

"I was tempted to open the door and shove the gurney out with one foot," Roy admitted, "especially where that smart-alec was concerned."

"Better you than me." Johnny started whistling as they walked toward the exit. He was still whistling when they entered the apparatus bay. The whistling was starting to get on Roy's nerves, but he had a feeling he would rather hear the whistle than the explanation for it.

They ran into Chet, who was just leaving the locker room after changing his torn pants.

"Hey Chet, how bad were they ripped?" inquired Johnny.

"I just split out the seam, nothing serious, and the cleaners can repair it when they do my uniforms," answered Chet.

"Yeah, it's a shame you ripped them, but I suppose you could have done something worse, like make contact with a live wire. That would have been really bad," smirked Johnny.

Kelly's eyes narrowed. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing, Chet, just making conversation. Oh, by the way, have you seen my green pen?"

"Gage, I told you earlier, I don't have your pen." Kelly held out his hands, flipping them over to emphasize that they were empty. "You probably just left it somewhere and forgot."

Johnny eyed Chet in suspicion, but Kelly wore his best innocent expression. As his pigeon headed toward the office, Kelly smirked. Gage would be a nut case in no time. He was fanatical about that pen being his good luck charm.

Johnny peeked into the office to make sure no one was there before entering and opening the log. He picked up the red pen and opened the book.

Johnny sat down, as he read the most recent entry. "Wednesday, time out 15:01, squad and engine responding, rescue child trapped in crawlspace under house. Gage slips on wet grass, falls, dislocates left shoulder. Injury immobilized. Child extricated, sent to Rampart as a precautionary measure. Squad on follow-up."

Johnny looked at the entry, and crossed out the part where he got injured. In its place, he wrote, "Captain Stanley's shoes stuck in fresh tar. Prybar used to free." He grinned. At least shoes getting stuck was far safer than dislocating your shoulder. He placed the red pen back in his pocket, and closed the book.

Johnny giggled to himself, envisioning Cap's chagrin at being in such an embarrassing situation. Gage started to leave the office, then snapped his fingers and sat back down. Crooked grin firmly in place, he added a line to the entry. "At Rampart, newest nurse in ER falls head-over-heels in love with Gage."

Satisfied and confident that he now had a date for his days off, he closed the log book, then opened it and filled in the details of the schoolhouse rescue. Finally, humming tunelessly he wandered into the kitchen. Lunch had been missed due to constant call-outs since 11:00. "I'm starved," he announced to the room at large, "who's cookin'?"

Marco turned around to answer him, spoon in hand. "I am, and you will love what I am cooking. It is very good, and I got the recipe from Mama Rosita. It's delicious."

Johnny grinned, Marco's mom was famous throughout the department for her cooking, and her son was following in her footsteps.

"What is it? Smells great."

"It is Mama's famous enchiladas, with her secret sauce," Marco replied. "It's almost finished, you wanna set the table?"

"Sure thing, Marco," Johnny replied waiting for the other fireman to turn his back so he could dip his finger into the sauce for a taste. It was good!

Johnny removed six plates from the cupboard and proceeded to set the table for dinner. He eyed the clock. If the red pen held true, Cap would be in a sticky situation in about 15 minutes. Johnny hoped they would have time to eat first, he was starving

Mike and Cap walked into the kitchen from the equipment bay and sniffed appreciatively. "Marco, whatever it is smells great," stated Cap.

Mike nodded in agreement, and pulled out a chair to sit down. Marco handed him a block of cheese, and the grater and a bowl. "Here, Mike, you can grate the cheese, and then we'll be ready to eat."

"Yeah, Mikey, work for your meal," teased Chet. Roy looked up from the couch, where Henry had taken up residence on his lap.

"Chet, Mike doesn't like to be called Mikey, you know that. Why do you do it?"

"To get a reaction out of him," answered Chet. Mike said nothing, he was concentrating on the job at hand.

"Doesn't look like you got any reaction from him this time," Roy said.

"Well, he doesn't say much most of the time anyway."

"Chet, a fool, when he is silent, is deemed to be wise," answered Mike.

"What is that supposed to mean?" demanded Chet.

"Better to be thought a fool, and be silent, than to open your mouth and confirm their suspicions," answered Mike.

Chet sat there speechless. His mouth opened and closed, then he said, "Stuff it Stoker."

Johnny giggled and sat on the couch. It wasn't often that somebody got over on Chet, and it was nice to finally see it happen. Of course there had been satisfaction in the ripped pants as well. I'll have to do something nice for Stoker with my magic pen. "Way to tell him, Mike," Johnny enthused.

"Shut up Gage, what do you know?" sneered Kelly.

Henry looked over at Johnny, and moved his bulk so that one half was on Roy, and the other half was on Johnny. Johnny reached down, and absently stroked Henry's head and ears. Henry's tail thumped. Ahh, this is the life!

Roy looked at Johnny and said, "I'd rather have the talking end."

Johnny laughed and said, "That end talks, just nobody wants to be around when it does. Right, Henry?" The tail thumped again.

Cap laughed. "Okay, Guys, let's eat. Marco, this looks great! You've outdone yourself."

"Station 51...child trapped...2752 West Pine Street...2-7-5-2 West Pine...cross street Alvarado...time out 1501." Sam Lanier's voice interrupted dinner before anyone could raise a fork to his mouth.

Reluctantly the men rose from the table, Johnny with a look of real regret. He should have changed the time out to give them a chance to eat. Oh well. This was still gonna be good for some laughs at Cap's expense.

As he climbed into the squad and took the call slip, Johnny nearly leaned forward in anticipation, anxious to see the tar that would trap Hank's feet.

Hank hit the switch for the door, and then climbed up into his seat in Big Red. "Let's go, Michael."

"Right, Cap." answered the engineer. He pulled out right behind the squad, and blew the airhorn to warn traffic.

They rolled up at the address, a nicely manicured lawn in front of a tidy white house. The only jarring note in an otherwise postcard-perfect scene, was the sagging front porch. The pillars on one end leaned toward each other like drunken sentinals. An elderly woman in her late 60s, ran up to Cap as he got out of the engine. "Please, you have to help my grandson, he's trapped under the porch!"

Cap accompanied the woman to the house and leaned down to assess the situation. A teenage boy lay with his torso under the porch which had collapsed on top of him. His feet lay on the lawn, legs thrashing as he struggled against the weight on his chest.

"What have we got, Cap?" Johnny asked, approaching at a run.

"Boy's half under the porch. Seems to be a lot of weight on his chest."

Johnny laid down beside the boy and stuck his head into the darkness. The porch must have shifted somehow when the boy crawled underneath. A pair of green eyes stared at Johnny from a broken timber just out of the teenager's reach---a cat. Gage checked pulse and respirations, trying not to frown. The boy's panic-striken eyes met Johnny's and he gave the paramedic a look of pleading, unable to speak.

"You just hang in there, kid, we'll have you out in a jif, okay?" The boy nodded and Johnny scooted back out and spoke to Hank Stanley in a low voice. "Cap, I think we need to get him out of here right now." Johnny leaned back on his heels and wiped dirty hands on his pantlegs. "Looks like Porta-Power is our best bet, don't ya think?"

Hank nodded. "Chet! Bring the Porta-Power over here.

Chet ran to get that piece of equipment while Roy carted in the rest of the paramedic gear.

Mike brought over the oxygen from the squad, and Marco stood next to the woman, who was weeping. He reached out and touched her on the shoulder.

"Ma'am, Johnny and Roy are the two best paramedics in the county. They'll take really good care of your grandson." She nodded, and wiped her eyes with a tissue.

"What's he doing under there, anyway?" Cap asked.

She sniffed, and then answered, "My cat, Charlie, ran under there, and Tim, that's my grandson crawled in there to bring him out, and now they're both stuck!" She started to weep again.

Johnny seated the Porta-Power under the corner of the porch and started pumping the handle. The timbers began to split and crack.

"Cap, I think we're gonna need something to brace this porch with. A two-by-four or cinder block or something in case these timbers give."

Hank walked around the back of the house, hoping to find some object with which to brace the porch. Too late he saw that the blacktop driveway was freshly tarred. "Aw, nuts!" Hank took two more steps and stuck fast. Odd! No matter how hard he tried, his feet wouldn't budge. "Oh, for Pete's Sake! Marco! Ya wanna give me a hand back here?"

Marco ran around to the back of the house, and stopped short when he saw his captain's predicament. "Cap? Are you stuck?"

"Yes, you twit! Get me out of here!" he demanded. "Wait! Get those cinderblocks back to Johnny and Roy first, then bring Chet and get me out of here!"

"Right away, Cap." Marco answered meekly. He stepped around the driveway on the grass, and then brought the cinderblocks back to the porch.

"Where's Cap?" asked Johnny, already knowing the answer.

"He's stuck in the tar around back." Johnny bowed his head to hide the grin he was wearing.

Roy put the porta-power under the porch, and Johnny slid the cinderblocks in gradually to brace it as it was raised. The senior paramedic continued to pump, and was relieved when the bracing held.

"Hey! Marco! Chet! Somebody!" Hank's voice rang out from the back yard. Marco was so involved in watching Johnny and Roy extricate the victim, he'd forgotten their captain.

"Uh-oh. Chet, we gotta get Cap unstuck." Mike ducked back to Big Red and returned with a crowbar.

Johnny's attention was returned to the patient when the ambulance roared to a stop behind the squad.

"That's almost got it," Roy told his partner, "just a couple more... there!"

They pulled the boy from under the porch. Face red with exertion, the teenager gasped for breath and grabbed his stomach, groaning.

"I'll get Rampart," Johnny said, opening up the biophone.

Roy nodded and reached for the victim's wrist, checking vital signs.

"Rampart base, this is County 51, how do you read?"

Kel Brackett's voice came back over the link. "Loud and clear, 51."

"Rampart, we have a sixteen year old male just extricated from being trapped under a porch. Patient is complaining of pain in his abdomen. Stand by for vitals, Rampart."

"Standing by, 51."

Roy looked up from taking the hapless young man's blood pressure. "Johnny, vitals are: Pulse 120, and bounding, respirations 22 and labored, Blood Pressure 150/100. Tenderness in lower left quadrant, evidence of some bruising. No evidence of head wound."

Johnny repeated the vitals to Brackett, and listened as he prescribed treatment.

"51, place the patient in a MAST suit, then start an IV, D5W, TKO, piggy back with IV Lactated Ringer's, .50mg MSIV. Continue to monitor vital signs, update changes. Transport as soon as possible."

Johnny repeated Brackett's instructions back, then helped Roy with the MAST suit and started the IV.

From the corner of his eye, Johnny saw Chet, Marco and Mike carry a furious Captain Stanley around front and seat him on the back of the engine. Chet worked at removing Hank's boots while Mike replaced the crowbar.

"I don't get it," Marco said, shaking his head. "How can tar set that fast?"

"Tar is pretty sticky," Johnny commented as he, picked up the paper and plastic debris from the rescue while the victim was loaded into the ambulance. Marco followed him and handed the biophone to Roy, seated in the ambulance.

"Yeah?" Marco continued as if there was no break in the conversation, "then why didn't any of us stick to the driveway? We walked on it too."

Johnny shrugged, inwardly laughing, "Must be just one of those things.

"I still don't get it."

"I hope Cap has an extra pair of boots at the station, the one's he's wearing are shot," remarked Chet. He looked toward Mike, who was currently helping the boy's grandmother into the front seat of the ambulance.

Mike smiled at the lady, and could be heard saying, "Yes, Ma'am, I'll let him know that. Thank you." He smiled at her again, and closed the door.

Stoker walked back toward Johnny, and said, "She wants to pay for Cap's boots, and she said to tell him she's sorry. That one spot on the driveway needed to be redone, and they just finished this morning."

Johnny chuckled inwardly at the "coincidence".

"Well, I guess I had better head over to Rampart, and pick up Roy. I'll see you later." He got into the squad, picked up the mic, and said, "LA, Squad 51, 10-8 to Rampart General for follow-up."

Sam Lanier's voice replied," Squad 51, 10-4, LA clear."