What's In A Name? By: Sage Rory Roy looked at his partner, slowly and sadly mopping the latrine. He felt a pang of guilt. What had happened hadn't been his fault, well not entirely anyway. Still there he was, mopping and moping. Roy grinned at his partner's back. He didn't REALLY look all that young. Sure his face was still pretty babyish. Wearing just his white t-shirt, his arms looked thin as did his narrow shoulders. Roy bit his lip, okay; he DID look rather young for his age. Johnny rung out his mop without looking up to see who was standing there watching him in the doorway. Even so, Roy wiped the smile off his face in case he did happen to look up. His poor partner. Standing there, Roy began to go over again just what had happened. ~/~/~/~/~ Bright and early a few shifts earlier, the Paramedics got a call to a nice house in an affluent neighborhood. Johnny, as usual, beat Roy to the door and started pounding. The call had said a possible heart attack victim, and they found themselves locked out of the address they were given. Johnny knew every second counted so he set his gear down and ran around the side, peeking in the windows to see if he could spot anybody lying on the floor. Just as he tried to peer in his third window, the front door flew open, and out came the tiniest little old lady you ever did see. She was madder than a wet hen and she ran at Johnny swinging her broom with every bit of strength she had, which turned out to be quite a bit. Johnny ducked blow after blow, most of them catching him on the head. Roy dropped the equipment and wrestled the broom away from her. "Ma'am...MA'AM!" he shouted pointing at his badge, "we're uh...we're uh--" "Oh thank GOD," she said looking at Roy, "a Policeman! Arrest that boy right now! No good peeping tom! I'll see every last one of you hooligan's in reform school before the good Lord comes and takes me, so I will!" "Ma'am," Johnny said rubbing his head, "we're fire--" "Don't you back talk me Junior! No excuse is going to help you now! Arrest him!" "Ma'am," Roy said apologetically, trying not to laugh, "I can't do that." "Well why the hell not?! You saw what he was doing! I caught him red handed!" "Ma'am please, we're...BOTH of us are Firemen...NOT Police Officers. Okay?" "So you're not going to arrest him?" "No Ma'am. We got a call for this address about a possible heart attack victim. Would you know anything about that?" "ME? Well of course I'd know about that! He just about GAVE me one didn't he?!" "Ma'am--" Johnny decided to try. "Don't you interrupt the grown ups when they're talking! Didn't your mother teach you any manners? Why I have the mind to call her up and tell her a thing or two about raising boys I do!" "Is there anyone in this house that called for medical attention?" "Oh Oliver isn't feeling well." "Could we maybe see Oliver?" "Well of course you can. What do you think I'm doing, holding him hostage? He owes me rent by the way, so don't plan on getting paid for whatever it is he called you for." Roy handed the lady back her broom making Johnny shoot him a look of disbelief that he'd hand such a weapon back to the mad lady. Roy shrugged as he followed her inside. Coming out the back door the woman pointed, "up there. He rents the cottage behind the swimming pool." The place was beautiful, full of statues, fountains, and thousands of flowers of every color imaginable. Johnny gazed around him wide eyed, never having seen the like before. "Stop your nosing about Junior or I'll let you have it again," she threatened raising the broom. Johnny hurried up the two paces it took him to close the gap between him and Roy and concentrated on staring at the back of Roy's neck until they got to the rear cottage. Inside a man lay on his bed, wheezing and clutching his chest. Roy dropped to his side to talk to him while Johnny hurriedly set up the biophone and started to get the man's BP. "Why Oliver, what is it?" the woman cried. "What's wrong with him?!" she continued at Roy when she didn't get an answer. "We don't know yet Ma'am," Roy responded concentrating on the victim's pulse. "Sir...sir? Can you hear me?" Johnny asked. He shook his head at Roy and grabbed the biophone. "Rampart we have a male victim, approximate age...uh...fifty..." "He's fifty seven Junior." "Fifty seven. He's having res--" "No pulse Johnny," Roy called to him. Johnny dropped the phone and grabbed the defibrillator. "My God, is he dead?" the woman cried. Johnny shocked the man and checked for a pulse. "Nothin!" he spoke quickly. "Defibbing again...one...two...three--" "Anything?" Roy asked. "Yeah...yeah...he's all right," Johnny told him as he grabbed the biophone and began reading off the man's new vitals. He noted the vitals in his log using his green pen. The woman clasped her hand over her mouth in awe. Johnny did his best to ignore her as the ambulance arrived and they started to package the man up for the ride. Much to his relief the woman disappeared as they started to wheel the man toward the front yard gate. "Wait! Wait!" the woman shouted running out the front door after them, her purse in hand. "I was wrong about you Junior and I want you to have this," she said pressing something into his hand. "Now don't buy yourself too much at once and go getting a tummy ache. That should last you a week at least." "Buy?" Johnny wondered. "It's amazing what they're teaching the boy scouts these days," the lady muttered on her way back into the house, closing the door. "What did she give you?" Roy asked setting the equipment Johnny would need inside the ambulance. Johnny looked down into his hand. There sat a bright shiny new nickel. Roy cracked a smile. "Must be for penny candy. Now remember what she said Junior, don't buy--" "Oh shut up." "Junior! Now is that anyway to talk to your elders?" "Close the door, would ya?" Johnny whined stepping into the ambulance. "Now behave yourself on the way there Junior, I don't want to have to go calling your mother." Johnny glared at him and yanked the door closed for himself from the inside. ~/~/~/~/~ Back at the station, Johnny went to the washroom to examine his sore head. Roy had suggested he let Dixie look at it, but when she said, "sure Junior, I'll look at it," Johnny had grumped his way back to the squad, not before Doctors, Morton, Brackett and Early commented about his nickname. In the mirror he was able to see a number of small purple knots buried under his hair, but none that looked like they'd been bleeding. He went to his locker to grab some aspirin and then headed to the kitchen to get a glass of milk to wash them down. "Hey Junior," Marco said quickly as Johnny passed him going the other direction in the bay. Johnny paused, certain his mind was now playing tricks on him. When Marco did not turn back, Johnny continued to the kitchen. "There you are Junior, didn't you hear me calling you to dinner?!" Chet howled at the table, wearing an apron. "It's time to stop playing your little games now and eat, you naughty little boy. Now come sit down nice at the table. Did you wash your hands?" Chet asked grabbing one and turning it palms up. "Oh dear, you wash up this instant!" "Chet!" Johnny answered. "Now if you don't wash up Junior, you don't get any dinner!" "Roy, did you have to?" Johnny asked to the other man's grin and a shrug. Rather than argue with the Irishman and make a further scene in front of everybody else, Johnny glared at Roy as he washed his hands in the sink. "That's a good boy, now sit down and eat." Too famished to respond, Johnny begrudgingly pulled out his chair. Mike tried hard not to snicker at the look on Johnny's face when he found two thick telephone books sitting on his chair as a makeshift booster seat. Johnny narrowed his eyes at Mike and knocked books to the floor. "Hey now there Junior," Cap scolded, "those have to go back on my desk. If you're a good boy and put them away for me...I just may have a cookie with your name on it." Johnny left to put the books back and returned to a room full of whispering. "Sit down Junior and I'll get you a bowl," Mike said without turning around. Johnny shook his head trying not to react. All he really wanted to do was eat. "All righty then," Mike smiled spinning around and placing a bowl of Cream-Of-Wheat down in front of him while he laid out a platter of chicken and french fries for everyone else. He opened his mouth to complain, but before a sound could escape his lips, he felt something rough being place around his neck. Looking down, he saw Marco had made a makeshift baby bib out of paper towels. "There you go Junior," Marco smiled messing up Johnny's bangs, "now you won't get your nice uniform all dirty." Johnny ripped off the bib and slammed it down on the table. "If one more of you guys calls me Junior...I'll...I'll..." "What will you do Junior?" Chet grinned. Johnny bolted up from the table and left the room, then reappeared, grabbed the baby bib for a napkin along with a large piece of chicken and left once more. "Junior needs a nap," Chet laughed behind him. ~/~/~/~/~ Two shifts passed with merciless teasing. There were boy scout uniforms left for him, racecar sheets put on his bed, and crayons and coloring books left at the table for him to play with. Nothing was too much. Even Mike made a little sign for Johnny's locker with his new name "Junior" on it out of construction paper, similar to the sign Roy remembered seeing on his son's desk the first day he took him to kindergarten. As each hour of the shifts passed, Roy could see Johnny brewing and stewing. He could see the gears a turning. Still, it didn't keep him from being the worst one about using the new name. Late in the afternoon of the next shift the Paramedics responded to an unknown type rescue. "Sir?" Roy pleaded at the scene to a very distraught man. "Sir please calm down and talk to us." "He's gone, my baby is gone," the man wept. "Your baby?" Johnny asked. "Yes! Well I suppose he's not a baby anymore. He's three years old now you know. He was here playing one minute and the next minute..." he said looking wild eyed around the park, "he's lost! Oh please help me find him, please?" Johnny looked around the park at all the children playing. "Well, can you tell us what he looks like?" "Oh ah...oh he looks just like him!" the man smiled pointing at Roy. "Oh just LIKE him!" "Really?" Johnny asked. "Oh yes, yes, definitely!" Johnny stared hard at his partner's face, then began to scan the area for a child who looked similar. "Sir," Roy asked, "what's his name?" "Oh his name is Palacious, but I just call him Pally for short." "Pally?" "Yes, that's right, Pally." "Okay," Johnny said rubbing his head, "we're looking for a three year old named Pally." "Right, well...do you wanna split up?" "I guess." Both man began to wander around the crowded playground asking every boy they saw looking anywhere near the right age if their name was Pally. "Hey Roy!" Johnny shouted from the far side of the playground, "come here!" "What?" Roy asked running over. Johnny kneeled on his hands and knees trying to peer into a long plastic yellow play tube for the children to crawl through. "I uh...I think someone's stuck in there." Roy knelt trying to see for himself but Johnny's head was in the way. "What do you think?" Roy listened for a minute and sure enough he heard some whimpering coming from the inside. "Well?" "You're right. Someone's in there." "Well?" "Well what Junior, you're smaller than me!" Johnny rolled his eyes. "I told you to stop calling me that." "In Junior," Roy laughed as he grabbed Johnny's legs to help shove him inside. "What the!" Johnny yelled. "You okay?" Roy asked. "Oh my goodness," the man yelped, "did you find him?" Roy held up his hand to silence the man. "No..." Johnny said sliding back out with a dog in his hands, "I found a--" "PALLY!" the man shouted, "Oh thank you! Thank you!" "This is Pally?!" Johnny asked as he stared at the drooling white bulldog that stared back with pathetic bloodshot eyes. He looked at Roy, then looked back at the dog and started to laugh. "You know, you're right! He DOES look like Roy!" Roy looked at him like he was nuts until Johnny turned the dog around. There slobbering in his face was a dog with the exact same colored blue eyes as his own. "EXACTLY the same," Johnny laughed turning the dog back to himself. "In fact, they look the same all over!" "Very funny Johnny, now give the man his dog back and let's go." "Oh now it's JOHNNY is it?! Not a chance! What's the matter, can't you see the resemblance?" he asked holding the dog up to Roy's face once more. A flash popped off blinding Roy instead. "Hello, I work for the Los Angeles Sentinel," a short balding man with the camera said, "could any you tell me what just happened here? I'm looking for a human interest story and--" "Well then you've just come to the right place!" Johnny said to the man. ~/~/~/~/~ "Finally! Finally got out pictures in the paper!" Johnny grinned gazing at it before slapping it happily against his thigh. "You wanna see it Roy?" "I saw it yesterday," Roy grumbled. "Fireman rescues dog. Firefighter John Gage...they even got my name right...says he used the excellent description given by the dog's owner to help find the dog. The man described his beloved bulldog as looking very much like Gage's partner also seen in the photo above. SEE! They made it so everyone can see for themselves how much you look like that adorable little mutt. Wasn't that nice of them Pally?" "Oh there he is," Chet grinned like a Cheshire cat as he came in the door. "Here you go there Pally," he added scratching Roy's ears. "Some nice milkbone biscuits for you and a brand new red water dish." Johnny giggled as Roy pushed it away and tried to get a cup of coffee. "Oh," Chet added, "and I'll be right back." "Well that was nice of him wasn't it?" Johnny giggled some more. "Oh look Pally, he even put your name on it!" he tittered turning the water dish around. Roy sneered at him and stepped out the side door, slamming it behind him. "Morning Junior," Mike said taking the coffeepot from Johnny's hand before Johnny got it all. "Morning Francis." Johnny found himself slammed up against the refrigerator with Mike glaring down into his eyes. "How much," Michael Francis Stoker demanded. "I figure it's up to you. A buck for every time you called me Junior that I don't call you--" Mike clamped his hand over Johnny's mouth and looked around the room to make sure no one else had come in. "How much is that?" Johnny held up seven fingers. Mike let him go and dug in his wallet, handing Johnny a ten. "And the other name is out," Johnny added pocketing the money. "Deal," Mike said grabbing Johnny's hand and shaking it. "What are you guys up to?" Marco asked stepping into the room. "Nothing!" Mike insisted, "Right Johnny?" "Right," Johnny agreed smiling evilly. "What's the matter with him?" Marco asked as Mike slumped to the couch giving Johnny a final warning look. Johnny sauntered over to Marco and whispered in his ear making Marco spit out his coffee and look over at Mike to see if he'd heard. "How much," Marco demanded reaching for his wallet. "A buck for every time you called him...that other name that he doesn't--" "Deal," Marco said handing him a twenty. "But it stays with you, right?" Johnny took the twenty with a grin and nodded as Marco retreated out the door. "What was it?" Mike mouthed. "Now would that be fair?" Johnny asked. "Good morning Junior," Chet grinned carrying a red diamond studded doggie collar with matching leash, "where's that partner of yours." "Oh he just stepped outside for some air Snooky Wooky." "Snooky Wooky?" Mike asked. "He's just his Grammy's widdle Snooky Wooky, aren't you?" Johnny grinned tweaking the man's mustache. "That's low Gage, calling a guy's grandmother?" "Oh we had a wonderful conversation! Why I think she remembers everything everyone of her grandchildren ever did, like the time you--" "I'm begging you Johnny," Chet pleaded dropping to his knees. "What'll you get from him?" Mike asked. "What does he means?" "He means a buck for every time you called Jun...Johnny by that other name," Marco started to explain returning for a doughnut. "A buck for every time?!" Chet complained. "Hope you got a couple hundred on you Chet," Mike laughed. "What's going on?" Roy asked as he came in the door. "Nothing!" Mike and Marco insisted looking at Johnny. "Oh there you are Junior," Cap smiled coming into the day room. "I need you to fill out your vacation request again, I dumped coffee on your other one." "Sure thing Poopsie!" ~/~/~/~/~ Roy looked at his partner, slowly and sadly mopping the latrine. He felt a pang of guilt. What had happened hadn't been his fault, well not entirely anyway. Still there he was, mopping and moping. The End |