by Sandy Nadeau
“When county says the hillside is stable enough, we’ll have to make our way over this mess to the trucks. I hope they weren’t damaged.”
“Ronnie warned everyone.”
“I know. She’ll be receiving a commendation for that.”
“Looks like they’ve finished loading everyone. I want to talk to her.” Steve walked over to where Ronnie stood talking to Jeannie.
Sirens filled the air as the ambulances took off with the victims. Others were getting on a bus that had been brought in to transport people whose injuries were minor and those without medical problems.
Only emergency personnel remained behind.
Steve’s department needed to return to their jurisdiction in case other calls came in, but they had to wait for county to give them the OK.
They didn’t need more rocks coming down on people.
He interrupted the two women. “What a disaster. Good thing you figured that out.” He pointed to the slide.
“I heard it as it started to come down.” Ronnie‘s gaze darted away from him. “I…need to go help…uh, I’ll see you later.”
“Ronnie…”
But she got away fast.
“That has to be the worst call we’ve had.” Jeannie turned a half circle, looking over the scene.
“Yeah, I’ve never seen a slide like that.”
“This was my first call with such serious injuries.” Her voice broke a bit.
“It never gets easy to see that.”
“Have you dealt with this before?”
“Huh?” His attentions were still elsewhere. “Yeah, unfortunately. Rarely do we get that many injured at one time, though. Can’t believe no one died in this.”
Ronnie went out of sight.
Steve turned his attention to the mountainous pile of dirt and dust still swirling around. The road damage in some spots would require repair before cars could drive on it.
“Do you think we could get together? Maybe meet for coffee or something?” Dust marred her scrunched-up face, but sadness was evident from what she’d witnessed.
It was important to deal with the emotions of a call like this. If she felt better talking to a team mate before talking to a counselor, he had to be there. That’s what being a team meant, having each other’s backs, and when necessary, their attention.
“Uh, sure. We could do that.” He found himself saying. He didn’t want to be rude, but he’d prefer coffee with Ronnie. Still, if Jeannie needed to decompress, he’d be there for her.
“Tomorrow morning? We could meet downtown at the coffee shop.” Hope entered her expression.
“OK. About 8:00?” He was glad the sadness was gone. She’d be all right after a talk with him, and maybe he’d suggest she see the counselor just to be sure.
“That sounds great.” She turned to help with gathering up their gear.
Steve started walking in the direction Ronnie went, hoping to find her.
Troy caught him. “Hey, when are they going to let us get over to our trucks?”
“The engineers over there are checking the slide area. It shouldn’t be long.”
“I think it’d be fine if we walked over on the other side there.” Troy pointed to the ditch.
“We have to have clearance, Troy. Just wait it out. Go make yourself useful.”
“Fine.” Troy’s tone was disgruntled.
Steve had no doubt the young man would learn, or be asked to leave the department. He walked away, towards where he’d last seen Ronnie.
”Everyone, gather around over here.” The chief was near the other department’s truck and under the light extended above it. “We’ve been given the OK. Make sure we have all our gear. The front-end loader is clearing some of the debris so we can get over to our trucks. Debriefing at the station before anyone goes home. The road will be closed for a while, so we’ll have to assist in calls on our side if need be.”
The loud beeping of the earth mover now filled the canyon. The operator worked carefully near the overturned tanker moving the debris so they could get another truck in to transfer the load.
Steve would have to try later to talk to Ronnie.
~*~
The next morning, he got to the coffee shop a little before eight.
Jeannie already sat drinking her coffee and waved at him.
“Hi, Jeannie. I’m going to go grab a coffee. I’ll be right back.”
“Great.” She smiled up at him.
Steve ordered up his plain black coffee, after an odd look from the barista.
The steam escaped the small hole in the plastic cap as he set it down on the table across from her. No more dirt smudges on her face like last night. He slipped his jacket off and threw it to the corner of the bench seat. The rich aroma drifted up and filled his nostrils.
“Quite a call yesterday, wasn’t it? I never would have imagined a slide that bad.”
“Worst one yet. Pretty much a miracle that there were no fatalities.” Steve took a tentative sip so he wouldn’t burn his tongue.
“The news this morning said there were a few still in critical condition. I hope they all pull through.”
“Yeah, I know. I hear the road is still closed, too. It will be a mess for a while. Are you OK with it all?”
“I guess.” She looked down at her hands surrounding her cup.
A distinct mocha smell drifted over to him. He never could understand messing up a good cup of coffee.
“It was so chaotic when we got there. The injuries were horrible. I got concerned if we’d get to everyone in time. Did you see that one guy’s leg?” She shivered as her eyes closed briefly.
“Yeah, he’s got a long recovery ahead.”
“You were great out there.” She leaned toward him.
He slid to the corner of the booth and stretched his leg along the bench. “I’ve been at this a lot longer than you. You did fine, though. No worries there. You have to kind of steel yourself against what you see and just do the job.”
“I hope that gets easier. I didn’t really think about it until we were done with everything.” Jeannie reached back to gather her dark hair with both hands and twisted it behind her head.
“Not really easier, but more routine. You sort of go through the motions without thinking about what’s really going on. Ronnie sure saved the day, though.”
Jeannie leaned back. “Yeah, she did.”
“We’d have all been in bad shape if she hadn’t realized that next slide was coming. It could have been a lot worse.”
“Uh huh. So…have you had many difficult calls?”
“Oh, yeah. Several. We rolled on an assist call with rescue after a guy on a motorcycle took a turn and the person in the car didn’t see him. They hit him and he landed about fifty feet from the bike. A witness said he flew up in the air when hit. Broke both his legs. The other driver was completely oblivious that a bike had been there. The victim was a professional athlete, too.”
“That’s terrible. Poor guy.”
“I read in the newspaper it ruined his career.”
“Sad. Must have been a tough call.”
“Yeah, but we’ve had worse, too.”
“Like what?” Jeannie shifted and scooted forward again.
“Oh, man, we’ve had a couple really bad house fires. Then that huge fire a couple years ago in the national forest that spread into the residential areas. We get elk through windshields, then the bomb threat at the high school. That turned out to be a prank, but sure had the whole town in a panic. Parents, kids, teachers running around looking for each other…”
“Wow.” Jeannie put her chin in her hand. Fascination took over her expression. “Scary stuff.”
“The challenges make it more interesting. So are you off today?”
“No, my shift starts soon. I just thought it’d be nice if we could talk for a bit.” She shifted in her seat. “Would you want to catch a movie with me sometime?”
“Oh, um…” She was asking him out? On a date?
He hadn’t seen that coming. Now what would he do? His mind scrambled, immediately going to what Ronnie would think. Jeannie seemed like a nice girl, but his heart still belonged to Ronnie. The racing thoughts made him wonder maybe if Ronnie were jealous, she’d come around. Didn’t seem fair to Jeannie though. What to say? What to say? “My schedule is kind of crazy right now. Work, class, helping my mom…but maybe when things level out.”
Her face no longer held the smile. She slouched a bit on the bench. Uh oh. She looked disappointed.
He didn’t want to do that either, but it wouldn’t be fair to her when his heart belonged to Ronnie.
“Oh, sure. I get it.” Her gaze wandered around the coffee shop.
The noise level had increased with more patrons.
“I guess I should get to work then.” She stood and grabbed her cup.
“I’ll probably see you later.” He stood, too.
“Yeah, sure.” She walked out the door.
He sat down to finish his coffee. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been asked out on a date. Come to think of it, had he ever been asked out? With his heart set on Ronnie for so many years, he may not have noticed. Would it hurt to go out with someone else? No, it’d just be weird. He only wanted to date Ronnie. No one else mattered. He had to talk to her.
They had stuff to work out.
She had done a great job of avoiding him. Did she feel guilty about his mom’s accident? He’d seen everything from the hill side. There was no way to stop that car from going in the creek, even though she and Matt had tried. They simply couldn’t argue with…how had Matt phrased it…puny humans against three thousand pounds of steel.
He had to see her. That was his priority right now. Not dating someone else.
9
“Captain, I don’t want this.” Ronnie hated to whine.
“Ronnie, you saved everyone on scene that night. Had you not screamed when you did for everyone to run, we’d have had countless fatalities. Why are you bucking this so strongly?”
“Sir, I don’t deserve any recognition for doing my job. Everyone did their job.”
“Special circumstances get noticed. You are receiving this award regardless. Ten o’clock tomorrow morning.”
How ridiculous. She didn’t deserve a commendation. Someone else would have figured it out. She just realized another slide was coming first. The only honor she should get was for worst decision maker ever.
In the morning, she yanked a little too hard on her hair as she pulled it up into a high ponytail. Her dress uniform shirt with badge seemed to mock her in the mirror. She hated that she’d have to stand up in front of the department to receive this bogus award.
She had made a stupid mistake that almost cost one life. At the scene of the slide, she’d simply been far enough away from the machinery noise to pick up on the rocks popping on the hill. Anyone could have heard it if they’d been there.
Ten minutes before she had to leave, she flung herself into the chair, arms hanging over each side. She closed her eyes thinking of all the victims of the first slide. But then her mind’s eye switched over to another scene: Debra’s car flipping down the embankment and landing in the icy water.
Tears filled Ronnie’s eyes. She sat up. She was not cut out for this job. Not like her dad. Maybe she should quit. But what would she do? She’s never done anything else. Well, except for that first part-time job filling ice cream cones—badly.
Her dad used to tease her that she needed to line-up with God’s will, or she’d never make a good cone. What would her dad tell her now? That was easy. He’d be harping on her to buck up.
With a heavy sigh, she got her work boots. Sitting back on the couch, she laced them up, took a deep breath, and then headed out the door.
When she walked into the conference room, it was packed with almost the entire department. Great. Oh, no…a reporter, too? She groaned as the captain waved her to the front.
“And here is our hero of the hour, Ronnie Spencer!”
The room erupted in applause with all the firefighters and rescue workers jumping to their feet. Whistles pierced the air.
Ronnie was sure her face changed to three shades of magenta as the heat poured out of her collar. She tried to smile. She really did. But it just would not come up. She didn’t deserve their cheers. She’d practically killed Mrs. McNeal, with a massive error in judgment. She walked to the front, stood next to the captain, and dared a glance up from her feet.
Steve was right up front clapping wildly.
The captain spoke, but she heard nothing. How could they stand there cheering for her after Mrs. McNeal’s disaster? She wished for a hole to open and swallow her up.
“So, Ronnie, we want to acknowledge that you saved all of us from serious injury and quite possibly death. We present you with this commendation, along with our heartfelt thanks.” He extended a framed certificate and shook her hand.
She smiled back at him, feeling like a fraud. “Thank you sir.” Taking the frame, she stepped back, wanting to run from the room.
Everyone came forward to congratulate her.
She’d never shaken so many hands.
Most of them gave her a huge pat on the back, too. Her face was hot, sweat dripped between her shoulder blades, and she was sure redness was building on her cheeks.
Steve hung back.
She was certain he wouldn’t take part in this sham after what she did to his mother, despite his enthusiastic clapping earlier. He was polite enough to not condemn her in front of the others. Her father had often talked about taking a problem to the source in private, and she was sure Steve would do the same.
Steve moved up after the last person stepped away.
She couldn’t look at him.
“Hey, you. Congrats. I’m sure glad you heard that slide coming.” He reached out to give her a hug.
She stepped back fast. “Well, thanks, but you know I don’t deserve this.” She had to get out of there. Her legs twitched with the need to run. “Excuse me…” she pushed her way around him and rushed from the room. Once in her truck, the tears flowed. She threw the commendation on the passenger side floor face down. She couldn’t bear to look at the thing.
10
Someone knocked on the door of her apartment.
Ronnie looked at the clock. Noon. She put her eye to the peep hole, saw Steve, and groaned. Leaning her head against the door, she had no idea what she would say to him. She had to face this now.
He knocked again.
She took a deep breath and opened the door. “Hi.”
“Hi, Ronnie. I was worried about you. Can I come in?”
“Uh, sure.”
Concern etched deep lines in his forehead.
“I’m just watching the news. They covered the rock slide.” She grabbed the remote and turned the television off. “Have a seat.”
He sat on the couch.
She sat on the chair.
“Sounds like they’re still trying to clear the road.”
“They showed a helicopter view. Still quite a mess.” She bit her lower lip, pulled up the courage to ask a nagging question, but one she didn’t want to talk about. “Is your mom OK?”
“Oh, yeah, she’s fine. Still on crutches, but she’s getting around fine.”
Ronnie fought a sigh. “I heard you had taken time off to help her. I worried she’d gotten worse.”
“No, I’m just the only one around able to help her. I had the time, so I figured why not. The slide was my first call back. Nothing like jumping back in the fire,” he said with a chuckle.
Ronnie couldn’t look at him. She took in a deep breath, desperately seeking the nerve to say what she had to say.
“Ronnie—”
She cut his words off. “Steve, I need to say something.” She went to the window. “I’m so sorry for causing your mom’s injuries. I just can’t believe I did something so stupid-”
“What?” his loud tone made the shock more evident. “Ronnie…you
’re not at fault.”
She turned to face him. “Yes I am. If I hadn’t tried to put that log under the front end, the car wouldn’t have gone over. Don’t you see? I did that to her.” She returned to looking out the window.
“I saw from the truck as we made our way to the scene. That car was teetering over, no matter what you think or saw. I talked to Matt. He says the same. The center of gravity meant nothing would’ve stopped it except a winch, and the truck didn’t get there in time for that. You had to try something. I would’ve, too. And it would’ve been just as fruitless. Matt said he could feel it slipping out of his grasp. You had a good idea; it just didn’t work. And Mom’s going to be OK, so just being there saved her, she wasn’t in the car long enough to get hypothermia, or die of shock or anything else that could’ve killed her if she’d been down there any longer.”
~*~
He had to find a way to get through to her. He should have come sooner. He felt like such an idiot. He reached out a hand to touch her shoulder, turning her gently toward him. “Ronnie…”
Tears ran down her face. She wouldn’t look up at him. Her shoulders were stiff and tight. Her breath caught, a sob escaped and her head fell into his chest.
He held her tight. “Come here.” He walked her over to the couch. They sat as one, and he continued to hold her close to him. As she wept, he worked at forming the right words. “Listen. We understand how the accident happened. We’re thankful you and Matt were there to help her. You had a challenging situation to deal with. You were able to get to her right away. That made a huge difference.”
She sat up abruptly. “Had I not forced the car over the edge, she wouldn’t even have a broken leg.” Her words had a sharp enough edge to cut.
“Ronnie, we’re in an unpredictable business. We just have to do the best we can with whatever situation comes.”
“I feel so bad, Steve. I could have killed your mom.”
“She’s going to be fine.”
She brought her knees up to her chest and held her legs. “I keep reliving the whole thing in my head. I wish I’d have done things different.”
“We all have calls like that sooner or later, Ronnie. We can only learn from them. We have to learn from them.”
