Prairie Fire

by Kayt C Peck

  The room went silent, heavy with the weight of Martha’s words.

  “Won’t argue with you one bit, Martha,” Joe Bob said, breaking the silence.

  “None of us would. You are totally right,” Judy added. Kathleen simply put her arm around Martha’s shoulders, saying nothing.

  “Mama, we’re all in this one hundred percent,” Brad said.

  Joe Bob came around the table and took a chair at the head, letting go of the blueprint. All on its own, the paper rolled into a tube shape, ready to be stored.

  “None of us doubt we need to do this. It’s just a little intimidating.” Joe Bob picked up a paper on the top of the stack he’d left at his chair. It was a required equipment list. “Thank God Ted Rome is going to supervise training. Hell, I’m chief, and I don’t even remember what an SCBA is.”

  Judy opened her Firefighter I textbook to the index in the back. “Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus,” she said.

  “Guess that’s those air tanks and masks that make you sound like Darth Vader,” Brad said.

  “Think you’re right, Brad. We’ll all be learning how to use those,” Joe Bob said.

  Martha was taking notes again, her anger dissipated. “Just take it one step at a time, one step at a time,” she said.

  “Speaking of which, what’s our next step, Chief?” Kathleen asked.

  Joe Bob shook his head slowly. “I’m still just Joe Bob, Miss Kathleen. Don’t call me Chief until I’ve proven I can do the job.” He shuffled through his stack of papers, retrieving some hand-written notes. “But I can answer your question. Kathleen, you need to go meet with Sue Bradshaw, one of the deputies in the County Treasurer’s office. She’ll be teaching you about how the accounting is handled. The County has already put out a call for bids to build the station and my boss has arranged to make payments directly to the County to pay for it. He didn’t even break a sweat when I told him the price.” Joe Bob looked through his notes, squinting slightly at his own handwriting. “As you all know Ted Rome will be here at the Community Center every Tuesday evening starting at seven p.m. to start our training, and we had twenty people sign up as trainees.” Joe Bob paused, scratching at the lip beneath his heavy mustache. “Martha, as secretary, you need to get with Ted, and he’ll start teaching you about signing up for something called NFIRS.”

  “What’s that?” Brad asked.

  “Well, hell, Brad. You had to ask. Ted told me what it stood for, but darned if I remember.”

  “National Fire Incident Reporting System,” said a voice from the back of the room, surprising them all.

  Every head turned to face a man standing just inside the still open doorway. He was tall with shaggy hair and just a little grizzled looking. He wore a passably clean t-shirt, jeans, and heavy lace-up boots. A manila folder rested in his right hand.

  “Good evening,” Joe Bob said. “Who might you be, sir?”

  The man walked directly to Joe Bob and offered his hand for a handshake. “Name’s Donald Guyette; most folks call me Guy. I’m doing some work in the area, and I’m renting the house on the old Valdez place.”

  Martha looked at the man sternly. “News travels fast around here, and I hadn’t heard anyone was moving into that house.”

  “I was getting ready to rent a place in town, then I heard you all were starting a new fire company.” He opened the manila folder and placed it in front of Joe Bob. “I’ve been a firefighter for over twenty-five years, including being a State Forestry crew boss for wildland crews and an officer, including chief, for three different companies. You’ll see here a list of some of my qualifications.”

  Martha, Brad, and Judy all took positions standing behind Joe Bob, striving to read the list.

  “What’s ICS?” Brad asked.

  “Incident Command System. It’s what rules all emergency service systems from local fire right up to massive FEMA responses to natural disasters. I’m qualified up to ICS 400 for Command and General Staff.” The man nodded toward the paper. “As you can see, I’m certified for Firefighter I and II and have completed the Texas Fire Academy officer training. I’m fully certified in all levels of HazMat too.”

  “HazMat?” Martha asked.

  “Hazardous Materials,” the man answered.

  Joe Bob chuckled softly. “Mr.…what was your name again?”

  “Guy, just call me Guy.”

  “Well sir, I do believe you’re a godsend.”

  “No offense, Joe Bob, but are you dead set on being chief?” Brad asked.

  “I’d sure as hell feel a whole lot better as captain and Guy here as chief,” Joe Bob answered.

  “So moved,” Brad said.

  “Second,” Martha called.

  In the chorus of “ayes” that followed, no one seemed to notice that Judy said nothing. It was just an itch on the back of her neck, not enough to make her want to speak up but enough…enough to make her uneasy.

  aaAA

  Pookie met Judy and Kathleen in the kitchen when they returned home from the fire officer’s meeting. The light was still on in the den/studio they all shared, and an Ebony drawing pencil was tucked behind her right ear.

  “How’d it go?” Pookie asked.

  “You won’t believe what happened,” Kathleen said.

  “What?”

  “A man just moved into Coldwater who is a super qualified firefighter and fire officer. He blew us away with all his qualifications. Joe Bob took the job of captain, and we elected the new guy as chief.”

  “That’s cool,” Pookie said. She looked at Judy’s face. “Isn’t it?”

  “I think so,” Judy said. “It just happened so fast. I wonder if we shouldn’t have taken a little more time to get to know the man.”

  “His qualifications were pretty hard to doubt,” Kathleen said. She looked quizzically at Judy. “If you had doubts, why didn’t you speak up? I thought you were awfully quiet driving home.”

  “Well, it sure seemed like a no-brainer but…I don’t know, it just felt a little funny,” Judy said.

  Kathleen chewed at her lower lip. “Well, if your funny feeling turns out right, if we voted him in, we can vote him out.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure you’re right.” Judy took a glass from the cabinet and retrieved ice and sweet tea from the refrigerator. “How was your evening?” she asked Pookie.

  “Great! I got some sketches done, but…I thought of something.”

  “Yes?” Judy asked.

  Pookie turned to Kathleen. “Are you still going to town tomorrow?”

  “I think so. You want to come?”

  “Yes,” Pookie said. “I’d…I’d like to get a long distance card.”

  Judy stopped mid-drink and lowered her glass. “Oh heck, I nearly forgot.” Judy set her glass on the counter and left the kitchen abruptly, heading toward the master bedroom.

  “What’s that about?” Pookie asked Kathleen.

  Kathleen’s face shone with a mischievous smile. “You’ll see.”

  Judy came back, a smart phone in her hand. “Here you go, Pookie. We got this for you yesterday, and I’ve had it charging so you wouldn’t have to wait to use it. We just added another phone to our family plan. You have unlimited calling and text.”

  Pookie stared at the phone, a shocked expression on her face.

  “Go ahead, take it, Pook,” Kathleen said.

  “We thought…well…we figured you’d need to be making some regular calls to Amber now.”

  Pookie blinked back tears, taking the phone, her hand shaking slightly. Judy handed her a piece of paper with a number written on it.

  “That’s your new number,” Kathleen said. She looked at the kitchen clock. “It’s not too late, why don’t you go call her?”

  Pookie jumped up, hugging Judy around the neck. The disparity in the height of the woman and the girl meant Pookie’s feet dangled freely in the air.

  “You guys are the best,” Pookie called before dropping to the ground and wrapping her arms around Kathleen’s
waist. It was a brief hug. She was up the stairs and in her room before Judy had time to retrieve her half-empty tea glass from the counter.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Fast Track

  The concrete slab was laid before anybody even realized what was happening.

  Judy picked up the phone on the third ring. Kathleen and Pookie sat at the dinner table, their meals half-eaten. They looked anxiously at Judy as she hit the “talk” button on the phone.

  “Proctor Ranch, Judy Proctor speaking,” Judy answered. Pause. She looked at Kathleen and Pookie and silently mouthed the name “Joe Bob,” as she listened. “What? No, I haven’t been down to the community building today.” Pause. “What? But the County just put it out for bids. How could they have started construction on the fire station?” Pause. “Hold on.” Judy put the phone to her shoulder and looked at Kathleen.

  “Did Guy Guyette turn in his membership paperwork to you?”

  “No, but maybe to Martha since she’s secretary,” Kathleen responded.

  “Joe Bob said he already checked with her and Brad. Nobody has his membership application, and no one has a phone number for him.”

  “What’s this about the fire station?” Kathleen asked.

  Judy lifted the phone back to her face. “Joe Bob, we don’t have paperwork or a phone number for Guy. I don’t think there’s much we can do before morning when the county offices open, and Kathleen and Pookie are dying to hear what’s happening.” Pause. “Want me to go with you?” Pause. “Okay, I should be done with chores by 8:30. Pick me up on your way to town?” Pause. “See you then. Good night.”

  Judy hit the “end” button and faced her lover and ward. “Holy shit!” she said.

  “Holy shit what?” Kathleen said, an edge to her voice.

  “Joe Bob drove by the community building, and there was a crew working there. They’d just finished pouring the slab for the fire station, and all the materials for a full metal building are already stacked, ready for construction.”

  “That’s not possible. Ted Rome said the County has just barely put it out for bid.”

  Judy picked at the roast chicken on her plate, suddenly uninterested in food. “Joe Bob said he stopped and asked the crew boss what the hell he was doing. It’s some company from Abilene that specializes in building fire stations. The man said Guy Guyette hired them.”

  “But…but the bids?” Kathleen said.

  “The crew boss told Joe Bob that they are authorized as a vendor through the state and they don’t have to do a bid.”

  “Can that be right?”

  “Damned if I know. Joe Bob and I are going to town in the morning. We’ll look up Ted Rome and the County Clerk. They should have some answers.”

  Pookie slammed her fork flat onto the table. “Asshole!”

  “Pookie?” Kathleen said.

  “It doesn’t fucking matter if they don’t have to do bids. This fire company doesn’t belong to that Guy fellow. It belongs to us, the people who live here.”

  Judy and Kathleen sat in stunned silence, broken only when Judy laughed, with more resignation than humor. “As usual, Pookie girl, you managed to go right to the heart of things and say it all.”

  “Fuck,” Kathleen said.

  “Well, that pretty well sums it up as well,” Judy agreed.

  aaAA

  Judy and Joe Bob sat in worn out chairs that Judy remembered as surplus from the old junior high school. A tear in the plastic seat-cover kept catching on the back of her jeans when she moved. Judy figured the Dulson Fire Department preferred to invest money in fire equipment rather than office furniture. Outside the office, Judy could hear Dulson firefighters work as they performed maintenance on the engines in the bays.

  “What do you mean there’s nothing we can do?” Joe Bob asked.

  Ted Rome’s desk chair squeaked as he leaned back, a look of frustration on his face. “Not for now, at least. When you all elected Guy Guyette chief, it was a bad time. You don’t have bylaws for your company yet so he can make up the rules as he goes.”

  “But what about bids for the fire station?” Judy asked.

  Ted scratched his chin. “The County Treasurer is mad as hops, and the County Attorney is doing some research, but I called the State Fire Marshall’s Office. Turns out that Abilene company really is approved as a state vendor for station construction. It’s a tad iffy, but the station may be finished by the time the County Attorney gives an official opinion.”

  “Can’t we file a restraining order or something?” Joe Bob asked.

  “Joe Bob, you all voted him in as chief. He’s already registered himself as the sole representative of the company with NFIRS. The only way to stop him is to vote him out. Do you think you can do that?”

  “I don’t know,” Joe Bob answered. “Most of the ones who signed up to train as firefighters are the young men out in Coldwater. Tad Romig’s wife told me Guy had already been to their house, bragging on how Tad was going to make a fine firefighter and giving him a t-shirt and hat from some of the fire equipment companies. She sounded disgusted, but she said Tad ate it up with a spoon. Then there’s Brad Kenton…”

  “Oh God, no,” Judy said. “Don’t tell me. Love Brad like a brother, but it doesn’t take much for him to start thinking with his ego.”

  “When I called last night to ask Brad if he knew about the crew building the station, he sounded proud as punch that Guy had told him and none of the other officers,” Joe Bob said.

  Judy moaned and Ted nervously clicked away with the ballpoint pen he’d taken from his pocket.

  “I’m a damn fool,” Joe Bob said.

  “You’re not alone. All of us officers voted for him. We were half-scared to death that night when we saw everything we had to do and realized just how little we knew. Guy walked in looking like a superhero,” Judy said.

  “You’re kind, Miss Judy, but I noticed even if the others didn’t. When we all voted ‘aye,’ you didn’t say anything.”

  Judy shook her head. “That’s exactly right. I didn’t say anything. My silence was a vote for him the same as if I’d shouted it out loud.”

  Ted threw the belabored pen on his desk. “Near as I can tell, you all aren’t alone. The State Fire Marshall’s office gave me the names of two other fire companies Guy started here in Texas. Seems like he likes starting fire stations, but he only stays six to nine months. I called the chief at one of the companies.”

  “What did he say?” Joe Bob asked.

  “Said that Guy knows what he’s doing. He got them the best equipment for the money and set their systems up right.”

  “Can’t say that I’m happy to hear that,” Judy said.

  “It wasn’t all compliments,” Ted continued. “The man said Guy nearly tore their new company apart, and he said something that really worried me.”

  “What’s that?”

  “He asked if Coldwater had any women firefighters,” Ted said.

  “Yes?” Judy asked. “What about it?”

  “The man said to be careful, watch out for your women. He said Guy’s the worst woman hater he’s ever seen.”

  Joe Bob’s face turned red, and Judy sat up straight.

  “Won’t be the first time I’ve dealt with an asshole,” Judy said.

  There was a fiery glint in his eye when Joe Bob turned to face her. “Just know you won’t be standing alone, not you nor Kathleen nor Martha nor Pookie. I got your back, just as much as I can. I got your back.”

  “I know, Joe Bob. I know.”

  aaAA

  Judy, Kathleen, and Pookie stepped out of Judy’s truck and looked with awe at the nearly completed infrastructure for the new fire station. It had been less than week since the Abilene crew started work and the walls were already up. The bay doors were not installed yet, and they could see inside to see that plumbing and electrical conduit were already in place. What’s more, sitting inside the half-finished station were two trucks, a Class A pumper and a rapid attack brush truck.
Judy recognized both types from the reading she had already completed in her Essentials of Firefighting manual.

  “Where did the trucks come from?” Pookie asked.

  “The pumper’s on loan,” Guy’s voice boomed from behind them, startling all three women. He smiled, apparently pleased at their reaction. “The brush truck is a gift from State Forestry.”

  Judy turned toward Guy. He stepped so close she could smell salami on his breath, and he towered over her, his expression just shy of a leer. He poked so hard at the textbook and task book Judy held under her arm that he nearly knocked them from her grasp.

  “You won’t need those tonight,” he said. “We’re going to train on the trucks. If we have a fire while we’re teaching all you rookies, you at least need to be able to run the pumps and nozzles. But that’s for the firefighters. Why don’t you ladies go inside the community building and make some coffee or something?”

  Judy opened the door to her truck, forcing Guy to take a step back. She put her books on the rear seat. Pookie and Kathleen stepped close to her, handing Judy their books as well. In the process, the force of three women caused Guy to take another step backward.

  “I’m a lieutenant in this company,” Judy said. “I’ll train on the trucks.”

  “Trucks for me too,” Pookie said.

  “I’ll go for the trucks too,” Kathleen said.

  Guy opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped. Judy looked him full in the face, and she was shocked at what she saw – fear. The big man was terrified.

  “Hey Judy, get over here,” Brad called from just inside a bay door. “You have to see this.”

  The three women left the erstwhile chief standing and walked toward the station. Once inside, Brad gave them a tour of the half-finished station and the trucks, as proud as a child showing visiting grandparents every toy in the toy box. As Brad gave them a personal tour, other members of the company arrived for the Tuesday night training. Brad’s tour group grew with each new arrival. Guy watched from a relative distance.