“The hell are you smiling about over there?” Carter’s voice broke through my thoughts.
The entire table was staring at me. Laughter danced in Carter’s eyes, and I could tell he had a suspicion of where my thoughts had gone.
“None of your damn business.” I pushed away from the table and stood, ignoring the snickers of the fellas. I placed my empty plate in the sink.
“It’s the rookie’s day to do dishes, right?”
“Rookie one or rookie two?” Don asked.
I didn’t give a shit which one as long as they got done. But instead of saying that I stated, “Rookie two, I think.” Rookie two was the rookie we left at the station a few months back after he took the keys out of the rig.
“No can do, Harvard. Rookie two called out according to the captain.”
I turned back to the table. “Called out?” My incredulous expression likely mirrored the rest of the guys at the table. Firefighters rarely called out of work, butespeciallynot while you were still in rookie status.
“Yup,” Don simply answered.
“I’m not sure about that one,” Corey added, stating aloud what we were all thinking.
“Rookie one’s out back cleaning off the equipment. We can have him do the dishes.”
I shook my head at that suggestion. “Nah, he’s got enough on his plate.” Rookie one, unlike the other rookie, was shaping up to look and perform like a real firefighter. He may even be awarded the privilege of being called by his actual name soon enough. “Leave him be. I’ll do ’em later.”
Three pairs of eyebrows lifted and I sighed internally.
“You’re doing dishes now?”
I snorted. “Angela’s got me in the habit. She does all of the cooking, so…” I shrugged, giving just a small bit of insight into our relationship. I’ve gotten a little more open with these guys about Angela since we all dined together. So far, they all kept what I did share just between us, which I appreciated.
“Well shit, if she always cooks as good as that cake you brought in for us, I’d probably be doing dishes, too,” Corey added. Angela insisted on making one of her chocolate lava cakes for the station. I felt like a sissy bringing in a cake for a bunch of men, but as soon as they tasted it, any shit-talking that might have ensued flew out the window.
“Yeah, well don’t count on?” My retort was silenced when the station’s alarm sounded. All of us began moving at a frenzied pace as the operator’s monotone voice spoke of a four-alarm fire over at the apartment buildings on one of the city’s main streets. “Shit!” I cursed to myself, as I pulled up my suspenders, preparing to grab my helmet. I knew this blaze wouldn’t be an easy one. Four alarms meant it was a doozy and the apartment building itself was at least ten stories.
“Let’s go,” Captain Waverly yelled as he got into the passenger seat of the rig.
I didn’t need to hear anything else. I hit the gas, and the alarm from the truck sounded off, alerting those in earshot to get the hell out of the way. I heard the captain responding to the operator through his walkie-talkie. I was able to make out bits and pieces, while still keeping my focus on the road ahead of me. From what I could make out, only one truck had arrived so far, firefighters had entered and were able to pull out two people who passed out from smoke inhalation.
“Fucking move!” I yelled at the car in front of me hesitated or outright refused to pull over to let the rig pass.
“The fuck is wrong with people today?” Captain grumbled. “Run ’em over if you have to!” he yelled in my direction.
I was prepared to do just that if this one Honda didn’t move from blocking my ability to turn onto the street where the apartment building stood. At the last second, they swerved left, freeing my ability to turn clearly. Turning onto the street, billows of smoke appeared. The captain and I got eerily quiet. I took that moment to assess the situation from what I could see?a group of people standing across the street, likely onlookers and residents of the building; one fire truck had its ladder up against the building.
We pulled up and jumped out of the rig, heading straight to the captain of the other rig to get an assessment. Once that was done, Captain Waverly began giving out orders.
“Harvard, Corey, and Don, you three take the second and third floors. Rookie, you stay on my ass. Got it?”
We didn’t bother giving a response, we just picked up our gear and got moving. I was the third one in, behind the captain and rookie. When they turned left, I went right toward the door that read “Stairs” in black letters. I felt on the handle to see how hot it was. When it felt normal, I figured fire hadn’t made it into the stairwell. Lowering my mask over my face, I pulled the door open to a stairwell that was almost black with smoke. I heard Corey and Don’s footsteps behind me as we ran up the steps as fast as we could in all our gear.
“Cover your faces!” I yelled at a few of the apartment residents who were running down the steps, trying to get free of the thick smoke. We moved aside to let them pass, then headed up to the third floor first.
“Ah, shit!” I called when I touched the door handle that led to the third floor and could feel the heat of the metal even through my gloves.
“Is it hot?” Don yelled.
“Yeah,” I returned.
“Too hot?” Corey asked.
