Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2005 10:38:29 -0500 From: Miguel Sanchez Subject: The Pilot III Ch 6 Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction and that of love. Any resemblance to actual places, events, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. This story may contain erotic and/or sexually explicit behavior between consenting teens and/or adults. If it is illegal for you to, or you find this sort of work offensive, don't download or read it! The people in this story do not use protection because diseases don't exist here. However, in our world they do so please use caution and protection. This story is protected by copyright. It may not be downloaded or copied for other than your private enjoyment and may not be changed in any way without the expressed written consent of the author. This story may not be put on any pay to view site. I reply to all emails, except flames. You may write me at miguel_sanchez55@hotmail.com I hope you enjoy this story. Miguel Sanchez The Pilot III Shane and Robert's Life Chapter 6 His temperature was only 95.6 which wasn't all that bad considering. Tony put him on the monitor while I started an IV to start warming him up. I called dispatch and let them know we came across a child down then called Jackson. I pulled the drug box down beside me in case his heart rhythm changed on the way to the hospital. We strapped him down and I said, "Code 3 Tony and let's make it quick." I covered the now naked boy with a thermal blanket then put a wool one on him. I contacted Miami Children's and told them we had a 15 y/o male suffering from exposure. I gave them his vitals and his core temperature and they said they would be awaiting our arrival. Tony was a great driver and I never once felt him hit the brakes but I know he did because I felt us slow down. Tony got us to the hospital in about 4 minutes and we quickly got him unloaded and into the emergency room. The ER Doc was standing there as we unstrapped him and I said, "This is an approximately 15 y/o male suffering from exposure. My partner and I found him unconscious in an alley on our way back to the station. His vitals were B/P 102/70, pulse 60 and his respiration in 10. His core temp was 95.6 at the time we found him. He has an IV of normal saline and he has yet to regain consciousness." I had Tony pull the stretcher out of the room while I watched them work on the boy. A nurse hung a new bag of warm fluids then the doctor said, "Can you check his temp again?" I got the digital thermometer and put a probe on it. I lifted his legs and gently inserted it into his rectum. As soon as I slid it in, I heard him groan. It took about 30 seconds to beep and I quickly removed it, I looked at it and said, "His new core temp is 97.0." I walked up to his head and his eyes were open. "Hi there," I said smiling at him. "My name is Shane and you're in the hospital." The doctor asked, "Is he conscious?" I nodded my head and the kid said, "How did I get here?" "My partner and I found you in an alley," I said. "What were you doing there?" "I had to find a place to ride out the hurricane," he said. "I'm Jake Curtis." "You had to ride out the hurricane outside?" I asked. He nodded his head and I then asked, "Why? Don't you have a home?" "Not any more," he said. He was getting upset and he needed to stay clam. I looked at him and said, "Don't worry about that right now. I'm going to make a phone call and I guarantee that when you're well, you'll have a home for as long as you want. Is that alright with you?" He smiled then closed his eyes. I looked at the doctor and said, "How is he?" "Except for some cuts and bruises and a low temperature, he's doing remarkably well. I expect his pulse to return to normal as he finishes warming up." he said. I walked outside and he followed me. I looked at him and said, "He told me that his parents put him out of the house. I can't imagine parents being that mean but I have seen it before but not during a hurricane." "What are you going to do?" he asked "I know the director if DCFS," I said. "I'm going to call her and try to get him into a decent foster home. Once he's settled, we can try to get to the bottom of why he was out there. If he ran away, something had to have been really bad to make him go out in that storm." "You're pretty knowledgeable," the doc said. "I was a foster kid," I said. "So was my brother and if it wasn't for my foster Dad adopting me and raising Robert, I don't know what would have become of us. My brother, Dad and I are foster parents as are two of my very best friends. It's a way to see that kids don't get lost in the shuffle of life." "Go and make your call," the doctor said. "I need to check on him. "Hey doc," I said smiling. "His name is Jake Curtis." I found a phone and called DCFS. A woman answered the phone and said, "Department of Children's and Family Services." "May I speak to Linda Eggleston," I said. "This is Shane Taylor." The next voice I heard was Linda's and she said, "Hi Shane, it's been a long time. What can I do for you?" I told her about Jake and everything he told me. I said, "Linda, something sure isn't right here. The doctor says he's fine except for some cuts and scrapes. I had to take his temperature rectally and didn't see any signs of sexual abuse so I'm baffled as to why he was out during this storm. I don't think he's going to want to go back home, not if what he says is true." "Do I detect an offering to be a foster parent?" She asked. I laughed and said, "Not this time. Robert and I have twins but Billy Thomas and John Phillips will. You can reach them at my Dad's house. They're riding this storm out there." "I'll tell you what Shane," she said. "I'll come to Children's myself and talk with this young man. If I feel he's not safe at his home, I'll call and talk with Billy and John and make them his foster parents. How is that?" "Wonderful Linda," I said, "I have to get back to work. I'll wait to hear from you or maybe I'll see you here at the hospital." "Ok Shane," she said. "Thanks for calling." I hung up the phone and found Tony talking with a nurse. "Come on lover boy," I said laughing. "Let's get back to the station." We hit the street and Tony asked, "How's the boy?" I looked at him and said, "He came too and you'd be surprised why he was out there." "He didn't run away from home, did he?" He asked. "No," I said. "He didn't run away. He said he was put out of his house." "WHAT?" Tony shouted. "Who would be that crewel?" "Good question," I said. "I called a good friend of mine at DCFS and she's going to look into that personally. My Dad, brother and I are foster parents but we have two foster kids. I have two best friends who are also foster parents and I know they'd be happy to foster him for as long as he needs." "That's great," Tony said. "Thank god he had someone watching over him yesterday." Tony backed the rig into the bay and I filled out my paperwork when the Captain came in. I finished the log as he said, "How'd you two make out?" "That kid will do great Cap," I said. "He has good interpersonal skills and can calm a hot situation quickly. I'd love to have him with the air service. There are times when I'm on the ground and I could use an extra pair of skilled hands." "Oh no you don't," he said smiling. I'm going to hate to lose him as it is." "It will be his choice," I said. "But I think he's going to want to be on ambulances. I do know he will be an asset to them." It was almost dinner time so I called home to see how the twins were doing. They were glad to hear my voice and happy when I told them I was safe and sound. I then talked with John and told them about Jake. He was flabbergasted when I told him what he said about being put out in the storm. He said he and Billy would be happy to be his foster parents. I heard the Captain say it was dinner time so I hung the phone up and got something to eat. I was starved because I hadn't had a chance to eat lunch. I always liked eating at the firehouse because we always had super meals. Several of the guys made bar-b-q and cole slaw along with baked beans and it was delicious. I had several plates and totally made a pig of myself. Things got quiet and Tony and I were able to sit down and relax. I had dozed off then a voice said, "Hey Taylor, you got a phone call." I went into the medic's office and picked the phone up saying, "Shane Taylor here." "Hi Shane, it's Linda Eggleston," she said. "Hi Linda, what's up?" I asked. She said, "I talked with Jake and he told me everything about why he was told to leave his home." "I have a possible idea but I'll let you tell me," I said. "The boy's father caught him and his friend experimenting sexually and" she said. "I kinda had that feeling," I said interrupting her. "Did he tell you any more?" "I stopped at that point," she said. "He was starting to cry and I didn't want him getting upset. I talked with Billy and John and they're more than willing to foster him. I am concerned about the number of people you have staying at your Dad's place." "Not to worry Linda," I said. "They're going to be there just for a few days until they get their power back. We have a generator that runs the whole house. I don't think many people can say that." "I suppose you're right," she said. "The doctor said he can leave the hospital so Billy and John are coming here with something for him to wear." "Sounds good Linda," I said. "Thanks for handling this." "No problem," she said. "I'll have to talk with him further but I'll wait a day to let him get settled in." "Thanks," I said. "He'll appreciate that." We finished talking and she had to finish up so she could get home. I went back into the day room and watched the latest news. There were over 600,000 homes without power but crews were working around the clock to get the resident's lights back on. The schools were closed all week so Robert and Billy would be home. Everyone was on a boil water order and we were lucky that the station had plenty of bottled water on hand. The county was under a curfew starting at 7PM and running until 6 in the morning because of the wide spread power outages. I was playing a game of pool when I was grabbed from behind. I turned around and saw Jeremy hugging me. I looked up and saw Dad and everyone standing there. "What are you guys doing here?" Jeremy looked at me and said, "We wanted to see where you worked," Jeremy said. "Yeah Uncle Shane," Joey said jumping into my arms. "Show us the fire engines." "Alright gang," I said. "Follow me but don't touch anything." I turned around and I didn't see Dad. I bet he was talking with the Captain; they had been friends before he retired. I opened the door into the equipment bay and turned on the lights and Joey said, "Wow, this stuff looks neat. What's that big thing?" I looked over to where he was pointing and said, "That is a ladder truck." "What's this here," Aaron asked pointing to the tiller's seat. "That's the tiller man's seat," I said. "There is a man who sits up there and steers the back end of the ladder. It's not like a tractor trailer because it's much longer and it has to make much tighter turns in traffic." "What's this truck Shane," Robert asked. "That's one of our two front line pumpers," I said. "That is the truck that you see all the hoses coming from when they're fighting a fire." Jeremy asked, "Is this a pumper too?" "It can be used as one," I said. "But that's a tanker. That tank on the back holds five thousand gallons of water and can be used to supply water to the pumpers. We can hook that to a hydrant well away from the fire and push the water to the pumper if we need to. The pumpers can hook to the hydrant and have basically an unlimited supply of water." Aaron was looking at another truck and asked, "What's this for? Putting water on roofs?" "That's right son," I said. "That's an aerial platform. That boom will extend about a hundred feet into the air and we can connect a 2" line to the water cannon and pour huge amounts of water down onto a fire." "I know what this is," Joey said smiling. "That's your am boo lance." I laughed at his pronunciation of the word but said, "That's right sport, that's my ambulance." Jeremy looked at me and said, "How do you know so much about this if you're a pilot?" "I wasn't always a pilot son," I said. "I first started out as a regular fireman. Later on, I decided to go to flight school." "Wow," Jeremy said. "I bet it took a long time to get into the department." "I looked at him and said, "It took a lot of education before I even got hired. I had to be an EMT before they would even talk to me then it took another two years to get my degree in fire sciences. After I was accepted, it took another year in the fire academy." "I guess it takes more than muscles to be a fireman, huh Shane?" Aaron asked. "That it does son," I said. "You learn all about fire and what it does and can do. It's a really great career if that's what you want to do. But I've seen guys wash out of the department during their first year too." "How come?" Robert asked. When it came time for them to do their job, they froze and wouldn't enter the building," I said. "They couldn't over come their fear of fire." "I guess it takes a really brave person then, huh?" Jeremy said smiling at me. "Or a really crazy one," I said. "But in all honesty we're doing something that we've been conditioned not to do. When we were younger than Joey we were taught to get out of a place that was on fire. Now we're asking someone to put all that aside and do the opposite. It's not easy and some people just can't do it." "So you're not afraid of fire?" Aaron asked. I looked at everyone and said, "No, I'm not afraid of it but I have a very healthy respect for it. I know what it can do and if I'm not careful it can kill me, even in the air." I saw Dad and the Captain coming out into the bay and he said, "I thought you all might be out here." "I was just giving them the fifty cent tour," I said. The Captain looked at me and said, "I can't talk you into coming back to a station, can I?" "No way man," I said. "It's safer in the air." Just then the alarm sounded and a voice said, "Medic 23 for Medic 15, Station 15 vehicle fire in front of the court house, time 2022. Medic 23 for Medic 15, Station 15 vehicle fire in front of the court house, time 2022." Tony came out and got into the driver's side and I said, "Medic 23 responding." I waved bye to everyone as I got into the rig as the voice said, "10-4 Medic 23, time out 2023." Tony turned the lights on and we disappeared into the night. Every time there is a fire, an ambulance has to be on scene in case a firefighter goes down. That was county policy. Tony said, "I hope this is a piece of cake." "So do I Tony," I said as we sped to the scene. We pulled up to the scene just as the men had finished putting out the fire. Tony called on scene as I went and talked with the Captain. There were no injuries so we cleared and headed back to the station. "That's the kind of call I like." I said as I cleared us with the dispatcher. We pulled back onto the station and I was exhausted. I did my paperwork then told Tony I was heading to bed. I found the medic's quarters and stripped down to my boxers and slipped in between the covers and quickly fell asleep. The night passed uneventful and at 5 the alarm sounded waking everyone up for the day. I quickly threw my clothes on when Tony said, "That's just the wake up alarm." I'd been away from the stations for so long I'd forgotten about it. I put my shoes on then went downstairs to get some coffee. At about 5:45 I noticed a new crew standing around and I figured one of them was my replacement. Tony came down and pointed the paramedic out to me so I introduced myself and we checked the rig together and he signed off on the drug box. At 5:55 the alarm sounded and it was a medical call. I looked at my relief and he just waved me on. I got into the Yukon and headed home. I was stopped twice and as before they waved me on when they saw my uniform. I got home about 6:30 and Dad was already up. I kissed him and he said, "How bad was the call you had?" "Just a car fire," I said. "No body hurt." "Oh before I forget," Dad said, "Call Linda Eggleston later in the morning. She wants to talk with you about Jake. Billy and John stayed here with him last night. He was having a bit of a rough time." "Sure thing Dad," I said. "I'll talk with Jake later, when he gets up." To be continued