by Kerri Carr
Realizing the rain had subsided to trickles, Gary touched his digital wristwatch to show the time. The red glow of its light revealed he had been in the car for over an hour since he had parked in his driveway.
“Wow!” Gary exclaimed mildly, really surprised at the how much time he had spent sitting in the silence and darkness of the car when it felt like just minutes. But that was not the only surprise. He also realized the torso region of his striped gray shirt was soaked up a little like some the rain had fallen on it, but it was impossible because the Chevrolet's window was well up. Gary knew that there could be only one explanation left to explain the wetness of his shirt and sure enough, when he touched his face, he realized there were trickles of tears left on it. He had been crying without realizing it earlier.
“Shit! Not again man,” he cried, very displeased with himself.
Moments later, he exited the car and headed toward his apartment.
*****
As soon he stepped into his one-bedroom apartment, the lights switched on to unveil the house in the same melancholy setting he had left it earlier. And besides Lucy, his faithful dog that appeared from the kitchen area and running toward him, the entire apartment appeared lifeless.
“Hey buddy,” Gary squatted on a knee to frisk the dog’s fur. “Missed me?” he asked Lucy and was replied with a lick on the face. “Yea, I missed you too,” Gary smiled weakly before standing up to head toward the kitchen. He had to serve her dinner before he went about doing any other assignment.
Lucy followed him closely like a bodyguard and wagged her tail excitedly like she had won something extraordinary.
Lucy was a gift Debby had bought for him a few days before she had taken off to head toward Lagos, one of the economic destination for investors in Africa. Debby had grown up there as a little girl before her aunt picked her up and brought her over to the US after she had lost her parents in a ghastly accident. But Debby wasn’t returning to Lagos for any form of reunion or something. Instead, she had traveled down as a technological firm representative in an international conference organized for tech startups in Africa. It wasn’t the first time Debby was representing her company in several international meetings, but it was the first time she would be doing so in her home city, Lagos.
Gary remembered how Debby was so thrilled about it, but he complained he was going to miss her greatly. He even opted to get some days off from work so he could travel down with her and at least get to know her heritage a little more than the tales she had told him and what he had read online.
He has also hope, at the time, to seize the opportunity to visit his origin in Ghana with her, some place he knew nothing about besides what he saw on the TV. But Debby begged him to leave such adventure to a better time when she wouldn’t be on an official trip and had gone ahead to purchase Lucy as a companion to keep him less lonely. Little did he or Lucy know they were going to be each other’s companion without Debby been around.
"So, which do you prefer as dinner?" Gary asked Lucy as he lifted the food options from the overhead cupboards to show the dog. The bitch stared patiently as he walked his hand through the options available and by the time he got to the second to the last option, she yelped.
"Good choice," Gary replied to her and patted her ears. "Now let me prepare dinner for you, all right?" Gary uttered and went about serving Lucy, but he made sure to wash his hands first at the sink before doing so.
Repeatedly, Gary had reminded himself that he needed to either return Lucy to her owners or hand her over someone else if he was serious about getting over Debby. This was ultimately necessary for him because every time he woke to see her, she reminded him of Debby's innocent look and in particular the smile that lit up her face the day she had handed the dog over to him. Still, he found it impossible to part ways with the dog since becoming fond of her.
He frequently took her to work except on days he had some very tedious work to do, days like today. Today he had subjected the recruits and some firefighters under probation to the Nance Drill. It was exhausting for everyone that participated, and that was why he longed for his couch until the rain steered his yearning around.
Gary turned to give the couch a long stare as he closed the refrigerator’s door.
He scoffed. “Change of plans,” he uttered tiredly before sipping beer from the can he held in his hand.
He ruffled his curly black hair even more and perceived his odor. He smelled of sweat and needed to shower, but before he stepped out of the kitchen area to head toward the bedroom, he caught Lucy sniffing the air too.
Gary stopped and shot her an accusatory stare.
“You must be kidding. So you think I smell too?”
The dog shook her too quickly like it wanted to get something off her ear, but Gary felt like she was responding to his question.
"You don't have to deny it you know, but I'm going to shower now," he said and headed toward the bedroom.
A few feet from the kitchen, Gary realized she followed him almost as soon as he stepped away from where she was eating.
“Whoa! Where do you think you’re going?" he asked her, but the dog simply gave him a stare with the most innocent look she could display.
Gary sighed. “Come on. Don’t make me feel guilty now,” he begged and dropped the beer in hand on the kitchen table before crouching down. "You want me to stay with you until you've finished eating?" he asked, and Lucy blinked her eyes before licking his nose.
Gary giggled. “That tickles. Stop it already," he instructed her playfully. He stood up and winked at her. "All right, I will stay but you've got to hurry up I'm exhausted," he informed Lucy and before he was done talking she walked her to her dinner and continued eating.
“Good dog,” Gary muttered as he picked up his beer from the table and paced a few feet from Lucy to get a seat.
Lucy was not only smart and brilliant, but she was the only female in his life at the moment beside his younger sister, Sophia, who understood what he was truly going through. And just like his sister, the pet often tried to cheer him up any time he appeared downcast. But there were times she knew not to do anything but just lie on his lap while they both savored his solitude. Gary sometimes wondered if she had an enhanced ability to read his mind and mood to know how exactly to react to him.
Gary’s phone snatched him from his thoughts again when it started to ring loudly shortly after he sat down.
“Damn! I need reduce this volume,” he complained and noticed the dog looked up to. “You think so too, right?” he asked her as he took it out of his pocket. It was Sophia.
"Speak of the devil," he turned the screen to Lucy who barked happily when she saw Lucy’s picture on the screen. “Yeah, I thought you would be excited,” he replied her before picking up the call.
“Hey,” Gary said with no much enthusiasm.
“What’s with the tone?” she demanded and without giving him a chance to reply Sophia squeezed in another question. “Please tell me you’ve not forgotten about tomorrow?”
Gary frowned momentarily and gave the dog a quick questioning look like she had any idea what their conversation was about.
Lucy returned his stare with a curious look on her face.
“Tomorrow?” he asked feigning ignorance at what Sophia was talking about. He noticed the dog cocked her head and he shook his index finger at her knowing what was coming next. Sure enough, Lucy stood up and approached him too quickly before he could object.
“Uh…I,” he stammered. “I said no!” Gary exclaimed at Lucy who completely ignored him and went ahead to draw the hand holding the phone away from his ear with her paw.
“Sorry? Did you just say no?”
“Not you Sophia,” he replied her quickly. “Come on, don’t be silly now.” Gary protested, referring to Lucy but he knew what she wanted.
"Gary, what's going on over there?" Sophia asked him as he and Lucy continued to wrestle. "Do you have a woman over for the night?"
“What?�
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“Ok. So I suppose that’s Lucy?”
"You b-bet," he replied, struggling to keep the phone in his ear.
"Put the goddamn phone on speaker so that I could speak to her too."
“Fine!” Gary gave in. "You two win, all right." He tapped on the screen to put the Samsung on speaker. "You happy now?" he shot a feigned displeased look at Lucy who appeared to be satisfied.
"Lucy! Keeping that old man alive, are you?" Sophia asked, and Lucy replied with an excited while she tried to touch the screen with her pawn but before Gary could jump in the call broke up.
“What the hell?” he gave Lucy an accusatory stare. “Did you just end the call?” he asked her.
Lucy sat down quietly on his lap and appeared to offer an apology with her low whimper.
Gary tried to call Sophia back, but before he could he hit the call button she called him back, This time it was a video call.
“Sorry I hung up on you,” she apologized with a smile. “Where’s Lucy? I wanted to see her that’s why I placed a video call.”
Gary adjusted the phone so the front camera could capture Lucy. "Right here, feeling remorseful for your actions."
“Aww, I'm so sorry cutie. Now cheer up for me please," Sophia pleaded and Lucy got up to peer closer toward the phone, but she still wasn’t back to her excited mood.
“That’s my girl.”
“You were saying something,” Gary interjected.
Sophia rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t be mean.”
“So?”
“You are supposed to be at our fundraising tomorrow, remember?”
“Shit. I had forgotten.”
“Seriously? I told you to hang the invitation letter I sent to you somewhere you could all the time. Hope you’ve not also forgotten the list of things I wrote down that you should help me purchase before coming over to Manhattan?”
“Oh boy,” Gary grumbled and scratched his head.
“What? You’ve lost it?”
“Uh, not exactly. I left it in my drawer at the station.”
“Gary,” Sophia called his name in a way to show she was not happy with him.
“I’m sorry. I promise to get it tomorrow morning before driving over.”
"Those things are essential, okay?"
"Okay," Gary replied nonchalantly not happy about the fact that he has to step out the next day when all he had planned to do was stay indoors and read or watch something.
"So how did your day go?” Sophia asked pretending not to notice his unexcited demeanor.
“Stressful.”
"Hmm," she tucked her braids behind her ear. "I see that for sure. You look like shit and I'm sure you smell as bad too," she laughed. "Make sure you grab dinner before going to bed, all right?"
“Yes ma’am,” Gary replied sarcastically.
“Ma’am? Seriously?” she frowned him just as someone called her attention from elsewhere. “Got to go pal. Be good, catch plenty rest and one more thing, look your best tomorrow okay?”
“Oh boy,” Gary hung his head in defeat and grumbled knowing what she was up to already. “Don’t you ever give up?”
“Not until you’ve found love again,” she countered. “Love you.”
“Love you too. Good night.”
*****
The following morning, Gary drove down to the New York City Fire Department at W 31st St to retrieve the shopping list Sophia had mailed down to him with the invitation card for the fundraising dinner.
Since Sophia had reached the legal age to be held responsible for her actions, he had known her to be a volunteer with several international NGO’s that catered for the well-being of women around the world. This time, she was inviting him to a fundraising dinner organized by an NGO that was concerned with helping women beat breast cancer in its early stage in underdeveloped countries in Africa and Asia.
Gary was proud of her, but somehow he didn't fit into her circle. Still, she always managed to drag him into it so he could get to meet and socialize with others but what she hoped was for him to find some lady that would arrest is interest again. So far, she had no luck with that, and he knew she was increasingly getting worried about him.
Gary wasted no time getting in and out of his office but just as he was about crossing the lobby to head outside. But at the very moment when the blond receptionist with a round face was waving and smiling sheepishly at him, he heard the alarm. It was an alarm that required a priority one response.
Gary halted his advancement like reflex action and turned to face the receptionist who was still watching him with deep interest like she'd hoped he noticed her forced smile, but Gary hadn't. He hurried over to the door adjacent to her desk that led downstairs to the apparatus bay.
"Please take care of Lucy," he instructed the receptionist hastily and passionately in a plea as he walked past her desk in a quick motion.
Gary was well aware that the firefighters on the ground were capable of handling any emergency response, but he couldn’t resist the urge to want to join the response team even though he was off duty and on leave.
Besides that, his instincts told him that the team was short of staff and sure enough, as soon as he arrived the bay, he realized his instinct was right.
“Who’s the IC?” Gary demanded hastily in a formal tone, asking no member in particular as he wore his over trousers quickly.
All the firefighters on the ground were all dressing in haste in almost the same fashion as if they were automated. They had been trained all their life for this. Still, an unspoken tension spread across the room. It always felt like this for all emergency response because they knew the inevitable could happen. Whether or not they were prepared to face it.
"It's Bill," Chelsea, the redhead member from New Jersey replied almost immediately as he had asked just as she appeared from behind one of the fire engines adjusting her helmet while not looking up yet.
Gary glanced at her stoically as he adjusted and tested his Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA). He was glad she was on the ground as she was one of the best fighters he’d trained and he trusted her judgment.
Chelsea stopped momentarily the moment she’d seen him. She looked shocked to see him there.
“Sir?”
Gary shook his head to dissuade her. "Not the time Chelsea," he stopped her abruptly from making any further comments, and he could tell from the look in her eye that she felt hurt by his coldness. He had no choice. They couldn’t afford the argument of whether or not he should be there assisting them when the chief had mandated him to take a leave.
“Bill!” Gary called out to the incident commander before he climbed into the truck, “Let’s move it.”
Fortunately for the team, traffic was favorably light, and five minutes later, the blaring fire engine drove through the 7th avenue, past Rubin Museum of Art and headed toward West 15th Street intersection. At the intersection, Michael, the engine driver, beat the red light and turned into West 15th Street swiftly and in less than a minute he pulled up in front of Mall just opposite the burning Spa Palace.
The whole area was engulfed in smoke as an inferno towered over the three-story building into the sky. Chaos appeared to be the order of the morning as the team swung into action. Gary noticed officers and the first responders were trying their best to evacuate everyone else left in the building just as they were also trying to control the growing crowd by setting a perimeter around.
Large crowds had gathered across the street and were watching. Dread and worry were written over their faces. The fire was too massive. Gary hoped no one was trapped because finding such an individual would be tough, unless they got an extra help to control the blaze—and that still depended on the precision and quick judgment of the firefighters.
After his quick survey of the pandemonium at the scene, Gary was turning to assist some of the crew with the attack hose when he heard the indistinct siren of the EMT ambulance approaching and saw an officer approaching him.
&n
bsp; From the serious look on the ten-foot tall African-American officer who appeared to be in the early thirties, Gary knew he was coming to debrief him on the report so far. Gary Damon figured the officer knew him so well too because he was quite popular in the city, but he wasn’t incident commander that morning.
"Captain," the officer called when he was within a few feet to Gary, "my men and me…"
“Sorry,” Gary interrupted him gently and peered at his nametag on his uniform, “Office Charles? I’m not the IC. Lieutenant Will is.” He informed the policeman who already looked confused while pointing toward the direction of Will.
“Oh, my bad. Sorry captain,” Officer Charles politely apologized and turned to approach Will.
“Don’t be,” Damon muttered.
Jackson, the youngest in the team, drew the hose line further to assist the fighters up front to attack the fire more closely.
“What. The. Hell?” the firefighter exclaimed as he dragged the line. “I have never seen a fire this mad,” he lamented.
“Really?” Michael teased. “Where were you during 9/11?”
“In Atlanta, freezing.”
"Hmm, looks like hell woke up thinking of New York City," Chelsea said as she flanked him from the left. "We need to call for backup."
“FDNY Engine 3 is on their way already," Bill announced almost simultaneously, sounding nervous as he approached Gary who was already picking out equipment to lead the primary search team into the building. "Captain…"