Honey and Glass

~3~

        The first call of the day was a new level of weird. A bouncy house accident. Somehow it had gotten loose during a birthday party and flown off and crashed into a hillside. We climbed out of the truck and Hen started her report into the radio.

"Adult male, down, on the hillside. We got three kids in a bouncy house," She said into the radio.

"All right, we're gonna stage the trucks on that service road. Hen, I want you Buck, and Bia to rappel down, anchor that bouncy house. Access the condition of those kids, start to send them down one by one in a basket. I'll take care of the Dad. Chimney, you're gonna stay up here and work the winch," Bobby ordered.

"Hey. How come I never get to do any of the fun stuff?" Chimney asked.

'Working the winch is fun," Bobby told him before going up to get suited up. Hen, Buck, Bobby, and I all got into our harnesses and strapped into the winch. I strapped my helmet on and prepared to repel down. Once everything was secured we began to repel down the line. I push on the cliff and dropped a few feet. I stopped at the bouncy house next to Buck and Hen.

"Bouncy house secure Chim," She said.

"Copy."

"Help," One of the kids groaned. Buck stuck his head into the doorway.

"Hey, guys? Hey guys, we're LA Fire and Rescue. We're gonna get you out of here, okay? Everybody just stay calm," Buck said as me and Hen got into position.

"Hey, boys, can you tell if your friend here is okay?" Hen asked, referring to the unconscious body. "Is he awake? Is he breathing?" The kid shook his head ever so slightly.

"Lower the basket down, Chim," Buck said into the radio.

"Copy."

"Is my dad okay?" One of the boys asked. I looked down at where Bobbby had dropped to look for the dad.

"Our Captain is down there helping him right now, okay? We're gonna get you boys out of here," I reassured them.

"Chim a little lower," Buck said as the basket came down from the cliff.

"Boys, come on, let's go. Now," Hen said.

"All right, that's it. Nice and easy, nice and easy," Buck said as the boys made their way toward us. "Alright, basket coming in."

"Hen's going down. She's got one kid, come on," Buck said once Hen was situated with the basket. "My friend, Bia is gonna take you down next okay?" The other boy nodded. I put the strap around his waist and secured it.

"Ready, Chim. Send me down," I said into the radio.

"Copy."

"It's gonna be okay, bud. I got you," I said to the boy as Chim lowered the two of us down. My feet touched down on the ground and the boy's mother ran over to him. A few seconds later Buck touched down with the last boy.

"BP and heart rate stable," Hen said putting her stethoscope against the unconscious body's chest after we got him onto a gurney. "Vitals are stable." We rolled the gurney to the ambulance and we all piled back into the truck, knowing we'd done our job.

"Right here, right here, right here," Hen said as she and Buck played some firefighting video game. "Turn left!"

"I'm trying!" Buck yelled, not turning left.

"Oh, oh, so you're fleeing the scene? You do realize that you lose points for murdering people on the way to a fire," Hen scolded.

"It should be fine. It's a flesh wound. ObamaCare," Buck said continuing to suck at the game.