You'd Have to Ask - 6. Chapter 6

The Fire Station

Lance gets into work with time to spare. When he gets there, he sees that Brent has already left a list of things for him to do “That Asshole!” he says to himself.

Lance goes about his chores first he has to sweep the station. Then clean the washrooms.
When he has finished he goes into the lounge. There he sees the other member of his shift. Most of the guys are OK and they have nothing to fear from Lance.

Lance sees Brent there holding court, telling a story about some fire that happened years ago. Brent looks over and sees that Lance is there. He sneers at him, “Get me some more coffee!”

Lance does as he is told, but first he has to make it, as there is none left. While he is making the coffee he calls Kat’s number to ask her if she wants to meet for coffee. He gets her machine and leaves a message.

He comes back to the table with Brent’s coffee and one for himself. He sits and Brent glares at him, which is meant to make Lance uncomfortable. Lance sits there and takes it in.

Brent looks at Lance’s arm, “Aw did you get hurt Lance, I bet you got an EMT to kiss it and make it better?” Brent laughs, several of the other guys laugh along with Brent.

“Nothing too serious Brent, don’t worry I’ll live”

Soon enough thoughts of a quiet shift are drowned out by the sound of an alarm.

The men rush and get their bunker gear on. When he is in the pumper he hears that it is a house fire. “Probably another chimney” Lance thinks.

When they arrive at the scene the men scramble to their positions. Brent has managed to partner himself with Lance. They are in charge of water supply. Lance has to hook the hose up to the hydrant. Brent berates him for taking too long, but never helps. He also has to make sure that there are no obstructions to the flow of water. He spends a lot of time doing this as the hoses move around the scene.

All too soon the fire is out and they wind up the scene. Lance looks at the family that is displaced and he feels for them.

Brent yells at Lance that he has to do salvage. This involves getting the hoses back on the pumper. Brent supervises effectively.

“Come on Johnston, we don’t have all day!” Brent yells.

Lance is almost done and one of the children displaced by the fire comes over, he stares at Lance in awe. Lance smiles at him, it is the least he can do, help this little guy feel better.
“Need some help Mister?” the kid asks.

“No, but thank you for the offer.” He winks at the kid.

When the site is cleaned up, they get back to the station.

The first thing everyone does is get ready in case there is another call. Lance drags all the hoses into the hose washer. When he has done this he gets a clean set of hoses, coils them and puts them on the pumper. Lance manages to get help doing this but he notices Brent is nowhere to be seen. “Thank God for small mercy’s” he thinks to himself.

Later Lance takes a nap, it is quiet and other guys have gone and done the same thing.

Brent wakes him after about an hour. He drags him down to the kitchen and points out the mess it is in. “Clean this pigsty up!” He orders.

Lance figures he should say something, but he is the low man on totem pole so he cleans the kitchen. “How did it get to be such a mess, most of the guys are asleep?” he asks himself.

When he is done Brent is on him again, this time he is not asking Lance to do anything. Brent starts to tell him how his Dad and Uncle were firemen. He says its a man’s job and there ain’t no room here for faggots. Brent emphasises his stand by pointing his index finger sharply into Lance’s chest.

“If it’s the last thing I do, I am going to make life here so uncomfortable for you that you are going to quit!” Brent checked around to see if anyone else was in earshot, before he said this.

“Well, I hope that this is a long term plan Brent, as I plan to be here for a while”

“Don’t worry you aren’t the first person I have set my sights on and I don’t think you are half the man of some of the others that I have chased out of here!”

Lance leaves the man alone and he has heard it all before. Not only here but in high school too. He heads back up for some shuteye.

He closes his eyes and thinks about Cole and the book he found in the truck. Cole is a dream date as far as he is concerned. He could settle down nicely with that man. Lance remembers when he turned 18 and how sexually active he was. Better let Cole get that out of his system. No sense in trying to tame a wild horse. I’ll wait him out and see what happens. That is if he ever comes out to me.

Lance wakes up in time to cook breakfast for the guys. Lance actually enjoys this and the guys are really appreciative of his cooking.

When the shift is done Lance goes to his Jeep, he sees it is sitting funny. He walks around to the other side and sure enough there is a flat tire.

He goes about changing the tire. When he is done he stops at a tire shop to see if it can be repaired, the guy tells him that he will have to buy a new one.

Lance finally gets home about 10:00 am. He hits the bed and is asleep immediately.