Jake and Chuck’s Adventures
June Bugs: First Installment
“What?” He didn’t even bother opening his eyes when he answered the phone.
“Jake?”
“Yeah.”
“This is Becky in dispatch. I wanted to give you a heads up. We’ve just dispatched fire to Chuck’s house.”
Jake sat bolt upright. “Thanks. Any idea what’s going on?” He was talking to a dead line.
He pulled on his jeans and threw on a sweatshirt. Didn’t bother with socks. Shoved his feet into a pair of sneakers. Grabbed his wallet and keys. Almost left the apartment without locking the door.
Jake had just gassed up the 4×4 in preparation for heading out early in the morning. He just hadn’t counted on it being this early.
He drove while fine tuning the scanner. No traffic yet. Becky must have called him right after dispatching crews. He had no idea if they were dispatched for medical or fire. He reasoned that it could even be downed power lines. The winds were upwards of forty to fifty miles an hour around dusk. Given where his partner lived, he could see downed lines as a good possibility.
The road narrowed as it wound up the side of a hill. In the distance–though he couldn’t see it right then–loomed Mt. Lassen with its snow-capped peak still in mid-June.
This wasn’t the first time Winslow Fire had been dispatched to 5362 Cougar Lane. Nor was it the first time he received a call from dispatch giving him a heads up. He should have known, however, that he would be getting such a call. It was due. They seemed to come every four to six months.
The last one involved water rescue. The entire way there, Jake figured dispatch somehow got the information wrong. Chuck lives on thirty acres on the fringe of Winslow, technically Shasta County but because of his job, his attachments with the town, Winslow typically responds to his address. The property doesn’t have a body of water. Or didn’t. As Jake discovered when he arrived. That was back in February. When Chuck got the boneheaded idea of building his wife a heart-shaped pond and stocking it with kissing koi and swans. He’d built a little paddle boat and was testing it out when one of the swans attacked him. His wife, Bridget, found him out back in the middle of the pond under attack and immediately called 9-1-1. The boat capsized which caused the fish to go frantic. The swans became even more aggressive. And poor old Chuck was found holding onto the capsized boat while the swans were beating the crap out of him. He wound up in the hospital for three days recovering from his injuries which included a couple cracked ribs. The pond has since been filled. Bridget couldn’t stand to look at it without seeing visions of that dreadful scene every time. The only reason nothing came about over St. Patrick’s probably had to do with the fact Chuck still wasn’t at a hundred percent.
Jake cringed just thinking about the possible mayhem that had been averted thanks to those swans.
“Winslow dispatch, engine forty-two.”
“Go ahead engine forty-two.”
“Winslow dispatch we are in need of more units at this location. One structure fully involved. Going into attack mode. Switching to channel two.”
“Copy,” Becky’s voice crackled. She repeated the last transmission per protocol.
Jake stepped on the gas.
Jake and Chuck’s Adventures is a new section of KathieLeung.com with weekly installments in this fun and free neverending story that features two unforgettable spear carriers from Kathie’s works.
Sign up to get notified of new posts and never miss a new entry!
[…] [Read first installment here] [Read second installment here] [Read third installment here] [Read fourth installment here] [Read fifth installment here] [Read sixth installment here] [Read seventh installment here] […]
LikeLike
[…] [Read installment 1] [Read installment 2] [Read installment 3] [Read installment 4] [Read installment 5] [Read installment 6] […]
LikeLike
[…] [Read first installment here] [Read second installment here] [Read third installment here] [Read fourth installment here] [Read fifth installment here] […]
LikeLike
[…] [Read first installment here] [Read second installment here] [Read third installment here] [Read fourth installment here] […]
LikeLike
[…] [Read first installment here] [Read second installment here] [Read third installment here] […]
LikeLike
[…] [Read first installment here] [Read second installment here] […]
LikeLike
[…] [Click here to read installment 1] […]
LikeLike