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TUCKER
“Hey, Tuck! Chief said he’s ready to meet if you are,” Rodney says, peeking his head into my office. His salt and pepper hair is the only thing showing his age. At forty-seven, he’s one of the crew’s oldest firefighters.
“Thanks, Rodney,” I respond, nodding my head. It’s been a quiet shift so far, but that can always change on a dime. Being a firefighter in a small town can sometimes be boring, and for guys who thrive on the edge of danger, boring can be tough.
On the flip side, we’re the only station for our small town, so we have to answer every call we get.
I get up from my desk and grab my black folio for my meeting with the chief. As a captain, I have a lot of meetings and administrative duties, but it also comes with the ability to lead my guys when we’re out on calls which makes the paperwork worth it.
Chief James, or Uncle Jack, if we’re off duty, sits behind his large cherry oak desk. The office itself is relatively large with windows on the left wall making the room bright. Surprisingly comfortable metal armchairs sit in front of his desk, and bookshelves line the walls on the right.
“Hey, Tuck. Come on in. I finished up my call with the mayor early. Thought we should meet now in case you’re called out.”
“Smart,” I say as I sit down.
“How are things going?”
“They’re good right now. The guys seem happy, haven’t had any major issues or concerns. We’ve been slow for the past couple of days, though, so things are bound to get hot soon.”
“No doubt. We’re due for a big one. The last one was what, a month ago?”
I nod my head in response.
“We had to update our paid on-call list, right?”
In such a small town, large structure fires don’t happen regularly, but they do happen, so we use paid on-call guys to give us an extra hand if we need them.
Sometimes, when it’s been a while since the last big fire, you can almost feel the tension in the house. It’s like a sense we get when something big is about to go down. The whole house is feeling the tension right now. It’s just a matter of time until it blows.
“We’ve got seven guys now who are ready to go when we need them. Truck 20 is still on standby, and we can call Westlake as well. I’ve been working with the lieutenant over there, so they’re willing to jump in if needed.” Westlake is the next town over from us. Over the past few years, we’ve been building a decent relationship which will come in handy if there’s ever a fire too big for our guys alone.
“Perfect. Let’s go over your meeting with the council then.”
I go over the details from the meeting yesterday, updating him on what was said. There are some new oxygen tanks we want to order but needed to get funding approval from the council. They gave it pretty quickly, and the rest of the meeting was spent talking about other random topics.
I thought it was weird they didn’t end my meeting so they could talk with Natalie. At the time, I didn’t know they had another meeting to get to, so I just kept chatting. I wouldn’t have if I’d known she was waiting.
I try not to dwell on Natalie while I talk with the chief. I could easily get distracted by thoughts of her, so I do my best to focus on the topic at hand. When I get back to my office, I can think about her more.
Not like I haven’t been thinking about her every minute since she basically ran away from me.
“Okay, last thing, and it’s not SFD related,” Chief says, and I have a dreadful feeling I already know what this is about. “Your dad called me the other day. He mentioned he hasn’t seen you in a while and would like for you to drop by if you can.”
I sigh. I knew he’d bring it up. If I don’t reply to my dad’s requests, he always goes to my uncle, knowing he’ll convince me to see him. The problem is, my dad only reaches out when he’s out of money and can’t pay his bills or can’t find someone to buy him booze, sometimes both.
I did odd jobs here and there when I was younger to get enough cash for food. Then, when I was legally able to work, I started at the station. I’d never been more grateful for my uncle.
After my mom left, my dad lost himself in the bottle. I was never sure why. It wasn’t like they had the best marriage, but I guess her leaving hit him hard for some reason. My uncle knows about the booze, but he doesn’t know about anything else that happened after she left.
“I’ll do my best to go see him, but you and I both know he’s just out of money. I don’t know how much longer I can stomach footing the bill for him to drink himself into the grave. He doesn’t deserve our support.”
“I know, son, but he’s my brother and the only father you’ve got. What else are we supposed to do?”
“I get it. Anything else?” I do my best to not sound like a pissed-off kid, but I’m ready to get away from this conversation. I hate talking about my dad because it never does anything but rile me up. He won’t ever change, so there’s no use in discussing him.
Uncle Jack stares at me for a beat and says, “No, that’s it. I know the pressure is building in the house, so let me know if there are any blow-ups.”
“Will do. Thanks, Chief,” I say, standing up and walking out.
