Home » The Archives » Chapter 12 » Playing with Fire
| Re: Playing with Fire [message #513 is a reply to message #512] |
Mon, 23 July 2012 21:24   |
artisticrainey
Messages: 1228
Registered: July 2012
Location: Northern Ireland
Karma:
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Field Commander
Switzerland |
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******Monday, October 22, 8:00 p.m. Tracy Island******
Hearing the washer turn off, Cassie propped her guitar on the seat. The load in the washer was her last one, and instead of making trips back and forth to her apartment, she had decided to stay downstairs until it was finished. After making her way back to the laundry room and transferring clothes from the washer to the dryer, she turned on the dryer and walked back to the chairs.
Cassie picked up her guitar again. She thought briefly about what she wanted to play, and then started the opening chords of "Moving On," a song by her favorite country group, Mississippi Mud.
The firefighter was singing the chorus for the second time when she suddenly had the feeling that she wasn't alone. She stopped playing and glanced toward the door. Sure enough, she saw that Callie had entered.
"Hi, Callie," Cassie said, resting her right arm along the top of her guitar. "Wasn't disturbing you, was I?"
Callie smiled. "Are you kidding? I haven't heard that song since my grandparents celebrated their 75th anniversary a few years ago. I always did like that one."
"Oh, cool. It's always been one of my favorite songs, even if it does mean I had to take some teasing from my friends for liking country music. For some reason, a lot of people in New York City would rather listen to other music genres."
"Guess some things never change. 'Course being from the southeastern part of the country I don't have to worry about that. Ever write your own songs?" Callie asked, sitting down on the couch next to Cassie.
"A couple," Cassie said with a shrug. "Not that too many people have ever heard them, just some family and friends. I haven't attempted to write anything in a few years due to the lack of time and inspiration."
The bioengineer nodded. "When I was working aboard the ISS, I got so absorbed with what I did I almost forgot what good music sounded like."
"Didn't you have the personal players?"
"Of course, but I never used it because I'd tune everything out while working. I'm just happy to hear some old-fashioned acoustics."
Cassie smiled before changing the subject. "So, how are you feeling about the training fire tomorrow?"
With a shrug, Callie answered, "I'll admit, I'm just a little nervous. Sure, I did help out with that fire in Australia, but I was inside the Fire Tender. I wasn't outside where the flames would've been so close to my face. My closest encounter with a serious fire before that was my father applying too much lighting fuel on his barbecue grill. We put it out with a fire extinguisher. Fortunately, the grill was deemed unusable afterward."
Cassie chuckled. "It's too bad every fire can't go out that way. Course that would mean I'd have to find a new job."
"I agree. If every huge fire could be put out with an extinguisher, life would be so much easier." After a nervous sigh, Callie added, "I've been doing so much training on different things for the past couple of months, I feel I could get confused on instructions. Being outdoors to work on a large fire is also a new challenge, so I hope I don't freak out."
"That's the reason we're having the training sessions and the fire. It'll get everybody on more equal footing, everyone learning how to be ready for an out-of-control fire. Hey, it won't be learned overnight, but in due time you'll at least understand the basics. Like I said in the training session, learning about how to handle a fire and actually fighting a fire are two different things. When I was training, I thought that live fire training was the most useful thing we did. Even though most fire departments do their training with simulated structural fire buildings, when you're actually fighting the fire you forget that an instructor can end the whole thing with a push of a button. Of course, tomorrow will be a more traditional concept of live fire training. We won't have the luxury of using computers to control things."
"Hopefully, I can remember what you've taught us these last couple of days," Callie commented.
"You'll do fine," Cassie assured her. "I'm just hoping I can remember all the code names tomorrow. I've been trying to make sure I have them memorized this weekend. Yours is Ursa, right?"
Callie nodded. "The code names did take some getting used to," she admitted, thinking about the first time she had to use them herself. They came easily to her now. "I could quiz you on them if you want, under one condition."
"What's that?"
"Could you play a tune for me, please?"
"Any requests?" Cassie asked. Playing for an audience, no matter how small, always is more fun, she thought.
Pep talk for the big show the next day by starrynebula and TracyFan4Ever[/size]
  
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