Page 43 of In Sheets of Rain

15

And Breathed

“They’re short in the call centre this morning,” Ted said when I walked into the station office. “No one experienced enough to handle North Comm. You up for it?”

“Will you be OK working on your own?” I asked, checking my cubbyhole for messages.

“I’ll jump in a jeep and work as a Delta. They’ll bring a truck across from the Shore to cover us.”

“Yeah, all right, then,” I said, picking up my bag and heading out to my car.

* * *

Mount Wellington was thrumming when I arrived. Head Office staff cars filling up the carpark. I noticed the medical director’s Galant parked next to the CEO’s Lexus. Gregg Harmon’s Ducati was parked outside the main door to Comms.

I smiled when I punched in the code and opened the door.

“There she is!” Gerry exclaimed from the North Comm desk. “And not a moment too soon. I’m stuffed.”

“Hard night, Ger?” I asked, stowing my bag under the desk and taking in the triple screens and all the ambulances listed out on a job.

“Piece of cake,” he muttered around a mouthful of muffin.

“Thanks for coming in, Kylee,” Gregg said from the supervisor’s desk.

“Anything for Blue Watch,” I advised, receiving a grunt from Gerry.

“Well, this Red Watch bunny is off to bed,” he said, standing and stretching his big body. “A 5-6 and LSU 3-3 are nightshift; everyone else has made it back to station for change over.”

“Great,” I replied, plugging my headset in. “Get some sleep.”

“On it,” Gerry replied and strolled out of the room, seeking his freedom.

“Gonna thank me?” Gregg asked.

“For what? Vacuuming up Gerry’s crumbs before I got here?”

He chuckled. “For saving you from a whole dayshift with Ted.”

“Edward’s not that bad.”

He shrugged. “But I’m better, right?”

“Depends. Where’s my coffee?”

“On it, Oh Wonderful One.” He jumped up and left the room.

“Kylee,” Cathy called out in greeting, slipping her headset down around her neck. Cathy didn’t care that ambos shouldn’t cross over to Comms. “Was that you who attended the gunshot in the Domain?”

“Yeah,” I replied, picturing laugh lines and sparkling eyes and a tiny hole in the centre of a chest. “A 5-6,” I said into the headset before Cathy could ask. “Head home. Goodnight.”

“Night, Comms,” the ambulance crew replied, their relief palpable.

* * *

At some stage, the medical director had entered the room, but I was too busy moving trucks around on my screen for their lunch.

“LSU 4-2,” I called out on the radio. “Priority One, Greenlane Road. R4.”