Well, it's Sunday. My muses are still pretty much in shock. Poor Dark and Gloomy. She (he, it?) is in total denial and is prostrate. For which I'm actually grateful. I can't handle any more depressing stuff right now. I was answering an email to Toby, when Sweetness and Light bashed me. It's a little tentative, but I'm going to start it and see where it goes. The more I think about it, the better I like it. Even if it does involve water. At least it involves the ocean. I wish I were in LA, I'd go down to the Point Fermin Lighthouse and talk to the ghosts there. Yeah, I know it's dangerous there after dark. I've never had a problem. But then, I seem to have a Jim Ellison type aura that says rather emphatically 'don't tread on me' Go New Hampshire.
Hero Du Jour-Jim
by
[ Reader
comments ] [ Add your comments
]
"Look, Sandburg, Blair. I'm sorry. I just need to be alone for a while, OK?" Seeing the younger man's mouth opening to protest, he hurried on. "I don't want to talk about it right now, OK? I just don't." Then, seeing the hurt in his friend's eyes, he relented, just a little, his voice softening. "Look, I'm not mad at you. I'm just mad at this whole situation. I need to be alone for a while, OK? Please, Chief. Just give me a little time by myself. OK?"
Blair watched his best friend. Saw the tension in the way he stood, in the clenching and unclenching of his jaws and fists. Recognized, finally, that it really wasn't him. Remembering when his friend caught him off guard with a request for a solo week off. Not wanting anything like that to happen again.
"OK, Jim. I can wait. I'll start dinner, OK? I'll fix you a plate and leave it covered in the refrigerator for whenever you come in, all right?"
"Thanks, Chief. I promise I'll be back later."
He walked. He recognized the feelings. If he drove, he might do something stupid. So, he walked. Down to the park. Across the park to the beach. Up the beach. It was mid-afternoon when he left. He kept walking. He watched the sunset. He wasn't thinking, he was only feeling. Something he felt he did best when alone, with no witnesses. Not even Sandburg. A small smile graced his features when he thought of his partner/friend/shaman/Guide/brother in any way that mattered. The thoughts helped the tension slowly drain from him. First, his hands stopped flexing into fists. Then his shoulders dropped a bit, finally, his jaws stopped grinding his teeth. He took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, then slowly exhaled, feeling the last of the tension ease from him. The anger dissipating. He looked around, realizing he'd walked a good fifteen miles. He turned back. A normal man would only be able to see the lightened sky above the city. With a sigh, he turned around and headed back. He glanced at his watch. He'd been gone almost five hours. If he didn't stop to gaze out to sea or pick up any rocks or driftwood to throw, he could make it home in three hours. Or, he could pull out his cell phone from his jacket pocket and call for a ride. He smiled and started walking.
Blair glanced again at the clock. Jim had been gone a long time. He went out on the balcony and stared up the beach in the direction he had watched his friend march a good seven hours earlier. He debated calling him on his cell phone, but decided against it. With one final glance into the darkness, he went back inside, and sat down at the kitchen table and went back to work on his dissertation.
The night's sounds were soothing, the rush of the waves on the sand, the lapping of the water against a dock. The whimper of a frightened animal. He stopped. Cocking his head to the side, listening more closely. His eyes following the direction of the sound, tracing the distressed whimpers. It sounded like a dog, He saw something out beyond the breakers. A... He couldn't quite make it out, it was too far and too dark. Had it been daylight, he'd have had no problem. Or if his guide had been there. But he was on his own. He focused harder, risking a zone out. It was some sort of flotsam, but there was something else. The sounds were of a dog, a puppy! Suddenly, he could make out the remains of a poorly designed raft and the small dog clinging to the top of it. It looked like....Oh, dear Lord. There was a person clinging to the side, as well. He looked quickly up and down the deserted beach, then focused on the city, at least another four to five miles away. Pulling his cell phone from his jacket pocket, he punched in 911.
"Yeah. This is Detective Jim Ellison. I'm at the beach about five miles north of the city. There's someone out beyond the breakers on a raft. There's a dog with them, I heard him whimpering. I'm going to swim out and see if I can help. Please have someone stand by in case we need help." He listened to the 911 operator repeat his location and that he would contact the Police Department and be standing by.
Jim pulled off his jacket while he toed off his shoes. He stripped to the waist and pulled off his socks, as well. Then he ran into the surf and when deep enough, dove through the waves and began swimming strongly toward the remains of the raft.
The water was cold, too cold to dial down enough, but the physical exertion helped him maintain his body's heat. The raft was at least twenty yards out. He simply put his head down and swam purposefully toward the wreck. It took a few minutes, but he finally made it. He reached out and grasped the edge of the makeshift raft. About the only thing left was a few planks and an inflated auto innertube. He was shocked. The first thing he saw was a puppy. Soaked, trembling. Whining. It tried to crawl to him, but the raft was so rickety, that the poor beast soon quit, with another whimper.
Jim worked his way around the wreckage. He had been right there was someone on board. Two children, small, to Jim's way of thinking. Neither could have been over ten years old. They were luckily in the innertube, using it as a life preserver. Both children were unconscious. He found a piece of rope still attached, in fact it was part of what was holding the whole thing together. He tied the rope to one of his belt loops and started towing the entire thing toward shore, once he was certain the two children wouldn't slip out.
Just before he reached the breakers, he turned back to get behind the raft, so he could control it better. Using his body as a rudder, he surfed them in to the beach. Standing up, he dumped the raft, having forgotten it was tied to him. He pulled the loose end and released the magic knot, then dragged the whole mess up onto the beach. He'd managed to reach the shore a mere thirty feet from where he went in. He ran and grabbed his clothes and cell phone, jogging back to the rescuees. He punched in 911.
"Yeah. This is Ellison, again. I need paramedics and an ambulance on the beach about five miles north of the city. I have two unconscious children, here. They were on some kind of home made raft. They're suffering from hypothermia, at least. They're both breathing. I'm going to do what I can to get them warm until help arrives." He listened as the 911 operator asked him to repeat his location, then, when he had, he disconnected the phone and then hit the speed dial for home.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Chief."
"Hi. You OK?" Still uncertain.
"Yeah. I'm OK. Look, would you mind coming up here and getting me?"
"No problem, man. I mean, you do it for me often enough. Where are you?"
"About five miles north. On the beach. There's been a little trouble and I'm waiting for the paramedics."
"Paramedics?! Are you OK?"
"Yeah, fine. Just wet, and cold. I found a couple of kids and their dog on the wreckage of a makeshift raft. I had to swim out to get them. I'm trying to warm them up, but they've got hypothermia, at least. Possible heat stroke, as well. The pup's OK, though. That's what attracted my attention."
"I'm on my way."
"Thanks, Chief."
Blair grabbed a couple of spare blankets, along with towels and a set of sweats for Jim and rushed out the door, barely remembering to lock it behind him.
Blair got there right behind the paramedics. He had slowed down, almost to a crawl, four miles from town, watching the shoreline for any sign of his friend. Finally, he found them. He turned around and parked on the edge of the highway. He got out of the car and gathered up his supplies. Running towards his friend.
Gasping for breath from his run across the soft sand, Blair held out his offering. Jim, shivering from the cold because he had wrapped the two children in his discarded shirt and jacket, gratefully accepted a towel, quickly stripping out of his wet trousers and boxers, scrubbing himself quickly dry and scrambled into the clean, warm, dry sweats. Blair bundled up Jim's wet clothes and towel and set them aside. He held out a jacket for Jim, who quickly slipped it on. Then they offered the blankets to the paramedics, who added them to the thin blankets they had already wrapped around the two still unconscious children. Blair noticed that Jim was shivering.
"Take it easy, Jim. Turn down the dial."
"It's at minus two, now, Chief." His teeth chattering.
Blair was shocked. "How long have you been cold, man?"
"It's been about an hour since I spotted them. The water's only about fifty degrees, Chief. I was out in it about fifteen, twenty minutes. Then out here, waiting for help."
"Ouch. No wonder you're shivering. You need to go to the hospital, too?"
"No. I'll be fine...Oh, shit." Blair followed where Jim was looking, and spotted a local news crew.
"Uh, I think I'll just take your wet clothes back to the car, man. You can handle this." At that moment, several Sheriff's cars pulled up, as well. The news crew followed them down to find out what was going on. Blair got back in time to learn that the children had been reported missing early that afternoon, and that every police officer and sheriff's deputy on duty in the area had been on the lookout for the missing pair.
Jim never had a chance. Once he gave his report to the local deputies, he turned to follow Blair back to the car to go home. He was still shivering a little. There were two more media trucks waiting for him. With a sigh, he stopped and waited for them.
They barely got home in time for the newscast. Jim wanted nothing more than a hot shower and bed. Blair agreed to let him take the shower to warm up, but insisted he eat and have something warm to drink when he was through. He was too tired to protest. After eating, he settled down on the couch, sipping a cup of hot cocoa, at Blair's insistence of his need for 'comfort food'. When Jim was settled, he hit the 'play' button on the VCR. Grinning.
"Just over an hour ago, the two missing children were discovered, floating on the remains of a home made raft, just off shore. Both children are suffering from hypothermia and exposure, but are expected to fully recover. Here is the interview with Detective James Ellison, who found and rescued the children." Then they played the tape of the interview.
"Your name, sir?"
"Jim Ellison, Cascade PD."
"What were you doing here so late in the evening?"
"I was taking a walk."
"Five miles from town?"
"Yes." Jaws flexing.
"How did you find the children?"
"Uh, I heard their dog, their puppy, whimpering."
"I was under the impression they were out beyond the breakers?" Surprised confusion.
"It must have been a trick of the wind." Deadpan. "But I heard a puppy crying, I looked and I could see something out there, I couldn't leave anything out there to drown, so I went in after it and found the kids in the innertube. I pulled them to shore and called the paramedics."
"What do you do for the police department, Mr. Ellison?"
"I'm a detective with the Major Crime Unit."
"I'm still wondering why you were so far from civilization, do you often take ten mile round trip walks up the beach?"
"Actually, I was on my way back. I went a lot farther than five miles." He gave them a tight grin.
There must have been something more, but they ended the interview there, cutting back to the studio.
"Well, those are two very lucky children. What a miracle, that anyone should be walking along that stretch of beach at that time of night, and then be able to hear a small puppy crying so far away. I'm sure the gratitude of the parents go out to Detective Ellison..." As they cut to a commercial, the other anchor could be heard speaking,
"I can hardly believe he could hear that little dog over the sound of the surf. It's amazing."
Blair hit the stop button. "Yeah, amazing. What a miracle." He turned to smile at his Sentinel, only to discover he had fallen asleep, the stress of the day and the exhaustion and cold having caught up to him.
"I know." Blair whispered as he covered his Blessed Protector with an Afghan. "Just doing your job."
He watched as the Sentinel smiled in his sleep.