Date: Sat, 24 Apr 93 15:13:14 EDT From: Tracy Finifter Newsgroups: alt.ql.creative Subject: Flashover - Part 5 Message-Id: "Flashover" Part 5 by Tracy E. Finifter The game broke up at about eleven, and the guys went home soon after. I headed to bed, but knew I wasn't going to get much sleep. Not knowing what was going to happen. "Getting ready for bed, Sam?" Al asked, once again managing to startle me half to death. "Yeah," I answered once I had settled down. "Shouldn't you be getting to bed yourself?" "What do you mean? It's six in the morning where I am." "Oh," I said, forgetting that his time and mine were hardly in synch. "I just wanted to check up on you." "I'm fine, Al. Tomorrow is what we have to worry about." "Have you decided what you're going to do?" "Keep Mike and Chris out of the building," I answered. I just hoped Al wouldn't ask me how I was going to do that, because I hadn't figured that much out. "What's up with Ziggy?" I asked, hoping to change the subject. "Ziggy's given up. He can't figure out exactly what you're here to do." "Terrific," I muttered, now thoroughly frustrated. "Well, right now I'm worried about what I'm supposed to do, firefighting wise. You know something about firefighting, don't you?" "What I picked up from being around Kelly, but that wasn't a whole lot, Sam. Firefighting is a lot of hard work and there are a lot of things to know. I can't possibly teach them all to you in one night, even if I knew, which I don't." "Okay, then. Just let me get some rest and I'll do my best tomorrow. After all, that's all I've been able to do the past five years, isn't it? Fake my way through everything as best I could? And every now and then, as if things weren't bad enough already, someone's life would depend on how well I could fake my way through someone else's life. I'm just tired of it, Al." My voice had been getting louder. Al, as well as I, could tell I was just getting frustrated, again. We both knew that I wasn't going to get much rest tonight. "Take it easy, Sam. There's no use in you working yourself up into a panic." "Okay," I said, taking a deep breath. "You're right. There's nothing I can do right now. I'm going to bed and hopefully I'll be able to get some sleep tonight, but I doubt it." And Al left again, through the Imaging Chamber door. Again, I had the feeling that he had wanted to say something else, and just didn't. I would have to ask him about that the next time I saw him. I finished getting ready for bed, crawled under the sheets, flicked off the light, and stared at the dark ceiling. *** I looked at the clock next to my bed. 6:50. In three minutes, the call was going to come in. A little after that the tones were going to go off. I wasn't dressed, or ready at all, even though I probably should have been. At least I wasn't asleep, that would save me some time that Steve hadn't had the first time. In fact, I didn't get much sleep at all last night. And once the sun rose, well, I just kept staring at the clock. 6:51. It was too quiet. Like the calm before the storm, I guess. Maybe I should've gotten up then, but I didn't. I just kept staring at the clock. 6:52. Damn, where was Al? If ever I needed something to do, someone to talk to, now was the time. He was the one with all the information. He could tell me exactly when the pager would go off. He could tell me what to do and how save the day, again. 6:53. Somewhere on Chelsea Ave. a concerned neighbor was placing a call to the fire department. I don't know why, but a purely trivial thought crossed my mind at just that particular moment: did they have 911 in 1989? The piercing sound of the tones managed to send me jumping out of bed in surprise, never mind that I knew they were coming. I threw on the clothes that I had left next to the bed and ran out the door. Speeding out of the driveway at about 70 mph, I kept hoping that I would know what to do once I got there. To be continued... * Tracy Finifter | "We are all born mad. * * finifter@gandalf.rutgers.edu | Some remain so." * * Douglass College, Rutgers University | -- Samuel Beckett * * 11 days 'till "Mirror Image" | "Yeah, like the NBC execs." -- me *