Saved By The Firefighter
Chapter 51

Kelvin's point of view.

Waking in my bed, I look around, sighing because I am on my days off. The official first day was yesterday, so I have three to go with nothing to do other than twiddle my thumbs. Call me a workaholic, but when you are 45 and single, there is not a lot else in your life. Well, I say that my totally amazing 2-year-old grandson Moses is my only saving grace from this messed up world. I get to see him once or twice a month when my daughter brings him over. We are not that close, and yes, I hold my hands up, I am one-hundred percent to blame for that, along with the breakup of my marriage. But I adore that little boy more than life itself. You see, I let the job consume me, working my way up from being a firefighter, to lead, then to Station Officer. My mind was always filled with work, and I never stopped to realise the strain it was having on my family. I missed Nativity plays, parent-teacher meetings, even some birthdays, not necessarily because I was officially on shift, all because I put work first.

The crazy part is, I loved my family, still do, although my ex-wife soon moved on, and I do not blame her, so now I love her as the mother and grandmother of my child and grandchild, and nothing more. It has only really been since we got divorced 6 years ago that I realised, my life needed more balance, and that work, and position were not everything. Trying to better myself, for them, had estranged me from them, and I learnt a valuable lesson. So, if any of my team needs time off to deal with family issues, you can bet your bottom dollar I will do everything I can to make that happen for them.

Being the only black firefighter in my station at the time of joining the brigade had thrown up challenges, and so I had to try harder,... work harder, ... to somehow compensate for the fact that undoubtedly there were still people who were ignorant, who judged you not as a person, but by the colour of your skin. The thing is, by working myself so hard, I had achieved a lot, but also I soon realised, after my divorce, I had also allowed the racists to win in a way, because I worked to prove something to them, when in fact, their prejudice of me was there problem, and really not mine, because no matter what I did, they still could not get over the colour of my skin. According to them, I only got the promotions because I was the 'Token Black Man' or the brigade needed to 'Check the Box', to say they were meeting the quota for having the ethnic minorities in a leadership position. Never did they see or accept it was through the hard work and sacrifice I had given the brigade.

Sighing, I got out of bed, neatly making it, then wondered what the hell I was going to do with my day. Chantelle my daughter, she was on holiday with Moses, so they would not be coming over.

I let out a sigh, because my options for hanging around with anyone were limited to the guys from work, and if I am honest, as much as I liked all of my firefighters, I do not like to impose myself on them during their down time. Not that I hadn't been asked when they did their meet ups. Josie, bless her soul, always made sure to give me an invite, but nine-times-out-of-ten I refused. Not because I thought myself better than any of my team, but just because having your boss turn up is akin to a teenager having their parents come to their party. I do not want to spoil their fun!

As I decide to wash my car on the drive to give me something to do, my mind wanders to the fun and games yesterday. I had been soaked with water; it was all good fun. However, my fun was short lived when 'Twinkle' pulled me to one side and informed me confidentially, that he was looking to go part time. I asked if he could give me some time to find someone who could job share with him, and he agreed. I don't think he really wants to reduce his hours, but his wife is putting quite a lot of pressure on him, and given what happened with me, I will do everything in my power to ensure we find a part-time person who can take over half of his shifts, as quickly as possible. My only issue is the guys coming out of training all want full time positions, there is nobody looking for a couple of shifts every six days.

I continue to wash the car with the large yellow sponge, as I remember Joanne. Bless her soul, she is a fantastic woman, and went through so much when Ben was injured. It was good to see her back at the station and getting involved once more. I needed some help in the office, and I know she had lost her job after Ben's accident, wanting to be on hand to help him recover; things were difficult for her. So, obviously she was the first person I thought of to come in a couple of shifts per week, to help with the filing and keeping people like Anders Maxwell from taking up my time.

Anders, he is not a bad person after all. I knew he was only ever demanding for Josie to apologise because he clearly had the hots for her, and now they seem to be together. He has grown on me, and not like a wart. I have to admit the £100,000 donation to the Firefighters' Benevolent Fund also helped!

Now t-cutting the paintwork of my car, I continue to think about yesterday, and Joanne. It has been years since I first met her, yet she avoids me like the plague. I don't think it is a racist thing, as she really isn't that type, maybe it is because she is slightly intimidated because I am Ben's boss. I chuckle to myself as I remember yesterday when I heard her commenting on if I had a large package or not, what was her words? "Once you have black, you never go back." I could not help but react by quoting the White Chicks movie about her needing a wheelchair, the blush on her face was worth it. Bless her soul, she could hardly look me in the eye she was so embarrassed, but come to think of it, she very rarely looks me in the eye, the normally mouthy woman becomes almost mute when I am about. I try not to take it personally, but I like her being loud and full of fun, hell I need some laughter in my life.

The thing is though, I kind of like her, I know she is a few years older, and my colleague's mother, but there is just something about her, other than the obvious. Big boobs, that have the capacity to suffocate a man, and long slim shapely legs. I have heard her with the guys, she is always laughing and joking, mostly inappropriate jokes that have a double meaning, and for the longest time I have wanted her to joke with me.

Don't get me wrong, I would never pursue her for a relationship, not with Ben on my team, although there is nothing written in the rule book that says I cannot do that, I would not wish to make him uncomfortable. But having her say what she said yesterday has made me struggle most of the night, wanting for her to personally experience my package, so she has the answer to her question.

I shake my head, wanting to put those thoughts out of my head, before my more than ample package grows again in my pants, and concentrate on gathering the dry rag to polish off the t-cut from the car.

Finished, I empty the bucket of water, and dry it out, adding the car cleaning stuff to it, and pop it on the back shelf of my garage. The weather is still hot, so maybe I could go for a drive down the sea-front after lunch; that would pass some time.

I walk back into my detached home on Silksworth Lane, which is just opposite the crossroads that leads to the station up the road, the other turn heads down past my local pub, the Cavalier, which I sometimes frequent, but not often, as sitting lonely, nursing a pint of bitter is not really what I like to do. However, it does make a change from sitting in my front room, nursing a can of 'Tetley's' all on my lonesome.

Walking into the living room, I see my phone lit up telling me I have some messages, picking it up, I see that Arthur, my counterpart, who is on duty when I am not, has messaged, more than a few times.

Hey, Kelvin, we are seriously snowed under, the hot weather causing the grass to catch light everywhere, any chance you can find someone from your watch to help out with the overflow?

Kelvin, we are getting desperate now, the whole fire crews on shift throughout the city and not just our station are dealing with fires, and now the kids of Thorney Close have decided to set light to the bushes at the park again, could really do with a hand.

I sigh, stupid kids, still this type of arson is easier to deal with, rather than what happened to the school. I am still awaiting the final report and findings from the police. I can only hope it is a one-off incident. But more often than not, it turns out to be a lot more of that, before the police catch the bastard.

Arthur, just picked this up now, sorry, I will do a round-robin to my guys see if any can come to the station for a few hours. Then I will set off.

I message the team, asking if anyone can come to the station and give a hand. I know they all will turn up, even though it is their day off, and we will have a full crew, because that is just who they are. None of them would want to risk a life because they were too 'busy' to cover. The only exception to that is Twinkle, because his wife will put her foot down and probably tell him no, if he does turn up, we all know he will be spending another night on his sofa.

I run upstairs, and grab my kit, then head into my sparkling car and head up the road to work.

Guess I am not going to be lonely today after all.