NO GUARANTEES
A Vignette
by GCS
A friend asked me how to write short stories. She writes multi-chapter stories REALLY well, but says she wants to do short snippets. So we challenged each other to write a vignette using the quote below. Here is my response to the challenge. If you like the idea...do one...I'd love to see what everyone comes up with.
"Life comes with no guarantees, no time outs, no second chances." -Unknown
Emergency! belongs to Universal and Mark VII. I just borrowed them for a little while
and a little fun.
There are no guarantees.
No magical remedies for disaster.
No redo opportunities.
There's just now, right now…and right now I'm sitting here in a pile of rubble with some piece of shit holding me down, pressing against my chest, smothering out the very life I try to breathe in.
I'm being held hostage like a kid in time out.
Not able to move or resist.
Just have to wait it out…if I can hold out that long.
God, I just wish somebody would find me and get this weight off my chest.
One minute I'm making my way through the burnt out entrance to this dilapidated old building with the K-12 to cut the victim out and the next I'm down here in the basement. Who knows where the K-12 is. It might be up there on the floor above me, but then again it could be part of the crap weighing down my chest.
This must be how Gage feels every time he gets hurt. That happens a lot…poor kid.
Man it's dark down here.
I know the sun is still up. At least it was when I came in.
I wonder how long I've been in this cavern of pitch black hell.
Must'a cracked my head too. It hurts. It hurts like I drank a fifth of Grey Goose…
…and my stomach too. Feel like losing my lunch.
I should be out there with the engine. Not down here in this muck. I spent all those years as a lineman and not one trip to the hospital. How did this happen? How the hell does an engineer end up trapped inside? I'll tell you how. He learns how to use the equipment on the rig better than anyone else. Sure it got me a new title…equipment specialist, but it also got me here.
I sure hope somebody is watching the gauges on Big Red. She shouldn't be out there just running. She'll run out of water and burn up her pumps if someone doesn't shut her down.
Wish I could see my watch. Hell I wish I could move my arm. I'd like to know how long she's been up there pumping. Somebody had better take care of her for me. Cap would but he was inside with the guys. I told that new guy from 127's to keep an eye on her, but he's so green. He probably forgot. Well we may be in for new pump motors. Sorry babe.
Wait…what was that noise? If I could just get one arm free I could pound on something to draw attention. If I could just move some of this stuff so I could kick against something.
"Here…I'm down here!"
Man that took a lot of air.
"Mike! Where are ya?" That's Johnny. I'd know that voice anywhere. "Hey you guys…hold it down. I think I heard something." I can just see him with his head cocked sideways, one ear toward the ground, not moving a muscle, which has to be really hard for him, listening intently, his forehead wrinkled in concentration.
"Here…Johnny…here."
"Over here Roy! Down there in the basement." Johnny's calling in the troups. I can see his flashlight sweeping the area above me. "Look! There's the k-12." He sounds closer…like he's already coming down. "Slack!" Yep he's on his way down to get me.
Whoa that pressure on my chest just got unbearable. "Get off me!"
I hear him scrambling off the top of the mound that has me nearly buried. Then I see him kneel down next to me. "Hey Stoker! What's our engineer doing down here in this dump?"
"Oh just taking a much needed break." I try to be funny like Johnny would. He laughs, but I can hear the concern in that laugh. He knows he needs to get some of the pressure off my chest. I can barely talk much less breathe.
"I'll be right back Mike." I can hear him talking into the HT, but he walked to the other side and turned his back to me. I must be in trouble. He doesn't want me to hear. The next thing I know Roy and Johnny are both next to me. Roy's fingers press against my neck. I know they're getting information for Rampart. "Mike did you lose consciousness?"
"I…Yeah I think so…what time is it?"
"You've been down here for two hours." Roy answered this time in his calm voice, too calm. That's his keep the patient calm voice.
"How's Red?" I had to find out if my girl was taken care of.
"She's fine, Mike. Some guy from 127's shut her down when she was out of water." Johnny bounced into my line of vision for a second and then disappeared again.
"Really? He remembered. Well I'll be." I suddenly feel a little of the pressure disappear.
"Grab that Johnny." When did Chet get down here? "Marco have you got the port-a power?"
I can hear a bunch of movement. "Here Chet." Marco must have handed the unit to Chet.
"Roy, how is he?" Cap's up top. He's getting ready to haul me out, probably has a group of guys from another station ready to pull us all up.
"He's okay Cap, just pinned real good." Roy's hand is resting on my chest…counting my breaths.
"How much longer Kelly?"
"Almost there Cap…almost." Chet grunted that last part. "Okay, Gage, can you pull him out?"
I feel hands gripping me and then there's no more pressure on my chest, but now everything hurts. My head is spinning and I'm gonna decorate Gage's shoes if he doesn't move.
"Okay Mike, we'll get you in the stokes and back up top where you engineering types are supposed to be anyway. Does that sound like a good deal?"
"Yeah Johnny, that's a good deal." I just want to get back up there with my baby. All those years in the department without any kind of injury and look at me now.
04/01/11
No magical remedies for disaster.
No redo opportunities.
There's just now, right now…and right now I'm sitting here in a pile of rubble with some piece of shit holding me down, pressing against my chest, smothering out the very life I try to breathe in.
I'm being held hostage like a kid in time out.
Not able to move or resist.
Just have to wait it out…if I can hold out that long.
God, I just wish somebody would find me and get this weight off my chest.
One minute I'm making my way through the burnt out entrance to this dilapidated old building with the K-12 to cut the victim out and the next I'm down here in the basement. Who knows where the K-12 is. It might be up there on the floor above me, but then again it could be part of the crap weighing down my chest.
This must be how Gage feels every time he gets hurt. That happens a lot…poor kid.
Man it's dark down here.
I know the sun is still up. At least it was when I came in.
I wonder how long I've been in this cavern of pitch black hell.
Must'a cracked my head too. It hurts. It hurts like I drank a fifth of Grey Goose…
…and my stomach too. Feel like losing my lunch.
I should be out there with the engine. Not down here in this muck. I spent all those years as a lineman and not one trip to the hospital. How did this happen? How the hell does an engineer end up trapped inside? I'll tell you how. He learns how to use the equipment on the rig better than anyone else. Sure it got me a new title…equipment specialist, but it also got me here.
I sure hope somebody is watching the gauges on Big Red. She shouldn't be out there just running. She'll run out of water and burn up her pumps if someone doesn't shut her down.
Wish I could see my watch. Hell I wish I could move my arm. I'd like to know how long she's been up there pumping. Somebody had better take care of her for me. Cap would but he was inside with the guys. I told that new guy from 127's to keep an eye on her, but he's so green. He probably forgot. Well we may be in for new pump motors. Sorry babe.
Wait…what was that noise? If I could just get one arm free I could pound on something to draw attention. If I could just move some of this stuff so I could kick against something.
"Here…I'm down here!"
Man that took a lot of air.
"Mike! Where are ya?" That's Johnny. I'd know that voice anywhere. "Hey you guys…hold it down. I think I heard something." I can just see him with his head cocked sideways, one ear toward the ground, not moving a muscle, which has to be really hard for him, listening intently, his forehead wrinkled in concentration.
"Here…Johnny…here."
"Over here Roy! Down there in the basement." Johnny's calling in the troups. I can see his flashlight sweeping the area above me. "Look! There's the k-12." He sounds closer…like he's already coming down. "Slack!" Yep he's on his way down to get me.
Whoa that pressure on my chest just got unbearable. "Get off me!"
I hear him scrambling off the top of the mound that has me nearly buried. Then I see him kneel down next to me. "Hey Stoker! What's our engineer doing down here in this dump?"
"Oh just taking a much needed break." I try to be funny like Johnny would. He laughs, but I can hear the concern in that laugh. He knows he needs to get some of the pressure off my chest. I can barely talk much less breathe.
"I'll be right back Mike." I can hear him talking into the HT, but he walked to the other side and turned his back to me. I must be in trouble. He doesn't want me to hear. The next thing I know Roy and Johnny are both next to me. Roy's fingers press against my neck. I know they're getting information for Rampart. "Mike did you lose consciousness?"
"I…Yeah I think so…what time is it?"
"You've been down here for two hours." Roy answered this time in his calm voice, too calm. That's his keep the patient calm voice.
"How's Red?" I had to find out if my girl was taken care of.
"She's fine, Mike. Some guy from 127's shut her down when she was out of water." Johnny bounced into my line of vision for a second and then disappeared again.
"Really? He remembered. Well I'll be." I suddenly feel a little of the pressure disappear.
"Grab that Johnny." When did Chet get down here? "Marco have you got the port-a power?"
I can hear a bunch of movement. "Here Chet." Marco must have handed the unit to Chet.
"Roy, how is he?" Cap's up top. He's getting ready to haul me out, probably has a group of guys from another station ready to pull us all up.
"He's okay Cap, just pinned real good." Roy's hand is resting on my chest…counting my breaths.
"How much longer Kelly?"
"Almost there Cap…almost." Chet grunted that last part. "Okay, Gage, can you pull him out?"
I feel hands gripping me and then there's no more pressure on my chest, but now everything hurts. My head is spinning and I'm gonna decorate Gage's shoes if he doesn't move.
"Okay Mike, we'll get you in the stokes and back up top where you engineering types are supposed to be anyway. Does that sound like a good deal?"
"Yeah Johnny, that's a good deal." I just want to get back up there with my baby. All those years in the department without any kind of injury and look at me now.
04/01/11
