Worried under the rain

– Oh my! It’s raining again! Bob complained.

He hated being out under the rain, and he had had enough that day: Jogging at 5 AM under an authentic shower, going to his work at the firefighter’s station at 6 AM, and four calls during his shift to solve emergencies all under the rain.

The worst call and the one who took him most of the time was to rescue a family caught in a fire in a garage. A car exploded. One of the kids was seriously injured. He was the one who pulled him off the site to pass him to the paramedics. The child was barely four years old. He had that small bloody face graved in his mind. And remembering him, he felt drained and sad.

The question always arises. Could I have made something more to pull him out before the explosion?

But Rascal, his golden retriever, didn’t know about fires and rescues, and he was already at the door excited, waiting for him to get out.

-You can’t wait, can you?

He was about to call her niece Wen to walk his dog. The girl adored Rascal. Besides, he had a good excuse: his day had been exhausting. But he was terrified of Wen’s mom and didn’t dare to make the call. His big sister had told him adamant: No bothering Wen on school days. And he knew better than contradict his sister.

-OK, he sighed: let’s go out to the park and get wet again! What a nightmare of a day!

Bob put on a raincoat with a hood, leashed Rascal, and began to walk absentminded, looking down, pondering what had happened at the garage.

Suddenly, Rascal pushed hard, and he lost the leash. Then, he heard a restrained scream of a woman. Scared, he called his dog:

-Rascal! Come here!

He looked around and realized how beautiful the park was in his autumn coat of colors, brighter because of the rain. Rascal was playing with a smaller dog. The other dog’s owner, a woman in a dark dress with a pink umbrella, was trying to separate the animals.

-Please, forgive me. I was distracted. Rascal is a good boy, said Bob to the woman while grabbing the leash and restraining his dog.

-Oh! Don’t worry. Toto is also very naughty. It just surprised me because I was deep in my thoughts, paying no attention to what was happening around me.

-A bad day? he asked.

-Why do you ask?

-It’s what happened to me. I was distracted thinking about my day at work when Rascal escaped.

-Welcome to the club

-Can we talk while we walk our dogs?

Bob introduced himself and looked at the woman’s eyes. Dark green eyes, in a young, beautiful, troubled face.

-I’m a nurse, she said. They call me Cindy. I have been trying to save the life of a young man who had been in a car crash at the hospital’s ER for what seemed like hours, and we lost him. Then came some people from a fire, and among them a small kid critically injured. I thought that he was my second opportunity to save someone. But my boss told me that my shift was over and she needed fresh people. So she sent me home, and I couldn’t help. What’s your story?
–

-I’m the firefighter who rescued the kid, maybe too late.

-Don’t say that. The boy arrived alive, and the doctor in charge said he had good chances to survive.

-Look! the rain has stopped! said Bob.

-I went out to walk my dog, determined to get straight back home, but now I would like to stay here for a while talking with you, he added.

-The same with me, she said when he removed his hood and revealed his kind face.

FFFC: 131