Just Another Day with Skyler Fox

Just Another Day with Skyler Fox

I cannot believe this is happening, no, I seriously cannot believe my luck. I mean of all people to get trapped in an elevator with! Skyler Fox, the man who was assigned to be my partner today.

We were supposed to be separated permanently as per request due to the last time we worked together we had gotten into some serious trouble, I mean the guy is a stupid son of a-

“Hey!” he barked.

“What?” I replied, feeling the annoyance of this situation suddenly grow.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like this.” He tried to mimic a sickening bugged-eyed expression, this guy is seriously a moron.

Scowling I demanded, “The hell I look like that!”

Skyler laughed, this time exaggerating his facial expression even further.

“Stop…just stop.”

An awkward pause later. We heard our radios chime simultaneously, making the elevator walls echo with our dispatcher’s voice in a continuing double voice that distorted her message. Grumbling, I turned to him, “I thought I told you to turn your radio off, now I can’t understand what she just said.”

“Me? I thought we agreed that you turn your radio off?”

“We agreed that it would be you!” I was raising my voice now, he was pushing my already low temper to its max today and we were just barely past our lunchtime.

The guy was a walking bad omen. And now, against my requests, and my pleas, the Captain, said “oh well, we are short-staffed tonight, maybe today will be different?”

What a load of crap.

I radioed the dispatcher to repeat her message, and she replied, “77-David, Fire 1 has been delayed due to a medical on Brexton St.”

“Ten-four, thank you for the update.”

I tried not to sound too depressed on the radio when dropped my head with a thud against the wall. This must be a punishment of sorts, maybe karma.

Skyler seemed unperturbed by the situation, a typical response for him since he never allowed any of our other horrible incidents to affect him. It was like he loved the chaos of it all or the fact that I seem to age ten years once we had everything under control.

“So, Fire 1 busy huh?” he asked, suddenly looking anxious as ever now.

I hadn’t noticed earlier but his brow was furrowed, and sweat was beginning to trickle down his face.

“Yea…”

He was no longer looking like the relaxed doofus that he was; instead, he began to bounce in place.

oh no, no, no, no, no!

“Do you have to pee? Please tell me you don’t have to pee.” I asked, myself growing anxious at the prospect. Skyler gave an offended look.

“I don’t have to pee.” His voice had pitched at the word pee. Which still ran alarm bells in my mind as his face looked even paler now.

“Are you sick?” I ventured.

He shook his head wildly.

“Then what is it?” I demanded.

He shook his head, sucking in his lower lip, as he closed his eyes, he made an inward groan, that made me straighten in alarm.

“Skyler…?”

He wasn’t looking at me now, instead, he was trying to sing or talk or something to himself as if I didn’t exist. Then I smelled it. Oh, dear mother of all that is holy!

By now it was gagging as I tried to cover my mouth in disgust.

“Skyler do you have to?”

His head nodded in a panicked expression.

I too began to panic, as I choked out a response.

“Dispatch, this is 77-David, how’s the status of Fire 1?”

Dispatch crackles a reply, but I couldn’t hear the response.

Cursing I gave Skyler a pleading look, “Did you happen to catch that?”

He shook his head, as he began to squat to the floor, trying to probably alleviate his discomfort, for a moment, I felt pretty bad for the guy, but then I remembered something.

“You didn’t eat, Monte’s Signature Flame Burrito did you?”

He looked at me with a look of terror as he had answered the very thing I wished I had never asked.

“I told you not to eat that! There’s like twenty habaneros and god knows what else.”

Was he crying?

“I’m sorry, but Monte was going to give me a free shirt if I ate the whole thing.”

“No free shirt is worth blowing up your ass-“

“Hello, fellas-oh damn what is that?” yelled an angelic voice from heaven.

We were interrupted by the doors suddenly opening, as the boys from Fire 1 pried it open with their Halligan bar. Sweet Jesus, there are angels on earth.

As the door was finally wide enough to get through, I was shoved to the side as Skyler nearly plowed past me to run out the door.

“Out of my way boys, this is an emergency!” he shouted.

The firefighters parted the way as Skyler struggled to fly past all who dared to get in his path, yelling at a few passersby in a shrilled voice in the process.

The fire chief’s expression puckered as he helped me exit the stinky death trap.

“You might need to call a plumber after all he’s done in there,” he said as he covered his face with his hand gagging.

I too was dying from whatever poison had lingered in the air. The other firefighters had placed their distance from the entrance as we all collected ourselves for a moment.

Shaking my head I said, “he had Monte’s Signature Burrito today.”

The chief shook his head in disgust, he then eyes me sympathetically, “I am so sorry Officer Holl.”

“I am too because now I need a new uniform,” I grumbled as I walked over to where the bathrooms were located.

Once I and the boys finished our catching up, I noticed that Skyler hadn’t come out yet. It had been over an hour, and I was starting to wonder what was the hold-up.

As I held my breath expecting the worst, I realized he was still in his stall, silent. His leg was noticeably shaking and I felt myself begin to worry.

“Hey, are you all right in there? Do I need to get a medic?” I half-joked.

I had gotten no reply, which I found a bit alarming.

“Hey, Skyler! Are you all right?”

“H-Holl…” said a weak voice.

Something wasn’t right here.

“Talk to me man.” I pushed.

“Can you call my wife, I-uh need some boxers and I left my phone in the car…” he said with evident embarrassment in his voice.

I suddenly felt myself going from annoyed to feeling sorry for the guy, he lost control of himself, and now he was humiliated. I winced at the thought of what the firemen will say back at the station once we get back, and I knew Skyler was a bit more on the sensitive side despite him being a complete idiot sometimes.

“Sure thing, what’s her number?”

After he was rescued by his wife, Edie, he finally emerged from the bathroom looking rather humiliated and downright sad.

Looking up at me with solum eyes, he said, “thanks Holl for helping me back there, you really are the best partner to work with.”

I didn’t know how to reply to that as I patted him on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Maybe he wasn’t all that terrible after all. Maybe I misunderstood him, and he was just a bit different from me.

“So, did you get that free T-shirt?” I hedged.

He looked up and smiled his dopey grin, pulling his shirt open so I could see ‘Monte’s Burrito Bar’ on his chest.

“Well, at least you got a souvenir for today’s adventure huh?” I said, trying to hold back a smile as Skyler gave one of his hearty laughs.

“Yep, just another day with Officer Holl, the man who is bad luck.” He declared, not bothering to look back at my scowl as he strolled ahead with a pep in his step.

Bad luck my ass- he was the…!

Sighing I decided to let it go, it was no use growing angry at him for the small things anymore, he was what he was, and I? Well, we were just two different guys but at least we were good police officers.