THE Accusation

 

By:  Kenda

 

            *This is part one of a three part series. Part 2, The Accused and part 3, The Accuser, can be found in Kenda’s Emergency! Library.

 

*************

 

 

     Vanessa and Tommy clasped hands while making their way into the abandoned mine shaft.  They bent low as they ducked beneath sagging timbers, the smell of damp earth growing stronger the deeper they went.  Tommy’s flashlight beam illuminated the long unused tunnel, though the seventeen year old boy and his fifteen year old girlfriend had visited this place so often in recent months that a light wasn’t necessary.

 

     Tommy’s breath came in short, excited pants as he trotted pulling Vanessa behind him.  He laughed to himself when he thought of what his high school football coach would say.

 

     “Duncan, you’re huffing air like an old woman on the verge of a heart attack! You can’t be the quarterback on my team and suck wind like that!  Twenty laps around the field for you, hot shot, and give ‘em to me double time!    

 

     Tommy giggled.

 

     “What’s so funny?”  Vanessa asked.

 

     The boy turned. “Huh?”

 

     “Funny.  I asked you what’s so funny?”

 

     Tommy stopped and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend’s tiny waist.  He brushed her long, chestnut colored hair off her shoulders.  He pressed his body to Vanessa’s as their lips met.

 

     “Nothing,” Tommy whispered around their kiss.  “Nothing’s funny.  Just thinking about football, that’s all.”

 

     Vanessa resisted the urge to roll her eyes.  Sometimes she wondered if Tommy thought of anything else but football.  Well. . .football and sex.  She supposed she shouldn’t turn her nose up at him.  After all, he was the starting quarterback for their high school team and she was co-captain of the cheerleading squad.  They’d been dating for seven months now.  At first they did the kinds of things Vanessa thought all teenagers did on dates.  Went to the movies, went to the beach, went miniature golfing, but then one day Tommy suggested they take a hike in the hills behind his parents’ home.  Vanessa thought that sounded like fun until they came to this abandoned mine.  She’d tried to tell Tommy entering it was dangerous.  The sign posted in front with a picture of a skull and crossbones reiterated that.  But Tommy just wrinkled his nose at Vanessa in the manner that had always gotten him his way with the fairer sex.  His blue eyes sparkled with excitement as he tugged on the old boards that were nailed across the mine’s main opening.

 

     “Come on, Nessa, it’ll be fun,” Tommy had said that August afternoon.

 

     “What’ll be fun?”

     “Exploring this old mine.”

 

     “Maybe.  But it could also be dangerous.”

 

     “Nah.  I know guys who explore these old passages all the time.  No one ever gets hurt.”  Tommy’s biceps bulged as he tugged first one board free, and then another.  “Besides, it’ll be nice and cool in here.”

 

     Vanessa did have to admit getting out of the summer sun sounded appealing.  Nonetheless, she still had reservations about the wisdom of this act.

 

     “What about snakes?”

 

     The girl thought Tommy would laugh at her, but he didn’t.  Instead he pulled her into his arms and held her close.  She got that funny feeling that always came over her when their bodies were together in a way her mother would strongly disapprove of and her father would have a holy fit over.

 

     “Sweetie, there’s no snakes in there,” Tommy had promised as he ran his fingers up and down Vanessa’s spine.  Despite the heat the girl shivered.  And shivered again when she felt Tommy’s fingers caressing her right thigh just beneath the hem of her shorts.  “No snakes, no spiders, and no boogy man.  Plus, no parents and no kid brothers.  Just you and me, babe.  Just you and me.”

 

     Vanessa couldn’t help but lose herself in Tommy’s kisses.  Neither of their mothers worked outside the home, and they both had little brothers meaning finding the privacy two teenagers in love crave wasn’t easy. Especially when that love would be forbidden if Vanessa’s parents were aware it existed.

 

     Vanessa didn’t really remember agreeing to enter the mine with Tommy that day.  It just seemed like the natural thing to do when he broke off their kiss and took her hand.  More kisses and caresses were exchanged once they were far beneath the mine’s surface.  Vanessa remembered struggling a little when Tommy started removing her clothes, and she remembered telling him no twice, but it was strange.  Her brain was sending one message and her body another as he entered her.  Vanessa had never imagined she’d lose her virginity while lying on the dirt floor of a mineshaft, but she loved Tommy and would do anything for him.  He said he needed her more than he’d ever needed anyone in his life.  When Tommy took her a second time that afternoon he told Vanessa he loved her. 

 

     Now Vanessa and Tommy often visited their ‘tunnel of love’ as Tommy called it.  Vanessa never had been able to figure out if he was actually serious when he used that corny phrase, or if he was just joking around.  She supposed it didn’t make much difference either way because he was right, whenever they came here they did make love.  And lately Tommy had wanted to come here on a more frequent basis until movies and miniature golfing had become a thing of the past in favor of sex.

 

     Tommy shut off the flashlight when they got to the spot in the tunnel where they kept a blanket.  He pushed Vanessa against the rough walls and started stripping her clothes from her body.  He didn’t seem to care that he ripped four buttons off her blouse in his haste to get it open, nor tore a bra strap from its clasp.  Vanessa felt his mouth clamp on her right breast.  She tried to push his head away with her hands, but he wouldn’t let go.

 

     “Tommy, please.  We need to talk.”

 

     Around the full breast the heated boy mouthed,  “I am talkin,’ babe.  I’m tellin’ you how much I love you.”

 

     “Tommy. . .Tommy, please.”

 

     “Don’t worry, I’ll please you, Nessa.  I promise I’ll please you.”

 

     If Tommy noticed the tears that were rolling down Vanessa’s face as he took her while they were both still standing he never commented on them.  Nor did he comment when the tears flowed anew as he pushed her to her knees in front of him and encouraged her to take him in her mouth.  Vanessa hated it when he made her do this.  She’d told him that once, but he’d just laughed and said all girls did it for their boyfriends and if she refused to do it for him he’d just find a chick who would. 

 

     Their lovemaking went a frantic third round before Tommy was finally spent.  He collapsed on their blanket, pulling Vanessa down with him.  He wrapped an arm around her flat stomach, his fingers playing with her breasts.

 

     Just as the sated young man was drifting off to sleep he heard, “Tommy?”

 

     “Mmmm?”

 

     “Tommy. . .I. . .we need to talk.”

 

     “Later, babe.  After I’ve had a little nap.”

 

     “No, not later.  Now.”

 

     Tommy gave an internal groan.  If it wasn’t for the pleasures of sex he’d swear off girls.  They were sure more trouble than they were worth sometimes.

 

     “Okay, talk.”

 

     “Tommy. . .I. . .I. . .”

 

     “Come on, Nessa, spit it out.  What’d you do, go and join the army or something?”

     Tommy laughed at his own joke, not paying attention to the fact that Vanessa didn’t laugh with him.

 

     “I. . .”  the girl felt her heart pounding in her chest and wondered if Tommy could feel it, too.  “I. . .I missed my period last month. And I. . .I haven’t been feeling too good.  I. . .I think I might be pregnant.”

 

     That word brought Tommy off the blanket.  He shot to a sitting position.

    

     “Pregnant!  Did you say pregnant?”

 

     Vanessa slowly nodded as she, too, sat up.

 

     “But. . .but. . .how?”

 

     Vanessa thought that was about the dumbest question she’d ever heard.

 

     “How do you think?”

 

     “But. . .I. . .I. . .”     Tommy stammered at the unbelievable announcement. 

 

     They’d never even discussed birth control so he couldn’t accuse Vanessa of failing to take precautions.  How stupid could he have been?  He should have made sure she was using something.  She was so naive when it came to sex.  Her parents were so strict and uptight that God knows they’d probably never discussed it with her. 

 

     Tommy struggled to find something to say as he watched his football scholarship to UCLA go down the drain in favor of a minimum wage job in order to support a wife and child.  He turned the anger he was feeling at himself outward and unleashed it on his girlfriend.  Vanessa’s head flew to the right when he slapped her left cheek, then just as quickly flew in the opposite direction when he backhanded her right cheek.

 

     “You bitch!  You stupid bitch!  How could you be so damn dumb?”

 

     Vanessa’s hands went to her aching face.  She cowered, staring at her boyfriend with open shock.

 

     “Dumb?”

 

     “Yeah!  Dumb enough to get yourself pregnant.”

 

     “But. . .”

 

     Tommy slammed a fist into Vanessa’s left eye.  “Don’t mouth off to me, bitch!”

     Vanessa flew backwards with this last blow that sprawled her naked body across the dirty blanket.  Stars swam in front of the teenager’s eyes as she tasted blood from a cut on her lip.  Rustling sounds indicated to the girl that Tommy was pulling on his jeans.  She couldn’t open her left eye, but through the right one could see him yank on his tennis shoes then swipe his T-shirt from the dirt floor.  Without a backwards glance he took off at a run.

 

     “Tommy!”  Vanessa sobbed as she struggled to a sitting position.  “Tommy!  Tommy, please!  Come back!  Tommy!”

 

     Tommy paid no attention to the girl calling for him.  He raced from the mine like a startled rabbit. His wide shoulders knocked against the unstable timbers as he fled.  He was almost to the mine’s entrance when he heard a distant rumbling that sounded like thunder.  He knew what it meant, but he didn’t care.  The star quarterback never slowed down as he fled the tunnel that had just caved in behind him.  Dirt and dust billowed out the entrance as Tommy tore down the hill toward home.

 

 

_____________________________________

 

 

     The Station 51 A-shift had just finished lunch that Tuesday afternoon in late February.  Roy washed the dishes while Johnny dried them and returned them to their proper cabinets.  The other guys were busy doing their own chores.  Mike was taking the garbage out, Chet sweeping the floor, and Marco feeding Henry.  Captain Stanley had cooked that day so his after-lunch assignment consisted of retreating to his office where a stack of paperwork awaited him. 

 

     “By the way,” Roy said as he handed Johnny another clean plate to dry, “you can expect an invitation for Jennifer’s birthday party to be arriving in your mailbox any day now.”

 

     “But Jen’s birthday isn’t for another two months.”

 

     “I know.  She’s a bit anxious for eight to arrive.  She’s hosting a tea party.”

 

     “A tea party?  I’m invited to a tea party?”

 

     “That you are, partner.  And you’ll be happy to know you’re the only boy on her list.”

 

     “I might be happy to know that if the rest of the attendees were past the age of eight.  Considerably past the age of eight.  Like closer to twenty-five.”

 

     Roy laughed while Chet gave a snort.

 

     “Face it, Gage, eight year olds are right up your alley.  They’re too young to realize what a loser you are.”

 

     “Hey, at least I’m getting an invitation, Kelly.  I didn’t hear Roy mention your name in regards to the birthday bash.”

 

     “Bash?  Gage, the phrase was tea party.  Tea party with a room full of giggling eight year old girls.  That means sitting at a tiny table with your knees stuffed up your nostrils while eating little things called crumpets that taste like wallpaper paste.”

 

     “Not with Joanne hosting it,” Roy said as he drained the water from the sink.

 

     “Huh?”  Chet questioned

 

     “This tea party is going to include Joanne’s homemade pizza topped off by her double layer chocolate fudge cake with cream cheese frosting.  And if Uncle Johnny’s really good I just might let him sit at the grownup table.  And I might replace his tea with beer.”

 

     “Now you’re talkin’, Pally.  This is beginning to sound like my kinda party.”

 

     “Of course, you do have to wear a suit and tie.”

 

     “A what?”

 

     “A suit and tie.  Jennifer’s going to put that on the invitation.  After all, this is a formal affair.”

 

     Marco and Chet snickered as Johnny’s grin from the earlier mention of pizza, cake, and beer, slowly faded. 

 

     “Yeah, Johnny,” Marco teased, “what would you expect to have to wear to a tea party except a suit?”

 

     “And tie,” Chet added.  “Don’t forget the tie.”

 

     Johnny put the last of the drinking glasses away then turned to look at his partner.

 

     “What about you?  Are you wearing a suit and tie?”

     “Me?  No, I’m not invited.”

 

     “But you just said you’re going to be there.”

 

     “I am.  But I’m not invited to the actual tea party portion of the party.  Neither is Chris.  Just you.  Like I said, you’re the only boy Jennifer will allow there.”

 

     “I don’t know whether to be flattered or humiliated.  She’s not going to make me play dolls, is she?”

     “I don’t think so.  But I did hear something about dress up, and big hats, and long necklaces, and lace gloves, and high heel shoes and. . .let me think a minute. Makeup.  That was it.  Makeup.”

 

     Roy’s latest spiel set off a new round of laughter in Marco and Chet.  Johnny was actually thankful when the tones sounded.  At least that prevented the teasing he knew was going to follow if Marco and Chet got the opportunity.

 

     “Station 51, abandon mine cave-in off Sanora Road in the vicinity of Mason Canyon.   Possible victim trapped inside.  Time out; 13:11.”

 

     Hank Stanley responded to the dispatcher as Mike Stoker shot past him. Marco and Chet took their places on the engine while Johnny and Roy climbed in the squad.  Hank handed Roy a slip of paper with the address on it as he, too, ran for the engine.  Roy passed the paper to Johnny.  The dark headed paramedic hit the switches that activated the squad’s lights and siren.  Roy pulled the vehicle into the street and turned left, the big engine right behind him.

 

_____________________________________

 

     As Roy drove he wondered how long it might take them to find the exact spot where they needed to be.   There were several long defunct mines in this area.  It had only been in the past five years that homes had begun to go up in what once had been thirty square miles of desolate overgrowth.

 

     Johnny saw her first.  He pointed to Roy’s right where a woman in her mid-fifties stood at the side of the road waving her hands in the air.  Roy slowed the squad as he approached her.  He glanced in the rearview mirror to make certain Mike was slowing down as well.  When Roy was satisfied that the engineer had seen his brake lights he brought the squad to a stop.  Johnny switched the siren off and rolled down his window as the woman pointed behind her.

 

     “My husband’s over that ridge!  We were out walking our dog.  He thought it looked like the old Clariton Mine had caved in, and then we both thought we heard someone calling for help.  A girl.  It sounded like a teenage girl.  We yelled and yelled, but she never answered.  My husband told me to take the dog home and phone the fire department.  He stayed by the mine entrance to see if he heard the girl again.”

 

     Johnny thanked the woman as Roy pressed on the accelerator.  The squad was able to bump its way up the dry hills to the mine’s entrance.  Mike followed as far as he dared before stopping the engine.  The crew disembarked and jogged the remaining fifty yards to where Roy and Johnny stood talking to a gray headed man.  Roy turned as Hank Stanley approached.

 

     “Cap, this is Mr. Seavers. He and his wife were walking their dog when they spotted the cave-in.  They thought they heard what sounded like a teenage girl calling for help.  Mr. Seavers sent his wife home to call us and stayed behind in case the girl cried out again.”

 

     “But she hasn’t?”  Hank asked the older gentleman.

 

     George Seavers shook his head.  “No.  Not a word.  But I swore I heard her.  My wife heard her, too.”

 

     Captain Stanley didn’t doubt that the man heard something, but whether it was a girl or just the groaning of rotted-out timbers there was no way to determine without further investigation.

 

     Hank looked at his paramedics. 

 

     “Guys?”

     “There’s no choice,” Johnny said.  “We gotta go in.”

 

     Roy nodded his agreement.

 

     “Kids are always playing around these abandoned mines, Cap.  We can’t take a chance that one of them is in there.”

 

     Hank was well aware they couldn’t take that chance, yet there was nothing he hated worse than sending his men into a dangerous situation when there was no concrete proof that anyone was in need of rescuing.  

 

     Johnny seemed able to read his captain’s thoughts.  As he hooked a lifeline to the utility belt he wore at his waist he shot the man a grin.

 

     “We’ll be careful, Cap.  Besides, I’m sick of eating smoke.  A little dirt and dust will be a nice change of pace.”

 

     Roy chuckled as Hank rolled his eyes at Johnny’s comment. 

 

     “You know Johnny, Cap,” Roy said as he slipped his handie talkie into the pocket of his turnout coat. “He always finds the silver lining in every cloud.”

 

     “That he does, Roy,” Hank agreed as he watched Johnny make his way to the mine’s entrance as though climbing into dark, unstable structures was second nature to him.  “You two just watch yourselves in there.  I don’t want to discover there was no victim to begin with, only to end up rescuing my two paramedics in the end.”

 

     “Believe me, Cap, I don’t want that either.”

     Roy finished securing his own lifeline, then followed Johnny. 

 

     The paramedics hadn’t taken more than four steps into the mine before Johnny was slipping his flashlight from its loop on his utility belt.  Dust showered down upon the men like a fine mist on a foggy day making it difficult to see more than a few feet in any one direction. 

 

     Johnny arced the flashlight beam over the walls and across the ceiling.  Piles of rocks, dirt, and splintered wood grew five feet high in some spots.  Like Vanessa and Tommy had done earlier, the paramedics were forced to traverse the mine in a crouched position while being careful not to disturb any of the wooden beams that were still holding the earth in place above them.  Roy felt like he was traveling through a house of cards.  The simple act of resting a hand on what appeared at first glance to be a solid timber might bring everything tumbling down on top of you.

 

     Johnny coughed as he breathed in what felt like one percent dust minus any oxygen.  When his eyes began to water he knew they’d be forced to turn around and get their air tanks if they had to be in the mine for any great length of time.  Because Johnny was in the lead he’d occasionally give a shout as they traveled.

 

     “Hey!  Hey, is anyone in here!  It’s the fire department!  Is anyone in here?”

 

     The paramedics had been in the mine fifteen minutes by Roy’s watch when they came to a mound of dirt and timbers that rose higher than their heads.  Halfway between the ceiling and the floor was a perfectly round hole as though God had designed it just big enough for a slender man to slither through.  A very slender man. 

 

     Johnny crouched down in front of the hole, shifting his weight with a grimace when his right knee came to rest on the point of a rock.

 

     “Is anyone in here!  Fire department!  Anybody back there!”

 

     Johnny waited thirty seconds then tried again. He repeated this action two more times. He was just about to turn to Roy and advise they report back to Captain Stanley when he heard a faint and distant,  “Help!  Help please!  Please get me out!”

 

     Roy cocked a surprised eyebrow at his partner.  Prior to hearing the girl’s voice he was about to conclude the mine was empty.

 

     So much for that cold Coke I was just thinking of.

 

     Johnny was careful not to disturb anything when he pressed himself as close to the small opening as he dared.

 

     “Okay!  We hear you!  Just stay calm!  Are you hurt anywhere?”

 

     “I. . .I don’t know!  I just. . .I don’t know!”

 

     “All right, what I need you to do is just stay put and stay calm.  We’ll be there in a few minutes!  Okay?”

 

     “O. . .okay!”

 

     Roy took the handie talkie out of his pocket.  When he tried to raise his captain all he got was static.

 

     “Must be some kind of mineral in here that’s interfering with the transmission.”

 

     Johnny nodded.  “Why don’t you head back for the entrance to tell Cap what’s going on and to get our stuff.”  He shined the flashlight beam through the opening in the debris and used one eye to peer as far as he could.  “I think I can get through there.  It looks pretty clear on the other side.”

 

     “Maybe so.  But you’ve got no guarantee you’ll get to the girl.  You might encounter nothing but another blocked passage.”

 

     “True, and if I do I’ll just come back out.  But if I get to her then I can assess her injuries, get what I need from you, and start treatment.”

 

     Roy couldn’t fault Johnny for his logic.  Though Roy’s weight was appropriate for his height, he’d never be able to fit through the opening with the ease his skinny partner could.  And at this point ‘ease’ was the optimum word.  They couldn’t risk disturbing any of the debris for fear of causing another cave-in.

 

     Roy nodded his agreement.  He watched as Johnny unhooked the utility belt that held his lifeline.  The senior paramedic didn’t like the fact that Johnny had to do this, but he knew his partner could never squeeze through the hole with the bulky belt around his waist.  The next things that came off were Johnny’s turnout coat and his helmet.  Johnny handed everything to Roy including the flashlight then began inching his way through the opening with his arms held straight out over his head.

 

     The blond man watched until the bottoms of Johnny’s shoes disappeared from sight.  He didn’t turn for the mine’s entrance until he heard Johnny call, “Okay, Roy!  I’m through!”

 

     “And on your feet?”

 

     “And on my feet.”

 

     “How’s it look?”

 

     “Pretty good so far.  I’m gonna reach my hand back in the hole so you can give me the flashlight.”

     “All right.”

 

     Roy estimated the hole Johnny had just slithered through to be twelve feet in length.  He carefully extended his arm as far as he could while imagining Johnny doing the same from the other side.  Their hands never touched when Johnny’s fingers were just barely able to make contact with the long end of the light.

 

     “Got it!  Thanks!”

 

     “I’m going out to talk to Cap now!”

 

     “Okay!”

 

     Because Johnny had the flashlight the return trip to the mine’s entrance took Roy longer than he’d anticipated.  By the time he could see shafts of sunlight he estimated he’d been climbing, duck walking, and crawling for twenty minutes.  He wiped the sweat from his brow when he was finally able to stand upright.  As he stepped out of the mine Roy hoped his partner’s journey to the girl was easy and uneventful.

    

_____________________________________

 

     Vanessa had no idea what was happening when the walls of the old mine first started to rumble and Tommy took off running.  She’d covered her head and prayed while dirt and small rocks pelted her body.  When the debris stopped falling and the dust settled enough so that she could see, the girl realized she’d been caught in a cave-in.   Her way out through the tunnel she and Tommy had traveled was blocked except for a small clearing at the top of a twelve foot high pile of wreckage. Though she didn’t know where the path behind her went, it was now completely obstructed - a solid wall of dirt and timbers that made her tomb a mere fifteen feet long by ten feet wide.

 

     Vanessa screamed for Tommy until she was hoarse.  When he didn’t answer she had no way of knowing if he’d made it safely out of the mine or not.  A part of her wondered if he was injured, while at the same time a part of her wondered if she cared.

 

     He knew what was happening and he left me.  He ran.  He ran away without giving me or his baby a second thought.

 

     The girl alternated between crying and calling for help until the dust she was taking in with each breath forced her to stop.  She wasn’t sure how much time had passed while she sat naked in her dark, silent tomb, but finally realized it would be wise to get dressed.  By feel alone she put on her underwear, shorts, bra, blouse and sandals.

 

     Vanessa had a lot of time to think as she waited.  First she worried over the chances of being found and rescued, but when those thoughts threatened to make her cry again she forced herself to push them to the back of her mind.  She didn’t much want to think about the other thing that had preoccupied her every waking hour for the past three weeks, but that was impossible to avoid.  It had even interfered with her sleep.  She tossed and turned on most nights.  If she were able she’d get up and pace her bedroom floor, though she had yet to succumb to that urge for fear of alerting her parents to her troubles.

 

     Oh, what will they do when they find out?  Mom will probably cry and tell me how disappointed she is.  Dad will yell.  And yell and yell and yell, and then probably make me stand up in front of the whole church and confess my sin.  And then. . . then he’ll probably send me away somewhere.  To some home for unwed mothers, and later. . .after the baby comes, they’ll take it away from me and he’ll send me to an all-girls Christian boarding school.  I know that’s what he’ll do because that’s what I heard him tell Mom he’d do to Jeannie if she was his daughter.

 

     Jeannie was Vanessa’s nineteen year old cousin.  A year earlier Jeannie had gotten pregnant and had a baby boy.  Jeannie and her baby lived with Vanessa’s aunt and uncle who were helping her raise the child while she attended college classes near their home.

 

     Dad would never be as understanding as Uncle Ralph was with Jeannie.  He’d never help me raise my baby the way Uncle Ralph and Aunt Charlene are helping Jeannie raise Brent.  Daddy would have kicked me out of the house.  I know, because I heard him tell Mom that’s what Uncle Ralph should have done to Jeannie.

    

     As much as she didn’t want to start crying again Vanessa couldn’t help but break into sobs at the thought of the news she’d eventually have to tell her parents.  It made her sick to her stomach just to imagine facing them.  And Tommy. . .it was obvious Tom Duncan had no intention of facing them with her.

 

     He’ll just deny it’s his.  That’s what all boys do if they don’t want to marry the girl they got pregnant.  That’s what Brent’s father did to Jeannie.  And Tommy. . .well if he’ll leave me alone in this mine then he sure isn’t going to stand by me until our baby is born,. . .or marry me for that matter.

 

     Vanessa didn’t think it was possible to be so scared.  She almost didn’t care if help ever arrived and she died in this mine.  That might be an easier alternative than what was ahead in the months to come.

 

     The girl’s survival instinct overrode those thoughts; however, when she first heard the man’s voice yell, “Is anyone in here!  Fire department!  Anybody back there!”

 

     After she answered the man Vanessa heard him tell her to stay where she was and to stay calm.  Then he promised her someone would be with her in a few minutes.  The teenager had the presence of mind to roll the blanket up she was sitting on and shove it behind two fallen timbers.  The last thing she wanted was to alert anyone to the fact that this mine was a hideaway for her and Tommy.  If  the firemen suspected she’d been here before they’d no doubt tell her parents.  As it was she was scrambling hard and fast to come up with a plausible story to tell every adult who was bound to ask her what she was doing in the Clariton Mine to begin with.

 

     Vanessa thought more than a few minutes passed before the owner of the voice she’d heard earlier finally appeared.  She wasn’t wearing a watch, but she guessed close to twenty minutes went by before she saw someone crest the top of the mound of dirt and rocks like a mountain goat, then slide down the other side on his butt.

 

     Despite his dust covered uniform and dirt smudged face the first thing the man did was smile at her.  Vanessa felt her heart skip a beat as he knelt by her side.

 

     He’s really cute.  Dad would call him a hippie ‘cause of his long hair, but he’s not a hippie, he’s a fireman.  Which means Daddy’s wrong when he says ‘long hairs’ are no good bums. 

 

     “Hi.  I’m Johnny Gage.  I’m a paramedic with the LA County Fire Department.”

 

     “A paramedic?  For real?”

 

     “Yep,” Johnny said.  “For real.”

 

     “I’ve read about you guys in the paper.  Paramedics I mean.  I think what you do is neat.  And exciting.   Very exciting.”

 

     “Sometimes it’s a little bit of both,” Johnny agreed.  “But then sometimes it’s just good old-fashioned dirty work that no one else wants to do.”

 

     Vanessa smiled at the twinkle in Johnny’s brown eyes.  Considering her current dilemma she knew she was being teased. 

 

     “Sorry.”

 

     “No need to apologize.  It’s my job.  Now can you tell me where you’re hurt, Miss. . .”

 

     “Vanessa.  My name’s Vanessa Schaffer.”