JOHNNY GETS AN
OWIE!
JOHNNY GETS AN
OWIE!
John Gage was late…again! Hurrying out of his apartment, he slammed the door behind him….
"DAMN!" he swore, as he caught his left hand in the closing door. Cradling the injured hand, he ran down the hallway towards the stairs. Jumping them two at a time, he was nearly at the bottom when he lost his balance and skidded down the remaining stairs.
"OUCH!!"
Johnny rubbed his lower back as he got up gingerly. No time to check himself out. Scooting out the lobby door, he decided to save time by taking a short cut across the front lawn to his jeep. He didn't realize the grass would be slick with morning dew and as he ran across it, his feet suddenly went out from under him. He fell with a resounding THUD!!
"Owww!"
The wind knocked out of him, Johnny lay there for a moment, gasping for breath. But, aware that precious minutes were ticking by, he forced himself to his feet and stumbled over to his jeep.
Sliding into the driver's seat, he was extra cautious closing his door. This was definitely not turning out to be his morning. Popping the clutch, he stepped on the accelerator. The jeep jumped forward with such a violent motion, that the spare set of keys he had tucked up into the visor came tumbling down…right on his face. They hit the bridge of his nose with such force that it started to bleed.
"GEEZE!!!!" Grimacing, Johnny kept driving as he wiped at his nose. He barely missed a car turning into the apartment parking lot.
"OH, MAN!!!" Johnny groaned to himself as the other car driver honked angrily, shaking a fist at him.
The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful. John heaved a huge sigh of relief as he pulled into the station's parking lot. Made it! He looked around as he began to back into his spot, frowned. Roy's car wasn't there yet. He grinned suddenly. His partner was going to be later than he was…which should take some of the Cap's heat off of him.
His smile disappeared as he heard a sudden thump, then whooshing sound from the jeep's back end. Jumping out, he groaned as he saw the now quickly deflating rear tire. In frustration he kicked at the tire….
"DAMN!!!!!" He hopped on his right foot, as he held his now rapidly swelling left ankle. Great! With a last withering glance at the offending tire, which he was going to have to change after his shift tomorrow, he hobbled over to the station's main door.
The kitchen was empty. He had two minutes to spare and headed quickly towards the locker room. He reached his right hand into his coat pocket, searching for his badge…
"YEOW!!!!" He stumbled to a stop for a moment as he pulled his hand out of his pocket, and stared at the pinprick of blood on his thumb where the pin from the badge had stabbed it. Sighing heavily, he continued his headlong rush to the locker room.
"Hey, Johnny!" Dwyer looked up as the dark haired paramedic lurched into the room, looking like had been through the wringer. "Did ya forget something from last shift?"
"Huh?" Johnny stopped abruptly as he looked at Dwyer and Charlie. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Us?" Charlie leaned over and gave him a hardy slap on the shoulder, which nearly knocked Johnny off his feet. "We're here for our shift. What are you doing here?"
"YOUR shift?" Johnny coughed, as he rubbed at his shoulder. "Er…what day is it guys?"
"Monday." Dwyer stood up, shutting his locker. "So, what happened to you? You look like you went ten rounds with Ali."
"Monday…." Johnny shook his head. "I thought…today was Tuesday and I was late."
"What a Gage move!" Dwyer smirked.
"Well, look at it this way, Johnny," Charlie grinned. "Now you're early for your shift!"
Dwyer looked over at Charlie, winking. "Let's get to roll call….don't want to be late like Gage here." They both headed out of the room, laughing their heads off.
"Oh, man…" Johnny shook his head, muttering to himself. "I’ll never live this one down."
Letting out a long sigh, he dropped down onto the bench, which promptly tipped over, sending him sprawling onto the floor.
Hearing the noise, Charlie and Dwyer hurried back in.
"Johnny, you okay?"
Johnny groaned as he looked up at them. "Yeah, but I think I'd better just stay right here until my shift tomorrow." Grimacing, he touched his bloody nose, shook his bruised left hand, sucked at the blood on his right thumb, patted his sore shoulder, massaged his throbbing left ankle, rubbed at his aching back…."Monday! What a four letter word!"
(Author's note: This story is in answer to a challenge from Christine Bacro who e-mailed me at work (while she was just down the hall!) to say she was bored and wanted a Johnny hurt story - this is what I sent her :-} )
Editor's Note: This story was formerly posted at Mary's Emergency site and was a contest winner! Conratulations Gwen!