10-10

The other morning I received a phone call. It was from Michelle C. Wife to the best man at my weddin. She started our conversation with "KB, I got bad news..."

Uh oh.

"Steve W. is on life support at Baylor. He had a massive aneurysm, no signs of brain activity."

Steve was my first Deputy Fire Chief. More than that he was my friend. When I was an 18 y.o. kid he took me under his wing and taught me how to fight fire, stand tall at parades, lend a soft shoulder to traumatized victims and fix a diesel engine 19 years older then I am.

As the years passed I can not ever remember Steve not bein there for me. When I was so poor I could only afford a broken lawn mower he took many, many a night to work on it with me to the wee hours of the morning. When my dog was hit by a truck Steve applied a splint to his tail and drove us to the vet. When my now EX wife broke down one night drivin home from work Steve answered the call and towed her home.

Steve was always there. Foul weather, fire storms, gunfire, births, laughter. Always.

He was a great joker. He glued the quarter to the floor in front of the coke machine. He snuck around with me to deliver spiders to the police. He could dish it out and take it. He helped me wrestle a pissed off Rottweiler out of a travel trailer early one December morning so I could git inside and deliver a bike to a child. Damn that dog was mean!

We once replaced his twist on flashlight with a sex toy that had a little LED light in the tip. We rolled out on a motor vehicle accident and I started hollerin I needed a light to start my IV. He fired up the vibrator, hollered, dropped it and stared as it skittered around Highway 114. He was a good sport as I bellowed: Chief I need that light! Why ya shakin, hold that thing still! Seriously Chief, calm down that light is VIBRATIN all over the place...

He got his revenge when after all the patients cleared enroute to the hospital he coated it with KY jelly and stuck it in Tommy's mouth, ear, then down his shirt.

Steve held on for a bit, but after no signs his family did what he wished. I am happy to say Chief was an Organ donor and his legacy lives on. I was most proud that He was a Grandpa before he died.

Chief. I miss you brother. Thank you. This world is now a little dimmer for havin you pass at such a young 50 years. Tell Pete to open those gates you are 10-10, all units back at station.