Firestormers by Carl Bowen

Author:Carl Bowen [Bowen, Carl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Capstone;Shadow Squadron;Carl Bowen;Fire;Firefighting;Wildfire;Firestormers;boys;middle grade;chapter books;978-1-62370-756-9
Publisher: Capstone
Published: 2016-05-16T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

A couple of weeks before fire season officially started, Chief MacElreath had called Rodgers into her office at the Firestormers’ headquarters. Rodgers’s first suspicion, irrational though it may have been, was that Lieutenant Garrett had already written him up for something stupid, and he was being called on the carpet for it. He took a seat across the oak desk from the chief and mentally prepared himself to deal with a hassle.

“Good lord, C-3PO, why don’t you try to relax?” Chief MacElreath said, grinning. “I’ve never seen anybody try to be at attention sitting down before. Take it easy. This isn’t the principal’s office.”

Rodgers grinned despite himself and relaxed in his chair. Though he wasn’t a fan of the chief’s sense of humor, it had a certain charm. Her south Georgia accent lent it a disarming folksiness.

“So what can I do for you, Chief?”

“PT tests were yesterday for the potential recruits,” Chief MacElreath said. “I’m having everybody who passed sit down with Garrett for some one-on-one interviews. After that, you and the other crew bosses can go over their files and cherry-pick which ones you want. Final say is up to Garrett, but I trust you four to work out any disagreements before you take your picks to him.”

“I doubt that’ll be a problem,” Rodgers said. “We know what we like in our crews.”

“Good, good. Now, before any of that stuff happens, there was a matter I wanted to bring up with you personally first. You know your brother Ethan put in his application this round, yes?”

Rodgers nodded. His mom had mentioned it the last time he’d talked to her. Ethan hadn’t had much to say to him since Thanksgiving.

“I had a good long chat with him during our interview,” said the chief. “Seems like a good kid.”

“He didn’t bring up my name, did he?”

MacElreath shook her head. “I practically had to drag it out of him that you’re his brother. You aren’t even listed on his application. He’s pretty concerned about the appearance of favoritism. He told me he didn’t want any special consideration.”

“That’s good,” Rodgers said, secretly relieved.

“Frankly, though, he kind of needs it,” Chief MacElreath went on. “Your brother’s a good firefighter and all, don’t get me wrong. There’s not so much as a write-up for showing up late to work in his file. But for all there’s nothing negative, there’s nothing outstanding in there either. He just gets the job done, and that’s pretty much it. The captains he’s worked for were polite about it when I called them, but they all agree.”

Rodgers frowned, unsure what the chief wanted from him. “How’d he do on the tests?”

Chief MacElreath glanced at her computer monitor. “Not bad. Solid B on the written. Passed the practical, but you’ve pretty much got to cut your own foot off to fail that part. He was borderline on the PT test. Did okay on the pack run, but his time was on the bad side of the curve.

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