Under the Blue Moon

Chapter 30

Charlie Venable is a veteran of the London Fire Brigade of eight years. During his tenure there, he has been a part of London's Urban Search And Rescue team (USAR) for the past five years and the leader of the current USAR team and a senior member of the International Search and Rescue (ISAR) team. Charlie is the most knowledgeable and intuitive leader on the field. He has received the Distinguished service award twice and there isn't anyone that would match his skills. During the five years, three of which he has spent as the captain of the team, he has been involved in search and rescue efforts in both natural and man-made disasters.

He remembers joining the USAR the year following the Parsons Green train bombing of London in 2017. At the time of the 2017 Underground bombing, he had been a fire fighter for about three years. Charlie remembers watching the chaos and feeling utter helplessness, as he waited at the surface level while the USAR team was in the trenches working to free the survivors, rescuing people. On that September day, he promised himself that if he could help it, he would never feel that kind of helplessness again. The next time he had the opportunity to join the USAR himself, he jumped at the chance.

Since his start with the USAR/ISAR, he has been involved in over twenty underground search and rescue missions in UK and around the world, and over time, his SAR expertise became subterranean rescue. This wasn't by design. But through his SAR experiences and continuing education, it just became his forte, his main stay in his wheelhouse.

When Charlie wakes up this morning at 8:00 AM with the alarm from his mobile phone, he feels well rested and refreshed. Sitting behind stack of books on his bedside table is his pager that he carries 24/7. When USAR team is activated, that pager is how the team is notified. After lying on the bed for another ten minutes or so, he finally gets up and stretches as he looks out the window to see a beautiful autumn day starting.

Charlie particularly loves this time of year. When the weather starts to cool down, he starts to feel more alive. He truly hates the humid summers in London. When USAR team is not in need, Charlie works as a full-time fire fighter for the London Fire Brigade. Today is Charlie's first day off after working four days straight. He was coming off of working his usual two days of day shift, and two days of night shift which will be followed by four days of being off duty.

As he has always done on his days off, Charlie gets up this morning to go to the local gym for his morning workout. However, today, something in his gut tells him to skip the gym. He has no clue why. He loves his early morning work outs. Thinking that it might be laziness trying to creep in, he ignores his gut feelings. Charlie grabs his mobile phone, but completely forgets to pick up his pager. Perhaps out of sight, out of mind when the said mind is distracted. He puts his trainers on to get to the gym. But as he grabs his gym bag, his mobile rings. He looks at the caller ID on the mobile screen and sees that it is Ava calling.

Charlie and Ava have been dating for about a year when she suddenly wanted to "take a break" from him and the relationship. That was about two weeks ago. Before picking up his mobile phone, he thinks, "What in fresh hell does she want now?" As he picks up the phone the clock on his mobile screen reads 8:25 am.

Charlie picks up the mobile and without even saying hello, he asks, "Ava, what could you possibly want from me this early in the morning?"

Ava replies, "I missed you, Yea? I'm allowed to miss you, aren't I?

"Ava, I wish you would make up your bloody mind. One minute you need space to reevaluate the relationship and the next minute you are all over me because you miss me. Pick a fuckin' lane and stick to it, Love."

Charlie loves Ava and he has often indulged her fancies throughout their relationship. And when what Ava fancied was a break from the relationship, he indulged her. But he knew she loved him too, so if a break was going to be what she needed to realize how crazy she was about him, he was going to let her have it.