Separated ways

18.Background

Hi! I don't know why I changed the ending of this chapter and the impact of the mission, but maybe it will suit better for next chapters. Hope you will like it and if so, I'll try to hurry up with next chapter;)

Penny's journal

First month of my exchange did ended without any bigger surprises. I had an amazing time here and with disappointment I had to admit, that I quickly forgot that I miss home. 

In Nantes it was just different. Calmer than in Pontypandy. And nothing here reminded me about my father. Maybe except of that stupid leaflet, but I got rid of it as soon as I noticed that looking at it made me sadder instantly. 

I asked Jean, who was as good in computer stuff as Arnold, if he could help me find a way of video calling from my mobile phone. After all, I couldn't borrow Émilie's laptop everytime I wanted to talk with my friends. Speaking of who, after I managed to learn how to use a new app on my mobile phone, I relived contact with Ellie and Sam. I was startled when I first heard from Ellie that Sam left Pontypandy. At first I have the worst in my mind. With his way of calculating risks sometimes it got harder and harder for me not to wake up with a scream from a nightmare when I get one. But then I got a call from him with a photo saying he's in Germany. It didn't make any sense for me before he explained what happened after I left Pontypandy to go to France. 

But once when I wanted to talk with him, Émilie was so curious that I had to let her in my room and let her make an interview with me and Sam together. She was still excited after a whole week. She was just like Elvis sometimes. But I couldn't deny it to her. After all, I used her laptop and I was her guest, even if she made it hard for me to feel so. I have to wash the dishes every single time, but we have very pleasant time together. At work she is not so big help to me as I have more experience, but she spent some of her free time showing me around Nantes and once from her own idea (somehow she found out it was my birthday in short time) when we had three days free from duty, she booked a trip to Paris and Versaile. I was stunned and I know I can't thank her enough times.

Although even if I found such an amazing friend as Émilie, I still couldn't quite figure out what was wrong with our captain - Antoine. Mattieu, Jean and Émilie most of the times didn't even force a talk with him. They always send François. It was strange for me and the stranger situation at the action scenes disn't make it any easier for me to sort it out in my head.

After another shift spent on washing and checking vehicles before autumn,  all of firefighters from Nantes had enough. Captain Antoine, listening to his team's complains, announced that on today's shift he would make a test of knowlegde. 

"Était-ce censé être difficile ?(Was it supposted to be hard?)" Penny joked, laughing softly when she walked out of the big office room with Mattieu and François following her. 

"Cette fois, Antoine ne s'est pas surpassé(This time, Antoine didn't outdo himself)" Mattieu agreed when he caught up with Penny. "Et bien. La dernière fois qu'il nous a posé de telles questions, nous étions presque devenus gris rien qu'en jouant sur ce malheureux morceau de papier(And good. Last time he throw such questions we had almost grew gray just starring on that unlucky piece of paper)" he told, but the older of them quickly closed his colleague's mouth by elbowing him not so gently. "Aïe, ça fait mal, François(Ouch, that hurt, François)" Mattieu complained and it was the last thing he told. 

"Que pourrait-il se passer si vous ne répondez pas aux questions?(What could happen if you don't pass the questions?)" Penny asked anxiously. She felt she did good in the test, but sometimes it was just tricky to know whether or not it was really like you see it. 

"L'hiver dernier, nous avons eu de la chance, car notre chef nous a défendus et a dit que ce n'était pas du tout adapté à la situation que nous avions à ce moment-là dans la caserne des pompiers(Last winter we were lucky, because our chief stood up for us and told it was far away from suitable for the situation we had at that time in the firestation)" François stated, nodding with silent thank you to Penny when she handed him a cup of milk. "Mais normalement, cela dépend du sujet des questions. Si ce sont des questions faciles, vous devez réussir. Mais si c'est plus dur, la dernière phrase reste entre les mains de ton chef(But normally it depends on the topic of the questions. If those are easy ones, you have to pass. But if it is harder, the last sentance stays in the hands of your chief)".

"Mais si vous ne les réussissez pas?(But if you don't pass them?)" Penny managed to add when a fire alarm sounded over her voice. 

The question stayed unanswered when Penny, Mathieu and François quickly slid down the poles to the garage and quickly ran to the locker room to change. On their way out they met with Émilie and Jean. Penny was just climbing inside to the fire truck, right after her two colleagues when Antoine came, already fully dressed and prepared for a fire. 

Penny had to deal with the fires of the building in Nantes a few times already, but the way captain Antoine lead the action made it completely different comparing to experiences she already had not only from Pontypandy, but also from Newtown. 

The fire truck smoothly arrived at the scene of the fire at the third floor of one of flats at that new district of Nantes. The thick smoke was finding itself a way for oxygen by the open balcony door from south. 

Captain Antoine quickly listened to what three old ladies were talking to him, all in emotions. Penny and the rest of the crew were preparing needed equipment, while he comforted the ladies and came back to them. 

"Nous avons un incendie au troisième étage. Une personne est portée disparue. J'envoie deux groupes(We have a fire on the third floor. One person is missing. I'm sending two groups in)" he explained briefly. "Jean, tu pars avec François. C'est toi le chef là-haut(Jean, you're going with François. He is you chief up there)" Antoine ordered, and seeing how the young man nodded and quickly followed in François's footsteps, he turned around to Mattieu. "Emportez le tuyau avec toi. Je suis juste derrière(Take the hose with you. I'm right behind)"

"Bien reçu(Roger that)" Mattieu briefly saluted and grabbed one of the hoses to charge it to fire truck. 

"Capitaine, et moi et Émilie?(Captain, what about me and Émilie?)" Penny couldn't hold herself anymore. It was like that on every call. 

"Restez avec le camion. Gardez un œil sur la pression de l'eau et les niveaux d'oxygène dans les bouteilles(Stay with the truck. Keep an eye on the water pressure and oxygen levels in bottles)" Antoine ordered indifferently, before he disappeared in the crowd of people. 

"But..." Penny wanted to say something else, that he had been keeping her and Émilie in the background every since their first mission, but she knew it was useless as he seemed not to hear her.