Better on our own - English

Emotional Emergency

I had waited until Penny was out of the house this morning before I brought up the vase, which I had glued until late in the night and left to dry the rest of the night, and put it back in its place. I had made a real effort, and even though it was clear that it had been glued no matter how I twisted and turned it, I hoped that Penny would appreciate my efforts - or perhaps not notice until I got a new old vase like this on Ebay.

So far she hadn't spoken to me about it or about the curtains, which I had discovered this morning that she had replaced. I couldn't say for the life of me whether it was just the calm before the storm or she just accepted it like that, but I was particularly hard-working yesterday and today and was always the first to volunteer for any cleaning or tidying work - I wasn't as good as she was at separating professional and private life.

Around midday the alarm suddenly sounded and we all looked up at the loudspeaker in anticipation. It had been quiet all week and we urgently needed something to do other than just drills and equipment checks.

"A fire has broken out in the metal factory's production area. All employees are safe," Penny shouted and we ran to the cloakroom to get dressed. We hadn't really started when Penny joined us and also put on her uniform.

"Arnold, you drive Artus. Elliot, you take Merlin. Take up RO-Chemistry. Niall, you take over the monitoring of the breathing apparatus and tank on Artus. Arnold. Trixie and I go in while Elliot handles the foam outside."

"Roger that, Penny!" we all shouted before we all took our seats. I was just about to get into the back of Arthus when Penny put her hand on the door to stop me from opening it.

"Where are you going, Niall?" Penny asked me, visibly confused, and that stopped me in my tracks. Should I stay here?

"Get in so we can drive, I..." I stammered to myself. Had I missed something?

"Isn't the engineer always at the wheel?" she replied with a smile and I paused. Should I drive Arthus? I was allowed to? In an emergency?

"Yeah, yes, but...I thought..." I stuttered to myself again, pointing randomly in the air at the driver's cab and the rear cab while all the scenarios running through my head about what could happen on the way to the scene, allowing me to hinder ourselves if something went wrong.

"I have to equip myself with respiratory protection. You can do it, Niall!" she replied with a wink and pushed me towards the open driver's door with one hand in my back.

I immediately followed her request and took a seat, buckled my seatbelt and took a deep breath before starting the engine. Then let's go and this time not at walking speed. I just wished I had as much confidence in myself as Penny does. I was more nervous than ever while driving the heavy ship of a fire engine through the streets of the city, but everything went smoothly. No car parked too far on the street and thus narrowed the road, all road users saw us coming in good time and swerved or stopped and we didn't encounter any unpleasant surprises.

I drove into the yard and followed the request of an employee who waved and pointed in the direction of where the fire had broken out. I headed towards the hall and parked Arthus at a safe distance as Penny and the other two jumped out of the car.

Penny quickly had an employee tell her what was going on and where the fire had broken out in the hall, while I grabbed the surveillance board and the yellow vest and also jumped out of the vehicle.

"We'll take two powder extinguishers and a foam extinguisher with us until we know for sure what it is. I don't trust this situation," Penny turned to Trixie and Arnold and handed me her ID card before running to the entrance door of the hall. Arnold and Trixie gave me their cards too and got the fire extinguishers while I waited for orders from inside where Penny had just disappeared.