TIME FOLLOWS ME

CHAPTER FORTY FIRES, CONVICTS & THE CRAPPY CESSNA

CHAPTER FORTY

FIRES, CONVICTS & THE CRAPPY CESSNA

"Hey, we found your notebook."

"Wow, thanks, it's got my life in there."

I had lost it the day previously. I wondered if anyone had read it. Would have freaked them out with the "Jesus Lectures," and "The St. Francis Hotel," and all the other assorted characters in the middle.

A.P. got me transferred to his crew as he was a foreman for one of the twelve crews. We would wait until our number was called. I would keep one eye on the chalkboard, to see the crew coming up next and who was on deck. We got called out to a fire and the weather was really rough out. Lake of the Woods looked like a rolling sea of whitecaps. I wasn't looking forward to going up in this, especially in a Cessna. The Cessna's I hate because they have no jam. We tried to take off but were loaded so heavy that we just bounced from one whitecap to another whitecap. Somehow, we got airborne, the pilot swearing the whole time we were in the air. I almost threw-up in the plane. In the air we searched for the fire but couldn't find it out on Lake of the Woods. Who knew if the pilot could even read coordinates? They must have been conscripting anybody with a pilot's license. Just wanted to get back to Kenora. I had a date that night with the pretty girl I met on base. She was a town girl and drove a Toyota Celica, a pretty cool sporty car.

Got into the Hotel Kenrica and they only had a double room left. I had to share with one other guy that really pissed me off. Got stoned and went to sleep for a while. Sylvia phoned and said she would pick me up at 9:00pm. We went to the Red Lion and had couple of drinks. Then we went to the Holiday Inn and danced to "Stairway To Heaven." I loved that song that was close to eight minutes long, slow dancing with Sylvia. She was fresh and shiny as a McIntosh, a nice girl, but we didn't stay out too late. Both of us had to work in the morning. I kissed her goodnight in her car.

Don't care if they lay me off now. I've made a bit of money and it will be good to get home. Living in a Hotel is all right, but a dead end. "Same people, same scene, and just exist." Each day you get up early, rush through breakfast, put in time all day, get stoned, go out and have a few drinks then repeat the same thing the next day. I had totally lost track of days.

September 14th - Got up early again at 7:00am and had eggs and bacon for breakfast. Good Breakfast!! The day is turning out well. Back into wearing my cut off shorts and was sitting on the end of the dock watching the glistening lake and the beautiful sunshine. It's a real drag around her and I hope to get out on a fire. At least I'd be doing something. Been thinking about friends and wondering what they are doing. After lunch we get called out on a fire, Fire 327 that is out on Lake of the Woods somewhere. Went up in a Turbo Helicopter and landed on an island and scouted the burn. All's O.K. so went back to base.

Went back and I slept in the loft where they store all the hoses. We got called out on another fire. All the equipment was loaded so we just crawled in. The ride was really nice out over the lake with tiny islands as far as the eye could see. I saw a nice sailboat anchored in what I can only describe as a majestic bay. It was U-shaped and the boat sat in the middle. Saw a lot of beautiful looking camps out there.

Could see the fire from quite a distance off on the horizon. It was about a fifty-acre burn with thirty still burning. The helicopter landed at around 6:00pm and we just walked the line to get our bearings. Flew back to Kenora and was given $6 to eat dinner with. I had a $12 meal and charged the rest. I don't think they'll catch up with me. Knew this wasn't right, but I was starving this night for some reason.

Talked to Sylvia on the phone and said the crew was going off early to the fire in the morning. I wanted to get close to her, but our schedules were pulling us in different directions. She was kind of sweet on me, I just liked her and she was "normal" and about my age. I didn't think she knew what to make of me, but I appreciated her trying. We had planned to go out that night to "The Norman" but did a "rain check" for the next night.

A.P. sent me down to the south east side of the fire with two guys. Our job was to run a line and stop the fire from going past it. We laid a pretty good line and A.P. called me on the radio. He wanted me to send one of the guys over to the other side. The day progressed well. We stopped for lunch and swam and lay in the sun. Went back to work and quit at around 7:00pm. Had pork chops over the fire for dinner that tasted quite good. Worked until 11:00pm, "supposedly," was when we docked out.

Total hours 14 hours booked.

Next day after sleeping on the island we put a line around the whole fire with rocks on one side and the lake on the other. Didn't tell you but the two guys E.F.F.'s (Emergency Fire Fighters) are from the Penitentiary. One of the guys seems a little sick in the head. So we planned to ship them out the next day. They had been shipped in on a plane the previous day to boost our strength because the fire was much bigger than we expected.