GEN IV: Chapter 32

A few weeks after his birthday, Logan woke early and decided to go out and look for a job. Since he wasn't going to school anymore, most of his day was open and he wasn't sure what to do with all of the free time. He couldn't stand being bored anymore, and though it was not necessary for the family to have another working adult, he needed a job to keep busy.

Logan made breakfast for the family before he left, since he had been the first one awake. He and Adelaide ate together before he left on his search for employment and she went to tend the garden. When Logan did leave, Emma sat on the porch and watched his truck until it was out of sight. She whined just a little bit before going back inside for her own breakfast.

Going to each building in turn, checking it out from the outside, Logan was trying to get a feel for what he would like to do with himself. He was out most of the day trying to find a job that fit him, with no luck, so he drove back home.

Logan walked through the door and was immediately greeted by Emma, hungry for his attention. He smiled at her and gave her a good brushing before going into a game of tug-o-war. They played for only about ten minutes before Emma started to whine and look at the door. Logan got her silent dog hints, and grabbed her leash so he could take her for a walk. The sun had already set, so the two of them didn't walk long, but they both enjoyed it thoroughly.

When they got back home, Logan went to find David. The two of them hadn't ever been separated for a long amount of time before, and even though he was an adult - Logan missed his brother because he hadn't seen him all day. He found him playing in the sandbox out back.

"Hey. What are you doing out here? It's dark, come inside and play." Logan suggested, but David didn't move. Logan could tell instantly something was wrong. "What's wrong dude?"

"Nothin'." David said, with a small pout. "Okay, I'm coming. Mosquito's are out anyway."

Logan looked at his brother with a confused expression, but got that David didn't want to talk about his problem. "Okay, I'll race you!" Logan darted inside, winning the race only because David really didn't participate like he would have normally. The two of them played a game of chess and Logan tried repeatedly to engage in conversation with his little brother. He failed every time, David really didn't want to talk today. Pretty soon everyone started to get ready for bed.

Logan had just changed into his pajama's when he heard his father yell, "There's someone sneaking in the house! I'm gonna call the cops!"

From his window, Brian had seen the obvious 'getaway' car park and let the thief out. So he shouted to Logan to get down there, knowing full well that his son would be faster than himself. Also, he knew Logan wouldn't allow the criminal to get away with anything before the police showed up.

After that, everything seemed to happen so quickly. Too quickly for an 'old man' to keep up with. The police station was only two blocks away, so they got there within minutes. Another factor being that they knew Brian so well, his problem was top priority.

Logan had run down as his dad had said, when he spotted the burglar he stopped. He wasn't sure why, but it shocked him to see that it was a girl he was coming to confront. What was he going to do? He'd never hit a woman, criminal or not. Luckily he didn't have to do anything, it was only a minute later that the cop came. Of course, a fight broke out between burglar and police, the law winning. The officer handcuffed the criminal and sent her to the awaiting cruiser.

The offending woman walked toward Logan, and he was sure he spotted a small grin playing on her face. It was confirmed when she stepped right next to him and turned her head just a bit to say, "Chicken." He knew that she was referring to his hesitation in taking her down and that injured his pride a little.

Brian was just opening the front door to come out when saw the policeman's car, with lights flashing, drive away. In his older age, he was a lot slower than he used to be, and did not make it down in time for the real action. Realizing this fact disheartened him a little, but he shrugged it off and took his barely wounded ego to bed.
With the event's of the night over, and the robber hauled away, Logan went back to his room to get some sleep. When he passed by Emma though, he had to pause and look at her. She was sprawled out in her bed, lying on her back. A little bit of drool was sliding out of her relaxed jowls.

"Emma, you're a worthless guard-dog." Logan murmured, sarcastically criticizing his beloved animal before climbing into bed.

Early the next morning, Brian came out of the bathroom that he shared with David and found his youngest son, dressed as an astronaut and playing with the toy he had gotten when he was born.

"Hey David. Good morning." Brian smiled and watched his little dreamer play for a while. David has a very active imagination and was always playing one game or another, his mind never really resting. He was into books, but only fiction ones. His favorites were books that were filled with adventure and daring, sword-fighting and dragons.

"Morning dad!" David said enthusiastically, "Watch out for that moon crater in front of you."

Brian laughed, "Okay son, I'll do that." Then he went down to the kitchen for the last plate of pancakes he had saved from the morning before. Being Brian's favorite meal, he would never pass up pancakes, even if they were leftovers.

Pretty soon David came stomping down the stairs in one of his dinosaur costumes, roaring and growling the whole way.

"IIIII'mm Huuuuuuuunnnnngrrrrrrryy." He said, dragging the words out in his dinosaur growl. Brian laughed in the dining room while David stomped around, forgetting his own hunger and relishing in the attention that was now being bestowed upon him. It wasn't long though, before Brian was finished with his breakfast and got up to leave. When he did, David moved his activities to the kitchen, where he had seen his mother go. He stomped and roared his way in.

Adelaide was mixing up her own breakfast when she heard the dinosaur approaching her from behind. Being the coltish mother she is, she immediately fell into his play.

"Oh no! I hear a dinosaur! How scary! I know just what to do with terrifying creatures like that." With a smile, she turned and made a funny face at David.

David stopped stomping and giggled at her, then joined in making his own laughable expressions.

It was nearly 9 in the morning when Emma decided that her master had slept long enough. She came in from the backyard and trotted up to Logan's room. She stood by the side of his bed and gave him a stare-down, willing him to wake. When that didn't work, she yipped. It was only a tiny bark, but since it was right in his ear, Logan's eyes fluttered open.

With a small dog-grin and a huff, Emma turned to give Logan some room to get out of bed.

"Emma. Why are you waking me up? I'm still tired." Logan gently chastised, but when he realized the time he got out of bed. "I did sleep late didn't I girl? Sorry, you're probably ready to go aren't you? I'll be fast." He bent down to thank her for waking him, then went to take a quick shower.

While Logan went about his morning routine in the bathroom, Emma patiently waited just outside the door for him to take her for a walk.

This particular morning, Brian awoke with the urge to practice some martial arts. It had been quite a long time his last practice, since he was a young adult actually, so he wasn't sure where to begin at first. Just like the sculpting though, it didn't take long to get back into that stride. His body moved a bit differently than it did back then, and he wasn't quite as flexible, but maybe with more practice he would get better.

There has been a lull in the investigation area for Brian recently. Apparently no one had any mysteries to solve. Since there were so few, he was actually considering retirement. A final decision had not been made by him just yet, but he was tossing the idea around in his head.

While Brian was thinking of retirement, Logan had found a new job for him self. He had seen a 'help wanted' sign during his walk with Emma that morning, and was more than happy to apply there. It seemed the perfect place to be for him. The firehouse was only just across the street from his own house, and he was surprised he didn't see the sign before. Then again he wasn't really looking until just yesterday. Instead of filing out an application, and waiting for a reply, Logan was actually on live chat with the person doing the hiring and he was immediately accepted into the position.

He was not required to start working that day, but Logan was too excited not to. He went out back to tell his father and Adelaide that he had a new job and he starts right away. They were both very proud of Logan and both embraced him before he left. As he strutted through the dining room on his way out he wore a smile so big, anyone wanting to remove it would need a mop.

Since the firehouse was just across the street, Logan could walk everyday. Being so Eco-friendly, that worked out well for Logan. When he walked in, he was greeted by a few of the other employees for that shift. The first person he met was a girl named Lauren, she was very nice but not so informative.  She seemed to be there to take care of the building itself, not actually for fire-fighting.

"Nice to meet you Logan," Lauren said, "I'm not surprised you were hired on so quickly, they are really in need of new people. I was just hired two days ago."

"Okay. Well, I'm happy to be here for sure. I'm also looking forward to the first emergency to come my way."

Lauren chuckled softly, the sound reminded Logan of soothing, low toned, wind chimes. "Well I would not expect that tonight, in my two and a half days there has not been one. Then again maybe Sunset Valley is due for some devastation." With that she turned to walk away. "Enjoy your evening Logan."

Logan watched her leave. Nice girl he thought. Now, how do I get to the firetruck?  Logan wanted to get to work, so he was looking around for access to the engine.

Another woman approached him. "You must be the new-hire, Logan. I talked to you earlier online. I'm Agnes. You look a little confused though, what's on your mind?"

"Oh I was jut looking for the access door to the fire engine." Logan told her.

"You'll have to go out front for that, there isn't a side door only the front. We have beds usptairs, a television, game system and Foosball table for wasting time. Though your time would be better spent keeping up the truck, or the alarm system. Study up on your mechanical skills, you'll need them." Agnes looked him up and down. "We have workout machines in the yard over there," she gestured rather aggressively to the double doors just to the left of her, "You would do well to get rid of that flab." After she gave him a very odious look, she walked off.

'Wow. She wasn't real nice, but more informative than ... what was her name?' Logan looked himself over. 'What flab? Okay maybe I'm a bit ... bulky ... but it's all muscle baby.' He took her advice anyway, since he had way too much energy to read. Taking a run sounded rather good to Logan, so he went out to the yard that Agnes mentioned and jumped on the treadmill.

To his shock, and delight, the fire alarm went off only twenty minutes into his workout. He was the first at the truck.

Logan drove the fire truck to the scene, actually he was the only one that responded. Once the others realized that he was going, they all went back to what they were doing. Granted, it was only a small house fire apparently, but it was odd to Logan that only one fireman would be sent out.

The house that he had been sent to had two small fires going, one in the garage and one right outside it. Apparently someone had been inventing something and it blew up in their face, setting fire to the place. The person was fine, but the materials they were working with had burnt to ashes. Logan put out the fire indoors first, as it held more danger. The outdoor fire was in a small wooded area, and while he was putting that one out a small deer bounded by. It didn't take him long to get both fires extinguished. Just in case, he asked to check the house for any other instabilities. All seemed well, so he bid the home owners farewell, and went back to work.

When he came back to the firehouse, he was greeted by Lauren again. She wanted to know about the fire, and how everything went.

"Hey, uh....?" Logan tried to recall her name.

"Lauren." She giggled, "It's okay, I'm not very memorable. So anyway what happened?"

That comment about herself made Logan look her over, so he could pass his own judgement of how 'memorable' she was. She's cute. Hot actually. Love her hair. I can't believe I didn't notice before. Hmm. I wonder if she's single. Logan told her the tale of the emergency he had intercepted, and she hung on his every word. The two of them ended up talking until the shift was over, then they parted ways and went home.

Most of that day, Emma had followed David around since her master wasn't there. David didn't dislike the dog, but really didn't want to play with her all the time. He held a slight grudge against her because she stole Logan's attention. Attention that otherwise would be directed at himself. Sometimes though, he really couldn't resist Emma's playfulness and willingness to play any game he was playing.

When Logan came home he walked into the dining room where he heard Emma barking. As soon as she laid her eyes on him, Emma's paws danced on the floor, unable to control her excitement. Logan couldn't help but smile at her giddiness and bent down to hug her. He pet her and brushed her until she calmed down a bit, then he went to get some dinner.

During that time David had gone up to dress in another of his dinosaur costumes and stomp around the house. When he came down to the foyer, he startled Emma, but it only took her a moment to see who was behind the fake teeth and she smiled her dog smile. She yipped at him when he roared at her, and David emitted his own giggles, then he took off running just hoping that Emma would chase him. She did, and the two of them played for hours before they both fell into their beds exhausted.




To be continued...