Dana Fairbanks joined the volunteer fire department shortly after she left the military. It gave her that sense of camaraderie she had in the service and the feeling of giving back to the community. But, unlike the military, she did not have to hide her sexual preference. She quickly proved her dedication and skill in responding to the varied calls in the remote community and won the respect of the males on the crew by showing strong leadership capabilities and a cool head during a hot situation.

Alice Piezecki joined the VFD a few months after Dana. She seemed an unlikely recruit, but, passed all the required exams with flying colors. Alice hoped one day to be a writer and wanted to do this not only to help the community, but, to gain additional life experiences. She was also a total gear head, which was something the VFD desperately needed to keep their aging fleet of trucks in some working shape. Alice had taken pride in knowing more than most of the men when it came to an old diesel engine, or something mechanical. She pushed herself to excel at maintenance-something which was considered ‘a mans job’.

The fact that Alice and Dana were the only females on the crew and both lesbians meant they hung out together quite a bit. They had a strong friendship and an on-going grade school type flirtation. They frequently found themselves working the same shift and developing a small rivalry- constantly trying to get one up.

The decision had been made that since nothing exciting was happening, Alice and Dana would journey out of their way and do some preventive maintenance on the trucks to pass the time and do something productive. They were finishing up with the oil change on the old fire engine, and had been trying unsuccessfully for the past hour to find a leak in the radiator when they safely came to the conclusion that they should probably just stick to the basics.

Alice could have completed this on her own, but, was having too much fun tormenting Dana.

Alice had spent the better part of their work excursion chewing gum and annoying Dana. Just when the maintenance actually took a turn for the best and Alice stopped dropping wrenches on Dana, the tones dropped.