บท 10: CH10: Safety is important in the company

"It's difficult to think about anything but,

pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato."

- Lewis Grizzard

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It was a quiet Tuesday morning. The sun has just risen up, painting the sky from dark to bright blue with a few clouds scattering along the sky. Few cars lined up on the road, slowly making their way to their respective locations.

Inside the Kang Company, people were already busy working, immediately after arriving to the office. Sounds of tapping on the keyboards resounded around the office.

Delilah has just arrived at her cubicle, placing her bag on her table when the receptionist came to her. The receptionist's name was Bella. She was a beautiful brunette, with long wavy hair. Today, she wore her hair in a high ponytail, emphasizing her big round eyes and heart-shaped face. She was wearing a bright red lipstick, giving her full lips a more sensual look. She looked quite bubbly yet alluring with her prim blouse and a-lined skirt.

Looking at Bella, Delilah thought, 'She's really the visual front for the company.' She had no bad remarks about Bella. Bella was a friendly and cheerful woman who can calm anyone's anger with her sweet and wide smile. Delilah had never seen Bella got angry in any situations. She was very good in handling angry customers.

"Hello, Delilah," Bella greeted happily, holding a bag on one hand.

Delilah looked down at the bag Bella was holding and asked, pointing, "What's that?"

Bella held the bag with both of her dainty hands and said, "Ah, this is the coverall that you'll be wearing for today's Fire Marshal Demonstration with Sam."

Sam was one of the HSE Safety officer in the company. He was a tall and thin man in his mid-forties with a lanky pale-skinned body. He has raven dark hair, with a glint of silver at the side, adding the look of a sophisticated maturity in his persona. He always has a big and goofy smile on his face and was very friendly. He was the type of person anyone could get along too, if they could handle his jokes, which he loved to throw all around.

That morning, Sam had invited Delilah to join him to a Fire Marshall Demonstration where the firefighters and marshals will demonstrate on cases of what-to-do when there is fire. Sam had wanted Delilah to join because he had thought that Delilah might be interested to become one of the fire marshals at the office. Also, he thought, perhaps Delilah could encourage more employees in the Kang Company to attend the Safety briefing that he will conduct in the future. At first, he wanted to bring along his intern to the demonstration, however, his supervisor had given the intern some tasks that are needed to be done that morning. Hence, only Sam and Delilah will be going to the demonstration.

Delilah took the bag from Bella and placed it inside her big duffel bag. "What about my safety shoes?" she asked again.

"Yes, about that..." Bella said slowly as she looked down on her mobile phone. "Can I get your size?"

Delilah told her her size.

Bella nodded. "I'll prepare the shoes at the lobby. You can wear it there."

Delilah nodded in thanks.

A few minutes later, Delilah had just arrived at the lobby, in her coverall. The coverall was an orange loose-fitting safety clothing. It was not thick and not thin either. It felt kind of stiff and scratchy on her bare arms, where she only wore a t-shirt and a pants inside the coverall. Luckily, it doesn't felt hot and stuffy inside too.

Minutes later, Sam arrived at the lobby, together with Aubree. Both of them wearing a coverall too.

Sam scratched the back of his head, laughing. "Hey Delilah. Sorry to keep you waiting."

Delilah waved his concerns away. "Ah, it's alright."

Sam waved a hand towards Aubree and said, "Aubree will be joining us for today. I persuaded your boss to let me bring her along," he snickered.

"Alrighty then," Sam continued, with a clap. "Let's head off to the fire station headquarters now."

The three of them head off to the car park, where the company car was waiting. They then set off to the fire station. It was a short thirty minutes drive from the office. Inside the car, the three of them were talking avidly about what they were expecting from the presentation and demonstration.

Sam was excited to see the equipment and uniform that the firefighters use and wore during their duty. Aubree, on the other hand, was excited to watch the demonstration that the firefighters would do when there was a burning house.Delilah, though, was more excited at the thought that she might be able to go play with the flying fox. Previously, one of her colleagues had attended the Fire Marshall where they, too, played the flying fox and it was fun

Half an hour later, they finally arrived at the fire station. One of the firefighters came out of the building to greet the three of them. He was the Fire Chief. He looked like he was in this fifties. A big burly man with an oval face and thin lips. He has amber eyes, sharp like lightning. The glint in his eyes does not seem to miss a thing as he shook hands with Sam, a grin on his face. His name was Mr. Rose, which does not seems to match his description if one would compare to the namesake of the flower. Especially when there are wrinkles around his face, representing his age.

Mr. Rose invited the three of them inside the station, guiding them to a room that was on the left.

He invited them to have a seat, while he and his subordinates prepared with their speech and presentation.

Mr. Rose was the speaker for the presentation, where he talked about the importance of the firefighters, their roles in the country and what they do. He also pointed out several fire stations shown in the presentation. He continued on by giving out the important phone numbers that Sam and the other two should take note. He also made a joke as well about how they do not earned much, compare to the military.

The first few hours in the morning were mostly about the presentation talk and the tour around the fire station. Both Aubree and Delilah looked around with excitement and amazement in their eyes. Sam, who had toured around the fire station numerous times, just talked with Mr. Rose.

Delilah noticed how humid and hot it is inside the station, where there are only overhead fans. She commented it at Aubree, who nodded in agreement.

Mr. Rose, who overheard her comment, turned around and said, "Yes, we did it in purpose. Imagine if there is a fire emergency and with air-conditioner, the fire fighters might had a good nap and wouldn't wake up. So, with the heat, we can still be aware of the emergency sirens."

Both Aubree and Delilah's mouths opened in an 'O' shaped as they understood his explanation.

They continued the tour until Mr. Rose guided them into a room. Inside, some of the female officers have prepared some light lunch for the three of them.

Aubree and Delilah both grabbed their plates and stood beside the buffet table, helping themselves to the foods.

The two of them sat down on a table with their food.

Delilah turned to Sam, who was still talking with Mr. Rose. "Aren't you going to take some foods?" she asked.

Sam laughed lightly. "Yes, I'll get some later."

One of the female officers sat at their table. She then pointed at one of the tarts on Aubree's plate. "Oh, you two have got to try this. It's really good."

Delilah raised her eyebrows. "Really? What is it?" she asked, curious as she picked hers.

The female officer answered, "It's a blueberry cheesecake tart. It's always sold out. But we managed to get some this morning."

"Wow..." Delilah said softly. "It must be really good."

She took a bite of the tart. The tangy taste of the cheesecake mixed with the sour sweetness of the blueberry blended really well. It sent shivers of tingles up her spine as she enjoyed the taste. The flaky pastry of the tart crumbled beautifully in her mouth, giving a sticky sensation on her tongue.

Delilah licked her lips in appreciation. "It's really good," she said.

They continued to talk as they enjoyed their light lunch.

After they were done with their lunch, Mr. Rose suggested for them to go back home for a quick rest before continuing the presentation and talk in the afternoon.

An hour of resting in their perspective homes, the three of them returned back to the fire station. This time, they have used their own transportation. Because it will be faster for them to return home straight away after the afternoon session.

Sam had arrived first. When Delilah and Aubree arrived, almost at the same time, they saw Sam already waiting outside with them, together with Mr. Rose.

Rather than going inside, Mr. Rose guided them to the back of the fire station where there was a tall tower, just by the side of the buildings, few meters away.

Going past the tower, Mr. Rose led the way towards a lone trailer. The lone trailer was used as their fire rescue practice, where there will be smoke inside. The mission was that fire fighters have to fight their way towards the smoke-filled trailer and rescue the 'unconscious' victims.

Mr. Rose further explained that usually unconscious victims were heavier than normal weight. And he explained the usage of the oxygen tank, what's the limit and so forth.

He instructed his subordinates to help Sam and the other two put on the fire fighters uniform, together with the oxygen tank. He then told them that their mission was to save the family of three.

Few minutes later, the three of them walked in, cautiously. Delilah was the back, while Sam led the way with Aubree in the middle of them.

Sam first found a 'child victim', which was a mannequin weighted about 5kg. He quickly carried it on his shoulder as he turned back to where they entered earlier.

While Sam carried the 'victim' out, Delilah and Aubree continued with the mission. They had crawled at some areas, bent down to continue the path and finally saw a mannequin underneath a bed.

Both Aubree and Delilah walked closer to the mannequin and saw that its a male mannequin. Delilah assumed that this must be the 'father victim'.

Aubree and Delilah tried to carried the mannequin but it was too heavy. It weighted almost 90kgs. Delilah then remembered what Mr. Rose had said earlier. 'If you can't carry it, you can drag it since the victim was unconscious and could not feel any pain'.

Delilah tried to drag it out from underneath the bed. Aubree helped by dragging with the other leg.

However, the oxygen in their tank was decreasing fast.

In the end, both Delilah and Aubree had to abandoned the victim and quickly went out.

Mr. Rose laughed at their disheveled appearance. "How was it?" he asked, laughing.

Delilah took off her mask with a sigh and said, "That was really heavy! I definitely can't save people. They all will die if I'm the firefighter!"

The others laughed at Delilah's dejected look. Seems like Delilah was disappointed at herself for failing the task.

They continued on the next activity, which was the flying fox.

Delilah looked at the tower, where they had set up the flying fox. Her eyes sparkled with enthusiasm as she could not wait to ride it.

Few minutes later, Delilah was up at the top floor of the tower, all suited up for the flying fox. She looked down where the others gathered at the side of the landing area.

Her heart beat fast at the exhilaration of the thoughts.

With a deep breath, she jumped down. She slid smoothly along the cables, screaming and laughing all the way down.

She landed fluidly on the landing mat with a happy grin on her face. Delilah looked at Sam with an excited look. 'I want to go again!' look was written all over her face.

Mr. Rose saw her excited face and laughed out loud. "Alright. You can go again!"

Delilah cheered and walked quickly towards the tower.

After the three of them had their rounds, Mr. Rose ended the activity by inviting them back to the room, where they first had their presentation.

Mr. Rose then awarded the three of them with a certificate of a Fire Marshal.

Delilah looked down at the paper and smiled. "This is so worth it," she exclaimed.

Few minutes later, they went back to their homes.

Just as Delilah arrived at her house, she saw her family looking ready to go out. "Where are you all going?" she asked in confused.

"Didn't you read my message in the family group chat?" Miya, her sister, asked as she straightened her son's outfit.

Delilah scratched the back of her head, looking sheepishly. "I guessed I was driving. Didn't hear any notification," she said. "Where are we going?"

Miya stood up and said, "To the chicken rice shop."

Delilah nodded. "I'll join you guys. I'm too lazy to drive," she said.

Few minutes later, the family gathered around at a large round table.

Delilah quickly ordered her food. She decided on having Chicken Rice for her meal. As her other family members ordered theirs, she took out her phone and began playing with the game inside.

While they were talking among themselves, Delilah's order came. Delilah made the right choice choosing the food. This was because it was much faster to cook and tasted delicious as well. The rice of the chicken rice was usually cooked earlier and kept warmth in a large rice cooker.

Delilah speared a piece of the chicken and took a bite. The sweet and savoury tenderness of the chicken meat filled her mouth as she sank her teeth into the meat. The slippery succulent of the chicken skin slid down her throat as she chewed.

Delilah poured the ginger, sour chili sauce and thick soy sauce all over her chicken, which was on top of slices of cool cucumbers. Together with the rice, she ate them together. The rice was indistinctly flavoured with some taste of chicken essence in every bite. The sourness and a hint of spiciness from the chili sauce, together with the succulent chicken meat and the flavoured rice really hit the right spot. The smooth tender chicken meat felt flavoursome as it was mixed with the sauces, making it more appetizing.

Her nephew, Kael, who sat next to Delilah, smiled at her. He was also eating chicken rice too.

"Yummy?" he asked, smiling.

Delilah smiled back, giving a pat on his head. "Yummy, inDEEd," she replied.