From the streetcorner it looked like one in a series of
upper middleclass homes. It had the typical
two car garage, little vinyl shutters and smooth concrete walkway. It was hard to see how many people were living there, because of all the police, firemen and
vultures. I worked for the
morgue and my job was to sit in the van and wait. I could see a lot from this
vantage point and I had learned that there was little to be gained from a closer look.
You'd only hear what you don't wanna hear and see what you don't wanna see...
Words of my first boss and former bowling partner-T.J. Harrison. He of 27 years for the city and two double bypass surgeries. Words of wisdom, for sure.
So I sit in the car and listen to my books on tape. This week it is a murder mystery, and a juicy one. Eventually the place starts to thin out and eventually the gurney comes down the driveway with the subject. I hop out and open the back doors of the van as Frank wheels across the street. (he's my new partner, kinda quiet, not like T.J at all)
Frank and I pop the gurney into the back, latch her into place and head downtown. Frank is not saying anything and is looking kinda pale.
"You want to stop, get some coffee or something?" I ask him. He mumbles a little something so I zip through a drive-thru for a coffee and an apple pie. Frank takes a couple sips and stares out the window of the van. Passing cars paint red and white lines across his glasses. Finally he talks:
...its a kid. I hate when its a kid. Some kid, about 15 or so. Shoots himself in his parents' bedroom. His mom is hyper and crazy...following us around the house, trying to pick him up and carry him downstairs. Cops take her out of the room, two, maybe three times. She keeps saying that she wants to take him to work, that he needs to go to work and that he's never been late. Finally some doc gave her some meds and she starts screaming and stuff. It was bad. Bad and loud. I hate when its kids.
T.J. would have said it was time for Frank to head upstairs to a desk job. Or he would have taken him out for drinks. I didn't say anything. I'm too new to be the guy with advice.