Saturday, July 16, 2005

Poodle

It is early in the morning on a rural road. A car has gone over the guardrail. The driver is in the police car and is refusing treatment for her minor injuries. A passing car slows as the man behind the wheel tries to inspect the scene. The officer turns and glares at him. Another car approaches. A old woman who can barely see over the wheel is driving by slowly, looking straight ahead. A large white poodle its paws up on the open passenger window looks curiously at the wreck and then at the officer, as the car slowly inches by. "Let's go," the officer says to the poodle. "Move on, nothing to see here, nothing to see."

***

Did a man feeling weak and took a prisoner in who needed medication. Saturdays I always do a lot of prisoners. They are caught in the slammer until Monday. This guy is a diabetic, who needs insulin, and no one is at his house to get it. I tell the officers, they can go to the drug store across the street and buy insulin for him without a prescription, but they have no petty cash. So we transport him shackled in the ambulance, along with a police officer down to the ER where he can get a shot. Later they find a relative who retrives his insulin from home, and we get called down to the jail to observe him giving himself a shot.

***

The only other call is for a man who has been jumped. He is fine, just a few abrasions. The officers just wanted us to check him out. He checks out fine.