105 degrees

As I stretched my arm behind my girlfriend's head, I said, "Good morning, babe," She inched closer in bed and said, "Good morning, Hank. Is it time for work?" We both worked at the same hospital, and we both worked similar shifts. She was a nurse on the 7 pm to 7 am shift, and I worked in security on the 6 pm to 6 am shift. She slid on top of me, ran her fingers through my hair, and said, "Can't we just sell all of our things and move to Costa Rica." Before I could respond, she planted a warm kiss on my lips and started to reach for my boxers. Abruptly, she stopped, and the sound of wind chimes started echoing out of her mouth." Damnit, another dream," I said as I sat in bed and turned off my phone alarm. I echoed in my head, "I might as well start my day at 4:30 pm on this scorching hot Saturday." My alarm clock read July 1st, 2032.

I crawled out of bed and headed for the shower. I was a germ freak who needed to shower before and after work every day, with no exceptions. I turned on my favorite shower music and I started to daydream about Roxanne, but that made my nether region start to "salute." I didn't have enough time, so I went with Costa Rica instead. I hopped out, and I looked in the mirror. I gave myself a little pep talk. "Don't get stabbed, shot, spit on, or bit but most importantly, ask Roxanne out because she only has one month on her travel nurse contract." My bosses were not thinking about our well-being when they designed our all-black, long-sleeve uniform and, for extra "protection," a twenty-pound ballistic vest capable of withstanding rifle rounds despite security not having firearms. I chuckled as I put my vest on. "It is more of an invitation for someone to shoot me in the face." I started my truck using my key fob to get the AC going because it was 105 degrees outside today. I grabbed the last of my things and headed for the door.

The drive to work was short, but there were five tweakers for every block. Without warning, a skinny, pale, female, teenager ran out in front of my truck, screaming, "THE SKY IS BLACK AND THEY ARE COMING!" I slammed on the breaks, forcing my pickup to screech to a halt. She then continued running across the road and ducked between some industrial buildings. I retorted to myself, "Holy shit, that's some bad meth," I had another five minutes to work, and hopefully, I wouldn't have any more free-range meth-heads run in front of me.

As I turned down the road to the hospital, there it was. One of the tallest buildings in the area, the beacon of hope for some and for others, a prison where they are confined to a white room, alone with their demons. As I turned the corner, there were six ambulances and four cop cars. The day shift supervisor, Thomas, a former sheriff's deputy in the biggest county in the country, was a stickler for being 15 minutes early. I chose to milk the clock and listen to my car playlist. I figured I could get away with it because my night shift counterparts, Jacoby and Chester, chose the same plan. I strategically walked into the office before my coworkers because they would take the brunt of Thomas's fury. I looked on the camera which portrayed, four cops who were struggling to handcuffed a six-eight 400 pounder, and the dayshift crew were all in different spots in the Emergency Room, wrestling with 3 separate people. I grabbed the rest of my gear and texted my nightshift comrades to get their asses in the Emergency Room. I ran towards the Emergency Room and chose to help out Roger, the oldest security guard, who drew the short-stick with a six-four 300-pounder. Roger was pinned to the floor with the fat bastard choking him out. I tackled the guy off and went right for an armbar. Roger recovered and jumped on the dude's legs. Roger was 70, but he was a tough bastard. A nurse came running with a big ass needle filled to the brim with a sedative and excailber'd the needle into the man's thigh. My new friend went to sleep for a while.

While the nurses and Roger got the guy onto a bed, I sprinted through the ER, looking for the rest of the crew. I ran past Thomas, his man was unconscious, and went searching for Stan. I looked around the corner as Stan's guy ran out the ambulance bay doors. I had a winning record for chasing people down, and I wasn't going to lose this one. I ran past Stan, struggling, and ran out into the 105-degree heat. This might be the first time I couldn't catch someone because this guy had a huge lead on me but I was determined and caught him right on the property line. As I was rolling around on the concrete with this guy, I heard what I thought was an angel getting ready to take my soul. "I believe in you, Hank." Thank god it was just Roxanne coming to work. That's the affirmation I needed, and was able to pin the guy. Chester and Jacoby came running to give me a hand. We wrangled our new friend back into the hospital and into a secure room. When we wrapped everything up, we returned to the office to start the paperwork and get chewed out by Thomas. Surprisingly, I received praise from Thomas, and the other two received an onslaught of swear words for being "on time." I couldn't wait to talk to Roxanne and use the unfortunate series of events to my advantage.