The Wrap

I decided to wait in the Ambulance bay with my energy drink which was halfway gone, and Chester joined me. He said, "Good job dealing with the asshole in the lobby and giving the cops a hand. Their shift commander will come by and check in on his people because a fourth of the ER were jail clearances and mental holds, so behave yourself." I had a nasty habit of telling the police how I felt if they were not behaving appropriately. For the majority of the local cops, they were cool, but there were a few who liked to try to push their weight around, and that didn't sit well with me. Before I could make a white lie, the remaining cop cars pulled in. I could hear screaming emanating from the back seat so I chugged the rest of my drink. Officer Tiller got out of his car, walked up and said, "We found the dealer, and he's a little banged up. He stabbed a Sheriff's Deputy, and the paramedics are bringing the deputy here momentarily." I grabbed a hospital bed, and we got the kid on the bed from the back of the cop car. He screamed, "YOU ASSHOLES WILL HAVE TO KILL ME BECAUSE I AM NOT GOING BACK TO JUVIE!" I didn't recognize him. I asked, "What's your name, dude?" He responded, "Fuck you, asshole, I ain't giving you shit!" The intelligent remark was followed by spitting on my bulletproof vest. Tiller boomed, "YOU JUST EARNED ANOTHER FELONY!." He took a breath and continued "You're not going to Juvie. You'll be someone's little princess in an adult prison." That shut the kid right up.

Once we got him into a room, I tried to play to his emotions because he didn't seem high himself. I said to him, "It's okay to be scared. You'll get through this one way or another. You don't need to be tough anymore." The waterworks started, and he cried, "I'm sorry for spitting on you and stabbing the deputy. When he grabbed me from behind, I thought someone was trying to rob me!" Tiller said, "The county defense attorneys will do their job to the best of their abilities and help you the best way they can." The kid mumbled, "You mean public pretenders." I tried not to laugh because he had a point. It was 50/50 whether one would be appointed a seasoned lawyer who wanted to help those in a predicament and those who had just made it out of law school.

A nurse walked in with Dr. Redington, who had already ordered medication. The kid pleaded, "Please don't knock me out. I just want to go to jail." Dr. Redington asked, "What's your name, son?" The kid responded quietly, "I'm not going to give it to you, but I won't be a problem." Dr. Redignton looked at Tiller, and Tiller responded with a head shake. Doctor Redington told the police, "If it's okay with you guys, I'm okay with the wrap coming off, but the cuffs should stay on." The cops nodded in agreement, and they took the wrap off. He had been tazed and tuned up by the other Sheriff's Deputies. Redington made the assessment quickly, took the taser prongs out, applied a splint to a broken finger, and stitched up an open gash. Redington stated, "Okay, you are all fixed up. Your black eye and bruises will heal on their own. Officers, he's discharged." As Tiller and the other officers led him out, Tiller asked me, "Do you want to press charges?" I responded, "No need. He's already in over his head." Tiller nodded and walked outside. Jester and I returned to the office to process that mess.

Chester told me, "Good job with the kid. Your college degree paid off." I quickly wanted to get something off my chest, "Not gonna lie, man, I'm tired of seeing all this death and destruction. I feel like I'm topping out and can't do anything about it." Jester responded, "I get it, man. This place is nowhere to spend a lifetime working. I'm only here because of unfortunate circumstances. I have nowhere else to go, but you can do anything. You have a degree and are not a total asshole." Chester was old enough to be my father and, in a way, was. My parents were mediocre at best, but they didn't understand how the world worked and always blamed me for problems in my life that I had no control over. Whenever I pressed charges on someone for beating me, somehow it was my fault, and the person was "sick." I made many fuck-ups at the hospital, but Chester always had my back, whereas my parents would've launched me under a bus.

A few hours of silence had passed and he asked, "How does Aphrodite's Play Ground work?" For a second, I was worried his marriage of twenty years was on the fritz, but then I realized it was something to do with his son, who had just turned 18. "Did you catch your kid on it?" He nodded. I chose to fuck with him a little. "It's a dating app where guys get rejected or scammed." He asked, "Scammed as in what?" I tried to set him in full panic mode. "Girls will try to convince guys to front them money and never give it back. In rare cases, young guys get thrown into the sex trade." I saw the color drain out of his face and decided to come clean, "No, no" I chuckled, "It's fine, but it's more of a letdown for at least eighty percent of guys. Just get your kid to go to a bowling alley or the state fair when it comes around." He responded, "You dick." Then we both started laughing, and he said, "Shouldn't you be making moves on a nurse or a lamp post? Time had flown past, and it was creeping up at four in the morning. I decided it was time to chat with Roxanne and ask her out for real this time.

 I walked through the ER and found the charge nurse, Ross. "If you're looking for Roxanne, she's in the snack closet." He winked at me, and I found my way up to the closet, where there was food for the night shifters. I badged in and saw her digging through the fridge full of week-old spaghetti. I pointed to the bowl on the far left and said, "That one has only been here for two days, and mold can be picked off." She laughed and said, "You didn't had enough fun earlier, so you came to see me?" I laughed and grabbed a candy bar. I said, "I'd much rather spend time with you instead of trying not to get bit by a meth head." She lured, "How do you know I don't bite?"