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Entry tags:
Arrival
Jack had gone home, eaten, taken care of his leg, showered, then collapsed into the bed that was, still, too large. He didn’t have any real expectation of getting more than a few hours of sleep, especially after the way the shift ended today, but that just kept his body clock set for the night shift. That was what he told his therapist and the docs at the VA, anyway.
He woke up slowly after a dreamless sleep and laid in the bed for a few more minutes than he might have normally. He was off tonight and there wasn’t too much he needed to do. His laundry was clean and folded, the few dishes he actually got dirty cooking for one were done, and he’d even been to the grocery store recently. He thought about reading a book that had been on his side table long enough for it to be dusty.
The condo was always too quiet, so he opened the police scanner app on his phone and selected the Pittsburgh PD stream for background noise as he started to move around. He wondered if Raymond Orser’s family had come by and if the letter had helped. He hoped it had. He’d seen too many letters written by too many commanding officers, but he also knew they needed to be written. There needed to be more than two people in a uniform on a porch, whether it was a military uniform or a police uniform.
The scanner had been reporting the usual combination of traffic accidents, break-ins, domestic disputes, and missing persons. The rhythm of the dispatcher and the officers was almost like listening to someone calling cadence. He got down on the floor and started doing pushups, then situps, feeling his muscles warm as he focused on proper form and repetitions. Both types of cadence were broken suddenly by the words, “Automatic fire! Automatic fire! Active shooter, all units respond, PittFest, Point State Park.”
His adrenaline spiked, just for a moment. Robby had given Jake his tickets to PittFest. The chances of Jake or Leah being involved were low, but not zero. The chances were never zero, unless they were talking about the chances of everything going well on any given day.
The scanner traffic continued and it became clear that this was going to be a mass casualty event and that PTMC would be the primary facility. Robby and the day shift were going to need backup staff, and he was sure he’d get a text in the next few minutes asking him to come in. He didn’t need it, though. He was already donning his leg and getting into a clean pair of scrubs. He went to the bathroom since god only knew the next time he’d have a chance to piss, then grabbed his go bag from the corner of the living room and headed out. It was going to be a long night for everyone.
There were distant sirens as he ate a protein bar and walked the few blocks to PTMC. They’d get closer soon, and he couldn’t help but think of the sound of Dustoffs arriving. The glass doors to the hub were in front of him as he walked in from the ambulance bay and he could see Robby starting to direct people. Just as the automatic doors opened to let him step in, he was suddenly not in the hub. He was in a hospital, but it wasn’t PTMC. He didn’t recognize any of these people or any of their uniform colors.
What the fuck had just happened?
He woke up slowly after a dreamless sleep and laid in the bed for a few more minutes than he might have normally. He was off tonight and there wasn’t too much he needed to do. His laundry was clean and folded, the few dishes he actually got dirty cooking for one were done, and he’d even been to the grocery store recently. He thought about reading a book that had been on his side table long enough for it to be dusty.
The condo was always too quiet, so he opened the police scanner app on his phone and selected the Pittsburgh PD stream for background noise as he started to move around. He wondered if Raymond Orser’s family had come by and if the letter had helped. He hoped it had. He’d seen too many letters written by too many commanding officers, but he also knew they needed to be written. There needed to be more than two people in a uniform on a porch, whether it was a military uniform or a police uniform.
The scanner had been reporting the usual combination of traffic accidents, break-ins, domestic disputes, and missing persons. The rhythm of the dispatcher and the officers was almost like listening to someone calling cadence. He got down on the floor and started doing pushups, then situps, feeling his muscles warm as he focused on proper form and repetitions. Both types of cadence were broken suddenly by the words, “Automatic fire! Automatic fire! Active shooter, all units respond, PittFest, Point State Park.”
His adrenaline spiked, just for a moment. Robby had given Jake his tickets to PittFest. The chances of Jake or Leah being involved were low, but not zero. The chances were never zero, unless they were talking about the chances of everything going well on any given day.
The scanner traffic continued and it became clear that this was going to be a mass casualty event and that PTMC would be the primary facility. Robby and the day shift were going to need backup staff, and he was sure he’d get a text in the next few minutes asking him to come in. He didn’t need it, though. He was already donning his leg and getting into a clean pair of scrubs. He went to the bathroom since god only knew the next time he’d have a chance to piss, then grabbed his go bag from the corner of the living room and headed out. It was going to be a long night for everyone.
There were distant sirens as he ate a protein bar and walked the few blocks to PTMC. They’d get closer soon, and he couldn’t help but think of the sound of Dustoffs arriving. The glass doors to the hub were in front of him as he walked in from the ambulance bay and he could see Robby starting to direct people. Just as the automatic doors opened to let him step in, he was suddenly not in the hub. He was in a hospital, but it wasn’t PTMC. He didn’t recognize any of these people or any of their uniform colors.
What the fuck had just happened?
no subject
"Yeah, I get that," says Robby, who does wear headphones on his way to and from the Pitt, and who almost always has either the radio or the TV or a blue tooth speaker blaring music when he's home. He's even started listening to podcasts to fall asleep. He laughs at the mention of the seminar, shaking his head. "Jesus Christ, I'd forgotten about that. You didn't shut up about that for weeks."
no subject
He made sure to make his voice sound as arrogant as possible for the section he'd quoted. They'd both heard enough of that at CME events to be able to mimick it perfectly.
They stepped into the train station and Jack spotted the information desk immediately. There was someone behind it who looked very bored. It reminded him of in-processing at any new post.
"So I just walk up there and tell them my name, rank, and serial number?"
no subject
"By text AND in person. Which was incredibly generous and thorough of you." They walk into the station and Robby nods. "That's pretty much it. And I..." He turns, scanning the concourse. "Will be over there buying us coffee."
It's not an independent, but it's a chain that he's figured out is pretty much just Darrow Starbucks.
no subject
He glanced over to the little kiosk, which said it was Ahab's Coffee but looked a little like the Starbucks logo. There was some kind of literary reference there, maybe, but Jack wasn't sure what it was and it didn't matter anyway.
"Thanks. I'll go see what the Welcome Wagon volunteer over there has to say."
He strolled over and gave his name to the woman behind the counter and received his "packet", which had quite a bit of stuff in it. She didn't seem interested in providing any verbal instructions or suggestions. He smiled and thanked her anyway, then started opening it while he walked back over to Robby.
"I've had worse ID pictures," he said, looking at the photo of himself. It showed him in black scrubs, and other than the fact that he hadn't sat for it, it could be any ID picture he'd taken in the last five years. "Be glad you never saw my first DOD ID Card."
He'd met Robby when he'd barely been older than he had been when they took his picture for his first ID card, so Robby knew what an extremely young Jack had looked like, but the picture was still pretty bad.