County Mounties
by Mike Brooks
The 14 year-old in the back seat was still crying as if the storm was still in front of her. It was long gone, but the memory was still very fresh in her mind. After all, it had only been 35 minutes since she had seen a tornado pass just 50 meters before her. She was in shock. I was not equipped to deal with shock, so I tried psycology: "Tell me your names, ladies." Just for the story, I will name them as Meg and Lucy. I don't remember their names anymore. Meg was in front with me, and Lucy was still right in the middle of panic city. I reached out to her with my right hand. I would later find out that I was older than her father, and the hand of an older adult was just what she needed to calm her. Someone was watching over my shoulder that night.
A pickup truck was charging up from straight ahead. As I tried to get his attention by flashing my headlights, he got a case of the wise *** and flashed his lights at me. He almost failed to see the wires and stopped just 10 feet from disaster. He turned down Morgan Church to his right and disappeared.
Meg was really shaken at the close call, so I surveyed the situation and thought I could get around the wires by going up Morgan Church on the north side of the intersection and maneuver around the damage and position myself to the west and have better control of traffic.
"KC4ZTP, this is John." (John is also a police officer in a very nearby town.)
"Go ahead."
"I have just been on the company radio and you have an invitation to bring your guests to the central station where they can bunk until the hazard is past."
"Thanks, John, that seems to have calmed them down a lot. I'll meet with you after they get settled. Here come the county units, I need to meet with them so that the girls car can be returned to them."
The two county officers went directly to the Saturn to see if there were occupants. I called out my window and told them they were with me. One officer ran around the wires and over to us. He asked if the girls would trust him to bring their car around so that Meg could follow me. She couldn't get the key to him fast enough. Lucy was still holding on to my hand, I had to ask her permission to liberate my hand so that I could navigate Morgan Church Road to the South. I reported the time and mileage on the car to Net Control and began my trek. Meg fell in behind me after Lucy got into the front seat. She still held on gently to my elbow as if to say "I don't want to face this fright alone." I didn't mind a bit. It helped her.
When we got to Highway 120, I started to turn left to go the the precinct. Lucy dashed her car in front of me and led me into the Amoco Split Second just west of the interstate. "I know this road. My sister lives just down that road!" I told her to take the lead. She started west on 120 and took the right fork just a mile or so up the road. After all the debris on Morgan church, this road was a breeze. Or was it? When Meg got the Saturn stopped, she was about 20 feet from a giant oak tree that had been knocked across the road.
"Net Control, This is KC4ZTP. I am on Rocky Road 3/4 mile from 120. We have a giant oak across the road."
"We have that one, Mike. How did you wind up there? I thought you were going to the precinct?"
I explained the situation and that we were starting there now. I have no other choice. I reported time and mileage again and started toward the precinct. It was now 2:31 A. M. There were 3 very tired people trying to get to the station. We were still facing storms and the last wave was a few minutes away when we arrived at the precinct. I did a report and left the precinct. The girls were safe.
"John, this is KC4ZTP, where can we meet?"
"How about the same shopping center where you met Jeff last week?
"See you there!"
Choices: