Chapter 5

I was back to work, and my partner and I were hanging out at Big City General Hospital, awaiting our next run. Medic 8 pulled up, and disgorged their patient. Once they were done, and cleaning up their truck, we wandered over to chat. One of the crew was an old partner of mine, Athos.

“Hey!”, he greeted me. “You been talking to Cletus?”

“About what?” was my response.

“Your girlfriend. He asked me, and I quote, if you were still seeing ‘that nigger bitch’. I asked him if his momma was still whoring, and, for some reason, at that point the conversation ended.” Athos grinned. “Not talking to that dingleberry will not bother me at all.”

I turned to my partner, and shrugged. Doug ventured, “Guess he doesn’t like black folks much, eh?”

“I wonder if that might prove to be some kind of handicap, in a city with a black mayor, black city council, and mostly black residents.” I took a breath. “That big talking, cock sucking piece of shit has never met Kathy, couldn’t pick her out of a lineup, and presumes to judge her.”

Doug’s dark eyes narrowed. “Hey, partner! Don’t start nothing! He’s an asshole, everybody knows he’s an asshole, and he’s gonna need some backup sooner or later. Might kinda suck, if everybody else in the city is busy when his ‘Code 1000” comes out? Or, when he goes down on charges, and you know he will, his mouth is bound to talk him into some stuff, do you suppose he’s gonna call the ‘nigger loving’ chief steward to help him keep his job?”