Part II...Just another Day

Continued:
 
 The rain is so hard I can't see to drive. Sharon and the Dobie are wet from the run from her house. Loaded, we head into town. She watches my white knuckles on the wheel." We'll make it, it'll be fine," she reassures me. Will it? If we're lucky we will have learned enough at that disaster course. This one will test the handlers and dogs.

 When we arrive, we learn that the Walkway between two major hospitals has collapsed. The storm had gotten inside of the half-completed new wing and blown out the upper two stories. Out and down. On top of that walkway. It's a busy pedestrian crossover. Missing people are a good possibility. A third team member arrives. We take the briefing from the Fire Chief and divide up to search.

 Sharon and Bubba to the left, Ruth and Jasmine, a Shepherd, go right. The Schip is to check all the back wall for possible crawl spaces that might hold a human. We are faced with a debris pile that is 60 feet long, 25 feet wide and 15 feet high.

 "Have they turned off the electricity?"  I call back across the glass, bricks, steel beams and wet aluminum.  "Yes".  Thunder announces another approaching storm. We must hurry. We climb and the Schip waits on each level, wet, and still tired from this morning's search. I help the others as we struggle to reach the top. The Schip now jumps on the big I beam and shows that its only another agility course. We reach the wall and the little black body disappears into a "pocket".

The butt comes back out and he pops up to move to the next hole. Slowly we make our way along the wall. All dogs are quiet as I wait to hear the alert bark.

 Nothing. We carefully climb down and give the report. I need to check the far right corner, but will have to go from inside the building. We can't reach it from the outside.

 As we enter the building, the Shepherd bounds ahead. LIGHTS!  My God, the lights and electricity are still on in the search area! One light fixture is only 2" above the water we are all standing in, and I had been working in, on the back wall. The fireman besides me swears...we call to Jasmine who is searching. We must get out NOW. She comes, as training has taught her...immediately.

 I brief the Chief and a voice deep and confident says behind me, "If she said 85% chief, we can go home". JT, my EMT instructor knows me well and he laughs and hugs me. "You're too conservative. Your dogs can find in 130 feet of water, so they would sing their heads off in 15 feet of debris." I know he's right, but I am afraid to leave someone trapped .

 One by one the emergency trucks pack up and leave. I gets darker now, and I find blood on my hands. Fox is hurt. The emergency room docs help me to clean and care for the little dog's foot. It will be fine by morning. As I too drive away, I ask Sharon, "Do you ever feel like you just played God?".

 At home Ray cares gently for the dog and unloads the truck. I take my third shower of the day. As I crawl into the bed the clock reads 1 AM. It's been a long and successful day. The papers and news carry the stories. We are not included in the reports...by our request. We do not search for fame, only to help others.

 One by one the little black Schip bodies come to give me comfort. Two humans and 4 small furry bodies drift off to sleep "perchance to dream"...the training has been enough...but that's another story...for next time.
Pat and the Sarschips
 

[Stories Home]  [Burning Need]  [The Flood]  [Molly]  [Aaron]  [Just Another Day]  [Water Search]  [Mock Search]  [Murder Most Foul]  [Gone Fishing]  [Once Again]  [Cossatot River Search]  [Return to Life]  [Too Old for This]  [Lord Vincent] [Up From The Depths]  [Citizenship]    [Search Schip]  [Marmaduke Search]  [Lilly and Jamie]  [White Water Killer]  [Blood, Sweat 'N Cheers]