Okay. So, my other dispatcher tells me today that there is no code 5, but the moment that bit of stupidity flowed from her lips, she proceeded to define code 5. I can't be the only one who sees the contradiction in defining something that doesn't exist. Just for your 10-43, code 5 does exist and can be defined as the following: dead and/or not alive.
That bit aside, I had my first house burn completely to the ground. Fortunately, it was an abandoned home. No occupants helped with the whole no injuries bit. Always a good thing...
Rounding out my evening was a nice little first for me. My very first all out gruesome murder. How 'bout that? Add to that the fact that this was a murder with a suicide following suit and you have yet another first for my list. First jazz aside, I was so detached during this call. I heard myself methodically asking questions and giving instructions, but it was as if I was just a fly on the wall. Not that I can fly, mind you.
I particularly felt nothing as I had the caller wrestle the gun from the hands of the son who found the bodies of his parents, blood seeping from gun shot wounds to their respective heads and torsos, staining an already stained, worn carpet. I felt nothing. Upon reflection, this concerns me greatly.
The first inkling of emotion came as I watched their son walk into the lobby, so seemingly lost, shoulders slumped, head lowered. The tide came in when the boy looked at me, daring me without words to look away from the naked torment in his eyes. The biggest wave, however, came when the boy asked me, "What am I supposed to do now?" Oh, I know he was making a reference to the command to come to the station for an interview, but that sentence took on new life in my brain and elsewhere.
I find I have no desire to continue explaining this situation at the moment. Mayhap I'll continue later. If not, suffice it to say that it takes at least 500 degrees to "kill" DNA, so there will be traces of these two lives which have been summarily snuffed out until the place is consumed by fire.
I'm going to bed now. Sweet dreams to you all. I'm rather hoping for sleep devoid of any and all dreams. Wish me luck.
