In the quaint village of Dormant
lived an elite group of 8th graders.
They were all academically gifted and each already excited to step out
into the world to do their part for society.
One day, after the local fire department had put on a demonstration at
their school, the children got together and volunteered to take over the town’s
emergency medical response program. By
the following year they had all been trained as EMT’s and the oldest was given
a permit to drive the response vehicle.
In the months that followed they responded
to several emergency calls and successfully treated various injuries and
resolved a couple minor medical issues.
By the end of the 9th grade, they had made quite a name
for themselves, with write-ups in the local paper and one interview at the
local radio station. They were the buzz
of the town.
The back room of the fire
department had been given to the group for the storage of their equipment and
uniforms. They were also allowed to
share in the use of the fire department kitchen, provided they clean up after using
it. So far, everything had been working
out well.
One Wednesday afternoon, at the
Dormant Senior Center, Hamilton McDuff picked up his playing cards, looked at
his royal flush and fell over dead. The
other seniors around the table, having already put some serious coin in the
pot, scooted Hamilton and his chair out of the way and went on with the
game. Martha’s three of a kind ended up
winning the pot and once the hand was over, they called the emergency response
team. The repurposed ice cream truck,
with its siren blaring, pulled up to the front door. As the young EMT’s filed in, Martha was still
counting her quarters and Werther's Originals from her winning hand.
Mary Ellen knelt beside the body
and took his pulse. “He’s toast, but
Larry, get a picture of this royal flush for the paper.” Despite McDuff’s fingers not being very
flexible, Larry was able to snap a great shot of the cards, which made the
front page the following day, under the headline, More than Dormant.
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