The Man with the Rigor Mortis Hands
Outside my apartment building lay a man with rigor mortis hands. He's been lying there for some time now. The first to arrive were the firefighters. They only respond to emergency situations, not criminal acts. I don't think he was shot or stabbed. I don't see any blood. I think he was drinking all day and passed out in that peculiar spot right between the curb and the tire of that Honda Prelude.
There's a siren in the middle distance. When I look out the window, the noise is coming from every direction, making it difficult to tell from where it will come. It peaks and then it passes. The firefighters are holding a string above his head. The have flashlights in their hands, and the light makes a web of beams around his body. I can't see his face, otherwise I would see his condition.
The ambulance arrives. They turned their siren off. The cops would have been here by now if it had been a crime scene. Medics get out and walk over to the man. A man talking on a cell phone walks by and stops, keeps walking and stops again to look back. He's probably wondering the same thing as I. A nice-looking couple passes by. The woman is pulling the man to get him to hurry up. The man is worried. One of the medics looks at him for a second and goes back to work. They are preparing a stretcher. If he were dead, they would have a body bag, the kind with the zipper.
They pull at the man's shirt. His legs haven't moved at all. I can see my breath on the window pane. I can see my face in the reflection. I see the cornea and the pupil of my eye. I look aware. They pull him onto the stretcher and tie him down. They are crowded around him I can't see his body anymore they are moving the stretcher there is a space between two of the medics and I can see his arms they are up in the air why are they up in the air if he was really drunk they wouldn't be in the air like that they close the door to the ambulance.
The ambulance is parked outside my apartment. If he were really in need of medical attention they would have been speeding away by now. Another ambulance wails in the distance. It races down the main thoroughfare on its way to or from a different incident. Why is there so much activity on a Sunday? Sunday is a day of rest. I thought this man was drinking today because it is Sunday and got too drunk and landed next to that curb. But he had rigor mortis hands that stood straight up. They didn't move at all, and when they strap you down, that is the priority - your hands. If they need to put tubes in you, they can't have your hands waving around, pulling tubes out.
The ambulance is pulling away. It does a three point turn in the intersection outside my apartment. The lights inside the ambulance are on. I can see inside the ambulance through the back windows. I can see the man. His arms are folded on his chest.
I can see his arm move.
There's a siren in the middle distance. When I look out the window, the noise is coming from every direction, making it difficult to tell from where it will come. It peaks and then it passes. The firefighters are holding a string above his head. The have flashlights in their hands, and the light makes a web of beams around his body. I can't see his face, otherwise I would see his condition.
The ambulance arrives. They turned their siren off. The cops would have been here by now if it had been a crime scene. Medics get out and walk over to the man. A man talking on a cell phone walks by and stops, keeps walking and stops again to look back. He's probably wondering the same thing as I. A nice-looking couple passes by. The woman is pulling the man to get him to hurry up. The man is worried. One of the medics looks at him for a second and goes back to work. They are preparing a stretcher. If he were dead, they would have a body bag, the kind with the zipper.
They pull at the man's shirt. His legs haven't moved at all. I can see my breath on the window pane. I can see my face in the reflection. I see the cornea and the pupil of my eye. I look aware. They pull him onto the stretcher and tie him down. They are crowded around him I can't see his body anymore they are moving the stretcher there is a space between two of the medics and I can see his arms they are up in the air why are they up in the air if he was really drunk they wouldn't be in the air like that they close the door to the ambulance.
The ambulance is parked outside my apartment. If he were really in need of medical attention they would have been speeding away by now. Another ambulance wails in the distance. It races down the main thoroughfare on its way to or from a different incident. Why is there so much activity on a Sunday? Sunday is a day of rest. I thought this man was drinking today because it is Sunday and got too drunk and landed next to that curb. But he had rigor mortis hands that stood straight up. They didn't move at all, and when they strap you down, that is the priority - your hands. If they need to put tubes in you, they can't have your hands waving around, pulling tubes out.
The ambulance is pulling away. It does a three point turn in the intersection outside my apartment. The lights inside the ambulance are on. I can see inside the ambulance through the back windows. I can see the man. His arms are folded on his chest.
I can see his arm move.
posted by Smidge at 8:26 AM
2 Comments:
Rigor Mortis Hands?
rigor mortis (n): stiffening of the joints and muscles of a body a few hours after death, usually lasting from one to four days.
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