The motion detector in my room makes a very slight clicking sound when it detects movement. It bothered me for a while when I first moved in, but like most annoying house sounds, eventually you tune them out.
Except for when it happened at 1am this morning. And of course, it had to happen at 1am this morning, because I went to bed early, with the plan of getting a SOLID 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. So, at 1am, I heard the damn thing make its slight clicking sound, and jumped to the conclusion that something had set off the motion detector. For some reason, I wondered if the motion detector had been set off by something in the house. So, I did the logical thing of getting up out of bed and looking down the hallway and walking into the kitchen and living room. Of course, all was well.
All was well, but I still left of the hallway light to scare away boogeyman as I looked under my bed and crawled back into bed, hiding under the covers. Ah, flashbacks to being 5 years old again.
And then, just before work, the alarm on the landlord's house went off. It was like 7:15 in the morning. Who the hell would break in to a house at that ungodly hour? So, I waited. And waited. Figuring that they had set it off accidently on their way out of the house, and that they would reset it immediately. One minute went by. Two minutes went by. I debated calling them to ask them if they were thinking about turning it off... What I was really afraid of was that I would leave the house, and as I left the armed response company would show up. And since I drive a sort of ghetto robber-ish car, I'd be worried that they would shoot me. Sadly, this happened recently to a couple returning home from vacation as robbers were breaking in to their home. After about 5 minutes, I decided to look out the window and see if there was anything interesting going on, especially if the alarm company had shown up.
One of the other tenants from a small house on the property was standing outside talking on the phone, and so I chatted with him, and found out that all was safe, that the alarm had been accidently tripped by him, and that there was actually nobody home to reset it. See, I knew it would be silly to rob a house at this hour.
I still drove out of the house cautiously.
Fast forward to the gym... There I am, lifting weights, lost in thoughts and music blaring via my ipod. Totally in my own world. And blind. When I need a serious session at the gym, I prefer to go without contacts/glasses, that way I don't get distracted by... well, you know by what, and can just chill out and be in my own zone. But, flashing red lights can get into my zone, as I found out tonight.
I was doing some arm machines, when I looked outside and saw flashing red lights. So I got up and looked outside. Of course, I had to squint hard, and I could make out a van or something with flashing red lights. I couldn't really see more. I made a mental note to think about laser eye surgery, and decided that it was a AA (the SA equivalent of AAA, not AA as in problems with the bottle) probably jumping a car battery or changing a tire. I made this deduction based on the fact that there were red lights only.
I returned to my gym area, where a few thoughts suddenly dawned on my simultaneously.
One, when I heard that slight clicking thing go off in the bedroom in the wee hours of the morning, it was likely set off by me rolling over in bed. I don't think it goes off if the other motion sensors are set off. And now I was going to have to figure out a way to test this hypothesis. Why didn't I pay more attention last week when the bird flew in through the kitchen security door (the one with bars, the real door was open to allow fresh air, and birds, in). Now I'm going to have to get either a friend to come over and walk around, or maybe I can lure a stray cat or dog into the house and try out this hypothesis.
Two, as I left work, and got stuck in the queue to get out of the hospital drive, an ambulance was coming down the road, and it, in fact, had only red flashing lights. Would I be a bad person if there was some guy having medical problems in the parking lot, and I didn't help because I thought it was a dead battery?
So, I walked back to to the window, where thankfully there was one gawker left.
Me: What's going on out there?
V: Oh, I guess some guy's just been shot in the arm.
I slowly run this sentence through my mind, much as I suspect Microsoft Word does when it checks grammar. Some-guys-just-been-shot-in-the-arm.
Me: Oh.
V: Hmmm.
Now obviously, the first thing that came to mind was semantics. Does he mean that this guy has "just" been shot. Like he was freshly shot out there in the parking lot OUTSIDE OUR GYM? I mean, it would seem silly that he was shot say a few hours ago, had a nice work out (maybe decided to not work out his arms today, just did legs), and then realized that he was woozy post work out and called for an ambulance? So, just may mean that it just happened.
Or, does he mean, he's "just" been shot in the arm, meaning, no big deal, it's "Just" the arm. We do have two of them? I'm hearing the voice in my head quote Monty Python "It's just a flesh wound, I'm not dead yet." So, really, being shot in the arm isn't a big deal. At least the guy will still be able to walk around ok, right?
V: Do I detect an accent?
Me: Yep, I'm from the states.
V: cool, what do you do?
Me: I work at Bara.
V: Oh, are you a doctor?
Me: Um, yes.
OH SHIT! THAT'S RIGHT, I AM A D-O-C-T-O-R. And now because I have a big mouth, V knows this fact. I try to recall the oath we took when we graduated, it doesn't technically say anything about rendering medical aid to people who have "just" been shot in the arm, and I mean the ambulance is out there...
Me: So, what do you do? (hoping he'll forget about Bara)
V: I work on a farm
Me: Wow, that sounds cool
V: So, you must see a lot of bad stuff at Bara
Me: (damn, back on the doctor thing), Um, yeah.
I'm debating two things as this conversation unfolds. I already feel guilty because I haven't been to the gym since Thursday, and god knows after what I did to my body this weekend, I need this session. Sadly, the gym is closing in 15 minutes, which doesn't really give enough time to render medical aid, and complete my work out. Two, I mean, it's "just" an arm. Of course, I'm assuming the trajectory is from the front or back, meaning that the bullet would have continued onwards. But then I realize that if the shot was from the side, it is possible it could have entered the chest. Oh, that would be "just" bad. V is saying something, and I'm nodding, realizing that I should head out there and see if I can help, and that's when I see the ambulance pulling away. Phew, decision made for me.
We chat a bit, and I head off to finish my routine. And I'm slightly anxious. I mean, somebody was just shot out there in the parking lot.
Reality check.
Reality check.
Reality check.
