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What a morning
For what I believe is the third time in my life, I just saw a dead body in the city. Alexis and I frequently make what seems now to be a very unfunny joke that, walking dogs in the park at night as we do, we will inevitably find a dead body. I'm always looking into the river as I walk to the train, looking to see unusual ducks, or a swimming muskrat. Instead I saw a pair of pale legs in the dark water. I stopped and stared for a while, eventually convinced that I was looking at someone's idea of a halloween prank--a partially dressed mannequin dropped into the river to scare someone like me, and waste the time of emergency responders. I actually considered for a moment, getting a long stick and dragging it out of the water, to keep someone else from wasting police time.
I struggled with it a bit, and finally called 911. When I said the words "body in the river," the officer on the line repeated them, shouting to the others in the room or on the dispatch line. "Body in the river!" I tried to stammer out that I suspected it was a prank, but the action was in place and he cut me short. I took a few steps, turned back, paused, and then walked to train platform, worried that I was going to be late for work. A man with a T uniform was there; I asked if he was a T policeman or inspector, and he said no, but I told him what was going on anyway. As I was talking to him, sirens and blue lights arrived on Longwood Ave, and I realized that they were going to have to find the body/dummy which wasn't close to a street.
I resolved to be late to work and went back into the park. In seconds there were cruisers on the path, and officers with flashlights everywhere. I found the first policeman and told him "it's over here--I called 911." An EMT caught up with me and I took him to the site. A very frightened looking man (a familiar face from the park) was there, and I was saying that I thought it was a dummy, the cop shook his head and said, "this man found a note." He explained to other officers that the man had found a backpack with what appeared to be a suicide note in or on it. It wasn't until then that I realized that it wasn't a sick prank, but that I wished that it had been. Some mother's daughter is gone.
I struggled with it a bit, and finally called 911. When I said the words "body in the river," the officer on the line repeated them, shouting to the others in the room or on the dispatch line. "Body in the river!" I tried to stammer out that I suspected it was a prank, but the action was in place and he cut me short. I took a few steps, turned back, paused, and then walked to train platform, worried that I was going to be late for work. A man with a T uniform was there; I asked if he was a T policeman or inspector, and he said no, but I told him what was going on anyway. As I was talking to him, sirens and blue lights arrived on Longwood Ave, and I realized that they were going to have to find the body/dummy which wasn't close to a street.
I resolved to be late to work and went back into the park. In seconds there were cruisers on the path, and officers with flashlights everywhere. I found the first policeman and told him "it's over here--I called 911." An EMT caught up with me and I took him to the site. A very frightened looking man (a familiar face from the park) was there, and I was saying that I thought it was a dummy, the cop shook his head and said, "this man found a note." He explained to other officers that the man had found a backpack with what appeared to be a suicide note in or on it. It wasn't until then that I realized that it wasn't a sick prank, but that I wished that it had been. Some mother's daughter is gone.
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