"911 state your emergency........ok thank you...name and telephone number please.........wait, you sure call here a lot.....don't you have a job? Do you really think this is 911 worthy? You really must have some time on your hands lady!"
Ok so that conversation hasn't happened yet, but every time I call and have to give my telephone number I hold my breath a little half expecting it to.
I am pretty sure up until a couple of years ago I had never called 911. To me 911 was a number to be called when someone was breaking in to your house, or you were witnessing a robbery...in other words, it was a number I hoped, and pretty much assumed I would never have to call in my lifetime. And if I did have to call it, it would only be once in my lifetime.
I am not sure what has happened in the last couple of years. Are weird things happening more and more around me? Am I just more
paranoid concerned about my surroundings since having children? Is calling 911 like food poisoning....once you have it (or in 911's case..call it) you are more likely to get it/call it again? Or is it more like Karaoke..once you have done it you feel more and more comfortable doing it again? For the record I have never sang Karaoke.
Either way, in the last 2 years I have called 911 a total of 5 times that I can remember for concerned citizen type things. And come to think of it, all South Side situations.....Concerned South Durham Civilian!
The first time I called 911, I was driving behind a truck past Southpoint Mall, and the truck (it was a Moving Truck type vehicle) started smoking. " Hmmm...that's weird" was my thought until I realized it wasn't coming from the tailpipe, but from inside the back of the truck. "Hmmmm, that is not good" was my second thought until flames started shooting out from the cracks where the door pulls down. "What the %#$%^" was then my thought. Mind you
crazy town the guy is STILL driving down the street! The flames are getting higher and more serious...traffic is pulling over because they don't want to get shot with a rogue flame and since I saw the thing unfold and the guy was not stopping, I thought "I have to call 911!" I did and at the end of the conversation I felt weird when she asked for my number...like I might get in trouble for calling...but I didn't ever hear from the 911 validity officer (in my mind there is such a thing), and life went on. After that, I called for other things:
Another truck on fire...pulling on to the interstate from Fayettville......still driving.....I don't get it either....but I figured since the validity officer didn't call me to chide about the first flaming truck, it must be a valid 911 call
A truck full of mail dumped in the middle of Hwy 54...I don't doubt my
magazine subscriptions important bills were amongst the papers scattered everywhere with cars driving over them....and surprise surprise the trusty mail truck was nowhere in site....and I mean thousands of pieces of mail......911 worthy? I thought so, and according to the dispatcher, I wasn't the first to call about it.....VALIDATED!
My neighbor....ok not my neighbor, but their house...ok it went something like this: It is 1am and my husband comes home from roasting coffee. I was just about to go upstairs when he comes in the door and whispers "Christy there is a weird truck parked in our neighbor's driveway that wasn't there when I left at 8:30 tonight" Now this may not seem 911 worthy, but just 2 days before, my neighbors told me that they were leaving town for 3 days. When I looked out the window, there was a pickup truck parked 2/3 in the driveway, 1/3 in the street....like it was poised for a quick getaway....at least that is what it seemed to be poised for in my
paranoid concerned mind. Husband: "should we call the police?" Me: "I hate to call them at 1am...I don't want to get in trouble" Husband: "I am pretty sure they employ people around the clock for that reason" Me: "that's true" Husband: "maybe we should just go to bed" Me: "can we really go to sleep knowing our neighbors house may get robbed" Husband: "I can fall asleep at the dinner table...so yea" Me: "I'm calling" Needless to say the police show up.....they think the "scene" looks suspicious...the officer calls me from his car.....they finally used my number!....while we are talking and I am watching from the window, another cop is going around the perimeter of the house and another officer is banging on the door.......all of a sudden, the officer I am talking to yells "I see movement in the house!"....hangs up on me, and all officers circle around house ready for battle....shining spotlight on house yelling "COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!!" The next thing I see, a 20 something wide-eyed freaked out girl in her pajamas comes out. She talks to the officer, gets in her truck and parks it properly in the driveway, and goes back inside. OOPS. Come to find out a cousin came early to surprise the neighbor's children when they arrived home the next day. Boy, she must have been the one who had the biggest surprise from the crazy couple next door....double oops. Our neighbors thanked us and said they were happy we were looking out for them, but I know it was just another on a long list of reasons why they secretly think we are
nut jobs quirky. Husband: "don't feel bad honey, you just helped make them more comfortable with their decision to stay away from us".
Side note.....they have gone away at least once that I know of since then without mentioning to us they were leaving......coincidence?........I guess I understand.
The last call came almost a year after "the incident"....nothing happening around me, or purposefully ignoring my surroundings because I was 911 trigger shy......hmmmm...
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| Watch out Durham...I've put me 911 hat back on! |
This time it was a power line hanging about 7 feet off the ground across 54, and people were swerving in the other lane to miss it.
"911 state your emergency.....oh, ok...and where did you say this was.....ok...name and number please.....someone should be there shortly because there have been other calls...thank you for your concern."
PHEW.....validated!
