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A FAIR EXCHANGE
Janet Fremont
Julia Walker slipped on her coat, picked her purse up from her locker and started out of the restaurant. It was after nine on a Sunday night and she had been on her feet working since ten that morning. Now she was bone tired and looked forward to nothing more that getting back to her tiny apartment and dropping into bed. At least she'd have Monday off since she had worked the last six days straight.
Outside the February wind bit through her coat and she quickly began to walk the block and a half to the bus stop. She had a car but a week ago something had broken and it was going to take several hundred dollars to get it fixed. It would be at least a couple of weeks until she had that so until then she would need to ride the bus or walk the mile and a half to her apartment. She hoped she hadn't missed the last bus.
As she approached the stop she saw an older man sitting on the bench at the stop. He was well dressed with a warm, new looking coat, gloves and low boots. A warm looking cap was on his head. Beside him was a nice leather case, the kind that would be used to hold a contract or other small group of papers. At first, he looked to be asleep but as she approached she saw that he was moving slightly but appeared to be in some kind of distress. She looked up. There were still dozens of people out on the street. Many college students but a mix of older adults as well. Many passed by the man without seeming to notice anything wrong, but as she got closer Julia became more and more convinced he was in trouble.
She quickly sat beside him and asked, "Excuse me, but are you all right?"
His eyes came around to her and for a second seemed to realize what she had asked. He tried to speak but couldn't seem to manage to get any words out. He finally gave his head a single shake left and right. Julia reached for her phone. "I'm going to call 911." As she pressed the keys she thought she could see a look of deep gratitude in his troubled eyes.
"What is the nature of your emergency?"
The operator sounded almost bored but Julia quickly answered, "I'm at a bus stop between fifth and sixth on Lincoln. There is a man on the bench who appears to have a medical emergency. He can't speak but is conscious. My name is Julia Walker."
The operator no longer sound bored. "We'll have EMTs there in a few minutes. Is he breathing?"
"Yes, but he doesn't seem to be able to speak although I think he is conscious and at least somewhat aware."
"Help is on the way. Can you please leave this line open until then?"
"Certainly. I'll wait here with him." She turned towards the man and said, "There is help on the way." He made no reply but it was easy to tell that he had understood and was quite thankful.
In only four minutes or so an EMT team pulled up at the curb and a man and a woman quickly moved to the bench. Julia spoke into her phone, "The EMTs are here. If that's all you need from me, I'll hang up now."
"Yes, thank you."
The team was quickly making a preliminary examination and she heard one of them say, "OK, Sir, we're going to get you to the ER now." They moved over a stretcher and quickly got him into the ambulance. Then the woman turned to Julia and said, "We'll be taking him to the Grant Memorial ER. Can you give me his name?"
The EMTs hadn't noticed the leather case and Julia had picked it up, planning to hand it over to them. She had noticed that the name
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Email: janetfremont@gmail.com
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