Friday, February 27, 2009

It Takes All Kinds

This evening I sat down to do my weekly mani/pedi (yes, I was pampering myself. I figured that every homeschooling mom needs one vice. This is mine. Salon quality, Walmart prices. DIY, baby.)and the tones went off. No surprise. It is pretty standard. Nail polish goes on, tones go off. So anyway, I was just starting my mani/pedi when our tones went off for the ambulance. I sighed, rolled my eyes, I am sure, and set aside my "Preppy in Pink" nail polish. I grabbed a light coat (remember yesterday's post?), put on my striped barn boots (rubber boots, Wellingtons, whatever), and headed out the door. I arrived at the fire hall, parked, grabbed my bag and ran to the ambulance. We were off.

After about 90 seconds on the road, I began to second guess who my driver was. We were careening around corners and bouncing over every bump. Quite unusual for the driver I had tonight. Arriving on scene in record time, I jumped out of the ambulance with my hands covered in a gorgeous blue latex free glove, my jump bag over one shoulder and clipboard in the other hand. I walked over to the little car at the side of the road, introduced myself, and began asking the pertinent questions. Only to find out this:

Driver A and Passenger B were driving down the road when Little Dog C needed to... potty..... Driver A slowly pulled off the road onto a patch of what appeared to be dead grass and Passenger B proceeded to take Little Dog C out to.... potty. Little Dog C finished its business and Passenger B and Little Dog C returned to the car. Driver A put the car in gear and applied the gas only to find that all three of them were stuck in the mud.... The little car would just not go anywhere. Passenger B called her husband who met them at the side of the road and Mr. Passenger B then called for a tow truck. Somewhere along the line, a Good Samaritan who was passing by decided to do their Good Samaritanly duty and call 911 to report the .... accident... that they had just driven by. At that time, 911 did their job and toned us out for the MVA. Hence the interruption to my mani/pedi and our manic drive down the bumpy road. Now, let me tell you: one of the things that we are strongly encouraged to do (after we establish SAFETY) is this - remain professional AT. ALL. TIMES.

Yeah. About that. I slipped today. When Driver A finally stated (and by finally, I do mean FINALLY. This was not the first piece of information that was given to me. If the shoe had been on the other foot, that would have been the FIRST piece of information I would have gotten across. But that is just me.) that there had been no accident, I broke. I admit it. I snickered. What else was I to do? I quickly pulled myself together, got my information for my paperwork, and returned to the ambulance so we could go home. Here is my plea to you. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you have the opportunity to play Good Samaritan, could you pull over and find out if there was an actual accident first? That would be really helpful. This type of thing happens relatively frequently. It just isn't always this amusing. Ah well. Back to my mani/pedi.

2 comments:

mira said...

'tis the law in Italy that if you're the first person to pass an accident you HAVE to stop and offer assistance. Even if you have no phone, you have to stop and help flag down someone who does. (I'm sure D will come on and correct me on the specifics, but that's what I remember from indoc). I wonder how I'd explain it if an italian pulled up behind me while C was pottying by the side of the road...

and, seriously? preppy in pink? wow...

Mrs. Guthrie said...

That should be a law here. And yes, preppy in pink. :) It is very light and very subtle. I promise. :)