Expecting the unexpected.....

'Shields? Why do we need those?'
'Do you want to get stabbed?'
'Not really, no.'
'Well she's got a knife, so we shall need these.'
'Hold on, I didn't join the Police to get stabbed.'
'No one does.'
'This isn't Korea, you're pulling my leg right?'
'No.'
'But I mean, come on, Shields?'

You walked into the house with your colleague, hearing the shouting and screaming from the outside, you knew it wasn't going to be a pretty sight, it wasn't. The man was shouting, loosing control, he had already lashed out once before, you could see that by the injuries the woman had already suffered.

Suddenly he started to swing his arms around, you looked at your colleague and he started to try and calm the man down, but you knew it wasn't going to have any affect. You knew that you would have no chance if this turned violent, and it looked like it could turn that way in a flash. You took hold of your radio and put a message through to control, asking for some help, you were trying to hide the uncertainty in your voice, it was difficult, but you managed to.

As you talked to the two parties, trying to by time till assistance arrived, you give advice on a subject you still to this day, know nothing about, it felt like hours but you know now it was just minutes.

Suddenly the man went for a chair, and picked it up, you shouted at his wife:

'Get out now, take your children and go now!'

Your colleague drew his ASP, but there was no room to extend it. You didn't know what to do, so you just shouted at the man:

'Stay back, stay back, don't move, stay back!'

Both you and your colleague stood between the man and his wife, and made sure she made it through the door, she had to go first, you or your colleague had to be last. As you looked at the man, you made sure it was eye to eye, you thought the next thing that would happen would be that he would go to hit you or your colleague across the face with it.

You had no idea what was about to happen, and to this day you still don't understand it, he looked at your colleague, put the chair back on the floor, sat on it and started to sob, he wept, asking, pleading for help, you put your ASP back in your holder and watched as your colleague arrested the man.

That night you arrived home at about midnight, your dad was still up watching television, he asked you:

'Did you have a good time?'

You looked at him and you said:

'It was good, can't complain.'

'You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.'

Paulo Coelho

The curse of an effective memory......

As the blue lights reflect on the houses, making most of the small street a low lit blue, he has no idea that what he is going to find will change his view on reality.

The door is opened by a mother, she’s taken a beating, blood is escaping from a cut on her head, her face is tear stained, she cries and let’s him through. She takes a seat on the sofa, and this young Officer’s tutor takes the reigns, asking what has happened and where her husband is, she says she doesn’t know, he’s gone out to calm down.

Suddenly she bolts upright, a thought has come into her mind, she begins to enter the early stages of hysterics, she wants her daughter, and she has no idea where she has gone. The young officer volunteers to go upstairs and look for her, he checks room by room, no sign, the last room is the one with the pink door, he knows he should have checked this one first, he chastises himself for not doing so.

He opens the door, he can’t see anyone, but he knows where to look, because as a younger boy it is where he would hide, if he was scared. He looks under the bed and finds a young girl, she’s crying, he manages to convince her of what he is not convinced of himself, he tells her:

‘You’re going to be alright, you’ll be safe with me, no one is going to hurt you.’

As she stands up, she grabs hold of his leg and hugs it tightly, he doesn’t know what to do. Fighting back tears, he takes her by the hand, down the stairs and into the protective arms of her mother.

Three hours later, he walks to the bus stop, it’s raining and there is no one else around, he scoffs at the fact that it's a cliche. He gets on the bus and sits at the back, he looks around and realises that no one else is there, as he remembers what he knows he will never be able to forget, he puts his hood up and starts to cry silently, uncontrollably. He tries to stop but he can’t, the sound of her cries, the feeling of her tight grip, won’t leave him, to God he wishes it would.

If you had any real courage, any strength of character at all or even a slight hint of bravery, you would admit that this young officer was you.

‘Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.... With all its sham, drudgery & broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.’

Go Placidly, Desiderata.