Spirituality and Self Help
LOVE's Open House
LOVE visits the morgue
�Will you take my place on duty?� asked Debbie.
Changing schedules was permitted with the Victim Crisis Assistance and Referral Service (VCARS) as long as the replacement was qualified. I had been on the team longer than Debbie, so it wasn�t a problem. Little did I know, it was to be a necessity.
The VCARS program was partnered with the city police. Whenever the police were called to an incident, the volunteers of VCARS were called in also to assist the victims, which would enable the police to go to their next call. VCARS served in all cases, whether it be rape, break and enter, an accident-everything and anything except a domestic incident or drunkenness.
It was two days before Christmas, and Debbie would be able to travel home for the holidays two days earlier if I said yes. I was hoping to do my last-minute shopping and cooking, and didn�t really want to do her shift. The two-hour ride home after her shift wouldn�t be hard to do! I thought, a little perturbed.
What would LOVE do? I asked. �Say yes,� came the answer. But I don�t want to! I replied. Ok! Send me what I need and I will do it! I told LOVE.
Ten minutes after saying yes to Debbie, I received a call from the police. I had to go to a home to take the family to the morgue to identify their eight-year-old son who had just been run over by a train!
Oh, my God! What will be left of him? What must the family be going through!
The father had been out on a Christmas pass from one of the minimum-security prisons and had decided to take his son ice fishing with him and his brother. The boy was thrilled. He loved to fish and he loved being with his dad and uncle � with the men. His mom and eleven-year-old sister stayed home to do some Christmas baking. Dad was going to be home for Christmas-the first time in a long while. They whistled and talked. The boy couldn�t be happier. Dad decided to take a shortcut by walking along the railway track.
What was that sound? The roar was getting closer! A train was coming! There was only one thing they could do to get to safety� jump across the track!
They jumped and fell to the ground. Before he could get up, the father saw his son�s boot on the ground on the other side. No! It couldn�t be! He had to have made it! His boot just fell off as he jumped! Maybe he fell backwards and didn�t get sucked in by the train! Nooooo! He screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed!
It was impossible to hold him. He went crazy.
By the time I was called, the ambulance had taken the boy to the hospital morgue. I personally had seen many dead bodies but never one that had been run over by a train.
It took some time to gather everyone, to calm them enough to go to the hospital and then prepare them for the nightmare that was about to take place.
His sister insisted on going in with her parents. They allowed it, knowing it would be the last time she would have a chance to say good-bye to her little brother.
The child and family�s angels must have been with them because the greater damage had been done below the neck. They managed to wipe some blood off his face but couldn�t hide the bruises and cuts.
Our hearts felt like they were being ripped out of our bodies. I didn�t know this boy, but I could tell he was special. I remained with that family the entire day. I continued to serve them through the funeral, Christmas, and a few days after that.
It was apparent why LOVE asked me to take Debbie�s place that fateful day. She could have chosen someone else to ask for the favor, but she asked me.
I was trained in palliative and pastoral care, had worked in hospitals, had seen many terrible accidents, and had gone to more funerals than I cared to count.
Debbie had never been to one funeral in her life, nor had she seen a dead body.
LOVE knew where it needed to be and knew which one to send.
I was glad I had said yes to Debbie�s request. The shopping didn�t get done, but it no longer mattered!
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