A Life Lived in Loss
May 5, 0820. Marie Kanker's Trailer.
Edd stepped through the threshold of the trailer, and was hit with the terrified nostalgia of kidnappings and passions. The old ship in a bottle that nearly wiped out the cul-de-sac sat neatly on a novelty fireplace, and the prize Marlin that nobody seemed to know who caught hung on the ajacent wall next to a picture frame of the family. The picture showed a happy picnic with all three Kanker sisters, and a dark haired older woman Edd had only met twice.
"Feel free to look around, I've got another pot of coffee on, and the eggs are on the skillet", Edd heard the formerly blue haired girl say. He found himself wandering down the short corridor of the two bedroom trailer, when he stumbled across a utility room, door slightly ajar. His curiosity begged him to look inside, while his guilty concience begged him to go back to the living room and sit. He peered inside, and saw a memorial.
Inside the room was a small table next to the water heater, with a black box, marked "FDNY". Yet again, his curiousity had gotten him. He opened the box, revealing pictures, newspaper clippings, and a small medal. The medal was in a small case, with a clip at the top.
"Eric Kanker, Engine 256, Manhattan"
It was a Class One award for extreme personal risk, as was inscribed on the back. Edd put the case down, and started to snoop through the pictures, when he heard a voice behind him.
"Should have figured you'd end up here" Marie said softly. Edd turned. "Your dad was on New York Fire? I thought your family was from here". Marie turned away, nearly completely around to the door. "Mom and dad divorced just after May was born. He moved up there, and joined their department in '99. He would still talk to us, and we even got to visit him in Manhatten at the end of summer in 2001". Edd looked puzzled, then asked a question he already knew the answer to. "So, he's not around?" Marie let a small tear shed, sighed, and continued. "We got to see him on September 10, on a Monday. We went to see him early in the morning on Tuesday, but just ten minutes after we got there, his station, and about eighty others, got called out. Plane impact on high rise commercial".
"His truck got there, and not long after, a second plane hit. His company was assigned to that building, and it came down". She had to catch her breath, as her lip quivered with emotion. "They said he may have still been alive under the rubble, and several PASS audio devices going off in the rubble, but it was too hot for anyone to go in. We had to listen from down the street as one after another, the sounds cut out". She stopped, and left the room.
Edd came back out, and saw her acting normally, spreading the eggs and bacon out onto plates in the kitchen. "C'mon, sock head. Don't let it get cold.
Edd looked puzzled, but he went on about eating. He always knew how Marie was, her tone could change on a dime, and who would've known, she's had plenty of practice. A life lived in loss, poverty, it was only natural for her personality to turn like it had. Humor, Hormones, and violence were her coping mechanism. He thought about it, and decided her twisted demeanor was better than the alternatives. Nobody likes a blue haired veteran with a coke habit.
He leaned back in the old metal chair, stuffed with dollar store quisine. Just as he started to speak, Marie's phone began to ring. "Marie here, whats up?" Edd could faintly hear an excited female on the other end, and Marie's face sunk a little. "Okay, May, May. Calm down. I'm on my way, call an ambulance, we'll meet you there". She hung up, and grabbed a gray "Sherriff" T-shirt off the couch. "C'mon, Edd. May's gotten into it bad". Edd rushed to the door, and jumped into the passenger seat of the patrol car. He had no sooner than closed the door, when Marie slammed the throttle on the Impala. "SO 22, en-route to 1282 Barras Street, unconsious child, direct call. Respond ambulance if not en route" she calmly spoke into the radio. "10-4, 22. AMR en route, ETA 10 minutes".
"Whats going on, Marie!?" Edd exclaimed. "May's kid, he's only 5, and has bad epilepsy. He went down in their front yard, and stopped breathing." Edd sat back, contemplating what he was about to walk into. "SO 22, Arrived". They pulled the patrol car up to the curb, and Marie jumped out. The blonde haired Kanker sat on the ground, holding a small child, wimpering with tears. She looked up at Edd as he knelt down next to her. "Help him! God, Help him!"