911

Ting was going on her three year anniversary of being a 911 operator in the city that never sleeps. She was proud of her job. She liked helping others and she liked to work the graveyard shift. That way she could still be up in the morning to send her children off to school.

She had worked hard to get the job. She had worked for years after she came to America to perfect her English and her American accent. She had studied basic Spanish as well. That in combination with her Mandarin and Cantonese made her a valuable addition to the team of New York City emergency operators.

Her first call of the evening was from a young man in Harlem whose mother had passed out in what sounded like a diabetic coma. The second call was from the Sigma Nu fraternity at Columbia. Someone nobody knew came in from a party at another fraternity and passed out on their floor and the caller reported that he had thrown up and he didn't think the intruder was breathing. The next was from a mother in a penthouse apartment that overlooked Central Park in the Upper East Side who had been fighting with her teen-aged daughter after she found birth control pills in her room and the girl had just suddenly run away.

She started the next call like every other one. "Police operator 4-3-9-7. Where is the emergency?"

A distant voice said "Um, hello?" It sounded like a small child.

"Hello," she said. "Is everything OK?"

"Hi."

"Hi." Unfortunately one of the consequences of teaching children how to call 911 was that they would all too often make up a story and call the 911 line. Unfortunately every one had to be checked out. The last time a child that sounded like this they said they had been left alone in the house. When the police got there, an Italian family was holding a family reunion and the home was packed with responsible adults.

"Daddy needs help," said the little voice.

That made her eyes go wide. "What's wrong?"

"I think there is a bullet on the floor."

"And the what!"

"And there is blood, coming out of my dad's mouth."

Either this one had a very sick and very detailed imagination or this call would be leading to something awful. The address of the calling home was on her screen. She keyed in a dispatch to a squad car and added a summary description. "He did? Where's mommy at?"

"She's dead."

"What do you mean sweetheart?"

"A bad man came and took her and shot her."

"OK, your daddy is bleeding. How old are you?

"I'm four years old and I have a dog in a house."

This one got Ting's pulse hammering. It sounded too much like it was real. "OK baby, OK. Let me get someone right over to you. Are you with your daddy?

"Uh-huh, and there is blood."

"All over the place?"

"Not all over. There's blood on the desk and his computer."

That was far more frightening. A child who was lying would say there was blood all over. But it was her job to stay calm and keep him calm. "Oh my goodness and you have your little doggie with you?"

"And two goldfish."

"And two goldfish?"

"Two goldfish and one dog."

"OK, are you the only one there besides mommy and daddy?"

"Mommy is gone and I said 'Daddy' and he didn't even answer."

When Ting had first come to America, she liked old reruns of a show called Rescue 911. That's where she learned about the job. This would be a story for that show. "OK, OK, what I want you to do honey. I want you to stay on the phone with me. What is your name?"

"Dash."

They only gave 911 operators one week of training. The first thing they taught was to keep calm yourself. The second was to keep the caller calm and talking so she kept asking questions. "Oh that is a very nice name. What is your doggie's name?"

"Frank."

"How old are you, Dash?"

"Four."

"Four?"

"Uh huh."

Ask for the same information multiple ways to cross check the answers. "Is your daddy awake?"

"Nnn- nnn."

"OK, and what made you wake up tonight?"

"There was, I think I heard a gunshot."

"You heard a gun?"

"Yes, and I see bullets lying on the floor. I think it's a bullet."

"Really!"

"Mmm-hmm."

Was this really a child by their dead father who had been shot. She had to assume so. Now she had to think of the officers who would soon be at the scene. "Who has a gun in the house?"

"I don't see a gun but I'm scared."

The child could say he saw a gun to magnify the story but didn't.

She thought of how her own children would feel if they found her husband dead. They would be completely terrified. "Oh sweetheart!. .. I will not let anything happen to you."

"Can you send a policeman here?"

"I promise I will. .. and you're only 4 years old?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"You are so smart for 4 years old. Wow!. .. are you in school, Dash?

"Um, no, I go to school next year."

"Oh my, you're not even in kindergarten yet?"

"Nope."

"Oh, what's your doggie's name?"

"Frank."

The child's answers were disturbingly consistent. Ting forced herself to remain calm. "Frank, what kind of doggie is she?"

"He's a pug."

Useless little dogs, Ting thought. All noise, no brains. Good only for the pot. The officers would be glad it wasn't a pit bull or a Doberman though. They could kick a pug across the room if it annoyed them. "Oh, you are so smart."

"With, um, brown eyes."

"Oh my goodness, how old is he?"

"He is like 3 years old, or, 2 years old, I don't really know."

When he doesn't know an answer he says so. "Oh my goodness. Was there anybody else in the house tonight besides you and daddy tonight? Like an uncle or anything?"

"Nnn- nnn. Just my brother."

"What's his name?"

"Beck."

Who names their children Dash and Beck, she wondered. They sounded like Santa Claus's reindeer names. "How old is your brother."

"Four."

"OK. So and the doors are all locked? And everything like that. .. Where are you in the house?"

"Well, I was in my room sleeping till I heard a noise shot and it woke me up."

Always exactly the same response. "Oh my goodness. Uh, what part of the house are you in at now?"

"I'm in the one, it's all red and has a big table."

"That sounds really cool. Did you pick out the red walls?"

"Um, no, my mom picked it out."

"OK, listen to me Dash. Is your phone the type that you can take with you and walk around?

"Um, this..."

"Is the front door unlocked?"

"No."

"There should be an officer at your front door. I need for you to take your phone with you and walk over to the door and open it for me, OK? And I will stay on the phone with you, OK?"

"But um ... I'm in my jammies. I need to get dressed first."

"Dash, I don't think the officers will care. We just want to make sure that mommy and daddy are OK, all right?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Stay on the phone with me, stay on the phone, alright?"

"OK."

"My name is Ting, by the way. You are doing a wonderful job Dash, wonderful job. Have you unlocked the front door?"

"I'm too little."

"That's fine. You are doing an excellent job. Did you know that?"

"I knew."

"Is there a back door?"

"Yes."

"You were wonderful, absolutely wonderful. You should be very proud of yourself."

"Mmm-hmm."

"Can you go open the back door?"

Ting could hear the footsteps. She could hear the wind and the rain from the storm. Finally Dash said "The back door is open."

She dispatched the information. A few moments later she could hear the repeater tones of police radios. "OK, you let me know when the officers talk to you. OK you go ahead Dash, talk to the officers."

Finally she heard the much deeper voice of an adult male in the background. "You're talking to 911? OK, tell the operator we're here now and you can hang up."

"Bye sweetheart," she said.

"Um, they're here."

"OK sweetheart, you be good, OK? Bye-bye."