24/16

 

GLOBAL/NAPOWRIMO 2024 DAY 16

THE HELICOPTER CREW

I used to live on the sixteenth floor of a twenty two storey tower and every night when the helicopter buzzed the windows people would say 'the balloon's gone up' it was far from unusual for there to be a lot of trouble in the bars and on the streets in that vicinity in those days not only that but different gangs were fighting each other for control of the lucrative illegal drug trade and all of the gangs were at war with the police mystery fires would break out in twelve storey tower blocks and because the gangs prevented the fire brigade getting close enough to extinguish the flames it would inevitably result in the eventual demolition of the blocks they don't call helicopters choppers or balloons in this part of the world but they still truck past flying sick patients to hospital motorbike accidents fell walkers galore and worse 'what service do you require fire police or ambulance asks the call handler on the emergency phone ninety calls - every sixty seconds - someone falls heart attacks strokes no joke for the paramedics if there was only something anyone could do to make things a tidge better for someone else for the nurses the doctors the inpatients and staff not to mention the helicopter crew

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