RT; M.E.?

Over the last two years I've had quite a few firsts... Although I've always held a desire to work on the railroad, that dream was fufilled briefly last year. That short stint working on a the track gang didn't discourage me, far from it. It's only fortified my desire to get on with any railroad full-time. I have a few things going now in that regard and they're far from certain right now so I'm not going to write about them at all except to say that two are here in West Virginia and the third is in Panama with the Trans-Panamanian Railroad. All three would require me to relocate though, as even the two here are too far to drive every day.

Another first is me becoming a firefighter. If you had told me even a year ago I'd become one I'd have laughed in your face and called you crazy.

Now who's crazy?

So Saturday night after I get to work, I meet up with my paramedic buddy (He's responsible in part for me joining the fire department) and we started to discuss my living arrangements. I had expressed the desire to him about getting out of my apartment and into my own place at some point but my finances being what they are, are hamstringing me. Not that I'm dirt-poor, far from it, it's just that the rent is going up yet again and I just can't see me getting ahead anytime soon without a substantial pay raise which I won't be holding my breath waiting on.

My friend knows a guy who had a 16' x 80' newer used singlewide for sale, only $5,500, and the owner is willing to do a 'rent-to-own' plan with me if I can come up with a $2,000 downpayment. That's all well and good but trying to come up with that right now is becoming more and more unlikely. If I could just come up with the down payment, I'd be doing better than ok, I'd be able to put about $300 more a month away for other things over and above the rest of my expenses.

So my friend says I need to get a part time job.

No shit. I've been looking, but with my schedule and the hours I work and I'm available doesn't leave me open to a whole lot. So he suggests taking the test for Mercer County Medical examiner.

Heh?

Apparently the qualifications are minimal... And after the last call where we had a successful graduate of my seminar series, "Suicide: Get I Right The First Time" and saw one of the three part-time ME's the county has in action... That was scary... I even said I could do a better job. It's not really hard to figure out if someone is dead in the first place. I've seen enough dead guys, know how to approximate time of death by lividity and rigor... And most times cause is apparent and blatantly obvious. It's not like I'd be doing criminal investigations either like some guy on CSI, that's done by the Sate Coroner in Charleston.

And, although it's not a full time job, the county does pay you $100 every time you're called out for a dead guy.

So, I don't know. I'll take the test and see what happens. I've been dealing with dead guys for a long time and it doesn't bother me in the slightest, and besides, after almost ten years of marriage I was beginning to think I was into necrophilia anyway... That was really like sleeping with a cadaver.

Anyway, like I said. It's not another career change, nothing permanent, just another means to and end.

And $100 bucks per dead guy.

Bring out yer' dead!

Copyright 2005 Thomas J Wolfenden