Black Flies Post #3

In this part of the book, the EMT's and police's mental issues are brought to light even more. Ollie has a new nickname now, one to replace his old one as "the Coroner". His new nickname is "Cross". While it is nothing special, it is still better than his old one. Anyways, back to the mental issues. A perfect example is when Rut, Ollie, and a policeman, Pastori, are eating lunch in the squadcar. A kid walks by, looks at them, and spits on the ground. Pastori calls the kid over, gets the kids superior, and makes him beat up the kid that spit. The kid's nose was bleeding, he was moaning, and he would surely never do it again. But Pastori made the other guy keep beating him up. Soon, the kid was unconcious on the sidewalk in his own blood. Rut finally jumps out of the car and calls down another ambulence. Pastori says, "Guess Rut's feeling generous today"(60). How disgusting is that? It is also very disturbing knowing that the people our communities trust to keep them safe and to stop violence are the ones creating trouble. Ollie is mad at himself for just sitting there, doing nothing although he knew it was wrong. I would be mad at myself too.
Later, Ollie calls his girlfriend Clara. She pesters him to explain what happened at work that day. When he explains the incident above, he said that a "skel" got beat up really bad. She asked what a skel was and he responded, "A skel is someone who deserves it"(61). She replies, "Only three months and you've already become one of them"(61). I tend to disagree with her on that one. While Ollie is getting more accustomed to the atrocities that occur at work, I do not think is agrees with it happening. He still very much has the "gut check" that lets you know when something thats going on is wrong. I do not believe the other workers, like Pastori, have that anymore. They have learned to take out their frustration and anxiety about their job on others. Ollie doesn't do that. I look forward to seeing if he continues to act this way or if he truly does become "one of them".