Blown for Good - Marc Morgan Headley [77]
The rest of us finished lunch and got ready for lunch muster. Muster was held right outside the dining hall. All the staff would line up and hopefully the muster would be quick with the heat being what it was. It was not unusual for musters to go on for 30 minutes. In the heat of summer, a 30 minute muster would mean that people would get heat stroke. Just in the past few weeks there had been several faintings during lunch muster. People would literally pass out from the heat. It was a combination of the intense heat, lack of food, sleep and overall exhaustion. Either way, most of us were hoping for a very short muster.
After everyone was noted as present or accounted for, the Commanding Officer Gold, Lisa Schroer (Allen) made an announcement.
“Okay, anyone involved in the Power Drill, stay behind.”
Now, on any other day, this would have been a clear statement. It had probably even been said before on different days and had not been misunderstood. Today, this statement was confusing.
After the crew were dismissed to go back to post, it was like muster was still happening. A few people left, but most of the staff remained there.
“Let’s go people, back to post,” the Commanding Officer barked.
“But we are here for the Power drill, Sir,” a girl from the qualifications division answered back.
“You guys can still work with or without the power coming back on,” the Commanding Officer told her.
Gerald Duncan leaned over and whispered into the Commanding Officer’s ear. Apparently Lisa was not aware that two drills had been called.
Yes, there were people waiting to be told which bus station they would be driving out to and people who were wondering if the electricity was going to be coming back on in the next hour or so.
“Okay, if you are here for the electricity outage go over there. If you are here for the Power Drill come over to this side,” the Commanding Officer said while motioning to the two groups to move into different spots. If people were confused before they were certainly VERY confused now. After a few minutes of people still standing with the wrong group of people, eventually everyone made it into their respective mob.
Back at the hospital, the doctor had arrived to deal with Power and was asking him a few questions.
“So, what is your name?” the doctor asked, knowing that there had been some discrepancy with the nurses on this subject already.
“Power”
“That’s it. Just Power?”
“Well, Power Coleman.”
“But, your first name really is Power?”
“Well, it is actually my middle name, but that’s what people call me. I go by Power.”
“What is your actual first name?”
“My first name is actually Pure.”
The doctor let out a small chuckle. “Your full name is Pure Power Coleman?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, Pure Power, where do you live?”
“Kirby.”
“You live on Kirby Street?”
“Well, no I live at an apartment on Kirby.”
“Do you know the address of your apartment on Kirby?”
“No.”
“You don’t know your own address?”
“No.”
“Okay, what about a phone number? Do you have a phone number?”
“Um, oh, yeah, I have a phone number! It is 1-800-I WANT HELP.” Power was excited; finally, he had an answer to a question that he knew.
This was the phone number that Gold staff were told to use if they were ever in a situation where they were out in the world and needed to call someone. The 1-800 I WANT HELP number rang directly into the main security booth.
“You don’t have any ID, no driver’s license, you don’t know where you live, but your phone number is 1-800-I WANT HELP and your name is Pure Power Coleman?”
“Yeah,” Power answered matter-of-factly.
The doctor got up and walked over to the nurse. “Let’s get a tox screen done on Peter over here and find out what he is on.”
Back at the base, teams had been sent out to check the bus stations and to drive around