Circus

"Think its a pit bull bite?" Rich asks as we blare the horn at a slow moving Cadilac.
"Its not always pit bulls, I've met some wicked nice pit bulls. I love pit bulls." A really thug looking guy in Manchester actually breeds them and they are the nicest dogs I've ever met. He lives in the projects but he doesn't fight the dogs and he has AKC registry rights.
We weren't dispatched with an engine so it can't be that bad. We ask the student in the back what his first priority will be once we get on scene.
"I'd wanna stop any bleeding, get a set of vitals, dress the wound and get a good history."
"Wrong" Rich makes a buzzer noise and the kid looks perplexed.
"Make sure the dog isn't there." Animal lover or not I don't want to get bit while I'm working....or ever for that mater.
When we get there I don't see any police cars, in fact I don't see anything. We stay in the truck for a minute or so taking it in and looking for anything that might be a problem. Calls in the projects are difficult because the denizens of this area look at anyone in a badge as a representation of evil.
Rich sees movement from the backyard as a girl of about fifteen or sixteen in a tube top comes running out. "He's in the back, come on!" She's pissed that we are just sitting there.
"Wheres the dog?" I ask through the open window.
"The backyard."
"Well make him go away." I tell her and roll the window back up.
Rich laughes and just goes "Poof!"
When we finally get in the back yard, there is litterally a sea of little black children ranging in age from 3 to 18. All of them are yelling at us to help a little boy sitting in a chair. I crouch down and ask him whats wrong and he points to a scar on his leg.
In broken English a matronly woman who refuses to introduce herself tells me that he says he was bit by a dog. Theres no blood and the kid doesn't seem to be in any pain. The mark on his leg looks like a scar from way before this.
I have him walk around as the kids continue to yell at us. He walks with no limp. Some of the elder kids start getting in our faces and yelling obsenities about how we took forever to get here and now we're making the kid walk around.
A particularly bold youth gets in my face and says "You a cop?"
"I'm a medic."
"Shit, you got a badge like a cop....must be a cop."
I roll my eyes and say "You a sailor?"
"Fuck nigga, I ain't no sailor."
"Got a mouth like one, you belong here or you just making my life that much more fun."
"I live around the block."
I nod, "Maybe thats where you should be then." I turn my attention to the oldest woman and ask "We taking him to the hospital? He's not hurt." The crowd starts to yell that he is and that we don't want to treat him because he's black.
Rich is just ignoring them but I turn and motion for everyone to quiet down as the cops are pulling up. Then I just cross my arms and smile as the "popo" walk up. The old woman's English is about as good as my Swahilli and she calls the kid's mother on the phone. They click and whistle at each other for five minutes and she says to me.
"He go to hospital."
"Gimme the phone." I take the phone and say "This is Nick from Manchester ALS, I'm with your son. He's fine, he's not hurt and the trip to the hospital really isn't necessary."
"But he needs to go by ambulance or we can't sue....."
In the end the kid walks to the ambulance and the older woman rides in the front. We leave them in Triage for the nurses to figgure it out.