Saturday, December 12, 2015

Drama in the 99 Cent Store


I was at the 99 cent store with Max and Michelle. I was showing them that you could buy multi-colored camis for 99 cents. There were some that were orange. At some point we separated, and a homeless man walked passed me coughing. I was looking at some products and I heard in the distance the homeless man still coughing. Then I heard some commotion and much louder, more dramatic coughing, and I gazed down the aisle and he had fallen in front of the cashier. He was on his back with his legs up. I thought I should call 911 but everyone was acting so casually that I thought maybe this guy came into the store and did this all the time. I started to get my phone out, and all of a sudden I saw Erika run over to him and start doing CPR. She was pumping him and blowing into his mouth and I was so disturbed that she was doing mouth-to-mouth because he seemed so dirty, but I was also mad at myself for not running up and doing the same. But then I convinced myself that he had a better chance of survival because she was a doctor. At some point I made eye contact with Gav, Erika's husband, who was standing nearby. Then Erika stood up and grabbed the homeless man's legs and shook him a little and I overheard her tell the clerk that he should have responded by now, and that she was sorry she wasn't able to save him. I couldn't believe this was happening. She went to the bathroom in the store to wash her hands. When she finally emerged I approached her. She was with another woman whom I thought I recognized from Erika's son's bar mitzvah but the woman said she was from the anxiety clinic in L.A. We all walked out to the parking lot and Erika was a little shaken and I kept telling her she did a good job.

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