I got some good props for doing pretty much nothing this evening.
Isn't that pretty much the way it goes? The nights you work your buns off nobody says anything. But one simple thing earns you praise and you sit there with your tongue in your cheek and say "Okay. Yeah. I did that."
Somebody heard a rumor (here we go with that again) that there might be something worth finding out on the yard and they were pretty specific about where it could be found. Sgt Uncle T and I went to look and, sure enough, there was.
A long rusty spike of a nail about seven or eight inches long laying in the grass by one of the light poles, right in plain sight. Like someone had dropped it there on purpose hoping one of us would pick it up. Which of course someone did.
It was big enough and hefty enough and still well sharp enough you could have easily killed somebody with it. Several somebodies. And nobody in their right mind wants things like that loose inside the fence. Especially staff. Brrr! It gave me shivers looking at it.
I was more than willing to take one for the team to get rid of the thing. If it meant doing paperwork, that was fine as long as that was no longer a threat to anybody inside the fence.
I stuck the thing in my radio case and went up to do my Del Norte walk. On the way I ran across Lt Chestnut, who was shift commander, and showed it to him.
"How much paperwork do you want on this thing?" I asked.
He looked at it with one eyebrow up and said "It just looks like nuisance contraband to me. Just make sure that it goes away, okay?"
"It will disappear, sir."
"What will disappear?"
"Nothing, sir. Just talking to myself."
Some shift commanders would have wanted a full detailed report with pictures and a map describing where I found it and a property slip and have it stored over in the evidence locker with all of the paperwork that ensued with that as well.
He just wanted it to go away. Hey, I could do that. I carried it with me on my Del Norte walk and, as I went outside of the sally port at the end of my walk, I tossed it into the pool in the creek that runs under the sally port. That pool is three or four feet deep and full of scummy water that's always full of debris and crud. That nail made a satisfying "plook" into the water and went right to the bottom. By the time anyone ever sees it again it will have rusted down to minute particles.
I took it to keep anybody else from having to do the paperwork. When I got back from my walk Sgt Uncle T had written an entry in my file about how professional I was for finding and disposing of the thing.
He ended up doing more paperwork over it than I did.
I got something for nothing. That just doesn't happen very often around here. I think I'll savor the moment.
So Friday I will be 2-10 down in the Hive. In BG's spot. Not sure exactly how I am going to handle that. Just wait and see, I suppose.
Friday will also be Museum Comes To Life Day. I'm glad I'm not Ben Stiller. It will also be Celebration Of The Senses (you got me), International Fairy Day (rolls his eyes), Take Your Dog To Work Day and Ugliest Dog Day.
Is this one of those 'dog days' of summer I keep hearing about?
