MY FORMER PARTNER
ON-THE-JOB TRAINING
Was it the left wire or right one that’s wrong?
It was hard to remember when my new trainee, Rob, kept droning on and on.
He was yakking about the night before, when that truck left a suspicious package against the prison’s large entry iron door… and Rob wanted to share much more.
“I witnessed it all,” he recalled, “A blue and tan colored van pulled up that looked awfully sketchy.”
I don’t usually act this tetchy, but his detailed description was not currently our primary necessity.
Rob then added, “I knew the box left behind was some unusual explosive kind.”
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I responded, “Rob, we need to focus on the job… aside from these wires, what’s this red knob?”
He shared that old one-liner joke, “If it’s womb and tomb, then shouldn’t the word bomb be BOOM?”
I was really getting annoyed by him and replied, “Very funny, I hope not too soon… move over and give me more working room!”
My heartbeat was pounding, ears catching every tick and tock from the timer on that suspicious box.
There was a special tool I needed from inside the prison shop. While gone, over the radio, Rob asked, “What’s this knob, here on top?”
Without a second thought, I screamed back, “STOOOOOP!”
That knob ended all on-the-job training for Rob.
© 2024 Peter W. Collier
