I had only been a police officer for less than five years yet it seems like more than twenty years. I thought that my experiences were the norms. However, I have listened to my colleagues stories, but they were nothing compare to what I have experienced and had encountered.
May be it’s a matter of timing, I was just never their when they were telling the real adventurous stories. I never feel the need to share my stories with family, friends and or colleagues, at the time, to me these were stories, these were serious incident with real people whose life were seriously affected. However, What I knew was; there were the unseen hands of Yah, leading and protecting me at every turn in my life.
On this particular day, I was out on duty ounce again, and what has become the norm, I was going solo. I was leaving the capital Kingstown, driving on the windward side of the island. I decided to take a shorter road to my destination, however, and unfortunately, I took a wrong turn and I ended up in an area I was totally unfamiliar with.
I always prided myself for knowing the main land St. Vincent like the back of my hand. This was so because of the many exchange we were involved in as children, exchanges my sister and I were a part of whilst on Summer break, spending a week or two with a family and family in the rural areas, who had children our age, after which, that child came to our home for the same amount of time. There was also the frequent road trips with our father; which he normally organized on Sundays, to various parts of the island, to visit his friends; and there was my stint working with the Vector Controlled Unit, which took me into the nooks and cranny of the Island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
However, on this day, I was lost, not in the deep rural interior of the island, but in the suburbs of one of St. Vincent's town. I was lost in the suburbs of the town of Calliaqua. How was this even possible, there were somewhere, so close to my home that I did not know about? I came upon a fork in the road, and I had to make a decision.
The road was narrow, un-kept and un-maintained. In some areas the asphalt surface was completely destroyed. The grassy hedges were so over grown, that it extended into the road; making the narrow road even narrower. It was a beautiful sunny day; but the tall trees acted like a canopy that blocked out the sunlight from illuminating the road below. This area had the same spooky appearance, and reminded me of that area between Dorchester Hill and Queen’s Drive where Yolande Weeks was brutally murdered, this murder happened when I was still a child, and it sent shock-waves throughout the entire island. I knew Yolande very well, her brothers and I were friends as children attending the Kingstown Prep School.
While writing this piece it make me realize, that I know who killed Yolande weeks so many years ago. This is so because sometime later, a friend brought the incident to my attention and asked me if I will like to see where Yolande was killed? I was curious and I consented to go to that location. My friend began to explain to me in great details, how the incident happened. From the level and the type of resistance the frighten child put up, to her efforts to escape and the murderer efforts to recapture her and how she actually met her end. From where the car was parked, to where they got out of the car, where the killer intercepted her and where her body lay after she lay dead in the cold damp street. all the information were precise in their details.
The area where Yolande Weeks was brutally murdered was not illuminated by the sun light in the day, because of the topography and the denseness of the vegetation in that area. When I asked him how you knew all that details about that murder he said, I heard about it. I was about seventeen year’s old and very naive, at the time; as result, I took his explanation as his truth. I was impressed by the level of his knowledge about the whole incident. At one time he blamed Yolande for her death and referred to her as bad and of loving too much man. This made him sound like one who was jealously in love with beautiful young girl. For Yolande was every thing but promiscuous, she was happy-go-luckily, friendly young girl; who was kind to all regardless of their social or other status.
I can see if this guy had ever interacted with her, as he said he had, when he experienced Yolande kindness and appreciation to the customers who patronized her father's business, how someone like him can easily confused her kindness for romantic love. For my friend did not have the love of his or a mother growing up. On hind sight, it is only someone who had witness the incident or someone who actually committed the murder could have known the level of details this fellow had access to. Because of the darkness that engulfed the area in the day a witness could not seen such intricate details in the night when the incident took place.
I looked around for someone to provide me with a way out of this deserted place. There were a few wooden houses sprinkled on the hillside, these houses did not have electricity and, there were no phone either. At this period in the worlds history, in the Mid-nineties (1990s) the cell phone was only a make believe apparatus for ordinary people; they had appeared in only a few movies; and those cellular phone, were as big as the receivers of a domestic phone.
Now; I had a choice to make, I could choose to go up the steep mountain road, or to stay on the flat and continue along the path. I could not turn back, because I has changed road several times, trying to find my way out of my predicament and therefore I was unable to effectively retrace my movement back. I decided on taking the steep mountain road, I drove for a while then, I thought to myself, this road may lead to a dead end in the mountains.
As a result, I turned the marked police vehicle around and headed down the hill from whence I came. When I reach to the fork in the road I decided to take option number two. Over powered by anxiety, I drove for a little while; and I did not see any sign of civilization. As a result of the anxiety, which got the better of me, I took the decision to once again turn the vehicle around, and I decide to go up the steep mountain road once again. This time around, I made a decision to drive until I get out of this place or until I reach a dead end. At lease this way, I will eliminate one road from my choices.
It was about 10:30 am, all of the houses were locked, there was no one around, from whom I could have solicited direction. If there were children living in this area, they were all in school and their parents were all at work. So I took my time and I carefully maneuver the vehicle along the deplorable narrow road that was overrun by vegetation. When I got to the very top of the hill, I noticed the road became level and winding. I could tell that this road never had a pave surface.
This road was one of the many roads that was excavated to accommodate the settlement of the area and abandoned. I noticed, there was a load of 3/8 quarry stone on the side of the road. By the presence of the stone, I knew civilization was close, because, the trucks that bring the stones to this location could not make it safely up that narrow, winding road.
While I was driving along feeling much better by the way things were now progressing, I noticed there was a woman trying to make her way up a dirt embankment, from a house that was about thirty feet below the flat, unpaved, dirt road. It look like she may have fallen and had hurt herself.
When I reach to where the woman was dragging herself up the track that was cut out in the embankment, on her buttocks, I got out of the police vehicle and I went to find our what was the matter with her, to see if there was anything I can do and if she needed my help. This was the first person I saw since I made the wrong turn and find myself chapped in this maze.
The pain she was experiencing was visible on her face, at times she bit her bottom lip, exposing the top row of her pearly white teeth, with a somewhat contorted stiff upper lip. The woman who was still on the ground, who had a white sheet, in her hand was breathing through her mouth, she was taking quick, shallow breaths; a sign of the magnitude of pain the woman was experiencing.
I was a police officer, not a doctor, a police officer was the last person a person in this woman's condition wanted to see, but she was stuck with me. It was obvious this lady needed medical help, and I had no medical training. However when she saw me she was relief.
I asked the lady what was wrong, she said I am pregnant and I am in labor. I have seen police officers delivering babies on TV and in the movies, Hollywood make it look like; delivering babies were routine police duties. Hollywood makes this procedure look so easy and cool, that I always hope to be place in such a situation. Now I was smack dab in the middle of such a situation, with the opportunity to prove myself, and even get this thing done better than the actors did on TV and in the movies. And then; the dreaded reality hit me. Mr. Ronald Christopher the police training commandant forgot to teach the subject in baby delivery in the field! It was now, I realized that the sudden look of relief, the soon to be mother had upon seeing me, was the fact that she too had seen police officers on TV and in the movies successfully delivered babies, and she was happy to see the police midwife, who God had sent to save her from the torment and to safely deliver her baby.
I quickly obtained our location from the lady, I use the police radio and I called Police headquarters, I informed them of where I was and the current state of affairs and I asked them to send an ambulance to my location immediately. I was hoping that the ambulance arrived before the baby decided to make its entrance into this world. The liquid that soaked the dress, the lady was wearing was a sign that her water had broken, I did not know how long it took after the water had broken, for the baby to make its entrance into this world. All I knew, it is a sure sign that the baby is just about ready to make its grand entrance into the world.
I kept an eye out for the ambulance but the ambulance will not come. Then the lady said it feel like the baby is coming. Deep inside I was panicking but I could not let the woman in distress know I was panicking. I had to hold it together. Then she said; officer, take a look and see if the baby is coming.
I lifted up the lady's dress and I took a look at her vagina, I saw the top of the baby head, the wet, black, curly hair was visible. I immediately reported what I saw to the distressed mother. I encouraged her to hold on, for the ambulance will be here soon. I was trying to stop her from doing anything to aggravate the situation before the ambulance arrived.
And then like clockwork, the lady started blowing, breathing heavy through her mouth and pushing, I try to stop her from pushing by tell her to hold on the ambulance is on its way, its seems like the lady lost all rational, and bodily control, she began blowing, breathing heavily, and forcing (pushing). I was convinced that it was completely out of the woman's control. It was time for the baby to come and all she could have done, was to do all in her power to accommodate the process, which was breath heavy through her mouth, blow and push.
Then I saw the head made its way out of the birth channel, after which the shoulder, the lady was still groaning, pushing and blowing. Then there was some sudden, quick movement on the baby's part. Now the baby was making a steady move; the baby was coming out of the lady vagina in the same way toothpaste comes out of the tube when one squeeze the tooth paste out of the tube. If I did not act now and act quickly, with the speed at which the baby was coming, the baby was going to pop out of his mother vagina and fall onto the muddy ground.
It was clear this baby was not playing by my rules, and it did not care one hoot about my opinion, my fears, my concerns, this was the baby's time to be born and he did not care what I thought about it. Stooping in front of the expectant mother, I stretched my hand up to where the sheet was, yanked the clean, white sheet out of the distressed mother hand, quickly spread the sheet over both of my open hands, I place my hands in front and below the woman's vagina just then the baby slipped out, of the vagina and landed safely onto my sheet clad hand.
The mother was relief, all of the commotion suddenly ended. There was no heavy breathing, no blowing, no pushing. My worries should have been over, but now, my worries began to grow. This one was even, bigger than the problem I had with dealing with the delivery of the child. For now there is the issue of severing and tying the navel string of the baby. Was this a part of the package of delivering a child in the field, I asked myself. On TV, this always seems to be an urgent matter that need to be dealt with immediately. I still had the beautiful baby in my hand, as I contemplate what to do. I did not have the right equipment to facilitate this surgical procedure. I did not want to do anything to endanger the life of child or the child's mother. if I did all the worry and my efforts would have been a waste.
And then I saw the ambulance coming, I was relief, I then handed the baby to its mother, informed her that the ambulance was in sight, told her lets the people, on the ambulance handle it from here. I could not waite to get home to tell my big sister Clear the Nurse, what happened. I was glad to hand over the mother and the child to the ambulance personnel. thank to Yah there was a nurse on the ambulance. I assisted the ambulance operator in getting the patient on board; the lady asked my name and then we path ways.
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