Scanner

Years ago I took clothing to an elderly lady for alteration. She lived alone in a small house. On top of her giant Curtis Mathis television sat a giant police scanner. The red lights on the front chased back and forth and I could hear the police transmissions from the driveway when I got out of my car. When I entered the house she would turn the scanner down to a low murmur. She was always glad to see me and after fitting and pinning my garments would always ask, "Can you stay awhile?" "No" I thought but I would always sit down for a little while and it always turned into a long while. We would gossip the way good Christian women do until I was able to extract myself and go home.

How sad, I thought. Her only company is that scanner. She lives her life through the drama of a small, rural, Kentucky county; her only entertainment that segment of society that can't make it through the day without some mediation, guidance, and supervision by law enforcement. How unfulfilled. How sad.

Years have passed and I find that as I go through the motions of the day, there are times when I'd just like to know what's going on outside my home. I go entire days without going out and the unalleviated boredom can be so oppressive. Tonight a friend told me that middle aged women are driving up the suicide rate. I was not surprised.

So for my birthday, I asked for a scanner. As I do laundry, I listen to the endless traffic stops. I hear calls regarding burglaries and domestic violence. There is a woman who calls about once a month because "someone done stole her mama cat." The officers good-naturedly bat the call around and then one reluctantly agrees to go speak to the cat owner. If I listen long enough I hear the call alerting everyone that the cat has returned. The cat always returns.

Frequently, I hear the call go out regarding a signal 5 at the Country Cupboard. These calls always go out around lunch time so I figured signal 5 must be code for someone leaving without paying for their lunch. Turns out signal 5 is code for "I'm taking my lunch break." It was a lot more exciting when I thought someone was stealing from the Country Cupboard.

In conclusion, I find that I woefully misjudged the little old lady with her scanner. Listening to the scanner all day is highly entertaining. Without leaving the house I experience trailer park brawls, life flights, hit and runs, 10-14's, 10-45's. I find my life is richer for it and ....... wait a minute....where's my cat!