is there an opening in the mailroom?

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dateline: kitty korner, waikiki

14 july 1996 11:40 p.m.

When you're 21, having your life flash before your eyes doesn't take very long. I was maybe ten minutes from my lunch break when they were moving this big Samoan guy from crisis to our ward, I guess thinking he was fine. Halfway down the hall from my station he completely goes off. All of a sudden it was eerily like a dream, shoes squeaking, the orderlies trying to yell for help over his roars, holding for dear life to his arms. Almost like a sarcastic statement, the code lights come on with a hospitably polite "bing" and people start scrambling. All told the takedown took six guys, and one guard got his nose cracked. Of course I wasn't anywhere near being in danger, but its stuff like that -- and it happens too often for my tastes -- that make my jokes about good pay being worth dealing with crazies seem in pretty bad taste. Derek was wonderfully calming, just grinning and nodding at me while I babbled about how scary the whole thing was. We got plate lunches from the lunchwagon (katsu for him, BBQ short ribs for me), and we ate out on the lawn of the municipal building within ball-throwing distance of the summer fun playground there. We made plans for a movie next Sunday, probably "Multiplicity." Gosh, I'm still all wound up. I'm sure looking forward to getting locked up safe and tight in the lab tomorrow.