It was mid-morning and already the day had taken on an eventful start. The fire alarm in a nearby building had gone off and while it seemed like the firefighters should be able to handle it, they were calling in some of the police force just in case. So, sirens blaring I headed over to the building to see what all the fuss was about. Once I reached the building the deafening firetruck sirens drowned out pretty much everything and thinking became almost impossible. As I took in the noisy scene I realized that today was surprisingly a pretty nice day weather wise. It was still cold but the sun was shining and people actually seemed to be out on the streets walking around. Had the actual city itself not been so shitty looking and had there not been sirens blaring so unbearably loudly, someone driving through might have mistaken this for a normal neighborhood. I snapped back into reality when I realized the sirens had stopped and an angry looking fire fighter was yelling something about a false alarm and how we should move out. False alarm. Let me guess, some little shit kid decided it might be funny to drag my ass out here for no reason and waste every one's time. What a racket. After the excitement died down I headed back to the station to find out what else was in store for me today.
On the way back to the station I drove past Donald James riding around on his stupid little bike in the 30 degree weather. He was an odd character and in the past I had given him warnings on various occasions for disorderly conduct which was usually fueled by alcohol. Like I said, a strange guy but he seemed harmless enough. As we passed each other he sent a look my way that was anything but pleasant, though I can't say I'm not used to getting those kinds of looks. I finally reached the station and continued on with a normal day at work.

I was on duty at the intersection of Polaski and Main St. this morning. I hadn't bothered to shave or even shower. It had taken an exceptional amount of time to will myself out of bed this morning. Maybe it was exhaustion from yesterday's work. Maybe it was something else, something deeper. Recently I've been having this feeling that it's just not worth it. My life is centered around people who seem to have this relentless hate for everyone else. For the world. It scares me to think that it may be rubbing off on me.

As I scanned the street for any kind of trouble a noise caught my attention. I followed it to the very back of the Polaski St. Diner. I scanned the alley, dark and cold even in the early hours of the morning. Eventually it caught my eye, there was a man digging through the dumpster further down the alley. My immediate instinct was to call out to him, give him some sort of citation, look up his records, ultimately finding some sort of incrimination I was supposed to impose upon him, but something stopped me. That same feeling that had kept me from getting out of bed began to bounce around in my mind. I wanted it gone, I hated it.

I looked closely at the man with his worn out clothes and dirty hair. His sad eyes searching for something, anything in the dark wet dumpster. I watched the man for a few more long moments and then turned to leave the alley way.

My head stopped pounding as I left the homeless man at peace.