STORY BEHIND WEIGHT AND GO BOOM

.
Peter Ryan who works our Alpha shift had come into work even early that morning, to do a workout in the gym. He was in so early that I ran into him in the hall as I was going home from Delta shift. Just a quick explanation, Alpha shift starts at 5:00 AM and runs until 4:00 PM, while Delta shift starts at 4:00 PM and runs until 3:00 AM. While Peter was early that morning, I was a little late leaving 3:30 AM, hence our meeting in the hall. But I digress, back to the story.
.
Peter had actually finished his workout and had gotten dressed in uniform and was ready to go out on shift for the day. He stopped into the recruiting office to talk to an old partner now assigned there. While doing so, he left his briefcase, an old beaten up ratty looking thing, in the lobby while he chatted.
.
Civilian staff were in the process of opening up the front, Public Services Counter for the day, and saw Peter’s briefcase sitting there looking all ratty and suspicious. There had been several public threats made lately from Anarchist Organizations to cause damage to public buildings, so the assumption made was that this briefcase was suspicious.
.
Staff immediately called 9-1-1 to report the package and units were dispatched to check it out. In the meantime, she went into the recruiting office to ask if anyone knew about the briefcase. She explained why it was suspicious, so Peter looked into the lobby and advised her it was ok, that the briefcase belonged to him. Meanwhile Peter and his buddy started to speculate on what would happen if units were dispatched. How it could lead to the bomb squad being called, the case being detonated, and Peter could get a new briefcase.
.
The longer the talk went on the more they laughed, until the civilian staff member said, "I guess I should cancel my call then?" Peter at that minute realized that all their speculation was about to come true. So he beat a hasty retreat from the office, clutching his old briefcase tightly.
.
Unfortunately, my source neglected to inform me that it ended there. The poem was already written and posted before I found out the full story. It made for a better story though, and I left it the way it was written. I thought I would offer up the real story here, by way of explanation. So, while an actual 9-1-1 call was made, it never did escalate to the point of bomb squad members attempting to defuse it.
.
CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO THE POEM
.
CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO INDEX OF POETRY