John Harms
ENG 294
Fall 1998

Katie walks back in to the office from a busy morning. The office is filled with five other people and many papers and folders on desks, numerous notes affixed to the white painted cinderblock walls, and a few armies of filing cabinets lined up against one wall. Lori, an office secretary, asks Katie about the meeting she came from.

"It was a damn zoo full of uncontrollable wild animals! I can’t believe people can act this way in a computer sales office," Katie exclaims as she slams her notebook down on the edge of the receptionist’s desk. "You’d think they would act professional and handle meetings in a better manner!"

As the receptionist jumps away from the desk, Lori’s eyes grow larger as they watch Katie’s unusual reaction, causing papers to fall out of the notebook. Katie whips her hair back with her hands as she leans over to gather the loosened pages and slide them back in to the notebook.

"Of all this crap, they couldn’t make one decision without getting in to an argument," she remarks. "I was surprised we accomplished anything at all today."

Lori asks her if she wants a cup of coffee, but Katie grabs her chest, indicating that any more would only make her sick. Instead, Lori rushes a cup of water to her from the bottled water dispenser next to the desk. Still gathering her notes, Katie pulls out a few pages and hands them to Lori in exchange for the water. "Thanks," she says calmly before taking a drink. Katie points out a few corrections on the documents in Lori’s hands, picks up the notebook and water, and slowly walks back to her office space.

A wooden grain sign on her office door reads her full name, "Kate Trelland, General Manager of Corporate Sales and Quotations" in white lettering, an obvious sign of a professional office. She opens the office door, walks in to her office, and places her notebook and water on the desk. Feeling embarrassed about the scene she displayed, she walks back to the doorway and apologizes to everyone.

"Sorry for being such a bitch, but I’m just so damn tired of those assholes trying to run this office," Katie says with a sharp tone. "It looks like we have to make some more changes around here in order to suit their financial problems. Hell, they might as well just cut me out and paste me somewhere else!"

Lori and a few others pop their heads up from their desks, eyes wide open, after Katie’s revealing speech.

"Who are they going to cut now," Lori asks with a worried voice.

Katie quickly responds, "Don’t worry, they won’t cut one damn person after I was finished talking with them. If they cut one more person, and make everybody else’s job harder, I told them we’d all probably leave. This had to happen right around the holidays too."

Lori assures Katie that everything will be okay while she’s in charge. "I sure hope so," Katie thinks to herself as she nods her head in agreement with Lori. She begins to walk back to her office before Lori stops her one more time.

"I almost forgot these four phone messages for you," Lori says as she waves the slips of paper in the air. Katie walks over to Lori’s desk and gets the messages from her. She takes a brief look at them and makes an almost inaudible sigh as she throws the first one away.

"Well, at least they called to remind me of this meeting, as if I couldn’t remember by myself, or they just wanted to make sure I was there to hear their B.S.," Katie remarks as she crumbles up the slip of paper and throws it away. "Well, sorry again for ranting on, and another ‘sorry’ ahead of time for the rest of the day," she tells the office staff as she walks back to her office.

Katie gets to her office, sits down in the comfortable leather chair at her desk, and reads through all of the remaining messages before putting them down next to the phone. She takes a drink of her water, swallows the stresses of her day, and takes a deep breath. She leans back in her cozy chair and closes her eyes for a few moments. She feels the cold leather from the back of her chair press against her warm neck. It’s just enough to cool her off and further suppress the daily tensions. She thinks to herself "if I could only fall asleep and wake up again when everything is better," but she still feels her heart racing from the numerous cups of coffee consumed earlier that day.

Just as she begins to become comfortable and relaxed in her chair, her phone rings. She opens her eyes and stares at the ceiling tiles before the second ring brings her back to the reality of her office. She sits up and looks at the phone, noticing the caller’s phone number being displayed on its LCD identification panel. It is her supervisor calling, only twenty minutes after the meeting adjourned. Taking a deep breath, she picks up the phone.

"Kate Trelland," she opens the phone call with a professional tone.

"Kate, this is Jim," her supervisor identifies himself in a cold way. "I wanted to speak with you about that meeting this morning. I was wondering if you had about ten or fifteen minutes to spare to come up to my office and chat."

Katie looks over at her daily planner, hoping to see a full schedule until at least lunchtime. Seeing a blank space occupying the current hour, she quickly thinks of something that needs to be done. "Actually, my schedule is filled up until the end of the day, except for this hour. However, I have three messages from customers that I must return immediately," she quickly and elegantly explains to him. On the inside, Katie was feeling quite overjoyed with her smooth talking to manipulate her time and avoid the requested meeting.

"That’s understandable, Kate. I will try to contact you later today to set up a time tomorrow when we can meet," Jim says to her with a disappointed voice.

"I should be here for a few minutes around two o’clock, between appointments, if you would like to call then," Katie reluctantly divulges to him.

"That sounds good. I will try to contact you at that time, or I will call your assistant and schedule the appointment with you through her," Jim notes to her in a bold tone. "Thanks, Kate. I really need the time to discuss this meeting with you in further detail, the sooner the better."

He disconnects from their phone conversation, and Katie quickly hangs up the phone. She thinks to herself, "Now, how can I avoid him until Friday, for two days?" Despite her desire to avoid a meeting with Jim, she notices many gaps in her appointment book for the remainder of the week. "Well, shit. That won’t work too well," she says out loud, and follows with a thought to herself, "whoops! Oh well, as if anybody around here doesn't know how much I hate that guy."

Katie rolls her chair back, slightly away from the desk, and rests her head on the edge of her desk. "Somebody just chop my head off now and end this misery," she says quietly to herself. She remembers the phone messages awaiting her attention, sits back up in the chair, and rolls back to her desk. She picks up the first message from the pile. "James Schauer, Comtel Communications. 9:04am. RE: quote for a group of 36 pre-configured PC workstations, two servers, and one management console. Please call back soon today," the message reads.

The second phone message isn’t obviously too important. On a yellow stick-it note, the message reads "Your mother called regarding this year’s plans for the holidays and family gatherings. Not urgent." Katie leans back and smiles as she tapes the note to her key ring, planning to return her mother’s call after work.

A current and relatively frequent customer, Joe Garrand, left the third message. He gave his home phone number with the message, regarding an immediate purchase to expand an existing installation. Since the message was noted with extreme urgency, she picks up the phone and dials the number given. After five rings, somebody finally answers the phone, but there is no greeting on the other end. Over the phone, she hears what sounds like somebody struggling to breathe. She hears something brush up against the phone before it drops to the floor. The sound it makes when it hits the floor is so loud that she immediately jerks the phone away from her ear.

"Hello?" she asks as she slowly puts the phone back to her ear. She pauses for a few seconds and asks again, "Hello? Are you there? Hello?" Another five or ten seconds go by as she waits for a reply. Then, she hears what sounds like a bunch of dishes and silverware hitting the floor and smashing in to pieces. She then hears the phone click a few times as he picks up from the floor. She asks again, "Hello, Joe?" By now, she figures that something is very wrong. She knows that somebody is holding the phone because she can hear the sound of a person’s hand tightly gripping the receiver. The phone makes a distinct squeezing and cracking noise as it is held. "Is there something wrong?" she questions, but gets no response. "Can you tap on the phone twice if there’s something wrong?" she directs the person holding the phone. A few seconds go by, and she hears one tap. After a brief pause, she hears the second tap. "There is something wrong? Tap twice if you can’t talk," she gives further instruction to find out what is wrong. Once again, she hears two taps separated by a quick moment of silence. She thinks to herself, "oh my gosh, I wonder if this person is choking!"

She panics a little before calling out to Lori in the other room, "Lori! Help! I think this person on the phone is choking!" Lori drops everything and rushes in to Katie’s office.

"You’re choking" she asks Katie, as if she was the one choking.

"No, not me. I think this person, Joe, I just called on the phone is choking," she quickly corrects Lori’s statement.

"Well, ask him if he’s choking," Lori replies.

"How do you ask somebody if they’re choking? They can’t talk if they’re choking!" Katie says, now panicking even worse.

Katie then remembers that he can tap on the phone, as she hears a faint tapping on the other end of the line. "Sir, tap the phone two times if you’re choking," she quickly reacts as she calms herself down. Almost an eternity of time passes before she gets the response she dreaded. Two taps on the phone and now she has no doubt the person on the other end of the phone is choking. Katie thinks fast as she responds to the man, "Sir, don’t panic -- stay very calm. I’ll call 9-1-1 and get help for you. Do you have any neighbors you can get?" From the previously established system of communication, she hears two faint taps on the phone, then the sound of the phone as it is put down. In the background, she hears a door open followed by footsteps on a set of stairs. Ignoring what was happening in the background of the phone call, and not paying attention to Lori as she leaves the office, Katie presses the phone’s conference button and dials 9-1-1.

"9-1-1 emergency services, this is Nancy. What is the nature of your emergency," a strong female voice answers her distress call.

"My name is Katie. I am currently working in my office. This may sound strange, but I have a person on my other phone line who indicated he was choking by tapping his responses when I questioned him."

"Do you know for sure if it is a man, and is he still on the line?"

"I don’t know for sure, but I had the person go find a neighbor for help."

"Okay, do you know the address?"

"No, only the phone number from a message taken by my assistant."

"What’s that phone number?"

Before Nancy can finish the sentence, Katie quickly gives the phone number to her. Only a few moments later, they hear the other phone line as somebody picks it back up. One more strange voice adds to the conference call as a lady identifies herself as Jill, Amy’s neighbor.

"Amy? Who’s Amy," Katie questions Jill from the confusion.

"Amy is the one who is choking," Jill responds quickly and sharply, "her husband Joe must have gone somewhere."

The 9-1-1 operator breaks in to their chit-chat and tries to get the address from the neighbor. By that time, she had already traced the phone number to an address, but wanted to confirm it to save time. Jill gives the apartment’s address and the operator replies with calming words, "okay, just remain very calm. A fire truck should be there shortly. My name is Nancy. What is the victim’s status?" Katie remains on the line and becomes silent as she listens to their conversation.

"She sat down in a chair, but I think she is passed out or something," Jill replies with a worried tone.

"Okay, ma’am. Do you know CPR," Nancy questions Jill to see what kind of immediate help is available.

"I had classes once, but that has been two or three years ago."

"Okay. Can you get to where she is currently sitting?"

"Yes, I am on a cordless phone."

"Good. Go over to her, open her mouth, and tell me if you can see anything in her mouth or throat."

"I don’t see anything."

"Can you feel her neck or wrist for a pulse?"

"I can feel one, but it seems a little slow."

"Okay, position yourself behind the chair, and move her so she is flat against the back of the chair." Nancy waits for Jill to give an okay before she continues. "Now, find her belly button and place two fingers above that. Then, make a fist and rest your fist on top of those two fingers. You should be able to feel the bottom of her ribcage, but make sure not to place your fist there or it will be too high."

"Alright, then I use my other hand and push in and up, right?"

"Yes, use quick upward thrusts with your other hand over the fist. Set the phone down and try that three times or until you see the obstruction come out."

Katie holds the phone tight to her ear, listening to what was happening on the other end. She is so bewildered that she remains on the phone, as quiet as possible, paying close attention like it was a dramatic soap opera.

"I did it three times and nothing came out," Jill says in a worried voice.

"Sometimes it takes a few tries before anything comes out. Open her mouth and look again to see if anything is in there."

"I still don’t see anything."

"Alright, go ahead and give her three more thrusts and check again."

After the second thrust, Jill yells in relief, "Oh my gosh! Something just popped out of her mouth!"

Katie almost cheered along with Jill, but she kept the enthusiasm to herself for a few more moments, remembering that Amy had also passed out and may not yet be breathing.

Nancy quickly refocuses Jill, "Excellent. Now check to see if she is breathing."

"She doesn’t appear to be breathing," Jill states with a disappointed tone, just before she became excited again, "I can hear the fire truck coming!"

"Is the door open for them to come in?"

"Yes," Jill quickly exclaims.

"Good. If you believe you can pick Amy up just enough to position her flat on her back, go ahead and do that."

"I can do that," Jill states with a renewed confidence as she sets the phone down on the table. They hear the sound of a chair slightly moving, then a long pause of silence before she picks the phone back up. "Okay, I have her lying flat on her back."

"Okay. With one hand, push up on her chin, while your other hand pushes down gently on her forehead. This will open her airway."

"Okay, I think it’s all set," Jill says with a questioning tone.

"Put your ear over her mouth to hear if she is breathing, and look at her chest to see if it is moving. Look and listen for a few seconds."

"I don’t see or hear anything," Jill says with her worried voice, "Maybe I should go out and look for the firemen."

"It is important that you stay with her. They will find their way in, but you will need to start mouth-to-mouth resuscitation" Nancy quickly states in response.

"Okay. I pinch her nose with my fingers, but how many breaths do I give her?"

"Try giving her three full breaths. Keep an eye on her chest to make sure it moves when you push your breath in."

Jill puts the phone down and begins the resuscitation. The breathing noises being made sound almost like a balloon being inflated. Almost immediately after a few breaths are given, they hear the sound of coughing in the background.

Katie now breaks her long kept silence, "Is that her coughing? Will she be okay?"

Jill gets back on the phone before Nancy has a chance to answer Katie. "She’s breathing, she’s breathing," Jill exclaims with an overjoyed voice.

Katie expresses a sign of relief, "yeah, we did it!"

Just after Katie yelled in to the phone, probably loud enough to deafen Nancy and Jill, they hear the sound of heavy boots walking up the stairs.

"The firemen are here," Jill states with even further relief. Pointing Amy out to the firemen, she says "she was choking but the operator talked me through the CPR and now she’s breathing."

"Okay, thanks. We’ll take over from here now," one of the rescuers states in a bold, deep voice.

By this time, Nancy seems very content as she expresses her relief with a sigh. "Very good, Jill, on your excellent work," she congratulates them. "You also handled this situation very well Katie; it was a great effort from both of you!"

After talking with both Jill and Nancy for a few moments, Katie’s mission is now accomplished as she says "good bye" to both of them, and disconnects the conference call. When she begins to put the handset down, she notices that her ear and the phone are both fairly moist from the tension of the call. She wipes the handset off with a tissue, then sets it down to rest on the phone. After wiping off her ear, Katie stands up and stretches. As she stretches and smiles with pride, she hears almost every bone in her body crack from being tense. She throws away the used tissue as an end to all of the daily problems. It is a carefree toss in to the wastebasket. "Two points," she says aloud with a releasing enthusiasm.

Lori walks back in to her office, "I take it everything turned out okay with that phone call," she questions.

"It’s all good now. It turned out to be Joe’s wife, Amy, who was choking over the phone. It sounded like everything was taken care of and now she is okay."

"I’m sure that takes a load off your mind," Lori says as she smiles.

"It sure does. In fact, I think that was the last thing on my agenda for the day," Katie says with a leading voice.

"For the day?"

"Yes. I think I have had enough for one day. I desperately need to get out of this office right now," Katie explains her feelings out loud.

"Should I reschedule the rest of your appointments for the day?"

"Umm… Yes," Katie states with a serious tone, "Here’s one phone message that I didn’t get to return. Could you call this person back and jot down the usual information?"

"No problem, boss. Take off, go home and rest. Take a nice hot bath and relax."

"That sounds really good! I’ll be sure not to fall asleep and drown," Katie remarks, sending both of them in to laughter.

Katie gives the phone message to Lori, gathers her papers and notes in to her carrying bag, and puts on her coat. She neatly pushes in her chair, picks up her bag, and walks out of the office, slowly closing the door behind her and letting out a big breath of air.

"Have a good day everybody. I will see you all tomorrow. I have seen and heard enough craziness in one day to last for the rest of the week," Katie speaks with a bold tone to the office staff.

The people in the office wish her a good day as she leaves. She takes the elevator down to the parking garage, located in the basement, and finds her car. She unlocks and opens the trunk of the car, puts her bag inside, and closes the trunk lid. She opens her car door, sits down, closes the door, and rests her head on the head rest. She sits there, resting her head, for a few minutes before starting the engine and driving out of the garage.

"Good bye for now, office. I’m sure you’ll still be there when I come back tomorrow," Katie speaks out loud as if the office building could hear her. "And I still have my sanity," she thinks as she catches herself talking out loud.