Page 17 of Rat Park
“All right,” one of the EMTs said, “we’re done here.”
“Thanks, Pete, Maria.”
“Onto the next one,” Pete said, packing up and disappearing with his partner out of the door.
Dominic turned to Prince, who had been moved back onto the couch and was lying down, blinking blearily at the ceiling.
“You want some water?” Dominic asked him.
“Yeah,” Prince said after an extended pause.
Dominic glanced at Officer Romero for a moment before going to the kitchen to fetch the glass of water, helping Prince take a few sips before he slumped back onto the couch.
“You okay?” Dominic asked.
“Not really.”
“Yeah.”
Dominic stared sightlessly at the heroin needle on the table for a moment before looking back at the policewoman as she took something out of her belt.
“I’m part of a volunteer program that delivers food and blankets to homeless individuals,” she said, scribbling something down on the pad she’d taken out. Dominic frowned.
“I’m not homeless.”
“I figured,” she said, ripping the paper she’d been writing on off from the pad. “Thought you might like to join me, help me hand some stuff out. Here’s the address where we all meet,” she said, extending the paper towards him.
Dominic stared at it for a moment before taking it slowly.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“Dominic,” he responded after a slight pause.
“Nice to meet you, Dominic. I’m Catalina, but call me Cat.”
“Uhm…”
“We meet Thursdays at seven. Don’t be late. My number’s on there too, in case you need anything.”
Dominic looked down at the piece of paper. When he looked back up, Cat was already moving away.
“Don’t be late!” she repeated before walking out.
Dominic stared down at the piece of paper again.
What the fuck?
CHAPTER SEVEN
Dominic didn’t think much about the officer’s invitation. He stuck the piece of paper in his bedside drawer and forgot about it, right up until Thursday rolled around and he found himself on a bus, heading towards the northeast part of town.
The destination was a grimy, old-school diner in the rougher part of town. There was a group of people already collected in the large lot, forming a messy line from the trunk of a large car which stored brown bags of what Dominic guessed was food. He approached slowly, almost not recognizing Cat out of her uniform. Not because she looked significantly different in jeans and a T-shirt, but because all Dominic had learnt to see when he looked at a police officer was the uniform they were wearing.
“Good, you made it,” she said, smiling. Dominic tried to smile back. “Here, help me grab some bags and take them to my car, and then I’ll introduce you to everyone,” she instructed.
Dominic did as he was asked, observing tensely as Cat interacted easily with the people around her who gave Dominic friendly nods and smiles. When they had loaded up Cat’s car, she did as promised and introduced Dominic to everybody. Dominic tried not to feel overwhelmed. It was only eight people, not counting himself and Cat, but each of their names slipped out of his head as soon as they were spoken.
“Don’t worry about remembering all of that. You’ll get to know them better the more you come,” Cat said. Dominic didn’t correct her about coming back. “So. I’m guessing you don’t have a car?”
