The Louisville Wave
The old woman fell and hit the sidewalk in slow motion — the way people do but no one really talks about. I remembered her because she’d rushed past me, rolling by with her walker shuffling like she was being pursued. A Good Samaritan saw her fall at the same time I did and he got to her first, dialed 911. He told Thelma — she said her name was Thelma said it as clear as anyone ordering Steak Diane at Ruth’s Chris Restaurant — to stay put used the sweater sitting on her walker to put under her head. At one point he sent me off to find a blanket or something. Hey there fella he said noticing me standing there. Hey there fella go and see if one of these places has a blanket. I knew they wouldn’t but I checked anyway. I was right. After 10 minutes and the ambulance didn’t show the Good Samaritan who was in Louisville visiting his daughter and buying the really expensively priced new wave hippie good luck bead bracelet she made and sold on Etsy he was wearing called again. I wanted to tell him This is normal. That since the downtown business interests decided to be a southern city they also adopted the POLITE BUT NOT KIND attitude that is the rot eating the heart of all southern cities. I wanted to tell him it would be closer to a half hour before EMTs would roll in. I wanted to tell him that would be a faster response time than normal because the call came from 4th Street in front of the storied Palace Theater too close to Fourth Street Live the big glitzy puss filled belt buckle of the city’s tourist economy. I wanted to tell him about the Thomas Merton plaque that once a upon a time a should-be saint once stood on Fourth Street and felt the thrumming heart of all of humanity and his connection to it. I wanted to tell him about the Louisville Wave when people would actually wave acknowledging if you let them in a tight traffic line on the interstate or let them cut in front of you. I wanted to tell him that people here were basically polite at least they used to be but it was going on 20 minutes and the ambulance still hadn’t arrived and he’d already called three times and I called once. A small crowd had gathered. Many had just gone around on the street since Thelma had fallen diagonally across the sidewalk. A few just stepped over her. The Good Samaritan couldn’t contain his surprise. Thelma wasn’t surprised. Her eyes were clear and the same color as her pandemic mask. She asked for her purse because it had her ID in it and she knew she couldn’t count on the ambulance to grab her walker or her worn shoe that had slipped off in the fall. The ambulance rolled in no lights no sirens 30 minutes after the first call. As they collected her I stuck around to make sure they took her walker and shoe. I waved at the Good Samaritan as he continued on with his day. I kept walking towards the river.
Originally published at http://dirtysacred.wordpress.com on September 28, 2021.
