Sunset Strip!

Change over the past ten years had been furious. I hitchhiked with Mike up here to the Strip ten years earlier, only to finish the night in jail. I had been in California about three weeks, got a job, and at the time, was living in a Santa Monica apartment on the beach. I had no ocean view, as the windows faced to the east, but you know, its always good to save some things for when you get old. I can’t say it was a poor choice, heading to the Strip that night, I was traveling the trail, that took me where I am today. I was overwhelmed by the crowds, and soon separated from Mike in all of the confusion. I remember wandering the Strip all night, and into the morning, caught up with the excitement, that was unfolding before me. With Mike gone, I didn’t have a clue, to how I would get back to Santa Monica, I was loosing my apartment, anyhow in a few days, the owner had told me, he wouldn’t rent to a 15 year old kid. Things so far, had been working out, I had no reason to believe that this would change. I had a little money, enough to sit and drink coffee, until the sun came up. It would be easier to find my way back in the daylight. Ben Franks was quite a bit different from Dip N Donuts, the place I’d sit in Ocean City Maryland, waiting for the sun. I was tired, had been up early, working my shift, at the Fourth and Pico Atlantic Station, I was having a hard time staying awake. The crowd was huge at Ben Franks, I was lucky to find a seat at the counter. There was a line at the door, it seemed that I was in the happening late night spot on the Strip. I woke up startled, the waitress shaking me by the arm. She was telling me I had to leave, that she needed the space, questioning why I was out so late, that I should be at home with my Family. I really didn’t care to listen to this, I left this behind a few months before. I threw down some money for the coffee and tip, and stumbled through the door, into the waiting arms, of the LA Sheriff. Cruising up the Strip ten years later, in a two seat Mercedes convertible, we fly by Ben Franks, and I can’t help but to mention to my buddy, the history I had with that place. We had been at the Rainbow Bar and Grille a couple hours, on the hunt, when he got called in. Without a word of explanation, he said Eddie, come with me. We were flying up the Strip, through Hollywood, and onto the 101, hair blowing in the wind. This was a white knuckle ride, all the way to the East Side of LA. He never really told me what was going on, he seemed a bit irritated, about leaving the bar early. The next thing I know, were pulling into the Doctors parking lot at County. We get out, he is in a hurry, we ride the elevator up, getting off, and immediately go into a locker room. He throws me some greens, tells me to change, that he would find out, what they needed from him. When he comes back, he asks, Eddie, have you ever been in surgery? He tells me to hurry, I had been fumbling as he was gone. This was a side of him I’d never seen, he was on the job. I follow him out of the locker room, and into a Surgical Suite, where he tells the Nurse, that I am a first year med student, that I will assist. Now this was pretty heady stuff, for someone who never made it past the Ninth Grade, there was a little apprehension on my part. I was told that I would do fine, just to listen, and do what I’m told. The procedure was inserting a scope, down into the esophagus, where he could see, if what the woman had swallowed to commit suicide, had lodged anywhere, on its way down into the Stomach. All the way, as he pushed the tube down her throat, he would pause, and call out suction. This was my cue, I’d slap it down into his hand, just the way I’d seen it done on Dr Kildare. I watched him clean the scope, slap it back into my hand, then check for the object the woman had swallowed. He finely had the tube, at the opening to the Stomach. After passing to him one more time, the suction, he looked and saw the trail of blood, left by the object, before it had passed into the Stomach. He said Eddie, look at this. I remember leaning over, looking in, and seeing red droplets on the walls of the esophagus, the scope, right at what I can only describe as a three leaf valve, the top of the Stomach. After he pulled me up off the floor, I had become a little unsteady on my feet, as I peered down the scope, he said we were done. Good thing that Nurse hung around, she had stepped right in with the Smelling Salts. I heard the Doc tell her, that the stomach man would be in soon, to cut her open.