The Dispatcher

  It was storming when Jack was awakened by his alarm. He lay still for several minutes after he silenced the alarm clock,eyes closed,listening to
the boom of thunder and the sound of pelting rain on his bedroom window. He smiled to himself. Jack loved a good thunderstorm. He always had.
When he was a little boy,his parents would have to chase him away from the windows when a storm would blow in. He smiled again at the memo-
ry of his mother shooing him away from the living room window as the lightning flashed outside. Good times,good times! He opened his eyes and
threw the covers off,swinging his feet to the floor as he sat up. "Time to get ready," he said to himself. He stood and stretched his six foot frame
and looked at the clock again. It was six-thirty pm. He headed for the shower.

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  It was ten minutes til eight o'clock when Jack walked into the Communications Division of the Raytown Police Department. He winked at Sarah,
the pretty brunette operator whom he was about to relieve. "Busy?" he asked. She had just finished running a license plate number through the
state computer terminal for one of the officers. She keyed the radio microphone and read the return to the officer. Releasing the transmit key,
she smiled and said,"Not too bad. Been steady. The guys are running  a lot of license plates. They must be bored." He nodded. The guys were
notorious for running '28s'. He didn't mind it,though. He rarely had problems keeping up. Sarah filled him in on the happenings that had filled her
shift. A couple of domestics and a car accident. "The rest has been traffic stops,"she said,logging off the various computer systems. Jack slid into
the chair that she had just vacated and logged onto the computer systems,fingers dancing across the keys. That done,he settled the headset
onto his head,waved goodbye to Sarah,and leaned back in his chair,waiting for the first call of the night.
  He didn't have to wait for long. About ten minutes into his shift,the 911 console suddenly blared to life. "Well,what have we here?" Jack mumbled
to himself as he hit the button that had lit up on his console. "Raytown 911,what is the address of your emergency?" A female that identified her-
self as Lisa Jones at 802 E John street was screaming into the phone,"I need the cops over here NOW!!! My old man just slapped the fire outta
me!!!" Jack assured the woman that he was sending help immediately,and of course she slammed the phone down while he was in mid-sentence.
  He shook his head and keyed the radio. "Raytown to 508,have a domestic in progress at 802 E John Street." The radio crackled,then
the voice of his buddy,Joey Clark,came through the speaker. "10-4,Raytown. En Route to 802 E John." Three minutes later, Joey checked on-scene at 802 E John Street. Jack could hear the caller's agitated voice in the background when Joey advised that he had made contact. He could also hear the gruff voice of the male. Jack didn't like the fact that Joey was there with two people that were in such volatile moods. He decided a little back-up was in order. He glanced at his officer list for the evening. He chuckled to himself as he keyed the mike. "Raytown to 512." Almost immediately, the deep voice of Officer Terry Turner responded. Jack gave the address to Terry and asked him to back up Joey. Terry replied that he was en route. A few minutes later, Terry advised that he was out assisting 508. Jack leaned back in his chair. He figured the sight of Terry would help to calm things down a bit. At six feet four inches tall,Terry was a hulking officer. He rarely had any problem handling domestics. Not that Joey was anywhere near being incompetent. He was just a lot smaller than Terry and ,therefore,not as intimidating.