“My name is Gwain McCampbell. Thanks for showing up so quickly.”
The man on the other side of the door sounded surprised. “My name is Cletus Wagner but I go by Chuck or Chuck-Wagon” the man replied.
“Pleased to meet you” Gwain responded.
He looked over at Olivia and saw that she was starting to melt-down.
“Write that down. Write down his name, what time it is, what he says, what the tools sound like. Write down EVERYTHING!” Gwain commanded her.
She immediately put pencil to paper and started writing as if the devil was chasing her pencil.
“Can you tell us what you are doing, sort of give us a running commentary. Especially if you are going to use power-tools that might be noisy?” Gwain asked Chuck, glancing over at Olivia. “We are getting little bit jumpy in here and would appreciate having enough time to stuff our fingers in our ears.”
“Yeah. Sure. No problem” Chuck grunted. “I am scraping as much of the expanding foam out of the cracks as I can with a screwdriver. As warm and as humid as it is, it is setting pretty fast.”
“I am looking for a place to wipe off my screwdriver….I am going to wipe the foam off on the top of my toolbox. Getting the foam off of a painted surface is almost impossible to do without damaging the paint….Ok, I am scraping out some more foam…”
Part way through the evolution, Chuck used his cell-phone to call his boss. Chuck asked him to bring the security tool-bit.
“What is a ‘security tool-bit’?” Gwain asked.
“I need to pull the door-hinges” Chuck told them. “Our hinges have a set-screw to make it difficult for people to break into offices and the set-screw has a weird head you can’t just unscrew it with Allen wrenches.”
A couple minutes later, Chuck’s boss called back. Chuck put it on speaker. “Hey, how urgent is your project? The bit wasn’t in the drawer” the disembodied boss informed them.
“It is urgent” Chuck said in a matter-of-fact voice. “Some pranksters glued a professor and a student into one of the old offices in the Language Arts building.”
“I have you on speaker because the professor said knowing what is going on will help keep them calm” Chuck said.
“Crap!” is all the boss said. Then after a few heart-beats, “I am sending Bernie over with the angle grinder and a bunch of cut-off discs. Try not to set the building on fire.”
Chuck heard Olivia gasp. “He was joking. The cut-off wheel makes sparks but there is nothing flammable within 20 feet of here. It was just a stupid joke.”
Chuck didn’t bother to tell Olivia that the glue WAS flammable. He sent a text to his boss. “SEND SEVERAL FIRE-EXTINGUISHERS!!!” He also didn’t tell the occupants that the old offices had very little ventilation. They were never intended to be occupied for long periods of time with the doors closed. It was Chuck’s opinion that there were some things the people trapped in the room were better off NOT knowing.
Gwain looked at Olivia, thoughtfully.
“A lot of people who have anxiety issues carry a few ‘rescue’ meds. If you have some, this would be a good time to take them” Gwain offered.
Olivia looked surprised. “I think I might have something!” she said.
She started digging around in her purse and pulled out some small, pink tablets*. “I forgot I had these. They put me right to sleep” Olivia said.
“You might just want to take one… just to take the edge off” Gwain suggested as he handed her an unopened bottle of water.
“OK, Bernie just showed up with the angle grinder. It is going to get loud in there” Chuck informed them.
“What I am going to do is every time I stop grinding, I will wait at least ten seconds before I start again. That way you can talk to me if you need to say something” Chuck said.
“I appreciate the heads-up” Gwain said as he stuck his finger tips into his ears.
Gwain didn’t think the grinder was that loud when Chuck started it. He quickly changed his mind when the cutting wheel touched the steel hinge and made the door vibrate like the head of a drum. The noise was harsh and grating and amplified in the small space.
It was really rough on Olivia.
Chuck stopped cutting after a half minute. “How are you guys doing in there?”
“Not so good” Gwain admitted. “Miss Benavidez just took a tranquilizer. Do you suppose you could just hang-loose for fifteen or twenty minutes so it has time to take effect?”
“Yeah. No problem” Chuck said. “I can get some fans while we are waiting. Oh, and I am getting a crowd of people who want to talk with you.”
The next voice Gwain heard was von Tersch, the Department Head. “How are you doing in there?” von Tersch asked.
“Not so hot” Gwain admitted. “Can you shoo-away the gawkers? There are some things we need to discuss privately.”
Mystified, von Tersch directed Violet to remove the small crowd of on-lookers.
“Ok, we are in the clear, what is up?” von Tersch asked, expecting Professor McCampbell to go high-maintenance on him.
“I am in the office with Miss Benavidez who is one of our Freshmen. Miss Benavidez is experiencing a mental health emergency. We are dealing with it for now, but as soon as this door is popped off, I NEED to get Miss Benavidez to the Student Health building for observation.” Gwain told him.
That was NOT what von Tersch expected, or wanted, to hear.
Gwain continued, “We are going to walk over there and we don’t want to run into anybody who is going to stop us and ask questions.”
“Wouldn’t an ambulance be faster?” von Tersch asked.
Looking over at Olivia, Gwain responded “I don’t think Miss Benavidez will want to be in confined spaces so soon”
Olivia vigorously nodded her agreement. Walking in the open seemed like a great option.
More quietly, Gwain asked Olivia “Do you have any friends you want to walk with. We can try and find them…”
Olivia shook her head “No”. She had no close friends at college, nobody she had confided in, nobody who she could trust to keep her issues secret.
“Miss Benavidez agrees with just me and her walking over to the student health center like it is not a big deal, but I WANT the skids to be greased. I want somebody over there waiting for her at-the-door and I expect her to get treated like royalty” Gwain said.
“Gotchya. Just you and her taking a quiet walk across campus...I might send along a couple of people to clear the path but…” von Tersch said…
“Oh shit! A television truck just parked in front of the building” von Tersch exclaimed.
Gwain looked over at Olivia and repeated his mantra "Who, what, how, where, when and why. Keep writing!"
Looking at the number of pages that she had written, Gwain added "Go back and number each page and circle the number. Put your initials at the bottom. Just do it."
(C) 2025 Eaton Rapids Joe, All Rights Reserved
* One of the off-label uses for diphenhydramine (also known as Benadryl) in mental health situations is as an emergency sedative. It is commonly available in two-tablet, sealed, tear-open packets.
I get claustraphobic in large crowds, I get it. If something impedes my motion (e.g. closed spaces, large crowds, log-jammed traffic), I get irritated. After a spell, it gets to be uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, and this is no knock against the author or writing, I still find it hard to believe people like Olivia exist into adulthood. I had enough hard knocks along the way I learned to deal with stuff like this w/o freaking out. Sadly however this scene isn't out of bounds. Kids these days, I swear...
If she went to a typical public high school and if she was a compliant student, she was probably given 100% on everything she turned in and told "You are AMAZING", "You are academically GIFTED" and "You paper was PERFECT".
DeleteShe headed off to university and was invited to parties. Her dorm mates jollied her into dropping $400 on matching tatts...
And then she gets her first-term's grades and she pukes! She is not AMAZING. She is not GIFTED. She is not perfect. She never had to work for a good grade. She doesn't know how.
The mismatch between what "responsible adults" put in her head and her new reality is making her crazy.
Lean against the door from the inside. The grinder transfers vibration to the door skin the way a violin string and bridge transfer vibrations to the violin body. Damp it down with a fat ass pushing in the middle.
DeleteIsn't there a window they can get out of?---ken
ReplyDeleteIn most Universities, there is a very rigid hierarchy with tenured Professors having privileges like Greek Gods and Associate Professors having the status of temporary, hired help.
DeleteSince Gwain was viewed as "temporary", his office was smaller than a broom closet and about as luxurious.
So, no. The office did not sport a window.
I understand. And thinking about newer buildings they don't have windows that open anyway. ---ken
DeleteI did not know that effect Benadryl as a DIY sedative. Thanks for the tip !
ReplyDeleteVery engaging story going - Thank You for your effort in writing it.
Works great for dogs on the 4th and New Years Eve. Same dosing, 12.5 mg for 50# and up. Children's syrup works for dosing small dogs. Very high LD50 so very little danger of overdose.
DeleteDiphenhydramine has a high LD50, but in high doses it’s a dissasociative that causes incredibly frightening hallucinations, it’s actually banned in some countries. Don’t give kids or animals too much benadryl!
DeleteExpulsion for Cole doesn't begin to balance the scale of justice. He needs to be in jail for a few nights, with a couple of $20 bills spread around the meaner inmates as incentive to teach him some lessons.
ReplyDeleteKids are given a pass because they say "I didn't KNOW that would happen!". Cole will undoubtedly say "I didn't know SHE was in the office therefore I am not accountable for her going bananas."
DeleteWestern Civilization works because people are accountable for things that MIGHT happen as a result of our actions. The six vignettes that follow Matthew 5:19 are all quick word-sketches of that concept.
I cannot fire a magazine from an AK into a crowd and then shirk responsibility by saying "I didn't KNOW if it would hit anybody." Civilization falls apart when accountability between action and results is dissolved.
I think your last sentence defines our current position on the curve of social collapse similar to the zener point of a diode.
DeleteIf you read back Cole could hear Olivia's wail, so he has zero ability to deny he knew she was in the office along with Prof Gwain.
DeleteResponding to Rick T: One of the challenges of writing is keeping track of who knew what, and when.
DeleteFrom a legal standpoint, a lawyer would have a difficult time proving what Cole heard and didn't hear.
And even if the lawyer could prove it, Cole would still claim "I didn't know that being trapped would impact her so much."
The problem is two people trapped in a confined space; any, and every, solution is acceptable as long as it does not make the problem worse. For example, unscrewing the hinges is a basic solution, but if one considers the door sacrificial it expands the solution matrix quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the door made of? (I went back to the previous account and didn't see it mentioned). If it's wood, and in an older building I would expect that, a faster solution would be a circular saw - cut the door vertically a few inches from the hinges, drill a pair of holes about 6 inches apart, pass a rope or cable through, loop it through the holes and pull. With the only attachment point being the latch, that part of the door should pivot more easily.
If all edges of the door perimeter are securely glued, depending on the wall structure, blocking and a stout horizontal cross bar, a jack held against the cross bar and the cable over the jack, should result in pulling the door open along the cut line.
Lacking that, use a door frame across the hall - put a horizontal cross bar inside the doorway across the hall and pull to that with a come-along. No doorway directly across? Use whatever door frames are across to create two "pulls" with a pair of come-alongs. It's also an old trick to run one taut double loop from a stuck vehicle around a fixed object and pull the sides of the loop apart. The loop will have to be shortened periodically, but the leverage can be substantial.
Attacking the hinges seems rational, but often people attempt to solve problems in ways they are familiar with and not venture "outside the box" for a solution.
And, regarding punishment for Cole, I'm sure there is a list of criminal charges that can be applied, but the real damage will come from a hefty civil judgment. Pursuing a civil case after the criminal conviction will make winning the civil case easier. Neither "correction" nor "revenge" is the correct answer; "a reckoning" is. A large enough judgment will follow him everywhere and be life altering for decades.
IMO their best solution is to jig-saw some holes to allow ventilation and to pass in goggles, hearing protection, and respirators, then take a circular saw to the door just inside stiles and top and bottom rails. Trying to open the door is useless with all the urethane foam in the gaps.
DeleteBCE had a similar tale of woe about "gifted" girls. Amazingly enough it now appears the pilot of that Blackhawk crash was one. Her resume read like James Bond's. Fortunately they scrubbed her social media before the Dirt People could see it.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it 'they' say? Once on the internet, it is there forever?
DeleteWhy not take a chain saw and cut a hole in the door? Or is this really a dumb question?
ReplyDeleteNot a dumb question.
DeleteMost maintenance departments are organized around "inside" guys (Maintenance) and "outside" guys (Grounds Keepers). Getting a working chainsaw would involve admitting to the other bureaucrats that you didn't have the tools you needed to do the job.
So, Chuck-wagon is using the standard kit of tools.
Frankly, none of the "Inside" guys will think of a chainsaw.
I don't recall any mention of what the door is made of, but a circular saw with the appropriate blade will cut a passage way through a wooden or metal door in short order. Get the prisoners out of the room and then worry about removing the rest of the door.
ReplyDelete"Try not to set the building on fire.” Always good advice.
ReplyDeleteTook some Benedryl-clone at work once. The report I was creating degenerated into chimpanzee-bashing-keys after 15 minutes.
Nicely done, and yes, time to GET THE DOOR OPEN is now. Chuck will change tactics quickly.
ReplyDeleteFormer Firefighter here:
ReplyDeleteAttacking the hinges is a good call. Often times you can drive the pin out and separate the hinge. Sounds like there are security screws holding the together. Attack the security screws then drive the hinge. That's odd though, because interior doors tend to open to the inside, and the hinge would be inside the room. I also assume this is an older building with solid wood doors built back in the day by people who cared. That's good, it means I can lever the door a whole lot more before it fails.
I would attack the Door knob, remove it, and open the locking bolts by hand as well as put eyes on the victims. Then drive my halligan into the door near the handle between the frame and the door with an axe or hammer. Then begin to wedge or lever the door to move. I can open that door in about a minute and a half.
https://youtu.be/qp8Ipf-Xcbo?si=Tyko0FVM5LXF8CjN
ReplyDelete