Synopsis: Well, this one is just like it says...it's about two minutes inside the head of a county coroner.
Notes: Years ago, in doing research for a book, I had occassion to interview a county coroner. I sat across his desk and spoke with him for over an hour. In that hour, he never looked me in the eye, not even once. At the end of that hour he gave me a tour of the facility which culminated with him opening up a body-bag and showing me what was left of a vagrant that had been hit by a train after sitting down on the tracks. I've never forgotten that sight, and don't worry, I won't describe it to you here, or in the story, for that matter.
I'll never completely leave that day behind me, I suppose, not because of what was inside that body bag (OK, a hint; picture a hundred and fifty pounds of raw hamburger with some bones and hair sticking out of it, and you'll have an idea of what I saw)but because he never looked me in the eye. I am all but certain as soon as I left the building he locked the door and found a corpse to bang, THAT is the sincere, actual vibe he gave off.
I know all coroner's aren't like that...since that day I've sought out several more, and with the exception of that first one, they've all been nice, polite, normal, eye-contact making people. Their sense of humor tends to be on the darker side of course, but one can hardly fault them for that.
I wrote this story about the good, hardworking, and important people coroners really are, partly as a reminder, partly in hopes that it should garner me some kind of karma that will keep me from ever coming in contact with the other kind again...because where there is one, there have to be more. right?
