Black Flies, Post #6

In the eleventh section of Shannon Burke’s novel, Black Flies, events lead up to an emotional climax. Receiving a call about a shooting in a park, paramedics are sent to help any injured. Arriving to find an apparent attempted suicide, they find that their patient is still alive. Taking him to the hospital, Cross begins to give CPR. The man, however, dies on the way to the hospital. Only after arriving does a police officer tell him who his patient was. Cross explains, “When I heard who it was my heart stopped” (149). Cross hadn’t been able to see the man’s face since it had been severely damaged, and it was only from the man’s ID were they able to tell who he was. It had been his partner, Rutkovsky. Ollie Cross takes the news calmly, dealing with it. At Rutkovsky’s funeral, Cross sees how the entire station loved his partner. Then he says, “At the burial I was asked to stand up front, but I refused. I don’t know why. I didn’t want to be part of the proceedings” (150). The reader can see how much Cross has been impacted by events, but one can also see how he has matured. Although Cross has a brief period of instability, he eventually becomes very stable.

As the novel draws to a close, Shannon Burke, the author, describes Cross’s character initially in a much darker light. When Cross goes to treat a patient, he has a sudden realization. He thinks, “It had taken Rutkovsky twenty years to get to that point of indifference. It took me eleven months” (163). Cross’ emotions are collapsing in on him. It takes him a few weeks for him to find himself again. When he does, though, he comes back strong. Right at the last few pages of the book, Cross goes into a burning building. In the basement, he finds a young girl who was electrocuted by an improperly installed sprinkler system. Acting quickly, he restarts the girl’s heart. An hour later, Cross finds out that the little girl is alright. One of the last few lines of the book are of Cross teaching a class. He says, “That’s what it’s all about- doing a good thing for a few people. That’s about as much as you can hope for. That’s the essence of being a real paramedic” (184). Cross realizes that acts of kindness make a great difference in people’s lives. Having read this book, I am glad that Burke decided to end on a good note. I was afraid that I would just be left felling miserable. Instead, the author decides to focus on the good in the story. This fuzzy, warm feeling will last with me for a while, or maybe just until the next depressing book.

Black Flies, Post #5

It is during this latest portion of the book that a source of conflict comes about. In this section of Shannon Burke’s novel, Black Flies, Ollie Cross’ partner purposefully misdiagnoses a newborn child, trying to euthanize it. This scene comes about as Cross and his partner, Rutkovsky, find a woman who had already given birth. The woman tells the two paramedics that the child is dead, but Rutkovsky appears to give care to the child regardless. The woman, an addict and HIV-positive, is given care by Cross. When Cross goes to check on the child, he is told by his partner that it is dead. When another group of paramedics arrive, however, they discover that Rutkovsky had been lying. Although the child is saved, there are deep repercussions. Later, Cross has a discussion with his chief. The chief says, “‘Rut’s on his way to a job filing reports in the records division’” (123). When Cross thinks about events later, he realizes some of his partner’s motivations. Another paramedic sympathizes with Rutkovsky’s actions, saying how he must have thought that the child would have been brain damaged because of its parent’s condition. He elaborates, “’He’s been out here twenty years. He was trying to do the right thing’” (126). Under the circumstances of the situation, Rutkovsky believed he was morally correct. Most people, I hope, believe differently.


In the following section, Cross works to keep his life stable. His life, complicated by recent events, has left him emotionally drained and exhausted. When working in the city, Cross looks at his patients with a much more objective view. At one point, there is a shooting and paramedics are sent. When one paramedic tries to care for a boy with an injured foot, he is told by Cross to go to one of the critical patients instead. Cross narrates, “It was probably just a coincidence, but LaFontaine’s patient lived. My patient lived, too. Verdis’ patient died” (135). Ollie Cross has had a steep learning curve as a Harlem paramedic, but he has also changed dramatically. At the beginning of the novel, Cross was the emotional character. Now, however, he is much colder, efficient person. Later, Rutkovsky meets Cross and is talked into defending his actions in the previous section. He says, “He’ll [the child] end up an orphan, brain-damaged, crack-addicted, HIV positive. The state’ll spend a million dollars on him- and for what?- What kind of a life?” (141). Further elaborating on reasons for his actions, the author brings to question what is morally right. After seeing Harlem for so long, was Rutkovsky justified?

Black Flies, Post #4

In the fourth section of Shannon Burke’s novel, Black Flies, Ollie Cross is truly beginning to feel the prolonged exhaustion of his job. As a paramedic, he deals with a huge number of patients each day, and now the weight of all that work is beginning to creep into Cross’ head. Ollie Cross describes his workload at one point, giving the rough estimate of patients treated. He relates, “When the really hot weather began the average number of medical emergency jobs in the city went from 2,300 a day to around 3,600 and sometimes up above 4,000”(90). The continued physical and mental strain has added a new layer to Cross’ characterization, and plays out through the following sections of the book. Later, Ollie and other paramedics make an effort to have fun. One particular instance of this is with a homeless man named Rolly. This homeless man would make emergency calls all the time for no reason other than to get a free ride to the hospital. The paramedics were familiar with him, and they looked at him as a local friend. One night, Rolly made the excuse that he had a headache. As a joke, one medic gave him a full head bandage that had been dipped in hydrogen peroxide. Cross explains, “For the next month Rolly wandered up and down Lenox Avenue, the only homeless man in Harlem with Brilliant orange hair” (99). This shows how characters in the novel deal with their pent up fatigue. Surrounded by a morose city, the paramedics still found fun and life in the world around them.

Later, Ollie Cross begins to learn more about his partner. His partner, Rutkovsky, is fairly distant toward Cross up until this part of the book. However, this character begins to reveal more about himself. At one point, both Cross and Rutkovsky meet near a beach for fun. Talking with each other, Rutkovsky talks about his time in Vietnam. When Cross says how he must have been a good soldier, Rutvovsky initially denies it but then he opens up a little. Burke writes, “After a moment he took something from his shoe and tossed in on my towel. It was a chain that he wore around his neck-his dog tags, and around the tags a Silver Star Medal fashioned into a necklace” (103). Each individual in this novel has a background, and this is what makes this novel extremely involving and active. By showing part of Rutkovsky’s past, we the reader can make assumptions, predictions and realizations about him. At one point, Rutkovsky explains that his ex-wife has moved away with his young daughter after getting remarried. Rutkovsky says, “Sylvia gets out of this city. That’s what’s important. Probably better if she doesn’t see me. She’ll have a better life” (104-105). Ollie Cross is beginning to see his partner recede from the world a little. Life as a paramedic has weakened Rutkovsky, and this clarifies the corrosive effects of Cross’ job.