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.