Shadows of My Dad

Today I cried at work.

I hadn't cried at work since my dad passed away in July of 2013.

See, this man called me at work. He was one of our clients and he speaks only Spanish. He is a trucker and was involved in an accident.  He was calling me because he didn't know if he should report it to the police. I asked him what exactly happened.

He said he was driving along, minding his own business, just putting in another day at work when a tire came off of a car. I don't know if the tire actually came off the wheel or if it fell from the bed of a truck...I don't know all the details, he just said a tire came off the other vehicle and rolled underneath his truck-tractor causing quite a bit of damage to his truck.

He said he was there with the other party and the other party didn't want to call the police. I told him to call the police. He said the other party wouldn't let him and said he thought there was something fishy about the other party, like maybe he was on drugs or something. The other party didn't speak Spanish and my client didn't speak English very well so it was also a communication issue.

My client asked me to call the highway patrol for him. I told him he had to call and he said, “You don’t understand, I can’t call, he won’t let me, he’s watching every number I dial, and I’m on Hwy 58 and” …and then he stopped talking. So I asked him if he wanted me to conference the CHP in and nothing, I could hear talking but he wasn’t talking to me and then the phone call dropped.

So what do I do? I’m imagining all kinds of horrible things; the other party has a gun to his head, or stabbed him, or ran him over with his car or took him hostage! These things can and do happen all the time.

So I called 911 and they transferred me to the CHP and I spoke to someone there and explained what had happened and she pretty much said “Yeah and what do you want me to do about it?” I was stunned! “Ummm, I want you to help him!” She said the driver has to call them and report this, I said “But the other party WON’T LET HIM!” She wanted to know if I knew where he was, what road, what highway? I told her I didn't, but thanks to caller ID I have his name and phone number and you guys can call him and she said no they can’t. That is not what they do, the driver has to call in and report it himself and I told her “So he could be getting murdered right now and you can’t do anything?” She said no, there is nothing we can do.

She told me to call him back and tell him to call them. I told her “Thanks for nothing”, hung up and called the insured and he didn't answer. I called the insured a couple more times throughout the day and no answer; I left him a voice mail and no response! I still don’t know what happened.

I told a co-worker about it and she said, “Oh well it was up to him to call the CHP, not to call you, what are you supposed to do? You did more than I would have done, I wouldn't even have called the CHP like you did.” I told her that I thought of my dad and how when he first came to this country he didn't understand English well, let alone speak it and in memory of my dad I try to help people that have language issues like that so that no one will take advantage of them, and then I told her I had to go before I started crying and then I cried. I miss my daddy.