Trowbridge Dispatch

Boston-born first-responder Alex Flynn is back with wry wit and still chasing emergencies in rural Vermont in this tale involving a gas line, a chainsaw, and other things that might or might not go boom and that might or might not go horrible wrong. Eavesdrop on emergency personnel as they attempt to diffuse a dicey situation in this, the first in the Trowbridge Dispatch collection of short stories.

Boston-born first-responder Alex Flynn gets called into the principal’s office in this short story set in rural Vermont, where poor roads and under-funded public services form a comfortable and familiar background. Explore the hidden links and community found in an ordinary New England town when local first responders might or might not have to engage with an active school shooter. Trowbridge Dispatch is part of the Trowbridge, Vermont series of novels and stories, wherein I.M. Aiken draws on her roots in public safety to narrate tales of the everyday heroes that every community depends on.

At midnight on New Year’s Eve, Trowbridge Vermont EMT Brighid Doran delivers the region’s ambulance to a three-alarm house fire. Afterward, she sits in a warm truck with her girlfriend Sam, a US Army officer fresh from the battlefields of Iraq, as they watch a local volunteer firefighter battle the blast in subzero weather.

Join a small crew of EMTs and paramedics (characters from The Little Ambulance War of Winchester County) who undertake a hilarious and disgusting anatomy refresher as part of their on-going training requirements. Given the location (rural Vermont) and the season (hunting season), the crew explores the heart and lungs of a deer.

Al of Trowbridge Rescue works a shift on a commercial ambulance on the day that Vermont experiences the first ears of sweet corn. One medic says: “I wanna eat so much corn, I’ll shit kernels ‘til Thursday.” He partner replies, “The butter and salt will drip down my chin”. The crew of two ambulances celebrate an ersatz holiday.

Alex Flynn, chief of Trowbridge Rescue, recollects poignant elements of a friendship during Alex’s days in government service. The story remembers love, fear, and sadness released when hearing The Steve Miller Band’s song “The Joker”.

Trowbridge Dispatch is part of the Trowbridge, Vermont series of novels and stories, wherein I.M. Aiken draws on her roots in public safety to narrate tales of the everyday heroes that every community depends on.