I
’ll never know for sure why I singled Eddie out.
It was a dark and stormy night, which means it was warm and dry in the ER. We often see guys like him in such weather, unfortunately: homeless people who just need a warm place to stay until morning. So they come in with a complaint, maybe medical, maybe psychiatric, just to get inside. Sometimes they’re loud and obnoxious, sometimes they’re grateful and docile. Usually they’re intoxicated.
I say that without judgment. This is just an unfortunate reality: These people are homeless, sometimes mentally ill, always suffering deeply, and they turn to alcohol as a form of self-medication.
We get our regulars, we accept the abnormal as normal, and we usually just let them sleep it off in a corner. So why did I approach Eddie? Was it because he was new to the ER? I had never seen him before.
