Saving Lives

• Sarah Tonking, Grade 11
• Poetry
• 2010

It was a great night, perfect for coasting down the highway with three drunken people. I, the amazing thing that I am, was not drunk, despite having smashed several Cruisers and a Jack Daniels a few hours earlier. So had Bat, but hey, alcohol had no effect on the higher beings such as Bat and my already notably awesome person. However, the others were off their faces. I glanced around the car, my eyes picking up more than the usual. It stopped on the girl next to me, her hands slightly shaking from some unknown cause. I smelt the air, and resisted the urge to gag. Alcohol, as tasty as it could be, was horrible in its after effect. All I could smell was perspiration and liquor. Damn. This girl intrigued me. What was wrong with her? If only I could put up my outstanding and attractive ears to tell, listen in on her heart beat, her internal organs. But I would have to tousle my hair and that wasn’t really enough time. You could only tousle such perfectly messed up and concealing hair before it was ruined. Black with bright blue tips at each point; I liked to have my hair manga style, just to add to my outstanding, yet overwhelming charisma.
Then I noticed the window on my left. Joy, I could successfully execute a daring manoeuvre to listen in on her, however the wind would be a negative. Oh well, curiosity killed the cat. But I wasn’t just any cat. So I rolled down the window, letting in the freezing midnight air. Complaints echoed from around me, but I just smiled, my perfectly white teeth glinting sharply with the passing of each street lamp. As the wind caught my hair, I let my ears back, off my scalp, and focused on the girl.
Oh dear. Her heart beat was erratic and her body trembled like it was going out of fashion. I focused on her other vital organs. Oh, that explained her symptoms. She was a diabetic! Her glucose was riding dangerously low, and she didn’t want to speak up about it, as she thought the others (drunkards, in other words) would blame her for ruining the night. Well, not me.
Bat looked over at me in the revision mirror and noticed my ears. Actually turning around, he looked at me warningly. “Close the bloody window, Lukas. It’s freezing, and I’m driving,” he growled, looking over the top of his glasses at me. I poked out my tongue, but complied. I glanced over at the girl, her red hair hanging straight to her shoulders. “I want maccas!” I complained and Bat sighed and turned into the nearest one. I looked at the girl. “Want anything?” I asked. She muttered something about a large Fanta. I ordered three. Later, when bat had dropped them all off, he asked me what the hell I was doing earlier.
“Saving a life,” I smirked smugly.
That said, we returned to heaven.