May 2008 with Steve and Pat
I think I spoke too soon last Sunday when I wrote that nothing too exciting had happened with the duty phone.
Shortly after I said that, I started getting calls. Long story short, at 10 PM Sunday night, I was at the Juarez morgue to identify an American who had been hit by a bus. He was a fugitive wanted for kidnapping and attempted murder – he had shot his ex-wife (she survived) and ran with their 9-year-old boy. He dropped the boy off at a church here in town, then stepped in front of traffic. After the trip to the morgue, I called his next-of-kin to notify him of the death. Wild night.
On Friday, I had the opportunity to help repatriate a US teenager who had been living with her boyfriend several hours from here. We spent the day driving south through the desert to get her and bring her back, so I got to know her fairly well. The day ended by walking her over the international bridge to return her to her mom. I hope she does OK – she’s a sweet kid.
They told us in school that we would have cases like the two I’ve written about here – I just didn’t realize I would get them so soon after arriving in Mexico! The good news is that I really enjoyed it.
As a side note, on the way back to Juarez with the teenager, we stopped at Villa Ahumada for lunch at a roadside burrito stand – they are known for their cheese, and it was delicious. It was a pleasant little town, lined with burrito and cheese stands. Um, I didn’t know that just two months ago, the narcos had conducted a massacre in the town.
We had a lot of rain here this week. The streets of Juarez flood easily, so we found ourselves slugging through pretty deep water on the way home from work Tuesday.
Over on the right side of this page, I added a “Free Kibble” link. You can click on it daily and it helps feed shelter dogs and cats. I usually don’t do stuff like this, but I saw the 11-year-old who set up the program on TV and it seems like a neat thing.
The rest of the week was pretty quiet. John took me to Corralito’s Friday night for a good steak dinner and to celebrate relinquishing the duty phone. Last night, we went to a fun cookout at our neighbors Michael and Teresa’s. Here’s a photo of Darren and grill master Michael:
