The fall (6-25-14)

I am a five year old man, living somewhat uncomfortably in the body of a dead man named Douglas Grant.

Mr. Grant died when he was 37 years old.  He fell from the roof of the New China Buffet restaurant early on a Thursday afternoon in late June five years ago.  No one knows why he was on that roof.    The papers hinted at drugs.  I am sure his family had some theories.  Maybe he simply snapped.  Whatever the real reason, it was dashed from his brain when his skull impacted the concrete.

Doug did not die on the spot.  Both the police and the paramedics were at the restaurant before he fell.  Someone had reported a man atop a restaurant downtown.  After an airlift to a regional medical facility, Mr. Grant lingered for some time in the intensive care unit.  It looked as though he would recover.  After several weeks, he was responding to stimuli.  He could squeeze fingers and would move of his own accord.  The doctors urged cautious optimism, and his family began to hope.  Unfortunately, it soon became evident that Douglas would never recover.   Douglas Grant was dead.