Bigger Deal

Soundtrack: Kyrie from Palestrina’s Missa Pro Defunctis, the Chanticleer recording. We need something beautiful today.

So I’m out wandering around my temporary home of Vancouver, BC this afternoon. I’m walking south across the Granville Street bridge when I see a police car, lights ablaze, parked near the summit of the bridge, blocking a lane of traffic. As I get closer I can see the car’s empty; two cops, one a young woman, are standing at the railing.

As I reach them, I stop and look down below. A big Canadian Coast Guard hovercraft is parked on the north side of the inlet. Aboard it, a tender is handling rope (and likely air supply) to a diver below – I can see his bubbles. The diver is searching in an arc around the stern of the boat, presumably using the rope/air-line to create a search radius.

There are half a dozen cops on the shore near the hovercraft.

It’s one of those scenes where you know exactly what’s going on, and you kinda wish that you didn’t.

"That can’t be fun work down there. Is that one of your divers?"

The lady cop doesn’t take her eyes off the water. "No, we bring in the Coast Guard for stuff like this – we don’t have our own divers. Are you a diver?"

"Yeah, but not that kind. I dive for fun."

"What would the visibility be like down there? How far could you see?"

The water is somewhat muddy, but in locations like that, it doesn’t really matter. The answer is always "Not very far."

"He’ll be lucky if he can see his hand if his arm is fully outstretched."

"Then," mused the cop… She didn’t complete her sentence.

So there was the giant elephant sitting in the middle of our conversation, and nobody had mentioned it.

"Somebody jump?"

She just nodded.

"How long ago?"

"About an hour. They have the floats out there to figure out where the tide and currents are going."

"Man, it’s Father’s Day."

"Yeah, it’s Father’s Day."

I watched a while longer. I’ve done a lot of diving in low visibility – it’s an occupational hazard of diving in northern California. But never looking – feeling – for a body. I guess the guy doing the searching, he’s used to this. As used to it as you can get, anyway. Or maybe this is his first one.

I paused and thought good thoughts for him; he’s probably not having a great Father’s Day.

And I thought good thoughts for the man (or woman) who was driven, for whatever reason, to climb over the railing on the Granville Street Bridge.

I wasn’t sure how to end the conversation with the cops. "I wish you all luck," I said. "Thank you." She even smiled a little.

Call your dad today, and if you can’t call your dad, call your mom. And if you can’t do that, call somebody’s mom or dad. And think good thoughts for the Vancouver cops, Coast Guard, and a family that’s having a very bad Father’s Day.