common bond

"Police or Ambulance?" a voice asks.
"Ambulance," I say, breathlessly.
A woman to my left begins to pray aloud.
"A pedestrian has been hit by a car," someone says to my left.
Across the street, I can see people running. Two soon kneel on the cold, wet roadway beside the very, very still form lying there.
A voice is asking me questions.
A man passes me a piece of paper.
My voice tightens and breaks as I read the address,
the phone number.
I am safe and warm inside a building.
But someone else is not.

I had been working when the door burst open and someone cried out, "Call 911!"
I was dialing before I knew why.
Can't life change in a moment of time?
The ordinary suspended.
Strangers transformed.
A common bond.

In the distance a siren wails.