sang-froid
[French sahn-frwa]
1. coolness of mind; calmness; composure:
They committed the robbery with complete sang-froid.
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Fred’s hands trembled and a cold sweat ran down his
back. His breath fogged up the clear
plastic that shielded his face, making it much harder to see than was necessarily
comfortable for him. He did everything
he could to keep his hands from shaking, but nothing worked. His palms were sweaty, which made holding the
wire cutters harder, which made him even more nervous, which made everything worse.
“Just
remember Evans, cut the red wire.” Said
Audrey, his superior officer.
“But
they’re all red.” Fred said as he poured
over the many wires.
“I
know. It’s just a little joke.”
“H-how
can you joke at a time like this?” Fred
asked.
How
Audrey could be so calm was beyond him.
They were dealing with a live bomb, and she was acting like nothing was
wrong.
“It was
supposed to help you calm down. Guess it
didn’t work, did it?”
“Not
even a little. I mean, how am I supposed
to be calm with this thing around?”
“Just
remember your training and you’ll be fine.
This isn’t anything you haven’t seen before, and you know how to deal
with it.”
“It’s a
bit different now. There, if I did
anything wrong, I just got a puff of smoke in my face and some harsh
words. If I mess up here, everyone in
range will die.”
“Well,
to be fair, we’re pretty much the only people here, so the loss of life will be
pretty minimal.”
“And
that’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“Eh. I guess not, but it was worth a try, I guess. If it helps, just keep in mind what kind of
bomb it is. It’s not a time bomb, so it’s
not like you have to worry about that.
As long as nothing sets off the pressure sensor, nothing will happen no
matter how long it takes.”
“Better,
better.” Fred said. Knowing there was no hard time limit did
help, if only a little. “Not enough, but
better.”
“Good.”
“How do
you do it though?” He asked.
“Do
what?” Audrey replied.
“Keep
calm? I mean, I know you’ve been doing
this for awhile, but still. How do you
deal with the nerves?”
“Easy. I have something like a mantra I repeat. It helps me.
I’m told it doesn’t work for everyone though.”
“What,
uh, what is it?” Fred asked as he tentatively
probed around the base of a wire, hoping it was the correct one. He opted not to cut it, just in case.
“Just
another day at the office.” Audrey
said. Fred heard her shuffling around
behind him in her bulky Bomb Squad suit.
“What?”
“I just
repeat that to myself as much as it takes.
It helps me keep a cool head no matter what I’m doing. Think about it. If what you’re doing is normal, how can it
make you nervous or scared?”
Fred
took a deep breath and tried repeating the sentence to himself. As he looked at the explosive in front of him
though, he discovered one thing: He was
one of those people that Audrey’s little charm did not work for. In fact, all he could think of was how
disarming bombs could never be anything other than abnormal. All that did was make him even more
terrified. So much so that he found it
nearly impossible to hold his tools. And
all that did was make everything he had learned during training fly right out
of his head.
“I-I
don’t think I can do this.” He
said.
“Don’t
think like that.”
“N-no,
I-I mean, I really can’t. I know I
should be able to, but I can’t. I just
can’t remember anything, and I’m terrified of what’ll happen, and.”
Audrey
sighed and pushed him lightly aside.
“Alright, fine. I’ll take care of it this time. But next time, you have to be able to deal
with it.” She said. “Just make sure to pay close attention to
what I’m about to do.”
“R-right, okay, yeah. I can do that.”
Audrey took one look at the bomb,
got her tools ready, and got to work.
Her hands steadily probed the wires, and it only took her a few minutes
to find all of the bomb’s weak spots.
With incredibly steady, controlled actions, she set about disarming
it. She was calm and composed, acting
like what she was doing was nothing special at all. Fred was amazed at how she managed to remain
so steady through the process.
“And there we go, all done.” She said.
She stood and without any care for what
might happen, removed the explosive charges, pressure sensor, and everything
that went with it. Fred felt a lump form
in his throat, but Audrey didn’t seem to care.
She acted like she was holding a pile of old junk to be thrown out. He could tell she was being careful, so as
not to cause any problems, but she didn’t act like she was.
It only
took Audrey a few minutes to transport the bomb out of the building and into a
safe container at the nearby police and bomb units. It took her an equally short time to remove
the bulky protective suit. Fred followed
suit, removing his own in a considerably longer amount of time.
“There,
you see?” She said once they were both
in their normal uniforms, “A cool head lets you make short work of anything.”
“Yeah,
right.” Fred said.
“It
does take some practice, but I’m sure you’ll get it someday. You just need to find something that calms
you down. My trick didn’t seem to work,
so you’ll have to find your own. And,
uh, maybe spending more time in the practice room couldn’t hurt either.”
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I wonder how much Bomb Squads actually do go out and dispose of bombs. I mean it's not like bomb scares happen every day, right?
Also, I'm not sure I like the way I ended this one, but I also couldn't think of anything else. What do you all think?
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