Friday, April 24, 2015

Word: Sang-froid





sang-froid

[French sahn-frwa]  
noun
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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