Frank Pierce: I gotta get a drink. Sobriety's killing me.
Frank Pierce: Oh, I see. With all the poor people of this
city who wanted only to live and were viciously murdered,
you have the nerve to sit here, wanting to die, and not go
through with it?! You make me sick!
Frank Pierce: Saving someone's life is like falling in love.
The best drug in the world. For days, sometimes weeks afterwards,
you walk the streets, making infinite whatever you see. Once,
for a few weeks, I couldn't feel the earth -- everything I
touched became lighter. Horns played in my shoes. Flowers
fell from my pockets. You wonder if you've become immortal,
as if you've saved your own life as well. God has passed through
you. Why deny it, that for a moment there -- why deny that
for a moment there, God was you?
Frank Pierce: I realised that my training was useful in less
than ten percent of the calls, and saving lives was rarer
than that. After a while, I grew to understand that my role
was less about saving lives than about bearing witness. I
was a grief mop. It was enough that I simply turned up.
Frank Pierce: Tom, where are the Band-Aids? This IS an ambulance,
isn't it?
Frank Pierce: You said if I came in late for another shift,
you'd fire me. Captain Barney: I'll fire you tomorrow.
Mary Burke: You have to be strong to survive in this city.
