Nothing sent me into panic mode than when the siren went off in town while I was in school. Back in the day, I had transferred from Bernard School to Columbus; I wasn’t ready for life in the city. No, I still lived in the country, but things were different, even if it was in school. I went from a classroom-student ratio of six students to one teacher to 30 students to one teacher. There was no longer having that oneon- one with the teacher.
I did not know then that the town siren went off at noon. Each time I heard it go off, I could only imagine that Mom got in a car wreck or something happened to Dad. Worse still, I imagined the house burning down with Mom in it.
I started having actual panic attacks when I got into the workforce. Before going into law enforcement, I worked as an electrician’s helper. I almost fell off a scaffold that was a thousand feet high, and ever since, I have had panic attacks when I climb up a ladder over two feet high.
