The Bloodmobile

The morning sun hits the Reitz Union lawn with the burn of a campfire that is too close to your face. A breeze fluffs the trees' leaves like a bird ruffling its feathers. Low brick buildings hem in the grass and scattered trees with their sullen, dark windows, reluctant to let in the morning sun. Birds chirp, but their noise is quickly squelched by the low hum of a machine off in the distance. Sidewalks cut swaths of concrete strips through the grass. All roads lead to the Reitz Union.

The humming motor is joined by the click and whirr of another one starting. This one is much, much closer. The Bloodmobile growls to life on the sidewalk, parked next to an unlit lamppost.

The Bloodmobile is awake now, but there is no one in the driver's seat. It is the same with the Bloodmobile that parks on the other side of Turlington, next to the clock tower. No one goes in. No one comes out. It is only when kids walk around campus with one elbow bandaged and a free "Local Hero" T-shirt in hand that you realize anyone donates at all.

The Bloodmobile is long and robust, with a small, white nose. Its stripes are red, white and blue to inspire the duty to help one's countrymen in the blood of passersby. The four black windows on its side are dim, and there is no door on that side.

Two girls walk right by. They don't look at the Bloodmobile even once. It won't snatch them from the sidewalk - this time.

Around the Bloodmobile, the grass glows with the morning sun. The dew is gone now, and only the soil is damp.

Now there is a man in navy scrubs standing by the side of the Bloodmobile. He leans over and scans the underbelly of the behemoth, briefly touching a bright metal box that pokes out from under its left flank, ignoring the other ones pressed together like giant, square scales. He finishes and vanishes around the rear. In the bright patch on the other side of the bus, his feet trudge towards the front and disappear, but there is still no one in the driver's seat, and none of the dim windows light up.

The Bloodmobile must have swallowed him whole.