Bittersweet Memory

I once worked for a company in the nortern part of Japan that invovled with sales of medical devices.
My job entails renting medical devices to hospitals. At the same time I took care of patients who used our products. One evening I was still working alone in the office. I took a glimpse of my watch. It says 9.00 pm. I said to myself, "It's time I went home now." All of a sudden the telephone on the desk rang loudly. I picked up the receiver. It was a notorious patient, Ichiro.
He said, "Something is wrong with the machine. I can hardly breathe. I want you to check up on it righ away." I heard him wheezing a lot at the other end of the line. Immediately I thought of loading up the van with an alternative device. For I was to blame, if I didn't do anything about it.
The car rolled along the national highway to an intersection, where I took a right. Now the road is getting narrower. Out of thin air appeared a couple of cops waving a flashlight. I was ushered into the driveway of City Hall. One officer approached me and asked, "Could you pull over to the kerb? A bunch of cars will be coming in now, you know." He grinned. I realized this was a police trap. But it was too late. He said, "Well, Sir, you were doing 70 km an hour where the speed limit is 30. I shook my head and told him," One of my patients is in a state of emergency. I'm in a hurry."
He said, "Wait a minute. Are you a doctor or something? I still insist that I give you a ticket for speeding."
The moment I grabbed the ticket, the car rolled off to a start toward my destination. Thirty minutes later I reached Ichiro's house. I checked the machine carefully. Everything seemed to be in order. But I changed the machines just in case. What a relief! Ichiro is getting better. When I said good-by to him, he gave me a large bottle of Japanese Sake as a token of appreciation. My watch said 15 minutes past midnight.
It was my bittersweet memory.

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