The train arrived right on time, as most of them do here in Europe.  I knew I'd be there only one night, and in the morning I'd be right back at the station on my way to the airport to pick up a rental car to take me to Italy and Austria.  So, why not leave most of my bags in a train station locker.  It cost only 7 Euros, about 7 bucks, for overnight and it would lighten my load to the hotel, the Hotel Tiffany.  Within less than a half an hour, I arrived at the hotel having taken a tram and also walked a block or two.  No problem I thought to myself as I neared the lovely hotel I had stayed at last year.  (  www.hotel-tiffany.ch )  For the sake of time, just let me tell you that this hotel is perfectly situated if you visit Geneva and I highly recommend it.  So, by the time I had eaten dinner and got cleaned up, I went out for a late night walk, as it was nearly eleven now.  I walked to the main waterway of Geneva just out from the hotel, crossed a bridge and immediately was immersed in the Geneva nightlife.  Cars, people, taxis, buses, trams, scooters, bicycles.  Everything was happening all at once it seemed, and why not, it was Friday night in Geneva.  Little did I know I was about to witness to young girls dying.  As I walked block after block, I knew I was tired but I just had to have my unwinding time.  Then, a young girl and two boys began walking in front of me.  As I kept pace behind them, the street traffic just seemed to whiz by.  Then, we heard a muffled thud if you will.  The young kids ahead of me laughed, thinking someone unlucky fool just had a fender bender.  So we kept walking.  (mind you, I was only behind them, not with them)  As we neared the next block's intersection, there was the "fender-bender", only the young boys and girl were not laughing any longer, as laying in the street, near her scooter and the car that had hit, was a girl who seemed to be laying motionless.  She still had her helmet on, and several people stood immediately over her, as a larger crowd gather on the sidewalks all around looking.  Cars though, kept right on moving by and around the young laying in the street, and why not, it was friday night in Geneva.  Well, surely she couldn't be hurt that bad I thought, as it did only sound like a fender bender.  Then I saw something that made me think otherwise.  Between the victim and the car, on the pavement, laid what I recognized could only be one thing - blood.  It was thick and nearly six feet in length, actually glistening in the lights of the Geneva night.  Right away, I thought this girl is going to die, if she is not dead already.  I heard someone say that a Doctor was by her side now, as he had been walking by.  She was motionless!  The faces on folks right around her said it all.  The girls were covering their mouths with their hands, the men were just looking very distraught.  "Someone call an ambulance!"  "I just did!" Those were the words that I am sure would of been translated into English.  The, out of the already loud night, we heard the sirens.  Thank God I thought, hurry up.  But when they came within sight,  they stopped a city block away.  What are they doing we all thought.  Are they lost?  I saw someone start to run down to them, nearly a football length away, just stopped.  Are they being held up by traffic?  That must be it I thought to myself.  What had been critical minutes ticking by, now seemed to become precious seconds.  I had had enough, I knew this girl was dead and  I couldn't bear to stand there anymore.  As I walked towards the ambulance with its lights still flashing but siren silent, I noticed something strange.  Not only was it empty, but it seemed as it itself had been involved in an accident and the damage was substantial.  Then, I also noticed a motorcycle crushed under its left front wheel.  But where are they I thought?  I asked a lady but she didn't know.  Then, I heard a sound I will never forget.  It wasn't a piercing scream, nor a loud yell.  Rather, it was what you might expect to hear from someone or something slowly and painfully dying.  I will never forget it.  Around this girl, covered in blood were the ambulance crew.  You have got to be kidding I thought?  I saw policeman directing traffic.  I walked up to him and told him there was another accident up the block.  He  shrugged me off and kept his focus on the cars in the area.  "She is dying I yelled at him"!  Who he said, understanding my English.   The girl on the next block, you must get someone there!  She is dying I yelled again!  I can't quite remember what happened immediately after that though.  I had had enough of the whole scene and wanted to get away.  I was close to my destination, a park right on the water.  As I walked, I kept hearing the second victims gurgling sounds as she lay in the street at the mercy of the paramedics, or rather yet, of my Lord.  Upon arriving at the park, it was quite busy even if it was late.  Children played, lovers loved, old people chatted.  All unbeknownst to them that two young girls were dying only a short distance away.  I had forgotten my walkman in my luggage at the station, so I was dependant on the sounds of the night.  And as sat there, drawing off my cigar and sipping the scotch I had brought from the hotel room, I could still hear the sounds of the girl in the distance, then another siren, and another, and another...  And so the night went, as I kept wondering to myself how to deal with this situation emotionally?  It really challenged me.  Why had I not approached the first young girl, for I had received combat medical training I might of made a difference.  Or why had I not been much more assertive when I reached the policeman directing traffic at the second accident.  After some time, the sirens seemed to stop and the Geneva night became what it was when I left my hotel room hours before. 

God, tell me I'm dreaming and let me wake up I kept thinking as I walked back to the Hotel Tiffany that night.  But, guess what.  I got lost on my way and must of walked an hour before I found it.  Then, as tired as hell, I called for an 8:00 AM wake up and went off to sleep.  The next morning I awoke with a sore head and a strong desire to try to forget what had happened the night before.  I know though that I never will, for as long as live.  (Doc, I know you saw some things that really challenged you in the war in the Pacific, how do you learn to deal with such things?) 

I got my car that morning and I began my two hour drive out of Switzerland.  Goodbye Zurich, Geneva, Montreux, Stein am Rhein, Basel, and Sabine I thought to myself as the wipers went back and forth across the window...