Not sure if this is the place to share this story, but, it does have to do with the world around us.

This story is about a very real incident that happened many years ago. Well, actually it was a series of events that culminated a few years ago.

Anyway, back in the 1970's I was a rookie cop in the South Bronx. As every cop can tell you, every precinct had it's share of " chronic Callers " . These were people who were usually lonely, lived alone and sometimes they were mentally ill.

They would sometimes call the Police with complaints that were not quite real. Most of the time they just wanted to talk and to have a little company.

This story is about one such person. Her name was Emma. She was pleasant woman of about 35. She was always well dressed and her apartment was as neat as a pin.

Emma had a habit of calling the Police in the early morning hours, usually between 3 and 5 am. Emma would call with many different complaints , these were a few of her favorites.

She would call to report that her neighbors were keeping her awake by shooting a " ray gun " through the wall of her bedroom. The heat caused by the rays would awaken her.

She would also claim that the neighbors would release " green flies" into her apartment and they would infest the wall in her bedroom. And who in their right mind could sleep with all those green flies on the wall.

Her last and most frequent complaint , and to me the most interesting was that a burglar would enter her apartment during the day and would remove all of her " lingerie" from one of her dresser drawers and place them all neatly folded in the exact same way in another drawer on the other side of the dresser.

No matter how many times I would point out that no one had entered her apartment and that it was highly unlikely that a burglar would not be so neat, Emma would just insist it had happened.

At times Emma could be annoying, especially on a busy night when the radio was busy with real emergencies. Many Officer's would just ignore the calls from Emma. I must admit, at times I also ignored them. But for the most part when things quited down we would stop by and listen to Emma's tales.

Then one night after Emma reported the lingerie burglar she launched into another story that I hadn't heard before. She began to tell me all about a man she had dated when she was younger. She spoke so fondly of him, and seemed so happy dicussing these memories. For the first time I really took a look at Emma and listened intently to her story. I began to feel sorry for this apparently lonely and forgotten woman. I wondered if she had family and how she wound up the way she was.

She kept referring to her boyfriend as" the plumber from long island " The radio started getting busy and we were needed elsewhere so I told Emma we had to leave. Just before I left , I asked Emma, " what was his name ", she smiled and said ,"Frank Sette the plumber from Long Island." And with that we left.

Over the next several years the calls from Emma kept coming. we kept responding and not responding. She mentioned the plumber on many of those calls.


Then one day my partner and I were about to start our 8am to 4 pm tour of duty in our usual sector and we met the midnight to eight guys as they turned in the car.

We spoke briefly about what they had encountered on their shift. After a few minutes we walked toward the precinct and one of the guys said" hey wait, I almost forgot, Emma jumped off of the roof of her building last night, 19 floors "

No one knows why, she didn't leave a note. No one ever will I guess. I spoke with Detectives afterward but I don't think they ever found any reason or any family. Time moved on and for most part Emma was forgotten.

I remember thinking to myself how I wished that I had answered all of those calls and not just some. At least I took the time to listen to her plumber story.

Many years had passed and from time to time I would think about Emma and so many other exepriences I had over the years in the South Bronx. I always wondered if Emma's plumber boyfriend was real or just another figment of her immagination.

That is until quite recently. One night a few years back I was riding home on the Long Island railroad, it was dark, I was reading a book. I looked up to see how close to home I was. Off to the right I saw a purple neon sign on the front of building, It said " Frank Sette..plumber and plumbing supplies."

I think it's a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing.

Very touching. Sadly there are more people out there like Emma than most people would choose to be aware of. It was nice that you took some of your time to listen to her. It was probably more appreciated than you will ever know.

Yes, it's nice to know that there was at least one soft hearted policeman on your beat. The world could use more cops like you, Mike. But I know that's also one of the things that made your job harder. Over the years, you must have met many people in similar circumstances.

Thanks for telling us your story.

Cops are just human, with the same bad and good qualities as anyone else. We all have good and bad days. It was easy for me because I loved my job and enjoyed people.