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The Things I Do For Research (or my visit to the morgue) by Brenda Novak It’s interesting what you can learn about yourself and others while visiting a place that traffics in dead people. I could write volumes about the experience I had touring the Sacramento Morgue last month—it definitely made a lasting impression--but that would be WAY too long for a newsletter. So I’ve decided to offer you a bullet point summary instead: 1. I could never have made it as a coroner, pathologist, homicide detective or morgue employee. Going in to the morgue, I thought I could handle anything, but I turned green and grew dizzy while watching an autopsy. No mind over matter techniques helped. I slid down the wall and sat on the floor in a cold sweat, struggling for all I was worth not to pass out. I tried to tell myself it wasn’t real. It certainly looked plastic; probably because there wasn’t much blood. But I couldn’t convince my brain to power back up. I didn’t have the strength to stand for at least fifteen minutes, and when I got up too soon, I had to sit right back down. It was a little embarrassing. I really didn’t want to come off as such a wimp (since I was the one who’d requested this tour), but…there I was, the only one on the floor hyperventilating. 2. Sacramento’s morgue is far busier than I expected it to be. They have sixteen deputy coroners (those are the folks who get called out when someone finds a dead body), and approximately 300 corpses at any given time that they keep in a cooler, either on shelves or on gurneys (no cool drawers, like the good ole days). As I walked down the aisle, I couldn’t help wondering who they were, what their lives had been like, who they’d left behind. Their feet stuck out beneath the plastic covering. One woman who had just died had feet that were alabaster white and absolutely flawless, yet she was forty-something and, obviously, dead. Mostly, though (and this is sort of gross so be forewarned), I learned that a lot of men don’t clip their toenails nearly as often as they should. 3. You can find some really neat people working in a morgue. I know, that sounds a little weird. I’m not exactly planning to seek out morgue employees in the hopes of establishing new relationships, but I have to say that the man I met (the one who showed us through) was the kind of guy I could hang out with. He wasn’t obsessed with death or even too obviously fascinated by it; neither was he insensitive or uncaring. He seemed to have the ideal perspective. I think Sacramento should definitely hang on to him. 4. Harvesting is not a term I like associated with corpses, but I understand the necessity of using what would otherwise waste. Sacramento’s morgue provides a necessary and much-needed service in this area, even if it is a little revolting to contemplate. 5. As I stood in a small room that had probably twenty plastic buckets, each one filled with a human brain, I had to look. I know, I was the one who’d almost passed out, but I figured this would be educational, and it was. In case you haven’t been told often enough, let me add my voice to all the others: Don’t do drugs. It visibly damages your brain. 6. Homicide is probably more routine than we’d like to think, especially in a city as big as Sacramento. The autopsy I watched was of a man who’d been murdered the previous day, but I didn’t get any sense of added drama. No rush or scandalized behavior, no anxious detective pacing in the observation room—just six or seven stab wounds in his back. What a way to go…. 7. The smell of decomposition isn’t any worse than a baby’s dirty diaper. Of course, I probably wasn’t exposed to the worst possible example, but I was surprised that the morgue smelled as good as it did. 8. The morgue runs 24-hours a day. At night, only two employees work in the back end (where all the bodies are). I can’t imagine what it would be like pulling the night shift, wheeling bodies in and out, stripping them, weighing them, X-raying some, segregating others because of biohazard or because they arrived in mere pieces. And I definitely couldn’t stomach the clean-up, which the employees have to do themselves.I guess what I learned, most of all, is that I’m grateful for the people at the morgue who help us deal with the inevitable loss of friends and loved ones (and with homicide victims or indigent people who have no one else to take care of their bodies after death). I’m just glad it’s not me working the graveyard shift. As a writer, my imagination is far too active…. 
News & Updates Mark your calendars! We have official release dates for the first three books in The Last Stand series:
Website Update: My web designer ran into some technical difficulties so our new website launch date will be April 1st. Stay tuned!
April 16-20 Brenda Novak |
Bestselling Authors Brenda Novak, Debbie Macomber, Susan Wiggs and Allison Brennan are joining forces to give one lucky reader a Fabulous Trip for Two to Port Orchard and Bainbridge Island, Washington--including airfare, accommodations, massages and more!
AND get ready for my next contest, which begins on June 1st, because it's going to be just as exciting and might enable you to:
 The auction begins in 58 days. Register for the auction and receive a $10 certificate to shop there. We have almost 800 items up for preview already, with more coming in every day.. 
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