Christmas Jumper

‘There’s a man in that window.’ Lorna said pointing towards our apartment block with fear on her face. To begin with I thought she meant there was someone in our flat but then I saw the man on the window ledge in the apartment two along and two floors up from ours and realised she was talking about a jumper.
‘I’ll call the police’ I said fishing my phone out of my pocket but there was no need because as I began to dial we heard sirens and two police cars and an ambulance rushed up our street. We recognised the man as one of our neighbours, a man who we said hello to but nothing much more than that. More cars pulled up and people got out, maybe social workers or negotiators.
The police made a cordon around the block and people went in and out of the building looking serious, nervous and concerned. A woman was lead away crying with a police woman talking sympathetically to her, while the man just remained calm and still up on the ledge.

‘C’mon let’s go inside’ Lorna said, ‘we don’t want to stand out here and gawp.’

We were worried for a moment the coppers wouldn’t let us in but once we told them where we lived, they let us through.  Lorna was right there was no point in gawping but how could I settle down to watch the darts when I knew there was a man trying to kill himself three windows along. I decided I’d offer the cold looking policeman outside my window a cup of tea and find out what was going on.

‘Bit unusual this isn’t it?’ I said to the policeman as he greedily slurped the tea I’d proffered through the window.

‘Not as unusual as you might think,’ the policeman said. ‘Especially not at this time of year. We get a lot of Christmas jumpers, as I see you did. He nodded at my reindeer knitwear. We smiled at the joke, however inappropriate it was.

‘Not always the most wonderful time of the year.’ I said.

‘That’s one of the reasons why I’m working.’ He said with no emotion in his voice. We drank our tea silently for a moment before I asked if I could have a chat with the jumper. 

‘Do you know him?’ The policeman asked.

‘Kind of.’ I lied. He got on his radio and to my surprise he told me to go upstairs, where I was ushered into the flat.

7 minutes later it was all over. Our jumper was safely in the arms of an ambulance man and there was nothing more to see. 

‘What did you say to him?’ The copper asked putting his mug back on the windowsill. ‘Did you remind him of all the good things in life, what he had to live for?’

‘Nope.’ I shook my head. ‘ I told him he was only three storeys up, a jump from there would bloody hurt but it wouldn’t kill him. So what’s the point of that? How does having a broken leg or two and a smashed up face solve his problems? He saw my point and climbed back inside.’

The copper looked at me in disbelief. I smiled, closed the window and settled down in front of the darts.