Joan found herself driving to the Framingham State Police Academy for the second time. She felt more optimistic about this test arriving at about 9 AM. This time she was comforted to see about 20 other women there for the same test; 1-mile run, lift a 150 pound dummy onto a stretcher then load it into an ambulance, and scale a 6 foot wooden wall.
Joan remembers she completed the mile run in 7:57. She wasn't first, but she wasn't last either. There were some very tall, lean, fast women. The dummy lift was somewhat more challenging than the run, but she completed it satisfactorily.
Then came the big blue wooden 6' wall. The instructor told the women, "Just get over the wall any way you can." That was all she needed to do. Joan was about halfway back from the front of the line and watched 50% of the women fail to navigate this obstacle. Even some of the tall, lean fast runners didn't make it over. She watched each applicant to see if there was some good trick. But even the girls who made it over, were scraped and scratched all over their arms and legs. At 5'3" she was shorter than most and fear started to convince her she was going to flunk as well. Joan remembered going deep inside herself and saying the Lord's prayer over and over until it was her turn.
She ran straight at the wall with a vengeance and just flew over it. She didn't have a scratch on her as if she didn't even touch the wall. She has no memory of how she did it. When she returned to where the applicants were waiting their turn, she could hear the deep breaths and gasps. "How did you do that?? You don't even have a scratch on you." She just shrugged her shoulders, but she knew in her heart there were divine hands lifting her.
Joan arrived home, and this time she was able to give her mother much different news. SHE PASSED.
Now it was on to the rest of the testing!!!
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