Episode 2 Night Crossings

The ancients believed that the dead crossed over the River Styx only after the setting sun. Wounded soldiers stayed alive during night crossings in the arms of fearless nurses. England braced for the nightly crossings of the Luftwaffe's rain of bombs and terror. Night crossings are the business of the enemy and sometimes of the friend. They fall into the domain of the graveyard shift.

Jason Donahoe, Emergency Vet

Dr. Jason Donahoe, 29-years-old, has worked nights at the Emergency Pet Clinic for five years. At least one animal per shift dies on him, sometimes because they have found their way into drug stashes. Their owners bring them in and then pretend they don't know what's up. Makes the work hard, and dealing with people even harder. Drugs and the night are never a good combination.

Mike Wolfe, Midnight Train Worker

Mike Wolfe, 52-years-old, has the second highest seniority at VIA Rail and has been working nights for 31 years. He used to cross the Rockies al night long, now it's the Toronto-Montreal run, getting everyone on board and tucked in for the night.

Mike says he looks after himself. He's a fanatical New Ager - totally sold on herbal remedies, Reike massage and apple cider vinegar.

Whatever gets you through the night.

Jeff Brown, Funeral Director

Jeff Brown is a 36-year-old Funeral Director for Mackinnon and Bowes Funeral Assistance Company. He works on a rotating shift and is often on call at night to transport dead bodies from hospitals and homes to the Coroner's Office and various funeral homes.

Jeff has been working in the funeral business for 15 years, and cites an early interest in pathology and forensics as his impetus to become a funeral director. He began working in a funeral home as a teenager and then began his training to become certified. He says he's always been a night person, and that he loves the way the world just shifts into something altogether different at night. "It's a completely different world at night, I get a completely different perspective on the place that I live when I work at night."

Jeff says that because he deals with death so frequently, he understands his own vulnerability. He claims that makes him a better parent, a "carpe diem" sort of person. He sees death as a very natural part of the life cycle. It doesn't shock him, it really makes him appreciate every day as it comes.

Debra Passmore, Funeral Assistant

Just 22 years old, Debra has already been in the funeral business for four years as a Funeral Assistant for Mackinnon and Bowes Funeral Assistance Company. Her interest in funeral work began as a teenager, when she began working in a funeral home that was close to her childhood home. She enjoys being able to help people and thinks of funeral work as one of the most important ways in which to help.

She likes to work nights because it is so much easier to transport bodies at low traffic times, and because there is a specific adrenaline rush to nighttime work. She recognizes death as a natural part of life, and makes it her goal to enjoy life to the fullest every day.

And, yes, she has prearranged her own funeral!