12 September 2008

WHO LET THE DUCK OUT????

We are not a normal Firehouse. I have humbled myself by saying this many times before in the past. We don't have a dog, let alone a Dalmation at best... like several other Stations do. Rather, we have a duck. Yes, a duck. It wasn't by choice. He "followed" us back to the Station one day and we tried many times to persuade him the other way but he didn't listen. He flew onto our rig after a call and several times we removed him trying to get him to "go home." He kept flying back on until we got back to the Firehouse. He waddled into our Station that day like he owned the place and has called it "home" ever since. Hence, he was named Signore Seguace (meaning Mr. Follower in Italian).

Seguace doesn't like "intruders" who come to our Firehouse. He is keen on the color red and yellow. Perhaps this is one of the reasons he followed our rig all the way to the Station. He doesn't do well with things painted black and white or just white. This would include the San Francisco Police Department. The minute one of the Officers arrives at our Firehouse (official business, just to visit, etc) Seguace races out to the outer gate surrounding our Firehouse and quacks wildly and puts on a display of aggression. Mind you, it is the ONLY time he is aggressive and this is a duck whose best friend is a cat. They chase each other around the Station and paw (or peck) each other playfully. You couldn't separate the two if you wanted to!

The minute the Officer enters the gate, they are at the mercy of "the duck." Seguace attacks their boots first..... pecking and drooling all over the shoelaces until he unties them. When he finishes that, he starts pecking at their pant leg and eventually their legs. This gets the Officer jumping up and down trying to avoid the pecking and looking for protective cover. Then the race is on to see who gets into the Firehouse first and it is usually Seguace.

My men are in the upstairs windows laughing their heads off singing, "WHO LET THE DUCK OUT???" in tune to "Who let the dogs out???" and dancing around like fools.

Words cannot describe this scenario well enough. You'd just have to imagine a duck attacking a Police Officer in the City of San Francisco. But then again, this is San Francisco and anything can happen here. Life is great, no?