Postings from Pop

Some years ago, my wife and I hosted a twenty-fifth anniversary party for the Captain of our fire station and his wife. It was held at our home on a Saturday afternoon, in Burlingame, located on a quiet and lovely street. For an anniversary celebration, it was a pretty darn good party. Twenty-something firemen and their wives were sucking down Les’ booze on a warm summer day. We used to have a saying about those kinds of events, “The booze was flowin' and the girls were glowin'.” It was a great time. A little later in the day, one of the couples had now crossed the compatibility line and stepped outside to continue with their connubial discourse. I could hear the verbal battle from my kitchen while amongst the festival continuum. I thought that this deserves some investigation so I went to my front lawn to witness the verbal fisticuffs going on. There they were, a formerly, happily married couple; now having a loud verbal, spirit generated drawdown on my front lawn...

Although firefighters are innately heroes, their bravery is often balanced with a streak of devilishness which causes them to never pass an opportunity to inflict retribution for any prank or verbal missive directed at them; sometimes alone, sometimes in concert. The crew of one fire station had a prevalence towards buffoonery and tricks that had caused more than one embarrassing moment to others than just the firefighters therein. Buckets of water, flour, and confetti were just part of the tomfoolery tools engaged during moments of pause and with a priority for inclusiveness, no one was exempt. It seems that firefighter Bill had been serving out a full measure of trickery for an extended period.  While relentless on his engagements, he always appeared one step ahead of his pursuers.  It was time for some payback, thought his fellow members. Firefighter Bill drove a beat-up baby blue Volkswagen beetle. Judging by its condition, it may have been driven by Adolph Hitl...