decked out in a tux and shiny black shoes, and we've given him a hard time about it ever since."
"I was at a wedding when the tones dropped," Sean explained, his face reddening. "There was a car in water, upside-down, with kids inside. Volunteer firefighters don't have time to run home and change our clothes. We respond just the way we are when we hear the tones, even if that means standing in a snow bank, directing traffic in a rented tux."
"Did you save the kids?"
Sean laughed. "It was one kid, and he was the 16 year-old driver. He lost control on ice and slid the car backwards off the road into a drainage ditch. 'Car in water, upside-down' turned out to be 'car with back end in eight inches of water'. The kid panicked and exaggerated a bit when he called it in." He shook his head and helped himself to another heaping scoop of macaroni salad. “I ended up having to buy that tux.”
"What about some of the other nicknames?" Maggie wanted to know.
"Tim over there is Nipper, because he's an excited little rookie who bounces around like a damn puppy," he told her. "Same story with The Chihuahua, except he's always running his mouth like one of those yippy-yappy little dogs. T.O.K. stands for 'The Other Ken' because we used to have two guys named Ken. And Jason over there is Bob."
"'Bob' is his nickname?"
"Yeah, we have too many Jasons on the department."
“That . . . actually makes sense,” Maggie admitted. “I’m not sure why it does, but it does.”
"Wait till you hear how Alex got her nickname," he chuckled.
"Watch it. I outrank you, Spiffy." The Assistant Chief shot him a dirty look.
"Aw, be a good sport, Lug Nuts .”
Alex gave him a good-natured swat, but Sean ducked and kept talking.
“One day, Lug's husband decided he was going to do some work on her truck," he began, ignoring her. "He backed it up on the ramps, took the lug nuts out of the back tire, and then got called into work. He told her not to drive the truck that day. Left it right up on the ramps and everything.
"Well, after a while, she decided she just had to make a trip to the feed store. So she hopped in the truck, drove it right off the ramps and headed into town. Now, everything was okay for the first few miles, until the tire fell off and Lug had to pull over."
"Which I did without damaging the truck," Alex pointed out.
"So, there she was, all alone on a country road, watching her tire roll away toward town without her," Sean went on. "Did she use her cell phone to call her husband or a friend for help? No, that would have been too easy! She grabbed her radio instead and called it in as a firefighter in need of assistance. Dispatch sent it out as an emergency, and every department in the area rolled trucks. We all showed up imagining the worst, and found her sitting on the tailgate with a can of diet pop and a crossword puzzle book."
"That was eight years ago," Alex told Maggie. "I was a rookie, and I got a little bit over-excited about using my new radio. I can’t believe these idiots still give me a hard time about it. Every year for Christmas, I get boxes and boxes of lug nuts as gag gifts."
"If things keep up the way they have been, we'll all be able to afford better gifts than that," said the young firefighter Sean had identified as Tim. "This quarter's paycheck is going to be huge."
"Paycheck? But I thought you were all volunteers."
"We are," Alex replied. "Paid on-call volunteers. In other words, we get paid an hourly rate for every hour we spend actually responding to a call, but that's it. It doesn't add up to much."
"Almost enough to buy a tank of gas every quarter," Sean said. "Nobody’s in this to get rich."
"Except for this quarter," Tim said. "This check is going to be great, thanks to all of the grass fires."
Maggie saw a look go back and forth between Alex and Sean, and made a mental note to ask him about it later. “So what happens if there’s a fire tonight, while you’re all here together?” she
"I was at a wedding when the tones dropped," Sean explained, his face reddening. "There was a car in water, upside-down, with kids inside. Volunteer firefighters don't have time to run home and change our clothes. We respond just the way we are when we hear the tones, even if that means standing in a snow bank, directing traffic in a rented tux."
"Did you save the kids?"
Sean laughed. "It was one kid, and he was the 16 year-old driver. He lost control on ice and slid the car backwards off the road into a drainage ditch. 'Car in water, upside-down' turned out to be 'car with back end in eight inches of water'. The kid panicked and exaggerated a bit when he called it in." He shook his head and helped himself to another heaping scoop of macaroni salad. “I ended up having to buy that tux.”
"What about some of the other nicknames?" Maggie wanted to know.
"Tim over there is Nipper, because he's an excited little rookie who bounces around like a damn puppy," he told her. "Same story with The Chihuahua, except he's always running his mouth like one of those yippy-yappy little dogs. T.O.K. stands for 'The Other Ken' because we used to have two guys named Ken. And Jason over there is Bob."
"'Bob' is his nickname?"
"Yeah, we have too many Jasons on the department."
“That . . . actually makes sense,” Maggie admitted. “I’m not sure why it does, but it does.”
"Wait till you hear how Alex got her nickname," he chuckled.
"Watch it. I outrank you, Spiffy." The Assistant Chief shot him a dirty look.
"Aw, be a good sport, Lug Nuts .”
Alex gave him a good-natured swat, but Sean ducked and kept talking.
“One day, Lug's husband decided he was going to do some work on her truck," he began, ignoring her. "He backed it up on the ramps, took the lug nuts out of the back tire, and then got called into work. He told her not to drive the truck that day. Left it right up on the ramps and everything.
"Well, after a while, she decided she just had to make a trip to the feed store. So she hopped in the truck, drove it right off the ramps and headed into town. Now, everything was okay for the first few miles, until the tire fell off and Lug had to pull over."
"Which I did without damaging the truck," Alex pointed out.
"So, there she was, all alone on a country road, watching her tire roll away toward town without her," Sean went on. "Did she use her cell phone to call her husband or a friend for help? No, that would have been too easy! She grabbed her radio instead and called it in as a firefighter in need of assistance. Dispatch sent it out as an emergency, and every department in the area rolled trucks. We all showed up imagining the worst, and found her sitting on the tailgate with a can of diet pop and a crossword puzzle book."
"That was eight years ago," Alex told Maggie. "I was a rookie, and I got a little bit over-excited about using my new radio. I can’t believe these idiots still give me a hard time about it. Every year for Christmas, I get boxes and boxes of lug nuts as gag gifts."
"If things keep up the way they have been, we'll all be able to afford better gifts than that," said the young firefighter Sean had identified as Tim. "This quarter's paycheck is going to be huge."
"Paycheck? But I thought you were all volunteers."
"We are," Alex replied. "Paid on-call volunteers. In other words, we get paid an hourly rate for every hour we spend actually responding to a call, but that's it. It doesn't add up to much."
"Almost enough to buy a tank of gas every quarter," Sean said. "Nobody’s in this to get rich."
"Except for this quarter," Tim said. "This check is going to be great, thanks to all of the grass fires."
Maggie saw a look go back and forth between Alex and Sean, and made a mental note to ask him about it later. “So what happens if there’s a fire tonight, while you’re all here together?” she
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