We
did something yesterday that brought back a rather frightening memory for
me. we went to the Galveston Historical
Society’s building to look at the old building materials they have for sale, stockpiled
from old houses here on the island. Now
what could possibly be so scary about that?
Well, I’ll save that story. Maybe
for tomorrow.
On
our way to look at the old stuff, we drove by an unusual sight. There, parked on the side of the road was a
scooter. Now, in years past we probably wouldn’t
even have noticed it. But the advent of
a scooter club among Galveston Fire Fighters, and its subsequent bleeding over
into the family life of some of them (OK,
read here April has a scooter and Cailyn got a junior sized one for Christmas –
a pink one), has caused us to be more vigilant in our notice-taking of such
creations. So we noticed it. Of course the fact that it was pink assisted
in garnering our attention. But even
that could have escaped notice had there not been that one further detail –
that one little something extra guaranteed to draw you in. The scooter … had a sidecar. Perfectly matched in the same pink color,
just waiting for someone to lean back and enjoy the ride.
I
have to admit it awakened the daydreaming portion of my brain. Picture this (I did) … A scooter. Me
relaxing in the sidecar. Chris at the
helm, hauling me around town in style. While
I was lost in my reverie, Chris noticed that several blocks away, fire engine
one had pulled out from its barracks and was headed our direction. Now a minute or two earlier, a quick glance
at the fire department app on my phone had told me they were headed to a call
on 22nd Street, which happened to be the cross street nearest
us. Nearer and nearer came the thundering
hulk as I insisted Chris back the car up just a little bit more so I could get
a better picture of the scooter with my cell phone camera. Nervously, she complied. Still the engine came. No lights were flashing, no siren blared, but
yet it came. And Chris once again
checked and rechecked the rear view mirror.
I finally pronounced the photo a keeper, and Chris hastily pulled away,
determined to be a good citizen and get out of the path of the oncoming
behemoth.
And
still it came. She reached the corner of
22nd Street and breathed a sigh of relief. Finally she could turn and get out of the truck’s
way. I chuckled, for I realized then
that I had neglected to tell her that the call that the engine was responding
to was on this very street. Sure enough,
as Chris completed the turn, there, rapidly filling her rear view mirror until
there was nothing but a mass of red, was the responding fire engine.
Finally,
just the tiniest bit flustered, she pulled off to the side of the road. And as the engine passed us by, the friendly driver
honked his horn, obviously thanking Chris for being such a good citizen and great
driver. Well, that and the driver looked
vaguely familiar …
1
Peter 5:5 says, “Young men, in the same
way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with
humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to
the humble.’”
Father,
thank you for the fast responses of our fire fighters. And thank you that they do such a good job of
connecting with citizens. Amen.
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