HIDDEN POWER

It was a sleepy fire station,
Gus was dreaming about the mailman.
The bell rang and we awakened,
There’d been a downtown train derailment.

A tanker truck had just collided
With an eastbound passenger line.
Central Dispatch had decided
To send us and Ladder Nine.


Their Captain said, “My name's Matt,
And I'd like ya to meet Schmittie.
He's our brand new search and rescue cat
... just arrived from Kansas City.”

As Gus growled and got madder,
And expressed dissatisfaction,
That cat scooted from the ladder,
And bolted into action.


Finding no one's injuries serious,
He set his sights on matters larger.
He called in Hazardous Materials,
To keep those chemicals from the harbor.

He even issued a citation:
“Failure to yield at railroad crossing.”
And then he called the radio station,
Since the media yet knew nothing.


Not impressed by what the cat did,
Gus zeroed in on that which mattered ---
A car of stranded orphan children,
Whose nerves had just been rattled.

He said, “Let's have a party!”
And performed his favorite magic tricks.
He then sent Chief to find a market,
To pick up chocolate milk and powder candy sticks.


He brought the children all to laughter
With his goofy face and spotted ears.
Gus had calmed a great disaster,
And he chased away their fears.

The men got the engine started,
And the cars back on the tracks.
And as the train departed,
The children waved and Gus waved back.


“Now don't that just surprise ya?”
As Matt wiped his teary eyes,
“Our cat was good, but Gus was wiser,
Because he shared the Love of Christ.”

“In the pew he won't stop squirmin',”
Chief, too, was quite amazed,
“And when the preacher gives the sermon,
Gus's eyes are always glazed.”


David J Allen
January 24, 2005


<== In The Dog House . . . . . Back to Top . . . . . Dalmatian Vacation ==> . . . . . Gus’s Home Page