Duke's Story

Duke the Mouse in:
THE VOLUNTEER

     I guess maybe Duke forgot to mention this to me, but he joined the volunteer fire and rescue department. That fact should strike fear into citizens and insurance companies alike. Not that Duke isn’t the responsible type. Well, ok, he’s not. And not that Duke isn’t the heroic type. Naw. Not that either.
     But from what I heard, and I may have this wrong, Duke did something utterly amazing. It seems that my pet mouse was walking by a building when he spotted smoke coming out of a window. Now, you may not know much about fire because I know I certainly don’t. And a mouse like Duke knows even less. So I guess I was really amazed at what Duke did.
     Ok, he saw the smoke streaming out of the window and instead of doing anything foolish, Duke did exactly the correct thing to do: he called 911. Isn’t that mouse brilliant? Isn’t he a genius? Instead of going in the building and risking his own life and creating a more dangerous situation for others who have actually trained to handle these emergencies, Duke called for help. I was so impressed with Duke.
     And then I heard that Duke was asked to join the fire department. They were impressed with him, too, and they said there was a place for a smart mouse like Duke in their company.
     Unfortunately that didn’t last too long. I guess Duke spent most of his time hanging around the donuts and they all decided it would be better if Duke just helped out in other ways than actually being a fire fighter.
     Nonetheless, I was impressed with my pet mouse. I was impressed with the way he called for help when it was needed and I was impressed with the chocolate covered donut he brought for me after one of the meetings. Of course I didn’t eat it. It already had three bites out of it thanks to the volunteer.
     And that’s the way it is with Duke.