Smokin'

This post is offered in good humor ... I don't know any of the cooks at the hospital.

I often listen to an on-line police and fire scanner at work. It helps pass the time and provides background noise at my desk.

Aside from the anxiety of listening to an ambulance dash to my mother's senior park, most police and fire dispatches are routine. Endless medical calls and traffic stops fill the speaker.

Today, one such call offered a little amusement. The call went something like this:

"Response area 25, commercial fire alarm Marshall Hospital," reported the dispatcher at the Camino inter-agency fire command center.

"Engine and Medic 25 ... respond to a commercial fire alarm in the cafeteria at Marshall Hospital. Units check back ..."

The dispatcher paused for a moment. "All units cancel response. Medic 17 says it's burnt food."

I suspect it was good fortune that Medic 17 was already on scene. One cook was spared the embarrassment of watching 20 firefighters barrel down the hallway to the cafeteria.

If I were that cook, I'd have a big batch smoked ribs waiting for my new friends ...