The Hero Departs
A quick sketch of the Bert…
(Digital)
…as he left the bed as soon as I got in it.
Tonight I decided to have the first fire of the season in my wood-burning fireplace. And everything went terribly awry. The house filled with smoke and the fire department came and it was all fine because the attic wasn’t on fire, and now I need to have someone come back out and check my fireplace… but I found out two things:
I actually do know where my fire extinguisher is (or was; I need a new one now) and how to use it
Fire extinguisher contents taste awful.
Huh. More than two things and here’s the most important:
3. The Bert is awesome.
Because I only found out about the problem at a fortunate time because he told me.
After the fire had been going in the fireplace for a bit, and I was blissfully drawing and listening to yet another Discworld book (Carpe Jugulum), the Bert came to stand at the top of the stairs and complain at me. It wasn't a sad little whine and it wasn’t a bark, but it was definitely insistent. I went to the bottom of the stairs and asked him what he wanted. He turned and looked at the kitchen and then looked at me and made that noise again. So I went upstairs. And found a nice, gray haze of smoke.
The firefighters were very nice when they came to make sure I wasn’t going to burn to death in my sleep later. They promised they wouldn’t judge my pantry (which is how you get into the attic) and told me to give the boy some steak tomorrow.
The Bert is quite unmoved by the praise I've given him already, but he did enjoy the extra treat and I’m sure he’ll be pleased about his upcoming meals. He’s the best boy even if he doesn’t do anything fancy, but it is nice to know someone in this house is paying attention to our welfare.