Rescuing ducks

This happened at lunch... Kathy (my coworker) wrote an excellent piece on the events, so instead of duplicating that effort, here is Kathy's original piece.


Derek

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Once upon a time, in sunny Cupertino, four ClearCase TSEs (JP, Derek, Ricky and Kathy) went out to lunch. As they drove by the corner of Swallow and Homestead they noticed Mama Duck trying to get her seven ducklings across the street.

"We should help her if she is still here when we get back", someone said.

After a yummy lunch, the four TSEs were heading back. But this time, there was no Mama Duck or ducklings to be seen. Only an elderly man on a cell phone staring down the storm drain. Fearing the worst, JP immediately pulled into the nearest parking space and out jumped the four TSEs. Sure enough, there were several ducklings down the drain.

The elderly man had seen Mama Duck trying to herd three ducklings across the busy roadway. He stopped her and put the three ducklings in his car, intending to get them across the road. Then he heard the quiet peeping of other ducklings. At this point, he was on the phone trying to get someone, anyone, to come and help. The Sheriff said they would send Animal Control. Animal Control said there wasn't much they could do. The Fire Department had yet to respond.

The four TSEs decided to help! As Derek and JP tried to pry off the grate of the storm drain, Kathy and Ricky gave helpful suggestions. They decided that the tools at hand were not enough and JP left to ask Facilities for a crowbar. Meanwhile, Derek noticed that the grate was beginning to budge; but it was still too heavy. Kathy suggested that perhaps the combined strength of two TSEs would do it. Together, Ricky and Derek heaved mightily and pulled the grate slowly away.

It was a deep, dank abyss in which the ducklings were huddled in. What now? How could we reach them? We must go into the storm drain! Derek bravely volunteered and lowered himself into the mire. He passed ducklings to Ricky, who passed them to Kathy who carefully placed them with their siblings in the elderly man's car. One, two, three...they kept coming....four, five, six, and finally, seven. Ten ducklings in total. Mama Duck was going crazy, flying this way and that, with worry.

Soon after JP returned with Isias. They were able to assist with replacing the grate. Now we were faced with what to do with the ducklings. A city worker showed up, concerned by our close proximity to the drain. "Never go in there!" he warned. "There are deadly gasses that could kill you instantly!" Hmm....this gave us some sinister ideas.....but never mind that now! The nice city worker called Animal Control for us and requested a pickup. It was a good thing, because the elderly man was not going to let us release the ducklings in the nearby creek to their mother.

The moral of the story? There is more than meets the eyes when it comes to ClearCase TSEs. They are not only smart and good with customers, they are smart and good with animals, too!