Bird, bird, goose...
Actual 9-1-1 call...
Ezra: (In a bit of a flap) Hello!? I'm standing here at the corner of Dr. Penfield and McTavish and there is a... um....a bird... with eight... little birds... about to try to cross traffic on that blind curve on Dr. Penfield Street.
9-1-1 Operator: A bird...?
Ezra: Yes, a BIRD!!! With eight other birds behind it!
9-1-1 Operator: OK, sir... so, what exactly do you want me to do?
Ezra: You better get a police car here real fast to stop traffic or I don't think these... birds... will make it.
9-1-1 Operator: Sure, Ok, I'll send a police car... right away.
Well, the police car never showed up. Not to help the birds, nor to take me off to the loony bin.
In the interim, however, I remembered the word 'duck' and realized that having called the birds 'ducks' in the whole panic might have really helped my case with the operator.
It should be noted that when I first spotted the birds as I was driving by I referred to them as 'goslings' (a word I think I picked up in a nursery rhyme as a kid). Alexandra, who was in the car with me at the time, looked at me funny and said, "Goslings?"
We pulled over and hurried back to help the birds cross Dr. Penfield Street.
Once they were across safely...
...the ducks entered the McGill University campus...
...where they were presented with an honourary ducktorate degree. Ok, actually, where a few students kept them at bay in a courtyard and fed them bread. Finally, McGill security arrived and contacted the city's animal control to take them back to the mountain reservoir from where they had likely wandered.
Just another Montreal morning.
Ez
