A fire broke out in a small town not too far north of Sturgis. It was the chemical plant! Fire departments from that town and all the towns around rushed to put out the flames. But they couldn’t get a handle on the conflagration.
James, the owner of the plant, grabbed the bullhorn from the incident commander. “The only copies of our top secret formulas are kept in the safe. They’re worth millions. I’ll give $100,000 to the fire department that saves them.”
The firemen redoubled their efforts, but to no avail.
After some hours had passed and the fire burned as fiercely as ever, a bell clanged. An ancient fire truck from the town of Norway Spruce rushed toward the fire. The truck was manned by Norwegians well past retirement age.
When it became clear that the truck wasn’t going to stop, the other firemen leaped out of the way. They watched, aghast, as the Norway Springs truck roared right into the fire. The codgers leapt out and subdued the flames in their immediate vicinity, which happened to be where the safe was kept. They saved the safe and managed to back out of the fire. The priceless formulas were saved!
James was amazed and grateful. He said, “Because of your bravery and skill, I’m upping the reward to 200,000.”
Mary, the local reporter, rushed up to Nils, the captain of the Norway Spruce volunteer fire department, shoved a microphone in his face, and asked, “What will you do with all that money?”
“First, get da doggone brakes fixed on dat fire truck.”
