We'd had a busy night and when I finished my paperwork I lay my head down and must have gone into a deep sleep.

A while later the dispatcher called and told me we had another job (fire), so I sat on the side of the bed to put my pants on and when I did, with the light from the lamppost outside, it looked like my fingernails were glowing in the dark.

I shrugged my shoulders, got dressed and slid the pole. I got in the car, told my aide where we were going, and off we went.

While we were responding I showed my aide, Big Jim, my fingernails which appeared like they were painted with White-Out. They were. He started laughing hysterically. I looked at him and tilted the rear view mirror down so he could see his face. Apparently, the same prankster had painted cat's whiskers on his face.

Now, we were both laughing so hard Big Jim had to pull over for a minute.

When we got to the fire I made sure that everyone I spoke to saw my fingernails by rubbing my chin with my hand. Some laughed, some frowned and some weren't fazed at all. That's the South Bronx, folks.

Big Jim made sure he spoke face to face with every company officer on the scene. He got about the same reaction as I did. The fire only went to a second alarm, so there wasn't any media on the scene. Too bad. It would have been neat to rub my chin on television.

I'm pretty sure I know who the prankster is. There's this one Irish kid from the house, Paddy, who, every time I see him from a distance, holds his hand up, checks out his nails and smiles mischievously. (Phil Burns, from his book "Laughter, Tears & Muffled Drums". See FDNY bibliography, below, for availability of this book).

Now it's your turn. If you have a story that you'd like to submit, or have an idea for a story please let us know. Send it to: fdnytales@Fire-Police-EMS.com

Thanks, Ira Hoffman