The firemen and police, all that was missing today from emergency services was ambulance but perhaps if that dang ugly couch stays outside any longer they too will be called to Hulk's.
It was right at the start of opening, when Snickers went to go turn on the club lights, that we heard a strange sound. He then turned the switches off and again the sound was heard. It was coming from the back of the club. First we heard something, then we smelt something, and then we heard something -- smoke coming from the back room where are pups stay. A big gust of smoke greeted our eyes when we reached the back of the club. A fire had started, trapping Balboa and Pacquiao in the corner. Pyen Chi was outside on the stairs, isolated from the two because she's in heat, so she was safe but she too was acting all frantic. There was so much smoke and so much barking. Snickers kicked the back gate down, freeing the two pups, and I took them to our bedroom.
What had happened was Balboa must have peed on the extension cord for the space heater. He's a Chihauhau, he gets cold super easily, so we always have the space heater on for him. Today's fire wasn't so big. It burnt the floor to a crisp, about 2ft x 1ft of it, but the scary part was in the fact that we always use this space heater for our pups. It's on day while we work and whenever we go out, like on weekends, we put it on again for them because they stay there until we get back. The fact that we just so happened to be there when this event happened was pure luck. On Saturday we had left the club to go do a training run out in Asan so we were out for about 4 hours. That's four hours that heater was running; four hours that could have resulted in the club going up in flames.
So now we don't have a space heater for the pups' back room but that's ok with me. I'll have to make some kind of fort for Balboa to stay warm in because even if I had a space heater right now I don't think I'd turn it on. Today's fire was a rough reality check of just how fast and how easily things can happen.
No firemen were actually called. We posed as our own heroes in the above story but as for the police, they showed up later.
Our pups are kept in the back door room. There is a door that leads to the club and two glass doors that lead to outside. Once you pass those two doors, there is then a green wired fence because often we open the two doors and let the pups enjoy the sunshine and good weather. On that fence however, there is a sign that clearly states, both in Korean and English, that the dogs are not to be fed, touch, tormented, or approached and anyone doing one of these actions will have to face the consequences. Balboa will bark at you, Pyen Chi will bark and maybe try to bite you, but Pacquiao... he will try to escape and if he does, you better run. Pacquiao will attack. He may be the happiest pup in the world but if he doesn't know you and you step onto his territory... run!!!
Anyways, so Snickers and I were both busy training members when suddenly Pyen Chi started barking so much. Pac and Balboa then joined in and what a commotion they made. I ran to the back of the club to see what was going on. What had happened was an older man had stepped up onto the stairs and was face-to-face with a very loud, very angry Pyen Chi. I yelled at him to step down and leave my dog alone. He ignored my words so then I went into the back room, stepped outside, approached the gate, and repeated what I had said. Again he ignored my words but then his friend started swearing at me.
Then Snickers came.
Snickers does not take likely to anyone disrespecting me as such so him hearing some drunk man swear at me was definitely a trigger.
The two exchanged some very "colourful" words and next thing I knew it Snickers was yelling at me for the gate keys. I knew what this meant. He was going to unlock the gate and drama was about to go down. I ended up securing the dogs in the back room and running out of the club's front doors to join Snickers. Next thing I knew it many of our members who had been training when this started up had come outside. A member driving by the club stopped his car and joined our side, as did the Corner Godfather and one of our previous members who was in the neighbouring restaurant eating dinner. This confrontation between me and two drunk Korean men went from 1 against 2 to 1 against 8 in a matter of minutes.
There was a lot of pushing and grabbing on behalf of the drunk men, a ton of swearing and nasty threats said, and we got most of it on video. At one point one of the men went so far as to grab Snickers by the throat in an attempt to choke him. Now I know Snickers and I know he can handle his own but I swear, touch my husband and I promise you I'm going to touch you too. When he grabbed Snickers by the throat I peeped up and told the guy I was going to kill him if he didn't let go. We had a good laugh about this later, little me of 5ft 2", 55kgs, threatening a grown man that was 5ft 10" and 80kgs. "I think you only scared him because of your zebra pants," one member said. "Maybe he thought if you're brave enough to wear such crazy pants than maybe you're crazy enough to try to kill him."
Cops ended up being called, no charges were laid, and members returned to their training. As for my "crazy pants", don't disrespect the zebra pants. Those pants have got me through some tough training!
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