The Duck That Got Away

My Dear Princess and Dear Friends,

Today was a nice quiet Saturday. Really, very little was done. Caro got some new online shopping (see above). We watched a documentary on Alice Cooper. Naps were had.

It was while Caro was napping that I watched a second documentary, called, "Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini".

If you are not a horror nerd, it is likely you have never heard of Tom Savini but he's a horror legend. The man who created all the gory effects in films of the 1980's. Like a lot of horror people, he is also a thoroughly lovable fellow and all-round good egg.

He got into making gory effects after going to Vietnam, where he was in the photographic unit, taking pictures of the most horrendous things. Naturally, he suffered from PTSD subsequent to this, and working on horror films is what helped him process the real-life horrors he had seen. 

He told a story of how he had been put on guard duty back in Vietnam. He said it was the worst job. You had to stare at the jungle for hours, and there was a tripwire around the perimeter of the camp. If anything tripped it, a flare would go off and then you WERE NOT TO FIRE YOUR WEAPON. Instead you were to call your superiors to call in the cavalry. 

BUT DO NOT FIRE YOUR WEAPON. Have you got that?

So on his first night of guard duty, the tripwire was tripped and a flare went up, right in from of Tom Savini. 

Who PANICKED and FIRED HIS WEAPON.

Which caused all the OTHER guards to panic too. He said the jungle lit up in front of them, trees fell, leaves were shredded. "We emptied so much shrapnel into the forest," he said. "Nothing could have survived."

Except a duck. 

The duck - which had tripped the tripwire - came waddling out. Then it flew off, nonchalantly. 

The soldiers watched it go with a quack.

Tom Savini was summoned to see the general. He was very scared. The general asked him why he fired his weapon.

SAVINI: Something tripped the tripwire, sir.
GENERAL: What tripped the tripwire?
SAVINI: Errrrr... It was a duck.
GENERAL: A duck?
SAVINI: Yes sir. We fired upon a duck.
GENERAL: And did you get it?
SAVINI: Errrr... no sir. The duck got away.

The punishment was not so bad, but Savini was obviously taken off guard duty. And the very next night the tripwire was tripped for real, and the Viet Cong attacked and a lot of those same guards were killed.

"That duck saved my life," said Savini. "I've never eaten duck since."

And that is my story for this lazy Saturday. 

And, strangely enough, Alice Cooper also appears in the Tom Savini documentary. That dude gets around.

S.