A kindergartner in northeast Harris County thought he didn't have any friends. Sheldon Community Fire and Rescue proved him wrong.
Cobie Saiz was, by all accounts, having a bad Saturday.
"I didn't have no friends," the 6-year-old said. "And my mom told me to go outside, so I did."
But before he went outside, he made sure he was wearing his firefighter outfit, the one his parents bought him for kindergarten career day.
"He said he didn't have many friends his age to play with so I said, ‘It's OK, I'll go outside and play with you,'" said his mom Anna Saiz.
That's when Sheldon Community Fire and Rescue Capt. Jose Munoz saw him.
"I happen to look to the right and there's a cute little kid, he's hard to miss, he's wearing a red firefighter outfit," Munoz said.
So the firefighter who was making his rounds to memorize streets and addresses in the 100-square-mile coverage area of the fire department decided to stop.
"He's dressed up like one so I said, ‘Hey, let's put a smile on this kid's face, let's try and change his day. Maybe he's having a bad day, maybe he was having a good day, but let's make his day better,'" Munoz said.
Munoz made it better by letting the junior firefighter wear real bunker gear and let him work the computer in the captain's SUV. And when all those friends Cobie supposedly didn't have started showing up, the captain called for a fire truck that was in the area to stop by, too.
The kid with no friends suddenly had a street full of them. And he also found himself sitting behind the wheel of a real fire truck.
"I put on the suit, and it was really cool," Cobie said. "They're really, really cool. It's a really cool job."
"It really was an eye-catcher to see him taking the time out of his day to make a little boy happy like that. It was a good feeling," said Cobie's father A.J. Saiz.
"I thought it was amazing that they had that time and they took their time to talk to the kids about it," Anna Saiz said.
"Maybe we've got some future firefighters from that neighborhood or just kids that want to stay in school and do well and be an asset to their communities as well," said Munoz.
As for Cobie, he's not yet sold on the firefighter idea, for one very simple reason.
"The boots are really heavy," he said.
But he's still thinking about it. And knows that on those days he thinks he doesn't have any friends, he can remember he actually has an entire station full of them just a phone call away.
Cobie and his parents visited the Sheldon Community Fire and Rescue station just a few miles from their house on Friday and delivered pizzas as a "thank you" to Captain Munoz.
