A Roughneck is Born by E.T. Ross

Author:E.T. Ross
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-04-19T17:24:59+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

Brian still had his week off. His roommates coincidentally found some work when he told them he’d quit, which left him somewhat bored and a little bit lonely at times.

Greg had been filling in for a friend at Wardin’s Well Servicing and told Brian that there was a rig that needed a derrick man for a day. This was one of the older outfits around, and one of the last places where he’d want to work. But it was only for a day, and he would be up the stick, keeping a good distance from the savages.

That next morning Brian was picked up by the rough looking crew cab with the flat deck that had been a sign of trouble nearby for years around Drayton. This was like riding in one of Al Capone’s gangster cars.

He knew, or at least had seen the guys who were in the truck with him. The operator was called Sleepy, and he looked like it would take an earthquake to really wake him up. Brian had heard that he had once eaten a beer glass. His steely and imperturbable demeanor lent some credence to that story. The other roughneck, whose name was Ralph, was passed out in the front seat.

Sleepy drove into the trailer park not far from Wardin’s shop and stopped in front of one of the old mobile homes. He honked the horn twice and sat back to wait for the other roughneck. After a few minutes Brian was sent in to bang on the door, something he didn’t feel too comfortable with. The partially covered deck was piled high with various liquor bottles and garbage. He had visions of breaking through the deck boards causing everything to crash down and trying to dig his way out while some muscle shirt wearing redneck came out with a baseball bat to wail on a trespasser.

He walked up to the door carefully and rapped softly on the edge of the screen door just as Sleepy laid on the horn again, making Brian jump. From inside all that could be heard was music coming faintly from the stereo in the living room. He knocked again a little harder, then after half a minute of foot shuffling and looks over at the truck, shrugged his shoulders and walked back to his ride. They sat there for a few minutes longer before just driving away.

“Looks like we’re gonna be shorthanded today”’ Sleepy said nonchalantly. Brian didn’t really care, as he was only going to be here for a day.

The rig was already set up and only ten minutes from town. Ralph got a hard shove to get him going before he and Brian climbed out to get into work clothes. Sleepy stayed in the truck to call the shop.

Ralph and Brian got dressed and went out to the oily little rig to fire up the engine and start prepping to pull rods.

“They’re going to send someone out from the shop to fill in, so you won’t have to worry about working yourselves too hard”, Sleepy said as he walked up to the rig floor.

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