The Texas oil industry is said to have started with the Lucas Gusher in 1901. For some 10 days, until it was capped, 100,000 barrels a day spouted from the ground. It is said that from that time US oil production tripled overnight.
My grandfather worked on that oilfield. He was a rigger. He stood atop the great gantries that were used to position the drilling equipment. He was the king of the universe, hanging on, hooking and unhooking cables, barking directions to the drivers and the haulers.
We asked him to tell us the story again, about that day. We were very young. No more than nine or ten. We would sit on the floor listening. He would settle back into his armchair, close his eyes and begin recounting. He would describe how it was, sitting on top of the boom, eating his sandwiches with the crew boys, when the well blew. He remembered the sound, the terrific bang, then the rushing the whistling, the noise. He would recount how the oil spouted up over 200 feet into the air. He described how they were completely covered in the thick black sticky liquid, even the men in suits with clipboards who had come down from head office. He told us about old Billy sitting right next to him, ending up head first in the cooling trough. On he would go, keeping his eyes closed as he remembered the day.
Then, he would get to the end. He always finished the story the same way. “...and that was the second best day of my life. The second best day of my life, was the day we had rain in Texas."
Lke clockwork, we would say “tell us about the best day of your life grandpa, tell us..”
He would slowly open his eyes. “Another time,” he’d say,”another time.” And with a wink that was only visible to us kids, he’d look across the room towards my grandmothers knowing smile.
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Written for http://www.trifectawritingchallenge.com/2013/04/trifecta-week-seventy-one.html?m=1
www.trifectawriting.com week seventy one on the following definition of the word rain:
"to take a lot of money in bill form and toss it up in the air. This is most effectively done at a strip club for the effect of raining one dollar bills on the dancers (and it makes them feel so pretty), or to snub a hater by throwing money into their face that then falls to the floor like rain (use this when paying a debt to a punk bitch who keeps asking for their money to the point that they are ruining your friendship or when dumping someone who has been bankrolling you for a while now that you're making money).
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=rain
