The Drip, a novel by Michael Gullo
“Good morning, guys.”
“Today I gotta leave early. I froze my ass off last night. I had to get in the truck with the heater on. I’m going to Karen’s, and I’m going to take the longest hottest shower that modern life has to offer. Let’s go look at that skid steer.”
“So, um, it didn’t sink at all.”
“Maybe that mean it’s on the solid ground below the slop.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
Cody ain’t the only one git up on this ridge. Tell me that man honest. Ain’t no good. Ain’t never no good never come’a no Yankee tear out roots put up a mud toilet ain’t match the roots. He laughin’ at the roots. And here they come, fall out that shanty like clowns, ring leader out first throw them hands all about he ain’t point out nothin’, just hands fly like they’s distract you pull the bunny from a hat. Tell me I’m longin’. Tell me gentleman chat. Hell’s a chat? Chat’s what they do in them coffee shops. Chat. Chew up big words, fly em out in long sentences. Look how smart I am. All the while waving they hands about so’s it’s all you can do keep from duck and jive so’s you don’t git hit. Come on, a little closer. I can hear you now.
“Man, that’s fierce.”
“Devin with the word of the day.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Cody, go up and get that track-ho. Check the grease. Warm it up.”
“Bossman.”
“Tanner, how many chains we got?”
“You have three, and I have one in my truck too.”
“Four chains. Forty feet.”
“Probably longer.”
And now I smell you, and you worse’n cattle. Worse’n the pig farm here all them years. Ain’t git that machine out that mud pull a chain.
“Dev – hate to lay all the shit work on you, but you’re just that guy… Go get those ice-cold chains and bring them here.”
“I’ll help.”
“No, I need to talk my way in, and this is at least a three mind problem.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Rus. You fix these things. The exhaust looks free…”
“Wasn’t last night. First thing I looked at.”
“Free today though.”
“Prolly suck in a lot.”
“Filter’s there.”
“Get that first, I guess. Gotta dig out the hatch.”
“Anything else?”
“It’s the fan cage back there. That’s full. Nothin’ stop that slop - just pack right in.”
“Yep. I see that. But maybe not inside the engine.”
“Not inside – just what got in the pipe.”
Might’s well call old man Teague with that machine. Used to was they’s fix a machine got in like that. Now they’s all weak, break down easy – can’t fix em you ain’t got they little computers and softwares.
“Chains.”
“We ain’t got much, but there’s some scrap plywood. Go get… Ha, that’s funny. I was about to say go get the skid and bring down the plywood from the scrap.”
“Yeah, right. I did it too when I’s thinkin about shovels.”
“What happened to the golf cart idea?”
“Let’s get an assessment. Then I’ll go to Karen’s for a shower. I think I missed the eggs at this point. I’ll come back, and we’ll go get a golf cart.”
I git up to pee, and there’s my boy there tickin at that computer, tick, tick, tick like a cattle fence. Now he scared cross the line, and my boy never scared. Yankee man got him ’fraid, train him. Not scared just cross the wire, scared get close. And there it is. But he waste the trainin’. Rather than put the boy on a course got value, build a thing, fix a thing, he got him play computer up all night. That’s a Yankee fer ya. Buy a whole new computer just cuz they’s a crack in the screen, just cuz it ain’t perfect. And now here he is helpin that Yankee get out that skid. Knew I should’a took that skid before he wreck it. That’s okay. You spend yer money, Yankee. Buy two computers, keep my boy up at night work free. I got me a laptop now. Thankee, Yankee.
“Look out, Tanner.”
“How do you sit in that thing with the window wide open in front, thirty-one degrees?”
“I got the heat on blowin at me.”
“Not for long. Put the window down and give me the seat.”
“I got this, bossman.”
Hell’s he call bossman? Just as I thought. That man infection run deep. Got my boy genuflect, bend the knee. Now he warm and grease the ho, and he deliver it, get out just so the work don’t credit nobody else.
“That’s me work. Nobody gets under that slide until I know it’s safe.”
There he go. Make himself a martyr.
“I’ll nibble in, downstream. I think Rusty’s right, it’s on solid ground, just cased in slop.”
“That was me, bossman.”
“Good eye, Cody. I think I’ll run in from underneath. We did all the dam work, and the slide seated pretty well actually. If I come in from downstream I get a feel, maybe we pull it out and keep the dam increase.”
“I see that.”
“Good thinkin.”
“While I track in, place them plywoods on the mud. Walk out to the back and see if you can dig free the engine hatch. Gotta see in before we start it.”
“Yeah, can’t start that before the fan’s loose anyway.”
“Can’t dig that fan out.”
“Gotta just yank it downstream.”
“I have – there’s those winches in there. Maybe we could bolt one to a fat tree downstream and start pulling.”
“It’d just pull the tree over. Hydraulic lock, plus the parking brake kicked in when the bar went up.”
It’s locked, Yankee. Rusty see that. Dig it out or she stay.
“So, um. Two options. Dig it out. And that slop ain’t ready yet. Or two, maybe it’s slick enough down there under the tracks, it slides like it’s on ice until it digs in.”
“Ya, that’s it.”
“Wait, are you guys saying we try to pull it out of that mud?”
“Sorta.”
“No way. Hydrostatic suck.”
Suck’s right. Hydrostatic just big word. Stuck in suck.
“So, you see where I’m at? I’m in line with the machine. I see where it is in the hill. I’m gonna track in. Whoa. One man at a time on that plywood. Look at it. Already sunk in.”
“It’s wild.”
“When I was a kid, this was the quicksand scene in Tarzan. Whenever the villain needed dramatic punishment or the hero needed a sudden obstacle, out comes the quicksand scene, and in goes Clayton.”
And look down there Clayton see the quicksand too soon. Think he work around it, plan a vine. Dig, Yankee. That’s all they is to it. Clayton know it. Lonnie know it. Don’t need no engineer degree off sharecropper birth to sing this Star Time TV.
I never did like they take Jim’s name fer that Tarzan villain. Jim the honest man, this Yankee call up a Tarzan villain put him in his quicksand, and here’s Jim Clayton, house half this valley with them trailers, honest price, good product, and Dolly know it too.
Man don’t need no skid steer. He pull a log, make a row, plant cotton. Quarter a day, make a billion. This Yankee sink a quarter million, got more money than cents.
“So, I’m going to track in. If I can reach the machine and still high and dry, I’ll dig out the sides. How’s it look in back?”
“I got the hatch open, bossman.”
“What’s it like?”
“It’s water. Mud, but it’s water. Thinner in here than outside.”
“Felt around for it too, I see. Your arm looks like the water line in the plaster after the flood passed through.”
“Talk about a1 to h8.”
“Ha, Tanner! Nailed it. Though I’m not sure it jumps quite that far.”
“You know, I looked that up. At first I just kept getting illegal move and Bishops and Queens, but then I found it. How many moves does it take a Knight to jump from a1 to h8.”
“That was it. Lotta work. No clean path. No way to plan for all that.”
“Your plan for this?”
Short sight. That’s it. Say he got a plan, Dig. See that from the road. Boyd see that from his land. Land vacant. Boyd see that from his mama house. Dig, Yankee.
“I’m gonna dig. That’s all we got. Ground’s solid so far, and I can reach on full boom. I’ll dig out the front, work my way to the sides, dig till it stops falling back in. Cody get off those boards. That’s deeper than this, and… It’s dangerous.”
“Whatchoo want us to do while you dig?”
“Go finish the second rack and work the panels into the third.”
“Will do.”
“Did you pull the wires yesterday after I left?”
“Pulled. Not landed, but coiled in the combiner box on the back wall. Ready to be landed.”
“Wow, look at this. I dug out the side, and it’s like a river of water coming out.”
“That’s cool.”
“Ya, it’s like them springs.”
“Yeah, right. Dig into the hill, and the water pours out.”
“Walk up under my boom to the front door. I think I see water in the cab.”
“Yup, full up, but it’s dropping as I watch. Line left behind like Cody’s arm.”
“How far up did it go?”
“Seat got under.”
“Did it get in the controls? The joysticks?”
“No. Dropping fast.”
“Watch your head, I’m gonna swing over and take a swipe or two at the other side.”
“Oh, wow! It’s immediate.”
“If it wasn’t my skid steer, it’d be one of the coolest things I ever saw. The actual mud is shrinking. Can you see that?”
“The mud’s shrinking faster than the machine came down.”
“It’s absolutely amazing. You could almost film this, the mud is a foot below the roof in like five minutes.”
“I almost wish we did this last night. Maybe…”
“Um, nope. No way. You didn’t want to, and that was the right call then. It’s the right call now.”
“You’re right, Tanner. Okay, go up there. Get started on the solar. Rusty stay with me. Devin get off that machine. Retrace your steps. Come back to me first then cross over to the road.”
“Yeah, and me?”
“You straddle the horse and ride.”
“Get back on?”
“If you’re boring.”
“I’m not weird.”
“Are too.”
“Not as weird as you.”
“Truth. How’s it look?”
“Water’s out, but there’s a coat of mud-slime everywhere and about an inch on the seat.”
“Gross.”
“Floor’s worse. Maybe three inches. A little less.”
“Not so bad.”
“Yeah, but we gotta lift the cab to get at the hydraulic bypass valve, or we’re digging for nothing, and three inches.”
“Can you scoop it out?”
“With my hands?”
“Do you have a cab-shaped shovel around here that I don’t know about?”
“One of them little flower digging shovels in the trailer.”
“Ah, go get one of those. Tanner! Hey, Tanner, can you hear me?”
“I hear you.”
“Send Cody back here.”
“Already here, bossman.”
“Jesus, you scared me.”
“I’m a sneaky some bitch.”
“I’m gonna put Rusty up there trying to clean that out. I want a spotter. Slightest shift, let us know. Deal?”
“I can spot.”
“Only one I’d trust with it. Tanner told me how you were last night.”
“How’s that?”
“Told me you were ready to dive right in, and it was you figured out how for Rusty to escape.”
“Rus was already out when I got here.”
“Humble about it too. Tell ya what. If you ever want a victory lap, know this, you got one coming.”
Thas how he do it. Got my boy up all hours work his books, free. Got my boy bring back a saw. I hadda stomp up and down git him steal that scrap lumber and fix that door. Got my boy with flattery. Wave his hands around and flatter the boy. And fore ye know it, boy won’t provide no more. Tell me they granish his wage. Now he work free.
Did the same me. Lumber yard close. I work them dozers for day pay on account I can’t pay them court fees. They take money right out my boy’s mouth, shame me, can’t finish pay the funeral. Shame me again, granish the wage. I show them. I work with Blalock. Can’t granish cash.
“Rus, the water’s pouring out. The bucket is pulling globs now, not just slop. The boss hooks are freeboard now, and I think we can get a chain in there and bucket curl a pull.”
“Bucket curl, yes.”
“Sides are free. That ground under the tracks is soaked and sloppy. I think she’ll pull without the bypass – at least enough to lift the cab and get the bypass if we need it.”
“I’ll try. Cody hand me that five-eighths chain.”
“Once he gets it through the Boss Eyes, hook me on my bucket teeth. One end on each side.”
“Here, Cody.”
“Like this, bossman?”
“Yes, just like that, pinch the hooks and get out of there. Rusty, go to the driveway. When I pull this, all that mud in back there is gonna wanna slide. I’m surprised it’s sitting still with the sides dug out.”
“All clear.”
“Clear.”
“Here ---- oh, hell!”
“Are you okay?”
“Soon’s I get off this boom.”
“That was sick!”
“Bro, you moved five feet back.”
“My blade was down hard. That hit… I guess it’s just drop in the shit.”
“Don’t lose your slippers.”
“Slippers, cute. I’ll have you know these are the shoes doctors and cooks and men on their feet wear.”
“Slippers.”
“You too, Tanner? I thought I banished you to the solar.”
“Buddy, that was like a dump truck gate slamming down.”
“It was loud. You know that’s right.”
“So, you’re okay?”
“Pride’s got extra grease. Scraped my shin on the handles. All good.”
“Looks like it’s out.”
“It turned right toward the driveway.”
“My butthole ate the seat before it threw me out. If I can get that out of my rectum, I’ll put my ass back in there and finish the pull.”
“I’m glad that didn’t happen while I was standing on the plywood.”
“It couldn’t. The sides had it stuck tight. Once the sides came out, and the current of water lubed things up, it was inevitable.”
“That’s awesome.”
“Okay, so the ex is in the driveway. Get two more chains on that and someone pull it out of there --- That’s Stefanie calling.”
“Hey.”
“Hey. You didn’t call me this morning.”
“I woke up just as the guys hit the equipment yard. I had just a few minutes.”
“Are you coming for a shower?”
“Absolutely, I’ll be there in a bit. Love.”
“Love.”
“Okay, guys, all clear. Now pull.”